Hong Kong: HK is irreplaceable: SJ

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has co-organised a series of Why Hong Kong webinars with the Asian Academy of International Law (AAIL) since February. Following the last session Why Invest in Hong Kong - A Look to the Future on June 25, the series successfully concluded.

A number of professionals, coming from legal and dispute resolution, financial and business sectors, were invited to share their experience and explore Hong Kongs unique advantages from different perspectives. They all agreed that Hong Kong is still the best place for investment, deal-making and dispute resolution services, thereby reaffirming Hong Kongs irreplaceable position to the international community.

Why Hong Kong? What is the competitive edge of Hong Kong? Let me explain from three aspects.

(1) Robust legal infrastructure and financial system

Law and finance are closely intertwined. Hong Kong has a strong legal infrastructure and financial system, which offer a business-friendly environment and a level playing field to international business community. Hong Kongs solid legal foundation includes the well-tested common law system and an open, transparent and independent judiciary.

As the only common law jurisdiction in China, Hong Kongs judicial independence and rule of law have been highly regarded internationally. Article 85 of the Basic Law stipulates that the courts of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall exercise judicial power independently, free from any interference. Meanwhile, Hong Kong cases are often cited in overseas jurisprudence evidencing the confidence and respect of the global legal community in Hong Kongs judicial and legal systems. As pointed out by the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal at the Ceremonial Opening of the Legal Year 2021, [a]n independent judiciary is essential to the rule of law in Hong Kong and the due administration of justice. It is equally crucial to public and business confidence - whether local or overseas - in our judicial system, as well as to the international reputation of Hong Kong as a society that is governed by the rule of law under the one country, two systems arrangement.

According to the late Chief Justice of the UK, Lord Bingham, the meaning of judicial independence is independent in the sense that they (adjudicators) are free to decide on the legal and factual merits of a case as they see it, free of any extraneous influence or pressure, and impartial. Our judicial independence is premised on the solid infrastructure that has been laid down primarily in the Basic Law. Judges discharge their judicial functions in accordance with law and evidence, free from any interference. I fully agree with the statement made by Lord Sumption, a Non-Permanent Justice of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, published in The Times in March: The permanent judiciary of Hong Kong is completely committed to judicial independence and the rule of law. Successive chief justices have made this clear in public statements. These statements are not just lip service. They represent the convictions of experienced, courageous and independent-minded judges.

At the same time, Hong Kong has a robust financial system with independent regulatory bodies such as the Monetary Authority and the Securities & Futures Commission overseeing the normal operation of the financial market.

Financial laws and initiatives in Hong Kong are conducive to business development. For instance, the subsidy schemes launched by the Government to capture various emerging opportunities, the Limited Partnership Fund Bill passed in July 2020, the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Tax Concessions for Carried Interest) Bill 2021 passed this April, and the legislative proposals of introducing a fund re-domiciliation mechanism in Hong Kong, will all help attract more investment funds to set foot in Hong Kong, entrenching Hong Kongs position as an international financial centre.

(2) Hong Kong has professionals equipped with international perspectives

A robust system also needs to be backed by a sufficient amount of professionals and bodies. As a pluralistic and open international hub, Hong Kong has a pool of experienced professionals with international perspectives not just in legal and dispute resolution sectors but also in areas such as financial services, accounting, engineering, shipping and information technology.

In respect of the legal sector, we have about 12,500 barristers and solicitors, and more than 1,525 registered foreign lawyers from different jurisdictions as well as 86 foreign law firms in Hong Kong at the moment, providing services on cross-border and international legal issues.

As a seat of arbitration, Hong Kong is consistently in the top league in the world ranking. Hong Kong is ranked the third most preferred seat for arbitration worldwide by the 2021 International Arbitration Survey released by Queen Mary University of London recently in May. It is a recognition of our long-standing and unwavering commitment to the promotion of arbitral services.

(3) Ample business opportunities

Hong Kong offers first-rate professional financial services, providing local, Mainland and overseas companies a sound business environment. The data below fully demonstrates Hong Kongs position as an international financial centre:

(i) Hong Kong has one of the worlds most vibrant equity markets. In seven of the past 12 years, Hong Kong has been the number one initial public offering (IPO) venue globally. In 2020 alone, $397.5 billion were raised in the Hong Kong IPO market - the highest amount raised in a single year since 2010.

(ii) Hong Kong is the world's largest offshore renminbi (RMB) business hub, handling more than 70% of global offshore RMB payments. The total deposits reached RMB788.8 billion at the end of February 2021.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong enjoys distinctive advantages under the one country, two systems. In the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), the central government explicitly supports Hong Kong to enhance its status in the four traditional sectors - as international financial, transportation and trade centres as well as a centre for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region. Leveraging the unique feature of the one country, two systems and three jurisdictions in the GBA, the Department of Justice has been actively implementing new measures, such as:

(i) Co-operation mechanism for cross border insolvency and debt restructuring

The record of meeting concerning mutual recognition of and assistance to insolvency proceedings between the courts of the Mainland and the Hong Kong SAR was signed with the Supreme Peoples Court and on May 14, initiating the co-operation between the Mainland and Hong Kong on mutual recognition of and assistance to insolvency and debt restructuring proceedings.

This new co-operation mechanism has achieved two major breakthroughs: Hong Kong becomes the only jurisdiction outside the Mainland where mutual recognition of and assistance to insolvency proceedings are allowed; and the mechanism expressly covers bankruptcy compromise and reorganisation in the Mainland as well as debt restructuring in Hong Kong, which is much more extensive and in-depth than the relevant provisions in the UNCITRAL (United Nations Commission on International Trade Law) Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency issued in 1997.

(ii) Interim measures arrangement for arbitration

With the Arrangement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Court-ordered Interim Measures in Aid of Arbitral Proceedings by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong SAR taking effect in October 2019, Hong Kong became the first jurisdiction outside the Mainland where, as a seat of arbitration, parties to arbitral proceedings are able to apply to the Mainland courts for interim measures (such as property freezing and evidence collection). As of May 21, the total value of assets preserved under the arrangement amounted to approximately US$1.6 billion.

These arrangements are unique to arbitration and legal proceedings in Hong Kong. They facilitate the development of the business and legal sectors in the GBA and then the entire Mainland.

Looking forward, the shift of the global economy is moving to Asia. The webinar series answered some Why Hong Kong questions, and further promoted the international communitys understanding of Hong Kong unique advantages, which in turn strengthened the confidence in Hong Kongs long-term economic development and competitiveness. I look forward to our continued co-operation with the AAIL to illustrate Hong Kongs irreplaceable role to different sectors.

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng wrote this article and posted it on her blog on June 28.

This story has been published on: 2021-06-28. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Hong Kong: 3 imported COVID-19 cases detected

The Centre for Health Protection today said it is investigating three additional COVID-19 cases involving two women and one man who arrived from the UK, Indonesia and Namibia.

A total of 40 cases were reported in Hong Kong in the past 14 days, including two local cases, of which one has an unknown infection source.

As community testing centres and mobile specimen collection stations were closed this morning due to adverse weather, the testing deadlines for the compulsory testing notices announced on June 26 and 27 will be extended by one day.

The centre also reminded specified people linked to Block 10 of Tai Po Centre in Tai Po to undergo testing in accordance with the compulsory testing notice on June 29.

For information and health advice on COVID-19, visit the Government's dedicated webpage.

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South Africa: SOEs should be at the forefront of the economy: President

President Cyril Ramaphosa says state-owned enterprises (SOEs) should be at the forefront of economic and social transformation.

They are responsible for providing the infrastructure and the services on which the economy depends, whether it be in the generation of electricity, commuter transport, water provision, freight logistics or telecommunications, President Ramaphosa said.

In his weekly newsletter, President Ramaphosa said it is important to remember that the state does not own these companies simply for the sake of it, or because this is what the democratic government inherited from the apartheid state.

Rather, our approach to state ownership is informed by the need for the effective functioning of key network industries, such as energy and ports, and by the need to ensure that the basic needs of all South Africans, particularly the poor, can be met, President Ramaphosa said on Monday.

He said successive democratic administrations have supported the idea of a mixed economy, comprising public, private and forms of collective ownership.

The balance between these different forms of ownership should be determined by the developmental needs of the country.

We firmly believe that public ownership is necessary in critical sectors of the economy and that the country needs robust SOEs that are able to drive economic growth and transformation.

This is particularly the case in the delivery of public goods such as electricity and water, where SOEs are able to pursue a developmental mandate in the public interest as opposed to a purely commercial one, the President said.

President Ramaphosa said government has made it a priority to turn the SOEs around to root out corruption, to improve their governance and to enable them to play the role they should in driving economic growth and employment creation.

To this end, we have embarked upon a number of reforms to strengthen these SOEs so that they can produce the results that the country needs and expects.

These reforms are not intended to weaken the public sector or to reduce its role, but to make it a more dynamic and effective part of our economy, the President said.

President Ramaphosa said given the number of SOEs and the differences between them, government is not applying a blanket policy to these reforms.

President Ramaphosa said an intervention that works for one SOE may not be appropriate for another, requiring a case-by-case approach.

Restructuring Eskom

One of the most important reforms is in the energy sector. We have begun the process of restructuring Eskom into three different state-owned entities, responsible for generation, transmission and distribution respectively.

This is because the previous structure of Eskom was ill-suited for a changing energy landscape. It had become inefficient and costly and was not sufficiently transparent, the President said.

The establishment of a transmission entity in particular will mean that Eskom will be able to purchase power from a broader range of providers, both private and public.

President Ramaphosa said the reforms will give Eskom the space to address its financial and operational challenges.

National Ports Authority

With regard to ports, President Ramaphosa said establishing the National Ports Authority as a Transnet subsidiary with its own board will, among other things, mean that revenues generated by the ports can be used to replace old equipment and upgrade and expand ports, work which has been delayed for more than a decade.

It will also encourage the ports authority to treat all terminal operators fairly and equally in the interests of port users.  SAnews.gov.za

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South Africa: Policy for regulation of university fees underway

Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande says the development of a policy framework for the regulation of university fees is underway to ensure that fees are kept at affordable levels for all families that need assistance.

These efforts in the long-term aim to ensure that going forward all students are able to access some form of financial support for their university studies. However, without substantial additional funding being available in the sector, student debt will continue to be a problem, Nzimande said.

The Minister was speaking during a hybrid National Elective Conference of the South African Union of Students (SAUS) on Sunday.

The 8th elective conference is being held at the University of Venda, under the theme Dismantling all barriers besetting university entry and placing SAUS at the centre of creating a sustainable post-school education and training sector.

Addressing the conference, Nzimande said concerns have been raised about withholding academic records of students who have outstanding fees by institutions, and he has had several engagements with universities regarding the matter.

All institutions have agreed to provide a certificate of completion to potential employers where students have met all the requirements for graduation, but still have university debt. Academic transcripts are also provided by institutions where they are required, Nzimande said.

However, Nzimande said he has learnt that there are students who are still unable to access their academic records, and the department is constantly engaging with Registrars of institutions where such cases are brought to the attention of the department.

Following a meeting that I had with South African Union of Students (SAUS) earlier this year, Universities South Africa (USAf) has initiated a process to work towards a system-wide approach to the issue of student transcripts and certificates and outstanding fees. I am aware that USAf has started this process and hopes to conclude it soon.

Student Housing Infrastructure Programme

On student accommodation, the Minister said the department, together with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), has established a Student Housing Infrastructure Programme (SHIP) to centrally facilitate the construction of student accommodation.

Our aim is to address the shortage of student housing and accelerate the development of at least 300 000 beds over a ten-year period, and we are working towards delivering even more than this, the Minister said.

The University of Fort Hare, Nelson Mandela University, University of North West and University of Western Cape, Sefako Makgatho University, and University of Limpopo are the first beneficiaries of SHIP Phase 1 developments.

Phase 1 SHIP developments enabled an investment of about R3.5 billion, including the DBSA commitment of R1.6 million debt funding for 12 000 student beds. Phase 2 SHIP developments comprise of about 24 000 student beds of 12 institutions including six universities.

I recently launched the Alice Student Village at the University of Fort Hare, and was proud to see the fruits of this work, the Minister said.

While focus is on development of student housing, the Minister said the department continues to pay attention to the existing infrastructure maintenance, noting that some of the institutions, especially in the most disadvantaged areas, have facilities that have not been maintained and are in poor condition.

New Gauteng universities underway

Meanwhile, the Minister has confirmed that plans are underway for the establishment of two new universities in Gauteng, as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the State of the Nation address in February 2020.

A steering committee to oversee the feasibility study has been put in place and is due to be completed next year. The University of Science and Innovation will be established at Ekurhuleni, the only metro without a university, Nzimande said.  SAnews.gov.za

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South Africa: Winter school break to now end on 19 July

Schools in South Africa will now reopen on 19 July, a week earlier, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced.

This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday announced schools would close this week instead of 9 July as the country moves to Adjusted Alert Level 4 lockdown to tackle the third wave and ease the burden on the healthcare workers.

On Sunday, the President told the nation that schools will shut their doors from Wednesday, 30 June and no longer 2 July 2021.

Motshekga said the Council of Education Ministers unanimously agreed that all learners in public, independent and private schools should close this coming Wednesday.

Meanwhile, she told journalists that the School Management Teams, teachers, learners in hostel facilities and those with special education needs have until Friday, 2 July.

The Minister was addressing the media in the Free State on the Basic Education sectors response to the impact of COVID-19 on schooling on Monday.

Public schools will come back from the winter vacation early, on 19 July 2021, instead of 26 July 2021 as it was originally scheduled in the 2021 school calendar, said the Minister.

According to Motshekga, all necessary arrangements will be made to continue with the feeding scheme, while the winter vacation learner support programme for Grades 11 and 12 will still operate under strict COVID-19 conditions.

The Minister said the May/June 2021 supplementary examinations would be undisrupted because very few candidates sit for the assessment.

In addition, schools designated as vaccination sites must remain open to continue with the inoculation programme.

It is important that we all work together to complete the vaccination as soon as possible, she said.

According to the Minister, there are now over 200 000 staffers who have been vaccinated in the sector and is confident that the department will meet the target of inoculating 582 564 by next week.

Meanwhile, Free State is planning to wrap up its education sector inoculation programme by Friday this week.

The Minister said the sector would remain vigilant in monitoring the developments of the epidemiology, working closely with the Health Department including the earlier pronounced full attendance of primary school learners from the first day of the third school term.

Motshekga has encouraged the learners to tune into WOZA Matrics 2021 Catch-Up Programme and take part in the Tswelopele Campaigns.

The campaigns provide digital and non-digital learning resources through the DBE-TV on Open-View Channel 122, SABC 1, DStv Catch-Up and YouTube channels, as well as digital and mobile chat platforms.

These platforms were put in place to minimise the negative impact of COVID-19 on learning, and to provide further learning opportunities in the context of the restrictions that are currently in place.

She has urged learners to remain safe by not gathering in crowds, applying hygiene practices and avoiding activities that may expose them to infections.  SAnews.gov.za

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South Africa: Hunt for KZN man who allegedly killed girlfriend

KwaZulu-Natal Social Development MEC Nonhlanhla Khoza has called on the police to urgently track down a man who allegedly locked his girlfriend in a shack and set it alight in Ixobho, southern KwaZulu-Natal.

According to reports, the man allegedly set alight the shack he was staying in with his girlfriend in Fairview informal settlement, after the couple had an altercation.

The woman was rescued by neighbours who heard her screams inside the burning shack.

The victim was rushed to hospital with serious burn injuries on her body and unfortunately all attempts by medical practitioners to save the victim's life failed and she succumbed to her injuries.

The alleged perpetrator is still at large.

Khoza has condemned the incident and urged the police to work day and night to ensure that the alleged perpetrator involved in this horrible murder is found, so that he can face the law.

He killed a human being in such a horrible manner and he should never be let off the hook," Khoza said in a statement on Monday.

The MEC also called on the public to work closely with the police to trace the whereabouts of the alleged perpetrator, warning that no one should relax while the province is faced by high incidents of gender-based violence (GBV).

"Our communities should work with the department to isolate all those involved in GBV. We cannot sit on our laurels while women and children suffer in the hands of criminals who once claimed they loved them," Khoza said.

She added that GBV incidents are highly unacceptable and embarrassing to the nation, and such incidents have a negative impact on the gains of democracy in the province.

"Currently, we are responding to many cases of women and children murders in the province. This indicates that our people have lost Ubuntu.

The other incident that happened in KwaNongoma where a pensioner and her grandchild were stabbed to death by criminals who wanted to rob them of grant money is very concerning. We have full confidence in our police that they will soon track down the perpetrator so that the law would take its course" the MEC said.

Khoza has sent her heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family of the victim.

"We know the pain the family is going through right now. We wish them strength during this difficult time.  SAnews.gov.za

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RTHK: Russia, China extend friendship treaty, hail ties

The leaders of China and Russia on Monday announced the extension of a 20-year-old friendship treaty, hailing increasingly close ties and the "stabilising role" of their relationship.

The Kremlin published a joint statement from Russia and China to mark two decades since the treaty was signed, as Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping held a televised meeting by video link.

The past several years have marked a period of intensified cooperation for Moscow and Beijing as the two global powers face common tensions with the United States.

The two countries have developed economic, military and energy ties while supporting each other on a number of issues, especially when faced with criticism from the West.

Putin said the friendship treaty has brought relations to an "unprecedented height" and that in February 2022 it will be extended for another five years.

He hailed the accord - which he signed in 2001 with China's former president Jiang Zemin - as a "fundamental international legal document" and said that Russia-China cooperation "plays a stabilising role in global affairs".

"As the world has entered a period of turbulence and change, and humanity faces various risks, close Sino-Russian cooperation brings positive energy to the international community," Xi said, according to a transcript released by the Kremlin.

He said relations between Russia and China "set an example for the formation of a new type of international relations". (AFP)

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Mountaintop glacier ice disappearing in tropics around the world

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Mountaintop glacier ice in the tropics of all four hemispheres covers significantly less area -- in one case as much as 93% less -- than it did just 50 years ago, a new study has found.

The study, published online recently in the journal Global and Planetary Change, found that a glacier near Puncak Jaya, in Papua New Guinea, lost about 93% of its ice over a 38-year period from 1980 to 2018. Between 1986 and 2017 the area covered by glaciers on top of Kilimanjaro in Africa decreased by nearly 71%.

The study is the first to combine NASA satellite imagery with data from ice cores drilled during field expeditions on tropical glaciers around the world. That combination shows that climate change is causing these glaciers, which have long been sources of water for nearby communities, to disappear and indicates that those glaciers have lost ice more quickly in recent years.

The two datasets allowed the researchers to quantify exactly how much ice has been lost from glaciers in the tropics. Those glaciers are "the canaries in the coal mines," said Lonnie Thompson, lead author of the study, distinguished university professor of Earth Sciences at The Ohio State University and senior research scientist at Ohio State's Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center.

"These are in the most remote parts of our planet--they're not next to big cities, so you don't have a local pollution effect," Thompson said. "These glaciers are sentinels, they're early warning systems for the planet, and they all are saying the same thing."

The study compared changes in the area covered by glaciers in four regions: Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the Andes in Peru and Bolivia, the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas of Central and South Asia, and ice fields in Papua, New Guinea, Indonesia. Thompson has led expeditions to all these glaciers and recovered ice cores from each. The cores are long columns of ice that act as timelines of sorts for the regions' climates over centuries to millennia. As snow falls on a glacier each year, it is buried and compressed to form ice layers that trap and preserve the chemistry of snow and whatever is in the atmosphere, including pollutants and biological material such as plants and pollen. Researchers can study those layers and determine what was in the air at the time the ice formed.

One image taken in 2019 of the top of Huascaran, the highest tropical mountain in the world, shows ice retreating upslope and exposing the rock beneath. Analyses performed by researchers at the University of Colorado showed that the area of the glacier ice on top of that mountain decreased by nearly 19% from 1970 to 2003. In 2020, the surface area of the Quelccaya Ice Cap, the second-largest glaciated area in the tropics, had decreased by 46% from 1976, the year Thompson drilled the first ice core from its summit.

Around the time of Thompson's first expedition, NASA launched the first version of its Landsat mission. Landsat is a collection of satellites that photograph Earth's surface and has been in operation in various forms since 1972. It offers the longest continuous space-based record of Earth's land, ice and water.

"We are in this unique position where we have ice core records from these mountaintops, and Landsat has these detailed images of the glaciers, and if we combine those two data sets, we see clearly what is happening," Thompson said.

Glaciers in the tropics respond more quickly to climate change and as they exist in the warmest areas of the world, they can survive only at very high altitudes where the climate is colder. Before Earth's atmosphere warmed, the precipitation there fell as snow. Now, much of it falls as rain that causes the existing ice to melt even faster.

"You're not sustaining the ice at the highest elevations anymore," said co-author Christopher Shuman, associate research professor at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County and associate research scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. "It's this interplay between the warm air lower down melting away the margins of the ice fields while the very highest elevations are still cold enough to get a certain amount of snowfall, but not enough to sustain the ice cap to the dimensions it once was."

That could have profound repercussions for people who live near those glaciers.

The study details the story of one community near the Quelccaya Ice Cap, and the aftermath of a flood caused by massive amounts of ice that fell from the glacier into a nearby glacial lake. The flood destroyed fields that one farming family had spent years cultivating and so frightened the family that they moved four hours away from the community to start a new life in the city.

In Papua New Guinea, the ice has cultural significance for many of the indigenous people who live near the ice fields, as they consider the ice to be the head of their god. Thompson believes the ice fields there will disappear entirely within two or three years.

It is too late for those glaciers, Thompson said, but not too late to attempt to slow the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere, which are causing the planet to warm.

"The science doesn't change the trajectory we're on -- regardless of how clear the science is, we need something to happen to change that trajectory," he said.

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Other Byrd Center researchers who collaborated on this study include Mary E. Davis, Ellen Mosley-Thompson, and Stacy Porter. Peruvian scientist Gustavo Valdivia Corrales contributed research from the Andes, and Compton J. Tucker of NASA collaborated on satellite imagery. Ice core drilling expeditions were supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Ethnographic fieldwork in Peru was supported in part by Johns Hopkins University.

CONTACTS: Lonnie Thompson, thompson.3@osu.edu

Christopher Shuman, cshuman@umbc.edu

Written by Laura Arenschield, arenschield.2@osu.edu

This story has been published on: 2021-06-28. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
K-12 students honored as climate educators

LOWELL, Mass. - UMass Lowell's annual Cool Science contest, which calls on K-12 students in Massachusetts and the Midwest to help teach the public about climate change, has honored a Bay State second-grader as this year's top winner.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, Cool Science teaches young people about science and art by asking them to create displays that illustrate concepts behind climate change. Adapting the competition in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the best of these submissions from contest years 2020, 2021 and 2022 will appear in and on transit-authority buses in Massachusetts, Kansas and Missouri next year, with the goal of educating tens of thousands of passengers and others each day. More than 4,000 students have participated in Cool Science since it began in 2012.

Margaret Deglialberti of Boylston, a student at Boylston Elementary School, is the 2021 recipient of the UMass Lowell David Lustick Award, presented to the competition's overall winner. Margaret and the contest's other winners from Massachusetts will have their artwork displayed in and on Merrimack Valley and Worcester regional transit authority buses next year.

Cool Science winners and runners-up, their parents, teachers and mentors involved in the program were honored during online award celebrations this month held for participants from across Massachusetts, Kansas and Missouri.

The researchers behind Cool Science are studying how effective the student artwork is in teaching people about science.

"We've found that bus riders have increased knowledge about the science topics covered in the students' art after the artwork is exhibited on public buses. The students' work is engaging and easy to process for the general public, thus it provides an easy avenue for adult learning in informal spaces. We are excited to be engaging youth artists in science learning while also growing informal science education on public transit," said College of Education Associate Prof. Jill Lohmeier of Acton, who presented the Lustick Award to Margaret.

The honor is named in memory of David Lustick, a former Nashua, N.H., resident and UMass Lowell College of Education professor who was a nationally recognized champion of environmental education. Lustick and Lohmeier co-founded Cool Science to study the effectiveness of using public artwork to stimulate interest in learning more about scientific concepts.

Lohmeier continues this work with UMass Lowell Associate Prof. Stephen Mishol, chairman of the Art and Design Department; Prof. Robert Chen, interim dean and professor in the UMass Boston School for the Environment; and researchers from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, University of Kansas and Kansas City Art Institute.

"I'm learning so much from viewing the students' art. By blending art and science approaches in the development of their responses to the Cool Science contest's questions, the students are proving that the future is bright. The next generation is ready to tackle the really complex problem of climate change with their innovative and creative ideas," Chen said.

Mishol, one of the contest's judges, is impressed each year by the quality of the artwork submitted.

"As an artist, I'm always fascinated to see how these young people are able to use their experiences and imagination to create images that engage and educate the public on the important subject of extreme weather. The students work with a variety of media: drawing, painting, and collage, as well as digital image-making technology, and create work that is both scientifically informed and creatively inventive. Varied and quite often skillful and accomplished, the images continue to show they have the ability to transcend traditional boundaries, connecting and communicating with people across a wide segment of the community," he said.

Students from across Massachusetts chose to compete to have their artwork displayed on either Worcester or Merrimack Valley regional transit authority buses. In addition to Margaret, 2021 contest winners whose entries will be shown on the Worcester lines include:

Xavier Cardenales of Westfield, a fourth-grader at Munger Hill Elementary School;

Ruby Henry of Montague, an eighth-grader at Four Rivers Charter School;

JenaRose Zawalski of Belchertown, a seventh-grader with Pioneer Valley Homeschoolers;

Anna Alcorn of Amherst, a sophomore at Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School;

Sarah Nicholson of Hadley, a freshman at Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School.

Contest runners-up also honored include:

Elijaah and Yeremiah Fagan of Leominster, a fourth- and fifth-grader, respectively, at Johnny Appleseed Elementary School;

Kona McConkey of North Hampton, a third-grader with Pioneer Valley Homeschoolers;

Miroslav Wang of Amherst, a sixth-grader at Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School;

Paolo Kago of Brockton, a senior at Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School;

Jack Vaughan of Rochester, a junior at Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School;

Brittany Riley of Stoughton, a junior at Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School.

Contest winners whose artwork will appear on Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority buses include:

Zoya Pathan of Lowell, a third-grader at Islamic Academy for Peace;

Annalise Philpot of Westford, a fifth-grader at Stony Brook Middle School;

Anushka Takede of Westford, a sixth-grader at Stony Brook Middle School;

Sherry Ye of Westford, a sixth-grader at Stony Brook Middle School;

Heiel Gomez of Lowell, a junior at Greater Lowell Technical High School;

Desmond Marrero of Lowell, a senior at Greater Lowell Technical High School.

Runners-up also honored include:

Ailyn Craig, a second-grader from Middleborough;

Soriya Soeun of Chelmsford, a fourth-grader at South Row Elementary School;

Dhiren Kamesh of Westford, a fourth-grader at Norman E. Day Elementary School;

Annabelle Schneider of Somerville, a fifth-grader at John F. Kennedy Elementary School;

Cora Hogan of Whitman, a fourth-grader at Louise A. Conley Elementary School;

Ocean Farinella of Beverly, a home-schooled seventh-grader;

Sabina Lochtefeld of Ipswich, a sixth-grader with Pioneer Valley Homeschoolers;

Leo Huang of Westford, a sixth-grader at Stony Brook Middle School;

Benjamin Hart of Westford, a sixth-grader at Stony Brook Middle School;

Alyssa Bellardino of Middleborough, a freshman at Middleborough High School;

Mikayla Begeal of Lowell, a senior at Greater Lowell Technical High School;

Andrew Long of Newbury, a sophomore at Newburyport High School.

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UMass Lowell is a national research university offering its more than 18,000 students bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in business, education, engineering, fine arts, health, humanities, sciences and social sciences. UMass Lowell delivers high-quality educational programs and personal attention from leading faculty and staff, all of which prepare graduates to be leaders in their communities and around the globe. http://www. uml. edu

This story has been published on: 2021-06-28. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Are we missing other earths?

Some exoplanet searches could be missing nearly half of the Earth-sized planets around other stars. New findings from a team using the international Gemini Observatory and the WIYN 3.5-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory suggest that Earth-sized worlds could be lurking undiscovered in binary star systems, hidden in the glare of their parent stars. As roughly half of all stars are in binary systems, this means that astronomers could be missing many Earth-sized worlds.

Earth-sized planets may be much more common than previously realized. Astronomers working at NASA Ames Research Center have used the twin telescopes of the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF's NOIRLab, to determine that many planet-hosting stars identified by NASA's TESS exoplanet-hunting mission [1] are actually pairs of stars -- known as binary stars -- where the planets orbit one of the stars in the pair. After examining these binary stars, the team has concluded that Earth-sized planets in many two-star systems might be going unnoticed by transit searches like TESS's, which look for changes in the light from a star when a planet passes in front of it [2]. The light from the second star makes it more difficult to detect the changes in the host star's light when the planet transits.

The team started out by trying to determine whether some of the exoplanet host stars identified with TESS were actually unknown binary stars. Physical pairs of stars that are close together can be mistaken for single stars unless they are observed at extremely high resolution. So the team turned to both Gemini telescopes to inspect a sample of exoplanet host stars in painstaking detail. Using a technique called speckle imaging [3], the astronomers set out to see whether they could spot undiscovered stellar companions.

Using the `Alopeke and Zorro instruments on the Gemini North and South telescopes in Chile and Hawai'i, respectively, [4] the team observed hundreds of nearby stars that TESS had identified as potential exoplanet hosts. They discovered that 73 of these stars are really binary star systems that had appeared as single points of light until observed at higher resolution with Gemini. "With the Gemini Observatory's 8.1-meter telescopes, we obtained extremely high-resolution images of exoplanet host stars and detected stellar companions at very small separations," said Katie Lester of NASA's Ames Research Center, who led this work.

Lester's team also studied an additional 18 binary stars previously found among the TESS exoplanet hosts using the NN-EXPLORE Exoplanet and Stellar Speckle Imager (NESSI) on the WIYN 3.5-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, also a Program of NSF's NOIRLab.

After identifying the binary stars, the team compared the sizes of the detected planets in the binary star systems to those in single-star systems. They realized that the TESS spacecraft found both large and small exoplanets orbiting single stars, but only large planets in binary systems.

These results imply that a population of Earth-sized planets could be lurking in binary systems and going undetected using the transit method employed by TESS and many other planet-hunting telescopes. Some scientists had suspected that transit searches might be missing small planets in binary systems, but the new study provides observational support to back it up and shows which sizes of exoplanets are affected [5].

"We have shown that it is more difficult to find Earth-sized planets in binary systems because small planets get lost in the glare of their two parent stars," Lester stated. "Their transits are 'filled in' by the light from the companion star," added Steve Howell of NASA's Ames Research Center, who leads the speckle imaging effort and was involved in this research.

"Since roughly 50% of stars are in binary systems, we could be missing the discovery of -- and the chance to study -- a lot of Earth-like planets," Lester concluded.

The possibility of these missing worlds means that astronomers will need to use a variety of observational techniques before concluding that a given binary star system has no Earth-like planets. "Astronomers need to know whether a star is single or binary before they claim that no small planets exist in that system," explained Lester. "If it's single, then you could say that no small planets exist. But if the host is in a binary, you wouldn't know whether a small planet is hidden by the companion star or does not exist at all. You would need more observations with a different technique to figure that out."

As part of their study, Lester and her colleagues also analyzed how far apart the stars are in the binary systems where TESS had detected large planets. The team found that the stars in the exoplanet-hosting pairs were typically farther apart than binary stars not known to have planets [6]. This could suggest that planets do not form around stars that have close stellar companions.

"This speckle imaging survey illustrates the critical need for NSF telescope facilities to characterize newly discovered planetary systems and develop our understanding of planetary populations," said National Science Foundation Division of Astronomical Sciences Program Officer Martin Still.

"This is a major finding in exoplanet work," Howell commented. "The results will help theorists create their models for how planets form and evolve in double-star systems."

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Notes

[1] TESS is the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, a NASA mission designed to search for planets orbiting other stars in a survey of around 75% of the entire night sky. The mission launched in 2018 and has detected more than 3500 candidate exoplanets, of which more than 130 have been confirmed. The satellite looks for exoplanets by observing their host stars; a transiting exoplanet causes a subtle but measurable dip in the brightness of its host star as it crosses in front of the star and blocks some of its light.

[2] The transit technique is one way of discovering exoplanets. It involves looking for regular decreases in the light of a star that could be caused by a planet passing in front of or "transiting" the star and blocking some of the starlight.

[3] Speckle imaging is an astronomical technique that allows astronomers to see past the blur of the atmosphere by taking many quick observations in rapid succession. By combining these observations, it is possible to cancel out the blurring effect of the atmosphere, which affects ground-based astronomy by causing stars in the night sky to twinkle.

[4] `Alopeke & Zorro are identical imaging instruments permanently mounted on the Gemini North and South telescopes. Their names mean "fox" in Hawaiian and Spanish, respectively, reflecting their respective locations on Maunakea in Hawai?i and on Cerro Pachon in Chile.

[5] The team found that planets twice the size of Earth or smaller could not be detected using the transit method when observing binary systems.

[6] Lester's team found that the exoplanet-hosting binary stars they identified had average separations of about 100 astronomical units. (An astronomical unit is the average distance between the Sun and Earth.) Binary stars that are not known to host planets are typically separated by around 40 astronomical units.

More information

This research is presented in the paper "Speckle Observations of TESS Exoplanet Host Stars. II. Stellar Companions at 1-1000 AU and Implications for Small Planet Detection" to appear in the Astronomical Journal.

The team is composed of Kathryn V. Lester (NASA Ames Research Center), Rachel A. Matson (US Naval Observatory), Steve B. Howell (NASA Ames Research Center), Elise Furlan (Exoplanet Science Institute, Caltech), Crystal L. Gnilka (NASA Ames Research Center), Nicholas J. Scott (NASA Ames Research Center), David R. Ciardi (Exoplanet Science Institute, Caltech), Mark E. Everett (NSF's NOIRLab), Zachary D. Hartman (Lowell Observatory & Department of Physics & Astronomy, Georgia State University), and Lea A. Hirsch (Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University).

NSF's NOIRLab (National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory), the US center for ground-based optical-infrared astronomy, operates the international Gemini Observatory (a facility of NSF, NRC-Canada, ANID-Chile, MCTIC-Brazil, MINCyT-Argentina, and KASI-Republic of Korea), Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC), and Vera C. Rubin Observatory (operated in cooperation with the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory). It is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF and is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. The astronomical community is honored to have the opportunity to conduct astronomical research on Iolkam Du'ag (Kitt Peak) in Arizona, on Maunakea in Hawai'i, and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachon in Chile. We recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that these sites have to the Tohono O'odham Nation, to the Native Hawaiian community, and to the local communities in Chile, respectively.

Links

Research paper

Photos of the Gemini North Telescope

Photos of the Gemini South Telescope

Videos of the Gemini telescopes

`Alopeke & Zorro Speckle Imagers

Contacts

Katie Lester

NASA's Ames Research Center

Email: kathryn.v.lester@nasa.gov

Steve Howell

NASA Ames Research Center

Cell: +1 520 461 6925

Email: steve.b.howell@nasa.gov

Amanda Kocz

Press and Internal Communications Officer

NSF's NOIRLab

Cell: +1 626 524 5884

Email: amanda.kocz@noirlab.edu

This story has been published on: 2021-06-28. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Public opinion surveys on vaccine hesitancy can help predict where vaccine uptake is likely to be lower

Public opinion surveys could be used more widely to understand regional variation in vaccine hesitancy, experts have recommended.

The research shows vaccine uptake rates for childhood vaccines are significantly lower in regions where hesitancy observed in mass public opinion surveys is more pronounced.

This data is often not widely available, which makes it challenging for experts to analyse the links between attitudes and real-world behaviour. The study says this data should be used by public health officials to understand where vaccines are more likely to be rejected, and who should be the target of information campaigns.

The research published in the journal Vaccine, was carried out by Dr Florian Stoeckel and Professor Jason Reifler from the University of Exeter, Professor Ben Lyons from the University of Utah and Charlie Carter from the London School of Economics.

They analysed regional level data for the EU from 2019 for the uptake of various childhood vaccines in 177 regions of 20 European countries - DTP3 (diphtheria, tetanus toxoids, and pertussis), MCV1 (the first dose of the measles-containing vaccine), and MCV2 (second dose of the measles vaccine) for 2019. Data on vaccine hesitancy was taken from the Eurobarometer survey of Spring 2019, which included about 1,000 respondents from each EU country except for Luxembourg, Cyprus, and Malta, where about 500 individuals were interviewed.

Dr Stoeckel said: "Our analysis shows public opinion surveys can play a valuable role in public health as a tool to understand immunization behaviour. It is currently high time for more opinion surveys on citizens' attitudes towards vaccines. Assessing the link between survey responses and actual uptake is important, because public opinion survey data on vaccine hesitancy is only useful if it is in fact related to behaviour."

"We found statistically significantly lower regional vaccine immunization rates in regions where vaccine hesitancy is more pronounced. Surveys can be used to observe where vaccine uptake is likely to be low (when vaccine uptake data is incomplete) and to learn from regions with high uptake (despite high vaccine hesitancy) so that best practices could be applied elsewhere."

Vaccine uptake for the childhood vaccines that we examined differs both between countries and within countries. Most national uptake rates of the childhood vaccines examined are above 90 percent. For instance, average national level uptake of the MCV1 vaccine varies between 85.94 percent in Cyprus and 99.87 percent in Hungary. However, there is a considerable amount of variation within countries. Uptake of MCV1 in Croatia ranges from 73.24 percent to 98.38 percent.

The analysis shows average country level vaccine hesitancy is lowest in Denmark and highest in Latvia. The least vaccine hesitant sub-national region in Latvia is more vaccinate hesitant than the most vaccine-hesitant region in Denmark.

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This story has been published on: 2021-06-28. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
New, third type of supernova observed

An international team of astronomers has observed the first example of a new type of supernova. The discovery, confirming a prediction made four decades ago, could lead to new insights into the life and death of stars. The work is published June 28 in Nature Astronomy.

"One of the main questions in astronomy is to compare how stars evolve and how they die," said Stefano Valenti, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Davis, and a member of the team that discovered and described supernova 2018zd. "There are many links still missing, so this is very exciting."

There are two known types of supernova. A core-collapse supernova occurs when a massive star, more than 10 times the mass of our sun, runs out of fuel and its core collapses into a black hole or neutron star. A thermonuclear supernova occurs when a white dwarf star -- the remains of a star up to eight times the mass of the sun -- explodes.

In 1980, Ken'ichi Nomoto of the University of Tokyo predicted a third type called an electron capture supernova.

What keeps most stars from collapsing under their own gravity is the energy produced in their central core. In an electron capture supernova, as the core runs out of fuel, gravity forces electrons in the core into their atomic nuclei, causing the star to collapse in on itself.

Evidence from late spectrum

Supernova 2018zd was detected in March 2018, about three hours after the explosion. Archival images from the Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope showed a faint object that was likely the star before explosion. The supernova is relatively close to Earth, at a distance of about 31 million light years in galaxy NGC2146.

The team, led by Daichi Hiramatsu, graduate student at UC Santa Barbara and Las Cumbres Observatory, collected data on the supernova over the next two years. Astronomers from UC Davis, including Valenti and graduate students Azalee Bostroem and Yize Dong, contributed a spectral analysis of the supernova two years after the explosion, one of the lines of evidence demonstrating that 2018zd was an electron capture supernova.

"We had a really exquisite, really complete dataset following its rise and fade," Bostroem said. That included very late data collected with the 10-meter telescope at the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, Dong added.

Theory predicts that electron capture supernovae should show an unusual stellar chemical spectrum years later.

"The Keck spectra we observed clearly confirm that SN 2018zd is our best candidate to be an electron capture supernova," Valenti said.

The late spectrum data were not the only piece of the puzzle. The team looked through all published data on supernovae, and found that while some had a few of the indicators predicted for electron capture supernovae, only SN 2018zd had all six: an apparent progenitor star of the Super-Asymptotic Giant Branch (SAGB) type; strong pre-supernova mass loss; an unusual stellar chemical spectrum; a weak explosion; little radioactivity; and a neutron-rich core.

"We started by asking 'what's this weirdo?' Then we examined every aspect of SN 2018zd and realized that all of them can be explained in the electron-capture scenario," Hiramatsu said.

Explaining the Crab Nebula

The new discoveries also illuminate some mysteries of the most famous supernova of the past. In A.D. 1054 a supernova occurred in the Milky Way. According to Chinese records it was so bright that it could be seen in the daytime for 23 days, and at night for nearly two years. The resulting remnant -- the Crab Nebula -- has been studied in great detail. It was previously the best candidate for an electron capture supernova, but this was uncertain partly because the explosion happened nearly a thousand years ago. The new result increases the confidence that the event that formed the Crab Nebula was an electron capture supernova.

"I am very pleased that the electron capture supernova was finally discovered, which my colleagues and I predicted to exist and have a connection to the Crab Nebula 40 years ago. This is a wonderful case of the combination of observations and theory," said Nomoto, who is also an author on the current paper.

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The research is part of the Global Supernova Project, led by Professor Andrew Howell at UCSB and Las Cumbres Observatory. Additional co-authors are: Curtis McCully and Jamison Burke, Las Cumbres Observatory and UCSB; Jared Goldberg and Chengyuan Xu, UCSB; Schuyler Van Dyk and Gagandeep Anand, California Institute of Technology; Keiichi Maeda, Kyoto University; Takashi Moriya, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan; Nozomu Tominaga, Konan University, Kobe, Japan; Griffin Hosseinzadeh, Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian; Iair Arcavi, Tel Aviv University, Israel; Peter Brown, Texas A&M University; Jennifer Andrews, Christopher Bilinski, G. Grant Williams, Paul Smith, Nathan Smith and David Sand, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona; Alexei Filippenko, UC Berkeley; Melina Bersten and Gaston Folatelli, Instituto de Astrofisica de La Plata and Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina; Patrick Kelly, University of Minnesota; Toshi- hide Noguchi, Noguchi Astronomical Observatory and Koichi Itagaki, Itagaki Astronomical Observatory, Japan. The work was partly supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and NASA.

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RTHK: Questions mount over Florida building collapse

Questions mounted on Monday about how a residential building in the Miami area could have collapsed so quickly and violently last week, as the death toll rose to 10 with more than 150 still unaccounted for, and desperate families feared the worst.

Experts are looking at possible pre-existing critical flaws in the structure of the apartment tower in Surfside, near Miami Beach, which pancaked into a pile of smoking rubble in the early hours of Thursday.

Rescue teams from Florida and abroad continued to scour the debris for signs of life, in torrid heat and high humidity, but as the hours dragged on, the outlook grew increasingly grim.

"The search continues, and it will not stop until there is a resolution," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told reporters on Monday.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said a 10th body had been retrieved from the rubble, and put the number of unaccounted for at 151.

"Our detectives are working right now, in real time, to audit this list," Levine Cava said, adding that the numbers were still "very fluid, and they will continue to change."

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Andy Alvarez told ABC that "voids within the building" had been found where survivors could potentially be found, though none had been in recent hours.

"We are holding up for that hope, that faith, that we are going to be able to rescue somebody," he said on Monday on the network's "Good Morning America" programme.

Officials said investigators were at the scene to do a preliminary review to determine if a full investigation of the incident would proceed - an outcome which Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz said seemed likely.

An October 2018 report released by city officials late on Friday revealed fears of "major structural damage" in the Champlain Towers South complex, from the concrete slab under the pool deck to the columns and beams in the parking garage.

"Though some of this damage is minor, most of the concrete deterioration needs to be repaired in a timely fashion," the consultant, Frank Morabito, wrote.

Repairs had been set to begin soon in the 40-year-old building - but did not come soon enough.

Experts who have reviewed video footage of the collapse are now looking at the idea of "progressive collapse" - when an initial failure, perhaps in the parking garage or even below, would have snowballed into tragedy.

"It does appear to start either at or very near the bottom of the structure," Donald Dusenberry, a consulting engineer who has investigated many structural collapses, told The New York Times.

"It's not like there's a failure high and it pancaked down."

DeSantis said debris with "forensic value" was being taken to a large warehouse to be inspected as investigators seek to determine what happened.

Israeli and Mexican engineers and search-and-rescue specialists have joined an army of American workers at the site, backed by two huge cranes and sniffer dogs.

Rescuers have dug an enormous trench - 38 by six by 12 metres - through the mountain of debris, Levine Cava said.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said accommodation was being found for anyone wishing to evacuate the tower's nearly identical "sister" building a block away, though no structural problems have yet been identified there.

"We're not pushing the panic button right now. But there is a serious question there," Burkett told CNN on Monday.

The 12-story oceanfront Champlain Towers South pancaked as residents slept. Surveillance video showed it coming down in a matter of seconds.

Many members of the local Jewish community were among those affected by the tragedy - about half of Surfside's population is Jewish, including many members of the Hasidic Chabad-Lubavitch movement, according to the Israeli media.

So far, four victims have been identified by local police: Gladys and Antonio Lozano, respectively aged 79 and 83; 54-year-old Stacie Fang, whose 15-year-old son was rescued from the debris on Thursday; and Manuel LaFont, also 54.

Venezuelan officials identified two others among the dead: Leon Oliwkowicz, 79, and his 74-year-old wife Cristina Beatriz Elvira, who were US residents.

More than two dozen Latin American nationals are among the missing. Canada has also said at least four of its citizens may be "affected," without elaborating.

President Joe Biden said on Sunday his administration would coordinate with local officials and was "ready to provide any support or assistance that is needed."

"This is an unimaginably difficult time for the families enduring this tragedy," he said in a statement. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2021-06-28. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Foton Motor recently revealed via an investment information platform that it is carrying out preliminary cooperation with Huawei for autonomous driving business. Meanwhile, both parties are discussing technologies related to smart cockpit, Ethernet, and radar as part of preparations for seeking collaboration projects in the future.

Photo credit: Foton Motor



In April 2019, Foton Motor and Huawei entered into a strategic partnership to co-work on a host of businesses including in-car computing, intelligent network, smart connectivity, intelligent energy, intelligent manufacturing, cloud-based services, and cloud computing, aiming to build a 5G-enabled intelligent system for commercial vehicles.

Under the agreement, the two companies planned to jointly develop intelligent driving computing platform for production commercial vehicles, including heavy-duty, medium-duty, and light-duty trucks, pickups, buses and vans. Besides, they will team up on design and R&D of Level 3 mass-produced autonomous cars, and co-explore Level 4 self-driving solutions.

Moreover, the Beijing-based commercial vehicle manufacturer also formed partnership with Neusoft REACH for autonomous driving technologies in December 2018. Both parties agreed to cooperate on many typical scenarios for autonomous cars, such as highway and V2X (vehicle-to-everything)-based formation of autonomous car fleets by leveraging their know-hows in vehicle control, environment perception, sensor fusion, high-precision positioning, and vehicle-infrastructure communications.

Last month, Huawei once again reiterated its resolution not to build cars, saying this long-term strategy has been clear in 2018, and nothing has changed.

According to the statement, Huawei has chosen BAIC BJEV, Changan Auto, and GAC Group as its strategic partners, supporting them in developing their own sub-brands. The vehicles armed with Huawei's autonomous driving solution are allowed to bear the HI logo (standing for Huawei Inside) after being authorized by Huawei.
NEWS PROVIDED BY

Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

June 28, 2021

NEW YORK, June 28, 2021 /Christian Newswire/ -- Catholic League president Bill Donohue (photo) comments on an Italian bill that the Holy See is fighting:

The Holy See is fighting an LGBTQ-inspired bill in Italy that would encroach on the free speech rights of the Catholic Church. The bill, which is the work of Alessandro Zen, a homosexual lawmaker, is being promoted by his followers as a necessary step to combat violence and hate speech. It is the latter issue that concerns the Holy See.

Italy already has laws that condemn homophobia, so Zen's bill calls into question whether this proposed law is necessary. Catholics are rightly concerned that its real target is to muzzle their free speech rights. A more technical area of concern is whether the bill violates the 1929 Lateran pacts, which established Vatican City as a sovereign state.

Zen and his supporters say the Holy See has nothing to worry about as the bill does not seek to deny freedom of expression. But this is hardly reassuring: Such initiatives have been interpreted in many democratic countries in very expansive ways. What makes this such a serious matter is that those found guilty of hate crimes can face up to four years in prison.

Cesare Mirabelli, a former president of Italy's constitutional court, said the bill would "put at risk" freedom of thought and speech. Others have argued that it could require Catholic schools to adopt state-mandated programs that work to undermine Catholic teachings on marriage and sexuality.

Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's Secretary of State, said that discrimination is defined in broad terms and could be a real problem. "The need for definition is particularly important because the legislation moves in an area of criminal relevance where, as is well noted, what is allowed and what is forbidden must be well determined."

The Holy See's fears are real. It is a sad fact that LGBTQ policies, programs and laws are being used in Europe and North America to punish those who disagree with their agenda.

Journalists have been investigated by the police in England for using "the wrong pronoun" when discussing transgender persons. In other words, it is not acceptable for a reporter to call a man who transitions to a female "he" or "him." England has also censored the speech of professors who are critics of the LGBT agenda. The same is true in Scotland.

This is nothing when compared to what is going on in Canada. A few months ago, a judge issued a warrant for the arrest of a father after he called his daughter "daughter" and used pronouns such as "she" and "her." Because his daughter now identifies as a boy, her father was found to be in contempt of court. The father was sent to prison.

In California, they instituted a law aimed at those who work in long-term care facilities. The law authorizes jail time for anyone who "willfully and repeatedly" fails to use "a resident's preferred name or pronouns after being clearly informed of the preferred name or pronouns."

Jack Philips made headline news when the Colorado baker won in the U.S. Supreme Court when he refused to create a cake celebrating the "marriage" of two men. However, LGBTQ radicals will not give up in their quest to punish him. He recently lost in a Denver district court when he said he would not make a cake to celebrate a sex transition. Similar cases involving bakers and florists are before the courts.

Big business and education are also hot beds of radicalism. For example, Amazon is a proponent of book banning: It will not allow books to be advertised that criticize the transgender movement. A Virginia school suspended an elementary school teacher for not using the "proper pronouns" to describe a transgender student.

LGBTQ activists are not well represented in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Russia, China or Japan. They tend to flourish wherever well-educated, totally amoral, white people live.

The Holy See has every right as a sovereign state to fight this menace. It is not the Catholic Church that is intolerant; rather, it is the zealots involved in this crazed movement.
Top leader of Laos begins official friendship visit to Vietnam

General Secretary of the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith, his spouse and a high-ranking delegation of the Lao Party and State, began an official friendship visit to Vietnam on June 28.













General Secretary of the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith and his spouse are welcomed at Hanoi's Noi Bai airport (Photo: VNA)

The two-day visit was made at the invitation of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong and State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and their spouses.



This is the first overseas trip by Thongloun Sisoulith in his capacity as Lao Party General Secretary and President for the 2021-2026 tenure. The visit also aims to implement consistent foreign policy Laos and Vietnam in reserving and promoting the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation of the two countries.



During his trip, the Lao leader will meet with Vietnamese high-ranking leaders and witness the signing of cooperation agreements between the countries.



The Vietnam visit by the top leader of Laos will provide an opportunity for the two sides to further exchange experience in development, and seek measures to push ahead with the implementation of high-level agreements between the two Parties and countries in 2021 and the years to come.
Europe must define its strategic autonomy amid "China challenge" theme: experts

Xinhua) 15:19, June 27, 2021

BEIJING, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Experts have noted that Europe must affirm its strategic autonomy as the United States is imposing the theme of "Chinese challenge" on the Group of Seven and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), said the French newspaper "Le Monde" in a column recently.

U.S. President Joe Biden's European tour in mid-June marked an exotic geopolitical innovation: China, the power of the Pacific, was officially listed among the "challenges" weighing on the security of the Atlantic zone, which is new in the history of NATO, it added.

As Biden keeps reaffirming the U.S. commitment in Europe, it is tempting for Europe to give in to Biden's "charm" and line up behind the Americans in an anti-Chinese stance, but "it is also the opium of the European people," the column quoted political scientist Nicole Gnesotto, who made the remarks last week during a seminar at the Jacques Delors Institute, an independent think tank based in Paris, as saying.

The European Union has specific interests in China, a country with which it trades more than with the United States. Faced with the "Chinese challenge," Europeans must define its "strategic autonomy" and singularity, said Riccardo Perissich, an Italian expert in an article published earlier this month.

(Web editor: He Zhuoyan, Bianji)
CPC a party with global vision

15:30, June 27, 2021 By Guo Jiping ( People's Daily

All we do is to pursue happiness for the Chinese people, rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, and the common good for the world.

Thats how Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, explains the original aspiration and mission of the Chinese communists, which also indicates that the centennial journey of the CPC is a glorious chapter that belongs to not only China, but also the world.

The past 100 years since the founding of the CPC proved that the Party is always a constructor of world peace. From raising the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, to advocating a concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, China has always adhered to peaceful development. The country has promised to never seek hegemony, expansion, or a sphere of influence. Nor will it ever engage in an arms race.

Photo taken on June 13, 2021 shows a beautiful view in Tianhu National Wetland Park in Changning, central Chinas Hunan province. (Photo by Zhou Xiuyuchun/People's Daily Online)

The past 100 years proved that the CPC is always a contributor to global development. Since its founding in 1949, especially in the past four decades of reform and opening up, China has opened its arms to embrace the world, providing more opportunities of market, investment and growth for the rest of the world in a bid to achieve common development. The countrys contribution to world economic growth has been standing at around 30 percent for years.

The past 100 years proved that the CPC is always a protector of international order. On the basis of respecting the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, China has worked to promote the reform of the global governance system, and enhanced cooperation on tackling climate change, cyber security and counter terrorism with concrete actions. The country announced to peak carbon dioxide emission before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, which means it will realize carbon neutrality from carbon peaking in the shortest time in global history.

Studies indicate that the ratio of developed countries among all the countries in the world has never exceeded 20 percent since the industrialization began. In the second half of the 20th century, around 10 percent of the developed economies quit the developed list, and only five percent of the developing countries made it into the developed group. Many scholars hold that the modernization of the third world is a turbulent process in which fierce conflicts might happen.

Students from a primary school in Hanshan district, Handan, north Chinas Hebei province, learn aerospace knowledge with a model spaceship, June 18, 2021. (Photo by Hao Qunying/People's Daily Online)

Under the leadership of the CPC, Chinas modernization features distinctive characteristics. It is advancing for a huge population, and pursues common prosperity of all Chinese people, coordination between cultural and ethical progress and material progress, and harmony between man and nature. It also follows a path of peaceful development.

The Chinese practice has created a miracle of rapid economic development and a miracle of long-term social stability, which is rarely seen in the world. It has tackled the Tocqueville problem that troubled Western historians, and explored a political governance model that is able to actively adapt to and guide changes, and always stay stable.

Today, the CPC is leading 1.4 billion Chinese people to fully build a modern socialist China. Its significance lies not only in how many people Chinas modernization covers, but also in that it proves there is more than one way leading to human modernization.

China has shown the world that countries can have their own models of development using their own historical experiences, said former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

From only around 50 members during the early days of its founding, to a party that boasts over 91 million members, the CPC has maintained its original aspiration despite the hardships it has experienced. Today, as China constantly expands its international influence, how to precisely and objectively perceive the CPC is becoming a practically significant topic. Many scholars have emphasized that the CPC has clear goals in every phase of its development, and adjusts its policies in accordance with the changes in domestic and international situations to satisfy the needs of the Chinese people. A report by John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University found that the Chinese people's overall satisfaction toward the Chinese government under the leadership of the CPC exceeds 93 percent.

History has never ceased its steps toward the future. The CPC will, as always, work hand in hand with all parties, to make newer and greater contributions to building an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity.

(Web editor: He Zhuoyan, Bianji)
Press conference held for CPC centennial celebrations

Xinhua) 08:10, June 28, 2021

The Press Center for Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) holds its first press conference in Beijing, capital of China, June 27, 2021. Qu Qingshan, head of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee, attended the press conference with other senior researchers on the history of the CPC. (Xinhua/Ren Chao)

BEIJING, June 27 (Xinhua) -- The Press Center for Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Sunday held its first press conference in Beijing.

Qu Qingshan, head of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee, attended the press conference with other senior researchers on the history of the CPC.

As a specialized organ to study the Party's history and theory, the Institute has made solid efforts to promote the research on the CPC history, improve literature editing, and advance documents compilation and translation, said Qu.

The experts summarized contributions of the CPC during the past 100 years and the Institute's works in the Party history learning and education campaign, and answered media questions.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Du Mingming)
Xi stresses creating new achievements ahead of CPC centenary

Xinhua) 08:19, June 28, 2021

Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji and Han Zheng visit the "Red Building," once the main campus of Peking University, and learn about the history of preparation and founding of the Communist Party of China at an exhibition in Beijing, capital of China, June 25, 2021. A group study session of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee was held on Friday. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has stressed efforts to make new achievements that will stand the test of time and are worthy of the people, ahead of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC.

Xi made the remarks on Friday when addressing a group study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

Xi said that sites and heritage related to the history of the CPC are the most precious spiritual wealth.

The CPC's revolutionary heritage is the source of spiritual strength for Chinese Communists in the new era, he said.

Xi urged efforts to safeguard the country established by the revolutionary martyrs and develop it well, calling for new achievements that can live up to the expectations of the revolutionary forefathers, stand the test of time and are worthy of the people.

On Friday afternoon, Xi led members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on a visit to the "Red Building," once the main campus of Peking University, and learned about the history of preparation and founding of the CPC at an exhibition.

Xi also led the Political Bureau members to a former residence of Mao Zedong, where he worked and lived for 17 years from 1949.

After the visits, Xi chaired the group study.

Xi stressed that sites and heritage related to the CPC's history are scattered all over China, representing the Party's glorious history and great achievements and its pursuits, sentiments, responsibilities, sacrifices, and dedication.

Xi said since the 18th CPC National Congress, he has visited basically all major sacred revolutionary sites and memorials related to revolutionary history during his inspection tours.

Each visit meant spiritual enlightenment, Xi said.

He urged efforts to educate the whole Party to consistently follow the guidance offered by scientific theories.

The extensive spread of Marxism in China gave birth to the CPC, Xi said, noting that the reason why the Party can get things done and why socialism with Chinese characteristics is good is because Marxism works.

Xi called on the entire Party to stay firm in upholding ideals and convictions. "Communism is the lofty ideal of our Party," Xi said.

He stressed efforts to strengthen the belief in socialism with Chinese characteristics and overcome difficulties to secure new victories on the new journey of fully building a modern socialist country.

Xi emphasized the importance of guiding CPC members to stay committed to the Party's original aspiration and founding mission, noting that for the Party that has governed a country for a long term, nothing is more dangerous than deviating from its original aspiration and becoming out of touch with the people.

Xi also stressed education that teaches the entire Party to stick to the glorious revolutionary traditions, which are a powerful spiritual driving force for forging ahead.

Currently, China is in a crucial period of realizing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and the revolutionary spirit must not be abandoned, Xi said.

Nor can the Party give up modesty, prudence, and its other traditions such as guarding against arrogance and impetuosity, working hard, as well as diligence and thrift, Xi noted.

The Party must maintain its courage of fearing no enemies or risks and daring to fight and win, Xi stressed.

Xi also demanded the Party to stick to self-reform, which provides a strong support for the Party's governance capacity.

He ordered efforts to advance the full and strict governance over the Party.

Xi also demanded sound protection, management and utilization of sites and heritage related to the CPC's history.

Historical nihilism should be opposed and resisted, he said.

Xi said the sites and heritage should be used to guide young people to foster ideals that carry forward the revolutionary traditions.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Du Mingming)
Hundreds of unmarked graves unveil tip of Canada's genocidal history

Xinhua) 08:25, June 28, 2021

-- The Cowessess First Nation, an indigenous group in Saskatchewan, on Thursday announced a preliminary discovery of 751 unmarked graves near a former indigenous residential school, less than a month after a similar discovery rocked the country and the world.

-- Survivors of Canada's indigenous residential schools said the two findings were just the tip of the iceberg, renewing their feelings of grief and trauma.

--An estimated 150,000 indigenous children across Canada were reportedly removed from their homes and forced to attend residential schools between the 1890s and as recently as 1996, during which more than 50,000 died of abuses.

OTTAWA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Though touting itself a "model for human rights," Canada was confronting its ugly history of encroaching upon the human rights of the indigenous people, as hundreds of unmarked graves were discovered at former indigenous residential schools.

Less than a month after the discovery of the remains of 215 indigenous children at a former residential school in western Canada, both Canada and the international community were again shocked by the new discovery of 751 more unmarked graves at a cemetery near another former indigenous residential school in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

Children's shoes and toys are placed on the staircase outside Vancouver Art Gallery during a memorial event for the 215 children whose remains have been found buried at a former Kamloops residential school, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, May 30, 2021. (Photo by Andrew Soong/Xinhua)

SHAMEFUL CHAPTER REVEALED

The Cowessess First Nation, an indigenous group in Saskatchewan, on Thursday announced a preliminary discovery of 751 unmarked graves near a former indigenous residential school, less than a month after a similar discovery rocked the country and the world.

The Cowessess First Nation started a ground-penetrating radar search on June 2, according to local media reports, days after the discovery of the remains of 215 indigenous children buried in unmarked graves near the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Cowessess First Nation Chief Cadmus Delorme said that technical teams scanned around 44,000 square meters of area, with preliminary findings reporting 751 "recorded hits" at the site.

Survivors of Canada's indigenous residential schools said the two findings were just the tip of the iceberg, renewing their feelings of grief and trauma.

In a statement issued after the new finding of unmarked graves, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the latest discoveries "a shameful reminder of the systemic racism, discrimination, and injustice that Indigenous peoples have faced and continue to face in this country."

An estimated 150,000 indigenous children across Canada were reportedly removed from their homes and forced to attend residential schools between the 1890s and as recently as 1996, during which more than 50,000 died of abuses.

People participate in a gathering organized by local indigenous community to pay tribute to the 215 Indigenous children whose bodies were found in a mass grave at a former Kamloops residential school, at Grandview Park in Vancouver, Canada, June 2, 2021. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

In 2008, the Canadian government formally admitted its role in forcing those native children into government-financed residential schools where many suffered physical and sexual abuse.

For Nola Jeffrey, who heads a healing center for indigenous people in British Columbia, the term "residential schools" was misleading and designed to sanitize the atrocities that took place there.

"I don't like calling them schools," Jeffrey told CTV News. "Schools are a place where ... you are nurtured and you are held so that your gifts can come out, and those places were not that at all. They were like, I guess, concentration camps would be the best word I could use to explain them."

CULTURAL GENOCIDE COMMITTED

In 2008, the Canadian government allowed the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada to investigate forced assimilation practices committed across Canada's indigenous residential schools.

The TRC officially concluded the investigation in December 2015 with a report that said the school system amounted to "cultural genocide."

"These measures were part of a coherent policy to eliminate Aboriginal people as a distinct people and to assimilate them into the Canadian mainstream against their will," said the TRC report. "Residential schooling quickly become a central element in the federal government's Aboriginal policy."

"The intent of the government's policy ... was to assimilate Aboriginal people into broader Canadian society," said the report. "At the end of this process, Aboriginal people were expected to have ceased to exist as a distinct people with their own governments, cultures and identities."

In 1985, Edwin Kimelman, a judge of the Canadian Provincial Court of Manitoba, also stated in a report on indigenous peoples and child welfare policies that "cultural genocide has been taking place in a systematic, routine manner."

Speaking early this month after the remains of 215 indigenous children were found in British Columbia, Canada's National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Perry Bellegarde said, "Now nobody can deny that the residential schools were a genocide of our people."

In his statement on Thursday, Trudeau admitted that "no child should have ever been taken away from their families and communities, and robbed of their language, culture, and identity."

A girl tries to put a pair of shoes on the staircase while attending a memorial event for the 215 children whose remains have been found buried at a former Kamloops residential school, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, May 29, 2021. (Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua)

Retired Canadian Senator Murray Sinclair, the former chair of the TRC, was among those calling for an independent investigation to examine all burial sites near former residential schools.

He told the Canadian parliament early this month that such investigation should not be run by the Canadian federal government.

PAST NIGHTMARES RECOUNTED

As the scandals of those indigenous residential schools became exposed, more and more survivors began to speak out publicly for the first time.

According to Jeffrey, her healing center in British Columbia got many calls directly from survivors who are now willing to tell their miserable school life.

"A lot of it is because they were (previously) brainwashed to believe that no one would believe what they were saying," said Jeffrey.

Florence Sparvier, a survivor of the Marieval Indian Residential School, said at a press conference on Thursday that she had to go to the school because one of her parents would have been jailed if they did not send a child to the school.

Indigenous Canadians take part in a memorial event for the 215 children whose remains have been found buried at a former Kamloops residential school, in Toronto, Canada, May 30, 2021. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

While in the school, "they made us think different. They made us feel different. A lot of pain we see in our people comes from there," Sparvier told reporters.

"They made us believe we didn't have souls," she added, recounting the harsh treatments indigenous children were subjected to at the school.

"They pounded it into us and really they were very mean when I say pounding, I mean pounding. Those nuns were very mean to us. I don't know, I don't think they liked it being there either," she said.

Although she attended the Marievel residential school 56 years ago, Debbie Delorme, another survivor, told local media that the pain and trauma she endured there still haunts her today.

Delorme was taken when she was five years old, and she said that all of her immediate family were forced to attend Marievel and suffered multiple forms of abuse there.

"I was also sexually, physically, and mentally abused," Delorme said. "Any abuse that anybody talks about was all true."

As a survivor of St. Anne's Residential School in northern Ontario, Elizabeth Sackaney said the latest discoveries of unmarked graves at former indigenous residential schools were just the beginning.

"A lot of kids went missing, a lot of kids something happened to them," said Sackaney.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Hongyu)
Iran decries double standard on freedom of expression after U.S. seizes websites

Xinhua) 08:26, June 28, 2021

-- A host of websites like Iran's English-language news network Press TV, Arabic-language Al-Alam and Yemen's al-Masirah TV channel said their domains had been "seized by the United States Government."

-- The U.S. Department of Justice said those dozens of websites of Iranian and other regional news outlets were operated "in violation of U.S. sanctions."

-- Tehran said the move is "double standard" and a "bullying measure."

TEHRAN, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Washington's recent takedown of dozens of websites of Iranian and other regional news outlets, which the U.S. Department of Justice said were operated "in violation of U.S. sanctions," has been termed by Tehran as being "double standard" and a "bullying measure."

Notices appeared on Tuesday on a host of websites like Iran's English-language news network Press TV, Arabic-language Al-Alam and Yemen's al-Masirah TV channel, saying their domains had been "seized by the United States Government."

Screenshot taken on June 26, 2021 shows that the United States seized the website of Iran's English-language news network Press TV. (Xinhua)

Ahmad Ali-Akbari, executive vice president for training and international cooperation at Press TV, told Xinhua on Saturday that the U.S. move "is an attempt to conceal Washington's mis-conducted and failed policies across the world, especially in West Asia."

Meanwhile, analysts warned that the development could complicate the ongoing diplomatic efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal.

DOUBLE STANDARD

In reaction, Saeed Khatibzadeh, spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, on Wednesday slammed the U.S. move as Washington's disgraceful "policy of double standards" regarding freedom of expression, describing it as "a systematic attempt by the United States to undermine freedom of expression on a global level."

Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh addresses a press conference in Tehran, Iran, on March 8, 2021. (Photo by Ahmad Halabisaz/Xinhua)

Mahmoud Vaezi, the Iranian president's chief of staff, told local media on Wednesday that the U.S. government always has "a double standard, that is, they observe the issue that pertains to themselves and their friends, but what pertains to other countries and Islamic countries, they have a double discriminatory approach."

Also, Lebanon's Hezbollah Chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech on Friday that the U.S. move of seizing websites has exposed "Washington's false claims about freedom."

"It is incredible to see that while the U.S. government is accusing other countries of supposedly violating press freedoms, it's actually seizing the property of foreign media outlets," Ben Norton, an American journalist and commentator, told Press TV on Wednesday.

"There is a clear double standard," he said, adding that those media controlled or funded by Western nations are taken as being independent while Eastern media outlets run by countries targeted by Washington are treated as propaganda.

Photo taken on May 16, 2021 shows the Control Room of Iran's English-language news network Press TV. (Press TV/Handout via Xinhua)

In an interview with Xinhua, Ali-Akbari said, "It is a common practice by Washington to attach a label of disinformation on the media it does not favor to be heard by Americans."

BULLYING POWER

"The Islamic Republic of Iran rejects the unlawful and bullying measure, and will pursue the issue through legal channels," Khatibzadeh said in a statement.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union said, "The United States, under the pretext of freedom of expression and human rights, justifies its intervention in the world and puts pressure and sanctions on countries and different institutions."

"It tries to legitimize its crimes by shutting the mouths and suppressing the voices of freedom, and by relying on self-written laws and violations of democracy," it added.

Mahsa Alimardani, a researcher on human rights, told Al-Jazeera that the U.S. move was "shortsighted" as it lent support to the argument that the United States is an imperial and bullying power.

Press TV, formerly registered as a .com domain, later switched to an Iranian domain of .ir and was running again. Analysts warned that such a forced change illustrates how the United States leverages its leading, if not dominant, role in the Internet to serve its political calculation.

Photo taken on May 16, 2021 shows the entrance to the newsroom of Iran's English-language news network Press TV. (Press TV/Handout via Xinhua)

Wang Jin, a Middle East expert at Northwest University of China, called this move as a "very unilateralist behavior" in an interview with Xinhua on Saturday, warning that it suggests the United States could shut down not only Iranian websites, but also other countries' websites "based on their own decisions and policies rather than the consideration of the international interests and concerns."

RISING PRESSURE

The U.S. move came amid heightened tensions between the two countries when related parties have been trying to resuscitate the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Washington and Tehran have had indirect negotiations in Vienna since April aimed at restoring the JCPOA. But the two sides remain divided over the issue after six rounds of talks.

Press TV on Wednesday quoted Jason Unruhe, a political commentator, as saying that such a step by Washington "at a time when negotiations over the revival of Iran's nuclear deal are underway in Vienna is a deliberate provocative attack."

The United States and Iran still have serious differences over the restoration of the nuclear accord, a senior State Department official said on Thursday, while Iran's President-elect Ebrahim Raisi said on Monday that the United States must lift "all unjust sanctions" against Iran.

Iran's President-elect Ebrahim Raisi attends his first press conference after winning the election in Tehran June 21, 2021. (Photo by Ahmad Halabisaz/Xinhua)

The seizures, Bloomberg warned on Wednesday, "add another element of friction" as negotiators try to bring Washington back into the nuclear agreement that former U.S. President Donald Trump quit in 2018 as part of a maximum-pressure campaign against Tehran.

"The current U.S. administration has exactly followed the path of the previous administration, which will only lead to a double defeat for Washington," Khatibzadeh said in his statement in response to the closure of websites.

Noting that "new pressure will rise for possible rapprochement between Iran and the United States in the future," Wang suggested that if Washington wants to have nuclear deal dialogue with Iran, it "might take more friendly and more positive steps rather than this very negative step towards Tehran."

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Du Mingming)
Xi, Putin to meet online, underscoring unwavering strategic partnership

Global Times) 08:59, June 28, 2021

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 19 witnessed the groundbreaking ceremony of a bilateral nuclear energy cooperation project, Tianwan nuclear power plant and Xudapu nuclear power plant, via video link. (Photo/Xinhua)

Chinese President Xi Jinping will have a video meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, the timing of which, Chinese experts said, embodies special significance just days before the Communist Party of China (CPC) celebrates its centennial, and the second interaction between the two top leaders within six weeks would further enhance the strategic bilateral partnership amid growing worries in the US over China-Russia ties.

Xi is scheduled to hold talks with Putin via video link on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced Friday. It is Xi's second video meeting with Putin after the two leaders witnessed the groundbreaking ceremony of a bilateral nuclear energy cooperation project, Tianwan nuclear power plant and Xudapu nuclear power plant, on May 19.

The Kremlin said on its website that the event is timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the signing of Russia-China Treaty on Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation. The two leaders will exchange congratulations and evaluate the current state of and prospects for a strategic partnership between Russia and China, according to a public statement on the Kremlin website. It is also planned that the two will discuss current issues on the bilateral and international agenda.

The signing of the Russia-China Treaty on Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation is symbolic in the development of the China-Russia relationship, and the Russian president is also expected to express congratulations on the centenary of the founding of the CPC, which is a very significant moment, Yang Jin, an expert with the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"Also, Putin and Biden just met. While the US had tried to lobby Russia to curb China, the online meeting between the Chinese and Russian top leaders would convey great significance, delivering a clear message to the world about their unwavering strategic partnership, which won't be affected by external factors," Yang said.

The meeting between Biden and Putin on June 16 ended with no significant breakthroughs, though it had shown that US-Russia tensions have eased a little bit, according to some Chinese observers. Ahead of the Putin-Biden meeting, Putin made positive remarks on China-Russia ties by saying in an NBC interview that "we have developed a strategic partnership relationship - between Russia and China that previously had not been achieved in the history of our nations, a high level of - trust and cooperation in all areas," including in politics, economy, technology and the area of the military.

"The US has been provoking Russia's relations with China with an obvious intention. But Putin's attitude has always been very clear and resolute, that is, the US is not able to damage the close strategic partnership between China and Russia," Wang Xianju, deputy director and research fellow at the Renmin University of China-Russia St. Petersburg State University Russian Research Center, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Given the current complicated international situation after the EU recently extended economic sanctions against Russia and after the UK and Russia reportedly escalated a war of words over the Black Sea warship incident, the exchange of views between the Chinese and Russian top leaders on global issues including strengthening strategic coordination would help global stability and peace, Wang noted.

China and Russia have maintained frequent interactions over the past year, especially in face of the US-led containment by the Western countries and unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, the friendship between the two countries appears valuable and outstanding, said Chinese officials and experts.

"It is fair to say that the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era is all-dimensional and all-weather. The sky is the limit for down-to-earth China-Russia cooperation, and we are full of confidence in the development of bilateral relations," said Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, during a routine press conference on June 15.

Since March, 2020, the top leaders of the two countries have spoken on the phone five times with practical agendas, and on December 28, 2020, the two leaders indicated that on celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between China and Russia, the two countries were eying a higher level and broader scale of cooperation in 2021.

"The timing of the online meeting on Monday embodies a special significance," Wang said. Historically, the two communist parties have always had close ties. Especially in the early years, the support and help provided by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to the CPC was important, he noted.

While China and Russia have advanced cooperation in the energy sector by having the groundbreaking ceremony of four new nuclear reactors on May 19 and demonstrating the confidence of China-Russia cooperation in the field of lunar and deep-space exploration by jointly releasing a road map on lunar station program in mid-June, Chinese experts forecast that the two countries will deepen collaboration in the nuclear sector and high technology.

Chinese experts earlier predicted that Putin might visit China after his summit with Biden in June and before the 20th anniversary of the signing of 2001 China-Russia Treaty of Friendship on July 16, and the 100th founding anniversary of the CPC on July 1 could also be a friendly occasion and environment for a possible visit.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Hongyu)
Story of China's first taikonaut's one day in space lights up internet, highlights country's space advancements

Global Times) 10:06, June 28, 2021

Photo taken on October 16, 2003 shows astronaut Yang Liwei getting out of the reentry capsule of China's Shenzhou-5 spacecraft following its successful landing in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Photo/Xinhua)

As the "space fever" continues to grip Chinese netizens after China has achieved successive breakthroughs in the aerospace sector, culminating in the recent launch of three taikonauts to China's space station, an article written by China's first taikonaut Yang Liwei describing his one day in space triggered heated discussions on social media platforms, with many saluting Yang's heroic spirit and marveling at the country's significant advancement in space technology.

Yang's article, entitled "One Day in Space," which was recently included in the seventh-grade textbook in Chinese middle schools, was posted on China's Twitter-like social media platform Sina Weibo on Saturday, soon drawing tens of thousands of views within the first few hours.

As of press time, the article has attracted 130 million views and over 81,000 reposts, manifesting Chinese people's lasting passion and interest in the country's aerospace development.

Yang was 38 when he became the first Chinese person to go into space in the Shenzhou-5 manned mission in October 15, 2003, making China the third country - after the US and Russia - to have mastered manned space capabilities.

In his article, Yang recalled several breathtaking moments when he thought he could not make it through the trip back. "When the rocket lifted to a height about 30-40 kilometers above the ground, I felt it begin to vibrate violently, and it was extremely painful," he said.

Vibrations in the spacecraft below 10 Hz can damage the internal organs and even threaten a person's life, Yang explained.

"Then the accident happened. The fierce vibration was shattering my body, and the pain had grown unbearable. I thought I was going to die," Yang recalled.

The deadly moment lasted for 26 seconds. When it was finally over, the taikonaut, all alone in the vastness of space, felt like he had been reborn.

As the ground control finally saw Yang slightly blinking his eyes through the surveillance camera onboard the craft, his colleagues burst out crying, "He's blinking! Yang is alive!"

Before the Shenzhou-5 mission, the year of 2003 had seen a number of tragedies in mankind's conquest in space. The US space shuttle Columbia disintegrated on reentry in February, killing all seven crew members. A Brazilian space rocket exploded on its launch pad in August, killing 21 people, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

In the article, Yang described the "mysterious knocking sounds" from outside the craft. He still does not know where they came from. He also described what the Earth, his country, and his city looked like from space. "I flew over Beijing and saw the mountains in daytime and sparkling lights at night. And there live my comrades and my loved ones."

Yang shared an interesting episode in the article. After several attempts from his cabin, he did not see the Great Wall, which many believed was the only manmade structure on Earth that could be seen from space. The Shenzhou-6 and -7 taikonauts also could not see it, Yang wrote.

After his return, Yang reported the abnormal vibrations during the rocket's ascent to fellow scientists, who solved the issue once-and-for-all before the Shenzhou-6's launch. According to Nie Haisheng, who took the Shenzhou-6 craft to space in 2005, his first trip to space was much cozier, and he could not detect any vibrations.

The country's manned spaceflight program was established in 1992.

After Yang's breakthrough, another 12 taikonauts have been sent to space over the years, with the Shenzhou-6 fixing the vibration problems of its predecessor, the Shenzhou-7 laying foundation for the spacecraft's docking and spacewalk, and the Shenzhou-8 to Shenzhou-11 continuing to upgrade the abilities on various fronts that eventually led to the successful Shenzhou-12 mission that sent the first group of Chinese to the nation's space station.

Compared with previous experiences, the Shenzhou-12 ride was a lot faster, smoother and cozier for the three taikonauts.

Merely 6.5 hours after its launch, the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft pulled off an automated rapid rendezvous and docking with the orbiting Tianhe core module, a first for China's manned space program.

Pang Zhihao, a Beijing-based senior space expert, hailed the breakthrough technology, saying it would tremendously save taikonauts from longer stays in the narrow space on board the spacecraft, making their travel more comfortable.

Apart from faster transport from the Earth to space, mission planners have tried their best to make the taikonauts' stay in the space as comfortable as possible.

The space for in-cabin activities in Tianhe core module is some 110 cubic meters, with three separate bedrooms and one bathroom, the Global Times learned from developers of the space station program contractor China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).

A number of new technologies have also been applied to the core cabin, including space Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, smart home applications, private phone communications and a great variety of over 120 kinds of space food with balanced nutrition.

Seeing the progress made over the past 18 years since his first trip to space, Yang said with humor that he "envied" a lot that his fellow spacemen now have such a big new home, which shows how China's space strength has grown.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Hongyu)
Freedom cannot stand against rule of law

10:12, June 28, 2021 By Zhong Sheng ( People's Daily

The collapse of Apple Daily is a response to the call of justice, common aspiration, and market demand.

Since the Hong Kong-based tabloid repeatedly violated law and morality, its operator and employees were punished by laws. Besides, its poor management also contributed a key reason for its closure.

However, some politicians from a few Western countries are unwilling to accept the failure of the anti-China organization they have supported. Under the disguise of the slogan "freedom of press," they called defiance to justice and law as a "basic freedom," trying to set roadblocks for Hong Kong's rule of law.

What they have done is a blatant interference in Hong Kong affairs and China's domestic affairs. We must solemnly point out that their practices have seriously violated international laws and the basic norms governing international relations are firmly opposed by all Chinese people and all the people in the world that uphold justice and impartiality.

Hong Kong is a law-based society where anti-China forces are never tolerated. The rhetoric slogan "freedoms of press and speech" used by some politicians from a few Western countries is never a shield that absolves them from their wrongful practices of encouraging people to undermine economic and social order and national security. It is perfectly justified to ensure that laws are observed and strictly enforced and that anyone who violates the law will be bring to justice.

Hong Kong citizens demand economic and social orders to be protected in accordance with the law, and they support the consolidation and improvement of the "one country, two systems" principle with legislation, in order to promote the stability and prosperity of the region. It is a mainstream public willingness, and not something that can be neglected by some biased politicians in a few Western countries.

For a while, these politicians have been pointing fingers at Hong Kong affairs and China's domestic affairs, oppressing China with the "Hong Kong" card. However, what's underneath the cover of the slogan "freedoms of press and speech" is their true intention to undermine Hong Kong's rule of law. They are neither willing to accept the reality that turmoil in yesterdays Hong Kong has now been conquered by rule of law, nor to see a prosperous future in the region.

In the early days of the Apple Daily, they expanded their sales by speculation, even at the cost of transgressing. Its paparazzi frequently peeked into the privacy of celebrities, which accumulated huge controversy. It has long been accused of defamation, spreading fake news and personal abuse by Hong Kong citizens. In 2019, it published a series of false reports to instigate public sentiment, that seriously undermined the rule of law of Hong Kong and the security of citizens.

A staff from a Hong Kong-based non-governmental organization that unmasks the fake news by Apple Daily noted that the newspaper has always been fabricating fake news in name of "freedom of press" to incite the young generation to go against laws, and oppose their country and government. It has also conducted illegal deals in collusion with foreign forces, according to the staff member, that accelerated its inevitable collapse. Legal professions in Hong Kong have also called to take legal actions against the newspaper many times.

Is there any country or region in the world where news and speeches can freely go against rule of laws? Some politicians from a few Western countries should seriously retrospect the laws in their countries.

The U.S. Constitution clearly forbids remarks on rumors, obscenity, terror and hatred, and there are specialized organizations under the U.S. government to monitor the media. The Federal Communications Commission of the U.S. is an organization that licenses American radio and TV stations and regulates their programs. The Supreme Court of the U.S. once noted that freedoms of speech and press do not permit a State to forbid advocacy of the use of force or of law violation except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.

In Germany, those who deny the Holocaust or incite hatred against certain ethnic groups can be sentenced to five years in prison at most. Social media platforms must timely respond to users' complaints about illegal remarks and delete or block such remarks as appropriate. Those who fail to do so might face huge fines.

In France, those who hurt fundamental national interests, incite crimes, slander and spread fake news through media will be punished by laws.

Freedom cannot stand against rule of law. All fingers pointing on the case of Apple Daily by some politicians from a few Western countries exposed their double standard, as well as a lack of precise understanding of the reality and the mainstream willingness.

Hong Kong has returned to the motherland for 24 years. "Patriots governing Hong Kong" is a common aspiration of the people and conforms to the trend of the times. Some politicians from a few Western countries trying to contain China with the "Hong Kong card" and double standard will only fail in the end.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People's Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)

(Web editor: Hongyu, Bianji)
Hong Kong reports 6 new COVID-19 cases

Xinhua) 10:25, June 28, 2021

HONG KONG, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) reported six new cases of COVID-19 Sunday.

Of the new cases, one was locally transmitted and five were imported from overseas, taking the total tally in the global financial hub to 11,917.

The CHP also said there were 34 new cases over the past two weeks ending Saturday, including one local case.

Hong Kong is pushing forward its vaccination program that started in late February.

More than 2.12 million residents have taken at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, accounting for 31.2 percent of eligible groups, with nearly 1.39 million people fully vaccinated.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Hongyu)
China's Diplomacy in the New Era website launched

Xinhua) 12:39, June 28, 2021

BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- A website dedicated to China's Diplomacy in the New Era was launched in both Chinese and English on Monday.

The website was jointly created by the China Internet Information Center (China.org.cn/China.com.cn) under the China International Publishing Group and the China Institute of International Studies (Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy Studies Center) with guidance from the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. The website serves as an official platform to introduce and popularize Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy.

The website focuses on Xi Jinping's important foreign affair activities, remarks, statements and signed articles, as well as literature and studies on Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy since the 18th National Congress of the CPC. The website also makes Xi Jinping's wide-ranging diplomatic activities come to life through a dynamic online map. Aiming to demonstrate major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy, the website constantly provides the latest news and information about China's foreign affairs and diplomatic policies.

Other language versions are planned, and the website can now be reached at this address:http://www.chinadiplomacy.org.cn.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Hongyu)
Industrial firms' profits indicate robust recovery

China Daily) 13:28, June 28, 2021

An employee polishes steel products at a Baowu Steel production facility in Maanshan, Anhui province, on March 5. LUO JISHENG/FOR CHINA DAILY

China's major industrial enterprises' steady profit increases in the first five months of the year show the country's economy is on the right road to recovery, officials and experts said.

However, targeted policy support will be needed to help downstream industries and smaller businesses cope with rising costs and ensure sound economic fundamentals.

Figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Sunday showed that profits for China's major industrial enterprises rose 83.4 percent year-on-year in the first five months to over 3.42 trillion yuan ($530 billion). Major industrial companies refer to those with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan from their main operations.

Compared with 2019, profits of the major industrial firms rose by 48 percent over the period, putting the two-year average growth at 21.7 percent. In May alone, profits of major industrial firms climbed 36.4 percent from a year earlier to 829.92 billion yuan.

More than 70 percent of industries maintained profit growth year-on-year, while profits in the raw material manufacturing sector have shown particularly fast growth, the NBS statement said. Profits of raw material manufacturing grew by 111 percent year-on-year in May, acting as a catalyst for overall industrial profits.

China's industrial profits have had a steady recovery, but profit growth across industries and businesses is uneven. The fundamentals for enterprises' recovery are not yet solid, Zhu Hong, a senior NBS statistician, said in a statement accompanying the data release.

Affected by numerous factors, including commodity price rises, the increased profits of industrial firms are mainly clustered in the mining industry and raw material manufacturing, while cost pressures on downstream industries are growing, Zhu said. Profit increases of small businesses lag behind medium-sized and large ones, while the increases of private firms are below those for major industrial firms.

Zhu said going forward, it is important to implement macro policies in a systemic and targeted way, promote innovation and reform and energize market players. Efforts should be made to alleviate business burdens and consolidate steady industrial recovery.

Li Qilin, chief economist at Shanghai-listed Hongta Securities, said the pressure on middle and downstream industries caused by surges in raw material prices has become more prominent and has affected their profitability.

Shi Yinghua, director of the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences' Research Center for Macroeconomics, said more targeted support and incentives are crucial for the short-term recovery of small businesses.

"Smaller businesses are vulnerable facing external pressure, like the commodity price challenge. The government has already announced a raft of fiscal, tax and financial support for them, and I think more grounded implementation is still needed to bring them real gains and tide them over challenging times," Shi said, adding that structural reforms and a level playing field in the market, should be done in parallel.

Despite support from the central government, Shi said local governments should work more proactively to give targeted support to smaller firms.

Robin Xing, chief China economist at Morgan Stanley, said recovery in consumption and in manufacturing investment in the first half of this year has been steady, despite cost rises. With steady external demand and good policy support, these two sectors will continue to generate more growth, he said.

The issuing of a special local government bond was relatively slow in the first half of this year and is expected to move faster in the third quarter, he said. Going forward, policy maneuvers can be expected, and liquidity will remain adequate for the rest of the year, he added.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Hongyu)
UNDERSTAND CHINA: Through the Lens of 'Mutually Assured Prosperity'

People's Daily Online) 13:57, June 28, 2021

It's hard to truly and fully understand a country without first appreciating the nature of its own political system and unique path towards development. On this topic, People's Daily Online has got you covered with our series of multi-faceted and in-depth conversations with foreign and domestic thought leaders on the subject of domestic and international politics, discussions that can hopefully help to clear some of the air between China and those who may still have a false impression of the country and its people.

In this episode, the first person we spoke to was Stephen A. Orlins, president of the National Committee on U.S.China Relations. Mr. Orlins was among the earliest observers to witness the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the United States in January 1979. During that period, he served in the Office of the Legal Advisor of the U.S. Department of State and was a member of the American legal team that supported the two countries in their transition to full diplomatic relations.

We then sat down with Zhang Weiwei, who served as a senior English interpreter for former Chinese leader, and the architect of China's reform and opening-up, Deng Xiaoping. Mr. Zhang is now the director of the China Institute of Fudan University. In a conversation in his office, Zhang shared his views on the rise of China and the reasons behind some of the ideological biases towards China that have since become prevalent in many Western countries.

Check out the full episode to see what remarkable insights Mr. Orlins and Mr. Zhang exchanged with each other on better Understanding China.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Du Mingming)
Giant pandas welcome 5th birthday

Ecns.cn) 15:34, June 28, 2021

Female giant panda Man Yuan walks to a customized birthday cake and gifts at Xining Panda House in northwest China's Qinghai Province on June 27, 2021. Staff customized cakes and decorated the house for giant panda Man Yuan and her sister Qi Guo as a celebration of their fifth birthday. (Photo/ China News Service: Ma Mingyan)

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Hongyu)
Chinese ports get smart, build favorable environment

People's Daily Online) 15:46, June 28, 2021

A ship loaded with 398 empty containers recently arrived at Tianjin Port in north Chinas Tianjin Municipality. After going through an efficient customs clearance process conducted by the port using technologies such as a visualized inspection platform, the containers were quickly transported to foreign trade enterprises that needed them.

Tianjin Port has made major headway in smart port construction this year. It has put into use an upgraded version of the automated container handling system, which has an accuracy rate of at least 95 percent for the entire container handling process.

Aerial photo taken on Jan. 17, 2021 shows a smart container terminal at Tianjin Port in north China's Tianjin Municipality. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo)

According to Tianjin Customs, it now takes about 1.5 hours for enterprises to claim their containers compared with one to two days previously, and less than one hour for them to go through the customs clearance process compared with more than 8 hours in January 2019.

Tianjin Port is also the location of the worlds first autonomous driving demonstration zone. At this zone, driverless vehicles are guided by the Beidou navigation system to designated destinations and the containers are hoisted by remotely controlled cranes. No manual labor is involved in the process.

This year, customs departments have made great efforts in bringing about electronization of the customs clearance process. Statistics indicated that the number of certificates that foreign trade enterprises have to submit to customs departments for verification has been reduced to 41 from 86 in 2017, and 38 of those 41 certifications can be handled online.

Major coastal ports have basically realized electronization of such certificates as equipment interchange receipts, container load plans and import bills of lading, according to Dang Yingjie, deputy director-general of the National Office of Port Administration at the General Administration of Customs (GAC), who added that progress has also been made in promoting electronization of the Certificate of Inspection and Quarantine for Entry Goods to strengthen international data exchange and sharing.

In May, the national average export and import customs clearance time was reduced by 60 percent, which means that the work to improve clearance efficiency has proceeded smoothly and seen marked progress.

Customs departments now allow enterprises to declare their goods in advance and in just two steps, which has significantly improved clearance efficiency. For instance, by declaring goods to be imported in advance, a plastics foreign trade company based in east Chinas Zhejiang province has reduced the time needed to go through the procedures by 14 hours, and claimed the goods upon their arrival at the port in just 26 minutes.

According to the GAC, in May, the average import clearance time was 38.93 hours, and the average export clearance time was 2.12 hours, down 60.03 percent and 82.74 percent, respectively, from that registered in 2017.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Du Mingming)
Cambodia receives another batch of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine

Xinhua) 16:00, June 28, 2021

Photo taken on June 28, 2021 shows a package of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine at the Phnom Penh International Airport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A new batch of COVID-19 vaccine Cambodia purchased from China's pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech arrived in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Monday, the state-run National Television of Cambodia (TVK) reported. (Photo by Sovannara/Xinhua)

PHNOM PENH, June 28 (Xinhua) -- A new batch of COVID-19 vaccine Cambodia purchased from China's pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech arrived in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Monday, the state-run National Television of Cambodia (TVK) reported.

In its live broadcast on the vaccine's arrival at the Phnom Penh International Airport, TVK said Cambodia's acquisition of Sinovac vaccine was a testament to the close relations and cooperation between Cambodia and China.

"Vaccines are a key strategic solution that can save people's lives and ensure the overall recovery of economic and social activities," it said.

The Chinese Embassy in Cambodia confirmed the new arrival of the vaccine in a Facebook post, saying that the China-Cambodia joint COVID-19 fight has set a model for international cooperation.

The embassy said the new arrival truly reflected China's commitment to making its COVID-19 vaccines a global public good and expressed a strong belief that the Chinese vaccines will soon help Cambodia to achieve herd immunity.

The Southeast Asian nation has planned to vaccinate at least 10 million of its 16 million population by the end of this year.

The kingdom launched an inoculation drive on Feb 10, starting from Phnom Penh and Kandal province before expanding it to Preah Sihanouk, Koh Kong, Kampong Speu, Svay Rieng and Takeo provinces last week.

Some 6.83 million vaccines had been administered in the country as of June 27, with 3.95 million people receiving their first dose and 2.88 million having completed the two-dose inoculation, said health ministry's secretary of state and spokeswoman Or Vandine.

Cambodia's COVID-19 infections continued to rise on Monday as the country confirmed 883 new cases, bringing the national caseload to 48,532, the health ministry said in a statement.

The kingdom also reported 16 new fatalities, taking the overall death toll to 556 so far, the ministry said, adding that 607 patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 42,764.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Hongyu)
Chinese FM to attend G20 foreign ministers' conference

Xinhua) 16:55, June 28, 2021

BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will attend a conference of the Group of 20 (G20) foreign ministers Tuesday via video link, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin announced Monday.

Wang will attend the conference at the invitation of his Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio, and discuss issues such as multilateralism and global governance with other participants, the spokesperson added.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Hongyu)
University sends out admission letters with aircraft emblems

People's Daily Online) 17:06, June 28, 2021

The admission letter of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.(Photo/thepaper.cn)

In addition to admission letters, all freshmen of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics will receive special gifts this yearemblems featuring the school, thepaper.cn reported on June 28, citing the schools official WeChat account.

The gift package contains an emblem featuring the school name, an emblem featuring the school badge, and two featuring aircraft models designed by scientists who have graduated from the university.

The school has designed seven aircraft emblems which will be distributed to the students randomly.

Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics is located in the city of Nanjing, east Chinas Jiangsu province. Established in 1952, the university is regarded as a double first-class university by the Chinese Ministry of Education. The term "double first-class" refers to "world-class university" and "world-class discipline".

(Web editor: Hongyu, Du Mingming)
Wang Mengmeng, now the first Party secretary of Xikong Village in east China's Anhui Province, is busy applying for government subsidies and technical support for local villagers. Wang became a village official after graduating from university in 2013 and began serving in her current post in February 2015. Now it is her routine work to talk with villagers to learn their situations, organize technical training and attract investment. "During campus recruitment, I was deeply moved by the stories of college-graduate village officials. I felt that the countryside needed more young people to help bring about changes," the 33-year-old recalled. The Xikong Village was rather backward then. The villagers mostly grew wheat and rice, but with a low level of mechanization. It was a situation Wang was determined to change. She led the village in developing specialty agriculture to cash in on the region's transport and location advantages. Wang rented around seven hectares of farmland for strawberry planting and tourism agriculture in a pilot program. Enticed by high earnings from the pilot program, many villagers later planted other fruits like watermelons and peaches around the strawberry plot. Specialty agriculture has brought prosperity and vitality to the once poor village. It had helped lift all 135 poor households out of poverty by the end of 2019, with the villagers' annual incomes more than doubling to 15,800 yuan (about 2,440 U.S. dollars). Over the years, great changes have taken place in the village. "Now every household lives in a two-story house, with more modern facilities and a cleaner and greener environment," Wang said. As a witness and participant of China's poverty alleviation efforts, Wang feels that young Party members can play a huge role in the drive. "Young people have firm ideals, rich knowledge and the capacity to innovate. There are many things worth doing in rural revitalization." Wang said she would continue to work on the land and improve the village by developing digital agriculture and specialty industries. She has full confidence in the future of the country led by the Communist Party of China. "I believe that under the leadership of the Party, the rural areas will definitely get better and some will enjoy the same good infrastructure and environment as the city suburbs." "As young Party members, we have more vitality and capacity for combat in poverty alleviation and rural vitalization, and we can think more actively to offer innovative and practical approaches," said Qi Yunsheng, Party secretary of Xiaowan Village in the city of Huaian, Jiangsu Province. Qi, who was recruited to the village to help fight poverty in 2017, is leading the village towards rural vitalization after helping lift all poor villagers out of poverty. In the future, the 28-year-old plans to take advantage of the village's industrial and cultural elements and attract more investors and tourists to build a beautiful village. In the big cities, talented young Party members tap the opportunities in the national innovation drive with startups in emerging industries such as artificial intelligence (AI). Jing Kun, general manager of an electronics technology company based in Shandong Province, entered the AI industry directly after graduation from university. The 39-year-old was encouraged by the country's 14th Five-Year Plan, which includes content on the development of AI technology. In Jing's eyes, AI is a technology that serves the well-being of humans and better meets people's aspirations for a better life. "In the future, I am determined to use technology to support the development of the country and society," he said. Enditem




USTC has aimed 'to scale peak of science' since its founding in 1958 Guo Moruo (1892-1978), the first president of the University of Science and Technology of China, and Yan Jici (1901-96), the second USTC president, had the same aspiration to nurture top talent for the institute. Guo calls on the faculty and students alike "to scale the peak of science" in the university anthem The Eternal East Wind he wrote in 1958. That year, USTC started its operations. Guo served as USTC's president from 1958 to 1978. Yan, the second president of USTC, proposed a goal for the university in 1988 "to build a globalized academy and to nurture worldwide talent". Behind their aspirations was China's ambition to boost the development of the country's science and technology and its need to cultivate top talent. Following the founding of the People's Republic of China on Oct 1, 1949, the Chinese Academy of Sciences was established that year. Guo served as the first CAS president and to pursue new progress, the nation established USTC in 1958 in Beijing. USTC was relocated in Hefei in East China's Anhui province in 1970. To educate top talent with noble ethics has been regarded as the fundamental task of USTC since its establishment, along with its mission "to promote science and education to serve the country and the society". Recognized as the "cradle of scientists" in China, USTC is now home to 16,245 gifted students and 2,050 academic staff members. USTC took the fourth spot in terms of academic performance among global universities and ranked first in the Chinese mainland in the Nature Index 2020 Annual tables. It is ranked third among the best global universities in China by the US News Rankings 2020. Internationalization Internationalization has been the pride and historical heritage flowing in the blood of every USTC student. Since 1958, the USTC has been at the forefront of the world in scientific fields. After a large number of scientists, such as Qian Xuesen (1911-2009), Guo Yonghuai (1909-68), Yan Jici and Zhao Zhongyao (1902-98), completed their overseas studies, they returned to China and devoted themselves to building the country. They formed an outstanding faculty with strong international influence in the USTC. These world-renowned scientists helped to train many outstanding talents to support the development of China's first nuclear bomb, missile and satellite as well as research on cutting-edge science and technology, thus laying a solid foundation for the development of science and technology in the PRC. Over the last few decades, USTC has made significant achievements in fundamental science and research, especially in the fields of quantum physics, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, engineering and biomedical sciences. It launched Wukong, China's first dark matter particle explorer and Micius, the world's first quantum communication satellite, in 2015 and 2016 respectively. In 2020, the university developed the "USTC protocol" to treat COVID-19 patients, which has been introduced to more than 20 countries and regions. USTC has carried out multichannel, high-level and substantive international cooperation and exchange activities to strengthen its internationalization capacity. It collaborated with more than 210 top universities and research organizations from 35 countries across the world. USTC has 849 international students; more than 70 percent of them are doctoral candidates. In 2019, 1,800 foreign experts from 46 countries visited USTC for research and teaching and 2,100 students participated in USTC's Study Abroad program. Nurturing top professionals USTC has been committed to expanding students' global vision and strives to make them more professional in work. USTC's Global Vista Program is a package of student mobility programs that combine research internships, course studies, academic field studies and joint degree programs to meet a variety of needs. Programs such as China-France Mathematics Talents Class, USTC Global Vista Lecture and USTC Undergraduate Visiting Research Program allow students to go abroad and extend their international perspectives. USTC also initiated programs to bring global students together to provide solutions to major challenges and strengthen communication. These programs include Future Scientist Exchange Program, Sino-Japan USTC International Summer Camp on Advanced Sciences and Cultural Heritage, and Stanford University Global Alliance for Redesign. FuSEP aims to bring excellent young scientists from all over the world together to exchange ideas for solutions to world challenges through science and technology. The Sino-Japan USTC Summer Camp is tailored toward talented undergraduate and graduate students currently studying at USTC's designated partner universities in Japan. The first group includes the University of Tokyo, Keio University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Nagoya University. Meanwhile, USTC has been the only founding member of SUGAR in China since it partnered with Stanford University to offer the redesign course in 2011. In October 2018, the SUGAR Global Kick-Off Event was launched at USTC, the first time that SUGAR was held outside Silicon Valley. Peter Mascher, the William Sinclair chair in optoelectronics and vice-provost for international affairs of McMaster University in Canada, said USTC students are "exceptional both academically and in their drive to seek excellence."


On the morning of June 26, Anhui Museum held a flash mob activity with the theme of "Sing a Folk Song to the Party" to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.

Anhui Museum held a flash mob activity with the theme of "Sing a Folk Song to the Party" on June 26. (Photo by Li Pengfei, Fu Xiuyun)

Anhui Museum helda flash mob activity with the theme of "Sing a Folk Song to the Party" on June 26. (Photo by Li Pengfei, Fu Xiuyun)

Anhui Museum helda flash mob activity with the theme of "Sing a Folk Song to the Party" on June 26. (Photo by Li Pengfei, Fu Xiuyun)

Anhui Museum helda flash mob activity with the theme of "Sing a Folk Song to the Party" on June 26. (Photo by Li Pengfei, Fu Xiuyun)

(Translated by Li Yuxin)
Editor's Note: Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China has worked with all other countries to build a community with a shared future for mankind, which has boosted confidence and added impetus for development of Asia and the world. For the celebration of the 100th funding anniversary of the CPC, we are launching the CPC in eyes of foreign military students series, viewing China and CPC from the perspective of foreign soldiers.

By Sri Lankan Army Lieutenant Colonel Chaminda Wadusinghearachchi

Sri Lanka established diplomatic ties with China as early as the 1950s, and the two countries have maintained a sound bilateral relationship ever since. In 2019, I came to China for a logistics command training program at the PLA Army Logistic University. I had often read western media reports on China, which denigrate the countrys development and make groundless and irresponsible comments on its policies. As evidenced by my personal experience in China, all those reports were not true.

Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Chinese people have eliminate poverty in a short span of 40-plus years, a miracle never seen in human history. No other country in the world has ever achieved such rapid development without engaging in colonialism or aggression of any form. Based on my observations during my stayin China, the Chinese people are living a good life and very patriotic.

The year 2020 was extraordinary. The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 hit all countries off guard, but China quickly controlled the spread of the pandemic and resumed its economy in an orderly manner. Chinas outstanding performance and success in pandemic prevention and control should be attributed to the efforts of all the Chinese people under the wise leadership of the CPC.

Furthermore, China has provided its independently developed vaccines to many developing countries, bringing them hope to get rid of the quagmire of the epidemic at an early date.

While working hard to develop itself, China also strives for the common development of all countries. Chinas Belt and Road Initiative has brought together more than 100 countries including Sri Lanka. There are many China-aid projects in Sri Lanka, most of which are hospitals, roads, and bridges that can directly benefit the local people.The cooperation with China has improved Sri Lanka's infrastructure, increased employment and, more importantly, has no political strings attached.

Sri Lanka has an indelible yet humiliating history of being colonized by several countries. I learned that China ever suffered the same humiliation in history too. Perhaps it is precisely the memory of being colonized by Western powers that has driven China to take the path of peaceful development and seek friendly ties and mutual benefits with other countries instead of pursuing hegemony or expansion.

As early as in the 15th century, Zheng He (1371-1433), the great Chinese adventurer of the Ming Dynasty, led a fleet to visit Sri Lanka to do business and conduct cultural exchanges with Sri Lankan people instead of playing havoc or looting. Its clear that China has been a nation of civility since ancient times and the so-called China threat clamored by western media today is a sheer lie.

China has demonstrated its sense of responsibility as a major country. I know China has a great dream  to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. As the CPC is celebrating its centenary, I hope it will continue to grow and lead China toward greater achievements.

(This article is based on an interview by the PLA Daily with Lieutenant Colonel Chaminda Wadusinghearachchi assigned to the Army from Sri Lanka, who had once studied at China's PLA Army Logistics University.)
The UK's Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender arrived at the Black Sea port of Odessa, Ukraine on June 18. /Reuters/Sergey Smolentsev

Classified documents from the UK's Ministry of Defence containing information about naval ship HMS Defender that entered disputed waters off the coast of Crimea on Wednesday were found at a bus stop in Kent, southern England, and handed to the BBC.

The BBC said the 50 pages of documents, including emails and PowerPoint presentations and Russia's potential reaction to the incident, were found "in a soggy heap behind a bus stop early on Tuesday morning" by a member of the public who wants to remain anonymous.

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Defence commented on the finding, "the department takes the security of information extremely seriously and an investigation has been launched. The employee concerned reported the loss at the time. It would be inappropriate to comment further."

The incident was described as "as embarrassing as it is worrying for ministers" by the opposition Labour Party.

Royal Navy members marching onboard the warship HMS Defender in the Black Sea port of Batumi on June 26, 2021. /British embassy in Georgia/AFP

On Wednesday, Russian authorities reported firing warning shots at HMS Defender when it entered Russian waters in the Black Sea, off the coast of Crimea.

The Russian account of the incident was later denied by UK authorities, who said their military vessel was "conducting an innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law." Prime Minister Boris Johnson explained that the UK does not recognize Russia's claim of Crimea and nor does the United Nations.

The sensitive documents recovered in Kent would imply that the British military was expecting an aggressive reaction from Russia following the Royal Navy destroyer's passage into the disputed waters.

According to the BBC report, the documents outlined three potential Russian responses, from "safe and professional" to "neither safe nor professional."

A document marked "Secret: UK eyes only" also discussed the potential presence of the military in Afghanistan after NATO announced it would cease operations in the territory by September.

The BBC decided not to publish any information on this sensitive document that could endanger the position of military personnel in Afghanistan.

Cover image: /Reuters/Yoruk Isik/File

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters
By Thomas O. Falk

EU flags at Berlaymont building of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. /Getty

Editor's note: Thomas O. Falk is a London-based political analyst and commentator. He holds a Master of Arts in international relations from the University of Birmingham and specializes in U.S. affairs. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron had proposed a European paradigm shift, a recalibration of Europe's Russia stance by convening a summit with Vladimir Putin. However, the idea was not well received at the EU's summit in Brussels last Thursday. Instead, the member states agreed on further pressure on the Kremlin  a mistake and a missed opportunity.

How should Europe deal with Russia? Since Russia's annexation of Crimea and the Ukraine crisis, the EU's largest neighbor has also been its most challenging. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, bilateral relations are at an all-time low. His meeting with EU foreign affairs representative Josep Borrell in Moscow in February displayed how deep the rift has become.

The latter has continuously become worse since 2014 and with no end in sight. New momentum in the European-Russian relationship would therefore be entirely appropriate. After all, even pro-European observers will have to agree with the following premise: All the sanctions that Europe has been imposing on Russia for years have not influenced the Kremlin's political activities but were severely detrimental to the relationship.

Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron had rightly called for a top EU meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. They presented a proposal on Thursday at the EU summit in Brussels. However, the Eastern European countries blocked the plans for a joint meeting with Putin.

The arguments of some of the Eastern European states were bizarre, if not unworldly. In their view, one can only hold talks with nations that either have precisely the same opinion or admit that they are "guilty" in the eyes of the Europeans. Moreover, actively engaging with Putin would "look weak," they argued.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) greets German Chancellor Angela Merkel during their joint press conference at Bocharov ruchey State Residence in Sochi, Russia, May 18, 2018. /VCG

One does not have to look far back in history to see that this assumption maybe wrong, as initiating dialogue is not a sign of weakness, but indeed of strength.

For instance, In 1967, the Belgian Foreign Minister Pierre Harmel presented his NATO partners with the Harmel Doctrine, which had a decisive influence on the further course of the Cold War. Until the fall of the Soviet empire, this doctrine formed the essential strategic basis in dealing with the Soviet Union.

It determined 2 core principles in the relations with the eastern neighbor: deterrence and openness to dialogue. Moscow should be signaled at all times that the West was ready for talks. However, these negotiations should only be conducted from a position of strength.

It's a maxim that was omnipresent throughout the Cold War, even when Washington and Moscow pointed nuclear weapons at each other.

Moreover, pretty much all U.S.-Russian summits since the 1950s were shaped by the principle: we agree that we disagree. Talks were always held, nonetheless! That was good and right. And no sign of weakness.

And Germany itself once demonstrated how dialogue can always be successful, even in times of crisis, even if it can be an arduous journey.

U.S. President Joe Biden (2nd L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands as Swiss President Guy Parmelin (R) looks on during the U.S.-Russia summit at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021. /Getty

"Wandel durch Annahrung" - change through rapprochement was a West German strategy a good 50 years ago that would alter the status quo. In the middle of the Cold War, the focus should no longer be on confrontation but on understanding and small cooperation steps. It was a great and, at the same time, groundbreaking approach.

Chancellor Willy Brandt's paradigm shift contributed significantly to the fact that the Iron Curtain opened bit by bit. He achieved this by seeking human, cultural and economic contact with his neighbors - despite ideological differences.

Brandt's Ostpolitik is reminiscent of Merkel's and Macron's idea of a long-overdue change in strategy for the EU's Russia approach.

It should be a blueprint for the EU on how to deal with Putin. Russia and Brussels will invariably pursue their own geopolitical interests. However, a dialogue must always be offered openly, and the past few years of empty, misguided sanctions are a testament to the latter.

Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron are aware of it, which is why they sought to introduce their very own version of Ostpolitik. However, their advance was not heard.

A summit meeting with Putin would certainly not have immediately solved all the problems between Brussels and Moscow. Nevertheless, it would have made sense to open up channels for discussion and not let the contact with Putin be severed further.

U.S. President Joe Biden currently led by example when he met with Putin. Apparently, his strategic thinking is more pronounced than that of the EU, which once again fails to agree on a common and coherent foreign policy vision.
The last holdouts of colonialism still linger on although the majority of colonies have been liberated from the grip of their colonial masters over the past more than seven decades after World War II.

The Malvinas Islands are a case in point, with the United Kingdom still clinging to its colonial mentality, and refusing to return the islands to Argentina.

That explains why China voiced its support of Argentina's sovereignty over the islands at the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization on Thursday.

Argentina should have naturally regained sovereignty of the Malvinas Islands in 1816 when the country gained independence from Spain. But they were forcefully grabbed by the UK in 1833.

A UN resolution in 1965 urged the two countries to settle their dispute over the sovereignty of the Islands through talks. But the two countries went to war over the control of the islands in 1982, with the UK emerging the victor.

But decolonization is the trend and the way to realize equality and fairness in the global governance.

The UK should heed the call of the UN to negotiate with Argentina. But instead it has refused any form of talks, insisting on its possession of the sovereignty of the Islands.

The UK's mentality of colonialism also finds expression in its unreasonable interference in Hong Kong affairs, of course.

For the UK, despite its decline as a colonial power, lacks the courage to reflect on its colonial past. This has made it impossible for it to have a clear understanding about how the world could be governed in a fair and equal manner for the well-being of all countries and peoples.

The UK and some other Western countries which used to be colonial powers can still hardly resign themselves to the reality that power politics does not apply in global governance today and that the dignity and interest of developing countries must be respected.

On the issue of climate change, the distribution of vaccines to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and some other issues concerning the development of developing countries, they still think that they can do whatever they like without bothering about the dignity and interests of their developing counterparts.

Their hanging on to the colonial mentality has become a stumbling block to the settlement of common problems such as global warming and poverty alleviation for the healthy development of the international community.

China's support of Argentina on the question of the Malvinas Islands is a token of its long-standing opposition to colonialism and its backing of the interests and rights of developing countries.
By Zi Xin

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) recently released its annual report, which showed that by early 2021, the worlds total number of nuclear warheads has decreased, but more nuclear warheads have been deployed in combat forces. It has captured close attention in the international community as such changes concern global nuclear security.

Decrease of nuclear warheads stalls

SIPRIs report released on June 14 said that there were about 13,080 nuclear warheads around the world at the beginning of 2021, down from last years 13,400, and about 90% of them were owned by Russia (6,255 nuclear warheads) and the US (5,550). Although the total number decreased a little, the number of those deployed in combat forces increased from 3,720 to 3,825, including about 2,000 in full combat readiness.

SIPRIs senior researcher Kristensen wrote in the report that the deployment of more nuclear warheads is an upsetting sign because it means the falling trend of nuclear arsenal has stalled. He mentioned that although the nuclear strategy of Trumps term is in the past, the Biden administration has sent clear signals that it will continue to push the overwhelming nuclear modernization program.

US-Russia game

Nuclear weapons have been increasingly deployed for realistic combat in recent years. Of the 3,825 nuclear warheads that are deployed, the US has 1,800 and Russia 1,625, each having about 50 more compared with the previous year. There are mainly two reasons for this.

The first reason is Americas endless pursuit of tactical nuclear weapons. The Nuclear Posture Review released by the Trump government in 2018 mentioned two types of low-equivalent nuclear warheads for the first time and said the country had invested more than 100 billion dollars on tactical nuclear weapons. During Trumps term, there was a growing call for using nuclear weapons in realistic combats, and the country has strongly developed low-equivalent tactical ones to replace strategic nuclear weapons. This will lower the threshold of using them and largely increase the possibility of a nuclear war.

Another reason is Russias constant breakthroughs in weapon development. To respond to the security threats from the US and counter its nuclear deterrence, Russia has actively developed a series of new strategic weapons such as the nuclear-powered unmanned underwater vehicles and the nuclear-powered cruise missiles. From 2012 to 2020, the ratio of Russias modern strategic nuclear forces went up from 37% to 86%. As Washington is constantly challenging Moscows security interests, Moscows priority to developing nuclear forces that form asymmetrical advantages over the rival gives it more cards in hand in their strategic struggles.

US should change course to contribute to global strategic stability

At present, there are more uncertainties around the world and regional conflicts linger. Against such a background, Americas sustained promotion of nuclear weapons for realistic combat poses a serious threat to international security. The international community has reached a consensus on jointly maintaining nuclear security, and it urges the US to change course in order to keep global strategic stability.

First, the US should change its security rules. The security rules currently upheld by the US are mostly remnants left from the Cold War, which exaggerate threats from major powers, stoke military adventurism, and increase the risk of a nuclear war breaking out. As the international community is upholding common security and multilateralism, Washington should also abandon its Cold-War mentality and replace the zero-sum game with win-win cooperation.

Second, the US should de-legalize its nuclear weapons. According to the plan of the US Department of Defense, the US military will spend more than 1 trillion dollars in the next few years maintaining and rebuilding its nuclear arsenal. Nuclear weapons should not be the means of threatening other countries, strategic forces should not mean nuclear attack forces, and extended deterrence should not mean nuclear deterrence. It is generally believed that the US should spend more energy on nuclear disarmament and marginalizing its nuclear weapons from the strategic key position rather than develop them with such intensity.

Third, the US should maintain the arms control system. The three nuclear arms control treaties between the US and Russia  the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems, Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and Treaty on Open Skies  have all failed. Although the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty(New START) has been renewed and extended, follow-up negotiations have not yielded any progress yet. The arms control system is so frequently hit by unilateral exit that its restriction upon the manufacturing and deployment of nuclear weapons has been greatly undermined. Therefore, countries in the world are calling for the US to return to the international arms control system and fulfill its due responsibilities for maintaining global strategic stability and improving the worlds strategic security environment.
HONG KONG, June 28 -- On June 25, the PLA Hong Kong Garrison deployed land, sea and air forces for a joint patrol drill. The drill aimed to comprehensively test the troops defense capabilities while focusing on joint search and rescue, interception and verification, force projection, etc.

On the morning of that day, urgent sirens blared in several barracks of the PLA Hong Kong Garrison simultaneously, and the land, sea and air mission detachments immediately got ready for emergency response in shortest time. Half an hour later, the ground unit, helicopter squadron, and warship formation rushed to the target areas.

"Someone fell into water. Emergency search and rescue in need." The helicopter squadron received an order just as it took off, and one chopper immediately rushed to the mission area. Nearly 10 minutes later, the persons overboard were successfully rescued and sent to the hospital.

At noon, the land-air joint formation was noticed that the terrorists have been found, and searching and clearing operation was in need. The helicopter carrying the special operations members hurriedly flew over the mission area and cooperated with the ground forces to contain the simulated terrorists by close coordination and three-dimensional assault.

Later on in the afternoon, the participating warships and aircraft launched a joint sea-air patrol in Victoria Harbor, concentrating on command coordination, communication liaison, and force projection drills.
By Lu Xue

Photo taken on Sept. 14, 2020 shows the outside view of the United Nations headquarters in New York, the United States. (Photo: Xinhua)

Against the backdrop that the US is taking on China as a top competitor and US President Joe Biden has been attempting to rally Western allies to contain China, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday said, "Past, present and in the future, China always stands together with developing countries. China's vote in the United Nations is always for the well-being of developing countries." Wang made the remarks while attending the Lanting Forum on China and the UN: Cooperation in 50 Years and Beyond that was held on Friday.

Su Hao, director of the Center for Strategic and Peace Studies at China Foreign Affairs University, told Global Times on Sunday, "Wang's words have some implications. The just-concluded G7 summit clearly indicates that the US hopes to yoke its Western allies as well as South Korea and Japan - nearly all developed countries - to its anti-China chariot. Judging from the communiques of the recent G7 and NATO summits, these developed countries have to coordinate with the US to confront China. By contrast, the majority of developing countries will not follow their pattern. In this context, China will attach more importance to deepening its ties with developing countries."

The US-led Western bloc has long been pursuing hegemony in politics, economy and militarily. They are arrogant in culture and have attempted to carry out long-arm jurisdiction over developing countries. They have tried to impose their ideology and political system on developing countries and to restrict these countries' development.

Although after World War II, many developing countries ended colonial rule by Western developed countries, the West still dominates or even controls the economies of developing countries. Western developed countries engage in unfair trade practices with developing countries, resulting in chronic poverty in most developing countries.

Su said, "With more space for cooperation among developing countries, it is expected to see the collective rise of developing countries. China's rise can provide developing countries a decent condition for advancing their economic development."

These Western developed countries are seeking supremacy. They are actually engaging in the confrontation between a handful of superiors and the value of the vast developing world. The Western developed countries cannot represent the entire world. Two recent cases in the UN can demonstrate this.

At the 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, more than 90 countries expressed their support and understanding of China's stance, and 65 of them clearly opposed interference in China's domestic affairs in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and Tibet under the excuse of human rights, after Canada led more than 40 countries to release a joint statement to make groundless accusations against China on Xinjiang-related topics.

Furthermore, at a UN meeting on Wednesday, 184 countries voted in favor of a resolution to demand the end of the US economic blockade of Cuba, for the 29th year in a row, with just the US and Israel voting against.

As the largest developing country, China has for a long time attached great importance to its relations with developing countries and regards developing countries as the basis of China's diplomacy. China's restoration of a legitimate seat in the UN in 1971 and the big role China has been playing on the international stage partly come from the support of most developing countries. China has also lent a helping hand to assist developing countries to reduce poverty and improve their people's well-being.

Wang's words that "China's vote in the United Nations is always for the well-being of developing countries" will help developing countries better understand China's willingness to support them, which will facilitate their cooperation with China. This will lead the world in a fairer and more equitable direction.
Israel's new government on Sunday pledged close cooperation with the United States even as it expressed "serious reservations" about efforts by Washington to rejoin the international pact to restrain Iran's nuclear program.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Rome in their first face-to-face meeting since a new coalition government assumed power in the Jewish state, ending the 12-year control by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Ahead of their talks, Lapid acknowledged that "in the past few years, mistakes were made" in relations between the two countries, with Netanyahu closely aligning himself with former U.S. President Donald Trump and Republicans in the U.S. Congress, at times to the exclusion of close ties with Democratic officials. "Israel's bipartisan standing was hurt," Lapid said. "We will fix those mistakes together."

The top Israeli diplomat, who under a power-sharing arrangement will become the country's prime minister in two years following new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, said he has spoken with both Democrats and Republicans since taking office and had "reminded them all that we share America's most basic, basic values -- freedom, democracy, free markets and constant search for peace."

Blinken noted that although the administration of President Joe Biden is five months old and Bennett's two weeks, "the foundation that we're working on is one of an enduring partnership, a relationship, friendship between the United States and Israel."

Lapid did not spell out Israel's objections to the U.S. rejoining the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which Trump withdrew from in 2018, saying it was not tough enough on Tehran. The former U.S. leader reimposed economic sanctions on Iran. Biden is seeking to rejoin Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China in the agreement to block Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. "Israel has some serious reservations about the Iran nuclear deal that is being put together in Vienna," Lapid said, adding he would make his country's objections known privately to the U.S.


Britain's Health Minister Matt Hancock quit Saturday after he was caught breaking COVID-19 rules by kissing and embracing an aide in his office, enraging colleagues and the public who have been living under lockdown.

Hancock, 42, wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign after the Sun newspaper published photos on Friday of the married minister embracing a woman whom he had appointed to a taxpayer-funded role to scrutinize the performance of his department.

Hancock has been at the center of the government's fight against the pandemic, routinely appearing on television and radio to tell people to follow the strict rules to contain the virus.

His departure means Johnson will have to appoint a new minister to take on the huge department that is responsible for overseeing the health service and tackling the virus, at a time when cases have started to rise again.

Johnson said Friday that he had accepted an apology from the minister and considered the matter to be closed, but Hancock faced rising pressure to quit. "We owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down as I have done by breaching the guidance," Hancock said in his letter.
North Korea has nimbly harnessed leader Kim Jong-un's much commented-on weight loss for propaganda purposes.

State TV on Friday wheeled out a man who claimed he had recently seen Kim at a concert. "It broke my heart to see the general secretary so emaciated," the man said. "Everyone's eyes are welling up with tears."

In reality Kim is still vastly obese. But at a Workers Party meeting in mid-June, his first public appearance in about a month, he was visibly less so than before. His cheeks were less puffed and he seemed to have tightened his watch strap by a notch since March.


Human Rights Watch has slammed President Moon Jae-in for describing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as "honest" and "enthusiastic" in a recent interview with TIME magazine.

In a statement sent to Voice of America last Friday, the international watchdog said Kim "should be facing trial at the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity."

"The UN Commission of Inquiry set out in comprehensive detail what those crimes against humanity are, and demanded [North Korea's] leaders be referred to the ICC, yet somehow the South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, thinks that Kim Jong-un is some sort of worthy leader."

The magazine reported that Moon found Kim "very honest... very enthusiastic [and] one with strong determination who has 'a good idea of what is going on around the world.'"

But HRW said "Fortunately, the South Korean people have seen through Moon's delusions about the North Korean regime. [Kim] leads a government that... systematically abuses human rights on a parallel seldom seen anywhere else in the world."

Moon has been on an increasingly Quixotic quest to engage the North Korean regime with offers of economic cooperation.

But Kim "is ruthless and prepared to commit any sort of human rights atrocity if he thinks it will help him maintain power," HRW said. It added, "The fear of the North Korean people is the only thing that enables [Kim] to continue to rule the country after such economic mismanagement and misery."


Dongjia app creates a new model for online art auction

By:Zhao Chunyuan | From:english.eastday.com | 2021-06-28 10:40

Recently, the first thing Xiaoxiao, a post-90s white-collar worker, does after dinner every night is to spend time watching the spring auction live stream via a mobile app called Dongjia. In her opinion, these authentic handicrafts are artworks infused with emotion. In addition to the collection value, they are endowed with rich cultural connotation as well as value for use and appreciation, said Xiaoxiao.

A work by grandmaster Gu Jingzhou, who is one of the most influential teapot makers of all time

The spring auction on the Dongjia app lasts for 15 days (June 11-25) this year. It brings together more than 400 wonderful online auctions with a total of more than 10,000 collectibles. The sale price and number of participants for the online auction of cultural art relics in 2021 will hit a historical high. Transactions are efficient and convenient, the quality of the auction items is guaranteed, and the threshold for online auction has been greatly reduced, all of which meet the habits of young collectors. According to the person in charge of the Dongjia app, the age structure of the platform's auction users is characterized by small at both ends and large in the middle. The post-75s are the mainstay, and post-85s and post-90s users are increasing rapidly.

In addition, young artisans on the Dongjia app should also not be underestimated. During the activity of Zisha Week which was related with Yixing Zisha industry not long ago, many new generation Zisha craftsmen on the Dongjia app have emerged with their distinctive works.

Works by Shen Siyu, a Dongjia app artisan

Shen Siyu, a post-90s artisan on the Dongjia app, inherited his grandmother's mantle as soon as he graduated from college and became a Zisha craftsman. Yixing clay is known as Zisha, which means purple sand, as supposed to purple clay. For the first six years of his career, Shen Siyu had been making classic purple clay teapots to lay his technical foundation. Later, many ideas came together in his head and he started to make creative works. What I want to show is not just the tradition of Zisha, but the Chinese tradition, which is expressed through the medium of Zisha material, said Shen Siyu. In his opinion, the live stream on the Dongjia app has given him an opportunity to let more people see his original works.
Exhibition focusing on Jews part in CPC history opens in Shanghai

By:Zheng Qian | From:english.eastday.com | 2021-06-28 12:02

A special exhibition themed on Jewish peoples contribution in the CPCs 100-year history has kicked off in the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum.

The exhibition displays stories of Jews participating in the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the anti-Japanese movement and the establishment and development of New China. Among the people were Dutch communist activist Hendricus Josephus who attended the First National Congress of the Party, Mikhail Markovich Borodin, representative of Communist International in China, who promoted cooperation between the KMT and the Communist Party, and Polish reporter Hans Shippe who was sacrificed on the Anti-Japanese Front.

According to Chen Jian, curator of the museum, today China has made amazing achievements, and holding this exhibition is to remember those contributing to the Chinese revolutionary cause.

Compared with the previous content of Jewish refugees in Shanghai participating in the Chinese revolution, this special exhibition has extended the timeline and sorted out the deeds of all Jews who joined the process, from the founding of the CPC to the construction of New China.

Looking back, the support and participation of progressive international people in the cause of China's revolution and construction led by the CPC shines with the spirit of internationalism, showing the common pursuit of justice by people of different nationalities.

Telling the story of the friendship between the Chinese people and the people of the world in the pursuit of progress will help more domestic and foreign audiences understand the historical logic of why the CPC can, why Marxism works, and why socialism with Chinese characteristics is good.

As Piotr Leszczynski, deputy consul general of Poland in Shanghai, commented, this exhibition tells the story of Jewish people aiding the CPC which is an important chapter in the Partys history. Focusing on this period on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Party is very meaningful. This exhibition helps me understand more.
Chris Lehman, from the Washington Times mentions Roy McClellan's service during WWII

Memorial Day: A tale of two generations We are the beneficiaries of the courage of Joe Konyndyk and Roy McClellan and are blessed to have them still with us A few days ago, I received an invitation to a birthday party for a US Navy veteran turning 100 on June 17.

His name is Roy L. McClellan . I met this great American about 15 years ago at a reunion of World War II Navy veterans who served on a class of heavily armed shallow draft warships called Landing Craft Support (Large) or LCS for short.

R.L. will turn 100 on June 17 and his family plans to celebrate that special day with a party on Saturday, June 19, at the First United Methodist Church in Spearman from 2-4. The community is invited to attend this wonderful event!
Woburn, MA (01801)

Today

Mostly cloudy. Periods of light rain early. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. Periods of light rain early. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.
It is reported that on the 17th local time, the Japan National Tourism Administration released estimated data that in February 2021, the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan was 7,400, which was a 99.3% decrease from the same month in 2020, and a ye...
CNN international correspondent Anna Coren, on assignment in Kabul, talks with Brian Stelter about bearing witness to "the end of a chapter for America." Coren also touches on the ways in which "journalists have been targeted" in Afghanistan, and the fears "that there's going to be a serious
Former Lake County Recorder Michael B. Brown was fined $500, plus court costs, after pleading no contest to misdemeanor possession of marijuana Monday in a northern Wisconsin courtroom.

According to court records, Wisconsin Assistant District Attorney Alexander Seifert and Brown's attorney, Robert A. Kennedy Jr., jointly recommended amending the charge against Brown from felony possession of marijuana with intent to deliver to misdemeanor marijuana possession as part of a plea deal.

Records show Forest County Judge Leon Stenz confirmed Brown was freely, voluntarily and intelligently entering his plea, and waiving his constitutional rights and right to trial, before agreeing there was a sufficient factual basis to convict Brown on the amended charge.

WATCH NOW: Casinos drop face mask requirement for vaccinated guests

According to court records, Brown was remorseful about his conduct and does not plan to appeal the judge's guilty finding.

Brown's $2,000 cash bond then was applied to his fine and court costs, and Brown returned to his new home on the western side of Michigan's upper peninsula with $444.50 in his pocket, records show.

He was facing the possibility of spending up to 3 1/2 years in prison and a $10,000 fine under the original felony drug dealing charge.

According to court records, Brown was pulled over at 12:20 a.m. March 15 while driving with only one headlight on State Highway 32 through the town of Wabeno, Wisconsin.

Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute

Police said a search of Brown's vehicle uncovered a glass Ball jar with 10.6 grams of a green leafy substance that later tested positive for marijuana.

He also had in his vehicle two digital scales with green plant residue, an opened box of 100 plastic sandwich bags, a package of organic hemp rolling papers, and $2,840 cash in $100 and $20 bills, records show.

WATCH NOW: Riding Shotgun with NWI Cops  Patrolling Lowell with Cpl. Aaron Crawford

Brown told police he does not sell marijuana, the marijuana in his car was old, and he merely was transporting the drug items from his former Indiana home to his new place in Michigan, court records state.

The 37-year-old Democrat served as Lake County recorder from 2013 to 2020.

Brown's tenure was marred by rampant, unexplained absenteeism from his office in the Lake County Government Center and a 2018 sexual harassment settlement that cost county taxpayers $185,000, records show.

Get to know these new Indiana laws enacted in 2021
(The College Fix)  No vaccine for you. Let me know if you need a letter for the university.

Thats what a world-class infectious disease physician told Jaime Carini, a doctoral candidate at Indiana University, who suffers from several chronic illnesses.

When she applied for an exemption from vaccination, Indiana University denied her request, and now Carini is taking the university to court over its vaccine mandate.

Carini is among seven students claiming in a lawsuit, filed last week, that Indiana Universitys COVID vaccine mandate violates their Fourteenth Amendment rights to bodily integrity and refusing medical treatment.

They say it also flies in the face of an Indiana law banning vaccine passports.

Since the lawsuit was filed, Indiana University announced it will not require proof of vaccination but that the mandate stands.

In short, if a student refuses to get the COVID vaccine they can face a stringent exemption process, falsify vaccination, or face virtual expulsion, according to the lawsuit.

For the few who do receive an exemption, the university requires masks, semi-weekly testing, and mandatory quarantine if exposed to COVID.

Indiana University stands alone as the sole public university in Indiana with a vaccine mandate, the lawsuit states, noting other institutions simply encourage students to get it.

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When asked if Indiana Universitys announcement it will not require proof of vaccination but keep the mandate changes the standing of the case, the attorney representing the students, James Bopp Jr., said it does not.

In a phone interview with The College Fix, Bopp, who has argued many cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, said the mandate still violates the constitutional right to choose medical treatment and protect bodily integrity.

Requiring students to vaccinate is not reasonable and rational, according to Bopp.

Since the vaccines are authorized for emergency use, they require complete, informed, and voluntary consent, according to the lawsuit.

IU students are the least at risk of a COVID infection, Bopp said. For those not vaccinated, they are entitled to make the decision.

The IU Restart Committee affirmed the very low rate of hospitalization and death due to COVID-19 in a recommendations report submitted last month.

The lawsuit also highlights growing concerns about the risks associated with COVID vaccination in college-aged populations. Reports continue to surface of myocarditis, a sometimes deadly heart condition, correlating with COVID vaccination, especially in young males.

Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, a psychiatry professor and director of the medical ethics program at UC Irvine, said that risks of vaccination for college-aged students likely outweighs its benefits for college students.

For more on this story, visit The College Fix.
(The Center Square)  An Indiana judge ruled the state must continue to let unemployed residents collect $300 in extra weekly unemployment payments from the federal government.

Marion County Superior Court Judged John Hanley issued his ruling Monday morning.

Indiana Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm based in Indianapolis that provides free legal services to low-income residents, asked for an emergency injunction to continue the payments last week. A hearing was June 23.

Hanleys decision said the state is required to procure all available federal insurance benefits to citizens.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb in May announced the state would stop participating in the program as of June 19.

President Joe Biden earlier said the federal payments would end the first week in September, but so far 25 states  mostly led by Republican governors  have already ended or said they would end the payments early.

The primary reason given is that the money, on top of weekly state unemployment benefits, are an incentive for people not to find work.

Hanley said the harm caused by ending the payments outweighed the risk to the state.

Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute

A loss of housing or medical care and the inability to provide food, shelter and adequate childcare for a family constitute irreparable harm pending resolution of this cause of action and are not adequately compensable by an award of damages, Hanley wrote in his decision.

Hanley added the payments are instrumental in allowing Hoosiers to regain financial stability at an individual level while the state continues to face challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic during its return to normalcy.

Holcombs office said it would consider appealing the decision.

About 230,000 people in the state are currently on unemployment. Indianas unemployment rate in May was 4%, slightly above Aprils 3.9%.

During last weeks hearing, Jennifer Terry, an attorney with Indiana Legal Services, told Hanley Frankly judge, these unemployment benefits are keeping the claimants out of poverty.

Assistant Attorney General Jefferson Garn, representing the state, told Hanley it was in the states best interests to stop the payments and that continuing them would stunt the stabilization of the states economy.

Money for the federal payments comes from the $2.2 billion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, referred to as the CARES Act, that President Donald Trump signed into law in March 2020. They were bolstered by the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that Biden signed into law earlier this year.

A similar lawsuit has also been filed in Texas.
Press Release

June 28, 2021 De Lima urges Filipinos to choose leaders who will defend PH vs unrelenting Chinese incursions Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has urged Filipinos to help defend the country's national sovereignty by valuing their right to suffrage and electing worthy and pro-Filipino leaders in the upcoming 2022 elections. De Lima, a social justice and human rights champion, said the Filipino electorate should not vote for leaders like Duterte who, upon assuming office in 2016, already decided that he will unequivocally side with his Beijing masters and has since refused to stand against unrelenting Chinese incursions in the West Philippine Sea (WPS). "Recently, instead of de-escalating brewing tensions in international waters, Duterte's Beijing friends sent more ships to our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), further robbing our fishermen of their livelihood, destroying our marine resources and negatively impacting our economy," she said. "Now, nobody expects Duterte to stand against this Chinese incursions in WPS because of his puppy-like love for Xi Jinping. He will ignore this issue or utter the same excuses he memorized in the past five years of his cowardice-filled rule. With Duterte's policy of subservience and surrender to China, De Lima said that the future of the Philippines is now in the hands of the Filipino electorate, saying "To those who still haven't, please register to vote now. Let us vote for our national sovereignty. Let us vote for our territorial integrity. Let us vote for the protection of our rights." "Iboto natin ang poprotekta sa kabuhayan ng mangingisdang Pilipino at dedepensa sa dangal ng Pilipinas," she added. In its 14-page report released Sunday, US-based Simularity said more than 100 additional vessels that are "likely Chinese ships," were spotted within the country's EEZ in the WPS this month. "As of June 17, 2021, approximately 238 ships are in the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)," the report read. Likewise, based on satellite images released by Simularity, some 236 ships were detected in Union Banks or Pagkakaisa Banks and Reefs from between mid-May and mid-June. De Lima said "the past administration already armed him with the best reason to put more pressure against China's invasion. But what did he do? He set aside the 2016 Hague ruling and claimed that it was just a piece of paper to be thrown in the trash." In 2013, under the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III, it may be recalled that the Philippines challenged China's legal basis for its expansive claim before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, Netherlands, and won the case in a landmark award in 2016 after the tribunal invalidated Beijing's assertions. In a landmark ruling on July 12, 2016, the Hague-based PCA found no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to a "nine-dash line" in the WPS but China refused to honor the ruling. Last April, De Lima filed Senate Resolution (SR) No. 694 urging the government's Executive branch to exert all legal and diplomatic actions on the Chinese government in asserting Philippine sovereign rights in the WPS. De Lima, who was part of the Philippine delegation who argued the Philippines' arbitration case against China over the WPS before The Hague during her stint as Justice Secretary, is also among the 11 Senators who filed SR No. 708 urging the Upper Chamber to "condemn in the strongest possible terms" the illegal activities of China in the disputed waters.
Press Release

June 28, 2021 Drilon: 'We need good governance not guns to solve criminality and poverty' What can solve the country's growing problems on criminality and its main drivers - poverty and hunger - is good governance not guns, according to Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon on Monday as he opposed the proposal to arm civilian organizations to reduce crimes. "More guns do not make a country safe. More guns will not solve poverty and hunger. More guns will not bring back lost jobs. More guns will not bring back investor's confidence," Drilon said in a statement on Monday. "What the government needs to do is to bring back good governance to address the causes of criminality which are poverty, hunger and joblessness. These are the main factors that drive people to commit crimes," Drilon stressed. "Kung kumakalam ang tiyan, ang ibibigay mo pagkain at hindi bala," he added. Drilon said he completely agreed with Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas who called for a need to bring back good governance and decency and integrity in government during a mass for the late President Benigno S. Aquino III. "Good governance involves the proper implementation of the law. There is a law that provides for a comprehensive law regulating the ownership, possession, carrying, manufacture, dealing in and importation of firearms and ammunition. Is it being strictly followed? How many crimes involve loose firearms?" said Drilon, referring to Republic Act 10591 or the Comprehensive Law of Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act. "Stricter implementation of firearm licensing regulations is needed, rather than arming groups. In fact, the PNP must intensify its operations against loose firearms," Drilon said. Drilon led the Senate in defeating an administration-backed proposal to arm firemen in the proposed Bureau of Fire Modernization Bill. Before it adjourned last June 3, the Senate rejected the bicameral report on the bill modernizing the Bureau of Fire Protection after the panel inserted a provision allowing firefighters to carry guns, which the Senate had rejected earlier. Drilon, who was Senate President four times, said the proposal to arm civilian organizations is definitely "not the solution to rising criminality." "We will oppose it. Given the Senate's strong opposition to the proposal to arm firefighters, I don't see the Senate will support the proposal to arm civilian organization" he said. Drilon further said that the proposal is an admission that the government is failing in its duty to provide security and protection to Filipinos. "The proposal would serve to create the impression that the government is incapable of protecting the safety and welfare of Filipinos," Drilon said. "The increasing incidence of crime in the country that involved a firearm is already a cause of concern. The proposal carries a high risk that guns may fall in the wrong hands and, therefore, only exacerbate criminality," he added.
Press Release

June 28, 2021 OPENING STATEMENT

On hearing re privilege speech on MSMEs

Sen. Francis 'Kiko' Pangilinan

28 June 2021 Thank you very much Senator Pimentel, the Chairperson of the Committee on Trade, Commerce, and Entrepreneurship. Also to Senator Imee Marcos, the Chairperson of the Economic Affairs Committee, to which this subject matter that we are now tackling had been referred to. Maraming salamat for this hearing on our privilege speech on our proposed solutions to the devastating effects of the pandemic on micro, small, and medium enterprises. The backbone of our economy. The largest employer would be the micro, small, and medium enterprises. In our privilege speech delivered last June 1, this representation stressed the need to adapt to survive. We proposed the bottom-up approach in feeding the economic soil, so to speak. Bottom-up because our micro and small and medium enterprises, which include our farmers, fisher folk, drivers, small karinderyas, etc. sila ang pinakatinamaan ng pandemya. Uulitin natin ang sinabi natin noong June 1, about 73.1 percent of micro and small enterprises were forced to close their businesses a few weeks after the Covid-19 outbreak and the lockdown measures implemented. Ang pinaka-apekatado, ang maliliit, 76.4 percent. At ang nasa services -- food, resto, hotel -- 72.7 percent. At dahil sila ang pinaka-apektado, Filipino entrepreneurs -- mobile vendors of fishballs, karinderya, buko, mais; sari-sari stores, palengke stalls, barberya -- are not giving up. Yung mga raket scientists nga -- raket, ibig sabihin naghahanap ng raket -- have in fact persevered and refused to quit. Sila ang pinakamaliliit sa atin, sila ang pinaka-madiskarte, sila ang pinakamarunong mabuhay sa kakulangan. Tulungan natin sila. Naalala ko iyong isang barberya, sa halip na magsara, gumawa ng mobile barberya para lang gumawa ng paraan at mabuhay. Dahil kakaiba itong pandemya, kailangan kakaiba rin ang pag-atake rito. Kailangan isipin natin na nag-iinvest tayo o namumuhunan sa kinabukasan. Government should not look at assistance to small and medium enterprises as expenditures, but rather as investments. The solutions we presented include: 1. Boost our "Buy Pinoy, Buy Local" campaign to promote locally-produced, locally-made, and locally-assembled products. And that is in Section 4 (t) of Bayanihan 2, on PPEs. It says, "preference and incentives shall be given to medical safety products that are locally manufactured." 2. Conditional cash transfers to micro, small, and medium enterprises. If we are spending hundreds of billions for our cash assistance for the poorest of the poor, perhaps we should also provide assistance -- direct cash assistance -- to the poorest of the poor enterprises. Ito iyong mga maliliit na nabanggit din natin kanina. 3. And ease credit requirements for MSMEs. Sabi po nila, sa hirap ng mga requirement, eh parang dalawang beses na silang tinamaan. Hindi lamang ng Covid, kung hindi rin nung proseso at requirements para makakuha ng ayuda o assistance. Economic recovery stimulus packages as well of Senators Recto and Pacquiao here in the Senate, we should look into seriously. This is the Bayanihan 3. We want an effective vaccine roll-out. We want an effective herd immunity target achieved before the end of the year, and we are more than willing, as best we can to support all efforts because this is what the country needs. The economy can never recover if there are still millions going hungry or without jobs, which relies heavily in an effective Covid response. The focus should remain the same: aggressive testing, contact tracing, isolation, and effective vaccine roll-out. Pag-aralan din natin paano masusuportahan ang small and medium enterprises in terms of vaccine roll-out or subsidy. Dahil base sa Committee of the Whole hearing, gagastusan naman ng gobyerno ang mga bakunang ito. Baka maaaring ma-reimburse yung mga gastos ng small and medium enterprises na ngayon pa lang ay gumagastos na dito sa mga bakunang ito. We must come together, address the challenges of micro, small, and medium enterprises so that we can finally move toward a new normal that is addressing unemployment, hunger, and joblessness. Maraming salamat again, Mr. Chairman, and I am interested to listen to the proposals as well of our resource persons. Thank you very much.
Press Release

June 28, 2021 Villar leads inauguration of modular hospital and groundbreaking of LPGH & STC Extension Senator Cynthia A. Villar led on Monday the inauguration of a modular hospital and the groundbreaking for additional twelve (12) storeys of Las Pinas General Hospital and Satellite Trauma Center (LPGH-STC) to boost the city's health facility and expand capacity of its health care system amid the pandemic. The modular hospital, undertaken by Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark A. Villar, is across LPGH & STC at Perpetual Village, Diego Cera Ave, Pulanglupa I. Complete with ventilation systems, oxygen lines, and air condition units, the modular hospital can accommodate 36 Covid-19 patients. Senator Villar noted that the facility would be a big help as the government continues to battle Covid-19. This facility, she said, would decongest LPGHSTC as it will cater and take care of patients afflicted with mild and moderate Covid-19 cases. Because of this, she said doctors, nurses and other health personnel at the city-run hospital can focus on patients with severe and critical Covid-19 cases and those with other ailments. The DPWH has been building modular hospitals to further augment the country's healthcare facilities and to ensure unhampered care for coronavirus patients due to lack of facilities. On the construction of additional storeys at the LPGH & STC, Sen. Villar said this is in line with the law signed by President Rodrigo Duterte upgrading its bed capacity. Under Republic Act No. 11497, LPGH & STC has been authorized to boost capacity from 200 to 500 beds. The lady senator is earmarking P644 million for the expansion of the said hospital which was established in 1977 initially as an outpatient clinic. She cited the urgent need to expand and upgrade public hospitals and health facilities in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic "We are in the middle of a health care crisis. The Covid-19 pandemic, according to global health experts themselves, is here to stay. But as it stands now, existing hospital facilities are not enough to meet the requirements. So, I believe increasing the bed capacity of government hospitals will be a big help to the people," said Villar. "Once the expansion of LPGH & STC is completed, the facilities for Covid-19 and non-Covid patients can be separated to avoid the spread of the virus. That would also ensure regular health care services are not disrupted," also said Villar. LPGH & STC is a DOH-operated hospital that serves the National Capital Region (NCR) and neighboring provinces. Even when she was still the representative of her home city of Las Pinas, Villar prioritized the modernization of the then Las Pinas District Hospital. She authored Republic Act 9240 in 2004 that converted it into LPGH & STC and increased the bed capacity of the hospital from 50 to 200 beds.
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British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Defender enters Batumi port

By Veronika Malinboym

British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Defender entered Batumi port on June 26 following an incident with the Russian military forces in the Black Sea, off the coast of Crimea. In response to the warships arrival, the Embassy of the United Kingdom to Georgia tweeted:Welcoming HMS Defender in beautiful Batumi! Fantastic demonstration of the UKs work with Georgia on regional security.Earlier today, the ship has hosted members of the government of Georgia and the government of Adjaras Autonomous Republic:Honoured to welcome guests from Government of Georgia on HMS Defender.Great Britain is committed to Black Sea security, stability and prosperity, and to Georgias territorial integrity and sovereignty.Well continue to work with Georgia to safeguard democracy, international law and regional security, reads the UK Embassys post.Earlier this week, as the British destroyer was passing through the waters off the coast of Crimea, it has been shot at by the Russian coast guards and aircraft, after allegedly ignoring the repeated demands to not violate what Russia considers its state border. In turn, neither the United Kingdom, nor the rest of the Western world recognises the legitimacy of the annexation of Crimea, and, therefore, consider it to be a part of Ukraine. The warships crew decision to proceed with its route has been commended by many as a demonstration of the UKs respect for the international waters and intolerance towards Russias aggressive policy of expansion. This incident marks one of many tensions between the navy of NATO member states navy and Russia in the Black Sea.Upon HMS Defenders arrival, British Embassy announced that its visit is a demonstration of the close cooperation between UK and Georgia promoting defence and security in the Black Sea region.
Detectives on Sunday arrested the alleged masterminds of the kidnapping and torture of Kamukunji-based businesswoman Hafsa Mohamed Luqman.

Undercover sleuths from the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau and their Special Service Unit counterparts nabbed Jackson Njogu, 24, and Hafsa Abdi, 21, as they slept at Crystal View Lodge in Kinangop, Nyandarua County on Sunday morning.

After they abducted Hafsa Mohammed Lukman on Tuesday, June 15, the lovers also drained her bank accounts to the tune of Sh650,000.

They fled to Kinangop and splashed the loot on a bar which they were operating for a little over a week.

The DCI noted that: The two kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Sh5 million in order to set Hafsa free. However, when the ransom wasnt delivered, they opted to flee from our detectives who were closing in on them.

This morning was not their lucky day though. They were smoked out of room number 8 at Crystal View Lodge where they had imagined that our hawk-eyed detectives would never find them.

According to area locals, the undercover cops carried out their mission so swiftly leaving some of them stunned.

It appears the police were aware of what they wanted and how to get it. I was in the hotel the previous night. I noticed two unfamiliar faces which I dismissed as traders, but those must have been the detectives. They seemed calm, unbothered by anything or anyone, politely asking for their drinks which they barely touched, said Antony Karanja, a regular customer at the lodge.

Magumu chief John Karoki said he was not even aware of the raid and the arrests.

We are shocked. I have heard of no commotion or dramathe detectives must have done their homework, he said.
Wambui Nyutu is the Vice-Chairperson of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC).

The 29-year-old holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Nairobi (UoN). She is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Business Administration  Strategic Management at UoN.

Ms Nyutu is also a Certified Professional Mediator from Mediation Training Institute East Africa and holds an Arbitration and ADR certification.

She shares her career journey with the Sunday Nation.

Tell us about your childhood and family.

I grew up in village in Maragua, Muranga County in a family four sisters. Im the second born in the family. I learnt some key life lessons from my parents. My dad taught me to be firm while my mother, a teacher, taught me being focused and doing things independently.

I remember every weekend, my dad, who used to work in Nairobi, would bring us newspapers and we catch up with what has been happenning.

My father also taught me to be confident. I remember him telling me that you dont need to come home crying that someone was looking at you badly in church. Why are they looking at you badly? If they look at you, look at them, he would say.

Growing up, what did you want to become?

I always wanted to be a lawyer. At no point in my career did I ever think of any other job. Yeah, even when I went to university. I was sure this is just something that Ive always wanted. Im not an over-thinker, but when I set my mind on something, Ill go straight for it.

Why law, and are you practicing?

I just thought law is a promising career for me. It was also my childhood dream. Currently, Im not practicing because I am a commissioner. My practice is to assist the commission with legal issues, given that I am the only lawyer commissioner.

At the commission, I lead the legal and investigations department and the chair of that particular department. So that is where I input my knowledge in the legal field. Im also set to sit for my bar exams. After the exams maybe Ill practice law after Im done with the commission job.

What does your position at NCIC entail?

Currently, Im the vice-chair. So it means assisting the chairman in any duty that he may delegate to me. And also, Im the chairperson of the legal investigations department. That is a department which deals with the legal issues; we follow up on prosecution of cases in court. Im a qualified arbitrator and a mediator. I also go to the field to mediate disputes between communities.

What changes do you want to see at commission?

There are many changes that I would wish to see at the commission. Number one, you know that the justice system in Kenya is not so friendly, especially when it comes to politicians. We have no control over when cases have been taken to court. NCIC majorly depends on three different institutions, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the judiciary.

But taking a case to court sometimes is a problem. In addition, there is no proper coordination between all the four, including NCIC teams. Currently, we have set working committees between the DCI, DPP, the NCIC and the courts to a seamless transition of issues from NCIC where the complaint is made to the courts.

I wish we could be taking at least half of the cases to the very end. I would also wish to see politicians prosecuted and cases determined against. Kenya needs leaders who believe in the peaceful coexistence of communities. And Kenya needs leaders who dont mobilize their communities against others.

What drives you in your professional life?

Ambition. Nobody will tell you to wake up in the morning to do certain things; nobody will ask you to go back to school and read, but your ambition is what wakes you up every morning. There is this Swahili saying that goes Kila mtu anaamshwa na shida zake. What I want to be in the future is what wakes me up every morning.

And what is that you want to be in the future?

I want to be something greater than I am now. The world has so many opportunities. Kenya has so many opportunities for women right now. So maybe one day Ill be President. Who knows?

What do like most about working at the commission?

My favorite part is when I go to the field and meet people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Whenever I go to Turkana or Baragoi, I interact with the people I meet out there. Working with communities, mediating disputes, thats the best part of my job.

If you could change one thing about your personality, what would it be?

Sometimes I tend to be so anxious about having something done perfectly. For example, if I have something that Im chasing, I might pursue it with too much energy until it drains me so much.

You are an adventurous person; tell us about bungee jumping at Victoria Falls.

When I went to Zambia for Comesa training, I was informed that Victoria Falls was just around the corner and that there was bungee jumping.

So I told myself, Well, why cant I try it?

Im very adventurous, some sort of an adrenaline junkie. But bungee jumping was the most challenging thing Ive done.

Ive always wanted to challenge myself to do things that are difficult for people. So that part is what drove me to do it.

If you look at how I do my things and the projects I take up, I think its that desire to say that nothing is impossible that keeps me going.

If you think that youre not able to do something, push yourself to do it. So it was just something that was driving me from inside and telling me to do it try.

What was going through your mind going down the Zambezi River?

Falling 111 meters, a freefall! At some point, I felt like I was just alone in the world. It was a reflective moment because I imagined myself alone; it was just like a void. The only thing you can see is the waters, some bushes around you, and the air. Thats all I was able to see. And I felt like, really, is this what death feels like?

In 2019 you told Parliament you are worth Sh 23million, at 28 years; whats the secret?

Like Ive already stated, Im a business person. Ive always been in business since I was in the university. I was employed even when I was in campus, and so I opted for evening classes.

By the time I was going to Parliament, I had done a lot of things. As a leader, you also need to be financially stable to support your communities. The things I started back then just grew, and God has been faithful.

What one word would you use to describe yourself?

Ambitious.

What are you most proud of in life?

I am proud of the fact that I can run a charitable organization and support communities.

Tell us about the foundation. Wambui Nyutu Foundation is a promise I made to God. When I was praying about my job, I used to go to Holy Family Basilica to pray to get the commission job. In my prayer I would tell God, when you give me this job; I will give back to you and support people to continue with the good work you have done to my life.

So when I got the job, I decided to keep that promise. I give part of my salary to the foundation every month. My philanthropists friends also support the foundation.

Through the foundation, we have done a computer lab at Nginda Mixed Secondary School and renovations at my Alma mater Ihigaini Primary School. We have also installed water tanks in different schools. We majorly focus on education because I believe that education can take a child anywhere in the world.

How would you like to be remembered?

I would want to be remembered for transforming society. I cherish every opportunity I get the opportunity to transform society to be a better place.

I strongly believe that its my duty and responsibility to make things work. So I want to be remembered for the Wambui Nyutu Foundation for touching lives.

I want to be remembered at the commission for changing Kenya together with my colleagues. And I want to be remembered as a good leader because I will run for office one day.

Tell us about Warembo na UhuRuto

We started it in 2016 when I was about to clear campus. I thought to myself, now that we are done with university politic and going out to the world, whats next?

At one chapati forum at Moi Avenue Primary school, I told some of the ladies who were present to join me and create a movement that would bring all of us together.

We agreed on forming Warembo na UhuRuto movement which eventually grew into something we had never imagined. From four founding members, it became a movement with a national presence. Everywhere the president went, he found us there.

I was the chairperson at the national level, but the movement gave many women a platform. As a result, many women are now leaders in their respective counties. What surprised me most is that when the president was looking for a youth leader to run the Jubilee campaigns in 2017, I was on top of his list.

I was therefore appointed to run the jubilee youth campaign in 2017. And we did a campaign for the president. It was now known as Tokelezea Vijana na UhuRuto. That was the platform that thrust me into the limelight.

It all started as a small dream but grew into something huge. I learnt alot about the murky world of politics from that experience. It also gave me a lot of contacts.

Your advice to young women
Kato Change is a self-taught guitarist and Afro jazz composer and producer. He is notable for his work as the lead guitarist in Tusker Project Fame and Coke Studio Africa.

In January 2017, he was selected as one of six creative individuals from all nations, working in all disciplines, in order to promote increased intercultural understanding and global interconnectedness at Sacatar in Brazil.

Kato talked to PeopleDaily about his music and experience in Brazil, including his 5 minutes of fame.

You seem to love Brazil. What is it with you and the South American nation?

I initially travelled to Brazil for a three-month artiste exchange programme through the Africa Foundation in 2016 on the Itaparica Island.

I later travelled to Brazil four times including the one in 2017 thanks to Brazilian musician Luedji Luna.

I returned again in 2018 when Luedjis career had blown up after our collaboration.

Many people were excited about this new Afro-Brazilian sound, and she later contacted me back for a European tour.

How were the experiences for you in Brazil?

In March 2020, I got stranded in Brazil for seven months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Initially, I was staying at an Airbnb and then I stayed with Francois Muleka a guitarist.

Then moved to another artistes residency called um sete sete zero that was established in 1770.

I created a film about it using just my phone and that was 2020 for me. My Portuguese is a lot better; I can speak basic phrases.

Brazil is now a part of my life; it is amazing because the music, art and the culture are deeply ingrained together.

At 6am you could hear a group of percussionists just playing on the street. The people are beautiful and the culture is rich, warm and diverse.

There is however a lot of inequality and racism on many different levels. Their reception towards Africans is both warm and racist.

Unlike here where we were colonized, the blacks there were slaves, so you can still see some sort of institutionalised slavery.

Nonetheless, there is a deep-rooted and authentic connection to Africa, which made me feel at home.

Just how did you and Luedji hit up for the collaborations?

I met her during my residency in Brazil at an open day where the residency opens up for the public.

I had a performance for a small crowd and an audience member approached me saying she is a friend of Luedji who then told her about me.

She then came down to the island to meet me, after which she asked me to curtain raise for her next show.

After the show she told me that she liked my sound and that she was working on an album. We rehearsed for a week and finished the album in three days.

I was there for a month at that point. After her show was cancelled in Angola in 2018, I invited her to come and perform in Kenya and we organised a performance at the Js Restaurant.

Tell us more about your hit Paper Swan.

I wrote it for my father. It is a metaphor for my relationship with him. It reflects how children tend to view their parents as perfect, but as they grow older they start to have a different view of who their parents really are.

They start to form different relationships where genuine friendships blossom.

You realise that they are just normal human beings trying to live their lives and raise children.

So, as you fold the paper, you dont know what is going to be, but you get to understand them better. At the end, a paper swan comes out of it; an unfiltered friendship.

What should we hope to see from you in the near future?

I am currently working on a hip-hop album, which is a collaboration between local and Brazilian musicians.

Its my attempt at connecting two different cultures that have a lot of differences and similarities. I have also learnt a lot about filmography, so I can see myself doing a lot of film-based projects too.

Your craziest experience while on tour is?

Back in 2017 in Itaparica, I couldnt speak Portuguese and barely knew anyone there who spoke English.

During one of my stays there, I dropped my phone and credit card inside a taxi. Through the grace of God, I managed to get them back as the cab driver managed to contact me.

The media found out about it and covered it on one of their channels terming it The Kenyan who lost everything and got it back! (laughs).

So, I found myself on national news and my 15 minutes of fame in Brazil.

What magic do you employ on the guitar to come out so authentic the way it does?

I try to emulate sounds of African instruments such as the nyatiti because of musicians such as Ayub Ogada and Makadem, and the kora which I have been exposed to from West Africa.

I also try to express the guitar rhythms Ive heard from the Congo and benga music from Kenya.

I try to combine all these influences and create a sound that is mine, which is a challenge but fulfilling, as theyre sounds that resonate with me and would like to be identified as my sound as an artiste.

The goal for me is to be authentic and establish something our future generations can use to look back and identify themselves with too.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has cracked open what it says is a new gold scam used by fraudsters at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to swindle businesspeople from around the world.

This follows the seizure of a consignment of fake gold bars from a strong room belonging to the Swissport transit freight station at the airport.

The fake gold bars concealed in 31 boxes received from Uganda, had been stored at the airport by shadowy businessmen, dealing in the lucrative gold business on the pretext that it was cargo awaiting transit to different destinations across the world, said the DCI on Sunday, June 27.

According to the security agency, the fraudsters have been using Swissport freight to store their fake consignments to avoid detection by detectives since the freight station provides ground and cargo handling services in major airports across the globe.

In a clever gold scam that has seen businessmen from across the world lose hundreds of millions of shillings, the cons have been luring unsuspecting investors to view the gold at the customs offices at JKIA, the regions preferred international aviation hub.

Once at the airport, a prospective buyer is lured to Swissports strong room, where what appears to be genuine gold bars are displayed. The client is advised that once the transaction is completed, the gold will be shipped to any destination of his choice across the globe. However, immediately the buyer is convinced that the transaction is above board and makes payments including customs and shipping costs, that marks the beginning of his tribulations, the DCI explained.

One victim of the scam is said to have lost over Sh34 million to the tricksters, who immediately went underground after they received the payments.

In a well-coordinated and orchestrated scheme that detectives have been monitoring closely, the fraudsters began by acquiring posh premises in high-end estates, guarded round the clock by Police Officers. It is in these upmarket establishments, where they perfected the art of international organized gold scam fraud, by luring unsuspecting genuine investors from across the world to part with millions of money in exchange for fake gold, stated the DCI.

Following the collapse of this gimmick, the fraudsters have now reinvented themselves, and creatively devised a seemingly smart way of luring investors to airports, to be shown the gold. Detectives have uncovered that the multi-million shilling conspiracy, is executed with the assistance of various agencies, including some government institutions.

The DCI cautioned anyone within or outside the country intending to venture into the gold business, to be on the lookout not to fall prey to these amoebic fraudsters, who keep changing tactics and mode of operation.

When the deal looks too good, think twice and where necessary, kindly confirm the authenticity of the gold deposits with relevant government agencies and more so the DCI, that has come to the aid of so many victims. #FichuakwaDCI 0800722203. USIOGOPE!
Emorys racial and social justice initiatives advance significantly as President Fenves responds to reports issued by the Task Force on Untold Stories and Disenfranchised Populations and the University Committee on Naming Honors.

On Oct. 22, 2020, President Gregory L. Fenves announced the formation of two advisory committees related to the universitys racial and social justice initiatives: The Task Force on Untold Stories and Disenfranchised Populations and the University Committee on Naming Honors.

Membership on the task force and committee included leadership, faculty, staff, students and alumni, and reflected diversity across many dimensions.

Both groups shared their reports with the president this spring, and after reviewing their recommendations, the president is taking immediate action in the following ways:

Emory will develop plans for twin memorials on the Atlanta and Oxford campuses to honor the labor of enslaved individuals who helped build the university in its earliest days.

Emory will develop plans for twin memorials on the Atlanta and Oxford campuses to honor the labor of enslaved individuals who helped build the university in its earliest days. The university will explore the adoption of an official land acknowledgment statement to recognize the universitys location on the homelands of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

The university will explore the adoption of an official land acknowledgment statement to recognize the universitys location on the homelands of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Language Hall, at Oxford College, will be renamed in honor of Horace J. Johnson Jr.

Language Hall, at Oxford College, will be renamed in honor of Horace J. Johnson Jr. The Longstreet-Means residence hall, which bears the name of Emorys second president (18391848), Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, will be renamed Eagle Hall. This change is based, in part, on Longstreets strong defense of slavery, particularly while he served as Emory president.

History of Task Force on Untold Stories and Disenfranchised Populations

When Fenves and Interim Provost Jan Love reappointed the task force, its charge was to review opportunities for recognizing and memorializing contributions by enslaved persons whose labor helped build the Emory campus, and their descendants, as well as Indigenous nations and peoples on whose lands Emorys campus was erected.

Co-chaired by Yolanda Cooper, dean and university librarian, and Paul Root Wolpe, director of the Emory Center for Ethics, the task force submitted its report to the president on April 1, at which time it released an executive summary to the community.

The task force report anchored its recommendations on the knowledge that most of the original faculty and officers of Emory College, many of them Methodist clergymen, enslaved both African Americans and Native Americans. In addition, the universitys Atlanta and Oxford campuses were located on Muscogee (Creek) land, during a time in which the Muscogee (Creek) and Aniyunwiya (Cherokee) peoples were undergoing forced removal.

Task force recommendations

The task force advises that to build an inclusive environment and future for the university, Emory must reach out to the living descendants of these communities, as well as surrounding communities, and work to implement transformative initiatives.

Chief among the recommended actions is the creation of a Twin Memorials Working Group that will, by creating twin memorials on Emorys Atlanta and Oxford campuses, honor the labor of enslaved individuals who built Emory.

The co-chairs are Gregory Ellison II 99C, associate professor of pastoral care and counseling at Candler School of Theology, who chaired the twin memorials subcommittee of the task force, and Douglas Hicks, dean of Oxford College, who served on the task force. Once membership is set, the group will develop a request for proposals that will be shared with architectural firms.

The working group also will explore other forms of memorialization, including annual rituals, campus-wide programming and other ways to recognize the enslaved laborers who contributed to Emory. To begin a process of sharing Emorys history more systematically, one possibility is to have annual pilgrimages for new students to the Oxford and Atlanta campuses.

The task force report contains a number of other recommendations that Fenves will continue to consider.

History of University Committee on Naming Honors

As Fenves and Love reappointed the committee this past October, they charged it with reviewing contested historic names associated with buildings, spaces, programs, scholarships and other honors. In every case, the evaluated names were of deceased individuals. They also authorized the committee to conduct research on potential new names submitted for consideration.

Chaired by Fred Smith Jr., associate professor at Emory School of Law, the committee submitted its report to Fenves on May 8, and the full report is available to the Emory community.

Committee recommendations

Given Longstreets pro-slavery views, it is inappropriate for his name to continue to be memorialized in a place of honor on our campus, says Fenves.

In addition to the residence hall that bears Longstreets name, there is a chair named for him in the Department of English. It will be renamed as the Emory College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of English.

With regard to Alexander Means, Emorys president from 1854 to 1855, the committee did not complete a full review; moving forward, the university will explore his history and consider the appropriate way to recognize him on campus.

The committee also advises discontinuing naming honors for Atticus Greene Haygood, L. Q. C. Lamar, George Foster Pierce and Robert Yerkes.

Names still under review by President Fenves

Atticus Greene Haygood served as the eighth president of Emory College from 1875 to 1884. The name is associated with Haygood Hall on the Oxford campus, the Haygood-Hopkins Gate and Haygood Drive on the Atlanta campus.

L. Q. C. Lamar was an Emory College of Arts and Sciences graduate, a United States senator from Mississippi, a U.S. representative, a Confederate official, secretary of the interior and an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. For several decades in the 20th century, the law school bore his name. Today, three chairs at the law school bear his name.

George Foster Pierce was the universitys third president, his tenure extending from 1848 to 1854. Naming honors include Pierce Drive on the Atlanta campus, Pierce Street on the Oxford campus and the Pierce Chair of Religion.

Robert Yerkes was a comparative psychologist and eugenicist; the Yerkes National Primate Research Center bears his name.

Regarding these individuals, the president will, in his words, review the research and seek consultation on these names.

According to Smith, the committees recommendation to discontinue naming honors for the five individuals is not a punitive decision, not a decision about what to remember. Instead, the committee was focused on what are the legacies that we are going to continue to honor?

New naming honor

One answer to Smiths question comes with the committees unanimous recommendation, fully supported by the president, to honor Horace J. Johnson Jr., a widely respected judge, lawyer and alumnus who made extraordinary contributions to the greater Atlanta and Newton County communities. Johnson was the first Black Superior Court judge in the circuit he served.

Once the committee endorsed the Johnson name, Hicks asked to apply that honor to Language Hall on the Oxford campus, and the committee approved the idea. Fenves observes that Johnson dedicated his life to public service, and his many achievements reflect the Emory mission to create, preserve, teach and apply knowledge in the service of humanity.

Johnson Hall will be dedicated during a ceremony on the Oxford campus in October.

Creating a deeper understanding of who we are

By understanding our history and expanding the Emory story to include voices, perspectives and contributions that were overlooked or silenced, we are able to create a deeper understanding of who we are and all we can achieve as a university, Fenves concludes.
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Businessman charged with $2.6 million embezzlement freed from house arrest

 RAPSI, Eugeny Varlamov

13:45 28/06/2021

MOSCOW, June 28 (RAPSI)  Moscows Cheremushkinsky District Court on Monday mitigated restrictive measure against businessman Vasily Boiko-Veliky charged with embezzling over 190 million rubles ($2.6 million) from Credit-Express bank by changing it from house arrest to restraining order, the courts press service told RAPSI.

He was arrested in June 2019. In early June, prosecutors approved indictment against Boiko-Veliky. The defendant pleads not guilty.

Other defendants in the case are CEO of the Rostov bank Credit-Express Alla Kabanova, her son Konstantin Kabanov, bank shareholder Tatiana Makarenko, chief accountant of the credit organization Maria Antonova, chief of the banks loan department and its senior economist Egor Pikhtin.

Depending on the alleged role, they are charged with large-scale embezzlement committed by an organized group, money laundering.

According to investigators, from 2013 to 2018, the defendants along with ex-head of a Moscow branch office of Credit-Express bank Elena Chuyeva and treasury chief Natalya Tsipinova stole over 190 million rubles from the credit organization by execution of forged loan agreements with former clients of the banks and employees of the defendants firms. Chuyeva and Tsipinova signed plea deal with investigators.

In late April, Moscows Cheremushkinsky District Court sentenced Chuyeva to 3 years in penal colony for embezzlement. The court also granted the Deposit Insurance Agencys civil claim filed on behalf of the bank and recovered over 88.6 million rubles ($1.2 million) from the woman.
Ex-Military and Technical Co-Operation official gets 3 years in jail for bribery mediation

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

15:59 28/06/2021

MOSCOW, June 28 (RAPSI)  Moscows Zamoskvoretsky District Court on Monday sentenced ex-head of the 2nd department of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Co-Operation Sergey Garmash to 3 years in high-security penal colony for mediation in bribery, the courts press service told RAPSI.

Additionally, he was fined 2.1 million rubles (about $30,000) and prohibited from holding governance posts for 3 years.

The former official was under house arrest during investigation and trial. He pled guilty in full.

The case of Garmash is related to the prosecution of ex- Minister of Industry and Trade Rizvan Gairbekov, who has allegedly received money for the issuance of license and special permit from the head of NAO company Vasily Klepalov. This March, Klepalov died from a heart decease in a Moscow detention centre.

The Federal Service for Military and Technical Co-Operation is engaged in military and technical cooperation with foreign states.




American students 9-year sentence for resistance to Moscow police upheld

 Moskva city news agency, Andrey Nikerichev

17:52 28/06/2021

MOSCOW, June 28 (RAPSI) - The Moscow City Court on Monday upheld sentence given to a student from the United States Trevor Reed jailed for 9 years for using violence against Moscow police officers, the courts press service told RAPSI.

In July 2020, Moscows Golovinsky District Court convicted and sentenced Reed. In addition to the prison term, the court also recovered 100,000 rubles ($1,400) from the defendant in compensation for moral harm per injured person.

In 2019, Trevor being under the influence of alcohol resisted two Moscow police officers breaking uniform of one of them and beating another one.




Moscow court refuses to detain Chinese citizen suspected of child trafficking

 flickr.com/mark sebastian

16:17 28/06/2021

MOSCOW, June 28 (RAPSI)  Moscows Presnensky District Court on Monday dismissed an investigators motion to place Chinese national Liu Jun on child trafficking allegations, the courts press service told RAPSI.

The foreign citizen is suspected of human trafficking.

According to investigators, the man may be related to a notorious case over babies allegedly born for sale by surrogate mothers, who were found in one of Moscows apartments in 2020.




(via Facebook)

Shapurji Saklatvala (18741936), the first and one of only two Communist members of Britains parliament.

His grandfather was both related to and a business partner of Nusserwanji Tata, father of the famous Jamsetji Tata whose 182nd birth anniversary was recently commemorated by Ratan Tata. Saklatvala was born in Bombay and spent much of his youth in Jamsetjis (J.N. Tatas) home.

As late as 1926 Saklatvala felt his own father Dorabji and his immediate family had been done out of a substantial part of the fortune that went to the Tatas. His father, he wrote in a letter from that year, had to lead all his life in want and from this age (14) was dispossessed of all wealth as well as business rights in the firm. He referred in the letter to the most cruel wrong done to my father and through him to our future stock, and of how his father died after years of injustice and suffering. He explained how the Tatas found his father (a lad of 14 in 1868 when his father, Shapurjis grandfather, died) disobedient, vicious and uncontrollable and later extended no support for the education of his younger brother Beram. Saklatvalas daughter states in her biography that he was convinced that his uncle, Jamsetji Tata, had virtually destroyed his father and caused the de facto separation of his parents.

This is the background against which one should situate the otherwise remarkable trajectory of an upper-class Parsi moving progressively to the Left once he left India.

Heres an extract from John Hinnells book on the Zoroastrian diaspora, from the pages dealing with Saklatvala.

He [Jamsetji] turned the young Shapurji against his own father and favoured him to the extent that his own son [Dorabji, b.1859] was jealous, something which caused Saklatvalla problems later on. He studied at the Catholic St. Xaviers CollegeIn the early years of the twentieth century he and some friends worked with a bacteriologist, Prof. Vladimir Haffkine, immunizing Bombays poor against bubonic plague. Haffkine had left Russia to escape Tsarist surveillance, and it is reasonable to suppose that his socialist views influenced Saklatvalla. After this experience he spent time depressed in a sanatorium. He joined Tatas in 1901, and in 1902 began prospecting for iron and coal in Central India with Dorabji Tata and an American...He pursued this quest further than either of the Tatas did, sometimes to the detriment of his own health in the jungles and swampsand to his own future career disadvantage because of Dorabjis increasing jealousy. More than any of his colleagues he lived among, and worked with, the labourers, presumably out of his growing socialist convictions, but certainly to their reinforcement. Partly for the sake of his health, and partly to distance his views from those of the Congress-orientated Tatas, he was sent to the outer reaches of the Tata empireLondon. Few books have paid due attention to the fact that in plague-ridden Bombay and in the jungles, Saklatvalla had spent what was to prove half his life working for the poor.

When he arrived in London in 1905 he was again depressed and ill and went to take the waters at the Derbyshire spa town of Matlock. There he fell in love with a waitress at his hotel. A year later he married Elizabeth, known as Sally, and renamed by Saklatvalla as Seri...Saklatvalla arrived in England a member of the Liberal Party; he moved progressively to the Left through the Independent Labour to the Communist Party. Wadsworth gives a good account of his increasing political activity [the reference here is to Marc Wadsworth, Comrade Sak, 1998], and the left-wing sympathies of the Battersea constituency, making intelligible what at first seems incredible, namely the election of an Indian Communist as a Member of the British Parliament (indeed he was the only Communist ever to be elected to Westminster). He lost his seat in 1923, but regained it a year later. 

He undertook a visit to the Soviet Union, which influenced him deeply, but was banned by the American authorities from a parliamentary visit to the USA. He was a prominent figure during the miners and the General Strike. In 1926 he was imprisoned for two months because in a speech in Trafalgar Square he called for the soldiers not to take up arms against the unarmed strikers. When he appeared in court he refused to be bound over, and so was sent to prison. Throughout much of his life, especially after his release from prison, he was subject to police surveillance, and the intelligence services opened his mail. Even though his rallies had never been associated with violence, the police often cancelled his speeches at the last minute.

(In 1927) he had an extensive national tour from Karachi to Calcutta to Madras, as well, of course, Bombay. He addressed large audiences in many cities. His relations with the INC leadership were mixed. Generally, Nehru was willing to attend his lectures, and on Saklatvallas death sent a message to the funeral. Relations with Gandhi were much more strained. Saklatvalla was hostile to Gandhis negative views on Indian industrializationhe (also) objected to the way that Gandhi allowed himself to be venerated. Gandhi had little sympathy for Saklatvallas Marxist viewsWhat is also interesting in the context of this book are the different reactions of the Parsis in India to Saklatvalla. In Bombay the reactions of the community leaders were polarized Sir Pheroze Sethna opposed the presentation of an address to Saklatvalla on his visit to the city, whereas four other Parsis (including F. K. Nariman) supported such a presentation. At a meeting in Navsari, Saklatvallawas honoured by the senior of the Dasturs, Dastur Meherjirana.

Hinnells goes on to say that on his return from India he sought agreement from the Zoroastrian Association for the navjote of his children. They finally agreed to the function, even though Saklatvalla had married out of the community and had undergone a Christian baptism while at St. Xaviers. Saklatvalla assured the Association that he had only done this to see what it felt like, and had never given up his Zoroastrian religion. Later the same year, 1927, the Association also gave permission for him and his children (but not his wife) to be buried at Brookwood. (.,..) The (Communist) Party praised him more on his death than in his later years, when they had on occasion publicly reprimanded him, for example, in engaging in the superstition of his childrens initiation [navjote].

(Hinnells, The Zoroastrian Diaspora, pp. 376ff.)

Saklatvala was a remarkable speaker. In Insurgent Empire Priyamvada Gopal refers to the over 500 interventions he made in the House of Commons during a relatively short but packed parliamentary career. In one speech to parliament on 7 November 1928 he said, There is no nation in the worldwhich has devoured more human lives and created more murders than the British nation and the British Parliament. And of the three Parsi MPs in Britain (Naoroji, Bhownaggree and Saklatvala), Saklatvalla, Hinnells writes, was the only one to call in Parliament for the removal of British rule.

(With considerable thanks to Sanober Keshwaar )

* * *
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on June 28, 2021

2021/06/28

At the invitation of Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio of Italy, President of the G20, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will attend the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting on June 29 via video link. The meeting will discuss topics such as multilateralism and global governance.

CCTV: Could you give us more details as well as China's expectation for State Councilor Wang Yi's attendance at the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting you just announced?

Wang Wenbin: Under the current circumstances, it is of great significance to practice multilateralism and improve global economic governance. As the premier forum for international economic cooperation, the G20 is expected to play a greater leading role in fighting the epidemic and promoting global economic recovery. China hopes that at this foreign ministers' meeting, all parties will uphold the spirit of partnership, strengthen solidarity and cooperation, and send a strong signal to the world that G20 will lead the global fight against the epidemic, restore the world economy, improve global economic governance, and promote inclusive and sustainable development, so as to lay a foundation for the success of the Rome summit, and provide confidence and impetus for an early global victory against the virus and a stable economic recovery.

AFP: Italy's Prime Minister said on Friday that China's Sinovac jab "has shown to be inadequate", in his words. He's referring to Chile's experience of relying heavily on this jab for immunization. Does the foreign ministry have any comment on this issue?

Wang Wenbin: The Chinese government always attaches high importance to vaccine safety and efficacy. Chinese companies have been putting their best efforts into advancing vaccine R&D in strict accordance with science and regulatory requirements. They have also been actively pursuing international cooperation on this front. Relevant Chinese vaccines have been included in the Emergency Use Listing (EUL) by the WHO, a strong testament to the safety and efficacy of the Chinese vaccines and technical routes.

We've also noted that recently many countries, including their health authorities, have spoken highly of Chinese vaccines' safety and efficacy. Polls in some countries also show full confidence in Chinese vaccines among local residents.

China will continue making tangible contributions to the equitable access of vaccines in developing countries.

Global Times: It's reported that the US experts on the coronavirus origins task force of the authoritative medical journal the Lancet are under "threat", and the chair of the task force is even "pressured" to ask the experts on the task force to renounce the"bat-spillover" theory, which is underpinned by ample scientific evidence, and turn to support the "lab leak" theory. Some experts may have to resign to uphold their scientific positions. What is the foreign ministry's comment?

Wang Wenbin: I have also taken note of this. I have also noted that the US side has called for termination of the scientific research on early cases of COVID-19 in the US, which it deems at odds with its interests. This once again exposes that the US, while claiming to seek science-based origin tracing, is actually engaging in political manipulation under the pretext of the epidemic. While it says it wants to prevent another outbreak, what's really on its mind is just to shift the blame to China.

Origin tracing is a serious scientific matter that requires international cooperation by scientists across the globe. However, for some time, some in the US have been clamoring for intelligence-led investigation in disregard of science and facts. Now they intend to use sinister ploy on the international scientific community to force scientists to bow in the face of their hegemony, bullying and coercion. This violates the spirit of science, undermines global cooperation in origin tracing, challenges and defiles human justice. The US practice of politicization is immoral and unpopular, and will eventually end up in failure.

We once again urge the US side to immediately stop its political manipulation on the origin tracing issue, and stop playing dirty tricks on the scientific community. It should adopt a scientific and transparent attitude to invite WHO experts for origin tracing study in the US, and provide a responsible account of the real situation at Fort Detrick and the more than 200 bio labs it runs all around the world.

Bloomberg: India has redirected at least 50,000 troops to its border with China. This is according to a story from Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter. According to some of those people, that puts the troops at 200,000 focused on the border, an increase of around 40% over last year. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: The situation at China-India border maintains general stability, and the two sides are resolving the boundary issue through negotiation. Against such background, the words and deeds of relevant important military and government officials, and military deployments should be conducive to deescalating and cooling down the situation, and to enhancing mutual trust, rather than the opposite.

Beijing Daily: It is reported that Dr. Danielle Anderson, a former Assistant Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School who once worked in the Wuhan Institute of Virology, said that she's dumbfounded by the portrayal of the lab by some media outside China, and the toxic attacks on scientists that have ensued. Anderson is convinced no virus was made intentionally to infect people and deliberately released. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: China has repeatedly stressed that origin-tracing is a scientific matter that should not be politicized. Many scientists in the international community who uphold science, reason and objectivity, including Dr. Anderson, have expressed unequivocal opposition to politicizing the origin-tracing by some in the US.

Dr. Anderson also said that there were strict protocols and requirements at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and entering and exiting the facility was a carefully choreographed endeavor. Responding to the Wall Street Journal report which claimed three researchers from the lab were hospitalized with flu-like symptoms in November 2019, she said no one she knew at the Wuhan institute was ill toward the end of 2019.

Besides, we also saw reports that Massimo Galli, head of the Infectious Diseases Unit at the University of Milan-affiliated Luigi Sacco Hospital in Milan, Italy, said at a committee for social affairs of the Chamber of Deputies that the coronavirus is an unknown virus with no signs of genome engineering inside and the "lab-leak" theory has no scientific basis at all. Galli and three other Italian experts -- Massimo Ciccozzi from the University of Biomedical Campus in Rome, Fausto Baldanti, head of the virus research lab at the Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo in Pavia, and Giuseppe Ippolito, an expert at the Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases -- believe that the virus is 99% likely to be the result of natural spillover.

Facts have proved time and again that the accusation of "Wuhan laboratory leaking the novel coronavirus" that some people in the US are clamoring for has no factual basis. We once again urge the US to respect facts and science, immediately stop politicizing origin-tracing, give a responsible explanation as soon as possible on the international community's concern about Fort Detrick and its over 200 bio labs around the world, and invite WHO experts to the US to carry out origin-tracing study at an early date.

Nikkei: Why is State Councilor Wang Yi attending the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting by video instead of on site? Will any Chinese vice foreign minister or other officials attend the meeting?

Wang Wenbin: It's the scheduled arrangement that State Councilor Wang Yi should attend the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting via video link. As for the attendance of other foreign ministry officials, we will release information in due course. Please stay tuned.

CCTV: It is reported that on June 25, the first power grid project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the Matiari to Lahore 660kV HVDC Transmission Line Project in Pakistan, contracted by the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), started power transmission. This is the first direct current transmission line in Pakistan, which can serve the electricity needs of about 10 million households in Lahore and northern Pakistan. Could I have your comment on this?

Wang Wenbin: As an important pilot project of the Belt and Road Initiative, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has made significant progress in various sectors including energy since its launch. This has not only vigorously boosted Pakistan's faster economic and social development, but also played a positive role in promoting regional connectivity. The Matiari to Lahore 660kV HVDC Transmission Line Project is another vivid example of how the CPEC has contributed to the improvement of people's livelihood and economic development in Pakistan. This project will offer the local people access to stable and high-quality electricity, which is of great significance for Pakistan to break the bottleneck of south-north power transmission and optimize the power distribution.

I'd like to stress that the BRI came from China, but it creates opportunities and good results for all countries, and benefits the whole world. To date, up to 140 partner countries have signed documents on Belt and Road cooperation with China. Trade between China and BRI partners has exceeded 9.2 trillion US dollars. The BRI has truly become the world's broadest-based and largest platform for international cooperation. China is ready to join hands with Pakistan and other countries to continue our high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. These efforts will generate more opportunities and dividends to all.

The Paper: It is reported that diplomats from Western countries, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Ukraine's withdrawal from the anti-China joint statement made by Canada at the UN Human Rights Council is the result of pressure from China. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: Ukraine's withdrawal of endorsement of the anti-China joint statement is an independent decision made by an independent, sovereign state. The Chinese side already stated its principled position on this.

I'd like to share with you one more fact. Milorad Dodik, rotating chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, made a public announcement condemning the "illegal" accession by Bosnia and Herzegovina of the joint statement that smears and attacks China during the 47th Session of the Human Rights Council. He fully supports China's territorial integrity and all the actions China takes to safeguard sovereignty.

I want to stress that the joint statement pursued by countries including Canada at the UN Human Rights Council was an interference in China's internal affairs in the name of human rights. It is unjustifiable and will find no popular support. The Ukrainian decision is line with purposes and principles of the UN Charter and basic norms governing international relations. We welcome this.

We also noted that in February when Canada launched the so-called declaration against "arbitrary detention", countries like Benin made it clear that they did not participate in the declaration but was forcibly put on the list by Canada. The US and some other countries deploy all kinds of despicable means to pressure developing countries into not supporting China, even with the threat of cutting off assistance and sanctioning their officials. Some countries pointed out that the US aims to control and restrain other countries, and disobedience entails countermeasures such as punishment and suppression. This is a selfish act that violates diplomatic ethics and norms of international interactions. It reveals the nature of "bare-knuckles diplomacy" of Canada and the US and is reprehensible.

Countries who spread lies and rumors about China cannot face up to the fact that every time a handful of countries smear and attack China under the pretext of human rights, the majority of countries would step up to defend justice and truth. In July 2019, permanent representatives of over 50 countries to the UN Office at Geneva co-signed a letter to the President of the UN Human Rights Council and High Commissioner for Human Rights, commending China for its counter-terrorism, de-radicalization, and human rights protection achievements. In October 2019, at the Third Committee session of the 74th UNGA, more than 60 countries applauded in their statements the tremendous human rights progress achieved in Xinjiang, China. In March 2021, a joint statement was made on behalf of 71 countries at the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council in support of China's position on Hong Kong-related issues. In June 2021, over 90 countries supported China by making joint statement or statements in their national capacity at the Human Rights Council and the number of countries supporting China is increasing.

Facts speak so much louder and justice will always prevail. The attempt to interfere in China's domestic affairs by a few countries will only bring disgrace onto themselves.
This illustration shows the distant Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein as it might look in the outer Solar System. Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is estimated to be about 1000 times more massive than a typical comet, making it arguably the largest comet discovered in modern times. It has an extremely elongated orbit, journeying inward from the distant Oort Cloud over millions of years. It is the most distant comet to be discovered on its incoming path. Credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva

A giant comet from the outskirts of our Solar System has been discovered in 6 years of data from the Dark Energy Survey.

Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is estimated to be about 1000 times more massive than a typical comet, making it arguably the largest comet discovered in modern times. It has an extremely elongated orbit, journeying inward from the distant Oort Cloud over millions of years. It is the most distant comet to be discovered on its incoming path, giving us years to watch it evolve as it approaches the Sun, though it's not predicted to become a naked-eye spectacle.

A giant comet has been discovered by two astronomers following a comprehensive search of data from Dark Energy Survey (DES). The comet, which is estimated to be 100-200 kilometers across, or about 10 times the diameter of most comets, is an icy relic flung out of the Solar System by the migrating giant planets in the early history of the Solar System. This comet is quite unlike any other seen before and the huge size estimate is based on how much sunlight it reflects.

Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein, of the University of Pennsylvania, found the comet -- named Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein (with the designation C/2014 UN271) -- hidden among data collected by the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera (DECam) mounted on the Victor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile. The analysis of data from the Dark Energy Survey is supported by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the DECam science archive is curated by the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC) at NSF's NOIRLab. CTIO and CSDC are Programs of NOIRLab.

One of the highest-performance, wide-field CCD imagers in the world, DECam was designed specifically for the DES and operated by the DOE and NSF between 2013 and 2019. DECam was funded by the DOE and was built and tested at DOE's Fermilab. At present DECam is used for programs covering a huge range of science.

DES was tasked with mapping 300 million galaxies across a 5000-square-degree area of the night sky, but during its six years of observations it also observed many comets and trans-Neptunian objects passing through the surveyed field. A trans-Neptunian object, or TNO, is an icy body that resides in our Solar System beyond the orbit of Neptune.

Bernardinelli and Bernstein used 15-20 million CPU hours at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and Fermilab, employing sophisticated identification and tracking algorithms to identify over 800 individual TNOs from among the more than 16 billion individual sources detected in 80,000 exposures taken as part of the DES. Thirty-two of those detections belonged to one object in particular -- C/2014 UN271.

Comets are icy bodies that evaporate as they approach the warmth of the Sun, growing their coma and tails. The DES images of the object in 2014-2018 did not show a typical comet tail, but within a day of the announcement of its discovery via the Minor Planet Center, astronomers using the Las Cumbres Observatory network took fresh images of Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein which revealed that it has grown a coma in the past 3 years, making it officially a comet.

Its current inward journey began at a distance of over 40,000 astronomical units (au) from the Sun -- in other words 40,000 times farther from the Sun than Earth is, or 6 trillion kilometers away (3.7 trillion miles or 0.6 light-years -- 1/7 of the distance to the nearest star). For comparison, Pluto is 39 au from the Sun, on average. This means that Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein originated in the Oort Cloud of objects, ejected during early history of the Solar System. It could be the largest member of the Oort Cloud ever detected, and it is the first comet on an incoming path to be detected so far away.

Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is currently much closer to the Sun. It was first seen by DES in 2014 at a distance of 29 au (4 billion kilometers or 2.5 billion miles, roughly the distance of Neptune), and as of June 2021, it was 20 au (3 billion kilometers or 1.8 billion miles, the distance of Uranus) from the Sun and currently shines at magnitude 20. The comet's orbit is perpendicular to the plane of the Solar System and it will reach its closest point to the Sun (known as perihelion) in 2031, when it will be around 11 au away (a bit more than Saturn's distance from the Sun) -- but it will get no closer. Despite the comet's size, it is currently predicted that skywatchers will require a large amateur telescope to see it, even at its brightest.

"We have the privilege of having discovered perhaps the largest comet ever seen -- or at least larger than any well-studied one -- and caught it early enough for people to watch it evolve as it approaches and warms up," said Gary Bernstein. "It has not visited the Solar System in more than 3 million years."

Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein will be followed intensively by the astronomical community, including with NOIRLab facilities, to understand the composition and origin of this massive relic from the birth of our own planet. Astronomers suspect that there may be many more undiscovered comets of this size waiting in the Oort Cloud far beyond Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. These giant comets are thought to have been scattered to the far reaches of the Solar System by the migration of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune early in their history.

"This is a much needed anchor on the unknown population of large objects in the Oort Cloud and their connection with early migration of the ice/gas giants soon after the Solar System was formed," said NOIRLab astronomer Tod Lauer.

"These observations demonstrate the value of long-duration survey observations on national facilities like the Blanco telescope," says Chris Davis, National Science Foundation Program Director for NOIRLab. "Finding huge objects like Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is crucial to our understanding of the early history of our Solar System."

It is not yet known how active and bright it will become when it reaches perihelion. However, Bernardinelli says that Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a future Program of NOIRLab, "will continuously measure Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein all the way to its perihelion in 2031, and probably find many, many others like it," allowing astronomers to characterize objects from the Oort Cloud in much greater detail.

More information

This research was reported to the Minor Planet Center.

NSF's NOIRLab (National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory), the US center for ground-based optical-infrared astronomy, operates the international Gemini Observatory (a facility of NSF, NRC-Canada, ANID-Chile, MCTIC-Brazil, MINCyT-Argentina, and KASI-Republic of Korea), Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC), and Vera C. Rubin Observatory (operated in cooperation with the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory). It is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF and is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. The astronomical community is honored to have the opportunity to conduct astronomical research on Iolkam Du'ag (Kitt Peak) in Arizona, on Maunakea in Hawai'i, and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachon in Chile. We recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that these sites have to the Tohono O'odham Nation, to the Native Hawaiian community, and to the local communities in Chile, respectively.

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is a collaboration of more than 400 scientists from 25 institutions in seven countries. Funding for the DES Projects has been provided by the US Department of Energy Office of Science, US National Science Foundation, Ministry of Science and Education of Spain, Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom, Higher Education Funding Council for England, ETH Zurich for Switzerland, National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago, Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics at Ohio State University, Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos, Fundacao Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico and Ministerio da Ciencia e Tecnologia, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and the collaborating institutions in the Dark Energy Survey.

NCSA at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign provides supercomputing and advanced digital resources for the nation's science enterprise. At NCSA, University of Illinois faculty, staff, students and collaborators from around the globe use advanced digital resources to address research grand challenges for the benefit of science and society. NCSA has been advancing one third of the Fortune 50 for more than 30 years by bringing industry, researchers and students together to solve grand challenges at rapid speed and scale. For more information.

Fermilab is America's premier national laboratory for particle physics and accelerator research. A US Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory, Fermilab is located near Chicago, Illinois, and operated under contract by the Fermi Research Alliance LLC. Follow Fermilab on Twitter at @Fermilab.

The DOE Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

Bernardinelli and Bernstein's search was partially supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.



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Dresden Raceway hosted the second round of the Mark Austin Memorial Pacing Series as part of its 12-race card on Sunday (June 27).

Stiletto Blue Chip was the winner of the first division. The three-year-old American Ideal filly went wire to wire for driver J. R. Plante after favourite Shes A Comedian made break behind the gate. Stiletto Blue Chip posted fractions of :28, :55.4 and 1:25.2 for the win in 1:58. Mike Timpano is the conditioner for owners, Wendy Warren-Timpano, Frank Tucci and Seaspray Stables. Shes Got The Luck was second while Shes A Comedian finished third.

Bigmachwithcheese was the winner of the winner of the second division for driver Dale Spence in 1:57.2. The five-year-old Betterthancheddar gelding was parked to the quarter in :29.4 but quickly cleared and posted the half in :58.4 and three quarters in 1:29.3 before stepping off a final quarter of :27.4. Mackenzie MacInnes is the owner and trainer of Bigmachwithcheese. Sir Lucknow was second and Shadow Warrior paid on the show ticket.

Tyler Borth had the hot hands of the day at Dresden Raceway with four wins as he visited the winner's circle with Shes A Gunslinger, Windsong Napolean, Miss Sinfonia and Avuncular.

The condition sheet for Canada Day racing is posted on Standardbred Canada website. Entries must be made by Monday (June 28) at 10:00 a.m. by calling 519-482-5270.

The total handle on Sunday was $26,273.00.

(Dresden Raceway)

To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Dresden Raceway.
Awaken Hearts and Minds Project to Host Press Conference That Gives Innocent Children a Voice

NEWS PROVIDED BY

STAND, Inc.

June 28, 2021

RICHMOND, Va., June 28, 2021 /Standard Newswire/ -- STAND, Inc. will host a press conference on June 30 at 10 a.m. to raise awareness for their Awakening Hearts and Minds Project (Awakening) at The Family Foundation, 707 E. Franklin Street, Richmond, VA.

Awakening, under the leadership of Bishop E.W. Jackson, is a program designed to reverse the trend of racial division in America through a vision of unity, hope and opportunity that crosses all racial and cultural lines and upholds our country's Judeo-Christian principles. Their platform focuses on strengthening education and rebuilding families in inner city communities where innocent children are being killed.

"Hundreds of children are being killed in the inner cities of our country and no one is paying any attention to it," says Bishop Jackson, STAND, Inc. Founder and President. "These are not gangbangers, people out doing things that cause encounters with police, or kids being killed by cops. They are being killed by the lawless who are terrorizing these communities and don't care who dies in the process."

Rooted in scripture through Deuteronomy 30, Awakening's S.O.S. (Save Our Seed) campaign fights to give a voice to innocent children and families, and to raise awareness for those young lives lost. The June 30 event will highlight a situation in Richmond where a young mother and her 3-month-old baby were gunned down while peacefully sitting outside enjoying the weather when a gunfight broke out. The event will include various speakers from the faith community as well as parents of victims and they will discuss spiritual and moral issues as well as the need for police presence in these communities, and educational choice. A Gallery of Forgotten Children will also be on display.

"This is the reality of what people have to live with," states Jackson. "This is not a racial issue. It's an issue of family, an issue of lawlessness, a breakdown of a social contract. These are things that have got to be addressed that are completely outside this narrative that everything is being caused by racism."

This press event is a humanitarian event and not political. All media are welcome and encouraged to attend. The event will be livestreamed across multiple social channels including the E.W. Jackson Facebook page. After the conference, the media and members of the community are invited to join Bishop Jackson and STAND, Inc. as they visit one of the sites where a child was killed. There, a time of prayer will occur for all innocent children who have lost their lives.

A GoFundMe page has been set up by STAND, Inc. to help the families of these victims. Funds will be used to help alleviate the cost of funeral expenses for families, help fund reward programs to bring perpetrators to justice, and create opportunities for interaction between communities and law enforcement to talk about what can be done to end the lawlessness.

STAND Foundation, Inc. (Staying True to America's National Destiny) is a Christian nonprofit organization with a passion and calling to rebuild families and focus on education in the inner cities. For more information on STAND, Inc. or the Awakening Hearts and Minds initiative, or for more information on their GoFundMe campaign, please contact media@standamerica.us or 757-375-6444. www.standamerica.us

SOURCE STAND, Inc.

CONTACT: Vanity Jackson, 757-375-6444, media@standamerica.us
Caribbean

The adjacent countries of the Dominican Republic and Haiti share an island  as well as a troubling history that influenced the Western hemisphere, from as far north as Canada to as far south as Argentina.



The island for me is the birth of our racial caste system across the Americas, according to Michele Stephenson, whose documentary Stateless is featured this weekend at the Tribeca Festival and will air on PBS in July.



"Its where the first Europeans arrived, where the first Africans arrived, where the first genocide took place, and the racial caste system manifests itself on the island before spreading throughout the hemisphere," Stephenson, who is of Panamanian and Haitian heritage, told NBC News.



Stateless" follows Rosa Iris Diendomi, a young Dominican attorney and immigration advocate of Haitian descent, as she struggles to run for Congress in the Dominican Republic.



The documentary, also known for its Spanish title "Apatrida," shows Diendomi as she visits sugarcane towns known as bateyes, where many Haitian immigrants and Dominicans of Haitian descent live. It showcases the struggles of a largely exploited group that was stripped of its rights nearly a decade ago, when the Dominican Supreme Court retroactively took away the citizenship of many Dominicans with undocumented Haitian parents  even those born in the Dominican Republic.



The ruling left more than 200,000 people with Haitian ancestry without a nationality, according to the documentary. Though the government, amid international pressure, took measures in 2014 to allow children born in the Dominican Republic and certain others to apply for citizenship, thousands have been deported from the Dominican Republic, including many with valid claims to Dominican citizenship.



The court sentence is the reflection of a country that in spite of its mixed racial identity refuses to accept everything that has to do with its African origins, Diendomi told NBC News.



Throughout her unsuccessful congressional bid, Diendomi was peppered with threats to her and her sons life, forcing her to eventually flee the country. Since being granted refuge in the U.S., Diendomi has been working with Stephenson to use the film as an opportunity to engage community groups and international organizations on issues of anti-Black racism and migration.

On camera, Stephenson connects the racial tensions from the islands past with the current racial politics of the Dominican Republic.



The tragic story of a young dark-skinned girl named Moraime bookends the film. Her life is told through a voiceover, while viewers see other children in the bateyes and sugarcane fields. It describes the 1937 Perejil Massacre that executed thousands of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian decent living in the Dominican Republic.



On a dark night in October, Moraime had to hide, Diendomi narrates in a voiceover. The dictator Trujillo decided to whiten the race and fix the so-called Haitian problem. He murdered many, including Moraimes mother, because of the color of their skin.



An Associated Press article published by The New York Times on Dec. 8, 1937, reported that Haitian President Stenio Vincent had charged that 8,000 Haitians had been victims of mass murder in the Dominican territory since October. The article also said the Dominican State Department dismissed Haitian reports of slayings as fantasies.



More than 80 years later, the film shows footage of Dominican President Danilo Medina (who served from 2012 to 2020) denying accusations of racism against Haitians.



People crossing a bridge at the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.Hispaniola Productions



How can the Dominican Republic be a racist country when more than 80 percent of our population is made up of Blacks and mulattos? How can Dominicans be accused of being racist towards Haitians when they live and coexist with us everywhere in our country? he said.



The former Dominican president would also deny that Dominicans of Haitian decent were being targeted and stripped of their citizenship.



The number of stateless individuals in the Dominican Republic is zero, he said.



Despite racial tensions that have existed on the island since Spanish and French colonial rule, Stephenson hopes both Dominicans and Haitians can look back at their history to move past the physical and political borders that divide their countries.



On the eastern side of the island, when Dominicans boast about Santo Domingo, they can say proudly that its the oldest European city in the Americas  founded in 1496, over 100 years older than Jamestown (1607)  and that the citys grid pattern became the blueprint for many future towns and cities in Latin America.



Dominicans can also claim that Thomas Aquinas University in Santo Domingo is the oldest in the hemisphere  founded in 1538, almost 100 years before Harvard University (1636).



And on the western side of the island, Haitians can similarly champion that their country was second only to the U.S. in obtaining independence. But Stephenson pointed out that Haiti actually is the first and only successful slave revolt against a colonial power.



Its not just the fact that its the second country to get independence on this hemisphere after the United States. But its the only ever successful revolt by enslaved people  Blacks who were slaves defeated Napoleons army, the filmmaker said. And the Haitian Revolution doesnt even get the credit that should be given next to the American and French revolutions because of the invisibility of the history of resistance.



Its also worth noting that Haitian independence was influential in the success of early Latin American democracy, offering el gran libertador (the great liberator) Simon Bolivar refuge and support in his fight against the Spanish Empire.



Both Stephenson and Diendomi agreed that more conversations about race need to happen to break the cycle of discrimination.



I think that there is a historic reality where people have been educated to think or inherited the belief that there are inferior people depending on their origin or race, Diendomi said. And both inside the U.S. and beyond it, when we see the struggle of other marginalized groups, we see the same cycle repeated. Its a struggle based on race.






Caribbean

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is partnering with the government of Barbados to provide EUR 50 million (USD 60 million) for COVID-related emergency healthcare expenditure, targeting both medical care and efforts to limit the spread of the virus.



The EIB loan will support the costs of strengthening Barbados' public health system including, for example, treatment capacity for COVID-19 patients, lab capacity and equipment, quarantine facilities, IT equipment, vaccine storage, track and tracing, and logistics, transport and monitoring activities. The financing helps relieve the financial burden of increased healthcare expenditure during a time of economic hardship.



"It was important to our Covid strategy that we were able to mount an early, health care response to the pandemic, in particular, to identify, build and retrofit dedicated isolation and quarantine facilities. This was so that we could, as far as possible, protect the country's main hospital and clinic facilities from extensive Covid spread, and from having to manage Covid-related care along with other health care responsibilities" according to Minister in Economic Affairs and Investment, Marsha Caddle.



She added, "This low-cost financing allows us to retroactively finance the building of Harrison's Point and other Covid expenditure and undertake new expenditure related to the pandemic. But it also allows us to ensure that we can still provide important health care services, such as improved care through an expanded Accident and Emergency department, and continued attention to cancer care and chronic, non-communicable diseases. EIB has shown tremendous leadership and innovation in providing low-interest, concessional terms for crisis financing, so that countries like Barbados do not have to explode our debt beyond sustainable levels in order to help our people survive."



"This partnership between the Government of Barbados and the European Investment Bank will help protect vulnerable groups against the impact of the pandemic" stated EIB Vice President Ricardo Mourinho Felix. "As part of Team Europe, the EIB is currently working to increase its financing to strengthen health and economic resilience to the pandemic around the world. This financing is part of the EIB's global response to the pandemic, including over EUR 5 billion (USD 6 billion) for urgent health investments, accelerating long-standing support for private sector investment in more than 100 countries around the world."



Ambassador of the European Union, H.E. Malgorzata Wasilewska added, "The financing of the EIB complements the grants that the EU has provided the region in response to the pandemic. Barbados will soon receive EUR 3.5 million (USD 4.2 million) in social protection funding due to the challenging economic situation the country faces, and we have provided EUR 8 million (USD 9.8 million) to the Caribbean Public Health Authority (CARPHA). This funding has contributed to ensure that all Caribbean states can access large quantities of affordable vaccines through the COVAX Facility, managed by Gavi, the global Vaccine Alliance."



Team Europe and the COVID-19 pandemic response



The financing falls under the global "Team Europe" response to the pandemic. Confronted with this global crisis and in line with its responsibilities as a global player, the EU launched its "Team Europe" initiative on 8 April 2020. The budget mobilised so far, which equals EUR 40.5 billion, combines resources from the EU, its member states and financial institutions, including the European Investment Bank. Specifically, Team Europe support during the COVID-19 pandemic is focused on:



 the emergency response to humanitarian needs,

 strengthening health, water and sanitation systems,

 mitigating the social and economic consequences of the pandemic.

In addition, EU leaders recently pledged to donate at least 100 million doses vaccine doses before end 2021.



EU support to CARPHA has increased the capacity of CARPHA and CARICOM Member States to respond to outbreaks of the COVID-19 virus, strengthen public education and behaviour change programmes on communicable diseases, as well as strengthen regional coordination and the institutional capacity of CARPHA in preparing for and responding to public health emergencies.



The European Union's (EU) relationship with the Caribbean centres on trade, political, and development partnerships. On the development front, the EU is the Caribbean's largest partner. Regarding trade, the EU signed the first regional Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) in 2008 and we are the region's second largest trading partner.



The EIB has provided a comprehensive response to the coronavirus pandemic around the world that will provide up to 6.54 billion in financing. This financing is part of the Team Europe response to the pandemic and supported by guarantees from the EU budget.



As the EU Bank, the EIB has been active in the Caribbean for 40 years, supporting public infrastructure and private sector development through its loans and technical assistance programs.



The EIB is committed to putting EU climate goals into practice by partnering at a global scale, lending over EUR 26 billion euros to climate action and environmental sustainability projects last year around the world, and providing over EUR 6 billion euros in COVID-response loans since the start of the pandemic.






The Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX) has signed an agreement with the Financial Markets Regulatory Authority (FMA) in Sudan to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the trading of gold between the UAE and Sudan.



The agreement will see the DGCX and FMA collaborate on areas of mutual benefit, foster collaboration, and exchange knowledge around gold trading.



Sudan is ranked as the third largest producer of gold in Africa, and earlier last year begun allowing private traders to export the precious metal in an effort to raise revenue. In line with this initiative, FMA aims to strengthen the gold market in Sudan by facilitating trading and investment. Through this collaboration with the DGCX, it will be able to benefit from the expertise of the Middle Easts leading and most diversified derivatives and commodities exchange.



Les Male, CEO of DGCX, said: We are delighted to forge a partnership with Financial Markets Regulatory in Sudan, the first of many collaborations this year, and work together towards strengthening the gold market across Africa. The DGCX is strategically located between the Far East, Europe and Africa, serving as a unique, global gateway for traders and investors.



With this in mind, alongside our deep knowledge and expertise of commodities trading, we are confident that we will bring tremendous value to FMA and Sudans gold export market, while achieving our vision to expand our international footprint and facilitate more cross-border trading.



Dr Shawgi Azmi Mahmoud, Director General of FMA, said: The Financial Markets Regulatory Authority in Sudan is pleased to partner with the DGCX and benefit from their expertise to advance opportunities for investors and traders within the market.



The establishment of a gold exchange by the Sudanese Government represents an important milestone for the country. We expect this collaboration to play an instrumental role in driving the growth of gold trading within the country and the region.



Sudan is renowned for its gold production with an average production rate of 70-100 tons of gold per year, which is why this strategic partnership will help develop the economy significantly. Together with the cooperation of the regulators in UAE, we look forward to offering new products and services for our members to further serve and benefit the two countries, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
Saudi oil giant Aramco has signed an agreement with a private real estate developer, East West for Real Estate Development Company, for the construction of six residential compounds along the 1,200-km-long East-West pipeline.

The project will be a public-private partnership and is being developed on a build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) model.

East West for Real Estate Development is a special purpose vehicle set up by leading Saudi real estate group Asyad along with Lamar Holding and the Wisayah Investment Company.

Aramco said these compounds will be comprehensive stand-alone towns that will house 1,700 of their employees.

The scope of work includes development of residential buildings, life support and recreational facilities and full utility services over a 770,000-sq-m area. Construction is scheduled to be completed by the second quarter of 2024.

This approach confirms Aramcos interest in working with key public and private partnership developers, in line with Saudi Vision 2030.

As per the contract, the East West for Real Estate Development Company will be the builder, owner and operator of the six residential compounds, which it will finally transfer to Aramco after a 23-year long tenure.

The PPP approach confirms Aramcos interest in working with the key private player in the development sector, in line with Saudi Vision 2030, said a top official.

The agreement is another customary investment in employee welfare, remarked Abdulaziz M. Al Gudaimi, senior vice president of Corporate Development.

"Approximately 1,700 employees across six pump stations anxiously await the successful completion of this project," stated Al Gudaimi.

"The appreciation goes to all those who participated in this undertaking for their hard work and dedication, including the bid review team, and our partners, Asyad and Lamar, for the exemplary collaborative effort," he added.

Asyad Group Vice Chairman Faisal Alsayed said the agreement was a very exciting project for his company. "We are honored and proud that our consortium has been selected by Aramco amid a tough competition," Alsayed said.

"Through Saudi Vision 2030, we believe that our consortium has the experience, scale, and capacity to deliver the project on time with the highest quality possible in construction, operation, and maintenance through the project life span," he added.

Lamar Holding Vice President Hani Abdulhadi said the ambitious new project would ensure that Aramco had a world-class asset.

"It will be delivered in partnership with the private sector to provide Aramcos personnel with state-of-the-art facilities for many years to come," observed Abdulhadi.

"It demonstrates Aramcos commitment as a world-class employer and innovator, and we are honoured to be partnering with them on this long-term project. We are fully committed to this new era of growth for the private sector," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Chaired by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the UAE Cabinet approved the National Agenda for Non-oil Export Development, an integrated framework for efforts to increase UAE's foreign trade, promote Emirati products and access new markets all over the world.



Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid reaffirmed that the UAE is among the top twenty countries in foreign trade indicators and has a developed economic structure that is capable of coping with the changing global economy, stressing the continued support for the national economy to be among the top 10 economies in the world.



These remarks by Sheikh Mohammed came during the UAE Cabinet meeting, held yesterday (June 27)at Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi, in presence of Lt. General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.



Sheikh Mohammed said: "We have adopted the National Agenda for Non-oil Export Development; a vital step aims at accessing 25 new markets. The UAE non-oil trade exceeds AED1.5 trillion ($408 billion)."



He added that non-oil sectors contribute more than 70 percent of the national economy, stressing that the UAE aims to increase exports by 50 percent in the coming years.



The agenda seeks to meet the needs of national companies and exporters, as well as take the necessary measures to reinforce the UAE leading position as regional and international hub for re-exports.



Among its objectives, the agenda also aims at increasing UAE exports by opening new international markets with the aim of supporting the country's foreign trade and enhancing the growth in 14 sectors to ensure greater presence of Emirati goods in global markets.



The cabinet also approved the National Manual for Measurement of Research and Development (R&D) Expenditures in government sector. The manual provides guidance on the measurement of financial and human resources for research and experimental development performed in the government sector.



The cabinet also adopted the empowerment policy to support people of determination during emergencies and crises. The policy aims at identifying and eliminating challenges and barriers created or accompanied by crises and emergency situations. It also seeks to provide adequate accessibility to all types of services and facilities, in addition to improve research and data to monitor, evaluate and strengthen systems to include people of determination.



The cabinet approved the amendment of the federal law on private health facilities, which aims to extend the adjustment period, a move that ensures business continuity in the sector.



The cabinet also approved the amendment of the federal law for tax procedures, which will further support the economic environment and the business community in the UAE.



Moreover, the cabinet approved a federal law on goods subject to non-proliferation controls, which aligns with the UAEs vision in maintaining security and stability in the UAE and abroad, and aims to actively leverage control on sensitive goods and engaging in partnerships on both national and international levels.



The cabinet adopted a decision regarding marine wrecks and abandoned ships, which will help better organise the recovery of abandoned ships and shipwrecks located in the countrys territorial waters or ports, to ensure the safety of maritime navigation.



The cabinet also approved a decision regarding nurseries and creches existing within government entities to ensure that on-site nurseries playing its role in supporting working women. The Ministry of Education and local educational authorities will carry out the tasks of licensing, evaluating and monitoring these nurseries.



The cabinet approved the outputs and recommendations submitted by the committee established to study the electronic link system for education data. The education data system collects and analyses data related to education in the UAE and provides comprehensive sets of data to support decision making and the ongoing development of the sector.  TradeArabia News Service
Creative Zone, a leading business setup company based in Dubai, has announced its strategic alliance with EnterPh, a Philippine-based consultancy firm led by the country's renowned entrepreneurs RJ Ledesma and Ricardo Chan.

Under the partnership, the entities will work together to enhance business relations between the UAE, Philippine and the larger Southeast Asian markets by providing advice to SMEs and investors on how to set foot in Dubai and operate globally.

The UAE's latest FDI laws allowing foreigners to own 100% of the mainland company, has made the country a top attraction for entrepreneurs and investors to start their ventures.

In addition to this, the Philippines and the UAE both enjoy strong bilateral ties, and trade between the two countries account for 31 per cent of the regional trade, valued at $4.81 billion.

The UAE is also home to more than 7,50,000 Filipinos, who constitute the third-largest expatriate community in the UAE, with an evolving purchasing power and representation across all sectors.

Commenting on the partnership, CEO Lorenzo Jooris said: "In a digital world, limiting oneself to specific regions have taken a back seat. The opportunities that lie beyond boundaries are now better explored, and Creative Zone eases this knowledge exchange through our 11 years of expertise in the UAE business landscape."

"Together with EnterPH's wealth of knowledge in the Southeast Asian market, this partnership will pave the way in materialising the global entrepreneurship concept more effectively and quickly," he stated.

Ledesma said: "Dubai has always been close to my heart, and educating my fellow entrepreneurs on the overlying opportunities and business potential that can be leveraged whilst within the country is a novel approach."

"Companies like Creative Zone makes it much easier by providing business owners with flexible and cost-effective solutions about how and where to setup and operate their companies locally in the UAE. I really look forward to this fruitful partnership encouraging the spirit of entrepreneurship," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Derq, a leading AI company at the forefront of using vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology, said it has joined forces with US-based Motional to examine how driverless technology performs with a birds-eye view.

Derq, which has its base in Dubai and Detroit (US), is an MIT-spinoff and a leading AI company for video analytics powering the future of roads for the safe and efficient movement of road users and autonomous vehicles.

Dubais potential as a tech exporter has gone up a gear after former in5 start-up Derq and driverless technology pioneer Motional entered into an industry-first partnership to pilot autonomous vehicles with smart infrastructure in Las Vegas.

When driving, humans process, perceive and react to their driving environment through two eyes, 180-degree peripheral vision, two ears, and three mirrors. But Motionals driverless vehicles process that same environment through a sensor suite of advanced LiDAR, cameras, and radar that see up to 300 meters away, and a full 360 degrees. This superhuman vision enables driverless cars to respond faster and more safely than a human ever could.

Derqs award-winning infrastructure perception system will provide an unobstructed birds eye view of the roads to Motionals driverless vehicles in real-time. Cameras placed above busy Las Vegas intersections with significant pedestrian and cyclist activity, complex vehicle intersections and sight-line challenges will be connected to Derqs AI systems running on roadside computers and will transmit data to Motionals vehicles. This data will provide Motional with a different view of some of the most complex roads in the city.

Derqs technology can also detect and alert road operators about dangerous traffic incidents unrelated to autonomous vehicles, such as crashes and wrong-way drivers. Derq can in turn build a better understanding of safety hotspots on roads and feed this information back to the AVs and road operators for better routing, design, and planning.

The project is in line with Derq and Motionals goals to create safer roads through technology and innovation and is a testament to Dubais drive to become an innovation exporter. Such innovation also supplements Dubais own efforts to develop state-of-the-art infrastructure, smart city technologies, and plans to roll out autonomous vehicles. It comes after Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council, announced plans to have 4,000 self-driving vehicles in Dubai by 2030.

Dr Georges Aoude, Co-Founder and CEO of Derq, said: Were proud to work directly with a pioneer in driverless technology that shares our same mission of improving the safety of roadways for all road users including autonomous vehicles, says Dr. Georges Aoude, CEO and Co-Founder of Derq.

Our partnership together with the city of Las Vegas is just one of many deployments we have planned for the future, and were excited to leverage this unique experience to further contribute to Dubai Leaderships goal to have 25% of its transportation autonomous by 2030.

Majed Al Suwaidi, Managing Director of Dubai Media City, said: As a leading startup incubator, we are pleased to witness the great strides Derq has made in the AI space. Its commitment to leveraging technology to improve road safety is relentless and will accelerate Dubais position as a leading innovation hub in line with the vision of our leaders to become one of the worlds first cities to operate autonomous cars. We are proud of the role in5 continues to play in positioning Dubai as destination for startups, encourage entrepreneurships and helping companies with bright ideas to take their idea from prototype to production.

Derq joined in5s startup ecosystem in 2017 and has assumed a key role in the emirates efforts to promote autonomous vehicles. It was a finalist in the Roads and Transport Authoritys (RTA) Dubai World Congress for Self-Driving Transport contest in 2019, and signed a memorandum of understanding with Smart Dubai Office, Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), and Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority in 2017 to examine and promote the use of AI in accident prevention.--TradeArabia News Service
Samsung Electronics has unveiled a new radio featuring integrated antennas designed to help mobile operators overcome the challenges they face in deploying 5G networks.



Announced at Samsung Networks: Redefined, the new One Antenna Radio provides operators with the ability to simplify and speed up 5G installations by consolidating a 3.5GHz Massive MIMO radio with low-band and mid-band passive antennas into a single form factor.



As operators continue to extend their 5G coverage, a key challenge they face is the space and footprint restrictions at sites and on towers. Samsungs all-in-one radio will address varied environmental and site demandseasing installation, saving space and reducing OPEX for operators. The new solution will become part of Samsungs Radio Access Network (RAN) portfolio in early 2022, initially targeting the European market.



Key benefits of Samsungs One Antenna Radio:



 Site Simplification: The streamlined solution uses compact hardware to blend into a municipalitys environment, and reduces cabling and hardware elements to minimize visual impact in dense urban areas.

 Simplified Installation: Deployment is made simple by eliminating the need to install and connect radios and multiple antennas separately, accelerating installation and reducing labour costs.

 OPEX Savings: By requiring less space on sites or towers, and with a smaller footprint, operators can save on expenses, including rental and maintenance costs.



We are proud to introduce our One Antenna Radio to provide industry-leading performance thats designed to address various deployment environments, said Wonil Roh, Senior Vice President and Head of Product Strategy, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. Recognizing that mounting hardware, cabling, crew site time and space limitations are a challenge for most operators, we created a solution to help tackle this issue, and expand deployment boundaries.



Samsung has pioneered the successful delivery of 5G end-to-end solutions including chipsets, radios and core. Through ongoing research and development, Samsung drives the industry to advance 5G networks with its market-leading product portfolio from fully virtualized RAN and Core to private network solutions and AI-powered automation tools.



he company is currently providing network solutions to mobile operators that deliver connectivity to hundreds of millions of users around the world.  TradeArabia News Service
Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) has announced a strategic, high-impact investment programme that will position the emirate as one of the most preferred destinations for tourism and investments in affordable luxury, said a report.

Endorsed by the government of Ras Al Khaimah, the new initiative, SelectRAK, is rolled out in partnership with Arton Capital, a government advisory company that focuses on promoting public-private partnerships that energise economies around the world. SelectRAK will focus on providing an array of benefits to investors, including long-term residency based on criteria outlined by the government. By enhancing the appeal of Ras Al Khaimah for investment, the initiative will help build all core economic sectors, including healthcare, hospitality, education, trade, and retail, in turn, creating new jobs and supporting domestic enterprises, news agency WAM reported.

The initiative will also support investors in registering and operating international businesses from Ras Al Khaimah, and assist in finding a home of their choice in the emirate. All investors who meet the criteria and other guidelines mandated by the government will also be provided long-term residence visas.

Raki Phillips, CEO of RAK TDA, said the new programme will deliver a demonstrable positive impact, by welcoming global enterprises, investments, and talent to the emirate.

He added: "This strategic platform will serve as a one-stop-hub for promoting the Emirate, highlighting its tourism attractions to a global audience by underscoring business and investment opportunities, and showcasing a compelling lifestyle as a haven from the bustle of big cities."

"Our goal to promote Ras Al Khaimah as a wonderful tourism destination, and to help energise all economic sectors, is aligned with the long-term vision of the leadership to establish the Emirate as one of the preferred places to live and work."

SelectRAK will focus on promoting Ras Al Khaimah as "an authentic escape to affordable luxury" and highlight its differentiating strengths - including the diverse tourism attractions spanning the mountain, sea and land; the high quality of life assured; business opportunities; and rich cultural heritage, the report said.

"There is immense potential in Ras Al Khaimah, and we look forward to contributing over two centuries of collective team experience to this exciting initiative. SelectRAK will showcase the benefits of investing in the Emirate on the global stage," said Armand Arton, Founder and President of Arton Capital.

Ras Al Khaimah is one of the fastest-growing tourism, investment, and lifestyle destinations in the region, welcoming investors from around the world. With one of the largest economic zones that is home to more than 13,000 companies, Ras Al Khaimah offers 100 per cent ownership of firms and zero income tax.

SelectRAK is the latest strategic initiative from Ras Al Khaimah, following the Authoritys recent announcement of over 20 sustainable tourism development initiatives, marking an investment of half a billion dirhams, the report said.
Although the aviation industry took a hard hit in 2020 and suffered its heaviest losses to date, Turkish Airlines distinguished itself with relatively good business performance.

According to CAPA (Centre for Aviation, part of the Aviation Week Network) Turkish Airlines established itself as the busiest aircraft carrier in Europe during the pandemic, and one of the top five airlines in the world. This was achieved by a series of agile steps to maintain liquidity, keep costs at a manageable level and adapt to the new normal.

Turkish Airlines successfully ended the fiscal year 2020 with $6.7 billion revenue, which accounts for 50 per cent of the preceding years level, with a net loss of only $836 million. During these uncertain times, the airline was also able to maintain its robust route network. According to Eurocontrol, in April 2021 Turkish Airlines operated an average of 685 flights per day  almost double the number of the closest competitor in Europe, Lufthansa. In 2020, Turkish Airlines flew 28 million passengers, with an impressive load factor of 71 per cent. Currently, the airline serves 179 international destinations with 16 intercountry and 58 intercontinental flights. The new Istanbul Airport also stayed on top: even with a 68 per cent loss of traffic, it was still Europes most successful airport as of March 2021, with 616 departing and arriving flights.

This success is based on cost cutting activities, capex reduction and active capacity management. In fact, Turkish Airlines achieved such performance without relying on any governmental cash injections. Furthermore, agreements with Boeing and Airbus on fleet growth will further decrease the aircraft financing needs of Turkish Airlines by around $7 billion in the coming years.

Our success as the best performing flag-carrier airline in Europe is not coincidental. Apart from the multiple measures we took, we owe this success to our dedicated staff. While other airlines faced layoffs, we did not part ways with any of our colleagues during this process. Instead everyone within Turkish Airlines accepted salary cuts from up to 50 per cent depending on the role and responsibilities. The exceptional sense of unity within our staff is what sets Turkish Airlines apart: together as a family, we decided that no member of the Turkish Airlines family would be left behind during this crisis, said Turkish Airlines Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee, M. Ilker Ayc.

Turkish Airlines also turned the pandemic into an opportunity to increase its cargo operations, with 50 of its passenger aircrafts being reconfigured to increase its cargo fleet capacity. Turkish Cargo managed to become one of the top five air cargo companies in the world and the 6th largest cargo company. The company increased its market share in total global cargo revenue from 0.6 per cent in 2009 to 4.7 per cent in 2020. As of February 2021, one in 20 cargo flights around the world were handled by Turkish Cargo.

This allowed Turkish Cargo to deliver 50,000 tons of medical supplies, including more than 45 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, to destinations all over the world. In addition, new technologies and innovative solutions have been developed. One example is SmartIST, one of the largest air cargo facilities in the world, which is scheduled to open this year. Located at Istanbul Airport, the facility uses modern technology such as drones and automated robots to process and deliver goods even faster. - TradeArabia News Service
Help India!



If murder and terror accused are being treated as heroes in a society, then that society can be anything but civilized. Right-wing leaders in India want to spread hated against Muslims because it helps them to gain popularity, and society by and large wants to elect hatemongers because they want to teach a lesson to Muslims. In the present political landscape of India, the onus of reforming the Hindu society is on the shoulders of well-meaning Hindus who want to defeat this fascism. India needs a social reformer from the majority Hindu community who can deradicalize the Hindu society.

Md Asif Khan | TwoCircles.net

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Hum unka murder bhi na karen Cant we even murder them (Muslims)? These were the words of Suraj Pal Amu, president of an Indian far-right outfit Karni Sena, while addressing an audience of 50,000 at a Mahapanchayat (great council) in the north-Indian state of Haryana on May 30. The council was held in support of the accused arrested for lynching a Muslim man in Mewat, Haryana.

On May 16, a 25-year-old Muslim youth Asif Khan from Mewats Khalilpur Kheda village was lynched allegedly by a mob. Asif was returning home after buying medicines.

Unhone bola Mulleh, tum logo mein se ek ko bhi nahi chhodenge, aur ye bhi bola tum sab se hum Jai Shri Ram bulvayenge (They said they will not leave any of us alive and also said they will make us chant Jai Sri Ram), the Quint quoted Asifs cousin Rashid, an eyewitness, as saying.

When the police arrested the accused in the lynching case, people from a certain section of the Hindu society opposed their arrest. This is not the first time when some sections of the Hindu majority community in India supported people accused of committing crimes against Muslims, Indias largest religious minority.

This incident, and similar incidents like this, illustrate that India is following the path of Nazi Germany where the majority of Germans were radicalized to the extent that they blindly supported the holocaust against the Jews. In Nazi Germany, Jews were dehumanized by Hitlers propaganda machinery. They were called cockroaches. Using such kind of genocidal terminology is the first step towards genocide. Holocaust didnt start with gas chambers, it started with hate speeches.

When a section of the society is dehumanized, the other groups of the society become apathetic towards them. The perfect example of this was how German society supported Nazis and their actions, which killed millions of Jews.

I can see the same pattern being replicated in India. Muslims in India are being dehumanized and the majority of Hindu society has become mute spectators. The right-wing Hindu politicians and a large section of Indian Media continuously target Muslims. This leads to the dehumanizing of Muslims in the social sphere and they are, in turn, treated as the second class citizens of India.

The pattern of this dehumanization can be seen in various ways.

Since ultra-Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, several Muslims were lynched by Hindu extremist mobs in different incidents across the country. Following these incidents of violence against the Muslims, those Hindu extremists who were involved in these heinous crimes received support from certain section of the majority community, and in turn, exposing the deep-seated bigotry of the majority society.

Lynch rule

Just a week after Modi took oath as Prime Minister of India in 2014, a Muslim techie named Mohsin Shaikh was lynched in Pune, Maharashtra by members of a far-right Hindu outfit called Hindu Rashtra Sena. The accused Dhananjay Desai was released on bail and received a heroic welcome from his supporters.

In 2017, a Muslim daily wage worker named Afrazul was brutally beaten up and burnt alive on live camera in Rajsamand, Rajasthan. A Hindu man Shambhu Lal Regar, who committed this heinous crime, was hailed as a hero. His supporters attacked a local court in Rajasthan and hoisted a saffron flag on top of it. Within three days, his supporters had collected Rs 2,75,000 ($3,767). Moreover, on the occasion of a Hindu festival, people made a tableau of Regar and used it in a parade.

In another incident, Alimuddin Ansari was lynched in Jharkhand on June 29, 2017. His killers got bail from the court and Modis ministerial colleague, Jayant Sinha garlanded them. In a BBC interview, Sinha even admitted that BJP leaders had provided legal expenses to the accused in the case.

In 2018, an 8-year-old nomadic Muslim girl was raped and brutally killed inside a temple in Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir. The culprits kept her in captivity for several days, sedated her and raped her multiple times and later killed her.

When police arrested some accused in the case, a Hindu Right Wing organization called Hindu Ekta Manch took out a march in support of the accused. The rally was attended by BJP ministers.

BJP fueling Islamophobia

BJP leaders not only support these criminals but also deliver anti-Muslim hate speeches to fuel Islamophobia in the country.

For example, in 2016, Anant Kumar Hegde, a BJP leader had said Islam should be wiped out from this world.

In the Mahapanchayat (great council) held in Haryana on May 30 to support the alleged killers of a Muslim man Asif Khan, approximately 50,000 people attended the event and several local BJP leaders had also joined it. The council cannot be seen in isolation, as this was not the only event that took place in Mewat in support of the murder accused. Many such small panchayats were held in different villages of Mewat before this Mahapanchayat.

These incidents are enough to expose the deep-seated anti-Muslim hatred prevailing in the majority community of India. The radicalization of the Hindu majority has happened to such an extent that they are openly taking out rallies in support of the people accused of violence against Muslims, and which include rapists and murderers as well.

This radicalized lot is openly calling for the killing of Muslims because they are confident that the government will not take any action against them. These radicalized speakers are aware that the more hatred they will spew against Muslims, the more their popularity will grow among their supporters.

Hatred for Muslims as a populist tactic

Hindu Nationalists in India understand the anti-Muslim psyche of the society. It is one of the main reason that they do not shy away from spewing hatred against Muslims. In India, many far-right Hindu leaders proudly accept their involvement in anti-Muslim criminal activities. Their hatred against Muslims makes them more popular in society.

Bhavesh Patel, a convict in Ajmer Dargah Blast 2007, was released on bail in 2018. When he reached his hometown Bharuch, he was a given heroic welcome by a large crowd that included office bearers of BJP and other far-right Hindu outfits.

Pragya Thakur is accused in the Malegaon Bomb blast of 2008. After being released from jail on bail, she contested parliamentary elections on a BJP ticket in 2019 and emerged as a winner by getting 8,66,482 votes. Thakur has confessed on camera that she was involved in Babri mosque demolition in 1992. Yet, this has not mattered for a society where hatred for Muslims is a populist tactic to win elections and wield power.

A year ago, when India was witnessing historical mass protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a few BJP leaders including Kapil Mishra, and their supporters marched on the streets against Muslim protesters and shouted slogans like Shoot the traitors.

It is a fact that hate speeches in India always incite people to commit crimes against targeted groups, especially the Muslim minority community. In India, where the polarization of the political sphere has led to a divisive body politic, the otherization of Muslims is key to stay in power.

In another incident last year, a Hindu man Kapil Gujjar fired at Muslims who were protesting against CAA at Shaheen Bagh Delhi. Later on, Kapil was released on bail and joined BJP. Following the outrage, the BJP, however, expelled him.

Few weeks after the shooting incident, anti-Muslim riots took place in North East Delhi in February 2020, in which scores of Muslims were killed and dozens of properties belonging to Muslims were burnt down and many were arrested. However, the leaders who shouted hate-filled slogans and delivered incendiary speeches were never arrested. On the contrary, they became more popular among the masses.

No punishment for hate speech

In April 2021, a Hindu priest Narsinghanand organized a press conference where he abused the Prophet of Islam (PBUH). A case was registered against him but he was never arrested. Following the press conference, he became the apple of the eye for Hindu Nationalists. The BJP leader Kapil Mishra raised 4.8 million INR through crowdfunding for Narsinghanand.

Suraj Pal Amu who recently addressed a Mahapanchayat in support of murder accused, has been appointed as spokesperson of BJP. No action has been taken against him yet.

If murder and terror accused are being treated as heroes in a society, then that society can be anything but civilized. Right-wing leaders in India want to spread hated against Muslims because it helps them to gain popularity, and society by and large wants to elect hatemongers because they want to teach a lesson to Muslims.

In the present political landscape of India, the onus of reforming the Hindu society is on the shoulders of well-meaning Hindus who want to defeat this fascism. India needs a social reformer from the majority Hindu community who can deradicalize the Hindu society.

Md Asif Khan is a social activist. He tweets at @imMAK02
Help India!



A fifty-year-old mentally-unsound Muslim man Khursheed Ahmad from Sultanpur area of Uttar Pradesh was found dead on June 23. While the family claims that the victim was lynched to death, the police deny the lynching angle. While no one has been arrested so far, the police have filed an FIR under section IPC section 304 (Causing death by negligence) saying they are on the lookout to find the accused Himanshu Pandey who they said is still at large.

Musheera Ashraf | TwoCircles.net

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UTTAR PRADESH  After a fifty-year-old Muslim man from Sultanpur area of Uttar Pradesh was found dead, the family of the slain man identified as Khursheed Ahmad alias Pappu allege that the victim was lynched to death.

The Police, however, has refuted the lynching angle and filed a case under IPC section 304 (Causing death by negligence).

TwoCircles.net learnt from family and friends of Khursheed that he (Khursheed) went missing on June 22, following which the family began the search but could not find him.

As was his daily routine, he left home at around 5 p.m. and never returned, Azmat Alam, a friend of Khursheed Ahmad told TwoCircles.net.

Azmat said that Khursheed was mentally unsound and wouldnt harm anyone.

On the next day morning, the family searched for the missing Alam at the District Hospital Sultanpur, which Alam used to frequently visit and where he would recite Azaan (Muslim call to prayer) into the ears of newborn babies. We came to know at the hospital that his dead body was there, Zaheed Ahmad, brother of slain Khursheed told TwoCircles.net.

Khursheeds family claims that the hospital authorities told them that he (Alam) was brought in by a person named Anshuman Pandey and that it seemed like a case of murder.

On enquiring further, an ambulance driver informed Khursheeds family that he brought the injured Khursheed from the Public Works Department (PWD), near Bank of Baroda, which is nearly 2 kilometres away from the victims home and 1 kilometre away from District Hospital Sultanpur.

Talking to TwoCircles.net, Lal Ji, the ambulance driver who had brought the injured Khursheed to the hospital, confirmed the familys claims.

He said that on June 22 he was sitting outside the hospital when a motorcycle-borne man approached him and told him to accompany him to ferry an injured person to the hospital.

I went with him and picked up the injured man at the PWD site near Bank of Baroda. He was in a bad condition and drenched in blood but still alive, the driver said.

Lal Ji said that they were three men in total.

While the two went away on a motorcycle, I followed the third one, who was also on a motorcycle, to the hospital, he added.

As per police and family, the person who dropped injured Khursheed at the hospital was Anshuman Pandey. Anshuman Pandeys name is mentioned in the hospital register. The police told us he is the brother of Himanshu Pandey.

Lal Ji, the driver, said that all three men are unknown to me.

Soon after they found the body of Khursheed at the hospital, the family approached police at Thana Kotwali Nagar in Sultanpur, who told them, the incident happened inside the PWD Garha Khurd, Sultanpur.

The police told us that they checked the CCTV footage installed at PWD area and the person who killed him is Himanshu Pandey, Zaheer said.

Zaheer said that he was asked by the police to file an application accusing Himanshu Pandey of killing Khursheed, which he did.

Khursheeds family and friends are demanding the CCTV footage, which the police said implicates Himanshu Pandey as the accused. We want to see the footage. We are sure that more than one people are involved and this is a lynching case, Khursheeds friend Azmat said.

The family demands the police should file an FIR under IPC section 302 (murder) as they say he was lynched.

Khursheeds younger brother Anwar told TwoCirlces.net that, He was beaten mercilessly and was lynched because of his Muslim identity.

Khursheeds late father Taufeeq Ahmed was in the Rajputana Regiment of the Indian Army. His father was part of the Army operations between 1965 and 1971. Unfortunately, the son of an army man who served his country tirelessly was mercilessly lynched, Azmat said.

Confirming the incident, the Station House Officer of Thana Kotwali Sultanpur Sandeep Kumar told TwoCircles.net that, victim died due to beating by one Himanshu Pandey, who has fled away.

According to the FIR filed by the police, a copy of which lies with TwoCircles.net, the police states that during the investigation, it was found that the victim was severely beaten on the evening on June 22 by one Himanshu Pandey at a PWD site, near Bank of Baroda.

The victim was critically wounded which caused his death, the FIR reads.

SHO Kumar said that the accused was spotted through the CCTV footage at the PWD site. We are trying to catch him, Kumar added.

At the time of filing this report, no arrest has been made in the case.

Searching for truth

A week into his killing, Khursheeds family are awaiting answers for why he was killed, which they say will be confirmed by the post-mortem report.

The post-mortem report has come but we have not received it yet. The report is with the police and they told us that report mentions three head injuries leading to his death, Anwar said.

The killing of Khursheed has jolted his family.

Although being mentally unsound, Khursheed as per his family shared a special bond with the people who knew him.

He was very humorous and loving, Azmat said.
Warbird Digest has just received the April/May, 2021 report from Chuck Cravens concerning the restoration of the Dakota Territory Air Museums P-47D Thunderbolt 42-27609 at AirCorps Aviation in Bemidji, Minnesota. We thought our readers would be very interested to see how the project has progressed since our last article on this important project. So without further ado, here it goes! Update

After the exciting milestone of the wing attachment last month, the restoration moved on to work on the turbosupercharger and landing gear. The systems and components of the firewall forward area were also a focus this month. Control Surfaces With the wings, horizontal and vertical stabilizers installed, completing them requires control surfaces  so the elevators, ailerons, rudder, and flaps all were part of this months work. The first step was taking apart the original control surfaces. The parts were then evaluated for serviceability and parts that needed to be replaced were fabricated. Restoration of the elevators, rudder, ailerons, and flaps could begin after all the components were completed.

Turbo Supercharger

Landing Gear

The landing gear is nearly ready for installation.

Firewall Forward

Always one the most complex areas of a restoration is the area forward of the firewall. The engine installation, along with all the accessories takes great attention to detail.

Rear Fuselage

Further back in the fuselage, system work is being wrapped up.

39th Fighter Squadron, Summer, 1944

The 39th fighter Squadron was still getting used to their new P-47D-23RAs that they had received in late June and early July 1944. In fact the pilots had logged no combat hours in July 1944. But that changed rapidly in August when they flew 1,181 combat hours. As the pilots became more familiar with the new D-23, adaptations were made to better suit the conditions in the SW Pacific. Testing how much fuel could be carried in various drop tank configurations, a change in the location of the microphone, and bomb switches were all important. Perhaps most significant was a change in the position of the water injection switch. A combat evaluation report explains:

The 39th squadron history is sketchy on details of this period, or just so faint as to be illegible. But an idea of pilots reaction to the new machine can be found in a sister squadron, the 41sts history.

The squadron air echelon was stationed at Nadzab airbase while being re-equipped with the new P-47D-23 series aircraft. The campsite was formerly occupied by the 8th Fighter Group. As practically all the squadrons equipment was aboard ship with the ground echelon, camp facilities (lighting, showers, etc.) were at an absolute minimum.

The great majority of pilots were enthusiastic over the performance of the new D-23. Among the few skeptics were the old P-39 pilots who had seen no brilliance displayed by the old D11 and D18 series. Their first love was still the finger tip controlled P-39. It was here that Joe Parker, the Republic representative, demonstrated and taught to our pilots the techniques involved in obtaining maximum flying range from this new Thunderbolt:. They were amazed to find that it was possible to fly a single engined fighter for seven plus hours without refueling.
by Richard Paver

If youre unfamiliar with the term rephotography, it involves the process of reshooting old photos, as accurately as possible, from their same vantage point and scope in the present day. This can prove complicated to achieve, especially when it comes to older photographs, as places can change dramatically over time, which can make it exceedingly challenging to find the exact spot where someone captured an image many decades, or even a century or more earlier. Social media has produced a lot of great work on the Then and Now subject, often portraying locations of WWII battles or other historic events. That being said, photographer Richard Paver has taken this art to whole new level, by incorporating warbirds overflying historically significant locations in Royal Air Force history.

by Richard Paver

The history and story behind the recovery and restoration of North American P-51D Mustang 44-72216 Miss Helen has been recounted in the aviation press on several occasions. In view of this I recently decided to add some further dimensions to the history of the airframe. Firstly, I planned to photograph Miss Helen during a unique return to its wartime home at Bodney and secondly I interviewed Norman Chapman the engineer who led its restoration work  this restoration project is historic in its own right as it commenced over 40 years ago and was one of the very first airworthy restoration projects for todays warbird movement.

Norman Chapman is 98 years old now and lives in Harlow in Essex. With the help of the 352nd FG historian, Bill Espie, I was able to meet Norman, have lunch with him and discuss his involvement with Miss Helen which began in the late 1970s. Norman is an aircraft engineer with huge experience in working on a massive variety of types  everything from WWII warbirds to vintage piston transport aircraft and commercial passenger airliners. Norman worked at the Royal Air Forces No. 71 Maintenance Unit during WWII. After the war, he worked with Freddie Laker for many years. As well as a keen memory, Norman also has a collection of photographs and scrap books which record, in some detail, all of the various aircraft types and projects he has worked on throughout his career.

I met him at his home on November 20th, 2018, and he told me: After Robs Lamplough had shipped all the ex-Israeli Mustangs to the UK in 1976, he initially had them stored in pieces at Booker. He then wanted a base with the space to start a restoration project, and moved them to Duxford in 1977 where there was plenty of available hangarage and empty workshops. He asked me to go and see all his Mustangs  he had shipped four complete aircraft, plus a load of components from Israel to the UK and he asked me to let him know if I thought that we could get one flying again. I took a good look at them all and immediately picked out IDF No.43 as the best, because it had a virtually corrosion free fuselage. All the others had varying amounts of corrosion, especially in the longerons, and although the longerons can of course be replaced, that would take a whole lot longer and cost a lot more than utilising IDF43 as the basis for an airworthy restoration. At first Robs Lamplough took some convincing that IDF 43 was the best bet, because when it had been in the Israeli Kibbutz and used as a childs plaything, a kid had got stuck inside the fuselage and so the skins had to be cut to get the child out unharmed. This child had got into the rear fuselage over the radiator and then couldnt get back, so someone had to cut open the fuselage. Robs thought that this would mean IDF 43 could never be restored to flight, but I took a close look and with two new frames and some skin work, it was easily fixable. As the rest of IDF43 was in such good condition, there was no doubt in my mind that this was the best of the bunch.

We also had a fairly decent wing with IDF43, but it did have some damage Robs had also got hold of another mainplane from a Dutch Technical college at Delft. This was in perfect order, so we selected that to go with the fuselage of IDF43. This new mainplane came from 44-72770 and required a lot less work to get it flying compared to the wing on IDF43. (Authors note: The original wing from IDF43 went on to be used in the restoration project of P51D G-LYNE at Tees-side in the early 1980s. This project was never completed in the UK and is now in the USA as N514L 44-72028)

We therefore set up the project in shed No. 72 at Duxford, but I was working for Laker Airways at the time, so I could only work on the Mustang in my spare time. I pulled together a volunteer team of about six young guys who were all keen as mustard to get the Mustang flying, and we started part time on the project working every Tuesday evening and most weekends whilst I was still at Laker. Later on, Robs put up a new Hangar at North Weald and we then moved the project there in the summer of 1981. I was then taken on full time by Robs after I lost my job with the collapse of Laker Airways in early 1982.

It is very important to appreciate that at that time I had no interest or involvement in the aircrafts history  I had been taken on to get the Mustang flying and that is where I spent all my time & effort. I didnt have a clue about the 352nd Fighter Group or who they were, and I was not involved in this particular aircrafts lineage. During paint stripping, we noted and saw the USAAF serial on the lower part of the fuselage and then just got on with the job. The Israeli camouflage was very roughly applied, and we stripped it all back to bare metal and the original serial was visible etched in the metal. I never saw any signs during paint stripping of Miss Helen having been applied to the aircraft, but we did see during paint stripping Miss Nita on one panel, but again, this meant nothing to me. As well as running the restoration, I was spending a lot of time getting CAA approval for various mods that we wished to carryout  for example from the very start we wanted to make sure that the pilots and PAX seats stressing came up to 9G and this involved increasing the seat frame tube gauging, improving all the support bracketry, floor fixings and harness supports. This was just one mod that required many new drawings and a great deal of time spent there were many others and so that was where I spent my time.

It was much later  I think after the aircrafts first flight  that its identity was further researched and at that time 44-72216 was identified as a P-51 that had been with the 352nd FG at Bodney, then shipped to Sweden post war and then on to Israel. We have copies of all the official documents that list all the surplus 8th AF Mustangs that went to Sweden after the war.

The aircraft was registered G-BIXL and its first post restoration flight took place at North Weald on May 5th, 1987 with Lloyd Hamilton at the controls. Further test flying was carried out by Mark Hanna at North Weald and after these flights were completed, the aircraft was finished in an all over silver scheme. The aircraft only wore this silver scheme for a short period because in 1989 along with 5 other Mustangs G-BIXL was contracted to fly in the Memphis Belle film at Duxford. For the film it was repainted in an all over olive drab scheme and coded AJ-L with the nose art Miss L. Robs retained the film paint scheme on the aircraft until 2001 when it received its 352nd FG blue nose scheme with Miss Helen nose art plus Ray Littges 13 kill markings on the canopy frame, which it retains today.

The 352nd FG records show that 44-72216 was received at Bodney on 9th April 1945. On the 10th April she was flown to the 364th FG at Honington to have the hard points fitted. The civilian contractors who did this work had left Bodney in December 1944 when the 352nd went to Asch in Belgium and these contractors never returned to Bodney so this work was carried out off site. The fitting of hard points was completed quickly and 44-72216 was returned to Bodney on 11th April 1945. At this time the 352nd FG group was still in Belgium, but they returned two days later on 13th April and then 44-72216 was assigned to Ray Littge.

Although Ray Littge referred to his personal Mustang as Miss Helen in correspondence with his fiance Helen Fischer, there is no evidence nor are there photographs which show this name on the aircraft during its time at Bodney. Indeed, it is unlikely that the Mustang ever wore the name Miss Helen  pilots had to pay the squadron artist to paint personal nose art on their steeds, so with it being April 45 and the war in Europe effectively over, Ray Littge would likely have not thought the expense worthwhile to commemorate the few remaining operational missions he had left to fly before his tour ended and he returned home.

The 352nd FGs individual flight record cards documented that Ray Littge, on his return from Belgium, flew two missions on April 16th in P-51D 44-14812 (HO-T) Slender Tender & Tall, the former mount of Lt. Col. William Halton. Ray Littge amassed 7 ground victories during those sorties. His next operational mission was in 44-72216 on April 17th, 1945, when he scored 6 ground victories whilst straffing Prattling airfield in Germany. His combat report for this operation is available and describes how his Mustang received flak damage in the oil tank; one .50 calibre machine gun was also knocked out of action with its electrical and manifold pressure lines cut. Despite these issues, Littge managed to return home to Bodney with the wounded Mustang; indeed 44-72216 had suffered substantial damage on her maiden combat mission. Interestingly, many years later during the aircrafts restoration, Robs Lamploughs former chief engineer John Hart reported that field repairs to 44-72216s oil tank support structure were still evident; these may well have resulted from Littges April 17th, 1945 sortie.

Following the sortie which resulted in damage to 44-72216, Ray Littge flew another nine times before his tour finished, but not all of these flights were combat missions  one on April 19th is described as a local T-6 flight at Bodney, while another was a 20 minute test flight at Bodney in a Mustang. However, the exact identity of which aircraft Littge flew in the closing stages of the war is not available in his individual flight record. It is possible, therefore, that he only flew 44-72216 on that single ground attack mission against Prattling. We also dont know whether any of his final missions were in 44-72216, as we have no records regarding how quickly the aircraft was repaired following the flak damage. Ray Littges final combat mission in WWII took place on 25th April 1945, although he did not encounter enemy aircraft during that sortie. His tour over, Littge went on leave and had the opportunity to say goodbye to his 352nd FG friends before returning to the USA on May 4th, 1945.

We do know that the 352nd official photographer Paul Grabb took some publicity photographs of Ray Littge at Bodney after he had concluded his tour when he was no longer flying operations. These include one of Ray Littge posed in the cockpit of 44-72216 wearing full flight gear and another sitting on the wing of 44-72216 talking to his crew chief Sgt W. Moller when Ray was wearing parachute and full flight gear. These photographs were undoubtedly posed for publicity and are also notable due to the fact that the left-hand engine panel has been removed and whilst the serial 44-72216 is visible there is no sign of Miss Helen nose art. We do know from the squadron records that after Littge finished his tour 44-72216 was assigned to Capt. Russell Ross and renamed Miss Nita. The squadron records are incomplete at the end of April 1945 and therefore we dont know what operational missions if any that Russell Ross flew in 44-72216.

It is highly likely therefore that when the posed publicity photographs were taken of Ray Littge at Bodney with 44-72216 shortly before his return to the USA that the aircraft had been repainted as Miss Nita which probably explains why the engine panel had been removed for the photos.

In 2016, I discussed the aircrafts history with Miss Helens present owner, Robert Tyrell, and put forward the idea of an air-to-air photo shoot over Bodney. Having previously visited Bodney on the ground with the 352nd FG historian, Bill Espie, I was able to describe what can be seen on site at Bodney today to Robert Tyrell. Sadly, there is very little left which reveals this all-grass airfields historic past, but the control tower and fire engine shed are still in existence, together with long stretches of concrete perimeter track and some concrete hardstandings. However, nothing remains to show the original runway alignment, as a large part of the site returned to agricultural use immediately after the war. A line of mature trees now cuts directly across the line of the main runway, making it even more difficult to see where the wartime runway was originally positioned. Many of the 352nd FG Mustang dispersals were situated on the grass with PSP (pierced steel planking) matting, and revetments constructed from stacked timber wing tank crates  so none of this remains today

Tyrell readily agreed to the idea of a return to Bodney, so we hatched a plan to shoot the aircraft over the control tower and, if possible, directly over the area where Ray Littge had his dispersal. Interestingly, a detailed plan of all the 487th FS pilot dispersals still exists thanks to the efforts of former 487th crew chief Al Geisting, who drew the map during a visit to Bodney in 1998. The exact position of Ray Littges dispersal is annotated on this plan and it lies right on a bend in the concrete perimeter track directly opposite a pill box defensive position. Both the perimeter track and the pill box are still there today so, using Google Maps, I could plot the exact spot where Ray Littge had flown from.

Planning for this photo mission took some time, but we were finally able to put it together in October 2018. It was by no means a simple to set up  firstly aircraft cannot land at Bodney today, as there are no runways and the site is now under a mix of different ownerships, with the majority being a Ministry of Defence (MoD) training ground. Any planning would therefore have to be done remotely, and whilst I had been to visit the site on the ground previously, neither of the pilots (John Dodd in Miss Helen and Bill Giles in the Aztec camera ship) had had this opportunity. Secondly, Bodney now lies within the approach to RAF Lakenheath, so we would need their permission to perform the photo flight. And third, Bodney is also now in restricted airspace, as the site is now part of an MoD firing range, permission from the range controller would therefore be required, and the range would also have to be inactive during the period of our photo flight.

Robert Tyrell asked John Dodd to fly Miss Helen for this flight and I set up the camera aircraft, a Piper Aztec with Bill Giles the owner/pilot. Both Bill and John are highly experienced with air-to-air photo-sorties and the precision formation flying which these flights require. Thankfully they both readily agreed to make this work over the Bodney site.

John Dodd was especially helpful, as he obtained the clearance to fly from both Lakenheath Air Traffic and the MoD range controller. The range controller agreed to close the range for one hour on a set day during which we had his permission to fly in the range  if the weather hadnt cooperated on that specific day, during the one hour time allowance, then it was too bad, and we would have to call it off.

Thankfully on the chosen day, we had a good weather pattern across the whole of East Anglia  so for once in air-to-air photography the weather wasnt a problem  quite a rarity! Other preparation for the photo flight included John Romain very helpfully loaning his authentic WWII-era fighter pilots Mae West for John Dodd to wear whilst flying Miss Helen.

One other consideration involved the Miss Helen nose art being only carried on the Mustangs left side. I obviously wanted this in all of the photographs, so we had to plan all of the photo passes over Bodney itself with the Mustang forming up on the Aztec in echelon right. Another essential consideration involved not shooting into the sun and to have both the Bodney background and the Mustang well and evenly lit in the sunshine. Indeed, the suns position essentially determined our flight path over Bodney; the challenge would be to get both the control tower and the Mustang tack-sharp and well positioned in the same frame whilst passing low over the field, with the undoubtedly turbulent air which occurs at speed at low level.

On Bills suggestion, we took off from Duxford in loose formation. On arrival over Bodney, the Mustang held off a distance, whilst Bill flew the Aztec on a couple of reconnaissance passes over Bodney, so he could check the flightpath, while getting a clear visual identification on the old control tower so he could plan the exact route for the photo-passes.

Bodneys old control tower, though still visible from the air today, is gradually becoming overgrown with trees and other vegetation, so these recce passes were invaluable to ensuring that the photo sortie was successful. Unless the undergrowth is cleared away, the control tower will soon disappear beneath this canopy of trees and be invisible from the air. As we passed over the site during the recce flight I pointed the location out to Bill; indeed both the control tower and also the Littge dispersal were visible. Although Bill had input the coordinates for these locations into the Aztecs navigation kit, we still needed visual confirmation before we called the Mustang in for the actual photo passes.

After completing the site recce, and on request from Bill Giles, John Dodd quickly formed up with us in Miss Helen about a mile from Bodney. We then made two formation passes with the Mustang over the derelict Bodney control tower, each flyby working perfectly  I had planned one shot with the Mustang positioned over the tower in the photographic frame, and the other with the Mustang below it. We then flew a further pass over the Littge dispersal, but missed it on the first attempt  we were too close, so the Mustang obscured the site as we passed over it. After a discussion between myself and Bill over the Aztecs intercom, Bill flew another circuit, and this time moved us out across the field so that the perimeter track adjoining the Littge dispersal area was clearly visible, so we got that shot bang on too!

Whilst all this was going on John Dodd expertly stayed in formation following Bill wherever we went and moving the Mustang up/down or in/out via my hand signals; it was a high workload flight for all.

We therefore successfully completed the photo mission over Bodney. Sadly, there will soon be very little left at this historic site which provides a connection with its famous wartime past as home to The Blue Nosed Bastards from Bodney.

Many thanks indeed to Richard Paver for this article.
By Senior Colonel Ren Guoqiang, Deputy Director General of the Information Office of the Ministry of National Defense (MND) and Spokesperson for the MND

Senior Colonel Ren Guoqiang, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense (MND) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), answers reporters' questions at a regular press conference on June 24, 2021. (Photo: mod.gov.cn)

(The following English text of the press conference is for reference. In case of any divergence of interpretation, the Chinese text shall prevail.)

First of all, I would like to announce two pieces of news.

The first is about the arrangements of activities held by the Chinese military to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

To celebrate the centenary of the CPC, the Central Military Commission (CMC) has made arrangements for the commemorative activities held by the military in accordance with the overall arrangements rolled out by the CPC Central Committee. At present, all the activities are proceeding orderly as planned.

First, studying the Party's history to strengthen conviction of service members. Focusing on studying Party history, understanding theories, doing practical work, and making new advances, the military has carried out themed studies, Party lectures, workshops and practice activities in its Party history studying and education campaign. Experts were sent to military units to give around 300 themed lectures. Troops of all levels take CPC history as the best textbook for strengthening conviction and nutrient for cultivating quality soldiers. They held various activities including having regular institutional Party events, visits to revolutionary sites and online courses to help service members better understand the history of the Party and the Chinese revolution and the cause of building a strong military, stay true to the original aspiration and founding mission of the Party, carry on revolutionary traditions and shoulder the responsibility of building a strong military, obey the Party's order and follow the Party's lead, and resolutely follow President Xi's command, answer to President Xi and be accountable to President Xi.

Second, studying theories and drawing strengths from them. The 100-year history of the CPC has witnessed the continuous adaptation of Marxism to China's realities. The people's military has always followed the latest innovative theories of the Party and the guidance of advanced military theories. All service members can draw political nutrients from the Party's scientific theories and strengthen their capabilities.

On July 1, President Xi will give an important speech at the meeting in celebration of the 100th anniversary. Based on the arrangements made by the CPC Central Committee and the CMC, the military will conduct activities to study, promote and implement the spirit of this important speech including seminars and workshops. Service members will be encouraged to read revolutionary classics and study designated materials and textbooks such as Xi Jinping's Words on Strengthening the Military to feel the strength of truth and practice and consolidate their conviction on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era , especially Xi Jinping thought on strengthening the military.

Third, inheriting the military's fine traditions and carrying forward its spirit. The revolutionary spirit is a driving force of our efforts and bellwether of the times. The "Marching Forward under the Banner of the Party  The Themed Exhibition of the People's Military in Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the CPC" will soon be open to the public at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution. Some exhibits at the Navy Museum will also be open to the public. Other major military history museums such as the Exhibition Center of PLA Hong Kong Garrison will be completed and up for operation successively. The 20-volume A Single Spark Can Start A Prairie Fire (referring to the sparks of Chinese revolution evolving into an overwhelming prairie fire) will be reprinted again. The military will organize its members to visit exhibitions on Party history and make full use of red resources such as military history museums and memorial facilities, and hold activities about revolutionary rituals and historical scenarios, bringing the fine traditions and conduct into the new era and apply them in the new journey.

Fourth, learning from heroes and role models to gain strength for building a strong military. The 100-year Party history is a great journey involving numerous heroes. The CMC will commend outstanding Party members, exemplary Party workers and advanced community-level Party organizations. Role models including the 10th Squadron of 4th Detachment of Shanghai Corps of the People's Armed Police Force (PAP) and the "Most Admirable Revolutionary Soldiers in the New Era" will be promoted. Island Keeper, a movie based on the story of Wang Jicai (a militiaman who guarded one of China's small islands for 32 years) is already on the screen in cinemas nationwide. Other movies such as The Battle at Lake Changjin, The Pioneer, and Sanwan Reorganization will be screened soon. The military will conduct activities to pay tribute to revolutionary martyrs and learn from heroes and role models, and study the feats and contributions of 100 important heroes and role models to inspire the service members to pay homage to our revolutionary predecessors and strive to stand out in the new era.

Our military personnel will transform the political passion from the celebrations into concrete actions in the cause of building a strong nation and a strong military in the new era. They will steadfastly follow the command of the CPC Central Committee, the CMC and President Xi, stay true to the original aspiration and founding mission, dare to fight against powerful enemies, and make unremitting efforts to realize the Party's goal of building a strong military in the new era and building world-class armed forces in all aspects.

Secondly, the Office for International Military Cooperation (OIMC) of the CMC recently invited foreign defense attaches to visit the exhibition of Party history, which is titled "Staying True To the Party's Original Aspiration and Founding Mission".

To introduce the CPC's great history and achievements over the past century to foreign military attaches, the OIMC and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs jointly organized military attaches from nearly 70 countries to visit the exhibition on CPC history themed "Staying True to the Party's Original Aspiration and Founding Mission" at the Exhibition Hall of CPC History in Beijing this morning.

The exhibition consists of four parts  "Founding of the CPC and the Great Victory of the New Democratic Revolution", "Founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Socialist Revolution and Construction', "Reform and Opening-up, and Socialism with Chinese Characteristics", and "Socialism in the New Era, A Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects, and the New Journey of Comprehensively Building a Modern Socialist Country". It is the first comprehensive, panoramic and epic account of the CPC's magnificent 100-year history, a period of relentless efforts, willing sacrifices, theoretical explorations, peoples welfare improvement and Party building.

Through the visit, we highlighted to foreign military attaches the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and China's major contributions to world peace and development. We explained the CPC's governing concepts and China's development path, and asserted China's policy of firmly adhering to the path of peaceful development and steadily expanding opening-up. By telling the stories of the CPC and China and spreading China's voices, the exhibition presented a true China in all dimensions and cemented the mutual trust and friendly cooperation between the Chinese military and its foreign counterparts.

Many foreign military attaches congratulated the CPC on its centenary. They said that the detailed and comprehensive exhibition vividly presented the CPC's great journey in leading the Chinese people and military to build a peaceful, prosperous and strong new China and the important contributions it has made to world peace and development. They also said that they have gained a deeper understanding of the CPC's history from the exhibition. They expressed willingness to deepen exchanges and cooperation with the Chinese military and make new and greater contributions to serving defense and military buildup and advancing common development.

Question: You have just introduced the activities held by the Chinese military to celebrate the centenary of the CPC and emphasized the importance of following the Party's leadership. Why does the Chinese military always adhere to the absolute leadership of the CPC?

Answer: The Party's absolute leadership over the military is a defining feature of Chinese socialism, and a major source of political strength to the Party and the country. It is fundamental to the building and strengthening of the people's armed forces. Since the founding of the PLA over 90 years ago, the Party's leadership has been the fundamental guarantee for keeping the strong cohesiveness, affinity and combat power of the people's military.

History is the best textbook and China's revolutionary history is the best nutrient. Upholding the Party's absolute leadership over the people's military is the unbreakable truth that the CPC has discovered during the revolutionary struggle. The CPC noticed military issues at the beginning of its founding. But due to the lack of experience in struggle, it suffered from the painful failure of the National Revolution. The bloody lessons helped the CPC fully realize the importance of building its own armed forces. The CPC Central Committee clearly announced that "we must create the new revolutionary armed forces in the revolutionary war".

On August 1, 1927, the gunshot in Nanchang city was like lightning through the night sky. Since then, the people's military under the leadership of the CPC has been valiantly devoted to seeking liberation and happiness for the Chinese people and fighting for independence and rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The fate of the people's military was closely linked with the fate of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation. On September 29, 1927, in the Sanwan Reorganization, Party branches started to be established in companies, which established the Party's leadership over the military in its organization. In December 1929, the Gutian Conference established the principle of ideological and political building for the Party and the military, and comprehensively established the Party's absolute leadership over the military from the political, ideological and organizational aspects.

Since then, our military has firmly adhered to the leadership of the CPC, and actively engaged in the cause for the independence of the nation, the liberation of the people and the prosperity of the country. The military has blazed a new trail through difficulties and warfare, made great sacrifices, won glorious victories one after another and achieved great historical achievements for the Party and the people. Looking back to the past struggles and looking forward to the future, we fully realize that the Party's absolute leadership over the people's military is the eternal soul of the Chinese militaryand the DNA deeply integrated in the Chinese military's blood, which can never be changed or lost.

Question: During the G7 Summit, NATO Summit and US-EU Summit, some countries and organizations released joint communiques or statements, claiming that China has posed "systemic challenges" to international order. They also expressed grave concerns about the situations in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, opposing any unilateral action to change the status quo there. Please comment on that.

Answer: We've noticed that the US and a few other countries have recently hyped up the so-called "China threat" on multiple occasions and deliberately slandered China on the maritime issue and some other issues. We are strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to that.

Though the Cold War ended more than 30 years ago, some US-led western countries, clinging to the Cold War mentality and zero-sum game mindset, are acting against the trends of the times by forming cliques, practicing false multilateralism, clamoring for value-based confrontation and creating ideological division. These acts are against the trends of peace, development and win-win cooperation and is doomed to fail as it cannot win people's support. There is only one system and one order in the world, that is, the international system with the UN at the core and the international order based on international law. China remains a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a defender of international order. The Chinese military will always be a righteous force defending world peace and development.

China's stance on the maritime issue is consistent and clear. The Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated islands are an inalienable part of China's territory. China has indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and their adjacent waters. We are committed to settling relevant disputes peacefully through dialogue and consultation. Meanwhile, we will firmly safeguard our own territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.

We advise relevant countries to view China and Chinese military's development objectively and rationally, stop fabricating all sorts of the "China military threat theory", stop hyping up geopolitical rivalry and put more efforts in promoting dialogue and cooperation.

Question: From the beginning of this year, the Chinese military has continued to strengthen training and readiness while doing a solid job of preventing and controlling the COVID-19 epidemic. Please brief us on the situation and characteristics of military training of the PLA in the first half of 2021.

Answer: Since the start of this year, the Chinese military has been resolutely implementing the training order of President Xi and the requirements of the CMC military training meeting. Focusing on improving military preparedness, the armed forces have strengthened realistic training, joint training, technology-based training and rules-based training, so as to make new progress in military training in the new era.

First, having more difficult and intense basic training. Training is in full swing in the military. Our troops highlight strengthening basic training in line with the training outlines and improving capabilities through realistic training. Compared with previous years, the ammunition consumption has increased significantly and the proportion of demanding training programs has been on the rise. Training quality and effectiveness is steadily improving.

Second, targeted training has been continuously deepened for both combat and emergency responses. While implementing the requirements of being ready to fight at all times and being able to fight at any time, the military has strengthened research on war and combat issues, continued to intensify targeted training in all directions and various fields to deal with real security threats and vigorously carried out front-line military training. It maintains high alert in terms of commanding, forces, and capabilities.

Third, realistic training and exercises have been pushed forward in a solid and in-depth manner. All theater commands have launched training exercises under real combat scenarios, underlined the training of troops rotated for combat readiness missions and deepened cross-domain and cross-service joint training. In addition, troops of different services and arms have completed more than 100 tactical-level joint operational training exercises highlighting key and difficult training subjects.

Fourth, new progress has been achieved in the exploration and practice of technology-based training. To improve war fighting capabilities, the military has continued to explore "technology +" and "network +" training, organized training with new equipment and new forces in new fields and their integration into the combat system, utilized technology to solve training problems, developed simulated, IT-base and smart training methods and innovated technology-enabled training methods and operational tactics.

Fifth, training transformation has started in an orderly manner. The military has organized activities to promote the Decision on Building a New-type Military Training System and conducted research on the establishment of a mechanism linking training closer to real combat. Troops have studied and set the goals and path for transformation and future development and put forward proposals and measures for implementing the Decision. To accelerating the transformation and upgrading of military training, our troops are making further exploration in innovating training patterns, optimizing operation management and improving training conditions.

In the past six months, service members have resolutely implemented the decisions and directives made by the CPC Central Committee, the CMC and President Xi, anddemonstrated the fighting spirit and tenacity to overcome heavy odds and confront any danger. They will conduct strict training in a safe and scientific way. They will resolutely fulfill the missions and tasks in the new era entrusted by the Party and the people and greet the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC with outstanding training performance.

Question: Many records have been broken in the recent military skills competition "Top of Snow Mountains 2021" held by the PLA Tibet Military Command. Please brief us more on the competition.

Answer: According to the annual training plan, the PLA Tibet Military Command has recently organized the "Top of Snow Mountains 2021" competition on a plateau at an elevation of 3,700 m. More than 1,000 training elites from 20-odd units participated in the competition to test and improve the troops' capabilities in complex environments with extreme coldness, difficulty and danger. The training activity mainly has the following three characteristics:

First, it focused on realistic training. 23 training programs, including combat squad comprehensive operations, sniper team combat operations, and field repair and rescue were carried out under all-weather and unfamiliar geographic conditions. The competition mainly tested the training level of the participants under high-altitude, cold and hypoxic conditions and in dangerous environment.

Second, it focused on strengthening training through science and technology. Closely following the needs of informationized warfare, the competition applied drones to solve training difficulties. The war-game system was also incorporated into the competition programs and the operational pans were tested and verified through realistic confrontation, fully capitalizing the use of technological methods.

Thirdly, it focused on strengthening training through talent development. To build a military training system with plateau characteristics, the competition emphasized training for new-type forces and professional talent in key positions. The competition was a platform to select elites, temper troops and create a "race to the top" atmosphere in the troops.

Question: Some media reported that the US and Taiwan have taken small actions to strengthen their collusion, and there are some military exchanges between them. Meanwhile, the PLA recently dispatched more than 20 sorties of military aircraft to Taiwan's "southwestern airspace", setting a record for the number of aircraft in a single day since Taiwan's "defense department" released relevant data. What's your comment on this?

Answer: Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. The Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair. China is firmly opposed to any form of official exchanges or military contacts between the US and Taiwan , firmly opposed to attempts by the US to use Taiwan to contain China, and firmly opposed to efforts of Taiwan to solicit US support and seek "Taiwan independence" with force.

The complete reunification of China is a historical trend. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is unstoppable. Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is a common aspiration of all. "Taiwan independence" is a dead-end. To China, "Taiwan independence" means war. The US should fully realize that China's development cannot be stopped by anyone or any force. It should abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, and stop any form of military contacts with Taiwan. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities in Taiwan should realize that the future of Taiwan lies in national reunification and the wellbeing of the Taiwan compatriots hinges on the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Any attempt to "seek independence by relying on the United States" is doomed to failure.

In recent days, the PLA dispatched multiple types of aircraft to conduct exercises around the Taiwan Strait, which is a necessary action in response to the current security situation across the Taiwan Strait and the need to safeguard national sovereignty. The PLA will resolutely perform the sacred mission of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and ensuring national security.

Question: In mid-June, the China-ASEAN Defense Ministers' Informal Meeting and the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) were held successively. State Councilor and Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe attended the meetings. Could you please give us more information?

Answer: On June 15 and 16, the 12th China-ASEAN Defense Ministers' Informal Meeting (10+1) and the 8th ADMM-Plus(10+8) were held successively via video link. State Councilor and Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe attended and addressed the events.

At the "10+1" meeting, General Wei reviewed the fruitful cooperation achieved in the past 30 years since the establishment of the China-ASEAN strategic partnership. He said China will continue to connect the "Belt and Road" initiative with the development strategy of ASEAN and jointly promote the building of a China-ASEAN community with a shared future.

General Wei also stated that defense and security cooperation has played an important role in supporting the China-ASEAN strategic partnership. China is willing to strengthen cooperation with ASEAN countries in defense and military areas and continue to provide vaccines and other medical supplies. He said all parties should work together to build consensus, manage differences, promote cooperation and safeguard peace and tranquility in the South China Sea.

At the "10+8" meeting, General Wei expounded China's views on the current international strategic landscape and regional security situation and called on all countries to join hands in building a community with a shared future for mankind. He stated that the growth of China's military strength will contribute to the force for peace in the world. China values security cooperation with other countries and fully understands and respects the legitimate concerns of others. Meanwhile, Chinas national interests must also be fully respected and maintained. China has an unwavering determination to safeguard its core national interests with regard to the Taiwan question and issues related to Xinjiang, Hong Kong and the South China Sea.

Besides, General Wei pointed out that there are both development challenges and opportunities for the Asia-Pacific region. All parties should adhere to the global security concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, jointly build and utilize the ADMM-Plus mechanism and create a security pattern built and shared by all.

Question: Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a recent interview that the China-Russia strategic partnership has been at an all-time high in recent years, and the two sides have maintained a high degree of mutual trust and cooperation in political, economic, and technological areas. What's your comment on the current China-Russia military relations?

Answer: Under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin, the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era has been developing on all fronts and operating under all weather conditions. Exchange and cooperation between the two militaries in various fields have been deepened. It has continuously enriched the strategic contents of the bilateral relations.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the two militaries have overcome the impact of the pandemic and maintained smooth strategic communication. We successfully organized a series of important events and carried out friendly exchanges and cooperation in fighting the pandemic. Leaders of the two militaries have maintained close strategic communication through letters, phone calls and video meetings. On June 23, State Councilor and Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe delivered a video speech at the 9th Moscow Conference on International Security . The Chinese military provided humanitarian medical supplies to its Russian counterpart. Medical experts from the two militaries shared experience in pandemic prevention and control. The mutual support and assistance played a positive role in promoting the traditional friendship between the two militaries. In April, the Chinese military sent a team to Russia to participate in the "Sayan Range March" Snowfield Combat and March Competition, part of the International Army Games (IAG) 2021. In the second half of this year, the two militaries will continue to hold relevant exercises and training activities as scheduled.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, which is of special significance to both countries. The Chinese military is willing to work with the Russian side to unswervingly move forward in the direction defined by the two heads of state, continue to carry forward the spirit of the Treaty, enhance strategic coordination and deepen pragmatic exchanges so as to make new contributions to the development, national rejuvenation and peoples welfare of the two countries.

Question: It is reported that the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) has recently passed the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of the Status, Rights and Interests of Military Personnel. How to evaluate the significance of the law? Why is it necessary to formulate a specific law to protect the status, rights and interests of military personnel? What are the innovations and highlights?

Answer: The Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of the Status, Rights and Interests of Military Personnel was adopted at the 29th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress on June 10. The new law has attracted wide public attention and provided great encouragement to the service members. It helps to improve the environment where dedicated service members enjoy public respect.

Firstly, the promulgation of this law fully reflects the care for the service members from the Party, the state, and the people. The enactment of this law is to transform the determination, will and important decisions of the CPC Central Committee and President Xi into institutional arrangements and laws. Ensuring the military personnel's status, rights and interests is an important experience of the Party in leading the construction of the armed forces and an important guarantee for the growth and continuous victories of the people's military. The Party and the state have long attached great importance to this work. The Report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of military personnel and their families and make the military service an occupation that enjoys the public respect.

Secondly, the promulgation of this law is an important measure to realize the Party's goal of strengthening the military in the new era and build it into a world-class military in an all-round way. Making this law and establishing a system of laws and regulations with Chinese characteristics for the protection of the status, rights and interests of service members, which are adapting to the requirements of building a strong military and manifesting a clear orientation, are conducive to further encouraging service members to faithfully perform their duties and actively participate in the cause of strengthening the military. They are also conducive to coordinating the two major issues of development and security, strengthening the national defense awareness and the awareness of potential dangers of the whole society, and further guiding the society to actively participate in and support the building of national defense and the armed forces. The enactment of this law reflects the legacy of history, the will of the country, the care of the commander in chief, the respect of the people, the expectations of service members, and the needs of the situation.

Finally, the promulgation of this law provides a legal guarantee to make the military more attractive, cohesive and capable from the perspective of national legislation. It consists of 71 articles in 7 chapters and has eight innovations. First, it establishes a system to protect the rights and interests of military personnel through national legislation. Second, it defines in the form of national laws that the status of service members should be respected. Third, it establishes an institution to protect the honor of service members. Fourth, it systematically standardizes the payment and welfare system for service members with comparative advantages. Fifth, it comprehensively regulates the system of pension and preferential treatment, which has been transformed from relief of living to the combination of commendation, compensation and preferential treatment. Sixth, it focuses on improving combat readiness in setting the policies of awards and incentives, payment and welfare, and pension and preferential treatment. Seventh, it clearly regulates the mechanism that encourages and guides all social forces to participate in the protection of status, rights and interests of military personnel. Eighth, it establishes and improves the legal liability mechanism, which regulates the legal liabilities of damaging the honor or reputation of military personnel.

The service members will always bear in mind the care of the CPC Central Committee, the CMC and President Xi, faithfully practice the principle of serving the people wholeheartedly, live up to the missions and commitment to building a strong military and resolutely defend national sovereignty, security and development interests.

Question: At present, the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging worldwide. In this context, how will the Chinese military continue to provide public security goods to the international community in the near future?

Answer: Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese military has strengthened prevention and control measures and shouldered its international responsibility as the military of a major country by carrying out international cooperation against the pandemic and providing public security goods to the international community.

Over the past month, the Chinese military has taken active actions to fulfill its responsibility including providing vaccine assistance and performing maritime escort and peacekeeping missions. On pandemic cooperation, the Chinese military has implemented President Xi Jinping's statement on making Chinas COVID-19 vaccine a global public good. As approved by the CMC, the PLA provided vaccines to the militaries of Mauritania, Guinea and Mozambique in late May and early June. In terms of maritime escort, since the PLAN's 37th escort taskforce went to the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia on January 16, it has successfully completed the escort missions for 64 Chinese and foreign ships in 40 batches. The 37th escort taskforce is on its way back after the rotation with the 38th escort taskforce in the western waters of the Gulf of Aden early this month.

In terms of peacekeeping, after the recent eruption of the Nyiragongo Volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the 24th Chinese peacekeeping force to the DRC has been fighting on the front-line. It helped repair the transportation lifeline for the displaced people and support the passage of more than 1,800 vehicles. At present, it is performing tasks such as cleaning volcanic rocks and building refugee camps. The 413 peacekeepers of the 8th Chinese peacekeeping force to Mali were awarded the UN Peace Medal of Honor for their outstanding performance of tasks such as guard duties, armed patrol, engineering construction and medical support.

Countries in the world live in a community with a shared future. The Chinese military will continue to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind with concrete actions, provide international public security goods to the international community and deliver benefits to peoples of all countries in the world.

Question: The national college entrance examination has wrapped up this month. Both the students and their parents have shown great interest in military colleges. Please brief us on the admissions policy of military colleges.

Answer: According to this year's admissions plan, a total of 27 military colleges will enroll more than 13,000 graduates from high schools. Among them, there is one university directly affiliated to the CMC, ten from the Army, five from the Navy, four from the Air Force, one from the Rocket Force, two from the Strategic Support Force, and four from the People's Armed Police Force. It is worth noting that there have been new changes in the criteria for admissions of high school graduates. From this year on, all candidates admitted to military colleges (including PAP colleges) should reach the minimum admission line for first-batch universities; meanwhile, all candidates must pass the physical test for high school students.

The main change in the admissions of soldiers is that the annual assessment of the candidates for the past few years should reach the level of qualified or higher, and their yearly military training scores over the past few years should be good or higher. Candidates who have been awarded with merits in major military operations by units of or above the theater command level or have participated in anti-epidemic operations on the front line, peacekeeping operations or maritime escort missions are eligible to enjoy corresponding extra scores and flexible requirements.

What needs to be emphasized is that military college admissions will follow the principles of openness, fairness and equality . Relevant information will be released in a timely manner through the official WeChat account of "Military College Admissions". Supervision from students, parents and the public is welcome.

Talent can only grow through trials and hardships in practice. Throughout the 100-year history of the CPC, there are always many young people with lofty ideals and striving spirit serving in the military. We welcome students to join the military and apply for military colleges to let their youth bloom in serving the motherland, the nation, the people and mankind.

Question: We have noticed that there are celebrations all over China to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC. The Chinese military has also held a series of activities. What's your comment?

Answer: Developed from a small party with only 50-odd members into the world's biggest Marxist ruling party with over 91 million members, the CPC has went through a glorious century. The birth of the CPC is an epoch-making event, which profoundly changed the course of modern Chinese history, the fate and future of the Chinese people and nation, and the direction and pattern of world development.

After modern times, the invasion of the western powers and the corruption of feudalist rulers gradually reduced China into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society and inflicted unprecedented suffering on the Chinese nation. The salvoes of Russias October Revolution brought Marxism-Leninism to China. In July 1921, the Communist Party of Chinawas born with Marxism as its guiding ideology and socialism (communism) as its objective to strive toward. Since then, the CPC had set sail with seeking happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation as its original aspiration and mission.

On August1st, 1927, a gunshot on the top of the city of Nanchang marked the beginning of the revolutionary war under the independent leadership of the CPC, the birth of the people's military and the course to seize political power by armed forces, which ushered in a new era of Chinese revolution.

On October 1st, 1949, after 28 years of tortuous struggle, the CPC united and led the Chinese people to overthrow the "three mountains" of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat-capitalism.A new Chinawas born and the Chinese people has stood up.

From then on, the CPC united the people and led them in completing socialist revolution, establishing socialism as Chinas basic system and advancing socialist construction. The great new revolution of reform and opening up has carved out a path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and helped China catch up with the times at great strides.

The 18th CPC National Congress ushered in a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics. As the world today faces profound changes unseen in a century, under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the CPC has united and led the people throughout the country to take the overall situation into account, cope with the changing situation and open up new horizons. The Chinese nation has achieved a tremendous transformation from standing up to growing rich, and to becoming strong.

Especially after the outbreak of the pandemic, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with PresidentXi Jinping at its core, 1.4 billion Chinese people have protected their families and the country hand-in-hand and heart-to-heart, creating a miracle in the history of mankinds battle againstpandemics. The advantages of the socialist system have been clearly demonstrated.

History has well indicated that without the CPC, there would have been no new China. Neither would there be the socialism with Chinese characteristics, nor the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Looking into the future, we have more reasons to believe that, under the leadership of the CPC, China will make greater contributions to the progress of human civilizations and the development of socialism in the world. There will be a promising future for this just cause.
Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin via video link in Beijing, capital of China, June 28, 2021. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a joint statement Monday, officially deciding to extend the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.

The announcement came during talks between the two heads of state via video link.

Hailing the upcoming 20th anniversary of the signing of the treaty, Xi said in Beijing that the treaty has established the idea of enduring friendship, which conforms to the fundamental interests of the two countries as well as the themes of the times of peace and development.

The treaty is a vivid example of fostering a new type of international relations and building a community with a shared future for humanity, he said.

Xi referred to the current China-Russia ties as "mature, stable and solid," able to "withstand the test of any change in the international situation."

The two sides firmly support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests and have carried out effective strategic coordination, strongly safeguarding the common interests of the two countries, he said.

The outcomes of pragmatic cooperation, with increasing quality and quantity, are quite fruitful, he added.

Noting their close coordination in international affairs, Xi said the two countries have jointly safeguarded real multilateralism as well as international fairness and justice.

"China and Russia have injected positive energy into the international community and set an example of a new type of international relations through their close cooperation, as the world is entering a period of turbulence and change and human development is confronted with multiple crises," Xi said.

He called on the two sides to fully summarize their experiences of past success and make top-level design for new objectives and tasks in cooperation across various fields, so as to inject new meaning into the treaty.

"Under the guidance of the treaty, the two countries will continue to make concerted efforts and firmly move forward despite the difficulties and obstacles ahead," he said.
The North Korean dictator has appeared in public thinner, giving rise to new speculations about his health conditions. Foreign experts have relied on the analysis of his wristwatch, tied more tightly. The regime has not made any comments.

Seoul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - North Koreans "are heartbroken" by the apparent weight loss of their leader Kim Jong-un. Over the weekend a Pyongyang resident told the regime's state television Korean Central Television, seeing the Secretary General emaciated breaks the hearts of our people. However, authorities have not provided details on what may have caused the leader's sudden weight loss.

Foreign analysts had already noticed Kim's weight loss. Experts from Seoul-based website NK News, which monitors North Korea, noted that the dictator's watch appeared to be strapped closer to the wrist during a Workers' Party meeting in early June. The South Korean Unification Minister said that the health of the strong man in Pyongyang is being monitored closely, without commenting on the dictator's recent weight loss.

When Kim skipped the April 15 celebrations of the birthday of his grandfather Kim Il-sung, the founder of the regime, last year to reappear in public in early May, speculations about his health began. Also in 2014, state media reported that Kim suffered from unspecified "malaise" after a prolonged period out of the public eye.
by Melani Manel Perera

Duminda Silva was sentenced to the death for the murder of a fellow MP. His release under a presidential pardon has sparked local and international public anger. Some 16 Tamil Tiger fighters are also among those released. Many express concern over the erosion of the rule of law.

Colombo (AsiaNews)  The release of a former Member of Parliament sentenced to the death has sparked widespread anger in Sri Lanka.

Duminda Silva was released on Thursday with 93 other inmates after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa granted them a special pardon.

Those released include 16 former Tamil Tiger militants who had been jailed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, who still had another year to serve.

Many in Sri Lanka and abroad have accused Rajapaksa of betraying democracy and undermined the independence of the judiciary.

An ally of the current government, Duminda Silva was convicted in 2016 in connection with the killing of fellow MP Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra.

Rev Marimuttu Sathivel, an Anglican priest and coordinator of the National Movement for the Release of Political Prisoners, spoke to AsiaNews about the double standards that political prisoners face.

If Silva, who was convicted, is released in this arbitrary manner, why shouldnt those who have been wrongly imprisoned without trial be released as well?

By his action, the president shows that he can independently decide about the arrest or release of anyone at any time. This is very dangerous for anyone in the opposition.

According to MP and former Justice Minister Thalatha Athukorala, this is not the first time the government has rewarded murderers and punished those investigating them.

Since the pardon was issued, prisoners in Mahara and Welikada prisons have been on a hunger strike demanding that their death sentences be commuted to life in prison, and life sentences to 20-year prison sentences.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) also slammed the decision, describing it as an unreasonable move that undermines the rule of law and promotes the loss of public confidence in the justice system.

In a statement, the BASL insisted that President Rajapaksa make public the reasons why the Silva's case stands out from the others.

For instance, human rights lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah and poet and teacher Ahnaf Jazeem remain in jail without trial on terrorism charges, a situation that affects several members of minorities and the political opposition as well.
Fung Wai-kong, former columnist and head of the English web page of the pro-democracy newspaper is arrested, the seventh employee in the past 11 days. Journalists Association: we fear there is a list of reporters and opinion leaders to be arrested. March for democracy banned.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - Yesterday at the city airport, Hong Kong police arrested a former reporter from Apple Daily the pro-democracy newspaper which closed on June 24 after a series of arrests and an asset freeze for 18 million dollars HK (1.9 million euros).

The police did not reveal the name of the person arrested, however, according to local media reports, he is Fung Wai-kong, former columnist and head of the English web page of the newspaper founded by tycoon Jimmy Lai.

The agents allegedly blocked Fung before he boarded a flight to Great Britain. The 57-year-old journalist is being charged with "collusion" with foreign forces, a crime punishable under the national security law imposed by Beijing on the city a year ago.

Fung is the seventh Apple Daily employee jailed in the past 11 days. On June 17, it was the turn of five executives, including chief executive Ryan Law. On 23 June it was the turn of a 55-year-old columnist who signed himself with the pseudonym "Li Ping": all but two were granted bail. Lai, on the other hand, has been in prison since December: with the leaders in prison or under investigation, and without funds, the daily had to cease activities.

Reacting to Fung's arrest, the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) condemned the police for yet again targeting a member of the press. The organization says the series of arrests meant the end of freedom of information in the former British colony. Ronson Chan, president of HKJA, said today he feared the authorities had a list of reporters and commentators to arrest, especially those who wrote for Apple Daily.

Stand News, another pro-democracy publication, announced yesterday that it has taken steps to avoid allegations of a threat to national security. The website will delete all editorials and opinion articles published before May and will no longer accept donations.

The South China Morning Post writes that since the draconian security measure was passed on June 30, 2020, police have arrested 114 residents, including minors. So far there are 61 indicted; the first trial opened last week.

In another blow to the democratic movement, the police banned three other groups from holding the traditional July 1 march. Law enforcement agencies have said that the risks of transmission of Covid-19 are too high: the same justification used to ban the vigil on June 4 for the repression of Tiananmen.

It will be the first time since 2003 that the Democrats will not parade on July 1st; the first march had gathered 500,000 people: it was against an anti-subversion law proposed by the city executive of Tung Chee-hwa.

However, fears about the coronavirus have not stopped preparations for the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Chinese Communist Party, which also falls on July 1st.
Francis met with a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Rome for the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. He asked, could we not begin a new phase of relations between our Churches, marked by walking more closely together, by desiring to take real steps forward, by becoming more willing to be truly responsible for one another?

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis met with a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople for the now traditional visit to Rome on the occasion of the feast day of Saints Peter and Paul.

The pontiff used the occasion to suggest restarting the dialogue between the sister Churches with full communion as the final goal. In his address to Metropolitan Emmanuel (pictured), who came in lieu of Patriarch Bartholomew who was unable to travel, Francis focused on the idea that crises are also opportunities.

This year, the pontiff said, we will celebrate Saints Peter and Paul in a world still struggling to emerge from the dramatic crisis caused by the pandemic. This scourge has tested everyone and everything. Only one thing is more serious than this crisis, and that is the risk that we will squander it, and not learn the lesson it teaches. It is a lesson in humility, showing us that it is not possible to live healthy lives in an unhealthy world, or to go on as we were, without recognizing what went wrong.

Even now, the great desire to return to normality can mask the senseless notion that we can go back to relying on false securities, habits and projects that aim exclusively at pursuing wealth and personal interests, while failing to respond to global injustice, the cry of the poor and the precarious health of our planet.

What does all this have to say to us as Christians? We too are called to reflect seriously on whether we want to go back to doing what we did before, as if nothing happened, or instead to take up the challenge of this crisis.

For us Christians on the path to full communion, taking seriously the current crisis means asking ourselves how we wish to move forward. Every crisis represents a crossroads: we can withdraw into ourselves, seeking our own security and expediency, or we can be open to others, which entails risks but also Gods promised fruits of grace.

Dear brothers, has not the time come for giving further impetus to our efforts, with the help of the Spirit, to break down ancient prejudices and definitively overcome harmful rivalries? Without ignoring the differences that need to be resolved through charitable and truthful dialogue, could we not begin a new phase of relations between our Churches, marked by walking more closely together, by desiring to take real steps forward, by becoming more willing to be truly responsible for one another? If we are docile to love, to the Holy Spirit who is the creative love of God and who brings harmony to diversity, he will open the way to a renewed fraternity.

The witness of growing communion between us Christians will also be a sign of hope for many men and women, who will feel encouraged to promote a more universal fraternity and a reconciliation capable of healing past wrongs. This is the only way to the dawn of a future of peace. A fine prophetic sign would be closer cooperation between Orthodox and Catholics in the dialogue with other religious traditions, an area in which I know you, dear Eminence Emmanuel, are very much involved.

The Orthodox delegation is in Rome as part of the traditional exchange of delegations for the feasts of their respective patron saints: 29 June in Rome for the celebration of Saints Peter and Paul and 30 November in Istanbul for the celebration of Saint Andrew.

Following the meeting with Francis, the Orthodox delegation  led by Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, accompanied by Bishop Iosif, the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Buenos Aires, and Deacon Barnabas Grigoriadis  met with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Tomorrow, the delegation will attend the Mass presided by Francis.
by Vladimir Rozanskij

Many Russians refuse to get vaccinated against Covid-19 for religious reasons. The great influence of the urkabozniki deniers. The Moscow Patriarchate launches a committee to encourage scientific and theological research from an Orthodox perspective.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Many Russians refuse to be vaccinated against Covid-19 for religious reasons. This is the sensational data that emerges as the country is hit by a new wave of infections. "Denialism" has been a problem in Russia since the outbreak of the pandemic. Resistance to mass vaccination, however, has prompted the authorities to issue decrees to force various categories of people to immunize.

On June 26, the director of the University of Moscows Laboratory of Destructology, Roman Silantev, gave an interview to the Interfax-Religija, outlining the religious roots of the anti-vaccine propaganda that rages on Russian social networks. Destructology is a branch of research born in Russia in recent years: it studies "destructive" behaviors marked by radicalism and fanaticism of various kinds.

Silantev says he has just finished a book, written with his colleague Jurij Ragozin from Novosibirsk, entitled "Para-Orthodox sects", in which he analyzes the different mythologies expressed by religious groups that also proliferate within the Russian Church. For example, in the medical field there are anti-AIDS dissidents, who do not believe in the existence of this virus; some even deny cancer, and propose a treatment of water and soda.

Among the most widespread denials in Russia, and in many other parts of the world, is the refusal of any kind of vaccine. Among the Orthodox the most heated no-vax are the so-called urkabozniki (extradivine), the followers of an ex-policeman, Nikolaj Romanov, who became known during Covid as a very powerful Archimandrite Sergij of the Urals.

Romanov is now in prison. He was reduced to a lay state and his community was dispersed, starting with the large group of nuns from his monastery. However, the movement continues to have great influence throughout Russia. The myth of Romanov's followers is not original. It is based on conspiracy theories of dark state that want to control the will of people, to the point of forcing everyone into the "electronic concentration camp" widespread with microchips inserted in vaccines.

The mass of the Orthodox faithful, Silantev observes, has nothing to do with these radical theories, which are rather shared in other areas, from Wahhabi Muslims to militant atheists and other political-religious sects. Many of these mythologies originate in the West, and spread uncontrollably to all latitudes. Their aggression also leaves a strong mark on the mentality of ordinary people. Among believers, he has identified elements of weakness in the convictions of faith, also due to the poor spiritual and cultural formation, typical of the Russian religiosity that emerged from the atheism of the Soviet period.

These reasons have also compelled the patriarchate of Moscow to open new fronts to counter sectarian and "mythological" propaganda, by appealing to secular scientists. Three new advisory structures in the theological and lay sciences will be opened, under the guidance of a coordinating council of the patriarchate, to which various experts in the various branches of sciences, including medicine, will be invited to participate. The initiative was presented to the press on 25 June by Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev), head of the Department for External Relations of the patriarchate and director of the "Cyril and Methodius" Institute of high patriarchal specialization.

The Committee will encourage scientific and theological research from an orthodox perspective, in collaboration with academic institutions and state bodies. The simple repression of the faithful of a sect, as in the case of Romanov, risks producing the opposite effects. The Church feels the need to delve deeper into the correction and orientation of a vision of faith purified of all fanaticism, in order to the great challenges of contemporary reality and of society.
by Steve Suwannarat

A commission will be set up to vet applications for recognition of parishes, most of which do not yet have a legal status. A parish must have a resident priest and at least 200 members before a request for recognition can be filed. The old law goes back 112 years when only the Diocese of Bangkok existed, a Church spokesperson explained.

Bangkok (AsiaNews)  Thailand's government issued a decree on 2 June giving Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha the power to set up a commission with the authority to officially recognise Catholic parishes. The decree was made public recently.

At present, Thailand is home to less than 400,000 Catholics out of a population of 70 million. Very few Catholic parishes have been recognised by the authorities.

Chainarong Monthienvichienchai, head of the Media Office of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Thailand, spoke to AsiaNews about the issue.

For 112 years the Church in Thailand has grown and developed under an old law that recognised the Catholic Mission in Bangkok as a legal entity, granting it the use of land and schools. Since then, however, the Church has evolved without changes to its legal status, which is now necessary.

The words betray a certain pragmatism but also a certain optimism about the possibility that a new law might lead to greater certainty about the establishment of new parishes and the construction of new churches in the country.

Thailand is currently undergoing a troubled social, political and economic transition, aggravated by the pandemic, which is making it harder to find solutions to issues that have been left unresolved for some time.

The decree sets out a set of criteria for establishing new parishes. The latter must have a resident priest can to carry out his religious functions. He must live at this place, which must be at least 20 kilometres from other Catholic parishes. At least 200 Christians must live in the area and they must be able to support the parish.

Under certain circumstances, a diocese can request that the criteria  resident priest and the minimum number of faithful  be waived.

Once the commission gives the green light, the proposal to establish a parish goes to the Minister of Culture, who brings it to the cabinet. If the latter approves, the minister will draft an official decree authorising the new parish

Every year, the Religions Department will prepare a list of all parishes (with addresses, real estate properties, resident priests). Under the decree, dioceses have two years since its approval to seek recognition for existing unauthorised parishes.

This complex process and its constraints have sparked different reactions, but the hope is that it will better meet the needs of the Catholic community.

Chainarong noted that the development of the Church has led to the creation of new dioceses, the construction of new religious buildings, an increase in the land used, and the launch of more than 300 educational initiatives; yet many facilities have not been granted legal ownership of their assets.

The existing law was written in a bygone era. It is not surprising that we need an updated measure that takes into account the current situation and provides greater certainty and guarantees for the future.

For Chainarong, governments are slow to implement new laws. This is even more so when, as in this case, it is necessary to include apparently minor but still important issues that lead to long negotiations between government representatives and the Bishops' Conference.
The militias close to Tehran active in the two countries. The attacks have targeted "operational structures and weapons depots" and are a response to the use of drones. There are no victims or injuries, but an NGO speaks of at least five militiamen killed in Syria. Damascus TV reports one child among the victims. Baghdad hosts meeting between the leaders of Jordan, Egypt and Iraq.

Baghdad (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The United States has launched targeted air strikes against pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon issued a note stating that the attacks hit "operational structures and weapons depots" and are a response to the sending of drones by Shiite fighters against US targets in the region.

The strikes hit "operational and weapons storage facilities", in response to drone attacks by the militia on US forces, a statement said. "President Biden has been clear that he will act to protect US personnel," the Pentagon said. This is the second round of air strikes Joe Biden has authorised against Iran-backed militias since taking office.

US forces have been subject to repeated attacks in recent months, in which Tehran has denied any involvement. In the region there are about 2,500 soldiers part of the international coalition fighting against the still active cells of the Islamic State (IS, formerly Isis) which, in these hours, has claimed responsibility for an attack on a power plant.

US "defensive" and "precision" air strikes hit two targets in Syria and one in Iraq. Washington acted in "self-defense" by taking "necessary, appropriate and deliberate" actions with the aim of "limiting the risk of escalation" and "sending a clear message".

Currently there are no confirmations of victims or injured in the attacks; however, sources from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (an NGO based in the United Kingdom with a dense network of correspondents in the area) speak of five militiamen killed and several wounded in Syria. Syrian state TV reports one child killed and three others injured.

Meanwhile, a top-level meeting was held in Baghdad over the weekend, which was attended by the leaders of Iraq, Jordan and Egypt. For the first time since the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, an Egyptian president visited Iraq.

King Abdallah II of Jordan, the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the landlord, Prime Minister Moustafa al-Kazimi took part in the talks which aim to strengthen collaboration in the economic and security fields.

Arab leaders also discussed a "political solution" to end the war in Syria, based on UN resolutions and which "preserves the security and stability" of the nation by laying the foundations for "the return of refugees".
After comic books were popularized in the United States in the 1930s, women and, especially, characters of color were underrepresented and often written in stereotypical and offensive ways. For decades, starting in the 1950s, major publishers adhered to a Comics Code Authority that forbid sexual abnormalities and sex perversion, understood as LGBTQ characters and themes. The code was amended in the late 1980s to allow LGBTQ characters and cast off for good in 2011, the same year Archie Comics introduced its first openly gay character.
The public unveiling was held ahead of the first day of the insanity trial for the gunman who barricaded the newsroom before blasting his way inside with a shotgun. A jury is tasked with deciding whether the man who held a grudge against the local newspaper was insane or not during the attack. He has pleaded guilty to all charges, but not criminally responsible, Marylands version of the insanity defense.
I think its complimentary, Cary said. Their markets are on Wednesday in the middle of the day, and were on Sunday. We draw from very different demographics. I think we do co-exist with no problem. The whole reason we did it is we knew there were people that couldnt go on Wednesdays, so we did Sunday.
The pilot redirected to the airport in an attempt to land. The aircraft bounced on the runway and crashed into the bay east of the end of the runway. The Ocean City Fire Department transported one of the five occupants of the plane to TidalHealth Peninsula Regional Hospital in Salisbury for treatment of their injuries, police said.
Ferguson was arrested Saturday and has also been charged with a weapon violation. He is being held without bond at the Howard County Detention Center. Ferguson does not have an attorney listed on online court records.
You provided no evidence that [Assistant U.S. Attorneys] Schenning and Wise intentionally disclosed grand jury information to the media in an effort to harass, degrade, and embarrass your clients or that other Department employees were responsible for the disclosures, the Department of Justice attorney wrote to Bolden. OPRs review of media reports relating to this matter revealed numerous possible sources of the information and yielded no evidence indicating that the [U.S. Attorneys Office] was responsible for the disclosure.
Over the weeks and weeks in negotiations with Democrats and with the White House on an infrastructure bill, the presidents other agenda was never linked to the infrastructure effort, Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said on CNNs State of the Union on Sunday. He said that if Biden had not put out the statement, I think it would have been very, very hard for Republicans to say, yes, we support this.
I believe America is doing harm every day our troops remain in Iraq  harm to ourselves and to the prospects for peace in the world, Gravel said in 2006. He hitched his campaign to an effort that would give all policy decisions to the people through a direct vote, including health care reform and declarations of war.
The Baltimore Police Department policy changes include a requirement that police complete searches of homes inside a crime scene within four hours. There also will be a ban on questioning or seeking identification from residents or their guests who want to come or go from a home within a crime scene. The settlement also will require police to provide written justification for including in a crime scene the entrance to any home that is not itself the location of a crime.
News Around the Republic of Mexico



Artisanal Tequila Makers Help Save Endangered Bats



Wildlife officials in the U.S. and Mexico, as well as tequila distillers, are helping to save lesser long-nosed bats, which pollinate the plant used to make the drink. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)



The lesser long-nosed bat flies from plant to plant in Mexico and the U.S. Southwest, lapping up nectar and pollinating cacti and blue agave - the plant that gives us tequila. And that may be why an endangered bat has an unlikely protector: Artisanal tequila makers.



In 1988, the bats were in real trouble. Fewer than 1,000 survived in the United States and Mexico when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) added the species to the Endangered Species List.



But today, thanks to biologists and citizen scientists from the U.S. and Mexico, as well as the makers of "bat-friendly" tequila, their numbers have grown to more than 200,000.



In a new twist, big agave producers have stopped preventing plants from flowering before harvest. Allowing some of the plants to flower attracts the bats and promotes agave health, Medellin says.



Federal officials said it has taken 30 years of conservation efforts to rebuild a healthy population. "This has been an international team effort," Steve Spangle, the Arizona field supervisor for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a statement.



The species has recovered so much that U.S. wildlife officials have proposed removing the lesser long-nosed bat from the Endangered Species List.



Bat facts

Medellin's tireless work to save species earned him the nickname "Bat Man of Mexico." He notes several important "superpowers" of bats, including:



Pest control: A single bat can eat 1,000 mosquitoes per hour.



Seed shufflers: In rainforests & other habitats, bats spread seeds that restore ecosystems.



Pollinators: In addition to agave, many plants - including banana, mango and eucalyptus trees - rely on bats for pollination.



This Share America article draws on a report from the Associated Press. "If you like tequila - well, guess what? You owe it to the bats," says Rodrigo Medellin, an ecologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.The lesser long-nosed bat flies from plant to plant in Mexico and the U.S. Southwest, lapping up nectar and pollinating cacti and blue agave - the plant that gives us tequila. And that may be why an endangered bat has an unlikely protector: Artisanal tequila makers.In 1988, the bats were in real trouble. Fewer than 1,000 survived in the United States and Mexico when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) added the species to the Endangered Species List.But today, thanks to biologists and citizen scientists from the U.S. and Mexico, as well as the makers of "bat-friendly" tequila, their numbers have grown to more than 200,000.In a new twist, big agave producers have stopped preventing plants from flowering before harvest. Allowing some of the plants to flower attracts the bats and promotes agave health, Medellin says.Federal officials said it has taken 30 years of conservation efforts to rebuild a healthy population. "This has been an international team effort," Steve Spangle, the Arizona field supervisor for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a statement.The species has recovered so much that U.S. wildlife officials have proposed removing the lesser long-nosed bat from the Endangered Species List.Medellin's tireless work to save species earned him the nickname "Bat Man of Mexico." He notes several important "superpowers" of bats, including:A single bat can eat 1,000 mosquitoes per hour.In rainforests & other habitats, bats spread seeds that restore ecosystems.In addition to agave, many plants - including banana, mango and eucalyptus trees - rely on bats for pollination.



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News Around the Republic of Mexico



Starlink Satellite Internet Coming to Mexico Oct. 28



Satellite wireless Internet is ideally suited for areas where connectivity has typically been a challenge.



According to the



After analysis, on May 28, the IFT gave the satellite internet firm authorization to operate in Mexico and a maximum of 180 calendar days to have its services ready, that is, Starlink satellite fixed Internet products should be available to Mexicans no later than October 28.



This approval will allow Starlink national coverage in the Mexican territory for 10 years, to 2031, which can be extended for equal periods if the company complies with the requirements established by the IFT.



Satellite wireless Internet is ideally suited for areas where connectivity has typically been a challenge. Unbounded by traditional ground infrastructure, Starlink Satellite Systems can deliver high-speed broadband internet service to locations where access has been unreliable or completely unavailable.



The company already offers service plans in the United States, for a monthly fee of $99 dollars and with browsing speeds of 1 Gbps.



According to Reuters, Elon Musk's satellite internet company could offer global coverage starting in September. The president of the company, Gwynne Shotwell, indicated that SpaceX could transmit the service from space.



Sources: El Economista, Starlink Tesla founder Elon Musk has received official permission from Mexican authorities to sell satellite wireless Internet products in Mexico through the Starlink brand, which in this country is managed by the company Starlink Satellite Systems Mexico, S. de RL de CV.According to the El Economista newspaper, on April 2, the company requested permission from the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) to send and receive satellite signals to and from foreign satellites with coverage in Mexico.After analysis, on May 28, the IFT gave the satellite internet firm authorization to operate in Mexico and a maximum of 180 calendar days to have its services ready, that is, Starlink satellite fixed Internet products should be available to Mexicans no later than October 28.This approval will allow Starlink national coverage in the Mexican territory for 10 years, to 2031, which can be extended for equal periods if the company complies with the requirements established by the IFT.Satellite wireless Internet is ideally suited for areas where connectivity has typically been a challenge. Unbounded by traditional ground infrastructure, Starlink Satellite Systems can deliver high-speed broadband internet service to locations where access has been unreliable or completely unavailable.The company already offers service plans in the United States, for a monthly fee of $99 dollars and with browsing speeds of 1 Gbps.According toElon Musk's satellite internet company could offer global coverage starting in September. The president of the company, Gwynne Shotwell, indicated that SpaceX could transmit the service from space.



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Swoop Announces New Victoria - Puerto Vallarta Flights



The Canadian airline Swoop, announced a new flight to Puerto Vallarta from Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, which will begin on October 31, operating weekly on Sundays. (Photo courtesy of nitu.mx) Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Canadians in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, will have an easier way to reach Puerto Vallarta this winter as Swoop, Canada's leading ultra-low-cost airline, has announced weekly direct service into Puerto Vallarta's International Airport (PVR) starting Sunday, October 31.



This direct flight from Victoria is a reflection of the confidence that Puerto Vallarta generates in international travelers, due in large part to the management of biosafety protocols in place at the destination's airport, hotels, restaurants and tours.



"Introducing Puerto Vallarta is the perfect addition to our offering of routes from Victoria for those looking to make a warm-weather getaway at an affordable price" said Bert van der Stege, Swoop's Chief Commercial and Financial Officer.



Luis Villasenor, managing director of Puerto Vallarta Tourism Promotion and Advertising Trust, shared his American contemporary's sentiment. "As travel restrictions begin to ease, we are ready to welcome Swoop passengers from British Columbia to enjoy year-round sunshine, sea-to-mountain views, inclusive experiences, and our signature brand of authentic Mexican hospitality," he said.



This great news about the new connection to Puerto Vallarta is in addition to the previously announced reopening of five flights by the airline, the first from Edmonton, three times a week as of October 5, from Hamilton, twice a week on the same date, Toronto, twice a week beginning November 3, Abbotsford, also a couple of times a week beginning on the same date and Winnipeg, twice a week beginning November 4.



This popular beach resort is one of Canadians' most sought-after winter vacation destinations. Historically, almost 15 percent of the destination's international visitors are from Canada - especially in the winter months.



Flights to Puerto Vallarta's Licenciado Gustavo Diaz Ordaz International Airport (PVR) will go on sale on June 30 with the airline set to offer non-stop service once weekly on Sundays.



Puerto Vallarta Tourism Trust press release translated and edited by Luis Antonio for BanderasNews.com.
Top leader of Laos begins offici

Top leader of Laos begins official friendship visit to Vietnam

General Secretary of the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith, his spouse and a high-ranking delegation of the Lao Party and State, began an official friendship visit to Vietnam on June 28.



General Secretary of the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith and his spouse are welcomed at Hanoi's Noi Bai airport (Photo: VNA)



The two-day visit was made at the invitation of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong and State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and their spouses.



This is the first overseas trip by Thongloun Sisoulith in his capacity as Lao Party General Secretary and President for the 2021-2026 tenure. The visit also aims to implement consistent foreign policy Laos and Vietnam in reserving and promoting the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation of the two countries.



During his trip, the Lao leader will meet with Vietnamese high-ranking leaders and witness the signing of cooperation agreements between the countries.



The Vietnam visit by the top leader of Laos will provide an opportunity for the two sides to further exchange experience in development, and seek measures to push ahead with the implementation of high-level agreements between the two Parties and countries in 2021 and the years to come./.

VNA
Brunswick Corporation today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Navico, a global leader in marine electronics and sensors, for $1.05 billion. As a result of the acquisition, Brunswick will add the industry leading brands of Lowrance, Simrad, B&G and C-MAP to its Advanced Systems Group.

"The acquisition of Navico and its award-winning brands will immediately accelerate Brunswicks ACES (Autonomy, Connectivity, Electrification and Shared-Access) strategy, and support our vision to deliver distinctive new products and technology-enabled experiences, said Dave Foulkes, Brunswick Corporation CEO. We will continue to invest both in organic initiatives and acquisitions to maintain our position of global product leadership, and the addition of Lowrance, Simrad, B&G and C-MAP to our existing brand portfolio will further strengthen our ability to provide complete, innovative digital solutions to consumers and comprehensive, integrated systems offerings to our OEM customers.

Navico is a privately held global company based in Egersund, Norway and co-owned by Altor Fund IV and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. It is a leading provider of multi-function displays, fish-finders, autopilots, sonar, radar and cartography.

Navicos revenues totaled approximately $470 million for the 12-month period that ended May 31, 2021.

After a strong period of growth, we are very excited about joining the Brunswick family to further strengthen our offering and support our customers going forward. said Knut Frostad, Navicos president & CEO. On behalf of everyone at Navico, we cannot wait to begin our journey with Brunswick and share our passion and dedication with their team. By working together, we will be able to deliver a unique and integrated customer experience.

The closing of the transaction is anticipated during the second half of 2021 and is subject to usual and customary closing conditions as well as regulatory review and approval.
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Today

Thunderstorms early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 64F. W winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 64F. W winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.

Tomorrow

Cloudy early, then becoming windy with thunderstorms developing later in the day. High near 80F. Winds NNW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Duluth, MN (55816)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Comment Policy Calaveras Enterprise does not actively monitor comments. However, staff does read through to assess reader interest. When abusive or foul language is used or directed toward other commenters, those comments will be deleted. If a commenter continues to use such language, that person will be blocked from commenting. We wish to foster a community of communication and a sharing of ideas, and we truly value readers' input.
Those with a disability license plate or placard may be allowed to drive on the academy grounds through gates one and eight. They will also need to show ID upon entering, and vehicles will be inspected.
An overwhelming number of young people [have] stepped up, she said. That is what we want to see; we want to empower young people to step up and save their communities, even if that includes running for office.
Brooks was pronounced dead at a hospital. His body was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy. The cause of and manner of his death, as well as toxicology results, are pending.
During the pandemic, the Little Miss brainstormed with her family different ways she could spread her new knowledge about fire safety with the people around her. She began creating video messages about how one can prevent fires from happening in their homes and in public places. One video informs the viewer of the danger of leaving lint in their dryer. Another focuses on how to properly put out a camp fire when it is no longer being used.
The $25 million program targets commercial spaces that have been vacant for at least six months. Companies that move in to such spaces will be eligible to get up to $2,500 in rental grants and up to $250,000 for year in refunds on the sales taxes they pay.
India has committed assistance of Rs 4500 crore for the implementation of development projects and Rs 400 crore for the transitional trade support facility during Bhutan's 12th Five Year Plan, the Ministry of External Affairs Ministry said on Monday.

At the third India and Bhutan Development Cooperation talks held virtually today, progress of various developmental projects by India in Bhutan was reviewed by the two countries, the MEA said.

The annual development cooperation talks is an important bilateral mechanism to review the entire gamut of India's development partnership with Bhutan.

India has committed Rs. 4500 crore for the implementation of development projects and Rs 400 crores for the transitional Trade Support Facility during Bhutan's 12th Five Year Plan (2018 - 2023).

According to officials 77 large and intermediate projects and 524 Small Development Projects (SDPs)/ High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs) are at various stages of implementation under the 12th Five Year Plan of Bhutan.

The Indian delegation at today's talks was led by Rahul Chhabra, Secretary (Economic Relations), MEA and the delegation from Bhutan was led by Kinga Singye, Foreign Secretary, Royal Government of Bhutan. Ruchira Kamboj, Ambassador of India to Bhutan, also attended the talks.

With Bhutan's 12th Five Year Plan (2018-2023) completing its third year, the two sides reviewed the overall progress of the ongoing PTA projects, as well as the SDPs/HICDPs.

Bhutan's Foreign Secretary commended India's role in the socio-economic transformation of Bhutan and also highlighted the impact of HICDPs at the grassroots level. He also appreciated India's gesture to frontload the release of funds for various projects, keeping in view the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the talks, both sides also agreed to implement some new PTA projects across various sectors including road infrastructure, water management, industrial parks and COVID-19 management, the MEA said in a statement.

"India deeply values its privileged partnership with Bhutan. The Indian side remains committed to continue to support Bhutan in its development efforts," the MEA said.

The two sides agreed to hold the next Development Cooperation Talks on a mutually agreed date. The Development Cooperation Talks were held in a friendly atmosphere in keeping with the special relationship between the two countries, the statement added.

(ANI)

Also Read: Do Beijing's artificial islands in South China Sea represent an asset to its military?
Former US President Donald Trump on Sunday (local time) called his former Attorney General William Barr a 'disappointment in every sense of the word' following the latter describing Trump's repeated unsubstantiated claims about the 2020 election as "bullshit" in an upcoming week.

"Bill Barr was a disappointment in every sense of the word. Besides which, Barr, who was Attorney General (lawyer) shouldn't be speaking about the President," The Hill quoted a statement by Trump on late Sunday.

He added: "Instead of doing his job, he did the opposite and told people within the Justice Department not to investigate the election. Just like he did with the Mueller report and the cover up of Crooked Hillary and RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA, they don't want to investigate the real facts. Bill Barr's weakness helped facilitate the cover up of the Crime of the Century, the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!"

Trump further described Barr as a "RINO" who "really let down the American people" and complained about Barr's handling of the 2020 election and bemoaned that his former attorney general did not sufficiently investigate wrongdoing during the Obama administration.

"Now it was revealed that Barr was being pushed to tell lies about the election by Mitch McConnell, another beauty, who was worried about damaging the Republicans chances in the Georgia runoff," Trump said.

In a newly published excerpt from an upcoming book "Betrayal", Barr described the rapidly deteriorating relationship he had with Trump as the then-president became more vocal in his belief that the 2020 election was fraudulent, reported The Hill.

"If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it. But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there. It was all bullshit," Barr told journalist Jonathan Karl.

Barr also told Karl that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had urged him to push back against Trump's falsehoods, worrying that Trump's rhetoric would cost the Republicans in January's Senate runoffs in Georgia.

Since the results of the 2020 presidential election, Trump had spent months claiming that the election was rigged against him, pointing to what he calls suspicious votes in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

According to The Hill, Trump had pointed to Barr's words in his resignation letter where he said that he was "greatly honoured" to have served in the Trump administration.

Barr went on to praise Trump at the time, highlighting "the many successes and unprecedented achievements you have delivered for the American people. Your record is all the more historic because you accomplished it in the face of relentless implacable resistance."

Barr has long faced criticism from Democrats who said he served as Trump's personal attorney and defended the former president rather than the interests of the American public.

(ANI)
At the present time, the most credible scenario is that the scissor lift struck a valve or other piece of piping with sufficient mechanical force to cause the release of mineral oil, Wilson said. Chemtool operators promptly detected the release and shut down the boiler. They were in the process of placing containment booms, as well as de-pressuring the heat transfer piping network, when the fire ignited.
This fall, CPS will have 16,020 preschool seats available, the district said in a news release. For the 2020-21 school year, private preschools in Chicago served more than 54,000 children, according to Private School Review, which compiles school-reported enrollment data from private schools across the nation. But the financial burden of losing enrollment, plus the increased cost of caring for infant children, has left many child care centers hastening to adjust their model to account for losing students to CPS pre-K.
Unlike the watermelon salad, effort is easier to spot in the Berkshire pork confit ($28), a stunning dish that showcases Gillanders years of training with renowned chefs like Jean-Georges Vongerichten. The kitchen confits a whole pork belly in duck fat  a seemingly ludicrous indulgence, cooking an already fatty cut in more fat. When the meat is tender, cooks separate the fat and skin, and stack the leaner parts in neat rectangles. The skin is crisped to such a degree that it shatters with the slightest prod, and its served with a slightly spicy amatriciana-inspired sauce. Thanks to herbs like rosemary, it ticks some of the same boxes as Italian porchetta, yet looks nothing like it.
Whether government or private entity, you still need to sufficiently plead the case, Hamilton said. He noted that as Boasberg saw it, the FTC failed to demonstrate how it arrived at the claim that Facebook controls 60% of the market in social networking and how that market power is measured.
This action in self-defense to do whats necessary to do to prevent further attacks, I think sends a very important and strong message. And I hope very much that it is received, he said. I think weve demonstrated with the actions taken last night and actions taken previously, that the president is fully prepared to act and act appropriately and deliberately to protect us.
Karim Hunter, 27, was arrested around 6 a.m. Monday in the 100 block of Jennifer Lane in Calumet City, the same block where he lives, according to police. Hunter is charged with the murder of a woman identified as Jeaneen Walters, 30, of the same block where she was killed, according to the Cook County medical examiners office. She was found unresponsive in the 700 block of East 79th Street in Chatham at about 5 a.m. Saturday, according to police.
The violence is everywhere, New York, LA, Atlanta. It dont matter where you go, you cant really run away from the stuff, so I dont want to just look at it as an Illinois problem, or Chicago problem. Every time you look up its this kid got shot, that grandma got shot, she said.
The man licensed to carry a gun was armed and once gunfire broke out, he pulled his own handgun and began firing back toward the Durango, according to the report. It wasnt clear whether any of the shots he fired hit anyone. He was taken in for additional questioning and his weapon was placed into evidence, officials said.
Last September, Kierra Coles family and friends celebrated her birthday, asking authorities and neighbors to do everything possible to aid in the search for the missing daughter and grandchild. Police said that they were working jointly with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI to continue the search and that the case remains a high-risk missing person investigation with potential foul play suspected.
Moments later, Dabrowski began stabbing the victim, who got out and tried to run away, according to Assistant States Attorney Susie Bucaro. Dabrowski chased the victim down and continued stabbing him until Majeski collapsed in the restaurants drive-thru lane, she added.
According to police reports on the traffic incident, Solano was on his way to work when he got into a confrontation with a motorist in Logan Square on May 21. Solano reported he unholstered his pistol after he noticed the motorist had a knife strapped to his leg.
Instead, we should stop subsidizing sprawl and spend those savings on our resource-starved mass transit systems. Currently, as many as 45% of Americans have no access to public transit. Many of the remaining 55% may only have access to a bus that runs once every hour and stops running by 6 p.m., perhaps only on weekdays.
The key to a good interview, Ponce often says, is preparation. When he is moderating a political candidate forum, Ponce will begin doing his homework weeks in advance, filling a binder with research and highlighted notes. This frees him up to be in the moment, to listen to what the guests are saying, and to probe deeper. Anyone can ask questions written on a sheet of paper. A true journalist has to respond to what they hear so they can truly elicit the best information for the viewer.
Will Bidens strategy work? No single plan, no matter how comprehensive, can erase from the streets of Chicago and other major cities the scourge of violence that every day claims so many lives  from toddlers playing on a porch to seniors heading to the corner store. One aspect of the problem that Bidens plan did not address: the lack of trust that people in neighborhoods overrun with violence have in police. That wont change until Chicago and other American cities genuinely embrace and implement police reform. Two years into the job, Lightfoot has lagged in ensuring compliance with the consent decree, the binding agreement between Chicago and the federal government that mandates an overhaul of police officer supervision, training and accountability.
But in a city where symbolic representation has long been a measure of political strength, Ald. David Moore and supporters of the change saw winning as a point of pride for Black Chicagoans and others who think DuSable hasnt gotten his due. Capitulating to opponents would have been another indignity in what they see as long-running under-appreciation of African Americans contributions.
The other person, whose identity has not been released, died at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn and had a gunshot wound to the left arm and into the chest, the medical examiner said. The family had not yet been contacted regarding the death as of Monday morning, according to the medical examiner.
At the invitation of Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio of Italy, President of the G20, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will attend the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting on June 29 via video link. The meeting will discuss topics such as multilateralism and global governance.

CCTV: Could you give us more details as well as China's expectation for State Councilor Wang Yi's attendance at the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting you just announced?

Wang Wenbin: Under the current circumstances, it is of great significance to practice multilateralism and improve global economic governance. As the premier forum for international economic cooperation, the G20 is expected to play a greater leading role in fighting the epidemic and promoting global economic recovery. China hopes that at this foreign ministers' meeting, all parties will uphold the spirit of partnership, strengthen solidarity and cooperation, and send a strong signal to the world that G20 will lead the global fight against the epidemic, restore the world economy, improve global economic governance, and promote inclusive and sustainable development, so as to lay a foundation for the success of the Rome summit, and provide confidence and impetus for an early global victory against the virus and a stable economic recovery.

AFP: Italy's Prime Minister said on Friday that China's Sinovac jab "has shown to be inadequate", in his words. He's referring to Chile's experience of relying heavily on this jab for immunization. Does the foreign ministry have any comment on this issue?

Wang Wenbin: The Chinese government always attaches high importance to vaccine safety and efficacy. Chinese companies have been putting their best efforts into advancing vaccine R&D in strict accordance with science and regulatory requirements. They have also been actively pursuing international cooperation on this front. Relevant Chinese vaccines have been included in the Emergency Use Listing (EUL) by the WHO, a strong testament to the safety and efficacy of the Chinese vaccines and technical routes.

We've also noted that recently many countries, including their health authorities, have spoken highly of Chinese vaccines' safety and efficacy. Polls in some countries also show full confidence in Chinese vaccines among local residents.

China will continue making tangible contributions to the equitable access of vaccines in developing countries.

Global Times: It's reported that the US experts on the coronavirus origins task force of the authoritative medical journal the Lancet are under "threat", and the chair of the task force is even "pressured" to ask the experts on the task force to renounce the"bat-spillover" theory, which is underpinned by ample scientific evidence, and turn to support the "lab leak" theory. Some experts may have to resign to uphold their scientific positions. What is the foreign ministry's comment?

Wang Wenbin: I have also taken note of this. I have also noted that the US side has called for termination of the scientific research on early cases of COVID-19 in the US, which it deems at odds with its interests. This once again exposes that the US, while claiming to seek science-based origin tracing, is actually engaging in political manipulation under the pretext of the epidemic. While it says it wants to prevent another outbreak, what's really on its mind is just to shift the blame to China.

Origin tracing is a serious scientific matter that requires international cooperation by scientists across the globe. However, for some time, some in the US have been clamoring for intelligence-led investigation in disregard of science and facts. Now they intend to use sinister ploy on the international scientific community to force scientists to bow in the face of their hegemony, bullying and coercion. This violates the spirit of science, undermines global cooperation in origin tracing, challenges and defiles human justice. The US practice of politicization is immoral and unpopular, and will eventually end up in failure.

We once again urge the US side to immediately stop its political manipulation on the origin tracing issue, and stop playing dirty tricks on the scientific community. It should adopt a scientific and transparent attitude to invite WHO experts for origin tracing study in the US, and provide a responsible account of the real situation at Fort Detrick and the more than 200 bio labs it runs all around the world.

Bloomberg: India has redirected at least 50,000 troops to its border with China. This is according to a story from Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter. According to some of those people, that puts the troops at 200,000 focused on the border, an increase of around 40% over last year. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: The situation at China-India border maintains general stability, and the two sides are resolving the boundary issue through negotiation. Against such background, the words and deeds of relevant important military and government officials, and military deployments should be conducive to deescalating and cooling down the situation, and to enhancing mutual trust, rather than the opposite.

Beijing Daily: It is reported that Dr. Danielle Anderson, a former Assistant Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School who once worked in the Wuhan Institute of Virology, said that she's dumbfounded by the portrayal of the lab by some media outside China, and the toxic attacks on scientists that have ensued. Anderson is convinced no virus was made intentionally to infect people and deliberately released. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: China has repeatedly stressed that origin-tracing is a scientific matter that should not be politicized. Many scientists in the international community who uphold science, reason and objectivity, including Dr. Anderson, have expressed unequivocal opposition to politicizing the origin-tracing by some in the US.

Dr. Anderson also said that there were strict protocols and requirements at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and entering and exiting the facility was a carefully choreographed endeavor. Responding to the Wall Street Journal report which claimed three researchers from the lab were hospitalized with flu-like symptoms in November 2019, she said no one she knew at the Wuhan institute was ill toward the end of 2019.

Besides, we also saw reports that Massimo Galli, head of the Infectious Diseases Unit at the University of Milan-affiliated Luigi Sacco Hospital in Milan, Italy, said at a committee for social affairs of the Chamber of Deputies that the coronavirus is an unknown virus with no signs of genome engineering inside and the "lab-leak" theory has no scientific basis at all. Galli and three other Italian experts -- Massimo Ciccozzi from the University of Biomedical Campus in Rome, Fausto Baldanti, head of the virus research lab at the Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo in Pavia, and Giuseppe Ippolito, an expert at the Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases -- believe that the virus is 99% likely to be the result of natural spillover.

Facts have proved time and again that the accusation of "Wuhan laboratory leaking the novel coronavirus" that some people in the US are clamoring for has no factual basis. We once again urge the US to respect facts and science, immediately stop politicizing origin-tracing, give a responsible explanation as soon as possible on the international community's concern about Fort Detrick and its over 200 bio labs around the world, and invite WHO experts to the US to carry out origin-tracing study at an early date.

Nikkei: Why is State Councilor Wang Yi attending the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting by video instead of on site? Will any Chinese vice foreign minister or other officials attend the meeting?

Wang Wenbin: It's the scheduled arrangement that State Councilor Wang Yi should attend the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting via video link. As for the attendance of other foreign ministry officials, we will release information in due course. Please stay tuned.

CCTV: It is reported that on June 25, the first power grid project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the Matiari to Lahore 660kV HVDC Transmission Line Project in Pakistan, contracted by the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), started power transmission. This is the first direct current transmission line in Pakistan, which can serve the electricity needs of about 10 million households in Lahore and northern Pakistan. Could I have your comment on this?

Wang Wenbin: As an important pilot project of the Belt and Road Initiative, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has made significant progress in various sectors including energy since its launch. This has not only vigorously boosted Pakistan's faster economic and social development, but also played a positive role in promoting regional connectivity. The Matiari to Lahore 660kV HVDC Transmission Line Project is another vivid example of how the CPEC has contributed to the improvement of people's livelihood and economic development in Pakistan. This project will offer the local people access to stable and high-quality electricity, which is of great significance for Pakistan to break the bottleneck of south-north power transmission and optimize the power distribution.

I'd like to stress that the BRI came from China, but it creates opportunities and good results for all countries, and benefits the whole world. To date, up to 140 partner countries have signed documents on Belt and Road cooperation with China. Trade between China and BRI partners has exceeded 9.2 trillion US dollars. The BRI has truly become the world's broadest-based and largest platform for international cooperation. China is ready to join hands with Pakistan and other countries to continue our high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. These efforts will generate more opportunities and dividends to all.

The Paper: It is reported that diplomats from Western countries, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Ukraine's withdrawal from the anti-China joint statement made by Canada at the UN Human Rights Council is the result of pressure from China. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: Ukraine's withdrawal of endorsement of the anti-China joint statement is an independent decision made by an independent, sovereign state. The Chinese side already stated its principled position on this.

I'd like to share with you one more fact. Milorad Dodik, rotating chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, made a public announcement condemning the "illegal" accession by Bosnia and Herzegovina of the joint statement that smears and attacks China during the 47th Session of the Human Rights Council. He fully supports China's territorial integrity and all the actions China takes to safeguard sovereignty.

I want to stress that the joint statement pursued by countries including Canada at the UN Human Rights Council was an interference in China's internal affairs in the name of human rights. It is unjustifiable and will find no popular support. The Ukrainian decision is line with purposes and principles of the UN Charter and basic norms governing international relations. We welcome this.

We also noted that in February when Canada launched the so-called declaration against "arbitrary detention", countries like Benin made it clear that they did not participate in the declaration but was forcibly put on the list by Canada. The US and some other countries deploy all kinds of despicable means to pressure developing countries into not supporting China, even with the threat of cutting off assistance and sanctioning their officials. Some countries pointed out that the US aims to control and restrain other countries, and disobedience entails countermeasures such as punishment and suppression. This is a selfish act that violates diplomatic ethics and norms of international interactions. It reveals the nature of "bare-knuckles diplomacy" of Canada and the US and is reprehensible.

Countries who spread lies and rumors about China cannot face up to the fact that every time a handful of countries smear and attack China under the pretext of human rights, the majority of countries would step up to defend justice and truth. In July 2019, permanent representatives of over 50 countries to the UN Office at Geneva co-signed a letter to the President of the UN Human Rights Council and High Commissioner for Human Rights, commending China for its counter-terrorism, de-radicalization, and human rights protection achievements. In October 2019, at the Third Committee session of the 74th UNGA, more than 60 countries applauded in their statements the tremendous human rights progress achieved in Xinjiang, China. In March 2021, a joint statement was made on behalf of 71 countries at the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council in support of China's position on Hong Kong-related issues. In June 2021, over 90 countries supported China by making joint statement or statements in their national capacity at the Human Rights Council and the number of countries supporting China is increasing.

Facts speak so much louder and justice will always prevail. The attempt to interfere in China's domestic affairs by a few countries will only bring disgrace onto themselves.
 Flash

Two separate Oakland shootings left one man dead and another wounded in East Oakland, U.S. state California, on Saturday, according to a East Bay Times report on Sunday.

Police responded to an incident at Hayes Street at about 9 p.m. on Saturday. Authorities said a 31-year-old man was shot multiple times and was taken to a hospital and died there. The motive for the shooting had not been announced as of Sunday.

The deadly shooting brought the number of homicides investigated in Oakland to 64 this year, nearly double the 33 around the same period last year.

On Saturday, about four hours before the Hayes Street shooting, a robbery and shooting left one man injured in MacArthur Boulevard, the East Bay Times reported.
 Flash

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi held a tripartite meeting with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah II on Sunday to enhance economic ties, security cooperation and regional stability.

The meeting "is an important message to our people that we are mutually supportive and unified to serve our people and the people of the region," a statement of al-Kadhimi's media office quoted his opening remarks as saying.

He said that the most important challenges facing the three countries are the COVID-19 pandemic, difficult economic conditions, security and terrorism, according to the statement.

Calling on the three countries to unify their stances, Al-Kadhimi said "we will continue to coordinate on major regional issues, such as the Syrian, Libyan, Yemeni and Palestinian files, to assist our brothers in these countries to bypass the challenges and crises."

He noted that the three countries are in the stage of implementing projects in the fields of electrical interconnection, agriculture, transportation, and food security, as well as in the development of infrastructure in financial and banking relations, the statement said.

Later in the day, a statement issued after the meeting said that the three leaders agreed to cooperate and coordinate in various areas, including the electrical interconnection and linking gas transport networks between Iraq and Egypt via Jordan, as well as building an oil pipeline connecting the Iraqi oil-hub of Basra to the Jordanian port of Aqaba.

The statement added that Iraq and Jordan support Egypt's stance on the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile River. It stressed the need to activate efforts to achieve a just and comprehensive peace that meets all legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state.

Earlier in the day, Sisi arrived in Baghdad, marking the first visit by an Egyptian head of state since Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 and worsened Iraq-Egypt ties.

Shortly after Sisi's arrival, King Abdullah II arrived to participate in the trilateral summit that aims to achieve economic partnerships that chart Iraq's new role in the region.

Al-Kadhimi reportedly seeks to reach out to the Arab world to bolster Iraq's role in the region as a mediator to solve regional problems, including the conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The trilateral meeting was first scheduled to be held on March 27, but was postponed twice due to a tragic train collision in Egypt, and the events affecting the stability of Jordan.

The leaders of the three countries have been working to strengthen economic and trade cooperation over the past few years with three summits being held since 2019.
 Flash

Iran will not deliver records of its nuclear activities to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after a temporary understanding reached in January expired, the speaker of Iran's parliament said on Sunday.

"Nothing was extended, and therefore none of the items recorded inside will ever be given to the agency," official Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency quoted speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf as saying.

Answering a question by a member of parliament in a public session, Qalibaf added that the records are in possession of the Iranian authorities, and Iran's Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions (SAPCS) law is being "thoroughly" implemented.

The SAPCS act was passed by Iran's parliament in December, 2020, requiring among other measures the Iranian executive branch to stop implementing the Additional Protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) by Feb. 23, in case the U.S. anti-Iran sanctions were not lifted.

The IAEA and Iranian officials reached a temporary understanding in February to keep the IAEA's monitoring cameras under Iran's supervision for a period of three months up to May 24, and deliver the records to the agency only after sanctions on the country are lifted.

On Friday, the IAEA required an "immediate response" from Iran regarding the "possible continued collection, recording and retention of data," as contemplated in the temporary understanding, media reported.

Iran's ambassador to Vienna-based international organizations Kazem Gharibabadi said on Saturday in a televised interview that Iran's continued collection of data was "solely based on good will, and not as part of its obligations" towards the IAEA.

"Iran is not bound by any commitment to implement the agency's demand," and has "no duty to report on the expired agreement," Gharibabadi added as reported by Press TV.

Also on Saturday, the spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry warned that Tehran will not negotiate endlessly over the revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, urging the United States to abandon the "failed legacy" of former President Donald Trump.

The U.S. government under Trump withdrew from the international deal in May 2018 and unilaterally reimposed sanctions on Iran. In response, Iran gradually stopped implementing parts of its commitments to the agreement from May 2019.

The Joint Commission of the nuclear agreement began to meet offline on April 6 in Vienna to continue previous discussions about a possible return of the United States to the deal and how to ensure the full and effective implementation of the 2015 deal.
Pa Sydney Elton was a missionary to Nigeria who later became arguably the leading apostolic voice in Nigeria in the 20th century.

The call

He was born in England. In 1928, Pa Elton began to perceive his call to ministry after reading a book by Mary Slessor. Before he got the call to missions, there was a burning desire in his heart for the gifts and manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the church.

He later joined the Apostolic Church in England where he learned about the gifts and manifestations of the Holy Spirit. God began to speak to him about his call to Nigeria. God even told him the exact place he was to go - Ilesa. He was so sure of his call that he named his dog, Ilesa before leaving England.

Answering the call

Pa Elton arrived in Nigeria, specifically Ilesa in 1937. Eltons mission was clear to him. He was to raise leaders, preserve the gains of the revival that broke out in 1930 and set a foundation of sound doctrines for the rising Nigerian church. Pa Elton argued that the practice of blessing water encouraged many to place their faith in holy water rather than on the word of God.

In the late 1940s, the glory days of the healing revival began to fade out. Pa Elton complained that the focus of the church moved from the focus on Gods presence to merely managing an institution:

I believe this is how moves of God end. The church was never meant to be just another institution. We are the body of Christ. We have not been called to build monuments but to raise movements.

Institutionalism has done so much harm to the church. I was speaking to some brethren a while back and I said, many churches can keep going without the Holy Spirit. Many denominations are stuck in a routine; the pastor has his sermons for 6 months arranged, the services lack the life and fire of Gods spirit, the services can be easily predicted because it is the same boring stuff every Sunday, they do not give place for Gods Spirit to manifest, so church keeps going on, but the good shepherd has left the building.

The early church did not have all the resources we had today, but they turned the world upside down because they had Gods presence. I have seen God move among people who do not know all the doctrines and theologies but have just a hunger for Gods presence. The church does not need theologians, we need men on fire for God, men who will not rest until Gods spirit comes like a rushing mighty wind, men who will weep at the powerlessness and apathy of the church!

Pa Sydney Elton began to seek the face of God for another outpouring and God showed him a coming revival. In 1948, The Latter Rain revival started when a group of children in an orphanage began to pray for revival for their nation and around the world. This revival greatly influenced the Nigerian church and Pentecostal churches around the world.

Legacy

I believe that one of Pa Sydney Eltons greatest achievement was his work in university campuses across Nigeria. He was able to shape the next move of God by preparing young men and women in campuses. Pa Elton influenced those who shaped the ECU (Evangelical Christian Union). He lived a few kilometers from Ile Ife campus where the fellowship was located.

Under his tutelage, were young men who later became the leaders of various denominations across Nigeria. Great men of God like Ruben Ezemadu of Christian Missionary Foundation, Egbuna Offodile of Children Evangelism Ministry, Bishop Francis Wale Oke of Sword of the Spirit Ministries, Moses Aransiola of Gethsemane Prayer Ministries all trace their roots to Pa Sydney Elton.

His ministry also influenced Pentecostal fathers such as Archbishop Benson Idahosa, Apostle Ayo Babalola, Pastor Enoch Adeboye. He was clearly a man who cared greatly for legacy. His fruits can be seen all over Nigeria. After 50 years of eventful ministry, he passed away on January 13, 1987. He was buried at Ilesa. Before he died, he spoke this prophecy about Nigeria:

Nigeria and Nigerians will be known all over the world for corruption. Your name Nigeria will stink for corruption but after a while, a new phase will come a phase of righteousness. People from the nations of the earth will hold to a Nigerian and say, we want to follow you to your nation to go and learn righteousness.

I strongly believe that despite all the challenges we have faced as a nation, this prophetic word shall come to pass. We will overcome and Nigeria shall become a great nation.
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Medium Voltage Transformer Market Analysis 2019-2029

A new report on the medium voltage transformer market by FMI provides detailed insights on key factors affecting the growth of the medium voltage transformer market, along with historical trends, future growth prospects, market dynamics, competition analysis, and region-wise market breakdown. The research report contains exhaustive market analysis, achieved by meticulous research with maximum precision.

Medium Voltage Transformer Market: Segmentation

The global medium voltage transformer market is segmented into five categories based on rating, product type, configuration, application, and region.

Key Segment

Rating

1,200 kVA

1,500 kVA

2,000 kVA

2,500 kVA

Product Type

Dry

Oil Immersed

VPI

Configuration

Single Phase

Three Phase

Application

Building Establishment

Residential

Commercial

Civil Infrastructure

Industrial

IT  Data & Server Centers

Region

North America

Latin America

Western Europe

Eastern Europe

APEJ

Japan

MEA

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Report Chapters

Chapter 01  Executive Summary

The executive summary of the medium voltage transformer market includes a summary of the market trends, key findings, trends, and analysis and recommendations for market growth.

Chapter 02  Market Overview

Market definition, key inclusions, and market taxonomy of the medium voltage transformer market report are covered in this chapter.

Chapter 03  Key Market Trends

A description of key market trends currently transforming the medium voltage transformer market landscape are presented in this section.

Chapter 04  Key Success Factors

This chapter provides a list of key success factors for manufacturers in the medium voltage transformer market.

Chapter 05  Global Medium Voltage Transformer Market Demand Analysis 2014-2018 & Opportunity Assessment 2019-2029

Value analysis and forecast for the medium voltage transformer market for the 2014-2029 period are provided in this chapter.

Chapter 06  Pricing Analysis

Pricing analysis of the medium voltage transformer on the basis of product type is mentioned in this chapter. Weighted average price for the global region along with volumetric share of the product type can be found in this chapter.

Chapter 07  Global Medium Voltage Transformer Market Value Demand Analysis 2014-2018 & Opportunity Assessment 2019-2029

This chapter provides historical market value for the period 2014-2018 along with market forecast for the projected period of 2019-2029. Absolute $ opportunity and market trends for the medium voltage transformer market are also mentioned in this chapter.

Chapter 08  Market Background

The market background section of the medium voltage transformer market report covers macro-economic factors, drivers, restraints, opportunity analysis and forecast factors, which are anticipated to influence the growth of the market over the projected period.

Chapter 09  Global Medium Voltage Transformer Market Analysis 2014-2018 & Opportunity Assessment 2019-2029, by Rating

Based on rating, the medium voltage transformer market is segmented into 1200 kVA, 1500 kVA, 2000 kVA, and 2500 kVA. In this chapter, readers can find information about the key trends and developments in the medium voltage transformer market and market attractiveness analysis.

Chapter 10  Global Medium Voltage Transformer Market Analysis 2014-2018 & Opportunity Assessment 2019-2029, by Product Type

This chapter provides details about the medium voltage transformer marketbased on product type, and has been classified into dry, oil immersed, and VPI. In this chapter, readers can understand the market attractiveness analysis based on the product type.

Chapter 11  Global Medium Voltage Transformer Market Analysis 2014-2018 & Opportunity Assessment 2019-2029, by Configuration

This chapter provides details about the medium voltage transformer marketbased on configuration, and has been classified into single phase and three phase. In this chapter, readers can understand the market attractiveness analysis based on the configuration.

Chapter 12  Global Medium Voltage Transformer Market Analysis 2014-2018 & Opportunity Assessment 2019-2029, by Application

This chapter provides details about the medium voltage transformer marketbased on configuration, and has been classified into building establishment, civic infrastructure, industrial, and IT  data & server centers. Building establishment is again segmented into residential and commercial. In this chapter, readers can understand the market attractiveness analysis based on the application.

Chapter 13  Global Medium Voltage Transformer market Analysis 2014-2018 & Opportunity Assessment 2019-2029, by Region

This chapter provides the medium voltage transformer marketgrowth across several geographic regions such as North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, APEJ, Japan, and MEA (Middle East & Africa).

Chapter 14  North America Medium Voltage Transformer market Analysis 2014-2018 & Opportunity Assessment 2019-2029

A detailed analysis of growth trends of the North America medium voltage transformer market, pricing analysis, regional trends, along with a country-wise assessment that includes the U.S. and Canada is included in this chapter.

Chapter 15  Latin America Medium Voltage Transformer Market Analysis 2014-2018 & Opportunity Assessment 2019-2029

Growth scenario of the medium voltage transformer market in Latin American countries like Brazil, Mexico, and the Rest of Latin America, along with assessment of the market across target segments has been provided in this chapter.

Chapter 16  Western Europe Medium Voltage Transformer Market Analysis 2014-2018 & Opportunity Assessment 2019-2029

Important growth prospects of the medium voltage transformer market based on its end users in several countries such as Germany, Italy, France, the U.K., Spain, BENELUX, and the Rest of Western Europe are included in this chapter.

Chapter 17  Eastern Europe Medium Voltage Transformer market Analysis 2014-2018 & Opportunity Assessment 2019-2029

Important growth prospects of the medium voltage transformer market based on its end users in several countries such as Russia, Poland, and the Rest of Eastern Europe are included in this chapter.

Chapter 18  APEJ Medium Voltage Transformer Market Analysis 2014-2018 & Opportunity Assessment 2019-2029

A detailed analysis of growth trends of theAPEJ medium voltage transformer market, pricing analysis, regional trends, along with a country-wise assessment of China, India, Thailand, ASEAN, Australia & New Zealand and the Rest of APEJ are presented in this chapter.

Chapter 19  Japan Medium Voltage Transformer market Analysis 2014-2018 & Opportunity Assessment 2019-2029

Important growth prospects of the Japan medium voltage transformer market are included in this chapter.

Chapter 20  MEA Medium Voltage Transformer market Analysis 2014-2018 & Opportunity Assessment 2019-2029

This chapter highlights the growth of the medium voltage transformer market in MEA by focusing on GCC Countries, Northern Africa, Turkey, South Africa, and Rest of Middle East & Africa

Chapter 21  Market Structure Analysis

In this chapter, detailed information about the competition tier structure analysis and market concentration of key players in the medium voltage transformer market, along with their market presence analysis by region and product portfolio.

Chapter 22  Competition Analysis

Detailed analysis of key players in the medium voltage transformer market with company overview, financial performance, strategic overview, and SWOT analysis are presented in this chapter. Some of the market players featured in the report are Siemens AG, ABB Group, General Electric Company, Fuji Electric Co., Ltd., Hitachi, Ltd., Hammond Power Solutions Inc., Kirloskar Electric Company, and MGM Transformer Company, among others.

Chapter 23  Assumptions and Acronyms

A list of acronyms and assumptions used in the medium voltage transformer report.

Chapter 24  Research Methodology

A description of research methodology used to obtain the market size of the medium voltage transformer market is detailed in the section.

For Complete TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-772

About FMI

Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in Dubai, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India. FMIs latest market research reports and industry analysis help businesses navigate challenges and make critical decisions with confidence and clarity amidst breakneck competition. Our customized and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. A team of expert-led analysts at FMI continuously tracks emerging trends and events in a broad range of industries to ensure that our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.

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A recent market study published by FMI on the zika virus testing market includes global industry analysis for 2016-2020 & opportunity assessment for 2021-2031, and delivers a comprehensive assessment of the most important market dynamics. After conducting thorough research on the historical and current growth parameters of the zika virus testing market, growth prospects of the market are obtained with maximum precision.

Zika Virus Testing Market: Taxonomy

The global zika virus testing market is segmented in detail to cover every aspect of the market and present complete market intelligence to the reader.

Test Type

Rapid IgG/IgM Test

ELISA Test

End-User

Hospitals & Clinics

Private Commercial Laboratories

Government/Publicly Funded Programs

Region

North America & Europe (US, UK, Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Rest of Europe)

Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Rest of LATAM)

Central America (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Rest of Central America)

Caribbean (Puerto Rico and Rest of the Caribbean)

South East Asia (Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Rest of South East Asia)

Rest of the World (North Africa and South Africa)

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Report Chapters

Chapter 01  Executive Summary

The report begins with an executive summary of the zika virus testing market, which includes a summary of key findings and statistics of the market. It also includes the demand-side & supply-side trends about the zika virus testing market.

Chapter 02  Zika Virus Testing Market Introduction

This chapter begins by providing a detailed taxonomy in the form of segments. It also provides a concrete definition of the zika virus testing market.

Chapter 03  Zika Virus Testing Market Viewpoint

This chapter explains key macro-economic factors that are expected to influence the growth of the zika virus testing market over the forecast period. Along with the macroeconomic factors, this section also provides an opportunity analysis across key segments for the forthcoming decade.

Chapter 04  Global Zika Virus Testing Market Background

This chapter provides a detailed overview regarding key prevailing trends, including the role of technology evolution and growth hacking manufacturers. Along with this, the section also highlights the value chain and forecast factors for the zika virus testing market. Moreover, in-depth information about the market dynamics and their impact analysis on the market have been provided.

Chapter 05  Key Macroeconomic Assumptions

In this chapter, a detailed analysis of key macroeconomic assumptions expected to shape the current and future expansion trajectory of the zika virus testing market.

Chapter 06  Global Economic Outlook

Information regarding key parameters such as the gross domestic product based on countries and regions as well as disease outlook have been provided in this section of the report. An interlinking has been made between the diseases trajectory and its impact on the economic growth of key regions.

Chapter 07  Key Inclusions

In this chapter, details about key distributors and capacity expansions by prominent companies, such as mergers & acquisitions, have been embedded.

Chapter 08  Global Zika Virus Testing Market Analysis 2016-2020 and Forecast 2021-2031

This chapter provides a detailed analysis of key market value shares by all segments, their Y-o-Y growth analysis and absolute $ opportunity for the historical period (2016-2020) and forecast period (2021-2031) respectively.

Chapter 09  Global Zika Virus Testing Market Analysis by Test Type

This chapter provides details about the zika virus testing market based on test type, and has been segmented as rapid IgG/IgM test and ELISA test. In this chapter, readers can understand the market attractive analysis based on test type.

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Chapter 10  Global Zika Virus Testing Market Analysis by End-User

Based on end-user, the zika virus testing market is segmented into hospitals & clinics, private commercial laboratories and government/publicly funded programs. In this chapter, readers can find information about the key trends and developments in the zika virus testing market and market attractiveness analysis based on end-user.

Chapter 11  Global Zika Virus Testing Market Analysis 2016-2020 & Opportunity Assessment 2021-2031, by Region

This chapter explains how the zika virus testing market will grow across several geographic regions such as North America & Europe, Latin America, Central America, Caribbean and South East Asia.

Chapter 12  North America & Europe Zika Virus Testing Market Analysis 2016-2020 & Opportunity Assessment 2021-2031

This chapter includes a detailed analysis of the growth of the North America zika virus testing market, along with a country-wise assessment that includes the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Readers can also find the pricing analysis, regional trends, and market growth based on end use and countries in North America and Europe.

Chapter 13  Latin America Zika Virus Testing Market Analysis 2016-2020 & Opportunity Assessment 2021-2031

This chapter provides the growth scenario of the zika virus testing market in Latin America countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and the Rest of Latin America. Along with this, an assessment of the market across target segments has been provided.

Chapter 14  Central America Zika Virus Testing Market Analysis 2016-2020 & Opportunity Assessment 2021-2031

Important growth prospects of the zika virus testing market based on its end use in several countries such as Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Rest of Central America are included in this chapter.

Chapter 15  Caribbean Zika Virus Testing Market Analysis 2016-2020 & Opportunity Assessment 2021-2031

This chapter highlights the growth of the zika virus testing market in Puerto Rico and Rest of the Caribbean. This section also helps readers understand the key factors that are responsible for the growth of the zika virus testing market in the Caribbean.

Chapter 16  South East Asia Zika Virus Testing Market Analysis 2016-2020 & Opportunity Assessment 2021-2031

Important growth prospects of the zika virus testing market based on its end use in several countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Rest of South East Asia are included in this chapter.

Chapter 17  Rest of the World (RoW) Zika Virus Testing Market Analysis 2016-2020 & Opportunity Assessment 2021-2031

This chapter highlights the growth of the zika virus testing market in the Rest of the World by focusing on North Africa and South Africa. This section also helps readers understand the key factors that are responsible for the growth of the zika virus testing market in the Rest of the World (RoW).

Chapter 18  Global Zika Virus Testing Market Forecast Factors: Relevance and Impact

This chapter provides a description about the relevance and impact of key forecast factors mapped throughout the course of the report.

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Chapter 19  Forecast Assumptions

Information concerning important assumptions while mapping the market forecast has been provided in this chapter.

Chapter 20  Global Zika Virus Testing Market Structure Analysis

In this section, detailed information and forecast regarding the overall market structure analysis has been incorporated. It provides details regarding market structure by tier of companies, the shares of top 10 players by region, production capacity analysis by key players and pricing analysis by key players.

Chapter 21  Competition Analysis

In this chapter, readers can find a comprehensive list of all the prominent stakeholders in the zika virus testing market, along with detailed information about each company, which includes company overview, revenue shares, strategic overview, and recent company developments. Some of the market players featured in the report are EUROIMMUN US Inc., Creative Diagnostics, Quest Diagnostics, Artron Laboratories Inc., RapiGEN Inc., GenBody Inc., JAJ International Inc., LumiQuick Diagnostics Inc., Biocan Diagnostics Inc., NECTAR LIFESCIENCES LTD., Luminex Corporation, ARUP Laboratories, Abbott Molecular Inc., Hologic and Vela Diagnostics among others.

Chapter 22  Assumptions and Acronyms Used

This chapter includes a list of acronyms and assumptions that provides a base to the information and statistics included in the zika virus testing market report.

Chapter 23  Research Methodology

This chapter helps readers understand the research methodology followed to obtain various conclusions as well as important qualitative and quantitative information about the zika virus testing market.
Market Research Future Published a Half-Cooked Research Report on Global Microcrystalline Cellulose Market.

Market Definition:

Microcrystalline cellulose is a partially depolymerized, naturally occurring cellulose form wood pulp. It has properties such as anti-caking, bulking, and texturizing that are majorly required for keeping processed food fresh. The unique properties such as powder porosity, moisture sorption, and swelling capacity. Being a chemically inert substance, it has very less absorption capacity and does not dissolute during digestion. Due to this reason, it is highly used in excipient production in pharmaceuticals and is the major driver of the global microcrystalline cellulose market. The other driver for the global market growth is it being a fat substitute, primarily used in low-fat processed food.

Market Scenario:

The increasing demand for pharmaceuticals with the growing population consumes a major quantity of microcrystalline cellulose followed by food and beverage industry. The global Microcrystalline Cellulose Market Size growth is also driven by the cosmetic and personal care industry. The unique properties of extender, binder, and texturizer are extensively used in personal care products. The growing demand for personal care products with the concerned grooming and self-care population is expected to increase the market growth.

Competitive Analysis

Some of the prominent players of the microcrystalline cellulose are: FMC Corporation (the U.S), Mingtai Chemical Co. Ltd. (Canada), DFE Pharma (Germany), Dupont (the U.S.), Avantor (the U.S.), Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (Japan), Asahi Kasei Corporation (Japan), Blanver (Brazil), JRS PHARMA (the U.S.), FrieslandCampina (the Netherlands), Accent Microcell Pvt. Ltd (India), Sigachi Industries Pvt. Ltd. (India), Libraw Pharma (India), Huzhou City Linghu Xinwang Chemical Co., Ltd (China) and Shandong Xinda Biotechnology Co., Ltd (China) among others.

Market Segmentation

The global microcrystalline cellulose market is segmented as per the raw material, end-user, and region.

There are only two raw material sources available, namely wood based and non-wood based. Out of these, the non-wood based raw material source is likely to dominate the market due to the excessive demand for synthetically produced and cheap products.

Based on end-user, the market is segmented into pharmaceuticals, food & beverage, cosmetic & personal care, and others.

Regional Analysis

The global microcrystalline cellulose market is segmented into five key regions namely North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. North America is the major contributor to the market growth due to the increasing food & beverage industries. The increasing number of pharmaceutical and food & beverage industries in this region in expected to fuel the market growth in near future. The regulatory association named the U.S Pharmacopeial Convention has identified microcrystalline cellulose as an excellent excipient, which has propelled the market growth. The U.S contributes significantly to the market share in terms of revenue followed by Canada. Europe is another substantial region contributing to the market growth owing to the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries in this region. Asia Pacific is expected to hold a considerable share of the market in coming years. Countries such as China are concentrated to the production of microcrystalline cellulose due to the low raw material and labor cost. The U.S is the major producer of microcrystalline cellulose followed by China.

In Latin America & Africa, the growing medical support and availability of pharmaceutical at ease is expected to fuel the market growth during the forecast period. However, poor health and safety standards may hinder the market growth in this region.

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https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/fiber-optic-sensor-market-size-and-global-trends-2020-covid-19-business-impact-industry-analysis-sales-revenue-opportunities-top-leaders-and-regional-forecast-to-2022-2020-09-07

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Market Overview

The global Foundry Coke Market, during the forecast period 2014-2026, will register growth at a CAGR of 5%. The market for foundry coke is set to reach US$3608.0 million by 2026. As per Global Market analysts, the global market is anticipated to witness growth owing to the factors such as the increasing demand for iron cast components as well as the expansion of the construction industry. However, the Global Market will face challenges and restraints due to availability of substitute to hinder the market and the availability of substitutes during the forecast period 2014-2026.

Growing demand for foundry coke in end-user industries in the Foundry Coke Market is set to play a key role in determining the growth potential during 2014-2026years. Analysts have also studied the Global Market to understand potential threats and challenges the Global Market companies could face. Although the Global Market is poised to grow at a fast pace across applications and type segments, factors such as the associated adverse impact of foundry coke could slow down the Global Market's growth worldwide.

Market Segmentation

The Foundry Coke Market has been segmented into applications and type. Based on the segment which is applications, the market is categorized on the basis of automotive parts casting, insulation, machinery casting, and others. The global market for foundry coke is further segmented based on type into ash content < 8%, 8% < ash content < 10%, 10% < ash content.

The global Foundry Coke Market research report covers all the aspects of the Global Market based on the segmental analysis of these applications and type segments. Analysts have also studied the global Foundry Coke Market's regional markets spread across many continents and countries. The applications and type segments along with their sub-segments have been analyzed and companies functioning in the Global Market across these segments are profiled and analyzed based on input and feedback from Global Market based decision makers as well as primary and secondary sources. The Global Market research report presents analysis based information for companies functioning in the Global Market.

Regional Overview

The adverse effect of foundry coke may hinder the Global Market growth. The market research report suggests that companies in the Global Market could be supported by supportive initiatives by government as well as the on-going technological progressions during the forecast period. The Global Market is set to register growth at a high CAGR owing to these key factors. The Global Market is spread across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and other parts of the world. The Foundry Coke Market research report reveals that APAC, North America, and Europe regional Global Markets will dominate the global market for foundry coke during the forecast period 2014-2026. As per Global Market analysts, the market is set to witness tremendous growth across applications and type segments in North America which covers Global Markets across the United States, Canada, Mexico and several other regional markets. Companies active in the Global Market are also analyzed and studied in the Global Market research report.

The Global Market for Europe covers smaller market segments of Germany, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom. Additionally, the Global Market research report covers the Asia-Pacific region covering Global Markets from India, China, Japan, Australia, and others. The Global Market is also spread across the rest of the world. The Global Market report covers all such regions including the Middle East, Africa, Brazil, and others.

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Competitive Landscape

Foundry coke has seen increased demand over the years, due to increasing innovations and favorable initiatives backed by the government. Companies functioning in the global Global Market are also being challenged due to the imposition of stringent rules and the availability of substitutes. Mergers and acquisitions by Foundry Coke Market companies are anticipated to help the market during the forecast period 2014-2026. As the Global Market is set to register a high CAGR of 5% and is also anticipated to reach a US$3608.0 million by 2026, the report highlights key areas companies need to focus on. The report suggests that the Global Market will see a healthy growth in the long run till 2026. Based on SWOT analysis and Global Markets analysis based on Porters Five Force Model presented in the Global Market report. Mergers and acquisitions by Foundry Coke Market companies are anticipated to help the market during the forecast period 2014-2026.

Industry News

ArcelorMittal announces that it has a $160 million coking deal with Koppers Inc. If the deal is finished, the ArcelorMittal domestic output would add about 366,000 tonnes. ArcelorMittal operates on six continents and last year processed almost 130 million tonnes of crude steel. It was the sole customer of Koppers for coke manufactured at Monessen. ArcelorMittal notes. The project was constructed with two, 56 oven batteries by both the former Pittsburgh Steel Co. in 1942. Last year, it generated 358,000 tonnes of coke.
The Pulmonary Fibrosis Treatment Market Share is on the verge of reaching US$ US$ 2.7 Bn at the rate of 6.2% CAGR from 2021-2031. Healthcare vertical being subject to sensitive, personal data, is at a higher risk of cyber-attacks (with the majority opting for EHR). This calls for semantic interoperability, which lets the information management systems interpret as well as derive insights through shared data. This would help in proper tracking of patients records in a coordinated way to out-of-network as well as in-network providers.

Monotherapy is cost-effective and gives deliverable action directly to the site of action in a few minutes, and is said to be a safe and effective method for treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). According to Persistence Market Research (PMR), request for pulmonary fibrosis treatment is predicted to increase, enabling the market to surpass US$ 2.7 Bn by 2021. Over the coming years, rising cases of IPF will support the expansion of the market.

Get Sample Copy of Report @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/30070

High number of research & development projects, increasing investments, and favorable regulatory policies are some other factors supporting growth of the market for pulmonary fibrosis treatment. Majority of the population living with pulmonary fibrosis is being treated with traditional corticosteroid combination drugs with limited efficacy. With the arrival of new novel therapies, unaddressed populations in middle- and lower-income countries, as well as developed countries, can offer significant revenue generation opportunities.

Key Take aways from Market Study

The global pulmonary fibrosis treatment market is expected to rise at a healthy CAGR over more than 6% through 2031.

Increasing focus on effective treatment in the U.S is lending high Y-o-Y growth to the market in the country.

Germany and France are expected to exhibit increasing demand to tackle concerns pertaining to rising incidence of IPF.

Overall, the global market is set to expand 2X over the next ten years.

Monotherapy to account for over 70% market share by 2031.

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Rising prevalence of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and importance of early diagnosis are creating growth opportunities for market players in the long term, says a Persistence Market Research analyst.

Collaborations and Product Approval  Imperative Strategy for Market Players

Leading market players are strengthening their market position through collaborations with various other organizations.Global leading companies are focusing on research activities and approvals for increased market penetration.

Roche, in March 2020, received Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) from the U.S FDA for Esbriet (pirfenidone), for use in adults with unclassifiable interstitial lung disease (uILD).

In June 2019, Boehringer Ingelheim entered into a collaboration andlicense agreement with Bridge Biotherapeutics Inc. (South Korea), with the aim to fast-track the development of Bridges autotaxin inhibitor BBT-877 for treatment against fibrosing interstitial lung diseases, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a rare lung disease.

In October 2020, Cipla introduced the generic version Nintedanib for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. In India, this drug will be marketed under the brand name Ninitb. Nintedanib will be available in two formulations of 100 mg and 150 mg.

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What else is in the report?

Persistence Market Research offers a unique perspective and actionable insights on the pulmonary fibrosis treatment market in its latest study, presenting historical demand assessment of 2016  2020 and projections for 2021  2031, based on therapy (monotherapy, combination therapy and symptomatic treatment), indication (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), familial PF, and others), and distribution channel (hospital pharmacies, retail pharmacies, and mail order pharmacies), across seven key regions of the world.
SELANGOR, Malaysia, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The European Wellness Aesthetic Academy (EWAA) has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the School of Professional, Executive Education and Development and Asia e University, which has presence and accredited certification recognized across 34 Asian countries, to launch the Wellness Beautypreneurship program that is aimed at enhancing the scientific knowledge and entrepreneurial skills of beauticians, estheticians and therapists around the globe. This project is the brainchild of both Prof Dato Sri' Dr Mike Chan and Prof Dato Sri' Dr Michelle Wong who are the Founders of the European Wellness Biomedical Group. The academic team that drives this initiative is headed by the EWAA Head of School, Dr. Volodmyr Chernykh assisted by a team of European medical doctors and Chief Trainers Dr. Bawani Nesamany and Mr. Joel See. The course syllabus is developed by medical doctors and the programs are deployed via a flexible e-learning platform to ensure easy access to learners without disrupting their full-time careers. Learners with no industrial experience can begin with the Foundation in Wellness Beautypreneurship which is an intensive 2 week hands-on program that will impart the essential skills needed to operate a mobile spa, while practitioners with working experience or CIDESCO or CIBTAC diploma holders can progress directly to the 3-month Certified Professional in Wellness Beautypreneurship program comprises of 16 core modules that cover key entrepreneurial elements and scientific components. The 5-month Certified Master in Wellness Beautypreneurship program has 5 levels completed over 150 practicum hours where veteran estheticians focus on specific area of interest in their field of practice and research on viable treatment solutions for their clients. A European Wellness Aesthetic Academy The European Wellness Aesthetic Academy is the Swiss educational arm of the European Wellness Biomedical Group which is renowned for its pioneering developments in precursor/progenitor stem cell therapeutics, as well as its biomedical and scientific knowledge in anti-aging, aesthetics and disease management. It also collaborates with the European Wellness Academy, which offers post-graduate continuous biomedical education programs to physicians in more than 70 countries to date for more than 3 decades. https://ewaesthetic.academy/A Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1551536/Prof_Dr_Mike_Chan_Dr_Volodmyr_Chernykh_holding_signed_MoA.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1538499/EWBG_EN_COLOR_Logo.jpg
SINGAPORE, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With respect to Affle Global Pte. Ltd. ("AGPL") minority shareholding in OSLabs Pte. Ltd. ("OSLabs" or "Indus OS"), AGPLA finds that 100+A media storiesA wereA reported mostlyA with PhonePe's bias on the OSLabs related matters including PhonePe's alleged 92% acquisition of OSLabs, USD60Mn valuation of OSLabs, court cases, arbitration, ethics and more. In contrast to the PhonePe and OSLabs founders/CEO venting unsubstantiated claims in the media, AGPLA has maintained restraint with our no spokesperson policy even though we had favourable arbitration orders well before the media trial began . On May 15, 2021, AGPLA achieved the SIAC emergency arbitration interim order that restricted OSlabs, its founders and key shareholders from transferring approx. 20% equity ownership to PhonePe until the Right Of First Refusal ("ROFR") is duly offered to the existing shareholders of OSLabs. Despite this win, AGPLA did not go to the media with any statement on OSLabs or PhonePe. However, around May 19, 2021, post the SIAC emergency arbitration orders, the media without sufficient checks started reporting that PhonePe is set to or has acquired 92% OSLabs valuing OSLabs at USD60Mn. On May 31, 2021, AGPLA won the Singapore Court orders invalidating resolutions related to PhonePe transactions and placed an injunction on any further transfer of shares to PhonePe & voting restrictions related orders as defined below. AGPLA still did not issue any media statement.A However, around June 12, 2021, PhonePe's CEO issued media statements venting his personal frustration with VenturEast with respect to a complaint already in Singapore courts. On June 18, 2021, AGPLA won the orders that require the EGM to be held properly by OSLabs and wherein PhonePe will not be allowed to vote as their shares were registered without proper resolutions unless such transfers are validated by the Arbitration Tribunal. The injunction orders on further registration of shares to PhonePe as well as any other furtherance of PhonePe transactions were ordered as defined below. Today, AGPL decided to respond with this media statement to provide the answers to all the 100+ media stories published till date so that our truth of this matter is placed on record as per the justice delivered by honourable Singapore Court orders and SIAC arbitration orders made till date. AGPL has over 25% legal and beneficial voting rights in OSlabs and approx. 23% ownership on a fully diluted basis. AGPL is a long-term investor and expects to unlock greater growth in future with continued OEM partnerships. AGPL has confirmed that it values OSLabs at USD90Mn+ valuation and is clearly not selling to PhonePe at USD60Mn . Founders and key shareholders of OSLabs are not allowed to sell 20% shares to PhonePe at USD60Mn without offering ROFR rights to AGPL. So, there is at least 45% of the alleged 92% acquisition ambition of PhonePe that it cannot purchase post the May 15, 2021 SIAC emergency arbitration order. So any media publications about this alleged 92% acquisition must be updated.

. Founders and key shareholders of OSLabs are not allowed to sell 20% shares to PhonePe at without offering ROFR rights to AGPL. So, there is at least 45% of the alleged 92% acquisition ambition of PhonePe that it cannot purchase post the SIAC emergency arbitration order. So any media publications about this alleged 92% acquisition must be updated. As on date, PhonePe has failed to acquire shares/rights of Samsung Ventures (~20%), AGPL (~25%) and OSlabs Founders and key shareholders (~20%).

AGPL initiated arbitration proceedings to seek its ROFR rights, information rights and fundamental shareholders rights which are clearly stated in the Shareholders Agreement. These rights are being denied unfairly by OSLabs founders and 3 PhonePe employees acting as board members of OSlabs.

In May 2021 , AGPL initiated Singapore High Court proceedings to get further protection against invalid resolutions and to suspend PhonePe voting, etc. During the court proceedings as well as in the arbitration process, the digital evidence was placed on record showing that the termsheet signed between OSLabs and others was invalid as on March 12, 2021 . Shockingly, the dates and signature pages of the termsheet were allowed to be tampered to extend the expired validity without consent, to facilitate the deal with PhonePe.

, AGPL initiated Singapore High Court proceedings to get further protection against invalid resolutions and to suspend PhonePe voting, etc. During the court proceedings as well as in the arbitration process, the digital evidence was placed on record showing that the termsheet signed between OSLabs and others was invalid as on . Shockingly, the dates and signature pages of the termsheet were allowed to be tampered to extend the expired validity without consent, to facilitate the deal with PhonePe. On June 18, 2021 , due justice was delivered to AGPL and PhonePe was defeated in the legal battles as per the orders made. PhonePe has failed to achieve its 92% acquisition ambition which was being pursued in complete disregard to the existing shareholder agreements and related corporate governance norms. The justice delivered is as below: The OSlabs resolutions circulated on May 3, 2021 for PhonePe's 92% acquisition of OSlabs were deemed invalid. The OSlabs resolutions circulated on May 5, 2021 for issuance of new shares that aimed to dilute existing shareholders were also deemed invalid. It, therefore follows that any corporate actions taken by OSLabs as per the invalid resolutions may be deemed invalid unless explicitly validated by SIAC arbitration tribunal. PhonePe will therefore not be allowed to exercise its voting rights in the OSLabs upcoming general meeting. Further, the Singapore High Court has ordered an interim injunction to stop OSLabs from registering any further share transfers related to PhonePe's 92% acquisition transaction until further compliances or take any further actions with respect to the PhonePe's USD60Mn acquisition attempt of OSLabs except that a general meeting be convened where PhonePe is not allowed to vote. In response, PhonePe filed some complaints in Singapore courts with respect to the VenturEastA share sale in May 2021. AGPLA believes that PhonePe CEO should maturely wait for the honourable courts to review the merits of any alleged complaints that are solely under Singapore jurisdiction and not prematurely vent personal frustrationA &A allegations in the media. AGPL, despite having valid complaints and related wins in the arbitration & court orders, hasA avoided mediaA statements till date. We strongly respect the ethics and sanctity of fair journalism and have waited patiently for justice to be delivered before making this media statement today. AGPLA has a no spokesperson policy and for further queries, you may write to AGPLA at - registrar@affle.com
Litchfield (06759)

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Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming foggy and damp after midnight. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable..

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Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming foggy and damp after midnight. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable.
The staff of the Litchfield Jazz Festival is presenting the fourth installment of their free virtual concert series for April.
Police got Waughs cellphone number and called him. He said he had run into the woods and was about a mile away, but that he was walking back. He said he no longer had the gun on him because he had dropped it in a body of water. Police, who were seen searching the nearby Hockanum River, later found the gun.
After receiving a phone call from the owner of the stolen car, officers found the teens in a factory parking lot near the center. The two drove out of the lot as officers approached them and drove directly into a telephone pole, police said, where both parties were then taken into custody.
I always find it fascinating with people like him, Bridget E. Quinn, president and chief executive of the Hartford Public Library, where Fromson was active for years, said Monday. They are such astute business people, and theyve made a mark in their field. But then to know that he had this incredible talent for art and that he was such an accomplished artist alongside with his business acumen.
The findings add to growing evidence that most people immunized with the mRNA vaccines may not need boosters, so long as the virus and its variants do not evolve much beyond their current forms  which is not guaranteed. People who recovered from COVID-19 before being vaccinated may not need boosters even if the virus does make a significant transformation.
The long-term effects of the vaccine are unknown, but we can look at the facts. Vaccines have been studied since the 1960s, and a University of Missouri study shows that any side effects will show up within two months of vaccination, not years later. The technology for the COVID-19 vaccines has been used for years in other treatments without any long-term effects. It does not alter a persons DNA. COVID-19, on the other hand, does have long-term effects for an estimated 30% of adults who had it. Long-term effects include trouble breathing, fatigue, joint pain, loss of taste and smell, headaches and brain fog. I personally have lost my sense of smell.
But back then, officials kept emergency lists of people they could call and get them to come to a clinic if there was an extra dose or two, or there would be another clinic close enough to transport it there. Now, most mass vaccination centers have been closed or curtailed to doing mostly second doses, and the emphasis is on pop-up clinics or mobile clinics designed to reach people who either cannot get to a mass vaccination site or have been reluctant to get vaccinated.
Lincoln, NE (68508)

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Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 70F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..

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Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 70F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
A few years ago, he came up with the idea for Legacy List, which would focus on the more positive side of decluttering by highlighting the stories and histories behind a familys cherished heirlooms, he said. Paxton developed the calculator to show people how long it would take to clear out their homes.
Ive been meaning to read Ivy Pochodas work for some time (still intend to get to her award-winning Wonder Valley) and so I picked up a brand-new paperback of her 2020 novel These Women. Its a beautifully sculpted modern noir, set in South Los Angeles and told by six diverse women whose stories are connected by a serial killer. The world of this novel is tough and dark and bleak, but Pochoda finds poetry in each of these womens lives  in the way theyre haunted by ghosts (one by a murdered daughter, another by a memory of a devastating event), in the way they simply get through their days. I found myself especially drawn to Essie, a no-nonsense LAPD vice cop accustomed to being underestimated, and who knows that crime is like the crosswords she meticulously completes every day. Theres always a solution, she muses. The catch is finding it. You leave These Women feeling that youve heard some voices not usually heard, and wish they could speak further.
The attack on Tsukumo No. 24 highlights the risks of marine fishing and shellfish diving or, perhaps, the risks of opportunistic hunting of sharks drawn to blood while fishing, the researchers wrote. Humans have a long, shared history with sharks, and this is one of the relatively rare instances when humans were on their menu and not the reverse.
Over two dissenting votes, the justices left in place lower court rulings that found the policy unconstitutional. The case involved former high school student Gavin Grimm, who filed a federal lawsuit after he was told he could not use the boys bathroom at his public high school. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas voted to hear the boards appeal.
WILLIAMSBURG  As a child, Williamsburg resident Colette Roots said she heeded her mothers teachings about the importance of honoring those long since gone. When she set out on her own, she made a longstanding promise to her mother that shed visit the Oak Grove Cemetery at least four times a year to pay her respects to lost family and friends and maintain their graves.
Tamil Nadu has inoculated about 1.41 crore people from out of 1.44 crore vaccines allotted to the state. (PTI Photo)

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government on Monday urged the Centre to revise the 75:25 allocation format of Covid vaccines to government and private institutions and demanded that 90 per cent of the doses be given to the state-run facilities.

In a letter to Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan, Chief Minister M K Stalin said the "25 per cent allocation to private hospitals is grossly higher when compared to the actual vaccinations done by them."

"Under the new liberalised vaccination policy, the Union Government is buying 75 per cent of the vaccines and the rest are being provided to private hospitals, to allow them to vaccinate better-off individuals on payment basis."

"While I agree that a part of the available vaccines has to be shared with the private institutions, I wish to bring to your notice the fact that this 25 per cent allocation to private hospitals is grossly higher when compared to the actual vaccinations done by them," he told Vardhan.

Seeking increased allocation of Covid-19 shots to the state, Stalin said in Tamil Nadu 1.43 crore jabs have been used so far, out of which private hospitals have "used only 6.5 lakh doses, which translates to just 4.5 per cent."

"Even in the current month, out of 43.5 lakh doses administered in the state, private institutions have contributed only 4.5 lakh doses which is just 10 per cent."

"The above mismatch between demand and supply in government and private institutions has resulted in a situation where the private hospitals in Tamil Nadu have around 7-8 lakh doses available with them, which is equivalent to one month performance whereas government institutions are left with just two lakh doses which is lesser than their current single day usage," Stalin said.

This can be rectified only by a more rational and performance-based distribution of doses, he said.

Available resources have to be put to best use, he said, adding Centre should immediately "evaluate the vaccine doses allotted to various states so far, in terms of doses allotted per thousand population and ensure that necessary compensatory allocations are made to states who have been allotted lower number of doses per capita."

"Revise the inter-se allocation between the government and private institutions to 90:10 as against the current allocation of 75:25," the chief minister urged Vardhan.

While the allotment of of 25 per cent of vaccines produced to private hospitals to incentivise manaufacturers by allowing them to sell a portion at comparatively better price was "acceptable," the need for a better blended pricing for the manufacturers should not be allowed to undermine the immediate goal of vaccinating people at the maximum possible speed, he said.

"This can be achieved by increasing allocation of vaccines to performing government hospitals. At the same time, it can be also ensured vaccine manufacturers are not affected by the reduction in share to private hospitals, if the Union Government's procurement price is increased, so as to ensure that the blended price under the new policy is the same as the current one," Stalin said.

The chief minister reiterated his earlier request for an allocation of one crore vaccine doses, saying the pace of inoculation has tripled in the state but the allotment to Tamil Nadu has been one of the "lowest" among the states in the country in terms of doses per thousand population.

State medical and family welfare minister Ma Subramanian also flagged the shortage of vaccines.

Tamil Nadu has inoculated about 1.41 crore people from out of 1.44 crore vaccines allotted to the state.

"We are expecting about 71 lakh vaccines in July," he said and indicated that vaccine shortage is inevitable due to the overwhelming response from the people and insufficient allocation to the state.

"The chief minister and senior officials in the department are following up with the Centre seeking enhanced vaccine supply to Tamil Nadu. It really pains to see 'vaccines out of stock' boards displayed in front of inoculation centres," the minister said after launching a vaccination camp here for practicing advocates.
Coimbatore: BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan on Monday requested Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin to take steps to release Rivaldo, an injured elephant, put in kraal in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in Nilgiris district.

The 40-year-old Rivaldo, with injuries on its trunk for the last 10 years, was moving around Vazhathottam village in Nilgiris district without disturbing the villagers. To provide the animal much-needed treatment, the Forest Department decided to tranquilise and capture Rivaldo but the efforts were futile.

The department then constructed a kraal at Vazhathottam checkpost and Rivaldo walked freely into the kraal on May 5, even as Madras High Court had directed the department to provide treatment to the elephant.

Citing the decision that the elephant would be released in three weeks after obtaining a report from an expert committee, Vanathi Srinivasan told reporters that former Minister and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi had also urged the government to release the elephant in captivity for more than 40 days.

Stating that the issue had come up for discussion in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, Vanathi, who is also the all-India president of Mahila Morcha, said since the elephant did not not hurt any individual in the last 10 years while in the village, the government should take steps to release it.
HYDERABAD: Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Monday unveiled the 26-foot bronze statue of former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao to mark the conclusion of his birth centenary celebrations organised by the state government.

The statue has been installed on a rotary leading to P.V. Narasimha Rao Marg, formerly called the Necklace Road, adjacent to Hussainsagar.

Later, the Governor opened the renamed road to traffic and released eight books, including four penned by the former PM. Dignitaries from various fields attended the programme.

Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister hailed Narasimha Rao as a 'reformist' and said he had left an indelible mark in every field he was associated with, both at state-level and national-level. "When he was made Prime Minister heading a minority government, he took it up as a challenge and successfully completed a full five-year tenure," Chandrashekar Rao said.

The CM stated that due to reforms introduced by Narasimha Rao, the country could come out of the economic crisis which contributed to steady inflow of investments into the country providing vast employment opportunities for all sections.

He recalled the land reforms introduced by him in the United Andhra Pradesh which set an example to other states. He donated 800 acres of land owned by his family during land reforms introduced by him and led from the front," said the Chief Minister.

Chandrashekar Rao hailed the former PM as the architect of gurukuls and Navodaya schools in the country which he had set up as education minister in AP. These were later adopted by other states, he said and added that there was a need to follow the ideologies of the former PM. "Politicians and administrators need to be dynamic for ensuring welfare and development" remarked the CM.

He announced that the state government had approved the proposal of setting up PV Vidhya Peetham in Kakatiya University. He thanked the Mahbubnagar-Hyderabad-Ranga Reddy Graduate MLC constituency voters for electing the former PMs daughter Vani Devi as a tribute. He complimented the centenary celebrations committee for organising many programmes round the year despite the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Governor said by organising the celebrations, the state government had saluted the former PM and a son of the soil. "He always respected the country more than the politics and for that reason, he was successful in every field," she said.

Centenary celebrations committee chairman K. Keshava Rao, Rajya Sabha member, said the state government had requested the Centre to name the University of Hyderabad after Narasimha Rao in recognition of the services rendered by him.

He said six statues of Narasimha Rao, including one in Delhi and his native village Vangara, would be installed shortly. He also said the Andhra Pradesh government had taken a decision to install the former PMs statue in Visakhapatnam.

A memorial and museum were also being planned at the Narasimha Rao Gnana Bhoomi by obtaining all permissions, he said.
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The truth: Biden is supposed to deny himself communion By Selwyn Duke

Years ago, because my best friend had some Polish connections, Id sometimes attend a Polish Catholic church in Brooklyn, New York City. Attendance was great enough so that some parishioners had to participate in Mass on the sidewalk, and they, at the appointed times, would kneel down on the pavement as those inside the church knelt in their pews. But something else that occurred wouldve also been striking to too many American Catholics: After the consecration, fully half the parish did not go up to receive Communion. The reason why was that, unlike people such as Joe Biden and Ted Lieu, those parishioners take their faith seriously. In the controversy over whether Joe Biden and other pro-prenatal infanticide politicians should be denied Communion  a story now that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is drafting a "teaching document" about the meaning of the sacrament  some Democrats are tacitly indicating that they consider church attendance a ploy and Communion a prop. Theyre signaling that they have no respect for the Church  even as they imply that receiving Communion from it is an imperative. Denying oneself Communion isnt just a Polish thing. When a woman close to me who ceased following Church teaching decades ago occasionally attends Mass, she reflexively refrains from receiving Communion. Shes no theologian, but she knows the rules. Heres the reality: The Churchs teaching on Communion flows from what the Apostle Paul stated in 1 Cor. 11:26-29 : Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Paul then warns a line later: For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. Now, Im not here to argue theology, but I will explain what the Church  Bidens church  teaches. To wit: Being worthy to receive Communion doesnt mean being perfect (only God is so). It does, however, mean not being in a state of mortal sin. As opposed to venial sin, the mortal variety is sin grave enough to separate one from God. So the Church maintains that if youve descended into it, you must confess it, which involves contrition and a resolution to change your ways, before receiving Communion. What constitutes mortal sin? Many trespasses do, but the significant point is that this is not a matter of opinion; its all well explained in Church documents. And among the mortal sins is refusal to assent intellectually to all definitive teaching. Moreover and quite obviously, one definitive teaching is that direct abortion is never allowable  and supporting it is a mortal sin. If the worlds Joe Bidens dont like this, they should note what I heard a priest once say: Im in marketing, not design. In fact, pro-prenatal-infanticide politicians sin is all the worse because they dont just support abortion privately, lets say, with a secret vote on Election Day. They advocate it publicly and obstinately, leading others astray, and facilitate it with policy. A prime example is Congressman Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), who proudly listed his deviation (and deviance) from Church teaching and then basically said in your face!: (Heres a pro tip for Lieu: On judgment day, dont tell God I dare you to send me to Hell! Its widely rumored that Hes not swayed by political considerations.) For the record, Signorile needs to bone up on his theology. The Church does not teach that all mortal sins are equally grave but that, as I believe St. Augustine put it, theres a hierarchy of sin. And not many acts compare with murdering unborn babies. Ill lastly mention that these Democrats position is so irrational that no one taking his faith seriously could embrace it. After all, receiving Communion should only be important to you if you believe, as the Church teaches, that it actually is Christs body and blood (as opposed to just a symbol). Yet this must be accepted on faith based on the supposition that the Church is guided on such matters by the Holy Spirit. So it makes no sense to accept that claim on the Churchs word, but then deny what it teaches is necessary to receive Communion, which often involves truths more easily discernible via reason. In other words, Ill believe you on the bread and wine becoming Jesus body and blood, these would-be-theologian politicians tacitly proclaim, but you cant be right on the wrongness of killing unborn babies! If youre sure the Church is so prone to teaching error, why believe one of the most striking things she has to say? But then again, it would be silly to believe anything the worlds Bidens and Lieus have to say. Their lack of seriousness and dishonesty (intellectual dishonesty in the least) about their faith just reflects their dishonesty in politics. They worship power. Unlike the Poles and the woman I mentioned earlier, these left-wing politicians dont even have the respect to abide by the rules of an institution to which they belong voluntarily. So the truth is that contrary to billing, Biden isnt just not a devout Catholic  hes not even a good non-devout Catholic. Contact Selwyn Duke , follow him on Gab or Parler (preferably) or Twitter , or log on to SelwynDuke.com . Home
Memo to Joe: Crime is a criminal problem

By Mark Alexander



After a year of promoting violence and advocating for defunding police departments in urban centers perennially controlled by Democrats, apparently Joe Biden and his Demo Party hacks are now shocked to learn violent crime is continuing the surge they seeded last summer.

As the Demos' "summer of rage" was heating up, featuring their Black Lives Matter and antifa movement constituent base of "peaceful protesters," The New York Times noted, "Across 20 major cities, the murder rate at the end of June was on average 37 percent higher than it was at the end of May." Of course, they blamed the surge on the pandemic. By August, a Wall Street Journal report on homicide found "double-digit increases in 36 of 50 biggest cities amid pandemic."

While the FBI's 2020 crime data will not be released until the end of July, the preliminary report indicates murder rates swelled by 25%  meaning the number of homicides would exceed 20,000 for the first time since Bill Clinton was blaming guns back in 1995. Aggravated assaults increased by 10% in 2020.

Based on data from the first quarter of 2021, homicides are up again, a whopping 20% over the same period in 2020.

Democrat political fortunes tend to suffer when crime surges, especially when there are countless examples of Demos, in effect, advocating lawlessness in the cities where those surges are occurring. Clearly, Biden and his Demo cadres are guilty of criminal negligence.

Now that Biden has single-handedly ended the pandemic, he's falling back on the Demos' knee-jerk scapegoat for explaining the violent effluent of their failed social policies: It's a "gun problem."

A quick search of Leftmedia propaganda platforms in advance of Biden's remarks today returned the following predictable parrot-media "gun crime" headlines: "Biden's plan to ... tighten gun regulations" (Washington Post); "Biden to Speak on Gun Violence" (New York Times); "Biden set to announce his gun crime prevention strategy" (CNN); "Biden plans new steps to combat gun violence" (Reuters); "Biden to ... focus on gun violence" (The Hill); "Biden to Launch Gun Crime Strategy" (Bloomberg); "Biden's strategy to combat violent crime will focus on guns" (CNBC); "Biden to launch national effort to fight gun violence" (CBS). Ad infinitum  ad nauseam!

Indeed, the Biden administration just released his "fact sheet" on his "Comprehensive Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gun Crime"  the plan for his "gun problem" solutions. It asserts, "Biden believes that the surge in gun violence that has affected communities across the country over the last year and a half is unacceptable." Well, that is just special. Did he come up with that all by himself?

For the record, Biden has been promoting the big Lie that "white supremacy" is "the most lethal threat to the homeland today"  a claim to perpetuate his delusional assertion that the Capitol riot was a white supremacist insurrection, and thus all Trump supporters are white supremacists.

Despite the fact that Biden repeated that inflammatory fabrication in his intentionally divisive Tulsa remarks earlier this month, for some reason "white supremacists" and "right-wing extremists" are not mentioned in his "comprehensive strategy" to stop murder and violence.

Recall that Biden also declared, "We can't give hate a safe harbor." Indeed, I have argued that all murders are "hate crimes," yet nowhere in Biden's strategy is the word "hate" mentioned.

Moreover, there is only one mention of the gross racial disparity regarding murder and violent assaults: "Black and brown Americans are disproportionately harmed by the direct and indirect consequences of gun violence." That is a load of spin. Actually, "Black and Brown Americans are disproportionately harmed" by Black assailants.

According to the FBI's latest national crime statistics regarding interracial crime between Blacks and Whites, Black people committed 90% of interracial felonies despite representing just 13% of our population.

And of course, there is no mention of the fact that in cases where the victim's race was known, in 88% of murdered Black people, the suspect is also Black.

Further, this racial disparity is also true in other crime categories, which dispels the assertion that somehow prisons have more Black inmates because of "systemic racism." America is no more besieged by systemic racism than it is besieged by white supremacists.

This gross racial disparity in criminal assailants is not a new issue, as was made clear in a 2015 Harvard study of Black-on-Black violence. In that study, former New York City Democrat Mayor Michael Bloomberg noted: "Ninety percent of all people killed in our city  and 90 percent of all those who commit the murders and other violent crimes  are Black and Hispanic. It is shameful that so many elected officials and editorial writers have been largely silent on these facts."

The Biden administration is, and will remain, completely and deliberately "silent on these facts."

What Biden will also not mention in his "gun violence" plan is the murder of a police officer in his home state of Delaware a month before his disgraceful and divisive Tulsa comments. It will go unnoted in part because a Black hater, after assaulting an elderly White couple, murdered White police officer Keith Heacook without a firearm. He beat the officer to death. (Shades of another Black hater murder in Biden country...)

All of Biden's proposed "solutions" are just temporary salves for the symptoms of the disease. Nothing he is proposing will treat the core disease that underlies urban violence, because that would require a massive shift in the Democrat Party's race-hustling social policies.

Again, despite Biden's assertion about the "consequences of gun violence," the fact is, "Black and brown Americans are disproportionately harmed by the direct and indirect consequences of" Demos statist urban policies, and "gun violence" is the outcome.

The fact is, violence is a Demo-induced culture problem, not a "gun problem." Criminals commit crimes, and until Democrats reverse course on the social policies that have devastated American families and communities for decades, the consequential violence will continue. But Demos never miss an opportunity to deconstruct the Second Amendment.

Mark Alexander is the executive editor of the Patriot Post.
The Gaza War 2021: An overview By Amb. Dore Gold

What Was the Reason for the War? The 2021 Gaza War, which raged from May 10 through May 21, 2021, was the fourth (2008, 2012, 2014) military exchange between the IDF and the Palestinian terror organizations, led by Hamas, since Israel unilaterally pulled out of the Gaza Strip in 2005. All these wars were accompanied by Palestinian rocket fire into Israel and attempted infiltration, which raises the question of why, if Israel withdrew from the entire Gaza Strip already, what motivated Hamas to attack? Was the 2021 Israel-Hamas war a territorial conflict or was it also based on other motivations? It must be recalled that it was Hamas that fired the opening shots of the war on May 10, when it launched seven missiles on Jerusalem. The Hamas war against Israel has several historical and especially ideological roots. The 1988 Hamas Covenant plainly stated in its preamble that Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam obliterates it just as it obliterated others before. In Article 13, the Covenant states clearly, There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. According to Article 2 of its Covenant, Hamas is a wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, which had its own reasons for maintaining armed conflict with Israel. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna (1906-1949), an Egyptian schoolteacher who strongly believed that the Islamic world needed to recover territories that it lost to the European powers. He mentioned Andalus (Spain), Sicily, Greece, and other territories in his writings. Given this background, Hamas could not be expected to compromise, as it seeks to recover what it considers Islamic land on which Israel was created in 1948, which it still claims. The Sheikh Jarrah Neighborhood Evictions According to Hamas, the war in 2021 was caused by Israeli actions in Jerusalem: first, the Palestinian protests around the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Hamas spokesmen argued that Israel was planning to evict residents from that area. But in truth, this was a legal dispute that had been under consideration by Israeli courts for many years. The roots of the territorial dispute go back to 1876, when the Sephardi Community Council and the Ashkenazi General Council jointly purchased the cave of Simon the Just (Shimon Hatzadik), the High Priest (as well as 17.5 dunams nearby), who lived in roughly 320 BCE and is described in the Talmud as a Jewish leader who even met with Alexander the Great. His burial place was sanctified in the eyes of the Jewish community. The 1876 deed to the property gave legal title to land in Sheikh Jarrah to the two Jewish organizations. The validity of those claims was supported by rulings in the Israeli court system. Palestinian Arab residents moved into Sheikh Jarrah after the First Arab-Israel War in 1948 when the area was conquered by the Arab Legion of Transjordan, and the Jews residing there were evicted. Jordans Commissioner for Enemy Property allowed Palestinian refugees to move in. Some of the new Arab residents paid rent, but their leases had expired. Others did not even pay rent and were effectively squatters. This was not a dispute between indigenous Arab residents and new Israeli settlers as is often portrayed today. The legal battle over Sheikh Jarrah went all the way up to the Israeli Supreme Court, which evaluated the orders issued by lower courts to evict the squatters and ordered Israeli police to enact the ruling. The Israeli Threat to the al-Aqsa Mosque Hamas claims that a second cause of the Gaza attack was events on the Temple Mount when Israeli police stopped rioting and stone throwing from inside the barricaded al-Aqsa Mosque. Since the early 20th century, the Palestinian leadership in Jerusalem sought to use the so-called threat to the Muslim religious shrines on the Temple Mount as an instrument to rally public opinion. There were two principal shrines that Muslim leaders built in the 7th century: the Dome of the Rock (completed in 692 CE) with its impressive gold dome, and the al-Aqsa Mosque, built roughly at the same time, at the southern end of the Temple Mount compound. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, charged that the Jews wanted to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque and replace it with the Third Temple. The libel became the fuel for massacres against the Jewish community in Hebron, Jerusalem, and Safed in 1929. It became an accusation that would enflame Arab opinion more than any other assertion against the Jewish population. Husseini used it to mobilize the Muslim masses. Additionally, in the 1920s, Husseini took responsibility for renovating the shrines that had fallen into disrepair during the period of the Ottoman Empire (1517-1918). The threat to al-Aqsa was a powerful motto for Husseinis fundraising activities.` In the 1990s, the charge that there was a threat to the al-Aqsa Mosque was amplified by Sheikh Raad Salah, who headed the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. He held mass rallies in Arab towns such as Umm al-Fahm and across Israel. He was well coordinated with the Muslim Brotherhood and its spiritual leader, Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi. Just like in the 1920s, when there was no Jewish plan to undermine the foundations of the Muslim shrines on the Temple Mount, in 2021, the modern State of Israel has no plan to threaten Islamic institutions there. Nevertheless, the so-called threat to al-Aqsa became a widespread mantra of the Muslim Brotherhood across the Sunni states despite the fact that it was completely false. Historically, it is important to recall that Israel limited its own rights on the Temple Mount in an act of self-abnegation. When the area was captured in 1967, during the Six-Day War, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan allowed Jews to visit the Temple Mount but not to pray there. That self-restraint is not widely known. The Allegation that Israel Committed War Crimes during the Conflict At the end of another Gaza conflict, Operation Protective Edge, Hamas and its allies charged that Israel committed war crimes against the Palestinian population. The UN Human Rights Council convened a Committee of Investigation and arranged that it be chaired by South African Supreme Court Justice Richard Goldstone. Probably the worst charge was that Israel deliberately killed Palestinian civilians. That was utterly false. Months after the release of his report, Goldstone renounced its conclusions. The international judgment that Israel did not commit war crimes in the previous 2014 conflict was reinforced by the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, speaking on November 6, 2014, at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in New York City. Dempsey stated: I actually do think that Israel went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties. However, in this latest conflict, the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, affiliated with the Israeli Defense Ministry, examined the names of those who were reportedly killed on the Palestinian side during the war, and it was shown that half were terrorist operatives. Hamas spokesmen had sought to create the impression that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians killed were civilians. Similarly, claims that Israel killed dozens of Gaza children, propagated by the New York Times with the assistance of a PFLP-affiliated NGO, ignored the 680 Hamas rockets that fell short of Israel and hit Gaza residential areas, killing many residents. Yet, the UN Human Rights Council could not help itself. On May 27, 2021, it adopted Resolution S-30/1 to establish an ongoing international commission of inquiry to investigate all alleged violations of international humanitarian law by Israel. Just as in past rounds of the Gaza conflict, there have been incidents that have drawn considerable attention. On May 15, 2021, the Israeli Air Force struck the al-Jalaa building in Gaza. The building received more attention than usual because it housed international media outlets like Al-Jazeera and the Associated Press. The press claimed that it did not know that Hamas was using the building for signals intelligence operations and electronic operations designed to jam Israels Iron Dome radars, which provided life-saving defense against thousands of rockets. Just as in its other aerial operations, Israel employed an advanced warning system so that Gaza civilians would remain unharmed. In fact, no civilians were harmed when the building was destroyed. The Iran Factor After the 2017 appointment of Yahya Sinwar as the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hamas and Iran revealed an accommodation and both sides spoke openly about their relationship. Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas political bureau, praised Iran for providing money, weapons, and technical assistance to Hamas. Mahmoud al-Zahar, a founder of Hamas, disclosed in December 2020 that Iran had donated $22 million in cash to Hamas. The money was given personally by Revolutionary Guards Quds Force commander Gen. Qasem Soleimani. Sinwar declared at that time that Iran was the largest backer, financially, and militarily of Hamas. Hamas is not alone: Ramez al-Halabi, a senior leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, explained that every weapon his organization uses was purchased with Iranian funding. Ambassador Dore Gold has served as President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs since 2000. From June 2015 until October 2016 he served as Director-General of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Previously he served as Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels Ambassador to the UN (1997-1999), and as an advisor to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Home
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
From left, actors Lee Sung-min, Nam Da-reum, Kim Yoo-jung, Park Hae-joon and Kim Dong-young pose during an online press conference for "The 8th Night," Monday. Courtesy of Netflix



By Kwak Yeon-soo



Netflix's new occult thriller "The 8th Night" shows that not only Catholic priests, but Buddhist monks too have the power to exorcise demons, according to the filmmaker.



During a press conference for the film on Monday, director Kim Tae-hyung, who is making his feature directorial debut with "The 8th Night," explained the hidden meaning behind the film's title.



"The title carries several meanings. The story unfolds during the space of eight days and implies that something will happen on the eighth night. Moreover, the number 8 becomes an infinity symbol when it's turned sideways. This signifies the concept of eternity, karma and fate," he said.



The upcoming film follows retired exorcist Jin-su (Lee Sung-min) who returns to work alongside a young monk named Chung-seok (Nam Da-reum) and detective Ho-tae (Park Hae-joon) to stop two demonic spirits. The team must stop the demons within eight days before they destroy the world.



Kim shared that the idea was derived from the Diamond Sutra, one of the most influential Mahayana Buddhist scriptures in East Asia. "As you can guess from the setting and characters, the film embodies Buddhist philosophy," he said.



Actor Lee said he had insatiable curiosity about shamanism and the spiritual world. "My character has the ability to sense the unseen and unknown world, so it felt like stepping into another world. Because the concept was so new to me, I had to consult with a shaman and a monk to get ideas on how to play the character. I also learned Sanskrit," he said.



On how "The 8th Night" differs from other mystery thrillers, Lee said "Usually demons or Satan are placed at the center of occult movies, but the most important part of our film is spiritual enlightenment. It contains fundamental teachings of Buddhism related to pain and suffering."





Actor Lee Sung-min in a scene from "The 8th Night" / Courtesy of Netflix
Bank of Korea headquarters in Seoul / Yonhap





By Lee Min-hyung







Young employees at the Bank of Korea (BOK) are more dissatisfied than in the past over the organization's strict, authoritarian and bureaucratic office culture, as well as its poor company welfare benefits system.







Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, the central bank was considered a top-notch workplace that only hired a select few young people who studied economics at the nation's leading universities.







In the past, BOK employees enjoyed lifetime job security, just as in other state-run organizations. They were also proud to be perceived as elite economists at the nation's central monetary authority.







But a growing number of young economists at the BOK appear to be losing their pride in their jobs, due to a sense of disillusionment concerning their salaries, benefits and overall company culture.







"Job security is no longer regarded as a privilege among the younger generation, unless they have the potential for self-development within that organization," an official from the banking industry said. "This situation appears to be the case for young BOK employees. Most of them are not satisfied with their salaries. In addition, the central bank's inflexible and hierarchical office culture also makes them less motivated to work and increasingly passive in their jobs."







According to data posted on the state portal All Public Information in One (ALIO), BOK employees' average annual salary in 2020 reached 100.61 million won ($89,000), similar to what is offered at major commercial banks in Korea. For instance, the figure for KB Kookmin Bank, the nation's largest commercial bank, came in at 100.4 million won ($88,800) during the same period, according to data from the lender. Other top-tier local banks  such as Shinhan, Hana and Woori  also offer similar average salaries to their employees.







McKinsey conducted a survey recently of about 1,300 BOK employees to examine the internal company culture. The major keywords of the survey results included: "conservatism," "bureaucracy" and "inefficiency."







After receiving the report from McKinsey, the BOK put forth its medium- to longer-term development vision, called the BOK 2030, in a bid to reshape its company culture and push for organizational innovation.







"This problem (of a company's culture being rigid and hierarchical) is not limited to the central bank, as the staff of conventional banks express similar opinions," an official from a major lender here said. "But as institutional culture can take some time to change, young officials in the banking industry will likely continue to feel dissatisfied in the foreseeable future, while they watch the rise of fintech startups and highly rewarding financial firms with more open-minded company cultures encourage their young employees' creativity and self-development."






President Moon Jae-in is accompanied by Hong Nam-ki, left, deputy prime minister and minister of economy and finance, before presiding over an expanded meeting of economy-related ministers at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-seok



Government to push for structural economic reform in 2nd half



By Lee Kyung-min



The government said Monday that it will beef up efforts to accelerate structural reform in the second half of the year to achieve a solid economic recovery, better prepare for a post-pandemic world and ensure the country's transformation into an advanced economy.



The administration plans to set up the necessary infrastructure and incentive systems to foster a private sector-led ecosystem that promotes environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) values.



It also plans to launch a climate fund next year to help the country meet its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and become a low-carbon economy.



Infrastructure will be set up to reduce the nation's dependence on coal-fired energy production, and financial support will be offered for firms and human resources that can contribute to increasing the commercial viability of low-carbon business models.



These are key elements of the administration's policy directives for the latter half of the year, announced by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Monday.



In a desperate bid to tackle the so-called "age-quake," the government also plans to unveil countermeasures to the country's population decline and aging in the coming months. An age-quake, a term coined by British Scholar Paul Willis, refers to an earthquake-like phenomenon caused by a sudden decline in population.



Drastic revisions will be made to state-run projects to remove redundancies and best allocate state resources, as part of a long-term objective of maintaining fiscal soundness; while tightened macro-prudential measures will be adopted to curb snowballing household debt.



The government will ease regulations to help the country's exports exceed $600 billion (678 trillion won) this year, backed by a variety of financial assistance from state lenders.



Expansionary fiscal policy stance will be maintained to bolster the Korean New Deal Initiative and increase efforts to reduce pandemic-induced inequality.




Activists from nine civic groups in Gwangju hold a press conference in front of the Gwangju City Hall, June 2, to protest Macquarie's acquisition of Haeyang Energy. Courtesy of civic groups



Civic groups to hold rally at asset manager's Seoul office next week



By Park Jae-hyuk



Macquarie is facing difficulties in resolving a conflict with civic groups in Gwangju over its recent takeover of Haeyang Energy, the southwestern metropolitan city's exclusive gas supplier, from Glenwood Private Equity.



Local activists have warned the Australian asset management firm about more aggressive protests, although Macquarie Korea Asset Management CEO Seo Bum-sik promised his company would pursue co-prosperity with Haeyang Energy's customers, employees and regional communities.



Nine groups in the region, including the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice and the Justice Party, said they will hold a rally next Tuesday in front of Macquarie's Seoul office.



They will also push ahead with meetings with Macquarie officials and lawmakers of a standing committee overseeing the matter.



"We are deeply concerned about the free trade of the public service provider for the sake of the speculative capital's profits," the civic groups said in a statement.



They plan to hold an open debate at the Gwangju Metropolitan Council sometime in July.



Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-seop and Council Chairman Kim Yong-jyb have supported the civic groups, alleging Glenwood's unilateral decision to sell Haeyang Energy goes against the recent trend of management considering environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors.



"The city government and council demand Macquarie give clear and responsible answers, and disclose specifics about the deal," the mayor and the chairman said in a joint statement, June 17.



They expressed concerns about the possibilities of a price hike, Haeyang Energy's insolvency, job instability and deterioration of the working environment at the company.





Macquarie Group headquarters in Sydney / Yonhap
A view of KIAF Art Seoul 2019 / Courtesy of KIAF Art Seoul



By Park Han-sol



KIAF Art Seoul, the largest international art fair here since 2002, will be held at COEX in southern Seoul and also online this fall before launching a partnership with the prominent global fair Frieze starting next year.



The event will be held from Oct. 13 to 17, following the success of other local art fairs, including Galleries Art Fair, Busan Annual Market of Art (BAMA), Art Busan and Plastic Art Seoul (PLAS), which saw record turnouts and sales in the first half of this year amid surging public interest in the art market and a subsequent influx of new collectors.



The organizer, the Galleries Association of Korea, said it saw more than a 30 percent increase in the number of applications submitted by galleries to this year's event compared to previous years. Among nearly 300 applicants, more than 170 selected galleries from 12 countries will showcase paintings, sculptures and media works this fall.



Major participating players from the domestic art scene include Kukje Gallery, Johyun Gallery, Hakgojae Gallery and PKM Gallery. And with Seoul seen as a rising Asian hub in the contemporary global art market, a number of notable international galleries  New York's Gladstone Gallery, Berlin-based Esther Schipper and Peres Projects  will join the fair for the first time.





A view of Frieze London 2019 / Courtesy of Linda Nylind and Frieze
The seventh Korea-U.S. Church Conference was hosted online by the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) and the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCCCUSA), Friday. Courtesy of NCCK



By Park Ji-won



The National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) and the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCCCUSA) adopted a joint statement urging the governments of both South Korea and the United States to work towards declaring an end to the Korean War as well as to hold negotiations to sign a peace treaty on the Korean Peninsula.



In a joint statement released by the NCCK and the NCCCUSA Friday, largely regarded as liberal Protestant church organizations in both countries, the two groups said, "We urge both governments to declare an end to the Korean War and open negotiations to conclude a peace treaty."



Stressing that the May 21 summit between Seoul and Washington was a "disappointment," as it was a meeting mainly to reinforce the military alliance between the two nations, it said, "We are confident that the end of the war and the establishment of peace agreements will be the starting point for resolving a number of challenges, including the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and we urge the U.S. to support actively the efforts of the two Koreas to lead the way in accomplishing this."



The release of the joint statement marks the 71st anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War, and attempts to stimulate the current atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula between the two Koreas and the U.S. towards the resumption of peaceful talks between the countries.



The conference also called for Seoul and Washington to lift sanctions on Pyongyang, so that emergency disaster assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic can be provided to the North. It also urged the U.S. to stop pressing South Korea on the matter of joining the Quad network.



The Korea-U.S. church conference began in 1970 with the theme of the future of Northeast Asia, and was held six times until 2003. This year's 7th conference is the first time the meeting has taken place since then.


By Nam Hyun-woo





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Italian Ambassador to Korea Federico Failla speaks during the "Italian Excellency in Decommissioning and Radwaste Management," the first event of the "Contemporary Italy" series introducing how the country is leading innovation, at High Street Italia in southern Seoul, June 23. Courtesy of Italian Embassy in Seoul



By Kwon Mee-yoo



Italy is a country well-known for its art, fashion and food in Korea. However, modern-day Italy has much more to offer in fields such as aerospace, medicine and pharmaceuticals, energy, artificial intelligence (AI) and engineering.



The Embassy of Italy in Korea launched "Contemporary Italy," a series of events promoting how tech-savvy the country is, and the first one presenting Italian technologies in nuclear decommissioning was held at High Street Italia in southern Seoul, June 23.



Titled "Italian Excellency in Decommissioning and Radwaste Management," the event invited two experts from Sogin, a state-owned company responsible for decommissioning and radioactive waste management in Italy, to introduce and share Italy's nuclear-plant-dismantlement technologies.



"Italy is a leader in many high-tech industries and today we discuss how to decommission nuclear power stations and how to treat radioactive waste," Italian Ambassador to Korea Federico Failla said in the opening remarks.



"Each country makes choices about using nuclear power, but this is not the topic of today. This is not a meeting about whether to use it or not. But different choices make different problems  the problem of radwaste management and the problem of decommissioning nuclear power stations."



Representing Italian technology in this field were Sogin's Development and Technological Innovation director Francesco Troiani and International Affairs director Mario Lazzeri. Troiani and Lazzeri participated in the event via video conferencing.



A pioneer in nuclear power in the mid-20th century, Italy decided to shut down its four nuclear plants due to environmental concerns. It established Sogin in 1999, which is in charge of the safe maintenance and decommissioning of nuclear power plants and the management of radioactive waste.



Sogin is a collaborating center of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and has a notable international presence with projects in 18 countries, providing assistance in decommissioning nuclear plants.



"Management of radioactive waste is a challenging task for all countries and the Italian government indicated the roles and responsibilities of Sogin very clearly, including the construction and operation of the National Radioactive Waste Repository," Lazzeri said.



Troiani and Lazzeri explained how Italy is developing new technologies to provide safer and more innovative ways of dismantling nuclear plants.



Ku Jeong-hoe, CTO for Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Environment Research at the Korea Atomic Research Institute, said the presentation exceeded his expectations and will lead to new collaborations.



"Before I came here, I had no information about your technologies because your country is so famous for fashion, food and furniture, not for your technology. So after this meeting, I will try to make technical meetings with your staff," Ku said.



Kang Jae-yueol, executive vice chairman of the Korea Atomic Industrial Forum, invited Sogin representatives to a nuclear decommissioning forum slated for December, suggesting future Italy-Korea cooperation in the field of nuclear energy.


University of Seoul campus / Korea Times file



Seoul City-run school to double tuition for international students



By Bahk Eun-ji



Controversy has arisen over the University of Seoul's plan to nearly double the tuition fees paid by foreign students starting next year.



Some students and members of the general public say the sudden hike is unfair and taking advantage of a minority group at the school. However, others say the school's tuition fees are kept artificially low through subsidies from taxpayers and it is improper to provide such a benefit to foreign students who do not pay taxes.



The university held a tuition review committee meeting June 11 and decided to raise the fees for international undergraduate and graduate students entering next year by 100 percent and 20 percent, respectively.



The University of Seoul, an affiliate of Seoul Metropolitan Government, introduced "half-price tuition" in 2012 under former Mayor Park Won-soon to relieve the financial burden on students and parents amid rows over high tuition costs at colleges here.



Since then the tuition for students in the humanities and social science department has remained at 1.02 million won ($906) per semester, regardless of a student's nationality, which is less than half of most of other universities in the country.



The number of foreign students at the University of Seoul was 580 as of 2020, according to a government website on higher education.



The school explained that the increase had been discussed for several years and was aimed at expanding support for international students.



"Beginning several years ago, we have conducted surveys on the necessary support and appropriate tuition fee levels for international students, and what other universities have been doing," an official from the university told The Korea Times.



"We tried to make the tuition for international students at the average level of other national and public universities. We plan to use the money raised to increase scholarships and provide more Korean classes for foreign students," the official said.



According to the minutes of the tuition review committee, the university conducted a survey in January and decided on more support for foreign students who were experiencing difficulty in school life, including writing papers and participating in lectures due to their weak Korean skills.



The school officials also said the 100 percent increase was to put the tuition on a par with that for undergraduates in the humanities and social sciences department at national and public universities nationwide.



However, critics within the university say that it is unreasonable to push such a sharp increase only for foreign students who cannot speak out to protest the decision.



Since it is practically impossible to raise the tuition fees for Korean students as the "half-priced tuition" is a symbol for the school, critics point out that the university is trying to resolve its financial problems by raising money from foreign students.



Some local and foreign students at the university placed a hand-written poster on the school's campus June 15 saying the school was increasing the tuition drastically by taking advantage of the fact that foreign freshmen would not be able to protest the decision.



One of the students, Yang Sun-kyung, said international students were having difficulties balancing work and studies at the same time just like Korean students.



"The Seoul Metropolitan Government should provide more financial support considering the purpose of introducing the half-price tuition system was so that students could focus on learning," Yang said.



"I think the university's administrative process is really wrong," a person wrote on "Everytime," an online community for university students. "I don't think they can just force foreign students to pay twice as much because they don't pay tax. Even though a tuition increase is necessary, the school should increase it gradually at a certain level, which everyone can understand," he said.



But some others support the university's decision, saying it is unfair for foreign students to pay the same tuition fees as Koreans.



"In many countries such as the United States and China, there is a difference in tuition between domestic and foreign students, especially in public or national universities, which are run by government funding or from taxes," one user wrote.



"I don't think students at the university know why their tuition is so cheap. All those benefits are subsidies from Seoul taxpayers' money. Would it sound reasonable for a Korean students to go abroad and ask for a subsidy for expensive tuition from the government of that country?" he said.


Lt. Gen. Park In-ho, chief of strategic planning at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), was tapped as the new Air Force chief of staff, the defense ministry said Monday.





Lt. Gen. Park In-ho
Police officers search a park in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday, to find Kim Hwi-seong, a high school senior who went missing on June 22. Police said Monday that Kim was found dead on a mountain road in the city. Yonhap



By Nam Hyun-woo



A high school senior who had been missing for seven days was found dead on a mountain located near his school, local police said Monday.



According to Bundang Police Station in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, the student, Kim Hwi-seong, was found dead on a mountain road in Bundang. When found, Kim was wearing his school uniform.



Police said there were no signs of external force exerted on Kim, and no injuries or messages were found. They are assuming that Kim committed suicide and are planning to request the National Forensic Service conduct an autopsy.



Kim went missing on June 22, after sending a text message to his aunt at 4:40 p.m. that he would return home after nighttime study at his school. Then he left his smartphone at school and went to a nearby convenience store to recharge his transportation card. After leaving the store, Kim used his father's credit card to purchase books at a bookstore located next to Seohyeon Station at 5:22 p.m. He was last captured on surveillance footage at 5:28 p.m. near the bookstore.



Police said they have secured a statement that Kim was scolded by his father about his career path the previous day. Regarding this situation, family members reportedly said that they often had similar conversations and there were no particular stress factors for him.



Kim's case garnered public attention after online postings concerning his disappearance went viral.



*If you need expert help due to depression or other mental health concerns, you can receive 24-hour counseling by calling the Korean Suicide Prevention Center's hotline at 1393.


Gyeonggi Province governor Lee Jae-myung, left, and former prosecutor general Yoon Seok-youl / Korea Times file



Gyeonggi governor, ex-prosecutor to announce presidential bids this week



By Kang Seung-woo



The race for Cheong Wa Dae is beginning in earnest, with the high-profile candidates set to declare their bids for the presidency this week.



Gyeonggi Province governor Lee Jae-myung, the leading presidential hopeful of the liberal ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), is expected to announce on Thursday, that he will join the party's primary, which will pick its winner by early September. Yoon Seok-youl, the former prosecutor general who has led many opinion polls, is scheduled officially to declare his presidential bid on Tuesday.



South Korea's presidential election is scheduled to take place on March 9, 2022.



According to Rep. Park Hong-keun of the DPK, one of Lee's aides, the governor plans to declare his candidacy on Thursday, after registering as a preliminary candidate with the DPK. In 2017, he competed in the party primary and came in third, after now-President Moon Jae-in and former South Chungcheong Province governor An Hee-jung.



Along with the Gyeonggi governor, Rep. Lee Nak-yon, the former DPK chairperson and former prime minister, is expected to declare his candidacy next week.



So far, six members of the DPK have expressed their intention to run for presidency, including: former prime minister Chung Sye-kyun, former justice minister Choo Mi-ae and Gangwon Province Governor Choi Moon-soon. The DPK has started its three-day registration period for preliminary candidates in the primary, which lasts until Wednesday.



Meanwhile on Monday, Chung and Rep. Lee Kwang-jae agreed to unify their presidential candidacies by next Monday in an apparent move to curb the strength of the Gyeonggi governor in the race.



"With our common vision to create another government affiliated with the DPK, we decided, through much dialogue and coming to an agreement, to be the first to unify our candidacies," they said during a press conference at the Korea Exchange in Seoul.



"With an urgent sense of duty to help launch the fourth DPK-led government ... we have committed to contributing to electing a good candidate who has moral integrity, knowledge of the economy and the capability to command state affairs."





Former prime minister Chung Sye-kyun, right, shakes hands with Rep. Lee Kwang-jae of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, at the Korea Exchange in Seoul, Monday, after agreeing to unify their presidential candidacies for the party's primary by next Monday. Yonhap



On the opposition side, Yoon Seok-youl plans to declare his presidential bid at the memorial hall for Yun Bong-gil  the Korean independence activist known for setting off a bomb at a Japanese imperial army celebration that killed several dignitaries  in Yangjae-dong, Tuesday.



The former top prosecutor resigned, March 4, in apparent objection to the liberal ruling bloc's push for a prosecution reform, catapulting him into the spotlight, as a strong presidential contender in the conservative opposition bloc. However, he has yet to decide whether he will run in the election on the conservative main opposition People Power Party's (PPP) ticket.



In addition to Yoon, Choe Jae-hyeong, the chairman of Korea's Board of Audit and Inspection, offered to step down from his post on Monday, in what seemed to be a move to run for president. President Moon accepted this offer later in the day.





Choe Jae-hyeong, the chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection, announces his intention to resign while reporting to work at his agency in Seoul, Monday, in an apparent bid to run for the presidential race next year. Yonhap
Rep. Jang Hye-young of the minor opposition Justice Party, right, asks questions related to the anti-discrimination law she proposed last year to Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae, left, during an interpellation session at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. Jang criticized the education ministry's view that seeks to exclude discrimination based on one's academic background in the law. Captured from National Assembly's video minutes





By Jung Da-min







Debate has arisen over whether a person's academic background should be considered as a discriminatory factor, and if any such discrimination should be banned under law.







The issue came to light last week when the Ministry of Education submitted an opinion to the National Assembly and Ministry of Justice regarding a bill on the promulgation on an anti-discrimination law. In recent years, the liberal bloc has been promoting the enactment of a law to prevent discrimination based on gender, disability, age, language, country of origin, sexual orientation, physical condition, academic background or any other reason.







Minor opposition Justice Party Rep. Jang Hye-young, who proposed the bill, said the education ministry was seeking to exclude academic background as a discrimination category based on the opinion that it was not innately determined  unlike gender, nationality or disability  but was the result of individual choices and effort.







Jang raised the issue of the inappropriateness of the ministry's move at a National Assembly session, Thursday, while addressing Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum and Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae.







"When it comes to a person's academic background, a more essential factor than individual effort is the (financial or other) situation and environment the person is in," Jang said. "The Ministry of Education, which is aware of the impact of environment on academic achievement, and has an obligation to improve it, should be strongly criticized for sending an inappropriate review that states academic background is simply a matter of effort."







Other members of the Justice Party, which has been strongly promoting the anti-discrimination law, agreed saying that people experience a gap of academic opportunity from a very young age, as some are given more opportunities than others based on their family's wealth.







Kang Min-jin, center, head of the minor opposition Justice Party's youth chapter, speaks during a press conference in front of the National Assembly, Friday, to condemn the education ministry's opinion that academic background should not be considered as one of the discriminatory factors in a proposed anti-discrimination law. Courtesy of Justice Party





"Some attend English kindergartens and enjoy the benefits of private education and study abroad. When it comes to education, having more opportunities thanks to rich parents occurs routinely not only in the illegal realm, but also in the very legal realm, as some wealthy parents are able to focus on educating their children, using their social influence and networks," said Kang Min-jin, head of the Justice Party's youth chapter, during a press conference last Friday at the National Assembly.







The issue of a fair education system has been at the center of politics here in recent years, with young people voicing criticism against politicians involved in scandals in which they have used their influence to provide their children with preferential educational opportunities or other "options" to ensure their acceptance into top universities.







"There are young people who can focus on their studies without having to work part-time, and there are others who cannot. It is said that academic achievement is a result of individuals studying hard, but in the reality we live in, opportunities and the ability to enjoy such opportunities are unequal," Kang said.







Online users showed a mixed response on the matter.







Some said that legislating against discrimination based on an individual's academic background could result in another form of discrimination against those who worked hard to earn good results. But others argue that, as young people are given different opportunities depending on their parents' financial ability, discrimination based on academic background should be addressed.


Board of Audit and Inspection Chairman Choe Jae-hyeong gets in the car after announcing his intention to resign from the post at the audit agency's headquarters in Jongno-gu, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap



President Moon Jae-in on Monday accepted the resignation of the head of South Korea's state audit agency after he offered to step down earlier in the day in a move widely viewed as a prelude to joining the presidential election race.



The resignation of Choe Jae-hyeong, the chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), came six months before the end of his four-year term and the presidential election slated for March.



Moon approved Choe's offer to be relieved of his post at around 5:50 p.m., about nine hours after he made his decision public.



"Considering the term of a top state auditor is guaranteed to maintain the political neutrality, Chairman Choe has set an undesirable precedent," Moon was quoted as saying by Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee.



The president expressed regret over Choi's move, she added.



A Cheong Wa Dae official later said it is unprecedented for a BAI chief to resign before the end of his or her tenure under the nation's civilian government.



It remains unclear when Moon will nominate Choe's successor, according to the official, who spoke on the customary condition of anonymity.



Choe told reporters that he had tendered his resignation earlier in the day. He added he had thought that it is "inappropriate" to carry on his duty amid "plenty of disputes" over his position.



He apologized to the people, the president and other BAI officials for resigning ahead of the end of his tenure.



The former judge is widely expected to seek to run in next year's presidential election as an opposition candidate.



He has hinted for months at the possibility of doing so, drawing criticism from the ruling bloc for its impact on the BAI's independence.



Local media regard Choe as a potential alternative presidential candidate to former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl for the opposition camp critical of Moon in the case that Yoon drops out of the race.



Choe did not clarify immediately whether or when he would declare his political bid, saying he plans to take some time to think carefully about what role he can play for the future of the nation.



He has been at odds with Cheong Wa Dae since the BAI's controversial audit last year on the Moon administration's decision to close the Wolsong-1 reactor at an early date.



The closure is in line with Moon's campaign to phase out the country's use of nuclear energy in favor of renewable ones.



The nuclear reactor's economic viability was unreasonably undervalued in the government's study, according to the results of the BAI's probe. Moon's aides have labeled it a "politically motivated" audit under Choe's leadership.



State prosecutors are investigating suspicions that the government had manipulated the economic viability of the decades-old reactor. (Yonhap)




Presidential anti-corruption aide resigns over property deals



President Moon Jae-in's secretary for anti-corruption offered to resign Sunday following accusations of real estate speculation involving millions of dollars in loans. Moon accepted the resignation of the secretary, Kim Gi-pyo, immediately.



Even a cursory look at his financial status raises a question as to how he passed the presidential office's verification process. Kim reported to the government in a recent declaration of personal assets that he owns 9.12 billion won ($8.08 million) worth of real estate: an apartment in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, valued at 1.45 billion won; two commercial stores in Seoul worth 6.55 billion won; and forest land in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, valued at 840 million won. His financial liabilities amounted to 5.62 billion won.



When Kim's asset declaration was made public Friday, his huge liabilities prompted suspicion that he had taken out large loans to buy land using inside information. Accusations against Kim are focused on the forest land he purchased for 49 million won in 2017 when he was a lawyer. The land was not connected to a road and was available at a cheap price back then, but it was only one kilometer away from a new development area that was approved in 2018.



Since taking office in 2017, President Moon has prodded his staff to lead by example by owning only one home as part of his efforts to stamp out property speculation. In light of this, it's incomprehensible that Kim was appointed as the presidential anti-corruption aide, a position requiring much higher ethical standards and morals.



This incident is yet another testament to the fact that Cheong Wa Dae's vetting system is flawed. Kim's appointment came in March when the nation was boiling with a land speculation scandal involving employees at Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH). Despite the scandal, Moon appointed a person fraught with suspicious property deals to the high-ranking position. Moon and his aides should carefully and painfully listen to the opposition's criticism that Cheong Wa Dae's vetting system is not just flawed, but virtually non-existent.


More efforts needed to localize parts, materials



Almost two years have passed since Japan suddenly curbed exports to Korean firms of key parts and materials  photoresist, fluorine polyimide and etching gas  in apparent retaliation to Seoul top court's ruling in October 2018 ordering Japanese companies to compensate surviving South Korean victims of the neighboring country's forced wartime labor. According to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and Korea Customs Service (KCS) Sunday, Korea registered a $10.2 billion trade deficit with Japan during the January to May period this year.



This represents a 35 percent increase from $7.4 billion a year earlier. Korea's exports to Japan rose 6.6 percent to reach $11.7 billion, while imports surged 17.8 percent to $21.7 billion in the first five months of the year. KITA foresaw that the trade deficit with Japan will likely surpass last year's $20.9 billion should the current trend continue.



Korea's still heavy reliance on Japan for the supply of intermediate goods  with the exception of etching gas, where dependency fell to 13 percent from 43.9 percent over the same period a year earlier  is worrisome. The reliance on photoresist and fluorine polyimide decreased by only 6.7 percentage points and 0.1 percentage points, respectively.



Domestic carmakers are suffering from a lack of parts for some popular models, making consumers wait up to a year for delivery mainly due to the shortage of semiconductors for the relevant cars. Korea, the world's No. 5 carmaker, has relied on imports of chips for automotive use. More seriously Japan will likely attempt to curb the exports of related parts and materials to Korean companies again, making the most of their expanding reliance on Japan.



This means Korea remains exposed to such a risk as its carmakers will have to import more intermediate goods from Japan to assemble more cars for export. Seoul's trade shortfall with Tokyo had declined drastically following Japan's retaliatory measures against Korean firms, thanks to concerted efforts to localize key parts and materials. Yet the trade gap has begun to widen again, prompted by booming trade with Japan, and Koreans' boycott of Japanese products losing steam.



Korea has a long way to go to catch up with Japan, which has accumulated prowess in state-of-the-art technologies over the past several decades. Yet we must strive to narrow the bilateral trade deficit by reducing our excessive reliance on Japan. The country must also set up its own supply chains of materials, parts and equipment.



To that end, the government should consider providing more assistance to the relevant small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). From the long-term perspective, it needs to promote the research and development activities of businesses along with efforts to diversify import channels for key industrial items.


By John Burton





The U.S. earlier this month established Juneteenth, which commemorates the ending of slavery in 1865, as a new national holiday. The move had broad bipartisan support despite increased political polarization and reflected growing public interest in the lasting impact of slavery on the U.S.



Perhaps it's time that Korea examine its own legacy of slavery, which was only legally banned in 1894, 29 years after its end in the U.S. Mark Peterson, a former professor of Korean studies at Brigham Young University and one of the few U.S. scholars who has studied Korean slavery, has argued that Korea had the longest, unbroken chain of slaveholding in the world, lasting nearly 1,500 years. Its legacy might help explain such modern phenomena as the sex slavery of the "comfort women" during World War II and North Korea's "seongbun" caste system.



The seongbun system, in particular, is just a modern update of the social stratification that reached its height during the Joseon period, with the nobi class of servants, serfs and slaves serving the yangban class of nobles.



Slavery in Korea began during the Three Kingdoms period when there was a shortage of labor and those captured in the regional wars were enslaved by the conquerors. They and their descendants were never freed, creating a hereditary class of slaves. A document from the period shows that one Silla aristocrat had 3,000 slaves.



The slave population grew during the following Goryeo period. By the time of the beginning of Joseon Kingdom at the end of the 14th century, it is estimated that there were 200,000 state and private slaves out of a total population of 2 million, indicating that the political and economic elite had become dependent on slave labor for basic production.



The Korean slavery system was more akin to those that had operated in ancient Greece and Rome rather than in the antebellum southern U.S., which was based on a clear distinction between white owners and Black slaves imported from Africa. In contrast, all the Korean slaves were ethnic Koreans.



But both the Korean and American slave systems were well-organized. There was, for example, an "office of fostering slaves" in the Joseon government. By the 17th century in Joseon Korea, an estimated one-third of the population was engaged in some form of coerced labor.



Slaves in both societies were regarded as legal chattel that could be bought and sold, while slave hunters were employed to hunt down those who had escaped. As in the U.S., children in Korea who were born of a slave mother and a "yangban" father were considered to be slaves.



Some Korean scholars argue that the status of many of the nobi was more similar to that of serfs in Russia who enjoyed some civil and property rights and had an established legal status. This was particularly true in Korea for those who worked on large royal and yangban estates.



The slave system in Korea began to break down following the invasions of Joseon by the Japanese in the 1590s and the Qing Dynasty Chinese in 1636, which left the Korean economy devastated. The government needed increased tax revenue and since the nobi were not required to pay taxes, they were gradually freed so that they could become a new source of revenue for government coffers. In addition, the growth of the population reduced the labor shortage that had fostered slavery.



Those who were emancipated adopted the surnames of their aristocratic masters, the most prominent of which were the Kim, Lee and Park royal families, which explains the wide prevalence of these surnames in Korea today.



It is also one explanation of why the history of slavery is less remembered in Korea than in the U.S. Former Korean slaves could easily blend back into society because they shared the same ethnic roots and common family names, while former slaves in the U.S. were easily identified by their dark skin.



Nonetheless, Korea has had to contend with the cultural and psychological legacy of slavery. The Koreans who procured young women for the Japanese military brothels of World War II echoed the sexual violence that "nobi" women suffered, including rapes by yangban masters and slave hunters.



The Walk Free Foundation, a human rights group, estimates that North Korea now has the highest rate of slavery in the world, with 10 percent of the population engaged in some form of state-sponsored unpaid forced labor.



This modern version of slavery is based on the strict class distinctions imposed by the seongbun system, which established a social hierarchy according to political reliability and family background. There is also a note of racism in the classification system, with those having traces of Chinese or Japanese blood considered second-class citizens.



Slavery continues to cast its dark shadow over the Korean Peninsula.





John Burton (johnburtonft@yahoo.com), a former Korea correspondent for the Financial Times, is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and consultant.


Hanwha employees enters the headquarter building in Seoul. Korea Times file



By Kim Hyun-bin



Hanwha is speeding up efforts to become a leading player in the space sector with Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn's eldest son, Hanwha Solutions President Kim Dong-kwan, taking charge.



The younger Kim has set space development as one of the conglomerates future growth engines along with eco-friendly business including solar and hydrogen power.



As part of the efforts, Hanwha Corp. will localize development of a storable bipropellant thruster, a key component for maintaining satellites in orbit.



Hanwha and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) will spend 8 billion won on developing the storable bipropellant thruster by 2025.



Thrusters are utilized to control and change a satellite's orbital position, which could be disrupted by rare disturbances in the Earth's magnetic field, and the transitional gravitational pull exerted by other planets as their orbits bring them comparatively closer to the Earth.



Korean satellites have so far been built with thrusters imported from countries such as Germany, but Hanwha and KARI are seeking to develop an advanced bipropellant thruster that will allow Korean-built satellites to stay in their predetermined orbits longer than their predecessors.



Satellites achieve their set orbital positioning through the use of their own thrusters after separating from the main rocket, and have to have an operating lifespan of at least 15 years.



Bipropellant thrusters store fuel and oxidant in separate tanks, and the dual system increases efficiency and allows storage of a large amount of fuel for a lengthy period of time.



"It will be a big step forward if we can localize the development of key technologies, as before we had to rely 100 percent on foreign companies," Hanwha Corp. CEO Kim Seung-mo said.



Since the mid-1990s, Hanwha has been developing and producing monopropellant thrusters that have been used on Korea's multi-purpose and next-generation satellites currently in operation.





Hanwha Solutions President Kim Dong-kwan
SK Planet's headquarters in Pangyo in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times file



By Kim Jae-heun



The country's second-tier e-commerce operators are reviewing their best options on how to survive in the highly competitive local e-commerce market, with SK considering forming a partnership with Lotte.



Shinsegae's sole decision to acquire an 80 percent stake in eBay Korea means, if the transaction is completed as scheduled, the local e-commerce market will be reshaped centering on three major players  Naver, Shinsegae and Coupang.



Currently, Naver is the top player in Korea's e-commerce market with a 17 percent market share, followed by Shinsegae with 15 percent (12 percent which eBay Korea controls) and Coupang with 13 percent. SK is the fourth-largest player with a market share of 6 percent, followed by Lotte with 5 percent, which are way too low to compete against the top three.



Acknowledging the further growth potential of the country's e-commerce market, SK is hoping to challenge the sector leaders via active collaboration.



"We will open a store within 11st in collaboration with Amazon in July and we will discuss with Lotte and Homeplus various ways of possible cooperation in the second half of this year," SK Telecom Chief Finance Officer Yoon Poong-young said last week. "Lotte Group and Homeplus are expected to explore the best possible ways to level up their mutual partnership."



SK Telecom is an operator of the fourth-largest e-commerce firm, 11st. Homeplus is a local discount store retail chain operated by private equity fund (PEF) MBK Partners.



SK Telecom has been looking for a retailer to cooperate with its e-commerce firm since early this year, according to sources in the local banking industry. "SK is hoping to strengthen its overseas direct purchase services with Amazon and fresh food shopping with local discount store chains," one source said.



The remarks by the SK executive are interpreted by many as the company's willingness to enter a comprehensive partnership with Lotte, Homeplus or both in the second half of this year.



Given its strengths in logistics and retail channel systems, any alliance with Lotte Group could help SK gain some advantages in terms of improving sales given Lotte's abundance in retail stocks.



Also, Lotte is seeking to get help from online retailers as its ambitiously launched Lotte ON mobile platform failed to impress despite hefty investments, according to sources familiar with the matter.




A smartphone with the Huawei and 5G network logo is seen on a PC motherboard in this illustration picture taken Jan. 29, 2020. Reuters-Yonhap




gettyimagesbank



Sensitive defense documents containing details about the British military have been found at a bus stop in England, the BBC reported Sunday.



The papers included plans for a possible U.K. military presence in Afghanistan, as well as discussion about the potential Russian reaction to the British warship HMS Defender's travel through waters off the Crimean coast last week, the BBC said.



The broadcaster said a member of the public who wanted to remain unnamed contacted it when they found the pile of documents  about 50 pages in all  in a soggy heap Tuesday behind a bus stop in Kent, southeast of London.



The Ministry of Defense said an employee had reported the loss of the documents last week. It did not provide details about the incident or confirm the documents were found at a bus stop.



''The Ministry of Defense was informed last week of an incident in which sensitive defense papers were recovered by a member of the public,'' it said in a statement. ''The department takes the security of information extremely seriously and an investigation has been launched.''



''The department takes the security of information extremely seriously and an investigation has been launched,'' it said in a statement. ''It would be inappropriate to comment further.''



John Healey, the defense spokesman for the opposition Labor party, said the incident was both embarrassing and worrying.



''Ministers must be able to confirm to the public that national security has not been undermined, that no military or security operations have been affected and that the appropriate procedures are in place to ensure nothing like this happens again,'' he said.



The HMS Defender upset Russia's military on Wednesday when it sailed south of the Crimean Peninsula in a Black Sea area that Moscow claims as its territorial waters. Many nations, including the U.K., do not accept Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and consider that area to be Ukrainian waters.



Russia said one of its warships fired warning shots in response to the destroyer's intrusion, but Britain denied that account and said the warship was not in Russian waters. The U.K.'s Ministry of Defense said the ship was ''conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law.''



The documents showed officials conducted high-level discussions before Wednesday's clash about how Russia may react if HMS Defender sailed close to Crimea, the BBC said. (AP)


The Boyz Juyeon and Eric made fans swoon with their dance covers to multiple EXO tracks in a recent live stream! Thanks to this, they even trended on social media due to a surprising cover they did! What could it be?

On June 28, The Boyz Juyeon and Eric set social media and real-time searches into a frenzy because of their latest V Live broadcast, following their dance covers to several EXO songs.

The Boyz Eric and Juyeon Prove They're "EXO's Sons" with Their Dance Covers to EXO Tracks

On Monday, Eric and Juyeon turned on their V Live channel to communicate with The Bs, their fans. But to the latter's surprise, the broadcast became a mini-concert of just the two idols fanboying over EXO!

In particular, from title tracks to b-sides, the all-rounder members boasted flawless dance covers to EXO "Love Shot," "Call Me Baby," "The Eve," "Monster," and "Don't Go."

210627

 JUYEON & ERIC dancing THE EVE  by EXO pic.twitter.com/HU8eC8rwUU   (@_thatbaek) June 27, 2021

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 JUYEON & ERIC dancing Call Me Baby  by EXO pic.twitter.com/XT8gkm2eTS   (@_thatbaek) June 27, 2021

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 JUYEON & ERIC dancing  Dont Go   by EXO pic.twitter.com/eYq7LmNHLn   (@_thatbaek) June 27, 2021

Eric and Juyeon were also perfectly in sync while showing effortless dance moves - despite the fact that EXO is known to have difficult choreographies.

The Boyz Eric and Juyeon Covers Trend on MelOn Real-Times Searches - Here's Why

What surprised not only The B (Deobis) and EXO-Ls was when Eric pulled his true "EXO-L card" by dancing to "They Never Know" that it even trended atop MelOn's real-time searches!

210627

 ERIC of THE BOYZ dance to EXO

 They Never Know  pic.twitter.com/PcZEqusM67   (@_thatbaek) June 27, 2021

EXO fans were amazed at Eric as the mentioned track is a known underrated gem unknown to non-EXO-Ls or even some new fans. On top of that, he also performed Sehun's solo dance choreo for " They Never Know," and this is where only true fans can only remember!

210627

 JUYEON & ERIC dancing  mmmh   by Kai pic.twitter.com/kaAJexJ7KU   (@_thatbaek) June 27, 2021

Meanwhile, Juyeon and Eric, made the studio a sizzling hot stage with their dance covers of EXO Kai solos, like "Mmmh" and "Reason." At that time, "Kai" and "Reason" also trended, with fans praising The Boyz members for their incredible covers.

210627

 JUYEON & ERIC dancing  Reason  by Kai pic.twitter.com/SVQ2YS3lfe   (@_thatbaek) June 27, 2021

With this, fans began calling that The Boyz are "EXO's sons" due to their uncanny similarities to the senior group in terms of visuals, talents, and even personalities.

Check out some of EXO-Ls and The Bs reaction to The Boyz dance cover to EXO songs.

its funny how the whole kpop industry is dancing to exos songs except exo themselves. i h8 it here djsbdhsja  dftf  (@exosupremacy__) June 27, 2021

The Boyz Q and Sunwoo also held their live broadcast, covering EXO tracks "Growl," "Love Shot," Baekhyun's "Candy," and more.

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 SUNWOO & Q dancing  GROWL  by EXO pic.twitter.com/PCBE8MwqnN   (@_thatbaek) June 28, 2021

Meanwhile, EXO-Ls are also expressing how proud they are of EXO, who is also referred to as an "idol of idols" group. In the previous days, SEVENTEEN Seungkwan and ENHYPEN also fanboyed over EXO by doing song and dance covers of EXO releases.

Jay and Ni-ki dancing to The Eve by EXO pic.twitter.com/sK7vBWKj1Q  Ninny (@EnhypenMyMoon) June 27, 2021

For more K-Pop news and updates, keep your tabs open here at KpopStarz.

KpopStarz owns this article.

Written by Eunice Dawson


Territory Representative  Little Rock/Central Arkansas Benjamin Moore & Co is currently looking for an ambitious and self-motivated individual to join our sales team. You will be accountable for delivering sustainable and profitable sales and market share growth with retailers and customers in your territory and will also lead the implementation of product placement, programs and services within your assigned stores. The territory covers Central Arkansas. We Are Looking For: Energetic salespeople. Confident, results-oriented salespeople to represent our brand with an unparalleled work ethic and drive to support our retailers and customers in a customer-centric way.

Relationship focused partners. People who understand market positioning and can use their relationship skills and depth of knowledge to secure buy-in, cooperation, and loyalty.

Team players. Partners who listen to ideas, share thoughts and work together to move the business forward. This is a great opportunity to develop your sales experience with a high-energy team and become part of an iconic and growing Berkshire Hathaway family brand. Benjamin Moore offers a company car, as well as a competitive compensation & benefits package designed to attract the very best sales professionals. Key Responsibilities: Establish yourself as your customers go-to expert by bringing a dynamic mix of technical knowledge, business acumen and a thoughtful customer approach to the table

Develop new business, penetrate existing accounts, and minimize lost business to achieve profitable sales growth and special objectives within assigned territory

Seek and qualify prospects in accordance with Company account stratification goals

Research customer business needs and develop a mix of products and service to meet needs

Focusing on customer satisfaction by demonstrating teamwork and empowerment, solving problems through a consultative approach, operating with honesty and integrity and providing a highly responsive and unsurpassed level of customer service

Leveraging professional selling skills to meet customer needs Required Skills BA/BS college degree preferred, or equivalent industry business experience

Two plus years B2B sales experience preferred (previous paint experience not required)

Working knowledge of Microsoft Office, CRM experience a plus

Excellent communication, listening and public speaking skills with the ability to listen, negotiate and effectively persuade others

Exceptional Interpersonal skills; confident, enthusiastic and a friendly demeanor

Ability to analyze situations and identify opportunities for success

Effective decision making and problem solving skills

Valid driver's license and a good driving record a must

Ability to stand for 4 hours at a time

Ability to work evenings & weekends when necessary

Ability to travel daily within territory and do up to 25% overnight trips

Ideal candidate will reside within the territory outlined above, preferably in the Central Arkansas ? area

Bi-lingual in Spanish a plus

Ability to place calls to customers and respond to inquiries in a timely and professional manner

High degree of self-discipline, highly organized, and effective at time management; ability to meet deadlines is imperative

Self-motivator that is comfortable with autonomy

Demonstrates ability to forge strong, positive business relationships with customer personnel.

Demonstrates teamwork abilities and persistence when dealing with customers as well as company departments related to the selling function Company Profile The color of pride: Benjamin Moore is proud to be a part of Berkshire Hathaway, which was recognized by Fortune magazine as the world's fourth most admired company. And for more than 130 years we've been a respected leader in the architectural coatings and home decor landscape; creating the products and tools that enrich and beautify thousands of communities each day. We recognize that our associates are the driving force behind our success, and we strive to provide a work environment where hard work, creativity and purposeful collaboration are fostered and encouraged. Safety At Benjamin Moore, our people are the heart of the company and our number one asset. We are committed to providing safe working conditions at all of our locations and have invested heavily in measures aimed at keeping employees healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. With safety as one of our core company values, weve modified facilities and work schedules to support social distancing, established enhanced cleaning and sanitization protocols, and regularly provide personal protective equipment to all employeesincluding masks, gloves and hand sanitizer. Ensuring the well-being of our team members is a top priority.




Staff Nurse - General Medicine Unit Qualified candidates may be eligible for a minimum sign-on incentive of $5,000 based on years of experience! The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Department of Nursing is seeking a Staff Nurse (RN) for the General Medicine Unit (6RC). The General Medicine Unit is part of UIHC's Medical Surgical Services (MSS) division. A Staff Nurse will assess patients' nursing care needs, evaluate effectiveness of care provided, and integrate nursing theory and research into clinical practice. Characteristic Duties of our Staff Nurses include but are not limited to: Applies nursing theory to the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and evaluation of patient responses to health and illness

Assesses patient health care preferences and expectations

Collaboratively coordinates the continuum of care across settings

Develops patient care plan based on patient condition, age, and psychological, educational, and socioeconomic conditions that prescribes interventions to attain expected outcomes

Implements patient care plan according to patient priorities, which includes interventions identified through nursing diagnoses

Documents/reports interventions and patient/family response

Collaborates and integrates contributions of patients and families into multidisciplinary patient care plan

Develops, coordinates and implements transfer/discharge planning throughout episode of care

Implements nursing interventions according to department, division, and/or unit policies, procedures, and protocols to maintain safe environment for patients, visitors and staff. Follows universal precautions University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinicsrecognized as one of the best hospitals in the United Statesis Iowa's only comprehensive academic medical center and a regional referral center. Each day more than 12,000 employees, students, and volunteers work together to provide safe, quality health care and excellent service for our patients. Simply stated, our mission is: Changing Medicine. Changing Lives. Percent of Time: 90% Schedule: 36 hours per week, Rotating Shifts Location: Roy Carver Pavilion (RCP) Rotations: 2 Weekends per month, rotating holidays Salary: $47,431 per year to commensurate *This does not include inpatient or shift differentials Benefits Highlights: Regular salaried position located in Iowa City, Iowa

Fringe benefit package including paid vacation; sick leave; health, dental, life and disability insurance options; and generous employer contributions into retirement plans Education Required An Associates Degree in Nursing, a Diploma in Nursing, a Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing, Professional Masters of Nursing and Healthcare Practice (MNHP), MSN/Clinical Nurse Leader or a Masters Degree in Nursing (MSN, MA) is required Experience Required Excellent written and verbal communication skills are required

Demonstrates excellent interpersonal skills with patients/families, nursing staff, and interdisciplinary team members as demonstrated through written and verbal interactions

General computer skills are required, including proficiency in managing multiple databases including Microsoft Excel

Current license to practice nursing in Iowa is required by date of hire Desirable Qualifications: Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing is highly desired

If Baccalaureate degree in Nursing is not yet obtained, active enrollment in a BSN program is desirable A resume is required as part of the application process. Job openings are posted for a minimum of 14 calendar days. This job may be removed from posting and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended. Equal opportunity/affirmative action employer The University of Iowa is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment free from discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, national origin, age, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, religion, associational preference, status as a qualified individual with a disability, or status as a protected veteran.

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Salary $48,110.40 - $73,486.40 Annually Location Arlington, VA Job Type Full-Time Department Department of Environmental Services Job Number 2952-21B-DES-TT Closing 7/8/2021 11:59 PM Eastern Position Information

Arlington County's Department of Environmental Services is currently seeking a Lead Trades Worker I to support the Signs & Pavement Marking Section of the Transportation, Engineering & Operations Bureau (TE&O) by providing extensive coordination and direction of sign installation and pavement markings, as well as the fabrication of regulatory, traffic control, parking control, and other outdoor signs used in Arlington County. The Lead Trades Worker will assist in monitoring the performance of the operations of the section, fill in for other employees as needed, and work with contracted support services. They will also coordinate other various transportation projects, and be a primary source of communication between county agencies, citizens, and customers for projects they are involved in.



Responsibilities include: Prepare, install, remove, and repair of regulatory traffic signs including special event signage;

Provide field coordination and project management support services to a large signs and pavement marking program;

Assist with design and fabrication of sign orders assigned to the section;

Prioritize work orders in conjunction with work schedules and on-going projects;

Utilize computer and associated software to facilitate work and communication with staff, agencies, stakeholders and customers;

Help team with troubleshooting computers, software, and power app related issues;

Train and provide technical expertise to staff and evaluate the work of staff;

Perform administrative functions such as preparing reports, record keeping, daily activity tracking;

Interpret blueprints and other traffic related design plans; and

Assist with general warehouse operations such as ordering and maintaining supplies.

Selection Criteria

Minimum: High School Diploma or GED;

Two years of experience preparing or installing traffic signs or pavement markings;

Additional certification requirements outlined in the Special Requirements. Substitution: Additional qualifying experience may substitute for up to two years of the education requirement. Technical training may substitute for up to one year of the experience requirement on a year for year basis.



Desirable: Preference may be given to candidates with one or more of the following: Experience working with Cartegraph or other computerized record keeping systems; and

Any of the following certifications: VDOT Intermediate Work Zone IMSA Signs & Pavement Markings Technician IMSA Signs Technician



Special Requirements

Additional certifications: The selected candidate must be able to achieve the following certifications within one year of hire: VDOT Intermediate Work Zone; and

At least one of the following certifications: IMSA Signs & Pavement Markings Technician Level I; or IMSA Signs Technician Level I.

The applicant must possess, or obtain by the time of appointment, and maintain throughout employment, a valid driver license. The applicant must provide Arlington County with a copy of their license/driving record. Any offer of employment may be contingent upon a favorable review of the applicant's driving record.

The work environment includes exposure to drafts, noise, dust, grease, and dirt, with extended periods of standing, walking, bending, crouching, and lifting light to very heavy objects, along with equipment weighing up to 50 pounds. Additionally, work is performed outdoors in all types of weather conditions, often near moving traffic and indoors, depending upon work assignments.

Additional Information

Work Hours: This is a full-time position, with core work performed Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Weekend work and availability for callback may be occasionally required based on business need.



Please complete each section of the application. A resume may be attached; however, it will not substitute for the completed application. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Arlington County Government employee benefits depend on whether a position is permanent, the number of hours worked, and the number of months the position is scheduled.



Specific information on benefits and conditions of employment can be found on the Arlington County Human Resources Department website: (see application details)



Permanent, Full-Time Appointments

All jobs are permanent, full-time appointments unless otherwise stated in the announcement. The following benefits are available:



Paid Leave : Vacation leave is earned at the rate of four hours biweekly. Leave accrual increases every three years until eight hours of leave are earned biweekly for twelve or more years of service. Sick leave is earned at the rate of four hours biweekly. There are eleven paid holidays each year.



Health and Dental Insurance : Three group health insurance plans are offered - a network open access plan, a point-of-service plan, and a health maintenance organization. A group dental insurance plan is also offered. The County pays a significant portion of the premium for these plans for employees and their dependents. A discount vision plan is provided for eye care needs.



Life Insurance : A group term policy of basic life insurance is provided at no cost to employees. The benefit is one times annual salary. Additional life insurance is available with rates based on the employee's age and smoker/non-smoker status.



Retirement : The County offers three vehicles to help you prepare for retirement: a defined benefit plan, a defined contribution plan (401(a)), and a deferred compensation plan (457). The defined benefit plan provides a monthly retirement benefit based on your final average salary and years of service with the County. You contribute a portion of your salary on a pre-tax basis to this plan. General employees contribute 4% of pay; uniformed public safety employees contribute 7.5% of pay. Employees become vested in the plan at five years of service. The County also contributes to this plan.



For general employees, the County also contributes 4.2% of pay to a defined contribution plan (401(a)) . The County also matches your 457 contribution, up to $20 per pay period, in this plan. The 457 deferred compensation plan allows you to set aside money on either a pre-tax (457b) or post-tax (457 Roth) basis up to the IRS annual limit. New employees are automatically enrolled with a pre-tax contribution equal to 2% of your base pay.



Other Benefits: The County also offers health, dependent care, and parking flexible spending accounts; long-term care insurance; tuition assistance; transit and walk/bike to work subsidies; a college savings plan; wellness programs; training opportunities; and a variety of other employee benefits.



Permanent, Part-Time Appointments:

Part time employees who work ten or more hours per week receive paid leave and benefits in proportion to the number of hours worked per week.



Limited Term Appointments:

Benefits are the same as permanent appointments except that the employees do not achieve permanent status.



Temporary Regular Appointments:

Temporary regular employees who work 30 hours or more per week are eligible for health, dental, and basic life insurance as described above. They are also eligible for vacation, sick leave, and paid holidays.



Temporary Seasonal and Occasional Appointments:

Temporary employees who work on a seasonal basis or variable hours receive sick leave, but do not normally receive other paid leave or benefits. Exceptions are noted in individual announcements.




Fleet Finance Support Analyst, Carnival Corporation (Miami, FL) Support the shipboard finance teams w/ systems & processes, as well laying the foundation to execute projects. Gather & document various system capabilities, & manage the implmtns of s/ware rltd projects in support of Fleet Finance functions. Work alongside various teams to assist in the dvlpmt of key strategic initiatives based on interpretation of analyses & detailed review of current processes. Manage the system administration to multiple applications across cost, pay, & revenue that are utilized by the shipboard teams. Manage the roll out of new processes & initiatives is a key component to this role, as well as ensuring all 26 ships across the fleet are in compliance of policies & procedures. Work with Fin'l Systems, Info Tech, business users & any other depts (i.e., Hotel Operations, Marine Operations, Technical Operations, Guest Logistics) as needed for support & implmtn of new business practices. 2 yrs of exp in the job offd or in shipboard business/fin'l planning & analysis processes. General knowl of infrastructure reqmts & components, SharePoint sites, intranets, & n/works. General knowl of fin'l data analysis tools & systems such as Oracle Financials, Hyperion Essbase, Tableau, or OBIEE. Must have strong command of MS Office prgms, advance level of Excel & interactive reporting tools. Strong knowl of MS Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access). Understanding of Oracle Financial Systems, Hyperion Interactive Reporting & Hyperion Essbase or similar system. Less than 25 % of shipboard travel is reqd. Send resumes to: Isabel Espinosa, Mgr, Talent Acquisition, Carnival Corporation, 3655 NW 87 Ave, Miami, FL 33178.

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VSP Global is comprised of five complementary businesses that combine high-quality eye care insurance, high-fashion eyewear, customized lenses, ophthalmic technology and retail solutions, with employees in over 23 countries. No matter the role, were all focused on a singular mission: to help people see. Learn more by visiting https://vspglobal.com/cms/careers/ General Summary Remote Do you want to work full-time, but from the convenience of your home with no nights, weekends, or traffic headaches? If you are bi-lingual ( french ) have at least one year of customer service experience in retail, eye wear, telecommunications, software, insurance, or manufacturing, apply now for our brand new REMOTE Customer Support Representative opportunity! Marchon is VSP Globals manufacturer and distributor of brand name eye wear and sunglasses, and were looking for energetic customer service professionals to support in-bound calls from doctors offices that sell our eye wear merchandise to consumers. Youll receive 4 weeks paid training where youll learn about our designer brands, features of the frames, and ordering system. You must have hi-speed internet, a dedicated work space, and be available for a 7.5-hour shift sometime between 8:00am and 6:00pm. Apply today! With general supervision, ensure accurate, timely and efficient customer support. Respond to customer inquiries in a manner that supports the achievement of VSP Globals goals. Essential Functions Responds to customer inquiries ranging from routine to complex from members, clients, providers, and internal/external business partners; inquiries may range from telephone, in person, or via the internet/e-email Contingent on the VSP Global Line of Business (LOB), requires in-depth knowledge in the following areas: Prescriptions, Plans, Products, Services, and Procedures

Online purchasing & e-Commerce knowledge

Internet knowledge

Payment processing/payment collections

Eligibility verification

Order Status, Shipping Status, and Stock Availability

Accurate completion of necessary documentation, letters, and forms processing

Quality Assurance testing for company software Research and resolve issues/complaints and determine appropriate resolution(s) Solves problems and assists with issues that may not fit the cookie-cutter solution Effectively educates and influences customers and prospective customers on the value and benefit that VSP offers through its products, services, and solutions Identify customer trends and communicate to appropriate business partners, leaders and divisions; suggest necessary corrections, changes, or solutions; appropriately elevate situations that could have organization wide impacts Effectively maintains specific line of business Customer Service standards and support level standards Remain current on all changes to Customer Service policy, procedures, and product/services/solutions information to accurately and consistently respond to customers inquiries Contingent on the LOB, may require attendance at benefit fairs, open enrollment meetings, and client meetings to provide information about VSP to attendees; available for occasional overnight travel Contingent on the LOB, may support Sales Representatives for any inquiry related to their customer orders Contingent on the LOB, may be the first point of contact for Sales Representatives, not related to customer orders Contingent on the LOB, may process claims based on business needs workflow fluctuations Job Specifications Typically has the following skills or abilities: One to two years of customer service experience in handling moderate to complex customer inquiries in call center, insurance, manufacturing, software, telecommunications, retail or eyewear industries Available to work any shift, including weekends, holidays, and/or overnight Demonstrated internet knowledge and understanding of basic internet browser settings Demonstrated ability to work with multiple software programs, simultaneously Working knowledge of MS Office package Effective verbal communication skills to prioritize multiple tasks and to be available for incoming calls and inquires Effective written communication skills to clearly document customer situations, as well as prepare letters to confirm agreements made Excellent interpersonal and rapport building skills Ability to ask appropriate and relevant questions to identify customer needs Proven problem solving, negotiations, and decision-making skills Ability to use appropriate discretion and judgment in applying customer/call handling guidelines Ability to listen, process transactions and interact with customers simultaneously in a fast paced environment If this position acts as a third party administrator (TPA) for processing payments, then candidates will be subject to a credit check In order to successfully and consistently perform the duties of a Customer Support Representative at VSP Global on our systems and networks, the following internet and equipment (provided by VSP Global) are required: OS (VSP Provided)Windows 10CPU (VSP Provided)Intel Core i5-7500 (4 Cores/6MB/4T/3.6GHz)Memory (VSP Provided)16GB 2X8GB 2666MHz DDR4 MemoryHard Drive (VSP Provided)256GB Solid State Hard DriveVSP Provided Wired HeadsetYesWired Connection (to Router/Modem; Cable/wire provided by VSP) Router/Modem NOT provided by VSP GlobalYesDownload Speed (per user on home network)50 MbpsUpload Speed (per user on home network)10 MbpsLoaded Latency< 150 ms OS (VSP Provided)Windows 10CPU (VSP Provided)Intel Core i5-7500 (4 Cores/6MB/4T/3.6GHz)Memory (VSP Provided)16GB 2X8GB 2666MHz DDR4 MemoryHard Drive (VSP Provided)256GB Solid State Hard DriveVSP Provided Wired HeadsetYesWired Connection (to Router/Modem; Cable/wire provided by VSP) Router/Modem NOT provided by VSP GlobalYesDownload Speed (per user on home network)50 MbpsUpload Speed (per user on home network)10 MbpsLoaded Latency< 150 ms Preferred Skills French Bi-lingual opportunity Working Conditions / Physical Demands The working environment is generally favorable. Lighting and temperature are adequate, and there are no hazardous or unpleasant conditions caused by noise, dust etc. The above information in this description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job. VSP Global is an equal opportunity employer and gives consideration for employment to qualified applicants without regard to age, gender, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or protected veteran status. We maintain a drug-free workplace and perform pre-employment substance abuse testing.


LOCATION: Sherman Elementary School (Grades 4-6)

Rush-Henrietta Central School District, Rochester, N.Y.

SALARY: Highly competitive, per Rush-Henrietta Administrators Contract.

QUALIFICATIONS: Rush-Henrietta is seeking an energetic, visionary and collaborative leader to be the next principal of Sherman Elementary School. Highly successful teaching and leadership experience is required, preferably at the elementary level. Candidates must demonstrate strong knowledge of literacy and numeracy development; student-centered instruction; assessment and use of data for improvement; culturally responsive teaching and leadership; and supervision practices that lead to student achievement and teacher growth.

Applicants must have or be eligible for New York administrative certification (SBL, SAS or SDA). Rush-Henrietta provides mentoring and leadership development to all new administrators. Candidates of diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

Rush-Henrietta was recognized as the top district in Monroe County in the New York State School Quality Index, due to its innovative practices, small class sizes (average 20 students at grades 4-6), and supportive climate. Sherman Elementary serves 540 students in a culturally responsive setting tailored to pre-adolescent development, especially the application of literacy and math skills  as well as the arts, co-curriculars and social-emotional support  to prepare students for the secondary program.

ANTICIPATED START: August 23, 2021, or soonest availability

To Apply: Complete the online application and upload a cover letter, current resume, certification[s], official transcripts, and updated reference letters by July 6, 2021 .

RUSH-HENRIETTA IS COMMITTED TO ACHIEVING A MORE DIVERSE WORK FORCE.

Candidates of diverse backgrounds and experience are strongly encouraged to apply.

Rush-Henrietta Central School District is in compliance with the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Title IX Educational Amendments of 1972, Part 86. The School District provides equal employment opportunity to all individuals and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, age, handicap, gender identity or sexual orientation. The Superintendent of Schools reserves the right to consider additional candidates and qualifications during the hiring process.

recblid k9if9k4ztg3a5ol39klzqn2rlckyvo


Job Title: Manager, Partner Engagement



Office: Office of the Chief of Staff



Date Posted: 6/28/2021



Salary Range: 1-5 / $92,748 - $104,655



NTE Date: N/A



Position Overview The Office of the Chief of Staff works to maximize DCPS' collective impact through ensuring strategic and data-based decisions, sharing DCPS successes through effective communications, and building citywide government partnerships. The Family and Public Engagement (OFPE) division is responsible for DCPS' work to engage parents, families, and the community in our students' learning, the improvement of our schools, and DCPS' planning and decision making. Our mission is to accelerate the rate of achievement in DC Public Schools by investing families and the greater DC community in student and school success. Our three core areas of work are: (1) community engagement, (2) school partnerships, and (3) family engagement. All of our work is designed to impact and improve student achievement at the individual student, school, or district level.

division is responsible for DCPS' work to engage parents, families, and the community in our students' learning, the improvement of our schools, and DCPS' planning and decision making. Our mission is to accelerate the rate of achievement in DC Public Schools by investing families and the greater DC community in student and school success. Our three core areas of work are: (1) community engagement, (2) school partnerships, and (3) family engagement. All of our work is designed to impact and improve student achievement at the individual student, school, or district level. The Intergovernmental Affairs division advances DCPS' legislative agenda, clearly communicates our successes to political leadership, assists elected officials with constituent services related to DCPS, and builds the knowledge and capacity of internal colleagues to understand and navigate political and legislative developments.

division advances DCPS' legislative agenda, clearly communicates our successes to political leadership, assists elected officials with constituent services related to DCPS, and builds the knowledge and capacity of internal colleagues to understand and navigate political and legislative developments. The Strategy and Performance Management division supports collaboration, alignment, and coherence across DCPS through systems and structures focused on the strategic plan.

division supports collaboration, alignment, and coherence across DCPS through systems and structures focused on the strategic plan. The Partnerships division develops and advances strategies and resources for schools and the district to maximize partner and community impact on student and school success. The Manager, Partner Engagement is responsible for driving district-wide partnership strategy and building internal and external capacity to maximize the impact of over 900 partner organizations working across DC Public Schools. This position plays a critical role in ensuring that schools, central office leaders, and community partners have the support and strategic guidance needed to foster and sustain goal-aligned partnerships that not only adhere to DCPS policy and priorities but also accelerate shared impact on student outcomes. This includes serving as the primary liaison for all partner organizations that serve students during afterschool and the summer, conducting a registration process for school program providers looking to work with DCPS, facilitating relationships between schools and partners, and building capacity in schools, partners, and central office to use partnerships strategically to advance DCPS goals. The Manager is also the primary liaison with other DCPS internal departments and city agencies that fund and set policies for school program providers in the District of Columbia. The Manager, Partner Engagement will report to the Communications and Engagement Officer. 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. Builds relationships and liaises with external partner organizations, city agencies, and other stakeholders to drive collaboration and strategically connect community partners and resources with DCPS schools and central office.

Leads the design and implementation of partnership strategies; assesses and tracks project progress regularly; and drives project completion holding others accountable for responsibilities and deadlines.

Works with internal and external stakeholders to develop and refine a shared vision for partner quality; and collects data and evaluates progress to vision to drive strategic planning.

Collaborates closely with schools and the Office of Teaching and Learning to leverage partners to add capacity to schools to offer afterschool and summer enrichment activities.

Develops and executes capacity-building resources and initiatives to support the ability of schools, partners, and central office teams to leverage partnerships and donations towards DCPS goals and strategies, including the Adopt-A-School Program.

Stays aware of innovations, developments in policy, and research and advises DCPS senior leadership team on partner-facing policies and procedures to ensure compliance with essential DCPS policies and foster goal-aligned DCPS partnerships.

Manages the registration process for school program providers to ensure a baseline standard of quality and security.

Manages and refines systems and processes to ensure partners are informed of and adhere to legal requirements for working with DCPS (e.g., insurance coverage, MOAs, background checks, non-discrimination, data privacy, donations).

Interacts with and responds effectively to urgent requests from multiple internal and external DCPS stakeholders.

Determines resource needs for partnership and DCPS program successes within context of broader DCPS strategy and initiatives.

Anticipates, identifies, and resolves complex obstacles to success for DCPS partner strategy as well as for specific projects.

Stays closely aware of progress of projects, high-level initiatives, and emerging issues across DCPS organization and proactively helps to adjust partner strategy based on changes in direction, priorities, and resources.

Maintains open communication and positive relationships with partners, ensuring proactive information-sharing and opportunity for stakeholder input.

Serves as lead collaborator for interagency efforts to support schools in leveraging partners and external resources to advance key goals; and develops and facilitates partner events and workshops, ranging from Partner Back to School Nights to trainings on the use of data to strengthen partner-led program design.

Is responsible for tracking and legally processing donations to DCPS, including ensuring that donations are directed equitably and in such a way that is strategically aligned with DCPS priorities. Qualifications Bachelor's degree and four to six years of related work experience.

Master's degree preferred.

Previous exposure to or experience in the education sector a plus.

Previous exposure to or experience with community-based organizations.

Strong project management, interpersonal skills, and experience managing others strongly preferred.

Proven experience developing and evaluating programs and partnerships.

Excellent leadership and interpersonal skills, including ability to lead without authority.

Superb written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convey complex information concisely to multiple stakeholders.

DCPS Values STUDENTS FIRST : We recognize students as whole children and put their needs first in everything we do.

: 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.

: 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.

: 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.

: 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.

: 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.


Magnolia, AR (71754)

Today

A few clouds. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable.


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Asked about the exchange, Wolfs administration said the provision is just one part of a budget package that provides critical support for underfunded school districts. The provisions are part of a package of budget legislation that passed Friday and Wolf was expected to sign this week.
When a bill like this is introduced, it often takes several months before it is given a number, sent to a committee, scheduled for a hearing and then possibly a vote. This all happened in five days between June 10th and June 15. And a full House vote was forced on June 22, before many legislators even had the chance to read and review it.
Burley, ID (83318)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
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Housing Activist Named FHA Commissioner

The White House has announced another key appointee to a federal housing post. Julia Gordon has been named Assistant Secretary for Housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This position also serves as commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

Gordon is currently president of the National Community Stabilization Trust (NCST) which works to provide local community-based programs an opportunity to acquire vacant, abandoned, and distressed properties to redevelop. The Trust has implemented the transfer of $1.5 billion in real estate to local organizations over the last 10 years, much of it "first look" properties from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae's foreclosure inventories.

Gordon's name may be familiar to MND readers. We have frequently covered her remarks when she has testified before congressional committees on the secondary market, mortgage servicing, and FHA lending practices.

Prior to joining NCST, Gordon served as the Senior Director of Housing and Consumer Finance at the Center for American Progress (CAP) and managed the single-family policy team at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. She received her bachelor's degree in government from Harvard College and her J.D. from Harvard Law.

The White House also announced the appointment of Dave Uejio as Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at HUD. Uejio has been serving as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since the current administration began.

Both appointments require Senate confirmation.
International

Suu Kyis spokesman freed in Myanmar

U Zaw Htay

Kolkata, Jun 28 (IANS) | Publish Date: 6/28/2021 1:50:48 PM IST

U Zaw Htay, who served as the spokesman of the Aung San Suu Kyi-led ousted government of Myanmar, has been freed from military custody in capital Nay Pyi Taw after more than four months in detention, family sources told IANS.

U Zaw Htay was the Director-General at Suu Kyis Office and also doubled up as spokesman for the President until the November 2020 parliament polls.

The former military officer had also served as spokesman for the U Thein Sein government (2010-15) that preceded the Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy (NLD) government, which was ousted following the February 1 military coup.

As the military takeover unfolded , government residences in Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon, as well as in the states and regions, were ringed in by military vehicles, leading to the detention of a majority of senior NLD figures and senior civil servants.

Military vehicles surrounded U Zaw Htays house in the capital city on the night of February 1 and he was not been seen ever since.

Some reports suggested that the military junta wanted him to retain his position following the coup. But U Zaw Htay resigned in protest a day after his detention.

A military source, requested anonymity, told the Irrawaddy Online that U Zaw Htay was released around 10 days ago from military custody and discharged from his position.

It seemed he was told to stay out of view and keep quiet, the source added

Now a family member confirmed U Zaw Htays release on a Facebook message to IANS.

She told IANS that U Zaw Htay is staying at a location she could not disclose, but added: He is definitely out of military custody and in reasonable health. Looks like he has to play it cautiously.

NLD sources were not yet willing to read too much into U Zaw Htays release but at least one top leader of the party did not rule out backroom parleys between the military junta and the NLD.

U Zaw Htay could be useful in such parleys because he knows the army as a former soldier but he is also close to our leaders.

At his last press briefing in Nay Pyi Taw on January 8, U Zaw Htay dismissed accusations of voting fraud made by the military and its allied political parties as a refusal to accept electoral defeat.

These are the acts of those who cant accept defeat. The voters know best about the election and whom they voted for and supported, U Zaw Htay had said at the press briefing.

Those who are making false accusations are committing political suicide, he added.

Military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing was believed to be furious at U Zaw Htays statement, all the more because he was a soldier brought into administration by former general U Thein Sein after he took charge of government after the 2010 polls.

General Hlaing is said to be have personally asked for U Zaw Htays detention, after he furiously denied that former President U Win Myint or Suu Kyi had breached the 2008 Constitution or Union Election Commission rules while campaigning ahead of the November 8, 2020, general election.

Hours before the newly-elected Parliament was to convene, the military seized power.

The military claimed mass fraud and voting irregularities to justify its coup and says it will hold a new election.

Western diplomats in Yangon told IANS that U Zaw Htays release indicated the military junta was under huge pressure.

We cant say they are buckling under pressure but surely they are trying to display some backing down from hard repression. May be it is cosmetic, just window dressing but surely indicative that pressure was felt, said one European diplomat on the condition of anonymity.

We cant rule out some result from ASEAN counselling. Some gestures are expected, said another American diplomat.
Officials reported up to seven inches of rain poured in portions of Detroit and Wayne County, Mich., stranding hundreds of automobiles on flooded roadways and forcing the rescue of around 50 drivers.

My city of Detroit is catching hell with massive floods with another 6 days of rain still comingSend positive vibes to Detroit while youre arguing over whos a bridge QB or not #OnePride pic.twitter.com/wgMenRgtP0  KennyHatesEverything (@Detroit_Kenny) June 26, 2021

"This isn't usual here," said Michigan State Police spokesperson Lt. Michael Shaw. "Every highway in the county was flooded to some extent."

Flood Damages

Authorities estimated that roughly 350 automobiles had been damaged by the water as of 3 p.m. Saturday. Lieutenant Shaw added, "Some had cable damage, others had water up to the top of their tires, some had it up to their windows, and some were fully submerged." "A lot of people assumed they'd be able to cross the river, but they couldn't." Cars submerged in water and tractor-trailers stuck on freeways were among the images shared on Twitter.

Rare Michigan Flooding

According to the National Weather Service, the last time Southeast Michigan saw flooding was in 2014 when four to six inches of rain fell in four hours. According to Lieutenant Shaw, no injuries were recorded on Saturday, but rescue personnel was called to assist those caught in the flooding. Many basements were flooded, making commuting impossible on Saturday, he said, adding that emergency dispatchers received thousands of calls from Friday to Saturday. Related Article: Storm Watch: Meteorologists Observing 2 Tropical Disturbances in Atlantic, Hurricane in Pacific

"Flooding" Car Care Services

According to Homer Roark, an assistant manager at a Firestone Complete Auto Care in Detroit, the store seldom turns away clients, but they had to turn away 15 on Saturday.

Mr. Roark explained, "We're a maintenance business, not an engine shop, and there are so many things that may be wrong with the automobiles that we had to turn them away today." "I had a lady in for an oil change, and her car was soaked through and through."

Mr. Roark predicted that more individuals would come to the business seeking repairs for automobiles that were likely to be irreparably damaged in the following days.

"When it's this severe, there's really not much we can do," he added.

Government Intervention

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared an emergency in Wayne County, which includes Detroit, on Saturday. The decree offers state resources to local authorities for recovery and rescue activities.

Rain is expected to persist through Friday as part of a wider unsettled weather trend.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared an emergency in Wayne County, which includes Detroit, on Saturday. The decree offers state resources to local authorities for recovery and rescue activities.

Issuing Tornado Watch

A tornado watch was issued for areas of Michigan on Saturday, while the National Weather Service in Chicago recorded many heavy downpours and storms; sporadic thunderstorms and heavy rain were observed in Indianapolis.

According to Ben Gelber of NBC4 in Columbus, Ohio, an unprecedented heat dome is extending into the atmosphere, meaning that when tropical precipitation reaches it, "everything is basically frozen in place."

Mr. Gelber explained, "The simplest way to describe it is a conveyor belt of moisture that interacts with the heat connected with the eastern regions of the country."

"The fact that this weather pattern isn't likely to alter for a few days implies more heavy rain," he continued.

Also Read: Flash Flood Warnings Issued in Parts of Southeast Louisiana Due to Torrential Rain

For more climate and weather updates, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
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Puerto Rico reopened dozens of public and private schools in March for the first time since the pandemic began, although less than 100 of the islands more than 850 public schools were authorized to do so. At the time, only kindergarteners, special education students and children in first, second, third and 12th grades were allowed to return to school for in-person classes twice a week. A month later, officials closed all schools given a spike in COVID-19 cases and didnt reopen some of them until May.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian noted that vaccinations in New South Wales have held up well against the Delta Covid strain and that more doses would be made available in coming weeks. She said that offering incentives like cash prizes to people who get vaccinations, which is being done in the U.S., isnt part of her plan at this point.
Im not going to spend New Yorkers money in a way that is not the most cost efficient way, Cuomo said of the repair project during a May 27 news conference. Im not going to pay unless it is a smart, efficient, effective process, period. If the federal government wants to do stupid, they can do stupid with their money. But were not going to do stupid with our money.
The fiery battle between Buckheit and Thompson, rife with allegations from both sides of homophobia and racism, wound up in legal action after Thompson suspended Buckheit from her docket of cases. He in turn claimed it was beyond her judicial authority and caused widespread dysfunction within the public administrators office, because there is no one with clear authority to operate the office, court papers showed.
He was working in hotels for doctors and nurses, making sure theyre good, said Latoya Cureton. My brother took that job on. Thats all he was doing this whole year, he was putting himself out there. That goes to say even more about his character.
A gold backpack and a pair of sneakers were left on a blood-stained sidewalk after a 21-year-old man was fatally shot on W. 136th St. and Malcolm X Blvd. in Harlem Sunday. (Gardiner Anderson/for New York Daily News)
There are far too many conflicts and questions that are still in place 10 years later, Boyle said Monday at a news conference at the edge of the water in Oak Beach not far from the Gilgo Beach crime scene. We need to know that everything that could be done was done to try to get justice in this case.
He was in her ear, sexually harassing her, saying he was going to have sex with her, Spinosa said. Me and this other guy were like, Dude, leave her alone. Go home. Youre drunk. This doesnt have to get any further. 
Trooper Green was widely respected and well-liked by his fellow Troopers, several of whom yesterday described him as a true gentleman and always courteous to the public and meticulous in his duties, Mason wrote. From what we learned yesterday, he was held in equally-high regard by his neighbors and friends in Winthrop.
Its still unknown what caused the collapse, but some experts believe it started near the bottom of the building. Three years ago, a structural engineer hired by the buildings management found major structural damage to the buildings concrete foundations and abundant cracks in the parking garage.
Katie was eventually declared dead, but her body was never found. Robert Durst has not been charged with any crime related to his first wifes disappearance and claims he doesnt know what happened to her.
Alcantara told WGNO that being seven months pregnant, she was not going to risk getting a ladder and retrieving the package. The United States Postal Service sent an employee out Monday morning to retrieve the package, but Alcntara had already recruited someone else to do the job. The USPS apologized and promised to do better.
Its not against the law for anyone to teach a child how to shoot and take them hunting, even at 8 years old, he told local newspaper Fosters Daily Democrat, noting that some kids learn how to hunt and shoot a lot younger than that.
The exact circumstances involving the tragic shooting remain under investigation and charges could still be filed against the owner of the weapon, authorities said. Police have not said whose gun that was or where the childrens parents were at the time.
I want to provide you, as we have done and will do, the best updates as soon as we have them, remembering that we told the families that are waiting that they will be the first to hear, she said.
We obviously have some realism that were dealing with, the Florida lawmaker told reporters at a news conference Sunday night. But ... as long as the experts that we trust are telling me they have hope to find people who might have been able to survive, then we have to make sure that we hold on to that hope.
At that point, the suspect took the handgun from the woman and pointed it at her  prompting the father to open fire, striking the suspect with multiple bullets, according to the sheriffs office and local news reports. The father told ABC13 he believes he shot the man four times, including twice in the chest and once in the stomach.
While he has the backing of Jacobs and County Executive Laura Curran, Kaminsky and his fellow members of the moderate delegation of Long Island Democrats in the Senate have at times taken heat from progressives in their own party, who accused the conference of stalling on some criminal justice and housing issues.
The project requires New York taxpayers to cover one-fourth of its estimated $11.6 billion cost. But Cuomo last month said he wouldnt pay up unless a new strategy was taken  and last year pushed a report that found crews could perform repairs on the old tunnels without closing them to service.
The 3 million Republicans throughout New York will be deciding who the strongest candidate is in next Junes primary, not a few dozen party insiders, many of whom have told me they were pressured into making an endorsement they werent ready to make, he said. This early straw poll is meaningless, and eventually Ill be the straw that breaks Cuomos back next November.
I think that there are going to be people who have different candidates in different orders such that its almost mathematically impossible for Eric Adams not to win, based upon the lead that he has, Yang said in an appearance on the Yang Speaks podcast, his first remarks since pulling the plug on his campaign. Its one reason why, looking at the numbers, we decided not to say that we thought we had a path.
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We elected you  the youth vote carried the election. If you are going to negotiate on our lives and livability of our planet, negotiate with us, Jefferson said. So we will sit here until you commit to the side of climate justice, commit to an American Jobs Plan written with bold ambition against the climate crisis including a Civilian Climate Corps, and pass it through reconciliation immediately  or you will not pass a bill at all.
Over two dissenting votes, the justices left in place lower court rulings that found the policy unconstitutional. The case involved former high school student Gavin Grimm, who filed a federal lawsuit after he was told he could not use the boys bathroom at his public high school. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas voted to hear the boards appeal.
Meanwhile, on social media, outrage grew among people who did not approve of any restrictions on free speech and poor treatment of migrant workers. In protest, many posted videos of their own, ranting about the weather as the man did.
The targets were facilities that militias were using to engage in drone attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq, the DOD said. They targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two spots in Syria and one in Iraq, all near the border of both countries.
A Spanish court had approved his extradition to the U.S. on tax evasion charges just hours before he was found dead. We had a plan of action already in place to appeal that decision, Janice McAfee said. I blame the U.S. authorities for this tragedy. Because of these politically motivated charges against him my husband is now dead.
Facts first. Not all crime went up last year. But murders did jump by about 25%, and violent crime more broadly went up about 3%. In New York City, Chicago, L.A. and elsewhere, shootings are tearing apart communities. Criminologists cant say why (they debate these things for years, if not decades), but its likely a combination of cops feeling on their heels, COVID and its aftermath destabilizing communities, and record gun sales flooding the streets with deadly weapons.
Manhattan: The mayor is negotiating with a handful of union representatives to require all NYC government retirees to go into a Medicare Advantage Plan instead of keeping their original Medicare coverage, and virtually no one is aware of it or writing about it. This is a momentous decision that will pay insurance companies to substitute their decisions limiting care for those formerly made by the government or doctors. The details of this plan are not even available. The lack of transparency has been exacerbated by the lack of press coverage. There is absolutely no one in the room where these decisions are being made who represents me, any of the other management or future personnel. The fact that the city is conducting these negotiations with so few people aware or informed is frightening. It will profoundly affect the medical care many of us will receive for the rest of our lives. Barbara Turkewitz
In algorithmic management, the bigger the data set, the better. Earlier this year, Adams proposed that remote learning technology could permanently transform public education, allowing for year-round classes and permitting one great teacher thats in one of our specialized high schools to teach three to 400 students who are struggling in math. The only way for even the most gifted of educators to engage with and evaluate such a massive class would be via automation. Yet 15 months of Zoom school showed just how many students are underserved by virtual education. As Politico reporter Sally Goldenberg tweeted shortly after the polls closed on election night, Adams promised his supporters that in one yearyoure going to see a different city  a city transformed by economic development, Bitcoin and self-driving cars.
Now that the amazing Harry Connick Jr. is set to embody Daddy Warbucks, we look forward to shaping the iconic role to tap Harrys immense skill set as a multi-talented performer, NBCUs executive vice president of live events, specials, television and streaming, Jen Neal, said in a statement. He and Taraji P. Henson will anchor the rest of the cast and we cant wait to see their on-stage dynamic in our version of Annie.
The ship would have been the first to sail from Port Canaveral, even though it was just with volunteer passengers. Royal Caribbeans Freedom of the Seas was the first major cruise ship from any U.S. port to sail on a simulated voyage last week when it took 650 passengers to its private island Coco Cay and back from PortMiami. That ship now plans to sail with paying customers on July 2.
First identified in India, the delta strain, also known as B.1.617.2, is one of several variants of concern, as designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. It has spread rapidly throughout India and Britain, where it now accounts for 90% of new cases.
After further consideration with my family, we have decided to remain in Orlando, where I will continue my service as Chief of Police, he wrote. I am no longer in the hiring process for the position of Chief of Police in the City of Fort Lauderdale.
In an interview, Klinger told investigators that no one had access to his password-protected devices but him and that he has used the peer-to-peer downloader. Through the search warrant, the Seminole County Digital Forensics team located six terabytes of data, which can store thousands of hours of footage, on a hard drive.
In one of those messages on Feb. 16, Hammock sent the child a photo of the waist area showing someone wearing tactical clothing and appeared to have been seated in a police vehicle, the DOJ reported.
Given this history of U.S. electoral interference in other countries, it was easy for Putin to dismiss Bidens claim that Russia diminished its standing by meddling in U.S. elections. This begs the questions: Did Biden conveniently forget this history? Or did he fail to fact-check what his speechwriters wrote for him? Whatever the answer, the statement is regrettable because it ignores the major accomplishments of the late Sen. Frank Church who had the courage to investigate the U.S. governments illegal interference in other countries. Such actions had diminished the USs global standing at the time.
Fulton school officials this year eliminated the valedictorian and salutatorian academic titles, opting instead to replace the honorable distinctions with a three level honor system mimicking universities. Academically accomplished students Emma Weaver, pictured left, and Olivia Hawthorne, pictured right, and their families believe this change diminished the accomplishments of students who achieved the peak of academic success this academic school year.
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF), a body for intra-Libyan consensus talks under the auspices of the United Nations, will meet in Switzerland on Monday to finalise the draft proposal for a constitutional basis for the upcoming December elections
Abuja, Nigeria (PANA)  Nigeria is strengthening defence cooperation with member countries participating in the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) towards combating insecurity in the West Africa sub-region, the Minister of Defence, Maj
The famous Serbian canon law specialist Bishop Nikodim (Milash) wrote the following in his interpretation of Canon 19 of the Sixth Ecumenical Council: Holy Scripture is the word of God, revealing the will of God to man And St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) says, Read the Gospel with great reverence and attention. Consider nothing in it unimportant, or unworthy of consideration. Every iota emits a ray of life. Disregard for life is death.

One author wrote about the Small Entrance in the Liturgy: The Gospel is here a symbol of Christ. The Lord came into the world bodily, and personally. He entered in upon His preaching and His earthly ministry and found Himself here among us. Fearfully and majestically He acts, and among us God is perceptibly visible. The holy, heavenly angels are transfixed in awe at the sight. And you, man, partake of this great mystery and bow your head before it.

Based on all the foregoing, we must understand that the Holy Gospel is the main book of mankind, in which is contained life for man. It contains Divine truths leading us to salvation. And it itself is the fountain of lifethe word truly filled with the power and wisdom of the Lord.

The Gospel is the voice of Christ Himself. The Savior speaks to us in a symbolic and spiritual sense in our reading of the Gospel. We are as if transported in time to the flowering Galilean plains and become witness to the Incarnate Word of God. And He speaks not only universally and timelessly, in general, but to each of us concretely. The Gospel is not just a book. It is life for us; it is the spring of living water and the fountain of life. It is at the same time both the Law of God given to man for salvation, and accomplishes the Mystery of this salvation. The human soul is united with God and resurrects in Him upon reading the Gospel.

It is not by chance that the word evangelios translates from Greek as the good news. It indicates that the grace of the Holy Spirit has opened a new message and truth in the world: God has come to Earth for the salvation of mankind, and God became man that man might become God, as St. Athanasius of Alexandria said in the fourth century. The Lord has reconciled with man. He has healed him anew and revealed to him the path to the Heavenly Kingdom.

Either reading or hearing the Gospel, we stand upon this vertical heavenly road, and walk upon it to Paradise. This is what the Gospel is.

Therefore, it is very important to read the New Testament every day. According to the counsel of the holy fathers, we ought to include the reading of the Holy Gospel and the Apostol (The Acts of the Holy Apostles, the catholic epistles of the Apostles and the fourteen epistles of the holy and preeminent Apostle Paul) in our cell (home) rule of prayer. The following sequence is usually recommended: two chapters from the Apostol (some read one chapter), and one chapter of the Gospels every day.

In my view, based on personal experience, I would like to say that its more convenient to read the Holy Scriptures in order; that is, from the first chapter to the last, and then to start again. Then you can form a coherent picture of the Gospel narrative, and a sense and understanding of its continuity, and its cause-and-effect relationship.

It is also necessary that our reading of the Gospel not be like our reading of fiction, feet crossed, comfortably nestled in an armchair. It should be an act of liturgical home prayer.

In his book, The Law of God, Archpriest Seraphim Slobodskoy recommends reading the Holy Scriptures standing up, crossing yourself once before, and three times afterwards.

There are special prayers read before and after reading the New Testament.

Before

Illumine our hearts, O Master Who lovest mankind, with the pure light of Thy divine knowledge. Open the eyes of our mind to the understanding of Thy Gospel teachings. Implant also in us the fear of Thy blessed commandments, that trampling down all carnal desires, we may enter upon a spiritual manner of living, both thinking and doing such things as are well-pleasing unto Thee. For Thou art the illumination of our souls and bodies, O Christ our God, and unto Thee we ascribe glory, together with Thy Father, Who is from everlasting, and Thine all-holy, good, and life-creating Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. The priest quietly reads this during the Divine Liturgy before the reading of the Holy Gospel. It is also placed after the Eleventh Kathisma of the Psalter.

A Prayer of St. John Chrysostom: O Lord Jesus Christ, open Thou the eyes of my heart, that I may hear Thy word and understand and do Thy will, for I am a sojourner upon the earth. Hide not Thy commandments from me, but open mine eyes, that I may perceive the wonders of Thy law. Speak unto me the hidden and secret things of Thy wisdom. On Thee do I set my hope, O my God, that Thou shalt enlighten my mind and understanding with the light of Thy knowledge, not only to cherish those things which are written, but to do them; that in reading the lives and sayings of the saints I may not sin, but that such may serve for my restoration, enlightenment and sanctification, for the salvation of my soul, and the inheritance of life everlasting. For Thou art the enlightenment of those who lie in darkness, and from Thee cometh every good deed and every gift. Amen.

A prayer of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), read before and after the reading of the Holy Scriptures: Save, O Lord, and have mercy upon Thy servants (names) by the words of the Thy Holy Gospel, read for the salvation of Thy servants. May the thorns of all their transgressions fall O Lord, and may Thy grace be implanted in them, scorching, purifying, and sanctifying the whole man, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Regarding the latter, I would add that it is also read along with a chapter of the Holy Gospel in times of sorrow or trouble. In my own experience, I am convinced that it greatly helps, and the merciful Lord delivers us from every situation and trouble. Some of the fathers recommend reading this prayer with a chapter of the Gospels every day.

Of course, it is desirable to read not just the Holy Gospel, but also the commentary of the holy fathers, as much of the Holy Scriptures can be unclear for us as it comes from antiquity, and due to our spiritual inexperience.

This includes the commentary of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel commentaries of Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria, the Gospel commentaries of B. I. Gladkov, highly valued by the holy, righteous John of Kronstadt, the works of Archbishop Averky (Taushev), and Metropolitan Benjamin (Pushkari), the Explanatory Bible: Old and New Testaments of Alexander Polukhin, and other works.

Let us bow down, brothers and sisters, who hunger and thirst after righteousness, with our hearts, to the pure life-giving source of Holy Scripture. Without it, the soul is doomed to decay and spiritual death. With it the soul blossoms, as paradisiacal flowers, saturated with verbal, life-giving dew, worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven.
At the close, the UK blue-chip index was down 63.10 points, or nearly 0.9% at 7,072.97, just fractionally above the session low of 7,071.95

On Wall Street by Londons close, the Dow Jones Industrials Average was also lower, off 170 points, or 0.5% at 34,263,

FTSE 100 sheds 63 points

US stocks stay mixed

Carnival posts US$2.1bn quarterly loss

The FTSE 100 index ended weaker on Monday, near the days low point, while US stocks were mixed, as a fresh bout of worry over coronavirus (COVID-19) cases caused a sell-off in travel stocks and there was some profit-taking in energy issues.

At the close, the UK blue-chip index was down 63.10 points, or nearly 0.9% at 7,072.97, just fractionally above the session low of 7,071.95, having dropped from an early peak of 7,136.22.

On Wall Street by Londons close, the Dow Jones Industrials Average was also lower, off 170 points, or 0.5% at 34,263, but the broader S&P 500 index edged 0.02% higher and the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite rose 0.7% to fresh all-time highs.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK) commented: European markets have got off to a poor start to the week, as rising virus cases threaten to undermine sentiment as we come to the end of the month, the end of the quarter and the first half of 2021, with the energy sector, along with travel and leisure leading the losses.

Oil prices are slipping back ahead of this weeks OPEC+ meeting as well as concerns that a rise in global cases, and new restrictions will act as a brake on the pace of global reopening, with BP and lower.

He noted: Having seen falls at the end of last week over disappointment over the limited government relaxation of travel restrictions, which saw the addition of Malta, Madeira and the Balearics to the green list. Airlines were also unhappy that the government wasnt bolder in promising that it would look at dropping quarantine rules for fully vaccinated UK residents returning home from amber list countries.

While airlines and travel companies expressed disappointment over last weeks announcement criticising the government for its cautious approach, the reality is whatever countries the government puts on its green list now matters less than the restrictions being faced by UK passengers when they leave the UK for their destination country.

Hewson added: While European markets are sliding, US markets continue to look resilient with the Nasdaq and S&P500 both hitting new record highs, while the Dow has slipped back. There appears to be increasing optimism that some form of infrastructure deal can be done on a cross party basis, after Republican senators indicated the deal could move forward.

3.25pm Carnival battles against travel weakness

The FTSE 100 has fallen below 7,100 again after a mixed opening on Wall Street.

Londons index of blue-chip shares was down 47 points (0.7%) at 7,089, despite the S&P 500 hitting new intra-day record highs.

The S&P 500 was up by less than a point at 4,281 while the Nasdaq Composite was 99 points (0.7%) heavier at 14,459. The Dow Jones industrial average, however, dived 130 points (0.4%) to 34,303.

Dual-listed cruise operator ( ) edged up 0.1% to 1,679.8p after its half-year report revealed it made a loss before tax of US$2.06bn in the three months to the end of May, compared to a loss of US$4.39bn in the corresponding perod of 2020.

2.45pm: US stocks start mixed

US stocks opened mixed to start the week, with the Dow lagging, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit new intraday highs as the bullish investor mood appears to be continuing.

Soon after the bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed around 84 points at 34,349.

The S&P 500 added around three points at 4,283. The Nasdaq advanced over 92 points at 14,452.

"Despite a weaker start on Monday, sentiment is overall positive in these last few days of the month and quarter," said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at ThinkMarkets.com.

"Buying-the-dip is likely to remain the trade of choice in the equity markets, as despite rising inflationary pressures, central banks are still keen to keep their record stimulus measures in place for the time being."

He added: "This message is likely to be echoed by a handful of central bank officials scheduled to speak. On Wednesday, we might see some volatility as money managers rebalance their portfolios ahead of the third quarter."

Coming up, attention will turn to this Friday's US jobs data, where traders will be looking for a rebound from some disappointing recent monthly stats.

"Analysts expect a 600K reading, which would be a little higher than the May print. However, average hourly earnings have beaten expectations in the previous two months and another sharp rise could re-ignite inflation concerns," noted Razaqzada.

Ahead of the US open, London shares are modestly lower on balance as lockdown fears return to the fore.

The FTSE 100 was down 23 points (0.3%) at 7,113.

The new health Secretary, Sajid Javid, is to address parliament at 5.00pm today, reacting to the latest coronavirus data.

Javid has indicated his absolute priority as Health Secretary is getting the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions lifted as soon as possible, and has pledged  or possibly threatened - that once the restrictions are lifted, there would be no going back.

Meanwhile, some European countries appear not to be waiting for the latest data with Spain stipulating that arrivals in the Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Ibiza and Minorca) from the UK will have to produce a PCR test result of proof of vaccination to be admitted to the popular holiday islands.

Portugal, meanwhile, has imposed a 14-day travel ban on UK arrivals who have not had both jabs.

German chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, has suggested that all UK arrivals in European Union should be quarantined, as the number of cases with the Delta variant continues to rise.

All of this talk is naturally hitting stocks whose fortunes are tied to air travel; British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines SA ( ) is down 4.7% at 178.72p while aerospace engineer ( ) has shed 3.0% at 103.26p.

Hotelier InterContinental Hotels Group PLC ( ) is another getting it in the neck, with the shares off 1.9% at 4,885p.

12.30pm: US stocks to open lower

The Footsies losses are gradually lengthening as traders start to listen to the mood music wafting across the Atlantic from Wall Street.

The FTSE 100 has fallen below the 7,100 level to 7,093, down 43 points (0.6%).

Across the pond, the Dow Jones industrial average is expected to open at around 34,403, down 31 points, while the S&P 500 is expected to start at around 4,282, off a point or so. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 is tipped to open 12 points weaker at 14,372.

With no US economic data for investors to focus on, attention will be firmly on John Williams and Patrick Harker, Presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Philadephia, respectively, for further clues over the next steps, said Sophie Griffiths at OANDA.

10.50am: It's a locked-down world

Against a background of governments around the world tightening COVID019 restrictions (some of which might even be observed by government ministers), equities are on the slide.

The FTSE 100 was down 33 points (0.5%) at 7,103, with sentiment not helped by sterling rallying by almost four-tenths of a cent against the greenback on foreign exchange markets.

PLC ( ) defied the trend, rising 1.0% to 8,583p after it said the MEDLEY Phase II/III trial of Nirsevimab demonstrated a favourable safety profile in infants at high risk of respiratory syncytial virus.

9.35am: Burberry leads the retreat as CEO announces plans to jump ship

The FTSE 100 has stumbled at the start of the week and is just about keeping its head above the 7,100 level.

Londons index of heavyweight shares was down 33 points (0.5%) at 7,103, with ( ), down 7.1% at 2,091p, leading the retreat after the fashion firms chief executive, Marco Gobbetti, decided it was time to get his coat.

That shows how much he is credited with the success of the luxury goods business, opined AJ Bells Russ Mould.

On the new issues front, its a case of hi-ho, Silver, away! for ( ), a data marketing business.

The shares, floated at 257p, were up 15.5p at 272.p in mid-morning trading.

8.30am: Sluggish start

The FTSE 100 made a sluggish start to proceedings as the spread of the Covid delta variant placed question marks over the easing of final lockdown restrictions and raised the prospect of a renewed overseas travel embargo.

Certainly, the EU appears to be in the process of quarantining the UK, if reports in the popular press are to be believed.

The market was taking them seriously with shares in British Airways owner IAG ( ) marked down 1.6%.

Budget carriers EasyJet ( ), Ryanair ( ) and Wizz Air ( ) followed IAGs descent as they dropped 1.8%, 1.3% and 1.2% respectively.

The Footsies top faller early on was Burberry ( ), which was rocked by the decision of Marco Gobbetti, its chief executive, to quit in order to find work closer to home.

The news wiped half a billion pounds from the luxury fashion chains market capitalisation.

6.50 am: Sluggish start predicted

The FTSE 100 looks set to open unchanged amid worries over the spread of the Covid Delta variant, which looks set to put the kibosh on travel to Europes sunspots.

The Daily Mail in its inimitable style says Angela Merkel has personally begun a campaign to ban British holidaymakers from the EU.

Whatever the story, it is likely the airlines and travel firms will come under pressure during the early exchanges.

Asias main markets began the session in a subdued fashion, while the start to trading in Hong Kong was delayed by a rainstorm.

Back here in the UK, new health secretary Sajid Javid is reported to be a new voice in favour of the end of Covid restrictions next month, arguing controls are having a punitive impact on the economy.

Predecessor Matt Hancock, who quit after an affair with an aide, had always taken a more cautious approach to the phased ending of lockdown.

Looking ahead, we have corporate updates from Primark owner AB Foods ( ), outsourcing specialist Serco ( ) and electricals giant Dixons (LON:DC.).

In macro news, American non-farm payrolls take centre stage on Friday.

One thing that came from last week's comments by John Williams [New York Fed president] was a concern about the labour market and the lack of a rebound in the participation rate, despite record vacancy rates, said Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets.

If Williams is concerned about this, he is unlikely to be the only one, which makes this weeks US jobs report even more important when it comes to trying to read the reaction function of Fed officials in the coming months.

Around the markets

Pound US$1.3896 (+0.12%)

Bitcoin US$34,455.17 (+3.81%)

Gold US$1,784.50 (+0.38%)

Brent crude US$74.11 (flat)

6.50am: Early Markets - Asia / Australia

Stocks in the Asia-Pacific region were lower on Monday as official data showed profits at Chinas industrial firms rose 36.4% in May as compared with a year earlier.

That was weaker than a 57% year-on-year growth posted in April.

The Shanghai Composite in China fell 0.13% and Hong Kongs Hang Seng index slipped 0.08%

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dipped 0.15% while South Koreas Kospi declined 0.12%.

Shares in Australia fell, with the S&P/ASX 200 trading 0.03% lower.

READ OUR ASX REPORT HERE
Marco Gobbetti said he wants to move back to Italy to be closer to family

's ( ) chief executive Marco Gobbetti is to leave the fashion designer at the end of 2021 to join competitor Salvatore Ferragamo.

He will hold the role of general manager and chief executive at the Milan-listed luxury group.

READ: Bumpy day, but is Burberry still a long-term winner?

Burberry said Gobbetti is stepping down after nearly five years in the FTSE 100 group to take up another opportunity so he can return to Italy and be closer to his family.

It will now begin the search for a successor, while Gobbetti will work with chairman Gerry Murphy to ensure an orderly transition.

The 62-year-old has been in the fashion industry for decades, as he became chief executive of Burberry after holding the same role at Moschino, Givenchy and Celine.

The board and I are naturally disappointed by Marco's decision but we understand and fully respect his desire to return to Italy after nearly 20 years abroad, said Murphy.

With the execution of our strategy on track and our outlook unchanged, we are determined to build on Burberry's strong foundations to accelerate growth and deliver further value for our shareholders."

Shares plunged 9% to 2,040p on Monday morning.

--Adds detail, shares--
The action taken today on Binance Markets Limited has been in train for some time said Mark Steward, the FCAs head of enforcement

Britain has banned Binance, the worlds leading cryptocurrency exchange over concerns about rising levels of crime.

Regulator The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has ruled that the firm cannot conduct any "regulated activity" in the UK.

The FCA has also issued a warning about its website, Binance.com, and adverts promising high returns on crypto-based investments.

Britains action follows action by other regulators against the firm. Japan issued a warning to consumers two days ago over Binance, while authorities in the US and Germany had both expressed concerns recently.

The firm also pulled out of Ontario, Canada at the weekend after it was accused of failing to comply with regulations there.

Binance is based in the Cayman Islands, but has affiliates in London and elsewhere around the world.

Its website arm is an exchange for a wide range of cryptocurrencies and also products such as futures and digital wallets.

In a statement, the FCA said UK arm Binance Markets Ltd is not currently permitted to undertake any regulated activities without prior written consent.

The regulator added that while cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether are themselves not regulated, derivative products such as futures contracts and crypto-assets such as security tokens or e-money tokens do come under its remit.

Binance told the BBC that the FCA notice has no "direct impact" on the services it provides from its website Binance.com.

"BML is a separate legal entity and does not offer any products or services via the Binance.com website," a spokesman told the broadcaster.

Britain has steadily been tightening the rules surrounding crypto.

Since January 10, all UK-based crypto firms have had to comply with Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing laws and register with the FCA in order to operate legally.

Last week, Mark Steward, the FCAs head of enforcement, said more than 100 cryptocurrencies had yet to comply and he likened the growth in crypto to the Dutch tulip bubble in 1630 and said the growth was being driven by fear of missing out.

In a statement, the FCA said: A significantly high number of crypto asset businesses are not meeting the required standards under the money laundering regulations, which has resulted in an unprecedented number of businesses withdrawing their applications.

The action taken today on Binance Markets Limited has been in train for some time.

Reports have suggested the Metropolitan Police is pushing for cryptocurrency to treated in a similar way to cash crimes with assets of suspected offenders frozen and tighter regulations.
"The positive initial feedback from testing of bioMSAR on a Wartsila 4-stroke engine in Finland is very encouraging"

Quadrise Fuels International PLC ( ) said it expects full results shortly from a test in Finland of its new low carbon alternative to heavy fuel oil.

In a statement, Mike Kirk, chairman, said: "The positive initial feedback from testing of bioMSAR on a Wartsila 4-stroke engine in Finland is very encouraging and we look forward to receiving the full report in the coming weeks.

This a key milestone towards being able to undertake larger commercial-scale testing during the next twelve months with MSC, where we remain on track to complete the 4,000-hour LONO trials by mid-2022.

Kirk added that Quadrise generally had received an increasingly enthusiastic market response to bioMSAR, with zero-carbon momentum driving the interest.

"In Morocco, commercial-scale testing with our client is on track for completion in H2 2021 and, assuming the successful conclusion of the trial programme, the intention is to conclude a commercial supply agreement before the end of 2021."

In Utah, Quadrise is looking forward to receiving samples, completing the necessary testing at QRF, and then progress the MSAR and bioMSAR heavy sweet oil opportunities with Greenfield and Valkor in the USA, Kirk added.

House broker Shore Capital said the recent progress was encouraging, especially MSCs eagerness to advance testing on bioMSAR, given its scale and position in the marine sector.

"We are excited by the opportunities Quadrise has to work with customers in reducing the environmental impact of HFO, whilst enabling it to be more economical. We believe a single project could eventually be worth significantly more than the companys current enterprise value."

-- adds broker comment--
's ( ) David Hampstead joins Proactive London's Katie Pilbeam to discuss their strong performance in the year to the end of March.

Revenue rose to 20.6mln from 6.8mln the year before, although the figure was boosted by 'exceptional revenues' of 5.8mln. Underlying earnings (EBITDA) turned positive at 1.1mln versus a loss the previous year of 0.8mln.

Since March, the company has acquired Zita West and Babawest, both are set to be launched into the cross-border e-commerce market in China before the end of this year.
Visitors have to provide proof of vaccination or else quarantine for 14 days

Spain and Portugal have imposed new restrictions on British visitors, who on arrival will now have to provide proof of vaccination or else quarantine for 14 days.

Portugal said the new rules came into effect today (Monday) and will last until at least 11 July.

As Portugal is on Britains amber list, all visitors will also have to self-isolate for up to ten days when they return home.

Spain today also said that all visitors from the UK to the Balearic Islands including Mallorca, Ibiza will soon be required either to show a negative result in a PCR Covid-19 test or to provide proof of two vaccination jabs.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: What we are going to do is apply to British tourists who go to the Balearic islands the same requirements we make of other European citizens, Mr Sanchez told Cadena SER radio.

They will need a full dose of vaccine or a negative PCR, he added

The new rules will come into force within 72 hours, Mr Sanchez said, though he did not say from when.

European leaders have become increasingly worried about the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19 in the UK, which has been affecting the young and least vaccinated section of the UKs population.

Europes vaccination programme is running well behind the UK and several leaders are worried about the highly contagious nature of the Delta variant might spark a new wave of infections.

German chancellor Angela Merkel has called for all British visitors to the EU to be banned whether they are vaccinated or not, while French PM Emmanuel Macron wants a two-week quarantine period to be imposed.

Spain and Portugal are reported to be reluctant to impose any further restrictions.

New Health Secretary Sajid Javid is set to address MPs today over the timeline of the easing of the UKs Covid-19 restrictions in his first speech since taking over after Matt Hancocks resignation at the weekend.

Shares in airline and travels firms took another bashing on the back of the proposed travel tightening.

British Airways owner IAG ( ) fell 4.8% to 178.5p, easyJet (LON;EZK) dropped 3.3% to 924p and Ryanair PLC (LON;RYA) shed 2.8% to 15.93.
The trenchcoat designer may become a target even if sales have improved recently

's ( ) share price fall signalled that the departure of chief executive Marco Gobbetti has been a shock to the system, while some investors may be fearing a takeover.

The 62-year-old fashion veteran is ending a four-year tenure to join competitor Salvatore Ferragamo, where he will hold the same role, by the end of 2021.

The good news is there seems to be nothing malign behind the decision, merely an understandable desire to return to his native Italy after a period when travelling to catch up with friends and family has been very difficult, if not impossible, said says AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

The best CEOs set tone and culture and allocate capital, both human and financial. Investors clearly feel Mr Gobbetti has done well in his tenure, especially given the additional challenges posed by the pandemic and global downturn.

Gobbetti led the turnaround of the trenchcoat designer, including a focus on full-price sales with fewer discounts and strengthening the brands presence in China.

This strategy has helped to offset wider losses during the pandemic, with revenue after falling 10% to 2.3bn in the year to 27 March hit by COVID-19 restrictions. Its expected to grow 8-9% in the current year.

But his farewell has raised many a question on the future of the company.

On the design side, many are wondering whether fellow Italian Riccardo Tisci, hired by him as a chief creative officer in 2018, will also leave for new pastures, potentially causing even more shock at the London HQ.

On the business side, Burberry may now become a target amid the consolidation in the luxury sector and a weaker performance compared to its peers.

The stock is a sell for UBS, as the recent improvements in trading are too insignificant to signal a sustained trend amid increasing doubts about the strength of its underlying performance.

In a note published last week, the investment bank noted that Burberry jumped by 24.1% in the year to date, underperforming the wider European luxury sector which was up 26.7%.

The market is worried about weak trading amid fears of wallet share shifting away from luxury in favour of experiences, while the next earnings season will face tough comparatives from last year.

And although Gobbetti will work with chairman Gerry Murphy to ensure an orderly transition, the company is in a position of weak leadership that might make it easier for a bidder to swoop in.

Shares plunged 8% to 2,068.4p on Monday afternoon, 11% below pre-pandemic levels despite a 50% recovery since March 2020.
's ( ) Kyler Hardy joins Katie Pilbeam from Proactive London to talk about their first month of trading in the British capital.

The firm has taken an indirect stake in a borate project under a deal negotiated by , a company in which it holds a 15.8% stake.

Temas has entered into a definitive option and joint venture agreement for the development of Erin Ventures Piskanja borate project in Serbia.
Zephyr has announced the signing of a drilling contract with Cyclone Drilling Inc. This follows a competitive selection process involving extensive technical and commercial evaluation of multiple potential drilling contractors.

WTI $74.05 +75c, Brent $76.18 +62c, Diff -$2.13 -13c, NG $3.50 +8c, UKNG 79.32p +0.52p

Oil price

Another good week as both oil and natural gas traded up, WTI was 2.41% better, Brent 2.67% whilst Henry Hub was 9% higher with UK natural gas 7.2% to the good. The Baker Hughes rig count certainly didnt reflect $74 oil with no change overall and 1 lower in oil to 372 units. As we have commented before if the oil price is to come down in 2H it wont be due to the weight of US oil.

Hurricane Energy

Hurricane has announced the results of the sanction hearing of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales in relation to the restructuring plan proposed by the Company. The Sanction Hearing was convened on 21 June 2021 at 2:00 p.m. and concluded on 23 June 2021. Judgment was reserved and was handed down today, 28 June 2021. The verdict is that the Court has not sanctioned the Restructuring Plan proposed by the board and is an historic victory for the equity shareholders.

The Judge has clearly seen through the boards inept and incorrect attempt to present numbers that attempted to make a case for bankruptcy, they clearly dont and later in their statement the board started their grotesque scare tactics starting with this.

The existing Hurricane board is considering all options, including an appeal. Unless the Company or the Ad Hoc Committee successfully appeals the judgment, the Restructuring Plan will not be implemented. The Companys convertible bondholders have certain rights under the terms of the convertible bonds which, if enforced, could result in an acceleration of the convertible bonds and ultimately an insolvent liquidation of the Company. As a result there is a significant risk of no value being returned to shareholders.

There are many holes in the case put forward to the Judge not least the mysterious case of the Bluewater offer to extend, on shorter terms, the contract for the FPSO the Aoka Mizu. With the long term nature of the contract the scare stories emerged but I understand that Bluewater may well have re-tendered at a much lower price and shorter duration in order to be able to pass on cost savings of keeping the Aoka Mizu on site.

The piece above in italics is the graceless and downright mean and somewhat shabby way of again trying to bully equity holders of the company. They, the shareholders should be grateful that they have someone like Crystal Amber to stand up to the board in a court of law, but other shareholders were part of the action as well. The board statement in trying to lead the convertible holders to accelerate conversion is at best mischievous and at worst, well lets just say not something a PLC board should be offering advice on. As the judge says, this reinforces the conclusion that shareholders should not immediately be deprived of anything other than a de minimis interest in the equity.

I cannot understand how the board have got into such a state that they are prepared to go to court with a decidedly dodgy set of facts that the company has to wipe out 95% of the equity base. A positive oil market, success at P-6 or even geological re-evaluation that disappeared in the mysterious CPR cannot be ignored and was not by the Judge.

The Judge said  In other words, to retain 100% of the equity in Company that is continuing to trade, with a realistic prospect of being able to repay the Bonds in due course, is to my mind a better position than immediately giving up 95% of the equity with a prospect of a less than meaningful return as to the remaining 5%. The 30 page judgement handed down today is worth analysing as all aspects and views are well assessed.

This is a long and considered verdict from the Judge which does no favours to the Hurricane Board or its General Counsel and they should, along with their wayward attempt to bully the bondholders be returned to the box from which they emerged.

There are plenty of high quality alternative options for the equity and bond holders that could offer vision and potentially substantial upside in the share price in due course, may this pitiful part of their history be erased. Crystal Amber believes that this boards actions have beaten down the share price from 15p and like me, sees huge upside, perhaps with a restructured board combining the best of the technical achievements that started all this and the financial engineering which leaves it where we are, right now at least the investors have a choice.

Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas

Eco has announced that it has closed a transaction with JHI Associates Inc. (JHI), a private company incorporated in Ontario and headquartered in Toronto, Canada, for Eco to acquire up to a 10% interest in JHI and to appoint Keith Hill, a non-executive Director of Eco, to the JHI Board. The Transaction provides Eco with immediate exposure to a current active drilling program in the Canje Block offshore Guyana. The Canje Block is operated by ExxonMobil and is held by Working Interests partners Esso Exploration & Production Guyana Limited (35%), with Total E&P Guyana B.V. (35%), JHI Associates (BVI) Inc. (17.5%) and Mid-Atlantic Oil & Gas Inc. (12.5%).

JHI is a Guyana pure-play deepwater exploration company founded in 2011. In 2014, JHI teamed up with Guyana-based Mid-Atlantic Oil & Gas Inc. (MOGI) which was awarded the Canje Block in 2015. In 2016, ExxonMobil joined the Canje Block as Operator, and in 2018 TotalEnergies farmed into the Block. Five years of extensive technical and seismic data analysis led to the Canje partners identifying multiple drillable prospects and successfully applying for a multi-well drilling permit. The 2021 multi-well exploration programme on the Canje Block seeks to test the extension of the prolific hydrocarbon system which has resulted in over 9 billion barrels of oil equivalent of recoverable resources being discovered in the adjacent Stabroek Block since 2015.

This transaction will increase Eco Atlantics presence in the Guyana-Suriname basin to include a three well drilling programme, with the first two firm wells on the Canje Block drilling in 2021 and at least one on the Orinduik Block, subject to partner approval. The Jabillo-1 well is currently being drilled on the Canje Block utilizing the Stena Carron drillship with results expected in July. The Sapote-1 well is scheduled to be drilled later this year in Q3 by the Stena DrillMax in the eastern portion of the Canje Block, which Eco will also have exposure to through its now shareholding in JHI.

Eco has subscribed for 5,000,000 new common shares in JHI at a price of US$2.0 per share, representing 6.4% of JHIs enlarged share capital, and has been issued a warrant to subscribe for a further 9,155,471 new common shares in JHI at an exercise price of US$2.0 per share for a period of eighteen months (the JHI Warrant). If the JHI Warrant is exercised in full, Eco will hold an interest, ceteris paribus, of 10% in JHI on a fully diluted basis.

Gil Holzman, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Eco Atlantic, commented:

After a period of thorough technical analysis of the Canje block, by both our team at Eco and our strategic partners at we are delighted to advise the market on this exciting transaction, and to be back drilling with results expected imminently.

The carried Jabillo-1 well is underway and is expected to reach target in the coming few weeks, providing our shareholders with high impact near term catalysts. I want to thank the teams at Eco, Africa Oil and JHI for their hard work and collaboration over the past months in bringing this deal to execution.

While we eagerly anticipate resuming drilling activity on our Orinduik block next year, pending partner approvals, and we have made sure to preserve sufficient funding for that, we are very excited that we now have two imminent Guyana wells in our portfolio as well as additional multiple prospects inventory on the Canje Block. Since 2014, Eco has strongly focused on the hydrocarbon potential offshore Guyana, and this strategic deal with JHI marks the beginning of a wider presence and potential increased future collaboration in the basin.

Keith Hill, Non-Executive Director of Eco Atlantic and President and CEO of Africa Oil, further commented:

We are very pleased to have Eco team up with the two most knowledgeable operating partners in the basin and believe the Canje Block has the potential to hold resources comparable to the world class Stabroek Block which is undoubtedly the most successful exploration campaign in recent history. Combining this with the holdings in the Orinduik Block, Eco is well positioned to be part of the historic oil development in Offshore Guyana.

Raise

Since that announcement Eco has announced that it has completed, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval, a private placement with strategic partner Africa Oil Corp and Charlestown Energy Partners LLC, a Private Equity firm based in New York, USA, to raise approximately 6.1m CAD.

Africa Oil has subscribed for 5,945,913 new common shares in Eco at a price of 0.41 CAD per new common share (the Subscription Price) and will be granted the same number of warrants to acquire common shares at the Subscription Price with a two-year duration. Charlestown Energy has also subscribed for 9,000,000 new common shares at the Subscription Price and will be issued the same number of warrants on equivalent terms. The Subscription by Africa Oil and Charlestown Energy will result in Africa Oil increasing its interest in Eco to 19.99%, and Charlestown Energy increasing its interest to 4.51%, of the issued share capital of Eco as enlarged by the Subscription, in each case before any exercise of warrants.

The 14,945,913 new common shares to be issued subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval (expected to be received in the coming days), receipt of funds pursuant to the Subscription and admission of the Subscription Shares to trading on the TSX and on AIM, will represent, in aggregate, approximately 7.5 per cent. of the Companys enlarged issued share capital. On receipt of TSX Venture Exchange approval, application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for the Subscription Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM.

Gil Holzman, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Eco Atlantic, commented:

Our strategic partners at Africa Oil are further increasing their shareholding through the placement, and we welcome the investment from Charlestown Energy Partners which provides Eco with additional funds for the JHI transaction and enables the second well on Canje Block, Sapote-1, and preserves enough cash for the drilling in our Orinduik Block. Eco and Africa Oil are committed to jointly seek, analyse and fund exploration opportunities, and Eco greatly appreciates their technical contribution and capital support as we move forward.

This comes as very exciting news for Eco shareholders and in my view potentially way more than the share price has moved today. It gives them multiple near term catalysts and back to a real drilling exploration programme that had been pushed down the road by the Tullow situation. Expect some of my price targets which had been rather pushed back to now look eminently achievable

Petrofac

Petrofac has issued a pre-close update for the six months ending 30 June 2021, trading overall is in line with the companys expectations with strong growth in the EPS division and new energies and the continuing impact of Covid-19 on E&C project schedules.

Net debt was approximately US$290 million as at 24 June 2020 (31 December 2020: US$116 million) reflecting the reversal of temporary favourable working capital movements at the end of 2020. Liquidity was approximately US$0.9 billion at 24 June 2020 (31 December 2020: US$1.1 billion), reflecting the extension and partial prepayment of the Groups revolving credit facility and ADCB term loan in April.

Sami Iskander, Petrofacs Group Chief Executive, commented:

We have continued to deliver projects and operations safely for our clients worldwide despite challenging market conditions. While financial performance in our E&C business has been impacted by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, our EPS business has demonstrated its resilience by growing both revenue and margins.

We are making good progress on our strategic objectives to rebalance, reshape and rebuild our business. We are continuing to drive technical and functional excellence, efficiency and consistent delivery to a single global standard of execution quality for our clients. We also remain on track to deliver our targeted US$250 million cost savings, which is significantly improving our cost-competitiveness and productivity.

This provides a strong platform from which we are pursuing growth. As expected, new orders are likely to remain depressed in E&C in the current year, but the Group has an active bidding pipeline of $48 billion of opportunities due for award in the next 18 months. We are making good progress in new energies, where we have secured early-stage positions in key target market projects and where we expect to deliver significant growth in the medium term. By continuing to deliver against our near-term strategic priorities, I am confident we will be successful in rebuilding our order backlog as the market recovers.

Zephyr Energy

Zephyr has announced the signing of a drilling contract with Cyclone Drilling Inc. This follows a competitive selection process involving extensive technical and commercial evaluation of multiple potential drilling contractors. Zephyr is delighted to be working with Cyclone again, following their efficient completion of the State 16-2 stratigraphic test well (the 16-2 well) for Zephyr and its project partners earlier this year.

Colin Harrington, Zephyrs Chief Executive, said

We welcome the opportunity to resume our partnership with Cyclone as we prepare to drill the State 16-2LN-CC well. In addition to our positive experience working alongside their team earlier this year, Cyclone has a long history of drilling safe and successful wells in the Rocky Mountain region. I am confident in their ability to help us deliver this well in a safe, efficient and responsible manner.

Cyclone Rig #34 has remained active in recent months, is well known to our drilling team, is available on Zephyrs timeline and is currently located in Utah, providing savings on mobilisation and demobilisation costs.

With the well now fully permitted and the rig contract signed, we look forward to commencing operational activity on the ground in July as envisaged.

And finally

In the Euros at the weekend Wales went out to Denmark, Italy just beat Austria, the Czech Republic beat Holland and Belgium beat Portugal. Today Croatia play Spain and France play Switzerland.

England wrapped up the T20 series against Sri Lanka and ahead of the ODI series starting tomorrow have sent three players home for breaching Covid protocols apparently out on the town in Durham

The F1 season is now looking like previous seasons in reverse with Lewis just not having the guns to catch the faster Red Bull and the silver cars need to get some new kit pdq.

And if you were lucky to watch not only the Rugby Union season finale you would have seen a great match which the Quins won 40-38 against The Chiefs. Indeed a tape of the Quins QF, SF and final would be some video
( ) (FRA:8KM) will hit the ground running in the second half of 2021 with an aggressive ongoing exploration commitment at the Cardinia Gold Project (CGP) in Western Australia.

The company will begin phase-5 drilling after completing more than 32,500 metres during the first half of the year resulting in multiple new discoveries.

In a recent investor presentation, the ASX-listed gold explorer highlighted its major leap forward in geological understanding after identifying the position of porphyry intrusions and faults along the Eastern Corridor in a recent gravity survey.

As part of the companys Eastern Corridor exploration program, the area had been covered by detailed magnetics and gravity surveys and underwent deeper reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling (DD) programs during the phase-3 exploration program completed in 2020 and early 2021.

The gravity survey has enabled detailed mapping of the positions of interpreted shear zones, geological contacts and buried porphyry intrusions. This resulted in the generation of several exploration targets in addition to the deeper targets associated with the recently discovered Cardinia Hill deposit.

Strategic footprint

Cardinia comprises a land package of 657 square kilometres, just 30 kilometres from Leonora and resources of 1.23 million ounces hosted in oxide dominant ore zones at three centres  Cardinia, Metrondale and Raeside.

The asset includes a total of eight projects with mineral resources totalling 16.3 million tonnes at 1.17 g/t gold for 611,000 ounces.

At Cardinia, significant new discoveries have been made at Cardinia Hill, East Lynne and Eagle/Crow while at regional targets, a new satellite discovery has been made during first-pass drilling, with more in the pipeline.

Kin anticipates strong news flow and further resource growth.

The opportunity

Exploration at the project is still at an early stage, with the bulk of historical exploration focused around known deposits driven by an imperative to feed the mill.

A new project-wide, data-driven, bottom-up approach has been adopted to target potential new zones of gold mineralisation.

Large alteration systems related to gold mineralisation have been identified throughout the area as KINs understanding of the mineralising system further develops.

Transitioning to phase-5

Phase-4 exploration activities, between January to June 21 consisted of broad spaced aircore drilling at large scale targets such as Eagle Crow as well as initial RC drilling of new high-grade targets at Eastern Corridor.

For its phase-5 program, Kin has the following planned:
The Memorandum of Understanding provides "the potential to support a global leading lithium-ion battery producer to secure essential facets of the supply chain, says CEO & MD.

Infinity Lithium's new offtake deal could see it supply lithium hydroxide to a world-leading battery producer.

Infinity Lithium Corporation Ltd (ASX:INF) (FRA:3PM) has inked a key non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) relating to a potential offtake agreement with major South Korean lithium-ion battery producer LG Energy Solution (LGES).

Under the proposed deal, the ASX-listed minerals company will provide LG with lithium oxide from the second-largest JORC-compliant hard rock lithium deposit in the European Union: the San Jose Lithium Project in Spain.

Currently, the agreement is a non-binding MoU, meaning both parties have agreed to work towards finalising a binding offtake agreement over the next 12 months.

Infinity CEO and managing director Ryan Parkin said: We are delighted to announce the commencement of a long-term commercial partnership with tier one partner LG Energy Solution, welcoming the potential to support a global leading lithium-ion battery producer to secure essential facets of the supply chain.

The agreement

This MoU stipulates Infinity will supply lithium hydroxide from the San Jose minerals play to LG over an initial five-year period.

The agreement also leaves room for the partnership to continue for a further five years, subject to both parties consent.

Under that offer, LG Energy Solution gains priority access to 10,000 tonnes of product from San Jose every year. The battery producer also has the option to offtake additional volumes, as long as it negotiates with the ASX lister.

Ultimately, any lithium hydroxide supplied from the Spanish project will be costed according to market pricing  a stipulation that will be finalised in a binding agreement.

Of course, any formal agreement is likely to be subject to standard conditions precedent for an offtake agreement of this nature, including Infinity successfully entering commercial production and creating lithium hydroxide that meets LGs specification requirements.

In addition, a formal agreement relies on Infinity resolving permitting hurdles at San Jose, where a permit was cancelled by a governing body last month.

San Jose Lithium Project

Infinitys San Jose Lithium Project is a fully integrated materials asset, prised to leverage off the European Unions rapid adoption of electric vehicles.

The company owns 75% of the lithium play through its wholly-owned subsidiary, focused on turning San Jose into a sustainable producer with a low carbon footprint.

Overall, Europe is poised to become the second-largest market for battery-grade lithium after China, meaning prospective producers like San Jose have the potential to play a critical role in the continents lithium supply.

Infinity shares were as much as 16% higher today to A$0.095.
The company has elected to hold the Brooks drilling program to four Sunburst wells with three Thorsby wells been prioritised for drilling in the September quarter.

At US$70 WTI - wells are extremely economic with payback of around five months

( ) (OTCMKTS:RLTOF) (FRA:R1Y) is successfully progressing drilling at Gemini 1,2, 3 and 4 wells targeting the Sunburst formation in Alberta, Canada, ahead of its goal to achieve year-end production guidance of 4,500 boep/d.

The company has elected to hold the Brooks drilling program to four Sunburst wells, with three Thorsby wells also prioritised for drilling in the September quarter of 2021.

Brooks wells have exceptionally low carbon dioxide in reservoir at 2% and Calimas multi-well pad drilling reduces the environmental footprint.

Based on results to date, the current four-well campaign should add type curve production and economics.

Working at phenomenal pace

President and CEO Jordan Kevol said the company had safely executed the drilling of three Sunburst wells and had started the step-out Gemini #4 in the Alderson strike area near Brooks, Alberta.

He said: Calimas operations team has been working at a phenomenal pace, getting horizontal wells drilled, completed and tied-in in record time.

The shallow drilling depth, short tie-in to the Calima owned infrastructure, combined with the teams expertise and experience in the area has resulted in unrivalled 'spud to onstream' times.

"High prices and attractive economics"

Kevol added: With continued high oil prices and the highly attractive economics of the Thorsby area wells at current energy prices, we are prioritising our three well Thorsby drilling campaign which is to commence in late July.

Based on current commodity prices, we are continuing to get wells licensed and ready for potential additional drilling subject to energy prices and free cash flow.

With both Brooks and Thorsby having great access, logistics and infrastructure we are able to respond to market conditions and quickly add new production.

Drilling highlights

The Gemini #3 well, which was spudded on June 18 reached a total depth of 1,960 metres.

It is set to be connected to facilities and infrastructure with initial flow-back and production expected in mid to late July after completion of a short tie-in pipeline to facilities.

The well encountered excellent oil and gas shows, which has validated the companys 3D seismic interpretation and it is anticipated to produce as a type curve well.

It is believed that the success of this well will open up further Sunburst development.

At Gemini #1 the well re-entered and additional horizontal leg was added, ensuring drainage of the reservoir pool.

The well has been completed and pipeline connected to Blackspur infrastructure, initial flow-back and production having started one June 26 26 days from spud to on production.

Calimas Gemini #2 well has also been completed with pipeline connected on June 24 with oil and gas shows described as excellent throughout the reservoir.

At Gemini #4 a bonanza rig has been moved to location and the well has been spudded with drilling expected to take place in 11 days.

This well is a step out from the existing Brooks wells and may add to the companys 1P and 2P reserves book.

Thorsby

The decision to advance the Thorsby three-well drilling campaign allows Calima to benefit from strong energy prices via the high-impact Thorsby Sparky Formation wells, and for the company to monitor Gemini #3 well flow rates and determine final facilities requirements for Gemini #5.

Sunburst horizontal development

The Sunburst wells being drilled are conventional, open-hole horizontal wells, meaning they require no stimulation such as hydraulic fracturing.

Its true vertical depth (TVD) of the target Sunburst zone is around 1,000 metres and the average lateral length of the horizontal section is typically 775 metres.

The combination of the shallow target depth, relatively short horizontal length, lack of need for stimulation, and short tie-in, results in an all-in cost estimate for each well to be around C$1 million on average.
The company is planning a new IP survey over the Duchess prospect to identify potential sulphide mineralisation that may represent a blind porphyry copper style deposit.

Caspin is also evaluating the nickel-copper sulphide potential on the eastern-side of the Mount Squires Project area.

( ) has identified a potential porphyry copper-style geochemical signature at the new Duchess prospect within the Mount Squires Project in Western Australia.

Around 675 close-spaced soil geochemical samples were collected over the Handpump structural corridor utilising an ultra-fine fraction assay technique well suited to sandy soil conditions.

The survey has detected a molybdenum-lead/copper-gold anomaly covering an area of at least 2 square kilometres, around 4 kilometres southeast of the Handpump prospect, referred to as the Duchess prospect.

This zonation is characteristic of deeply weathered porphyry copper systems in which copper, gold and lead are usually strongly leached, whilst more immobile elements such as molybdenum remain in-situ, proximal to mineralisation in the core of the system.

Additional zonation effects are observed in tin, thallium, bismuth and selenium, which are all common elements found in halos around intrusive porphyry systems.

"Results warrant further exploration"

Caspin chief executive officer Greg Miles said the results were a timely reminder of the opportunity that existed at the Mount Squires Project.

He said: The Mount Squires Project is vast, under-explored but highly prospective and we can make significant advancements rapidly with relatively small investments in new data.

Weve previously identified gold mineralisation at the Handpump Prospect that demonstrated evidence of mineralising processes at the project, but this is now dwarfed by the scale of the potential Porphyry Copper style system at the Duchess Prospect.

In addition, weve now identified an interesting IP anomaly between Handpump and Duchess that is also consistent with a porphyry mineralisation model.

The results warrant further exploration, and we are currently planning work programs to be conducted in parallel with our Yarawindah Brook activities, giving our investors further exposure to a large-scale discovery.

The Duchess prospect has not been drill tested with almost all the previous drilling focussed at the Handpump prospect.

Anomaly adjacent to Handpump

An IP survey was completed across the Handpump prospect by previous explorers in 2010, consisting of a gradient array grid to map shallow IP/resistivity, and a single line of Dipole-Dipole IP to add some depth constraints to the anomalies seen in the gradient array data.

Caspin re-processed the Dipole-Dipole data and generated a new inversion model, extending below the 200 metres depth limit of the historical model.

The new model confirms a zone of shallow chargeability, coincident with the historical gradient array anomaly, strongly associated with the known gold mineralisation at the Handpump prospect.

Significantly, however, a second feature has emerged from this reprocessing that appears to represent a deeper chargeability anomaly below the depth of investigation of the gradient array survey.

This deeper anomaly is a consistent feature in all recent inversion model iterations and potentially represents sulphide mineralisation, which has not been drill tested.

Detailed magnetic data for the Handpump area provides further support for this deeper IP anomaly.

Caspin considers that this magnetic feature might represent a magmatic intrusion associated with the Handpump mineralised system.

Next steps

The company has identified several fronts on which to advance Mount Squires:

Undertake a new IP survey over the Duchess Prospect to identify potential sulphide mineralisation that may represent a blind Porphyry Copper style deposit;

Simultaneously conduct a reconnaissance-style drilling program across the Duchess Prospect to test Au and Cu mineralisation beneath the weathering zone. A suitable drill rig is currently being sourced;

Drill test the Handpump IP anomaly - this would be a separate program from the reconnaissance drill program requiring a rig with greater depth capabilities; and

Extend the soil geochemistry program further to the southeast along the Handpump structural corridor.

Nickel-copper potential

Caspin is also evaluating the nickel-copper sulphide potential on the eastern side of the Mount Squires Project area.

Its tenure covers the strike-extension of the 40-kilometre-long, east-northeast trending West Musgrave mineralised corridor.

The known mineralised extent of this corridor extends from Suez prospect in the east to the One Tree Hill prospect outside the immediate eastern lease boundary of the companys Mt Squires project.

This West Musgrave corridor hosts major ore deposits at Babel, Nebo and Succoth (owned by OZ Minerals Ltd - ), together with several other prospects.

Therefore, an aerial electromagnetic survey over an area of around 100 square kilometres is being planned to cover this corridor and projected strike extension.
Two surveying techniques were utilised to analyse the ground at Orient, identifying and extending the structures of known mineralisation at the polymetallic asset.

Red River has identified a suite of silver-indium targets at its Orient Project in North Queensland.

Red River Resources Limited's (ASX:RVR) drone magnetics and induced polarisation survey at the Orient Project near Herberton in North Queensland has identified multiple large silver-indium targets.

Broadly, the surveys aimed to map and target mineralised structures at Orient beyond those already known to the company, improving targeting for future drilling at the polymetallic asset.

Red Rivers Orient silver-indium project hosts the Orient West and Orient East silver-lead-zinc-indium deposits. Promisingly, it is highly prospective for additional high-grade deposits along strike and down dip.

Orient was one of two polymetallic projects granted to Red River last year that host the highest grade known indium deposits in Australia.

The company aims to add to its multi-project, multi-commodity strategy that includes base metal operations at Thalanga in north Queensland and gold operations at Hillgrove in northern NSW.

Survey says

To explore the ground at Orient, the ASX-listed explorer recently conducted a 14-square-kilometre drone magnetic survey and six lines of induced polarisation (IP) geophysical surveying at the Orient mining camp over exploration mining permit 27223.

Promisingly, surveying unveiled multiple large targets, including one close to historical drill hole EO3 at Orient East, which intersected a wide zone of mineralisation.

This returned 75 metres at 38 g/t silver from 15 metres downhole to end of hole, including 4 metres at 154 g/t silver, 20 g/t indium, 3.3% lead & 2.2% zinc from 36 metres downhole.

Red Rivers magnetic survey and three of the IP survey lines, which were conducted in May 2021, were funded using a Queensland Geological Survey Collaborative Exploration Initiative (CEI) grant awarded to the company in August 2020.

Overall, Red River said the two techniques were successful in identifying the structures and IP responses of known mineralisation and extensions to the structures that will be further assessed for additional mineralisation.

Interestingly, a magnetic feature discovered in the Bluewater Rhyolite formation and its corresponding IP chargeability features represent a new target style for the area.

Orient West and Orient East

Surveying has indicated the mineralisation at Orient West follows northeast-striking magnetic lows along the boundary of the Halpin Granite and Bluewater Rhyolite formations.

Meanwhile, the companys drone magnetics data indicates lineations extend a further 1.6 kilometres to the deposits northeast.

Overall, the prospective structural setting, anomalous soils and rock chip samples and presence of small workings, make this a high priority target for Red River.

As it worked over the Orient East and the Nannum Amalgamated regions, surveying revealed a zone of complex magnetic lineations and probable structures.

This indicates the potential for a larger zone of stockwork-style mineralisation than currently shown by the existing workings.
Gold prices gained 0.1% to US$1,781.19 per ounce on Monday as tamer-than-expected U.S. inflation data allayed fears of an early monetary policy tightening by the US Federal Reserve.

The US Feds preferred inflation measure, the personal consumption expenditures price index, rose 3.4% from a year ago, in line with Wall Street estimates.

S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) slipped 0.11% to 7,300 points by about 12.55 pm as NSW recorded 18 new Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8 pm last night, bringing the total number of infections in the Bondi cluster to 130.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said while the drop from Sundays 30 new cases was encouraging, people should be prepared for cases to rise in the coming days.

Berejiklian added: While the numbers today are less than the numbers yesterday, we have to be prepared for the numbers to bounce around and we have to be prepared for the numbers to go up considerably.

IT, travel stocks down

The IT sector on the S&P/ASX 200 was by far the worst-performing sector with a 3.16% decline while property, industrials and financials were also in the red.

Buy now, pay later firm Afterpay ( ) was one of the leading decliners individually with a 7% fall.

Travel stocks were also lower following the weekend decision to put greater Sydney and surrounding areas into a two-week lockdown.

Qantas ( ) slipped 4.3% while Webjet ( ) dropped 3.5%.

Top gainers

Todays top gainers on the ASX include ( ) (+12.50%), ( ) (+18.52%), ( ) (+11.43%), Platina Resources Limited ( ) (+10.13%) and ( ) (+7.69%).

Proactive news headlines:

Caspin Resources identifies potential large porphyry copper-style system at Duchess prospect of Mount Squires Project

( ) has identified a potential porphyry copper-style geochemical signature at the new Duchess prospect within the Mount Squires Project in Western Australia.

PVW Resources has drill spinning at Brilliant Well in Leonora region

PVW Resources NL ( ) continues its exploration drilling campaign in the Leonora region of Western Australia with drilling now underway at the Brilliant Well Project.

Ora Banda Mining's strong initial Iguana gold results confirm resource potential

( ) (FRA:M6N) has unveiled the first suite of assays from infill drilling at Iguana gold deposit in Western Australia with potential to provide additional feed for the nearby Davyhurst processing plant.

Calima Energy progresses Sunburst drilling in Canada with aim to achieve year-end production guidance of 4,500 boep/d

Calima Energy Ltd ( ) (OTCMKTS:RLTOF) (FRA:R1Y) is successfully progressing drilling at Gemini 1,2, 3 and 4 wells targeting the Sunburst formation in Alberta, Canada, ahead of its goal to achieve year-end production guidance of 4,500 boep/d.

Anson Resources begins trading on US-based OTC Markets platform

( ) (OTCMKTS:ANSNF) (FRA:9MY) is trading on the US-based OTCQB Market under the code of ANSNF after its application to join the market was accepted.

Infinity Lithium inks offtake MoU with LG Energy Solution for San Jose lithium hydroxide

( ) ( ) has inked a key non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) relating to a potential offtake agreement with major South Korean lithium-ion battery producer LG Energy Solution (LGES).
The critical metals to be produced from the Dubbo Project, including zirconium, niobium and hafnium, and the rare earth elements neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium, are in high demand for a suite of modern industrial applications.

The project is ready for construction with all major approvals and licences in place.

( ) (OTCMKTS:ASMMF) has conditional finance support from Export Finance Australia (EFA) to secure A$200 million of debt funding for its Dubbo Rare Earths Project in Central NSW.

After issuing a letter of support, EFA will begin detailed due diligence of the project, in line with its mandate to support eligible Australian projects with targeted debt solutions to supplement private-market finance.

ASM managing director David Woodall said the Dubbo Projects alignment with the objectives of the Australian Governments critical minerals strategy - to diversify global critical mineral supply and capture more value from the critical minerals value chain - would be a key factor in a successful application to secure Australian Government financing.

Market cap almost A$1 billion

The companys market cap pre-open was approximately A$965.4 million and shares today have been up more than 4% to A$7.20.

This is approaching the new record high of A$7.20 set last Friday.

Due diligence conditions

According to the EFAs non-binding letter of support, a successful outcome from the EFA assessment and due diligence process was contingent on several conditions:

Securing offtake commitments for metal products, which diversify critical metal supply chains;

Execution of a lump sum turnkey fixed date contract with an acceptable engineering contractor for the engineering, construction and commissioning of the project;

Finalising the projects funding plan including the raising of equity and securing funding from other lenders;

Meeting eligibility criteria, credit and risk requirements, including, but not limited to, EFAs know your customer and anti-bribery requirements and checks; and

The project receiving the required regulatory and environmental approvals.

Developing integrated business

Woodall said: The critical metals we will produce from the Dubbo Project - including zirconium, niobium and hafnium, and the rare earth elements neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium - are all in high demand for a suite of modern industrial applications, including energy-efficient technologies, electric vehicles, aerospace, defence and telecommunications.

We are developing an integrated mine to metals business, which will be unique in that we will take all project products from the mine and manufacture them at our Korean and global metals plants into critical metals, alloys and powders that can be used directly by hi-tech industries.

The Dubbo Project is ready for construction, with all major State and Federal approvals and licences in place.

Our discussions with potential offtake, equity and financing partners in the Dubbo Project have been very positive and are continuing.
Amplia Therapeutics is an Australian pharmaceutical company advancing a pipeline of Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) inhibitors for cancer and fibrosis.

These agreements define the structure of an ongoing collaborative research and clinical development program.

( ) (OTCSMKTS:INNMF) has executed a collaboration agreement and research and licence agreement with the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia  initially announced in March.

These agreements define the structure of an ongoing collaborative research and clinical development program to be undertaken with Garvan, focusing on the use of Amplias FAK inhibitor, AMP945, to treat patients with pancreatic cancer.

The collaboration, which was forecast with the signing of a non-binding term sheet in March 2021, provides Amplia with access to Garvans research strength in FAK biology and its extensive clinical research network.

Very exciting

Chief executive officer and MD Dr John Lambert said: It is very exciting for Amplia to be able to tap into the extensive experience in FAK biology, cancer biology and clinical networks that are available at a globally-recognised research institute such as Garvan.

We have already seen the benefits of this collaboration through the results of the non-clinical studies which we announced earlier this year.

These studies have provided important insights into the biology of AMP945 and have further validated our decision to progress this promising drug into a phase-2 clinical trial in pancreatic cancer patients.

Phase-2 clinical trial planning

Already, non-clinical studies conducted in the laboratory of Professor Paul Timpson, Cancer Research Theme Leader at Garvan, a world-renowned expert in FAK biology, have provided Amplia with valuable insights into the ability of AMP945 to inhibit fibrosis and significantly improve survival in an animal model of aggressive pancreatic cancer.

Amplia is incorporating these insights and using its access to Garvans clinical research network to assist with the design and planning of a phase-2 clinical trial of AMP945 in patients with pancreatic cancer that is scheduled to commence later this year.

The terms of the final collaboration agreement also provide for expansion into other therapeutic areas.

"Better treatment options"

Garvin executive director professor Chris Goodnow added: At Garvan, we aim to translate our cancer research findings into better treatment options and improved clinical outcomes for patients.

We are delighted to be working with Amplia in the development of its unique FAK inhibitors as potential new anti-fibrotic treatments for patients with pancreatic cancer or other fibrotic diseases.

Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, which has an initial term of 2 years, Amplia will receive first rights to participate in research projects relating to the use of FAK inhibitors in combination with other therapeutic products for the treatment of cancer.

As part of the research and licence agreement, Amplia agrees to fund studies of the use of AMP945 in combination with gemcitabine / Abraxane for the treatment of cancer, with an initial focus on pancreatic cancer.

The company will also receive first rights to new intellectual property arising from the collaboration.
The Redbank Project is in the east McArthur Basin, about 30 kilometres west of the Northern Territory/Queensland border.

( ) has identified several compelling anomalies along trend of known copper mineralisation during the initial gradient array induced polarisation (GAIP) survey within the Redbank Copper Project in McArthur Basin, Northern Territory.

Exploration started on June 4, 2021, with initial work including GAIP surveys and large-scale soil sampling.

Both are proven methods for discovering disseminated copper mineralisation in the McArthur Basin.

The first GAIP area surveyed was positioned over the Bluff deposit with immediate success.

Redbank has also identified two discrete and unexplained high-order chargeability anomalies and these targets will be tested with a drilling program planned to start in Q3 2021.

Several exciting and unexplained anomalies identified

Redbank executive director Michael Hannington said: We are delighted to have encountered immediate success from our 2021 exploration program at Redbank, with several exciting and unexplained anomalies identified within close proximity to the existing Bluff copper deposit.

Importantly, these initial results demonstrate that we have a proven exploration technique to search for copper mineralisation within our district-scale project area in the McArthur Basin and we are continuing to build a suite of high-quality targets to be tested with our maiden drill program.

The Redbank Project continues to reveal its underlying potential and our technical team is beginning to get a glimpse into the true scale and prospectivity of our project area.

Our targeted exploration program continues apace and we look forward to providing further updates on progress.

Redbank Project

The Redbank Project is in the east McArthur Basin about 30 kilometres west of the Northern Territory/Queensland border.

In July 2020, Redbank expanded the size of the project area and secured a district-scale tenement holding by pegging open ground following work by Geoscience Australia that highlighted the prospectivity of the area for large base metal deposits between the world-class Tier 1 zinc deposits at the McArthur and Century Mines.

The company is searching for large copper deposits to add to the existing copper inventory.

Further target generation work

Redbanks soil sampling program continues to expand eastwards from the anomalous area identified at Bluff deposit to add to the existing copper inventory.

Before starting ground geophysical IP surveys, Redbank contracted an airborne electromagnetic (VTEM) survey over an area partially covered by regional-scale soil sampling in 2020.

The VTEM survey is scheduled to start in early July and will provide a technique to image the stratigraphic layers which host the breccia pipe copper deposits.

Further target generation work using airborne electromagnetic and MT (magnetotellurics) surveys will start in early July with additional results to be reported in due course.
The partnership will combine the companys local hybrid cloud solutions with IBMs multi-cloud management services and underpins the companys international growth plan.

The combination will offer New Zealand customers access to local and global network links.

( ) will launch its hybrid cloud solutions with IBM Global Technology Services ( ) in New Zealand from mid-July 2021.

This partnership will combine Nexions local hybrid cloud solutions with IBMs multi-cloud management services to offer New Zealand customers greater accessibility to their network.

The combination of these two companies will offer New Zealand customers access to local and global network links and access to global cloud and SDWAN.

It will also provide NEXIONs clients with flexible design, scalable hybrid cloud solutions, along with artificial intelligence and automation and security services.

Global growth strategy

NEXION co-founder and CEO Paul Glass said: NEXION looks forward to extending the close partnership and solution offering into New Zealand and we are hopeful of further such partnership agreements.

This partnership continues to underpin our global growth strategy based on key partnerships and to have a company of IBMs calibre select Nexion as a Global Technology Services, GTS tier-one partner is testament to a strong alignment.

The partnership

NEXION will deploy a hybrid cloud solution that will offer combined enterprise solutions aligned with current offerings in Australia including Hybrid Cloud, Enterprise Networks, Security, Global SDWN, IaaS, enterprise consulting and solution design.

IBM will provide Nexions New Zealand enterprise clients with flexible and global design and scalable hybrid cloud solutions along with artificial intelligence, automation and security services.

NEXION is an information technology service provider that offers compute and data storage equipment as a service that it integrates with Public Cloud services to form a Hybrid Cloud.
It could be the largest IPO in New York this year, at US$4bn at the top of the range

Didi Global Inc is reportedly closing the bookbuild for its IPO on Monday, one day early compared to plans.

The Chinese ride-sharing giant had received enough investor demand to meet the targeted price range on Friday.

According to filings published last week, the group is placing American Depositary Shares at US$13-14 each, which would raise US$4bn at the top of the range, potentially making it the largest IPO in New York this year.

It values the tech firm at US$62.4-67.2bn, while competitor ( ) is valued at US$96.8bn according to the last closing price.

has expressed interest in US$750mln worth of shares, while Singapore's Temasek is eyeing a US$500mln stake.

"Many investors still doubt if Didi can maintain a high growth rate for its core ride-hailing business in China," a prospective investor told Reuters.

"Its market share is already very high in big cities, which means there is limited room for its future growth.

"It's also challenging for the company to expand in lower-tier cities due to increasing competition from rivals, not to mention the potential impact of a regulatory crackdown."
Preliminary results showed potent inhibition of both the Beta and Gamma variants by opaganib at non-cytotoxic doses, the company said

Opaganib is a unique host-targeted, dual antiviral and anti-inflammatory drug that acts on the cause and effect of COVID-19

Ltd. ( ) has announced preliminary results from a new preclinical study showing potent inhibition of coronavirus (COVID-19) variants of concern by opaganib.

Working with the University of Louisville Center for Predictive Medicine, opaganib was studied in a 3D tissue model of human bronchial epithelial cells (EpiAirway) to evaluate the in vitro efficacy of the treatment in inhibiting the Beta (South African) and Gamma (Brazilian) SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Preliminary results showed opaganib strongly inhibited both Beta and Gamma variants. Opaganibs unique, orally-administered, host-targeted, dual antiviral and anti-inflammatory approach to combatting COVID-19 is also expected to maintain effect against other emerging variants, including the Delta (Indian) variant.

This expectation is due to the way opaganib exerts its antiviral effect, selectively inhibiting sphingosine kinase-2 (SK2) - a key enzyme produced in human cells that can be recruited by the virus to support its replication.

"The results we have seen with opaganib so far are exciting," said Dr William Severson, director of Shared Resources for the Center for Predictive Medicine, University of Louisville.

"They provide further evidence in support of opaganib's antiviral capabilities and highlight opaganib's potential as an orally-administered treatment for COVID-19 and its continuously emerging variants," he added.

Dr Reza Fathi, RedHill's senior VP, R&D commented: "Opaganib inhibits an enzyme in the COVID-19 patients' cells called sphingosine kinase-2, which the SARS-CoV-2 virus can recruit in order to replicate."

"Opaganib's dual antiviral and anti-inflammatory mechanism of action is independent of mutations in the spike protein. This means we expect opaganib to similarly work against other emerging COVID-19 variants, including the Delta (Indian) variant. Moreover, we are looking forward to seeing the top-line clinical data from the global Phase 2/3 study which is expected to be completed in the coming weeks," he added.

Following recently presented positive US Phase 2 study data, opaganib's global 475-patient Phase 2/3 study in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 is fully enrolled and is expected to be completed in the coming weeks, the company said.

Opaganib has also received Orphan Drug designation from the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of cholangiocarcinoma and is being evaluated in a Phase 2a study in advanced cholangiocarcinoma and in a Phase 2 study in prostate cancer.

Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com

Disclaimer: This content has been provided pursuant to an agreement under which pays an annual fee to the publisher. (https://www.proactiveinvestors.com/pages/terms)
's ( ) ( ) Kirill Klip joins Proactive London's Katie Pilbeam to present the latest on their royalty company which gives investors exposure to both precious and green energy metals.

With royalties on projects containing copper, gold, silver and lithium metals, Klip explains the importance of their role in the 'energy revolution'.

Finally Klip explains the relevance of Chinese mining company Ganfeng Lithium investing $600mln in a lithium exploration project in the northern Argentinean province of Salta.
Zaunscherb has more than 30 years' experience as a mining and capital markets analyst and been a director of GR Silver since April 2020

Zaunscherb said he was "very honoured" by the appointment

Ltd ( ) (OTCQB:GRLSF) (FRA:GPE) has appointed its director Eric Zaunscherb as its new non-executive chairman effective July 1 this year.

Zaunscherb has more than 30 years of experience as a mining and capital markets analyst and been a director of GR Silver since April 2020.

His "significant" experience in the capital markets and expertise in identifying and adding value to district-scale mineral deposit opportunities are of notable value, given the company's focus on its 100%-owned leading portfolio of silver-gold assets in the Rosario mining district in Mexico, said GR Silver CEO Marcio Fonseca.

Zaunscherb said he was "very honoured" by the appointment.

"Management has created an extraordinary opportunity, beginning with the artful consolidation of the highly prospective Rosario Mining District around the La Rastra community in Sinaloa, Mexico, growing a respectful and productive relationship with the people of the surrounding communities, and building a powerful team of geologists, technicians, and support staff.

"This team is successfully peeling the geological onion, expanding known mineralization and generating exciting new targets. I am excited to contribute to the company's efforts for the benefit of its stakeholders."

's 6,574 hectares (Ha) Plomosas silver project is within 5 kilometres (km) of the company's San Marcial silver Project, in the Rosario district and is a past-producing asset, where only one mine operated from 1986 to 2001, producing around 8 million ounces of silver, 73 million pounds of lead and 28 million pounds of zinc.

The firm also acquired the advanced La Trinidad project and the Cimarron project in Mexico in March this year.

The company said the Plomosas, San Marcial and La Trinidad projects collectively resemble the multi-million-ounce San Dimas mining district, which has historically produced more than 600 million ounces (Moz) silver and 11 Moz gold over more than 100 years.

Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com
Mining (CVE: HIGH  OTCQX: HGGOF) CEO Darwin Green joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share news the company has increased their drill program at the Johnson Gold Project in Southcentral Alaska.

Green telling Proactive the Program will be the largest in the Projects history with a 25% increase to 20,000 meters. That is up from the 16,000 that was planned. The main goal of this years program is to expand the JT Main Deposit and to try and make some new discoveries within the Johnson District.
The company now has four operating locations in the state, with two in San Jose and one in Bellflower

Under the terms, the total consideration of $11.5 million comprises $8.5 million in cash and $3 million in equity of The Parent Company

TPCO Holding Corp - - (NEO:GRAM) ( ) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the equity of dispensary Calma West Hollywood for a total consideration of $11.5 million.

The company said the agreement remains subject to regulatory approvals, including approval by the City of West Hollywood.

said the 3,250 square foot dispensary is one of only 10 stores in the West Hollywood area that is licensed for both delivery and storefront retail.

With more than 3.6 million visitors per year, West Hollywood is situated in the core of the Los Angeles region, surrounded by cultural destinations and tourist attractions in every direction. The Los Angeles metropolitan area also has a cannabis retailer density of one store for every 194,000 people in the region.

The Parent Company said the acquisition of Calma increases its current California retail footprint to four, with two operating locations in San Jose and one in Bellflower. Also, to ensure Calma remains a staple in West Hollywood, the Calma founders will remain involved with the operations of the business.

"We are thrilled to be expanding our retail presence in the iconic West Hollywood region and look forward to continuing to provide our clients with the exceptional selection and retail experiences they've come to expect from us," said Steve Allan, CEO of The Parent Company, in a statement.

"Strategically positioned in a high-traffic, high-population region of Los Angeles, this acquisition enables us to expand our reach to a broader potential audience of consumers and patients with both in-person retail and delivery options."

Allan added: "As we continue to execute on our omnichannel expansion strategy, we will look to evaluate and identify additional strong retail and delivery operators in strategic locations to expand our reach across the state."

Terms of the deal

Under the terms of the agreement, the total consideration of $11.5 million comprises of $8.5 million in cash and $3 million in equity of The Parent Company.

Upon the initial closing, anticipated to take place in the third quarter of 2021, The Parent Company said it will obtain 85% of the equity of Calma upon approval by the City of West Hollywood.

The company added that the transfer of the remaining 15% equity of Calma is expected to occur in 2022. Closing of the Calma transaction is subject to standard closing conditions as well as regulatory review and approval.

Contact the author: patrick@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow him on Twitter @PatrickMGraham
Garrett Ainsworth, Districts CEO, called the results from the 5,611 metre, 22-hole spring 2021 program a great success"

The results were highlighted by 8.65 metres at 2.9% copper, 0.4 grams per ton (g/t) old, including 7.05 metres at 3.47% copper and 0.52 g/t gold

District Metals Corp ( ) (OTCMKTS:MKVNF) (FRA:DFPP) revealed results of four drill holes from its Tomtebo project in Sweden, which included strong copper mineralization.

The results, from a maiden drill program on the property, were highlighted by 8.65 metres at 2.9% copper, 0.4 grams per ton (g/t) gold, including 7.05 metres at 3.47% copper and 0.52 g/t gold and 5.15 metres at 1.56% copper and 0.32 g/t gold in hole TOM21-013.

Another hole, TOM21-016, intersected 17.2 metres at 0.94% copper and 0.28 g/t gold, including 3 metres at 2.8% copper and 1.21 g/t gold.

The drill holes were sunk below open pits where copper sulphides were extracted at the Gardsgruvans zone in the southwest portion of the historic Tomtebo Mine, according to a release. Both TOM21-013 and -016 successfully intersected vein networks of copper-rich sulphides within strongly altered felsic volcanic rocks, the company added.

Rodney Allen, Districts technical advisor, told investors that the company is interpreting the vein networks as feeder conduits in which high temperature fluids carrying copper-gold-zinc-lead-silver flowed upwards towards the sea floor in a submarine volcanogenic hydrothermal system.

Allen added that it is likely that the copper zones drilled in TOM21-013 and -016 represent cores of the sub-seafloor feeder system that continues upwards to feed massive sulphide mineralization at the Steffenbergs zone and other areas awaiting drilling.

The widespread extent and the intensity of the copper-bearing vein networks indicate that Tomtebo has economic potential for both Cu-Au resources within the feeder vein system, the company told shareholders.

Garrett Ainsworth, Districts CEO, called the results from the 5,611 metre, 22-hole spring 2021 program a great success.

"Our first few holes into the Gardsgruvans zone have returned exceptionally strong copper results and associated alteration that exhibits the presence of multiple robust and long lasting copper-rich feeder zones, which is an important feature of other large polymetallic deposits in the Bergslagen District, Ainsworth said.

Our field personnel and Hy-Tech Drilling AB executed this drill program with the upmost professionalism.

Permitting for the planned Phase II drill program in September or October 2021 has already started, Ainsworth added, telling shareholders that this pause in drilling will allow the company to compile and interpret all of the newly obtained data to prioritize targets for an exciting Phase II drill program that will include large step outs and testing of regional targets up to a kilometer away from the historic Tomtebo Mine."

Tomtebo is located in the Bergslagen Mining District of south-central and comprises 5,144 hectares situated between the historic Falun Mine and Boliden's Garpenberg Mine.

Contact Angela at angela@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow her on Twitter @AHarmantas
"The United States of America is still run by its citizens. The government works for us. Rank imperialism and warmongering are not American traditions or values. We do not need to dominate the world. We want and need to work with other nations. We want to find solutions other than killing people. Not in our name, not with our money, not with our children's blood."

Molly Ivins
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Homo longi is phylogenetically closer to Homo sapiens than to Neanderthals or other archaic humans, according to new research described in The Innovation.

A well-preserved ancient human fossil known as the Harbin cranium was reportedly discovered when a bridge was built over the Songhua River in Harbin City, the Heilongjiang province, China.

Because of its unsystematic recovery and the long time interval, information about the exact site and fossil layer was lost.

The Harbin fossil is one of the most complete human cranial fossils in the world, said Professor Qiang Ji, a paleontologist at Hebei GEO University.

It preserved many morphological details that are critical for understanding the evolution of the Homo genus and the origin of Homo sapiens.

The Harbin cranium is massive in size, larger than all other known-archaic humans. It is also relatively long and low and lacks the globularity of the modern human braincase.

It has larger, almost square eye sockets, thick brow ridges, a wide mouth, and oversized teeth.

Its endocranial capacity is estimated as 1,420 ml, falling in the range of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, and larger than other Homo species such as Homo erectus, Homo naledi, Homo floresiensis, and even some Homo heidelbergensis/Homo rhodesiensis.

It is so distinctive that Professor Ji and colleagues have even suggested naming the cranium as a new species of Homo. They have called it Homo longi.

The species name is derived from the geographic name Long Jiang, which is a common usage for the Heilongjiang province and literally means dragon river.

While it shows typical archaic human features, the Harbin cranium presents a mosaic combination of primitive and derived characters setting itself apart from all the other previously-named Homo species, Professor Ji said.

The Harbin cranium is huge, showing either the largest or second largest values for many measurements in our comparative fossil database, and its brain volume at 1,420 ml matches that of modern humans, added Professor Chris Stringer, a paleoanthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London.

It also shows other features resembling our species. It has flat and low cheekbones with a shallow canine fossa, and the face looks reduced and tucked under the braincase.

The authors believe the Harbin cranium came from a 50-year-old male living in a forested, floodplain environment as part of a small community.

Like Homo sapiens, they hunted mammals and birds, and gathered fruits and vegetables, and perhaps even caught fish, said Professor Xijun Ni, a paleoanthropologist at Hebei GEO University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Using sophisticated geochemical analyses, including rare earth elements, strontium isotopic ratios and X-ray fluorescence, and direct Ur-series dating, the researchers dated the fossil to at least 146,000 years, placing it in the Middle Pleistocene, a dynamic era of human species migration.

They hypothesize that Homo longi and Homo sapiens could have encountered each other during this era.

Although it is impossible to pin the cranium to an exact location with currently available technology, all the evidence suggests that it was from a bed of water-laid sediments aged between 138,000 and 309,000 years ago in the Harbin region, said Dr. Junyi Ge, a geochemist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

We are quite confident now that the fossil is older than 146,000 years, added Dr. Qingfeng Shao, a geochemist at the Nanjing Normal University.

We see multiple evolutionary lineages of Homo species and populations co-existing in Asia, Africa, and Europe during that time, Professor Stringer said.

So, if Homo sapiens indeed got to East Asia that early, they could have a chance to interact with Homo longi, and since we dont know when the Harbin group disappeared, there could have been later encounters as well.

The scientists also found that Homo longi is one of our closest hominin relatives, even more closely related to us than Neanderthals.

It is widely believed that the Neanderthal belongs to an extinct lineage that is the closest relative of our own species, Professor Ni said.

However, our discovery suggests that the new lineage we identified that includes Homo longi is the actual sister group of Homo sapiens.

The teams reconstruction of the human tree of life also suggests that the common ancestor we share with Neanderthals existed even further back in time.

The divergence time between Homo sapiens and the Neanderthals may be even deeper in evolutionary history than generally believed, over one million years, Professor Ni said.

If true, we likely diverged from Neanderthals roughly 400,000 years earlier than scientists had thought.

Its widely believed that Neanderthals form the sister group of the sapiens lineage, Professor Stringer said.

But our analyses suggest that the Harbin cranium and some other Middle Pleistocene human fossils from China form a third East Asian lineage, which is actually closer to sapiens than the Neanderthals are.

Thus, the excellent preservation of the Harbin cranium throws new light on the evolution of the genus Homo.

Its estimated Middle Pleistocene age places it as an Asian contemporary of the evolving Homo sapiens, Homo neanderthalensis and Denisovan lineages.

It may even be a representative of the enigmatic Denisovans, but that is something for the next stages of research.

_____

Xijun Ni et al. Massive cranium from Harbin in northeastern China establishes a new Middle Pleistocene human lineage. Innovation, published online June 25, 2021; doi: 10.1016/j.xinn.2021.100130

Qingfeng Shao et al. Geochemical provenancing and direct dating of the Harbin archaic human cranium. Innovation, published online June 25, 2021; doi: 10.1016/j.xinn.2021.100131

Qiang Ji et al. Late Middle Pleistocene Harbin cranium represents a new Homo species. Innovation, published online June 25, 2021; doi: 10.1016/j.xinn.2021.100132
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a striking new photo of NGC 330, an open star cluster that resides in the Small Magellanic Cloud.

Open clusters are large groups of stars weakly bound by gravity, all of which formed from the same molecular cloud.

As star clusters form from a single primordial cloud of gas and dust, all the stars they contain are roughly the same age, Hubble astronomers said.

This makes them useful natural laboratories for astronomers to learn how stars form and evolve.

The open cluster NGC 330 is located some 180,000 light-years away in the southern constellation of Tucana.

It was discovered on August 1, 1826 by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop.

Also cataloged as ESO 29-24, Kron 35 and Lindsay 54, it contains a multitude of stars, many of which are scattered across the new Hubble image.

This striking image uses observations from Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3, and incorporates data from two very different astronomical investigations, the astronomers said.

The first aimed to understand why stars in star clusters appear to evolve differently from stars elsewhere, a peculiarity first observed by Hubble.

The second aimed to determine how large stars can be before they become doomed to end their lives in cataclysmic supernova explosions.

The new image of NGC 330 also contains clues about the inner workings of Hubble itself, they added.

The criss-cross patterns surrounding the stars in this image  known as diffraction spikes  were created when starlight interacted with the four thin vanes supporting Hubbles secondary mirror.
Rua Bioscience and the University of Waikato have announced a ground-breaking, two-year research programme to investigate the application of hyperspectral technology to the cultivation and assessment of medicinal cannabis, paving the way for Rua to enter New Zealands booming agritech sector.

Primarily driven by global demand for medicinal cannabis, commentators expect the cannabis testing industry to be worth $2.5bn (USD$1,806 million) by 2025 (Markets and Markets, 2021). However, current analytical methods present significant challenges for commercial cannabis growers. Testing requires the destruction of some product, is expensive and the turn-around of results means delays in decision-making.

Researchers at Rua Bioscience and the University of Waikato hope real-time monitoring using hyperspectral imaging will change all that, with the potential to transform the way the global medicinal cannabis industry qualifies, assesses and manages its crops. Hyperspectral technology involves imaging that collects and processes information from across the visible and near-infrared spectrum. Screening methods using hyperspectral imaging are increasingly used in precision agriculture to determine optimal harvest timings, detect pests and diseases and the chemical profile of living plants. But, due to tight legal restrictions on cannabis cultivation, little work has been done to test the technology on cannabis crops.

The two-year proof-of-concept project aims to develop and prototype an automated, near-infrared imaging system that will enable the on-site assessment of individual cannabis plants in real-time without destroying any product.

The partnership follows ground-breaking work led by Dr Melanie Ooi (Associate Professor at the University of Waikato), Wayne Holmes (Senior Lecturer, Unitec Institute of Technology) and Rua Bioscience. Ruas research team has programmed the project for the next two years. Dr. Oois research is partly supported by the University of Waikato and the Rutherford Discovery Fellowship. The project has also received funding from Unitec.

Please see the link below for details

Rua eyes share of $2.5b Cannabis testing industry

Source: Rua Bioscience Limited

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Day by day it is apparent that existing social systems are abused by shrewd and incompetent thin privileged ruling class which crave for money ,power for their luxury while majority suffers with problems for their basic needs; and not for dignity but just for their survival.

by Sunil Jayaratna

I am neither an economist; nor an optimist or pessimist, but a human being with love and care on others.

I wonder about the so called economic development that world economists claimed in money material and wealth despite of one third of world population suffering from hunger, malnutrition, lack of medicine and competing with their fellows for basic needs and happiness.

In view of the increasing numbers of starving in the third world every day while the food production companies dumping millions of tons of foods to the sea, I wonder how economists calculate profits in monitory terms over losses of lives due to malnutrition and starvation.

While increasing the unemployment, hooliganism, underworld activities and drug addiction both in the developing and the so called developed world, I wonder how can the economist justify the comparative advantage theory in world trade when the poor local producers who engaged in indigenous agriculture and industry is abandoning or closing down their enterprises due to their inability to adjust with liberalized trade in the trends of economic globalization.

I am perplexed with the so called modern education systems and degree awarding institutions where they offer many degrees on various newly emerging subjects while the so called intellectuals are shutting their eyes on structural social injustice and socio-economic problems those growing due to loss of moral consciousness of them as well as leaders and bureaucrats.

I am disappointed with the systems of justice where it left to prosper social and economic injustice where down trodden are penalized while those who exploit the wealth of poor and disadvantaged are glittering through their unconscionable practices and conducts defeating the truth and reality.

Its very peculiar to hear that in world giant US, each year over a million of people die due to winter flue and Covid -19 virus death toll increased up to fifty thousand during one month period, in absence of health facilities, while in Britain, thousands are dying due to lack of ventilators and other medical facilities. Noble laureate Amrthya Zen stated that, that 14 million people died in India during 2018 due to a flue stroke in the country at large its tragedy to hear that currently thousands are dyeing due to Corona in major cities in the developed world.

How can we boast about the quantum of development in health science and technology, when the modern scientists and health care workers are still incapable of providing sufficient antivirus medicine for the invisible Covid-19 Virus which day by day paralyzed the entire world?

Day by day it is apparent that existing social systems are abused by shrewd and incompetent thin privileged ruling class which crave for money ,power for their luxury while majority suffers with problems for their basic needs; and not for dignity but just for their survival.

In this juncture, though I am not an economist; but with my little knowledge on international economic relations, I am perplexed why that the comparative advantage theory advocated by economists belong to privileged class does not favor of the poor consumer and producer in developing countries, as much as it favor the capital investors of multi- national co-operations based in developed world to prosper their businesses all over the world accumulating capital and wealth while causing damages to natural environment and its beauty and serenity .

Algerian Revolutionist, Frantz Fanon, who gave inspiration for African Revolution in his book Les Damnes de la Terre(The wretched on the Earth-1965) referring to leaders of developing world stated thus;

                   .   ,,                 .           .     ,             ,    .                 .                   .      .................

 ,                ,        ,  (Holiday Resorts) .              .

What has been shown by Fanon regarding African continent can be attributable to the Post Colonial Asian Countries where their blindly follow the development tactics which the leaders give preference to their personal benefits receiving from perks and briberies or by way of material wealth deriving from national and international commercial transactions while denying the due share for the poor; blatantly violating the ethics in diplomacy.

World War II and Post World war Power Politics, Science and Problems

Albert Einstein, who found the information that Hitlers scientists were doing research for making atomic bombs wrote the US President Theodor Roosevelt, that in terms of quantum theory (in physics that E=mc2,) that US could made a atomic bomb to counter Hitlers fascist brutality. Having seen that near a million death toll and the devastation caused to Japan due the Atomic bomb, thereafter, as the chairman of the Atomic Scientists committee set up in 1946, he campaigned for A Federal constitution for the world to bring working legal order to prevent the world war III.

With the nuclear proliferation treaties introduced by UN regimes, although Hard Power rivalry between Soviet Union and US during the cold war period was settled, it doesnt appear that soft power tactics of the world powers majoring China, US and Russia will end until they all entered in to a paradigm for world peace recognizing mutual interdependence and co-existence in state relations that prosper sustainable peace.

World Politics, Corona and Morality

Still the world is ignorant of the fact whether, Corona Attack is a byproduct of balance of power tactic of China or whether it is a mishap of bio-weapon experiments?

If so we can understand this is another episode of the story of rivalries among major world powers where it has no ends and no assurance for safety and security for humanity in planet until the science, technology and politics reframe their ethical boundaries giving regard to morality and International law.

In the so called civilized world where we are living; arent we brutal than earlier with under cover of superficial human face?

In the modern age, isnt there a serious misunderstanding of human beings on nature their life with the perception that planet is for their consumption as much as they can in order to satisfy their craving disregard of desires of other species and environment.

Dont we need the moral philosophy of Aboriginal Leader Ceathel who responded by his letter challenging the Judo -Christian values of the US President who offered the price for their traditional lands where river flows, animal freely behaves that aborigines lived for generations not treating it as an asset but as a commonwealth which helped to live all three generations including future generations of his tribe. As Ceathel apprehended how much of wild life, oceanic and aquatic resources and natural greeneries had been devastated by mega development projects of the modern man where ordinary folks utilized for living in harmony with them. Due to hydropower projects, highways, mineral and fuel mining projects and other industries launched under the banner of modern development, what enormous hazard had been caused to the environment, sea and air and other species? Who are the real beneficiaries? Are those projects were designed with the participation of people who currently suffer by them which disrupt their livelihood? How their losses do compensated?

World and Man in a different paradigm

In Buddhist Philosophical thoughts, universal phenomena including the humans are ever changing, therefore the ego (self) is a construction of thoughts of ever changing bodily phenomena which has no permanent existence. Craving for possession more than needs gives the man suffering therefore understanding the truth of impermanence of life and worldly phenomena is the ideology that requires understanding the nature of life so that the community guided by such ideology would not cling in to world comforts that generate conflicts and evils enormously; because of their simple and spiritual way of life.

In ideological perspectives, world community shall be retrieve to learn the moral values of ancient civilizations through understanding their customs and traditions for generations which gave continuity and sustainability in cultures protecting all in groups while giving the preference to the weakest individuals among them. When learn the group behavioral patterns of the animals also humans can learn that their survival was continued with the principles shown in Darwinist Theory of evolution, therefore it is indisputable that the survival is co-exist with the adaptation of group not the individuals. American Economist Davis Schumacher wrote Small is Beautiful in 1970 s inviting to be awakening the wisdom of modern man to see the beauty and sustainability of harmonious living with nature instead so called rapid mega development which couldnt bare both by man and planet.

To follow the path shown by Schumacher not only the leaders but also masses must be empowered with positive attitudes to dependent on human labor rather than machineries fitting in with appropriate life conditions. Communities must be envisioned and empowered for co-operate work for poverty alleviation rather than depending on private corporations tempted for exploitation. State Leaders must encourage people for their cultural and educational prosperity through not only earning money but through wealth of education for peace, nonviolence, sharing and caring, new entrepreneurship and planning for organize life without harming each other and environment.

Both national politics and international politics must be arrested with proper legal and moral checks and balances and with measures to penalize politicians and diplomats those who transgress limitations of global human security putting innocent people and nature in peril.

Vice President of the International Court of Justice, Judge Weeramantry advocates for a world court where it administer justice based on universal laws of a world government that guided with moral standards and values from all civilizations nurtured in all parts of the world. Put in to practice what Weeramantry preached, he initiated International Center Peace Education and Research in order to educate young children and world citizens for them to shape up their knowledge and attitudes in consonant with the preamble of UNESCO Constitution which states That the ignorance of each others ways and lives has been a common cause ; throughout the history of mankind, of that suspicion and mistrust between the peoples of the world through which their differences have all too often broken in to war and so as to prevent, as the wars begin in the minds of men ,it is the minds of men that defenses of peace must be construed. Judge Weeramantry was awarded alternative noble prize for law education in 2006 for his contribution on peace education for a better world.

Kazuo Inamori, a Japanese leading business figure who was the founder Chairman of Keyzera and KDDI leading mobile technological corporations, in his Book Compass to Fulfillment wrote what happen to Japan before World War II, thus;

Sun Yat- Sen (1866-1925),a Chinese revolutionary who often is referred to as the father of Modern China, gave a famous speech in Kobe in 1924 Regarding the Pan -Asianism. The culture of ruling by military force-the rule of might, as the ancients called it he maintained, originated in the west. In contrast Asian Civilization was based on rule of right or the kingly way, in which leaders guided their people with virtue. Yat -Sen urged Japan, which was heading towards the path of rule of might, to choose the kingly way.

Unfortunately, Japan failed to change its course and rushed heading in to World War II. Since its defeat, country has continued on path ruled by might, but this time its pursuit is economic supremacy. Now however, it is time for Japan and Japanese people to choose the kingly way and adopt the virtues of consideration and service to others as their standard for living. If we dont, fear that Japan will continue to make grave mistakes.

There is a saying in the Tendai sect Buddhism Mohkorita which can be translated as forget self, serve others. The Tendai priest Etai Yamada (1900-1999) taught me that this saying urges us to set our own selves aside and devote ourselves to serving others. I feel strongly that Japanese society in its danger of losing the important cultural virtues of consideration and selfless service. If we forget these virtues, all we have left are selfish desires, the negative results of which we already witnessing Japan.

A few years ago a 19 year old youth was convicted of killing a family of four and was sentenced to death for his crime despite the fact that he was still considered a minor under Japanese law and thus should not have been subject to the death penalty. It became apparent during the youths trial that his crime was premeditated and was carried out based on his assumption that his status as a minor would afford him lighter sentence. A reporter commented that if he had known the law, however, what this boy needed to know was the fundamental moral and ethical principle that we should not kill. The prohibition against killing is not merely a law; it is a moral standard for living as human beings.

This passage teaches us how morality works in society bringing peace and protecting rights of people while minimizing conflicts and crimes. Therefore it is clear to us that better world could be build envisioning with sustainable way of life instead of chasing for material wealth and ammunitions for security. Human Security could be ensured with not by armed conflicts but with love and compassion of humanity. To do so people with morally disciplined minds to share and care others for common well being is essential rather than modern gadgets innovated through technological advancements.

In order to achieve above objectives for a disciplined society, moral and ethical education must be made a subject both in School and University/Professional/Vocational/levels, to begin with children and youth. Adults also must be taught social ethics and law through non formal education in work place and their community. Judges and lawyers shall be disciplined to tune up their wisdom to utilize the law as an instrument for social equity and justice without confining to the narrow definitions of the letters of law to defeat humanity.

The man must be taught to understand the nexus between money and spirituality; the difference between economic capital and spiritual capital; value the emotional intelligence rather than brain power intelligence. In other wards man must be trained to value the treasures value of human beings, respect the environment. Understand that every one of us are inter-dependent and inter-related therefore not to be selfish but to share the life and wealth with others to have blissful life and peaceful planet. The only mean to achieve this goal is meaningful total education envisioned to understand meaning of life, not merely the degrees on technology, science or economics.




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context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951

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/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fbffd35f118)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbffd509ef8)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fbffd35f118)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbffd509ef8)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fbffd280590)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbffd509ef8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbffd509ef8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbffca8ac48)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbffd65b748)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbffd65b748)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
Amateur Radio Club holds two-day event at USS Kidd

The Baton Rouge Advocate reports that the Baton Rouge Amateur Radio Club members aboard the destroyer USS Kidd made radio contact with over 37 states, two Canadian providences and 10 other museum ships June 5-6.

The Kidd was one of 81 ships around the world taking part in Museum Ships Weekend. One of the primary objectives was to showcase those ships, now museums, that served their countries so well. Amateur radio operators got the opportunity to enhance their skills on Morse code and phone while onboard these historic ships.

Participating locally were Leonard and Dayna Bowman, Jennifer Bordelon, John Krupsky, Chris Reine, Jon Reise, Ken Shutt and Elmer Tatum.

The club will also be operating aboard the USS KIDD on July 4, Nov. 11 (Veterans Day) and Dec. 7 (Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day). Visitors are welcome to observe while following COVID-19 guidelines.

For more information about the club, visit brarc.org.

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/entertainment_life/article_3d09bf18-cdef-11eb-989a-0b47653fb72b.html
Lake Charles, LA (70615)

Today

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 73F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 73F. Winds light and variable.
But with more and more people being vaccinated, air travel is beginning to significantly increase and is moving toward pre-pandemic levels. Nearly 14 million travelers passed through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints from June 21-27, up from 4 million during the same time frame last year. The 2021 number is about 76% of the passengers from the same week in 2019.
Why: On the first day, inspectors discovered 20 violations (eight high-priority), including 20 live roaches inside an unused reach-in cooler and one more roach in the prep area in the [meat] slicer, and seven live flies on squeezed sauce bottles at prep station and around the food prep and storage areas. The restaurant also was ordered to stop selling rice, cooked shrimp, marinara sauce, spinach dip, garlic sauce, lemon butter sauce, coleslaw and blue cheese sauce for temperature abuse. They even tossed the cheese for mold-like growth, the inspector writes. On June 24, Lakeside was kept shut when a follow-up inspection found 32 live flies lingering around the inside and outdoor bars and kitchen prep table, along with 21 live roaches in the reach-in cooler, in the meat slicer machine and on the wall. A June 25 inspection kept Lakeside closed after it found another six live flies and eight live roaches in the same areas. A June 26 inspection found zero flies but somehow more live cockroaches  24  in the kitchen and on the wall. The restaurant, ordered shut eight times in the past 13 months, wont reopen until it passes re-inspection.
Just after 1 a.m. Monday, a man was hit and killed by a car as he walked across the 3100 block of West Sunrise Boulevard, deputies said.
In May, the condo association submitted plans asking for approval of a temporary parking plan in order to move forward. But their request went unanswered for more than a month. The delay, according to the Miami Herald, prompted the condo building manager, to accuse the town of holding us up as the association sought to accelerate the towers overhaul, which included repairs to a concrete slab under the pool deck and planters that experts are now pointing to as an initial point of failure that preceded the building collapse.
An email posted on the towns website shows that Chouela sent Prieto two reports: the structural field survey report by engineer Frank Morabito of Morabito Consultants detailing the buildings structural deficiencies, and a mechanical and electrical engineering report by Thomas E. Henz. P.E. And it was Chouela who introduced Prieto at the meeting with five of the seven board members, along with property manager Alexandria Santamaria, condo board lawyer Marilyn Perez and interested residents who had gathered in the buildings recreation room.
Sundays strikes mark the second time the Biden administration has taken military action in the region. In February, the U.S. launched airstrikes against facilities in Syria, near the Iraqi border, that it said were used by Iranian-backed militia groups.
In Georgia, a Troup County student was expelled for gang-related conduct after he posted his rap video on YouTube that was paid for and filmed in the presence of his mother on a weekend. The school took issue with some of the hand gestures displayed in the video and the fact that the student was holding what appeared to be a hand gun. The Mahanoy case provides no clear answer as to whether the school over-reached, other than to suggest that the mothers approval of her sons artistic expression should have carried significant weight.
He enthusiastically championed the most destructive policies of the 2021 session, then signed them all into law. He led the charge to restrict the constitutional right to protest and the right to vote; prohibited transgender athletes from competing in sports; eroded legitimate home rule powers of cities and counties; and dictated how teachers teach and students think on campuses in Florida.
Our hearts ache for the families who lost their loved ones and for those that are hospitalized, and last but not least for the brave rescue crews who have undertaken the mammoth task of sifting through slabs of concrete and rubble with the hope of some signs of life. The answer to prayer is slow, the force of prayer is cumulative. We have all joined together. God gives us burdens, and also shoulders.
The number of attacks against members of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) community rose by more than 20 per cent over the last year and is the highest since the establishment of the Andalusian Observatory against LGBTphobia in 2017.

These figures - which encompass acts of violence and refusal of admission of entry, among other forms of aggression - reveal not only that the road ahead for this community is long, but also that the risk of a regression in rights is already a reality.

The Observatory will present the report for 2020 on 1 July, but SUR has been able to learn that the total number of anti-LGBT attacks registered in that year was 419, compared with 349 in 2019 - an increase of more 20 per cent in scarcely a year.

However, this is not the only statistic that concerns Antonio Ferre, President of Andalucia Diversity, as he laments that barely six in every ten alleged attacks get reported to the police, which presents a problem when it comes to tracking down the perpetrators.

According to the study (to which SUR has had access), the main reasons so few alleged attacks are reported are a lack of confidence in institutions, fear of reprisals and a loss of privacy. Other reasons include lack of knowledge of ones rights, not giving enough importance to these homophobic attacks, and even the fear of deportation if the victims are foreigners with an irregular administrative situation in Spain.

The typology of the attacks is very similar to last years. Verbal aggression is the most recurrent, followed by hate speech, harassment and violence. The form most often testified against is related to abuses of the right of admission.

Once again, the principal victims are gay men through incidents related to homophobia. Experts have spent years emphasising that this order is related to the lack of formal complaints filed for LGBTphobic attacks, as the visibility of homosexual men is much greater than that of other persons in this community, and for that reason attacks against this demographic tend to be more common. In addition to this, lesbians and - above all - transgender people have more qualms when it comes to disclosing acts of aggression committed against them.

If the main victims are men, so are the primary culprits. Although the Observatory does not have the exact figures for this year, the report for 2019 found that almost seven in ten attacks are perpetrated by men, while around 15% are carried out by groups of people who mostly consist of men.

Ferre stressed in his declarations to SUR that the rise in aggression over social media is exponential. In 2019, such attacks made up 29 per cent of all incidences, up from a previous nine per cent, making them the second most prevalent form after those that take place in the street.

Attacks over social media complicate the matter of detecting and tracking down the aggressors, as many of the insults, harassments and hate speeches originate from anonymous accounts; and when they come from real accounts, there are many victims who believe  falsely  that it is difficult for the police to deal with them. Despite being somewhat more optimistic regarding the moderation of social media, Ferre criticises that, most of the time, numerous complaints must be filed before a social network closes the accounts of such LGBTphobes.
The increase in the number of Delta variant coronavirus infections in the United Kingdom has set alarm bells ringing in Spain.

This Monday morning, 28 June, the Spanish Government announced that as of Thursday (1 July), British tourists arriving in Spain must produce a negative PCR test or prove they have been fully-vaccinated against Covid-19 with one of the approved formulas.

The Costa del Sol tourism sector has welcomed this measure, considering it essential to control the health situation. The president of the Association of Hoteliers of the Costa del Sol (Aehcos), Jose Luque, said, "A PCR test is a reasonable measure compared to any requirement to quarantine for ten days."

He said that, with the rate of vaccination in the United Kingdom, fewer people will be affected by this requirement. "In any case, a PCR test is nothing," he pointed out.

The president of the Association of Travel Agencies on the Costa del Sol, Sergio Garcia, agrees: "This measure is imposed to control the spread of this strain," and warns, "Nothing really changes because a PCR test or proof of vaccination are already required to travel to many countries.

Both tourism sector heads spoke after signing a pioneering agreement with the Tour10 operator, to offer a special rate for the 17,000 employees of the hotels on the Costa del Sol attached to Aehcos.

The agreement offers discounts to hotel sector workers which, depending on the availability of the hotel, can exceed 30 per cent in winter. Luque said, We all win and the workers will be able to enjoy the establishments on the coast."

The head of Aehcos also went on to say that the data indicates that the occupation rate of hotel accommodation on the Costa del Sol will be around 50 per cent of available places in July and August. However he said, Right now a third of the hotel supply is still closed. But we are confident that this situation will change as the summer progresses.

It is believed that if the British, who account for 30 per cent of the business for the sector, can travel in August, the occupancy could reach 65 per cent.

On the other hand, the travel agencies say that sales have grown 300 per cent compared to last summer. However, Sergio Garcia said, "There are few Spaniards who dare to travel outside the country and those who do choose European destinations."

He said, "The Spanish are travelling as if there were no tomorrow. It is incredible how national sales are increasing, we have rates in the Spanish market higher than 2019.
Torremolinos town hall held a special commemorative ceremony on Monday to mark the 50th anniversary of the police raids that took place in Pasaje Begona in June 1971.

The event, which was held in the Palacio de Congresos, was attended by Mayor of Torremolinos Jose Ortiz; the General Director of Gender Violence, Equal Treatment and Diversity of the Junta de Andalucia, Angel Mora; the Delegate of Citizen Participation of Seville city hall, Adela Castano Dieguez, and the president of the Pasaje Begona Association, Jorge Perez.

The ceremony highlighted a key moment in the history of the towns continual fight for diversity. Hosted on Pride Day 2021, the event was organised in conjunction with another ceremony held in Seville on Sunday that was attended by the citys mayor, Juan Espadas. Both events highlighted the struggle for LGBT rights, and the importance of remembering events like the one that took place in Torremolinos in 1971.

The ceremony included testimonies of several residents who were present during the raids, when more than 300 people were arrested during a police crack-down on the area.

Ortiz said, We are historically a benchmark and our future project is based on not taking a step back from what has been achieved. We will continue to shed light on the struggle for LGBT+ rights in the world."

President of the Pasaje Begona Association added that this type of event commemorates the people who put Torremolinos in the forefront on a global level.

It's been very exciting to see so many people who fought and who made it possible in such a difficult time. Today's message is that it is possible to live together. Diversity is important and we must continue to fight, he declared

The Pasaje Begona, which has been illuminated with the rainbow flag colours to mark the anniversary, was one of the leading places for nightlife between 1962 and 1971. The small passageway gained prominence for opening the first gay bar (Tonys Bar) in Spain. However, Torremolinos quickly acquired a reputation as a town where drugs and homosexuality were common place, and where foreigners from around the world came in search of free love and debauchery. It was during this period that the permissive attitudes and lifestyles of the gay community in Torremolinos began to make headlines. Spain was still under an extremely devout Catholic dictatorship and the provincial and local authorities had come under increasing pressure to do something about the situation.
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(The Center Square)  The head of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry said Gov. Kim Reynolds plan to use pandemic relief funds to attract more workers to the state will fulfill a big need for Iowa businesses.

During the associations conference held in Coralville earlier this month, Reynolds told those attending the state would use pandemic relief funds for a marketing campaign to draw people to Iowa to help with its job surplus, The Gazette reported.

I don't know whether it'll be effective. I'm not an expert or anything like that. But it seems like this is a time to try anything and everything, Mark Ralston, president of the Iowa Association of Business, told The Center Square.

First and foremost, the state needs more people, which is why the association has favored immigration reform for a long time, Ralston said.

The second need is for employers to offer not just competitive wages, and if not the best wages, almost the best, he said.

Any employer that's not offering good wages and benefits, they don't have anything to complain about and they're their own worst enemy, Ralston said.

The fact that wages are not rising indicates they are too low or the quality of the available jobs has eroded, according to a Common Good Iowa report by Colin Good.

Businesses and industries need to be competitive on many things. They need to treat their workers as the most important asset because they are, Ralston said.

So that's all part of: One, we need more people; and two: We need to make sure we're treating those people the best possible ways, Ralston said.

Iowa's unemployment rate increased slightly in May to 3.9% from 3.8% in April. By comparison, the jobless rate was 8.3% one year ago. The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 5.8% in May, Iowa Workforce Development reported.

At the associations conference, Reynolds said Iowa is already seeing people return who have been on the East and West coasts. They recognized Iowa kept its economy open and kids in school, she said.
On June 16, members of the Prairie View A&M faculty gathered for a presentation in coordination with the USDA to discuss ways to effectively distribute aid to farmers of color.
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EL PASO, Texas, June 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hunt Military Communities (HMC), the military housing division of Hunt Companies Inc., is pleased to announce it has closed on an agreement with Lincoln Military Housing to transfer its interest in the partnership with the United States Army for Fort Sam Houston military housing responsibility to HMC.
SIPHOFANENI  I never declared war, says the National Commissioner of Police (NatCom) William Dlamini.

Dlamini was responding to a question that sought to establish if what he was quoted as having said by the local weekend publications had not been the cause of the violent clashes between police officers and the protesters. He was quoted as having said: This is war! It was reported that he had said the above when stating that police officers would use force to disperse crowds that would defy government orders suspending the delivery of petitions to constituency centres. In the aftermath of the violent clashes of the police and protesters, social media commentators claimed that such utterances had fuelled the fire as people were bound to be defiant.

When sought to elaborate what he meant by his statement, Dlamini said he had not declared a war but had responded to a question by a journalist who sought to establish if police officers were not scared of a confrontation with the protesters. He said: A Dlamini journalist asked me if police officers were not scared of a confrontation and I said this was like a war. This meant that whenever a situation like this happened, a person did not have an alternative but had to confront it head on.

Protect

The NatCom said should he have responded by saying that they were afraid as police officers, it would have meant that he was telling his troops to run for cover and not protect the citizenry during the protests. He emphasised that war was quoted out of context as the police could not declare war on the citizenry they were meant to protect. Dlamini said the police were not discriminatory in rendering their services as they protected even the protesters. It aches my heart that this has degenerated to confrontations. People should understand that when I say we shall not be alone, I am not saying we shall be there with other people or other intentions but I meant that we would be with other security forces we usually partner with.

Worth noting, is that in most instances, the police partner with officers from His Majestys Correctional Services (HMCS). The NatCom appealed to the public to be patient as government had suspended the delivery of petitions due to certain reasons.
MBABANE  Someone wants me dead, why am I being hunted down?

Businessman Mandla Mkhaliphi fears that there is a plot to assassinate him. This comes after his homestead was allegedly visited by four unknown men last week. Mkhaliphi is the same man who hogged headlines recently following reports that his farm was guarded by soldiers. The soldiers were deployed at Portion 3, Farm 982, a private property owned by Mkhaliphi at Sicunusa, which had quarry that the businessman was mining prior to the deployment of the army. In an interview last Friday, the businessman said he had to report his fears at the Mankayane Police Station. He claimed that the four men, who were driving in a white Toyota double cab with a canopy, arrived at his homestead last Monday at around 3pm.

According to the businessman, he was not around at the time and the men were attended to by his sons. My boys said the men only said they had been sent to fetch me, he claimed.

He mentioned that the men did not state who exactly had sent them but used the term bantfu labadzala. Elaborating, Mkhaliphi said even if he was around, he would not have obliged as he would have no idea what the men would do to him along the way. You cannot trust anything. What if they take you and along the way they kill you? The fact that they said they had come to fetch me is suspicious on its own because if there are authorities who want to engage me they can call and invite me. I would drive there myself and not be fetched by unknown men, he said.

Car

The businessman alleged his sons informed him that they did not know the men but could identify them. My sons described the car (they were driving in) but had a challenge with the number plate since it was not there. Instead it was fastened using wheel ties. They refused to alight from the car, he alleged. He mentioned that he had done his own investigations and could tell that his life continued to be under threat, which was why he reported the matter to the police. It should be noted that this is not the first time for the businessman to report death threats to the police. In April this year, he reported that he had received death threats ever since the matter made its way into the public domain, in particular mainstream media.


SIPHOFANENI  Charred metal and ash are remnants of two horse and trailer trucks, after protesters went on a rampage at Siphofaneni on Saturday night.

This is just a fraction of the aftermath left by a violent protest that entailed looting and vandalism in this rural town located in the central eastern part of the kingdom - about 45 kilometres from Manzini and 20 kilometres from Big Bend. At the climax of the violent protest, which was organised to deliver a petition to the Siphofaneni Constituency Member of Parliament (MP), Mduduzi Simelane, a South African registered horse and trailer truck was looted of its contents  sugar  and later torched. The truck, in a circulating visual footage shared on social media platforms, was seen parked along the road just before Phuzumoya as protesters were burning tyres and blocking the road. While it was parked, some people were seen opening its rear doors and offloading its contents, which were said to be sugar. This drew a crowd and resulted in people jostling to get a portion of what was being looted. Later on, the truck was set alight. Yesterday morning, the remnants of the truck were towed away from the scene.

Torched

Also, just across the Great Usuthu River Bridge, a horse and trailer truck ferrying an excavator was torched. In this incident, the horse was smouldered into ashes with debris of the frame lying on the ground. What remained intact was its chassis which anchored a few charred debris and the remnants of its engine. As much as its trailer was not severely damaged as its tyres were still intact, the excavator it was transporting was scorched save for the boom, arm and bucket. The chaos was not limited to the torching of the trucks as a shop, run by a Pakistani national, was vandalised and looted as well. The shop belonging to Ahmid Hassan had almost all its contents emptied by people believed to be the protesters, while its owner was asleep within it. The vandals pelted stones on its window panes before gaining entry to take some of the items that were in stock. Yesterday morning, a few items were seen in the shelves while items were strewn on the floor which had fragments of the window panes.

Hassan said: Items valued at about E300 000  E400 000 were taken. Outside Hassans shop were stones and rocks which were supposedly used to pelt the window panes and also break the door in order to gain entry. Also, vandals made an effort at burning down the Eswatini Government Revenue Offices at Siphofaneni as its rear window panes were broken and the curtain blinds were set alight. Also, beneath the window was a wooden crate which was partially burnt while within the same premises there were patches of burnt grass with wooden debris next to the building.


The National Commissioner (NATCOM) of Police, William Dlamini, has come out with a dismal attempt to correct himself on the war cry he issued on Friday when threatening to unleash the full might of the law on those who would defy the ban on delivery of petitions at tinkhundla centres.

However, his so-called clarification only serves to confirm that police were prepared for war with members of the public. What he should concern himself with right now is accepting his fair share of responsibility for inciting conflict between the people and security forces which has left a trail of destruction to property and injury to people. The other share of responsibility has to be carried by the Housing and Urban Development Minister Prince Simelane who called upon authorities to fight fire with fire. Government refused to retract the statement despite public condemnation for its propensity to incite violence. Consequently, the protesters have followed the dangerous advice of the minister and look what that has brought us.

The Acting Prime Minister, Themba Masuku, added his fair share of fuel to the fire by banning what had largely been a peaceful delivery of petitions, for no valid reason other than refusing to be told of the governments shortcomings. It could certainly not have been for COVID-19 infection concerns because the organisers of the petitions may have simply been advised to adhere to the regulations on numbers and social distancing  particularly because other events around the country were not barred despite carrying similar threats. The less said about the attempt to use the Constitution to deprive people of their right to express themselves, the better. These are further signs that government is making the wrong decisions because it is not in tune with the people.

If it were, Cabinet would be listening to, among other things, the ongoing calls to suspend the E1.6 billion Parliament building loan which has a condition compelling government to source more than 60 per cent of the material for this project from India. How does that lift the economy or serve as investment into the future of our youth? This is a perfect example of what the youth are complaining about? They carry the burden of the decisions being taken today such as paying back a loan that is of little or no benefit to them. They have more urgent needs like education, health and jobs and, therefore, deserve to be heard. Banning the petitions is to shut the door of engagement in their faces.

Now that they have shown that violence cannot silence them, government ought to do the right thing and allow them to express themselves peacefully then work on placing a table for dialogue from which it can take decisions that reflect a government that is committed to serving the best interests of the people. None of us want to see this country burn beyond this.
The Government Development and the Future Office of the UAE Government has launched a unique initiative and the first-of-its-kind in the region that engages leading private-sector firms to actively participate in preparing for the future of the UAE.



The 'Future Partnerships' initiative is a platform where the government and private firms in the UAE can unite together to identify future opportunities, create innovative solutions to future challenges, and design impact-driven initiatives for the UAE, reported Emirates News Agency WAM.



The first future journey was taken with LinkedIn, the worlds largest professional networking platform. The UAE Government and LinkedIn announced the launch of the 'Future Skills for Women' Programme, which aims to equip 2,000 young Emirati women with the skills for future jobs, and enable them to actively participate in designing and shaping the future of the UAE, and increase their contribution to the UAE economy.



The initiative also provides an opportunity for young women to obtain specialised certificates in future skills, which will empower them and enhance their career path potential.



The signing of the partnership agreement was attended by Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Government Development and The Future, Sue Duke, Vice President and Head of Global Public Policy at LinkedIn, Ali Matar, Head of LinkedIn Emerging Markets, Middle East and Africa, and a number of the companys officials in Dubai and Dublin.



Al Roumi affirmed that the Future Partnerships Initiative translates the directives of the UAEs leadership to make the government a platform for driving partnerships and leveraging the expertise of public and private sectors to co-create policies, projects and solutions that enhance readiness for the future.



She commended the private sector's pivotal role in promoting the countrys development, as well as the fruitful partnership with LinkedIn, which brings together competencies and expertise and enable young people to build an outstanding career, calling on all companies to participate in the initiative and become co-creators of the UAEs journey to the future.



Al Roumi stated that focusing on future skills is a fundamental orientation and a top priority for the UAE government amid the changing employment landscape, where constant upskilling and reskilling are necessary to keep pace with the growing disruptions caused by technology across all sectors.



The Minister of State for Government Development and the Future noted that the Future Skills for Women Programme focuses on equipping young Emirati women with future skills, as part of the government's efforts to achieve gender balance in all sectors, enhance Emirati women's participation in the public and private sectors, and empower them with skills that increase their competitiveness in the future labour market.



Sue Duke said: "We are proud of our partnership with the UAE government which has a proven track record in achieving gender balance, and we look forward to making further progress together in order to increase women's representation in the economy of the future."



Duke added: "We must ensure that women are well represented by making gender equality a priority for governments and businesses around the world. In order to achieve this, recruitment practices must focus as much on the skills and capabilities as they do on formal qualifications."



Under the partnership with LinkedIn, 2,000+ young Emirati women will be trained on the future skills to enable them build a distinguished career and qualify them for the changing requirements of the labour market, through 1,000 training hours covering key skills such as life-long learning, communication and interaction, and technology.



Moreover, the Future Skills for Women Programme will organise virtual workshops and webinars with global experts, professionals and executives from the UAE and abroad, and will host global speakers to share their knowledge and experiences.



The programme will also create specialised virtual communities that bring together participants and experts to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and ideas, connect the programmes participants with companies that offer job opportunities, and help them advance their careers.



It is worth noting that women are key players in the UAE workforce, with a participation rate of more than 46 percent, and up to 66 percent in the public sector.
Bahrain-based Investcorp, a leader in alternative investment products, has acquired CloudCare, a leading Italian tech-enabled digital sales and marketing solutions platform



Established in 2011 and headquartered in Rome, Italy, CloudCare is active in the energy, telecommunications and insurance markets where it operates as a channel partner and digital broker, connecting consumers and service providers through both its own proprietary online platform and clients web platforms.



CloudCares website, Comparasemplice.it, is a leading online platform for consumers in Italy to compare prices for energy, telecommunications, motor insurance and personal finance products.



The companys differentiated proposition is underpinned by a proprietary Customer Relationship Management software fed by a large internally developed data base, a unique customer service platform powered by artificial intelligence and an end-to-end approach to generate sales leads and maximize conversion through its multichannel platform. Over the past three years, CloudCare achieved an average annual revenue growth in excess of 40%.



CloudCares founder and CEO, Andrea Conte, will continue to lead the Company, having retained a meaningful stake in CloudCare alongside Investcorp.



Nicola Ferraris, Managing Director in Investcorps European Private Equity group, said: We are delighted to be partnering with Andrea Conte and CloudCare as the Company moves into its next phase of growth. We have an ambitious plan to support the Company as it continues to grow within its core verticals and expand into new market segments.



CloudCare has built a unique technology infrastructure and expertise which has enabled the business to become a reliable and value-add digital partner for its corporate clients seeking to enhance their digital customer acquisition strategy. We look forward to working with Andrea and his team to support the business in its growth ambitions and bring to fruition many of the exciting opportunities that lie ahead.



Andrea Conte, founder and CEO of CloudCare, added: As we consider our vision for the future, we are excited and optimistic for the support and breadth of experience Investcorp will bring in the next phase of our evolution. We have identified a partner which is a global investor with deep technology expertise and an international investment track record that spans almost 40 years.



Our business has experienced exceptional growth over the past several years, and with Investcorps history of supporting fast growing and innovative companies, we are confident we can accelerate growth within and beyond our target core markets, reinforcing our market position in the energy and telco markets, and broadening the products and services we are able to offer also to the insurance and financial markets.



The investment in CloudCare adds to Investcorps long-standing track record of partnering with leading technology-enabled services companies globally and in Europe specifically, including: Investis Digital, a global digital corporate communications and marketing company; Vivaticket, a leading global provider of tech-enabled ticketing management solutions; Cambio, the leading Health Tech provider in Scandinavia; ABAX, a leading telematics solutions provider in Europe; and SecureLink, one of Europes largest dedicated cybersecurity infrastructure and managed services providers.  TradeArabia News Service
Organisers of Middle East Energys debut virtual event have revealed that more than 164 countries took part in the month-long showcase, which featured four online energy sector weeks, between May 17 and June 9.

The online event attracted 11,000 attendees from 164 countries worldwide, focusing on the latest insights, trends, and innovations across four energy industry sectors, including Renewable & Clean Energy, Transmission & Distribution, Critical & Backup Power, and Energy Consumption & Management.

During the event, 85 sessions, including tech talks, interactive roundtables, panel discussions, thought leadership sessions and remote interviews, took place. Underscoring the importance of business development and making meaningful contacts, over 7,300 connections were made by 164 exhibiting companies.

Claudia Konieczna, Exhibition Director, Middle East Energy, said: The outcome of the event has supported our strategy to take Middle East Energy online and deliver a virtual showcase for the energy industry.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we have been able to bring the global energy industry together. A series of insightful and thought-provoking discussions have been instrumental in supporting the sector's recovery and providing a roadmap for the future.

"During the four sector weeks, we heard from a series of industry heavyweights discussing everything from the adoption of clean hydrogen to automation and digital solutions in transmission and distribution. Energy access to all and the importance of green buildings and smart cities were also highlighted, giving the event broad appeal to those in the energy industry.

The highlight of the opening day was the welcome speech by Suhail Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, who reiterated the UAEs commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 70% and increase clean energy use by 50% by 2050.

Elsewhere on day one, Eng. Yousif Al Ali, Assistant Undersecretary - Electricity, Water and Future Energy Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, highlighted the UAE's position to become to be one of the top producers of hydrogen in the world during the session, Energy diversification and the race to meet clean energy targets  strategies to reach net-zero.

During week two, Transmission & Distribution took centre stage with discussions focused on automation, digital solutions, and artificial intelligence, with reliable generation integral to driving economic recovery post-Covid-19.

The third sector week, Critical and Backup Power, saw a presentation from David Lecoque, CEO, Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE), who highlighted the need to provide electricity to 870 million people who currently don't have access and better access to the 1.5 billion suffering from unreliable service.

Rounding out the sector weeks was Energy Consumption & Management, where a panel of energy industry experts underscored the importance of green buildings and smart cities in reducing energy consumption. Insights on the opening day session came courtesy of Benoit Lebot, a senior policy adviser in the French governments Ministry for the Energy Transition; Amr Salah, Senior Director - Head of Utilities, Emaar - The Economic City; and Ahmed Samer Elbermbali, Managing Director, Mena Clean Energy Business Council.

A host of exhibitors showcasing their latest innovations included Perkins, Masdar, Cummins, Brady, Koncar, AVEVA, CESI, HitachiABB, IFS, Riedon, Uniper and BASEC.

Anand Bansal, Managing Director, Uniper Energy Services, Mena, said: "It is an absolute pleasure to sponsor Middle East Energy once again and be part of the debut virtual event. MEE online is an excellent platform to engage with our peers and keep abreast of the latest trends and regional developments within the power industry.

Attendees came from a host of countries, with the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, India, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and Ghana leading the way.

Connecting the industry during the pandemic was one of our fundamental goals, and I'm thrilled that we have successfully supported the market with MEE Online 2021. All eyes are now on the 2022 in-person event, which will take place March 7 to 9, under the patronage of the Ministry of Energy & Infrastructure. Middle East Energy at Dubai World Trade Centre is a major highlight of the energy industry calendar, and in 2022 the live event will be back, more progressive, more focused and stronger than ever before, said Konieczna. -- TradeArabia News Service
The authorities in Austria have announced the opening of borders for many international travellers, including those from GCC, as an important step towards achieving a post Covid-19 strategy where the country resumes social and economic activities under safe measures.

Fully vaccinated citizens and residents in the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar with a valid Schengen visa (if needed) can travel to Austria starting from July 1, without the need to quarantine, while travellers from the kingdom of Saudi Arabia can already enter Austria with no quarantine on arrival by presenting a negative Covid-19 test or proof of vaccination or past infection report upon entry, either in German or English languages. Unvaccinated children under the age of 18 who are travelling with vaccinated parents are allowed to enter Austria for tourist purposes without quarantine as well. The list of recognized vaccines by the European county includes; BioNtech/Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Sinopharm & Sinovac.

Launched by the Austrian National Tourist Office, Travel Builds Bridges campaign aims to welcome guests and travellers from the GCC to Austria for holiday, business, education and medical tourism, with the intention to rebuild the bridge between people and countries to once again celebrate the freedom of travel and tourism. The campaign is an internationally recognised theme planned to include 15 countries to take part in it with an objective to stimulate progress, development, attracting and providing new opportunities to overcoming obstacles, building the future enriching cross cultures while enjoying the traditional Austrian hospitality.

Commenting on the opening borders to welcome GCC travellers to Austria, Robert Groblacher, Director Middle East at the Austrian National Tourist Office said: Welcoming travellers from the GCC is not only a revival to the tourism scene in Austria, yet a great opportunity to explore and exchange experiences, strengthen cross cultural ties and join forces in bridging between people to better promote travel and tourism between Austria and the Gulf countries. We are looking forward to welcoming travellers from this region to Austria again."

Green Vienna

Travellers from the Gulf region who are looking forward to quiet, hidden places to make the best of their visit to Austria, have a lot to explore in Vienna, one of the greenest cities in the world. Almost half the city consists of green areas, numerous parks, forests and even agricultural land. The diverse range of activities in the fresh air and Viennese water make Vienna not only the most livable city but also a place to live appreciated by people.

As part of its safety procedures Austria offers more (free) options for getting tested than any other country in the world. In Vienna particularly, many hotels and testing centers are now offering free PCR gargle tests with results available within 24 hours and valid for 72 hours.

Travellers from the Gulf region will have plenty of options to reach Austria thanks to the availability of many flights connections between the two destinations. Emirates Airline is flying daily with their A380 flagship from Dubai to Vienna already, and Qatar Airways flies three to four times weekly from Doha to Vienna. Etihad Airways, flydubai, flynas and Saudia will be adding Austria to their network by mid July. - TradeArabia News Service
Marking the first ever route to be launched between Kuwait and Uzbekistan, Jazeera Airways celebrated the take off of its first flight to the capital, Tashkent. The flight took off from T5 at Kuwait International Airport at 20:35 local time on June 27.

Present at the launch were Jazeera Chief Executive Officer, Rohit Ramachandran, and the Consul of the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Faroukh A. Vakhabov.

Speaking of the new launch, Ramachandran said: We are very pleased to be launching yet a new destination to Tashkent to support growing trade relations between the Middle East region and Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is also a unique touristic destination to explore, especially following a year in which travel was restricted and avid travellers are eager to start exploring new places once again. Uzbekistan offers a unique nature, rich culture and long history, in addition to great outdoor activities.

The airline will be operating the new route with two flights per week.

On his part, the Consul of the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Faroukh A. Vakhabov, said: Uzbekistan is without a doubt a destination worth visiting. It offers something new and different from other touristic destinations. Visitors can enjoy the outdoors, museums, story-telling architecture, tasty local cuisine and interact with a new culture. But most importantly, we see this new service as an opportunity to grow trade relations and introduce new products and services that we believe are an added value to local markets. We thank Jazeera Airways for enabling this to happen and we look forward to welcoming its flights.

Kuwait-Uzbekistan relations have been growing in the past years with increasing trade between both countries. Uzbekistan was once at the crossroads of the Silk Road, linking the East to the West and has a long trading history as well as a rich culture. The museums of Uzbekistan store over two million artifacts of historical, archeological, architectural and natural treasures evidence of the unique historical and cultural life of the people that have lived in the region. Uzbekistan is also known for its outdoor activities, such as rock-climbing to exploration of its rich archeological and religious history.

Passengers should review Covid-19 regulations before booking to ensure compliance with local regulations on vaccination and PCR test certificates.

Travel advisory for passengers traveling to Uzbekistan

Passengers arriving to Uzbekistan will be subject to a PCR test on arrival.

Travel advisory for passengers returning to Kuwait

Passengers travelling out of Kuwait should ensure they carry their vaccination certificate if they hold a Kuwaiti citizenship, while passengers holding all other nationalities will need to present their vaccination or PCR test certificate. At the time of this announcement, entry into Kuwait is presently limited to passengers holding a Kuwaiti citizenship and first-degree relatives. Starting August 1, new regulations for entry to have been announced by the Government of Kuwait, mandating that returning residents have valid proof of vaccination. Passengers are requested to review these regulations to ensure they comply with local regulations.

Safety Measures

Jazeera has also implemented many other measures to ensure the safety of passengers since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Its expanding fleet of Airbus A320neo aircraft are all equipped with hospital grade HEPA air filters. Every safety and precautionary measure is also a standard today on its aircraft and at Jazeera Terminal T5 in Kuwait. - TradeArabia News Service
President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov arrived in Turkmenistan on an official visit.

The head of Kyrgyzstan laid flowers at the Monument of Independence of Turkmenistan and planted a tree in the alley of honored guests as a symbol of indestructible friendship between the two states and peoples.

Later, President Sadyr Japarov proceeded to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, where he viewed an exhibition of export goods of Turkmenistan and took part in the Turkmen-Kyrgyz economic forum.

Welcoming the forum participants, Sadyr Japarov expressed gratitude to the Turkmen side for organizing the forum, reflecting the interest of the business circles of the two countries in enhancing interstate cooperation in the trade and economic sphere. Calling on the Turkmen business circles for active cooperation and joint implementation of large-scale investment projects, the President of Kyrgyzstan wished the forum participants success and prosperity.

As part of the forum, representatives of ministries and departments, state-owned and private companies of Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan held bilateral talks.

 TURKMENISTAN.RU, 2021
Moscow, Jun 28 (UNI/Sputnik) The Joe Biden administration has continued its predecessors' policy of restricting access to medicines and medical equipment for victims of Iraq's chemical bombing of the Iranian city of Sardasht, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday on the 34th anniversary of the deadly attack.

The bombing, which was carried out by Baghdad during the Iraqi-Iranian war in 1987, claimed more than 100 lives and left thousands wounded.

According to Zarif, the West has twice harmed the 1987 attack victims first, by providing the government of Saddam Hussein with chemical weapons technology used during the Sardasht attack and later "turning a blind eye" to his crimes; and second, when it imposed a set of "brutal sanctions against humanity" which prevented the supply of medicine and medical equipment to ... chemical warfare veterans," a move backed by former US President Donald Trump.

"Despite our efforts and the cooperation of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the new US administration has not left the failed policy of the previous administration and by continuing to impose of illegal sanctions prevents our chemical warfare veterans to access medicine and medical equipment," Zarif was quoted as saying by the MEHR news agency.

The diplomat stressed that it was important to hold those responsible for the use of mass destruction weapons accountable, as well as commemorate victims of such attacks.

UNI/SPUTNIK JAL 1659
Leh, Jun 28 (UNI) Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday inaugurated 63 infrastructure projects constructed by Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in the Union Territory on the second day of his three-day visit to Ladakh.



Meanwhile, lauding BRO for playing a significant role in connecting many parts of the country, Mr Singh said connectivity has great importance in the development of a country.



Mr Singh, who arrived here on Sunday, is scheduled to attend a function organized by local administration between 1400 hrs and 1600 hrs on Monday. Later, the Defence Minister will interact with the troops in Leh at around 1900 hrs.



On Sunday, the Defence Minister met elected representatives of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDC), Kargil and Leh. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also interacted with 300 veterans at Leh and reiterated the Governments commitment towards the welfare of the ex-servicemen. He was also briefed about the security situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China in Eastern Ladakh by the senior Army officials, including GOC Fire and Fury Corps.



Mr Singh on Sunday arrived in Ladakh to review the overall security situation in the hinterland and along the borders in the Union Territory. The Defence Ministers visit to Ladakh holds significance as it comes days after India and China held a fresh round of talks and agreed to resolve remaining issues to end the prolonged military standoff that began in May last year along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.



At the 22nd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC), held virtually, the two sides agreed to hold the next (12th) round of the Senior Commanders meeting at an early date to achieve the objective of complete disengagement from all the friction points along the LAC. The two sides had a frank exchange of views on the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas, a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday.



It said that both sides agreed on the need to find an early resolution to the remaining issues along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh keeping in view the agreement reached between the two Foreign Ministers in September 2020.



In this regard, the two sides agreed to maintain dialogue and communication through the diplomatic and military mechanisms to reach a mutually acceptable solution for complete disengagement from all friction points so as to ensure full restoration of peace and tranquility to enable progress in the bilateral relations. They also agreed that in the interim, the two sides will continue to ensure stability on the ground and prevent any untoward incident, the statement added.

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Statement by Minister for Equality the Hon. Samantha Sacramento MP - Pride Month 2021

"Today, 28th June is the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots or Stonewall Uprising as it is also called, an event that happened in New York in 1969."

"Many people may already know the meaning of this historic event and what its eventual consequences were. However, I think it is still important to repeat this for the benefit of people who do not know, so that they can appreciate the importance of Pride Month in Gibraltar and why our Government has introduced different initiatives to commemorate it."

"In the early hours of the 28th June in 1969, the New York Police Department raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in the Greenwich Village in New York. During this raid the Police roughly mistreated and removed patrons from the club. As a result, there were 6 days of violent clashes with the police. This event proved to be a catalyst for gay rights movements across the USA and in other places around the world. It is evident that LGBTQ+ people have suffered a great deal in the past and continue to be victimised today in many parts of the world."

"This year, to mark the start of the Pride Month, HM Government flew LGBTQ+ Pride flags at different locations, including the land frontier and at No 6 Convent Place on the 1st June. The flags are again flying today to commemorate the Stonewall Riots. The Moorish Castle was also brightly lit up with the rainbow colours on the 1st of June and again will be lit up this evening. The symbols of four pedestrian crossings were changed to show LGBTQ+ symbols. Whilst it was planned to display these during the month of June, I now feel that it is necessary for these to remain for the time being, in order to raise more awareness and to help instil inclusive attitudes by all in our community. Attitudes still need to change, some reactions to the Pride month initiatives this year have made this very clear."

"I am happy to see that the Pride initiatives this year have been very welcomed by the LGBTQ+ Community. Visibility is key and this is a solid step in the journey towards inclusion. However, some of the comments on social media, particularly in relation to the rainbow flags and the new pedestrian crossing symbols have been quite appalling and it has shown that a minority in Gibraltar are still very homophobic. The comments I have read have shown a blatant disregard for other Gibraltarians. This is precisely why we need a Pride Month. It has saddened me to see how some people cannot embrace, understand, accept or at least even tolerate other human beings because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity."

"Attitudes are changing, I am certain of this, as evidence is all around for us to see. In the past members of the LGBTQ+ community would have had no choice but to live in the closet in hiding, in a form of survival mode, afraid of displaying any sort of sign that would indicate and make anyone think that they were gay. It was only until 1993 that legislative changes decriminalised homosexual activities in Gibraltar. Public signs of affection was something heterosexual couples could naturally do without any repercussions, but this was not the case for gay couples. Thankfully, we live in a very different world nowadays and it is very reassuring to see gay couples showing signs of affection in public - this definitely demonstrates that we are moving in the right direction. Further legislative changes by this Government have now allowed same sex couples to marry and also have children together, something which not so long ago seemed like a sheer impossibility. It is easier for the LGBTQ+ community to live their lives openly in Gibraltar, there can be no doubt that we are making progress, but we are not quite there yet."

"I am thrilled to announce that today sees the launch of the first LGBTQ+ online survey for Gibraltar. Hearing directly from stakeholders is vital in a democratic society which upholds the key values of diversity and inclusion. I am very proud of this, not only because it will be the first time a Government has done this in Gibraltar, but because it will also give a voice to many people from the LGTBQ+ Community. The results of the survey will provide us with a better insight on the different issues that might affect the LGBTQ+ Community. Everybody from the LGBTQ+ Community is welcome to participate and can do this by directly accessing the following link: https://govgibraltar.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a4R5XLjCJdXGO9g

or by clicking on the link on the Department of Equalitys website: www.gibraltar.gov.gi/department-equality

The survey can also be accessed by scanning the QR code at the bottom of this page."

"We have often spoken proudly of Gibraltar as a tolerant community. My hope, however, is that we move beyond tolerance and work towards building a truly inclusive society where no one is the same, but everyone is equal and equally valued. Where no one is the same but everyone can be authentically themselves."

"The Pride rainbow flag has been flying proudly in my office throughout this month of June. I am glad that it, as many of our visible initiatives, have been conversation starters. That is how we create awareness and progress to education so that we can achieve proper inclusion. I look forward to receiving the results of the online survey and I encourage everyone in Gibraltars LGBT+ community to participate, this will be the first time that an analysis of this type has been carried out and will provide the Ministry for Equality with a benchmark which to develop our future policies and strategies."

"As Gibraltars first Minister for Equality I very proud to see how attitudes in our community are finally evolving and I see a Gibraltar where LGBTQ+ people have the same rights as everybody else, are shielded from violence, malice and criticism and can live their lives freely and openly to the full."
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Halls Sophie Garner-MacKinnon has been named the 2020-21 Gatorade Connecticut Softball Player of the Year, according to a release from Gatorade. Garner-MacKinnon is the first Gatorade Connecticut Softball Player of the Year to be chosen from Hall High School.
Clymer Discusses Completion of Water Tower Mural

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MCCRACKEN COUNTY - McCracken County Judge-Executive Craig Clymer joined the Greg Dunker Show Monday to discuss the completion of the United We Stand water tower mural.Clymer said with so many people traveling past the confederate flag in Confederate Park next to I-24 in Reidland, he felt it was important to display a message that shows we are a unified community.He said, "Our message of a black hand shaking a white hand with a United States flag in the background, with United We Stand printed to the side, will send a message to folks that see it that we are a unified community here. There's no racial divide."Clymer says he wants to make sure that people who perceive the confederate flag as racist understand that Confederate Park is a private park and does not reflect the community's views as a whole.Although he is pleased to have the project completed, Clymer said at the end of the day, the mural is just paint on steel."It's the talk. We talk the talk, now can we walk the walk? It's aspirational, but it's certainly doable." Clymer continued, "If we can walk the walk, it will represent our community, and I think it will be very beneficial for us."An event is scheduled to celebrate the mural's completion on Tuesday at the north lawn of the McCracken County Courthouse at 12:10 p.m.The event will include remarks from Clymer, Paducah Mayor George Bray, Reverent Dr. Bernice Belt, and Paducah-McCracken County NAACP President J.W. Cleary.You can listen to the entire interview below.
Details Emerge on Fatal I-24 Crash

By West Kentucky Star Staff

PADUCAH - More details have emerged from a multiple-vehicle crash on I-24 that injured nine people and killed a four-year-old Tennessee girl on Sunday morning.Paducah police said the accident happened in the westbound lanes of I-24 near Exit 3. This is the area where traffic is often forced to stop as vehicles begin to merge into a single lane to get on the Ohio River bridge to Illinois.Police said the driver of a tractor trailer, Narinder Kumar of Glen Oak, NY told them he was unable to stop in time to avoid a collision once he saw traffic was stopped.Kumars truck hit the rear of a car driven by Michelle Wren of Franklin, TN, causing her vehicle to overturn. Wren was injured and her daughter, four-year-old Emery, was pronounced dead a short time later at Baptist Health Paducah. Wrens other two children sustained possible injuries, according to the collision report.After hitting Wren's vehicle, Kumars truck hit seven more vehicles before stopping against the cable barrier. Kumar was not injured.Nine other people where injured including William Brown of Murphy, NC; Frederick Kernan of Rock Island, IL; Douglas Kaeser of Crystal Lake, Il; Christopher Flach of Paducah; and Steven Fincutter his passenger Abriel Odling, both of Elkhorn, WI. All were taken local hospitals for treatment except Kernan, who was flown to an out-of-state hospital. Kernan was listed in stable condition as of Monday.Debris littered the interstate for about a quarter mile and the interstate was closed for nearly seven hours.This is the second fatal crash on that stretch of Interstate 24 in just more than a month.Chief Brian Laird said the ongoing construction on the Ohio River bridge is a contributing factor in these collisions.Weve been in contact with Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to ask them to assess the area to determine if there are other options regarding the approach to the construction zone, he said. It appears lack of attention is the main cause of this and most other collisions. Drivers need to be aware of their surroundings and pay attention to signage and reduced speed limits.Laird expressed his appreciation for all of those who assisted officers Sunday morning, including passers-by and other drivers who helped with children at the scene.
Girl Killed, Eleven Injured In I-24 Wreck

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MCCRACKEN COUNTY - Paducah Police reported that a four-year-old girl was killed and eleven people were taken to local hospitals after a multi-vehicle chain reaction crash on I-24 in McCracken County on Sunday morning.Police said eight passenger vehicles and a tractor-trailer truck were involved in the crash just before 10 am in the westbound lanes of I-24 near Exit 3, in an area where traffic is often forced to stop as vehicles begin to merge into a single lane to get on the Ohio River bridge to Illinois.I-24 remained closed at the site for almost 8 hours until late Sunday afternoon.One of the injured was later flown to an out-of-state hospital.
Woman Hurt, Home Damaged in Overnight Shootings

By West Kentucky Star Staff

PADUCAH - A woman was shot and a home was damaged in two separate shooting incidents Sunday night and Monday morning.The Paducah Police Department says officers responded shortly before 10 p.m. to a report of a shooting in the 1000 block of Bronson Avenue.When officers arrived, they found a 30-year-old woman bleeding from a gunshot wound to her lower jaw. She was taken to Baptist Health Hospital for treatment.Witnesses reportedly told officers they were outside a home, talking, when they heard fireworks and gunshots.Officers responded at around 3:30 a.m. to another report of a shooting in the 800 block of North 6th Street. When they arrived, they found two windows had been hit by gunfire. Two residents were home at the time of the shooting, but no one was reported injured.Paducah police detectives are investigating both incidents. Anyone with information is asked to call the Paducah Police Department at 270-444-8550.
Carlisle Trespassing Complaint Ends in Drug Arrest

By West Kentucky Star Staff

CARLISLE COUNTY - A call about a trespasser Friday in Carlisle County led to the arrest of a South Carolina woman on drug and other charges.Deputies received a complaint of an unknown woman at a home in the 1000 block of State Route 121 near Cunningham. The caller told authorities she could not get into her home because the woman was blocking her path.Deputies arrived to find 21-year-old Brantlee Boltjea sitting in a vehicle. Boltjea reportedly told deputies she thought she was at her granddad's home in Tennessee.After speaking with her, deputies determined she was under the influence of intoxicants.A search of Boltjea's vehicle reportedly uncovered open alcoholic beverages, a used meth pipe, and a wooden container with meth residue.Deputies also learned that Ballard County authorities had received reports of a woman matching her description attempting to gain access to various homes.Boltjea was arrested and charged with third-degree criminal trespassing, possession of a controlled substance, operating a vehicle on a suspended license, resisting arrest, and possession of drug paraphernalia.She was taken to the McCracken County Jail.
Human Remains Found in Lake Barkley

By West Kentucky Star Staff

TRIGG COUNTY - Detectives with the Kentucky State Police are investigating the discovery of human remains found in Trigg County early Sunday morning.State Police say they received a call around 3:40am from Stewart County, Tennessee requesting assistance regarding the possible discovery of human remains. Police say they were able to locate the remains in Lake Barkley north of the US 68/80 Barkley Lake Bridge.Anyone with information is asked to contact Kentucky State Police, Post 1 at 270-856-3721.
Adams Warns of Third-Party Document Scams

By West Kentucky Star Staff

FRANKFORT - Secretary of State Michael Adams is warning Kentuckians about scams that misleadingly offer to sell documents that can be obtained from his office at little or no charge.Adams cited a recent example of a letter that purports to offer certified copies of articles of organization for a fee of $89.25. He said the same document can be obtained directly from the Secretary of State using the official form for only $10.00.Adams said most business records can be readily accessed through the Secretary of State's online business search and obtained without charge."My office does not solicit constituents to purchase documents, nor do we charge exorbitant fees," Adams said. "Beware of any third-party solicitation to purchase records of any sort."He added that anyone who receives a suspected fraudulent mailing should report it to his office.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-27 22:16:35|Editor: huaxia

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Safaa Sobeh contemplates near the grave of her late husband buried on her farm in the village of Salkhad in Syria's southern province of Sweida, June 20, 2021. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)

by Hummam Sheikh Ali

SWEIDA, Syria, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Safaa Sobeh's working day starts at 6 a.m. and ends at 6 p.m., which might sound normal in a country where people struggle to make ends meet. However, she doesn't spend the 12 hours behind a comfy desk, but an agriculture truck.

In previous years, Sobeh's job was to help her husband in their agricultural land in her village of Salkhad in Syria's southern province of Sweida. Almost every woman there does the same job.

A year ago, her life took a sudden slide when her husband passed away, leaving her with a young son, two daughters, and a load of hopes and dreams that were supposed to be achieved with him.

A year has passed, but she is still in black, mourning him. Perhaps the only thing beaming hope in her skinny body is a shiny pair of blue eyes and a shy smile, which appears when she speaks with her 17-year-old son.

The woman drives a shabby minivan to her farm every morning. Over there, she starts plowing the land with a cultivator, which is a small manual motor plow locally known as "Azzaqa."

This machine is small in size but demands strong hands to run it through the bumpy dirty land.

Sobeh's fists clutch the handles of the cultivator but her entire body shakes when this machine is running. Anyway, she does it without a blink.

On her farm, there is also a bigger tractor she drives around to get the work done in the land before heading to the barn to milk the cows.

She is the only woman in her village to be able to drive a cultivator and a truck.

After milking the cow, she delivers milk to people on her motorcycle.

"My husband taught me how to run these types of equipment. We worked hand in hand and helped each other in everything," she told Xinhua.

After he passed away, she said that she had found no difficulty in working but that she was alone and it was "difficult to move on all by my lonesome."

The 42-year-old's driving force is the dream she had once shared with her husband. Their dream was to have a big and successful farm and having their product of wheat and milk reach outside the village.

"Inner strength" was also key to her success, she said.

"The real support comes from within and without it. You cannot move forward no matter who comes to support you. Life goes on and if we don't have a strong will, we cannot move on," she said.

But despite all the encouraging words and the apparent strength she prides herself on having, Sobeh is still a human being, a woman who gets tired like any other person in her situation but as she repeatedly says "life goes on."

"Of course I get tired. There is no job without stress. I have to do this even when I get tired because I have no choice but to carry on for myself and my children," she said.

After finishing her day, Sobeh heads to the grave of her husband, who is buried on the same farm. She sits near the headstone contemplating and gives him a kiss goodbye. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-27 22:37:52|Editor: huaxia

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Lawyer Khaled Arar is seen at his office in a Palestinian refugee camp in Amman, Jordan, on June 16, 2021. Dwelling inside the Jordan's Baqa'a Palestinian refugee camp for over half a century, lawyer Khaled Arar actively applied his writing skills to document the camp's history. (Photo by Mohammad Abu Ghosh/Xinhua)

AMMAN, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Dwelling inside the Jordan's Baqa'a Palestinian refugee camp for over half a century, lawyer Khaled Arar actively applied his writing skills to document the camp's history.

"The camp throughout over 50 years still conserved its characteristics as a refugee camp ... the refugees here struggled to survive while maintaining their humanity, and preserving their right to return," Arar told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Arar, 64-year-old, who was forced to leave his homeland called Ishwa in Jerusalem and resettled to the camp since its establishment in 1968, said his initiative was out of a belief, which is to record his fellow Palestinian refugees' lives, challenges, and aspirations at the camp.

"I wrote people's suffering in the camp with all of its details, including living in the tent, the queue for acquiring basic supplies ... all of these details I was writing with a fully unbiased view," Arar said.

Noting that he did not merely shed light on the chronically physical changes of the camp, he also concentrates on the progress of the refugees living conditions by overcoming many challenges and efforts on education.

Arar said his writings represent an array of collective experiences of the camp's residents, adding that his documentation would help preserve the Palestinian identity and the Palestinian issue.

The lawyer slammed the U.S. administration for its relentless biased support to Israel, as well as intervening and hindering the just solution of the Palestinian issue.

"The United States has played the role of a spectator and even a supporter of Israel ... especially the recent bombing they tried to legitimize it ... and the United States supports the Israeli breach of human rights in the West Bank but turns a blind eye to its violation on Palestinians' freedom of worship," Arar said.

He also called on the international community to play a significant role in supporting the just cause of the Palestinian people in achieving their national rights.

Arar said the camp residents lived in solidarity with shared support despite the challenges and were unified in their goal to return home and realize a better future where no suffering exists.

"What distinguishes us is that we have a belief to get out of this misery and return to our country in the future, which we also pass to our children ... we have a homeland where we must return regardless of all the difficulties," Arar added. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 03:33:41|Editor: huaxia

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Rescuers work at the site of the explosion in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on June 27, 2021. At least seven people were killed and dozens of others injured in the collapse of a commercial building after a massive explosion in Dhaka on Sunday. (Xinhua)

DHAKA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people were killed and dozens of others injured in the collapse of a commercial building after a massive explosion in Bangladesh's capital city of Dhaka on Sunday.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Shafiqul Islam told journalists that "seven people were killed in the explosion."

"We've come to know that at least 50 people were injured in the incident," he added.

The exact cause of the blast that took place at around 7:30 p.m. local time remains unclear.

Islam said they did not find any evidence leading to an act of sabotage that could cause the explosion in the building which houses several restaurants and shops.

Broken glass walls of several nearby buildings and shopping malls littered the road outside the three-storey building.

Two buses were also heavily damaged due to the explosion. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 08:16:17|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. military conducted airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region, the Pentagon said on Sunday.

"The U.S. strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those countries," the Pentagon said in a statement. (US airstrikes)

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SANAA -- Yemen's Houthi militia said on Sunday it launched "five ballistic missiles" and "five bomb-laden drones" at two airports and a military site in Saudi Arabia.

"The multiple attacks targeted the Abha airport, the king Khalid Air Base and the National Guards Camp," Houthi military spokesman Yehya Sarea said in a statement aired by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV. (Yemen-Saudi-Attacks)

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DHAKA -- At least seven people were killed and dozens of others injured in the collapse of a commercial building after a massive explosion in Bangladesh's capital city of Dhaka on Sunday.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Shafiqul Islam told journalists that "seven people were killed in the explosion." (Bangladesh-Explosion)

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BRUSSELS -- Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel has since Sunday morning been in self-isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, according to the government.

The prime minister, who will be in isolation for 10 days, is currently showing mild symptoms (fever and headache) and will continue to perform his duties by teleworking, the government said in a press release. (Lux-Health-PM-COVID-19) Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 09:27:19|Editor: huaxia

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BOGOTA, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Guerrillas from the National Liberation Army (ELN) and members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) could have worked together to carry out an attack on Colombian President Ivan Duque, Defense Minister Diego Molano said on Sunday.

"Information has been received of a possible criminal drug trafficking alliance between the ELN urban front and FARC dissidents," said the minister.

The attack took place on Friday while Duque was traveling by helicopter near the city of Cucuta. Two firearms and ammunition were recovered from the site.

Molano said that those responsible for the attack, which he described as a "cowardly" and "terrorist" act, would be caught.

He also announced on Saturday that a reward of up to 3 billion pesos (about 800,000 U.S. dollars) was being offered for tips leading to the capture of any perpetrators. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 09:32:05|Editor: huaxia

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BUENOS AIRES, June 27 (Xinhua) -- The Argentine government on Sunday called for national unity to overcome the pandemic, as it mourned more than 92,000 people who died from COVID-19 in the country.

"We are here to remember each of the people who were fatal victims of the pandemic. Each of them had a name, a life," said Argentine President Alberto Fernandez during a ceremony held at the Kirchner Cultural Center of Buenos Aires.

"This is a ceremony of recollection and reflection," he said when attending the ceremony along with representative from various sectors of society, including essential workers and provincial governors.

"With this pandemic, we are witnessing a true cataclysm that is plaguing humanity. The millions of deaths have shocked the entire world, as well as the almost 100,000 deceased in our own country," he added.

Argentina has reported 4,393,142 cases and 92,317 deaths from COVID-19 as of Saturday. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 09:33:07|Editor: huaxia

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LA PAZ, June 27 (Xinhua) -- The hydrocarbon areas, with gas, construction, manufacturing and mining sectors, in Bolivia are driving the country's economic recovery, Minister of Economy and Public Finance Marcelo Montenegro said on Sunday.

With the preliminary results of macroeconomic performance, Bolivia will be among the 10 fastest growing nations in Latin America, the minister said in an interview with the state-run Bolivia TV.

The Bolivian economy went from a fall of 7.5 percent between January and April 2020 to an increase of 5.3 percent in the same period of 2021, and this recovery can be seen through various indicators such as productive dynamics, tax collection, trade surplus, and the reduction in unemployment, according to the minister.

Montenegro added that one policy that is making economic recovery in Bolivia possible is this year's public investment through the 2021 Financial Fiscal Program. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 10:13:48|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) has maintained regular contacts with more than 560 political parties and political organizations from over 160 countries and regions around the world, according to a CPC official.

Guo Yezhou, deputy head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, cited the statistics at a press conference held to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC on Monday in Beijing.

"The CPC has made friends all over the world," said Guo. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 10:24:32|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese respiratory specialist Zhong Nanshan speaks in an interview in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, July 29, 2020. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

GUANGZHOU, June 28 (Xinhua) -- China's top epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan said in an interview with Xinhua that building an immune barrier is urgently needed to combat the highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19.

Zhong said the resurgence of the virus in Guangzhou, capital city of south China's Guangdong Province, was the first time that China had to cope with the delta variant spreading in the community.

The variant, which was first identified in India, has a shorter incubation period than other variants and the infected individuals experience longer recovery periods.

"Guangzhou has made some achievements in combating the variant, but other regions should take necessary precautions," said Zhong.





INITIAL ACHIEVEMENTS

A total of 153 cases were reported in Guangzhou from May, but no new local cases have been reported since June 19.

The city has been removed from China's list of areas at medium-risk for COVID-19, local health officials said on Saturday.

Zhong said both provincial and city-level disease control departments carried out timely and high-quality epidemiological investigations after receiving a case report on May 21.

The gene sequencing of all 153 cases in Guangzhou has now been carried out. The results show that the cases are homologous and the transmission chain is clear. These efforts provide data support for authorities to judge the situation and implement control measures, he said.

"Considering the high viral load and highly contagious nature of the delta strain, we clarified that anyone who was in the same space, unit or buildings as a patient up to four days before the onset of the disease was a close contact," said Zhong. "Due to the change in the definition of close contacts, different management methods have been adopted."

He said that Guangzhou has used big data to track people of concern, including those who have been to medium-risk areas and close contacts of new cases.

"These new, innovative and more targeted anti-virus methods have enabled us to control the resurgence in a quick manner," said Zhong.

A medical worker injects COVID-19 vaccine to a man at the health management center in Panyu District of Guangzhou City, south China's Guangdong Province, Jan. 6, 2021. (Xinhua/Xu Hongyi)

IMMUNE BARRIER URGENCY

"The delta strain has high viral load and short incubation period, which makes it twice as contagious as ordinary COVID-19," said the top epidemiologist.

He said that to strike a balance between economic development and efforts to combat the delta variant, it is necessary to accelerate the pace of vaccination and build an immune barrier in the population.

Zhong said preliminary analysis of more than 100 patients in Guangdong showed that Chinese vaccines are effective in preventing the development of pneumonia and severe infection. He urged more people to get vaccinated.

As of Thursday, more than 1.1 billion vaccine doses have been administered on the Chinese mainland.

"We need 80 percent or more of the population vaccinated in the country to build an immune barrier," he said. 
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 10:38:50|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, June 27 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. military conducted airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region, the Pentagon said on Sunday.

"The U.S. strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those countries," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a statement.

The targets were selected because these facilities are utilized by Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq, the statement said.

U.S. media reported that the airstrikes, carried out by F-15 and F-16 fighters, were in response to five militia drone attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq in recent months.

The operation was President Joe Biden's second use of force in the region. He ordered airstrikes against Iranian-backed militia targets in eastern Syria this February.

The airstrikes came at a delicate time between the United States and Iran.

A senior State Department official said on Thursday that the two sides still have serious differences over how to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, after six rounds of indirect negotiations in Austria's capital Vienna since April. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 11:58:55|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message on Monday to Samdech Techo Hun Sen, president of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), on the 70th anniversary of the CPP's founding.

In his message, Xi said that on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the CPP's founding, he would like to extend warm congratulations to Hun Sen, the CPP and the Cambodian people on behalf of the CPC and the Chinese people, as well as in his own name.

Xi pointed out that for a long time, the CPP has been uniting and leading the Cambodian people in advancing the cause of national construction and development, making positive contributions to regional stability and prosperity.

China, as always, will support Cambodia in pursuing a development path that suits its national conditions, Xi said, expressing China's confidence that under the right leadership of Hun Sen, the CPP will continue to make new and greater contributions to the prosperity of Cambodia and the happiness of the Cambodian people, as well as to regional peace and development.

Xi stressed that China and Cambodia are staunch friends and a community with a shared future, with their relations having long enjoyed high-level development.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two sides have pulled together and helped each other, and have vividly illustrated their unbreakable and everlasting friendship with concrete actions, Xi said.

The CPC highly values its friendly cooperation with the CPP, Xi said, adding that he is willing to work with Hun Sen to strengthen the political guidance for the relations between the two countries and between the two parties, deepen exchanges and cooperation between the two parties and in other fields, and promote the building of the China-Cambodia community with a shared future, so as to bring benefits to both countries and their people. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 14:01:55|Editor: huaxia

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NEW DELHI -- India's COVID-19 tally rose to 30,279,331 on Monday, as 46,148 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours.

The death toll mounted to 396,730 as 979 deaths were recorded since Sunday morning.(India-COVID-19)

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HANOI -- Three youngsters have died after a boat with five people capsized in southern Vietnam's Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, Vietnam News Agency cited local authorities as reporting on Monday.

The group of five were rowing the boat on a deep lake in Phu My township when the accident occurred on Sunday morning. Only two of them could swim ashore, the report said, adding that the three victims were aged between 22 and 27 years old. Three bodies were found as of Sunday night.(Vietnam-Boat accident)

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MANILA -- China delivered an additional batch of Sinovac CoronaVac vaccines to the Philippines on Monday to support the Southeast Asian country's COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

Carlito Galvez, chief implementer of the government's measures to combat COVID-19, and Heath Secretary Francisco Duque received the fresh shipment of CoronaVac vaccines at the airport in the capital.(Philippines-China-Vaccine)

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SEOUL -- Eleven more U.S. soldiers and two civilians in South Korea tested positive for COVID-19, the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said Monday.

One family member of a service member stationed at the U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys and two service members stationed at Camp Casey were confirmed with COVID-19 on June 22 and 24 after developing symptoms.(South Korea-US-Soldiers) Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 14:03:47|Editor: huaxia

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Women wail over the killing of a policeman and his two family members at Hariparigam village near Awantipora town of Pulwama district, about 35 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, June 28, 2021. Unidentified gunmen killed a policeman, his wife and daughter in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said Monday. (Xinhua/Javed Dar)

SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Unidentified gunmen killed a policeman, his wife and daughter in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said Monday.

The trio was attacked inside their house at village Hariparigam near Awantipora town of Pulwama district, about 35 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Police suspect militants behind the killings.

Following the attack, government forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to track down the assailants. However, they are believed to have escaped soon after carrying out the attack.

The killings came hours after two explosions rocked Indian Air Force operated airport in Jammu, the winter capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The explosions are believed to be set off using drones. Reports said two Air Force personnel suffered wounds in the attack.

There has been a surge in militant attacks in the region over the past two weeks.

On Saturday a civilian was killed and three others wounded in a grenade attack in Srinagar city.

Last week gunmen shot dead a civilian and a senior police officer in two separate incidents in the city, and a policeman was shot dead inside his house in a similar attack ealier.

A guerilla war is going on between militants and Indian troops stationed in the region since 1989.

The militants often target government force personnel either with grenade attacks or resort to firing. The gunfight between the two sides takes place intermittently across the region.

Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 14:12:08|Editor: huaxia

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DAMASCUS/WASHINGTON, June 28 (Xinhua) -- At least five members of paramilitary group were killed in U.S. airstrikes on the Iraq-Syria border region on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.

At least five militia fighters were killed and several others wounded in the attack by U.S. warplanes on the Syrian side of the frontier, said the war monitor in a statement.

The Pentagon said on Sunday that it conducted airstrikes against facilities used by "Iran-backed militia groups" in the region.

"The U.S. strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those countries," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a statement.

According to Kirby, U.S. President Joe Biden directed the airstrikes against Iran-backed militia targets.

It was Biden's second use of force in the region since taking office five months ago, a retaliatory response to what Washington claimed a series of "attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting U.S. interests in Iraq."

In February, at least 17 members of paramilitary group were killed in the U.S. strikes in Syria at the Iraq border, according to the SOHR.

Mary Ellen O'Connell, a professor at Notre Dame Law School, has criticized the U.S. attacks as a violation of international law.

"The United Nations Charter makes absolutely clear that the use of military force on the territory of a foreign sovereign state is lawful only in response to an armed attack on the defending state for which the target state is responsible," she said.

"None of those elements is met in the Syria strike," she was quoted by media reports as saying.

The airstrikes came at a delicate time between the United States and Iran.

Talks on restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in Austria's capital Vienna have shown a positive signal of finalizing the agreement and finding solutions to the Iranian nuclear issue.

During the JCPOA Joint Commission meeting earlier in June, representatives from China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and Iran agreed on many important issues concerning the revival of the JCPOA. However, the United States and Iran remain divided over how to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the nuclear deal.

A senior State Department official said on Thursday that the two sides still have serious differences over how to revive the nuclear deal after six rounds of indirect negotiations since April. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 14:41:57|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a letter to the Baihetan hydropower station in southwest China, offering his congratulations on the launch of operations of its first two generating units.

As a major project in China's west-east power transmission program, the hydropower station is the largest and most technically difficult hydropower project under construction in the current world, said Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

The generating units each with a capacity of 1 million kilowatts, the largest single-unit capacity in the world, mark a major breakthrough in China's high-end equipment manufacturing, he said.

The station's builders and relevant parties have worked together to overcome difficulties and make contributions to the construction of the major national project, said Xi.

Xi expressed the hope that all builders and relevant parties advance the station's follow-up work, make greater contributions to achieving the country's carbon-peak and carbon-neutralization goals, and promote the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 14:50:38|Editor: huaxia

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by Xinhua writers Zhao Hui, Huang Shunda

SAO PAULO, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Gustavo Pinto, a 73-year-old Brazilian professor, pays daily visit to China-Brazil International Cooperation Base of Chinese Medicine Products in Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.

His visit there every morning is for traditional Chinese treatments such as acupuncture and massages, even at the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The base was jointly established by Brazil's Taimin company and the Affiliated Hospital of the Gansu University of Chinese Medicine in September 2019.

Pinto recalled that since he knew the ancient Chinese book "I Ching" at the age of 19, he has great interest in Chinese culture, especially the traditional Chinese medicine.

"Later I started acupuncture. The benefits were extraordinary. I had rhinitis and allergic asthma since childhood and all of these disappeared," he said.

Since then, Pinto, also translator of the Portuguese version of "I Ching," has been committed to promoting Chinese culture in Brazil.

Fang Fang, CEO of Taimin company, highlighted the growing popularity of Chinese acupuncture and moxibustion treatments in Brazil.

Nevertheless, people know very little about the Chinese herbal medicine, which focuses on "internal" treatments, she added.

The Taimin company has introduced more than 50 products of Chinese medicines in Brazil, including Lianhua Qingwen capsules and Huoxiang Zhengqi pills, which are sold in local pharmacies.

She said that the promotion of Chinese medicine is the commitment of several generations, while the key is to get more Brazilians to understand and embrace the theories of this ancient wealth.

For this reason, Fang invited four doctors from the Affiliated Hospital of the Gansu University of Chinese Medicine to teach courses on Chinese medicine in the base.

To solve the language difficulties, she also invited Shu Fu Cheng, a local doctor as a translator, who is fluent in both Chinese and Portuguese.

The Chinese medical programs attracted many Brazilians interested in Chinese medicine, who have to continue with those course online due to the impact of the pandemic.

Han Yingdi, a doctor from the Affiliated Hospital of the Gansu University of Chinese Medicine, is specialized in the field of obstetrics and gynecology. She gains a large number of followers in Brazil and her courses were attended by more than 100 participants.

Fernanda Waterstradt, a Brazilian pharmacist, said Han's courses greatly inspired her and enhanced her understanding about the Chinese medicine.

"In Brazil, people are paying more and more attention to traditional Chinese medicine. The courses of the base help students understand the application of Chinese medicine," said Shu Fu Cheng.

Fang can see the enthusiasm of the students. Though the pandemic has brought many challenges to her job, she will not give it up.

"Traditional Chinese medicine is the pride of all Chinese people. We have a responsibility to share the fruit of Chinese culture with everyone," she said. Enditem (Gong Ruohan and Duo Lei also contributed to the story.)
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 15:11:47|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Many countries have tightened their restrictions to curb the spread of the Delta COVID-19 variant first detected in India, as the highly contagious virus has been reported in more than 90 countries and regions around the world.

The Delta variant, dominating the new infections recorded in South Africa, was the major contributor to the country's third wave of COVID-19 pandemic, Tulio de Oliveira, director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform, said Saturday at a press briefing.

South Africa, worst-affected nation in terms of coronavirus cases and deaths in Africa, recorded more than 15,000 new cases Sunday including 122 deaths, taking the national count of confirmed cases to 1,928,897, according to data by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

During a televised speech on Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country will move to lockdown Level 4 for 14 days with stringent measures to contain the surge in cases.

From June 28 to July 11, "all gatherings whether indoors or outdoors are prohibited. These include religious, political, cultural and social gatherings. A curfew will be in place from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., and all non-essential establishments will need to close by 8 p.m.," he said.

Restaurants must only serve takeaways and not allow people to eat in their premises, said the president. To ease the pressure placed on hospital services by alcohol-related emergency incidents, the sale of alcohol is prohibited for both on-site and off-site consumption.

Schools will start closing from June 30, and all schools will be expected to be closed by the end of the week.

"Our priority is to break the chain of transmission by reducing person-to-person contact and thereby help flatten the curve," said Ramaphosa. "The measures that we are putting in place now are designed to allow as much economic activity to continue as possible, while containing the spread of the virus."

Kuwait, which announced the discovery of the first cases of the Delta COVID-19 variant on June 14, is also suffering from an increase in cases. On Sunday, the country registered 1,558 new COVID-19 cases, raising the nationwide tally to 351,481, the Kuwaiti Health Ministry reported.

Also on Sunday, Kuwait started to implement a government decision to allow only vaccinated citizens and residents to visit shopping malls, salons, gyms, and restaurants in the country.

Last week, Ahmad Al-Manfouhi, general director of Kuwait Municipality, said in a statement that armed forces of the country will join state bodies to confront the spread of coronavirus and to apply the government decision on restricting access to public venues for unvaccinated people.

Al-Manfouhi, who also heads the main committee to follow up on the implementation of health measures, said that the committee discussed on Wednesday the mechanism for implementing the government decision.

The committee decided to use the armed forces to help civilian health teams implement the decision, starting next Sunday, which is the starting date for restricting unvaccinated citizens and residents from entering restaurants, cafes, gyms, salons, and shopping malls covering more than 6,000 square meters.

Al-Manfouhi said that Kuwait needs to intensify the application of health requirements during the next two months, hoping to achieve herd immunity by increasing the percentage of vaccinated people.

Australia's most populous state of New South Wales on Saturday reported a record daily increase of 30 locally acquired COVID-19 cases, all of which were linked to the Bondi cluster in east Sydney.

The total number of local cases in the state's latest outbreak reached 112 since June 16, when the index case for the Bondi cluster -- a driver who transported international flight crew -- was reported. The driver was confirmed to be infected with the Delta variant.

The Northern Territory (NT) "is now facing its biggest threat" since the COVID-19 crisis began, Chief Minister of NT Michael Gunner said on Sunday, adding that its capital city Darwin would enter a lockdown for 48 hours.

The full lockdown was effective from local time 1:00 p.m. on Sunday at Darwin, Palmerston and Darwin rural areas, following confirmation of four new COVID-19 positive cases linked to a gold mine worker who tested positive on Friday night, according to a statement by the NT government. The virus could be the highly infectious Delta strain, according to Australian media.

During the lockdown, people living in these areas are only permitted to leave home for five reasons, including medical treatment, essential goods and services, essential work and so on. Masks must be worn if people leave their place of residence.

Other Aussie states, including the state of Western Australia and the state of South Australia, have also rolled out preventive measures to fight the pandemic.

The Delta variant, which was initially identified in India in December 2020, is the fastest and fittest coronavirus strain that will "pick off" the most vulnerable people, the World Health Organization said on June 21. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 15:56:06|Editor: huaxia

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Photo taken on June 28, 2021 shows a package of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine at the Phnom Penh International Airport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A new batch of COVID-19 vaccine Cambodia purchased from China's pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech arrived in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Monday, the state-run National Television of Cambodia (TVK) reported. (Photo by Sovannara/Xinhua)

PHNOM PENH, June 28 (Xinhua) -- A new batch of COVID-19 vaccine Cambodia purchased from China's pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech arrived in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Monday, the state-run National Television of Cambodia (TVK) reported.

In its live broadcast on the vaccine's arrival at the Phnom Penh International Airport, TVK said Cambodia's acquisition of Sinovac vaccine was a testament to the close relations and cooperation between Cambodia and China.

"Vaccines are a key strategic solution that can save people's lives and ensure the overall recovery of economic and social activities," it said.

The Chinese Embassy in Cambodia confirmed the new arrival of the vaccine in a Facebook post, saying that the China-Cambodia joint COVID-19 fight has set a model for international cooperation.

The embassy said the new arrival truly reflected China's commitment to making its COVID-19 vaccines a global public good and expressed a strong belief that the Chinese vaccines will soon help Cambodia to achieve herd immunity.

The Southeast Asian nation has planned to vaccinate at least 10 million of its 16 million population by the end of this year.

The kingdom launched an inoculation drive on Feb 10, starting from Phnom Penh and Kandal province before expanding it to Preah Sihanouk, Koh Kong, Kampong Speu, Svay Rieng and Takeo provinces last week.

Some 6.83 million vaccines had been administered in the country as of June 27, with 3.95 million people receiving their first dose and 2.88 million having completed the two-dose inoculation, said health ministry's secretary of state and spokeswoman Or Vandine.

Cambodia's COVID-19 infections continued to rise on Monday as the country confirmed 883 new cases, bringing the national caseload to 48,532, the health ministry said in a statement.

The kingdom also reported 16 new fatalities, taking the overall death toll to 556 so far, the ministry said, adding that 607 patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 42,764. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 16:42:40|Editor: huaxia

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A health worker prepares a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Kampala, Uganda, on June 28, 2021. Uganda on Monday resumed COVID-19 vaccination for health workers and those due to receive a second AstraZeneca jab after a three-week suspension. (Photo by Hajarah Nalwadda/Xinhua)

KAMPALA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Uganda on Monday resumed COVID-19 vaccination for health workers and those due to receive a second AstraZeneca jab after a three-week suspension.

Uganda's Ministry of Health said in a statement that the campaign will last one month, using over 175,200 AstraZeneca doses it received this month.

Early this month, the government suspended the vaccination drive due to a shortage of doses.

"Those to be immunized are all those who have reached 12 weeks since receiving their first dose of the vaccine and health workers," said the statement.

Uganda expects to receive an additional 882,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX facility next month to address the nationwide stockout.

A batch of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines are also expected to arrive in the east African country next month, according to the ministry.

As of Sunday, the total number of people in Uganda vaccinated against COVID-19 remained at 843,039, according to official figures. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 16:43:52|Editor: huaxia

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VIENTIANE, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Laos recorded 26 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections to 2,076, according to the Lao Ministry of Health.

Director General of the Department of Communicable Disease Control under the Lao Ministry of Health Rattanaxay Phetsouvanh told a press conference in Lao capital Vientiane on Monday that following 1,129 tests over the last 24 hours, 26 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed.

Everyone is urged to be on their guard and avoid meeting up with other people.

The Lao government has advised people and relevant authorities not to neglect containment and preventive measures.

As of Monday, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Laos stood at 2,076 with three deaths.

A total of 1,949 COVID-19 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospitals.

Laos reported its first two confirmed cases of COVID-19 on March 24 last year. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 16:47:58|Editor: huaxia

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DAMASCUS, June 28 (Xinhua) -- One child was killed and three other civilians were wounded in an overnight U.S. strike in an area in Syria's eastern province of Deir al-Zour bordering Iraq, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Monday.

At 1 a.m. local time on Monday (2200 GMT Sunday), the United States carried out a missile strike on "residential homes" in the area of al-Bukamal in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour, inflicting property damage as well, SANA said.

The border region has been targeted several times by U.S. strikes, which are undermining the Syrian government's efforts to eliminate the remnants of Islamic State militants there, SANA said.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said that five Iraqi militiamen with Iraq's paramilitary Hashd al-Shaabi forces were killed by the strike that targeted their positions in the border region and inside Syria.

The U.S. Defense Department said Sunday that the U.S. military conducted "airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region."

"The U.S. strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those countries," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a statement.

"The targets were selected because these facilities are utilized by Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq," the statement said.

The operation was U.S. President Joe Biden's second use of force in the region after he ordered airstrikes against Iran-backed militia targets in eastern Syria in February. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 17:33:32|Editor: huaxia

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Aerial photo taken on May 22, 2021 shows tourists visiting Yeping Revolutionary Site in Ruijin City, east China's Jiangxi Province. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)

BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Visiting historical sites with a modern revolutionary legacy, commonly called red tourism, became an increasingly popular travel choice for Chinese people in the first half of this year, an industrial report showed.

Tourists visit the site of the Zunyi Meeting, a watershed event in the history of the Communist Party of China (CPC), in Zunyi City of southwest China's Guizhou Province, May 20, 2021. (Xinhua/Ou Dongqu)



The report, released by Trip.com Group, a major online travel agency in China, said the number of people booking tickets on the platform for sites bearing revolutionary legacy rose 208 percent year on year during the period.

The figure represents a 35-percent increase from the same period in 2019, said the report.

Those born in the 1980s and 1990s were most interested in red tourism, accounting for 38 percent and 31 percent, respectively, of the number of people visiting such destinations.

Tian'anmen Square, the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution and Jinggang Mountains are among the most popular destinations for red tourism, said the report.

Tourists visit a revolutionary site at Zaoyuan, or Jujube Orchard literally, in Yan'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, March 30, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhang Bowen)

People wave Chinese national flags after a grand national flag-raising ceremony was held at the Tian'anmen Square in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 1, 2021. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 18:34:54|Editor: huaxia

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CAIRO, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Egypt condemned in the strongest terms on Monday a rocket attack on a power station in Iraq, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Egypt expresses solidarity with Iraq in measures taken to protect its security and stability against heinous terrorist acts," the statement said.

Egypt completely supports Iraq's ongoing efforts to combat and uproot terrorism, it added.

On Sunday, Salah Al-Din Power Station in the city of Samarra was targeted by Katyusha rockets, Iraq's Ministry of Electricity said on its Facebook page.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack that severely damaged parts of the generating unit. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 18:46:41|Editor: huaxia

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CAIRO, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday, the Egyptian presidency posted a statement on the official Facebook page.

"During the phone conversation, President al-Sisi stressed Egypt's support for all efforts that will lead to reaching a fair and permanent solution between the Israeli and the Palestinian sides until achieving comprehensive peace in the Middle East," said Bassam Radi, spokesperson of the presidency.

Sisi also confirmed the importance of working on preventing the escalation of tension between Israel and Palestine, and boosting the Egyptian efforts for the reconstruction of Gaza, Radi added.

For his part, Bennett valued Egypt's efforts for promoting security and stability in the region, for reaching a cease-fire deal in Gaza, and for mediating the prisoners' swap negotiations, according to the statement.

The Israeli prime minister also hailed the Egyptian-Israeli ties and the results accomplished between the two countries since the signing of the U.S.-brokered peace accord. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 18:52:00|Editor: huaxia

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WARSAW, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The successful governing experience of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is worth learning for other countries, including Poland, said Vice President of Poland's New Left political party Andrzej Szejna.



In his opinion, achievements of the society should be delivered to the people in a just way. "I think it's an experience (we can learn) from China, how to do it, the distribution, (in an) equal and just (way)," Szejna told Xinhua in a recent interview.

As countries around the world are working to revitalize the economy and concentrating on the interests of the people, it is even more important to share experiences, he said.

The CPC "is thinking every day what can (be done to) improve the people's living standards, the equality, (and maintain) sustainable development," said Szejna, who has visited China many times.

Being close to the people and listening to their needs, that is how the CPC led China to achieve miracles in the past decades, Szejna said, praising the people-centered governing philosophy of the Chinese ruling party.

Szejna said his party and the CPC are keeping close communication and share the same values in poverty reduction and fair distribution. "The social policies of the CPC, the efficiency of China are among the experiences we could bring to Poland," he noted, saying that he hopes China could share more on how its miracles were performed.

Noting that it is even harder for countries to act together in addressing such critical challenges as global warming and poverty, Szejna said the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind could serve as a solution to the problems the world is facing, as "it is based on peace and cooperation."

Hailing the excellent relationship between the CPC and the New Left, Szejna said that on the eve of the CPC's 100th anniversary, he would like to wish the Chinese people a better and happier life. (Video reporters: Zhang Zhang, Zhou Nan; Video editor: Zhao Yuchao.) 
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 19:19:12|Editor: huaxia

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TEHRAN, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday urged the parties in the Vienna talks to make their decisions on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"We have made and announced the decisions we should have made, and now it is the turn of the parties (in Vienna talks) to make their own decisions," Saeed Khatibzadeh said in his weekly press conference.

Asked if the agreement on the JCPOA has been postponed to the next Iranian government, Khatibzadeh said "it does not matter in which government and within what time span the agreement is reached."

Iran and the P4+1, namely Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany, with the United States indirectly involved, have had six rounds of negotiations in Austrian capital Vienna since April aimed at reviving the JCPOA.

Despite progresses in the negotiations, the parties have announced that some "serious" differences have not been bridged.

At the end of the latest round of talks, the Iranian senior nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araqchi, said that it was the time for the parties to make their "decisions" over the remaining issues.

The U.S. government under former President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 and unilaterally reimposed sanctions on Iran. In response, Iran gradually stopped implementing parts of its commitments to the agreement from May 2019. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 19:29:50|Editor: huaxia

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JERUSALEM, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Israel's exports of goods and services are expected to recover and reach an all-time high total of 120 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, said an annual report released by the state's Ministry of Economy and Industry on Monday.

This is a growth forecast of 5.26 percent, compared with a total of 114 billion dollars in Israeli exports in 2020, the report said.

In 2020, a 1.5-percent decline in total Israeli exports was recorded, mainly as a result of a significant decline in tourism services exports caused by the COVID-19 crisis.

The report explained its 2021 forecast by the encouraging figures in Israeli exports since the beginning of the year. In the first quarter, Israel's exports of goods showed a 2-percent growth, and exports of services rose by more than 15 percent, both year on year. Enitem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 19:32:15|Editor: huaxia

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SYDNEY, June 28 (Xinhua) -- For families across Greater Sydney, the school holidays starting this week should have been some long-awaited time off, however, the unexpected COVID-19 lockdown changed everything.

Due to an increase in local transmissions, Greater Sydney and some surrounding areas entered a two-week lockdown until midnight July 9, coinciding exactly with the term two school holidays.

"For the next two weeks, you will be able to exercise outdoors and we appreciate during the school holidays, this could be the only time that people are able to gather outside and in no more than groups of 10," Premier of New South Wales (NSW) state Gladys Berejiklian said.

For families across these areas this meant two weeks stuck at home, canceled travel plans, and the inability to visit extended family.

One family living in Sydney's inner west, with two children aged five and eight, had to cancel a four-day vacation to the capital city Canberra and a ski trip at a nearby ski field.

"For us this means less family time with the kids. My wife works in health and has been put on call, and I will continue my work at home," the family's father told Xinhua anonymously.

Like many families around Sydney, this lockdown also meant missing out on time spent with extended family.

"Our biggest stress is not being able to see the grandparents. We planned for the kids to do some activities with their grandparents," the father said.

"We are thankful that the lockdown is not as restrictive as last time, we are still able to visit parks."

Tristan who lives in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, with his wife and two daughters aged three and five, shared his experience going into lockdown.

"The hardest thing was telling the girls they wouldn't be able to go for a sleepover they had planned. They were so excited, but we had to sit them down and explain to them that the virus was back," he told Xinhua.

Another challenge for this family is adapting to working from home during this period. This has meant devising a system to let the kids know when mum is busy.

"We did a craft activity and made paper traffic lights. We stuck it on their mum's door. This way there is a definite, unbreakable rule that they can always see when they go to enter the room, red means stop, amber means ask first, and green means go," Tristan said.

Although the lockdown comes with added stress, especially with the kids at home all day, he said the lockdown also gave him and his wife a chance to reflect on their parenting.

"It makes me more aware of rotating activities to keep them occupied. Perhaps the biggest challenge has been managing their screen time. It is always a temptation just to stick them in front of a screen," Tristan said.

For Lisa, a mother of two boys aged 15 and 16, the challenge with older kids were different to those faced by families with younger children because of teenagers' demand of staying connected with their peers.

Her family had to cancel a fishing trip to Port Macquarie to the north of Sydney. They also planned to give their son a great 17th birthday party, which has also now been put on hold.

"It's been hard. Children around this age just want to be around their friends all the time. They are really intelligent, resilient kids and they deserve a bit more credit for how well they have coped," Lisa said.

Like the other two parents, Lisa stressed the importance of having an open dialogue with her children, telling them that it is okay to be disappointed.

"We have had to find ways to keep the COVID blues away. For us that has been getting out into nature and getting involved in the community in different ways." Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 19:36:52|Editor: huaxia

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KAMPALA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Following a presidential directive on June 18 that asked food market vendors to camp at their respective places of work amid a partial lockdown in the country, 50-year-old Ugandan female vendor Mayuna Namazzi has been staying at her stall in Kalerwe market in capital Kampala.

Namazzi, who lives in the city of Buwambo in Wakiso district, some 22 km away from the capital, said she had to stay at her workplace because she "could not manage to walk the distance from home and back."

"The night curfew is tight, and the enforcement officers are very strict. The only solution was for me to camp at my stall," she told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The mother of five said the nights have not been comfortable.

"Of course there is too much coldness, having been used to sleeping inside my bed. But I have no choice," she said.

Besides, with stagnant water nearby, there are many mosquitoes around, she said, adding, "Now that the government has come out to give us mosquito nets, that problem is solved."

Namazzi said her business has not been doing well. The number of customers has drastically declined, because some of them resorted to buying foodstuffs from nearby markets while others turned to home villages, she said.

"Hotel owners no longer come to buy food because they have no customers to eat meals. Most of our products are rotting since there is no one to buy them," Namazzi added.

Uganda is currently grappling with a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with daily new cases hitting around 1,000.

Figures from the Ministry of Health showed that as of Friday, the number of confirmed cases nationwide had reached 78,394.

The African country entered another partial lockdown on June 7, banning public gatherings, closing schools and churches, as well as stopping public transport for 42 days.

The Ministry of Health then launched a drive to distribute at least 5,000 mosquito nets to women who spend nights in food markets around the city center and suburbs.

Nalongo Tereza Namubiru, 70, also had no choice but to camp at the market, because she could not manage to walk the 4-km distance from home given her age.

"My children died and left me with eight small grandchildren. I have to work hard to get them what to eat," Namubiru added.

"Two of the grandchildren stay here in the market with me through the night. The others are in the house," she told Xinhua.

Like Namazzi, Namubiru also noticed that the customers are a mere trickle.

"I sell bananas, cassava and sweet potatoes. However, I hardly get customers because of the lockdown. People cannot find transport means to take food back to their homes," she said.

Although Namubiru praised government efforts to distribute mosquito nets to women spending nights in markets, she noted that the weather is still tough.

"At my age, I would be sleeping in the house. I might end up contracting other sicknesses because of the coldness," she said.

Still, Namubiru said she is hopeful that once everyone follows the restrictive measures, the pandemic will be defeated, and she will return to sleeping in her warm house.

For Jane Nasozi, 28, who operates a stall at Nakasero market in the capital, spending nights in the market is not new.

"Our suppliers usually bring agricultural products from villages at night. You have to be at the market to receive your share at that time," she told Xinhua.

The only difference for Nasozi is that fewer clients are now coming to buy her vegetables, since some hotels and schools are not operating.

"I also used to supply exporters, but since the lockdown started, they say they have suspended operations," Nasozi said.

The Ugandan government has announced that at least 500,000 families will receive COVID-19 relief cash through mobile money services.

For now, Nasozi is waiting for the cash relief promised by the government, since her daily income has dropped by more than 50 percent.

Besides, she said she worries about petty thieves who sneak into the city center at night and snatch women's bags. "We ask the police to deploy more men at our markets" to scare away the thieves. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 19:39:05|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Under the guidance of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, the two countries will continue to make concerted efforts and firmly move forward despite difficulties and obstacles ahead, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday.

Xi made the remarks while holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin via video link in Beijing.

The idea of enduring friendship, which has been established in the treaty, conforms to the fundamental interests of the two countries as well as the themes of the times of peace and development, Xi said.

He also said the treaty is a vivid example of fostering a new type of international relations and building a community with a shared future for humanity. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 19:40:18|Editor: huaxia

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People wait in observation after receiving COVID-19 vaccines at a vaccination center in Prayagraj, India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, June 24, 2021. (Str/Xinhua)

-- India's total tally reaches 30.27 mln;

-- Indonesia reports 20,694 new cases;

-- Philippines logs 5,604 more cases, tally at 1,403,588;

-- Thailand adds 5,406 new cases, 249,853 in total.

HONG KONG, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia-Pacific countries:

NEW DELHI -- India's total tally rose to 30,279,331, as 46,148 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours.

The death toll mounted to 396,730 as 979 deaths were recorded since Sunday morning.

This is the first time that the number of daily deaths has fallen to below the 1,000 mark in nearly two and a half months. The daily death toll crossed 1,000 in India on April 14.

There are still 572,994 active cases in the country, as there was a fall of 13,409 cases during the past 24 hours.

Local authorities distribute daily necessities to people in a containment zone, set up as a preventive measure against the spread of the COVID-19, in Nagaon district of India's northeastern state of Assam, June 26, 2021. (Str/Xinhua)

JAKARTA -- The confirmed cases in Indonesia rose by 20,694 within one day to 2,135,998, with the death toll adding by 423 to 57,561, the health ministry said on Monday.

According to the ministry, 9,480 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 1,859,961.

A rose is seen on the grave of a COVID-19 victim at a public cemetery for COVID-19 victims in Jombang of South Tangerang, Indonesia, June 27, 2021. (Xinhua/Veri Sanovri)

MANILA -- The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 5,604 new cases on Monday, bringing the total tally to 1,403,588.

The death toll rose to 24,456 after 84 more patients died from the coronavirus epidemic, the DOH said.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a televised press conference that strict quarantine rules will likely remain in July because of the presence of more transmissible variants of the COVID-19 virus.

The Philippines has imposed tight border control in order to prevent the entry of highly infectious coronavirus variants into the Southeast Asian country, including the Delta variant first reported in India.

People wearing face masks and shields take photos with sunflowers in Quezon City, the Philippines, on June 27, 2021. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)

BANGKOK -- Thailand reported 5,406 cases, the third highest daily tally since the pandemic began, raising the total case tally to 249,853.

The country's daily cases have regularly been in the thousands for more than two months since the third wave of the outbreak began in early April, with the capital Bangkok and its vicinity regions as the epicenter. Nearly one-third of Monday's new cases were detected in Bangkok.

Cumulative deaths rose to 1,934, up by 22 on Monday.

To curb rising infections, Thailand decided to ban restaurant dine-in services and gatherings of more than 20 people in Bangkok and nine other provinces, in addition to the previously announced sealing-off of construction sites. These measures will remain for 30 days starting from Monday.

The government will pay for half the wages of employees affected by the one-month ban at restaurants and construction sites, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told reporters Monday at the Government House.

Tourists fly kites at a sparsely occupied beach in Pattaya of Chonburi province, Thailand, June 24, 2021. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

PHNOM PENH -- A new batch of COVID-19 vaccine Cambodia purchased from China's pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech arrived in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Monday, the state-run National Television of Cambodia (TVK) reported.

The Chinese Embassy in Cambodia confirmed the new arrival of the vaccine in a Facebook post, saying that the China-Cambodia joint COVID-19 fight has set a model for international cooperation.

The embassy said the new arrival truly reflected China's commitment to making its COVID-19 vaccines a global public good and expressed a strong belief that the Chinese vaccines will soon help Cambodia to achieve herd immunity.

Cambodia's infections continued to rise as the country confirmed 883 new cases, bringing the national caseload to 48,532, the health ministry said in a statement.

The kingdom also reported 16 new fatalities, taking the overall death toll to 556 so far, the ministry said, adding that 607 patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 42,764.

A worker transports Chinese Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines at Phnom Penh International Airport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on June 26, 2021. (Photo by Phearum/Xinhua)

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan reported less than 1,000 new cases over the last 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said.

The NCOC, the department leading Pakistan's campaign against the pandemic, said 914 new cases were reported and the number of the country's overall cases climbed to 955,657, adding that there have been 901,201 people who recovered so far.

According to the NCOC, a total of 20 people also lost their lives to the disease over the last 24 hours, raising the overall death toll to 22,231.

Pakistan's eastern Punjab province is the worst-hit region with 345,900 infections, followed by the southern Sindh province which reported 336,076 infections.

A medical worker prepares a dose of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, June 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal) 
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 19:51:35|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- In about one month, Guangdong Province, a manufacturing hub in south China, contained a recent resurgence of local COVID-19 infections, once again highlighting Chinese efficiency in tackling the raging virus.

The global pandemic is a new test for the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), the world's largest political party with nearly 92 million members to celebrate its centenary. And the CPC made it. China took the lead in controlling the epidemic and restoring the economy.

Since founding the New China, the CPC has led the nation to ride out various major internal and external tests and accomplish tremendous and historic achievements through the arduous and consistent efforts of all ethnic groups.

Rapid economic development and long-term social stability are described as two "miracles" that the CPC has realized over the past seven decades.

Before 1978, the country experienced major tests, such as the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-1953) and the Tangshan earthquake in 1976. Since the reform and opening-up policy began over 40 years ago, China underwent the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the Yangtze River flood in 1998, the SARS epidemic in 2003, and the global financial crisis in 2008, among other hardships.

Under the strong leadership of the CPC, China surmounted all these difficulties and obstacles in its development process.

Besides eliminating absolute poverty, the country has tried various means to expand employment in recent years amid challenges both at home and abroad. From 2016 to 2020, China created more than 60 million jobs.

The guarantee for China's long-term social stability lies in socialism with Chinese characteristics, of which the leadership of the CPC is the defining feature and the biggest strength.

The picture of political and social stability, economic development, and ethnic unity in China are in sharp contrast to aggravating social divisions and political upheavals in some countries due to their systematic ills and selfish partisan interests.

Dedicated to serving the people wholeheartedly, the CPC has always put people's interests first, improving people's livelihoods while developing the economy, fighting poverty and epidemics, and sticking to the goal of prosperity for all. The country is to realize the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects this year.

Besides income increases, Chinese citizens enjoy other tangible development benefits, such as access to better education, medical care, and a safe environment. For example, a "toilet revolution" in recent years has helped farmers bid farewell to shabby latrines and use flush toilets like city dwellers.

The CPC has attached importance to the relationship between reform, development, and stability. Everyone has an increasingly strong sense of gain, happiness, and security in China. Through endeavors such as advancing rule of law and building a "safe China," China has been widely recognized as one of the safest countries worldwide.

Meanwhile, the country's improved social governance on the principle of collaboration, participation, and mutual interests has also contributed significantly to social stability.

The world is undergoing changes unseen in a century. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerates this evolution. Under such a complicated and uncertain international situation, the CPC will further advance reform, development, and stability to comprehensively build a modern socialist country.

As the CPC upholds and improves Chinese socialism and modernizes the state governance system and capacity, China will continue its miracle of long-term social stability, which is also a significant contribution to global development. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 19:52:57|Editor: huaxia

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STOCKHOLM -- Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven resigned on Monday following a non-confidence vote against him on June 21.

"With one year left until the regular election, given the extraordinary situation the country is in with the ongoing pandemic (and) with the special challenges it would entail, an extra election is not what is best for Sweden," Lofven said at a press conference, adding that it was the basis of his resignation.

- - - -

SYDNEY -- For families across Greater Sydney, the school holidays starting this week should have been some long-awaited time off, however, the unexpected COVID-19 lockdown changed everything.

"For the next two weeks, you will be able to exercise outdoors and we appreciate during the school holidays, this could be the only time that people are able to gather outside and in no more than groups of 10," Premier of New South Wales (NSW) state Gladys Berejiklian said.

- - - -

TEHRAN -- The Iranian spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday urged the parties in the Vienna talks to make their decisions on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"We have made and announced the decisions we should have made, and now it is the turn of the parties (in Vienna talks) to make their own decisions," Saeed Khatibzadeh said in his weekly press conference.

- - - -

CAIRO -- Egypt condemned in the strongest terms on Monday a rocket attack on a power station in Iraq, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Egypt expresses solidarity with Iraq in measures taken to protect its security and stability against heinous terrorist acts," the statement said.

- - - -

KATHMANDU -- The authorities in Nepal's Kathmandu Valley on Monday decided to reopen public transport service for the first time in two months as restrictive measures against COVID-19 are eased further along with the ongoing lockdown being extended for one more week till July 5.

"We decided to allow operation of certain public vehicles as per the 'principle of necessity' amid decreasing cases of COVID-19," Kali Prasad Parajuli, chief district officer of Kathmandu, told Xinhua. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 19:56:33|Editor: huaxia

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A woman receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a hospital in Prayagraj, India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, June 28, 2021. (Str/Xinhua)

HONG KONG, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 pandemic was still raging in Asia-Pacific on Monday, as India's total tally rose to 30,279,331, with 46,148 new cases registered during the past 24 hours, said the health ministry.

The death toll mounted to 396,730 as 979 deaths were recorded since Sunday morning.

This is the first time that the number of daily deaths has fallen to below the 1,000 mark in nearly two and a half months. The daily death toll crossed 1,000 in India on April 14.

There are still 572,994 active cases in the country, as there was a fall of 13,409 cases during the past 24 hours.

The confirmed cases in Indonesia rose by 20,694 within one day to 2,135,998, with the death toll adding by 423 to 57,561, the health ministry said on Monday.

According to the ministry, 9,480 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 1,859,961.

The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 5,604 new cases on Monday, bringing the total tally to 1,403,588.

The death toll rose to 24,456 after 84 more patients died from the coronavirus epidemic, the DOH said.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a televised press conference that strict quarantine rules will likely remain in July because of the presence of more transmissible variants of the COVID-19 virus.

The Philippines has imposed tight border control in order to prevent the entry of highly infectious coronavirus variants into the Southeast Asian country, including the Delta variant first reported in India.

Thailand reported 5,406 cases, the third highest daily tally since the pandemic began, raising the total case tally to 249,853.

The country's daily cases have regularly been in the thousands for more than two months since the third wave of the outbreak began in early April, with the capital Bangkok and its vicinity regions as the epicenter. Nearly one-third of Monday's new cases were detected in Bangkok.

Cumulative deaths rose to 1,934, up by 22 on Monday.

To curb rising infections, Thailand decided to ban restaurant dine-in services and gatherings of more than 20 people in Bangkok and nine other provinces, in addition to the previously announced sealing-off of construction sites. These measures will remain for 30 days starting from Monday.

The government will pay for half the wages of employees affected by the one-month ban at restaurants and construction sites, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told reporters Monday at the Government House.

A new batch of COVID-19 vaccine Cambodia purchased from China's pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech arrived in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Monday, the state-run National Television of Cambodia (TVK) reported.

The Chinese Embassy in Cambodia confirmed the new arrival of the vaccine in a Facebook post, saying that the China-Cambodia joint COVID-19 fight has set a model for international cooperation.

The embassy said the new arrival truly reflected China's commitment to making its COVID-19 vaccines a global public good and expressed a strong belief that the Chinese vaccines will soon help Cambodia to achieve herd immunity.

Cambodia's infections continued to rise as the country confirmed 883 new cases, bringing the national caseload to 48,532, the health ministry said in a statement.

The kingdom also reported 16 new fatalities, taking the overall death toll to 556 so far, the ministry said, adding that 607 patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 42,764.

Pakistan reported less than 1,000 new cases over the last 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said.

The NCOC, the department leading Pakistan's campaign against the pandemic, said 914 new cases were reported and the number of the country's overall cases climbed to 955,657, adding that there have been 901,201 people who recovered so far.

According to the NCOC, a total of 20 people also lost their lives to the disease over the last 24 hours, raising the overall death toll to 22,231.

Pakistan's eastern Punjab province is the worst-hit region with 345,900 infections, followed by the southern Sindh province which reported 336,076 infections. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 21:03:34|Editor: huaxia

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BEIRUT, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh on Monday called on Lebanese President Michel Aoun to grant more social and human rights to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, a statement by Lebanon's Presidency reported.

"Palestinians reside in Lebanon as guests until they return to their homeland from which they were expelled. We certainly wish to grant more social and human rights to Palestinian refugees along with their brothers in Lebanon with whom they share their hopes and pains," Haniyeh said during his meeting with Aoun.

Haniyeh also affirmed Palestinians' right to return to their homeland and their rejection for resettlement.

For his part, Aoun said he is certain that Palestinians will be able to establish an independent state after their great sacrifices and steadfastness facing the recent Israeli aggression on Gaza and other areas.

Over 460,000 Palestinian refugees are registered with the UN relief agency in Lebanon. The UN estimates around 65 percent of them suffer from poverty, while 3 percent of them live in extreme poverty. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 21:05:47|Editor: huaxia

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Representatives of a high-level ministerial meeting on the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor Program pose for a group photo in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on June 28, 2021. Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Sudan on Monday reiterated their commitment to advance the implementation of a mega infrastructure project in the East Africa region, also known as the LAPSSET Corridor Program. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

ADDIS ABABA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Sudan on Monday reiterated their commitment to advance the implementation of a mega infrastructure project in the East Africa region, also known as the LAPSSET Corridor Program.

Starting at Lamu, Kenya, the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor Program, is the region's largest and most ambitious infrastructure project, bringing the three countries together with key projects that include ports, highways, railways, oil pipeline and airports.

In her opening remarks during a high-level ministerial meeting on Monday in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian Minister of Transport Dagmawit Moges said that infrastructure provision is Africa's top priority as the continent is moving toward integration and that African states need to closely work together to achieve that goal.

"As Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan have a common goal that aims to attain economic growth and prosperity, narrowing our common infrastructure gap should be our common concern. And this can only be achieved through regional consensus and committed action," said the minister.

Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for East African Community and Regional Development, Adan Mohammed, said Africa is challenged by unemployment, especially among the youth, low levels of intra-African trade and industrialization, and inefficient agriculture.

"The other major issue which is the subject of why we are meeting today is the poor infrastructure that links the continent of Africa together. And that is why we believe that LAPSSET and similar programs will play a very big role reversing these challenges that we are facing today as a continent," said Mohammed.

"For Africa to realize its potential of regional integration through transformative regional infrastructure, harmonization of monitoring policies, standards, the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers, improving business climate must be the continued areas of focus for all of us on the continent," he said.

The South Sudanese Director General of Road Transport and Safety, Lado Tongun Tombe, said that the project would connect landlocked South Sudan to other areas within the region.

The Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Vera Songwe, hailed the multiple roles played by the LAPSSET program, not only in facilitating trade and economic connectivity but also in the promotion of cultural integration and peace, especially among the border communities of the region.

She said the project would contribute to job creation on which the continent would work strenuously after COVID to address the ever-growing unemployment rate on the continent.

Raila Odinga, AU High Representative for Infrastructure, said LAPSSET would play a significant role in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Speaking during a press conference, Odinga said Africa requires partners like China in the development of such infrastructure projects. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 21:23:24|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin via video link in Beijing, capital of China, June 28, 2021. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a joint statement Monday, officially deciding to extend the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.

The announcement came during talks between the two heads of state via video link.

Hailing the upcoming 20th anniversary of the signing of the treaty, Xi said in Beijing that the treaty has established the idea of enduring friendship, which conforms to the fundamental interests of the two countries as well as the themes of the times of peace and development.

The treaty is a vivid example of fostering a new type of international relations and building a community with a shared future for humanity, he said.

Xi referred to the current China-Russia ties as "mature, stable and solid," able to "withstand the test of any change in the international situation."

The two sides firmly support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests and have carried out effective strategic coordination, strongly safeguarding the common interests of the two countries, he said.

The outcomes of pragmatic cooperation, with increasing quality and quantity, are quite fruitful, he added.

Noting their close coordination in international affairs, Xi said the two countries have jointly safeguarded real multilateralism as well as international fairness and justice.

"China and Russia have injected positive energy into the international community and set an example of a new type of international relations through their close cooperation, as the world is entering a period of turbulence and change and human development is confronted with multiple crises," Xi said.

He called on the two sides to fully summarize their experiences of past success and make top-level design for new objectives and tasks in cooperation across various fields, so as to inject new meaning into the treaty.

"Under the guidance of the treaty, the two countries will continue to make concerted efforts and firmly move forward despite the difficulties and obstacles ahead," he said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 22:00:33|Editor: huaxia

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Aerial photo taken on May 16, 2021 shows an overview of the first berth of Lamu Port in Kenya. (Photo by Cui Weibao/Xinhua)

Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Sudan reiterate their commitment to advance the implementation of LAPSSET, a mega regional infrastructure program that aims to boost connectivity and trade in East Africa.

ADDIS ABABA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Sudan on Monday reiterated their commitment to advance the implementation of a mega infrastructure project in the East Africa region, also known as the LAPSSET Corridor Program.

Starting at Lamu, Kenya, the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor Program, is the region's largest and most ambitious infrastructure project, bringing the three countries together with key projects that include ports, highways, railways, oil pipeline and airports.

Staff members unload cargos at the new harbor of Lamu Port in Kenya, on May 20, 2021. (Photo by Zhang Nanfang/Xinhua)

In her opening remarks during a high-level ministerial meeting on Monday in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian Minister of Transport Dagmawit Moges said that infrastructure provision is Africa's top priority as the continent is moving toward integration and that African states need to closely work together to achieve that goal.

"As Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan have a common goal that aims to attain economic growth and prosperity, narrowing our common infrastructure gap should be our common concern. And this can only be achieved through regional consensus and committed action," said the minister.

Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for East African Community and Regional Development, Adan Mohammed, said Africa is challenged by unemployment, especially among the youth, low levels of intra-African trade and industrialization, and inefficient agriculture.

"The other major issue which is the subject of why we are meeting today is the poor infrastructure that links the continent of Africa together. And that is why we believe that LAPSSET and similar programs will play a very big role reversing these challenges that we are facing today as a continent," said Mohammed.

A train arrives at the Maai Mahiu Station of the Nairobi-Naivasha Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Kenya, Oct. 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Yan)

"For Africa to realize its potential of regional integration through transformative regional infrastructure, harmonization of monitoring policies, standards, the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers, improving business climate must be the continued areas of focus for all of us on the continent," he said.

The South Sudanese Director General of Road Transport and Safety, Lado Tongun Tombe, said that the project would connect landlocked South Sudan to other areas within the region.

The Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Vera Songwe, hailed the multiple roles played by the LAPSSET program, not only in facilitating trade and economic connectivity but also in the promotion of cultural integration and peace, especially among the border communities of the region.

She said the project would contribute to job creation on which the continent would work strenuously after COVID to address the ever-growing unemployment rate on the continent.

Raila Odinga, AU High Representative for Infrastructure, said LAPSSET would play a significant role in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Speaking during a press conference, Odinga said Africa requires partners like China in the development of such infrastructure projects. 
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 22:59:16|Editor: huaxia

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CAIRO, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Arab League (AL) Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit on Monday warned against the return of the Islamic State (IS) networks and called for international efforts to end the extremist group, according to AL's statement.

Addressing the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat IS in Rome, Aboul-Gheit said that forming an international action unit is the key solution to uprooting the IS and eliminating any chances for the reemergence of cross-border threats.

"We have seen recently worrying signals of the return of the IS networks with new mechanisms," he said, mentioning the dangerous escalation in Syria and Iraq that have witnessed "intensive terrorist attacks in the past few months."

Eradicating the IS depends on joint international actions, especially at the level of information exchange and supporting local security forces that carry out field operations, he said.

Also, it is important to limit the IS recruitment of youths, Aboul-Gheit added. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 23:21:53|Editor: huaxia

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Aerial photo taken on June 27, 2021 shows the dam of Baihetan hydropower station in southwest China. Baihetan hydropower station, the world's second largest in terms of total installed capacity, was officially put into use in southwest China, with two generating units in operation on Monday. (Xinhua/Jiang Wenyao)

KUNMING/CHENGDU, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The first two generating units of the world's largest hydropower station under construction was put into operation on Monday, contributing to the country's green development and carbon-neutrality goals.

The Baihetan hydropower station is located on the Jinsha River, the upper section of the Yangtze River in southwest China, with an investment of 220 billion yuan (about 34.07 billion U.S. dollars).

With construction started in 2017, the hydropower station, which transmits rich power resources in the west to energy-consuming regions in east China, marks a major step in the country's utilization of clean energy.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a letter to the station, offering his congratulations on the launch of operations of its first two generating units.

As a major project in China's west-east power transmission program, the hydropower station is the largest and most technically challenging hydropower project under construction in the current world, said Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

He expressed the hope that all builders and relevant parties would advance the station's follow-up work, and make greater contributions to achieving the country's carbon-peak and carbon-neutrality goals and promoting the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development.

The hydropower station, which straddles the provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan, will have a total installed capacity of 16 million kilowatts. It will be equipped with 16 hydro-generating units, each with a capacity of 1 million kilowatts, the largest single-unit capacity in the world.

In the station's underground powerhouse, the first two such units are running steadily. All units are scheduled to be operational in July 2022 and will generate an average of more than 62.4 billion kWh of electricity every year, according to the China Three Gorges Corporation (CTGC), which built the station.

Upon completion, Baihetan will become the world's second-largest hydropower station in terms of total installed capacity, second only to the Three Gorges Dam project in the central province of Hubei.

When in full operation, the Baihetan project is expected to save approximately 19.68 million tonnes of standard coal and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 51.6 million tonnes, sulfur dioxide by 170,000 tonnes, and nitrogen oxides by 150,000 tonnes annually.

In recent years, China has accelerated the low-carbon transformation of its energy consumption structure.

According to a white paper on China's energy development, in 2019, the country's consumption of clean energy such as natural gas, hydropower, nuclear power, and wind power accounted for 23.4 percent of its total energy consumption, an increase of 8.9 percentage points over 2012.

The construction of the project has overcome several technical difficulties.

"The generator rotor -- a core component of the units -- weighs 1,955 tonnes, and can spin at 111 revolutions per minute and still remain stable, which ensures the long-term safe operation of the units," said Chen Hao, an engineer with the CTGC.

The Baihetan Dam is an ultra-high double-curvature arch dam with a maximum height of 289 meters and an arc length of 709 meters.

"All the core technologies of the Baihetan hydropower station are independently developed. The operation of the first generating units marks a breakthrough in China's construction of large-scale hydropower projects," said Lei Mingshan, chairman of the CTGC. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 23:44:20|Editor: huaxia

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GENEVA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Monday launched a report casting a spotlight on the litany of violations of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights suffered by people of African descent.

The report, titled "Promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and of people of African descent against excessive use of force and other human rights violations by law enforcement officers," details the "compounding inequalities" and "stark socioeconomic and political marginalization" that afflict people of African descent in many states, especially in North America, South America and Europe.

In those countries, the report says, people of African descent disproportionately live in poverty and face serious barriers in accessing their rights to education, healthcare, employment, adequate housing and clean water, as well as to political participation and other fundamental human rights.

"The dehumanization of people of African descent ... has sustained and cultivated a tolerance for racial discrimination, inequality and violence," the report says.

According to the report, a patchwork of available data paints "an alarming picture of system-wide, disproportionate and discriminatory impacts on people of African descent in their encounters with law enforcement and the criminal justice system in some states."

The reports finds that law enforcement officers are rarely held accountable for human rights violations and crimes against people of African descent, due in part to deficient investigations, a lack of independent and robust oversight and complaint and accountability mechanisms, and a widespread "presumption of guilt" against people of African descent.

The report also identifies a "long-overdue need to confront the legacies of enslavement, the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and colonialism, and to seek reparatory justice."

"Systemic racism needs a systemic response. There needs to be a comprehensive rather than a piecemeal approach to dismantling systems entrenched in centuries of discrimination and violence," Bachelet said while presenting the report.

"We need a transformative approach that tackles the interconnected areas that drive racism, and lead to repeated, wholly avoidable, tragedies like the death of George Floyd," she added.

Floyd, 46, was an African American man who was killed in May 2020 in a police encounter in Minneapolis in the United States.

The UN Human Rights Office was mandated in June 2020 by Human Rights Council resolution 43/1 -- in the wake of the Floyd's murder -- to produce such a comprehensive report on systemic racism. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 00:02:50|Editor: huaxia

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CAIRO -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry voiced on Monday worries over increasing Islamic State (IS) activities in some African countries, according to a statement by the country's Foreign Ministry.

"Egypt is keen to enhance cooperation with African countries in the field of combating terrorism," Shoukry told the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat IS in Rome with the participation of delegates from over 80 countries. (Egypt-IS)

- - - -

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Alternate Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said on Monday that his country reserves the right to act against Iran's nuclear program "anywhere and anytime."

Lapid told a meeting of his centrist Yesh Atid party that he clarified this policy to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in their meeting in Rome on Sunday. (Israel-US-Iranian Deal)

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BEIRUT -- Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh on Monday called on Lebanese President Michel Aoun to grant more social and human rights to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, a statement by Lebanon's Presidency reported.

"Palestinians reside in Lebanon as guests until they return to their homeland from which they were expelled. We certainly wish to grant more social and human rights to Palestinian refugees along with their brothers in Lebanon with whom they share their hopes and pains," Haniyeh said during his meeting with Aoun. (Hamas-Lebanon-Refugees) Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 00:14:22|Editor: huaxia

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KATHMANDU, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Nepal on Monday launched a digital visa system to replace its 45-year-old hand-written visa regime.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel inaugurated the new system under which visas are produced digitally from the integrated information system of the Department of Immigration.

According to a statement by the Department of Immigration, key features of the digital visa system include hologram and water mark as security features and QR code in visa sticker with details of the visa enabling authorities to determine whether the visa is authentic with the help of QR code readers.

The department said as the digital system generates visas, their details cannot be tempered. Likewise, the software system itself will generate visa numbers and three visas can be accommodated on a single page of passport.

"With the new system, the security and management of visas is expected to be strengthened," the department said.

"Currently, we issue visas by writing manually on a printed copy of visa sticker and such visa is pasted on the passport of foreigners," Jhanka Nath Dhakal, information officer at the Department of Immigration, told Xinhua. "Under the new system, nothing should be done manually to issue the visa."

He said the new system would pave the way for the issuance of e-visas in the future.

On the day, over 150 digital visas were issued to foreigners, with a Portuguese citizen being the first to receive such a visa, said Dhakal.

The Department of Immigration started the new system at its headquarters, but it aims to introduce it to all of its offices within four months after the new 2021-22 fiscal year begins in mid-July.

While launching the digital visa system, Paudel said it would make Nepali visas more credible and help ensure national security, according to a press statement released by the Home Ministry. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 00:14:53|Editor: huaxia

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GAZA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- After a 46-day ban, the Israeli authorities on Monday allowed shipments of industrial fuel to the Gaza Strip to operate the sole power station there, Palestinian security sources said.

The sources said that several trucks loaded with fuel entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing between southern Gaza Strip and Israel.

On Monday, the United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process, Tor Wennesland, announced that fuel shipments, funded by Qatar for the operation of the only power station in the Gaza Strip, were resumed.

In a press statement, Wennesland said that the fuel was sent to the Gaza Strip under the previous agreement reached between the UN office for projects services in Gaza and Qatar.

The Israeli media had earlier reported that the Israeli government agreed on Sunday night to allow the shipments of fuel to operate the Gaza power station following a recent relative calm in the strip. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 00:18:37|Editor: huaxia

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PHNOM PENH, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said Monday that 4 million people in the Southeast Asian country have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine so far.

So Soy, a 65-year-old disabled veteran from southwestern Koh Kong province, was the 4 millionth person to be vaccinated, Hun Sen wrote on his Facebook page, adding that he awarded the man 10 million riels (2,500 U.S. dollars) for being the special recipient.

"Thank you China for supplying vaccines to Cambodia. So far, we have vaccinated 40 percent of our 10 million targeted adult population," Hun Sen said. "If there was no support from China, we could not have vaccines to inoculate even 200,000 people."

Cambodia began a vaccination drive on Feb. 10, starting from capital Phnom Penh and Kandal province before expanding it to Preah Sihanouk, Koh Kong, Kampong Speu, Svay Rieng and Takeo provinces last week.

The country has three vaccines approved for emergency use so far, namely China's Sinopharm and Sinovac and Britain's AstraZeneca.

Cambodia confirmed 883 new cases on Monday, bringing the national caseload to 48,532, the health ministry said, adding that 16 new fatalities were reported, taking the overall death toll to 556. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 00:34:33|Editor: huaxia

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Photo taken on June 28, 2021 shows the funeral home of Zambia's first President Kenneth Kaunda, in Lusaka, Zambia. Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Li Jie on Monday visited the funeral home of Zambia's first President Kenneth Kaunda and wrote a message of condolences. (Xinhua/Zhao Yupeng)

LUSAKA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Li Jie on Monday visited the funeral home of Zambia's first President Kenneth Kaunda and wrote a message of condolences.

In his message, the Chinese envoy eulogized the former president whom he described as "an old friend, a good friend and a real friend of China".

"He has made outstanding contributions to the China-Zambia all-weather friendship," Li said.

According to him, the spirit of the former Zambian president will inspire the younger generation of Chinese and Zambians to work together to build a community of shared future for the peoples of the two countries.

Speaking later when he addressed the bereaved family, the Chinese envoy outlined the great contribution of Kaunda to the strengthening of the strong ties between the two countries.

He said the former president worked with the founding leaders of China in building strong relations which have culminated into miracle achievements such as the construction of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) that connects Zambia and Tanzania.

He recalled that Zambia was the first country in the southern African region to establish diplomatic ties with China.

China, he said, will continue working with the Zambian side in ensuring that the relation established by Kaunda continues to blossom.

The Chinese envoy further said Kaunda's death was not only a loss to Zambia and Africa but also to China as well.

Kaunda's daughter, Cheswa, thanked the Chinese envoy for the visit, saying it shows the strong bilateral cooperation that exists between the two countries.

She said the family was touched that the Chinese government decided to join in the mourning of the former president.

Kaunda, 97, died on June 17, and the government has announced a 21-day mourning period. The body of the former president was currently on a countrywide tour of all provincial headquarters.

It will culminate in a state funeral that will be held on July 2 at the National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka, the country's capital.

Kaunda led Zambia from 1964 when the country got its independence from Britain to 1991. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 01:17:27|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin via video link in Beijing, capital of China, June 28, 2021. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a joint statement Monday, officially deciding to extend the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.

The announcement came during talks between the two heads of state via video link.

Hailing the upcoming 20th anniversary of the signing of the treaty, Xi said in Beijing that the treaty has established the idea of enduring friendship, which conforms to the fundamental interests of the two countries as well as the themes of peace and development.

The treaty is a vivid example of fostering a new type of international relations and building a community with a shared future for humanity, he said.

Putin said the treaty demonstrates the willingness of enduring friendship between the two peoples. The relevant principles and spirit established by the treaty have played an important and unique role in the long-term and sound development of Russia-China relations.

"Russia is satisfied with the unprecedented high level of current China-Russia ties as well as comprehensive and steady development of bilateral cooperation," he said.

The treaty extension will lay a more solid foundation for the long-term bilateral ties development, Putin said.

"On the treaty's basis, China-Russia relations have developed rapidly in various fields, covering politics, the economy, and culture over the past 20 years. The relationship between the two countries has also upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era," said Li Ziguo, director of the Department for European-Central Asian Studies of the China Institute of International Studies.

FIRMLY MOVING TIES FORWARD

"Under the guidance of the treaty, the two countries will continue to make concerted efforts and firmly move forward despite the difficulties and obstacles ahead," Xi said.

He referred to the current China-Russia ties as "mature, stable, and solid" and able to "withstand the test of any change in the international situation."

The two sides support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests and have carried out effective strategic coordination, safeguarding the common interests of the two countries, he said.

The outcomes of pragmatic cooperation, with increasing quality and quantity, are fruitful, he added.

He called on the two sides to comprehensively summarize their experiences of past successes and create top-level designs for new objectives and tasks in various fields to inject new meaning into the treaty.

The two sides agreed to continue maintaining close high-level exchanges, strengthening vaccine cooperation, expanding bilateral trade, and expanding cooperation in low-carbon energy, digital economy, agriculture and other fields and promote the alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative with the Eurasian Economic Union.

"The secret to the strong development of bilateral ties lies in upholding the principles of mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation, and not targeting any third party. Practical cooperation also provides a strong impetus for the development of ties," Li said.

WARM CONGRATULATION

The Russian president warmly congratulated the Communist Party of China (CPC) on its 100th anniversary of founding, saying that Russia cherishes the history of exchanges with the CPC and is willing to strengthen inter-party exchanges.

It is hoped that China will continue to make new achievements in economic and social development and play a more significant role in international affairs under the leadership of the CPC, Putin said.

Xi expressed appreciation for the congratulations and support to the CPC centennial from Putin and various fields in Russia. He said that China firmly supports the strong measures taken by Russia to maintain its long-term stability and firmly supports Russia in managing its own affairs.

Putin vowed to continue deepening strategic mutual trust and strengthening strategic coordination with China. He said they should continue to firmly support each other in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity and respect each other's chosen systems and development paths.

He also called for deepening practical cooperation, increasing people-to-people exchanges, and strengthening coordination in international affairs to advance bilateral ties.

In the joint statement, Russia speaks highly of China's concept of building a community with a shared future for humanity, referring to the concept as "being conducive to enhancing global solidarity and jointly tackling challenges."

Russia supports the "Global Initiative on Data Security" proposed by China, and the two countries vowed to formulate feasible measures in tackling threats in international information security, according to the joint statement.

The two sides oppose the politicization of sports. Russia supports China's hosting of the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the statement said.

UPHOLDING TRUE MULTILATERALISM

Noting their close coordination in international affairs, Xi said the two countries have jointly safeguarded true multilateralism and global fairness and justice.

"China and Russia have injected positive energy into the international community. The two sides have set an example of a new type of international relations through their close cooperation, as the world is entering a period of turbulence and change, and human development confronts multiple crises," Xi said.

The two heads of state pledged to jointly and firmly safeguard the international system with the United Nations as the core and the international order based on international law. They also pledged to protect global strategic security and stability, support and practice true multilateralism, oppose interference in other countries' affairs under the guise of "democracy" and "human rights," and resist unilateral coercive sanctions.

Both sides agreed to jointly promote the common human values of peace, development, equity, justice, democracy, and freedom, strengthen solidarity and coordination, and work together to tackle common challenges and promote building a community with a shared future for humanity.

The two sides also voiced opposition to stigmatizing and politicizing acts regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and virus origin tracing.

During the talks, the two heads of state also expressed concern about the recent acceleration of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan by the United States and NATO and the increasingly complicated and severe security situation in Afghanistan, vowing to jointly maintain regional peace, security, and stability. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 01:33:44|Editor: huaxia

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WINDHOEK, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Namibia has suspended outpatient services at one of the country's biggest state hospitals in Windhoek, the health ministry said in a statement on Monday.

"Due to the alarmingly high and increasing cases of COVID-19 in the community and hospital, intermediate hospital Katutura outpatient department is now a COVID-19 designated holding and oxygenation area for patients awaiting bed availability and placement," the ministry said.

According to the statement, outpatient services are suspended from June 29 until further notice.

Namibia is currently battling the third wave of coronavirus infections which has filled hospitals with patients.

By Monday, Namibia had recorded 86,649 infections and 1,445 deaths. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 02:06:28|Editor: huaxia

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An art performance titled "The Great Journey" is held in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) at the National Stadium in Beijing, capital of China, on the evening of June 28, 2021. Party and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan joined about 20,000 people to watch the performance. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- An art performance was held in Beijing on Monday evening in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Party and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan joined about 20,000 people to watch the performance, titled "The Great Journey," at the National Stadium.

At around 7:57 p.m., Xi and other Chinese leaders walked onto the rostrum, waving to the people amid applause and cheers.

With fireworks rocketing into the sky, displaying the number 100 over the stadium, the performance unveiled its curtain.

The epic show, divided into four parts, depicted how the Chinese people, under the leadership of the CPC, have carried out revolution, construction and reform over the past 100 years.

It extolled the fact that under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core since the 18th CPC National Congress, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and China is embarking on a new journey of fully building a modern socialist country.

After the performance, all the audience rose to chorus the song "Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China."

Important foreign friends, diplomatic envoys and representatives of international organizations in Beijing, and foreign experts were also invited to the event. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 02:28:01|Editor: huaxia

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GENEVA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese diplomat on Monday criticized the crimes of genocide by the United States and other Western countries, urging the international community to carry out comprehensive, impartial and in-depth investigations into all crimes of genocide and to eradicate racism, racial discrimination and other legacies of genocide.

Speaking at the Interactive Dialogue with the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Jiang Duan, minister of the Chinese mission to the United Nations in Geneva, said that genocide is a universally acknowledged severe international crime and the devastating impacts of genocide is still felt today.

In the United States, Jiang said, native American Indians were expelled from their land and slaughtered during the so-called Westward Expansion in nearly 100 years after the country was founded. Their population dwindled from 5 million at the end of the 15th century to 250,000 at the beginning of the 20th century.

Today, American Indians are living in isolated and desolated Reservations in the United States, he added.

Jiang pointed out that in Canada, over 150,000 indigenous children were forcibly sent to residential schools for assimilation, and at least 3,200 were abused to death.

"This is only the tip of the iceberg in the number of indigenous people who died of genocide in Canada," he said.

He further said that other western countries also committed severe crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity in colonizing and invading other countries. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 02:41:36|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, June 28 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday expressed his shock at the disregard for children's rights amid war and upheaval.

The disregard for children's rights amid war and upheaval "is shocking and heartbreaking," the UN chief told the high-level open debate on children and armed conflicts at the Security Council, held virtually.

Guterres urged warring parties to prioritize the prevention of violations against boys and girls, and called on countries to support their protection at all times.

"There is no place for children in conflict, and we must not allow conflict to trample on the rights of children," he said.

The secretary-general presented his latest report on children and armed conflict, which was published last week.

It revealed that last year, grave violations were committed against some 19,300 youngsters affected by fighting in countries such as Afghanistan, Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Recruitment and use in hostilities remained the top violations, followed by killing and maiming, and denial of humanitarian access.

"Moreover, new and deeply concerning trends emerged: an exponential increase in the number of children abducted, and in sexual violence against boys and girls," Guterres said.

"We are also seeing schools and hospitals, constantly attacked, looted, destroyed or used for military purposes, with girls' educational and health facilities targeted disproportionately," he said.

The Security Council on Monday held its annual open debate on children and armed conflict via videoconference. Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid chaired the meeting. The Council was also briefed by Henrietta Fore, the Executive Director of UN Children's Fund, and Forest Whitaker, Advocate for Children Affected by War with the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 03:10:28|Editor: huaxia

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An art performance titled "The Great Journey" is held in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) at the National Stadium in Beijing, capital of China, on the evening of June 28, 2021. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- New China Research (NCR), the think tank of Xinhua News Agency, on Monday released a research report on the political commitment of the Communist Party of China (CPC) ahead of the Party's centenary.

Titled "People First: Political Commitment of the Century-old Communist Party of China," the report examines the development of the CPC from a party of 50-plus members to the world's largest political party boasting over 91 million members. It notes that the process has become one of the most noteworthy political phenomena.

When Western academic theories cannot explain the success of the CPC, new research paradigms should be established to seek answers from the Party's own theories and practices, according to the report.

The report has three chapters: "why have the Chinese people chosen the CPC," "how does the CPC represent the people" and "what contributions does the CPC make to human progress."

The CPC enjoys the wholehearted support of the broadest possible majority of the people, which has not changed with the passage of time, the report says.

The CPC has made clear its commitment to its founding mission, adopted a tried-and-true democratic system, built a relationship of trust between the Party and the people, and formed an effective supervision system, the report says.

The report says that from the perspective of the political advancement of mankind, the secret to the CPC's success in making China increasingly prosperous and strong can provide other countries with a useful reference for party building and state governance.

The report encapsulates the secret of the CPC's success in five English letters: ABCDE, and stresses that the CPC does not seek to export China's model, nor does it ask other countries to follow in China's footsteps.

Poverty relief assistants Liu Ying (1st L) and He Changle (2nd L), and village officials help carry melons planted by villagers in Dongqin Village, Congjiang County of southwest China's Guizhou Province, Nov. 11, 2020. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

A| All for the People

Standing on the people's side represents the fundamental political stance of the CPC, and the past 100 years saw the CPC make serving the people the starting point and ultimate purpose of all of its actions and institutional design.

B| Blueprint Drawing

The past 100 years of the CPC is a history of continuous hard work. The CPC is adept at making long-term strategic plans based on the people's interests, setting goals for each stage of development, and translating a blueprint into reality with force and tenacity, like a hammer driving a nail.

C| Capacity Building

The governance capacity of the CPC is multifaceted and covers all fronts. Its capacity building concerning political awareness, theoretical competence, organization and conduct in particular attracts global attention.

Aerial photo taken on April 13, 2019 shows a container wharf at Qinzhou port in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming)

D| Development Shared

The CPC is working on the formulation of an action plan to promote common prosperity, under which more development outcomes could be shared by all the people in a fairer way. Efforts such as jointly pursuing the Belt and Road Initiative and promoting South-South cooperation also attest to the CPC's vision for promoting shared and common development worldwide.

E| Effective Governance

Be it everyday governance or emergency responses, human resources, as well as technological, material and financial resources, can always be effectively brought together across regions and sectors under the CPC's leadership.

Chinese and foreign scholars believe that the vision of a community with a shared future for humanity is a major theoretical innovation that goes beyond the differences of country, race and system in improving the global governance system and promoting sustainable development and the progress of human society. It is in the fundamental interests and meets the universal expectations of the international community, says the report.

File photo shows experts of the Chinese medical team and local medical staff posing for a photo amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of the Congo, May 26, 2020. (Xinhua)

The CPC explores ways to solve multiple prominent challenges facing the international community and develop a community with a shared future for humanity from three dimensions: promoting peace built by all, development beneficial to all, and mutual learning among civilizations, according to the report. 
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 04:20:18|Editor: huaxia

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Photo taken on Oct. 15, 2020 shows a "comfort women" statue in Berlin, capital of Germany. The statue was built to commemorate the more than 200,000 girls and women from 14 countries and regions, so-called "comfort women," who were sexually enslaved by the Japanese military during World War II. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi)

UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women mentioned in her report that during World War II, the Japanese troops conducted mass rape in Nanjing of China, and forcibly recruited "comfort women" in many countries.



The South Korean representative also expressed concern over the "comfort women" issue, saying that stigmatizing the victims and letting the perpetrators go unpunished are all harming the victims again and will aggravate their suffering.

GENEVA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- China on Monday urged Japan to treat the "comfort women" issue left over from history in an honest and responsible manner at the ongoing 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

China also urged Japan to honestly face up to and reflect on its history of aggression, stop denying and beautifying that part of history, and observe its international human rights obligations.

Speaking at the Interactive Dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Jiang Duan, minister of the Chinese mission to the United Nations in Geneva, said that the "comfort women" issue is an irrefutable historical fact that cannot be denied.

During Monday's Interactive Dialogue, Dubravka Simonovic, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, said her thematic report was on rape as a grave, systematic and widespread human rights violation, with a focus on States' responsibility to prevent it, and to change the prevalent rape culture, the culture of impunity for perpetrators, and stigmatization and lack of access to justice for victims.

The Special Rapporteur also mentioned in her report that during World War II, the Japanese troops conducted mass rape in Nanjing of China, and forcibly recruited "comfort women" in many countries.

"However, to this day, many in Japan are trying to deny the horrifying crimes committed by the Japanese militarist aggressors, including the Nanjing Massacre and forced recruitment of 'comfort women', in an attempt to deny and even beautify the history of aggression," Jiang said.

"This is a serious violation of human rights of the people in victimized countries and will surely be condemned by justice and conscience," he added.

At Monday's Interactive Dialogue, the South Korean representative also expressed concern over the "comfort women" issue, saying that stigmatizing the victims and letting the perpetrators go unpunished are all harming the victims again and will aggravate their suffering.

Photo taken on Dec. 13, 2019 shows the national memorial ceremony for the Nanjing Massacre victims at the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province. (Xinhua/Li Xiang)
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 05:06:52|Editor: huaxia

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WARSAW, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary firmly support European Union (EU) membership of the Western Balkan countries, Poland's Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said on Monday.

Rau chaired a meeting between the foreign ministers of the four Visegrad Group countries, as well as those of non-EU Balkan countries.

During the meeting, Rau said, many frustrations were voiced about the perceived lack of progress in negotiations on further EU enlargement.

"EU enlargement, despite the obstacles of recent years, is still important to us, and we would like the EU would like to continue that with us," said Bujar Osmani, the foreign minister of North Macedonia. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 05:25:23|Editor: huaxia

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RABAT, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Morocco and Libya agreed on Monday to hold the ninth meeting of the two countries' high joint commission in the near future to promote economic and trade relations, according to a statement by the Moroccan prime minister's office.

The agreement on holding the Moroccan-Libyan economic forum was reached during the talks between Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Dine El Otmani and visiting Abdelhamid Dbeibah, head of Libya's Government of National Unity.

Dbeibah called for more bilateral cooperation, especially through the abolition of visa, and the establishment of a direct air link between the two North African countries.

On the Libyan crisis, Dbeibah urged Morocco to support the preparations for Libyan elections, saying the Libyan people "expect more cooperation and support" from Morocco to overcome the crisis and ensure the stability of the country.

Meanwhile, El Otmani expressed Morocco's wishes for the success of the upcoming Libyan elections, noting that his country can only support any consensual solution reached by the Libyans themselves. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 05:36:17|Editor: huaxia

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RABAT, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The International Finance Corporation (IFC) granted a loan of 100 million U.S. dollars to Morocco's state-owned phosphate giant OCP Group, a joint statement said Monday.

The financing will help OCP to expand its logistics networks and increase the availability of fertilizers in Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania, according to the statement.

The funds will also be used to put in place additional farmer development programs, it said.

"This agreement will allow us to support more crops, more farmers, more communities, more natural environments," Mostafa Terrab, chairman of OCP Group, was quoted as saying in the statement.

Morocco, the third largest producer of phosphates, holds more than 70 percent of global reserves and is the top exporter of the mineral used in agriculture and industry. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 20:37:45|Editor: huaxia

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A census taker (L) registers a male resident's household information in a suburb of Accra, Ghana, on June 28, 2021. Ghana started its first fully digital national Housing and Population Census (PHC) midnight Sunday in a bid to capture the exact number of population for better national development. Ghana's last census was done in 2010, which put the number of the population at 24.6 million. The 2020 census was postponed to this year due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Seth/Xinhua)

ACCRA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Ghana started its first fully digital national Housing and Population Census (PHC) midnight Sunday in a bid to capture the exact number of population for better national development.

Ghana's last census was done in 2010, which put the number of the population at 24.6 million. The 2020 census was postponed to this year due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Ghana Statistics Service (GSS), there are 67,419 field enumerators deployed to collect data nationwide to collect data on digital tablets within the borders of the West African country.

Samuel Kobina Annim, Chief Government Statistician, said the enumerators would target persons traveling, persons in short-stay institutions such as health facilities, hotels, and prisons, and those considered homeless at their locations.

"The counting that we do at GSS during a PHC is the snapshot of the population, and it is an all-inclusive exercise," added the government statistician.

He urged all those within the country as of the commencement of the census to make themselves available to be counted since the population numbers would help in planning for various sectors of the country's socio-economic architecture.

Peter Takyi Peprah, the Field Operations Manager at the GSS, said in an interview that the digital data collection marked a significant difference between the 2021 census and the previous ones.

"The digitization will help us deliver results more promptly and accurately than we used to have with the paper and pen data collection in the past," he stated.

Dennis Agyemang, a Ghanaian bus driver, told Xinhua he was glad to have been counted on Sunday night since that would help the government to plan well in developing the country. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 23:25:19|Editor: huaxia

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WINDHOEK, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's Health Ministry has been redistributing COVID-19 vaccine doses from slow-moving sites to those with faster uptake, especially to regions with high case incidence and deaths, such as Khomas, Erongo, Omaheke, Kharas, and Hardap, an official said Monday.

The move by the ministry is due to the fact that levels of COVID-19 vaccine uptake are uneven in different parts of the country, Namibia's Health Ministry executive director, Ben Nangombe said.

"The ministry will continue vaccinating as many people as possible with the first dose, while the majority of the second doses will be given as soon as the next consignment is received in July," he added.

According to Nangombe, this is in accordance with the WHO guidance in case of limited vaccine supply.

"It should be noted that the first dose of the vaccine already offers some degree of protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death. Thus, vaccinating as many people as possible with the first dose will lead to the protection of the larger proportion of the population against severe illness, hospitalization, and death," he added.

The total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses received in the country to date is 197,200. Of these, 135,058 doses have been administered as of June 24, he said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 00:51:30|Editor: huaxia

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LAGOS, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Twelve Boko Haram militants were killed on Sunday as Nigerian troops thwarted an attack by the extremist group on a military base in the northeastern state of Borno, said a spokesperson for the army.

Onyema Nwachukwu,the army spokesperson, said in a statement on Monday a group of Boko Haram militants on gun trucks and several motorcycles attacked on Sunday a military base at Bula Yobe area in Borno State, but were met with heavy fire from the troops.

"The troops sustained the fire fight and successfully neutralised 12 terrorists, with several others fleeing with gun shot wounds," Nwachukwu said.

However, two soldiers were killed in the encounter, while five soldiers sustained injuries and have been evacuated for treatment at a medical facility, he said.

According to the spokesperson, the operation was largely successful due to the proper coordination between the air component of operation Hadin Kai and the ground troops, adding that arms including gun trucks and other lethal weapons were recovered from the terrorists.

Boko Haram has been trying to establish an Islamist state in northeastern Nigeria since 2009. The terror group has also extended its attacks to other countries in the Lake Chad Basin. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 01:50:11|Editor: huaxia

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GENEVA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) started a week-long session at an undisclosed location in Switzerland on Monday aimed at clearing the way for national elections to be held in the North African country on Dec. 24, 2021, the United Nations (UN) Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said.

Jan Kubis, special envoy of the UN secretary-general for Libya, addressed the session via video conferencing. He said that steps needed to be taken to facilitate the holding of parliamentary and presidential elections as scheduled.

"I call on you to overcome your differences and any trust deficit, focus your deliberations in the following days on reaching the largest possible consensus, and work constructively to bridge the remaining gaps through compromise," Kubis said.

"There are less than six months left before the December elections. Your ability to reach a compromise in this meeting is critical to reaffirm and achieve the objectives you yourself agreed upon in the (LPDF) roadmap," he stressed.

Back in January, the LPDF delegates already met in Switzerland and agreed on a selection mechanism for a new temporary executive authority in Libya. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 10:31:20|Editor: huaxia

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MANILA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- China delivered an additional batch of Sinovac CoronaVac vaccines to the Philippines on Monday to support the Southeast Asian country's COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

Carlito Galvez, chief implementer of the government's measures to combat COVID-19, and Heath Secretary Francisco Duque received the fresh shipment of CoronaVac vaccines at the airport in the capital.

China was the first to deliver coronavirus vaccines to the Philippines. It donated the first batch of CoronaVac to the Philippines on Feb. 28, allowing the country to kick off its vaccination drive on March 1.

The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) said it has administered more than 8.4 million doses of vaccines. More than 2 million people have been fully vaccinated so far. The government aims to vaccinate up to 70 million Filipinos this year.

The Philippines is still grappling with a steady rise of COVID-19 infections, with a total of 1,397,992 confirmed cases and 24,372 deaths as of Sunday. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 11:37:28|Editor: huaxia

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WELLINGTON, June 28 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand reported 10 cases of COVID-19 in managed isolation and no cases in the community on Monday.

The 10 newly imported cases came from Russia, the Maldives, the Philippines, the Netherlands, Oman, South Africa, India, Malaysia, with one of the cases' full travel history being obtained. They have all remained in managed isolation and quarantine facilities in Auckland, according to the Ministry of Health.

One previously reported case has now recovered. The number of active cases in New Zealand is 28. The total number of confirmed cases is 2,382, said a ministry statement.

The seven-day rolling average of new cases detected at the border is three, it said.

The quarantine-free travel from all Australian states and territories has been paused from Saturday night until Tuesday night, said New Zealand's COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins.

There are now multiple cases and outbreaks in Australia in differing stages of containment and the health risk for New Zealand in response to these cases is increasing, Hipkins said.

As a result, the New Zealand government has taken the precautionary step of temporarily widening the current pause with Australia's New South Wales to include all of Australia, he said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 13:41:28|Editor: huaxia

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KABUL, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan National Police (ANP) personnel have defused a car bomb and arrested a suspected militant in the country's eastern province of Khost, an Interior Ministry official said on Monday.

"On Sunday evening, an explosive-packed mini-truck was found by ANP in Nadir Shah Kot district, Khost province. An ANP bomb disposal team defused a car bomb, deputy spokesperson of the ministry Ahmad Zia Zia told Xinhua.

One arrest was made as the terrorists placed over 3,000 kg of explosive under the construction bricks in the vehicle, he said.

The militants tried to use the vehicle for conducting a terrorist attack in the province, 150 km southeast of Afghanistan's capital of Kabul, the official noted.

Taliban militants, who ruled the country before being ousted in late 2001, have intensified armed insurgency, killing government troops as well as civilians.

They frequently attack district offices, military camps, government installations and security checkpoints while the government troops respond with airstrikes on militant targets in the countryside. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 14:31:03|Editor: huaxia

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JALALABAD, Afghanistan, June 28 (Xinhua) -- One Afghan civilian was killed and four others, including a female NGO staff, were wounded in a bomb blast targeting a vehicle carrying local staff of a charity group in Jalalabad, capital of eastern Nangarhar province, on Monday, local police confirmed. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 14:36:20|Editor: huaxia

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JALALABAD, Afghanistan, June 28 (Xinhua) -- One Afghan civilian was killed and four others, including a female NGO staff, were wounded in a bomb blast targeting a vehicle carrying local staff of a charity group in Jalalabad, capital of eastern Nangarhar province, on Monday, local police confirmed.

"The incident occurred near a provincial education office in Police District 5 roughly at 8:00 a.m. local time. The initial information found a sticky bomb attached to a local charity group's vehicle was detonated when the vehicle was driving in the area," Farid Khan, a provincial police spokesman, told reporters at the site.

He said a rickshaw rider passing by the area was killed and two female staff of the charity group, a passing-by and a child were wounded following the explosion.

Unofficial sources said the vehicle belongs to sub-office Welfare Association for the Development of Afghanistan (WADAN) and the rickshaw were damaged by the force of the blast.

No group has claimed responsibly for the attack so far. Taliban militants and militants of the Islamic State (IS) have presence in the province.

Unknown militants have shot and killed seven polio vaccinators, including three female vaccinators, and wounded several others in two separate attacks in Nangarhar in recent weeks. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 15:36:29|Editor: huaxia

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MALE, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The Maldives has received over 550,000 tourists between January and June this year, local media citing data from the Ministry of Tourism reported here Monday.

The tourism ministry data showed that 555,494 tourists visited the country by mid-year, with 24.3 percent of them coming from Russia and 18 percent from India.

Data showed that the number of arrivals in the country declined in May and June due to a surge of COVID-19 cases requiring strengthened restrictions on travel.

The country banned arrivals from Asian countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in May.

It received over 555,000 tourist arrivals in 2020, down from 1.7 million in 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 17:19:32|Editor: huaxia

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KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's exports in May soared 47.3 percent year on year to 92.31 billion ringgit (22.24 billion U.S. dollars), official data showed Monday.

Malaysia's International Trade and Industry Ministry said in a statement that the export growth was contributed mainly by the robust demand for electrical and electronic (E&E) products, mainly semiconductors due to the increasing orders for work-from-home equipment and digitalization of businesses, rubber products as well as petroleum products.

It also said, all major markets namely the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, the United States, the European Union and Japan registered positive export growth.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's trade in May jumped 48.7 percent year on year to 170.88 billion ringgit. Its imports expanded by 50.3 percent to 78.57 billion ringgit, and trade surplus increased by 32.3 percent to 13.74 billion ringgit.

Trade for the first five months of 2021 grew by 26 percent year on year to 867.4 billion ringgit, with exports grew 31.1 percent to 480.09 billion ringgit and imports climbed 20.1 percent to 387.31 billion ringgit.

In May, Malaysia's trade with China rose by 40.8 percent year on year to 33.44 billion ringgit, accounting for 19.6 percent of Malaysia's total trade.

Malaysia's exports to China recorded the seventh consecutive month of double-digit growth, rose by 17.7 percent to 13.87 billion ringgit, underpinned by higher exports of E&E products, liquefied natural gas (LNG), other manufactures especially solid-state storage devices (SSD) as well as chemicals and chemical products. Imports from China, meanwhile, grew by 63.6 percent to 19.57 billion ringgit.

For January to May, Malaysia's trade with China expanded by 34.1 percent year on year to 161.6 billion ringgit. Malaysia's exports to China rose by 30.5 percent to 71.31 billion ringgit, driven by higher exports of E&E products, manufactures of metal as well as LNG. Its imports from China also increased by 37.2 percent to 90.28 billion ringgit.

In a note Monday, MIDF Research reiterated Malaysia's export and import growth rate forecast this year at 13.5 percent and 12.7 percent respectively.

"Malaysia trade performance is expected to rebound in 2021, carrying over the strong momentum in the second half of 2020 on the back of resumption in activities globally driven by a return to normalcy in the global supply chain," it said. (1 U.S. dollar equals 4.14 ringgit) Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 17:24:29|Editor: huaxia

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HANOI, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam and Laos signed a series of agreements on Monday to strengthen their "friendly and cooperative ties" following talks between their top leaders, Vietnam News Agency reported.

The pacts were signed after a meeting between visiting General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee and Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith, and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong.

Among those signed were the agreements on the Vietnam-Laos cooperation strategy for 2021-2030 and on their bilateral collaboration for 2021-2025. Several pacts in the fields of investment, business, information, culture and tourism were also inked.

Thongloun arrived in Vietnam earlier on Monday with a high-ranking delegation for a two-day visit to the country, which is his first overseas trip as general secretary of the LPRP Central Committee and Lao president for the 2021-2026 term. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 18:21:13|Editor: huaxia

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BANGKOK, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Thailand reported on Monday 5,406 COVID-19 cases, the third highest daily tally since the pandemic began, raising the total case tally to nearly 250,000.

The country's daily cases have regularly been in the thousands for more than two months since the third wave of outbreak began in early April, with the capital Bangkok and its vicinity regions as the epicenter. Nearly one-third of Monday's new cases were detected in Bangkok.

The surge in infections, the country's worst wave so far, has seen its total case tally rise from less than 30,000 at the beginning of April to 249,853 now, according to the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

Cumulative deaths rose to 1,934, up by 22 on Monday.

To curb rising infections, Thailand decided to ban restaurant dine-in services and gatherings of more than 20 people in Bangkok and nine other provinces, in addition to the previously announced sealing-off of construction sites. These measures will remain for 30 days starting from Monday.

The government will pay for half the wages of employees affected by the one-month ban at restaurants and construction sites, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told reporters Monday at the Government House.

Prayut said the government has prepared some 7.5 billion baht (about 235 million U.S. dollars) to cover such expenses in support of the affected employees.

Thailand has been accelerating vaccine rollout. Inoculations began in February, though a mass nationwide vaccination program did not begin until June. As of Sunday, the country has administered 9.15 million doses of vaccines, with more than 3.5 percent of its nearly 70 million people fully vaccinated, according to the CCSA data. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 00:49:59|Editor: huaxia

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MUMBAI, June 28 (Xinhua) -- India's financial capital Mumbai will have a 200 million litres per day (MLD) desalination plant by 2025, located at Manori in the northwest part of the city.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between the city civic authority - BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation and Israel's IED Technologies for the proposed plant on Monday.

The plant will help reduce the city's dependence on the monsoon for drinking water in times of climate change, said Aaditya Thackeray, minister for tourism and environment for the western state of Maharashtra, which has Mumbai as its capital.

Along with water security for Mumbai, and possibilities of capacity augmentation, this desalination plant will help avoid financial and ecological costs of dam construction, saving almost 450,000 fully mature trees, ecology and funds further required, the minister said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-28 14:27:38|Editor: huaxia

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Vice President of Poland's New Left political party Andrzej Szejna speaks in an interview with Xinhua in Warsaw, Poland, May 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhou Nan)

WARSAW, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The successful governing experience of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is worth learning for other countries, including Poland, said Vice President of Poland's New Left political party Andrzej Szejna.

In his opinion, achievements of the society should be delivered to the people in a just way. "I think it's an experience (we can learn) from China, how to do it, the distribution, (in an) equal and just (way)," Szejna told Xinhua in a recent interview.

As countries around the world are working to revitalize the economy and concentrating on the interests of the people, it is even more important to share experiences, he said.

The CPC "is thinking every day what can (be done to) improve the people's living standards, the equality, (and maintain) sustainable development," said Szejna, who has visited China many times.

Being close to the people and listening to their needs, that is how the CPC led China to achieve miracles in the past decades, Szejna said, praising the people-centered governing philosophy of the Chinese ruling party.

Szejna said his party and the CPC are keeping close communication and share the same values in poverty reduction and fair distribution. "The social policies of the CPC, the efficiency of China are among the experiences we could bring to Poland," he noted, saying that he hopes China could share more on how its miracles were performed.

Noting that it is even harder for countries to act together in addressing such critical challenges as global warming and poverty, Szejna said the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind could serve as a solution to the problems the world is facing, as "it is based on peace and cooperation."

Hailing the excellent relationship between the CPC and the New Left, Szejna said that on the eve of the CPC's 100th anniversary, he would like to wish the Chinese people a better and happier life. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 00:37:57|Editor: huaxia

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LONDON, June 28 (Xinhua) -- British Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed Monday that the final easing of coronavirus lockdown measures in England is set for July 19 as planned.

In his first statement in the House of Commons, lower house of British Parliament, since taking on the new role on Saturday evening, Javid said: "We see no reason to go beyond the 19th of July."

"Because in truth, no date we choose comes with zero risk for COVID. We know we simply cannot eliminate it, we have to learn to live with it," he said.

"We also know that people and businesses need certainty, so we want every step to be irreversible. Make no mistake, the restrictions on our freedoms must come to an end," said the health secretary.

"July 19 remains our target date," he said.

Javid made the remarks as Britain reported another 22,868 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, the highest since Jan. 30 this year, according to official figures released Monday.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the country now stands at 4,755,078.

The country also recorded another three coronavirus-related deaths, bringing the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain to 128,103. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

Javid's statement came less than 48 hours after he was named the health secretary following his predecessor Matt Hancock's Saturday resignation.

Hancock resigned after admitting that he broke COVID-19 social distancing guidelines during an alleged affair with his aide, which caused an outrage in the country.

Johnson has announced a four-week delay to the final step of England's roadmap out of COVID-19 restrictions until July 19, amid a surge in cases of the Delta variant first identified in India.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia, the United States as well as the European Union have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 00:38:17|Editor: huaxia

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STOCKHOLM, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Sweden will further relax the restrictions introduced to combat the spread of COVID-19, the government said here on Monday.

"As from Thursday (July 1), life will begin to resemble what it was like before the pandemic," Minister for Health and Social Affairs Lena Hallengren said at a press conference.

Crowds of up to 50 -- 300 if there are dedicated seats -- will be allowed to attend indoor sport and culture events. Outdoors, the new ceiling will be 600 (3,000 with dedicated seats). Even more spectators may be allowed should the venue have several sections, each with its own entry point, and where the spectators can keep a transmission-safe distance.

The relaxed rules also allow for venues to be rented out for private functions with up to 50 participants.

Curfews on bars and restaurants will also be lifted, although the number of guests will be restricted to eight per table indoors.

A plan to allow long-distance bus and train companies to operate at full capacity from July 15 was also announced by Hallengren, who is in effect minister in a transitional government following Prime Minister Stefan Lofven's resignation only hours earlier after losing a no-confidence vote last week.

The announcement was made as the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care and that of coronavirus-related deaths have decreased considerably lately in the country.

However, on June 23, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) issued a warning that the Delta variant of COVID-19 first identified in India was spreading at an alarming rate in the European Union and the European Economic Area (EU/EEA). Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-06-29 00:34:13|Editor: huaxia

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CHICAGO, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found evidence that the immune response to COVID-19 vaccines, namely Pfizer and Moderna, is both strong and potentially long-lasting.

The researchers extracted cells from 14 people who received the Pfizer vaccine. Samples were obtained three weeks after the first dose, and at weeks four, five and seven. Ten of the participants gave additional samples 15 weeks after the first dose. None of the participants previously had been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19.

Three weeks after the first dose, all 14 participants had formed germinal centers with B cells producing antibodies that target a key SARS-CoV-2 protein, the virus that causes COVID-19. The response expanded greatly after the booster shot and then stayed high. Even 15 weeks after the first dose, eight of 10 people still had detectable germinal centers containing B cells targeting the virus.

"This is evidence of a really robust immune response," said co-senior author Rachel Presti, associate professor of medicine. "Your immune system uses germinal centers to perfect the antibodies so they can bind well and last as long as possible. The antibodies in the blood are the end result of the process, but the germinal center is where it is happening."

The researchers also obtained blood samples from 41 people who received the Pfizer vaccine, including eight who previously had been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. Samples were obtained prior to the administration of each dose of the vaccine, as well as at weeks four, five, seven and 15 after the first dose. In people without prior exposure to the virus, antibody levels rose slowly after the first dose and peaked one week after the second. People who previously had been infected already had antibodies in their blood before the first dose. Their levels shot up quickly after the first dose and peaked higher than the uninfected participants' levels.

"When we looked at the data we could see an effect," said co-first author Jane O'Halloran, an assistant professor of medicine. "If you've already been infected and then you get vaccinated, you get a boost to your antibody levels. The vaccine clearly adds benefit, even in the context of prior infection, which is why we recommend that people who have had COVID-19 get the vaccine."

Moreover, vaccination led to high levels of neutralizing antibodies effective against three variants of the virus, including the Beta variant from South Africa that has shown some resistance to vaccines.

Unlike most vaccines, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were created with mRNA technology, and mRNA-based vaccines provide instructions for the body to build and release foreign proteins, such as the spike protein in the case of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The study is published Monday in the journal Nature. Enditem
analysis

Radio Dabanga  A compact digest of this week's most-read highlights, from the heart of Sudan. Subscribe to receive this digest weekly in your inbox.

Sudan commemorates the June 3 Massacre

June 3 - 2021 KHARTOUM Sudan commemorates the June 3 Massacre, also known as the Ramadan 29 Massacre, for the second year in a row with marches and demonstrations.

On June 3, 2019, two days before the end of Ramadan, the large sit-in in front of the army command, was broken up with excessive violence. More than 127 protesters were reportedly killed. The bodies of 40 of them were found floating in the Nile. More than 700 others sustained injuries, and at least 100 people went missing in the June 3/Ramadan 29 massacre.

Sudan's Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok described the violent dispersal as "a criminal event committed by treacherous hands". "The June 3 Massacre is a wound that will not heal unless justice is achieved and criminals are brought to justice", the PM said.

$500m World Bank grant for water resources in Sudan

June 2 - 2021 KHARTOUM Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Yasir Abbas has announced that the World Bank has provided a $500 million grant to the ministry. In a statement to the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA), the minister explained today that he met with the World Bank Director for Middle East, Ousmane Dion, to discuss the detailed procedures related to the implementation of the grant. He said the grant is divided into two funds, one of $300 million for irrigation projects and another $200 million for the drinking water sector.

The announcement of the grant follows a visit to Sudan by the Deputy Director of the World Bank, Hafez Ghanem, at the end of May. During the visit, Ghanem announced a $2 billion fund from the World Bank to finance infrastructure projects in Sudan and to support displaced people.

Juba peace signatories warn against the slow implementation of security arrangements and call for a unified armed force

June 8 - 2021 KHARTOUM The leaders of the rebel movements that signed the Juba Peace Agreement warned of the dire consequences of the slow implementation of the security arrangements mapped out in the agreement. Some called for the quick formation of a unified armed force whilst the head of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) recently rejected this plan.

Deaths and injuries as another UNAMID site is looted in North Darfur

June 8 - 2021 DAR EL SALAAM Two people were killed and eight others sustained injuries when a former United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) site was looted in Shangil Tobaya, Dar El Salaam locality, south of El Fasher in North Darfur. This is not the first UNAMID site to be looted.

At least 36 die in South Darfur clashes

June 8 - 2021 UM DAFUG At least 36 people were killed and dozens were left wounded after fighting broke out between Taisha and Fallata tribesmen near Um Dafug in South Darfur. South Darfur has a history of tribal tensions, aggravated by years of genocide and ethnic discrimination during the Al Bashir regime.

GERD: Sudan 'looking forward to agreement before second filling'

June 7 - 2021 KHARTOUM Sudan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Mariam El Sadig El Mahdi, has said that Sudan is looking forward to reaching a legally binding agreement over filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), before its second filling. The dam, Ethiopia's intention to fill it, and the ramifications to Sudan and Egypt downstream, have been the subject of sharp and often fruitless negotiations.

SPLM-N El Hilu peace talks continue in 'positive spirit'

June 4 - 2021 JUBA The peace negotiations in Juba between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) under the leadership of Abdelaziz El Hilu and the Sudanese government continued in 'positive spirit' after a brief adjournment. A spokesman of the SPLM-N delegation announced that the two parties have achieved agreements on most of the controversial issues.

June 3 Massacre commemorated with calls for justice and investigation results

June 4 - 2021 KHARTOUM / WAD MADANI Sudan commemorated what is known as the June 3/Ramadan 29 Massacre, in which over 127 protesters were killed. The protesters chanted slogans to demand justice for the martyrs and the wounded, the release of investigation results, and the return of the more than 100 people that went missing during the violent dispersal.

Investigation into the murder of Khartoum activist Wad Akair

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June 3 - 2021 KHARTOUM The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) issued an urgent call to investigate the enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killing of activist Wad Akair in Khartoum. Acting Attorney General El Waleed Mahmoud Osman issued a decision to form an investigation committee into the killing.

ICC Prosecutor: Send Haroun to face Darfur war crimes charges in The Hague

June 2 - 2021 KHARTOUM The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, has stressed the necessity of handing over Ahmed Haroun, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, to the ICC before the end of July so that he can be tried along with Ali Kushayb.

Call for investment in agriculture as 9.8m Sudanese face famine

June 2 - 2021 KHARTOUM The Ministry of Agriculture of Sudan, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have called for greater investment in Sudan's agriculture sector and for humanitarian assistance as a new food security assessment shows that a record number of Sudanese will face acute food insecurity in the coming lean season.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has faulted media reports that it has barred the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and its candidate, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, from the November 6 Anambra Governorship election.

APGA, the ruling party in Anambra was reportedly barred from the poll for violating the Electoral Act 2010 as amended allegedly failing to comply with Section 85 of the Electoral Act.

The electoral umpire said that APGA did not notify it when it purportedly held its ad hoc congress to elect ward delegates for the party's governorship primary.

INEC's National Commissioner in charge of Publicity and Voter Education, Mr. Festus Okoye, in a statement, insisted that parties must act within the confines of the law in the conduct of their congresses and primaries if they are to avoid issues and challenges that may complicate the conduct of elections.

Given past experience, parties that did not follow the INEC's guidelines lost out eventually even if they won the election, a reason, a section of the media reported that Soludo, who the APGA primary that was observed by INEC would not be on the ballot.

We duly informed INEC - Obiano

However, Governor Willie Obiano, in a statement by his Political Adviser, Chief Ifeatu Obiokoye, said: "The attention of our great party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, has been drawn to a letter with Reference No INEC/DEPM/UPPM/1/145 dated the 18th of June, 2021 and signed by the Secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

"In the said letter, it was alleged that our party failed to notify the Commission of the ad hoc delegates' congress which the party conducted across the 326 wards in Anambra State on the 15th and 16th of June 2021 respectively.

"We wish to state categorically that the above position of the Commission is not in line with the dictates of Section 85(1) of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended, as well as a plethora of judicial authorities in that regard.

"Our party duly complied with requisite statutory notices envisaged under the Electoral Act 2010, as amended as well as other requirements clearly outlined by INEC in its regulations and guidelines for the conduct of political party primary elections published by INEC. In line with the said INEC regulations and guidelines, our great party undertook the publication of timetable/schedule of activities, issued statutory notice of primary election dated the 26th of May, 2021 as envisaged under Section 85(1) of the Electoral Act."

He also explained that the party adequately informed the electoral umpire of the conduct of ad hoc delegates' election across the 326 wards of Anambra State as envisaged under Section 87(7) of the Electoral Act. and submitted the list of the elected delegates to the Commission in line with Articles 4.5.1 and 4.5.2 of the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of political parties primaries; as well as other relevant procedural steps/ requirements.

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Obiokoye further said: "Undoubtedly, our great party, as a responsible entity, has never defaulted in complying with requisite procedural requirements for the nomination of its candidate in the past and will not begin now."

We didn't stop APGA, Soludo - INEC

Speaking on the issue, in a telephone chat with Vanguard, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, picked holes in reports saying that APGA or Soludo would not be on the ballot for the November 6 poll.

His words: I don't know what the brouhaha is all about. What I know is there is no faction in APGA. The officers of APGA are on our website. Their names have not been changed. The Chairman came to our stakeholders' meeting and he was welcomed.

"There was no time that INEC said that APGA will not be on the ballot. There was a letter between the commission and APGA but mischievous people are misinterpreting. We have not said anything about APGA not being on the ballot for the November 6 election. If it is so, we will issue a release to that effect."

Vanguard News Nigeria
Rabat  Morocco is supporting the efforts of the Libyan people and the legitimate Libyan institutions to prepare for the next elections, which aim to lay the foundations for durable stability in this Maghreb country, said, Sunday in Rabat, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad Nasser Bourita.

"The provision of all the conditions for the success of the elections scheduled for December 24 will allow the Libyans to enjoy stability, to put an end to the foreign presence and to achieve development", underlined Bourita in a statement to the press after his talks with the head of the Libyan transitional government Abdelhamid Dbeibah.

Dbeibah's visit to Morocco is part of the implementation of the High Instructions of HM King Mohammed VI in order to strengthen communication between the Kingdom of Morocco and the various Libyan legitimate bodies on all matters concerning them, he said.

This visit was also an opportunity to examine the latest diplomatic developments relating to the Libyan issue, said Bourita, affirming that the credibility enjoyed by the Kingdom is the reason which drives the desire of the Libyans to see Morocco play a major and continuous role in this case.

The current executive body in Libya, which is aware of the interests and challenges facing Libyans, has made great efforts since its election to overcome all difficulties, he noted.
Vaccinations are being stepped up in identified Covid-19 hotspots, now that 500 000 more doses arrived on Saturday with another 2 million expected at the end of this week, to help break the chains of infection in the areas.

Zimbabwe has seen rising cases over the past two weeks, most concentrated in a few districts and a number of more isolated hotspots, with an indication of the rise in infection being the two weeks which has seen the total number of active cases going up to 6 532 by Saturday, that is the number of people who became infected and are still recovering.

Mashonaland West, which holds three of the four districts under intensified local lockdown, saw more than half of the total number of new Zimbabwean cases over the weekend, 411 of the 801 recorded. Besides the Kariba, Hurungwe and Makonde districts, Kwekwe district, where the first case of the Delta variant was reported by a resident returning from India, is under the intensified special lockdown and warnings have been given about hotspots in Chiredzi and three northern suburbs of Bulawayo.

So far since the first case last year, Zimbabwe has recorded 46 018 cases of Covid-19, with 37 761 recoveries and 1 725 deaths.

On Saturday, an order of 500 000 Sinopharm doses bought from China arrived in Harare and an additional two million doses are expected by the end of the week.

Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Dr John Mangwiro said the latest batch of doses, bought by Treasury, would go a long way to cover all the areas classified as hotspots. The 500 000 are enough for 250 000 people to get both doses.

"The vaccines will be distributed to all the border towns, the areas that have been classified as hotspots, tobacco auction floors, cotton sales floors, GMB markets and market places like Mbare Musika, Renkini in Bulawayo and others. The Ministry of Finance has said after the two million doses arrive next week, we will receive more the following month," he said.

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Finance and economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube on Saturday said more than seven million doses will have been procured by the end of next month.

"In terms of our vaccination programme, this is yet another addition to the roadmap for the acquisition of vaccines. We have received 500 000 today, by end of next week we will receive another two million, two weeks after that we want to bring another 1,5 million. We want to carry on so that by end of August we bring in another 3,5 million vaccines again from China," said Prof Ncube.

With US$70 million still available in Government coffers for the purchase of more vaccines, authorities reckon the enhanced regular supplies with help accelerate progress towards the target of 10 million vaccinated people, which will require 20 million doses.

Government has so far bought 1,7 million doses of Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines and received donations of another 400 000 doses of Sinopharm from the Chinese government and an additional 35 000 doses of a similar Indian vaccine from the government of India.

The Zimbabwe Defence Forces received a special donation of 100 000 Sinopharm doses from the Chinese People's Liberation Army, while Diamond producer Alrosa, delivered a consignment of 25 000 doses of the Russian manufactured vaccine -- Sputnik V -- with additional doses of an equal amount set to be delivered soon.

The total amount of vaccine that has now landed in Zimbabwe is 2,26 million doses. As of Saturday, 747 330 people had received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccines, while 502 178 had been fully vaccinated.
analysis

The CAF Champions League final contenders have been decided. Kaizer Chiefs are set to appear in their first final in the competition. They will take on perpetual finalists Al Ahly.

South Africa will have two representatives in the CAF Champions League final. This follows Kaizer Chiefs and Pitso Mosimane's Al Ahly sealing their date with destiny in the duel for African supremacy.

The final will be played on 17 July in Morocco. This will be the second season running that the final has been played over a single leg. Previous editions featured a final over two legs.

Amakhosi held Wydad Casablanca to a 0-0 draw in Johannesburg, to walk away with a 1-0 aggregate victory in their last-four clash.

Meanwhile, Mosimane's Red Devils heavily punished Esperance's defensive sins, walloping them 3-0 in Cairo to seal a 4-0 aggregate win.

Mighty Amakhosi

Much like in the first leg of their semifinal clash against Moroccan side Wydad, Chiefs put on a defensive masterclass.

Following their surprise 1-0 loss in Casablanca a week ago, Wydad were out of the tracks like a favourite at the Durban July. In front of an empty FNB stadium, the Moroccan juggernaut kept...
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar, has granted approval to district heads to remove any traditional ruler found concealing cases of violence against women and children in his domain.

The District Head of Binji Alhaji Kabiru Usman Binji revealed this during a courtesy visit as part of activities at the four-day training on ethical, media advocacy and solution journalism for media practitioners in Sokoto.

The training was organized by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs with the support of the Spotlight Initiative.

He said the cases of violence were high in his domain because of poverty, illiteracy and seasonal migration by husbands.

The ruler recalled how a 75-year-old man assaulted a nine-year-old girl and another 25-year-old man who sodomized a 10-year-old boy in the area.

Meanwhile, the Community Awareness and Development Initiative (CADI) has trained 200 Juma'at Mosques Imams on ways to address Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and other harmful practices in Sokoto State.

The Chief Executive and Founder of CADI, Alhaji Sani Umar-Jabbi, said the effort was supported by EU-UN Spotlight Initiative Project aimed at eliminating violence against women and girls.
Some of members of the LGBTI community covered their faces not only with protective masks to hide their identity during the parade Saturday.

Blantyre, Malawi  In Malawi, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and inter-sex (LGBTI) community Saturday held their first ever pride parade in the capital, Lilongwe, pushing for recognition by the government, legalization of same-sex marriage and equal access to health care.

During the parade, marchers carried placards with messages like; "We Are Also Human Beings," "Diversity Creates Community" and, "We Are Also an Image of God."

Many of them covered their faces not only with coronavirus protective masks to hide their identity.

Eric Sambisa, director of Nyasa Rainbow Alliance, which organized the parade, told reporters that sexual minorities are in danger in Malawi.

"People are not safe here because they are targeted for violence all the time. There are so many forms of violence targeted to LGBTI people, so I don't blame them if they cover their [faces]. It's for their own safety," Sambisa said.

The marchers petitioned Malawi's government to cancel an online survey on citizens' views on homosexuality announced last November during a United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the country's human rights record.

A U.N. report stemming from the review noted that "Malawi had refused to accept the recommendations" related to the LGBTI community "and the hate crimes, physical violence, and mental health issues that its members faced."

Malawi held out the survey as a reason for delaying the government's response to pressure from the international community to better protect sexual minorities.

George Kachimanga, program manager for Nyasa Rainbow Alliance, said progress on human rights should not depend on the results of a poll.

"So, we said we cannot expose issues of the minority to the majority because you actually know the outcome. So, we are saying 'no' to that because Malawi is sitting [on the] Human Rights Council now and it should lead by example. It shouldn't be selective on the rights that it can actually implement or fulfill. So that [is our] our argument," he said.

Kachimanga also said the alliance wants Malawi authorities to review its laws on homosexuality, which is currently illegal and punishable by a 14-year maximum prison sentence.

In 2010, Malawi sentenced two gay couples, who received the maximum sentence on charges of gross indecency and unnatural acts.

They were, however, pardoned a week later following an international condemnation of the convictions.

In 2015, the country issued a moratorium on punishing homosexuality until a decision was made on possibly repealing applicable laws.

Some commentators argue the moratorium serves as de facto recognition by the government of sexual minorities - and that further agitation by the LGTBI community is therefore unnecessary.

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But Kachimanga said the absence of legal reform subjects LGBTI people to human rights violations, discrimination, stigma and unequal access to health care.

"Despite the moratorium, cases are still ongoing. Mind you it's not all the cases that have to come in the national media, there are other cases that happen underground, so you need to take care of those cases as well. So, we need something concrete that will determine the right direction in terms of these issues," Kachimanga said.

VOA was unable to reach government officials for comment.

Nyasa Rainbow Alliance is appealing to the Malawi Law Society as well as the country's parliament and human rights commission for change.

Habiba Osman, executive director for the human rights commission, said the group's petition is in line with provisions in the Malawi Constitution.

"The Constitution is very clear. It says no one shall be discriminated [against] based on race, tribe, and sex. It's very clear; Section 20 says that. And again, if you notice the treaty mechanisms that Malawi has ratified among other binding treaty obligations, for example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1 says all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights," Osman said.

The principal administrative officer for the Lilongwe City Council, Hudson Kuphanga, has received the petition and says he will deliver it to the appropriate authorities on Monday.
Khartoum  In a 'unanimous decision', Sudan's Cabinet has pledged to hand former officials indicted for war crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The decision shortly follows the visit to Sudan and Darfur by outgoing ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, during which she stressed the necessity of handing over former Minister of the Interior Ahmed Haroun, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, to the ICC before the end of July so that he can be tried along with Ali Abdelrahman (Kushayb) in The Hague.

Sudan's Minister of Federal Governance, Buseina Dinar, confirmed the cabinet decision on Saturday, saying that 'the unanimous decision is aimed at establishing peace and stability in the country'. She assured a press conference in Khartoum that "the court needs to resolve its procedures".

Warrant of arrest

The ICC issued arrest warrants against former Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Ahmed Haroun, and Kushayb in 2007. Kushayb was transferred to the ICC's custody on June 9, 2020 after surrendering himself voluntarily in the Central African Republic. Upon his arrest, the Sudanese government announced its support for his transfer to the ICC. Kushayb is also charged with a number of crimes by the Sudanese authorities.

In February 2020, Sudanese authorities also agreed that deposed dictator Omar Al Bashir and others indicted for war crimes and genocide by the International Criminal Court will be transferred to The Hague to face justice. Al Bashir was indicted by the ICC in 2009 for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and in 2010 for genocide. He has already been convicted of currency offences, and given a custodial sentence by a Khartoum court, but as he still faces charges in Sudan, he remains incarcerated in the notorious Kober prison in Khartoum North, where so many of his opponents were detained and tortured during the 30 years of his repressive regime.

During her visit to Darfur, Bensouda, who was succeeded by Karim Asad Ahmad Khan QC on 19 June, stressed that Ali Kushayb, who is currently in custody and facing trial in The Hague, is "considered the first person to appear before the court for trial for crimes committed in Darfur but he will not be the last". In her valedictory message, Bensouda underscored that "we [the ICC] have come a long way together indeed, but we have miles to go before we sleep."
document

On behalf of the Government of the United States of America, I congratulate the people of Djibouti as you celebrate the 44th anniversary of your nation's independence.

The United States and Djibouti are partners in fostering security, stability, and peace in the Horn of Africa. We commend Djibouti's leadership in the region, from its hosting the Executive Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development to its contributions to the African Union Mission in Somalia, and the important mediating role it plays.

We will continue to work with the government and the people of Djibouti to strengthen democratic institutions, expand economic opportunities, and advance our common interests.
Tunis/Tunisia  Tunisia will receive a first batch of US vaccine Johnson & Johnson by mid-August, Director of the National Coronavirus Vaccination Campaign Hechmi Louzir told TAP.

Louzir said Tunisia has planned the acquisition of preliminary quantities of 2 million doses of this vaccine.

He highlighted that scientific publications have confirmed the effectiveness of Johnson & Johnson's single shot vaccine, unlike other ones which require two doses.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) granted, late in April, its approval for the deployment of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after suspending its administration in the European Union, the United States and South Africa, following the detection of rare cases of blood clot formation.

Louzir laid emphasis on vaccination, pointing out that the National Vaccination Campaign mobilises mobile teams to ensure access to vaccines for citizens living in remote areas.

He called on citizens to comply with the health protocols so as to curb the spread of the virus, stressing that healthcare professionals are under heavy pressure, following striking hospitalisation rates.

Louzir commended the role fulfilled by healthcare professionals in treating covid patients, adding that self-prevention and the application of barrier gestures can reduce the risks of the spread of the coronavirus.
Mr Adesina explained that the AfDB was driving its industrialisation strategy to support value chains across Africa.

The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.afdb.org/en">African Development Bank</a> (AfDB) plans to spend an additional two billion dollars on infrastructure targeted at promoting the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The President of the AfDB, Akinwumi Adesina, said this in a virtual media briefing at the end of its 2021 Annual Meetings of the bank on Friday.

Mr Adesina said the infrastructure development plan would be executed over the next two years, adding that the AfCFTA initiative has enormous potential to develop economies across Africa.

"For the potential to be realised fully, it is very important for the private sector to play a big role and the AfDB is supporting the AfCFTA to do that," he said.

"You cannot trade if there is no infrastructure to trade; roads, rails, ports, highways. Those are the things the AfDB has been doing. We did not wait for the AfCFTA.

"The work of the bank is at the core of driving regional integration for Africa. In the next two years we expect to spend an additional two billion dollars on AfCFTA related infrastructure to further deepen regional integration."

Mr Adesina explained further that the AfDB was driving its industrialisation strategy to support value chains and help Africa build its manufacturing capacity.

Mr Adesina, who served as Nigeria's minister of agriculture between 2011 and 2015, added that the AfDB is investing in the pharmaceutical industry and the work on textile and garments supported by its private sector group.

"We are supporting the development of the special agro industrial processing zones that will allow African countries industrialise their agriculture and add value to every product they produce," he said.

"Regional value chains that are well supported with infrastructure and will allow Africa unlock its capacity in all of those areas."

AfCFTA is a trade agreement aimed at creating a single market for the movement of capital, goods, people and investments in order to deepen economic integration across Africa.
Rabat  HM King Mohammed VI sent a congratulatory message to the President of the Republic of Djibouti, Ismael Omar Guelleh, on the occasion of his country's independence day.

In this message, HM the King expressed his hearty congratulations to Guelleh and his sincere wishes for further progress and prosperity to the brotherly people of Djibouti.

The Sovereign welcomed, on this occasion, the relations of fraternity and mutual esteem uniting the Kingdom of Morocco and the Republic of Djibouti, reaffirming His determination to continue working together with President Guelleh to strengthen them and expand bilateral cooperation to cover different areas, serving the common interests of the two brotherly peoples.
Protests erupted in Kisii County on Sunday over the alleged police shooting of a 16-year old girl the previous night.

Reports indicated that police shot the girl as they tried to disperse protesters who wanted to torch Rioma Police Station in Marani Sub-county.

The Standard Six pupil of Marani Primary School died at Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital.

It is said she was walking home when she was hit by a stray bullet. Her death sparked day-long protests on Sunday, with residents engaging police in running battles.

They demand the suspension of Marani police bosses, saying they have remained in the area for too long.

Resident Margaret Nyaboke said: "We will only rest after they are suspended. The police officers here have become notorious and kill us at will.

The county security team was locked up in a meeting the whole day and could not be reached for comment on the incident.

Convict's case

On Saturday night, Rioma residents protested following the death of a convict identified as Erick Achando.

While residents claim Achando was beaten to death by security officers for flouting the 7pm curfew rule, police say the 25 year-old man was sick.

Due to increased cases of Covid-19 in the county, convicts are being quarantined in police cells for 14 days before being taken to prison.

Kisii County Police Commander Francis Kooli confirmed the death, adding three convicts fell ill while in their custody.

"They were rushed to Marani Sub-county Hospital, where one of them died," he said.

Achando had been charged with a traffic offence and was sentenced to three months in prison, with the option of paying a Sh8,000 fine.

The body was taken to Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary.

bayienda@ke.nationmedia.com
The family said although the alleged killer has been arrested, it is "convinced that there is much more to this than is already apparent from the police investigation."

The family of Michael Ataga, the Super TV boss who was brutally killed on June 15, has urged the police to go beyond the confession of the alleged killer in their investigations.

A statement on Saturday by Rickey Tarfa & Co, solicitor to the family, hinted at the possibility that the actual perpetrators of the crime may be covering their tracks.

The statement, titled 'Libelous Publications In Respect of Murder Of Michael Usifo Ataga: Demand For Restraint By Social Media Practitioners/Persons,' urged those behind malicious social media publications to refrain from publishing falsehood that impinges negatively on the integrity of the deceased, wife, and children or face lawsuits.

"We hereby admonish the publishers of these stories to employ whatever shreds of decency and decorum they can find in themselves to desist from their false and misleading stories and let the investigating authorities carry out an effective investigation in the hope of apprehending the perpetrators of this heinous crime and their accomplices," read the statement signed by Olusegun Jolaawo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), on behalf of the law firm.

"Yes, we know that Chidinma Adaora Ojukwu has been arrested and yes we know that investigation is continuing. Our client is, however, convinced that there is much more to this than is already apparent from the police investigation."

The statement noted that there are several "malicious" publications in circulation planted to embarrass and malign Mr Ataga, his wife, Brenda, and their family "and to serve as a smokescreen to enable the perpetrators of the heinous crime cover their tracks."

"Our client appreciates the efforts of the law enforcement agencies in their investigations thus far, and will not descend into particulars with respect to any of the said false narratives so as not to inadvertently aid the perpetrators of the murder in covering their tracks."

A 21-year-old student of the University of Lagos, Chidinma Ojukwu, last Thursday, narrated to journalists how she fatally stabbed Mr Usifo, 50, in an apartment in Lekki, Lagos.

The 300-level Mass Communication undergraduate said she was in a romantic relationship with the deceased.

Mr Jolaawo called for restraints from the publishers of unfounded stories against their late client, especially bloggers, and threatened legal action in cases of libel.

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"Our client at this juncture requests that the well-meaning public allow the family to mourn their departed son, father, and husband with some privacy and decency," he said.

"Our client also feels very strongly about the unbridled activities of bloggers on the social media space with respect to this incident and firmly demands that the said bloggers cease and desist from peddling falsehood aimed at maligning the deceased, wife and children. The family will not be intimidated by these bloggers' activities and insist that the police be allowed to do their work," Mr Jolaawo said in the statement.

"Our client hereby demands that the false publications and the several ordinarily unrelated stories and pictures of late Michael Usifo Ataga and Brenda Ataga be pulled down with immediate effect failing which our client shall take prompt and appropriate action to seek redress for the apparent instances of libel and slander as appropriate."
press release

Asli Salad has been selling clothes in Mogadishu for more than 20 years. Number of buyers have dwindled since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. After receiving USD 500 from the ICRC, she has stocked up more clothes and used the remaining money to support her 10 children.

Ebla Mukhtar Guhad has been running her retail shop for the past 30 years. She sells mangoes and bananas, as well as milk, cold drinks, balloons and candy. Her husband runs a laundry business, and the two are raising their seven children with both their income.

Duniyo Mohamed Ahmed, 36, has owned a cafe in Mogadishu for the past seven years, where she prepares Somali cuisine meals. "Before the pandemic, the restaurant was always packed for breakfast and lunch."

Faduma Mohamed Abdirahman has been in the baking business for 30 years now. Every day at 6:00 a.m., she opens her cafe to cook the pastries. Early mornings and late afternoons are her busiest hours, as Somalis enjoy their pastries with Shaah - a cup of hot spicy tea.

Faduma Ahmed is a self-taught henna artist in Mogadishu. She is a single mother with one child, and her money allows her to support her family. "I am pleased and delighted to see my customers leave my salon feeling beautiful and smiling," she says.

Maryan Abukar Haji is Hamar Weyne's only female tailor and her specialty is designing and sewing women clothing. She has also benefitted from cash and business skills training.

27 June 2021

Today marks the International Day of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Small businesses led by women and young entrepreneurs continue to face the pandemic's wrath economically. Lockdown measures implemented to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus have wreaked havoc on supply chains and resulted in a significant drop in the demand for goods.

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Through micro-economic initiatives, the ICRC supports vulnerable low-income families to start, restart or expand existing small businesses that can contribute to their family income, ultimately leading to an improved and sustainable livelihood.

In Somalia, the main micro-economic initiative being implemented is focused on cash support combined with training on business skills that targets vulnerable women-headed households. More than 200 women business owners in Mogadishu received USD 500 dollars and training to improve their businesses this year.

We feature six women-led businesses in Hamar Weyne, Mogadishu city.
Minister of Transport Kamel El Wazir witnessed a ceremony to mark the official operation of the 3rd metro line that will be run and maintained through RATP Dev, a subsidiary of France's RATP Group.

At the beginning of the ceremony, Wazir welcomed France's Ambassador in Cairo Stephane Romatet and Chairwoman of the Executive Board of RATP Dev Laurence Batlle.

RATP Dev will be responsible for the operation and maintenance of Line 3 for the coming 15 years as well as the operational commissioning of future extension of the line, which are under construction.

Addressing the event, Wazir said the partnership between RATP Dev and the transport ministry is part of the Egyptian government's approach under the directives of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to cooperate with international operators to support the management, operation and maintenance system in the Egyptian institutions.

It also aims at strengthening the role of the private sector in maximizing the efficiency and quality of services provided to the citizens, he added.

RATP Dev and the entire RATP Group will mobilize the best of their know-how and technical and human expertise to make Line 3 a world reference in terms of quality and reliability. It is a reflection of the long-lasting relations between Egypt and France in the transport sector, the minister added.

Cairo Metro Line 3 will be 47.87km-long with 39 stations. The line will connect areas of east Cairo starting from the ring road El-Asher area and El-Salam city through the station of Adly Mansour and ends in Imbaba and Rod al-Farag road on the ring road west of Cairo.
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi asserted that Egypt was looking forward to upgrading bilateral cooperation with Iraq within the framework of sustainability of economic integration and strategic cooperation especially in light of the major challenges besetting the region and the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

These remarks were made by the Egyptian president during his meeting with Iraqi President Burham Saleh. The two leaders reviewed means of pushing forward strong bilateral ties between the two countries in the various fields along with enhancing consultations regarding regional issues of common interest.

Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi said President Sisi extended thanks to his Iraqi counterpart for the warm hospitability, expressing his appreciation for the close and historic relations binding the two countries at the popular and official levels.

Sisi wished all success for the executive authority in Iraq in managing the state's affairs at the current critical phase in the history of the Iraqi people, added the spokesman.

Saleh, for his part, welcomed President Sisi and described him as "dear guest" of Baghdad, asserting the depth of the two countries' ties. He also asserted Baghdad's keenness on promoting cooperation with Egypt to the level of strategic partnership with the objective of achieving the two countries' interests and laying a cornerstone of regional security and stability, according to Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi.

The Iraqi president also highlighted the pivotal role of Egypt at the regional and international levels, the spokesperson added.

Saleh also voiced hope over benefiting from Egypt's successful expertise in implementing development projects, introducing comprehensive economic reforms in addition to the strenuous efforts exerted by Cairo to combat extremism and terrorism. He also highlighted the need for enhancing coordination between the educational, cultural and religious institutions in both countries.
Cairo  The Arab Parliament hailed the efforts of HM King Mohammed VI, Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, to defend the Holy City and support the resistance of the Palestinian people.

At the end of its 6th plenary session of the 3rd legislature, which took place on Saturday in Cairo, the Arab Parliament welcomed the action carried out by the Bait Mal Al Quds Agency, under the Al-Qods Committee, lauding the sending by Morocco of emergency humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

It stressed the need for continued Arab political, moral and material support for the Palestinian National Authority, calling on Arab countries to resume their financial support for the Palestinian Authority, in light of the blockade imposed on the Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The Arab Parliament also called for strengthening contacts with the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Union of the European Parliament and other European organizations, in order to urge national parliaments to call on their governments to work to ensure international protection to the Palestinian people and lift the siege on the Gaza Strip.
PROGRESSIVE Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has predicted the worst pass rates, lower than yesteryears in forthcoming public examinations amid calls to tailor make nationwide technology learning based mechanisms.

This comes after the Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council reported the number of candidates who sat for Ordinary Level examinations in 2020 decreased by 32 365, translating to 11% or 184 249, only 45 644 pupils obtained five subjects graded C or better.

A total of 184 249 candidates wrote five or more subjects and 45 644 passed five or more subjects with a Grade C or better giving an overall pass rate of 24.8%.

In 2019, 200 062 wrote five or more subjects and 63 215 obtained Grade C or better in five or more subjects. This translated to a 31.6% pass rate.

The statistics show that the 2020 pass rate decreased by 6.8% from that of 2019.

But speaking to Covid19zim.com soon after the announcement by the government to defer the second term schools opening, PTUZ president, Takavafira Zhou predicted the pass rates for the forthcoming year will be even lower.

"The pass rate would be worse than the 2020 academic year. At least the 2020 group learnt for the whole of 2019, as well as a complete first term.

"The 2021 academic year has been the worst for current candidates given the long lockdown last year and uncertainty of opening school any time soon," he said.

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He urged authorities to be innovative and come up with tailor made solutions in order to plug the current learning gaps.

"We certainly need to invest in teacher innovations in creating class WhatsApp groups for primary schools, and subject WhatsApp groups for Secondary Schools.

"We however need to navigate two challenges, which are the provision of data bundles to teachers by the government, and appeal to organisations like UNICEF to provide learning gadgets like smart phones for pupils from poor backgrounds mostly in rural areas," said Zhou.

He called on parents and guardians to ensure that pupils have access to their phones in order to continue to learn while at their homes.

The union leader called on the government to engage teachers and parents in order to come up with a broad based strategy to combat Covid-19 in schools rather than the current approach.

Zhou said there is urgent need to divide the academic year into two terms with students continuing to learn from home until August when winter conditions that are ideal vectors for the spread of Covid-19 would have subsided.

Zhou suggested schools can open in mid-August for the second term and conduct intensive teaching and learning until mid-November with candidates writing exams from mid-November to mid-December," he proposed.

He added, "Parents must keep their children at home. They must also support teachers' initiatives over class and subject WhatsApp groups and provide their phones for use by our students.

"Parents must support teachers' call for better remuneration, and entrenchment of health and safety of teachers and pupils in schools."
The vehicle was designed to eliminate carbon emissions associated with internal combustion engines, as well as minimise acoustic noise when in operation.

The University of Lagos is test-running its Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) it initiated in 2018.

The institution's Deputy Vice-Chancellor, (Academics and Research), Oluwole Familoni, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.

According to him, the production is an invaluable addition to the university's efforts at preventing the release of toxic emissions to the environment.

He said the initiative was also to encourage indigenous engineering innovation.

According to Mr Familoni, UNILAG ZEV is a 63 per cent hardware and 100 per cent software home-made (Akoka content) mechatronics automobile device.

He noted that the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, had inaugurated the UNILAG Zero Emission Vehicle team in 2018.

The team is led by Samson Adeosun, a professor in the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering.

Mr Familoni, a professor pf Chemistry, told NAN that in line with the universal drive to minimise global warming, the vehicle was designed to eliminate carbon emissions associated with internal combustion engines, as well as minimise acoustic noise when in operation.

"In concept, the UNILAG ZEV team developed an adaptive and reprogrammable power train (drive) system.

"Although the drive train functionality is presently exhibited with six-passenger Sport Utility Shuttle Van platform, it can be reconfigured to support 18-seater commuter bus.

"In its exhibition form, the drive train Energy Management System (EMS) is programmed to deliver ultra-low-power supply to realise maximum range per battery charging cycle at campus shuttling speed of less than 20km//hour

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"On highways, during intra or inter-city transits, the EMS is programmed to adaptively overwrite the shuttling mode and still minimise energy consumption.

"These user-specific features are absent on assembled imported Completely Knocked Down (CKD) components of electric vehicles that have been reported in Nigeria to date," Familoni told NAN.

He added that the UNILAG ZEV came with an on-board auxiliary power supply system.

The professor of chemistry said the energy backup was available to the driver via a 'please take me home switch' on the dashboard.

According to him, the vehicle runs on an improvised refurbished Nickel Hydride battery that delivers up to five-kilometre range per charging cycle when operated in Campus Shuttle mode.

"The range is extendable to 350km at optimum average speed of 110k/hour at highway mode, when appropriate lithium ion battery is installed."

Commenting on the development, the Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Mr Ogundipe, said the product was proof that the institution was neck-deep into demand-driving research.

He said that if given more support, the university would do more.

"We need more support for funding research," he said.

Other members of the team that assembled the ZEV include Akinfenwa Fashanu of the university's Systems Engineering Department, Mohammed Usman (Chemical Engineering), and Adeola Balogun (Electrical and Electronics Engineering. (NAN)
In religion, it is said scepticism breeds unbelief, and that is the case for Seth Mahiga, who recently declared publicly he had ditched atheism and returned to his first love, Jesus Christ.

He became arguably the latest apostate when he resigned from the Atheists in Kenya Society, where he served as secretary-general for about two years, saying he had found Jesus Christ and was no longer interested in promoting atheism.

Interestingly, the president of the society, Harrison Mumia, while announcing his resignation, wished Mahiga "the best with his newfound Lord Jesus Christ". The statement sounded sarcastic to some Kenyans on social media, considering that the group is irreligious and does not believe in the existence of Jesus or any deity.

The Sunday Nation sought to understand the world of Mahiga, the self-professed theologian. And as he sits across the table in one of the boardrooms at the Nation Media Group, he cuts the figure of a geek. He is an investigative mind, hard to tickle and somehow narcissistic by his admission.

Raised a Christian in the Jehovah's Witness church in his Kaimosi home in Vihiga County, Mahiga travelled the world for studies and realised, to his amazement, the popularity of atheism.

In countries like Belgium, he began to note that morality was not necessarily based on religion or spirituality.

"I was in Belgium, Norway, Holland and Switzerland where people are not religious, but disciplined and straight-forward. My friends used to question why my country is one of the most religious in Africa, but there's so much crime, corruption, disorganisation and uncleanliness," he recalls.

It was then, nearly a decade ago, that his religious scepticism set in. The medical laboratory technician, who now practises investigative journalism, started researching atheism and other aspects of religion.

Damascus moment

And when the society of atheists in Kenya declared a vacancy for the position of secretary-general, he threw his hat in the ring, faced a panel of about 10 and convinced them that he would transform the organisation with his wide world view.

And by the admission of his president, Mahiga did such a splendid job of mobilising the 5,000 registered members to fellowship together, and taking minutes of their meetings, which would happen weekly in-person, with others attending virtually.

He also coordinated the group's engagements with partners such as Humanist International and donors locally and worldwide.

In society, members mostly undertook humanitarian activities such as feeding the needy and educating the children of the less fortunate.

"Atheists are not wired to a particular faith. They believe in scientific research and practical ways for solving problems that affect society. They're accommodative to the various scientific stands the members take," explains the married father.

What exactly was the Damascus moment for the religious sceptic? His response was underwhelming, but one has no choice but to buy it since only his newfound Jesus can search his heart.

Mahiga says he quit because he had concluded researching about atheists, which was the main reason he joined the organisation, to begin with.

"I could not continue to work with them because my journey of discovery had brought me to a place of transition," he said.

Faith in Jesus Christ

Further, he says he had never lost his faith in Jesus in the first place. All along, deep inside, he believed in the biblical story of creation by God in the book of Genesis, and the ultimate resurrection of all in new bodies in the judgement times, and enjoyment of everlasting glory of God in heaven for the righteous, as the sinners burn in hell.

The fruits of his research, he says, will be manifested in the planned December release of two books meant to explain what atheism entails.

That begs another question; was he a mole in society? He answers to the contrary. He says it was morally okay to immerse himself into the organisation for research purposes.

"I wasn't an atheist per se. I was an atheist. People confuse being agnostic (doubt the existence of supernatural beings), atheist (believe with certainty that there's no supernatural being) and theists (believes in a supernatural being)," he explained.

Following his revelation, the atheists' president said their major challenge has been finding modalities to tell whether incoming members are truly non-believers as they claim.

"The reason he gave for leaving is that the life of an atheist was hollow and he was seeking fulfilment in Jesus. It could also be that he was here to research, we can't tell for sure, since he came in claiming to be an atheist," Mumia told the Sunday Nation on phone.

For Mahiga, inquisitiveness is part of his DNA and religion is his favourite subject. Growing up, he attended Kaimosi Primary, then Muhila Secondary in his home county before pursuing a diploma in laboratory technology science at the University of Nairobi. He then proceeded to do a degree at Gaborone University in Botswana before going to Belgium.

"I question everything. When I meet pastors, I ask about the qualifications of a deacon. The Bible clearly says it should be someone of one wife, but some churches contradict," he said.

Satanic cult

Joining atheism didn't go down well with some family members and friends, some of who severed ties with him. But he insists that their reaction is influenced by the generally negative attitude towards irreligion in Kenya.

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Only a few bought his explanation that he was in it for research. Others said he had joined Illuminati, a satanic cult. But serving any deity is what atheists despise, he reminded them.

"People sometimes think I am crazy," he said of his religious stand. "They were happy though when I resigned. They called to congratulate me."

On May 30, one of his friends welcomed him to a church, where he spoke briefly for the first time about the goings-on in his life. In the 30 seconds video from a sermon that was aired on Elevate Television, Mahiga disclosed he had been going through several difficulties in life, prompting him to bow his knee and confess that Jesus is Lord.

"Some of these days, I have been going through some difficulties in life, then I decided to resign as the secretary," said Mahiga amid applause from the congregation.

When we asked him what difficulties he was going through, he simply responded that he was suffering a disturbed conscience.

Mahiga is now in a crisis of faith. Having left atheism, he is at a crossroads, which he calls a difficult transition. He doesn't wish to go back to Jehovah's Witness, neither has he settled for any particular church to worship in.

All he knows is that it's time to continue researching in the field of religion. His search and research continue.
Kidnappers used a water tank to conceal a victim they abducted as they transported her to a house they had rented in Kayole, Nairobi.

Limited interactions between neighbours in many parts of Nairobi contributed to the confinement of 23-year-old businesswoman Hafsa Mohamed in house in Soweto area.

The house is located 400 metres from Kayole police station.

The abductors' choice of house, a two-bedroom unit in the sprawling Kayole estate meant little suspicion for their mission, aiding its partial execution before it was cut short.

After the abduction, they left an exercise book at the door with a phone number of one of their accomplices said to be in Thika with instructions to "contact this number".

It is the number they were using to demand the ransom and hold conversations with the victim's family on WhatsApp.

Ms Mohamed had been taken into the house in a 270-litre water tank by her abductors - her female friend and two men. The three were seen taking into their house the tank, which had been dropped outside by a black car.

Neighbours only recalled seeing them using the black car when they arrived in the evening with the tank. Kayole Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss John Rioba said police are still looking for the car.

Ransom demand

Ms Mohamed was abducted on June 15 before being rescued on June 20. Her abductors were demanding a Sh5 million ransom from her family and had already received a significant amount through a bank account before the rescue.

She would sometimes scream for help but her abductors often left loud music playing in the house to drown out her distress calls.

A neighbour who did not want to be named said she knew there was a couple that had rented the house, but she had not seen them until the evening they brought the tank and a few other items.

"There was nothing out of the ordinary until I heard a woman screaming in the house at around 3am on Sunday morning. I suspected it was a domestic fight but woke up hours later to hear her still screaming. Just as I was thinking about what could be happening, a child told us that there was someone calling for help out of the house."

A boda boda rider stopped by as neighbours gathered around the house and showed them a video and pictures of the woman that had been aired by TV stations reporting her abduction and police were called in.

According to the residents, Ms Mohamed's friend and one of her accomplices looked like a couple perfectly in love, they never suspected they were criminals.

"I thought they were a couple being helped by a friend in relocating into the house. They walked in holding hands," said a water vendor.

Cyrus Ndung'u Njogu is in custody at Buruburu police station and his accomplices, including Ms Mohamed's female friend, are still being sought.

Reported missing

Ms Mary Wandia of the Buruburu DCI office managed to obtain orders at Makadara law courts to detain Mr Njogu for 10 days. This is after she said she needed time to record statements from Ms Mohamed and witnesses.

Ms Mohamed could not record her statement immediately as she was first taken to a city hospital for a medical check-up. Mr Rioba revealed she had bruises on her hands and face.

Ms Mohamed had been lured by her friend who had presented prospects of a partnership in a watermelon business at the Kayole junction where they met. They left and headed towards her friend's house not far from the shop. She was then abducted by two men.

The caretaker of the building where Ms Mohamed was confined, only identified as Ngina, said the phone number used by the suspects to call her and withdraw the money they used to pay rent belongs to their victim.

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Ms Mohamed's friend had sought the house on Friday June 11, but she did not pay. On Tuesday June 15, she called the caretaker with Ms Mohamed's phone number after they kidnapped her and enquired about the availability of the house.

She used the victim's phone to withdraw cash at a nearby M-Pesa shop, which she and her accomplices then used to pay rent for the house on June 15, shortly before they moved in with the water tank in which Ms Mohamed was confined and a few other items. She also paid for electricity tokens using the victim's phone.

The DCI has frozen the bank account in which Ms Mohamed's family deposited part of the ransom.

Police visited the woman's house but found that she has not been seen there since the time Ms Mohamed was reported missing. She is still on the run.
Gema, according to its long-time chairman Njenga Karume, had been founded with the blessings of Jomo. There could be some truth there. Some historians, with the hindsight of knowledge, argue that it had been founded to solidify Kenyatta's presidency and give him a reliable base at a time that the country was going through serious political tensions. Stories of culture were just hogwash tales.

Let me provide a context that is usually ignored.

The July 5, 1969 assassination of Tom Mboya - which was blamed on Kenyatta succession politics -- and the crackdown on members of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga's Kenya People's Union (KPU), after the president was stoned in Kisumu on October 25, 1969, had made the Kenyatta presidency unpopular -- especially at a time when he was going through health challenges.

Next door in Uganda, and 44 days before Gema was registered on March 10, 1971, President Milton Obote had been toppled by Idi Amin, sparking fear of copycat coups in the region.

British historian Charles Hornsby, in his book, Kenya: A History Since Independence, captures the political tensions that had gripped the country following Amin's coup next door. He writes: "The likelihood of a military coup in Kenya had been growing since 1969, with senior army officers, including army commander Brigadier Joseph Ndolo, musing on the country's future."

He goes on: "The likelihood of military action increased after Amin's intervention (in Uganda). By March 1971, Ndolo's opinions had come to the attention of the British, who discussed the mechanics of a possible attempt in detail."

Dr Hornsby quotes a March 1971 British High Commission report, now at the British Kew Archives and which is titled: 'An Army Coup in Kenya' and 'Succession to the Presidency in Kenya, 1971'. The archival document says that 'In February and March, Major General Ndolo discussed the situation in Kenya with a number of people in terms which clearly indicated that he thought that he would have to mount an army coup on Kenyatta's death if not before.'

Gema's hasty registration

According to Hornsby, "The British took Ndolo seriously, believing that there was 'a real possibility of an attempt of an army coup within the next 18 months or so'. They concluded that it would not significantly harm British interests, but that Britain would be better served by the survival of the existing regime. They, therefore, continued to provide discreet advice to make a coup less likely, while further tightening links with the army."

The timing of Gema's emergence during this period and the hasty registration -- hours after it gave its papers to Charles Njonjo -- could only point to efforts to save the Kenyatta presidency and retain the backing of the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru communities.

More so, we see Kenyatta's relations with the military improve and he talked glowingly about them.

Interestingly, although they are linguistically closer to the three communities, the Kamba had been left out of Gema -- after all ,they were implicated in the coup-talk against Kenyatta. Questions have always been raised why Kenyatta did not prosecute Major General Ndolo, if indeed he was involved.

That answer is found in a telex message sent on June 23, 1971 by Sir Eric Norris, the British high commissioner, in which he quotes then Vice President Daniel arap Moi saying that Jomo had decided not to prosecute Ndolo.

In his telex message to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Sir Eric Norris wrote: "Vice President (Daniel arap Moi) told me this morning that the President has said that he will not allow General Ndolo to be prosecuted. He considers that he has been misguided and stupid but not vicious and his 37 years of loyal service should be taken into account. If he is allowed to retire, he will henceforth be loyal and this is important since he is an important figure in the Kamba tribe. In any case, Mr Moi said, Ndolo was not clever enough to have worked out a plot. The ministers were convinced that the Chief Justice (Kitili) Mwendwa had been advising him."

It was within this political context that on March 10, 1971 -- and within hours after tabling its documents -- Attorney General, Charles Njonjo, had registered the hitherto unheard of Gikuyu Embu and Meru Association -- whose acronym was Gema.

Tribal groupings

Again, the intelligence had got wind of a coup that was to be staged on April 8, 1971 for which the fall guy became Yatta MP Gideon Mutiso. Perhaps to appease the Luo, the government had on March 27, 1971 released Oginga Odinga from detention -- which was two weeks after the registration of Gema.

Whether this was a coincidence is not known. But in Parliament, Mr Njonjo was asked to table the names of the office bearers and the aims and objectives of the organisation. While Mr Njonjo answered only one part of Permanus Munyasia's question, he invoked a clause in the Standing Order that a member could refuse to answer a question if the answer had been supplied in advance. Pressed, Mr Njonjo lost his cool: "Nonsense ... do not talk nonsense!"

Interestingly, Speaker Fred Mati sided with Mr Njonjo, saying he had been provoked.

It is ironic that Mr Njonjo, whose disdain for such tribal groupings was epic, agreed to let it operate, although Karume claims that he was ordered by Kenyatta to register it.

Gema, though masquerading as a welfare association, had all the mannerisms of a political party and Jomo, as Njenga Karume would later reveal, only allowed its formation to "retain support of his lieutenants".

Later, and Karume says as much in his autobiography, Beyond Expectations, Jomo "became quite uncomfortable with the influence of the organisation and even rebuked its leaders."

After Gema's first meeting at the Wambugu Farm in 1971, the non-political barons of Mt Kenya argued that they had been side-lined by the politicians and demanded more say within the community. They sought to see Kenyatta but on the date they had been given, Kenyatta also invited the Mt Kenya MPs. It was classic Jomo.

Wealthy politicos

"What we thought would be a closed-door meeting with just the three of us and Kenyatta turned out to be a meeting of more than 50 people. Ninety per cent of Gema MPs were present," recalled Karume.

His delegation consisting of Matu Wamae, the Industrial Commercial Development Corporation chairman, and Central Bank governor Duncan Ndegwa was outfoxed. Finally, according to Karume, Kenyatta asked the two warring factions -- the politicians and the businessmen -- to work together.

While Gema was not the only tribal organisation in town, it was arguably the most powerful and its later line-up looked like a roll-call of the wealthy politicos and businessmen of Mt Kenya region. Thus, it was not in the same league as Paul Mboya's Luo East Africa Union, the Mulu Mutisya-led New Akamba Union or the Abaluhya Union.

When it was founded, it had Dr Julius Gikonyo Kiano as its first interim chairman, Mwai Kibaki as treasurer, Jeremiah Nyaga as vice chairman and Kirinyaga MP Lucas Ngureti as secretary general. Others were Nyeri MP Waruru Kanja (organising secretary) and Jackson Angaine as assistant Secretary general.

But by 1973, when the first elections were due, Kenyatta asked Karume to take over the chairmanship. An endorsement by Gema for political seats was always a tacit approval. In the 1974 elections in Bahati, the seat vacated by Mwai Kibaki after he left for Othaya, an aspirant, Muthoni Likimani complained to the supervisor of election, N J Montgomery, that Gema had interfered with the process and had backed Dr James Muriuki.

It was also allowed to form Gema Holdings Ltd, which would be the economic arm of the group. While the group bought various properties and farms, how they were later dished or squandered is a story for another day. But, some people made a lot of money.

But did Gema have a political agenda? In his autobiography, Mr Karume, who for a long time was the Gema chairman, dismissed the notion that Gema was started with a political agenda. He argued that the idea behind the tribal associations was to "give people a greater sense of belonging and identity ... I know not everyone agrees with this assessment."

Gema's role in Moi presidency

That, of course, may not be the entire truth. It was Gema's decision that Kibaki should vie for a Nyeri seat since the Nyeri people were pestering Kenyatta with a Cabinet position. At one point, Kenyatta is said to have asked Kibaki, "Kai Kibaki woriire Nairobi? (Kibaki, you got stuck in Nairobi?)

It was after vocal legislator J M Kariuki was assassinated in 1975 that the political element of Gema was seen. After Parliament formed a select committee to investigate the murder, Gema released a statement saying: "We find it fit to ask our members and the public not to be misled by prophets and leaders of doom who go to bars and preach malicious and damaging views about our country and its leaders."

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Later, after the Elijah Mwangale Select Committee delivered its report, Gema called a press conference and asked Kenyatta to initiate his own investigations to probe the activities of the MPs who were in that committee "because they are not themselves angels and some of them may be involved in the murder," according to Gema Secretary General Ireri Ndwiga.

Also, in 1976, some Gema leaders, led by Ngwataniro Mutukanio Land Buying Company chairman, Kihika Kimani, started a campaign against Moi and they joined the Change the Constitution group, which was to bar the vice-president from taking over for 90 days - in case Kenyatta died. It is now known from records -- including US intelligence reports -- that Oginga Odinga was perceived as the main beneficiary of this plot as the senior most politician after Jomo.

But Gema's efforts in politics were thwarted by Mr Njonjo and Mr Kibaki, who had a bone to pick with the group. With a divided house, Gema -- as a group -- played little role in the Moi presidency. Again, Moi had the blessings of the British government. It is interesting that in 1979, and after Moi got the presidency, his first task was to ban Gema.

Njonjo had told parliament that Gema was a criminal organisation and had all the officials of Agricultural Holdings (the name Gema had adopted) arrested for "failing to file returns". From then on, attempts to revive Gema, as a group, have always been looked at suspiciously. But while the cultural group died, attempts to have Mt Kenya as one voting block has only happened twice under Kibaki and twice for Uhuru.

It appears that what was crafted out of Kenyatta I succession politics, and was caught in the same web in 1978, is now in limbo as Uhuru Kenyatta gets into the last stretch of his presidency. It will be interesting to see how the divisions between Mt Kenya East and Mt Kenya West will solidify and who will gain from them.

jkamau@ke.nationmedia.com @johnkamau1
More than 5,000 former government employees sacked over 20 years ago face a bleak future, unsure when they will ever receive their court-ordered terminal and pension payments.

They filed their case in 2000 and courts ruled in their favour in 2012 and last year. In February 2015, the Employment and Labour Relations Court awarded them more than Sh836 million as compensation for their sacking. The court also awarded them costs of Sh17 million.

Principal Judge Mathew Nduma based these numbers on a judgment issued by Justice Roselyn Nambuye in 2012. Justice Nambuye had found that the workers were entitled to redundancy pay.

Some of the former workers spoke to Nation.Africa in Voi, Taita Taveta County, on Sunday. They said an opaque process in the office of the Attorney-General had delayed the payments.

More than 130 workers from Taita Taveta were sacked between 1998 and 2002 in a restructuring meant to streamline the civil service, reduce the workforce and cut spending.

Davis Mwadigha, the chairperson of the Taita Taveta group, said members were victimised, stigmatised, traumatised, demeaned and humiliated.

The sacked workers, he said, had only been paid Sh40,000 each as a send-off package, and were subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment.

"We just woke up and found ourselves jobless. The retrenchment programme was not transparent at all," he said.

Of the 133 members in the Taita Taveta group, he said, 30 had died while still waiting for their dues.

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"It was so humiliating to be sent home with nothing after working for the government for many years. The stress has made some members die prematurely. Most of us are living in poverty," he said.

Jane Njoroge, another sacked worker, said she cannot afford to take care of her family.

"I have tried many businesses but they don't grow because that is where I get money for everything. Our children cannot go to school because we cannot pay for their fees," she said.

Pascal Katambo, also sacked in 2000, said many of his former colleagues cannot afford medications and some of them have died because of this.

"Our children dropped out of schools and colleges. That's why we are asking the government to release our money for us to take care of our families," he said.

He asked the National Assembly, the Senate and other relevant government agencies to intervene and ensure they get justice.
Kiambu Woman Rep Gathoni Wamuchomba is back to class, going by her Facebook post on Friday night.

By all indications, she is being taught by seasoned Tangatanga lieutenants on how to go full Tangatanga. Who knows, maybe there is a course along the lines of Bachelor of Arts in Political Wandering and she is in the latest intake.

"I'm in class tutored by Hon Ndindi Nyoro on money matters, Osoro on karate, Aisha Jumwa on mistari (oratory skills), Hon Chebaibai on dancing and Kimani Ngunjiri on msomo (giving dressing-downs)," she posted.

"Pray that I learn fast."

In that post she also made reference to a phrase she has lately been using in her posts - "nyuma ya tent", which typically means a forum to educate those who are behind the news.

The phrase was also in a statement she issued on May 19 conceding the defeat of Jubilee Party in the Juja by-election, where George Koimburi, who was backed by Tangatanga politicians, defeated Susan Njeri who had the support of Kieleweke, the faction of Jubilee Party that is loyal to President Uhuru Kenyatta.

"Now the numbers are out. As one of the Jubilee pillars, I accept defeat as I take leave to reflect on the way forward. Itabidi nirudi nyuma ya hema," she wrote.

'The Reconciler'

Before joining politics, Ms Wamuchomba was a media personality who became a household name among Kikuyu speakers through a show called Mwigwithania (Reconciler) where, among other things, she helped mend broken marriages.

One might assume that in her stay behind the tent, Ms Wamuchomba's mwigwithania-ing skills were put to test, now that the Jubilee marriage that was ever so strong in President Kenyatta's first term is falling apart.

With her defection from the president's side to the one loyal to Deputy President William Ruto, we can only guess the revelations she got behind the tent and what her mwigwithania instincts told her.

In the Tangatanga class, Ms Wamuchomba will be a formidable classmate - probably a snitch on some days, a defender of menfolk on others and a cheering squad leader on others.

She showed her snitching abilities not too long ago when she came out to claim that she heard some female MPs talk about bribes inside a toilet at the National Assembly.

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"They were saying that, 'I have been given mine, and for another member,'" she told a Parliamentary committee in September 2018. "When they realised there was somebody because my phone rang and I answered it... they never came out of that toilet until the bell rang to go to the chambers."

Cheerleading abilities

Hopefully, her classmates in the Tangatanga school will just be attending to the normal calls of nature and not calls of money.

She has showed her ability to defend the menfolk though her repeated defence of polygamy, going as far as saying it should be part of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI). Her belief is that if a man has the ability, he should marry more than one wife. She is likely to be a favourite among the menfolk in her class.

Ms Wamuchomba has illustrated her cheerleading abilities on many instances, and the Tangatanga school will definitely be counting on her in competitions, like the Kiambaa by-election on July 15.

When she was in the Kieleweke side, she lashed out at many people as she vouched for President Kenyatta.

For instance, in June 2019, she thundered: "If anyone is tired of Jubilee and doesn't want to obey what is said by the boss, President Uhuru Kenyatta, they should bolt out."

And MPs also remember her fervent cheerleading in support of lawmakers' pay raise in her early days in Parliament, before a petition to recall her forced her to apologise.

Ms Wamuchomba is also known for founding Utugi TV, the channel that focuses on agriculture. Probably she will use that experience to lobby for a position as the greener pastures prefect at the Tangatanga school.

eondieki@ke.nationmedia.com
Scarface. Elsa. Christian. Do those names ring a bell? They should, if you have been following stories of Kenya's famous animals. The three are some of the most famous lions to ever roar on Kenyan soil.

And we are about to have more famous names in Kenya, if an initiative launched on June 15 by Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala gains ground.

Through the initiative, a person can adopt an elephant for as little as Sh1,000. To have a jumbo named after them, they need to part with Sh500,000. The adopted elephant will, however, remain in its habitat even after adoption.

If the initiative catches on, we will have more names to add to Scarface, Elsa, Christian and others that have gained followers locally and internationally.

Scarface, one of the most sought-after lions at the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, died on June 11. He got his name due to a big scar on its face that set him apart in a group of four lions who had been christened "The Four Musketeers".

Wildlife photographer-cum-tour guide Antony ole Tira, who is based at the Matira Camp in the Mara, told Lifestyle that Scarface lived in a pride of other lions for eight years.

Mr Tira added that in the course of his dramatic reign, Scarface personified what it is to be a lion in the Mara -- a life punctuated by bloody battles, infanticide and violent conflicts with pastoralists.

"He came to the limelight in 2011 when, along with three other young males Morani, Sikio and Hunter -- Scarface invaded the Marsh Pride territory (Marsh Pride was another famous group of lions). They were nomads, full of swagger and aggression and pumped with testosterone. They were identical, except for Scarface, who stood out straight away due to his disfigurement on the right eye," said Mr Tira.

The death of Scarface saddened many wildlife enthusiasts as he was a hugely popular lion in the Mara.

Elsa and Christian, the other lions mentioned above, were famous decades ago. Elsa, a lioness, died in 1961, and is buried at the Meru National Park. She gained global fame when she was under the care of conservationist George Adamson and his wife Joy. Mr Adamson shot a lioness in the wild that had charged at him and later realised she had three four-day-old cubs. Elsa was among them.

The other two were sent to a zoo but Mrs Adamson was determined to have Elsa learn to live in the wild. The training programme of the young lion was documented in the book Born Free that later became a film.

Today, an image of Elsa is on display at the Nairobi National Museum.

Christian, was a lion adopted by two friends in the United Kingdom. But he grew too large, necessitating his move to Kenya at the Kora National Reserve. He was under the care of Mr Adamson and his wife. In 1971, a year after he was moved to Kenya, Christian's former owners came to visit him and he remembered them. A video of that reunion has been circulating online for a while.

An official at the Kenya Wildlife Service told Lifestyle that the habit of naming animals is mainly driven by visitors from the West.

"They are the ones whose approach is to humanise the animals. You will find that ordinary Kenyans are not quite into this," said the official, whom we will not name because he is not authorised to speak to the press.

"Through this naming, attention is drawn to an animal internationally," he said.

A famous animal in an area is the most befitting ambassador for tourism, according to Dr Philip Muruthi, the vice president for species conservation and science at the African Wildlife Foundation.

"The big tuskers in Amboseli are a good example. They represent longevity (the older an animal, the bigger it is), and are a good indicator of conservation success," Mr Muruthi told Lifestyle.

"They stir strong emotions in people because human beings want a personal connection to animals, which inspires them to take positive action for a longer period of time, like donating money to conserve certain individuals or landscapes. In Rwanda, this has worked very well. The gorilla babies are never enough for the number of 'namers' interested," noted Dr Muruthi.

He went on: "Often, the iconic individuals come from iconic species; so they already have status as ecosystem engineers (elephants) or keystone species (lions). This means their actions affect more than just themselves and their abundance is a sign of ecosystem health and vibrancy."

The conservationist, however, noted that there is a downside in having animals gain fame.

"The personal connection derails conversations about larger conservation policy decisions such as consumptive utilisation," he said.

Some of the famous named animals in Kenya include Sudan, the northern white rhinoceros who died in 2018. There is also Kamuniak, the lioness who wowed many when she adopted an oryx in 2002. Below, we look at some of the wild animals in Kenya that gained national and international fame.

Ahmed, the elephant who had bodyguards

One of the remarkable sights at the Nairobi National Museum is a life-size model of Ahmed, which is mounted outside the main building. Ahmed's real skeleton and famous tusks are inside the museum in the Great Hall of Mammals.

Ahmed became famous because his protection while at the Marsabit National Park was sanctioned in 1970 by President Jomo Kenyatta. A famous photo of him taken by legendary photographer Mo Amin showed a group of armed guards around him.

"Ahmed was still able to roam freely in Marsabit Park and got used to the presence of his guards," reports Nomad Africa.

Ahmed died in 1974 and was found resting on his famous tusks, half-leaning against a tree.

He inspired a number of films, one of them being a series titled The American Sportsman, which aired on American Broadcasting Company.

Omieri, the python locals gave goats

As far as snakes go, none was more famous in Kenya than the python called Omieri, who shot to national fame in April 1987 after she was singed in a bush fire. The burn left her suffering for a while and KWS swung into action to give her treatment.

The reptile had suffered the misfortune in Nyakach, Kisumu County, and locals did not want her taken to Nairobi for treatment. Some claimed the absence of Omieri brought misfortune. KWS had to return the snake to the Kisumu museum.

Mr Albert Otieno, a curator at the Nairobi Snake Park, told Nation in 2017 that upon her return to Kisumu, Omieri was not treated for some time. She was taken back to Nairobi but died in June 1989.

When she was alive, locals are said to have been giving Omieri goats to eat because they believed she brought good tidings, including rain, when she came to their land.

Today, Omieri's carcass is preserved at the Nairobi Snake Park, resting in a thick glass container filled almost to the brim with industrial methylated alcohol.

Tano Bora, the adorable cheetahs

There is a group of cheetahs in Maasai Mara that is exciting people from far and wide. The group is made up of three brothers from one family and two from another.

Mr Tira, the wildlife photographer, told Lifestyle that the group has gained fame because it is not common to find such a large number of big cats operating together.

"This male cheetahs' coalition has become well-known due to the unusually large coalition size and the many pictures and films of them seen across the media, and for their might of going for big prey like gnus, topis and zebras -- just like what packs of lions do," said Mr Tira.

The five cheetahs have occupied a territory between Hammerkop on the western side of the Maasai Mara to Olare Orok Conservancy, an area equivalent to 100 square kilometres.

They are unmistakable because they are well-placed, healthy and employ group tactics. Their survival tactics have become a spectacle for wildlife enthusiasts.

The cheetahs may be between seven and nine years old, as they were first spotted together hunting in 2015 without their parents.

The five cheetahs are unique, bold and energetic. They can take down prey 10 times the size of any one of them, making them one of the most successful and famous coalitions in the Masai Mara. They are now celebrated worldwide, including through documentaries and magazine articles.

Malaika, the cheetah

It is not every day that a wild animal enters a tourist's car and is welcome. But in 2015, a cheetah nicknamed Malaika did exactly that. A photo of her inside a tour vehicle in front of a shocked tourist has been doing rounds on the Web.

One tourist account of meeting the cheetah in the Mara, published in 2015 in Aardvark Safaris, reads: "We found Malaika just after dawn one morning; it was a magical experience being able to watch her from the vehicle only a few metres away."

Related to Malaika is Siligi, another famous cheetah in the Mara. She attracted attention in 2019 when she was photographed with seven cubs, a rare feat for a cheetah in the wild.

London's Daily Mail ran an article alongside photos of Siligi and her cubs under the headline: "Cheetah gives birth to giant litter of seven adorable cubs".

Siligi is a Maasai word meaning "hope", which might have been used to describe her hunting behaviour. She has attracted droves of vehicles carrying both local and international tourists to her territory.

Lightning Bolt, Usain Bolt's cheetah

An eight-month-old cheetah cub became a global sensation in 2009 when he was adopted by retired Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. He was then named Lightning Bolt.

The athlete paid $13,700 (Sh1.5 million in today's rates) to adopt the animal that was left in the care of the Nairobi Animal Orphanage. The Associated Press reported that he was also to pay $3,000 (Sh323,220) a year for maintenance of the animal whose speed is legendary.

At the orphanage, a number of animals are usually up for adoption and naming. There are different adoption categories and the orphanage is encouraging Kenyans to adopt the animals.

An official at the orphanage told Lifestyle on Thursday that Lightning Bolt died two years ago.

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"He died due to old age. While in captivity (like an orphanage or zoo), cheetahs die aged between nine and 13 years, and in the wild they die between nine and 11 years," the official said.

Also in 2009, then chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Mr Luis Moreno-Ocampo, visited Kenya and was photographed with a cheetah at the Nairobi National Park.

KWS would later come out to deny reports that Mr Moreno-Ocampo had adopted the animal he was pictured with, in what gave a hint of the political symbolism that comes with the naming of animals.

"The picture is actually one of Moreno-Ocampo cuddling the famous cheetah named Sharon that is available for re-naming and adoption. This was during his private tour of the Nairobi Animal Orphanage and game drive at the Nairobi National Park," KWS stated in a lengthy clarification of the photo that had been carried on Page 1 of the Sunday Nation of November 8, more than a month earlier.

"For the record, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor politely declined an offer to name or adopt a wild animal at the Nairobi Animal Orphanage, citing the nature of mission in Kenya as well as the timing," KWS further stated.

Satao, the elephant poachers couldn't spare

This elephant endowed with humongous tusks lived to be one of the most admired in Kenya. He featured in a documentary on Apple TV+ titled The Elephant Queen, among other appearances.

Like Ahmed, Satao had tusks so big they almost touched the ground. He lived in the Tsavo East National Park and was about 45 years old at the time of his death in May 2014 -- three months after an attempt to take him down using poisoned arrows had failed.

Though he was under constant surveillance from KWS personnel, he used to wander in a vast area and one day, a warden found a huge elephant lying dead with its tusks missing. The beast would later be confirmed to be Satao and the Tsavo Trust issued a tearful announcement of his death.

"(He was) killed by an ivory poacher's poisoned arrow to feed the seemingly insatiable demand for ivory in far off countries. A great life lost so that someone far away can have a trinket on their mantlepiece," read part of their statement.

Related to Satao is Tim, an elephant who died in early 2020.

"He is the most majestic elephant that I have ever met, probably the biggest tusker in Africa," conservationist Paula Kahumbu wrote on the Wildlife Direct website as she paid a tribute to Tim.

"Tim brought so much joy to so many people. I know at least one person whose purpose in life was a quest to meet Tim. He had no shortage of humans who worshipped him," Dr Kahumbu further wrote.

Tim died of natural causes aged around 50 years.
Seychellois citizens who receive an inheritance should expect the process to run smoother after the National Assembly approved amendments to the Civil Code.

With the three latest amendments, the Civil Code will come into force on July 1. The Civil Code provides the basic rules of law for the relationship between people.

The aim of the revision of the Civil Code was to modernise the law to ensure that it reflects the current social circumstances of Seychelles and the human rights provisions of the Constitution of the third republic adopted in 1993.

When presenting the Bill to the National Assembly on Wednesday, Seychelles Vice President Ahmed Afif said that although President Wavel Ramkalawan had enacted the Civil Code in November last year, it is not yet in force.

"For the Civil Code Act 2020 to come into force, it is necessary that three Bills in front of the Assembly have to be passed," said Afif.

The three Bills were the Consequence of Enactment Bill, the Curatelle Bill, and the Civil Code Amendment Bill.

Afif said that certain old laws needed to be repealed and new ones passed "for example the defamation law until a new one is passed the old one stays in force. Regulations in force under the Matrimonial Act that the Code is addressing will remain in force with regards to marriage and cases between unmarried couples."

On the Curatelle Bill, 2021 he said that this needed to align the present provisions in the revised Civil Code.

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"People who do not leave behind heirs, someone absent from Seychelles for a long period without us having contact with them and inheritance where no one knows where owners of the properties are, according to the law this succession is administered and managed by a curator of vacant estates," said Afif.

Under the new Code, the person will simply be called a curator and it gives more flexibility to the Supreme Court to give the power a curator to sell land or property without going through an auction.

Now that the National Assembly has approved the amendments, it will be an easier process to manage and pass on properties and assets of those who have passed away leaving no apparent heirs, which in turn had to be managed by a curator of vacant estates.

The new Civil Code of Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, sets out everything that a person can do and be responsible for from birth to death. In a nutshell, they are a person's right as a child and adult, marriage and divorce, purchase and sale of property, contractual and tortious rights and obligations.

Only 10 percent of amendments have been made to the former Civil Code which was enacted in 1975.
Gaborone  Botswana should be accorded its rightful place among former liberation movements because it qualifies as one through the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP).

President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi said this in Gaborone Friday during a valedictory call by outgoing South African high commissioner Ms Rosemary Mashaba.

The only distinction was that Botswana did not bear weapons as the country was still too weak and poor, he stated.

Dr Masisi pointed out that Botswana however received liberation fighters from South Africa and other regional countries who passed through for sanctuary and refuge.

The President said more should be done to document the role played by Botswana in the South African and regional liberation struggles.

He lamented that despite close political ties, the history of Botswana and South Africa was poorly documented.

Dr Masisi expressed gratitude to South Africa for assisting Batswana with medical care and availing places in its educational institutions for this country's students.

He however noted the need to address trade imbalance between the two countries.

For her part, Ms Mashaba said although the two governments had no structured bilateral engagements, they still worked well together.

On liberation struggle related issues, she acknowledged that Botswana was one of the countries that helped many freedom fighters as they crossed the borders of South Africa to continue fighting against apartheid.

The country also played an instrumental role in supporting other southern African liberation movements including SWAPO, ZANU PF, FRELIMO and MPLA, said Ms Mashaba.

Botswana, she noted, was home to the historic 1962 Lobatse Conference which was one of the significant turning points in the liberation struggle that allowed the African National Congress (ANC) to formally adopt the armed struggle.

Gaborone was also the site for one of the most gruesome and brutal attacks perpetrated by the apartheid regime against Batswana and South Africans on June 14, 1985.

Botswana also provided refuge to the many South African artists during their exile days, she said.

Ms Mashaba applauded Batswana and government for the hospitality extended to her.

She said relations existing between South Africa and Botswana made her stay and work in the country easier.

Source: BOPA
The officer would be punished if found guilty, the police say.

The police in Akwa Ibom State have ordered the arrest of a police officer over alleged extortion and demand for sex from a suspect.

The police spokesperson in the state, Odiko MacDon, disclosed this in a statement issued in Uyo on Sunday.

Mr MacDon, a superintendent of police, said the action of the police was sequel to a social media video made by Zion Umoh, alleging that Daniel Edet, a police constable, solicited sex and collected N60,000 to release a suspect on bail.

He said based on Mr Umoh's allegation, the Commissioner of Police in Akwa Ibom, Andrew Amiengheme, ordered the arrest and discreet investigation of the officer.

The police commissioner assured that the officer would be punished if found guilty, Mr MacDon said.

According to him, preliminary facts available to the police revealed that on June 17, at about 11:45 p.m., while on patrol within Abak circuits in Abak Local Government Area, a team of police operatives accosted a motorcycle carrying five passengers.

He said when the motorcycle and the passengers were searched, the police recovered a live cartridge from one Godwin Wilson, a 25-year-old bar attendant who rode the motorcycle.

Mr MacDon said Mr Wilson, on interrogation, claimed he picked the cartridge at the bar where he sells after the birthday celebration of a man identified as Morris Sunday.

The police spokesperson said they were all arrested and taken to the station and detained till the following morning when they were interrogated by the area commander.

He added that they were all warned and granted bail, except Mr Wilson who was found with a live cartridge.

Mr MacDon said the suspect was taken to court but was returned to police custody because the courts were not in session then.

(NAN)
Nairobi  Jubilee Health Insurance is today announcing a collaboration deal with CarePay to roll out digital insurance products on the M-TIBA platform. They are currently developing a new range of affordable mobile-first health policies for groups, saccos and chamas.

Under the new deal, Jubilee Health Insurance customers will be able to sign up and manage their health policies through M-TIBA's mobile interface. CarePay is also providing digital services through M-TIBA, including new member outreach, onboarding, claims handling and payments integration.

The partners are predicting that the rollout of convenient and cost-effective digital capabilities will support the growth of Kenya's retail insurance segment by enabling more seamless product bundling and much wider access.

Jubilee Health Insurance Dr. Patrick Gatonga noted that there exists a lot of unexploited opportunities for insurers to tap into the area that is micro-insurance but with the right partners and mindset, more Kenyans will be able to reap the benefits of affordable insurance.

"The threat that out-of-pocket expenditures pose to households' living standards is increasingly recognized as a major consideration in financing health care. This is so because 75 percent of the world's population is not adequately protected by insurance, and 40 percent have no coverage at all. We are therefore coming in to plug the deficit by giving Kenyans an alternative that enables them to contribute a small percentage of their income towards unforeseen medical expenditures," Dr. Gatonga noted.

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Jubilee Health Insurance currently has close to 5,000 customers under this program and seeks to reach 20,000 customers by the end of 2021. The arrangement will see the insurer roll out products that are simple, affordable, and convenient while health care providers will have access to real-time communications and transparency of clinic expenditures and revenues through M-TIBA.

CarePay Kenya Managing Director, Moses Kuria, noted that COVID-19 has changed people's priorities on how they work, live, and seek care. As legacy infrastructure and business models were challenged during the pandemic, the leading insurers are seeing digitisation as the key for improving efficiencies, growth, and customer experience.

"We need to work together across the digital health ecosystem to achieve the universal healthcare coverage vision for Kenya. M-TIBA enables Jubilee Health Insurance to reach new underserved customers more cost effectively via mobiles and to improve accountability across the healthcare system. We also work with a panel of over 3,000 healthcare providers to streamline client access. Together, we are solving a trilemma of barriers to getting more people affordably insured; access, financial sustainability, and trust," Kuria noted.
The Accident Investigation Bureau, Nigeria (AIB-N), is to provide technical support for the setting up of the Sierra Leone Aircraft Accident Incident Investigation Bureau (SL-AAIIB).

This followed the conclusion of a recent two-day fact-finding mission to the Sierra Leone Aircraft Accident Incident Investigation Bureau (SL-AAIIB) by the AIB-N.

This is the second time AIB-N will be assisting member countries in the sub-region to establish their independent investigation agencies.

It would be recalled that the Bureau offered similar support to the Gambia in establishing its accident investigation agency.

The agency, which is now rated as a regional leader in aircraft accident investigation has also assisted Sao Tome and Principe to conduct investigation into an aircraft crash.

The team led by Mr Adeniji Oni examined the Establishment of SL-AAIIB, Development of Legislation, Regulations, Manuals and Guidance Materials.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested four officials from the Ministry of Lands in Mzuzu over allegations of corruption and bribery.

The quadraplet is accused of corruptly receiving MK1, 800, 000. 00 from Benjamin Jere as payment for a piece of a land at Area 4 in Mzuzu.

ACB Principal Public Relations Officer, Egritta Ndala, identified the four as Khwima Mkandawire, Chisomo Chawanje, Richard Sumayili and Adiel Tsambewe.

Ndala disclosed that the suspects appeared in court today where they have been granted bail.

This is not the first time for officials at the Ministry of Lands to be embroiled in shady land deals.

Recently, the law enforcement agencies nabbed a horde of a certain political party officials who have been swindling the Malawi Government by setting up a separate office where they were processing fake title deeds.

The lands cartel had its offices in the uptown residential Area 9 in Lilongwe.

Among them were officials from the ministry and a Malawian of Asian origin.

Although the police pounced on the cartel, the direction of the case is not yet known to date.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni announced plans to start refilling 25,000 oxygen cylinders daily to meet the rising demand from Covid-19 patients.

Mr Museveni was speaking Friday at the country's national prayers against the Covid-19 pandemic held at State House Entebbe.

The President said regional and national referral hospitals will refill the cylinders through installed oxygen plants to keep pace with the novel coronavirus patients.

Uganda is facing a nationwide medical oxygen shortage due to a surge in the number of Covid-19 patients in High Dependency Units and Intensive Care Units.

"Right now the numbers (of Covid-19 patients) is more than triple than our production," said Diana Atwine, permanent secretary at the ministry of health.

On June 16, the World Health Organization and the country's health ministry announced plans to import medical oxygen as a virulent second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to devastate the country.

Uganda on Friday registered 1,025 new confirmed cases of Covid-19, bringing the national tally of infections to 76,562 in the east African country, according to the official figures.
Luanda  Angola's ruling MPLA party has appealed to the organisers of the protests to always observe the principles of democracy that allow the achievement of power.

The appeal was launched by the first secretary of MPLA in Luanda, Bento Bento, while addressing a rally to praise the party's leader, Joao Lourenco on Saturday.

He also appealed to the activists to put aside the destabilisation campaigns intended to destroy MPLA and instigate violence, in violation of the Constitution.

Pointing to various groups, attempting to create mayhem by staging protest aimed at forcing the president of the ruling MPLA party to leave power, Bento Bento recalled that there are democratic ways that allow anyone to reach the leadership of the country, saying that one of these means is through elections.

According to the politician, this kind of demonstration is a genuine violation of the country's Constitution.

He reiterated the commitment of the party's militants to stand with their leader, in what the politician believes that the MPLA continues united toward the victory in 2022.

After reiterating the support for the ongoing reforms, aimed at fighting against corruption, nepotism, Bento Bento mentioned the upcoming challenges that include the national reconciliation, development, reduction of the commodity prices and the construction of more schools and hospitals.

The event took place in nine municipalities of Luanda and marked by cultural activities and encouraging speeches on the policies launched by the Executive focused on combat the corruption.
At least 3,000 families in Bamburi, Mombasa County, face eviction after losing a land ownership court case to a private developer.

The ruling by the Environment and Land Court in Mombasa allowing the eviction of the squatters could see residential houses, churches and mosques demolished and families left homeless.

Most of the affected residents had in 2008 unknowingly purchased plots on the 12-acre tract from conmen claiming to own it. They then built homes, shops and places of worship.

But Justice Sila Munyao has slapped them with a three-month eviction notice after finding that they could not explain when they entered the property and why they deserve to be declared its owners by way of adverse possession.

"I have absolutely no evidence touching on the possession of the land by the defendants. In fact, any reference to their possession of the land is very vague and unsubstantiated," he said.

Justice Munyao also noted that the defendants had failed to provide specific details about when they entered the property.

Court records show that some of the squatters claimed they entered the property in the 1930s and or were born sometime in the 1940s, while others entered in 1990.

"Now, it is not pointed out who entered the plot in 1930, who was born here in the 1940s or who entered the land in 1990," the judge noted.

Any person claiming adverse possession, the court said, cannot merely state that they have been on the land for more than 12 years and hope that the court is going to speculate in their favour.

The judge, therefore, ordered the defendants to vacate the property within 90 days, failing which the registered owners are at liberty to apply for their eviction.

The squatters were barred from undertaking any developments or improvement of structures on the land during the 90-day period.

In their claim, Amina Shamaweya Mwinyi, who testified on their behalf, said they had built homes on their respective portions of the land and live there with their families.

She claimed that in 1980, the Land Control Board gave the registered owner of the property consent to sell it, on the condition that the squatters be compensated but that was not done.

"We had peaceful possession, occupation, and use of our respective land portions with the knowledge of the plaintiffs, who did not authorise us to enter and occupy the property," she said.

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She said she entered the property in 1993 after she requested unidentified people to give her a portion to live on and cultivate. She said she had never seen the alleged owners on the land.

An affidavit sworn by an Ephraim Baya (now said to be deceased) indicates that he had lived on the property since 1978 with some of the defendants.

Harshit Mulvantari Rawal, who testified on behalf of the late Lalitchandra Pandya said the latter bought the property for Sh210,000 from Miguel Cassio and Hamilton Antao, the previous registered owners.

He said they used the land for horticultural farming and sometimes planted maize and beans.

"But in 2005, the land was invaded by strangers who claimed compensation. We, however, secured the land after engaging security officers," he said.

The complainant noted that since then, there had been waves of squatter invasions, prompting them to file the court case and have them evicted after previous attempts failed.

He rejected claims that the squatters have been on the land for more than 12 years.

The case was filed by Pandya and Pravin Rameshchandra in 2006, and in 2008, about 100 squatters filed another case, seeking a determination on whether they were entitled to be declared owners of the land by way of adverse possession.

bocharo@ke.nationmedia.com
For over 15 years, Joseph Mutai used water from a dam on his four-acre farm for domestic consumption and for feeding his cattle. But in the last four months, he has had to fetch water from a local river, some two kilometres away.

The water in the dam in Kamureito village, Sotik constituency, Bomet County, is no longer fit for human consumption due to pollution caused by a company crushing quarry stones and burning tar for resealing potholes on the Bomet-Kalpong highway.

"It is not only air pollution that we are faced with due to billowing smoke and dust but we are also affected by sound pollution and the company management has declined to heed our pleas.

The plant was set up without public participation," Mr Mutai said.

Mr Mutai, who along with fellow villagers showed reporters around the area, said he was contemplating suing the company for compensation due to the adverse effects on the dam water and crops on his farm.

Residents have complained that dust from the site has harmed their vegetables, which they said they could not harvest as some have stunted growth.

In the last four months, said Robert Tonui, several cases of respiratory infections had been reported and pleas to the company - Saxon Ltd - to address the matter had gone unheeded.

"We are not opposed to development, but that should not be at the expense of the health and economic well-being of the people," he said.

Whenever it rains, a discharge is washed down to farms, with some finding its way to dams that residents have used as a source of water for years.

Another resident, Erick Towet, said the activities at the plant have become a nuisance and the plant was set up without public participation.

"There is a lot of pollution with the release of untreated sludge into the environment, but our pleas to various government agencies have gone unheeded. Our health is more important than the so-called development brought by the setting up of the site," he said.

Residents have been repeatedly turned away from entering the site to raise their grievances with the management, something that has created tension in the area, Kiplangat Koech.

The plant is next to the Kamureito chief's office, whose roofs have been coated with dust from the site. Smoke also wafts into the office as the administrator serves the public.

The issues raised by residents, said nominated MCA Leonard Ngeny, should be addressed as the firm's management was operating with impunity without regard to the effects of what they do on the environment.

"This conflict could have been resolved had the company management opened up and engaged residents on the issues. It is evident that there is pollution in the area as a result of the activities in the plant and the residents are aggrieved due to the losses and potential harm to their health," he said.

Environmental watchdog Nema has ordered the closure of the site, saying it was set up without public participation, which is a requirement under the law.

The order is contained in a June 2021 letter - NEMA/ORDER/12/21 - seen by Nation.Africa to the regional director of the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA).

The letter says that the material crushing and storage site at Kamureito for the construction of the Kaplong-Bomet road should be closed.

A ground inspection by Nema officers found that the ongoing expansion and repairs of the highway are being done without the required Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports as required by the Environmental Management and Coordination Act (EMCA) 1999.

It also found that the setting up of the plant was in violation of the law and that excess emissions of smoke and gas from the site contravened the constitutional rights of access to a clean and healthy environment for all (residents).

"Excess discharge of toxic water or other pollutants into the environment without the requisite Effluent Discharge License (EDL) by the Environmental Management and Coordination Act (Water Quality Regulations, 2006)," states the letter, signed by Samuel Ondeng, the Bomet County director of environment, as one of the reasons for the Nema order.

The Environment Act states that "every person in Kenya is entitled to a clean and healthy environment and has a duty to safeguard and enhance the environment".

Nema officers are said to have repeatedly been turned away from the site during their inspection, which is violation of the law that states that any person obstructing an inspection to conduct such an exercise is liable to two years' imprisonment or a fine of Sh500,000 or both.

The Act further states that any person who fails to prepare an environmental impact assessment report is liable to two years' imprisonment, a fine of Sh2 million or both.

Although the company was ordered to stop the operation for violating environmental laws, it was still operating last Tuesday morning, with trucks delivering materials while billowing smoke and dust emanated from the facility.

The Nema order had clearly stated that "anybody found on site, day or night will be arrested and charged according to the provision of the law".

But an armed police officer in uniform guarded the facility along with private guards while residents and the media were not allowed in.

Three employees, who did not divulge their names (but were captured on camera) claimed the company had Nema certification but did not show it to reporters.

They also said that public participation had been conducted by the administration even as members of the local community and their leaders disputed it.

It is a requirement for signage to be erected at such a facility stating the name of the company carrying out the activities and Nema certification, but none could be seen.

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Peter Mundinia, the director-general of KeNHA, on Tuesday confirmed that the complaints from the local community and the Nema directive had reached his office.

"The issues raised in the Nema report along with the complaints from the local community on pollution are being addressed so that the work in progress towards resealing of the road is not affected," he said.

Answering questions from journalists while on a tour of the Kericho-Kisumu interchange, he said it would be improper to pollute the environment.

"I'm confident that the issues raised have substantially been addressed so as to protect the environment and minimise conflict with the communities whose interests and well-being come first," he added.

But even as steps are being taken to address the issues, the company has defied Nema orders that it stop operations until it complies with environmental laws.

"That a private company can defy government directives and continue to pollute the environment speaks volumes about the impunity it operates with. It raises questions as to who the people pulling strings behind the scenes are," said Kipruto Ngeno, a human rights activist.

Nema officers confirmed to Nation.Africa that they have been turned away repeatedly from inspecting the facility.

nenyonn@gmail.com
Khartoum  The first Khartoum international documentary film festival will open at the Friendship Hall here on 7 July under the motto "The documentary film is the memory of the people".

All Sudanese living inside or outside the country have been invited to present their documentary films as of 10 June.

Films submissions will continue at the festival's technical committee venue at the Salon for Creativity and Culture at the Almulazmeen suburb of Omdurman until 5 July.

Online entry forms can also be sent through the website: Kidff.com.

Each participant is allowed to participate with just one film.

Festival prizes will carry the names of four influential Sudanese film directors:

The first prize (worth 750,000 Sudanese pounds) is named after the late filmmaker Director, Jadalla Jubara.

The second prize of 600,000 pounds carries the name of film director Ibrahim Shaddad, while the third prize (worth 350,000 pounds) is dedicated to amateur filmmakers and carries the name of the late film director Tariq Fraijoun.

The fourth prize (worth 250,000 pounds) is open for competition by students from communication and multimedia colleges and is named after director Abdelrahman Najdi.

Festival president Salah Hassan Mudawwi considered the event an opportunity to reflect Sudan's distinct civilizations and cultures and its vast natural resources that need to be promoted and acquaint the World with.

Documentary film production had started in Sudan since the British colonial era when many of Sudan's major monuments and events have been documented.
Poland says it will soon launch a regular exhibition in Kenya to commemorate the life and influence of its refugees who settled in the country and the region after World War II.

Visiting Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Pawe Jabonski said Friday that his country will organise regular exhibitions as soon as the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic is reduced.

This is part of the country's cultural relations with Kenya and Africa, and will help the countries remember the thousands of Polish refugees who were brought to Africa to find peace after the war.

"This is an interesting part of history. Not much is known in Poland or Kenya. [The history shows the] strong relations between our nations, even before Kenya gained independence," he told a press conference at the National Museums of Kenya.

Mr Jabonsk, who earlier visited Tanzania, was in Nairobi for meetings with Kenyan officials.

At NMK, he attended exhibitions about Kenya's history after meeting with Principal Curator Joyce Kinyanjui.

He then proceeded to Kiambu County, where he toured projects his government has funded.

What happened

Poland, occupied during World War II and whose government was exiled in London, became a battleground for rival Nazi and Soviet forces.

The war resulted in a huge number of civilians and captured Polish soldiers being imprisoned by the Soviets, who had defeated the Nazis.

By 1939, official records indicate more than 320,000 Poles had been detained and sent to camps in remote parts of the Soviet Union.

In July 1941 in London, the Soviets and the Polish government signed the Sikorski-Mayski agreement, which provided for the freeing of thousands of refugees, in exchange for allowing Poland to form its army.

Some historians argue the deal allowed Poland to organise its own nascent government but boosted the Soviet push to annihilate the Nazis.

As a result, thousands of Poles remained exiled abroad.

Some of those freed from Soviet camps were brought to Africa in an arrangement by the then British colonial empire.

The estimated 20,000 refugees, mostly children, settled in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe [then known as Northern and Southern Rhodesia, respectively].

Strong ties

In Kenya, the refugees settled in Nairobi, Makindu and Mombasa.

Most of them later migrated to the West while others remained, working in various sectors of the then colonial Kenya.

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In the past, Poland, which is now a member of the European Union, has enhanced cultural connections with Kenya through annual film festivals and music while the National Archives in Kenya has stored tons of documents about the arrival, life and influence of Polish refugees.

One such polish film, known as 'Hiding and Seeking', which was shown in Kenya, reflected on the journey of Poles and Jews displaced from their country.

"We have learnt a lot about Kenya's rich history. What was really inspiring to me was the struggle for independence from colonial rule," the Polish deputy minister told journalists.

"Poland is one of the European countries that has never had any colonies and was actually colonized. We were under foreign rule so we share the same emotion and history as we also fought for our independence," he said.

"This really evokes our national spirit. Kenya and Poland have very many strong traits. Our nations are very strong together and even though we are far apart, I'm sure we will bring our nations closer together through exchanges in diplomacy, culture and a (shared) history."

dngila@ke.nationmedia.com
A two-week campaign aimed at kicking out measles from Garissa County has been launched.

More than 165,000 infants are set to benefit as the measles, and rubella vaccination exercise kicks off in the county today. The exercise will target nine months to four and a half years age group.

Deputy Director for preventive health services, Ibrahim Gedi said the exercise will be conducted in all sub counties at the respective health centers.

"The sub counties are fully prepared for the vaccination exercise. Inclusive of health centers, immunization will also be happening in special tent sites. We will also have our officers visiting households and schools," he said.

He urged parents to take the opportunity as many of them avoid visiting health centers for the vaccination, which is readily available thus risking lives of many underage children.

Ministry of Health representative Dr Tabitha Okech said the children were getting infected with measles disease through their mothers, adding that the vaccination against the disease is critical.

Northeastern regional commissioner assured locals to turn up for the exercise adding that security will be beefed up.

"Parents, religious leaders, civil society, the provincial administration, teachers and health officials will be key in the success of the two weeks exercise. The vaccination is free, so let us ensure our children are vaccinated against measles, which has become a burden disease to the society and brought health complications," said Ignatius Mukabwa, an administrator from the regional office.

Vitamin A supplement will also be made available during the exercise to boost the immunity system of the children.

Ministry of Health on Friday launched a free vaccination campaign against measles and Rubella diseases targeting 3.5 million children under the age of five years in 22 counties.

Speaking during the launch, Health CAS Dr Mercy Mwangangi said with the ongoing pandemic most children have been exposed to preventable diseases since parents have avoided visiting health centers hindering maternal services.

"With the onset of the pandemic, 2.1 million children are at a risk of contracting measles and rubella diseases," she said.
Tunis/Tunisia  Tourism and Handicrafts Minister Habib Ammar and a delegation from the French parliament discussed at a meeting Sunday in Tunis ways to boost tourism between Tunisia and France.

During the meeting, which was attended by tourism professionals, Ammar laid emphasis on the COVID-19 health measures implemented by the Tunisian government to curb the spread of the coronavius so as to ensure the success of the summer season in the country, reads a statement from the Tourism Ministry.

The measures included the launch of the vaccination campaign destined to tourism professionals as well as the implementation of health protocols ensuring the safety of tourists.

The minister reiterated the importance of the French market in Tunisia with 900,000 touristsreceived in 2019, pointing out that with the resumption of the tourist activity in 2022, the sector could achieve a goal of one million French tourists in the upcoming years.

During the meeting, a presentation was made on the ministry's future strategy focusing on improving existing services as well as promoting cultural and alternative tourism.

French MPs expressed their county's willingness to support Tunisia during the coranavirus pandemic as well as promoting the Tunisian destination in France.
Tunis/Tunisia  The online launch of the 2nd phase of the project "Promotion of Export Activities to New Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa" (PEMA II), is scheduled for June 29, the Export Promotion Centre (CEPEX) said Sunday.

The PEMA project is implemented by GIZ, under the mandate of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), in cooperation with the Ministry of Trade and Export Development and the Export Promotion Center (CEPEX).

The goal is to enable more Tunisian SMEs tap into the commercial potential of the new markets in sub-Saharan Africa.

The project offers a range of business services. The emphasis is on business partnerships within consortia, the development of new markets, digital approaches, networking as well as promoting public-private dialogue. More precisely, the project calls for promoting women-led businesses which are under-represented in the export sector.

The project has already helped 4 export consortia develop a strategy to boost trade with sub-Saharan Africa. Within the framework of these consortia, several companies are joining forces to better position themselves together on foreign markets. The consortia are: Tunisia Building Partners (building), Taste Tunisia (agrifood), Tunisia Health Alliance (health) and Get'IT (information and communication).

To facilitate trade between Tunisia and sub-Saharan Africa, the project is creating appropriate services in cooperation with CEPEX. Through this, companies have better access to African markets. This involves creating a range of services for business leaders, developing new digital services and organising exchange formats with African companies.

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Together with the Ministry of Trade and Export Development, the project team improves communication channels and creates formats for public-private dialogue. The goal is to involve Tunisian SMEs in the negotiations and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and COMESA. Regional cooperation with other countries has to increase so as to provide export opportunities for Tunisian companies.

Tunisian exports are limited to a few geographical areas: In 2018, the Mediterranean region attracted nearly three quarters of national exports, while only 3% were destined to sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, countries of the south of the Sahara have recorded remarkable growth in recent years.

Following Tunisia's accession to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Tunisia's exports have had duty-free access to fifteen African countries since January 2020.

Likewise, the application of the AfCFTA in 2020 could further boost trade between Tunisia and the rest of Africa, as in the years to come, a gradual lifting of customs barriers is expected.
Tunis/Tunisia  A full lockdown is planned in Greater Bizerte amid a spike in COVID-19 cases and a potential excess of 400 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, Governor of Bizerte Mohamed Gouider told TAP Sunday.

This measure could be taken during the next meeting of the regional committee to combat disasters, said the governor, adding the full lockdown will involve the delegations of North Bizerte, South Bizerte, Zarzouna and Menzel Jemil.

Amid the spread of the virus, oxygen-supported beds will be increased from 195 to 300 distributed in various hospitals of the region, Gouider added, noting that awareness campaigns will be stepped up in various localities of the governorate.

Two vaccination centers will be set up in Mateur and Ras Jebel to vaccinate people aging 60, Head of the Local Health Directorate of Bizerte Ibtissem Blanco told TAP.
A 32-YEAR-OLD woman was this week sentenced in the Mariental Magistrate's Court to a fine of N$3 000 or six months' imprisonment for child neglect.

The woman, Ester Garoes, was sentenced on Tuesday, after she admitted that she abandoned her four-month-old baby girl without any adult supervision for four days in April.

Garoes, who informed the court she is employed casually as a domestic worker, is currently in prison, as she could not pay the fine.

She told the court that she left her baby at home with no adult supervision for four days when she went to visit her boyfriend on 8 April.

The court was also informed that Garoes has three other children, aged 18, 13 and two.

She was arrested after a neighbour who suspected that something was amiss as Garoes' baby had been crying for days on end had called the police.

Social workers at Mariental have taken Garoes' children into their care.

"Yes, I knew it was wrong when I left the child, not in a bad condition, but I just wanted to go for a short while," said Garoes, a resident of the Hardap plots near Mariental.

She also said she had a drinking problem and was not able to take good care of her children. Given her circumstances, she did not have an objection to her baby being placed in the care of a paternal aunt, Garoes said.

Public prosecutor Loide Nghixulifwa told the court that a social worker will be tasked to ensure that the rest of Garoes' children are also placed in good care.
THE Ongwediva Town Council has embarked on a project to connect homes at the northern town's Extension 15 to its sewer system at no cost to residents who would benefit from the move.

The project will cost the town council about N$8 million, Ongwediva mayor Tarah Shalyefu said during a media briefing on Wednesday.

"This project will allow residents to connect to the sewer system [and] thereby cease to make use of septic tanks in the area," Shalyefu said.

The project will cover about 310 erven and is running over a period of seven months from May to November.

Shalyefu said the project came as a result of consultations between residents of Extension 15 and the town council over the past years.

He added that the town council is committed to making basic services such as water, electricity, land and a sewer system available to Ongwediva residents within the limits of available resources.

"Last year August, council handed over the sewer system to the residents of Reception 3 and further implemented a payment holiday on sewer connection applications. The payment holiday ended in January 2021 with only 57 residents benefiting, of which 28 are from Reception 3, which has about 113 houses," he said.

"This is disappointing," Shalyefu remarked. He added that the town council has decided to extend the sewer connection payment holiday for six months, from June to November, with the aim of improving sanitation at Ongwediva by extending the town's sewer network.

Shalyefu called on residents with a sewer network installed in their areas to apply to have their properties connected to the network free of charge before the payment holiday ends in November.
editorial

Uganda's experiment with the market-driven healthcare seems to have borne mixed results. The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the shortcomings of this system and shows the need for government to regain control from for-profit healthcare providers whose primary interest is making money.

Over the past few days, there has been public outrage over the exorbitant amount of money private health facilities are charging Covid-19 patients, some charging as much as Shs5 million per day.

Although the owners of private hospitals this week agreed to review the charges after meeting Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja on Monday, the move comes after a lot of damage has already been done. Some families had to cough up to a tune of Shs100 million in the treatment of their loved ones.

And in the event that the patients do not pull through, their bodies are held by the hospitals until the dues are met in full.

The intervention of Col Edith Nakalema, the head of the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, again this week points to a gap in our public service system.

She convened the emergency meeting after her unit received close to 500 complaints from the public about private health facilities.

Only a days earlier, Col Nakalema was forced to intervene and restore sanity in public transport after bus owners took advantage of the pandemic to hike transport fares by five times on some routes.

But the State House Anti-Corruption Unit would have to be elevated to a whole ministry if it were to fix the wrongs in the market-driven economy today. Just after receiving news that private hospitals had asked State House for up to Monday to review the cost of treating Covid-19 patients, the Ministry of Health was warning health workers against administering oxygen to Covid-19 patients at home.

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Because of the crisis in hospitals, many patients are opting for private arrangements were they pay someone to administer the all-vital oxygen at their homes, sometimes even before assessing whether they need additional oxygen or not.

In the same week, State House refuted claims that President Museveni has cleared the developer of Covidex to start mass production of the medicine marketed as a "Covid-19 cure".

By press time yesterday, prayers were expected to be held virtually at State House Entebbe as the country seeks God's intervention over the raging pandemic that has so far infected more than 75,500 people and claimed 781 lives.

Our prayer is that government tightens regulation of private healthcare providers, especially during these trying times. For leaving patients exposed to the forces of demand and supply is only going to expose them to profiteers, quacks, and lock out the poor
The Masaka Chief Magistrate has issued a temporary injunction restraining the Masaka regional Kadhi, Sheikh Swaibu Ndugga, from carrying out his official duties.

The court order dated June 22, 2021 was issued by Mr Charles Yeteise, the Masaka Chief Magistrate.

This came after Sheikh Ahmad Kayemba, the suspended general secretary of Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) for Greater Masaka sub region dragged Sheikh Ndugga to court claiming that he is over 80 years which is against the UMSC Constitution.

In his application, Sheikh Kayemba claims he was duly elected as the general secretary on December 3, 2000, but Sheikh Ndugga no longer allows him to perform his duties and asks court to throw him (Ndugga) out of office, saying he is unfit for the position having already clocked the retirement age.

Through his lawyer Sumaya Nalunkuuma, Sheikh Kayemba also alleges that on May 5, 2009, the then District Kadhi late Sheikh Huzairu Kiruuta was removed from office by the district Muslim council after attaining the retirement age and Sheikh Ndugga was appointed acting district Kadhi, but since then, he has refused to relinquish office.

"Sheikh Ndugga was asked to vacate office, but he refused to do so and has illegally continued to perform the duties of the district Kadhi including carrying out administrative work like appointing imams, suspension of members of district executive committee and collecting rent from Muslim property among others," Sheikh Kayemba contends.

In his ruling, Mr Yeteise issued an intern order restraining Ndugga from suspending any member of the district executive committee, authorisation of collection of rent by anybody from the Muslim property and carrying out any administrative duty of the district Kadhi of Greater Masaka until further orders from court.

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But in an interview on Saturday Sheikh Ndugga said he will not respect the court injunction, insisting that Sheikh Kayemba was suspended after aiding the illegal sale of Muslim land in Sembabule District.

"That is why I decided to stop him from performing his duties as general secretary. He was also illegally withdrawing money from the Muslim bank account," he said.

Mr Yeteise however asked Sheikh Ndugga to appear before court on September 6, 2021 to respond to allegations leveled against him.

Sheikh Ndugga took over office following the retirement of the late Sheikh Huzair Kiruta , who had been in the position for more than 40 years. Although the late Kiruta was under the Old Kampala based UMSC administration, his successor [Sheikh Ndugga] switched allegiance to the Kibuli based Muslim faction.
Mr Elly Rwakoma, the photographer of three former Ugandan presidents is dead. According to his family, he breathed his last on the night of June 24 after suffering from diabetes.

Born in 1938, Teacher Rwakoma of the Baitira clan and a businessman of his time was a photographer for presidents Dr Apollo Milton Obote, Idi Amin Dada, and Godfrey Binaisa.

Throughout his life the enthusiastic social worker and photographer worked for the media industry, made school photographs, ran a studio, and documented his family extensively.

His associates say "he found preference in portraits of women and children. He was not afraid of trying out things."

Mr Rwakoma's photography thrilled his family, friends, and sections of Ugandans.

Early life

According to his book, All the Tricks, Mr Rwakoma started school in 1950 aged 12. He had been herding cattle for a long time.

After finishing P5 class, Mr Rwakoma lacked school fees for further studies and decided to move to Kampala- where he worked as a casual labourer for three months.

He used his earnings to buy a camera before returning to his home village in Bwera, Igara East, Bushenyi District to start making money from photography. This, he says, "later enabled him to go back to school and complete primary level."

He then joined Bishop Stuart College for a teaching course which he did while multi-tasking the lucrative photography business that helped him pay tuition and also afford luxuries like a watch and white stockings.

Between 1962-63, Mr Rwakoma being a community development assistant with a teaching background mobilized several youths and adults and taught them how to read and write. He was in 1964 posted to Jinja as an in-charge for Busoga District.

He was later seconded to lead Young Men Christian Association (YMCA) where he became an understudy of the then Director, Mr Moses Perry.

There, he did photography for side income and leisure. He liked photographing portraits of children and parties. Through networking, he joined the political arena.

Through this networks, he was incorporated into President Milton Obote's team because of his swift character and good work.

"Whenever Mr Obote came to visit the area, I would take his pictures. I would produce prints for the government workers and they would take the albums to Obote. Whenever he wanted to visit places, I would be called upon because my work was quick and good," Mr Rwakoma writes in his book.

At the time, he was working with a team of six photographers with cameras producing black and white pictures.

In 1968, Mr Rwakooma got a scholarship to study social work and social administration at Rochester University, United States of America. While in the US, he did a correspondence course at the New York School of Photography.

He was in the United States for two years and after returning to Uganda, he resigned from his job at YMCA to do photography as a business in Jinja town.

Fall out with President Idi Amin

After President Idi Amin took over power and expelled the Asians in 1972, many businesses were mismanaged and everything became expensive subjecting Mr Rwakoma to dependency on photography as his retail business was not sustainable. A few years later, Amin asked his team to look for Rwakoma and incorporate him in his media team saying his was good at photography.

Midway Amin's regime, Mr Rwakoma was forced into exile in Nairobi, Kenya- for fear of his life. He was accused of taking Mr Amin's 'swimming photo' and selling it to international media.

The photo was satirically captioned asking whether Amin was swimming or sinking in the water and in turn prompted a hunt for Mr Rwakoma by Amin's close aides.

Upon reaching Nairobi, he started doing mobile photography but was maliced by local photographers, who reported to authorities that he was not licensed to do business. He was then arrested and jailed for three days.

After his time in jail, Mr Rwakoma started using his car as a taxi but he did not make it since he spent much money bribing police officers to be allowed to operate in Kenya.

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In 1979, Mr Rwakoma returned from exile and resumed works as President Godfrey Binaisa's photographer.

One day, Rwakoma had gone to photograph a political rally for Mr Binaisa where current President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was also in attendance. There was an attempted assassination of Mr Binaisa. About thirty people were killed on the scene, but local media did not print his photos because they never wanted the story to run and be publicised.

Several days later, Mr Binaisa was toppled and Rwakoma quietly retired into farming until he breathed his last on Thursday.

Family man

According to the deceased's wife, Ms Stella Rwakoma: "He was a family man who cared so much for everyone. Through his photography, he ensured that his family never lacked memories about the past."

Mr Rwakoma's son, Mr Eria Kukundakwe says their father was a man of love and he liked making peace with everyone.

"Our father was a friend to many and he could host people from both within Uganda and abroad. He always told us that there is nothing wrong in doing good," he said.

Mr Rwakoma is survived by 12 children and two wives.
Abuja  The Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives and a former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, yesterday congratulated the former Group Chief Executive Officer of Transcorp Plc, Valentine Ozigbo, on his emergence as the standard bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the November 6, 2021, Anambra State governorship election.

The caucus in a statement issued by its leader, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, commended other aspirants for their display of the spirit of sportsmanship leading to the successful conduct of the primary for the election.

It, therefore, charged all the aspirants and critical stakeholders of the party in the state to quickly come together and present a formidable common front that would lead the party to victory in the election.

The lawmakers said: "Given the popularity of our party and candidate in this election, I have no iota of doubt that with the concerted effort of all, nothing will be in the way of the PDP to take over governance in Anambra State on November 6, 2021, in line with the wishes and aspiration of the Anambra people. Once more, congratulations to the PDP and the people of Anambra State."

Meanwhile, Saraki, while congratulating Ozigbo on his victory in a statement signed on his behalf by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, also appealed to leaders of the PDP across the state to rally round the candidate so as to ensure victory for the party in the election.

Saraki noted that Ozigbo emerged from a keenly contested primary election, and that his emergence would definitely ruffle some feathers in some quarters.

He urged the candidate to be magnanimous in victory and immediately commence reaching out to all his co-aspirants in order to ensure that they all work together as a team for the victory of the party in the gubernatorial election.

According to the statement, "Ozigbo must let all his co-aspirants know that there is 'no victor and no vanquished' in the just concluded primary election. The victory is for our great party, and his immediate efforts should be geared towards convincing all that he is a team player and ready to work with them to ensure victory for the party that can best represent the interest of the Anambra people."
The fifth edition of Aswan International Women Film Festival (AIWFF) opened on Thursday 24/6/2021 in this charming Upper Egyptian city with the participation of 12 feature films and 14 short ones focusing on women's rights and causes.

"It's an exceptional edition that is held in difficult conditions the whole world is going through," said Hassan Abo el-Ela, the festival's director. "We work on two parallel directions: the cinema in general and the women's causes in particular."

Egyptian, Arab and international filmmakers, actors and actresses gathered on the red carpet at the front yard of a hotel in Aswan on the bank of the Nile River, during the gala that was held under the proper anti-coronavirus precautionary measures.

The festival also honored Egyptian actress Elham Shahin, NCW's chairwoman Maya Morsi, Egyptian young filmmaker Sandra Nashaat, Palestinian filmmaker Najwa Najjar and others.

The festival doesn't only screen films but also holds workshops to develop the filmmaking skills of the youth in Aswan and Upper Egypt in general. A referendum on the best 100 films on women in the Arab cinema will be organized for this year's edition.

The 5th edition of Aswan International Women Film Festival revealed the names of its Jury members for the Euro-Mediterranean Film Competition sponsored by the European Union in Egypt in collaboration with EUNIC Egypt.

The jury head is Palestinian director and writer Najwa Najjar, Moroccan reporter and Casablanca Film Festival Director Fatma El Nawaly, Egyptian Actor Sherif Ramzy and Egyptian Director and Producer Sherif Mandour.

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Aswan International Women Film Festival announced that its Jury for the Short Film International Competition will house Egyptian star Hana Shiha, Greek Director Ioana Kriona and Syrian-Dutch Artistic Director of the Arab Film Festival in Rotterdam Rosh Abdelfatah.

The festival management decided to honor the iconic French actress Macha Meril at its opening ceremony that will take place on June 24-29 in Aswan, Egypt.

Born in Rabat, Morocco to a father from the Russian princely house Gagarin and mother from a noble Ukranian family, her career in cinema has included 125 films between 1959 and 2012.

Actress and director, she is best known for her roles in Dario Argento's Deep Red (1975), Luis Bunuel's Belle de Jour (1967) and Agnes Varda's Vagabond (1985).
The General Egyptian Book Organization's preparations are afoot for the launch of the 52nd Cairo International Book Fair, which is scheduled to run from June 30 to July 15, 2021.

The 2021 fair will be held under the slogan "In Reading is Life", and will take place from 30 June to 15 July.

The book fair will be held at Egypt International Exhibition Center in Cairo's Fifth Settlement.

About 25 countries from four continents are set to take part in the fair with the participation of 1,218 Egyptian and foreign publishers.

Minister of Culture Inas Abdel Dayem confirmed that Egypt will increase the number of exhibition's days, in order to support the book and publishing industry.

The minister stressed that the fair will adhere to all precautionary measures against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, in addition to applying the electronic reservation system to facilitate exhibition visitors.

She also issued directives to launch the "Your Culture is Your Book" initiative during the fair, which includes hundreds of books from different publishing houses, with all books under this initiative EGP 20 or below

Electronic reservation to attend the event will be available through the official website, to determine the numbers of entries and exits. This aims to prevent congestion at the gates, as is the case with major international exhibitions and fairs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year's Fair will honour late Egyptian writer Yehia Haqqi, who is considered the father of the short story in Egypt and one of the pioneers of the contemporary short story format in the Arab world.

Spain will participate in the 52nd edition of the Cairo International Book Fair which will be held from June 30 to July 15, the Spanish embassy said.

In a press release, the embassy added that Spanish Ambassador to Egypt Ramon Gil Casares will attend the inauguration of the fair.

Spain's participation in the event is meant to underline keenness on enhancing ties with Egyptian and Arab publishing houses, the embassy said, highlighting Egypt's position as a center for translating books.
The third edition of The Big 5 Construct Egypt 2021 will host more than 180 construction brands from over 18 countries, alongside 35 free-to-attend education workshops and newly launched features The Big 5 Egypt Leadership Conference and The Big 5 Impact Awards.

The event which comes with the support of the Ministry of Housing, Utilities & Urban Communities, Egypt, are held at the Cairo International Convention Center during June 26-29.

The Big 5 Construct Egypt will be open to visitors from 26th of June at 11AM and will showcase the latest construction products, services, and insights until 29th June 2021.

Sponsored by Egypt's Ministry of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities, the event will also offer 35 free workshops, a conference, and an award ceremony.

The third edition of Egypt's most prominent construction event will open its doors at 11 am. The event will be home to more than 180 construction brands from over 18 countries.

Muhammed Kazi, Vice President at event organizer DMG events, says: "It has been some time since we have been able to welcome the industry to live events and we are delighted to be back in Cairo next week. Egypt continues to present great opportunities for construction professionals and The Big 5 Construct Egypt is the perfect platform for the community to safely reconnect to revitalize business activities, rebuild partnerships, and network with peers, all by meeting face-to-face."

The event offers free-to-attend CPD certified talks across several critical themes including BIM, Sustainability and Project management, presenting a unique opportunity for visitors to stay up to date on trends in the sector while gaining continuing professional development points.

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Additionally, the expo will host for the first time The Big 5 Egypt Leadership Conference, scheduled to welcome an exclusive line-up of African Ministers and local experts over three days to explore the sector's future contribution toward economic growth and diversification in Egypt.

Finally, The Big 5 Egypt Impact Awards Ceremony will also take place for the first time. The ceremony will acknowledge industry success in construction across 19 categories, shining a light on Egypt's most outstanding construction & infrastructure projects, leaders and young construction professionals, and feats of inclusion and diversity.The Big 5 Construct Egypt will bring together an international audience of serious buyers and local and overseas suppliers for a unique opportunity to put your company at the center of the country's new economic prosperity.

The Big 5 Construct Egypt is set to take place at Egypt's International Exhibition Center. This leading international construction event will bring together influential decision-makers, innovators and suppliers from the region and beyond for four days of business and networking opportunities.

The country's booming construction market has placed itself as the leading contributor to GDP growth in the region, with 473 billion dollars' worth of active projects in North Africa and more than 366 billion dollars worth of projects lie in Egypt.
Emigration Minister Nabila Makram said an event will be launched on September 25 to collect donations from Egyptian expats in the US and Canada for the presidential initiatives of Decent Life and Survival Boats.

In a statement on Sunday, the minister said the event will be organized under the auspices of Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli.

Makram made the remarks during a meeting with a delegation of the Ministry of Planning, members of Decent Life Foundation and Laila Pence, the president and co-founder of Pence Wealth Management, and one of America's top wealth advisors.

Pence was also recognized in Forbes as a 2021 Best-In-State wealth advisor.

Makram underlined the importance of promoting cooperation to encourage Egyptian expats to invest in their homeland to benefit from the economic development realized.

She referred to several success stories of Egyptian expats who invested in Egypt.

Head of the Planning Ministry's regional planning sector Laila Maghib said the government is keen on promoting economic growth and realizing progress in villages nationwide.

She said the ministry launched several promising projects in various Egyptian governorates.

Meanwhile, members of Decent Life Foundation delegation said the presidential initiative of Decent Life has since its launch implemented many projects.

The delegation noted that the initiative also aims to eradicate digital illiteracy and develop health, education and housing services in various parts of the country.

For her part, Pence hailed the development realized in Egypt in various domains, stressing that Egypt is witnessing a new era that requires cooperation of all parties.

She underlined the importance of keeping Egyptian expats updated about the achievements being realized in Egypt, especially as the investment climate is promising.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi affirmed Egypt's supportive stance to Iraq's unity and its efforts to restore security and stability along with keenness on enhancing its role in the Arab region, pledging Cairo's full backing to the Iraqi people in all fields at the bilateral level or through a tripartite cooperation involving Iraq, Egypt and Jordan, Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi said.

The Egyptian president's remarks were made during his meeting on Sunday with Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohammad al-Halbousi as part of his current visit to Iraq.

During the meeting, Sisi noted that Egypt's backing to Iraq comes within the framework of its policy based on entrenching the principle of uniting ranks with the aim of achieving stability, prosperity and progress for all sisterly Arab countries.

Sisi stressed the depth and mightiness of relations binding Egypt and Iraq at all levels, expressing appreciation of the Egyptian people and government to Iraq in view of its central role in the region and based on its outstanding civilization and history.

Egypt is very keen on continuing work in order to promote ties with Iraq in all fields especially the parliamentary one, Sisi noted.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi speaker welcomed the historic visit by President Sisi to Baghdad, asserting that it could contribute to expanding horizons of cooperation between the two sides at all levels.

Halbousi also asserted that Iraq has cherished its close historic ties with Egypt, praising its role in maintaining the security and stability of Iraq and the whole Arab region.

He also said Iraq is looking forward to promoting relations between the two countries especially in the parliamentary domain, taking into consideration the long expertise and history of the Egyptian parliament.
Minister of Interior Mahmoud Tawfiq received on Sunday 27/6/2021 his Yemeni counterpart Ibrahim Ali Hidan currently visiting Egypt at the head of a high-level Yemeni delegation to boost partnership relations between the interior ministries in the two countries and discuss issues of mutual concern.

The Yemeni minister appreciated Egypt's stances supporting the stability of political and security conditions in Yemen, affirming that Yemen's security agencies look forward to more security cooperation with their Egyptian counterparts to face the challenges including the phenomena of terrorism and extremism.

He stressed the importance of developing framework of security cooperation and bilateral ties between the two countries to face the challenges.

The Yemeni minister also welcomed expanding aspects of security cooperation in the field of training.

The two sides agreed to continue coordination and consultation on security challenges.
Abuja  The Group Head, Emerging Businesses, Access Bank Plc, Mrs. Ayodele Olojede, has said the bank remains committed to the growth and development of the micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) in the economy.

She also urged small enterprises to take advantage of the bank's resource channels to get information and improve on their skills adding that the institution is committed to providing quality capacity building services to emerging MSMEs.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 2021 National MSME Discourse, themed: "Little Beginnings: Huge Impact," she pointed out that supporting the MSMEs growth and development had been a core proposition for the bank.

"We are very willing to partner with our very committed entities who seek to also support the growth and development of MSMEs, she said.

In an interview with THISDAY, Olojede, who earlier participated in a panel discussion on "Facilitating and Growing a Sustainable MSME Space in Nigeria", said despite available financing opportunities for small businesses, access remained a problem.

According to her, financing requires preparation on the part MSMEs as well as commitment of the financial institutions.

She said there's currently a disconnect whereby a lot of the financial institutions do not support small businesses in a committed manner, "because they don't understand the market well enough and they do not know how to de-risk it. And so they are always shying away from financing that segment".

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She however, stressed that the bank had continuously invested in understanding the MSMEs segment.

According to her: "We have partnered with organisations both local and international to be able to build our competences through technical assistance programmes that is helping us daily to de-risk the segment and that gives us confidence daily to be able to expand our footprint within that segment."

Commenting on the need for MSMEs to have the required competences to run a successful business venture,

Olojede said: "Anybody can have money. There are so many people that have money but their businesses still fail.

"And the reason their businesses fail is the lack of commitment or lack of understanding on the part of the business owner.

"So you can be a manufacturer who understands or be very skillful on how to produce certain items but not have the requisite management, financial skills to sail and these are very important and critical elements that could help the business succeed beyond financing."

She added: "Some things are attitudinal and not financing: if I give somebody money and the person does not have the positive mindset, once there's a little bit of challenge, because there will be challenges, that business cannot be successful."

She stressed that there are several problems constraining the performances of small businesses of which finance is just one of them.
Julud  Armed Reserve Department soldiers, formerly known as the Popular Defense Forces (PDF), killed four farmers and injured other three near Julud village, which lies 45 km to the southwest of Delling in South Kordofan, on May 26.

The reason for the violence is "unknown", according to Sudanese Human Rights and Development Organisation (HUDO), which published a statement on Saturday.

The farmers were shot while they were returning to the village from their farms.

Regaieg Said Mandu, Arif Elias Arif, Juma Zakaria Eljak, and Ramadan Naser Eldoud were killed. Abuzaid Gibril, Zakaria Sawag Juma, and Elsheikh Mohamed were injured.

No case was filed, according to HUDO, because Julud is located within the territory of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) faction of Abdelaziz El Hilu.

HUDO regularly reports about people attacked by militiamen in South Kordofan and Blue Nile state.

Militia dissolved

In June 2020, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) dissolved the PDF and restructured it as the Reserve Department, as part of wider changes within the army. The command of the militia was also changed, it was integrated into the Ministry of Defence, and given headquarters in Khartoum.

The PDF were established as an Islamist militia after President Omar Al Bashir's military coup in 1989. Under international law it was considered part of Sudan's military because it was created by statute.

The Al Bashir regime, however, defined the militia as a semi-military force of Sudanese citizens. PDF members received training, uniforms, weapons, and food, but no salaries. It played a major role in the distribution of weapons to, and military training for, tribal militias.

The PDF also operated as a reserve force for the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF). The members were mainly mobilised from Darfur and Kordofan, to fight against the armed movements in the country.

After the fall of Al Bashir in April last year, the militia continued to be operational, in particular in South Kordofan, assaulting and robbing people in the region.
opinion

The national embarrassment occasioned by the leaking roof of the National Assembly; White House lobby speaks to our maintenance culture as a people and the competence of those in charge of physical planning and development of the facility.

For those who are very quick to blame the decay of the National Assembly facility on the failed N37 billion budget proposal for the renovation of the complex, I can only pity your ignorance. The truth is that from the day such an edifice was constructed and handed over for use, there must be a maintenance plan, and if such plan had been complied with, we wouldn't have a mini river-niger at the White House lobby.

More specifically, the maintenance engineers should know the type of materials used for the roofing as well as the expected quality assurance period within which it should be replaced or fortified. However, the bigger picture of N37 billion renovation cost was enough to becloud the thoughts of the corrupt bureaucracy, whose target is to earn their dubious living from contract kickbacks.

I am sure that sad development is not in any way a surprise to those who are familiar with the National Assembly complex, and the leaking roof is not the only embarrassing situation with the complex. The new buildings completed and handed over for usage by Julius Berger about 15years ago are fast becoming a shadow of itself, particularly since the construction company was relieved of the contract for maintenance five years ago.

Most of the meeting rooms are no longer conducive for their purposes as the air-conditioning systems fail incessantly. In most cases, committee chairmen and clerks will have to lobby for the very few meeting rooms with functioning air conditioners and those who have to make do with other meeting rooms will manage with standing fans sometimes borrowed from other offices within the complex.

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As worse as the situation sounded, it is not the worst. Let me sincerely advise anyone planning to visit the National Assembly to be sure not to use the restroom throughout the stay or come along with toiletries. The era of modern utilities such as hand washer and hand dryer at the National Assembly convenience is long gone, I wonder how much embarrassment this alone has caused the image of the country. As if that wasn't bad enough, it is unbelieve that the management of the legislative arm of government cannot trust guest around the offices of our lawmakers with ordinary toilet tissue, the guests, irrespective of his or her standing will have to knock at the office of the restroom attendant to make a demand before a miserable 2rolls of toilet tissue is detached from the whole. This, however, does not apply to all the restrooms but only four, in the remaining places, numerous 75cl water containers deposited by users are saving the day.

The rot at the National Assembly complex is far beyond the leaking roof and it does not take N37 billion to conduct routine maintenance, the management has to wake up to its responsibilities.
Gaborone  The proposed revisions to the commercial and subsistence farming compensation rates by the Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism are currently under consideration by Cabinet.

The Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism, Ms Philda Kereng, said this in response to a question at Ntlo Ya Dikgosi meeting on Thursday.

She said her ministry, through the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, had proposed revisions to the commercial and subsistence farming compensation rates.

She said the new compensation rates would also further reduce the burden that some wildlife species imposed on farmers.

Ms Kereng explained that the compensation rates for commercial farming were higher than that of subsistence farming due to different inputs employed on the farming methods, which have a bearing on the field per hectare.

Ms Kereng said for instance, based on the expected outputs as per publications from the Ministry of Agricultural Production and Food Security, such as for ISPAAD programme, the expected output for commercial farmers was about 2.5-3 ton/ha, compared to 1 ton/ha in the case of subsistence farming.

She said that was the basis which made the difference in compensation rates between commercial and subsistence farmers.

Kgosi Rebecca Banika of Chobe region had wanted to know reasons compensation for commercial and subsistence farmers differ yet they both use the same methods and mechanisms.

<i>Source : BOPA</i>
THE state-owned Meat Corporation of Namibia has reported a loss of N$118 million for the 2021 financial year. This is due to fewer cattle slaughtered for the year under review.

Financial statements for the year ended 31 January 2021 show at least 60% fewer animals were slaughtered by the company, and has brought in only about N$873 million in revenue.

In 2019, over 116 000 head of cattle were slaughtered, and the company earned around N$1,78 billion.

Set up to serve, promote and coordinate the interests of livestock producers in Namibia, Meatco has subsidiaries in Norway, the United Kingdom and South Africa.

It is also tasked with stabilising Namibia's meat industry.

Although sales at group level have dropped by over N$911 million this year, gross profit margins have increased from 4% to 8,7%.

This means the company has improved significantly when comparing input costs to revenue gained.

The gross profit earned from the minimal revenue in 2021 at N$75,9 million is more than that earned the previous year at N$72,9 million.

The cattle slaughtered cost the company N$797 million, and in 2020 carried a bill of N$1,71 billion.

Meatco also has to erect, rent, purchase, stabilise, optimally utilise and maintain abattoirs and other meat factories in the public interest, and market products within Namibia or elsewhere to the best advantage of livestock producers in Namibia.

If it were not for high administrative costs, the company would have made a profit.

For 2021, administrative expenses stood at N$167 million, slightly lower than N$171 million expended in 2020.

Other than sales, Meatco also earned N$19 million in other income, but when matched against finance costs of N$47 million the company slumped down to a N$118 million loss for the year.

In 2020, the loss was reduced by a tax refund of over N$85 million.

For 2021 Meatco recorded an income tax expense of N$47 000.

This indicates the company has indeed improved to an extent.

Meatco boasts a balance sheet worth N$1,1 billion, with assets mainly tied up in property, plants and equipment, as well as a huge deferred tax asset of N$270 million.

On the reflex, liabilities stand at N$679 million, with interest-bearing liabilities involving the lion's share of N$324 million.

It has been highlighted in the past that the company has cash flow problems and highly depends on overdrafts for its operational expenditure.

According to its financial statements, Meatco's directors are devising strategies to generate positive cash flows from operation and profitability.

This is mainly made possible by controlling the cattle purchase price, and the purchasing of good quality cattle.

FUTURE PLANS

The company says plans are underway to push for more production from emerging producers in the Otavi, Tsumeb, and Grootfontein areas, as they can potentially deliver an additional 10 000 slaughter cattle to Meatco every year.

On its weaner production, the company said "finishing off weaners in the feedlot to quality slaughter weight is costly".

Meatco said it is committed to signing supply contracts with feeders, and this will also sustain its operations during the off-season between October and January.

This stream has the potential to deliver 30 000 head of cattle and reduce the number of weaners exported to South Africa annually, the company said in its report.

PRICING REVIEW

The Namibian has previously reported that producers are unsatisfied with revenue received for ready-to-slaughter animals from abattoirs.

As a result, many are resorting to weaner production.

According to the report, a price strategy is being formulated to ensure a transparent and competitive pricing structure in line with Meatco's markets to attract the right quality product at the right price.

The report states the pricing committee has realigned the pricing policy to allow for both the realisation of past and future performance.

"Market realisation and producer prices are the two main drivers of profitability," the report reads.

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They said weekly analyses are performed on market realisation and profitability.

The recently approved delegation of authority allows for the segregation of duties in terms of approval of weekly producer prices.

The pricing committee will make recommendations to the corporation's leader, who will set weekly producer prices.

"By pricing our products according to their economic value and differentiating them, the corporation will have completed the first step of the strategic pricing process," the report reads.

Meatco will develop prices tailored to various market segments to remain competitive, sustainable and profitable.

To set prices sustainably, an initial price window with a ceiling and floor price would be determined.

The financials were to be presented at the company's annual general meeting today, however, the meeting has been postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Email: [email protected],com.na
A former chairman of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), FCT chapter, Sunny Sylvester Moniedafe, has said his leadership will end politics of godfatherism in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) if he is given the mandate at the next national convention to be the party's national chairman.

Moniedafe, a 65-year-old politician from Adamawa State, stated this at the weekend in Abuja, while answering questions from newsmen shortly after a strategic consultative meeting with APC stakeholders from Taraba State.

The aspirant, who said his leadership would not tolerate godfatherism in the choice of candidates for elections, added that he would ensure the provisions of the party's constitution were strictly adhered to.

He said his leadership would adopt dialogue as a strategy for conflict resolution, stressing that the APC needed an experienced politician to lead it to victory in the 2023 polls.

He said his administration would demonstrate transparency in the scheme of things and ensure synergy among the three arms of government - legislature, executive and judiciary.

"Nigerians must have the best; the issue of godfather must stop. Nigerians are behind me, God is behind me. I will do the right things," he said.
Luanda  Angolan minister of Culture, Tourism and Environment Jomo Fortunato highlighted Friday in Luanda the need to revive the country's tourism companies, in face of Covid-19 impact.

This was during the presentation ceremony of "Together and All for Tourism" project and consecration of the international model Maria Borges as ambassador of Angolan tourism.

Jomo Fortunato said that it was urgent to find mechanisms and quick solutions with a view to rescuing and revitalising tourist companies in Angola.

"Around 90 percent of travel agencies in Angola have been inactive for over a year, with very serious economic consequences," he said.

He said that efforts are being made with the Ministry of Economy and Planning and other Executive institutions on quick solutions to the integration of tourism companies in the relief measures to mitigate the difficult situation experienced by the professionals in the sector at the moment of Covid-19.

"Together and All for Tourism" project will help, to a certain extent, understand the importance and the valences of this strategic sector, thus awakening society to the contribution that can come from it, he said.

As for the tourism promotional strategy, Jomo Fortunato said that it will operate in two speeds, at an international and internal level, with the improvement of the necessary reception conditions.

During the presentation of the project, the director general of the Institute for the Promotion of Tourism (INFOTUR), Afonso Vita, said that it will serve to achieve three objectives.

They are the creation of a culture of tourism enhancement in society Angola, the entry of de facto tourism in the National Agenda until 2022 and the entry of Angola in the list of main tourist destinations on the African continent by 2025.

The ceremony was marked with the official consecration of the international model Maria Borges as the first ambassador of Angolan tourism abroad.
Journalists operating in Kasungu District have been urged to report passionately about Covid 19 pandemic related issues by a non-governmental organisation known as Development Communication Trust (DCT) a press conference held at Kasungu on last week on Thursday.

DCT Social behaviour change program manager Edna Bvalani said journalists have the power to change people's mindset on covid-19 pandemic fight including encouraging them to take the jab.

Bvalani said, the community need to adopt and sustain positive behaviours which prevent the further spread and transmission of the virus.

"As DCT, we have embarked on the sensitization campaign where we want the community in Malawi to be in forefront demanding Covid-19 vaccine and live positively on their own in a bid to arrest the pandemic," said Bvalani.

"Therefore as media, you need to minimize the negative reporting on the pandemic and promote dissemination of positive information to empower the community to take up the responsibility in fighting against Covid-19 spread," she added.

Concurring with Bvalani, Kasungu Hospital Public Relations Officer Catherine Yoweli said: "The third wave has come with full force because people have the tendency of relaxing when the affected numbers go down.

"As such, we call upon media practitioners to take up the responsibility in giving out the current facts about covid-19 prevention measures so that we bury the pandemic myth in the community so that they start living positively."

Yoweli further revealed that for the past three days Kasungu only has recorded 59 new cases and one death.

The Covid-19 prevention and the jab demand creation is a two month project which aims at promoting positive attitude and sustainability of covid-19 prevention measures targeting 10 district with funding of K18.3 million.
Malawi is keen to ensure that it is easy to connect and inter-link with the world in as far as information technologies system is concerned, Malawi president Lazarus Chakwera has said.

The president said a high quality internet network will enable the country to compete with the rest of the continent and the world at large.

Chakwera was speaking in light of the work being done by the Chinese company, Huawei in championing the over $23 million massive fiber network project.

Said Chakwera: "We need the fibre network, which will run in all the 28 districts of Malawi, to connect more internet users in the country.

" This will greatly help in improving internet access and speed while integrating government operations."

The president further said that the upgrade will address challenges in the communication sector and will help transition Malawi into a digital age.

Malawi's internet penetration rate is as low as 6.8 percent, while that of mobile phone users is rated at 38.3 percent.

Chakwera said if Malawi is going to make good use of the work and tools she gets from development partners, such as the fiber backbone, then Malawians themselves need to get serious in guarding such developments.

"We need to look around us and see the poverty and suffering of our people so that we can put their needs above our own spending appetites, "Chakwera said.

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Speaking earlier, Information Minister Gospel Kazako, said, the project is one of the most defining projects for Malawi's digital transformation and development journey and that it was in agreement with Malawi's agenda 2063.

The project, said Kazako, was not only going to connect Malawians, but it was also going to create jobs, and enhance security in the country among other thing.

The Vice President of Huawei Technologies, Southern Africa Region Liao Yong, who gave a symbolic gift to President Chakwera, said the technology will also help farmers to easily access information about their farming needs and will therefore help to improve their farming.

"Most importantly," said Yong, "the fibre network will connect Malawi to the international world and Africa in particular in increasing creativity and information flow.

"This is more than technology and information, it is also about opportunities and development and it is Malawi's future."

Apart from improving connectivity in the country, the fiber project is expected to help lower internet as well as mobile phone costs.

Over the years, most local districts have faced mobile phone and internet challenges but with the fibre network spread across the country, the challenges are expected to be minimised in some areas especially in the rural areas.

Malawi's internet sector has limited availability and the high cost of international bandwidth has stifled growth and kept broadband access prices high.
The National Drug Laws Enforcement Agency, Nasarawa State Command, said it has arrested seven suspected drug barons in the state.

State Commandant of the agency, Justice Arinze, who revealed this in Lafia on Sunday, said one of the suspected drug barons lost his life in the Lafia Correctional Centre.

He said over 100 bags of Cannabis Sativa weighing about 1 ton have been recovered from a suspected drug baron in Lafia town.

Arinze also explained that about 400 liters of codeine were intercepted on Lafia-Makurdi road, adding that 45 bags of Cannabis Sativa weighing about 450 kilograms were recovered in a warehouse in Lafia.

He said, in the past one year, no fewer than 439 drug suspects were apprehended that made up of 431 males and 8 females. He said the commas made a total drug seizure of 2220kilograms or 2.20 tons of narcotics and psychotropic substance from different parts of the state.

Arinze raised the alarm that hardly his men will stop and search Okada/ Keke NAPEP riders and commercial bus without recovering psychotropic substances. He attributed the high rate of trafficking and consumption of illicit drugs to the period of COVID-19 pandemic in the state.
PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan's order to create a conducive investment climate will in the future see the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) handle 'floods' of new investors.

This is according to TIC Executive Director Dr Maduhu Kazi, who oozed confidence yesterday that the future is bright as the Investment Centre continues implementing President Samia's directives regarding creating a business environment to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs).

In the first 100 days of her reign, President Samia has stressed the need for putting in place a conducive and supporting business environment and investment climate,directing the TIC and other institution with the sector to work diligently.

Dr Kazi commended the president's call for changes in the Investment Act and other laws, saying the move may entice and bring a huge wave of investors into the country.

"We expect massive floods of investments in the future upon implementation of all the president's directives," Dr Kazi said, noting that the TIC had already implemented some which involved administrative actions during the 100 days of President Samia leadership.

He said the centre has also adopted the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), to enable investors to submit their applications and receive certificates of investment online within a day.

The TIC in collaboration with the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlement Development have, on the other hand, earmarked enough and strategic areas for that purpose.

"Under this collaboration, 1.5 million hectares of land has been earmarked for investment during this period," he revealed.

The government has meanwhile established a call centre through which, the potential investors get information over procedures to invest.

According to Dr Kazi, the centre has largely contributed to attracting new investors during the 100 days of President Samia in power, noting that since the centre became operational three weeks ago, a total of 100 calls were attended.

He said the centre has registered 93 big investment projects worth 1.6 billion US dollars (about 3.6tri/-) between March and June, this year.

This represents a 36.7 per cent rise in investment projects compared to the corresponding period last year, when a total of 68 projects, worth 321 million US dollars (738bn/-) were registered.

The newly-registered investments are expected to create 17,670 employments to Tanzanians as compared to 5000 jobs created during the corresponding period, last year.

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Apart from political will, the sixth-phase government has been walking the talk by ensuring that results occur positively in the business and investment sector.

The government targets to create a total of 8 million jobs by 2025 as stipulated in the ruling CCM 2020/2025 manifesto.

In her first speech to the Parliament, during which she gave the direction of her government, Ms Samia pointed out various measures to attain the mentioned goals, including reviewing investment laws in a move to attract more investments.

In line with this, she pledged that her government would address challenges hampering smooth access of capital for investors and entrepreneurs.

She vowed to remove bureaucracy delaying investments, including issuance of work permits and licences.

President Samia said the government will effectively implement the blueprint, aimed at bringing regulatory reforms to improve the business environment.
PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has spent her first 100 days as a leader focusing on a series of issues facing the country, including changing an approach on how to handle Covid-19 pandemic.

It is the period when the world has witnessed President Samia, through her various speeches, setting a new tone on other issues, including the conduct of media, opposition politics and handling of work permits.

The issue that might have attracted an attention of world is the decision by the President to form a committee of experts to advise her on the status of Covid-19 in the country and the necessary steps to take to keep people safe, a decision she made within three weeks of being in power.

When announcing the decision President Samia made it clear that Tanzania could no longer ignore the virus that was and is still ravaging the world and that Tanzanians cannot live in isolation as they form part of the global population.

"On the issue of Covid-19, I think I should form a committee of experts to look at it professionally and then advise the government. It should not be silenced or rejected or accepted without professional research," she said during the swearing-in ceremony of Permanent Secretaries and their deputies. She added: "We cannot isolate ourselves as if we are an Island but also we cannot accept everything brought to us. We cannot continue just reading about Covid-19 in other parts of the world yet Tanzania is all blank, it is incomprehensible." On April 6, President Samia announced the formation of the committee with a strong emphasis on fighting the pandemic through scientific methods. On May 17 this year, the committee completed the task of conducting an assessment of the disease and submitted a report to the President with a total of 19 recommendations. In the report submitted to President Samia, the committee said that the country had gone through two major waves of the pandemic and that it was still vulnerable to a third one. The committee called on the government to report accurate information about the pandemic to both its citizens and to the World Health Organization (WHO). The committee advised Tanzania to submit the necessary documentation to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to start receiving doses. The committee also called on President Samia to strengthen Covid-19 prevention efforts, comply with international resolutions, strengthen diagnostic capacity, finalise a Covid-19 treatment guide for health workers, use traditional medicines only if they are proven by science, update disaster response plans, and work to establish domestic vaccine manufacturing facilities. The committee also called on the government to pave the way for the use of Covid-19 vaccinations within the country. Committee members felt that the measures would help Tanzania combat increase in Covid-19 infections which are currently impacting nations across the world. According to the committee, any potential vaccination programme in Tanzania should prioritize healthcare workers, frontline workers, those in the tourism and hospitality industry, the elderly (above 50 years), vulnerable groups with underlying conditions and travelers. The team also urged the government to be under the COVAX facility to be part of the countries that receive vaccines. There should also be freedom for the people to decide whether or not to be vaccinated. President Samia Saluhu Hassan announced on 15 May that the government would review whether or not to administer the Covid-19 vaccination. After she received a report from the Committee among the major changes announced include granting permission to embassies and international institutions in Tanzania to import Covid-19 vaccines for their people and employees. President Samia made the remarks on June 4, 2021, after she received the proposed Work Plan that includes finding resources to fight against the pandemic, presented at the State House, Dodoma by Special Committee on Covid 19 led by the Chairman, Professor Said Aboud. "Embassies and International Organizations have been allowed to bring in the vaccine for their citizens and workers to comply with the procedures of their countries and organizations as well as to eliminate disturbance in their work because of not being vaccinated," she said. The vaccines, however, will be delivered under the control of the Ministry of Health. In the recommendations, the committee has proposed various ways that will enable the Government to raise funds from within the national budget and various development partners including international organisations and the private sector for medical equipment, training and coverage. President Samia congratulated the committee for its work and directed the Minister of Health, Dr Dorothy Gwajima to prepare a document to be submitted to the Cabinet for discussion and later the Government to make a decision on the committee's proposals. Showing the public that it is necessary to take precautionary measures against the pandemic President Samia has always stressing on the need to wear face masks in all public gatherings. To walk the talk President Samia appeared at a meeting in Dar es Salaam that involved elders wearing a face mask including her aides plus many of those who attended. The president also put on face masks in all her two previous foreign trips in Kenya and Uganda. With new variants of the disease being reported across the globe, the international community was keen to know her attitude to vaccinations. People were also waiting to find out if she would consider lockdowns and curfews as ways to contain the virus. Whether her assertions are making a major difference to the perceptions around Covid- 19 and changing the clock is yet to be seen, so far, no new policies have emerged from the expert committee recommendations.
MEMBERS of the private sector yesterday gave testimonies on how the first 100 days of President Samia Suluhu Hassan's regime has positively impacted their activities.

Speaking at a forum organized by the Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) to mark 100 days of Ms Samia's presidency, the private sector actors cherished the new leader, expressing optimism about the future.

Ms Brenda Msangi, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Comprehensive Community-Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT), said President Samia has been strategic.

"From the beginning she stressed that she is the female President, capable and started her reign by rebranding her government," said Ms Msangi.

The CCBRT CEO added that the president outlined how reducing maternal deaths was one of her priorities.

"We players of the private sector pledge our cooperation with the government. For instance, we at the CCBRT have heavily invested to support the government in reducing maternal deaths," she stated.

Mr Alkarim Dawood, Chairman of Transit-Cross border, said President Samia has built trust among them in the transport sector, noting that she has managed to reform the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), which makes the country more competitive in the region.

During President Samia's 100 days, a port improvement committee was formed, facilitating more engagement of stakeholders while a parking area for trucks heading to the Dar es Salaam Port has also been earmarked.

"We stakeholders have been involved in giving views for the ports' improvement," he admitted. President is also lauded for ensuring that policies and laws are changed to facilitate investment in agriculture.

Secretary of the Tanzania Sugar Manufacturers Association, Mr Deo Lyato commended the move, arguing that agriculture contributes to 27 per cent of the country's GDP and 58 per cent of the total number of jobs.

"Her decision to put special incentives to big projects, which are also available in agriculture, are highly welcomed... we thank the President for considering having special incentives in agriculture," he said.

Suzy Laiser from Tanzania Food processing Association (TAFOPA) expressed her optimism on the sector's improvement, recalling that President Samia has often regarded small processors.

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Ms Laiser particularly welcomed President Samia's call to introduce industrial parks in all councils with the view of encouraging processing of goods.

"Thanks to the president, people are increasingly understating the importance of industrial parks, which include creating employment for youths, increasing production, quality packaging, and increasing the country's tax base," she said.

On his part, the Deputy chairman of Tanzania Association for Hawkers (Wamachinga), Mr Ernest Matondo, said the president has been reaching out to them and solving their problems.

He said the president's decision to visit the Kariakoo market was impactful since she addressed some of their burning issues on the spot.

According to Mr Matondo during the first 100 days of Samia's leadership, over 280 Wamachinga have secured loans amounting to 180m/- from financial institutions.

Meanwhile, CRDB Bank Managing Director Abdulmajid Musa Nsekela said liquidity has tremendously increased in local banks, thus, leading to increased loans to the private sector.

The increased liquidity was a result of more people depositing their money in banks after the president reinstated trust among them over the safety of their bank accounts.
Jos  The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), said their members may shut down all filling stations and cut down supplies should the federal government and Inspector General of Police fail to address attacks by the police force on their members.

The group said the action may take effect from Tomorrow (Tuesday).

National Public Relation Officer of IPMAN, Yakubu Suleiman, disclosed this on Sunday, in an interview with journalists in Jos.

According to him, police officers, had on Friday last week sieged the IPMAN National Secretariat, for unknown reasons.

The group said following the illegal clampdown on their Secretariat by some people parading themselves as executives of IPMAN, members and officials at states, zonal and depots levels, have held series of meetings and threatening to shutdown filling stations.

"Whereas there is subsisting Supreme Court judgement of December 2018, that has since disposed of a suit No. SC15/2015 and ordered that Mr Chinedu Okoronkwo, is our President and Alhaji Danladi Garba Pasali, as National secretary.

"The continued violation of this judgement, even by the police is causing more harm to the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, which if such is not halted will lead to impunity and anarchy," he added.
Gaborone  President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi says Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is one of the key drivers that can position Africa as an economic powerhouse.

With the agreement, there should be no reason why SADC and Africa as a whole could not be major players in global GDP at par with other regions of the world, he told the 49th SADC-Parliamentary Forum participants Friday.

Dr Masisi said AfCFTA offered a golden opportunity with the potential to open new horizons for regional economic cooperation in Africa.

"The entry into force of the AfCFTA on January 1 is the most significant milestone in Africa's integration agenda since it covers a market of close to 1.27 billion people and a combined Gross Domestic Product of over P25 trillion," he said.

He stressed that successful implementation of the SADC integration agenda was a prerequisite for AfCFTA realisation.

Domestication of AfCFTA at national level was also central to effective implementation of the trade agreement, he said.

President Masisi expressed the hope that continuous negotiations within the AfCTFA framework would move beyond trade in goods and services to cover issues such as intellectual property rights, investment and competition policy.

"These issues are directly connected to trade flows and they need to be further ironed out to ensure that the free trade area operates without hindrances," President Masisi said.

Turning to the forum's theme, Leveraging the AfCFTA for Post-COVID Economic Recovery in Southern Africa: The Role of SADC Parliamentary Forum and National Parliaments, he said it demonstrated conviction to overcome the negative effects of COVID-19.

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"The advent of COVID-19 has sparked a paradigm shift in the way communities and governments have been doing business, thus it demands that we foster regional cooperation that will revive tourism, mining and other sectors of the economy, which will essentially contribute to the economic recovery of our countries," he said.

He applauded the role played by SADC parliamentarians towards ensuring effective response to COVID-19 in their respective countries.

Such a response would be more critical during the rebuilding of national economies, the President said.

He said for quick economic recovery to take effect, SADC legislators should move beyond political boundaries and put their nations and the region at heart.

President Masisi noted that SADC's common values of unity, peace and development remained the foundation for ensuring the region collectively emerged stronger and more unified in the aftermath of COVID-19.

Source : BOPA
Gaborone  A new documentary film titled Ties that bind celebrating and acknowledging contributions by the prominent African struggle icon Michael Dingake has been released.

The documentary, filmed and produced by Gaborone based Box Screen Pictures Production Company, re-tells the story of the 93-year-old's journey in the struggle for liberation in South Africa that was led by the African National Congress (ANC) .

It also explores the lives of retired political veterans such as Andrew Mlangeni, Mac Maharaj and Wale Serote, who worked closely with Dingake.

Giving remarks during the launch, the chairperson of Livingstone Kolobeng College, Dr. Jeff Ramsay said the documentary was a milestone achievement in efforts to archive political history information.

He said the coming generation would be exposed to the documentary for learning purposes, adding that there was more that still needed to be done to keep sharing stories that would help to keep re-discovering the legacy of the country in different forms.

The Leader of Opposition in Parliament, who is also Maun West MP, Dumelang Saleshando also hailed the documentary.

He said Dingake was a soft-spoken man who stood his ground for what he believed in.

He said Dingake also maintained high level of commitment towards the struggle for liberation of South Africa.

He further said the documentary was ideal in political circles as other politicians could always refer back to it to enhance their political growth.

For his part, Dingake emphasised the need to exercise unity and the spirit of resolving issues amicably, despite the difference of political affiliation, for the benefit of the country.

"Politics must be for all the people, and there must be prevailing love for one another. Issues of xenophobia, hate and lying about other human beings is more of hating yourself. There is no life without other people," he said.

He said the documentary would be a platform to keep reviving the story of what he endured while he was actively involved in the struggle for liberation at South Africa.

Director of Box Screen Pictures who is also the creator of the documentary, Mpho Dintwa noted that he was intrigued by one of Dingake's book titled Better to die on one feet: One Man's Journey from Robben Island to Freedom.

He said he also read Dingake's autobiography titled My fight against apartheid and has since developed more interest to know more about him and all the struggles he endured, hence the documentary.

" I was captivated by the narrative that Dingake as a Motswana man who had gone for further studies in South Africa ended up seduced by what the ANC stood for in efforts to fight for the liberation and the country's perspective of Ubuntu, which meant that no man is an island," he said.

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He said the documentary's title expressed the cordial relationship between Botswana and South Africa.

He said history had it that people from Botswana had played a significant role towards the developing South Africa, while Botswana also benefitted in several ways from South Africa.

Dintwa said he started working on the documentary since 2016 and finished it early this year.

He said the documentary was picked to be played at Durban International Film Festival to be held in July this year at South Africa. He said he was hopeful it will gain the desired exposure.

Dingake joined the ANC in 1952 and elected ANC Alexandra Branch Secretary in 1952. In 1960 he was appointed to the underground Transvaal Region of the ANC headed by Duma Nokwe.

In 1966 he was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment at Robben Island for promoting the objectives of banned organisations, that included ANC. He was released in 1981 and repatriated to Botswana.

In 1992 he actively engaged in politics and was elected Botswana National Front vice president in 1993 thus becoming the Member of Parliament for Gaborone Central in 1994. He retired from active politics in 2004 and became a weekly columnist for the Botswana Mmegi newspaper.

Source : BOPA
Gaborone  Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Mr Mmusi Kgafela has pleaded with the SADC-Parliamentary Forum to advocate for inclusion of African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (AfCFTA) in national laws, national development plans and all other pieces of legislation existing in the member states..

Making submissions during the 49th plenary assembly session of the SADC-PF, Minister Kgafela said such a move would assist in building the requisite capacity for parliaments and relevant parliamentary committees to utilise their law-making and oversight mandate in ensuring effective implementation of the AfCFTA and build a more inclusive and equitable SADC region, post COVID-19.

He said as the apex parliamentary body in the SADC region, SADC-PF had a critical role to play in ensuring a coordinated and collaborative approach by African Parliaments, emphasising the need for the parliamentary forum to strive for awareness creation and amplifying of citizens' voices in the AfCTA processes.

In an endeavour to nurture the spirit of entrepreneurship within SADC, the minister said member states had developed and adopted the SADC Industrialisation Strategy, which would go a long way in enhancing the benefits of the AfCFTA agreement.

The strategy, he said, was aimed at market integration, industrialisation, enhancement of productivity as well as improvement of competitiveness and innovation.

As such, he said the SADC Parliamentary Forum should advocate for alignment of the SADC member states Industrialisation Strategy.

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Minister Kgafela was also delighted that a number of Regional Economic Communities had adopted regional industrialisation strategies, though with varying degrees of success.

However, Mr Kgafela noted that while there was good progress made in the AfCFTA negotiations, the impact of the AfCFTA would depend not only on what was agreed in the negotiations, but also on whether African countries had domesticated, implemented and complied with the provisions of the AfCFTA agreement.

He noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had heightened the importance of the success of the AfCFTA by exposing the vulnerability of African countries' dependence on importation of critical items such as food, Personal Protective Equipment, medicines, fuel, machinery and other manufactured goods.

Such exposure, he said, highlighted the susceptibility of many countries to disasters and exogenous shocks.

"The disruption of global supply chains has reinforced the necessity for closer integration among us to boost our mutual self-sufficiency, strengthen our economies, improve our industrial capacity and reduce our dependence on sources outside Africa," he said.

He, thus, called on SADC countries to review and make strategic reforms to improve the ease of doing business, which would cultivate a competitive business environment for the growth of local businesses and attract Foreign Direct Investment.

He said the continued pursuit of the ease of doing business reforms across the SADC region and the continent at large would go a long way in facilitating growth of the private sector in the region.

Source : BOPA
Maputo  The Mozambican health authorities on Friday reported a further 534 cases of the Covid-19 respiratory disease - the largest number of cases reported in a single 24 hour period since 6 March, when 602 cases were reported.

Other key Covid-19 indicators are rising - such as the positivity rate (the percentage of people tested who are found to be infected), the number of people hospitalised with the disease, and the number of active cases.

According to a Friday Ministry of Health press release, since the start of the pandemic, 586,540 people have been tested for the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, 3,063 of them in the previous 24 hours. This is the largest number of tests in a single day so far this month.

The majority of the samples tested came from the far south - 935 from Maputo city and 530 from Maputo province, accounting for 47.8 per cent of the tests. There were also 370 tests from Zambezia. 270 from Sofala, 241 from Cabo Delgado, 226 from Tete, 170 from Nampula, 147 from Inhambane, 112 from Niassa, 61 from Manica and one from Gaza.

2,529 of the tests yielded negative results, while 534 people tested positive for the coronavirus. This brings the number of cases of Covid-19 diagnosed in Mozambique to 74,186. Of the new cases reported on Friday, 506 are Mozambican citizens, three are known to be foreigners (but the Ministry release did not give their nationalities), and the nationalities of the remaining 25 have yet to be confirmed.

286 are men or boys and 248 are women or girls. 71 are children under the age of 15, and 34 are over 65 years old. For 13 cases, no age information was available.

The positive cases were concentrated in the known Covid-19 hotspots of Maputo and Tete - 176 in Maputo city, 147 in Maputo province and 114 in Tete. These three provinces accounted for 81.8 per cent of the positive cases reported on Friday.

There were also 59 cases in Sofala, 18 in Niassa, ten in Zambezia, and ten in Manica. None of the samples from Cabo Delgado, Nampula, Inhambane or Gaza tested positive for the coronavirus.

The national positivity rate found on Friday was 17.4 per cent - a decline from the 22.7 per cent reported on Thursday and the 20.1 per cent found on Wednesday.

But the national average conceals enormous differences in the positivity rate between the provinces. The positivity rate in Tete on Friday reached 50.4 per cent - thus more than one in two of those tested in this province was carrying the coronavirus. Other provinces with rates above the national average were Maputo province (27.7 per cent), Sofala (21.8 per cent) and Maputo city (18.8 per cent).

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Below the average were the rates for Manica (16.4 per cent), Niassa (16 per cent), and Zambezia (2.7 per cent). The four provinces - Cabo Delgado, Nampula, Gaza and Inhambane - which reported no positive cases on Friday, could have no positivity rates at all.

Over the same 24 hour period, two Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospital (one in Maputo and one in Sofala), but 18 new cases were admitted (14 in Maputo, three in Sofala and one in Matola).

The number of people under medical care in the Covid-19 treatment centres rose from 103 on Thursday to 117 on Friday. The great majority of these patients - 77 (65.8 per cent) - were in Maputo. There were also 16 cases in Tete, 11 in Sofala, five in Matola, three in Niassa, three in Nampula, one in Manica and one in Inhambane.

The Ministry release also reported that on Friday 219 people were declared fully recovered from Covid-19 (215 in Tete and four in Gaza). This brings the total number of recoveries to 70,571, or 95.1 per cent of all those diagnosed with Covid-19 in Mozambique.

The Ministry reported two further deaths from Covid-19, a 44 year old woman and a 48 year old man, both Mozambican nationals. One died in Matola and one in Sofala. This brings the total Covid-19 death toll to 865.

The number of active Covid-19 cases rose from 2,433 on Thursday to 2,746 on Friday. The geographical distribution of these cases was as follows: Maputo city, 1,423 (51.8 per cent of the total); Maputo province, 476; Tete, 420; Sofala, 160; Niassa, 75; Inhambane, 61; Manica, 45; Nampula, 39; Cabo Delgado, 19; Gaza, 18; and Zambezia, ten.
Maputo  Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Friday announced that the defence and security forces have frustrated another terrorist attack in Palma district, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Speaking at the launch of year long celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the ruling Frelimo Party, on 25 June 1962, Nyusi said the terrorists had tried "to make our festivities coincide with attacks around Palma".

They had been unsuccessful, he added, because "our young fighters said this morning 'we are celebrating by striking the enemy hard'. Right now the fighting is continuing".

25 June also marks the 46th anniversary of Mozambican independence. On Friday, Frelimo also re-inaugurated its national headquarters in central Maputo, after many months of building work.

Nyusi urged all Frelimo members and sympathisers to become actively involved in the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the party and in the preparations for the Frelimo 12th congress, scheduled for September 2022, in the southern city of Matola. The dates chosen - 23-28 September - concede with those of Frelimo's first congress, held in Dar es Salaam in 1962.

Nyusi said the 12th Congress will discuss political and ideological options and will decide on far-reaching questions about the life of the party and of the country.

The Congress, he added, will be "a moment of reflection and festivity, and of strengthening and consolidating the spirit of national unity, of peace and the promotion of development".

Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario stressed the importance of defeating the terrorists in Cabo Delgado.

He told reporters that all Mozambicans should be involved in the consolidation of peace, and in building a Mozambique of well-being.

"We need our country to live in peace", Rosario declared. "We are all called upon to consolidate peace".
The Archdiocese of Lilongwe of the Roman Catholic Church has deplored the widening economic inequalities between the rich and the poor, saying this is a clear manifestation of injustice and lack of sound policies.

The Archbishop Secretary Father John Enock Kaliwamba has since challenged the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) to champion policies that would translate into equitable distribution of resources in the country.

Kaliwamba made the remarks at Mponela in Dowa on Saturday when he opened a two-day training for CCJP paralegal officers from all the parishes under the Archdiocese of Lilongwe.

With financial support from Charles Stewart-Mott Foundation, CCJP Lilongwe is implementing a Primary Justice Project with an aim of enhancing access to justice for women and children through improving the quality and accessibility of the primary justice system.

Kaliwamba said being a structure of the church, CCJP has a duty to collaborate with the government in advancing policies that could translate into eradication of inequalities in the society.

He added that CCJP is actually the best placed in championing policies for achieving equality since it is at the base where these injustices and lack of sound policies are manifested.

"Therefore, before we talk of salvation, we have to talk of their welfare while we are here on earth. The people who are joining the worshipping community are the very same people who are actually getting trampled; who are being challenged by different polices that are not promoting the common good and the betterment of the ordinary citizens," said Kaliwamba.

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He said the Roman Catholic Church would continue to denounce anything that comes in the way in the realization of human and people's rights.

The Minister of Information and Government Spokesperson Gospel Kazako admitted in a separate interview that the gap between the rich and the poor is indeed worrisome.

Kazako assured that the Tonse government is keen to formulate and implement policies that are designed to narrow the gap.

"I will share with you some of these policies in due course. But I wish to commend the church for being candid in pointing out grey areas in the existing policies," he said.

CCJP Lilongwe Archdiocesan Coordinator Enock Kamundi Phiri said the Commission organized the training workshop to equip the paralegals with skills for defending the rights of voiceless and the downtrodden in the society.

"The ultimate goal of the training is to equip the paralegals with basic knowledge of the law so that when they mediate, they give legal opinion, it should be backed by law and it should be legally binding. This is necessary because Malawi has very few lawyers and almost all of them live in cities where the marginalized groups cannot access them," said Kamundi.
Luanda  The Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Media (MINTTICS) on Saturday encouraged Edicoes Novembro to modernise its media and provide an increasingly impartial, balanced and diversified information service.

In a message alluding to the company's 45 years of existence, the ministerial department also points to the need for greater attention to be paid to human resources, as part of the programme to constantly improve social and working conditions.

"There is an increasing need to enhance the technical-professional skills and knowledge of the workers, especially for the main makers of the titles, with a view to continuously improving the content and to correspond to the wishes of the readers, with a view that it be guided by factual, richer information and with several perspectives, whether through opinion articles or the news itself," the message reads.

However, MINTTICS emphasises the quality of the text and the creativity of the journalists, the image and the editing, diversity and greater impartiality of the information in the sense that it is more accurate and more understandable to all audiences.

In the view of MINTTICS, the public media are more attractive, with a diversity of themes, reports some once unthinkable and opinions of columnists with other political thoughts, increasing plurality and their credibility.
Luanda  The Luanda Bay hosts on July 2 the Jazz in Bahia event as part of the reopening of the Bahia Space, the mentor of the project, Adriano Guimaraes, has told ANGOP.

According to the mentor, the objective is to culturally stimulate the space, making it a cultural reference through music, literature and exhibitions.

"The public will be able to find music, poetry, literature, and art exhibitions within the same space", Guimaraes said.

Adriano Guimaraes also said he regrets the fact that the Angolan capital is becoming culturally poorer in terms of spaces for the promotion of arts and culture.

Inaugurated in 2000, the Espaco Bahia is already part of Luanda's cultural history.

During these 12 years, the space has been the stage of several remarkable meetings and events.

The Espaco Bahia was designed to enhance the most interesting qualities and characteristics of the original construction.
Uige  The deputy president of MPLA, Luisa Damiao, said Saturday in the city of Uige she was satisfied with the physical and financial execution of the works of the Integrated Plan for Intervention in Municipalities (PIIM), underway in the province.

Under the PIIM, in Uige province, 55 social infrastructures are underway since June 2020 with a budget estimated at AKz 32.8 billion, of those concluded, three have been inaugurated.

The partisan official, who was speaking at the end of a visit to the works of PIIM in the city of Uige, reaffirmed that MPLA is committed to improving the conditions of the Angolan people, and the infrastructures for education will contribute to taking more children to school.

Luisa Damiao, who was in Uige province for three days, made a positive assessment of the level of functioning of the party's structures, saying that militants in the region had shown leadership and commitment to the party's cause.

In view of this and what she has seen in other regions of the country, she reaffirmed that the party machine is geared to win and convince in the general elections, scheduled for 2022.
Dar es Salaam  Land acquisition by investors is said to be one of the major causes of land disputes in Tanzania - especially when locals are not involved in the processes.

Some leaders at the village level offer lands to prospective investors without getting approval from village authorities in accordance with the Village Land Act of 1999.

This, to a large extent, has been sparking land disputes, which normally result in stagnation of investment in the area and at times leading to violation of human rights.

Issues arise when investors fail to use the acquired land while the local people lack land to farm and yet they live in a restricted land in their village.

Once they start farming in that piece of land, the so called owners comes out and start a dispute with the locals who knew nothing about the acquisition of the land.

On the other hand, issues arise during payments of compensation, particularly where the acquired land was owned by the villagers. They are underpaid compared to the market value.

Some local authorities have been complaining that the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) brings investors to their areas where they are almost arbitrarily allocated parcels of land. This triggers land disputes in the community regarding compensation and employment issues.

"Investors are brought by TIC, we don't ourselves decide to give them land. Usually, TIC are behind that - and they are to be blamed for this," says one village leader in Kilosa District, Morogoro Region.

However, sources from TIC claim that allocation of village land is under the mandate of village councils and village assemblies. Where there is need for compensation, statutory valuation is done by the government and an investor is required to pay before getting access to the land.

A TIC document shows that there are several land disputes of this kind in the country. However, most of them are in the Eastern Zone (especially in Dar es Salaam, Morogoro and the Coast regions); the Northern Zone (Arusha, Manyara and Tanga regions), and the Southern Highlands Zone - especially Mbeya Region.

TIC also revealed that there are no actual statistics on the extent of land disputes in Tanzania - but stresses that procedures for foreign investors to acquire land are strictly adhered to.

"Issuing rural land to investors can only begin after approval by village authorities through meetings. Where agreements on compensation are passed, procedures are followed and approved by relevant government authorities," TIC says in a statement.

A research paper by Emmanuel Sulle titled 'Of local people and investors: The dynamics of land rights configuration in Tanzania' reveals that the amount of compensation is supposed to reflect the market value of the land and unexhausted improvements - such as crops, trees and buildings and other immovable assets.

Yet, he says, individuals or communities that have given up their land, whether voluntarily or under compulsion, have often received unfair compensation from the government or investors. This is often one of the key causes of disappointments and land-based conflicts in rural communities.

"Empirical evidence indicates that communities and individuals are grossly underpaid for acquired village land because the compensation paid barely captures the real economic value of the resources located on expropriated land," a researcher, Sulle says in his paper.

He further notes that the acquisition of land for investment purposes reduces the land available to villagers, for instance, for grazing. This can create local conflicts that are indirectly related to investments.

"In recent years, land and large-scale investments have indeed become an important political topic in the country," the researcher says, adding that compensation is a fundamental requirement for all land that is acquired by the state or an investor.

A lawyer from Lawyers' Environmental Action Team (LEAT), Clay Mwaifwani says the whole process of land acquisition in not inclusive, therefore, local people see the investors as their enemies.

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He gives an example of mining sector where the Mining Act of 2010 with its amendments of 2019, provides that an investor should describe his land allocation, settlement and compensation plan.

"Sometimes the land disputes are caused by delays in compensation. And when they are ready to pay, they don't consider the market price. This makes people angry and truly they deserve to be compensated per the market price, according to the law," he says.

Mwaifwani further notes that the government embraces the investors more than its people to the extent that they protect their interests during establishment of their investments. This leads to mistrust and lack of communication between the local people and the government.

"Actually, there is lack of land use plan countrywide. In Tanzania we have 14,000 villages but only 4,000 villages have land use plan, the rest have no. That is another reason for these endless land disputes," he stresses.
Freedom of Worship Association of Malawi (FOWAM) has hired renowned politician and trade unionist Ken Msonda as its public relations officer, a move the association says is aimed at building its public image.

Both FOWAM president Prophet David Mbewe and Msonda confirmed the development in separate interviews on Saturday and Sunday afternoon, respectively.

Mbewe described Msonda was a dedicated and God-fearing Christian who is always ready to serve the Lord with diligence.

"As FOWAM, we are very glad to have him as our publicist. He is someone who is already in good books with the media and we believe that will work to our advantage," said the Prophet.

Mbewe said he does not expect politics to hinder Msonda from serving God through his appointment at the association.

Msonda said he was excited to work with the association in spreading the gospel of the Lord.

"And I am very grateful to the association for this consideration. I will serve the association with all my might and dedication," he said.
In a surprising twist of events, opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman Brown James Mpinganjira has asked former President of the Republic and DPP leader Peter Mutharika to "move on" after losing the 2020 presidential election re-run and support the current MCP government under President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera for socio-economic development to take place in the country.

Mpinganjira, previously a fierce critic of the current regime, said this in an exclusive interview on Times Television hosted by Wonder Msiska on Saturday evening, June 26, 2021.

Rumours have it that Mpinganjira, who has been to almost all political parties as a senior member and formed his own National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the early 2000, has held secret talks with President Chakwera on the possibility of his joining the ruling party. He has denied the rumours.

But the DPP spokesman was emphatic during the interview in his call for unity among all Malawians regardless of political party membership, tribe and region of origin.

"We are all Malawians and we must strive to put politics aside and concentrate on nation building. We must help the current (MCP) government fulfill campaign promises because if MCP succeeds, we all succeed.

"I would like to specifically request the clergy to take a leading role in fostering unity and harmony among all Malawians. Let them encourage former Presidents (Bakili Muluzi, Peter Mutharika and Joyce Banda) and former Vice Presidents (Cassim Chilumpha and Khumbo Kachali) to work together and help the current administration deliver on its pledges and commitments. If this ship sinks, we shall all sink, and not only MCP members and supporters.

"Governments change. There was UDF; there was DPP; there was PP; now there is MCP. Let's accept these changes without any tribal and regional considerations," said Mpinganjira.

Asked why the sudden change of heart when a few month ago, he and the DPP cried foul over the results of the presidential election re-run, Mpinganjira said it is merely natural to complain after a loss because everyone goes into a contest with confidence to win. He said that is now water under the bridge and now the DPP and all Malawians must put the country first for socio-economic transformation to genuinely take place.

When asked why he should be urging unity among Malawians when in fact his own DPP is in turmoil over leadership succession, BJ, as he is popularly known in the political circles, claimed the problems of the country are more important than the problems a political party.

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It is not clear yet how the DPP top leadership will react to Mpinganjira's latest stance. However, estranged Secretary General of the party Grezelder Jeffrey told Nyasa Times that she did not watch the interview and therefore difficult to make an informed comment.

"But if indeed Honourable Mpinganjira said that, he may have been exercising his right to free speech and opinion. There is nothing wrong with that in a democracy," she said in an interview on Sunday in Lilongwe.

Recently, Mpinganjira's sons, Chipiliro, who is Member of Parliament (MP) for Blantyre Central (Ndirande) and Patrick Mpinganjira Matola, MP for Chiradzulu North, withdrew their allegiance to the DPP. This, they claimed, followed a physical attack on their father by some DPP youths at a press conference in Lilongwe.

They demanded an 'apology' from the DPP Vice President for the Southern Region and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Kondwani Nankhumwa, for the attack, alleging he orchestrated it. The former has denied responsibility.

Nankhumwa is the leading candidate to succeed Mutharika at the party's national convention but a sworn enemy of Mpinganjira whom he dislodged as MP for Mulanje Central constituency over a decade ago.
column

From the moment a 'go' decision is given to a business idea, substantial funds, physical and intellectual efforts, as well as emotions, are poured into it. The failure of a business idea to be transformed into a successful business is, therefore, costly on many dimensions. To minimise the risks of those possible but avoidable losses, it is imperative that a business idea is tested on the potentialities of its commercial feasibility before that 'go' decision is given. Of the many other benefits of conducting a feasibility are that it points out the valid bases of going on with a business idea in an informed, clear, intelligent and logical way; It narrows down diverse business options thereby creating focus; It brings to light the kind of success that may be achievable over a period of time, etc.

Before we go into how a business idea could be tested for its latent commercial success, we need to first understand that there is a difference between a business feasibility study and a business plan, which two are often confused or mixed up by many. A feasibility study is to basically help determine whether or not a business idea stands an acceptable chance of viability or not. A feasibility study would, typically, bring out facts, analysis, projections, conditions and limitations for the success of a business idea while a business plan will bring out the chosen tactics and strategies required to achieve a target business success and growth. If an idea is determined to be not feasible, the need for a business plan is immediately precluded.

Having said that, I like to group the tests of business feasibility into 'product tests', 'market conditions', 'financial conditions', 'resource tests' and 'risk analysis'.

Product Tests: These are all the tests in which you will establish certain fundamentals about your product (good or service) offering. What are the benefits of the product to your target market? At what price can you place the product in the market? Are there competing substitutes that can partly or completely replace your product? If there are, why should the customers patronise you and your product and not the competition and their substitutes? How are similar and substitute products doing in the markets? Etc.

In conducting these checks, it is compulsory that the entrepreneur isolates and eliminates their sentiments, desires and hopes about the product from the actual value of the product that the potential customer perceives and is willing to pay for.

Market Conditions: All economic factors are essential to business success. In particular, however, market conditions are fundamental. Who are the customers you wish to serve? What are the demographics of your customers and where are they located? What are the economic and social statuses of your customers? Can the customers afford the price of the product that makes the business profitable? Will the market grow or shrink in the years to come? How is the competition doing and why? Etc.

Financial Conditions: Finance is the lubrication of the moving parts of a business. Once a business idea will not be financially viable, it is considered 'dead before arrival'. So, the entrepreneur must be sure of some financial parameters before launching their business. Can you raise, internally and/or externally, the funds required for the purchase of assets and the ongoing operations of the business? What will be your fixed and variable costs? How quickly will break-even be achieved? How strong is the cash flow forecast? Etc.

Resource Tests: All businesses require certain resources to operate and succeed. Unless those resources are provided in, at least, certain minimum quantities and at the time they are required, the business will be jeopardized. Hence, for any business idea to be transformed into a business success, you need to answer questions like; Can you provide the required funds for the take-off and continuous operations? Is the technology available for your business and its operations? Can you get the equipment, software, etc. the business will require? Will you have the skilled and unskilled manpower you need? Will the existing local, national and/or international infrastructure support or militate against the business? Etc.

Risk Analysis: One of the great misconceptions many people have is that 'business is about taking risks'. Really, nothing can be further from the truth! Rather, savvy businessmen and women are very curious about and alert to the risks each transaction or business may portend. Consequently, they first identify and assess risks associated with the business both on a one-off and/or continuous basis. Like the other tests and conditions above, risks will need to be assessed along various pertinent dimensions such as market, finance, resources, etc. After identification and assessment, mitigation and control measures must be put in place wherever necessary.

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So far what we have discussed are the benefits of conducting a business feasibility study, the difference between a feasibility study and a business plan, and the issues that a feasibility study grapples with. However, we have really not discussed how a feasibility study can be conducted. For instance, how do you establish if a price that will be profitable to the company will be accepted by the customers? So, next week in this Column, we will discuss 'the how' of testing variables in a feasibility study in the second and final part of Entrepreneurship Development: Testing the Feasibility of a Business Idea.
Malawi's Information Minister Gospel Kazako insists that he advised Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA) not to travel to Dubai for training because "it is very expensive and difficult to justify" but the country's communications policing organisation ignored his advice and went ahead as they had decided.

On the other hand, MACRA appears to shift the blame on the Minister holding out that they were authorised to take the trip to Dubai.

So, who is lying and who is telling the truth?

An official confidential document from MACRA with Information Minister's handwritten inscriptions on it appearing to authorise the wastefully extravagant two-week Dubai trip, which blew K46 million of taxpayers money has leaked to the public Saturday after President Chakwera lambasted the board demanding change.

According to the leaked document, which was signed by MACRA Acting Director General, Henry Silika, was seeking clearance and approval for a capacity building for board members and executive management on corporate governance in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates from May 31 to June 11 and from June 14 to June 25, 2021 respectively, from Macra's line minister, veteran broadcast journalist and legendary poet, Gospel Kazako.

Reads in part the leaked letter dated May 19, 2021 and referenced MACRA/145/DG/hs: "Unlike the other past trainings this one has been tailor-made for an ICT regulator and offering insights on trends and developments driving the ICT sector form a corporate governance perspective."

In the letter, the MACRA says of the options given to them by the minister, they settled for the option of holding the training in Dubai meaning that of the options given by the minister they insisted on going to Dubai.

"However, following the spirit of the communications Act. I would further recommend that ex-officio members be considered as well since they are for all purposes members of the MACRA board and most of the them are part of MACRA board for the first time," further reads the leaked document.

However, in his handwritten response to the letter, Kazako reprimanded that the option taken by MACRA to go and have the training in Dubai is "very expensive and difficult to justify."

"Your earlier memo proposed 14 (fourteen) members. That is very expressive and very difficult to justify," Kazako wrote in blue ink on June 20, 2021, adding: "I suggest 6 (six) board members and the 2 (two) managers. This translates into four people per delegation (One manager, three Board members.")

Furthermore, Kazako in the footnote and concluding his response advised the MACRA to pay attention on how public resources are utilised.

Said Kazako: "You are encouraged to embrace the new culture of diligence."

Based on Kazako's responses on the matter, there is nowhere he is approving MACRA's trip to Dubai as he he clearly pointed out that the option to go to Dubai was very expensive.

In the letter, MACRA talked about options given to them they said they settled for the option of going to Dubai, so what were the other option?

Nyasa Times investigations reveal that the leaking of document was a ploy for the MACRA board and management to exonerate themselves from wrongdoing and push the blame on the minister after the president had lashed out on them for extravagance and abuse of office.

A credible inside source at MACRA confided in Nyasa Times that after the president chastised the board in his speech at a fibre network launch in Lilongwe, they that felt they have been thrown under the bus.

"At that point, after the president chided the board, everyone was panicking and someone decided to use the letter the minister responded to them so the focus changes from MACRA and be pushed to the minister so the narrative could change and make it look like the minister is the one who messed up everything," said the source who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals.

The source said following the discourse, it is clear that there were several other correspondences that run between MACRA and the information minister but surprisingly there is only one that they strategically chose to release just to fit into their narrative.

"Perhaps, the question, we must ask is that whoever was leaking that document chose to release one of the many?" queried the source.

The inside source added: "Let us look at at the whole issue with a sober mind. What was the minister going from the trip if he indeed approved the trip? Where is the initial Memo in which MACRA submitted the number of people to travel to Dubai for training and Kazako's responses on the matter? Why has that document not leaked?"

MACRA Acting Director General Henry Silika could not be available for his side of the story as he did not pick up his phone so is MACRA board Chairperson, Dr. Chakhumbira Stanley Khaira, who is also chairperson of the Chewa Heritage.

MACRA is best known for public resources extravagance and for a long time it has been used as a cash cow and even on the appointment of board members everyone wants to be appointed for MACRA.

"One top MCP gentleman was appointed to be a board member at Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) but he refused saying that he wanted to go to MACRA and he indeed was moved to MACRA and his reason is that at MACRA there are more privileges than in other boards and this can be verified. There is a culture of impunity and entitlement at MACRA," said the source.

He added: "If you try to stop the way they do things at MACRA, you become an enemy and that is what Gospel Kazako became the moment he started questioning the management and the board as to why they want to go to Dubai."

'The Gospel Truth'

In an interview Kazako said he was sticking to what he said earlier on that MACRA ignored his advice not to travel to Dubai and he made his position clear that going to the Arab Emirates for training that could be conducted and facilitated locally is expensive because that is the truth of the matter.

"If you have read my comments on the leaked memo, I made it clear that going to Dubai was very expensive and something that cannot be justified. I only made suggestions but I did not approve anything.

"Firstly, let me point out that this behaviour leaking government official documents is unprofessional and childish. There is more that we discussed and on what I advised but I cannot be discussing those matters here. They chose to cherry-pick one document out of the many, said Kazako.

Pressed if he lied to both the president and the country on MACRA mess and that he only said that they ignored his advice to defend himself, Kazako said, there was nothing to defend because what he said was the truth and that he informed the president everything about matter.

Said Kazako:" MACRA and its board are very independent and as a line minister, I don't make decisions for them neither do give them orders. If needed, I give them my advice and it is up to them to listen. In this case, they informed me that they want to go to Dubai with 14 people for training and I out-rightly told them that is very expensive and unjustifiable and gave them options. As a minister I help them drive the government policy.

"To conduct the training locally with local trainers, or alternatively bring a trainer from elsewhere to come and train them in Malawi than taking 14 people abroad when Malawi's economy is bleeding, but they ignored all that and insisted on still going to Dubai saying the training is tailor made for ICT and as a compromised I suggested they cut the number to 4 from 14 and someone want to say that I authorised the trip?" wondered Kazako.

Kazako said everyone at MACRA knows his stand on public financial prudence and he promotes the culture of diligence, truth and transparency for public officers.

"Here's the gospel truth; the truth is like a lion, it doesn't need any defence because the truth always defend itself. So I will not defend anything I said for it nothing but the truth and it will defend itself," said Kazako seemingly unfazed.

'MACRA Board Must Go'

Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) chairperson Gift Trapence in a separate interview on Sunday said there is no need to go around the issue, which is a straightforward matter in as far governance is concerned, MACRA board must be dissolved, all members sacked and appoint new board members.

"I don't understand why the people who abused public funds and public office should be still in office. They have to go. The president must fire them as a matter of urgency. They have proven to be a rubble that we all wanted to remove.

"As HRDC, we will soon engage the president on the matter. The people of Malawi no longer want people who squander public resources. Malawians want people who have Malawi and her people at heart and not those who want to get rich quicker at the expense of poor Malawians, said Trapence.

Asked what he thinks about the minister's involvement on the matter, Trapence said from what he has seen on the matter so far, MACRA board have no one to blame saying as a responsible and independent board members they had had a responsibility to 'think' in a manner that would not be tantamount to defraud Malawians of their hard-earned taxpayers money.

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"Looking at the minister's responses to the memo, I think he tried to advise them well and I believe that MACRA board members are intelligent enough to know what is right and what is wrong. In my opinion MACRA and its board members are all insensitive to our fragile economy.

"That said, I think next time, the minister should be more vigilant and be able to call out what is bad as bad. He needs to be firm. These are people who are used to pilfering public funds, therefore, there is no need to babysit them."

Human Rights and Social Justice Activist and private lawyer, John-Gift Mwakhwawa said: "It is time we all take responsibilities to move Malawi forward. We must always think about Malawi first before we think about ourselves. I believe that by now, everyone who is in a public office knows that we no longer the same people who can sit and watch a few individuals dragging our country to where we were.

Added Mwakhwawa: "Times have changed and so must our thinking."

Nyasa Times understands that five board members and two management officers travelled to Dubai for training on corporate governance and regulatory masterclass on Information Communication and Technology (ICT) at Pinnacle Training Institute.

It is established that every MACRA board member is entitled an external travel allowance of US$480 per day, which is equivalent to K386,400 at the exchange rate of K805 to a US dollar - and this means that for the two week period, each board member pocketed not less than K5,409,600.

In total, all the five board members got not less than K27, 048,000

Expenditure for air tickets for all the five was about K7.5 million as each air ticket cost about K1.5 million and on calculations, it shows that MACRA spent about K34,548,000 for the board's allowances and air tickets.

Nyasa Times established that in total, the institution spent around K46,282,250.

MACRA Communications Officer, Clara Ngwira, confirmed and justified the board training in Dubai, which she said was already budgeted for in MACRA's 2020/2021 annual budget.
Etsha  Government has availed funds for rehabilitation of the Gumare/Mohembo road.

Addressing a kgotla meeting in Etsha 13 recently, Ngami MP, Mr Caterpillar Hikuama said the project, which was initially not part of National Development Plan 11 (NDP 11), was included in the mid-term review.

He said a tender for the project would soon be awarded.

On a different matter, the MP told Etsha 13 people, who originally are from Angola, that the issue of issuance of omang cards and passports which had always been a problem to many, especially children born in Botswana from 1982, had been addressed.

He said a savingram was this year issued by the Ministry of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs addressing such issues.

As for COVID-19, Mr Hikuama urged residents to always adhere to health protocols, adding that Ngamiland was a tourism area and the tourism sector was one of the most affected.

He said COVID-19 could only be defeated through adherence to protocols, and with no COVID-19, it would mean resuscitation of the tourism industry, hence employment opportunities for Ngamiland people.

For his part, Kgosi John Sivako of Etsha 13 noted that his people had embraced the COVID-19 vaccination, adding that so far there had been no deaths recorded as a result of the vaccine.

He also decried mushrooming of squatters in the village, something that he attributed to the delay in land allocation for residential plots.

Kgosi Sivako said Etsha 13 had unoccupied land in abundance, therefore landboard should up its game and efficiently service people of Etsha 13.

Various speakers also complained about shortage of water in the village and also the delay to connect standpipes at homesteads, with some applications dating back to 2019.

Responding to the water issue, Mr Olebogeng Motseolapile of Gumare Water Utilities Corporation said a new treatment plant situated in Gumare was almost complete, adding that upon commissioning, the plant would supply nearby villages, including Etsha 13.

Mr Motseolapile said currently they were pushing the water connection in homes or standpipes' backlog. He promised that the exercise would be complete by end of July.

<i>Source : BOPA</i>
THE government of Tanzania is improving the manufacturing sector and trade to address emerging challenges and to boost the economy and make the country develop.

German International Development Cooperation (GIZ) has supported a desk study to identify what the manufacturing sector needs to grow and uplift the livelihoods of Tanzanians.

GIZ funds this initiative through the Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI) Commission. A paper was presented early this month, which highlights and proposes to the government to have a special budget for research, big data and artificial intelligence (AI) innovations.

The paper entitled "The current state of play of the manufacturing sector in Tanzania" also proposes incentives to attract multinational companies to set up manufacturing industries and supply networks in the country.

This, according to the report, will facilitate access to inputs for Tanzanian manufacturers and pave the way for localization. The study covers the regions of Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Mwanza, Singida and Tanga and the sectors of agro-processing, fertilizers and chemicals, iron and steel, textile and apparel, leather and leather products.

Localization would go handin-hand with capital availability and knowledge transfer which are vital for sustainable business led by manufacturing industries and widening networks with international producers.

The study will, among other things, stimulate discussions among industrialists themselves and the exchange of ideas and views with the government for reaching a consensus on essential issues that enhance industrial development.

It will be discussed by Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) meeting and other highest level public private dialogues (PPD).

The country's capacity of manufactured exports has significantly slowed since 2010 for factors like the high cost of production - price competition and quantity, according to Dr Neema Robert, a researcher and consultant.

During the study's launch, the government reiterated its commitment to promoting a robust private sector which is key for Tanzania to compete in the global economy and promote sustainable development.

"The modern world economy has turned to stiff competition in production, sales and marketing. The government is aware that a strong private sector is a key impetus for Tanzania to compete regionally and internationally for the economic growth of our people and be part of it rather than just remain mere consumers of imported goods," said Minister for Trade and Industries, Prof Kitila Mkumbo.

The minister, who was officiating at a meeting which attracted 100 CTI manufacturers, among other things, commended the desk study on the current state of the manufacturing sector in Tanzania with support from GIZ.

He said the government was open to partner and fully engage the private sector to address emerging challenges and formulate a friendly national policy which would promote economic growth.

He assured that the government was not by any means competing with the private sector, but it was rather setting a friendly environment for the sector to compete and grow the economy, pay tax accordingly and create more jobs.

"The government is committed to working with the private sector in promoting the development of manufacturing industries in the country and increasing exports. To achieve this, we will ensure policy decisions involve inputs from the private sector," insisted Prof Mkumbo.

Earlier, CTI Executive Director, Leodger Tenga said his office had conducted the desk study with support from GIZ and discovered that there were multiple issues hindering competitiveness and advised the government to address them immediately.

"The issues that affect competitiveness in manufacturing industries include multiple taxes and charges, tariffs, forward-backward linkages, input materials and the skills gap. CTI believes that, if these issues are addressed, the manufacturing sector will flourish, compete and create many jobs and contribute to the country's economic development," said Mr Tenga.

He explained that the study also had proposed to the government to put incentives to attract multinational companies to set up manufacturing industries and supply networks for easy access to inputs for Tanzanian manufacturers and pave the way for localization.

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The government of Germany through GIZ also seeks to promote the involvement of central associations and industry associations which will include the Association of German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK).

Other associations potentially linked with local maOn Tanzanians' competitiveness efforts for the future of the economy, the desk study also mentions the role of Covid-19 with the challenges it poses.

One of them is the narrowing of global value chains to regional value chains, the emerging of digital supply chains and increased unemployment risks.

Stakeholders say Covid-19 has affected the manufacturing sector as a result of the cancellation of the orders of agro-processors in hospitality industries, which has subsequently disturbed the working morale and reduced productivity.
Seed Co Limited says it will continue with its growth strategy despite abandoning its consolidation plans, which were turned down by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).

In an interview, group chief executive officer Morgan Nzwere said consolidation would have, however, made it easier to fund raise for new projects.

"The strategy in terms of growing the business is going to continue," said Mr Nzwere on the sidelines of the official launch of the group's new vegetable seed varieties at Stapleford Research Station last week.

"It was part of our strategy to consolidate the group. It makes it easier to manage the it and to fund-raise because we would be using one big balance sheet. Now that this was turned down by authorities, we have to re-strategise. At the end of the day the business has to continue to grow, we have to raise cheap funding for it to grow.

"Right now, we are about to open our new drying facility which will be officially commissioned next month. We have brought in US$12 million from PROPARCO in France for that and we will keep sourcing for cheap international funding.

"It would have been easier had we been able to consolidate the balance sheet but we still have to find ways of going around it and grow the business," he said.

Last week, the seed producer re-listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) following the cancellation by the group's plans to merge Seed Co Limited with Seed Co International, which currently trades on the United States dollar denominated Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX).

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After the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) turned down the transaction, Seed Co International and Seed Co Limited will continue to operate as 2 separately listed companies, listed on the VFEX and ZSE, respectively.

Meanwhile, Mr Nzwere indicated that while the seed industry faces funding challenges, there were vast opportunities for the group across the region especially in relation to vegetable seeds.

Zimbabwe for instance is projecting positive growth forecasts that will be driven by improved agriculture production and the seed industry plays a critical role in that anticipated increased output.

"The expectation the world over is that the next billionaires will come from the agriculture sector. Global population is growing, people need to eat and we have land here in Africa. We should take advantage of that to feed the world.

"There are also vast opportunities in vegetable seed because this is a business anyone can venture into from their backyard," he said.

He added the group would continue working on new varieties that mature early, drought and pest resistant to ensure farming business remains viable.

He said: "There are new pests coming every year and we have to stay ahead of that. Farmers should be able to realise profits from their businesses."

The group last week introduced new vegetable seed varieties for the market in line with its vision of providing cost effective and high yielding varieties that boost agriculture output.
Decorated military guru and former Commander of Two Infantry Brigade and a veteran of the liberation struggle, Major-General (Retired) Clever Shadreck Chiramba has died.

He was 66.

Maj-Gen Chiramba succumbed to Covid-19-related illness at a local hospital in Harare yesterday.

In a statement, Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) spokesperson, Colonel Alphios Makotore said Major General (Rtd) Chiramba died yesterday at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals.

"The Commander Zimbabwe National Army, Lieutenant-General Edzai Absalom Chakanyuka Chimonyo regrets to announce the untimely death of Major-General (Retired) Clever Shadreck Chiramba. Maj-Gen Chiramba succumbed to Covid-19-related illness this morning at 0500 hours at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospital. He was the Commander Two Infantry Brigade up to 2004 when he retired from active service. He commanded the Two Infantry Brigade during the Democratic Republic of Congo campaign. A veteran of the liberation struggle, Maj-Gen (Rtd) Chiramba was now a prosperous farmer at Marmi farm in Karoi," said Col Makotore.

Born on February 2, 1955 in Chivi district in Gude village, Maj-Gen Chiramba did his primary education at Jenya primary school from 1961 to 1968.

He left the village for Mashava where he did Ordinary Level through correspondence.

Maj-Gen Chiramba was to later join the liberation struggle, which led to the independence of the country in 1980.

He was later attested in the ZNA where he rose to become a Major- General until his retirement from active service in 2004.

Maj-Gen Chiramba led the Two Infantry Brigade during the DRC campaign under the auspices of the SADC Allied Forces.

The military intervention, which was code-named "Operation Sovereign Legitimacy" was meant to ward off rebels, secure the DRC territory, and to protect civilians.

In the war, combined African forces from DRC, Zimbabwe, Angola, South Africa and Namibia were pitted against Western sponsored insurgents from DRC and other elements.

The operation ultimately helped the country to regain its authority and sovereignty.

Burial arrangements for Maj-Gen Chiramba will be announced in due course.

Mourners are gathered at House number 52 St Andrews Road Hatfield, Harare.

He is survived by wife, Beatrice Chiramba nee Pawandiwa, eight children and 16 grandchildren.
A three-month-old toddler who was last month kidnapped in the dead of the night in Chinhoyi while her mother was at a local bar is yet to be located.

Several attempts by the 27-year-old mother, Vicky Nyanhete, including countless visits to white garment prophets and fortune tellers, have not yielded any positive results.

Despite many of these claiming that the child is alive and would be returned to the desperate woman in short time, every second passing is giving Nyanhete an uncontrollable fear that she might never reunite with her lovely girl.

The emotionally drenched mother of three told The Herald at her home in Chinhoyi's Ruvimbo Phase 1 suburb that she has so far visited at least 15 prophets from in and around Chinhoyi town who despite their prophecies of the child being returned to her, have seen Nyanhete either question her leap of faith or the genuineness of the 'Man of God'.

"All the 15 prophets that I have gone to, have given me countless prophecies which up to now have not materialised.

"I'm hopeful that I will meet my child but the pain is now unbearable," she said.

She added that even prominent traditional healers from the town have failed to locate where the child is being hidden.

"We even went to traditional healers who gave the same message that I will have my child within a few days but it's almost a month now. There were three people who also came to me claiming that they knew where my child was. We even went to the place they claimed the child was but we couldn't find her," she said.

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As she waits for a miracle, the police are also working hard to locate the child whose disappearance shocked the whole town and nation at large.

The child was kidnapped on May 29 this year when the mother left her with other two of her minor children sleeping in their single-room lodgings in Chinhoyi, for a local drinking spot, where she dabbles in sex work.

As per her routine, Nyanhete breastfed her two-months-old daughter and left her asleep with her two siblings and secured the door.

At about 1AM, she returned home with her overnight client, only to find the toddler missing and the other children shaken. A man is said to have forcibly opened the door and snatched the baby before threatening to kill them if they screamed. She reported the matter to Cherima police base in Chikonohono high-density suburb less than an hour after the alleged kidnapping and Nyanhete and her roommate, Lyda Kashambwa (34) ended up spending three nights in police cells as key suspects.
A gang of three men wanted for armed robbery were arrested in Harare over the weekend in a raid in Kuwadzana after being shot in the legs during a shoot-out with the police, while the fourth in the gang managed to escape.

After encountering the first gang, police came across a second gang of four robbers in a car in Glen View, managed to stop them and in the fracas fatally shot one of the gang members, while the other three fled.

The three in the first gang who were arrested by CID Homicide, the unit that deals with the most violent crimes, are Michael Nhira (43), Alexio Chinzara (39) and Jealous Nyakuro (41).

The four, the three arrested and the one who escaped, were believed to be the gang using a silver Toyota Wish registration number AEW1154 that went to a house in Rydale Ridge and attacked two people with a pistol and a knife before tying them with shoelaces and then stealing a 55-inch Hisense television set, a Lenovo laptop, a wifi router, an LG Home-theatre, groceries and two cellphones.

That car was recovered in the Kuwadzana operation.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the crack team of detectives ran the gang to ground in Kuwadzana 1.

"A CID Homicide crack team pounced on the gang in Kuwadzana 1, Harare, after receiving information, resulting in a shootout," he said. "Three of the suspects were shot on legs and were subsequently arrested.

"One suspect identified as Dennis Munzara escaped while the Toyota Wish vehicle's tyres were deflated. The vehicle is now in police custody while the three suspects are now admitted in hospital under police guard."

Another police crack team received information that a separate gang was using an unregistered Honda Fit vehicle to commit robberies in Glen View and Budiriro suburbs.

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The suspects were identified as Munya, Simba, Khedha, also known as Gunners, and Mosby.

"The police officer intercepted the black Honda Fit at the corner of Nineth street and Patrenda Way in Glenview at 10pm," said Asst Comm Nyathi. "A chase out ensued up to Willowvale Road and 11th Street. The suspects then decided to drive straight into the police officers' vehicle.

"The police driver swerved to the left and in the process the robbers stopped their vehicle and ran away in different directions.

"Warning shots were fired and one suspect, known as Munya produced an axe whilst charging towards one of the police officers. Police continued to fire warning shots as Munya ran towards Glenview 3 shops and hid in a gamblers' group.

"After being cornered, the suspect tried to attack the same police officer and he was then shot on the left shoulder. Munya was taken to Sally Mugabe Central Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Several SIM cards, two cellphones, US$4 and ZWL$1 010 were recovered from the body."

Asst Comm Nyathi said the Zimbabwe Republic Police will brook no nonsense in dealing with armed robbery case.

"Stern action will thus be taken by Police crack teams to ensure that the country is rid of criminals. Robbers who engage in shoot-outs, confrontations and fighting with Police crack teams will be severely dealt with," he said.
PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan on Friday met Catholic Church leaders during which she called on Tanzanians to use religious institutions in building national unity for smooth implementation of development projects.

The President used the platform to advance the request cognisant with the fact that religious leaders and institutions have the power to raise awareness and influence attitudes, behaviours and practices.

They shape social values in line with faith-based teachings. In her remarks President Samia asked religious institutions and leaders to be active in advocating for peace, unity and tranquility since they are crucial for the country's progress in all aspects.

It is clearly understood that religious leaders and faith communities are the largest and best-organised civil institutions in the world, claiming the allegiance of billions of believers and bridging the divides of race, class and nationality. Religious leaders are often the most respected figures in their communities.

They play a powerful role in shaping attitudes, opinions and behaviours because their members trust them.

President Samia, like her predecessors, has always been calling upon every Tanzanian to embrace peace simply because for any nation to prosper peace and tranquility have to prevail.

It is agreed all over the world that peace is a pre-requisite for development as a whole because it creates an enabling environment for the fundamentals of a society's progress: human capital formation, infrastructure development, markets subject to the rule of law, and so on. In the absence of peace, education and health structures break down, systems to provide infrastructure disintegrate, and legal commerce is crippled.

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Critically, peace also frees up resources, both financial and human, that would otherwise be diverted to controlling (or creating) violence. Intuitively, we've long known that peace and development go hand in hand. Generally speaking, the more peaceful a society, the more prosperous and stable.

Moreover, there is a strong relationship between business enterprise and peace. In a 2008 worldwide study conducted by the United Nations Global Compact, 80 per cent of senior managers felt the size of their markets grew with increasing peacefulness and 79 per cent felt costs decreased with improving peacefulness.

Though religious leaders are the ones who were targeted by the President's message the fact remains that peace building starts at individual and family levels.

Every Tanzanian must understand that Tanzania is our home land, meaning that safeguarding peace is a civic duty of each one of us.
THE government is in talks with Chinese investors on the way forward to kick off implementation of the Bagamoyo port in the Coast region.

This was revealed yesterday by President Samia Suluhu Hassan as she was gracing the Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) meeting held at the State House in Dar es Salaam.

"I have good news here, that we have started discussion with the investor who came for the Bagamoyo port project with the aim of opening it, for the greater benefit of our nation and the investment sector," she told members of TNBC.

The president also assured that the government will consider national interest in the talks to revive the project. According to her, the government is also focusing on the implementation of Mchuchuma and Liganga projects, saying it is high time the projects take-off.

"We had a meeting recently with the investor, and we have decided to clear the way for him, the government would do its part, same to the investor," she said The Head of State who is also the Chairperson of TNBC reassured the business council that the government is highly encouraging local content on the projects being implemented in the country.

Earlier, the Chairperson of Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), Ms Angelina Ngalula explained the necessity of the country to have a modern port that is capable of hosting large ships.

The TPSF Chairperson said since there is not enough space for further expansion of the port of Dar es Salaam, it is high time the government considers reviving the Bagamoyo port project.

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"The Bagamoyo port is very crucial since there is no further space for expansion of the Port of Dar es Salaam, whose key size is 2,600 meters," she added.

The TPSF head noted that the modern and large port will enable Tanzania to compete with other neighbouring countries that are now investing heavily on their major ports.

"As a country, we really need to have this port which is strategically located, it can be easily linked to the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and Tanzania Zambia Railway (Tazara) infrastructures," she said.

Ms Ngalula was of the view that the government can opt either to review the contracts for the construction of the port or invite new investors, for the sake of having the project realistic, in a greater interest of the country.

Upon completion, the project that was to be implemented by the China Merchants Holding International (CMHI) at a cost of 10 billion US dollars will be the largest port in East Africa.

With the completion of Bagamoyo port, Tanzania will have four big ports along the Indian Ocean, being an addition to Dar es Salaam, Tanga and Mtwara ports.

The implementation of the project was suspended by the former government of the late John Magufuli in 2016, on grounds that the country was going to lose as terms and conditions set by the investor were not in favour of the country's interest.

Construction of the Bagamoyo port is considered as among components of implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) initiated by the government of China, as part of its efforts to embark on transformation on infrastructure development.
THE police, judiciary and government chemist came under strong condemnation here yesterday over their ineptitude in the fight against abusive drugs.

Zanzibar President Dr Hussein Mwinyi accused the institutions of failing the country in the war against the social and economically destructive business.

"We have articulated laws that forbid bail to suspected drug dealers, but we see suspects walking freely on bail, the job of the police is to arrest and investigate, but they have turned themselves into judges to give verdicts on drug cases," President Mwinyi charged, directing all defence and security agencies to change and take the war seriously.

Dr Mwinyi said changes are underway to transform the Zanzibar Commission for National Coordination and Drug Control into a special squad capable of arresting, investigating and prosecuting drug cases. "...and even at the courts, not everybody will be allowed to preside over these cases; we will have highly committed and exhaustively vetted individuals," President Mwinyi said in his address to the nation during the climax of the anti-drug week.

He said the government is determined to make Zanzibar free of abusive drugs, pledging to reinforce the state agencies through appropriate training and equipment. He denounced the abusive drug business as highly destructive to the country both socially and economically.

"Abusive drugs are a major source of insecurity in our streets; they destroy the country's workforce and cause many deadly diseases like HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and mental retardation," charged the president.

The Commission Chairman, Mr Hemed Suleiman Abdulla implored all islanders to support the war, which he described as tough.

"This war (against drugs) is huge; it requires the participation and support of all Zanzibaris," said Mr Hemed whom President Mwinyi appointed on Thursday to chair the commission.

The chairman who doubles as the second vice-president vowed to use all available resources to cleanse the nation of the vice. He reminded all shehas to prioritise the anti-drug campaigns in their areas of jurisdiction, warning that no sheha will remain in office if drug business continues thriving in their areas.

"Even if this will compel us to appoint shehas on a weekly basis, we are ready," he said.

The chairman pledged to submit in the House of Representative's September session legislative amendments to transform the commission into an agency to intensify the war against the abusive drugs.

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"We are determined to submit the amendments even if under certificate of urgency," he said. The Commission's Director General, Lieutenant Colonel Burhan Zuberi Nassor complained over the police, judiciary, office of the chief chemist and the country's geographical nature as the key impediments to the fight against drugs.

He accused the judiciary of corruption, negligence and immorality, citing a multimillion drug case against a foreigner whom the court freed allegedly due to lack of 200 US dollars (over 460,000/-) to hire a translator. The country's chief drug fighter described it as awkward to see suspected drug dealers getting bail against the law. He further accused the police of ruling cases instead of taking them to court, hinting that 262 cases were finalised at police stations without reaching the court.

Lieutenant Colonel Burhan further complained that many drug related cases were dismissed merely due to failure by the office of the chief chemist to appear in court to testify. He also attributed the difficulties in the war against abusive drugs to the country's porous borders.

"There are 371 unofficial ports, which smugglers use in their illicit business; but I have identified them already, I have a lucid plan," he said
THE government has cautioned against abuse of prescription medication among illicit drug users, saying the practice has devastating consequences on human health.

The Minister for Home Affairs, George Simbachawene said that the 2020 report on illicit drugs indicates an increase in the use of prescription medicines by drug addicts after the government imposed tight measures to control drug trafficking.

"These medicines with stimulant substances are meant for treating some health complications, but when misused they may cause adverse effects to the users and society in general, because they use above the recommended dosage," Minister Simbachawene said in Dodoma yesterday during the commemoration of International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

Mr Simbachawene represented Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa in observing the day which aimed at creating awareness about issues related to drugs and strengthening action and cooperation in order to make the world free of drug abuse.

He noted that the abuse of the medical drugs can damage some human organs such as kidney and even lead to death.

The Minister further said that the report also showed that there were also indications on use of new illicit drugs and diversion of precursor chemicals.

He pointed out that the Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) in collaboration with other control organs such as Tanzania Medicines and Medical Devices Authority (TMDA) and Chief Government Chemist Laboratory are well prepared to prevent diversion of precursor chemicals and abuse of prescription medicines.

He further noted that the report also indicated wide use of marijuana in the country, followed by khat while heroin and cocaine are among the imported narcotic drugs which are also widely used.

The minister explained that drug abuse and illicit trafficking is a global problem which has been growing on a daily basis, adding: "Youths who are the workforce of the nation have been mostly affected with the illicit business ... contrary to the previous perception that illicit drugs are being used in urban areas. Today the illegal drugs can be accessed in rural areas," he said. He commended the sixth phase President Samia Suluhu Hassan for directing more efforts in combating drug abuse and illicit trafficking which has seen the country controlling drug trafficking, especially of heroin, by 90 per cent.

Simbachawene added that the government through the 2020 Chama Cha Mapinduzi election manifesto is determined to intensify efforts in the fight against illicit drugs by collaborating with civil society organisations in order to build their capacity in educating the public on effects of illicit drugs.

The Minister, however, issued six directives to DCEA to continue educating journalists about illicit drugs so that they can disseminate useful information to the public and compliment government efforts in the fight against illicit drugs.

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He also called on CSOs dealing with control of illicit drugs to participate fully in educating the public about the effects of the drugs, but also provide economic assistance to those recovering from addiction so that they can engage in production activities.

Simbachawene further said that media should continue to educate the public on effects of illicit drugs and people with information about drug deals to report to relevant authorities for further actions.

"Those who have been affected with the drugs should go to health facilities so that they can be helped to recover, and the ministry of education should make sure that it improves illicit drugs curricula from primary school to tertiary level to enable Tanzanian youth to get proper education about illicit drugs," he said.

He called on religious leaders through their forums to denounce the use of illicit drugs.
THE government yesterday announced the names of 9,675 new education and health workers who have been employed in fulfillment of President Samia Suluhu Hassan's promise of April this year.

The Permanent Secretary in the President's Office, Regional Administration and Local Government, Prof Riziki Shemdoe said the new teachers were selected out of 99,583 applicants. He said the total number of applicants for the health sector was 37,437, including 1,099 people with disabilities.

"Out of the selected teachers, 6,749 are for primary and secondary schools while the remaining 2,726 are health professionals," he said.

According to him, all the new employees have been assigned to their respective work centres and have to report to their new work destinations within 14 days from July 1 to 14, 2021.

Prof Shemdoe went on to urge the new teachers and health care workers to report to directors and work at designated centres and not at council headquarters.

While reporting to their new work stations, the employees have to bring their original academic documents such as Form Four and Six certificates, actual professional graduation certificates in the respective cadres, national ID or identification number as well as birth certificate.

During the selection process, Prof Shemdoe said the government considered a number of criteria, such as by prioritising those who graduated from college earlier than 2012 to 2019.

The age of the applicant was also among the criteria where the priority was given to applicants over the age of 40 who have completed the initial years as specified.

"The reason is that if they are not hired by the time they reach the age of 45, they will not be able to be employed in the government on permanent and pensionable terms," said Shemdoe.

For the coming financial year 2021/22, the government is expecting to employ 44,096 new staff in education, agriculture, livestock, fishery, police force, prisons, fire and immigration, as well as health workers for facilities under religious and charity organisations.
RELIGIOUS leaders yesterday commended President Samia Suluhu Hassan for demonstrating strong leadership in the past 100 days that she has been in office.

The leaders from various denominations met in the city to thank God and pray for President Samia.

They expressed their commitment to support the sixth phase government and asked the public to accord cooperation to the government for the development of the nation.

Speaking during the convocation, the Full Gospel Bible Fellowship (FGBF) Bishop Zachary Kakobe said wananchi must accept and support the government in power to enable it attain its objectives.

He said people must respect the government and support leaders in different ways, including praying for leaders. He challenged some people who compare President Samia and the late President John Magufuli's administration to stop doing so since their views do not hold water in building the nation.

He said whoever compares leaders knows nothing about God's creation and his intentions.

"God created people in different ways, you cannot expect someone to act and perform like another person, but all of them are doing a good job through different approaches," he noted.

He said Tanzanians have the responsibility and the civic duty to support the government by 100 per cent. Sheikh Hillali Shaweji said Tanzania is blessed to have a strong woman leader.

He said President Samia has so far demonstrated good leadership, which shows clearly the true strength of a woman in leadership. He said: "I once told the late President Magufuli that he was a good leader, today I say the same thing to President Samia that I like her leadership style." Dr Magnus Mhiche from Tanzania Assemblies of God (TAG) said changes always strengthen the society.

He said the changes that happened after the death of Dr Magufuli should be received since everything happens for a reason. He said the important thing is to pray for the nation and provide support to President Samia.
P RESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan yesterday said the government is looking forward to meet with stakeholders to discuss and resolve challenges brought by destination used vehicles inspection.

She said the decision to execute the destination inspection was made in response to concerns from members of the business community who sought to improve the exercise.

As a result, the government came up with the option of having the exercise being done upon arrival of the import vehicle, a decision that is now receiving criticism from stakeholders, including the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF).

Speaking when gracing the 12th Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) meeting held yesterday at the State House in Dar es Salaam, President Samia was of the view that the government was ready to work on challenges to smoothen the inspection exercise.

The President was responding to concerns made by the TPSF Chairperson, Angelina Ngalula who suggested the need for the government to revisit the decision and opt for the pre-shipment inspection.

"It was you members of TPSF who complained in the pre-shipment inspection... the government came up with the new option but complaints are still there... We shall sit together to digest challenges and come up with a joint solution on the matter," she said.

In another development, President Samia instructed Regional and District Commissioners to properly supervise business councils in their areas of administration for effective growth of business and investment across the region.

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She demanded the RCs and DCs to keep making follow-ups on challenges that members of the business community are facing, and respond accordingly.

"Personally, I'm volunteering to be a matron to women business councils at district and regional levels, for the same goal of empowering women," said the president, adding that she has volunteered to be a champion of economic rights and justice in the world.

Going forward, President Samia assured of their commitment to continue working together with members of the private sector because they are key stakeholders in national development. During her earlier speech, Ms Ngalula commended the president for her ongoing efforts of creating a favorable business and investment climate.

"We are happy with the deliberate efforts that the government is taking to encourage investment, a number of initiatives have been done, including unfreezing the bank accounts of businessmen that were frozen by the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA)," she said. She also asked the government to fast-track formation of the policy for development of the private sector.
A four-year-old boy from Unit O, Seke, in Chitungwiza died recently after being burnt to death when the room in which he was left sleeping by her mother caught fire.

The fire was allegedly from an unattended candle which was left on a wooden table.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi urged the public to be extremely cautious and avoid leaving fire sources unattended.

"The ZRP expresses concern over the increase of sudden deaths resulting from fire incidences. On June 23, 2021 at around 6pm in Unit O, Chitungwiza a child (4) was burnt to death when the room in which he was sleeping was engulfed by fire which started from a candle.

"The candle was left unattended by the child's mother on a wooden table as she went to follow up her debt in the neighbourhood," he said.

Recently residents of Msasa Park were left awestruck when a mother, her two-year-old daughter and their domestic helper, died in an inferno in the early hours of June 19.

The fire is said to have been caused by an unattended candle as the family went to bed.

Three other children who were inside the house survived when they were rescued by an alert neighbourhood watch team that heard their screams.

They were rushed to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals where they have since been discharged.

Police said in a statement, the fire started when the family retired to bed after placing a lit candle on a plastic cup following a power cut.

"On June 19, 2021, a Harare woman (34), her daughter (2) and a maid died in a fire incident at their house in Msasa Park at 12 midnight.

"The woman's three children, comprising two boys and a girl aged 10, 6 and 7 respectively, escaped death by a whisker through the help of local security personnel and a passer-by.

"Initial investigations revealed that the fire started from a candle which was lit and placed on a plastic cup, following a power cut, before the family went to bed."
AFRICA this week hosts the biennial conference of the International Association of Colonial and Post-colonial Linguistics (IACPL) for the first time.

The conference is taking place at the University of the Western Cape and runs from today until Wednesday.

Eminent speakers from across the globe have committed to the conference, which is running under the theme: "Coloniality as Knowledge and Being: Experiences of and Responses to Power."

The event is of particular interest not only because it is the first time that the continent is hosting the conference.

It has generated excitement over what Professor Ngugi wa Thiong'o has described as the "home-coming" of African languages.

The conference coincides with the launch of the ChiShona translation of Wa Thiong'o intellectual classic, "Decolonising the Mind", by Dr John Mambambo, a Zimbabwean at Rhodes University, South Africa, where he is part of a project that is spearheading the mass translation of the work into indigenous languages in that country, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

The project at Rhodes University heralds a co-ordinated mass translation of fiction and non-fiction seminal works by great African intellectuals of which Professor Wa Thiong'o is one.

He identifies the Rhodes restoration project as a "great initiative".

The endeavour is to develop literature that can be accessed easily by Africans in African languages in order to facilitate their use in education and other powerful domains of life.

Commenting on the project and the book launch, Dr Mambambo says African languages have metaphorically traversed "abroad" for far too long, abandoning their "home" to enrich other languages and homes.

"It saddens that African languages have for far too long been taught in English and that this has remained broadly unchallenged and 'normal'.

"This created and continues to create an unquestionable hegemony of English over African languages in terms of their domains of usage and the associated status that emerges from such," he said.

He argues that in practical terms, English enjoys its current status because of the functions that are ascribed to it.

The Chishona translation of "Decolonising the Mind" seeks not to take anything from English but is bringing back the "prodigal African languages", he explains.

Translation of "Decolonising the Mind", Dr Mambambo suggests "reaffirms and reasserts the position of African languages through pragmatically rather than theoretically advocating for their elevation for broader usage as the medium of instruction.

"Our next challenge is to accept, embrace and ensure broad circulation of such texts and to partner in such efforts to add more African languages texts to the list through writing new texts or the translation of the existing ones," he said.

The theme of this week's International De/coloniality conference at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), is aligned to the main theme of the book, "Decolonising the Mind".

During an interview ahead of the conference and referencing the book launch, Professor Felix Banda, the Chairperson of the Linguistics Department at the UWC, said about six years ago, Dr Mambambo approached the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society

(CASAS) based in Cape Town, with the idea of translating Professor Ngugi wa Thiong'o's "Decolonising the Mind" into ChiShona.

CASAS conducts research and publishes books on African languages and linguistics and African society.

Professor Kwesi Prah, the then Director of CASAS acceded to the idea and work on obtaining permission from the copyright holder to translate the book started.

In 2018, Professor Kwesi Prah donated CASAS to the University of the Western Cape, Linguistics Department.

Explains Professor Banda: "Thus, the publication of the book has been an ongoing concern and its final publication in June coincides with the conference on De/coloniality.

"Considering that CASAS the publisher of the book is now based in the Linguistics Department, who are also the host of the conference on De/coloniality made sense to launch the book at the conference.

"In addition, Ngugi wa Thiong'o is one of the originators of decolonial theory in Africa."

UWC's decolonial credentials can be traced to the1970s and 1980s, as it played a crucial role in the campaigns to release political prisoners in South Africa.

It openly resisted the apartheid university policies by declaring itself as "an intellectual home for the democratic left" and thus directly sided with the oppressed and exploited people.

UWC students, workers and academics have therefore established a history of originating and being at the centre of the transformation debate in South Africa and the world at large, and at efforts to defeat repression and the struggles to overturn tyranny in its many forms and disguises including the coloniality of power and knowledge, the theme of the conference.

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Elaborates Professor Banda: "UWC has continued to fight against oppression, discrimination and disadvantage in its quest to build an equitable and dynamic society. It is thus fitting that the first conference on the African continent of the International Association of Colonial and Postcolonial Linguistics (IACPL) is being held at the University of the Western Cape."

Among some of the keynote speakers headlining the conference are: Professor Kwesi Prah, Founding Director of CASAS; Professor Ryuko Kubota, Professor, Department of Language and Literacy Education, The University of British Columbia, Canada, and Professor Sinfree Makoni, Penn State University, the USA.

The speakers are expected to bring to light the effects of coloniality, not merely as a topic of academic debate, but more so as lived and as experienced by people.

The expectation is also that the conference papers will address how coloniality, as experienced in power structures inherited from the colonial era; continued projections of colonial definitions of knowledge and ways of knowing and the imposition of Western culture and traditional identities on African or colonised people, can be disrupted and counteracted.
The Procurement Authority of Zimbabwe is set to automate its operations and move away from the manual systems as part of measures to bring efficiency and effectiveness, newly appointed chief executive officer, Mr Clever Ruswa has said.

He said the transformation of the organisation from manual system will also go a long way in containing the risk of contracting Covid-19 through handling of physical volumes of papers. Mr Ruswa said this last week at a function where he was being unveiled as the new head of the organisation replacing Mr Nyasha Chizu whose contract was recently terminated by the organisation.

"In as much as we are talking about Covid-19 our quest is to make sure that we automate our processes to end but some of our stakeholders out of the 345 procuring entities most of them are still using manual systems so we still get some physical documents which are difficult to handle," said Mr Ruswa.

He said PRAZ was going to review its regulations in 2021 as it moves to fully support Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs), in line with the attainment of Vision 2030.

"In terms of outlook I think we are promising as management and we will stick to our mandate and make necessary amendments which are in line with our policies. Our vision is to become a centre of excellence as a regulator. ," he said.

In announcing the appointment of Mr Ruswa, PRAZ chairperson, Mrs Vimba Nyemba said the Board was confident that he will be able to steer the organisation to another level based on his expertise and experience.
Abuja  The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs. Maryam Katagum, has said women empowerment remains a major ingredient towards the development of the country particularly as the government looks to agriculture to diversify the economy.

Noting that women are vital to the progress of all economies, she lamented the existing disparities in economic participation of women in the country adding that this, "should be of great concern to everyone".

Speaking on, "Women in Economic Development, Commerce and Industry," at the 60th exhibition of Made-in- Nigeria Products, Katagum said resolving these issues remained paramount to the country's socio-economic development.

She said: "In order for women to fully harness their contributions to economic development, they require equal access to all opportunities available to men."

The minister said among other things that Nigeria needed to domesticate the Buenos Aires Declaration on Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment (2017), wherein members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) had agreed to collaborate in making trade and development policies more gender responsive and specifically remove barriers on women's economic empowerment and increase their participation in trade.

According to her, the Declaration, among other things, called for the enhancement of women entrepreneurs' participation in public procurement.

However, the minister pointed out that overtime, the federal government had developed policies and institutional structures that encourage equality and aim to increase the participation of women in all sectors of the economy.

She said her ministry, which has a mandate to create an enabling environment to stimulate industrialisation and accelerate domestic and foreign investment, had successfully championed the development of MSMEs to create jobs and drive inclusive growth while also promoting the integration of Nigeria-based businesses into regional and global value chains.

The minister noted that the recently launched Gender Initiative of the Commodities and Export Department (GICED) of the ministry aims to use available resources to support women to realise their potentials in the commodities and export trade sub-sector.

She also said the MSME Survival Fund, as part of the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) was mulled to support and protect small businesses from the vulnerabilities brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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She added that the N50 billion Export Expansion Facility Programme, currently being implemented by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), was aimed at empowering exporters in expanding their businesses including women through non-oil exports.

She said: "Throughout history women have played various roles as economic actors: from food gatherers and processors in ancient societies, to providing substantial portions of farm labour in traditional societies, including, unfortunately, as slaves and indentured workers, to providing the bulk of factory labour during the world wars.

"In ancient Arabia and Pre-Colonial Africa, women were established captains of commerce controlling large trade caravans and major trading houses.

"The working woman is a common phrase that has emerged in recent times. This statement is untrue because women have always worked.

"The only circumstance that has changed in recent times is that women's work is starting to be adequately recognised and their efforts, compensated."
They come, promise big returns, pay early entrants handsomely, and then they collapse or vanish as quickly as they showed up.

The only constant is gullible Kenyans, who are left helpless and counting painful investment losses. Some investors never learn and are blinded by the promise of quick riches. Few ask the important questions on the source of the promised returns, and have no time for due diligence. As long as there is a testimony from a 'beneficiary', glossy printed marketing brochures, a deal fronted by influencers who include church ministers, Kenyans seeking quicker riches pump in money.

But what has surely made Kenya a playground of investment con artists is the fact that nothing happens to the masterminds.

The daring ones swiftly change their names and return wearing new hats, even before dust settles on their previous scam.

Ekeza

During his entrepreneurial heydays, David Kariuki Ngari - the founder of Ekeza Sacco, Gakuyo Real Estate and Gakuyo Investments Club, had mastered the most critical marketing strategies to attract thousands of Kenyans to invest into his largely fictitious investment schemes.

He would appear at Kikuyu vernacular radio stations every night around 8pm, give a three-four minutes' sermon to listeners, then before closing, promote his investment schemes by asking listeners to invest in Ekeza Sacco.

Members were attracted by favourable payment methods that allowed instalments to own housing units as well as owning homes around Nairobi. That was about a decade ago. Fast forward to 2017, Mr Ngari had convinced a staggering 78,000 Kenyans to put their hard-earned money in Ekeza Sacco, with investments of more than Sh2.4 billion.

But there was a problem, as an investigation by the Commissioner for Cooperatives would later reveal. Mr Ngari had illegally siphoned more than Sh1 billion from the investment company to his personal accounts between 2015 and 2017, to finance his lavish lifestyle and elections campaign. When the DCI on March 18 asked residents of Nairobi and Kiambu who had been duped to appear at the DCI Headquarters, about 15,000 members showed up, causing commotion and a cancellation of the exercise.

Last year, Mr Ngari announced that he had started refunding members their money. There has not been further update on the progress. The outcome of the DCI investigations remains unknown. The televangelist sued to block auctioning of his firm.

Urithi Housing Cooperative

For a man interested in attracting thousands to invest in his highly marketed real estate projects, Mr Samuel Maina-- the founder of Urithi Housing Cooperative -- knew he would require the power of technology to market his ambition. And so his team went ahead to create irresistible adverts and artistic impressions for presentation to potential buyers, enticing them with images of their would-be-homes.

This was followed by a major, classic launch event where bulls were slaughtered to signify a new beginning for the investors and flowery speeches issued on how the cooperative would walk the journey with members to see them own homes. The only thing standing between the investors and their homes was only paying the money, soon after which they would live in them within a year or two. Many took the bait.

Read: Sacco launches Sh1bn real estate scheme in Thika

By last year, many of the 32,000 members were crying after years of waiting for delivery of their houses, each having paid amounts ranging above Sh1 million. Last year, the DCI asked aggrieved members who had been defrauded through the housing cooperative to record statements. But the files have never been forwarded to DPP for prosecution, while investors keep waiting.

Cytonn

When it introduced its High Yield Solutions product, Cytonn leveraged on the promise that it would pay back 18 per cent of investments to customers, attracting about 4,000 people to invest their millions into the scheme.

Read: Investor asks court to liquidate Cytonn over Sh14m debt

Last week, some of the frustrated investors in the scheme started coming out to complain how the company had frustrated their efforts to get back their money when their investments matured, setting the stage for the most recent scandal in the financial sector. At stake is Sh10 billion in investors' money. Court battles have just started following Cytonn's action to take the Capital Markets Authority to court last week after the regulator opened criminal proceedings against the investment firm over two of its funds. Aggrieved investors are now preparing a class action civil suit.

DECI

The pyramid scheme went down in 2006 with over Sh2.4 billion that had been invested by 93,485 investors. Its founder, George Odinga Donde, leveraged on religious approach, where preachers were used to encourage believers to invest in the scheme for quick returns, with few cases of some people alleged to have benefited immensely from their investments being paraded. Mr Donde died in 2012.

Clip Investments Sacco Ltd

It is one of the many pyramid schemes that used religion and sale of Christian literature to attract unsuspecting Kenyans to put in their money, with promises that they would reap up to 120 per cent interest. Close to 6,000 people invested more than Sh1.9 billion, which would disappear as the pyramid scheme collapsed in 2007.

A taskforce investigation would later reveal that the Sacco's founder and director, Peter Ndakwe, had, as the scheme struggled to pay back investors, accumulated wealth, including buying Sh200 million plots in Runda and transferred properties worth millions of shillings to companies in Panama.

VIP Portal

In 2013, Mr Alfred Wangai and his wife Mercy Nkantha, residents of Limuru, Kiambu County, duped 13,000 residents into investing over Sh1 billion to trade in stocks in internationally listed companies.

Among the promises was that investors would get 60 and 80 per cent of the amount deposited for four consecutive months and at the end get the initial total deposits back. Every investor was required to deposit at least Sh25,000 at VIP Portal. But when investors- many of them farmers- wired money in the couple's accounts, the promises vanished, and so did the money. They would start seeking legal redress a year later, after realising nothing was forthcoming, despite the maturity of the investment. The case is still being heard in court.

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Simple Homes Developers Consortium

Ms Nuzrat Sharif used one of the most popular logics a business can apply in marketing to an urban dweller. Through its rent-as-you-own model, it made unsuspecting investors believe they would live in houses paying rent, which would later count as purchase instalments. Members were only required to pay a 25 per cent initial deposit. But by the time Ms Sharif, one the architects of the scam, was arrested last year, the scheme had sunk with over Sh500 million owed to investors. Investigations are on course although no communication has been made officially on their progress.

Diamond Property Merchants

More than 700 investors had been promised that after investing in buying an eighth of land at Sh450,000, then paying an extra Sh290,000 to aid the construction of green houses, they would make between Sh120,000 and Sh200,000 yearly in returns.

By 2018, 500 investors had collectively lost Sh500 million after Mr Peter Wangai and his scheme failed to live to their promise. It was reported that Mr Wangai could have made Sh1.6 billion by lying to investors, without a plan to repay their money.

Other pyramid schemes that have left thousands of Kenyans in misery after they had invested all their savings include Aim Global and Crowd1, which were unregulated online platforms and whose extent of damage has never been quantified.
More than 4,000 investors who pumped Sh10 billion into an unregulated product by Cytonn are now preparing a fresh class action suit against the company in the push to get their money back.

But these are not the only investors who have been promised a shorter route to riches but ended up regretting dearly after losing millions and sometimes billions of shillings. These are tell-tale signs that you are about to be scammed.

Unbelievable high returns

If it entices you with handsome returns that are far above the market rates, you are probably about to invest in a scam.

Churchill Ogutu, an economist at Genghis Capital, says investors must watch out for investment schemes that promise abnormal returns way above market rates, noting that this is the hallmark of such scams.

"If you are investing in a fund that promises you returns of say 20 per cent after a certain period of time yet the market level is about 11 per cent, you need to ask yourself where your money is going to be invested so that it will earn such high returns," Mr Ogutu cautions.

Can a bank fund it?

Commercial banks have a team of experts that review various enterprises and assess them for their potential. They are always scouting for business ideas with great potential to give loans.

So if an investment idea is so lucrative and certain, ask yourself why is it that the company has not approached a bank for a cheaper loan. For Cytonn, the company hired an army of sales people to entice buyers in a door-to-door campaign promising them 18 per cent returns, yet they could get cheaper funding of about 13 per cent from a commercial bank. This means that either the investment fundamentals were weak or the company could not back up its promise of high returns.

Short-term maturity

Mr Ogutu says investors should also be suspicious of investment schemes that have a short-term horizon to mean that the investment matures in just days or weeks. For instance, Kenyans who fell for the collapsed Amazon Web Worker Ponzi scheme were promised earnings on not only referrals of new customers to the site, but they would also earn weekly and monthly interests on their deposits in the platform.

But the economist notes that traditional mainstream investments such stocks, treasury bills and bonds, real estate and others have relatively defined maturity timeframes, and that companies that promise to pay you interest in just days, weeks, or even few months need to elicit caution.

"There is no magic-wand in business that multiplies your money in just a few days. If someone is telling you to give them a certain amount of money and they promise that you will earn an X amount of interest which is very high compared to a bank or other institutions and over a short period of time, you need to be very cautious," the economist says.

Unlicensed

Before making an investments, investors must do background checks on the company or product they are investing in to make sure it is properly registered, has a physical address, and is licensed and regulated by the relevant regulatory body.

Mr Ogutu says this minimises incidences of being scammed, as regulated entities have proper management and ownership structures that can be accounted for, which protects investors' money.

"Is the company I am investing in duly registered? Who owns the company? What products does it sell and how does earn its income? And also, it is legally regulated and licensed to sell you the product that it is selling? Finding the answers to all these questions is an adequate barometer that will answer if the company is genuine or not," he said. Also do the sales people look rehearsed? Have they themselves invested in the product they are selling?

Non-disclosure of crucial information

Mr Ogutu says if a company is unwilling to fully disclose critical information including an elaborate disclosure of how they will invest your money, and other relevant information about its undertakings, then it is a red herring that indicates the company should not be trusted with your money.

A genuine and competent investment company, the economist adds, is not only transparent with all the information that investors need but is also forthright and has records of the investments it has made or is making, and has a tangible portfolio of its track record.

"We see each day new scams coming up telling you to invest a certain amount of money in this or that products or scheme, yet they cannot tell you full information about themselves and where they want to put your money to earn the high interests. Investors should keenly watch out for such red flags," Mr Ogutu said.

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No documentation

You want to instantly buy that cheap parcel of land that has just been advertised in Kamulu and Kitengela before it is sold out and you miss out.

But before you send that money, first ensure that the parcel of land actually exists, do a search in the lands registry to establish its ownership and availability for sale, and make sure you get appropriate documentation for each transaction that you make.

This is one of the ways in which investors fall to scams by buying inexistent parcels of land, sending money to obscure persons or entities for a purchase or investment, and failing to secure proper documentation including title deeds, car log books, and official receipts.

If an entity is tactfully not willing to provide you with documentation, it is another red flag that it cannot be trusted with your hard-earned money.
Three county chiefs are being investigated over their unexplained wealth running into billions of shillings, the anti-graft agency has confirmed.

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) chairperson Archbishop (Rtd) Eliud Wabukala made the revelation while presenting a report on the status of the fight against corruption to the National Assembly's Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (Jlac).

He said the governors are under audit to find out how they acquired the wealth amounting to Sh11.5 billion.

"Counties have been a big let-down to citizens due to runaway corruption. We have several suggestions for Jlac on how they can help us through legislation," EACC chief executive officer Twalib Mbarak said and lamented delays in concluding corruption cases in court.

Jlac vice-chairperson Tom Kajwang challenged EACC to do more to fight corruption.

"The public would really wish more to be done by the commission. We know of counties that lack hospitals, yet officials have stolen funds," he said.

High-profile cases

He added that the public needed to see high-profile cases finalised.

"We understand that we're working under abnormal circumstances. Covid-19 protocols have led to investigations becoming more difficult and delayed.

"We will try to find the gaps so that the system can work consistently and cases can be finalised. Suspects need to be acquitted or jailed," Mr Kajwang said.

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The EACC presented a memorandum it said would help strengthen the war on corruption. In the memorandum, EACC proposed several changes to the law to strengthen investigations.

Some of the laws the commission wants amended are the Anti-corruption and Economic Crimes Act, the Public Officer Ethics Act, Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act, and the Leadership and Integrity Act.

"We have reviewed the current legal regime and identified a number of areas that need improvement. It includes cases presided over by special magistrates where the magistrate shall hold hearings on a day-to-day basis until the trial is completed within two years from the date of filing the charge," the memorandum reads in part.

EACC also wants state officers charged with corruption to step aside until their cases are heard and determined.

Off-shore account

Under the Leadership and Integrity Act, the commission suggested an amendment to make it illegal for a person to operate an off-shore bank account without the approval of the EACC.

Going against the law will see culprits sent to prison for a term not exceeding five years or pay a fine of not more than Sh5 million.
Politicians are reportedly hiring hackers to have damning reports including proceedings of corruption cases erased from online platforms.

Administrators of webpages that have negative profiles of personalities either eyeing elective posts or government jobs in new administrations expected in county and national level after elections have been warned to be vigilant about the criminal project to eliminate the digital footprint of the damning content.

With integrity scrutiny for key government jobs inclusive of online sourced memorandums during interview sessions, as well as muck racking by rivals in election campaigns expected to intensify, so is the racket to compromise negative online publications.

So high are the stakes that some of the personalities are reported to be paying bribes between Sh200, 000 and Sh2 million to have just one report deleted.

A politician in Murang'a County has since been placed on the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) radar on suspicions of making contacts to help him delete corruption reports about him on several websites.

Male politician

"We got wind that the male politician has been recruiting people to hack into websites of several media houses, those of bloggers and DCI. His intention is to have his profiled corruption cases in court deleted from the websites," Gatanga DCI boss John Kanda told Nation.

Mr Kanda said if there is evidence of hacking systems, DCI will act as that is cybercrime. A certificate of good conduct from the DCI and clearance by the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) are among the requirements for aspirants and those seeking public appointments.

However, he said the DCI has no role given in most instances the administrators of those sites are being compromised and voluntarily pull down the offending posts.

"In most cases, these people are approaching the authorised administrators of the websites as well as blog owners where they pay to have the information blacked out. Under such circumstances where the publisher is the one who has been compromised to pull down the information, there is very little we can do. But should we get evidence that the disappearance of the information is through hacking the systems hence unauthorised access, certainly we will go after the culprits," Mr Kanda said.

Negative reports

James Mwangi, who is a communications consultant based in Thika Town, said he has been approached by several politicians seeking to know whether it's possible to have their negative reports disappear from several websites.

"Knowing too well that the best way to have the information disappear is for them to engage the website administrators, I have been referring them to the hosts. I know of a politician in Central region who has succeeded in having his profiles pulled down on some websites. He spent Sh3.5 million," Mr Mwangi claimed.

Mr Mwangi said bloggers are now having a field day pulling down negative reports touching on personalities with an interest in next year's General Election. "Those others positioning themselves to contest County Executive jobs and other public service placements after the polls are also on the lookout for any negative report made online and where present, spending colossal amounts to have it deleted," he said.

Murang'a based advocate of the High Court Mr Timothy Kariuki told Nation that some 2022 poll hopefuls as well as others eyeing public jobs in the new regimes are flocking his office seeking advice on how to cleanse themselves online.

"Most sought advice is on how to remove negative footprints on the web and how to cleanse them from the judiciary so as to qualify for award of certificate of good conduct certificates. And the advice is very simple--approach the publishers of the websites and negotiate, if the articles are defamatory, we can sue and pray for orders to have them pulled down and if one was prosecuted and was acquitted or served a sentence, then we can apply for his/her fingerprints to be expunged from judiciary registries," Mr Kariuki explained.

Dishing out cash

But a seasoned politician in Mt Kenya region who has served for 15 years told Nation that "those people are just taking a very long route to cleanse themselves. What works is money delivered to the authorising authorities." He claims cash delivered discreetly to relevant authorities "clears all those criminal, corruption, academic and any other barrier" to clearance to vie.

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"It is only a naive person who is a stranger to how Kenya works who will start dishing out cash to web hosts, bloggers and what else in the name of a strategy," he said. According to Dan Kirima of the NewTimes Generation Webmasters, removing such material from online files is a tricky venture.

"The question is the legality of the drive. It is a criminal enterprise where one is being recruited to scheme destruction of online footprints. It can only be done illegally if the host who had uploaded it is not the one to do it above board," he said.

He said that there are four ways to remove content from search engines-ask hackers to do it, negotiate with the publisher, petition the Google search engine administrators or go to court to seek orders to have the damning content deleted.

mwangilink@gmail.com
Toplen and Nakoko primary schools in Tiaty, Baringo are 20 kilometers apart with 15 and 12 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam candidates each.

If a Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) circular indicating primary or secondary schools with less than 40 candidates will be merged with another neighbouring school(s) is to be effected, candidates from these two schools, who are already forced to do more than 10 kilometers trek to schools, will now be forced to walk even longer distances.

Mr Judah Losutan, an elder from Nginyang' in Tiaty West, said the directive will sabotage learning in the area and parents, who most are illiterate will withdraw their few children from school.

He indicated that most schools in Tiaty are more than 30kms away and there is no way a parent, who is even coaxed to take their children to school, would allow them to walk for such distances in the name of exams.

"A school like Toplen Primary School has less than 15 candidates and the neighbouring school, Nakoko Primary, which also has 12, is more than 20kms away. Are they expecting our children to walk all the way to sit for examination? Unless they tell us they want to sabotage learning in the pastoralist communities by giving such skewed directives," said Mr Losutan.

Among schools in Tiaty Sub-County that have low enrolment include Akwichatis, Toplen, Kositei, Katikit, Lokis, Nakoko, Chesakam, Riong'o, Komolion and Chepkalacha among others.

Private schools

In the new directive released on June 11, 2021 addressed to all secondary and primary school heads and sub-county directors of education, all public or private schools with less than 40 candidates will be hosted by another neighbouring Centre with more than 40 candidates in the 2021 KCPE and KCSE examinations.

It also indicated that the host school should be located within the Sub-County where the hosted schools are and should be served from one distribution point.

"All Sub-County directors of education are informed to submit the list of the host and the hosted examination centers for the 2021 KCPE and KCSE examinations by August 15, 2021," read the circular signed the acting chief executive officer Mercy Karogo.

In Baringo, parents and locals have complained that many schools especially in the pastoralist communities and banditry prone areas in the region cannot meet the set target of learners owing to the sparse population and retrogressive cultural practices that has greatly hampered enrolment of learners.

A spot check by the Nation revealed that most of the schools in the lower areas in Baringo North including Kagir, Yatya, Chemoe, Barketiew and Kamwetio Primary schools have less than 15 candidates each.

Among other schools that are also grappling with enrolment owing to incessant banditry attacks include Baruyo, Kasiela, Sinoni, Arabal, Chemorong'ion,Mukutani, Noosukro, Kesumet, Loruk, Kosile, Barketiew and Kapturo.

They also cited distance as a major impediment to the directive since most learning institutions are several kilometers apart which would force learners to walk for long hours to get to the neighbouring school.

The situation is the same also in Tiaty Sub-County where enrolment and retention is a problem owing to retrogressive cultural practices and scarcity of schools, forcing learners to drop out due to long distances they have to cover to get to schools.

Jonathan Tokei, a professional from Baringo complained that the directive will not be applicable in the far flung villages where enrolment and retention is still a problem due to a myriad of challenges due to a myriad of challenges including the perennial insecurity menace.

He accused the examination council for issuing rules without involving the stakeholders including parents from the pastoralist regions that are still grappling with education.

Pastoralist communities

"Most of the pastoralist communities in Baringo County are still having challenges with enrolment, leave alone retention. Some schools are also several kilometers away, forcing leaners to walk for several distances. If this directive is effected, some pupils will have to trek for more than 10kms during the examination periods," said Mr Tokei.

"That directive will not hold any water if they will not involve stakeholders. The government should understand the challenges of learners in the far flung areas first before issuing such rules. Some schools in this region have less than 100 learners, leave alone candidates," he added.

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Richard Chepchomei, a parent from the banditry prone Chemoe in Baringo North raised concern that some schools in the area have low population owing to the perennial insecurity menace that has forced some locals to flee to safer areas.

"Most schools in this area have less than 100 learners, with schools being more than 10kms apart. How can you expect a pupil to walk to another neighbouring school, tens of kilometers away to sit for a national examination, not forgetting the insecurity challenges," said Mr Chepchomei.

"Most schools here are manned by security officers day and night, then how can you expect the same learners to trek for several kilometers to the neighbouring in the presence of gun totting criminals," he added.

fkoech@ke.nationmedia.com
Maputo

Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi has pledged to defeat insurgents who have been attacking residents of Cabo Delgado province

Speaking during the country's celebration of 46 years of independence, President Nyusi said a reinforced attack on terrorism in Cabo Delgado will take place soon, with external support.

"The valiant defence and security forces will intensify the operational actions to hunt these criminals, with the necessary support from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other friendly and brotherly countries," President Nyusi added.

"We will do everything so that the coming days will be of despair and agony for terrorists operating in Mozambique," he added.

External support

He reaffirmed that the country "never refused any support", citing as an example the training of Mozambican forces with the support of the USA, European and African countries.

"The good young people of this country are in combat right now. They celebrate the anniversary of independence by hitting the enemy hard on the ground," he said.

On Wednesday last week, SADC heads of state and government approved the mandate for a standby force mission to Mozambique during a summit in Maputo.

The mission, according to a communique released after the summit, will be deployed to combat terrorism and acts of violent extremism in Cabo Delgado province.

Help IDPs

The summit, hosted by President Nyusi, urged the member states, in collaboration with humanitarian agencies, to continue providing support to the people affected by the terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado, including the internally displaced persons.

Mozambique is facing an insurgency in the northern province which borders Tanzania. The region has a population of 1.8 million people spread across 16 districts.

The attacks began in October 2017 on police stations in Mocimboa da Praia District, then spread to other districts in the northern part of Cabo Delgado, notably in Macomia, Palma and Nangade.

Islamic State-linked militants launched attacks on the north eastern coastal town of Palma on March 24, ransacked buildings and beheaded civilians.

Known locally as Al-Shabaab -- but with no relation to the Somali-based terror group by the same name -- the militants in Cabo Delgado have launched a series of brazen raids on towns and villages in an apparent bid to establish an Islamic caliphate.
Deputy President William Ruto yesterday took the 'hustler nation' campaigns to Machakos County where he criticised those seeking tribal alliances in an apparent attack on rivals trying to forge a broad-based coalition.The DP said the era of politicians uniting to form tribal political outfits was long gone.Speaking at AIC Bomani in Machakos Town where he attended Sunday service, the DP said such formations will not solve Kenyans' problems.

"The problem that millions of Kenyans are facing today is not tribalism but poverty. That is why we are re-engineering our economic model to put more emphasis on the lower end of the wealth pyramid," Dr Ruto said. He added: "Kenyans want leaders to work together and address their challenges, especially now when Covid-19 pandemic is destroying lives."

Presidential bid

Later, the DP addressed a crowd at the Machakos bus station, where he wooed the region to back his presidential bid, adding he was not leaving anything to chance."I am also scheming (against my political rivals)," Dr Ruto said.

Recently, ODM Chairman John Mbadi said Mr Raila Odinga-led party, which is also in talks with President Kenyatta's Jubilee for a pre-election coalition agreement, was also reaching out to Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka and Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi to form a formidable force ahead of next year's polls.

Authority

The Deputy President was accompanied by Machakos Senator Agnes Muthama, Machakos Woman Rep Joyce Kamene, Mwala MP Vincent Musyoka, Nimrod Mbai (Kitui East), Narok Woman Rep Soipan Tuya and Mbeere South MP Geoffrey King'ang'i.The church service also marked the installation of Dr Phillip Muia as the head of the AIC church in Machakos region following the death of Bishop Bernard Nguyo earlier this year.

He will be deputised by Benjamin Kilonzo.The ceremony was presided over by Bishop Abraham Mulwa, the head of the AIC church."Those of us who have been given, by God's grace and favour, authority, responsibility, power, a say, we must remember those who are weak," the DP said at the church.

"The word of God informs my consistent call for a change in our economic model so that we can have a bottom-up approach."Mr Musyoka said Machakos will rally behind Dr Ruto because of his political ideologies. "The bottom-up approach that is being pushed by the Deputy President will empower ordinary Kenyans. That is how we will get out of poverty as a country," said the Mwala

MP.pmaundu@ke.nationmedia.com
Algiers  President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune received Saturday Secretary General of the National Liberation Front (FLN) party Abou El Fadhl Baadji and a delegation of the independent's representatives led by Abdelwahab Ait Menguelet, as part of the expanded political dialogue, in order to form a Government, the Presidency of the Republic said in a communique.

"As part of the expanded political dialogue to form a Government, President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune received Secretary General of FLN party Abou El Fadhl Baadji, accompanied by members of the political bureau," said the source.

President Tebboune also "received a delegation of the independents' representatives, led by Abdelwahab Ait Menguelet, made up of Ali Mounsi, Saker Berri, Abdelhamid Belakhel, Benaouda Bettahar El Hadj, Abdelkader Gouri and Fatma Bida."

See also: New Government: President Tebboune starts Saturday political consultations

Principal Private Secretary at the President of the Republic Noureddine Bardad-Daidj, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic Mohamed El Amine Messaid and adviser to the President of the Republic in charge of legal and judicial affairs Boualem Boualem attended the audience.
The High Court in Lilongwe rejected a bail application pending appeal of both conviction and sentence for jailed for one time powerful politician known for political prostitute, Uladi Basikolo Mussa who is popularly known as Chenji Golo in the political spheres for his constant changing political parties like underwear garments.

This means, therefore, the erstwhile former high-profiled politician and long time Salima parliamentarian will have to battle for his liberation from the non-freedom walls of jail cells.

The court sentenced the former Cabinet minister and seasoned politician alongside a senior immigration officer, David Kwanjana and a Ugandan businessperson, Peter Katasya on October 23, 2020 on various charges under the Corrupt Practices Act as well as the Penal Code.

Former Home Affairs Minister, Mussa and Kwanjana, a former Central Region Immigration officer, were slapped with six years imprisonment, five years and one year to run concurrently, while Katasya was handed a prison sentence of four years.

But on November 3, 2020 Katasya filed summons applying for stay of sentence and admission to bail pending appeal while Mussa and Kwanjana filed similar summons on November 24 2020.

Both summons were in accordance with Section 359 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Code.

However, in his ruling yesterday High Court Judge Chifundo Kachale argued no injustice would arise if the three were to continue pursuing their appeal from behind bars.

Kachale, who is also Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson, observed the detention of the three was premised upon convictions entered after hearing evidence in court.

He said the trial court considered relevant sentencing principles when it arrived at custodial terms for the three, and there was nothing that was presented in their applications to move the court to exercise the rare discretion of granting bail pending appeal.

"Therefore, on all these premises, the applications of Uladi Mussa, David Henry Kwanjana and Peter Katasya to be admitted to bail pending appeal are each one dismissed for lack of merit. The applicants shall remain in custody until a contrary order is issued following their appeal," said Kachale's in his judgment.

'Sentencing'

Mussa, a former minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security during the two-year tenure of former president Joyce Banda, was convicted for aiding and abetting foreigners to enter the country illegally and awarding them Malawian citizenship. The offences were committed in 2013.

Mussa and his accomplices were sentenced by the High Court sitting in Lilongwe to six years in prison after he was found guilty in issuing illegal passports.

Chifundo Kachale, the High Court judge who is also the chairman of the Malawi Electoral Commission, sentencing Mussa, a former president Peter Mutharika's advisor, said the 55 year-old politician, abused his public office, neglected duty and uttered false documents.

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"I order a sentence of five years imprisonment for being found guilty of abuse of public office and 12-month imprisonment for neglect of official duties. The sentences will run concurrently," said the judge.

Kamudoni Nyasulu, a private prosecutor engaged by Malawi's Anti-Corruption Bureau, said the conviction and sentence has set a legal precedent.

"The law requires that a public officer's actions must not be arbitrary, but must follow the law and procedures," Nyasulu told reporters outside the court.

In July 2019, the US State Department banned Mussa and his spouse from visiting the country for his involvement in the passport scam.

In a statement, the US said it had acted "following credible information" that Mussa was involved in significant corruption while serving as a Cabinet minister.

Mussa was arrested in March 2017 and his trial has lasted three years.
In terms of production per province this year, Mashonaland West is expected to produce 35 070mt; Mashonaland Central 22 917mt; Mashonaland East 11 467mt; Manicaland 357mt; Midlands 1 367mt; Masvingo 86mt; Matabeleland North 4mt and Matabeleland South 23mt.

ZIMBABWE will continue experiencing a serious shortage of soybeans unless issues of lack of funding, price controls, lack of bankable tenure and unfair contract systems are adequately addressed, farmers' unions have said.

According to the Second Round of Crop and Livestock Assessment Report released recently, soya bean production in Zimbabwe is estimated at 71 290 metric tonnes (mt) this year, against a national requirement of 240 000 tonnes per year.

Last year, the production stood at

47 088mt.

Soya bean is in short supply, forcing the country to spend tens of millions of dollars in foreign currency annually to import crude for cooking oil manufacturing.

Farmers who spoke to Standardbusiness said the trend would continue unless the issues of lack of funding, high cost of production among others have been addressed.

"There is definitely going to be a shortage of soya beans this year, which could have been caused by several factors.

"Firstly, whilst the maize price had been pegged high to make it attractive to growers, the same cannot be said for soya beans," the Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) said in its latest newsletter.

"Historically, in order for soybeans to be an attractive crop to grow the price needs to be at least double the maize price.

"The GMB price for soyas is nowhere near that and is considerably lower than the current import parity price."

The government recently added soya beans to controlled grains, restricting the marketing of the product to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) except in instances where running contracts are in place, a move seen as detrimental to agriculture.

The restrictions came into force through Statutory Instrument (SI) 97 of 2021.

CFU said the move had literally taken the wind out of the sails of many producers, who were normally able to sell to the highest bidder and play the market, thus increasing their profit margin.

"In addition, without the desired security of tenure, that is collateral, the only available sources of finance to farmers often tie them to a set purchase price, which is also often less than the market price," the union said.

"With the recently introduced restriction on imports there are already press reports of a nationwide cooking oil shortage in the near future.

"Without the lack of proper forethought and planning, price controls and lack of bankable tenure are definitely a double edged sword."

The grain utility is paying $48 000 for a tonne of soya bean, $32 000 for a tonne of maize, and $38 000 for traditional grains.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union (ZCFU) president Shadreck Makombe said farmers were struggling to produce enough soya beans due to lack of funding.

"The challenge is on cost and a lot of farmers cannot afford it. It's a crop, which needs a lot of inputs in terms of money," Makombe said.

"It needs a lot of capital, but there are very few farmers who have such money for that."

"So as a result, you would find it becomes undercapitalised and a few takers now."

The ZCFU chief said soya beans were is a strategic crop, but was poorly funded in Zimbabwe.

As a way forward, Makombe said the CBZ Agro-Yield loans structure should be done extensively.

Zimbabwe's leading commercial bank, CBZ is running CBZ Agro-Yield loans where crop loans are being offered at 8% interest.

No collateral is required as the government is the guarantor. This is in an effort to ramp up production of all major crops.

This is a rollover fund so as soon as one settles the debts for their crop; they are automatically eligible for the funds for the next crop.

The finance for the summer and winter crops are separated so that once the summer debt is paid then the next loan would be for the next summer crop in advance.

This ensures that there are no delays in obtaining inputs.

"I would like to believe that the Land Bank should finance such crops because definitely, farmers would be happy to sell and even the country will also benefit in terms of saving the foreign currency," Makombe said.

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Zimbabwe Farmers' Union (ZFU) president Abdul Nyathi said the soya bean crop required enough water; hence it should be done under irrigation for better yields.

"When it gets enough water like this year when we had a lot of rains, the crop grows very well," Nyathi said.

"But mostly where we are mixing both rain and drought, because it takes a long period sometimes up to seven to eight months for it to mature.

"So it needs rain consistently.

The ZFU boss said the crop does not need lots of fertilisers like other crops.

In some of their writings, agriculture permanent secretary John Basera and agriculture expert Hapison Mushoriwa indicated that increased soya bean production was necessary to meet an increasing domestic and global demand.

They said soya beans were one of the most common crops with multiple benefits to the farmer, the industry and the economy.

However, current demand for soya bean in Zimbabwe far outstrips supply, opening opportunities for farmers and the industry to plug in the disparities.
Creative entrepreneur Rutendo Mahofa continues to collaborate with various creatives on diverse projects that celebrate the authenticity of African storytelling.

As a creator in many forms, she runs her own start-up firm, Roar Digital Consultancy, and she is a content director as well as producer in film and television productions that have been broadcast and airing on Zambezi Magic, DStv channel 162 and Honey TV, DStv channel 173.

Having started off her audiovisual exploits with an independent YouTube show, The Reel, it is while training at the MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy that Mahofa started finding her niche in film making. Sharpening and nourishing her production skills, she got exposed to various departments steadily solidifying the evolution of her career.

Mahofa was born in Harare and obtained a Bachelors Degree in International Marketing from Chinhoyi University of Technology. She attended Martindale Primary School and Mutare Girls High School.

In 2018, the creative entrepreneur got an opportunity to learn about film and television through MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy for Southern Africa in Zambia, and acquired a Certificate in Film and TV production in 2019.

Mahofa is a MultiChoice Talent Factory alumnus who has been a part of two feature films Savannah Skies and The Painting, taking on roles as first assistant director and art director.

The movies premiered on Zambezi Magic and are currently showing on Showmax, an online subscription video on demand service. She has also worked on premiere reality shows on Honey TV like Ehe! It's A Match, Hoot Cook Go Zambia, Yes! Ndio Beeni Zambia, and Mom vs Wife.

"Growing up wasn't an easy journey, I was raised by matriarchs. I learned so much from my mother's family and my late grandmother who was such an animated character," she said.

"I was born to be a storyteller because of her. She also taught me to be determined, hard working, hospitable, giving, and God fearing. I always wanted to tell stories, whenever I would watch TV, I wondered how creatives kept us [viewers] captivated, and curiosity drew me closer to content creation. Even so, the arts always seemed as more of a hobby than something I could base on as a career. This made me explore more on my fascination for business.

"Over the years I remained logical yet creative. When I joined Cross Culture, a youth group, I had two amazing mentors that helped me challenge my creative side. They created platforms for me to use my voice, I curate content for youths and arts events".

"I got a chance to intern at ZiFM Stereo first as a voice over artist and later as a commercial production officer. It exposed me to the power of programming and how radio personalities could drive listeners' decisions solely by creatively feeding them a narrative.

"I couldn't help but think of the potential television had. After graduating I was deeply conflicted, as much as my marketing career was set, nothing shunned my aspirations for television production.

"The excitement that Black Panther (a 2018 American superhero film produced by Marvel Studios) was premiering soon pushed me to launch my YouTube show,The Reel, to give a platform to review the film and to continue critiquing other Marvel Studios productions, which came after."

Through prayer and belief Mahofa found herself in a TV production company employed as an administrator and later production manager. With no clue as to how television worked, curiosity made her glean and learn from her knowledgeable and skilled colleagues.

Doing her own research about the film and television field resulted in the creative entrepreneur stumbling on a MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy training call, which she applied to and was selected to be a part of.

Being on a film set made Mahofa preview long hours that could have been spending shooting, especially if a part of the production team did not verify their checklist upon going on location.

She also learned how structuring reality television shows is different from scripted series. Reality TV necessitates the production team to find the interesting and dramatic bits in the existing characters and be able to bring that out without necessarily over controlling or manipulating the reality when filming. In essence, Mahofa has worked across multiple departments and has had varied experiences as a production designer, wardrobe designer, first assistant director, writer, content director, production coordinator and producer.

"I remember during film training (MultiChoice Talent Factory) we would get new facilitators with varied experience each week. When my colleagues and I interned first at Zuba (telenovela series), I closely watched the execution of one of the directors," Mahofa said.

"The experience taught me the importance of ordering a shooting script and accounting for shooting time so as to finish on schedule. I learned that directors are the engines to crews in the sense that the energy they bring translates, they literally have to interface with every department and know what they want yet also trust and respect that the crew can suggest ideas that work in their specialty.

"When I interned at Date My Family (reality show), it was while in pre-production with one of the content researchers that I learned how to research and do a thorough background check on real characters, closely paying attention to any red flags that may cause any backlash.

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"For instance, if the participants were really single and how this can be verified beyond their word. As part of our final projects we worked on two films, The Painting and Savannah Skies, which I took on the role of a first assistant director.

For The Painting as a wardrobe designer, I learned so much about telling a story through what one does or doesn't wear. How colour can help show where a character is or is headed in a story and having back up wardrobe, especially if a character is going to get wet, muddied or paint spoiled all over their clothes. I also worked on reality shows for Honey TV under a contract I received through Media 365."

One major fact about filming in all stages is that a filmmaker is only as strong as their weakest link, hence it is critical for the crew and cast to invest in each other and work together.

From casting in a foreign city learning different people dynamics to managing a reality cast, scripting for the shows and formulating story lines from the reality characters, Mahofa learned that reality television does not just happen, someone has to go out and make it happen.

Having scheduled with the crew and cast, filming in a controlled environment for a limited time and exposure during the height of Covid-19 as well as watching cuts of episodes for voice over scripting and edit changes before the channels' approval, the creative process remains fun and fulfilling for the creative entrepreneur.
Mopipi  Building confidence among youth at an early age is critical to their ultimate success in life.

This was said by the Vice President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane on Friday during the donation of sanitary pads by Lucara Botswana to girls in Mopipi.

Mr Tsogwane said the donation would go a long way in boosting the girl child's confidence and ensure that they did not miss out on school as a result of lack of sanitary pads.

Lucara donated 5 000 sanitary pad packets to all 34 schools in the Boteti area.

The VP implored the mining company to continue giving back to local communities and partner with government in some projects for advancement of communities.

He further urged Lucara to continue embracing Botswana's ideals and contribute to the National Vision 2036, especially on the pillar of achieving prosperity for all.

Mr Tsogwane urged that the donation should reach its intended recipients, being school girls.

He stated that no government could solely shoulder the responsibility of developing its citizenry.

He said although it was government's responsibility to lead and ensure prosperity for all, private sector should also come on board.

For her part, the managing director of Lucara Botswana, Ms Naseem Lahri said the mining company was committed to promoting gender equality, hence they adopted Sustainable Development Goal 5, which advcates for the achievement of gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls.

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The SDG's aim, she said, was to eliminate harmful practices such as violence and sexual assault on women and girls.

Ms Lahri said one of the areas team Lucara Botswana would like to impact on was assisting school going girls with sanitary pads to enable them to study without the fear of embarrassment.

She noted that it was unacceptable for girls to miss school for lack of sanitary pads.

Ms Lahri said the sanitary pads project was started by Lucara staff members who contributed money and bought some while the organisation also significantly contributed towards purchase.

Similar donations in weeks to come, she said, would be made in Kgalagadi and other parts of the country so that they could reach as many parts of the country as possible.

Central District Council chairperson, Mr Ketshwereng Galeragwe said the district leadership was proud of Lucara as the community of Boteti, stating that the company's footprint was visible in the sub-district.

Mr Galeragwe expressed appreciation for the gesture extended by Lucara towards the girl child.

Source : BOPA
At the commemoration event Eritrean nationals in Switzerland and the US conducted in connection with 20 June, Martyrs Day extended financial contribution in support of families of martyrs.

The nationals also assumed responsibility to support 18 families of martyrs for two years.

According to Eritrean Embassy in Switzerland, a committee to support families of martyrs in Geneva contributed 5,760 Franc in support of 8 families of martyrs, Eritrean community in Basel 3,890 Franc to augment the Martyrs Trust Fund, Eritrean community in Schaffhausen 570 Franc, nationals in Lucerne 2,770 Franc to augment the Martyrs Trust Fund, Mr. Tekeste Tesfamariam and Ms. Sara Yemane from Bern 720 Franc in support of one family of martyrs, nationals in Solothurn 4,510, nationals in Zurich 6,200 Franc to bolster the Martyrs Trust Fund, and nationals in Bern contributed 3,000 Franc to augment the Martyrs Trust Fund.

Similarly, at the event conducted in connection with 20 June, Martyrs Day, nationals in Las Vegas, the US, contributed about 30 thousand dollars in support of seven families of martyrs.
Every beginning has an end, and every ending heralds a new beginning.

Ours is a beautiful story with a beautiful beginning.

Just barely a year ago, we were earmarked as a model of democracy, a beaconing symbol of hope that successfully emitted a new fragrance of change.

That beautiful aroma of change was not only enticingly attractive, but it did a great job giving our nation a much needed facelift.

We were radiantly bright and became the most luminous of all nations.

The accolades never stopped coming, soon we were chosen as the most improved and country of the year by the Economist.

Our judges were acknowledged and awarded the Chatham house prize for their contribution to the strengthening of our democratic standards which were under threat by the previous government.

For the first time we were on the world news headlines for all good reasons and we had collectively spewed out something that was admirable.

Overnight, we became an instant hit, trendsetters in our own rank, setting the pace, for others to follow.

We were fully shaping the regional discourse and redefining African politics and the role of active citizenry.

And maybe, just maybe, if we were focused to stay on course and if we valued legacy over bravado and tried to avoid unnecessary blunders on the foreign policy front and resisted to be seen as xenophobes because of the way we mishandled the refugee issues, I think our president could have been awarded the highest recognition like the Nobel prize.

Unlike elsewhere in other countries where political change is a challenge, the uniqueness of this multidimensionality was what made our story different.

Malawians did not attempt to fight for change on a single line scale.

The success of our story found root in a rare collective resilience and unity of purpose. And, the ordinary people. Malawians.

It was the consolidation of these strategical key groups; Civil Society Organisations (CSO), Media, Malawi Defence Force (MDF) and the Judiciary that created a synergy which produced a more effective and coherently stronger front with unprecedented advantage and such a huge exponential prowess for the Tonse alliance.

The unrelenting media assaults with such blunt verbal projectiles led by Brian Banda and his cohost George Kasakula were as compelling as they landed, resonating with many desperate Malawians.

'Noble Knights'

The ground forces that were mobilized by Timothy Mtambo and the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) squad were tenacious and audaciously bold.

And, in such a distinctive way, our army stood up against police brutality and was uniquely disciplined, providing a secure and safe path for citizens.

They made sure that the rights to demonstrate were never infringed upon or disenfranchised.

So as you can see, the Tonse reality could not have been realized had it not been for the active role of civil society organizations and media plus a very engaged and willing citizenry.

As a nation we have come a long way. We finally figured it out all by ourselves with no help from the donor community and development partners, thanks to our constitutional court judges.

This a Malawi we all envisaged and it is our exclusive story.

Any subsequent government coming in has to be ushered on a continued and encouraging auspicious promise that citizens will always be uniquely placed at the center of every engine of government with all necessary tools to hold leaders accountable.

So to wake up to some news that the once mighty HRDC noble knights are being scattered by government to foreign missions was not only appalling but terribly astounding.

In the absence of a strong opposition, HRDC has been the credible alternative.

And frankly, government has been more afraid of this assemblage than they have been with our weak and compromised opposition.

Surprising? Not at all. If you are an ardent follower of detail and you pay attention, you will notice the ornamentation has been decorated with a regular repetitive pattern with an encrypted flawless execution.

Unlike the other impetuous and reckless actions that this administration has taken amidst so many strategical blunders that have led to a number of impulsive walk backs on its key decisions now and again, this I should admit has been very well calculated and handled.

This seems to be a piecemeal maneuverer, a steady continuation of a stealth operation that the Chakwera led government has been carrying out to systematically obliterate or contain and silence these kinds of conglomerates with large megaphones.

As to whether this is an appeasement strategy to simply placate those with a capacity to hold government accountable, or if this is a genuine consolation for the soldiers who never abandoned their posts during the struggle, we may not be certain.

But one thing we are certainly sure of is; the Tonse brainiacs have managed to pull it off well, and in a very undetectable manner they have successfully stayed under radar while killing the effective role of civil society and media so that they can easily roam and go about their business freely with no proper checks and balances.

The appointment of Mr. Brian Banda to be presidential press secretary, then his buddy and former cohost on the most influential Times Television prime show, The Hot Current, Mr George Kasakula, to be the Director General of MBC to be precise was no fluke.

It was intentional and meant to stifle the the voices of those who had capacity to influence a narrative that could shape perceptions.

'Mere Silhouette'

As slick as it sounds, there seems to be a remarkable concurrence of activities that have followed the in same pattern.

For example the appointment of Comrade Timothy Mtambo as a cabinet minister.

Others have been persuaded to believe this was a tactical disposal just to get rid of, and silencing the strongest voice and the most revolutionary man of our generation.

They gave a juicy bone to the most loudest barking bulldog for fear that he could turn around and bit them.

Initially the justification for his appointment was somehow making sense.

The truth is after every war, there's always a culture and a mindset of rebellion that settles in as a residual paradigm that needs to be broken instantly.

Knowing that Mtambo was a man who single handedly ignited a fire of revolution that was burning in many Malawians especially the young people and seemed to be going nowhere, it was prudent for President Chakwera to use a man who at that time catalyzed a needed relevance with these insurgent groups and was seen to be one of them.

Comrade Mtambo was the only one who could have possibly extinguished that raging inferno.

Understandably, there had to be a way to redirect that energy from Nsundwe and North Korea (Mzuzu) into something more productive.

There was a need for a National re-orientation to foster a mindset change through constant engagement.

Hence a specific vibrant civic space would not only be needed but it would also form such an integral part of our working system to enforce that citizens were adequately educated about rights, duty and responsibility.

Although others may view Comrade Mtambo as a polarizing figure, I personally find him to be a capable leader who has demonstrated strongly enough that he can mobilize, setup structures and turn things around if given a chance.

But then, in the retrospect, the look of things suggests otherwise. Whether by intention or not, the ministry portfolio he was given has always remained underfunded, underutilized and almost not promoted by government.

This then begs the question; was this ministry created just like a nebulous place where the outspoken comrade would be banished and eventually reduced into a mere silhouette or just a shadow of his version?

Was this a dumping ground? or was this another case of kudyetsa chi banzi?

By giving him a ministry that was an enigma, was government trying to redirect his energy to something else?

Was comrade Mtambo and now HRDC blindly incriminated that they accepted comfort over purpose?

'Subtle undertone'

Prior to Tonse alliance coming into power, the CSOs and media played a very critical role and managed to galvanize the demand side effectively in holding the then government accountable.

Therefore one would have thought that this government being a direct beneficiary of a functional support system should have been the first to Work in strengthening and protecting the enabling environment for civil society instead of dismantling it.

In a vibrant democracy the fundamental right to seek and disseminate information through an independent press is paramount.

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The fact that this government roped in a media mogul to head its propaganda machinery as government spokesperson and information minister was ill timed.

The subtle undertone by this gesture was completely obtuse to the many Malawians.

To Mr Gospel Kazako's credit, we applaud Zodiak broadcasting for maintaining professionalism and sound ethics.

We don't want to see our media and CSOs compromised period.

In conclusion I would like to end on a very positive note. As you know we have now clocked a year of Tonse government under Dr Lazarus Chakwera and his deputy Dr Saulos Chilima.

We have not heard of activist's homes being petrol bombed.

We have enjoyed a very open engagement with our leaders. To a fair extent, this has been indeed a listening government.

The fact that a private citizen like myself can have the liberty to sit behind a computer and exercise my rights as a citizen and a provocateur, should not be taken for granted.

We have seen other private agitators providing credible apparatuses into probing corruption like the MK6.2 Billion Covid scandal simply because this government allowed and chose to liberalise the Access to Information bill, for that I thank you President Chakwera and his team.

However, I will caution you to desist from taking one step forward and choosing to reverse immediately.

Good things are hard to achieve and they take long to realize but they can easily be lost in instant if we are not careful.

Every action will set precedence and bare consequences. Every intention to suppress CSOs and the Media will backfire, if not now but in the near future.

The health and survival of our democracy will totally depend on how much your government is willing to lay down as a foundation for the generations to follow.

The pillars of our democracy will always be strong governance institutions, CSOs, Media, disciplined security force and informed citizens.

Our beautiful story like any story has a beginning. We know how it all began. People were tired. They had to act.

How this will end, we don't know. We can only hope that it will not end in tears with all that beautiful beginning.

Adios!
Zanu-PF is already preparing for a violent 2023 election campaign season as evidenced by utterances of its acting commissar Patrick Chinamasa, observers have warned.

Chinamasa told journalists that Zanu PF would continue to work with the military because they were inseparable.

The military has on several occasions intervened when the ruling party's grip on power is threatened, resulting in deadly incidences of political violence during elections.

In 2017, the army toppled long time ruler Robert Mugabe when succession problems threatened to throw the ruling party off rail.

Musa Kika, Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum executive director, said Chinamasa's threats were not surprising as Zanu PF had always relied on the army for power retention.

"These statements by the Zanu PF official are thus subversive, and are calculated to send a message to the electorate, a warning that the architecture of violence is on standby," Kika said.

"This has the effect of undermining free and popular participation in civic processes.

"It is no secret that Zanu PF has turned the national security apparatus into a part of its electioneering and power retention machinery, sometimes through the use of brute force.

"Yet this is unconstitutional.

"Our constitution requires the security services to be independent and have fidelity to the law and not a political party."

The military has been accused of helping Zanu PF stay in power. In 2004, military generals declared they would not salute anyone without military background, referring to the late MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who was becoming more popular than Mugabe.

Vivid Gwede, a political analyst, said Chinamasa's indirect threats were not a new phenomenon and were always used by the ruling party to silence independent opinion.

"These threats are not new as we have heard them in previous elections, including towards the 2018 elections by senior ruling party officials and some securocrats, but obviously not all," said Gwede.

"Given the manner and dynamics of the 2017 transition from former president Mugabe, one cannot doubt the unfortunate relationship and conflation between the ruling party and the army.

"The threats must be understood to be directed at all Zimbabweans of an independent mind and on the constitution itself, which clearly does not countenance inseparability between a political party and the security institutions."

He added, "What you must understand is that Zanu PF is aware that NGOs work towards opening up the democratic space and the party would want to close the space towards elections."

Rashweat Mukundu, a political analyst, said Chinamasa was reading from an old Zanu PF script.

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"This is the usual Zanu PF modus operandi more so when the party has demonstrated poor leadership as in the case now when the economy has imploded and millions more are sinking into poverty," Mukundu said.

"The implications are that, once again we will have a violent and disputed election that will worsen Zimbabwe's socio-economic crisis."

Edknowledge Mandikwaza, a doctoral researcher at the University of Durban, said the acting Zanu PF commissar had acknowledged a public secret.

"Chinamasa confirmed a brutal truth that the government has always vehemently rejected," Mandikwaza said.

"Acknowledging the conflation between the army and the ruling party publicly does harm the reputation of the government in the first place and secondly it tarnishes the independence and professional conduct of the armed forces."

He added: "If Chinamasa was a sincere statesman, he would never wish a strengthened conflation between a political party and state institutions such as the military because that would be tantamount to politicization of the army which is unhealthy for our democracy."

Chinamasa also threatened pro-democracy non-governmental organisations, accusing them of pursuing regime change agenda.

He also said Zimbabweans in the diapora would not be allowed to vote until the travel bans imposed on Zanu PF elites by western countries were removed.
Police in Butaleja District are investigating the murder of a 13-year-old pupil, who was allegedly shot dead by a police officer during curfew time.

The deceased identified as Ester Naula, a Primary Five pupil of Namunasa Primary School in Mazimasa Sub-County was shot dead on Saturday at about 7.15 PM at Nampologoma trading centre while on her way home from buying a chapatti.

The suspect attached to Kachonga Police Post in Mazimasa Sub County opened fire after the deceased and others reportedly tried to escape the arrest.

During the stampede, other locals sustained injuries.

Mr Abdrashid Walujjo, 21, who is currently admitted at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital sustained severe limb injuries.

The Bukedi South Regional Police Spokesperson, Mr Moses Mugwe, confirmed the incident saying the police officer has since been arrested.

"We recovered the gun that was used in the shooting. We also recovered some cartridges and other exhibits. We have the suspect in our custody and we will produce him in court as soon as the investigations are complete," he said.

Mr Mugwe asked the community members to avoid being violent after a section of locals threatened to attack the police post shortly after the incident.

Mr Tom Wairagala, a father to the deceased said: "I cannot believe that my beloved daughter was killed by a police officer who is supposed to protect people and their property. It is very unfortunate and unbelievable. We demand justice and compensation from the government."

Mr George Wadangho, an eyewitness said the suspect was under the influence of alcohol at the time he committed the offence.

"He was drunk at the time of the incident. In fact, we saw him in one of the bars in the trading centre during the day drinking," he said.

The Butaleja Resident District Commissioner, Mr Stanley Bayole, condemned the act but also blamed the locals for defying the presidential directives on Covid-19.

"The people started it all by throwing stones at the police officers, who were enforcing the curfew directive. The officer in question responded by firing bullets but accidentally one of them hit a young girl who died instantly," he said.

Mr Bayole said last week some people beat up the police officers including the in-charge of Busolwe police station.
Nineteen-year-old Zilpa Ayoo aspires to be Nairobi Woman Representative but confesses to lack of mentorship and leadership skills.

"I look up to Rachel Shebesh (Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service and Gender) and just like her, I want to be the Nairobi Women Rep someday," Ms Ayoo told nation.africa last week.

Her dream is to be equally mentored by Ms Shebesh to learn how to overcome socio-cultural barriers and become a leader conscious of the needs of both genders.

"We come from communities where people are still sceptical of young women taking the lead. There is a lot to be done in eliminating prohibitive social norms," she said.

Ms Ayoo fits in the category of women targeted in a five-year project seeking to enhance young women's participation in political leadership.

Community leaders

The She Leads initiative launched in Nairobi, last week, by a consortium of charity organisations would benefit women and girls in 14-30 age bracket in six counties, namely Kajiado, Nairobi, Mombasa, Kwale, Homa Bay and Kisumu counties.

Ms Dennis Ratemo, program manager at Terre des Hommes Netherlands, one of the implementing partners said the 2021-2025 initiative could address socio-cultural constraints to create an enabling environment for the young women to effectively participate in development.

"To achieve girls' empowerment we have to address societal norms...we want them to sit on decision making spaces and influence decisions," he said.

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He cited community leaders as crucial pillars to influencing positive change of social norms that they could engage throughout the execution of the project.

Ms Shebesh challenged girls and women seeking to rise to political leadership to reach out to women leaders both in public and private spaces.

"Look for mentors...you will find women even in the civil society who can mentor you," she said during the launch.

Lack of mentorship and socio-cultural constraints are not the only barriers to young women's participation in political leadership.

A 2013 study on Young Women's Political Participation in Kenya established that masculinity and patriarchal nature of politics as well as insecurity and gender-based violence stand on their way.

mobiria@ke.nationmedia.com
At some point Marshal "The Billionaire" Chiza was regarded as Zimbabwe's youngest author, something that could have started his journey towards living in a dream world.

Just at 23 his dreaming mind has managed to turn obstacles into opportunities while time has proved to be meaningless in his reverie.

Chiza has created everything that he needs during his dreams -- he has created the people, the events, and the reactions.

He is living his dream.

From writing books, transformational speaking to entrepreneurship, Chiza has travelled across the length and breadth of the globe doing business.

"I have been to over 11 countries across the world teaching and motivating people. I have published books, including my second titled Poor Billionaire that landed me a deal with a United Kingdom-based publishing house called Xlibris Publishing House," Chiza said.

Chiza embarked on his journey at the age of 17 and never looked back.

Today he is the founder and CEO of Billionaire Publishers, a fast-growing publishing house based in Bulawayo that has set footprints in South Africa.

He also has a number of companies under his belt.

Chiza has written motivational books such as Success in No Time, Poor Billionaire, Before I Become a Billionaire and Dear Emmerson, a persuasive account of President Emmerson Mnangagwa as he trails his journey as Zimbabwe's second president.

"Through my work I have been featured on international television channels like CCTV and BBC, among others," Chiza said.

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"I believe I have become consistent in my craft and I must say just like wine, I have matured in a great way."

He claims lately he has being invited to a number of countries to inspire young people on how he became a "billionaire".

"Lately, I have been getting invitations from many countries where I am supposed to do motivational talk events, where some wanted to know how I made a billion dollars," the Nketa 9 born publisher said.

"Chiza is a billionaire that never was. A lot of people think I'm a billionaire, but they don't believe me when I tell them that I am not a billionaire.

"One of the most awkward moments for me was when I was invited for a three-day motivational talk event in Zambia and the first topic I was given was 'How I made my first million'.

"Since I had been paid, I spoke accordingly although I knew that I did not have all that money. They say fake it till you make it, but now I face it, till I make it.

"I might not be a billionaire as yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. You have to believe in yourself even when no one believes in you, that is the first key of becoming successful."
International medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has called on the Cameroonian government to lift the ban on providing free, essential medical care in the restive Anglophone North-West region of the country after they were blocked more than six months ago. The government had accused MSF of being too close to separatists in the area.

"That is clearly ungrounded," says Emmanuel Lampaert, MSF Operations Coordinator for Central Africa, talking about the government's justification for pulling MSF's authorization to work in the region.

"Whatever there may be in terms of perceptions or accusations or grievances, what rationale can justify this ongoing suspension and this blow for vital support? Access to care should not be denied," he tells RFI.

The numbers of people treated in 2020 underlines the importance of their free services to the North-West Region: MSF teams provided more than 42,500 medical consultations, performed nearly 3,300 surgeries, and dealt with at least 4,400 patients who had been referred to MSF's free, 24/7 ambulance service.

"Our ambulance call center continues to receive emergency requests, which they are forced to decline," he says.

MSF is one of the few medical NGOs in the region, a conflict zone since late 2017. Described as the "Anglophone crisis", fighting kicked off after peaceful protests by teachers and lawyers in Bamenda, the capital of North-West Cameroon. Demonstrations were violently quashed by Cameroonian security forces.

Protests sparked over anger about the perceived marginalization by the Francophone ruling majority, especially over the use of French in the legal and education systems.

The violent quelling of demonstrations propelled some Anglophone separatists to take up arms against the security forces, later making a self-declaration of independence for so-called Ambazonia. Fighting continues between separatists and government security forces, with civilians caught in the crossfire and accusations of human rights abuses committed by both sides.

Healthcare and medical training impacted

In a conflict zone like North-West Cameroon, the lack of basic health services, such as treatment for diarrhea, respiratory tract infections, and malaria, has contributed to a major health crisis.

Additionally, MSF treated 180 survivors of sexual violence last year, and helped more than 1,000 women with obstetrical emergencies. Many residents are living in the bush, because they fear for their lives, forced to flee their homes. Unsanitary conditions in the bush have also exacerbated health issues.

Meanwhile, teams of Doctors Without Borders (#MSF) who provided free care to survivors of sexual violence in North-West #Cameroon, remain suspended by the authorities for 5 months now... https://t.co/gYiTN07pIN

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- Frederic Janssens (@FredJanssens79) May 19, 2021

Part of MSF's remit in the region is the training and equipping of community health workers, which has also been halted by the government, says Lampaert.

Health workers, both local and foreign, have been subject to attacks, as both the government and separatists accuse people who are trying to provide healthcare of taking sides in the conflict.

"Where is the interest? What justifies all of this?" says Lampaert, exasperated, adding that people in the region describe ongoing harassment.

"It's continuing, and at moments, it's increasing with high insecurity, regular attacks and intimidation against medical staff... and meanwhile the humanitarian and health needs have surged during the past years due to this armed violence, so there is a difficult equation there," he adds.

Lampaert says MSF has made an effort to respond to all accusations of bias and has presented this to the government in Cameroon.

"But in the end, there's been no clear signal, and access is still denied. At six months, suspension [of MSF's activities] is ongoing and we ask for it to be lifted," he says.
Communities in Muzarabani district in Mashonaland Central got a major boost in increasing the Covid-19 pandemic preparedness after the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) launched a public awareness campaign that is promoting good handwashing behaviour and hygiene in the area.

Part of the programme, which is being supported by Unicef through the AfDB (African Development Bank), will see ZRCS working with the government invest public health infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems.

"We have embarked on a six-month Covid-19 emergency response operation focusing on Wash [water and sanitation health), infection prevention and control as well as risk communication and community engagement," said ZRCS secretary-general Elias Hwenga.

"Safely managed water, sanitation, and hygiene services are an essential part of preventing and protecting human health during infectious disease outbreaks, including the current Covid-19 pandemic."

Hwenga said the project, funded to the tune of US$650 000, is targeting eight districts across the country, namely Muzarabani, Binga, Kwekwe rural, Mangwe, Gwanda Urban, Harare South (Hopley), Marondera urban and Kariba rural.

"This Wash project is part of a broader programme aimed at promoting hygiene during this time of Covid-19," said Hwenga.

"We want to prevent Covid-19 morbidity and mortality through improving access to safe, clean water and soap for handwashing facilities as well as key hygiene message dissemination to communities.

"In Muzarabani, the project will include repairing of sanitation facilities, hygiene kits distributions, establishment of handwashing stations and dissemination of key Covid-19 messaging and training."

Hwenga said since the commencement of the project, ZRCS managed to train 50 volunteer water point marshals, eight community health workers and environmental technicians on Covid-19 in Muzarabani.

"We have established 50 hand washing stations at public places in four wards (Dambakurima, Kairezi, Chadereka and Chiwenga) to increase positive handwashing practice in the prone communities," said Hwenga.

"ZRCS facilitated Covid-19 awareness campaigns in targeted wards every month and distributed non-food items that saw beneficiaries each getting a bucket, jerry can, two bars of green soap, five strips of water treating tablets."

More than 650 people including vulnerable groups like the disabled, the aged, child-headed families and the poor benefitted.

Hwenga said part of the project includes the rehabilitation of sanitation facilities at six health centres in the district.

"We are putting additional soakaways at Dambakurima Clinic and at other clinics we are having different projects involving sanitation facilities," he said.
Nairobi residents could soon be forced to travel outside the city to bury their loved ones.

This is because efforts by the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) to get land within Nairobi to replace the Lang'ata cemetery are proving futile.

NMS has been in negotiations with the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) since November last year to have the government agency excise part of its forest adjacent to Lang'ata cemetery to serve as a new burial ground.

Towards this, the Major General Mohamed Badi-led administration had even set aside a budget of Sh150 million in the current financial year for acquiring the 67-acre land.

Despite the ongoing negotiations, Mr Badi said that KFS is playing hard ball as it is not keen on losing part of its forest to serve as a burial site. The agency does not want to decrease tree coverage and green spaces in Nairobi.

Alternative site

Mr Badi disclosed that should the negotiations fail, then the county's 10-acre piece of land along Kangundo Road can act as an alternative site in a worst case scenario.

"If KFS doesn't come on board, we have land available which is under our control. We have a standby area towards Kangundo Road which is over 10 acres. So, if we decided to utilise the land, people will be forced to travel 15 kilometres outside Nairobi," said Mr Badi.

Nonetheless, the NMS boss pointed out that they have not fully settled on the Kangundo Road land because of its location as it would be an extra burden for those intending to bury their loved ones.

He explained that they are still talking with KFS on how NMS can plant trees to compensate for the land being sought from the forests agency.

"The biggest challenge with KFS is they don't want to decrease their tree cover and as such, it will be very difficult to convince KFS," he said.

Swap request rejected

In 2017, City Hall failed in its attempts to convince KFS to part with its land near the Lang'ata cemetery, with the agency rejecting the request to swap the filled-up cemetery with the forest land.

The 100-acre Lang'ata Cemetery has been full for 20 years, although Mr Badi insists there is still some burial space. The current situation has forced families to bury their loved ones in shallow graves, thus failing to meet the recommended six-foot depth.

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An appeal by City Hall for residents to embrace cremation has not been embraced, with the numbers of burials rising as cremations dip.

In 2019, City Hall warned Nairobi residents that they could be forced to transport their loved ones to their rural homes for burial if they do not embrace cremation.

The search for an alternative graveyard in Nairobi started more than 10 years ago.

In 2009, the defunct Nairobi City Council lost Sh283 million in a 48.5-acre cemetery and deal in Mavoko. The land's actual value was just Sh24 million.

Jailed

A number of senior national government and county council officers were implicated in the scandal, with the late former Nairobi town clerk John Gakuo and former local government permanent secretary Sammy Kirui being charged and jailed.

In the financial year ending June 30, 2017, City Hall set aside Sh221 million for the purchase of a 120-acre piece of land in Kitengela, Kajiado County to be used for burials.

In the 2018/2019 financial year, City Hall again set aside Sh200 million for the acquisition of an extra 200 acres of land to serve as a public cemetery, but nothing came out of the plan.

comulo@ke.nationmedia.com
Monrovia  The Incident Management System (IMS) and partners have brought into the country Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Rapid Test Tubes as part of response effort to interrupt further spread of the COVID-19 surge in the country.

The arrival of the rapid testing tubes will ease challenges experienced in the release of laboratory results at various ports of entry. With the introduction of the rapid testing tubes, COVID-19 test result will be release within 15 minutes after test is done.

Additionally, the Incident Management System has also procured Oxygens and Cylinders to address continued influx of patients at the Star Base COVID-19 Treatment Center on the Bushrod Island in Monrovia and other centers.

The Incident Management System wants to assure the public that there are enough AstraZeneca Vaccines available for persons awaiting scheduled dates for the two doses.

The IMS is expected to receive in country additional 96,000 doses of the AstraZeneca Vaccines within the next two weeks. This gesture is under COVAX facility with support from Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) and the African Center for Disease Control (AFCDC).

In a related development, the Government of Liberia will shortly receive 386,000 Johnson and Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 VACCINE DOSES with support from the World Bank.
The Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources stressed on Saturday 26/06/2021 Egypt's support for African countries to carry out development projects to serve their citizens and achieve stability through solving issues related to drinking water and floods, citing the establishment of the Rufiji Dam in Tanzania.

In a press release, the ministry said it signed a cooperation protocol with the South Sudanese Irrigation Ministry to prepare feasibility studies for the construction of the multi-purpose "Wau" dam in South Sudan.

The dam is located on one of the main branches of the Jure River in South Sudan and is expected to generate 10.4 megawatts, provide drinking water for 500,000 people, and irrigate 30,000 to 40,000 feddans, the ministry said.

According to the statement, Egypt also contributed to establishing more dams in the Nile Basin countries, such as the Owen Falls Dam in Uganda and the Jebel Aulia Dam in Sudan.
Trade and Industry Minister Niveen Gamea said that her ministry is keen on increasing Russia's investments in Egypt and removing all obstacles facing Russian investors to increase the volume of trade exchange between the two countries.

Gamea had concluded her visit to Russia, where she chaired a meeting of the Egyptian-Russian committee for trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation, the ministry said in a press release on Saturday 26/06/2021.

During her visit to Russia, the minister expressed the Egyptian government's desire to provide an appropriate investment climate for foreign investors, noting that the establishment of the Russian industrial zone in the Suez Canal will help lure many Russian companies to invest in Egypt.

The minister also held a meeting with a number of Russian officials, including Regional Vice-President of Rosatom Alexander Voronkov, where they discussed the possibility of manufacturing the multi-use carbon fiber in Egypt.
The federal government has acquired two mobile control towers worth N1.7 billion in order to further enhance coverage of Nigeria's airspace and improvement of flight safety.

The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika explained that the equipment would be deployed to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja and any other airport that may require the facility.

Sirika who commissioned the equipment at the Lagos airport recently, said the aim of the present administration is to continue to improve safety in the industry.

The mobile towers would be used by Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs), a department in the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) for air and ground communication.

Sirika reiterated the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari to deepen air safety in the country, stressing that apart from this, the government through the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had on numerous occasions approved sums that had boosted safety in the sector.

He said: "The intent and purpose of the ministry and what we have been doing is to ensure safety and efficiency of our sector without degrading and de-emphasising issues of security and comfort.

"So, how very safe you depart Point A and land in Point B is our primary concern and primary importance. So this is an extension of that intent and purpose and so the amount of N1.7 billion has been spent in procuring these mobile towers.

"We will use it in Lagos and Abuja and if need be we take them to locations where they do not have conventional control towers. They are so equipped, so modernised, so efficient and so very alive. It has everything that a control tower can have."

Some of the features of the control towers according to the Minister included real time weather, approach and departure procedures and over-flight facility that would ensure smooth flight operations and air traffic management.

He lauded the management of NAMA, led by Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, for being proactive on the request to procure the equipment, stressing that President Buhari was once again generous to give the approval for the procurement.
to repair rainstorm damages on their campus

Graduates and relatives of the Booker Washington Institute or BWI living in the United States have identified with their school back home in Liberia, donating $10,000 (Ten Thousand United States Dollars) to help repair damages the Institute suffered recently due to a violent rainstorm on May 16, 2021.

Under their umbrella association the BWI National Alumni Association of North America (BWINAANA), the graduates reached the decision after getting a detailed briefing from the BWI Principal, Attorney Harris Fomba Tarnue, about the extent of the disaster.

A release from the BWI administration says places destroyed included dormitories, trade shops, and central main library; and since the disaster happened, there has been no national intervention after numerous media awareness, official communications, and SOS publicity.

The President of the BWI Alumni Association in the US, Mr. Eric Harris, had earlier called to express the association's concern and assure the administration of effort to do everything to help bring relief to the school in the wake of the destruction.

BWI Principal Harris Fomba Tarnue confirmed receiving the donation when he addressed a cross-section of selective invitees, BWI family, and Liberian-based graduates at the occasion marking the 92nd anniversary, Founder's Day held Saturday, June 26, 2021, on the main campus in Kakata, Margibi County under the theme "BWI @92: Shifting the State of TVET towards 21st Century Skills Acquisition". The 92nd Founder's Day was a low-key event due to the prevailing coronavirus pandemic in Liberia.

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He said the donation was going to go a long way in relieving the Institute of the shock of the disaster in the face of a dire national economic situation.

BWI alumni in the United States have over the years undertaken numerous projects on the campus including the renovation of the school clinic, donation of a prototype mini ambulance, scholarships for needy students, and development of agricultural programs.

The BWI Alumni Association in the US is one of the strongest Liberian associations anywhere outside the country.

With some of its members aging, the association has embarked on a farsighted program to encourage and recruit children of BWI graduates in the US to participate in the activities of the association with the view to getting them fully involved in its running.

Each year during the last weekend of June, BWI graduates and their families in the US gather to commemorate the Institute's founding anniversary which is a big event in Liberia itself.

Since its founding in 1929 during the administration of President Charles D.B. King, BWI has produced a Liberian vice president in Bennie D. Warner, Senators, Members of the House of Representatives, Ministers of government, and some of the country's best technocrats.
The former ruling Unity Party strongly calls on its lawmakers at the Capitol to support and advocate for the establishment of the War and Economic Crimes Court, saying it will seriously frown on any action(s) taken by any of its lawmakers to stall, thwart or contradict the party's official position on the establishment of the Court in Liberia.

"All UP lawmakers are encouraged to act in accordance with the decision of the party", says a press release.

The Unity Party reaffirms its commitment to the establishment of the War and Economic Crimes Court in Liberia as recommended by the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, in the interest of justice.

In a two-paragraph press release, the party says it believes the establishment of the court will discourage the culture of impunity that currently exists in Liberia.
-as COVID-19 rages

The government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Education with immediate effect, suspends all social programs in schools including graduation, gala- day, queen contest, parade, and field trip, amongst others.

In a news conference Friday, June 25, 2021, at the Ministerial Complex in Congo Town, the Minister of Education, Prof. D Ansu Sonii, Sr. said, there will be absolutely no graduation, gala day, field trip, parade, queen contest exercises until at such time the COVID-19 situation has ceased and the Ministries of Health and Education give permission or authorization.

At the same time, Minister Sonii mandates school authorities to identify key content areas within the curriculum to complete all requirements for the school year, noting that the Ministry is holding consultations leading to an adjustment in the closure of the school year from September 30 to August 30, 2021.

He emphasizes that the health protocols and regulations put in place by the Ministry of Health and the National Public Health Institute (NPHIL) are to be strictly implemented and school authorities are herewith given the exclusive authority to send home students, who may fail to comply with these prescribed regulations.

However, Minister Sonii adds that younger children who are unable to go home by themselves should be kept in an isolated room, while their parents are being contacted to come for them.

He reiterates that school health kits have been distributed to all schools across the country and that in the event where a school has not receive a health kit, it should immediately call 1416 or 0886-758-578 for intervention.

He says the Ministry of Health is authorized to conduct unannounced spot checks at schools uninterrupted, saying that the choice of a school visit is left to the Ministry to determine the particular community the virus is on the increase.

Meanwhile, Minister Sonii cautions students desirous of pursuing bachelor degrees at the LICOSESS college, not to attend on grounds that the institution is authorized to offer associate degrees only, not bachelor degrees for now.-By Lewis S. Teh, Editing by Jonathan Browne
The U.S. Embassy in Monrovia salutes the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) Director-General Marcus Zehyoue, who it says assumed the mantle of Director General last year after the sad passing of Marcus Soko.

In a statement to commemorate International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking over the weekend, the Embassy notes that in his tenure so far, Director-General Zehyoue has followed in the footsteps of his mentor, the late Marcus Soko, by leading efforts to reduce illicit drug trafficking in Liberia and to strengthen Liberia's Drug Law.

The LDEA and its Liberian security partners have made tremendous strides to reduce the trafficking of narcotics in Liberia. The LDEA continues to seize and destroy illicit drugs that enter Liberia through its borders and international ports, reducing the negative impact of these drugs on the lives of Liberians. We encourage the LDEA and Liberian security institutions to continue to work together to combat illicit drug trafficking", a release from the Embassy reads.

It says the primary duty of every government is to protect its citizens from threats, which include drug abuse and illicit trafficking. "But it is also the responsibility of ordinary citizens to support efforts to educate Liberian youth about the dangers of drug abuse."

The United States expresses delight to provide support for this year's International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking commemoration.

The U.S. Embassy Monrovia's International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) office vows to continue to work closely with the LDEA and other law enforcement agencies and the Ministry of Justice in reducing drug abuse and illicit trafficking.

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The release notes that on June 26, communities all over the world, including in Liberia, marked the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Created by the United Nations on December 7, 1987, the day, also called World Drug Day, provides an opportunity to increase awareness about the negative impact of illicit drugs.

U.S. President Joseph R. Biden has made clear that addressing addiction is an urgent priority for his administration and underscored the "heartbreaking toll" that addiction can have on individuals, families, and communities.

The theme of World Drug Day 2021 is "Share Facts on Drugs, Save Lives." US Embassy Monrovia notes the problem of drug abuse and addiction, which can be linked to genetic predisposition, mental health circumstances, and environmental issues is compounded by misinformation of many kinds.

However, it adds that this year's theme encourages the public to turn to reliable sources, such as the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), to learn more about health risks, drug policies, and evidence-based approaches to preventing and combating addiction.

In Liberia, drug abuse among young people is a growing concern with both parents and advocacy groups calling for stern intervention, particularly traffickers. Press Release
A recent offer by the leader of the opposition Alternative National Congress Alexander B. Cummings to help the Government of Liberia against the current covid-19 fight, and subsequent acceptance by President George Manneh Weah is a welcome signal that should unite Liberians around a national cause void of politics.

Mr. Cummings in a recent statement offered to work with the government in whatever reasonable way in tackling the resurgence, which experts say is the Delta variant.

He said the Cummings Africa Foundation is open to working with authorities of the Ministry of Health to identify urgent gaps in the national response to yield quick interventions. The ANC leader revealed that he has sent out SOS call to the international community, especially the United States, the European Union, and all friendly nations of the world, for much-needed help with vaccines, medical supplies, ventilators, and other support for hospitals and community clinics across the country.

In no time, President Weah accepted the offer from the opposition politician, indicating that he is willing to listen to and work with Mr. Cummings, void of political hindrance, adding "The coronavirus is no joke... Liberians are losing their lives every day to the plague. During a national crisis of this nature and magnitude, all hands of good citizens, void of political affiliation, are required on deck."

President Weah said if the help being offered by Cummings is without a political trace, it would go a long way in beefing up the health sector and finding a remedy to the unanticipated health crisis.

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We welcome this spirit of collaboration, particularly in times of national crisis such as the current health pandemic that has taken the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of Liberians, and millions around the world.

We challenge other opposition political leaders in the country to emulate the ANC leader's example, and the corresponding reception from the President in joining hands to kick coronvirus out of Liberia.

It is in such a critical period when the nation needs all of its best to stand up for a united cause. The gesture by both Weah and Cummings clearly demonstrates leadership that transcends selfish interest and blinded self-ego.

Liberia is our common patrimony, and whether you are in position, opposition or no position, come out with strategies and tangible support to save the ship from sinking, because when this nation goes down or when the people perish, we would have no place to come home and politicians would have no one to lead.

Lastly, the coronavirus is deadly. It does not pick and choose. It has neither special friends nor foes, but rather moves on the rampage, destroying precious souls. Its next victim could be a current official or a politician aspiring to become the next President or our future scientists, doctors, educators, engineers, pastors, and imams, or social workers.https://thenewdawnliberia.com/cummings-makes-an-international-appeal/ https://thenewdawnliberia.com/weah-opens-arms-towards-cummings/
Mtwara  In a bid to attract shipping lines and agents to use the Mtwara Port, the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) is planning to convene a stakeholders meeting in the region.

Mtwara port regional manager Juma Kijavara told The Citizen yesterday that the meeting, which is expected to attract many port stakeholders in the country, is intended to expound marketing services provided by the facility.

"The port that was mainly designed to handle general cargo has now been improved to handle 400,000 tonnes to one million tonnes of products per annum. However, nothing has been received as of recently," he said.

Mr Kijavara was speaking during a visit of Zanzibar's Works, Transportation and Communications minister Rahma Ally as part of marking the World Seafarer's Day.

"We expect the port to be busy and receive big ships from September at the commencement of cashewnuts harvests," he said.

He thanked Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa for directives that cashews produced in Ruvuma, Lindi and Mtwara regions should be transported via the Mtwara Port.

The government spent Sh157.8 billion during the strategic improvement of the Mtwara Port that increased its cargo handling capacity to one million tonnes annually.

The port improvement also involved provision of additional equipment for containerization traffic and general cargo.

TPA harbour master Abdullah Mwingamno said it stood third among the authority's ports after Dar es Salaam and Tanga.

"The port is a key element of the Mtwara Development Corridor which is a scheme for provision of better transport links between the southern part of Tanzania (Lindi, Mtwara and Ruvuma regions) and neighbouring countries including Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique," he said.

The corridor is expected to develop road and rail networks linking Lake Nyasa to neighbouring countries.

According to him, the port can handle 200,000 TEUs, with 27,500 square metres of stacking yards and 3,500, TEUs stacked five high.

For her part, Ms Ally commended TPA for the success, saying Zanzibar has a lot to learn in terms of ports improvements.
Dar es Salaam  Leading opposition party, Chadema, yesterday said it will consult members on how to spend Sh350 million set to be repaid to the party following the decision of the High Court in an appeal filed by its leaders.

On Friday, the High Court overturned the judgement of the Kisutu Resident Magistrate's Court to convict some leaders of the party ordering payment of Sh350 million in fines following a criminal case they were facing.

But, the High Court in its decision ordered reimbursement of the Sh350 million fines to the party leaders lead by national chairman Freeman Mbowe. Yesterday, Chadema's secretary general John Mnyika said the party will continue receiving public opinion on what should be the way forward.

"Tanzanians are the ones who contributed to the said fines to release party leaders from prison. We are grateful to a team of our lawyers under the leadership of Peter Kibatala because the truth and justice have prevailed at last," he said.

The overturned ruling was issued on March 10, 2020 by the by Kisutu Resident Magistrate's Court's principal magistrate Thomas Simba.

Legal and Human Rights Centre's (LHRC) executive director Anna Henga said Chadema collected the money to free its leaders from citizen's contributions.

"Since justice has taken its course, then the money should be deposited into the party's special fund in order to help other victims of political activities who are still in prison or remand," she said, adding:

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"The same could be used for filing appeals to convicted cadres and recruit some lawyers for those with on-going cases at different courts countrywide."

Political analyst Buberwa Kaiza was of the view that the money raised from the public should be returned to the public through a scheduled event.

"A political event could be organized for the amount to be returned back to the community. The law also requires reimbursement of the money to contributors," he said.

Mr Mbowe and the co-accused appealed at the High Court, challenging decision made by magistrate Simba, saying the court had failed to prove their offenses beyond reasonable doubt.

Overturning the ruling, the High Court Judge Ilvin Mugeta said after going through evidences, the prosecution had failed to prove some of charges that faced the appellants.

He said the words murmured by the appellants which were complained against by the prosecutions, were normally political and were made by the leaders of the opposition party during campaign trails.

He noted that the charges facing the appellants had legal flaws including lacking clear explanations relevant to the offence.

Party leaders and the amount of fine charged in brackets are Mbowe (Sh70m); Dr Vincent Mashinji (Sh30m); John Mnyika (Sh30m) and Salum Mwalimu (Sh30m).

Others are; Esther Matiko (Sh40m); Peter Msigwa (Sh40m); Halima Mdee (Sh40m) and Ester Bulaya (Sh40m).
Arusha  The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will benefit enormously by joining the East African Community (EAC).

The benefits include free movement of people to the rest of the bloc and goods to the Dar es Salaam and Mombasa ports.

"It would ease free movement of goods, especially the country's eastern region," said Peter Mathuki, EAC's secretary general.

He made this argument on Friday evening during the official launching of the EAC verification mission to DRC on the latter's bid to join the bloc.

The launching by President Felix Tshisekedi was held at the eastern border city of Goma in the presence of officials from around the region.

Once admitted, DRC, like the rest of the partner states, would nominate nine members to the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala).

It would also have to nominate judges to the East African Court of Justice (EACJ), the judicial organ of the Community.

But it is from the benefits to the region that EAC is pushing for the admission of sub Saharan largest country into the bloc.

DRC is seen as strategic for EAC growth due to its current trade relations and because of its vast natural resources with great potential.

However, DR Congo admission into the bloc was recently challenged by Ugandan lawyer Adam Kyomuhendo at the East African Court of Justice (EACJ).

The advocate of the High Court of Uganda alleges in a suit that DRC has been illegally and without due trial or process holding Ugandan activist William Mugumya and more than 35 other Ugandans.

It further alleges that Uganda nationals had been held in the DRC for more than six years contrary to human rights laws and the EAC Treaty.

Recent statistics indicate the EAC exported goods and services valued at $7.4 billion in 2018 to DR Congo.

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This represented eleven per cent of the total imports into sub-Saharan Africa's largest country.

The country has huge and untapped deposits of raw minerals, estimated to be worth in excess of $24 trillion.

Among them is 70 percent of the world's coltan, a third of its cobalt among a range of high value minerals.

Once admitted, the 2.4 million square kilometres DRC would be the largest country in the EAC bloc after Tanzania (947,000 square kilometres).

Although much larger than the combined six EAC partner states, DRC has a population of 86 million, about a half of the current EAC population.

Speaking when he received the EAC delegation, President Tshishekedi affirmed that his country was committed to join the EAC "at the earliest opportunity".
Major development undertakings such as the construction of water supply systems, roads, healthcare facilities, and schools have been transforming the lives of most of the residents of the Kerkebet sub-zone.

As one of the most remote areas of the country, it had been neglected by successive colonial rulers. Riverbanks were the only water sources for the residents of the Kerkebet sub-zone before the construction of dams and the installation of water distribution systems following Eritrea's independence. In the past, people in "Lokayb," one of the 13 administrative areas of the Kerkebet sub-zone, had no access to potable water and, as a result, they were prone to water-borne diseases.

However, thanks to the construction of roads, schools, and healthcare facilities in seven of the 13 administrative areas in the sub-zone, the lives of most of the residents of the Kerkebet sub-zone have been improving. The healthcare station in Lokayb, for instance, gives efficient service to the residents of Lokayb, Atay, and Haranite. The healthcare station in Agumite has an ambulance that serves people in the administrative areas of Hawan, Akayde, and Harare. Of course, the healthcare station still needs to be further equipped with more tools and medicine to be able to serve the communities better.

A wide and very well paved dirt road has already linked Amalayt, Lokayb, and Atay while the set-out plan is to link Atay with Agumait, which is 147 Km from Amalayt and then with Akayde and Haranite. The construction of this strategic road paved the way for the establishment of a water distribution center by installing two big water tanks in Atay. A school has also been built and is ready to offer service. Scattered settlements are being brought together in one village or town to allow more and more people to access services such as healthcare and education.

Harainte administrative area, which is home to over 280 families, is the remotest part of the Kerkebet sub-zone and very close to Sudan's border. The construction of a road, school, and other basic facilities have been given priority in Haranite to enable the residents to get connected with the other administrative areas in the sub-zone. A school constructed in Agumite has started to offer service by teaching mothers while solar panels have been installed for the water distribution center. Also, an underground water source has been drilled and distribution facilities are under construction in Hewan administrative area, which is 195 km away from the Analyst.

Kerkebet sub-zone is generally one of the most disadvantaged parts of the country and the Government has given priority to its massive Western Development Zone programs. The provision of various facilities is now steadily improving the living standards of the residents of the subzone.

The construction of the Kerkebet dam has changed the ecosystem of the sub-zone and triggered the expansion of farm activities in the area. The Kerkebet sub-zone administration office is working hard to encourage residents to get involved in farming.

Mr. Abdelkerim Idris, the administrator of the Kerkebet sub-zone, believes that the nomads are very capable to bring about a radical change in their livelihoods once they make a move toward irrigation-based farm activities. The opportunities are plenty and the residents of the area are the number one beneficiaries of the farms the Government has provided.

"Dirfa", also another administrative area of the vast Kerkebet sub-zone, has a school and solar-powered water distribution facility. Aliet, which is part of the Dirfa administrative area, has its own water supply facility and a new school has been constructed for students who used to learn in makeshift tents.

Amalayt, the center of the entire Kerkebet sub-zone, has a relative advantage in terms of the size and quality of its healthcare facility, schools, and water distribution centers. The resident of "Filik", which is part of Amalayt administrative area, live scattered in various areas and the school in the area has few students. It is difficult for the school to continue offering service with such a small student enrollment. If the challenge persists, Mr. Abdelkerim said, the next move would be relocating the residents in nearby villages such as Amalayt, Lokayb, and Dirfa to make the provision of services such as healthcare, education, and potable water supply sustainable.

Hamasiduba and Ketchech have viable educational, healthcare, and potable water supply services, but the residents of Yekari'e had to move to Ketchech to have equal access to the services that are provided there. Mr. Abdelkerim reiterated the importance of finding a lasting solution to the scarcity of potable water in Yekari'e.

The Kerkebet sub-zones administration office works with partners to make a difference in the living standards of the residents of the sub-zone. Initiatives have been taken to encourage residents to engage in agriculture. Mr. Abdelkerim explained that members of the Eritrean Defense Forces, especially border patrol units, have been strong partners of the sub-zones administration in implementing the set-out development programs.

The development activities in Kerkebet sub-zone have brought substantial change in social services, particularly healthcare. Maternal and child mortality have now been reduced because of the opening of healthcare facilities in remote areas of the sub-zone such as Agumite. The availability of healthcare services is also making a contribution toward tackling cultural barriers. For instance, it was not common for a woman to visit a healthcare center without being accompanied by her husband. But the concerted efforts of healthcare workers and other actors are showing steady progress in the number of women going to healthcare centers unaccompanied by their husbands.

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Kerkebt sub-zone is a land of so many opportunities and the prospects are very encouraging in an area endowed with natural resources expected to benefit not only the residents of the sub-zone but the entire nation. More than 80% of the residents of the sub-zone are pastoralists and although challenging it is possible for them to steadily shift from nomadic to settled lifestyles. The Government provides the residents with farm tools, select seeds, and irrigation systems. Mr. Abdelkerim said that river banks in Atay could be diverted for the development of irrigation-based farms for the benefit of those who live in nearby areas.

Kerkebet sub-zone, which has 13 administrative areas, borders Selea sub-zone of the Anseba region to the east, Forto Sawa sub-zone of Gash-Barka region, and Sudan to the southwest.
Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Mohamed Farid returned home on Saturday after official visits to DR Congo and Sudan.

During his visit to Congo, Farid met with his Congolese counterpart Mbala Munsense and discussed issues of mutual concern in the different military fields.

The two sides held talks about ways of developing joint military cooperation.

In Sudan, Farid met with Sudanese Chief of Staff Mohamed Othman and probed issues of mutual concern in the different military fields.

Farid and Othman agreed on the need to promote cooperation in the various military domains.
Executive director of the Industrial Modernization Centre (IMC) Mohamed Abdel Karim discussed Friday 25/06/2021 with chairman of the Russian-Egyptian Business Council Shamil Orlov means of boosting the economic cooperation.

Convened on the sidelines of the 13th meeting of the joint Egyptian-Russian committee, currently held in Moscow, the get together discussed reinforcing the cooperation and sharing expertise between IMC and the council in the fields of manufacturing, trade exchange, and technologies.

Abdel Karim had held several separate meetings with other Russian officials on the fringes of the expanded talks between Trade and Industry Minister Niven Gamea with her Russian counterpart Denis Manturov.
Prosecutor-General Counselor Hamada el-Sawy on Friday 25/06/2021 discussed with French Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti cooperation in fighting terrorism, human trafficking, money laundering and violence against women.

During their meeting, Counselor Sawy lauded the level of cooperation with France, considering it a message to all world countries and a role model for cooperation.

The meeting, held at the headquarters of the French Justice Ministry, was attended by Egypt's Ambassador to France Alaa Youssef and a high-level delegation from the Public Prosecution.

The two sides reviewed the deeply-rooted ties between the Egyptian and French judiciary and the judicial authorities in both countries that contributed to the effective cooperation between the two sides and the Public Prosecution's recovery of Egyptian artifacts.

They also stressed the importance of continuing effective cooperation between the two sides by exchanging information and developing means of obtaining it in the different departments, updating joint agreements and removing the obstacles facing their joint cooperation.

They also expressed interest in fighting illicit trafficking of cultural property and facilitate returns and restitution with the illicit trafficking in artifacts.

For his part, the prosecutor general expressed keenness on exchanging expertise and boosting training between members of the Public Prosecution and their French counterparts, particularly in the fields of terrorism, human trafficking, money laundering and violence against women.

At the end of the meeting, counselor Sawy noted that the Egyptian women will start working in the Public Prosecution at the beginning of October in implementation of the decision issued by the Supreme Council of Judicial Bodies, headed by the president of the Republic.
document

On behalf of the Government of the United States of America, I congratulate the people of Madagascar on the occasion of your Independence Day.

The United States values our strong relationship with Madagascar, which is buttressed by our mutual commitment to addressing climate change and fostering inclusive economic development. We look forward to continued cooperation to advance democratic good governance, human rights, and sustainable growth for the Malagasy people in the years to come.

Best wishes on this auspicious day!
Monrovia  Montserrado County Senator, Abe Darius Dillon, has arrived in the United States of America. But not on an economy class ticket.

In a post on his official Facebook account, the Monsterrado County lawmaker, showing his insensitivity and detachment from the plight of Liberians wailing from the rapid spread of COVID-19, showed himself in business class on a commercial airliner.

The Senator claimed his trip is intended to meet with diaspora supporters to raise funds to help in the fight against the contagious Coronavirus ravaging the country.

His post comes in the wake of a massive public condemnation over his receipt of US$15k as Legislative Engagement Fund. It also comes in the wake of further revelation from a fellow CPP lawmaker that the Montserrado County lawmaker on Capitol Hill received US$20k to offset loans they had taken a while back.

In an apparent shame as this was a far cry from his social media espoused values, the Montserrado County lawmaker tried to unsuccessfully to extricate himself from the embarrassing situation by declaring his share would be donated to the Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment.

And when LACE rebuffed his antics as it, according to a press statement issued by the agency, violated their statues, the Senator found himself straddling between many worlds - to keep or donate the money.

The decision landed to donate the money, or at least half of it - US$ 7,500 - to the Montserrado County Health Team. However, Health Minister Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah, has asked the County Health Officer of Montserrado to return the money.

All of this ties in to the glaring fact that the Senator no longer rides the expensive SUV bought for his deceased predecessor which he took receipt of amid a hail of criticism. Rather, he now rides in a more luxurious one worth well over US$70k.

And barely has all of these shortcomings that he continues to prove his ardent critics right on be shaken off his tail, the Senator has jetted off to Washington on a first class seat to raise funds to help in the fight against COVID-19, he claimed.

But what the Senator has apparently forgotten, as Henry Costa has shown when he raised money to fight and stave off a case brought against him in the United States, fundraising can be done online by a virtual wave of the hand.

The Montserrado County lawmaker -thanks to technology - could sit in the comfort of his office on Capitol Hill and raise thousand of dollars.

This would have saved him the copious amount splurged on a business class ticket which could have gone towards contributing to the fight against covid of which he seeks to be warrior forerunner. Furthermore, the money spent of flying first class, regardless of who purchased the ticket, could be added to and boost the fundraising efforts.

And, the energy wasted on being jetlagged from hours of flying could be used on a Jehovah Witness styled awareness cautioning Montserradians on the contagiousness off the Delta Variant.

That Senator Dillon would jet off while the country faces a health crisis of unprecedented proportions since the ebola outbreak, highlights the callous nature of the men and women on Capitol Hill elected to serve our interest.

In times of public crisis, they allot themselves astronomical sums of money to carry on acts of false magnanimity. And when they feel ill during times when hospitals are crying for lacks of beds and oxygen, they board first class and fly off to foreign capitals.

On what ground can our esteemed Senator now stand to criticize President Weah who is traveling to France reportedly with a 37 man delegation.

Sometimes we become what he hate in others, Nobel Laureate archbishop Desmond Tutu warned.

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Of what use is a trip - whether to the Lincoln Monument in Washington or the Eiffel Tower in Paris - when your people are dropping like flies?

Hence we ask, what is the real reason behind our Senator's trip Washington? To raise funds or to take his second dosage of the COVAX?

Sources alleged that the Montserrado County lawmaker received his first dosage of the vaccine during his rather brief trip to the States.

Little wonder then the Senator has been reticent when it comes to inspiring confidence amongst Liberians to take the vaccine.

How could he when his first shot was allegedly taken in America. Perhaps this was out of fear of the AstraZeneca's vaccine which, according to experts and in some instances, can cause fatal blood clots.

But this is our Senator in who we are well pleased. He goes contrary to his values which got him elected to The Senate by riding roughshod over us.
AT least 40 youth in Bukoba Municipality have benefitted from the training on Cold Mix Asphalt Technique (CMA) technology, which will enable them to professionally participate in various road construction projects.

The training was organized by the StarPeco Company Limited with its Director, Engineer Gratian Nshekanabo telling participants that the newly introduced technology is in place just to cut-off road construction costs, environmental conservation, time saving and little expertise, among other benefits, compared to traditional Hot-mix Asphalt Technique (HMA) technology.

He told the participants that when bitumen emulsions for CMA involve water and some few chemicals, the HMA needs expensive stuff like petroleum solvents and firewood to turn it into liquid.

"Again, CMA can be preserved for a couple of days while HMA should be applied instantly after boiling it because it expires when temperature goes below 100 centigrade," said the Director, adding that:

CMA preparations involve simple machines such as concrete mixer, hand hoe and other simple working tools unlike HMA which needs special equipment.

Mr Nshekanabo further told participants that CMA is applicable even during small rain drops while the same is dangerous to HMA because even a single raindrop can cause deadly explosion during the boiling process.

"CMA therefore is time consuming since the boiling stage depends on weather conditions," he said.

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A workshop participant, Mr Peter Isaya, commented that the training will not only help them grab temporary jobs but also employ themselves since the CMA involves simple tools and little expertise.

"The challenge is lack of investment capital but I see the need to form groups for easy access to municipal council's loans, as we have been advised here," he said.

The Tanzania Rural and Urban Roads Agency (Tarura) Regional Coordinator, Engineer Avith Theodory said the agency is conducting pilot studies to assess its efficiency.

"If proved efficient, the new technology will play an important role in cutting down construction cost and time saving," he said.

According to him, initial piloting results showed relief in cost reduction since a single square metre of road cost only 30,000/- when using CMA technology compared to between 60,000/- and 70,000/- when HMA technology is applied.

"But most importantly, CMA will be helpful in fixing road patches within 48 hours as per legal requirement. That is where time saving comes in," he said.
Tunis/Tunisia  "The United States is a strategic and important ally for Tunisia", US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman highlighted at a virtual meeting with Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, adding her country is working to strengthen bilateral cooperation in various fields.

Sherman was quoted as saying in a Prime Ministry statement her country is working to help Tunisia in the economic, financial and health fields,.

We stand with you in confronting the coronavirus, she pointed out, adding the US administration has placed Tunisia at the forefront of priority countries that will benefit from the US COVID-19 vaccine donation to help combat the pandemic.

In addition, Sherman expressed Washington's commitment to continue "supporting Tunisia in its negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, which would provide development and achieve financial balances for the country."

She also said she talked with the Prime Minister about a set of reforms that are being implemented in Tunisia. She also noted the efforts made by the government and the value of work it is doing in the areas of governance, combating corruption, ensuring the independence of the judiciary, supporting the human rights system and building constitutional institutions, according to the statement.

In this regard, she stressed "the importance of the installation of the Constitutional Court and working to ensure political stability and the success of the democratic process."

For his part, the Prime Minister expressed satisfaction at the level of historical and distinguished relations between Tunisia and the United States and the common concern to further strengthen them in many fields and elevate them to the level of a strategic and fruitful partnership, in the interest of the two friendly countries.

He also affirmed his government's keenness to bolster political stability in Tunisia, complete the building of constitutional institutions and work to achieve economic and social development for the Tunisians with the help of Tunisia's strategic allies.
Finland  The defence team in the trial of Gibril Massaquoi, the former RUF commander accused of committing war crimes in Liberia, has had some big wins in the concluding weeks of the trial in Tampere, Finland.

Since it resumed in Tampere, after three months hearing testimonies in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the trial has narrowed to two questions: What were the dates of the events for which Massaquoi is accused? And, have dozens of Liberian witnesses got the wrong man when they claimed "Angel Gabriel" is the commander with a Sierra Leonean accent that they say direct the atrocities?

Among the witness in this final part of the trial in the southern Finnish city where Massaquoi was living when he was charged and arrested in March 2020 were two international researchers who extensively documented the atrocities in Liberia in the period in question - 2000 to 2003.

One told the court that she and a colleague had spoken with 61 witnesses who described atrocities in the Lofa, particularly the village of Kamatahun, which matched the descriptions given by many Liberian witnesses.

"They said many of those being taken to Kamatahun had been from Kiantahun. Afterwards, after an order of a commander, they were taken into three houses - one of the witnesses said four houses - and they were burnt alive," the witness told the court.

The witnesses said the event took place between September and December 2001. The researcher had interviewed them between March and July, 2002, just months after the alleged atrocities took place.

The witness said five testimonies mentioned the infamous Taylor commander Ziza Maza. They also mentioned another top Taylor commander named Colonel Stanley and a number of lower level commanders.

Massaquoi's lawyer Kaarle Gummerus asked the researcher, "Was there an Angel or Angel Gabriel mentioned in the interviews conducted by you or your colleague?"

The witness answered, "No, I do not recall that."

In addition to the witnesses the researcher said she had spoken "with local community organisations, as well as members of think tanks, diplomats, refugee right organisations, and so on."

"In these questions, did Angel Gabriel or Gibril Massaquoi ever come up?" asked Gummerus.

The witness answered, "No".

A second researcher told the court he spent 15-months between 2012 and 2018 living in the Waterside area of Monrovia, where more of Massaquoi's alleged crimes took place. He told the court he had spoken to "around 300 soldiers, in Monrovia and 15 different provinces," as well as, "hundreds of civilians, and some of the conversations were very informal."

Gummerus asked the witness whether interviewees named specific people.

"Yes, some names have come up," the witness said naming the war time aliases Stanley, Ziza and General Mosquito. "People are still scared to talk about what happened."

"Did Gibril Massaquoi's name come up?" Gummerus asked.

"No," replied the witness.

"What about Gabriel?" asked Gummerus.

Again the witness answered, "no".

The testimony of the two researchers helped narrow down the question of dates that has plagued this trial. Liberian witnesses had given a range of changing dates for harrowing rapes, murder and torture of civilians that they said were committed and directed by "Angel Gabriel", the alleged nickname of Gibril Massaquoi, who refutes it

at Waterside market in Monrovia. Sometimes the same witness gave conflicting dates.

An expert witness told the court that such memory lapses were entirely normal in a society where many people did not use calendar dates with regularity and for people remembering traumatic events from 20 years ago. He said the lapses could not be said to indicate dishonesty on the part of witnesses in any way.

However the second researcher said he was very clear that the witnesses were describing events that he has pinned down to "July" of 2003 or in the "summer" of 2003. It was the third and final assault by rebels on Taylor's forces in Monrovia, known to Liberians as "World War 3".

That date presents a problem for the prosecution. From March 2003 until he left Sierra Leone for Finland under a special deal in 2008 Gibril Massaquoi was under witness protection in a safehouse provided by the United Nations in return for his role as an informant against Charles Taylor. The testimony of witnesses in Sierra Leone, most of whom were close to Massaquoi and thus less credible, made clear that the protection conditions were not tight. Massaquoi had left the safehouse on occasion and hosted visitors who could have couriered messages or threats between him and those he was testifying against.

Interview records by Special Court investigators showed that Massaquoi went as long as a month between interviews - plenty of time to travel to Liberia.

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But the first researcher told the court she found it implausible to think that Massaquoi and Taylor would have been in league with eachother at that time.

"At that time, Massaquoi was collaborating with the Special Court as an insider witness, and as I understand it, providing information on command structure and information against President Taylor," she said. 'The indictment of Taylor had been made public in June. So I find it unlikely that [Massaquoi] would have travelled to Monrovia to defend the capital, fighting on the same side as the person just indicted by the Special Court."

She reminded the court that it was well known that Taylor had little sympathy for people who had turned on him.

"Generally it was thought that Taylor had made Charles Bockarie to be killed on the grounds that he had given the special court information against him," she said.

The trial has taken a summer break. Tomorrow New Narratives will have the latest from the this phase of the trial.

This story is a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project.
Monrovia  The Congress for Democratic Change lauds President George M. Weah's timely dismissal of former information Minister for Press and Public Affairs, Eugene L. Fahngon.

The party's National Executive Committee believes the dismissal action, which is a step in the right direction, demonstrates the President's unflinching commitment to a serious and depoliticized campaign against the spread of covid-19.

Therefore, the leadership of the Congress for Democratic Change admonishes officials entrusted with public trust to avoid the ill-judged and baseless assertions of the former Minister, which is mutually incompatible to government's healthcare delivery agenda to keep people and country save from the devastating impacts of covid-19.

At the same time, the party renews calls for all members of the CDC to take the lead in adhering to the President's recent proclamation, which provides the best mechanism through which we will collectively curtail and #Beatcovid out of Liberia.

At the same time, the Congress for Democratic Change welcomes the National Patriotic Party and the Liberia People's Party's recent reaffirmation of commitment to the CDC-led government.

Occurring at two different time intervals, the two parties' renewed support to the President's governing agenda present an extraordinary inspiration for all members, supporters and sympathizers of the CDC to reconverge and unite around its redemptive governing ideology.

Meanwhile, President Weah has nominated Jarlawah Tonpo as Deputy Minister for Press and Public Affairs at the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism (MICAT).

Mr. Tonpo, named early Thursday, June 24, 2021, replaces former Deputy Minister Eugene Fahngon who was relieved of his duties on Wednesday night.

Currently, Mr. Tonpon serves as Director of Press and Public Affairs at the Liberian Senate. He holds Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication and a Masters candidate in International Relations (University of Liberia) and a Masters candidate in Public Administration at the University of Liberia.

The nomination is subject to confirmation by the Liberian Senate.
Monrovia  The Harmonization and Improving Statistics in West Africa Project in Liberia achieved another milestone by receiving 27 brand new Toyota Land Cruisers fitted with GPS. The HISWA project is implemented by the Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo Information Services (LISGIS), with funding from the World Bank, and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) as implementing partner.

On Tuesday 22 June 2021, UNOPS handed over 27 Toyota Land Cruisers to LISGIS to support the HISWA project which seeks to strengthen the statistical systems of Liberia by harmonizing, producing, disseminating and enhancing the use of core economic and social statistics.

According to the Director General of LISGIS Prof. Francis F. Wreh, the vehicles are intended to equip LISGIS with the needed logistics to implement the HISWA Project in the country. Prof. Wreh furthered on by stating that all the vehicles came fitted with a complete GPS tracking system to assist LISGIS efforts to better manage these assets and to ensure that they are used for the intended purpose.

Also present in the handing over ceremony was the National Census Coordinator - Mr. Andrew A. Tellewoyan expressed his appreciation at the speed at which UNOPS were able to deliver the vehicles and acknowledged UNOPS as a partner of choice for future endeavors.
Under the theme "healing is a journey", on the evening of June 25, Divine Akimana in partnership with Rwanda National Commission of UNESCO (CNRU) and Kigali Public Library launched her poetry book that tackles her journey and mental health issues.

The book is called "Scars That Shape Up" where the author refers to scars as the struggles people go through, adding that they impact their present and as well help them plan for their future.

The event gathered different book lovers and literary activists.

Book talk - healing is a journey

Scars That Shape Us contains 97 poems divided into two parts; mental health and activism. The author said that she was inspired by her pain and the hunger for justice. She tackled mental health issues because she went through similar experience, adding that she wrote the poems as a way of therapy but later realized that they were relevant to most people.

Talking about activism, she said that she loves women and children and despises seeing them suffering.

"There is a poem (The Forsaken) I wrote in 2018. There was a war in South Sudan and a lot of children were dying. I address this poem to the UN asking them what they were doing to stop the war and why were children being killed; bleeding in the streets for reasons they didn't even have a crew about. The least I could do was to call for help through poetry," she said.

Let us not mock them

She revealed that she is passionate about mental health awareness and create awareness especially among people who do not understand why others can commit suicide.

"There are those who would even whip the body of someone who has committed suicide because they take the incident as cowardice. They don't realise that when someone decides to commit suicide, it's because they are in pain. Let's not mock them, let's understand them and tell them that it's okay to speak up and cry because they are in pain," she said.

"We all have broken hearts that we are trying to mend and getting someone to help is our dream."

When asked about the challenges she faced with her book, she said that it had been hard for her to share her pain in the first place. Similarly, it was challenging to publish the book due to publishing houses' rejections and financial constraints.

She revealed that she went for self-publishing and got support from friends, family, and Rwanda National Commission for UNESCO.

JerOme Kajuga, the Director of Culture, Social and Human Sciences at RNRU said that it was their responsibility to support her.

"One of our aims is to enhance the culture of reading and writing in Rwanda. When we read Divine's book and realised that it could help different people and that she was a young woman with the culture of writing, it was our responsibility to support her because she would be an example to other writers and would let them realise that it's possible to publish. She is not our beneficiary but our partner because she is doing something in the line of what we do,' he said.

He revealed that so far they have launched three books since January and are open for more.

Venting - a tremendous step towards healing

Francine Nkurunziza, Divine's mother told The New Times that she loved her daughter's book because she was able to talk about her painful real-life experience.

"In our culture, most people don't like to talk about their feelings or address their problems but Divine was able to express what she has passed through. I see this book as something that will help other children with the same issues," she said.

She added that it's time for people to rethink the culture (but not kill it), stop fearing, and talk about their issues.

"I have never agreed with Divine that suicide can be caused by scars and wounds one could have, but as I talked with her and other different people, I figured out that it's true because a healthy person can't commit suicide," she said. "So, it's worth it that someone opens up and talks about their problems. There might be someone else to help them out. However, they have to be careful of who they talk to."

Silver Busobozi, a teacher at Green Hills Academy and lecturer at Akilah College who has taught Divine at Eden International School and has edited her book, said that Divine's book is a mirror of what the older generation should be doing to the young one.

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"We have a lot of issues related to mental health and children are not being given room to be listened to. Parents are just caring about the academic results of their children without knowing that their holistic nature matters the most," he said.

"When you read through Divine's work and the symbolism behind what its title stands for, she voices that pain and silence that has not been reciprocated to. It's like an appeal that society has to attend to and create a space for the young ones to have their mental health issues attended to and addressed."

Sandra Nadege Uwayezu, a poetess who had been working with Divine, recited for the audience some of the poems in the book. She thanked her for writing the book, adding that her poems have been helpful and relevant to her.

The soft copy of Divine's book is $7.99 and can be found on Amazon while the hard copy is Rwf15 thousand. One can reach out to her on email faithidivine2020@gmail.com or phone number 0787855855.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com

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Asmara, 25 June 2021 - In connection with 20 June, Martyrs Day, nationals residing in Scandinavian countries, Australia, The Netherlands, and the USA have made financial contributions to augment the Martyrs Trust Fund and in support of families of Martyrs.

According to the report, the nationals residing in the Scandinavian countries-Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland have contributed a total of 208 thousand Norwegian Kroner and 160 thousand Swedish Kroner.

Nationals residing in various cities of Australia also contributed 29 thousand 224 Australian Dollars to augment Martyrs Trust Fund and have assumed the responsibility of supporting 43 families of martyrs.

Likewise, nationals residing in various cities of The Netherlands contributed 26 thousand 573 Euros to augment the Martyrs Trust Fund and 1 thousand 800 Euros to support families of the martyrs, the Eritrean Embassy in The Hague reported.

Similarly, the Eritrean Community in Oakland, California, the US, contributed 24 thousand 750 Dollars; nationals in Jacksonville, Florida, 1 thousand 030 Dollars, Eritrean Community in San Diego 4 thousand 539 Dollars, and nationals in Atlanta and its environs 25 thousand Dollars.
Asmara, 25 June 2021 - Employees of the Ministry of Marine Resources and Salina Salt Factory in Massawa have assumed the responsibility of supporting 20 families of martyrs.

At the event conducted at the Ministry of Marine Resources compound on 23 June, it was stated that the beneficiary families of martyrs are from Foro, Massawa, Gindae, and Shieb sub-zones.

According to the report, the employees of the Ministry of Marine Resources assumed the responsibility of supporting 15 families of martyrs while workers of Salina Salt Factory 5 families of martyrs for one year.

Mr. Ismael Osman, representative of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare branch, on his part stating the goodwill the employees undertook is part of the initiative nationals inside the country and abroad have been undertaking called on others in the civil service to follow the noble example.

Commending the initiative the employees of the Ministry of Marine Resources and Salina Salt Factory undertook, Mr. Rezene Adonay, Secretary of the PFDJ branch in the Northern Red Sea region, called for reinforced effort in ensuring the sustainability of the program.

The number of families of martyrs being supported by civil servants in the Northern Red Sea Region has reached 150, the report stated.

In related news, members of the youth workers organization in the Southern Red Sea region contributed financial and material support to 15 families of martyrs in the Port city of Assab.

Speaking to Erina, the chairperson of the youth workers organization in the region, Mr. Ibrahim Saleh stated that since last year members of the organization have been supporting families of martyrs by raising money from their monthly salaries.
Tanzanians and Ugandans are gleefully waiting for the fortunes to be reaped from the 3.55 billion US dollars crude oil pipeline venture by their two countries.

The project is said to have short and long term economic benefits for the two neighboring countries, specifically during the construction phase.

In April this year, President Samia Suluhu Hassan was in Uganda to witness the signing of the agreements at State House Entebbe.

The two countries signed the Host Government Agreement, Shareholder Agreement (for the pipeline company) and Tariff agreements.

Partners in the pipeline agreement, Total and China National Offshore Oil Corporation, also witnessed the signing of the agreements.

The signing of the agreements would pave the way for the construction of the 1,440 km crude oil pipeline from Hoima in Uganda to the Tanzanian seaport of Tanga with the project billed to be the longest electrically heated pipeline in the world.

It is heated because of the waxy nature of Uganda's oil. Uganda has so far discovered over 6.5 billion barrels of oil.

Ms Samia exuded confidence that the ambitious project would not only benefit Uganda and Tanzania alone but the entire region.

"The project will bring revenues to the regional countries and more than 10,000 jobs will be created," she said.

According to the President, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) will unlock the regional potential and attract more investors to east Africa.

"Our region is well-endowed with abundant resources. In order to fully and effectively exploit these resources, we need infrastructure," she added.

The opportunities expected to be available during the construction project on the Tanzanian side include supplying of equipment, security services, food and beverage services, hospitality services, human resource management, supplying fuel in the project and communication services.

According to some official reports, the huge investment of the EACOP construction will be the major source to increase direct foreign investment in both countries by 60 per cent.

Tanzania is expected to earn an estimated 3.24bn/- US dollars once the project becomes operational with more than 18,000 jobs set to be generated over the next 25 years.

As part of long-term economic benefits, the EACOP project is expected to attract more investors for exploring oil and gas resources in the countries.

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The project is envisaged to increase Tanga Port's logistic activities; with the port also due to experience more 600 million US dollars direct investments in establishing new jetty, storage tanks, and supporting facilities.

The local communities along the EACOP route will benefit from various training and education programmes such as road safety, and welder training.

Also, the small towns along the pipeline's path are likely to experience the local business boom as those working on the pipeline will stay in the construction camps, local hotels and drink in local bars.

There will be individual benefits from the job opportunities that will emerge throughout the project, with approximately 10,000 jobs expected during the construction phase. These include skilled workers, semi-skilled workers, and casual workers.

During the construction phase of the proposed EACOP project, indigenous casual workers will be employed from each district the pipeline passes and this will improve the development of local capacity through technology transfer.

Also, the EACOP will create short-term employment of about 2-3 years, for welders, heavy equipment operators, truck drivers, mechanics, site engineers, construction managers, construction labourers and more.

Total will hold the major stake in the heated pipeline, at 72 per cent with Uganda's at 15 while Tanzania will have 5 per cent and CNOOC Ltd 8 per cent.
Parliament  The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LOP), Mr Mathias Mpuuga, on Friday released a list of the Shadow cabinet, five days after President Museveni's new Cabinet took oath of office at Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala.

The Shadow cabinet saw the National Unity Platform (NUP), which has the majority of the Opposition MPs that has to form the Shadow cabinet, take the lion's share, with19 positions.

Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party, which has 32 MPs, got seven slots in the Shadow cabinet, while out of the 74 Independent MPs, two got positions.

The Democratic Party (nine MPs), Uganda People's Congress (nine MPs) and the People's Progressive Party (one MP), all got a single slot.

Jeema, also with a single MP, Mr Asuman Basalirwa (Bugiri Municipality) did not make it to the Shadow cabinet.

The cabinet has 19 male and 11 female ministers.

A section of those named on the cabinet pledged to push for better democracy, stamp out corruption and advocate transparency in their tenure of office.

Related

"I am grateful to the LoP for this appointment because it is a sign of confidence in my competence and ability to perform," Mr Karim Masaba, a first-time MP for Industrial Division, Mbale City, who was given the tourism docket, said in a telephone interview.

He pledged to popularise domestic tourism, protect natural resources and wildfire species.

"It is not a complicated ministry but it is very critical because it fetches volumes of revenue for our country, despite the meagre budgetary allocations dedicated to it by the government," Mr Masaba said.

Mr Derrick Nyeko, the MP Makidye East, who will oversee the docket of Presidency and Security, said: "While I am grateful about this appointment. I believe this is the time for us to prove to Ugandans that we are capable of leading [the country] through the guidance we are going to offer as Shadow cabinet."

The NUP party, led by former Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, continues to stamp its dominance on the political scene.

On Wednesday, lawmakers from the Buganda region voted for its member to lead the Buganda Parliamentary Caucus and ended the dominance of the ruling party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM).

List of the shadow cabinet

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Wilfred Nuwagaba (Independent) - Attorney General, Shamim Malende (NUP) - Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Muwanga Kivumbi (NUP) - Finance Planning and Economic Devt, Nantongo Fortune Rose (DP) - Gender Labour and Social Dev't, Atkins Katusabe (FDC) - Public Service, Derrick Nyeko (NUP)-Presidency and Security, Abed Bwanika (NUP)- Agriculture, Brendah Nabukenya (NUP)- Education, Jonathan Odur (UPC)- Defense and Veteran Affairs, Abdallah Kiwanuka (NUP)- Internal Affairs, Timothy Batuwa Lusala (FDC)- Health, Abubaker Kawalya (NUP)- KCCA, Muwada Nkunyingi (NUP)- Foreign Affairs, Ronald Balimwezo (NUP)- Lands and Housing, Asinasi Nyakato (FDC)- Energy and Minerals, Karem Masaba (Ind)- Tourism & Wildlife, Frank Kabuye (NUP)- Youth & Children Affairs, Francis Mwijukye (FDC)- Trade & Industry, Betty Naluyima (NUP)- Local Govts, Hanifa Nabukeera (NUP)- Human Rights, Christine Kaaya Nakimwera (NUP)- Water and Environment, Gorreth Namugga (NUP)- Science Innovations & Technology, Hilary Kiyaga (NUP)- Culture and Performing Arts, Anna Adeke Ebaju (FDC)- Co-operatives & Microfinance, Joyce Bagala (NUP)- Information & Anti-Corruption, Santa Okot (PPP)- Special Regions, Gilbert Olanya (FDC)- East African Community Affairs, Charles Tebandeke (NUP)- Animal Industry and Fisheries, Geoffrey Kayemba (NUP)- Sports.
Ibadan  An engineering firm, Geofocus Company Limited has threw its weight behind the Oyo State government, over the termination of the contract for the construction of Ibadan Circular road, saying the contract did not follow due process.

The Managing Director of the company, Mr. Debo Adedeji, while addressing journalists in Ibadan, said the award of the contract to ENL Consortium Ltd, by the immediate past administration of late Senator Abiola Ajimobi, was allegedly shrouded in secrecy.

He said the concession was not advertised in accordance with the Procurement Act.

The government of Governor Seyi Makinde had terminated the contract awarded to ENL, for alleged delay in delivering the road which has been kicked against by the company.

Adedeji while apparently reacting to the statement credited to the Chairman of ENL, Prince Adesuyi Haastrup, on the termination of the contract, said Geofocus initiated the project in 1995, under the administration of Col. Ike Nwosu (rtd) and had since then been developing it with the various administrations of the state including that of Ajimobi.

He lamented that a legacy and critical infrastructure like the road meant to produce teeming jobs and promote economic advancement of Ibadanland could be turned to a political commodity to be traded in the black market and misrepresentation of facts such as it was initiated by the administration of late Governor Lam Adesina.

He disclosed that the entire road as conceived by Geofocus is 110km with an amortization of 25 years as against 32km with amortisation of 35 years awarded to ENL by the administration of Ajimobi, adding that till date the company has been the major proponent on the project bringing in financiers and technical experts.

Adedeji who maintained that the project belongs to the Oyo State government, said the firm has the right to its concept, intellectual property and also hold a patency on it, stating that the idea of ancillary projects of the road such as markets, schools and housing raised by Haastrup actually belonged to Geofocus.

According to him, "With the support of our Chairman, Dr. Taiye Ayorinde, Geofucus had been guiding each administration to the development and financing of the project. Indeed, each administration from Nwosu to Seyi Makinde had seen our expertise in project development and commitment for 26 years.

"Along the way, Lam Adesina administration looked into our efforts and constituted a ministerial committee to work with us to advance the project development.
If you were to wind the clock back to 2011, you couldn't fathom a scenario where Democratic Party (DP) stalwarts Muhammad Muwanga-Kivumbi and Betty Nambooze Bakireke could clash over any position, more so that's related to Buganda.

The two had joined hands with other idealistic Buganda politicians such as Erias Lukwago, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, Medard Lubega Sseggona, Mathias Mpuuga, and Moses Kasibante, among others, and formed an alliance termed "Suubi 2011" whose major aim was to advance Buganda interests, which they believed could be obtained by ousting President Museveni from power.

These politicians belonged to different political parties but did joint campaigns to ensure that each one of them wins their respective races.

A lot of things have changed since 2011 and it seems the 'Suubi spirit' is all but gone, though the architects of the alliance deny it.

"It will get stronger," Mr Muwanga-Kivumbi said referring to the Suubi spirit. "We have had setbacks but we shall make up. We have come from very far."

Among the changes - Mr Mpuuga, Mr Sseggona, Mr Muwanga-Kivumbi (Butambala County) and Ms Nambooze (Mukono Municipality) after years of infighting within their beloved DP, decided to call it a day and joined the National Unity Platform (NUP) as senior members of the newly formed party.

Once NUP became the leading Opposition party having scooped 57 parliamentary seats, the most challenging issue was going to be how they share positions that come with being the biggest Opposition party.

The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), which has been choosing Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP) since multiparty politics returned in 2005, was always divided over who should be given that position.

In 2006, when Dr Kizza Besigye was still the president of the party, he wanted the mercurial Cecilia Ogwal (Dokolo Woman MP) to take the position, but the party leadership voted for Prof Ogenga-Latigo on the account that the Acholi sub-region had come through for the Opposition.

The idea that he wasn't Dr Besigye's first choice didn't go down well with Prof Latigo.

In 2011, Dr Besigye choose Budadiri West Member of Parliament Nathan Nandala Mafabi as LoP, but this didn't go down well with Abdu Katuntu, the Bugweri County MP, who considered himself more polished and eloquent.

It's no surprise that both Latigo and Katuntu are no longer members of the FDC party.

In 2017, when Patrick Oboi Amuriat took over from Mugisha Muntu as party president, he reshuffled and ousted Winfred Kiiza and appointed Betty Aol Ochan as Leader of Opposition. Ms Kizza has since joined Muntu in forming the Alliance for National transformation (ANT).

For NUP, so far, there has been a concerted effort to push their disagreements under the carpet. "We are concentrating on the struggle, not positions," David Lewis Rubongoya, the party's secretary general, has insisted when asked about how the party is apportioning positions.

However, on Tuesday the party was once again put to a test when its parliamentary caucus unanimously endorsed Muwanga-Kivumbi to be its flagbearer for the Buganda Caucus chair, prompting Ms Nambooze to storm out of the meeting in protest, rubbishing the whole process as "undemocratic".

Ms Nambooze claimed that the matter should have been put to a vote if the process was to qualify as democratic.

Before NUP could meet to decide on this position, which had attracted interest from David Lukyamuzi Kalwanga (Busujju County), Mr Muwanga-Kivumbi had made it clear in an interview that he preferred the party resolves the issue through consensus rather than going through divisive elections.

"Our considered view is it should be by consensus not through an election," Mr Muwanga-Kivumbi said. "Because without that unity we can't do much. What will you do with those who haven't elected you?"

On June 13, it was reported by Sunday Monitor that Mr Muwanga-Kivumbi was slated to be NUP's flagbearer for the Buganda Caucus chairperson owing to the fact that he had missed out on chairing any accountability committees in Parliament, yet his competitors for the Buganda Caucus chair, for instance, Ms Nambooze scooped the Government Assurance Committee and Mr Kalwanga will represent NUP in the Commonwealth Parliament.

It's not clear whether Ms Nambooze was in the know of the arrangements that the NUP honchos had made, but sources say her misgivings started when she was overlooked for the position of Leader of Opposition, which was given to Mpuuga, who was part of Suubi.

Ms Nambooze, according to sources familiar with her reasoning, fancied her chances of being Leader of Opposition, touting her experience.

Ms Nambooze, unlike Mpuuga and Sseggona, her competitors for Leader of Opposition docket who arrived in Parliament in 2011, had arrived a year earlier having ousted NRM's Peter Bakaluba Mukasa via a by-election which had been in the offing for four years.

Just like her competitors, Ms Nambooze did a lot of lobbying and after procrastination, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, NUP's principal, decided that Mr Mpuuga would lead the Opposition in Parliament.

As a consolation for missing out, Mr Sseggona was assigned to lead the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and it seems he rested his case, but Ms Nambooze has neither forgiven, nor forgotten.

With Mpuuga now in charge of parliamentary business, Mr Muwanga-Kivumbi has emerged as one of his key advisors and sources claim Ms Nambooze's decision to stand was about disrupting Mr Mpuuga's agenda than anything else.

"She hasn't recovered from the disappointment of being overlooked as Leader of Opposition," a source within NUP said.

Other sources claim Ms Nambooze, who deputised Mr Godfrey Ssuubi Kiwanda (former Mityana North MP, NRM) when he served as the chairperson Buganda Caucus during the 9th Parliament, badly wanted the seat to have leverage over Mengo after she fell out with Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga.

"She felt that with her leading Buganda Caucus, Mengo would have no option but seek her out, which now won't happen," a source familiar with Ms Nambooze's plans said. NUP has 55 MPs from Buganda, meaning they have the numbers in the caucus.

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Though positions have been jostled for, Buganda Caucus has for years been dormant.

The last time the caucus had a meeting was at the beginning of the 10th Parliament and was hosted at Katomi Kingdom Resort, owned by former vice president Gilbert Bukenya.

"Buganda Caucus had long died," Mr Ssemujju, the Kira Municipality MP, said in a phone interview. "All you could hear is that the caucus was organising for MPs to go to Lubiri [Kabaka's palace] when there was a ceremony. I have known Muwanga-Kivumbi since Makerere University and I have no doubt in my mind that he will revive the Buganda Caucus and I will support him."

Mr Muwanga-Kivumbi is still optimistic that with time, Ms Nambooze, who has said she won't step a foot in any Buganda Caucus meeting in the foreseeable future, will recover from her disappointment.

"She has done a lot for Buganda and I'm sure we shall meet and make up for the good of the region," Mr Muwanga says.

This message of unity was echoed by Mr Kalwanga who stood down in favour of Mr Muwanga-Kivumbi, citing the interests of NUP and Buganda Kingdom.

Mr Kalwanga, as a reward, will remain the treasurer of the caucus. Ms Nambooze has been joined by Kampala Central MP Muhammad Nsereko in trying to downplay the importance of the caucus. But Muwanga-Kivumbi believes it can be used as a platform to advocate the challenges facing the regions such as land wrangles, unemployment and poverty, inter alia.
Abuja  The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, has said the implementation of the SERVICOM

Charter will lead to better and efficient pension administration in the country.

She pointed out that the importance of the document cannot be over-emphasised especially in light of the appalling conditions of pensioners in the past.

Ahmed, while speaking at the launch of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD)'s Service Charter in Abuja, however, commended the quest by the agency for service excellence in pension administration.

She was represented at the occasion by the ministry's Deputy Director, Appointments, Promotions and Discipline, Mr. Pever Michael.

Essentially, SERVICOM is an acronym for Service Compact and remains an initiative of the federal government which was conceived to promote effective and efficient service delivery in agencies of government.

It seeks to ensure customer satisfaction and to manage the performance expectation gap between government and citizens as well as other members of the public.

The minister said: "These pensioners are elder statesmen and women that had served this nation in various capacity in the past and deserves to be treated in a dignified manner to ensure that their labour was not in vain."

She also commended the management and staff of PTAD for the innovative policy and measures being implemented to better the pension administration system.

"I encourage you to continue in this trajectory to ensure that international best practice are adhered to when handling our pensioners," she said.

Executive Secretary/Chief Executive of PTAD, Mrs. Chioma Ejikeme, said the agency remained committed to delivering quality service to pensioners under the defined benefit scheme.

She further explained that the document was thoughtfully developed to serve as an internal policy to guide both staff and pensioners alike on service delivery standards.

She pointed out that PTAD had been operating on the servicom preparation to the unveiling of the charter.

She said: "As it were, we've been running the organisation in line with the tenets of what Servicom stands for.

"We can only do better. We want to say that we will continue what we are doing - improve our services and we appreciate the feedback from the public to let us know what we are not doing right."

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Ejikeme also said servicom is, "like a stamp to what we are doing. The charter reels out what we stand for; the quality of service we give, timelines associated to the quality of service so that our pensioners can hold us responsible when we don't do what we've said."

She added that PTAD is committed to ensuring the integrity of the pension administration system so that pensioners are rest assured that their entitlements will be paid accurately, fully and on time.

She added: "The charter is expected to evolve as the organisation grows and as changes take place internally and externally. PTAD will remain responsive to pensioner/stakeholder feedback and their changing needs.

"Please, note that PTAD's service charter is not intended to extend any legally enforceable rights to any stakeholder group. It is meant as a service delivery guide for all stakeholders and staff."
Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Aati on Friday discussed at meeting in Juba with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit the latest developments regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

In this regard, the irrigation minister refuted Ethiopian claims that the dam would secure electricity for Addis Ababa and neighboring countries.

During the meeting, Abdel Aati and Salva Kiir probed a number of topics with common concern.

The irrigation minister underlined the importance of fostering historic ties between Cairo and Juba, through injecting investments into the sectors of tourism, roads and energy.

Abdel Aati also shed light on the great support that Egypt offers to South Sudan to develop the sectors of water resources and irrigation, which in turn could help meet the needs of the South Sudanese people for potable water and livestock.

In a separate meeting, the Egyptian irrigation minister and his South Sudanese counterpart signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to implement a new project aimed at reducing the risks of flooding in the Bahr al-Jabal basin.
In a rare trend, outspoken Bulawayo-based poet and playwright Prince Mazilankatha will launch his debut album on a Zupco bus, in what he said would be an intimate affair with old and new fans.

Touted as imbongi kaMthwakazi, Mazilankatha's album is titled Sisenjeni, meaning "We are in trouble". The album carries 10 tracks packaged as poems.

Fans are expected to board the bus in the Bulawayo city centre for Empopnini in Cowdry Park and back to the city.

Mazilankata said the album was inspired by the struggles artistes have been facing during the Covid-19 era.

"It's a collection of poems under the theme Lamentations of an ordinary Zimbabwean artiste.

"Since the first lockdown last year, artistes are struggling to make a living and even Covid relief funds that are distributed only benefitted a few individuals," he said.

"This is just a Zimbabwean artist expressing his feelings. Artists are very hungry while those in offices are enjoying life getting their salaries every month and we should not wait for them to change things for us cause they will never do so.

"The album is about life The challenges we face in life as people, it's a 10-track album titled Sisenjeni. Looking at our current situation everyone is in trouble, financially, health-wise, relationship-wise, and so forth.

"So, I am trying to encourage someone out there not to take one's life because of these troubles. We are all in trouble, but it's not the end of life."

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Explaining the idea behind launching the album on a bus, the poet said: "Since all the leisure spots remain closed we have nowhere where we can perform and earn a living because we survive by the money we get from these shows."

"Now our offices are closed, we have no ways of making money and when we cry to National Arts Council of Zimbabwe and our mother the ministry, they keep on telling us to be innovative and think outside the box.

"In my way of being innovative, I saw Zupco bus as the best venue for my show. Zupco carries more than 75 passengers and most of these buses play music inside," Mazilankata said.

"So, I will sell my tickets for a dollar in advance then organise every one with a ticket, we pay their $30 for Zupco and the show starts as the bus takes off.

"Once we get to Cowdry Park eMpompini, we pay again our $30 and come back to town. As for Zupco agreeing on this plan, I am not sure, but there is no harm trying.
Tunis/Tunisia  Minister of Economy, Finance and Investment Support Ali Kooli, represented Tunisia at the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, held in virtual format from June 23 to 25, on the theme Building Resilient Economies in Post Covid-19 Africa.

Kooli took part, in particular in the conference on "Strengthening protection and health and care system in African countries.

He said the global coronavirus pandemic has had economic and social repercussions throughout the world, and especially in developing countries and African, which requires focusing more attention in the future on health systems, whether in national policies or in the context of international cooperation programmes.

In this context, he stressed the importance of the role of donors, including the AfDB, in strengthening the capacity of African countries in these areas, so that they can cope with this pandemic.

The annual meetings, which saw the participation of ministers of finance and international cooperation, governors of member countries, representatives of regional and international financial institutions, experts ... have been an opportunity to address several important issues related to the economic challenges faced by African countries, especially during this difficult period, characterised by the spread of the pandemic.
Tunis/Tunisia  Tunisair announced Friday that following new restrictions imposed by Belgium due to the health context, only essential travel is possible to this country from July 1, 2021. Regarding non-resident passengers, all passengers aged 12 years and over traveling to Brussels must have a negative PCR test result less than 72 hours prior to departure and fill out the Public Health Passenger Locator Form (PLF) prior to departure. This form can be downloaded from this link: https://cutt.ly/dmqvXdf

These passengers must also respect a 10-day quarantine and perform a PCR test on the 7th day of the quarantine.

Non-resident passengers who have been vaccinated and are traveling to Brussels must present a vaccination certificate.

Passengers must have been vaccinated for more than two weeks with one of the vaccines approved by Europe.

Travelers must fill out the form of the declaration on honor downloadable via this link https://cutt.ly/2mqmd7R.
Tunis/Tunisia  Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad Othman Jerandi, on Friday, held a working session with his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Berlin.

The meeting tackled the prospects for developing historic relations of friendship and cooperation between Tunisia and Germany, said a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Jerandi welcomed the development of cooperation between the two countries since 2011. He commended Germany's support to Tunisia through backing the democratic experience and projects that meet the country's needs.

He also welcomed the diversification of the areas of partnership between the two countries.

This partnership benefits from a continuous follow-up on the technical and political levels, particularly in these times of pandemic, he said.
Tunis/Tunisia  "Tunisia could become a strong pulling force for investment and trade in Africa ," Deputy-Director for Country Relations at the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) Ini Urua said on the fringes of the 04th edition of the international conference on "Financing Investment and Trade in Africa (FITA)" held from June 24 to 26 in Tunis.

Urua put emphasis on Tunisia's strategic geographical location in fostering trade and investment between European and African countries, pointing out that Tunisia "is strategically placed and enjoys strong ties with its neighbours."

He commended Tunisia's infrastructure, namely its power system, saying that "compared to other African nations, Tunisia's infrastructure is very good," yet it should make use of "its sunshine" to "harness its solar system and increase its power output."

The official called for promoting further investment in renewable energy, particularly in the solar power, as it will help "Tunisia reduce the money it spends on the power field."

Urua stressed the importance of digital transformation in the 21st century, pointing out that "Tunisia is already benefitting from it and making the most of it in the banking and trade sectors."

Speaking of the COVID-19 pandemic and its repercussions on world economies, the Deputy-Director underscored that "every country in Africa is suffering and Tunisia is no exception."

This 4th edition made it possible to share ideas and views on several issues that pose a challenge to the African continent, Urua underscored

The event also provided the opportunity to hold business to business meetings between economic operators, Pan-African economic development stakeholders, bankers, as well as investment funds and financial experts. 3,000 networking meetings are expected in the conference.

During the event, a number of Tunisian banks have sought to boost cooperation with their Pan-African counterparts, more particularly in accessing financial services in Africa.

The three-day conference, which is held by the Tunisia-Africa Business Council (TABC) in partnership with other world and Pan-African institutions including the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the Arab-Africa Trade Bridges (AATB) programme and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), is attended by 500 economic operators.
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi arrived in Baghdad to attend a tripartite summit with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and Jordan's King Abdullah II.

The summit falls within the framework of the fourth round of talks for promoting a trilateral cooperation mechanism which was launched in Cairo in March 2019.

Iraqi President Barham Salih received Sisi upon arrival at Baghdad International Airport, Egyptian Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi said, noting that this is the first visit by an Egyptian president to Iraq in 30 years.

The visit reflects the depth of the Egyptian-Iraqi historical ties, Radi said, stressing Egypt's keenness on furthering cooperation with Iraq.

Sisi's participation in the summit is meant to build on what was achieved during the past three summits, assessing the progress realized in various domains and following up ongoing projects.

The summit is also meant to promote political consultations among the three countries with regard to the challenges besetting the Arab world and the Middle East region.

Sisi is scheduled to meet with the Iraqi premier on means of bolstering bilateral ties, especially in the economic and trade scores. The two sides will also address a host of regional issues.

Sisi will also convene with the Jordanian monarch for talks on ways to beefing up bilateral ties in addition to holding continued consultations on issues of mutual concern.

Agenda

Sunday June 27, 2021

Sisi: Egypt looks forward to upgrading cooperation with Iraq as part of economic integration

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi asserted that Egypt was looking forward to upgrading bilateral cooperation with Iraq within the framework of sustainability of economic integration and strategic cooperation especially in light of the major challenges besetting the region and the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

These remarks were made by the Egyptian president during his meeting with Iraqi President Burham Saleh. The two leaders reviewed means of pushing forward strong bilateral ties between the two countries in the various fields along with enhancing consultations regarding regional issues of common interest.

President Sisi extended thanks to his Iraqi counterpart for the warm hospitability, expressing his appreciation for the close and historic relations binding the two countries at the popular and official levels.

Sisi wished all success for the executive authority in Iraq in managing the state's affairs at the current critical phase in the history of the Iraqi people.

Saleh, for his part, welcomed President Sisi and described him as "dear guest" of Baghdad, asserting the depth of the two countries' ties. He also asserted Baghdad's keenness on promoting cooperation with Egypt to the level of strategic partnership with the objective of achieving the two countries' interests and laying a cornerstone of regional security and stability.

The Iraqi president also highlighted the pivotal role of Egypt at the regional and international levels.

Saleh also voiced hope over benefiting from Egypt's successful expertise in implementing development projects, introducing comprehensive economic reforms in addition to the strenuous efforts exerted by Cairo to combat extremism and terrorism. He also highlighted the need for enhancing coordination between the educational, cultural and religious institutions in both countries.

Sisi meets Iraqi premier

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi at the governmental palace in Baghdad, Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi said.

President Sisi was given a red-carpet reception and the national anthems of the two countries were played.

The Egyptian president reviewed the honor guards as part of his official welcome.

Sisi affirms Egypt's support to Iraq's unity, restoration of stability

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi affirmed Egypt's supportive stance to Iraq's unity and its efforts to restore security and stability along with keenness on enhancing its role in the Arab region, pledging Cairo's full backing to the Iraqi people in all fields at the bilateral level or through a tripartite cooperation involving Iraq, Egypt and Jordan, Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi said.

The Egyptian president's remarks were made during his meeting on Sunday with Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohammad al-Halbousi as part of his current visit to Iraq.

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During the meeting, Sisi noted that Egypt's backing to Iraq comes within the framework of its policy based on entrenching the principle of uniting ranks with the aim of achieving stability, prosperity and progress for all sisterly Arab countries.

Sisi stressed the depth and mightiness of relations binding Egypt and Iraq at all levels, expressing appreciation of the Egyptian people and government to Iraq in view of its central role in the region and based on its outstanding civilization and history.

Egypt is very keen on continuing work in order to promote ties with Iraq in all fields especially the parliamentary one, Sisi noted.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi speaker welcomed the historic visit by President Sisi to Baghdad, asserting that it could contribute to expanding horizons of cooperation between the two sides at all levels.

Halbousi also asserted that Iraq has cherished its close historic ties with Egypt, praising its role in maintaining the security and stability of Iraq and the whole Arab region.

He also said Iraq is looking forward to promoting relations between the two countries especially in the parliamentary domain, taking into consideration the long expertise and history of the Egyptian parliament.
Washington D.c.  The US state department announced that Sudan's transitional government has made great progress in financial transparency, after publishing the spending budget of all ministries within three months of enactment, including the office of Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok.

"It made significant progress because budget documents were prepared according to international standards, made public, and included information on debt obligations for the first time," according to the statement published on Friday. In addition, "although budget estimates deviated from budget execution, the government made significant progress by producing and publicly issuing revised budget estimates."

Despite significant progress, "budget documents were not substantially complete because they did not include off-budget revenue from military-owned enterprises and military expenditures continue to be under-reported and opaque," said the report.

The report emphasised that financial transparency in Sudan could be improved by eliminating any off-budget accounts or subjecting them to appropriate auditing and supervision, and by imposing greater civilian oversight over the country's military and intelligence budgets.

"True economic transparency and reform, as well as true civilian governance, will remain impossible so long as these exclusions continue." - Prof Eric Reeves

Respected Sudan analyst Prof Eric Reeves, who is a former Senior Fellow at Harvard University's Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, tweeted that this "particularly important dispatch makes clear how burdened Sudan's economy remains because of 'off book' activities by the military (and Rapid Support Forces militia)."

The report also highlights how resistant the Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council and Commander of the Sudan Armed Forces, Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, and Deputy chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan 'Hemeti' remain to revealing their sources of wealth and power, according to Reeves.

"True economic transparency and reform, as well as true civilian governance, will remain impossible so long as these exclusions continue. This is one of the most dangerous and consequential legacies of the Al Bashir regime," explained Reeves.

On March 26, Suliman Baldo of The Sentry published a report which argued that re-establishing civilian control over the finances of the military and security services remains an existential challenge. "Despite the rapidly changing landscape, the existence of hundreds of state-owned enterprises (SOE) that continue to keep their revenues off the books while benefiting from the lion's share of public expenditures, a distortion inherited from the kleptocratic regime of deposed President Omar Al Bashir, poses a real threat to the economic recovery the Sudanese people have long waited for."

The Sudan Democratic Transition, Accountability, and Fiscal Transparency Act of 2020 was enacted in December to support a civilian-led democratic transition, promote accountability for human rights abuses, and encourage fiscal transparency in Sudan.

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Monitoring delays

The report noted that Sudan's monitoring body, which meets international standards of independence, conducted audits that covered the entire annual implementation budget, but did not publish them in a reasonable time.

The report added that the Sudanese government set standards and procedures by which the government legally granted contracts or licenses to extract natural resources, noting that "it appears that these procedures and standards were not followed in practice. Basic information on incentives to extract natural resources was not publicly available."

The report recommended ensuring that the oversight body reviews the government's executed budget within a reasonable time, and publishes its reports, in addition to adhering to the process of awarding contracts extracting natural resources and licenses provided by law and making information on incentives to extract natural resources available to the public.
Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera's order that priority in the awarding of contracts must be given to indigenous businesses is being ignored as most contracts are awarded to foreigners and this is being influenced by top government officials, Nyasa Times has established.

Paramount Holdings, one of government's 'sweetheart' contractor, is facing a fight with indigenous firms, which are accusing the company of snatching away public contracts through backdoor dealings with undue influence from some top officials officials in the Tonse Alliance Government.

Paramount Holdings, owned by an Asian, Prakash Ghedia, is among few foreign-owned companies that has been so lucky to be awarded several contracts across sectors; from construction to supply of all sorts of goods and services.

Despite President Chakwera's recent remarks that indigenous business companies should be given priorities in the awarding of contracts, Ghedia is all over the places getting each and every contract that comes out with the help of some highly placed government officials.

In the latest case, which has angered local businesses, is where the firm has just been announced as a successful bidder to supply 31 motorbikes to the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC).

According to a WhatsApp conversation, Nyasa Times has seen, on a group for local businesses - there is suspicion that the contract has been awarded to Paramount Holdings whose price was not only higher, but has no capacity to supply the required motorbikes.

"During the bid opening we all knew this contract was going to someone else and in fact a representative from Paramount Holdings also congratulated our friend who we all thought would win the tender because of their price and capacity to supply this type of motorbikes (DT).

As players in the industry we know each other" reads one of the messages and another one claimed that he had been told off that by Gedial that he will do everything to win the contract.

'Highly Irregular'

Several members of the group expressed concern that almost all public contracts are awarded to Paramount Holdings.

"This is unfair. The Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) has regulations that say 60 percent of public contracts should go local and the President, in address two months ago, said the same." asked one.

"Why is Paramount Holdings dominating all these contracts?" asked another.

"Wondered another member in the group who proposed that they write the Competition and Fair Trading Commission and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) a proposal, which received approval from most members.

"In another development one of the firms that participated in the NLGFC tender to supply motorbikes has written the procuring entity and the PPDA questioning how they settled for Paramount Holdings."

In a letter, Tyre Trove wonders why NLGFC has rushed to communicate to participating bidders that they intend to award a contract to Paramount Holdings when each one of them had not been given a chance for debriefing.

"As an interested supplier, we had a bid price of Mk 176, 700,000.00 while Paramount Holdings Limited had a higher bid of Mk 178,930,983.08 and we find it highly irregular that they have been awarded this contract," said Tyre Trove.

The reasoning for not awarding this contract to us has been cited as non-compliance of qualification requirements without specifying which qualification requirement we do not meet.

The document for the notice of award shows how ambiguous the reasoning is. There were only 7 bidders in total for this procurement and we would like to believe a more detailed explanation for this in order for us to give a more detailed challenge" reads the letter from Trevor to NLGFC and the same is sent to PPDA.

A source privy to the deal alleged that Paramount Holdings has been conniving with some officials in government to have them awarded contracts and in turn get a commission.

"That is how they do it. What is surprising is that they win the contract but they will come to us to give them suppliers. If procuring entities had a chance to go for inspection they will realise that they have no capacity to supply yet they win all contracts" said a source.

'Dubai Trip'

Meanwhile, Paramount Holdings is also engaged in another fight with other bidders for the supply of motorbikes to Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KuHes).

Nyasa Times investigations indicate that it is highly likely that Kuhes is settling for Paramount Holdings and it is believed that some people have been palm-oiled and this is not going on well with some bidders who are not taking it lightly, are already planning to protest such a decision even if it means going to the ACB or .

Nyasa Times understands that Paramount Holdings has recently supplied motorbikes to Ministry of Agriculture and is among bidders at the Malawi Police Service, where they intend to procure presidential motorcade bikes.

A highly placed reliable source in the Malawi Police said: "It is most likely that Paramount Holdings will get this contract as there is some pressure "from above" for the project to be awarded to Prakash Ghedia and his Paramount Holdings. It is really sad how these Asians have captured our procurement industry."

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Paramount Holdings was once at the centre of controversy at Ministry of Health after the firm took a team of officials from the ministry tasked with the evaluation of an ambulance deal to Dubai where they were spoilt in the name of inspecting suppliers.

A week after the controversial trip, Paramount Holdings was awarded a contract to supply 100 ambulances to the ministry of Health ministry.

The local contractors alleges that they reported the matter to the corruption fighting body, ACB, for investigation but there is no any update on progress of the matter.

However, ACB Director General, Martha Chizuma, who took over the reigns of power at the the country's graft-busting crime state agency said she has not yet seen the complaint but she check on it and act accordingly.

Said Chizuma: "I will check in our records and if find the complaint, I will study it and act as mandated. I can assure you that we will investigate the matter."

Paramount Holdings Managing Director Prakash Ghedia could not be reached for a comment as his phone went unanswered.
Luanda  The SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC- FP) adopted this Sunday a resolution on democratization, governance and human rights in the southern region of the African continent.

The resolution was adopted at the 49th Plenary Assembly of the Parliamentary Forum of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), held in a virtual session from Gaborone, capital of the Republic of Botswana.

Angola participated in the event with a delegation led by the National Assembly Speaker, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos.

The resolution calls for the national parliaments of the organization's member states to become temples of democracy and the promotion and respect for human rights.

The participants at the Plenary Assembly rejected the intention to create a model law on constitutionalism for the region.

The Angolan MP, Ruth Mendes, revealed that the majority of parliamentarians defend that a model law should not be created, taking into account the specificity of the Constitution and the sovereignty of each of the SADC member countries.

"If we adopted the model law, we would be creating other problems, especially with regard to the transformation of the SADC -PF into a regional parliament," she said.

Vaccines for the population

The SADC - PF also expressed the need to acquire vaccines for the region, arguing that only with vaccinated people can Covid-19 be eradicated.

Issues related to membership fees for the Forum, domestic violence, child marriages and early pregnancy in the region were also addressed.

Ruth Mendes indicated that, although there is a model law on child marriage, there is a need to find out if it is actually being complied with and how countries are implementing it.

She said it is necessary to create conditions to stop child marriages and early pregnancy, as it compromises the future of many young girls.

The Assembly also adopted a motion on gender equality, promotion of women and youth development, as well as approved the resolution of the Standing Committee on Human Development and Special Programmes.

The Forum established mechanisms to ensure that the region's parliaments continue to play a leading role in the formulation of regional policies in the post-Covid-19 period.

The event was held under the motto "Enhancing the African Free Trade Area (AFTA) for Post-Covid-19 Economic Recovery in Southern Africa".

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In view of the role of the SADC-PF and national parliaments in leveraging the AFTA for post-Covid economic recovery in southern Africa, the Plenary Assembly concluded that it was essential that the free trade area does not replace the existing regional economic communities (RECs).

It should be noted that the AFTA Agreement explicitly recognizes the RECs as constitutive elements of the African free trade mechanism.

Since most intra-African trade takes place within the RECs, regional blocs such as SADC are important in the implementation and enforcement of the AFTA, emphasized the SADC-PF.

The Plenary Assembly, which is made up of the member countries' respective parliament speakers and five parliamentarians from each member parliament, is the highest policy-making body of the SADC-PF.

SADC is a Regional Economic Community comprising 16 Member States, namely Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Comoros, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Seychelles, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Perpetrators of heinous apartheid era atrocities that came to light in late 90s' Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) will soon have to face the full might of the law.

At the weekend, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI/Hawks) confirmed that these cases would be revived.

The former has established dedicated capacity to ensure that those who are responsible for the crimes be held accountable in a fair and transparent process.

"To ensure that justice is delivered, and to bolster the NPA's capacity to prosecute these TRC cases, the NDPP transferred the cases to the relevant Directors of Prosecutions (DPP) in the regions where the crimes were committed, with support from a National Office capacity.

"This approach increased the number of experienced prosecutors available to handle these complex cases."

In the past 12 months, the number of cases has increased from 4 to 53.

The move comes after last week's judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in the Rodrigues matter. A full bench of the SCA dismissed an application of stay of prosecution, citing a delay before the accused was indicted.

The NPA and Hawks in a joint statement said the SCA ruling was important.

An earlier Joburg High Court judgment directed the National Director of Public Prosecutions to enquire into improper influence brought to bear on the NPA.

"This is a complex and complicated matter and the NDPP has been engaging with the Minister of Justice to determine the most effective course of action," they said.

"The judgment is an important step towards honouring those who gave their lives for our constitutional democracy.

"It aligns with both the Hawks and NPA's commitment to end impunity as it enables the NPA to move ahead to prosecute Rodrigues and other perpetrators of apartheid era crimes where there is sufficient evidence, and where prosecutions have not taken place, for various reasons."

This judgment, reads the statement, bolsters the NPA's determination under the current NDPP, Adv Shamila Batohi and unwavering commitment of National Hawks Head, Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya, to revive these investigations and initiate prosecutions.

The two agencies said South Africans in general, and families of victims in particular, need to understand why these crimes were not prosecuted in the past.

"This will also provide important lessons regarding the need to ensure a robust framework to protect the independence of the NPA.

"The NPA acknowledges that the unmerited delay of prosecutions of these cases amounts to the denial of justice to the victims of apartheid era atrocities.

"The NPA, as lawyers for the people and defenders of those who suffered from injustice, has established dedicated capacity to ensure that those who are responsible for atrocities can be held accountable in a fair and transparent process."

To bolster the NPA's capacity to prosecute the TRC cases, the NDPP transferred the cases to the relevant Directors of Prosecutions (DPP) in the regions where the crimes were committed, with support from a National Office capacity.

The two agencies have adopted a TRC investigation strategy that will see the creation of a dedicated and sustainable capacity to investigate and prosecute the crimes.

The NPA is in the process of setting up a specialist unit to deal exclusively with these matters, and will be appointing former experienced prosecutors in offices which require additional capacity. A dedicated national office capacity will provide specialised advice, coordination, and monitoring and support

In April, the Hawks appointed 34-members; competent and highly skilled former police detectives to probe these matters.

The investigations will be conducted on a fulltime basis by the team.

"Our collective efforts are starting to pay off and a further 59 cases have been identified," they said.

"The inquests into the deaths in detention of Neil Aggett and Ernest Dipale, which were reopened have reached an advanced stage. The NPA has also obtained Ministerial approval to open another inquest. Moreover, work is being done on other matters which would enable consideration for those cases to be reopened as well," reads the statement.

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Cases under consideration all date back to the early 1960s.

The agencies, however, acknowledge that challenges posed to the investigations cannot be underestimated.

"The work to investigation, without fear, favour or prejudice on all other remaining cases is continuing. The capacity of the team will be enhanced as the need arises. The DPCI shall have built sufficient capacity to carry out any processes that may be left pending," said General Lebeya.

Despite these challenges, the two said they would remain focused to ensuring accountability for the crimes.

"The victims deserve nothing less," he said.

Batohi said: "Time is not on our side. We have a small window to address this; loved ones need to see justice being done; and justice will not be served until we act decisively against those that the NPA was once powerless to hold to account."
Ongwediva  The governor of Oshana, Elia Irimari, has expressed concern with a number of incomplete government projects as well as the scourge of gender-based violence in his region.

Between January and May this year, the region recorded 150 cases of GBV and 28 rape cases.

"This is a very big disappointment to our nation and, therefore, we should not tolerate any form of violence against woman and children in an independent country," said Irimari.

According to Irimari, about 10 projects of the ministry of education, which date back to the 2014/2015 financial year, are yet to be completed.

Speaking during the SORA on Friday, Irimari said the contractors abandoned the projects in 2016.

The governor commended the education ministry for availing the budget and implementing the infrastructural projects.

"However, I have a concern with some education projects that were abandoned. We need to ensure that these projects are fully completed and, therefore, I am urging the ministry to fully implement these projects," said Irimari.

The regional director, Hileni Amukana, could not be reached for comment to provide further clarity of the status of such projects and subsequently led to the projects being abandoned.

Among the abandoned projects include the construction of about 18 classrooms at Onaushe, Omagano, Dr Chief Ankama primary schools as well as at Etambo combined and Ekwafo secondary schools.

Of these projects, the completion status of Ekwafo is 50%, Shapwa: 30% and Etambo is 10% complete.

However, the rest of the projects are still at an infant stage, as only 5% has been completed.

Teachers' accommodation at Onyeka, Oshipumbu Combined School and Omulunga Primary School has also been on standstill since 2016.

These projects were 95% complete at the time they were abandoned.
Walvis Bay  Coastal politician and traditional leader Omuingona Uahimisa Kaapehi wants the port of Walvis Bay to be named after the late professor Mburumba Kerina.

Kaapehi, on at least two separate occasions this year, wrote to President Hage Geingob, requesting for the

naming of the port to the profile freedom fighter, who died on 14 June.

According to Kaapehi, naming the port after Kerina is a befitting honour, as the late professor boarded a cargo ship, destined for Liberia when he embarked on a journey to the United Nations to petition for the freedom of Namibia.

"Your excellency, I am sure that you will find my proposal acceptable and honourable to our departed fighter, Kaapehi says in a letter addressed to the president.

He added that Kerina immensely contributed to the independence of Namibia, and explained he was sent by the Herero Chief Council under the leadership of Chief Hosea Kutako to the United Nations, way back in 1952.

"He departed at the age of 20, risking his young life for the love of his country of birth under harsh conditions. His contribution and selfless sacrifice cannot go unnoticed; thus, we would like Namibia to honour his heroic acts.

Kerina was born on 6 June 1932, and he was a Namibian politician and academic.

He was a member of the Namibia Constituent Assembly and the National Council.

The freedom fighter grew up in Walvis Bay but attended school in the Windhoek Old Location, St Barnabas Anglican Church School.

While in school, he met Reverend Michael Scott, who later enabled him to study in the United States.

Presidential spokesperson Alfredo Hengari yesterday told New Era they received the request earlier this week.

"I also discussed the matter telephonically with him," Hengari said yesterday.
Rundu  The body of a 22-year-old student, who was reported missing last week, was discovered floating in the Kavango River at Kapako village in the Mukwe constituency in Kavango East on Thursday.

Mukuve Fredrick Kanyanga was reported missing on 18 June; he was last seen with his friends. Kanyanga, also known as Ryan, whose disappearance went viral on social media, was a student at the University of Namibia's Rundu campus and he was reported to have disappeared in the area between Shadipwera, Rudhiva, Shadikongoro and Kapako in the Mukwe constituency.

"His lifeless body was discovered at 10h00 at Kapako village. It's alleged that the deceased went missing on 18 June at about 17h00 at Shadiperwa village," said deputy commissioner Vilho Kalwenya, who confirmed the discovery to New Era.

Mukwe constituency councillor Damian Maghambayi reacted with shock in the unexplained disappearance and discovery of the young man's body. Maghambayi described Mukuve's death as mysterious and that it brought a shockwave to the community of Mukwe. Similar incidences of losing innocent lives are common in the same area where his lifeless body was found. "During this moment of grief, I call upon the family members to remain calm and allow for the process of the autopsy to be concluded in order to establish the real cause of death of your loved ones," he noted. "The Namibian Police (Crime Prevention Unit) is requesting for good collaboration between the family and the community at large during the investigation to allow them to obtain more evidence relating to the cause of death of the late Mukuve," he said. Maghambayi called upon the community not to take the law into their own hands but to allow the police to do their investigation.

"With the increase in statistics of mysterious loss of innocent lives in Mukwe, specifically at Kapako, Shadikongoro and Rudhiva villages, the Mukwe constituency office, together with the law enforcement officers, will soon launch an operation to fight against the factors that contribute to crime in the constituency," Maghambayi stated.

Maghambayi extends his heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the bereaved family of the late Kanyanga.
The education ministry says learners doing the new Advanced Subsidiary (AS) level curriculum should not feel threatened or punished but rather see it as a programme to equip them with the best skills and knowledge.

"The AS level should not be perceived as a threat but it is meant to prepare candidates with an in-depth subject knowledge, skills and competencies for entry to tertiary education," said Tsumis Garises, the director of National Examinations Assessment in the ministry of education.

The ministry recently held a meeting with stakeholders at Oniipa in the Oshikoto region, with a view to discuss and address challenges faced by teachers and learners as well as the implementation of the AS level.

It was observed with concern that learners entering tertiary institutions with the former Grade 12, normally finds the going tough, as they are not exposed to the independent learning environment, she said.

Therefore, on a brighter note, Garises said, AS candidates will be expected to be self-centred and unlock potentials that will make them high flyers.

Meanwhile, education minister Anna Nghipondoka advised teachers not to be crybabies but rather embrace change and develop a continuous professional development for themselves.

"Let us go out of our comfort zones and groom children as early as Grade 1 - covid or no covid, let us excel. The introduction of AS is to allow all the learners, irrespective of their backgrounds, to do advanced level so that majority of them go to the universities and other institutions with in-depth knowledge," she said. Nghipondoka further encouraged teachers to learn to face challenges with positive attitudes. She also encouraged them [teachers] to form smaller units and learn best practices from each other to educate the Namibian child.

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In addition, the minister reminded teachers to take good care of themselves, saying they have the responsibility of educating; therefore, education should go on, despite the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.

"However, the ministry would like to meet the demands of the Namibian society and keep abreast with the national trends. The curriculum review responds to challenges and needs of the Namibian society, thereby reducing the number of subjects in the junior secondary phase and expand the subjects offered on higher level in the senior secondary phase," she stated further.

The curriculum is further aimed at strengthening learning support, strengthening the teaching of life skill as well as the teaching of the English Language from grade one onwards, and review the promotion and language in education policies. The Oshikoto region has 12 schools and 138 teachers offering AS. The region is ranked number four nationally in terms of the number of learners qualified to do the advanced subsidiary level, after Khomas, Erongo and Otjozondjupa regions, respectively.

The deputy director in Oshikoto region, Vilho Shipuata, is positive the region might retain its position, as 897 learners have enrolled for the AS level.

"April results show a 42% performance rate, but we will strive to keep it above 50%," said Shipuata.

*Josephina Mwashindange is an information officer in the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Oshikoto region.
press release

President Cyril Ramaphosa will lead South Africa's participation at the virtual session of the Generation Equality Forum: Economic Justice and Rights Action Coalition to highlight country's commitment to gender equality.

The Generation Equality Forum (GEF) is a global gathering to accelerate gender equality actions and mark the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

It is convened by United Nations(UN) Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France, in partnership with co-leaders from the Global South and Global North, Civil Society and the Private sector. The virtual Generation Equality Forum will be held on 30 June to 02 July 2021 in Paris.

South Africa will participate in the hybrid virtual session to discuss global commitments and actions to be taken by stakeholders to promote economic justice and rights for women on 01 July 2021, scheduled for 17:00 -19:00 hours (CEST).

The engagement will be moderated by UN Aids Executive Director Ms. Winnie Byanyima, and opened by Executive Director of UN Women, Ms Phumzile Mlambo- Ngcuka. Other dignitaries joining the event will include Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sanchez; ILO Director-General, Mr Guy Ryder and American Philanthropist Melinda Gates.

South Africa will leverage on the momentum of the Paris meeting, in order to highlight the country's commitments to gender equality and amplify its domestic priorities at the global level. It will also use the opportunity to recognize the importance of intersectional youth leadership and provide feedback on the work of the multi-stakeholder Forum.

South Africa is a co-leader of Generation Equality Forum's Action Coalition on Economic Justice and Rights and the President will use the engagement to articulate strong support for the jointly developed global acceleration plan which has a catalogue of commitments to support women in the care economy; ensure decent work for women; create access to and control of productive resources including financial inclusion; and promote gender-responsive inclusive economies.

The country has participated actively in the negotiations for the Global Acceleration Plan (GAP) of the Economic Justice and Rights Action Coalition, which presents a clear action plan of commitments and actions that stakeholders must take to advance economic justice and rights.

During the engagement, the EJR Action Coalition members will also launch the Economic Justice and Rights Global Acceleration Plan, with an intention to give leaders of the action coalition an opportunity to state their commitments reflecting clear actions to be implemented over the next 5 years.

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The set of innovative and multi-stakeholder Action Coalitions (ACs) includes Gender Based Violence; Economic Justice and Rights; Bodily autonomy and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR); Feminist action for climate justice; Technology and innovation for Gender Equality; Feminist movements and leadership. The Action Coalitions also work hand-in-hand with a global Compact on Women, Peace, Security and Humanitarian Action.

The Gender Economic Forum kicked off in Mexico City in March and will culminate in Paris from 30 June to 2 July 2021, to be attended by Heads of State, as well as high- level representatives from every sector in society, to showcase commitment announcements for gender equality with concrete, tangible action from governments, corporations and civil society.

The GEF in Paris will present the final Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality, including the six Action Coalition Blueprints, as well as drive all stakeholders towards identifying, defining and laying the roadmap for implementing bold, game-changing commitments.

Members of the media may apply to attend all virtual sessions of the Generation Equality Forum at this link https://media.forumgenerationegalite.fr/media/steps/step1.htm before 27 June at 11:59 p.m. CEST (Paris time)

The SA engagement on 01 July 2021 will also be live streamed on all Presidency Digital Platforms and President Ramaphosa is expected to deliver his remarks from 17h30.
The best tribute we can pay President Kenneth David Kaunda is to ensure that his place in history is made known to today's youth of Africa, and shared widely with future generations in Africa and the rest of the global village.

President Hage Geingob has described the loss of President Kenneth Kaunda, the former President of Zambia, as follows: "Africa has lost a Giant". This sentiment is shared across the African continent and around the globe.

Indeed, President Kaunda was highly acclaimed and respected by many people in many different countries for his contribution towards the total liberation of southern Africa.

To achieve this noble cause, president Kaunda, his government and the people of Zambia worked hard together with the rest of the Frontline leaders, in association with the national liberation movements of the region.

It was a struggle that also enjoyed wider solidarity and support from organisations in different countries, and from the international community. The African Union (AU), the Commonwealth and the United Nations were some of the key institutions that were firmly opposed to the white minority regimes in southern Africa.

Looking back, it is clear that the wind of change that British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan described as moving across Africa, in his address to the Parliament of South Africa in 1960, was not likely to descend upon Southern Africa during that period.

The resistance of the white minority regimes in the region to change proved to be much greater than many expected.

The Zambezi River came to be the border over which freedom and independence was not going to be allowed to cross. As a result, a number of studies that came out in the 1970s and 1980s characterised Southern Africa as the "battlefront" between white minority rule and the rest of the African continent. Much greater destabilisation and violence were foreseen.

That was the prospect and a real reality that faced southern Africa, which President Kaunda and Zambia had to deal with. Kaunda and his fellow Frontline leaders campaigned vigorously to show that what was needed was freedom and independence, and not a racial war.

They visited the capitals of the world to get the message across. They were men of peace, but all their efforts were blocked by the South African and Rhodesian regimes. On the ground, the liberation struggle continued to have an impact, but the South African and Rhodesian regimes countered by attacking and bombing the Frontline states, in particular Zambia, with a view to stopping the liberation movements from advancing. The cost to Zambia was enormous. However, this did not deter KK, as President Kaunda was fondly known. He and his Frontline colleagues, presidents Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Samora Machel of Mozambique, and Seretse Khama of Botswana, persevered and forged ahead in support of the struggle in Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

After the liberation of our three countries, there was a need to document the history of the struggle. The SADC Hashim Mbita Project published 10 volumes in 2005 that cover all the Southern African countries, with each country contributing a chapter dealing with their particular struggle. Volume 1 contains fascinating exchanges between several Frontline presidents, in particular presidents Nyerere, Kaunda and Khama. These exchanges reveal a great deal about their individual characters, and show how they still retained their sense of humanity in the middle of the ongoing bitter struggle. This is an indispensable heritage that we must preserve for future generations.

Here, I would like to recall my foreword to the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre and UNESCO's forthcoming publication Youth in the Liberation Struggle and Beyond. This highlights the significant regional dimensions and linkages of the national liberation movements in southern Africa, and shows that the attainment of political independence was well-coordinated and was assisted through regional solidarity as well as the support of the continent and the international community. This book is Module 1 of a series entitled Respecting the Past, Building the Future.

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I state in my foreword that:

"The series emphasises the place of history in regional development by illustrating that those who liberated Southern Africa from colonial rule did not work in isolation to achieve their goal. Many of them were young adults, and today's young people can learn from these experiences in the current struggle for economic development and equality.

It is important that we do not lose the knowledge of this solidarity and collaboration in the achievement of our political independence across the region. With our shared history and common efforts in mind, we can be inclusive in our endeavours and contribute meaningfully and successfully to regional development and cooperation across the region."

President Kaunda deserved a Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to the liberation of Southern Africa, and the role he played in support of the national liberation movements.
National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) secretary general Josef Kauandenge over the weekend expressed condolences to the family and friends of former Aminuis councillor Erwin Uanguta.

Uanguta passed away on Friday in Gobabis, Omaheke region, due to Covid-19. He was 66.

The long-serving Aminuis councillor served as the constituency councillor from 2001 to 2003 on the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), now PDM, ticket and from 2004 to 2015 under the National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) ticket.

He was also a senior traditional councillor of the Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA).

"Honourable Uanguta will be fondly remembered for his steadfastness and desire to bring development to the residents of Aminuis constituency. He brought to life many socio-economic projects from which benefitted many in the constituency," Kauandenge said.

"He was a teacher, school principal of note and a God-fearing man. Equally, we will not forget his involvement in all aspects of the OTA in particular on the genocide and reparation fight with the German government," he added.

Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) president McHenry Venaani said Uanguta dedication to serving the people of Aminuis shall be fondly remembered.

"I will remember him as a distinguished and honest leader, with a great sense of public service. The community of Aminuis has lost an eminent political leader and a high-principled human being," Venaani said.

"During this deeply difficult time, I convey my deepest condolences and sympathies to the bereaved family. My thoughts and prayers go out to the loved ones and friends of the late honourable Uanguta as well as the greater Aminuis constituency," he added.
While schools and institutions of higher learning are expected to close this week as the part of government's measures to curb the rapid spread of COVID-19 infections in the third wave, early childhood development centres will remain open.

This was confirmed by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in the Government Gazette published on Monday.

This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday announced that Cabinet had decided to place the country under Adjusted Alert Level 4 for two weeks amid a recent surge in infections.

From 30 June, schools and institutions of higher education will be closed for contact classes, state the regulations.

"The Cabinet member responsible for basic education may by direction contemplated in regulation 4(3), determine the dates on which schools, as defined in the South African Schools Ac, 1996 (Act No. 84 of 1996), will be reopened and any matter related to the management of schools in the basic education sector, to address, prevent and combat the spread of COVID-19 in all schools."

Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande is expected to determine the same in the sector.
opinion

As Africa struggles to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic and the world begins to rebuild, it is time to consider what kind of future we are bequeathing to the youth of our continent.

Mcebisi Jonas is MTN group chairperson and former deputy finance minister of South Africa.

The pandemic has created a hinge moment for humanity. It has laid bare fundamental and disturbing truths about global inequality. And it has provoked a global discussion about the need for nations around the world to work together to confront monumental crises, such as pandemics or global warming. Africa is at the centre of all these challenges.

The entire world has a stake in the future of Africa, which is the youngest continent and the only one whose youth population is projected to increase over the coming century. By 2050, one out of three people under 24 on the planet will be Africans. Between now and then, the youth of Africa will increase by 522 million while the numbers in the rest of the world will decline by 220 million.

Today, almost eight out of 10 people in sub-Saharan Africa are under 35 and the median age is 19 years -- a decade...
Tunis/Tunisia  Coast Guard in Nabeul on Saturday rescued sixteen people, who tried to cross the sea borders illegally off Korba, Governorate of Nabeul, said National Guard spokesperson Colonel Major Houssemeddine Jebabli.

17 other people were rescued by Coast Guard in Louata (Kerkennah Island) off Kerkennah (Sfax), after the sinking of the boat they used to illegally cross the borders.

Jebabli also reported that a Coast Guard unit in Mahdia arrested three individuals, one of whom is wanted for drug use and sentenced to one year in prison. These individuals were preparing to participate in an irregular crossing.

The National Guard spokesperson said investigations have led to the arrest of a migrant smuggler, who received sums ranging from 3500 to 6,000 dinars per person.
Tunis/Tunisia  Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, Saturday, posted a video, saying thanks to vaccination, he does not suffer from any coronavirus symptoms after contracting the virus.

"Thanks to vaccination, I have not displayed any symptoms, which confirms the efficiency of the vaccine," he pointed out, adding "a few vaccinated people contracts the virus. Yet, when this happens, the symptoms are mild."

Mechichi called on citizens to comply with the health protocols, including wearing face masks to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

He also called on citizens to avoid gatherings, weddings and celebrations, stressing the need to postpone them so as to preserve "our health and our families'."

Mechichi tested positive for COVID-19 and will conduct his meetings online, the Prime Ministry said last Friday.
Monrovia  After flaunting a picture of his presence in a business class cabin to announce his arrival in the United States of America, Montserrado County Senator Abraham Darius Dillon has clarified via a Facebook post that he rode on an economy ticket to the States.

Senator Dillon in the post stated that he had gone into the business class cabin to see a foreign friend. He also displayed a travel manifest to further prove he rode on an economy ticket and not business as being insinuated from his earlier picture.

On Thursday, Senator Dillon posted a picture of him in the business class carbine on the plane, with the note:

GOOD NEWS FOR MONTSERRADO COUNTY & LIBERIA!

We have safely arrived in the USA. We will be in Washington DC tomorrow. Minnesota next! Watch out for the results from our visit! Special appreciation to "Friends of Dillon" & #MADDAS. Our God is GOOD!!

His post drew the ire of criticisms on social media. One of such critics is renowned Liberian economist and social media enthusiast, Samuel Jackson. He posted to Facebook:

Abe Darius Dillon. My dear friend and brother whom I love and cherish so much.

Your post on riding first class was arrogant and really hurtful to those like us who supported your quest to the Senate due to your human feelings and deep sense of humanity.

Riding first class when your country is so deep in the throes of poverty and with people dying from COVID-19 and gleefully announcing it on social media is an abomination.

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Stop. You are better than that post. Take it down. Take the pictures down.

However, after several criticisms on social media and a subsequent publication by FrontPageAfrica on the trending topic, Senator Dillon again took to Facebook and among other things stated he flew on economy class but walked into the business class section to chat with a foreign friend. He further stated that he purchased his ticket with his ticket and not from government coffers. "I can use my personal earnings to choose to fly any section on a plane, but I always choose to spend judiciously and or to my own convenience as I feel necessary... "

Despite providing the clarity and providing screenshots of his ticket, some followers on social media argue the possibility of the screenshot of his ticket being photoshopped and further challenged him to show the receipts from the purchase from the airline agent.

The Montserrado County Senator has been in the vanguard of exposing corruption and wasteful spending in the Senate and by the government at large.

He was overwhelmingly elected to the Liberian Senate due to his stance on fighting corruption and bringing sanctity to the Liberian Senate - promising to be the light at the Capitol.
press release

The Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union, Moussa Faki Mahamat, is extremely concerned by the dangerous escalation in violence in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

The Chairperson strongly condemns the brutal murder of humanitarian workers and calls for an urgent enquiry into the circumstances that led to their killings. He urges all parties to the conflict to uphold their responsibilities under international law to protect civilians and guarantee safe access for humanitarian actors to render crucial services to the affected populations in the region.

The Chairperson also reiterated the continued attachment of the African Union to a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
analysis

Khartoum  In high focus of the press writers last week were the following issues:

The exciting suggestion by journalist, women activist Ms. Amal Habbani, for her fellow females to seek bedfellows to spend the night with in case her polygamous husband goes to spend the night with his other wife.

The second issue was Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's initiative for a closing of ranks and for a unified decision-making in running the affairs of the country.

The third issue was the recent decision by deputy chairman of the Sovereignty Council, General Hemaidti, upon the formation of a joint force from his Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the Army, the police and security to keep law and order in the country's urban and rural areas, a move that triggered high public outrage.

About the first issue, Amal Habbani's suggestion for a woman whose husband opts for polygamy to also seek a another man to sleep with when her husband goes to sleep with his new wife, wrote feminine activist and journalist Ms. Rasha Awad in the electronic publication Altaghyeer (Change):

My colleague and friend Amal Habbabi was not successful in the way she addressed the issue of polygamy in her controversial post for these reasons:

First : the women rights movement seeks to perpetuate the culture of monogamy as the most morally and humanely suitable for the complications of contemporary life. That is the fidelity of the husband to one wife and the faithfulness of a woman to a one husband. For the sake of this culture, and on whose basis the status law can be reformed, it is imperative to convince the men that polygamy is bad for them as men, because it harms their children and sets the stability of their families and their society into jeopardy and subtracts from their psychological peace.

Amal's post has portrayed polygamy as if it is a valuable treasure in the hands of men from which women are denied. And for that reason women should compete with men upon the issue of polygamy, under Amal's sick and cheap idea of "resorting to a friend", as she has put it.

The woman who does not accept polygamy has the right to seek a divorce and look for another husband, instead of becoming a mistress for one man and, at the same time, a wife of another from whom she does not want a divorce for fear for the future of her children and for fear from the stigma of the divorce- according to Amal's post!! Can such an improper conduct protect the children? And can the woman regain her respect and keep her pride in this way?

Second: the women cause and their noble struggle for their rights as humans is under a systematic attack and wild campaigns aimed at bewildering the society from the women movements as a threat to the family and a call for waywardness and, consequently, such socially provocative and ill-advised ideas as Amal's are indeed very harmful to the women cause and provide the enemies of the women liberation an invaluable service for free

Third: The religion-related family and social issues require deep discussion away from euphoria and slogans that invite the enmity of the pious society and prompts it to rally against change. An instance of this are Amal's expressions that "religion is siding with men" and "giving a sacred cover for polygamy" .

As a matter of fact, religion is not biased to men, but there is a masculine culture across human societies of different religions and races. This masculine culture is biased to men. Accordingly it is this unjust culture which exploited religion to discriminate against women.

There are enlightened intellectual religious currents that lean towards equality between men and women on the basis that justice and maintaining the dignity of human (both men and women) is in the essence of religion.

Fourth: Amal has questioned the position of women activists who criticized her idea and considered this ignorance on their part. This is very strange indeed, because the criteria for awareness and knowledge is not to clap for any nonsense that claims to side with women, even if what is said is absurd and not worth the ink in which it is written.

The real enlightenment is change within the existing cultural and social context towards alignment with the women rights in a vision that criticizes hard line religious thought and fights progress-impeding customs and traditions.

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About the initiative by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok for the closing of ranks, unifying the mechanisms of decision-making and reforming the military, the security and the judiciary, wrote Dr. Mu'tasim Bukhari in the electronic publication Alrakooba (the Shack) under the title "Hamdok's Stepping Aside!):

The Prime Minister usually works in silence. never speaks unless it is necessary to. It seems his recent speech to the nation was a result of what he knows for sure and his feeling about what he called the "fracturing" and quarreling among the political groups and the stupid designing our country has been plagued with since its independence.

Hamdok's words are a cry in an empty desert, directed to a directionless semblance of politicians. The condition of these politicians is similar to that of a group of people inside a vessel sailing in rough seas and instead of standing behind the captain until they reach safety, one of them tears the sail, the other pulls out the rudder and another makes a hole in the ship for all of them to sink in a comedy-like scene.

It is as if the Revolution has brought about all imbeciles of the city after it got rid of its vile trash represented in the deposed regime.

Mr. Hamdok has sent clear messages in his address.

The first message was directed towards what is called the political power-base of the government which is now in a state of disperse. He was clear and direct in holding them responsible and reminding them of their responsibility.

The second message was in the military's mailbox. He was brave in facing them with the bare truth that they were "intentionally" impeding the realization of the Revolution's objectives and dreams. ..and that lawlessness on the military was unacceptable and that the country would not be stabilized in the presence to tens of militarized factions and gangs.

His third message was directed to the armed movements that rode the tide of the Revolution after the Revolution had succeeded, claiming that they had exhausted the deposed regime, a matter that hastened its downfall. That is a hoax no body can believe. All of those armed movements, save just a few, had taken part in the deposed regime with all its sins.

The last message was directed to the youth of the country whose role was pivotal in finishing with that regime of lies and despots. Hamdok's call to the youth is that: Come on to success. This is your revolution, your achievement that marveled the World.

The writer has expected this to be the last address the honorable Prime Minister would give as a leader of the transitional period. "He had given the political forces a month to respond and amend this bad situation. I am dead sure that his next address -if things are not put right and the will powers do not go up - would be a stepping down. At that time everybody will learn what a man they had lost and at that time sorrow will not do them any good.

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About the recent decision by the deputy chairman of the Sovereignty Council, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo (Hemaidti) to launch a joint force comprising personnel from the RSF, the Army, the armed rebel groups, the police, the General Intelligence to check acts of lawlessness in Khartoum and the regions, wrote Ms. Sabah Mohammad Alhassan in the daily journal Aljareeda (the Newspaper):

By that decision Hemaidti has made a dangerous jump to stifle the role of the Sudanese Police Force which is supposed to be the authorized entity to maintain the law and protect the security and safety of the citizens. By issuing that order, Hemaidti is seeking to impose his will on the country's security with his troops which are still no more than undisciplined militia, lacking in experience and without knowledge of the professional morality,

Where was Hemaidti when cases of lawlessness increased while he sat on the seat of a spectator? Or was he waiting for his plan (A) to create lawlessness, pave the way for it and loosen the reins on the gangs and militias in Darfur and other states and Khartoum enters a security vacuum for his plan (B) to come forth when muscles are flexed and bragging about the force which does not submit to the law of the military institution that will restore security becomes the norm. What is that security Hemaidti is talking about while his forces are the biggest threat to security by the horror and panic they are creating among the civilians? The civilians whom the Hemaidti forces arrest inside their homes and take them to their detention centers where they undergo all sorts of violence and torture on the journey towards death. How can a sane citizen make sure about his security and the security of his family in the presence of troops who lack training, wisdom and a professional doctrine, forces which do not know the rules and the conduct of peaceful living?

Hemaidti who refused to integrate his troops in the Army saying: "The integration will break up the country" is sending a clear message into the mailbox of General Burhan, who one day later said "the integration of the SRF will take place in a manner different and has no relation to the integration of the other forces" and that the SRF functions under his (Burhan's) command.

This "under his command" is the biggest lie in which Burhan wants to deceive the people. He knows that when he was Chairman of the Military Council he had cancelled an article stipulating the merger of the SRF in the Army "whenever the President of the Republic chooses to." Burhan deleted this expression just before the signing of the Constitutional Document with the political forces and the Revolution forces. It is this that causes Hemaidti to feel strong and reject the merger of the SRF now that Burhan had deleted this article, for reasons he knows.

Burhan is forgetting that the expansion of the SRF and such other decisions weaken him and weaken the Army. This latest decision could be a prelude to upcoming scenarios the Prime Minister has sensed and appeared in his recent address as a clear warning from possible chaos that may occur.

We have always been warning the Police not to drag its feet a matter which could create loopholes from which Hemaidti could come onto the scene. There should be a decision that restores the dignity of the Police, to be accompanied with a decision reinstating the police officers and non-commissioned officers and soldiers dismissed from service by the deposed regime and provide support and training for the police personnel in order for them to be able to keep the security of the country.

E N D By that decision Hemaidti has made a dangerous jump to stifle the role of the Sudanese Police Force which is supposed to be the authorized entity to maintain the law and protect the security and safety of the citizens. By issuing that order, Hemaidti is seeking to impose his will on the country's security with his troops which are still no more than undisciplined militia, lacking in experience and without knowledge of the professional ethics.

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Where was Hemaidti when cases of lawlessness increased while he sat on the seat of a spectator? Or was he waiting for his plan (A) to create lawlessness, pave the way for it and loosen the reins on the gangs and militias in Darfur and other states and Khartoum enters a security vacuum for his plan (B) to come forth when muscles are flexed and bragging about the force which does not submit to the law of the military institution that will restore security becomes the norm. What is that security Hemaidti is talking about while his forces are the biggest threat to security by the horror and panic they are creating among the civilians? The civilians whom the Hemaidti forces arrest inside their homes and take them to their detention centers where they undergo all sorts of violence and torture on the journey towards death. How can a sane citizen make sure about his security and the security of his family in the presence of troops who lack training, wisdom and a professional doctrine, forces which do not know the rules and the conduct of peaceful living?

Hemaidti who refused to integrate his troops in the Army saying: "The integration will break up the country" is sending a clear message into the mailbox of General Burhan, who one day later said "the integration of the SRF will take place in a manner different and has no relation to the integration of the other forces" and that the SRF functions under his (Burhan's) command.

This "under his command" is the biggest lie in which Burhan wants to deceive the people. He knows that when he was Chairman of the Military Council he had cancelled an article stipulating the merger of the SRF in the Army "whenever the President of the Republic chooses to." Burhan deleted this expression just before the signing of the Constitutional Document with the political forces and the Revolution forces. It is this that causes Hemaidti to feel strong and reject the merger of the SRF now that Burhan had deleted this article, for reasons he knows.

Burhan is forgetting that the expansion of the SRF and such other decisions weaken him and weaken the Army. This latest decision could be a prelude to upcoming scenarios the Prime Minister has sensed and appeared in his recent address as a clear warning from possible chaos that may occur.

We have always been warning the Police not to drag its feet a matter which could create loopholes from which Hemaidti could come onto the scene. There should be a decision that restores the dignity of the Police, to be accompanied with a decision reinstating the police officers and non-commissioned officers and soldiers dismissed from service by the deposed regime and provide support and training for the police personnel in order for them to be able to keep the security of the country.
document

The Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises has welcomed plans by the South African Forestry Company Limited (Safcol) to establish a wood based industrial park and bio-energy production plant in the small town of Sabie, in Mpumalanga.

The committee this week conducted oversight visits at the state forestry company's operations in Mpumalanga's Highveld Region, where Safcol CEO, Mr Tshepo Monaheng and his team outlined initiatives to start manufacturing and exporting finished wood products instead of the current approach of selling mainly unprocessed wood.

The committee heard that Safcol has already signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mpumalanga Provincial Government to establish the wood processing industrial park which has a potential of creating an estimated 10 000 jobs in the area.

The entity is also considering partnering with the private sector in the production of bio-energy, and it is also working with the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to extract cellulose from the trees.

"Selling raw products doesn't grow our economy, we need to start focusing on beneficiation, process our raw material and export finished products", said committee Chairperson Mr Khaya Magaxa.

South Africa imports furniture from countries such Brazil, China and Vietnam while the country exports huge amounts of unprocessed wood.

The committee's oversight visit to Mpumalanga was concluded at Safcol's Central Region where the committee also engaged with community members and land claimants.
press release

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo to quickly identify and punish the soldiers who broke into a journalist's home this week in one of the two northeastern provinces where a state of siege in effect for the past six weeks is making journalism extremely difficult.

Freelance reporter Daniel Michombero told RSF that he was woken from his sleep on the night of 22 June by seven masked men in the uniforms of members of the DRC's armed forces, who used a hammer to smash a window and break into his home in Goma, the capital of Nord-Kivu province.

Armed with knives and gun, they threatened him, manhandled his wife and ransacked his home, taking all of his journalistic equipment including a computer, a camera and several phones. He said he reported the break-in to the authorities although he was unable to identify any of the intruders.

Michombero often works for Africa News, VOA and TV5 Monde and recently provided several reports about the latest eruption of Mount Nyiragongo, a volcano near Goma, which forced hundreds of thousands for people to evacuate the area and triggered a series of humanitarian and political crises in the province.

Michombero's reporting questioned the way these events were handled by the provincial government, which has been run by the military since the state of siege was declared on 9 May.

"This is the second time in a month that soldiers have attacked a journalist in the provinces they are governing under the state of siege," said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF's Africa desk. "If President Tshisekedi is sincere about wanting to deal with the 'mafia' and 'law of silence' that are undermining the DRC's armed forces, it is vital that soldiers should no longer be able to deliberately attack journalists with complete impunity."

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Journalists have been the targets of abuses by soldiers since the start of the state of siege in Nord-Kivu and neighbouring Ituri province. Community radio station director Parfait Katoto was threatened by a man in military uniform in Ituri province four weeks ago because he broadcast a report about soldiers robbing civilians.

Earlier in May, Goma-based commander Gen. Aba Van Ang asked his soldiers to find journalist Paluku Riky in order to "flog" him and "punish" him for saying in a Facebook post that soldiers had fired on a civilian in Nord-Kivu.

The DRC is ranked 149th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2021 World Press Freedom Index.
Ilaro Court, Barbados  Amb. Lorenzo L. Witherspoon's Portes Find a New Home in Liberia has taken a further dimension with the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley, giving him the assurance that her government will help facilitate citizens of her country wishing to make Liberian connections.

Witherspoon, the great-great-grandson of John Albert Porte, who migrated from Barbados to Liberia in the mid-1860s, told the Barbados delegation that included Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Dr Jerome Walcott, and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office with responsibility for Culture, John King, that the warmth of Barbadians and the many similarities with Liberia made him feel at home.

Portes Find a New Home in Liberia Project is a Story of the Post-emancipation Emigration of the John Prince Porte Family from Barbados, West Indies, to Liberia, West Africa, in 1865 & The Family's Quest for Ancestral Citizenship, is complimented by the Passenger Manifest of the Brig CORA, the vessel that brought the emigrants from Barbados to Liberia on April 6, 1865. It includes A History of Crozierville, the first-ever Porte Family Tree, a Porte Family Photo Gallery, and two separate documents portraying the Prominent Roles played in Liberia and internationally by Direct Descendants of John Prince Porte and Prominent Positions held in Liberia and internationally by other 1865 emigrant families from Barbados and their descendants who settled in Crozierville.

Over the weekend, the Ilaro Court, the Official Residence of the Prime Minister was filled with stories that embraced the Barbados-Liberia connection with nostalgia and discussion of the extensive social and economic potential that could be tapped into with greater cooperation.

The occasion was a courtesy call on Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley by retired Liberian ambassador Witherspoon, who is visiting the island to continue his extensive research project and connect with his Barbadian roots.

The former ambassador, who has written extensively about the Barbados-Liberia connection, was planning to visit the island with his family for We Gatherin' 2020 when COVID-19 struck. He revealed, though, that with the world starting to settle and the interest among Liberians to learn more about their Barbadian roots growing, there were already initiative taking shape to facilitate visits.

The former diplomat also complimented Barbados on its maintenance of the world's second-largest archive of slavery-era records, second only to the United Kingdom's, and urged the Government to take steps to preserve it in a manner that would make it available to future generations using modern technology.

The Prime Minister assured Witherspoon that the archives project was a priority of the Government, and considerable discussions had already taken place with a view to digitizing the records.

During his meeting, Witherspoon presented the Prime Minister with the results of one of his research projects, a paper titled: Portes Find A New Home in Liberia -- Story of the Post-Emancipation Emigration of The John Prince Porte Family from Barbados to Liberia, West Africa in 1865.

In the document, Elfric K. Porte, Sr., the eldest great-grandchild of John Prince Porte, wrote: "Coming 150 years after the arrival of our forebears in Liberia from Barbados, the family is proud of this initiative, which firmly and finally connects the dots of our family's origins and paves the way for the reunion with our living relatives in Barbados... ."

From the hundreds of Barbadians who returned to Liberia in the 1860's that country has produced two political leaders, including President Arthur Barclay, who, as a boy, spent the first dozen years of his life in Barbados.

Pronouncement by the Government of Barbados

In January 2020, Prime Minister Mia Mottley designated and introduced 2020 as the year for Barbadians and those who love Barbados to come home and reconnect with family and friends and to invest in rebuilding and development of Barbados. Under the theme "We Gatherin 2020", it is a clarion homecoming invitation symbolizing a recommitment to the core Barbadian values that define who we are as a people. It is an event to reunite all Bajans

Monthly activities were planned for the 11 Parishes across the island, culminating in a nationwide month long celebration in December. However, COVID-19 put a monkey-wrench in those plans, leading to a postponement.

"We Still Gatherin"

With thousands of Bajans at home and in the diaspora watching virtually, the Prime Minister announced that "We Still Gatherin" during the virtual 54th Independence Day celebrations on November 29, 2020.

Immigration and Citizenship Reform Act

During the eight-hour long virtual independence celebration, the Barbados Minister of Home Affairs, Information and Public Affairs, Hon. Wilfred Abrahams, announced the decision by the government to enact new and transformational legislation that will extend citizenship rights to all direct descendants of citizens of Barbados, irrespective of generation. This is a fundamental change from the current citizenship law which restricts citizenship rights to children and grandchildren.

The plan hopes to boost its population, currently 290,000, by availing multi-generational diaspora descendants citizenship of the island. The change would mean that, providing they can prove it, descendants of the island who settled in Liberia beginning in April 1865 and after could be in line for citizenship of Barbados.

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The bill is expected to be debated in the Barbadian parliament this year.

Both countries share ties which date as far back as 1862 when the Liberian Parliament extended an invitation to persons of African descent from the islands of the West Indies to come and settle in Liberia. A follow-up invitation was sent in 1864.

The invitation led to a total of 346 emigrants from Barbados sailing to Liberia on April 6, 1865, following the signing of the Treaty between the two countries. Among them was John Prince Porte, the patriarch of the PORTE family of Liberia, a natural born Barbadian, and five members of his family.

Ironically, while conducting the project research, it was discovered that Bishop Emeritus, John Holder of the Episcopal Diocese in Barbados, had relatives listed on the manifest of the CORA, and, astonishingly, had a striking resemblance to Honorable Burleigh Holder of Crozierville.

Similarly, the name of a James W. Blackman was also discovered on the Brig CORA 1865 Passenger Manifest. That the current Ambassador of Barbados to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland is His Excellency Mr. Chad Blackman, (and there are Blackmans in Liberia today) is no coincidence.

The entire Project can be read here.

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Monrovia  A commander of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA), has alarmed over the involvement of a member of the 54th Legislature in the sale of illegal drugs.

Commander Martha Massaley, assigned at Gardnersville Township dropped the bombshell when she served as one of the panelists at a youth-led program marking the observance of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drugs Trafficking last Friday, June 25.

"I was sitting with them (LDEA colleagues) at the checkpoint and this Honorable Representative came," she said, opting not to mention a name.

"I won't call his name before I be held in contempt, and for security reasons. He came driving in his big car. And the female officer stopped the car and said 'Sir, can I just look in that car. She did not know him, but I know him and some of my colleagues know him. And he said even if you search my car and see anything there, you can't do anything about it. So, no need for you to search my car. So, she said yes Chief, but please give me the benefit of the doubt let me just look in the car. When she opened the car, see the bag of drugs, marijuana one bag, the cocaine parlor there, the heroin parlor there. when I saw it, I got up, in an attempt to approach him, already we had bitter blood... he pulled off the car."

She noted that the lawmaker was not happy with the LDEA's work because she arrested most of his men and agents and they are behind bars.

Speaking on the challenges grappling the LDEA in combating illicit drug trafficking in Liberia, the Commander told the audience, mostly students drawn from several high schools within Gardnersville that the war against illicit drug in Liberia was a tough task owing to the involvement of top VIPs like the unnamed lawmaker, the shielding of ghettos operators by community members and the compromised court system.

She said the LDEA's operations are often jeopardized when informants from the court leaked out information obtained from a search and seizure warrant. She blamed the proliferation of ghettos in the communities due to the failure of community leaders to inform the LDEA about their existence in their areas. She made a rallying call on residents, including students, religious and community leaders to immediately inform the LDEA whenever they discovered the sale of illicit drugs in their communities.

"My people, your please join the LDEA to help clean Liberia. You can make it. Just give me a call. I hardly sleep, I just have few hours of sleep. Because when you asleep, me and my man are on the field trimming the entire community," she urged.

"The war we are fighting against drugs is not an easy war. Because the war is with the enforcer, the community members, the elders and the youth. When you take the paper (search warrant) to the court, the drug dealers get people all to the court, ready to give them information about whether their names are on the search warrant or not."

The event, held at the Liberia Dujar High School in Grass Field Community in Gardnersville Township was organized by the humanitarian and advocacy group, 'Hope for Young people Inc'.

Other panelists at the program include Major General Prince C. Johnson, the Chief of staff of the Armed Forces of Liberia, Rep. Thomas A. Gushua II, (District #5, Nimba County), Cllr. Lafayette B. Gould, Sr., Special Assistant to the Solicitor General of Liberia and Mr. Eddie D. Jarwolo, the Executive Director of NAYMOTE-Liberia.

General Johnson, speaking on the security implications of drug addiction and how it can be addressed, called for a concerted effort to win the war on drugs.

Liberia is currently debating its draft revised drug law, which officials say when passed into law, will be a big boost to the country's fight against illicit drugs.

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Cllr. Gould called for the adoption of a right-based approach wherein drug use would be seen primarily as a public health issue and where law-enforcement initiatives would focus on high-level traffickers rather than small-scale dealers.

Although Liberia is not a major hub for drugs, dozens of young people have fallen prey to these illegal substances including cannabis or marijuana, cocaine and heroin. These strayed youths called zogos, are found across the streets and cemeteries of Monrovia and other major cities and towns in Liberia. Some turned to petit criminals, snatching away commuters' traveling materials like handbags, wallets, mobile phones and every other thing they are able to get away with.

Cllr. Gould says the criminalization of drug use and possession, the lack of distinction between small-scale dealers and high-level traffickers, as well as the absence of any provisions prohibiting human rights violations are some of the hurdles in the fight against the menace in Liberia.
Peace Ambassadors The Gambia (PAG) voter registration observers have on Thursday 24th June 2021 raised concerns about the unsuccessful attempts of underage registrants to register using Seyfo and Alkalo attestation.

PAG observers were instructed to immediately report any serious problems that could compromise the conduct of the voter registration exercise. During the second phase of the observation PAG received and confirmed only 18 Critical Incidents (a decrease from the 59 Critical Incidents confirmed during Phase 1). Most of the critical incidents received were centered on early closure of registration centres or IEC officials refusing to register people on the queue by 5pm as opposed to the dictates of the IEC training manual.

Peace Ambassadors-The Gambia (PAG) is a voluntary non-profit pence education and advocacy organisation operating in The Gambia, Senegal and Guinea Bissau. PAG non-partisan citizen observation effort for the 2021 voter registration to make the process more inclusive, transparent and accountable by enhancing participation, providing independent information on the quality of the process, and deterring potential problems.

Peace Ambassadors-The Gambia (PAG), beginning 29th May 2021 deployed 59 trained observers across the 7 Administrative Regions and 53 Constituencies of The Gambia to observe the voter registration process. This report serves as our third update and it covers the second phase of the voter registration exercise from Tuesday, 15th June 2021 to Saturday, 19th June, 2021.

Abubacarr Sambou the president of PAG said overall, reports from PAG observers from all 53 constituencies' show that the registration process continues to progress across the entire country and that registration officials are following most of the registration procedures. "PAG's observer reports indicate that the IEC has improved in some aspects of its operations resulting in fewer instances of malfunctioning equipment as compared to the first week of the registration exercise. While most registration centres are opening on time, PAG observers noted that some registration officials are reporting to registration centers late and closing earlier than the stipulated time."

He said they also observers reported that security personnel and political party's agents continue to be deployed across the country to observe the process. "Nevertheless, as was noted in PAG's findings during the first week of observation, registration staff appears to be inconsistently applying some of the registration procedures in some centres and enforcement of COVID-19 safety protocols remains laxed."

Methodology

PAG has deployed 59 total trained observers across the country including 6 regional coordinators one per region with Banjul and Kanifing combined having one coordinator and 53 constituency observers - one per constituency. PAG has deployed its observers in every constituency using two deployment methodologies: stationary and mobile observation. All 53 constituency observers were deployed as stationary observers for a total of nine (9) assigned days throughout the registration period from 29th May to 11th July, 2021 while all six (6) regional coordinators were deployed to observe on every day, throughout the registration period within their assigned regions where they are mobile, observing the general environment of the registration process and reporting critical incidents as they occur.

Sambou said on each observation day, every observer sent in four observation reports based on a comprehensive checklist via coded text messages using their mobile phones to the PAG's reporting database. "These 53 constituency observers have been assigned based on the IEC 2021 Movement Plan according to the availability of IEC officials at registration centers within the constituencies. All PAG observers were accredited by the IEC and permitted to observe."

Findings

This PAG report provides comprehensive information on reports from all PAG observers during the second phase of the voter registration observation (15 June to 19 June). PAGs 53 observers submitted 158 reports during the second reporting phase reflecting their observation at 127 unique registration centers.

"141 of our reports (89%) indicated that their observed centres opened on time, that is, between 8:00 to 8:30 am. Most of the remaining centers had opened by 9:30am."

Registration Procedures

Similar to Phase 1 of PAGs observation, in Phase 2 PAG's observer reports indicated that registration officials followed most of the registration procedures: All (158 of 158) reports show that all or many registrants were asked to present a valid identification document (such as national ID card, birth certificate, Gambian Passport or an attestation) before being registered.

Their report further indicated that 151 of 158 reports show that no applicant who presented a valid national identification document was denied registration. "156 of 158 reports show that applicants were asked to affix their thumbprint to the registration form to certify that their information was correct before being sent to the operator. 155 of 158 observer reports show that the operator input the data of all applicants into the laptop and their photos were taken."

Security and Party Agents

On security and party agents PAG observers reported that many centers having uniformed security personnel and political party agents present to observe the process: 144 of 158 reports show that there were uniformed security personnel present at registration centers. 151 of 158 reports indicated one or more party agents present at the registration center.

Interim Recommendations

The overall, reports from PAG observers from all 53 constituencies show that registration is progressing across the entire country and that registration officials are following most of the registration procedures.

"It has been observed that security personnel and political party agents are being deployed across the country to observe the process. Nevertheless, it was noted by PAG observers that registration staff appear to be inconsistently applying the registration procedures in some centers and security officials are likewise inconsistent in enforcing the COVID-19 regulations."

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PAG in this regard, offers the following recommendations to help enhance the quality of the registration process:

To the IEC

PAG extends commendation to the IEC for the timely opening of the registration centres but encourages the IEC to implore all of its officials to arrive on time.

PAG encourages the IEC to employ concrete measures to address the issues of registration centres closing by 5pm or earlier when there are people still in the queue. An alternative to that is for the IEC to look at the possibility of extending the registration period to accommodate more eligible voters to be able to register.

Cautions the IEC registration staff to evenly apply the procedures and guidelines stipulated for the registration process that is in conformity with the electoral legal framework

To Security Services

Security services such as immigration and police should remain vigilant in the conduct of their services so as to keep an eye on illegal registration as well as speedily intervene during instances of violence and disruption.

To Political Parties

Admonish all political parties to adhere to the IEC regulation stipulated in its recent public statement to have only one political party agent per center and that all parties should adhere to guidelines employed by IEC officials at registration centers.
The President of Seychelles, Wavel Ramkalawan, will undertake an official visit to Austria from June 30 to July 4, State House said on Sunday.

"The official visit of the President will focus on enhancing relations between Seychelles and Austria as well as to participate in the 5th Austrian World Summit, the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative themed: Healthy Planet - Health People," State House said.

During the visit, Ramkalawan will hold discussions with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen.

This is his first official visit to a European country since he was sworn in as President of the island nation in the western Indian Ocean October 26 last year.

He will also feature as a guest speaker during the High-Level Forum of the summit.

The Austrian World Summit is the centrepiece of the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative founded in 2017. Guests from all over the world get the chance to talk about current climate issues with the host Arnold Schwarzenegger, a well-known movie star born in Austria who is also a former governor of the U.S. of California.

The summit has become one of the largest conferences for building awareness of the climate crisis and with a focus on the urgent need for action every day.

The President will be accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde, and the Charge d' Affaires of the Seychelles Mission in Paris, Ralph Agrippine.
Frequent and proper handwashing has, according to World Health Organization, remained one of the best defences against Covid-19 infections, along with other public health measures such as maintaining physical distance, avoiding crowded places, practising cough etiquette and wearing a face mask.

The Centers for Disease Control urges a 20-second scrub with soap and clean water for hand hygiene to be more effective.

Kenya is going through a third wave, and Covid-19 cases are still growing. Turkana County is no exception, if the recently reported cases at St Claire Lokitaung Girls Secondary School in Turkana North sub-county, where five students and two teachers tested positive, is anything to go by.

In Lokitaung, some 200km from Lodwar, the county headquarters, the cases reawakened locals and authorities in the remote town who, like many other Kenyans, had relaxed Covid-19 preventive measures.

Handwashing stations

Functioning handwashing stations are strategically placed at public places including hotels, offices, schools, markets and stages for public service vehicles.

However, a handwashing station that encourages proper hand-washing techniques with zero physical contact with any surfaces outside Lotorob Hills Hotel and Shop stands out.

The station, donated by USAid's Nawiri programme in partnership with the Turkana county government, is locally fabricated, durable, inclusive and touch-free because it is operated by a foot pump to break the chain of transmission through touching taps.

"Metals were fabricated to make a stand that can firmly hold a 50-litre container with an attached push tap. On the left side is a liquid soap dispenser. Both push tap and the liquid soap dispenser are operated by foot and not the hand to ensure users don't touch a possibly infected faucet," explained Ekile Aburo, the owner of Lotorob Hills Hotel and Shop.

Mr Aburo said the handwashing station only allows water to be released when pressure is applied on the foot pedal, helping him save water while a customer is still applying soap or scrubbing hands.

"It is also designed in a way that a physically challenged person on a wheelchair entering the hotel can use an elbow or forearm, making it easier for persons on wheelchairs to easily use the facility without contamination," he added.

The wastewater that is collected in a small metallic sink, is connected to a soakaway pit for effective greywater management, besides ensuring there is no harm to the environment.

The unique and low-cost handwashing stations have graphic stickers that demonstrate how to effectively wash hands in the local language and in Kiswahili.

Good hand hygiene

St Mary's Kalokol, Kenya Oil and St Patrick's Kanam Kemer dispensaries are also among the public facilities that have embraced the unique handwashing system.

"When Covid-19 was full-blown, we were relying on handwashing facilities with the normal way of opening and closing the tap. Health workers and many patients were cautious not to contract the virus by touching infected surfaces," recalled Sister Florence Wafula, nurse in charge at St Patrick's Kanam Kemer Dispensary.

Sister Wafula said the more than 80 patients they serve daily prefer using the three touch-free handwashing stations as they are easy and convenient to use.

"I'm happy that patients and locals around this facility including the boda boda operators at the nearby stage have developed a strong hand hygiene culture and since the onset of Covid-19, no case has been linked to having originated from here. We have also witnessed a sharp decline in waterborne diseases specifically diarrhoea," she said.

The three handwashing stations have been cemented and the tanks fixed more with metal as an extra precaution so that it cannot be easily stolen, breakages are minimised and water and soap are maintained.

The facility frequently gets soap from the county department of health and partners to effectively ensure the critical Covid-19 prevention measure is adhered to always.

At St Mary's Kalokol Dispensary, besides the three handwashing stations, the facility benefited from water trucking services because the town is one of the water-scarce areas in the arid and semi-arid county.

Dispensary Administrator Sister Joseline Kagendo said a 10,000-litre water truck made four trips to the facility.

"To sustainably maintain high levels of hand hygiene we call for more support for water trucking services as we also expect to roll out maternity services that will require a lot of water," Sister Kagendo said.

Kenya Oil Dispensary in Kangatotha ward, Turkana Central sub-county has devised a local means to ensure the longevity of their handwashing station.

The nurse in charge, Jared Nyangares, said after the community embraced it more than the normal washing stations of opening and closing the tap, they were concerned about its durability because of the harsh climatic conditions in the area and the absence of trees.

"Through experience, exposing these plastic containers to the hot sun reduces their life. Volunteers from the community used the readily available palm leaves to cover it from direct sunlight for greater longevity," he said.

Low-cost solutions

USAid Nawiri Programme water systems adviser Joseph Munyeri said that together with the county department of health, they between July and December distributed 200 touch-free hand washing stations as part of efforts to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Mr Munyeri said their main objective was for locals, especially in Turkana West, Turkana North and Turkana Central sub-counties that had at that time recorded Covid-19 cases, to embrace innovative and low-cost solutions to promote sanitation and hygiene amid fragile healthcare systems.

"Prototype handwashing stations were quickly field-tested and adapted through a human-centred approach to make them more inclusive to the diversified needs of locals, healthcare facilities and public places targeted by the programme through incorporating users' views, preferences and practices," he explained.

Some stations had to be refabricated with some adjustment that included lowering the pedals and tightening the soap knob to avoid sliding when in use.

Mr Munyeri said that for the handwashing stations to be sustainable various stakeholders including community members, market committees, health facility leaders and county departments of Trade, Health and Water were engaged at all levels of the project cycle to create ownership and management of the stations.

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"USAid Nawiri also supported water trucking to augment county government water trucking efforts to health facilities and markets in remote areas to comply with the highest standard of Covid-19 precautions," he said.

USAid Nawiri and county health officials also trained people in charge of the stations, market committees and local administrators on the use and management of the handwashing facilities during deployment to equip them with the right skills to oversee daily operations.

Locals have appealed to the national and county governments, non-governmental organisations and well-wishers to continue ensuring that innovative handwashing stations are readily available as well as water, especially in known water-scarce villages.

"Washing hands is our only weapon to fight Covid-19 as it is not possible for everyone in remote villages to afford a mask or wear it frequently. Such unique handwashing stations, reliable supply of water and soap must be easily available," said Patrick Mambo, a resident of Lokitaung town.

Turkana Director of Medical Services Gilchrist Lokoel said that following the recent Covid-19 cases at the school in Lokitaung, the county department of health has zoomed into action at the school and all other places that have reported recent positive cases with the primary aim of identifying positive cases, isolating and treating them.

"Covid-19 is still deadly, cognizant to the fact that new variants have come in. Turkana is at high risk as we have three international borders whose health systems are (weak). Locals have just to take personal responsibility and adhere to necessary prevention protocols," Dr Lokoel said.

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Lamu fishermen are yet to receive a special smart identification card, called the 'Mvuvi Card', four years after the State launched the programme to boost security in the region.

More than 6,000 fishermen across Lamu County were to receive the cards under an initiative announced in July 2018.

The cards were to have a microchip so that security agencies could monitor the whereabouts of each fisherman on the ocean.

This would in turn shield the fishermen from harassment by security officers as they patrol the sea.

The cards were also to help security personnel distinguish real fishermen from crime suspects.

The cards were to contain basic identification information, including the national identity card number, a special serial number and the fishermen's respective beach management units (BMUs).

Four years later, Nation.Africa has established that no single fisherman in Lamu has received the document.

Lamu BMU Network chairperson Mohamed Somo questioned why the government is silent on the matter.

Mr Somo said all the fishermen in Lamu had agreed to cooperate with the State in all the processes required provided they got the document.

He said they viewed the Mvuvi Card as a relief for them after enduring years of frustrations, government restrictions at sea, including a night fishing ban, and frequent harassment by security agencies that saw many of them quit fishing.

"We were happy when the government announced the plan to issue Mvuvi Cards. They took our photos and registered us. We're surprised that no one has received the document. The State is also not giving us updates on the cards," he said.

Lamu island fishermen spokesperson Abubakar Twalib urged the government to explain the progress of the programme.

Fishermen in Lamu were in the dark on whether the programme is intact or has been discarded, he said.

"They are silent on the Mvuvi Card. My concern is on whether all the fishermen will get the card if they finally go ahead to implement the programme. We welcome the plan but let it be done in a transparent and all-inclusive manner," he said.

In May 2019, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i visited Lamu and lifted the night-fishing ban that had been in place for more than eight years.

CS Matiang'i also directed that all fishermen be registered electronically as that would prevent scenarios where terrorists pose as fishermen to gain access to Lamu through the porous Somalia border.

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Al-Shabaab recruitment agents had used the sea route in Lamu to ferry radicalised youth in and out of Somalia.

Armed with this and other factors, security officers have been reported to harass fishermen working at night on suspicion that they could be militants.

Sharif Abdallah said such mistrust will end if the Mvuvi Cards are issued to legitimate fishermen.

"Our personal details were taken and I don't understand why the process is being delayed. We need the document. It will save the time being wasted waiting for manual vetting and approvals from security agencies before venturing into the Indian Ocean," he said.

Contacted for comment, Lamu County Commissioner Irungu Macharia acknowledged that no fisherman in Lamu had been issued with the Mvuvi Card.

Mr Macharia had earlier announced that the issuing of the document would have been finalised by December 2020.

He said this could not be achieved because some technical issues were yet to be resolved.

"The cards are yet to be issued. There are some technical issues which we are yet to resolve. However, the project remains on course," he said.

skazungu@ke.nationmedia.com
There is hardly enough food for them, and at times there is none at all.

Their grandmother, Esther Kwamboka, 75, says when there is no food, they have no option but to depend on water.

Mrs Kwamboka has been left with the burden of taking care of her six grandchildren after their parents abandoned them.

Their mother left six years ago after separating from their father following domestic disagreements.

Their father, who worked manual jobs to fend for the children, left in March this year to look for a job in Trans Mara. Here, he works as a sugarcane cutter and has not returned home since.

He avoids picking up calls from his family and is unavailable on the phone most of the time.

His family says he just left home in March after failing to support his children financially.

"When I last talked to the children's mother, she said they have their father. Their father, on the other hand, said they have their mother and that she should take care of them. I wondered why they were rejecting their children, but I told myself that I will struggle to raise them," Mrs Kwamboka said.

Struggling to survive

With the Covid-19 pandemic, manual jobs have become difficult to come by and the abandoned children have been struggling to make a living.

Their grandmother is sickly and cannot move around because her feet are swollen. The family, from Kemera township in Nyamira County, mostly depends on well-wishers for food.

They live one day at a time and they cling to hope for a better tomorrow.

The family's burden has been left with a 17-year-old boy, who is supposed to join Form One in August.

He scored 204 marks and was admitted to Sengera Manga Secondary School.

He initially worked at a car wash owned by his uncle but the business has dwindled due to the hard economic times caused by Covid-19.

"The car-wash business is no longer sustainable. Very few people bring their vehicles for cleaning. For the last few months, I have been doing manual jobs around Kemera, but they are also not available," the teenager said.

The eldest child is a girl aged 19 and in Form Two, followed by the 17-year-old, followed by a 15-year-old boy who is supposed to join Form One.

He scored 168 points and was admitted to Ikonge SDA Secondary. The fourth-born is a Standard Six boy aged 13, the fifth-born a 12-year-old boy in Grade Four and the last-born a girl aged 11 and in Grade Four.

Their mud-walled house is dilapidated and is on the verge of collapsing. Inside is a broken bed where some of them spend their night.

Their grandmother says she is a beneficiary of the government's cash transfer programme.

Inua Jamii programme

"I last received the monthly stipend given by the government in support of the elderly in March this year. I received Sh4,000, which I was told was for two months," said Mrs Kwamboka, noting that they bought food with the money.

Inua Jamii is a State-funded programme that targets beneficiaries enrolled under any of the three Inua Jamii cash transfer programmes targeting orphans and the vulnerable, elderly citizens, and people with severe disabilities.

Mrs Kwamboka called on the government to disburse the stipend more regularly as it should be because it goes a long way in supporting families.

She says Covid-19 has affected many families economically, especially in rural regions with many going without food and other basic needs.

Last month, the government announced that more than one million beneficiaries under the Inua Jamii programme were set to receive more than Sh4.3 million.

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The money is usually channelled through the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection.

Some 294,023 beneficiaries enrolled in the Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC) programme will receive Sh1.17 billion, while 762,885 beneficiaries under the Older Persons Cash Transfer (OPCT) programme will receive Sh3.06 billion, said State Department for Social Protection PS Nelson Marwa.

Another 34,116 enrolled under the Persons with Disability Cash Transfer (PwSD-CT) programme will receive Sh136 million.

Each beneficiary will receive Sh4,000 to cover for January-February payment cycle.

"Beneficiaries or caregivers can access the payment at any time over the next six months. A beneficiary is allowed to withdraw all or part of this amount at any time during the six months," Mr Marwa said.

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Gulu District administration has ordered the Chinese firm, Chongqing International Construction Corporation (CICO), to cease operations and evacuate Kidere Hill over alleged sabotage of the district's infrastructural development.

Last week, the district leadership confirmed that a contract with the Chinese firm to operate a quarry at the hill had been terminated after it allegedly failed to execute the terms of agreement.

Mr Christopher Opiyo Ateker, the district chairman, told Daily Monitor that a report by the district technical committee exposed a 'planned sabotage' by the company.

"Much as the company had blasted three-quarters of the rock beyond the half we offered them in the agreement, they had only worked on the compound of the district headquarters but had not worked on roads and refurbished facilities agreed upon," Mr Opiyo said.

He added that the lightning arresters that were to be installed on some schools as well as digging two boreholes, among others, had not been done.

In a document seen by this newspaper, the company was supposed to quarry only 50 per cent of the hill, but a separate report indicates that three-quarters of the hill had been quarried.

When this newspaper visited Abera-Awach and Kinene-Mitam roads last week, they had not been rehabilitated.

The district also agreed with the firm to quarry rock from the hill for construction work within the district and the city but they were dismayed that the company was shipping the aggregates outside the district.

"We have tracked them and found their trucks ferrying the aggregates out of the district contrary to our agreement with them. We shall not accept that they bully us," Mr Opiyo added.

The company also abandoned rehabilitation works on the district council hall.

In June 2018, a district technical committee chaired by Mr Auric Oryem, the deputy chief administrative officer in charge Aswa, noted in their report that rock explosions had exceeded the painted marks and that centre marks had been removed.

"Using hand-held global positioning (GPS), the team found out rock explosions exceeded the marked boundary by more than 3.3 metres. The reference point that was put as a centre mark on Kidere Rock was removed," it stated.

In a July 2017 memorandum of understanding, the district local government agreed to allow CICO to blow up half of the hill for aggregates in road construction.

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As a payment to the district for the rock, CICO was conditioned, according to the agreement, to build a borehole on the site, a pit-latrine, and work on Unyama Sub-county compound, among other works.

However, the company did not work on all the projects.

When contacted, the company admitted that there were delays.

"There was a delay, some of the work has been done while others are yet to be done. We wrote to them requesting them to allow us to continue working, and right now we are working on the compound of the church," Mr Isaac Okello, an engineer at CICO, said.

Mr Okello said once they finish works on the church compound, they will proceed to rehabilitate the two roads.

"We wrote to the district chairman in May to allow us to continue with work at the quarry so that we finish all our tasks," he said.
By Tausi Nakato

Busoga Sub-region has taken a Covid-19 beating that has seen at least two district headquarters, including Kaliro and Bugweri, temporarily closed and service delivery interrupted.

In Kaliro District, for instance, following the closure of the district headquarters, residents are finding it hard to receive services after at least 80 per cent of the workers tested positive for Covid-19.

Mr Geofrey Isanga, a resident of Kasokwe Village, who was found stranded at the district headquarters last Friday, said he had visited the offices several times to get a signature from the commercial officer in vain.

"I am the chairperson of one of the Emyooga associations and I have come here to get a signature from the commercial officer to get our money, but every time I come, I am told to return the following day.

"If they closed the offices, they would have informed us. Members in our group urgently need to borrow money but we cannot do it without his [commercial officer] signature," Mr Isanga said.

Mr Moses Baraza, another resident, said: "We are in fear because if the district headquarters is closed, then we won't access servicses. I am here to see the chairperson but I have been told that he is not around."

Dr Allan Katamba, the Kaliro District health officer, confirmed that 80 per cent of the workers tested positive for Covid-19.

"We took 50 samples and 36 (80 per cent) were positive, yet the majority are technocrats. We, therefore, decided to temporarily close the offices to allow fumigation, but we still have a skeleton staff to handle some cases," Dr Katamba said.

According to Dr Katamba, the district needs a better hospital and an ambulance to handle serious cases of Covid-19.

"As a district, we do not have an ambulance to carry patients; if we get serious cases, we improvise with the pickups that we have. We only have health centre IVs, which cannot handle Covid-19 cases. Most of them [patients] are either referred to Jinja or Kampala," he added.

Mr Elijah Kagoda, the Kaliro chairperson, said: "We request the government to treat Kaliro as a special case. The national taskforce should ensure that our district gets at least two ambulances because we don't have any.

"We also don't have a hospital yet it was pledged by President Museveni about 10 years ago. As a district, we only have Bumanya Health Centre IV, Namugongo Health Centre III and only three doctors," Mr Kagoda said.

Recently, Bugweri District headquarters was also closed after the commercial officer, Mr Patrick Dubi, succumbed to Covid-19.

Mr Richard Gulume, the Bugweri resident district commissioner, described the situation as "worrying".

"We lost Mr Dubi to Covid-19 and realised the need to do massive tests; so far, we have taken 236 samples and received 65 results, 11 of which are positive. We expect more results soon," Mr Gulume said.

"We still have some staff at the district headquarters but if the situation worsens, we may close it," he said.

In Jinja, Dr Florence Tugumisirize, the director of the referral hospital, said they no longer have space to admit Covid-19 patients.

"We have an official capacity of 32 Covid-19 patients, but we have admitted more than 42. We are also challenged by lack of enough doctors. We have only three nurses per shift," she said.

Mr Moses Batwala, the Jinja chairperson, said the situation is apprehensive.

"In Jinja district and Jinja City, we have more than 264 confirmed cases and last Thursday alone, Jinja hospital confirmed 58 cases. The situation is worrying and I urge our people to observe the standard operating procedures," Mr Batwala said.

Jinja Regional Referral Hospital has so far received more than 362 Covid-19 patients and more than 47 deaths.

Jinja runs out of oxygen

Jinja hospital has been hit by shortage of medical oxygen due to the surge in numbers of Covid-19 patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU).

Medical oxygen is produced in specialised manufacturing units as industrial oxygen and purified over 93 per cent for the use of patients suffering from oxygen starvation.

In the cases of Covid-19, critically-ill patients need oxygen support.

The director of Jinja hospital, Ms Florence Tugumisirize, said almost all Covid-19 patients need to be put on oxygen.

"Almost all the 53 patients that are undergoing treatment are on oxygen. Our Oxygen plant releases 30 to 32 cylinders in every 24 hours. Our worry is that the number is increasing every day yet our oxygen manufacturing capacity is low," she said.

Ms Tugumisirize said they are relying on well-wishers who are donating life-saving gas for Covid-19 patients at the facility.

"Currently, the hospital is relying on Mayuge Steel Ltd under the Indian Association which is donating 40 oxygen cylinders on a daily basis," she said.

Speaking on Friday during the National prayers against the Covid -19 pandemic held at State House, President Museveni announced plans to start refilling 25,000 oxygen cylinders daily to meet the rising demand from Covid-19 patients. Ms Tugumisirize also said the beds in the ICU are not enough

"Since the patients that are being admitted are critically-ill and in need of oxygen, they spend three weeks in the hospital compared to the Covid-19 patients in the first wave, who were spending only ten days," he said.

32 deaths registered

Ms Tugumisirize said 32 Covid-19 patients have died in the ICU of Jinja Regional Referral Hospital over the last two months.

"We registered the first case of Covid-19 in the second wave on April 13. We have so far admitted 156 cases, 32 deaths, 124 recoveries, 21 suspects. Our discharge rate is at 79 per cent .This second wave is very dangerous because in the first wave, we lost 38 Covid-19 patients out of the 324 positive patients admitted between March 2020 to February 2021," she said

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10 health workers test positive

Ms Tugumisirize said ten health workers at the facility have so far tested positive to Covid-19.

"We do routine screening of our staff because we don't want a staff who is sick to be attending to patients. We usually do an epidemiological review but for most of them [staff], the source of infection is outside the hospital," he said.

"We don't have any one from Covid-19 treatment wings who have tested positive, those who tested positive are interns from accident and emergency wards. We have one person from the private wing and one person from laboratory," she said.

One death of health worker

Last Friday, Dr Gonzaga Mankumba, the in-charge of Namwendwa Health Centre 1V, in Kamuli District succumbed to coronavirus at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital.

According to the Kamuli District Health Officer, Dr Fred Duku, died due to shortage of oxygen.

"He was undergoing treatment at Kamuli General Hospital but we referred him to Jinja hospital but due to shortage of oxygen at the facility, we kept on taking oxygen from Kamuli to Jinja, but unfortunately, he died ," he said.

Dr Gonzanga is the second health worker who succumbed to Covid-19 in just one week in Kamuli District after the death of an enrolled nurse at Kamuli General Hospital, Ms Annet Baluka.
The President HE Dr. Hage G. Geingob has described the loss of President Kenneth Kaunda, the former President of Zambia, as follows: Africa has lost a Giant. This sentiment is shared across the African continent and around the globe. Indeed, President Kaunda was highly acclaimed and respected by many people in many different countries, for his contribution towards the total liberation of Southern Africa.

To achieve this noble cause, President Kaunda, his government and the people of Zambia, worked hard together with the rest of the frontline leaders, in association with the National Liberation Movements of the region. It was a struggle that also enjoyed wider solidarity and support from organisations in different countries and from the international community. The African Union, the Commonwealth and the United Nations were some of the key institutions that were firmly opposed to the white minority regimes in Southern Africa.

Looking back, it is clear that the wind of change that British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan described as moving across Africa, in his address to the Parliament of South Africa in 1960, was not likely to descend upon Southern Africa during that period. The resistance of the white minority regimes in the region to change proved to be much greater than many expected. The Zambezi River came to be the border over which freedom and independence was not going to be allowed to cross. As a result, a number of studies that came out in the 1970 and 1980s characterised Southern Africa as the battlefront between white minority rule and the rest of the African continent. Much greater destabilisation and violence were foreseen.

That was the prospect and a real reality that faced Southern Africa, which President Kaunda and Zambia had to deal with. Kaunda and his fellow frontline leaders campaigned vigorously to show that what was needed was freedom and independence and not a racial war. They visited the capitals of the world to get the message across. They were men of peace but all their efforts were blocked by the South African and Rhodesian regimes. On the ground, the liberation struggle continued to have an impact but the South African and Rhodesian regimes countered by attacking and bombing the Frontline states, in particular Zambia, with a view to stopping the liberation movements from advancing. The cost to Zambia was enormous. However, this did not deter KK, as President Kaunda was fondly known

He and his frontline colleagues President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, President Samora Machel of Mozambique, and President Seretse Khama of Botswana, persevered and forged ahead in support of the struggle in Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

After the liberation of our three countries, there was a need to document the history of the struggle. The SADC Hashim Mbita Project published ten volumes in 2005 that cover all the Southern African Countries, with each country contributing a chapter dealing with their particular struggle. Volume 1 contains fascinating exchanges between several Frontline Presidents, in particular Presidents Nyerere, Kaunda and Khama. These exchanges reveal a great deal about their individual characters, and show how they still retained their sense of humanity in the middle of the ongoing bitter struggle. This is an indispensable heritage that we must preserve for future generations.

The best tribute we can pay President Kaunda is to ensure that his place in history is made known to todays youth of Africa and shared widely with future generations in Africa and the rest of the global village.

Here I would like to recall my Foreword to the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre and UNESCOs forthcoming publication Youth in the Liberation Struggle and Beyond . This highlights the significant regional dimensions and linkages of the national liberation movements in southern Africa and shows that the attainment of political independence was well coordinated and was assisted through regional solidarity as well as the support of the continent and the international community. This book is Module 1 of a series entitled Respecting the Past, Building the Future.

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I state in my Foreword that:

The series emphasises the place of history in regional development by illustrating that those who liberated Southern Africa from colonial rule did not work in isolation to achieve their goal. Many of them were young adults, and todays young people can learn from these experiences in the current struggle for economic development and equality.

It is important that we do not lose the knowledge of this solidarity and collaboration in the achievement of our political independence across the region. With our shared history and common efforts in mind, we can be inclusive in our endeavours and contribute meaningfully and successfully to regional development and cooperation across the region.

President Kaunda deserved a Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to the liberation of Southern Africa and the role he played in support of the national liberation movements.
Visually impaired Midlands State University (MSU) student, Mavis Tshuma has received a timely donation of a special high-tech laptop, a smart phone and walking stick, all valued at over $500 000 to help her adapt to campus life.

The laptop, installed with Jaws Professional software, will allow the 27-year-old Sociology student to operate the computer using audio commands, making it easy to navigate between applications.

The equipment was sourced by Zimbabwe Newspapers Group (Zimpapers).

At the weekend, lnformation, Publicity and Broadcasting Services deputy minister, Kindness Paradza, handed over the laptop, a brand new A31 Samsung smartphone and a walking stick to the second-year MSU learner at her home in Makonde constituency.

The kind gesture followed an appeal for donations that was aired on the state broadcaster, ZBC TV.

Paradza lauded the diversified media company for the donation which will make life easier for the visually impaired student.

"After watching the heart-touching story of Mavis on ZBC TV, Zimpapers, through its board chairperson Tommy Sithole and chief executive officer Pikirayi Deketeke, procured the gadgets valued at over $500 000 from South Africa.

"The special utility laptop is going to be handy in her studies, as she desperately needs it," said Paradza, who was flanked by his Zanu PF district coordinating committee officials.

Minister Paradza handed the equipment

Accepting the donation, Tshuma said studying was a huge challenge and hopes the donation will help ameliorate the burden.

"The computer and the cell phone are going to make it easy for me to study. We only had two such kind of computers at MSU and it was a huge challenge for me and other visually impaired students to study," said Tshuma.

Zimpapers general manager (Digital & Publishing Division), Marks Shayamano, said the donation was part of the organisation's social corporate responsibility aimed at transforming livelihoods in a positive way.

He pledged more interventions to improve communities and their inhabitants.
Residents of Henties Bay in the Erongo region say the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is definitely hitting them harder than the previous two.

Former Henties Bay mayor Herman /Honeb last week said residents are now realising the virus is real as they hear of residents infected and dying.

He said during the first outbreak of the pandemic the town felt excluded as it experienced a great need for hospital beds, medicine and human resources, which is currently being addressed.

/Honeb says besides the message to wearing masks, sanitise and keep a distance, the Ministry of Health and Social Services needs to emphasise the importance of every individual to boost their immune system.

"Compliance to these measures is not foolproof. Henties Bay is a small community, people greet each other a lot and talk. So, when your mask fails you, at least your immune system must be strong," he says.

Residents are this year seeing the sporadic closure of institutions and private doctors' practices for disinfecting after the detection of Covid-10-positive cases.

This includes the Henties Bay municipality and ErongoRED.

Henties Bay, located about 70 km north of Swakopmund, finds itself isolated with low access to health services.

Until last month the town's residents did not have a Covid-19 testing facility, forcing them to travel to Swakopmund.

"If you or someone close to you had symptoms of Covid-19, your first worry was: How do I get that person to Swakopmund? But last week we got tested here at Henties Bay, and I took my whole family," Elias !Nanuseb says.

The town's deputy mayor, Michael Skini, says another concern is that test results, accumulated deaths, hospitalisation and vaccinations are not reported independently for Henties Bay, but are included in Swakopmund's figures.

"We are not happy about this trend. I believe it contributes to the don't-care attitude of the residents. If they could have seen the town's own numbers, perhaps there would have been an attitude change," he says.

Erongo region health director Anna Jonas says the health directorate has four reporting districts: Omaruru, Usakos, Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, with Henties Bay and Arandis both falling under Swakopmund.

Residents can get vaccinated at the Henties Bay Clinic, although it currently only provides second vaccine doses due to insufficient stock.

People needing first vaccine doses are currently placed on waiting lists.

Jonas says a mobile health outreach team visits the town biweekly to provide services.
Nedbank Namibia recently donated N$100,000 to the vaccination clinic at Lady Pohamba Private Hospital (LPPH) towards COVID-19 relief.

Namibia's COVID-19 vaccination programme, just like that of any other country in the world, aims to prevent serious illness and deaths. However, the pandemic is having a devastating impact as daily COVID-19 positive figures put a heavy strain on the healthcare system across the country.

"As we work to support the government during this devastating pandemic, we are grateful to corporate partners like Nedbank for standing alongside us. Together, we will work to increase access to critical life-saving medical care," explained Paddy Murphy, the CEO of LPPH in a sattement on Monday.

He said the Ministry of Health and Social Services will deliver and supply vaccines daily to the clinic. The hospital manager assured that each person is under observation for 15 minutes after the vaccination, to ensure that health of the patient is not compromised. This added staff responsibility of maintaining the standards and protocols at the clinic is placing significant strain on the normal operations of the hospital.

LPPH has now diverted its complete Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Marketing budgets to cover the monthly operational costs of the clinic--over N$358,000--in order to make it a success. At this point, the hospital has only enough funds available to cover the costs of the clinic for the next six weeks.

Murphy further explained that the LPPH has formed a Non-Profit Section 21 Company specifically for the project. They now need financial support and are requesting the business community and citizens to contribute to enabling them to deliver effective services. This is based on the likelihood that the vaccination centre will be needed for at least another 18 months, he added.

Those wishing to support the operational costs of the clinic can donate via the PayToday App. It's as easy as sending a Whatsapp message, explained Chris Botha, CEO of the local Fintech company.

"Download the PayToday app, select Lady Pohamba Vaccination Centre, select the amount you wish to donate and click PAY." Via their IDToday platform, Chris and his team have also assisted LPPH to develop an online booking system for the Covid-19 vaccinations, enabling a more streamlined administering process.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Nedbank Namibia has contributed significantly in order to mitigate the effects of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown by providing generous financial contributions to projects through its corporate social responsibility initiatives.

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N$1.3 million was set aside for the National Disaster Fund and another N$1 million for conservancies amid the tourism recession. To assist individuals and businesses during the lockdown in 2020, Nedbank extended credit to account holders in the amount of N$7,6 billion, with individuals receiving 58% of the credit. Support, further included contributions towards public health, youth, financial literacy, poverty alleviation, as well as the Bank's staff volunteers programme, set to do good in vulnerable communities.

The bank also committed an initial N$7, 5 million for personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff, including for those working from home, as well as transport, cleaning and sanitising costs.

Martha Murorua, Nedbank's Managing Director, said, "Getting immunized is important for at least two reasons: to protect yourself and to protect those around you. Given the present situation of our country, it is important that we must help our communities, particularly in light of the impact of the epidemic on those with minimal resources."

"Nedbank has always been driven to help build a better society and to support individuals, families and communities who are vulnerable, at risk, or less fortunate. The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified our commitment and resolve in this respect. We are in this together Namibia" Murorua concluded.
Former Cabinet member Ngarikutuke Tjiriange, who died on Wednesday last week aged 77, served as Namibia's first minister of justice from 1990 to 2003.

He was also a key legal adviser for Swapo from 1970 until his retirement from public office in 2010.

Tjiriange joined Swapo in the early 1960s and left for exile in 1964. At Swapo's Tanga Consultative Congress (1969 to 1970) he was chosen as the party's deputy secretary for legal and economic affairs. At the time he was studying law in the Soviet Union. He became the organisation's secretary for legal affairs in 1976.

Tjiriange represented Swapo at numerous international gatherings before independence, including meetings of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, United Nations (UN) Law of the Sea conference, and sessions of the UN General Assembly and Security Council.

He was part of Swapo's negotiating team on the Security Council's Resolution 435, which set out a road map for Namibia's independence.

Tjiriange spent 20 years as a member of the National Assembly (from 1990 to 2010), during which time he served as minister of justice for the first 13 years.

During 2000 and 2001 he was the country's attorney general as well.

He later took up a key administrative position in Swapo - being elected as the party's secretary general from 2002 to 2007.

In 2003, president Sam Nujoma gave Tjiriange the role of minister without portfolio, a position that enabled him to receive a full ministerial salary while completing his party duties.

In March 2005, president Hifikepunye Pohamba reappointed him as minister without portfolio, despite criticism from the opposition that the post was a waste of money.

From 2006 until 2010 he served as minister of veterans affairs - a new post that was created, following protests by former combatants demanding compensation for their years spent in the military struggle for liberation.

As minister of justice he defended the independence of the judiciary in the face of some harsh criticism of judges from some of his comrades.

Tjiriange was an effective and at times aggressive public speaker. Although temperate in most of his statements as a minister, he could speak more harshly on the campaign trail.

In the early 1990s he was the focus of allegations that drought-aid money had been used to drill a borehole on an ostrich farm he co-owned with deputy minister Nangolo Ithete.

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Despite a critical report on the 'borehole scandal' by an official commission, no action was taken.

After his withdrawal from day-to-day politics in 2010, Tjiriange was appointed as a special adviser to the minister of home affairs and immigration in 2012.

Tjiriange authored a memoir, 'To Hell and Back - My Experience under Difficult Colonial Rule', which was published in 2016.

In a tribute on his Facebook page, president Hage Geingob said Tjiriange was a special adviser to the government on the issue of heritage at the time of his death.

Tjiriange also regularly contributed opinion pieces on political and legal matters to newspapers, particularly New Era.

Tjiriange was born on 12 July 1943 in Windhoek and died in the city on 23 June 2021.

* Graham Hopwood is the executive director of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) in Windhoek.
The Oranjemund Town Council has accused diamond mining giant Namdeb of owing the town more than N$121 million in rent and for the sale of land.

In 2018, the town council and the company entered an agreement for the sale of Namdeb houses and commercial properties at Oranjemund and subsequent private property ownership.

Ministerial approval was granted in July 2018 for the council to sell 1 126 erven, which have been upgraded by Namdeb.

The mining giant was given 12 months (until July 2019) to pay for the properties and have them transferred.

In terms of the agreement, occupational rent became chargeable on properties not sold by the end of this period, and had to be paid to the council.

In a statement the council says Namdeb did not honour this agreement.

"Since 2018, Namdeb has been playing delaying tactics in negotiations with the council in resolving the payment of occupational rent in the absence of land rates and taxes. At the moment, Namdeb is running a 'real-estate agency' at Oranjemund, instead of running a diamond mining outlet in line with its mining licence," the statement reads.

This, according to the council, has put a strain on its development plans for the town and on the provision of essential municipal services.

"They refuse to donate any properties to the local authority council, claiming the council must buy properties if they want to own one," the statement says.

The town council says it now suspects that Namdeb could generate a substantial income of between N$200 million and N$300 million from the sale of properties at Oranjemund.

Namdeb's unwillingness to donate the improved properties to the council is discouraging potential investors, the council claims.

"This has also made the costs of doing business extremely high as the mining company's rental fees are extremely high in the absence of a property ownership regime in town, as most of the properties are owned by Namdeb," the council says.

Namdeb's corporate affairs manager, Shangelao Ndadi, acknowledged that the occupational rent money has not been paid to the council, but said all other accounts are up to date.

"This matter has been referred for arbitration by Namdeb for resolution between the two parties, and the arbitration process is being unnecessarily delayed by the council. The council has since rescinded a previous council decision regarding occupational rent, and despite Namdeb having requested the new council resolution or minutes, this has not been forthcoming," Ndadi said.

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She denied claims about the non-payment of rates and taxes, saying Namdeb pays for the 500 properties the company is renting out.

Ndadi said the company charged rent on these properties while waiting for the transfer of properties to be finalised.

Namdeb has offered the properties for purchase by the current occupants, and to date more than 500 tenants have shown their willingness to buy them, she said.

"Namdeb is committed to the successful transition of Oranjemund, which is currently being delayed as the council refuses to allow for transfer of properties, except through a specific conveyancer. It is Namdeb's view that the only entity currently benefiting from the property sales delay is the Oranjemund Town Council," Ndadi said.
THE fishing industry, which is Namibia's third-largest economic sector, is backing government efforts to get as many people as possible vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.

The industry was hit the hardest by the virus during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, with many employees spending weeks in isolation facilities.

For the third wave, most companies have prepared themselves by starting vaccination drives to have as many of their staff members inoculated against the virus.

Although Erongo Marine Enterprises managing director Martha Uumati would like to see everyone vaccinated, she believes vaccination is a personal choice.

"At the onset of the national vaccination roll-out, we embarked on an internal information sharing campaign to afford all employees the opportunity to make an informed decision. The company also encourages those who have gone for vaccination to share their personal experiences with fellow employees," she said last week.

She said while the company's vessels at sea operate as isolation facilities, the captains conduct regular surveys with crew to gauge who would like to be vaccinated.

She said the greatest challenge is the dissemination of fake news and myths about the Covid-19 vaccines, circulating on social media. However, that has not stopped the company's efforts to encourage and drive the vaccination information campaign.

For the employees who are still in doubt, Uumati says the company will continue to provide immune boosters and preventative medication as cleared by medical professionals, which it has been giving since the onset of the pandemic in last year.

Cavema Fishing board of directors chairperson Robert Shimwooshili and the company's general manager, Sandro de Gouveia, have been the first to be vaccinated to encourage the rest of their staff to take the jab.

"We have and will continue to encourage every employee to get vaccinated. We will continue with all our health and safety precautions and measures to ensure that all our staff and others around them remain safe," said De Gouveia.

Shimwooshili said the vaccination remains a personal choice and the company is not making it mandatory. To avoid transmission at sea, Shimwooshili said the company continued to quarantine fishing vessels' crew before sailing.

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"Our seagoing personnel are tested and quarantined first before going to sea, and those who test positive we take care of them so that they do not lose income because of Covid-19. In addition, we purchase immune boosters and related vitamins for our people who are more exposed onshore," said Shimwooshili.

Tunacor Fisheries has started with a vaccination programme at the company's registered onsite clinic in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Services.

Tunacor chief executive Peya Hitula said the vaccination started in May on a voluntary basis.

"We are now coordinating a second vaccination day on site in July. In the meantime, we keep encouraging our employees to take the vaccine and our clinic assists and facilitates those willing to be vaccinated to do so at the available sites," he said.

Hitula said the company relied on the workers' trade unions to convince their members to get vaccinated, and he is hopeful that through their awareness campaign most of the workforce will be vaccinated.

Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations chairperson Matti Amukwa said while there is no legislation in Namibia making vaccination mandatory, companies should continue with information awareness campaigns.

"What is crucial is to educate the people about the benefit of being vaccinated and to dispel misleading information being spread on social media and other influential platforms. The industry's main objective is to have as many employees [as possible] vaccinated in order to suppress the spread of the virus," said Amukwa.

He urged industry players to adhere to the set Covid-19 regulations.
The country has run out of first doses of the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine.

The Covax facility, through which Namibia is acquiring vaccines, is currently prioritising distribution to other countries.

The facility is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi), Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) and focuses on ensuring equitable access of vaccines for African countries.

Moreover, being a middle-income country, Namibia has to settle its own financial obligations to the facility.

Minister of health and social services Kalumbi Shangula on Friday said the biggest issue affecting Namibia's access to Covid-19 vaccines is its middle- to upper-income status, compared to some other African countries which receive the vaccines for free through the facility.

This, Shangula said, has left the country competing with European countries to access vaccines.

He said Namibia's population size also contributes to the challenge of accessing vaccines.

"For instance, we would order 250 000 doses, while a European country would order a million doses. From a business perspective, the European country would be prioritised ... and all the vaccines are produced elsewhere, outside Namibia, outside Africa," he said.

Shangula said procuring vaccines has been difficult for Namibia.

"We have gone through the Covax facility, which is meant to ensure equitable access to vaccines. However, even the Covax facility has been struggling to acquire vaccines to distribute, and although we have paid, we are still waiting for the third consignment. We do not know when it will come," he said.

He said Namibia is waiting for Sputnik V and Johnson & Johnson through the African Union (AU), as well as Sinopharm.

DOSES ADMINISTERED

Overall, the country has administered 141 164 vaccinations after receiving 197 200 doses, which means 56 036 are left for both first and second jabs.

The Ministry of Health and Social Services has administered 50 534 first doses of Sinopharm vaccines across the country.

The country earlier this year received 100 000 doses. The vaccine is administered in two doses per person.

The ministry administered 534 additional first doses, hoping the second batch of Sinopharm vaccines, which the country has bought, would arrive in time for second doses.

Namibia bought an additional 150 000 Sinopharm doses set to arrive in the next two weeks.

Furthermore, Namibia has also received 30 000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Covishield vaccine from India, and 67 000 through the Covax facility.

This amounts to 97 200 AstraZeneca doses overall.

So far, the country has administered 67 098 first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The Covax facility is set to deliver an additional 40 800 doses of AstraZeneca by the end of July.

The AU will also deliver 250 000 vials of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in August.

Between Friday and Saturday, the ministry recorded 95 new deaths linked to Covid-19, bringing the country's overall Covid-19 death toll to 1 400.

Over the same two days, Namibia recorded 3 435 new Covid-19 infections, pushing up to 84 705 the cumulative number of infections recorded in the country since the start of the pandemic.

Over the past week, Namibia recorded 11 541 new infections and 239 deaths linked to Covid-19.

Two weeks earlier, the country recorded 6 148 new infections and 88 deaths during the seven days up to 12 June.

VARIANTS AND WAVES

Shangula said Namibia is currently trying to establish which variant is driving the country's third wave.

"We are currently trying to identify that [a new variant]. We are busy checking if there are also some other variants circulating apart from that one. Maybe that variant was reinforced, or maybe there is an agent that is more aggressive," he said.

Windhoek-based infectious disease specialist Dr Gordon Cupido believes the current wave of new infections should peak in the next week or two, while hospitalisation and deaths can be expected to peak by the third week or end of July.

Cupido and lung specialist Dr Willie Bruwer say a fourth wave could be expected at around early to mid-October.

"Beta should make Delta less contagious now. Immunity wanes after three to six months, which is when Gamma will strike," Cupido yesterday said.

The Alpha variant of the virus was initially detected in the United Kingdom, Beta was first detected in South Africa, Gamma was identified in travellers from Brazil, and the Delta variant was discovered in India.

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According to the South African Department of Science and Innovation, there is good evidence that the Delta variant is more transmissible than others.

So far, Namibia has only confirmed the presence of the Beta variant, and has not found any evidence that the Delta variant is present in the country.

IVERMECTIN

Shangula said no doctor has heeded the call of the Namibia Medicines Regulatory Council to participate in a clinical trial for the use of the animal parasite medication ivermectin to treat or prevent Covid-19.

"The council has said we invite the doctors to come and make such a trial using ivermectin and a placebo, and then compare and convince us that indeed this one has got a beneficial effect. The invitation is open, it is just that I have not heard of anyone taking it up," Shangula said.

The council believes there is no data to support the use of ivermectin to treat Covid-19.

Agricultural retail giants have been left with empty shelves as Namibians rushed to buy the medicine.

According to the WHO, ivermectin is a broad-spectrum antiparasitic agent.
Namibia's power utility, NamPower, has issued a tender for the construction of a 50-megawatt power plant at Walvis Bay, at an estimated cost of N$1,2 billion.

The power station, according to a proposal document of NamPower, will operate during times when Namibia experiences a shortage of electricity being imported into the country and should enable the power utility to minimise or avoid power cuts.

NamPower generation project senior manager Benedictus Mingeli said the plant is expected to be operational by 2023.

"The plant will increase local peak generation capacity to complement increased renewable energy initiatives. It will also reduce the risk of load shedding when imports are not available," he said.

The plant, to be known as Anixas II, will be built on the same premises as the current 22,5 MW emergency Anixas power plant at Walvis Bay.

It comes in the place of the old Paratus diesel power plant, which was disconnected from the grid a few years back.

Mingeli added that it will be expensive to generate electricity from the plant as it will use liquid fuel (light fuel oil or heavy fuel oil) or liquefied natural gas or compressed natural gas to generate electricity.

NamPower has set an ambitious target of generating 70% of the country's electricity from renewable sources by 2030, to reduce Namibia's reliance on imported electricity.

It plans to invest N$3,5 billion in renewable energy projects.

Independent power producers (IPPs) are expected to also complement NamPower's generation capacity with up to 70 MW of solar and wind energy generation projects.

Namibia's current power demand is estimated at more than 500 MW. NamPower has an installed generation capacity of 459,5 MW from its three operating power stations.
LEVERAGING on accurate and readily available data is important for business growth and boosting the confidence of entrepreneurs.

Not only does it help them assess a possible number of customers, but also to plan well.

This was shared during talks on the fashion industry held by the African Development Bank (AfDB) late last month.

More than 4,5 billion active internet users, or 60% of the world's population, have an online presence, according to Statista, an online market and consumer data firm.

Tapping into that audience is critical to grow businesses and brands, said the AfDB in a statement.

According to the bank, there is a need to explore ways to leverage digital media platforms to boost African fashion.

Digital platforms, like Instagram and Facebook can serve as online studios and runways, playing a pivotal role in African fashion entrepreneurs growing their businesses, and advancing the 'Made in Africa' movement, the statement read.

"Social media is one of the most relevant marketing channels and a strategic tool for African fashion brands to stay relevant, interact with their customers and formulate effective strategies to increase sales," said Bintou Sadio Diallo, cultural and creative industries expert at the bank.

Morin Oluwole, global head of luxury at Facebook said collaboration with media, publishers and creators could ensure alignment with the industry's different priorities and make sure that African talent finds a global audience.

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"It is important to widen the scope of customers and clients in Africa, but also across the diaspora," she said.

Sophie Nzinga Sy, fashion designer and founder of Dakar Design Hub stressed the importance of agencies specialising in media relations and brand consulting.

"We don't have enough of those support systems on the continent to link us up with celebrities and media," she noted, adding that the situation has evolved as there are many platforms available for designers to showcase their work and tell their stories authentically.

Namibian fashion entrepreneurs have used social media extensively as well, however accurate data on the number of active users of social media in the country and their age groups remain an impediment.

Regulators such as the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia do not distribute statistics that would aid entrepreneurs make accurate decisions anymore, and many rely on trial and error.
document

Member states who have not yet ratified the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) have been urged to do so, so that the continent can speedily revive their economies back to economic growth of around 4.5%.

The Secretary General of the AfCFTA, Mr Wamkele Mene, told a virtual sitting of the Southern Africa Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) that reducing barriers to trade and increasing free movement of goods will drive Africa's recovery.

Regional economic blocs are AfCFTA's building blocks, he said, and it will be critical to monitor, enforce and evaluate the free trade agreement. AfCFTA is a useful tool to push back poverty and accelerate development across the continent through coordinated access to markets. Mr Mene added: "Africa has a unique opportunity to position for industrial development and value addition. Something drastic has to be done to resolve low growth. This is an opportunity to accelerate Africa development."

Other SADC-PF members highlighted that implementation of the agreement is urgently needed and encouraged those who have yet to do so. Mr K Sibande noted that commodity diversification in Africa is too low and that African countries should trade more with one another.

Poor ICT infrastructure, digital penetration and road infrastructure compounds the problem. Mr Sibande asked SADC-PF if it was possible to increase intra-African trade without industrialising. He identified competitiveness, industrialisation and support for regional infrastructure development as key elements in the process.

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The Southern African Customs Union's (SACU's) Ms Paulina Mbala Elago said the low intra-African trade is a characteristic of a lack of market integration. "Trade liberalisation is not sufficient to maximise gains from trade. Importantly, we need to refocus our agenda on industrialisation."

Ms Mbala Elago also pointed out that Covid-19 has highlighted weaknesses in Africa's pharmaceutical exports. "We should be looking at how to capitalise and inject the sector. We have the scientists; we have the researchers." To this end, SACU is engaging sectoral partners and will convene a ministerial roundtable later in the year.

Ms Anele Ndebele said ending corruption, building better road and rail links, and ending bureaucracy at borders are important if regional integration is to be achieved. "We could not move in the right direction if other members have not ratified. They should be encouraged to ratify and could ratify with reservations, as is allowed in terms of international protocols."

Sibongile Maputi
A jab of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at the Medforum hospital in Pretoria, South Africa on May 12, 2021.

opinion

As new COVID-19 variants cause spikes in COVID cases across the continent with cases and deaths increasing by almost 40% in the past week - the acute imbalance in vaccine access across the world is on full display. Thankfully, governments and funders are responding. The WHO announced this week it was setting up a manufacturing hub to make COVID-19 vaccines in South Africa, the continents first COVID-19 vaccine production facility. This is an important step towards the urgent investments needed in Africas capacity to design, manufacture and develop vaccines.

A key piece of this capacity, which must be at the center of these investments, is Africas ability to conduct vaccine clinical trials in the region.

Africas relative exclusion from global clinical vaccine trials is not new, but COVID-19 has brought it into sharp focus. Globally, less than 6% of clinical vaccine trials are carried out in Africa and this ratio applies equally to trials of COVID-19 vaccines - so far only 17 of 301 trials are in Africa.

This glaring gap in the global vaccine research and development model could limit the availability of effective COVID-19 vaccines to some populations and insert additional risk into the global health ecosystem. It contributes to vaccine scepticism, increases the risk of new variants developing, especially where vaccination coverage is low, and is a clear symptom of the weakness of Africas health systems. Together all these factors are contributing to the tragic reality that most poor countries will have to wait much longer for COVID-19 vaccines than rich ones.

There is no time to waste. Indias recent battle with the Delta variant, and the emergence of Delta plus shows just how rapidly situations can change and how devastating the impact can be. In Africa, were seeing surges in parts of Uganda, South Africa and Kenya as more contagious variants - including ones we may not know about yet - spread In order to identify variants of viruses, scientists carry out genome sequencing but this capacity is limited in most African countries. This means we cannot know the level of spread of variants across the region and their potential impact on the efficacy of different vaccines.

There has been some progress on vaccine testing in Africa, such as the clinical trials of Oxford/AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines in South Africa, which provided early evidence of the impact of the vaccine on the variant first discovered there. Without this action, the world may have been blind to what was coming. Other investments are being made in Africas clinical trial capacity and there are a number of world-class research institutions on the continent. But without sufficient (or representative) vaccine trials, manufacturers and policy makers cannot respond as effectively to variants that will inevitably spread globally.

In an atmosphere of vaccine hesitancy and skepticism, driven in part by the inequity surrounding COVID-19 vaccine development, conducting more clinical trials in Africa could also boost vaccine confidence. There is no current evidence that different ethnic groups react to the COVID-19 vaccine in different ways, but the level of trust in COVID vaccination in African countries is very variable. Clinical vaccine testing at scale in Africa, as well as tackling misinformation, could help to reassure vaccine hesitant groups.

In addition, investment in clinical trial capacity in Africa would be a significant contribution to building back better. It would strengthen local laboratories, boost African research and development and health worker capacities, and improve preparedness for future pandemics and treatment of many other diseases. We saw lasting benefits of investment in the Ebola vaccine trial in Sierra Leone between 2015-2016 with laboratories renovated and health workers trained. Boosting clinical vaccine trial capacity for COVID could do the same for the whole continent.

African governments need to take the lead. It is no longer sufficient for African governments to rely on rich countries and western capital to shoulder the cost of vaccine development. African governments must invest in vaccine trial capacity and incentivise the private sector to do so.

Pharmaceutical companies should also invest in much more diverse vaccine trials. This requires regulatory and governance support. Africans have in the past been subjected to poorly regulated and unethical medical trials. National regulatory capacity must be developed so that African countries can take leadership in developing, designing, and implementing vaccine trials, while protecting Africans.

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There is still a role for donor countries and external funding partners. This support should focus on building long-term capacity and not just vaccine provision. Vaccine trials should be done in collaboration with research partners in African countries for sustainable capacity-building, local ownership and in the spirit of global health collaboration.

COVID-19 has shown us the weaknesses in the global health system and the risks associated with vaccine insecurity in Africa. The continent and its external partners need to address vaccine testing capacity as foundational investments in stronger health systems in Africa.

Oyeronke Oyebanji is a Nigerian public health professional and a 2021 Aspen New Voices Fellow. She is a Strategy Coordinator at CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) and an Analyst for the COVAX Strategic Coordination Office. Follow her on Twitter @OyeRonke_
The governor said that the date for the formal inauguration of the new governing council of LASU would be announced later.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has officially announced the appointment of a former Lagos State Accountant General, David Sunmoni, as chairman of the 13-member Governing Council of the Lagos State University (LASU).

Mr Sanwo-Olu's Special Adviser on Education, Tokunbo Wahab, said on Monday in a statement that the appointment was based on the report of the Special Visitation Panel on the appointment of the 9th Vice-Chancellor.

PREMIUM TIMES had, on Saturday, exclusively <a target="_blank" href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/470121-exclusive-lasu-governing-council-sanwo-olu-replaces-ninalowo-returns-others.html">reported the appointment</a> which came about one month after the governing council of the school was dissolved over controversies surrounding the appointment of the institution's 9th substantive vice-chancellor.

Mr Wahab said that the visitation panel recommended the dissolution of the previous governing council of the university and by the powers conferred on the governor by the Lagos State University Law, Cap L69 volume 7, Laws of Lagos State, 2015 (as amended).

Other members of the Council are Amuwo Shaffudeen, Anuoluwa Eso, Tolani Sule, Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii, Karl Toriola, Adekunle Soname, Moluke Abdul- Rasaq, Moronke Williams, Adebayo Akinsanya, Adenike Fasheun, Mojisola Taiwo and Hakeem Adetugbobo.

The governor said that the date for the formal inauguration of the new governing council would be announced later. (<a target="_blank" href="http://nannews.ng">NAN</a>)
document

The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Ms Faith Muthambi, has wished success to the hearings on the Inquiry on Free and Fair Local Government Elections during the Covid-19 pandemic. The inquiry, chaired by the former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, began this morning and seeks to establish whether or not there should be local government elections in 2021.

The inquiry will hear oral submissions from the Electoral Commission of South Africa, as well as representatives from the Department of Health, health NGOs, the ministerial advisory committee (MAC) on Covid-19, independent medical experts, electoral monitoring bodies, civil society organisations and political parties who requested to make oral submissions.

According to media reports,3 000 inputs have been submitted to the inquiry so far. The inquiry is established primarily to investigate the feasibility of having free and fair local government elections during these unprecedented times.

Ms Muthambi said: "We are optimistic that the inquiry will deliver a correct and an acceptable solution to the problem, and above all, a solution that will leave the South African nation united. We are calling upon all the role-players to be behind this inquiry and be ready to accept its outcome."

Meanwhile, the committee welcomes President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement to move South Africa to alert Level 4 lockdown, with stricter restrictions from today. This is after the MAC advised that the limited restrictions, previously imposed, were not that effective. "We call upon all South Africans to adhere to Covid-19 protocols," said Ms Muthambi.
analysis

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made a fairly radical proposal: the creation of an international carbon floor price to be launched by the largest emitters. The proposal was laid out in a recent IMF staff paper and fleshed out in its blog.

First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.

"Between one quarter and one half. That's how much carbon dioxide (CO) and other greenhouse gases must fall over the next decade to keep alive the goal of restricting global warming to below 2C. The fastest and most practical way to achieve this is by creating an international carbon price floor arrangement," the Washington-based lender said.

This is radical stuff by IMF standards because, like a minimum wage, a floor price is not market-driven: it is carved in regulatory stone. The prices of other goods and globally traded commodities generally respond to market forces, and some carbon-trading models have been broadly market-based.

But carbon pricing has a wider environmental and social aim: to get producers and companies to reduce their carbon footprint in a bid to combat climate change, which is linked to greenhouse gas emissions.

"By making polluting energy sources more expensive than clean sources, carbon pricing...
BUA Group Chairman and President of the newly inaugurated France Nigeria Business Council, Abdul Samad Rabiu, greets President Emmanuel Macron of France at the inauguration of the French Nigeria Business Council in Versailles, France.

press release

... several model primary schools to be constructed across Ghana.

The Ghanaian Government, through its Ministry of Education, has been awarded a $3 million education infrastructure support grant from the Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa).

This grant will be drawn from ASR Africa's annual $100 million Africa Fund for Social Development and Renewal and was announced during the presentation of the letter of award to the Ghanaian Government at the Jubilee House in Accra, recently.

Speaking at the event in Accra, Ghana's capital, Udoh Ubon, the Managing Director of ASR Africa commended the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, for his sincere commitment to developing the educational system at all levels in Ghana.

According to Ubon, this award was significant because Ghana is also the first African country beneficiary of an ASR Africa grant after Nigeria.

"ASR Africa is an initiative of industrialist and philanthropist, Abdul Samad Rabiu, who has decided to give back to the African continent to promote sustainable health care, education and social development. Whilst reviewing potential national beneficiaries for the African aspect of the grant, we were encouraged by the strides made by the Ghanaian government in Education.

"We believe this $3 million ASR Africa education infrastructure grant will go a long way in supporting the eradication of 'schools under trees' across the country whilst developing primary education infrastructure across the country."

Receiving the ASR Africa delegation on behalf of the Government, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, Chief of Staff in the Office of the President, thanked ASR Africa for the grant.

According to her, the President Nana Akufo-Addo administration "is committed to improving the quality of education and educational infrastructure across the country and this grant is a welcome development which would accelerate the work already being done".

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She further added that the government will work together with ASR Africa based on the agreed Mutual Accountability Framework to come up with a programme to build several primary schools across Ghana under the grant.

She further praised the Chairman of BUA Group and ASR Africa for his commitment to the African continent in business and philanthropy.

In his response, Mr Ubon said "Abdul Samad Rabiu and ASR Africa will remain an active partner in solving developmental issues across the continent. Ghana is just the start and more African countries are set to benefit this year."

The brainchild of African Industrialist, Philanthropist and Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, the Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa) was established in 2021 to provide sustainable, impact-based homegrown solutions to developmental issues affecting Health, Education and Social Development within Africa.
Detectives have seized a consignment of fake gold bars which had been stored in a strong room belonging to Swissport transit freight station at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), the Kenyan Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has said.

The fake gold had been concealed in 31 boxes, the DCI said yesterday morning.

The DCI revealed that the fake bars had been delivered from Uganda by shadowy businessmen dealing in the lucrative gold business and stored at the airport on the pretext that it was cargo awaiting transit to different destinations across the world.

According to the DCI, the bogus traders settled on Swissport freight since it provides ground and cargo handling services in major airports across the world. They also sought to avoid detection by detectives.

Businessmen from across the world have been losing a lot of money to fraudsters pretending to sell gold.

The DCI said the swindlers have been luring unsuspecting investors to view the gold at the customs offices at JKIA.

"Once at the airport, a prospective buyer is lured to Swissport's strong room, where what appears to be genuine gold bars are displayed. The client is advised that once the transaction is completed, the gold will be shipped to any destination of his choice across the globe," said the DCI.

"However, immediately the buyer is convinced that the transaction is above board and makes payments, including customs and shipping costs, that marks the beginning of his tribulations."

In May 2019, detectives raided a house in Kileleshwa where fake gold bars were suspected to have been stored and arrested 15 people, among them three women.

Also seized during that raid were eight cars which included a Subaru, Mercedes Benz and a Toyota Land Cruiser. And in January last year, a Japanese businessman sued a Kenyan lawyer, accusing him of working with local dealers to defraud him of Sh79.2m in a fake gold scheme.

Asano Tatsunori, a resident of Tokyo, accused lawyer Joel Kimutai Bosek, whom he retained in the gold trade, of professional negligence.

Tatsunori and his World Gateway Japan Company Limited had agreed to buy gold from a Kenyan firm -- Customs Cargo Handlers in 2017.

The Japanese businessman accuses Mr Bosek of colluding with the local gold dealers whom he was also acting for "to defraud him $722,080 (KSh72.08m) in the fake gold racket."

In March 2019, police stumbled on what appeared to be an international syndicate that duped people into buying fake gold and currency.

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The officers were investigating KSh2b worth of counterfeit dollars which had been found at a branch belonging to Barclays Bank of Kenya.

While doing the investigations, the officers discovered fake gold thought to belong to the main suspect in the matter.

After storming the bank, the discovered dozens of fake gold deposits which had been shown to many unsuspecting traders who had fallen victim to the scheme.

Warning

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations says, the fraudsters are now changing tactic and have devised "a seemingly smart way of luring investors to airports to be shown the gold".

"The Directorate of Criminal Investigations is cautioning anyone within or outside the country intending to venture in gold business, to be on the lookout not to fall prey to these amoebic fraudsters who keep changing tactics and mode of operation. When the deal looks too good, think twice and where necessary, kindly confirm the authenticity of the gold deposits with relevant government agencies and more so the DCI, [which] has come to the aid of so many victims," the DCI tweeted Sunday.
By Anthony Wesaka

Government has been dragged to court over failure to regulate the high medical bills being charged by private health facilities for Covid-19 treatment.

As the country battles the second wave of Covid-19, several private hospitals around Kampala are charging between Shs3m and Shs5m per day for patients needing oxygen in the intensive care and high dependency units.

Likewise, the same hospitals are charging between Shs1m and Shs2.5m for moderate cases per day.

And on Friday, a health advocacy organisation, Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) and its executive director, Mr Moses Mulumba, petitioned the High Court in Kampala, seeking intervention.

Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, the Health minister, the Attorney General (AG) and the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council, have been listed as respondents.

"An order be issued against the respondents (minister Aceng, AG and the medical association), to intervene by regulating and causing a reduction of the soaring hospital rates for management and treatment of persons suffering from Covid-19," reads in part the court documents.

In his affidavit to support the petition, Mr Mulumba contends that the country is currently going through the ravaging effects of Covid-19 pandemic that has claimed lives of more than 900 Ugandans.

He adds that as result, some hospitals according to a survey by Daily Monitor, are unnecessarily charging very high medical bills.

"The rates charged by the hospitals are clearly exorbitant in nature and largely unbearable by hospitals in the treatment and management of persons suffering from Covid-19,"Mr Mulumba states.

Mr Mulumba avers that government is mandated by law to provide for the wellbeing and general safety of Ugandans including guarding them against any form of extortion and manipulation in access to social services.

"The respondents (Minister Aceng, AG and the medical association), have a statutory obligation to intervene and regulate medical fees chargeable by hospitals in the treatment and management of persons suffering from Covid-19," he states.

"Unless this honourable court weighs in and compels the respondents to intervene and regulate chargeable rates for management and treatment of Covid-19, Ugandans will undoubtedly continue to lose lives at the quest for huge profits by the hospitals," he adds.

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By press time yesterday, Dr Aceng, government and the medical association, in their capacity as respondents, had not yet filed their defence before a hearing date can be fixed.

While appearing on NTV Uganda's On-the-Spot talk show more than a week ago, Minister Aceng lashed out at private health facilities for hiking prices for Covid-19 treatment.

"It's very unfortunate that some people are taking advantage of the vulnerable to make money during this time of Covid-19. This is not a time to make money, this is a time to save lives," she noted.

Govt response

Government and proprietors of health facilities met Col Edith Nakalema last week over the high medical bills. Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja is also expected to meet the owners of the health facilities today in a bid to reduce the medical bills.
The number of patients at Kalisizo Hospital in Kyotera District has significantly dropped after 13 of the health workers tested positive for covid-19.

Yesterday, when this reporter visited the hospital, about five people would come per hour to the Out-Patients Department (OPD) to receive medication compared to about 30 patients per hour previously.

"We have been receiving overwhelming numbers of expectant mothers but they have currently dropped by almost 50 per cent. We are worried that they may resort to using traditional birth attendants which is risky," a midwife who preferred anonymity said.

Dr Emmanuel Ssekyeru, the Medical Superintendent confirmed the positive tests of health workers but dismissed the allegations of patients shunning the hospital.

"It's true we have 13 health workers who tested positive for Covid-19 in the recent tests we carried out but they are progressing. They are under self-isolation and we are monitoring them closely. But I guess the decrease in the number of patients at the hospital is due to restricted movements," he said.

"I'm sure the President cleared patients to move conveniently. It will be up to them if they resort to using herbs and they end up losing their lives. But for us we are here to serve them," Dr Ssekyeru added.

He, however, called for more support from the Ministry of Health in delivering more equipment for the health workers handling Covid-19 patients.

"We can currently handle only two patients of Covid-19 because we lack enough oxygen and still the space is very small. We, therefore, handle moderate cases and recommend self-isolation," Dr Ssekyeru said.

Ms Margret Kaihangwe, one of the patients found at the hospital applauded the health workers for giving them attention despite the difficult times they are currently in.

"We got rumours that some health workers tested positive for Covid-19 but some of us have no other option apart from coming here. It's good that the ones available have attended to us without any hesitation. Our worry is that we could have contracted the disease here and then end up spreading it to our family members," she said.
Berlin  The United Nations said 12 German troops and a Belgian soldier serving in the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali were wounded Friday in an attack in the country's restive north.

The U.N. mission in the country, MINUSMA, had earlier said that 15 peacekeepers were wounded when a temporary operational base in the Gao region was targeted with a vehicle bomb. Later, it corrected the numbers.

German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said three of the soldiers were seriously wounded. She told reporters in Bonn, Germany, that two soldiers were in a stable condition while the third was still undergoing surgery.

All of the wounded soldiers were flown by helicopter to Gao, where they were being treated at German, French and Chinese medical facilities, the minister said.

"The military operations on site aren't completed yet," she said.

A German medevac plane will fly to Gao overnight to bring the wounded soldiers back to Germany on Saturday, said Kramp-Karrenbauer.

Germany has hundreds of troops taking part in U.N. stabilization and European Union training missions in the West African nation.

Mali has been trying to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency since 2012.

Islamic extremist rebels were forced from power in Mali's northern cities with the help of a French-led military operation in 2013. However, the insurgents quickly regrouped in the desert and began launching frequent attacks on the Malian army and its allies fighting the insurgency.

The extremists have expanded their reach well into central Mali, where their presence has inflamed tensions between ethnic groups in the area.
document

A very good morning from Johannesburg.

I am very honoured to join you all today at this national gathering, ahead of the global Generation Equality Forum Summit set to take place later this week in Paris.

My gratitude to the Government of Namibia, the Ambassadors of France, Mexico and Denmark, UN Women and other civil society organizations for collaborating with and supporting UNFPA to make this event possible.

Your Excellency, Right Hon. Prime Minister, thank you for such inspiring and grounding remarks. UNFPA commends you personally for your commitment and interest in the empowerment of women and girls and is pleased to know of your participation in the upcoming Paris Summit.

We will continue with our joint efforts to maintain the momentum of the Generation Equality coalitions in particular, the coalition on Bodily Autonomy and SRHR - which UNFPA co-convenes. Further, we remain committed to supporting the Government of Namibia in collaboration with other partners to address the priority issues of gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health and rights, with a keen focus on innovative interventions.

Honourable Prime Minister, Ministers, Distinguished Guests,

A few weeks ago, I joined the UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem on a mission to the Eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We met a young woman named Larise, a survivor of sexual violence, who detailed how she was raped and violated by a group of men, leading to a five-month stay in hospital to repair her broken body.

Now physically recovered, but forever changed by the experience, Larise's story echoes those of millions of women and girls globally whose lives have been shattered because their bodies have been disrespected and their rights abused. For far too many women and girls, life is fraught with violations of their agency and bodily autonomy.

Allow me then, to get straight to the heart of the matter. As a region, we must recognize the right to bodily autonomy and understand its fundamental impact on individuals, and its centrality to our development aspirations.

I would therefore like to frame my remarks around three central questions.

What is bodily autonomy and why does it matter?

Bodily autonomy means having the power and agency to make choices over one's body and future, without violence, coercion or discrimination. Fundamentally, bodily autonomy is about the power to decide; it's about choice. Above all, it's about human dignity.

Intertwined is the right to bodily integrity -- to be free from non-consensual physical acts such as child marriage, female genital mutilation and virginity testing; and the right to self-determination - the ability to control one's life.

These rights play out in everyday decisions - the right to have a say in sexual matters, to say yes to contraception, to decide if and when to get pregnant, and to make healthcare choices.

These seem like obvious rights - and they should be - yet in the latest UNFPA State of the World Population Report titled My Body is My Own, we are confronted with the devastating reality that often these very intimate decisions about women's bodies and lives are taken out of women's hands by another - their male partner, their family, their societies - even their governments.

Only 55% of women in the 57 countries surveyed - of which 17 were in East and Southern Africa, can make their own choice over their bodies and futures without fearing some form of violence or other negative repercussions.

The SWOP report highlights that overall 64% of women in Southern Africa have the power to make their own sexual and reproductive health decisions. A closer look reveals that while 89% and 94% have the power to decide on contraception use and accessing healthcare, respectively, only 75% have the power to say no to sex.

The data reflects legal barriers to full and equal Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) services. Access to these services may be restricted based on marital status, age, third-party authorization including spousal, parental or guardian.

And when countries have favourable legal provisions to sexual and reproductive health and rights - implementation still remains subject to personal beliefs and misinformation.

It is against this background that we have to realise that a lot more needs to be done and this brings me to the second central question.

What will it cost us if we do not ensure bodily autonomy and integrity for women and girls?

In the East and Southern Africa region, we see the inability to decide about one's own body in the fact that one-in-ten adolescents give birth before reaching the age of 20, and nearly one-quarter of all maternal deaths occur among adolescents.

Though many countries have criminalized gender-based violence (GBV), and have outlawed child marriage and female genital mutilation, still one-in-three girls are being married by age 18, and one-in-six young women continue to experience gender-based violence.

Over the past year and a half, the COVID-19 pandemic and simultaneous conflict and climate-related humanitarian emergencies in the Southern Africa region have set women back further.

For instance, in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and indeed in Namibia, we have evidence that during the pandemic adolescent girls have experienced increases in violence, child marriage, deteriorating mental health, and teenage pregnancies due to school closures and limited access to sexual and reproductive health services and information.

Denying women and girls of the fundamental right to make decisions about their body also has massive implications beyond the profound harms to individual women and girls: potentially depressing economic productivity, undercutting skills, and resulting in extra costs to health care and judicial systems.

With the largest concentration of young people globally, the attainment of the sustainable development goals and Africa's reaping a demographic dividend, rests for the most part, on the extent of women and girls' bodily autonomy!

What can we do NOW to advance the rights and choices of women and girls?

We know the determinants of women's decision-making power: these are positive gender norms, affordable, quality healthcare, supportive interpersonal relationships and quality education and socio-economic status. What is now required is urgent, collective action.

The UNFPA State of the World Population Report - My Body is My Own - calls for three critical measures to ensure that every woman and girl can decide about own body and allow me to touch on these briefly.

The first is to end control of women's lives and ensure them full autonomy and agency.

The denial of bodily autonomy and integrity is rooted in gender inequality and the desire to control women's lives. Marital rape for example is not a crime in more than half of African countries while physical abuse is often permitted. Women's fundamental right to make decisions over their bodies and their futures in our region must be guaranteed and protected.

A second measure is to ensure access to sexual and reproductive health care and information with zero tolerance for discrimination and violence.

This includes the reform and enforcement of laws and policies that support the provision of and access to SRHR to women and girls and human rights-based legislation to ensure a minimum age of consent to access comprehensive healthcare services including sexual and reproductive health services.

All forms of violence and harmful practices that impede women's access to SRHR must be outlawed. In Sub-Saharan Africa, less than 65 per cent of countries have laws specifically criminalising domestic violence and where legislation exists it is often limited in scope or not enforced.

The third measure is to empower women and girls by providing them with a full range of reproductive health services and information, investing in comprehensive sexuality education, and working with men and boys as allies and champions for gender equality.

UNFPA supports our partners to accelerate the work to empower women and girls, strengthen bodily autonomy and advance gender equality.

In the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we commend the governments in the region for continuing to place the work to end gender-based violence at the top of the political agenda and ensuring SRH and GBV prevention and response are part of the essential services available and accessible to all.

In this regard, UNFPA is working with the SADC parliamentary forum and national legislators to develop and adopt a SADC Model Law on GBV, to domesticate the SADC Model Law on Child Marriage, to adopt the SADC PF Gender Responsive Oversight Model for Parliaments, alongside the advocacy efforts in supporting the SADC Resolution CSW 60/2 Programme of Action and the ESA Commitment on CSE and YFHS through the UNFPA flagship programme - Safeguard Young People.

We are also supporting and partnering with the Africa Union on the Campaign to end Child Marriage, the Saleema Initiative on female genital mutilation, the Spotlight Initiative to prevent VAWG, including the Africa Regional Programme and the operationalization of the AU Road Map on DD and investing in young people; and we continue to forge ahead with ILO and sisters UN agencies on the Joint Programme for Gender Responsive Budgeting.

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Without these actions to secure the bodily autonomy of every individual, we risk deepening inequalities, and undeniably, the transformative goals of ending the unmet need for contraception, preventable maternal deaths and gender-based violence and harmful practices by 2030, will remain out of reach.

Honourable Ministers, Distinguished Guests,

Presented with the data and information in the 2021 SWOP Report, we cannot deny that rapid progress is needed now. Our task is clear and our time is limited. Societies prosper when women and girls can make their own decisions with confidence.

The Generation Equality Forum events in Mexico City earlier this year and the upcoming Paris Summit mark the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and have provided an important roadmap to help get countries back on track for a final push towards gender equality by 2030.

The Generation Equality Forum is spurring a bold, catalytic, agenda of commitments for gender equality.

Within this Forum, UNFPA is co-convening the Action Coalition on Bodily Autonomy and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, as I mentioned earlier. We are using this platform to sustain the 2019 Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 commitments made by governments and partners to accelerate action to achieve gender equality and advance SRHR.

RT Honourable PM, Ministers, Distinguished Guests,

In closing, we all have a role to play in upholding women's rights and ending discrimination more broadly.

This is the decade of Action. And we must collectively take actions that builds up to the full realization of the rights and choices of women and girls every day and in every way.

This must be our resolve for the new "Generation Equality". And I firmly believe, together we can make this happen.

I thank you for your kind attention.
Tunis/Tunisia  Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad Othman Jerandi, on Saturday, received Iraqi Ambassador to Tunisia Majid Al-Lajmawi, at the end of his mission to Tunisia.

Jerandi commended the historic friendly relations between Tunisia and Iraq, calling to bolster bilateral cooperation, particularly in the economic and investment fields.

He stressed the need to prepare well for the upcoming deadlines and to show more solidarity between the two countries, so as to meet common challenges, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Commissioner General Yankuba Darboe of the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA), on Wednesday urged agents of the tax clearing & forwarding agencies to be professional in their works and conducts.

He made these remarks at a tax seminar for the importers, tax clearing & forwarding agents held at a local hotel in Kololi.

According to GRA officials, the seminar was meant to create a forum to engage with one of their most important stakeholders (importers and clearing agents). It also serves as a platform to discuss issues affecting international trade and prescribing workable solutions to the issues hindering international trade.

The discussions were tailored around issues relating to requirement for registration of clearing agents, documentations for clearing, classification of goods, accurate inputting of data into the ASYCUDA System, compliance challenges and planned reform initiatives.

The event was organised by the GRA and supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

"I want to appeal, because this is an opportunity to talk to you guys (agents). I want you to be serious with your work. I also want you to be professional in anything that you are doing in life. If you are not professional in it, then you have a big problem," GRA boss advised clearing and forwarding agents.

He added: "You have to take your work seriously and respect the people that are involved in the international trade; where you do have lot of stakeholders such as Gambia Ports Authority, Maritime, including GRA and so on."

At the level of GRA, according to Darboe, gonearedays where they would see clearing agents who cannot read and write, saying it is high time for the clearing agencies to train their agents or recruit people who are professional and competent to do the job.

"This seminar is a demonstration of the high regard we have for importers and clearing agents. It is also an acknowledgement of the importance of the role of importers and clearing agents in our revenue mobilisation mandate," he told the participants.

With that, Darboe hoped that the seminar would yield the desired result of enhancing the knowledge and skills of importers and clearing agents to international best practice as it relates to the law, processes and procedures involved in clearing of goods.

Tijan Jeng, procurement specialist at UNDP Economic Management Project (Emp. Project), said the UNDP was proud to be associated with GRA partnership and initiatives of rolling out the awareness education to yet another important set of tax-payers.

"The Gambia continues to be a tax driven economy.Inthis regard, we continue to recognise GRA's continued attainments in working towards achieving the increasing national revenue collection targets annually to finance the national budget," said Jeng, who represented the UNDP resident coordinator.

"It is against this backdrop that the EMP is resolved in having GRA as a critical partner and will continue to provide the much needed support in fulfilling its mandates to maximise revenue collection."

"We cannot do this in the absence of knowledge.Therefore, this seminar has a direct link to our daily activities."

"The Association and I will participate fully to your expectation and will forever cherish the memories of this seminar," says Essa Wally, President of Association of the Tax Clearing and Forwarding Agencies (ACCFA).

"When we unite the two we can shape the destiny of this country economically through GRA. It is essential for the personal fulfilment of each and every clearing & forwarding agent. Education determines whether we get a decent and rewarding job. And education empowers us to become commander of our destiny."

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In her brief advice to the clearing agents, Lucy Faye Jagne, GRA board chairperson, described international trade as "very important, saying it is the life brain of the Gambian economic activities and resources.

She also acknowledged the important role that the agents are playing to ensure continuousrevenue boost, adding that more than 60% per cent of the revenue collected comes from importation and international trade, import and export activities.

Mrs Jagne urged the clearing agents to be highly professional when dealing with their work, so that all stakeholders involved would be comfortable.

IHRDA trains Gambia Bar Association on combating enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings
Hundreds of Senegambians are among millions of EU citizens and residents in the UK who are issued with a warning by the authorities to submit an application for "settled status" or henceforth consider themselves "illegal migrants".

However, assuring the affected persons, the UK government has guaranteed that officers will not only be "compassionate" but also "flexible" during the exercise.

Officials also added that "their rights will be protected".

But despite the promises, some Senegambians who spoke to The Point, fears that due to the "complexity and sometimes difficult application process", they may not be able to comply within such a short period of time.

So far there are hundreds of EU residents originally from Senegambia living, working or studding in the UK. They have just few days to apply.

Nonetheless, due to the fact that the warning to submit their papers is now formal, officials confirmed that thousands of affected people have already "submitted their applications for consideration".

According to the current rules, those qualified to apply for settled status are people who lived in the UK "continuously for five years or more" before 31 December 2020.

On the other hand, the second category of people who can apply are the so-called "Pre- Settled" people. They are the group of people who lived in the country for "less than five years" by the end of 2020.

The latter are free to apply, however, there is no assurance that they will be successful.

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Nevertheless, subsequent consultations with authorities have resulted to officials emphasising that they will "guarantee the rights of late applicants".

Following further inquiries regarding the consequences, this correspondent was informed that "unsuccessful applicants and those who refused to apply or comply may risk deportation, losing work permit, free health care... and access to housing, benefit claim, tenancy and other significant advantages".

Legal advisers are also urging affected individuals to seek advice and submit their applications "on time and in proper procedure to avoid unnecessary delay".

Since the UK finally separated from the EU on January 1st 2021 following tense and divisive referendum, several previous law that protected such EU nationals no longer existed.

Therefore hundreds of thousands of EU citizens and their dependents are obliged to comply with the new rules.

Overall Senegambians are a tiny minority compared to other EU nationals especially those from East Europe. However, due to their hard work, positive contribution and respect for the law, the Gambians and Senegalese footprint in the UK and across Europe cannot be underestimated.

Diaspora Gambians sue IEC, AG to comply with Supreme Court's order
Rohey Malick Lowe, the mayoress of Banjul City Council (BCC) yesterday embarked on a visit to some project sites in Banjul, including the old cemetery amid reports that Jah Oil Company was attempting to construct a police post at the old cemetery situated on the outskirts of Banjul, near the defunct Radio Syd.

Meanwhile, an official of the Jah Oil Company has strongly denied reports that the company is planning to construct a police post at the old cemetery.

Speaking at the site during the visit, Mayoress Lowe unequivocally made it clear that the council was never consulted prior to the construction of said police post.

"The site visit is not meant for witch-hunting. The visit is to enable us to get first-hand information on some of the activities happening within Banjul. The site identified for the construction of said police post is where our great grandparents are buried. Therefore, we will not allow any construction to take place at the site," she stated.

"It's very painful to see people digging at the old graveyard where our relatives have been buried."

"The old Muslim cemetery started immediately after Radio Syd and then followed by the Christian old cemetery. So, if people are encroaching into the cemeteries which are under the custody of BCC, then it's high time that we stand firmly and arrest the situation," Katim Touray, the council's director of Planning said.

Momodou Hydara, general manager of Jah Oil Company, who was contacted for comments said: "The Gambia Police Force (GPF) during the time of the late police chief, Mamour Jobe, requested for lot of assistance from the Jah Oil Company, because Jah Oil is always helping out institutions in the country."

"Among the pledges is that the late IGP Jobe wanted to have a police post around Bond Road with the objective of reducing crime rate and curbing traffic accidents among others. We said that it shouldn't be a problem if the police are able to secure the land and the necessary documents, thus we agree in principle."

"Unfortunately, when he (Mamour Jobe) passed away, the new IGP Abdoulie Sanyang approached us and reaffirmed those pledges. IGP Sanyang told us whether we still continue with helping the GPF with a police post at Bond Road and we replied in the positive. We told Sanyang that we did not make those pledges to the late IGP, but to the GPF and that we will still continue on the pledges and among the pledges is the police post at Bond Road."

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"We later consulted the police and they came with their own sketch plan and identified the site earmarked for the construction of the police post and we excavated it for them. In fact, we even told the police that they should provide the police maintenance team which will do the construction and we would provide everything they need in terms of materials."

"However, we were shocked to learn that some people were ranting on social media claiming that we are constructing a police post at the old cemetery in Banjul. But after making our own findings, we were even informed that the old cemetery started after the place earmarked for the police station. IGP Sanyang later asked us to stop the construction of the said police post until things settle down."

Mayoress Lowe and the team later visited Sino Majilac Zalbak Company, which is involved in sand dredging around Denton-Bridge.

"The company is not paying a trade licence to the Council. Again, with the way the company is deranging sand in the river, it would have a negative impact on Banjul," the mayoress posited.

"The National Environment Agency already gives us a certificate to operate after they conducted an Environmental Impact Assessment. In fact, we were going through this process for two good years. All the process that were supposed to be followed by the company were done and all the necessary departments and relevant authorities were contacted. The activities of the company will not destroy anything in Banjul," Banka Manneh, spokesperson of Sino Majilac Zalbak Company said.
United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday handed over wash emergency materials to The Gambia Red Cross Society (GRCS). The materials are meant for thecontingency prepositioning to Gambia Red Cross Society branches for emergency response in The Gambia.

The ceremony was held at GRCS headquarters in Kanifing.

Chabai Saidy, Director Department of Water Resources said the materials will go a long way to improve the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable children and women in The Gambia.

He added that his office implements programmes and activities for the construction and rehabilitation of water supply systems and sanitation facilities for schools and health facilities across five administrative regions of the country.

He called on partners to work hand in glove to chlorinate and maintain their water systems for sustainability as well as ensure quality standard of potable water supply in beneficiary communities.

Lamin Dampha, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Healthsaid they shouldendeavor to strengthen hygiene promotion to utilise people's existing knowledge, practices and resources supported by sound health promotion techniques before or during the distribution of these materials.

He thanked UNICEF for the initiative and assured them of government's commitment in partnering with them particularly on activities that affect women and children.

Gordon Jonathan Lewis,UNICEF County Representative said the items were secured with funding from the Government of Denmark as part of the COVID-19 response support in The Gambia.

He stated that the support will go a long way to strengthen national capacities to deliver lifesaving interventions for the children of The Gambia.

He noted that the unavailability of safe water supply in health facilities makes childbirth delivery unhygienic and unsafe, exposing mother, child, and even health service providers to infections. "A major cause of death among newborns (0-28 days old) in The Gambia is sepsis, arising from infections after birth," he stated.Therefore, improving the availability of and access to running water in health facilities will reduce infections and improve neonatal survival rates in The Gambia.

According to him, although The Gambia has not had a major public health emergency in recent years, climate change and rapid environmental degradation continue to be real threats to ensuring water safety especially in communities exposed to poor sanitation as the practice of open defecation presents risks of disease outbreaks.

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He highlighted that WASH emergency materials, nutrition, and public health interventions are crucial to reduce the risks and impact of disasters on the most vulnerable groups such as children, women, those with different abilities, and the elderly. Provision of adequate water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities and supplies before, during, and after emergencies contributes greatly to the reduction of public health risks such as diarrhea, cholera, COVID-19 and other outbreaks, he further stated.

He expressed appreciation to GRCS management and staff for their professionalism, diligence, and hard work especially during the pandemic.

Alasan Senghore, Secretary-General Gambia Red Cross Society said the beginning of the rainy season has brought many humanitarian challenges, particularly in rural areas.

He added thatchallenges of water, sanitation and hygiene continue to persist in communities with government not being able to do it all alone.

He expressed GRCS's willingness to continue investing towards providing access to water.

PRESS RELEASE: BANJUL PORT EXPANSION PROJECT ON LAND

'There is no political will in draft Constitution' - Saho
Sulayman Saho, National Assembly for Central Badibou constituency has said that the draft Constitution does not have the political will from the executive.

He added that the draft Constitution does not have any lobbying fromMinistry of Justice that will make lawmakers have a clear understanding about it.

Saho made these remarks recently during an interview with this reporter.

He said if the executive brought a bill before lawmakers at parliament, they always go to the National Assembly to ensure that bill is passed but in this case, that did not happen which indicates that Cabinet has less interest in the draft Constitution.

Saho has noted that the minister responsible for the draft Constitution does not support the bill he tabled before the lawmakers at the parliament. Headded that the Justice Minister is there to serve the interest of the Gambian's but not an individual.

He said his fellow National Assembly members should have allowed the draft Constitution to reach its second reading and be scrutinised and amended to suit Gambians.

According to him, if government fails to come up with a solution to address the draft Constitution's situation then Gambians have all rights to hold government to account.

Ebriama Sillah, minister of Information and Communication Infrastructure said the failure of the draft Constitution at the National Assembly is due to political reasons.
At a recent National Security Symposium held in Rwanda, experts discussed the media perspective in reshaping Africa's narrative, noting that Western media organisations are influencing Africa's stories simply because they are well funded.

The general consensus at the symposium was that the continent should expect neither fairness nor accuracy when "our the story" is told by others. One of the experts, however, pointed out the need to best use the arts and creative industry that has been widely overlooked, citing that the African narrative shouldn't only be seen in the eyes of mainstream media.

It is common knowledge that music and film play a big role in the first impressions of new cultures and politics of a country. This is evident in how Hollywood sold to the world the American dream or even the false story of terror suspect Paul Rusesabagina as a hero who saved lives and created a movie "to represent an African story."

Therefore, putting Africa's creative industries at the forefront would be an incredible resource in telling the African story. Beyond mainstream media, Africa imprints itself on visual art, music, dance, fashion, and theatre. If there is one thing Africans are known for, it is the art of storytelling, its long history of creative expression as culture.

Africa is also not short of talent and creativity as several western musicians have over time, turned to Africa to revive their pop and creativity, but sadly, the influence of creative industries in Africa remains negligible and as a result, creatives struggle to make their work saleable internationally.

The solution to making Africa's art and creative industry gain momentum is in market creation - through both in-country and continental promotion of the arts, enforcing strong intellectual property laws and a strong digital presence.

Whether through documenting real-life or fictionalising stories through dance, music photography, film, or poetry, art has great power to open up channels for owning stories and creating a deeper understanding among its audience.

In an era where the arts have become a part of people's lives, the creative industry in Africa should be boosted to promote the continent.

A Guest Editorial
Tunis/Tunisia  Five people died as a result of the coronavirus in the last 24 hours in Daour Hicher, Jedaida and Tebourba, governorate of Manouba.

Therefore, fatality numbers in the region has increased to 535 people since the spread of the virus, local health director in Manouba Hajer Missaoui told TAP Friday.

Moreover, 350 additional infections have been detected in the region where the caseload has reached 16,273 since the spread of the epidemic.

Among these 1877 people in the governorate still carry the virus.

According to the same source, police and National Guard patrol have been strengthened in the delegations of Manouba and Tebourba to ensure compliance with the full lockdown imposed in these two cities.

She added that a number of cafes, whose owners have defied the health provisions in force, have been closed and reports have been drawn up against offenders.
Tunis/Tunisia  The governorate of Gabes has recorded 40 more coronavirus infections after the release of 152 test results, taking the count to 14,269 since the spread of the pandemic in the region, Local Health Director of Preventive Health Yahia Hamdi told TAP Saturday.

The new positive cases have been reported in: South Gabes (11 cases), Mareth (9 cases), New-Matmata (9 cases), Metouia (4 cases), El Hamma (3 cases), West Gabes (2 cases), Oudhref (1 case) and Menzel Lahbib (1 case).

On the other hand, the region has registered 14,074 recoveries and still has 195 active cases including 55 in El Hamma, the same source said.
Tunis/Tunisia  President of the Tunisia-Africa Business Council (TABC) Anis Jaziri, on Saturday, called on investors attending the 4th edition of the International Conference on Financing Investment and Trade in Africa -FITA 2021) to lobby politicians to open border crossings between Libya, Niger and other sub-Saharan countries.

Speaking at the close of the conference held from June 24 to 26 in Tunis, he added that the opening of border crossings with these countries will allow Tunisian products to access this promising market.

Jaziri called on Tunisian and Libyan officials to facilitate the passage of products for export, to combat bureaucracy and identify solutions to remove obstacles to the opening of crossing points with sub-Saharan countries.

The closing workshop of this conference focused on the importance of transit trade and the reopening of a transit route with sub-Saharan countries to make Tunisia and Libya a gateway to sub-Saharan Africa, he pointed out.

The debate also focused on the need to resolve the problems hindering the smooth functioning of border crossings between the two countries (delays, long waits...).

On the outcome of the FITA 2021, Jaziri stressed that the remarkable participation of businessmen, African banks and investment funds and bilateral meetings, which took place between the various actors, have led to the conclusion of important partnerships, without giving more details on these partnerships.

Funding has also been mobilised for Tunisian companies wishing to develop their presence and their investments on the African continent, he added.

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President of the Libyan business council in Benghazi, Faouzia Salem Ghaith Ferjani said the opportunities for cooperation between the Tunisian and Libyan private sectors are large, especially since incentives have been put in place by both countries in several areas.

Cooperation agreements will be signed between the Libyan business council and the Tunisia-Africa business council in the coming days and joint fairs are planned in the areas of construction and building, she said, expressing the hope to see Tunisia get "the lion's share" in reconstruction projects in the cities of Sirte and Benghazi.

Speaking from Libya via Zoom, Libyan Minister of Labour and Training, Ali Al Abed al-Rida announced the direct recruitment of 15 Tunisian skilled workers (engineers, technicians and doctors) on the sidelines of the FITA 2021, saying their contracts will be signed soon.
Between late May 2021 and this month of June 2021, cooperation ties between Cameroon and Congo at the political level through high-level consultations have been intense and admirable.

President Paul Biya on May 31, 2021 granted a State House audience to the Minister of State, Minister of Mining Industries and Geology of Congo, Pierre Oba who came to discuss the necessity to relaunch the Mbalam Iron Ore mining project on the Cameroonian side and Nabeba on the Congolese side of the border. On June 25, 2021 President Paul Biya received the outgoing Ambassador of Congo to Cameroon, Valentin Ollessongo who the previous evening was raised to the rank of the Officer of the National Order of Valour.

The current consultations are the translation of good relations between the two brotherly and neighbouring countries established since 1960. Cooperation agreements guide the relations in the areas of air transport, cultural, scientific and technical domains. The cooperation is palpable through the Sangmelima-Ntam-Souanke-Ouesso 651 km road project linking the two countries is ongoing. There is also Cameroon-Congo Inter-State University based in Sangmelima, South Region of Cameroon which is operational where students of both countries are learning information and communication technologies. Cameroon and Congo are equally working on the project to construct the Chollet Hydro-electric plant, interconnection through optical fibre and twinning of the town of Sangmelima in Cameroon and Owando in Congo.
analysis

Ninety-eight seats have changed hands since 9 November 2016 and 19 May 2021. A lot has happened in our politics since the EFF upset the ANC in a November 2016 by-election in Moletjie, Polokwane. This long season of by-elections has its curtain call on Wednesday, 30 June when the DA defends five seats and the ANC three. The DA will be sweating about four of these wards while the ANC will hope to avoid a banana peel in Langa, Cape Town.

Western Cape

Half of the by-elections taking place are in the Western Cape, with two contests in the City of Cape Town and the rest in the West Coast District.

Ward 51 (Langa) in Cape Town: ANC (47%) Ind-Mandindi (21%) EFF (16%) Ind-Mxolose (7%) Ind-Jikolo (4%)

Langa is east of the city centre, where the M5 and M7 roads meet. The ANC won more than 72% of the vote in 2016. In a by-election held late in 2020, the party's percentage vote share fell below 50% as numerous independent candidates ate into its sizeable majority. The independent candidate who performed the best was community activist Vusi Mandindi who came second in the by-election with more than 20% of the...
Maputo  The attorney's office in the southern Mozambican city of Inhambane has warned that it intends to revoke the land use titles granted to people who have built houses or other structures in the immediate vicinity of Inhambane airport.

More than 900 households are living in this area, reports Monday's issue of the independent daily "O Pais". They all claim they purchased the right to build in this space, and many say they have an official land tile, known as a DUAT.

The city attorney's office believes that if Inhambane Municipal Council really did grant these DUATs, it did so illegally. For all the land on the periphery of any Mozambican airport belongs to the publicly owned airports company, ADM, since building on this land could present a danger to aviation.

Revoking the land titles is therefore essential as a security measure, said Attorney Pomilio Xavier. He told "O Pais" that the Municipal Council has been asked to explain how it was possible, not only to grant land title to the households concerned, but to allow electricity and water connections to the houses built on the airport periphery.

Xavier pointed out that initially the Council granted a DUAT for the entire periphery to ADM. "So how can it now grant DUATs for the same land to third parties?", he asked. The machinery was now being set into motion to revoke those DUATs.

"In terms of the law, the primary DUAT prevails over the secondary DUAT", said Xavier. "We are carrying out a survey of these cases. Some law suits are under way resulting from land disputes in this area, and we are analysing each one of these. If we find that those DUATS were granted in violation of the law, we shall ask the Attorney-General to annul them".

The regulatory body, the Mozambique Civil Aviation Institute (IACM) worked on this matter in March, and identified the 900 families living on land which should belong to ADM. 500 had built on areas that the IACM regarded as "critical", and so should leave immediately.

The Mayor of Inhambane, Benedito Guimino, has said he will start the procedure to move 250 of these households from the vicinity of the airport to the Inhambane neighbourhood of Muele-3. But three months after the mayor made that promise, not a single household has been moved.

The IACM has warned that if the households are not moved, then the airport runway will have to be closed, ensuring that no planes will be able to fly to Inhambane.
Maputo  The South Africa-based financial group Nedbank on Monday completed its acquisition of one of Mozambique's smaller commercial banks, Banco Unico.

Since 2020, Nedbank has owned 87 per cent of the shares of Banco Unico. Now, at a Maputo ceremony, the bank changed its name to Nedbank-Mozambique.

According to a report on the independent television station, STV, the chairperson of the bank's Executive Commission, Joel Rodrigues, declared that the renamed bank hopes to become "a partner of reference" for large businesses in Mozambique. It hoped that investors will choose it to finance projects in natural resources, infrastructures, industry and agriculture.

"For the companies, we promise to be a partner of reference in their day-to-day life, financing their activities and their investment projects", said Rodrigues. "We shall have a special focus on large and medium companies, and we shall present sector solutions for natural resources: for natural gas, and heavy mineral sands, among others; for the development of infrastructures, be they energy, transport, port or industrial infrastructures; as well as continuing to bank on manufacturing industry, and not forgetting agriculture".

"The change of name recognises the importance of business in Mozambique", said the managing executive of Nedbank for Africa, Terence Sibiya. "For us, as a group, it demonstrates our commitment to becoming leaders in the Mozambican financial sector. Mozambique is one of the markets that are growing rapidly in Africa, with the development of liquefied natural gas".

The Nedbank group, through its alliance with the Ecobank group, is represented in 39 countries.
analysis

Talks are under way for most of the eight-match British & Irish Lions tour to be relocated to the Western Cape amid a Covid-19 surge in Gauteng.

The Lions were scheduled to leave Edinburgh at 7pm (8pm South African time) on Sunday night at precisely the time South African president Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation. The plane took off 80 minutes later after a delay that might have been because the tourists were waiting for the details of the speech.

The British & Irish Lions start their 12-yearly tour to South Africa with a game against the Lions from Joburg. The tourists will be landing in a province (Gauteng) gripped by the worst spike of the entire pandemic and news that the Springboks have a Covid outbreak in their squad.

Five of the eight matches, including two of the three Tests, were to be played in Gauteng at Ellis Park, Loftus Versfeld and the FNB Stadium. But as cases continue to rise with alarming speed in Gauteng, SA Rugby (Saru) and the Lions organisation are considering alternatives.

President Ramaphosa announced the country would return to Adjusted Level 4 lockdown. Previously under Level 4, no professional...
-Sen. Wesseh

River Gee County Senator and stalwart of the Unity Party, Conmany Wesseh says there will be no amnesty for war criminals especially, people who fully participated either as perpetrators or accomplices during the 14 years of civil wars in Liberia.

Speaking in an interview with this paper over the weekend, Senator Wesseh, who is a signatory to the Accra Peace Accord which gives birth to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said the document did not at given space to grant amnesty to war criminals contrary to claim by some war actors.

He explains that the establishment of a war crimes court for the country is necessary so those who reportedly committed crimes against humanity can answer their charges and that others want to explain what actually happened during the bloody civil crises that left at least 250,000 persons dead, including women and children.

Sen. Wesseh notes that being prosecuted in court does not necessarily make a suspect guilty, as some alleged perpetrators too may just want to clear their names from allegations levied against them.

A former student leader and ambassador during the regime of ex-President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, he clarifies the Act that established the TRC says it should recommend amnesty under terms and conditions of application of individual person making full disclosure of their wrongs and thereby expressing remorse for their acts.

According to him, some actors are yet to show the sound of remorse especially, during the thematic hearings of the TRC back in 2007/2008, underscoring to create a balance between perpetrators and victims, there's a need for the establishment of a war crimes court.

However, he points out that taking into count the competing national demands with a limited national budget, it appears that the establishment of the court is far-fetch.

He says establishing such a court requires huge funding that will be used to gather evidence, materials, logistics, and hire professionals.

He cautions Liberians not to engage the establishment of the court with emotions as those accused are not yet guilty or there's nothing yet to prove guilt.

Commenting on the role of Nimba County Senator Prince Johnson, who commanded the rebels' Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia in the wars, he says it would have been expedient for Senator Johnson to have rescues himself from discussions surrounding the establishment of said court.

Sen. Johnson has repeatedly maintained that he along with or warlords who signed the Peace Accord enjoy amnesty, and are, therefore, protected from prosecution.

Wesseh continues that though Senator Johnson is part of the Senate leadership, it would have been professional enough and given the Senate a breathing space was the Nimba Senator to have stepped aside during matters relating to the war crimes court discussion.

He argues that for Senator PYJ to have signed the Senate Leadership's recent recommendation on the TRC Report to President George Manneh Weah harms the image of the report.

"His presence along and signing of the report undermines the credibility of the report. He's an actor and key one forming part of the discussion leading or calling for the establishment of the war crimes court is a dark cloud created already," the River Gee Lawmaker says.

Asked whether he (Wesseh) fears Senator Johnson, who slain President Samuel Doe in 1990, the former ambassador recalls that he played even more fearful roles while serving as an advisor to former interim president Amos Sawyer, moving between battle lines and warring factions.

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The TRC Final Report release in 2008, recommends prosecution for key actors, including warlords who allegedly committed heinous crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Senate Leadership at the Capitol on June 22, 2021, released a 21-page recommendation to President George M. Weah, among others, calling for the establishment of a Transitional Justice Commission instead of a war crimes court, to carry out restorative justice rather than retributive justice.

The document was signed by nine members of the 30-seated Senate, including Senator Prince Y. Johnson and Senate President Pro-Tempore Albert Chie.

The Leadership asked the President to offer an official apology on behalf of the Republic to the thousands of victims and Liberians generally for its role in the protracted
The Cummings Africa Foundation has embarked on needs assessment visits to few hospitals in Montserrado, Margibi, and Nimba Counties.

The visits come days after President George Manneh Weah welcomed opposition Alternative National Congress (ANC) political leader Alexander B. Cummings' offers to help the government curbs the spread of the coronavirus here.

"As the COVID crisis worsens with an increase in infections and several deaths being reported, I am pleased to share that the Cummings Africa Foundation will get involved to help resolve this crisis," a statement released over the weekend revealed.

The foundation disclosed that a small team including Dr. Wede Brownell, the Country Director of the Cummings Africa Foundation, Mr. Cummings, and his Chief of Staff Atty. Moriah Yeakula paid a visit to the Fidelity Hospital on 20th Street, Sinkor, Monrovia.

"We were pleased to meet with the administrators and are grateful for their cooperation," the statement added.

The ANC political leader warned Liberians that COVID is raging but it can be defeated "if we follow the rules and guidelines as provided by Ministry of Health."

He urged that people must continue to wear their masks, wash their hands frequently, stay away from crowds, take the COVID tests and vaccines and go to the nearest health center when they feel sick.

He continued that just as Liberians defeated Ebola together and collectively, they can defeat COVID, saying they must stay safe, follow the rules and also pray for the country.

Recently Mr. Cummings made an international appeal for help as the coronavirus rages in Liberia and also offered to work with the government in whatever reasonable way in tackling the resurgence, which experts say, is the Delta variant.

He said the Cummings Africa Foundation is open to working with authorities at the Ministry of Health to identify urgent gaps in the national response to yield quick interventions.

Cummings in his statement made series of recommendations to the Weah administration to take siege of the health situation which include to recast the budget to provide funding for the purchase of beds, personal protective equipment (PPEs), masks, vaccines, ventilators, oxygen, and massive awareness.

Cummings also proposed the need to solicit additional support from Liberians in the diaspora and the donor community; increase the hazard pay of existing health workers and employ more health workers contact tracers and immediately close all schools and ensure the completion of the semester from home, pending the end of the crisis.

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Additionally, he suggested the need to work with community leaders and community-based organizations to create awareness and help with enforcement of Government of Liberia new regulations instead of the use of paramilitary forces; and to set up a hotline where people who have families or friends with severe symptoms of COVID-19 can call for help and be linked to the nearest isolation or health center.

Following the ANC political leader's offer, President Weah welcomed the gesture, saying he is willing to listen to and work with Mr. Cummings, void of political hindrance.

"The coronavirus is no joke... Liberians are losing their lives every day to the plague. During a national crisis of this nature and magnitude, all hands of good citizens, void of political affiliation, are required on deck," Weah noted.

Mr. Weah recalled that he too worked with the regime of former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf during the Ebola outbreak here saying, this is what citizens do.

He added that he did the work during the Ebola crisis not because of President Sirleaf, but it was his desire to help save the lives of fellow citizens.

President Weah said if the help being offered by Cummings is without a political trace, it would go a long way in beefing up the health sector and finding a remedy to the unanticipated health crisis
Caxito  The second edition of the agricultural produce fair in the Municipality of Dande, in Bengo Province, generated in two days a business gain of more than 16 million kwanzas ($24k equivalente).

On the first day of the fair, the turnover amounted to 10.881.850 kwanzas (US $16.6k equivalente), while on the second day it was 5.500.000 kwanzas (US $8.4k equivalent).

The sector's players - who directly participate in the production, distribution and marketing chain of agricultural products - have made available more than 560 tonnes of various agricultural products.

In closing, the deputy municipal administrator of Dande, Mateus Velho Joao, said that the fair exceeded the organization's expectations and had a great impact on the participants.

The official hopes that this type of exhibition will be the springboard to minimize the problem of the lack of flow of products from the countryside to other places.

In a message, Unaca (CONFEDERATION OF PEASANTS ASSOCIATIONS AND AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES OF ANGOLA), in Bengo, reaffirmed its commitment to engaging in production, responding to the problem of hunger and poverty, providing necessary food security for the population.

Unaca has asked the Dande Municipal Administration to grant a space in the Panguila market so that organized peasants can regularly sell their products there.

Held at the Panguila market under the motto "Feiragro-Dande, producing and selling", the event brought together 61 exhibitors, including agricultural and fishing cooperatives and individual companies, which intervene in the agribusiness chain.
press release

Media statement by the Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga, MP delivered at the media briefing following President Ramaphosa's address to the nation on Sunday, 27 June 2021

Good morning to the members of the media, leaders of the Basic Education Secotd, parents and learners at home.

Today we are in the Free State as part of monitoring the vaccination of teachers and support staff. As you know the programme started last week and in this province good progress has been made. As the MEC Montsheng Tsiu has indicated the province is doing well. Together with MEC Tate Makgoe they have been driving the vaccination programme in the province.

We are here to support. But we have also decided to take this opportunity to address other important matters affecting the sector.

The Council of Education Ministers( CEM ) met this morning (28 June 2021) to reflect on the details that His Excellency, President Ramaphosa presented during his Family Meeting last night.

In his address last night, the President announced that "schools will start closing from Wednesday, 30 June 2021; and schools will be expected to be closed by the end of the week" on Friday, 02 July 2021. He further indicated that I, as "the Minister of Basic Education, will provide details on these arrangements".

CEM unanimously agreed that -

Learners in public and independent or private schools should be released for winter vacation on Wednesday, 30 June 2021;

The School Management Teams (SMTs), teachers, learners in hostel facilities, and learners with special education needs waiting for parents to pick them up, should report at school until Friday, 02 July 2021;

Public schools will come back from the winter vacation early, on 19 July 2021, instead of 26 July 2021; as it was originally scheduled in the 2021 School Calendar;

Schools will make the necessary arrangements to continue to provide feeding to those learners who are beneficiaries of the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP);

The usual Winter Vacation Learner Support Programme for Grades 11 and 12, organised by provinces, districts and schools, should continue under very strict conditions in compliance with the COVID-19 health and safety protocols;

Given the fact that learners writing the May/June 2021 examinations are very few, these examinations and marking thereof, should also continue under strict adherence of COVID-19 health and safety protocols; and

The vaccination programme for the Basic Education Sector personnel, will proceed as planned; the workers are advised to adhere to their schedules, and strictly adhere to COVID-19 protocols, as stipulated in the Regulations. Schools designated as vaccination sites, must remain open to continue with the vaccination programme. It is important that we all work together to complete the vaccination as soon as possible.

The aforementioned matters have been discussed with various stakeholders in the Sector, and there has been support and concurrence on all of them. The Sector stakeholders consulted include CEM itself; HEDCOM; national teacher unions in the ELRC - including SADTU, NAPTOSA, NATU and PEU; representatives of national SGB associations; representatives of national associations for learners with special education needs, as well as the NAISA and other Associations for Independent or Private Schools. Further discussions with stakeholders will take place this afternoon.

The Sector will remain vigilant in monitoring the developments of the epidemiology, working closely with the Ministry of Health, to inform the implementation of the Risk Adjusted Differentiated Strategy, when there is a need to do so, including the earlier pronounced full attendance of primary school learners from the first day of the third school term.

The Council also appreciated the report that more than two hundred thousand (200. 000) educators and staff in the Basic Education Sector had been vaccinated so far. The Sector has a target of five hundred and eighty two thousand, five hundred and sixty four (582 564) personnel who are eligible to receive the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The Department of Health has assured us that additional doses will be made available in parts of the country, where the allocations have already been depleted as a result of the progress of the programme

On learner support programmes during COVID-19 pandemic

In light of the disruptions to schooling brought on us by COVID and the move to the Risk Adjusted Level 4, the Sector has with immediate effect activated the remote learner support programmes.

The WOZA Matrics 2021 Catch-Up Programme and the Tswelopele Campaigns are initiatives established by the DBE, in collaboration with the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT).

These are national supplementary remote learning campaigns, developed to support 2021 matric learners and learners in the General Education & Training Band (GET) from Grades R to 9; with supplementary support content, that will enable learners to catch-up on learning losses; and enable them to enhance, acquire and develop crucial knowledge, skills, attitudes and values during the academic year.

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The campaigns provide digital and non-digital learning resources in partnership with a range of content providers through the DBE-TV on Open-View Channel 122, SABC 1 and DSTV Catch-Up, YouTube channels, as well as digital and mobile chat platforms. These platforms were put in place to minimise the negative impact of COVID-19 on learning, and to provide further learning opportunities in the context of the restrictions that are currently in place. A detailed list of the resources is available on the DBE website.

We implore parents, guardians and caregivers to ensure that during the recess, children continue to learn, using the available resources. Doing so, will protect the gains that have already been achieved.

We also encourage our learners to remain safe. Do not gather in crowds. Apply hygiene practices at all times, and avoid activities that may expose learner to infections.

Thank you
The Ministry of Military Production announced on Monday activating cooperation with the Manufacturing Commercial Vehicles Group (MCV) in view of the ministry's belief in the key role of the private sector.

The cooperation between the two sides has fructified into producing the first Egyptian-made electric bus.

Minister of Military Production Mohamed Ahmed Morsi attended a ceremony marking the event alongside Ministers Mahmoud Shaarawi of Local Development, Yasmine Fouad of Environment, Hisham Tawfiq of Business Enterprise Sector and Nivene Gamea of Trade and Industry.

MCV Board Chairman Karim Ghabour also attended the ceremony.

Morsi underlined keenness on localizing the technology of manufacturing buses in Egypt with the local component to be more than 60 percent.

For his part, Ghabour expressed happiness over cooperation with the Military Production Ministry, highlighting the importance of cooperation between public and private sectors.

Media Adviser of the Military Production Ministry Mohamed Eid Bakr said electric vehicles industry will help protecting the environment from harmful emissions of the traditional fuel.

He expounded that the newly produced electric bus can travel for a distance ranging between 300 to 350 kilometers before recharging and can reach a top speed up to 70 km /h according to operation circumstances.
Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli greeted President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on the eighth anniversary of the June 30 Revolution.

In a cable, Madbouli conveyed best regards on behalf of his government to President Sisi and wished him further success.

He vowed continued action to push forward development in Egypt under the rule of Sisi and to meet aspirations of citizens.

June 30 was a significant day for Egyptians, who took out to the streets to protest against the powers of evil and darkness, Madbouli said.

It was one of the greatest revolutions in contemporary history to restore national identity and save the country from chaos and collapse, the premier added.
The Republic of Iraq supports Egypt's efforts to preserve its right to the Nile water by legal means, President of the Federation of Arab Journalists (FAJ) Moaid Allami said Sunday.

Speaking to MENA on the sidelines of the meeting of the federation's general secretariat in Cairo, Allami added that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi's historic visit to Baghdad for a tripartite summit with Iraq and Jordan gained great acclaim at the political and diplomatic levels.

Allami also emphasized that Egypt's water security is an integral part of the national Arab security.

He noted that the warm welcome Sisi received during his visit to the Iraqi capital earlier today reflects the level of economic cooperation and coordination between both countries.

Allami anticipated that the summit would yield fruitful results of great importance at the political and regional levels, commending Egypt's longstanding support for the Iraqi people.

Sisi arrived in Baghdad on Sunday to attend a tripartite summit with Iraqi counterpart Barham Salih and Jordan's King Abdullah II.

During the summit, Sisi stressed that Egypt's water rights are inextricably linked with Arab national security.

The summit falls within the framework of the fourth round of talks for promoting a trilateral cooperation mechanism which was launched in Cairo in March 2019.
Former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo was given a triumphant welcome in his home town of Mama on Sunday, his first visit to the provinces since he came back from Europe 10 days ago having been acquitted by the ICC.

Inhabitants of the village of Mama, around 300km north-west of Abidjan, had been eagerly anticipating Gbagbo's visit.

Some 5,000 supporters turned out to greet him as he was driven into Mama's main square, mobbing his vehicle in excitement, reported RFI's correspondent Francois Hume-Ferkatadji.

"It's marvellous," screamed one woman scrambling to try and get a look at the man they still call "president of Cote d'Ivoire".

"Everyone is extremely happy to be here. We hadn't seen President Gbagbo for 10 years. Look how many people have come out to see the president!" a young man told RFI.

Gbagbo thanked the crowds but struggled to make himself heard.

Security forces were on hand but kept a low profile.

Sebastien Dans DjeDje, deputy secretary of Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) said Gbagbo's presence made it a "historic" day.

"Personally I hope he'll return to politics," he told RFI. "He said himself he wanted first of all to mourn the dead and return to take his place at the head of the FPI. I think it's a wise decision. We're waiting for him to return so we can work together."

Gbagbo then headed to the town of Blouzon, near Mama, to visit the grave of his mother Marguerite Gado, who died in 2014 when he was in prison at the ICC in The Hague.

Tear gas to disperse crowds

Laurent Gbagbo's return to the former French colony on 17 June sparked violence, with police using tear gas to disperse crowds.

The FPI party said several dozens of his followers were arrested.

The former leader returned home following his acquittal by the ICC in March on charges stemming from violence that claimed around 3,000 lives after he refused to concede electoral defeat in 2010 to current President Alassane Ouattara.

He had been in power since 2000.

Ouattara, re-elected controversially to a third term in October 2020, gave the green light for Gbagbo's return to Cote d'Ivoire a few days after the ICC acquittal, first pronounced in January 2019.
Farmers should use proceeds generated from sales of harvested Pfumvudza crops to purchase inputs as a way of complementing Government's efforts of turning around the agricultural sector.

While the Government has continued to support the agricultural sector through various schemes where in some cases farmers receive free inputs, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Deputy Minister, Kindness Paradza, said President Mnangagwa was calling on farmers to be supportive.

"His Excellency, President Emmerson Mnangagwa is saying farmers should not squander money realised from sell of Pfumvudza crops, but buy inputs to prepare for the 2021-2022 summer cropping season," he said.

Government, he said while addressing Makonde farmers over the weekend, will avail Pfumvudza inputs, but it was prudent for farmers to be personally prepared before onset of rains.

Availability of inputs under the climate-proofed Pfumvudza agriculture scheme has been faced with various challenges including transport logistics and distribution hurdles.
analysis

Two million people can breathe a sigh of relief ... kind of. There are variants, and different vaccines have varying effectiveness. For now, anti-Covid measures have to be maintained until more people have had their jabs.

First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.

Six weeks into the roll-out, 0.8% of our population is fully vaccinated with another 3.5% partially vaccinated against Covid-19. These 2.3 million people can breathe a sigh of relief for their own health, but their behaviour still affects the rest of the population.

Put another way, 2,070,478 people have received the first of the double-dose Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. They are fully vaccinated two weeks after they get the second dose, which comes 42 days after the first. These are some of the most vulnerable people in the country, being over 60 years old or healthcare workers.

Only 479,770 people have been fully vaccinated. They have received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine during the Sisonke programme.

It remains law for South Africans to wear a mask when in public and businesses must enforce physical distancing and good hand hygiene. Those who are vaccinated have good reason to keep following these protocols, for the sake of...
The Seychelles Supreme Court on Monday remanded for 14 days the crew of two Sri Lankan vessels detained on suspicion of fishing illegally in the Seychelles' waters.

The two vessels were intercepted on June 23 in a coordinated operation carried out by the Seychelles Coast Guard, Seychelles Air Force, Special Forces Unit, and the National Information Sharing and Coordination Centre according to the Seychelles People's Defence Forces.

Since May this year, five vessels have been caught on suspicion of illegal fishing in the waters of Seychelles, a group of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean.

The latest interception came one week after another Sri Lankan vessel was detained for illegally fishing in the Seychelles' waters.

Seychelles has a vast Exclusive Economic Zone of 1.4 million square kilometres which is slightly larger than South Africa and about six times the size of the United Kingdom. This presents a challenge when it comes to monitoring illegal activities in the island nation's waters.

Last year, the National Assembly approved an amendment to the Defence Act giving new powers to the Seychelles Coast Guard to fight illegal activities in the island nation's waters.

Recently, Seychelles signed bilateral agreements with the United States aimed at increasing the surveillance in its waters.
The Mayor of Windhoek Dr. Job Amupanda recently confirmed that the municipality has approved an agreement to lease land to NamPower for the construction of a new substation for Windhoek, called the Khomas Intake Substation.

"The area earmarked for the new substations a portion of Farm 508 in Havana, therefore in order for NamPower to take occupation of the identified site and start with the construction of the substation, they will pay the City a lease of N$1.00 per month until all legalities around the transfer of the site are concluded," he added.

Amupanda said that ownership of the site will eventually transfer to NamPower at no cost and the construction of the Khomas Intake Substation is necessitated by Windhoek's electricity needs beyond 2024.

He further said that existing NamPower infrastructure through which Windhoek receives its electricity demand has reached its physical design capacity and cannot be upgraded to accommodate the anticipated electricity demand growth.

"We have already paid NamPower N$72,500,000 in 2017 as a first contribution toward the project and an additional N$135,572,521.74 still needs to be paid to NamPower and the City is currently attempted to secure this amount from financial institutions," he added.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has today released new guidance which recognize how people can actively take decisions for their own health and the health of their loved ones. The new WHO Consolidated Guideline on Self-Care Interventions for Health provides evidence-based recommendations on specific self-care interventions that can help to ensure quality health and well-being, and to promote and protect human rights.

The recommendations cover diverse interventions, from self-sampling for human papillomavirus (HPV) to improve cervical cancer screening, to self-administration of injectable contraception to prevent unintended pregnancy. They are available in one user-friendly and easy-to-navigate online platform.

About self-care

Self-care has been practiced by people worldwide for thousands of years. The ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health worker, is nothing new. But new products, information and technologies are changing - and have the potential to change - how people access healthcare, as well as how they care for themselves and others.

Such products, information and technologies for self-care - or self-care interventions - can include high-quality medicines, devices, tools to test and diagnose, and digital tools. They can be provided within or outside of a health-care facility, with or without the support of a health worker.

The COVID-19 pandemic shone a light on the importance of self-care, and the importance of self-care interventions to help maintain essential health services to people. Even when there are major disruptions to the national health systems, high-quality and evidence-based self-care interventions can provide an important alternative if the usual health facility- or health worker-based services become unavailable or restricted.

"With these new guidelines it is our sincere hope that the essential role people play in managing their own health is further acknowledged and promoted through a supportive health system," says Manjulaa Narasimhan, scientist at WHO Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research including the special joint-UN programme HRP.

"Whether it's for their experience of pregnancy and childbirth; managing fertility intentions, preventing sexually transmitted infections; enjoying better sexual health of themselves or their partner, or self-monitoring their blood pressure, access to quality self-care interventions can help meet people's many health needs and rights."

New recommendations and good practice statements

The new guidelines consolidate both new and existing recommendations on self-care interventions which can help to meet the health needs for people worldwide - and particularly in settings with the fewest resources and least infrastructure.

New recommendations include:

Over-the counter pharmacy provision of pregnancy self-tests;

pharmacy access to emergency contraception (or "the morning-after pill")

availability of lubrication to help individuals improve their sexual health and pleasure;

Self-management of iron and folic acid supplementation being made available as an option during pre-pregnancy, pregnancy and postnatal periods

self-monitoring of blood glucose during pregnancy;

self-monitoring of blood pressure during pregnancy;

The new recommendations are accompanied by a series of good practice statements, which cover the following areas: 1) Human rights, gender equality and equity; (2) Financing and economic considerations; (3) Training needs of health workers; (4) Population-specific implementation considerations; (5) Digital health interventions; and (6) Environmental considerations.

Complementing primary health care

Ensuring such good practice is crucial to ensure that self-care interventions are provided as a necessary addition and component of high quality and human rights based primary health care - and not instead of high-quality health programmes and services.

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Safe and strong linkages between individuals' self-care and access to quality health care (when wanted or needed) is critically important to avoid harm. Where self-care is not a positive choice but is prompted by fear or lack of alternatives, it can increase vulnerabilities and put people's well-being at risk.

Research needed

The new guidance is considered a "living guideline", which will allow for continual review of new evidence and information, so that appropriate guidance can be issued in a timely manner and adopted and implemented by countries and programmes.

The foreword from Dr Soumya Swaminathan, WHO Deputy Director General, Science Division, as well as the concluding chapter of the new guideline, highlight the crucial need for more and better-quality research and evidence to address the limitations of the evidence base.

As Dr Swaminathan notes, "Further data and rigorous research continues to be needed to ensure a strong, evidence base to promote the introduction, use and scale-up of self-care interventions."
A government move to issue national identity documents over the weekend to pupils that are set to write public examinations in November went up in smoke yesterday after registry offices across the country were overwhelmed by demand.

Thousands of Zimbabweans have been struggling to access identity and other documents, including national IDs, in recent months due to a shortage of production consumables.

The government last week said it had since acquired the consumables and set aside this weekend to issue IDs to those sitting for 'O' and 'A' Level examinations in November.

Poor organisation and the high demand for the documents, however, saw multitudes descending on registry offices across the country.

Chaotic scenes were witnessed at Harare's two registration centres, as well as in Bulawayo, Chinhoyi, Mutare, Gweru, Masvingo and Chinhoyi, among other areas across Zimbabwe.

Police had to be roped in to disperse the agitated pupils, many of whom were complaining of hunger and fatigue after standing in queues for a long time.

Some of them had hired kombis to go in groups and get the IDs, only to be turned away empty-handed.

The stampede fuelled the endemic corrupt activities at the RG's offices, with some pupils reporting that they were made to pay US$20 to US$30 to jump the queue in Harare.

In Bulawayo, the pupils that thronged Msitheli and Tredgold to acquire IDs complained that the process was too slow.

"It's saddening that many of us returned home without the IDs," said one pupil.

"I woke up early and I was in town with my other classmates only to find Tredgold already packed.

"I even lost hope the time I stepped there because the place was full of students who had came earlier than us, I was here by 6am.

"But only 100 people had their documents processed and we were told the rest would have to book for another day."

In Mutare, some pupils' complained of hunger, with others expressing frustration that they were being turned away after using their money to hire a kombi.

The chaos forced the government to suspend the scheme later in the day.

"The programme was meant for 'O' and 'A" Level students, who want to register for their exams only," Home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe told The Standard.

"It turned out that all youths, who need IDs came, even some who are not even in school.

"This becomes a problem with this Covid-19 pandemic, hence the programme will be called off in view of the risks involved."

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He said alternative rollout arrangements would be made to ensure that the students, who have to register for exams would not be inconvenienced.

At the Market Square registry offices in Harare, the pupils claimed only 80 were allowed in with the rest being told to come today.

There was commotion when word started filtering in that some had paid bribes.

At the Chinhoyi registry offices the students were told that the machine that is used to take ID pictures broke down in January.

The students were told to go to the Murombedzi office, the next nearest centre.

The Primary and Secondary Education ministry was blamed for contributing to the confusion after failing to communicate that only external/private candidates were required to produce IDs when registering for public exams.

"The Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) does not prohibit school candidates from registering for public examinations due to lack of IDs," Zimsec spokesperson, Nicki Dhlamini said yesterday.

"The school or centre must be able to verify the identity of the candidate."

Additional reporting by: Sharon Sibindi, Nunurai Jena, Nhau Mangirazi and Kennedy Nyangani.
Many might query the assertion that Mashonaland Central province is the bedrock of Zimbabwean music.The province has a rich history centered on producing some of the country's best musicians, including the late Oliver Mtukudzi, John Chibadura, sungura king Alick Macheso, Chimurenga music guru Thomas Mapfumo and Paradzai Mesi, among many others.

Everything from sungura, traditional beat, to Afro-jazz developed in the province.

However, most of the musicians migrated to the capital where they hoped to earn recognition unlike their province, which does not have a radio station.

They made a beeline to Harare where they conquered and rocked the country while some earned regional and global acknowledgment.

Those that chose to stay away from the capital and major cities around the country, had their efforts gone to waste as they failed to make an impact on the cut-throat music industry, which was biased towards artists from the big cities.

Only a handful hogged the music limelight from outlying areas and their music was exceptional.

However, 35-year-old sungura musician Brighton Motsi believes artistes from outside Harare or Bulawayo can do well in the industry if they remain focused and work hard.

"I believe artistes from outside Harare can do well and scale to dizzy heights in the music industry. I want to inspire other musicians from peripheral areas that if they work hard, they can make it," said Motsi, who fronts Muzarabani Sounds based in Centenary.

Armed with one album titled Kamukana and several singles, Motsi believes he has what it takes to be a force to reckon with having been in the music industry since 2007.

"I used to herd cattle at a place called Uchachacha in my home area in Chigwida in Muzarabani where I started composing songs at a very tender age," Motsi said.

"I did not even think that I would one day be able to make it to the recording studio and have my music played on radio and television. In 2007 I joined a church choir and the other congregants recommended that we form a musical group Vabati VeHabakuki and we tried to record.

"Indeed, in 2010 we recorded our first album titled Zvitsvene Kuna Jehovah, which did not do well and we recorded another one two years later. We then realised that we were had improved as evidenced by the airplay one of the songs titled Munogona had on Radio Zimbabwe.

"To us that was a great achievement. However, the group dismantled after the relocation of some of our members from Muzarabani to Mt Darwin. Fans mounted pressure on us requesting that we revive the group."

According to Motsi, they regrouped and recorded a single titled Pinda Muzambara, which was accompanied by a video frequently played on ZTV.

He said the feedback from the fans after the release of the song Pinda Muzambara inspired him to do more after realising that he was sitting on a talent.

It was a tall order for Motsi, who along all was into acapella to transform to sing sungura music, thanks to guitarist Boniface "Beaver" Charemera, who taught him a few tricks and the rest is history.

"Beaver was putting pressure on me to record a song, but it was hard for me to shift from acapella to sungura," said Motsi.

"Last year I teamed up with Beaver (bass guitar), Blessmore Motsi and Gilbert Mozorani (backing vocals) and we went to Harare where we hired other session artistes to record an album titled Kamukana.

"Mr Hasty (video director) offered me a free video shoot and we selected the song Pindai Mudariro for the video. To our surprise, the video was played on ZTV's Zimbeat on a daily basis and on the programme Ezomgido."

Motsi said they have released the video of the song Misodzi YeNherera which is available on the video-sharing platform YouTube.

"I am getting support from fans from all over the country and South Africa as most of them are likening my music to that of the late Barura Music king Leonard Dembo," Motsi said.

"I am working on an album titled Ngoma YeDande and I promise you that this will be a game changer."

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While Motsi believes he can work his way out to be a force to reckon with on the national music scene despite coming from Muzarabani, his greatest undoing was the cost of travelling to Harare to record his music and push his music at radio stations.

He thanks the digital age era that has allowed him to market his music through various social media platforms, including Facebook where he is much visible.

His music carries one of the most profound messages targeted at his highly patriarchal community.

"Our district is ranked among some of the areas with high prevalence of gender-based violence including child marriages. I would like to use my music to educate my own people that women and children have rights that we should protect as a community," said Motsi.

He said if groups like Devera Ngwena and Zvishavane Sounds managed to rock the nation coming from small-mining towns like Mashava and Zvishavane respectively, what fails him and Muzarabani Sounds scale to dizzy heights when they are few kilometres from Harare.
Health experts have warned that Zimbabwe is in the throes of a deadlier third wave of the Covid-19 outbreak with more rural areas emerging as hotspots. Mashonaland West province, which is largely a rural province, has been recording the highest daily infections for most of this month and a fortnight ago the government was forced to introduce more stringent lockdown measures in Kariba, Hurungwe and Makonde districts.

Masvingo is another largely rural province that is reeling from rising infections. Johannes Marisa, president of the Medical and Dental Private Practitioners Association, said the rising infections in rural areas were complicating the latest outbreak.

"People should realise the gravity of the third wave," Marisa said.

"It is unique that it is attacking from the rural areas, which is quite sad considering the traditional ways of doing things in rural areas.

"A lot of people still need health education.

"More than 50% of people in the rural areas still think there is no Covid-19 and it is a menace. We are in trouble."

He expressed concern over the state of infrastructure at rural health areas, saying it would make it difficult to contain the outbreak.

Senior Hospital Doctors Association president Shingai Nyaguse said the third wave differed from the second in many ways.

"Unfortunately many rural communities had relaxed on preventive measures," Nyaguse said.

"A lot of the cases are in places where residents have a lot of contact with neighbouring countries, especially Zambia and South Africa.

"Unfortunately some of the facilities had not had their renovations completed, which hampers management of in-patients."

She said it was unfortunate that there was an increase in the number of health workers infected with the coronavirus, a situation that would strain an already stretched workforce.

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Enock Dongo, Zimbabwe Nurses Association president, said health workers were bearing the brunt of the outbreak.

"It's really a sorry state, we have started having more and more nurses contracting Covid-19," Dongo said.

"Health workers, especially those in the most affected areas are victims of circumstances.

"There is a lot of exposure to Covid-19 for health workers and it seems nothing much is being done to avert the situation."

Itai Rusike, Community Working Group on Health executive director, said the poor distribution of vaccines would leave people in rural areas vulnerable during the third wave.

"As long as we don't address issues of vaccine equity people in the rural areas continue to be affected," Rusike said.

"Rural communities are being left out.

"They are lacking information as well as access to vaccines."

Agnes Mahomva, the chief coordinator for Covid-19 in the President's Office, said no analysis had been done to distinguish between the second and third waves of the outbreak.

"The surge in numbers of Covid-19 deaths and cases is not really pointing to a shift in concentration of the virus, but our biggest concern is complacency," Mahomva said.

"No one has done an analysis on the concentration of the virus.

"It really is about complacency whether one is in the rural areas or not."
Pro-democracy protests continued across Swaziland (eSwatini) despite a ban on marching imposed by the kingdom's absolute monarch.

Marches took place in at least 10 locations - mainly in rural areas.

Police fired teargas and live ammunition in an attempt to disperse protestors. There were many injuries, including to two journalists.

Swaziland is ruled by King Mswati III as an absolute monarch. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections and the King chooses the Prime Minister and government cabinet ministers as well as top judges and civil servants. Groups advocating for democracy are outlawed under the Suppression of Terrorism Act.

Campaigners who marched on Friday (25 June 2021) and Saturday called for wholesale political reforms and want to elect their own prime minister.

Acting Prime Minister Themba Masuku on behalf of the King had declared marches to deliver petitions illegal and the National Commissioner of Police William Dlamini warned police would show 'zero tolerance' and 'unleash the full might of the law' against anyone defying the ban.

The Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), a prodemocracy group banned in the kingdom, reported, 'The most violent protests occurred at Siphofaneni where police once again retreated immediately after infuriating the local population. In the aftermath of that clash the road passing though the town was completely closed as trucks were burnt. This was eerily similar to what occurred at Msunduza the previous day.'

Wonder Dlamini, a journalist for the eSwatini Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by the King, was shot with a teargas cannister at close range at Lugongolweni.

Andile Langwenya, a reporter for the online publication Independent News, eSwatini, was hospitalised after being tear-gassed by police at Msunduza. Sifiso Sibandze, Independent News Editor, said, 'Police should stop employing hooliganism tactics when doing their job.'

At Msunduza, the Observer reported, 'Teargas canisters were also shot in all directions and to nearby residential places and in the absence of the Red Cross volunteers, journalists were forced to assist some children who were overwhelmed by the teargas by whisking them to safety.'

The Observer also reported, 'The protests that broke out across the country seemingly fuelled an ongoing conversation about police brutality and political reforms in the country. Previous protest marches had been calm and the protesters spoke of their frustration over being led by an unelected prime minister among a litany of many grievances.

'The issue of the elected PM had been foremost, with other grievances becoming only ancillary. The manner in which the protests quickly escalated into a national occurrence reflected long standing frustrations and rage by communities.'
President of Liberia, H.E. Dr. George Manneh Weah departed the country early Monday, June 28, 2021 for Paris, France to participate in the 2021 Generation Equality Forum.

Several heads of state are expected to attend the forum. The 2021 Generation Equality Forum will convene governments, International organizations, civil society organizations, youth, private sector and activists.

As Feminist in Chief, Dr. Weah will address the forum calling on the world to make concrete, ambitious and sustainable commitments towards achieving gender equality.

Dr. Weah is accompanied at the forum by Honorable Dee-Maxwell Kemayah (Minister of Foreign Affairs), Honorable Daniel D. Zainkahn (Minister of Defense), Honorable Williametta Saydee-Tarr (Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection), and Lenn Eugene Nagbe (Commissioner Liberia Maritime Authority).

Others are Trokon Kpui, Minister of State Without Portfolio and Hon. Daintown D. Pay-Bayee, Chairperson National Commission on Disabilities.

The three-day Forum will also galvanize a multi-stakeholder ecosystem to advance gender equality to ensure sustainability and accountability.

President Weah is expected to meet France President Emmanuel Macron on the margins of the forum. Their discussions will focus on peace and security and others issues aimed at enhancing bilateral relations.

While the President is away, Hon. Samuel Tweah, Minister of Finance and Development Planning will chair the cabinet in consultation with the Vice President of Liberia and via telephone with the President.
A Chinese company has been granted the rights to carry out mining activities at the Mavuradonha Wilderness monument in Guruve, sparking protests from locals who say it will scuttle tourism opportunities.

It could not be immediately established what Afrochine Smelting intends to mine in the area, but locals believe the Chinese want to set up a chrome mine.

Villagers and businesspeople that have set up tourist facilities in Mavuradohna say they were not consulted before the company was given the mining rights.

The development has resulted in the suspension of the construction of a four-star lodge in the wilderness as it is located at the heart of Afrochine's mining grant.

The Mavuradonha Wilderness was gazetted as a national monument in 2017, but has been reduced to a shell due to rampant illegal mining, illegal settlers, poaching and deforestation.

Mavuradonha, which stretches from Guruve to Muzarabani, Pfura and Mbire, has been viewed as a potential tourism hub for Mashonaland Central province.

A disgruntled businessman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Chinese project was shrouded in secrecy.

"Construction of a four-star lodge has been put on hold because it is right where the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has given Afrochine the right to mine," he said.

"EMA seems to have not been bothered to speak to us for an opinion, having invested in Mavuradonha for nine years, but instead, the Chinese miners get their full ear and attention.

"Even the Mining ministry, how could it give mining rights in a national monument, which is due to become a world heritage site?"

Samson Nekatira, a Guruve villager, said they were very concerned that Afrochine had been given the go-ahead to "destroy a national monument".

Nekatira said the villagers stood a chance of benefiting from tourism receipts if the area had been developed, but the mining project had dashed their hopes.

"We are not going to get anything from this mining company," he said.

"It's just here to exhaust our resources and go.

"To show you that as villagers in Guruve we are not benefiting, everything was done without our input.

"We were only surprised to see heavy machinery coming here."

Nekatira added: "We want this company's operations stopped and those of other companies operating in the wilderness.

"Police should also clamp down on illegal mining and poaching, which is happening there."

Amkela Sidange, the EMA public relations manager, said the agency was not to blame for the developments in Mavuradonha.

"Regulation of mining issues is not an EMA issue alone, it is very much multi-sectoral," Sidange said.

"EMA takes over the baton for the end of line regulation procedure of the environment impact assessment (EIA) process.

"Despite being at the end of the line, it remains critical and a game changer in ensuring the proposed project is done in a sustainable manner, prioritising among other key issues conclusive stakeholder consultation, which goes on to form as major key requisite in the granting of the EIA certificate, meaning the review of the EIA document submitted by the project proponent to the agency pays due diligence to the conclusivity of stakeholder consultation.

"An EIA is a rigorous process that follows laid-down procedures."

Cosmos Chiringa, Mashonaland Central provincial development co-ordinator, referred questions to the Mines ministry.

"Mining rights or authorisations are given by the minister of Mines and Mining Development. I want to refer you to the provincial mining director, who is better placed to respond to your questions,' Chiringa said.

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"But as a province, there has been different stakeholders holding meetings to determine the boundary dispute between Guruve and Muzarabani districts in our efforts to ensure mining is done within the law and peacefully."

Mines minister Winston Chitando was not reachable for a comment.

Afrochine sparked international outcry last year after it started setting up a coal mine inside the Hwange National Park before it was ordered out.

It recently emerged that President Emmerson Mnangagwa granted the company a special grant to resume mining activities inside Zimbabwe's largest game reserve.

Mnangagwa's government has granted several Chinese companies coal mining rights in the Hwange area, amid concerns by environmentalists that the activities would destroy the fragile ecosystem and worsen the human-wildlife conflicts.
Pokot elders now want to use colonial-era maps to end the boundary dispute between West Pokot, Turkana and Baringo counties.

The land in question, which starts from Marich Pass, 194km from Lodwar through Kainuk, abuts the Turkwel river and is rich in fertile soil.

Areas around the disputed boundary include Amolem, Takaywa, Nyangaita, Alale, Lokiama, Ombolion, Kases, Lorogon and Kapedo on the Turkana and Baringo borders.

The elders, who claimed Pokots were pushed away from their ancestral land, have asked the national government to send surveyors to the area to identify beacons erected in the colonial period to help end boundary conflicts.

Led by former Kapenguria mayor Christopher Lonyala, the elders have called on the electoral body IEBC to draw the boundaries based on pre-independence borders.

"Many people have been killed in Kapedo ... The 1984 operation (Lotirirr) in West Pokot left many killed, injured and displaced," he said.

The State can reduce conflict by clarifying the demarcation lines, he said, leaving local administrators to thereafter sort out minor disputes over grazing rights and water points.

"The problem will always resurface after sometime if the government doesn't demarcate the boundary between the two communities," Mr Lonyala said.

"We don't know where Kapedo is. The boundaries have been interfered with and now there is no clear map. We want the Land and settlement department to intervene. We were in Naivasha Province, Turkana is the Northern Frontier District."

In a report to the Senate earlier this month, Lands Cabinet Secretary Farida Karoney declined to take a position on Kapedo, which is claimed by Baringo, West Pokot and Turkana counties.

"Kapedo is a centre on the common boundary (and its) expansion has spread to Turkana County, thus creating some confusion given that Kapedo itself is a reference for the boundary," she said.

In their statement, the Pokot elders say politicians from the Pokot and Turkana communities are using the issue to incite locals to gain political mileage, thus failing development in the area.

"They have become warmongers. Elected leaders and those not elected have become a nuisance. We need the Global Positioning System (GPS) to come. Residents have suffered from problems created by politicians," Mr Lonyala said, speaking on behalf of the elders.

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"West Pokot District has been in the hands of the ministry since 2013. We are in the Karamoja cluster. We want them to draw a boundary from Moroto to Baringo."

KVDA map

One of the contentious maps, which he says is to blame for the bad blood between the two communities, was drawn in 1992 by the Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA) to mark areas the agency wanted to develop.

It is this map, he reckons, that has been the cause of conflict and even derailed work at KenGen's Turkwel power plant.

"When the boundaries were drawn, the chairman of the KVDA board was a Turkana. It is sad that the government uses this map as the official document," he said.

Another elder, Musa Cheperer, alias Muyahudi, claimed that the whole Turkana South sub-county, including Lomelo, Lokor, Katilu and Lokichar, is in Pokot.

"Guns made Pokots vacate the area. Three years ago, I wrote to President Uhuru Kenyatta on the boundary issue but he didn't reply to my letter. Other areas like Lusuk, Loupe, Loima are in Pokot. We are ready to give out maps," he said.

Pokot council of elder's chairperson John Muok said they are ready to testify in court concerning the boundary row.
A court has allowed a bus transport company to evict more than 1,000 squatters from its land in Kitale, Trans Nzoia, with police protection.

Eldoret Express Company Ltd had sought the enforcement of a 2019 Court of Appeal judgment that declared the firm the lawful owner of the land known as Tawai farm.

The squatters said they were displaced from their homes during the violence that followed the disputed 2007 presidential election.

The eviction will end a 13-year-old court dispute over the 640-acre property in Kiungani, southwest of Kitale.

Justice Samuel Kibunja noted that efforts by the squatters through their land-buying company Tawai Ltd to have the eviction suspended had been rejected by the Supreme Court in March 2021.

The court case started in 2008 when Eldoret Express sued seeking to be declared the owner of the land.

Read: IDPs in Trans Nzoia claim powerful people tilling land Moi gave them

Two title deeds

At the centre of the dispute were two title deeds issued for the same land - one for Tawai Ltd and the other for Eldoret Express.

It was initially part of the larger 764-acre tract that was owned by George Alexander Sinclair before independence.

Eldoret Express directors said the company bought the land from Kaitet Tea Estates in 2001 for Sh40 million. They produced the original title deed and certificate of title.

For their part, Tawai said they were the registered owners of the land since 1976.

Tawai directors said the company bought the land in 1974. They said they took out a loan from Kenya National Capital Corporation (KNCC) bank in 1981 and used the title as security. The title was returned to them in September 2008, when they paid off the loan.

However, the Court of Appeal noted that Tawai had defaulted on the loan and the bank had subdivided the land and sold it.

Kaitet, a company associated with former Central Bank governor Eric Kotut, purchased the land from the bank for Sh7.1 million in 1987. Kaitet later sold the land to Eldoret Express.

Also read: Ferdinand Waititu's Thika Blue Post road is illegal, Lands court rules

Time limit

Appellate judges Patrick Kiage, Asike Makhandia and Otieno Odek (now deceased) had said there was no illegality, fraud or misrepresentation in the creation of the title held by Kaitet.

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The judges said that in 1987 when the title was being created, Eldoret Express was nowhere in the picture.

It was held that Tawai's efforts to recover the land from Kaitet were futile because of the time limit provided for in the law.

Because the claim of recovery was filed in May 2011, 24 years after Kaitet's registration, the court found, it could not be entertained as it was filed over the 12-year limit for such claims.

However, the judges were left with a plethora of questions about Tawai's conduct in its ownership claims.

For instance, the judges asked how Tawai could purport to be obtaining discharge in 2008 through unstated court orders and full payment of unstated sums.

Another question was how it could purport to create subdivisions of the land in 2008 when its evidence was that it subdivided it in 1983.

"If it received its title on discharge in February and September, 2008, when did it lose it to justify the alleged provisional certificate of title issued on May 21, 2008? And how is it that the purported discharge of charge from KNCC to Tawai dated September 15, 2008 purports to have been re-entered on June 10, 2008 at 12.45pm -more than three months before it was prepared?" the judges asked.

jwangui@ke.nationmedia.com
The Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) has lost the first round in a case where it has been sued by villagers for allegedly grabbing a 17.3-acre piece of community land set aside for a public school.

Last Friday, Karatina Principal Magistrate Agnes Mwangi dismissed with costs a preliminary objection by the church that sought to disqualify the court from hearing the case.

The church, through lawyer Wahome Gikonyo, had argued that the court should not hear the matter because, among other things, the value of the disputed land is beyond the court's jurisdiction.

But Ms Mwangi, in the Environment and Land Court, dismissed the objection, saying there was no official valuation report on the disputed land. She adjourned the case to give more time to the parties involved to come up with an official valuation report.

Three months ago, the court was thrown into confusion when both the plaintiffs and PCEA produced two sets of green cards indicating double ownership of the parcel in Thaithi village, Kirimukuyu ward, that villagers say was earmarked for a school.

The residents, in court documents filed by messrs Githinji Gitehi, Nderitu Guthua and Mbuthia Kamonjo, argue that the land known as Kianyakura was set aside by the community in 1959 and was earmarked for a school but the church had recently acquired it fraudulently without consulting them. PCEA has denied the claim.

"The plaintiffs contend that Registration of land parcel Kirimukuyu/kiria/792 in the names of the Presbyterian Foundation was fraudulent and illegal as at time of such registration the owners were not consulted (herein referred to as residents of Kirimukuyu location) and no public participation was done as stipulated in the Constitution", they argue.

The church, for its part, lays claim to the land and a copy of the title deed seen by Nation.Africa indicates it is registered under the Presbyterian Trust Foundation and was issued in 2014.

Also sued alongside the church are Tumutumu West parish session clerk Lydiah Ngahu, parish minister Rev JM Mbae, the Nyeri County government and the county land registrar.

Residents want the court to order that the registration of the land to the church is null, void, illegal and fraudulent and that the title deed be cancelled and the land revert to the public.
A cultural purist gang believed to be a scion of the Mungiki sect has erupted in parts of Central region and is forcing women to get circumcised.

Its activities are concentrated in Murang'a, Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Nyeri, Nyandarua and parts of Laikipia counties.

So forceful is the gang that the Chief Administrative Secretary for Public Service and Gender Jebii Kilimo recently visited Kandara Sub-county to address the issue after a woman went public on how her husband, a member of the gang, organised a ceremony in his home, to have her and their two daughters circumcised.

"He came to our Kariti village with his members who were about 10, and said they were there to have me and our daughters aged eight and two years, circumcised. I fought and managed to run away with my two daughters," she said.

The woman who has since been rescued by Murang'a Woman Rep Sabina Chege, to a safe house, sensationally claimed that when she reported the matter to the assistant chief, she was advised to "go and have the cut since it was no big deal and it would win me peace."

Murang'a Senator Irungu Kang'ata said the gang has the blessings of some local unscrupulous political and cultural class.

Council of Elders

"We have some men who are saying they belong to Council of Elders and are behind the gang. It also has the blessings of some senior politicians in the region. Our security managers in this region must declare the activities of this gang as a regional disaster, and all of us politicians, must publicly denounce it, sanction its annihilation," he said.

Gikuyu Council of Elders Chairman Wachira Kiago, said the gang exists "but is not in any way affiliated to us, neither sanctioned by us as it claims its activities are criminal and should be dealt with."

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Ms Kilimo termed the gang's activities "silly in the 21st Century", blaming local security chiefs of dereliction of duty.

"The County Commissioners are supposed to have come up with a measure to protect our women from this gang's activities. It is not acceptable to have a misguided group going around telling our women that they owe the community gods the cut," she said.

Kandara Sub-county Police boss Catherine Ringera told nation.africa that two suspects have already been arrested "and we are in hot pursuit of their ringleader."

"The Mau Mau freedom fighters settled the community's freedom debts through blood, sweat and tears and as far as the Agikuyu women are concerned, they owe no one blood of their private parts," Ms Kilimo said.

Central Region Commissioner Wilfred Nyagwanga, urged victims of the gang to share information, noting that their activities were being acted upon.

"I want to assure all that our women are very safe against criminals out to harm them. We only seek genuine partnership with all stakeholders and where we will get actionable information, we will act decisively. We are also investigating some of the officers said to be colluding with the gang," he said.

mwangilink@gmail.com
Until last week, more than 300 pupils at Bedie Primary School in Lambwe ward, Mbita sub-county, Homa Bay County, scrambled to wash their hands from two containers before going to class.

The pupils would line up at two handwashing points to clean their hands as recommended by health experts to reduce the spread of Covid-19.

It took a lot of time for all the learners to have their hands clean and this affected their studies as lessons would start late.

Today, however, all the children are able to start their lessons much earlier after additional containers were delivered to their school.

Having more handwashing points limits the amount of time each pupil takes to wash their hands.

The donation is part of an ongoing programme called "Adopt-a-School" that is being implemented by county governments under the Lake Region Economic Block (LREB) to help vulnerable schools overcome the challenges.

Under the programme, elite members of the society in the 14 LREB counties are encouraged to identify needs in schools around them and offer support.

It is part of interventions by the regional bloc to manage the Covid-19 crisis in the region.

For the past six months, LREB has reached out to 1,000 schools in the 14 counties under the programme.

Some 14,000 schools were yet to benefit from the Adopt-a-School programme, said LREB education pillar director Easter Okello.

"We started the project immediately schools reopened as a Covid-19 mitigation programme. Basically, we do resource mobilisation to buy soap, face masks and handwashing equipment," she said.

At Bedie Primary School, access to clean water is a major challenge.

The institution is located in a semi-arid area in Homa Bay County where water sources are mainly boreholes and pans, which are also located far from homes.

Homa Bay County Agriculture Executive Aguko Juma, a resident of Lambwe, decided to adopt the school and support it.

He donated four handwashing containers to the school with a promise to give more support in the fight against Covid-19.

"I have also donated washable face masks, a carton of soap and a thermogun to the school to enable pupils to minimise the risks of contracting Covid-19," he said.

When LREB came up with the programme, it was established that pupils in school play a major role in transmitting Covid-19.

Transmit the virus

During play time, children interact with one another. Back at home, they interact with their parents, and hence they can easily be superspreaders.

Some pupils whose parents are infected with Covid-19 can easily transmit the virus from their family to different families through their friends at school.

Governor Cyprian Awiti has directed all his cabinet members and other senior county officials to support local schools in managing Covid-19.

They are required to visit learning institutions around them and identify what is needed to stem the spread of the virus.

Mr Juma said to cut the chain of transmission, children need to be encouraged to wash their hands and practise other hygiene measures.

"With this idea, we will achieve great strides in controlling the virus," he said.

Mr Juma used the opportunity to announce plans by the county government to supply clean water to the school to boost hygiene.

The school has an empty 10,000-litre water tank that was donated by World Vision.

But the distance to the nearest water point makes it hard for it to be filled with water.

"The school will soon start enjoying clean and safe water from the tank that would be delivered periodically in water bowsers. I will also encourage other community members to support this school and others around here," the county executive said.

School headteacher Josephine Onyango said the programme will enable children at her school to stay safe from other diseases as well.

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"Besides coronavirus, handwashing prevents cholera and other waterborne diseases," she said.

Apart from supporting the fight against Covdi-19, volunteers are encouraged to donate stationery to learners and sponsor vulnerable pupils to secondary and tertiary education.

The LREB education department has also partnered with alumni of various schools to offer psychosocial support to learners.

Mrs Okello, however, noted that the uptake of the initiative was still low, saying not enough well-wishers are coming on board.

"The uptake by alumni to support the initiative is low. Out of the 800 schools in each county, only 100 are supporting us. This calls for re-strategising our communication system," she said.

"The Ministry of Education is providing facemasks though they are not enough. They have been helpful in giving us information to reach out to the needy schools."

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Ojina
It is more than five years since prevalent stunted growths among children in Northern Kenya were reported, yet there is still no end in sight for children and families suffering devastating impacts on their health and well-being.

While speaking to the nation.africa at Qalaliwe village during her visit to Moyale sub-county on Saturday, the World Food Programme Representative and Country Director Lauren Landis, expressed fear of long term impacts of prevalent stunted growths among children in the region.

"With the continued malnutrition and stunted growth reported in Marsabit if no timely interventions are set up we might end up with a non-productive population that can't get deployed even in the disciplined forces in future," Ms Landis said.

She observed that while the number of stunted children worldwide has fallen from 255 million to 156 million over the past 25 years, Northern Kenya and Marsabit County included have continued to have an upward trend of malnutrition and stunted growths.

Ms Landis said that the stunting rates in the region were worrying since they were likely to result in detrimental impacts on a child's development, and high levels over sustained periods could also negatively impact the region's economic outlook or productivity, which is already compromised.

Stunting, or low height for age, is an indicator of chronic undernutrition.

Stunting is caused by inadequate intake of nutritious food, frequent illnesses such as diarrhoea and intestinal worms, poor care practices, and lack of access to health and other essential services, especially in the first 1,000 days of a child's life.

In addition, a mother's own health and nutrition have an impact on the baby's nutrition.

Kenya Defence Forces recruitment

Food insecurity among households living in poverty, especially in emergency-prone arid and semi-arid areas thus contributing to a high prevalence of severe acute malnutrition and higher risk of death and stunting in children.

Ms Landis called for diversified food production and behavioural change among the residents.

The World Food Programme has been supporting the Ministry of Health (MoH) in the improvement of health and survival of children under five, pregnant and lactating women through the support of health and nutrition systems to scale up high impact nutrition interventions.

They also focus on supporting improved food and nutrition security and enhanced resilience to drought and food security through farming projects.

Her concerns were echoed by Marsabit County Nutrition Coordinator Immaculate Mutua, who pointed out that malnutrition was divided into two categories: chronic and acute.

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She called on the governments and development partners to give priority to regions with malnutrition problems such as Marsabit by ensuring food security and access to healthcare by mothers before, during pregnancy and while lactating.

Additionally, she called for intensified therapeutic interventions such as optimal complementary feeding through the supply of folic acid and vitamin A.

"Malnutrition is categorised in two categories: chronic and acute and if not dealt with in time can result in several types of morbidities, deformation and even deaths," Ms Mutua said.

The impacts of malnutrition were made evident during the Kenya Defence Forces recruitment in Marsabit County on February 12, 2021, where majority of youths were turned down since they did not meet the recruitment obligatory requirements of 65kg weight and height of 5.8 feet.

The Recruitment Officer Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Maluki observed that the majority of the youths were underweight or shorter than 5.8 feet.

The prevalence of acute malnutrition expressed by the global acute malnutrition (GAM) shows a trend far above the critical level of 15 percent in Marsabit County in most years, particularly during the dry spells.
Addis Abeba  Abdi Regassa, a senior member of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) was reportedly taken by security forces after the court ordered his release. His lawyer Tuli Bayisa told Addis Standard that the Oromia Supreme court acquitted Abdi of terrosim charges on June 24, 2021. Abdi was taken to an undisclosed location after he was arrested, Tuli said.

The interim head of public relations of the OLF, Lammi Gemechu narrated the sequence of events after Abdi was being escorted home by fellow party members. Abdi was brought to Oromia Supreme court in the capital Addis Abeba from Daleti detention center in Sebeta town. "About 30 people blocked the road and ordered the people in the car to go out." he said and went on to explain that the car was ransacked by what he described as security forces dressed like civilians.

According to Lammi, the security forces then took Abdi and Two other members of the party, including a member of OLF's executive committee to a police station in Alemgena town. While the two were released shortly after, Abdi's whereabouts are unknown. "We don't know the reason behind his rearrest," Lammi said.

Abdi Regassa is a former Commander of Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) who then became a member of OLF's Executive Committee. He was among the senior OLF officials whose house was raided and were arbitrarily arrested at the end of February, 2020. The police denied holding him for days while Mikael Gobena, Dr. Shugit Geleta, Kenessa Ayana, Muhe Raya, Tesfaye Meko, Selemon Teshome, Gamtessa Boru and Abdulkarim Abdurehaman were released shortly after. Abdi has been presented at different district courts in the Oromia region facing different charges and judges have ordered his release multiple times. AS
Khartoum  The Special Court convened to try the perpetrators of crimes related to the Sudanese revolution, has sentenced a former member of the defunct National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) to death by hanging, for the murder of Hassan Mohammed Omar during a mass protest in Khartoum on December 25, 2018.

At the Institute of Judicial Sciences in Khartoum on Sunday, the Special Court presided over by Appeal Court Judge El Sadig Abkar Adam, convicted Ashraf El Tayyib (known as Abgaika) of premeditated murder and crimes against humanity under articles No 130 and 186 of the Criminal Law.

Doctors from Khartoum who treated demonstrators at the time, confirmed to Radio Dabanga that at the march organised by the Sudan Professionals Association in Khartoum on December 25, 2018 protest, the security forces were "shooting to kill".

This is the first conviction under these articles to be passed down by the court, which was convened to address crimes committed during the mass popular uprising that culminated in the overthrow by military coup of the 30-year dictatorship of Omar Al Bashir.

The court also upheld the request by the victim's family for retribution, provided that the case is submitted to the Supreme Court after the appeal period has elapsed.

The verdict was met with relief by the victim's family and supporters, who gathered outside the courtroom chanting demands for a speedy execution of the sentence.

December revolution

From mid-December 2018, Sudan experienced a popular uprising called-out by the Sudanese Professionals Association and signatories to the Declaration of Freedom and Change, calling for the overthrow of the regime. Demonstrations were met with violent resistance from the government, however the sheer volume of public support resulted in the uprising reaching critical mass. On April 11, the 30-year dictatorship of Omar Al Bashir was overthrown by a military coup.
There should be more emphasis on supporting small businesses to recover from the devastating impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, economic experts have said, with parliament set to pass the national appropriation bill for 2021/22 fiscal year later Monday.

The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Uzziel Ndagijimana, presented the Rwf 3,807 billion budgetary proposals for the next financial year to both chambers of parliament on Tuesday, June 22.

The budget seeks to inspire recovery from the pandemic, with the government tipping manufacturing, agriculture and construction sectors to drive much-needed rebound in economic activity in the near future.

"At the moment," Teddy Kaberuka, an economist based in Kigali, said, "the recovery fund seems to be focusing mainly on the big companies, big hotels, yet the businesses that took the biggest hit from the pandemic are small businesses like shops and motels."

He reckoned that there is need to pay greater attention to small business operators to ensure a more equal recovery effort.

But he noted the budget caters for the most important sectors, including the health sector with the government planning to spend big on vaccines, which Kaberuka said was an important factor in the country's bid to bounce back from the pandemic.

Angelo Musinguzi, a tax expert, welcomed the fact that, despite the pandemic, the government continued to prioritise sectors that help position the country as a regional hub.

Both Musinguzi and Kaberuka also singled out the fact the new budget proposed no tax increase yet it still represents an increase from the previous government spending.

"The sectors with the most potential to fund the budget include the consumer industry, banks and telecommunication companies," said Musinguzi, adding that these sectors performed relatively well compared to tourism and hospitality over the last one year.
analysis

This week, civil society will raise the alarm on the dearth of young people in parliaments across the world. In South Africa, activists, academics and business people will come together to discuss the future of basic education. Fair and fast access to Covid-19 vaccines remain urgent topics.

Nearly 40% of the global population is aged between 20 and 39. Yet, only 18% of the world's members of parliament are under 40 years old. Almost 40% of chambers of parliament have no members of parliament under 30 years old.

That is why the theme of this year's Day of Parliamentarism is focused on youth participation. The United Nations declared this day in 2018 to highlight the importance of "strong, transparent, accountable and representative" parliamentary democracies. It says:

"With future generations destined to live with the political choices made now, it is only right that they have a seat at the decision-making table. Yet young people are underrepresented in parliaments all across the world.

"Their perspectives, ideas, talents and energy are vital to addressing many of the biggest challenges facing the international community.

"Now is the time to ensure that parliaments welcome the younger generation."

The rest...
President Filipe Nyusi declared on 23 June that the conditions have now been met for Mozambique to accept the support that its partners in SADC (Southern African Development Community) may grant for the fight against terrorism, but he insisted that the main role in this struggle will be played by the Mozambican defence and security forces themselves.

President Nyusi was speaking at the end of an extraordinary SADC summit, called mainly to discuss the SADC response to the islamist terrorist attacks in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

SADC initiatives, President Nyusi said, "will be important complements to the efforts which the country is undertaking to confront terrorism". In the front line of this struggle, he continued, "are our defence and security forces who are selflessly determined to guarantee our sovereignty and territorial integrity and to protect our population".

The final communique from the summit said the leaders "approved the Mandate for the SADC Standby Force Mission to the Republic of Mozambique, to be deployed under the SADC Standby Force in support of Mozambique to combat terrorism and acts of violent extremism in Cabo Delgado".

The communique gave no details of the Standby Force Mission. However, in April a SADC Technical Mission recommended the immediate dispatch of an intervention force of almost 3,000 troops to Cabo Delgado. The detailed proposal was for three light infantry battalions of 630 troops each, two special forces squadrons of 70 troops each; two attack helicopters; two armed helicopters; two surface patrol ships; one submarine; one maritime surveillance aircraft as well as other logistical support.

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Whether the SADC leaders have accepted this proposal is not yet clear. Nor is it yet known which SADC members will provide the troops, the ships, and the aircraft, or how the operation will be funded.

The communique also said the summit "urged the Member States in collaboration with Humanitarian Agencies to continue providing humanitarian support to the population affected by the terrorist attacks". To date, over 700,000 people have been displaced from their homes by the jihadist raids, carried out by groups known locally as "Al Shabaab", and who have aligned themselves with the international terrorist network known as "Islamic state", or ISIS.

Among the leaders attending the Maputo summit was the new Tanzanian President, Samia Hassan. This was the first SADC summit she has attended. Tanzania is critical to the fight against terrorism, since it has a lengthy border with Cabo Delgado, and Tanzanian jihadists are known to be playing a leading role in the Cabo Delgado war.

The next summit of SADC will take place in Malawi in August when President Nyusi will hand over the rotating presidency of the organisation to his Malawian counterpart, Lazarus Chakwera.
President Filipe Nyusi on 25 June announced that the defence and security forces have frustrated another terrorist attack in Palma district, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Speaking at the launch of year-long celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the ruling Frelimo Party, on 25 June 1962, President Nyusi said the terrorists had tried "to make our festivities coincide with attacks around Palma". They had been unsuccessful, he added, because "our young fighters said this morning 'we are celebrating by striking the enemy hard'. Right now, the fighting is continuing".

25 June also marks the 46th anniversary of Mozambican independence. Frelimo also re-inaugurated its national headquarters in central Maputo, after many months of building work.

President Nyusi urged all Frelimo members and sympathisers to become actively involved in the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the party and in the preparations for the Frelimo 12th congress, scheduled for September 2022, in the southern city of Matola. The dates chosen - 23-28 September - concede with those of Frelimo's first congress, held in Dar es Salaam in 1962.

The President said the 12th Congress will discuss political and ideological options and will decide on far-reaching questions about the life of the party and the country. The Congress, he added, will be "a moment of reflection and festivity, and of strengthening and consolidating the spirit of national unity, of peace and the promotion of development".

Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario stressed the importance of defeating the terrorists in Cabo Delgado. He told reporters that all Mozambicans should be involved in the consolidation of peace, and in building a Mozambique of well-being. "We need our country to live in peace", Rosario declared. "We are all called upon to consolidate peace".
The African Development Bank (ADB) and the Italian Technical Cooperation Fund on 24 June announced that a grant of 990,000 has been awarded to help small agro-processing enterprises in Mozambique boost production and quality control.

The programme will be implemented by the Confederation of Mozambican Business Associations (CTA) and will help businesses enter into the national and continental markets and capitalise on the opportunities created by the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, CTA President Agostinho Vuma, explained that the programme will benefit about 300 businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises led by women and young people operating along the Nacala, Beira and Pemba-Lichinga development corridors.

The project will address one of the major problems faced by small scale producers and processors who wish to trade beyond their local markets - which is their lack of certification. According to the Italian ambassador to Mozambique, Gianni Bardini, it will act as a catalyst to extend the private sector which has "a huge and largely untapped potential".

The project is also designed to tackle the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Pietro Toigo, the ADB representative in Mozambique, "we are pleased to partner with the CTA and the government of Italy to support Mozambican small and medium-sized enterprises recover from the Covid pandemic and scale up their competitiveness, as part of the ADB's commitment to help industrialise Mozambique and Africa".

Mozambique's Minister of Industry and Trade, Carlos Mesquita, welcomed the initiative, stressing its "catalytic role in promoting Mozambique's agricultural modernisation and the industrialisation of critical sectors of the economy".

The project supports the goals of the African Development Bank's Country Strategy Paper for Mozambique 2018-2022, which focuses on two strategic pillars: infrastructure investments that enable transformative inclusive growth and job creation; and agricultural transformation and value chain development.

The African Development Bank financed its first project in Mozambique in 1977 and since then has focused on supporting projects covering agriculture, transport, water and sanitation, energy, communications, mining, and finance.
The authorities on 22 June seized 309 kilos of the illicit drug methamphetamine (crystal meth) in Bive village, Mocuba district, in the central province of Zambezia, according to a report by the television station STV.

The drug was hidden in a container in a truck into which the traffickers had installed a false bottom. But the customs team that stopped the truck found the false bottom and asked the driver to open it.

Zambezia customs director, Manuel Eliseu, told STV, that the driver did open the container bottom - but then ran into the bush. The customs officers searched the container and found 309 kilos of crystal meth.

Obede Basilio, the Zambezia spokesperson for the Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic), said that Sernic laboratories will check the exact nature of the drug.

It is likely that the drug came from Asia and was landed on a beach in Nampula province before it was loaded into the container. The intended final destination was probably South Africa. Mocuba lies on the route from Nampula to Maputo, and on to South Africa.
A lack of funds is hampering the efforts of aid agencies to provide life-saving assistance and protection to 1.1 million people in the northern Mozambican provinces of Cabo Delgado, Niassa and Nampula, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In a report published on 15 June, OCHA points out that aid agencies have only received US$22.3 million in funding which is just nine per cent of the $254 million needed to respond to the violent conflict which has driven a massive displacement of people from their homes. It calculates that the number of people displaced due to terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado increased from 172,000 in April 2020 to over 732,000 by the end of April 2021.

The United Nations agency laments that at least thirty per cent of those displaced have had to flee multiple times and warns that the repeated displacement and the destruction of livelihoods are "exhausting families' scarce resources, leading to a severe hunger crisis amidst multiple health and protection emergencies". It adds that "most people were left with no more than the clothes on their backs, and arrived at their destinations exhausted, traumatised, injured and in need of urgent medical attention and psychosocial support".

OCHA warns that, as a result of the conflict, "more than 900,000 people are severely food insecure and displaced people and host communities are also in urgent need of shelter, protection and other services. Hunger is not only increasing in rural zones but also in urban centres, including Cabo Delgado's capital, Pemba, which hosts the highest number of displaced people in the province (157,000) and where 40 per cent of people are facing high acute food insecurity".

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It adds that "the massive displacement is also straining meagre resources of host communities, as more than 80 per cent of people who fled the conflict are staying with family and friends".

OCHA notes the findings of Save the Children that at least 51 children, most of them girls, were abducted by the terrorists over the past twelve months. It adds that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has found that women and girls have been "abducted, forced into marriage, and subjected to sexual violence", while children are also being forcibly recruited into armed groups.

OCHA concludes that "while further funding is under discussion, more is needed immediately to ensure that humanitarian organisations can save lives and alleviate suffering. Without additional funding, humanitarian partners will be forced to stop essential programmes, and hundreds of thousands of people will not receive the assistance they need to survive".

Parts of Cabo Delgado have been under attack from islamist terrorists since October 2017, forcing people from their homes and destroying livelihoods. It is estimated that 350,000 children have been displaced, leaving them hungry and without education.
The United States government, via the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has granted US$30 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to address food insecurity in communities affected by terrorism in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado and those affected by natural disasters in the central provinces of Sofala and Manica.

According to a press release from the US embassy, on 15 June the US ambassador, Dennis Hearne met with WFP Executive Director David Beasley "to discuss the US-WFP partnership in addressing the needs of the nearly 800,000 internally displaced people in Mozambique and their host communities".

"The humanitarian situation in northern Mozambique is concerning," said Hearne. "The US Government remains committed to supporting the government of Mozambique and the Mozambican people to respond to this complex crisis. This includes assisting the many Mozambican families and communities that have been hosting their neighbours, displaced from their homes due to violence in Cabo Delgado".

Beasley added "we are incredibly grateful for this generous contribution and the support of the United States here in Mozambique. Through WFP's life-saving assistance for families affected by conflict, we are planting the seeds of peace".

"But this is not enough," Beasley continued. "We must work harder together to ensure the longer-term recovery and well-being of the people, helping them to move forward and giving them hope for a better future." WFP says it will use most of the $30 million in new funding to provide emergency food assistance to 116,500 of the Mozambicans displaced by the violence in Cabo Delgado, offer nutritional support to displaced children, and provide 7,600 refugees with food donations and food vouchers.

The funding will also cover critical logistics, coordination, and information management support for the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) and provide emergency food assistance to more than 30,000 Mozambicans affected by natural disasters in Manica and Sofala.

USAID is also granting $5.5 million to Mozambique to provide critical food and nutrition assistance, protection for women and children, as well as water, sanitation, and hygiene services to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and water-borne diseases. This is part of a grant of over $91 million to 11 African countries to address urgent humanitarian needs arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The World Bank on 18 June approved a US$150 million credit to support the Mozambican government's Northern Mozambique Rural Resilience Fund, with the funds being made available through the Bank's International Development Association (IDA).

The project will benefit 619,000 people in 300 communities by improving livelihoods for rural communities affected by islamist terrorism in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. The humanitarian crisis in Cabo Delgado continues to grow and a recent report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that over 732,000 people have been displaced from their homes.

A press release from the World Bank explained that "the project will provide support to districts and communities to stabilise the living conditions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities; generate livelihood opportunities in sustainable agriculture and fisheries; invest in local infrastructure to improve economic activity; promote inclusive and participatory development and decision making for improved social integration".

It added that "the project will also invest in improved management of natural resources, including forestry, fisheries, biodiversity and soil, and will adopt community-driven and climate-sensitive approaches to improved management of natural resources on which rural livelihoods depend".

According to Ann-Sofie Jespersen of the World Bank, "by deliberately adopting a community-driven approach, the project is investing in dialogue, participation, consensus building, and good governance, which will ultimately contribute to restoring the social fabric and trust lost through conflicts".

The project is run by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Land and Environment, and the Ministry of Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries, and it is in line with the country's priorities outlined in the government's five-year plan. It is being coordinated by the government's National Sustainable Development Fund (FNDS), with the Blue Economy Development Fund (ProAzul) leading on fisheries interventions, and the non-profit organisation BioFund leading on some activities inside Conservation Areas.

The World Bank's International Development Association helps the world's poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people's lives.
The British charity, the Vodaphone Foundation, and the United Nations Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, have opened two Instant Network Schools in northern Mozambique to help with the education of nine thousand children who are missing their schooling due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the effects of conflict in many parts of Africa.

One of the schools will serve the Maratane Refugee Settlement, a camp hosting a third of the country's refugees, and another is the biggest secondary public school in Nampula city. They will cover grades 7 - 12 and 200 teachers will receive specialised training.

The Maratane Refugee Settlement is located about 35 kilometres from Nampula city. It was set up in February 2001 and is the national centre for registering and settling asylum seekers. It currently hosts over nine thousand refugees mainly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, and Somalia.

The camp is run by the government's National Refugee Support Institute (INAR) and there is a primary and secondary school serving both refugees and local children. However, it is estimated that over half of the children in the camp do not have access to education.

Vodafone's Andrew Dunnett pointed out that "Covid-19's onslaught of school closures, health needs, and loss of family livelihoods has exacerbated the risks of refugee children - and secondary school-age refugee girls in particular - not returning to school. Refugee students in Mozambique - where Maratane used to be called the forgotten camp - have faced particularly dire conditions and consequences for their continued safety, wellbeing, and learning".

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The Instant Network Schools scheme converts existing classrooms into multimedia hubs with internet connectivity and provides educational content in line with the country's curriculum. The scheme provides a 'school in a box' composed of 25 tablets for students, a laptop for the teacher, a projector, speaker, 3G internet connectivity, solar charging, and a library of digital educational resources.

The UNHCR representative in Mozambique, Samuel Chakwera, pointed out that "fostering quality learning in refugee settlements and camps remains a constant challenge as most of the time educational resources are not available in those settings. Through the Instant Network Schools programme in secondary schools in Maratane and Nampula, an innovation hub will be created in the classroom, bringing together education, innovation, and protection. I am incredibly proud to see the programme expand into Mozambique where I hope it will have the same success that we've experienced in other countries".

The addition of the two schools in Mozambique brings the total number of Instant Network Schools to 38, helping over 94,000 pupils and a thousand teachers. The other schools are located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Sudan.

The programme was established by Vodafone Foundation and UNHCR in 2013 to give young refugees, host community members and their teachers access to digital devices, resources and tools, including the internet which assists in improving the quality of education in some of the most marginalised communities in Africa. The partnership intends to expand the programme to benefit 500,000 young refugees and their communities by 2025.
The customs authorities in the northern port of Nacala have foiled an attempt to illegally export four containers of unprocessed logs destined for China, according to a report in the newssheet "Carta de Mocambique".

Under Mozambican legislation, it is illegal to export wood that has not been processed.

The logs, belonging to an exporter named Bajone, were from trees that had been felled in the central province of Zambezia. Officials in the Zambezia Forestry Services collaborated in the exporter's criminal activity, giving the go-ahead to exporting the containers and issuing documents stating that the wood had been processed. But when customs officers in Nacala opened the containers they found this was a straightforward lie, and that the wood had undergone no form of processing at all. The paper's sources said that the Zambezia officials have been detained but declined to name them.

This is the second time this month that illegal exports of timber have been foiled in Nacala. On 11 June, five containers of logs were seized before they could be exported.

"Carta de Mocambique" also reports that in Sofala province police have seized three trucks laden with logs. The trees had been cut down illegally in the neighbouring province of Manica.
The Italian energy company ENI has confirmed that it will start production of liquefied natural gas at the Coral South gas field off the coast of the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado in 2022.

The floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility is currently being constructed in South Korea and it is expected that this will be shipped to Mozambique with an arrival date of December 2021.

The project has not been affected by the islamist terrorism that has affected Cabo Delgado because the entire process of extracting and liquefying the gas will take place offshore. Speaking to S&P Global Platts news outlet, an ENI spokesperson confirmed that "so far the violence in the north of Mozambique has not affected the Coral South project timeline and we confirm start-up in 2022 as per schedule".

Earlier in June, eleven Mozambican engineers travelled to South Korea for a six-month training programme where they will familiarise themselves with the FLNG plant.

The FLNG platform can produce 3.4 million tonnes of LNG a year and the entire production over twenty years has been sold to BP.
The Public Prosecutor's Office has charged a Chinese national with environmental crimes that carry a prison sentence of between 12 and 16 years, reports the television station, STV. The Chinese citizen, whose name was not given in the STV report, was caught in possession of nine kilos of dried seahorses. All species of seahorse are protected in Mozambique, and fishing for them is prohibited.

The accused intended to take the seahorses to China for use in "Chinese traditional medicine". He would have sold them for US$1,800 a kilo. He says he purchased them from local fishermen for between 30 and 50 meticais (between 47 and 79 US cents a kilo).

The demand from the Asian market, including not only China but also Indonesia, the Philippines and Korea, may be driving the 46 species of seahorse towards extinction. It is feared that around 20 million of these small fish are caught every year.

The Mozambican authorities suspect that the seahorses were acquired as the result of illegal fishing in the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park, off the coast of the Inhambane districts of Vilankulo and Inhassoro.

The seizure of the dried seahorses was possible because the police received a tip-off from people living near the Vilankulo house used by the Chinese citizen.

In addition to the prison term, the Public Prosecutor is proposing that the accused should be fined 250 times the monthly minimum wage. This works out at about 1.2 million meticais (around US$18,000). The property registered in the accused's name in Vilankulo should be seized by the Mozambican state, the prosecution argues.
analysis

France recently announced plans to close its military operation battling Islamist militants in the Sahel region of West Africa.

President Emmanuel Macron said the mission would be replaced by an "operation of support and cooperation with armies in countries that ask for it". And as part of the "new framework" the French military's presence in the Sahel region would be part of a military operation and international alliance, associating countries in the region with all its partners, focused solely on the fight against terrorism.

This new framework is being read as an attempt at placing ownership of the process at restoring stability to the affected states in the region. And Paris has made clear whatever is left of the French military's presence in the region will be integrated into the broader European Union's military task force called Takuba Task Force.

France's military interventions were triggered nearly a decade ago by a protracted crisis as a result of activities of Tuareg separatists in Mali. Islamic extremists with close links to Al-Qaeda had taken advantage of the situation by capturing northern Mali in early 2012.

Other Islamist extremist groups now operating across the region are known to also have ties with the Islamic State. Despite France's intervention, the spate of instability has worsened with Islamic extremists intensifying their reign of terror over the years.

Since its inception to date, France has lost about 55 troops to the activities of extremist groups. This is perhaps one of the main reasons for its decision to bring an end to what has increasingly become an unending war that continues to drain economic resources.

France's decision presents Paris as well as the international community with the opportunity to take a more integrated approach that is less militaristic. Anything short of this will aggravate an already deteriorating situation in the Sahel.

A decade of interventions

In 2012 France committed itself to a full fledged military campaign under the name Operation Barkhane in the region. This consisted of a force strength of 5,100 French troops operating across Chad, Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. As an anti-terror mission, its ultimate goal was to target Islamic extremists.

In 2013 France launched Operation Serval. This sought specifically to prevent the Islamic extremists from gaining access into Bamako, Mali's capital.

In 2014, spearheaded by France, the Group of 5 (G5) Sahel Counter-terrorism Force was launched. The aim was to improve cooperation around development and security in West Africa. The troops of Operation Barkhane worked alongside the G5 counter-terrorism force.

The force is not yet fully operational. As part of its mandate, it had hoped to deploy about 5,000 troops along the southern part of the Sahara Desert. The aim was to support the ongoing efforts of peacekeepers under the UN's MINUSMA mission.

The force has the backing of the United Nations and the African Union, as well as the US, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and the European Union. Gulf countries pledged to provide $500 million to financing the force. But there appears not to be much traction.

In the meantime insecurity in the Sahel has raged on unabated.

The Takuba Task Force - a European military task force which has also until now been led by France - is now likely to play a leading role in the international community's involvement across the region.

Why military interventions didn't work

The military interventions on their own miss the point. There needs to be a complementary non-military approach that focuses on improved governance. The absence of this has been at the heart of the region's crisis of instability.

For a start there is a major breakdown of trust between states and their citizens across the Sahel. This is due to years of poor governance and neglect, opening the door to systemic corruption and underdevelopment. There is endemic poverty, inequality and increasing youth unemployment in countries across the region.

Islamic extremist groups have chosen to capitalise on these realities by pitching local people against their governments.

With the G5 Force lacking full operational capacity and Nigeria and the regional body ECOWAS taking a back seat, the affected states in the region remain mostly responsible for moving the needle on restoring stability. It's a task they are ill prepared for and, by every indication, unable to accomplish.

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Implications and way forward

The lack of synergy between France and ECOWAS on the situation in Mali does not augur well for stability in the region.

As a result, the immediate beneficiaries of this proposed exit strategy by France will be the Islamist extremists. To stop this from happening, France and its partners need to re-calibrate their focus beyond military interventions to strengthening state capacity across the region.

To do this efficiently and effectively, they need to expend political capital across the region by carrying along key stakeholders including elites, locals and traditional rulers, all of whom have a say in the peace process, while helping to provide the platforms and environment for these conversations to take place.

The over-militarisation of the crisis across the region has done little to foster much-needed stability.

Folahanmi Aina, Doctoral Candidate in Leadership Studies, King's College London
The Africa Africa CDC has expressed concern over the applicability of the EU Digital COVID Certificate Green Pass to different COVID-19 vaccines

document

Addis Ababa  The African Union Commission and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) noted with concern recent communications regarding the applicability of the EU Digital COVID Certificate Green Pass to different COVID-19 vaccines.

The availability of such a Certificate, with its potential to significantly facilitate free safe movement across all EU Member States and certain associated countries, is a significant step forward. However, the current applicability guidelines put at risk the equitable treatment of persons having received their vaccines in countries profiting from the EU-supported COVAX Facility, including the majority of the African Union (AU) Member States.

According to official information (see sources below), while the goal is for EU Member States to issue vaccination certificates regardless of the COVID-19 vaccine type used, the granting of a green pass applies, only to vaccines that have received EU-wide marketing authorisation. Thus, while the AstraZeneca vaccine (ChAdOx1_nCoV-19) produced and authorized in Europe (Vaxzervria) is included, the same formation of the vaccine (Covishield) produced under license by the Serum Institute of India (SII), is excluded. Under such regulations, persons who received Covishield, despite being able to demonstrate proof of vaccination, would continue to be subject to public health restrictions, including limitations of movement and testing requirements, with considerable administrative and financial implications.

These developments are concerning given that the Covidshield vaccine has been the backbone of the EU-supported COVAX contributions to the AU Member States vaccination programmes.

Furthermore, given that the expressed goal for the Serum Institute of India production is to serve India and lower-income countries, the SII may not apply for EU-wide market authorisation, meaning that the inequalities in access to Green Passes created by this approach would persist indefinitely.

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The Covidshield vaccine, alongside the versions of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine produced by AstraZeneca-SKBio (Republic of Korea), was one of the first available candidates considered safe and efficacious through the World Health Organisations Emergency Use Listing (EUL) process. Both candidates received approval as early as 15 February 2021 with the explicit goal of rolling it out through the COVAX Facility, providing access to lower-income countries, and making the global population safe from COVID-19. The African Union and Africa CDC, therefore, urge the EU Commission to consider increasing mandatory access to those vaccines deemed suitable for global rollout through the EU-supported COVAX Facility.

Sources:

1. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/QANDA_21_2781

2. https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/all-details-on-eu-covid-19-passportrevealed-heres-what-you-need-to-know/
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Ethiopia Hopes Berbera Port Will Reduce Dependence On Djibouti

The government of Somaliland, along with the Dubai-based giant port operator, DP World, which is developing and expanding Berbera Port, officially inaugurated the new terminal on June 24, 2021.

The new container terminal is expected to be a major trade gateway for landlocked Ethiopia. Following the inaugural ceremony, Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi reportedly told the media that the newly built terminal "will open up an economic opportunity in the East African region." Ethiopia depends on Djibouti for 95% of its imports and exports.

The new shipping facility is said to enable Somaliland to play a key role in trade relations between the Horn of Africa countries and the Gulf region. In addition to the expansion of the new container terminal, Somaliland is building a Berbera free trade zone and corridor, as well as major road projects which intend to connect it mainly with Ethiopia.

According to Ethiopian officials, the road project due for completion in late 2021, will not only serve as an alternative corridor for Ethiopia but it will also provide efficient service as it will allow imports from the port of Somaliland to enter Ethiopia "directly, quickly and efficiently".
South Sudan's Returnee Farmers Reviving Food Production

Decades of civil war and continuing conflict have forced more than 2 million South Sudanese to flee their homes and farms, to seek safety and shelter in refugee camps bordering Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya.

After living for six years in northern Uganda's Rhino Refugee Camp, Muki Nicholas, 24, and his family have returned home to Yei, in the southwestern part of the country, in the hopes of resettling and tilling the land once again. He's one of the 5,000 refugees who are attempting to rebuild their lives after fleeing civil war.

Many share the same dream - to cultivate their land, produce enough food for their families, and eventually return to large-scale farming in Yei River County. But scattered violence as well as community conflict in parts of Central Equatorial State, scared Nicholas off his own farmland once again, writes Sheila Ponnie for RFI.
Sudan: Sudan Cabinet - 'Unanimous Decision' to Hand Darfur War Crimes Accused to ICC Radio Dabanga, 27 June 2021 In a 'unanimous decision', Sudan's Cabinet has pledged to hand former officials indicted for war crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The decision shortly Read more 

Sudan: ICC Prosecutor Calls On Sudan to Hand Over War Crimes Suspects VOA, 9 June 2021 The departing prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has called on Sudan's government to transfer four men wanted for war crimes in Darfur to The Hague. Read more 

Sudan: ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda - 'We Have Miles to Go Before We Sleep' Radio Dabanga, 16 June 2021 The outgoing Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has celebrated the achievements of the court thus far, but cautioned that there is still much work to be done. In Read more 

Sudan: Fatou Bensouda - 'Work of ICC for International Justice Will Continue Without Pause' Radio Dabanga, 9 June 2021 The work of her office on behalf of international justice, and by extension, sustainable peace, will continue without pause, Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor for the International Read more 

Sudan: ICC Counsel for Victims - Charges Against Darfur Janjaweed Leader Ali Kushayb 'A Starting Point' Radio Dabanga, 26 May 2021 Former Darfur janjaweed leader, Ali Muhammad Ali Abdelrahman (also known as Ali Kushayb), appeared before Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Read more 

Sudan: Darfur Displaced Renew Call to Hand Remaining War Crimes Indictees to ICC Radio Dabanga, 30 May 2021 The General Coordination of the Displaced and Refugee Camps have renewed their demand for the transitional government to hand over the rest of those indicted for Darfur crimes to Read more 

Sudan: ICC Prosecutor Bensouda Meets With the Displaced During Her Visit to Darfur Radio Dabanga, 1 June 2021 The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, continued her two-day visit to Darfur with a meeting in Nyala, capital of South Darfur, yesterday where Read more 




According to the government official, the decision was made after being informed of the vaccination of former President Martin Vizcarra, who said on social media that he had been inoculated with a dose of the Pfizer vaccine as he was included in the national registry.





In this sense, Ugarte affirmed that neither Vizcarra nor former Deputy Public Health Minister Luis Suarez will receive a second Pfizer dose, as befits all Peruvian citizens over 18 years of age.





"We have informed Reniec (of this decision), and have issued an order excluding these 487 people from the registry; therefore, the former deputy minister had better not go on June 30 (the date of his second dose appointment), because he is not going be on the roll, and Mr. Vizcarra had not better try to get a second dose as he did for the first one," he stated.

Ugarte noted that this drastic measure was adopted in the face of an improper use (of their positions).

He went on to say that, as head of the Ministry of Health, he is very outraged and rejects the behavior of the former officials.



According to the latest information, of the 487 people vaccinated irregularly last year, only Suarez and Vizcarra (former officials) had access to the vaccines available under the national program, although ex-ministers Pilar Mazzetti and Elizabeth Astete were also included in the registry of beneficiaries.





The health sector's head indicated that the use of additional doses administered under the national vaccination plan by those who were irregularly inoculated with the Sinopharm vaccine will be confirmed in the course of the day.





(END) RMCH/CVC/RMB
YEREVAN, JUNE 28, ARMENPRESS. The Office of the Representative of Armenia before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has made a statement over the ongoing illegal criminal prosecutions of Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijan.

The statement says:

According to the information gained on the sidelines of the inter-state legal processes initiated by the Armenian government in the European Court of Human Rights and collected from open public sources, currently the Azerbaijani authorities are conducting fake criminal prosecutions against Armenian citizens who have been captured during the 2020 September 27 war and are still being held in Azerbaijan with obvious gross violations of international humanitarian law.

The Armenian government has repeatedly officially announced and reaffirms now as well its position that persons, currently illegally held in Azerbaijan, are considered prisoners of war and hostage-taken civilians and use the protection guarantees in accordance with the 1949 Geneva Convention. Any criminal case against captured Armenians has no legal ground and openly contradicts the international legal norms, the statement says.

The Office stated that it has repeatedly applied to the ECHR requesting to stop the ongoing criminal prosecutions against the Armenian captives, release them and guarantee their rights. However, the only urgent measure within the ECHR is the opportunity of applying an interim measure, which, unfortunately, has a limited nature, and the Court cannot intervene in the ongoing criminal prosecutions against these persons.

The Office said it is ready to cooperate with lawyers, attorneys and any other persons interested in the matter.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 28, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of Armenia denies the statement of the Azerbaijani defense ministry according to which the Armenian armed forces opened fire towards the Azerbaijani positions in the border area of Tavush province.

The Azerbaijani defense ministry is spreading another disinformation, claiming that in the evening of June 27 the Armenian armed forces units have opened fire at the Azerbaijani positions, this time in the border section of Tavush province. This information as well has nothing to do with the reality, as the units of the Armenian Armed Forces didnt fire a single shot at the Azerbaijani positions, the Armenian defense ministry said in a statement.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JUNE 28, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan sent a congratulatory message to Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on his birthday, Pashinyans Office told Armenpress.

The message reads:

Excellency,

Please accept my warmest congratulations on your birthday. I wish you good health, much happiness and every success in all your undertakings.

Our peoples are bound by deep-rooted affinities and a dialogue coming from the depths of centuries, which determines the vision of future cooperation between our two friendly nations.

Highly appreciative of our cooperation and mutual understanding, I am convinced that consistent daily work will help us reach new heights in friendship.

Please accept, Excellency, my best wishes and the assurances of my highest consideration.
YEREVAN, JUNE 28, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker deputy prime minister of Armenia Tigran Avinyan got his second dose of coronavirus vaccine in the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, his Office told Armenpress.

Avinyan has been vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine.

Vaccinations against COVID-19 continue in Armenia.

As of June 27, 74,814 people have been vaccinated against the disease since the launch of the vaccination process.

Vaccinations are carried out in centers of primary healthcare all days of the week.

Foreigners in Armenia can also get vaccinated for free.

AstraZeneca, Sputnik V and Coronavac vaccines are available in Armenia.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, 28 JUNE, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 28 June, USD exchange rate down by 2.55 drams to 496.83 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 3.29 drams to 593.07 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.03 drams to 6.89 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 2.95 drams to 691.34 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 117.58 drams to 28538.97 drams. Silver price up by 0.11 drams to 417.39 drams. Platinum price up by 86.34 drams to 17586.77 drams.
YEREVAN, JUNE 28, ARMENPRESS. Dutch Ambassador to Armenia Nico Schermers emphasizes that the Armenian war prisoners kept in Azerbaijan should be immediately repatriated, without any precondition, ARMENPRESS reports Schermers said in a briefing with reporters.

''The POWs should be immediately repatriated. This is the position of the Dutch Government. I can only hope that the POWs will be repatriated without any conditions'', he said.

The Ambassador reminded that last week the representatives of the EU, 25 Austrian Federal Minister for European and International Affairs Alexander Schallenberg, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu, visited Armenia and Azerbaijan, who also discussed the issue of the repatrioation of the POWs during the visit.

The Dutch Ambassador also referred to the so-called ''trophy-park'' in Baku, emphasizing that it should not have happened and that it's iadmissible, which is also the position of the Dutch Government. The opeing of the park is shocking for the Ambassador, who believes it does not foster peace.
Children are thought to make up a mere 1-2% of all cases of coronavirus infections

This month, four children were admitted separately to a hospital in the central Indian state of Maharashtra with symptoms of breathlessness and falling blood pressure.

Their mothers had contracted Covid-19 more than a month ago. The children had developed no symptoms of the disease. At the 1,000-bed Kasturba Hospital in Sevagram, the young patients, however, were found to have antibodies to Covid-19, indicating past infection.

Now they were battling a rare, inflammatory and potentially life threatening condition called multi-system inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C). This condition usually develops four to six weeks after children and teenagers have recovered from Covid-19.

At the Kasturba Hospital, two of the sick children have recovered, while the other two are being treated in intensive care. "I would worry about this condition. We simply don't know how deep this problem is. It is worrisome we still don't have data on the burden of this disease in India," Dr SP Kalantri, medical superintendent of the hospital, said.

As the deadly second wave of the coronavirus abates, paediatricians across India are reporting more cases of this rare but serious condition. Since doctors are still reporting cases, it is not clear how many children have been affected so far. The US has reported more than 4,000 such cases and 36 deaths from the disease so far.

At Delhi's Gangaram Hospital, Dr Dhiren Gupta, an intensive care paediatric, has seen more than 75 patients, aged between four and 15, since March, when the second wave began. His hospital has opened an 18-bed MIS-C ward. He reckons there have been more than 500 such cases in the capital and its suburbs.

Nearly 1,500km (932 miles) away, in the western city of Pune, Dr Aarti Kinikar, a paediatrician working in a government medical college and hospital, has seen 30 such cases since April. Thirteen of the sick children, aged four to 12 years, are still in hospital. Most of them have suffered from myocarditis, a disease marked by the inflammation of the heart muscle. "The numbers are too many after the second wave," Dr Kinikar said.

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In Solapur, a small town in Maharashtra, fellow paediatrician Dr Dayanand Nakate, has dealt with up to 20 patients, mostly between 10 and 15 years old, in the past month. Last fortnight the Maharashtra government made MIS-C a "notifiable disease", required by law to be reported to authorities.

Doctors say the condition is the result of an extreme immune response to the virus, which can lead to inflammation of vital organs.

Symptoms can often mimic other diseases at the start: high and persistent fever, rash, red eyes, inflamed lymph nodes, stomach pain, low blood pressure, body ache and lethargy.

Some symptoms are similar to Kawasaki disease, another rare condition that mainly affects children under the age of five. "The syndrome is really a spectrum of conditions from mild Kawasaki-like disease to multi-organ failure," according to Dr Jhuma Sankar, an associate professor of paediatrics at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

The inflammation surge, say physicians, can lead to frightening outcomes: septic shock, respiratory failure and affect multiple organs like the heart, kidney and liver. Children afflicted with this condition also show neurological symptoms, a study in the US found.

Dr Gupta told me that the majority of sick children in his hospital required critical care treatment. A third had to be put on ventilator support for up to a week. Experts say steroids, antibiotics, immunoglobulin or IVIG injections - made from the blood of donors and containing millions of healthy antibodies - and oxygen support may help make children make a recovery.

Worryingly, 90% of the children Dr Gupta's hospital treated for the condition had contracted Covid-19 without showing any symptoms, he said. He said the children became sick with the inflammatory syndrome two to six weeks after recovery.

"My only worry is these children should not crash and land up in extreme emergency. Parents need to watch out and take children who have recovered from Covid and develop symptoms to a paediatrician," Dr Gupta said.

"What also worries me is whether we have enough resources and facilities to treat these young patients if there's a spike in cases."

Cases have been reported even as the second wave of the virus is abating in India

In Pune, for example, paediatricians are putting together instruction leaflets for parents and providing online training to health workers and caregivers to treat sick children at home.

The inflammatory condition remains rare, and if treated in time, mortality appears to be low: only one of the 23 patients in four Mumbai hospitals who were afflicted with the condition and examined as a part of a study, died. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in UK - where the condition is called Paediatric Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome or PIMS - has said mortality numbers are not available yet, but said deaths "would be extremely rare".

What is still not entirely clear is what causes this condition. Is it related to the build-up of antibodies after a Covid infection? Or does this syndrome develop after the infection on its own? Why do a small number of children get affected?

"It's still a bit of a mystery," Dr Banik said.

When to seek help

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends parents should seek emergency care right away if their children show any of these warning signs or other concerning signs:

 Trouble breathing

 Pain or pressure in the chest that does not go away

 New confusion

 Inability to wake or stay awake

 Pale, gray, or blue-coloured skin, lips, or nail beds, depending on skin tone

 Severe abdominal pain

(Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

More stories
Crown Melbourne's compliance head has told a royal commission she was pressured into threatening to ring the Victorian gaming minister during a call with the state's gambling regulator.

Michelle Fielding, Crown's regulatory and compliance executive general manager, on Monday said she felt "uncomfortable" telling a Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation member in 2019 that the firm's chief legal officer, Josh Preston, was "furious".

Mr Preston, she said, was unhappy with the VCGLR's claim that Crown had been reluctant to act on its recommendation to increase scrutiny of junket operators, which brought high rollers to the casino from overseas.

Ms Fielding said another senior Crown figure was in her office as she made the call and pushed her to say Mr Preston had considered "escalating" the matter to the state gaming minister.

"Josh was fairly annoyed, to put it lightly," Ms Fielding told the inquiry into whether Crown can retain a licence for its Melbourne operations.

"I didn't choose to respond aggressively - I was asked to respond in a very firm manner."

Counsel assisting Penny Neskovcin QC asked Ms Fielding whether this behaviour was appropriate.

"Not really," Ms Fielding responded. "And I was uncomfortable with it."

Ms Neskovcin then asked the James Packer-backed group's compliance head whether she did whatever Mr Preston requested.

"No," she said.

"(But) I don't think I recognised at that time it wasn't an appropriate thing to do - I was just uncomfortable with it.

"It didn't sit well with me."

The VCGLR in July 2018 recommended that Crown tighten up scrutiny of individual gamblers who were part of junket groups in order to combat money laundering risks.

Jason Cremona, a VCGLR member, previously told the inquiry the regulator probed Crown about its lack of action on this recommendation in May 2019, less than two months from the deadline.

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"I wouldn't ring Jason again in that tone whether I was asked to or not," Ms Fielding told the inquiry.

Meanwhile, Ms Fielding also revealed she has not read the VCGLR's report on the arrest of 19 Crown employees in China in 2016 for gambling promotion offences, which was published earlier this year.

"How can the minister have faith this won't happen again when you haven't read the report?" Ms Neskovcin asked.

"I haven't had the capacity to read it," Ms Fielding responded.

The royal commission was set up by Daniel Andrews' Labor government after a NSW inquiry found Crown unsuitable to operate its newly built casino in Sydney's Barangaroo.

It continues on Monday.
Sanjeev Gupta

The UK's accountancy watchdog has launched an investigation into the auditor of Greensill Capital, the collapsed financial backer of industrialist Sanjeev Gupta.

The Financial Reporting Council has begun a probe into accountancy firm Saffery Champness.

It also announced an investigation into PwC, which audited financial statements made by Wyelands Bank.

The bank was controlled by Mr Gupta but also lent money to his other firms.

The FRC said it was looking into Saffery Champness's audit of Greensill Capital's financial statements for the year to 31 December 2019.

The supply chain finance company went bust in March, raising concerns over the future of GFG Alliance, the sprawling empire controlled by Mr Gupta and his family which owns the UK's Liberty Steel.

Following the collapse of Greensill, it emerged that the former prime minister David Cameron had unsuccessfully lobbied senior members of the government and former colleagues for loans on behalf of the company.

Greensill's founder, Lex Greensill, was an adviser to the government during Mr Cameron's time as prime minister.

In May, the Serious Fraud Office announced an investigation into "suspected fraud, fraudulent trading and money laundering in relation to the financing and conduct of the business of companies within the Gupta Family Group Alliance, including its financing arrangements with Greensill Capital".

A spokesman for Saffery Champness said: "As professional accountants we owe a duty of confidentiality to present and former clients and, with this matter the subject of investigation, it would not be appropriate to comment at this time save to say that Saffery Champness will of course be co-operating fully with the FRC."

The FRC said it was also examining PwC "in relation to its audit of the consolidated financial statements of Wyelands Bank for the year ended 30 April 2019".

Analysis box by Dominic O'Connell, business correspondent

There is no shortage of official enquiries into the collapse of Greensill Capital and the affairs of one of its main clients, GFG Alliance, the group of companies presided over by the metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta.

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Parliamentary select committees are doing a post mortem on the former, and trying to work out the future of the latter as part of a wider probe of the future of the steel industry.

The Serious Fraud Office is investigating suspected fraud, fraudulent trading and money laundering within GFG, including its relationship with Greensill.

Today's announcements, however, show a new front being opened and a new question asked. How was Greensill able to come so far, and to appear in decent financial health, only to cave in so suddenly? Were its accounts not to be trusted?

The FRC has also begun an inquiry into PwC's auditing of Wyelands Bank, part of the GFG network. Wyelands has been under a shadow for some time. It is expected to be sold or wound up after Mr Gupta said he would not provide any more funding.

If FRC staff are looking for some groundwork for their investigation, they may want to tune into Tuesday's evidence session at the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy select committee. The first witness before MPs will be Stephen Rose, Wyelands' chief executive.

Mr Gupta bought Wyelands, formerly known as Tungsten Bank, in 2016 for 30m.

Last month, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said that in 2019, the Bank's Prudential Regulation Authority banking watchdog had launched an investigation into the business over concerns "connected lending in the context of the ultimate beneficial owner who is Mr Gupta".

He said the Bank notified the National Crime Agency and set out its concerns to the Serious Fraud Office in early 2020.

Earlier this year, the Bank of England forced Wyelands to hand back 210m in deposits to customers.

A spokesman for PwC said: "It's understandable that there is regulatory scrutiny in situations like this. We will co-operate fully with the FRC in its enquiries."
Beach in Benalmadena, southern Spain, 7 June 2021

Portugal and Malta have introduced measures to restrict UK travellers who are not fully vaccinated.

The Portuguese government says travellers will have to quarantine for 14 days unless they can prove they received their second vaccine dose a fortnight before arrival.

Malta is also only allowing double-vaccinated people in from Wednesday.

In Spain, UK travellers need to prove they are fully vaccinated, or provide a negative PCR test on arrival.

Hong Kong is to ban all passenger flights from the UK from 1 July, after the government said it had discovered cases of "variant virus strains" had been "persistently" detected from the UK in the past few days.

The measures have been introduced for UK travellers, in particular for those not fully vaccinated, amid fears they could spread the Delta variant of coronavirus, which was first established in India.

Passengers push their luggage trolleys on arrival in Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport in London in June 2021

The Portuguese government added the UK to the list of countries from which travellers must quarantine "at home or a place indicated by the health authorities". The rules came into effect at midnight.

The new quarantine measures apply only to those travelling to mainland Portugal, not Madeira.

There were 19 flights listed as departing on Monday from UK airports to Portugal's mainland airports - Lisbon, Faro and Porto.

Brazil, South Africa, India and Nepal were already on Portugal's quarantine list, but the exception for people who are vaccinated against Covid-19 to avoid isolating applies just to the UK.

'We have no choice but to cancel our holiday'

Frustrated would-be holidaymaker Sarah Cluskey is one of many people who have been caught out by the ever-changing travel rules.

"Portugal is one of our favourite holiday destinations and when it went on the green list, we decided to book," she told the BBC.

Sarah's husband runs a construction company and has had to work in very difficult circumstances throughout the year, she says.

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He has been travelling into London the whole time, apart from the first three weeks of lockdown.

After a stressful year, she, her husband and their two teenage daughters had been looking forward to a break in the sun.

"Myself and my husband have been double vaccinated, so we can still go. However, we have an 18-year-old daughter who has just received her first vaccination and a 13-year-old daughter who hasn't been vaccinated.

"This leaves us in a position where we can go away, but not as a family, and there will be many other people in the same situation, which is very unfair to families.

"This means that we have no choice now but to cancel our holiday."

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday the measures in Spain for UK travellers would come into effect in 72 hours and included the Balearic Islands as well.

Portugal and mainland Spain are currently on the UK's amber list, meaning those arriving back in the UK must take two tests and quarantine for 10 days.

The Balearic Islands are on the UK's green list, so holidaymakers do not have to quarantine on their return.

Malta has said only "fully-vaccinated travellers" will be allowed to enter the country from the UK, but children under 12 will be permitted if they are accompanied by parents or guardians who have had both doses.

The Maltese government has said those aged between five and 11 must also show evidence of a negative PCR test taken within the previous 72 hours before arrival.

How do you prove you're vaccinated?

The UK government says travellers can use an NHS Covid Pass to prove their vaccination status.

The pass is available in digital or paper format and people can access their own pass two weeks after having a second dose of the vaccine.

You are eligible to get a pass if:

You have had a full course (two doses) of any Covid-19 approved vaccine

You were vaccinated in England

You are aged 16 or over

Passengers boarding plane

The tougher restrictions across Europe come after Germany urged the EU to restrict UK travellers.

The Times reported German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to designate the UK as a "country of concern" because the Delta variant of the coronavirus is so widespread.

The plans will be discussed by senior European and national officials on the EU's integrated political crisis response committee.

The current travel list

The destinations added to the green list from 04:00 BST on 30 June are:

Europe: The Balearic Islands (which include Ibiza, Menorca, Majorca and Formentera), Malta and Madeira

Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat and Turks and Caicos Islands

Other British Overseas Territories: Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory and Pitcairn

Six destinations will also be added to the government's red list on 30 June - the Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Haiti, Mongolia, Tunisia and Uganda.

Mrs Merkel previously told Germany's parliament: "In our country, if you come from Great Britain, you have to go into quarantine - and that's not the case in every European country, and that's what I would like to see."

She is set to meet Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Chequers on Friday.

French President Emmanuel Macron has also talked about his concern at the spread of the variant.

Currently, fully vaccinated UK visitors to France can enter without quarantining.

Analysis box by Caroline Davies, transport correspondent

Travelling abroad isn't just about what is on the UK's green list: other countries also have to let UK travellers in.

In the last few days, more countries have tightened up their restrictions on arrivals from the UK, but each has decided its own approach on a sliding scale of severity.

Some, like Spain, have added the need for a Covid test, while others like Malta require 12-year-olds and over to quarantine if not fully vaccinated. Each country is likely to continue deciding its own individual travel policy, but if many follow Malta's example, this could majorly disrupt family holidays.

Many countries that rely on UK tourists will be loath to increase restrictions that will stop them from travelling and policies could change during the summer as countries vaccinate more of their citizens.

But these changes do show that international travel is still on shaky ground.

What refund rights are there for holidays abroad?

With Covid still widespread in many countries, tourists will have to think carefully about their spending on holidays.

There is always a risk that a green-list country may move to the amber or red list. If this happens, you will need to quarantine after your holiday - something that could be difficult for many people.

Operators do not have to refund you if you are unexpectedly forced to self-isolate on your return.

If the government announces that travel to a particular country is not advised, then airlines and travel companies are likely to cancel any pre-booked flights or holidays there.

In this case, you are entitled to a full refund and you can choose to receive that refund in cash.

Read more about your refund rights on holidays

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And perhaps an even more significant understanding of the soul of the place is engendered when we realize that the array of hills and mounds that characterizes the beauty of Fort Hill is not a natural geological formation, but was created by Native Americans who predated the Iroquois and constructed those mounds almost 2,000 years ago. They are impressive even after 2,000 years of erosion. One can only imagine what the original landscape was like. It brings to mind Stonehenge in England, Machu Picchu in Peru or even the Egyptian pyramids.

Of course, places of soul are often more personal than a town or area. Although five of my brothers and I settled away from the home where we were born, we remained fond of our roots, and our trips home had the feel of pilgrimage about them.

More collectively, national identity can evoke feelings of soul. In my childhood, an elderly neighbor had emigrated from Italy. She proudly displayed the American flag at every opportunity and recited a line engraved on the Statue of Liberty: Send these the homeless tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door. Those words perfectly describe her as a little girl when her family sailed into New York Harbor, she said.

In "Care Of the Soul," Thomas Moore suggests that we each need to find food for our soul every day. Whether its contemplating being in "Historys Hometown" or our own hometown, having a deep conversation, visiting a cemetery, sitting under an old oak tree or being aware, on the Fourth of July, of America, Ronald Reagans shining city on a hill.

Dr. Victor Garlock holds a Ph.D. in psychology and is the author of "Your Genius Within: Sleep, Dream Interpretation & Hypnosis." He was a professor of psychology at Cayuga Community College for over 30 years. He currently is offering individual hypnosis sessions as well as personal counseling at The Center, a holistic health center and spa located in Auburn. For more information, call (315) 704-0319 or visit thecenter4wellness.com.

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There are ongoing efforts to remediate what is inherently problematic within the law enforcement profession as to actions pertaining to race, gender, cultural or gender identification. As law enforcement leaders, social justice advocates and allies work to change inappropriate or bias-related policing, it is incumbent on the larger society to refrain from using a broad brushstroke to paint all police as one nefarious self-serving cohort or an insidious, recalcitrant cabal bent on blindly protecting all officers, regardless of unlawful infractions, from accountability under the law.

During the past several years, the media has centered on incidents regarding white officers use of deadly force where the victim tends to be Black, and that imagery has captured the thinking of the national citizenry. These painful scenarios are not lost on the policing profession or social justice advocates. While 17th century enslavement, racism and oppression morphed into subsequent generational legally sanctioned and societal acceptance of inappropriate police actions that are unfortunately grounded in race-based control, dehumanization and subjugation, there remains an ongoing dilemma. Do historical (and contemporary) sins of the past indelibly mark current policing in its totality? Undeniably, there are more officers who have built careers with respect for citizens and the tenets of their profession. However, the bad seeds tend to cast an overarching aura of bad policing on the entirety of officers when that mantle of inappropriate and often deadly behavior is not warranted by most of those honorable members of the profession. Social activists and society in general must grapple with this dilemma that is becoming more complex and problematic with every reported national incident.
Soon it will be the Fourth of July and we may get to hear Tchaikovskys "1812 Overture," a rousing piece of music featuring drums, brass, church bells and cannon fire. The bells and canons will probably be simulated since the real things are hard to coordinate. Tchaikovsky wrote the piece in 1880 for the dedication of a cathedral, but the music dramatizes the 1812 victory of the Russians over the French when Napoleon invaded the country.

What does a musical composition about a war between the Russians and French have to do with the Fourth of July? Nothing, really, but Tchaikovskys piece is rousing, triumphant, stirring and loud. It has to be loud if we are to hear it outdoors. The overture has been popular on the Fourth ever since Arthur Fiedler of the Boston Pops played it in 1974.

The canons heard in the piece are those of the battle of Borodino, a village about 65 miles from Moscow where Czar Alexzander I made a stand. A slugging match fought without much imagination on either side, according to some historians, the battle was technically a French victory, since the French advanced to Moscow. Napoleon was defeated more by space and time, by typhus and starvation, the heat of summer going in, and the snow and cold of winter going out.
ALBANY  The state Republican Party overwhelmingly named Suffolk County U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin as its presumptive nominee for governor during a straw poll conference Monday.

The vote was expected among the Republican county party chairs, who have been publicly coalescing in recent weeks around Zeldin.

The Suffolk County congressman garnered 85 percent of the straw poll vote of county GOP chairs. Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino earned the vote of his county party chair, which accounts for 5 percent of the vote. Rudy Giuliani's son, Andrew, did not gain a vote, based on results announced by Chair Nick Langworthy.

Astorino's response to the nomination was swift and indicated he intends to run a primary campaign in his bid to challenge Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who has previously said he intends to stay in office.

"The 3 million Republicans throughout New York will be deciding who the strongest candidate is in next June's primary, not a few dozen party insiders, many of whom have told me they were pressured into making an endorsement they weren't ready to make," he said in a statement. "This early straw poll is meaningless and eventually I'll be the straw that breaks Cuomo's back next November."
Conservatives have long fulminated over left-wing indoctrination in our schools, a charge that led former President Donald Trump to create a pro-American curriculum  the 1776 Commission. Groups like Turning Point USA have long targeted professors who supposedly promote anti-American values and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom  including, I presume, history professors like me. But what is it that I and my colleagues actually teach in the classroom?

In my modern European history courses, students learn about the rise of Benito Mussolini: That in the wake of the March on Rome in October 1922, King Victor Emmanuel III asked Mussolini, leader of Italys still small National fascist Party, to form a new government. That he convinced the legislature to grant him power to rule by decree for a year to restore order and to end the socialist threat in the country. That, thanks to his control of fascist newspapers and his intimidating militia forces, the Fascists, in coalition with other parties, gained a crushing majority in the elections of 1924. This majority was augmented by the Acerbo Law of 1923, which stated that the party with the largest share of the vote would automatically receive two-thirds of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Thus, Mussolini came to power in a legalistic fashion, undergirded by the threat of violence. Once in power, Mussolini used his control of Italys legislative bodies to legally bring an end to democracy.
As seen in the teaser video, the upcoming Volkswagen Taigun gets a twin-slat chrome garnished radiator grille, dual-lens projector headlamps, horizontal LED daytime running lights and contrast painted skid plate.

As Volkswagen Taigun will share a lot of things with Skoda Kushaq including the platform, expect it to get 17-inch diamond-cut dual-tone alloy wheels. Also, it will receive wide LED taillights, shark-fin antenna, chrome strip on rear bumper etc.

The teaser video majorly shows the exterior of the Taigun, but a few bits of the cabin too is visible. It gets an engine start-stop button located on the centre console. A 10-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will be there.

Other features inside the cabin would include a sunroof, wireless charging technology, a completely digital instrument cluster, ventilated front seats, automatic climate control etc. It could receive up to six airbags, ABS with EBD, ESC among the safety features. Overall, there would be a lot of similarities with Kushaq in terms of features.

Volkswagen Taigun will share the engines with Skoda Kushaq. There will be a 1.0-litre TSI petrol engine and a 1.5-litre TSI unit as well. Expect it to be available as a petrol-only model. Expect the engines to churn out the same power and torque output as Skoda Kushaq. Transmission options for VW Taigun will include a 6-speed manual gearbox and a 7-speed DSG automatic unit.
Maruti Suzuki on Monday has announced the expansion of its vehicle subscription service to four more cities across India. These are Jaipur, Indore, Mangalore and Mysore. With this, the car manufacturer currently offers its vehicle subscription service in 19 cities across the country.

(Also Read: Maruti Suzuki to hike prices of cars from July due to rise in production costs)

The different models that are available in this vehicle subscription program include models from both Maruti Suzuki Arena and Nexa channels. While WagonR, Swift, Dzire, Vitara Brezza, Ertiga are available from the Maruti Suzuki Arena channel, premium cars such as Ignis, Baleno, Ciaz, S-Cross and XL6 from Nexa retail chain are also available for subscription.

The automaker has said that it has joined hands with three vehicle subscription partners - Orix, ALD Automotive and Myles for its subscription service.

The vehicle subscription service offers the consumers ownership experience without buying the vehicle. This strategy reduces the financial burden from the customers and brings a new business opportunity to the automakers. It allows the consumers to have the vehicle by paying an all-inclusive monthly rental that includes vehicle usage charges, registration charges, maintenance, insurance etc.

Despite being a relatively new concept, car subscription is picking up in India. Besides Maruti Suzuki, several other car brands have opted for this strategy. Maruti Suzuki launched its subscription program in July 2020.

Talking about the vehicle subscription service expansion, Shashank Srivastava, MSI Senior Executive Director (Marketing and Sales), said that car subscription is a new and upcoming concept for the Indian market and the company is regularly upgrading its subscription programme with learnings and feedback from customers. "With the addition of four new cities in our network, we look forward to serving more customers," he further added.
LUCERNE, SwitzerlandPayment processing firm Vendo Services is hosting its third LGBTQ+ User Conference on July 8, 2021.

The conference series supports the community of LGBTQ+ ecommerce entrepreneurs by providing new insights, fresh data, powerful tools and networking.

It will begin with a short overview of the latest e-commerce market data. Attendees will see how their performance compares with other LGBTQ+ ecommerce entrepreneurs. Vendo will also share knowledge and approach to new Mastercard regulations.

Vendo will share its perspective on how ecommerce companies can prepare for a radically changing market and how to keep up with technology, compliance and KYC.

Networking will create opportunities to get to know, collaborate and support other LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs.

I am really happy with the level of engagement. It is a pleasure to participate and partner in an event that is giving back and insightful," said Lukas Taylor of VerifyMyAge. "I love the way Vendo and this conference are sharing knowledge, creating value for all attendees, and overall, facilitating post-COVID banter with industry friends.

Vendos purpose is to make payments simple while inspiring growth and passion," Vendo Services CEO Mitch Platt said. "Underneath that is our unwavering commitment to helping our industry, market and community make progress. It is very gratifying to see that this event is doing just that.

To request an invite to the event click here.

For additional information, email [email protected].
We would have a technically skilled prescribed fire workforce, Wyden said in a phone interview. "We would streamline the smoke regulations in winter months."

Wyden and the Biden administration are also seeking creation of a 21st century Civilian Conservation Corps, to provide more boots on the ground to work on forest health.

In New Mexico, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation on March 18 that will clear the way for more prescribed fires by establishing liability standards for landowners who conduct them and creating a certification program.

In Oregon, a bill from state Sen. Jeff Golden would enact rules for prescribed fires and a certified burn manager program. He envisions Oregon having as many as hundreds of trained managers to supervise prescribed fires.

I dont see that we have any option other than to increase the prescribed burns," said Golden, who is from the Rogue Valley, where wildfires tore into two towns last year. Weve got, across the Western U.S., a buildup of decades of fuels, and its going to burn.

"So do you want to burn in a planned, strategic way that has an element of control to it, or do you want it to burn in megafires, with all the costs  human, animal, environmental costs  that that entails?
North Korean state television aired an unusual interview in which a Pyongyang resident said he and others living in the capital were "heartbroken" over Kim Jong Un's weight loss. CNN's Paula Hancocks reports.

North Korean state television aired an unusual interview Friday in which a Pyongyang resident said he and others living in the capital were "heartbroken" to see how much weight the country's leader Kim Jong Un had lost.

Kim has been shown in North Korean state media looking noticeably thinner in recent weeks, surprising and befuddling many experts who study the country. Pyongyang has not officially acknowledged any changes to Kim's weight or health, so the interview amounts to the most official confirmation to date of the secretive North Korean leader's sudden change of appearance.

The unnamed individual told a reporter from KCTV, North Korea's state-run television network, that "the people, including myself, were most heartbroken when we saw the respected General Secretary (Kim Jong Un's official title) looking gaunt ... everyone says it brought them to tears."

It's unclear who the interview subject is, why he was chosen or if his opinion is truly representative of the majority of people in Pyongyang. But it is unlikely the segment did not receive some sort of official blessing, given that all media aired in North Korea is approved by government censors.
Sometimes the Supreme Court protects constitutional rights best when it doesnt establish what lawyers call a bright-line rule applicable to every possible future situation. That was the case Wednesday when the court ruled in favor of a high school cheerleader who had been disciplined for a vulgar outburst on social media and a California man who was arrested after a police officer entered his garage without a warrant.

In Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., the justices ruled 8-1 that a Pennsylvania school district violated the free speech rights of Brandi Levy when it suspended her from her schools junior varsity cheerleading team. The school acted after Levy, disappointed that she hadnt made the varsity squad, took a photo of herself and a friend raising their middle fingers and posted it on Snapchat. She also used a vulgarity to denounce the school, the cheerleading team and everything.

In agreeing with the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals that the school violated Levys First Amendment rights, the court essentially reaffirmed the position it took in a landmark 1969 case that students at public schools have free speech rights so long as their speech doesnt create the risk of a substantial disruption of or material interference with school activities.
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Since the YMCA provided kayaks for participants to rent, Bauman said the event was an opportunity for several people to kayak and/or explore the Big Blue River for the first time.

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They said they absolutely loved it, and now theyre looking at purchasing kayaks for their family, and theyre super excited about those docks that will hopefully come in soon for our area, Bauman said. Then we had a lot of people from out of town, and just had positive feedback on Facebook, reaching out to us on private message just saying they loved the event and they love our area of the river, so thats always wonderful to hear.

Bauman said the YMCAs event tied in well with Homestead Days, as it was very family-oriented, and that theyd be interested as having it as part of the larger festivities again.
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Food is a big part of many summer events in Montanas great outdoors. Your RiverStone Health sanitarians in Yellowstone County are on the lookout for food safety hazards when we inspect food sold or served to the public at outdoor markets and events. Dont let a foodborne illness ruin your patio party. Take tips from professional sanitarians and avoid these top five risk factors for foodborne illness.

Dangerous temperatures

Up to 90% of all food poisoning cases occur when potentially hazardous foods are not held at proper temperatures, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Keep hot foods hot, and cold foods cold. For example, if you are hosting a backyard BBQ, dont let those cooked hamburgers sit out. Place them in the oven or in an electric roaster to keep hot after grilling. If you are taking some sandwiches or salads for a hike, make sure you refrigerate or freeze the food overnight, and pack with cold packs or frozen drinks the next day.

Defrosting food is also risky, so dont set that frozen meat out on the counter overnight. Defrost food under cool, running water or in the refrigerator.

Improper cooking
"We think we're going to have a tremendous year," said James Fuller, a fireworks safety expert with Alabama-based TNT Fireworks.

While fireworks are integral to the country's Independence Day celebrations, they ignite thousands of fires a year  including one that burned Bobbie Uno's home in Clearfield, Utah, on the holiday last year. She had to jump out of the way before it struck the side of her house.

"Within five seconds, my house, from the bushes to the rooftop, it was burning," Uno said. The blaze caused $60,000 in damage and forced her family out of their home for weeks.

"I want everyone to be aware of the danger, because it's scary even in a small cul-de-sac," Uno said.

Several Utah cities are banning people from setting off their own fireworks this year during the record drought, but many Republicans are against a statewide prohibition. GOP Salt Lake County Councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton supports restrictions but thinks this year is a bad time for a blanket ban.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Ukraine and NATO on Monday launched Black Sea drills that will involve dozens of warships, an exercise that follows last week's incident with a British destroyer off Crimea.

Moscow said one of its warships fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs in the path of British destroyer Defender on Wednesday to force her out of an area near the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.

Britain denied that account, insisted its ship wasnt fired upon and said it was sailing in Ukrainian waters.

The Sea Breeze 2021 maneuvers that began Monday and will last for two weeks are set to involve about 30 warships and 40 aircraft from U.S. and its NATO allies and Ukraine. U.S. destroyer Ross has arrived in the Ukrainian port of Odessa for the drills.

U.S. Navy Capt. Kyle Gantt noted Monday that a large number of participants in the exercise reflects a shared commitment to ensuring free access to international waters.

Moscow has criticized the drills, and the Russian Defense Ministry said it would closely monitor them.
We do know some carbon is being sequestered under certain practices and certain farming systems. Thats good. Lets support that, said Lilliston. But lets not use that as an excuse for companies (not) reducing their own emissions.

Lilliston agrees that the work and money farmers like A.J. Krusemark invest to store carbon will have long-term benefits for the environment. But he argues that all that work wont do much to help mitigate climate change if big companies are then allowed to buy those carbon credits to offset their own pollution.

One of the things that were concerned about is a company saying, Hey, look, weve paid for some carbon (to) be sequestered over here. So we dont have to reduce our own emissions over here, our own pollution, Lilliston said. And that kind of trading, that kind of offset of pollution, is what that is called, is a real problem.

Skeptics of carbon banking practices say that, in order for it to have real climate impact, the carbon storage must come in tandem with reductions in greenhouse gas emissions  not as a replacement for that pollution.

And then there is the complication of how to accurately measure the amount of carbon stored in a particular plot of land.
The latest North Dakota coronavirus news: bus protocols, federal aid, tests and shots.

Bis-Man Transit changes

Bis-Man Transit has lifted some COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, though a mask mandate remains in place.

Passenger capacity is no longer reduced on fixed route and paratransit buses, building access limits are lifted, and temperature screening is no longer required for staff and riders. Paratransit and demand response riders also are no longer restricted to scheduling one day in advance and can now schedule rides up to 14 days early.

The Transportation Security Administration mask requirement for riders and staff will remain in place through Sept. 13. Masks will continue to be provided to riders, if necessary.

Hand sanitizer also will remain available onboard each bus. All vehicles will continue to be deep-cleaned and disinfected nightly.

FEMA aid

North Dakotas Health Department is getting more federal aid to help cover the cost of responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Dakota words  bdoketu for summer, as an example  light up as visitors trace each character with a stick. When pushed, buttons play audio of Wasicuna pronouncing the Dakota words.

The exhibit is a way to teach children about Dakota language and culture, Wasicuna told a gathering of people there for the unveiling.

Its all in the spirit of understanding, he said. Thats what we want to put forth into the public, because if you understand and know, its going to create good relations.

Wasicuna and Westerman, a couple from Good Thunder, consulted with the museum on the interactive kiosk, which directly faces another visual and audio display of Dakota children inside the entrance.

Funding for the project came from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and Minnesota Legacy Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

Andy Vig of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community described the project as a perfect fit for the Native American tribes cultural and educational grants. He noted how Wasicuna taught him the Dakota language for a time, and now more people will learn from him through the exhibit.

Glenn cant be everywhere, but now he provides this here, he said.
Airline boardings at North Dakotas eight commercial service airports in May were more than five times higher what they were in May 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic was gaining steam.

Last month's total of 69,285 passengers was nearly 29% below the pre-pandemic level of May 2019, according to the state Aeronautics Commission. But it was up considerably from 13,474 in May 2020.

The industry attributes recent passenger growth to a recovery in leisure travel due to warmer weather and a release of penned-up demand.

We hope that the current trends continue and that our state maintains and grows in its demand for airline services as we move into the summer months, state Aeronautics Commissioner Kyle Wanner said. Aviation is one of the safest ways to travel and I encourage everyone to consider their local airport as an option as they make any future travel plans.

The airports in Bismarck, Minot, Williston, Dickinson, Grand Forks, Fargo, Devils Lake and Jamestown all saw a May increase in passengers from the previous year. Bismarck's 17,656 boardings were more than quadruple its May 2020 figure. But Jamestown was the only airport to see an increase over May 2019 numbers. Bismarck saw a decline of about one-third.
This is Up and Down, where we give a brief thumbs up or thumbs down on the issues from the past week.

Up

More than 6,000 softball players from about 425 teams participated in the Sam McQuade Sr. Charity Softball Tournament that concluded Sunday. The three-day event returned to Bismarck-Mandan after taking 2020 off due to the coronavirus pandemic. Although entries were slow to come in, the tournament ended up with strong participation. Teams came from nine states outside of North Dakota and one came from Manitoba. Its good to see a strong return of the annual event. Not only do proceeds go to charity, but the players and fans bring a boost to local restaurants, bars and hotels.

Down

The delta variant of the coronavirus was confirmed in North Dakota, the state Health Department announced last week. The new version of the coronavirus can be transmitted from person to person more easily and can cause serious disease, particularly in those who are not vaccinated. The delta variant is being blamed for a surge in cases in Missouri. Overall, COVID-19 cases in North Dakota remain low. However, the states vaccination rate also remains low at about 48% of eligible adults.

Up
My wife and I would like to be considered evidence that COVID-19 vaccines work. We are over 65. We both have underlying health conditions. We received our second Pfizer vaccination on Feb. 25, 2021.

We recently returned from visiting relatives in a deep southern state whose attitudes toward getting COVID-19 vaccinations mirror the attitudes of the majority of North Dakotans.

We spent 17 days with these relatives. All eligible people were fully vaccinated with the exception of one member, who chose not to get vaccinated.

During our visit, this unvaccinated member tested positive for COVID-19 and became very symptomatic. Although this member partially quarantined, we spent 10 days visiting in this household. We developed zero symptoms.

We have nine COVID-19 immunization eligible family members living throughout the country. Eight members are fully vaccinated and one is not. Eight have not had COVID-19 and one has needlessly suffered its impact.

The evidence is clear. The vaccine works.

Henry Lebak, Bismarck

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Our first wine tasting in Washington State was back in September 2013. As good as other trips had been, this one was a game changer for us.

We had the entire trip planned and were set to go. But then, about a month prior, I was at a business dinner at Remington Tavern in North Tonawanda. I always bring our wine and pay corkage, but there were two wines on the menu I had never seen before. The labels seemed like they were $10 bottles. One was Old Bones (2007) and the other Skull (2007).

Once I tasted them, I was totally obsessed with these wines. The best Syrah I had ever tasted and close to perfectionand I wanted more Charles Smith wines.

Since we were traveling to Washington, I thought Id write to Charles and see if we could visit his winery and taste his wines. He wrote me back and set a time for us to meet at his tasting room in Walla Walla.

When we met Charles, he had something planned that was way beyond anything we had hoped for. We all piled into his SUV and went to his winemaking facility to try some of the juice from the grapes that were being crushed.

Delicious. We stopped by his barrel storage warehouse and tasted barrel samples. Simply amazing.
But attorney Arthur J. Giacalone, a frequent critic and opponent of large development projects, wrote a letter to the members of the Council, urging them not to approve the sale at that price. He noted that LeBoeuf has previously pointed to soaring land values near the Medical Campus, and that he paid much more to private property owners for the previous properties.

"You owe it to City of Buffalo taxpayers and residents to maximize the revenue the City receives for this last piece," Giacalone said.

Giacalone represents Fruit Belt resident Elverna D. Gidney and retired University at Buffalo professor Lorna Peterson, who sued to overturn the city Zoning Board of Appeals' decision last year to grant 13 variances for the Lawrence project. The case is pending before the state Appellate Division in Rochester.

"We believe that we will be successful on appeal," Giacalone wrote. "However, whether we win or lose... 244 Maple Street is worth much more than $9,150."

The request was sent to a Council committee for further discussion.

The Council also approved a one-year extension of a designated-developer agreement from July 2020 with Hispanic Heritage Council of Western New York, for reuse of vacant property at 393, 394, 397 and 400 Seventh St. and 120 Hudson St.

The nonprofit organization plans to construct a 31,000-square-foot building at the corner of Hudson and Niagara Street for a Hispanic Heritage Cultural Institute, with office space, a museum, a theater, an event space, a cafe, media center and Hispanic gardens. The project will be funded by donations and other fundraising.

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"People are fearful for the future of the city, people are fearful for the future of their families, people are fearful for the future of their children," he added.

The mayor started the next portion of his campaign with the promise of an "all star team" that will "knock on every door" in the city, raise enough money to compete and even engage in the debates he refused during the primary. And in a sign of the divisive campaign that may lie ahead, he was joined on the stage by three Council members  Christopher P. Scanlon of South, Ulysees O. Wingo Sr. of Masten and Joseph Golombek Jr. of North. Former Mayor Anthony M. Masiello also stood with Brown.

Parties, progressive groups to counter any business-backed write-in for Brown Following a push by Buffalo's business community to urge Mayor Byron W. Brown to wage a write-in campaign for November's general election, supporters of India B. Walton say they can play that game, too.

Still, the mayor starts his effort with opposition from his own Democratic Party, as Erie County Chairman Jeremy J. Zellner again made it clear the organization will back Walton.

"Mayor Brown is well within his rights to pursue a write-in candidacy, and we are grateful for his many years of service to this community," Zellner said in a Monday statement. "But the Democratic Party listens to the will of Democratic voters, and today India Walton is our candidate for mayor of the city of Buffalo."

In her own statement, Walton hinted at the course she may navigate in coming weeks.
"They felt more obligated to keep things the way they were," Cheatham said.

The renaming panel recommended that Mossell's achievements should be taught in the school's curriculum and that he should be honored with a plaque.

"The Board of Education at that time accepted the committee's recommendation," said John A. Linderman, a board member who was its president in 2014.

The latest push for the name change started with Paula Travis, president of the Lockport PTSA, who posted a petition online early this year.

"I was born and raised in Lockport and I never heard of Aaron Mossell until a few years ago," Travis said. "It was a necessary thing, not just for the minorities in the community but for the community as a whole. It's part of our history."

Another renaming committee was appointed, headed by North Park Principal Bernadette L. Smith, and it favored the renaming.

"When you look at his contributions and his connection with the school district in so many different ways, it would be very difficult to justify why this school in particular would not be named after Aaron Mossell," Smith said.
William Scheuerman, 77, is a professor emeritus of political science at SUNY Oswego. He researched the election of Gibbons decades ago for a treatise titled The Politics of Protest: The Great Steel Strike of 1919-20 in Lackawanna, New York. It was published in 1986 by the International Review of Social History, Cambridge University Press.

Scheuerman spent months in Lackawanna in the mid-1980s, interviewing people who were alive at the time of the 1919 election and poring over old issues of the Lackawanna Journal. Speaking by phone the other day from his home in Albany, he described working conditions in the steel industry of that era.

The normal workday was 16 hours, Scheuerman said. Every other week you worked a 24-hour shift, and then you got a day off. One of every four steelworkers would be killed or maimed on the job every year. It was dangerous, and they did nothing but work.

That formed the backdrop of the strike that would become the backdrop of the 1919 election. Gibbons won in a colossal upset, though it was an era when socialists sometimes won in other parts of the United States.

Socialism wasnt the dirty word it is today, Scheuerman said. It often carried implications of clean government.
OLAF FUB SEZ: According to comedian and filmmaker Mel Brooks, born on this date in 1926, Everything we do in life is based on fear, especially love.

. . .

NEW SEASON  A summer series of free IMAGINE virtual noon hour programs begins on Zoom Tuesday, under the theme of Imagine Place-based Lifelong Learning. Guest speaker is Ryan McPherson, chief sustainability officer at the University at Buffalo. The link is https://zoom.us/meeting/89749778461. Hosted by the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, its an Erie County 200 bicentennial event.

. . .
LUXEMBOURG, June 28, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

Eurofins Scientific (Paris:ERF) ("Eurofins"), a global scientific leader in bioanalytical testing, announces that its subsidiary Eurofins Clinical Testing US Holdings, Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire DNA Diagnostics Center ("DDC"), a leader in consumer genetic testing. DDC anticipates delivering revenues of over US$55m in 2021.

DDC is one of the most highly accredited genetic-testing laboratories in the world and was founded on the premise that the technological advancements in DNA testing should translate into services that are accessible and affordable to everyone. The company provides comprehensive consumer and legal DNA testing services for paternity and family relationships, fertility, lifestyle, veterinary, and forensics. DDC is an established and trusted consumer focused testing laboratory, with an extensive and global distribution network.

Eurofins believes that consumer genetic testing, to support personalised lifestyle and health awareness is a significant growth opportunity, and this acquisition will support and significantly accelerate Eurofins strategy to expand further into this market. DDC has a highly successful and growing test and product menu and will benefit from Eurofins access to additional markets. We also expect leverage from DDC distribution and sales of existing Eurofins testing capabilities into the consumer market for both genetic and other health and wellness related tests.

"Eurofins looks forward to welcoming DNA Diagnostics Center and its highly qualified and dedicated team to Eurofins," commented Dr. Gilles Martin, Eurofins CEO. "This acquisition reinforces our commitment to provide testing solutions to answer critical health, wellness and genetic questions for consumers."

About DNA Diagnostics Center (DDC)

Founded in 1995, DDC is one of the largest private DNA-testing companies, offering diagnostic and genetic tests to help answer relationship, fertility, and health and wellness questions.

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DDC provides products approved by the FDA and EMA, and is accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), The Ministry of Justice, The College of American Pathologists (CAP), and The Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment (CLIA). DDC is also accredited by ACLASS to meet the international standards of ISO 17025 and the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors / Laboratory Accreditation Board-International (ASCLD/LAB).

About Eurofins  the global leader in bio-analysis

Eurofins is Testing for Life. Eurofins is the global leader in food, environment, pharmaceutical and cosmetic product testing and in agroscience Contract Research Organisation services. Eurofins is one of the market leaders in certain testing and laboratory services for genomics, discovery pharmacology, forensics, advanced material sciences and in the support of clinical studies, as well as having an emerging global presence in Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisations. The Group also has a rapidly developing presence in highly specialised and molecular clinical diagnostic testing and in-vitro diagnostic products.

With over 50,000 staff across a decentralised and entrepreneurial network of more than 800 laboratories in over 50 countries, Eurofins offers a portfolio of over 200,000 analytical methods to evaluate the safety, identity, composition, authenticity, origin, traceability and purity of a wide range of products, as well as providing innovative clinical diagnostic testing services and in-vitro diagnostic products.

The Groups objective is to provide its customers with high-quality services, innovative solutions and accurate results on time. Eurofins is ideally positioned to support its clients increasingly stringent quality and safety standards and the increasing demands of regulatory authorities as well as the requirements of healthcare practitioners around the world.

In 2020, Eurofins reacted quickly to meet the global challenge of COVID-19, by creating the capacity to help over 20 million patients monthly who may have been impacted by the pandemic with our testing products and our services and directly supporting healthcare professionals working on the front line to fight the virus. The Group has established widespread PCR testing capabilities and has carried out over 24 million tests in its own laboratories, is supporting the development of a number of vaccines and has established its SAFER@WORK testing, monitoring and consulting programmes to help ensure safer environments during COVID-19.

Eurofins has grown very strongly since its inception and its strategy is to continue expanding its technology portfolio and its geographic reach. Through R&D and acquisitions, the Group draws on the latest developments in the field of biotechnology and analytical chemistry to offer its clients unique analytical solutions.

Shares in Eurofins Scientific are listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN FR0014000MR3, Reuters EUFI.PA, Bloomberg ERF FP).

Until it has been lawfully made public widely by Eurofins through approved distribution channels, this document contains inside information for the purpose of Regulation (EU) 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on market abuse, as amended.

Important disclaimer:

This press release contains forward-looking statements and estimates that involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements and estimates contained herein represent the judgment of Eurofins Scientifics management as of the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees for future performance, and the forward-looking events discussed in this release may not occur. Eurofins Scientific disclaims any intent or obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements and estimates. All statements and estimates are made based on the information available to the Companys management as of the date of publication, but no guarantees can be made as to their completeness or validity.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210627005038/en/

Contacts

For further information:

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Phone: +32 2 766 1620

ir@eurofins.com
(Bloomberg) -- Indonesia began discussing a tax overhaul proposal with parliament, with plans to increase the value-added tax, impose a new income bracket and target loss-making firms, while offering potential amnesty.

The general VAT covering most goods and services will be raised to 12%, from 10%, while certain items can carry variable 5% to 25% rates depending on the price, said Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati on Monday. The government included a tax amnesty program in the draft submitted to the parliament, even if she didnt read the details out during the hearing.

Southeast Asias largest economy also wants to impose a 35% income tax rate on individuals earning more than 5 billion rupiah ($345,600) a year. A minimum corporate income tax should also be set for firms that report losses for many years by creative accounting, but can still carry on their business and enjoying facilities from the government, according to the bill.

The VAT structure and new income tax bracket are set to be implemented in January 2022, according to the bill.

The government saw its budget deficit swell to over 6% of gross domestic product in 2020 as it embarked on heavy stimulus spending despite weak tax collections. Like many emerging markets, Indonesia is seeking to refill its state coffers as the pandemic looks to have a more protracted impact on the economy, with the daily Covid-19 cases surging to new peaks last week.

The tax base should be expanded and tax compliance should be improved to increase fiscal capacity, Indrawati said. We need to continue to reform tax policy and administration so that it is fair between sectors and between income groups, and creates legal certainty, becomes an optimal source of state revenue, and follows best practice.

Closing Loopholes

Indonesias tax gap -- the difference between actual and potential collections -- is around 8.5%, more than double the 3.6% among peer nations, she said. The so-called omnibus law on tax reform aims to bring that shortfall closer to the international benchmark.

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There is scope for improvement across various levies, Indrawati said. Indonesia has among the least progressive income tax framework in the region, with the fewest brackets at four, compared to Vietnam and the Philippines seven and Thailands eight. Only 1.4% of Indonesian taxpayers paid income tax at the highest 30% rate in the last five years.

Indonesias current VAT rate at 10% is also lower than the global average of 15.4%, while the tax take is eroded because of too many exemptions, Indrawati said.

Under the VAT reform, previously exempted essentials, like basic goods as well as education and health services, will be subject to VAT under the proposal, though at lower rates. Those who cant afford the VAT may be exempted or be eligible for subsidies.

Some VAT exemptions will remain, including:

Goods and services that are already subject to local taxes and leviesMoney and gold bullion for the countrys foreign exchange reserves and securitiesGeneral government services that cant be provided by other partiesReligious servicesFacilities supporting exports and downstreaming of natural resources

Amnesty Readied

The government will offer another tax amnesty program, allowing taxpayers to declare assets obtained from 1985 to 2015 subject to 15% income tax, or 12.5% for those who invest the assets in government securities. Assets obtained from 2016 to 2019 will be subject to a tariff of 30%, or 20% for those who invest in government securities.

In line with Indonesias goal to reduce carbon emissions by 29% by 2030, the finance ministry proposed to include plastic products under its excise tax, along with alcohol and tobacco.

It also set a carbon tax at 75 rupiah per kilogram of carbon dioxide equivalent. The levy could earn the government 32 trillion rupiah in revenue, according to a simulation by the finance ministry last year, assuming the use of coal in power generation and industry, and diesel and gasoline in the transportation sector.

(Updates with details on income, excise and carbon tax plans)

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(Bloomberg) -- The physical oil market, in which millions of barrels of crude are bought and sold each day, is screaming for more supply in the run-up to a pivotal meeting of OPEC+ producers this week.

Whether its in the North Sea, the Cushing storage hub in Oklahoma, or the Middle East, futures and swaps in the worlds leading pricing locations are trading deep in a pattern called backwardation. In short, it means traders are willing to pay big premiums to secure physical barrels. The structure wouldnt look out of place in a $100-a-barrel market.

At the heart of the tightness, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied nations are keeping millions of barrels off the market when demand in the worlds big consumption centers is coming back from Covid. At the same time, the producer alliance has a tricky decision to make given the threat of new virus variants, and uncertainty about when the U.S. might ease sanctions on Iran, freeing the nations exports.

The physical market is very tight as you have the trifecta of all the big refining centers buying, said Kitt Haines, an analyst at Energy Aspects Ltd. With Brent at around $75, OPEC+ will take a long hard look at how tight the market is, especially with Iran not looking like it will be back anytime soon.

In the North Sea, home of the Dated Brent benchmark thats central to many oil transactions, prices are getting stronger despite an increase in regional cargo loadings coming next month.

Bids for cargoes have been dominating a pricing window run by S&P Global Platts. On Friday, Royal Dutch Shell Plc sought Forties, often a grade that sets benchmark North Sea prices, at a premium of $1.10 a barrel above Dated Brent, the highest in a year. Traders report burgeoning demand from local refineries as mobility recovers. Differentials for key Nigerian grades have also made significant gains.

Refiners are increasing runs, particularly in Europe, so there is more physical demand and this is pushing up differentials as buyers compete for local grades, said Jonathan Leitch, London-based director of consulting at Turner Mason & Co. Looking ahead, the tightness in the physical market will be a further confirmation for OPEC that demand really is growing strongly and that there is certainly a market for additional crude.

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Soaring Spreads

But its in timespreads that market tightness looks most apparent.

West Texas Intermediate crude for August was 70-cents-a-barrel above September contracts on Monday, a very high level by historical standards. Equivalent contracts for Brent were about 75 cents. Dated to Front Line swaps, contracts to hedge -- or bet on -- physical Brent prices were at 40 cents a barrel, close to the strongest since December 2019.

Likewise, backwardation in prompt swaps for Dubai crude, a benchmark for barrels that make up the baseload of feedstock for Asian refineries, widened to the largest since January 2020 earlier this month.

That strength may be as much about supply-side dynamics as growing consumption. Chinese demand is continuing to recover from the impact of the virus, and physical market buying from India is starting to pick up following a vicious second wave that had hobbled its economy. However, the picture elsewhere remains mixed, especially parts of Southeast Asia including Malaysia, which just has extended its lockdown, hurting consumption.

A soaring premium for Brent crude over Dubai oil has restricted supplies flowing into Asia from the Atlantic Basin as buyers avoided pricey Brent-linked barrels flowing in from places such as North Sea and West Africa.

In the U.S., refiners have steadily increased processing rates to meet rising demand from motorists, draining domestic supplies of light crude. Analysts forecast inventories at the key storage hub in Cushing could fall even further as shale producers heed investors calls to restrain spending for new production.

The resulting tightness in supplies is supporting prices of heavy oil from Canada to Colombia, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Its also making U.S. crude so pricey that its hampering overseas sales.

Pulling From Asia

Such is the shift that some American refiners have been forced to lock in supplies from Asia, such as Sokol crude from eastern Russia, thats helped lift spot differentials of the variety to the highest since 2020.

U.S. refiners competing for barrels usually absorbed by Asian refiners is creating an illustration of a tight market, Grayson Lim, a senior oil analyst at FGE in Singapore. How tight the actual physical market will be in Asia really depends on the outcome of the OPEC+ talks involving the August target output later this week.

Market observers widely expect that a hike of some kind will be agreed when OPEC+ meets this week, with the extra supply hitting the market in August. All but two of 19 analysts, traders and refiners in a global survey by Bloomberg News predicted that the coalition will tap its sizable spare production capacity.

Yet the average increase they forecast for August was about 550,000 barrels a day -- barely a quarter of the global supply deficit that OPEC+ itself anticipates during that month.

Crude fundamentals are on a tear at the moment, signaling a tight market in all the relevant metrics, said Eugene Lindell, an analyst at consultant JBC Energy GmbH. The tightness we are seeing is the logical consequence of demand exceeding supply for most of this year on account of the OPEC+ production cuts and a successful vaccination campaign.

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(Bloomberg) --

Mixing doses of Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and AstraZeneca Plc creates a strong immune response, according to results from a University of Oxford study, a finding that could enable greater flexibility in the use of scarce supplies.

The U.K. on Monday reported the most new cases since January, fueled by the delta variant first identified in India. Even so, an end to restrictions in England is very likely to go ahead on July 19, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. Governments from Europe to Asia imposed new limits on travel from Britain.

U.S. Army General Gustave Perna, a top official in the Covid-19 vaccine rollout in both the Trump and Biden administrations, is set to retire July 2. The four-star generals departure marks yet another shift in the leadership and vision of the U.S. pandemic response.

Key Developments:

Global Tracker: Cases top 181.2 million; deaths pass 3.9 millionVaccine Tracker: More than 2.97 billion doses administeredThe last-and-only foreign scientist in Wuhan lab speaks outWhere can you fly right now? The race is on to save summerThe best and worst places to be as the world finally reopensHeart problems, blood clots and other vaccine fears: QuickTake

Biden to Mark Independence From Virus (5:11 a.m. NY)

U.S. President Joe Biden and his White House are planning a slate of travel and events this weekend -- including a barbecue for more than a thousand people -- to celebrate his administrations progress combating the pandemic, though the country fell short of his July 4 vaccination goal.

While coronavirus infections and deaths have fallen dramatically since Biden took office, thanks to an expansive vaccination campaign, the White House fell short of its goal of 70% of U.S. adults receiving at least one shot by July 4. As of Monday, 66.1% of adults had gotten at least one shot.

The country is still recording more than 11,000 cases of Covid-19 per day, on average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But thats a better than 95% reduction since U.S. cases peaked on Jan. 10. There have been 287 deaths per day from the disease, on average, for the last seven days.

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Perna Retiring From U.S. Covid Task Force (4 p.m. NY)

U.S. Army General Gustave Perna, a top official in the Covid-19 vaccine rollout in both the Trump and Biden administrations, is set to retire July 2.

Robert Johnson, an official at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, will serve as interim chief operating officer for the pandemic effort, according to Jeffrey Zients, President Joe Bidens Covid-19 coordinator. The four-star generals departure marks yet another shift in the leadership and vision of the U.S. pandemic response.

Romania Selling Pfizer Doses to Denmark (3:15 p.m. NY)

Romania will sell about 1 million doses of Pfizer vaccine to Denmark as the eastern European country currently has a surplus and vaccine intention among citizens is declining, according to Prime Minister Florin Citu.

South Africa Official Death Toll Tops 60,000 (2:30 p.m. NY)

South Africas official death toll from Covid-19 has passed 60,000, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases said. Over the last 24 hours 138 deaths from the disease were reported, bringing the total to 60,038, the NICD said in a statement on Monday.

South Africas actual number of deaths from the virus could exceed 170,000, according to excess death studies by the South African Medical Research Council, which tracks the number of deaths above the historical norm in weekly reports.

Abu Dhabi to Keep Unvaccinated From Malls (1:30 p.m. NY)

Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, will restrict access to some public places like schools and restaurants unless people are vaccinated. It takes effect Aug. 20.

The Abu Dhabi media office said the decision came after 93% of target groups had been vaccinated. It covers shopping centers, restaurants, recreational facilities, resorts, nurseries, schools and universities. Children under 15 are exempt.

Tanzania to Spend $470 Million to Fight Virus (11:45 a.m. NY)

Tanzania plans to spend at least $470 million to battle the coronavirus after the nations new leader shifted the governments policy to be more proactive against the pandemic.

Half of the funds will go toward vaccines and other medical equipment, President Samia Suluhu Hassan told journalists in the commercial hub, Dar es Salaam on Monday. The other half will go toward bailing out sectors affected by the pandemic.

The East African nation has 100 known active cases of the virus, including 70 patients on oxygen, Hassan said, marking the first time the government has released Covid-19 data in about a year. Hassans predecessor, John Magufuli, played down the threat of the disease and hadnt announced any plans for acquiring vaccines before he died in March.

U.K. Reports Most Cases Since January (11:15 a.m. NY)

The U.K. reported 22,868 new Covid-19 cases, the most since Jan. 30, according to its latest update. The number of reported deaths stayed low, with three more reported within 28 days of a positive test. More than 84% of adults in the U.K. have had one vaccine and nearly 62% of adults have had two.

England is very likely to see the end of pandemic restrictions on July 19, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday, despite the surge in infections fueled by the delta variant first identified in India.

Mixing Doses Found to Offer Strong Protection (11:10 a.m. NY)

Mixing doses of Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and AstraZeneca Plc creates a strong immune response, according to results from a University of Oxford study, a finding that could enable greater flexibility in the use of scarce supplies.

A mixed schedule of the Pfizer shot followed by the Astra vaccine, and vice versa, resulted in high concentrations of antibodies against Covid-19 when given four weeks apart, researchers reported Monday in the Lancet medical journal.

Scotland Reports Record Number of Cases (10:30 a.m. NY)

Scotland reported a record 3,285 new cases of coronavirus during the last 24 hours, the biggest daily increase since the start of the pandemic.

That exceeds the previous daily record of 2,999, which was reported last week, according to official figures from the devolved Scottish government, which is responsible for health.

Scotlands semi-autonomous government, led by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, has said its aiming to lift all the remaining restrictions on movement and social interaction by Aug. 9, as vaccinations break the link between infection and hospitalization. So far, about 3.8 million of Scotlands 5.5 million people have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Johnson Sees End to English Curbs in July (8 a.m. NY)

England is very likely to see the end of pandemic restrictions on July 19, Johnson said, despite a surge in infections of the new delta variant.

Hospitalization and death rates remain relatively low as the U.K.s vaccine program progresses, Johnson said, adding that it would be sensible to take a few more weeks to analyze the infection patterns and deliver more second vaccine doses before lifting the curbs.

With every day that goes by its clearer to me and all our scientific advisers that were very likely to be in a position on July 19 to say that really is the terminus, and we can go back to life as it was before Covid as far as possible, Johnson told reporters Monday.

Long Gap Boosts Astra Antibody Response (7:01 a.m. NY)

Immune responses to the AstraZeneca Plc Covid-19 vaccine improve with a longer gap of as long as 45 weeks between doses, with a third shot able to boost antibody levels even further, according to a study.

Leaving a gap of as long as 10 months between the first and second doses increased the level of protective antibodies, according to research from the University of Oxford published Monday. The researchers were also able to show for the first time that a booster dose induced a strong response and increased activity against variants.

Hong Kong to Ban Flights From U.K. (6:56 a.m. NY)

Hong Kong will ban all passenger flights from Britain starting Thursday as it puts the country on its extremely high risk Covid-19 category, just as it loosens entry requirements for most other places.

The U.K. was on Hong Kongs extremely high-risk category from December to May, when it was lowered to very high risk as its epidemic situation eased.

Only a handful of other countries are in Hong Kongs highest risk category: Brazil, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and South Africa.

Portugal, Spain Tighten Rules on U.K. (6:52 a.m. NY)

Spain and Portugal imposed new restrictions on visitors arriving from the U.K., where infections are rising sharply.

Unvaccinated arrivals to Portugal from Britain will face mandatory quarantine, while Spain will request proof of full vaccination or a negative PCR test for British travelers to the Balearic Islands, including Mallorca and Ibiza, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Monday. Spains decision comes after the U.K. allowed quarantine-free travel to the islands and as Spain gears up for the summer vacation season.

Spain previously allowed all travelers from the U.K. to enter without a PCR test as long as they had been in the U.K. for the previous 14 days. New rules for the rest of Spain have not been detailed yet and there have been no details regarding children.

Indonesia to Start Vaccinating Teens (6:27 a.m. NY)

Indonesia will start offering Covid-19 vaccinations to those of age 12 to 17-years old, after last week extending inoculation to all adults in order to curb a worsening virus resurgence.

Southeast Asias coronavirus hotspot is battling a rapid spike in coronavirus cases. President Joko Widod has set a target of administering 1 million doses a day, rising to 2 million a day in August. On Monday, only about 377,000 shots were given, down from about 700,000 a day last week.

U.S. Best Place to Ride Out Pandemic (5 a.m. NY)

Almost a year and a half into the pandemic, the best and worst places to be in the Covid-19 era are increasingly defined by one thing: normalization. With this in mind, Bloombergs Covid Resilience Ranking now includes flight capacity recovery and vaccinated travel routes -- indicators that track progress in reopening.

The new metrics, and the waning of outbreaks in highly vaccinated places using Messenger RNA vaccines, means Junes ranking has a new No. 1: the U.S.

European nations like Switzerland, France and Spain also jump into the top 10 on the back of their vaccination plus normalization drives. Meanwhile, previous top performers like New Zealand and Singapore drop, as they struggle to find a path to reopen to the world after early aggressive, isolationist policies.A rich-poor divide has also solidified, with developing nations like India, Argentina and the Philippines ranked at the bottom as they face a perfect storm of vaccine inadequacy, the spread of variants and global isolation.

Read More: Inside Bloombergs Covid Resilience Ranking

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FILE PHOTO: Pound Sterling notes and change are seen inside a cash resgister in a coffee shop in Manchester

By Joice Alves

LONDON (Reuters) - Sterling edged higher on Monday after Britain's new health minister, Sajid Javid, said he wants all COVID-19 restrictions lifted as soon as possible.

Javid was due to update lawmakers later on Monday on whether restrictions should be removed on July 19 as the government previously indicated. Javid has replaced Matt Hancock, who resigned on Saturday after admitting breaking COVID-19 guidance with an affair.

"As a former chancellor (finance minister) he (Javid) will be more sensitive to the costs suffered by the economy of lockdowns," said Jane Foley, Head of FX Strategy at Rabobank.

Daily positive cases have been rising for a month in Britain but a rapid vaccination programme appears to have weakened the link between infections and deaths, with daily fatalities remaining about 20 or lower.

Sterling rose 0.2% to $1.3896 versus the dollar at 1130 GMT, but it was on track for its worst months against the greenback since September.

Against the euro, the pound rose 0.2% to 85.78 pence, but was still bracing for the worst quarter against the common currency in a year.

Neil Jones, head of FX sales at Mizuho Bank attributed sterling's rise to seasonal fluctuations.

"Historically the price action does tend to suggest a firm sterling into the end of month and quarter," he said.

This month, sterling dropped for the first time since April below $1.38 against a strengthening dollar after the U.S. Federal Reserve surprised markets by signalling it would raise interest rates and end emergency bond-buying sooner than expected.

Sterling was one of the worst performing G-10 currencies last week after the Bank of England kept the size of its stimulus programme unchanged and said inflation would surpass 3% as Britain's economy reopens, but the climb further above its 2% target would only be temporary.

Investors this week will also be watching a dispute between Britain and the European Union over post-Brexit trade in the British province of Northern Ireland.

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The current grace period waiving checks on British-made sausages and other chilled meats moving to Northern Ireland is due to end on June 30.

"The mood music on this had been positive last week, but failure to hear anything before Wednesday could un-nerve GBP," ING strategists wrote in a note.

(Reporting by Joice Alves; Editing by Gareth Jones)
A local mans courage helped save the life of someone in dire need of a helping hand.

Alex Conrad, a young Chippewa Falls man, was awarded the Citizen Meritorious Award by the Chippewa Falls Police Department for his role in helping save the life of a potential suicide victim earlier this year.

The award recognizes the valor and courage of citizens who go above and beyond to aid local law enforcement in the betterment of the Chippewa Falls community.

Alexs quick thinking, compassion and initiative that day surely saved the life of a person in mental crisis, thank you, the Chippewa Falls Police Department said in a Monday morning social media post.

Earlier this year, Conrad was driving across the Main Street Bridge in downtown Chippewa Falls at night when he passed someone standing by one of the railings. Conrad said he thought something just didnt feel right, so he turned around and went back to check on the individual to make sure they were alright.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28)  President Rodrigo Duterte wanted to pay final respects to his predecessor late Thursday but it didnt push through upon learning that the urn was transferred to the Aquino family's residence in Quezon City, the presidential spokesperson said on Monday.

Malacanang acknowledged President Rodrigo Dutertes absence in both the funeral and burial of former Pres. Benigno Noynoy Aquino, but was only able to provide a reason for one of them.

During his regular virtual briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte wanted to visit the former chief executives wake. The President, who was in Manila at the time, even ended his meeting with Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao officials at 11 p.m. on Thursday so that he could pay his final respects.

He was informed that the urn of the former President had already been moved to his private residence in Times, so hindi na po nakapunta doon si Presidente [he wasnt able to visit anymore], said the spokesman.

Roque, however, said he does not know why Duterte did not attend Aquinos inurnment.

It could be because its a pandemic and we are trying to limit the numbers and, of course, the presence of the President would encourage crowds, he explained.

Aquino, 61, was laid to rest on Saturday at the Manila Memorial Park in Paranaque City beside his parents, former president Corazon Cory Aquino and former opposition senator Benigno Ninoy Aquino Jr.

Still, Roque revealed there was a personal conversation with Aquinos family and that they were offered all honors that could possibly be given to a former head of state.

But of course, the Palace had to bow to the wishes of the family for a more subdued ceremony. Although, as everyone saw, he was accorded full military honors befitting a president, said the Cabinet official.

RELATED: Military to modify tribute ceremony for late president Noynoy Aquino due to pandemic
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28) - The Department of Health on Monday reported 5,604 new COVID-19 cases in the country, pushing the nationwide tally to 1,403,588.

Of the total, 3.7 % or 52,029 are active cases or currently ill patients. At least 90.1% of them are experiencing mild symptoms, 5.0% are asymptomatic, 1.4% are critical, 2.1% are in severe condition, and 1.49% have moderate symptoms.

Meanwhile, the death toll rose to 24,456 with 84 new casualties.

The recovery count also climbed to 94.6% or 1,327,103 cases after 6,154 more patients survived coronavirus infection.

The DOH said that eight duplicates were removed from the total case count, of which, six are recoveries.

It added that 57 cases previously reported as recoveries have been validated to be active cases and 38 cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.

The DOH said all laboratories were operational last June 26, but six of them failed to submit their data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System. Based on data in the last 14 days, the six non-reporting laboratories contribute, on average, 1.5% of samples tested and 2.5% of positive cases.

The daily positivity rate or percentage of people that tested positive stood at 12.5% based on 42,771 tests done on June 26. The World Health Organization recommended that positivity rates be below 5% as bigger numbers may indicate high transmission.

The OCTA Research, on the other hand, reported that the average daily COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila have declined by 9% to 667 new infections per day from June 21 to 27. This is lower than the 731 average daily cases recorded from June 14 to 20.

This corresponds to an average daily attack rate of 4.83 per 100,000 people, classifying Metro Manila as moderate-low risk area, it said. OCTA defines attack rate as the number of new daily cases relative to population.

OCTA added that Metro Manilas positivity rate remained at 7% over the past week.

Meanwhile, Metro Manilas hospital bed occupancy rate is currently at 36%, ICU bed occupancy at 45%, and mechanical ventilator occupancy at 32%. Thus, the regions healthcare utilization is at safe level, said OCTA.

However, the group said that Metro Manila should still remain under general community quarantine.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, on the other hand, reported five new COVID-19 cases among overseas Filipinos, pushing the total cases abroad to 20,752.

Meanwhile, no new recoveries and deaths were recorded today among Filipinos abroad. To date, the death toll remains at 1,227 and the recovery count is still at 12,234.
(CNN)  The Financial Conduct Authority, a regulatory body in the United Kingdom, has banned Binance, a popular cryptocurrency exchange platform, from offering certain services in the country.

"Binance Markets Limited is not permitted to undertake any regulated activity in the UK," the FCA said in a statement Saturday. Binance  one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world  enables investors to buy and trade cryptocurrencies online. "No other entity in the Binance Group holds any form of UK authorisation, registration or licence to conduct regulated activity in the UK," the statement continued.

Trading cryptocurrencies is not directly regulated in the UK, but other related activities  such as selling derivatives  do require approval.

The statement also included a warning about the volatility of the crypto markets. "Be wary of adverts online and on social media promising high returns on investments in cryptoasset or cryptoasset-related products," the FCA said.

The UK ban follows news of Japanese regulators sending warnings to Binance Friday. The regulators in Japan said the platform may be operating in the country without proper authorization. Binance will also no longer service customers in Ontario, Canada as of December 31 after regulators there ramped up oversight of crypto markets.

"We are aware of recent reports about an FCA UK notice in relation to Binance Markets Limited," a Binance spokesperson said in response to CNN Business' request for comment. "BML is a separate legal entity and does not offer any products or services via the Binance.com website. The FCA UK notice has no direct impact on the services provided on Binance.com. Our relationship with our users has not changed."

China has also cracked down on the crypto sector in recent months. The country has curbed mining activity and told major payment platforms and lenders that cryptocurrency trading won't be tolerated.

Crypto prices have tumbled of late as a result of the increased regulatory attention. On Tuesday, Bitcoin fell below $30,000 for the first time since late January before rebounding slightly over the weekend. And shares fell for cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, nearly reaching an all-time low just two months after the platform went public.

This story was first published on CNN.com 'UK financial watchdog bans crypto exchange Binance'
(CNN)  Marco Gobbetti, who started a turnaround at Burberry, will leave the British luxury fashion label at the end of this year to return to Italy where he'll head up rival Salvatore Ferragamo.

Burberry announced Gobbetti's resignation in a statement on Monday, sending the company's share price nearly 8% lower in London.

"Marco, who has led the transformation of Burberry's brand and business, will be stepping down after nearly five years with the company to take up another opportunity that will enable him to return to Italy and be closer to his family," Burberry said.

Gobbetti set out to reposition Burberry firmly in the luxury category, following a 13-year stint at French luxury goods giant LVMH as CEO of Givenchy and Celine. As of Friday, the stock had gained 35% since his appointment in July 2017.

Known for its signature beige check and trench coats  which reflect founder Thomas Burberry's belief that clothing should protect people from the British weather  the 165-year old brand equipped arctic explorers before becoming one of Britain's most recognizable exports.

"Burberry is in a far better position today than when Marco took responsibility for it," Bernstein senior research analyst Luca Solca said in a note to clients on Monday. "Yet, the magnitude of the issues at hand didn't offer a chance for the runaway success that some had hoped for," he added.

Gobbetti's departure halfway through the company's turnaround raises questions as to whether the brand could be in for another strategic reset under a new CEO, Solca told CNN Business.

"I think that investors also believe that if Marco was very self-assured of the success at Burberry maybe he wouldn't be leaving," Solca added, pointing out that Ferragamo is a "much smaller company." He said that investors are reducing their holdings while they wait for further clarity on the new CEO and his or her plans.

Gerry Murphy, the company's chairman, said that the board was "naturally disappointed' by Gobbetti's decision but understood "his desire to return to Italy after nearly 20 years abroad."

Gobbetti caused a stir when he recruited Givenchy's former artistic director, Riccardo Tisci, to be Burberry's chief creative officer in 2018. The Italian replaced Christopher Bailey following his 17-year tenure at the company and was hired to reinvigorate the brand for a younger and more diverse consumer.

"Burberry was a bit boring before Gobbetti came in," said Solca. "It needed a breath of fresh air." Gobbetti's ambition to make Burberry relevant in leather goods and compete with top luxury brands such as Gucci, Prada and Louis Vuitton is still a work in progress, Solca added.

Commenting on his departure in the statement, Gobbetti said: "With Burberry re-energised and firmly set on a path to strong growth, I feel that now is the right time for me to step down."

In a separate announcement, Salvatore Ferragamo confirmed that Gobbetti would become the company's CEO "as soon as he is released from his contractual obligations" at Burberry. Shares in Ferragamo advanced in morning trade in Milan, but were down 1.8% by afternoon.

Gobbetti's new assignment is "another monumental challenge," according to Solca. "The brand needs a thorough rejuvenation of its marketing fundamentals: product and communication, first and foremost," he said.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Burberry shares tumble after CEO resigns to join rival."
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28)  NLEX Corporation is allotting 2 billion to build a new two-kilometer expressway section between Mindanao Avenue and Quirino Highway in Novaliches, an official said over the weekend.

"The construction of this new 2-billion expressway section will be welcome news for NLEX commuters who currently face daily traffic gridlock in the congested portions of Mindanao Avenue," NLEX Corp. president Luigi L. Bautista was quoted as saying in a statement.

Construction is eyed to begin within the second half of 2021, the firm noted.

"Eventually, this section will be integrated into the future NLEX expansion to C5/C.P. Garcia near Katipunan Avenue. We foresee an interconnected tollway network that will be accessible to the west, east, north, and south sides of Metro Manila," Bautista added.

The top executive also said the infrastructure project could create more jobs, propping up the pandemic-battered economy, especially since Metro Manila contributes 32 percent of the Philippine economy.

Once operational, the logistics sector could also benefit from the project as container cargo trucks, haulers and other commercial vehicles can ply this as an alternate route to the ports of Manila via NLEX Harbor Link all the way to the new Navotas Interchange along Mel Lopez Boulevard, R-10.

The new project is part of the 11.5-kilometer NLEX C5 Link between Mindanao Avenue, Quirino Highway, Regalado Avenue, Congressional Avenue, and C.P. Garcia Avenue in Quezon City.

Aside from NLEX, the firm also operates the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28)  Columnist Manuel "Manolo" Quezon III, who was once a speechwriter of former President Benigno Aquino III, remembers how it was to work for the man fondly called PNoy.

"Now that we have come to the point where we have to look back on his life, it tells us in many ways that he was a man way ahead of his time and of our society," Quezon said in an interview with CNN Philippines on Monday.

Quezon recalled how Aquino dealt with challenges that happened during his presidency and said how Aquino reacted to these proved that the former president had the "steeliness" to handle his job.

He also recalled how the public reacted toward Aquino in the aftermath of the Mamasapano incident where 44 members of the elite Philippine National Police's Special Action Force were killed in an encounter with Moro rebels in Maguindanao despite a ceasefire.

Quezon called it a "traumatic divorce" with the Filipino people.

"He felt he owed it to the families to give them space to grieve and to give them answers about what would happen to them now that their loved ones were gone. The public interpreted this very differently because the public rallied to his father when it was almost a crime to go and condole after Ninoy Aquino was killed," he said.

He said people are now able to reflect on what Aquino did and were able to see why it was done.

"The passing of an Aquino on the eve of another election, as Randy David said, we don't know precisely what it means but it must mean something," said Quezon.

Aquino died on June 24 at the age of 61.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 27)  The country welcomed the first batch of Moderna vaccines on Sunday evening.

The plane carrying 249,600 doses of the US-made vaccine arrived at Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 11 p.m. via Singapore Airlines Flight SQ918.

According to the National Task Force on COVID-19, 150,000 of the vaccines will be for the government, while 99,600 doses will be for the private sector.

Earlier, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said one million more are expected to arrive in July, while two million will be shipped by September.

The Philippines in March signed a tripartite agreement with the American company for 20 million doses of its vaccine  with 13 million shots secured by the government while the remaining seven million were ordered by the private sector.

More vaccine supply deals are also being finalized, according to Galvez.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28)  Government officials are underscoring the efficacy of Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccines as another shipment of one million shots made by the Chinese manufacturer arrived in the country on Monday.

The Philippines has so far received 12 million Sinovac shots through procurements and donations, accounting for the biggest chunk of its 17.45 million vaccine stock.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who received the shipment, said CoronaVac made by Sinovac remains effective against severe COVID-19 and deaths.

"Wala namang clinical data na yung Sinovac is hindi effective sa variant. Kung makikita natin ang kanyang efficacy in preventing death at severe cases nasa 94-95 (percent). Ang Sinovac ay 28 countries ang tumatanggap," Galvez said during the arrival ceremonies.

[Translation: There is no data that Sinovac is ineffective against variants. Its efficacy against death and severe cases is at 94 to 95 percent. There are 28 other countries accepting Sinovac.]

He responded to the recent remark of Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon that the government should focus on procuring Pfizer vaccines instead of Sinovac which has a lower efficacy rate. Galvez said the public should listen to health experts instead of politicians when it comes to vaccines.

Sinovac remains the country's most "diligent" vaccine manufacturer, he added, saying that the firm has even accelerated its pace of delivery for the Philippines.

The government expects to hit the 10 million-mark of administered doses today.
(CNN) -- On Friday evening the US intelligence community released something remarkable: An unclassified report to Congress of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) aka UFOs.

Which is a big deal! Especially when you consider that, for decades, the American government totally denied the existence of flying objects that they simply could not identify or, in some situations, explain.

The 9-page report isn't exactly an exhaustive study of UFOs, nor does it confirm or debunk the existence of alien life. And that it was released on a Friday night in the summer is also not an accident in terms of the government doing everything they can to bury the report.

Despite all of that, there were a number of interesting tidbits in the report. I pulled out some key quotes -- and added some context as well. That's below.

1. "Our analysis of the data supports the construct that if and when individual UAP incidents are resolved they will fall into one of five potential explanatory categories: airborne clutter, natural atmospheric phenomena, USG or U.S. industry developmental programs, foreign adversary systems, and a catchall 'other' bin."

OK, so there are five basic categories for UFOs according to the report: Random airborne, uh, stuff (like birds), weather phenomenons, defense prototypes -- either from the US or "foreign adversary systems" and then the "other bin." And, yes, I (and the rest of the world) am most interested in the "other" bin.

2. "After carefully considering this information, the UAPTF focused on reports that involved UAP largely witnessed firsthand by military aviators and that were collected from systems we considered to be reliable."

The UAPTF is short for Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, of course. (There's nothing that the government likes more than acronyms.) And, what this line says is that the task force decided to give precedence to UFO reports "witnessed firsthand by military aviators." Which is rightly read to mean that these reports are a) serious and b) credible.

3. "No standardized reporting mechanism existed until the Navy established one in March 2019. The Air Force subsequently adopted that mechanism in November 2020, but it remains limited to USG reporting."

Amazing! There was no formal way within the government to record UFO sightings until the Navy started one in 2019!!! And the Air Force didn't follow suit until, roughly, six months ago! Which reveals a) how resistant the government has been to acknowledging UFOs and b) how many sightings were almost certainly missed.

4. "[There were] 144 reports originated from USG sources. Of these, 80 reports involved observation with multiple sensors."

This line establishes the universe, ahem, that the task force examined. There were incidents between 2004 and 2021 -- and more than half were confirmed by "multiple sensors."

5. "Narratives from aviators in the operational community and analysts from the military and IC describe disparagement associated with observing UAP, reporting it, or attempting to discuss it with colleagues. Although the effects of these stigmas have lessened as senior members of the scientific, policy, military, and intelligence communities engage on the topic seriously in public, reputational risk may keep many observers silent, complicating scientific pursuit of the topic."

Important stuff here -- an acknowledgment that the number of reports of UFOs may have been kept artificially low because of the stigma long attached to reporting these sorts of things, particularly among the military and intelligence community. That, according to the task force, has lessened somewhat as "senior members of the scientific, policy, military, and intelligence communities engage on the topic seriously in public."

6. "In 18 incidents, described in 21 reports, observers reported unusual UAP movement patterns or flight characteristics. Some UAP appeared to remain stationary in winds aloft, move against the wind, maneuver abruptly, or move at considerable speed, without discernable means of propulsion. In a small number of cases, military aircraft systems processed radio frequency (RF) energy associated with UAP sightings."

Eyes emoji!!!! Like, this seems like a big deal! A total of 18 incidents where UFOs "appeared to remain stationary in winds aloft, move against the wind, maneuver abruptly, or move at considerable speed, without discernable means of propulsion." In plain English, that means that military personnel spotted unidentified aerial phenomena that appeared to be unaffected by wind, move in ways that can't be explained and be propelled in ways that can't be explained. Which is very, very interesting.

7. "With the exception of the one instance where we determined with high confidence that the reported UAP was airborne clutter, specifically a deflating balloon, we currently lack sufficient information in our dataset to attribute incidents to specific explanations."

So, one time the thing that people thought was a UFO was a "deflating balloon." But, ALL the other times the military and intelligence community can't explain what the heck the UFO actually was. Which, again, BIG DEAL.

8. "Although most of the UAP described in our dataset probably remain unidentified due to limited data or challenges to collection processing or analysis, we may require additional scientific knowledge to successfully collect on, analyze and characterize some of them."

Most of these episodes remain mysterious, according to the report, because there simply isn't adequate information on hand to explain them. Then, however, there are some incidents that "may require additional scientific knowledge to successfully collect on, analyze and characterize some of them." Like, advanced science beyond our current capacity. Interesting!

This story was first published on CNN.com "8 takeaways from the government's big UFO report".
Reeling from massive cutbacks in volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and grappling with high construction costs, Habitat for Humanity leaders would be the first to admit they're struggling.

The past year has felt like one punch after the other, they say. First hit: Habitat's local affiliates had to limit volunteers over virus concerns, forcing them to fork over more money to hire contractors. Second hit: Revenue was dented by temporary closures of ReStores, the reuse stores operated by local Habitat organizations. The third: Construction delays caused by pandemic-induced kinks in the supply chain, which make affiliates wait longer for supplies.

What could have been the knockout blow was the spike in construction costs. Lumber prices, according to the National Association of Home Builders, increased by more than 300% since April 2020. Demand for new homes, as well as demand for supplies for renovation projects and other factors, also kept costs high, experts say. Prices have come down in recent weeks, but they are still significantly higher than before the pandemic.
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The shirt factory was brought here during the Great Depression and was instrumental in providing jobs for this community and they were the only community around that was able to afford the cost of keeping the streetlights on at night. One of the things that I think people forget about the chamber is that a strong business community helps make a community strong.

Hente believes its vitally important for a city like Farmington to have a strong chamber of commerce.

If we dont have businesses here that are prospering, were not going to have jobs that pay people to be able to live, and were not going to have the goods and services that people need and want to be able to live here," she said. So, what we do for businesses  and our resources have just grown and grown over the years  is far more than inviting them to come for a luncheon or a mixer. There is so much more meat to having a chamber membership now than there ever has been.

According to Hente, the chamber has several priorities for the immediate future.
Ramsey was presented with a trophy at the beginning of the awards ceremony for her continuing support and participation.

Each and every volunteer has a special place in Coleman's heart as they all made the day possible. But one in particular makes every day possible, she said: her husband Alan.

"He probably has the toughest job of all, dealing with my multiple personalities during all the stages of this and all our events," Coleman said. "He is instrumental in keeping me sane. I can't even begin to say how much I appreciate him and his support," Coleman said.

This year's winners included, in the one-mile run, the male runner with the overall best time was Liam Harrel who completed the course with a time of 7:16. The female runner with the overall best time was Jamie Harrel who finished the course with a time of 8:37.

In the 5K run, the male runner with the overall best time was Austin Savage, who completed the course with a time of 18:39. The female runner with the overall best time was Sydney Cash, who finished the course with a time of 23:26.

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The top finishing times by participating age groups were also recorded in both the one-mile and 5K runs.
Last week there was a lawsuit filed on behalf of three single mothers, against the state of Missouri. These are single mothers, living in poverty who would qualify for Medicaid under the law that Missouri voted for last year. However, our Republicans have refused to fund the expansion. Our Attorney General has sided with his fellow Republicans. So the Missouri Supreme Court will eventually have to decide if voters have the ability to decide these things at the ballot box or not. Will poor people get what we voted for them or will a bunch of radicals in the state legislature decide.

They say they dont want this because of some language in the federal statute on the subject of abortion. This is what happens when you allow a bunch of religious wackos to take charge of a state government. Then they will decide whats good for you and what isnt. You might be better off poor without health insurance, than to have access to birth control. These laws are mostly aimed at the control of women.

Its like the Missouri Heartbeat Law they enacted. It would set limits on abortion rights so early in the pregnancy that most women would not know they are even pregnant until its too late to legally choose an abortion. Again you have a bunch of Holy Rollers deciding whats best for every woman in the state of Missouri. A federal judge has already blocked this law.
"The purpose of this program is to really center the voters who we know are particularly targeted by the Republicans' suppression efforts," Danielle Butterfield, the organization's executive director, told The New York Times. "Those are voters of color, Black and Latino voters specifically, and we plan to center them both in our creative and our targeting to make sure that they are aware of how empowering voting is."

The second front is legal challenges to many of the laws passed by Republican legislatures. Last year showed that even federal judges appointed by President Trump, bolstered by lifetime tenure, were able to resist his campaign of subversion. Attorney General Merrick Garland has announced he will double the number of lawyers committed to combatting voter suppression and stated, "There are many things that are open to debate in America, but the right of all eligible citizens to vote is not one of them."

Moreover, in some states, even red ones, it remains possible to actually expand voting rights through bipartisan legislation, and one rather astounding example is Kentucky, Mitch McConnell's home state, which scaled up absentee voting for future elections.
Members of the three element during the parade on Tuesday.
What do you think about the allegations made towards Air Vanuatu staff receiving less than VT3,000 a fortnight?
Dunn confirmed that account, saying McCarthy "committed to us to taking it serious.

In addition to Clyde, other Republicans have increasingly made statements defending the rioters and have spread conspiracy theories about what happened that day. Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar has repeatedly insisted that a Trump supporter who was shot and killed that day while trying to break into the House chamber was executed. Others have suggested that the Justice Department should not be charging the insurrectionists with crimes.

And last week, the 21 Republicans voted against giving medals of honor to the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police to thank them for their service on Jan. 6. Dozens of those officers suffered major injuries, including chemical burns, brain injuries and broken bones. McCarthy voted for the measure.

Seven people died during and after the rioting, including Ashli Babbitt, the woman who was shot and killed, and three other Trump supporters who died of medical emergencies. In addition to Sicknick, two police officers died by suicide in the days that followed.

Fanone made clear that the last several months have taken a toll. He said he was mentally and physically exhausted and that he felt isolated.
WASHINGTON  The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Virginia school boards appeal to reinstate its transgender bathroom ban, handing a victory to transgender rights groups and a former high school student who fought in court for six years to overturn the ban.

After learning that the high court refused to hear the boards appeal, Gavin Grimm, now 22, said his long battle is over. We won, he tweeted. Honored to have been part of this victory.

Grimm was a 15-year-old student at Gloucester High School when he was banned from using the boys bathroom. The Gloucester County School Boards policy required Grimm to use restrooms that corresponded with his biological sex  female  or private bathrooms. Grimm filed a federal lawsuit that wound its way through the courts for six years.

Grimm said that being forced to use the nurses room, a private bathroom and the girls restroom was humiliating and severely interfered with his education. He said he is heartened by his victory in court because a win in Virginia is a win everywhere.
Along with nine other states, Virginias teaching of U.S. history and civics in its public schools got a B+ or a Good grade, according to The State of State Standards for Civics and U.S. History in 2021, an analysis released last week by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

The institutes in-depth review of what Virginias Standards of Learning expect K-12 students to learn about civics and U.S. history was conducted by a bipartisan team of educators and subject-matter experts who also delved into how the various states handle the culturally  and politically  charged subject of race.

Virginias standalone civics standards are quite comprehensive, and they are bolstered by unusually strong history standards that add context and depth to many civics topics, the researchers found. History courses are often impressively detailed. However, there are a few places where coverage is patchy, and the failure to assign courses to any specific grade level is a problem.

The Fordham team made several recommendations, which are quite timely given the fact that the state Board of Education is in the process of revising the History SOLs.
Each year the Charlottesville area welcomes new citizens on July 4 at a naturalization ceremony at Monticello. In anticipation of this years event, Charlottesvilles International Rescue Committee would like to thank President Biden for deciding to increase the number of refugees admitted to the United States.

Under President Trumps final cap of 15,000 people, far too few refugees would have been admitted by years end. Indeed, only 11,814 were allowed to enter the United States in 2020, drastically fewer than the annual admissions caps under both Republicans and Democrats in prior administrations. Despite President Bidens more generous cap of 62,500 for this fiscal year, only 2,334 had been admitted by April 30 this calendar year.

We now urge the Biden administration to facilitate our intake of refugees as quickly as resources allow and also to work rapidly toward fulfilling the presidents campaign promise of admitting up to 125,000 refugees annually. Federally funded national organizations like ours are equipped and ready to resettle people who have sometimes been waiting for years in crowded, temporary resettlement communities.
Goa: Fisheries Union claims dept is not acting against illegal trawling in Zuari River

June 28,2021 | Source: Goa News Hub

All Goa Small Scale Responsible Fisheries Union has complained to the Fisheries Director Sharmila Monteiro against the illegal fishing by trawlers in River Zuari despite ongoing ban. Union President Roque Menezes has said it has come to our attention that daily trawlers are carrying on illegal fishing in Zuari river during night time due to the negligence of your office in Patrolling. On June 23, 2021 night one trawler got entangled with underwater sunk ship while trawling at night time in Zuari river. Four other trawlers that were operating from Vasco were stranded in rescue operation to free the entangled trawler. Next day June 24, 2021 this incident was shared by audio on WhatsApp by former vice-president of Old Cross Fishing Co-operative society at Kharewada Prem Dabolkar under Article 19 of the Constitution of India: Right to Freedom of Speech and expression. However it has come to attention that one trawler owner Tulsidas Kukalkar who owns Netra trawler and notorious record holder for illegal fishing damaged electricity and water connection of Prem Dhabolkar at Vasco. We had complained to your office about Tulsidas Kukalkar illegal trawling in Zuari river in the past but there is no action from your office that we know of. We want to convey to you that because of inaction from your office Fisheries in Goa are getting criminal fall outs.
Tamil Nadu: Sri Lankan Navy opens fire, nine TN fishermen escape unhurt

June 28,2021 | Source: Daily Thanthi Next

At least four boats in which they were on were riddled by bullets fired by the Lankan Navy and one bullet each was recovered from two boats, Arokiyam, fishermen's representative and also a fisher, told reporters here. ''Luckily, nine of us escaped unhurt,'' he said. A fisheries department official said he has received a complaint from fishermen, seeking action to protect them. They had to face the ''Lankan bullets'' on their return early on Friday and the island Navy also fired in the air, the representative alleged, adding they had set out for fishing on Thursday in more than 200 boats with 1,500 fishermen. This is the third instance of ''Lankan Navy opening fire'' on fishermen in recent times and they were fishing on the Indian side of Palk Straits, he said.



The two bullets that were found in boats were handed over to fisheries authorities, he added. Video clips of boats riddled by bullets surfaced in the social media as well. Rajya Sabha MP Anbumani Ramadoss tweeted saying though nine fishermen thankfully escaped unhurt, their boats were damaged. The Central government should condemn this and should provide compensation for damaged boats. Condemning the firing, Ramadoss said the Centre should not tolerate such attacks anymore. ''To find a permanent solution, the Centre should take legal steps to retrieve Katchatheevu (an islet) that was given to Sri Lanka on a platter,'' he said. Ramanathapuram MP, K Navas Kani, meanwhile, has written to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, seeking appropriate steps to prevent fishermen from being targeted.

 2021, Daily Thanthi.
The two measures were always expected to move together through Congress: the bipartisan plan and a second bill that would advance under special rules allowing for passage solely with majority Democrats' votes and is now swelling to as much as $6 trillion. Biden reiterated that was his plan on Saturday but said he was not conditioning one on the other.

"So to be clear," his statement said, "our bipartisan agreement does not preclude Republicans from attempting to defeat my Families Plan; likewise, they should have no objections to my devoted efforts to pass that Families Plan and other proposals in tandem."

Still, it remained to be seen what impact Biden's comments would have on progressive lawmakers in the House and Senate, who have pushed Biden not to moderate his agenda in pursuit of bipartisanship. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has said her chamber would not take up the bipartisan proposal until the Senate first acted on the larger Democrat-backed bill.

"I think it's very important for the president to know that House progressives, and I believe, you know, the Democratic Caucus, is here to ensure that he doesn't fail," New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on "Meet the Press." "And we're here to make sure that he is successful in making sure that we do have a larger infrastructure plan."
BERLIN (AP)  German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday defended the idea of holding a European Union meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing that it would offer an opportunity to confront Putin with European concerns.

The idea was rejected last week by eastern EU members.

At a summit on Friday, EU leaders agreed only to "explore formats and conditionalities of dialogue with Russia. There was no mention of any high-level meetings or plans for a summit with Putin, an idea that Germany and France had pushed. The outcome reflected deep divisions in the 27-nation EU's approach to Moscow.

The EU is concerned that Putin is turning increasingly authoritarian and wants to distance himself from the West. Both it and the NATO military alliance are struggling to bring Russia back to the table. U.S. President Joe Bidens meeting with Putin this month was a rare exception.

The concern was that we perhaps wouldn't be able to put up a united front, (and) such a summit of course requires very intensive preparation, Merkel said at a question-and-answer session with German and French lawmakers. She said it would allow Europeans to address all the questions that weigh on us and also those on which we want to cooperate.
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A 59-year-old man from Virginia has been charged in connection to a 1994 cold case homicide of a woman in Denver, the Denver District Attorneys Office announced Friday.

Officials said Steven Cumberbatch has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the death of 36-year-old Rita Desjardine. Cumberbatch was extradited to Denver last week to face the charges.

Desjardine was found dead in a Denver motel room on Dec. 7, 1994. Police launched a homicide investigation but were unable to find her killer until July 2018 when a new lead connected Cumberbatch to DNA evidence from the crime scene.

In October 2019, the District Attorneys Office pursued charges against Cumberbatch after receiving a $500,000 grant from the National Institute of Justice, funding work to solve violent cold crimes for which a suspect has been identified but prosecutors have not yet been able to file charges.

Violent crime cold cases are among the most challenging of all our cases, said District Attorney Beth McCann. This federal funding was key to building the case that led to charging Steven Cumberbatch with the murder of Rita Desjardine.

DNA evidence was examined in 1994 and 2004 without any matches. But when it was re-examined in 2018, Cumberbatchs DNA was in the databases because of offenses he committed in Virginia, according to the arrest affidavit.

Cumberbatch was found guilty of second-degree murder for an incident in Virginia in 2008, according to the U.S. District Court of Virginia. Cumberbatch is serving a 40-year sentence in the Virginia Department of Corrections for killing his girlfriend, Karen Adkins.

Adkins was stabbed 23 times on July 22, 2008, according to court documents. Adkins told police and hospital officials that Cumberbatch was her attacker before she died of her injuries hours later.

According to the arrest affidavit, Desjardine was smothered to death and had been assaulted before she died. When her body was found by motel staff, she was laying naked on a bed with bruises on her face and neck, with blood on her body and the bed.

Police identified five other suspects during the investigation who were at the motel about the time of the crime, but DNA tests were unable to place any of them at the scene during the killing, the affidavit said.

Cumberbatchs DNA was found inside a gin bottle from the crime scene and inside a pair of white shorts that were on the floor next to the bed where Desjardines body was found. His fingerprints were also matched to various items in the room, including bloody prints on the bed.

A witness also reported seeing a man matching Cumberbatchs description leaving the motel room before the discovery of Desjardines body, the affidavit said.

I am proud of the collaboration between the Cold Case Units of DPD and the DAs Office and the DPD Crime Laboratory that this grant is enabling, said Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen. The work being done under this grant is innovative and important for our community.
The Denver Police Department is investigating after a juvenile was shot overnight in the Central Business District neighborhood.

Police said the shooting happened in the 900 block of 15th Street, near the Colorado Convention Center. Police announced the shooting just after midnight Sunday.

The juvenile victim was found suffering from a gunshot wound and taken to a hospital. They are expected to survive, police said.

Police have not released any information about what led to the shooting.

No arrests have been made in connection to the shooting as of Sunday morning. No suspect information is available.

Anyone with information is asked to call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. Tipsters can be anonymous and are eligible for a $2,000 reward.
The decision by the government of Pakistan to introduce tax on mobile phone calls has occasioned quite a lot of coverage  and comment  from local media.

It has been suggested that these taxes will be imposed on mobile calls over five minutes long. An earlier proposal was for a tax of Rs1 per call of more than three minutes, Rs5 per 1 gigabyte of internet usage and 10 paisa (a tenth of a rupee) on each SMS (one rupee equals about $0.006). However, the adverse public reaction caused the government to shelve this plan. Now it proposes a tax of 75 paisa for any call longer than five minutes.

That may not sound too onerous  but there is already a 19.5 percent federal excise duty for a voice call. And in any case, the new tax will target those least able to pay. Poorer end users tend to favour prepaid bundles, not least to make long calls to their villages to stay connected with their families. These people will most likely be hardest hit. People with smartphones and WhatsApp are less likely to be affected.

Are these taxes implementable? The telecom industry is apparently not too impressed with this charging structure, which it believes will play havoc with prepaid bundles as operators will have to adjust their offerings, potentially making voice calling more expensive. In any case, some media outlets suggest that users will quickly learn to disconnect and redial before the five minutes are up.

Apparently one of the drivers for this move is recoup the estimated Rs15 billion (about $950 million) revenue lost after the withdrawal of an increase in sales tax rates on food items. However, local press outlets say that Pakistan is already among the highest taxed telecom markets in the world.
At Cuban Pharmacies, Short Lines Are a Bad Sign 'We're all sick here,' 'shes a cheat that takes advantage,' 'why didn't you leave your daughter at home ...?' After hours of waiting, fatigue and hunger in the lines to buy medicines in Cuba, sensitivity is also in short supply.

La Habana

La Habana

The lines to buy medicines in Cuban pharmacies are as stressful and exhausting as those that form to buy chicken, oil, and basic groceries at the start of the month. The difference is that while those who wait in the latter vary in terms of age, sex and health, pharmacy clientele is usually made up of people who are very old, sick, or both.

On June 14, the second of the month's three shipments of medicines arrived at one of the pharmacies in the municipality of Habana del Este. As usual, the consignment was distributed the very next day.

"The line is not so long this time because many of the medicines that people need didn't arrive," said Ada Maria, a woman in her fifties, to a young man who was surprised because the group of people did not exceed 20.

Among the most popular drugs are those used to treat nerve diseases, pain, allergies, diabetes and hypertension. But this shipment did not include alprazolam, diazepam, or meprobamate, nor dipyrone, aspirin, captopril, atenolol or salbutamol sprays. Neither did any antibiotics or contraceptives of any kind arrive.

The lack of most of these medications forces people to improvise to alleviate their ailments. Some doctors are even daring to prescribe unorthodox treatments.

"I have a dead nerve in my knee. The pain I feel is very strong and, since there is nothing else, the neurologist prescribes amitriptyline," confessed Raquel, age 67.

Although the line was not that long, as few of the medications most people need had arrived, it was moving slowly. At 11:00 in the morning only 14 customers of the 50 who signed up had been attended to. As newcomers arrived, those in the line instructed them to use the "no-appointment line."

The appointment slips, small pieces of white paper with a number in blue ink, had not been handed out by the pharmacy staff, but rather by a regular customer, the kind who arrive in the early hours of the morning and then leave with a bag full of medicines.

The people in the line appreciated the slips, despite their unofficial nature and the fact that they had not been distributed by any authority, but rather by someone who took the opportunity to reserve advantageous numbers for their friends and acquaintances.

The cause of the extremely slow line was, in addition to the lethargy of the clerks, a survey that was being carried out.

"Two months ago we started requesting the identity card of the owner of each tarjeton. In addition, this time we are taking the information from the card and transferring it to a list to make sure that no one is buying medicines that they dont need," a clerk explained.

The employees use up several pens filling out vouchers, stowage cards and other documents, to ensure that the "controlled" drugs actually reach their recipients. The days after each shipment arrives are extenuating for them. With a lot of work and little ventilation in the pharmacy, they are hungry and tired. They are consoled by the fact that the pharmacy is then empty the rest of the month.

For the clientele, the days of buying medicines are the worst. Although almost all are elderly and infirm, there are no seats or even acceptable conditions at the pharmacy given the long wait. Exposed to the sun, rain, cold, heat and boredom, many end up becoming totally insensitive.

"Just now a mother came with her child in her arms and the people in the line just wanted to kill her. They told her that she couldnt buy anything with her child, because children were not supposed to leave home during the quarantine. Only one woman defended her, pointing out that there are no messengers, and that everything is a lie, because in most cases they dont work," said another of the few young people present.

Another highlight of the day was the arrival of another mother accompanied by her teenage daughter, who suffered from a mental disability. According to her mother, the doctors had recommended that she not wait in line.

"Were all sick here," "shes a cheat who takes advantage," "why didn't you leave your daughter at home ...? were some of the barbs hurled by those who had been waiting in line since the early morning.

At 2:00 in the afternoon they were completely exhausted, had not had lunch, and only the first 27 in the line had been helped, plus about nine cases of people with disabilities, one allowed to enter after every three customers waiting.

At that rate, "those without an appointment" would be buying their medications around 6:00 in the afternoon, almost at the pharmacy's closing time. If, after dedicating almost a full day to this task, they do not acquire the medicines they need because not enough have arrived in this shipment, they will have to return when the next one arrives and undertake, once again, the daunting task of acquiring medicines at a Cuban pharmacy.
If you ask Washington State swimmer Taylor McCoy how she came to adopt the backstroke as her specialty, she might talk initially about the chicken and the egg. Does she like that stroke because shes good at it? Or is she good at it because she likes it?
Total costs assessed, including many items that appeared to be for aesthetic purpose: $15 million.

Engineers and construction experts say the Morabito documents that focused just on the structural work make clear there were several major repairs that needed to be done as soon as possible. Other than some roof repairs, that work had not begun, officials said.

The cost estimate emailed by Morabito Consultants to Surfside officials was among a series of documents released as rescue efforts continued at the site of the collapsed building, where more than 150 people remained unaccounted for. At least nine people were killed in the collapse, authorities said Sunday.

Another 2018 Morabito report submitted to the city said waterproofing under the pool deck had failed and had been improperly laid flat instead of sloped, preventing water from draining off.

The failed waterproofing is causing major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas. Failure to replace the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially, the report said.

The firm recommended that the damaged slabs be replaced in what would be a major repair.
Steel giant Hoa Sen Group saw net profits quintuple in May from a year earlier to over VND600 billion ($26.1 million).

Revenues rose 85 percent to VND4.6 trillion.

It attributed the results to rising steel prices, efficient distribution, low inventory, and low logistic costs. It has 10 plants located near ports, which enable it to export with low overheads.

For the first eight months of fiscal year 2020-21, which started on October 1, it reported revenues of VND29.1 trillion and post-tax profits of VND2.8 trillion, equivalent to 88 percent and 187 percent of its full-year targets. Its steel sales during the period were 1.6 million tons.

It targets revenues of VND33 trillion and post-tax profits of VND1.5 trillion for the full year, up 20 and 30 percent.

Hoa Sen is the leading steel sheet manufacturer with its market share in the first five months of 2021 being 37.2 percent, according to the Vietnam Steel Association. Its steel pipe market share has grown by 3.5 percentage points since last year to 20.3 percent.

It plans to expand its supermarket chain, Hoa Sen Home, which sells building materials and furniture, from the current 28 outlets to 40 by next month.

Its chairman, Le Phuoc Vu, expected to have 1,200 outlets within the next three-five years, when it targets $3 billion in revenues and VND3 trillion ($130 million) in profits.
Police bust the headquarter of illegal trading platform Hitoption.net in Hai Phong City. Photo courtesy of Hai Phong Police.

Forex trading fraud has become widespread in Vietnam with hundreds of thousands of investors lured by the promise of high profits offered by tricksters.

Hai Phong police last Tuesday busted a large illegal trading network in the northern port city with 16 platforms in which over 115,700 investors had poured in more than VND7.5 trillion ($326 million).

Among the platforms was Hitoption.net, a forex trading platform with 969 investors.

The operators let investors bet on whether a currency will rise or fall in a period of 30 seconds. If correct, he or she will receive a profit of 95 percent of the bet, and if incorrect all the money will be lost.

They also let investors rely on robots to make the bet for them with a guaranteed profit of 6-15 percent a month.

The operators also hired nearly 100 employees to make phone calls to invite more investors to join the schemes.

But police said that after a while, the operators would tamper with the robots to ensure the bets are lost and not allow investors to withdraw their money.

Last month, Hanoi police busted a group of operators who were running four illegal trading platforms in which 12,000 people have poured $4.3 million.

This group assured a 15-30 percent profit a month for investors in forex, gold or cryptocurrency.

Police found that the operators can interfere with investors accounts at anytime and there was no connect between the platforms and the global forex platforms as the operators had advertised.

The websites they used were Rforex.com, Yaibroker, Vistaforex, Exswiss and 15 others.

Hanoi police estimate that there are around 300 illegal forex trading platforms in Vietnam that have attracted many investors.

Dinh Thi Thu Thuy, head of the economic division under Hanoi Police, said that the bust should serve as a wakeup call for many Vietnamese who are getting involved in illegal trading platforms.

No forex trading platform has been approved by the State Bank of Vietnam, and these platforms often carry high risks, she told the Tuoi Tre newspaper.

Many of them operate pyramid schemes to trick investors into thinking they can make quick profits without thorough knowledge of the assets, she added.

Economist Huynh Trung Minh said that a 6-15 percent or higher guarantee in monthly profit is typically a trap, and is difficult for an average investor to obtain.

Once investors have put their money in such schemes, it will be difficult to withdraw it, he added.
"Thua Me Con Di" (Goodbye Mother) is among the top five best selling foreign films on the Japanese video on demand platform Rakuten TV.

Arriving in Japan in January, the movie has become one in the Top Five Best Selling Foreign Film in the first half of 2021, together with Hollywood blockbusters like "Tenet" and "Wonder Woman: 1984," according to Skyline Media, distributor of "Thua Me Con Di" in Japan.

It has also received a lot of kudos from Japanese audiences, with a 4.9/5 star rating on Rakuten TV.

A still from "Thua Me Con Di." Photo courtesy of the movie.

In Japan, "Thua Me Con Di" is currently available on over eight video on demand platforms, including Rakuten TV, Fuji TV On Demand, VideoMarket, Paravi, HikariTV, Crank-In! Video, U-Next, and GYAO.

It was released in Vietnam in August 2019, and chosen for "A Window on Asian Cinema", a category for the latest and most talked about films by directors in Asia at the 2019 Busan International Film Festival in South Korea.

The directional debut of Trinh Dinh Le Minh, the movie depicts the drama of Van and his boyfriend Ian, whove just returned to Vietnam from the U.S. The couple is initially unable to come out about their relationship because of the taboo involved, especially in rural Vietnam. This leads to friction between them, and Van is forced to explain the nature of their relationship to his mother.
After a stroke completely paralyzed her husband, Svetlana Nguyen sold all their properties in Ukraine and flew to Vietnam to take care of him and their children.

One afternoon in early June when Hanoi was experiencing searing hot weather, she was at a hospital intensive care unit with her husband.

She leaned forward and with great effort lifted and set him down on his wheelchair. After lying on his back for many days, he began to get bedsores on his back and had to be transferred to another hospital to get treatment before doctors can perform the surgery.

"Let's go to another hospital, Papa," she says.

Svetlana Nguyen and her paralyzed husband, Nguyen Van Thang, at a hospital in Hanoi. Photo courtesy of Suzana Nguyen.

Quickly wiping the sweat from her forehead, the blond woman patted the hand of Nguyen Van Thang, her husband. Though he could not speak, he looked at her and made slight movements with his mouth. That made her very happy since it meant he was recovering.

It has been nearly 20 years since Thang fell ill and been unable to take care of himself. Svetlana seems to have gotten used to the fact they spend more time at the hospital than at home.

The 55-year-old says: "There are times when life comes to a standstill and I think I cannot continue any more.But then I look at my husband and children, and I get the motivation to keep going."

Their love began in 1988 when they first met at the State Customs Service office canteen in Kiev, Ukraine, when Thang came there to use the service.

They got married two years later, and he decided to stay back in Ukraine instead of returning home as he had previously planned.

In 2000, he told his wife he and their nine-year-old daughter would move to Vietnam to find business opportunities while she and their two sons stayed back. The family was to reunite when he succeeded.

But a year later Svetlana was informed that her husband had had a stroke and was paralyzed.

"I cried like I had never cried before. I felt like it was a dead end. But then I told myself to make an effort and maybe a miracle will happen.

"No matter how difficult it is, we must make an effort. We are together when we are healthy, so we must be by each others side when we are sick too."

She bought a flight ticket and flew to Thangs hometown.

The couple's wedding was held in 1990 in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. Photo courtesy of Svetlana Nguyen.

Every day she gets up early to cook and then massages his limbs to help relieve stiffness because of lying in one spot for a long time.

Moving him into his wheelchair takes all her strength and several minutes each time, but she says if she does not do that he will get bedsores.

There were days when her husband and children would be sick at the same time, and she would be too tired to get up and instead lie in bed with tears running down her face. Then she would brace herself, get up and continue working since she knew the whole family relied on her.

In the last 20 years she has only returned home once to sell all their property, furniture, cars, and even her wedding ring to raise money for his treatment.

Without knowing Vietnamese, with a sick husband and three young children to raise, Svetlana would often feel God was too unfair to her. Some friends even advised her to return home to free herself from all this, but she would silently turn away.

"As husband and wife we live together for love. If I leave, who will take care of him?"

Thanks to her devoted care, Thang's health gradually improved and after two years he was able to walk and use some objects.

Then their savings began to dry up, and so Svetlana decided to get a job. Thangs family gave her an apartment on Hanoi's Ngoc Khanh Street, and she used one half to open a coffee shop in 2004.

She bought an old refrigerator, while friends donated sugar and coffee. Since she had no money to hire staff, her two older children, then in middle school, would spend half the day helping their mother sell coffee.

Occasionally, she invited compatriots and people who had studied in the Soviet Union to her shop and try her food.

They regularly praised it, and some suggested she should sell more dishes from her homeland, and a food menu gradually took shape.

As the place expanded, the quality of life improved for the five-member family.

Now the two older children are running a Russian restaurant in Saigon and the youngest son is studying in Canada.

"In order to pay for her husband's hospital bills, she works non-stop. Last Easter there were days when Svetlana worked until 2 a.m.to complete orders for customers. She then headed to the hospital the next morning without showing any sign of fatigue," Natalia, a Russian friend of the couple, said, adding she admired Svetlana for never giving up.

Svetlana Nguyen making loaves of traditional Russian black bread, a key ingredient in her the restaurant's dishes. Photo by VnExpress/Hai Hien.

Though their life has improved, she still faces many hardships.

Over the past 20 years, Thang has been admitted to hospital dozens of times, several times with life threatening conditions.

Unfortunately, in February this year he suffered from heart failure and cerebral hematoma, and was about to undergo surgery. He then had a stroke right at the hospital, and paralyzed again.

But with Covid-19 resurging at the end of April family members are not allowed to enter the hospital to take care of him.

"I've always believed he will get well one day," she said.

Since the children are away, she has to take care of everything when her husband is in hospital. Every day she wakes up at 5 a.m., visits her husband and then returns to the restaurant to prepare food for customers.

She goes back to the hospital when she is free, and then returns to the shop to work until midnight.

For more than a month Hanoi banned indoor dining at restaurants due to Covid, and so she barely earned any money. To pay the hospital bills, she asked her children for help and borrowed money from people around her. But the words "give up" never crossed her mind.

She has never given up the hope that one day her husband will get better and the two will return to Kiev, where many years ago they met and fell in love.
The domestic aviation market is also expected to recover in the third quarter, with over 70 million passengers expected, the representative said.

Back in March, the CAAV had proposed the reopening of international flight routes in stages, where certain flights could resume this September under a "vaccine passport" program, which allows a shortened quarantine period for eligible entrants. A maximum threshold of seven such flights per week was proposed.

Vietnam closed its borders and canceled all international flights in March last year, and has since allowed only certain categories of visitors with strict Covid-19 quarantine requirements. The quarantine period was increased to to 21 days recently as the country battled a more widespread outbreak with new strains of the novel coronavirus.

However, Vietnam is now working on a vaccine passport scheme that would allow fully vaccinated entrants to enter certain regions like Quang Ninh and Phu Quoc with their centralized quarantine period shortened to seven days.
Two medical staff hold samples for Covid-19 testing in Quang Ngai Province on June 27, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Pham Linh.

The Ministry of Health confirmed 188 community transmissions Sunday night, pushing the daily tally to 314 and the overall total under the new wave to 12,259.

Among the nights cases, 95 were detected in HCMC, 36 in Binh Duong, 15 each in Quang Ngai and Bac Giang, eight in Phu Yen, seven in Hung Yen, six in Bac Ninh, four in Nghe An and two in Da Nang.

In HCMC, 77 cases had contact with confirmed patients, eight are related to the Tan Tao Industrial Park in Binh Tan District, one to the Tan Phu Trung Industrial Park in Cu Chi District and another to the Son Ky Market in Tan Phu District. The transmission sources of the remaining eight are yet to be determined.

The city recorded a total of 200 cases on Sunday, its second highest daily tally, after the record 724 on Friday.

In Binh Duong, 21 cases are linked to an outbreak in a motel in Thuan An Town, eight to a company in Thuan An District, six linked to a company in Thu Dau Mot Town and the transmission source of one is undetermined.

In Quang Ngai, 11 cases had contact with confirmed patients and four are being contact traced; while all of the cases in Bac Giang were detected in quarantine zones.

Phu Yen has seven cases detected in quarantine zones and one is being contact traced.

In Hung Yen all the cases were found in locked down zones.

Of the six cases in Bac Ninh, five are linked to various clusters in the northern province and one is being contact traced.

The four cases in Nghe An had contact with Covid-19 patients and the same is true of the two cases in Da Nang.

Besides the new infections, the Health Ministry also recorded 182 recoveries and two deaths, taking the overall total since the beginning of the pandemic early last year to 15,643 cases, 6,319 recoveries and 76 deaths.
The United States joins the international community in calling for Mali to transition on schedule to democratically elected government. That was the message U.S. Acting Alternate Representative for Special Political Affairs Jeffrey DeLaurentis told the UN Security Council at recent briefing on Mali.

In addition to threats to its citizens security from violent extremists with ties to Al-Qaida and the Islamic State, Mali has been torn in recent years by political instability, including a coup detat and the ousting of the civilian transition leaders within 9 months.

In August of last year, Colonel Assimi Goita led a coup that ousted the democratically elected president. After pressure from the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, a transition government was established with the roles of prime minister and president held by civilians. Colonel Goita served as vice-president in that government for nine months. On May 24, 2021, he detained and ousted the civilian leaders. Days later, Malis constitutional court named him as transition president. On June 9, Goita appointed Choguel Kokalla Maiga, a civilian and former leader of the Patriotic Movement for Renewal, as prime minister.

The United States, along with members of the international community, has called for the release of detainees and those under house arrest in Mali. U.S. Ambassador DeLaurentis said their detention is a direct assault on the countrys ongoing transition to the return of democracy and on the rule of law. In addition, because a democratic civilian-led government presents the best opportunity to achieve security and prosperity in Mali, a commitment by the new transition government to holding elections as scheduled in February 2022 is a top priority.

It is critical that the February 2022 elections be free and fair, and are administered by competent and impartial election authorities, using transparent processes, said Ambassador DeLaurentis. He also declared that under no circumstances should the transition president, vice president, and prime minister be candidates in the upcoming presidential elections. Pointing out that a government must not lose sight of its responsibility for protection of civilians and human rights, Ambassador DeLaurentis called on the transition government to create conditions for stability and address social grievances, as well.

We will consider a range of foreign policy options in response to any actions that impede the transition to a duly elected government, Ambassador DeLaurentis said. We stand firmly with the people [of Mali] in their aspirations for democracy, peace, development, and respect for human rights.
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During a recent visit to Ramallah, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced over $110 million in U.S. assistance to the Palestinian people.
The Delta variant of the covid-19 virus is quickly spreading in the US and around the world, jumping to 20 percent of new cases in the US from 10 percent in the span of a week. People are wondering how effective the covid-19 vaccines and prior infection will be in the face of this growing threat.

Many people are under the false assumption that once youve had covid-19 and recovered that you are immune from getting reinfected. The body does develop an immune response after being infected with covid-19 but how long and how effective that immunity will be in the face of the emerging variants has not been determined yet. However, it appears that the Delta variant is more effective at getting past the bodies acquired immunity after an initial infection.

Even those who have been fully vaccinated are at risk of contracting covid-19, albeit rare in both cases. No vaccine is one hundred percent effective. However, the covid-19 vaccines that have been approved have proven themselves to be highly effective in those who are fully vaccinated and are keeping people out of hospital and more importantly alive.

Those who have recovered from covid-19 are advised to get vaccinated, health experts say that it works like a booster for your immune system giving the body a more robust response to any future infection.

The Delta variant appears to be causing more reinfections

We are seeing that natural immunity from prior strains of the virus does not provide very strong protection against this Delta variant, Jason Bowling, an Infectious Disease specialist at the University Texas Health, said in an interview with San Antonio local news station KSAT12. Referring to data coming out of the UK where the Delta variant replaced the Alpha variant, first discovered in England, as the dominant strain If you had COVID infection before, does not appear to provide the same level of protection against these new variants that we would hope for.

These people are getting reinfected. Some of them are having mild infections, but theres a wide spectrum and some are still having severe disease up to and including death, Dr. Bowling said. Adding So, again, another message that we really need to get people fully vaccinated because we see that we have good protection with the full course of the vaccines.

Getting fully vaccinated provides strong protection against the Delta variant

Although recent studies from the UK have shown that the Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccines have reduced efficacy against the Delta variant the protection provided is still robust. For those that receive only one dose of the vaccines the risk of developing covid-19 symptoms caused by the Delta variant was 33 percent, versus 50 percent for the Alpha variant, currently the dominant strain in the US. Protection jumped to 88 percent with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 60 percent for the AstraZeneca vaccine with a second dose. Comparatively, against the Alpha variant two jabs gave 93 percent and 66 percent protection, respectively.

Perhaps more importantly, those who have had one dose are 75 percent less likely to be hospitalized and those who have had two doses 94 percent, compared with unvaccinated individuals.
The Delta variant of covid-19 that emerged from India has now spread to more than 80 countries and is responsible for 90% and 70% of all new cases in the United Kingdom and Israel, respectively.

In the United States the Delta variant represents around 20% of new cases, although experts believe it will likely become the dominant strain in the county.

White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has reported that Delta looks to be following the same pattern as the Alpha variant that was first discovered in the UK, with the number of infections doubling in the US about every two weeks.

Similar to the situation in the UK, the Delta variant is currently the greatest threat in the US to our attempt to eliminate covid-19, Fauci told reporters last week.

Why is the Delta variant more dangerous?

The Delta variant is more dangerous than previous strains due to the fact that it is much more contagious. The WHO, which only flagged Delta as a variant of concern in May 2021, says this the fastest and fittest variant of covid-19 found to date.

Delta is understood to be 50-60% more transmissible than the Alpha variant, which was 50-60% more transmissible than the original strain of covid-19 found in Wuhan in December, 2019. Experts say the Delta variant spreads more easily due to mutations that make it better at latching onto cells in our bodies, AP reports.

It is still unknown if the Delta makes people sicker or more susceptible to death, since more data needs to be collected, Dr. Jacob John, who studies viruses at the Christian Medical College at Vellore in southern India, told AP.

Are vaccines effective against delta?

Full screen A commuter receives a shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) during the opening of MTA's public vaccination program at a subway station in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, New York, U.S., May 12, 2021. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo)

Studies have concluded that the vaccines currently being administered in the US are effective against variants, including the Delta variant.

Both Dr. Fauci and CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky have spoken publicly in recent days to assure Americans that the vaccine works against Delta.

As worrisome as this Delta strain is with regard to its hyper transmissibility, our vaccines work, Walensky told ABCs Good Morning America. If you get vaccinated, youll be protected against this delta variant, she added.

The effectiveness of the vaccines, in this case, two weeks after the second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech was 88% effective against the delta and 93% effective against alpha when dealing with symptomatic disease, Fauci said.

A study in the UK determined that the two-dose Pfizer/BioNTECh and AstraZeneca vaccines were equally protective for those who got both doses but were less so among those who got one dose, which is why experts are urging people important to be fully vaccinated.
Lao Deputy Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone presents a USD300,000 gift to Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh for supporting Vietnam in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo: VGP)

During the meeting, on behalf of the Vietnamese Party and State, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh congratulated the Lao People's Revolutionary Party for successfully organizing its 11th Congress, and congratulated Mr. Sonexay Siphandone on continuing to be elected to the Politburo and the position of Deputy Prime Minister.

He expressed his pleasure as Lao Party General Secretary and State President Thongloun Sisoulith, his wife and the high-ranking Lao delegation chose Vietnam as the first country to pay an official friendship visit, which he said clearly reflected the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries.

For his part, Lao Deputy Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone congratulated Vietnam on the success of its 13th National Party Congress and the election of deputies to the 15th National Assembly and the Peoples Councils at all levels; as well as the election of Pham Binh Minh to the Politburo and the position as Deputy Prime Minister.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, the official visit of Lao Party General Secretary and State President Thongloun Sisoulith, his wife and high-ranking Lao delegation to Vietnam vividly demonstrates the close relationship, great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, the two states and the two peoples.

Deputy Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone also expressed his sincere thanks to the Party, State and People of Vietnam for supporting Laos in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the two Ministries of Planning and Investment had also supported each other in the prevention of the pandemic over the past time.

On this occasion, Deputy Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, on behalf of the Government, social organizations and Vietnamese communities living and working in Laos, presented a gift worth USD300,000 to support Vietnam in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

On behalf of the Vietnamese leaders of the Party, State and people, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh expressed his sincere thanks to the Lao Party, State and people for the gift. This is a precious gift to help Vietnam fight the COVID-19 pandemic, showing very precious and mutual sharing between Laos and Vietnam," he affirmed./.
"There would be no New China without the Communist Party", "Sing a Folk Song for the Party", "My Motherland and Me"... In recent days, various provinces and cities across China have held red songs chanting activities. From party members and cadres, to the masses, including ethnic minority compatriots, everyone sang their love to the party and chanted to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.

Photo taken on June 22, 2021 shows students from Wenhualu Primary School singing a red song to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, Shizhong District, Zaozhuang City, east China's Shandong Province. (Sun Zhongzhe/Guangming Picture)

Photo taken on June 22, 2021 shows people from Miao ethnic group celebrating the prosperity of the motherland and the happy life of the people by singing in Miao language and Mandarin, dedicating to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. (Huang Xiaohai/Guangming Picture)

Photo taken on June 22, 2021 shows a chorus group participating in the "Follow the Party Forever" Chorus Competition in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. (Dong Naide/Guangming Picture)

Photo taken on June 23, 2021 shows the Zishan children's chorus group sing a classic track of red songs at a special chorus concert of "Red Boat to the Future" held in Changxing County, Huzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Provinceto celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. (Zhou Hongfeng/Guangming Picture)

Photo taken on June 20, 2021 shows people singing a red song classic "Sing a Folk Song for the Party" in Yantai Yingzi Village, Fuxin Mongolian Autonomous County, Fuxin City, northeast China's Liaoning Province. Local police and Mongolian party members carried out a series of activities to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. (Weng Shaobo/Guangming Picture)

Photo taken on June 17, 2021 shows party members singing red songs during a pop-up event in Panjiang Town, Zhanyi District, Qujing City, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Yang Junpeng/Guangming Picture)

A singing performance themed with "The Power of Belief" is held at Tianjin Urban Construction University to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. (Liu Dongyue/Guangming Picture)

Photo taken on June 12, 2021 shows people from Dong ethnic group singing a red song to expressing their blessings to the party and best wishes to the motherland in Dongzhai Village, Zhaoxing County, Liping County, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Yang Daifu/Guangming Picture)

Photo taken on June 21, 2021 shows the actors and audience singing a red song classic "There would be no New China without the Communist Party" together at Baokang Theater in Xiangyang City, central China's Hubei Province. (Yang Tao/Guangming Picture)

[ Editor: WXY ]
A large U.S.-Ukrainian maritime exercise Sea Breeze 2021 will kick off in the Black Sea on Monday, the U.S. Navy reports.

It will involve 32 warships, 40 aircraft and 5,000 servicemen from 17 NATO member states, as well as alliance partners. In total, military personnel from 32 countries are expected to participate.

"This year's iteration has the largest number of participating nations in the exercise's history with 32 countries from six continents providing 5,000 troops, 32 ships, 40 aircraft, and 18 special operations and dive teams scheduled to participate," the report said.

According to the U.S. Sixth Fleet, the exercise will train combat operations at sea, on land and in the air, including landing, anti-submarine and anti-aircraft warfare.

On June 26, the American missile destroyer USS Ross entered the Black Sea. It can carry up to 56 Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of 1,600 km.

"The USS Ross' participation in this year's Sea Breeze maritime exercise is a tangible demonstration of U.S. support for Ukraine and is necessary now more than ever," Charge d'affaires Kristina Kvien said.

The British destroyer Defender and the Dutch frigate Evertsen are also in the Black Sea since June 14.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky welcomes the approval of the Common Aviation Area (CAA) Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, stressing that its signing will be another step towards Ukraine's entry into the single European space.

"Grateful to the European Council and the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU 2021 for approving the Common Aviation Area Agreement between Ukraine & EU. The agreement will allow our citizens to get cheaper tickets & expand the geography of travel. Its signing will be another step towards entering the single European space," Zelensky said on Twitter on Monday.

According to a press release on the website of the European Council, the Council on Monday, June 28, "gave the go-ahead" for the signing of three neighbourhood aviation agreements  with Ukraine, Armenia and Tunisia  as well as an air transport agreement with Qatar.

"These agreements will open up the air transport market, offering new opportunities for both consumers and operators. Through more efficient connectivity, they will promote trade, tourism, investment and economic and social development," the report said.

It is noted that the three neighbourhood agreements will remove market restrictions in relation to the EU's neighbouring countries and associate these countries with the EU's internal aviation market, as they will adopt EU aviation standards and implement EU aviation rules.

"The decisions on Ukraine, Armenia and Qatar enable application of the agreement on a provisional basis, pending the completion of the procedures necessary for its entry into force. The four agreements are expected to be signed in autumn 2021. Every agreement will then need to be ratified by each member state, the Union and the other party," the European Council said.
Some 405 citizens of Ukraine, including the military and women, are in places of detention in the Russian Federation and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova said.

"Unfortunately, the state cannot guarantee today the observance of constitutional rights and freedoms in the occupied territories. Our compatriots are forced to survive according to the laws of natural selection of the aggressor state, which eradicates not only all Ukrainian, but also human dignity. Some 405 Ukrainian citizens, of whom 44 are servicemen and 30 women, are in concentration camps and torture centers in the Russian Federation and in the occupied territories," Denisova said at a ceremonial session of parliament on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of Ukraine on Monday.

At the same time, she noted that in recent years, the Human Rights Commissioner's Office has recorded a significant increase in the number of reports of violations of citizens' rights. According to Denisova, in 2019 there were 34,000 such messages, in 2020  more than 48,500, and in the first half of 2021  more than 27,000.
Egypt reported 389 new coronavirus cases on Sunday bringing the total infection tally officially to 280,394 since the outbreak began in February 2020.

The health ministry also reported 30 new deaths, bringing the total number of deaths from the virus to 16,092.

The statement said that 657 patients have been discharged after recovering from the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to 210,052.

Health Minister Hala Zayed in a Cabinet meeting on Sunday said Egypt is scheduled to receive 1.9 million coronavirus vaccine doses through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) in July.

Attending the meeting, chairman of the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) Tamer Essam also confirmed the country will receive the contracted 20 million doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine until the end of the year.

Zayed, during the meeting with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, said Egypt has the raw materials required to manufacture 10 million doses of Chinas Sinovac.

Additional raw materials are scheduled to arrive in the country during the coming two weeks that are enough to produce 7.5 million doses, Zayed added.

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Egypt's House of Representatives approved on Sunday two controversial amendments to Law 48/1979 regulating the performance of the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC).

Parliament Speaker Hanafi Gibali said the amendments will be up for a final vote in a later session.

The amendments will grant the SCC greater powers to revise international arbitration rulings if proven harmful to the Egyptian economy and state and whether they violate the Egyptian constitution.

A report prepared by the House's Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee said the amendments are in line with the 2014 constitution and come in light of the fact that a number of disputes are up for settlement before international arbitration courts.

The report argued that "although Article 192 of the constitution states that the SCC's jurisdiction is limited to local laws and decrees, the second paragraph of the article states that the law regulating the performance of the SCC could be amended to grant it greater powers," said the report.

According to the report, two articles will be added to the SCC law. "The first is Article 27, which states that the SCC's jurisdiction will be extended to include rulings issued by international institutions and organisations, foreign court verdicts, and international arbitration rulings which the state is required to implement," said the report.

The second, said the report, is Article 33 which states that the prime minister will be empowered to refer the rulings specified by Article 27 to the SCC to revise their constitutional terms and see whether they can be ignored because of their breach of the constitution and lack of legislative legitimacy.



"The amendments are necessary and represent a progressive legislative step aimed at safeguarding Egypt's national security against foreign institutions and organisations and international arbitration courts which issue rulings that lack legislative legitimacy," said the report.



Ibrahim El-Heneidi, the chair of the House's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, told MPs that the amendments are meant to protect Egypt's economy. "The two new articles will give the SCC authority to revise these rulings, investigate their legitimacy, and see whether they go in line with the constitution," said El-Heneidi.

Besides, El-Heneidi said, the SCC should extend its jurisdiction to cover international rulings as long as they will be implemented in Egypt. "But I also want to stress that the SCC verdicts on investment cases should not negatively affect Egypt's economic interests," he added.

Ayman Abul-Ela, deputy chairman of the House's Human Rights Committee, said "the two amendments to the SCC law do not mean that Egypt aims to ignore international rulings or agreements it has ratified. "Egypt is keen on implementing all international agreements and rulings, but at the same time it is also keen to put its own constitution above all international rulings and foreign agreements," said Abul-Ela, noting that "Switzerland refused to implement several international rulings which negatively affected its national interests, deciding that its own constitution and courts have the upper hand."

MP Amira Abu Shoka rejected the law, insisting that it could negatively affect Egypt's image in international business and economic circles. "Egypt has been trying its best to attract foreign investments, but this law could stem the flow of these investments," said Abu Shoka, expressing fears that "Egypt's assets in foreign countries could be expropriated if the government refused to implement international rulings."

MP Hesham Hilal, the parliamentary spokesperson of Modern Egypt Party, said it was important that the minister of investment and experts on international arbitration rulings come to parliament to give their opinion on the two amendments to SCC law and say whether they might harm Egypt's economic and investment interests.

Mohamed Abu Himila, the parliamentary spokesperson of the People's Republican Party, defended the amendments, arguing that they come to safeguard Egypt's national security. "The government wants to use the new amendments to ask the SCC to give a final say on international rulings which may affect the country's economic interests and rule whether they go in line with Egypt's constitution," said Abu Himila.

Fakhri Labib, chairman of the House's Budget Committee, said he is positive the two amendments to the SCC law will never affect Egypt's image in international circles. "When the SCC meets to revise a certain international ruling, it will be neutral and make sure that its ruling does not contravene the constitution," said Labib.

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Sudan has rejected an Ethiopian proposal to manage the filling for a second time of a giant dam that it is building on the Blue Nile, a senior official said on Sunday, deepening a regional dispute over the project.

Ethiopia has pinned hopes of development and power generation on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), while downstream Sudan is concerned about regulating flows to its own dams and Egypt fears an impact on its water supply.

Addis Ababa has said it will again fill the reservoir behind the multi-billion dollar hydropower dam after seasonal rains start this summer, a move that both Sudan and Egypt oppose without a binding agreement on filling and operating the dam.

Sudan and Egypt last week sent letters asking the UN Security Council to take up the issue. Talks mediated by the African Union, most recently in Democratic Republic of Congo, have repeatedly stalled.

Sudan has also indicated that it is open to a partial interim agreement before the second filling of the reservoir, with certain conditions.

However, on Sunday the senior Sudanese official said the Ethiopian proposal for the second filling was not real and a a way to buy time, adding that any such proposal should come under the auspices of AU mediators and involve all parties.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official also said that Ethiopia had put forward impossible conditions related to the division of the share of the water, which Sudan considers outside the scope of negotiations.

Ethiopian Water Minister Seleshi Bekele did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

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Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is heading to Rome to take part in the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.

The meeting of the alliance against the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organisation is being held on Monday with the participation of delegates from over 80 countries, including the foreign ministers of the coalition members.

Italys Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will co-chair the meeting that will be attended by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell. A number of representatives from African countries were invited as observers to the event that will tackle the threat of ISIS in Africa.

We will analyse strategies to counter terrorism in high-risk areas, such as the Syria-Iraq region and the Sahel region in Africa. Stabilising these territories will also allow us to stop illegal migration flows to Italy and, hence, to the rest of Europe, Italy's Di Maio wrote on Facebook.

Shoukry is also set to take part in a meeting chaired by the US state secretary on Syria on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting. "Shoukry will assert Egypt's firm stance towards reaching a political solution to the Syrian crisis," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Hafez said on Sunday.

The Global Coalition against ISIS was formed in September 2014 to dismantle the group's networks and economic infrastructure, prevent the flow of foreign terrorist fighters across borders, and support the stability and restoration of essential public services of areas liberated from ISIS.

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Egypts Prosecutor General Hamada El-Sawy, and his accompanying delegation, returned home on Sunday with the 114 antiquities that had been looted and smuggled to France.

He ordered a technical team of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to check the returned pieces.

In a statement, the Public Prosecution said its members supervised the completion of the procedures of shipping the looted artifacts.

The investigations began in 2019 when a French man informed the Egyptian Embassy in Paris that a French man, who had died, possessed these artifacts in his house after they were illegally brought into the country.

A French man and two Egyptians involved in the smuggling of the artifacts were arrested after cooperation with the French judicial authorities.

The investigations are still underway to reveal how they had been smuggled and determine the participants in the crime.

The artifacts, dating back to various eras of the Pharaonic history and Greek age, were smuggled out of Egypt and are not registered in the storehouses of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

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Egypt strongly condemned a missile attack on a thermal power station in Iraq's Samarra city, a statement by the foreign ministry said Monday.

The Salahaddin plant in Samarra was hit by a Katyusha rocket causing huge material damage.

ISIS claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on a power station in Iraq, the group's Nasheer News said on its Telegram channel.

The foreign ministry stressed that Egypt backs Iraq's measures to maintain its security and stability in the face of heinous terrorist operations.

Cairo fully supports Baghdad's non-stop efforts to fight and uproot terrorism, the statement added.

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Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi voiced on Monday Egypts support to the efforts to reach a fair, permanent solution between the Palestinian and Israeli sides to achieve comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

In a phone call with new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, El-Sisi highlighted the need to prevent the escalation of tensions between the Palestinians and Israelis, Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi said.

The phone call is the first between El-Sisi and Bennett since the new Israeli govenrmnet was formed in mid-June. According to Radi, the phone call comes in occassion of Bennett's assumption of his new post.

The call also comes over a month after Israel and Palestinian factions agreed on an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire in the Gaza Strip following 11 days of Israeli aggression.

The ceasefire ended a series of Israeli air strikes that killed more than 250 and injured thousands of Palestinians in the enclave.

Egypt also announced allocating $500 million for the reconstruction of the Strip and sent the Egyptian intelligence chief to the Palestinian and Israeli lands to consolidate the ceasefire with both parties.

The Egyptian authorities have also opened the Rafah border crossing with Gaza and received Palestinians injured during the Israeli assault.

During the phone call, Bennett expressed his appreciation of the Egyptian efforts to achieve security and stability in the region, Radi said.

Bennett voiced appreciation of Egypts success to reach the latest ceasefire agreement and its sponsorship of the prisoner swap between the two sides.

He also hailed the results achieved since Egypt and Israel signed the US-sponsored peace agreement, Radi said.

El-Sisi and Bennett also discussed bilateral relations.

In numerous phone calls with world leaders, El-Sisi affirmed the urgent need to revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations after the recent escalation in Gaza.

The Palestinian factions in the enclave have fired thousands of rockets at Israeli cities in response to Israeli aggression in East Jerusalem against worshippers and attempts to forcibly evict some families in Sheikh Jarrah district.

Israeli air strikes that came in parallel with the rocket attacks and continued for 11 days destroyed hundreds of buildings and displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians.

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Parliamentary members in the Egyptian Socialist Democratic Party (ESDP) denounced the legislative amendments extending the authority of the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) to revise international rulings that may compromise Egypt's national security.

The amendments, approved in principle by the House of Representatives on Sunday, state in Article 27 that the SCC's jurisdiction will be extended to include rulings issued by international institutions and organisations, foreign court verdicts and international arbitration rulings which the government is required to implement.

The new Article of 33 also states that the prime minister will be empowered to refer the rulings specified by Article 27 to the SCC to revise their constitutional validity and see whether they can be ignored because of their breach of the constitution and lack of legislative legitimacy.

ESDP's MP Maha Abdel-Nasser said amendments to the SCC law will indeed put Egypt's international reputation at risk, insisting that rulings issued by international organisations and courts can't be ignored by the local authorities. "This is a law that will leave us in isolation from the entire world and show Egypt as if it is not respecting international rulings and foreign agreements which it has accepted and ratified," said Abdel-Nasser.

"The law also comes at a very bad time as we are trying our best to gather as much international support as possible for our case on the GERD (Grand Ethiopia's Renaissance Dam)," she added.

Abdel-Nasser also said that the amendments may give the opportunity for the Western media to portray Egypt negatively and dissuade investors from coming to the country.

"Therefore, I ask the government to withdraw this law and that the House invite international law experts to give their opinion on the amendments before we put them up for a final vote," said Abdel-Nasser.

Sanaa El-Said, another ESDP deputy, said "it would be better for the law to be amended to give the SCC the power to revise international rulings and agreements in advance and before being ratified by Egypt.

"In France, for example, the constitutional court revises laws and international rulings in advance," said El-Said.

El-Said argued that "it is by no means logical that the government drafts a law to give itself the right to ignore certain international rulings. It is better for the government to defend its case before international organisations and courts which might issue rulings against the country rather than draft a law to give itself the right to ignore them," said El-Said, warning that "the amendments to the SCC law would send a very bad message to foreign investors and could scare them away from coming to the country.

"How can foreign investors come to the country if they know that the government will ignore international rulings or that the rulings will not be implemented until the SCC gives a final say on them," asked El-Said.

Ibrahim El-Heneidi, the chair of the House's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, told MPs that the amendments are meant to protect Egypt's economy. "The two new articles to the SCC law will give the SCC authority to revise international rulings, investigate their legitimacy, and see whether they are in line with the constitution," said El-Heneidi.

Besides, El-Heneidi said, the SCC should extend its jurisdiction to cover international rulings as long as they will be implemented in Egypt.

"But I also want to stress that the SCC verdicts on investment cases would not negatively affect Egypt's economic interests," he added



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Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry affirmed on Monday Egypts commitment to supporting the efforts of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS through adopting a multidimensional counter-terrorism approach.

Delivering a speech at the ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in Italy's Rome, Shoukry said Egypts comprehensive approach is not limited to the security dimension but also takes into consideration the ideological aspect, a statement by the foreign ministry read.

This approach includes reforming and renewing the religious discourse and dismantling the fallacious discourse which the terrorist organisations rely on, the top Egyptian diplomat explained.

Shoukry referenced the role of Egypts Al-Azhar in refuting the false interpretations of religious texts and in interpreting them in a way that goes in line with the true Islamic teachings.

Shoukry said the Islamic State still represents a real threat in spite of the success achieved in liberating wide areas that had fallen under the control of the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.

He highlighted the need to support the efforts made by the coalitions member states in eradicating the threat ISIS poses.

The Egyptian FM reiterated the countrys determination to eradicate all terrorist groups that adopt the ideologies and goals of ISIS.

He also stressed Egypts full commitment to the coalitions goals and support of the efforts to restore stability in and reconstruct Iraq and Syria.

Shoukry expressed Egypt's concern about the growing activities of ISIS-affiliated groups in some African areas, voicing commitment to enhancing cooperation with African countries to counter terrorism.

The Egyptian authorities, especially the president, have frequently called for reforming the religious discourse as a way to combat terrorism, especially as the country has witnessed many terrorist attacks targeting Christian and Muslim worshippers as well as security and army personnel since 2013.

The Global Coalition against ISIS was formed in September 2014 to dismantle the group's networks and economic infrastructure, prevent the flow of foreign terrorist fighters across borders, and support the stability and restoration of essential public services of areas liberated from ISIS.

The ministerial meeting of the 83-member coalition is co-chaired by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio.

The foreign ministers of the member states are meeting to discuss efforts to continue the pressure against the ISIS remnants especially in Iraq, Syria, and Africa.

The meeting, according to the US Embassy in Italy, is also assessing priorities for the coalition on stabilisation, foreign terrorist fighters, and counter-ISIS financing.

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A new draft law aiming to facilitate the dismissal of civil servants and government employees with links to the Muslim Brotherhood and other terrorist-designated groups was overwhelmingly approved by Egypt's House of Representatives in a plenary meeting on Monday.

Ibrahim El-Heneidi, the chair of the House's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, said the draft law, submitted by MP Ali Badr, seeks to amend the Law on Non-Disciplinary Dismissal of Civil Servants (10/1973) to safeguard national security and internal stability against the infiltration of terrorist and extremist elements into government offices and administrative units.

Badr's draft law states in Article 1 that employees working at the state's administrative system, including ministries, government authorities, public organizations, local council units, and public enterprise companies will be subject to the law.

Article 2 states that the dismissal of employees specified by the above article will be mainly allowed in two cases: if they violate their job's duties in a way that might cause gross harm to the state's public utilities or economic interests; and if serious proof shows they are a danger to the country's national security and safety. The article states that putting certain employees on the list of terrorist-designated entities would be serious proof paving the way for their dismissal.

State employees would be also automatically dismissed if they lost trust and esteem, and if they have become unable to do their job properly.

Article two also states that dismissed employees would be suspended from doing their job for no more than six months - or until the final dismissal decision is approved  and that they will be entitled to receive just half of their salary during the suspension period.

Article 2 also gives the president of the republic, or whoever is deputised by him, the authority to dismiss Muslim Brotherhood and terrorist elements.

"The president's dismissal decision would be issued upon a report submitted by the concerned cabinet minister and after listening to the dismissed worker's defence, and a dismissed employee will not be prevented from obtaining a pension or financial compensation," Article 2 states.

Parliament speaker Hanafi Gibali said the law gives employees the right to appeal the dismissal decision before administrative courts.

Gibali also argued that the law does not violate the constitution as Article 14 states that state employees and civil servants can be dismissed in certain cases to be specified by the law.

"The new law also goes in line with Article 14, as it will not strip dismissed employees of their pensions and financial compensation," said Gibali.

Gibali indicated that the draft law, once provisionally approved by the House, will be referred to the State Council to be revised in constitutional and legislative terms.

MP Ali Badr, secretary-general of the House's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee and a deputy from the Upper Egypt governorate of Beni Suef, said the law is important to help the government in its war against terrorism.

MP Mahmoud Badr said the law is necessary to protect the country from a handful of Muslim Brotherhood and terrorist employees who are a big threat to national security.

Leftist MP Atef Meghawry said, "Like we passed a law to protect the army and policemen from terrorist attacks, we also decided to pass this law to purge government offices and administrative units from terrorist elements."

MP Amal Salama, the parliamentary spokesperson of the Egyptian Freedom Party, said Muslim Brotherhood elements were able to infiltrate many government offices like the ministries of transport and endowments as well as the Maspero (state television and radio) building.

"The law comes to confront these elements and safeguard national security against their danger," Salama said.

Wafdist MP Dina Abu Ismail said the law comes on the occasion of the eighth anniversary of the 30 June revolution, which helped Egypt get rid of the rule of religious fascism led by Muslim Brotherhood.

"The law is very important to make it legal to rid government offices and administrative units of the remnants of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood group," said Abu Ismail.

However, another Wafdist MP, Amira Abu Shoka, warned that the law could be arbitrarily used to dismiss state employees without serious justifications.

"State authorities should be very careful while implementing this law in order not to strip state employees of their constitutional and legal rights," said Abu Shoka.

Maha Abdel-Nasser, the parliamentary spokesperson of the Egyptian Socialist Democratic Party (ESDP), was the only MP who rejected the law, arguing that the law could be used against employees who voice objection to their bosses or to government policies.

"Worse, the law does not provide enough guarantees that bosses in government offices will not use this law to get rid of employees who voice rejection to their policies," said Abdel-Nasser, indicating that "the ESDP was at the forefront of political forces which revolted against the rule of Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, but in spite of this it cannot approve this law."

Ihab El-Tamawy, deputy chairman of the House's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, said the law goes in line with Article 237 of the constitution, which stipulates that the state must "combat all forms of terrorism and track its sources of funding."

El-Tamaway also revealed that the law was approved by the National Defence Council, the Higher Justice Council, the Administrative Prosecution Authority, the State Cases Authority, and the Higher Police Council.

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Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has called on the international community to help end the crisis in Syria by supporting the United Nations-backed political solution to bring about a lasting peace that can restore the conflict-torn country to its position regionally and internationally.

"The international community has a responsibility to put a swift end to the crisis in Syria by [supporting] the political solution based on Security Council resolution 2254," Shoukry said at a meeting held on Monday in Rome on the sidelines of a conference held by the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.

Shoukry also called for supporting efforts by UN envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen to end the suffering of the Syrian people, millions of whom were forced to flee the country on the heels of the 2011 uprising against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, which turned into a civil war.

The Egyptian minister also highlighted how a regional power occupied parts of Syria under the pretext of "defending allies or fighting terrorism," noting that these powers imposed demographic changes, supported extremism, exacerbated sectarian tensions, and transferred mercenaries and fighters to other conflict areas outside Syria.

Shoukry stressed the necessity of ending foreign interference in Syria in order to bring about a lasting peace across the war-torn country.

Shoukry said that solving the issue of Syrian refugees will remain elusive as long as Syria is unstable and ununified, urging the international community to keep supporting refugees and their host countries.

"It is high time to end the long suffering of the Syrians and contribute to salvaging what remains of Syria for the sake of the new generations, which have witnessed nothing but war and destruction over the past decade," he said.

Before the Syria meeting, Shoukry took part in the conference of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, reiterating Egypts commitment to supporting efforts to eradicate the militant group.

The Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS was formed in September 2014 to dismantle the group's networks and economic infrastructure, prevent the flow of foreign terrorist fighters across borders, and support the stability and restoration of essential public services of areas liberated from ISIS.

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The video fuels fears that ISWAP is consolidating control of the insurgency in northeastern Nigeria following the death of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau last month. But not all observers are convinced the video is proof that all Boko Haram fighters are ready to join ISWAP.

The groups engaged in a violent rivalry for years, and if ISWAP absorbs Boko Haram fighters, it could focus attention on attacking the Nigerian military.

Some 350,000 people have died as a result of the 12-year insurgency and subsequent humanitarian crisis, the United Nations said this week. read more

The video, produced by Islamic State's official media arm, showed clips of several hundred men, many of whom were armed, gathering in the bush. Several made statements to camera.

"We will unite together to fight the (unbelievers)," one Boko Haram fighter said in Hausa. "What will happen now will by far exceed what transpired in the past now that we're united."

Vincent Foucher, a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research who is an expert on the conflict, said the video adds to evidence that ISWAP was gaining control.

"It is one more indication that ISWAP has won," he said.

Foucher said other indicators of ISWAP's consolidation of power included its claims of attacks in areas that had been Boko Haram zones of influence and a significant drop in violence against civilians in areas where Boko Haram operated.

However, Bulama Bukarti, a senior analyst with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, dismissed the video as propoganda, noting that it did not feature senior Boko Haram leaders.

"I think Boko Haram is still very much divided and they will continue to fight each other," Bukarti said.

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Daesh killed 19 Syrian regime personnel and allied militia fighters in the central province of Hama on Wednesday, a Britain-based war monitor said.

"Nineteen regime fighters and allied militia forces were killed in an IS attack, including 11 members of the Baqir Brigade," a local Iran-backed militia, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The war monitor said the "surprise attack" on Wednesday morning targeted regime positions in eastern Hama, the site of recent clashes between regime forces and jihadists.

Observatory head Rami Abdul Rahman called it the deadliest IS attack this year.

The Islamic State group overran large parts of Syria and Iraq and proclaimed a cross-border "caliphate" in 2014, before multiple offensives in the two countries led to its territorial defeat.

The group lost its last scrap of territory in Syria in March 2019, but in recent months it has ramped up attacks against regime forces, especially in the east of the country bordering Iraq.

In December last year, IS killed nearly 40 Syrian troops in an ambush of a bus carrying soldiers travelling home for the holidays.

According to the Observatory, IS attacks have killed more than 1,200 regime fighters and allied militia forces since March 2019.

The war in Syria has killed more than 387,000 people since it started in 2011, the Observatory says.

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The U.S. military, under the direction of President Joe Biden, has conducted airstrikes against what it said were ``facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups'' near the border between Iraq and Syria.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the militias were using the facilities to launch unmanned aerial vehicle attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq.

Kirby said the U.S. military targeted three operational and weapons storage facilities Sunday _ two in Syria and one in Iraq.

He described the airstrikes as ``defensive,'' saying they were launched in response to the attacks by militias.

``The United States took necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation _ but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message,'' Kirby said.

The Pentagon said the facilities were used by Iran-backed militia factions, including Kata'ib Hezbollah and Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada.

Two Iraqi militia officials told The Associated Press in Baghdad that four militiamen were killed in the airstrikes near the border with Syria. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give official statements.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that closely monitors the Syrian conflict through activists on the ground, reported that at least five Iraqi militiamen were killed in the airstrikes.

U.S. military officials have grown increasingly alarmed over drone strikes targeting U.S. military bases in Iraq, which became more common since a U.S.-directed drone strike killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani near the Baghdad airport last year. Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was also killed in the attack. The strike drew the ire of mostly Shiite Iraqi lawmakers and prompted parliament to pass a nonbinding resolution to pressure the Iraqi government to oust foreign troops from the country.

Sunday's strikes mark the second time the Biden administration has taken military action in the region. In February, the U.S. launched airstrikes against facilities in Syria, near the Iraqi border, that it said were used by Iranian-backed militia groups.

The Pentagon said those strikes were retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq in February that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. service member and other coalition troops.

At that time, Biden said Iran should view his decision to authorize U.S. airstrikes in Syria as a warning that it can expect consequences for its support of militia groups that threaten U.S. interests or personnel.

``You can't act with impunity. Be careful,'' Biden said when a reporter asked what message he had intended to send.

On Sunday, Kirby said Biden ``has been clear that he will act to protect U.S. personnel. Given the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting U.S. interests in Iraq, the President directed further military action to disrupt and deter such attacks.``

The Pentagon spokesman added: ``As a matter of international law, the United States acted pursuant to its right of self-defense. The strikes were both necessary to address the threat and appropriately limited in scope.''

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Sunday that the U.S. airstrikes ``appear to be a targeted and proportional response to a serious and specific threat,'' adding, ``Protecting the military heroes who defend our freedoms is a sacred priority.``

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Shipments of Qatari-funded fuel into the Gaza Strip will resume for the first time since last month's 11-day campaign by Israel on the coastal enclave, the U.N. envoy to the Mideast said Sunday.

The move indicates a return to the informal understandings between Israel and Hamas in recent years, in which the latter has traded calm for much-needed aid and development projects in the blockaded territory.

The fuel will be delivered to Gaza's sole power plant starting Monday, U.N. envoy Tor Wennesland said in a statement.

The Israeli military body that oversees civilian affairs in Gaza confirmed the deliveries without saying who was paying for the fuel. The military said permission for the deliveries was ``conditional on the continued maintenance of security stability.''

Last month's Israeli campaign on Gaza was halted by a truce brokered by Egypt.

Qatar has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years to pay for electricity, help Hamas cover the salaries of its civil servants and provide monthly stipends to poor families. Qatar has also funded the construction of new roads and hospitals in Gaza.

Israel imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza in 2007 after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces. Israel says the restrictions are needed to keep Hamas from importing military resources, while critics of the blockade view it as collective punishment of the territory's more than 2 million Palestinian residents.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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Arab League (AL) Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit on Monday warned against the return of the Islamic State (IS) networks and called for international efforts to end the extremist group, according to AL's statement.

Addressing the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat IS group in Rome, Aboul-Gheit said that forming an international action unit is the key solution to uprooting the IS group and eliminating any chances for the reemergence of cross-border threats.

"We have seen recently worrying signals of the return of the IS networks with new mechanisms," he said, mentioning the dangerous escalation in Syria and Iraq that have witnessed "intensive terrorist attacks in the past few months."

Eradicating the IS grouo depends on joint international actions, especially at the level of information exchange and supporting local security forces that carry out field operations, he said.

Also, it is important to limit the IS group recruitment of youths, Aboul-Gheit added.

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Members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) started a week-long session at an undisclosed location in Switzerland on Monday aimed at clearing the way for national elections to be held in the North African country on Dec. 24, 2021, the United Nations (UN) Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said.

Jan Kubis, special envoy of the UN secretary-general for Libya, addressed the session via video conferencing. He said that steps needed to be taken to facilitate the holding of parliamentary and presidential elections as scheduled.

"I call on you to overcome your differences and any trust deficit, focus your deliberations in the following days on reaching the largest possible consensus, and work constructively to bridge the remaining gaps through compromise," Kubis said.

"There are less than six months left before the December elections. Your ability to reach a compromise in this meeting is critical to reaffirm and achieve the objectives you yourself agreed upon in the (LPDF) roadmap," he stressed.

Back in January, the LPDF delegates already met in Switzerland and agreed on a selection mechanism for a new temporary executive authority in Libya.

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The Islamic State (IS) group (Daesh) claimed responsibility for a rare suicide attack that rocked central Baghdad, killing 32 people and wounding dozens.

The bombing targeted ``apostate Shias,`` the group said in a statement on an IS-affiliated website late Thursday.

At least 32 people were killed and over 100 people wounded in the blasts on Thursday. Some were in severe condition. According to officials, the first suicide bomber cried out loudly that he was ill in the middle of the bustling market, prompting a crowd to gather around him - and that's when he detonated his explosive belt. The second detonated shortly after.

The U.S.-led coalition recently ceased combat activities and is gradually drawing down its troop presence in Iraq, sparking fears of an IS resurgence. The group has rarely been able to penetrate the capital since being dislodged by Iraqi forces and the U.S.-led coalition in 2017.

The attack was the first in nearly three years to hit the capital. Elsewhere, in northern Iraq and the western desert, attacks continue and almost exclusively target Iraqi security forces.

An increase in attacks was seen last summer as militants took advantage of the government's focus on tackling the coronavirus pandemic and exploited security gaps across disputed territory in northern Iraq.

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Marianela Rojas huddles in prayer with fellow migrants after trudging across a slow-flowing stretch of the Rio Grande and nearly collapsing when she stepped on American soil for the first time.

``I won't say it again,'' interrupts a U.S. Border Patrol agent, giving orders in Spanish for Rojas and a group of 14 other Venezuelans to get into a detention van. ``Only passports and money in your hands. Everything else _ earrings, chains, rings, watches _ in your backpacks.''

It's a frequent scene across the U.S.-Mexico border at a time of swelling migration. But these aren't farmers and low-wage workers from Mexico or Central America, who make up the bulk of those crossing. Among them are bankers, doctors and engineers from Venezuela, and they're arriving in record numbers as they flee turmoil in the country with the world's largest oil reserves and pandemic-induced pain across South America.

Two days after Rojas crossed, she left detention and got a bus out of the Texas town of Del Rio. The 54-year-old fled hardship in Venezuela a few years ago, leaving a paid-off home and career as an elementary school teacher for a fresh start in Ecuador.

But when the housecleaning work she found dried up, she decided to uproot again.

``It's over, it's all over,'' she said on the phone to loved ones. ``Everything was perfect. I didn't stop moving for one second.''

Last month, 7,484 Venezuelans were encountered by Border Patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico border _ more than all 14 years for which records exist. The surprise increase is a harbinger of a new type of migration that has caught the Biden administration off guard: pandemic refugees.

Many of the nearly 17,306 Venezuelans who have crossed the southern border illegally since January had been living for years in other South American countries, part of an exodus of millions since President Nicolas Maduro took power in 2013.

While some are government opponents, the vast majority are escaping long-running economic devastation marked by blackouts and shortages of food and medicine.

With the pandemic still raging in parts of South America, they relocated again. Increasingly, they're being joined at the U.S. border by people from the countries they initially fled to _ like Ecuador and Brazil _ as well as far-flung nations hit hard by the virus, like India and Uzbekistan.

Compared with other migrants, Venezuelans garner certain privileges _ a reflection of their firmer financial standing, higher education levels and U.S. policies that have failed to remove Maduro but nonetheless made deportation all but impossible.

The vast majority enter the U.S. near Del Rio, a town of 35,000, and don't evade detention but turn themselves in to seek asylum.

Like many of the dozens of Venezuelans The Associated Press spoke to this month in Del Rio, 27-year-old Lis Briceno had already migrated once before. After graduating with a degree in petroleum engineering, she couldn't get hired in the oil fields near her hometown of Maracaibo without declaring her loyalty to Venezuela's socialist leadership. So she moved to Chile a few years ago, finding work with a technology company.

But as anti-government unrest and the pandemic tanked Chile's economy, her company shuttered. Briceno sold what she could to raise the $4,000 needed to get to the U.S.

``I always thought I'd come here on vacation, to visit the places you see in the movies,'' Briceno said. ``But doing this? Never.''

While Central Americans and others can spend months getting north, most Venezuelans reach the U.S. in as little as four days.

``This is a journey they're definitely prepared for from a financial standpoint,'' said Tiffany Burrow, who runs the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalition's shelter in Del Rio, where migrants can eat, clean up and buy bus tickets to U.S. cities.

They first fly to Mexico City or Cancun. Smugglers promoting themselves as ``travel agencies'' on Facebook claim to offer hassle-free transport to the U.S. for about $3,000.

The steep price includes a guided sendoff from Ciudad Acuna, where the bulk of Venezuelans cross the Rio Grande and which had been largely spared the violence seen elsewhere on the border.

``If you're a smuggler in the business of moving a commodity _ because that's how they view money, guns, people, drugs and everything they move, as a product _ then you want to move it through the safest area possible charging the highest price,'' said Austin L. Skero II, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol's Del Rio sector.

Once in the U.S., Venezuelans tend to fare better than other groups. In March, Biden granted Temporary Protected Status to an estimated 320,000 Venezuelans, protecting them from deportation and allowing them to work legally.

Also, Venezuelans requesting asylum _ as almost all do _ tend to succeed, partly because the U.S. government corroborates reports of political repression. Only 26% of asylum requests from Venezuelans have been denied this year, compared with an 80% rejection rate for asylum-seekers from poorer, violence-plagued countries in Central America, according to Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

``I can write their asylum requests almost by heart,'' said Jodi Goodwin, an immigration attorney in Harlingen, Texas, who has represented over 100 Venezuelans. ``These are higher-educated people who can advocate for themselves and tell their story in a chronological, clean way that judges are accustomed to thinking.''

Even Venezuelans facing deportation have hope. The Trump administration broke diplomatic relations with Maduro in 2019, so air travel is suspended, even charter flights, making removal next to impossible.

Briceno said that if she had stayed in Venezuela, she would earn the equivalent of $50 a month _ barely enough to scrape by.

``The truth is,'' Briceno said, ``it's better to wash toilets here than being an engineer over there.''

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday air strikes on pro-Iran fighters in Iraq and Syria sent a "strong message" not to keep attacking US forces, while Baghdad condemned the overnight aerial assault.

The second such deadly raid on pro-Iran targets since US President Joe Biden took office, described by the Pentagon as "retaliatory", has sparked fears of a new US-Iran escalation amid faltering efforts to revive Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

"This action in self-defence... sends a very important and strong message," Blinken told reporters on a visit to Rome.

"I would hope that the message sent by the strikes... will be heard and deter future action," he added, referring to repeated attacks against US interests in Iraq that Washington blames on pro-Iran groups.

Iraq's Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi decried the strikes as an "unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty and Iraqi national security", while Damascus condemned a violation against both nations.

The Hashed al-Shaabi, an Iraqi paramilitary alliance that includes several Iranian proxies and has become the main power broker in Baghdad, said the strikes killed four of its fighters in the Qaim region, near the border with Syria.

The fighters were stationed there to prevent jihadists infiltrating Iraq, the group said, denying that they had taken part in any attacks against US interests or personnel.

"We reserve the legal right to respond to these attacks and hold the perpetrators accountable on Iraqi soil," the Hashed said.

The Pentagon said the strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one in Iraq, all near the common border, and used by militias engaged in drone attacks against US interests in Iraq.

'Flagrant Violation'

Kataeb Hezbollah and Kataeb Sayyid al-Shuhada, two Iraqi Shiite armed factions, were among the "several Iran-backed militia groups" that had used the facilities, the Pentagon said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said seven fighters were killed in the strikes and at least six more were wounded.

The targets included an arms depot near Albu Kamal, a Syrian border town on the Euphrates River, the Observatory said.

Syria's state-run SANA news agency said one child was killed, while its foreign ministry condemned the raid as "a flagrant violation of the sanctity of Syrian and Iraqi territory".

US interests in Iraq, where 2,500 American troops are deployed as part of an international coalition to fight the jihadist Islamic State group, have been targeted in more than 40 attacks this year.

The vast majority have been bombs against logistics convoys, but rocket fire and drones packed with explosive have also been used.

Some attacks have been claimed by pro-Iran factions hoping to press Washington into a full withdrawal, leaving Baghdad -- which counts both Washington and Tehran as allies -- caught in the middle.

Iraq's foreign ministry said that the government was proceeding with investigations to "prevent any escalation... detrimental" to Iraq's stability, while Kadhemi re-emphasised his country's "refusal to be an arena for settling scores".

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian reaffirmed "France's support for the stability and sovereignty of Iraq", but deplored the "unacceptable attacks... against the interests" of the anti-IS coalition.

Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah "strongly" condemned the air strikes.

"What the US warplanes have done is a blatant attack on sovereignty... the region will not enjoy stability... until US forces are expelled" from Iraq and Syria, the pro-Iran group said.

Nuclear Talks Wobble

Some of the militia groups that form the Hashed al-Shaabi have been deployed in war-torn Syria over the years to support regime forces and to further Iran's interests in the country.

In February, US strikes on facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran-backed militia groups left more than 20 fighters dead, according to the Observatory.

The latest US strikes come days after the United States and France warned Iran that time was running out to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, voicing fears that Tehran's sensitive atomic activities could advance if talks in Vienna drag on.

A return to that accord has been a key focus for Biden after the nuclear deal was trashed by his predecessor Donald Trump, who also imposed devastating new sanctions on Iran.

The UN's nuclear watchdog said Friday it had received no reply from Tehran over the possible extension of a temporary agreement covering inspections at Iranian nuclear facilities which expired a day earlier.

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The 30th annual meeting and business forum of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) kicked off on Monday.

The event this year is anticipated to discuss and take critical decisions on avenues of improving the environment and economies the EBRD operates in amid the serious challenges imposed by the COVID-19 crisis, including Egypt.

The EBRD said that it is moving in the current phase from its emergency response to the pandemic to providing longer-term help for countries, as many of the 38 economies in which the bank operates in have been severely hit by the virus.

On Tuesday, the EBRD is expected to release its updated report on the regional economic prospects, which will include its forecasts for Egypts real GDP growth and output in 2021 and its vision on Egypts efforts to deal with the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The EBRD published its latest report in October, which projected Egypts growth to fall to 2 percent in 2020, before rebounding to 5 percent in 2021.

In an exclusive interview, EBRD Managing Director for the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Heike Harmgart told Ahram Online that Egypt maintains its position among the banks top investment destinations in 2021.

She added that Egypt has managed to significantly contain the economic impacts of the pandemic while saving its peoples lives as well.

Harmgart also noted that there are new deals that the EBRD is anticipated to announce in the Egyptian market next July.

In April, EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso paid her first official visit to Egypt since she assumed the office in November.

In an exclusive interview with Ahram Weekly and Ahram Online, published on 21 April, Basso said the EBRD has a positive outlook on Egypts economy in 2021 and beyond, asserting that the bank will keep supporting the private sector and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

During the event, the EBRDs governors  representatives from each of the 71 shareholding countries (along with the European Union (EU) and the European Investment Bank (EIB)  are anticipated to hold talks on what next steps should be taken, and the bank will produce more detailed proposals during the remainder of 2021.

In 2020, the EBRD committed 11 billion to COVID-19 recovery efforts.

The 30th EBRD meeting is expected to focus on a green transition in its operation countries. In 2020, the bank committed to becoming a majority green business during its current 5-year strategy period (2021-2025)  through dedicating more than 50 percent of its investments for the transition to sustainable and climate-resilient economies.

Moreover, shareholders will be asked to approve a commitment to full alignment with the Paris Agreement during the annual meetings main plenary session.

Speakers, including John Kerry, Mark Carney, Frans Timmermans, and Jane Goodall, will debate and discuss the best ways to bring about changes which improve the lives among the 677 million people in EBRD regions, and business and civic leaders will be able to participate in virtual networking sessions.

On the final day, Friday 2 July, EBRDs President Renaud-Basso will take part in a discussion with the Managing Director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, where they will talk about the challenges ahead.

Egypt is a founding member of the EBRD. Since the start of its operations there in 2012, the bank has invested approximately 7.2 billion covering 127 projects across country.

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Egypt will announce on Tuesday a tender for a project to establish a dry port and a logistics centre in 10 Ramadan city over 250 acres, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said on Monday.

This will be Egypt's second inland port.

The tender will be held in collaboration with the Ministry of Transportation, Maait said, adding that it is based on a presidential directive to maximise the private sector's participation in Egypts development projects.

The tender will be managed by the public-private partnership (PPP) unit of the finance ministry.

The project is expected to follow the PPP model, through which asset ownership will be restored to the Egyptian Authority for Land and Dry Ports beyond the project's duration, explained Maait.

Establishing dry ports is one of the critical instruments that spur the investment climate and improve Egypts ranking in the international doing-business indexes. Dry ports also reduce the commodities custom clearance time, eliminate containers congestion, and will lead to the reduction in the prices of commodities and services in the domestic market, he added.

The private sector is the key driver of the countrys economic growth through financing the infrastructure and public utility projects that create millions of job opportunities and raise the consumption growth rates, Maait said.

Minister of Transportation Kamel El-Wazir said Egypt's success in establishing its first dry port in 6 October city encouraged the ministry forward to offer nine projects in the fields of dry ports, sea ports, logistics centres, and port pavements with the technical assistance of the finance ministry.

The proposals of the nine projects were submitted to the PPP higher committee of Egypts cabinet that approved to offer them, according to El-Wazir.

He said that the first phase of the 6 October citys dry port is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.

In 2020, El-Sewedy Electric, 3A International and DB Schenker won the bid to operate the $176 million hub in 6 October city, the biggest facility of its kind in Africa.

The hub is scheduled to start operating in 2022 and to handle 720 containers per day.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) financed the projects studies and the development of the tender of the projects documents and process.

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In collaboration with Megawra, Ahram Online launches a series of walks in Historic Cairo to track down the intangible heritage of Al-Qahera, the Conqueror, and attempt to safeguard whats left of it.

Our second walk alongside Megawras Founder, architectural historian May El-Ibrashy, is in the Imam Al-Shafii area. The first walk was in the district of Hattaba, one of the three main districts El-Ibrashy spent about 10 years working extensively on. El-Ibrashys participatory conservation initiative gave her valuable insight into the intangible heritage of these districts located in the heart of Old Cairo. This tour is a self-guided tour.

All you need to do is to scan the QR code. The map of the whole tour is located at the gate entrance of the starting point of the tour, the Mausoleum of Imam Al-Shafii.

The Mausoleum of Imam Al-Shafii

Imam Al-Shafii (767-820 AD) was the founder of the eponymous Shafii school of Islamic jurisprudence, one of the four dominant schools in Sunni Islam. The dome is the starting point of the tour. Outside the mausoleum, which is an ideal model to reflect Fatimid, Ayyubid, and Ottoman architecture, lies the map of the self guided tour with QR codes for more details.

The Social History of Qarafa

With our back to the mausoleum, we take our first right, here we learn more about the residents of the area. Known to be part of the qarafa (cemetery), we learn that the burial grounds in Egypt have their own story to tell.

The name qarafa is derived from the Yemini Tribe Bano Qarafa, whose cemetery is in this area, explained El-Ibrashy, adding that since the 9th century, there were official residents in the city of the Dead.

Here, the important professions in Al-Qarafa district is anything that has to do with the tombstones, and we picked this place because this is the residence and workplace of El-Lemby, the most famous tombstone maker in this district, explained El-Ibrashy to Ahram Online, adding that in the old days, those who used to live in Al-Qarafa were scholars of religious studies and the name Qarafi scholar was actually a prestigious thing, as is seen in old books like Wafiat Al-Aayan (Obituaries of the Affluents)

Sabil-Kuttab and Tomb of Radwan Agha Al-Razzaz

As I told you before, by the time we reached the Ottoman reign, the Dome of Shafii was a political symbol and lots of people would conduct [political] agreements there. At the time, the triangle of power was the Ottoman wallis, the remaining of the Mamluk governors in Egypt, and the Ashraf (Families that are descendants of Prophet Mohamed).

Consequently, the Dome of Shafii was surrounded by burial grounds as well, where the cemetery of the Ottoman Wallis overlooked the northern window of Al-Shafii. Next to it is Hosh Al-Pasha, which is the cemetery of the descendants of Mohamed Ali pasha, along with the deputy of Abdelrahman Katkhuda  Abdelrahman Kathkuda restored and built a mosque on the premises of the Al-Shafii dome.

Then you find on the other side, the mosque and the cemetery of Al-Bakri family, who are one of the two most powerful Ashraf families.

Dating back to the Ottoman period, Radwan Agha Jurbaji ibn Abdullah  known as Al-Razzaz  was the deputy of the amir Hasan Katkhuda. His Funerary complex included a burial yard, a mastaba and iwan for reciting Quran, as well as a sabil (a communal water dispenser for passers-by)

Here you find that the Ottomans adopt the same concept and style of buildings as the Mamluks, but on a smaller scale. Like a forest of markers, the tombstones have two stories to tell, she noted.

The first is that of the person buried, the symbol of the crown means its a woman while the headgear (turban) means its a man. While the second story is that of colours, they were extremely colourful, using blue and gold, as well as patterns that reflected the concept of heaven such as vines, pomegranate, and the sarw tree as an evocation of heaven.

Tomb of Al-Hasawati

A few steps away lies a Fatimid dome that was built during the reign of caliph Al-Hafiz Li Din Allah (545-1150). It is a monument that commemorates Mohamed Al-Hasawati, a descendant of Prophet Mohamed. The most outstanding architectural element of the dome is its stucco mihrab framed by the Throne Verses from the holy quran in Kufic script.

We know that the Fatimids were very consistent about building mashahed (domes) on-top of the tombs of Al-Beit (descendants of Prophet Mohamed). During the Fatimid era, a lot of such domes materialised in Egypt like the ones in Al-Khalifa, Al-Sayeda Nafisa and Al-Sayeda Sakina, El-Ibrashy said.

They call him Al-Hasawati. We have no historic reference of his identity, but we chose to share the local myth recounted by the residences:

They say that he lived during the era of Prophet Mohamed and used to collect the pebbles from under the prophets feet, hence the name Al-Hasawati (the pebble collector).

The woman who lives in the house next to the dome used to take care of it and light candles. However, she remembers that during restoration, a few years back, something was broken from the dome, and they saw a big hall mark of light coming out of it, she added.

The Toraby Profession and the Numbering Systems.

Here we wanted to reflect on the numbering systems and how they work. The qarafa has two numbering systems, the first is the ahwash (burial grounds). As for the other numbering system, it represents places of residence in the qarafa. Legally, no one is allowed to live in the qarafa but the people responsible for burial and their families.

The toraby (A person responsible for burial) is the memory of the area. He is not a government employee, but he acts like one in certain circumstances. If you want to restore your burial ground, you need to get official papers from the toraby verifying your ownership and the borders of your land, explained El-Ibrashy.

In the old days, the torabys salary was paid from the money of waqf (endowment) directly as part of the maintenance expenses of the qarafa.

After the 1952 Revolution, the awqaf had its own ministry and the government shifted the priority of awqaf money towards public housing, thus creating the Awqaf city. Consequently, the money allocated to cover management and maintenance costs of the burial grounds got affected, she added, explaining that all of the above lead to the misconception of the toraby as being an opportunist who claims burial expenses from the family of the deceased, while in fact he has legal obligations but no salary.

Hawsh Al-Pasha (Madfan Al-Familia)

This is the monumental mausoleum complex of the Mohamed Ali family. Built east of the Imam Al-Shafii Dome. Mohamed Ali himself was laid to rest at his mosque in the Citadel. Hawsh al-Pasha, also known as Madafin Al-Familia (Tomb of the Family), remained the official burial ground for his successors, members of his family, court officials, and servants, until the early 20th century.

Among those buried there are his wife, Amina Hanem (d.1823), and his sons Tusun Pasha (d.1816), Ismail Pasha (d.1825), Ibrahim Pasha (r.July  November 1848), Abbas Hilmi I (r. 1848-1863), Mohamed Said Pasha (r. 1854  1863), and their families. Each tomb is marked by a funerary column with the distinctive headdress of the deceased according to their status and gender, a braid or crown for women, turbans or fezzes for men.

The interior of the cemetery reflects Ottoman Baroque style, as well as the typical Mohamed Ali architecture from the 19th century till the 20th century, and it is like a forest of cemeteries. Ottoman historians were amazed by the burial grounds, because they were indoors  unlike the ones in Turkey  which is what preserved their colours for all these years, she noted.

Tomb of the Family of Ismail Pasha (Known as Prince Mahmoud Hamdys cemetery)

Before 1872, this mausoleum was the burial ground of the family of khedive Ismail. Founded north of Hawsh Al-Pasha, it contains the tombs of two of his wives, Buzum and Jamal Nur.

Tomb of Ahmed Taymour Pasha

If we did not die, where would we go? Do not cry over your pottery  it is like your lives. He who wears soft wool and he who wears rough linen, both will end up being lowered into a grave, is a sample of thousands of Egyptian proverbs that were collected by Taymour Pasha.

Renowned Egyptian writer, scholar, and historian, Ahmed Taymour Pasha was the son of Ismail Taymour Pasha, head of khedive Ismails diwan, brother of the writer Aisha Al-Taymuriyya, and father of the novelists Mohamed and Mahmoud Taymour.

Ahmed Taymour collected and archived hundreds of rare Arabic manuscripts, which he later donated to the Egyptian Dar Al-Kutub. He wrote books that documented engineers and physicians from the Islamic period, along with a dictionary of colloquial Egyptian Arabic and collected Egyptian sayings and proverbs.

The Map of Words

The walk ends at the back yard of the Imam Al-Shafii DOme, where the Sadat Al-Bakria hold their burial grounds and are responsible for the servicing of the Imam Al-Shafii Dome.

Here we talk about the burial traditions that we have known from Kotob Al-Ziara (The Books of Visitation). The practice of Kotob Al-Ziara started during the Fatimid era, however, the book we found covered the time from the Ayyubid dynasty until the Ottoman era, El-Ibrashy said.

Such books are exactly like the tourist guide books but with no maps, the maps are in the form of words. For example, the map will tell you walk 100 steps and you will find a tomb where you will find green birds flying drawn on the tomb because the man buried there was called Al-Asafiri and he would feed the birds before he died, so the birds flock to his grave.

The books are like an alternative map, for in our heads, the map is affiliated with big buildings, like Qalawoon Dome for instance. But for them, these are non-entities, they are not significant at all, because they have no religious value. They would tell you to walk next to the high dome and you would know that this is the dome of Qossoun. Its a beautiful map of Cairo that tells you the very human details, she concluded.

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Al-Azhar Universitys International Islamic Centre for Population Studies and Research (IICPSR) and UNFPA launched the Population Education Curriculum and the Family Planning and the Opinions of Contemporary Imams of Jurisprudence manual, with the support of the European Union (EU).

At Al-Azhar Conference Centre, the event took place on 27 June in the attendance of Nazir Ayad, secretary-general of Al-Azhar Islamic Research Academy, Director of the IICPSR Gamal Sorour, together with UNFPA Representative in Egypt Frederika Meijer, and Ambassador of the EU to Egypt Christian Berger.

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The Population Education Curriculum was updated by a group of experts, headed by Sorour, and will be used as a curriculum for the first time. It will be taught in more than 56 faculties related to sciences and religion.

Its chapters tackle the demography, economic and water resources in the Islamic world, as well as human development. Other chapters tackle population and health, reproductive health, and family planning, as well as the religious perspective on population issues including violence against women and harmful practices.

The manual, on the other hand, brings to light the Islamic perspective on family planning from the most prestigious religious leaders in Egypt. It will also be used by religious leaders from the Ministry of Endowments and students from Al-Azhar University.

Both the curriculum and the manual are important tools that can be used by religious leaders, policy makers, researchers, civil society, and development agencies, not only in Egypt, but in Arab States and other countries with a Muslim population, Meijer said.

While Berger confirmed that the European Union supports the implementation of Egypts National Population Strategy through increasing awareness on related issues in line with the countrys Sustainable Development Strategy, 2030 Vision.

The EU Support to Egypts National Population Strategy project aims to increase the use of voluntary, rights-based family planning, with the support of an EU-grant of 27 Million, in cooperation with UNFPA.

Under the EU Support to Egypts National Population Strategy project, UNFPA partners with faith-based organisations such as Al-Azhar Universitys International Islamic Centre for Population Studies and Research and the Bishopric of Public, Ecumenical, and Social Services (BLESS) will engage religious leaders to amplify the projects mandate among their communities.

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The European Union (EU) in Egypt is supporting the Aswan International Women Film Festival (AIWFF) this year, the first ever Egyptian film festival dedicated to womens issues.

In its 5th edition, the European Union in Egypt is sponsoring the Euro-Mediterranean Film Competition in collaboration with EUNIC Egypt.

The competition will encompass 8 feature films: 2 Egyptian and 6 European films representing Austria and Germany (joint production), Belgium, France, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The EU is awarding a special prize of EUR 3000 to the best film addressing womens rights and empowerment that will be delivered to the winner during the closing ceremony on 29 June 2021.

The AIWFF is dedicated to highlighting women related issues and their right to achieve their fullest potentials. It is an important occasion through which cinematographers representing different countries renew their dialogue about the important role of women in society.

Our contribution to the festival has become a centre piece of the EU Gender Action Plan and the New Agenda for the Mediterranean. I am very pleased that with the EUs support, we can put a spotlight on films and the cinematic industry addressing womens rights. Young women and men, especially from Aswan, have been trained to use cinematic art as a means to promote shared commitments. Through our strategic partnerships, the EU will continue to support young women and men in achieving their aspirations, said Christian Berger, Head of the Delegation of the European Union in Egypt in the official press release.

As the release underscores, Cinema has a considerable influence in shaping peoples beliefs, values, and perception of reality. It can influence stereotypes that may hinder women to achieve their aspirations as equally as men.

The Aswan International Film Festival for Women is taking place 24 and 29 June in Aswan.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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Palestinian filmmaker Najwa Najjar is among a number of renowned personalities from the field of cinema honoured during the ongoing fifth edition of the Aswan International Film Festival for Women (24-29 June).

Other honourees include chairperson of the Nation Council of Women Maya Morsy, Egyptian actress Elham Shaheen, Egyptian filmmaker Sandra Nashaat, and French actress Macha Meril.

The filmmaker also heads the jury members for the Euro-Mediterranean Film Competition sponsored by the European Union in Egypt in collaboration with EUNIC Egypt. Other members of the jury include Moroccan reporter and Casablanca Film Festival director Fatma Al-Nawaly, Egyptian actor Sherif Ramzy, and Egyptian director and producer Sherif Mandour.

Screenwriter and director Najwa Najjar has worked on numerous documentary and fiction films since 2000.

Her debut feature film Pomegranates and Myrrh (2009) was described as one of the most original, powerful, and internationally acclaimed Palestinian films of recent years.

Written and directed by Najjar, the film garnered a string of awards, including an award from the Screenplay Development Fund at the Amiens International Film Festival; four awards at the Festival de San Sebastian Cinema in Motion (2008); Best Arab Film Audience Awards at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival (2009); the Grand Prix at the Amal Arab European Film Festival (2009); Best Actress and Best Cinematographer at the Muscat International Film Festival (2010); and the Youssef Chahine Grand Prix de Cinema and Special Mention for Best Actress at the Festival International de Cinema dAuteur de Rabat (2010).

Najjars second award winning feature film Eyes of a Thief (2014) won Best Director and Best Actor awards, among many others, and was the Palestinian nomination for the 2015 Oscars Best Foreign Film and the Golden Globe Awards.

Her third feature film, a road trip titled Between Heaven and Earth, which was shot throughout the country, was selected in the Official Competition of the Cairo International Film Festival and won the Naguib Mafouz award for Best Screenplay (2019). The film also won the Best Feature Audience Award at the Boston Palestine Film Festival, and Best Male Performance at Mostra di Valencia Film Festival and the Audience Award at Middle East Now Film Festival Florence.

Najjar is currently in the development phase for her fourth feature Flowers on the Nile, which is being shot in Cairo. The filmmaker is also involved with five other established Palestinian filmmakers in a collective piece.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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In an announcement to reporters on Tuesday, Kamal Amer, former head of Egypt's military intelligence and the newly-elected chairman of parliament's defence and national security committee, said parliament strongly believes in freedom of speech.

"But we also believe in the necessity of keeping Egypt's national security safe because all should know that anti-Egypt forces are working by day and night to destabilise the country," said Amer.

Amer said "from a national security viewpoint, parliament's national security committee hopes that the two sides  the Journalists Syndicate and the interior ministry  will be able to contain the current crisis."

Amer, however, said "if the two sides refused to ease the tension or contain the current conflict very soon, I think the whole matter should be left to judicial authorities to give a final say that can settle this conflict in a way that keeps press freedoms and national security safe."

Amer's statement comes after Osama Heikal, chairman of parliament's media and culture committee, told reporters that he will hold a meeting with prime minister Sherif Ismail to seek a solution for the crisis between the Press Syndicate and the interior ministry.

"I want to say that dialogue is the best way to solve this crisis, and that in this context I will try my best to bring officials of the interior ministry and the press syndicate together in a dialogue meeting," said Heikal, who is also a journalist, a former information minister and the current chairman of the Egyptian Media Production City.

Amer disclosed that his committee will be the one mainly mandated with revising the new controversial agreement aimed at demarcating the maritime borders between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The agreement caused protests last month after it placed two Red Sea islands  Tiran and Sanafir  into Saudi territory.

"Once this agreement is referred to parliament, the committee alone or with a number of other committees will take charge of revising it," said Amer, who also argued that "those who want to know whether the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir are Egyptian or Saudi should refer back to the National Book Organisation and he will be sure that they are Saudi."

While Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Magdi Al-Agati indicated last week that the government has finished preparing a complete dossier on the Egyptian-Saudi agreement, including all necessary detailed maps and documents before it is sent to parliament, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail also disclosed last week that "security measures should be first invoked before the agreement is referred to parliament."

Amer said he has no comments to give on remarks raised by some Sudanese officials who suggested that the two south Egypt cities of Halayeb and Shaltin are part of Sudan's territory.

"As President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said, while Egypt doesn't intend to cede a centimeter of its land to others, it also doesn't intend to strip others a centimeter of their land and that Halayeb and Shalatin are one hundred per cent Egyptian," said Amer.

Amer insisted that parliamentary reporters cannot be allowed to attend the national security committee's meetings. "We discuss highly secret issues related to the army, police and developments in North Sinai and these cannot be open for correspondents to cover," said Amer.

Amer, however, disclosed that the committee was divided into eight groups of MPs, with each group entrusted with studying a certain national security file.

"Each group can work alone or in collaboration with other groups," said Amer, adding that "the first group is entrusted with reviewing foreign threats facing Egypt, the second on internal security in terms of political stability, legislations, combating home-grown terror, and fighting electronic crimes."

Besides, said Amer, the third group will be dealing with internal conflicts that could damage the country's internal security such as the current crisis between the interior ministry and the press syndicate.

"The remaining groups will take care of discussing military issues, social security, security conditions in North Sinai and other border governorates, economic security, and other emergency issues," said Amer.

Amer disclosed that his committee will have a say on a new law aimed at regulating the press and media.

"We will make sure that the law not only grants the media greater freedoms in accordance with the constitution, but also guarantees that the media helps keep Egypt's national security safe," said Amer.

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Bahrain's largest Shiite opposition group slammed the jailing for life of eight activists, saying the harsh punishment will do nothing to ease the political crisis in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.

The Islamic National Accord Association (Al-Wefaq) has "received these sentences with shock, especially as they contradict the call for national dialogue" proposed by King Hamad and set to begin on 1 July, the group said in a statement received by AFP on Thursday.

The life sentences "will overshadow the stability in the country as they will also make the political crisis remain for life as well," the Al-Wefaq statement said.

The National Safety Court of first instance on Wednesday sentenced eight Shiite opposition activists to life in prison for "plotting to overthrow" the kingdom's rulers, the official Bahrain News Agency said.

It also jailed 13 other activists for two to 15 years on similar charges.

The judgement drew an expression of concern from Washington, which stations its Fifth Fleet in the small but strategic Gulf archipelago.

The kingdom said in an English-language statement by the Information Affairs Authority late on Wednesday that the "sentencing sends a message that law and order will be preserved."

This will reassure "the majority of the population of Bahrain that their security will not be allowed to be compromised by violence or attempts to overthrow the regime or by the calling for the establishment of an Islamic republic," it added.

The Gulf kingdom's government reiterated its calls for national dialogue.

"Those who attend the dialogue will show leadership and distance themselves from the radical elements and therefore prove to the international community that the majority believes in this inclusive forum to pave a better future," it said.

The defendants "do not represent any significant number of the population who actually believe that the way forward is through dialogue and peaceful means," it added.

Khalil Marzooq, a member of Al-Wefaq has slammed the sentences as contradictory to the king's calls for dialogue.

"There are political forces, some of whom have received harsh sentences today, which have not been invited for dialogue," said Marzooq in excerpts of a speech he gave at a press conference in Manama posted on Al-Wefaq's Facebook page. "How will there be a dialogue without those figures?"



US State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said: "We are concerned about the severity of the sentences handed down... in Bahrain. We're also concerned about the use of military courts to try these civilians."

"Such steps are at odds with the universal rights of Bahrain's citizens," he told reporters.

But Bahrain's government said "the nature of recent incidents and the threat to national security makes the Law of National Safety a legitimate means to prosecute the perpetrators in a court, where they had access to legal counsel and representation, for bringing the country to the brink of total anarchy."

Scores more activists are facing trial on charges linked to the protests that rocked the kingdom for a month from mid-February, in the semi-martial court set up under a "state of national safety" decreed by King Hamad.

Bahrain's interior ministry said 24 people, including four policemen, were killed in the unrest. The opposition said scores were arrested, amid widespread allegations of torture, while hundreds were dismissed from their jobs.

Four people have been sentenced to death and three others to life in prison over the killing of two policemen during the protests. Nine others were jailed for 20 years after being convicted of abducting a policeman.

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An Oslo court ruled Monday that Anders Behring Breivik, who has admitted twin attacks that killed 77 people, should stay in custody for another two months and solitary confinement for four weeks.

"The court does not find it unreasonable that he be kept in complete isolation due to the risk that he through other inmates could contact possible accomplices ... and taint evidence," judge Anne Margrethe Lund told reporters after the hearing.

The court ruled that Behring Breivik, who has confessed to the July 22 attacks, could be held in total isolation until October 17, and in custody with a ban on visitors and correspondence with the outside world until November 14.

New hearings will be held when those periods end and both will likely be extended.

The 32-year-old far-right extremist had himself addressed the court in the closed-door hearing, his lawyer told AFP.

"The accused spoke about the difficulty of being held in isolation," Geir Lippestad said, refusing to provide more details due to a "total gag order" placed on participants in the hearing.

One of the 154 lawyers representing victims and their families, Frode Elgesen, told AFP Behring Breivik had appeared calm and had not been wearing his signature red Lacoste shirt, instead appearing in a suit and tie.

The court had initially ruled that Behring Breivik's appearance Monday could be open to the public for the first time, meaning that media, relatives of the victims, survivors and other people concerned would be able to attend.

But an appeals court last week overturned that decision at the police's request, out of concern that Behring Breivik might try to communicate with any possible accomplices.

On July 22, he set off a car bomb outside government offices in Oslo before going on a shooting rampage on the nearby island of Utoeya where the ruling Labour Party's youth wing was hosting a summer camp.

Sixty-nine people, mostly young, died in the island massacre and eight in the bombing.

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The United States is considering setting up a direct military hotline with Iran after a series of close encounters between US and Iranian forces in the Gulf, a defense official said Monday.

Fearing that a misunderstanding could lead to wider conflict, US officials are weighing establishing emergency communications but a final decision is still pending, said the defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"This idea has been circulating for a while in some places, but it's just that at this point: an idea. No such proposal has been reviewed by the secretary of defense," the official told AFP.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the possible hotline, saying the United States was especially concerned about a fleet of speedboats that often challenge US and allied warships that transit the Persian Gulf.

The high-performance Iranian vessels are likely controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Tehran's elite military force, and can be equipped with missiles.

In recent months, a British destroyer fired warning shots at one of these boats as it appeared to be preparing to ram the larger ship, according to The Journal.

Iranian aircraft have also challenged US ships, the paper said.

At least initially, defense officials are interested in expanding navy-to-navy contacts with Iran to prevent miscalculations, The Journal said.

But the military remains wary of any direct engagement with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, due to its deep ties to Middle East militant groups that Washington has designated as terrorist organizations, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories.

It remained unclear if the hotline proposal has been informally raised with Iran, possibly through Iraq, The Journal said.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki will be in New York this week to attend the annual UN General Assembly meeting.

The Pentagon said that US forces would safeguard American interests and allies in the region.

"We continue to be concerned about Iran's destabilizing activities and ambitions, and we remain firmly committed to protecting our personnel, our interests, and our partners in the region," press secretary George Little said.

"We have consistently conveyed to Iran that it must halt its destabilizing behavior and avoid any provocations in the Gulf, Iraq, or elsewhere."

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The Ministry of International Cooperation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, launched on Monday a multi-stakeholder platform with the objective of supporting Egypts ICT sector through multinational institutions.

The platform launched under the title Communications and Information Technology for Development in the presence of Egypts Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat, UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt Elena Panova, and representatives from the African Development Bank (AfDB).

This comes as part of the regular multi-stakeholder platforms held by the Ministry of International Cooperation to present development efforts and reforms being implemented across various sectors, alongside the participation of multilateral and bilateral development partners, and relevant entities to create effective communication that will aid in accelerating the pace of development financing to implement Egypts 2030 Vision and the global sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat said that the ICT sector proved pivotal during the COVID-19 pandemic, as all countries around the world had to depend on technology to conduct their businesses and day-to-day activities.

As 2020 witnessed the significant growth of this sector, the Ministry of International Cooperation held a multi-stakeholder platform to promote and present the structural reforms that have taken place in the ICT sector to development partners, said Al-Mashat.

She added that Egypts government seeks to maximise the participation of the private sector in the development agenda, and to implement structural reforms that support such public-private cooperation.

She also noted that the inclusion of development partners in these meetings has given them the opportunity to get acquainted with the procedures, the reforms, and the development plans to map out effective future partnerships.

On his side, Talaat stated that ICT is an essential component of development across various sectors, adding that the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is keen on building bridges of cooperation with international institutions to establish constructive partnerships and maximise the use of technology in achieving development.

Talaat stressed that the ministry is cooperating with state entities and institutions to implement Egypts digital strategy, which revolves around adapting digital technologies to serve the needs of the people.

Egypt is witnessing an unprecedented boom in digital transformation; with 75 digitised government services launched on the Digital Egypt platform. Many efforts have been made by the state in order to implement projects that support the move of the government to the New Administrative Capital, in preparation for the paperless government action plan, Talaat explained.

The ministry is also implementing an integrated strategy to create exceptional digital cadres; via establishing the School of Applied Technology jointly with the Ministry of Education, with the aim to build five more schools to prepare a generation of qualified employees in the ICT sector. The Egypt University of Informatics (EUI) will also be established in Knowledge City in the New Administrative Capital, along with the implementation of the Digital Egypt Builders Initiative (DEBI) that will grant a specialised professional masters degree to 1,000 students annually.

Talaat also stated that $1.6 billion worth of financing was secured to raise the efficiency of internet services in the past two years.

UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt Panova emphasised that ICT is one of the promising sectors that played a major role during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that major efforts have been made to develop it continuously.

During 2020, the Ministry of International Cooperation held a number of multi-stakeholder platforms that cover transportation, agriculture, and the public business sectors, which enabled it to secure development financing agreements worth $9.8 billion for various state and private sectors.

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Egypts FM in Rome to attend meeting to fight Islamic State



Ahram Online, , Monday 28 Jun 2021



The Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS will tackle the threat of ISIS in Africa



Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is heading to Rome to take part in the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.



The meeting of the alliance against the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organisation is being held on Monday with the participation of delegates from over 80 countries, including the foreign ministers of the coalition members.



Italys Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will co-chair the meeting that will be attended by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell. A number of representatives from African countries were invited as observers to the event that will tackle the threat of ISIS in Africa.



We will analyse strategies to counter terrorism in high-risk areas, such as the Syria-Iraq region and the Sahel region in Africa. Stabilising these territories will also allow us to stop illegal migration flows to Italy and, hence, to the rest of Europe, Italy's Di Maio wrote on Facebook.



Shoukry is also set to take part in a meeting chaired by the US state secretary on Syria on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting. "Shoukry will assert Egypt's firm stance towards reaching a political solution to the Syrian crisis," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Hafez said on Sunday.



The Global Coalition against ISIS was formed in September 2014 to dismantle the group's networks and economic infrastructure, prevent the flow of foreign terrorist fighters across borders, and support the stability and restoration of essential public services of areas liberated from ISIS.



https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/416140.aspx
UN says Gaza will again receive Qatar-funded fuel



AP, , Monday 28 Jun 2021



The fuel will be delivered to Gaza's sole power plant starting Monday, UN envoy Tor Wennesland said in a statement



Shipments of Qatari-funded fuel into the Gaza Strip will resume for the first time since last month's 11-day campaign by Israel on the coastal enclave, the U.N. envoy to the Mideast said Sunday.



The move indicates a return to the informal understandings between Israel and Hamas in recent years, in which the latter has traded calm for much-needed aid and development projects in the blockaded territory.



The fuel will be delivered to Gaza's sole power plant starting Monday, U.N. envoy Tor Wennesland said in a statement.



The Israeli military body that oversees civilian affairs in Gaza confirmed the deliveries without saying who was paying for the fuel. The military said permission for the deliveries was ``conditional on the continued maintenance of security stability.''



Last month's Israeli campaign on Gaza was halted by a truce brokered by Egypt.



Qatar has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years to pay for electricity, help Hamas cover the salaries of its civil servants and provide monthly stipends to poor families. Qatar has also funded the construction of new roads and hospitals in Gaza.



Israel imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza in 2007 after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces. Israel says the restrictions are needed to keep Hamas from importing military resources, while critics of the blockade view it as collective punishment of the territory's more than 2 million Palestinian residents.



*This story was edited by Ahram Online.



https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/416160.aspx
Iraq slams US strikes on pro-Iran fighters amid calls for revenge



AFP, , Monday 28 Jun 2021



"We reserve the legal right to respond to these attacks and hold the perpetrators accountable on Iraqi soil," the Hashed said



Iraq on Monday condemned overnight US air strikes against Iran-backed armed groups on the Syrian-Iraqi border that killed at least seven fighters and sparked calls for revenge from Iraqi armed factions.







The second such raid on pro-Iran targets since US President Joe Biden took office, described by the Pentagon as "retaliatory", led to fears of a new escalation between Tehran and Washington and came despite faltering efforts to revive a key deal over Iran's nuclear programme.







Iraq's Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi condemned the attack as a "blatant and unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty and Iraqi national security".







"Iraq reiterates its refusal to be an arena for settling scores," Kadhemi added in a statement, urging all sides to avoid any further escalation.







The Hashed, an Iraqi paramilitary alliance that includes several Iranian proxies and has become the main power broker in Baghdad, said the strikes killed four of its fighters in the Qaim region, some 13 kilometres (eight miles) away from the border.







The fighters were stationed there to prevent jihadists from infiltrating Iraq, the group said in a statement, denying that they had taken part in any attacks against US interests or personnel.







"We reserve the legal right to respond to these attacks and hold the perpetrators accountable on Iraqi soil," the Hashed said.







US defence spokesman John Kirby said in a statement that three military facilities used by Iran-backed militia had been hit overnight Sunday to Monday -- two in Syria and one in Iraq.







Kirby said the targets had been used by "Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against US personnel and facilities in Iraq".







- US interests -



The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said seven fighters had been killed in the strikes in the early hours of Monday morning local time.







At least six more fighters were wounded and the targets included an arms depot near Albu Kamal, a Syrian town which lies where the border crosses the Euphrates river, the Britain-based monitor said.







Syria's state-run SANA news agency said one child had been killed in the raid but gave few details.







US interests in Iraq, where 2,500 American troops are deployed as part of an international coalition to fight the jihadist Islamic State group, have been targeted in more than 40 attacks this year.







The vast majority have been bombs against logistics convoys, but rocket fire and drones packed with explosive have also been used in the assaults some of which were claimed by pro-Iran factions hoping to pressure Washington into withdrawing all its troops.







"Given the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting US interests in Iraq, the president directed further military action to disrupt and deter such attacks," Kirby said.







"Specifically, the US strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those countries," he added.







Kataeb Hezbollah and Kataeb Sayyid al-Shuhada, two Iraqi armed factions with close ties to Tehran, were among the "several Iran-backed militia groups" that had used the facilities, Kirby said.







- Nuclear deal -



Some of the militia groups that form the Hashed al-Shaabi have been deployed in Syria over the years to support regime forces and to further Iran's interests in the country.







In February, US strikes on facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran-backed militia groups left more than 20 fighters dead, according to the Observatory.







The latest US strikes come two days after the United States and France warned Iran that time was running out to return to a nuclear deal, voicing fears that Tehran's sensitive atomic activities could advance if talks drag on.







A return to the 2015 Iran accord has been a key Biden promise after the nuclear deal was trashed by his predecessor Donald Trump.







"We have a national interest in trying to put the nuclear problem back in the box that it was" under the deal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.







The UN's nuclear watchdog said Friday it had received no reply from Tehran over the possible extension of a temporary agreement covering inspections at Iranian nuclear facilities which expired on Thursday.







Announcement of the strikes came one day before Biden meets at the White House with Reuven Rivlin, president of Israel, Iran's arch foe.



https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/416171.aspx
Palestinian multi-award winning filmmaker Najwa Najjar among honourees of Aswan Int'l Film Festival for Women



Ahram Online, , Monday 28 Jun 2021



Najwa Najjar also heads the jury members for the Euro-Mediterranean Film Competition sponsored by the European Union in Egypt in collaboration with EUNIC Egypt



Palestinian filmmaker Najwa Najjar is among a number of renowned personalities from the field of cinema honoured during the ongoing fifth edition of the Aswan International Film Festival for Women (24-29 June).



Other honourees include chairperson of the Nation Council of Women Maya Morsy, Egyptian actress Elham Shaheen, Egyptian filmmaker Sandra Nashaat, and French actress Macha Meril.



The filmmaker also heads the jury members for the Euro-Mediterranean Film Competition sponsored by the European Union in Egypt in collaboration with EUNIC Egypt. Other members of the jury includeMoroccan reporter and Casablanca Film Festival director Fatma Al-Nawaly, Egyptian actor Sherif Ramzy, and Egyptian director and producer Sherif Mandour.



Screenwriter and director Najwa Najjar has worked on numerous documentary and fiction films since 2000.



Her debut feature film Pomegranates and Myrrh (2009) was described as one of the most original, powerful, and internationally acclaimed Palestinian films of recent years.



Written and directed by Najjar, the film garnered a string of awards, includingan award from the Screenplay Development Fund at the Amiens International Film Festival; four awards at the Festival de San Sebastian Cinema in Motion (2008); Best Arab Film Audience Awards at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival (2009); the Grand Prix at the Amal Arab European Film Festival (2009); Best Actress and Best Cinematographer at the Muscat International Film Festival (2010); and the Youssef Chahine Grand Prix de Cinema and Special Mention for Best Actress at the Festival International de Cinema dAuteur de Rabat (2010).



Najjars second award winning feature film Eyes of a Thief (2014) won Best Director and Best Actor awards, among many others, and was the Palestinian nomination for the 2015 Oscars Best Foreign Film and the Golden Globe Awards.



Her third feature film, a road trip titled Between Heaven and Earth, which was shot throughout the country, was selected in the Official Competition of the Cairo International Film Festival and won the Naguib Mafouz award for Best Screenplay (2019). The film also won the Best Feature Audience Award at the Boston Palestine Film Festival, and Best Male Performance at Mostra di Valencia Film Festival and the Audience Award at Middle East Now Film Festival Florence.



Najjar is currently in the development phase for her fourth feature Flowers on the Nile, which is being shot in Cairo. The filmmaker is also involved with five other established Palestinian filmmakers in a collective piece.



For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter [email protected] on Facebook atAhram Online: Arts & Culture



https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/416172.aspx
Egypt's FM urges support for UN-backed political solution in Syria



Ahram Online, , Monday 28 Jun 2021



The minister's remarks were made during a meeting held on Monday in Rome on the sidelines of a conference held by the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS



Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has called on the international community to help end the crisis in Syria by supporting the United Nations-backed political solution to bring about a lasting peace that can restore the conflict-torn country to its position regionally and internationally.



"The international community has a responsibility to put a swift end to the crisis in Syria by [supporting] the political solution based on Security Council resolution 2254," Shoukry said at a meeting held on Monday in Rome on the sidelines of a conference held by the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.



Shoukry also called for supporting efforts by UN envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen to end the suffering of the Syrian people, millions of whom were forced to flee the country on the heels ofthe 2011 uprising against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, which turned into a civil war.



The Egyptian minister also highlighted how a regional power occupied parts of Syria under the pretext of "defending allies or fighting terrorism," noting that these powers imposed demographic changes, supported extremism, exacerbated sectarian tensions, and transferred mercenaries and fighters to other conflict areas outside Syria.



Shoukry stressed the necessity of ending foreign interference in Syria in order to bring about a lasting peace across the war-torn country.



Shoukry said that solving the issue of Syrian refugees will remain elusive as long as Syria is unstable and ununified, urging the international community to keep supporting refugees and their host countries.



"It is high time to end the long suffering of the Syrians and contribute to salvaging what remains of Syria for the sake of the new generations, which have witnessed nothing but war and destruction over the past decade," he said.



Before the Syria meeting, Shoukry took part in the conference of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, reiterating Egypts commitment to supporting efforts to eradicate the militant group.



The Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS was formed in September 2014 to dismantle the group's networks and economic infrastructure, prevent the flow of foreign terrorist fighters across borders, and support the stability and restoration of essential public services of areas liberated from ISIS.



https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/416192.aspx
Hamas chief asks for more social, human rights for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon



Xinhua, , Monday 28 Jun 2021



Haniyeh also affirmed Palestinians' right to return to their homeland and their rejection for resettlement



Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh on Monday called on Lebanese President Michel Aoun to grant more social and human rights to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, a statement by Lebanon's Presidency reported.



"Palestinians reside in Lebanon as guests until they return to their homeland from which they were expelled. We certainly wish to grant more social and human rights to Palestinian refugees along with their brothers in Lebanon with whom they share their hopes and pains," Haniyeh said during his meeting with Aoun.



Haniyeh also affirmed Palestinians' right to return to their homeland and their rejection for resettlement.



For his part, Aoun said he is certain that Palestinians will be able to establish an independent state after their great sacrifices and steadfastness facing the recent Israeli aggression on Gaza and other areas.



Over 460,000 Palestinian refugees are registered with the UN relief agency in Lebanon. The UN estimates around 65 percent of them suffer from poverty, while 3 percent of them live in extreme poverty.



https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/416195.aspx
KYODO NEWS - Jun 28, 2021 - 21:09 | All, Japan

A Japanese court ordered the government on Monday to pay damages totaling 123 million yen ($1.1 million) to residents near an Air Self-Defense Force base in Miyazaki Prefecture, southwestern Japan, determining that aircraft noise caused a nuisance to people's lives.

But the Miyazaki District Court dismissed the plaintiffs' demand to halt nighttime and early morning flights at Nyutabaru Air Base, citing the need to operate SDF aircraft and acknowledging the government's efforts to alleviate noise through such measures as soundproofing nearby houses.

The court ordered the government to pay damages to 172 of the 178 plaintiffs deemed to have suffered from noise levels of 75 or above on an internationally recognized index for aircraft noise, which was employed in past similar lawsuits in Japan.

It excluded the remaining six plaintiffs, saying they suffered noise levels of under 75 on the index.

The amount of compensation ranged from 4,000 yen to 20,000 yen a month depending on the noise level on the index, known as the Weighted Equivalent Continuous Perceived Noise Level.

The plaintiffs had demanded monthly payment of 35,000 yen each.

Presiding Judge Yasuto Odajima said the noise "deprived the residents of sleep and affected activities such as talking."

But the court rejected the claim that the noise caused health problems such as deafness and high blood pressure, citing the lack of scientific grounds.

It also rejected the demand for the government to compensate for possible future health damage due to continued flights at the air base in Shintomi, saying it is difficult to predetermine noise levels.

The government had argued that the aircraft noise has been alleviated by the houses being soundproofed and that such measures should be considered in determining the amount of compensation and the scope of its recipients.

Related coverage:

Japan gov't ordered to pay damages for noise at U.S. Yokota air base

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KYODO NEWS - Jun 28, 2021 - 09:31 | All, World, Japan

A company headed by a former Japanese minister has been pursuing a project to develop land owned by Myanmar's defense ministry through a joint venture with a military-affiliated firm, according to sources close to the matter.

With the ministry and the Southeast Asian country's ruling military acting as one body, there are concerns such business projects may become sources of income for the junta, which has killed more than 800 people and repeatedly violated human rights since it seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government on Feb. 1.

The company, Japan Myanmar Development Institution Inc., headed by Hideo Watanabe, a former minister of posts and telecommunications and the chairman of the Japan Myanmar Association, said it has only been supporting Japanese companies interested in the project, which is currently on hold with its participants still undecided.

The company added that the lease contract for the land was signed and it has not begun paying rent, with the possibility of funds falling into the hands of the Myanmar military "unknown until we reach that stage."

The Japan Myanmar Association, which has more than 100 member firms, is involved in the Japanese government's support for Myanmar and the promotion of investment by private companies.

The association has a number of influential members from Japan's ruling and opposition parties sitting on its board, including Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso.

According to Myanmar government documents and other sources, Watanabe's company registered a joint venture with a military-affiliated company in 2016. Executives of the company and the joint venture are comprised of senior members from the Japan Myanmar Association, including Watanabe and his son Yusuke, who serves as the secretary general of the association.

A 2019 United Nations report found that foreign companies and joint ventures that have commercial ties to private firms with "enduring links to the Tatmadaw," as Myanmar's armed forces are known, contribute to funding its violations of human rights against the Rohingya minority.

In spite of the report, the joint venture moved ahead with plans to develop a complex on land owned by the Myanmar's Ministry of Defence in the country's largest city of Yangon, receiving approval from the Myanmar Investment Commission in April last year to invest about $42 million into the project.

The project, which was scheduled to begin commercial operation in May 2023, has since completed the construction confirmation process and a land lease has been signed. According to an estimate based on initial conditions described by a consultant company, the annual ground rent is around 300 million yen ($2.7 million).

Last month, Yusuke Watanabe wrote in an article for an English-language media site that he is in constant contact with Myanmar junta leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, and stressed the need for Japan to continue to boost its "special relationship with the Tatmadaw."

Related coverage:

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KYODO NEWS - Jun 28, 2021 - 08:24 | Arts, All, Japan

A new attraction based on the popular "Demon Slayer" manga series will open on Sept. 17 for a limited time at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, the park's operator said Sunday.

The attraction, which will mark the first time the western Japan theme park has recreated the global hit series that was also adapted into an animation, will run until Feb. 13 next year, with themed food and merchandise to also be sold during the months it is open.

Visitors will be able to "experience the fluid swordsmanship, and even the breathing, of the hero Tanjiro Kamado and his fellow demon slayers amid fierce battles that unfold before their very eyes," according to the park.

Fans can also look forward to seeing the characters introduce parts of the attraction on the park's official Twitter account from July 1.

The park, which has only opened on weekdays for the past two months due to the COVID-19 state of emergency, restarted business on weekends and holidays on Saturday. But visitors remain capped at 5,000 on all days as a measure to prevent the spread of the virus.

Related coverage:

Super Mario attraction opens at Osaka park after postponements

"Demon Slayer" 1st Japanese film to top 40 bil. yen at box office

FEATURE: Smash-hit "Attack on Titan" spoke to chaotic modern times
KYODO NEWS - Jun 28, 2021 - 22:16 | All, Coronavirus, Japan

The Japanese government said Monday that travelers from Indonesia and Uganda will be required to spend the first six days of their 14-day quarantine in state-designated facilities to curb the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.

The Foreign Ministry announced a set of border control changes effective Thursday also including asking travelers from Moscow, St. Petersburg and Moscow Oblast in Russia to stay in designated facilities for three days.

Travelers from Vietnam will be required to stay at such facilities for three days, down from six.

Germany will be removed from the list of countries and regions subject to the restriction, with travelers from the country still required to undergo a 14-day self-isolation after arriving in Japan.

Related coverage:

Japan visitors down 99.6% in May from 2019 on tough border controls

Travelers from Egypt to stay 6 days in Japan quarantine facilities

Japan to extend quarantine for travelers from Britain to 6 days
KYODO NEWS - Jun 28, 2021 - 14:40 | All, Japan

A former head of a major Japanese egg producer pleaded guilty Monday to bribing ex-farm minister Takamori Yoshikawa when the first hearing of his trial was held at the Tokyo District Court.

Yoshiki Akita, 87, provided a total of 5 million yen ($45,200) between November 2018 and August 2019 to the then farm minister with the intent to induce favors regarding animal welfare standards, according to the indictment.

At the hearing, prosecutors argued that Akita, who led the Hiroshima Prefecture-based Akita Foods Co., gave cash to Yoshikawa, 70, in hopes the farm ministry would object to the implementation of international animal welfare standards which would have raised the cost of keeping animals.

Akita, who also served as an industry body executive, had lobbied lawmakers and farm ministry officials against Japan's adoption of strict international animal welfare standards and to expand a government program to cover agriculturalists' losses when product prices fall.

Prosecutors in January charged Yoshikawa for taking the bribes. They have not taken Akita or Yoshikawa into custody due to health concerns and as they believe they will not destroy evidence nor flee, according to investigative sources.

During voluntary questioning, Yoshikawa admitted to receiving the cash but said he had taken it as a "gift" to celebrate his ministerial appointment, according to the sources.

The third-party probe launched by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has found no evidence of misconduct in the industry administration, but it concluded Yoshikawa "pressured" ministry officials on several occasions to not tighten animal welfare standards.

The case emerged after prosecutors discovered documents indicating bribes had been paid during a search of Akita Foods last year in connection with the high-profile vote-buying case of former Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai and his wife Anri. The couple, both elected from Hiroshima Prefecture, resigned as lawmakers earlier this year.

Akita also pleaded guilty to buying tickets worth a total of 5.34 million yen in other people's names for fundraising parties held by Yoshikawa and Katsuyuki Kawai, in violation of the political funds control law.

Related coverage:

LDP loses 3 Japan parliamentary elections in blow to Suga

Ex-Japan farm minister Yoshikawa indicted for bribery without arrest

Japan farm officials punished for dining with bribery scandal executive
New Delhi:

Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief and Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed dared the Pakistani government to arrest him if it can and said he will not stop fighting the case of Kashmiri people.

"If the Pakistani government wants to arrest me...come and go for it but I will not stop dedicating 2018 for Kashmiris," Saeed said while addressing a rally in Lahore.

"We will emerge more strongly if you try to suppress us," said Saeed, who was listed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US.

He lambasted ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif for not playing his role on the issue of Kashmir.

"We may initiate efforts to make you (Sharif) prime minister again if you pledge to work for freedom of Kashmir," he said.

He also claimed that on the pressure of the US and India "our media coverage is banned in Pakistan".

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New Delhi:

Maldives' first democratically-elected President Mohamed Nasheed on Tuesday urged India to send a military-backed envoy to release the judges and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who were arrested hours after the government declared a state of emergency.

In a tweeter post, Nasheed said, On behalf of Maldivian people we humbly request: 1. India to send envoy, backed by its military, to release judges & pol. detainees inc. Prez. Gayoom. We request a physical presence.

He also asked the US to stop all financial transactions of Maldives regime leaders going through US banks.

Maldives police had arrested Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed, a judge Ali Hameed and former President Gayoom after President Abdulla Yameen declared a state of emergency for 15 days.

Also Read | Maldives on boil as President Yameen refuses to follow SC ruling

The Indian Ocean state is in turmoil since last week after President Yameen refused to accept a Supreme Court order to release a group of opposition politicians.

The Court had also ruled that ex-President Mohamed Nasheeds 2015 trial was unconstitutional.

The police commissioner of the Island nation, who said he would enforce Apex Courts ruling, was sacked by the Yameen government.

This was not the first time Yameen has declared a state of emergency. Earlier in November 2015, he took the undemocratic move after an alleged attempt to assassinate him.

So far, India has not responded to Nasheeds request but released a travel advisory asking its citizens to avoid all non-essential travels to the Indian Ocean nation until further notice.

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New Delhi:

Security forces gunned down a naxal commander an encounter in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Dantewada district, police said on Thursday.

The skirmish took place late last evening in Dokapara forest under Kirandul police station limits when a joint team of security forces was out on an anti-naxal operation, Dantewada Additional Superintendent of Police Gorakhnath Baghel told PTI.

"The composite squad of Special Task Force (STF) and District Reserve Guard (DRG) was cordoning off the forest area on the border of Dantewada and Bijapur districts, around 450 kms away from the capital, when it came under heavy fire from ultras in Dokapara, leading to the gun-battle," he said.

After the guns fell silent, the security forces recovered the body of a Naxal along with one 315 bore gun from the spot, the ASP said. "The naxal has been identified as Ungami alias Chakra, who was active as a jan militia commander," he said.

Further details are awaited as the patrolling team was yet to get back to Dantewada headquarters, he said.

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New Delhi:

The Finance Ministry has told the Central Information Commission (CIC) that it does not have information about the loans given to industrialist Vijay Mallya, prompting the transparency panel to remark that the response was "vague and not sustainable as per law".

Chief Information Commissioner RK Mathur, while hearing the matter of one Rajiv Kumar Khare, told the finance ministry official that the Right to Information (RTI) application filed by the applicant should be transferred to the proper public authority.

The finance ministry official may have claimed that the ministry does not have information on the loans sanctioned by different banks to Mallya or the details of the guarantee given by Mallya against those loans, but the ministry had responded to questions in this regard in Parliament in the past.

Union Minister of State for Finance Santosh Gangwar had responded to a question on Mallya on March 17, 2017, stating that the person, whose name was mentioned (Mallya), was given a loan in September 2004 and that it was reviewed in February 2008.

The Rs 8,040 crore loan was declared a non-performing asset (NPA) in 2009 and the NPA was restructured in 2010, he had said.

"As reported by PSBs, an amount of Rs 155 crore has been recovered by conducting a mega online auction by selling from the seized properties from defaulting loan borrower Vijay Mallya," Gangwar had told the Rajya Sabha on March 21.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, during a debate on demonetisation in the Upper House on November 17, 2016, had termed the loan issue of Mallya a "terrible legacy" that the NDA government had inherited from the previous UPA regime.

But as Khare failed to get a response from the finance ministry to his RTI application, seeking details of Mallya's loans, he had approached the CIC.

The term "information" under the RTI Act means any record which is held by or under the control of a public authority.

Khare was initially told by the ministry that the information on Mallya's loans could not be given because of the exemption clauses in the RTI Act related to personal safety and prejudicial effect on the economic interest of the State.

"The respondent (the finance ministry official) further stated that the said information was not available with the ministry. He stated that the information sought by the appellant might be available with the banks concerned or Reserve Bank of India," the chief information commissioner noted.

He directed the ministry to transfer the application to the public authority that held the information.

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New Delhi:

Nearly 1,000 Nepali students enrolled in madrasas in the state might not be able to take the Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Board (UPMEB) exams due to lack of Aadhaar cards, which is mandatory for the test, a madrasa teachers body said on Tuesday.

The situation also prompted the Madarise Arbia Teachers Association to write to the Madrasa Shiksha Board in this regard.

Forms of madrasa examinations are being filled. If the mandatory provision of providing the Aadhaar number is not withdrawn, then nearly 1,000 students hailing from Nepal will not be able to take the exam for munshi, maulvi, aalim, kaamil and faazil, General Secretary, Madarise Arbia Teachers Association, Diwan Sahab Jaman Khan told PTI.

Nepalese citizens get birth and citizenship certificates, and based on one of these documents, they are given admissions to madrasas in India, he said.

The last date to fill the examination form is February 10, and without furnishing Aadhaar details, the examination forms will not be accepted, Khan said.

Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma told PTI, We are yet to get any such case. If any such case comes to us, then we will think over it and arrive at a decision as per the provisions of the law.

On whether students from Nepal would be able to appear in the exams without Aadhaar, Sharma said, If any such incident comes before the government, then we will hold a meeting in the department and take a decision as per the provisions of our laws.

Registrar, UPMEB, Rahul Gupta said that the government has been apprised about the matter and he was awaiting directives.
Islamabad:

Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on spying charges, is now facing trial in multiple cases related to terrorism and sabotage, according to a report in media.

Jadhav, 47, was sentenced to death by the military court in April last year. Pakistan claim that its security forces arrested Jadhav from its Balochistan province on March 3, 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran. India denies all charges.

India moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in May last year against the verdict. The ICJ halted his execution on Indias appeal pending the final verdict by it.

Dawn reported quoting an official that Jadhav has multiple cases against him in which he had been indicted on terror and sabotage related charges.

The cases are progressing, the paper quoted the official saying.

He said only the spying case against Jadhav has been concluded out of the multiple cases against him.

The paper quoting a source also said that Pakistan on a number of occasions had sought access to 13 Indian officials to ascertain information in the case.

But New Delhi has remained stubbornly uncooperative, the paper said.

The Pakistani source did not disclose the names of the 13 Indian officials that the government wants to quiz. He, however, said: We want to reach Jadhavs handlers.

Besides, Pakistan has sought information about his Navy service file, bank record of his pension payment, and issuance of the passport in the name of Mubarak Hussain Patel, the paper said.

Pakistani officials want to know how the passport in the name of Patel was issued and whether it was original or fake.

Particulars of Jadhavs properties in Mumbai, Pune and other parts of Maharashtra, which he had acquired in Patels name had also been demanded, the paper quoted the source as saying.

The ICJ is currently hearing an Indian petition challenging Pakistans refusal to grant consular access to the spy.

Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on spying charges, is now facing trial in multiple cases related to terrorism and sabotage, according to a report in media. Jadhav, 47, was sentenced to death by the military court in April last year. Pakistan claim that its security forces arrested Jadhav from its Balochistan province on March 3, 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran. India denies all charges. India moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in May last year against the verdict. The ICJ halted his execution on Indias appeal pending the final verdict by it. Dawn reported quoting an official that Jadhav has multiple cases against him in which he had been indicted on terror and sabotage related charges. The cases are progressing, the paper quoted the official saying. He said only the spying case against Jadhav has been concluded out of the multiple cases against him. The paper quoting a source also said that Pakistan on a number of occasions had sought access to 13 Indian officials to ascertain information in the case. But New Delhi has remained stubbornly uncooperative, the paper said. The Pakistani source did not disclose the names of the 13 Indian officials that the government wants to quiz. He, however, said: We want to reach Jadhavs handlers. Besides, Pakistan has sought information about his Navy service file, bank record of his pension payment, and issuance of the passport in the name of Mubarak Hussain Patel, the paper said. Pakistani officials want to know how the passport in the name of Patel was issued and whether it was original or fake. Particulars of Jadhavs properties in Mumbai, Pune and other parts of Maharashtra, which he had acquired in Patels name had also been demanded, the paper quoted the source as saying. The ICJ is currently hearing an Indian petition challenging Pakistans refusal to grant consular access to the spy.

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Amritsar:

Burglars raped a 40-year-old woman and her daughter prior torching them to death in Punjabs Amritsar in the early hours of Tuesday.

Punjab Police have recovered charred bodies of a school clerk and her 20-year-old daughter from their house in Darshan Avenue.

Police said, The girl body was found tied to a bed and she was in semi-naked condition, while her mothers body was completely charred.

Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP) Jagjit Singh Walia said, We are investigating the all case. On seeing the crime scene, it seems the girl was sexually assaulted but things will be clear only after autopsy.

However, Punjab Police also believes that a person known to the family could also be involved in the crime as the fire department officials had found the main gate of the house open. During initial probe police have also learnt that the dog did not bark when the assailants entered the house.

Also read: Woman pulled out of car, gang raped in front of husband, brother in Gurugram



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New Delhi:

A Pakistani prisoner on Tuesday snatched weapons from police and attacked two policemen escorting him for a medical check-up in Srinagar's Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital.

The prisoner named Abu Hanzulla alias Naveed Jatt was arrested from Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian a few months ago. He was brought to the SMHS hospital for a medical checkup along with other prisoners from Central jail.

After firing at the policemen escorting him, Naveed escaped from the custody.

"Six detainees were being brought from Central Jail. Out of them, one snatched weapons from police & fired at the protection party. One policeman is critically injured & another is injured. The prisoner's name is Naveed. He is probably an outsider," SSP Srinagar Imtiaz Ismail Parray said.



Live Updates:

# Srinagar: Wreath laying ceremony of policeman Mushtaq Ahmed; he lost his life in shooting by a prisoner  ANI (@ANI) February 6, 2018

# Are they the only ones who're firing? We're firing too. Both sides are doing this. This has led to destruction of people. This is leading to a war like situation. War is never a solution to anything. The only solution is dialogues: Farooq Abdullah on ceasefire violation by Pak # Policeman lost his life in shooting by a prisoner  ANI (@ANI) February 6, 2018

# Policeman who was critically injured after shooting by a prisoner at Shri Maharaja Hari Singh hospital in Srinagar, succumbs to his injuries.

# Photo of prisoner Naveed who escaped after firing at police protection party at Shri Maharaja Hari Singh hospital in Srinagar  ANI (@ANI) February 6, 2018

# Two policemen injured after terrorists fired shots at Shri Maharaja Hari Singh hospital in Srinagar  ANI (@ANI) February 6, 2018

The attack came only two days after a cross-border firing and shelling by Pakistani forces along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district. Four soldiers including a captain was killed in the shelling.

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New Delhi:

Congress on Tuesday accused Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of taking U-turn by refusing to disclose Rafale fighter jet deal details.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday refused to disclose the details of Rafale deal with France saying it "classified information".

Congress party has been accusing Modi government of compromising national interests and security in the new Rafale deal.

In November last year, the Congress had alleged the Rafale aircrafts were being purchased at much higher rates than what was decided under the previous UPA government.

Also Read: Rahul Gandhi retorts to Nirmala Sitharaman on Rafale deal, asks to reveal final price of each jet

However, BJP had rubbished the Congresss allegations and the Defence Minister termed them as shameful.

Congress retweeted a tweet by its President Rahul Gandhi in which he had asked the Defence Minister about the final price of each Rafale jet and whether PM Modi took Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) permission before announcing purchase in Paris?

Madam Defence Minister, these questions by the Congress President are still awaiting answers from you. #TheGreatRafaleMystery, Congress tweeted.

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a fresh attack at the Congress while addressing the Rajya Sabha, saying the country has been suffering due to the wrong policies it has pursued since independence.

Earlier in the day, PM Modi speaking in Lok Sabha on the motion of thanks to the Presidents address in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The motion is likely to be adopted by the House, where the ruling NDA has a big Majority, following the prime ministers reply.

BJP members in their speech have hailed the government for its work in curbing black money, strengthening economy and boosting agriculture, claims refuted by opposition lawmakers in their address.

The debate on the motion of thanks to President Ram Nath Kovinds address to the joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament on the opening day of the Budget Session began on Tuesday. It was initiated by the BJPs chief whip Rakesh Singh.

Highlights of PM Modi speech at Rajya Sabha:

# 5: 00 PM : Let us have a constructive discussion on holding simultaneous State Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the various states.

# 5: 00 PM : Government is working to ensure that every Indian has a home

# 4: 59 PM : PM Modi quoting R. Venkataraman says Sultanate have gone but still behaving like emperors

# 4: 59 PM : Quoting former President R Venkataraman says Congress funds are coming from commission make by deals and not by donations from business houses.

# 4: 59 PM : Can we all not raise voice togeather to fight crime against women. We all should work on misson mode to protect our girls and questions boys what they are doing. A girl is someone sister, mother and daughter.

# 4: 45 PM : You had an oppurtunity to bring a law for Triple Talaq according to your conditions 30 years back but you did not. You all played vote politics.

# 4: 29 PM : Governments come and go. We have cleared several projects despite they were initiated by previous governments

# 4: 28 PM : More than 9 lakh crore projects have been launched 40 years back but no work has been done

# 4: 26 PM : There are several programs which have been launched 40 years back but no work has been done.

# 4: 25 PM : Due to regular elections, several programs are inaugrated but with change of government the programs get dumped.

# 4: 23 PM : You worry about credit. We are working for development of the country. If you do not do a followup to the wroks started by you the country will suffer more loss.

# 4:22 PM : Aadhar is a brainchild of former prime minster Atal Bihari Vaypayee, yet Congress wants to claim that they started it

# 4: 19 PM : I have always talked about the nation's development so far. All govt's have made a contribution to it

# 4: 18 PM : You say we are name changers, but if you notice our working pattern you will realise we are Aim Changers.

# 4: 16 PM: We set a goal, make a roadmap, work hard to achieve the target on set deadline

# 4:04 PM: Let us work to provide quality and affordable healthcare to poor

# 4:02 pm: Attacking the Congress party Modi says no one hears outside, so they have to speak of the UPA era in Parliament.

# 4:00 PM : PM Modo addresses Rajya Sabha

Shiv Sena on PM's speech in Lok Sabha:

# 02:14 PM: It is time that Modi ji realises it has been 4 years now. People were fed up because of Congress and that is why they chose you. People want to hear your schemes and not criticism of Congress: Manisha Kayande

Shashi Tharoor on PM's Lok Sabha speech:

# 02:15 PM: PM might be a terrific orator but this speech is a farrago of misrepresentations and half truth

PM Modi in Lok Sabha:

# 02:11 PM: When we speak about creating new states, we remember the manner in which Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ji created Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. He showed how farsighted decision making is done.



Rahul Gandhi on PM's Lok Sabha speech:

# 02:05 PM: He spoke for more than 1 hour but didn't speak a word on Rafale deal, or on farmers or on employment for youth. It was a totally political speech : Rahul Gandhi on PM's speech in Lok Sabha

PM Modi in Lok Sabha:

# 01:57 PM: How can one of the leaders say India got democracy due to Pandit Nehru and Congress Party? Is this their reading of India's history? What arrogance is this.

# 01:55 PM: You were only singing paeans of one family instead of focusing on taking the country forward

# 01:46 PM: Opposition has right to protest but not disrupt, says PM in Lok Sabha amidst continous pandemonium.

# 01:45 PM: PM says Partition was result of Congress' wrong policies. "Not a single day has passed when country has not suffered due to posion sowed by you," he says in Lok Sabha

# 01:42 PM: The nation's army was fighting in Doklam but leaders of one party preferred to meet Chinese officials. The same party questions the army on surgical strikes

# 01:39 PM: Is there any reason why LED bulbs were so expensive till 2014? It was affecting the middle class. The price of LED bulbs today are affordable.

# 01:34 PM: I have to tell the entire nation about the NPA mess our previous Government created

# 01:31 PM: The workings of our previous Government are responsible for the NPA mess. They are 100% responsible and nobody else. The banking policies of the previous Governments were not proper.

# 01:31 PM: I know the Government's efforts to eliminate corruption & black money are hurting a select group of people. Today, people who served as Chief Ministers are in jail. However powerful one was, if one has been corrupt, that person will be punished. We are in an era of honesty.

# 01:29 PM: Opposition continues to raise loud slogans as PM Modi speaks in Lok Sabha.

# 01:28 PM: Middle class is being misled. We are working towards ease of life for them.

# 01:27 PM: India's middle class desires good education facilities, affordable housing, good infrastructure. They want 'Ease of Living' which we are committed to providing

# 01:22 PM: When I dream of a New India by 2022 when India celebrates 75 years of independence, you mock this idea because you have never thought big to achieve big goals.

# 01:21 PM: India's middle class desires good education facilities, affordable housing, good infrastructure. They want 'Ease of Living' which we are committed to providing

# 01:11 PM: Employment is increasing but you have closed your eyes as you are busy singing your songs. Atal ji ne kaha hai chhote Mann se koi bada nahi hota aur toote Mann se koi khada nahi hota.

# 01:10 PM: When the corrupt and middlemen are out of work, obviously the Congress will be unhappy:

# 01:09 PM: When our Government took office in 2014, the chorus from the opposition was - Modi will scrap UIDAI but when we made Aadhaar more effective in terms of enabling better and effective service delivery, suddenly the opposition began opposing Aadhaar

# 01:08 PM: I can see the energy and enthusiasm in our youth. They want to do something on their own, they want to launch their own start-ups. Our Government is giving wings to the aspirations of India's middle class.

# 01:06 PM: A government that talked about 21st century could not bring an aviation policy. Then what kind of a 21st century did they talk about, the one with bullock carts?

# 01:05 PM: Our government had the opportunity to prepare an aviation policy that focuses on smaller cities, towns so that more Indians can fly

# 01:01 PM: I can see the energy and enthusiasm in our youth. They want to do something on their own, they want to launch their own start-ups. Our Government is giving wings to the aspirations of India's middle class

# 12:57 PM: Irrespective of who heads the govt, the aspirations of the brimming middle class youth should always be the top priority

# 12:56 PM: NT Rama Rao was insulted (by Rajiv Gandhi) and that simmering anger led to formation of TDP

# 12:52 PM: After forming govt in 2014 we prioritised North East and worked for its development: PM Modi in Lok Sabha.

# 12:52 PM: The approvals by the @BSYBJP Government in Karnataka made it possible to work quickly on the rail line. We do not bother who is the local MP or MLA, which party they belong to. We serve the nation and care for 125 crore Indians

# 12:51 PM: Since Kharge Ji spoke about railways and Karnataka, let me tell the truth about the Bidar-Kalburgi rail line. The project was approved by the Vajpayee Government and from 2004 till 2013 nothing was done. It is when a Government under @BSYBJP gave approvals work could begin

# 12:51 PM: The way people of Rajasthan were misled about the Barmer refinery was appalling. Just for votes, lies were said. It is in the last three years that the Government of India and the Rajasthan Government worked together to sort out the pending issues

# 12:46 PM: Every Indian is paying the price of the poison infested by Congress: PM Modi in Lok Sabha

#12:46 PM: Every Indian is paying the price of the poison infested by Congress: PM Modi in Lok Sabah

# 12:45 PM: More villages are getting optical fibre network in the last three years than they got previously. This is the transformation happening

# 12:43 PM: The NDA government is building more roads than the previous one. We have given a strong boost to the infrastructure sector across the nation

# 12:42 PM:The NDA Government has changed the work culture in the nation. Projects are not only thought about well but also executed in a timely manner.

# 12:41 PM: In December, did we witness an 'election' or coronation for the post of Congress President? One youngster raised his voice about this as well

# 12:41 PM: How did the Congress act in Kerala, how did they treat the Akali Dal in Punjab, how did they behave in Tamil Nadu? Why did Congress dismiss so many state governments at their will. This is no commitment to democracy

# 12:40 PM: If Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel would have been the first PM of the country, entire Kashmir would have been ours

# 12:38 PM: How did the Congress act in Kerala, how did they treat the @Akali_Dal_ in Punjab, how did they behave in Tamil Nadu? Why did Congress dismiss so many state governments at their will. This is no commitment to democracy

# 12:37 PM: When Rajiv Gandhi landed in Hyderabad, how did he behave with a Congress leader Mr. T Anjaiah. He humiliated a big leader, who did not belong to a privileged background

# 12: 35 PM: India did not get democracy due to Pandit Nehru, as Congress wants us to believe. Please look at our rich history. There are many examples of rich democratic traditions that date back centuries ago. Democracy is integral to this nation and is in our culture

# 12:35 PM: India did not get democracy due to Pandit Nehru, as Congress wants us to believe. Please look at our rich history. There are many examples of rich democratic traditions that date back centuries ago. Democracy is integral to this nation and is in our culture.

# 12:34 PM: You (Congress party) had power from Panchayat to Parliament after independence. Had you showed some sense of responsibility and direction, the country would have progressed much more than where it stands.

# 12:34 PM: India did not get democracy due to Pandit Nehru, as Congress wants us to believe. Please look at our rich history. There are many examples of rich democratic traditions that date back centuries ago. Democracy is integral to this nation and is in our culture

# 12:32 PM: I see that whenever we are criticised by select opposition parties, substance is lacking. They go back to saying - 'when we were in power'. This is the same party that divided India

# 12:31 PM: How can one of the leaders say India got a democracy due to Pandit Nehru and the Congress Party? Is this their reading of India's history? What arrogance is this

# 12:28 PM: For decades, one party devoted all their energies to serving one family. The interests of the nation were looked over just for the interests of one family

# 12:28 PM: Opposition's loud slogans of 'jhutha bhashan bandh karo', 'jhuthe ashwasan bandh karo' continue as PM Modi speaks

# 12:26 PM: I see that whenever we are criticised by select Opposition parties, substance is lacking. They go back to saying- when we were in power.... This is the same party that divided India

# 12:21 PM: Opposition raises loud slogans in Lok Sabha as Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks on the motion of thanks to the President's address.

# 12:17 PM: When we speak about creating new states, we remember the manner in which Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ji created Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. He showed how farsighted decision making is done: PM

# 12:16 PM: Several members of Parliament expressed their thoughts on various subjects. The address by the Honourable President does not belong to any party. It is about the aspirations of every Indian

# 12:15 PM: Now what can we say? His tenure is about to end aur chirag bujhne se pehle bhadakta bahut hai, he is coming of age what can we say?: Asaduddin Owaisi on BJP MP Vinay Katiyar's statement on Muslims.

# 12:14 PM: PM Narendra Modi speaks in Lok Sabha on the motion of thanks to the President's address.

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New Delhi/Lucknow:

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sent a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and the state's police chief over reports that a man was allegedly shot at in Noida by a police staff, who told his colleague that the 'encounter' would earn him an "out-of-turn promotion".

"However, reportedly, Noida Police has denied receiving any message of an encounter," the National Human Rights Commission said in a statement on Monday.

The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of media reports that 25-year-old Jitendra Yadav, a gym trainer, was allegedly shot at in Noida by a sub-inspector of Uttar Pradesh Police on the night of February 3, and told his colleague that the encounter would earn him an out-of-turn promotion, it said.

Yadav was admitted to a hospital and is in the ICU. The sub-inspector has been arrested and suspended along with three others.

"It seems that the police personnel in Uttar Pradesh are feeling free, misusing their power in the light of an undeclared endorsement given by the higher-ups," the statement issued by the NHRC said, adding that the police are using their privileges to "settle scores" with the people.

Accordingly, the commission has issued a notice to the chief secretary and the director general of police of the state to look into the emerging scenario personally and to take appropriate action to sensitise the police personnel not to "abuse their power to harass innocent citizens".

A detailed report on the matter from both of them is expected within six weeks, it said.

"Creating an atmosphere of fear is not the correct way to deal with the crime. In this particular case, the injured man is not an offender. He was travelling with his friends when the rowdy act done by the delinquent SI has gravely violated his right to life and liberty," the rights panel said.

The Commission noted that it has already expressed concern while taking suo motu cognisance of media reports on November 22, 2017, about the government of Uttar Pradesh, allegedly endorsing killings encounters by police, seeking improvement in law and order situation.

The NHRC said the chief minister was quoted, in a newspaper on November 19, 2017, as saying that "criminals will be jailed or killed in encounters".
New Delhi:

In a hard-hitting jibe at Modi govt, Congress on Monday coined a new acronym  Not Doing Anything  for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Attacking PM Modi for his TOP (Tomato, Onion and Potato) is my priority remark, Congress said, Mr. Modi, isn't your TOP priority to create Jobs? But your government is NDA - Not Doing Anything!

Congress shared a picture of PM Modi with the title LIES ON TOP on its Twitter handle and accused the Prime Minister of lying in poll-bound Karnataka.

Mr. Modi, isn't your TOP priority to create Jobs?



But your government is NDA - Not Doing Anything! pic.twitter.com/uEkERmTclm  Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) February 5, 2018

Attacking Congress-led Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka during his Nava Nirman Parivarthan Yatra at Bengaluru on Sunday, PM Modi had said that there was a 10 per cent commission government" in the state and criminals were ruling the roost under it.

Reacting to Modi, Congress shared a video showing schemes that were first launched in Karnataka and said, It's time PM Modi abandon the Gujarat Model and adopt the Karnataka Model instead.

Congress claimed that Karnataka, under the Siddaramaiah government, was the first state to dedicate an industrial park to women.

Karnataka was also the first Indian state to launch Universal Health Coverage to benefit 1.4 crore households, Congress claimed.

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New Delhi:

India today successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear capable Prithvi-II missile as part of a user trial by the Army from a test range in Odisha, Defence sources said.

The trial of the surface-to-surface missile, which has a strike range of 350 km, was carried out from a mobile launcher from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur near here at around 11.35 am, they said.

Describing the trial as a complete success, they said all mission objectives were met during the test launch.

The perfect test launch came after successful trial of Agni-5 on January 18 and Agni-1 missile conducted from Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha coast yesterday.

Prithvi-II is capable of carrying 500-1,000 kilogram of warheads and is thrusted by liquid propulsion twin engines. The state-of-the-art missile uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory to hit its target, they said.

The missile was randomly chosen from the production stock and the entire launch activities were carried out by the specially formed Strategic Force Command (SFC) of the Army and monitored by the scientists of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as part of training exercise, they said.

The missile trajectory was tracked by radars, electro-optical tracking systems and telemetry stations by the DRDO along the coast of Odisha, the sources said.

The downrange teams onboard the ship deployed near the designated impact point in the Bay of Bengal monitored the terminal events and splashdown.

In salvo mode, on November 21, 2016, two missiles were successfully test fired in quick succession from the same base and the last trial was successful on June 2, 2017 from the same base.

Inducted into the Armed forces of the country in 2003, the nine-metre-tall, single-stage liquid-fuelled Prithvi-II is the first missile to have been developed by the DRDO under the

Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), sources said.

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New Delhi:

A Congress Seval Dal worker was shot dead by an unidentified person after an heated argument over rash driving at GT Karnal Road in Delhi on Tuesday morning.

According to police, the deceased Congress Seva Dal worker Vinod Mehra picked up an argument with persons over rash driving near Bhalswa flyover.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-West) Aslam Khan said, Mehra was a businessman and stayed in Delhis Geeta Colony. We are investigating the case and will arrest the people behind the attack soon.

Delhi Police said, Mehra was returning home from a wedding ceremony with his teen nephew, when the incident occured.

Police during its course of investigation have learnt that Mehra picked up an argument with driver of a van who overtook him. Another person who was boarding the van opened fire at the businessman from a close range, while Mehra and van driver were arguing, said a police officer.

Mehra was rushed to a local hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.

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New Delhi:

Pakistan once again brought up the Kashmir issue at the UN Security Council and accused it of "selectively" implementating its resolution on the issue.

Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN, sought periodic review of the implementation of the UN Security Council's decades-old resolution on the issue.

"Nothing undermines the credibility of the Council more than 'selective' implementation of its resolutions," Lodhi said during an open debate of the Security Council on its working methods.

"The Council should therefore periodically review implementation of its resolutions, especially on longstanding issues like the Jammu and Kashmir dispute," she said.

She said the failure of the Council to enforce its own resolutions "undercuts not just the Council's standing in the world, but the UN as well".

According to the top Pakistani diplomat, the best way to enhance the democratic and representative character of the Security Council is to reinforce this norm of accountability, and not to support any actions that threaten to undermine or reverse these ideals.

The Council, she said, should be more transparent and balanced in the working of its subsidiary organs. Elected members should have a more equitable representation on these organs.

India is opposed to any third-party intervention in resolving the Kashmir issue while Pakistan has continuously sought mediation to sort out the differences. Pakistan often raises the issue at various international platforms.

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Mumbai:

A special court convicted an important Indian Mujahideen operative, Haroon Naik, on Wednesday in connection with the seizure of fake Indian currency notes (FICN) and sentenced him to six years imprisonment.

Another accused Asrar Tailor, alias Sagari, was given a similar punishment in the case. However, the special NIA court acquitted Azhar-ul-Islam Siddiqui alias Munna of all charges in the case.

The case, which was investigated by the Maharashtra ATS, was later handed over to National Investigation Agency (NIA).

According to the prosecution, the ATS had raided a private guest house in Wadala in August 2011 and arrested Naik.

They recovered currency notes with a face value of Rs 9.75 lakh in Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations from the place.

During Naik's interrogation, he told the sleuths that Asrar had indoctrinated him to participate in "jihadi activities" after undergoing militant training.

Police later arrested Asrar and also held Azhar as he was also indoctrinated by the former.

The accused were booked under various sections of the IPC and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).



The ATS said that Naik had gone to Pakistan and underwent militant training organised by Lashkar-e-Taiba and al-Qaida. The NIA had later taken over the case.

Naik's lawyer Abdul Wahab Khan and Sharif Sheikh told the court that Naik was arrested as soon as he landed in Mumbai from Saudi Arabia.

Special judge V P Avhad convicted Naik and Asrar only for posession of FICN and acquitted them of all other charges, including that of UAPA. Azhar was acquitted of all charges.

Naik is also an accused in the 2011 Mumbai triple blasts case.

Three powerful blasts ripped through crowded areas in Mumbai on July 13, 2011, killing at least 21 people and injuring 141.

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Kolkata:

In-laws of a 28-year-old West Bengal woman sold one of her kidneys after she failed to meet their dowry demand of Rs 2 lakh, police said.

The incident came to light, after the victim lodged a complaint with the Farakka police station in northern Bengal against her in-laws. West Bengal Police on Tuesday arrested the victims husband and her brother-in-law for selling her kidney.

The victim, Rita Sarkar, told the police that her husband of 12-years and her in-laws regularly tortured her for not meeting their dowry demands. She told us that her in-laws took advantage of her appendicitis to steal a kidney of hers, said a police officer posted at Farakka police station.

The officer further added, The victim told the police that around two years back she started suffering acute stomach ache. Her husband took her to a private nursing home in Kolkata, where she was told that she would be fine after an appendix surgery.

She further informed that police that her pain intensified after the operation. She told us that her husband warned her not disclose about the operation to anyone, added the officer.

According to police, the victim learnt about the missing kidney after she consulted a doctor when she visited her at her parents place.

Sarkar talking to media said, After consulting doctors at my parents hometown, I learnt why my husband had warned me not to discuss about the operation with anyone. He sold of my kidney as my family failed to meet his dowry demands.

Also read: Ugly girls can get married if heavy amount of dowry is given, says Bengaluru college book



The West Bengal Police has filed an FIR under IPC sections 307  attempt to murder and 498  detaining a married woman with criminal intent, Section 19  punishment for commercial dealings in human organs and Section 21 offences by companies involved in any such act of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act.

Police said, the victims husband has confessed of selling Sarkars kidney. During questioning he told the police that her kidney was sold to a businessman in Chhattisgarh.

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New Delhi:

Indian government has yet not decided their future course of action in Maldives internal crisis but as per the sources in the Ministry of Defence Southern Air Command has been directed to be on standby.

If the Indian government decides to enter Maldives, special forces should be ready for operation.

With the alert, Southern Air Command has swung into action and Yalhanka Air Base in Bengaluru has been asked to be on high alert. Troop were seen gathering at the air base.

Yelhanka Air base is one of the main Air base in Southern India for transport of aircrafts and is closer to Maldives as well.

Ministry of External Affairs had already issued advisory to the citizens traveling to Maldives on Monday.

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New Delhi:

AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday demanded in Lok Sabha that the Centre bring a law to punish with three-year jail term any person who calls an Indian Muslim a Pakistani.

He also said the Triple Talaq bill was anti-women.

He made these observations while taking part in the debate in the Lok Sabha on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address.

"Bring a law that if any Muslim is called Pakistani, the person will face a three-year jail term," he said but added that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government would not bring such a bill in the Parliament.

He said Muslims living in India had rejected Mohammad Ali Jinnah's two-nation theory even before Independence.

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BUENOS AIRES: As the Covid-19 pandemic is posing the most dangerous challenges and socio-economic consequences in the world, the Argentine government on Sunday called for national unity to overcome the pandemic, as it mourned more than 92,000 people who died from Covid-19 in the country.

"We are here to remember each of the people who were fatal victims of the pandemic. Each of them had a name, a life," said Argentine President Alberto Fernandez during a ceremony held at the Kirchner Cultural Center of Buenos Aires. This is a ceremony of recollection and reflection," he said when attending the ceremony along with representatives from various sectors of society, including essential workers and provincial Governors, as per reports.

"With this pandemic, we are witnessing a true cataclysm that is plaguing humanity. The millions of deaths have shocked the entire world, as well as the almost 100,000 deceased in our own country," he added. Argentina last reported 4,393,142 cases and 92,317 deaths from Covid-1.

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Srinagar: Two consecutive blasts took place in the air force jurisdiction of the high security airport in J Mmu in the early hours of Sunday. Questions have been raised about the security of the Air Force Station since the attack. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Chief Asaduddin Owaisi has compared the attack to the terror attack in Pulwama after Which India entered Balakot in Pakistan and destroyed their terrorist hideouts by air strikes.

Such long distance drone can only be Chinese or American so will Modiji ask his friends US & China if theyre part of this



We spend 3 lakh cr on national defence every year. Why were there no air defences OVER AN AIR BASE? Wheres the money going? @PMOIndia @rajnathsingh? 2/n  Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) June 27, 2021

Owaisi tweeted from his Twitter handle that 'Jammu drone strike is another attack on our security establishment. It should also be seen on the lines of the Cross Border Act of War. I pray that two personnel injured in this attack recover quickly. We should take this attack the same way as the Pulwama attack and respond in the same language.' He further tagged the PMO and wrote, "Will PMO once again show his special weakness and put his weapon suo-ray in front of his bet? Will he again engage another country in the talks, showing lack of coordination? Will it continue talks with Pakistan under the mediation of UAE?"

Owaisi said that was attacked so closely. Such drones could either be Made of China or Us-made. So will PM Modi question his friends US and China whether they are also part of the attack? We are spending three lakh crore rupees every year in the name of national security. The question arises as to why there was no air security to monitor the airport. Where is so much fund going?

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Phuket is a favourite place for all of the nomads and expats who love to travel. Why? It is cheap, has great beaches and Thailand culture is simply amazing. Once you arrive in Phuket, everything will seem different. From the weird Thai fruits, fun street snacks including fried insects, and the local lottery madness, to the amazing amulet market and unreasonably cheap accommodation options. It is no wonder why so many people have decided to move here and spend the rest of their lives on this beautiful island.

Bring your swimming shorts and visit some of the spectacular beaches on the island. There is the Patong Beach that is considered to be the ultimate party spot. Also, make sure to explore the longest beach on Phuket, The Bangtao Beach. For those who want to stay away from large crowds of tourists, Kamala Beach is the number one place to go, and The Surin Beach is reserved for visitors, who besides the sun and the sand would like to enjoy some seafood specialties. Always take a souvenir from Phuket when visiting. It is a tradition here. Soap flowers, t-shirts, spa products and silk, are just some of the souvenirs worth purchasing in Phuket.

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Space-X founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk is celebrating his birthday today. He was born on June 28, 1971, in South Africa. Musk turned 50 today. He came to Canada at the age of 17. He was very fond of reading books since childhood. Elon Musk's earnings are said to earn Rs 67 lakh per second. Even then, there is scope in their minds about new plans. Elon Musk has now become the world's largest nobleman with a net worth of $184. A few months ago, he overtook Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos. Musk's story is a source of inspiration for millions of candidates who think of doing something on their own. Musk arrived in Russia at the age of 30 to buy rockets. The Russians did not value their intentions. Musk's dream was to send rats to settle on Mars or some plants first through rockets. When the Russians returned empty-handed for the second time, Musk came to mind on the plane as to why the rocket should not be prepared on his own. And this is where SpaceX company started. There were problems step by step. Many enterprises like hand car manufacturing, artificial intelligence, technology development also continued. The dream was so big and his intentions were so steely that wealth continued to kiss. One day, when Musk became the richest man in the world at the age of 49. There was also a day when he got the boiler cleaning work, for which he used to get $18 per hour and today he is earning about Rs.140 crores per hour. Of course, there are fantasies that make life fly.

It was his childhood:-

The flight of imagination is the fastest. She gets faster when a legend winds her up. After all, what is our world? Who is running the world? What do we have to do in this world? And amazingly, this book The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is being followed by such mysterious questions. The 14-year-old South African teenager is growing up and going from page to page to reach the north. She is telling the book, "This world is really a supercomputer." A supercomputer that people sitting on another planet is operating from their supercomputers. Our world is not alone. There are many planets in the universe where many kinds of people live. There are planets where people do not understand the value of the earth. Since the earth is hindering their space path, they want to destroy the earth. And there is a planet where people make earth again and again so that they can make real discoveries of life there, to recognize the universe properly. There are humans, aliens, and robots in the universe. The planet whose people repeatedly create the world or earth also suffers an economic slowdown and research work is affected, but the inhabitants of that planet live up to the dream that earth has to be created.

A book changed the way you think:-

The 14-year-old was surprised to read whether this happens or could happen. In earlier literature, when people reached the moon with balloons or on a bird, the vehicle was not even invented. One day he also came when the man reached the moon. That is, nothing is impossible. We must be looking for aliens and aliens, whoever is more efficient will be successful in the search. Can I join this search? Overall, that book by Douglas Adams changed the whole blueprint of thinking. We used to spend time playing boys, but the teenager's life was as if it were for research. The teenager understood that life is not what we see around us, the whole universe is full of life. You have to be able to explore all forms of life and the most important thing for this is to master technological development and engineering.

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New Delhi: 50,000 soldiers have been sent to the border amid the ongoing Indo-China confrontation. India has deployed troops and fighter jets in three different areas along the Chinese border in the past few months. India has deployed nearly two lakh soldiers to rein in the Dragon's expansionist policy and keep a close watch on the China border, which is 40 percent higher than last year.

Media reports quoted sources as saying. According to media reports, India has sent 50,000 troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Fighter jets have also been put on alert. However, a spokesperson of the Indian Army and the Prime Minister's Office did not respond to a question in this regard. There were two wars between India and China in 1962. Nevertheless, India gave more strategic consideration to Pakistan as Kashmir has been making a very sensitive issue between the two countries since 1947.

However, when Chinese troops fraudulently attacked Indian troops in the Gallowan Valley of eastern Ladakh on June 15 last year, PM Narendra Modi stepped up surveillance on Pakistan as well as the China border. India had earlier deployed troops to prevent dragon encroachment on the border with China, but now it has also acquired the ability to retaliate and enter the Chinese border by increasing the team force drastically.

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BAGHDAD: In a bid to enhance economic relationship, security cooperation and regional stability, Iraq, Egypt and Jordan took a step toward to holding tripartite talks in Baghdad on Sunday, in a first visit by an Egyptian head of state to the country in 30 years. Talks ranged from trade to Mideast crises.

Abdel Fattah el-Sissi was greeted by Iraqs President Barham Salih upon arriving Sunday morning. It marked the first time an Egyptian president paid an official visit to Iraq since the 1990s when ties between both countries were severed after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.

Iraq Prime Minister Al-Kadhimi also aims to shore up regional alliances and bolster Iraqs standing in the Middle East as a mediator capable of bringing even the staunchest of foes to the negotiating table. Baghdad recently hosted talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia focusing on the war in Yemen. He said that the most important challenges facing the three countries are the Covid-19 pandemic, difficult economic conditions, security and terrorism, according to the statement.

Calling on the three countries to unify their stances, Al-Kadhimi said: "we will continue to coordinate on major regional issues, such as the Syrian, Libyan, Yemeni and Palestinian files, to assist our brothers in these countries to bypass the challenges and crises." He noted that the three countries are in the stage of implementing projects in the fields of electrical interconnection, agriculture, transportation, and food security, as well as in the development of infrastructure in financial and banking relations, the statement said.

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Seoul: North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is in the news again these days. North Korean state media claims that Kim's recent video footage has left the people heartbroken and deeply saddened. In fact, after the interview aired on North Korea's state-run TV channel and the release of the song, which aired in Kim's glory, the public was asked for a response.

A video footage of 37-year-old Kim Jong-un appeared this month in which he looks very lean. When North Korea's state-run TV channel KRT sought a response from the public, one person said, "We are deeply saddened and heartbroken by the condition of our respected Comrade General Secretary (Kim Jong Un). Everyone is saying that tears have flowed from their eyes after seeing the condition of their leader."

Earlier last year, speculation about Kim's health intensified after he did not attend the birth anniversary celebrations of the state's founder Kim Il Sung on April 15. Experts compared Kim Jong Un's November-December 2020 photos, when compared to April and June 2021, and found that he had already become extremely lean. There after this, speculations are rife that Kim Jong Un is losing weight due to illness.

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New Delhi: The Centre is working to accelerate the vaccination drive to accelerate the war against coronavirus in India. Meanwhile, PM Narendra Modi also tweeted, "India's vaccination campaign is gaining momentum. Congratulations to all those who are running this effort. Our commitment is to provide free vaccines to all.'' Significantly, India has now surpassed the US in terms of vaccination, with 32,36,63,297 vaccines in the country so far. India has now become the most vaccinated country in the world.

Indias vaccination drive keeps gaining momentum!



Congrats to all those who are driving this effort.



Our commitment remains vaccines for all, free for all.



 ,   https://t.co/VK15ZPHMUm  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 28, 2021

Let us state that the new phase of the vaccination campaign was launched on June 21. Under this, every citizen above the age of 18 years is now being vaccinated free of cost in the country. The facility is being provided by the Modi government at the Centre. Earlier, people over the age of 45 were also being vaccinated free of cost by the Centre. Also, there is no need to register online now.

The previous day, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi attacked PM Modi over his Mann Ki Baat programme. He had said that 'Mann Ki Baat' can be done by vaccinating everyone. Just deliver the vaccine to every countryman, and then even if you listen to Mann ki Baat. Rahul Gandhi is constantly targeting the Centre over corona and vaccination. Earlier on Saturday too, he had launched a scathing attack on the Modi government at the Centre.

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The month of June is dedicated to the LGBTQIA+ community celebrating and marching for their rights. While the world celebrates Pride Month, many members of the community, nonetheless, continue to face discrimination and hatred daily.

But, in fact, Pride Months worth rests here as it is also a voice against such discrimination and hatred. this Pride Month is more than a celebration.

In the meantime, there are many important events in history in their struggle in the world as well as in Nepal. Here is a list of the key events, first coming from world history, then also from Nepal, that the LGBTQIA+ community commemmorates.

1. The Stonewall Riots

A riot at the Stonewall Inn in the United States in 1969 (later known as the Stonewall Riots) was a major turning point for the LGBTQIA+ community. Every year on June 28, this procession is held all over the world. After a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, the Stonewall Riots erupted. The community was enraged by persistent discrimination and rioted for six days. The annual Gay Pride parades, which are now celebrated all over the world, are commemorated by the protest through the streets of New York City.

2. The HIV/AIDS epidemic

In the 1980s, the United States was the epicentre of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 1981, doctors treating gay males in Southern California, San Francisco, and New York City recognised the condition in large numbers. When AIDS initially appeared in the United States, it mostly affected men who had intercourse with other men, haemophiliacs, and heroin addicts. In the 1980s and 1990s, the diseases predominance among gay men in the United States resulted in a stigma towards homosexuals, as well as widespread fear and misinformation about how AIDS transmitted. However, as superstars such as Rock Hudson and Freddie Mercury acknowledged that they had HIV, and Magic Johnson acknowledged that he had the virus and committed his retirement to educate others about it, perceptions began to shift.

3. Nepal Pride Parade

The first-ever pride parade in Nepal took place in 2019. On June 29 that year, the Pal Queer MOGAI Pride Parade was held in Kathmandu. The 29th of June has been designated as Pride March Day in Nepal. Queer Youth Group collaborated with Queer Rights Collective to organise the Pride March. Since the end of the Maoist insurrection in 2006 and the abolition of the feudal monarchy two years later, an openly gay politician was elected in the parliament in 2008. In 2007, the Supreme Court decided on anti-discrimination legislation and put in place measures to ensure LGBTQIA++ individuals equal rights as citizens, resulting in the first Pride March in 2019.

Pride Parade at Babarmahal on June 29, 2019.

4. Gai Jatra Third Gender March

Blue Diamond Society organises an LGBTQIA+ March on the Newar festival of Gai Jatra (Saa Paaru) every year. They do not call this a Pride March. But technically being a pride march, Blue Diamond Society has been celebrating the festival of crossdressing. Blue Diamond Society organises brings LGBTQIA+ people to dance on the streets during this festival. Unlike other pride marches in Nepal, it is not seen as a political movement, but a celebration of an existing festival.

5. Right to marry

In 2007, the constitution recognised LGBTQIA+ rights as fundamental human rights, guaranteed protection for gender and sexual minorities, and legalised homosexuality, following a Supreme Court verdict. However, Nepals Supreme Court did not decide in favour of laws guaranteeing full rights to LGBTQIA+ individuals until November 17, 2008, when it declared that all gender minorities must be classified as natural persons under the law, which includes the right to marry.

6. Citizenship/passport rules

Nepal is one of the few countries in the world that allows transgender people to identify as the third gender on their identification documents. The judgment follows a 2007 Supreme Court verdict in which the countrys authorities were compelled to change the countrys legislation to incorporate the third gender. The 2011 census was the first time a national government attempted to count its citizens by gender.

7. Acceptance of transgender people in beauty contests

According to LGBTQIA++ campaigners, Nepal is one of just a few dozen nations in the world that admit trans candidates in national pageants, and the third in Asia after Myanmar and Mongolia. Angel Lama is the first transgender lady to walk the Miss Universe Nepal finals runway in 2017, creating history as Nepals first transgender woman. She was also the first transgender to represent Nepal as her country.
Bottles of Australian wine are seen at a store selling imported wine in Beijing

GENEVA (Reuters) - Australia has filed a formal complaint to the World Trade Organization over China's duties on bottled wine imports, the WTO confirmed on Monday.

The dispute is the second that Canberra has launched at the global trade body against China amid growing tensions. The first, launched in December, is over China's barley import duties and is currently under consideration at the WTO.

The latest so-called 'request for consultations' filed at the WTO in Geneva gives both sides 60 days to confer. If they fail to agree, a WTO dispute panel may be set up.

Australia's foreign minister has previously said that such a complaint should enable bilateral negotiations.

Relations with China have worsened since Canberra called for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus, which was first reported in China in late 2019.

China, Australia's largest trading partner, responded by imposing tariffs on Australian commodities, including wine and barley and limited imports of Australian beef, coal and grapes, moves described by the United States as "economic coercion".

At a closed-door WTO meeting on Monday, Canada also sought to escalate a trade dispute with China over the latter's restrictions on canola seed imports from Canada.

However, China rejected the request to establish a formal panel, saying it believed it is premature, according to a Geneva-based trade official following the meeting.

(Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Paul Simao)
NEW YORK, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The growing prevalence of medication errors, rapid technological advancements, surging geriatric population, increasing incidence of chronic diseases, enactment of government initiatives for integrating automated machines in healthcare settings, and soaring number of product approvals are the major factors driving the growth of the global automated dispensing machines market. As a result, the market will reach revenue of $3,941.9 million by 2030, exhibiting a CAGR of 9.1% from 2021 to 2030, according to the market research study published by P&S Intelligence.

P_and_S_Intelligence_Logo

The COVID-19 pandemic has made people skeptical about visiting hospitals and clinics and receiving treatments for various chronic illnesses. Moreover, because of the policies enacted by several governments for installing automated dispensing machines at healthcare settings, the requirement for these devices has significantly increased. Furthermore, this a great method for maintaining social distancing and ensuring the proper administration of medicines to patients. This measure is fueling the expansion of the automated dispensing machines market.

Get the Sample Copy of this Report at @ https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/automated-dispensing-machines-market/report-sample

The automated dispensing machines market is divided into out-patient and in-patient categories, depending on application. Between these, the in-patient category held the larger share in the market during the historical period (20152020), and this trend is predicted to continue during the forecast period as well. Because of the surging incidence of chronic diseases, the use of automated dispensing machines has increased considerably.

Browse detailed report with COVID-19 impact analysis on Automated Dispensing Machines Market Research Report: By Type (Centralized, Decentralized), Application (In-Patient, Out-Patient), End User (Hospitals, Pharmacies)  Global Industry Revenue Estimation and Demand Forecast to 2030 @ https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/automated-dispensing-machines-market

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North America contributed the highest revenue to the automated dispensing machines market in 2020. This is credited to the existence of well-established players, soaring geriatric population, and improving healthcare infrastructure in the region. In the forthcoming years, the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is predicted to demonstrate the fastest growth, due to the increasing focus of industry players on expanding their operations in the developing countries such as India and China.

The global automated dispensing machines market players are focusing on acquisitions and mergers in order to bolster their position in the industry. For example, Becton, Dickinson and Company completed the acquisition of the medical business of CUBEX LLC, which is a private firm that offers cloud-based software for advanced medication management, in November 2020. With this acquisition, the BD Pyxis automated dispensing cabinet was incorporated with the analytics platform of CUBEX LLC and MedBank cloud-based software for enabling patient-centered care beyond acute-care settings.

Make enquiry about this report at @ https://www.psmarketresearch.com/send-enquiry?enquiry-url=automated-dispensing-machines-market

Likewise, Capsa Healthcare acquired RoboPharma B.V., which is a pharmacy automated system provider in the Netherlands, in August 2020. The former provides customized high-speed prescription filling solutions for various community pharmacies, wholesalers, central fill operations, and hospitals. As per the agreement, the engineering and management teams of RoboPharma will remain with the organization for maintaining continuity across its innovative momentum, inventive vision, and strategic focus, and it will be leveraged for expanding the international reach of Capsa Healthcare.

Baxter International Inc., Becton, Dickinson and Company, TouchPoint Medical, Omnicell Inc., Tosho Inc., ScriptPro LLC, Swisslog Holding AG. Willach Pharmacy Solutions, Talyst LLC, Capsa Healthcare, ArxIUM, Pearson Medical Technologies LLC, AlixaRx, Accu-Chart Plus Healthcare Systems Inc., Takazono Corporation, Newlcon Oy, and McKesson Corporation are some of the major automated dispensing machines market.

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P&S Intelligence is a provider of market research and consulting services catering to the market information needs of burgeoning industries across the world. Providing the plinth of market intelligence, P&S as an enterprising research and consulting company, believes in providing thorough landscape analyses on the ever-changing market scenario, to empower companies to make informed decisions and base their business strategies with astuteness.

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P&S Intelligence

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SOURCE P&S Intelligence
BROOKFIELD, NEWS, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (Brookfield or BAM) (NYSE: BAM; TSX: BAM.A) and Brookfield Asset Management Reinsurance Partners Ltd. (Brookfield Reinsurance or BAM Re) (NYSE, TSX: BAMR) today jointly announced that Brookfield has completed the previously announced creation of Brookfield Reinsurance.



We are excited to be launching Brookfield Reinsurance, which establishes a scalable platform for our growing insurance businesses and provides investors with an alternative, efficient means through which to hold an interest in Brookfield, said Sachin Shah, CEO of Brookfield Reinsurance and Chief Investment Officer of Brookfield.

The holders of Brookfields class A and class B limited voting shares received one class A exchangeable limited voting share of Brookfield Reinsurance (an exchangeable share) for every 145 Brookfield class A and class B limited voting shares held. Each exchangeable share is exchangeable for a Brookfield class A limited voting share (a Brookfield Share), or its cash equivalent, on a one-for-one basis, and distributions on the exchangeable shares will be paid at the same time and in the same amount per share as dividends on Brookfield Shares.

The exchangeable shares will commence regular-way trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BAMR upon market open on June 28, 2021.

For beneficial shareholders who hold their Brookfield shares in an account with a broker or other intermediary, their account will be automatically updated to reflect the receipt of the exchangeable shares.

Brookfields shareholders will receive a cash payment in lieu of any fractional interests in an exchangeable share. Brookfield will use the five-day volume-weighted average trading price of the exchangeable shares on the New York Stock Exchange immediately following the special dividend (June 28 through July 2) to determine the value of any fractional interests in an exchangeable share.

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Brookfield Reinsurances board of directors is currently comprised of the following four members: William J. Cox, Gregory Morrison, Anne Schaumberg, and Sachin Shah (Chair). For biographical information about Brookfield Reinsurances directors, please refer to the section entitled Directors and Executive Officers beginning on page 136 of the final prospectuses of Brookfield and Brookfield Reinsurance filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Ontario Securities Commission and dated June 16, 2021.

Additional Information and Where to Find It

Shareholders are encouraged to read the Brookfield CEO letter to shareholders and the Prospectuses regarding Brookfield Reinsurance which are available on Brookfield Reinsurances website. Questions regarding the special dividend can be directed to bamr.enquiries@brookfield.com. Further details regarding the operations of Brookfield Reinsurance are set forth in its regulatory filings. Copies of Brookfield Reinsurances regulatory filings, including the final prospectuses, may be obtained through the website of the SEC at www.sec.gov and on Brookfield Reinsurances SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com .

Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is a leading global alternative asset manager with over US$600 billion of assets under management across real estate, infrastructure, renewable power, private equity and credit. Brookfield owns and operates long-life assets and businesses, many of which form the backbone of the global economy. Utilizing its global reach, access to large-scale capital and operational expertise, Brookfield offers a range of alternative investment products to investors around the worldincluding public and private pension plans, endowments and foundations, sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, insurance companies and private wealth investors. Brookfield Asset Management is listed on the NYSE and the TSX under the symbols BAM and BAM.A, respectively.

Brookfield Asset Management Reinsurance Partners Ltd. was established by Brookfield Asset Management to own and operate a leading reinsurance business focused on providing capital-based solutions to insurance companies and their stakeholders. Through its operating subsidiaries, Brookfield Reinsurance provides annuity-based reinsurance products to insurance and reinsurance companies and also acts as a direct issuer of pension risk transfer products for pension plan sponsors. Brookfield Reinsurance provides investors with the flexibility to own, through the ownership of its exchangeable shares, the economic equivalent of owning Brookfield Shares. Brookfield Asset Management Reinsurance Partners Ltd. is listed on the NYSE and the TSX under the symbol BAMR.

For more information, please visit our website at www.brookfield.com or contact:

Communications & Media

Claire Holland

Tel: (416) 369-8236

Email: claire.holland@brookfield.com Investor Relations:

Rachel Powell

Tel: (416) 956-5141

Email: rachel.powell@brookfield.com

Note: This news release contains forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. The words will, expect, anticipated or derivations thereof and other expressions which are predictions of or indicate future events, trends or prospects, and which do not relate to historical matters, identify forward-looking statements. Although Brookfield and Brookfield Reinsurance believe that these forward-looking statements and information are based upon reasonable assumptions and expectations, the reader should not place undue reliance on them, or any other forward-looking statements and information because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond our control.

The future performance and prospects of Brookfield and Brookfield Reinsurance are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results of Brookfield or Brookfield Reinsurance to differ materially from those contemplated or implied by the statements in this news release as well as other risks and factors described in the documents filed by Brookfield with securities regulators in Canada and the United States including under Risk Factors in Brookfields most recent Annual Report on Form 40-F (as amended by Amendment No.1) and other risks and factors that are described therein and in the U.S. registration statement and Canadian prospectus of Brookfield Reinsurance filed in connection with the distribution of the exchangeable shares.

Readers are urged to consider the foregoing risks, as well as other uncertainties, factors and assumptions carefully in evaluating the forward-looking information and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking information. Except as required by law, Brookfield and Brookfield Reinsurance undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether written or oral, that may be as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.




-- "El clasico de la historia" earns Grupo Modelo its first Titanium Lion, through its most emblematic brand, Corona.

MEXICO CITY, June 28, 2021 /CNW/ -- Today, Corona became the first Mexican brand in the history of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity to win a Titanium Lion, thanks to the "El clasico de la historia" ("The historical clasico") initiative, co-created with agency We Believers.

Gustavo Lauria, co-founder and general creative director of We Believers; Clarissa Pantoja, director of Corona; Fabio Baracho, Marketing VP at Grupo Modelo; and Alejandro Gershberg, marketing director at Grupo Modelo

After over 60 days without football in the country due to the pandemic, "El clasico de la historia" brought the sport back to millions of Mexican fans with a brand new football match between America and Chivas -the two biggest teams, with the largest fanbase and a rivalry that dates back over 70 years- created from 70 hours of historical audiovisual material by a team of more than 20 editors who were able to transform those recordings into a classic match for Mexico, the most-viewed Mexican match of all time.

In the words of Fabio Baracho, vice president of marketing at Grupo Modelo, "iconic brands are those that step up in difficult times, that are committed to showing they're the product or service that goes the extra mile to offer people support".

For his part, Alejandro Gershberg, the group's marketing director said: "in the industry, we're used to talking about impressions, conversation, reach, etc. And we had all of that, but as a brand what we expect from creative work is to strengthen the business and bring people together; our sales grew 54%, we managed to keep 30,000 employees in work and entertained the whole of Mexico".

With the 54% increase in sales compared to a normal week of football and donations from brands such as Aeromexico, Carl's Jr., Jumex and Nescafe, "El clasico de la historia" broke down the barriers of both lockdown and time to provide an example of togetherness, the reactivation of the economy and technological innovation, with the associated brands even appearing on the hoardings of the historical matches that were used for the broadcast.

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"This initiative was not only the perfect solution for bringing football back to the people and generating sales during the worst times of Covid, it was also the genesis of a new entertainment platform. We're already working to grow it in other markets, with other sports and even in other fields such as cinema, editing a film made from hundreds of films. The possibilities are endless", said Gustavo Lauria, co-founder and general creative director of We Believers.

About Corona:

Founded in Mexico, Corona is the country's leading beer brand and the Mexican beer with a unique clarity which is synonymous with its quality and makes it glow in every corner of Mexico and in over 180 countries around the world. Corona Extra was manufactured for the first time in 1925 at the Modelo Brewery in Mexico City. Corona is a pioneer in the beer industry as it was the first to use a transparent bottle that showcases its clarity, synonymous with its unrivalled quality around the world.

Contact:

Mirelle Rojas

mirelle@trendsetera.com.mx

+52 55 23 69 99 33

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SOURCE Corona

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(Bloomberg) -- Cruise stocks fell after industry leader Carnival Corp. announced an additional stock sale and Walt Disney Co. delayed a trial sailing.

Carnival is selling as much as $500 million in stock, according to a filing Monday, with proceeds earmarked for the repurchase of its Carnival Plc shares and for general corporate purposes. The shares fell 7% to $26.15 at the close in New York, the biggest decline since March.

Other operators lost ground in sympathy, with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. tumbling 6.5% and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. sinking 6.1%. Disney, whose business is more diversified, fell 1%. The cruise companies all sold shares during the pandemic to raise funds while they were shut down.

Disney indefinitely delayed a trial cruise of its Disney Dream set for Tuesday after getting inconsistent results in its coronavirus testing. The ship was to sail with 300 volunteer crew members in a demonstration to U.S. authorities that it could manage under new virus protocols.

Royal Caribbean successfully launched its first revenue-generating sailing out of the U.S. this past weekend. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Chief Executive Officer Richard Fain said Monday that he expects most of the companys ships to be sailing by year-end and that he was amazingly happy with bookings hes seeing for the next two years.

(Updates with closing share prices.)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

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2021 Bloomberg L.P.
Dublin, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Europe Electric Two-wheeler Market - Industry Outlook & Forecast 2021-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



In-depth Analysis and Data-driven Insights on the Impact of COVID-19 Included in this Europe Electric Two-wheeler Market Report



The Europe electric two-wheeler market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.12% during the forecast period 2021-2026.



With the increasing concern of over-utilizing of natural resources, electric vehicles are gaining traction in the automobile industry. The European government is working to make the transportation sector entirely electric by 2030. Due to the increasing efforts to reduce carbon emission, the government is expected to push the adoption for EV in Europe. Electric high-powered motorcycles are increasingly being adopted and are expected to be in trend during the forecast period. The high-powered electric motorcycle offers more than 30kW power and is similar in aesthetics to ICE motorcycles. The growth in production and marketing of such products is expected to create demand in the European market.



The following factors are likely to contribute to the growth of the Europe electric two-wheeler market during the forecast period:

Rising Demand for E-Scooter Sharing Services

Introduction of Government Regulations on ICE Vehicles

Development of Charging Infrastructure

Increasing Investments in The E2w Market

The report considers the present scenario of the Europe electric two-wheeler market and its market dynamics for the period 2020-2026. It covers a detailed overview of several market growth enablers, restraints, and trends. The study covers both the demand and supply sides of the market. It also profiles and analyzes leading companies and several other prominent companies operating in the market.



EUROPE ELECTRIC TWO-WHEELER MARKET SEGMENTATION



The Europe electric two-wheeler market research report includes a detailed segmentation by product type, voltage, power, battery type, battery technology, battery current, geography. Nickel metal hybrid batteries and lithium-ion batteries are majorly used in the Europe electric bike market, and the segment holds over 60% share. The sales of e-bikes have increased rapidly in Europe as Europeans have higher WTP (willingness to pay) for e-bikes and other electric two-wheelers that offer both higher quality and performance. There are many players in the electric scooter market from Japan, South Korea, and Europe which are gaining high share and expanding in the European market. With the increasing support of government and local associations, a greater number of incentives in the e-motorcycles market are expected to increase the demand for electric motorcycles in Europe.



The 48V batteries are important for EVs as they are low in costs and are safe for consumers to use. The 48V voltage level is expected to have the majority share in the electric vehicle market battery segment as they are the most common type of voltage provided in an electric two-wheeler. To increase the performance of an electric two-wheeler, a large number of cells are incorporated to give better performance with respect to voltage.



The power of a battery is a major differentiator in an electric two-wheeler as it directly impacts the scooter range, speed, mileage, and price. In 2020, the less than 5kW segment led the market, accounting for 76.28% and 77.40% share in terms of value and volume, respectively, as there is a larger number of vehicles with less than 5kW power which is manufactured and used across Europe. The incorporation of power in electric vehicles are pushing the vendors to increase investment in R&D.



Vendors such as Askoll, Pierer Mobility, and others use lithium-ion batteries at a larger rate. Nickel metal hybrid is mostly used and requires replacement from time to time. The application of lithium batteries is the future of electric transportation in Europe. With the implementation of new rules regarding subsidies and policies, changes in electric two-wheelers are expected in terms of batteries used in vehicles. In the coming years, the lithium-ion battery will play increasingly important roles in the area of power tools.



The introduction of detachable batteries has improved the convenience for consumers as they can be charged anywhere. Detachable or removable battery packs are expected to increase in demand among early EV consumers and adopters. The removable battery is gaining high momentum compared to non-removable batteries in the Europe electric two-wheeler market. Owing to the reduced charging time, removable batteries are more preferred by consumers.



The most common battery current type is less than 25Ah as more than 25Ah current requires more powerful batteries which tends to increase the weight of the vehicle and the overall cost of the vehicle. The battery current is critical in nature and currently, fewer battery current capacities are being manufactured in the initial stage of the market, as the market is at a nascent stage in Europe.



Segmented by Product Type

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E-bike

E-Scooter

E-Motorcycle

Segmented by Voltage

48 V

60V

72 V & Above

Segmented by Power

< 5KW

6-15KW

>15KW

Segmented by Battery Type

Lithium-Ion Battery

Nickel Metal Hybrid

Lead Acid Batteries

Segmented by Battery Technology

Removable Battery

Non- Removable Battery

Segmented by Battery Current

>25Ah Battery

INSIGHTS BY GEOGRAPHY



The e-bike market to generate higher revenue in Germany during the forecast period. Germany has the potential to become one of the key countries for eclectic mobility globally and in Europe due to higher technological advancements and consumer mindset and awareness. In Germany, technological companies are aggressively pushing the European electric vehicle companies to create maximum awareness and penetration rate. As all age groups demand e-bikes, there is huge scope for growth in the German market.



Segmented by Geography

Germany

Netherlands

Belgium

Italy

France

Spain

UK

RoE

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE



The growth in GDP, government restrictions, and import inflows are contributing to the Europe electric two-wheeler market expansion. Vendors are competing on various parameters, such as brand, product portfolio, product features, two-wheeler power consumption, and the efficiency of the products developed to sustain the European electric scooter market.

KEY QUESTIONS ANSWERED:



1. How big is the Europe electric two-wheeler market?

2. What percentage of vehicle sales are electric in the European region?

3. What is the market share of electric bikes in the country?

4. Which government regulations are enabling the electric vehicle market growth in the region?

5. Who are the key players in the Europe EV market



Key Topics Covered:

1 Research Methodology

2 Research Objectives

3 Research Process

4 Scope & Coverage

5 Report Assumptions & Caveats

6 Market at a Glance

7 Introduction

8 Market Opportunities & Trends

9 Market Growth Enablers

10 Market Restraints

11 Market Landscape

12 Product

13 Voltage

14 Power

15 Battery Type

16 Battery Technology

17 Battery Current

18 Geography

19 Competitive Landscape

20 Key Company Profiles

21 Other Prominent Vendors

22 Report Summary

23 Quantitative Summary

24 Appendix

Companies Mentioned

Askoll

BMW

Piaggio

Energica

PIERER MOBILITY

Benelli

Ducati Motor

Ecoride

Electric Life Store

Emco

ETRIX

Gazelle

GOVECS

GEOBIKE

HORWIN

Johammer

KOGA

Silence

Sparta

Unu

Wayel

Zero Motorcycles

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/d3xsd3

CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900




- Leading Global Staffing Franchise Recognized for Helping More Than 5,000 Job Seekers during COVID-19 Pandemic through Its Drive-Thru Job Fairs -

OKLAHOMA CITY, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Express Employment Professionals, the leading global staffing provider franchise, announced today its first place accolade in Franchise Update's third annual Franchise Innovation Awards for the Most Innovative Employee Hiring in honor of its drive-thru job fairs. The events, which Express launched at the onset of the pandemic, placed more than 5,000 unemployed workers into new careers.

(PRNewsfoto/Express Employment Professionals)

Express Employment Professionals Awarded First Place In Most Innovative Employee Hiring Category

"Today we are reminded of our system's incredible ability to adapt during a time when the global workforce was hit hardest," said Bill Stoller, CEO of Express Employment Professionals. "In spite of the difficulties in the job market, our network of franchisees and their teams pushed through, allowing innovation to shine, all while helping businesses and community members create relationships to further career development. Today, we look forward to continuing this success and developing meaningful initiatives all while helping the market recover from a strenuous year."

While unemployment rates rose in all 50 states, and the nationwide average peaked at an unprecedented 14.8% in April 2020, Express' drive-thru job fairs provided job seekers with the opportunity to drop off their resume, apply for open positions, and learn more about employment opportunities, all in a mobile setting that allowed for social distancing. A majority of fairs took place in high-visibility locations such as parking lots or business complexes. For each fair, Express staff created two traffic lanes where they captured job seekers' information and collect their resumes and, after analyzing the information submitted, employers instructed the job seekers to complete an application either online or in-person at a later date.

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The 2021 Franchise Innovation Awards had more than 100 entrants competing in four categories: Marketing & Branding, Products & Services, Operations, and Human Resources. A jury of seven judges evaluated each nominee's innovation, objectives, and results to identify and recognize the franchisors creating and implementing the most original and successful innovative strategies and tactics to build their brand.

Express Employment Professionals is the number-one flexible staffing franchise for people, communities and businesses. The company works with job seekers to help them find the right job for their skills and experience, and annually employs over 552,000 people across 830+ franchise locations worldwide. Express has been recognized as the staffing category leader on Entrepreneur magazine's prestigious and highly competitive Franchise 500 ranking of the top franchise opportunities for 11 consecutive years and its franchisees have average annual sales per territory of over $5.4 million in the U.S.

Express's long-term goal of putting a million people to work annually is at the heart of its company's vision: to help as many people as possible find good jobs by helping as many clients as possible find good people. The brand is actively seeking qualified candidates to help grow its footprint throughout the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. To learn more about franchise opportunities with Express Employment Professionals, contact Vinny Provenzano, Vice President of Franchising, at vinny.provenzano@expresspros.com or visit www.expressfranchising.com.

ABOUT EXPRESS EMPLOYMENT PROFESSIONALS

At Express Employment Professionals, we're in the business of people. From job seekers to client companies, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Our international network of franchises offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve across the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, employing 526,000 people globally in 2020. For more information, visit www.ExpressPros.com.

Contact:

Paige Alonso

Fish Consulting

954-893-9150

palonso@fish-consulting.com

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SOURCE Express Employment Professionals
By Tabita Diela and Gayatri Suroyo

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's finance minister on Monday laid out a government proposal for an overhaul of tax regulations, including introducing a programme to report undisclosed assets, bringing in a carbon tax and hiking the VAT rate.

Sri Mulyani Indrawati told a meeting with parliament's finance commission the measures were aimed at boosting government revenues that have dropped in Southeast Asia's biggest economy due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"Even though we are discussing this during the COVID pandemic, it does not divert our attention from the medium-, long-term need to build a fair, healthy, effective and accountable tax system," Sri Mulyani said, promising implementation will take into account the economic recovery.

The minister proposed increasing the base value added tax (VAT) rate to 12%, from 10% currently, applying a 5%-25% rate range for some goods and services, and removing most exemptions. To limit the impact on the poor, she proposed more subsidies.

An income tax rate of 35% was floated for people earning at least 5 billion rupiah ($345,662) annually. Indonesia now applies 5% to 30% personal income tax.

She also proposed a new carbon tax of 75 rupiah ($0.0052) per kg of CO2 equivalent and an excise tax for all plastic products.

The minister unveiled a programme to allow people to report undisclosed assets following Indonesia's previous tax amnesty in 2016 to 2017.

According to a copy of the draft bill provided by a lawmaker, the government aims to give taxpayers another chance to declare hidden assets by charging a rate of between 12.5% to 30% of the asset values.

The minister also proposed an "alternative minimum tax" for loss-making businesses that continue to operate, a chance to settle tax crimes with fines, and a revision so that other parties such as electronic transaction providers can collect taxes on behalf of the government.

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The bill is set to be debated with parliament's finance commission, which usually takes several months, before it is tabled for a wider parliamentary vote. The government controls more than 70% of the seats in parliament.

($1 = 14,450.0000 rupiah)

(Reporting by Tabita Diela and Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Ed Davies)
This will allow the Montreal organization to continue to provide start-up and financing support to innovative entrepreneurs.

MONTREAL, June 28, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED)

The Greater Montreal region counts several dynamic businesses and organizations with innovative ideas helping to create a strong local economic fabric. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some organizations have succeeded in adapting and are prospering, while others have had to reduce their operations. Today, as we put in place our plan for a robust economic recovery, they need our support now more than ever. The Government of Canada has committed to assisting them as they pursue their activities and to fostering their growth and success, and this is exactly what it intends to do in the coming months.

With this in mind, the Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages and Minister responsible for CED, accompanied by Rachel Bendayan, Member of Parliament for Outremont and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade, today announced $845,107 in financial support to Montreal inc. (Fondation Montreal inc. de demain) to be provided over three years. Montreal inc. was founded in 1996 with the goal of bolstering the success of the most promising new and innovative Montreal businesses through bursaries, workshops, and meaningful business connections.

This non-refundable contribution will allow Montreal inc. to cover certain operating costs (support team's salaries, cost of updating and upgrading the portal for entrepreneurs), as well as salaries and fees for the first two years of its FoundHers (women's entrepreneurship) initiative, in addition to maintaining five positions.

The Government of Canada recognizes and supports innovative businesses and organizations that are a source of pride in our communities. Innovationa major driver of economic development in Canadawill help not only to rebuild a stronger, more resilient, and more just economy for all, but also to grow our economy in the coming decades.

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Quotes

"Helping businesses grow and innovate so they can enhance their competitiveness and create goodquality jobs is at the heart of our plan for a vigorous economic recovery. That is why we are providing our support to Montreal inc., an organization whose success is raising the profile not just of the Montreal region but of the entire Canadian economy. We have been here to assist workers and Quebec and Canadian SMEs in these difficult times, and we will continue to help them equip themselves with what they need so that, together, we can rebuild a stronger, more resilient and more sustainable economy."

The Honourable Melanie Joly, Member of Parliament for Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages and Minister responsible for CED

"We are helping businesses equip themselves with what they need to remain competitive, prosper and create good jobs. Thanks to Government of Canada financial assistance, Montreal inc. will be able to remain a key resource for young Montrealers wishing to start a business, thereby helping to foster innovation in the city and stimulating the regional economy. This support will thus benefit the entire Greater Montreal region and enable the Canadian economy to come back even stronger."

Rachel Bendayan, Member of Parliament for Outremont and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade

"This major assistance will provide new support to our mission of supporting entrepreneursincluding womenin order to contribute to the economic recovery and build a prosperous metropolis. Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions has been one of our allies from the start 25 years ago and we are delighted to be able to count on them for another three years."

Liette Lamonde, Executive Director, Montreal inc.

Quick facts

Funds have been granted under CED's Regional Economic Growth through Innovation program. This program targets entrepreneurs leveraging innovation to grow their businesses and enhance their competitiveness, as well as regional economic stakeholders helping to create an entrepreneurial environment conducive to innovation and growth for all, across all regions.

CED financing is conditional on the signing of the contribution agreement.

A successful economic recovery will depend, among other things, on the vaccination of as many Canadians as possible. To learn more: Vaccines for COVID-19.

CED is a key federal partner in Quebec's regional economic development. With its 12 regional business offices, CED accompanies businesses, supporting organizations and all regions across Quebec into tomorrow's economy.

Associated links

Stay connected

Follow CED on social media

Consult CED's news

SOURCE Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions

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NORTHRIDGE, CA, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire  Innovative Payment Solutions, Inc. (OTCQB: IPSI) (Innovative or the Company), a Southern California based fintech company focused on building a 21st-century universal digital payment platform, IPSIPay, today announced the acquisition of a 10% stake in Boston based startup Frictionless Financial Technologies, Inc. to collaborate on its suite of digital technologies.

William Corbett, CEO of Innovative Payment Technologies, Inc., commented, We believe this investment into Frictionless Financial Technologies, Inc. will enhance, accelerate, complement and expand the late-stage development of our digital platform. We look forward to our planned roll-out later this summer of our all-in-one solution that will bring the unbanked, underbanked and anyone else to the digital world of sending payments across borders.

About Frictionless Financial Technologies, Inc.

Frictionless Financial Technologies, Inc (FFT) is a Boston-based, frictionless global payments enablement and software company. FFT provides financial products that help improve peoples lives by delivering their most important and complex payments in an efficient manner. This is accomplished via a next-gen payments platform, combined with proprietary software and global payments network partners.

About Innovative Payment Solutions, Inc.

Innovative Payment Solutions, Inc. strives to offer cutting edge digital payment solutions for consumers and service providers. Innovative Payment Solutions Inc.s ecosystem will span multiple devices such as self-service kiosks, mobile applications and POS terminals offering alternative payment methods to meet the needs of consumers and service providers. (investor.ipsipay.com)

Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statement of historical fact contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. In some case, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as anticipate, believe, can, continue, could, estimate, expect, intend, may, plan, potential, predict, project, should, or will or the or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology and include statements regarding the investment into Frictionless Financial Technologies, Inc. enhancing, accelerating, complementing and expanding the late-stage development of our digital platform and the roll-out later this summer of our all-in-one solution that will bring the unbanked, underbanked and anyone else to the digital world of sending payments across borders.. These forward-looking statements are based on expectations and assumptions as of the date of the press release and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations and assumptions from those set forth or implied by any forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectation include, among others, our ability to accelerate and expanding the late-stage development of our digital platform, our ability to roll-out later this summer of our all-in-one solution as planned, our ability to launch our kiosks rollout program in Southern California as previously planned before COVID-19, our ability to position the Company for future profitability, the duration and scope of the COVID-19 outbreak worldwide, including the impact to the economy in California and Mexico, and the other factors discussed in the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and the Companys subsequent filings with the SEC, including subsequent periodic reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. The information in this release is provided only as of the date of this release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release on account of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law.

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For investor inquiries please call (866) 477-4729 or email investors@ipsipay.com.




Combined Company to Commence Trading on the New York Stock Exchange Under "IS" Ticker on June 29, 2021

TEL AVIV, Israel and SAN FRANCISCO, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ironSource, a leading business platform that enables mobile content creators to prosper within the App Economy, and Thoma Bravo Advantage (NYSE: TBA), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, today announced the completion of their previously-announced business combination. ironSource has been approved for trading on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") on June 29, 2021 under the ticker symbol "IS." As previously announced, Thoma Bravo Advantage shareholders approved the transaction at the Extraordinary General Meeting on June 22, 2021.

(PRNewsfoto/ironSource,Thoma Bravo Advantage)

The transaction included $2.15 billion in cash proceeds, including an oversubscribed PIPE of $1.3 billion and funds from the trust account of Thoma Bravo Advantage. With the conclusion of the business combination, ironSource received approximately $660 million of cash proceeds following payment of transaction expenses to fuel its growth and further its market leadership. Tomer Bar Zeev, CEO and co-founder of ironSource, and ironSource's founder-led management team, will continue to lead the combined company. Orlando Bravo, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Thoma Bravo Advantage, as well as a founder and managing partner of Thoma Bravo, L.P., will join the ironSource Board of Directors effective as of the closing of the business combination.

"Today marks an important step for ironSource as a leading platform for global app and game developers, and we are excited to enter the public markets and continue to advance our platform and our vision for the company and the App Economy," said Tomer Bar Zeev, CEO and co-founder of ironSource. "We are proud to achieve this milestone, which is a testament to the strength of our platform, and we look forward to our future as a public company. I am grateful to the ironSource team for all their hard work, which has brought us to this pivotal moment, and for the unparalleled support of our partner Thoma Bravo Advantage."

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"ironSource presents a highly compelling investment opportunity due to its unique combination of scale, superior growth rate, and strong EBITDA margins  as well as its standing as one of the most widely-used platforms in the App Economy," said Orlando Bravo. "The ironSource team has a demonstrated track record of developing innovative products that drive tremendous value to its rapidly-expanding customer base. I'm thrilled to partner with Tomer and the talented ironSource team to build upon the company's leadership position in its fast growing, $40 billion market."

To celebrate the completion of the merger, ironSource's management team will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange at 9:30 am ET on June 29, 2021. A live stream of the event and replay can be accessed by visiting nyse.com/bell.

Advisors

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Jefferies LLC and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. served as financial advisors to ironSource and as placement agents in the PIPE, and Latham & Watkins LLP and Meitar Law Offices served as legal advisors to ironSource. Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Goldfarb Seligman & Co. and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP served as legal advisors to Thoma Bravo Advantage.

About ironSource

ironSource is a leading business platform that enables mobile content creators to prosper within the App Economy. App developers use ironSource's platform to turn their apps into successful, scalable businesses, leveraging a comprehensive set of software solutions which help them grow and engage users, monetize content, and analyze and optimize business performance to drive more overall growth. The ironSource platform also empowers telecom operators to create a richer device experience, incorporating relevant app and service recommendations to engage users throughout the lifecycle of the device. By providing a comprehensive business platform for the core constituents of the App Economy, ironSource allows customers to focus on what they do best, creating great apps and user experiences, while we enable their business expansion in the App Economy. For more information please visit www.is.com

About Thoma Bravo Advantage

Thoma Bravo Advantage is a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company for the purposes of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. Its Class A ordinary shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "TBA." Thoma Bravo Advantage is sponsored by Thoma Bravo Advantage Sponsor LLC, which was formed by individuals affiliated with Thoma Bravo, a leading private equity firm focused on the software and technology-enabled software services sector. Thoma Bravo Advantage was formed for the purpose of executing a business combination in the software industry.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws with respect to the business combination transaction between Thoma Bravo Advantage ("TBA") and ironSource Ltd. ("ironSource"). All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this communication, including statements regarding ironSource's, TBA's or the combined company's future financial position, business strategy and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "could," "intends," "targets," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential" or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, ironSource's or TBA's expectations concerning the outlook for their or the combined company's business, productivity, plans and goals for future operational improvements and capital investments, operational performance, future market conditions or economic performance and developments in the capital and credit markets and expected future financial performance, as well as any information concerning possible or assumed future results of operations of the combined company. Forward-looking statements also include statements regarding the expected benefits of the proposed transaction between ironSource and TBA.

Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and actual results or events may differ materially from those projected or implied in those statements. Important factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (i) the effect of the transaction on ironSource's business relationships, performance, and business generally; (ii) risks that the transaction disrupts current plans of ironSource and potential difficulties in ironSource employee retention as a result of the transaction; (iii) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against ironSource or against TBA related to the merger agreement or the transaction; (iv) volatility in the price of the combined company's securities due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive industry in which ironSource operates, variations in performance across competitors, changes in laws and regulations affecting ironSource's business and changes in the combined capital structure; (v) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations after the completion of the transaction, and to identify and realize additional opportunities; (vi) ironSource's markets are rapidly evolving and may decline or experience limited growth; (vii) ironSource's reliance on operating system providers and app stores to support its platform; (viii) ironSource's ability to compete effectively in the markets in which it operates; (ix) ironSource's quarterly results of operations may fluctuate for a variety of reasons; (x) failure to maintain and enhance the ironSource brand; (xi) ironSource's dependence on its ability to retain and expand its existing customer relationships and attract new customers; (xii) ironSource's reliance on its customers that contribute more than $100,000 of annual revenue; (xiii) ironSource's ability to successfully and efficiently manage its current and potential future growth; (xiv) ironSource's dependence upon the continued growth of the app economy and the increased usage of smartphones, tablets and other connected devices; (xv) ironSource's dependence upon the success of the gaming and mobile app ecosystem and the risks generally associated with the gaming industry; (xvi) ironSource's, and ironSource's competitors', ability to detect or prevent fraud on its platforms; (xvii) failure to prevent security breaches or unauthorized access to ironSource's or its third-party service providers data; (xviii) the global scope of ironSource's operations, which are subject to laws and regulations worldwide, many of which are unsettled and still developing; (xix) the rapidly changing and increasingly stringent laws, contractual obligations and industry standards relating to privacy, data protection, data security and the protection of children; and (xx) the effects of health epidemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

ironSource and TBA caution you against placing undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect current beliefs and are based on information currently available as of the date a forward-looking statement is made. Forward-looking statements set forth herein speak only as of the date of this communication. Neither ironSource nor TBA undertakes any obligation to revise forward-looking statements to reflect future events, changes in circumstances, or changes in beliefs. In the event that any forward-looking statement is updated, no inference should be made that ironSource or TBA will make additional updates with respect to that statement, related matters, or any other forward-looking statements. Any corrections or revisions and other important assumptions and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements, including discussions of significant risk factors, may appear in ironSource's public filings with the SEC, which are or will be (as appropriate) accessible at www.sec.gov, and which you are advised to consult.

Market, ranking and industry data used throughout this communication, including statements regarding market size and technology adoption rates, is based on the good faith estimates of ironSource's management, which in turn are based upon ironSource's management's review of internal surveys, independent industry surveys and publications, including reports by Altman Solon, App Annie, AppsFlyer, Apptopia, eMarketer, Newzoo, Omdia and Sensor Tower and other third-party research and publicly available information. These data involve a number of assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such estimates. While ironSource is not aware of any misstatements regarding the industry data presented herein, its estimates involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change based on various factors, including those discussed above.

(PRNewsfoto/ironSource,Thoma Bravo Advantage)

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SOURCE Thoma Bravo Advantage; ironSource
NORTHAMPTON, Mass., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Marketing Doctor, one of Adweek's fastest growing agencies in the world, is holding a contest to give back to the Western Massachusetts business community. The winner will receive a custom advertising campaign from Marketing Doctor, which provides nationally recognized media planning and media buying services.

"As industry leaders, Marketing Doctor is proud to be recognized by Inc. 5000 and Adweek as one of the Fastest Growing Private Companies in America, as well as our most treasured national award, Ad Age Best Place to Work," stated Janet Casey, President and Founder of Marketing Doctor. "This year, to celebrate these national awards, we want to share our knowledge and talent with a deserving local business. As a women-owned company, we believe it's important to help another diverse organization navigate the ever-changing advertising landscape. We're excited to help them achieve success and shine."

The contest runs from June 28, 2021 at 12 pm EST until July 16, 2021 at 5 pm EST. The winning business will receive a custom advertising campaign, executed by the Marketing Doctor team, worth $30,000. The campaign will promote the winning business to help drive sales and growth.

To be eligible to enter and win the contest, entrants must be small- to mid-sized diverse businesses as classified by the Massachusetts Supplier Diversity Office and located in Western MA (413 area code). In addition, the business must have a minimum annual revenue of $200,000 and have been in business for at least 3 years. Open to all industries.

Interested business owners can enter the contest by visiting mymarketingdoctor.com/contest and submitting an application. Contest finalists will be asked to join Marketing Doctor for a virtual meet-and-greet. A panel of judges will select the contest winner.

For questions or more information regarding the contest, contact contact@mymarketingdoctor.com or visit mymarketingdoctor.com/contest for terms, conditions, and the entry process.

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About Marketing Doctor: Marketing Doctor, Inc. is a data-driven media planning and buying agency in Northampton, MA known for industry-leading cost efficiencies including value-adds and granular targeting. Using their clients' goals and budgets, they develop and execute omnichannel media plans that exceed expectations and achieve record-breaking results on a national scale. For more information, please visit mymarketingdoctor.com .

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SOURCE Marketing Doctor
Regions Premiere Life Sciences Forum to be Held In-Person and Virtually October 4-5, 2021

FREDERICK, Md., June 28, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Maryland Tech Council (MTC), Marylands largest technology and life sciences trade association, announced today that registration is open for the 2021 Bio Innovation Conference, the first fully integrated event featuring in-person and virtual experiences for the regions life sciences community.

Held Monday, October 4, 2021 through Tuesday, October 5, 2021, the Bio Innovation Conference is the regions premiere forum for professionals from industry, academia, and government to make new professional connections and explore trends in this burgeoning industry. Topics on the conference agenda include vaccines, cell and gene therapy, biomanufacturing, regulatory trends and workforce and talent challenges.

To register for the conference, visit the 2021 Bio Innovation Conference Registration page. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Interested parties should contact Wendy Worm, Vice President of Marketing and Programs of the Maryland Tech Council, via the event registration page.

The Bio Innovation Conference is the only biotechnology conference in Maryland to feature the BIO One-on-One Partnering system, a virtual platform that simplifies the process of searching for, identifying, and meeting with potential partners and business development executives. The BIO One-on-One Partnering system will allow you to pre-schedule private, virtual, 30-minute meetings in meeting spaces at the conference, source potential partnerships with a senior-level audience, and communicate directly with management in life sciences fields.

"As the regions premiere collaborative community for the life sciences industry, we are deeply committed to safely bringing our community back together again," said Marty Rosendale, CEO of the Maryland Tech Council. "The 2021 Bio Innovation Conference will be a valuable forum for anyone seeking to deepen their professional relationships and explore the future of life sciences in a post-pandemic world."

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ABOUT THE MARYLAND TECH COUNCIL

The Maryland Tech Council (MTC) is a collaborative community that is actively engaged in building strong technology and life science industries by supporting the efforts of our individual members. We are the largest technology and life sciences trade association in the state of Maryland, and we provide value by giving members a forum to learn, share, and connect. MTC brings the regions community together into a single, united organization that empowers our members to achieve their business goals through advocacy, networking and education. The vision for the Maryland Tech Council is to propel Maryland to become the number one innovation economy for life sciences and technology in the country. For more information: mdtechcouncil.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005716/en/

Contacts

Henry Fawell

Campfire Communications

henry@campfirecomm.com

(410) 212-8468
VANCOUVER, BC, June 28, 2021 /CNW/ -- Nickel Rock Resources Inc. (the "Company" and "Nickel Rock") (TSX-V: NICL), (OTCQB: NICKLF), (FSE: NMK2) is pleased to announce that an initial phase of the Nickel Project exploration program has been completed. The Nickel Project ("Project") consists of four non-contiguous mineral claims groups held by Nickel Rock Resources Inc. through three separate agreements. The exploration stage project is in the Trembleur Lake area of central British Columbia, partially adjacent to FPX Nickel Corp.'s Decar Nickel Project, which is an advanced project targeting awaruite, a nickel-iron alloy mineral, hosted by serpentinized ultramafic intrusive rocks of the Trembleur Ultramafic Unit.

NICKEL ROCK COMPLETES INITIAL EXPLORATION PROGRAM ON THE HARD NICKEL CLAIM GROUP (PRNewsfoto/Nickel Rock Resources Inc.)

Robert Setter, Company President and CEO comments "We are very excited about the results from our initial exploration program on the Hard Nickel claim group. The team has worked very hard to get to where we are now. During this initial exploration, we have recorded some relatively high Ni readings measured via portable XRF on the Nickel S block, with one being 4% Ni, and another registering approximately 6000 ppm in the Nickel W block. It should be noted that although pXRF does not necessarily reflect bulk rock composition, it is a good indication that we are on the right track here. Furthermore, field work verified the presence of strongly magnetic and serpentinized ultramafic rocks on both the Nickel W and S blocks, corresponding to geophysical magnetic anomalies highlighted from Geoscience BC's QUEST-West survey. Our geological team suspects these ultramafic rocks have potential to host awaruite mineralization."

Exploration Program

The initial exploration consisted of rock & soil geochemical surveys and geological mapping on the lower elevation, road accessible Nickel West and Nickel South blocks. 405 soil samples and 149 rock samples were collected on the Nickel West block and 101 soil samples and 50 rock samples were collected on the Nickel South block. All samples have been submitted to SGS Canada for analytical analysis.

On site portable X-ray fluorescence analysis (pXRF) confirmed the presence of nickel values exceeding 40,000 ppm on the Nickel South block and 6000 ppm on the Nickel West block in select bedrock samples. It should be noted that pXRF does not necessarily reflect bulk rock composition.

All rock samples were taken in duplicate, with one sent to SGS Canada for geochemical analysis and a duplicate sample retained at Hardline Exploration in Smithers BC for further mineralogical analysis.

Soil samples were submitted for screening to -80 mesh (180 m) and processing with aqua regia digestion followed by analysis using ICP-OES. Rock samples were submitted for crushing to 75% passing 2mm, riffle splitting 250g and pulverization of the split to better than 85% passing 105 microns, and processing with four acid digestion followed by analysis using ICP-OES.

Further exploration will resume on the Nickel West and Nickel Central blocks including rock and soil geochemical surveys and mechanized trenching.

A Notice of Work application was submitted in February 2021 allowing for mechanized trenching, diamond drilling, geophysics and camps. The Company is working/consulting with the BC government and local First Nations.

The principal target on the Project is nickel occurring as awaruite, but at the exploration stage all other styles of mineralization will be considered.

Systematic, ground-based exploration work began within the area of the claims now covered by the Nickel Project under the direction of Ms. Ursula Mowat, P.Geo. in 1987, continuing intermittently until 2012. This work established the presence of elevated nickel, cobalt and chromium values in rocks, soils, and stream sediments.

The area of the claim groups of the Project were included in Geoscience BC's QUEST and QUEST-West projects, including multiparameter regional geophysical surveys, and regional stream sediment reanalyzes and data compilations between 2008 and 2009. The survey highlighted multiple large geophysical magnetic anomalies on both the Nickel W and S claim groups, suspected to be attributed to ultramafic intrusive rocks from preliminary field mapping with potential to host awaruite mineralization.

Britten's technical paper "Regional Metallogeny and Genesis of a New Deposit Type  Disseminated Awaruite (Ni3Fe) Mineralization Hosted in the Cache Creek Terrane published in 2017 in Economic Geology should be utilized as an interim mineral deposit model or profile for the Nickel Project.

The Nickel Project is worthy of phased, systematic exploration programs designed and implemented to delineate areas with known or high probability metallic nickel mineralization, and to discover new areas of similar mineralization.

2021 Work Program

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The Company currently has approximately $1.4 million in its treasury to fully fund its 2021 proposed work program.

The proposed work program consists of trenching, surface exploration, diamond drilling, camp construction, and exploration activities to support drilling and trenching such as soil sampling, rock sampling, prospecting, and geological mapping. The company proposes a 12-man camp to be built in a cirque on the north slope of the un-named mountain west of and adjacent to Mount Sydney Williams, and will be built next to a sub-alpine lake at the headwaters of Van Decar Creek. The location of camp was selected based on past exploration camps at this location and is suitable for supporting exploration. Camp will be used to accommodate field personnel and will be accessed with helicopter.

The Company estimates that this proposed work program will include $600,000 in exploration expenditures spent over the summer - fall of 2021 which will fulfill the Company's flow-through mining exploration commitments for the 2021 calendar year.

Qualified Person

Jacques Houle, P.Eng., a qualified person as defined by NI 43  101, is responsible for the technical information contained in this release. Readers are cautioned that the information in this press release regarding the property of FPX Nickel Corp is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the property of interest.

About Nickel Rock Resources Inc.

The Company is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company active in the exploration for nickel-iron alloy in British Columbia and lithium in Nevada. Nickel Rock Resources Inc. is a Canadian based exploration company whose primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's maintains a focus on exploration for high value battery metals required for the electric vehicle (EV) market. (http://www.nickelrockresources.com/)

About Clayton Valley Lithium Project

Clayton Valley is a down-dropped closed basin formed by the Miocene age Great Basin extension and is still active due to movement along the Walker Lane structural zone. As a result, the basin has preserved multiple layers of lithium bearing volcanic ash, resulting from multiple eruptive events over the past 6 million years including eruptions from the 700,000-year-old Long Valley Caldera system and related events. These ash layers are thought to contribute to the lithium brines extracted by Albemarle and are also likely involved in the formation of the exposed lithium rich clay deposits on the east side of Clayton Valley. https://nickelrockresources.com/clayton-valley-lithium/

About the British Columbia, Canada Nickel Projects

The Mount Sidney Williams Group consists of five claim blocks in four groups with a total area of 6,125.32 hectares in the area surrounding Mount Sidney Williams, both adjoining and near the Decar project of FPX Nickel Corp., located 100 kilometres northwest of Fort St. James, B.C., in the Omineca mining division. Metallic mineralization includes nickel, cobalt, and chromium. At least some of the nickel mineralization occurs as awaruite. The Mitchell Range Group area claim consist of two contiguous claim blocks covering 3,134.70 hectares with demonstrated metallic mineralization including nickel, cobalt, and chromium. Nickel cobalt mineralization has not been well explored, but the presence of awaruite has been documented.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

"Robert Setter"

Robert Setter, President & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical facts, comments that address resource potential, upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and others are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forward-looking statements.

Nickel Rock Resources Inc.

1220  789 West Pender Street

Vancouver, BC, Canada V6C 1H2

604- 428-5690

www.nickelrockresources.com

info@nickelrockresources.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1552689/2021_Work_Program_Nickel_Rock.jpg

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SOURCE Nickel Rock Resources Inc.

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Top companies covered in North America marshmallow market report are Mondelez International, Inc. (Chicago, United States), General Mills, Inc. (Minnesota, United States), Doumak, Inc. (Illinois, United States), North Mallow (Minnesota, United States), Just Born, Inc. (Pennsylvania, United States) , Chicago Vegan Foods (United States), Stuffed Puffs, LLC (Pennsylvania, United States), Madysons Marshmallow (Washington, United States), Hammonds Candies (Colorado, United States), Kitchening & Co. (Vancouver, Canada) and more players profiled.

Pune, India, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The North America marshmallow market size is expected to reach USD 535.26 million by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 6.61% during the forecast period. The growing shift towards luxurious and premium confectioneries will have a tremendous impact on the market during the forecast period, states Fortune Business Insights, in a report, titled North America Marshmallow Market, 2021  2028. The market size stood at USD 319.18 million in 2020.





COVID-19 Impact:

Various factories and warehouses throughout the country have been forced to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumers considered panic buying and stockpiling of candies and chocolates as a means of warmth and indulgence during the initial stages of the lockdown. Besides, the industry saw a slight increase in revenue as convenience stores and grocery stores reopened. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), in March 2020, supermarket food sales experienced a surge of 57 percent on food-at-home spent by consumers, compared to the year 2019. The heavy demand for marshmallows due to the stay-at-home policy further helped the market expansion during the global pandemic.





The report on North America marshmallow market includes:

Terrific insights into the industry

Essential data with in-depth research

Reasons exhibiting market growth

Broad study about main regions

COVID-19 impact on the market

Leading developments in the industry





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Get a Sample PDF Brochure:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/north-america-marshmallow-market-105434





Competitive Landscape :

Companies to Focus on Product Development for Strong Market Presence

The market is dominated by prominent companies such as Mondelez International, Inc., General Mills Inc., Just Born, Inc., and Stuffed Puffs, LLC. The key players are constantly developing new products and expanding their production capabilities to cater to the needs of the consumers.





Key Development :

September 2020: Stuffed Puffs, LLC launched 25 exclusively wrapped marshmallows in various shapes such as vampire, pumpkin, and mummy on the occasion of Halloween in the U.S.





The Report Lists the Key Companies in the North America Marshmallow Market:

Mondelez International, Inc. (Chicago, United States)

General Mills, Inc. (Minnesota, United States)

Doumak, Inc. (Illinois, United States)

North Mallow (Minnesota, United States)

Just Born, Inc. (Pennsylvania, United States)

Chicago Vegan Foods (United States)

Stuffed Puffs, LLC (Pennsylvania, United States)

Madysons Marshmallow (Washington, United States)

Hammonds Candies (Colorado, United States)

Kitchening & Co. (Vancouver, Canada)





Browse Detailed Summary of Research Report with TOC:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/north-america-marshmallow-market-105434





Key Driving Factor :

Rising Popularity of Plant-based Foods to Back Development

Consumer knowledge about the advantages of natural, plant-based goods has risen dramatically in recent years. Moreover, the vegan movement has resulted in heavy demand for plant-based foods. According to the plant-based food Association, the retail sales of plant-based foods in the U.S. increased by 11% in 2019 compared to the previous year. Marshmallows are high in calories and contain eggs, animal-sourced gelatin, sugar, and corn syrup. However, the rising trend of veganism has urged manufacturers to introduce marshmallows with plant-based ingredients carrageenan, soy protein, tapioca syrup, and natural vanilla flavors. This, in turn, will enable speedy expansion of the market in the future. Though, the rising demand for sugar-free and low-calorie products can negatively affect the North America marshmallow market share in the future.





Market Segments :

Based on product type, the market is divided into flavored and unflavored. The flavored variant is expected to hold the largest share owing to the consumer proclivity for new and innovative confections.

Based on nature, the market is divided into vegan, organic, kosher, and conventional. The conventional ones are expected to hold the lions share during the forecast period due to its wide availability. Based on distribution channels, the market is classified into supermarkets/hypermarkets, specialty stores, convenience stores, and online retail. Supermarkets/hypermarkets are expected to hold the largest share due to the accessibility of the extensive product range.





Regional Insights :

Rising Food Consumption to Foster Growth in the US

The U.S. accounted for USD 261.62 million in 2020. The booming confectionery industry is ppropelling growth in the region. Changing consumer patterns and expanding the food industry will create immense value for the market. Moreover, the rising popularity of desserts and chocolates will boost the consumption in the US. The consumer demand for ready-to-eat snacks and confectionery products will have an outstanding impact on the North America marshmallow market growth. Canada is likely to experience a significant growth rate during the forecast period. The booming sugar and confectionery industry will contribute to the growth of the market in Canada. According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), in 2019, the sugar and confectionery segment accounted for USD 4.0 billion.





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Detailed Table of Content:

Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities

Key Insights Overview on the North America Confectionery Market Analysis on U.S. Non-Chocolate/Sugar Confectionery Market Factors Impacting Consumers Buying Behaviour Supply Chain & Regulatory Analysis Industry SWOT Analysis Recent Industry Developments - Policies, Mergers & Acquisitions, and New Product Launches Market Analysis and Insights (in Relation with COVID-19) Impact of COVID-19 on the Market Supply Chain Challenges due to the Pandemic Potential Opportunities to Support the Market during the North America Crisis

North America Marshmallow Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2017-2028 Key Findings / Summary Market Size Estimates and Forecast By Type (Value) Flavored Unflavored By Nature (Value) Vegan Organic Kosher Conventional By Distribution Channel (Value) Supermarkets/Hypermarkets Specialty Stores Convenience Stores Online Retail By Country (Value) U.S By Type (Value) Flavored Unflavored Canada By Type (Value) Flavored Unflavored



TOC Continued!





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To



NASDAQ Copenhagen Executive Board

Lers Parkalle 100

DK-2100 Kbenhavn 

www.rd.dk







Telephone +45 7012 5300

Telefax +45 4514 9622













28 June 2021

Company Announcement No 57/2021



Prepayments, Realkredit Danmark A/S



Pursuant to 24 of the Capital Markets Act, Realkredit Danmark A/S hereby publishes prepayments as at Friday 25 June 2021. Please find the data in the attached file.

The information will also be available on www.rd.dk .







Yours sincerely

The Executive Board







Any additional questions should be addressed to Hella Gebhardt Rnnebk, Chief Analyst, phone +45 4513 2068.

Attachments




Independence, Ohio, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Developer and owner of single-story apartment homes, Redwood Living, Inc., has been awarded a Top Workplaces honor for the fourth consecutive year by Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.

The program aims to offer data to engage employees, showcase standout culture, and attract and maintain top talent at organizations in Cleveland and surrounding communities.



The 2021 list ranks 175 companies, nonprofits, schools and other employers in large, mid-size and small categories. These organizations are assessed solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by employee engagement technology partner, Energage.



This years focus was on how the regions top employers supported their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Redwood ranked 12th in the mid-size category.

Redwoods 400+ employees span seven states, developing and managing the companys growing portfolio of single-story apartment homes. In Cleveland, Redwood employs approximately 130 employees at the companys corporate headquarters and owns and operates 25 neighborhoods across the Northeast Ohio region.

Our remarkable Redwood Ambassadors are our greatest asset, and that became even more clear during the strange year that was 2020, said David Conwill, CEO at Redwood. Their ability to deliver more than expected to our residents and each other inspires our organization to work hard every day to continue fostering an exceptional culture. It is an honor to be recognized for the fourth consecutive year, and we thank our employees for truly making Redwood a Top Workplace in Northeast Ohio.



Throughout the pandemic, Redwood has supported its team in a variety of ways, with flexible work arrangements, employee appreciation gifts, and time off for vaccinations and vaccine reactions. With team members now returning to the office, Redwood is grateful for the chance to resume in-person collaboration.

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Learn more about Redwood and view current career opportunities at a company that puts its people first.





###

About Redwood Living, Inc.

Redwood Living, Inc. (Redwood) is an innovative development and property management company with neighborhoods in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina, South Carolina and Kentucky. The company believes that the growth of the rental population demands the response that Redwood provides. The success of this approach continues to be validated in new markets. Redwood is a company that believes in its mission, product and amazing people. It creates a simplified, relaxed lifestyle for residents, and offers a rewarding atmosphere for its employees. For more information, visit www.byredwood.com.

Attachment

CONTACT: Marketing Redwood Living Marketing@byRedwood.com




NEW YORK, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Washington Prime Group, Inc. (WPG or the Company) (NYSE: WPG). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.



The investigation concerns whether WPG and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On February 16, 2021, WPG disclosed that its operating partnership, WPG L.P., had elected to withhold an interest payment of $23.2 million due on February 15, 2021 with respect to WPG L.P.s outstanding Senior Notes due 2024, and that WPG L.P. has a 30-day grace period to make the interest payment before such non-payment constitutes an event of default. The Company further advised that, in an event of default, certain counterparties to the senior notes could accelerate the outstanding indebtedness due . . . making such indebtedness due and payable, which would result in a cross-default with respect to some of WPG L.P.s or the Companys other indebtedness.

On this news, WPGs stock price fell $4.59 per share, or 38%, to close at $7.49 per share on February 16, 2021.

Then, on March 4, 2021, Bloomberg reported that WPG is preparing a potential bankruptcy filing as time runs out to avert default after it skipped an interest payment on its debt, according to people with knowledge of the plans. On this news, WPGs stock price fell $3.77 per share, or 60%, to close at $2.51 per share on March 4, 2021. Then, on March 16, 2021, WPG disclosed that it had entered into a forbearance agreement with respect to the Senior Notes due in 2024 and stated there was substantial doubt as the Companys ability to continue as a going concern. The Company confirmed that it had engaged in discussions for a financial restructuring.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com .

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CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

rswilloughby@pomlaw.com

888-476-6529 ext. 7980




NEW YORK, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Philips or the Company) (NYSE: PHG). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.



The investigation concerns whether Philips and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On June 14, 2021, Philips issued a voluntary recall of certain of its Bi-Level Positive Airway Pressure (Bi-Level PAP) and Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) devices, as well as mechanical ventilators, after finding that the sound abatement foam used in the devices can degrade and become toxic, potentially causing cancer.

On this news, Philips stock price fell $2.25 per share, or 3.98%, to close at $54.25 per share on June 14, 2021.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

rswilloughby@pomlaw.com

888-476-6529 ext. 7980








The COVID-19 pandemic continues to create stress and anxiety for many Canadians, particularly those who do not have ready access to their regular support networks. Through the Wellness Together Canada online portal, people of all ages across the country can access immediate, free and confidential mental health and substance use supports, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

OTTAWA, ON, June 26, 2021 /CNW/ - The past year and a half has taught us a lot about preventing risks and protecting ourselves and others against COVID-19. As more and more Canadians are vaccinated, I know that people in Canada have questions about life after vaccination. While we need to continue following current public health measures, it's also important to look at our individual risk when going outand there are new and updated resources and tools that can help.

More people getting vaccinated means fewer people getting sick or severely ill with COVID-19. High vaccination coverage across the population also makes it safer to ease restrictive measures. The new Life After Vaccination resources aim to help you make informed and confident decisions to enjoy a safer summer. This includes an easy to read infographic to help as you consider the risks of different activities based on personal and family health and vaccination status, the setting or activity and precautions to help to keep you safer. If you are at risk of more severe disease or outcomes, individual precautions such as masking, and physical distancing provide additional layers of protection that can further reduce your risk in all settings. Your risk is always lower when outside.

On June 22, Ryerson University's National Institute on Ageing launched the My COVID-19 Visit Risk Calculator, an individual risk assessment tool to help people in Canada make informed decisions about their personal risk for COVID-19. This user-friendly online tool provides reliable, science-based information to help you reduce your individual risk when visiting and gathering with others. When you use the tool, you'll anonymously answer questions about your age, health, and vaccination status, and the people you are visiting, along with the prevalence of COVID-19 in your community.

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Once you've answered these questions, the tool estimates the risk of your visit as low, moderate, high, or very high. It will also guide you towards resources with more information to help you make an informed decision. This way the tool can help you choose wisely and act safely, and each of our individual safe choices can ultimately allow us all to enjoy more everyday social activities.

As COVID-19 activity declines in Canada, we are continuing to track key epidemiological indicators to monitor trends and quickly detect emerging issues of concern, including to better understand the impact of circulating virus variants. The Public Health Agency of Canada is also providing Canadians with regular updates on COVID-19 vaccines administered, vaccination coverage and ongoing monitoring of vaccine safety across the country. The following is the latest summary on national numbers and trends.

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 1,412,226 cases of COVID-19 and 26,197 deaths reported in Canada; these cumulative numbers tell us about the overall burden of COVID-19 illness to date. Variants of concern (VOCs) represent the majority of recently reported COVID-19 cases across the country. While the Alpha variant continues to account for the majority of genetically sequenced variants in Canada, four VOCs (B.1.1.7 (Alpha), B.1.351 (Beta), P.1 (Gamma), and B.1.617.2 (Delta)) have been detected in most provinces and territories and the Delta variant is increasing in some areas. However, we know that vaccination, in combination with public health and individual measures, are working to reduce spread of COVID-19.

The latest national-level data show a continued downward trend in disease activity with an average of 758 cases reported daily during the latest 7 day period (June 18-24), down 33% compared to the week prior. Likewise, the overall number of people experiencing severe and critical illness is also steadily declining. Provincial and territorial data indicate that an average of 1,114 people with COVID-19 were being treated in Canadian hospitals each day during the most recent 7-day period (June 18-24), which is 22% fewer than last week. This includes, on average 533 people who were being treated in intensive care units, 18% fewer than last week. Likewise, the latest 7-day average of 18 deaths reported daily (June 18-24) is continuing to decline, showing a 9% decrease compared to the week prior.

As vaccine eligibility continues to expand, the administration of first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines continues at an accelerated pace across the country, there is increasing optimism that widespread, stronger and longer lasting immunity can be achieved by fully vaccinating a high proportion of Canadians. For more information regarding the risks and benefits of vaccination, I encourage Canadians to reach out to your local public health authorities, healthcare provider, or other trusted and credible sources, such as Canada.ca and Immunize.ca.

While COVID-19 is still circulating in Canada and internationally, core public health measures and individual protective practices can help us to reduce the spread: stay home/self-isolate if you have symptoms; be aware of risks associated with different settings; avoid all non-essential travel; and maintain individual protective practices such as physical distancing and wearing a well-fitted and properly worn face mask, as appropriate.

Canadians can also go the extra mile by sharing credible information on COVID-19 risks and prevention practices and measures to reduce COVID-19 in communities. Read my backgrounder to access more COVID-19 Information and Resources on ways to reduce the risks and protect yourself and others, including information on COVID-19 vaccination.

SOURCE Public Health Agency of Canada

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View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2021/26/c7746.html
Partnership with Her Majesty's Prison Will Provide Jobs, Skills Training, and Marketing Technology Certification to Females in Prison, Leading to Career Opportunities Upon Reentry

PHOENIX, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- To help contribute to a more just and equitable world, business and government must be proactive and provide opportunities for all people, regardless of background or circumstance. By upskilling and reskilling and eliminating barriers that have prevented the full participation of some groups in the global labor force, countries can reduce racial, ethnic, health, and socioeconomic disparities and build an inclusive world economy.

Televerde , the preferred global revenue creation partner supporting marketing, sales, and customer success for B2B businesses around the world, today announced its partnership with the UK Ministry of Justice (MOJ) with the expansion of its prison to workforce development program to Her Majesty's Prison Styal (HMP Styal) in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England. This expansion is an extension of Televerde's European Headquarters in Glasgow, Scotland, which was opened in 2016. HMP Styal is Televerde's first European engagement center that is staffed entirely by female prisoners and its ninth prison-run center globally.

With this new European-based engagement center, Televerde will expand its outbound and inbound sales and marketing solutions across Europe. The women employed by Televerde at HMP Styal will partner with and directly support some of the most recognizable global names in business today, building both experience and a professional network that will increase their marketability and provide a clear advantage over others in the hiring process when they are released from prison.

The MOJ is a major government department at the heart of the United Kingdom justice system. The organization works to protect and advance the principles of justice and to deliver a world-class justice system that works for everyone in society. There are 121 prisons across England and Wales. HMP Styal in Wilmslow, Cheshire is a prison and young offender institution (YOI) for women aged 18 and over. Currently, there are about 400 women living in the facility. The Televerde engagement center at Styal will employ 20 women at that facility with the goal of expanding the Televerde brand into other locations within the HMP system in the near future so more women have opportunity to build meaningful careers and successfully reenter their communities.

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The New Futures Network (NFN) is the specialist part of the UK prison service that brokers partnerships between prisons and employers. The NFN team of Regional Employment Brokers work across English and Welsh prisons to support businesses including Televerde and to establish job opportunities for serving prisoners and prison leavers.

As a pioneer in second-chance employment, Televerde has employed more than 3,000 female prisoners in the United States, with 94 percent advancing into professional career positions in sales, marketing and technology fields. The women employed as part of Televerde's prison workforce development program are compensated fairly and receive on-the-job training in the art of sales and marketing, business acumen, in-demand marketing technologies (Salesforce, Eloqua, Marketo, et al), IT, and all other areas in business. They also have full access to a complete suite of services necessary for successful reentry and career development offered through the nonprofit organization, Televerde Foundation.

Televerde has experienced the overwhelming business, social and economic benefits of employing individuals with a criminal background. The success of their model was recently documented in a study by the Arizona State University Seidman Research Institute. The results reveal that participants of Televerde's program go on to attain employment, earnings, and education at higher rates and reoffend at significantly lower rates than other females released from prison in the United States. The full study can be accessed here .

QUOTES

"Many of the women arriving at HMP Styal have never had a job, and therefore, do not have the work ethic employment provides. By providing them with these work opportunities, such as the Televerde business centre, it allows them to gain skills employers are looking for on release. We know from experience that this reduces the chances of a woman re-offending, which benefits the woman and her family, as well as society as a whole." -- Michelle Quirke, HMP Styal governor

"We are pleased to have been involved in partnering Televerde and HMP Styal and look forward to celebrating the future successes of the women selected for the placements." -- Zeki Bekir, national sector lead, New Futures Network

"At Xactly, we select partners that align with our core values and support innovative diversity and inclusion principles and practices. Televerde is a leader in this space, which is one of the reasons why we chose the company to help us transform the customer experience. I am delighted to see the international expansion of Televerde's prison-run operations in the United Kingdom. Providing skills training and opportunity to females while in prison  a community of talent too often discarded -- is so important. Businesses must do a much better job of giving individuals with a criminal background a second chance and supporting their reentry into our global workforce, communities, and local economies. I look forward to visiting HM Prison Styal in Cheshire to get to know the talented women who will be working on our campaign and to learn how we can further support their journey of transformation." -- Jamie Anderson, chief sales officer, Xactly Corporation.

"As a long-time Televerde client, the quality and depth of knowledge and deliverables that the team provides has grown over time and enables them to perform at far higher levels, validating the benefits of outsourcing sales and marketing programs to the right partner to help achieve revenue goals. As a technology leader I understand the importance and need for companies to create value for society. One way we can do this is by building partnerships with purpose to achieve business goals, whilst also helping to create a more just, fair and equitable world. I believe so strongly in the mission of Televerde that I've also made a personal commitment of time and resource to Televerde's non-profit arm, Televerde Foundation, to help ensure the women have access to a full suite of personal and professional services so they can successfully reenter society. I am excited that Televerde is taking its proven business model to the United Kingdom so that more women can reclaim their independence and rebuild their lives. I look forward to being a part of this work and to visiting the engagement center and seeing in person how the women in HMP Styal transform and grow in their careers and personal lives."  Genefa Murphy, Chief Marketing Officer, Five9

"In an era of much-needed social change, business and government must be willing to come together to bridge the economic divide and create a new world economy that builds prosperity for all, including individuals with a criminal background. With HMP Styal, we have found a partner with whom we very closely align in thinking and approach and will work with them to ensure that women get the skills they need in order to rebuild their lives and successfully transition back into society. With Televerde's business expanding, we are delighted to open the center so we can provide stronger experiences, deliver more value, and accelerate success for our clients in the United Kingdom and beyond." -- Morag Lucey, chief executive officer, Televerde

About Televerde

Televerde is the preferred global revenue creation partner driving marketing, sales and customer success excellence for B2B businesses around the world. Powered by a cutting-edge customer journey platform and the delivery of a highly personalized experience, we deliver full end to end life-cycle revenue generation from Marketing, through Sales to Customer Success with scalability, repeatability and predictability. From audience identification to advocacy, we drive bottom line results. Our uniquely evolved approach, business model, and best practices have enabled us to deliver over $65B in pipeline and to close over $12B+ in revenue for our customers. Working across industries and with leaders across sectors, we are powered by a mission to transform 10,000 lives.

For more information on Televerde, visit http://www.televerde.com.

About New Futures Network

New Futures Network is a specialist part of HMPPS, brokering and managing relationships between prisons and employers. New Futures Network has three key objectives:

Increasing employment opportunities for prison leavers on release.

Increasing employment opportunities through Release on Temporary Licence.

Increasing workplace opportunities within prisons.

Find out more about New Futures Network at www.newfuturesnetwork.gov.uk.

Televerde is a registered trademark of Televerde, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective companies.

Televerde Media Contact:

Kellie Walenciak

+1 908 377 9969

kellie.walenciak@televerde.com

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SOURCE Televerde
Collins has served Clarkson for 40 years

Potsdam, NY, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Anthony G. Collins, president of Clarkson University since 2003, will step down as Clarksons 16th president at the conclusion of the 2022 academic year. A Clarkson faculty member since 1982, President Collins has been a booster for economic development in the North Country and throughout New York State, and a national advocate for higher education.

Tony Collins has advanced the reputation of Clarkson University, a nationally ranked institution whose 44,000 living alumni are well represented in the leadership ranks of American business, where one in five serves as CEO, president, vice president, founder or owner of a company. During his tenure as president, student outcomes including retention, graduation rate, placement in field of interest, starting salaries, and return on educational investment have been outstanding.

Under President Collins leadership, the Vision of a Clarkson Education and Clarkson@125 have guided strategic initiatives which have been substantially realized over almost two decades. Clarksons Potsdam hill campus has been expanded both physically and in academic reach, while the downtown campus has been repurposed to advance interdisciplinary entrepreneurship, the recently added Lewis School of Health Sciences, and the economic revitalization of the Village of Potsdam. Outside of Potsdam, Clarkson has expanded geographically in recent years, with new graduate and professional programs accessible at its Capital Region Campus in Schenectady and at the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries on Dennings Point.

President Collins contributions to Clarkson University have been extraordinary and will prove to be enduring. He has exceeded the broadest measure of success, leaving the institution in far better shape than when he accepted the role of president. In addition to advancing many of the metrics typically considered in assessing institutional success, Tonys leadership throughout the challenges wrought by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 has been outstanding, said Tom Kassouf 74, chair of the Board of Trustees. We are exceptionally appreciative of his long service as president, as well as for the supportive and engaging student environment unceasingly nurtured by Tony and Karen Collins, amplifying what has always been one of Clarksons greatest strengths  direct personal connection amongst students, faculty, and administration.

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It has been an honor afforded by the trustees to lead Clarkson University as the President, motivated by the commitment and dedication of our faculty, staff and inspirational students. Beyond the campus constituents, the communities surrounding our multiple campuses have joined us in working to propel Clarkson forward, said Tony Collins. Clarkson has a unique character that attracts this support. I am grateful to our federal, state and regional representatives, as well as our donors, often alumni, who have provided the resources necessary to build this great university.

A native of Australia, President Collins earned an undergraduate civil engineering degree from Monash University. He then worked for Australian Consolidated Industries and the Utah Development Company before earning masters and doctoral degrees from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. After receiving his Ph.D in 1982, he launched his career at Clarkson, progressing from assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering to full professor, department chair, dean, vice president for academic affairs, and provost. During that time, he received awards for outstanding teaching, research, and advising, as well as lecturing internationally, and authoring more than 90 publications.

He currently serves as chair of the Association of Independent Technological Universities (AITU), is emeritus chair of New Yorks Commission for Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU), serves on the board of the Business Council of New York State, is president of the Seaway Private Equity Corporation, and was previously nominated to serve on the Advisory Board of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, and has served on a number of New York State advisory task forces as well as co-chair for the North Country Regional Economic Development Council.

A search committee, to be co-chaired by Trustees Georgia Keresty 83, board secretary, and Sanjeev Kulkarni 84, chair of the Academic Mission committee, will be formed to identify a successor to Tony Collins. It will include trustees, faculty, staff, students, and alumni, representing Clarksons core constituencies. The search committee will provide details on the full committee membership and the process guiding the search for Clarksons 17th president when available.

For further questions and information, please contact Kelly Chezum 04, Vice President for External Relations and Assistant Secretary of the Board of Trustees, at 315-268-4499 or kchezum@clarkson.edu.

Attachment

CONTACT: Melissa Lindell Clarkson University 315-268-6716 mlindell@clarkson.edu Kelly Chezum Clarkson University 315-268-4499 kchezum@clarkson.edu




Drs. Abbott, Allen, Canter, Capelouto, Carmen, Chen, Elmore, Falconer, Futral, Goldstone, Gonzalez, Haber, Kaplan, Kirsch, Proctor, Rosenfeld, Scherz, Sharpe, Smith, Taghechian, and Zisholtz appear in Atlanta magazines July issue

Atlanta, GA, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Twenty-one physicians from Georgia Urology the largest urology practice in the Southeast rank among Castle Connollys Top Doctors. All of these professionals are recognized as Atlantas Top Doctors in Atlanta magazines July issue.

Those physicians are: Drs. John Abbott, Roosevelt Allen, Daniel Canter, Carl Capelouto, Darrell Carmen, Bert Chen, James Elmore, Walter Falconer, Allen Futral, Lawrence Goldstone, Froylan Gonzalez, Mark Haber, Charles Kaplan, Andrew Kirsch, Jeffrey Proctor, Joel Rosenfeld, Hal Scherz, Brent Sharpe, Edwin Smith, Shaya Taghechian, and Barry Zisholtz. These doctors represent nearly 50 percent of Georgia Urologys practice.

Atlanta magazine works with Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., a healthcare research company based in New York, to assist in its annual effort. Doctors are nominated for consideration through both a nationwide survey and a peer nomination process. Castle Connollys physician-led team of researchers then select the Top Doctors through a rigorous screening process that includes an evaluation of educational and professional experience. This year the publication honors physicians representing the following counties: DeKalb, Fulton, Cobb, Clayton, Gwinnett, Carroll, Cherokee, Coweta, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Hall, Henry, and Rockdale.

According to Dr. Hal Scherz, managing partner of Georgia Urology, this accolade is a testament to the practices goal of amassing a top-tier roster.

At Georgia Urology, we pride ourselves in creating a physician team of thought leaders and expert practitioners in the field, says Dr. Scherz. This wonderful honor serves as validation that were continuing to stay on target with that mission for the betterment of our patients.

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Dr. John Abbott practices at Georgia Urologys Fayetteville office. He completed his undergrad summa cum laude at Duke University. He graduated magna cum laude from Emory University Medical School. He then completed an internship in General Surgery at Emory University and his residency at Emory University Department of Urology. In addition to general urology, Dr. Abbotts areas of expertise include robotic surgery, urologic oncology, stone disease, urinary incontinence, and erectile dysfunction. He also specializes in the treatment of enlarged prostate (BPH) utilizing procedures such as Greenlight laser photoselective vaporization of the prostate (PVP) and Urolift. Dr. Abbott is a diplomat of the American Board of Urology and a member of the American Urological Association. He is also involved in the Southern Crescent Robotic Surgery Program.

Dr. Roosevelt Allen Jr. practices at Georgia Urologys Lawrenceville, Monroe, and Snellville offices. He graduated from Clark Atlanta University with honors. He received his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia, where he was selected to Alpha Omega Alpha, the national medical school honor society. Dr. Allen performed his general surgery internship and residency at the University of Tennessee at Memphis. He is board certified by the American Board of Urology.

Dr. Daniel Canter practices at Georgia Urologys Riverdale and Midtown offices. He graduated from New York University, cum laude. He later received his medical degree from George Washington University School of Medicine, graduating as the valedictorian. He completed his residency in urology from the University of Pennsylvania. Following this, Dr. Canter pursued specialized fellowship training in urologic oncology at the Fox Chase Cancer Center. Dr. Canter has been awarded many professional affiliations and awards during his career. A few examples of his memberships include the Society for Urologic Oncology (SUO) Clinical Trials Consortium, American Urologic Association (AUA), Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), and the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) Think Tank. He has also received multiple honors and awards, including the American College of Surgeons Young Fellows Mentorship Program and the Outstanding Scholar in Urology Award from the University of Pennsylvanias Urology Department.

Dr. Carl Capelouto practices at Georgia Urologys Canton and Woodstock offices. His areas of expertise include erectile dysfunction, Peyronies disease, low testosterone, vasectomy, voiding difficulties, urinary leakage, overactive bladder, and vaginal prolapse. A graduate of Emory University School of Medicine, Dr. Capelouto completed his residency at the Harvard Urology Residency Program and his internship at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, Mass. He is a member of the American Urological Association, Southeastern Urological Association, and Atlanta Urological Association. Dr. Capelouto is a multiple recipient of Top Doctors honors by Atlanta magazine.

Dr. Darrell J. Carmen practices at Georgia Urologys Camp Creek and Riverdale offices. With specialized training in robotic surgery and InterStim therapy, Dr. Carmen has urologic expertise in prostate cancer, erectile dysfunction, penile implant surgery, urinary incontinence, and kidney stones. He graduated from Southern University before graduating from Louisiana State University School of Medicine. He completed his internship at Loyola University and his residency at Northeastern Ohio Medical University. He is a member of the American Urological Association, National Medical Association, American Association of Clinical Urologists, and American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Bert Chen practices at Georgia Urologys Conyers and Decatur offices. In addition to general urology, Dr. Chens areas of expertise include laparoscopic and robotic surgery, stone disease, urinary incontinence, and urologic oncology. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Yale University. He earned his medical degree at Medical College of Georgia where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha, the national medical school honor society. He completed his general surgery internship and urology residency at the University of Michigan. Dr. Chen is a diplomate of the American Board of Urology and a member of the American Urological Association.

Dr. James Elmore practices at Georgia Urologys Sandy Springs and Woodstock offices. Dr. Elmore specializes in all areas of pediatric urology, but commits much of his practice and research endeavors to hypospadias. He developed a grading method for hypospadias to help standardize surgery and to assess outcomes. He also has a particular interest in urinary reflux and obstruction, robotics/laparoscopy, and pediatric kidney stones. Dr. Elmore earned his Doctor of Medicine from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, graduating with highest honors. He completed his urology residency at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and went on to specialize in pediatric urology. He completed his pediatric urology training at Emory University School of Medicine and Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Urology, and is a member of the American Urological Association and the Society of Pediatric Urology.

Dr. Walter Z. Falconer practices at Georgia Urologys Decatur and Hillandale offices. His areas of expertise include erectile dysfunction, stone disease, urinary incontinence, and prostate cancer. He received his undergraduate degree from Morehouse College and his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Falconer completed his general surgery and urology residency at Emory University and affiliated hospitals. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Urology and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He serves on several hospital committees, and served as the chief of surgery at Dekalb Medical Center at Hillandale and the chief of urology at Dekalb Medical Center. Dr. Falconer is a member of the American Urological Association, National Medical Association, Georgia State Medical Association, Atlanta Medical Association, and the Atlanta Urological Society.

Dr. Allen Futral practices at Georgia Urologys Conyers office. Dr. Futrals areas of expertise include all areas of urology with a special emphasis in erectile dysfunction, female incontinence, prostate cancer, and interstitial cystitis. He received his medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Dr. Futral completed his residency in urology at Emory University School of Medicine where he was awarded the Grady Service Award and the William Hollis Cooner Award for compassion and clinical ability. He is board certified by the American Board of Urology. Dr. Futral is a member of the American Medical Association and the American Urological Association.

Dr. Lawrence Goldstone practices at Georgia Urologys Alpharetta and Sandy Springs offices. His areas of expertise include male infertility, erectile dysfunction, urinary incontinence, and prostate cancer. He received his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School. He received his general surgery training at the University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center and served his residency in urology at Baylor College of Medicine, where he also was a fellow in urologic oncology. He is a member of the American Board of Urology, the American Urological Association, the American Cancer Society, the American Fertility Society, the Society for the Study of Male Reproduction, and the American Society of Andrology. Dr. Goldstone also is a board member of the Atlanta Chapter of the American Jewish Committee.

Dr. Froylan Gonzalez practices at Georgia Urologys Canton and Sandy Springs offices. Dr. Gonzalez earned his B.A. with honors from Williams College. He then graduated from Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health. He completed his residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital  Washington University Medical Center in Saint Louis, Mo. He then served as clinical instructor of the Division of Urology at Washington University from 2006 to 2008 with a clinical specialty in laparoscopic surgery. Dr. Gonzalez also has additional postgraduate training in both laser and robotic surgery, his areas of expertise. He is a member of the American Medical Association and the Southeast section of the American Urological Association.

Dr. Mark A. Haber practices at Georgia Urologys Cumming and Sandy Springs offices. His areas of expertise include female urology, endourology, urologic oncology, and robotic surgery. He received his medical degree from the Emory University School of Medicine and completed an internship in internal medicine there, along with a residency in general surgery. He also completed a residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American Urological Association.

Dr. Charles Kaplan practices at Georgia Urologys Austell, Douglasville, and Woodstock offices. In addition to general urology, Dr. Kaplans areas of expertise are male and female incontinence, erectile dysfunction, and prostate cancer. He has a special interest in prosthetic urology and is Georgias leader in the surgical correction of erectile dysfunction. He received his undergraduate degree in biology from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. He graduated from Emory University School of Medicine and then completed his general surgery internship at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Dr. Kaplan completed his residency in urology at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He was awarded the Pfizer Scholars in Urology Award as a resident. Dr. Kaplan is board certified in urology and a member of the American Urological Association.

Dr. Andrew J. Kirsch practices at Georgia Urologys Sandy Springs pediatrics office. His areas of expertise include pediatric urology. He has written about vesicoureteral reflux, cryptorchidism, and magnetic resonance urography. He received his medical degree from the State University of New York Health Science Center, where he received two research fellowship awards from the National Institutes of Health. He completed residencies in general surgery and urology at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed his fellowship in pediatric urology at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he was an American Foundation for Urologic Disease scholar. He has invented a surgical device and developed an endoscopic technique to correct urinary reflux in children that has become the standard of care worldwide. He is a member of the American Urological Association, American Association of Pediatric Urologists, American Academy of Pediatrics, and Society for Pediatric Urology. Dr. Kirsch is a multiple recipient of Americas Top Doctors honors by Castle Connolly.

Dr. Jeffrey G. Proctor practices at Georgia Urologys Acworth and Cartersville offices. He graduated from New York Medical College, where he received the Sprague Carlton, M.D. Award for Proficiency in Urology. He completed both his internship and residency at New York Medical College. Dr. Proctor served as Lieutenant Commander in the Navy at the Naval Hospital Pensacola, where he served as Chief of Urology. Dr. Proctors areas of urologic expertise are interstitial cystitis, overactive bladder, bladder Botox, and InterStim Therapy. Dr. Proctor has been involved in national research protocols for interstitial cystitis (IC), serving as principal investigator for a national, multi-center study. Dr. Proctor is board certified by the American Board of Urology and is a member of American Urological Association, Southeastern Section of the American Urological Association, Society for Infection and Inflammation in Urology, GAG Society, and Physician National Advisory Board for Elmiron.

Dr. Joel A. Rosenfeld practices at Georgia Urologys Jasper and Canton locations. Dr. Rosenfelds areas of urologic expertise are robotic surgery, laparoscopic surgery, and urinary tract reconstruction procedures. He graduated from the Medical College of Georgia. He then completed both an internship and his residency at the University of Tennessee Center for Health Sciences. He also completed postgraduate work in laser surgery, robotic surgery, and laparoscopic surgery. Dr. Rosenfeld is a member of the Southeast Section of the American Urological Association.

Dr. Hal Scherz practices at Georgia Urologys Alpharetta, Marietta, and Sandy Springs pediatrics offices. He earned his medical degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio. He performed his surgical and urology residencies at the University of California, San Diego. He completed a fellowship in pediatric urology at the Childrens Hospital of San Diego and the University of California, San Diego. He is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics  Urology Section, the American Urological Association, Genitourinary Reconstructive Society, UROPAC, American Association of Clinical Urologists, American College of Surgeons, Medical Association of Georgia, and the Greater Atlanta Pediatric Society. Dr. Scherz also is an associate professor of urology at Emory University School of Medicine and is an original member of the board of directors for the Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta Ambulatory Surgery Center. He is the managing partner of Georgia Urology and Georgia Pediatric Urology. He has been recognized as a Top Doctor by Atlanta magazine every year since 2007.

Dr. Brent A. Sharpe practices at Georgia Urologys Braselton and Gainesville locations. Dr. Sharpe received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and his Medical Degree from East Carolina University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in Urology at Emory University in 2005 after a surgical internship at Texas Tech Health Science Center. He is board certified by the American Board of Urology. Dr. Sharpe treats all urological conditions, but has a special interest in minimally invasive surgery for a wide range of urological conditions such as prostate enlargement (BPH), urological cancers, erectile dysfunction, and vaginal prolapse. Additionally, he has special expertise in prosthetic urology. Dr. Sharpe has vast robotic surgery experience, and performs robotic partial nephrectomy, robotic pelvic prolapse surgery, and outpatient robotic prostatectomy for prostate cancer.

Dr. Edwin A. Smith practices at Georgia Urologys Sandy Springs and Marietta pediatrics offices. He has a special interest and broad experience in the management of pediatric urinary stone disease and genitourinary reconstructive surgery. A graduate of Davidson College, he received his medical degree at Emory University School of Medicine. His general surgery internship and urology residency were completed at Emory University affiliated hospitals. Dr. Smith completed a two-year postgraduate fellowship in pediatric urology at Egleston Childrens Hospital and Scottish Rite Childrens Hospital. Dr. Smith is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Surgeons. He is also a member of several professional medical associations, including the American Urological Association, Society for Pediatric Urology, and the Society for Fetal Urology. Dr. Smith is a clinical faculty member at Emory University. He has published numerous scientific articles and book chapters.

Dr. Shaya Taghechian practices at Georgia Urologys Marietta and Woodstock offices. In addition to general urology, Dr. Taghechians special interest and expertise include prostate health, female urology, urinary control problems, and sexual dysfunction. Dr. Taghechian received her Bachelor of Science in biology and Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Emory University. She remained at Emory University, attending the School of Medicine, where she completed her medical degree. Dr. Taghechian completed a residency in surgery and urology at the University of Texas in Houston. She is a member of the American Urological Association.

Dr. Barry M. Zisholtz practices at Georgia Urologys Midtown and Riverdale offices. His areas of expertise include kidney stones, prostate cancer, overactive bladder, urinary incontinence, low testosterone, and erectile dysfunction. He received his medical degree from New York Medical College. He was awarded a summer fellowship in pulmonary medicine at Metropolitan Hospital in New York. He performed his urology residency at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, N.Y. and completed a surgical internship there, as well. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and is board certified by the American Board of Urology. He also is a member of the Atlanta Urological Society and the American Urological Association.

Georgia Urology is the largest urology practice in Atlanta and throughout the Southeast. Georgia Urology has more than 30 locations and seven ambulatory surgery centers. The practice is comprised of more than 60 providers, and many of its physicians are fellowship-trained and hold advanced specialty training in oncology, robotic surgery, laparoscopy, infertility, incontinence, and pediatrics. Georgia Urology physicians use state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment and advanced treatment techniques, including robot-assisted technology and minimally invasive procedures, in order to manage all urological problems in men, women, and children. It is the practices mission to inform and partner with patients to develop a personalized, compassionate, and comprehensive treatment plan for all of their urological conditions.

Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., was acquired by Everyday Health Group (EHG), one of the worlds most prominent digital healthcare companies, in late 2018. EHG, a recognized leader in patient and provider education, attracts an engaged audience of more than 53 million health consumers and more than 780,000 U.S. practicing physicians and clinicians to its premier health and wellness websites. EHG combines social listening data and analytics expertise to deliver highly personalized healthcare consumer content and effective patient engagement solutions. EHGs vision is to drive better clinical and health outcomes through decision-making informed by highly relevant data and analytics. Healthcare professionals and consumers are empowered with trusted content and services through the Everyday Health Groups flagship brands including Everyday Health, What to Expect, MedPage Today, Health eCareers, PRIME Education and its exclusive partnership with MayoClinic.org and The Mayo Clinic Diet. Everyday Health Group is a division of J2 Global Inc. and is headquartered in New York City.

Interviews are available upon request.

CONTACT: Jon Waterhouse Lenz 678-770-9561 jwaterhouse@lenzmarketing.com




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On the first day of the trip, the three tried to spend the night in a caboose in Petersburg after riding 82 miles and Klotz having the one and only flat tire of the whole trip. Mosquitoes got so bad that they had to flee to a nearby motel. The clerk let all three stay for $8, provided they were out by 8 the next morning.

It wouldnt be the first time they were run off by biting bugs. Camping on a sand dune in Jacksonville, Fla., proved to be as bad an idea as sleeping in a train car.

There seemed to be more campgrounds in those days, the men said, so they regularly stopped there or the occasional motel. They guessed they must have worn the same clothes for days on end because no one carried more than a pillow-sized backpack of belongings.

They all bore the smell of the road until they took the occasional shower. The first one who came out clean would then get a whiff of the others and announce: You guys stink, Klotz said.

In Goldsboro, N.C., a policeman told them to stay off the blacktop and on the dirt shoulder along U.S. 1. They did until he was out of sight, then got back on the pavement.
BOSTON (AP)  Family and friends are mourning the two bystanders killed Saturday afternoon by a white gunman in a Boston suburb in an attack officials are treating as a hate crime.

David Green, a 68-year-old retired Massachusetts State Police trooper, and Ramona Cooper, a 60-year-old Air Force veteran, were each shot multiple times by 28-year-old Nathan Allen after he crashed a stolen box truck into a residential building in Winthrop, an overwhelmingly white, coastal community located on a peninsula jutting into Boston Harbor, just north of Logan International Airport.

Allen, who prosecutors say drew swastikas and handwrote messages about whites being superior and apex predators," was fatally shot by police moments later. Both victims were African American.

Green's longtime friend, Nick Tsiotos, said the two had coffee together just hours before the attack. He said the retired trooper had been sitting outside his home and tried to help after hearing the crash.

According to Rollins, Cooper was shot three times in the back and Green was shot four times in the head and three times in his torso.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Virginia school board's appeal to reinstate its transgender bathroom ban, handing a victory to transgender rights groups and a former high school student who fought in court for six years to overturn the ban.

After learning that the high court refused to hear the board's appeal, Gavin Grimm, now 22, said that his long battle is over. We won, he tweeted. Honored to have been part of this victory, he added.

Grimm was a 15-year-old student at Gloucester High School when he was banned from using the boys bathroom. The Gloucester County School Board's policy required Grimm to use restrooms that corresponded with his biological sex  female  or private bathrooms. Grimm filed a federal lawsuit that wound its way through the courts for six years.

Grimm said that being forced to use the nurses room, a private bathroom and the girls restroom was humiliating and severely interfered with his education. He said he is heartened by his victory in court because a win in Virginia is a win everywhere.
WASHINGTON (AP)  U.S. troops in eastern Syria came under rocket attack Monday, with no reported casualties, one day after U.S. Air Force planes carried out airstrikes near the Iraq-Syria border against what the Pentagon said were facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups to support drone strikes inside Iraq.

Iraq's military condemned the U.S. airstrikes, and the militia groups called for revenge against the United States.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the militias were using the facilities to launch unmanned aerial vehicle attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq. It was the second time the administration has taken military action in the region since Biden took over earlier this year.

There was no indication that Sunday's attacks were meant as the start of a wider, sustained U.S. air campaign in the border region. But a spokesman for the U.S. military mission based in Baghdad, Col. Wayne Marotto, wrote on Twitter Monday that at 7:44 p.m. local time U.S. forces in Syria were attacked by multiple rockets. He said there were no injuries and that attack damage was being assessed.

Marotto later tweeted that while under rocket attack, U.S. forces in Syria responded in self-defense with artillery fire at the rocket-launching positions.
If you have already had COVID-19, you are not immune from getting the virus again, and it is still important for you to be vaccinated, Gunn-Nolan said.

Southern Virginia falls behind the rest of the state when it comes to vaccinations in adults. Martinsville  at 54%  is the only Southside locality with more than half of adults fully vaccinated. Patrick Countys 36% rate for adults is the lowest in the region.

In Danville, 44% of adults are fully protected from the illness. Pittsylvania County has only 42% of adult residents vaccinated.

Those percentages are even lower when factoring in children, because only those 12 and above are eligible for a shot of protection.

Sovah Health is troubled by the low vaccination rates in our communities and are concerned for the potential of future surges, due to the spread of variants, which require more aggressive clinical care and are likely to cause more severe outcomes, Gunn-Nolan told the newspaper. I continue to have conversations with hospitalized patients and their loved ones who regret not being vaccinated.

Often it takes feeling the affects of the disease before a patient will say, If I survive, Ill get my vaccine, she explained.
Jarrett and others who have worked with Rodriguez describe a dedicated worker who, while shaped by a famous progenitor, doesn't put her family front and center.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki recently name-checked Julie Rodriguez at a press briefing  dropping Chavez in keeping with Rodriguezs preference.

Cecilia Munoz, who led the intergovernmental affairs office for five years under Obama, said Rodriguez has the job now because she is Julie -- not because she is a Chavez.

Being a Chavez is part of who she is, Munoz said, but shes there because she is so skilled and has such deep integrity.

And because Biden wanted her on his team.

Rodriguez is among a group of Latinas serving in the White House and advising Biden on matters ranging from communications to policy. Latino advocates had accused Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign of not doing enough to reach out to these voters.

CHAVEZ INFLUENCE

New presidents always freshen up the look of the Oval Office, both to reflect their personal tastes or send broader messages about their values and what inspires them.
Agreeing to hear the case would give the court the opportunity to overturn a 2005 case that has been roundly criticized by conservatives. In that case, the court divided 5-4 to say that the city of New London, Connecticut, could use eminent domain to take private property and then sell it to private developers as part of an attempt to revitalize the city. The decision was written by Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who acknowledged it was the most unpopular opinion he ever wrote. Justice Antonin Scalia, who dissented, ranked it among the courts biggest mistakes. Only two justices who decided the case remain on the court: Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Stephen Breyer. Stevens died in 2019 and Scalia in 2016.

STILL PENDING: FREEDOM OF SPEECH

A book that became the Hollywood movie War Dogs is at the center of what could become a landmark First Amendment case. Shkelzen Berisha, the son of the former prime minister of Albania, says the book harmed him by falsely linking him to would-be arms dealers from Miami.

He sued for defamation and wants the justices to revisit the high bar the court has set for public figures to win defamation lawsuits. Berisha's complaint stems from a landmark civil rights-era case, New York Times v. Sullivan. As a result of Sullivan and cases that followed, public figures can win defamation lawsuits only if they can prove that the person publishing the falsehood knew the statement they made was false or made it with reckless disregard for the truth. Former President Donald Trump has complained about the high bar, and Thomas has said the court should consider overturning the case.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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ROME (AP)  As the U.S. works on its military withdrawal from Afghanistan, members of the global coalition fighting the Islamic State group met Monday to chart future steps against the extremist group.

The meeting came just a day after the U.S. launched airstrikes against Iran-backed militias near the Iraq-Syria border

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio co-chaired the gathering of senior officials from the seven-year-old, 83-member bloc. Participants were taking stock of current efforts to ensure the complete defeat of IS, whose remnants still pose a threat in Iraq and Syria and have shown signs of surging in parts of Africa.

Amid significant other international priorities, including taming the coronavirus pandemic and stepping up the fight against climate change, the coalition is hoping to stabilize areas liberated from IS, repatriate and hold foreign fighters accountable for their actions and combat extremist messaging.

Blinken and Di Maio urged representatives of the 77 other countries and five organizations that make up the coalition not to drop their guard.

We must step up the action taken by the coalition, increasing the areas in which we can operate, said Di Maio.
A suspension of passenger flights is imposed if five or more passengers arriving from one place test positive on arrival for a particular coronavirus variant, or a relevant virus mutation within a seven-day period.

A ban is is also triggered if 10 or more passengers from one place are confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus via any tests, including tests conducted during quarantine, within a seven-day period.

The U.K. reported more than 22,000 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday, while more than 66% of the population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Hong Kong, which for months imposed a 21-day quarantine for arrivals from most countries and implemented strict social-distancing regulations, reported three new cases of the coronavirus on Monday. It has confirmed a total of 11,921 cases since the pandemic began.

The U.K. flight ban comes as Hong Kong is looking to relax quarantine measures for most other countries, including the U.S. and Canada.

Several other countries, including the Philippines and Indonesia, also face flight bans to Hong Kong.

Last week, the World Health Organization said the delta variant is the most transmissible variant identified to date and said it is spreading in at least 85 countries.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Another group of Afghan government soldiers has fled across the border into Tajikistan as Taliban militants press an offensive across swaths of northern Afghanistan.

Tajikistans border service said that 17 Afghan soldiers fled into the country on June 27 after Taliban militants attacked a border checkpoint located in the town of Chukchuk, in the Kaldor district in Balkh Province, Tajikistan's state media reported.



"The Tajik border guards, guided by the principles of humanism and good neighborliness, allowed the Afghan military who broke through the state border to freely enter their territory," Khovar state media said.



The Taliban have taken control of dozens of districts from government forces in recent weeks as U.S.-led international forces withdraw from Afghanistan ahead of a self-imposed September 11 deadline.

On June 27, Taliban militants captured more than 50 members of the countrys security force in the central province of Maidan Wardak, a senior police commander told RFE/RLs Radio Free Afghanistan.

In the past week, the Taliban have seized Afghanistan's main border crossing with Tajikistan, and pressed an offensive on the northern cities of Kunduz and Mazar-e Sharif.

The capture of the border crossing sent 134 Afghan soldiers fleeing into Tajikistan.



Separately, Uzbekistan said 53 Afghan troops and allied militia fighters also fled into Uzbekistan on June 23.



The developments in northern Afghanistan have caused alarm across bordering states Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.



Tajik authorities say that they are preparing for a possible influx of refugees, while Uzbekistan last week announced military drills along the border.

The UN special envoy on Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, said last week that the Taliban have overrun more than 50 of the country's 370 districts since May, warning that increased conflict "means increased insecurity for many other countries, near and far."



However, the Afghan government called the fall of the districts a tactical retreat and said that it had recaptured more than 10 districts from the insurgents in recent days.

U.S. President Joe Biden told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the Afghan High Council for National Reconciliation, at the White House on June 25 that "were going to stick with you and were going to do our best to see to it you have the tools you need.



But "Afghans are going to have to decide their future," he added.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Tajik Service and RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan
Pakistani authorities say they have set up a judicial commission to investigate the death of opposition politician Usman Khan Kakar a week ago.

Kakar, the leader of the nationalist Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) in the southwestern province of Balochistan and a staunch critic of Pakistans powerful military and intelligence agencies, died at a hospital in Karachi on June 21.

The authorities have said the initial investigation suggested that the former senator succumbed to injuries caused by a fall, but family members and leaders of his party claim he was wounded in an attack.

Balochistans Interior Ministry sent a letter to the province's high court on June 27 saying the provincial government had decided to establish a two-member judicial commission comprising justices Naeem Afghan and Zaheer Kakar to investigate the cause of Kakars death.

Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal, a provincial leader of PkMAP, told Radio Mashaal the party wants a transparent investigation.

The 60-year-old Kakar was found unconscious on June 17 in his house in Quetta, the provincial capital, with initial reports suggesting he had injured himself after falling on the floor.

The politician was first admitted to a hospital in Quetta where he underwent head surgery and was later transferred to Karachis Agha Khan Hospital.

Family members and officials of his party say he was wounded in an attack inside his house.

Kakar had mentioned receiving death threats.

The former senator openly criticized the military, accusing it of meddling in politics and undermining human rights. The Pakistani military has always rejected such allegations as baseless.

He was also known for his outspoken remarks in support of freedom of expression, human rights, and democratic values.
Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 60F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 60F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then becoming clear after midnight. Low near 60F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then becoming clear after midnight. Low near 60F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
In Colorado Springs, the fire danger in the summer of 2021 is higher than it would be in an average year even though the community is not currently in a drought, Fire Marshal Brett Lacey said.

The tall green grasses that flourished after a wet spring will likely pose a risk as they go dormant or die and dry out during the predicted hot and dry summer, he said.

When the grass catches fire they can produce flame lengths, up to triple the height of their own height, he said.

Above-average temperatures and scant rain could replicate conditions similar to those seen in 2012, when the Waldo Canyon fire burned more than 18,000 acres, 347 homes and killed two people in western Colorado Springs.

The indications are still pretty strong that we will get there, Lacey said.

Statewide, three consecutive years largely without monsoons, record-low soil moistures in the fall and below average winter snowpack have set the stage for the giant smoke plumes rising over Colorado.

"Its sad, sad when anything burns," said Bob Nock, owner of Eagle River Anglers, who's been watching the Sylvan fire blaze through thousands of acres this week about 16 miles south of Eagle in thick partially beetle-killed forest.

Click or tap here for a forecast of the fire season ahead in Colorado.
Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then becoming clear after midnight. Low around 60F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then becoming clear after midnight. Low around 60F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
INDUSTRY INSIGHT

Minimizing insider threats with open-source intelligence

Insider threats rank among the most challenging risks governments face. Trusted insiders under financial pressure, holding a grievance or motivated by other factors can intentionally damage an agency. The results range from information leakage and national security breaches to workplace violence and even reputational damage. Insiders unintentional actions can be equally damaging. Clearly, a robust insider threat program that protects government resources, employees and contractors can deliver significant value and reduce associated risks.

To successfully mitigate an insider threat within agencies, officials responsible for insider threat programs need access to more accurate and trustworthy signals that can be used to identify or resolve risks.

Because a complete picture may not always be available, organizations are increasingly turning to publicly available information -- one of the most complex and information-rich sources of data. While PAI represents a significant opportunity to deliver the exact information that investigators may need, the challenge they face is that the depth and breadth of PAI is exploding exponentially.

The massive amounts of data that must be analyzed with a zero margin of error can potentially overwhelm officials and subject employees under consideration to unwarranted scrutiny. In addition, organizations implementing a solution at scale to analyze PAI face other challenges such as false positives, errant signals and the time and expense of corroborating information.

Insider threat programs have proliferated across agencies and matured since 2011 when Executive Order 13587 called for their implementation. Since then, the availability of PAI has grown in volume, velocity and number of sources. A key driver behind this massive growth is the plethora of digital social assets and the ability for insiders to anonymize themselves online.

Open-source intelligence, whether gleaned from the surface web or dark web sites, can augment these government initiatives to collect and analyze information posted on social platforms and other media.

Sluggish adoption

Adoption of open-source information at scale to address insider threat risks has been slow for a variety of reasons.

Firstly, attribution or accuracy of information presented on social channels, as well as the deep and dark web, is a key concern. Fraudsters or nation-state and non-nation-state actors with ulterior objectives could take over legitimate social assets. For example, foreign intelligence organizations may potentially take control of government or contractor employee social media accounts and post potentially damaging information that includes both disinformation and misinformation.

Secondly, employees privacy and freedom of speech are critical issues for agencies considering the systematic usage of open-source information.

With attribution a concern, the use of social channels information must be consistent with privacy guidelines and include opportunities for candidates to address any concerns.

Finally, agencies must consider the effort and risk of scaling the use of PAI from social channels of a single person to potentially millions of government and contractor personnel.

Technical assistance

Technological advancements, such as artificial intelligence and identity resolution combined with operational best practices and training, have also made it easier to use publicly available data to better understand the authenticity and risk of a post.

AI can combine information from a variety of different sources to instantly analyze data at volume and generate intelligent insights derived from those sources. Identity resolution is the process of attributing a person's behavior and interactions -- across multiple platforms or channels -- to a single unified profile.

Combined, AI and identity resolution can derive more accurate and meaningful insights from PAI. Potential benefits to agencies include fewer false positives and the ability to identify undisclosed information that could pose a risk to government personnel, facilities or networks.

In addition, subject matter and operational expertise for using the deep and dark web is an integral component of any potential application dealing with open-source information. For example, any signals generated from a deep or dark web inquiry will require manual reviews and an understanding of how information is posted in these locations before they can be accurately attributed to a person.

Making open-source work

Using open-source information at scale can be a game-changer. Success, however, will require government and industry working together strategically to update policies for collecting and using open-source data. It is also incumbent upon industry to engage government officials and provide updates about the latest technologies and best practices. At the tactical level, government and the vendor community can work together to identify and adopt the tools and processes for including PAI into a systematic insider threat risk management program.

To do this, government agencies need an approach, ideally fortified via AI and identity resolution, for gathering large data pools and specific insights. A set of thoughtfully constructed review guidelines, supported by human oversight, will help agencies rapidly verify the data. They also need the ability to swiftly identify attribution and create intelligence-rich reports for use in cases requiring prosecution or disciplinary action.

Ultimately, the goal is to confidently match a digital communication to its owner and assess the risk represented. Success will enrich the vetting process, reduce risk -- whether intentional or from poor cyber hygiene -- deter the insider threat and reduce the overall risk to the government.
My husband and I used to fly to Chicago quite often. When our children were younger, we would fly our plane and spend a fun weekend on the Michigan Mile, going to restaurants, shops and museums. After dinner, we would take a walk to Garrett Popcorn to get our caramel corn fix. At nighttime, the street would be full of people out walking around, with no fear of gang violence or getting shot. Now, there are several businesses that have shut down altogether and moved, 28 to be exact. Macys, which occupied over 323,000 square feet of commercial space at Water Tower Place, is now empty.

The Chicago Bears are looking at moving 35 miles outside of Chicago to Arlington Heights and build a new stadium. The team is citing the violence for one of their reasons of moving. Mayor Lightfoot made a snide and unprofessional remark about their announcement. The loss of revenue to the city from the Bears move will be catastrophic. Instead of her addressing the problem and working with the Bears to accommodate them, she shows her lack of leadership again.

Chicago is a beautiful American iconic city. My family, along with many other families, long to travel back to Chicago. Navy Pier, shopping on the beautiful Michigan Mile, The John Hancock Building, the wonderful restaurants, Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bears, and many other sporting teams, Lake Michigan, the museums and so much more.
Our search is limited to just the river as of now, Cates said. Each time we have had an aircraft here, they have flown both the river and the adjacent land area around the river and have not located anything. We will remain active in following up on any leads that we have which could result in a recovery.

How the tragedy unfolded

Nine members of the Villano family set out on the Dan River for a two-hour float on June 16 at about 3:30 p.m. But the trip turned into one of the deadliest river accidents in Rockingham Countys history when the group floated over an 8-foot, low-head dam near Duke Energys Dan River Steam Station. Survivors said the family didnt realize the dam lay ahead, much less the hazards it held.

Ramon, in fact, showed excitement as he approached the dam, thinking he would ride manageable rapids, relatives said. His body was recovered from the river on June 18 by rescue crews.

Low-head dams are often called drowning machines because of the violent churning water at their bases. Currents called reverse rollers trap swimmers underwater and drown them, experts said.
Falls said the militia aims to operate responsibly, and its members go through training. Falls estimated the Bedford County Militia has between 60 and 80 members.

Go to church, go to Walmart, go to the mall, go to the movie theater, go anywhere in public and thats who were made up of, he said. We are the public.

Rep. Bob Good, R-Campbell, spoke at the event, saying he was happy to be there with proud patriots and constitutional conservatives who are doing their part to help strengthen our nation and to fight for the things that we believe in.

Good said he is an advocate for the Second Amendment and has sponsored legislation to protect what he described as a God-given right.

John Sharp, a member of the board of supervisors, said Bedford County was one of only two localities in the commonwealth to formally recognize its militia. Sharp said he supported doing so because he felt it might give members of the militia additional legal standing to challenge gun control measures that were being considered by state lawmakers.
If you dont know the name, its because youve forgotten your Virginia history, although, to be fair, a generation of Virginia textbooks was taught only that Underwood was a fortune hunter from New York who imposed a dreadful post-Civil War constitution on the state. In fact, he was a lawyer and farmer in Clarke County who presided over a the formation of a constitution that gave Black men the right to vote, required that local governments be elected, instituted the secret ballot and mandated public schools. Underwood even advocated for a constitution that went further; he proposed that women be allowed to vote  this at a time when not a single state or territory allowed women to vote.

Virginias official history textbooks that were in circulation from the 1950s into the 1970s devote nine pages to the Underwood Constitution  all of them negative. Gee, wonder why? Those textbooks were written at a time when the Virginia officialdom was worried that segregation was coming under attack and needed to be defended, so indoctrinating school children was part of the solution. In fact, the Underwood Constitution led to a brief era of multiracial government in Virginia. That so horrified the states establishment that, as soon as they were able, they imposed a new constitution  with no referendum, just an official decree  that effectively disenfranchised Blacks and poor whites alike. Botetourt County has been debating whether to move the Confederate statue in front of the courthouse. That Confederate statue is unique in that it doesnt just mourn the Confederate dead, it mourns the dark days of Reconstruction. They are only dark if you objected to the concept of Black Virginians as fellow citizens. Of course, Virginians were never taught about that forgotten era of multi-racial government in the 1880s; theres an example of history being erased.
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And while some complained in the aftermath that police should have intervened more aggressively, Zimmerman said he understands why they didnt.

I think they were basically being told for, you know, good reasons , we dont want people getting hurt, Zimmerman said. So, you know, they allowed for looting and damaging.

I definitely think people over property is a good thing, he said. I do feel like we could have controlled it better.

Zack Matheny, president and CEO of Downtown Greensboro Inc., said he does not believe the violent protests were directed at downtown specifically.

Some of their message was probably not heard as much because of the damage that was done, he said.

And he feels for those business owners left with the wreckage.

A lot of these folks were very hurt by that, not only monetarily but emotionally, he said.

These business owners dont have a choice. This is their life. This is their livelihood. Their choice is close or pick up and push forward and theyve chosen to push forward and were blessed for it, Matheny said.

And some heavyweights also are investing in downtown.
CHARLOTTE  An unspoken question hung over Lisa Hills plea hearing in Charlotte on Tuesday:

Why do people keep hiring her to take care of their money?

For the third time in less than a decade, the 41-year-old Belmont woman pleaded guilty to stealing from her employer.

In 2012, according to court documents, Lisa Buza Hill rode off with more than $800,000 from Indian Motorcycles of Kings Mountain where she worked as a senior accountant. When confronted by her bosses about the thefts, Hill sent a series of bogus emails posing as an attorney and assuring the company that it would be repaid from a series of nonexistent trust accounts, documents show.

Last July, while she was still paying the Indian Motorcycles money back, the U.S. Attorneys Office in Charlotte charged her with issuing 15 checks to herself between September 2019 and February 2020 drawn on the accounts of an unnamed Charlotte-based company, which had hired Hill to be its comptroller. Total take: $22,000.

Federal prosecutors also said Hill made false statements to them as they attempted to collect what she still owed from her 2012 court-ordered restitution.

With her new charges on the fraudulent-check scheme still hanging over her, Hill doubled down, times 10.
Winston-Salem police investigated and eventually learned that Johnson had been using crack cocaine. Johnson and his wife, the grandmother, had been caring for the child while the parents were away. The mother had to work and the father had gone out of town.

Johnson had been using cocaine that he had kept in his clothes, and it is believed that the child became exposed to the cocaine while she slept on top of his clothes, Chavious said. She said family members did not know Johnson was using cocaine.

Johnson told Winston-Salem police that he had a small gathering and one of the people who attended brought a water bottle containing tequila, Chavious said.

On Jan. 3, 2020, Johnson was making baby formula using two half-empty water bottles. Johnson used the water bottle that had tequila, Chavious said.

Doctors consulted with the hospital's child abuse team, which determined that the girl had an altered mental state, difficulty breathing and dehydration and had hypoglycemia. The team concluded that exposing the girl to alcohol and cocaine was consistent with medical neglect and that the girl consuming such high levels of those two things could have led to her death, Chavious said.

The girl, who is nearly 2 years old, is doing fine, she said.
Updated 8:30 p.m.

GREENSBORO  Four people were injured in what authorities are calling an aggravated assault at The Province apartment complex, according to a news release from Greensboro police.

At 5:41 p.m., officers responded to the 600 block of Fulton Street, an area of apartment complex, on a call of shots fired. They found four people with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. The victims were taken to a local hospital, according to the release.

The police department indicated in its release that the incident was an aggravated assault, but did not specify that it was a shooting. A message left with the Greensboro police department spokesman was not returned.

The UNCG Office of Emergency Management sent out a tweet at about 6:30 p.m. that shots had been fired at the off-campus student housing complex.

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Posted 7:46 p.m.

GREENSBORO  A shooting was reported at The Province apartments near UNCG on Sunday afternoon, according to a tweet from the university.
Today is Monday, June 28, 2021. Let's get caught up.

Here's what you should know today: Rescuers remain hopeful about finding more survivors in the rubble of Florida condo collapse; U.S. airstrikes target Iran-backed militias in Syria, Iraq; Cardi B, Queen Latifah, Lil Nas X shine at BET Awards.

Keep scrolling for today's top stories, this date in history and celebrity birthdays.

TOP STORIES

Rescuers stay hopeful about finding more survivors in rubble

SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP)  Rescue workers digging feverishly for a fifth day Monday stressed that they could still find survivors in the rubble of a collapsed Florida condo building, a hope family members clung to even though no one has been pulled out alive since the first day the structure fell.

The death toll rose by just four people Sunday, to a total of nine confirmed dead. But more than 150 people are still missing in Surfside.

Families of the missing rode buses to a site nearby from which they could watch teams at work Sunday: firefighters, sniffer dogs and search experts employing radar and sonar devices.
Here are 10 activities to keep yourself, your kids and the whole family entertained for every mile of a long road trip.
I like so many Montana hunters have been blessed to enjoy a lifetime of world-class hunting and fishing.

Its why so many of us live here, and it speaks to the decades of work that Montanans have put into conserving and managing our public wildlife for the benefit of everyone.

But after this legislative session it is clear that Montana is on a different path, one that disregards science and places the ability for some to profit off of our wildlife as the highest priority. As we have seen in other states this will mean less opportunity for public hunters, and more exclusive access for those who can pay.

This last legislative session brought numerous wildlife bills that had little to do with fair chase hunting and everything to do with killing and commercialization of our public trust wildlife. Whether it was one of the many bills brought forward to reduce elk populations, declare war on predators or bills that allowed new means or seasons to kill wildlife, they were just wrong.

Already we have seen opinion pieces and statements erroneously linking hunting advocacy groups to the support of long held unacceptable practices approved this past session such as baiting, bounties, spotlighting, running bears with hounds and hunting elk in the dead of winter.
DECATUR  A 42-year-old Decatur man gave differing stories about how he suffered knife wounds to various parts of his body, police report.

Detective Sgt. Chris Copeland with the Decatur Police Department said the man had shown up for treatment Friday afternoon in the emergency room at HSHS St. Marys Hospital. Copeland said he had a puncture wound to his lower back and lacerations to his left bicep, left wrist and hand, but the detective described all the injuries as superficial.

Copeland said the man told doctors he had been attacked by a 40-year-old male he had confronted because the male had been talking in a way he didn't like to the man's 13-year-old daughter.

He said the subject pulled out a knife and started swinging it at him, Copeland added. But he apparently left the hospital when he was told the police would be notified about his injuries. I dont think they were done treating him when he left.

Police later found the man and said he had a different story for them, claiming he had been attacked while walking in the area of North Monroe Street and West Garfield Avenue. This time he said this unknown guy just came up to him and started stabbing him, Copeland said.

The detective said it was clear the man had been attacked by somebody, but it was hard to know what the truth of his stories really was.

Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid

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ST. CHARLES  One person was killed and three others injured in a shooting early Sunday outside a suburban Chicago nightclub, police said.

Police in St. Charles said officers responded around 2 a.m. to a call of shots fired. Two victims were found outside the club on a sidewalk. They were taken to a hospital where one died. A third person was hospitalized and was in critical condition. A fourth person was treated and released.
JACKSONVILLE  A Jacksonville native's passion for hiking and exploring nature recently landed her on national television.

Alissa Hembrough Nickerson was featured on the "Today" show in a segment on how busy national parks have been since pandemic restrictions were lifted across the United States.

"It was a random experience," Nickerson said.

Nickerson attended Routt Catholic High School for the first three years of her high school experience and then went to Jacksonville High School for her senior year, graduating in 2009.

An outdoor enthusiast, Nickerson created an Instagram account  @nationalparkbff  that grabbed the attention of "Today" producers.

"The 'Today' people saw it and called," Nickerson said. "It's all the topic right now."

The segment shows national parks from Tennessee to Nevada with long lines of visitors. During the show, park rangers said January through May set record attendance numbers at national parks and that the year ahead is likely to be challenging because of staffing issues. They asked visitors to the parks to help by picking up their own trash.

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Knowing how crowded national parks are these days, Nickerson plans on arriving at parks she visits super early and possibly visiting less-popular parks.

"So many people are getting out and enjoying the parks," Nickerson said. "The goal is not to be in a long line."

Nickerson still intends to visit national parks, she said during the show.

"It might change how we go about our hikes," she said. "I don't think it'll change the fact that I want to go to all of the national parks, but it does requires more planning."

A doctor of audiology who now lives in Phoenix with her husband, Brandon Nickerson, Alissa Nickerson said visiting the parks and taking in the beauty of what the country has to offer is one of their favorite hobbies.

"I enjoy seeing all the diverse geography," she said. "Driving one hour can make such a difference."

Being interviewed remotely from her kitchen table for the "Today" appearance, Nickerson wasn't nervous, she said. At least, she doesn't think she was.

"It was a great experience," she said.

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CHICAGO  A gay pride march was held Sunday in Chicago that organizers said was meant to focus on political protest, in contrast to the more commercialized and well-known Pride Parade.

Pride Without Prejudice is an ad hoc group of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer activists who had planned to march without a permit on streets through Lakeview to the Town Hall police station, beginning at noon.

The march was intended to revive the grassroots protest movement of the Stonewall protest in New York City in 1969, which the Pride Parade is meant to commemorate.

We want to take Pride back to its roots, which was (to) protest against police brutality, racism and war, said Andy Thayer, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network. It was truly a peoples uprising, as opposed to a parade of bar floats and banks and politicians.

This second annual march is the antithesis of that and is particularly timely, he said, because of attacks on trans people and people of color. Politicians and companies use the Pride Parade as free advertising, Thayer said, but are often nowhere to be found on issues such as equal marriage rights.

In a news release, organizers said the march would call to defund police, redistribute wealth, decriminalize sex work and center on Black and trans people, who are typically marginalized or tokenized at white-led Pride events.

After being canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 51st annual Pride Parade was moved this year to Oct. 3. Organizers could not be immediately reached for comment, but they have long spoken out against bigotry and inequality. The parade has grown from small beginnings to draw hundreds of thousands of spectators and is sponsored by banks, liquor companies and the Illinois Lottery.

The city of Chicago has designated June as Pride Month, and Pride in the Park also was being held with concerts and other events in Grant Park this weekend.

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The 13th Annual Tri-State Beef Cattle conference will be held at the Ron Ramsey Regional Ag Center in Blountville, Tennessee, on Aug. 5. This years conference will address topics of interest to both stocker and cow-calf producers. The conference will be a one-day event and will include educational sessions covering such topics as stocker health, using EPDs and genomically enhanced EPDs in todays decision-making, beef cattle outlook, price risk management tools and uses, upgrading existing working facilities and mineral supplementation. There will once again be virtual tours of operations from each of the three states and then a time of questions and answers with the producers themselves.

A trade show will be open during the conference, with many of the organizations involved in the regions beef industry there for participants to meet and learn more about their products and services.

The conference will begin with registration at 8 a.m. and the program beginning at 9:20 a.m. The trade show will open at 8 a.m.
I was shocked to receive the honor, said Thompson, 84. But, it feels good.

He received the honor virtually in 2020, when the pandemic prevented an in-person graduation ceremony.

Walking on that field during graduation was just icing on the cake, he said.

A stellar presence

Its the people, he said, who have made his job enjoyable.

Ive always been nice to people and theyre nice to me, Thompson said.

The chef often leaves what hes doing in the kitchen just to greet the students and faculty as they move through the food lines.

Thats why everybody knows me, he said with laughter.

Hes never far from the memories of alumni of the college.

We have so many students who work in the cafeteria, which means there are a lot of alumni who ask about Willie before they ask about anything else at the college, said Monica Hoel, alumni director.

Teresa Keller, professor emeritus of mass communications at the college, is just one of many professors who welcomes chats with Thompson during visits to the cafeteria.
But the change in law doesnt exactly open up a pot free-for-all. Legal amounts are limited, and buying and selling marijuana will remain illegal until Jan. 1, 2024, when retail sales are expected to begin. Smoking marijuana in public is still against the law.
But the legalization of marijuana may prompt employers to make some changes. They might decide not to look for convictions related to cannabis during background checks. Testing for cannabis is tricky because of how long it can stay in a persons system. As a result, Latsko said, some employers may choose to drop it from drug-testing panels.

If its legal to possess, you could have done it on your own time and yet its still in the system. There is no real good test about the impairment of marijuana, he said.

While the law has changed, that doesnt necessarily mean the views of hiring managers have, Latsko said. He noted that there may be generational differences of opinion and social stigma around cannabis.

Companies likely will watch their peers to see how they respond to the legalization of marijuana, Latsko said, looking to see who will be the first mover, making a dramatic change.

If there starts to be this snowball effect of organizations that drop testing for this and it seems to be getting groundswell among social media, popular media, what have you, then of course other people are going to jump on the bandwagon, he said. That may then sway even more states or even the federal government to consider the issue a little more closely.
PRAGUE (AP)  The Czech Foreign Ministry summoned Russia's ambassador to Prague on Monday to request full compensation for damages from a huge ammunition depot explosion allegedly caused by Russian spies.

The ministry said deputy Foreign Minister Martin Smolek handed Ambassdor Aleksandr Zmeyevsky a diplomatic note invoking the responsibility of the Russian Federation under international law for its involvement in the explosions of ammunition depot in Vrbetice in 2014.

Czech leaders said on April 17 that they had evidence pointing to the participation of two agents from Russias military spy agency in the depot explosion that killed two people. Russia has denied any involvement.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova acerbically denounced the Czech compensation demand as an extortion attempt.

Those who act like that, demanding payments using threats and insults without an investigation or trial, are called extortionists, she said on her messaging app channel.

The same two Russians were charged by British authorities in absentia in 2018 with trying to kill former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok in the English city of Salisbury.
There is no denying that America took it in the teeth with the COVID-19 pandemic and related financial crisis, a one-two combination that was disproportionate in its impacts. And it had particularly dire consequences for journalism, adding to strains on a business model that relies on advertising and readers to stay afloat.

Between 2008 and 2019, nearly one in four newsroom jobs disappeared, according to the Pew Research Center. Since the onset of the pandemic, one-third of large-city newspapers reported fresh layoffs. And that doesnt measure the hits endured by freelancers as outlets budgets dried up.

Thats a lot of journalism not getting done, investigations not conducted and important stories left untold. Los Angeles litterateur David Kipen  founder of the Libros Schmibros lending library in Boyle Heights and formerly a book critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and the literature director for the National Endowment for the Arts  has been pushing one possible solution. He envisions a new version of the Federal Writers Project, the Depression program that gave work to thousands of writers, historians, librarians and others whose skills fell outside the scope of public works projects that were key parts of the New Deal.
NEWTON  Catawba County Schools congratulates its 11 newly National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) and its 13 teachers who just renewed their certification.

To earn this prestigious designation, these teachers had to meet the National Boards standards in their content area, and complete a portfolio showing their ability to meet the rigorous standards, focus on student learning, and become reflective practitioners. It requires more than 400 hours of work to complete the process.

The school district is proud of all of its 157 teachers in Catawba County Schools who have earned this designation. Having more than 20% of its teachers National Board certified gives the district the honor of being named a National Board Accomplished District. North Carolina leads the country with 23,090 NBCTs.

Regina Propst and Carla Burns, National Board coordinators for the district, helped the district achieve this designation.

The 11 newly National Board Certified teachers:

Balls Creek Elementary

Christine Lorch

Catawba Elementary

Amber Wilkerson

Challenger High
Church was a Black man arrested in Alexander County for allegedly murdering a white woman in 1881, Keener said. He was moved to the jail in Catawba County and in October of 1881, 28 men came to Newton, took Church from his cell and hanged him, Keeners research found.

The remembrance project will also be aimed at remembering and honoring several runaway slaves from Catawba County, including Martin Luther Bost.

Bost was a man born in the 1850s who was enslaved with his family in Newton. Bosts stories of his experiences and enslavement were documented as part of the Federal Writers Project in the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s, which documented U.S. history and culture.

Keener has been enthralled with his own familys history in Catawba County and the history of the area for years. He started researching racial injustices more in depth after visiting the Equal Justice Initiatives lynching memorial in Alabama. In the summer of 2020, he connected with the Catawba County Truth and Reconciliation Committee and the group decided to pursue a community remembrance project with the Equal Justice Initiative.
The plaintiff also alleged in the lawsuit that Hussein called her my girl and asked if he could see her tattoos.

The other plaintiff alleged that during her more than two years of employment with Hussein, he would repeatedly tell her we should get naked, ask about her sex life and make comments about his own, the filing said.

She said Hussein would regularly put his hands on her backside, and that the behavior happened on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis, the lawsuit alleged.

She said he had put his hands down her pants on several occasions, and about four times he put his hand down her pants and tried to touch her private area, according to the lawsuit. The plaintiff said in the filing that she had to grab his arm and physically remove it from her pants.

Around August, the plaintiff said Hussein came up behind her, grabbed her breasts and grinded his pelvis into her backside.

In his response to the lawsuits, Hussein acknowledged that he had pleaded guilty to assault on a female in McDowell County in a case brought up by one of the plaintiffs but otherwise denied wrongdoing.
Prosecutors said in recent court filings that the Nevada Department of Corrections has provided the court with undisputed medical and pharmaceutical evidence establishing the execution will not result in unconstitutional pain or suffering  "indeed, it is likely to result in very minimal to no pain.

Floyds lawyers say the state wrongly maintains the alternatives they have suggested are not legitimate options because Nevada law provides only for lethal injection and the Department of Corrections has been unable to get a barbiturate.

But they said the Supreme Court has made it clear that an inmate seeking to identify an alternative method of execution is not limited to choosing among those presently authorized by a particular states law. They said both of Floyds proposed alternatives are well-established in other jurisdictions.

Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah authorize execution by firing squad, they said. Texas, Georgia and the U.S. government have recently used pentobarbital in executions.
FILE PHOTO: Bags of Cannabis hybrid strains from the marijuana brand "PowerPuff" are seen at a home in the Queens borough of New York

DAKAR (Reuters) - Senegal's army said on Monday it had intercepted over 8 tonnes of cannabis after stopping a boat at the weekend, in the second large seizure off the West African nation's Atlantic coast this month.

Interpol says drug kingpins are sending larger shipments in response to COVID-19 travel restrictions and border closures, which have restricted their ability to more frequently move smaller quantities of drugs via individual couriers.

West Africa is seen as a frequent stopping point for drugs including cocaine and cannabis from South America and elsewhere heading to North Africa and Europe.

Senegal's army said on Twitter it had stopped a vessel with three Turkish crew members on Sunday and found 8.3 tonnes of hashish on board. It did not provide further details.

Earlier this month, Senegalese authorities intercepted another boat smuggling over 8 tonnes of cannabis resin. In March, authorities in Niger seized 17 tonnes of cannabis resin, the largest bust in the country's history.

(Reporting by Diadie Ba; Writing by Aaron Ross; editing by Barbara Lewis)
Nobody has taken responsibility yet for the bombing by drones at the Jammu air force base on 27 June, but the attack has again raised the spectre of cross-border operatives targeting India after a COVID-19 induced lull in terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

The fact that the Indian Air Force base is just 14 kilometres away from the International Border with Pakistan and the increasing use of drones linked to terror activities means that the role of Pakistan-based outfits is not being ruled out in Sunday's attack.

Just the last week, Pakistan was told it will have to remain on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)'s 'grey list' over pending commitments to rein in terror actors. Experts have noted that while it has taken steps against major terror players, Islamabad needs to cover more ground to uproot them from Pakistani soil.

Here's a look at the terror profiles of two of the biggest among such groups based in Pakistan: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

Recent record of terror attacks linked to Pakistan-based groups

According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), an online database, between 2010 and 2020, the number of terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir totalled more than 50 just in in 2018 whereas the years between 2000 and 2005 each saw more than 150 attacks annually.

Among the major attacks in the last few years is the Pulwama bombing of February 2019 that left more than 40 security personnel dead and the Uri attack of 2016 that killed more than 20 Indian personnel.

Both attacks have been attributed to JeM, while the 2016 Pathankot Air Force base attack, too, has been linked to the outfit headed by Masood Azhar.

Formed in 2000 by Azhar after he was freed following the 1999 Indian Airlines IC-814 hijacking episode, the group "aims to undermine Indian control of (Jammu and Kashmir) and unite the province with Pakistan under their own interpretation of Shariah Law", says Stanford University's Centre for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). From 2001, JeM has been designated as a terror group by the US along with LeT, after the two outfits were found to have been behind the attack on the Indian Parliament that year.

Story continues

Following pressure from the international community and the threat of actions like that from FATF, Pakistan has launched campaigns to rein in terror groups operating from its soil. But while LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and its top leader Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack, have been arrested, success has evaded Pakistani authorities when it comes to JeM.

Saeed has been sentenced to 11 years in prison while Lakhvi was arrested days before Pakistan's earlier review with FATF officials in February.

In fact, the US' 2019 country report for Pakistan on terror said that progress by Islamabad "remains unfulfilled" on "the most difficult aspects of its 2015 National Action Plan to counter terrorism".

The report noted that while Pakistan authorities have indicted Saeed and some of his associates "they have made no effort to use domestic authorities to prosecute other terrorist leaders such as JeM founder Masood Azhar and Sajid Mir, the mastermind of LeT's 2008 Mumbai attacks".

Ahead of the February 2021 FATF meeting, Pakistan had rushed to register cases against Azhar, Mir and Rauf Asgar, part of the top leadership of JeM, and even carried out raids to arrest them "but only Azhar's wife and a few aides were found at that residence".

India had at the time, said that "it has become routine for Pakistan to come up with such farcical actions prior to important meetings".

Where Do LeT, JeM operate from? Who are key figures?

A recent report by US think-tank Brookings Institution noted that "anti-India militant groups continue to have a foothold in Pakistan".

That's a view echoed by the US counter-terrorism authorities, who have found that Pakistan allowed "groups targeting India, including LeT and its affiliated front organisations, and JeM, to operate from its territory".

According to the US' National Counterterrorism Centre (NCTC), JeM "continues to operate openly in parts of Pakistan despite the 2002 ban on its activities".

It further added that "JEM has at least several hundred armed supporters located in Pakistan, India's southern Kashmir and Doda regions, and in the Kashmir Valley. Supporters are mostly Pakistanis and Kashmiris, but also include Afghans and Arab veterans of the Afghan war against the Soviets."

Apart from Azhar, who is at large, NCTC lists Maulana Abdul Jabbar as the leader of a JeM faction known as Jamaat ul-Furqan.

LeT has been the target of a crackdown by Pakistani authorities and its top leadership of Saeed and Lakhvi are in prison on terror charges.

NCTC says that while the outfit's "exact size is unknown... the group probably has several thousand members, predominantly Pakistani nationals".

The group is said to maintain "facilities in Pakistan, including training camps, schools, and medical clinics (and) coordinates its charitable activities through its front organisation, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD).

International sanctions against these groups

The US state department says that designation as a foreign terrorist organisation makes it "unlawful for a person in the US or subject to the jurisdiction of the US to knowingly provide "material support or resources" to a designated FTO".

Further, entry into the US and use of financial institutions connected to the US is also prohibited for such outfits.

Being designated as a terror group by the US is intended to encourage other nations, too, to crack down on such outfits and "deters donations or contributions to and economic transactions with named organisations".

It is widely believed that Pakistan government actively helps terror actors because, as experts have pointed out, Islamabad is not averse to using these groups to push its geopolitical interests.

So, if providing shelter to pro-Taliban elements has given it a role to play in Afghanistan, Pakistan's alleged support for anti-India groups is supposed to help it overcome the strategic asymmetry in terms of the might of the armed forces.

Also See: Drone strike on Jammu IAF base: Himachal Pradesh, Punjab on high alert; what we know so far

Jammu drone attack: Why India's response to terror attacks needs upgrade in light of new threat

Explainer: What is FATF, and why Pakistan has been struggling to get out of its Grey List'

Read more on India by Firstpost.
Twitter Indias interim grievance officer Dharmendra Chatur has stepped down from the post, at a time when the company is embroiled in a tussle with the Indian government over the new IT rules, reported PTI citing sources.

As per the report, Chatur was recently appointed to the position.

Twitter appears to have now appointed California-based Jeremy Kessel in his place.

Chaturs name, as required under the new rules, was earlier displayed on the companys website, but it is no longer there. Now, the website displays the contact information of Kessel instead.

Also Read: Indias IT Rules, Twitter MD, & UP Police: Actions & Options Ahead

THE NEW IT RULES AND MORE DETAILS

The new IT rules, which came into effect on 25 May, make it mandatory for the company to have a grievance officer to address complaints from the users.

Under the new rules, all the social media companies with over 50 lakh users have to appoint a chief compliance officer, a nodal contact person and a grievance officer.

Earlier, the government had slammed Twitter for defying the rules and not complying with them. However, the company had said that it intends to comply with the rules and Chatur was appointed as the grievance officer.

(With inputs from PTI)

Also Read: Twitter Denied Access to Account For an Hour: Ravi Shankar Prasad

. Read more on India by The Quint.Twitter Interim Grievance Officer for India Quits Amid RowFormer Special Police Officer, His Wife Shot Dead in J&Ks Pulwama . Read more on India by The Quint.
OPINION: Microsoft has now BLOCKED ALL PCs without right CPU from even joining the Windows 11 Insider - here'a petition you can sign to ask Microsoft to reconsider

On Saturday, I wrote about creating a petition calling on Microsoft to enable more CPUs to officially run Windows 11, and the company seems to have responded by blocking ALL PCs without the right CPU from even joining the Windows 11 Insider Program as was originally going to be the case.

Even though Microsoft was going to allow PCs without the minimum CPU spec from at least joining the Windows Insider Program launching this week so people could test Windows 11, Microsoft has now decided to even block those PCs from being part of the beta program.

This will sadly block people who want to legitimately test Windows 11 out, and will see some go for insecure leaked builds - a terrible outcome when users with all kinds of PCs were going to be able to test Windows 11, which as reports of the admittedly early leaked version are running on all the kinds of hardware that Windows 10 can currently run on, even a Core 2 Duo I've seen out there, not that I'm advocating for compatibility that far back.

Microsoft seems really keen to deny what could be hundreds of millions of people from running Windows 11 unless they buy a new computer.

This is astounding! What should have been a resounding success for Microsoft has been tarnished by this arbitrary cut off of CPU types, even though a computer, like the 4 year old but Galaxy Book 12 I'd like to test Windows 11 on, passes every single test but has a 7th-gen processor and not an 8th-gen one.

Windows 11 will have a new tagline - Windows 11: No soup for you!

Windows 10 will be available to this and other PCs that don't qualify for Windows 11 or don't upgrade to it until 2025 with support, so users with these computers aren't being abandoned, but it's a shame Windows 11 support for these computers can't extend to 2025 before a new computer is needed and support is withdraw, and a Christmas/Holiday 2025 computer is going to be incredible compared to a 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th. 8th. 9th. 10th or 11th gen from today, or at least, I hope so!

Having people experience Windows 11 on their home computer or existing tablet might encourage them to buy a new computer sooner because they really like it!

But this type of home test is no longer available to these users unless they buy a new machine.



What a lost opportunity! Why does Microsoft choose the wrong direction on this, they have already proved they can be very flexible with Windows 10 support, officially AND unofficially.

No-one is asking Windows 11 to support the entire breadth and depth of machines that can support Windows 10, but to support certain Atoms. Celerons. Pentium Silvers and Pentium Golds for official Windows 11 support over 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Core i-Series processors seems like an arbitrary and customer-hostile decision, in the middle of a pandemic, a chip shortage, an economic shock and the most instability we've had as a planet in decades.

It just doesn't seem like the right decision for the times, and when you add in the eWaste and climate considerations, let alone the fact it creates a digital divide of Windows 11 haves and Windows 10 have nots just isn't the right decision, especially when the leaks have shown these computers run the existing Windows 11 dev beta just fine. Extending Windows 11 support to these currently unsupported CPUs to 2025, the same date as the end of Windows 10's support, gives people PLENTY of warning and time, and enhances Microsoft's reputation, instead of preserving the memories of Windows Vista and Windows 8 for the post-COVID 2021 generation.

What started out as a lot of excitement has been soured by the revelation Windows 11 can't be upgraded to by what is actually the vast majority of Windows users.

Microsoft can easily fix this and generate HUGE public goodwill, happiness and even sales of its own and its partners' Windows 11 machines, which are undoubtedly due to arrive in great number of the Christmas Holiday sales season of 2021 and all throughout 2022 and beyond.

It will cost Microsoft more to deny users of older processors but otherwise qualifying computers in the long run in more than money by taking this decision.

There is time for Microsoft to reverse this decision and allow more PCs to be able to officially run Windows 11, even if only officially support until 2025, by which time a LOT of new computers will be purchased.

Please sign the petition and share it with your friends! People have said "petitions don't work, waste of time etc" - but if you want Windows 11 to be able to run on your PC when it obviously can, even if it doesn't have an 8th-gen or better Intel Core i-Series CPU, then sign it! Let's see what happens!

Let's send Microsoft the biggest message it has ever received. Are we Microsoft's customers, or not? Do we have any power or not? Sign this petition and find out!

If we don't, we don't, but what if we do? Share this petition with your friends and SIGN IT! THIS SHOULD BE GOING VIRAL! Help make it happen!

Original Change.org petition: https://chng.it/YBBLG6s8

Original Reddit on the petition here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/o8387c/petition_started_to_ask_microsoft_to_support_more/:

My latest Change.org update, which is also above:

https://www.change.org/p/microsoft-windows-11-microsoft-please-support-more-cpus/u/29262757

The tweet about it is here:

https://twitter.com/alexonline888/status/1409160032051105799?s=20
Not all non connections are capable of delivering the maximum speeds of higher speed NBN plans, and Telstra has apologised for not communicating this properly in the past, and said "we have made significant improvements to how we manage communicating nbn speed information to our customers", so what else does Telstra's California-based global connectivity and platforms exec, Sanjay Nayak have to say about it all?

Over at the Telstra Exchange blog, Telstra's Sanjay Nayak has published a blog post titled: "Our responsibility and commitment to clarifying your NBN speeds."

Here's what Sanjay Nayak has to say, in full:

"One of the issues internet providers face when providing customers with an internet service that relies on an nbn connection is that not all nbn connections to the home are created equal  theyre not all capable of delivering the maximum speeds of higher speed nbn plans.

"The maximum download speed you can achieve on your nbn connection  the speed to the household - is primarily dependent on the technology type delivered by NBN Co to your property. Its impacted by a range of factors, including how far away your house is from the closest nbn point.

"Theres also no way to tell what maximum speeds you can get on your NBN service until after you are connected to the nbn for the first time. This means you might order a 100Mbps service when you first move, only to find out later the nbn connection is not able to support those speeds."

Nayak continues: "This mainly affects Fibre to the Node (FTTN), Fibre to the Building (FTTB) and Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) households. Weve added some more information about these NBN technology types here and you can see what type youre on by visiting the My Telstra app under your NBN service.

"The common element with these NBN technologies is the final stretch of copper cable that delivers the nbn service to the wall socket inside your premises. This is what is known as nbns multi-technology mix.

"Once youre connected to the NBN, we receive information from NBN Co about the maximum possible speeds at your address. If theyre lower than the speeds of your chosen plan, we need to let you know and give you the option of cancelling your service without cost, moving to a lower plan without cost or staying on the same plan.

"If you cancel your service or move to a lower plan, we also need to provide you with a proportionate refund to reflect the period you didnt receive the full benefit of the plan youd chosen.

"We committed to do this through an enforceable undertaking provided to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in November 2017 in relation to FTTN and FTTB connections, as have a number of other nbn internet providers. Were also obliged to do this under NBN service migration rules.

"We have become aware that we have failed to meet these commitments and rules for many customers. Were now in the process of contacting all customers who have been potentially impacted to offer them appropriate remedies.

"As we became aware of these issues, we reported them to the ACCC and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and have developed a comprehensive remediation programme. This programme started in February 2021 and well contact customers over the next few months.

"This is a complicated issue that we are managing proactively, and we are very sorry to have let these customers down. Our continued commitment to our customers is when things go wrong, we pick it up and aim to fix it. We are committed to always acting responsibly, while being transparent and accountable. And this is one of those times.

"Since discovering these issues, we have made significant improvements to how we manage communicating nbn speed information to our customers. Weve introduced a new system for processing the information we receive from NBN Co about customers maximum speeds which lets us better match our data with NBN Cos and detect when there are issues.

"We have also recently introduced new capability which for many FTTN, FTTB and FTTC customers lets us provide them with reliable information at point of sale about the maximum possible speeds at their address so they can make an informed choice when they purchase or change plans. Were calling this pre-qualification process, our dynamic service qualification tool.

"For homes connected to the nbn for more than 21 days, we can inform consumer customers of the maximum attainable speeds they can get on their FTTN, FTTB or FTTC connection. This comes in the form of a range of maximum download speeds, and is the best estimate we can make of the fastest possible speeds of a customers connection. We also provide information to customers about how the maximum speeds at their address relate to their different options for plans with us.

"We will also continue to write to customers once they are connected on their new plan, and if their connection doesnt support the maximum speeds of their plan, well provide them with the options in line with our obligations mentioned above.

"If Dynamic Service Qualification data isnt available - for example, if their home hasnt been connected to the nbn yet - then customers on FTTN and FTTB wont be able to purchase our Premium Speed Plan. Once connected, well let them know what speeds their connection can support, and they will have the option to upgrade to the Premium plan if available to them.

"Were committed to always delivering the best customer experience that we can, so Aussies can better study, work, and be entertained online at home," Nayak concludes.
If you do fall and feel you are well enough to get up its important to be very careful to avoid further injury. Before attempting to get up, look around for a sturdy piece of furniture or the bottom of a staircase that you can use for support and dont try to stand up on your own. Instead, roll over onto your side and push your upper body up. Be sure to pause for a few moments to steady yourself, then slowly get up on your hands and knees and crawl to a sturdy chair if one is close by. Place your hands on the seat of the chair and slide one foot forward so that its flat on the floor. Get on one knee and slowly rise and turn your body to sit in the chair. Then sit for a few minutes to rest. Be sure to notify your health care provider after a fall to see if you need to be examined.
Such remediation will cost companies, but one way for them to look at it is: what would the cost of a lawsuit be?  They can compare the liabilities to the cost of fixing it, Earles said. It is cost-effective to repair these things when you consider the cost of these lost lives.

Short of adding a chute to a low-lying dam, owners, communities and state regulators can raise awareness of hazards through education and effective signage, Earles said.

On a wide river like the Dan you have to be sure they are really prominent  (with commands like) Danger ahead and Get out, Earles said.

Prominent, simple warnings and directions and in multiple languages can save lives, Earles said. But to be effective, the signs must be placed upstream, well ahead of dams, so people have enough time to navigate to a bank, get out of water and walk around a dam, a practice known as portaging, Earles and other river experts said.

Duke Energy, which did have warning signs in place at the time of the tubing tragedy, is ready to enhance its signage, said Bill Norton, a Duke Energy spokesman.
Infectious diseases experts Drs. Christopher Ohl with Wake Forest Baptist and David Priest with Novant Health Inc. say they are concerned that Forsyth could experience clusters of new cases, particularly among unvaccinated individuals.

A sudden increase in daily cases is more likely due to a specific cluster among individuals who have close contact with each other, Ohl said Thursday.

Both experts also have cautioned that the COVID-19 delta variant, which is considered more contagious and a higher public health risk, is likely to spread locally, particularly among unvaccinated individuals and potentially in K-12 schools this fall.

We do not test every COVID-19 case to determine its genetic sequence or variant lineage, Ohl said. Based on regional surveillance data from the CDC, currently 6%-10% of COVID-19 cases would be expected to be a delta variant.

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Priest has said the percentage of delta variant cases locally could double as soon as the end of the month.

The more people who get vaccinated in a community, the less likely you will see as many cases when the new variants arrive, Priest said.

Statewide
GREENSBORO  Four people were injured in what authorities are calling an aggravated assault at The Province apartment complex, according to a news release from Greensboro police.

At 5:41 p.m., officers responded to the 600 block of Fulton Street, an area of apartment complex, on a call of shots fired. They found four people with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. The victims were taken to a local hospital, according to the release.

The police department indicated in its release that the incident was an aggravated assault, but did not specify that it was a shooting. A message left with the Greensboro police department spokesman was not returned.

The UNCG Office of Emergency Management sent out a tweet at about 6:30 p.m. that shots had been fired at the off-campus student housing complex.

Posted 7:46 p.m.

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GREENSBORO  A shooting was reported at The Province apartments near UNCG on Sunday afternoon, according to a tweet from the university.

The UNCG Office of Emergency Management sent out a tweet at about 6:30 p.m. that a shots had been fired at the off-campus student housing complex in the 800 block of Province Spring Circle.
GOVERNMENT WORKFORCE: The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Kiran Arjandas Ahuja to be the Office of Personnel Managements director for a four-year term. Ahuja was the director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders during the Obama administration. A supporter, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., called Ahuja a qualified, experienced leader who is committed to supporting the people who make government work. An opponent, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said that if confirmed, Ahuja could use her platform to promote radical ideologies that seek to divide rather than unite people. The vote, on June 22, was 50 yeas to 50 nays, with Vice President Harris casting a 51st yea vote.

VOTING PROCEDURES: The Senate has rejected a cloture motion to end debate on the For the People Act (S. 2093), sponsored by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. The bill would have changed various election procedures, including an increase in voter registration opportunities, reduced ability to remove voters from registration lists, new rules for the financing of campaigns, and ethics and tax disclosure requirements for officials in the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government. Merkley said the measures were needed to ensure that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the United States of America. An opponent, Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., called the bill a federal takeover of state and local election systems that would make elections more chaotic, less secure, less nimble in their ability to deal with individual circumstances that occur on election day. The vote, on June 22, was 50 yeas to 50 nays, with a three-fifths majority required to end debate.
Encourage their full, eligible work force to register to vote and provide paid time off to vote early or on Election Day, providing free transportation to the polls where possible.

Kathleen Johnson

Winston-Salem

They gave up

If I didnt know better, Id think the writer of the June 23 letter Gun popularity growing was taking delight in the high number of new guns being sold. Surely he would not celebrate the increased death and destruction that will result from them.

He essentially asks how anyone can say that the majority of the American public wants more sensible gun control when so many guns were sold in 2020, especially to people who never owned them before. Id say its likely that these people have given up. They know that Republicans, more concerned with campaign donations from the NRA than with keeping children alive (we learned that right after Sandy Hook), are going to block any sensible gun control that would reduce the number of gun deaths.
Washington

AP

INFRASTRUCTURE

Bipartisan deal back on track

JACQUELYN MARTIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS President Joe Biden speaks with Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and other members of a bipartisan group of senators Thursday outside the White House in Washington. Biden invited members of the group of 21 Republican and Democratic senators to discuss the infrastructure plan.

WASHINGTON  A bipartisan deal to invest nearly $1 trillion in the nation's infrastructure appeared to be back on track Sunday after a stark walk-back by President Joe Biden to his earlier insistence that the bill be coupled with an even larger Democrat-backed measure in order to earn his signature.

Republican senators who brokered the agreement with the White House and Democrats to fund badly needed investments in roads, bridges, water and broadband internet indicated they were satisfied with Biden's comments that he was dropping the both-or-nothing approach. In a statement issued Saturday after 48 hours of behind-the-scenes maneuvering by the White House to salvage the deal, Biden said it was not his "intent" to suggest he was issuing a veto threat on the bill.

That proved to be enough for some wavering Republicans, who have privately and not-so-privately registered their displeasure at the linkage.

"Over the weeks and weeks in negotiations with Democrats and with the White House on an infrastructure bill, the president's other agenda was never linked to the infrastructure effort," Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday. He said that if Biden had not put out the statement, "I think it would have been very, very hard for Republicans to say, yes, we support this."

"We're not going to sign up for a multitrillion-dollar spending spree," he added, referencing the larger Democratic bill.

Romney said he believed there was now sufficient GOP support in the Senate to reach the 60-vote threshold to overcome a potential filibuster and pass the bipartisan package. Another GOP negotiator, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, even predicted that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has staked out a path back to the majority relying in large part on stiff opposition to the Biden agenda, would even support the final bill.

"If we can pull this off, I think Mitch will favor it," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I think Leader McConnell will be for it, if it continues to come together as it is."

Montana Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, predicted the measure would draw more than the minimum 10 Republican senators needed to pass the bipartisan accord in the 50-50 Senate, where 60 votes are required to advance most bills, but he said there would likely be "bumps in the road" along the way.

"We'll work those problems," he said on CBS News' "Face The Nation." "I think we'll get far more than 60 votes."

The bipartisan accord has been a key priority for Biden as he tries to deliver on a campaign promise to restore bipartisan cooperation to Washington and to show centrist Democrats and others that the White House was working with Republicans before Biden tries to push the broader package through Congress.

The two measures were always expected to move together through Congress: the bipartisan plan and a second bill that would advance under special rules allowing for passage solely with majority Democrats' votes and is now swelling to as much as $6 trillion. Biden reiterated that was his plan on Saturday but said he was not conditioning one on the other.

"So to be clear," his statement said, "our bipartisan agreement does not preclude Republicans from attempting to defeat my Families Plan; likewise, they should have no objections to my devoted efforts to pass that Families Plan and other proposals in tandem."

Still, it remained to be seen what impact Biden's comments would have on progressive lawmakers in the House and Senate, who have pushed Biden not to moderate his agenda in pursuit of bipartisanship. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has said her chamber would not take up the bipartisan proposal until the Senate first acted on the larger Democratic-backed bill.

"I think it's very important for the president to know that House progressives, and I believe, you know, the Democratic Caucus, is here to ensure that he doesn't fail," New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on "Meet the Press." "And we're here to make sure that he is successful in making sure that we do have a larger infrastructure plan."

"It's very important that we pass a reconciliation bill and a Families Plan that expands child care, that lowers the cost of Medicare, that supports families in the economy," she added.

Pressed on whether Biden was serious about signing the bipartisan bill without the Democratic one, White House senior adviser Cedric Richmond said Biden's words "speak for themselves."

"I don't think it's a yes-or-no question," he said on CNN's "State of the Union." "We expect to have both bills in front of us to sign. And I expect that President Biden will sign the infrastructure bill, he will sign the Families Plan."

Biden was set to travel to Wisconsin on Tuesday for the first stop on a nationwide tour to promote the infrastructure package, the White House said.
Quentin Bowen believes the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and he believes it works. But because of a lack of time and some other circumstances, he didn't get it when it became available.

The 41-year-old farmer from Richardson County was busy on the farm  planting soybeans and tending to his hogs. He had also dodged the virus back in November when his wife and daughter had it and figured he was less at risk now with cases waning.

"I guess I thought I had time," he said.

But time wasn't on his side.

On May 15, right in the middle of planting season for his several thousand acres of soybeans, Bowen started feeling ill.

He said it started as chills in the afternoon. He went to bed early and woke up around 11 p.m. with a fever of almost 103.

At that point, Bowen figured he might have COVID-19.

He isolated himself, rested, took Tylenol and drank plenty of fluids, but after a couple of days, he didn't feel any better, so he called a local health clinic.

The staff at the clinic told him he should get tested for COVID-19, but they also told him there wasn't anything they could do for him if he did have it. So he stayed home.
In Nebraska, we believe in personal responsibility, spokesman Taylor Gage said. Were asking Nebraskans to take responsibility for their own health care, and to visit with their doctor about the vaccine and whether its right for them.

The administration detailed efforts that state and local health officials have taken to make shots widely available across the state and to encourage people to get them  including initiatives targeting rural residents.

But some public health officials say the big divide revealed by the analysis shows that theres room to do more.

Dr. Bob Rauner of Partnership for a Healthy Lincoln, and a Panhandle native, said that given rural Nebraskas conservative bent, it would help for residents to hear more messages from Republican elected officials as well as trusted local voices like doctors, nurses and clergy.

Geography is not destiny, Rauner said.

Its now been more than six months since the U.S. launched its COVID-19 vaccination campaign, creating hopes of finally ending the deadly pandemic that has claimed more than 2,200 lives in Nebraska and over 600,000 nationally.
A 30-year-old Lincoln man was arrested after trying to steal a trailer and a race car from a driveway near 70th and Gladstone streets, according to police.

Lincoln Police Officer Erin Spilker said Cody Ryan was hooking up the trailer to his white pickup around 7:30 p.m. on Friday when the trailer's owner came home. Ryan drove away before attaching the trailer.

Spilker said the homeowner saw Ryan's truck again on Saturday and reported his license plate to police, connecting Ryan to the attempted theft.

Police identified Ryan as responsible for a pair of previous attempted thefts, Spilker said, and arrested him Saturday at his home. He had tried to steal a boat and trailer on Wednesday and a motorcycle on Thursday, Spilker said.

Ryan did not get away with any of the vehicles, worth a total of about $28,000, Spilker said. He was arrested on suspicion of three counts of felony theft and taken to the Lancaster County jail.

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A 30-year-old St. Louis man got four years of federal prison for seven guns found in a traffic stop west of Lincoln.

A jury in March found Drake Banks guilty of possessing firearms while being an unlawful user of drugs.

Chief U.S. District Judge John Gerrard sentenced him Friday.

The case involved a traffic stop Sept. 19, 2019. A Lancaster County Sheriff's deputy stopped Banks and Zachary Macomber, 28, of Annapolis, Missouri, in a 2018 Nissan Altima for following another vehicle too closely and cutting off a semi west of the Northwest 48th Street exit of Interstate 80.

In a news release, acting U.S. Attorney Jan Sharp said the officer soon discovered that there was marijuana in the car.

So the deputy searched it and found just over a gram of methamphetamine, less than an ounce of marijuana and, in the trunk, seven firearms. Two of the four pistols were loaded.

Sharp said that while seated in the back of the patrol car, and while the officer was searching the rental car, the two kicked the center divider and opened a sliding door on the center divider trying to escape.
There are already two holes in the ground where the future Kiewit Hall will rise near 17th and Vine streets on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's City Campus.

The 181,500-square-foot facility will redefine the College of Engineering's footprint at UNL when it opens to students in the fall of 2023 as a new hub for engineering education.

On Monday, UNL ceremonially broke ground on the privately funded $97 million facility, which is part of a larger effort to renovate engineering facilities as part of a plan to grow the college from 3,200 to 5,000 students.

"It is a big day for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the state of Nebraska, and the field of engineering," Chancellor Ronnie Green told a reception inside Othmer Hall, which will connect to Kiewit Hall via skywalk.

Construction on the facility is expected to ramp up this fall as work continues at the Link, the connection between the Scott Engineering Center and Nebraska Hall which is undergoing a $75 million expansion.

Taken together, both College of Engineering projects account for $172 million of renovation and new construction at UNL's City Campus.

Kiewit Hall is also the most expensive academic facilities project in UNL's 152-year history, Green said.

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Durst said the last time he spoke with his brother was in 1999 and he had last seen him in Texas at a nephews wedding in 2001.

About two weeks after the wedding, Robert Durst fatally shot neighbor Morris Black in Galveston, where he had gone to hide out from New York authorities after they reopened the investigation into Kathie Dursts disappearance.

Robert Durst was acquitted of murder after testifying that he killed Black in self-defense. He served jail time for chopping up Black's body and tossing it out to sea and for jumping bail.

While he was on the lam in that case, he showed up outside his brothers Westchester home, Douglas Durst said he learned.

Robert Durst was later recorded in a jail phone call in essence plotting to kill his brother, Douglas, Lewin said in arguing that jurors should hear about him showing up at his brother's home.

He has compared the way he feels about Douglas to the way he felt about Kathie, Lewin said. Our argument and position is that is what he did, he killed her.

Robert Durst twice showed up outside his brother's house in 2008, including once when he was wearing a ski mask and fled after a security guard drew his weapon, Lewin said.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa  An Iowa man accused of hiding in the backseat of a Nebraska womans car and using homemade chloroform, duct tape and zip ties to abduct a woman has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and other charges.

Zack Smith, 20, of Bronson, entered a written plea Monday in Woodbury County District Court to charges of third-degree kidnapping, assault while participating in a felony and assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, the Sioux City Journal reported.

Smith was arrested June 3, the same day Sioux City police said the woman from South Sioux City was reported missing a day after her car was found abandoned with her purse and cellphone inside. Police focused on Smith, who was an ex-boyfriend of the woman.

Under questioning, Smith admitted that he had hidden in the back of the womans vehicle for more than three hours and used a toy replica of a handgun to force the woman into his vehicle, where he blindfolded and bound her and held a towel he had soaked with homemade chloroform over her face, police said.
During that preliminary hearing, a Sarpy County sheriffs deputy testified that he had interviewed a 13-year-old boy who said he had sex with Greer on three occasions during sleepovers at Greer's home, which is near the Chalco Hills Recreation Area.

The deputy and Greers daughter both identified up to six teens or preteens who regularly spent the weekend at Greers house. An additional victim was identified in connection with the child enticement charge, amounting to seven total minors.

Kleine said Greers daughter testified that she heard her mother and one boy in her bedroom and that there was kissing. Another teen testified that the daughter said the boy was having sex with her mom at the time, Kleine said.
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts temporarily banned evictions for 2 months near the start of the pandemic, before the CDC moratorium was in place. Ricketts' order expired at the end of May 2020.

WHATS BEING DONE TO HELP PEOPLE FACING EVICTION?

Nebraska has earmarked $200 million from the coronavirus aid package Congress passed in December to help tenants with back rent, utility bills and other expenses.

The program, which is managed by the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority, offers up to $20,000 in assistance to renters or homeowners who need help paying up to 15 months of their bills. But the aid is only available to people who make 80% or less of their countys median income and can show theyre unable to pay rent because of a financial hardship caused by the pandemic or theyre at risk of becoming homeless.

So far, more than $15.8 million has been distributed to 4,420 households in Nebraska by the state agency and local programs in Lincoln and Omaha.

HOW ARE THE COURTS HANDLING EVICTION HEARINGS?
The General Assembly this year awarded $1 million to create a plan to reimagine Monument Avenue. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the city of Richmond will lead the planning effort, and a concept is due Sept. 1, 2022. The state said it wont remove the pedestal until after the VMFA has completed its project.

Though Northam announced plans to remove the capsule and replace it with a new one, its unclear if the pedestal will remain in the long term. The state intends to remove the statue as soon as it is allowed if it prevails in court but leave the base, which last summer was covered in graffiti with messages against police and racism.

Some local residents believe the base of the statue is worth keeping because of the role the monument played in 2020, when it was the hub for racial injustice protests following the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.

The Lee pedestal has really taken new meaning and new significance, Brumfield said. It probably should be left there without the statue on top.

***

Lees statue isnt the only one with a time capsule beneath it, Brumfield said. The bases for the statues of Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis and Matthew Fontaine Maury have them, too.
Australia has recorded just 910 deaths in its population of 25 million, one of the lowest per capita death tolls in the developed world, and cases have remained low as well.

While it beat much of the world in getting its economy back up and running, its tourism sector has taken a massive hit, its universities are struggling without the fees international students usually bring and some Australians, who travel abroad in relatively high numbers, are starting to feel the itch to go on holidays overseas.

Even New Zealand -- the only country with which Australians had an open travel corridor -- announced a three-day suspension of quarantine-free travel between the nations starting Saturday because of the outbreaks.

Australia has fully vaccinated just over 4% of its population, compared with more than 46% in the US and 47% in the UK, according to Our World in Data. Its rates are more comparable with Indonesia and India, which, like much of the developing world, were left out of the agreements with pharmaceutical companies that secured hundreds of millions of vaccine doses for most of the rich world.
Sometime in March, cement barriers were placed in front of the Erickson Truck-n-Parts' entrance on Frontage Road, blocking the only way the owners could get in and out. The village is mum about what's going on, even after one of the Ericksons was cited for trespassing on his own property.

An attorney representing the Ericksons wrote in a letter to a Mount Pleasant official: "In Catch-22 fashion, my client has been directed to clean up its property, but its owners and employees are not allowed on the premises."
RACINE  Wisconsins crumbling Lake Michigan shoreline will receive some needed TLC from local 12 and 13-year-olds through a pilot program that will bring coastal engineering and stewardship ideas into classrooms this school year, and also bring classrooms to the beach.

The program, funded by a grant through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will connect Racine Unified students and teachers with the coastline, specifically North Beach.

Adam Bechle, a coastal engineering outreach specialist with Wisconsin Sea Grant, works with property owners and communities regarding coastal hazard issues

Those hazards are increasing due to high water levels; record highs were set in May 2019. North Beach in particular has faced challenges following the destructive January 2020 storm.

North Beach has an interesting story from a coastal engineering perspective of being a beach that is visibly affected by changing water levels in the lake, Bechle said.

Ann Moser, senior special librarian and education coordinator for Wisconsin Sea Grant, approached Bechle with the idea of creating the program with the already established partnerships.

The Great Lakes Community Conservation Corps (GLCCC), a nonprofit directed by Chris Litzau, works with young adults that were not successful in the traditional school environment to provide training through outdoor projects akin to the model of the Civilian Conservation Corps developed during the Depression Era.

GLCCC has worked with RUSD the last few years on a healthy beaches program, with the new pilot program building upon it with coastal engineering concepts.

We have really great collaborators and partners, thats one of the strengths of Sea Grant is we bring in people with a stake and an interest in a project and we come together, and we really wanted to build on the great work that the DLCC was doing, Moser said. So, we wrote a grant and they (NOAA) really liked it.

While the program is still in its early planning stages, RUSD Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Janell Decker and Program Evaluation Manager Jenelle Williams said there will likely be six seventh-grade classes from a single school in the district that will be involved in the program this academic year.

With the program culminating on the beach, Decker explained that the classrooms involved will engage with related curriculum throughout the school year to prepare them for their beach experiences. The teachers themselves, along with the Great Lakes CCC crew supervisors, will also undergo training in order to work with the student on North Beach stewardship projects using coastal engineering practices.

This opportunity ties in really nicely to the academy model that we have at our high schools, Decker said. This is going to be another layer of that, to actually see that there are engineers that look at the impact of humans on our coastline and actually do work to sustain the coastline as it sits today.

Once the project is complete and evaluated, Bechle and Moser will make the curriculum used available to other school districts and locations through the Center for Great Lakes Literacy while the Great Lakes CCC would be able to include the lessons in their programming. Should the program prove successful, it may also be expanded within RUSD.

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RACINE  Prisons and jails are Americas new asylums, declared an expansive joint report from the Treatment Advocacy Center and National Sheriffs Association in 2014. That hasnt changed in the ensuing seven years.

Talk to any police officer and theyll tell you that their profession is stretched thin, that 911 has become a catch-all for everything from actual crimes to kids who refuse to go to school to cats stuck in trees to mental health crises.

While law enforcement officers usually have some training in crisis intervention, they are rarely experts. But there are no systems in place in the U.S. where actual mental health experts can respond to someone having a mental health crisis.

Criminal justice and mental health experts say that Americas divestment in mental health facilities over the past half-century and overemphasis on incarceration without substantive treatment for those behind bars are making society worse.

The worst side effect of this problem was realized in the Racine County Jail on June 1 when Malcolm James died amid what appears to have been a bout of psychosis, hitting his blanket-covered head against concrete walls, followed by Taser use as jail guards reportedly tried to restrain him.

Jails worsen mental illness

That 2014 joint report stated: The number of individuals with serious mental illness in prisons and jails now exceeds the number in state psychiatric hospitals tenfold. Most of the mentally ill individuals in prisons and jails would have been treated in the state psychiatric hospitals in the years before the deinstitutionalization movement led to the closing of the hospitals, a trend that continues even today. The treatment of mentally ill individuals in prisons and jails is critical, especially since such individuals are vulnerable and often abused while incarcerated. Untreated, their psychiatric illness often gets worse, and they leave prison or jail sicker than when they entered.

When someone is having a mental health crisis in America, theyre oftentimes more likely to end up in jail than in a treatment facility.

I think the fact that Mr. James had that blanket over his head; he appeared to be scared and just trying to escape what was going on in his mind, Elizabeth Sinclair Hancq, director of research with the Virginia-based Treatment Advocacy Center who has a background in medical science and public health research, said after reviewing the video.

Absolutely unforgiving place

Dr. April Fernandes, a sociologist and criminologist at North Carolina State University, agreed.

Fernandes said she believes being in jail likely would exacerbate (they both used the verb) the problems James was facing and could have contributed to his death.

The jail environment is a cacophonous, loud, absolutely unforgiving place. For individuals who have mental health issues (and/or) cognitive disabilities, it can often be difficult to exist in that place, Fernandes said. Its not an environment conducive to feeling comfortable and safe.

Added Sinclair Hancq: In the research world, its a common fact that incarceration exacerbates mental illness.

Dr. Craig Haney, professor of psychology at the University of California at Santa Cruz, told the American Psychological Association in 2014 that people are reluctant to open up in environments where they do not feel physically or psychologically safe, and so mental health healing becomes less likely for those who are incarcerated.

Not only are jail environments damaging, but Fernandes noted that theres also the added stress of facing criminal charges that could permanently affect an inmates life hanging over their head. Thats a lot to deal with, she said.

Despite having allegedly shown suicidal tendencies by hitting his head against the wall hours he was arrested on May 29 after allegedly setting his apartment on fire, James was returned to a nonpadded cell, according to the Racine County Sheriffs Office.

Still continuing when he got to jail

Fernandes, Sinclair Hancq and Racine Vocational Ministry Executive Director James Schatzman all said that the system failed James before he ended up in jail. Mental health services simply arent prevalent in many communities in this country, Racine included.

I would expect that Mr. James was suffering from the mental health crisis prior to his incarceration and it was still continuing when he got to jail, Sinclair Hancq said.

In short, We dont have adequate mental health institutions, Fernandes said. As a result, Jails are the places where people like him (James) go, and then we have issues where he ends up dying within the jail system  but he didnt need to.

Oftentimes, law enforcement will perform so-called mercy bookings where someone suffering from psychosis or perhaps is detoxing is booked in jail. That booking theoretically would allow time for them to sober up or return to their senses. There arent any other options for those people, and officers feel thats the only tool that they have just to get someone off the streets, Sinclair Hancq said.

Unlike in the 1970s and the decades prior, there arent any mental hospitals or asylums nearby. The ones that do remain dont reliably have beds available.

Law enforcement has almost no option  They cant drive them to the county facility, because there is no county facility, Schatzman said. Weve put ourselves in this situation, with how we fund crime and mental health  Its put us in a bind.

In 44 out of 50 states, Wisconsin among them, a jail or prison holds more mentally ill individuals than the largest remaining state psychiatric hospital, according to Treatment Advocacy Center research.

Simply offering more training to correctional officers wouldnt be enough, Sinclair Hancq said, considering the purpose behind jails is to incarcerate rather than heal. If someone is having serious mental illness issues, they need a clinician  not a jail guard who went through a crisis intervention course.

What should happen, Sinclair Hancq argued, is for the systems in place to be changed by investing in a comprehensive system of care. Such a comprehensive system simply does not exist right now. Sinclair Hancq said constructing one could alleviate strains on law enforcement while better serving people in crisis, so that there are enough inpatient psychiatric beds for when that person needs one, she said.

She argued that the cost of this may also be offset by the savings created by lowering demand on law enforcement and systems of incarceration.

Schatzman agrees. He said that restructuring the systems in place to have treatment rather than incarceration be the focus could lead to both taxpayer savings and societal benefit.

According to a 2017 report published in the Psychiatric Times: The estimated annual costs of depression in 2010 totaled $210.5 billion, including both direct costs and indirect costs such as mortality arising from depression-related suicides as well as the effects of depression in the workplace. The cost of opioid use disorders in 2013 was estimated at $78.5 billion.

Furthermore, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration estimates that mental and substance use disorder treatment spending from all public and private sources for direct costs alone will rise to a total of $280.5 billion in 2020, an increase from $171.7 billion in 2009. These figures do not include additional costs to the criminal justice system, which houses large populations of people with inadequately treated mental illness and substance use disorders.

Under the current systems, for most patients with mental illness, the highest level of care or inpatient care is inaccessible because they cant afford it, Sinclair Hancq said. According to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health, more than 25% of American adults with at least one serious mental illness live below the poverty line.

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The benefits of a medical facility

Offering post-COVID rehab at a place already set up for rehab is a big advantage say the therapists.

Staff monitor patients for blood pressure, heart rates and oxygen during their sessions.

People are more willing to come to a facility that is all set up and where they feel safe in a controlled environment, Schafer said.

Going to a facility is also motivating for patients, they noted. Some patients are people who found they were not improving or responding to exercise (at home) on their own, Schafer said.

For patients, the rehab program has become a lifeline.

Sharon Cavillo of Bristol was referred to the program in February as recovery from her six-week-long battle with the disease seemed to stall out.

Working with Hagen for over two months Cavillo regained muscle strength and respiratory stamina and is enthusiastic about the programs benefits.

Its so awesome  the (therapy) team is so patient-focused and kind, Cavillo said. They say, There is always something more you can do, and always have something encouraging and positive to say.
For consumers, higher gasoline prices are one element of an inflationary mix they've encountered as the economy recovers from the pandemic. Rising prices for commodities and materials have also boosted prices for such items as lumber, diapers, and meat and poultry.

The Federal Reserve is expecting many of these increases to be temporary. In an appearance before a House subcommittee last week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell cited the pass-through of past increases in oil prices to consumer energy prices as one factor behind the increase in inflation.

While prices for some commodities have reversed direction recently, oil has held its gains for the most part. On Monday, West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.14 to $72.91 per barrel, but the price is still up 50% on the year.

The most common gas price motorists in the U.S. were likely to see was $2.89 per gallon, the same as last week, GasBuddy said.

States closest to the large Gulf Coast refinery hub had the lowest average prices per gallon, led by Mississippi at $2.71 and Louisiana at $2.72. The states with the highest prices per gallon were California at $4.27 and Hawaii at $3.96.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The owners of a highly contested power line through southwestern Wisconsin are seeking a new permit after discovering a former regulator who approved the project exchanged encrypted messages with utility employees, potentially tainting the projects approval.

American Transmission Co. and ITC Midwest filed a request Monday with the Public Service Commission to rescind the permit for the $492 million Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission line and reopen the proceedings to consider next steps.

The companies say they discovered last week that former Commissioner Mike Huebsch had regular communications with an ATC employee, a former ITC contractor, and other individuals over several years while the permit application was before the PSC.

The permit for the line is already facing legal challenges that hinge in part on private communications Huebsch had with minority partner Dairyland Power Cooperative.

According to a court filing by ATC, Huebsch exchanged texts using the encrypted messaging service Signal, and its unknown if the contents can be recovered.

The utilities say they dont know if the messages were related to the project but want to maintain transparency in the regulatory process.
SSM Health will require COVID-19 vaccination by the end of September for its nearly 40,000 employees, providers and volunteers, the organization said Monday, becoming the first hospital group in Wisconsin known to announce a mandate.

As health care providers, weve seen the devastating impact of this disease first-hand, Dr. Matt Hanley, SSM Healths interim regional president in Wisconsin, said in a statement. The fight against COVID-19 is not yet over. We must continue to be vigilant in doing everything we can to protect our team members, patients and communities.

St. Louis-based SSM Health owns St. Marys hospitals in Madison and Janesville, St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo, Dean Medical Group and other entities in Wisconsin.
In the past, Chinese authorities have regularly doubled down on "stability maintenance" before major anniversaries, swiftly censoring voices and suppressing incidents deemed in discord with the "positive energy" ahead of celebrations.

But the level of caution for the centenary has reached new heights.

Two weeks before the anniversary, Chinese officials held a high-level meeting and vowed to "spare no effort to ensure production safety, firmly ward off accidents of various kinds, and create a safe and stable atmosphere for the celebration of the 100th anniversary" of the party's founding.

As a result, local authorities are on edge, with some going as far as temporarily halting risky industries.

In Hubei, all coal mining operations were reportedly suspended from June 15 to July 5 after a gas pipeline explosion killed 25 people on June 13. In neighboring Jiangxi province, five coal mines were closed from June 21 to July 4, according to Bloomberg.

With harmony ensured at home, the disaster in Florida, on the other hand, gives China's propagandists an opportunity to double down on the image of a US in decline.
In early 2020, in this space, we posed a question regarding perfluorinated chemicals or PFAS, known as forever chemicals because they dont break down in the environment: How much of those chemicals would you like in your glass of water?

Were confident your answer was none at all then, and remains the same.

People in the Town of Campbell would love to give the same answer. But many of them have no choice.

In Campbell, with a population of fewer than 5,000 on French Island across the Mississippi River from La Crosse, there was no money to conduct water testing in 2020, when contamination from the nearby La Crosse Regional Airport was disclosed, and homeowners naturally wanted to know if PFAS had reached their wells.

The news, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently reported, wasnt good: Of 551 private drinking wells sampled to date, 538 have some trace of the forever chemicals. More than 130 have levels above state-recommended limits for drinking water.

For a town of Campbells size, the idea of having to switch to a municipal water system is daunting, to say the least. Estimates the town received for such a switch were $15 million to $20 million, and that was in the late 90s.
1. Yes. Its a common-sense bill that should be implemented. Pass it without changes.

2. Yes. The bill should pass, but some of its stipulations should be modified or dropped.

3. No. Unless significant changes are made, it doesnt deserve lawmakers support.

4. No. The original bill is dangerous. Democrats should walk out again to block it.

5. Unsure. Its had to say without knowing what final form the bill would take.

Vote

View Results
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After she left rural Mexico for the United States, Pinon spent a few years in Texas before arriving in Kearney at age 23.

One of the first things she did after rolling into Kearney was to find a place to wash clothing and bedding. The laundromat she found was in the strip mall next door to The Cellar Restaurant in north Kearney.

I saw lots of people going inside, Pinon said, so she approached the door and asked to talk to the owner. She waited outside until Dick Poston emerged and told her he could meet with her the next day. It was the beginning of Pinons 16-year stint at The Cellar.

Pinon has had a variety of jobs since, on assembly lines, in housekeeping and occasionally dipping her toe into retail. Now and then she organized craft fairs and cosmetic sales events, including in Shelton, where she raised her daughter, Nadia.

Pinon said it was a thrill watching her daughter receive so many opportunities as she grew up. Nadia attended the University of Nebraska at Kearney and became a cheerleader, said her mom.

I tell Nadia to be grateful for what you have because nothing comes easy, Pinon said.
KEARNEY  Meg Schluns is looking for a way to make new friends when she is a freshman at University of Nebraska at Kearney this fall.

After attending New Student Enrollment Wednesday at UNK, the recent ONeill High School graduate decided to learn more about sororities at Fraternity and Sorority Lifes (FSL) UNK Hangout Thursday night at Harmon Park.

I just heard a lot of great things about it. Its a great way of meeting new people, she said.

Schluns, who plans to go through sorority recruitment the week before UNK classes start Aug. 23, also met other elementary education majors who will be her roommates in the fall.

One of those new roommates will be Marissa Kalb of Kearney. Kalb said she too wants to meet new people through sorority membership, as well as get involved on campus.

About two dozen incoming students enjoyed the free, casual event, which included barbecue, yard games and Loper merchandise.

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The event was the first of three UNK Hangouts slated this summer. Upcoming events will be 5-7 p.m. July 8 at Cody Park in North Platte and July 15 at Stolley Park in Grand Island.
"Labor-wise? It's a big challenge," David Koudelka told the group, who operates a nearby farm retail business.

Rep. Loren Oldenburg, R-Viroqua, agreed. "Labor, I believe, is a main issue in farming right now that we have to address," he said.

Other farmers said it has been hard to access the supplies they need in time, and that consumer knowledge of agriculture products needs to be improved.

The group emphasized the role farmers and the agriculture industry play in protecting the environment, but said that the current structure of regulations plays into a "broken circle" that hurt farmers.

Kevin Hoyer, Republican La Crosse County supervisor and local farmer, said that as a farmer his number one goal is to "get the work done right," but that he's seen the bureaucratic process to implement some environmental goals get in the way.

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"As (farmers) ... we are stewards of the land. I mean, we are going to try and do our best to our best ability to keep good quality water," said Oldenburg, who is also an area farmer. "As a state Legislature, we have to keep addressing these issues and do our best to protect the environment, but also to protect these thriving businesses."
President Joe Biden is set to visit La Crosse Tuesday, according to the White House schedule.

The visit will put focus on the infrastructure bill, which has currently reached a bipartisan agreement and is awaiting its first votes next month.

The President will travel to La Crosse, Wisconsin, to highlight the benefits of the bipartisan infrastructure framework will deliver to communities across the country, said the schedule, which was sent to media Sunday night.

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The White House announced last week that Biden would travel with U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to the area to discuss agriculture and rural economies.

More details about Bidens visit to La Crosse were not immediately available.
Another violent night in Chicago left two people dead and at least 15 others injured in two shootings, the Chicago Police Department said Monday.

At least 11 people who were standing outside in the South Artesian Avenue area were shot around 11 p.m. Sunday. Three men "emerged from an alley and fired shots into the crowd," police said in an online statement.

Keep scrolling for a gallery of photos from Sunday's shooting scene in Chicago

One woman was pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the chest, police said. Four other women between 24 and 57 were also shot and are listed in fair or good condition at hospitals.

Six men, ranging in age from 21 to 42, are also being treated at various hospitals for gunshot wounds mainly to the leg and torso. Their conditions range from good to serious.

In a separate shooting, a woman was killed and five men were being treated for gunshot wounds at hospitals after a black SUV drove past the area where they were standing on East 71st Street and began shooting, around 8:45 p.m., police said.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court on Monday refused to allow New Hampshire to sue neighboring Massachusetts over an income tax dispute involving people who have been working from home during the coronavirus pandemic.

The justices rejected New Hampshire's complaint without comment. The state objects to Massachusetts' collection of income tax from roughly 80,000 New Hampshire residents who are employed by Massachusetts companies, but who have been working remotely.

New Hampshire wanted the justices to declare Massachusetts' collections unconstitutional and order a refund to people who are paying taxes of just over 5%.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said Monday that the court was setting a costly precedent."

This decision will have lasting ramifications for thousands of Granite State residents, he said in a statement.

The issue is especially sensitive in New Hampshire, which lacks a state income tax. New Hampshire also drew support from New Jersey and Connecticut, among others.

Residents of those states who are employed by New York businesses also generally pay state income tax to New York.
A nonprofit conservative law firm has filed a lawsuit in Waukesha County Circuit Court challenging the use of absentee ballot drop boxes in Wisconsin.

The lawsuit, filed Monday by Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on behalf of Richard Teigen, of Hartland, and Richard Thom, of Menomonee Falls, challenges the Wisconsin Elections Commissions guidance to election clerks last year on the use of ballot drop boxes leading up to the 2020 election.

In the lawsuit, WILL challenges the state elections commissions interpretation that ballot drop boxes can be unstaffed, temporary or permanent. Will has asked the court for a declaratory judgement that state law only allows absentee ballots to be cast via the mail or by delivering it in-person to a municipal clerk.

Wisconsin voters deserve certainty that elections are conducted fairly and in accordance with state law, WILL president and general counsel Rick Esenberg said in a statement. But the Wisconsin Elections Commission is giving advice to clerks that is contrary to the law, putting the ballots of countless voters at risk.
Given these dynamics, the question remains: Is ethical leadership possible? It seems that the role taken by elected leaders can make a difference. Heres an encouraging analysis. According to a 2021 report by Deloitte (an internationally recognized consulting firm), a good place to start is for individual elected officials to focus on four key characteristics: humanity, transparency, capability, and reliability. With humanity, elected leaders are basically showcasing, wherever possible, fairness in policies and programs. And at the same time, they are working to address underlying inequities in government programs. Regarding transparency, they are open with the decisions that are made wherever possible. And they communicate to citizen stakeholder groups in a way that conveys the humanity of government. In terms of capability, elected leaders must demonstrate (and promote) an agencys capability to do its job well. Whether one prefers a larger or smaller government, all citizens expect that government should deliver service as intended. And finally, with reliability, elected leaders must focus on implementing and publicizing controls that can assure that government is spending taxpayer money efficiently and effectively.
From its rolling farmlands to its ornately crafted architecture to its downtown skyline  there's a lot of beauty in Lancaster County.

And whether you're a newly fledged Instagram user or professional photographer, the county has a lot of potential to spruce up your photography chops.

These spots were gathered with the help of local lifestyle influencers @harmony_joy and @wildpreciousnow.

Other places were found by using the geotagging feature on Instagram. Geotagging allows an Instagram user to mark their location, and other users can find photos taken in those same locations.

Here are 10 Instagram-worthy locations in Lancaster County.

Lancaster Central Market

The Lancaster Central Market is perhaps one of the county's best-known mainstays. Recently, readers for USA Today ranked it as the fifth-best public market in the United States.

The market has been a prime county destination since the 1730s, according to Discover Lancaster.

Today's Central Market boasts over 60 standholders with goods ranging from fresh produce and local coffee, to booze and spices, to fresh-picked flowers.

More information: 23 N. Market St., Lancaster | Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Website

Chickies Rock Overlook

A half-mile trail is all that separates you from a 100-foot-tall outcropping of quartzite rock that overlooks the Susquehanna River in earnest.

Marietta borough and York County can easily be seen from Chickies Rock.

The landmark is just off Route 30, off the Columbia/Marietta exit.

More information: 880 Chiques Hill Road, Columbia | Map

Wildflower Lookout

Vast green fields are peppered with brightly colored flowers at this Ronks wildflower paradise.

Its four acres of flowers are open to the general public (with an admission fee), but is also available to rent for half-day photoshoots, available in both the morning and evening ($40-60).

Visitors can bring food and water for that Instagram-worthy date photo opportunity.

Note: The best time to go to the lookout is sometime between June and July. Flowers do not bloom all year.

More information: 46 Peach Lane, Ronks | 717-330-5929 | Admission fee: $9 for adults | Hours: Monday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to dusk; closed Sundays | Website

Bronze newspaper man at Steinman Park

It'd be hard to miss the bronze man reading a newspaper right outside Steinman Park in downtown Lancaster.

New Jersey artist J. Seward Johnson Jr. erected the statue in 1981 on a bench overlooking W. King St.

Next to the man's statue are two bronze newspapers: one about the first people to walk on the moon in 1969, and the other about the Three Mile Island meltdown in 1979.

The bronze man is always photogenic no matter the time of year, making him a great solo model or a great photo companion.

More information: 20 W. King St., Lancaster | Available for public viewing/photography

Pinnacle Scenic Overlook Nature Preserve

This nature preserve boasts several miles of hiking trails, but the most breathtaking and photo-worthy part of the experience is viewing the Susquehanna River from its high cliffs and outcroppings.

The Holtwood preserve is close to Kellys Run and Tucquan Glen nature preserves, satisfying any flora and fauna photo needs.

Note: The trails at this nature preserve are considered difficult. Hikers on trail review site Alltrails recommend downloading the map and taking food and water.

More information: 128-66 Pinnacle Rd W, Holtwood | Map | More info

The Exchange

The Exchange is a top-notch Instagram location, according to local influencers @harmony_joy and @wildpreciousnow.

The downtown Lancaster restaurant and cocktail lounge sits atop the Lancaster Marriott hotel on the 12th floor.

The restaurant features both indoor and outdoor dining options, both of which giving a sweeping view of Lancaster city.

Beautiful indoor lighting paves the way for great product shots, whereas outside you can snap beautiful photos of the city at sunset.

More information: 25 S. Queen St., Lancaster | 717-207-4096 | Website

Strasburg Rail Road

For those who are fans of history or trains, Strasburg Rail Road is a primetime destination for photo-perfect moments.

The railroad and museum are ideal spots to snap photos of locomotives on a normal day.

On a regular basis, the Strasburg Rail Road will have different trains and events, including a wine and cheese train and the yearly visit of Thomas the Tank Engine.

More information: 301 Gap Road, Ronks | Hours: Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Friday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. | More info

Lancaster city murals

Both @harmony_joy and @wildpreciousnow recommend checking out Lancaster city's many murals for an artsy Instagram flair.

Lancaster city has several dozen murals and new ones pop up frequently. Below is a map of murals in Lancaster city, though it should be used as more of a starting point than a definitive guide.

Here are a few other murals to check out in Lancaster city.

Mural photos are great on their own, but also make excellent backdrops for portrait shots.

Lititz Springs Park

Lititz Springs Park is more than just a Fourth of July destination, it's a beautiful park year-round.

Its well-maintained foliage and clean waters make for a beautiful Instagram-worthy location for photographers looking to widen their portfolio with maternity or graduation photos.

The park is also teeming with ducks and other birds, offering a great opportunity to sharpen up your nature photo skills.

More information: 24 N. Broad St., Lititz | Hours: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily | More info

Miniature Horse Farm

Right in Ronks is the Li'l Country Store and Miniature Horse Farm, a gift shop and petting zoo duo for fun family time.

The petting zoo has free admission and features cute farm animals, including mini horses, alpacas and goats.

Kids can ride a miniature horse via saddle or cart for $7, for a low-cost but photo-perfect moment.

More information: 264 Paradise Lane, Ronks | Hours: Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | More info
Denver-based Morphy Auctions will host over 1,500 lots  filled with a first-class selection of firearms, edged weapons, armor and militaria  July 13 through 15.

Bids can be made either in-person or online at Morphy Live.

Some lots include both antique and modern rifles, shotguns and handguns; Civil War, European and Japanese swords and Native American relics. The auction also includes 150 lots of militaria, encompassing items from field gear and equipment to ammunition and military apparel.

Day 1

A Joseph Cooper Kentucky-style percussion rifle is one of the key items available in the opening session. The rifle was discovered recently with consignor provenance, which states it belonged to Dr. Emmanuel Meyer. Meyer was part of a German princes excursion to the United States in the 1840s, and served as a major in the US Army in 1845.

Paperwork states that on one occasion Meyer removed an Indian arrow from the jaw of a wounded Texas Ranger, said Dan Morphy, founder and president of Morphy Auctions, in a press release. Dr. Meyer brought his prized rifle back with him when he returned to Switzerland in 1847, and it has remained in successive generations of the family until now.

The rifle is estimated at $30,000-$50,000.

Another noteworthy item on the first day is a silver-mounted parade saddle, featuring extensive leather carving and superbly engraved silverwork by Don Ellis. Marked Karls Seattle, it is expected to reach $12,000-$16,000.

Day 2

Day 2 of the sale features a circa-1968 Browning (Belgium) Midas-grade superposed over/under model with a 3-barrel (.20, .28, .410 gauge) set. It comes with a Browning factory letter and is estimated at $15,000-$20,000.

There are two opportunities for collectors to acquire a 3rd Generation Storekeeper Engraving Sampler from Colts Custom Shop, also on the second day. Both of the .45-caliber single-action Army revolvers bear Colt 150th Anniversary medallions. One of the guns is accompanied by a 1992 Colt factory letter, signed by Historian Emeritus M.S. Huber, confirming that it is the only one that was built in this configuration. The second gun is accompanied with a Colt Archival Letter signed by Colt Historian Beverly Jean Haynes, stating it is the only one that was built in its particular configuration.

The two Colt Storekeepers will be auctioned consecutively, each with a $6,000-$10,000 estimate.

Day 3

The third day of the auction will feature swords and sabers, military uniforms and apparel, field gear, handguns, semi-automatic weapons and daggers, and dozens of boxes of ammunition.

Highlights for the third day include a rare and desirable German WWII Kriegsmarine binoculars on a World War I US Navy mount, and an 1893 West Point Academy USMA Class of 1893 gold and carnelian ring. Both of these items are estimated between $8,000 and $12,000.
LANCASTER CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE

Lancaster City Council Committee will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 1, in council chambers, City Hall annex, 120 N. Duke St., Marion St. entrance. Among the agenda items:

Personnel Committee: nomination of Jessica Purdy for appointment to the Human Relations Commission.

Community Planning Committee: (a) Administration Resolution No. 35-2021, authorizing transfer of 607 and 609 Rockland St. to the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Lancaster for affordable housing; (b) Administration Resolution No. 37-2021, amending the Sewer Control Plan for the LGH/Hankin project.

Finance Committee: Administration Resolution No. 37-2021, amending the Sewer Control Plan for the LGH/Hankin project.

Public Works Committee: (a) Administration Bill No. 16-2021, amending the water service termination ordinance; (b) Administration Bill No. 17-2021, rescinding the COVID-19 construction ordinance; (c) Administration Resolution No. 36-2021, authorizing application for a Multimodal Program grant; (d) Administration Resolution No. 40-2021, authorizing an agreement with the Central Market Trust; (e) Administration Resolution No. 41-2021, converting temporary outdoor dining permits to annual permits.

Public Safety Committee: (a) Administration Resolution No. 38-2021, appointing John Bey as city police chief; (b) Administration Resolution No. 39-2021, authorizing application for a Byrne Justice Assistance Grant.

Committee of the Whole: Council Bill No. 14-2021, increasing the salary of the mayor.

LANCASTER COUNTY PLANNING

The Lancaster County Planning Commission will virtually meet at 2:30 p.m. Monday, June 28. Meeting held online using Lifesize app: https://call.lifesizecloud.com/1696302/; or call (312) 584-2401, code 1696302#. Among the agenda items:

New planning matters: (a) overview map; (b) community planning reviews: (1) No. 34-40, Lancaster Township, proposed amendment to the zoning ordinance to add warehouse, distribution and wholesale as a special exception use in the Local Commercial and General Commercial Zoning Districts; (2) No. 36-74, Upper Leacock Township, proposed amendment to the zoning ordinance to provide for a new definition of Common Parking Area, Residential and to add a new parking ratio applicable to multiple-family dwellings with a common parking area, residential in the mixed use district; (3) No. 39-267, Manheim Township, proposed amendment to the zoning ordinance by amending Article XII to add motor vehicle washing facilitates as a special exception use and to add area and bulk requirements governing such special exception use within the business district B-2; (4) No. 4-102, Brecknock Township, proposed amendment to the zoning ordinance by amending Article V titled District Regulations, Section 110-20 titled Forest Recreational (FR) District, to increase the maximum lot coverage from 5% to 20%.

Subdivision and land development items: (a) No. 68-125-11, Custom Home Group, Oak Ridge Drive extension, East Drumore Township; (b) No. 74-485-2, Lancaster Pike Properties LLC, Providence Township; (c) No. 74-533-3, Jonathan J. Lapp Jr., Salisbury Township; (d) No. 79-312-7, Crossgate Phase II, Millersville Borough; (e) No. 89-111H, Country Meadows Phase 4, Lots 42 and 43, West Lampeter Township; (f) No. 92-5-3, Raffensperger tract, Mount Joy Township; (g) No. 96-99-1B, Creekside subdivision, Phase 2, Providence Township; (h) No. 04-98-1, The Farm on Quarry Road LP, Manheim Township; (i) No. No. 11-28A, 699 Martic Heights Drive, Martic Township; (j) No. 13-24-1, Queen and Frederick streets mixed use, Lancaster City; (k) No. 18-35B, Johnny King residence, Leacock Township; (l) No. 21-25, Roger M. and Cheryl A. Snyder, West Donegal Township.

Next scheduled meeting held at 2:30 p.m. July 12. Held only using the Lifesize app. Visit https://call.lifesizecloud.com/1696302/; or call (312) 584-1401, code 1696302#.

MANHEIM TWP. COMMISSIONERS

Manheim Township commissioners will virtually meet at 6 p.m. Monday, June 28. For info and meeting link, visit manheimtownship.org. Among the agenda items:

Public hearings/presentations/appointments: (a) issue oath of office to Mishon L. Eberly; (b) appointing the following to Manheim Township Fire Rescue: (1) Samuel Welk, (2) Austin Sweigart, and (3) Jordan Merring; (c) issue oaths of office to firefighters; (d) presentation by Perry L. Pierich, director, fire training, HACC, Sen. John J. Shumaker Public Safety Center.

New business: (a) consent agenda: The Crossing at Conestoga Creek planned commercial development, final subdivision and land development plan, Harrisburg Pike and Farmingdale Road, zoned R-1, financial security reduction No. 4; (b) resolutions: Resolution 2021-45: approving and adopting Lancaster Area Sewer Authoritys amended articles of incorporation; (c) ordinances: Ordinance 2021-04 Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment, Articles V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, XI, XII, XV, XVII, XXII, XXV, XXVI, modifying uses and provisions to expand the provisions governing agricultural uses and provisions as it relates to Silo Heights and modifying the transferable developmental rights provision; (d) motions/decisions: (1) motion: farm on Quarry Road, Lots 6 and 7, preliminary/final lot add-on plan, 1170 and 1174 S. Lefever Drive, zoned R-1, modification request; (2) motion: bid recommendation for Landis Valley Road reconstruction project; (3) motion: approve the signed general release; (4) motion: lift all township COVID-19 mitigation orders to match directives of Gov. Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania COVID-19 Vaccine Joint Task Force; (5) decision: City of Lancaster, Northeast Greenway Trail extension, East Walnut Street, zoned R-3, floodplain ordinance, conditional use request; (e) acknowledgments; (f) other business/deliberations: (1) consider making a salary adjustment for the library circulation clerk classification; (2) consider leasing property from The Oak Tree Development Group for placement of a fire station at Richmond Square (northwest corner of Manheim Township).

MOUNT JOY TWP. PLANNING

Mount Joy Township Planning Commission will meet at 7 p.m. Monday, June 28, at the municipal building, 8853 Elizabethtown Road, Elizabethtown. Among the agenda items:

Initial view: minor subdivision plan for ERSA Drive, a planned community (File No. 21-07-MSDP), proposal to reconfigure three lots in the previously approved 13-lot residential subdivision. Applicant received Zoning Hearing Board approval to resubdivide three lots into four lots, which will contain two pairs of semi-detached, single-family dwellings. The site is located in the R-2 medium density residential district.

Other business: presentation from Waste Management regarding Milton Grove Landfill proposed soil borrow.

The next regular meeting of the Mount Joy Township Planning Commission is scheduled to be held at 7 p.m. July 26.
Lancaster County looks to be in for a heat wave this week with a few days of 90-degree temperatures in the forecast, according to a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in State College.

Monday's high could reach the low to mid-90s and Tuesday and Wednesday will be similar, with highs in the mid-90s, said Amanda Wagner, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in State College.

A hazardous weather outlook from NWS indicates heat indexes across central Pennsylvania could reach up to 100 degrees on Monday and Tuesday  in other words, that's how hot it will actually feel outside.

A heat wave is defined by the NWS as a period of abnormally hot weather generally lasting more than two days.

Temperatures Thursday, Friday and into the weekend should be slightly cooler, hovering in the low to mid-80s.

The 90-degree streak is about 10 degrees above normal for this time of year, but nothing too out of the ordinary, Wagner said.

These heat waves arent uncommon this time of year, she said.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible this afternoon, with a similar chance for precipitation Tuesday, according to forecasters. Showers are more likely than not Wednesday and Thursday, with the chances of precipitation hitting 60% and 90% respectively.

None of the weeks storms are expected to be too severe, Wagner said.

Itll mostly be your common summertime thunderstorms, she said. Itll go up, and then itll go down.

The stormy weather will bring humidity, causing the heat indexes to approach 100 degrees in Lancaster County on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Wagner said.

The sweat on your body cant evaporate as fast when its so humid outside, so youll feel a lot hotter than it actually is, she said.

People who are exercising or doing outdoor activities should take frequent breaks and stay hydrated, Wagner said. Parents and pet owners should be mindful not to leave their children and animals inside vehicles.

Even in just a few minutes, the inside of your car can heat up very fast to over 100 degrees, even if its not 100 degrees outside, she said.
A statue of Supreme Court justice John Marshall on Franklin & Marshall College's campus was defaced Sunday morning, the college told LNP | LancasterOnline on Monday.

Statues of both of the college's namesakes  Marshall and Benjamin Franklin  have been temporarily covered with tarps as the college investigates the vandalism.

"F&M continues to support freedom of thought and expression," the college said in an emailed statement. "However, vandalism and the destruction of property is a crime and exceeds the boundary of free speech."

The college said the vandalism was red paint, not words. The damage is being evaluated. The perpetrator and motive have not been determined.

The vandalism comes after The Atlantic magazine published a June 15 article  written by Paul Finkelman, president and history professor at Gratz College, located just outside Philadelphia  detailing Marshall's unabashed participation in slavery. The article initially stated F&M was weighing a name change, but the college told LNP | LancasterOnline last week that is not the case.

The Atlantic article has since been corrected.

Finkelman exposed Marshall's hand in the slave trade in his 2018 book "Supreme Court Injustice: Slavery in the Nation's Highest Court." According to Finkelman, Marshall aggressively bought and sold slaves, including the time he sold more than 30 to pay off the debs of one of his sons. By his death in 1835, Marshall owned more than 150 people.

Marshall is often regarded as the most influential Supreme Court justice in history. F&M is one of a handful of institutions with Marshall as its namesake. At least one  the John Marshall Law School at the University of Illinois at Chicago  has announced a name change.

While F&M is not considering a name change, it is forming a study group, including students, faculty and staff, to "examine the impact of naming and symbols on how we create an equitable climate in the F&M community moving forward," the college said in a statement last week.

The group is expected to begin meeting this fall.
BBC Reveals British Careful Planning of Black Sea Provocation

June 27 , 2021 (EIRNS)The breaking story in London this morning is the surprise discovery of a pile of classified Defense Ministry documents, about 50 pages in all, at a bus stop in Kent on Tuesday morning, June 22. According to BBC they include documents, dated June 21, discussing the transit of the HMS Defender from Odessa to Batumi, Georgia. The documents show that a mission described by the Ministry of Defense as an innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters, with guns covered and the ships helicopter stowed in its hangar, was conducted in the expectation that Russia might respond aggressively. The mission, dubbed Op Ditroite, was the subject of high-level discussions as late as June 21, the documents show, with officials speculating about Russias reaction if HMS Defender sailed close to Crimea.

The documents relate that recent interactions between the Royal Navy and the Russians in the Eastern Mediterranean had been professional and unremarkable but, BBC writes, officials knew this was about to change.

Following the transition from defense engagement activity to operational activity, it is highly likely that RFN (Russian navy) and VKS (Russian air force) interactions will become more frequent and assertive, one presentation warned. A series of slides prepared at the U.K.s Permanent Joint HQ shows two routing options, one described as a safe and professional direct transit from Odessa to Batumi, including a short stretch through a Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) close to the southwest tip of Crimea, within Russian territorial waters. This route, one slide concluded, would provide an opportunity to engage with the Ukrainian government ... in what the U.K. recognises as Ukrainian territorial waters.

An alternative route was considered, which would have kept HMS Defender well away from contested waters. This would have avoided confrontation, the presentation stated, but ran the risk of being portrayed by Russia as evidence of the U.K. being scared/running away, allowing Russia to claim that the U.K. had belatedly accepted Moscows claim to Crimean territorial waters.

According to BBCs assessment, the documents discovered in Kent confirm that passage through the TSS was a calculated decision by the British government to make a show of support for Ukraine, despite the possible risks involved.

BBC relates that the documents were found at the bus stop on the morning of June 22 by a private citizen who chose to remain anonymous. He contacted BBC when he realized the sensitive nature of the documents. The time lag between their discovery and BBC report this morning, June 27, is not explained.

On June 25, Gen. Sir Nick Carter, the Chief of the Defense Staff, told The Times that the conflict between the British destroyer HMS Defender and Russian forces in contested waters off the Crimea coast was an example of how a miscalculation could come from unwarranted escalation. Carter claimed that the dispute between Britain and Russia was a classic example of the battle of the narratives, and that The jury is out as to who won that battle.

The thing that keeps me awake in bed at night is a miscalculation that comes from unwarranted escalation, he told The Times. The sort of thing we saw in the Black Sea on Monday and Tuesday is the sort of thing it could come from. It wouldnt have done on that occasion but its the type of thing one needs to think quite hard about.

Russian Ambassador to Great Britain Andrei Kelin also declared that the incident could have led to a much more serious confrontation. The nightmare is that they are trying to reinforce the political position with a military provocation, which, indeed, can lead us to a serious military incident, which the chief of the British General Staff admitted just yesterday evening, Kelin said during a live broadcast of the YouTube channel Soloviev Live, reported TASS.

I have now scheduled meetings with people who are responsible for foreign policy and security issues. I hope to clarify this matter with them and say quite clearly that either we have a political dialogue or a provocation, Kelin said.

The HMS Defender has since docked in Batumi, Georgia, Reuters reported yesterday.
In the 1950s, University of California professor Harold Biswell experimented with controlled burns in the states forests. At the time, many people thought he was insane to do so.

Now, however, Biswell is seen not as insane but as someone whose research could ease wildfire dangers and save the forests of the American West.

Overgrown Forests

Large areas of forest have become overgrown in the American West. These lands have had wildfires that have damaged towns, forced large evacuations and covered the West Coast in thick smoke.

Today, officials want to greatly increase prescribed fires  fires set on purpose and under carefully controlled conditions. Prescribed fires help clear surface fuels in forests.

Last month, four U.S. senators proposed legislation called The National Prescribed Fire Act of 2021. It calls for federal officials to substantially increase the number and size of prescribed fires on federal lands. One of the bill's supporters, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, said the legislation would double the budget for controlled burns.

It took years for forest managers to come around to accept prescribed burning. In the first half of the 20th century, fire was seen as the enemy. Federal and state forest managers believed prescribed burning damaged the environment, especially timber, wood manufactured to build things. But in the late 1960s and 1970s, federal forest managers began using prescribed burns.

Yet the increase in prescribed burns has been slow. From 1995 through 2000, an average of 566,560 hectares were treated with prescribed fire each year.

That amount is far short of the 28 million hectares that in 2001 were in great need of fuel reduction to avoid serious wildfires, scientist David Carle wrote in his 2002 book Burning Questions: Americas Fight with Natures Fire.

The latest prescribed burning plans face several problems. The periods between wildfire seasons when prescribed burning can happen safely are shrinking. Some forests are too overgrown to burn without thinning. And prescribed fires can fill nearby towns in smoke.

Tim Holschbach is deputy chief of policy and planning with Oregons Department of Forestry.

We have to be mindful of not pouring smoke into communities because thats a violation of the Clean Air Act, Holschbach said.

A Complex Issue

Prescribed burning has prevented disasters. In 2017, a wildfire threatened the town of Sisters, Oregon. But firefighters were able to control it because, months earlier, workers had removed trees and brush and then carried out prescribed burns.

The fire came to a halt, both because it had less fuels and also because in the thinned, more natural forest, there was a lot more space for the firefighters, said Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon. He leads the Senate Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee.

However, sometimes prescribed burns become uncontrollable. One of the most destructive burns happened in 2012. The Colorado State Forest Service did a 20-hectare prescribed burn near the small town of Conifer, southwest of Denver. The fire appeared to go out as expected. But, high winds brought it back to life.

Several people died in the fire, which burned 15.5 square kilometers and destroyed over twenty homes.

Scott Stephens, a professor of wildland fire science at the University of California, Berkeley, wants a big increase in prescribed burns. But Stephens predicts such burns will only slowly increase due to a lack of both trained workers and public support.

Once you get areas treated, you have to come back in around 15 years for maintenance treatments. And this never ends, Stephens said. This is a key point: The program has to last forever.

Im John Russell.



Andrew Selsky reported on this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

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Words in This Story

evacuation  n. The act of removing (someone) from a dangerous place

brush  n. a thick growth of small trees and shrubs

maintenance -- n. the act of keeping property or equipment in good condition by making repairs, correcting problems, etc.

key  adj. extremely important
Big technology companies like Amazon have said they are limiting their sale of facial recognition software to law enforcement agencies.

Clearview AI has not. It is a private company based in New York City. Clearview AI provides a facial recognition search engine that contains 3 billion images taken from the internet. The search engine identifies images of peoples faces. The company says more than 3,000 law enforcement agencies use the software.

Hoan Ton-That is the chief executive and co-founder of the company. He said, The way it works is very similar to Google, but instead of putting in words, you're putting in photos of faces, and it will find anything publicly available on the internet that looks like that face.

Police say facial recognition software is an important tool in fighting and solving crimes. But its increasing use has raised concerns that there are too few rules in place for when and how police can use it.

Limits on the software

Police usually have image search engines which can look at drivers license pictures or other images among police records.

Clearview AI has billions of images gathered from social media and other sites. Internet companies have said the images were taken by breaking their rules. However, Clearview AIs Ton-That said that the company only takes publicly available information.

A law enforcement tool

Clearview AI describes a case on its website in which federal agents were able to identify a man suspected of sexual abuse of a girl from one image using its search engine.

Ton-That said the software has also been used to identify suspects who stormed the U.S. Capitol in January.

He said Clearview AI was useful in the investigation of many people who may not have had pictures in police databases.

A search using Clearview AIs search engine takes about one second. Ton-That said police were able to quickly identify the suspects from the January 6 incident. They could also reduce false results and speed up the investigation process.

What about privacy?

When protests against police methods happened in the United States last year, Amazon and some other companies banned sales of facial recognition technology to law enforcement. They have not said when they will restart.

Clearview AI continues to provide services to law enforcement agencies. Internet companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter and civil rights activists are warning about its power and possible abuse of peoples privacy.

The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, is a nonprofit, rights group. It has brought legal action against Clearview AI in Chicago and in California.

Kate Ruane is a lawyer for the ACLU. She said facial recognition technology makes it possible for the government to watch every part of citizens lives.

Federal, state and local governments, she said, do admit that they use it, but they don't tell us how, when or how often.

She said there needs to be more laws and supervision. She is calling for a total freeze on the technology until then.

Legislation aimed at face recognition

In recent months, lawmakers have introduced bills that would limit police use of data they buy that is illegally obtained.

Ton-That agrees that there needs to be more openness and even rules for the technologys use. But he does not think it should be banned for police use. He said it has been successful in solving crimes.

Ton-That also says that people who use the system must agree to observe its rules. He said messages that appear in the software help prevent its misuse.

The ACLU and other civil rights groups also say they are concerned about what could happen if governments like China have the technology.

Ton-That said his company does not sell its software to foreign governments. He mainly serves law enforcement agencies in the U.S.

Ton-That said the company has worked with some other private organizations for investigative purposes but they have decided to stay with law enforcement. He said, its the easiest, most explainable and best use case of our technology.

Im Gregory Stachel.

Julie Taboh reported this story for Voice of America. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor.

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Words in This Story

license  n. an official document, card, etc., that gives you permission to do, use, or have something

regulation  n. an official rule or law that says how something should be done

obtain  v. to gain or get (something) usually by effort
From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

Health experts and world leaders have given this warning. It is not enough to vaccinate people in rich nations against the coronavirus. All countries must get enough vaccines to protect all their people.

Weve said all through this pandemic that we are not safe unless we are all safe, said John Nkengasong. He heads the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At the start of the pandemic, many poor countries with weak health care systems appeared to have avoided major problems.

But that is changing.

Concerns are growing in some of the worlds poorest countries as coronavirus infections increase and new versions of the virus appear. There also have been shortages of vaccine in many countries.

The crisis has shocked public health officials and millions of unvaccinated people. This is especially the case in countries where people live with only enough money to survive and pay for health emergencies themselves.

The United Nations supported program called COVAX aims to provide vaccines to poor countries. However, the program faces a serious shortage of vaccines.

As a result, the U.S., Britain and the other rich, industrialized countries agreed to share at least 1 billion vaccine doses with poor countries over the next year. The Group of Seven nations are expected to begin sharing the vaccines in August.

African countries at risk

Some of Africas 1.3 billion people are at risk. They make up 18 percent of the worlds population. However, the continent has received only two percent of all vaccine doses given worldwide. Some African countries have yet to vaccinate anyone.

Zimbabwe has enforced new lockdown measures because of a sharp rise in cases and deaths in the country. It has over 15 million people but has used just over a million of 1.7 million doses of vaccine. Experts blame the lack of vaccines in urban areas on the difficulties of organizing and administering vaccination efforts.

Months ago, officials in Zimbabwe were urging people to get vaccinated. But many chose not to. Now, long lines form at health centers giving the vaccines. Many people are worried about winter and new forms of the virus.

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti is Africa director of the World Health Organization. She said the increase in cases should push everyone to action. She explained that people must be tested and separated from others. Keeping records of peoples movements, known as contact tracing, is another measure that must quickly increase, she added.

She said recently that new coronavirus cases in Africa have risen by nearly 30 percent.

Vaccination efforts face delays

In Zambia, a vaccination campaign has slowed. Officials report that the country is running out of oxygen for patients with breathing problems. Sick people whose cases are not severe are being turned away by hospitals in Lusaka, the capital.

And Uganda is fighting a sharp rise in cases and is reporting different forms of the virus. Health officials told the Associated Press that people in their 20s and 30s are getting infected.

Dr. Ian Clarke founded a hospital in Uganda. He said that vaccine demand is growing among people who, at first, did not want to be vaccinated. But now, he added, they do not know when or from where they will get more vaccine doses.

The World Health Organization, or WHO, said nearly 90 percent of African countries are set to miss the global target of vaccinating 10 percent of their people by September.

However, concerns about vaccination efforts are not limited to Africa.

At the end of May, 600,000 people in Afghanistan had received at least one dose of the vaccine. That is less than two percent of the population of 36 million.

China donated 700,000 doses of vaccine which arrived recently. Within hours, people were fighting with each other to get to the front of the line, said Health Ministry spokesperson Dr. Ghulam Dastigir Nazari.

And in Haiti, hospitals are turning away sick people. The country is waiting to receive its first vaccines. Supplies from the UNs COVAX program have been delayed. Haitian officials also worry that the doses cannot be kept at the required temperature for safe storage.

And thats the Health & Lifestyle report. Im Anna Matteo. And Im Jill Robbins.

Mutsaka reported from Harare, Zimbabwe. Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report. Anna Matteo adapted it for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor.

Quiz - Poor Countries Struggle to Vaccinate Against COVID-19 Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

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Words in This Story

dose n. the amount of a medicine, drug or vitamin that is taken at one time

clinic n. a place where people get medical help

mask n. a covering for the face or part of the face: especially related to preventing the spread of disease

continent n. one of the great divisions of land on Earth

lockdown n. a state of isolation or restricted access put in place as a security measure

delayed v. to make (something or someone) late : to make (something or someone) take longer than expected or planned
Rescue workers still hope to find survivors of the collapse of a large condominium building on an island community near Miami, Florida, on Thursday.

Officials now say 10 people have died but more than 150 remain missing.

Families of the missing have taken buses to an area nearby to watch the rescue effort, which includes using heavy equipment such as cranes. Rescue workers are using dogs and high technology devices in an effort to find people trapped in the wreckage and concrete. But, the search has been slowed by rain and a fire.

We have over 80 rescuers at a time that are breaching the walls that collapsed, said Andy Alvarez on national television. He is a commander with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. He said workers are looking in spaces left by the collapsed floors and walls.

We have been able to tunnel through the building, Alvarez said. This is a frantic search to seek that hope, that miracle, to see who we can bring out of this building alive.

Alfredo Lopez lived with his wife on the sixth floor of the building. They escaped. But he said it was hard to believe that anyone could have survived the collapse.

If you saw what I saw: nothingness. And then, you go over there and you see, like, all the rubble. How can somebody survive that? Lopez told the Associated Press.

Rescuers are using tools such as a microwave radar device developed by NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Department of Homeland Security. The chief of the company that sells the device said it is able to see through up to 20 centimeters of solid concrete. It can also listen for human breathing and heartbeats.

The collapse happened days before people living in the building were to start making payments toward a $9 million repair project. Three years earlier, a report had warned of major structural damage to the building which is in the island town of Surfside.

Six to eight teams are searching the partially collapsed building at any given time. Hundreds of people are involved in the effort which started on Thursday and has not stopped since.

Earl Tilton is a search-and-rescue expert from North Carolina. He warned that moving too fast without careful planning can be very dangerous for rescuers.

Moving the wrong piece of debris at the wrong time could cause it to fall endangering workers, he said.

Tilton added that there was still hope of finding people alive. He said rescuers have found survivors up to one week after a disaster.

Im Caty Weaver.

Terry Spence and Russ Bynum reported this story for the Associated Press. Mario Ritter Jr. adapted it for VOA Learning English. Susan Shand was the editor.

________________________________________________

Words in This Story

condominium n. a set of rooms in a building that are owned by the people who live there

breach  v. to make a hole or opening in

concrete  n. a hard, strong material that is used for building and made by mixing cement, sand, and broken rocks with water

tunnel v. to dig through something and making a tunnel, or passageway, in the process

frantic adj. involved in wild and hurried activity

miracle n. a very amazing or unusual event, one that is believed to be caused by the power of God

rubble n. broken pieces of stone, brick or materials from walls or buildings that have fallen

debris  n. the pieces that are left after something has been destroyed

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In Serbia, a Roma singing group is using music to spread the message of womens empowerment in their community. The all-female group aims to urge people to resist centuries-old traditions, including male-only leadership.

The band formed in 2014 and goes by the name Pretty Loud. They sing about women chained to abuse that has continued through many generations. The group sings about teenage girls whose fathers force them into marriage. The songs urge women to seek love, fight back, and stand up for their right to be treated as equals to men.

Pretty Loud has gained popularity and international attention. The band performed last year in the British capital, London, at the Women of the Year Festival. The group spoke to the Associated Press recently about its music and mission.

We want to stop the early marriages ... we want the girls themselves, and not their parents, to decide whether they want to marry or not, said 24-year-old member Silvia Sinani.

We want every woman to have the right to be heard, to have her dreams, and to be able to fulfill them, to be equal, she added.

Sinani said the idea to form a girl band was born at education and artistic classes run for Roma, or Gypsies, by a private organization called Gypsy Roma Urban Balkan Beats, or GRUBB for short. At first, she explained, the women danced in GRUBBs boys band and then decided they wanted one of their own.

They named us Pretty Loud because they knew that women in Roma tradition are not really loud, she said.

The bands music is a mix of rap music and traditional Roma music. It targets a younger generation of girls who are yet to make their life choices. The band includes two 14-year-old sisters.

Their songs speak to the position of women in the Roma community. Pretty Loud hopes the musical messages will help to increase self-awareness among Roma females. That could be critical in a community where early marriage is widespread. A UNICEF study published last year showed that over one-third of girls aged 15-19 in Roma communities in Serbia are already married. And, 16 percent of that group were married before age 15.

Serbian officials have formed a government group to work toward ending the practice of early marriage.

Pretty Loud member Zlata Ristic said she is an example of early marriage. She is 27 years old and gave birth to a baby boy at age 16. She said, Nobody forced me into it, but I have realized I should not have done it.

Her marriage ended. But, Ristic said she wants other women in similar situations to know that their lives are not over once they have children. They can still work toward their dreams.

My biggest reward is when 14-year-old girls write to me and say they want to become one of us, that they now attend school thanks to us, that they have improved their grades, she said.

The Roma people are among the most underserved ethnic communities in Serbia and Europe. Roma mostly settle together, creating communities separate from the society that surrounds them. The people face poverty, joblessness and discrimination.

Activists have warned that the COVID-19 crisis has increased the social isolation of minority groups and made them poorer. COVID-linked restrictions on schools have made it even harder for Roma children to stay in the educational system.

The GRUBB center is in Belgrades Zemun area. Pretty Loud members teach music and dance at the center.

Diana Ferhatovic arrived at GRUBB four years ago. At first, she was looking for help with school lessons. But then she joined the music program and found her way into Pretty Loud.

She was with the band in London last March, just as COVID was starting to spread widely.

Ferhatovic said all the group members were nervous before they got up before the crowd to perform. But then, she said, we blew them off their feet.

The 18-year-old said the experience was unforgettable.

Im Anna Matteo.

Jovana Gec wrote this story for the Associated Press. Anna Matteo adapted it for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

__________________________________________________

Words in This Story

mission -n. a task or job that someone is given to do

fulfil -v. to put into effect

self-awareness -n. knowledge and awareness of your own personality or character

reward -n. something that is given in return for good or evil done or received or that is offered or given for some service or attainment

isolation -n. the act of keeping apart from others : the condition of being kept apart from others

blew them off their feet  idiomatic phrase to completely impress or excite someone. to overwhelm someone emotionally. to make a very positive impression
This story was originally published on Kaiser Health News and has been republished with their permission.
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Hancock has been working with Nunez for more than a decade and believes an early release granted by the parole commission could literally save his life.

The cruelty of Nunez having to go to solitary confinement and risk having his status upgraded with the potential of postponing his parole, because of the actions of the parole commission and the DOC is unconscionable, Hancock said.

Hancock said Nunez has reached out to him for support during what has become a tumultuous time.

After the (Cap Times) article appeared in the Racine Journal Times, Nunez was threatened by other inmates and felt animosity from some staff as a result of the article, Hancock said. He was so concerned that he checked himself into solitary confinement for his own protection.

Nunez said he refuses to retaliate because he has held on to the belief that he will be paroled soon and be able to go home to his family after decades of incarceration.

Records obtained by the Cap Times show that members of the Parole Commission believe that Nunez has not yet served enough time to be sufficiently punished for his crime.
Many of my Catholic friends thought that the days of controversial Madison Diocese Bishop Robert Morlino were behind them.

Morlino, who passed away in November of 2018, was a polarizing figure in a diocese that had a history of moderate leadership through the years. Conservative Catholics loved him; liberals, especially in Dane County, were aghast. He wore his conservative politics on his sleeve, required priests to deliver pointed homilies at election time and reduced the participation of women in distributing communion during Mass.

It became so intense that at one point a petition was started to ask the pope to remove him from his post.

As it turns out, Morlino, while considered by some a misfit for Madison, was far from an outlier. He was part of the emerging conservative movement in the leadership of the American church. Just how strong it has become was on stage last week when over 73% of the bishops at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to start a process to deny the likes of politicians like President Joe Biden from taking communion.
"With every step we say something we're grateful for. I'm grateful for macaroni and cheese, I'm grateful for my puppy, I'm grateful for you, that sort of thing," Kaiser Greenland said. For older kids and adults, the gratitude can be spoken silently if they choose.

3. Shake it off

If your kid is feeling restless, Kaiser Greenland said, it can help to try something even more active.

"First thing you need to do is release some nervous energy," she said. "If you toggle between movement and stillness, that has a more grounding effect."

Kaiser Greenland recommends alternating a minute of movement with a few minutes of stillness. "You just shake to the sound of a beat of a drum, or you shake your arm then shake your leg," she said.

After that, it's time to bring your child's attention to the sensations in their body or things in the immediate environment. "Feel your breathing. Listen to a sound. You feel your feet against the floor," she said. "Then you shake again."

4. Practice noticing

While many mindfulness practices involve looking inward, it's a perspective you can bring to observing the world around you, too.
KENOSHA  The Wisconsin National Guard, which serves under the orders of the Wisconsin governor, says that it fulfilled all requests for assistance we received via official channels for assistance to put down riots after Jacob Blake was shot by a Kenosha police officer on Aug. 23.

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Both the National Guard and Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian are saying that the guard, since it isnt a standing army, couldnt have mobilized much faster than it did to Kenosha last summer. It takes time for them to get down here, Antaramian said in an interview Friday morning. The Guard responded. The governor responded. Everyone responded well.

Still, top Wisconsin conservatives are charging that Gov. Tony Evers did not act strongly enough to discourage violence and looting. They also allege that he delayed in deploying the Guard, a claim refuted by the governor, the Guard and Antaramian.

When asked if the Guard shouldve responded more quickly last summer, Antaramian said Friday I dont know that they couldve, adding that every request for more Guardsmen was met.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, and Rebecca Kleefisch  the former lieutenant governor and a possible 2022 gubernatorial candidate  while speaking at a June 19 Lincoln Day Dinner at The Italian American Club in Kenosha did also call into question that his comments within hours of the shooting inflamed the unrest.

2022 matters

How preventable was the violence, destruction and two deaths in the days following Jacob Blake being shot last August? Its a question that will be brought up repeatedly on the campaign trail as Gov. Tony Evers seeks reelection in 2022.

The prevailing narrative also could have an impact on Donald Trumps reputation as Republican leadership wrestles with how to deal with the dividing but energizing ex-president who outperformed expectations in Kenosha while still losing Wisconsin in the 2020 election.

The gist of it

The Wisconsin National Guard, which serves under the orders of the governor, says that it fulfilled all requests for assistance we received via official channels for assistance to put down riots after Jacob Blake was shot on Aug. 23, according to an email from Maj. Joe Trovato.

Still, leading Wisconsin conservatives are charging that Evers did not act strongly enough to discourage violence and looting. They also allege his statement within hours of the shooting inflamed the unrest which followed.

Tonight, Jacob Blake was shot in the back multiple times, in broad daylight, Evers tweeted Aug. 23. While we do not have all of the details yet, what we know for certain is that he is not the first Black man or person to have been shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of individuals in law enforcement in our state or our country.

In an interview at the Lincoln Day Dinner, Johnson said of the tweets: All I know is, Gov. Evers his statements were not helpful at all. I would term those as inciteful (sic). He didnt show any leadership. He didnt tell people we werent going to allow this to happen.

We are going to make Tony Evers a one-term Democrat, Kleefisch said during a speech at the Lincoln Day event.

Republicans have been rallying support within their base by vilifying Evers response to riots in Kenosha last summer, blaming him for not calling in the National Guard sooner and in greater force. Stirring negative sentiment toward the current governor could be instrumental in unseating him at the ballot box in 2022.

After the first night of rioting, Evers called for a limited mobilization of the National Guard.

According to the Wisconsin National Guard:

On Aug. 24  i.e., less than 24 hours after Blake was shot by Kenosha Officer Rusten Sheskey  there were 125 National Guardsmen on the ground in Kenosha.

By the next night, the night of the Kyle Rittenhouse shootings, there were 250 National Guardsmen bolstering crowd control with the many southeast Wisconsin law enforcement officers that were called into Kenosha.

On Aug. 26, the calmest night of the four since Blake had been shot, there were 500 Guardsmen active in the city. This was the night in which arrests picked up; even as protests became nonviolent, law enforcement moved quickly to arrest individuals and groups who broke off from the main crowd.

On Aug. 27, there were 750 Guardsmen in Kenosha.

On Aug. 28, there were 2,000; 800 of those came from the National Guards of Michigan, Arizona and Alabama, reportedly because Evers was now accepting outside help after having rejected it previously.

Phone calls

Steil said that Kenosha leaders had been begging for more help that wasnt coming fast enough. Steil said in a recent speech that, on Aug. 24, he received a previously unreported phone call from Antaramian, Sheriff David Beth and then-Police Chief Daniel Miskinis where they asked the congressman: What is the federal government able to provide specifically?

Steil said he replied by calling the White House and  after being put on hold and bounced around the White Houses switchboard  speaking with Trump directly.

According to Steil, Trump said: Youre calling me, but your governor hasnt called me, to which Steil replied: I cannot explain to you my governors actions, but I can tell you the people of the City of Kenosha need assistance.

Eventually, that conversation and others led to Mark Meadows, who was then Trumps chief of staff, having now-infamous and highly publicized conversations with Evers on Aug. 25 and 26.

On Aug. 25, Meadows said on Fox News that Evers had rejected federal help. The next day, after two people were killed and a third seriously injured by Rittenhouse, Evers reportedly accepted the aid. However, that aid reportedly mainly consisted of coordinating other states National Guards bolstering Wisconsins  conversations that had already begun without help from Washington, according to Evers office.

According to an email from an Evers spokeswoman: The Trump Administration did not speak to the governor until Tuesday (Aug. 25) afternoon  2:45 p.m. call with Meadows, 3:15 p.m. call with President Trump  well after the governor had already authorized the Wisconsin National Guard, declared a State of Emergency in response, and announced he would be doubling the Guard presence in Kenosha to 250 members on Tuesday night.

When asked via email: Is it accurate to say that Donald Trumps words/actions had any effect on how many troops were sent to Kenosha and how quickly they arrived? Trovato, the spokesman for the Wisconsin National Guard, replied: All troops that served in Kenosha last summer did so in a state active duty status, meaning they were all under the command and control of the Governor. The out-of-state troops responded under an Emergency Management Assistance Compact request from the State of Wisconsin and then fell under the command and control of the Governor. No National Guard troops served in a federalized status. All National Guard troops mobilized at the direction of Gov. Evers.

Added the governors spokeswoman: To date, the only assistance that has been provided by the federal government in our response has been additional FBI and U.S. Marshal support.

During Fridays interview, Antaramian said that, during that Aug. 24 phone call with Steil, he and Kenoshas other leaders were seeking more equipment and funds as they waited for more Guardsmen to arrive.

Credit to whom?

The emcee of the June 19 Lincoln Day Dinner, Brian Schimming  executive director and chief operating officer of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority under then-Gov. Scott Walker, hes also been a radio host and lobbyist  said at the event: What it took to get help for Kenosha was the call from that guy (pointing to Steil) to the president of the United States.

To applause from the Lincoln Day Dinner crowd, Steil said in his speech: Ultimately, through the presidents actions, he (Trump) really, truly helped the City of Kenosha.

This is a narrative contested by the Evers administration, noting in particular that Trump neither publicly nor directly ordered any troops or resources to Kenosha. The only federal officers known to have been in Kenosha were a smattering of FBI agents and U.S. Marshals; all National Guard troops serve under states, despite the name implying they are national.

Amid the unrest, the National Guards leaders seemed uninterested in what Trump was saying.

On Aug. 25, Trump tweeted that Evers should call in the National Guard to Kenosha even though hundreds of citizen-soldiers were already there.

Then, during a news conference on Aug. 26, a reporter asked the adjutant general of the Wisconsin National Guard, Maj. Gen. Paul Knapp: Are you worried about the president tweeting about it as if its his decision, that it will escalate tensions here? Knapp replied: I dont worry about the presidents tweets.

What brought an end to it?

What actually brought an end to the violence is up for debate.

Steil and others have said that the show of force as well as the arrests of well more than 100 alleged agitators successfully put down the riots.

Making arrests in particular individuals from outside the community whore coming to Kenosha to cause disturbances, Steil said, was a difference-maker. Once those criminals knew that they risked arrest for their behavior and once there was a police and law enforcement force of scale necessary to enforce the rule of law, public safety was re-established by Wednesday evening.

Others, including Antaramian, have said its more complicated than that.

There was fear of more violence spawned by the Rittenhouse shootings as well as the typical winding down of high emotions  riots rarely last more than a couple of days, even in extreme cases. Antaramian said that the beginnings of community conversations between young protesters and local authorities also helped deter violence.

Its a combination, the mayor said.

Steil conceded that Evers making statements calling directly for an end to the unrest after the Rittenhouse shootings were very important in ending the violence.
ESSER funds will be paid out to districts in three installments with different expiration dates. ESSER I funds, a total of $174 million statewide, must be exhausted before the end of September 2022; ESSER II funds, a total of $686 million statewide, must be exhausted before the end of September 2023; and ESSER III funds, a total of $1.5 billion  20% of which must be reserved by districts specifically to mitigate learning loss due to COVID  must be spent before the end of September 2024.

The amount a district is set to receive through ESSER is based on the Title I funding formula, which means districts with higher enrollments will receive more federal funds during the 2020-24 grant period, something that could spell trouble for smaller rural districts.

ESSER in Madison

The Madison School District is scheduled to receive $70.6 million over the course of the three payment installments. The districts first installment, ESSER I, was approximately $9.2 million and has already been exhausted as of the end of the 2020-21 school year. District planning for the use of funds from ESSER II and III has been put on hold as the administration awaits more information on how the state budget will affect eligibility.
Private wells in Wisconsin are not monitored by government agencies, and the maintenance and testing of well water is in the hands of the well owner. And Borchardts research shows that a new or deeper well does not necessarily provide protection.

Recent changes to the states manure management rules prohibit all dairy farms in areas of the state with Silurian bedrock from mechanically applying manure on fields with less than 2 feet of soil over bedrock or groundwater. They apply to some areas in Brown, Calumet, Dodge, Door, Fond du Lac, Kenosha, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Milwaukee, Outagamie, Ozaukee, Sheboygan, Racine, Walworth, Washington and Waukesha counties, and will be implemented over the next 10 years.

The regulations place the most restrictions on solid and liquid manure spreading in areas between 2 and 5 feet to the bedrock. There are fewer restrictions on areas with soil depth between 5 and 20 feet. But, Burch noted that shallow wells are uncommon in the county, and most wells there are more than 20 feet deep.

Joe Baeten, the northeast watershed management regional supervisor for the state Department of Natural Resources, says the findings from Borchardts research team helped inform the rulemaking process.
One of Madisons most potent development tools ever, which helped change Downtowns look and image by supporting marquee and modest projects, is leaving a projected $30 million surplus plus $4.9 million for low-cost housing as the city moves to put it to rest.

The $30 million surplus from tax incremental financing (TIF) district No. 25, the largest surplus ever, will be divided among the city, the Madison School District, Dane County and Madison Area Technical College at a time when budgets are under pressure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the city created the TIF district south of Capitol Square in 1995, the total assessed value of the area was $38.6 million. As of Jan. 1, the assessed value has jumped to $236 million, among the largest growths in value for any TIF district since the city began creating them in 1977.

Its a powerhouse of a district, said longtime Downtown Ald. Mike Verveer, 4th District, who sponsored the original resolution to create it and the one to close it.

Much of the Capitol Square was a ghost town at night. It absolutely spurred significant investment in the Downtown area. So much of the Downtown renaissance that started in the 1990s Id owe in part to TID 25.
The shortage has been felt at the Y as it has at every other pool, but we are managing through it, and it has not impacted our operations he said.

Elaena Noffsinger, the manager of the Shorewood Hills Pool, said operations at the pool have not been affected by the staffing shortage, but that could change.

Its a lot (of workers) who have secondary-type jobs, she said. So there is a lot of working around other schedules.

Other local pools have not seen a shortage. Goodman Pool has not had trouble finding lifeguards this year, said Ann Shea, the public information officer for the Madison Parks Division. While there have been some reduced hours, Shea said Goodman Pool added two more days of swim lessons and will increase its hours for lap swimming.

But Goodman Pool may be an exception. B.J. Fisher, the American Lifeguard Association director of health and safety, estimated there is a 40% to 50% lifeguard staffing shortage nationwide.

Ive been a lifeguard since I was 15 ... and I have never seen it this bad, he said.
Either way, though, thats only a pittance compared to what California and the federal government should be doing.

Newsom has demonstrated a disturbing lack of transparency during the pandemic. He needs to come clean on what CalFire has actually accomplished in wildfire prevention during his years as governor and provide real leadership for substantive future efforts.

California should be meeting its commitment to the federal government to ramp up wildfire prevention on a massive scale.

The challenge for the state is that 58% of Californias 33 million acres of forest are owned by the federal government, and an estimated 39% are owned by private landowners  many of whom are poor  leaving only 3% owned by the state. In 2018, the U.S. Forest Service reported that 99% of its forest lands were at a high risk of dangerous wildfires, but it was utilizing controlled burns to reduce the fire risk on only 1%.

The Nature Sustainability report cites limited funding, liability concerns, environmental regulations and inadequate trained personnel as the major barriers to increasing wildfire prevention efforts.
and on a sunny day, the system generates up to 90% of the bakerys electricity. The solar array includes an integrated pollinator habitat with native flowering plants under and around the solar panels Growing native plants in and around a solar farm or array helps improve soil and water quality and boosts agricultural production in the region.

The bakery also exemplifies best practices in zero waste and pollution prevention. In late 2020, the bakery achieved TRUE Zero Waste certification at the Platinum level as well as LEED Zero Waste by the US Green Building Council. This is the first TRUE Zero Waste certified facility in the state of Idaho and the first food manufacturing plant to receive LEED Zero Waste in the world. Since 2015, bakery employees have been actively engaged with and supported the local community and broader Magic Valley region, volunteering a combined total of 25,067 hours to clean local trails, plant trees after wildfires and support local shelters and food pantries.

Accepting the award on behalf of Clif Bar was Dale Ducommun, Vice President of Operations for Clif Bar & Company.
Back in the day, Johnson said. We used to also hold rodeos but we stopped seeing the crowds come and they got so expensive to bring in.

Johnson said carnivals, which also were a part of the celebration years ago, have also become less popular.

They can be a tough thing to manage and also to find, he said. Instead, weve focused on the city Square and utilizing that beautiful facility.

The first night the park usually draws between 3,000 to 4,000 people with another 1,000 congregating on surrounding streets, he said.

Its just amazing for a little town and were really glad to keep the tradition going, he said.

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Johnson said the free concerts each night will continue to pack the park full of people each night.

While some local talent is featured, the committee also brings in performers and bands from Salt Lake City and Boise.

People can enjoy the atmosphere and the food while they sit in the park and see their friends, he said.

Committee member Becky Arteaga said she attends the event every day each year.
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Two local doctors who have spent much of the COVID-19 pandemic advising Idaho leaders still have more to say  and theyll get their chance in an upcoming book.

Boise-based doctors David Pate and Ted Epperly spent the end of 2020 and the first half of this year writing a book that reviews the mistakes of this pandemic and preparations needed for the next one.

Their book, Preparing for the Next Pandemic: Lessons, Stories and Recommendations, will be published by Johns Hopkins University Press, Pate wrote in a tweet. While the authors said they included plenty of behind-the-scenes insight on how the COVID-19 pandemic played out in Idaho, Epperly and Pate also compare how different countries, states  and even Idaho counties  handled the pandemic, and their differing results.

What we decided is we cant probably save ourselves from this pandemic, but we pray to God that we can help document and chronicle the lessons learned from this, Pate said. We can tell some of the stories of this pandemic  some from behind the scenes  and we can come up with recommendations (for) those people that are going to be preparing us for the next pandemic.  And there will be a next one.
Meanwhile, downstream natural resources like those cradled by the Kootenai River watershed in Montana and Idaho are presenting new evidence of the legacy impacts of Canadian coal mines, while reaping none of the economic benefits of the industry. Samples of fish species and water quality taken from Lake Koocanusa and other monitoring sites in the Elk basin have revealed heightened levels of selenium, cadmium, nitrate and sulphate from decades of coal mining activity. Selenium is a naturally occurring element that can become highly toxic when present in elevated concentrations. Its known to cause deformities in fish eggs, incidents of which have been documented in the Elk and Kootenai watersheds.

Earlier this month, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, began ramping up pressure on the U.S. State Department, describing his environmental concerns in grave terms and requesting an immediate referral to the independent commission charged with resolving cross-border environmental conflicts. In a strongly worded letter to Blinken on June 9, as well as during a hearing with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan three days later, Tester pressed the top officials for a reference to the International Joint Commission (IJC) and for the State Department to engage with the Canadian government and the IJC to resolve this critical transboundary water quality issue.
The government is working hard, even within limitations, to ensure the country remains on the right track of recovery ... vaccination will be the key to our success in fighting COVID-19," he said. So far, 6% of the population has been fully vaccinated and another 15% has received one dose, he said.

Many businesses have shut down due to the lockdown, the second in over a year. The World Bank has cut its growth forecast for Malaysia to 4.5% this year from an earlier estimate of 6%.

Earlier Monday, the eastern Sabah state on Borneo island said it will ease lockdown restrictions. State governments have jurisdiction over the lockdown implementation. Sabah is the only state so far that has decided to loosen curbs.

Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor said more sectors including rubber, timber and furniture factories will be allowed to reopen from Tuesday. He said dine-in service will also be allowed at restaurants and hotels, hair salons will be able to operate and sports that do not involve physical contact such as golf and fishing can resume. Other restrictions will remain in place.

Sabah, a resource-rich but poor state, has recorded fewer than 200 new coronavirus cases a day.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The stumbling block for Biden and other Catholic supporters of abortion is whether or not the baby in the womb is a person. If the baby is a person, then all abortion is homicide. The Fifth Amendment protects the life, liberty and property of all persons, and the 14th Amendment requires the states to do so on an equal basis. Thus, if the baby is a person, the states cannot outlaw and prosecute only postnatal killings; they must outlaw and prosecute prenatal killings as well.

We know the baby in the womb is a person because she or he has human parents and possesses from conception all the genomic material needed to be viable. Through guardians, the baby can inherit, litigate and own property.

The reception of the Blessed Sacrament is limited to Roman Catholics who are not in a state of grave sin. The sin is facilitating abortions, not politically supporting those who favor them. Here is where Biden would have a sound point  when he argues that this is a private matter  if he were just private citizen Joe, voting for folks who support abortion. Then, his conscience and his beliefs would be mostly a private matter between him and his confessor.

But he is not private citizen Joe. He is the president of the United States who exercises his authority under unjust laws to facilitate and pay for abortions, and that is a grave sin.
He is seeking to be the chief executive of Idahos government without any kind of experience in working with or even dealing with government in any way other than protesting it. (Remember that every Idaho governor in the last 80 years, of both parties, had significant state or federal elective office experience before becoming governor.) That absence of practical experience coupled with Lunas legitimate political complaint, not even to mention his periodic brushes with the law, should logically wipe Bundy from any kind of serious consideration. Yes, outsiders have tried for the office before, some in recent years, but none have come particularly close.

And yet  this is a Trumpian time, very much so in Idaho, and its not hard to see an Ammon Bundy generating a big, powerful charge from the many, many Trump supporters in Idaho.

On a gut level, the raw appeal is much the same.

Andif thats not enough to convince you to take him seriously, as it might not belook at his website. Really.

It is one of the most polished, professional (whoever crafted it deserves an award for web design) political campaign websites Ive seen, matching up well with presidential-level operations.
To the editor:

Many readers may remember the old adage "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." But these days words, more specifically names and titles, seem to be at the forefront of the discussion. The Bulletin's editorial ("OUR VIEW: PHCC board's punctuation error," June 20) took this on in the form of a criticism of the Patrick Henry Community College Board's decision to fight for retaining the name of the college.

The editorial makes the argument of the perceived burden placed upon the Black and brown students who are "welcomed into the bosom of a family that says it's OK to be named for a person who owned slaves." Let's examine this as it relates to the students enrolled at PHCC.

A brief study of the demographics of a few colleges in Virginia revealed the following:

PHCC: 65% white, 22% Black.

Virginia Western: 73% white, 12% Black.

Virginia Tech: 65% white, 4% Black.

Virginia: 57% white, 7% Black.

VCU: 45% white, 17% Black.

Richmond: 54% white, 8% Black.
Conservative evangelical Christians in America havent always been all-out supporters of Israel. They once were downright hostile.

That changed in 1984 when North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms ran for reelection against Gov. Jim Hunt. Helmss flip-flop on Israel had nothing to do with religion. It was about campaign contributions.

During his first two terms in the Senate, 1972-1984, Helms was a staunch foe of Israel. He proposed a resolution demanding that Israel return the West Bank to Jordan. He said Palestinian Arabs deserved a just settlement of their grievances. He called for breaking diplomatic relations with Israel during the 1982 Lebanon War.

Challenged on his views, he said, Let me remind you that Menachem Begin (then prime minister of Israel) does not believe in Jesus Christ.

Then politics intervened. I saw it first-hand working in Hunts campaign against Helms.

Arthur Cassell, a Jewish businessman and philanthropist from Greensboro, offered to help Hunt. Cassell said the Jewish community across the country viewed Helms as Israels No. 1 enemy in the Senate.

There was a rich vein of financial support waiting to be tapped for Helmss opponent.

Tap it we did.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Despite continuing controversies over its value in improving birth rates in IVF, testing embryos for their chromosomal content has become routine in many fertility clinics. Embryos with a normal complement of chromosomes (known as "euploid") are known to have a good chance of implanting in the uterus to become a pregnancy, while abnormal embryos (aneuploid) have no chance. Testing embryos for aneuploidy (known as PGT-A) has so far required a sample single cell or several cells taken from the embryo by biopsy, and this too has raised fears over safety such that a search for non-invasive methods has arisen in recent years.

Now, a new study suggests that euploid embryos can be visually distinguished from aneuploid according to artificial intelligence references of cell activity as seen by time-lapse imagingand thus without the need for cell biopsy. The results of the study will be presented today at the online annual meeting of ESHRE by Ms Lorena Bori from IVIRMA in Valencia, Spain, on behalf a joint research team from IVIRMA Valencia and AIVF, Israel, co-directed by Dr. Marcos Meseguer from Valencia and Dr. Daniella Gilboa from Tel-Aviv.

The visualisation of embryo growth has been revolutionised in the past decade by time-lapse technology, which provides an image of each moment of an embryo's development until as a blastocyst it is ready for transfer to the uterus. However, so far information from time lapse imaging has not been able to offer an accurate assessment of an embryo's chromosomal status. Now, however, computer vision with AI may provide an objective and reliable prediction.

Behind the study lay the finding that chromosomally normal embryos begin their development as blastocysts at a slightly earlier time than aneuploid embryos, and this can be identified in computer vision by microscopic measurement of the cells' edges. This is known to be a precise method of quantifying the number of cells and cell cycle of the blastomeres (the cells which form the embryo). Applying this finding, the study thus retrospectively compared computer vision-based measurements of cell edges in the time-lapse videos of 111 euploid and 120 aneuploid embryos.

Results showed that the aneuploid embryos achieve their growth to the blastocyst stage faster than the euploid embryos, said the authors, because of their higher level of cell activity.

"Our results show for the first time," they added, "that an AI based system can precisely measure microscopic cell edges in the dividing embryo, which allowed us to distinguish between euploid and aneuploid embryos."

"Our early results had shown that euploid and aneuploid embryos are visually distinct," explained study director Marcos Meseguer, "significantly enough to merit further computer vision investigation and to test if a non-invasive PGT-A test could conceivably match the results of current invasive methodswithout the cost and damage to the embryo that the invasive methods might cause. We used the measurement of cell edges as a proxy for cell activity (which include DNA replication and cell division) and achieved 73% sensitivity and specificity in our results."

While Meseguer described the results and future research as "one of the milestones" of AI in reproductive medicine, he said further studies are still needed to test and validate the algorithms in larger datasets. For example, the model so far classifies mosaic embryos (with a combination of euploid and aneuploid) as abnormal, even though some studies have shown their viability in pregnancy.

Nevertheless, Meseguer acknowledged that all methods so far explored for testing embryos without the need for biopsy have not proved as accurate as the traditional biopsy methods. "Our present algorithm faces the same situation," said Meseguer. "Our prediction capability is still limited, in which case our models could only be applied in those patients who do not require genetic testing according to a pre-defined medical indication. So our test so far could only be used to reduce the risk of selecting a chromosomally abnormal embryo for transfer."

However, results from this time-lapse visualisation approach show it to be fast and economical, particularly when compared with the non-invasive methods so far explored (which rely on analysing the culture media in which the embryo develops). "These [other non-invasive] results," said Meseguer, "take several days to produce because of the genetic analysis, which forces patients to freeze all their embryos and delay their infertility treatment." While the AI method described in this study needs further validation, it is simple in its concept, can be home-built, and may yet provide the most efficient means of testing embryos for aneuploidy and their selection for transfer.

Explore further New findings to boost IVF success rates

More information: Presentation O-084, Monday 28 June 2021: Computer vision can distinguish between euploid and aneuploid embryos. A novel artificial intelligence (AI) approach to measure cell division activity associated with chromosomal status.
People in Amish country prepare a horse team to work on a farm in Pulaski, Pa., Wednesday, June 23, 2021. The vaccination drive is lagging far behind in many Amish communities across the U.S. following a wave of virus outbreaks that swept through their churches and homes during the past year. Credit: AP Photo/Keith Srakocic

When health care leaders in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country began laying out a strategy to distribute COVID-19 vaccines, they knew it would be a tough sell with the Amish, who tend to be wary of preventive shots and government intervention.

Early on, they posted flyers at farm supply stores and at auctions where the Amish sell handmade furniture and quilts. They sought advice from members of the deeply religious and conservative sect, who told them not to be pushy. And they asked three newspapers widely read by the Amish to publish ads promoting the vaccine. Two refused.

By May, two rural vaccination clinics had opened at a fire station and a social services center, both familiar places to the Amish in Lancaster County. During the first six weeks, 400 people showed up. Only 12 were Amish.

The vaccination drive is lagging far behind in many Amish communities across the U.S. following a wave of virus outbreaks that swept through their churches and homes during the past year. In Ohio's Holmes County, home to the nation's largest concentration of Amish, just 14% of the county's overall population is fully vaccinated.

While their religious beliefs don't forbid them to get vaccines, the Amish are generally less likely to be vaccinated for preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough. Though vaccine acceptance varies by church district, the Amish often rely on family tradition and advice from church leaders, and a core part of their Christian faith is accepting God's will in times of illness or death.

Many think they don't need the COVID-19 vaccine now because they've already gotten sick and believe their communities have reached herd immunity, according to health care providers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana, home to nearly two-thirds of the estimated 345,000 Amish in the U.S.

"That's the No. 1 reason we hear," said Alice Yoder, executive director of community health at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, a network of hospitals and clinics.

Experts say the low vaccination rates are a reflection of both the nature of the Amish and the general vaccine hesitancy found in many rural parts of the country.

Because many Amish work and shop alongside their neighbors and hire them as drivers, they hear the skepticism, the worries about side effects and the misinformation surrounding the vaccine from the "English," or non-Amish, world around them even though they shun most modern conveniences.

"They're not getting that from the media. They're not watching TV or reading it on the internet. They're getting it from their English neighbors," said Donald Kraybill, a leading expert on the Amish. "In many ways, they are simply reflecting rural America and the same attitudes."

In this March 26, 2021, file photo a member of the Philadelphia Fire Department prepares a dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site setup in Philadelphia. The vaccination drive is lagging far behind in many Amish communities across the U.S. following a wave of virus outbreaks that swept through their churches and homes during the past year. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File

In one case, an anti-vaccine group took out a full-page newspaper ad showing a smashed buggy with the words "Vaccines can have unintended consequences."

Public health officials trying to combat the confusion and hesitancy have put up billboards where the Amish travel by horse and buggy, sent letters to bishops and offered to take the vaccines into their homes and workplaces, all without much success.

"It's not due to lack of effort," said Michael Derr, the health commissioner in Holmes County, Ohio. "But this thing is so politically charged."

Some health clinics that serve the Amish are hesitant to push the issue for fear of driving them away from getting blood pressure checks and routine exams.

One local business and the organizers of a community event told the health department in Holmes County that it would no longer be welcome if it brought the vaccine to them, Derr said.

Staff members at the Parochial Medical Center, which serves the Amish and Mennonites in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County, encourage patients to get the vaccine, but many have little fear of the virus, said Allen Hoover, the clinic's administrator.

"Most of them listen and are respectful, but you can tell before you're finished that they've already made up their mind," he said.

The clinic, he said, hardly sees any virus cases now after dealing with as many as five a day last fall. "I would suspect we've gained some kind of immunity. I know that's up for debate, but I think that's why we're seeing only a spattering right now," Hoover said.

Relying on possible herd immunity when little testing has taken place among the Amish is risky, said Esther Chernak, director of the Center for Public Health Readiness and Communication at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

"It's not a community living on an island, not interacting with other people," she said. "They don't have zero interaction with the outside world, so they're still exposed."

A woman in Amish country prepare a horse team to work on a farm in Pulaski, Pa., Wednesday, June 23, 2021. The vaccination drive is lagging far behind in many Amish communities across the U.S. following a wave of virus outbreaks that swept through their churches and homes during the past year. Credit: AP Photo/Keith Srakocic

Also, how long someone remains immune after having COVID-19 isn't clear, and many experts advise getting vaccinated because it brings a higher level of protection.

Close to 180 million Americans54% of the populationhave received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Experts say low vaccination rates could allow the virus to mutate and make a comeback.

During the first months of the pandemic, the Amish followed social distancing guidelines and stopped gathering for church and funerals, said Steven Nolt, a scholar at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania.

But when non-Amish neighbors and local elected officials began pushing back against state and federal mandates, they resumed the gatherings, he said. What followed was a surge of outbreaks last summer, Nolt said.

Most now say they have already had the virus and don't see a need to get vaccinated, said Mark Raber, who is Amish and a member of a settlement in Daviess County, Indiana, which has one of the state's lowest vaccination rates.

"As long as everything stays the same, I don't think I'll get it," he said.

Changing those opinions will require building trusting relationships with the Amish, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report looking at outbreaks in those communities last year.

What won't work, health care providers say, is bombarding the Amish with statistics and vaccine lotteries because of their general mistrust and rejection of government help. The Amish don't accept Social Security benefits.

Trevor Thain, who owns Topeka Pharmacy in northern Indiana, where there are 25,000 Amish, worked with the CDC on bridging communication gaps in LaGrange County, where just 18% of all residents are fully vaccinated.

Since the vaccine became available, they've immunized 4,200 people, perhaps only 20 of them Amish, he said.

A few weeks ago he put out flyers offering private appointments or doses dispensed inside homes. Only a few Amish people responded, Thain said, including one who came with a request: "Don't tell my family."

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The weekend's news of COVID-19 outbreaks and various lockdowns around Australia reminds us there's no room for complacency. We need to accelerate Australia's COVID-19 vaccine roll-out and ensure people are fully vaccinated as soon as possible.

Just over six million Australians (30% of those eligible) have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. As of June 17, 3.8 million Australians had one dose of AstraZeneca.

Despite the benefits of vaccination, some people are concerned about the small but real risk of clotting after receiving their AstraZeneca vaccine. Some have even canceled their booking for their second dose.

It's too early to know how many people have canceled their second Astra dose, but doctors are urging people to get both doses of the same vaccine. If you've had your first Astra shot, @normanswan and @teegstar discuss why your second is important.https://t.co/9jeNhBtWep pic.twitter.com/Bp0eQ2svbl  ABC Science (@ABCscience) June 22, 2021

But until you're fully vaccinatedwith two doses of AstraZeneca or two doses of Pfizer, at the recommended time intervalsyou're not optimally protected. After your second AstraZeneca dose, your protection against the Delta variant almost doubles, from 33% to 60%.

Why are 2 doses are better than 1?

When you get the AstraZeneca vaccine, or an mRNA vaccine such as Pfizer, it directs your body to make the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein at the injection site.

This prompts an immune response, which recognizes and remembers this spike protein. But the vaccines don't make the spike protein for very long, nor do they spread it. This restricts the size of the immune response.

Limiting each dose and delivering it twice generally leads to better and longer-lasting immune responses than a single dose.

Just like your own memory, which improves by repeated viewing or listening with a break in between, our immune memory generally improves with repeated exposure to something it needs to protect us against.

When should you get your second dose?

The recommended interval between doses of AstraZeneca is 12 weeks, while the minimum is four weeks after the first dose.

This is based on clinical trial data which showed around 73% "efficacy" after the first dose. This means in experimental studies, the first dose of the vaccine reduced the risk of getting COVID19 caused by the original strain by 73%.

When people received their second dose after 12 weeks or more, the efficacy reached 81%.

In these trials, a longer duration between the first and second doses12 weeks, rather than eight or lessresulted in higher levels of antibodies which can stop the virus.

These antibodies will inevitably fall over time, but starting at a higher level after the last dose means it will take longer for them to fall to levels where protection is compromised.

How well does AstraZeneca protect against variants?

When the Alpha variant is dominant, the AstraZeneca vaccine provides 55-70% protection after one dose and 65-90% after two doses. Alpha is the variant associated with the Queensland flight crew outbreak.

For the Delta variant, which is circulating in Sydney, one dose provides 33% protection against symptomatic COVID-19. So after one dose, you're 33% less likely to get sick with the Delta strain than someone who is unvaccinated.

The level of protection increased to 60% in those who received two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

This compares to 88% for Pfizer.

Credit: Effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against the B.1.617.2 variant (not yet peer-reviewed)

Both vaccines offer greater protection against severe disease. Two doses of AstraZeneca reduces your chance of needing to be hospitalized with COVID-19 by 92%, while for Pfizer it's 96%, compared with someone who wasn't vaccianted.

Overall, contact tracing data shows one dose of either AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccine can prevent disease from spreading to members in the same household by around 50%.

Today the New South Wales health minister revealed that of the 30 people at a Hoxton Park house party, 24 returned a positive COVID test. While you can still get COVID-19 when you're vaccinated (generally a milder form), in this case, the six who have so far tested negative had all been vaccinated.

What about blood clots following second dose?

Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) is a rare clotting condition that can occur after AstraZeneca vaccination because of an abnormal immune response.

The risk of TTS is smaller following the second dose of AstraZeneca than the first dose.

Of the nearly 16 million people who received the second dose of AstraZeneca in the UK, 23 developed TTS, a rate of 1.5 per million people vaccinated. This compares with 14.2 per million for a first dose.

The risk of death from TTS is further reduced. If you received your first dose of AZ vaccine without developing TTS, you are even less likely to get it with the second dose.

That's why health authorities recommend people who safely received their first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine have their second dose and protect themselves optimally.

Can I get the Pfizer vaccine for my second dose instead?

Some countries, including Canada and some in Europe, have approved mixing and matching different COVID-19 vaccine brands.

This is based on data on antibody responses, which showed a stronger immune response when people get a different type of COVID-19 vaccine for their second dose.

But while this is encouraging, we don't have clear evidence that mixing vaccines will protect against COVID-19.

Mixing vaccine brands also increased common side effects including reactions such as headaches, fever, body aches and tiredness.

It's possible that as more information becomes available from ongoing studies using AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax vaccines, the advice of mixing vaccines may eventually change.

But until more real-world data on vaccine safety and effectiveness are available, the advice in Australia is for people to receive two doses of the same vaccine.

The goal is full vaccination

The best way out of this pandemic is to ensure everyone is vaccinated as quickly as possible. Full protection kicks in about two weeks after completing vaccination.

While one dose offers some protection, it's not as high as two doses. And we don't know how long the protection from one dose will last.

Right now, a second dose of AstraZeneca vaccine is ready and waiting for everyone who had their first dose 12 weeks ago. So if you're eligible, get both doses of the vaccine brand available to you, rather than settling for second-best and incomplete protection.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
A couple prepare to receive a COVID-19 test at a testing station in Nelson Bay, Australia, Monday, June 28, 2021. Australia was battling to contain several COVID-19 clusters around the country on Monday in what some experts have described as the nation's most dangerous stage of the pandemic since the earliest days. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Baker

Australia was battling to contain several COVID-19 clusters around the country on Monday in what some experts have described as the nation's most dangerous stage of the pandemic since the earliest days.

Sydney in the east and Darwin in the north were locked down on Monday. Perth in the west made masks compulsory for three days and warned a lockdown could follow after a resident tested positive after visiting Sydney more than a week ago.

Brisbane and Canberra have or will soon make wearing masks compulsory. South Australia state announced new statewide restrictions from Tuesday.

Australia has been relatively successful in containing clusters throughout the pandemic, registering fewer than 31,000 cases since the pandemic began. But the new clusters have highlighted the nation's slow vaccine rollout with only 5% of the population fully vaccinated.

Most of the new cases stem from a Sydney limousine driver who tested positive on June 16 to the delta variant, which is thought to be more contagious. He was not vaccinated, reportedly did not wear a mask and is suspected to have been infected while transporting a foreign air crew from Sydney Airport.

New South Wales state on Monday reported 18 new cases in the latest 24-hour period. The tally was fewer than 30 cases recorded on Sunday and 29 on Saturday.

A woman receives a COVID-19 test at a testing station in Nelson Bay, Australia, Monday, June 28, 2021. Australia was battling to contain several COVID-19 clusters around the country on Monday in what some experts have described as the nation's most dangerous stage of the pandemic since the earliest days. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Baker

Authorities warned that a two-week Sydney lockdown that began on Friday would not reduce infection rates for another five days.

"We have to be prepared for the numbers to bounce around and we also have to be prepared for the numbers to go up considerably," New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

Health policy adviser Bill Bowtell, who was the architect of Australia's first AIDS response in the 1980s, said the government needed to consider hastening vaccinations by shortening the gap between AstraZeneca shots from 12 to 8 weeks.

"We really face the most serious crisis in the COVID pandemic since the early days in February-March last year," Bowtell said.

The crisis has also highlighted the dangers posed by hotel quarantine, which is the source of most cases of community virus spread in Australia.

A woman receives a COVID-19 test at a testing station in Nelson Bay, Australia, Monday, June 28, 2021. Australia was battling to contain several COVID-19 clusters around the country on Monday in what some experts have described as the nation's most dangerous stage of the pandemic since the earliest days. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Baker

A mine worker is suspected to have become infected with the delta variant while in hotel quarantine in Brisbane in Queensland state before flying to a gold mine in the Northern Territory.

The miner infected at least six people at the mine. One of the infected miners had since traveled home to Queensland and another to New South Wales.

Authorities were attempting to track down 900 mine workers around the country who could have been infected by the initial case.

The Northern Territory capital Darwin, and neighboring Palmerston, on Sunday locked down for 48 hours after an infected miner returned home to Palmerston.

That lockdown would be extended to Friday after another miner tested positive after returning home to Darwin on Friday, officials said on Monday. The Northern Territory has never before experienced COVID-19 spreading in the community.

A woman receives a COVID-19 test at a testing station in Nelson Bay, Australia, Monday, June 28, 2021. Australia was battling to contain several COVID-19 clusters around the country on Monday in what some experts have described as the nation's most dangerous stage of the pandemic since the earliest days. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Baker

Staff prepare to take COVID-19 tests at a testing station in Nelson Bay, Australia, Monday, June 28, 2021. Australia was battling to contain several COVID-19 clusters around the country on Monday in what some experts have described as the nation's most dangerous stage of the pandemic since the earliest days. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Baker

A woman receives a COVID-19 test at a testing station in Nelson Bay, Australia, Monday, June 28, 2021. Australia was battling to contain several COVID-19 clusters around the country on Monday in what some experts have described as the nation's most dangerous stage of the pandemic since the earliest days. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Baker

Queensland on Monday reported three new cases, including the miner. She is one of 170 potentially infected miners who live in the state and fly to an from work.

Masks will become compulsory from Tuesday for two weeks in Brisbane and several surrounding towns.

"The next 24-to-48 hours are going to be very crucial in Queensland about whether or not we see any spread of this delta strain," Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczu said.

The Queensland government has called on the federal government to tighten already tough border restrictions to reduce the number of travelers arriving in Australia.

Western Australia state reported one new case in Perth linked to the Sydney cluster. The state is home to 177 of the potentially infected miners.

Explore further New restrictions as coronavirus cases spread across Australia

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

While little research exists on how and why the rates of Black youth suicide are rising, research does show the rate of suicide in Black youth younger than 13 years of age is approximately two times higher compared to white peers. From 2009 to 2019, the percentages of Black youth who considered suicide, made a suicide plan and attempted suicide all increased.

In a statement published in JAMA Pediatrics, researchers at the Nationwide Children's Hospital, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the nonprofit research institute RTI International responded to a call from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) requesting information on how to prevent Black youth suicide. The researchers emphasize the need for research and action of suicide prevention among Black youth must start from the ground up.

"Applying the white-centric lens that has driven existing suicide research is not sufficient to solving the increasing rates of suicide among Black youth," said Arielle Sheftall, Ph.D., lead author of the statement, and principal investigator in the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research in the Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion at Nationwide Children's Hospital. "That's why we call for a 'ground zero' approach. We need to look at our basic assumptions and theories about suicide, and assess whether they hold true for Black youth."

The three key points described by the authors include:

1. Set a 'ground' zero research funding agenda prioritizing theory development and tests of culturally relevant risk factors for Black youth suicide. Risk factors for suicidal behaviors (e.g., depression, trauma) may not apply equally to Black youth compared to white youth. A particular area of concern is the exposure to the murders of unarmed Black men. This exposure has been associated with negative mental health outcomes throughout the Black community, but it is unclear how exposure (either direct or via media coverage) affect Black youth mental health.

2. Fund research aimed at understanding the developmental trajectory of Black youth suicidal ideation and behavior. Because evidence suggests that Black youth may not exhibit expected or "classic" warning signs of suicidal behavior, such as depression, reported suicidal ideation or attempts before dying by suicide, research aimed at understanding the trajectory of suicide should be a priority.

3. Engage trusted community organizations/institutions in suicide prevention efforts for Black youth. Community interventions, including those in barber and beauty shops, have already been tested to tackle health issues such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular health and HIV testing. Similar successes could be achieved in mental health, within settings where trust may already exist, such as churches, Black Greek organizations, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, after-school programs and others.

"To understand how disparities in suicide rates are driven, we need to develop and test culturally informed theories of suicide risk and behavior," said Dr. Sheftall. "Identifying unique risks, specifically race-related stressors, will enable us to create more effective prevention tactics."

In the statement, the authors note that common risk factors for suicide, including mental health problems, may be less likely to precede Black youth suicide, but more research is needed.

"Black youth suicide is on the rise, but our effort to understand it is not keeping pace," said statement author Adam Bryant Miller, Ph.D., research assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Neurosciences at the UNC-Chapel Hill and researcher at RTI. "We hope this article brings more attention to the issue and motivates communities and funding organizations to support research and outreach related to Black youth suicide prevention."

Explore further Prescription opioid misuse tied to increased suicide behaviors in youth
Suzanne Cadarette, associate professor at U of T's Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, is the lead scientist behind the Ontario Pharmacy Evidence Network (OPEN) Interactive Atlas Tool. Credit: Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Researchers at the University of Toronto's Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy have launched an interactive atlas that provides a snapshot of pharmacist services across Ontario.

Among the first of its kind in Canada, the Ontario Pharmacy Evidence Network (OPEN) Interactive Atlas Tool enables regional comparisons, helping policy-makers plan pharmacist services more effectively.

"This tool is arriving at a critical time for decision-makers," said Suzanne Cadarette, an associate professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy who is the lead scientist and author of the atlas tool.

"It describes the evolution of community pharmacy practice in Ontario, can be used as a guide for the expansion of pharmacist service delivery across Canada, and may help health services delivery pivot in the face of external factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic."

The province began funding several professional pharmacist services in 2007, starting with MedsCheck, a program that remunerates pharmacies for completing medication reviews among patients with diabetes or taking three or more medications for chronic diseases.

Ontario now also funds programs in which pharmacists communicate with prescribers regarding drug therapy-related problems, provide smoking cessation counseling services, administer influenza immunizations and provide COVID-19 testing.

In the initial research briefpublished recently in the Canadian Pharmacists Journalthe authors describe how the OPEN Interactive Atlas Tool enables a comprehensive analysis of trends and regional differences in professional pharmacist health services delivery.

Using interactive data visualization software, the researchers display large-scale health care administrative data from 2007 to the most recently available date, then manipulate it based on region, calendar year, sex and age. For example, users can click forward or backward by influenza season to compare influenza immunization delivery over time, or play a video loop of the change in flu vaccine delivery by region.

With these features, the researchers found that more women than men aged 65 or older receive influenza immunizations, yet immunization rates are higher among older men.

Future research briefs for each service are in development that will provide broader context across Canada. Cadarette's research team urges other provinces and territories to consider creating similar descriptive atlases of pharmacy services as a starting point for discussion, collaboration and education.

"Community pharmacists are one of the most accessible primary health-care professionals, providing a wide variety of evidence-based care. As such, the utility of a pan-Canadian tool would be tremendous," said Ross Tsuyuki, professor and chair of the department of pharmacology in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta. He is also editor-in-chief of the Canadian Pharmacists Journal.

With additional funding, Cadarette hopes to update the atlas annually. Her team is also working on an initial descriptive analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on the delivery of professional pharmacist services.

More information: Suzanne M. Cadarette et al, The Ontario Pharmacy Evidence Network Interactive Atlas of Professional Pharmacist Services, Canadian Pharmacists Journal / Revue des Pharmaciens du Canada (2021). Suzanne M. Cadarette et al, The Ontario Pharmacy Evidence Network Interactive Atlas of Professional Pharmacist Services,(2021). DOI: 10.1177/17151635211004969
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

A new study in Annals of Emergency Medicine highlights the importance of protecting physician residentsearly-career doctors still in trainingand emergency care teams from incidents of physical or verbal abuse.

The survey of 123 physicians, residents, and staff in one emergency department found that 78 percent of all health care workers experienced a violent assault in the prior 12 months, including more than one in five (22 percent) emergency physician residents. Eighty-nine percent of residents experienced verbal assault by a patient in the prior 12 months, compared to 80 percent of other health care workers.

"Violent or threatening incidents in the emergency department pose risks to everyone's safety but can also impact health workers' mental health and may increase the likelihood of burnout," said Lauren Querin, MD, MS, lead author and emergency physician with the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill Department of Emergency Medicine. "These encounters happen frequently and often go unreported."

Of the total respondents who experienced physical assault or violence, 19 percent did not discuss the incident with anyone. About half (53 percent) only discussed the incident with colleagues while only 20 percent filed a formal incident report with the hospital or police. Among residents, 96 percent discussed incidents with only a colleague or no one at all. None of the residents filed formal reports.

Residents' experience with assault became more common with time in the program, the analysis shows. Sixty-two percent of first year residents and 100 percent of second- and third-year residents experienced verbal assault. While no first-year residents reported a physical assault, 25 percent of second-year residents and 36 percent of third-year residents indicated that they have been physically assaulted.

"More can be done to make sure that every member of the emergency care team can prioritize patient care rather than worrying about their own safety at work," said RJ Sontag, MD, president of the Emergency Medicine Residents' Association (EMRA). "This study looks at one emergency department but stories like these are common nationwide. We must empower residents and others to report these incidents and take the necessary steps to protect health care workers and patients."

Only 24 percent of the residents believe that workplace violence protocols in place at their facility are adequate while 30 percent do not think the protections are sufficient and 38 percent were unsure. Eight percent were not certain what the protocols were.

Anonymous firsthand accounts of violence, sexual assault, or personal threats are detailed in the analysis.

One resident reported that a patient being discharged threatened to "come find me and shoot me in the kneecaps."

Another resident commented, "I was not only scared for myself and other staff...but also scared regarding the injuries the patient would sustain and I would need to treat."

This qualitative analysis echoes findings from a 2018 poll of more than 3,500 emergency physicians across the nation from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). ACEP is leading efforts with physicians, hospitals, care teams, regulators, and policymakers to address violence in the emergency department, including extensive work to support the introduction of the "Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act of 2021," by Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) and a bipartisan coalition in the House of Representatives.

For its members, ACEP offers education, training, and advocacy opportunities aimed at curbing violence in the emergency department. The association also launched "No Silence on ED Violence," a campaign with the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) that gives those impacted a chance to share stories and increase awareness of workplace violence while providing resources and a peer network that supports emergency nurses and physicians.

Explore further New analysis reveals worsening shortage of emergency physicians in rural areas

More information: Lauren B. Querin et al, A Qualitative Study of Resident Physician and Health Care Worker Experiences of Verbal and Physical Abuse in the Emergency Department, Annals of Emergency Medicine (2021). Journal information: Annals of Emergency Medicine Lauren B. Querin et al, A Qualitative Study of Resident Physician and Health Care Worker Experiences of Verbal and Physical Abuse in the Emergency Department,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2021.04.019
Interoceptive constraints on each dimension of the concept of self. The colored arrows show the known influences of specific interoceptive signals on specific facets of the self-concept. Truncated lines with no terminal arrow indicate hypothetical links between interoception and self-concept that are yet to be investigated. Credit: Monti et al.

In contrast with other animal species on Earth, over the course of their life, humans can develop a fairly clear idea of who they are as individuals and what sets them apart from others. This abstract concept of self is known to be fragmented and fuzzy in individuals with certain psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder and dissociative identity disorder.

Researchers at the Aglioti Lab, part of Sapienza University of Rome recently authored a review paper examining experimental evidence suggesting that the birth, maintenance and loss of this abstract concept of self is deeply tied to what is known as interoception. This refers to an individual's sense of his/her internal physiological signals.

"A couple of years ago, we discovered a new bodily illusion here at the Aglioti Lab," Alessandro Monti, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told Medical Xpress. "This 'embreathment' illusion, as we called it, suggests that your concept of yourself (i.e., who you think you are) is partly shaped by feelings that come from your viscera, particularly from the heart and the lungs. We discussed our work with Prof. Anna Borghi, a good friend and colleague of ours."

When Monti and his colleagues started discussing the illusion that they observed with Prof. Borghi, they realized that the concept of self has several dimensions, ranging from mundane and material to social and spiritual. They thus decided to investigate the illusion more in depth and try to better understand what it suggested about people's concept of self.

"Together with Prof. Borghi, we explored a number of questions, such as: Does the perception of internal bodily signals (also known as 'interoception') influence all these dimensions of the self, or just some of them? Do specific organs influence specific facets of the self-concept? And what happens when this perception goes awry? In the end, we decided to write a review to answer these questions and frame our experimental results in a bigger picture," Monti said.

The starting point for the researchers' paper was a classical partition of the self delineated by William James. Essentially, in his book Principles of Psychology, James delineates four distinct layers of the self, namely the material self (the concept of oneself as a material being), the social self (the concept of oneself as a member of society), the spiritual self (the concept of oneself as a moral person), and the pure Ego (the concept of oneself as a thinking and acting subject).

"We reviewed a series of experiments linking participants' interoception, measured through questionnaires and physiological recordings, to these four layers of their self-concept," Monti said. "We included studies both on healthy participants and on psychiatric patients with a distorted or fragmented sense of selfsuch as those who experience depersonalisation, schizophrenia or eating disorders."

Both for studies involving healthy subjects and those focusing on psychiatric patients, the researchers examined whether one's concept of self was more likely to include features that were associated with stronger physiological signals. The results of their analyses suggest that the most intimate and invariable features of people's concept of self were those that were, quite literally, closest to the heart (i.e., those most influenced by interoceptive signals). In other words, people's abstract concept of self appears to be closely influenced by their perception of signals originating from their body. More specifically, past studies suggest that those with a stronger and more stable concept of self are more entuned with their inner bodily signals, particularly their heartbeat and breath, and are less prone to sensory illusions.

"While the concept of self is related also to transient sensory and motor experiences, we claim that it is the cyclic physiology of the viscera that provides the self-concept with a firm foundation, contributing to its stability and sanity over time by making it less permeable to external influences," Monti said. "We argue that this stabilizing role of interoception on the self-concept is not limited to the material self, but also extends to the social and spiritual self."

The overreaching conclusion of the recent review paper authored by Monti and his colleagues is that humans' abstract concept of self is not merely embodied; it is deeply embodied. In the future, this observation could have important implications for the development of treatment strategies for psychiatric patients with a fragmented or hindered concept of self.

"We are currently extending our research in two directions," Monti said. "On the one hand, we believe that the link between interoception and disorders in which the self-concept is fragmented or loose deserves further attention. Thus, we are collaborating with other scientists and clinicians to assess the sense of self of patients suffering from a variety of medical and psychological conditions, to see whether interoceptive training may help them regain a more stable picture of themselves."

In addition to exploring the link between interoception and a fragmented concept of self, the recent review paper highlighted a gap in existing literature that could be filled by future studies. More specifically, Monti and his colleagues found that currently little is known about the role of the gut (i.e., the gastrointestinal tract) in defining people's sense of self.

"We are working hard to close this gap," Monti added. "In fact, we have recently posted a preprint with exciting new data that support the idea that the stomach and the intestine are also influential markers of our sense of self."

Explore further Study shows brain differences in interpreting physical signals in mental health disorders

 2021 Science X Network
Credit: Carnegie Mellon University, College of Engineering

From ski slopes to Girl Scouts, Rosalyn Abbott's classroom of choice has evolved over the years, but her love for teaching and discovery remains a steady constant. On any given day, she can be found integrating biomaterials, namely silk, with tissue engineering techniques in her lab, or teaching introductory engineering courses to undergraduate students at Carnegie Mellon University. Her group's latest research uncovered a novel findingthat silk scaffolding is responsive to ultrasound.

Silk is a safe, unique, and versatile natural biomaterial that has successfully been used in wound healing and in tissue engineering of cartilage, tendon, and ligament tissues. It can easily be extracted from several sources, most commonly a Bombyx mori cocoon, and from there, processed into different formats including gels, scaffolds, and films.

"We call silk a 'blank slate' because it has the potential to be used in so many different applications," explained Abbott, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering. "Not only can you alter silk's mechanical properties, but also, you can adjust its degradation rate, or in other words, how quickly or slowly silk scaffolding material breaks down in the body as it is replaced by new tissue."

Abbott's lab uses silk to engineer adipose (fat) tissue depots for filling soft tissue defects and for modeling diseases. This work fits into the bigger picture field of tissue engineering, or the practice of combining scaffolds, cells, and biologically active molecules into functional tissues. Ultimately, the aim is to assemble functional constructs that restore, maintain, or improve damaged tissues or whole organs.

Currently, there is no method of determining a patient's regenerative rate prior to implanting a biomaterial, nor is there a way to adjust the degradation once the material has been implanted. Patients regenerate tissues at different rates, depending on such factors as age, nutritional status, disease state, lifestyle, gender, etc. A mismatch in regenerative rate and biomaterial degradation leads to inappropriate immune responses and poor healing of the implant.

In recent work published in Advanced Healthcare Materials, Abbott's group investigated the use of non-invasive, therapeutic ultrasound to trigger and adjust silk scaffold degradation post-implantation. They showed that ultrasound exposure could successfully decrease weight, while increasing porosity of silk scaffoldswithout affecting the health or metabolism of cells within the tissues. They also tracked scaffold degradation with imaging ultrasound as a proof-of-concept that a clinician could monitor the degradation and adjust the scaffold properties, as needed, on-demand.

These findings are clinically relevant for tissue engineering approaches that implant silk biomaterials to restore structure, while tissues slowly grow into the space and replace the scaffold material.

Next, Abbott's group plans to research and test a broader range of degradation profiles to ultimately create more responsive biomaterials. Megan DeBari, lead author of the recent Advanced Healthcare Materials paper and an MSE Ph.D. student in Abbott's lab, is pursuing a startup company to further develop the approach, through an Innovation Fellowship with Carnegie Mellon's Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship.

Long-term, Abbott is working toward the development of a personalized biomaterial platform, where biomaterial degradation can be adjusted with focused ultrasound following routine monitoring of how a patient is healing.

"One of the aspects of teaching and research that excites me is the continued resilience and tenacity of the students I have the privilege of working with," shared Abbott. "It's not for the faint of heart, but I've had such rewarding interactions with my students, and diversity is an important aspect of that. Whether it's me or another expert presenting in one of my classes, it's important to me that my students see a version of themselves represented by leadership in the classroom."

Explore further New biomaterials can be fine-tuned for medical applications

More information: Megan K. DeBari et al, Therapeutic Ultrasound Triggered Silk Fibroin Scaffold Degradation, Advanced Healthcare Materials (2021). Journal information: Advanced Healthcare Materials Megan K. DeBari et al, Therapeutic Ultrasound Triggered Silk Fibroin Scaffold Degradation,(2021). DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202100048
You decide to take a popular colon cancer screening test that can be performed at home, and it comes back positive. A follow-up colonoscopy is scheduled, but then you suddenly receive a large and unexpected medical bill.

That's what happened to a Missouri woman who was hit with $1,900 in medical expenses after using the popular at-home colon cancer screening test called Cologuard.

Before using the test, Lianne Bryant checked with her insurance company and was told the test would be fully covered, CBS News reported.

The Cologuard test came back positive, so Bryant had a follow-up colonoscopy, which was negative. But then, "I start getting statements from my hospital saying that I have a balance of $1,900," Bryant told CBS News. "I'm thinking, well, I certainly don't owe that much. I mean, that's not possible."

Under the Affordable Care Act, only routine screening tests are covered. Because Bryant's Cologuard result was positive, her follow-up colonoscopy was classified as a "diagnostic" test, which was not fully covered by her insurance. She would have been fully covered had she not used Cologuard first.

"I am mad because I pay so much every month for this insurance," Bryant told CBS News. "I just feel like I'm really getting raked over."

Luckily, Cologuard has a program to help people file an appeal if they get an unexpected bill for a follow-up colonoscopy. Bryant did win her appeal, but it took five months to get it resolved.

While TV ads for Cologuard say the cost of the test is covered by most insurance policies, they don't note that a follow-up colonoscopy may not be covered, CBS News reported.

Bryant said she wished those ads had given her some warning.

"I don't want to say it's a sham, but in a way, it's just kind of taking advantage of people. If it happened to me, I know that it's going to happen to a lot of people," Bryant said.

Cologuard is sold by Exact Sciences. Chairman and CEO Kevin Conroy acknowledged there's a problem and told CBS News the company has added new language to its website that says, "Millions of patients have access to this follow-up colonoscopy with no out-of-pocket cost, but not all do."

CBS News surveyed 11 of the largest health insurers in the United States to see what they would do in situations like Bryant's. Seven did not respond. The four who did said coverage decisions vary, and how much a consumer will pay depends on how doctors code the colonoscopy procedure.

Experts say Cologuard is a good screening tool, but unfortunately, "in some cases, people with a positive, noninvasive test like Cologuard will have to pay out of pocket to get their colonoscopy," University of Michigan's Dr. Mark Fendrick, who studies medical service pricing, told CBS News.

That could lead some people to pass on a colonoscopy, even if they have a risk of colon cancer, he noted.

"The fact that the people who are deemed to be at higher risk, that it's not easy financially or otherwise to get the colonoscopy, makes absolutely no sense to me," he told CBS News.

Explore further Small study supports new stool-based colon cancer test

More information: Visit the Visit the American Cancer Society for more on colon cancer.

 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Early symptoms of multiple sclerosis may commonly be missed for years before the right diagnosis is made, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that patients with MS had a higher-than-average number of medical appointments, with doctors of various specialties, for up to five years before their diagnosis.

And for the most part, those visits were for neurological symptoms consistent with MSpointing to missed opportunities for an earlier diagnosis, the researchers say.

"We found that many complaints that led to patient visits were compatible with first clinical relapses that were not recognized as such," said senior researcher Dr. Bernhard Hemmer, a neurologist and professor at the Technical University of Munich in Germany.

"Relapse" refers to the symptom flare-ups that mark MSa neurological disease caused by a misguided immune system attack on the body's own nerve tissue.

Most often, MS follows a relapsing-remitting course, where symptoms flare for a time and then ease, according to the National MS Society. Because the central nervous system is affected, those symptoms can be wide-ranging. Among the most common are vision problems, muscle weakness, numbness and difficulty with balance and coordination.

In recent years, there has been debate among specialists over whether MS has a "prodromal" phasea period where people have various non-specific symptoms before the typical characteristics of MS begin.

Hemmer said the new findings suggest something else: At least in the five years before their diagnosis, patients are usually seeing doctors for actual MS symptoms.

For the studyrecently published in the journal NeurologyHemmer's team examined insurance records from nearly 198,000 German adults, including 10,262 newly diagnosed with MS. The researchers looked at their medical visits and diagnoses for up to five years prior to their MS diagnosis, and compared them against the rest of the study group.

That comparison group included people with certain other autoimmune diseases (Crohn's disease or psoriasis) and people with no history of autoimmune disorders.

Overall, the study found, people ultimately diagnosed with MS had more medical appointments, to various specialists, than the comparison group. The biggest difference was in visits to neurologists, but they also more often saw urologists, ophthalmologists, orthopedists and psychiatrists, among other specialists.

When it came to diagnoses, 43 were more common among people later diagnosed with MS, versus people with no autoimmune disease. And, Hemmer said, they were often symptoms indicative of MSincluding urinary problems, visual disturbances, abnormal skin sensations, impaired movement and dizziness.

MS can be difficult to diagnose early on, partly because there is no single test for it.

"MS symptoms are sometimes subtle and spontaneously remit without any treatment," Hemmer said. "Often these patients are not referred to a neurologist, or they cancel the appointment because the symptoms have disappeared."

Dr. Andrew Solomon, a neurologist and associate professor at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, coauthored an editorial published with the study.

"There's no question that diagnostic delay is a problem," he said, adding that the reasons "are probably many."

For one, Solomon said, "MS can look like other things, and other things can look like MS."

To diagnose the disease, he explained, doctors rely on symptomsnot only what they are, but their pattern of occurrencealong with MRI brain scans or lab tests that can detect signs of MS-related damage to the central nervous system.

Sometimes the process involves monitoring patients over time, Solomon said.

But, he added, delays often start earlier on, with some patients not being referred to a specialist in a timely manner.

Solomon said the new findings do not discount the notion that MS has a prodromal phase. Some study patients, for example, may have had such non-specific symptoms at some point before their initial neurological complaints.

Experts want to know if there is indeed a prodromal period because understanding the earliest indicators of MS could aid in speedier diagnosis.

Regardless of the existence of an MS prodrome, though, the earlier the disease is diagnosed, the better, Solomon said.

A host of so-called disease-modifying drugs are available for MS that not only control symptom flares but can also slow the disease's progression. And earlier treatment, Solomon said, may have a bigger impact on the risk of disability over the long run.

More information: The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has more on Journal information: Neurology The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has more on diagnosing MS

Copyright  2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Public opinion surveys could be used more widely to understand regional variation in vaccine hesitancy, experts have recommended.

The research shows vaccine uptake rates for childhood vaccines are significantly lower in regions where hesitancy observed in mass public opinion surveys is more pronounced.

This data is often not widely available, which makes it challenging for experts to analyse the links between attitudes and real-world behaviour. The study says this data should be used by public health officials to understand where vaccines are more likely to be rejected, and who should be the target of information campaigns.

The research published in the journal Vaccine, was carried out by Dr. Florian Stoeckel and Professor Jason Reifler from the University of Exeter, Professor Ben Lyons from the University of Utah and Charlie Carter from the London School of Economics.

They analysed regional level data for the EU from 2019 for the uptake of various childhood vaccines in 177 regions of 20 European countriesDTP3 (diphtheria, tetanus toxoids, and pertussis), MCV1 (the first dose of the measles-containing vaccine), and MCV2 (second dose of the measles vaccine) for 2019. Data on vaccine hesitancy was taken from the Eurobarometer survey of Spring 2019, which included about 1,000 respondents from each EU country except for Luxembourg, Cyprus, and Malta, where about 500 individuals were interviewed.

Dr. Stoeckel said: "Our analysis shows public opinion surveys can play a valuable role in public health as a tool to understand immunization behaviour. It is currently high time for more opinion surveys on citizens' attitudes towards vaccines. Assessing the link between survey responses and actual uptake is important, because public opinion survey data on vaccine hesitancy is only useful if it is in fact related to behaviour."

"We found statistically significantly lower regional vaccine immunization rates in regions where vaccine hesitancy is more pronounced. Surveys can be used to observe where vaccine uptake is likely to be low (when vaccine uptake data is incomplete) and to learn from regions with high uptake (despite high vaccine hesitancy) so that best practices could be applied elsewhere."

Vaccine uptake for the childhood vaccines that we examined differs both between countries and within countries. Most national uptake rates of the childhood vaccines examined are above 90 percent. For instance, average national level uptake of the MCV1 vaccine varies between 85.94 percent in Cyprus and 99.87 percent in Hungary. However, there is a considerable amount of variation within countries. Uptake of MCV1 in Croatia ranges from 73.24 percent to 98.38 percent.

The analysis shows average country level vaccine hesitancy is lowest in Denmark and highest in Latvia. The least vaccine hesitant sub-national region in Latvia is more vaccinate hesitant than the most vaccine-hesitant region in Denmark.

Explore further COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy could lead to thousands of extra deaths

More information: Florian Stoeckel et al, Association of vaccine hesitancy and immunization coverage rates in the European Union, Vaccine (2021). Journal information: Vaccine Florian Stoeckel et al, Association of vaccine hesitancy and immunization coverage rates in the European Union,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.05.062
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines trigger an immune system response that could fend off the coronavirus for years to come, new research reveals.

The latest study bolsters growing evidence that most people immunized with the mRNA vaccines may not need booster shots, with one key caveat: That the virus and its variants don't evolve too much beyond the virus' original form.

"It's a good sign for how durable our immunity is from this vaccine," Ali Ellebedy, an immunologist at Washington University in St. Louis, who led the study, told The New York Times.

The study, published Monday in the journal Nature, did not look at the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but Ellebedy said he expected the immune response for that vaccine to be less durable than that produced by mRNA vaccines.

Last month, Ellebedy and his colleagues reported that immune cells that recognize the virus lingered in bone marrow for at least eight months after COVID-19 infection. Another team found that memory B-cells continue to mature and strengthen for at least a year after infection, the Times reported.

Those findings suggested that immunity might last years, possibly a lifetime, in people who were infected and later vaccinated. But whether vaccination alone might demonstrate the same power was unclear.

After an infection or a vaccination, a specialized structure called the germinal center forms in lymph nodes, the researchers explained. This structure is where B-cells are trained. After infection with the coronavirus, the germinal center forms in the lungs. But after vaccination, the cells' education takes place in lymph nodes in the armpits, within reach of researchers.

Ellebedy's team found that 15 weeks after the first dose of vaccine, the germinal center was still highly active in all 14 study participants, and that the number of memory cells that recognized the coronavirus had not dropped.

"The fact that the reactions continued for almost four months after vaccinationthat's a very, very good sign," Ellebedy told the Times, because terminal centers typically peak one to two weeks after immunization, and then wane.

Other experts agreed.

"Everyone always focuses on the virus evolvingthis is showing that the B-cells are doing the same thing," Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington in Seattle, told the Times. "And it's going to be protective against ongoing evolution of the virus, which is really encouraging."

"Usually by four to six weeks, there's not much left," Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona, told the Times. But germinal centers stimulated by the mRNA vaccines are "still going, months into it, and not a lot of decline [is seen] in most people."

The results suggest that a vast majority of vaccinated people will be protected over the long termat least, against the existing variants. People who survived COVID-19 and were later immunized may also never need booster shots, experts think. However, older adults, people with weak immune systems and those who take drugs that suppress immunity may still need boosters.

Second COVID dose missed by 1 in 10

More than 1 in 10 Americans have missed their second dose of a coronavirus vaccine, a troubling trend as the more infectious Delta variant that first crippled India gains a foothold in this country.

Only 88% of those who had received one dose of vaccine and were eligible for their second shot had actually completed the two-dose series, CNN reported. That's down from a 92% completion rate earlier in the year.

Studies have shown that the two-dose vaccines are much less effective against the Delta variant with only one dose of vaccine.

"As this virus has mutated, there are versions of it which are better able to escape some of the immune protection that we get from the vaccine," U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN's Anderson Cooper, citing research that found two doses of the Pfizer vaccine offered 88% protection, compared to just 33% protection after just one shot.

"The key is, get vaccinated. Get both doses," Murthy said.

Experts warn that the Delta variant may soon become the dominant strain in the United States.

That could happen within weeks in under-vaccinated areas, Dr. Anthony Fauci said last week, CNN reported. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the Delta variant may already account for more than 1 in 5 new COVID-19 cases, a rapid increase from fewer than 1 in 10 two weeks earlier.

That leaves millions of partially vaccinated people at risk as the Delta variant continues to spread through the United States, along with the 46% of the country's population that has not been vaccinated at all, CNN reported.

Adults under the age of 30 were most likely to have missed their second dose, with nearly 12% outside of the 42-day allowable window, CNN reported.

Officials have said that adults under 26 are the only group expected to miss the Biden administration's goal to vaccinate at least 70% of adults with at least one dose by July 4.

And CDC studies published this week found that younger adults lag others in vaccination intent, too.

Those in the 30-to-39 age group were also more likely to miss their second dose, according to the CDC data. But children under the age of 18 were least likely to miss their second dose, with only about 5% outside of the allowable interval, CNN reported.

Explore further Second COVID vaccine dose missed by over 10% of Americans

More information: Jackson S. Turner et al, SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines induce persistent human germinal centre responses, Nature (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03738-2 , Journal information: Nature Jackson S. Turner et al, SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines induce persistent human germinal centre responses,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03738-2 , www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03738-2

Copyright  2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday reimposed restrictions for two weeks to combat a surge in the highly contagious coronavirus Delta variant.

The worst-hit country on the continent "is facing a massive resurgence of infection," the president said in a televised address to the nation.

"Our health facilities are stretched to the limit... ICU beds are in short supply," he said as he placed the country on alert level four, just one level below a full lockdown.

Ramaphosa banned all gatherings, except for funerals where numbers will be capped at 50, and also ordered a ban on the sale of alcohol.

Eateries and restaurants will not be allowed to serve sit-down meals, and will only be allowed to sell food for take-away or delivery.

A nighttime curfew has been lengthened by an hourstarting at 9pm till 4am, while all schools should be shut by Friday.

Authorities say the peak of the third wavefuelled by the Delta variant first identified in Indiawill surpass that of earlier waves as the country struggles to quickly roll out vaccinations.

"We are in the grip of a devastating wave that by all indications seems like it will be worse than those that preceded it," Ramaphosa said.

South Africa now counts 1,928,897 coronavirus cases after recording 15,036 new cases on Sunday, a drop from the previous day when 18,762 new infections were diagnosed.

The COVID-19 death toll stands at 59,900.

Leisure travel in and out of the densely populated province of Gautengencompassing Johannesburg and Pretoria, the nation's economic and industrial heartlandhas been outlawed.

The province which accounts for around 60 percent of national infections, has become the epicentre of the outbreak.

The country's vaccination drive has been slow. Around 2.7 million people have been immunised since February, but Ramaphosa said the innoculation exercise has gained momentum.

Meantime most business will forge ahead operating at full capacity, a move he said was to enable as much economic activity to continue as possible.

The economy of Africa's most industrialised country slumped by seven percent in 2020 compared to the previous year.

Health officials across the world have been alarmed by the rapid spread of the Delta variant.

The World Health Organization said on Friday that the Delta variant had reached at least 85 countries.

Explore further Delta variant driving COVID surge in South Africa

 2021 AFP
Fig. 1: Distribution of free fatty acid (FFA) and phospholipid in the rat brain. a For each of the 32 animals used in this study, tissue was dissected from the basolateral amygdala (BLA), central amygdala (CeA), the prefrontal cortex of the forebrain (PFC), ventral hippocampus (VH), dorsal hippocampus (DH) and cerebellum (CB), as indicated by dotted lines on Cresyl violet-stained brain sections with corresponding Bregma co-ordinates. Scale bar = 1 mm. b Identification and quantification of phospholipids using diagnostic ion fragmentation in liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LCMS). Shown is a hypothetical phospholipid negative mode fragmentation mass spectrum. The parent (M), sn-1 (R1) and sn-2 (R2) fragment ion masses are unique to each species, and are used for multiple reaction monitoring (MRM, inset) LCMS to quantify abundance. c Schematic representation of FFA analysis using Free Fatty Acid Stable isotope Tagging (FFAST). For a given brain region the FFAs extracted from animals from different experimental conditions (saline paired, saline unpaired, CPP paired, CPP unpaired, see Fig. 2) were individually labelled at the carboxy-terminus using FFAST-124 or FFAST-127. Samples were combined, spiked with FFAST-138-labelled internal standards, and analyzed by LCMS. The 3 labelled variants of each FFA species display similar chromatographic elution times, and the ratio of each FFAST fragment relative to the internal standard fragment allows quantification of the abundance of the FFA in the condition. This workflow was repeated 8 times, to establish FFA abundance in each of the 8 animals used in each experimental condition. di Profile measurements of FFAs and 5 classes of phospholipids (PAphosphatidic acid, PCphosphatidylcholine, PEphosphatidylethanolamine, PGphosphatidylglycerol, PSphosphatidylserine) across the brains of the control (saline unpaired) rats from auditory fear conditioning experiments, with analytes shown by acyl chain composition. Bars represent the total analyte measurement, with coloured sub-bars corresponding to the mean individual analyte concentrations (pmol/mg tissue) observed across 8 animals. Error bars represent the cumulative standard error of the mean (SEM) for all analytes. Source data are provided as a Source Data file. From: Saturated free fatty acids and association with memory formation

Saturated fatty acid levels unexpectedly rise in the brain during memory formation, according to University of Queensland research, opening a new avenue of investigation into how memories are made.

Dr. Tristan Wallis, from Professor Frederic Meunier's laboratory at UQ's Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), said traditionally, polyunsaturated fatty acids were considered important to health and memory, but this study highlighted the unexpected role of saturated fatty acids.

"We tested the most common fatty acids to see how their levels changed as new memories were formed in the brain," Dr. Wallis said.

"Unexpectedly, the changes of saturated fat levels in the brain cells were the most marked, especially that of myristic acid, which is found in coconut oil and butter.

"In the kitchen, saturated fats are those which are solid at room temperature while unsaturated fats are normally liquid.

"The brain is the fattiest organ in the body, being 60 percent fat, which provides energy, structure and assists in passing messages between brain cells.

"Fatty acids are the building blocks of lipids or fats and are vital for communication between nerve cells, because they help synaptic vesiclesmicroscopic sacs containing neurotransmittersto fuse with the cell membrane and pass messages between the cells.

"We have previously shown that when brain cells communicate with each other in a dish, the levels of saturated fatty acids increase."

Researchers have found that fatty acid levels in the rat brain, particularly saturated fatty acids, increase as memories are formed, but when they used a drug to block learning and memory formation in rats, the fatty acid levels did not change.

The highest concentration of saturated fatty acids was found in the amygdalathe part of the brain involved in forming new memories specifically related to fear and strong emotions.

Study contributor and QBI Director Professor Pankaj Sah said the work opened a new avenue on how memory was formed.

"This research has huge implications on our understanding of synaptic plasticitythe change that occurs at the junctions between neurons that allow them to communicate, learn and build memories," Professor Sah said.

This work is published in Nature Communications and supported by National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Australian Research Council Grant.

Explore further Is coconut oil good for you?

More information: Tristan P. Wallis et al, Saturated free fatty acids and association with memory formation, Nature Communications (2021). Journal information: Nature Communications Tristan P. Wallis et al, Saturated free fatty acids and association with memory formation,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23840-3

Provided by Queensland Brain Institute
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A naturally occurring peptide in sunflower seeds was synthetically optimized and has now been identified as a potential drug for treating abdominal pain or inflammation (in the gastrointestinal tract, abdominal area and/or internal organs). That is the finding of an international study led by Christian Gruber from MedUni Vienna's Institute of Pharmacology (Center for Physiology and Pharmacology), which was conducted jointly with the University of Queensland and Flinders University in Australia and has now been published.

The scientific aim of the study is to find analgesics that are only active in the periphery and do not cross the blood-brain barrier, as an alternative to commonly used synthetic opioids. Gruber explains the background: "Morphine was one of the first plant-based medicines and was isolated from the dried latex of poppies more than 200 years ago. It binds to opioid receptors in the brain and is still regarded as the main pillar of pain therapy. However, there is a high risk of opioid addiction, and an overdoseas a result of this strong dependencyinhibits the breathing center in the brain, which can result in respiratory depression and, in the worst case, in death." For this reason, researchers throughout the world are trying to make analgesics safer and to find active drug molecules that do not have the typical opioid side-effects.

Sunflower extracts were to some extent used in traditional medicine for their anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. In the current study, the scientists from Austria and Australia, primarily Ph.D. student Edin Muratspahic, isolated the plant molecule that may be responsible for this effect. Medicinal chemistry methods were then used to optimize the so-called sunflower trypsin inhibitor-1 (SFTI-1), one of the smallest naturally occurring cyclic peptides, by 'grafting' an endogenous opioid peptide into its scaffold.

A total of 19 peptides were chemically synthesized based on the original SFTI-1 blueprint and pharmacologically tested. "One of these variants turned out to be our lead candidate for as potential innovative analgesic molecule, especially for pain in the gastrointestinal tract or in the peripheral organs. This peptide is extremely stable, highly potent and its action is restricted to the body's periphery. Its use is therefore expected to produce fewer of the typical side-effects associated with opioids," say Gruber and Muratspahic.

The mode-of-action of the peptide is via the so-called kappa opioid receptor; this cellular protein is a drug target for pain relief, but is often associated with mood disorders and depression. The sunflower peptide does not act in the brain, hence there is much less risk of dependency or addiction. Furthermore, it selectively activates only the molecular signaling pathway that influences pain transmission but does not cause the typical opioid side-effects. The data of the animal model in the current study are very promising: the scientists see great potential for using this peptide in the future to develop a safe medicationwhich could be administered orally in tablet formto treat pain in the gastrointestinal tract, and this drug could potentially also be used for related painful conditions, e.g. for inflammatory bowel disease.

The research of this MedUni Vienna laboratory led by Christian Gruber exploits the concept of using nature's blueprint to develop optimized drugs. "We are searching through large databases containing genetic information of plants and animals, decoding new types of peptide molecules and studying their structure, with a view to testing them pharmacologically on enzymes or membrane receptors and ultimately utilizing them in the disease model," explains Gruber. Finally, potential drug candidates are chemically synthesized in a slightly modified form based on the natural blueprint, to obtain optimized pharmacological properties.

Explore further Beetroot peptide as potential drug candidate for treating neurodegenerative and inflammatory diseases

More information: Edin Muratspahic et al, Design of a Stable Cyclic Peptide Analgesic Derived from Sunflower Seeds that Targets the -Opioid Receptor for the Treatment of Chronic Abdominal Pain, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (2021). Journal information: Journal of Medicinal Chemistry Edin Muratspahic et al, Design of a Stable Cyclic Peptide Analgesic Derived from Sunflower Seeds that Targets the -Opioid Receptor for the Treatment of Chronic Abdominal Pain,(2021). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c00158
In addition to sickening and taking the lives of millions across the globe, COVID-19 complicated patient care in a range of less-direct ways, from increased incidence of heart attacks to decreased cancer screenings. The virus also increased the risk of complications and death among trauma patients with injuries from car crashes, falls or other accidents, or who were victims of violent injuries such as gunshots and stabbings, according to new research conducted by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published recently in The Journal of Trauma and Acute Surgery.

The findings reveal that patients in trauma centers across the state of Pennsylvania who also tested positive for COVID-19 had six times higher risk of death than patients with similar injuries without COVID. COVID-positive patients also demonstrated double the likelihood of complications such as venous thromboembolism, renal failure, need for intubation, and unplanned ICU admission, as well as more than five times the odds of pulmonary complications. These risks were even greater in patients over age 65.

"COVID-19 had the largest impact on patients whose injuries were relatively minor, and who we would have otherwise expected to do well," said lead author Elinore Kaufman, MD, MSHP, an assistant professor in the Division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery at Penn Medicine. "Our findings underscore how important it is for hospitals to consistently test admitted patients, so that providers can be aware of this additional risk and treat patients with extra care and vigilance."

Researchers conducted a retrospective study of 15,550 patients admitted to Pennsylvania trauma centers from March 21, 2020, (when Governor Tom Wolf ordered the closure of non-essential businesses statewide) to July 31, 2020. Of the 15,550 patients, 8,170 were tested for the virus, and 219 tested positive. During this period, the researchers evaluated length of stay, complications, and overall outcomes for patients who tested positive for COVID, compared to patients who did not have the virus. They found that rates of testing increased over time, from 34 percent in April 2020 to 56 percent in July. Rates of testing varied substantially across centers, however, with a median of 56.2 percent and a range of 0 percent to 96.4 percent.

"First, we need to investigate how to best care for these high-risk patients, and establish standard protocols to minimize risks," said senior author Niels D. Martin, MD, chief of Surgical Critical Care and an associate professor in the division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery. "Second, we need more data on the risks associated with patients who present symptoms of COVID, versus those who are asymptomatic, so we can administer proven treatments appropriately and increase the likelihood of survival with minimal complications."

Explore further COVID-19 infection may up mortality in surgical patients

More information: Elinore J. Kaufman et al, The Impact of COVID-19 Infection on Outcomes After Injury in a State Trauma System, Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery (2021). Journal information: Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery Elinore J. Kaufman et al, The Impact of COVID-19 Infection on Outcomes After Injury in a State Trauma System,(2021). DOI: 10.1097/TA.0000000000003310
Lawmaker Sajid Javid, leaves his home in London, Monday June 28, 2021, after being appointed as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, following the resignation of Matt Hancock over the weekend. Javid is expected to make his first statement inside the government as health minister later Monday. Credit: Jonathan Brady/PA via AP

Britain's new health secretary said Monday he is confident that England is on track to remove the country's remaining coronavirus restrictions on July 19, stressing that the rapid vaccination rollout is "breaking the link" between soaring infection numbers and serious illnesses and deaths.

Sajid Javid told Parliament that all the figures he's seen suggested that the country is "heading in the right direction," and said that "the restrictions on our freedoms must come to an end."

His confident tone came despite widespread concerns about a third surge in infections in the U.K. driven by the spread of the more contagious delta variant. Government figures on Monday showed another big spike in infections, with 22,868 confirmed cases.

That's the highest daily figure since late January, though the number was likely inflated by the fact that the previous day's figure of 14,876 was artificially low because of incomplete data for England.

"No date we choose comes with zero risk for COVIDwe know we cannot simply eliminate it, we have to learn to live with it," Javid said. "People and businesses need certainty, so we want every step to be irreversible."

Javid was named health secretary Saturday after his predecessor, Matt Hancock, stepped down following revelations that he was having an affair with an old friend he had hired as an adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care. Hancock was forced to step down amid outrage that he had broken social distancing rules by kissing his adviser in his office.

People walk along Regent Street in central London during a #FreedomToDance march organised by Save Our Scene, calling for easing of restrictions for music events, in London, Sunday June 27, 2021. Large crowds gathered in central London to protest over what they called the government's perceived disregard for the live music industry throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Credit: Aaron Chown/PA via AP

Critics saw Hancock's exit as the latest example of cronyism and hypocrisy at the heart of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative government, which has been accused multiple times of not practising what it preaches throughout the pandemic.

Though the number of people in hospitals and dying have been edging up over the past couple of weeks, they haven't risen at the same rate as infections. A large proportion of infections were reported among younger people.

On Monday, another three virus-related deaths were reported, taking the U.K.'s total to 128,103. Throughout the pandemic, death figures on Monday have traditionally been lower because of weekend reporting lags.

Still, many virus experts and National Health Service officials urged the government not to speed up the timetable, saying they need time to vaccinate as many people as possible amid the rapid spread of the highly infectious delta variant, first discovered in India.

Police precede protesters, leading them along Regent Street in central London during a #FreedomToDance march organised by Save Our Scene, calling for easing of restrictions for music events, in London, Sunday June 27, 2021. Large crowds gathered in central London to protest over what they called the government's perceived disregard for the live music industry throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Credit: Aaron Chown/PA via AP

"It's so important that we get the vaccination rates as high as we can before there's any consideration of easing the current restrictions, which are not really holding the outbreak," Peter Openshaw, a professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, told Sky News.

The speed of the U.K.'s vaccination rollout has been widely praised. As of Monday, around two-thirds of the British population had received one dose of vaccine, while nearly 50% has had two.

Johnson disappointed some members of his Conservative Party earlier this month when he extended the COVID-19 restrictions until July 19, saying it was "sensible" to provide more time for people to be vaccinated.

The Hancock scandal fueled anger over the continued restrictions after the Sun published photos of the health secretary kissing his adviser, Gina Coladangelo, on May 6. At the time, people were barred from meeting indoors with people from outside their household, except when it was necessary for work, and were supposed to stay apart.

People walk along Regent Street in central London during a #FreedomToDance march organised by Save Our Scene, calling for easing of restrictions for music events, in London, Sunday June 27, 2021. Large crowds gathered in central London to protest over what they called the government's perceived disregard for the live music industry throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Credit: Aaron Chown/PA via AP

Coladangelo, a friend of Hancock's since university days, was appointed to the Health Department's board of directors in September, a role that pays 15,000 pounds ($20,800) a year.

As the chief enforcer of the government's coronavirus measures, Hancock's position became untenable when he was seen to have violated the rules.

"Those of us who make these rules have got to stick by them, and that's why I've got to resign," Hancock said in a video posted on Twitter.

Public trust in Johnson's government has also been eroded after allegations that officials handed contracts for personal protective equipment and other supplies to friends and party donors during the early days of the pandemic.

In November, Johnson said he had "full confidence" in Home Secretary Priti Patel, even after his own ethics adviser found that she had violated the rules governing ministerial conduct.

People walk along Regent Street in central London during a #FreedomToDance march organised by Save Our Scene, calling for easing of restrictions for music events, in London, Sunday June 27, 2021. Large crowds gathered in central London to protest over what they called the government's perceived disregard for the live music industry throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Credit: Aaron Chown/PA via AP

People queue at a mass coronavirus vaccination centre held in Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, in north London, Friday June 25, 2021. Credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP

A man receives a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, at a mass coronavirus vaccination centre held in Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, in north London, Friday June 25, 2021. Credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP

People walk along Regent Street in central London during a #FreedomToDance march organised by Save Our Scene, calling for easing of restrictions for music events, in London, Sunday June 27, 2021. Large crowds gathered in central London to protest over what they called the government's perceived disregard for the live music industry throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Credit: Aaron Chown/PA via AP

People walk along Regent Street in central London during a peaceful #FreedomToDance march organised by Save Our Scene, calling for easing of restrictions for music events, in London, Sunday June 27, 2021. Large crowds gathered in central London to protest over what they called the government's perceived disregard for the live music industry throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Credit: Aaron Chown/PA via AP

People queue at a mass coronavirus vaccination centre held in Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, in north London, Friday June 25, 2021. Credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP

Johnson was caught up in his own ethics scandal in April, when newspapers reported that he had failed to disclose that wealthy supporters had donated 58,000 pounds to cover the cost of redecorating his official residence. An ethics adviser cleared Johnson of breaking the law, but said he should have been "more rigorous" in finding out who was funding the project.

Ian Murray of the Labour Party said Hancock's affair was just "the tip of the iceberg."

"There are huge problems in this government in terms of its secrecy and in terms of the way operates," Murray told the BBC.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland defended Johnson's handling of the Hancock situation and said "due process" had been followed in Coladangelo's appointment as an adviser.

"The truth is a lot of people just don't like the PM," he told the BBC. "They can't get over the fact he's popular."

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Right now, were really focusing on just getting the education and word out about how people can prevent heat-related illness, said DShane Barnett, Missoula's city-county health officer.

The heat can be especially dangerous for the elderly, young children, animals and individuals with health complications, Barnett said. He encourages people to check in with their friends, relatives and neighbors during this time.

The more that we can do to look after each other and keep each other safe, the less likely were going to end up with any kind of heat-related illnesses or death, Barnett said.

Common signs of heat-related illness or heat stroke include high body temperature, headache and nausea, among other symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of Monday, the health department is not planning on hosting any cooling shelters at this time, but Barnett said that could change as the week progresses.

We might need to take more drastic measures," he said.
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP)  MGM Resorts International switched on a giant solar farm Monday that will power up to 90% of the company's 13 Las Vegas properties and 36,000 hotel rooms.

As Nevadas largest private employer and operator on the Strip, MGM Resorts is uniquely positioned to use our scale and resources to make a significant and positive difference. Its an obligation and commitment to take incredibly seriously," MGM Resorts President and CEO Bill Hornbuckle said. Its fair to say that much in Las Vegas Strip has now gone solar.

The 323,000-panel system will produce an estimated 100 megawatts, roughly enough to power 27,000 U.S. homes annually. The company said the energy will be enough to supply 90% of its daytime energy needs.

MGM called the solar farm the hospitality industry's largest renewable energy project. It said it wants to transition toward renewable energy sources to reduce carbon emissions by 45% per square foot throughout its roughly 65 million square feet by 2025.

The array of solar panels sits in the desert northeast of Las Vegas and will be managed by Invenergy, which owns and operates renewable energy developments throughout the world.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  Minnesotas top Democratic and Republican lawmakers reached agreement on the highlights of a public safety bill that includes police accountability measures, a day after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison for the death of George Floyd.

While some details had yet to be finalized, leaders from both parties said the compromise reached late Saturday settles the major issues after months of negotiations. It has been the most contentious piece of budget negotiations among a divided Legislature that's up against a Wednesday deadline to avoid a government shutdown.

The Democratic-controlled state House included several policing provisions in its overall public safety budget bill this session in the hopes of building on a package the Legislature approved last summer in the aftermath Floyds death under Chauvin's knee.
Arntzens blog post criticizes this proposed priority, stating, This outlandish succotash of woke phrases and vague terms clearly reflects an effort to hide the more extensive agenda behind the proposal: financially incentivizing school districts across the country to teach our children fringe thinking like critical race theory.

In an attempt to lend credibility to her concerns, Arntzen enlists the aid of Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, who issued a binding opinion on May 27 which held that,  the use of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and so-called antiracism programming in many instances is discriminatory and violates federal and state law. Knudsens opinion does little more than state the obvious with regard to acts of discrimination in the classroom or the workplace. The intent, however, couldnt be more clear: It is an effort to force Montanas teachers to shy away from honestly teaching about racism, labeling as fraudulent curriculum lessons which attempt to do so.

Interestingly, the posting in the Federal Register doesnt even mention Critical Race Theory. This attempt to manufacture a controversy is simply an effort to advance the agenda of the previous presidential administration, which welcomed the likes of the Proud Boys and set race relations in America back a generation.
Its almost impossible to believe, but while Montanans are melting in record-high, triple-digit temperatures in June, mining and burning more coal as well as drilling and burning more oil and gas continues to be recklessly promoted by our politicians who are apparently blind to the severe drought, blistering temperatures, and insect infestations as the climate-destroying cycle of fossil fuel production and consumption continues.

Given the increasingly negative effects on our overheated planet, one might wonder how its possible that we are still being told well magically transition to a carbon-free society by 2050. Thats 29 years from now and the planet is already warming much faster than previously predicted in ways that werent even contemplated, let alone quantified. The resulting feedback loops are now widening the impacts far beyond temperature and sea level rise as Siberian and Alaskan permafrost melts, releasing vast quantities of methane, a far more potent global warming gas than carbon dioxide. In turn, that traps more heat, melts more permafrost, and, well, you get the picture.
Montana is about to spray insecticides on 2.6 million acres of Montana grasslands, threatening pollinating bees, organic farms, birds and wildlife.

And if you don't care about all of that, think about what it does to the human genes. Nerve diseases from insecticides like Parkinson's, ALS, neuropathy. Our family knows all too well the devastation to nerves caused by chemicals for insecticides sprayed in Michigan, which got into the water supplies, into our food, into Lake Michigan and others, causing generations of nerve disorders.

FWP is getting ready to poison Montana, and U.S. Sen. Steve Daines in on the board of FWP. U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale and Gov. Greg Gianforte stand to benefit, because insecticides are very profitable and they don't care about what it does to our health. Aerial spraying years ago was responsible for a lot of cancer and nerve diseases.

Call or write to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. If this isn't stopped, we will witness another silent spring and the dying of our land.

Kate Gervais,

Corvallis

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SkyWest Airlines says it would provide Butte flights to and from Salt Lake City and Denver over the next three years if it receives subsidies from a federal agency later this year.

That would start in January, giving Butte a second, big-city destination it has sought for years, if the U.S. Department of Transportation chooses that proposal over one by Boutique Air that would provide flights to Seattle and either Bozeman or Billings.

And the new flights to Denver would not require a separate revenue guarantee costing local entities hundreds of thousands of dollars. Landing a second airline or second city through such efforts has proven elusive in Butte so far.

The board that oversees Bert Mooney Airport is recommending the SkyWest proposal, which would initially entail one daily flight to Salt Lake City arranged through Delta Airlines and one daily flight to Denver arranged through United Airlines.

The daily flights would occur six days a week, with perhaps only one city getting a flight on Saturdays. But Pam Chamberlin, manager at Bert Mooney Airport, said two daily flights to each city would be possible if enough seats on the 50-passenger planes are sold.

SkyWest currently has two daily flights to and from Salt Lake most days arranged through Delta.
Because Butte tends to have clear evening skies in the summer, heat that is absorbed into the ground during the day radiates into the atmosphere and dissipates much quicker each night than in many places, Zumpfe said. That makes for cooler nights.

Nights are generally clear across western Montana during the summer except during thunderstorms, he said, but Butte is kind of a special place.

The way the valley is situated, it allows that traditional cooling to be more consistent and much stronger, so if youre starting from a cooler temperature in the morning, the amount of heating you can have in the day is limited, Zumpfe said.

The biggest factor driving record-setting temperatures in Washington and Oregon is where the current high-pressure ridge is situated.

In most years, the Pacific Northwest gets its warmest summer temperatures when high pressure is centered in Nevada and Utah, or sometimes in the four corners region where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah converge, Zumpfe said.

This time it has developed and intensified far to the north along the border between Washington state and British Columbia, Canada. Portland hit 108 on Saturday, one degree more than its all-time high of 107, and it reached 112 on Sunday.
Acting aggressively

At around 12:30 p.m. Friday at a home on Trinity Loop, Sidney Delbert Britt, 52, of Butte was taken into custody for allegedly causing two women to fear for their safety.

Britt reportedly was acting aggressively. Neither women was injured. He was jailed on two misdemeanor offenses of partner or family member assault.

Unwanted person

Officers were sent to investigate a residence in the 1100 block of Iowa at 2 p.m. Friday on report of an unwanted person, Abigail Angelina Gates, 19, of Butte.

Gates was at the scene and had two outstanding warrants out for her arrest. She was jailed for criminal contempt, revocation of sentence, probation violation, and possession of drug paraphernalia. In addition, she was allegedly in possession of two syringes when she was booked into the jail.

Michael William Muhlestein, 62, of Butte was arrested at about 2 a.m. Saturday for violation of a protective order and operating a vehicle with no liability insurance in effect.

Muhlestein was in the 1100 block of West Park Street and allegedly went to a residence of a person who has a protective order against him.
Grief threw a catch into Paul Joseph Beausoleils voice.

The Vietnam Veteran, now 74, had just opened a Veterans of Foreign Wars book titled Brutal Battles of Vietnam. He had turned to a page about the Hill Fights, which occurred during the spring of 1967 near Khe Sanh.

Beausoleil and fellow U.S. Marines had endured the bloody battles there, fighting at Hill 881 South against soldiers from the North Vietnamese Army. He survived without major injury. But many of his fellow Marines were killed or suffered grievous wounds.

Beausoleil still carries visions of the carnage and sometimes wonders why he lived and so many others did not. Military historians have observed that the Hill Fights featured some of the Vietnam Wars most vicious and bloody fighting.

That was my life-changing experience, he said during a recent interview at the home in Anaconda he shares with his wife, Michelle.

I can still hear the screaming, the crying I guess you would say, of the wounded, Beausoleil said, shaking his head.

Just two years before the notorious Hill Fights, Beausoleil had graduated from Anaconda Central High School. He decided to follow in the footsteps of his father, World War II veteran Paul V. Beausoleil, and become a U.S. Marine  a decision he said kind of shocked his father but also made him proud.

He entered the Marine Corps in January 1966 and left for boot camp in San Diego. He said U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War was escalating and he didnt want to miss the fight.

For any young buck born after the World War II era, the mindset was you didnt want to miss a war, Beausoleil said.

Boot camp was, he said, the most grueling 12 weeks of his life. He said his drill instructor, Sgt. C. Paine, was aptly named.

In March 1966, Beausoleil graduated from boot camp and joined forever the steadfast Semper Fi community.

Thats the proudest day of your life, he said.

All these decades later, hearing the Marines Hymn elicits a predictable reaction.

Even today, I get the chills right up my spine, Beausoleil said.

In June 1966, he deployed to Vietnam. When he stepped unarmed off the military plane in Da Nang he was nearly overwhelmed by the heat and humidity.

We didnt have any weapons at that point. I thought, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, theres something wrong with this picture, Beausoleil said.

Ultimately, Beausoleils service in Vietnam as a foot soldier, or grunt, took him from Da Nang to the Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ.

He was first assigned to Headquarters Company, 3rd Marine Regiment, Security Section.

In January 1967, he was assigned to Mike Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, and to patrol duty near the DMZ in a strategically important area known as the Rockpile.

In late April 1967, Beausoleil and other Marines were trucked and then flown to Khe Sanh Combat Base. His company received orders to join an assault of Hill 881 South.

Our main mission was to take these hills and clear them of the enemy, he said. We were working toward that objective.

A history of the assault reported that that North Vietnamese Army had expertly camouflaged themselves on Hill 881 South and the Marines who started up the hill did not know that a large number of enemy soldiers awaited their ascent.

Beausoleil said the fighting was the most intense hed experienced.

Everything you can imagine happened there, he said.

The M16s issued to the Marines were notorious for jamming.

During that period of time, I used about five rifles. You had to take them off dead bodies, he said. We were up against regular NVA. They were good. We were damn good, but so were they.

Im no hero, by any means, but I served with a lot of them, Beausoleil said.

U.S. artillery and aircraft did what they could to kill or drive back the NVA. There were times when the artillery shells or bombs exploded very close to the Marines.

We had to call in napalm, Beausoleil said. He put that napalm right down on us. It was so close I can still feel the heat to this day.

Ultimately, an intense air bombardment by Marine F-4 Phantom Jets allowed Marines on the ground to capture Hill 881 South. The Marines discovered more than 250 bunkers the NVA had built. The intense bombing runs had destroyed most of them.

One account of the Hill Fights quotes a Captain Rogers describing how moved hed been by the valor of youthful Marines involved in the battles for Hill 881 North and Hill 881 South.

I learned to respect the individual Marine  the 18-year-old, 19-year-old, 20-year-old  more in this one particular battle than any other time that Ive been in the Marine Corps. He was given a job; he went up in the face of danger, in the face of just being blown away, more or less, and he went up and did his job. To see the faces of the Marines dragging back their dead buddies, their wounded buddies, you could see how close the Marines really were with each other.

Beausoleil agreed with Capt. Rogers assessment, but added, By the time we came home, we were old men.

In July 1967, having served his 13 months in Vietnam, Beausoleil returned to the U.S. and to his family of origin in Anaconda. There had been no opportunity to decompress.

There was no transition from the field to my mothers kitchen, he said. That wasnt good.

After a 30-day leave, Beausoleils service with the Marines continued. Following Sea School training at San Diego he was assigned to the USS Bon Homme Richard, an aircraft carrier, thereby honoring the early roots of the Corps by becoming a seagoing Marine.

Beausoleil was honorably discharged in May 1972 as a sergeant. He returned to Anaconda, where he worked through the years as a smelterman, drove a truck for the county and held other jobs.

He met and married Michelle. They have five children.

Beausoleil readily acknowledges that memories of combat in Vietnam surface from time to time in ways that can ambush his emotions. He said he believes veterans should reach out for help if they are struggling.

He considers himself lucky to have survived the war, to have married and raised a family and to be a U.S. Marine.

Im a fortunate man, he said.

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Clyde is one of those Fanone fought to save. Though there are photos of the lawmaker trying to barricade the House chamber against invaders, he is also one of those who has downplayed the severity of the attack, even likening it to a normal tourist visit. He joined 20 other Republicans in voting against awarding police the Congressional Gold Medal.

Fanone, who has been an outspoken critic of efforts to whitewash the riot, spotted Clyde at the Capitol and stepped into an elevator with him. He told The Washington Post that he greeted the lawmaker and extended a hand. I knew immediately he recognized me by the way he reacted. He completely froze. He just stared at me.

Fanone says that instead of accepting the proffered handshake, Clyde produced a cellphone and began thumbing through apps. When the doors opened, he says, Clyde bolted like the car was on fire.

There is something viscerally disgusting in this lying coward sprinting away from a handshake. But all of us need to be clear on one crucial point: Clyde is not some bizarre outlier but, rather, the beating heart of a GOP in thrall to Trump.
And if it does, its a good thing, Cramer said. Anyone thats been in this game long enough knows that it comes down to hiring practices and training, but at the end of the day its a certain officer in a certain situation. And I dont see these situations ending anytime soon.

Knowing that their encounters could be captured on cellphone video also could give officers pause, experts said. Minneapolis police originally said Floyd died in a medical incident. But video shot by 17-year-old Darnella Frazier showed Chauvin ignoring Floyd's pleas that he couldn't breathe and continuing to press his knee into Floyd's neck even after the Black man was dead.

But Kirk Burkhalter, a criminal law professor at New York Law School and a former 20-year New York Police Department detective, said police are being asked to do too much, especially in situations involving people with mental health issues or minor crimes. Floyd was suspected of trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill at a corner store.
BEIJING (AP)  The first two generating units of the worlds second-biggest hydroelectric dam were officially turned on Monday in southwestern China, the government announced.

The Baihetan Dam on the Jinsha River, a tributary of the Yangtze, is part of Chinese efforts to curb surging fossil fuel demand by building more hydropower capacity at a time when dams have fallen out of favor in other countries due to environmental complaints.

The announcement comes ahead of the ruling Communist Partys celebration this week of the official 100th anniversary of its 1921 founding.

Plans call for the 289-meter-tall (954-foot-tall) Baihetan Dam to have 16 generating units with a capacity of 1 million kilowatts each. That will make it second in size after the Three Gorges Dam, opened in 2003 on the Yangtze, with 22.5 million kilowatts of generating capacity.

Both were built by the state-owned Three Gorges Group Corp., the worlds biggest investor in hydro, solar and wind generation.

Hydropower is losing support in other countries due to complaints dams flood communities and farmland and disrupt the ecology of rivers, threatening fish and other species.
State Security Deputy Minister and former ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa received an R1 million loan from former EOH executive Jehan Mackay.

Kodwa used the money to buy an R890,000 Jeep, and to date, he has not paid back a single cent.

These are some of the details which Kodwa revealed during his testimony at the Zondo Commission today.

His testimony followed information that he received over R2 million in payments and luxury accommodation from EOH while the company was bidding for government tenders.

Steven Powell, managing director of ENSafricas forensics department, implicated Kodwa dubious payments from former EOH Mthombo executive Mackay.

Powell told the Zondo Commission, bank statements linked to Kodwa revealed that he received accommodation and direct payments of R2 million from EOH.

He said Kodwa was paid R45,000 by EOH a day before Mackay asked him to intervene in a Home Affairs tender from which EOH was disqualified.

It was a particularly lucrative tender, and Mackays communication with Kodwa, following the deposit, looked like a plea.

The image below provides an overview of some of the payments made to Kodwa in 2015 and 2016.

It was not only large payments into Kodwas accounts that linked him to potential corrupt deals  but EOH also paid for exclusive accommodation in Cape Town.

The accommodation was always ultra-luxurious and very expensive. All the apartments are located in exclusive areas, like Fresnaye, Camps Bay, and Clifton.

The apartments where Kodwa stayed, and the prices paid by EOH for this accommodation, are listed below.

R150,000 for a 3-day stay at 53 Ave Fresnaye in Cape Town.

R100,000 for a 2-day stay at The Pentagon Villa in Clifton.

R230,000 for a 2-week stay at the Barbados Rental Villas in Cape Town.

Powell said Kodwa particularly liked The Pentagon Villa in Clifton and returned for a 3-day stay which cost R150,000. He also requested the services of a private chef, which cost R11,700.

Kodwa admitted to receiving payments and luxury accommodation from EOHs Mackay but denied it was linked to influencing tenders.

He also denied that he ever received requests from Mackay to influence how the state spent its money, as alleged by Powell.

When quizzed about the email from Mackay asking him to intervene in the Home Affairs tender, Zodwa said he has no recollection of that request.

In a statement prepared for the commission, Zodwa said he is not guilty of any crime of corruption.

I want to state it categorically that I have never engaged corruption or facilitated corruption in my relationship with Mr Mackay or any other person, he said.

He said at the time of accepting the money from Mackay, he was not employed by the state, and therefore did not have any influence on how the state spent its money.

Payments into my account from a friend carried no intent on my part to be corrupt, Zodwa said.

While I vehemently deny that such payments were quid pro quo for anything, I am not unaware that such payments carry with them a perception of abuse of our position of power.

These payments to me or the ANC were not corrupt or designed to influence any tender process or encourage any unlawful acts by our members who work within the state.

He admitted that Mackays assistant offered to him, including accommodation and catering, may seem extravagant and excessive.

It was the hospitality I was offered, and I accepted it, Kodwa said.

Commenting on the R1 million loan from Mackay, he said there was no written agreement or discussion of interest.

Kodwa said there was an understanding that when his finances stabilised, he will repay Mackay. To date, however, no money has been paid back.
Britains Financial Conduct Authority issued a consumer warning against Binance Markets Ltd., banning the cryptocurrency exchange from undertaking any regulated activity in the country.

Binance has until Wednesday evening to confirm that it has removed all advertising and financial promotions, according to the FCAs register. The exchange must also make clear on its website, social media channels and all other communications that it is no longer permitted to operate in the U.K.

Binance, which announced the acquisition of an FCA-regulated entity last June along with plans for the launch of Binance.UK, wont be able to resume U.K. operations without prior written consent. A Binance representative didnt immediately comment when reached on Sunday.

The move extends a regulatory crackdown on the cryptocurrency sector amid concerns about its potential involvement in money laundering and fraud. Binance withdrew an application related to the 5MLD  an anti-laundering directive  on May 17 following intensive engagement from the FCA, according to the watchdog, which said the action had been in train for some time.

Growth Driver

Bitcoin held onto earlier gains following the announcement, trading 6.1% higher at $33,227 as of 11:25 a.m. in New York. Crypto bulls often interpret tough regulatory action as a sign that the market is maturing.

Regulation is an undeniable growth driver, said Ivan Petuhovskii, co-founder of EXMO Exchange Ltd., a U.K. registered crypto exchange. I am glad that the Wild West phase for the crypto market is almost over.

A significantly high number of cryptoasset businesses are not meeting the required standards under the money laundering regulations, which has resulted in an unprecedented number of businesses withdrawing their applications, an FCA spokesperson said.

The Financial Times reported the news earlier.

Of the firms assessed, more than 90% have withdrawn applications following the FCAs intervention.

Binance is being probed by several agencies in the U.S., Bloomberg News reported in recent months. And Japans Financial Services Agency issued a warning against Binance recently, saying it offered crypto services without registration.
The prices of flagship smartphones from Apple and Samsung continually rose between 2011 and 2021 in South Africa, an analysis of the top-end devices released in the past ten years by MyBroadband has revealed.

While some of this constant price escalation was driven by the manufacturers themselves, the weak rand has also been a significant factor in driving up smartphone prices in South Africa.

Whereas in the past flagship smartphone releases introduced two models at most, launches in the last five years often saw more models released onto the market.

The four iPhone 12 models launched last year are an example of this.

Through the introduction of many more models in their annual release cadence, Samsung and Apple have shifted the structure of the iPhone and Galaxy S series. The base models of the iPhone 12 and Galaxy S21 are no longer the true flagships.

Instead, it is the top-tier devices like the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Galaxy S21 Ultra that pack the most advanced features at the highest prices.

Base models have become what the iPhone XR was, a more affordable option for those not keen to dish out the money for the most expensive handsets.

Our flagship pricing comparison, therefore, considers the prices of the most expensive model from each smartphone series, and the highest spec of this model available in South Africa.

One thing to note is that in addition to its Galaxy S series phones, Samsung also releases the Note series, which often features larger screens and batteries and sells for even higher prices.

The tables below show the price comparisons of the iPhone and Galaxy S-series flagships, with pricing information taken from MyBroadbands archives.

Apple

Year Model Price 2011 Apple iPhone 4s 64GB R10,299 2012 Apple iPhone 5 64GB R10,799 2013 Apple iPhone 5s 64GB R12,999 2014 Apple iPhone 6 Plus 128GB R13,999 2015 Apple iPhone 6s Plus 128GB R17,499 2016 Apple iPhone 7 Plus 256GB R19,499 2017 Apple iPhone 8 Plus 256GB R18,499 2017 Apple iPhone X 256GB R23,999 2018 Apple iPhone Xs Max 512GB R31,999 2019 Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max 512GB R32,399 2020 Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max 512GB R32,999

Samsung
Wulff successfully fulfilled that need as he became one of their primary shippers. In addition to recognizing commodity trends, Wulff also recognized the mode of water transportation was soon to change from sails to steam-powered engines. As a result, Wulff quickly divested himself of his sailing crafts in favor of steamships.

Just down the street is Captain George Grafton Pinkhams residence. Built in 1880, also in the Italianate architectural style, it is located at 529 Brown Street. Pinkham, although he endured his share of setbacks, was quite successful. In 1891 he commissioned the building of the 178-ton Napa City vessel. Providing a much-needed passenger  freight service between Napa and San Francisco  the Napa City netted several hundred dollars in profit during its first month of operation for Pinkham.

A fourth captains house was originally located on Brown Street behind the Manasse mansion. However in 1883 German-born Captain Harry H. (originally Franz H.) Hammerich purchased and then moved the Gothic Revival style house to 482 Cross St. to be the home for himself and his six children.
The county of Napa has hired Danielle Adams to serve as its next Public Information Officer (PIO) beginning June 28, 2021. The PIO is tasked with coordinating public relations and community outreach activities with other divisions and departments and overseeing policies and procedures related to county boards, committees, and commissions within the County Executive Office.

Danielles breadth of communications experience will be an asset to Napa County and the community we serve, said Minh Tran, county of Napa CEO. Staff had the opportunity to work with her in her previous role during the COVID-19 pandemic where she was a valued partner to our team.

Adams has 15 years of experience in communications at Providence Queen of the Valley Medical Center, Cornell University, WASC Senior College and University Commission, Cisco, and Goldman Sachs. She has her B.A. in English/Creative Arts from the University of California at Santa Cruz and her M.B.A. from Cornell University. She has studied classical voice extensively both at home and abroad and has traveled to Israel, India, and Nepal as part of her humanitarian volunteer work.
The Napa public school networks post-pandemic financial forecast for the next three years begins with larger budget reserves than in years past. But officials also warn that a long-running decline in student numbers will continue deep into the decade as birth rates fall and housing costs swell, thus threatening to erode state funding that is based on attendance levels.

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Nearly 12.1% of the Napa Valley Unified School Districts 2021-22 budget will be held in reserve, more than four times the 3% minimum required to avoid the risk of insolvency and a state financial takeover. However, that reserve is expected to shrink to 8.1% the following year and to 4.24% in 2023-24, according to the three-year budget NVUSDs board approved Thursday night.

NVUSD, which operates public schools in Napa and American Canyon, forecasts $174.2 million in revenue in the next fiscal year, which begins Thursday, against expenses of $171.8 million. However, the district is then expected to run two years of deficits as revenues drop to $170.8 million in 2022-23 and $172.4 million in 2023-24, while expenditures in those years are predicted to reach $178.5 million and $180.6 million.
However, in an interview with ksnt.com of Topeka, Kansas, Cottrell told the news station, I really f***ed up, I messed up for lack of better words, she said. I wish I wouldve never hired anyone else but my family to do anything else for me.

Adding to the trauma and confusion, it turns out that the dogs had yet to be cremated.

That was great news because then we could find out how they died, said Bill. Results from a necropsy are expected in the coming weeks.

The most disturbing thing is that we never received a call your dogs are in distress, said Bill. If they had known, they would have done whatever it took to go to the dogs or get help.

The Ervins said they also have other suspicions. They think Cottrell was going to drive the dogs herself but decided to outsource it to yet another company. They dont believe the driver was the real Shawn.

We just want her to never ever have the opportunity to transport animals again and run that kind of business and the people who transported them to be out of business, Kristin said.
Not only do police have a generally heavier presence in Black communities, but law enforcement can also use jaywalking as a pretext to stop people who somehow arouse suspicion.

Poorer, Blacker, and browner neighborhoods are more likely to be crisscrossed by dangerous roads that lack adequate crossings, lighting, and sidewalks. Most people would be more likely to cross midblock if its a quarter-mile walk to the next legal crossing.

Jaywalking laws go largely unenforced in affluent communities throughout the state, where people walk freely without consequence, said Rio Scharf, an attorney with Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the Bay Area, a sponsor of the bill. But in the communities we serve, theyre a cause of discriminatory police stops and significant court debt.

The discrepancy hits those least able to afford it with heavy fines and fees. In some California counties, the inability to pay fines or missing a court date is grounds for arrest. What sense does it make to pile hundreds of dollars of costs on people like Milton for safely walking to a bus stop?
There had recently been somewhat of a hue and cry for Juneteenth to be a National Black Holiday. I am opposed to this. No single race should have a day designated as all its own. Be it black, brown, yellow, red, albino, or silly putty pink  it is plain wrong.

However, do I think that Juneteenth should be observed by America? I would say a wholehearted yes.

Youre damn right we should celebrate the United States of America's defeat of slavery. Each and every citizen should pause to acknowledge the victory over that which has been a shameful part of our national heritage.

Our first victory in independence from England from the Revolutionary War would be a cause for celebration. So too should be our victory over trade in humans for exploitation and profit. This would be our second celebration.

So we celebrate from June 14th, Flag Day, Bear Flag Rebellion Day, Army Day, etc. through Juneteenth all the way to Independence Day, July the Fourth.

Freedom Days. Liberty Weeks. Let others name the time period we observe.

In brief, yes, celebrate Juneteenth too. But not because you are black; but rather because you are an American.

Clark A. Brandt
Turkey to provide Ukraine with corvette and drones

US Embassy: We honor the tremendous partnership between the US and Armenia

7 people killed in Nigeria militant attacks

Deputy Director of IAEA to visit Iran

Tech week Artsakh 2021 conference kicks off in Stepanakert

UN Committee calls on African countries to share experiences in combating migration

At least 29 people killed in plane crash in Philippines

Iranian Deputy FM appoints Ambassador to UK

Biden does not rule out Russia's involvement in new cyber attack

Plane crashes in south of Kazakhstan

89 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia: 5 citizens die

Nikol Pashinyan congratulates Joe Biden on US Independence Day

Armen Sarkissian sends congratulatory message to US President Joe Biden

96 illegal migrants rescued off coast of Tunisia

Yerevan hands over minefield maps to Baku in exchange for return of 15 POWs

Frank Pallone says they discussed US role in Armenian POWs release

ECHR refuses to reopen case on death of Yasser Arafat

Russia reports on destruction of 5 terrorists

Karabakh emergency service: 4 more remains found, retrieved

Armenia opposition member: Azerbaijan is going to take UNESCO to places Baku wants to

2 people injured in Syria

Turkey, Russia exchange Syrian soldiers, militants

Armenia acting PMs latest fabrications on Artsakh not agreed with Minsk Group co-chair countries, says Ashotyan

Pashinyan to Lukashenko: Armenia-Belarus ties will continue as benchmark for interstate relations development

Newborn boy found on Gyumri street

Albania allocates $9.7m to purchase Turkey drones

I Have Honor bloc member: Last snap parliamentary elections will be another period of hell for Armenia, Artsakh

Armenia ombudsman: Azerbaijan authorities conduct is open contempt for entire international community

Caucasus Heritage Watch calls on Azerbaijan to stop destroying Armenian cemeteries

Armenia acting deputy PM Avinyan attends EBRD online meeting

Israel carries out airstrike at weapons manufacturing site in Gaza

Catholicos Aram I addresses Pope Francis on issue of Armenian captives in Azerbaijan

Avagyan: Authorities should ask Russia peacekeeping commander to talk with Azerbaijan to return convicted Armenians

US troops depart from their main Afghanistan base

Armenias Sarkissian to Belarus Lukashenko: Friendship of our peoples will still be basis for increasing cooperation

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Zas: Situation in southern Armenia does not comply with CSTO charter provisions

125 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Biden announces several key nominations

UK teen allegedly kills 2 sisters in deal with the devil

Armenia high-tech industry acting minister meets with Catalonia parliament speaker

Newspaper: Armenia outgoing legislature majority faction MPs are dissatisfied

EU to allocate over 1.5bn to Armenia for five programs

Newspaper: It is known who will head Armenia "I Have Honor" bloc parliament faction

Global food prices soaring at their fastest rate

Hikmet Hajiyev's slip of the tongue - "Zangezur corridor" in exchange of a land route for Armenia towards Russia

Bloomberg: US asks Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan to accept refugees from Afghanistan

Armenian bailiffs killed in Sochi posthumously awarded Order of Courage by Putin

Armenian court to continue examination of appeal against arrest of doctor Armen Charchyan on July 6

Turkey reaches no agreement on Kabul airport issue

French military neutralizes several ISIS leaders in Sahel

Putin, Macron discuss Nagorno-Karabakh

Baku court sentences 2 Armenian POWs to 4 years in prison, 12 captives to 6 months in prison

Bishkek offers Baku to create Council in "5+3" format at level of Presidents of Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan

Ambassador: US ready to provide support to peaceful normalization and reconciliation of Azerbaijan and Armenia

Man detained in Afghanistan for carrying explosives in musical instrument

Armenia government sets up inter-agency commission to eliminate consequences of drought or water scarcity

Armenia Shirak Province deputy governor sacked

Cyprus authorities change rules of entry for tourists

Karabakh emergency situations service: Remains of another Armenian soldier found in Fizuli region

'Armenia' bloc representative: Many police officers from Yerevan voted in Shurnukh and other villages of Syunik Province

'I Have Honor' bloc also applies to Armenia Constitutional Court regarding results of snap parliamentary elections

Mitsubishi Electric president resigns amid document forgery scandal

'Armenia' bloc representative: Petition submitted to Constitutional Court for impossibility of judge's participation

Erdogan: Turkey will maintain its presence in Azerbaijan and take what belongs to it

French government denies concealment of radiation levels in Pacific Ocean after nuclear tests

Boeing 737 cargo crew rescued after falling into water

Digest: EU commissioner to visit Armenia; Armenians discover 97kg heroin, Turkey citizen detained

Old school in Geghhovit village of Armenia's Gegharkunik Province being renovated

Yerevan Police solve loan office robbery case

India confirms 400,000 deaths from COVID-19

Russia FM says there is significant progress in talks over Iran's nuclear deal

Boeing 737 cargo crashes near Honolulu

Sham trial continues in Baku, prosecutor demands sentencing 12 Armenian POWs to 2 years in prison

Armenia acting PM dismisses Vayots Dzor Province deputy governor

Armenian analyst: Armenia needs to understand what it can offer China through One Belt One Road project

Over 100 organizations urges Biden to stop using drones

Armenia Constitutional Court registers Zartonk party petition to invalidate snap parliamentary election results

Attorney: The two grounds for keeping Armenian doctor Armen Charchyan under arrest no longer exist

Dollar still dropping in Armenia

Lawyer Aram Vardevanyan to represent Armenia bloc at Constitutional Court

Armenia acting Deputy PM visits construction sites in Yerevan

YouTube deletes video about hate speech against Armenians posted by Turkey President's spokesperson

Armenia acting justice minister receives Kazakhstan Ambassador

European Commissioner plans visits to Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia

Four new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

IMF sharply raises its forecast for US economic growth to 7%

Fan Yong: We work to draw Chinese investors to Armenia

Body implementing proceedings completes case of Armenian doctor Armen Charchyan, sends it to court

Macron warns of American-style culture dangers

Armenia Shirak Province village veterinarian commits suicide

Facebook to start warning some users that they may have seen extremist content

July in Armenia will be as hot as in June, says chief meteorologist

China ambassador to Armenia: We are waiting with pain in our hearts for return of captives

Both Armenia and Azerbaijan are included in Belt and Road Initiative, says China ambassador to Yerevan

China envoy to Armenia refutes Azerbaijan media report

US worries China is building over 100 new ICBM silos

Armenia State Revenue Committee discovers 97kg heroin, Turkey citizen detained

Armenian captives 'trials' continue in Azerbaijan

Chief meteorologist: June heat in Armenia is absolute record-breaking in meteorological monitoring history
Yesterday, the Azerbaijani military servicemen threatened residents of the Syunik Province Tegh village with firearms in the sovereign territory of Armenia, and did not allow them to gather the harvested grass. The Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, noted this in a statement he released Sunday.

In particular, on June 26 2021, several residents of Tegh village went to their property lands to collect the grass they had harvested on June 23 and 24.

When they were about 300 meters away from the Azerbaijani position in the administrative territory of Tegh community, they noticed that 5 Azerbaijani armed servicemen were approaching them shouting aggressively.

Approaching about 150 meters, they directed their weapons to the villagers, started threatening, shouting and not allowing them to collect the grass. Two of them behaved more aggressively and demanded from the villagers not to come to those areas at all or try to use the lands.

The incident took place in a place called Andrun Stones, which is located at the intersection of Tegh, Aravus and Khnatsakh villages of Syunik province. The lands of that place are used by the residents of the three villages. There are both privately owned and community-owned lands. There are pastures used by the residents of these three villages to graze their cattle.

The villagers were able to collect the grass only today, on June 27, when the commanders of the 1st Army Corps of the RA Armed Forces, the heads of the local self-government bodies went to that place.

This information has been submitted to the Human Rights Defender by the villagers, including the villagers who went to collect the grass, as well as the head of the Tegh administrative community. All the information has been checked by the Defenders Office.

This criminal act of the Azerbaijani servicemen against the citizens of the Armenia took place in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia.

It is obvious that such obvious criminal acts of the Azerbaijani servicemen are aimed at depriving the citizens of the Republic of Armenia of other vital rights to life, to be engaged in cattle breeding, to earn a family income. All this should be viewed on an ongoing basis, as they regularly commit similar acts (threats to shepherds, theft of animals, etc.) against residents of villages of both Gegharkunik and Syunik Provinces.

This incident once again proves that protection of Armenias population from criminal actions of the Azerbaijani armed forces urgently require creation of a security zone, also reads the statement by the ombudsman of Armenia.
For many years, for about two decades, we were talking about water security, the importance of the Karvachar region as a hydro donor to the Artsakh Republic and the Republic of Armenia, that without that region, the safe progressive development of the two republics will be under serious threat. Now we actually see that everything we were saying is becoming a reality. The statement came from Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Foreign Minister David Babayan, commenting, at the request of Armenian News-NEWS.am, on the current problems of water security in Armenia and Artsakh due to the fact that the Karvachar region has passed under the control of Azerbaijan.

"Azerbaijan, together with Turkey, conducts a corresponding policy in this sphere. For now, we can talk about hydro pressure. In the future, they may pass to hydro terrorism and other forms. For example, simple works that do not have such important consequences will be presented in such a way as to cause fear in us. This is exactly what happened in connection with the works on the Tartar river. It is clear that changing the course of a river is a very expensive project, a huge one. The river itself is large, with an average annual flow of more than 700 million cubic meters. That is why it is difficult to change the direction of the course in a few days. It is necessary to do a huge job.

Besides, flowing through the Martakert region, Tartar re-enters the border of present-day Azerbaijan. Therefore, if they change course, this will also reflect on the regions of Azerbaijan bordering on Artsakh.

Hydro terrorism against Armenia is especially dangerous because the Arpa and Vorotan rivers start in Karvachar; and not only the big rivers, but also the small rivers. Arpa and Vorotan are extremely important for Armenia; they feed and save Lake Sevan, and it is 80 percent of Armenia's water resources.

We now see that Azerbaijan is very actively engaged in hydro policy, and it will use this factor as a weighty lever to put pressure on Armenia and Artsakh. Now we are very vulnerable, Armenia and Artsakh have become one of the most vulnerable countries in the world in terms of water security, albeit a year ago the situation was quite the opposite.

What should we do? Now it is very important that we work closely with our allies, particularly Russia, to at least achieve the presence of either Russian peacekeepers or some international observers in the regions where the Arpa and Vorotan rivers originate, in order not to permit the poisoning of those arteries by Azerbaijan. Our people simply have no other option not to permit the 'blue genocide,'" David Babayan stressed, in particular.
Exactly 29 years ago, on this day, the Azerbaijani forces launched an offensive battle all along the Chartar-Machkalashen-Karmir Shuka defense line. Senor Hasratyan, former spokesperson of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Defense Army, on Monday wrote this on Facebook.

"() the adversary aimed to break through the defense of the Varanda Valley, thenby developing the advanceto reach the [Artsakh] republics capital [Stepanakert] via the Karmir Shuka-Sarushen-Shosh-Stepanakert route, and cut the south of Artsakh from the north. [But] as a result of the heated battles fought, the enemy was pushed back on the same day, at around 16:00...

28 years after that operation, the adversary again launched offensive battles in the same direction, and Karmir Shuka [line] still remained unassailable...

Glory to all those who, at the cost of their lives and courage, managed to keep this line of strategic importance for Artsakh unassailableboth yesterday and today," Hasratyan added, in particular.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday defended the idea of holding a European Union meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, AP reported.

The idea was rejected last week by eastern EU members.

At a summit on Friday, EU leaders agreed only to explore formats and conditionalities of dialogue with Russia. There was no mention of any high-level meetings or plans for a summit with Putin, an idea that Germany and France had pushed. The outcome reflected deep divisions in the 27-nation EUs approach to Moscow.

The concern was that we perhaps wouldnt be able to put up a united front, (and) such a summit of course requires very intensive preparation, Merkel said at a question-and-answer session with German and French lawmakers. She said it would allow Europeans to address all the questions that weigh on us and also those on which we want to cooperate.

Pointing to worries such as hybrid attacks that Germany, France, Italy and the Baltic nations have faced, Merkel added: Its better not just always to talk about this among ourselves, but to confront the Russian president with these things and to say that beneficial cooperation cant take place on such a basis.

The relationship between Russia and the European Union is really not good at the moment, but even in the Cold War we talked to each other, Merkel said. So I think not speaking isnt suited to solving the problems.
The Government of Armenia was obliged to inform about drught and provide the necessary assistance, but the situation hasnt changed in Shirak and Gegharkunik Provinces. This is what President of the Agro-Rural Union NGO Hrach Berberyan told reporters today.

According to him, villagers and farmers are expecting rainfall over the next few days which will ease their worries a little.

Im amazed at Armenias government officials. If there is no precipitation for 26-28 days, the government must make an announcement about draught and provide relevant support. The deputy premier visited Shirak Province and declared that there wouldnt be drught. If there is 4-5,000,000 cubic meters of water instead of 16,000,000 in the Karut reservoir, what else can we say? Berberyan said, noting that the reservoir wasnt completely filled due to the threat of an accident that the authorities refer to. Nevertheless, Berberyan said there might be such a threat.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has demanded that US allies return citizens arrested abroad for joining ISIS, warning that they cannot stay in Syria indefinitely, AFP reported.

Blinken launched the call in Rome at a meeting of a coalition of 83 members to fight ISIS.

The US estimates that some 10,000 suspected Islamic State fighters are being held in northern Syria by Kurdish militants allied with the West.

According to Blinken, the United States continues to urge countries, including coalition partners, to repatriate, rehabilitate and, where necessary, prosecute their citizens.

France and the UK, two of the US closest allies, have resisted calls for the return of their citizens, which were also made by the administration of former President Donald Trump. Both countries have had painful experiences of attacks and see little incentive for the return of radicalized citizens who are already in jails abroad.

Blinken praised Italy as one of the few Western European countries to repatriate their citizens, and also welcomed the efforts of Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan, which he said have returned 600 militants and their families.
If things continue at this rate, Aliyev will demand more concessions, and, unfortunately, he will receive them. This is what Editor of The California Courier Harut Sassounian said during a conversation with Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The results of the elections are the decision of Armenias population, and we need to respect the decision of our people. At the same time, a few months before the elections, that is, after the embarrassing defeat in Artsakh, I was hoping that Nikol Pashinyan would have resigned that same day. This scenario would have been the best result for Armenia. I am very concerned about what happened during the months that followed, he emphasized.

According to him, the person who became the reason for such failures cant fix what needs to be fixed in domestic and foreign policies in order to eliminate or mitigate the consequences of the war.

However, Pashinyan, as Harut Sassounian stated, remained in power, as a result of which Armenia faces unpleasant surprises in the form of new prisoners of war and Azerbaijans seizure of new territories.

The last time, maps of territories with 97,000 mines were transferred for the return of 15 prisoners of war, and this was a very big mistake that the acting Prime Minister made. Of course, everyone, including the families of the captured servicemen are happy that the latter have returned, but the format is wrong. The trilateral statement of 9 November 2020 states that both sides must exchange prisoners of war under the principle of all for all. The statement also states several time limits for the transfer of regions to Azerbaijan, but how was it that Pashinyan didnt demand specific time limits for the return of prisoners of war? Its clear what game Aliyev is trying to play. He is gradually releasing captives and demanding new concessions in return and receiving them. In this case, it will take a long time to solve the POWs issue. Pashinyan is the one to blame for making a mistake and not stating the time limits for return of POWs. Now, our prisoners of war have been in Baku for eight months. If things continue at this rate, Aliyev will demand more concessions, and, unfortunately, he will receive them, he added.

Sassounian reminded that no reform has been made in the army eight months after the tremendous human casualties and territorial losses.

Eight months have passed since the start of the five-year term of the presence of Russian peacekeepers in Artsakh. Right after the five-year term ends, the Azerbaijanis will enter Stepanakert since the Armenian side didnt show its power in neither Artsakh nor Syunik Province. In such conditions, the Armenian side is talking about negotiations and isnt taking any action. If this continues, both Artsakh and Armenia will face a real threat. If a new leader came to power, it would have at least been possible to prevent new losses and not allow more concessions. Its not safe to say that there are no smart leaders in Armenia. There is also tremendous human potential in the Diaspora. I dont want to mention names, but the fact remains that the acting premier of Armenia failed to do anything and led the country to defeat before, during and after the war, he concluded.
Dressed in white robes, doctors have gathered in front of the Special Investigation Service of Armenia to protest in support of doctor Armen Charchyan, who is included in the list of Armenia bloc (the bloc recently won seats in parliament after the snap parliamentary elections on June 20) and who has been remanded by the court.

Earlier, 539 doctors had addressed the authorities and people with an open letter to abolish Charchyans detention.

Samvel Sahakyan, one of the doctors participating in the protest, said he will also address an open letter, but only to Head of the Special Investigation Service Sasun Khachatryan. Its not the same open letter, but the meaning is the same. There wont be a political evaluation. All the doctors gathered here are war veterans, he said.

Charchyan is charged with giving and receiving bribes to and from voters, violating the ban on charities during elections or obstructing exercise of the free will of voters, yet doesnt accept the charge.

According to an investigator of the Special Investigation Service, if Charchyan stays in liberty, he will hide from the body conducting proceedings and will obstruct investigation of the case against him.

The court declared Charchyans detention unlawful. After Charchyan was released, he gave a press conference during which he touched upon the launched criminal case and claimed that it is a phony case.
None of us can visit Professor Armen Charchyan since he is under arrest, even though he is in the hospital. This is what doctor Samvel Sahakyan said during the protest that doctors held in support of doctor Armen Charchyan in front of the Special Investigation Service today.

Yesterday Professor Armen Charchyans situation sharply worsened. As far as I know, he was tested through coronography. His blood sugar level and glucose arent normal, and his blood pressure isnt returning to the normal rate, he said.

Charchyan is charged with giving and receiving bribes to and from voters, violating the ban on charities during elections or obstructing exercise of the free will of voters, yet doesnt accept the charge.

According to an investigator of the Special Investigation Service, if Charchyan stays in liberty, he will hide from the body conducting proceedings and will obstruct investigation of the case against him.

The court declared Charchyans detention unlawful. After Charchyan was released, he gave a press conference during which he touched upon the launched criminal case and claimed that it is a phony case.
Seven deputies presented a personal guarantee, petitioning to change the preventive measure to the famous doctor Armen Charchyan in accordance with Article 145 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, MP Naira Zohrabyan wrote on her Facebook.

Charchyan was charged for giving and bribing voters, violating the ban on charity during elections, or obstructing the free expression of the will of the voter. Armen Charchyan does not accept the charges against him.

"Realizing the importance of a proper investigation within the framework of an initiated criminal case, the ability to disclose all the circumstances of the case and its implementation exclusively within the framework of the law, taking into account the enormous merits of Armen Charchyan in the field of healthcare in Armenia and Artsakh, his unprecedented achievements in the field of medicine, the title of Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, impeccable biography, statements of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and health problems of Armen Charchyan:

I guarantee that in the event of a change in the measure of restraint for Armen Charchyan, the latter will behave properly, will not interfere with the investigation of the case, will not evade from appearing at the body carrying out the proceedings, will not commit an act prohibited by the criminal code," she noted.

The guarantee was signed by the deputies of the National Assembly Naira Zohrabyan, Sofia Hovsepyan, Taguhi Tovmasyan, Anna Grigoryan, Arkady Khachatryan, Anna Kostanyan, Vardan Vardanyan.
Doctors dressed in white robes and holding a protest in support of doctor Armen Charchyan in front of the Special Investigation Service of Armenia handed an open letter over to Head of the Special Investigation Service Sasun Khachatryan.

In their letter, the doctors wrote that they ask, urge and demand Khachatryan to do everything he can to make sure Charchyan is in liberty, adding that they believe in democracy, fair justice and humanism. They also noted that Professor Armen Charchyan wont obstruct investigation of the case and guaranteed that he wont hide from the body implementing proceedings.

Charchyan is charged with giving and receiving bribes to and from voters, violating the ban on charities during elections or obstructing exercise of the free will of voters, yet doesnt accept the charge.

According to an investigator of the Special Investigation Service, if Charchyan stays in liberty, he will hide from the body conducting proceedings and will obstruct investigation of the case against him.

The court declared Charchyans detention unlawful. After Charchyan was released, he gave a press conference during which he touched upon the launched criminal case and claimed that it is a phony case.
Specialists of the Office of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia discussed with residents of Hadrut issues related to their rights. This is what Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan posted on his Facebook page, adding the following:

A few days ago, we were hosted at Dizak Art Cultural Center, which was founded by women who were working at cultural institutions in Hadrut before the war [in Nagorno-Karabakh].

Dizak Art Cultural Center exhibits samples of work saved after the war (they attest to Armenian history and culture and prove that Hadrut is an Armenian city of all times). The aim of the Center is to preserve everything that represents Hadrut and try to become a center for cultural events in Yerevan.

Specialists of the Office of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia discussed with residents of Hadrut issues related to their rights, and we agreed to work together to solve all the issues that were raised. Among participants of the meeting were representatives of Artsakh in Armenia. We are also working closely with Gegham Stepanyan, my counterpart in Artsakh. Together we will consider the directions for the solutions to issues.
Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on June 30 will visit Antalya to hold talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. According to the press service of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the foreign ministers will discuss the prospects for the development of bilateral ties, as well as the current issues on the regional and international agendas.

During the talks, the parties will discuss the situation in the South Caucasus, the Middle East and North Africa, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Central Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea region.

The ministers will also substantively discuss the course of political settlement of the Syrian conflict on the backdrop of the presidential elections that the Syrian Arab Republic held on May 26 and preparations for the sixth meeting of the Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva. The provision of humanitarian aid to the locals, the current situation in Idlib and northeast Syria and the fight against terrorism will also be on the agenda.

The parties will specifically focus on the expansion of cooperation in the high technology sector, including military-technical cooperation. They will also discuss protection of the life and health of citizens of Russia in Turkey, taking into consideration the restoration of passenger transport.
After 40 days without solid food, Rachelle Zola ended her hunger strike for slavery reparations with a few small bites of yogurt Saturday.

Zola, 73, of Chicago, said she lost 23 pounds and felt weak during her last two days of drinking only water, Pedialyte and bone broth.

But she pronounced the experience an unqualified success, citing dozens of productive conversations with ordinary people, as well as TV, radio and print newspaper coverage of her fast for H.R. 40, a U.S. House bill that would establish a federal commission to hold hearings on slavery and discrimination and recommend remedies.

My voice is only getting stronger, Zola said Monday.

Zola, who is white, came to Chicago from Tucson in 2019 to meet Black and brown people and hear their stories, and embarked on the fast as a result of multiple conversations, meetings and workshops.

She hoped to attract the attention of other white people, and spur the adoption of H.R. 40, a version of a reparations bill that was first introduced in Congress more than 30 years ago.

She said the best part of her hunger strike was talking to strangers on the street. She set up a table outside Cosmopolitan United Church in Melrose Park, and sat there for hours a day. With hand-lettered signs, she waved to people who honked and chatted with anyone who pulled into the church parking lot to hear more.

She said she talked to about 60 people.

Most of them were like, OK, I can contact my representative, she said. I really didnt get much pushback.

Some white people did want to talk about what they thought was going wrong in Black communities, she said.

But when she listened and followed up with, Are you willing to have a conversation (about reparations)? The answer was yes.

One day a man who was lost asked for help finding his way back to a halfway house. She gave him water and granola bars, spent more than an hour talking with him, and was able to find out where he was supposed to be. There was also a teen interested in social justice who stopped by at his moms suggestion.

Story continues

Citing Mondays U.N. report calling for reparations for anti-Black discrimination worldwide, Zola said her hunger strike was well-timed. Her next step will be to reach out to leaders of local churches and other houses of worship to try to build support for reparations.

She hopes to eventually get invitations to speak at fundamentalist churches in the South.

Zola said shes tired after her hunger strike, but all her vital signs are good and shes starting to exercise again.

As for H.R. 40, which has yet to reach the House floor, she said she believes the chances for passage by the end of 2022 are good.

Am I optimistic? Yeah, I have to come from that place. I do have to trust that, she said.

nschoenberg@chicagotribune.com
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Eight more suspects have been arrested for alleged involvement in gun attacks earlier this month that killed 19 people in the northern Mexico border city of Reynosa, nearly all of whom appeared to be innocent bystanders, officials said Sunday.

The arrests brought to 13 the number of people detained over the June 19 attacks that left four gunmen and 15 civilians dead. One alleged gunman was detained after being wounded during the shootings, and four others were arrested at midweek.

The Tamaulipas state security agency said the eight latest arrests included a Gulf Cartel leader identified as Ivan Alejandro N or Jorge Ivan N, alias La Vaca.

Officials said the arrests came during a series of raids by state police in Rio Bravo, a municipality neighboring Reynosa that is controlled by the Scorpions, a faction of the Gulf Cartel. Eight vehicles, 16 weapons, more than 3,900 cartridges of various calibers, 80 magazines, eight flak jackets and two grenades also were seized, authorities said.

The arrests were announced a day after a march by citizens, civic groups and relatives of people disappeared by organized crime gangs to demand that authorities address the wave of violence in Reynosa, which is across from McAllen, Texas.

Gustavo Azuara Diaz, one of the main organizers of the march, announced Sunday that he was abandoning protest activities after receiving threatening calls and after unknown people stripped him naked and stole his belongings.

The Tamaulipas state prosecutors office has said the June 19 attacks were carried out by members of the Scorpions and another Gulf Cartel faction known as the Cyclones. Prosecutors said the two groups sought to terrorize the population as part of their campaign to take control of Reynosa from another cartel faction, the Metros.
Joseph Westphal was wowed from the start. As President Barack Obamas ambassador to Saudi Arabia in 2015, Westphal started paying regular visits to the rising new power in the royal court: the countrys new defense minister, Mohammed bin Salman, favored son of King Salman.

First of all, we shared a really nice sense of humor, said Westphal. I mean we, we laughed, we joked around. ... It was just laughing about life, and talking about things that maybe happened to me or happened to him.

More important, Prince Mohammed, who is known as MBS, was pledging to start to rein in the countrys religious police and grant greater rights to Saudi women  steps that U.S. officials had long been calling for. Yes, absolutely, Westphal replied when asked if he viewed MBS at the time as an agent of change. From the very beginning. Absolutely.

Saudi Arabias King Salman, left, shakes hands with the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Joseph Westphal, at a meeting with President Barack Obama, right, in Riyadh in 2015. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Westphals relationship with the young Saudi prince is one glimpse into a much broader and, from todays perspective, unsettling phenomenon: the strange and successful courtship by MBS of Americas foreign policy and corporate elite, presenting himself as a cultured reformer who was positioned to revolutionize his rigidly conservative country.

The story of that courtship  and its embarrassing aftermath, as MBSs ruthless crackdowns on dissent and his bloody military adventure in Yemen became ever more apparent  is the subject of The Rise of the Bullet Guy, Episode 5 in Yahoo News "Conspiracyland" podcast: The Secret Lives and Brutal Death of Jamal Khashoggi.

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It is a courtship that came to a final, crashing and ignominious end when, in October 2018, a so-called Tiger Team of Saudi assassins brutally murdered the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi  drugging him with illicit narcotics brought from Cairo, suffocating him and then carving up his body with a bone saw and depositing his body parts in plastic bags.

It was a crime that the CIA soon concluded had been authorized by the crown prince himself, noting  among other factors  that MBSs right-hand man had met with the team before they left to kill Khashoggi in Istanbul, and that seven members of the hit squad were part of MBSs personal security detail, answerable only to him.

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And yet the shocking nature of Khashoggis murder has tended to obscure the preceding years, when at first top Obama administration officials, and then President Donald Trump and his influential son-in-law, Jared Kushner, embraced MBS with few reservations and extolled his supposed virtues.

Hes the only person Ive met in 30 years of my involvement or more with Saudi Arabia who has put that kind of a vision on the table for the transformation of the country, said John Kerry, Obamas secretary of state, in an interview for Conspiracyland about his assessment of MBS at the time.

Kerrys Georgetown home was the setting for perhaps the most iconic moment in MBSs courtship of the U.S. government. It was in June 2016, and the new Saudi defense minister, during a trip to the United States, was invited to a Ramadan dinner at Kerrys house. As he entered, MBS spotted the grand piano in the living room, promptly sat down and started to play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

Secretary of State John Kerry greets Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman outside Kerry's Washington, D.C., home in 2016. (Molly Riley/AFP via Getty Images)

I mean, we were all surprised, recalled Kerry. Somebody had trained him well.

But even as he impressed the guests in Kerrys living room, others saw the dark impulses of a would-be tyrant. Ben Rhodes, then Obamas deputy national security adviser, recalls a summit in Riyadh the previous April, when Obama raised U.S. concerns about Saudi Arabias worsening human rights record, including a mass execution of 47 prisoners and the case of a Saudi blogger who had just been sentenced to 10 years in prison  and 1,000 lashes with a whip.

Obamas like, What are you guys doing? Im not gonna defend this, said Rhodes in an interview for Conspiracyland.

But suddenly, MBS stands up in the middle of the room, and, and begins to lecture Obama: You dont understand the Saudi justice system. And if we didnt do this, our people would demand vengeance. And then he offers to get Obama a briefing on the Saudi justice system. I mean, dripping condescension. You know? And I just remember sitting there and thinking, like, What is going on here?

It spoke to a personality type that feels absolutely no guardrails, you know? Rhodes added. I mean, if youre comfortable standing up in a room full of people and lecturing the president of the United States  because hes raising concerns about mass executions in your country, you are not the guy people [are] reading about  in the New York Times and the Washington Post, whos [described as] a reformer. I mean, it just laid bare the utter bullshit of the narrative around MBS to me. And Im, Im sitting there thinking, you know, How are people calling this guy a modernizer?"

Obama with Mohammed bin Salman in April 2016 at a U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Riyadh. (Bandar Algaloud/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

But there was an issue of far more concern to U.S. officials than the young princes condescending lecture to Obama. With virtually no warning to Washington, MBS had launched a merciless war in Yemen, targeting the Houthis  a religious minority group loosely aligned with the Iranians who had seized control of the countrys capital. Saudi warplanes, using American weapons, had unleashed a relentless wave of bombings that were slaughtering civilians by the thousands, sparking outrage from human rights groups.

There was countless documentation of U.S.-manufactured bombs being used on markets, on schools, on peoples homes, on hospitals, on clinics throughout the country, said Sarah Leah Whitson, then the director of Human Rights Watchs Mideast Division and now the executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now.

Officials in the Obama administration were well aware of the compromising position this put them in. The State Departments legal office even launched an inquiry into whether the United States was complicit in war crimes. (The lawyers never reached a firm conclusion.) But the White House was torn about what to do.

At the White House, officials were repelled by what we were seeing, said Rob Malley, who was then on the National Security Council and charged with coordinating U.S. policy in the region. But the first instinct was, Well, lets see if we could give them advice on how to make sure that they dont kill civilians again. But it turns out time and again, whether its a mosque, whether its a market, whether its whatever it is, that they would not only hit it once, they hit it twice, sometimes more.

Girls demonstrate in 2015 against the Saudi-led coalition outside U.N. offices in Sanaa, Yemen. (Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)

Still, said Malley, Obama was reluctant to provoke a confrontation with the Saudis. At the time, relations were tense over the Iranian nuclear deal, which Riyadh opposed, and he wanted the Saudis' help in the war against the Islamic State group.

There was a meeting [about the war in Yemen] of the Principals Committee, chaired by President Obama, said Malley. There were voices expressing a lot of concern. But Obama felt he could not, given everything else that was happening in the region, afford a crisis with one of the few countries with which we still retained ... strong relations and cooperation on a whole host of issues, counterterrorism first and foremost.

I was extremely  how could I put it?  troubled by the whole decision, because we should not have been complicit in this war, added Malley, who has rejoined the National Security Council under President Biden. And, you know, the U.S. makes enormous  mistakes is probably too, too kind a word, to describe many, many of its actions.

There was no doubt in the minds of Malley and other U.S. officials that it was MBS who was driving the train. He seemed to be already oblivious to the consequences of the actions that he took, said Malley. And this was his war  because he was the one who appeared to order it.

It was a harbinger of even more disturbing moves to come.

Next on "Conspiracyland": Influence Operations

MBS deposes his chief rival, Mohammed bin Nayef, as crown prince, while the Saudis launch covert influence operations on U.S. soil, including a campaign to curry favor with President Donald Trump with mass bookings at the new Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., and a plot to plant spies inside Twitter to steal personal data from critics of the Saudi regime.

In case you missed it:

Episode 1: Exclusive: Saudi assassins picked up illicit drugs in Cairo to kill Khashoggi

Episode 2: Arms, harems and a Trump-owned yacht: How a Khashoggi family member helped mold the U.S.-Saudi relationship

Episode 3: I just fell apart crying heartbreak to you: A murdered journalist's years-long relationship with Osama bin Laden

Episode 4: "From royal insider to target: How the Arab Spring propelled Jamal Khashoggi into the Saudi leadership's crosshairs"

Cover thumbnail photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images, Khaled Abdullah/Reuters

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Read more from Yahoo News:
Throughout the pandemic, Roy "RJ" Taggueg saw how much care and effort Filipino American nurses poured into their jobs.

"You can tell just the ways in which they talk about their work -- they love their work, they love their patients, they love that the work that they're doing saves lives," said Taggueg, director of research at the UC Davis Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies.

He saw them do their jobs with a work ethic Filipinos are often commended for -- for being masipag, or hardworking, he said.

Traits like that  along with the ability to easily assimilate  receive praise and are often a source of pride for Filipino, Taggueg said. Yet theyre ones that can make them exploitable in work environments and ones that can be traced back to the Philippines' colonial past. Its a history Taggueg credits a contributor to the disparities that raised the risk of Covid-19's impact on Filipino Americans. Other community leaders and advocates say structural factors, particularly the lack of disaggregated data, are another culprit.

The exact Covid impact on the community is unknown because death data on Asian American subgroups is lumped into a single category. But they were likely at greater risk of getting sick, being hospitalized or even dying from Covid-19 due to a number of factors, including their high representation among health care workers, higher rates of underlying health conditions and a high share living in multigenerational households.

EJ Ramos David, a professor at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, whose research focuses on the impact of colonial mentality on Filipino Americans, noted that one aspect of that mentality is colonial debt -- a tendency to tolerate, accept or minimize experiences of injustice.

It can come out as, I might be putting myself at risk right now because my boss is forcing me to work in these conditions. But at least I'm here in America, he said.

A lack of data as 'a form of structural inequality' and how to solve it

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Taggueg said Covid-19 exacerbated existing problems among Filipino Americans that were overlooked. Among those include the risk nurses face on the job and the mental health impact of household dynamics on college students.

He incorporated Covid-19-related questions into a nationwide survey  one of the first on Filipino Americans that has been conducted since the Filipino American Community Epidemiological Study in the 1990s. He said the Filipinx Count Survey, which is slated for publication in July, was originally carried out so that there would be a database about and for Filipino Americans by the community.

Because of the fact that we weren't being covered by researchers  at least quantitative ones very specifically  for a database, we needed to create that, Taggueg said.

Survey findings included that the vast majority of respondents who reported mental health symptoms attributed them to Covid-19, approximately one-third were essential workers, and students faced unique challenges of adjusting to remote learning when they had to move back home and were removed from their social support systems.

Collecting disaggregated data to fill in missing gaps on Filipino American data is one area that advocates like Taggueg have invested efforts into.

And then how do we further develop that argument that refusal of data collection systems to report disaggregated data is, in fact, a form of violence or a form of structural inequality that allows disparities to persist? said Carlos Oronce, president-elect of the Filipinx Community Health Association. It shouldn't be thought of as more of a passive thing and more of an action that systems do to prevent the addressing of disparities.

Available data from the 2017-18 California Health Interview Survey, an annual self-reported survey that offers insight into the health and healthcare needs of Californians, shows the group fares favorably in other socioeconomic indicators. The majority have health insurance, had a preventive care visit in the past year, live above the poverty line, and are proficient in English.

Yet the survey also reveals health disparities in Filipino Americans that are hidden when Asian Americans are examined collectively. Asian Americans as a whole appear healthier than the general U.S. population. But when data is disaggregated, Filipino Americans had higher rates of asthma, diabetes, hypertension and being overweight compared to Asians overall. They also had higher levels of the first three health conditions compared to non-Hispanic whites.

Taggueg said that when it comes to closing the gap on disparities that exist despite favorable socioeconomic indicators, its crucial to consider the role of deeply rooted factors like capitalism and the Philippines history with colonialism.

We learn these very specific mindsets regarding things like work, like productivity, like having to be adaptable  they're all under this context of these westernized colonial mindsets, he said. We are taught to go to the U.S. because that's where you can really exercise your opportunity to climb over the world. But the reality is, the barriers for that are still very much keeping people down.

Taggueg and researchers who authored an article in the journal "Gender, Work & Organization" say they saw the impact of colonial mentality on Filipino American nurses, who cited burnout as a reason they considered leaving their job. Yet they were less likely to do so, partly because of factors influenced by a colonial past that have entrapped them into staying, researchers wrote. They also account for about 25 percent of registered nurse deaths, while representing 4 percent of registered nurses across the country, according to the union National Nurses United.

While conversations about the role of capitalism and colonialism remain sparse, individuals focused on research say the data they collect will reveal areas of need in the community that can be used to make a case for resources.

Melanie Sabado-Liwag, a professor of public health at California State University, Los Angeles is collecting responses for a survey about Filipino experiences during the pandemic that includes questions on mental health, health behaviors, attitudes toward vaccination and experiences with discrimination.

She said she then plans to hold focus groups to contextualize the data, and hopes the findings can be used to help the community post-pandemic to apply for grants, create interventions and health campaigns, and build on existing policy.

This is a jumping off point for whatever needs to happen post pandemic, she said.

Last year, the Filipino Young Leaders Program launched Tayo Help, a virtual help desk that provides culturally tailored, multilingual information to the Filipino American community in Los Angeles. Visitors to the site can submit questions anonymously, through which the group has been able to gather qualitative data on what information users lack.

When you think about the cultural barriers that often are found in our community, things like hiya  you know, shame  oftentimes we're trying to amplify these questions we know people are either too embarrassed to ask or they're too afraid to ask, Leezel Tanglao, chair of the groups Covid-19 Task Force, told NBC Asian America in November. She noted that a common topic the help desk received questions about was vaccines.

Another response effort came several months after the pandemic hit when a group of Filipino Americans established the Filipinx/a/o Covid-19 Resource and Response Team, which has since been renamed to the Filipinx Community Health Association.

We realized there weren't any national dialogues or discussion venues of people in public health who thought about Filipino Americans, Oronce said. The group is dedicated to ensuring visibility, accurate data and the allocation of resources for the Filipino community.

Its first major effort was sending a letter to the Biden-Harris Administrations COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force about the disparities in Covid-19 cases and deaths among Filipino Americans. It didnt receive a response, but members of the group  including Palma, Taggueg, Sabado-Liwag and Tanglao  have forged ahead with individual data collection efforts. The group also created a podcast about Covid-19 issues and is working on an upcoming mental health webinar series, Oronce said. And on June 5, community leaders helped with a pop up vaccination clinic in Carson, California, where a dozen individuals were vaccinated, he added.

Image: On June 5, community leaders helped with a pop up vaccination clinic in Carson, California. (Fred Docdocil)

Surveying cultural barriers and sentiment on vaccines

Throughout the summer, Dr. Melissa Palma hopes to collect 500 responses to a survey shes designing on vaccine attitudes.

Its research that Palma, a preventive medicine, public health and family medicine resident at Cook County Health in Chicago, is spearheading as part of the non-profit Filipino Young Leaders Programs Covid-19 Task Force initiatives. Researchers aim to show through the survey how vaccinations have rolled out in the Filipino American community, what proportion of the community has received the vaccine, if the elderly were able to receive it as soon as it was available to them, and what barriers may have caused delays.

She added that theyre also looking to uncover aspects of Filipino culture that might make people less likely to seek out care, and explore a potential link to vaccination attitudes in the Philippines. She noted that dropping immunization rates in the Philippines led to one of the biggest measles outbreaks there in 2019.

Filipino Americans don't just exist in the United States, she said. We exist in community and in relationship with our families from back home.

Taggueg said all the efforts that have emerged in response to the toll of Covid-19 on Filipino Americans are helpful to problems they face. He also said that the problems are symptoms of larger core issues in which disparities in the community are rooted.

The fact of the matter is, our current systems are not prepared to have handled the things that we had gone through. Not just as a community, but as a society, he said.

He believes the next pandemic will likely be just as devastating on communities of color, including Filipino Americans, because society isnt addressing roots like capitalism and the impact of colonialism.

We have no reason to expect that it's ever going to be better because we don't have the support that we need, he said. We're ignored. We're not even seen as a place to divert resources to.

If we don't address those core issues, then those symptoms might go away, but new ones are going to pop up in different ways. And I think Covid shows that, Taggueg said

This is the third story in a three-part NBC Asian America series, The impact of COVID-19 on Filipino Americans, supported by the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism 2020 Data Fellowship. Read the first story here and the second story here.

Follow NBC Asian America on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
"We took necessary, appropriate, deliberate action that is designed to limit the risk of escalation, but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message," Blinken told reporters in Rome.

The United States said on Sunday it carried out another round of air strikes against Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria, this time in response to drone attacks by the militia against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq.

In a statement, the U.S. military said it targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq. It did not disclose whether it believed anyone was killed or injured but officials said assessments were ongoing.

Iraqi militia groups aligned with Iran in a statement named four members of the Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada faction they said were killed in the attack on the Syria-Iraq border. They vowed to retaliate.

The strikes came at the direction of President Joe Biden, the second time he has ordered retaliatory strikes against Iran-backed militia since taking office five months ago. Biden last ordered limited strikes in Syria in February, that time in response to rocket attacks in Iraq.
(Corrects Nina Gong's location in the last paragraph to Beijing, not Shanghai)

By Sophie Yu and Kane Wu

BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) -He Shuang, a student at a U.S. university stranded in her home city of Chongqing in southwest China during the pandemic, has added more than 300 domestic brands to her list of favourites on Alibaba's Taobao online mall.

Like with He, Chinese brands are hot with most shoppers and have spurred billions of dollars in investment, as consumers increasingly make patriotic choices amid a growing backlash against foreign brands https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/chinese-apps-join-celebs-backlash-against-western-fashion-brands-over-xinjiang-2021-03-26 in the country.

A surge in online shopping after people were forced indoors due to COVID-19 last year, a recovery in the market since then, and infrastructure that allows vendors to scale up swiftly have also propelled demand for local brands.

"Once you try, you find the quality of local products is as good as foreign products," said the 19-year old He, who favours home-grown labels from Carslan eye shadows and Feiyue sneakers to Bestore Co snacks and Miniso homeware.

Maia Active, a Sequoia Capital-backed athleisure wear maker, said its products were designed based on body measurements of Asian women and, therefore, offered local customers a better fit and more comfort than western counterparts.

In lockstep with demand, investors too have been pouring funds into local consumer brands this year.

Chinese consumer firms raised 69.7 billion yuan ($11 billion) from primary market investors in the first five months, more than double the year-earlier amount, according to Cygnus Equity, a Chinese boutique investment bank.

"Beauty products, food and beverage brands are the most popular. Recently hotpot and ramen brands are particularly coveted," said Ming Jin, managing partner at Cygnus.

Up to 200 brands are currently seeking new capital from investors, bankers and investors said.

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"China is the easiest market for building something from zero to a 100-million-yuan sales target," a private equity investor in tea chain operator Nayuki said, declining to be named as he was not authorised to speak to media.

Nayuki last week raised $656 million in a Hong Kong float, which gave it a valuation of $4.4 billion, more than double the level in a December funding round.

Weilong Delicious Global Holdings, whose flour-based spicy sticks sell for under 5 yuan per pack, raised 3.56 billion yuan in May from big name investors including Tencent, Jack Ma's Yunfeng Capital, CPE, Hillhouse Capital and Sequoia Capital China. The snack maker was valued at nearly 70 billion yuan.

Sequoia-backed Genki Forest, a soft drink brand seeking to challenge Coca Cola, said it was valued at $6 billion after an April fundraising, ten times more than 18 months earlier.

Its fundraising attracted investors such as Louis Vuitton owner LVMH's private equity arm and Singaporean state investor Temasek.

LOCAL VS GLOBAL

During JD.Com's online shopping festival this month, sales growth of Chinese brands was 4% higher than international brands. The growth in their customer numbers exceeded that of international brands by 16%, JD.com said.

Chris Mulliken, a Shanghai-based partner at consultancy EY, said nationalism was a factor driving the popularity of local brands, including pride in China's recovery from COVID-19 even as several other countries battle high infection rates.

"People are travelling (albeit domestically) and taking the opportunity to rediscover their own country, return to their customs and discover new Chinese brands," he said.

The recent Xinjiang cotton ban imposed by several global brands including H&M, Nike and Adidas over concerns about alleged rights abuses in the province, which offended many Chinese consumers, was another catalyst. China strongly denies the claims and says all labour in Xinjiang is consensual and contract-based.

Shares of domestic sportswear producers Xtep, Li Ning and Anta have risen 196%, 60% and 38% respectively since April.

Dealmakers have warned about the sharply higher valuations, while they also say the demand trend will stay for a long time.

"Consumers no longer idolize international, multinational brands. They like products and brands that speak for them," said Nina Gong, a Beijing-based managing director with private equity firm Carlyle Group.

($1 = 6.4525 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Sophie Yu in Beijing and Kane Wu in Hong Kong; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
HONG KONG (AP)  After two years of turmoil and change, Hong Kong was not the same for Mike Hui. One month ago, the 36-year-old photographer pulled up roots and moved with his wife and young daughter to the U.K. to try starting anew.

I felt that I couldnt stay anymore, and that I couldnt let my next generation grow up in a society like this, he said.

His departure came after anti-government protests divided the city in 2019 and a subsequent crackdown that has rounded up democracy activists and stifled dissent.

Until early April, Hui was a photojournalist for the Apple Daily, a pro-democracy newspaper that shut down last week following the arrest of five top editors and executives and the freezing of its assets under a national security law that China's ruling Communist Party imposed on Hong Kong as part of the crackdown.

He called the closing of the paper, where he worked for seven years, heart-aching.

I felt that all my memories of these years, and everything that proved that I existed in this place as well as this industry, were gone. ... Its like losing a family member who was very close to you, he said.

Hui misses family and friends but less so the city where he was born and raised. I dont have strong feelings about this place after its been ruined in the past two years, he said.

He pointed to a July 2019 attack on people in a subway station by a mob apparently opposed to the then-ongoing protests. It came amid tensions between police and supporters of the protesters, and many, including Hui, were disappointed by how police handled the attack in Yuen Long.

The rollout of the national security law a year later was a catalyst for his decision to leave, he said.

The adjustment to life in Leeds, a city in northern England, has perhaps been easiest for his 5-year-old daughter. Before leaving, Hui told her that their new home was a place where people of different skin colors and races lived, just like in the Disney movie Frozen.

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She has been enjoying the spacious parks, huge warehouse-like toy stores and a larger bedroom than in densely packed Hong Kong. After all shes still young, and she doesnt know whats going on, he said.

Despite more than 10 years in media, Hui has no plans to pick up the job again in the U.K., at least not full-time. He doesn't intend to resume the Hong Kong way of life either.

Having moved here, I want to have a reborn mindset," he said. "I want to start over and challenge myself. You have to move on from something ... and try new things.
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's President Alberto Fernandez has canceled a visit to France scheduled for this week amid fears over the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant and the elevated number of cases of the virus in the South American nation.

Fernandez was expected to participate on June 30 in a forum on gender equality in Paris, invited by French President Emmanuel Macron.

"The health situation in Argentina and in South America has been harmed by a new wave of COVID that continues to affect the political, economic and social life of my people," Fernandez said in a letter to Macron made public on Monday.

Argentina is going through a second wave of the pandemic and is among countries with the highest number of daily cases and deaths in the world. While new cases have started to decline, there are fears over the imminent arrival of the more contagious Delta strain.

The country has registered a total 4.4 million cases, with 92,568 deaths, health ministry data show. The government recently tightened travel restrictions to allow only 600 people per day on flights into the country.

(Reporting by Nicolas Misculin; Editing by Dan Grebler)
Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison was convening an emergency COVID-19 meeting with state and territory leaders Monday afternoon, as outbreaks of the highly contagious Delta variant saw restrictions return across the country.

Why it matters: This is the first time in months that cases have emerged in multiple parts of Australia simultaneously. Some 18 million Australians, roughly 70% of the population, are now under some form of pandemic restriction, Reuters notes.

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This includes the country's most populous city, Sydney, which locked down for the first time on Saturday as the Delta coronavirus variant continues to spread.

Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday: "I think we are entering a new phase of this pandemic, with the more contagious Delta strain."

What's happening: The state of New South Wales is the coronavirus epicenter, with 130 community cases  124 in the Sydney Bondi cluster. Greater Sydney residents are now under a two-week stay-at-home order.

Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory have also imposed restrictions following local outbreaks, with NT capital Darwin entering its first lockdown Sunday. Other states have imposed restrictions on travelers from pandemic hot spots.

The big picture: Australia had largely suppressed outbreaks before the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant emerged. The country has shared a quarantine-free "travel bubble" with New Zealand since April, but NZ paused this until late Tuesday in response to Australia's outbreaks.

New Zealand raised its COVID-19 alert level in the capital, Wellington, after a visitor from Sydney tested positive for the Delta strain upon his return home last week.

NZ has not reported a local infection since Feb. 28, but authorities are testing hundreds of people potentially exposed to the Australian traveler to determine whether there are any cases in the community.

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Massachusetts authorities said a man who gunned down two people outside Boston on Saturday after crashing a stolen truck was a white supremacist who targeted them because they were Black.

Now, prosecutors are investigating the case as a hate crime.

Ramona Cooper, 60, a staff sergeant in the Air Force, and 68-year-old David Green, a retired state trooper, were shot multiple times Saturday afternoon by Nathan Allen, after he crashed a box truck stolen from a piping and drain company into a home in the city of Winthrop, according to Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins.

After crashing the truck, Allen, 28, got out of the vehicle and targeted Cooper, who was shot in the back multiple times, and Green, who was shot in the head, neck, and torso repeatedly, Rollins said in a statement on Sunday. Green was shot outside his home and may have been trying to engage the suspect to end the threat, according to Massachusetts State Police Col. Christopher Mason.

Allen walked by several people who were not Black and left them unharmed, Rollins told reporters during a press conference at the scene on Sunday, the Boston Globe reported. They are alive, and these two visible people of color are not, she emphasized.

Yesterday, retired Massachusetts State Trooper David Green and Air Force Staff Sergeant Ramona Cooper were murdered in Winthrop by a man who drew swastikas and handwrote messages about whites being superior and apex predators.

Allen died at the scene Saturday after exchanging gunfire with a Winthrop police sergeant who had responded to the scene, which witnesses told NBC 10 Boston was chaotic and unfolded in front of terrified residents, including children.

Rollins pledged to find out what triggered Allens rampage and said investigators believe he acted alone.

She said investigators found troubling white supremacist rhetoric in messages written by the killer. This individual wrote about the superiority of the white race. About whites being apex predators. He drew swastikas, she said in her statement.

Story continues

But Rollins suggested that there were few, if any, outward signs of Allen being a violent white supremacist prior to the killings. She said Allen was legally licensed to carry a firearm and was not on authorities radar. He had nothing in his background check, she added.

This shooter was married and employed. He had a PhD and no criminal history. To all external sources he likely appeared unassuming, she said. And then, yesterday afternoon he stole a box truck, crashed it into another vehicle and a property, walked away from the wreckage interacting with multiple individuals and choosing only to shoot and kill the two Black people he encountered.

Allens social media accounts showed no obvious signs of his apparent white supremacist views. A Facebook page that appears to belong to him included several public posts showing him celebrating his wifes birthday, drinking beer in an American flag-styled shirt with a friend, and traveling in Vienna. There are several images of rabbits and a post that says he donated to a fundraiser asking for help with one. It lists him as having studied at MGH Institute of Health Professions, a graduate school. His LinkedIn page shows he had experience as a lab technician and physical therapist.

Before his named appeared in the Boston Globe as a suspected killer, Allen appeared in an August 2020 article in which he talked about how important it was that his wifes 92-year-old grandfather attended their wedding. Because of the pandemic, they held the ceremony outside his nursing home.

A website announcing Allen and his wifes wedding last September said the couple met in 2011, had their first date at McDonald's in New Bedford in March 2013, and moved into their first home: A condo in Winthrop  the city where the shooting occurred  in October 2019.

The apparent targeted killing comes amid a rising tide of white supremacist violence in the US. An analysis by the Washington Post found that since 2015, there have been 267 plots or attacks by far-right extremists and 91 fatalities. The Department of Homeland Security has issued warnings this year about potential violence by domestic political extremists and racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists.

President Joe Biden has spoken out against white supremacist violence and called domestic terrorism the most urgent threat the United States faces today and a stain on the soul of America. Earlier this month, his administration released an ambitious and first-of-its-kind plan for countering domestic terrorism. It called for increasing information sharing with law enforcement agencies and the technology sector; growing the ranks of government analysts, investigators, and prosecutors needed to combat domestic terrorism; and improving employee screening to enhance methods for identifying extremists who might pose insider threats, among other measures.

There is a growing national, and global, problem with extremism and white supremacy, Rollins said in a statement. The FBI believes the most serious domestic violent extremist threat comes from racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, specifically those who advocated for the superiority of the white race.

We want your help! If you have information or a tip related to domestic violent extremism, contact christopher.miller@buzzfeed.com, or reach us securely at tips.buzzfeed.com.

Friends and colleagues of Green and Cooper spoke highly of both of them and said that Greens actions before his death were heroic.

Nick Tsiotos, a longtime friend of Greens, told WCVB-TV the retired trooper was sitting with friends when he heard the truck crash and jumped up to help. He went out and tried to do what he was doing for 36 years with the state police: trying to help save lives and help save people.

Mason of the state police said Green had become a Metropolitan District Commission police officer in 1980, and a Massachusetts state trooper 12 years later. He retired in 2016.

"It's beyond the beyond"Winthrop residents bring flowers & candles to the scene of chaos over the weekend.The brother of retired @MassStatePolice Trooper David Green tells me there is no doubt Green would rush towards danger to save lives.Latest 4,5,6 @boston25

Trooper David Green more than upheld the ideals of integrity, professionalism, and service to others that are the hallmarks of a great Trooper, he said. We are heartbroken by his loss and offer our condolences to his family and friends.

One of Cooper's neighbors told WCVB NewsCenter 5 that Cooper was a Veterans Affairs employee. Her son, Gary Cooper Jr., told the news channel that she was a good person.

She would help anyone who needed it, he said. She was caring and selfless.

More on this
BEIJING (Reuters) -Jidu Auto, a smart electric vehicle venture between China's tech giant Baidu Inc and Chinese automaker Geely, said it has hired Frank Wu, formerly at Cadillac, to lead its design studio.

Jidu's chief executive Xia Yiping told Reuters in April that the new company, founded in January, aims to invest 50 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) into producing smart cars over the next five years.

Wu previously worked for General Motors Co's premium Cadillac brand in Warren, Michigan, and led design studio of Beijing brand of Chinese state-owned automaker BAIC in Beijing.

Baidu's EV making plan comes as tech companies around the world are racing to develop smart cars after Tesla's success in commercializing EVs. The collaboration is based on Geely's EV-focused platform, Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA). Baidu currently owns 55% of Jidu and Geely has a 45% stake.

Reuters earlier reported Jidu's hiring, citing people familiar with the matter.

Shanghai and Beijing based Jidu also plans to roll out its car brand in the third quarter of 2021.

(Reporting by Yingzhi Yang, Yilei Sun and Tony Munroe, editing by Louise Heavens)
President Joe Biden is calling for a federal investigation into the Surfside, Florida, condominium collapse but does not currently have any plans to visit the area.

"He does believe there should be an investigation," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at Monday's press briefing. "Certainly, we want to plan for a constructive role we can play with federal resources in getting to the bottom of it and preventing it from happening in the future."

SURFSIDE BUILDING OFFICIAL TOLD RESIDENTS BUILDING WAS SAFE IN 2018 DESPITE WARNINGS FROM EXPERTS

Earlier in the briefing, however, Psaki said that in terms of planning a trip to the Miami suburb, the White House "always wants to ensure that we're not pulling from local resources."

"We don't want to draw up resources that are needed in the ongoing search and rescue operation and efforts," she said. "We will remain in close contact with officials on the ground and certainly, if there's a trip to preview or announce to all of you, I will do that."

Biden and the federal government have been coordinating the search and rescue operation with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and more than 50 Federal Emergency Management Administration personnel, including Administrator Deanne Criswell, traveled to the area to assist in the cleanup effort over the weekend.

Psaki also said that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is providing "technical assistance" for debris removal.

As of Monday, the Surfside death count had risen to nine, with roughly 150 people still unaccounted for in the wreckage.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

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Tags: News, Jen Psaki, Joe Biden, White House, Miami, Florida

Original Author: Christian Datoc

Original Location: Biden wants federal investigation into Surfside condo collapse but isn't planning to visit area soon
By Philip Pullella and Humeyra Pamuk

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis held talks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday in the wake of a decision by American Catholic bishops that could lead them to deny communion to President Joe Biden.

But it was not clear if the topic came up in talks at the Vatican as Blinken became the highest-ranking U.S. administration official to visit since Biden's inauguration in January.

He held 40 minutes of private talks with the pope in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace after a separate meeting with Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican's foreign minister.

The visit follows a conference at which U.S. Roman Catholic bishops voted to draft a statement on Communion that may admonish Catholic politicians, including Biden, who support a woman's right to abortion despite opposing the practice personally..

The bishops decided to move forward with the document, mostly disregarding a Vatican warning that it would be highly divisive.

The topic did not appear in statements by State Department spokesperson Ned Price and the Vatican and, when asked specifically at a news conference afterwards, Blinken would not be drawn.

He said the meeting with the pope was "extremely warm and very wide ranging" but he did not answer directly, saying that domestic politics was not part of his job.

Price said that Blinken in his talks with Parolin and Gallagher discussed various topics including human rights and religious freedom in China.

Price said Blinken also discussed China with the pope, as well as refugees, climate change, Lebanon, Syria and Ethiopia.

Since the Vatican and Beijing signed an agreement in 2018 on the naming of bishops in China, critics of the deal have appealed to the Vatican to speak out more about religious freedom in Hong Kong and mainland China.

NATO took a tough line on China at Biden's debut summit earlier this month.

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Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that the atmosphere was cordial and that it gave the pope a chance "to express his affection for and attention to, the people of the United States of America".

The Vatican and the Biden administration agree on the dangers of climate change, which was a main point of contention with the White House while Donald Trump was president.

Trump was dismissive of the problem as he dismantled climate policies and regulations on fossil fuels.

The pope criticised Trump's withdrawal of the United States from the 2015 Paris accord to limit global warming. The Vatican welcomed Biden's return to the accord.

Blinken gave the pope a gold and silver sculpture of a dove holding an olive branch and pope gave him copies of several of his writings, including the landmark 2015 encyclical "Laudado Si" on the protection of the environment.

(Humeyra Pamuk reporting from Rome; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Steve Orlofsky)
It will also set the scene for a visit to the pope by Joe Biden, only the second Catholic U.S. president, expected for October.

The last time a U.S. secretary of state visited the Vatican, the diplomatic sparks flew and Pope Francis declined to receive Mike Pompeo.

Various meetings will take place inside the Vatican before the meeting with the pontiff, who was seen being driven away after the arrival of the U.S. Secretary of State.
A missing 6-year-old girl has been found safe, thanks to help from a K-9 named Fred.

The bloodhound is credited with rescuing Kinzleigh Reeder from an abandoned shed in central Tennessee on Friday and leading police to her father, whos accused of abducting her, according to a Rutherford County Sheriffs Office Facebook post on Monday.

He licked her face and she gave him a big hug, Freds handler, Deputy Richard Tidwell, said of the moment the dog found the missing girl. I pulled the chicken reward out of my pocket. He ate [it] and wanted to meet other people as if to say, Look what Ive done.

Kinzleigh had been missing for more than a month before Fred was able to sniff out her location  a small outbuilding with poor ventilation that reeked of ammonia, said DeKalb County Sheriff Patrick Ray, according to WKRN. Deputies with the DeKalb County Sheriff helped with the search.

The windows of the outbuilding had been boarded with metal, Ray told WKRN, and there was little food or water. The pair had also been using a five-gallon bucket as a toilet, police said, according to the news station.

Fred sniffed an item belonging to the girls father, Nicholas Reeder, and tracked the scent to an outbuilding behind a home, according to the Rutherford County Sheriffs Office. The door was reinforced from the inside, forcing officers to pry it open.

We made entry into the building and discovered the suspect and child in the back of the shed behind blankets that were hanging from a makeshift clothesline, Rutherford County Sgt. James Holloway said, according to the Facebook post. Everyone was prepared to stay on scene until the little girl was safely located and out of harms way.

Deputies arrested Kinzleighs father on charges of child abuse or neglect. Reeder had previously lost custody of his daughter, according to WKRN, and had warrants for custodial interference.

The 6-year-old is now in the care of officials at the Tennessee Department of Childrens Services, according to the news station..

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Meanwhile, Fred was rewarded with chicken and extra pizza crusts.

Facebook users also had high praise for Fred. Good boy! Hope he got a big steak for a reward!, one person commented on the sheriffs office post. People could learn a lot from animals How awesome!! Good job Fred!!, another comment read.

In March, Fred located a missing 13-year-old runaway boy, according to a previous Rutherford County Sheriffs Office Facebook post. This rescue marked Freds first recovery since he joined the department in 2020, the sheriffs office said.

Woman accused of shooting mother, kidnapping infant twins is arrested, Georgia cops say

Firefighter dies in boating accident during family trip to lake, Georgia officials say

Husband reported missing found dead on a tractor  shot in the back, SC coroner says

Lost hiker survives 8 days on berries and river water, Washington rescuers say
Three Brazilian senators formally accused President Jair Bolsonaro of malfeasance before the Supreme Court Monday over allegations he failed to have a top ally investigated for suspicions of massive corruption in the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines.

The criminal complaint comes after a Senate commission investigating the administration's pandemic response uncovered explosive accusations last week that Bolsonaro knew about suspected corruption in Brazil's $300-million deal for Indian-made vaccine Covaxin and failed to intervene.

"I filed a criminal complaint today with the Supreme Court because of the serious accusation that the president took no action after being notified of a gigantic corruption scheme at the health ministry," said opposition Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, the commission's deputy chair.

A criminal case against Bolsonaro before the Supreme Court could see him removed from office -- though Prosecutor General Augusto Aras, an ally, would have to bring charges.

More immediately, the case risks damaging Bolsonaro politically at a time when his support is dwindling and polls place him far behind leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva heading into elections next year.

- 1,000% overbilling -

The allegations emerged when a Singapore-based firm now suspected of being a shell company billed the Brazilian health ministry $45 million for yet-to-be-delivered doses of Covaxin, which did not even have regulatory approval in Brazil.

That raised red flags for a health ministry official named Luis Ricardo Miranda.

He refused to sign off on the payment, given that Brazil's contract for Covaxin did not mention any firm in Singapore and said payment was to be made on delivery.

Miranda told the Senate inquiry his superiors at the ministry exerted "atypical, excessive" pressure on him to approve the payment.

He took his concerns to his brother, Luis Miranda, a congressman close to Bolsonaro, who arranged a meeting for them with the president.

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Congressman Miranda testified Friday that Bolsonaro told them at the March 20 meeting he suspected the alleged corruption scheme was the work of Ricardo Barros, a powerful lawmaker who is head of Bolsonaro's coalition in the lower house.

Congressman Miranda said Bolsonaro told him he would order the police to investigate, but never did.

Other irregularities in Brazil's Covaxin deal soon emerged, forcing the administration to cancel it as prosecutors opened an investigation.

According to newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo, Bharat Biotech, the vaccine's manufacturer, initially quoted a price of $1.34 a dose.

But Brazil agreed to pay $15 a dose, more than for any other vaccine it purchased.

bur-jhb/bfm
BRASILIA (Reuters) - A Brazilian fugitive accused of murdering a family was shot dead on Monday, ending a 20-day manhunt with troops, dogs and helicopters in farm country outside Brasilia, where rural families lived for weeks in fear.

Lazaro Barbosa, who fled jail after a previous murder conviction, was suspected of killing a father and his two sons in early June and kidnapping their mother, whose body was found days later in the countryside.

TV channel Globonews showed images of a body being bundled into an ambulance by officers after Barbosa was shot. Police said he was dead on arrival in hospital.

More than 270 soldiers and police took part in the hunt for Barbosa, who was on the run in the state of Goias, where he broke into farmhouses, held hostages and exchanged gunfire with farmers, wounding three people.

At one point, he stole a car and was spotted by police trying to reach the outskirts of Brasilia. He set fire to the vehicle and disappeared into the fields, police said.

The town of Cocalzinho was gripped with fear for days and many farmers fled their properties.

"This crime brought so much terror that we could not sleep properly," local farmhand Marcos de Araujo told Reuters.

"It used to be a very quite place. You could go out and leave your key in the door and nothing would happen," he said.

Last week, police arrested a farmer accused of harboring the fugitive.

(Reporting by Leonardo Benassatto in Brasilia and Tatiana Bautzer in Sao Paulo; Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Alistair Bell)
LONDON (Reuters) - British health minister Sajid Javid confirmed on Monday that the government would lift most of its remaining COVID-19 restrictions on July 19, saying he would not "wait a moment longer" to hand freedom back to the public.

"Whilst we decided not to bring forward step four, we see no reason to go beyond the 19th of July," he told parliament, saying he had spent the first day in his new role studying the data of coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalisations.

"July 19th remains our target date. The prime minister has called it our terminus date. For me, the 19th of July is not only the end of the line but the start of a exciting new journey for our country."

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; editing by James Davey)
Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa reopened Broadway on Saturday.

They didnt just mail it in.

Springsteen on Broadway, on stage at the St. James Theatre through Sept. 4, reflects the extraordinary events that have happened over the last two years since the show ended its run at the Walter Kerr Theatre in December 2018.

Theres been too much history since Ive done it last, Springsteen told the USA TODAY Network New Jersey. The past two years have been, what can you say?

A worldwide pandemic, a national reckoning on race and the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol have taken place since the last Springsteen on Broadway performance.

The scene outside:Anti-vaccine protesters demonstrate outside show

Bruce Springsteen onstage June 26, 2021 at the St. James Theatre for 'Springsteen on Broadway.'

To reflect that, the St. James theater version of the show has new dialogue and new songs.

It just happened very naturally, its organic, said Springsteen in a phone interview. The minute I started rehearsing the show, things started to change. You begin to go over your spoken sections and other things suggest themselves related to whats been going on for the last couple of years of your life or in general.

American Skin (41 Shots), originally written about the 1999 shooting death of Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old unarmed immigrant from Guinea by four New York City plain-clothes police officers, has been added to the show. Its performance evokes the May 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of four officers in Minneapolis.

It was a song I wrote a long time ago, but it just remains relevant and I found a really nice arrangement for just myself and the guitar," Springsteen said, adding that seeing all the young people out for the Black Lives Matters protests was "very inspiring."

Ill See You in my Dreams, from Springsteen's latest album, Letter to You, now closes the show instead of Born to Run.

Its only a couple of verses and a chorus, but it really packs a punch for its brevity and it really ends the particular story that Im telling on this leg of this show, Springsteen said. Its actually much more appropriate than Born to Run was in that spot. It really takes all the ideas in the show and sums them up in that one short piece of music. So its exciting to play that at the end of the night.

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Broadway reopening:Boss in spotlight of COVID comeback

Patti Scialfa and Bruce Springsteen in "Springsteen on Broadway" June 26, 2021 at the St. James Theatre.

Springsteen on Broadway is partly a eulogy for those who have passed on. In Springsteen's life, that includes his father, bandmates Clarence Clemons, Danny Federici and Bart Haynes, and the Cichon brothers, Walter and Raymond of the Motifs, a Jersey Shore band that a young Springsteen idolized.

A broader collective eulogy is implied in the music play.

('Ill See You in My Dreams') really takes all the ideas in the show and sums them up in that one short piece of music, Springsteen said.

On Saturday, the Boss also added a reference to a group of anti-vaccine demonstrators outside the theater on opening night. They were protesting the shows COVID-19 vaccine requirement.

Hundreds of thousands of people died, said Springsteen on Monday. It can be hard to know what to do. Obviously, Im in favor of everybody being vaccinated, and thats why the show is the way that it is. Plus, Im responsible for the safety of my audience, but its hard, confusing times, so I actually have some feeling for the folks who were outside.

He also turned his own arrest in November 2020 into one of the shows funniest moments. He was arrested after he took a shot of Patron tequila on Sandy Hook and then got on his Triumph motorcycle.

My case was the United States of America vs. Bruce Springsteen, said Springsteen from the stage. Thats always comforting to hear  the entire nation is aligned against you.

Drunk and reckless driving charges against him were dropped as it was revealed his blood-alcohol content was 0.02, well beneath New Jerseys 0.08 threshold indicating intoxication. Springsteen did plead guilty to consuming alcohol in a closed area.

Hah, what can I say? said Springsteen of including the new segment in the play.

Current events aside, Fire, a song written by Springsteen in 1977 that became a hit for the Pointer Sisters and Robert Gordon, is now sung by Springsteen and wife Scialfa.

We tried a few things and its funny, she said lets do Fire, Springsteen said. I said I dont know but she was really right. She sang it great. Shes got that Peggy Lee sort of swagger that she sort of adds to the song  its great to hear her voice. I got to give her all the credit for that.

Springsteen, from the stage, also added that the long-awaited new Scialfa solo album was coming soon.

Bruce Springsteen outside the St. James Theatre on June 26, 2021 after a performance of 'Springsteen on Broadway.'

Show review: Springsteen on Broadway review: Boss delivers big on opening night

Speaking of vocals, Springsteen was in exceptional form on Saturday. His coos on Thunder Road were ethereal.

Its funny, I think my voice actually improved with age, Springsteen said. I have more range and its stronger than its ever been. Ive been really, really fortunate. Im knocking on wood right now. It was in really good form over the past weekend, plus I had two nights to sort of warm up for Saturday ... So I had a lot of fun singing that night because my voice was responsive to anything I wanted to do.

The 236 performances of Springsteen on Broadway in 2017 and 2018 at the Walter Kerr Theatre have perhaps been beneficial for his voice.

Theres only one instrument and youre singing  all of the emotional information is carried in those two elements, Springsteen said. They're full, present in your face and you can really hear every detail of your voice, every nuance of your voice. Figure, in a concert, folks are hearing the front 50% or 70% of your voice just because of the noise of the band and the way the show is. Theres kind of 30% getting fogged up in the soup. But when you play just your guitar, 100% of your voice is audible to the audience and you can carry a lot of emotional information with it. I find that very enjoyable to do.

Springsteen was initially going to take the summer off and go swimming in the ocean, he said.

Jon (Landau) suggested it and Patti (Scialfa) sort of seconded his opinion and Im like, 'Its summer and I want to go to the beach because we're going to work a lot next year,'  said Springsteen of restaging Springsteen on Broadway. I had a friend come down and just tip me over the edge and I got excited  Just do it! And that was it.

Visit www.jujamcyn.com/shows/springsteen-on-broadway for more information.

Springsteen on Broadway setlist

Subscribe to app.com for the latest on Bruce Springsteen and the Jersey music scene.

Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; cjordan@app.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Bruce Springsteen on Broadway: Boss talks new additions to the show
A plea agreement hearing is set next month for a woman then a University of Kentucky student  accused of taking a Members Only sign near the Senate chambers as she accompanied supporters of former President Donald Trump in storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

The hearing for Gracyn Dawn Courtright of Hurricane is scheduled for July 20 in federal court in Washington, D.C., according to court documents. The notice of the hearing was made last week. Courtright remains free on personal recognizance bond.

Courtright is charged with theft of government property under $1,000 and four counts involving her conduct in a Capitol and restricted building.

Were anticipating that a plea offer will be made and accepted by that date, Thomas Abbenante, Courtrights attorney, said Monday.

Courtright at the time of her arrest was a senior at the University of Kentucky, according to court records. According to the university, she was majoring in mathematical economics. Before the riot, she was expected to graduate in May.

UK officials said on Feb. 24 they couldnt provide any records for Courtright despite previously confirming she attended UK.

Courtrights attorney on Monday declined to comment on her enrollment status or whether or not she graduated from UK this semester.

She faced scrutiny on social media after it was discovered that she attended the event, and a petition calling for her expulsion from UK was signed more than 3,000 times.

The actions by Gracyn Courtright on that day damage the democratic values that the University of Kentucky and United States stands for,  wrote UK student Branden Gobeli on the petition he started.

Eight people have pleaded guilty in federal court to riot-related offenses. Courtright is one of at least four others who apparently have agreed to plead guilty, according to court records.

According to an FBI affidavit in support of the criminal complaint and arrest warrant, a witness saw a video of Courtright in the halls of the Capitol and messaged her on Instagram asking if she was there. The witness provided a screenshot of the messages to the FBI.

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Courtright admitted she went in, prompting the witness to express embarrassment, according to the FBI.

Courtright allegedly said, Im not embarrassed so you shouldnt be, bragged that the event was making history and said she thought it was cool.

When the witness accused her of treason, Courtright said she did not know what treason was, according to the affidavit. Before Courtright deleted her Instagram account, she wrote, Infamy is just as good as fame. Either way I end up more known. XOXO.

According to the affidavit, in two Instagram photos in which she is raising her arms in the air, Courtright wrote, cant wait to tell my grandkids I was here!

The affidavit said photos of a woman seen at the Capitol on Jan. 6 were similar to the physical features of Courtrights drivers license and her Instagram account. The FBI said she was wearing a black coat and a hat with a yellow band at the Capitol.

A woman whose clothes and physical features matched those of Courtright was seen on a video near the Senate chamber carrying a Members Only sign before a law enforcement officer confiscated it. A newspaper photo also appeared to place Courtright in a crowd that initially clashed with police in the halls of the Capitol, the FBI said.
(Reuters) - Star stock picker Cathie Wood's ARK Invest filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday to create a bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF), the latest fund manager attempting to cash in on investors' growing interest in cryptocurrencies.

Wood, whose ARK Innovation ETF was the top-performing U.S. equity fund last year, has been a vocal proponent of bitcoin.

Her flagship ARK Innovation fund owns around $820 million worth of shares in cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global, making it the fund's 10th largest holding. Coinbase has fallen 35% since its stock market debut in April.

ARK's application to the SEC follows recent filings by Fidelity and CBOE Global Markets in March. The SEC has yet to approve a bitcoin ETF.

Bitcoin tumbled in recent days to a two-week low as China's expanding crackdown on bitcoin mining made investors more uncertain about the future of the leading cryptocurrency. Bitcoin on Monday traded at about $34,450, compared to its April peak of nearly $65,000.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
Chicago police leaders have stripped an officer of his badge and police powers two months after he fatally shot Anthony Alvarez in the citys Portage Park neighborhood.

A spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Department confirmed Monday that Officer Evan Solano had been stripped of his police powers pending an investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. Solano has been identified as the officer who shot 22-year-old Alvarez, who was carrying a gun during a foot chase.

The move was first reported by WTTW.com.

Alvarezs shooting death at the hands of Chicago police, coupled with the fatal police shooting of Adam Toledo two days prior sparked community outrage, protests and a call by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to create a police foot-chase policy. A preliminary version of the policy attempting to limit such chases has since been released by CPD.

Alvarez, a machine operator at a suburban meat factory, was shot by Solano on March 31 during an early morning foot chase in the 3500 block of North Laramie Avenue. Video footage of the incident released by authorities showed Alvarez holding a gun before he was fatally shot.

Police initially said the shooting occurred during an armed confrontation. During this pursuit, the (person) produced a handgun which led to a confrontation with police, police said in a statement released after the shooting.

The video footage showed Solano pursuing Alvarez in an alley before he turned onto a small yard. A shot was fired as Alvarez moved away from the officer, and images from a security camera showed Alvarez drop a pistol as he fell to the ground.

It wasnt immediately clear why the department waited two months before stripping Solano. The officer also has since been involved in a traffic altercation during which he produced a handgun.

The department referred questions to COPA.
By David Stanway

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - At the house where Mao Zedong and 12 others met 100 years ago to found the Chinese Communist Party, President Xi Jinping recently led his politburo in reciting an oath to uphold principles and "sacrifice everything" for the party and the people.

The obscure Shanghai courtyard of 1921 is now a lavish memorial hall, a focal point as China celebrates the centenary on Thursday of the party that controls the world's most populous nation and second-biggest economy.

The site of that first party congress now chronicles China's "humiliation" at the hands of warlords and imperialists, its "awakening" in the early 20th century and its revival after the party's 1949 victory in a civil war that sent Chiang Kai-shek's nationalists into exile in Taiwan.

The commemorations in what has become an upscale neighbourhood of boutiques and restaurants reflect something broader: a myth-making project to amplify China's message at home and abroad, aligning with Xi's call this month to tell more positive stories about China.

But even as China celebrates, it erases.

A stirring video montage highlights China's proudest achievements, including its first atomic bomb, the construction of prestige infrastructure and the recent unmanned mission to Mars.

Ignored are the major tumults of the 20th century that historians reckon killed millions: the "Great Leap Forward" famine of 1958-1960, the decade of chaos in the "Cultural Revolution" from 1966 and the crackdown that killed hundreds or even thousands of pro-democracy activists in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

"There's a lot of its history (the party) needs to forget," said Robert Bickers, a historian of the party at Britain's University of Bristol. "It has devoted a great deal of effort throughout the course of its 100 years ensuring that there is an agreed text of a history that needs to be celebrated."

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Neither the State Council Information Office nor the CCP's Party History and Literature Research Office responded to faxed requests for comment.

'HISTORICAL NIHILISM'

The party has long sought to control history. That effort has intensified under Xi, who has spearheaded a campaign against "historical nihilism", defined as any attempt to use the past to question the party's leading role or the "inevitability" of Chinese socialism.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has established a specialist history unit to propagate the official version of the past. This year Beijing set up a hotline for citizens to report historical nihilism to authorities.

Glenn Tiffert, a historian at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said this campaign reflects the party's insecurity and is rooted in Xi's fears that it could collapse like its Soviet counterpart, ousted in 1991.

"It seems to be a particular preoccupation of his from the very beginning," he said. "It is part of a more systematic, integrated approach to re-establishing the authority of the party and ensuring it does not go the way of the Soviet Communist Party."

Despite Xi's efforts to emphasise the continuity of the party's century-long efforts to rejuvenate China, the new memorial hall shows that the party has moved far from its roots.

While it describes its first decades as a triumph of Marxist ideas, there is no mention of the theoretical contortions that allowed the party to jettison the collectivism of the Maoist era and launch market reforms that transformed its economy into the world's second-largest and also one of its most unequal.

A list of party "facts and figures" published by the official Shanghai Daily this month barely mentions ideology, saying the party's mission is "to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation".

"It's not about the belief in communism anymore, it's about delivering the goods," said Tiffert. "And in order to sustain that, they want to cover up all of the missteps."

Yang Xuzhen, an 89-year-old visiting the memorial hall in a wheelchair, was happy to remember the party's achievements, saying the organisation she joined seven decades ago had rescued her from hard labour and servitude.

The Communist Party "has helped change so much in this country, especially for people in the countryside, the poor people and all of the minorities," she said.

(Reporting by David Stanway; Additional reporting by Xihao Jiang; Editing by William Mallard)
Bravo

When it comes to fashion, Leah McSweeney is never afraid to pull off some bold looks, and the same can be said about her swimwear. The Real Housewives of New York City cast member recently brought some glamour to the beach, soaking up the sun in a barely-there copper bikini. On July 2, Leah took to Instagram to show off her latest eye-catching swimsuit. The Married to the Mob entrepreneur sizzled while posing in front of a picturesque sunset view in a teeny metallic two-piece. As captured in the
Teeth marks on great white sharks are often attributed to the predators biting each other, but far more mysterious are the scratches.

Photos shared last week by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy on Facebook show sharks found off Massachusetts are literally crisscrossed with linear gashes  some fresh, others healed.

So whats leaving these scratches, given sharks dont have claws?

Its likely seals, doing their darnedest not to be eaten, the conservancy believes.

Sharks love plump, tasty seals, and unbeknownst to most people, these adorable puppy-eyed creatures have sharp claws.

Our research team will record white sharks with some gnarly scars, the conservancy wrote. This particular shark has scarring from seals. ... Scarring does not typically change the way the shark can swim, but it shows how resilient they are!

Two species of seal are common off Massachusetts: harbor seals and much larger gray seals. The latter grow to 10 feet and weigh up to 880 pounds, NOAA Fisheries reports.

Gray seals have relatively short front flippers with five prominent claws. They can curl these flippers to tear food, according to the Smithsonians National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. The claws are 1 to 2 inches long, Seaworld.org reports.

The battered shark featured in the June 23 Facebook post also showed evidence of bites from other sharks, along with odd cuts possibly caused in a boat collision, the conservancy says.

Shark researchers believe male great white sharks bite females to hold them in place during mating. Its suspected male sharks may attack other males, as a way to ward them away from a female. Cannibalism is also not outside the realm of possibility among great whites, according to National Geographic.

In 2019, the nonprofit shark research agency OCEARCH reported finding a 12-foot-9-inch great white shark with a large bite that stretched across its head, according to McClatchy News. It was a very large animal that grabbed it, something significantly bigger than 12 feet, the agency said.

Evidence of shark-on-shark bites has also been found among porbeagle sharks, according to the Sulikowski Shark and Fish Conservation Lab. Porbeagles grow to more than 6 feet in length and weigh on average 300 pounds, according to Oceana.org.
Workers search the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo - Lynne Sladky/AP

Residents in a collapsed apartment block in Florida were reassured by a town inspector the building was in "very good shape" in 2018, despite an engineer warning major repairs were needed.

At least ten people have been killed, with more than 151 still unaccounted for after the 12-storey building in Surfside, just north of Miami, partially collapsed early on Thursday.

The Champlain Towers building association was informed in 2018 by engineer Frank Morabito that there was major structural damage to the apartment complex, including serious concrete deterioration in the underground parking garage and beneath the pool deck.

Mr Morabito warned the deterioration would "expand exponentially" if repair work was not carried out in the near future.

But Ross Prieto, a Surfside inspector who had reviewed the report, met residents five weeks later and assured them the building was safe, according to minutes of the meeting obtained by NPR.

Workers search the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo - Lynne Sladky/AP

Mr Prieto is no longer employed by Surfside, according to NPR. Attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.

Mr Morabito's company, Morabito Consultants, were hired by the building's association 18 months later to prepare detailed repair plans.

Rescue teams are working 24-hour rotations to continue to search for survivors, but hopes are fading.

Search and Rescue teams look for possible survivors - Giorgio Viera/AFP

One resident, Susana Alvarez, said she attended the November 2018 meeting when residents were reassured about the building's safety.

"The town of Surfside said to us that the building was not in bad shape. That is what they said, okay," she told NPR.

"The structural engineer has been around for a while," she added.

Ms Alvarez said the building association took out $15 million to carry out the repairs on the engineer's advice, but insisted: "No one ever, ever, ever told us that that building was in such bad shape."

Around 150 people are still missing from the beachfront property - Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich/Shutterstock

Surfside's mayor, Charles Burkett, said he had seen the "disturbing" reports that town officials had reassured residents over the safety of the building. "We will get to the bottom of it," he said.

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It has emerged that home owners in the apartment block were just days away from paying for the major repairs that had been recommended three years ago.

Owners of the 136 units were facing payments of anywhere from $80,000 for a one-bedroom unit to $330,000 or so for a penthouse, to be in installments or all at once. Their first payment deadline was July 1.

One resident whose apartment was spared, Adalberto Aguero, had just taken out a loan to cover his $80,000 bill.

I figured I would pay it off after they fixed the building, he said, adding that he pulled the loan a day after the collapse.
Jun. 28It's been just over a week since 37-year-old Jaclyn Welcome was shot and killed near downtown Anchorage, but the grief is still fresh for friends and family who knew her.

"I think we all share the same wish," said her sister, Desiree Montenegro, during a memorial Sunday evening. "More time with her, more days with her, more hugs, more words."

Roughly 50 people gathered on the Delaney Park Strip to honor Welcome's life and advocate for people who are experiencing homelessness.

The man accused of killing Welcome and seriously wounding four others "complained about the homeless people who gathered there and expressed anger and frustration at them" before firing into a crowd of people near the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Gambell Street in the early hours of June 19, according to a report prosecutors filed with the charges.

Anchorage Police Chief Ken McCoy said he does not believe 21-year-old Anthony Herring  who is charged with murder and attempted murder  opened fire on the group of people because they were homeless, but because he had been involved in an altercation with them the day prior to the shooting.

Welcome's sisters said more resources need to be available for those who are struggling.

Welcome struggled with addiction and mental health issues, but began experiencing homelessness about three years ago after falling into what her family describes as a toxic and abusive relationship.

She attempted to get help. Montenegro repeatedly tried to find room for her at an inpatient mental health or substance abuse program, but she was continuously turned down and told there was no space.

Had there been more resources and if Welcome could have received the treatment and help she needed, maybe things would have been different, her family said.

Welcome was a mother to six children. Montenegro said Welcome loved her children and family deeply. She looked out for others and always tried to help, her sister Charlene Welcome said. The family had been trying to bring Jaclyn Welcome home and was hopeful because she expressed that she wanted to reconnect with family during their last conversations.

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Attitudes toward homelessness have grown more hostile and dehumanizing in recent years, said the Rev. Matt Schultz, a pastor at First Presbyterian Church who helped organize Sunday's memorial.

"What I hope for is that this will be an opportunity for people to remember that all people are worthy of human dignity and care and love," Schultz said. "Hopefully if someone is at a public meeting and they hear them referred to as 'vagrants' or 'animals' that they will speak loudly against such a statement and lift up their humanity."

The shooting has traumatized people in Anchorage who are experiencing homelessness, Schultz said.

"It's a brief impact of trauma on top of the chronic trauma that's already present," he said. "And it's yet another instance of dehumanizing influences in this town, which are not only violent acts like this, but also public rhetoric."

Assembly member Chris Constant said the municipality will continue to work on finding solutions to homelessness.

"From this loss, our steps forward will be to improve what we have," he said. "We will do better. And we will probably continue to fail, because these problems are hard. The challenges people face, the tragedies and traumas of every day on the street  it doesn't get fixed with an easy answer. If there was an easy answer, we would have already done it."
John Langley. AP Photo/Richard Drew, File

John Langley, creator of the reality TV series Cops, died on Saturday during a road race in Mexico. He was 78.

Langley was in Baja competing in the Coast to Coast Ensenada-San Felipe 250 off-road race when he died of an apparent heart attack, family spokeswoman Pam Golum told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Cops debuted in 1989 and lasted 32 seasons, pulled from the Paramount Network following the global protests against police brutality and the death of George Floyd. Langley came up with the idea for Cops along with his production partner Malcolm Barbour, and before it was picked up by Fox, they spent years trying to find a network, AP says. The series followed cops from departments across the United States, showing them arresting people, chasing suspects, and driving around in their patrol cars.

Langley, who also produced the 2009 film Brooklyn's Finest and the television shows Jail and Anatomy of a Crime, enjoyed off-road racing, and routinely participated in events. He is survived by his wife Maggie Langley; son and producing partner Morgan Langley; son Zak Langley; daughters Sara Langley Dews and Jennifer Blair; and seven grandchildren.

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Stumble Inn Bar & Grill in Londonderry, New Hampshire, is not pictured. glegorly/Getty Images

A customer at a New Hampshire bar and grill tipped $16,000 on a $37 bill, CNN reported Saturday.

Eight bartenders and four kitchen staff members who were working during the shift split the tip.

Many employees said they will spend their portion on a vacation they couldn't otherwise afford.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

An anonymous customer left a $16,000 tip for staff at Stumble Inn Bar & Grill in Londonderry, New Hampshire, on June 12, the restaurant owner told Alaa Elassar in a CNN story published Saturday.

The customer ordered two hot dogs, pickle chips, and a few drinks, and the bill was $37, according to CNN.

After the tip cleared, the restaurant posted a picture of the receipt on Facebook on June 21 with a message thanking the customer.

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"Stumble Inn had a very generous customer," the restaurant's post read. "We thank you for your generosity."

Stumble Inn bartenders pool their tips, Mike Zarella, owner of the restaurant, told CNN. This means all the bartenders split the tips at the end of their shift rather than being tipped based on who they served.

"It doesn't matter how big the tip is; they still share it with everyone working that shift," Zarella told CNN.

The eight bartenders working during the shift decided to split the $16,000 tip with four employees who were working in the kitchen, according to Zarella.

Many of the bartenders are single moms who plan to use their share of the tip to take a vacation they couldn't otherwise afford, Zarella told CNN.

Zarella told CNN that about a week after the big tip, the customer started coming into the restaurant regularly.

"I went over and sat with him, and I thanked him and told him, 'Are you sure? Because we're uncomfortable with this amount of money,'" Zarella said. "If he had made a mistake and asked for it back, we would have given it back, but he said, 'No, I want them to have that money.'"

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Michelle McCudden, a bartender at the restaurant, described the customer as "kind of a mystery man" in an interview with NBC Boston's Michael Rosenfield.

"Actually, he saw the pickle chips going by and said, 'Hey, I want some of those,'" McCudden said.

She said she wasn't expecting the big tip.

"I've been doing this a very long time and I never thought anything like this would happen to me," McCudden told NBC Boston.

McCudden added that the customer's tip made an impact after a year that's taken a toll on workers in local restaurants and bars.

"It's just been a really rough year for all of us. For someone to do something like that really restored my faith in humanity," she told NBC Boston. "He just said that we work really hard and he wanted to do something nice and he just really wanted us to have it."

Representatives for Stumble Inn Bar & Grill didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
Updated, June 29

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The highly contagious Delta COVID variant quickly spreading through the U.S. may force schools to double down on mitigation measures in order to reopen safely later this summer and into the fall, health experts say.

Its one of the most dangerous time periods [in the pandemic] for people who arent vaccinated, Taylor Nelson, a University of Missouri medical doctor specializing in infectious disease, told The 74. That includes large numbers of young people, she said.

The Delta variant now accounts for about 20 percent of all new U.S. cases, up from about 10 percent two weeks ago, and has led to surges in youth infections abroad.

In England, where the academic year runs until mid-July, a quarter of a million children missed school last week due to testing positive for the virus, self-isolation or school closures  marking the most disrupted week of learning since the country fully reopened classrooms in March.

Israel, which has led all countries in its vaccination push but has only immunized 2 to 4 percent of 12- to 15-year-olds, saw the number of COVID patients in its education system triple in the past week.

People who have received both vaccine doses have a high level of protection against the new mutation, doctors say. But because youth under 12 are not yet eligible to receive COVID shots, and with immunization rates lagging among adolescents, Joshua Petrie, professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan, worries that the rise of the Delta variant could elevate the risk for unvaccinated youth.

Kids are probably the group now that are most susceptible to infection, he told The 74.

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to expand their emergency use authorization of COVID-19 vaccines to children in the fall of 2021 or early in 2022.

Related: When Parents Disagree Over Doses for Kids: How Mothers Caretaking Instinct May Be Slowing Youth COVID Vaccination

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In a revision to masking guidelines, spread of the Delta variant spurred Los Angeles County  as well as the World Health Organization  to recommend that all people, regardless of vaccination status, wear face coverings in indoor spaces. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on the other hand, when asked about the WHOs shift in stance, provided no indication of changes to their current guidance, which says fully vaccinated people can go mask-free.

Concern stems in part from new reports out of Israel that about half of adults infected in a Delta variant outbreak were fully vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, prompting the government to reimpose sanctions to stop the viruss spread, including the return of masking requirements.

Even as fears mount, in-person classes should be a priority next year, says Robin Lake, director of the University of Washingtons Center on Reinventing Public Education. Remote learning often meant fewer hours of live instruction with teachers and spurred severe learning deficits.

We have got to get kids back in school as soon as possible, Lake wrote in an email to The 74.

To keep young people safe when the school year resumes this fall, Petrie anticipates that the now-familiar safety protocols employed throughout 2020-21 may be necessary, despite the fact that many states and districts scrapped their mask mandates in May and June.

All the tools that weve been using over the past year and a half [such as masking and ventilation] would still be available, said the infectious disease expert, while stressing that local levels of community spread would determine exactly what mitigation measures would be appropriate.

Even though were all dealing with pandemic fatigue, this is not the time to relax, Nelson added.

The Delta variant, which is 60 percent more transmissible than the U.K.-originated Alpha strain, has quickly taken hold in pockets of the U.S. where smaller shares of the population have received COVID shots. Scientists fear that a recently identified further mutation, dubbed Delta plus, could be even more infectious than the original. There is minimal evidence, however, that Delta cases are more severe than infections from other strains.

It spreads like wildfire in places where you have fewer people vaccinated, said the University of Missouri doctor.

In the southern portion of her state, where fewer shares of individuals have been immunized against COVID-19, the Delta variant is thought to be the driver behind a six-fold increase in hospitalizations at one health center. In Colorado, after an outbreak in Mesa County, health experts estimate that now more than half of all active coronavirus cases in the state are caused by the Delta variant. More than 90 percent of the individuals getting sick are not known to have received any vaccine before their hospitalization, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reports.

Alarming transmission rates have prompted the Biden administration to step up its efforts to raise COVID vaccination rates among teens, after acknowledging last week that the country would likely miss his goal of 70 percent vaccination among eligible populations by July 4.

Low immunization rates have some health experts especially concerned for students in southern states.

Theres the intersection of a lower vaccination rate in lots of parts of the South, an increasing spread of Delta in lots of parts of the South and its where kids will be back in the classroom earlier than other parts of the country, Rebecca Wurtz, professor of health policy at the University of Minnesota, told The 74. All those things combine to make it a higher risk for kids.

But regardless of local context, Nelsons message to parents is that the best way to protect their kids  at least those who are eligible for shots  is to get the vaccine.

Unfortunately, I dont know that were at the end of this [pandemic], so the more immunity you give your kid the better, she advised.

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Hong Kongs Financial Secretary spoke emphatically of the need for digital transformation and confirmed that the region will conduct technical tests using the digital renminbi central bank digital currency (CBDC) in 2022.

Hong Kongs Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, in a directors essay published on the departments website on June 27, said that the organization would begin technical tests for the digital renminbi. Led by the idea of keeping abreast of the times, Mo-po began his essay by saying that he was aware of how the Chinese public were enthusiastically using consumer vouchers and discounts from e-wallets. This motivated him to think about the effects of the digital renminbi, which he feels will feed into the publics aforementioned interest in digital systems.

Mo-po then addresses the consumer voucher plan and the concerns that may arise from its use. After praising the use of the e-wallet system and the cashless experience, Mo-po says that he is determined to promote digital transformation. He segues into the central bank digital currency, with the transformation including research and development with respect to the digital renminbi.

The news is unsurprising, given Chinas strong determination to digitize its financial systems and the general economy. The digital renminbi has already been piloted in several provinces, to a great degree of success by both public and governmental measures.

Hong Kongs financial authorities will use the CBDC for cross-border apartments, as well as wholesale and retail use in the coming year, according to Mo-po. He also refers to the application of a Hong Kong dollar digital currency, a digitized version of the nations own currency. The region will work with the countrys central bank to conduct tests for cross-border payments between Mainland China and Hong Kong.

Chinas digital renminbi to follow?

The Financial Secretary speaks of trials in 2022, which could be the year when China officially launches the CBDC. Currently, it is only undergoing several pilots at different levels of the economy, which are progressing smoothly.

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The bevy of trials that have been conducted and appraisals from authorities indicate a launch could come in the following year. No concrete date has been offered, but events such as Hong Kongs Financial Secretary speaking positively of it only suggest a time sooner rather than later.

China is among the nations leading the development of a CBDC, while others are only just beginning their research and development. For the longest time, many governments were hesitant about working on a CBDC, given the novelty of the idea and the safe application of such a broad change to the economy.

However, the rise of Chinas CBDC seems to have spurred other countries into working on it. Now, Canada, France, Japan, the European Central Bank, and others are all heavily investing in the effort. 2022 should see trials from all of these entities, and mark a significant transition towards a digital economy.
Video taken by a TikTok user shows gorillas at Disney World's Animal Kingdom playing with a snake. @silkystrokesurvivor/TikTok

New video shows gorillas at Disney World's Animal Kingdom spotting a snake in their enclosure.

The TikToker who filmed the clip shared it on Thursday; it's been viewed more than 11 million times.

An employee is heard in the video saying that gorillas are "very curious" about their habitats.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

A Disney World visitor captured the moment a group of gorillas came across an unexpected guest in their enclosure last week.

On Thursday, TikTok user @silkystrokesurvivor shared a clip of a gorilla at Animal Kingdom looking to its side before standing up to inspect a patch of grass. Another gorilla soon follows the first one and swats its hand at the ground. Someone behind the camera is then heard saying: "Oh, there's a snake!"

Video: How to make Disney's cookie fries at home

You can then see the gorilla swatting at the reptile again before it slithers under the grass. Eventually, five gorillas, including the group's silverback, are seen surrounding the area, keeping watch, and trying to find the snake.

The video has become extremely popular on TikTok, where it has more than 11 million views at the time of writing.

It seems that the gorillas were in no danger when the snake entered their enclosure.

In the background of the video, a Disney World employee can be heard saying that the elder gorilla had joined the commotion to see "what's going on" and ensure that his family "is not in any danger." The employee also added that "like humans," gorillas are "very curious" about what occurs in their habitats.

That curiosity is seen in a second video posted by the TikTok user, which shows some of the gorillas sitting in the grass, leaning toward the snake, and seemingly sniffing it.

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TikTok user @silkystrokesurvivor did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

It's currently unclear what kind of snake was in the exhibit, and how it got there. It's also unclear if Disney has any protocol for incidents like the one recently shared on TikTok.

Representatives for Disney World declined to comment.

Read the original article on Insider
Included in President Joe Bidens strategy for tackling the surge in gun violence sweeping through Chicago and other major American cities is a proven remedy. As Biden told the nation Wednesday, community violence intervention programs have led to a drop in violence of up to 60% in some communities. To hammer home his point, he cited the work of street outreach workers such as Chicagos Eddie Bocanegra and DeVone Boggan of Richmond, California.

Eddie was formerly incarcerated for gun homicide, and DeVone lost his brother to gun violence, said Biden, who added he had talked with both men about their work. And Eddie worked as a violence interrupter. Now he runs a program that provides high-risk men with cognitive behavioral therapy to help them react to the impulses by slowing down rather than following through on the violence. (He) puts them in paid jobs to change their trajectory. The program has reduced shootings by 40%.

Boggan, Biden added, runs a program in California and six other states that enrolls men in peace fellowships that provide intensive mentoring and other social services. In Sacramento, the program resulted in 91% of participants staying away from gun violence, the president said.

Were familiar with Bocanegra and the impact hes had on Chicago streets. A year ago, we spoke with him and other street outreach leaders whose engagement with young men in crime-wracked neighborhoods has led to drops in violence from those who can access his program. The participants in READI Chicago, the outreach program Bocanegra runs, each cost $20,000 annually  less than the $38,000 it costs to keep an inmate in an Illinois prison. Its not a cheap program, he told us. But when you compare it to prison? What we pay as taxpayers  for police, for the cost of detention? Were not educating the public about that comparison.

Street outreach isnt the only fix for gun violence, but its a big part of it. Were pleased Biden has recognized that, and pleased that his strategy to combat gun crime includes ensuring that the American Rescue Plans $350 billion in state and local funding can be used to pay for community violence intervention programs such as the ones Bocanegra and Boggan lead. Until now theyve been underfunded.

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These are programs that target individuals who are most likely to be involved in gun violence, either as perpetrators or as victims  to de-escalate tensions, to prevent retaliation, and to save lives, a senior administration official said in a briefing earlier this week. They have a significant wraparound services component  helping people with job placement, with health care, cognitive behavioral therapy, education and a number of other services to help folks get their lives on a different track and to prevent violence.

Bocanegra and other street outreach leaders told us last year why their approach is so effective. As we wrote: Theyve had success because theyve been there. Theyve experienced the destitution that permeates the South and West sides, they know gang culture because they once belonged to it, and at various times in their lives, theyve meted out violence too. They connect with young people at risk because they understand the why and how of violent behavior, and can offer a way out  a job that leads to career, mentoring and counseling, a reservoir of trust these young men couldnt find anywhere else.

Other elements of Bidens gun violence strategy: The Justice Department will launch strike forces to help shut down trafficking corridors that feed illegal guns into Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. That should come as welcome news to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who has repeatedly complained about the ceaseless flow of illegal guns into Chicago from Indiana. The federal government will also apply a zero tolerance approach to rogue gun dealers who willfully violate the law, and help people coming out of prison to successfully transition from jail to jobs.

Will Bidens strategy work? No single plan, no matter how comprehensive, can erase from the streets of Chicago and other major cities the scourge of violence that every day claims so many lives  from toddlers playing on a porch to seniors heading to the corner store. One aspect of the problem that Bidens plan did not address: the lack of trust that people in neighborhoods overrun with violence have in police. That wont change until Chicago and other American cities genuinely embrace and implement police reform. Two years into the job, Lightfoot has lagged in ensuring compliance with the consent decree, the binding agreement between Chicago and the federal government that mandates an overhaul of police officer supervision, training and accountability.

But as the city heads into a summer likely to bring more deadly gang retaliation, more innocent children gunned down for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, street outreach programs such as Bocanegras should play a key role in the citys own plan to make streets safer.

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Two men died in separate shootings Sunday in Lexington County, and a search for the killers is underway.

The most recent shooting happened early in the evening.

At about 5:25 p.m., officers responded to a shots fired call in the 100 block of Freedom Drive, according to the Lexington Police Department. Thats between U.S. 1/Augusta Road and Interstate 20, near Exit 58.

When they arrived, police said they found a man who had been fatally shot.

The Lexington County Coroners Office is expected to publicly identify the shooting victim after notifying his family.

No other injuries were reported.

There is no word on a shooter, or shooters, or a motive for the gunfire.

Police Chief Terrence Green said there is no danger to the community. But no arrests have been reported by police, who continue to investigate the shooting, along with the coroners office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call police at 803-358-1514, or CrimeStoppers at 888-CRIME-SC or submit an online tip.

About 8 hours earlier, in an unrelated shooting, 51-year-old James R. Metze died after he was shot in the upper body.

Metzes body was discovered at a home in the 800 block of Meadowfield Road, the Lexington County Sheriffs Department said. Thats in the Gaston area, near U.S. 321/Main Street.

Metze and his killer likely knew each other, according to the sheriffs department.

We have no reason to believe this was a random act, Sheriff Jay Koon said in a news release. Based on the information weve gathered at the scene, the victim likely had some sort of association with the shooter. They knew each other on some level or had some type of connection.

Similar to the Freedom Drive shooting, the sheriffs department said it doesnt believe the gunman in the morning incident is a threat to the community.

This is a developing story, check back for updates.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission plans to update its rules on worker safety to reflect the shift millions employees made to working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic and to reflect the anticipated digital and green recovery.

During the pandemic, nearly 40% of workers began to work remotely full time, reducing social contact and increasing their use of IT equipment as meetings and gatherings went online.

"For many, the concept of a traditional workplace is disappearing fast. While that brings opportunities, it also brings challenges and risks  health, psychological and social," Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis told a news conference on Monday.

The Commission said it will review EU rules on workplace safety, from emergency exits to ventilation and use of workstations and screens, and will update limits on exposure to insulator asbestos and for lead and cobalt used in renewable energy technology and battery production.

In guidelines to protect almost 170 million EU workers over the 2021-2027 period, it will also seek to produce recommendations on mental health at work before the end of 2022.

Even before COVID-19 struck, mental health problems affected about 84 million people in the EU, with stress contributing to around half of all lost working days, the Commission said.

Work-related accidents and illnesses cost the EU economy over 3.3% of gross domestic product per year, the Commission said. It said estimates showed that for every euro invested in occupational health and safety, the return for the employer is around twice as much as employees take less sick leave.

The Commission said it also wanted trade unions and employers' organisations to negotiate an agreement on asbestos and chemical agents that can cause cancer and respiratory problems. If they did not signal a wish to do so, the EU executive would put forward a proposal in 2022.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; editing by Barbara Lewis)
A pharmacist at the Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, filling a syringe with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. Joseph Prezioso/Getty Images

Experts who got Johnson & Johnson's one-dose vaccine are topping up with a Pfizer or Moderna dose.

They did it for extra protection against the fast-spreading Delta coronavirus variant, they said.

The FDA and CDC don't recommend getting an extra shot, after a J&J vaccine or otherwise.

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Some experts who got Johnson & Johnson's one-dose vaccine are trying an extra shot of Moderna's or Pfizer's vaccine to try to protect against the fast-spreading Delta coronavirus variant.

Officials have not recommended getting a booster shot after J&J's vaccine or any other vaccine, and two experts said everyone should wait for more data.

Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan, tweeted on Tuesday that she got the Pfizer vaccine to "top off" the J&J vaccine she received in April.

Rasmussen said that the rise of the Delta variant in the UK - where more than 95% of new infections are caused by Delta - showed the "crucial importance" of getting as many people vaccinated as possible.

Rasmussen said that we don't know whether an extra vaccine dose after a J&J shot boosts protection against variants, and neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has made any recommendations. But it was likely to work, she said, given that boosters work for nearly every other vaccine in use.

"We shouldn't wait to make recommendations about this," she said.

Rasmussen encouraged people who'd had J&J's shot, especially those living in communities with low vaccination rates, to speak with healthcare providers about getting an extra dose.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, said on Wednesday that the Delta variant accounted for more than 20% of new infections in the US and was the "greatest threat" to the nation's efforts to eradicate COVID-19.

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There's no data on how well J&J's vaccine works against the Delta variant. More than 9 million Americans have been given the single-dose vaccine, the CDC said.

Read more: Experts explain why the mRNA tech that revolutionized COVID-19 vaccines could be the answer to incurable diseases, heart attacks, and even snake bites: 'The possibilities are endless'

Jason Gallagher, a clinical professor in infectious diseases at Temple University's School of Pharmacy, told Reuters on Monday that he got J&J's vaccine in a trial in November, and recently had a dose of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine.

Gallagher said he was concerned about data that suggested that a single shot of either Pfizer's or AstraZeneca's vaccine was only 33% effective against symptomatic COVID-19 caused by the Delta variant. "So I took the plunge," he said.

Professor Peter Hotez, the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, tweeted on Thursday that adding a second J&J dose, or an extra shot of Pfizer's or Moderna's vaccine, could provide broader protection against variants, "but we need data and CDC-FDA guidance."

Dr. John Beigel, an associate director for clinical research at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, told Reuters on Monday that J&J recipients should wait for more data.

Read the original article on Business Insider
JERUSALEM (AP)  Thousands of Palestinians have taken to the streets in recent days to protest against President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, whose security forces and supporters have violently dispersed them.

The demonstrations were sparked by the death of an outspoken critic of the PA in security forces' custody last week, but the grievances run much deeper. Abbas' popularity plunged after he called off the first elections in 15 years in April and was sidelined by the Gaza war in May. The PA has long been seen as rife with corruption and intolerant of dissent.

The Palestinian Authority is one of the last manifestations of the peace process, which has been dormant for more than a decade, and is seen by Israel, the United States and the European Union as a key partner in promoting stability.

Here's a look at the PA and the protests against it.

___

A STATE IN WAITING

The PA was established in the 1990s through interim peace agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, which still represents the cause internationally. It was seen as a state-in-waiting and was granted limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Israel and the PLO held several rounds of peace talks throughout the 1990s and 2000s. The Palestinians, negotiating from a position of weakness, sought an independent state in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, territories Israel seized in the 1967 war. They were never able to reach an agreement, and there have been no substantive talks since 2009.

The Islamic militant group Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007, a year after winning an landslide victory in Palestinian elections. That confined Abbas' authority to parts of the West Bank. Several attempts at Palestinian reconciliation over the years have failed.

While the PA has ministries, security forces and the trappings of a state, its authority is limited to major population centers that amount to around 40% of the West Bank. Israel has overarching authority and controls access to the PA-run territories, which Palestinians routinely compare to the Black-ruled Bantustans established by apartheid South Africa.

Story continues

___

GROWING AUTHORITARIANISM

The increasingly authoritarian PA is dominated by Abbas' secular Fatah party, which is led by a small circle of men in their 60s and 70s. The 85-year-old Abbas, whose four-year presidential term expired in 2009, leads the PA, the PLO and Fatah.

The PA leadership, which enjoys special privileges for cooperating with Israel, is widely seen by the Palestinians as corrupt and self-serving. Its policy of coordinating security with Israel to go after Hamas and other mutual foes is extremely unpopular. Protesters at the Al-Aqsa mosque on Friday accused the PA of being collaborators, a charge that amounts to treason.

Last week, security forces raided a home in the occupied West Bank to arrest Nizar Banat, who had repeatedly criticized the PA in online posts. His family says they beat him with batons before dragging him away. The PA says it has launched an investigation into his death, which ignited the latest protests.

Banat was a candidate in the parliamentary elections that Abbas called off in April when it looked like his fractured Fatah would suffer an embarrassing defeat to Hamas. During the Gaza war that erupted shortly thereafter, Hamas was widely seen as fighting for Palestinian rights and defending Jerusalem while the PA did nothing.

A poll taken after the war found a dramatic rise in support for Hamas, with more than half of respondents saying it should lead the Palestinian movement.

___

STAYING POWER

Despite his unpopularity, Abbas can count on the support of powerful friends, with Israel, the U.S. and Western donors deeply invested in the PA's survival. The PA also pays the salaries of tens of thousands of Palestinian civil servants who would otherwise struggle to find work.

By administering major population centers, the PA reduces the financial and security burden of Israel's 54-year military occupation of the West Bank. It also helps preserve the idea of an eventual two-state solution, even as Israel expands Jewish settlements and consolidates its control over the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

The EU has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the PA over the years, and the U.S. and other nations have trained and equipped its security forces. The Biden administration has said it hopes to strengthen the PA and work with it to rebuild Gaza  where it has no power.

Israel, the U.S. and the EU all prefer the unelected PA to Hamas  which they consider a terrorist group  or to the chaos that could ensue from the PA's collapse. They are committed to working with the PA to manage the conflict and reduce tensions until some future time when the peace process can be revived.

But after weeks of unrest in Jerusalem, a war in Gaza and now street violence in the West Bank, that approach seems increasingly fraught.
(Reuters) - Drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Monday it was on schedule to meet its commitments for supplying coronavirus vaccines in Southeast Asia after some initial delays in regional production and delivery.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

* Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news

EUROPE

* Britain is looking on course to be able to ease COVID-19 restrictions on July 19, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, according to The Sun newspaper.

* Passengers arriving in Portugal from Britain must quarantine for 14 days from Monday if they are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the Portuguese government said.

* Spain will demand a negative COVID-19 test or proof of vaccination from British tourists who want to enter Mallorca, Ibiza and other Balearic Islands, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said.

* Greece will offer young people a cash reward for receiving their first shot against COVID-19 as part of a government drive to boost vaccination rates ahead of the summer holiday season.

* German states will discuss with Angela Merkel's chancellery testing and quarantine restrictions for returning travellers amid concern over the spread of the more contagious Delta variant of coronavirus, daily Bild reported.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Hong Kong will ban all passenger flights from the United Kingdom from Thursday to curb the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19, the government said.

* Australia decided to make vaccinations mandatory for high-risk aged-care workers and employees in quarantine hotels after a surge in COVID-19 cases nationwide.

* Indonesia's health minister is leading a push for stricter controls as coronavirus infections surge to unprecedented levels, according to sources familiar with government discussions.

* Indonesia's food and drug agency has recommended the vaccine made by China's Sinovac Biotech for children aged 12-17, the country's COVID-19 task force said, as it seeks to extend inoculations amid a surge in infections. President Joko Widodo said vaccination for children could start soon.

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* New Zealand is considering making masks compulsory at high alert levels as well as compulsory scanning of QR codes to boost contact tracing in efforts to reduce the risk of coronavirus spreading, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.

AMERICAS

* The U.S. drug regulator added a warning to the literature that accompanies Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine shots to indicate the rare risk of heart inflammation after its use.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* South Africa will tighten COVID-19 restrictions for 14 days as current containment measures are insufficient to cope with the speed and scale of new infections, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* A third shot of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine produces a strong immune response, researchers said, adding there was not yet evidence that such shots were needed, especially given shortages in some countries.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Global shares began the week with a cautious start as Asian and European markets fell after a rise in coronavirus cases across Asia over the weekend hurt investor sentiment while oil hovered around 2-1/2 year highs. [nL2N2OA0QH][MKTS/GLOB]

* India has extended a federal guarantee on bank loans to health and tourism services while waiving visa fees for 500,000 foreign tourists, the finance minister said.

* Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced a 150 billion ringgit ($36.22 billion) aid package, including cash aid and wage subsidies, a day after extending a nationwide lockdown indefinitely.

* Thailand's government has prepared about 7.5 billion baht ($235 million) to help ease the impact of restrictions imposed to curb a recent rise in infections.

(Compiled by Jagoda Darlak; Edited by Angus MacSwan)
The family of a 92-year-old woman missing after a partial condo collapse in Florida received a message of hope among the debris: photos of her and a birthday card.

North Bay Village Police Chief Carlos Noriega arrived with first responders at the scene of the Champlain Tower South in Surfside to find his mother's apartment gone, Local 10 reported.

Amid the heartbreak and grief, Carlos looked down and realized he was stepping on an envelope. Inside was a birthday card with butterflies on it addressed to his mother, Hilda Noriega, who turned 92 a few weeks prior.

The card was from her prayer group, Sally Noriega, Hilda Noriegas daughter-in-law, told Local 10.

After the find, Michael Noriega, Carlos' son, told WVSN his mother found two photos: one of his grandparents and his father as a child, and a second photo of his grandparents.

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All this, its just a beautiful message in the mess of everything. Its very comforting to see this because really, what are the chances? he said.

Hilda and her husband, Joseph Noriega, purchased Unit 602, a two-bedroom apartment, in June 2000, Local 10 reported. Joseph died in 2016 and the unit was up for sale at the time of the collapse.

Its really hard to think that my grandmother is underneath all of that rubble and we dont know if she is alive or not, Michael Noriega said. When I arrived, I just fell on my knees.

Follow reporter Asha Gilbert @Coastalasha. Email: agilbert@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Florida family finds photos of missing woman in condo collapse debris
It is the fifth day, and rescuers have heard no human sounds from within the massive, smoking pile of twisted metal and concrete.

Miami-area firefighters, their faces tight with exhaustion, tunnel piece by jagged piece into the debris, searching for any sign of the more than 150 people still unaccounted for after the 12-story beachside apartment building collapsed in the middle of a sweltering Florida summer night, its residents asleep inside.

For the families of the missing, the progress is agonizingly slow, and their anger, frustration and grief is palpable.

Rescuers say they understand the desperation.

"I know the families ask why we are not going faster," says Maggie Castro, a paramedic with the Miami-Dade county fire department.

In a strange way it is hope itself, even now, that is slowing them down, she explains.

"We have the potential for having void spaces, these pockets that can potentially be in the rubble where we can find live victims," she tells AFP.

"If we just jump on these piles and attack, we will collapse these spaces.

"It seems slow but it's as fast as we can go."

The difficult task -- complicated by torrid heat and humidity, regular thunderstorms, and, in the first days, a fire deep within the debris that took a long time to bring under control -- must be carried out in a "methodical and strategical way."

"Heavy machinery cut large pieces and remove the ones that are safe to be removed. When we come to an area where there would potentially be a void space, we work by hand, remove debris bucket by bucket until we get to the area we want to," Castro, a 52-year-old rescue specialist who has been with the department for 17 years, says.

With listening devices and sniffer dogs they strain for any sound that could lead them to life.

"We hear falling debris, twisting metal," Castro says. "We have not heard human sounds."

- 'We haven't found anyone' -

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Nine people have been confirmed dead so far since Champlain Towers South, in Surfside, near Miami Beach, partially collapsed in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The first rescuers to arrive in the moments after the tower came down helped evacuate dozens of residents, and pulled one teenage boy alive from the rubble.

As the death toll inches upwards, Castro explains that many of the residents were likely in bed at the time, meaning there was little chance of finding many of them in one place.

"We don't know what happened to them when the collapse happened. Nothing falls and stays in place, they go in every direction," she says.

Moises Soffer, a volunteer with the Latin American Jewish organization Cadena International, is helping with the search with his dog Oreo, a pomsky who at just under two years old is specially trained to find survivors.

"She can go wherever she wants, into craves, voids where people normally don't go, because of her weight she can go where there is instability," says Soffer, 36, from Mexico.

When it is too dangerous or the rubble is too unstable, he says, "we do tracking, she gives me a sense of direction with the leash."

Oreo can work for five to six hours at a time, with 20-minute breaks. But in Surfside she goes out early in the morning and late in the day because of the heat and humidity.

Soffer is not allowed to say whether his dog has detected any survivors, but says he and his dog will be there "until we are done."

As Castro admits, it is not only the families who are feeling increasingly desperate with each passing day.

"It's difficult," she says.

"We get tired, and it can be emotionally taxing when we've been searching hours and hours and we haven't found anyone."

cyj/st/ft
A federal judge has dismissed an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook seeking to get it to break up its ownership of Instagram and WhatsApp, a potential setback for regulators.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled Monday that the lawsuits filed by the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of state attorneys general were legally insufficient and doesn't provide enough proof that Facebook is running a monopoly.

"Although the Court does not agree with all of Facebooks contentions here, it ultimately concurs that the agencys Complaint is legally insufficient and must therefore be dismissed," Boasberg wrote in his opinion.

A Facebook spokesperson said in an emailed statement Monday that the company was pleased with the judge's rendering.

"We are pleased that todays decisions recognize the defects in the government complaints filed against Facebook," the company said. "We compete fairly every day to earn peoples time and attention and will continue to deliver great products for the people and businesses that use our services."

The good news for the world's largest social media network with nearly 3 billion users worldwide also came on the same day the tech giant's market value hit the $1 trillion mark for the first time ever. Facebook shares were up 4% when the markets closed Monday.

Meanwhile, an FTC spokesperson said late Monday that the agency "is closely reviewing the opinion and assessing the best option forward.

In December, the U.S. government and 48 states and districts sued Facebook, accusing the company of abusing its market power and having a monopoly, which includes buying photo-sharing app Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. The plaintiffs sought to get Facebook to sell off the popular apps.

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Congress' battle with big tech: Big Tech breakup on the way? 5 changes Congress wants to see among tech giants

Story continues

But Boasberg thought otherwise, stating in his opinion that the parties didn't provide enough facts and that too much time had passed since Facebook bought the apps.

"These allegations  which do not even provide an estimated actual figure or range for Facebooks market share at any point over the past ten years  ultimately fall short of plausibly establishing that Facebook holds market power," Boasberg said.

Boasberg said the FTC has 30 days to refile its suit.

An implication of the judge's decision may intensify demands for legislative reform and renew the debate in the House and the Senate for change, said William Kovacic, a former FTC chairman.

"To those who want far tougher oversight of 'Big Tech,' today's decision shows that antitrust legislation is a quagmire," said Kovacic, who's currently a law professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. "Agencies go into court with big cases, and they spin their wheels and get nowhere."

Kovacic said the judge's decision also increases the likelihood that Congress will take some action.

"Exactly how much? That's hard to tell," Kovacic said. "For Facebook, it is a good day in the realm of litigation. As for legislation, not so much."

Meanwhile, Sen. Josh Hawley (R) of Missouri, a major critic of big tech, tweeted his response Monday, saying that the court recognized Facebook's "massive market power but essentially shrugged its shoulders. Bad result for the American people."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Facebook hits $1 trillion value; judge dismisses FTC's antitrust suit
A former Florida police officer could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Federal jurors convicted Andrew Christian Hammock for attempting to entice a 14-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity, according to the Department of Justice.

Court documents said on Feb. 14, 2020, Hammock conversed with an undercover FBI posing as a teen girl.

The agent said he responded to Hammocks online ad that read, Feel like peeking and being peeked at by a younger girl.

Hammock and the agent exchanged messages for more than a month via a social media app.

They sent more than 4,000 messages between Feb. 14 and March 15.

In one of those messages on Feb. 16, Hammock sent the child a photo of the waist area showing someone wearing tactical clothing and appeared to have been seated in a police vehicle, the DOJ reported.

He also provided graphic depictions of sexually explicit images he wanted the child to mimic and send to him.

Hammock also detailed the types of sexual acts he wanted to engage in with the child.

Officials arrested Hammock on March 17, 2020, at his job, which was at the Margate Police Department.

Hes facing a minimum of 10 years to life in federal prison.

He could also receive a potential life term of supervised release if hes freed from prison.
President Emmanuel Macron visited northern France on Monday to applaud plans for a Chinese-owned battery factory that will supply the automaker Renault as Europe steps up its shift toward electric vehicles.

The two-billion-euro ($2.4 billion) project by China's Envision is being saluted as an example of Macron's efforts to encourage foreign firms to "Choose France" for investment, in particular in cutting-edge technologies.

"With this project, we're going to invest more than 200 million euros alongside the companies, investors and local governments," Macron told executives and local officials at the site.

"It's this united France, that knows how to work together... that will allow us to advance and win back our industry, win back our strength, and be both productive and fair," he said.

It will be the second so-called battery "gigafactory" in France, after the plant planned by rival automaker Stellantis and energy giant TotalEnergies.

Around 1,000 jobs will be created over the next three years by a project that aims to revive three Renault factories that have struggled for years.

The company hopes to build 500,000 vehicles annually at the sites by 2025.

"We see this as a win-win relationship between Renault, Envision and the French government," Envision's chief Lei Zhang told AFP on Sunday.

"This wouldn't have been possible two years ago. It's the right time now thanks to the French recovery plan," he said.

Europe has been ramping up efforts to build gigafactories, with a report by Transport & Environment, a nongovernment organisation, showing there are some 40 projects so far.

Later Monday, Macron, a former investment banker, will host his annual gathering of foreign executives at the Palace of Versailles, where 3.5 billion euros ($4.2 billion) of projects are to be unveiled.

He will then attend Tuesday the inauguration of the Paris headquarters for the US bank JP Morgan, which will house its European market operations post-Brexit.

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"France is organising and hosting the first major international business summit in 18 months," Trade Minister Franck Riester told AFP.

"It's a sign of confidence from the participants in our country's future," he said.

leg-pab/js/jh/rl
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that all political parties must learn lessons from a low turnout in the country's regional elections on Sunday.

Pollsters estimated a turnout of just 35% for the polls, in which both Macron's party and the far-right led by Marine Le Pen failed to win a single region.

Conservative Xavier Bertrand however cemented his status as the centre-right's best chance of challenging Macron and Le Pen in next year's presidential election after beating the far-right in the north by more than 25 percentage points.

"The abstention rate says a lot of things. We must all draw the consequences from it," Macron told Bertrand, who is president of the Hauts de France region, as he congratulated him for his victory in the elections.

Macron spoke to Bertrand during a visit of the site of a new electric car battery plant in Douai, northern France.

A government source said that while a reshuffle was not on the cards following a humiliating election night for Macron, a few adjustments were possible.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Catherine Evans)
(Reuters) - Germany will attempt to ban British travellers from the European Union regardless of whether or not they have had a vaccine, The Times reported https://bit.ly/35Tg3YZ on Monday.

The German chancellor wants to designate Britain as a "country of concern" because the Delta variant of the coronavirus is so widespread, the newspaper said.

(Reporting by Sabahatjahan Contractor in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz will travel to Washington later this week to meet senior members of the U.S. administration and discuss international efforts to introduce a global corporate minimum tax, a spokesman said on Monday.

Germany and the United States are trying to forge a broad coalition among the Group of 20 major economies (G20) to revamp international tax rules, including a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15% with as few exemptions as possible.

The Group of Seven (G7) wealthy, industrialised states agreed on June 5 to support a minimum corporate tax rate of at least 15% and how to share rights to tax the biggest companies operating across borders in their countries.

To make the plan work worldwide, the backing of G20 finance ministers during a meeting in Venice on July 9-10 is seen as crucial, and officials are now limbering up for a clash over exemptions and other carve-outs for specific industries and special economic zones, with China at the centre.

During his four-day visit in Washington from Wednesday until Saturday, Scholz is expected to meet U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other senior members U.S. President Joe Biden's administration.

Yellen has said she won't agree to any type of special treatment for China or other countries that would weaken a global minimum tax regime. Her talks with Scholz are likely to focus on where both countries see red lines and where they are willing to compromise to facilitate a G20 breakthrough.

(Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
New York state Sen. Phil Boyle on Monday called for more information pertaining to the investigation into the infamous Gilgo Beach murders more than 10 years later and asked the attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor to review the early stages of the case.

The Long Island Republican senator is urging New York State Attorney General Letitia James to designate a special prosecutor to "review the initial states of the Gilgo Beach/Long Island Serial Killer (LISK) investigation" and probe the actions of two former Suffolk County officials and one who still holds an office. He said Monday the community needs "an outside review of how we got here."

"There are far too many conflicts and questions that are still in place 10 years later," Boyle said. "And people want to know  the residents of Suffolk County, the residents of New York and the resident of the United States  they need to know that everything that could be done was done to try to get justice for these victims and their families and to ensure the people of Suffolk County that their police department, at the time, did everything that they could to solve this case."

LONG ISLAND'S GILGO BEACH SERIAL KILLER CASE REMAINS UNSOLVED 10 YEARS LATER

The investigation into the discovery of 11 sets of human remains strewn along a suburban New York beach highway has been ongoing since 2011.

The remains have been identified as belonging to nine women, a man and a toddler. Some were later linked to dismembered body parts found elsewhere on Long Island, making for a puzzling crime scene that stretched from a park near the New York City limits to a resort community on Fire Island and out to far eastern Long Island.

Investigators have been unable to determine who killed them or whether a lone serial killer or several suspects were involved. Over the years, theyve said it is unlikely one person killed all the victims.

On Monday, Boyle accused a former Suffolk County police chief, James Burke, of being "a prime suspect" in the murders.

Story continues

He also demanded to know why current Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone did not remove Burke from his position as top cop after he turned down the FBIs help with the investigation, and demanded that current police officials reveal whether Burke "was ever questioned and cleared as a potential suspect," according to a press release.

Boyle said he has sent letters to current Suffolk County Police Commissioner Stuart Cameron, Bellone and James.

In an emailed statement provided to Fox News, a Suffolk County Police Department spokesperson said the Gilgo Beach murder investigation "continues to be a top priority."

"The department has detectives who are solely dedicated to this investigation and our department is working closely with both the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office and with the FBI," the spokesperson said. "The Suffolk County Police Department does not comment on suspects in any criminal investigation."

DETECTIVES IN GILGO BEACH SERIAL KILLER COLD CASE ORDERED TO RELEASE ESCORT'S 911 CALL BEFORE DISAPPEARANCE

Spokespersons for the district attorneys and attorney generals offices did not respond to Fox News requests seeking comment. Bellones office referred Fox News to the police department statement. Burke could not immediately be reached for comment as no phone working number was listed.

Burke pleaded guilty in 2016 to unrelated charges and was convicted of punching a handcuffed man suspected of stealing sex toys and pornography from the chiefs department SUV. He was sentenced to 46 months in prison and was released to home confinement after serving most of his sentence.

As for the murder investigation, police in January 2020 revealed a previously unreleased photograph of initials on a black leather belt  either an HM or WH, depending on the angle  that they say was handled by an unknown suspect. But Boyle said even that evidence took too long.

"They waited ten years to show us part of a belt," Boyle said during the press conference. "Were not going to wait another ten years to see the buckle that goes with the belt."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Months earlier, state officials gave investigators the green light to ask the FBI to deploy genetic genealogy, a technique in which genetic profiles are run though databases to find potential relatives of a homicide victim or suspect.

Fox News' Marta Dhanis contributed to this report, as well as The Associated Press.
By Fanny Potkin and Panu Wongcha-um

SINGAPORE/BANGKOK (Reuters) -Google took down two Google Maps documents on Monday that had listed the names and addresses of hundreds of Thai activists who were accused by royalists of opposing the monarchy, the technology company said.

Thai royalist activist Songklod "Pukem" Chuenchoopol told Reuters he and a team of 80 volunteers had created the maps and planned to report everyone named on them to police on accusations of insulting the monarchy.

A spokesperson for Alphabet's Google said by email "the issue is now fixed", and noted: "We have clear policies about what's acceptable for user generated My Maps content. We remove user generated maps that violate our policies."

A version of one of the maps seen by Reuters included the names and addresses of nearly 500 people, many of them students, together with their photos in university or high school uniforms. It had received over 350,000 views.

The faces of those named had been covered by black squares with the number 112, in reference to the article under the country's criminal code which makes insulting or defaming the monarchy punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Neither map could be accessed when Reuters tried to open them late on Monday.

Songklod said that he and the team of volunteers sought to highlight those they accused of breaking that law.

"When each of us sees something offensive posted on social media, we put it on the map," he said. Describing it as a "psychological" warfare operation, Songklod said the aim was to dissuade people from online criticism of the monarchy.

Youth-led protests that began last year brought unprecedented criticism of the monarchy and calls for its reform both on the streets and online.

The government did not immediately respond to comment on the removal of the Google Maps or the content they contained.

Songklod, 54, a retired army captain and prominent right-wing activist, said he considered the operation targeting opponents of the monarchy a "massive success" despite the removal of the maps.

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The royalist activist said the content in them had come from public research.

Human rights groups and critics of the establishment said the maps included the private data and addresses of hundreds of people and could put them at risk of violence.

"I started to get panicked messages from young people in Thailand who had been doxxed in a royalist document on Google Maps accusing them of being anti-monarchy," said Andrew MacGregor Marshall, a Scotland-based critic of the monarchy and one of the earliest to highlight the existence of the maps.

"Its clear that young Thai people who just want democracy are facing worsening risks."

(Reporting by Fanny Potkin in Singapore and Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok, additional reporting by Jessie Pang; Editing by Matthew Tostevin and Alison Williams)
Gwendolyn Berry celebrates finishing third in the Women's Hammer Throw final (Getty Images)

Gwen Berry has defended herself against criticism from conservatives, including members of Congress, after she turned away on the podium during the national anthem.

The US hammer thrower prompted controversy after she turned away from the US flag as the national anthem played at the Olympic Trials on Saturday.

The star took to Twitter to defend her decision, saying that comments from people criticising her actions really show that people in American rally patriotism over basic morality.

Even after the murder of George Floyd and so many others; the commercials, statements, and phony sentiments regarding black lives were just a hoax, she said.

During the ceremony, winner DeAnna Price and runner-up Brooke Andersen faced the flags in the Oregon stadium and placed a hand on their hearts during the anthem.

A number of Republican lawmakers lashed out at Berry following the ceremony. Texas Representative Dan Crenshaw called for her to be removed from the team.

Why does the Left hate America? Florida Senator Texas Ted Cruz said in a tweet alongside an article covering Berry facing away from the flag.

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After Berrys follow-up post on Twitter, a number of social media users spoke out in support of the athlete.

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The same people who support the seditious traitors spreading election lies and undermining our democracy are pissed at Olympian Gwen Berry because she turned away from the flag instead of beating cops to death with it, one user tweeted.

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Really? People are losing their s*** about Gwen Berry turning away from the flag at the Olympic trials during the National Anthem, another posted alongside an image from the 6 January insurrection.

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Im horrified by the comments on your posts. Im new to your support team and proud to be here to back you. Keep up the good work Gwen! one supporter commented.

Others noted that they applauded Berry for sticking to her convictions calling her impressive and brave.

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Berry, who has often used her platform as an athlete to speak out against systemic racism, said after the Olympic Trials that the anthem had been a set-up calling it disrespectful.

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She said: I feel like it was a set-up, and they did it on purpose. I was pissed, to be honest. They had enough opportunities to play the national anthem before we got up there.

I was thinking about what I should do. Eventually I stayed there and I swayed, I put my shirt over my head, she added, referring to a t-shirt that read Activist Athlete.

Read More

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Hammer thrower and activist Gwen Berry has received fierce backlash after she appeared to turn her back to the American flag as the national anthem was being played at the U.S. Olympic Trials over the weekend.

Berry, who famously protested during the anthem in the 2019 Pan American Games, caught attention for turning her body toward the stands and away from the flag as "The Star-Spangled Banner" was playing at the trials in Eugene, Oregon on Saturday. Toward the end of the song, she put a black T-shirt with the words "Activist Athlete" on her head. Her competitors DeAnna Price, who won first place, and Brooke Andersen, second place winner, put their hands over their hearts and faced the flag.

Following her protest of the anthem, she drew ire from some conservative voices. Texas congressman Dan Crenshaw said Monday that Berry should be removed from the team. While sharing an article of the incident, Senator Ted Cruz tweeted, "Why does the Left hate America?" Former Republican presidential candidate and ex-Wisconsin governor Scott Walker also blasted Berry on Twitter.

"What is wrong with people?" he wrote. "Growing up, everyone stood for the American flag. Didn't matter your politics, race, sex, income, religion; everyone stood for the flag. It was one of those civic rituals that brought us together. It still should today."

Berry responded to the criticism on social media, saying people's comments shows they "rally patriotism over basic morality" and "the commercials, statements, and phony sentiments regarding black lives were just a hoax."

"I never said I hated this country!" she said in another tweet. "People try to put words in my mouth but they can't. That's why I speak out. I LOVE MY PEOPLE."

Gwendolyn Berry, third place, turns away from U.S. flag during the U.S. National Anthem as DeAnna Price, first place, and Brooke Andersen, second place, also stand on the podium after the Women's Hammer Throw at 2020 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials. / Credit: / Getty Images

On Saturday, Berry said she felt the playing of the anthem after her award ceremony "felt like it was a set-up."

"They did it on purpose," Berry told the Associated Press. "I was pissed, to be honest." She added that she found it no coincidence that she was in plain view during the anthem.

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"They said they were going to play it before we walked out, then they played it when we were out there," Berry said. "But I don't really want to talk about the anthem because that's not important. The anthem doesn't speak for me. It never has."

USA Track and Field spokeswoman Susan Hazzard said in a statement that the anthem was scheduled to play at 5:20 p.m. Saturday.

"We didn't wait until the athletes were on the podium for the hammer throw awards. The national anthem is played every day according to a previously published schedule," she said.

Berry, who qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, said she will continue to advocate for racial justice in the U.S.

"My purpose and my mission is bigger than sports," Berry said Saturday. "I'm here to represent those ... who died due to systemic racism. That's the important part. That's why I'm going. That's why I'm here today."

Berry is no stranger to raising awareness to racial injustice. She and fencer Race Imboden were punished for protesting on the medal stand during the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima. They received a 12-month probation that was later overturned.

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By Tom Allard and Kate Lamb

JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia's health minister is leading a push for stricter controls as coronavirus cases surge to unprecedented levels, according to sources familiar with government discussions. Coronavirus infections in Indonesia have tripled in the past three weeks, overwhelming hospitals in the capital Jakarta and on the heavily populated island of Java.

On Monday, Indonesia recorded 20,694 new infections, bringing the weekly total to 131,553. Three sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin had urged government leaders to enact tougher social restriction measures but his request was overruled. He is continuing to push his case, they said. One of the sources, who declined to be named as they were not authorized to speak on the matter, said government meetings on the issue would take place this week. The health minister's position was supported by the country's tourism minister Sandiaga Uno, who confirmed to Reuters that a tougher lockdown was under active consideration. "I am encouraging a tougher lockdown (but) we would need to provide the basic necessities for the people," he said. "If the number of cases is increasing, then we need to adjust very quickly."Citing the need to safeguard Southeast Asia's biggest economy, Indonesia has mostly rejected the lockdowns imposed by its neighbours and large developing countries like India.

Instead, Jakarta has opted for social restrictions targeting villages and neighbourhoods deemed "red zones" due to high infections, a policy known as PPKM Mikro. Last week, the head of the country's COVID-19 taskforce, coordinating economy minister Airlangga Hartarto, banned religious activities at houses of worship, closed schools and bars and required offices, restaurants, cafes and malls to operate at 25% capacity in red zones for two weeks. When Reuters enquired if the health minister wanted greater curbs on social mobility, a ministry spokesperson replied "in accordance with the current policy". A spokesman for the president said: "Until now, we still have PPKM Mikro, empirically it is still very effective to control small areas." INEFFECTIVE The Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) on Sunday called on the government to implement large-scale restrictions, especially across the island of Java, home to more than half the country's population of 270 million people. The IDI said that 24 regencies and cities had reported isolation bed capacity at 90% full, while intensive care units in several areas were nearing 100% capacity and 30 doctors had died in June from COVID-19. "If there is no firm intervention we will be like India," said Dr. Adib Khumaidi, head of the IDI's mitigation team, noting the surge in cases in the South Asian nation in April and May and the "collapse" of its healthcare system. Public health experts have warned the government's current policy for social restrictions can't be fully implemented by poorly resourced local officials and don't account for people moving between red zones and other areas. How villages and neighbourhoods are designated red zones is opaque and undermined by low rates of testing and contact tracing that masks the true extent of Indonesia's overall infection rate, they said. One source said that, among several options, presidential advisers were examining the lockdowns in India, where a fivefold increase in infections in little over a month was fully reversed in a similar time frame. If guidelines followed by Indian states were adopted in Indonesia, lockdowns would be introduced in 31 of its 34 provinces where positivity rates are at 10 per cent or higher. Adjusting for population size, Indonesia has about 40% of the intensive care beds in India, according to a study last year by Princeton University. On Friday, the health minister announced plans for 7,000 more hospital beds in Jakarta dedicated to COVID-19 patients. Uno said at least 15 hotels close to hospitals with up to 2,000 beds also have been identified as places where patients with milder symptoms could be treated. Meanwhile, Indonesia's food and drug agency on Monday approved the COVID-19 vaccine made by China's Sinovac Biotech for children aged 12-17.

(Reporting by Tom Allard in Jakarta and Kate Lamb in Sydney; Additional reporting in Jakarta by Agustinus Beo Da Costa and Stanley Widianto;Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Bernadette Baum)
By Sharon Abratique

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong police on Monday denied permission for a rally on July 1, the 24th anniversary of the former British colony's handover to Chinese rule, citing coronavirus restrictions, the organisers said.

Tens of thousands of residents have traditionally marched on July 1 to demand everything from greater democracy to a solution to one of the world's most expensive property markets.

This year's anniversary is particularly sensitive as it coincides with events to mark the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party, with dozens of Hong Kong officials travelling to Beijing to join celebrations.

In a notice sent to the organisers - the League of Social Democrats, Tin Shui Wai Connection, Save Lantau Alliance - and seen by Reuters, police said that given rules on gatherings of more than four people, any rally would cause "great risk to citizens' lives and health, harming public safety and affecting others' rights".

Police also told the organisers anyone who defied the ban could face jail for up to up to five years.

A police spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

The organisers said they would appeal against the decision to a board on public meetings and processions.

Civil Human Rights Front, which has traditionally set up the annual rally, said this month it would not do so this year due to administrative difficulties and the city's political environment, Hong Kong media reported.

The demonstration last year was banned for the first time in 17 years, with police also citing coronavirus restrictions. Thousands defied the ban and took to the streets to protest against a sweeping national security law imposed on the city just hours earlier by Beijing.

Critics of the government have accused it of using social distancing measures to block rallies after anti-government protests in 2019 plunged the city into turmoil. The government rejects the accusation.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said last week there was no exact science in determining social distancing measures.

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Some activists have questioned why the rally was banned when concerts, art fairs and other events were allowed to go ahead despite an official ban on large gatherings.

Authorities this year also banned an annual June 4 vigil to mark the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy activists in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square, implementing a security operation to prevent people gathering.

(Reporting By Sharon Abratique; writing by Anne Marie Roantree; editing by Robert Birsel)
Apple Daily saw a wave of support during its final days

The continued targeting of pro-democracy journalists and publications is sending a chilling message to Hong Kong's media, with experts warning of a devastating impact on press freedom in the city. The BBC's Andreas Illmer reports.

On Sunday night, police announced that they had arrested a former senior journalist with the now-shut Apple Daily at the airport as he was trying to leave the city.

Apple Daily closed down after officials arrested its senior leadership under the city's controversial national security law and froze its assets. Its owner, media mogul Jimmy Lai, was already in jail on a string of charges.

News of the arrest came hours after Stand News - popular with pro-democracy supporters - said it would shelve commentary pieces over fears of a crackdown.

Stand News is one of the last openly pro-democratic publications now left in the city. It was among a handful of relatively new online news portals that gained prominence during the 2019 pro-democracy protests.

Hong Kong guarantees its residents press freedom under the terms of an agreement which saw Britain hand the city back to China.

But industry stalwarts say that this is being blatantly violated under the national security law, enacted in June 2020 as a response to years of mounting pro-democracy protests. The controversial law criminalises secession, subversion and collusion with foreign forces and carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

"Press freedom is withering and mired in uncertainty," Chris Yeung, a veteran journalist and former chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists' Association, told the BBC.

"The arrests worsened the feeling of fear prevalent among journalists since the enactment of the national security law," he added. "The closure of Apple Daily has worsened the chilling effect on the media."

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The law was initially used against activists and protest leaders, but in recent months authorities have been targeting media outlets, with Apple Daily the first casualty.

The mix of tabloid gossip and pro-democracy voices had become the city's biggest voice of dissent until its closure earlier in June.

Police said several of the paper's reports had breached the national security law, for instance by calling for sanctions on Hong Kong or on mainland China.

Media reports suggest that like Apple Daily's editors and owner Jimmy Lai, the journalist arrested on Sunday would also be charged under the national security law.

"The Hong Kong authorities actions against Apple Daily are outrageous and unacceptable because they blatantly violate media freedom, and treat independent journalism as a crime," Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch told the BBC.

"China's leaders obviously intend to intimidate other smaller media outlets and their journalists by showing that critical reporting will be punished."

The Hong Kong Journalists' Association has criticised the latest arrest and asked police for an explanation.

The 'literary inquisition' has arrived

The statement by Stand News that it would shelve commentary articles and stop accepting sponsorship from readers, one of the publication's source of finance for its operation, also referenced the situation in the city.

Explaining their decision with the explicit reference to the national security law, Stand News said it wanted to protect supporters, authors and editors since the "literary inquisition" had arrived in Hong Kong. "Literary inquisition" is a well-known term in China, referring to various periods when intellectuals were persecuted during the country's imperial history.

The Stand News' decision was "understandable," Mr Yeung said. "They have been named by pro-Beijing media as pro-democracy, for taking a critical stance towards the government."

Many showed their support for Apple Daily the night it closed down

"It is yet another deeply worrying case of the tremendous impact of the national security law on journalism. Online media now seems to be the next target following the closure of Apple Daily."

Chor-yung Cheung, media specialist at the City University of Hong Kong, agrees: "The arrests have seriously undermined people's confidence in the protection of free press in Hong Kong.

"I am not surprised by the precautious measures adopted by Stand News, and I expect that there may be more actions of this kind in the near future by other liberal media in Hong Kong," he told the BBC. "The national security law has brought a new, more authoritarian paradigm to Hong Kong."

Authorities in Hong Kong and on the mainland insist that the press can continue to operate freely and openly - the city's top official Carrie Lam said after the Apple Daily raid that "normal journalistic work" would not be affected, although she did not elaborate.

Press freedom hits 'record low'

Chinese officials have repeatedly said media freedoms in Hong Kong are respected, but are not absolute.

Over the past weekend, Hong Kong's police chief Raymond Siu even suggested further legislation that would have an impact on the media. Explicitly blaming the media for people's mistrust of authorities, he said he would welcome a fake news law that would allow the police to "bring these people to justice".

In May, the Hong Kong Journalists' Association released a report saying the territory's press freedom index for journalists had hit a record low, warning that "after the enactment of Hong Kong National Security Law, the Government continued to suppress the news media."

"Of the 367 responding journalists, 91% said press freedom in Hong Kong had worsened compared to a year ago," the report found. "As many as 85% of the responding journalists agree with comments that the Hong Kong government is the source of suppressing press freedom."

Notably, this was before the crackdown on Apple Daily.

Hong Kong's Foreign Correspondents' Club said the closure of the paper was "a blow to the journalism community in Hong Kong and raises legitimate concerns over the future of press freedom in the city."

'Banging down the Hong Kong nails'

Mr Yeung said that the "only certainty is that it looks more likely to get worse for an unknown period of time before it will get any better". "The national security law has caused far more damaging impacts on freedoms and way of life than many people had envisaged one year ago."

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam insists the media can continue to operate freely

He expects that critical voices will become more careful while still trying to find "a safer approach in the pursuit of independent, free journalism".

What those safer approaches could look like remains to be seen. Since the closure of Apple Daily, activists have for instance been been rushing to back up the paper's online articles on censorship-proof blockchain platforms to ensure they won't just vanish from the web.

Earlier, cyber activists had used the same approach to archive documentaries by the city's public broadcaster RTHK, after the media outlet said it would remove some of its older material. RTHK used to be critical of the government, but this has changed after authorities installed new management there.

"If Xi Jinping and the authoritarians in Beijing have their way, there will be no press freedom left in Hong Kong," Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch said. "Every step and action they have taken shows that to be their ultimate goal."
The Idaho Supreme Court ruled in a case last week that some say could have national implications for people who cannot afford to pay fees mandated by courts.

The court ruled against the Elmore County Magistrate Court, finding that it acted outside its jurisdiction when it issued a warrant for and eventually jailed a woman who could not afford to pay court fines and fees.

In an opinion released Thursday, Idaho Supreme Court justices unanimously ruled that the actions against Roxana Beck in 2020 were unconstitutional, a violation of the 14th Amendment. The case drew widespread attention and will affect how courts treat indigent defendants.

The Idaho Supreme Court confirmed what we all want to believe: that the Constitution is there to protect us, most especially the most vulnerable among us, Pete Wood, Becks attorney, said in a news release. This is a significant victory for Ms. Beck and many other indigent Idahoans who have been jailed solely for their inability to pay court debt.

Beck pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in February 2020, and during sentencing she asked the court to make any fines and fees associated with the charge as low as possible. Becks hours at her job at Burger King had been reduced, limiting her paycheck, according to the opinion.

The court assigned her no jail time but ordered her to pay more than $630 in total court fees. Her plea agreement also contained a clause saying that if she did not pay, a warrant could be issued for her arrest and the entire sum would be due to the court. Beck was told to pay $25 per month starting April 1, 2020.

Last July, three months after her first payment was due, a deputy clerk in Elmore County issued a motion to hold Beck in contempt for failing to pay. An Elmore County magistrate judge issued a warrant for Becks arrest the same day, with the warrant indicating there were reasonable grounds to believe the Defendant [would] disregard a written Notice to Appear. The warrant indicated that Beck could either pay the entire fee, post a $6,400 bond, or stay in jail and appear in court.

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On Oct. 29, 2020, Beck was arrested in Canyon County on the warrant. She was taken back to Elmore County and arraigned on Nov. 3. Beck entered an Alford plea  a type of guilty plea in which a defendant admits that the evidence likely would sway a judge or jury  and she was sentenced to five days in jail.

Beck was held in jail for two days beyond the statutory maximum for the charge, so she was given $70 in credit toward her fees. However, she was still ordered to pay what was remaining.

The ordeal prompted Beck to file a writ of prohibition to the Idaho Supreme Court, which is an appeal to a higher court to prevent a lower court from acting. After the writ was filed, members of the University of California-Berkeley School of Law Policy Advocacy Clinic took note of the case and began to spread the word, according to Lisa Foster, a co-director for the New York-based Fines and Fees Justice Center.

Several organizations filed an amicus brief  a legal filing in which a person or organization outside of the case voices their support for a possible outcome  in April to support Becks petition, arguing that the Idaho Supreme Court should prohibit state courts from issuing arrest warrants for nonpayment without first evaluating someones ability to pay. Organizations such as the ACLU, the CATO Institute, Fines and Fees Justice Center and the Institute for Justice signed on to the amicus brief.

Becks case was argued before the Idaho Supreme Court on May 7. Justice Roger Burdick authored the opinion last week, and the other four justices concurred.

Burdick pointed out several court shortcomings in the case. One was that the warrant for Becks arrest was issued without determining whether she could pay the fines in the first place.

Most notably, Burdick invoked a famous quote from former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, who wrote in the the 1956 case Griffin v. Illinois: There can be no equal justice where the kind of trial a man gets depends on the amount of money he has.

Jeff Selbin, director for the Berkeley Law Policy Advocacy Clinic, said in a news release that the unanimous ruling sends a clear message that courts should not be in the business of making money off the poor.

Policymakers in Idaho and elsewhere should take heed and end these extractive, regressive, and racially discriminatory practices, Selbin said in a news release.

The ruling in Becks case could have implications for those in other states, according to Foster. She said the courts ruling was made on the basis of the U.S. Constitution rather than a specific state law, making the ruling potentially valuable across the United States.

Foster praised the courts decision during a phone interview with the Idaho Statesman. She said the unanimous ruling was particularly emphatic, as the court recognized the practice at hand was unconstitutional.

Its truly an important decision for not only Beck and others in Idaho, but for people around the country, Foster said.
By Alistair Smout

LONDON (Reuters) -A mixed schedule of vaccines where a shot of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine is given four weeks after an AstraZeneca shot will produce better immune responses than giving another dose of AstraZeneca, an Oxford study said on Monday.

The study, called Com-COV, compared mixed two-dose schedules of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines, and found that in any combination, they produced high concentrations of antibodies against the coronavirus spike protein.

The data provides support for the decision of some European countries that have started offering alternatives to AstraZeneca as a second shot after the vaccine was linked to rare blood clots.

Matthew Snape, the Oxford professor behind the trial, said that the findings could be used to give flexibility to vaccine rollouts, but was not large enough to recommend a broader shift away from clinically approved schedules on its own.

"It's certainly encouraging that these antibody and T-cell responses look good with the mixed schedules," he told reporters.

"But I think your default has to stay, unless there's a very good reason otherwise, to what is proven to work," he added referring to the same-shot vaccine schedules assessed in clinical trials.

The highest antibody response was seen in people receiving two doses of Pfizer vaccine, with both mixed schedules producing better responses than two doses of AstraZeneca vaccine.

An AstraZeneca shot followed by Pfizer produced the best T-cell responses, and also a higher antibody response than Pfizer followed by AstraZeneca.

The results were for combinations of vaccines given at four week intervals to 830 participants.

Com-COV is also looking at mixed schedules over a 12-week interval, and Snape noted that AstraZeneca's shot was known to produce a better immune response with a longer interval between doses.

In Britain, officials have suggested an 8-week gap between vaccine doses for over-40s and a 12-week gap for other adults.

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"Given the UKs stable supply position there is no reason to change vaccine schedules at this moment in time," England's Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam said, adding that the data on a 12-week interval would influence future decisions on the rollout programme.

Over 80% of adults in Britain have now received one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 60% have had two shots.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Michael Holden, Guy Faulconbridge and Gareth Jones)
India has administered more than 282 million doses of the Covishield vaccine

India's Serum Institute is seeking emergency authorisation in the European Union for its Covishield jab, sources told the BBC.

The move comes amid reports that Covishield is not yet eligible for the digital green certificate, an EU-wide travel pass, set to launch on 1 July.

The certificate is currently for EU citizens only.

Covishield is the Indian-made version of AstraZeneca's Vaxzevria jab, which has been authorised in the EU.

It's manufactured in India by Serum, the world's largest vaccine maker.

The vaccines currently eligible for the green pass have all been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Serum's CEO, Adar Poonawalla, said on Monday that his company hopes to "resolve this matter soon", referring to the fact that Covishield had not yet been authorised in the EU.

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The EMA told the BBC on Monday that the Serum Institute had not yet applied for authorisation.

The European Commission has left it to individual member states to decide whether to allow travellers who have received vaccines "that have been authorised at the national level or by the World Health Organization (WHO)".

Covishield was listed for emergency use by the WHO in February.

It's unclear yet if the same rules will also apply to international travellers visiting the EU.

India has so far overwhelmingly administered Covishield jabs - they account for more than 284 million of the 323 or so million vaccinations given so far.

Covaxin, an Indian homegrown vaccine, which has not yet received WHO approval, has also not applied for EMA authorisation. Sputnik V, which is the third vaccine approved for use in India and by the WHO, is on the EMA's list of vaccines currently under review. But it has not been rolled out yet in India due to supply delays.

At a recent meeting of G7 countries to which India was invited, India's health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said that India was "strongly opposed to a 'vaccine passport' at this juncture".

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The UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission recently said that introducing Covid status certificates would be discriminating against some groups saying they could create a "two-tier society whereby only certain groups are able to fully enjoy their rights".
CLEVELAND (AP)  Josh Naylor's hustle and heart will be missing from Cleveland's lineup for a while.

Naylor will need surgery after gruesomely breaking his right ankle Sunday in Minnesota during a frightening collision with rookie second baseman Ernie Clement.

Naylor, who has been a clutch hitter and bright spot for the Indians, smashed into Clement in the fourth inning of the Indians' 8-2 loss. Naylor was sprinting toward a shallow pop in right by Minnesota's Jorge Polanco when he hit Clement as the players were trying to make the catch.

The Indians said Naylor has a closed fracture and dislocation.

Naylor spent the night at Hennepin County Medical Center. Hell travel to Ohio on Monday, accompanied by trainer James Quinlan and be evaluated at the Cleveland Clinic this week by foot/ankle specialist Dr. Mark Berkowitz.

The team did not give a timetable for Naylor's return, but similar injuries require up to two months to heal.

The impact with Clement spun Naylor, whose right foot was planted awkwardly underneath him. Naylor immediately reacted in pain, rolling around and pounding his fists into the grass while calling for help.

His leg was placed in an air cast and the 24-year-old was carted off the field on a stretcher as his shocked teammates consoled Clement and gathered themselves.

It was heartbreaking, man, catcher Rene Rivera said. "Its hard. A guy like him, a nice guy in the clubhouse. Really a lot of energy, positivity and seeing him go through that was really tough. You could tell the whole dugout was really in shock.

Naylor, who was acquired by Cleveland last year in a trade with San Diego, has been steady contributor for the Indians this season. He's batting .253 with seven homers and 21 RBIs and made several big defensive plays.

The affable Naylor has played right field and first base. The Canadian has also become a fan favorite because of his all-out effort, attitude and for batting .714 (5 of 7) with a homer and three RBIs against the New York Yankees in last year's playoffs.

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Naylor's injury is the latest blow for the Indians, who have been overrun with medical issues but are just 2 1/2 games out of first in the AL Central.

The club is also without reigning Cy Young winner Shane Bieber (shoulder), starters Aaron Civale (finger) and Zach Plesac (thumb), slugger Franmil Reyes and Gold Glove catcher Roberto Perez (finger).

Reyes could be nearing a return following a rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus.

___

More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
By Stanley Widianto

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's food and drug agency has recommended the COVID-19 vaccine made by China's Sinovac Biotech for children aged 12-17, the country's COVID-19 task force said, as the country seeks to extend inoculations amid a surge in infections.

Indonesia has reported record daily rises in cases of more than 20,000 recently after the emergence of virus variants and travel after the Muslim fasting month has helped drive a new wave of infections.

Task force spokesman Wiku Adisasmito welcomed the food and drug agency's (BPOM) recommendation and said "the government invites the people to still wait for the issuance of emergency use approval from BPOM."

Penny K. Lukito, the head of BPOM, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the timing of such a ruling.

Indonesia has been using Sinovac as the main plank for its vaccination programme after receiving about 94 million doses, while it has received about 10 million made by AstraZeneca and Sinopharm.

Task force data shows children aged 0-18 account for 12.6% of Indonesia's total COVID-19 infections.

The World Health Organization (WHO) approved emergency use of Sinovac's vaccine this month, saying results showed it prevented symptomatic disease in 51% of recipients and prevented severe COVID-19 and hospital stays.

The Southeast Asian country is under pressure to speed up vaccinations with hospitals in several designated "red zone" reporting overcapacity and with 93% of isolation beds in Jakarta occupied as of Sunday.

Indonesia reported it had given 1.3 million vaccine shots on Saturday, the highest daily count since the programme began in January. About 13.18 million people have received both shots as of Monday, government data showed.

(Additional reporting by Agustinus Beo Da Costa; Editing by Ed Davies)
By Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday it has yet to decide whether to extend a monitoring deal with the U.N. nuclear watchdog which lapsed last week, amid Washington's warning that Tehran's failure to renew it would complicate talks to revive its 2015 nuclear accord.

"No decision has been made yet, either negative or positive, about extending the monitoring deal with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a televised weekly news conference.

Iran and world powers are in negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, under which Iran accepted curbs to its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of international sanctions.

Washington abandoned the deal in 2018, and Tehran responded by violating some of its nuclear restrictions. In February, Iran halted an agreement with the IAEA that allowed additional inspections of Iranian nuclear sites. Some inspections were extended under temporary deals, but those expired last Thursday.

On Friday, the IAEA demanded an immediate reply from Iran on whether it would extend the agreement, While U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said any failure to extend it would be a "serious concern" for broader negotiations.

Iran said last week that the country's top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, would decide whether to renew the temporary agreements, under which data and footage were still collected in some places where inspections stopped.

"Also there has been no new decision about deleting the data and footage from the IAEA's cameras," Khatibzadeh said.

On Sunday, the speaker of Iran's parliament said Tehran will never hand over images from inside of some Iranian nuclear sites to the IAEA, as the agreement with the agency had expired.

Iran's talks with world powers on the nuclear pact, under way since April 9, were paused last week and are expected to resume in coming days. The parties said last week that major gaps remain.

"Many issues have been negotiated sufficiently ... Now the other parties must make their tough decisions if they want to reinstate the deal," Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi was quoted as saying by state media.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Peter Graff)
Egypt, Jordan and Iraq agreed to bolster security and economic cooperation at a tripartite summit Sunday that saw an Egyptian head of state visit Iraq for the first time in three decades.

The visits by Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan's King Abdullah II came as Iraq seeks to move closer to Arab allies of the United States in the Middle East.

Iraq is also seeking to establish itself as a mediator between Arab countries and Iran, after reportedly hosting talks in April between Tehran and Riyadh.

Sisi and Abdullah met Iraqi President Barham Saleh and Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi, with Saleh saying the encounter was "an eloquent message amid enormous regional challenges".

"Iraq's recovery paves the way to an integrated system for our region built on the fight against extremism, respect for sovereignty and economic partnership," Saleh said on Twitter.

The summit held between Kadhemi and his guests broached regional issues, as well as ways of bolstering cooperation between Iraq, Jordan and Egypt in the fields of security, energy and trade, according to a joint statement released at the end of the meeting.

The leaders discussed a "political solution" to Syria's 10-year civil war based on UN resolutions "that would preserve its security and stability and provide adequate conditions for the return of refugees".

The Syria conflict has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions, with refugees flooding the borders of neighbouring countries including Jordan, which lacks in resources and faces economic hardships.

The leaders welcomed efforts underway to restore stability in Libya and Yemen, and called for the departure of foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya.

They called for renewed efforts to reach a "just and comprehensive peace" between Israel and the Palestinians, and for the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

They also hailed Egypt's role in negotiating an end to deadly hostilities between Israel and the Gaza Strip's Islamist rulers Hamas in May, and Cairo's pledge to help rebuild the coastal enclave.

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- 'Common vision' -

Kadhemi had set the tone at the start of the summit, saying the three countries would "try to shape a common vision... through cooperation and coordination" regarding Syria, Libya, Yemen and Palestine.

Sisi is the first Egyptian president to visit Baghdad since Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's troops invaded Kuwait in 1990.

Relations between Baghdad and Cairo have improved in recent years, and officials from the two countries have conducted visits.

The Jordanian king visited in early 2019 for the first time in 10 years.

Media reports revealed that Iranian and Saudi officials met in Baghdad in April, their first high-level meeting since Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Tehran in 2016.

Iraqi analyst Ihsan al-Shamari said that Sunday's summit was "a message for the United States that Iraq will not only have relations with Iran at the expense of Arab countries".

In a statement, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington welcomed the "historic" visit, and called it "an important step in strengthening regional economic and security ties between Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan and to advance regional stability".

Analysts have long said that Iraq is a battleground for influence between arch-foes Washington and Tehran with whom it maintains good relations.

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's military spokesman on Monday condemned U.S. air strikes against militia targets on the border with Syria as a "breach of sovereignty" in a rare criticism of U.S. military action.

Yehia Rasool, who published the remarks on his Twitter account, was referring to air strikes that killed at least four Iran-aligned Shi'ite Muslim paramilitary fighters.

The U.S. military, which leads an international coalition in Iraq, works closely with the Iraqi military in fighting remnants of the Sunni Islamic State militant group.

(Reporting by John Davison; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
The U.S. and Israel are working to coordinate a White House visit for new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in July, three Israeli officials and two U.S. sources told me.

Why it matters: It's another sign that the Biden administration wants to help stabilize the new and fragile Israeli government.

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Biden called Bennett two hours after he was sworn in, a move that reflects his desire to have a strong working relationship with Bennett, according to a source familiar with the White House's thinking.

The White House believes the new Israeli government, which consists of a broad spectrum of parties with different views that agreed to work together, could set an example for other countries that are going through political crises, the source told me.

Driving the news: The talks on the possible visit are being held between Bennetts foreign policy adviser Shimrit Meir and Bidens top Middle East adviser Brett McGurk. Israeli Ambassador to Washington Gilad Erdan is also involved in the discussions.

The Israeli officials and the U.S. sources said both the White House and the Prime Ministers Office want the visit to take place as soon as possible. Israeli officials told me a possible time frame is right after July 18, when Congress is back from recess.

The Prime Ministers Office confirmed that talks on a possible visit to the White House are taking place and stressed that a final date will be determined soon.

Biden will meet on Monday with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who will be the first Middle East leader to visit the White House since January.

A source familiar with the preparations for the meeting said Biden is expected to explain to Rivlin why the U.S. thinks diplomacy is the best way to get Irans nuclear program "back in the box."

Biden is expected to tell Rivlin that the U.S. recognizes Israels right to defend itself against Iran and to make clear that the U.S. is ready to use other measures to stop Iran's potential pursuit of a nuclear weapon if diplomacy fails, a source familiar with the preparations for the meeting told me.

On Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Rome with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. This was their first meeting since the new Israeli government was formed.

What they're saying: Lapid hinted at the start of the meeting that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu harmed Israel's relations with the U.S., saying "mistakes were made in recent years and Israels bipartisan status in America was damaged. We will fix it together."

Lapid said Israel has reservations about a possible return by the U.S. to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, but he stressed  in another jab at Netanyahu  that "the proper way to discuss them is through direct and professional dialogue and not through press conferences."

Blinken told Lapid: "We will have occasional differences. We have the same objectives. Sometimes we differ on the tactics. We are very clear and direct with each other when thats the case. And thats exactly the way its supposed to be."

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By Humeyra Pamuk

ROME (Reuters) - Alarmed by the spread of Islamic State across Africa, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Monday he wanted to set up an international task force to counter the threat.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking after a meeting in Italy aimed at renewing efforts to combat the Islamist militants, said he supported the Italian initiative.

Islamic State affiliates have claimed gains in recent weeks in Nigeria, the Sahel, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo, helping to offset significant setbacks in the Middle East, where the group initially gained prominence.

"With the support of the USA and many other partners, I proposed the establishment of an Africa task force to identify and stop IS-related terrorist threats on the continent," Di Maio told reporters, standing alongside Blinken.

He said African countries that were not initially part of the anti-Islamic State coalition, including Burkina Faso, Ghana and Mozambique, had been invited to Monday's gathering -- the first in-person meeting of the alliance for two years.

The coalition said in a statement that it was also welcoming new members to the group -- Central African Republic, Congo, Mauritania and Yemen -- to join the 78 countries and five organisations that already belong to it.

Di Maio did not give further details of what the proposed Africa task force would do.

However, it would likely look to build on work carried out by French forces in the Sahel region since 2013. President Emmanuel Macron said this month France's operation would come to an end with troops now operating as part of broader international efforts in the region.

Macron said then details of the changes would be finalised by the end of June after consultations with the United States, European states involved in the area and the five Sahel countries - Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.

Blinken and Di Maio urged the alliance not to lower its guard against Islamic State despite the fact the militants had lost much of their territories in Iraq and Syria.

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"Let me just say very clearly that we strongly support Italy's initiative to make sure that the coalition against Daesh (IS) focuses its expertise on Africa, while keeping our eye closely on Syria and Iraq," Blinken said.

"With all of the reasons that we just cited, we decided this is of significant importance, and I think we heard a strong consensus today on the part of our coalition partners to do just that," he added.

The U.S. top diplomat also urged countries to take back some 10,000 Islamic State fighters held in detention in camps run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), saying the situation was "untenable".

"It just can't persist indefinitely. The United States continues to urge countries of origin, including coalition partners, to repatriate, rehabilitate, and where applicable, prosecute their citizens," he said in opening remarks to the meeting.

(Additional reporting by Angelo Amante and Gavin Jones; Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Alison Williams)
ROME (Reuters) - Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Monday the world should not lower its guard against Islamic State militants, which remained a particular concern in Africa.

Speaking at a news conference in Rome with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Di Maio said "with the support of the United States and many other partners" he had proposed an international working group "to identify and halt the terrorist threat connected with Islamic State in the (African) continent."

(Reporting By Gavin Jones and Angelo Amante)
Kimberley Walsh has welcomed her third child. (Brett Cove/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Kimberley Walsh has announced the birth of her third son with husband Justin Scott after welcoming the baby last month.

The Girls Aloud star said she and her spouse, who are already parents to sons Bobby, six, and Cole, four, "feel complete" following the arrival of baby Nate Jackson on 28 May.

Walsh said there had been "drama" with her previous births but this time it was the "perfect labour".

Read more: Cheryl returns to Instagram after one-year hiatus

"It was an amazing experience," she told OK! Magazine. "I wouldnt say Justin enjoyed it but he didnt find this one too troublesome!

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"Previously, there was always a drama, whereas this time I managed to push him out in three pushes because I focused everything into it."

The singer had shared back in March that she was set to welcome a baby boy.

Walsh said she had been induced 10 days ahead of her due date due to certain antibodies showing up in her blood tests.

Watch: Kimberley Walsh expecting third boy

"They took advice from the lab and paediatrician because the type of antibodies they were can cause anaemia in the baby, and the worst-case scenario would have been a blood transfusion for Nate," she said.

Read more: Sarah Harding cries because cancer fight means she won't be a mum

As for how her older children have handled the new addition to the family, the mother-of-three said there was "instant attachment and love".

Walsh also added that her former bandmates Nicola Roberts and Cheryl had been round to see Nate while Nadine Coyle and Sarah Harding, who is currently battling breast cancer, sent well wishes.

Watch: Sarah Harding releases solo fundraising single amid cancer battle
A look at what's happening around the majors on Monday:

STICKING TO HIS STORY

Major League Baseball will deal with Mariners pitcher Hector Santiago, the first player ejected under the new crackdown against grip-enhancing sticky stuff. He could draw a 10-game suspension.

Santiago was tossed Sunday in a 3-2 win over the White Sox. The 33-year-old lefty was checked by the umpires as he exited in the fifth inning and his glove was confiscated. It was later announced that Santiago had been thrown out.

He was ejected for when his glove was inspected, for having a foreign substance that was sticky on the inside palm of his glove, crew chief Tom Hallion said.

Santiago, who began his career with the White Sox, said he did nothing wrong. He explained he had used rosin to stop the sweat from dripping on both his arms on a humid day in Chicago.

That was Santiagos story, and he was sticking to it.

Theyre going to inspect it and all this science stuff and its going to be sweat and rosin, he said, adding, I know that I didnt use anything today.

TOUGH TO SEE

The Indians will see how right fielder Josh Naylor is doing, a day after he was injured in a collision with rookie second baseman Ernie Clement.

Cleveland manager Terry Francona said Naylor had suffered a broken bone but wasnt sure which one, and was being treated at a hospital Sunday.

The accident occurred in the fourth inning when Minnesota's Jorge Polanco checked his swing and made contact, sending a flare into the shallow outfield. Naylor went flying and spinning after the collision and had his right foot catch underneath him, twisting the foot the wrong way.

Naylor was taken off the field on a stretcher with his right foot in an air cast.

Its hard, Francona said. You saw the way he reacted. Its hard to not react to that. Everybodys certainly thinking about him. I was worried about Ernie, too, because Ernie had a pretty good cut on his chin.

Naylor, 24, has hit .253 with seven home runs and 21 RBIs in his first full season with Cleveland. Clement was playing his seventh game in the majors.

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DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS

Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez and the Red Sox are rolling, fresh off a three-game sweep of the Yankees that put them back on top of the AL East.

Garrett Richards (4-5, 4.74 ERA) looks to turn the page on his shortest outing of the season when he starts at Fenway Park against Kansas City.

The Royals have lost five straight on a 10-game trip. They are 4-17 since a five-game winning streak that put the club three games over .500.

Danny Duffy (4-3, 1.81 ERA) pitches for Kansas City. The left-hander is 0-6 with a 7.26 ERA in eight starts against Boston.

TOP THIS

The top two teams in the NL Central open a three-game series when the division-leading Brewers host the Cubs.

Milwaukee has won five straight but will be facing Kyle Hendricks, who has won eight straight starts for the longest such streak by a Cubs pitcher since Jake Arrieta won nine in a row from 2015-16.

Hendricks (10-4, 3.84 ERA) has a 15-inning scoreless streak and leads the NL in wins. Freddy Peralta (7-2, 2.11) will be facing the Cubs for the fourth time this season -- he is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA against them.

All the series that we play against them, its always with high intensity, Peralta said. Everybody can see that.

___

More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
LeVar Burton David Livingston/Getty Images

Who should be the next permanent Jeopardy! host? LeVar Burton is continuing to make his case.

The Reading Rainbow host and Star Trek actor will serve as a guest host of Jeopardy! next month after fans campaigned for him to get behind the lectern, and he's been open about the fact that he believes he should be picked as the late Alex Trebek's permanent successor. He spoke about that further in a new interview with The New York Times Magazine.

"It's difficult to explain, but there's something inside me that says this makes sense," Burton said. "I feel like this is what I'm supposed to do. I have been watching Jeopardy! more or less every night of my life since Art Fleming was host. Jeopardy! is a cultural touchstone, and for a Black man to occupy that podium is significant."

When asked how tough it would be if the show ended up choosing someone else, Burton acknowledged, "It will hurt. I'm not going to lie. But if that happens, I will get over it. I will be fine. Remember: Everything happens perfectly and for a reason. That is my default. It's all going to be OK. Because it always is."

Burton certainly has plenty of support from fans, as a petition to make him the next host of Jeopardy has amassed over 250,000 signatures. His guest hosting stint is scheduled to begin on July 26, and with other frontrunners for the job including former champion Ken Jennings, it shouldn't be long before the long-awaited hire is made. For now, though, CNN's Sanjay Gupta is next in line to take over as host for two weeks beginning Monday.

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Rep. Lloyd Smucker, a Pennsylvania Republican, failed to convince members of the House Ethics Committee to drop the $5,000 metal detector fine he received for a screening violation.

"A majority of the Committee did not agree to the appeal," said a statement from Chairman Ted Deutch, a Florida Democrat, and ranking member Jackie Walorski, an Indiana Republican.

According to Capitol Police, Smucker, first elected in 2016, walked into the House floors East Lobby entrance on May 19 without being screened.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS FILE LAWSUIT OVER METAL DETECTOR FINES

Representative Smucker entered into the lobby and continued on to the House floor for a vote. The congressman was informed before entering the floor that he did not complete screening and continued on to the floor regardless, one witness in the police report stated.

Smucker is the sixth lawmaker to be fined for violating the House metal detector protocols. Five Republicans and one Democrat have been hit with penalties, but only two, Rep. Hal Rogers, a Kentucky Republican, and Rep. Jim Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, had their fines dropped by the committee. The 10-member House panel is evenly split among Republicans and Democrats.

The other two lawmakers who failed to persuade the committee to drop their fines are GOP Reps. Andrew Clyde of Georgia and Louie Gohmert of Texas.

Both Republicans filed a lawsuit against the House sergeant-at-arms and the chief administrative officer over the metal detector rule established by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic majority back in January.

Under the rule, H.R. 73, House members are penalized $5,000 for the first metal detector violation and $10,000 for any following penalty.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Virginia Foxx, a North Carolina Republican, was also penalized for a metal detector violation, but it is unknown if she appealed her fine to the committee.

Washington Examiner Videos

Story continues

Tags: News, Congress, house, security

Original Author: Kerry Picket

Original Location: Lloyd Smucker latest House Republican to lose metal detector fine appeal
Mansfield police officers described in an interview the events that led to their rescue of a missing girl and the arrest of her suspected abductor on Saturday evening.

The 13-year-old was reportedly abducted in Brownsville on Saturday, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. An 18-year-old man, Clayton Phillips, was arrested and charged with kidnapping.

During an interview conducted by various media outlets Sunday, Sgt. Brian Raines with the Mansfield Police Department talked about how he found the Kia Optima described in the Amber Alert issued for the missing girl. Brownsville police contacted Mansfield police and told the department Phillips and the girl might be in Mansfield, Raines said. Brownsville is located in the Rio Grande Valley, about 520 miles from Mansfield.

Raines and other officers planned a search for the car near the 2000 block of North Main Street, which Brownsville police said was the area they believed Phillips would be in. Raines found the Kia Optima backed into a spot of grass off West Debbie Lane.

Raines and other officers created a quick plan for searching the car. Phillips appeared to be asleep in the front seat, but the officers knew they had to hurry in case he either woke up or was only pretending to sleep, Raines said.

We made a hasty plan, Raines said in the interview. We had a kidnapped child. This is the Amber Alert vehicle.

The officers descended on the car in the darkness, flashlights lighting their way. Body camera footage of the rescue shows multiple officers surrounding the car. They did not have guns drawn, Raines said, because their priority was the girls safety.

What were thinking about is the child, he said. Our priority is to separate them, to protect her. So thats what we did.

One officer went to the passengers side door as other officers pulled open the drivers side. Several officers pulled Phillips from the car and ordered him to get on the ground and put his hands behind his back. Another officer picked up the girl and got her out of the car.

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Phillips put up minimal resistant and was handcuffed.

It went smooth and went exactly as we planned, Raines said.

Officers believe the girl, who lives in Brownsville, and Phillips met online, and Phillips may have family in the North Texas area.

A huge shout out to Sergeant Raines, Officer Hernandez, Officer Koenig, and Officer Killian for the diligent police work, using their investigative skills to locate the bad guy and rescue this child, Mansfield police said in a Facebook post. This teamwork reinforces the need for all community members to be on the lookout when alerts are publicized, even when they are far away from our hometown.
Mads Mikkelsen. Luca Carlino/NurPhoto/Getty

Mikkelsen said he "would've loved to have talked" to Depp.

"I don't know what happened [in his private life]," he told The Sunday Times.

He said his Gellert Grindelwald portrayal will be different to Depp's.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

If it were up to Mads Mikkelsen, he would have talked to Johnny Depp before taking over his role in the next "Fantastic Beasts" movie.

The "Hannibal" star was cast in the role of Gellert Grindelwald after Depp was asked to resign in November 2020 by Warner Bros. following his unsuccessful libel suit against publishers of the UK newspaper The Sun, which referred to him as a "wife-beater" in relation to his marriage with actress Amber Heard.

"Obviously, they were going to do the film, and obviously he was not involved any more," Mikkelsen told The Sunday Times recently. "But I didn't have a dog in that fight. And I don't know what happened [in his private life], and I don't know if it was fair, him losing the job, but I just knew that the show was going on."

"I would've loved to have talked to him about it if I had the chance," Mikkelsen continued, "but I just don't know him in that sense."

In the first two "Beasts" movies - 2016's "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" and 2018's "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" - Depp played the role of the dark wizard.

The same month Depp was asked to exit the role, Mikkelsen was announced as his replacement.

Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald in "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald." Warner Bros.

"They called me and they were obviously in a hurry, and I loved the script and so said yes," Mikkelsen recalled. "And I know it was controversial for many people, but that's just the way it plays out once in a while."

Mikkelsen, who is currently shooting the next "Indiana Jones" movie, said he plans to bring a different feel to the Grindelwald character than Depp did.

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"I didn't want to copy what Johnny had done," he said. "I think he's a masterful actor, so copying him would've been creative suicide. I had to figure out something that was definitely my own, and yet also act as a bridge to what he had done."

The yet-to-be-titled third "Fantastic Beasts" movie will be out in the summer of 2022.

The movies are based on the book by "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling and are set seventy years before the events that take place in the Potter stories.

Read the original article on Insider
A man killed by a responding police officer at a crime scene had, in fact, shot a gunman who killed a different Colorado police officer, police confirmed.

Johnny Hurley, who took down 59-year-old Ronald Troyke after Troyke ambushed 19-year Arvada Police Department veteran Gordon Beesley on Monday, was holding the suspects rifle when a responding officer shot him, police, who hail Hurley as a "hero," said on Friday.

"Johnny's actions can only be described as decisive, courageous, and effective at stopping further loss of life," Arvada Police Chief Link Strate said in a video statement.

"It is clear that Mr. Hurley intervened in an active shooting that unfolded quickly in a busy commercial area in the middle of the day, and he did so without hesitation," Strate added.

OVER 40% INCREASE IN KILLED POLICE OFFICERS SO FAR IN 2021

Police also released moment-by-moment details of the shooting incident, which left Hurley, Troyke, and Beesley dead.

Troykes brother called police just before 1 p.m. local time last Monday, asking them to perform a welfare check out of fear that his brother was going to "do something crazy," according to the account provided by police.

Beesley and another officer responded to the call but were unable to make contact with Troyke at his residence, police said.

Beesley then responded to a report of a suspicious person in Arvadas Olde Town Square downtown district when Troyke parked his truck, got out with a shotgun, and ran after the officer, shooting him twice, and Beesley took no defensive action against the assault, police continued.



After shooting the windows out of multiple patrol cars, Troyke returned to his truck to retrieve an AR-15, and he subsequently returned with his rifle to the square, where Hurley confronted and shot him with a handgun, the police's statement continued.

Another responding officer then shot Hurley, whom the officer encountered holding Troykes rifle, police said.

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Video footage released by police shows the moment the suspect apparently pulls his truck into a parking space behind Beesley, shoots the officer, and then returns to the truck for the rifle.

Investigators say they found a handwritten note composed by Troyke that said, "My goal today is to kill Arvada PD officers."

"This is what you get, you are the people who are expendable," the note allegedly said, as well as, "Hundreds of you pigs should be killed daily."

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Community members gathered on Saturday in Olde Town Arvada, which is less than 10 miles from downtown Denver, to remember Hurley.

"In that moment, he just springs up without question, and he is just the hero," one of Hurleys friends said at the vigil.

District Attorney Alexis King directed a multiagency Critical Incident Response Team investigation into Hurley's death, police said, while the Arvada Police Department is investigating Beesleys death.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: News, Colorado, Police, Law Enforcement, Gun Violence, Firearms

Original Author: Jeremy Beaman

Original Location: Man who killed Colorado gunman fatally shot by responding officer: Police
An aerial view of the crashed truck the suspect was driving before the shooting. NBC Boston

A gunman killed two Black people near Boston on Saturday.

Authorities said the suspect, who was later killed, had made "anti-Semitic and racist statements."

The man left non-Black people unharmed in his attack, the district attorney said.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Authorities have opened a hate crime investigation after a gunman shot and killed two Black people in Winthrop, Massachusetts, on Saturday.

The man crashed a stolen plumbing truck into a building and then fatally shot a Black man and a Black woman, NBC Boston reported. The gunman was later killed by the police, officials said.

In a Sunday news conference, the police identified the victims as 53-year-old retired police officer David Green and 60-year-old Air Force veteran Ramona Cooper.

Rachael Rollins, the district attorney in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, said that the suspect, identified as 28-year-old Nathan Rollins, had previously made "anti-Semitic and racist statements against Black individuals," The New York Times reported.

She also said the suspect left non-Black people unharmed, suggesting this was a targeted attack.

The gunman "walked by several other people that were not Black and they are alive. They were not harmed," she said, according to NBC Boston.

Rollins said of the victims: "This is a sad day. These two people protected our rights. They fought for us to be safe," The Times reported.

Read the original article on Insider
A man was stabbed and wounded by a stranger who called him an anti-gay slur in an unprovoked attack inside the Staten Island ferry terminal as the city celebrated Pride, police said Monday.

The 20-year-old victim was confronted by the assailant, who called him a f----t, inside the terminal on Staten island about 8:45 p.m. Sunday, cops said. The attacker stabbed the victim in the shoulder area.

A 30-year-old man the victim was with tried to stop the assault but was punched in the face by the bigot.

The stabber ran off but was nabbed a short time later. Eric Shields, 47, was charged with assault, weapons possession, menacing and harassment.

The stabbing victim, who lives on Staten Island, was admitted to Richmond University Medical Center in stable condition. The other victim, from Brooklyn, was treated at the same hospital.

The incident is under investigation by the NYPDs Hate Crime Task Force.

The suspects last known address is in Norfolk, Va., where he has two warrants dating back to 2004 and 2005, police sources said.

Shields also has 34 New York City prior arrests, though none since 2005. Those busts include marijuana possession and trademark counterfeiting. He also has a 1997 assault arrest that is sealed.
North Carolina residents might be seeing more curious foxes roaming around their homes this time of year.

Wildlife officials say its their breeding season, which means sightings are more likely as young foxes and their parents are spending more time away from their dens and out in the open.

Foxes are known to be sly, but that doesnt necessary mean not seen, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission says.

Red and grey foxes are found across North Carolina, including in urban and suburban areas, the NCWRC says. Both species are about the size of a house cat but red foxes have longer legs that make them look larger.

Its common for them to be found in residential areas as foxes are very adaptable and find them excellent places to live and raise their young, the NCWRC says. Decks, raised porches and crawl spaces in these areas provide protection from the elements, making them ideal fox homes.

Foxes are well adapted to living around people and thrive in neighborhoods across North Carolina, Falyn Owens, an extension biologist with the NCWRC said in a release. If you spot a fox around your house or business, dont be surprised  it has probably lived in the area for years.

The agency says it gets about 1,000 calls each year about foxes living under buildings or getting too comfortable around humans. But residents shouldnt necessarily be concerned if they see a fox near their home.

Fox attacks on people, including children, are rare, the agency says While it is in a foxs nature to be curious, and even bold sometimes, they are not aggressive.

Still, the NWRC says not everyone welcomes these temporary tenants and offers tips to avoid conflicts with them.

First, the agency says not to feed them as long-term handouts from humans wont benefit them.

Its also best to feed pets indoors or to remove all food and food dishes after feeding them outdoors. The agency also recommends using bird feeders that keep seed from spilling onto the ground and picking up any fallen fruit from around trees.

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Its also important to put up sturdy fences around dog runs, chicken coops and rabbit pens to protect pets. The agency recommends walking pets on a leash and teaching children to enjoy wildlife from a safe distance.

Closing off the crawl spaces under decks, porches and buildings will prevent foxes from using the areas to rest or raise their young, the NCWRC says.

But if a fox has set up a den near your home and is too close for comfort, the NCWRC says there are a few ways to encourage it to leave.

Residents can put a spotlight or strobe light on the ground and point it toward the entrance of the den, play talk radio loudly near the den entrance or make loud noises in the area often.

Installing a motion-activated sprinkler near the den entrance or throwing small objects in an adults foxs direction can also help assert that their presence wont be tolerated.

The NCWRC says foxes will only use the den while raising their young and will move along once they get older, which is usually by mid or late summer.

But the agency says its illegal to relocate foxes in the state to prevent the spread of disease.

As a result, any removals require that the animal be humanely euthanized, the NCWRC says.
Xavier Bertrand, head of the northern France Hauts-de-France region, is one of those being touted as a presidential contender - FRANCOIS LO PRESTI /AFP

French conservatives have emerged as an unexpected third contender to break the much-anticipated 2022 duel between far-right leader Marine Le Pen and President Macron after both fared worse than expected in regional elections over the weekend.

"Everyone has understood that the presidential election is now a three-way race," boasted mainstream-right leader Xavier Bertrand after he comfortably defeated his far-Right opponent in the northern Hauts-de-France region.

The mainstream right's success in the last election before the 2022 presidential poll has boosted the hopes of three Conservative candidates - all high-profile figures of the French right, all reelected on Sunday and all with eyes firmly set on the Elysee.

From Monday morning, their battle to disrupt a Macron-Le Pen runoff that had long been seen as a foregone conclusion began in earnest.

Following his win, former minister Mr Bertrand wasted no time confirming his presidential intentions.

In a speech addressed to "all the French", he said: "This result gives me the strength to seek the nation's vote."

Over 38 per cent of voters cast their ballots for mainstream right candidates across France, while the Ms le Pen's National Rally struggled to get over 20 per cent and Mr Macron's LREM party only won 7 per cent of the vote. Neither won a single region.

"United, we can win the presidential election more than ever. The results tonight are very encouraging," said Damien Abad, head of The Republicans, the historical conservative party in France, at the National Assembly.

Mr Bertrand, 56, is seen as the conservatives' best option to win votes.

The three-time minister has run the northern region of Hauts-de-France since 2015, when he beat Marine Le Pen by 15 points in a hotly contested second round thanks to the support of his former left-wing rivals. Northern France is longtime bastion of the far-Right and is where Ms Le Pen is an elected member of parliament.

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A harsh critic of President Macron and his failure to contain the Yellow Vests movement, Mr Bertrand promotes a mix of harsh security policies with a fight against economic inequalities.

He started his career as an insurance salesman and is positioning himself as a "man of the people," a supporter of France's "silenced, the invisibles, the forgotten" who struggle to make ends meet every month, as he called them in his election win speech.

When he gave a speech following exit polls on Sunday night, his father stood in the front row with tears in his eyes.

"I am extremely happy for him. For the presidential election, all in good time, but it has just taken a good step forward with this score," Jean-Pierre Bertrand, 74, told Le Monde.

If he does run for the right, Mr Bertrand would likely win 18 per cent of votes in the first round, placing him ahead of potential challengers, according to an IPSOS poll published Sunday.

However, as things currently stand, such a score would be insufficient for him to make it past either Mr Macron or Ms le Pen to the run-off. Both are expected to win around 25 per cent of ballots in the first round.

To try to close the gap between himself and the presidential frontrunners, Mr Bertrand is reportedly planning to spend the next few months campaigning throughout the country.

"This summer, Xavier will not take any holidays, he will have his little tour de France, he will go everywhere," a source close to him told Politico.

The other conservative contenders, Valerie Pecresse, reelected in Paris, and Laurent Wauquiez, reelected in the Lyon region, are expected to get around 13 per cent of votes in next year's election.

The Republicans will select its candidate in November, but some like Mr Bertrand have said they will not participate in a primary. For now, the party plans to poll a panel of 15,000 supporters, in the hopes that one candidate emerges as a clear winner.

Last night's victories for three serious Conservative contenders may make the party's choice trickier ahead of 2022.

"What could be seen as an excellent evening could really be a poisoned gift for the selection of a candidate on the right," said Martial Foucault, the director of the Centre for political research at Sciences Po Paris.

Mr Bertrand has called on his rivals to unite with him to try and establish himself as the best option on the right, but Paris leader Ms Pecresse has already pushed back.

"We had a very good French team emerge, especially in the regions, for the right and the centre," Ms Pecresse told BFMTV on Monday morning. "But not a providential man."

"For me, everything starts today."
Hope faltered with the sound of silence Saturday evening, as the dismal search for signs of life in Surfside entered its third day, a day that began with rain and a stubborn fire below ground -- and ended with the recovery of one body, along with the remains of other victims buried in the rubble.

Families and friends who had gathered at a nearby hotel anxiously prayed for the missing, as exhausted first responders dug through the wreckage of Chaplain Towers South, where a section of the 12-story oceanfront condominium toppled to the ground in a matter of seconds early Thursday morning.

Residents were abruptly awakened by a booming roar, as the building shuddered and cracked, and people helplessly grabbed their phones, a few of them managing to reach loved ones before their phones suddenly went dead.

For two days, rescue crews swept the mammoth pile of steel and concrete with search dogs, sonar and video cameras, using a grid system to locate possible survivors.

But there were no miracles Saturday.

The official death toll climbed to five, with 156 people still unaccounted for.

By late afternoon, voluntary evacuations were under way at two other buildings, Champlain Towers North and East  the North of the same age and similar design to the South Condo, the crumbled building, which had been flagged as having major structural damage at least three years ago.

The grim task of identifying human remains began, as family members were asked to provide DNA samples. Four of the five victims were identified.

From South Florida to Washington, government officials pledged to send more support for victims and families while they sought answers to how and why such a monumental tragedy could occur with little or no warning to the residents who live there.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, speaking at a press conference, emphasized that hope is not lost.

Our top priority now continues to be search and rescue, she said.

Saturdays developments also included:

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 Levine Cava ordered an immediate audit of all high rises older than 40 years and taller than five stories, as well as those built by the same developer that constructed the Champlain Towers condominium complex. It is not clear how many buildings will be audited, but Levine Cava said the review would be conducted within the next 30 days, starting right now.

 A team of scientists and engineers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a little-known sub-agency of the Department of Commerce that investigated the fall of the Twin Towers after 9/11, arrived Friday at the Surfside site. Their goal: to decide whether their agency should to launch a full investigation into the catastrophe, and then to begin the painstaking process of determining what went wrong.

 New details emerged that may begin to explain how such a deadly collapse could have occurred. In a 2018 report about the Champlain Towers South Condo, an engineer flagged a major error dating back to the buildings origin where lack of proper drainage on the pool deck had caused major structural damage, according to records released late Friday night by Surfside officials.

A lawsuit was filed in Miami-Dade circuit court by one resident, Manuel Drezner, alleging that the buildings homeowners association knew the building was unsafe but failed to inform residents.

In the absence of answers  about what caused the collapse, the whereabouts of family members, or why such a tragedy would happen  many turned to faith to pull them through the trauma.

At the reunification center six blocks to the north of the partially collapsed tower, families waited at the Grand Beach Hotel Surfside for any bit of news about their loved ones.

At about 8:15 a.m., 16 South Florida members of Legendarios, a Christian faith-based organization, arrived at the center with donuts and beverages for the waiting families and police officers. They formed a prayer circle on the curb outside the hotel and prayed together with officers before walking over to the site of the collapse.

The community has come together in tremendous ways. We just wanted to add the prayer part to it, said Mauricio Jaramillo, a member of the organization. Weve talked to a couple of people about whats been going on, not knowing whats happening. Theres a lot of questions. People want answers and we are here to pray.

Rabbi Sholom D. Lipskar, founder of the Shul of Bal Harbour, walks by members of the Christian group Legendarios Saturday, as they pray for the victims and the families of the Champlain Towers South Condo that collapsed Thursday, June 24th, in Surfside.

Audit for older high-rises

Levine Cava sought to reassure Miami-Dade residents of high-rise condominiums and apartment complexes that their buildings are safe and not likely to collapse.

We want to make sure that every building has completed their recertification process, she said, referring to the countys requirement that all buildings be inspected for structural integrity at the 40-year mark. We want to move swiftly to remediate any issues that may have been identified in that process.

Levine Cava called on local cities to help with an aggressive review of all high rises, following a similar announcement earlier this week by the city of Miamis building department for all buildings six stories or higher that are 40 years or older.

The majority of residential towers in Miami-Dade  70.2% of the countys total 1,016,653 single-family homes, condos and apartment buildings  were built before 1990, two years before Hurricane Andrew led to the hardening of South Floridas building code.

A deep-seated fire

Much of Saturday morning was spent with search crews dealing with a stubborn subterranean blaze that was likely due to fuel of the cars getting crushed and fluid leaking out, according to Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett.

Between 80 and 120 first responders  members of Miami-Dades renowned Urban Search and Rescue Team bolstered by teams rushing in from around the state  worked overnight Friday and into Saturday morning.

The only known survivor pulled from the rubble was a boy on Thursday morning.

Firefighters battle a blaze as rescue workers search debris at the 12-story oceanfront condo, Champlain Towers South, on Friday, June 25, 2021. The condo partially collapsed early Thursday morning in the town of Surfside

Option to evacuate

The condominium complex is made up of three residential towers. The partial collapse was in the 136-unit South tower. Its remaining units have been evacuated. FEMA and the Red Cross were assisting with relocating residents who live in the North and East towers, but Burkett noted late Saturday that a cursory inspection of those buildings didnt turn up anything of immediate concern.

There seems to be a consensus that we dont want to make anybody do anything, Burkett said. What we want to do is give them options and make them feel safe. And keep them safe.

Miami Dolphins players Jaylen Waddle and Jerome Baker, left to right, deliver supplies on Friday, June 25, 2021 at Town of Surfside Community Center for survivors of the 12-story oceanfront condo, Champlain Towers South, that partially collapsed early Thursday morning.

Major error in structure

As the search-and-rescue effort transitions into a recovery, Surfside officials released records late Friday night that shed new light on the buildings structural integrity.

The concern was laid out in an October 2018 Structural Field Survey Report, produced for the condo association by engineer Frank Morabito of Morabito Consultants. Morabito wrote that the main issue at Champlain Towers was that the pool deck and outdoor planters laid on a flat structure, preventing water from draining. The lack of waterproofing was a systemic issue that traced back to a flaw in the development of the original contract documents 40 years ago, the report said.

It wasnt immediately clear whether the issue was repaired or whether it could have ultimately contributed to the partial collapse.

The report documented how the years of standing water on the pool deck had severely damaged the concrete structural slabs below. The problem needed to be addressed quickly, Morabito wrote.

Search for answers

Returning to Surfside for the third day on Saturday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he still had hope that more survivors would be found.

You wake up in the morning hoping that more and more people were pulled out, he said at the disaster command center.



And that news just hasnt been what we had hoped.

DeSantis said on Friday that he spoke with President Joe Biden, who reiterated his administrations full support and offered investigative personnel. DeSantis also promised the states full cooperation with the probe.

I think theres a lot of other people throughout this community and really throughout Florida who want to know: How could a building just collapse like that? the governor said.

The missing

Though county officials said 130 people are now accounted for, Levine Cava stressed that all the numbers are fluid because some residents may not have been in the building when it collapsed.

The list of unaccounted residents was compiled from missing person reports and data collected at the reunification site at the Surfside Community Center, which was emptied Friday afternoon as family members transitioned to a new center at the Grand Beach Hotel.

People with missing loved ones should call the family reunification hotline at 305-614-1819, visit the family reunification center, which moved Friday to the Grand Beach Hotel, 9449 Collins Ave., or open a missing person report online. Those who survived the collapse should fill out a wellness check form online.

Leo Soto, 26, a former high school classmate of missing person, Nicky Langesfeld, speaks with the media about how he erected a make-shift memorial for people to gather and pray at, for the missing people near the site of the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South Condo in the Surfside community of Miami Beach, Florida, on Friday, June 25, 2021. The 12-story oceanfront condo tower at 8777 Collins Ave. crumpled just after 1:30 a.m., on Thursday June 24, trapping an unknown number of residents asleep in their beds inside the wreckage.

Among those still missing are Cassie Stratton, who lived in the Champlain Towers South condo with her husband, Mike Stratton. A political strategist, he had left Monday on a business trip for Washington, D.C., where he got a frantic call from his wife early Thursday morning about their condo building shaking. Then the line went dead.

It was 1:30 a.m. Ill never, never forget that, he said.

Latin American victims

About 30 people from Latin America and the Caribbean  including Colombia, Cuba, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Argentina  are among those reported missing by friends and family following the collapse, highlighting the international reach of the tragedy.

Crews brought in heavy machinery Saturday to remove rubble from above. The rescuers boring through the concrete from the garage under the building are only entering the passageways after structural engineers determine what is safe and where pylons should be placed to bolster support.

Miami Herald staff writers Marie-Rose Sheinerman, Bianca Padro Ocasio, Samantha J. Gross, Douglas Hanks, Rob Wile, Martin Vassolo, Taylor Dolven, Jay Weaver, Ben Conarck, Alex Harris, Sarah Blaskey, Aaron Leibowitz, Rene Rodriguez, Rebecca San Juan and Mary Ellen Klas contributed to this report.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday said a veteran transportation official will take over as director of the city's sprawling Metro system.

Guillermo Calderon begins the new role on Monday, Sheinbaum told a news conference.

"He is an honest public servant who will now be in charge of the metro public transport system," said Sheinbaum.

Calderon will replace Florencia Serrania, who was at the helm of the Metro when part of the Line 12 collapsed in May, killing 26 people. The preliminary results of an ongoing investigation showed that the incident was triggered by structural problems.

Sheinbaum did not explain the reason for Serrania's replacement.

(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz and Sharay Angulo, writing by Laura Gottesdiener; Editing by Daina Beth Solomon and Marguerita Choy)
Rescuers search for survivors of the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside, Florida (AP)

An investigation into what could be the deadliest accidental building collapse in US history has suggested that a foundation-related matter could be to blame for the tragedy.

Rescuers have been at the crumbled Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, since the early hours of Friday, when the 12-story residential block collapsed, so far claiming the lives of nine individuals.

A further 150 are thought to be unaccounted for in what President Joe Biden described on Sunday as an enduring tragedy for the community of Surfside and Miami-Dade, Florida.

CCTV footage appears to show the building falling in stages, with the centre of Champlain Towers folding-in on itself before an eastern section also collapses.

A number of experts told The New York Times that a structural failure could have been the cause of the incident, and that it appeared to be at the foundation of Champlain Towers South, which was constructed in 1981.

It does appear to start either at or very near the bottom of the structure, said Donald O. Dusenberry, a consulting engineer with 45 years of experience investigating structural collapses. Its not like theres a failure high and it pancaked down.

[It] would suggest a foundation-related matter  potentially corrosion or other damage at a lower level, Mr Dusenberry told the Times, adding that you certainly cant rule out a design or construction error that has survived for 40 years.

The collapse of Champlain Towers South has caused concerns for the dozens of apartment blocks in Surfside and Miami-Dade, which have stood for decades facing the Atlantic Ocean, and its salty air.

An investigation in 2018 found that failed waterproofing of the pool area at Champlain Towers was causing major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas, the Associated Press reported.

The findings, released in recent days by the city of Surfside, added that failure to replaced the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially, and warned of major structural damage.

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Mr Dusnberry told the Times that the corrosion and structural issues identified by the 2018 investigation could be significant it was found near to the towers supporting columns. Repairs were expected at the building before the incident on Friday.

It will take weeks for an official investigation to conclude what was the exact cause of the collapse at the 12-story block. For now, the rescue effort is continuing.

Read More

AP News Digest 3:15 a.m.

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Donald Trump told supporters he would march on the Capitol with them on 6 January  then abandoned them after a tense exchange with his chief of staff, according to the first excerpt from Landslide, Michael Wolffs third Trump White House expose.

Related: Top US general got into shouting match with Trump over race protests  report

The extract was published by New York magazine. Wolffs first Trump book, Fire and Fury, blew up a news cycle and created a whole new genre of salacious political books in January 2018, when the Guardian revealed news of its contents.

That book was a huge bestseller. A sequel, Siege, also contained bombshells but fared less well. Wolffs third Trump book is among a slew due this summer.

On 6 January, Congress met to confirm results of an election Trump lost conclusively to Joe Biden. Trump spoke to supporters outside the White House, telling them: Were going to walk down [to the Capitol to protest]  and Ill be there with you.

According to Wolff, the chief of staff, Mark Meadows, was reportedly approached by concerned Secret Service agents, who he told: No. Theres no way we are going to the Capitol.

Wolff, one of a number of authors to have interviewed Trump since he left power, writes that the chief of staff then approached Trump, who seemed unsure what Meadows was talking about.

You said you were going to march with them to the Capitol, Meadows reportedly said. How would we do that? We cant organize that. We cant.

I didnt mean it literally, Trump reportedly replied.

Trump is also reported to have expressed puzzlement about the supporters who broke into the Capitol in a riot which led to five deaths and Trumps second impeachment, for inciting an insurrection.

Wolff says Trump was confused by who these people were with their low-rent trailer camp bearing and their get-ups, once joking that he should have invested in a chain of tattoo parlors and shaking his head about the great unwashed.

Story continues

Trump and his family watched the attack on television at the White House.

As reported by Wolff, the exchange between Trump and Meadows sheds light on how the would-be insurrectionists were abandoned.

The White House, Wolff writes, soon realised Mike Pence had concluded that he was not able to reject votes unilaterally or, in effect, to do anything else, beyond playing his ceremonial role, that the president might want him to do.

Trump aide Jason Miller is portrayed as saying Oh, shit and alerting the presidents lawyer and chief cheerleader for his lie about electoral fraud, Rudy Giuliani.

Wolff writes that the former New York mayor was drinking heavily and in a constant state of excitation, often almost incoherent in his agitation and mania.

Related: Republicans are defunding the police: Fox News anchor stumps congressman

As the riot escalated  soon after Trump issued a tweet attacking the vice-president  aides reportedly pressed the president to command his followers to stand down.

Ivanka Trump, the presidents daughter and adviser, reportedly saw the assault on the Capitol as an optics issue. After an hour or so, Wolff writes, Trump seemed to begin the transition from seeing the mob as people protesting the election  defending him so he would defend them  to seeing them as not our people.

In a further exchange, Trump reportedly asked Meadows: How bad is this? This looks terrible. This is really bad. Who are these people? These arent our people, these idiots with these outfits. They look like Democrats.

Trump reportedly added: We didnt tell people to do something like this. We told people to be peaceful. I even said peaceful and patriotic in my speech!
American forces in Syria were attacked by multiple rockets Monday, officials said, following U.S. airstrikes targeting pro-Iranian militias in Syria and Iraq.

No injuries were reported and the damage was still being assessed in and around the U.S. base in Deir Ezzour in eastern Syria, said Army Col. Wayne Marotto, a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve.

US AIRSTRIKE ON IRAN-BACKED FACILITIES ALONG IRAQ-SYRIA BORDER KILLED SEVERAL MILITIAMEN: REPORT

U.S. troops responded with artillery fire at rocket launching positions, he said.

The attack occurred just before 7:45 p.m. local time. No other information was provided. Pro-Iranian militias claimed they fired the rockets at an American base in response to the airstrikes, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The airstrikes targeted "facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups" near the border between Iraq and Syria, officials said.

"The United States took necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation  but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message," said Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Kirby said the U.S. military targeted three operational and weapons storage facilities  two in Syria and one in Iraq. In its release of videos of the strikes by Air Force F-15 and F-16 aircraft, the Pentagon described one target as a coordination center for the shipment and transfer of advanced conventional weapons.

The Pentagon said the facilities were used by Iran-backed militia factions, including Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada.

"The targets selected were facilities utilized by the network of Iran-backed militia groups responsible for the series of recent attacks against facilities housing U.S. personnel in Iraq," Pentagon spokeswoman, Navy Cmdr. Jessica McNulty, said Monday. She said those groups have conducted at least five such "one-way" drone attacks since April.

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Sunday's strikes mark the second time the Biden administration launched airstrikes along the Iraq-Syria border region. In February, the U.S. launched airstrikes against facilities in Syria, near the Iraqi border, that it said were used by Iranian-backed militia groups.

The Iraqi military condemned the U.S. airstrikes as a "blatant and unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty and national security" and militia groups called for revenge against the United States.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh accused Washington of creating instability in the region.

"Definitely, what the U.S. is doing is disrupting the security of the region," he said on Monday.

Fox News' Jennifer Griffin and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
In the weeks before their schools were set to reopen, several North Side Minneapolis principals created Amazon wish lists, turning to crowdfunding efforts to fill their classrooms with supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bethune Elementary, for example, needed water bottles after drinking fountains were turned off to limit possible spread of the virus.

Bethune, like many north Minneapolis schools, lacks a formal Parent Teacher Association that could cut a check for such items. Though donors stepped up to fulfill the schools' wish lists, the situation prompted a question that several parents  and now the district leaders  are seeking to answer: Is the current system of parent and alumni fundraising equitable?

The school board earlier this month approved an Equity and Diversity Impact Assessment to look at the district's policies on school fundraising. A committee will offer recommendations and an action plan is expected by October.

"The impact of how schools get resources keeps coming up and we need to look at what's going on and how we can ensure it's equitable across our district," said board Chair Kim Ellison.

Part of the committee's initial task will be to wade through the complicated web of parent and alumni groups in Minneapolis. A handful of schools, concentrated mostly in southwest Minneapolis, have official foundations with their own bylaws. Some of those groups bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

Meanwhile, other schools have only small PTAs that distribute less than $10,000 per year. Schools can also take private donations through funds with Achieve Minneapolis, the district's nonprofit partner. A hodgepodge of other booster clubs and parent groups, both formal and informal, sometimes raise money through GoFundMe or Venmo.

One potential suggestion toward equity is a districtwide donation fund in which a committee would distribute money for schools' needs, though Ellison said she's talked to parents who don't want to forgo the opportunity to give directly to their child's school.

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"We need to look at the health of the whole district, but families are attached to their particular school and I get that," Ellison said.

For the past couple of years, a small group of Minneapolis parents have led the discussion about a central, districtwide fund to distribute donations more evenly across the city. It's a model that has been adopted by other districts around the country, including in Portland, Ore., and Palo Alto, Calif. But it's also a shift that triggers a debate about the definition of equity and how that applies both within and between schools.

Sara Spafford Freeman, a mother of three children in Minneapolis Public Schools, has spent the past two years collecting information about disparities in school fundraising and presenting it to parent groups across the district. She jokes that she's gotten the reputation of being the "Defund the PTA" lady.

"We have this quaint notion that PTAs are just hosting school carnivals and stuff like that," she said. "But they are paying for field trips, curriculum, and important educational experiences that other schools don't have access to."

The Southwest Foundation, which supports Southwest High School, for example, uses some of its funds to bring in guest artists, pay for academic competition fees and support after-school tutoring. According to tax forms, the foundation has taken in between $162,000 and $426,000 each year since 2013. The foundation's president, Adam Barrett, said the organization typically distributes about $100,000 each year, including money earmarked for scholarships. Teachers and administrators submit grant requests to the foundation. Those requests often top $250,000 and the foundation grants about $60,000 of them annually, Barrett said.

Southwest also has a separate parent and student association that raises money, though the group often simply requests funds from the foundation.

"The money that we raise is minimal in comparison to what the high school really needs to breed equity within its programming and within its achievement model for all students," Barrett said.

He opposes the idea of reconfiguring parent fundraising groups under one central organization and said Achieve Minneapolis already serves each school in the district.

Barrett doesn't have children at Southwest, but is an alum of the school. He said foundation organizers don't pretend to know what's best for the school and defer to teachers and administrators to direct where the dollars go. The additional money is needed, he said, to support the programs that reduce inequities within the high school.

"Individual schools have individual needs," he said. "How could a central committee overseeing this money understand what is best for North High or South High?"

Several other schools, including South, Washburn and Roosevelt high schools, and Kenny Elementary, are also raising hundreds of thousands of dollars each year through their parent foundations.

Some school PTA groups, including those at Burroughs and Hale elementaries, have been examining their own membership ranks, bylaws and budget processes to be more mindful of inclusivity. For the Burroughs PTA, that resulted in a partnership with the school's parent equity group to sponsor workshops on race, culture and ethnicity.

Lynne Crockett, a member of North High School's Polar Parents group and a longtime advocate for North Side schools, is on the district's committee to look at the inequities in school fundraising. She says she is cautiously optimistic about the study and changes that may come from it.

There's been talk of making Polar Parents into a formal PTA, which would require the group to pay dues to the state and national PTA organizations, but also offer more structure for fundraising. Even so, Crockett said the challenge of raising money in north Minneapolis has to do with the bandwidth of parents who may have more pressing priorities surrounding their jobs, child care, housing and neighborhood safety.

Parents are passionate and willing to give money and time when they can, but "We're all tired of asking for money," Crockett said. "Especially when we're asking for something basic that should already be in the budget."

Mara Klecker  612-673-4440
The boom times for Minnesota craft breweries came to a screeching halt last year.

Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free

Driving the news: The Minnesota Brewers Association recently released its annual production numbers for state breweries in 2020, and the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal put out a ranking of the top 25.

State of play: Minnesota breweries lost out on an estimated $95 million in sales last year and the industry shed 595 jobs due to the pandemic, according to a recent University of Minnesota report.

Details: Most breweries in the state of Minnesota reported a decrease in production last year, some as high as 42%.

Production at Summit Brewing  the state's largest brewery dropped 14.6%, to 109,273 barrels.

Surly Brewing (No. 3), which closed its taproom/restaurant over the winter, reported a 17.2% decline

And smaller breweries that rely more heavily on taproom and restaurant sales reported even bigger declines. Fair State was down 27%, and Finnegans was down 42.5%.

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Claudio and Maria Bonnefoy are among the dozens unaccounted for after the collapse of a Florida residential tower Thursday.

Maria, who was from the Philippines, and her Chilean husband, Claudio, lived on the 10th floor of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside for more than a decade.

After four days of painstaking efforts, rescue workers have found nine bodies. More than 150 people are still unaccounted for.

Maria's nephew, William Sanchez, told correspondent Maria Elena Salinas he's still holding out hope that his family members will be found alive.

"She was always the doting aunt that watched over my wife and her sisters," he said. "She was just a beautiful person."

Claudio and Maria Bonnefoy are among the missing in the collapse of a Surfside, Fla., condominium tower. / Credit: Family Photo

Sanchez said his wife's Aunt Maria  referred to by her loved ones as Tita-coy  was like a second mother to the couple.

He was stunned last week when he learned through a text message that the couple's complex had suddenly collapsed.

"I looked up at the building and I thought I'd see her apartment, but then I realized that whole side of the building had fallen down," he said. "I called my wife up and we both started crying."

Sanchez said Claudio (a lawyer and uncle to the former president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet) and Maria (once a budget officer for the International Monetary Fund) dedicated their lives to serving others.

"They were such capable people who were very informed," Sanchez said. "They really checked the buildings where they were going to live in. If they would have known the building had issues and it was sinking since the '90s, they would have never bought an apartment."

Rescue teams have spent days searching the site, but Sanchez wishes more had been done initially: "We went through Hurricane Andrew down here, I know what a tragedy is, but there was a very slow response."

Salinas asked, "One of Claudio Bonnefoy's daughters is quoted in a newspaper saying, if it wasn't for COVID, right now they would be traveling the world, they would be somewhere seeing the world?"

Story continues

"Absolutely," Sanchez replied. "They were simple people. They'd send us pictures roaming around Turkey and different parts of Latin America, Africa, Asia. So, that's exactly what would've happened; they would've been somewhere else."

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A scaled-back version of the world's biggest mobile telecommunications fair got underway Monday in Spain under tight virus controls, with top firms avoiding an in-person presence after the pandemic derailed last year's edition.

Spain's King Felipe V and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez were on hand for the opening of the four-day Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, one of the first big technology conferences staged in Europe since the start of the pandemic.

"Theres a lot of challenges, this year it was almost a superhuman effort to pull it off," Mats Granryd, director general of the industry association that stages the congress, the GSMA, told AFP.

"Health and safety measures needed to be carefully laid out, but we also needed to get exhibitors and make them really understand that this show is important but it's going to be a different show."

The event, which is usually held in February, is taking place this year both in-person at Barcelona's main conference centre as well as digitally, with an online appearance by tech billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday among the highlights.

Participants will only be allowed into the congress if they have a negative Covid-19 test result which is less than 72 hours old and will have to sign a daily declaration that they are in good health.

People lined up outside a testing site at the congress throughout the day to determine if they could be allowed in.

Once inside they must wear medical-grade FFP2 face masks at all times -- lighter surgical masks are not allowed -- and follow a one-way walking system, although arrows on the floor indicating which direction to follow were largely ignored.

- 'Great success' -

Organisers have limited attendance to 50,000 as part of virus control measures, compared with a normal attendance of around 100,000.

They expect just 30,000-35,000 people to actually attend but Granyrd said the number of CEOs attending this year was about the same as in other years.

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"It's a great success on the part of organisers to be able to stage the event. Even if there was a bit of reluctance on the part of firms and visitors to come," said Samuel Norca, a mobile consultant with US firm Amplitude who came from Paris for the congress.

The fair occupies just three halls of the congress centre this year, compared to eight in the past, with hand sanitiser dispensers distributed throughout the site.

Many major firms like Samsung, the world's top smartphone maker, Nokia, Google and Facebook have pulled out of the in-person event, citing virus concerns although some will take part virtually.

China's beleaguered Huawei, whose smartphone business has been battered by US sanctions, will be the biggest handset maker with a physical presence at the show alongside telecoms operators such as Orange and Telefonica.

- Smartphone sales rebound -

Unlike in other years, no major phonemaker is scheduled to present a new flagship device at the event although some smaller Chinese firms unveiled new devices.

Samsung held a virtual event on Monday evening to showcase its recently redesigned interface for its line of Galaxy smartwatches.

The congress comes as global smartphone sales are rebounding after slumping in 2020 due to the economic havoc caused by the pandemic.

Global smartphone sales fell by 5.9 percent in 2020 to a total of 1.29 billion units, its fourth straight year of declines, according to research firm IDC.

But IDC forecasts they will increase by 7.7 percent this year, and continue to rise until 2025 due to pent-up demand for a new device in rich nations and a faster than expected recovery in key emerging markets.

Global tech show CES, held annually in January in Las Vegas, was held virtually this year because of the pandemic.

Organisers of the IFA consumer technology trade fair in Berlin have cancelled their September event, saying the pandemic made it impossible to stage an in-person show.

emi-ds/lc
MOSCOW (AP)  A Moscow court on Monday rejected an imprisoned American's appeal against his nine-year sentence for assaulting police officers.

The Moscow City Court upheld the sentence issued last year by a lower court, which convicted Trevor Reed for an altercation in August 2019 in Moscow, where he was studying Russian and visiting his girlfriend.

I regret that the appellate court has not corrected this gross injustice, but it does not in any way affect the seriousness with which I and the U.S. government will continue to pursue this matter for Trevor to get him released so that he can go home and be with his family," U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan told reporters outside the court after attending the hearing.

Reed was accused of assaulting police officers who were driving him to a police station after picking him up following a night of heavy drinking at a party. The United States has sought his release, saying the evidence against him was weak.

Asked about Reed in a recent interview with NBC News, Russian President Vladimir Putin called him a drunk and a troublemaker.

Reed was diagnosed with COVID-19 in May. Earlier this month, the U.S. Embassy protested the lack of consular access to him during his hospitalization and said he had been repeatedly denied phone calls to his family or embassy personnel.

My colleagues and I were able to speak with Trevor today," Sullivan said after the court hearing. "He is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstance. Hes a remarkable and resilient young man.

Reed is one of two Americans imprisoned in Russia under controversial circumstances. Paul Whelan, a former corporate security executive who also holds Canadian, Irish and British citizenship, was arrested in Moscow in 2018, convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years. His lawyer has said his client was handed a flash drive that had classified information on it that he didnt know about.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Whelan and Reed are being wrongfully imprisoned in Russia and raised their plight with Putin at their summit in Geneva earlier this month.

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Putin had opened the door to possible discussions about a prisoner swap with the U.S. and said those conversations would continue. Biden said he would follow up too.

The U.S. is holding two prisoners whose release Russia has sought for more than a decade, including arms trader Viktor Bout. The other is Konstantin Yaroshenko, a pilot who was extradited from Liberia in 2010 and convicted the next year of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the U.S.

Sullivan returned to Moscow only last week. He flew out in April after Russian officials suggested that he should leave to mirror the departure of the Russian ambassador in Washington, whom Moscow recalled for consultations after Biden described Putin as a killer in March.

During the Geneva summit, Putin and Biden agreed to return the ambassadors to Washington and Moscow in a bid to improve badly deteriorated diplomatic relations between the countries.

___

Anna Frants in Moscow contributed to this report.
Elena Chavez, 88, and Elena Blasser, 64, a tight-knit mother and daughter pair, had plans on Thursday, June 24. They had long promised a new bicycle to their six-year-old grandson (great grandson for Chavez), a belated birthday present theyd been promising since April. They were going to pick him up, bring him to lunch and take him to pick out his new wheels.

Both are missing since the Champlain Tower in Surfside collapsed in the early hours of Thursday morning. Its been a living nightmare for Pablo Rodriguez, Elena Blassers son and Elena Chavezs grandson. Elena Chavez, who lives nearby by herself, was staying at her daughters house in the towers to keep her company while Blassers husband was traveling in Panama.

They value family above all else, Pablo said, describing beloved family rituals, which included an annual family vacation and Saturday lunches. He said the two have a close relationship with his son and hes been doing his best to not expose him to the tragedy unfolding.

Elena Blasser visiting her son Alejandro in Washington DC the week before she went missing in the Champlain Tower collapse.

Yesterday was really hard, Pablo said in an interview on Sunday. Because he knows that every Saturday they come over.

The mother/daughter pair fled Cuba during Castros revolution when Elena Blasser was only a little girl. They spent several years in New York and then moved to Puerto Rico, where Blasser spent the majority of her upbringing. The family came to Miami in the late 70s and have stayed ever since.

Pablo described his grandmother and mother as fun loving and always seeking adventure and new experiences. They both share a passion for travel that theyve passed along to the rest of the family, even to their grandson/great grandson, who Pablo says already has his own little suitcase, loves airports and likes to check into flights and hotels himself.

Elena Chavez is so passionate about travel that she made it her career  even at 88, she still works as a travel agent. The two had have been to places like Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Ukraine. They had been planning to travel to Russia before the pandemic hit. Elena Chavez was planning her first post-pandemic trip to the Czech Republic.

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She did everything, Pablo said, She still worked, she had friends, theyd go to the theater, go out to dinner, travel to Europe, go on cruises.

Elena Blassers life is devoted to education  she was an elementary and middle school teacher, then a school counselor and a vice principal at different schools throughout Miami-Dade.

My mom [is] a force of nature  very strong willed and passionate, Pablo said. She was my best friend, we talked every day.
NASA Earth Observatory

The seas are rising, and hundreds of millions of people live at or just above the current high tide lines. But its hard to know which parts of the world will be most at risk without knowing exactly how high the seas are right nowand how high they might get. Enter NASA and the European Space Agencys newest satellites, which will help us measure sea surface height to an unprecedented degree.

The Sentinel-6 Michael Frielich satellite, named for a former director of NASAs Earth Science Division, launched last November, but last week it finished a months-long calibration and testing process and began providing data. Orbiting at about 830 miles above the planet, it can measure the sea surface height to within 1.2 inchesthats like standing in Los Angeles and measuring something in Denver (Rockies notwithstanding) to within the diameter of a half-dollar coin.

The satellite is equipped with a radar altimeter known as the Poseidon-4. It measures sea surface height by sending out radio wave pulses and measuring the time it takes for them to bounce off the surface of the ocean and return.

The Mental-Health Burden of Climate Change Continues Long After the Storm

With the high-level of accuracy achieved by the altimeters, we can begin to make good assessments of both the rate and acceleration of global sea level rise, said Benjamin Hamlington, a research scientist at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This is critical information from a planning perspective, as it allows us to assess the trajectory of sea level rise we are on and gives us independent comparison to model projections.

After the Sentinel-6 Michael Frielich launched in 2020, it spent months trailing along just 30 seconds behind its predecessor, the Jason-3, both moving at a healthy clip of about 4.5 miles per second. This tandem flight was done in order to maintain a continuous flow of data as the Jason-3 neared the end of its lifespan, and to allow NASA and the ESAthe latter of which actually provided the altimeter on board the satelliteto ensure the new version was working properly. Craig Donlon, a scientist with the ESAs Earth and Mission Science Division based in the Netherlands, told The Daily Beast that the Sentinel-6 altimeter offers about a 50 percent improvement in accuracy over its predecessor.

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The instrument employs on-board calibration and back-end digital electronics that also help ensure the measurements are very stable in timewhich is important when making measurements of very small changes in global mean sea level of [about] three to four millimeters per year, Donlon said. It also uses a package of tools to offer whats known as a Precise Orbit Determinationknowing exactly where the satellite itself is as it throws and catches the endless radar pulses is a crucial part of an accurate measurement.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Four millimeters per year may not sound like much, but another thing the satellite data tell us is that the rate of sea-level rise is accelerating. Donlon points out that the rate of rise differs around the world, with the thermal expansion of the oceans playing more or less of a role in some spots and glacial and ice cap melt more involved in others. Knowing exactly how fast the sea is rising in particular locations could help with coastal planning and efforts to stave off the worst effects of rising oceans.

Sentinel-6 Michael Frielichs first data offerings are actually not yet its most accurate. One data stream now available is accurate to within 2.3 inches and can be accessed only hours after the satellite collects it; if you can wait two days from collection, the accuracy improves to 1.4 inches. The best version, with 1.2 inches of accuracy, will be available later in the year.

Hamlington said that the new altimeter is also capable of providing more accurate sea surface height measurements closer in to the actual coast than the Jason-3 and earlier satellites. From a coastal impact perspective, it is the change in sea level at the coast that really matters, he said. The data can also be used to improve weather forecasting and hurricane preparedness. Eric Leuliette, a project scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, called Sentinel-6 an amazing new tool.

Rising Sea Levels Swallowed Solomon Islands

Over the past century and a half, it is estimated that the average sea level around the globe has risen by about eight to nine inchesand a third of that rise has happened in just the last 25 years. For most of that period, the only way to measure rising seas was using ground-based instruments like tide gauges, mounted along coastlines. The modern satellite record began in 1992, and since then a total of five satellites (TOPEX/Poseidon, Jasons 1-3, and now Sentinel-6) have completed the same exact orbital path, covering most of the globe, every 10 days, offering a remarkable continuous record.

The longer this record is, the better we are able to separate natural changes from climate change-driven changes in sea level, Hamlington said. This long record that has consistent and improving accuracy provides critical information on how our climate is changing over time.

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This video grab image obtained April 26, 2020 courtesy of the US Department of Defense shows part of an unclassified video taken by Navy pilots. (DoD/AFP via Getty Images)

A former Navy pilot has demanded a public apology from the Defense Department after being mocked for years following UFO sightings in 2004.

Kevin Day, a former Senior Chief Operations Specialist, wrote several Facebook posts after the government released its anticipated UFO report on Friday.

From 2004 until 2009 when I walked away from [the Department of Defense] out of frustration, I had tried in vain to get somebody, anybody, to listen to me, Chief Day wrote on Sunday.

Yet, every time I tried to describe what we had witnessed ... I was openly laughed at, made the butt of jokes, and once even asked by my then-boss just WTF I had been smoking, he added.

Chief Day wrote that sociocultural stigmas about UFOs prevented him from making his case to his superiors at the time.

The stigmas also cost me a second career in [the Defense Department], he added.

I paid a very high price personally and I hold [the Navy and the Department of Defense] directly responsible for their complete and utter malfeasance and dereliction of duty which, indeed, did nearly result in AIR-TO-AIR mishaps with unknown objects and Navy aircraft in the years that followed.

I also hold [the Navy and the Department of Defense] directly responsible for what I and others went through as a result of trying to uphold our own duty and simply do the job the American people paid and expected us to do, he wrote.

I and others deserve a formal public apology and a redress for the costs I/we paid? Chief Day concluded.

In a Saturday Facebook post, Chief Day said he simply do not have words for the vindication I now feel following the release of the UFO report.

I was laughed at, mocked, and talked about behind closed doors within [the Department of Defense] whenever I tried to describe what we had seen off [the coast of Southern California] in 2004.

The price I paid personally might have been high but, knowing what I know now? Would likely do it all over again, he wrote.

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The then-Navy pilot began to see unidentified flying objects on his radar screen on 10 November 2004, according to a New York Magazine report from 2019.

The objects appeared on his screen again four days later, going into an area where pilots were training. Four pilots spotted the object, which was shaped like a white Tic-Tac.

One of the pilots, David Fravor, told The Washington Post in 2017 that it was about the same size as a Hornet, 40 feet long with no wings, adding that it was clear the object was not from the Earth. It hovered above the water before vanishing as the pilot got nearer.

It was a real object, it exists and I saw it, Commander Fravor told The Post.

As I get closer, as my nose is starting to pull back up, it accelerates and its gone, he said. Faster than Id ever seen anything in my life. We turn around, say lets go see whats in the water and theres nothing. Just blue water.

The report released to the public on Friday from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence indicated that the 144 unidentified aerial phenomena are a national security risk, but that no single explanation exists.

Read More

UFO report: 143 sightings since 2004 unexplained says US intelligence

Nasa starts investigation into UFO recorded by Navy pilots who are sure that they saw something real

UFO whistleblower says Pentagon report doesnt disprove alien theory as he warns findings being watered down
Donovan Mitchell, star of the NBAs Utah Jazz, reportedly took issue with a nonbinding resolution from the Utah Legislature condemning critical race theory, and he is looking to meet with lawmakers to discuss the issue.

Mitchell, 24, was troubled by a resolution passed by the Utah Legislature in May recommending that the controversial theory, which promotes the idea that the United States is fundamentally racist, not be taught in schools in the future.

RASHIDA TLAIB BLASTS CRITICS OF CRITICAL RACE THEORY, SAYS OPPOSITION IS ROOTED IN RACISM

"Its unfortunate thats a conversation thats had. I think the biggest thing, the part that I really stand for, is education  and being able to educate our children on racial history, I think, is huge," Mitchell said in a recent interview. "So, when I tell a child that people were enslaved for 400 years, them understanding what that means is huge  understanding that theres definitely discrimination in this country, theres prejudice, theres racism."

Mitchell is working with the NBAs Social Justice Coalition, which has aimed to encourage players to speak out and lobby politicians to push social justice causes. Mitchell said during the interview that he wouldnt be opposed to taking the conversation offline and meeting with Utah legislators.

"Its one thing to tweet it, and Im gonna continue to tweet it, but being able to be on the phone and be on these calls with people who do know these things means being able to have an impact, myself," Mitchell said.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Republicans across the country have been slamming the progressive theory, which they argue encourages anti-white racism, that has been pushed in classrooms and corporations nationwide. Democrats, on the other hand, have openly supported the teaching and suggested that opposition to critical race theory is rooted in racism.



Washington Examiner Videos

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Tags: News, NBA, Critical Race Theory

Original Author: Andrew Mark Miller

Original Location: NBA star Donovan Mitchell takes issue with Utah Legislature condemning critical race theory, looking to meet with lawmakers
Jun. 28Liza Hill remembers the trip to Haiti that rekindled her love for creating music.

It was 2019, and she'd quit music after her friend's death. But when an opportunity came along to share her knowledge with others in Haiti, Hill made the journey.

Hill, a singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist who just graduated from Catoctin High School, has been attending Let There Be Rock School of Frederick for five years. The school is a "combination music lesson facility and after-school rock and roll community center" located in Frederick, according to its website.

On Sunday, the school teamed up with local nonprofit Rhythm Changes to put on a concert fundraiser for Haiti at Sky Stage in Frederick.

Taking a breath between songs, Hill shared a memory with the crowd about her trip to Haiti.

While helping Haitian youth learn to play keyboard, Hill met a man who loved music. He was blind.

"This man could not see a single key," Hill said, but he'd memorized the location of those keys on the instrument. He dove into a flurry of notes, shocking the visitor from America.

That experience and memories yet to be made in Haiti propelled young artists like Hill to perform Sunday.

Let There Be Rock School teacher Brandon Dull started Rhythm Changes about four years ago after he traveled to Haiti to teach music. Rhythm Changes has a partnership with four schools in Haiti, where Dull said they send instruments, music equipment, food, water and whatever else they need. Their ultimate goal is to build and maintain a music school in Haiti, according to rhythmchanges.org.

"Music's the base note and then we go from there," co-founder Allison Dull said.

Approximately 30 percent of children go to school in Haiti, Brandon Dull said, and the number that graduate is even smaller. Rhythm Changes tackles those statistics head-on by offering lessons, resources and support.

"We believe that we can definitely help change the world with education," Brandon Dull said.

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While the weekend concert helped raise funds to send instruments to Haiti, it also served as a learning experience. When Allison Dull wasn't emceeing on the mic, she handed it to Hill to practice her hosting skills. While some students rocked out on the stage, other pupils monitored the sound board.

Rhythm Changes has been hosting virtual meetings with students to offer a cultural and musical exchange while the pandemic keeps them physically apart, according to Brandon Dull. They've even had musicians record lessons, and they sent a projector to Haiti so students can watch the lessons over and over again, Allison Dull added.

Brandon Dull and Hill spoke to the drive Haitian students have to learn music and further their education in general. Dull recalled one student who traveled eight hours by boat, taxi and bus to attend one of his lessons.

Hill remarked how connected she felt to others, even when she didn't speak the language. It taught her to be grateful for how much she has.

"The kids, they just want to learn," Hill said. "Music is something that can bring people together."

Follow Mary Grace Keller on Twitter: @MaryGraceKeller
Clashes broke out between police and Pride Weekend partygoers Sunday evening in the area of New York City's Washington Square Park, according to reports.

The crowd clashed with NYPD officers in the early evening after video showed a large police presence in the area, New York's WPIX reported.

At least three people were arrested near or around the park, according to the station.

NYC TIMES SQUARE SHOOTING LEAVES TOURISTS HOSPITALIZED, SUSPECTS AT LARGE

Business Insider reporter Meredith Cash tweeted that officers in riot gear arrived and charged at the Pride revelers around 7:15 p.m.

Another video posted on social media showed a line of officers blocking off Fifth Avenue. Some users tweeted that pepper spray was used, through the NYPD said it had no reports of pepper spray being used on the crowds, according to The Sun.

As of 9 p.m., the NYPD told the paper that no arrests were made.

It was not immediately what caused the clashes.

Thousands of people had marched and celebrated at a series of events in New York City Sunday as its annual LGBTQ Pride parade was being held virtually for the second year in a row due to the coronavirus pandemic. The event was presented as a television broadcast special -- because the now-lifted pandemic restrictions were still in effect when it was being planned.

LESLIE JORDAN ON LGBTQ+ PRIDE: BEING PROUD OF WHO YOU ARE A 'WONDERFUL THING TO CELEBRATE'

NYPD officers were banned from participating in this weekend's Pride parade.

"We're talking about a decision that's making unnecessary divisions in the community," NYPD detective and Gay Officers Action League (GOAL) President Brian Downey said on " America's Newsroom ," Friday.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

New York Citys gay pride parades began in 1970 to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall uprising, which started after a police raid on a Manhattan gay bar.
A Texas police officer fatally shot a man armed with a gun while stopping a catalytic converter theft, officials say.

Corpus Christi Interim Police Chief David Blackmon said the officer was walking through a parking lot Monday morning when he spotted a man under a vehicle cutting off a catalytic converter.

As the officer attempted to arrest him, another man approached him and pulled out a handgun, police said. The officer let go of the man and subsequently engaged the second subject and shot him, police said.

The man was taken to a hospital where he died of his injuries.

The man the officer first attempted to arrest ran away, and he hadnt been found by the afternoon, police said.

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The police officer was put on administrative leave.

Not saying they did anything wrong  its for the mental health of that officer as well as the investigation, Blackmon said. We want to make sure that we do everything properly so we put them on administrative leave. The officer will be brought back as soon as we can.

Catalytic converter theft is skyrocketing in the U.S. since March 2020, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. In 2020, there were an average of 1,203 thefts per month compared with 282 per month in 2019, according to the organization.

The values of the metals used to manufacture the device  platinum, palladium, or rhodium  have increased significantly, and recyclers pay $50 to $250 per catalytic converter, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Corpus Christi is a city on the Gulf Coast about 150 miles south of San Antonio.

Driver steals truck on way to file FBI complaint in Texas, rams through gate, feds say

Woman shot four times by ex-husband hours before child custody hearing, Texas cops say
By Scott DiSavino

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices fell 2% to a one-week low on Monday after hitting their highest since 2018 earlier in the session, as a spike in COVID-19 cases in Asia and Europe put a brake on the rally before this week's OPEC+ meeting.

Brent futures fell $1.50, or 2.0%, to settle at $74.68 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $1.14, or 1.5%, to settle at $72.91.

Those declines pushed both contracts out of overbought territory and were their lowest closes since June 18. Earlier in the volatile session, both benchmarks rose to their highest levels since October 2018.

"The forecast for oil demand recovery over the summer may be a bit overestimated, and traders are facing a reality check this week as the (COVID-19) Delta variant reached Europe and as an infections surge in Southeast Asia and Australia is bringing back lockdowns," said Louise Dickson, oil markets analyst at Rystad Energy.

Indonesia is battling record-high cases, Malaysia is set to extend a lockdown and Thailand has announced new restrictions.

Australia also reported on Sunday one of the highest numbers of locally acquired coronavirus cases this year, triggering lockdowns in some cities.

All eyes this week will be on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, to see what happens at their meeting on Thursday.

OPEC+ has increased supply by 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil from May to July after cutting supplies during the pandemic, and could decide to add more barrels in August after crude prices last week rose for a fifth week in a row.

OPEC's forecasts point to an oil supply deficit in August and the rest of 2021 as economies recover from the pandemic, suggesting OPEC+ has room to raise output.

Analysts at Australian bank ANZ and Dutch bank ING said they expect OPEC+ to increase output by about 500,000 bpd in August.

But in a move that surprised some market watchers, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) will reduce the volume of crude it supplies to Asian term buyers by 15% in September, according to six sources with direct knowledge of the matter. It was not immediately clear why ADNOC would cut supplies.

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And in Russia, oil production has declined so far in June from average levels in May despite an oil price rally and OPEC+ output cuts easing, two sources familiar with the data told Reuters on Monday.

Iran and the United States, meanwhile, were expected to resume indirect talks on reviving a 2015 pact over Tehran's nuclear work.

Agreement could lead to a lifting of U.S. sanctions and more Iranian crude on the market. But tensions rose after U.S. air strikes on Sunday against Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. Both Iraq and Syria condemned the unilateral U.S. strikes as violations of their sovereignty.

Iran said on Monday it has yet to decide whether to extend a monitoring deal with the U.N. nuclear watchdog which lapsed last week.

(Additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London and Florence Tan in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy, Jonathan Oatis and Cynthia Osterman)
Image of stressed worker

The news that dating app Bumble is to close its offices for a week to allow its staff to recover from "collective burnout" has pushed the issue of worker stress into the limelight.

Bumble told its 700 global workers to focus on themselves following a busy year that saw the company launch on the US stock market.

But the disruption and uncertainty caused by the Covid pandemic over the past 15 months has led workers at many companies to feel stressed and exhausted.

Daily life has been uprooted and the lines between work and leisure blurred.

So how have workers coped when they are feeling burnt out?

'I try to keep work and time off separated'

"Burnout comes with the job because it's very fast paced so you often feel it," says Amy Hanson, who works as an IT helpdesk assistant at JMW Solicitors in Manchester.

Amy now works in the office full-time again, but through the pandemic says she has "got fatigued with low energy and sort of forgot how to talk to people".

"I struggle with stress quite often so try to keep work and time off separated."

Amy turns her phone off after work and tries to take "each task one by one" to help with overwhelming feelings.

Her employer also has an online counselling portal for staff and Amy has used NHS guidance for help.

As another way to cope with stress, Amy has taken up a hobby of repairing gaming hardware which she finds "very relaxing".

'I knew I needed to get outside'

Sarah Windrum runs an IT support business called the Emerald Group, which employs 20 people based in Warwickshire.

Since the pandemic started, Sarah has tried to encourage her employees to talk about their struggles and challenges.

"We can't offer holiday like Bumble, but we do try to have an open and honest conversation with staff and try to make sure that everyone is cared for," she explains.

"We recently had one member of staff that needed more time off to care for an elderly parent so the rest of us took up the slack and I try to tell everyone that we can all help each other out like this."

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Sarah also felt this pressure herself. She noticed she was continually returning to her laptop, whether it was after dinner or after putting the children to bed.

"I was aware of my behaviour and I just didn't have the energy. I had to be mindful of the pressures," she says.

Sarah saw that she "needed some time away" and started walking beside the Warwickshire canals to get away from work.

"The walks are so rejuvenating, I knew I needed to get outside in some proper space".

How to deal with burnout

The key to coping with burnout is control, according to experts. "Not everyone has the option of leaving their job but it's about doing what you can with the things you can control," says Siobhan Murray, author of The Burnout Solution.

Cary Cooper, president of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and professor of organisational psychology and health at the University of Manchester, says it is "important that individuals take control of their environment to manage the hours they work and ensure that they're socially connected".

He advises:

take control

don't work consistently long hours

engage in activities unrelated to work

connect socially with friends and people you like

have some "me time"

avoid unhealthy behaviours and negative coping mechanisms

help other people

be positive

But companies must play their part too, says Trades Union Congress health and safety officer Shelly Asquith. Stress is an "occupational hazard", she says and it "requires risk assessment and management to protect the well-being of staff".

Prospect union general secretary Mike Clancy says: "Mental health is finally starting to be given parity of esteem with physical health and with this should also come the recognition of mental health within health and safety by all employers.

"Even before the pandemic, mental health was the most common cause of work-related ill-health. This is very much an industrial issue and it needs to be treated as such."

'It's really important to open up'

Italia Jensen works as head of youth voice at The Mix - a young person's digital support charity. Italia says she knew the warning signs of burnout having suffered from it when she was younger, so when the symptoms returned she took a week off as sick leave.

"I was feeling really stressed, emotionally exhausted and tired at work," she says.

Through the lockdown, she started taking longer lunch breaks and running, which Italia says "really helped" her feel less stressed.

"It took some getting used to, but I had to get better at asking for help when feeling stressed," she adds.

"You need to remember you work in a team and are connected to people."

At the end of the day, her team began to do a check-in which she says "gave us space to see how each other were doing".

"It can creep up on you if you don't know what it looks and feels like, so it's really important to open up so people don't carry the stigma," she adds.

'I feel better than ever'

Harry Fish from Nottingham works in software implementation. Prior to lockdown, he spent seven years frequently travelling around the country to visit customers. Now, he works remotely full-time and says he's feeling "better than ever".

In February, figures from the Royal Society for Public Health indicated that, overall, more people felt working from home was better for their health and wellbeing. Forty-five percent of those polled thought working from home was better for them, compared with 29% who thought it was worse.

"I had a good work-life balance before, but now I've realised what I was missing," Harry says.

He exercises every day before starting work and says this has "invigorated" his work day, which otherwise would have been spent commuting. He has done 10,000 steps a day for a year as a result.

"From a work perspective, productivity has increased with more focus, and having the flexibility to organise a work day more efficiently."

"Self reflection is easier, rather than having unnecessary social pressures influencing decisions," he adds.
The Pentagon announced Sunday it had conducted retaliatory targeted air strikes against "facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups" on the Iraq-Syria border, which a monitor said killed at least five militia fighters.

The strikes come at a delicate moment as the United States blames Iran-linked Iraqi factions for recent attacks against Iraqi installations housing its personnel, while also hoping to work out a return to a nuclear deal with Tehran.

"US military forces earlier this evening conducted defensive precision air strikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement, adding that the attacks were carried out at the direction of President Joe Biden.

While the United States did not provide information on casualties, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that "at least five Iran-backed Iraqi militia fighters were killed and several others were wounded in an attack by US warplanes" on the Syrian side of the frontier.

The war monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria to collect information, said that military positions were among the targets hit.

Syria's state-run SANA news agency said one child had been killed and that at least three other people were wounded.

Kirby said that the targets -- two in Syria, one in Iraq -- were selected because "these facilities are utilized by Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against US personnel and facilities in Iraq."

Kataeb Hezbollah and Kataeb Sayyid al-Shuhada, two hardline Iraqi military factions with close ties to Tehran, were among the "several Iran-backed militia groups" that had used the targeted facilities, Kirby said.

Since the start of the year there have been more than 40 attacks against US interests in Iraq, where 2,500 American troops are deployed as part of an international coalition to fight the jihadist Islamic State group.

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The vast majority have been bombs against logistics convoys, while 14 were rocket attacks, some of them claimed by pro-Iran factions that aim to pressure Washington into withdrawing all their troops.

"Given the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting US interests in Iraq, the president directed further military action to disrupt and deter such attacks," Kirby said.

"Specifically, the US strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those countries," he added.

The move marks the second such US attack on Iran-backed militia in Syria since Biden took office, with the first having occurred in February with a strike on facilities in the country's east that left more than 20 fighters dead, according to the Observatory.

- 'Back in the box'-

On a separate, diplomatic front, the US-issued strikes come two days after the United States and France warned Iran that time was running out to return to a nuclear deal, expressing fear that Tehran's sensitive atomic activities could advance if talks drag on.

A return to the 2015 Iran accord has been a key Biden promise after the nuclear deal was trashed by his predecessor Donald Trump.

"We have a national interest in trying to put the nuclear problem back in the box that it was in the JCPOA," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, using the acronym for the accord's formal name.

The UN nuclear watchdog said Friday it had received no reply from Tehran over the possible extension of a temporary agreement covering inspections at Iranian nuclear facilities which expired on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Kurdish officials said Saturday three explosives-laden drones hit near the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, where the United States has a consulate.

The attack also occurred as the Hashed al-Shaabi, a pro-Iran paramilitary alliance opposed to the US presence in Iraq, held a military parade near Baghdad attended by senior officials.

In April, a drone packed with explosives hit the coalition's Iraq headquarters in the military part of the airport in Arbil, the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital.

The tactic poses a headache for the coalition, as drones can evade air defenses.

"As demonstrated by this evening's strikes, President Biden has been clear that he will act to protect US personnel," Kirby said Sunday.

Announcement of the strikes came one day before Biden meets at the White House with Reuven Rivlin, president of Israel, Iran's arch foe.

bfm/to
The disaster in Surfside has drawn emergency crews from across Florida. The number of people on the ground is equal to what was deployed in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 hurricane that devastated the Panhandle in 2018, officials said.

What is different is that I cant recall anytime that weve deployed all eight teams in the history of Florida for one single catastrophic collapse, Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie told the Miami Herald in a phone interview Monday afternoon. The division is tasked with the states response to disasters like hurricanes and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guthrie is referring to Floridas eight Urban Search and Rescue task force teams, about 370 people, who are assisting in the search and rescue efforts in Surfside. Theyre trained to work together and are specialized in a variety of disaster responses, including underwater rescues, trench rescues and rescues from structural collapses.

They include the Miami-Dade Urban Search and Rescue team  two groups known around the world for their lifesaving efforts, including during 9/11. The team is composed of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel and outside specialists, and is divided into groups that include command, rescue, search, medical and planning. The team also has nine FEMA-certified canine groups, each with one handler and one search dog.

The other task forces are from across the state, including Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Fort Myers, Tallahassee and Ocala. Theres also teams of search-and-rescue specialists from Israel and Mexico. Crews are using heavy equipment such as cranes, excavators and nibblers, dogs, cameras, sonar and infrared technology.

Some of the K-9s searching the rubble are trained to find survivors. Others are trained to find the dead.

This is the largest ever deployment of task force resources in the history of the state of Florida thats not a hurricane, said Floridas Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis during a news conference Monday morning.

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The same number of men and women that are on the ground right now is the same that was deployed to Hurricane Michael, which was a 12-county storm event, he said. ... They come and they leave their families. They come to work around the clock. Their reward is the lives they save.

Florida Urban Search and Rescue teams probe for life through the rubble of the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South Condo on the fourth day of recovery efforts, in the Surfside community of Miami Beach, Florida, on Sunday, June 27, 2021. The 12-story oceanfront condo tower at 8777 Collins Ave. crumpled just after 1:30 a.m., on Thursday June 24, trapping an unknown number of residents asleep in their beds inside the wreckage.

Why are all 8 of Floridas Urban Search and Rescue teams at Surfside?

Not all of the task forces arrived to Surfside on the same day. On Thursday, shortly after the Champlain South Condo Tower collapsed, a regional coordinator for the states emergency management division arrived to see what support local officials needed.

It wasnt long before the states fire marshal office, which oversees the urban search and rescue task force teams, activated Miami-Dades team, also known as Task force 1 and 2. Then, as the search and rescue mission became more complex, decisions were made in real-time to call for back-up depending on what local officials said they needed, Guthrie said.

The final task forces arrived in Surfside Sunday night, completing the cavalry.

All eight teams are needed because of the complexity surrounding Surfsides collapse, Guthrie said.

If you have a single family house crash down, then youre not going to need every resource in the state of Florida. If you have an apartment complex fall down, a structural collapse, probably one team might be able to handle that, Guthrie said. When you have a 12-story concrete condominium collapse with more than 150 people unaccounted for you need everything you possibly can.

The rubble of the structure, which pancaked, also complicated things. So did the deep-seated fire crews had to battle for days.

South Florida Urban Search and Rescue team look for servivors at the 12-story oceanfront condo, Champlain Towers South on Saturday, June 26, 2021 that partially collapsed early Thursday morning in the town of Surfside.

These are heavy, heavy slabs. The concrete is so mired together. Theres rebar running through all of that concrete. It complicates the response, Guthrie said. Eventually, he said that Miami-Dade Fire Rescue decided that they needed all eight teams. And I agree thats the right call.

The teams rotate in 12-hour shifts, from midnight to noon and noon to midnight. This means not every team member is working in the pile at the same time. Some of this can be attributed to safety reasons but it also has to do with maximizing resources.

During their 12-hour shifts, each individual team member will work in the rubble for 45 minutes and then will stop to get their oxygen level and temperature checked by a physician to make sure theyre OK.

Once the doctor gives them medical clearance, they get back to work.

And these guys, its not that theyre tired, they would just keep going and going and going. But, you know, at some point in time, we had to think about their health and their safety, Guthrie said. And theres only so long you can work in the South Florida sun for so many days without it, you know, really impacting your health.

A search dog from Mexico is at the Surfside collapse site, working with a global crew

Counseling, housing and other aid

Other departments and agencies are assisting in aid efforts.

 The Florida Department of Transportation is providing additional excavators, dump trucks and front-end loaders to help crews search through the debris.

 The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles is providing traffic control in the area.

 The Florida Department of Health is coordinating with the Miami Poison Control Center to review personal protective equipment and respond to potentially public health hazards.

 The American Red Cross, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and Catholic Charities are assisting displaced residents and those who are waiting to find out about missing loved ones. This includes helping them with temporary housing and mental health and spiritual health counseling.

 The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity has a mobile unit to help people complete housing assistance applications and coordinate other resources for businesses impacted by the search and rescue operation.

 Hatzalah of South Florida is working with pharmacies to ensure anyone affected by the collapse still has access to their medications, according to the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
By Marco Aquino

LIMA (Reuters) - Peru's right-wing presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, who has been battling to overturn the initial result of a June 6 election that showed her behind socialist rival Pedro Castillo, may be running out of time - and allies.

Castillo, who has rattled the Andean country's political establishment, finished with a narrow 44,000-vote lead with all ballots counted, though the result has been delayed with Fujimori alleging fraud and seeking to get votes disqualified.

That bid has appeared to falter, however, as potential allies have distanced themselves from Fujimori, the daughter of divisive ex-President Alberto Fujimori, who is currently in prison for corruption and human rights abuses.

"Enough already," said a weekend editorial in the conservative newspaper El Comercio, part of one of the most powerful media conglomerates in the South American country that has generally backed Fujimori.

"Today it is clear that what began with the use of legitimate legal resources to question the suitability of some ballots... has started to become an attempt by different political sectors to delay the process as much as possible."

Castillo's Free Peru party and the electoral body have denied any claims of fraud and international election observers have said the vote was carried out cleanly. The U.S. State Department went further, calling it a "model of democracy."

On Monday, Fujimori went to the government palace and delivered a letter to the interim president, Francisco Sagasti, requesting an international audit of the vote. Her claims have won backing by some voters and some retired military personnel.

The electoral jury, which was forced to halt reviewing contested ballots last week after one of the judges tendered his resignation, resumed its work on Monday to complete the process, needed to announce the final result.

CENTRAL BANK CHIEF?

The tight election has split the country between wealthier urban elites and poorer rural areas. On Saturday thousands of Peruvians on both sides took to the streets amid uncertainty over the outcome.

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Castillo, a 51-year-old former teacher and son of peasant farmers, has shaken up investors and mining firms with plans to rewrite the Constitution and keep a larger share of profits from mineral resources including copper.

He has, however, looked to temper those fears by appointing more moderate economic advisers and on the weekend he said he wanted to retain well-respected central bank head Julio Velarde, a key signal of stability to markets.

Pedro Francke, a left-leaning economist who is now economic spokesman for Castillo, said the candidate had spoken on Monday with Velarde, who had been due to step down in July at the end of the current administration.

"Institutionallly, this is the most important thing," Francke told Exitosa local radio, adding that there was still work to do to convince Velarde to stay.

"In fact Julio Velarde himself has said 'Well, I'm a little tired, I'll think about it.' And well, we have agreed to talk later when Pedro Castillo has been officially confirmed and so we can set up a formal meeting," Francke said.

(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Dan Grebler)
(Corrects headline and paragraph 3 to show IFC is a unit of the World Bank Group, not the World Bank)

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine digital and financial services firm Voyager Innovations has raised $167 million for its expansion programme, including a venture into digital banking, its listed and largest shareholder said on Monday.

Shareholders PLDT Inc, private equity firm KKR & Co Inc and Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd participated in the funding round, PLDT said in a disclosure.

Voyager, which serves 38 million Filipinos through its consumer platforms that include e-wallet and digital payments, welcomed a unit of the World Bank Group's International Finance Corp (IFC) as a new investor.

The fintech firm said it applied for a digital banking license with the Philippine central bank, which has so far granted three firms an approval to operate.

Only a third of Filipinos have a formal bank account, among the lowest in Asia, giving fintech firms an attractive leeway for growth.

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Martin Petty)
SYDNEY (AP)  Police have fined two men who had to be rescued from an Australian forest after they were startled by a deer while nude sunbathing on a beach and became lost.

The men called for help about 6 p.m. Sunday after they became lost in the Royal National Park south of Sydney, a police statement said Monday.

Unbelievably, we saw two men sunbaking naked on a beach on the South Coast, Police Commissioner Mick Fuller told reporters. They were startled by a deer, ran into the national ... park and got lost."

Their rescue involved police aircraft, the State Emergency Service and ambulance officers.

The men, aged 30 and 49, were fined 1,000 Australian dollars ($759) each for breaching a stay-home pandemic order that restricted them to Sydney, police said.

The younger man was found naked and carrying a backpack while the older man was partially clothed," the police statement said.

Fuller described the pair as idiots.

Clearly putting people at risk by leaving home without a proper reason, ... then getting lost in the national park and diverting important resources away from the health operation, I think they should be embarrassed, Fuller said.

The temperature range on Sunday at Otford, the town nearest to where the men were lost, was 3 degrees Celsius (37 degrees Fahrenheit) to 19 degrees Celsius (66 degrees Fahrenheit).

The pair were among 44 people fined by police on Sunday for breaching a public health order after Sydney began a two-week lockdown on Friday due to a new COVID-19 cluster.
Pope Francis shakes hands with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken as they meet at the Vatican on Monday. (Associated Press)

The pope and the American secretary of State exchanged gifts and wisdoms Monday, but whether they discussed the politics dividing the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. remains anyones guess.

Antony J. Blinken and Pope Francis talked for about 40 minutes, according to the Vatican, and photos that they tweeted showed a friendly and intimate exchange. The two discussed climate change, migration, the scourge of human trafficking and similar issues, the State Department said. The last time a U.S. secretary of State came here  Michael R. Pompeo nearly a year ago  the pope did not grant him an audience.

"Let me just say, on a personal level, what an honor it was," Blinken told reporters later. "The meeting was extremely warm and very wide-ranging. We covered a lot of ground."

He added he was "very gratified" by the pontiff's leadership on the pandemic and refugees and said he was thankful that he did not have to delve in U.S. domestic politics. He could thus avoid answering questions about a campaign by some U.S. Catholic bishops to deny President Biden  a devout Catholic  communion because of his support for reproductive rights.

Blinken repeatedly referred to Francis as "his holiness," an especially honorific title that is usually used by Catholics.

Blinken, whom aides describe as a secular Jew, and Francis appeared to hit it off, as has been the case on most of the secretary's stops this and last week in Europe, where he is attempting to repair the damage done to transatlantic ties by former President Trump. Officials frequently called him Tony.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, left, visits the Sistine Chapel ahead of his meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday. (Gregorio Borgia / Pool Photo)

Blinken also toured the Vatican's Sistine Chapel before his meeting with the pontiff. The marvel of architecture and artistry, with frescoes including Michelangelo's "Last Judgment," reliably wows throngs of tourists. Blinken, on his private tour, seemed no less affected, wordlessly gesturing at the space when asked his thoughts.

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"The spiritual atmosphere, the divine art, and the impressive architecture left me speechless," he later tweeted. "Truly stunning."

Blinken is on a week-long tour that has included Berlin, Paris and Rome. On Monday in Rome, he attended an 80-nation meeting of the the global coalition fighting the so-called Islamic State, where new attention is being focused on the organization's recruitment efforts in Africa.

Islamic State "is very dangerous still," Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said, recounting that he visited several African countries in recent weeks, including Mozambique and Mali, to gauge the extent of the spread of the terrorist organization.

"We've got to fight their ideology as well," Di Maio said.

Blinken urged countries around the world to repatriate and, when appropriate, prosecute Islamic State fighters, and their families, who have been captured in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.

Blinken is following on President Biden's summits earlier this month with NATO, the Group of 7 wealthiest democracies and European Union partners.

On Tuesday, Blinken will be in southern Italy for the Group of 20 meeting of foreign ministers, focused on climate and health, as well as sustainable development in Africa.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Father Juan Sosa announcing the names of members of St. Joseph's Catholic Church who were reported missing in the Florida condominium collapse. (David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP)

Father Juan Sosa is the pastor of St. Josephs Catholic Church in Miami Beach, and an estimated 20 to 25 of his parishioners remain unaccounted for following the Thursday morning collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo in nearby Surfside, Fla.

Sosa said nine families appear to be among the victims. As the days have elapsed, his thoughts have seldom strayed from the missing. In an interview on Monday, he shared memories about those he continues to pray for.

The Moras were joyful and happy and always cracking jokes. They were great, Id have dinner with them, Sosa told Yahoo News, referring to Ana and Juan Mora, a married couple who lived on the 10th floor of Champlain Towers South.

A memorial near the Champlain Towers South condominium. (Gerald Herbert/AP)

He also recalled the many milestones he shared with the parishioners, such as baptizing Emma Guara, and helping her sister, Lucia, make First Communion at the church. Lucia and Emma are the young daughters of Marcus and Ana Guara. All are missing.

Hilda Noriega, mother of North Bay Village Police Chief Carlos Noriega, had been living in the building for more than 20 years, according to the Miami Herald, and was an active member of the church. She too is unaccounted for since Champlain Towers South fell.

She was always very much in touch with the diocese. She dedicated a statue that is presently across the street from St. Marys Cathedral in honor of her daughter, who died of an accident, Sosa said.

Of the 151 people still missing, the exact number who attended services at St. Josephs is hard to pinpoint, Sosa said, because many people show up each week who are not registered with the church, a five-minute walk from the condo.

A makeshift memorial near the site of the collapse. (Chandan Khanna/AFP)

Now, as community members anxiously wait for new developments, St. Josephs has become a place where people come to seek hope.

People have been coming in and out at all times of the day, Sosa said. We are also providing space in the parking lot for first responders and media people.

Sosa has made it a priority for the community to pray for the missing people, whether or not they belong to the church.

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We have a remembrance binder so that many other names that wed like to know that we do not know, friends of our parishioners, could be listed there by the parishioners themselves who come to visit, he explained.

At each Mass, he has been reading out the names of those missing.

A worshipper at St. Joseph's Catholic Church on Sunday. (David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP)

While the tragedy has been devastating, with a rising death toll of at least 10 and so many still missing, Sosa says many people have come together to support the affected community.

Everyone is helping, everyone is putting themselves together. We keep getting phone calls about how to help, how to serve, from our Catholics but also from other places, he said. Prayers have been coming in from across the United States, from Europe and South America. And also locally, from Orthodox churches, other Christian communities and denominations, as well as from Jewish rabbis.

You can see the effervescent need to help that community members have, not just from our community but from everywhere else, Sosa continued.

During these difficult times, the church has been focused on offering support, and doing what it can to remain optimistic.

We are spreading a message of hope, Sosa said. We hope to find and to rescue.

____

Read more from Yahoo News:
Prince Harry was determined to reconnect with his old military pals.

The Duke of Sussex, who had to give up his military titles after stepping back as a senior royal, secretly met with some friends who are stationed at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas, The Sun reported on Sunday.

"Harry has just been himself with them, larking around and enjoying a joke or two, like they used to," a source claimed.

According to the outlet, it is believed the friends are Americans whom the 36-year-old met years ago while undergoing military training. Harry reportedly took part in a helicopter gunship training at a US military base in California in 2011, followed by a live-fire exercise in Arizona.

PRINCE HARRY ARRIVES SOLO IN THE U.K. FOR PRINCESS DIANA STATUE UNVEILING: REPORT

"Harry has kept in touch with them so when they knew he was moving to the States they invited him to come and see them," a source alleged to the outlet. "Hes made informal visits to the air base where they are and theyve been out for drinks in their down time."

Harry served in the British army for a decade, including on the front line in Afghanistan, and retains a close bond with the military. He founded the Invictus Games competition for wounded troops, which was first held in 2014 at Londons Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

MEGHAN MARKLE DROPS HRH TITLE, PRINCE HARRY KEEPS HIS ON LILIBET DIANAS BIRTH CERTIFICATE

In February, Buckingham Palace confirmed that Harry and his wife Meghan Markle will not be returning to royal duties.

The palace said Harrys appointment as captain general of the Royal Marines and titles with other military groups would revert to Queen Elizabeth II before being distributed to other members of the family.

"While all are saddened by their decision, the Duke and Duchess remain much loved members of the family," the palace statement read.

The Invictus Games Foundation said Harry would remain its patron.

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Markle, a former American actress, became the Duchess of Sussex when she married Harry in May 2018 at Windsor Castle. The couple welcomed a son named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in 2019.

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussexs departures from royal duties began in 2020 over what they described as the British medias intrusions and racist attitudes towards the former "Suits" star, 39. The family now resides in the coastal city of Montecito, Calif.

In the wake of quitting royal duties, they gave an explosive TV interview to Oprah Winfrey in March, in which the couple described painful comments about how dark Archies skin might be before his birth. The duchess talked about the intense isolation she felt inside the royal family that led her to contemplate suicide.



Buckingham Palace said the allegations of racism made by the couple were "concerning" and would be addressed privately.

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On June 4, the couple welcomed their second child, a daughter named Lilibet "Lili" Diana Mountbatten-Windsor. The child is eighth in line to the British throne.



The name pays tribute to both Harrys grandmother the queen, whose family nickname is Lilibet, as well as his late mother, Princess Diana.
Donald Trump at Trump Tower. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Attorneys for the Trump Organization have until Monday afternoon to make their final arguments to New York prosecutors as to why the company should not face criminal charges over its financial practices, two people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post on Sunday.

Manhattan prosecutors have spent the last two years investigating the Trump Organization and whether the company artificially manipulated the value of its properties to secure loans and tax benefits. Earlier this year, District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. convened a special grand jury in Manhattan to consider indictments, people with knowledge of the matter have said.

On Thursday, lawyers representing the Trump Organization and former President Donald Trump held a virtual meeting with Manhattan prosecutors, and presented their reasoning as to why charges should not be filed, the Post reports. Prosecutors are considering not only charging the Trump Organization, but also the company's chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, people familiar with the probe told the Post. Investigators have been looking into whether Weisselberg paid taxes on benefits he received from Trump, and he has not cooperated with prosecutors.

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Key Republicans are warming to an idea that was once anathema to the party  leveling taxes on big American companies to pay for internet subsidy programs.

Why it matters: Republican interest in taxing Big Tech could help shore up a struggling subsidy fund that supports broadband in rural areas, schools, libraries and hospitals.

Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.

State of play: An idea from GOP FCC commissioner Brendan Carr to force tech companies to pay into a pool of money used to fund broadband programs is gaining steam with some key lawmakers.

What they're saying: GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called the proposal "thought-provoking," and his office notes that video streaming accounts for more than 50% of web traffic and online advertising is a $100 billion a year industry.

"Any conversation about building out broadband for unserved Americans should include a Big Tech user fee that corresponds to their use of that infrastructure," a McCarthy spokesperson told Axios. "Funding for the Universal Service Fund  which is increasingly at odds with the principle of user pays  needs to be updated and reimagined."

Likewise, Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Commerce Committee, thinks Congress should explore the idea, his office told Axios. Rep.. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, ranking Republican on the House Energy & Commerce Committee, thinks all options should be on the table, her office said.

The big picture: The interest in taxing Big Tech coincides with some GOP support for antitrust bills that would prevent the companies from buying up smaller rivals or favoring their own products.

Catch up quick: Americans pay a fee on their phone bills that goes into the FCC's Universal Service Fund, which is used for broadband subsidy programs.

But the fee has been increasing as the revenue base decreases, leading for calls to reform how contributions are made to the fund.

Companies like AT&T have suggested Congress use direct appropriations instead of the fee.

Details: Carr, the FCC commissioner, argues instead that Congress should direct the companies that benefit from using internet networks to pay into the subsidy fund.

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That means Apple would pay because of its App Store, Amazon because of cloud services and video streaming, and Facebook and Google because of online advertising, Carr said.

"It's just simply asking them to pay a fair share and start contributing on an equitable basis for these networks that they benefit from so tremendously," Carr told Axios.

The other side: The Internet Association, a trade group that includes Amazon, Facebook, Google and Apple, called the idea an attempt to punish its members.

"We hope the FCC will take a common sense approach and not punish innovative, high-quality streaming services that are fulfilling consumer demand," President K. Dane Snowden said in a statement.

Between the lines: Big telecom companies have argued for years that the online companies that ride their networks should have to pay more for the privilege.

But Carr said under his proposal, broadband providers would pay into the fund as well.

"I'm not drawing a line around the entities and protecting them," Carr told Axios. "I think we should follow this precedent and apply it."

Yes, but: While Carr has homed in on a popular political target for both sides of the aisle, reforming the FCC's broadband programs requires a much broader rethink than just figuring out who should pay, Blair Levin, a non-resident fellow with Brookings Institution, told Axios.

"It's kind of like pretending that a piece of a 100-piece puzzle is the puzzle, and it's not," Levin told Axios. "You've got to look at the whole puzzle."

He also noted the difficulty in assessing the very different revenue streams of tech companies, and drawing the limits around who would have to pay.

"Should this be on the table? Absolutely," Levin said. "Should it be the result? I don't know. The question is what institution is really going to take on the challenge of studying it and coming up with the best answer."

What's next: While acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has called the idea "intriguing," the FCC can't do much on its own to force Google or Amazon to pay into its fund.

"We should be open to new ideas," Rosenworcel said. "But its clear that this would require action from Congress.

And though Republicans seem interested, that's a long way from advancing legislation.

Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free.
MOSCOW (AP)  The leaders of Russia and China on Monday hailed increasingly close ties between their countries and announced the extension of a 20-year-old friendship treaty, a show of unity amid their tensions with the West.

Speaking in a video call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the treaty signed in July 2001 in Moscow helped take relations between Moscow and Beijing to an unprecedented height and would be extended for another five years.

The Russian leader noted that the coordination of foreign policy efforts by Russia and China has played a stabilizing role in global affairs.

Xi in his opening remarks emphasized the importance of a strategic cooperation between Moscow and Beijing in defending their common interests on the global stage. He added that Russia and China have worked to uphold a true multilateralism and global justice.

Putin and Xi have developed strong personal ties to bolster a strategic partnership between the two former Communist rivals as they vie with the West for influence and face soaring tensions in relations with the U.S. and its allies. While Moscow and Beijing in the past rejected the possibility of forging a military alliance, Putin said last fall that such a prospect cant be ruled out entirely.

During Monday's call, Putin congratulated Xi on the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China celebrated Thursday, saying that China is marking it with new achievements in the country's social-economic development and on the international stage and recalling Soviet support for the Chinese communists.

Moscow marked the CPC's centennial by sharing historic documents on Soviet-Chinese links with Beijing.
A woman wearing a mask walks past an empty shop which is to let on 15 March 2021 in Burslem, England

Small firms need more help to bridge an 18-day gap as Covid limits continue but financial support packages wind down, the Federation of Small Business says.

Restrictions were set to be lifted in England on 21 June but this was delayed for four weeks until 19 July.

However, a number of measures aimed at helping firms, such as a business rates exemption and deferred VAT payments, will end on 1 July.

A government spokeswoman said "substantial" support would remain.

The FSB, which represents small firms, is concerned that there will be a gap in financial provisioning that will put more pressure on businesses that are already struggling.

Many firms, especially in the night-time hospitality sector, had budgeted to be able to trade from 21 June.

However, the delay in easing coronavirus restrictions means firms are continuing to struggle financially, the FSB says.

While the government has committed to continuing the furlough scheme, there will be changes from the start of July that will require increased payments from businesses.

From 1 July, business rate exemptions for retailers and hospitality firms will also end.

At the same time, the amount of wage costs employers need to contribute for furloughed staff through national insurance and pension will rise from 5% to 14%.

Firms will also have to start paying deferred VAT bills, while repayments on more than 45bn in emergency bounce-back loans will soon be due.

Cash reserves

FSB national chairman Mike Cherry told the BBC that some of the UK's most fragile businesses had "clung on" through the pandemic, but now have no cash reserves remaining.

"With 'freedom day' delayed and business support now peeling back, we are worried for those who suddenly face new costs, but are unable to raise revenue to pay for them. Some may now cease trading and let staff go," he said.

Story continues

"Business support should be extended such as full furlough and full business rates relief."

A spokeswoman for the government said that the furlough scheme, introduced at the start of the first nationwide lockdown, was still in place until September and "is amongst the most generous schemes in the world", providing 65bn of support and protecting 11.5 million jobs.

"The government will continue pay 70% of workers' wages over July, with businesses asked to cover just 10%," she added,

"They can also continue to access additional support, including restart grants worth up to 18,000 per business, and business rates relief and a cut to VAT - both in place until March 2022."
Archbishop Spalding midfielder Michael Weisshaar has been named the C. Markland Kelly Award winner as Marylands top high school lacrosse player, it was announced Sunday in Annapolis at the 74th annual banquet.

In his senior year this spring, the Towson University commit led the Cavaliers to a 12-3 mark and their first trip to the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship game before falling to Boys Latin, 9-8.

Weisshaar, who was named All-MIAA and a US Lacrosse All American, scored 48 goals and dished off 23 assists to lead Spalding in scoring. The left-handed shooter was a full-field midfielder and also gobbled up 53 ground balls, while playing an instrumental role in the clearing game.

Other players awarded in their respective public school classes were Havre de Grace attackman Michael Sweigart (Cass 1A), City attackman DeAndre Chaney (2A), Urbana midfielder Eric Kolar (3A) and Catonsville goalie Brian Ruppel (4A). Georgetown Prep midfielder William Angrick was the recipient in the private schools South category.

Selections were made by a committee chosen from the Maryland State Lacrosse Coaches Association and selected media representatives.
Covid-19 vaccine ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

A new study reportedly suggests the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna could provide protection for "years."

As The New York Times reports, scientists in a new study sought to determine whether "vaccination alone" will provide long-lasting protection against COVID-19 after research suggested the vaccines may offer years of protection for those who were previously infected with the coronavirus. The study consisted of 41 people who received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine, and the researchers extracted samples from lymph nodes of 14 participants. They found that 15 weeks after the first dose, "the number of memory cells that recognized the coronavirus had not declined," the Times writes.

"The fact that the reactions continued for almost four months after vaccination  that's a very, very good sign," Washington University in St. Louis immunologist Ali Ellebedy, who led the study, told the Times.

This suggested, the Times writes, that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines could "protect against the coronavirus for years," or "at least, against the existing coronavirus variants." The report notes that even if that's the case, COVID-19 vaccine boosters might still be necessary for some, including older adults and those with weak immune systems. But University of Arizona immunologist Deepta Bhattacharya told the Times, "Anything that would actually require a booster would be variant-based, not based on waning of immunity. I just don't see that happening." Read more at The New York Times.

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Scottish independence

Support for Scottish independence has dropped in recent months and stands at its lowest level for two years, according to a poll.

The Panelbase survey for the Sunday Times found 48 per cent support for separation and 52 per cent backing for the Union when undecided voters were excluded.

This represented a four-point swing since a poll conducted in April produced the opposite result. It also showed the lowest support for independence in a Panelbase poll since 2019.

Prof Sir John Curtice, Britain's most eminent psephologist, said the results indicated "a cooling of the independence ardour" since the Holyrood elections last month. Nicola Sturgeon's SNP won a fourth term in power but fell one seat short of a majority.

The poll also found only 19 per cent of Scots think there should be another referendum within the next year, down three points on the last survey, while 35 per cent said it should be staged within the next two to five years.

The remaining 46 per cent said a separation vote should not be staged in the next few years. A total of 1,287 adults aged 16 and over were surveyed between June 16 and 24.

Ms Sturgeon has said she wants a referendum by autumn 2023, after the immediate health crisis has passed but while Scotland is still recovering from the pandemic.

However, Michael Gove told the Telegraph last week that Boris Johnson will not grant another separation vote before the 2024 general election.

Prof Curtice said the SNP cannot afford the independence debate "to be off the boil too long" and needed a campaign to win over more Scots.

"Otherwise, Ms Sturgeon might find herself stuck with a promise to hold a referendum that she has little hope of winning," he told the Sunday Times.

Pamela Nash, chief executive of campaign group Scotland in Union, said: "The UK's broad shoulders have helped every part of the country through this crisis, from protecting jobs to a successful vaccination programme, so it is not surprising that more people are recognising the benefits of remaining part of the UK.

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"The Scottish Government should listen to what voters are saying and focus on the Covid recovery, which will take many years, and not reopen old divisions."

An SNP spokesman said: "The people of Scotland have delivered a cast-iron mandate for a fresh independence referendum when the Covid crisis has passed.

"Scotland must have the right to decide our own future, so we can choose a better path than Boris Johnson's shambolic Tory government and continue to build a fairer country."
(Independent)

The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from an Arlington-based company that is seeking to block a civil case brought by former detainees at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq who alleged that they were tortured by US service members at the behest of civilian contractors.

In a flurry of announcements regarding which cases the court will take up, justices denied certiorari in the case, handing a victory to the former detainees who have sought to hold CACI International, Inc., liable for their treatment at the facility which became one of the darkest chapters of Americas war in Iraq.

More to follow...
WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court on Monday declined to wade into a dispute over whether schools may bar transgender students from using a bathroom that reflects their gender identity, permitting a lower court ruling against those prohibitions to stand.

At issue in the case was whether federal anti-discrimination law applied to LGBTQ students. Gloucester County School Board in Virginia argued its policy of requiring transgender students to use unisex bathrooms was permitted under a 50-year-old law that prohibits discrimination at schools that receive federal funding.

By not taking the case, the Supreme Court without comment let stand a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that found the schools policy discriminated against Gavin Grimm, a transgender man who was denied access to the boys bathroom years ago when he was a high school student.

"I am glad that my years-long fight to have my school see me for who I am is over," Grimm said in a statement released by the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented him in the case. "Trans youth deserve to use the bathroom in peace without being humiliated and stigmatized by their own school boards and elected officials."

Neither the school district nor its attorneys responded to a request for comment.

Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito said they would have taken the case, though they did not elaborate on their position. The Supreme Court did not rule on the underlying legal questions and experts say more cases involving transgender rights will arrive at the high court as conservative states pass a bevy of laws restricting those rights.

Bathroom battle: Trans teen is back at Supreme Court, years after graduation

Biden: Transgender students protected at school, U.S. Department of Education says

The case returned to the court at a time when the Biden administration is seeking to expand legal protections for transgender students. In one of his first executive orders, President Joe Biden said the federal government would seek to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

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The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case once before, in 2016, based on guidance from the Obama administration that nudged schools to adopt policies favoring transgender students. But the court dropped the case months later, wiping out a lower court ruling for Grimm, when the Trump administration withdrew the guidance. Bidens administration reinstated the Obama-era guidance earlier this month.

Grimm's case, meanwhile, continued to wind its way back through the federal courts , even as he graduated from high school and moved to California for college.

In the meantime, the Supreme Court held last year that prohibitions on workplace discrimination on the basis of "sex" also extended protections to LGBTQ Americans. The legal fight between LGBTQ advocates and their opponents has since shifted to whether other laws that bar sex discrimination similarly protect people in other settings based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

That debate featured prominently in Grimm's case.

A federal court upheld Gavin Grimm's choice of bathroom facilities.

Grimm was a rising sophomore when he changed his first name to Gavin and began using male pronouns. Officials at Gloucester High School were supportive, but blowback from parents prompted the school board to bar Grimm from the boys bathroom, directing him instead to unisex bathrooms  three of which were built in response to the controversy.

Grimm said the mandate made him feel "stigmatized and isolated." The unisex bathrooms were unavailable when he attended football games and afterschool activities. Grimm would often "hold it," leading to urinary tract infections. He sued in 2015, claiming the boards policy violated Title IX and the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

Though the ACLU and LGBTQ advocates applauded the court's decision as a victory, the legal ramification was less clear. Appeals courts in Chicago and Atlanta, as well as the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, have held that schools violate federal law when they prohibit transgender boys from using the same restrooms as cisgender boys. But that legal question remains unsettled at the national level.

"The Supreme Court's decision to not hear the Grimm case is a victory for trans students and it might influence how some lower courts view similar cases," said Jami Taylor, political science professor at The University of Toledo and an expert on LGBTQ policies. "However, it does not set national precedent."

That lack of clarity comes amid an onslaught of state laws attempting to limit transgender rights. Those include a Tennessee law requiring transgender students to compete in school sports according to their sex assigned at birth. Arkansas this year became the first state to ban gender-affirming treatments for transgender minors.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court won't decide trans bathroom case involving Gavin Grimm
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a Virginia school board's appeal of a lower-court ruling that allowed transgender students to use school bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity.

Why it matters: It brings an end to the years-long legal saga involving Gavin Grimm, a trans student who sued his Gloucester County high school in 2015 after being denied access to the boys' restroom.

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The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Grimm's favor last year, finding that the school board's policy violated the Constitution's equal protection guarantee and Title IX  the federal law banning sex-based discrimination in federally funded schools.

"The proudest moments of the federal judiciary have been when we affirm the burgeoning values of our bright youth, rather than preserve the prejudices of the past," Circut Judge Henry Floyd wrote at the time.

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STOCKHOLM (AP)  Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven is resigning after losing a confidence vote last week and he called on the countrys parliament on Monday to try to form a new government instead of holding an early election.

Lofven, who has been premier since 2014 and heads the Social Democratic Party, became the first Swedish leader ever to lose a confidence vote in parliament. He didn't call for an early election as the Swedish Constitution allows him to. He is formally stepping down, but will continue in a caretaker role until a new government can be formed.

A snap election is not what is best for Sweden, Lofven said. The speaker will now begin work on proposing a prime minister who can be tolerated by the Riksdag (the assembly). The government will continue to govern the country for now but as the caretaking government.

The parliament speaker since 2018, Andreas Norlen, will ask party leaders who may be able to form a government. He alone decides which of the party leaders can begin these talks.

It is expected that Lofven, who heads Swedens largest party with 100 of Riksdagens 349 seats, will start these talks. His Cabinet, a Social Democratic-Green coalition, is a minority government that has relied on votes from the small Left Party to pass laws.

The no-confidence motion against Lofven was called by the nationalist Sweden Democrats party  which has been criticizing the Social Democratic Party for years  but it ultimately succeeded because the Left Party withdrew its support from the government over proposed legislation to tackle a housing shortage. Lawmakers voted 181-109 against Lofven, with 51 abstentions.

The political situation in Sweden now seems deadlocked.

Lofven has been able to get the Left Party back as an ally but the small Liberals, which earlier supported the Social Democratic-led government, now want a center-right government. The Conservatives, meanwhile, still want a Lofven at the helm but doesnt want to made deals with the Sweden Democrats or the left-leaning Left Party.

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In the center-right bloc, the Moderates, Swedens second largest party, wants its leader Ulf Kristersson as prime minister.

The last time coalition talks took place in Sweden was following the 2018 election that created a deadlocked parliament. It took four months of negotiations to produce a government that Lofven presented in January 2019.

Norlen told Swedish broadcaster SVT that the different parties now know where the others stand" and promised that government formation talks would be faster this time.

In the present assembly, the left-leaning side and the center-right bloc have about 40% of the vote each.

None of the sides want to cooperate with the Sweden Democrats, a right-wing populist party that is considered extreme.

In Sweden, the next general election will be held on Sept. 11.

Lofven said he was ready to head a government if that is what the Riksdagen wants.

My party is ready to shoulder the responsibility to continue to lead our country forward together with other constructive forces, he said.
Sweden's Social Democratic Prime Minister Stefan Lofven - Stina Stjernkvist / TT via AP

Sweden's prime minister Stefan Lofven has resigned, pushing the country into political turmoil as he and the leader of the country's opposition battle to build viable coalitions.

The 63-year-old former union dealmaker said that the decision not to instead call snap elections had been "the most difficult political decision" of his life.

"There are actually two bad alternatives, to be completely honest... but I feel confident that this is the best option." he said, arguing that an autumn election campaign risked clashing with a possible fourth wave of coronavirus infections.

"I do not think that the majority of the Swedish people want to have a snap election."

Mr Lofven last Monday became the first leader in Swedish history to lose a no-confidence vote in parliament, after which he had a week to decide whether to call elections or resign.

As he stood down, Mr Lofven had harsh words for the Left Party, the country's former communists, who triggered the process by teaming up with the Right-wing bloc, including the populist Sweden Democrats, to fell the government.

"I think [it's] very strange for the Left Party to make an alliance with Right-wing extremists. We're never seen that before," he told the Daily Telegraph.

The Left Party was explicitly prevented from having any political influence under the so-called "January Agreement" Mr Lofven struck with two smaller parties in the middle of the political centre to enable him to take power in January 2019, following four months of political deadlock.

The party's frustration boiled over as the government refused to stop moves towards liberalising rents, one of the party's red lines.

Mr Lofven was also critical of the right-wing parties for toppling the government despite lacking enough mandates to build their own.

"They voted the government out without themselves having an alternative for government," he said.

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The speaker will soon begin talks with party leaders to judge who is best to form a workable coalition, probably starting with Ulf Kristersson, leader of the opposition Moderate Party.

Under Sweden's system of "negative parliamentarism", he will need to convince a majority of MPs not to vote against his candidacy.

Even if he gets the backing of all MPs from all of the parties who now support him, Mr Kristersson remains one mandate short, meaning his only hope rests with any MPs in the Centre party who might be willing to vote against their party line.

If he fails, the baton will return to Mr Lofven, and if four attempts at forming a government fail, there will be automatic snap elections.

At the press conference, Mr Lofven noted that it had been the Liberal Party which had insisted on cutting the Left Party out of political influence in 2019.
Three possible suspects were later detained and a firearm was recovered from inside a vehicle (Long Beach Police Department)

Three people, including a 13-year-old child, have been shot during a drive-by shooting in downtown Long Beach in California, authorities have said.

The Long Beach Police Department said in a release that the shooting took place at around 7.30pm on Saturday in the area of Shoreline Drive and was thought to have been gang related.

A 23-year-old man was struck in the chest and left in critical condition, while an 18-year old man and a 13-year-old boy also sustained gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening.

NBC4 reported that the incident occurred outside the Hooters restaurant at The Pike Outlets and that one of the victims ran into the restaurant for help.

The preliminary investigation revealed the victims were standing in front of a business, when gunshots were fired at them from a vehicle driving by, police said.

Officers in the area conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle seen fleeing the area and detained three possible suspects inside the car. A firearm was also recovered from inside the vehicle, police said.

Jonathan Rodriguez-Zamora, 23, from Wilmington was booked on three counts of attempted murder among other charges and is being held on $3 million bail.

Two other male teenagers, a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old, were also booked on charges of attempted murder among other charges.

A motive for the shooting is still undetermined, but detectives are investigating it as possibly being gang related, police said.

Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia called the shooting horrific in a post on Twitter on Sunday, citing an increase in gun violence in our city and across the country.

Gun seizures are up over 50 per cent locally and last year Americans purchased 60 per cent more guns. LBPD had already surged staffing and more to come. Suspects arrested, he said.

At least one bullet struck a nearby business, police said. Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna told reporters that those inside the restaurant were shaken by the incident.

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As you can imagine, theyre traumatised, Mr Luna said. Its not every day a bullet goes through the front door, and theres blood on the floor.

"I was just eating with my family, and then we heard like six gunshots," Wendy Jones told NBC4. "We saw people running to the parking lot.

Police are asking that anyone who has information regarding the incident contact the citys Gang Investigation Section at (562) 570-7370.

I would like to thank all of the community members who assisted the officers in the area by quickly providing valuable information during this tragic incident, Mr Luna said.

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Wendy Hechtman, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence but was released to home confinement during the pandemic shows, her ankle monitor, in New Haven, Conn., May 13, 2021. (Hilary Swift/The New York Times)

NEW HAVEN, Conn.  Ever since she was sent to a sober-living facility six months ago, part of a mass release of nonviolent prisoners to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, Wendy Hechtman has tried to do all the right things.

She is making up for lost time with her children, one of whom was only 6 when Hechtman was locked up roughly three years ago. She goes to weekly drug-counseling sessions. She even got a part-time job helping former inmates reintegrate into society.

But now, Hechtman is among about 4,000 federal offenders who could soon return to prison  not because they violated the terms of their home confinement, but because the United States appears to be moving past the worst of the pandemic.

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In the final days of the Trump administration, the Justice Department issued a memo saying inmates whose sentences lasted beyond the pandemic emergency period would have to go back to prison. But some lawmakers and criminal justice advocates are urging President Joe Biden to revoke the rule, use his executive power to keep them on home confinement or commute their sentences entirely, arguing that the pandemic offers a glimpse into a different type of punitive system in America, one that relies far less on incarceration.

If I go to prison for all the time I have left, I wont have boys anymore. They will be men, said Hechtman, who is serving a 15-year sentence for conspiracy to distribute a form of fentanyl. I have so much to lose. And to gain.

Biden has vowed to make overhauling the criminal justice system a crucial part of his presidency, saying his administration could cut the prison population by more than half and expand programs that offered alternatives to detention.

While the White House has yet to announce a decision about those on home confinement, the administration appears to be following the direction of the Trump-era memo.

Andrew Bates, a spokesman for Biden, said in a statement that the president was committed to reducing incarceration and helping people reenter society, but he referred questions about the future of those in home confinement to the Justice Department.

Story continues

Kristie Breshears, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons, which is part of the Justice Department, said the bureau would have the discretion to allow inmates who were close to the end of their sentences to remain on home confinement even after the national emergency declaration was lifted.

For the more difficult cases, where inmates still have years left to serve, this will be an issue only after the pandemic is over, she said. The president recently extended the national emergency and the Department of Health and Human Services has said the public health crisis is likely to last for the rest of the year.

The White House revisits the emergency declaration every three months, leaving the former prisoners in a constant state of limbo. The next deadline is in July.

Stacie Demers, who has served nearly half of a 10-year sentence for conspiracy to distribute marijuana, said she felt as if she was stuck between the beginning and the end, so to speak. She is currently at her aunts home in Albany, New York. The thing is constantly in the back of my mind: Do I have to go back? Will I not see my family again?

An Alternative to Crowded Prisons

The United States is believed to be the worlds leader in incarceration, spending $80 billion a year to keep more than 2 million people behind bars.

For nonviolent offenders in particular, home confinement can be a more humane  and cheaper  alternative to already crowded prisons, criminal justice advocates argue.

The United States spent an average of $37,500 to keep a federal inmate such as Hechtman locked up in the 2018 fiscal year. Home confinement, by contrast, costs around $13,000 a year, with expenses including monitoring equipment and paying private contractors to handle supervision, according to a 2017 Government Accountability Office report.

Those pushing for overhauling the prison system say the statistics are on their side. The vast majority of the 24,000 federal prisoners who were released to home confinement because of the coronavirus crisis followed the rules. Most of them had only weeks or months left on their sentences and completed them without incident.

Three people committed new crimes, one of which was violent, Michael Carvajal, director of the Bureau of Prisons, told lawmakers during a Senate judiciary hearing in April. Roughly 150 people were returned to prison for other violations, including about two dozen for leaving their designated homes without authorization.

Kevin Ring, president of the criminal justice advocacy group FAMM, formerly known as Families Against Mandatory Minimums, questioned the wisdom of cases in which people were sent back for technical violations such as online gambling, sending money to other inmates in prison or, in the case of a 76-year-old woman in Baltimore, attending a computer-training class. That doesnt make anyone safer, he said.

Changing the prison system is one of the few areas that has drawn bipartisanship agreement in Washington. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, joined Democrats in criticizing the Justice Department memo, which was issued in January.

Obviously if they can stay where they are, its going to save the taxpayers a lot of money, Grassley said at the hearing. It will also help people who arent prone to reoffend and allows inmates to successfully reenter society as productive citizens.

Inmates are typically allowed to serve the final six months, or 10%, of their sentence on home confinement. The legal memo issued by the Trump administration argued that the roughly 4,000 inmates whose sentences would almost certainly outlast the pandemic would need to return to prison because they do not fit the usual eligibility requirements for home confinement.

Larry Cosme, national president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which represents probation officials, cautioned against changing those requirements without a proper review.

Its good to have adequate prison reform and get with the times, but you have to do it meaningfully, with an adequate amount of personnel, Cosme said. Make sure the system works and not setting someone up for failure.

He also said the releases put a strain on those responsible for monitoring the inmates.

Carvajal said that while the Bureau of Prisons supported the reintegration of inmates, other issues were at play.

The whole point of this is that theyre going back to society at some point, Carvajal said. We also respect the fact, though, that these sentences were imposed by the criminal justice system in a court of law.

Inimai Chettiar, federal director for the Justice Action Network, which consulted with the Biden campaign on criminal justice measures, said the prison system had needed to be overhauled for years. She said Biden should not only rescind the memo, but also use his executive power to issue clemency for the inmates.

I worry that their commitment to ensuring DOJs independence is getting in the way of their commitment to racial justice and criminal justice, Chettiar said of the Biden administration. This is a fairly easy thing to do. This is not passing bipartisan policing legislation. Its not some massive new executive action. Its simply someone typing something up on a one sheet piece of paper.

They Wont Take Care of Me

For some inmates, being released to home confinement has meant gaining access to lifesaving resources and support systems that they say were scarce from within prison walls.

Jorge Maldonado, 53, who has kidney disease, was released in October because his poor health made him especially vulnerable to the coronavirus. He has served five years of a seven-year sentence for fraud and theft, much of it in a federal prison in North Carolina that has been hard hit by the virus.

Maldonado, a veteran of Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s, now receives dialysis 10 hours a day using a catheter through his abdomen as he waits for a new kidney, which would be his third kidney transplant.

He said being at home in Oviedo, Florida, outside Orlando, had allowed him to receive the medical care he needed through the Department of Veterans Affairs health system.

But Maldonado has 18 months left on his sentence.

They wont take care of me, healthwise, the way the VA does, he said of the Bureau of Prisons, which has been frequently criticized for the quality of its medical care.

Maldonado also questioned why he might be forced to return to prison with only a year and a half left in his sentence.

If somebody is doing what they should be doing, and proven that theyre not really a menace to this community, to society, then whats the problem? he asked.

Hechtman has nine years left on her sentence after she was caught producing a chemical analogue of fentanyl in 2017.

I get it, she said as she expressed remorse for selling to others in Omaha, Nebraska, where she was arrested. This is not a get-out-of-jail-free card, but what it is is an opportunity card.

At the sober-living home in New Haven, Hechtman said she did not need to worry about being exposed to the opioids she often saw peddled throughout prison. She starts her day by logging on to her computer in her 10-foot-by-12-foot room and working at her part-time job working with former prisoners.

To go for a walk in the park or even travel 20 yards to take out the trash, she must submit a request to a contractor working for the government.

When she leaves her home, she wears a black monitor on her right ankle and activates an app on her phone that allows government officials to track her.

Hechtman said she had yet to miss one of her weekly counseling sessions. She recalled that when she was in the minimum-security facility in Danbury, Connecticut, she often had to wait for weeks before getting approved for counseling for addiction.

She has hope now, and she didnt have that, said Kathryn Perusse, Hechtmans 22-year-old daughter, who lives in Montreal. She needed a support system, and thats also another thing she couldnt have inside.

Hechtman often notes that a release to home confinement does not equate to absolute freedom. She still has not seen Perusse or her three other children, including the 9-year-old son with whom she video chats regularly.

She is not authorized to visit them in Canada. She said her relatives had not yet visited her because of arduous quarantine requirements in place because of the pandemic.

Hechtman said she hoped she would see them outside of a prison visitation room for the first time in more than three years before she was sent back.

 2021 The New York Times Company
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Monday demanded President Joe Biden push Democrats to walk back their threats of withholding support for a bipartisan infrastructure deal unless they are assured of passing a second, massive spending bill.

McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said in a statement Monday that Biden appropriately backed off an earlier threat that he would not approve of the infrastructure package unless there is a guarantee Democrats can pass a second, multitrillion-dollar spending package that would pay for universal preschool, free community college, caregiver funding, healthcare subsidies, housing for the homeless, and green energy programs.

Republicans have been negotiating in bipartisan good faith to meet the real infrastructure needs of our nation, McConnell said. The president cannot let congressional Democrats hold a bipartisan bill hostage over a separate and partisan process.

Republicans said they were surprised last week when Democrats warned they would block a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal if it is not paired with the second package.

A small group of Republicans and Democrats negotiated the $1 trillion infrastructure measure and are working to shore up support in the House and Senate. Democrats say they wont back the bill without the second spending measure, but Republicans oppose the larger package.

The impasse has threatened the future of the infrastructure deal that Biden celebrated last week.

Biden on Sunday issued a statement walking back his threat that he wouldnt sign the infrastructure bill unless it was passed with the second bill.

"My comments also created the impression that I was issuing a veto threat on the very plan I had just agreed to, which was certainly not my intent," Biden said Sunday.

Both Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said they wont consider the narrow infrastructure bill without the larger package accompanying it.

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Democrats control the majorities in the House and Senate and determine which legislation makes it to the floor for consideration.

While Republicans have little leverage, they threatened to blow up the bipartisan deal that Biden was eager to celebrate last week.

Unless Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi walk back their threats that they will refuse to send the president a bipartisan infrastructure bill unless they also separately pass trillions of dollars for unrelated tax hikes, wasteful spending, and Green New Deal socialism, then President Bidens walk-back of his veto threat would be a hollow gesture, McConnell said.



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Original Author: Susan Ferrechio

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Former President Donald Trump laid into his last attorney general, William Barr, who recently called the former presidents claims of election fraud bulls***t.

Trumps Sunday night attack on Barr came hours after the Atlantic published excerpts from ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karls book Betrayal.

In an interview with Karl, Barr reportedly explained that If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it. But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there. It was all bulls***.

JOSH MANDEL CALLS FOR NOV. 3 COMMISSION AND STANDS BY BELIEF TRUMP WON IN 2020

Trump, who has continued to promote claims that he was the real victor in the 2020 presidential election, claimed Barr and other RINOs in the Republican Party are being used in order to try to convince people that the election was legitimate when so many incredible facts have now come out to show conclusively that it wasnt.

Karls excerpt revealed that Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell had urged Barr for weeks to speak out in order for Republicans to make the argument that Georgians had to turn out for their Jan. 5 Senate runoff election to prevent the Democrats from gaining the White House and control of the Senate.

Look, we need the president in Georgia, McConnell purportedly told Barr, and so we cannot be frontally attacking him right now. But youre in a better position to inject some reality into this situation. You are really the only one who can do it.

Trump said McConnell pushed Barr to tell lies about the election and that what really damaged the Senate Republicans was allowing their races to be rigged and stolen, and worse, the American people to no longer believe their vote matters because spineless RINOs like Bill Barr and Mitch McConnell did nothing.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The former president and his campaign launched a coordinated effort in an attempt to overturn the election results through both the judicial system and a series of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, even though the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a statement in November that said the presidential election was "the most secure in American history."

Story continues

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and other nations in a joint statement on Monday reiterated their call for immediate nation-wide ceasefire in Syria and unimpeded delivery of aid to the war-torn country.

The group of 19 countries as well as the European Union and Arab League said in the statement released after a meeting of their ministers that United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254, the 2015 resolution that laid out the steps for a ceasefire and political transition in Syria, is the "only solution" to the country's decade-long conflict.

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert)
By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to a transgender former public high school student who waged a six-year legal battle against a Virginia county school board that had barred him from using the bathroom corresponding with his gender identity.

The justices left in place a lower court's ruling that the Gloucester County School Board had acted unlawfully in preventing Gavin Grimm from using the boys' bathroom before he graduated in 2017. In doing so, the court opted against taking up a major transgender rights case that could have set a nationwide precedent on the issue.

The court turned away the board's appeal of a 2020 ruling by the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Grimm is protected under the federal law known as Title IX that bars sex discrimination in education and the U.S. Constitution's requirement that people be treated equally under the law.

The brief court order noted that conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would have taken up the case.

"We won," Grimm, now 22, wrote on Twitter. "I have nothing more to say but thank you, thank you, thank you. Honored to have been part of this victory."

Grimm sued the school board in 2015. The Supreme Court previously took up the case in 2016 but did not issue a ruling and sent it back to lower courts.

The 4th Circuit ruling does not set a national legal precedent, but it does apply to the five states within its jurisdiction: Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

Bathroom access represents one of the major issues in the fight over transgender rights, and Grimm's suit was the most prominent legal case on the subject. But the legal and political battles over protections for transgender Americans, both in education and in society as a whole, are set to continue.

Several states including Florida https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/florida-joins-states-ban-transgender-girls-sports-2021-06-01 have enacted laws that block transgender women and girls from competing in sports. The Supreme Court may yet rule on the bathroom access issue and related transgender rights matters in future cases.

Story continues

"Our work is not yet done," said Josh Block, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who represents Grimm.

Block said the decision by the justices not to hear the case indicates that they see no urgency to weigh in on the issue.

"The court can see that trans kids have been using the restrooms and none of the apocalyptic fears have actually come to pass," Block added.

The school board did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

President Joe Biden's administration, reversing the position taken under his predecessor Donald Trump, said on June 16 that Title IX protects both gender identity and sexual orientation. The administration has not said specifically how that applies to school bathroom access.

Grimm, assigned female gender at birth, identifies as male. Grimm initially enrolled at Gloucester High School as a girl and started attending as a male student in September 2014. With the school's permission, Grimm used the boys' bathroom for about seven weeks without incident.

After complaints from parents, the school board adopted a policy in December 2014 requiring students to use the bathroom corresponding with their gender at birth. Grimm was given the option of using a separate gender-neutral bathroom, but refused, feeling stigmatized.

Judge Henry Floyd, writing for the 4th Circuit, said the school board's actions constituted "a special kind of discrimination against a child that he will no doubt carry with him for life." The 4th Circuit upheld a federal judge's 2019 ruling in Grimm's favor.

Grimm's case was previously set to be argued at the Supreme Court in 2017 but was taken off the schedule after Trump's administration rescinded guidance issued under his predecessor Barack Obama regarding bathroom access for transgender students.

The Biden administration has reversed various Trump policies on LGBT issues.

The Supreme Court issued a landmark 2020 ruling that gay and transgender people are protected under a federal law that bars sex discrimination in employment. That ruling helped guide the 4th Circuit's decision in Grimm's case and the Biden administration's position on Title IX protections.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)
By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday put CACI International Inc a step closer to facing a trial in a lawsuit by three Iraqi former detainees who have accused employees of the defense contractor of directing their torture at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

The justices declined to hear CACI's appeal of a lower court's 2019 decision that favored the three Iraqi men, whose suit against the Virginia-based company was filed in 2008 under a 1789 U.S. law called the Alien Tort Statute that can be used to pursue legal claims over alleged human rights abuses.

The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2019 refused to let the company immediately appeal a federal judge's earlier ruling that said CACI was immune from being sued because it was working as a government contractor. The company has argued that it should be protected under a different and more muscular legal doctrine known as derivative sovereign immunity that can be invoked to shield government contractors from liability under certain circumstances.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)
EDITORS NOTE: MUTE AUDIO AS INCOMING

In a statement, the U.S. military said it targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq. It did not disclose whether it believed anyone was killed or injured but officials said assessments were ongoing.

Iraqi militia groups aligned with Iran in a statement named four members of the Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada faction they said were killed in the attack on the Syria-Iraq border. They vowed to retaliate.

The strikes came at the direction of President Joe Biden, the second time he has ordered retaliatory strikes against Iran-backed militia since taking office five months ago. Biden last ordered limited strikes in Syria in February, that time in response to rocket attacks in Iraq.
ROME (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has asked Italy to withdraw aircraft and personnel from a military base in the Gulf state by July 2, an Italian government source said on Monday, in what appeared to be fallout from Rome halting the sale of missiles to the UAE.

The source told Reuters negotiations were ongoing to try to resolve the matter.

The UAE foreign ministry did not reply to a request for comment.

As part of multinational operations, Italy, a NATO member, has used al Minhad airbase, which hosts aircraft from various nations, for flights to Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean.

In January, Italy said it halted the sale of thousands of missiles to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, citing Rome's commitment to restoring peace in Yemen and protecting human rights.

The blocked sales were part of a total allotment of 20,000 missiles worth more than 400 million euros ($485 million) agreed in 2016 under a centre-left government led by Matteo Renzi.

Defense News earlier this week quoted Matteo Perego Di Cremnago, an Italian member of parliament and member of the parliamentary defence commission, the demand for a withdrawal was in retaliation for the arms embargo.

Earlier this month, news agency ANSA cited Italy's foreign ministry as saying it had summoned the UAE ambassador to Rome after the Gulf state refused access to its air space to a military aircraft carrying 40 journalists to Afghanistan, which Italy's defence minister was visiting at the time.

Ambassador Omar al-Shamsi was told of Rome's "surprise and strong displeasure at an unexpected gesture that is hard to understand", according to the ministry statement.

The UAE is part of a military coalition led by Riyadh that has been battling the Iran-aligned Houthi movement since March 2015 in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis and pushed the country to the brink of famine.

Abu Dhabi ended its military presence in Yemen in 2019 but still holds sway via thousands of Yemeni troops it has armed and trained.

U.S. President Joe Biden's new administration in January temporarily paused some pending arms sales to the UAE and Saudi Arabia for review but in April told lawmakers it was proceeding with over $235 billion in weapons sales to the UAE, including advanced F-35 aircraft, armed drones and other equipment.

(Reporting by Angelo Amante; Writing by Raya Jalabi; Editing by Alison Williams)
Proof of vaccination requirements could be the key to allowing hard-hit businesses across the U.S. to fully reopen. However, many businesses have been reluctant to demand proof of vaccination from customers, as the public and politicians in many places have made it clear they don't care for the idea.

In fact, far more states have banned proof-of-vaccination policies than have created smartphone-based programs for people to digitally display their vaccination status.

Hawaii is the only state enforcing some version of a vaccine passport, requiring travelers to upload a photo or PDF of their Hawaii vaccination document or pass a pre-arrival COVID-19 test to avoid having to quarantine for 10 days.

By contrast, at least 18 Republican-led states prohibit the creation of so-called vaccine passports or ban public entities from requiring proof of vaccination. Several of those  including Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota and Texas  also bar most businesses from denying service to those who aren't vaccinated.

Also in the news:

 AMC Theatres is continuing its return to business as usual. AMC Stubs A-List, the movie theater chain's membership program, is set to be reactivated July 1 after being suspended in March 2020.

 The bakery-cafe chain Panera Bread is the latest business to roll out a COVID-19 vaccine freebie. From July 2-4, the chain is giving away free bagels to vaccinated customers at participating locations nationwide  without proof of vaccination.

 Even though 40% of Americans said they preferred to work from home full time last month, major companies across the country are encouraging or demanding that their staff return to the office by Labor Day.

 Russia has reported its highest daily COVID-19 death toll of the year  619 people  as the country grapples with a sharp spike in infections that has brought new restrictions in some regions.

 Finland is experiencing a spike in COVID-19 cases that has been traced to soccer fans returning from neighboring Russia, following European Championship matches in St. Petersburg.

Story continues

 While the Houston Methodist hospital system remains in the national spotlight for forcing out 153 employees who refused to get vaccinated, dozens of hospitals have quietly begun following the Texas hospital's lead of mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for their employees.

 Southwest Airlines plans to raise minimum pay to $15 an hour for about 7,000 employees, citing the need to attract and keep workers as the airline industry continues to recover from the pandemic.

 What we're reading: American tourists will soon be able to travel to Sweden, as the country plans to reopen its borders to the U.S. on June 30.

 Today's numbers: The U.S. has more than 33.6 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and at least 603,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 181 million cases and more than 3.92 million deaths. More than 153 million Americans have been fully vaccinated  nearly 46% of the population, according to the CDC.

Keep refreshing this page for the latest updates. Want more? Sign up for our Coronavirus Watch newsletter for updates to your inbox and join our Facebook group.

Deleted gene sequences confirm coronavirus circulated before Wuhan seafood market

The virus that causes COVID-19 did not originate at the Wuhan seafood market, confirms a new study of deleted gene sequences from the virus's earliest days.

The sequences had been posted to a website run by the National Institutes of Health, but were removed for unknown reasons.

Jesse Bloom, who studies viral evolution at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, does not suggest an answer to the question of whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus jumped directly from animals to people or was accidentally leaked from a research lab in Wuhan, China in his new report, which has not yet been peer reviewed.

But by studying how the viral genes mutate over time, researchers like Bloom can reconstruct their history, figuring out which cases came first and how the virus changed as it moved through the population.

"These sequences are informative for understanding early SARS-CoV-2 spread in Wuhan," Bloom said. "They're not transformative, but they fill in some really important gaps."

Bloom knows that the deletion of the sequences will raise suspicions in the public, but he says there are many reasons a researcher might ask for material to be taken offline, including the fact that the week the study was posted, the Chinese government instituted a requirement that it review all scientific information related to SARS-CoV-2 before publication. Read more.

 Karen Weintraub and Elizabeth Weise

UK health minister resigns after breaching coronavirus rules

U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who has led the countrys response to the coronavirus, resigned Saturday, a day after apologizing for breaching social distancing rules with an aide with whom he was allegedly having an affair.

Hancock had been under growing pressure since the tabloid Sun newspaper published images showing him and senior aide Gina Coladangelo kissing in an office at the Department of Health. The Sun said the closed circuit television images were taken May 6  11, days before lockdown rules were eased to allow hugs and other physical contact with people outside ones own household.

In a resignation letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Hancock said the government owed it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down.

Hancock is the latest in a string of British officials to be accused of breaching restrictions they imposed on the rest of the population to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Dominic Cummings, who once served as a top aide to Johnson, was accused of undermining the governments stay home message when he drove 250 miles across England to his parents home during the spring 2020 lockdown.

Johnson said he was sorry to receive Hancocks resignation and that he should leave office very proud of what you have achieved  not just in tackling the pandemic, but even before COVID-19 struck us.

The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis, Hancock said in his letter. Read more.

 The Associated Press

Massachusetts announces details of $1M vaccine lottery

The first of five drawings for the Massachusetts coronavirus vaccine lottery is scheduled for July 26, state officials announced Friday.

Additional drawings for either a $1 million prize or a $300,000 college scholarship will be held on the four Mondays following that date through the end of August, according to a statement from the office of Gov. Charlie Baker.

The winners will be announced three days after each drawing. The state is using federal coronavirus relief funds to pay the winners.

Residents must be fully vaccinated before registering, but if they are not vaccinated by the registration date for a certain drawing, they can still complete vaccination and register for subsequent drawings. Residents will only have to enter once to qualify for all drawings after their registration date.

Residents age 18 and older are eligible for the $1 million prizes, while residents ages 12 to 17 are eligible for the scholarships, which are in the form of grants via a 529 College Savings Plan managed by the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority.

The lottery is designed to spur more people into getting vaccinated, Baker has said. Already more than 4 million state residents have been fully vaccinated.

 The Associated Press

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Matt Hancock resigns after COVID rule breach; NC State disqualified
The UN rights chief called on Monday for systemic racism against black people to be immediately dismantled around the world to avoid repeating outrages like the killing of George Floyd.

In a report triggered by the death of Floyd, who was murdered by a white US police officer, Michelle Bachelet said the dehumanisation of people of African descent had fed a culture of tolerance for racial discrimination and violence.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights set out a four-point agenda for transformative change on racial justice and equality, and urged states to implement it.

Bachelet's recommendations include reparations for historical racism, as well as funding for groups like Black Lives Matter.

"The status quo is untenable," said the former Chilean president Bachelet, who presented her 23-page report to the UN Human Rights Council.

"Systemic racism needs a systemic response" to dismantle centuries of entrenched discrimination and violence, she said.

"We need a transformative approach that tackles the interconnected areas that drive racism, and lead to repeated, wholly avoidable tragedies like the death of George Floyd."

The report comes three days after former policeman Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison for murdering Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020.

Footage of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly 10 minutes, indifferent to the dying man's groans, sparked global racial justice protests under the banner "Black Lives Matter".

- 'Dehumanisation' -

After Floyd's death, the UN Human Rights Office was mandated in June last year to produce a comprehensive report on systemic racism, human rights violations by law enforcement agencies against black people, and government responses to peaceful anti-racism protests.

It also covered accountability and redress for victims.

The report's analysis was based on online consultations with more than 340 people, most of them black.

Story continues

Bachelet's office received information on more than 250 deaths of Africans and people of African descent in Europe and the Americas, at least 190 of which were at the hands of law enforcement officials.

In many cases, information suggests the victims "did not pose an imminent threat of death or serious injury", the report said.

The investigation said that in many countries in Europe and the Americas, people of African descent disproportionately live in poverty and face serious barriers in accessing education, healthcare and employment, as well as political participation and other fundamental human rights.

"The dehumanisation of people of African descent... has sustained and cultivated a tolerance for racial discrimination, inequality and violence," the report said.

Bachelet's office looked into more than 60 countries.

"We could not find a single example of a state that has fully reckoned with the past or comprehensively accounted for the impacts of the lives of people of African descent today," Mona Rishmawi, the office's chief on equality and non-discrimination, told a press conference.

- Agenda for change -

The report urges immediate action to end what it described as systemic violations of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights.

It calls for reversing "cultures of denial" when it comes to racism.

Secondly, it said there must be no impunity for human rights violations by law enforcement officials, while trust needed to be built up and institutional oversight reinforced.

Rather than defunding the police, the report focuses on "re-imagining" law enforcement through better training, notably in handling people with mental health issues.

Thirdly, the voices of black people and anti-racism activists must be heard and their concerns acted upon, said the report.

This should include ensuring representation at every level in state institutions, including law enforcement, criminal justice and policy-making.

Finally, the legacies of historic racism must be confronted, including through accountability and redress, the report concluded.

"Behind contemporary forms of racism, dehumanisation and exclusion lies the failure to acknowledge the responsibilities for enslavement... and to comprehensively repair the harms," it said.

This should include making amends for "centuries of violence and discrimination... including through formal acknowledgement and apologies, truth-telling processes, and reparations", it added.

Countries in Europe and the Americas must "dismantle structures and systems designed and shaped by enslavement, colonialism" and discrimination, the report said.

rjm/kjl/pbr
(Independent)

The Supreme Court decided against hearing arguments in a case over the constitutionality of restroom policies that prevent transgender students from using the bathroom of their choice in public schools on Monday, handing a victory to LGBT+ activists.

The decision to not hear arguments in Gloucester County School Board v. Grimm means that a lower court ruling that found such policies to be unconstitutional as well as in violation of federal Title IX protections will stand.

More to follow...
CARAMEL CHICKEN

Cooking in Southeast Asia often means incorporating a riot of contrasting flavors and textures, and the classic Vietnamese technique of simmering meat or fish in dark, bittersweet caramel is a great example of this.

As we were taught by chef Peter Franklin, owner of the Anan Saigon restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, we cook chicken thighs in the sauce until it forms a glaze. Mixing the caramel with fish sauce and a few aromatics yields rich, wonderfully complex savory-sweet flavors. And the technique, which is in our book Milk Street Tuesday Nights, could hardly be simpler.

Instead of a traditional clay pot, we use a 12-inch skillet to make our version. Using coconut water as the cooking liquid adds a subtle, salty-sweet richness that brings even more complexity to the dish.

A generous amount of ginger, cut into matchsticks, mellows and softens as it cooks, and adds a brightness that perks up the deeper flavors. Bruising the lemon grass releases its flavor and fragrance.

Be sure to have the fish sauce measured out so that when the caramel turns mahogany, it can be added immediately to stop the cooking. Serve the chicken with steamed jasmine rice.

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Start to finish: 45 minutes

Servings: 4

 cup plus 1 tablespoon coconut water, divided

 cup white sugar

3 tablespoons fish sauce

2 medium shallots, peeled, halved and thinly sliced ( cup)

2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into -inch matchsticks ( cup)

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed, cut into 1-inch chunks

 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems

1 small jalapeno chili, stemmed and sliced into thin rings

1 tablespoon grated lime zest, plus 1 tablespoon lime juice

Steamed rice, to serve

Lime wedges, to serve

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In a 12-inch skillet over medium-high, combine the 1 tablespoon coconut water and the sugar. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture turns golden at the edges, about 3 minutes. Reduce to medium and continue to cook, swirling the pan but without stirring, until the caramel is mahogany in color and smokes lightly, another 4 to 5 minutes.

Story continues

Off heat, add the fish sauce and stir; the mixture will steam and bubble vigorously. Set the pan over medium, pour in the remaining  cup coconut water and stir until fully incorporated. Add the shallots and ginger and bring to a simmer, then cover, reduce to low and cook for 5 minutes.

Stir in the chicken. Cover and cook over medium, stirring once or twice, until the chicken is cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes, adjusting the heat as needed to maintain a steady simmer. Uncover, increase to medium-high and simmer vigorously (the sauce will form large bubbles), stirring occasionally, until the chicken is glazed and the sauce is syrupy, about 8 minutes.

Off heat, stir in half of the cilantro, the jalapeno, lime zest and lime juice. Top with the remaining cilantro and serve with steamed rice and lime wedges.

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EDITORS NOTE: For more recipes, go to Christopher Kimballs Milk Street at 177milkstreet.com/ap
A man is accused of breaking in to his ex-wifes home and shooting her four times as their children slept, according to Texas officials.

The early Monday morning shooting in the Houston-area town of Tomball occurred before the man and woman were scheduled to meet in a child custody hearing later that day, the Harris County Sheriffs Office told local media outlets.

The man is accused of cutting power to the home around 3:15 a.m. and entered through a window with his new girlfriend, KPRC reported. He then opened fire on his former wife with their four children inside the home, according to the TV station.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said the woman is in stable condition after the shooting.

The former couple had a contentious divorce and the ex-husband has threatened her new boyfriend multiple times, Harris County Deputy Investigator John Mook told KTRK.

No one else in the home was injured in the shooting, Gonzalez said.

The couples four children are with their grandmother, KTRK reported.

The ex-husband, who was not identified, is believed to have fled after the shooting, according to Gonzalez. Authorities were searching for him early Monday.

Wife sets sleeping husband on fire after talk of ending marriage, Wisconsin cops say

Elementary school principal killed by husband in murder-suicide, Texas officials say

Severed head found in mans cellar belongs to his wife, Indiana police say

Bob Evans waitress killed by ex-boyfriend while working in restaurant, Ohio police say
One of my assets is Im good at working behind the scenes, Berry said.

Bedfords growth also has benefited the town, leading to a recent surge in residential and business growth, which is one of the reasons Berry said he feels now is a good time to step away.

I have been most fortunate to have the opportunity to work with the councils, managers and staff and with outside specialized counsel on the many projects which, over the years, are now paying dividends, Berry wrote in a recent letter to Bedford Town Council stating his resignation.

Council honored Berry during its most recent meeting and thanked him for his service and guidance over the years. Mayor Tim Black said Berry provided sound legal advice and is part of much of the towns successes.

Wills tenure is noteworthy in and of itself  and its fair to say that its highly unlikely to be repeated, Town Manager Bart Warner said. In addition to our professional relationship, Will is a dear friend and I have very much enjoyed the opportunity to interact with him for many years. Hes a talented guy who could have pursued a lot of great opportunities. The fact that he chose to apply his skills on behalf of his hometown is testament to his love for Bedford and his personal character.
The electric utility industry is in the midst of an unprecedented transition, he told SCC hearing examiner Ann Berkebile, referring to a 2020 state law that requires Appalachian to use all carbon-free electricity by 2050.

At the end of the day, no one knows what the next 20 or 30 years will hold, he said.

Appalachian says that making improvements to the Amos and Mountaineer plants, and thus extending their lifespans to 2040, will provide flexibility as the utility navigates the challenges of acquiring enough solar and wind resources to serve its approximately 524,000 customers in Virginia.

For example, Summerlin said, the solar panels needed by the company could require up to 66 square miles, which amounts to an area about the size of Richmond.

While those details will take years to work out, Appalachian is seeking rate adjustment clauses to cover about $250 million it needs to spend on upgrades to unlined coal ash ponds at the two West Virginia plants.

If the retrofits are not made, federal environmental laws would force the plants to close by 2028. Half of the costs are being sought through a rate increase request that is pending before regulators in West Virginia, where Appalachian has about 458,000 customers.
FORT DEFIANCE  Conventions and public gatherings, among many things that went missing in the past year, are slowly returning to Virginia.

However, while these were hard to come by in 2020, it can be argued that nothing is more elusive than  Bigfoot.

The third annual ECBRO Virginia Bigfoot Convention officially opened Saturday at the New Hope Ruritan Club in Fort Defiance in Augusta County. Many enthusiasts of the famed creature filled the community center to enjoy a day of raffles, prizes, merchandise, Q&A sessions, presentations from speakers coming from different parts of the country, and even a premiere of Justin Snyders Virginia-based Bigfoot documentary Elusive Legend: An ECBRO Story.

The event was organized by Daniel Benoit, the founder and lead researcher of the East Coast Bigfoot Researchers Organization. To him, after a year off due to COVID-19, it was great to be back for a third go-around hosting an event centered primarily around one of the countrys most intriguing creatures and mysteries.

Its a fascinating thing and theres a lot of fun behind it, Benoit said. Bigfoot is elusive, but I personally will tell you I dont believe hes out there. I know hes out there.
I took a Gran Class bullet train in Japan for the first time. Its considered as Premium First Class. It was luxurious and comfortable experience from Tokyo to Sendai.

Also, Gran Class passengers may allowed to enter a hidden lounge at Tokyo Station. This is only for leaving passengers. If you take a Gran Class bullet train from another station and arrives at Tokyo Station, you can not access to the lounge. - Solo Travel Japan

Trying a Special Capsule Cabin on the Ferry in Japan | Hokkaido to Niigata

Solo Travel Japan - Jul 05

I took an overnight ferry from Hokkaido to Niigata Japan. I tried a special capsule room called Tourist S. I took an overnight ferry from Hokkaido to Niigata Japan. I tried a special capsule room called Tourist S.

Japan seeks to have vaccine passports accepted by over 10 nations

Kyodo - Jul 05

Japan is making arrangements for its COVID-19 vaccination passports to be accepted by over 10 nations, including Italy, France and Greece, after the certificate program begins in late July, government sources said Sunday. Japan is making arrangements for its COVID-19 vaccination passports to be accepted by over 10 nations, including Italy, France and Greece, after the certificate program begins in late July, government sources said Sunday.

Japans Unstoppable Rainy Season | Tokyo Station

ONLY in JAPAN - Jul 05

June to July in Japan is TSUYU or the rainy season and this July, its been unstoppable! June to July in Japan is TSUYU or the rainy season and this July, its been unstoppable!

Japans Secluded Mountain Yoga Retreat Founded By An American Yogi

WAO RYU!ONLY in JAPAN - Jul 04

It is clear within moments of hearing Sada speak that his experience of life has found him an active participant in some of humanity's most pivotal moments in modern history. It is clear within moments of hearing Sada speak that his experience of life has found him an active participant in some of humanity's most pivotal moments in modern history.

Exploring Japan's Largest ABANDONED Island | Why 10,000 People Disappeared

Abroad in Japan - Jul 03

Japan has over 6,000 islands. Many are losing their populations and becoming abandoned. Ikeshima island is home to an abandoned area the size of a small city. This week in Journey Across Japan we explore this genuinely jaw-dropping island once and for all. Japan has over 6,000 islands. Many are losing their populations and becoming abandoned. Ikeshima island is home to an abandoned area the size of a small city. This week in Journey Across Japan we explore this genuinely jaw-dropping island once and for all.

Sleeping in the World's Smallest Hotel Room in Japan | Capsule Hotel Room Tour

Exploring Infiniti - Jul 03

In this video, we will get an idea about various religions in Japan and how they have influenced their culture. Japan has been the home of innovation for several decades. In this video, we will get an idea about various religions in Japan and how they have influenced their culture. Japan has been the home of innovation for several decades.

Japans dying sento are becoming cool again

economist.com - Jul 02

Visitors leave their clothes and their worries at the wooden entrance to Inari-yu, a sento, or public bathhouse, in northern Tokyo. Visitors leave their clothes and their worries at the wooden entrance to Inari-yu, a sento, or public bathhouse, in northern Tokyo.

Mt. Fuji opens to climbers for summer after closure amid virus

Kyodo - Jul 01

Japan's Mt. Fuji reopened Thursday to climbers for the summer season after being closed last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Japan's Mt. Fuji reopened Thursday to climbers for the summer season after being closed last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Health minister: Concern about people out at night

NHK - Jul 01

Japan's health minister has expressed concern over an increase in the number of people who are out and about at night in Tokyo amid the coronavirus pandemic. Japan's health minister has expressed concern over an increase in the number of people who are out and about at night in Tokyo amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Exploring Kagoshima City (from Mountain to Volcano)

Tokyo Lens Explore - Jul 01

Today we are exploring the beautiful city of Kagoshima in Kyushu, taking a walk from the mountains and somehow ending up on Japan's most Active Volcano, Sakurajima. Today we are exploring the beautiful city of Kagoshima in Kyushu, taking a walk from the mountains and somehow ending up on Japan's most Active Volcano, Sakurajima.

Amazing street food tour of Miyajima

I Will Always Travel for Food - Jul 01

Some of the best Street Food can be found on the magical island of Miyajima located in Hiroshima Japan. Some of the best Street Food can be found on the magical island of Miyajima located in Hiroshima Japan.

How to Maintain a Clean Home While Traveling?

newsonjapan.com - Jun 30

One of the most liberating and thrilling experiences a person can have is traveling. One of the most liberating and thrilling experiences a person can have is traveling.

Experts: Infections in Tokyo could rise rapidly

NHK - Jun 29

A panel of experts advising the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has voiced concern about a possible resurgence of coronavirus cases in the capital, saying the situation could worsen quickly. A panel of experts advising the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has voiced concern about a possible resurgence of coronavirus cases in the capital, saying the situation could worsen quickly.

Narita to have special lanes for Olympic arrivals

NHK - Jun 29

Narita Airport will have dedicated lanes in the terminals for people arriving for the Tokyo Olympic Games as an anti-infection measure against the coronavirus. The lanes will open on Thursday, July 1, when athletes and staff begin arriving in large numbers. Narita Airport will have dedicated lanes in the terminals for people arriving for the Tokyo Olympic Games as an anti-infection measure against the coronavirus. The lanes will open on Thursday, July 1, when athletes and staff begin arriving in large numbers.

Japan to require stricter quarantine of travelers from Indonesia, Uganda

Kyodok - Jun 29

The Japanese government said Monday that travelers from Indonesia and Uganda will be required to spend the first six days of their 14-day quarantine in state-designated facilities to curb the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus. The Japanese government said Monday that travelers from Indonesia and Uganda will be required to spend the first six days of their 14-day quarantine in state-designated facilities to curb the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.
New Delhi: Decks have been cleared for the construction of the first textile park of Uttar Pradesh in Noida with the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) allotting 150 acres of land for the park.

The Apparel Export Cluster (textile park) to be built in Noida is yet another initiative by the Yogi Adityanath Government to make UP the textile hub of North India.

A total of 152 companies will set up their factories at the textile park at the estimated cost of Rs 8365.73 crore while about five lakh people will get employment in these firms. The construction of 91 textile and garment factories is expected to start in the first month of next year. On completion of construction of 91 textile and garment factories, two lakh people will get employment.

The park will not only enhance Noidas stature in the garment and textile sector within the country, but also contribute significantly towards making UP the textile hub of North India.

It is worth mentioning here that Uttar Pradesh is the third largest textile producing state of the country. The share of Uttar Pradesh in textile production at the national level is 13.24 percent. Uttar Pradesh ranks fifth in the country in terms of handlooms and silk production. There are 2.58 lakh handloom and 5.5 lakh powerloom weavers in the state. There are 58 spinning mills and 74 textile mills in the non-small scale industrial sector in the state.

The share of Uttar Pradesh in carpet production in the country is 90 percent. Besides, of all the sectors, the textile and garment sector has provided employment to the highest number of people in UP.

Meanwhile, impressed with CM Yogis investor-friendly policies, 66 major industrialists of the country and abroad have submitted lproposals to the Government to invest Rs 8715.16 crore in the textile and garment sector in the last four years. Out of these 66 proposals, 12 textile factories have already been set up in the state while construction of 18 others is in progress. The target is to start production in the 18 textile factories this year itself. In addition, construction of 17 textile units is expected to start this year. These 17 factories will start production from next year.

UP government intends to develop more such integrated textile parks in major textile producing areas of the state, where the manufacturing units can benefit from the entire value chain. It can also enhance employment and export prospects in the state.

Countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia have emerged as major textile producers in the recent years.

The intention of the UP Government is to be ahead of these countries in textile production. There is a lot of potential for expansion in the textile and garment sector in the state, but the number of fully integrated textile parks in the state is negligible. Taking cognisance of this, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath decided to promote construction of integrated textile parks. Following the Governments decision, YEIDA allotted 150 acres of land in Sector 29 for the construction of the textile park of the Society of Noida Apparel Cluster.

CM Yogi Adityanath is contemplating construction of similar integrated textile parks in Meerut, Agra, Jhansi, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Lucknow and Kanpur divisions where textile production has been carried out all along in collaboration with the private sector. These integrated textile parks include readymade factory sheds/plots, warehousing facilities, tool rooms, raw material banks, common facility centres for testing and research and research, skill upgradation centres, truck terminals and parking facilities, machines repair shops, dormitories or hostels for emplyees, incubation centres, fashion institutes and training centres etc.

The Department of Handlooms and Textiles will ensure that the benefits of the State Governments policies reach investors while providing them with all necessary support.

The Yogi Government believes that once the integrated textile park is completed in Noida, big investors in other districts of the state will also be interested in setting up similar textile parks elsewhere in the state as well. The main reason for this is the presence of a large number of people in the state who are keen on working in the textile and garment sector. That is why big companies in the textile and garment sector in the state are setting up their factories in Kanpur, Gorakhpur and Varanasi.

According to Lalit Thukral, president of the Society of Noida Apparel Export Cluster, the initiative of the Chief Minister to build a textile park in Noida is motivating Tamil Nadu-based industrialists to build their own factories in the state. The textile park will employ a large number of people for different jobs ranging from thread making, dyeing and sewing to their packing and transportation. It will offer job opportunities to those interested in designing, accountancy and managerial posts also.
Rohingayas are illegal Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh to India and to Myanmar. The people of Myanmar are forcing the Rohingayas to go back to Bangladesh since these Muslim-immigrants are trying for Islamisation of Myanmar. Rohingayas have started spreading the tentacles of their Islamic-ideology by way of gaining control of the key institutions in the socio-political fabric with the active pan-Islamic support.

Rohingayas is an eco-system where one stream is engaged in the militant-way using terrorist means to overthrow the government and establish their own government. The other stream is their intellectual counterparts, known as the Urban-Rohingayas who give intellectual, moral and ideological support to their movement.

Urban-Rohingayas in the Indian context is a new and mutant variant of Marxist-Maoist ideology. Marxism is an anarchist ideology which strives at withering away or killing the nation/country. This new variant of Marxism-Leninism is Urban-Rohingayas who aims at disrupting any established nation-state/country of India. They live in urban areas and the only aim of them is to spread misinformation and fear. Rule of law, Constitution, Courts, Democratically elected majority government is alien to their jargon since as per them these institutions represent the exploiting capitalist.

Urban-Rohingayas are not only anarchist but are intellectual militants of leaning of Marxist-Maoist-Leninist Ideology. They spread terrorist ideas to create anarchy. If you ask them what is their alternative ideology to existing nation and government functioning is, it is just anarchy. Their only ideology is create nothing, criticize everything. The only narrative of them is to question everything, suspect everything and destroy everything. So, spreading intellectual terrorism and anarchy are their norms.

In the Indian context, they will question anything and everything which is the idea of India. Disrespecting the sovereignty of India and its national-symbols be it the very unity of India, its national-flag, its armed-forces or any other national-symbols, are their norms. They are not bothered about the rule of law since it is the law of the capitalist class. Since, their prime aim is to destroy the very nation-state itself, they build up their narratives of anti-India and anti-nation be it is the historical past of India which is interpreted from the perspective where the glorious and historical achievements are ridiculed and distorted. They work as intellectual-distorter when they claim that the feeling of nationalism and nation was never ever there in India and the idea of India emerged as a reaction to colonialism and a natural corollary of imperialism.

They believe in ending the existing nation-states and establishing their utopian classless-stateless society. The very feeling of nationalism is against their very thought-process and DNA. They are the intellectual-supporters, sympathizers and promoters of anarchy who claim to fight through ideas, propaganda, ideologies and narratives amongst the urban citizens of India. Unlike the real terrorists like Naxals, militants and secessionists who fight on the ground in rural-remote tribal areas with arms, Urban-Rohingayas live in the luxury of the urban life and aim at disrupting the very foundations of nation where they live through their intellectual-distortion and demagogy.

For them everything being just a reflection of control of economic-power, for them all the other aspects like nationalism, culture-religion, are presumed as false-consciousness and are dubbed as the opium for the poor. Urban-Rohingayas claim that the Nation controls its population through ideas, propaganda, national-symbols like National-flag, Army, National-monuments etc,. So, if you want to destroy the nation, you have to first demolish the institution represented by the nation.

As per them growth and richness of one person cannot take place except through exploitation. Rich are rich as they have exploited the poor. They work to overthrow the existing nation and control power to establish their own supremacy. Till the final capturing the power of the nation-state, they are duty-bound by their intellectual-musings to destabilize the existing nation state and being about anarchy and chaos so as out of this anarchy they can wrest the state-power to further their goal of withering-away this nation and create a Marxist-eco-system.

Means, ways and philosophy do not matter to them. They can use any means like using the loopholes of law and procedure, using the courts to delay any action, using extra-constitutional and illegal means, distorting, misinforming and dis-informing facts, spreading fake information etc,. For them violent terrorist acts and secessionist movements are an expression of liberty and legal-constitutional rights. For them the only struggle is a struggle between the rich and the poor, they abhor the other affiliations they call primitive affiliations like religious, caste or regional.

Interestingly, still they use the fault-lines in these religious-caste lines to instigate violence, creating chaos and destabilize the nation. In the garb of opposing the government which they hail their fundamental right and even sacrosanct duty, they oppose the very nation and spread and promote the idea of secession, anti-nationalism and anarchy. Urban-Rohingayas presumes that if there is a progress of development, it must be at the cost of exploitation of poor by the exploiting.

One class of Urban-Rohingayas is those who set the narratives from outside the system without being the part of the system. They camouflage themselves as social-influencers, university-professors, award-winner authors , directors and film-makers, expensive-lawyers, acclaimed-historian, Media-anchors , writers, so called rationalists, human write activists, poet, civil rights activists, environmentalists and what not. The others category are those who become part of the system; and try to wreck the progress of nation through using loopholes in the legal, judicial and constitutional systems.

Urban-Rohingayas in India:

 Urban-Rohingayas abhor Nation-symbols and try to demolish the veins and arteries of nation be it any institution. How killing of 76 Indian Para-military personnel at Dantewada, Chhattisgarh were celebrated in JNU. How some of the cult-goddess of Urban-Rohingayas distorted and alleged that Indian army commit atrocities in Kashmir.

 The chants of Lal-Salam and Ajadi-Ajadi, Afjal Hum Sharminda Hein Tere Katil Jinda Hein Bharat-Tere Tukde Honge, are their right to speech directly emanating from their ideological-fathering of anti-nationalism.

 The newest version of fight is through the use of social media and Tool-Kits. Use of web-channels and whatsapp-university where facts are distorted and faked. They spread misinformation, disinformation and fake-information through the extensive use of social-media and through trolling, creating hash-tags and tool-kits.

 The source of their funding is always from anti-India channeles; dubious and suspicious originating from anti-India states or non state actors. They collect funds in the name of armed struggles and use it for their own propaganda.

Urban-Rohingayas are a threat to Indian Nation, we must expose their agenda.
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We are not a racist country, he told his Cedar Room audience, adding that hell stand up for the rights of the unborn and defend the Second Amendments right to bear arms.

Nebraska needs to keep making progress in fixing its broken property tax system, McNea said in his speech and pre-announcement interview.

He told The Telegraph he hopes to use his years of health care experience to improve processes in the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

That would free up more state money to apply toward property tax relief, he said.

McNea, a 1973 graduate of Bottineau High School in his home state, received his bachelors degree in biology in 1977 from Valley City (North Dakota) State College. He earned his masters in health care administration from the University of Phoenix in 2009.

After receiving his radiologic technology certificate in 1980, McNea worked for a year in Bismarck, North Dakotas state capital, before becoming radiology director at St. Andrews Hospital in Bottineau.

He met his wife in ONeill, where he held his first Nebraska job in 1986-87 as radiology director at St. Anthonys Hospital. Mel and Michelle McNea have three children and four grandchildren, with a fifth due in August.
Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

President Biden ordered a series of air strikes in Syria and Iraq early Monday morning, which the Pentagon says targeted weapons-storage facilities belonging to Iran-backed militias.

The targets were selected because these facilities are utilized by Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq, the Pentagon said in a statement. The targets were all apparently in the border region, two in Syria and one in Iraq. The Pentagon claimed that several Iran-backed militia groups, including Kataib Hezbollah (KH) and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS), used these facilities.

It is the second time this year that Biden has ordered strikes against Iran-backed militias. In late February, the U.S. targeted what the Pentagon called a border-control point in Syria, which it said was being used by the same militias. That followed a mid-February rocket attack on U.S. forces in Iraq that killed an American contractor and injured a U.S. service member.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Sunday that Biden has been clear that he will act to protect U.S. personnel, and ordered the strikes to disrupt and deter the militias drone attacks  claiming that the U.S. was acting in self-defense, within its legal rights. The Pentagon claimed, like it did in February, that the strikes were designed to minimize the risk of escalation, while sending a clear and unambiguous message.

Department of Defense officials who spoke with ABC News on Sunday night said that the precision air strikes were conducted by U.S. Air Force fighter planes; that the targeted facilities had command, control, and logistics capabilities; and that it was too early to know if any militia members or civilians were killed in the attacks. They said that five one-way drone attacks had been carried out against U.S and coalition forces in Iraq since April, in addition to rocket attacks  none of which killed any U.S. or coalition personnel.

The Biden administration has been attempting to resurrect a nuclear deal with Iran after President Trump abandoned the landmark deal the U.S. and several allies had negotiated with Iran during the Obama administration. In addition to the complications of a small, apparent proxy war with Iran in Iraq and Syria, the Biden administration will also have to deal with a new hard-line president in Iran come August, though Irans supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, still apparently supports the reopened negotiations.
USA Track and Field spokeswoman Susan Hazzard said "the national anthem was scheduled to play at 5:20 p.m. today. We didn't wait until the athletes were on the podium for the hammer throw awards. The national anthem is played every day according to a previously published schedule." On Saturday, the music started at 5:25.

And so, while winner DeAnna Price and second-place finisher Brooke Andersen stood still on the podium with their hands over the hearts and stared straight ahead at the American and Oregon flags, Berry fidgeted and paced on the third step. Then turned away. And finally grabbed her T-shirt.

"They said they were going to play it before we walked out, then they played it when we were out there," Berry said. "But I don't really want to talk about the anthem because that's not important. The anthem doesn't speak for me. It never has."

Berry's gestures drew virtually no reaction from the still-filling stands. And they were something far less than two summers ago, when she raised her fist on the podium after winning the Pan-Am Games.
Multimedia Reporter

Staff writer Harry Funk, a professional journalist for three-plus decades, has been on the staff of The Almanac since 2015. He has a bachelors degree in journalism and master of business administration, both from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Historical Context

Stretching south and west from the Florida peninsula, the Florida Keys separate the Gulf of Mexico from the Atlantic Ocean. Not long after Christopher Columbuss exploratory voyages to the Caribbean, vessels engaged in Spanish colonial expansion began using the Gulf Stream to return to Spain loaded with precious metals and other valuable goods from the Americas. Known to these Spanish mariners as Los Martires (the Martyrs), the Florida Keys and its surrounding reef systems were the main geographic feature delimiting the north side of this ocean highway. During the past five centuries, many vessels fell victim to the shallow reefs and shoals surrounding the island chain, sinking in storms that claimed both the ships and the lives of the sailors riding the Gulf Stream north.

The westernmost shoals in the Keys became a graveyard for vessels pushed north by hurricane winds and waves as these destructive storms passed through the Caribbean. Captains failing to recognize the shoals extending from the Marquesas Keys towards the Dry Tortugas found themselves wrecked in the area nicknamed the Quicksands. Numerous historical shipwreck reports attribute the location of vessel losses to the Quicksands or more broadly the Marquesas Keys, which constitutes an area approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles) long by 15 kilometers (9 miles) wide. From 17th century Spanish galleons to 20th century steamships, the number of shipwrecks in the area is impressive. There are also certain specific vessels reported lost in the area that would have a high historical significance if found.

In 1622, the Tierra Firme fleet departed Havana harbor en route to Spain with 28 vessels in convoy. The cargo included gold and silver bullion and specie, as well as indigo, tobacco, cochineal, rosewood, and tons of copper ingots (Smith, 1988). A hurricane struck the convoy soon after it left port. The storm sank eight of the ships; some grounded in the shallows of the Dry Tortugas and near the Marquesas Keys while others sank in deeper water (Smith 1988, Mathewson 1986).

In the months and years after the storm, Spanish salvors recovered significant armament and cargo from the wreckage of Nuestra Senora de Rosario in the Dry Tortugas and especially Santa Margarita in the Quicksands, but subsequent storms fragmented the other wrecks which were then covered by shifting sands preventing their relocation (Smith 1988). Spanish salvage activity directed at finding the Nuestra Senora de Atocha and recovering the cargo of Santa Margarita brought intense European activity to the area. This activity level was not likely equaled again until the nineteenth century.

The islands on which the Spanish built salvage camps and from which they searched for and salvaged the wrecks were named after the Marquis de Cadereita, the commander of the 1622 fleet. He also led the initial contemporary salvage of the shipwrecks, and his name lives on today in the Marquesas Keys. Of the eight ships that were part of the 1622 Tierra Firme fleet, four have been found through the efforts of archaeologists and historic shipwreck salvage organizations (Johnson, 1982; Mathewson, 1986; Kingsley, 2013). Other ships from the 1622 fleet or lost during salvage activities may be found in the survey area.

Maritime activity in the area increased through the centuries following the 1622 fleet disaster. During the nineteenth century, ocean-borne traffic funneled around the Dry Tortugas, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the larger Atlantic world. This trend is evidenced by the domination in the historical record of shipwrecked vessels carrying agricultural and forest products from Gulf ports to European industrial centers.

The exploitation of enslaved African labor to create wealth from agricultural production is also associated with shipwrecks in the region. The location of the slave ship Henrietta Marie on nearby New Ground Reef speaks to this widespread and horrific trade. Archaeological excavation of the vessel, which sank following a slaving voyage from Africa to Jamaica in 1700, provides an invaluable view point on the Middle Passage (Malcom, 2001). Over 150 years later, slaving voyages continued to interact with the project area as reported in the intentional wrecking of the American brig Martha Regan, following an illegal slaving voyage to Cuba in 1859 (Memphis Daily Avalanche, 1859).

Another highly significant shipwreck reported in this area is the Spanish steamship Valbanera, reportedly wrecked on Halfmoon Shoal during a hurricane in September 1919. Built in 1906 by Connell and Co. of Glasgow, Scotland, the steel screw steamship measured 121.9 meters (399.7 feet) long with a maximum breadth of 14.6 meters (48 feet) and a 6.5-meter (21.5-foot) depth of hold. It operated between Spain and Cuba for the Pinillos Steamship Line. On its last voyage from Barcelona to Cuba, it called at Santiago de Cuba, disembarking 749 of its 1,142 passengers, who were Spanish immigrants. Continuing on to Havana, port officials did not allow the steamship to enter the harbor, which had been closed due to an impending hurricane. The ship radioed that it would move into deeper water to ride out the storm, but was never heard from again. Several days later, U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels located a wreck identified as Valbanera submerged at Halfmoon Shoal. None of the 488 passengers or crew survived and no bodies were ever found (Lloyds, 1919; Decker, 2005; Echegoyen, 1999). The shipwreck even inspired Ernest Hemingway to write After the Storm, a short story about a diver who discovers a sunken steamship off of the Marquesas but is thwarted in his attempts to recover its riches. Local divers and a team led by Spanish historian Fernando Jose Garcia Echegoyen have reportedly visited a shipwreck believed to be the Valbanera (Lyon 1989; Echegoyen 2019).

References Cited
Lithium producers are adding new production capacity to meet booming demand for the critical metal as the world pushes for greener energy. Suppliers of the key mineral have turned quite optimistic this year that global demand for lithium will soar in the coming decades with the increased uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) and battery storage.

Surging demand is set to drive lithium prices higher, lithium producers say in an outlook on the industry that turned decisively bullish this year.

One of the largest lithium suppliers in the world, Chinas Ganfeng Lithium, is not ruling out the possibility that lithium prices could recover from the two-year decline and reach the record-highs seen in 2018.

Lithium prices have already surged this year from the lows of 2019-2020. But suppliers believe prices have a lot more room to rise as the push for green energy is overwhelming government agendas worldwide.

The industry is rapidly growing and we have a very upbeat forecast on lithium consumption, Ganfeng Lithiums vice chairman Wang Xiaoshen told Bloomberg in an interview last week.

Related: Solar Has An Unlikely New Enemy

I cant rule out the possibility for lithium prices to bounce back to the 2018 level, the executive added.

Ganfeng Lithium said earlier this year that it is optimistic about the long-term development of the global lithium market, and announced it would expand its production capacity.

Chinas Ganfeng Lithium has announced considerable plans to extend its reach in the lithium supply chain throughout the first half of 2021, remaining one of the most active players in targeting large commitments to build out its production capabilities, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence said in a report last week.

The companys vice chairman, however, is not ruling out another dip in lithium prices either, in the interview with Bloomberg. This could happen, he says, if the uptake of EV sales slows down or if major lithium producers bring much more supply faster than expected.

For now, though, it seems that analysts concur that lithium has a bright future, especially considering the net-zero emission commitments from dozens of industrialized nations and blocs, including the United States and the European Union.

Lithium demand for batteries for EVs and battery energy storage is set to jump until 2050the net-zero watershed moment for most countries.

Lithium mined for batteries accounted for just 9 percent of all lithium produced back in 2000. But by 2020, the share of lithium produced for batteries had surged to 66 percent and is set to further jump to account for more than 90 percent of all lithium applications by 2030, according to estimates from IHS Markit.

We continue to see strong market demand for lithium, especially from EVs, Kent Masters, CEO at the biggest lithium producer in the world, Albemarle Corporation, said on the Q1 earnings call last month.



Were fighting to keep up with demand. I think the industry is doing the same, he added.

Eric Norris, president for Albemarles Lithium division, noted that We see price rising going forward for the foreseeable future.

As per Rystad Energy estimates, the EV surge could lead to a serious lithium supply deficit already from 2027. The industry needs to approve very soon new lithium mining projects so that supply has a chance to catch up with demand.

We anticipate that lithium prices could replicate their past turbulence if supplies cannot catch up with booming EV demand later this decade. Looking at the significant task ahead to build more mining capacity, prices could even triple as a result of the market imbalance, said James Ley, Senior Vice President at Rystad Energys Energy Metals team.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the rise of clean energy technologies is set to supercharge demand for critical minerals. Lithium demand could jump by over 40 times by 2040 in the agencys Sustainable Development Scenario, a pathway aligned with the world achieving the Paris Agreement goals.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Latin Americas largest oil producer Brazil is one of the worst affected countries globally by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the World Health Organization, Brazil is the third ranked country by volume of cases and second by deaths. There were fears earlier this year that the rapid spread of the virus would derail Brazils offshore oil boom, particularly with a surge in cases among energy sector workers. By March 2021 petroleum and natural gas production was in decline with total hydrocarbon output falling by nearly 3% year over year to an average of 3.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. Such was the severity of the pandemic and sharp increase in cases Brazils hydrocarbon production was expected to fall further. Nevertheless, by April operations began to recover and the countrys economically critical oil output was rising. For May 2021 Brazils hydrocarbon regulator, the National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP  Portuguese initials), reported (Portuguese) oil production of 2.9 million barrels daily, an impressive 6% higher than a year earlier. Natural gas shot up by a stunning 18% to an average of 846,320 barrels of oil equivalent daily. The hydrocarbon output from Latin Americas largest oil producer expanded by an impressive 8.5% year over year to an average of nearly 3.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. That solid production growth occurred despite the spat between President Bolsonaro and former Petrobras CEO Roberto Castello Branco over planned fuel price hikes.

Branco was eventually forced to step down to be replaced by former army general Joaquim Silva e Luna. That sparked considerable fear among investors and financial markets of a resurgence in resource nationalism along with heavy-handed government intervention. A key driver of Brazils growing petroleum production is the expansion in its pre-salt oil basins. By May 2021 pre-salt oil production was just under 2.7 million barrels daily, a notable 14% increase compared to the same period a year earlier, making it responsible for 93% of Brazils oil output and 71% of total hydrocarbon production.

Related: U.S. Shale Producers Stick To Output Discipline

The sweet medium grade crude oil grades pumped from Brazils pre-salt oilfields are growing in popularity among refiners, particularly in Asia where IMO 2020 and other regulations have sharply reduced the sulfur content of fuels. By October 2020 soaring demand from China for Brazils Lula and Buzios oil grades saw their prices spike sharply, trading at premiums to the international Brent price benchmark. At the time of writing this article Lula, which has an API gravity of 27 degrees and 0.27% sulfur content, making it heavier but sweeter than Brent, is trading at almost a 1% premium to the international benchmark price.

Despite a lack of public pricing data Brazils Buzios crude oil grade with an API gravity of 28 degrees and 0.31% sulfur content, which are similar characteristics to Lula, typically trades at a premium to Brent in Asia. While the latest data shows that Brazilian petroleum is no longer as popular in China as it was last year, the worlds second largest economy still has a significant thirst for Brazils sweet medium crude oil grades. According to news agency Reuters, China imported 20 million barrels of crude oil from Brazil during May 2021, a 17% increase over the comparable period in 2020. That sees Brazil ranked sixth by volume of oil imports to China behind Angola but ahead of the UAE. The popularity of Brazils sweet medium crude oil grades coupled with low breakeven prices, estimated to average around $50 per barrel and be under $40 per for the major pre-salt oilfields, makes it a hot destination for foreign energy companies. This is certainly enhanced by the epic oil price rally which has been underway since late 2020. Significantly higher Brent prices coupled with Brazilian pre-salt crude oil grades selling at a premium to the international benchmark act as major incentives for investment in offshore Brazil.

Petrobras, which reported some solid first quarter 2021 results, will benefit from these higher oil prices especially because it is focusing on projects with a breakeven price of less than $35 per barrel. Brazils national oil company pumped an average of 2.7 million barrels of crude oil daily during May 2021, representing a slight decline from a month earlier but a notable 7.7% greater than a year earlier. That amounts to 73% of Brazils total petroleum production for the month. Petrobras overall May 2021 hydrocarbon output fell 1.6% month over month but climbed by a healthy 7.7% year over year to 3.5 million barrels per day, making the company responsible for over 90% of Brazils total hydrocarbon production. The national oil company has made tremendous progress with reducing operating expenses. For the first quarter of 2021, Petrobras reported overall lifting costs of $5 per barrel, which were as low as $2.70 a barrel for pre-salt oilfields, attesting to the low operating costs associated with Brazils pre-salt basins. Related: Oil Rig Count Falls As U.S. Drillers Exercise Caution

The integrated energy majors total cost per barrel of oil produced during the quarter being a low $32 means Petrobras upstream operations are highly profitable in the current operating environment where Brent is trading at over $76 a barrel. While Petrobras in 2020 sharply dialed back investment in response to substantially weaker oil prices, it is pressing ahead with developing pre-salt oilfields in offshore Brazil. Between 2021 and 2025 it intends to invest $17 billion in capital expenditures to bring six new oilfields and 13 FPSOs online. That includes adding four FPSOs to the all-important Buzios field which has become a focus for Petrobras, particularly after the strong demand from Chinese refiners experienced during 2020. Earlier this month Petrobras announced that its Chinese partners in the Buzios field CNOOC and CNODC, which have a combined 10% participating interest are required to pay almost $3 billion for exploration work completed in the Buzios field. This will be a boon for Petrobras and provide additional capital for developing the Buzios field which is touted to become the largest producing pre-salt oilfield.

The low breakeven prices for Brazils offshore pre-salt oilfields coupled with the potential for the sweet medium crude oil produced to sell at a premium to Brent, explains why foreign energy companies are investing. ANP data shows foreign oil companies are now responsible for a fifth of Brazils hydrocarbon output. It is global supermajor Shell which is the second-largest oil producer in Brazil after Petrobras, pumping an average of around 450,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day during May 2021. That sees the Anglo-Dutch supermajor responsible for 12% of Brazils total hydrocarbon output during that month. Shell derives most of its production from the Tupi, Sapinhoa, and Mero pre-salt oilfields. The integrated energy supermajor also has interests in the C-10 block, Ostra, Abalone, and Argonauta post-salt fields in the Campos Basin. Shell announced earlier this year plans for a drilling campaign in offshore Brazil for the second half of 2021 with a focus on the C-10 block.

Brazil is expected to launch two bid rounds this year, with the first expected in October which will be the 17th bidding round, originally scheduled for 2020 but postponed because of the oil price collapse. There will be nearly 100 oil blocks put up for tender including 15 blocks in the Campos basin, 50 in the Pelotas basin, 13 in the Santos basin, and 14 in the Potiguar basin. Those developments bode well for Brazils offshore oil boom, leading to growing hydrocarbon production cementing the Latin American countrys position among the worlds top-10 oil-producing countries. The boom will act as a powerful driver of Brazils urgently needed post-pandemic economic recovery after its gross domestic product shrank 4% last year according to IMF data.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

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Despite a strong rebound in oil prices, seeing them hit three-year highs, U.S. shale oil producers are sticking to their output discipline, Reuters reports, citing rig count data and industry insiders.

While West Texas Intermediate has passed the $70-per-barrel mark that makes a lot more shale output profitable, producers are wary of bringing back too much production too quickly.

Under other circumstances, drillers would have been adding rigs consistently, but this year, the rig count has been swinging between weekly additions and declines, according to Baker Hughes data.

Reuters notes in its report that the last time WTI traded at $73 per barrel, there were more than 1,000 active drilling rigs in the shale patch. To date, there are some 470.

Production also fluctuates. Last week, the Energy Information Administration estimated total national output of 11.1 million bpd for the week to June 18. That was down by 100,000 bpd from the previous week. It was also just 100,000 bpd higher than output for the same week a year ago, at the height of the pandemic crisis.

Shale output this month has averaged 7.77 million bpd, down from a high of 9.18 million bpd in January last year. First-quarter output, according to Reuters, has been at 83 percent of last years peak.

Whats more, there is little chance of this changing even as prices are expected to continue climbing higher. The chief executive of Pioneer Natural Resources, Scott Sheffield, told Reuters he did not see shale oil producers adding more rigs even if prices rose closer to $80 a barrel. In fact, Pioneer may even reduce the number of rigs it uses to drill new wells thanks to improving efficiencies.

Yet, there is also caution about OPEC+. The cartel is considering adding more of its own output to global supply in the next two months, and this may slow down the climb of oil prices.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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That action on climate change would be the top priority for the Biden administration became obvious on the campaign trail. That other priorities of an even more political nature might occasionally trump it was not so obvious then. It is only now that some of these realities are beginning to emerge, with seemingly inconsistent action on projects such as Gazprom's Nord Stream 2 and TC Energy's Keystone XL. When earlier this year the Biden administration lifted some sanctions on German entities involved in the Nord Stream 2 project, it caused shocked some Republicans who promptly laid out their misgivings in a letter.

"We fear that this discrepancy can only be explained by the desire to leave room for a deal through the back door with Germany. Any deal that does not stop the completion of Nord Stream 2 would be misguided," they wrote in March.

The Nord Stream 2 project is one of the few topics on which this administration and the previous one appear to be in complete agreement. The official reasons that both the Trump administration and the Biden administration have repeatedly given are Europe's energy security, which will be compromised if Russia's share in gas imports rises.

The unofficial but pretty obvious actual reason for Washington's opposition is the fact that Russian gas is a direct competitor of American gas. The Biden administration's Energy Department even branded American gas as "molecules of freedom" to promote it in Europe. Still, Germany wanted Nord Stream 2, and it looks like it will get it.

This has prompted another letter by Republican legislators.

According to this letter, what the Biden administration is doing is basically serving Europe's energy security on a plate to Moscow, with House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy saying in a tweet, "Given your open hostility to domestic pipelines like the Keystone XL pipeline, it is baffling that you are willing to green-light Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Put simply, you are prioritizing Russian jobs over American jobs."

It is obvious that a parallel between Nord Stream 2 and Keystone XL is not exactly fair: one is a foreign project for foreign consumers while the other is a U.S. project. For all the might of the U.S. financial system that has allowed it to punish nations and businesses across the world, the sanction weapon is not universal, as proved by the move to lift sanctions on German participants in the project.

And yet, a comparison in the attitude of the Biden administration to different pipeline projects would be interesting. Yadullah Hussain provided just such a comparison in a recent article for Canada's Financial Post, noting the inconsistent attitude of the White House to Nord Stream 2 and Line 5. While he acknowledges the marked differences between the projects, such as that one transports oil and the other less polluting gas, Hussain notes that Canada, just like Germany, is an ally to the United States, and yet it is effectively being treated worse than Germany.

Related: Oil Rig Count Falls As U.S. Drillers Exercise Caution

The reasons for this perceived inconsistency are purely geopolitical: as Hussain himself notes, the U.S. had to mend fences with Germany after Trump's term in office, while Canada has invariably been a staunch ally of its southern neighbor. There is something else as well: perhaps Biden simply realized there are not enough sanctions in the world to stop Nord Stream. After all, let's not forget that sanctions imposed on the Russian participants in the project are still in effect, but it is nearing completion despite these.

In the meantime, Keystone XL was officially shelved by its developer TC Energy and now another Canadian pipeline company, Enbridge, is fighting for its Line 5 pipeline against Michigan state. According to the operator of the infrastructure, which Michigan's Governor Gretchen Whitmer wants to shut down, such a move would lead to shortages of feedstocks for U.S. refineries and soaring propane prices. It would also constitute a violation of a bilateral treaty from the 1970s that stipulates no pipeline transporting hydrocarbons between the U.S. and Canada could be shut down unless there's an accident.

Here, the motive of the opponents is purely environmental. To be thorough, there was an attempt by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to paint the Nord Stream 2 project as an environmental threat, too, calling Russian gas "the dirtiest in the world," which in turn prompted Russia's Deputy PM Alexander Novak to note the carbon footprint of shale gas extraction. This budding debate never managed to escalate beyond the amusing stage, but the question of whether the environment is really the top priority for the Biden administration remained open.

Line 5 is as essential for the energy security of Michigan and other states in the vicinity as Nord Stream is for Germany. Both provide energy that cannot be sourced as easily or cheaply from other suppliers. The U.S. has political arguments against the Russian project and environmental arguments against the Canadian project, but in the end, both are likely to be trumped by the fundamental market forces of supply and demand.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
For the past couple months there's been persisting reports and rumors that Saudi Arabia is preparing to restore diplomatic ties and normalized relations with the Syrian government under Bashar al-Assad, coming off a decade of war in which the Saudis spearheaded efforts alongside the US and other allies to topple him.

As we detailed in early May the first major step toward detente came when Saudi Arabia's powerful intelligence chief, Gen Khalid Humaidan, traveled to Damascus to meet with his Syrian counterpart. The two sides broke off relations since near the start of the war in 2011, especially as it became clear the Saudis were a key part of the Western-allied push for regime change, through covert support to anti-Assad insurgents and jihadists which included regular weapons shipments.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, left, and Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus on Oct. 7, 2009, via AP.

Starting in 2018, other Arab capitals had begun seeking to mend relations with Assad, especially after the United Arab Emirates reopened its long shuttered embassy in the Syrian capital at the end of that year. There's even been talk of late of Assad being invited back into the Arab League.

Essentially America's Gulf allies are fast coming to the conclusion that Assad is here to stay, and that pragmatism means opening up relations; however, Washington doesn't see it that way - as its prior long-running covert war has turned to an economic war of economic strangulation and choking off national resources by occupying the oil and gas rich northeast.

On Friday, a top US official threatened regional allies with sanctions should they get too friendly with Assad. The Middle East Eye details the warning as follows:

On a call to reporters on Friday, Joey Hood, acting assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, said Washington's opposition to the Syrian government would not change unless there was a "major change in behavior" in Damascus. "With regard to others, who may be considering making moves, we are asking them to consider very carefully the atrocities committed by the regime on the Syrian people over the last decade, as well as the regime's continuing efforts to deny much of the country access to humanitarian aid and security," Hood said.

Hood brought up America's Caesar Act sanctions, which are geared toward thwarting reconstruction of the country under Assad.

Syria: Why Saudi Arabia wants Assad on its side again | Kamal Alamhttps://t.co/OVEpKW52G0 pic.twitter.com/wxHPgqBXLn  Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) May 7, 2021

"And I would also, of course, add that we also have the Caesar Act sanctions," the top State Dept. official said. "This is a law that has wide bipartisan support in the Congress, and the administration is going to follow the law on that. And so governments and businesses need to be careful that their proposed or envisioned transactions dont expose them to potential sanctions from the United States under that act," he added.

Egypt is also a major US Mideast which has signaled its intent to improve relations with Damascus. The Sisi government is staunchly anti-Muslim Brotherhood, and wants to see Turkish ambitions in the region thwarted. It's likely that any major rapprochement between the region's most influential countries and Assad would come via the Arab League, potentially making it harder for Washington to make good on its threat of sanctions.

By Zerohedge.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Health-med-fit

Nebraska's gap between urban and rural vaccination is widest in nation

PANHANDLE PUBLIC HEALTH DISTRICT A billboard in the Nebraska Panhandle encourages ranchers to get vaccinated.

The billboards put up on rural highways in Nebraskas Panhandle make a direct vaccination pitch to the regions ranchers.

You wouldnt skip vaccinating your cattle, say the signs featuring two head of black Angus. Dont skip getting vaccinated for COVID-19.

Talk about herd immunity.

But despite such targeted messaging, Nebraskas rural communities have a long way to go to reach the levels of vaccination needed to end the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vaccination rates in rural Nebraska badly lag those in urban parts of the state. In fact, Nebraskas rural rates are among the lowest in the region, according to a World-Herald analysis of county vaccination data.

Roughly 40% of Nebraska adults living in rural areas are fully vaccinated, compared with more than 60% of those living in the states metro areas.

Whats more, the county-level data submitted to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that Nebraskas rural-urban vaccination divide is the widest in the nation. And Nebraskas rural vaccination gap among the vulnerable 65-and-over age group also appears to be the nations biggest.

Outbreak in Kearney nursing home proves value of COVID vaccines Before vaccines, nursing home residents who got COVID often became ill  and many died. But with widespread vaccinations, a recent outbreak at a Kearney home resulted in no serious illness.

Public health officials say Nebraskas lagging rural rates are concerning, especially with a more contagious strain of the virus on the rise and fast becoming dominant nationally. The variant first identified in India has already been detected in Omaha and some parts of rural Nebraska.

Communities that have chosen to not have a higher rate of vaccination are unfortunately setting themselves up to be preyed upon by some of these more transmissible variants, said Dr. Mark Rupp, an infectious disease expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Nebraska can take a lesson from neighboring Missouri, whose rural vaccination rates are even lower.

The Delta variant has now rushed into that gap, leaving the Show-Me State with the nations highest current case rate and inundating rural hospital wards with COVID-19 patients, all at a time the pandemic is supposed to be ending.

Most of the counties with Nebraskas lowest vaccination rates can be found in the Panhandle and the Sand Hills  sprawling, sparse grasslands where cattle are plentiful and conservatism and general distrust of government are high. In one Sand Hills county, figures suggest that only 11% of adults have been vaccinated.

People just do not want to vaccinate overall, said Meghan Trevino, coordinated services director of the North Platte-based West Central District Health Department. CDC data shows that about 27% of adults in her county are fully vaccinated, a figure that ranks 80th among the states 93 counties.

The administration of Gov. Pete Ricketts said in a statement that the governor has consistently recommended that Nebraskans get vaccinated.

In Nebraska, we believe in personal responsibility, spokesman Taylor Gage said. Were asking Nebraskans to take responsibility for their own health care, and to visit with their doctor about the vaccine and whether its right for them.

The administration detailed efforts that state and local health officials have taken to make shots widely available across the state and to encourage people to get them  including initiatives targeting rural residents.

Nebraska experts: Keep focus on COVID vaccinations, not on herd immunity Rather than focusing on herd immunity, experts say, Nebraskans should continue to promote vaccination efforts with the goals of reducing cases and deaths.

But some public health officials say the big divide revealed by the analysis shows that theres room to do more.

Dr. Bob Rauner of Partnership for a Healthy Lincoln, and a Panhandle native, said that given rural Nebraskas conservative bent, it would help for residents to hear more messages from Republican elected officials as well as trusted local voices like doctors, nurses and clergy.

Geography is not destiny, Rauner said.

Its now been more than six months since the U.S. launched its COVID-19 vaccination campaign, creating hopes of finally ending the deadly pandemic that has claimed more than 2,200 lives in Nebraska and over 600,000 nationally.

Nebraska as a whole has ranked well in getting shots into arms. Its in the top half of states and better than the U.S. average. Its also among the best states at vaccinating those 65 and over.

But the statewide rates mask a growing urban-rural divide.

The states most populous counties tend to have the highest vaccination rates. Lancaster County has 63% of its 18-and-over population fully vaccinated, followed by Douglas at 62% and Sarpy at 58%.

On the flip side, 11 rural counties have rates under 25%, including McPherson at 11%, Grant and Logan at 16% and Arthur at 17%.

One notable rural exception is Thurston County, home to the states Winnebago and Omaha Indian Reservations. It leads the state with its vaccination rate, with almost 67% fully vaccinated.

Thurston County, home to two Indian reservations, claims Nebraska's top vaccination rate Thurston County, home to Nebraskas Winnebago and Omaha Indian Reservations, leads the state with nearly 67% of its 18-and-over population fully vaccinated.

Grouping counties that are located within metro areas and outside metro areas reveals the wide 60%-40% urban-rural divide on vaccinations. The disparity is even wider among those 65 and older, with 84% of that vulnerable demographic vaccinated in urban counties but only 60% in rural ones.

Of the 873,000 Nebraska adults who were fully vaccinated as of Thursday, county-of-residence data has been collected for about 89% of them. So rates in a number of counties are likely higher than whats reported.

Because of differences in the degree to which states have collected county-of-residence information, its difficult to compare rural and urban rates among all states. Nebraskas lack of such data is among the highest in the CDC database.

But Nebraskas rural-urban vaccination gap appears to be the nations largest, a product of both above-average urban vaccination rates and lagging rural ones.

Nebraskas metro area vaccination rate ranks in the top third of the country, exceeding even Californias. But its rural rates are in the bottom third, trailing most neighboring states. Most of the lowest-ranking states are in the South.

Nebraskas 20-point gap between rural and urban rates is the largest in CDC data, followed by Florida and Missouri.

Iowa has a much smaller rural-urban gap, with a 60% urban vaccination rate and 53% rural. Nationally, the urban-rural gap is 56% to 44%.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services says its vaccination database has a higher level of county-of-origin information than the CDCs and a urban-rural gap thats closer to 10%. But the department declined to provide the county-level numbers to support that figure, saying to do so would violate federal medical confidentiality laws.

Some COVID vaccine clinics in Omaha will be closing, but shots will still be available The Douglas County Health Department will continue to offer a handful of pop-up clinics for COVID-19 vaccine shots in the coming week.

Regardless, a significant urban-rural divide persists.

A recent survey conducted by UNMC and the state HHS offered insight into the reluctance of some Nebraskans to take the vaccines. In the online survey, respondents were asked whether they intended to get the shots when given the chance.

Safety concerns, potential side effects and lack of trust were the top reasons given by those who were hesitant, said Dejun Su, director of a UNMC center dedicated to reducing health disparities.

The survey likewise showed a rural-urban gap, with rural respondents twice as likely to say they do not intend to get vaccinated as urban ones.

The survey also found higher reluctance based on political affiliation. Thirteen percent of those identifying as Republicans said they did not intend to get vaccinated, compared with just 2% of Democrats.

We did find a big difference between Republicans and Democrats, Su said.

The same party disparity is evident in Nebraskas county vaccination figures.

The percentage of residents in a county who havent taken the vaccine tends to hew closely to the countys percentage of registered voters who are Republicans. Among the states 93 counties, the five with the highest percentage of registered Republicans rank 92nd, 93rd, 90th, 88th and 89th in vaccination rate.

Its difficult to say for sure whether those differences are a reflection of partisan politics or the fact that Republicans just generally tend to be more conservative. But theres no question that the pandemic, from masks to vaccines, has long been highly politicized.

Unfortunately, I think it largely breaks down around political viewpoints, UNMCs Rupp said of vaccine hesitancy. One of the saddest things about this whole pandemic has been how polarized and politicized medical and public health issues have become.

UNL begins vaccine registry, offers prizes including trip to Ireland to watch Huskers UNL students, faculty and staff who upload their COVID vaccine information to a voluntary registry are eligible for prizes, including a year of tuition and a trip to Dublin to watch Nebraska football.

State HHS officials say they used the UNMC survey results to tailor vaccine communications strategies for both rural Nebraska and underserved communities.

Outreach to rural areas has included radio, online and billboard advertising, town hall events and work with partners like the Nebraska Farm Bureau, the Center for Rural Affairs, chambers of commerce and local health departments, spokesperson Olga Dack said.

Online ads in rural Nebraska touted vaccines as how we get normal life and our freedom back. The federal government has provided funding to states for such rural vaccination outreach.

Local health departments say theyve also worked to get accurate information to the people in their area.

The Panhandle Public Health District held a Facebook Live event featuring Dr. James Lawler, a director of UNMCs Global Center for Health Security, seeking to dispel misinformation on vaccines.

Director Kim Engel said the agency has also encouraged people to talk to their doctors or to friends and loved ones who have taken the vaccine.

Months into the vaccination campaign, access to vaccines is certainly no longer an issue.

People are as close to vaccines as they are to groceries, Engel said.

But as the old rural saying goes, you can lead a horse to water ...

Its a personal choice at this point, I think, Engel said. Were just trying to be positive and be there when they want it.

With pace of shots slowing, COVID vaccinations shift to Omaha doctors' offices With the pace of vaccinations at COVID-19 vaccine clinics slowing, the effort to get shots in arms in the Omaha area has begun shifting to doctors' offices.

Myra Stoney, director of the Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department, is familiar with all the arguments for not getting vaccinated, including people who deny that there was a pandemic.

All of the common answers that you hear across the nation, thats what we hear out here, she said.

But she and other public health officials say they have not given up on convincing those hesitant to take the shots.

Jeremy Eschliman, director of the Kearney-based Two Rivers Public Health Department, said minds can be changed, but its hard work. His agency has focused on people who say the vaccines have not been studied enough, figuring that they can be convinced if given the right information.

Theres never been an issue thats been quite so divisive, said Eschliman, whos been in public health for 22 years.

Rupp noted that people in rural America are more conservative and individualistic, which has likely played into the lag. But he said they are also very patriotic and take pride in their country, state and community. More messaging playing to that pride could help make rural communities safer for everyone, he said.

COVID safe? CWS brings uncertain virus risks, especially for unvaccinated COVID cases are down and vaccinations help protect fans attending the College World Series. But experts note that the pandemic is not over, and the crowded ballpark won't be risk-free.

Rauner, of Partnership for a Healthy Lincoln, said the strong vaccination rates seen in a handful of rural counties suggest that the reluctant can be convinced if they hear from the right people.

He pointed to Boone County, which has a 52% vaccination rate despite being surrounded by counties with rates as low as 27%. Rauner said he knows Boone County to be home to strong and respected family health care practitioners, as evidenced by its traditionally high rate for preventive cancer screenings.

Thats a trusted voice theyre going to listen to, he said. Theyre not going to listen to Bob Rauner.

The billboards encouraging ranchers to get vaccinated originated with a local health care provider.

Sandy Montague-Roes, director of a community health organization thats part of the Chadron hospital, said she and a co-worker were inspired by a rancher who came in for his vaccination.

The rancher recounted a conversation he had over coffee with a neighbor who was opposed to getting the vaccine. The rancher had noted to the neighbor they would do anything they can to protect the investment they make in their cattle herd.

Why are we any different? the rancher asked.

The billboards have received a lot of attention. Some people have stopped along the road to take selfies with them. The signs have generated some negative comments, too.

But at least, Montague-Roes said, they are sparking conversations in the community about the benefits of getting vaccinated.
Months into the vaccination campaign, access to vaccines is certainly no longer an issue.

People are as close to vaccines as they are to groceries, Engel said.

But as the old rural saying goes, you can lead a horse to water ...

Its a personal choice at this point, I think, Engel said. Were just trying to be positive and be there when they want it.

Myra Stoney, director of the Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department, is familiar with all the arguments for not getting vaccinated, including people who deny that there was a pandemic.

All of the common answers that you hear across the nation, thats what we hear out here, she said.

But she and other public health officials say they have not given up on convincing those hesitant to take the shots.

Jeremy Eschliman, director of the Kearney-based Two Rivers Public Health Department, said minds can be changed, but its hard work. His agency has focused on people who say the vaccines have not been studied enough, figuring that they can be convinced if given the right information.
A first-generation college student himself, Bustos said he was eager to offer academic help to students who would otherwise be navigating their way to college alone.

But, Bustos admitted, the first few meetings with a student arent always easy, despite the training provided by the college.

I think its a nerve-wracking experience at first, he said. Youre meeting a stranger, a teenager.

But after a few sessions, he found the boys he mentored willing to open up about school, home and whatever else was on their minds. Sometimes theyd get so engrossed in their conversations, theyd lose track of time. Wait, he would say. I have to get to a meeting. You have to go to class.

Of the 67 scholars who graduated this spring, 36 will attend Valencia, 31 will head to other colleges and universities and two are joining the military, Astro said. The programs scholarships cover two years at Valencia but can be used at four-year schools, too. Program counselors help students seek out other aid to cover costs not paid for by the program.

Crystal, who moved here from Jamaica when she was in the sixth grade and lives with her single mother, last month won an extra scholarship from the program, which will help her cover her third year at FSU.
A 38-year-old woman was sentenced to 64 to 102 years in prison Monday in Sarpy County District Court after being found guilty of several charges including sexual assault of a minor, tampering with witnesses and child abuse.

In March, a Sarpy County jury found Christina M. Greer guilty of three counts of first-degree sexual assault of a minor involving two boys ages 12 and 13. She also was found guilty of six counts of felony child abuse and two counts of witness tampering. The jury found her not guilty of one count of first-degree sexual assault of a child and one count of child enticement.

Under Nebraska sentencing guidelines, Greer must serve 32 years in prison before being eligible for parole. Absent parole, she must be released after 51 years. She will be given credit for the time she has spent in jail awaiting her trial and sentencing.

This case took 3 years from (Greers) arrest to sentencing, said Phil Kleine, a deputy prosecutor with the Sarpy County Attorneys Office.

The victims had to go through a lot, to put it lightly. I hope that, with the courts sentence, the victims will be able to find some form of closure and be able to move forward with their lives.
He told NBC News last week that he is open to looking at any changes in the rules, and he will ultimately make a decision based on what is in the best interest of Arizona and the country. And Im not looking for something that is in the best interest of just Democrats, he said.

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, D-CALIF.

Feinstein, who has been in the Senate for nearly three decades, has long been a champion of bipartisanship and has opposed eliminating the filibuster. But that is out of line with her deeply blue state.

In recent comments, she has said she may be open to changes.

Ive received many calls and letters from constituents and groups that are frustrated by the lack of action in the Senate on important issues, and I agree with them, she said in a statement. I understand their concern and Im giving the matter a lot of thought. I look forward to continued discussions with my colleagues on how to solve problems for the American people.

SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN, D-N.H.
A former teller at a credit union in Denison, Iowa, has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for embezzling over $1.5 million.

Brenda Jensen, the former head teller of Consumers Credit Union in Denison, was sentenced Friday at the federal courthouse in Sioux City, Iowa. She was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $430,470 to Cobalt Credit Union and $1,031,009 to CUNA Mutual Group.

Prosecutors said Jensen, who was responsible for all cash counts, concealed the crime from auditors in numerous ways, including overstating the change fund in the credit unions general ledger and depositing fraudulent checks to cover up the ongoing theft.

Jensen further concealed the embezzlement by creating fictitious deposits into her personal accounts, prosecutors said.

Jensen pleaded guilty to embezzling the money from May 2012 through March 2018, along with her sister, Janine Keim, the credit union manager. Keim has pleaded guilty in federal court to embezzling $1,486,647 and making false statements to auditors of the National Credit Union Administration.

Prosecutors said Keims actions contributed to a loss for CCU that resulted in its insolvency. The date for Keims sentencing has not been set.
I dont think its something to be proud of. We thought wed be done with it sooner than 30 years, Kaye said.

At times, she has been the only person at the vigils. But other times  especially when the State Legislature is debating capital punishment  the protest has grown to a dozen or more people.

Its among the states longest-running protests. Weekly prayer vigils have been held outside a Lincoln abortion clinic since 1995, and there have been annual protests against nuclear weapons at the gate of Offutt Air Force Base since at least the 1960s. A yearly Walk For Life to protest abortion has been held since 1974.

Participants say that the protests have increased awareness and that in recent years, theyve noticed a decrease in hateful shouting and an increase in supportive comments from passing motorists.

We just want to be a constant presence and reminder that the issue hasnt gone away, said Lisa Knopp of Lincoln, another of the original protesters, who is writing a book about her friendship with the last person executed in the state, Carey Dean Moore, in 2018.
A federal freeze on most evictions that was enacted last year is scheduled to expire July 31, after the Biden administration extended the date by a month.

The moratorium, put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September, has been the only tool keeping millions of tenants in their homes. Many of them lost jobs during the coronavirus pandemic and have fallen months behind on their rent.

Landlords successfully challenged the order in court, arguing that they also had bills to pay. They pointed out that tenants could access more than $45 billion in federal money set aside to help pay rents and related expenses.

As of June 7, roughly 3.2 million people in the U.S. said they would face eviction within the next two months, according to the U.S. Census Bureaus Household Pulse Survey. The survey measures the social and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic every two weeks through online responses from a representative sample of U.S. households.

What's the status of eviction moratoriums in Nebraska?

Gov. Pete Ricketts temporarily banned evictions for 2 months near the start of the pandemic, before the CDC moratorium was in place. Ricketts' order expired at the end of May 2020.
Quentin Bowen believes the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and he believes it works. But because of a lack of time and some other circumstances, he didnt get it when it became available.

The 41-year-old farmer from Richardson County was busy on the farm  planting soybeans and tending to his hogs. He had also dodged the virus back in November when his wife and daughter had it and figured he was less at risk now with cases waning.

I guess I thought I had time, he said.

But time wasnt on his side.

On May 15, right in the middle of planting season for his several thousand acres of soybeans, Bowen started feeling ill.

He said it started as chills in the afternoon. He went to bed early and woke up around 11 p.m. with a fever of almost 103.

At that point, Bowen figured he might have COVID-19.

He isolated himself, rested, took Tylenol and drank plenty of fluids, but after a couple of days, he didnt feel any better, so he called a local health clinic.

The staff at the clinic told him he should get tested for COVID-19, but they also told him there wasnt anything they could do for him if he did have it. So he stayed home.
BEIRUT (AP)  A Russian business delegation met Lebanese officials on Monday to discuss plans to rebuild the grain silos destroyed last year in a massive explosion at Beiruts port, a Lebanese Cabinet minister said.

The visit by the Russian team  including officials from Russias Hydro Engineering and Construction company  comes as Lebanon is going though the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history.

Nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate  a highly explosive material used in fertilizers  had been improperly stored in the port for years. The nitrate ignited on Aug. 4, causing a catastrophic blast that killed 211 people and injured more than 6,000, devastating nearby neighborhoods.

A government-commissioned study in the wake of the explosion said the 50-year-old silos could collapse at any moment and should be demolished. Several countries are said to be interested in rebuilding the port and the surrounding areas, including Turkey, Germany and China.
Once again, we find ourselves at a defining moment in our fight against this disease, he said, urging all to continue wearing masks and keeping a distance from others.

Let us call on every bit of strength we have, let us summon our reserves of courage, and hold firm until this wave, too, passes over us," a somber Ramaphosa said. "We have climbed many hills before, and we will climb this one, too.

South Africa's vaccination rate is slowly picking up speed. By Sunday, 2.7 million people had received a least one jab. More than 950,000 of South Africa's 1.25 million health care workers have been vaccinated, said Ramaphosa.

Deliveries of the Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer vaccines are increasing, he said. South Africa aims to vaccinate 67% of its 60 million people by February 2022.

As a new surge of the disease sweeps across Africa's 54 countries, about 1% of the continent's 1.3 billion people have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

South Africa's rampant corruption has also become a factor as the health minister has stepped down because of reports his family members benefitted from inflated payments on contracts related to COVID-19.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Lake Houston Lowering in Progress

Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin would like to make Lake Houston residents aware, Houston Public Works is monitoring weather forecasts for the Lake Houston region, with predicted rainfall of 3+ inches in our watershed over the next 48 hours. The forecast of 3+ inches of rain in our watershed triggers the Lake Houston lowering protocol.





Effective immediately, Lake Houston will be lowered Lake Houston 1 foot from 42.5 feet to 41.5 feet, time permitting. Lake Houston is currently at 42.63 feet, normal pool is 42.5 feet. Property owners along the lake should take measures to secure property along the shoreline. At this time Lake Houston will be lowered by 12 inches, from 42.5 feet to 41.5 feet. Our office was notified of this verified forecast shortly after the City of Houstons 9:00 a.m. inclement weather call.



Please remember it is important to utilize verified news sources for inclement weather information as well as tune in to local news stations for changing forecasts. To monitor current water levels at Lake Houston, visit www.coastalwaterauthority.org. To see current levels for Lake Conroe you can visit www.sjra.net. For more information, please contact the District E office at (832) 393-3008 or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Fidelity Bank and VIAMO are partnering to bring financial innovation to the Ashanti and Western regions of Ghana. The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) announces that it has entered into an agreement with Fidelity Bank Ghana, a leading commercial bank headquartered in Ghana engaged in financial inclusion and Viamo, a global social enterprise improving lives via mobile, under the GrEEn Project to increase access and usage of financial services for youth, women and returning migrants in the Ashanti and Western regions of Ghana.



Access to and usage of financial services and resources is a key contributor to the economic empowerment of women and youth. For Ghanaians living in remote areas, limited digital and financial literacy have hindered access to such services. In remote communities where these financial services are accessible, they are often not tailored to meet the specific needs of the local population, further limiting the ability of women and youth to actively contribute to their local economies.



With the support of the European Union, UNCDF is excited about the partnership with Fidelity Bank and Viamo to provide financial solutions that reach the most isolated populations and empower them to make informed financial decisions. Leveraging on Fidelity banks signature digital account, dubbed the Smart Account, customers can remotely open bank accounts via an end-to-end self-service platform using the USSD short code*776# or an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) service. Additionally, Fidelity Bank together with Viamo will design engaging mobile content and adapt existing solutions to empower recipients with customized, actionable information about job opportunities, entrepreneurship and financial services. This information will be geared towards the recipient's own interests and aspirations, and will be deployed via Viamo's flagship 3-2-1 product, a cutting-edge local language on demand IVR communication service, specifically designed to ensure inclusiveness of illiterate and non-smartphone users. 



"Efie Ni Efie" (Home is where your treasure lies) offers three primary value propositions on (i) Information (ii) Education, and (iii) Products, harnessing local potential to unlock green, sustainable livelihoods through access to useful financial information. Efie Ni Efie is taking the excluded groups through a journey, providing them with the knowledge and tools to persuade them into making the all-important financial and non-financial decisions to stay in their local community, hence reducing the appeal of irregular migration. Additionally, Fidelity Banks customer-friendly remote account opening service will leverage Viamo's IVR in local dialects for non-literate persons to open and use bank accounts easily and conveniently.



Financial literacy is at the core of the GrEEn project and we look forward to seeing thousands of youth and women from the Ashanti and Western regions of Ghana financially empowered, said Arianna Gasparri, Financial Inclusion Specialist for UNCDF. Thanks to the European Union, UNCDF is able to support financial innovations and bring them to the last mile in a sustainable manner. Financial education is indeed one of the key enablers to drive the journey of GrEEn targeted groups towards economic independence, and digital innovation is helping us accelerate these results.



Commenting on the partnership, Director of Inclusive Banking at Fidelity Bank, Esi Mills Robertson, stated, "As a key contributor to Ghanas financial inclusion agenda, we are happy to partner with Viamo to deliver innovative digital solutions to the people of the Western and Ashanti regions of Ghana. Indeed, Fidelity is always eager to partner with like-minded institutions to drive change with easily accessible and innovative digital solutions that can positively impact lives."



Country Director for Viamo in Ghana, Sandra Abrokwah, also expressed enthusiasm about the project; she said, Viamo is thrilled to partner with Fidelity Bank on the GrEEn Project. We believe all people deserve access to the information they need to make decisions for healthy, prosperous lives. Financial education across Ashanti and Western regions via mobile is an effort that will drive economic growth and empowerment, leaving a lasting impact.





The project is planned to run until 2023 and the joint partnership aims at reaching 70,000 new users with improved financial knowledge in selected districts of the GrEEn Project. Under the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, UNCDF aims to create dynamic financial ecosystems at the local level to support targeted groups in their journey towards economic independence, thereby addressing the root causes of irregular migration.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Marine specialist services provider AMSOL Ghana was recently awarded a contract by Ghana Oil Company (GOIL) that will further support continued indigenisation in the sector and the extension of the companys services in marine and offshore fuel logistics and transportation. The relationship between GOIL and AMSOL Ghana is underpinned by a master service agreement signed in 2018, targeted at offering world-class solutions tailored to their value proposition through a partnership approach.



The tanker Clenston will deliver Marine Gas Oil on behalf of GOIL to international oil companies (IOCs) as well as clients in the fishing industry. Tanker operations to high international standards require effective risk management to efficiently execute the scope of work to international oil industry standards by ensuring no impact on the environment and the health and safety of all personnel. AMSOL Ghana complies with all relevant codes and conventions which govern the maritime sector.



The crew on the Clenston were recently taken through an induction process by the Chief Executive and Director of AMSOL Ghana, Mr Kojo Quainoo. This was aimed at ensuring that the policies and protocols of AMSOL Ghana were well understood and adhered to in order to meet the expectations of the company and its partner GOIL.



Mr Quainoo, in his address to the crew and the delegation from GOIL, highlighted the importance of the partnership:



With a requirement for the transportation and delivery of marine fuel, GOIL has entrusted AMSOL Ghana with providing a world class service out of Tema. This has been an opportunity to provide employment for Ghanaian seafarers and further develop AMSOL Ghanas competency in marine and offshore fuel logistics and transportation.



Mr Quainoo further stated that AMSOL Ghana believed strongly in local content and local participation and was committed to engaging local personnel and seafarers with relevant experience and competence to deliver solutions which meet international standards.



Mr Quainoo was joined onboard the Clenston by the AMSOL Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Paul Maclons, and the Fleet Management Executive of AMSOL, Mr Graham Dreyden.

Mr Maclons on the exciting partnership with GOIL:



Growing capacity in AMSOL Ghana, which is an emerging enterprise in the local maritime industry, and the expansion of AMSOLs footprint in the region supports our growth strategy and we are grateful to GOIL for the opportunity for AMSOL Ghana to provide this essential service.



The commencement of this contract represents the achievement of a strategic objective for the AMSOL Group that also has operations in Namibia, Mozambique and South Africa.



AMSOL Ghana is 51% Ghanaian owned and ensures the continued development of local marine skills and employment in this specialist sector, primarily in support of the Oil & Gas industry. AMSOL is a market leader in the provision of specialist marine services and operates and owns 19 vessels. Part of the value proposition is the operation and maintenance of Single Point Mooring Systems and Offshore Terminals.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Standard Chartered announces the signing of a EUR 280 million Social Loan financing for the Ministry of Finance, Ghana (MoF Ghana) to develop a section of vital highway, the Eastern Corridor, that will transform the countrys transport infrastructure.



The financing is backed by Euler Hermes, the German Export Credit Agency, and INZAG Germany GmbH, a client of the Bank, is the chosen Engineering, Procurement and Construction contractor. Standard Chartered is acting as Bookrunner, Mandated Lead Arranger, Structuring Bank, Social Loan Co-ordinator, Original Lender[1] and Agent.



In an industry first, Standard Chartered structured the financing to fully comply with the recently published Social Loan Principles[2](SLPs). This is the first time a Social Loan has been structured not only in Ghana, but on the wider African continent. The project is eligible because of its objective to improve basic transport network, which is categorised as affordable basic infrastructure. The project will also contribute towards meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 9[3], which relates to industry, innovation and infrastructure.



Desislava Radeva, Director, Structured Export Finance, Standard Chartered Bank, said: We are proud to build on our strong relationship with the Ministry of Finance, Ghana to deliver a bespoke ECA-backed solution to enable the development of this critical infrastructure project. We are equally excited to have signed the first Social Loan in Sub-Saharan Africa.



The Ghana Eastern Corridor is the National Road N2 that starts at the Tema roundabout and ends in Kalungugu, the northeastern border with Burkina Faso. Standard Chartereds financing will fund a particular intersection of the road, otherwise known as Lot 1, which includes two flyovers and interchanges, 11 pedestrian bridges and three mixed bridges in dual carriageway. It stretches from the Ashaiman roundabout and ends at the Akosombo Junction, Madina; a distance of 64km.



When completed, the Ministry of Roads and Highways expects the upgraded, tolled route to positively impact the lives of around 500,000 local residents from underserved populations. It will drive employment opportunities and trade, providing shorter access to the port of Tema and will link regions within Ghana, and also to neighbouring countries. Additionally, the intersection will improve road safety and better access to healthcare and other essential services.



Xorse Godzi, Head of Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking, Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Plc, said: Our involvement in the project is a prime example of Standard Chartered living up to its brand promise, here for good, and supporting our communities. Having operated in Ghana for over 125 years, we are able to advise and play a leading role in tapping liquidity around the world for major sustainable infrastructure projects in the country to help Ghana achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.



Naim Danji, Head of Export Finance, INZAG Germany GmbH, said: INZAG is delighted to execute this project and looking forward to the successful development and construction of this flagship infrastructure for the country of Ghana.



The transaction is the sixth ECA-supported deal in Ghana arranged by Standard Chartered Bank in the past 12 months, bringing the total amount of financing to over EUR 560 million delivering a wide range of transport and healthcare infrastructure for the Government of Ghana.









Source: Peacefmonline.com









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To mark UN Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Day and the vital role that they play in post-pandemic recovery, Emirates is empowering small and medium sized enterprises to get back into the skies and turn their travel budgets into rewards by debuting a Business Rewards incentive for new members who sign up for the programme. Small and medium sized businesses who sign up for an account to Emirates' Business Rewards corporate loyalty programme from today, 27 June to 27 July 2021 will receive a bonus of 10,000 Business Reward Points, the equivalent of one Economy Class return ticket to selected destinations in Europe.



Emirates currently has over 20,000 small and medium sized businesses enrolled in its Business Rewards programme, and is providing a gamut of benefits including simplified enrolment, easier earning and redemptions, greater flexibility on retaining and using points as well as upgrade opportunities, even on last minute bookings.



With countries easing their entry restrictions, business travel has begun accelerating, and small and medium size enterprises have become key drivers of demand with the flexibility to make travel plans quickly as new opportunities emerge.



Emirates has been supporting small and medium sized business hit by the pandemic. Emirates Business Rewards programme members are taking advantage of the airline'sflexible booking policies, which are among the most generous in the industry for stress-free travel planning, in addition to its multi-risk insurance cover. Since the outset of the pandemic, Business Rewards programme members were provided additional reassurance with extensions on their points' validity if travel plans needed to be adjusted.



Knowing their travel plans are protected, top destinations for Business Rewards programme members have been frequenting during the pandemic include London, Manila, Paris, Cairo, Milan and Beirut. Dubai also continues to be a key destination regularly visited by Business Rewards members, mainly due to its open business environment throughout the pandemic, world-class infrastructure and thriving start-up ecosystem.



The airline continues to work hard to restore its network and schedules to enable small and medium sized businesses to visit clients and ramp up their business development activities as cities around the world gradually ease travel restrictions.



Businesses of all sizes can also ensure their health and safety expectations are taken care of throughout their journey. Emirates has lead the industry with clear, consistent and properly implemented safety measures at every touchpoint, including a contactless travel journey and digital verification solutions such as the IATA Travel Pass to ensure it remains the preferred airline for business travellers.



Emirates has a long track record of supporting small and medium sized businesses, not only through its Business Rewards programme, but also through its procurement of products and services across the business. Hundreds of small and medium sized businesses in a range of industries from around the world have benefitted from showcasing their products to a global travel audience, providing a boost to their growth plans.



In the UAE, Emirates prioritises SMEs as part of its tendering process, and is actively committed to work with government stakeholders like Dubai SME in identifying businesses and evaluating the performance of active suppliers on a regular basis. As a result, according to the Dubai SME report 2020, which summarises support provided to SMEs, Emirates ranked first among semi-governmental organisations, investing in procurement contracts worth over AED 79 million. It also ranked among the top five organisations supporting small to medium size businesses in Dubai.





Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Achimota Police have arrested one Shadrach Boakye, aka Anopa for his alleged persistent harassment, attacks and robbing of commuters along the Achimota forest in Accra and its environs.



Shadrach, 24, had been on the radar of the Achimota Police for several months until he was arrested over the weekend at Fawuhoyeden in the Ahafo Region.



Superintendent Christine Srofenu, Achimota District Police Commander, told Ghana News Agency that the suspect had been successful in his strike, hit and run efforts making his apprehension very difficult.



She said Anopa had also been involved in countless robberies within the Achimota forest enclave since 2019.



Supt. Srofenu made reference to a case reported on Thursday, June 4, 2020, around 1030 hours when Shadrach, in the company of five others attacked and robbed about four victims of their valuables such as phones, laptops, monies and other items at gunpoint.



Police arrested four of the gang members but Anopa being the leader of the gang, managed to escape arrest and went into hiding in his village in the Ahafo Region.

His accomplices are on trial.



However, she said, the suspect resurfaced after some few months of hiding to continue with his operations.



Supt. Srofenu said another case was recorded on Monday, November 30, 2020 when the suspect again attacked and robbed several road users around the CP Roundabout near the Achimota Forest in Accra.



His modus was to hide in the forest, monitor both vehicles and pedestrians, and rob them at the least opportunity.



Anopa used knives, sharp implements or pistol to advance his operations, however, Police were able to track one of the victims phone to where the suspect was hiding that night and got him arrested.



Supt. Srofenu said Shadrach was processed for court in both cases, but somewhere this year, he together with other accused persons were granted bail in all the robbery cases by the two circuit courts and since then the robbery in the forest aggravated.



She said on Monday June 14, 2021, the suspect robbed a car dealer of his bag containing unspecified amount of money and some vehicle documents at CP Roundabout.



The case was reported to the Achimota School Police for investigation and after the complainant described the suspect to the Police, they suspected Anopa to be the culprit.



A search was extended to all his hiding places but he was fast to escape arrest.



Police later had information that he was hidden in a village in Ahafo Region and with support from the Ahafo Regional Police Command, the Achimota Police finally arrested him from his hideout.

Source: GNA









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The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Francis Asenso Boakye, says the government is implementing flood control programmes to improve settlement resilience across the country.



In that regard; he explained that government was pursuing financing mechanisms for the issuance of the commitment certificate for the implementation process to commence.



Mr Asenso Boakye; addressing the media in Accra on Sunday, to provide an update on the Ministry's drainage and flood management programme, said a total of GHC450 million was invested in flood mitigation measures in the past four years and government was committed to mitigating flooding and, thus, rolled out several interventions to increase residence to flooding.



Some of those interventions include; drainage works and construction of culverts in Kwesimintsim, Hataso, Agbogba, Adenta, and MADINA-REDCO as well as sea defence walls in New Takoradi, Axim, Anomabo, Cape Coast and Elmina.



He said there was the implementation of the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development(GARID) Project being implemented in collaboration with the World Bank, to mitigate flood risk and addressing solid waste management challenges in the Odaw Drainage Basin.



Meanwhile, the Minister said the Dredge Masters, a drainage desilting firm, would continue the drainage works in the Odaw River Basin while efforts were underway to procure a contractor for the deferred and maintenance dredging under the GARID Project.



Mr Asenso Boakye said the Ghana Meteorological Agency had predicted heavy to moderate rains with thunderstorms in the months of June, July and August, this year, especially in the middle and northern sectors and urged the public to take precautionary measures as government implemented various interventions to halt unanticipated disasters.



"The Ministry has made some significant progress in the medium to long- term amidst the limited funding to implement planned policies and programmes but we need greater regard for rules and regulations governing our settlement planning and coastal development," the Minister added.



The Minister expressed concerns about the negative human attitudes such as indiscriminate dumping of refuse in open drains, saying, Our safety and protection from flooding is a shared responsibility".



Mr Asenso Boakye underscored the need for the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to enforce the planning laws and building regulations to prevent construction along waterways and wetlands.



He said in places where the laws were flouted, the assemblies should take decisive actions to rectify the situation.

Meanwhile, Cabinet has approved the establishment of the Ghana Hydrological Authority to, among other things, develop a comprehensive drainage masterplan to mitigate the effects of flooding and protections of the coastline.

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 Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has called on Ghanaians to eschew divisions and strive to build a united nation for peaceful coexistence and sustainable development.



He said there was a greater reason to be united than divided and it was imperative for all Ghanaians irrespective of their beliefs to try to forge the already prevalent peace and unity in the country for economic growth.



The Vice President made the appeal on Sunday, at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region when he joined the congregation of the Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish.



The Vice President who was there to thank God for the continuous blessings on the nation and protection against the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic, donated GH50,000.00 to the leadership of the church to assist in the completion of the new Cathedral building project.



Dr Bawumia said the recent ranking, which puts Ghana as the second most peaceful nation in Africa and number 38 in the world was a push for all persons to work towards sustaining such achievement for sustainable development and improvement of livelihoods.



We are at peace because we have a lot of unity in government, unity among different tribes, religious beliefs, north and south and we are trying to forge this peace and we should all know that we cannot stop trying to keep us united.



The forces of evil will continuously try to divide us, but the forces of good intentions will continue to keep us together because what unites us as a people, as a country is much greater than what divides.



Dr Bawumia said the enemy of humanity was not religion, tribe or beliefs, but the poverty and the economic hardships that engulfed the nation and urged Ghanaians to avoid disputes and work together to improve the nation.



He said, I am a Muslim and I am here in the Catholic Church and I feel very comfortable, we are all united, we all worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and we believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah who was born of the Virgin Mary who is very Sacred to us and there is a whole chapter in the Quuran named after the Virgin Mary.



So, our enemy is not each other because we are much closer than we think, our enemy is Satan, poverty, illiteracy, people who try to use religion to divide us, we want to stay united because what we share is a common love in Jesus Christ.



The Vice President therefore asked Ghanaians to love one another and extend a helping hand to the sick and needy in society to enable them live dignified lives as one of the greatest commandments of God.



Reverend Father Joseph Tabase, the Officiating Priest who prayed for the Vice President and the government, thanked him for his visit and gift.

Source: GNA









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The Director of Amnesty International Ghana, a Human Rights focused Organization, Mr Frank Kwaku Doyi, has suggested to government to urgently review the feeding grants for prison inmates upwards from the current GH1.80 daily to GH5.00 to effectively help cater for their needs.

He further expressed regret that the GH1.80 daily allocation meant for each inmate was woefully inadequate and could not provide decent meals for them.



Considering the economic situation of today, we have realized that the GH1.80 is woefully inadequate and we are appealing to the state through the Ministry of the Interior and the Ghana Prison Service to do something about it, we would have called for an increase from GH1.80 to GH5.00 on the average, he noted.



Mr Doyi, made the suggestion on the sidelines of the organizations 2021 Annual General Assembly Meeting held in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region last Friday.



It was on the theme, Human rights protection and fulfilment, a tool for fighting poverty in Ghana.



Research



The Director indicated that Amnesty International Ghana conducted a research in 2011 and presented a proposal to the government that led to the increase of the feeding grants of inmates to the current rate.



He however said due to instability of the economy over the years leading to increase in prices of goods and services, there was the need for government to urgently work to increase their feeding grant to at least GH5.00.



The Director further called on government to take major steps to decongest the prisons and to make them more conducive for living.



He said apart from the urgent need for government to build more improved cells and decent environments as a way of decongesting the prisons and promoting healthy living, there was the need to also consider non-custodian sentences for people who have committed minor crimes.



He said, the other critically important thing we have been advocating for is the adoption of non-custodian sentences for petty offences so that they can be given community services and this would help decongest the prisons.



Mr Doyi underscored the need for Ghana to honour its pledges to various international, national treaties and conventions including the International Covenant for Economic and Social Right, and International Covenant for Civil and Political Right which placed emphasis on protection for all including prison inmates.



We are all at risk, anybody could find himself or herself in the prison at any time at all and the fact that people have committed offences for which reason they should be punished, does not mean that we should not respect their dignity, the Director further pointed out.

Our own 1992 Constitution, Article 15, clause one states that the dignity of all persons shall be invaluable and one way of protecting prison inmates is to make sure that they are adequately fed, health issues addressed and their environments are conducive for human living and rehabilitation, he added





Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The government is collaborating with the World Bank to implement the Greater Accra resilient and integrated development (GARID) project to mitigate flood risk and also address solid waste management challenges in the Odaw drainage basin in the metropolis.



Additionally, an early warning system for flood is being developed to enhance flood resilience in communities within the Odaw basin and beyond.



The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Francis Asenso-Boakye, who made this known at a media briefing at the Ministry of Information in Accra yesterday, said while efforts were underway to procure a contractor for the deferred and maintenance dredging activities under the GARID project, Dredge Masters, contractors, would continue with its dredging activities to make room for storm water and also mitigate flood risk in the Odaw basin this rainy season.



Our priority drains programme will be targeting other river basins across the country, he added.



Drainage works



Mr Asenso-Boakye said 19 kilometres of drains had been constructed in the last four years through various government interventions.



Also, about 1,000km of drains had been excavated, rechannelled and maintained across the country towards reducing the perennial devastating flooding situation.



According to the minister, the project, which cost a total of GH450 million, was the most significant investment in the sector by any government in the country.



The Ghana Meteorological Agencys forecast for June, July and August this year indicates that there will be some moderate to heavy thunderstorms, particularly in the middle to the northern sector of the country.



Mr Asenso-Boakye further said the ministry had initiated processes for the implementation of the 2021-2022 national flood control programme in all 16 regions of the country to improve their resilience to flooding, save lives and livelihoods and also secure properties.



He said it had also engaged the Ministry of Finance for the issuance of commencement certificates for the implementation process to begin.



Sea defence wall



On the protection of vulnerable coastal zones being devastated by rising sea levels, Mr Asenso-Boakye said the government had put in place measures, ranging from the construction of armour rock revetment with lateritic backfilling to the construction of armour rock groynes and breakwater structures for beach stabilisation.



He mentioned some of the works as the two-kilometre Dansoman emergency sea defence project, which is 90 per cent complete; the five-kilometre Axim coastal protection project, which is 95 per cent complete, and the three-kilometre Komenda coastal protection project, which is 80 per cent complete.



The rest are the two-kilometre Amanful Kumah coastal protection project, about 75 per cent complete; the five-kilometre Anomabu coastal protection project, 60 per cent complete, and the five-kilometre Cape Coast coastal protection project, 60 per cent complete.



Work was also ongoing on coastal protection projects at Dixcove, Aboadze and Ningo-Prampram, he added.



Investigation



About work on the Seglemi affordable housing project at Pampram in the Greater Accra Region, Mr Asenso-Boakye said the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service had completed investigations into the project and forwarded same to the Attorney-Generals Office.



He expressed the governments resolve to complete all existing and stalled projects within a short time and implement medium-to-long-term strategies to increase access to safe, secure and affordable housing options for-low-to-middle-income groups.



He said the ministry had also commenced discussions with the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the Lands Commission to secure some government acquired lands for a national affordable housing programme.



As a first step, he said, 4,500 acres of land had been earmarked for affordable housing construction at Amasaman, Amrahia and Afienya, all in the Greater Accra Region, and Dedesua in the Ashanti Region.









Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The National leadership of the Ghana Muslim Mission is urging all Ghanaians, especially Muslims to avail themselves and get their entire households counted in this years National Population and Housing Census.



A statement signed by Dr Sheikh Amin Bonsu, the National Chairman of the Ghana Muslim Mission said "it is a duty for every Muslim to get counted in the third National Population and Housing Census 2021. The population census will help gather data or statistics to help government in its planning and policy formulation for the development of the country".



The statistics gathered through the census on the demographics in the country will determine the policy direction of government. This is why it is more important for all Muslims to ensure that they are duly captured in the census to ensure that we are not marginalized in policy formulation and implementation in this country.



Hence, we are urging all Muslims living in Ghana to take advantage of this census and get counted. The information you will provide during the census is for statistical purposes only.



When a census official visits you:



 Please be candid enough to provide the right information about yourself and your household.



 Please ensure that the counting official enters the information you have provided correctly.



 Please ensure that you are counted as a Muslim in column P09 of the questionnaire.



 Please take it upon yourself to educate members of your household on the need for the census.



In a Hadith, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) said, To keep awake in the border to protect the homeland in Allahs way is better than all the treasures between the heavens and the earth. As Muslims, our contribution to national development is a sacred duty. Lets get involved and get counted.







Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Executive Director of the Child Rights International, Bright Appiah, has disclosed that a lot of children in Ghana have lost interest in agriculture.



According to him, the children's understanding about agriculture is limited to farming and a lot of them see farmers to be unattractive.



Speaking in an interview with host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', Bright Appiah disclosed a survey by the Child Rights International proves that about 80 percent of children are not interested in venturing into agriculture.



"We let the children define what agriculture is but we realized that the kind of definition that we give to agriculture even within our educational system is limited to farming. So, the children have built their concept of agriculture around farming. So, about 80 percent of the children say they're not interested in going into agriculture; the reason being that when they were young or when the child commits a wrongdoing, he or she is told to weed . . . and this has built some kind of mindset in the children's head which is not helpful," he expressed worry, adding "a lot of the children also think that if you're a farmer, it's not attractive''.



He, therefore, called for a broader discussion on the relevance of agriculture saying most of the nation builders are those who are into agriculture.



"We feel that, moving forward, the government's intervention in the agricultural sector; we have to be very open and have a broader discussion in that area so that we can expose other agricultural opportunities to our children within the supply chain so that their mindset will not only be on the fact that agriculture is only farming," he stressed.







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 Government Statistician has admonished Ghanaians not to travel for the purpose of getting counted. Professor Samuel Kobina Annim said the system to undertake the exercise is so robust that everybody will be counted so far as they spend the night of June 27, 2021 through to Sunday, July 11 in Ghana.



In the last 24 hours there has been a social media communication that suggests that people need to travel for purposes of the census, he noted on Sunday, June 27 during a short ceremony in Accra to mark the census night.



Census undertaken is really at the convenience of our respondents, he stressed. Prof Annim underscored one cardinal principle of the ongoing census which is to count once at the right place and at the right time.



We are not asking anybody to travel for purposes of counting, he advised.



He said the census will therefore produce numbers not only from the perspective of visitors to Ghana but also usual Ghanaians in the 16 regions.



The theme for this years census is You count. . .get counted!.



The Government Statistician urged Ghanaians to cooperate with the enumerators as missing such an exercise will take another decade for one to be counted.



This comes in the wake of resistance by some persons to the exercise, which began with the listing and chalking of households.



He mentioned Bolgatanga, Bongo, Talensi, Krowor, Ledzokuku and Adentan as areas where the exercise is to take full force, as a result of boundary disputes and skepticism on the part of residents.



The 2021 Population and Housing Census is an all-inclusive activity and what that means is that it is a national activity, it is a non-partisan activity, its non-discriminatory irrespective of your religious affiliation, irrespective of your ethnic background, irrespective of all your demographic characteristics, education, whether a Ghanaian or otherwise.







Source: 3news.com









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Police have mounted a search for one identified suspect from the cold-blooded gang that shot and killed a cop in a bullion van heist in Accra.



An Accra Circuit has issued the warrant for the arrest of Hakam, popularly known as Red Devil, online portal, The Ghana Report has reported, citing insider sources.



Just as his name suggests, Hakam is a key member of the trigger happy robbers who did not hesitate in sucking the soul out of the body of No.58449 G/Constable Emmanuel Osei.

Police retrieved at least 17 shells from the scene after the gun-totting criminals fled with their booty stolen from the MON TRAN vehicle.

Hakam was picked out after painstaking investigations and analyses of videos that captured the criminal operation on Monday, June 14.



He is fair in complexion and has a tattoo on the right hand that stretches from his shoulder to his forearm.



Another tattoo is embedded on his chest as photos show him in a white singlet and a pair of tattered jeans.



The suspect is seen seated on a couch with a bottle of expensive liquor, Hennesy, in one hand and a stick of cigarette in the other as he appeared in a larger than life pose.

He is believed to be hiding in Tamale, Yendi, Kumasi, Accra or Tema.



According to the police, unidentified armed men on several motorbikes crossed the bullion van, which was on a pay/collection errand, at about 1100 hours at Adedenkpo, a suburb of James Town.



The robbers shot at the police officer on escort duty on the van, killing him instantly. The armed men also fired sporadically in the air and on the driver, who sustained gunshot wounds.



A hawker was also killed by the armed men when one of two ladies on the bullion van stepped out and ran in the deceased sellers direction.



Both ladies on the van, tellers of MON TRAN, escaped unhurt but were sent to the hospital to be treated for trauma.

Crime scene experts have visited the scene of the crime and are going through the necessary procedures.



Reactions after the robbery



Minister for the Interior Ambrose Dery initially appealed to an individual in possession of a closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of the shooting to release it to the police.



Mr Dery had said that a man believed to be the owner of (CCTV) device was unwilling to assist in investigations.

Mr Dery emphasised no individual in the country ought to be killed in such a manner and wants the culprits brought to book.



The minister also expressed concern over the protection that banks and other financial institutions provided to transit vehicles that cart their money and the individuals who carry out the exercise. He observed that such vehicles did not provide the police, money and other persons the needed protection, thereby exposing them to easy attacks by armed robbers.



He reiterated calls by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), James Oppong-Boanuh, for banks and financial institutions to ensure they conformed to the standardised operational requirement in carting huge sums of money.

Meanwhile, the IGP has given financial institutions a June 30 ultimatum to acquire armoured vans. Failure to provide fortified vehicles for carting currencies would result in the police withdrawing personnel from guarding bullion vans.



Consequently, the Ghana Association of Bankers has assured the public that it would comply.



The Association has also assured that it would continue to work closely with the various security agencies and the Bank of Ghana (BoG) in ensuring adherence to the highest standards.









Source: Theghanareport/Adomonline.com









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Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has asked persons who either refuse to provide responses or request for payment from Census Enumerators to desist from such unpatriotic practices.



He said it was legal obligation and civic responsibility of everyone resident in the country, including foreigners to provide accurate information to Enumerators on their households and should be done without coercion or inducement.



Vice President Bawumia made the call in Accra on Monday when Census Enumerators counted his household as part of the ongoing 2021 Population and Housing Census.



The enumeration was led by Dr Grace Bediako, Board Chair of the Ghana Statistical Service(GSS).



Dr Bawumia urged everyone living within the country to cooperate with Census Enumerators to ensure a successful exercise.



The Vice President entreated respondents to provide accurate information to the Enumerators for accurate data to inform policy formulation and decision-making.



The GSS is mandated by law to conduct a head count of all persons resident in Ghana every 10 years, which would provide the government and researchers insight into the population dynamics, in order to do proper development projection.



According to GSS, the country stands to benefit enormously because it would guide development plans, implementation of policies and programmes, monitoring, evaluation and reporting.



For instance, African Unions Agenda 2063, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and National Development Agenda advocate for accurate data for planning.



Therefore, I call on everybody not only to be part of the exercise, but also, provide a more credible and quality data for our dear country and make use of the Census call centre to ensure that all persons are counted.



The Census aims at achieving complete coverage and quality data.



The objective of complete coverage, aligns perfectly with the Leave No One Behind agenda of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).



The 14-day nationwide exercise will end on July 11,2021.

Source: GNA









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Some travellers from Kadjebi in the Oti Region to Accra have been enumerated as part of the Census Night.



Ms Hellen Tsivanyo, an Enumerator, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that she and her team had no problem with the respondents as they were patient and willing to answer all questions.



She said the exercise was successful though they had a challenge with the Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) software they were using in collecting the data.



She called on the respondents to help generate accurate data since such statistics were critical to the effective implementation of decentralisation programmes.



Ms Tsivanyo said censuses helped in planning policies and their importance in decision-making could not be under-estimated.



Miss Emelda Nana Ama Amankwa, another official, who enumerated five persons at the Wobube Guest House, said the exercise was a great achievement and appealed to the people to help achieve total coverage of the district.



She explained that data from population and housing censuses provided rich sources of information for carrying-out demographic, social and economic surveys, hence the need for everyone to get counted.

Source: GNA









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The Ghana Mineworkers Union has called on the government to rehabilitate the poor roads in mining communities to ensure holistic development.



The Union mentioned Ahafo and its catchment particularly, the Kenyasi 1and 2 town roads, Hwidiem-Kenyansi roads, Tepa-Acherensua-Hwidiem road, by ensuring that mining communities realised the full benefits of the Minerals Development Fund.



Mr Peter Bako Wilson, National Executive Council member of the Union, in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency to celebrate the Annual Mineworkers Week said other mining towns that needed road infrastructure were Tarkwa, Obuasi, Akyem.



He said in 2019, total mineral revenue from mining companies according to the Ghana Chamber of Mines, stood at 4.6 billion dollars with Newmont Ahafo, accounting for 890 million dollars, representing 19 per cent of total mineral revenue for that year.



Similarly in 2020, total mineral revenue from producing mining companies stood at 5.1 billion dollars with Newmont Ahafo accounting for 860 million dollars representing about 17 percent of total mineral revenue.



Despite these gains, Mr Wilson said the countrys current place as the largest producer of gold in Africa, continue to experience disappointing results in translating the mineral wealth into broad economic development for the benefit of its citizenry.



After several years of mining in Ahafo, these communities have not seen any major facelift commensurate with the mineral wealth generated from these communities. The few roads in the area continue to deteriorate every passing day without any clear plan of how they would be fixed  a situation we find extremely disturbing.



He said the poor state of the road network in the area continuous to cause the residents especially pregnant women to suffer needless miscarriages, still-births and sometimes deaths just in the hands of these avoidable death-traps called roads.



Again, due to the poor state of the road network, safety and security continuous to be a major challenge for inhabitants and commuters as many innocent citizens suffer molestations, injuries and sometimes gruesome deaths due to road accidents occasioned by these bad roads and arm robbery attacks,he said.

Source: GNA









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Barring any last-minute hitches, Stephen Asamoah Boateng, a Former Information Minister under the erstwhile Kufuor government is highly tipped to join the race for the Chairmanship slot of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).



Sources close to the Director-General of State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) say the decision is as a result of calls from the rank and file of the party across the country.



The papers deep throat sources insist that the grassroots members of the Elephant Family believe Former Local Government, Rural Development and Environment Minister is the right man with party organization and experience to chair the affairs of the party ahead of the 2024 general elections.



Mr. Asamoah Boateng, also the former Mfantseman West Member of Parliament (MP) according to the source is set to contest the NPP Chairmanship position next year.



Apart from Mr Asamoah Boateng seven other party bigwigs have declared their intention to contest the NPP Chairmanship position currently occupied by Mr. Freddie Wosenawu Blay who is not seeking another term after leading the party to two successful election victories.



Prominent among the seven are Mr Stephen Ayensu Ntim who will be making his fifth attempt at the position after four unsuccessful efforts.



Others are former Education and Railway Minister Prof. Christopher Ameyaw Akumfi, Mr Edward Boateng Ghana Ambassador to China, Central Regional Chairman Robert Kutin, Former Greater Accra Regional Minister Ismael Ashitey and current National Treasure Kwabena Abankwa Yeboah.



Although, Mr. Asamoah Boateng, the man some rank and file of the party describe as affable and the best candidate for the NPP now is yet to make any public pronouncements on the matter, party insiders argue that delegates will not hesitate to give him the nod. Party insiders applaud his accessibility communication skills.



Mr. Asamoah Boateng however, declined comment when contacted except to state that the party needs every experienced hand and true party man who knows the workings of the party and is strategic to ensure victory in the election to continue with the incredible performance of the Akufo-Addo Bawumia administration.



He said the NPP under Akufo-Addo has done well in the midst of COVID-19 and urged party members to rally behind the president and his ministers towards fulfilling the campaign promises made in the last general election. He is committed to protect the legacy of President Akufo-Addo and ensure he successfully hands over government to another NPP President and a handsomely workable majority in the Parliament.



Mr Asamoah Boateng the source emphasized will soon announce his decision to the party and will run a campaign of inclusiveness where he will ensure that all former appointees of the party are brought on board to ensure that the partys quest to break the 8 year jinx is achieved.



The NPP delegates are expected to elect party leadership to preside over the affairs starting from March 2022, where polling station,constituency, regional and National executives will be elected.



The party will also elect a new presidential candidate as incumbent Nana Akufo-Addo is ending his term after serving two successive terms.

Source: MyPublisher24.com









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Ghanaian actress and slay queen Moesha Boduong, has said goodbye to the world as she embraces her new life as a Christian after giving her life to Christ.



Moesha Bodoung who is known for her heavy endowments as she loves to flaunt them on social media said in a video testifying of Gods grace and mercy on her life and she told the congregation during a church service at the Revelation Church, Airport, Accra that she has repented.



The affluent Instagram celebrity looked slimmer than we know her for was seen on her knees worshipping and thanking God for saving her and she announced to her fans that she was going to hit the streets together with some friends from her new faith to evangelize as she has taken upon herself to serve God and become a vessel for her use after dumping the secular world.



Sharing a flyer of her church's upcoming event on her Instagram page, she wrote;



Good morning everyone so we @wearerevelationint are hitting the streets this morning .if you see your girl Maurecia boduong anywhere on the streets holla at your girl May God bless all of you.



Watch Moesha in church:



Source: Eugene Osafo-Nkansah/Peacefmonline.com









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(Source: Kataluna Enriquez/Instagram)

Filipino-American transgender woman Kataluna Enriquez will be the first openly transgender woman to compete for the title of Miss USA after being crowned Miss Nevada USA on Monday (July 28, Philippine time).

The 27-year-old stunned in a rainbow-inspired gown that she designed herself. The beauty queen and designer said she wore the gown "in honor of pride month, and all of those who dont get a chance to spread their colors."

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Enriquez, who bested 21 other candidates, will represent the Silver State, Nevada, in the upcoming Miss USA pageant which will be held on November 29.

"Congratulations to our new Miss Nevada USA," read the caption on a photo with Enriquez and the pageant's executive director, former Miss USA Shanna Moakler posted on the Miss Nevada USA Instagram page. "History made!" it added.

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If she bags the Miss USA crown, she will be the second trans woman to join the Miss Universe pageant after Spain's Angela Ponce in 2018.

Fellow Filipina beauty queen Miss Trans Global 2020 Mela Habijan celebrated Enriquez's victory.

"Our trans Pinay sister, Kataluna Enriquez, made history today! She won Miss Nevada 2021. She will be the first trans woman to compete at the Miss USA Pageant!" she tweeted.

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Filipino-American model and transgender-rights advocate Geena Rocero also congratulated her.

"Congrats, our trans Pinay!" Rocero captioned on the video she shared of Enriquez' coronation.

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Ana Catalina Paje is a development journalist passionate about grassroots communication geared towards genuine social change. She also writes about showbiz, lifestyle, and all things Pinoy pride. The views expressed are her own.

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a, The criteria for the evaluation of SERS performance. The enhancement factor and detection limit are the common concerns for assessment of SERS substrates b, The schematic illustrates a 3D glass microfluidic SERS chip fabricated by all-femtosecond-laser-processing. c, Two basic configurations of femtosecond laser-induced nanojoining of nanomaterials for SERS applications. d, A photograph of 3D glass microfluidic SERS chip. e, The schematic of cancer cells identification by SERS in a microfluidic chip in real-time. Credit: Shi Bai and Koji Sugioka

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) permits multidisciplinary trace analyses and the potential detection of single molecules. Shi Bai and Koji Sugioka from RIKEN report a comprehensive review of recent progress in strategies for the fabrication of highly sensitive SERS substrates. Femtosecond laser-based techniques are discussed as a versatile tool for the fabrication of SERS substrates. Several approaches are highlighted for enhancing the performance of SERS sensing devices, and real-time sensing and biological applications are reviewed.

In the 1970s, Fleischmann discovered that on noble metallic nanostructure, the Raman scattering of pyridine was enhanced hundreds-fold. Scientists attributed the enhancement to the localized electric field highly amplified near the surface of specific noble metallic nanostructures. Thus, this phenomenon was termed surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Currently, although the enhancement mechanism of SERS is still in debate, SERS exhibits incomparable abilities for monitoring and sensing with high sensitivity in diverse fields including environment, biomedicine, food security, archaeology, and soil components. Femtosecond laser processing is increasingly attracting attention for use in the fabrication of SERS substrates due to its versatility, flexibility and high resolution.

In a new paper published in Light Advanced Manufacturing, a team of scientists, led by Prof. Koji Sugioka and Dr. Shi Bai from Advanced Laser Processing Research Team, RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics, RIKEN, Japan reviewed the fabrication methods of highly sensitive SERS substrates by femtosecond laser processing and their applications. The paper first gave the commonly used criteria for evaluation of SERS substrates and summarized the calculation methods used to find enhancement factor. The typical technologies of femtosecond laser processing for the fabrication of SERS substrates were then introduced. To realize the attomolar sensing with the SERS substrates, the authors highlighted several strategies employing synergistic enhancement effects. Additionally, the recent applications of SERS for real-time sensing based on microfluidic chips and biomedicine including cell recognition, deoxyribonucleic acid and protein identification were introduced. The authors have concluded that further efforts for not only developing the next generation of SERS substrates with higher enhancement and lower detection limits but also overcoming unresolved issues such as a universal method for calculating the enhancement factor and the stability and robustness of SERS substrates will continue.

Explore further Raman holography for biology

More information: Shi Bai et al, Recent Advances in the Fabrication of Highly Sensitive Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Substrates: Nanomolar to Attomolar Level Sensing, Light: Advanced Manufacturing (2021). Shi Bai et al, Recent Advances in the Fabrication of Highly Sensitive Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Substrates: Nanomolar to Attomolar Level Sensing,(2021). DOI: 10.37188/lam.2021.013
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Airlines want you vaccinated. They want as many people as possible vaccinated. The sooner that happens, the sooner borders open and they can get back to profitability.

They also have reasons to want to protect both customers and staff from COVID-19. Qantas staff, for example, have been considering legal action over workplace transmissions.

Qantas has dangled the carrot of extra frequent flyer points for fully vaccinated passengers, plus ten "mega prizes" of a year's free travel for familes. Virgin Australia has similar plans. It also has a scheme to encourage its workers to get vaccinated. This will reportedly include the chance to win extra annual leave.

Could they go further and mandate vaccines? This is something Cathay Pacific is doing, telling its Hong Kong-based flight crews they must be vaccinated by August or their employmnet will be reviewed.

Qantas chief Alan Joyce signaled in November that once vaccines are widely available it will require international travelers to be vaccinated. This implicitly suggests it will require the same from international flight staff.

But the legal ground in Australia for employers to insist that employees be vaccinated remains murky.

Whether Qantas or Virginor indeed any other companydo so may depend on the case of Queensland regional carrier Alliance Airlines, the first employer in Australia to insist all employees be immunized.

A question of common law

Alliance Airlines specializes in flights to and from mining sites. It is 19.9% owned by Qantas, and collaborates with both Qantas and Virgin Australia.

It announced its mandatory policy for both influenza and COVID-19 vaccinations in late May. Its stated reason is to fulfil its duty to employees and passengers. But unions have questioned the policy's lawfulness, arguing it is beyond the airline's powers.

In Australia, there has been no general government guidance on whether employers can insist on employees getting COVID-19 vaccinations.

This differs to the United States, where the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled in December 2020 that employers could (with some exemptions for medical and religious reasons) require employees to be vaccinated.

The Queensland and Western Australian governments have passed legislation mandating workers be vaccinated, but only in certain health and quarantine workplaces.

Whether Alliance Airlines' policy is lawful therefore depends on a general common law "test" for determining the validity of workplace policies.

This test asks if a policy or direction is "lawful and reasonable" given the circumstances. These include:

the nature of the job, especially where it requires regular interactions with colleagues, clients and suppliers

if the work can be done remotely, or other reasonably practical precautions exist

the effectiveness or success rates of the vaccine

any guidance or directives from government and medical experts

the circumstances of individuals employee, such as whether they have reasonable grounds to refuse vaccination.

Unfair dismissal cases

Australia's Fair Work Commission has demonstrated the balancing act needed to apply these factors in its most recent ruling in an unfair dismissal case involving a refusal to get an influenza vaccination.

The claim was brought by Maria Corazon Glover, a 64-year-old community care assistant, against Queensland aged and disability care provider Ozcare, her employer since 2009.

In May 2020, public health orders in Queensland required influenza vaccinations for entry into aged care facilities. Ozcare went "above and beyond" those requirements, mandating the flu vaccine for all its aged care workers, even those who did not work in facilities. Glover, a home-care provider, refused. She said she believed she would suffer an allergic reaction, based on what she understood had happened to her as a child. She was ultimately dismissed.

Commissioner Jennifer Hunt upheld her dismissal despite Ozcare's policy exceeding the relevant public health orders and Glover's concerns. Hunt ruled those factors were outweighed by the vulnerability of Ozcare's clients, the frequency with which care workers visited clients' homes (and their potential to become "super-spreaders"), and the employer's "prerogative" to make a decision considered necessary to safeguard its clients and employees "so far is practicable to do so."

Individual circumstances do count

Perhaps the most important takeaway from Glover v Ozcare is that it was decided on its particular facts. Employers must carefully assess employees' situations to decide if a mandatory vaccination policy is justifiable.

An airline might reason that cabin crew interact with people in environments with a higher risk of COVID-19 transmission and where social distancing is impossible.

But an employee might counter that, unlike aged or disability care workers, they have much less close contact with high-risk, vulnerable individuals.

The case-by-case nature of the reasonableness test means any generalized "all in" vaccination policy is problematic. Even more so if there is employee resistance.

Discrimination may be valid

Employees who are dismissed for refusing to vaccinate might also argue it amounts to discrimination on prohibited grounds such as disability or pregnancy, where COVID-19 vaccination may be unsafe or pose medical risks.

Under the Fair Work Act, however, employers have a valid defense for discriminatory action if a policy or decision is based on the "inherent requirements" of the job.

In November 2020, Fair Work Deputy president Ingrid Asbury noted that vaccination against influenza was likely to be an inherent requirement for a position involving caring for young children, and so could be justified for child-care employees.

However, outside high-risk contexts such as child and health care, this defense may be limited and will turn on the employee's role and the organizational context.

Looking for safe ground

The Fair Work Commission's rulings on influenza vaccines give a fair indication of the principles it will apply to any case involving COVID-19 vaccines.

But given the different circumstances, whether it will give a green light to a general policy like that of Alliance Airlines remains up in the air.

Qantas and Virgin might be on safer ground because of their international operations, if proof of vaccination becomes mandatory for other destinations. However, I think the issue of employee vaccinations for the airline industry will ultimately be resolved via government intervention.

In other sectors, owing to the complexities in determining whether mandatory policies are "legal," many employers will likely stick with the safer route of voluntary "incentive schemes" to encourage vaccinations.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Leech in Southeast Asia. Credit: Andrew Tilker

In a new scientific investigation headed by the German Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), water from African and Mongolian waterholes as well as bloodmeals from Southeast Asian leeches were assessed for the ability to retrieve mammalian viruses without the need to find and catch the mammals. The scientists analyzed the samples using high throughput sequencing to identify known viruses as well as viruses new to science. Both approaches proved to be suitable tools for pandemic prevention research as they allow finding and monitoring reservoirs of wildlife viruses. For example, a novel coronavirus most likely associated with Southeast Asian deer species was identified. The results are published in the scientific journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

Finding and monitoring reservoirs of wildlife viruses such as SARS-CoV-2for which the reservoir has yet to be discoveredis challenging. Many areas which wildlife inhabit are difficult to access and the species in question are hard to find or catch. In order to prevent future pandemics such as COVID-19, new and effective methods to discover and monitor viruses circulating in wildlife are urgently needed. Environmental DNA (eDNA) and invertebrate-derived DNA (iDNA) based approaches may enhance the available toolkit to overcome these challenges, when coupled with high throughput sequencing. The team of scientists assessed water from African and Mongolian waterholes and bloodmeals from Southeast Asian leeches for the ability to retrieve viruses from both sample types. The usual limitation of such samples is that they contain only tiny amounts of low-quality DNA, particularly pathogen DNA. The author therefore used a modern "hybridisation capture" approach to fish out sequences similar to those from currently known vertebrate viruses and then sequenced them using sophisticated high-throughput techniques. This approach was successful in that it allowed the identification of known and novel viruses in both water and leech samples.

The DNA from water samples yielded several viruses common to zebras and wild ass, which were expected as these animals frequently visit the waterholes in large numbers. In the case of the viruses found in African water holes, the authors demonstrated in a related publication that the viruses are still infectious, suggesting that the water itself may be a source of viral transmission. From the Southeast Asian leeches, many known as well as novel viruses were identified. Of particular interest was a novel coronavirus previously unknown to science, which potentially represents an entirely new genus in the Coronaviridae family and seems to be associated with deer species.

"For many of the deadliest viruses such as Ebola we still don't know where they come from," says Prof Alex Greenwood, head of the Department of Wildlife Diseases. "The current pandemic demonstrates that we still know very little about the viral diversity in nature. New methods might help us to identify novel viruses and their potential hosts without the usual logistical and ethical problems associated with collecting wildlife samples directly." Environmental DNA is proving useful in a number of contexts including the characterisation of the diversity of wildlife species from inaccessible regions, the study of ancient populations and more recently in pathogen research. Environmental DNA from water and DNA derived from blood-sucking invertebrates can be useful in different environments. "Water is an essential resource for life and, particularly in areas of seasonal shortages, a concentration point for animals," Greenwood says.

"Terrestrial leeches are often highly abundant in areas of previous viral emergence in Southeast Asia and their bloodmeals can be used to identify their mammalian hosts, including the pathogens contained in their blood," adds Dr. Niccolo Alfano, a former PostDoc from the Leibniz-IZW Departments of Wildlife Diseases and Ecological Dynamics, now working at the University of Pavia in Italy. "We identified mammalian viruses from five different viral families in our leech samples and more than 50 % of the samples contained mammalian viruses. Some of these, such as a porcine circovirus or a bear annellovirus could be assigned to the bearded pig and sun bear, their mammalian hosts which were also detected in the leech samples. Most interesting was the discovery of the novel coronavirus, as this showed that with our method we are able to discover viral pathogens previously unknown to science circulating in wildlife," Alfano adds. This may help to identify potentially infectious viruses at an early stage which may help to prevent potential future epidemics."

Further work will be needed to characterize the newly discovered viruses, such as sequencing their complete genomes and confirming their host-virus relationships. In addition, waterholes or leeches are not found in all environments. Soil, feces and other invertebrates represent additional sources of nucleic acids that could be used to supplement direct animal sampling and enhance our ability to discover and monitor viruses as we go forward from the current pandemic and hopefully learn to prevent them in the future.

Explore further AI used to predict unknown links between viruses and mammals

More information: Niccolo Alfano et al, Noninvasive surveys of mammalian viruses using environmental DNA, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (2021). Journal information: Methods in Ecology and Evolution Niccolo Alfano et al, Noninvasive surveys of mammalian viruses using environmental DNA,(2021). DOI: 10.1111/2041-210X.13661
Figure (A) shows a schematic of the process involved in the treatment of fish gelatin and grape seed extract on seabass fillets for the study. (B) The plots show (left) the bacteria population and (right) the biogenic amine content of the treated fish fillet kept at 4 C over a 12-day chilled storage period. The fish fillet using the combination treatment showed a better preservation effect. [Legend: Control (green): without any treatment; FG (pink): treated with only fish gelatin; GSE (blue): treated with only grape seed extract; FGG (orange): combination treatment.]. Credit: National University of Singapore

Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer) is one of the most commonly consumed food fish by Singaporeans. Seabass is loved by many consumers because of its high protein, low fat and ideal fatty acids composition. However, seabass is highly perishable due to the presence of endogenous enzymes and micro-organisms. Storing seabass at 4 degrees Celsius could help preserve the quality and freshness to some extent. However, the loss in the food quality is inevitable and the fish will eventually become unfit for consumption during storage. With increasing demand by consumers for fresh and safe seabass, new preservation strategies are needed to prolong the shelf life of fresh fish while maintaining high food quality.

A research team led by Prof Yang Hongshun from the Department of Food Science and Technology, National University of Singapore has developed a preservation method to maintain the freshness and food safety of seabass filets by coating it with fish gelatin and infusing grape seed extract (a type of natural additive) into it (see Figure). The vacuum impregnation process, an emerging technology in the food industry, is used to introduce the grape seed extract into the porous structures of the fish filet. Compared to filets treated separately with only the fish gelatin and the grape seed extract, the combination treatment of fish gelatin (4%, w/v) and grape seed extract (0.5%, w/v) exhibited a better preservative effect over a 12-day chilled storage period.

Analysis showed that the fish gelatin acted as a gas/water barrier on the seabass filet which inhibited the loss of moisture during chilled storage. In parallel, the grape seed extract reduced the growth of bacteria and accumulation of biogenic amines on it, resulting in a synergistic preservation effect.

Ms Zhao Xue, a Ph.D. student working on the project, said, "Fish gelatin is gaining in popularity and has been regarded as a promising replacement for mammalian gelatin because of its similarity in functional properties and wide acceptance by consumers who are halal and kosher. By combining it with grape seed extract, the treatment could lead to safer and more convenient, and cost-effective seafood products for consumers."

"The research findings provide valuable references for the seafood industry for the development of high-quality food products. Application of natural edible coating may one day become a trend to meet consumers' growing preferences for safe, high-quality and clean-labeled foods," added Prof Yang.

Explore further Fish waste as a raw input for industrial goods

More information: Effect of vacuum impregnated fish gelatin and grape seed extract on moisture state, microbiota composition, and quality of chilled seabass filets. Food Chemistry, DOI: Journal information: Food Chemistry Effect of vacuum impregnated fish gelatin and grape seed extract on moisture state, microbiota composition, and quality of chilled seabass filets., DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129581 Published: 2021.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Despite greater cultural awareness about the prevalence of sexual assault in recent years, many victims are reluctant to talk about what happened to them.

Not only do a large percentage of rapes go unreported to authorities, nearly a third of victims, according to one analysis, don't share their experiences with anyone, not even a close friend or family member. A new study by two University of Maine researchers looks at the reasons why this hard-to-reach population decides to stay quiet.

Sandra Caron, a professor of family relations and human sexuality, and Deborah Mitchell, a retired UMaine police sergeant, interviewed 15 college women ages 1924 about the reasons why they didn't share details of being sexually assaulted with anyone. The study, published in the journal Violence Against Women, offers insights for individuals and institutions to support victims, as well as to develop programs that embolden survivors to discuss their experiences.

"These women are difficult to identify, and no previous studies have been published on this group of sexual assault survivors," Caron and Mitchell write. "Their silence persists despite current efforts by the #MeToo movement, as well as decades of work by sexual assault organizations to destigmatize rape and encourage women to not only tell someone but also to report their assault to authorities."

The women agreed to share their stories for the first time with the researchers, who identified common themes in the reasons given for not sharing the experiences previously. Caron, a licensed therapist, and Mitchell, a former police investigator, assigned each of the interviewees a pseudonym, and took other steps to protect their identities. The researchers also provided information about sexual assault and rape response services.

The two most common reasons given for not telling anyone about being assaulted were internal blame, shame and guilt, and external blame and/or fear of humiliation.

"I felt it was my fault and I asked for it by being flirtatious and wearing a short dress," one participant told the researchers.

"I think by staying silent I spared myself all the pain and humiliation that would have come from others," said another.

Other reasons included wanting to pretend it never happened, fear of losing control of the situation, fear of not being believed, concern about getting in trouble, not wanting to be stigmatized or labeled, not wanting to get others in trouble, fear of losing someone, and fear of being hurt or for their safety.

"I feared on some level there would be retaliationthat I would suffer the consequences if I spoke out and reported this or told anyone," a third participant said.

Nearly all the women said they would have told someone under the right circumstances, and more than half said another person's initial response made them decide to keep silent. One participant considered telling some of her sorority sisters, but was afraid she would not be believed.

"We had recently had an educational program and the speaker talked about sexual assault and many of the girls rolled their eyes and talked about all those girls who falsely accuse guys," she said.

"I considered telling my mom at one point. She would have been devastated and might have made me come home and quit college," reported another.

Caron and Mitchell say their findings parallel previous research on why victims of sexual assault opt not to report their attacks to authoritiesself-blame or fear of others blaming them, as well as fear of not being believed, getting in trouble, or being stigmatized. Two of the reasonswanting to pretend it never happened and fear of losing control of the situationhave not been reported in previous research. Overall, the researchers note that victims have many complex and interlocking reasons for not telling anyone about an assault, not one major reason.

"It was evident they put a great amount of thought into whether or not to tell anyone; they weighed the consequences and chose to stay silent," Caron and Mitchell write.

Although there's been progress in recent years in terms of awareness and tolerance of sexual assault on college campuses and beyond, Caron and Mitchell say the results of their study provide evidence of the need for more resources and education. In particular, they point to the persistent belief by victims that they will be blamed and that their attackers will not be held accountable as reasons to involve more men in efforts to prevent sexual assault.

"Institutions of higher education need to provide ways to educate young men about their roles and responsibilities to ensure safe and respectful behavior toward others," they write.

They also highlight the need for colleges and universities to find ways to encourage women to speak about their experiences and, in the process, find support. More than half the women interviewed for the study said sharing their stories with the researchers had been helpful and healing.

"By saying it out loud, it released the shame I have carried for so long  a shame that I never should have owned to begin with," said one woman.

Explore further How political bias impacts believing sexual assault victims

More information: Sandra L. Caron et al, "I've Never Told Anyone": A Qualitative Analysis of Interviews With College Women Who Experienced Sexual Assault and Remained Silent, Violence Against Women (2021). Sandra L. Caron et al, "I've Never Told Anyone": A Qualitative Analysis of Interviews With College Women Who Experienced Sexual Assault and Remained Silent,(2021). DOI: 10.1177/10778012211022766
Credit: University of Eastern Finland

Last week, a group of researchers from the University of Eastern Finland, the Finnish Museum of Natural History and the Zoological Museum of the University of Turku discovered a horsefly species that hasn't been recorded in Finland before. The species was discovered near Finland's southernmost city Hanko, in the surroundings of Tvarminne Zoological Station.

The newly found horsefly, Hybomitra expollicata, belongs to the relatively large Hybomitra species, many of which are very similar to each other. However, the species is easy to distinguish from other members of its genus because it has a distinctive light color, longitudinal stripes in the back of its body, and a steadily narrowing abdomen. As the name of the species in English is striped horsefly, owing to the longitudinal stripes in the back of its body, its Finnish name with a similar meaning could be "juovapaarma."

The striped horsefly is particular about its habitat, thriving in coastal brackish marshes and wetlands. In Europe, the striped horsefly is mainly found in tidal marshlands and river estuaries along the coast of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Closest to Finland, the species is found in Skane and Oland in southern Sweden. However, due to the drainage and development of coastal wetlands, the striped horsefly is endangered in most parts of Western Europe and in Sweden, too, it is considered a vulnerable species.

In Finland, the striped horsefly has a stable population at least in the surroundings of Tvarminne, since the researchers discovered several individuals in one day. It is possible that the species has spread to Finland recently, because the horsefly species in Hanko, and especially in the surroundings of the zoological station, are well documented and it is unlikely that such a distinctive species would have been missed in the past. It is possible that the striped horsefly is found also in other favorable locations along the southern coast of Finland.

With the addition of the striped horsefly to Finland's fauna, there are now 39 horsefly species in Finland.
Crystal structure and initial characterization of F 5 GT. Credit: FLEET

A RMIT-led international collaboration published this week has achieved record-high electron doping in a layered ferromagnet, causing magnetic phase transition with significant promise for future electronics

Control of magnetism (or spin directions) by electric voltage is vital for developing future, low-energy high-speed nano-electronic and spintronic devices, such as spin-orbit torque devices and spin field-effect transistors.

Ultra-high-charge, doping-induced magnetic phase transition in a layered ferromagnet allows promising applications in antiferromagnetic spintronic devices.

The FLEET collaboration of researchers at RMIT, UNSW, the University of Wollongong and FLEET partner High Magnetic Field Laboratory (China) demonstrates for the first time that ultra-high electron doping concentration (above 1021 cm-3) can be induced in the layered van der Waals (vdW) metallic material Fe 5 GeTe 2 by proton intercalation, and can further cause a transition of the magnetic ground state from ferromagnetism to antiferromagnetism.

Tuning magnetism in the VDW ferromagnet Fe 5 GeTe 2 (F 5 GT)

The emergence of layered, vdW magnetic materials has expedited a growing search for novel vdW spintronic devices.

Compared to itinerant ferromagnets, antiferromagnets (AFMs) have unique advantages as building blocks of such future spintronic devices. Their robustness to stray magnetic fields makes them suitable for memory devices, and the AFM-based spin-orbit torque devices require a lower current density than that in ferromagnets.

However currently vdW itinerant antiferromagnets are still scarce.

Besides directly synthesizing a vdW antiferromagnet, another possible method toward this function is to induce a magnetic phase transition in an existing vdW itinerant ferromagnet.

"We chose to work with newly synthesized vdW itinerant ferromagnet Fe 5 GeTe 2 (F5GT)" says the study's first author, FLEET Research Fellow Dr. Cheng Tan (RMIT).

"Our previous experience on Fe 3 GeTe 2 (Nature Communication 2018) enabled us to quickly identify and evaluate the material's magnetic properties, and some studies indicate Fe 5 GeTe 2 is sensitive to local atomic arrangements and interlayer stacking configurations, meaning it would be possible to induce a phase transition in it by doping," Cheng says.

The team firstly investigated the magnetic properties in Fe 5 GeTe 2 nanosheets of various thicknesses by electron transport measurements.

However, the initial transport results also show that the electron density in Fe 5 GeTe 2 is high as expected, indicating that the magnetism is hard to be modulated by traditional gate-voltage due to the electric-screen effect in metal:

"Despite the high charge density in Fe 5 GeTe 2 , we knew it was worth trying to tune the material via protonic gating, as we have previously achieved in Fe 3 GeTe 2 (Physical Review Letters 2020), because protons can easily penetrate into the interlayer and induce large charge doping, without damaging the lattice structure," says co-author Dr. Guolin Zheng (also at RMIT).

A SP-FET transistor, with F 5 GT flake on a solid proton conductor (SPC)  scale = 10m. Credit: FLEET

Fabricating the solid protonic field-effect transistor (SP-FET)

Like all classical-computing beyond-CMOS researchers, the team are seeking to build an improved form of the transistor, the switches that provide the binary backbone of modern electronics.

A solid protonic field-effect transistor (SP-FET) is one that switches based on insertion (intercalation) of protons. Unlike traditional proton FETs (which switch by dipping liquid, and are considered promising candidates for bridging between traditional electronics and biological systems. ), the SP-FET is solid, and thus suitable for use in real devices

The SP-FET has been demonstrated to be very powerful in tuning thick metallic materials (ie, it can induce large charge doping level), which are very difficult to modulate via traditional dielectric based or ion liquid gating techniques(because of electric screening effect in metal).

By fabricating a solid protonic field-effect transistor (SP-FET) with Fe 5 GeTe 2 , the team were able to dramatically change the carrier density in Fe 5 GeTe 2 and change its magnetic ground state. Further density functional theory calculation confirmed the experimental results.

"All the samples show that the ferromagnetic state can be gradually supressed by increasing proton intercalation, and finally we see several samples display no hysteresis loops, which indicates the change of the magnetic ground state, the theoretical calculations are consistent with the experimental results," says Cheng.

"The success of realizing an AFM phase in metallic vdW ferromagnet Fe 5 GeTe 2 nanosheets constitutes an important step towards vdW antiferromagnetic devices and heterostructures that operate at high temperatures," says co-author A/Prof Lan Wang (also at RMIT).

"Again, this demonstrates that our protonic gate technique is a powerful weapon in electron transport experiments, and probably in other areas well."

The study

"Gate-controlled magnetic phase transition in a van der Waals magnet Fe 5 GeTe 2 " was published in Nano Letters in June 2021.

As well as support from the Australian Research Council, support was also provided by Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key Research and Development Program of China, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, the Collaborative Innovation Program of Hefei Science Center and the High Magnetic Field Laboratory (China).

Experimental research was performed at the RMIT Micro Nano Research Facility (MNRF) in the Victorian Node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) and the RMIT Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility (RMMF), as well as the High Magnetic Field Laboratory (Anhui, China).

Spintronic devices are studied within Enabling technology B at FLEET, an Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence. The Centre for Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (FLEET) brings together over a hundred Australian and international experts, with the shared mission to develop a new generation of ultra-low energy electronics. The impetus behind such work is the increasing challenge of energy used in computation, which uses 58% of global electricity and is doubling every decade.

Explore further Inducing and tuning spin interactions in layered material by inserting iron atoms, protons

More information: Cheng Tan et al, Gate-Controlled Magnetic Phase Transition in a van der Waals Magnet Fe 5 GeTe 2 , Nano Letters (2021). Journal information: Nano Letters Cheng Tan et al, Gate-Controlled Magnetic Phase Transition in a van der Waals Magnet FeGeTe(2021). DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c01108
More research is needed into preventing herbicide-resistant superweeds. Credit: Shutterstock

On July 1, the New South Wales government will lift a ban on genetically modified (GM) crops after an 18-year moratorium. It will mean GM crops can now be grown in every Australian state except Tasmania.

Major farming groups have welcomed the move. GM proponents say the biotechnology leads to better crop yields and may solve food shortages and reduce infestations of weeds and pests.

But opponents say GM crops are a potential threat to the environment and human health. They fear the technology will encourage superweeds, increase antibiotic resistance and food allergies in humans and may have other unintended effects.

So where does the truth lie? Academic research suggests GM crops are generally safe for humans and the environment, and so I believe the NSW government's decision should be welcomed.

What is genetic modification?

Genetic modification is the use of technology to change the genes of living things. It involves scientists injecting one organism's DNA with genes from another, to give it a desirable trait such as resistance to drought, extreme temperature or pests.

Genetically modified crops were introduced commercially in the 1990s. The NSW moratorium began in 2003 following concerns from some importers and manufacturers. For example, countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia had been refusing GM grain, and Canada and Saudi Arabia had indicated they did not want GM-fed livestock.

Announcing the lifting of the ban in March, NSW Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall said his government had been working to ensure trade and marketing issues surrounding GM food were well managed. He said the Commonwealth Gene Technology Regulator will assess all applications to grow GM crops, ensuring they are safe for people and the environment.

The NSW decision follows similar moves by other mainland states in recent years, including South Australia, which lifted the GM ban in 2020 (with an exemption for Kangaroo Island). A moratorium remains in the ACT.

The NSW government says allowing cultivation of GM crops will increase agricultural competitiveness and productivity, and bring up to A$4.8 billion in benefits over the next decade.

Benefits of lifting of the GM ban

So are the benefits of GM crops real? To answer this question, we can look to three precedents: GM canola, cotton and safflower, which have been grown in Australia for many years. These crops were exempt from the moratoria in NSW and other states, and evidence suggests their cultivation has been a success.

GM cotton has been modified with insecticidal genes, which research shows makes it more resistant to pests. The modified cotton also requires less insecticide use.

GM canola has been transformed to make it resistant to herbicides, which enables better weed control.

State moratoria delayed the introduction of GM canola, including in NSW. Research in 2018 found, across Australia, the environmental costs of the delay included an extra 6.5 million kilograms of active ingredients applied to canola land, and an extra 24.2 million kg of greenhouse gas and other emissions released. Economic costs included a net loss to canola farmers of A$485.6 million.

In recent years, Australian regulators allowed cultivation of canola modified to contain long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, prized for their health benefits. The canola variety was hailed as the world's first plant-based source of omega-3 and may reduce reliance on fish stocks.

Safflower has been genetically modified to contain higher amounts of oleic acid. These renewable oils can be used in place of petroleum, a finite resource, in products such as fuels, plastics and cosmetics.

What are the risks?

Experts concede there are limits to what can be known about the health effects of any food over the long term. However, scientists broadly agree the evidence so far suggests GM crops are safe to eat. This view is backed by the World Health Organization.

Foods derived from GM plants are consumed by millions of people in many countries. And in Australia, authorities rigorously assess all GM foods before they're sold to consumers.

However many countries still ban the the cultivation of GM foods. And some people remain worried about the effects on human health. Concerns include that antibiotic resistance may be transferred from plants to humans, or that GM foods will trigger allergic reactions.

Experts have concluded the risk of antibiotic resistance is not substantial. There is some evidence of a small number of GM crops being allergenic. But since GM crops undergo extensive allergen testing, they should not be riskier than conventional crops once cleared for market release.

Other GM opponents say the technology poses environmental risksfor example that herbicide-resistant GM crops can become "superweeds."

Research has found weed resistance to the herbicide glyphosate is a problem, and there is some evidence of glyphosate-resistant canola persisting outside farms in Australia. Management strategies can reduce the chance of superweeds developing, but more research is needed.

And it should be noted that while the use of herbicide-resistant crops sometimes leads to less herbicide use, the decrease is often not sustained. Researchers also say a reduction in the kilograms of pesticides used does not necessarily predict environmental or health effects.

Some critics oppose GM crops on the basis that they allow a few large companieswhich breed and commercialise seedsto control food supplies. For example, in 2015 it was reported the GM maize seed sector in South Africa was owned by just two companies, which meant small farmers could not compete.

Researchers have proposed measures to counter this corporate concentration of power, by strengthening competition policies, boosting public sector support for diverse food systems and curbing corporate influence in the policy process.

The issue of cross-contamination is also a concern for organic farmers and consumers. In a well-known case from Western Australia, organic farmer Steve Marsh's crop was contaminated in 2010 with GM canola, causing him to lose his organic certification.

Looking ahead

The lifting of the NSW ban on GM crops means Australian mainland states have a consistent approach, and provides new opportunities for Australian growers and consumers.

There are still issues with GM crops to be ironed out, and there's a need for continued stringent regulation to ensure human and environmental safety. Opposition to the practice will no doubt remain in some quarters. However this may lessen over time as the technology develops and long-term outcomes become clearer.

Explore further Largest-ever study reveals environmental impact of genetically modified crops

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Harpoon-shaped beam splitters in photonic quantum chip. Credit: CHEN Yang et.al

A research team led by academician Guo Guangcan from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), collaborating with researchers from Sun Yat-sen University and Zhejiang University, realized two-photon quantum interference in the structure of valley-dependent topological insulators based on the valley Hall effect.

The study was published in Physical Review Letters on June 11st, 2021.

Topological photonics has a practical application prospect in the research of photonic chips due to its robust energy transport prosperities. The key to topological phase transition is to generate an energy gap at certain degenerate points by breaking either the time-reversal symmetry (TRS) or inversion symmetry.

By breaking the spatial inversion symmetry of the system, the valley-dependent helical edge states travel in certain directions, which is known as Valley-Hall effect. Hexagonal lattice photonic crystals (PCs) with inequivalent sublattices can realize the valley-dependent topological insulators. More compact and sharp bending optical circuits can be realized, which contributes to device integration and robust energy.

In recent years, robust quantum state transfer in topology has been a hot research topic. Yet, as the core of photonic quantum information, quantum interference remains to be verified in topologically protected PCs chip.

Researchers designed and fabricated harpoon-shaped beam splitters (HSBSs) in silicon photonic crystals. The orientation of the electromagnetic phase vortex inside PCs with hexagonal lattice structure depends on lattice structure with different topological Chern numbers and its band position, thereby to form two topological edges of different structures.

Based on a 120-deg-bending interfaces, they realized on-chip Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference in one HSBS with a high visibility of 95.6%. Furthermore, the generation of path-entangled state in valley-dependent quantum circuits is demonstrated by cascading two HSBSs.

The study provides a novel method for topological photonics, especially topological insulators, to be applied in more complex quantum information processing. Reviewers agreed that the research is interesting and important, and highly praised that "This is an interesting and important work. I find the results interesting, in particular, the implementation of the Hong-Ou-Mande effect in this device, which may have implications in high fidelity on-chip quantum information processing."

Explore further Topological protection of entangled two-photon light in photonic topological insulators

More information: Yang Chen et al, Topologically Protected Valley-Dependent Quantum Photonic Circuits, Physical Review Letters (2021). Journal information: Physical Review Letters Yang Chen et al, Topologically Protected Valley-Dependent Quantum Photonic Circuits,(2021). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.230503

Provided by University of Science and Technology of China
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Newly-available scientific evidence, which could prove critical to the success of climate-related lawsuits, is often not produced in court, according to a new study published today by the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme and Environmental Change Institute.

Filling the evidentiary gap in climate litigation in Nature Climate Change, a leading interdisciplinary science journal, is the first global study on the use and interpretation of climate-science evidence in lawsuits.

The study reveals evidence submitted by litigants in 73 lawsuits across 14 jurisdictions is significantly behind state-of-the-art climate science, impeding claims that greenhouse-gas emissions have caused the impacts suffered by plaintiffs.

In most cases there was no attempt to quantify the extent to which climate change was responsible for the climate-related events causing the impacts affecting plaintiffsan important line of evidence since not all events occur due to climate change.

Even fewer cases provided quantitative evidence linking defendants' emissions with the plaintiffs' injuries. Some 73% did not refer to peer-reviewed evidence. And 48% of the cases that focused on extreme weather events claimed that the weather occurred due to climate change, without providing evidence.

From 1986 until May 2020, plaintiffs globally have brought more than 1,500 climate-related lawsuits, with the rate of claims increasing. High-profile cases, such as Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp, which was dismissed at the US Court of Appeals, have shown that strong evidence of causation is critical to successful litigation.

The study makes clear that cutting-edge, peer-reviewed attribution would allow lawyers to ascertain the prospects of successful litigation before cases reach court.

Lead author, Rupert Stuart-Smith, says, 'In recent weeks, successful lawsuits in the Netherlands, Germany, and elsewhere have seen courts demand countries and companies dramatically strengthen their climate targets. The power of climate litigation is increasingly clear.

'However, many climate-related lawsuits that rely on evidence on the link between greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impacts have been unsuccessful. If litigation seeking compensation for losses suffered due to climate change is to have the best chance of success, lawyers must make more effective use of scientific evidence. Climate science can answer questions raised by the courts in past cases and overcome hurdles to the success of these lawsuits.'

The study authors call for greater awareness and use of attribution science when bringing climate litigation, 'Effective use of climate-science evidence in the courts could overcome existing obstacles to causality, set legal precedent for demonstrating causality with climate-science evidence, and make successful litigation on climate-change impacts feasible.'

Attribution science has recently been used to prove the impact of man-made climate change on extreme weather events such as Hurricane Harvey.

As well as providing better evidence, attribution science can inform the decision to pursue climate litigation cases, with uncertainties around some types of events (like droughts) being much higher than others (e.g. large scale extreme rainfall).

Dr. Friederike Otto, Associate Director of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute, says, 'In order to change the fate of the vast majority of climate litigation cases, courts and plaintiffs alike have to realise that science has moved on from ascertaining that climate change is potentially dangerous to providing causal evidence linking emissions to concrete damages.'

Professor Thom Wetzer, Founding Director of the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme, says, 'Holding high-emission companies accountable for their contribution to climate change is key to driving systemic change and to protecting those most vulnerable to climate change impacts. Climate litigation aimed at generating that accountability is on the rise, but the results have been mixed.

'Our research provides reason for optimism: with rigorous use of scientific evidence, litigators have room to be more effective than they currently are. It is now up to litigators to translate state-of-the-art science into high-impact legal arguments.'

Explore further New study identifies strategies in US climate litigation
Credit: Mwangi Kirubi/TNC

With the International Day of Forests 2021 already a fading memory, perhaps it's time to forget them for another year and shift our attention to the next worthy cause. Well, no. If anything, we need to be redoubling our efforts to ensure that they remain permanently in the spotlight, not least the most neglected, threatened and undervalued forest type of all.

Mangroves have never really had their day in the sun, despite their crucial importance as coastguards, climate allies and wildlife havens. Fauna & Flora International (FFI) views mangrove protection and restoration as an integral part of our global efforts to reverse biodiversity loss and combat climate change, twin challenges that are inextricably linked.

Across our project portfolio, we are striving to redress the balance, working with in-country partners to ensure that mangroves receive the attention they deserve.

Mangrove-friendly measures in Mesoamerica

FFI works across an 800,000-hectare seascape in Honduras, the vast majority of which comprises three important marine protected areas (MPAs), namely Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge, the Cayos Cochinos Marine National Monument and the island of Utila in the Bay Islands National Marine Park. This seascape contains interconnected estuary, lagoon, mangrove, seagrass and coral reef habitat and is part of the globally important Mesoamerican Barrier Reef.

The area harbors a rich diversity of species including the critically endangered hawksbill turtle, the Antillean manatee and the little-known and intriguingly named wishiwilly del suampo, a critically endangered spiny-tailed iguana confined to the island of Utilaand one of only two lizard species found exclusively in mangrove swamps.

The degradation of mangrove habitat, which provides sanctuary for numerous coastal and marine species, particularly juvenile fish, has contributed to the decline in fisheries that is threatening the livelihoods of coastal communities in Honduras. FFI and our in-country partners have established a mangrove monitoring program and, with community support, we are aiming to reforest an area of mangrove estimated to sequester an additional 3,000 tons of carbon. There are ongoing efforts to remove an invasive oil palm that poses an additional threat to the native trees.

We are currently exploring opportunities related to blue carbon across the seascape, which has potential to expand mangrove cover by approximately 800 hectares, and seeking support for further coastal restoration to reduce land-based impacts on the nearshore environment and build resilience to hurricanes, as well as conducting a blue carbon feasibility study.

Climate and communities in Cambodia

Cambodia's extensive coastline is fringed by almost 80,000 hectares of mangrove forest, which provide natural nurseries for the reef fish and other marine life on which numerous coastal communities rely for their livelihoods. FFI's work is focusing on the establishment of a national network of MPAs, building on our critical support for the designation of Cambodia's first large-scale MPA in the Koh Rong Archipelago in 2016.

As part of our wider marine conservation and fisheries management efforts, FFI is working to maintain the intact mangroves lying within the MPA boundary. This is combined with locally led initiatives to restore previously deforested mangrove areas, and four community mangrove nurseries have been established so far within Koh Rong, paving the way for future scaling up of restoration efforts.

Juvenile grunts sheltering among mangrove roots. Credit: Lorenzo Mittiga/Ocean Image Library

In support of community-based approaches to the protection and restoration of marine resources, we are also investigating the use of sustainable financing mechanisms including opportunities to secure payment for blue carbon storage and sequestration by mangroves and other coastal forest, thereby increasing resilience to climate change impacts.

FFI is forging new partnerships for mangrove protection and marine conservation in the far north of Koh Kong province, on Cambodia's northern coast. This work focuses on approximately 16,000 hectares of mangrove forest in Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary and Koh Kapik Ramsar Site, a wetland recognized for its international importance in helping to build climate resilience.

Action for an archipelago

As the world's largest archipelago comprising an astounding 17,500 islands, Indonesia is on the front line of climate change and heavily dependent on the health of its coastal and marine ecosystems. FFI works across a number of project sites in Aceh, West Papua and West Kalimantan to support and enhance coastal resilience. In order to ensure community buy-in, much of our work in these locations revolves around the establishment of locally managed marine areas in which resource use is governed by customary laws and practice.

These multiple-use zones also encompass mangrove habitat, and are largely patrolled by communities, with ad hoc support from government officials. In future, we are aiming to help strengthen management of mangrove resources, promote development of more sustainable harvesting methods and support community engagement in local decision-making to enhance coastal resilience.

Protecting mangroves from clearance for charcoal production has been a focus in southern Myanmar, where, in collaboration with local fishing communities and the government, FFI is in the process of establishing locally managed marine areas that include mangrove habitat.

Restoration and reef relief in East Africa

In northern Kenya, FFI has partnered with the Northern Rangelands Trust and the Nature Conservancy to support Kiunga and Pate Island Conservancy in addressing the significant threat posed by the unsustainable extraction of mangroves for firewood and poles used in construction. Efforts to reduce illegal exploitation have so far focused on increasing the number of patrols carried out by local rangers. Meanwhile, restoration measures have included the planting of more than 35,000 mangrove seedlings since 2015.

Following initial success on the island of Pemba, FFI is scaling up its engagement to take an ecosystem-based approach to coastal resource management in northern Tanzania, incorporating 300,000 hectares of coastal forest across Zanzibar and the mainland.

The coral reefs of Pemba, among the most diverse in East Africa, are extremely vulnerable to climate change. FFI is working to promote ecological resilience by reducing direct pressures on the marine environment through the introduction of community fisheries management measures and work to reduce the harvesting of mangrove wood.

When it comes to enlisting the support of natural allies in our global quest to combat the twin climate and biodiversity crises, we need all the friends we can muster. As a living, photosynthesising example of a nature-based solution to our mounting problems, mangroves tick all the right boxes. We neglect them at our peril.

Explore further Restoring Earth's natural defenders
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Social distancing is now for the birds, too.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, or KDFWR, is investigating a bird mortality event that might be spread by a high density of birds, such as near feeders. According to the department, reports of ill and dying birds started arriving in late May, most of them from Jefferson, Boone and Kenton counties.

However, the cause remains unknown.

Dr. Christine Casey, a wildlife veterinarian for KDFWR, works on the case in conjunction with institutes like the National Wildlife Health Center and the University of Georgia's Southeastern Cooperative of Wildlife Disease Study, or SCWDS. Casey said that reports come from multiple states, such as Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Indiana and Washington, D.C.

According to Casey, reported symptoms in birds include swelling and crusty discharge in the eye area, as well as neurological problems. She said these present as uncoordinated movements, contorted necks or rapid eye activity.

The condition does not seem to affect all birds; Casey said that the most frequently reported varieties are passerines, including blue jays, common grackles and European starlings, although the KDFWR has seen a few reports of other bird species. However, she said the department has not received reports from pet bird species and poultry; these bird varieties seem unaffected.

Andrew Melnykovych, president of the Beckham Bird Club in Louisville, said blue jays, grackles and starlings are not endangered varieties in terms of numbers, but any mortality event is concerning.

"We've got a lot of species in North America in general, and Kentucky specifically, that are in a great deal of trouble, and, you know, we can't afford to have widespread bird mortality from any more causes than we have already that is going to further stress these kinds of species," he said, citing habitat loss, outdoor cats and flying into buildings as other threats.

This mortality event seems to be distinct from the salmonella outbreak seen among finch populations earlier in the year, and until the KDFWR knows what is causing it, Casey said it is hard to know if or when this particular mortality event happened before in Kentucky. She also said a contributing factor might also be the fungus associated with this year's cicada brood, although the symptoms in birds seem to be bacterial, not fungal, in nature.

"This is essentially like an epidemiologic investigation," Casey said. "We're trying to put together the pieces, basically what is impacting, what was causing this disease."

Casey said the department began collecting carcasses of infected birds in early June, sending around 20 of them to the SCWDS and other diagnostic labs for testinga process that can take up to six weeks.

On June 18, the KDFWR opened an online form that Kentuckians can use to report sick or dead birds. Casey said the department has received around 700 reports since then, mostly from central and northern Kentucky.

"The issue there is that doesn't necessarily mean that there's 700 reports of birds related to this event," she said. "We have to now go through and kind of sort out what is suspicious or possibly related to this mortality event, because a lot of the time, people may see dying birds, but it could just be a normal cause of death."

Melnykovych said sightings of infected birds are not uniformly dispersed across Jefferson County; he has not personally seen any sick or dead birds related to the event. "I don't know if it's confined to a few small areas, or where there's a higher density of birds or what's going on," he said. " I don't think anybody has a clear understanding at this point."

The event seems to be concentrated in a few areas of the Commonwealth, namely northern and central Kentucky; Melnykovych said this might be because of the higher population density there.

"One of the things that I've seen is that most of the reports of mortality are coming from more urban areas, so Louisville and northern Kentucky. And I think in those kinds of circumstances, it's just a question of is it because there are more people there, watching birds, looking at birds? You know, the fact that you've got a higher population density makes it more likely for things like that to be noticed. Or is it something that is related to the fact that it's a more urban environment? And I don't think, we certainly don't, have that answer yet," he said.

What to do and how to help

Casey said that Kentuckians can report a sick or dying bird using the form on the KDFWR website, and including photos can help identify its species and whether it is one of the infected. Although leaving a dead bird alone is preferable, she said that if it needs to be moved, being safe is important.

"If you have to dispose of it wearing gloves, just make sure that you're protecting yourself and using good hygiene practices and putting it in a trash bag. You can double bag it, and you can just throw it away with waste disposal," Casey said.

Bird feeders might also exacerbate the problem, as they are gathering places for birds. The KDFWR is encouraging Kentuckians to clean their feeders with a 10% bleach solution, and in Louisville and northern Kentucky, the department has asked that residents take down feeders until further noticereminiscent of social distancing mandates.

"That's not necessarily because the feeders themselves are the source of infection, but because feeders tend to concentrate birds in, you know, higher density around feeders, and that can allow for more disease transmission," Melnykovych said.

However, until the KDFWR knows exactly what is causing this event, it is difficult to know what precautionary steps to take. "There's really all possibilities to be explored at this point," Casey said.

Explore further Study of bird droppings in UK highlights impact of garden feeding

2021 the Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.)

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(a) Distribution of overlapping stations (171 pairs) between CMA/CMA_Tian and GSOD/HadISD datasets. Filled circles indicate that the distance between a pair of station is less than 1 km and its RMSE is greater than 75th percentile; (b) 19792016 RMSE (m s1) of annual mean SWS of the 171 pairs of stations, and associated piecewise linear fit, where the vertical dashed line and TP indicates the turning point; (c) scatter plots of trend coefficients of annual mean SWS (m s1 yr1) in 19792016 versus those in 20002016. Credit: Science China Press

The most significant feature of global land surface wind speed (SWS) recently has been the long-term weakening trend since the 1960s, that is, the phenomenon known as global terrestrial stilling. Many studies have found that stilling is widespread worldwide. It has seriously affected the ecological environment and social economy, especially restricting the sustainable development of the wind energy industry. It is found that the stilling reversed around 2010, and global SWS is strengthening.

Based on observational SWS data from 1971 to 2019, annual mean SWS in China underwent a reversal from a continuous weakening trend to a significant strengthening trend around 2014, implying that stilling may have ended in 2014. Note that the reversal had obvious regional and seasonal variations. For example, in Northeast China, Western Xinjiang and on the Tibetan Plateau, the years when both annual and seasonal mean SWS changed from a weakening to a strengthening trend were around 2013/2014, 1993/1994 and 2000, respectively; however, stilling is ongoing in the eastern and southern coastal areas, North China and Eastern Xinjiang.

In addition, by comparing the SWS data observed by China's stations with the wind speed data obtained from global surface database (GSOD and HadISD), it is found that GSOD and HadISD may have some uncertainties in characterizing the trend changes of SWS in China. The GSOD/HadISD-based results could be considered with some cautions.

Wind power is an integral part of China's strategy to achieve the carbon emission reduction targets set in the Paris Agreement. The results can provide scientific support for the layout of China's wind power industry.

Explore further Boosting wind farmers, global winds reverse decades of slowing and pick up speed

More information: Qing Yang et al, Has the stilling of the surface wind speed ended in China?, Science China Earth Sciences (2021). Journal information: Science China Earth Sciences Qing Yang et al, Has the stilling of the surface wind speed ended in China?,(2021). DOI: 10.1007/s11430-020-9738-4
Las Cumbres Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope color composite of the electron-capture supernova 2018zd (the large white dot on the right) and the host starburst galaxy NGC 2146 (toward the left). Credit: NASA/STSCI/J. Depasquale; Las Cumbres Observatory

A worldwide team led by UC Santa Barbara scientists at Las Cumbres Observatory has discovered the first convincing evidence for a new type of stellar explosionan electron-capture supernova. While they have been theorized for 40 years, real-world examples have been elusive. They are thought to arise from the explosions of massive super-asymptotic giant branch (SAGB) stars, for which there has also been scant evidence. The discovery, published in Nature Astronomy, also sheds new light on the thousand-year mystery of the supernova from A.D. 1054 that was visible all over the world in the daytime, before eventually becoming the Crab Nebula.

Historically, supernovae have fallen into two main types: thermonuclear and iron-core collapse. A thermonuclear supernova is the explosion of a white dwarf star after it gains matter in a binary star system. These white dwarfs are the dense cores of ash that remain after a low-mass star (one up to about 8 times the mass of the sun) reaches the end of its life. An iron core-collapse supernova occurs when a massive starone more than about 10 times the mass of the sunruns out of nuclear fuel and its iron core collapses, creating a black hole or neutron star. Between these two main types of supernovae are electron-capture supernovae. These stars stop fusion when their cores are made of oxygen, neon and magnesium; they aren't massive enough to create iron.

While gravity is always trying to crush a star, what keeps most stars from collapsing is either ongoing fusion or, in cores where fusion has stopped, the fact that you can't pack the atoms any tighter. In an electron capture supernova, some of the electrons in the oxygen-neon-magnesium core get smashed into their atomic nuclei in a process called electron capture. This removal of electrons causes the core of the star to buckle under its own weight and collapse, resulting in an electron-capture supernova.

If the star had been slightly heavier, the core elements could have fused to create heavier elements, prolonging its life. So it is a kind of reverse Goldilocks situation: The star isn't light enough to escape its core collapsing, nor is it heavy enough to prolong its life and die later via different means.

That's the theory that was formulated beginning in 1980 by Ken'ichi Nomoto of the University of Tokyo and others. Over the decades, theorists have formulated predictions of what to look for in an electron-capture supernova and their SAGB star progenitors. The stars should have a lot of mass, lose much of it before exploding, and this mass near the dying star should be of an unusual chemical composition. Then the electron-capture supernova should be weak, have little radioactive fallout, and have neutron-rich elements in the core.

Artist impressions of a super-asymptotic giant branch star and its core made up of oxygen, neon and magnesium. This is the end state of stars around 8-10 solar masses, whose core is pressure supported by electrons. When the core becomes dense enough, neon and magnesium start to eat up electrons, reducing the core pressure and inducing a core-collapse supernova explosion. Credit: S. Wilkinson; Las Cumbres Observatory

The new study is led by Daichi Hiramatsu, a graduate student at UC Santa Barbara and Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO). Hiramatsu is a core member of the Global Supernova Project, a worldwide team of scientists using dozens of telescopes around and above the globe. The team found that the supernova SN 2018zd had many unusual characteristics, some of which were seen for the first time in a supernova.

It helped that the supernova was relatively nearbyonly 31 million light-years awayin the galaxy NGC 2146. This allowed the team to examine archival images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope prior to the explosion and to detect the likely progenitor star before it exploded. The observations were consistent with another recently identified SAGB star in the Milky Way, but inconsistent with models of red supergiants, the progenitors of normal iron core-collapse supernovae.

The authors looked through all published data on supernovae, and found that while some had a few of the indicators predicted for electron-capture supernovae, only SN 2018zd had all six: an apparent SAGB progenitor, strong pre-supernova mass loss, an unusual stellar chemical composition, a weak explosion, little radioactivity and a neutron-rich core.

"We started by asking 'what's this weirdo?'" Hiramatsu said. "Then we examined every aspect of SN 2018zd and realized that all of them can be explained in the electron-capture scenario."

The new discoveries also illuminate some mysteries of the most famous supernova of the past. In A.D. 1054 a supernova happened in the Milky Way Galaxy that, according to Chinese and Japanese records, was so bright that it could be seen in the daytime for 23 days, and at night for nearly two years. The resulting remnant, the Crab Nebula, has been studied in great detail.

This composite image of the Crab Nebula was assembled by combining data from five telescopes spanning nearly the entire breadth of the electromagnetic spectrum. Credit: NASA, ESA, NRAO/AUI/NSF and G. Dubner (University of Buenos Aires)

The Crab Nebula was previously the best candidate for an electron-capture supernova, but its status was uncertain partly because the explosion happened nearly a thousand years ago. The new result increases the confidence that the historic SN 1054 was an electron-capture supernova. It also explains why that supernova was relatively bright compared to the models: Its luminosity was probably artificially enhanced by the supernova ejecta colliding with material cast off by the progenitor star as was seen in SN 2018zd.

Ken Nomoto at the Kavli IPMU of the University of Tokyo expressed excitement that his theory had been confirmed. "I am very pleased that the electron-capture supernova was finally discovered, which my colleagues and I predicted to exist and have a connection to the Crab Nebula 40 years ago," he said. "I very much appreciate the great efforts involved in obtaining these observations. This is a wonderful case of the combination of observations and theory."

Hiramatsu added, "It was such a 'Eureka moment' for all of us that we can contribute to closing the 40-year-old theoretical loop, and for me personally because my career in astronomy started when I looked at the stunning pictures of the Universe in the high school library, one of which was the iconic Crab Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope."

"The term Rosetta Stone is used too often as an analogy when we find a new astrophysical object," said Andrew Howell, a staff scientist at Las Cumbres Observatory and adjunct faculty at UCSB, "but in this case I think it is fitting. This supernova is literally helping us decode thousand-year-old records from cultures all over the world. And it is helping us associate one thing we don't fully understand, the Crab Nebula, with another thing we have incredible modern records of, this supernova. In the process it is teaching us about fundamental physics: how some neutron stars get made, how extreme stars live and die, and about how the elements we're made of get created and scattered around the universe." Howell also is the leader of the Global Supernova Project, and lead author Hiramatsu 's Ph.D. advisor.

Explore further Electron-eating neon causes star to collapse
(HealthDay)Dog obedience trainer Cindy Leung has a very anxious client who loves a very anxious breed, the Shetland Sheepdog.

"My [human] student startles at loud noises," Leung said. "That's just part of her personality. Loud, sudden noises startle her. Something weird that shows up in the environment startles her. She's got a really strong startle reflex, and her dogs have a strong startle reflex, and neither of them have great recovery."

It's Leung's job to help sort this out so her client can win obedience contests, but the situation poses a true chicken-or-egg dilemma.

"Is the dog startled because my student startles, because everyone startles when she startles, because we're all like, 'What was that? Oh, it was just a leaf falling off a tree. OK,'" Leung said. "Is the dog anxious because she's anxious? Or does she startle because in the past her dogs have startled and tried to bolt away? I can't really tell you, and she can't either, because I've asked her."

Animal researchers believe they now have the answer to that question.

A new study, published recently in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior, has concluded that canines pick up on and absorb the fretfulness of their owners, and that's what fuels anxiety-related behavior problems among dogs.

Co-researcher James Serpell is director of the Center for the Interaction of Animals and Society at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, in Philadelphia. He said, "The way dog trainers put it, you can transmit fear down the leash, as it were. If you're a dog owner, you can send this anxiety message almost down the leash to the dog and the dog can pick up on it."

Importantly, the study rules out two other strong possible explanations for canine anxiety problems.

Leung's student isn't making her Shelties nervous by being overprotective and snap-responding to any perceived threat, the researchers said. No evidence was found that such "helicopter" dog parenting prompted canines to become reactive and neurotic.

The researchers also found no evidence that dogs became anxious because their owners were using overly coercive training methods, sending their dogs into nervous fear.

Picking up on anxiety

"They eliminated both the training route and the helicopter parenting route," Serpell said. "Their results point to a direct effect of the owner's personality on the dog's behavior."

For this study, the research team analyzed data from more than 1,100 dog owners who took part in an online survey.

The questionnaire gathered information on the humans' anxiety, training methods and protective behavior toward their dogs. The dogs' fear and anxiety levels, and their emotional reactivity to their humans, also were assessed through questions asked of the owners.

Fear and anxiety among dogs did not differ greatly due to either the training methods their humans use or the level of their humans' protective instincts.

However, a canine's anxiety-related behavior problems were significantly linked to their owner's self-reported anxiety levels, the investigators found.

"Dogs have co-evolved with humans and are acutely sensitive to how their humans behave. Dogs are constantly monitoring their owners and sort of trying to second-guess their behavior. Sometimes for the dog owner it seems uncanny how well the dog seems to anticipate how they're feeling and what they're going to do," Serpell said.

"In some cases, this is great. You can think of many contexts in which having an animal that can anticipate your thoughts is wonderful, in terms of training or performing tasks for people," he continued. "But in the context of an owner who's experiencing a lot of anxiety, you can see the disadvantage. The dog's picking up on that anxiety and it's making the dog more anxious as a result. The dog's thinking, oh my goodness, what kind of threat is in the vicinity that my owner is responding to?"

What's more, dogs with higher empathy scores were more affected by their owner's anxiety, the study authors noted.

That makes sense to Leung, given that different breeds handle stress in very different ways.

"Some breeds are more susceptible to it than others," said Leung, co-owner of Trainers to the Rescue in Cornelius, Ore. "Labradors are notoriously oblivious. Most sporting dogspointers, Irish settersare completely oblivious to your emotional state."

Rescue, puppy mill dogs more vulnerable

After giving the study a read, Leung said she can get on board with the notion that anxious people can create anxious dogs.

"I have neurotic students who create neurotic dogs," Leung said.

However, the situation is probably more nuanced than this study makes out, Leung added.

For example, dogs adopted from shelters or raised in puppy mills quite likely will have a different, potentially more fragile, emotional makeup than other dogs, Leung said.

Mary Burch, an applied animal behaviorist and director of American Kennel Club Family Dog, added that the co-dependent problem can go deeper than mere feelings. An owner's emotional state can impact their dog in concrete ways, undermining the canine's sense of security.

"Worrying and thinking about something is unlikely to have an effect on a dog," Burch said. "When that worry translates into being so worried the person does not go outside, it affects the dog. There might be no fun outdoor play sessions, and no exercise, which is critical for the mental health of a dog."

Thus, the highs and lows of a dog owner suffering from mood disorders might seriously interrupt a pet's daily routine and promote anxiety, Burch said.

"This could mean a dog is not even fed properly on schedule, or if the person won't go into the community because they are so anxious," Burch said. "It could mean no shopping, and as a result, no dog food. I once worked with a woman who was in this exact situation, and she had resorted to feeding her dog breakfast cereal."

Serpell sees one potentially useful notion in this bond between humans and canines.

Particularly empathic dogs who serve as barometers for their human's moods might be able to help troubled folks identify and address when they're experiencing anxiety, Serpell said. Armed with the proper coping tools, a person could use their dog's cues to better manage their own moodand therefore improve their dog's life.

"It's almost like a sort of biofeedback mechanism," Serpell explained. "Maybe it could help the owner to recognize themselves when they're feeling anxious and consider why they're feeling anxious, and perhaps help to calm themselves down and feel less anxious. I can see that being valuable."

More information: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about the The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about the health benefits of owning a pet

Copyright  2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Left: significance map around LHAASO J2108+5157 as observed by KM2A for reconstructed energies from 25 TeV to 100 TeV. Right: significance map for energies above 100 TeV. The red cross denotes the best-fit position. The white circle at bottom-right corner shows the size of PSF (containing 68% of the events). Credit: Cao et al., 2021.

Using the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO), astronomers have performed a search for new high-energy gamma-ray sources. As a result, they have identified a new ultra-high energy gamma-ray source, which received designation LHAASO J2108+5157. The finding is reported in a paper published June 18 on the arXiv pre-print repository.

Sources emitting gamma radiation with photon energies between 100 GeV and 100 TeV are called very-high energy (VHE) gamma-ray sources, while those with photon energies above 0.1 PeV are known as ultra-high energy (UHE) gamma-ray sources. The nature of these sources is still not well understood; therefore, astronomers are constantly searching for new objects of this type to characterize them, which could shed more light on their properties in general.

A team of astronomers led by Zhen Cao of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has recently conducted such search lasting nearly one year, using the data from LHAASOa new complex EAS array designed for cosmic-ray and gamma-ray studies, located in the Sichuan province of China. The observational campaign yielded promising results.

"In this paper, we report in Section 2 the discovery of a new UHE gamma-ray source LHAASO J2108+5157 based on the LHAASO-KM2A observation. It is the rst source revealed in the UHE band without a VHE counterpart reported by other detectors," the researchers wrote.

According to the study, LHAASO J2108+5157 is a point-like source with an extension less than 0.39 degrees. However, the astronomers noted that a slightly extended morphology cannot be ruled out due to the limited statistics and uncertainty. The power-law spectral index of LHAASO J2108+5157 was found to be 2.83.

No X-ray counterparts were found within 0.26 degrees from the center of LHAASO J2108+5157 and it turns out that the closest X-ray source is the eclipsing binary RX J2107.3+5202 with the separation of about 0.3 degrees.

The observations found that LHAASO J2108+5157 is associated with a molecular cloud known as [MML2017]4607. The cloud is located some 10,700 light years away from the Earth, has an average angular radius of approximately 0.236 degrees, and its mass is estimated to be 8,469 solar masses.

Trying to explain the detected UHE gamma-ray emission from LHAASO J2108+5157, the authors of the paper offer few explanations. They noted that UHE emission could be produced by protons accelerated up to PeV colliding with the ambient dense gas. Due to the coincidence between LHAASO J2108+5157 and the molecular cloud [MML2017]4607, they assume that the hadronic origin is the most plausible scenario.

"The observed gamma-rays are attributed to the decay of 0 mesons produced in inelastic collisions between accelerated protons and target gas in the [MML2017]4607. For the energy distribution of the parent particles, we assume an exponential cut-o power-law form," the astronomers explained.

More information: Discovery of the Ultra-high energy gamma-ray source LHAASO J2108+5157, arXiv:2106.09865 [astro-ph.HE] Discovery of the Ultra-high energy gamma-ray source LHAASO J2108+5157, arXiv:2106.09865 [astro-ph.HE] arxiv.org/abs/2106.09865

 2021 Science X Network
Students walk on Penn State's University Park campus. Credit: Patrick Mansell, Penn State

In March 2020, daily life in the United States changed in an instant as the country locked down to deal with the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. New research reveals how residents in one community returned to their routines as the restrictions lifted, according to a team of Penn State scientists.

"We used sound signals captured by underground fiber-optic sensors to understand how COVID measures impacted human activities," said Junzhu Shen, a graduate student in geosciences at Penn State. "These sensors provide very accurate, high-resolution data that can help us understand what's happening in our communities."

The scientists analyzed sound data recorded from March through June 2020 in and around the Penn State University Park campus and State College, Pennsylvania. They observed a quiet period that coincided with the lockdown followed by a recovery of activity as the area moved from red to less-restrictive yellow and green phases.

By listening to small changes in vibrations at the surface, the scientists found construction activity and vehicle traffic recovered sooner than pedestrian traffic. They reported their findings in the open-access journal The Seismic Record.

"Footsteps disappeared and really did not recover after business re-opening in late May," said Tieyuan Zhu, assistant professor of geosciences at Penn State. "But if you look at car traffic, it shows a different pattern. It decreased and recovered. This may give us a hint that people were conservative, working remotely and driving when they had to go outside for things like groceries."

Other work to measure the impacts of COVID shutdowns on human activity has used seismic sensors or Google mobility dataGPS information collected from devices like cellphones. But using the fiber-optic network allows for higher-resolution data, with measurements collected about every six-and-a-half feet, the scientists said.

"With Google mobility data, we are limited to looking at one data point for the whole county," Zhu said. "It's hard to separate one community from another. With our high-density network, we can understand noise variation from one block to another."

The scientists analyzed data from March, when the lockdown began and Penn State students left campus, through June, when the area entered Pennsylvania's green phase of reopening.

The results provide a useful assessment tool for decision-makers faced with implementing such measures and could result in a better understanding of how pandemics impact human activities, the scientists said.

To conduct the study, the scientists tapped into miles of continuous telecommunication fiber-optic cables under the University and nearby community. These networks are often found in cities and provide phone and internet service to home and businesses.

A new technology called a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) array allowed the researchers to send a laser down one of the hair-thin glass fibers contained inside the cables and detect small changes caused by pressure. By taking measurements every six-and-a-half feet, the scientists essentially can create a network of 2,000 sensors.

"Even if there is a small change in the external energy on the ground above, that will stretch or compress the fiber, and we can detect those changes," Zhu said. "And in the case of COVID, we can provide some indicators to understand whether measures being put in place are effective or not."

Explore further Fiber-optic cables capture thunderquake rumbles
This infographic reveals the details of the Nu2 Lupi planetary system, which was recently explored by ESA's exoplanet watcher Cheops (CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite). Credit: ESA; data: L. Delrez et al (2021)

While exploring two exoplanets in a bright nearby star system, ESA's exoplanet-hunting Cheops satellite has unexpectedly spotted the system's third known planet crossing the face of the star. This transit reveals exciting details about a rare planet "with no known equivalent," say the researchers.

The discovery is one of the first results from ESA's Cheops (CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite), and the first time an exoplanet with a period of over 100 days has been spotted transiting a star that is bright enough to be visible to the naked eye.

Named Nu2 Lupi, this bright, Sun-like star is located just under 50 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Lupus (the Wolf). In 2019, the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) at the ESO 3.6-meter telescope in Chile discovered three exoplanets (named "b," "c" and "d," with the star deemed to be object "A") in the system, with masses between those of Earth and Neptune and orbits lasting 11.6, 27.6 and 107.6 days. The innermost two of these planetsb and cwere subsequently found to transit Nu2 Lupi by NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), making it one of only three naked-eye stars known to host multiple transiting planets.

"Transiting systems such as Nu2 Lupi are of paramount importance in our understanding of how planets form and evolve, as we can compare several planets around the same bright star in detail," says Laetitia Delrez of the University of Liege, Belgium, and lead author of the new finding.

"We set out to build on previous studies of Nu2 Lupi and observe planets b and c crossing the face of Nu2 Lupi with Cheops, but during a transit of planet c we spotted something amazing: An unexpected transit by planet 'd,' which lies further out in the system."

This artist's impression shows the Nu2 Lupi planetary system, which was recently explored by ESA's exoplanet watcher Cheops (CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite). Credit: ESA

Planetary transits create a valuable opportunity to study a planet's atmosphere, orbit, size and interior. A transiting planet blocks a tiny but detectable proportion of its star's light as it crosses in front of its starand it was this drop in light that led Laetitia and colleagues to their discovery. As long-period exoplanets orbit so far from their stars, the chances of seeing one during a transit are incredibly low, making Cheops's finding a real surprise.

Using the high-precision capabilities of Cheops, planet d was found to be about 2.5 times the radius of Earth, confirmed to take just over 107 days to loop once around its star, and using archival observations from ground-based telescopes, found to have a mass of 8.8 times that of Earth.

"The amount of stellar radiation reaching planet d is also mild in comparison to many other discovered exoplanets; in our solar system, Nu2 Lupi d would orbit between Mercury and Venus," adds co-author David Ehrenreich of the University of Geneva, Switzerland. "Combined with its bright parent star, long orbital period, and suitability for follow-up characterization, this makes planet d hugely excitingit is an exceptional object with no known equivalent, and sure to be a golden target for future study."

Most long-period transiting exoplanets discovered to date have been found around stars that are too faint to allow detailed follow-up observations, meaning that little is known about their planets' properties. Nu2 Lupi, however, is bright enough to be an attractive target for other powerful telescopes based in spacesuch as the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope or forthcoming NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescopeor large observatories on the ground.

"Given its overall properties and orbit, this makes planet d a uniquely favorable target for studying an exoplanet with a mild-temperature atmosphere around a star similar to the Sun," says Laetitia.

Artist's view of the study of the three planets, under a sky illuminated by the Wolf constellation. Credit: Francois Schuiten and Laurent Durieux

By combining new Cheops data with archival data from other observatories, the researchers were able to accurately determine the mean densities of all of Nu2 Lupi's known planets, and put strong constraints on their possible compositions.

They found planet b to be mainly rocky, while planets c and d appear to contain large amounts of water enshrouded in envelopes of hydrogen and helium gases. In fact, planets c and d contain far more water than Earth: A quarter of each planet's mass is made up of water, compared to less than 0.1% for Earth. This water, however, is not liquid, instead taking the form of high-pressure ice or high-temperature steam.

"While none of these planets would be habitable, their diversity makes the system even more exciting, and a great future prospect for testing how these bodies form and change over time," says ESA Cheops project scientist Kate Isaak. "There is also the potential to search for rings or moons in the Nu2 Lupi system, as the exquisite precision and stability of Cheops could allow detection of bodies down to roughly the size of Mars."

Cheops is designed to collect ultra-high precision data of individual stars known to host planets, rather than sweeping more generally for possible exoplanets around many starsand this focus and precision is proving exceptionally useful in understanding the star systems around us.

"These exciting results demonstrate once again the huge potential of Cheops," adds Kate. "Cheops will allow us not just to better understand known exoplanets, as shown in this and other early results from the mission, but also to discover new ones and reveal their secrets."

Explore further A new super-Earth detected orbiting a red dwarf star

More information: Laetitia Delrez et al, Transit detection of the long-period volatile-rich super-Earth 2 Lupi d with CHEOPS, Nature Astronomy (2021). Journal information: Nature Astronomy Laetitia Delrez et al, Transit detection of the long-period volatile-rich super-Earth 2 Lupi d with CHEOPS,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-021-01381-5
New York had three deaths from COVID-19 on Sunday  the lowest number since Sept. 28 of last year.

Our state has come a long way in beating back this virus, but our work continues because we need to get every New Yorker vaccinated, said Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday in a news release. Every shot in the arm brings us closer to defeating this beast once and for all, which is why we are continuing to work with our local partners across the state to make sure the vaccine is accessible in every community.

In another sign the pandemic is waning, a total of 346 people were hospitalized for the virus as of Sunday  also a level not seen since September, according to a news release.

About 0.52% of people tested positive for the virus, which brings the seven-day average to 0.39%.

Vaccine clinics

Warren County Health Services will hold three more clinics on Tuesday. They will take place at the Tannery Pond Community Center at 228 Main St. in North Creek from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.; Chester Town Hall at 6307 state Route 9 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.; and Hague Town Hall at 9793 Graphite Mountain Road from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

No appointments are necessary.
Susan Yamada, vice chairwoman of UHs entrepreneurship program, said there needs to be an environment at such a leading research university for transforming research into commercial opportunities.

This center will be an ecosystem to support UH innovators and a catalyst for entrepreneurial activity in Hawaii,  she said in a statement. Entrepreneurs dont work nine to five, they work late into the night and on the weekends. Imagine having a space to go to, where youll meet other like-minded people, bounce ideas around, and find the resources needed to move an idea to the next phase of startup.

If approved, the complex would realize a more ambitious plan that evolved from an idea around 2015 to simply retain and renovate apartments for UH students in the two Atherton buildings that the YMCA of Honolulu had put up for sale.

One of the two buildings, the pink three-story Charles Atherton House, was built in 1932 with Italian Renaissance-style architecture. The neighboring three-story building known as the Mary Atherton Richards House was built in 1959 in a contemporary style.

The two buildings contained 53 apartments with 80 beds for UH students, as well as YMCA programs and commercial tenants that over the years included a Burger King restaurant, yogurt retailer, fitness center and coffee shop.
Another popular item from the sour side are slushies. Flavored slushes were made popular at convenience stores for many years and now we can get adult strength ones at many of the local breweries. Locally here at Cape May Brewing they serve up their popular The Bog (cranberry shandy) in a slush form as well as The Purp, a grape version. Expect to see many of your locals jumping on the bandwagon for the summer.

In support of their local Police Department, COHO recently released a refreshing light lager titled Back The Blue. Believe it or not it is the color blue reminding me of a bottle of Andorian Ale I have stashed away somewhere (for all those Star Trek fans). The bottles of the barrel-aged imperial stout, Judges Chambers, are still available at the brewery. Look for the cabernet barrel-aged Guilty By Association Belgian Tripel to be available in bottles soon.
TRENTON  New Jersey will launch a new office that will collect, analyze and publish statewide data on criminal justice and public safety, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said Monday.

The new Office of Justice Data will be led by Kristin Golden, the departments first chief data officer.

Were committed to making New Jersey a national leader in the collection and analysis of criminal justice data, said Grewal. To make good policy, we need good data, and the creation of this office reinforces our commitment to evidence-based policymaking. Im delighted that Dr. Golden has agreed to take on this important new task.

According to the Attorney Generals Office, the new department will coordinate data collection and make sure its available to the public in a timely and accessible manner.

Responsibilities of the department include complying with a November 2020 law that requires the attorney general to establish a statewide program to collect, record and analyze data relating to criminal defendants. It will also ensure data is available relating to asset forfeiture, juvenile justice, law enforcement officer suicides, drug monitoring data and recruitment of minority officers in compliance with state law.

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Murphy to speak Monday afternoon on COVID-19 response TRENTON  Gov. Phil Murphy will continue his regular COVID-19 response briefings Monday afternoon.
The 2020 state report says that the Pagans membership in the state, and violence related to the gang, continues to grow, going from 10 chapters in the state in 2013 to 17 as of last year.

Gibson said that in addition to a large number of weapons that were seized during the investigation, the one enforcement operation also discovered three homemade improvised explosive devices.

This was a very violent organization, she said.

The men were scheduled to appear Monday afternoon by videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre.

In addition to the arrests, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced a grand jury indicted Pagans member Nicholas Booch Bucciarelli, 56, of Brooklawn, on charges of aggravated assault in aid of racketeering, brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and possession of firearms by a convicted felon. Federal authorities say Bucciarelli used assaulted another Pagans member at gunpoint for breaking the organizations rules.

Three others, Nicholas Lefty Marino, 75, of Williamstown, Anthony Fugit DAlessandro, 55, of Williamstown and Michael Cage Dorazo, 42, of Gloucester City, were previously charged for their roles in the assault.
Mask policies in New Jersey's public schools during the 2021-22 school year will be left up to individual districts, Gov. Phil Murphy said in his Monday COVID-19 press briefing, unless conditions regarding the virus worsen before the school year.

Masks will be required on school buses, however, said acting N.J. Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan. That's because the CDC is requiring masks on all mass transit, including planes, trains and buses.

"I want to address one issue that is at the top of minds for many  that is masking," Murphy said. Parents and guardians have been pressuring the governor not to require masks in the new school year, with some equating forced mask wearing for children to abuse.

Murphy said the state Department of Education is now releasing health and safety recommendations to schools on social distancing, vaccines and masks.

Murphy had previously announced that all public schools must open for full-time, in-person instruction.

"Absent any dramatic change in our situation before the beginning of the school year ... masking by students while in their school buildings will not be mandatory unless district decides to require it," Murphy said.
DENVER (AP)  A federal judge ruled last week that Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert does not have to unblock a former Democratic Colorado state lawmaker from her personal Twitter account.

U.S. District Court Judge Daniel D. Domenico said in his decision Thursday that Boebert, who represents the state's 3rd Congressional District, did not violate the free speech rights of former state Rep. Bri Buentello because Boebert blocked Buentello from her personal Twitter account  and did not block Buentello from Boebert's official government account, The Colorado Sun reported.

Blocking a Twitter user on an account created before she was elected to office is something Ms. Boebert could do before she was in office and could do after she leaves office, said Domenico, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump.

Buentello filed her lawsuit in January after she was blocked by Boebert after calling for Boebert's recall following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
All grievances would be eligible for binding arbitration, according to the New Jersey Association of Counties, even minor oral reprimands; and labor would be given broad privileged communication protections regarding union matters, but no such protection would exist for management.

Donnadio said he does not understand why Sweeney would support such a bill.

Lawmakers want full services in all Motor Vehicle offices, especially Cape May NORTH CAPE MAY  Saying its past time for using COVID-19 as an excuse to restrict services 

Hes done a good job  more than any other legislator in his career to promote shared services, Donnadio said. I dont have an answer to give you.

One thing labor keeps saying in particular: its permissive, Donnadio said. A public sector union can say, We want to negotiate assignments of employees, and a county can say no.

But then the union can file a grievance, he said.

It gives them the ability to apply pressure on a local governing body about items that were previously non-negotiable, Donnadio said.

It would greatly complicate the ability of governments to react quickly to situations like the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, to reassign workers where needed, Donnadio said.

Democrats invite suspicion with stealthy PILOT proposal The second-most-disputed part of New Jerseys effort to stabilize Atlantic City government 
Sadly but predictably, the climate and infrastructure legislation in Congress has run into trouble over how to pay for it. It no longer seems viable to avert this question altogether and use deficit financing for the climate investments. Instead, we have a fresh debate over charging drivers a fee or tax based on vehicle miles traveled, something the Biden administration has rejected.

A vehicle-miles-traveled fee could raise significant revenue over the next decade, well into the hundreds of billions of dollars. And, outside the White House, it has politically diversified support, from Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Garret Graves on the right to Rep. Peter DeFazio and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on the left.

Yet a VMT tax is more complicated than it might sound. One question involves the effect it might have on the adoption of electric cars and trucks. Unlike the existing gas tax, a VMT would apply not only to combustion-engine vehicles, and many environmental groups oppose it for this reason.
Help kids with epilepsy

Im looking forward to a great first time event in Sea Isle City on July 21 for children with epilepsy called Seize the Wave. This event will allow children with epilepsy to surf. Seizure-safe schools have been created in New Jersey under Pauls Law in 2020. We should support children in New Jersey living with epilepsy.

Colleen Quinn

Maple Shade

Reject Trump, back Biden

I dont believe that Donald Trump ever wanted to be president. I believe that it was a game to him, a popularity contest, a PR stunt. I think he was as surprised as anyone when he won. I believe this made him the most unprepared president-elect in history. He showed hubris in not wanting to be briefed by outgoing President Obama or his team.
Earlier this month, the U.S. churchmen decided to go ahead and craft a document about Communion. Only a month earlier, Francis' top official on doctrinal orthodoxy had urged the bishops to think the matter through thoroughly and aim to keep divisions to the minimum.

Blinken declined to wade into the issue when he was asked at a news conference in Rome after his Vatican visit if he and Francis had discussed the divisive issue.

One of the luxuries of my job is that I don't do domestic politics,'' said Blinken, who described his talks with the pope as extremely warm and very wide-ranging."

Francis himself hasn't weighed in publicly on the latest squabble in the long-running wrangling over the Communion issue within the U.S. Conference of Bishops.

Blinken had high praise for Francis and the opportunity to be the highest level official in the fledgling Biden administration to have a sit-down session with the pontiff.

I was very gratified by the meeting and gratified as well by the strong leadership of His Holiness on the pandemic, on climate change" as well as on the challenge that we have to address on irregular migration and refugees,'' Blinken said.
Like many of the dozens of Venezuelans The Associated Press spoke to this month in Del Rio, 27-year-old Lis Briceno had already migrated once before. After graduating with a degree in petroleum engineering, she couldnt get hired in the oil fields near her hometown of Maracaibo without declaring her loyalty to Venezuelas socialist leadership. So she moved to Chile a few years ago, finding work with a technology company.

But as anti-government unrest and the pandemic tanked Chile's economy, her company shuttered. Briceno sold what she could to raise the $4,000 needed to get to the U.S.

I always thought Id come here on vacation, to visit the places you see in the movies, Briceno said. But doing this? Never.

While Central Americans and others can spend months getting north, most Venezuelans reach the U.S. in as little as four days.

This is a journey theyre definitely prepared for from a financial standpoint, said Tiffany Burrow, who runs the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalitions shelter in Del Rio, where migrants can eat, clean up and buy bus tickets to U.S. cities.

They first fly to Mexico City or Cancun. Smugglers promoting themselves as travel agencies on Facebook claim to offer hassle-free transport to the U.S. for about $3,000.
The attack continued, though the victim didnt appear armed with a weapon and didnt fight off his attacker, prosecutors said.

The stabbing in broad daylight was captured on surveillance and witnessed by numerous people in the area, including three Wendys workers out for a cigarette break, Bucaro said.

After the stabbing, Dabrowski tossed the bloody knife into the bushes and walked away, authorities said. Several citizens found Dabrowski and held him until police arrived. Police body-worn camera footage captured Dabrowski covered in blood and dirt, Bucaro said.

Five witnesses identified Dabrowski as the attacker, and police recovered the knife from the bushes, authorities said.

Majeski, of the Belmont Terrace neighborhood, was taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where he was pronounced dead. He suffered 27 stab wounds, including 11 to the chest and abdomen and six to the back, Bucaro told the court.

Dabrowskis attorney, Brian Sexton, said his client and the victim knew each other but offered no explanation for what happened. He asked that the judge deny a petition denying bail due to his lack of a criminal background and unspecified mental health issues.
When Illinois state Rep. La Shawn Ford requested a screening for prostate cancer, his primary care physician told him it was unnecessary. He had no symptoms. He was only 48, and the average age of onset is 66. He was healthy  he never smoked, ate well, exercised regularly, went to the doctor, got adequate sleep. There was no apparent cause for concern.

Still, Ford knew that prostate cancer disproportionately affects Black men, so he didnt let up. The second provider he saw gave him a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, which came back alarmingly high. That doctor sent the results to Fords PCP, who referred Ford to the oncology department at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. They performed blood work a few times and each time, PSA levels came back higher. An MRI was ordered, which showed complications with the prostate, leading to a biopsy and the discovery that Ford indeed had prostate cancer.

Fords cancer was swiftly operated on, leading to a full recovery. Prostate cancer is a generally slow-growing disease, according to Dr. Edward Schaeffer, chief of urology at Northwestern, who operated on Ford. But in the legislators case it was already in an aggressive stage. Had Ford not been so steadfast in advocating for himself, he might have had a very different outcome.
Objects of Desire, by Clare Sestanovich (Alfred A. Knopf)

The characters in Clare Sestanovichs debut story collection, Objects of Desire, are middle- to upper-middle-class, well-educated and tightly wrapped. Theyre baby boomers or their 20-something kids who havent quite grown up. While those with jobs in marketing or tech can afford to live in glass high-rises, the aspiring artists and writers either have lots of roommates or temporarily move back home.

In the first story, Annunciation, Iris, a college student, is flying home for the holidays, seated between a married couple. The woman, after returning from the bathroom, reaches across Iriss lap and waves a positive pregnancy stick in front of her husband. Theyre elated. Iris doesnt recoil or say Ewwww! Instead, she politely congratulates them, then goes back to cutting her green beans with a plastic knife.

Its a hilarious scene, a modern take on the Christian theme of annunciation, told in Sestanovichs characteristic deadpan voice. Back at college, Iris will date a boy, graduate, find out shes pregnant, have an abortion. Different characters  her mother, her best friend, the aunt of the former boyfriend  will express their views on sex and procreation while Iris just struggles to keep it together.
I would say, from my own perspective, if you're going into a heavily crowded area, you don't know if somebody is not vaccinated, and so you should just bring your mask with you and keep safe, he said of individuals regardless of vaccine status.

Pritzker mentioned Israels vaccine response, noting the country had high vaccination rates but had recently reinstated indoor mask mandates and other mitigations as the Delta variant spreads.

The lessons here at home and across the world are a harbinger of what could happen here, particularly in low vaccinated areas, he said.

According to IDPH, approximately 53.1 percent of Illinoisans over age 12 were fully vaccinated as of Monday, while that number was 55.7 percent for those 18 and older and 73.7 percent for those 65 and older. For those receiving at least one dose, the numbers were 68.8 percent, 71.3 percent and 89.8 percent, respectively.

Still, Pritzker said, that left more than 5 million Illinoisans not fully vaccinated and therefore unprotected.
Romney said he believed there was now sufficient GOP support in the Senate to reach the 60-vote threshold to overcome a potential filibuster and pass the bipartisan package. Another GOP negotiator, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, even predicted that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has staked out a path back to the majority relying in large part on stiff opposition to the Biden agenda, would even support the final bill.

"If we can pull this off, I think Mitch will favor it," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I think Leader McConnell will be for it, if it continues to come together as it is."

Montana Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, predicted the measure would draw more than the minimum 10 Republican senators needed to pass the bipartisan accord in the 50-50 Senate, where 60 votes are required to advance most bills, but he said there would likely be "bumps in the road" along the way.

"We'll work those problems," he said on CBS News' "Face The Nation." "I think we'll get far more than 60 votes."

The bipartisan accord has been a key priority for Biden as he tries to deliver on a campaign promise to restore bipartisan cooperation to Washington and to show centrist Democrats and others that the White House was working with Republicans before Biden tries to push the broader package through Congress.
I believe in abortion only when the mothers life is in jeopardy. But now the bishops also have to look at taxes. There are politicians, mainly Republicans, who vote for laws so the wealthy and big corporations do not have to pay their fair share of taxes, if any taxes at all. So these politicians who have these views should now be barred from Communion from the church they call home. Heres why: Mark 12:17 says to give to Caesar what is Caesars. Romans 13:6 says to give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then pay revenue. Unless you are like former President Donald Trump, who said, "You are stupid if you pay taxes."
He said he uses organic products when theyre available.

Karstens said he uses a cold press juicer to get the full yield and nutrition from the produce.

Theres something so powerful with the juice, he said. Once you take away that fiber, and its raw, no added sugars, its unfiltered and theres nothing added to it to make it look nice.  People forget how powerful raw food can be, and when youre drinking a 16-ounce bottle of juice, youre getting  two plus services of vegetables and two to three servings of fruit.

Karstens said he originally wanted to have five or six different kinds of juices with four or five kinds of smoothies, but ended up starting with what he has currently.

It was more difficult to execute the menu items than I realized because its just me, so I thought what a blessing this was that I wasnt ready, he said. Im just in my second month, so its really fun to be able to call my own shots and to put out the food that I think people are going to want.

Karstens said hes listening to his customers to see what they want and letting The Grasswagon determine how it wants to grow.
HELENA  Another legal challenge has been filed over a new law that eliminates the Judicial Nomination Commission and allows Montana's governor to directly fill judicial vacancies between elections.

Two former Democratic state representatives  Tom Winter of Missoula and Barbara Bessette of Great Falls  filed a complaint Friday asking District Court Judge Mike Menahan of Helena to temporarily block the law and to declare it unconstitutional.

It also asks the court to prevent Gov. Greg Gianforte from appointing a replacement District Court judge in Cascade County under the terms of the new law.

Gianforte did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the complaint.

The complaint argues the new law violates a provision of the Montana Constitution, which states that anyone "charged with the exercise of power properly belonging to one branch" of government may not exercise "any power properly belonging to either of the others," unless the Constitution directly permits it.

The state constitution also directs the governor to appoint someone to fill a judicial vacancy between elections "from nominees selected in the manner provided by law."
In spite of COVID-19 ... you continued to excel, Richmond School Board Chairperson Cheryl Burke told George Wythe graduates at The Diamond on Wednesday. You, Class of 2021, are history makers. You have a story to tell. ... Dont let anyone ever tell you what you cannot do, what you do or dont deserve, because you have proven that you deserve the best and then some.

Many graduates describe the virtual year as stressful, ridden with difficulties connecting to the internet and nearly giving up on school altogether because of the pressure of balancing jobs, and even a few balancing high school with children of their own.

For Shania Thornton, who graduated from Wythe on Wednesday, her 1-year-old daughter motivated her to finish but also made it stressful at times.

It was tough, but I managed to get through it, Thornton said. It was hard to stay focused. Sometimes it was connectivity issues to where I couldnt join class, so I missed class a lot. Or me dealing with my 1-year-old and work and school at the same time.

Toward the end of the school year, Thornton almost called it quits until she found out she would have to complete summer school if she didnt get her work in. With the help of staff at Wythe, she got it all done.
People came to just be in a sacred space, with each other, Bell said. And I can see they came open to be seen, they came to experience.

Shanna Latia, a sound healing practitioner, said the celebration is a way to see community members, some of whom she has known for a long time.

Its more than an event for me  its my lineage, my family, she said. This is who I am, where I came from.

Priyah Bhagat is a longtime Richmond resident who has attended these celebrations since their inception. Bhagat, who came with her daughter and granddaughter, said the 25th anniversary is special because she wants her granddaughter to know about Juneteenths significance.

You want to pass that on to the next generation. Thats what it means, Bhagat said. We dont want it to become diluted. We dont want it to come commercialized.

Some people worry that although federal recognition means more people will learn about Juneteenth, it also could bring commercialization.

Adofo Ka-Re, who has been coming to the event for about 15 years, said that for him Juneteenth is a chance to celebrate and commemorate his ancestors.
Barbera coauthored a study examining disasters where some people survived under rubble for prolonged periods of time. He has also advised teams on where to look for potential survivors and when to conclude that the probability of continued survival is very, very small.

Its an incredibly difficult decision, and Ive never had to make that decision, Barbera said.

As time goes on, he said, teams will begin a process called "rapid delayering, where you take more risk by moving larger amounts of rubble, because you recognize youre running up against the time factor for survival.

How long a person can survive depends on a host of issues, including the availability of water, the severity of any injuries and the degree to which they are trapped, Barbera said.

The human dimension is huge -- the uncertainty that you could be leaving someone alive behind by ending too early, Barbera said. Families continue to have hope, as do rescuers, which is why you continue to see them pushing so hard within these difficult conditions.

The ultimate decision to move into the recovery phase, he said, will have to be made "with the involvement of the political authority because theyre the ultimate authority over this.
Before my arrest, Id never even had a possession charge, he said. His sentence was fairly light, with a lot of suspended time, and he likened the experience to Monopoly: my one Get Out of Jail Free card.

I broke the law. I made a choice.  Ive learned the hard way that the laws are what they are. You have to work within the law.

Hes now hoping that his conviction can be sealed and that his past experience as a grower might lead to possibly cultivating marijuana legally.

Its the same amount of effort Im doing now with hemp, he explained.

Beyond the agricultural benefits and business opportunities, Brinegar is also excited that legalization will lift some of the stigma he said some Virginia growers and users of marijuana have experienced in the past.

People are no longer going to have to feel ashamed or be ashamed of the fact that its something they do, or that somebody they know does. It helps them. People having to hide or look over their shoulder all the time, thats not a good way to live.

Once thats been abolished, theres a freedom that comes with that, and that sense of freedom is not only good, he said.
It was Bakersfield, Calif.

Then I found a recent press release from another pest control business, Orkin, naming Los Angeles as the most mosquito-infested city in the country.

That puts L.A. ahead of boggier metropolises such as Atlanta  the most mosquito-infested city for the previous seven years  Washington and Dallas.

Intrigued, I decided to reach out to mosquito experts to find out if California in general and L.A. in particular are facing a mosquito menace perhaps few of us might be aware of.

The answer, Im sorry to say, is yes. And its name is Aedes aegypti.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Aedes mosquito, a.k.a. the yellow fever mosquito, is the main type of mosquito that spreads Zika, dengue, chikungunya and other viruses. ... Because Aedes aegypti mosquitoes live near and prefer to feed on people, they are more likely to spread these viruses than other types of mosquitoes.

And heres the bad news: The tropical Aedes mosquito is believed to have settled in California in 2013, likely after arriving aboard a cargo ship. Its been thriving, and spreading, ever since.
In 1822, K.K. Beth Shalome established Virginias first synagogue at 115 Mayo Street in Richmond. Over the next two decades, more German and Eastern European Jews joined the congregation and in 1841, Beth Ahabah was formed as an offshoot, per its history page. K.K. Beth Shalome and Beth Ahabah merged in 1898, and soon came the need for a larger synagogue. The current Temple Beth Ahabah  meaning House of Love  at 1121 West Franklin Street was dedicated in December 1904.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation notes that, fittingly, the neoclassical structure is thought to have been modeled after Jeffersons home, Monticello, and the University of Virginia Rotunda. Through Beth Ahabahs unique interior and exterior features  its ornate proscenium arch, its 29 stained glass windows honoring past congregants and time-tested Jewish traditions  we see the meaning of religious freedom.

And when we walk in and out of the front doors of Beth Ahabah, or any other community institution in 2021, we must not forget where we came from. We have to overcome this latest spate of hate and better realize our ideals.
Ive always had a connection because hes been sitting on my shoulder since I was born, and I feel Im just like him, she said. Growing up, her mom told her hero stories, but she never knew what to believe.

I never thought I would cry because I never met him, she said. I never touched him. He gave me life, and he died eight months later.

But standing at the monument, she was struck by the care of the Bedford community, who built a memorial for men they had never met.

Im not a selfish person, but I feel like this memorial was made for me, she said.

Iacopetti only found out about the memorial in 2019 when she stumbled across an archived newspaper article about its dedication in 2002. In it, Larry Lynch, one of the last surviving firsthand witnesses of the crash, was quoted describing the events of that night  a 13-year-old watching the sky turn red over his familys Bedford County farm.

On Tuesday, Lynch, now 84, was beside her as she placed the wreath, and he held her hand as they approached the dais.
BLACKSBURG  One of Donna Boone-Caldwells key responsibilities over the past four decades is managing the towns records.

But since she became Blacksburgs town clerk in 1980, Boone-Caldwell has recorded so much more.

So much has changed since my first day on the job, she wrote in a letter to Blacksburg Town Council. Without a doubt, the secret to my longevity has been the willingness to accept change and roll with the flow.

The letter was Boone-Caldwells announcement that she will retire this summer, a decision that will become official on Aug. 1.

Boone-Caldwell, 69, said shes not retiring due to age or health. She said she feels great and simply recognized it was a good time to finally take advantage of retirement and its benefits.

Ive been here a long time, she said during an interview in her office this week. It just seems crazy to not leave when youre still feeling great.

Id rather go out when Im smiling.

Boone-Caldwells tenure as clerk spanned a period marked by numerous milestones in Blacksburgs contemporary history  incredible and somber.
Reporting from the unsolved mysteries desk, there are no new developments in the case of the missing Buchanan train depot.

Despair not. More details have emerged about its history between closing and its removal from its hometown to an undisclosed location.

The inquiry began when Jessie Burton, citizen of that splendid small town, came here seeking help to trace the whereabouts of the remains of the historic structure after they were hastened away by those who had handled the demolition in the mid-1980s.

The story as the questioner related it was that the depot had been meticulously disassembled and catalogued in order for it to be moved to what was then the developing Explore Park in Roanoke County.

The plan had been pitched to the town that the depot would perhaps serve as some sort of historic relic or exhibit for what was being touted at the time as a living history preserve.

An agreement was struck, according to current town official Harry Gleason relating what he had been told by predecessors. No depot was ever built at Explore, though. Discovering this years later, town officials had requested the materials be returned. They were informed by counterparts at Explore that no such architectural relic was on site and nothing more was known.
As soon as an Ohio foundry can cast it and dignitaries can dedicate it, a state historical marker in Culpeper will tell the intriguing story of Dangerfield and Harriet Newby.

Last week, Virginias State Board of Historic Resources approved the marker to honor the African American blacksmith and his wife  an idea born from a Black History Month contest sponsored by Gov. Ralph Northam.

Three students from Kings Glen Elementary School in Springfield nominated the Newbys, and their entry was one of five winners statewide.

Some of the couples descendants still live in Virginia.

Born into slavery in the Culpeper area, Dangerfield Newby died during John Browns Oct. 16-17, 1859, raid on Harpers Ferry while trying to free his wife and children from bondage.

The well-built, 6-foot-2 Virginian was the first of Browns men to die in the fighting as Brown tried to seize rifles and muskets from the U.S. Armory and equip a runaway-slave army and wage a holy war on what the fiery abolitionist termed the great sin against God  slavery.
I envisioned myself walking out of a gun store near my home in Alexandria, Va., with my new purchase. I imagined how it would feel in my hands  cold and heavy.

Luckily, my doctor intervened and I was able to get help before I acted on my suicidal impulses. Unfortunately, too many people do not. That same year, 661 people died by firearm suicide in Virginia, and suicides comprised 65 percent of all gun deaths in the Commonwealth in 2019.

Long before I found myself researching where to buy a gun, I had wished for and written about the need for tools to proactively prepare for suicidal crises. As of July 1, Virginians 18 and older will have one more tool available to them.

Next month, Virginia will become one of the first states in the nation to enact a voluntary do-not-sell firearms list. This policy, which was passed by the Virginia General Assembly and signed by Gov. Northam in 2020, has the potential to prevent suicide and save countless lives.

The new law allows interested adults to fill out a form, attach a copy of their photo ID, and send it to Virginia State Police. The law requires the Department of State Police to maintain and update the voluntary do-not-sell firearms list to prohibit the possession, transportation, and sale of firearms to adults who voluntarily enroll themselves.
Those textbooks were written at a time when the Virginia officialdom was worried that segregation was coming under attack and needed to be defended, so indoctrinating school children was part of the solution.

In fact, the Underwood Constitution led to a brief era of multi-racial government in Virginia. That so horrified the states establishment that, as soon as they were able, they imposed a new constitution  with no referendum, just an official decree  that effectively disenfranchised Blacks and poor whites alike.

Botetourt County has been debating whether to move the Confederate statue in front of the courthouse. That Confederate statue is unique in that it doesnt just mourn the Confederate dead, it mourns the dark days of Reconstruction. They are only dark if you objected to the concept of Black Virginians as fellow citizens.

Of course, Virginians were never taught about that forgotten era of multi-racial government in the 1880s; theres an example of history being erased.

Underwood was a pivotal figure in post-Civil War Virginia who tried to the point the way to a different future  and did for a time. Yet he is not recognized today with even so much as a historical marker. And there are definitely no roads or buildings that bear his name.
This month's Chamber Spotlight is on SM Tire, which has grown from a small location opened in 1946 to operating several locations throughout the Central Coast. SM Tire is celebrating the opening of its newest location, one of the most advanced tire facilities in the nation, at 1935 Preisker Lane in Santa Maria.
After the lunch  Rowell did not specify where they went to lunch  they returned to Mitchells residence and went over more driving material.

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When that lesson was complete, Rowell said the female told him that Mitchell extended his hands out and asked the female to approach him. Rowell says the female told him that when she did so, Mitchell anointed the female by touching her forehead.

Rowell then said the female alleged that Mitchell pressed his body against hers and began touching intimate areas on her body until she pushed him away from her and told Mitchell that she did not like that.

Mitchell said he was totally innocent.

That wasnt the story, Mitchell said. He added that once someone gets to a house, they can cook up any story they want about their visit.

You mean you was with him eight hours and he only touched the outside of your garment immediately after class, Mitchell said. Thats what [they said] happened. I saw her for eight hours and I just went [he gestured like he was touching someone]. Thats what they cooked up.

He said that the allegations seemed to him like something someone scripted to try to embarrass him.
Some Black members of Congress have told me that the law had so much that appealed to both sides that many thought it was the best they were going to get amid rising Republican power.

This time, judging by the administrations description of Bidens proposed initiative, his Comprehensive Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gun Crime and Ensure Public Safety will focus on firearms, not drugs.

It aims to stem the flow of illegal firearms by using federal tools and resources to crack down, for example, on unlawful weapons dealers who avoid background checks.

Biden also aims to increase programs such as community-based anti-violence programs that have a good record for effectiveness, support law enforcement agencies with federal resources, help reentry programs for the formerly incarcerated and expand summer work programs for young people and violence interventions.

Will it work? I certainly hope so, although experience and a number of crime experts tell me that crime statistics have a frustrating habit of operating largely independent of the best intentions. The debate goes on, for example, as to exactly why crime dropped nationally in the mid-1990s. If politicians had the definitive answer to reducing crime, theyd all do it.
 Why aren't there much stronger calls for CONGRESS to fix post-pandemic home confinement problems? | Main | Some clemency news and notes from (only) a few states 

June 27, 2021

SCOTUSblog flags three notable new sentencing cert petitions

Last year around this time, I expressed my sense that it has been quite some time since the Supreme Court has taken up a really big and interesting sentencing case. This post from near the end of last year's SCOTUS Term, titled "Do others sense that SCOTUS has become particularly (and problematically?) quiet on sentencing matters?", captured this zeitgeist. In the year since, we have gotten a few notable sentencing rulings (on juve LWOP in Jones and on ACCA predicates in Borden, but these decisions are more clarifications than game-changers.

I review these broad realities not just because we are approaching the close of another SCOTUS Term, but also because SCOTUSblog has this new post spotlighting three new cert petitions that could each lead to a significant sentencing ruling. Here some details from a post worth reading in full:

This week we highlight cert petitions that ask the Supreme Court to consider, among other things, the use of acquitted conduct in sentencing decisions, when a sentencing court must consider a defendants juvenile status as a mitigating factor, and compassionate release under the First Step Act. According to the federal Sentencing Guidelines, a judge may adjust the recommended range of an offense based on a defendants relevant conduct. While the jury considers whether conduct is proven beyond a reasonable doubt, relevant conduct for sentencing purposes need only be proven to the judge by a preponderance of the evidence and can include acquitted conduct. In Osby v. United States, Erick Osby was indicted on seven charges; the jury convicted him of two and acquitted him of the other five. But because the judge considered his acquitted charges as relevant conduct, his sentence was the same as it could have been had he been convicted by the jury of all seven charges. Osby argues that adjusting a sentence based on acquitted conduct violates his rights under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, which guarantee due process under the law and the right to a jury trial. While the Supreme Court has declined to address similar questions on this topic in the past, some of the justices have expressed their discontent with the practice of using acquitted conduct in sentencing decisions. Osby asks the justices for their review to decide whether the practice is unconstitutional. Next, in Sanders v. Radtke the justices are asked to consider the impact of juvenile status on sentencing decisions. The petitioner, Rico Sanders, was convicted of multiple rape and assault charges at the age of 15 and sentenced to 140 years in prison with the possibility of parole at age 51. Sanders maintains that the Eighth Amendment and prior precedent required the sentencing court to consider his youth as a mitigating factor. He argues that the principle requiring sentencing courts to consider youth as a mitigating factor applies to life sentences with the possibility of parole in the same way it applies to life sentences without any possibility of parole. The petition further alleges that Sanders youth was used as an aggravating factor by the sentencing court, and he seeks the courts review to clarify the circumstances under which a defendants youth must be considered as a mitigating factor. Finally, Bryant v. United States presents a question regarding the compassionate-release provision of the federal criminal code, as amended by the First Step Act of 2018.... In 2019, Thomas Bryant filed a motion for compassionate release in district court. The government opposed his motion and argued that the reasons given in Bryants motion did not satisfy the criteria in the 2007 policy statement [by the USSC]. Further, the government argued that the 2007 policy statement was an applicable policy statement under the compassionate-release provision and that the district court was thus bound by it. The district court denied Bryants motion based on the reasons given by the government, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit affirmed. Bryant argues that the decision created a circuit split, in direct conflict with eight other circuits, over whether district courts are bound by the 2007 policy statement when deciding defendant-filed motions. He seeks review to clarify what constitutes an applicable policy statement for defendant-filed motions under the First Step Act.

These three cases will not be fully briefed until later this summer, and so we likely will not know about possible grants until the Fall when SCOTUS returns to action for OT21. If the Justices were to decide to take up even one of these issues, that would be a big sentencing deal. I highly doubt the Court will take up all these issues, but I think the circuit split behind Bryant makes it a pretty likely grant and I hope some of the newer Justices might be eager to take up the issue in Osby. After Jones, I think the Sanders case may be the longest shot (but, given recetn history, perhaps we should just assume the odds are long on all of these).

June 27, 2021 at 09:50 PM | Permalink

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 SCOTUSblog flags three notable new sentencing cert petitions | Main | Lots of criminal justice sound (and fury, signifying nothing?) in latest SCOTUS order list 

June 27, 2021

Some clemency news and notes from (only) a few states

If there was lots of clemency action in lots of jurisdictions lots of the time, I might not consider a few grants by a few governors to be especially blogworthy. But clemency action is still all too rare, so it notable to see clemency stories from a few states in one week:

From Florida, "Florida governor pushes through pardon for COVID-19 rule breakers"

From Kansas, "Kansas governor grants clemency to 8, embracing political risk in rare use of power"

From Oregon, "Gov. Kate Brown commutes sentences of 41 inmates who helped battle historic wildfires"

June 27, 2021 at 11:30 PM | Permalink

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Gov. Pete Ricketts said Monday it's time to move on from the coronavirus emergency that has governed and limited activities in the state and return to a normal life now.

"It's time for people to get back to normal with the understanding that the virus will be here forever," the governor said, just as other viruses will continue to be.

"The risk for COVID-19 is now low," he said.

Ricketts said he believes children should return to classrooms throughout the state this fall with no masks or vaccinations required.

Schools should "make accommodations for people who may be at risk," he said.

The governor told a news conference he will formally end Nebraska's coronavirus state of emergency effective at the end of the day on June 30, clearing the path for resumption of normal activities.

The state of emergency was declared on March 13, 2020.

The state's contract with TestNebraska, the company that has provided COVID-19 testing for Nebraskans, will end on July 31, Ricketts said, with the final testing date through that site set for July 18.

"Nebraska did a great job with this pandemic," he said. "Our health care workers did a great job."
Burnight placed Stansbury on a Plan of Awareness in March 2017 because Morningside Elementary School's reading scores were not high enough, Stansbury said in the lawsuit, though male principals at two other schools that had lower scores were not disciplined. She said that two teachers on the panel to interview her replacement told her that Burnight had said a man could do the job better. One of those teachers denied saying that to Stansbury during a deposition, the other teacher said she couldn't remember telling her.

The district presented a performance evaluation that rated her performance as "needs improvement" on culture and climate and it wished to transfer her to East Middle so she could improve and also because of concerns of favoritism voiced by some of her elementary staff members. Stansbury said she had scored better in previous evaluations and that Burnight had fraudulently prepared the final evaluation because she was not informed nor asked to participate. It also was not placed in her personnel file, she said.

Hoffmeyer said in his ruling his duty was not to assess the district's decision to transfer her but whether it was motivated by sex discrimination. Based on depositions and testimony, Hoffmeyer said he could not find sufficient evidence to support her claim.

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PLYMOUTH COUNTY, Iowa -- Two people were arrested following a vehicle and on-foot pursuit that occurred in Plymouth County on Sunday.

The Plymouth County Sheriff's Office reported a deputy tried to stop a northbound vehicle that was speeding in excess of 100 miles per hour, near the intersection of K-22 and Lone Tree Road.

The vehicle reportedly failed to stop for emergency lights and sirens on K-22, coming into the north intersection of K-22 and Highway 3, before continuing west on Highway 3, toward Akron, Iowa.

At the intersection of Highway 3 and Highway 12, the fleeing vehicle lost control, striking the railroad tracks on the west side of the intersection, coming to a stop.

The driver then exited the vehicle and was apprehended following a short foot pursuit. The passenger remained in the vehicle and was detained.

Shawn E. Denney, 52, Sioux City, was charged with operating while intoxicated, first offense, a serious misdemeanor; eluding with injury, class D felony; carrying a dangerous weapon (knife) with a blade exceeding five inches, a serious misdemeanor; and driving while barred, an aggravated misdemeanor.
SIOUX CITY -- Two Sioux City developers are seeking financial assistance to help address the shortage of housing for new workers.

Rick Bertrand, of Bertrand Construction, LLC, and David Hegarty, of RoyDave, LLC, are asking the Sioux City Council to support their submissions of Iowa Economic Development Authority applications for the Workforce Housing Tax Credit Program (WHTC). The council is slated to vote on the matter on Monday.

The goal of the WHTC program is to spur new housing growth that will help address the state's pending workforce shortage. The program provides a transferable investment tax credit of up to $15,000 per unit, as well as a refund of sales and use tax paid on the project, up to $1 million per project.

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Bertrand Construction plans to submit an application for funding to assist with the construction of 14 single-family homes on Addison Circle near the 2800 block of Floyd Boulevard on the city's north side. Bertrand Construction plans to invest $2.8 million in the project and is applying to the WHTC program for a combined total of $350,000 in investment tax credits and sales tax refunds.
Kidney failure often manifests itself as a noticeable fluid buildup, called edema. For many kidney disease sufferers, the fluid builds up in the lower extremities -- typically the legs and feet -- giving them a very puffy appearance.

"For me, the fluid buildup is in my face, of course," Haefs said with a laugh last Saturday afternoon as he prepared to go fishing.

His dialysis treatment on that particular Saturday encountered a technical difficulty, and the treatment had to be aborted before it even began. His daughter, Cora Haefs, said they've had problems getting his dialysis to work properly, a frequent cause of distress.

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"It's just been a real struggle," she said.

On New Year's Eve, Cora managed to get her father to agree to something he'd been resisting for months: a transplant of one of her own kidneys. Waiting (and hoping) for a kidney to come available on the donor list can take years, and the process sometimes ends when the patient dies awaiting a transplant.

Phil's initial impression of the idea of receiving one of Cora's kidneys was not unlike other older parents who need a kidney -- he was completely opposed.

"He said he wasn't going to take a kidney from his kid," said Cora Haefs, 37, of Sioux City.
The first step of the regulation was scheduled to take effect in October.

It would have boosted the overtime threshold by $5,000 from the federal threshold to about $40,600 a year, and then again in October 2022 to $45,500 a year.

When Wolf won regulatory approval for it last year, he called it an important victory for thousands of workers and absolutely the right thing to do.

Only a few states have overtime eligibility thresholds higher than the federal minimum.

Labor unions had backed the expansion of overtime eligibility, even though it typically applies to salaried managers at non-union businesses. But Wolf's agreeing to repeal the expansion stunned officials at the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO.

Rick Bloomingdale, the labor federation's president in Pennsylvania, said he told Wolf when they met Monday that 190,000 people just got screwed out of overtime pay."

Wolf, Bloomingdale said, told him that House Democrats had insisted on the $100 million in so-called level-up school funding in the budget deal, and that House Republicans, in exchange, had insisted on the repeal of the overtime expansion regulation.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  A high-ranking California police official was nominated Monday to serve as the next police chief in Lincoln, Nebraska, making her the city's first female chief and the first who is openly gay.

Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird said she has selected Teresa Ewins, a 55-year-old commander with the San Francisco Police Department. Ewins was one of four finalists who was chosen from a field of 31 applicants. If the Lincoln City Council approves her as expected, Ewins would assume the role on Aug. 31.

During her visit to Lincoln last week, Teresa articulated a vision that connected with stakeholders in the search process, Gaylor Baird said at a news conference. I heard from street officers, command staff and community members, all of whom expressed their belief that she is the right leader for the Lincoln Police Department.

Gaylor Baird said Ewins showed a commitment to the priorities outlined in the city's search process, including community policing, support for on-the-ground officers, an emphasis on diversity in the department, and accountability and transparency. She said Ewins was also selected for her record of leadership, communications skills and humility.
WASHINGTON (AP)  U.S. troops in eastern Syria came under rocket attack Monday, with no reported casualties, one day after U.S. Air Force planes carried out airstrikes near the Iraq-Syria border against what the Pentagon said were facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups to support drone strikes inside Iraq.
In April, a search of a prison in Clarinda, Iowa, found 60 inmates involved in consuming or possessing K2, prompting new precautions to keep the liquid form from being smuggled in.

At the Nebraska Corrections Department, Frakes said a surge in K2 issues earlier this year might have been associated with inmates receiving COVID-19 stimulus checks, and thus having extra money to spend.

Among the precautions taken by the state, he said, has been to monitor inmate financial accounts to look for unusual deposits or spending that could be associated with purchases of K2 and other contraband.

At the Douglas County Jail, which houses an average of about 1,200 inmates, all mail not from lawyers is now checked and copied, with the photocopies given to inmates. Nebraska prisons are implementing a similar system.

At the Douglas County Jail and at the maximum-security Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln, letters from attorneys are being checked. Inmates open them in the presence of corrections officers, then copies are made and given to the inmate. Douglas County immediately shreds the original, Meyers said, to comply with confidentiality requirements for attorney-client correspondence. The state holds onto the originals for several days in a secure location before destroying them.
She ended up spending the next 21 months in custody, including time in jail, in an immigrant detention center and in the Lincoln Regional Center. The latter was to evaluate if she was mentally competent to stand trial. The evaluation showed that she was competent but had difficulty understanding the court process because of language and cultural differences and lack of education.

Juana eventually resolved the charges for using false documents and taking the children out of Nebraska in violation of the custody agreement with HHS. She was granted asylum, which allowed her to stay in the U.S., and was released in February 2020.

The State Supreme Court concluded that Juanas criminal offenses did not affect her fitness as a mother and were unlikely to happen again.

Her lengthy stay in jail and detention was at least partially due to her vigorous defense of her right to remain in this country with her children, and we do not fault her for the vigor of that defense, the court said.

Chief Justice Mike Heavican added in a concurring opinion that HHS had failed in its responsibility to make reasonable efforts to reunify the family. He acknowledged the trying nature of child welfare jobs but implored HHS to do better.
Omaha World-Herald. June 22, 2021.

Editorial: Nebraska regulators must assert their power fully against election groups

Nebraska is far away from the two coasts, but less than a year from now, a tidal wave nonetheless will hit our state hard.

A tidal wave, that is, of out-of-state political money.

Political donors, conveniently hiding anonymously behind election law, will send a torrent of campaign cash flooding across Nebraska, seeking to influence voters decisions on the 2022 elections. Many statewide offices will be on the ballot. So will U.S. House members and about half the seats in the State Legislature. Plus, the statewide ballot may well contain important policy proposals.

The Nebraska Legislature long ago should have mustered the courage to change state election law to step up the reporting requirements for out-of-state political entities that send campaign donations flooding across the state. Nebraska election law ought to require identification of donors, for example. But for years, state senators have shied away from taking that responsible step.
Cabrera said the theory exists not as a way to label white people as racist -- which he said is often used to paint CRT as divisive -- but rather to look at how systemic inequities have disadvantaged groups of people based on their race.

The only way youre being attacked as a white person is if youre being racist, he said. Theres nothing inherent that says white people need to feel bad. I have yet to see that as a prerequisite.

In a phone interview Friday afternoon, Peterson said the Nebraska Freedom Coalition and the Nebraska Federation of Republican Women saw an opportunity to bring the issue to NU after previously calling on the Omaha Learning Community to ban critical race theory.

While regents stay away from directing policy -- a bylaw governing the board reaffirms belief in, pledges support of, and directs all segments of the University community to sustain and follow principles of academic freedom  Peterson said regents have the final say in what NU funds and how.

The Nebraska Freedom Coalition and its various political action committees, limited liability companies and nonprofit organizations formed earlier this month, believe the board should use that power to stop critical race theory from being taught at NU.
Warford compared the flooding to the coronavirus pandemic -- a stressful time for a community that could do only so much. Area officials and residents in 2011 collaborated to fill more than 11 million sandbags and build 7 miles of levees. Deciding where to build the levees was the hardest decision he had to make, the mayor said.

When you build these levees, not every home in every neighborhood is going to be protected, he said. Thats very hard for a homeowner to accept, and its very hard for a mayor to do because you cant protect everybody.

There are not a lot of easy decisions when youre faced with a natural disaster, Warford said. I dont know if there are any easy decisions other than you just have to do something.

For the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the river system, doing something involved an unprecedented move.

With Lake Sakakawea swelling behind Garrison Dam on the river to the north of Bismarck, the agency opened the dams spillway gates for the first time in the dams history on June 1, 2011, sending a cascade of water down the concrete chute.

Using the spillway helped the Corps manage the flood, though it also necessitated repairs and prompted a study on how to make the dam safer.
The Peotone Vedette out of Illinois reported that DeNormandie, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs, was a junior at local Evergreen Park High School and had already received a number of musical honors and awards to that point in his life.

"Bob spent the past four years at the Illinois Youth Summer Music Camp at Urbana, and three years with the National Stage Bands at Bloomington, Ind.," the article reads. "He has won superior ratings in state solo contests and is a first chair baritone player with the Southwest Suburban Festival Concert."

Fifty-four years and 1,800 miles later, California resident DeNormandie arrived in Mason City, betting that all of that musical knowledge and experience would pay off.

But it hasn't. Not yet.

Arrival

Earlier this month, DeNormandie blew into town in his 1995 Ford Explorer with 139,000 miles on it from Yuba City, California, telling the story of that Rose Bowl experience as well as the origins of a double bell euphonium his father gave him in 1964 that he considers one of his most prized possessions.

"For the last three or four decades Ive been researching from where the instrument was created, from the manufacturer, and trying to find the backstory of what was conveyed to me as a child that there were six of these horns made for Meredith Willsons movie "The Music Man." Inscribed on the bell, youll read that. It says so," he said.

DeNormandie said given the time period it was first acquired, he doesn't have any paperwork on the item. His father is no longer alive. So his only certification is the story he has and the euphonium itself, which features the inscription "Made by RMC for the filming of Meredith Willson's 'The Music Man' by Warner Bros." and is imprinted with the serial number 61064.

The former marching band player said what brought him to town was that after a period of reaching out to people online to try and find a home for the potentially historic film instrument, he got a Google alert for The Music Man Square in Mason City. So DeNormandie said that he talked with an official representing The Music Man Square and offered the euphonium for $11,000, the price he previously had on it on the internet. (On Oct. 18, 2020, DeNormandie posted the euphonium as being for sale on a public Facebook group page called "Double-Bell Euphoniums." DeNormandies post said, "Music man movie only 6. Contact Seller. Music man movie only 6 custom made 1962 original owner since 1962.")

Per DeNormandie, an agent for The Music Man Square, told him they had the ways and means to raise the funds to cover that cost.

"And I said, 'Thats great.' So Im really feeling anxious and excited and thinking: Wow, what a great idea. This could be exhibiting in a museum. My baby is going to come home where it belongs. Im getting psyched up for myself," DeNormandie said.

From there, he said that a private investor in The Music Man Square got involved. That person would work in conjunction with the board of directors to help pay for the euphonium and then donate it on exhibit, which the investor later confirmed with the Globe Gazette.

"That was the intent from day one," the investor said.

Serial

At a certain point, the serial number on the euphonium became a sticking point.

DeNormandie insists that the proper way to read the serial number on a Reynolds piece such as his, 61064, is that the first two digits represent the year. The following digits then indicate the production number. That matters, because if the 61 does indicate the year 1961 then the timeline of the instrument could fit with when the movie "The Music Man" was released, in 1962.

He said that folks from The Music Man Square saw the issue of the serial number differently. Nick Whitehurst, from the organization, confirmed that.

"The information we had been able to find, with comparing the serial number provided and the maker, the horn itself wouldve been dated after the movie was produced," Whitehurst said.

According to him, the numbering issue raised a flag, as did the lack of documentation for the instrument and the ultimate inability to verify whether or not the euphonium was in fact a screen-used piece from "The Music Man."

"Without having proper documentation, we werent able to confirm it. And with the information we were able to find the manufacturers didnt line up," Whitehurst said.

Someone who does such verification weighed in on the matter, but Whitehurst chose not to disclose who the person was or what their specific credentials were. When asked why, Whitehurst said: "(I) would not want to cause more of a stir than there already is."

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With that information, Whitehurst said that The Music Man Square decided to not go through with any deal. The private investor also dropped out.

DeNormandie said he felt "blindsided" by that decision.

"I feel damaged. I feel my integrity has been questioned. And I feel like Ive been called a liar. And that, I feel, needs to be soothed over. I need to talk with this individual so he can personally see the horn, he can personally see the serial number."

Verification quest

"A lot of companies did their serial numbers sequentially. The 61 and 64 dont mean anything as far as date. It doesnt reflect anything with date," said Deborah Reeves, a curator of education at the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota. According to her, the best approach is to try to confirm a number from a serial number list.

The website contemporacorner.com contains a host of serial numbers and engraving information on instruments such as the trumpet, the flugelhorn and the euphonium. On a page for Reynolds Serial Numbers, there is a list that runs from 1936 through July 1979, when production ceased. In the entry for 1961, its noted that Most instruments between SN 60000-79000 bear the RMC shield, corresponding to the 1961-1963 period that Richards Music owned Reynolds.

The F.A. Reynolds Company became "a wholly-owned subsidiary of the newly formed Richards Music Corporation" in 1961, according to the website.

"As a division of Richards Music, Reynolds became part of the Roundtable of Musical Craftsmen (RMC) along with the Martin Band Instrument Co., E.K. Blessing and Flat/Jacks Drums (all owned by Richards Music Corporation). Instruments produced by these companies during the Richards era all bear a RMC shield logo," the Contempora Corner post on Reynolds history stated.

In 1962, Contempora Corner notes that "Richards Music also sponsored 'The Music Man Contest' for individual musicians between ages 8-18, with national, regional and local award winners. 'Music Man'-branded Emperor trumpets, cornets and trombones were produced in conjunction with the contest."

While there isnt a shield in the literal sense on DeNormandies instrument, there is a signature for Reynolds and an RMC. And the serial number on his instrument is 61064.

Merlin Grady, who has done instrument repair work in Waterloo for decades, wrote in an email that "The Euph looks legit esp with the engraving." Over the phone, when asked about the engraving on DeNormandie's instrument not being a carbon copy of other engravings for Reynolds instruments, Grady said that it wasn't uncommon for instrument manufacturers to do engravings by free hand.

"Conn had an in-house engraver and Im presuming thats the way with all the old ones," Grady said.

The author of the "Reynolds Serial Numbers" page on the Contempora website does take care to note, "I am not aware of any surviving official serial number records for Reynolds brass instruments."

Reeves also pointed out that serial number lists are "terribly inaccurate" and that serial numbers are "a guarded secret as far a company is concerned."

Margaret Banks, Reeves' colleague and associate director/senior curator of musical instruments at the National Music Museum, was more direct in her assessment of DeNormandie's euphonium after seeing photos of it.

"In my opinion, this double-bell euphonium was most likely one of the instruments used in the filming of 'The Music Man,'" she wrote in an email. Her reasoning: The National Music Museum has a flute (NMM 10104) from the film engraved with: "Made by RMC for the filming of Meredith Willson's 'The Music Man' by Warner Bros."

Banks said that when museum officials conducted research on the flute, they found that found that 211 instruments were provided by RMCs subsidiaries for use in the movie, which was produced in 1961 and released in 1962. "The manufacture(r) of our flute (likely made in 1960) is attributed to the Martin Band Instrument Company, a subsidiary of RMC, and subcontractor for The Pedler Company, Elkhart, Indiana," she wrote.

Loras Schissel, who is from New Hampton and works as a senior musicologist for the Library of Congress, was less definitive about the euphonium.

"According to some of my euphonium friends, 6 double-bell euphoniums were made for the filming of the Music Man- I suppose this could be one of them," he replied in an email.

Time and money

Beyond the matter of the serial number for DeNormandie's euphonium, the asking price and when he wanted the deal done became complicating factors as well.

"We had asked why or how the $11,000 price tag was arrived at and the gentleman had told us that that was confidential," Whitehurst said.

The private investor spoke to the pacing. "Some of what raised red flags for Music Man Square investors was the need for expediency," they said.

Outside the realm of music, a search for "Robert DeNormandie Jr." on Google turns up a fraud case where a "Robert T. DeNormandie," then age 66, received five years probation in 2016 for forgery of a $356,000 check. Per the Marysville Appeal-Democrat, which covers the counties of Sutter and Yuba near Sacramento, DeNormandie entered a U.S. Bank and deposited the check into the account of his business, DeNormandie Consulting Ltd. Multiple posts on DeNormandie's Facebook reference Yuba City as recently as 2021.

The Appeal-Democrat article includes an explanation from DeNormandie about why things unfolded the way they did. "DeNormandie, according to the probation report, claimed he needed money to pay a ransom for his girlfriend who had been kidnapped in the Philippines," reporter Harold Kruger wrote.

Through Friday afternoon, DeNormandie had not responded to follow-up requests via email, Facebook Messenger and phone call to chat about the case. Though there are continued posts to his Facebook page with aphorisms such as "Here today looking forward." There's no indication as of yet whether DeNormandie remains in the Midwest or whether he's made it to Florida, where he said he wanted to relocate to after he gets a deal done on the euphonium, which travels with him in the Ford Explorer, along with a number of other personal effects. So, for now, it seems he hasn't made it to his intended home. Neither has the instrument.

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Braxton Winston had his epiphany in the spring of 2017 at Charlotte City Hall, watching the presentation of a city commission called the Economic Opportunity Task Force.

It sounds boring, but the matter at hand had shocked boosters in one of Americas fastest-growing places. A few years earlier, a big study led by Harvards Raj Chetty had ranked North Carolinas largest city dead last in upward mobility among the 50 largest U.S. cities. Charlottes task force was supposed to figure out why, and much of its conclusion focused on the citys racial segregation.

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Winston, who is Black, had been doing some soul-searching of his own since the 2016 death of Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old Black father of seven killed by Charlotte police while waiting to pick his son up from the school bus. Why didnt Scott live in a place he could walk his kids to school? Why did the police always show up armed and ready for conflict? Why was Charlotte the way it was? Winston described himself as a concerned citizen and started hanging around city government meetings.

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One big problem, Winston concluded after that 2017 presentation, was that single-family zoning restricted apartmentsand the people who rent themto just 16 percent of Charlottes residential land. The task force gave me the language, he told me. You could see it, you could feel it, but I didnt have the vernacular to talk about this.

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Now he does. Four years later, Winston is a city councilman and one of the most vocal advocates for the policy that Charlotte approved last week: abolishing single-family zoning. Charlottes Comprehensive Plan prescribes legalizing duplexes and triplexes citywide, giving more people more access to more types of housing in more neighborhoods, and undoing a policy originally intended to circumvent the Supreme Courts ban on racial zoning by keeping renters out. When you learn about land use, what you can put where, you see the way the map has been set up to intentionally suppresses the supply, Winston said. Single-family zoning is one of the chief weights put on the scale to ensure the de facto segregated city that we live in.

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Single family zoning is a tool of segregation. If you are fighting to maintain single family zoning you are advocating for segregation. Stop being racist, Charlotte.  Braxton Winston (He/Him) (@BraxtonWinston) March 2, 2021

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In Charlotte, advocates for the change said making room for more housing choices would diversify neighborhoods, increase access to high-opportunity areas, and offer lower-cost and small-scale housing choices. Those arguments may sound familiar if you follow this issue. Charlotte, which still needs to pass an ordinance to codify whats in the plan, seems set to join cities like Portland, Minneapolis, and Berkeley on the path to giving renters the option to live citywide.

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But the situation in Charlotte is a little different. In Portland, Minneapolis, and Berkeley, this reform passed, respectively, 31, 121, and unanimously. In Charlotte the margin was 65, and followed a campaign-style fight featuring yard signs, fearmongering, and open disputes between city staff and elected officials. Already, North Carolina Republicans are trying to bring the Comp Plan into the culture war.

The left-wing Mayor and City Council in Charlotte just passed a plan to eliminate single-family zoning in our neighborhoods. The liberals are not kidding...they want to destroy your quality of life, all using the fake narrative of social justice!  Pat McCrory (@PatMcCroryNC) June 23, 2021

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What sets Charlotte apart from those other placesand what might make it the city to watch when it comes to evaluating the potential of land-use reforms in U.S. citiesis that its in the South.

Thats important for a few reasons. First, Charlotte is growing much, much faster than Portland, Minneapolis, and Berkeley: Among U.S. cities, only Houston built more new homes per capita between 2008 and 2018. And while many younger residents rent in the midrise apartment buildings that have exploded around the citys light rail stations, there are few options between a big apartment building and a house on the periphery, where subdivisions continue to munch away at farmland. Infill growth in Charlotte could happen fast, with neighborhoods of detached houses turning urban overnight, similar to whats happening in Houston. But zoning is in the way.

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Second, the rise of missing-middle housing would represent a much greater leap in density for Charlotte than for a city like Berkeley, which has a rich history of multifamily construction. Like Houston, in spite of the recent downtown construction boom, Charlotte is among the countrys most sprawling and low-density cities.

What sets Charlotte apart from the other places that have moved to ban single-family zoning is that its in the South.

Third, housing is still pretty cheap in Charlotte. While home prices have doubled in the past decade, the citys housing appreciation is right in line with the national big-city averageand started from a considerably lower baseline.

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So if Charlotte is, like so many of its Southern peers, a fast-growing, sprawling city with low housing costs, what explains the drive to reform exclusionary zoning? Its hardly a generational issue: Charlottes majority-millennial City Council split down the middle on the issue. The councils two Republicans didnt back the idea either. The councils Black membersanother feature that sets Charlotte apart from Portland, Minneapolis, and Berkeley is its large Black communitywere also divided.

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Opposition to the plan was complex. Some council members were concerned about gentrification; some about social engineering and the ruin of neighborhood character. And even though liberalizing zoning would seem to benefit their business, some developers were opposed because of the plans support for impact fees and other community benefits tied to new construction.

In short, the promise of a more affordable and accessible housing landscape just barely carried the day, spurred by a dynamic city planning director, Taiwo Jaiyeoba. Winston underlined again and again that single-family zoning was a tool of segregation, a point that was front and center throughout the debate, and Mayor Vi Lyles (who is also Black) lent her support. Between the focus on racial justice and the new concerns about affordability, the entire debate would have been inconceivable even a decade ago.

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In California, the movement to repeal apartment bans has met opposition from Black neighborhoods where residents fear gentrification. Thats true in Charlotte, too, where some Black politicians worry about speculation and displacement. Here, though, the politics are a little different, because some of the most outspoken supporters of the upzoning proposal are also Black.

Whether land-use reforms like this can play in cities like Charlotte is of huge importance. Its not just that Sun Belt cities are fast-growing and sprawlingeach of which underlines the urgency of liberalizing land use as soon as possible. Its also that the regions reputation for affordability is slipping away. If youre a minimum-wage worker trying to rent the median one-bedroom apartment, Southern boomtowns like Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Dallas, and Orlando are actually some of the countrys least affordable cities.

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Most importantly, Southern cities are huge. Unlike San Francisco or Bostonrelatively dense cities surrounded by vast swaths of exclusionary suburbscities such as Charlotte, Austin, Phoenix, San Antonio, and Houston actually have a big say in regional land-use destiny. Each is home to more than 30 percent of its metropolitan population. In land area, most are larger than their old-growth counterparts.

Just dont expect these free-market proposals to get any help from big-city Republicans. Charlotte will become all the bad parts of living in Atlanta, Tariq Bokhari, one of the two Republicans on the Charlotte City Council, predicted. Former North Carolina GOP Gov. Pat McCrory, who served as mayor of Charlotte from 1995 to 2009 and is running for a U.S. Senate seat in 2022, sounded off on Twitter: This is Biden-Harris Nanny State radicalism coming to a North Carolina town near you soon, he wrote of the plan to allow small apartment buildings citywide.

McCrory sounded an awful lot like Donald Trump, who spent the second half of 2020 trying to rile up suburban women about the threat of affordable housing (read: integration) in their neighborhoods. Those attacks fell flat; Trump got trounced in Charlottes Mecklenburg County by a 2-to-1 margin, as in most suburbs.

Then again, the prospect of upzoning the Sun Belt might just have seemed too farfetched for homeowners to worry about. If Braxton Winston gets his way, that wont be true for long.
Pixars Luca is full of memorable moments, but the most memorable tend to involve Ugo, the hideous, humanoid, anglerfish-esque sea creature whos Lucas uncle. Voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen, Ugo is genuinely creepy, even alarming, with translucent, sun-starved skin that leaves all of his internal organs visible and a heart that occasionally has to be punched to be restarted.

We spoke to Luca writers Jesse Andrews and Mike Jones to find out how this lovable monstrosity came together, how much he owed to Baron Cohens improvisations, and how they balanced making him scary with saving children from any actual trauma. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Karen Han: Sending Luca to the deep feels a lot like the fish equivalent of being sent to boarding schoolwere there ever any alternate versions?

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Mike Jones: We initially thought of Uncle Ugo as the uncle who actually did go to the surface, and enjoyed the surface life way too much, and then got in a bunch of trouble. For a while, Uncle Ugo was the cautionary tale.

Jesse Andrews: Mike wrote a really funny scene, which was backstory when Ugo had a little more screentime, and showed up earlier in the movie. Lucas parents summon him to tell Luca this cautionary tale. It was kind of a breakthrough of having Ugo come from the deepest part of the ocean, because that really felt like the antithesis of everything that Luca would want. Theres nothing there to satisfy his curiosity, which is such an important part of Lucas character.

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Then we realized, Oh, if Ugo went down there, maybe his body adapted. It becomes transparent, and you can see all of his organs. The story artists and animators got really excited about that possibility. That ushered in this era of working on the film where there was just a lot of Ugo fan art. But yeah, theres too much oxygen near the surface and his heart seizes up, and Luca has to punch him, which also felt like this typical thing that your weird older relative comes over when youre a kid, you have to interact with them in some way that you really dont want to, like getting rid of the corns on their feet or something like that. I think the punch the heart was the pull my finger, right? Every time Ugo comes over, you gotta punch the heart.

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Jones: Except its serious. Pull my finger is a practical joke, this is an actual thing you have to do.

The story artists would draw Ugo, and they would draw fish swimming behind him. You could see straight through his body. And there were also a lot of versions of Ugo that were frightening. Sacha Baron Cohen gave Ugo exactly what Ugo needed, which is that wonderful, loopy, almost drunk from oxygen nature. But before that, he was this horrifying uncle with these long, glassy teeth. It was terrifying.

Was there ever a limit to how creepy or dark Ugo was going to be?

Andrews: For us, theres no limit, and we were really interested in exploring the most extreme dimensions of this character. But after a certain point, if you give him really sharp teeth and you make him almost like a horror-film character, its not super compatible with [director] Enrico [Casarosa]s vision, which is about childhood and innocence. Theres this sweetness to it. After a certain point, it was clear we were pushing him in a direction that he didnt really wanna go. He kept saying, Guys, this is really funny and gross, but this isnt really the character in the movie that I wanna do. And we were like, OK, but lemme just pitch you one more thing, its Ugo from Saw, and he forces people to do things  And Enricos like, Guys, no.

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Jones: When we had Ugo as the cautionary tale, one thing we also liked to do was that Ugo could describe exactly how horrific the surface was, but what he was saying kind of sounded fun. He could put as much horror on it as he could, but its like, I dunno  pot sounds pretty good! So we played around with Luca only hearing selectively what he wanted to hear from Uncle Ugo, and kind of dismissing all of the rest.

Andrews: We wanted it to be like a failed scared straight lecture, where its your uncle telling you, Oh man, motorcycles are the worst. You go so fast, and you just feel the wind on your face, and youve never felt so alive, but guess what, thats actually bad. So dont do it. We wanted Lucas takeaway to be like, Oh my god, that sounds like the best thing ever, and now I have to do that. He kind of gets that from Alberto, too. We didnt want that energy to overlap between Ugo and Alberto, when Alberto should really be the friend who introduces him to this exciting and riskybut totally worth itworld.

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And as for the way he talks, was that kind of fragmented dialogue in there from the get-go, or more down to Baron Cohens improvisation?

Andrews: It ended up very improvised. We wrote some dialogue, of course, but Sacha being Sacha, the idea is always youre going to give him the general idea and then hes going to riff on it in this fantastic way. I was in the recording session, and that was the hardest I laughed during COVID. It was what I needed. He did a few different things. He did this Australian guy, which was really sinister and also felt very specific. The thing with the riffs is that they can go long. In the recording session, youre rooting for it to go long, because youre going, This is funny and I dont want it to stop. But then you listen back to the recording, like, Oh, this scene is going to be 15 minutes long. I dont think we can afford that.

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The editorial team did an amazing job of cobbling together a take that includes that kind of shagginess, where he sort of interrupts himself, and sounds really specific, but also has clarity. I helped out with that a little bit, too, I listened to all of the takes. Which was honestly also sort of for fun, I kind of pleaded with them to send me the audio so I could listen to it over and over for a weekend. We ended up cobbling a few ones together. I made a strong pitch for theyou know how he interrupts himself and hes like, You open your mouth. The whale carcass go ingoodI recommend it. He does that for another 30 seconds. Some day I hope the tapes are released to the world, because that was a magical recording session.

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Was the whale carcass thing in the script?

Jones: I remember watching some David Attenborough series about a whale that had died and then just slowly decomposed on the bottom of the ocean, and how much it fed all of these weird, bizarre, horrific creatures, and my sons loved it. Its one of those times where, when you have a kid and they latch onto something, and they just keep rewatching it. They had Star Wars to rewatch, they had a number of kids movies to rewatch  they wanted to rewatch the decomposing whale carcass at the bottom of the ocean. I dont know who wrote that in, but I remember going, This has to stay in the film.

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Andrews: I gotta be honest. Im gonna take credit for that one. I was pushing whale carcass from the very beginning. When we figured out that we were gonna do the deep, I was like, OK, whats life like in the deep? I was watching David Attenborough documentaries about it, and found this idea of marine snow, which is the term that I then started using in every single meeting. I really wanted it to catch on. Marine snow is essentially just floating bits of whale carcass, and the carcasses of other decomposing animals, and its so soft and feathery and rotten that its like snow. I was like, This is the most disgusting thing Ive ever heard of in my life, and I really want it to go in the movie. We didnt get the term marine snow in there, but I was hellbent on Uncle Ugo talking about whale carcass, and Im actually kind of amazed that phrase got in the movie, because its pretty disgusting.

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Was the mid-credits scene always going to be Ugo?

Andrews: It was not, no. It was just because Sachas recording sessions were so good, the editors had it circled, like, We have to use more of this somehow.

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So it was originally part of that first Ugo scene?

Andrews: Yeah, it was one of the riffs that he had, telling Luca how much he was going to enjoy the deep, because the great thing about the deep is you can just talk and talk and talk, and usually theres no one to listen to him, but now there is, which is great. Sacha did this for like four minutes. It was just epic, a tour de force. It was impossible to cut it down to put it into the scene, so then editorial was like, We have to find a place for this, and they found it in that little button.

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I wanted to ask about how Ugo is the only anglerfish in the seafolk community. Did you guys ever discuss have more fish-people in the world of Luca?

Jones: The only reason Ugo looks like that, we thought no one else looks like that, is because hes absent of all light, there, and the pressure that deep forces his skin to be permeable and colorless.

Andrews: Originally, we made more of Ugo and Lorenzo [Lucas father] being related. We put it forward that Ugo was Lorenzos twin brother, and they used to look exactly the same. The deep is great! My twin brother lives there! We look exactly the same! We couldnt really figure out how to set up that joke very well, and it got kind of noisy and brought in too much extra stuff, but especially we wanted Luca to envision whatever had happened to Ugo happening to himself, poor little Luca also becoming just weird and milky-eyed and translucent.
There is no other movie that sounds quite like Zola. Throughout the film, directed by Janicza Bravo, a series of dings, whooshes, and chirping sounds are almost omnipresent, and for viewers who, like the subjects of the film, are extremely online, those noises should be instantly recognizable. These pings form the soundscape of Twitterthe noises that play when a user sends a tweet, or when a new tweet appears on a users timelineand designate Zola as the first movie of its kind. Its not just based on social media, embracing its origins in being adapted from a viral tweet thread. Its about social media.

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The original thread, written by AZiah Zola King in 2015, became such a sensation that King now has I invented threads in her Twitter bio. Over the course of 148 tweets, King told a story about traveling to Florida to pole dance with a new friend, and how, at an alarmingly fast pace, the trip devolved into a whirlwind of sex and violence. The movielike its advertisingcaptures much of the zippiness and fun that made following Zolas tweets so exciting, but Bravo and her co-writer, the Tony-nominated playwright Jeremy O. Harris, never lose sight of the fact that, as thrilling as these events might be to experience vicariously, they must have been unpleasant and even terrifying to actually live through.

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Taylour Paige, who plays the film version of Zola, captures that balance perfectly. Her voice-over, which pulls directly from the real tweets, is delivered in the knowing and wry tone of one friend gossiping to another. Her physical performance, while still totally self-assured, leaves room for the uncertainty that comes with realizing youre in way over your head. Shes nonplussed by her new friends, Stefani (Riley Keough) and her pimp X (Colman Domingo), but her confidence can only carry her so far in the face of the extreme measures that X appears willing to take, and the extreme people that he and Stefani bring into Zolas orbit.

Events aside, the films style also leans into a sense of push and pull. Bravo doesnt shy away from stylistic flourishes. In one sequence, she seemingly changes sets while the actors remain in place, while for another, one of the films funniest and most unsettling, she cuts together a montage of penises. But in other, key sequences, she lets the flourishes drop away. As the trip becomes increasingly fraught, the dominant stylistic force becomes silence, forcing viewers to sit down with darkness. Stefanis mannerisms, from her Bhad Bhabieesque accent, to her braids, to her acrylic nailsat the films Sundance premiere, Paige described her co-stars character as being in blackface the whole movieis grotesque from the moment she enters the frame, but she becomes even more so as the viewer realizes she isnt as innocent as she seems. Meanwhile, her hapless boyfriend Derrek (Nicholas Braun, aka Successions Cousin Greg) is clearly a little too invested in their relationship, and not at all equipped to handle the intensity of the life she leads.

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Through it all, the Twitter noises are nearly constant, reminding the audience of the social media platform that provided this story with a stage in the first place, but Bravo and Harris take things a few steps further in exploring the nature of social media and how it allows anyone to tell a story. Midway through the film, theres a detour into another characters version of events (posted on Reddit, as the movie takes care to note), and the way its filmed immediately sets it apart. Everything, from the costumes to the lighting to the characters mannerisms, is suddenly exaggerated, and it doesnt seem to be an accident that it comes off as appropriative and exploitative of the spotlight on Zola rather than an attempt to really clear things up.

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But for how smart the film can be, it also feels somewhat abbreviated. Theres clearly more beneath the surface thats left to be exploreda passing scene involves Zola witnessing a Black man being forcibly arrested for seemingly no reason, suggesting a deeper story about race relations in America than the dynamic between Zola and Stefani scratches atbut Zolas 90-minute runtime doesnt leave much time for anything that wasnt already in the original thread. Then again, that, too, is the nature of Twitter: 140 characters (280, now) is rarely enough to contain the full picture. But the ingenuity that Bravo brings to the direction and the electricity that every actor brings to the material make that an easy shortcoming to breeze past, at least for the films duration. Like the thread its based on, its easy to rush through, even if does visit some darker places. Its only if you pause for a moment, and linger on it, that you might wish there were more.
Before the pandemic, Id shudder at the sight of a restaurant table full of people all staring at their phones. I was always happy not to be them or be sitting with them. I always kept the lively conversation flowing at my table. I had good boundaries between my on- and offline lives. But now, restaurants around the world have nonconsensually turned us all into the people I used to judge. I hate it. And its time for us to go back.

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It all started when outdoor dining resumed after initial waves of mandated closures last spring. Wary of wayward coronaviruses lingering on physical menus, restaurants taped QR codes to their tables and outsourced the act of menu delivery to the diner and her smartphone. This might have made sense when it still seemed possible that the coronavirus was largely spreading through surface transmission. But we now know that the risk of infection via a contaminated surface is low. In tons of communities across the U.S., vaccination rates are high and COVID-19 case rates are low. People are attending indoor concerts, grinding at dance clubs, and heading back to the office. And yet, even as we eat and slobber and sneeze in restaurants seated at full capacity, in many of those establishments, were still obliged to use our own smartphones to figure out what we want to eat. Why? Why should we be scared to go back to touching a communal piece of paper when were already breathing one anothers theoretically more dangerous air?

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The obvious pitfalls of the QR code menu were well worth the aggravation as a temporary public health measure, and I truly feel for restaurant owners and workers whove been forced to redesign their businesses every few months in response to changing municipal regulations and public health findings. But the QR codes continued ubiquity well into the era of the low surface transmission consensus and the full reopening of public spaces has me worried that digital-only menus will be one pandemic modification that becomes a permanent element of public life. Maybe restaurant owners will welcome the demise of physical menus as a way to eliminate one small but constant expense. Maybe their employees will relish their newfound freedom from the hassle of reprinting menus every time theres a new seasonal entree on offer. Maybe it will free servers from patrons who always seem to want to order the one dish thats out of stock. (It can be easily deleted from a digital menu as soon as it runs out.) Maybe diners who already love scrolling on their phones at restaurants will be more than happy to check out the menu there, too. Other customers may be content to touch one less surface that might be stained with food or invisibly smeared with another persons snot.

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Not I! Im tired of having to navigate a new digital platform every time I eat out. I despise spending the first 10 minutes of a social engagement on my phone. I never again want to encounter, as I did last week, a QR code that leads to a website where each of the seven menu pages is a separate PDF that must be clicked, zoomed in on, and closed before moving on to the next.

If you think Im being overdramatic, let me ask you this: Have you gone to a restaurant with your boomer parents during the pandemic? If not, have you ever had to teach your boomer parents how to set up a Roku or connect their printer to Bluetooth? Same tedious, excruciating, relationship-straining thing. One of my family members is in his late 70s, loves dining out, and only owns a flip phone with no internet connectivity. Hes already excluded from much of our increasingly digital society; before the pandemic, the American restaurant was one of the few places left where he was entirely comfortable with the mores and knew exactly what was expected of him when he walked through the door. Now, he never knows what to anticipate or what hell be asked to do when he goes out for lunch.

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Default-digital menus are alienating for other kinds of customers, too. Critics have rightly noted that the cashless trend in food and retail is prohibitive for customers who dont have bank accounts. Likewise, for a customer who doesnt have a smartphone or robust data planincluding about one-quarter of adults with household incomes below $30,000 per yeara QR code menu means having to ask for special accommodations she never used to need. Ditto foreign travelers, whose smartphones may not work on U.S. soil. QR codes also open the door for easily executed scams, malware, and digital surveillance. There is no good reason to add an exclusionary, risky, socially deadening digital step to an analog system that was working just fine before the pandemic hit.

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Some restaurants have taken it even further, digitizing not just the menu but the entire dining experience. Two months ago, I ate outdoors at a Basque restaurant that used to have fantastic service on its outdoor patio. This time, it required diners to page through an extensive website that held its menu options. We had to place food and drink orders on an online platform and punch in our credit card information on our tiny phone keyboards with our big, dumb fingers. Then, we had to wait for a notification on our phones to tell us our drinks were ready to pick up indoors. When we decided to order a second bottle of cider midway through the meal, we had to place a whole new order online. It felt more like ordering takeout or shopping on Amazon than dining out.

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It is possible that I socialize in some kind of Luddite bubble, but Ive only ever heard from one person who loves the new QR code restaurant experience. My colleague, a single woman in her 30s in D.C., said she likes the restaurants that now require customers to view the menu, order, and pay via QR code, fully eliminating most of a servers responsibilities. (This mode of operation may make sense for restaurants that have faced staffing shortages since reopening. I will happily pay higher prices at an adequately staffed restaurant that pays a living wage.) Since each diner orders and pays on her own, my colleague said, its made it easier to dine with groups of friends who might have otherwise struggled with splitting a check, and its preempted awkward conversations with guys on dates about whos getting the bill.

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I suppose I can see where shes coming from. During a bad date or a social interaction thats reached its natural end, the wait to receive and pay the check can feel interminable. But people dont visit sit-down restaurants because they want a meal marked by extreme convenience and speed. As several restaurant workers have told me during the pandemic, diners come to restaurants for hospitality. For me, the pleasure of poring over a physical menu is so integral to the experience of dining out that I made my friends mimic it during an early-pandemic dinner over Zoom. Weve all just had the most isolated, screen-mediated year of our lives. If theres an opportunity for us to make a familiar social interaction more tangible and human, and less coldly transactional, lets take it.
And so were back at it again. U.S. fighter jets dropped bombs on Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. The strike was in response to Iranian-backed militias firing armed drones against U.S. troops in Iraq, which was a response to a U.S. attack in February, which was a response to a militia attack days earlier.

A Pentagon spokesman justified the most recent U.S. airstrikes as necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalationbut also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message. This may be true, but similar statements have followed similar strikes for years, even decades; yet counterattacks nonetheless follow (the deterrent message doesnt get through), and so its possible that we are heightening the risk of escalation, not limiting it.

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President Joe Biden finds himself in a jam. Clearly he does not want to deepen U.S. military involvement in the region (hence his order for a total troop withdrawal from Afghanistan). Both in February and now, he selected the smallest attack option that the Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended in their briefing. After the earlier attack, he sent a message to the leaders in Tehran, telling them that he did not seek a wider conflict with Iran but that they had to bring their militias in Iraq under control. The U.S. troops in Iraq are training and supplying the local army, which is in turn fighting remnants of ISIS and other terrorist groups, an activity that is in our interests. When those U.S. troops come under attack, a president is understandably averse to letting it go; he feels he needs to show that he takes these attacks seriously. Nor do these attacks incline him to pull the troops out, though that may have been the militias intent, for doing so would send a message that America runs at the first sight of blood (even when, as in this case, no American troops were killed).

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So the very presence of U.S. troops abroadand there are about 165,000 active-duty troops in more than 150 countries around the worldis a double-edged sword: It may well deter aggression against our allies or client-states; yet in countries where conflict is still raging (or even simmering), the troops may present tempting targets of opportunity, to raise the profile of a militia group, or to apply more pressure than the militias think the Americans can bear, or simply to stir chaos, since orderliness is against the militias interest.

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In any case, the American president gets drawn in, even when thats the last thing he wants. This is why these things continue to happen, even under presidents who are otherwise very different. (The sequence of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden covers as wide a spectrum as weve experienced across two decades.)

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So back to that Pentagon press statement: The airstrikes may have been necessary, appropriate, and deliberate. But we shouldnt kid ourselves that theyll limit the risk of escalation or send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message to the Iranians or the militiaswho have already threatened open war against the United States. Even the Iraqi government, which the U.S. troops are putatively protecting (but which also has to kowtow somewhat to Tehran), denounced Bidens airstrikes as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.

Theres another lesson to be learned from this latest back-and-forth. The Iranian militias, it seems, now have armed drones. When the CIA invented these new wonder weapons back in 2001 and used them effectively to help oust the Taliban from power in Afghanistan, many believed that no one elseleast of all ragtag militiaswould be able to harness the technology to create such devices of remote warfare for a long time, if ever. Yet here we are.

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True, the Iranian-backed militias drones are not as sophisticated as ours. They cant receive GPS data from satellites, allowing them to home in on targets with pinpoint precision, guided by pilots manning a joystick and watching a video monitor, from halfway around the world. That feat still seems a long ways off. But they (and who knows what other militias and small powers) can launch and remotely guide small drones across shorter distances, at altitudes too low to be spotted by antiaircraft radar, and detonate the explosives, which the drones are carrying, at just the right time and place.

This is another pattern of military history that should have been familiar by now. When the United States exploded the first atom bomb in 1945, it was widely believed that the Russians were too crude to match our grand feat. It took them four years, but they did it. The same illusion took hold when American scientists invented the hydrogen bomb, the intercontinental ballistic missile, and many other complex devices, military and civilian.

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Again, one could argue that building these things was necessary, appropriate, and deliberate (or not). It was foolish to believe, as some even recognized at the time, that these inventions constituted the final rung on the ladder of escalationthat our adversaries couldnt, or wouldnt, call our ante and propel yet another round of escalation.

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Finally, the tit-for-tat attacks may bear broader consequences in the coming weeks and months. Biden is trying to restore the Iran nuclear deal, which Obamaalong with the leaders of five other nations (Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany)signed in 2015 and which Trump revoked three years later. Meanwhile, earlier this month, as negotiations progressed and floundered in Vienna, Iran elected a hard-line president, Ebrahim Raisi, to replace the more moderate Hassan Rouhani in October. Will the airstrikes make it more difficult to conclude a new accord? Will they make it more politically palatable at home, convincing Bidens critics, especially in the U.S. Congress, that his revival of the deal doesnt mean hell tolerate Irans aggression in the region? Or will the airstrikes by both sides harden the congressional critics insistence that any new deal on Irans nuclear infrastructure must also place limits on its ballistic missiles and its support for terrorist groupsan inclusion that Irans leaders, even Rouhani, have said they wont allow?

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In the early stages of the U.S.-Iran talks, back in 2013, Obamas negotiators tried to strike a grand bargain that would resolve all of the disputes between the two countries. But they soon realized that this wouldnt be possible and that it was preferable to make a narrow deal focusing just on Irans nuclear program, which was considered most dangerous. Similarly, throughout the Cold War, the U.S. and Soviet diplomats negotiated several treaties limiting or reducing nuclear arsenals without affecting either sides ideology or support for nations and movements that the other side considered hostile.

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It isnt at all clear whether such two-track diplomacy is now possible between the U.S. and Iran. It also isnt clear whether the militias launched their attacks in part with an aim to dampen diplomacys possibilitiesto keep tensions with America at a high level, in order to rationalize Tehrans oppression against domestic criticsor whether the tensions are now spiraling entirely by coincidence. The effects, though, might be the same, regardless of the intent.

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In the final months of Trumps presidency, Iran started exceeding the nuclear deals limits on enriching uraniumbut only a year after Trump violated the deal entirely by reimposing economic sanctions against Iran. In the first few months of Bidens presidency, both nations wasted precious time arguing over which side should make the first move in deescalating these tensionsshould Iran scale back enrichment before the U.S. lifted sanctions, or vice versa?

Both sidesand the nuclear deals European co-signatories, who are now running the talks in Viennaare running out of time, and the bombings are making a settlement more vital and less likely. The question at this point is whether both sides really want to revive the nuclear deal. If they do, the diplomats have to sharpen their focus and speed up their work.
It seemed possible that last weeks Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Christine OHearn, Joe Bidens nominee to become a federal judge for the District of New Jersey, might prove more compelling than your average judicial nominee hearing. OHearn is a management-side labor and employment lawyer who has spent decades defending employers against workers claims of discrimination and harassment, and helping employers fight employees efforts to form unions. Would the Democratic Senators on the Committee point out that the nomination was in tension with President Bidens stated commitment to nominate lawyers with backgrounds underrepresented in the federal judiciary, like public defenders and civil rights lawyers, not to mention his self-ascribed image as the most pro-union president in decades? Would they ask OHearns home-state senators, their colleagues Sens. Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, why they perplexingly described OHearn as a champion for women and workers rights when the nomination was announced?

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Turns out no, they would not. Apart from an unrelated feisty exchange in which Sen. Mazie Hirono called out Sen. Ted Cruz for mansplaining, Wednesdays hearing was unremarkable, and these tensions went unexplored. It seems likely that OHearns nomination will sail through the Senate, to the extent anything sails through that becalming body, without any further examination of her record. Given her background, it seems likely her confirmation will contribute to the slow-motion disaster that is the federal courts approach to workers rights.

OHearn is a typical judicial nominee for presidents of both parties over the last few decadesa politically-connected lawyer from a big law firmbut she is a surprising one for the Biden White House. Even before the president took office, Bidens incoming White House counsel, Dana Remus, sent a letter to Democratic Senators asking them to recommend potential judicial nominees who were diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, religion, veteran status, and disability. And, for district court seats especially, Remus said the incoming President was particularly focused on nominating individuals whose legal experiences have been historically underrepresented on the federal bench, including those who are public defenders, civil rights and legal aid attorneys, and those who represent Americans in every walk of life. OHearns track record does not fit into these latter categories.

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Bidens requests for demographic and experiential diversity did not come out of nowhere. Federal judges are disproportionately white and male, with backgrounds as criminal prosecutors or corporate attorneys, jobs in which they represent powerful entities rather than ordinary people. The situation got worse under President Donald Trump; his judicial appointees were 75 percent male and 84 percent white; the majority had significant experience representing corporations; and none had backgrounds as public defenders or legal aid lawyers. Ideologically, they were even more homogeneous, because Trump largely outsourced the work of selecting judges to the right-wing Federalist Society.

By contrast, President Bidens judicial nominees have been far more diverse in terms of identity and experience representing the less-powerful. His first three nominees to Circuit Courts were all Black women, and four of his first 11 nominees had experience as public defenders. On Thursday, his nominee Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, who spent over a decade as a public defender in Illinois, was confirmed to the 7th Circuit, becoming the only non-white judge currently serving on that court.

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But Christine OHearn has spent most of her career defending employers against employees. She represented the Camden Police against former employees charges of age and race discrimination and retaliation, an Atlantic City prosecutor who was accused of demoting high-ranking women while giving raises to men and speaking in a derogatory way about women, and Cooper Health System when a radiology technologist claimed his termination was based on age discrimination. She also has helped employers thwart workers attempts to form unions, work her firm describes as union avoidance (you may know it by the more common name, union-busting). In 2008 she published an article called Assumption Refuted: No Duty to Provide Pregnant Employees with Light Duty, in which she argued that an employee with a normal, uncomplicated pregnancy is not entitled to light duty or any other accommodation.

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When OHearns nomination was announced, Menendez and Booker put out a glowing statement incongruously describing her as someone who had spent much of her career advocating for women in the workplace and defending the rights of workers against employee discrimination, harassment and a hostile work environment. Its not clear whether this Opposite Day description of OHearns career was based on an actual misunderstanding of the type of law she practices; was an attempt to treat a small number of cases in which she did represent individuals as typical of her experience; or whether they just considered the words to be meaningless puffery. Both New Jersey senators spoke about OHearn in Wednesdays hearing. Menendez praised her astute judgment and even temperament, and Booker applauded her for being truly Jersey through and through, but neither repeated the claim that she is a champion of workers.

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The most obvious explanation for the White Houses nomination of OHearn, and several other prosecutors, management-side attorneys, and corporate lawyers, is that the president is deferring toone might say rubber-stampingDemocratic home-state senators recommendations for district court judges. In turn, many senators outsource the work of vetting and choosing judicial nominees to committees that are often filled with law firm lawyers and prosecutors who have donated significant amounts of money to the senators. Unsurprisingly, these committees often act as an echo chamber, recommending other attorneys similar to themselves. When the president defers to senators and senators defer to these committees, these insular, and sometimes secret, groups of lawyers wield a disturbing amount of power over who will become federal judges for life.

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To date, not one of Bidens judicial nominees has been a union-side labor lawyer. This, combined with the fact that Remuss letter specifically asked senators for the names of public defenders, civil rights lawyers, and legal aid attorneys, but not union lawyers, suggests another possible explanation for OHearns nomination. Perhaps the White House doesnt think labor law is as important as civil rights, voting rights, or criminal law. Or perhaps it is easier to choose lawyers who are public defenders or legal aid lawyers because their work is more likely to involve seeking justice for individual people one at a time, rather than representing groups of workers who are exercising their collective power to challenge the economic status quo.

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For the White House to be uninterested in appointing judges with union-side labor law experience would seem surprising given the presidents strong statements about the importance of workers rights to collectively bargain. It would also be a serious mistake. While labor law may seem like a niche area, workers united in unions play a key role in reducing income inequality, counteracting the outsized power of huge corporations and the ultra-wealthy, and strengthening democracy. A strong labor movement also strengthens other justice movements, like the fights for racial justice, immigrant justice, disability justice, and rights based on gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

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Opponents of the labor movement are busy using the federal courts to attack it, often to great success. For instance, just this week the Supreme Court struck down a California statute, which Cesar Chavezs farmworkers movement won after a long fight in the 1970s, that gave union organizers the ability to enter farmland at limited times to speak with farmworkers. The courts 2018 Janus v. AFSCME decision dealt a serious blow to the public sector labor movement, which now contains the majority of unionized workers, by preventing public sector unions from charging fair share fees to all the workers they represent. Following that decision there are well over a hundred follow-on cases in federal courts across the country seeking to further harm public sector unions ability to function. And every day courts decide labor law cases of huge importance to workers, like whether to order the immediate reinstatement of a worker fired during a union organizing drive. Having labor lawyers as judges in these cases can make a huge difference.

While Christine OHearn is just one nominee, the message her nomination and probable confirmation sends is concerning. A bust of Cesar Chavez may sit in the Oval Office, but if Democratic senators and the president work together to appoint federal judges who practice union avoidance law, and none who represent unions, while the courts are busy chipping away at the labor movement, the symbolic value of that decorating choice will be of little comfort.
Congress is currently considering six antitrust bills, all introduced earlier this month, that would substantially constrain the likes of Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Google in a moment of bipartisan skepticism toward major technology companies. The legislative effort is the result of a 16-month investigation by the House antitrust subcommittee into anticompetitive practices in the industry. Last week, the House Judiciary Committee approved all six bills over the protests of industry groups and major corporations. Breaking up Big Tech suddenly looks a little less hard to do.

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The antitrust bills still a ways to go before potentially reaching President Joe Bidens desk. Its unclear whether the package has the same level of bipartisan support in the Senate as it seems to have in the House, and the House Judiciary Committee is expected to do more work on the legislation before its introduced to the entire body.

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Many of the bills have had the effect of fracturing partisan lines and jumbling usual alliances. Democrats have railed against Big Tech for concentrating corporate power and allowing misinformation and hate speech to flourish on their platforms, while Republicans have accused such companies of suppressing conservative speech (while generally ignorning all the other stuff). Members from both parties nevertheless had doubts about the bills. Three Democratic representatives from CaliforniaEric Swalwell, Lou Correa, and Zoe Lofgrenopposed five of the six bills, and joined Republicans in releasing a statement claiming the package leaves many questions about the scope of the legislation unanswered and poses harm to American consumers and the U.S. economy. Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan separately complained that the legislation did not address allegations of anti-conservative bias and warned that it would somehow actually give more power to tech companies. These Democrat bills will only make things worse, he wrote in a Fox News op-ed with Donald Trumps former chief of staff Mark Meadows. If you think Big Tech is bad now, just wait until Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google are working in collusion with Big Government. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is notably working on another package to address what Republicans see as the silencing of conservatives on social media.

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The bills vary considerably in their reach, and Big Tech seems to have issues with some more than others. The Wall Street Journal reports that lobbyists and trade groups have been trying to slow down the legislative process so that theyll have more time to win over lawmakers to vote the bills down. The Chamber of Progress, a trade group funded by Amazon, Google, and Facebook, has been a leading voice opposing the package and recently passed around a survey purportedly showing that Americans dont think this sort of legislation is a high priority for Congress. Some companies are weighing the option of waging public campaigns against the package. Google and Amazon officials say that such laws would end up hurting small businesses the most, while Apple has already publicly stated that it believes some of the legislation will put users at risk for security breaches. Apple CEO Tim Cook has even reportedly been calling up members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to express his dismay.

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Heres a rough ranking of the bills by how many panic attacks they seem to be causing in Mountain View, Cupertino, Menlo Park, and Seattle.

The Industry Isnt Sweating It

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The most limited and least controversial of the bills are H.R. 3843 and H.R. 3460. The former would raise the filing fees for mergers, while the latter would empower state attorneys general to pick which courts hear antitrust cases. Fees? Lawyer stuff? Silicon Valley can handle it.

The Industry Is Sweating It

Among the more substantial bills is H.R. 3826, which would ban tech platforms from acquiring potential rivals. This practice has been at the core of Facebooks strategy to increase its scale and consolidate its influence; two of its most successful acquisitions have been Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. The law would place a greater burden on the companies to prove that an acquisition wouldnt hurt competition. The Federal Trade Commission already filed a lawsuit in December seeking to force Facebook to spin off those two the subsidiaries, and this legislation could prevent similar deals from going through in the future. Another potentially consequential bill is H.R. 3849, which would make it easier for users to transfer their data between services and led to one of the lengthiest debates in the markup session. As Axios notes, this is akin to regulations requiring wireless companies to let people keep the same phone number while switching services. Rep. Lofgren, who represents San Jose, the biggest population center in Silicon Valley, voiced substantial concerns that the legislation could actually end up exposing users private information.

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The Industry Has Melted Into a Pool of Sweat That Is Also Somehow Exploding

The bills that seem to have generated the most pushback from the tech industry were H.R. 3816, which would prohibit companies from give their own products and services an unfair upper hand on their platforms, and H.R. 3825, which would give regulators more power to break up monopolies. If passed, H.R. 3816 could potentially force Apple to take extra steps to ensure that products like Apple Music dont upstage competitors like Spotify on the iPhone and in the App Store. It could also affect Amazon, which sells its own line of products in its marketplace and has been accused of using data about other companies sales on the platform to inform the strategy for its private label. (Amazon claims it has rules against such practices.) The Chamber of Progress seems particularly disturbed by this bill, claiming that it would force YouTube to host Pornhub videos and Facebook to display Alex Jones conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook shooting. Its unclear, though, that such a law would have an impact on content moderation.

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H.R. 3825, the monopoly legislation, dictates that regulators can sue to break up tech companies if their operation of a platform presents an irreconcilable conflict of interest with selling their own products and services. Such legislation could set regulators sights on Google, which ranks videos in its search engine results while also running its subsidiary YouTube, the most prominent hub for online videos. Amazon and Apple could also face extra scrutiny under this law for promoting their own products on their platforms. The bill passed with the narrowest margin, 21 to 20. Four of the committees Democrats broke from their party to oppose the bill, while two RepublicansColorado Rep. Ken Buck and Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz  joined the predominantly Democratic majority. Lofgren was particularly outspoken in criticizing the legislation. She balked at the idea that companies like Google and Facebook are far too powerful and told the Washington Post that the monopoly legislation would essentially, metaphorically, take a grenade and just roll it into the tech economy and just blow it up, and see what happens, adding that it could threaten tech workers jobs.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
Trnava-based carmaker will manufacture new models

Investment worth 180 million should include e-vehicles.

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New car models, mostly hybrid and electric vehicles, will be added to the portfolio of the Trnava-based carmaker Stellantis Slovakia.

The new production programme of the B segment worth 180 million, which has been the largest since the carmaker came to Slovakia, should be gradually launched in 2023. The preparations are expected to start this summer, but the fundamental part of he transformation is scheduled for 2022, the SITA newswire reported.

The aim of the investment is to contribute to increasing carbon neutrality, which is why a significant portion of the new programme will be comprised of fully electric vehicles. For now, it is premature to discuss specific car brands and models, as the representatives of the carmaker said at a June 28 press conference.

Investment aid will be provided

Passat and Superb make up half of the 1 billion Volkswagen is investing in Slovakia Read more

The planned investment is responding to new trends and will use new technologies, said PM Eduard Heger (OLaNO). He emphasised that the carmaker has invested 1.2 billion in Slovakia so far, and is expected to manufacture its four-millionth vehicle this year.

He also confirmed earlier information from the Dennik E daily that the carmaker would most likely ask for state investment aid, but did not specify any details.

Martin Dzama, head of Stellantis in Slovakia, said that the Trnava plant had to fight for the investment with other branches. The investment, among other things, will secure jobs not only in the factory, but also at its suppliers, as reported by SITA.

Though the carmaker did not want to discuss concrete models, the Dennik E reported that the three new models should replace Citroen C3, which has been manufactured in Trnava since 2016. It represents the majority of the plants production, with its share amounting to 53 percent of total production last year.

28. Jun 2021 at 17:52 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Two more Delta variants uncovered. Trnava-based carmaker plans a huge investment in e-mobility. Wood waste shredder plant in Bratislava catches fire.

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Good evening. The Monday, June 28, 2021 edition of Today in Slovakia is ready with the main news of the day in less than five minutes. We wish you a pleasant read.

For a more in-depth view of the weeks events, check out the latest Last Week in Slovakia overview published earlier today. You can also sign up for the weekly newsletter with one click here.

Travel changes to be introduced soon

Police checked the Petrzalka-Berg border crossing on June 28, 2021. (Source: TASR)

The exceptionally good epidemiological situation in Slovakia may not last long.

Currently, the districts are following only very mild restrictions, with the worst colour in its Covid automat alert system being orange. Moreover, as many as 26 districts are green, meaning the restrictions there are minimal.

This may be changed if the Delta variant starts spreading. Since it is more contagious than the Alpha variant, first detected in the UK, some experts warn that the cases may start surging quite quickly. Two more cases were confirmed in Slovakia on June 28. The persons were abroad and not vaccinated.

To fight the variant, the authorities plan to introduce a stricter border regime, which includes more intensive border checks, stricter checks of adherence to rules (mostly related to quarantine), and the better tracing of positive cases and their contacts.

Though the state announced the planned changes some time ago, not many details have been revealed so far, as the Sme daily reported. The daily looked at the current preparations for the third pandemic wave, and recalled what did not work prior to the second pandemic wave.

Meanwhile, the central crisis staff met on June 28 to discuss the changes at the borders. Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky (OLaNO nominee) commented that it is not clear for now whether the new rules will become effective on July 1 or 5, adding that the decision should be made by the cabinet.

More Covid and vaccination developments

15 out of 804 PCR tests carried out on June 27 came back positive, while out of 26,610 antigen tests 18 were positive. More than 2 million people have been jabbed with the first Covid vaccine shot.

out of 804 PCR tests carried out on June 27 came back positive, while out of 26,610 antigen tests were positive. More than have been jabbed with the first Covid vaccine shot. President Zuzana Caputova has signed a law on Covid passes , meaning that the European digital green passes meant to simplify travel in the EU should be completely ready in Slovakia as of July 1.

, meaning that the European digital green passes meant to simplify travel in the EU should be completely ready in Slovakia as of People in Slovakia interested in being inoculated with the Russian vaccine Sputnik V have time only until Wednesday, June 30 to register.

have time only until to register. 190 general practitioners and paediatricians have registered for vaccinating at their place of practice so far.

have registered for vaccinating at their so far. Bratislava is the only city in Slovakia that may reach collective immunity, i.e. 75 percent of its inhabitants being fully vaccinated, said Mayor Matus Vallo, and called on Bratislavans to get vaccinated. Currently, 52.5 percent of the citys inhabitants have been administered the first shot.

in Slovakia that may reach collective immunity, i.e. 75 percent of its inhabitants being fully vaccinated, said Mayor Matus Vallo, and called on Bratislavans to get vaccinated. Currently, of the citys inhabitants have been administered the first shot. Russia has become a black-tier country based on the current valid travelling traffic light system used by Slovakia. It means that every incomer from the country must register with the eHranica online form and self-isolate until receiving a negative test result (the test can be taken 8 days from arrival).

on the current valid travelling traffic light system used by Slovakia. It means that every incomer from the country must register with the eHranica online form and self-isolate until receiving a negative test result (the test can be taken 8 days from arrival). People travelling from Slovakia to Switzerland are no longer required to self-isolate.

Trnava carmaker will invest in e-car models

The representatives of the Trnava-based carmaker Stellantis Slovakia and the members of the Slovak cabinet introduced new investment. (Source: TASR)

Stellantis Slovakia, based in Trnava, has announced the largest investment since its arrival to the Slovak market.

The carmaker plans to invest 180 million into its new production programme, which will include mostly electric and hybrid vehicles. The preparations should start in the second half of this year, but most of the work will be carried out throughout next year. The new production is scheduled for 2023.

For now, the carmaker does not want to specify the car brands or models it will manufacture.

The state will provide the plant with investment aid, but the government representative have not specified it yet.

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Picture of the day

At precisely 6:00 on Monday, June 28, designer Stefan Klein safely landed his AirCar at the Bratislava airport. It was a comfortable flight; the weather was beautiful, everything worked well, said Klein after the smooth landing. He added that it took him some 25 minutes to fly 80 km from Nitra with little circling above Senec, where the D1 highway was clogged with cars during morning rush hour.

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fletiskobratislava%2Fvideos%2F966300590876033%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0

Feature story for today

Theoretical physicist Samuel Kovacik is attempting to show the wider public that physics does not have to be some abstract otherworldly thing, but something that can bring joy, even if you do not work in the field. His Vedator (Scientist) project soared in popularity during the pandemic, which explained many topics related to Covid in a friendly way. His activities reach much farther, though.

Big Bang Theory in Slovakia: Young physicist making science cool Read more

In other news

24 people received state decorations from President Zuzana Caputova on June 27, on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the creation of independent Slovakia.

from President Zuzana Caputova on June 27, on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the creation of independent Slovakia. Finance Minister Igor Matovic (OLaNO) will be another cabinet member to face an ousting attempt , after 39 opposition MPs supported a proposal to initiate a special parliamentary session to remove him from the post.

will be another cabinet member to face , after 39 opposition MPs supported a proposal to initiate a special parliamentary session to remove him from the post. Marian Kocner , sentenced for forging promissory notes and facing charges in the Kuciak murder case, has been accused of making preparations for the murders of Maros Zilinka (current general prosecutor), Daniel Lipsic (current special prosecutor), and Peter Sufliarsky. The law enforcement bodies brought the charges after the Supreme Court cancelled the verdict in the Kuciak case against both Kocner and his alleged decoy, Alena Zsuzsova.

, sentenced for forging promissory notes and facing charges in the Kuciak murder case, of Maros Zilinka (current general prosecutor), Daniel Lipsic (current special prosecutor), and Peter Sufliarsky. The law enforcement bodies brought the charges after the Supreme Court cancelled the verdict in the Kuciak case against both Kocner and his alleged decoy, Alena Zsuzsova. A fire broke out in the wood waste shredder plant in Bratislavas Petrzalka borough, and spread to nearby parked vehicles. About 20 firefighters arrived to the site. The fire was probably caused by a technical failure, according to the police.

The second case of the African swine fever was uncovered in the Lucenec-based Agrospol pig farm, meaning that they had to kill the entire herd consisting of more than 7,000 pigs. (Dennik E)

was uncovered in the Lucenec-based pig farm, meaning that they had to kill the entire herd consisting of more than 7,000 pigs. (Dennik E) The Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute has issued several warnings for the coming two days. Nearly all Slovakia (except for the northern districts) should prepare for extremely high temperatures, while the north may be struck by storms on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the southern districts of central Slovakia and the entire eastern Slovakia should brace for high temperatures.

Weather warnings for June 29 and 30, 2021. (Source: SHMU)

More on Spectator.sk:

Slovakia has to return more than 50 million to Brussels Read more

Defence Ministry fails to justify the purchase of F-16 fighter jets Read more

Slovak game changers: Happy brothers, rose lady, and Panna Cinka Read more

If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk.

28. Jun 2021 at 18:14 | Radka Minarechova
Driver Nick Steward secured a pocket trip with Ben Baillargeon trainee Jumpshot, pounced in the stretch and scored at the finish at odds of 23-1 in the $13,000 Preferred 2 Trot at Georgian Downs on Sunday (June 27).

Sicario set the tempo through a clip of :28, :57.4 and 1:25.1 with mid-race pressure coming from Veyron, who carried 7-5 favourite The Fixer in tow with a lap to go. Veyron failed to menace and stalled around the final turn while Jumpshot sprung from second with fresh legs and nailed Sicario by three-quarter lengths in 1:54.3. Profound Paragon rallied for third with Arrakis taking fourth.

Returning $49.90 to win, Jumpshot competes for owner Michel Gaboury. The five-year-old E L Titan gelding won his first race from 12 starts and his seventh from 65 overall, earning $197,163.

To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Georgian Downs.
Despite being dispatched as the second longest shot on the board, 51-1 roughie Last Gunfighter vaulted past Breeders Crown champion Sandbetweenmytoes in deep stretch to win Sunday's (June 27) $16,200 pacing feature at Harrah's Philadelphia.

Last Gunfighter was 15 lengths off the lead at race's midpoint while Sandbetweenmytoes ripped through a :52.4 first half. As Lyons King advanced through the far turn to challenge Sandbetweenmytoes  and as the second flight worked steadily closer to a three-horse breakaway, Todd McCarthy pointed Last Gunfighter four-wide off the home turn. The 7-year-old Rocknroll Hanover gelding lifted steadily upon cornering, surging to the lead five steps before the end of a 1:49 mile. Sandbetweenmytoes narrowly held second over Lyons King.

Joe Columbo trains Last Gunfighter for George & Tina Dennis Racing.

Todd McCarthy and Tim Tetrick drove three winners apiece on the 14-race card.

Racing returns to Harrah's Philadelphia on Wednesday (June 30). First post is 12:25 p.m. (EDT).

(Harrah's Philadelphia)
It was only fitting that a conversation with Aiden Reynolds would take place on a picture-perfect day.

With the temperature hovering around 24 degrees Celsius, and a few clouds passing over barns at Golden Horseshoe Lanes in Millgrove, Ont., the 19-year-old was hard at work in Standardbred trainer Eddie Greens stable, tending to an assortment of pacers and trotters.

I cant complain about the weather, said Reynolds. Its a great day. But even if it was raining or it was cold, I wouldnt mind either. This isnt work to me. If you love what you do, it never feels like work.

That sunny disposition has served the jack-of-all-trades horseman well over his relatively short time in racing.

Although his family, who call Nova Scotia home, doesnt have any first-hand connection to the sport, Reynolds mother is friends with well-known Maritimer and Standardbred owner Simon Poirier.

That association eventually led to a first for Reynolds.

Simon Poirier, and people like Walter Walker, who are in the sport, they actually let me jog my first horse when I was back out east a few summers ago. I just loved it. That was such a great feeling and it really gave me a clear picture of what I wanted to do, to be a part of this industry.

A subsequent trip to Ontario and a meeting with another prominent horse racing figure further spurred Reynolds interest in pursuing a horse racing career.

Soon after, he was on the fast track to working with some of the sports most accomplished trainers.

I met [trainer] Janice Hubbard when I went to see the Confederation Cup a few years ago. I started helping her out for a couple of months and one day, her and I went over to see Dr. Ian Moore. I started doing stalls for him for two summers. When he went to Florida in the winter, I went to work for Richard Moreau. I worked with Richard for about a year and a half, and then I went to work for Teesha Symes for over a year. She went to Ohio and then I started working for Eddie Green. Ive been with him since then.

Having a rails-eye view to learn from some top-tier talent has been a game changer for Reynolds.

As for how hed define his role in the Green barn, Reynolds response doesnt get into specifics, opting instead for, I do a little bit of everything.

Working for Green has opened the doors, or perhaps more appropriately, gait, to work with a bigger mix of racehorses.

I would say one of the really interesting things that Ive experienced working with Eddie is that he has trotters. A lot of the people I worked for in the past didnt have trotters. So, going from all pacers to being around trotters has been a really fun part of what I do. Its fun for me, especially at a young age, to learn about all of that. Pacers arent as complicated as trotters, so it really helps you gain a fuller understanding of the horses.

It also makes coming in early in the morning well worth the trek.

Simply put, theres no place else Reynolds, who spends afternoons doing maintenance jobs around the Golden Lane property, would rather be.

Growing up, I always wanted to be around horses. I never consider any of what I do to be work. Its a lifestyle. I feel very connected to the horses and whenever they race, no matter what happens, I feel proud when I watch them compete. Theyre like your family.

Reynolds, who owns Fastball Seelster (a son of State Treasurer) with Symes and her parents, has built a bond with every horse  even claimers who have had a short stay in his care  that hes worked with.

All of them, he offered, are special.

Some, like Rockin In Heaven, a now 9-year-old son of Rock N Roll Heaven, leave a lasting impression.

I used to get really nervous when hed race. Hes just an awesome horse. Hell always have a special place in my heart.

And then there is All Day Sunshine, a 4-year-old daughter of Sunshine Beach who was a $6,000 Lexington Select Sale purchase in 2018.

Owned by Kenneth Ashba, the brown mare has bankrolled just shy of $250,000 over a 41-race career.

I had her for a month or two for Richard Moreau and the first start we ever raced her together, she went out and won the Gold [Series] for two-year-old pacing fillies. That was very special to me. He trusted me with her and she went out and won that race. I have the picture hanging up in my room.

Reynolds, who enjoys dirt biking with his friends in his free time, hopes to have horses like her in his own barn one day.

I would love to go out on my own one day and have five or six horses of my own to start. I want to be a driver, thats always been a goal of mine. Im just studying all the rules and all the races I can, and one day, hopefully, that dream comes true.

Hell look the part when that moment does come.

Its kind of a funny story. Richard Moreau, I would warm up his horses, but I didnt have any colours. So, he looked at me one night when we were at Mohawk, and said, Ill pay for your spring/fall winter suit, but you just have to use my colours and you can pick any design you want. At the time, I didnt want to accept the offer. But he insisted, which was very nice of him. So, I have green, black and white. Thats the way it came to be. Everyone at the track likes to bug me that I didnt pay for my colours. But thats okay. Its all in good fun.

Fun is perhaps the best way to describe how Reynolds views his horse racing life.

He doesnt see that ever changing.

Every day Im at the barn or at the races, its a good day. Its a really good feeling to have.

(Ontario Racing)
The commitment of generations of dedicated soil scientists in maintaining and managing the historic Knorr-Holden Plot near Scottsbluff for more than a century came to fruition in a recently published manuscript in Agronomy Journal.

The lead author of the manuscript, Bijesh Maharjan, is an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Department of Agronomy and Horticulture and currently manages the Knorr-Holden Plot. He is the soil and nutrient management specialist at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center at Scottsbluff.

The history of the Knorr-Holden Plot goes back to early settlement in the Nebraska Panhandle. It is told in some detail in a 2010 booklet published on the centennial of the Panhandle Research and Extension Center:

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation brought large-scale irrigation to western Nebraska and southeastern Wyoming by constructing the North Platte Project  one of the early projects undertaken under the 1092 Reclamation Act. To learn about irrigated agriculture, in 1910 the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with the Nebraska Experiment Station, created the Scottsbluff Experiment Substation on 160 acres of unclaimed land 6 miles east of Mitchell.
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Community college seems like an oasis of affordable opportunity: Its cheap! Its nearby! And you can just see the number in your bank account ballooning with the salary boost from your new degree or certificate! But proceed with caution. Without a strategy, community college can also be a bonfire of wasted time and money.

The key, says Pamela Eddy, a professor of higher education at William and Mary, is to articulate your motivations and goals, and then  this is the hard part  see if they realistically line up with a community college program near you. If youre keen on enrolling, do so for one of these five reasons, which typically provide the most bang for your buck:

1. You want to nail down an avocation

Not sure whether youd like nursing or pipefitting or paralegaling? Community college is the place to affordably sort that out. We often see first-time college students that are coming directly out of high school, unsure of the area that they want to go into, so they go to a community college to experiment and take a number of different courses to figure out where that fit is, Eddy says.

2. You need a workplace credential or skill
Excerpt from yearly report of activities by F. Scarr Morrison, Iredell Co. veterans service officer. Of particular note was the plan now operating for farm training. The plan was originally promoted by the Iredell office and has been accepted over the entire state. (7/2)

Few injuries were reported in the Battle of the Bread Line here today despite the fact that local housewives turned out almost en masse to get some loaves to tide their families over the fourth of July. Grocery store shelves were bare of the staff of life by 9 A.M. (7/3)

In riding over the city one notices several trees that appear to be dying for some reason or the other. It has been quite dry here but not enough to cause a tree to die. Wonder whats killing the trees? (7/4)

One hundred years ago:

Landmark, June 30 and July 4, 1921.

Mr. R.P. Allison, Federal prohibition agent, has resigned his position effective at the close of business today. He has been in the employ of the government for the past six years. Mr. Allison will be located at Newberry, S.C., he having bought a bottling plant there. (6/30)
Editors note: Information is provided by the Cowlitz County Corrections Department and local law enforcement agencies. Each individual named in this report is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Criminal impersonation  Woodland police Friday arrested Thomas Chandler Miller, 30, of Longview on suspicion of first-degree criminal impersonation and being a fugitive from justice.

Assault, violating a protection order  Longview police Saturday arrested Angie May Spears, 44, of Longview on suspicion of fourth-degree assault and violating a protection order.

Assault, DUI  Longview police Sunday arrested Hunter Jaydee Nelson, 22, of Vancouver on suspicion of second-degree assault, driving under the influence, hit and run unattended, third-degree malicious mischief and harassment.

Criminal impersonation, drugs  Castle Rock police Sunday arrested Dylon Lee Favro, 28, of Chehalis on suspicion of first-degree criminal impersonation, driving with a suspended license and possession with intent.
Lopez Werth said the council used the grant to hire people who are bilingual, speaking English and Spanish or Chuukese. Language has been a barrier, as well as confusion over eligibility, finding time to get the vaccine and concerns about citizenship and health insurance, she said.

Weve made it clear that it doesnt matter if you are a citizen or what your immigration status is, Lopez Werth said. You dont need ID or insurance. Its just show up and you can get a vaccination.

At the clinics, the staff and volunteers welcome people and make them feel comfortable, Lopez Werth said. For those with limited English, translators help the medical staff ask registration questions, review health information and explain to attendees what is going on.

When Annette Sinem brought her brothers to the vaccine clinic at St. Rose in early May, she left with a job as a vaccine outreach specialist for the council. Sinem, who speaks Chuukese and English, was translating for people at the clinic, she said.

Sinem said she enjoys helping people and has been encouraging others in the Chuukese community to get the vaccine.

Its good to get vaccinated to get rid of these masks and so well all be safe, she said.
Nearman, who police say let protesters inside the building, has argued the Capitol should be open.

But even Republicans, who are often opposed to Democratic initiatives on climate change and some other bills, said the crowd outside the Capitol that day was not made up of constituents who wanted to peacefully engage in the democratic process. Some were carrying guns.

In the House and Senate, where Democrats hold strong majorities, the GOP used slowing tactics  refusing to suspend the full reading of proposed bills aloud before a final vote, a maneuver that added hours to the passage of even simple bipartisan legislation  to thwart legislation they didnt like.

In response, hours worth of bills were read by computer rather than clerks.

For the past two years, Republican state senators staged walkouts to deny the chamber a quorum. During the debate over measures that ban guns from the Capitol and mandate the safe storage of guns, five Republican senators did not attend. However, six did. The GOP senators that attended have since faced death threats and recall petitions from their own party.

Guns were not the only topic that drew passionate statements from lawmakers this session  especially in a year with a deadly pandemic and racial awakening.
MWC Barcelona 2021 Livestream Updates: This year's Mobile World Congress is already off to a promising start, with Qualcomm announcing its Snapdragon 888 Plus processor that will power upcoming flagship Android smartphones. Later today, Samsung is set to make announcements related to its Galaxy ecosystem of connected devices, smartwatches, as well as its security system Knox. While Samsung usually launches hardware during a Galaxy Unpacked event, it looks like Samsung could launch a new smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch 4 during this event.

From the company's upcoming Galaxy Watch 4 that is rumoured to arrive today, to announcements about the company's Knox security platform, you can keep track of all of Samsung's announcements at its Galaxy MWC Virtual Event at Mobile World Congress 2021 here.

11:15 PM | MWC Barcelona 2021 Livestream Updates: Galaxy Upcycling gets a boost

Samsung has also updated its Galaxy Upcycling program so make its older devices more useful for consumers so they don't throw them away so quickly. This includes pushing software updates to older Galaxy devices that will let them work as smart home devices like light sensors and baby or pet monitors, while the company also works on improving its packaging to be more sustainable. We've previously covered the company's efforts as part of the program and you can read more about it here.

11:12 PM | MWC Barcelona 2021 Livestream Updates: Samsung discusses evolution of Samsung Knox, Knox Vault

Samsung's powerful new Knox Vault and Knox Vault Storage which featured on the company's Galaxy S21 devices. The company details the improvements made to its platform, including a partnership with IBM and Secusmart to enhance its platform security on its hardware offerings. Samsung is also working towards secure digital IDs with its eID system, according to the company.

11:01 PM | MWC Barcelona 2021 Livestream Updates: Samsung reveals more details about its upcoming Galaxy Watches

Samsung has confirmed that its upcoming Galaxy Watches will come with the new Wear OS created in partnership with Google. Settings will look more come closer to the company's One UI interface on its smartphones. Apps will also download to the watch automatically and blocked numbers will also sync to the wearable devices. The company will reveal more at its upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event.

Samsung says it will continue to support older Tizen smartwatches, which will be updated to the new Wear OS. (Samsung)

10:51 PM | MWC Barcelona 2021 Livestream Updates: Samsung discusses innovation in Samsung Galaxy ecosystem

Samsung executives discuss the company's software-hardware integration across its ecosystem, including the Galaxy Watch, the Galaxy smartphones, the Galaxy Tab, the Galaxy Book and much more. The company is highlighting some of the technology Samsung has added over the past year.

10:42 PM | MWC Barcelona 2021 Livestream Updates: Samsung might also reveal details about its upcoming foldable devices

A great deal of coverage has been focused on Samsung's upcoming foldable devices, the rumoured Galaxy Z Flip 3 nd the Galaxy Z Fold 3. These devices are widely considered two of the most noteworthy foldable devices that could arrive this year, but will we see them at the event? The teaser for the event sows a silhouette of a foldable device, which means anything is possible .

10:35 PM | MWC Barcelona 2021 Livestream Updates: Samsung Galaxy MWC Virtual Event about to begin

With less than 10 minutes to go for the official live stream to begin, it's time to tune in to Samsung's live stream to keep track of all the latest updates coming to the company's products and services. You can tune into the live event by visiting the company's live stream of the event on YouTube.

10:09 PM | MWC Barcelona 2021 Livestream Updates: The upcoming Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 - what we know so far

We have previously reported that the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 could be launched in two sizes  42mm and 46mm. The company could launch the Galaxy Watch 4 in both Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi + LTE models which could be powered by a 240mAh battery. According to leaks and various reports, the new wearable smartwatch could come in four colour variants  black, silver, dark green and rose gold. It could also support NFC connectivity. On the durability front, the Galaxy Watch 4 is expected to come with water resistance up to 5ATM, Corning Gorilla Glass DX+ protection, and MIL-STD 810G durability certification.

9:30 PM | MWC Barcelona 2021 Livestream Updates: Samsung could announce the Galaxy Watch 4 today

The South Korean tech giant could introduce the rumoured Galaxy Watch 4, the first watch from the company expected to sport the new hybrid between Samsung's in-house Tizen OS and Googles Wear OS. Earlier today, we reported that the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 support pages have gone live on the company's India, Caribbean and Russian websites, which point toward the wearable's imminent launch.
MWC 2021 Barcelona: Mobile World Congress is happening this year, but in a hybrid form. MWC 2021, being held in Barcelona, will be a mix of an in-person event and a series of virtual events. The company will be hosting its virtual event later tonight. Samsung live stream will be available to all. Samsung MWC 2021 dates or schedule is provided below and those interested can know how, when and where to watch it. The company is expected to launch new devices and showcase how the Galaxy ecosystem of connected devices is set to provide people with even greater possibilities for enriching their lifestyles. Samsung hasnt revealed what exactly it will unveil at MWC 2021 but it has dropped some hints.

MWC 2021 Barcelona: How and when to watch Samsungs virtual event live stream - dates / schedule

Samsung in its event announcement mentioned that it will also be unveiling its vision for the future of smartwatches. This platform will also create opportunities for developers and users for a new era of smartwatch experiences. Samsung will also share its latest security enhancements and innovations for user protection. The event poster also features a Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Flip and a Galaxy smartphone hinting at the possibility of new device launches. Theres also a picture of Samsung Knox, its security platform.

Were expecting a couple of announcements by Samsung at MWC 2021 but the highlight could be a new smartwatch. There have been rumours about the Galaxy Watch 4 and more importantly that it will be the first Samsung smartwatch to drop the Tizen OS. The new Samsung smartwatch will run Googles Wear OS coupled with Tizen OS features. This would be a result of Samsung and Google working together for the customised software. Samsung said the next Galaxy Watch will support Google Play Store apps including Google Maps, Gmail, and YouTube. The Galaxy Watch 4 may not launch at this event but the announcement of the new software could happen tonight.
Back in April, reports suggested that vivo is working on a new model to the X60 series - the X60T Pro. We're still not too sure if that particular variant is coming. However, vivo has launched another variant called the vivo X60T Pro+.

According to MySmartPrice, the vivo X60T Pro+ comes equipped with the Snapdragon 888 chipset. It also has up to 12GB of RAM, up to 256GB of internal storage, and a 4200mAh battery. On the front, you'll find a fairly large 6.56-inch AMOLED display that has a resolution of 2376x1080, a max refresh rate of 120Hz, and a peak brightness of 1300nits.

The highlight of the phone has to be the rear quad-camera setup, which consists of a 50MP main sensor, 48MP wide-angle lens, 12MP portrait lens, and an 8MP periscope lens. As for the front, there's an equally impressive 32MP camera. Overall, this variant is very similar to the X60 Pro and X60 Pro+ but has a more powerful chipset and rear cameras.

If you are interested, you can check out the prices for the vivo X60T Pro+ below. We don't know if vivo plans to launch this in Malaysia, but expect to hear an announcement soon. With that said, what do you think about this particular variant? Let us know in the comments, and stay tuned to TechNave for more news like this.
Nearly all Danish media including the public TV stations have joined together to negotiate collectively.

Denmark's main media outlets said Monday they are banding together to negotiate copyright payments for news content used by tech platforms such as Google and Facebook.

In 2019, an EU directive gave media rights to be compensated for links to their content by web giants in order to ensure better compensation for creators of news content.

France was the first to incorporate this right into national law, but so far only a few French media have reached bilateral deals with Google on so-called "neighbouring rights".

In Denmark, nearly all media including the public TV stations have joined together to negotiate collectively.

"The collective bargaining organisation can give the Danish media industry bigger bargaining power," said Stig Oerskov, CEO of JP-Politikens Hus, the leading Danish print media group.

"Often the big techs sign non-transparent separate agreements, they use a divide and conquer strategy and what we hope to achieve is a collective agreement that will be beneficial for the whole industry," Oerskov told AFP.

The collective bargaining organisation will be officially launched on Friday and Oerskov said he expected negotiations to begin soon as informal contacts with Google have already taken place.

"Our main request is for big tech companies to pay a fair share (of the cost) of the news content created by Danish media they use and take advantage of," said Oerskov.

Google and Facebook fought the creation of neighbouring rights in Europe, saying the use of snippets of news stories on search results and news pages helped send readers to the sites of media outlets.

News media, on the other hand, said Google and Facebook had sucked most ads away from them, and that they received no compensation for the use of the snippets although tech platforms generated advertising revenue by using them.

Google told AFP it would respect the decision of Danish media to negotiate collectively.

"We will respect the way that Danish publishers choose to negotiate, and have already offered to start discussions with them, with the goal of reaching fair and reasonable agreements in line with the law," the company said.

AFP is currently in negotiations with Google over neighbouring rights.

Explore further Australia watchdog suggests news boycott of Google, Facebook

 2021 AFP
"We are back to business," Mats Granryd, director general of the industry association that stages the congress, the GSMA, said in an opening address.

A scaled-back version of the world's biggest mobile telecommunications fair got underway Monday in Spain under tight virus controls, with top firms avoiding an in-person presence after the pandemic derailed last year's edition.

Spain's King Felipe V and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez were on hand for the opening of the four-day Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, one of the first big technology conferences staged in Europe since the start of the pandemic.

"We are back to business, we are back to Barcelona, we are back together," Mats Granryd, director general of the industry association that stages the congress, the GSMA, said in an opening address.

The event, which is usually held in February, is taking place this year both in-person at Barcelona's main conference centre as well as digitally, with an online appearance by tech billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday among the highlights.

Participants will only be allowed into the congress if they have a negative COVID-19 test result which is less than 72 hours old and will have to sign a daily declaration that they are in good health.

People lined up outside a testing site at the congress throughout the day to determine if they could be allowed in.

Once inside they must wear medical-grade FFP2 face masks at all timeslighter surgical masks are not allowedand follow a one-way walking system, although arrows on the floor indicating which direction to follow were largely ignored.

Organisers have limited attendance to 50,000 as part of virus control measures, compared with a normal attendance of around 100,000. They expect 30,000-35,000 people to actually attend.

'Bit of reluctance'

"It's a great success on the part of organisers to be able to stage the event. Even if there was a bit of reluctance on the part of firms and visitors to come," said Samuel Norca, a mobile consultant with US firm Amplitude who came from Paris for the congress.

The fair occupies just three halls of the congress centre this year, compared to eight in the past, with hand sanitiser dispensers distributed throughout the site.

Many major firms like Samsung, the world's top smartphone maker, Nokia, Google and Facebook have pulled out of the in-person event, citing virus concerns although some will take part virtually.

China's beleaguered Huawei, whose smartphone business has been battered by US sanctions, will be the biggest handset maker with a physical presence at the show alongside telecoms operators such as Orange and Telefonica.

Unlike in other years, no major phonemaker is scheduled to present a new flagship device at the event, although some smaller Chinese firms unveiled new devices.

Chinese electronics manufacturer TCL showcased its new budget smartphone while Lenovo presented several new tablets.

Rising sales

The congress comes as global smartphone sales are rebounding after slumping in 2020 due to the economic havoc caused by the pandemic.

Global smartphone sales fell by 5.9 percent in 2020 to a total of 1.29 billion units, its fourth straight year of declines, according to research firm IDC.

But IDC forecasts they will increase by 7.7 percent this year, and continue to rise until 2025 due to pent-up demand for a new device in rich nations and a faster than expected recovery in key emerging markets.

The greater availability of super-fast 5G wireless networks is also expected to encourage consumers to purchase new smartphones.

By the end of 2025 more than two in five people around the world will live within reach of a 5G network, the GSMA said in a new report published Monday to coincide with the start of the congress.

Global tech show CES, held annually in January in Las Vegas, was held virtually this year because of the pandemic.

Organisers of the IFA consumer technology trade fair in Berlin have cancelled their September event, saying the pandemic made it impossible to stage an in-person show.

Explore further Global mobile congress to return with over 30,000 people

 2021 AFP
Samsung needs to broaden and deepen its commitment if it is going to have a genuine impact in the fight against climate change, campaign group Greenpeace said.

Smartphone and chip giant Samsung Electronics' fulfilment of a headline-grabbing pledge to switch to renewable energy in the US, China and Europe accounts for less than 20 percent of its global electricity use, environmentalists Greenpeace said Tuesday.

The firm needs to broaden and deepen its commitment if it is going to have a genuine impact in the fight against climate change, the campaign group said in a report, urging it to take similar steps in more countries within "aggressive timeframes".

The company is the flagship subsidiary of the Samsung group, by far the biggest of the family-controlled conglomerates that dominate business in South Korea, the world's 12th-largest economy.

In 2018, Samsung Electronics promised to source all of its energy use in the US, China and Europe from renewables within two years, a target it said in March it had met.

But renewables only accounted for 17.6 percent of the firm's global energy mix in 2020, Greenpeace said, highlighting that its two key production hubsSouth Korea and Vietnamwere not included in the original commitment.

The two countries account for around 80 percent of Samsung Electronics' worldwide electricity consumption and in both of them it "depended heavily on fossil fuels", Greenpeace said in its report, which was based on disclosures and statistics from Samsung itself.

Chart showing the growth and proportion of power consumption in the information and communication technology sector.

In the South, Samsung has its own solar panels and geothermal power facilities, but they generated only "a tiny fraction" of its gigantic 17 TWh electricity usage there last yearmore than 70 percent of the firm's global consumption.

Samsung Electronics is among the South's biggest consumers of electricity and the situation presents a challenge for President Moon Jae-in's goal of the country becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

It is an ambitious target given that according to the International Energy Agency only around six percent of the South's electricity came from renewables in 2020.

But Samsung Electronics is not among the more than 300 global corporationsincluding its biggest smartphone rival Applethat have signed up to the RE100 pledge committing to use only renewable electricity, Greenpeace pointed out.

"Samsung has demonstrated that they can achieve 100 percent renewable energy in a short period in the US, Europe, and China," said Hyunsook Lee of Greenpeace.

"It is essential to set a 100 percent renewable energy conversion goal in Korea and Vietnam, which are vulnerable to climate crisis."

Explore further Samsung joins global pledge to increase renewable energy use

 2021 AFP
Fig. 1: Transformation pathways emerge over time. Conceptualisation of sustainability transformation pathways as an unfolding series of fuzzy action moments. a Standing in the shoes of a planner suggests a range of feasibility considerations for action in a given moment, while b pathways of transformation may (or may not) emerge from the cumulation of a series of fuzzy action moments over time. From: Finding feasible action towards urban transformations

Cities want to become more sustainable but bringing that ambition to life can be quite the challenge. Academics have to work together with urban planners to help realize sustainability transformations. But when transformation does take place, it is unlikely to come from a single radical moment of change; instead, it requires persistent small steps over time. There is always an opportunity to take such a step, according to Professor of Environmental Law Niko Soininen and collaborators. Their new paper on the challenge of finding feasible action for urban transformation was published in Urban Sustainability.

According to the researchers, transformative action needs to navigate political, social and legal feasibility. Urban planners constantly face these dilemmas, and academics may easily overlook them. But plans can run into problems, derailing promising opportunities for sustainability.

"This happened to, for example, a project in Helsinki that wanted to convert roads into green city boulevards; it encountered problems in all three areas. There were political problems, due to coalitions trying to stop the project, there were social problems because the project went against what local residents were used to, and there were legal problems where required legal provisions clashed with the project plans, among other things," Soininen and colleagues say.

Linking science and action

These obstacles make it difficult to sustainably transform a city in one fell swoop.

"Academics are often closely involved in debates on urban sustainability, but we need to get better at putting ourselves in the shoes of urban planners to find pragmatic responses to real-world dilemmas," says Soininen and colleagues.

Credit: University of Eastern Finland

Seeing as sustainable urban transformations are difficult to plan, the researchers argue that real transformation is more likely to happen through multiple changes that accumulate over time.

"City planners make decisions in their everyday work, and may be able to do things like nudging budgetary decisions and persuading other key decision-makers, which may not be obvious from the outside but can be very important for securing durable changes," Soininen and colleagues illustrate.

"The path ahead may be foggy, but we have to accept this and find ways to join up diverse actions to enable a transformative pathway to emerge."

Explore further Researchers map how people in cities get a health boost from nature

More information: James Patterson et al, Finding feasible action towards urban transformations, npj Urban Sustainability (2021). James Patterson et al, Finding feasible action towards urban transformations,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s42949-021-00029-7
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As I pointed out last week, we are marching through summer with two sets of habits: some good, some bad. Some of these habits existed before the pandemic and some were established during. This situation is sure to affect behavioral standards in the months and years ahead. However, at present, we cannot say exactly how. As for how the ordeal of the pandemic has affected the publics mental health, some experts believe that the long-term impact will not be fully known for decades. The only certainty seems to be that we are not emerging from COVID as the same people we were 15 or 16 months ago.

As for mental health, the challenges we are facing are becoming clearer. Recently reported by USA Today, college grads are entering their professional lives depressed and anxious. Numerous studies conducted since last March have shown that depression has spiked among college-age young adults, writes Lindsay Schnell. The fact that these graduates must now join the workforce without the free or cheap mental health care services available at college has many economists worried.

People need to understand: This is not your dads college experience. Students today are under a lot of pressure, says Tiffany OMeara, a psychologist with the University of California, San Diegos Counseling and Psychological Services.
Also on Friday, Biden named Jessica Stern as a special diplomatic envoy at the State Department for LGBTQ rights. Her responsibilities will involve ensuring that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect LGBTQ rights around the world. Stern is currently executive director of OutRight Action International, which defends human rights and works to prevent abuses of LGBTQ people.

In her new role, Stern will help put in place a presidential memorandum to advance the rights of LGBTQ people as well as bring together like-minded governments, nonprofits and corporations to uphold equality and dignity, according to the White House.

The focus also carries personal resonance for many in the Biden administration. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House's principal deputy press secretary, tweeted out her own story Friday about coming out to her mother at the age of 16 and the revolted look in response that left her sexuality a family secret for many years.

"I'm proud to be an out Black Queer woman and I have been for quite some time," she wrote. "I'm happy to say, my Mother is now proud of ALL of who I am; she loves my partner and she loves being a doting grandmother to the daughter we are raising."

Jean-Pierre added that her journey toward acceptance was not easy, but it was worthwhile.
Hence my call for term limits of more than two decades service, e.g., four terms in the Senate and 10 to 12 in the House. Such limits need vetting, of course; perhaps three or even five terms would work in the Senate, or, as advocated by Rep. Bill Frenzel 50 years ago, nine terms in the House. Only passing consideration need be given to limits instead on party leadership positions, since they would do nothing about long tenures other problems and would remain comparatively easy to change  by self-interested veteran legislators. As for exceptions for future lions of the Senate, like the nine-term Ted Kennedy, very few could be allowed if necessary politically, but they could be considered later in the review process.
Richwood, TX (77531)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early followed by scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 74F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early followed by scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 74F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Microsoft on Friday said it's investigating an incident wherein a driver signed by the company turned out to be a malicious Windows rootkit that was observed communicating with command-and-control (C2) servers located in China.

The driver, called "Netfilter," is said to target gaming environments, specifically in the East Asian country, with the Redmond-based firm noting that "the actor's goal is to use the driver to spoof their geo-location to cheat the system and play from anywhere."

"The malware enables them to gain an advantage in games and possibly exploit other players by compromising their accounts through common tools like keyloggers," Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) said.

It's worth pointing out that Netfilter also refers to a legitimate software package, which enables packet filtering and network address translation for Linux based systems.

Microsoft dubbed the malware "Retliften," alluding to "netfilter" but spelled backwards, adding the malicious driver can intercept network traffic, add new root certificates, set a new proxy server, and modify internet settings without a user's consent.

The rogue code signing was spotted by Karsten Hahn, a malware analyst at German cybersecurity company G Data, who shared additional details of the rootkit, including a dropper, which is used to deploy and install Netfilter on the system.

Upon successful installation, the driver was found to establish connection with a C2 server to retrieve configuration information, which offered a number of functionalities such as IP redirection, among other capabilities to receive a root certificate and even self-update the malware.

The oldest sample of Netfilter detected on VirusTotal dates back to March 17, 2021, Hahn said.

Microsoft noted that the actor submitted the driver for certification through the Windows Hardware Compatibility Program (WHCP), and that the drivers were built by a third-party. The company has since suspended the account and reviewed its submissions for additional signs of malware.

The Windows maker also stressed that the techniques employed in the attack occur post-exploitation, which necessitates that the adversary must have had previously gained administrative privileges so as to be able to install the driver during system startup or trick the user into doing it on their behalf.

Additionally, Microsoft said it intends to refine its partner access policies as well as its validation and signing process to enhance protections further.

"The security landscape continues to rapidly evolve as threat actors find new and innovative methods to gain access to environments across a wide range of vectors," MSRC said, once again highlighting how the trust associated with signed drivers can be exploited by threat actors to facilitate large-scale software supply chain attacks.
She said for many of her patients who were going for cardiac and pulmonary rehab, the uncertainty and stress caused by the pandemic was hard on them as they were confined to their homes and had no access to the hospitals rehab programs and equipment.

Not being able to attend to her patients and helping at the hospital and community in battling the virus, also created stress for Lierman.

But, being a nurse for 30 years, along with her personal commitment and compassion to help others, Lierman dealt with the stress, like so many courageous health care workers had to do during the pandemic.

We help everyone, she said. That is what we need to do and it is the right thing to do. Whatever we can do to help promote health and wellness ... emotional, physical, everything.

In nominating Lierman for the honor, it was said of her, Kathy comes to work with a smile and humor that is contagious for her patients and coworkers.

Along with her faith and good core values when it comes serving others, Lierman also credited St. Francis, which she said has an atmosphere of compassionate healing for all people.
The Supreme Court on Monday left in place a decision that allowed a transgender student to use the bathroom that corresponded to his gender identity, a victory for the LGBTQ community that has been fearful the high court would take up the case and reverse a lower court opinion.

The case concerns the scope of Title IX that prohibits schools from discriminating "on the basis of sex." It began when Gavin Grimm, a transgender male who was then a high-school student, challenged the local school board's decision to require him to use either a unisex restroom or a restroom that corresponds to the sex, female, he was assigned at birth.

Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito said they would have taken up the case for next term.

"I am glad that my years-long fight to have my school see me for who I am is over. Being forced to use the nurse's room, a private bathroom, and the girl's room was humiliating for me, and having to go to out-of-the-way bathrooms severely interfered with my education," Grimm said in a statement Monday.

"Trans youth deserve to use the bathroom in peace without being humiliated and stigmatized by their own school boards and elected officials," he added.
OMAHA  A Kearney man has been sentenced to 13 months in federal prison for distributing methamphetamine in Kearney.

Gordon Marcellus, 56, was sentenced Friday in U.S. Federal District Court in Omaha on one count of meth distribution of more than 50 grams in Kearney on May 17, 2019. On that day law enforcement served search warrants at three Kearney residences in the 1800 block of Avenue B where they found narcotics at each location.

The case was part of a joint investigation involving members of the Central Nebraska Drug and Safe Streets Task Force. In addition to Marcellus, three others were arrested in the case.

Court records say Marcellus will be allowed to participate in a residential treatment program.

Jennifer Burbach, 36, J.C. Hunt, 43, and Geoffrey Mazankowski, 46, all of Kearney, were arrested for felony possession of meth.

Charges against Mazankowski were dismissed in August 2019, without prejudice, which means they could be refiled.

Burbach was convicted of attempted possession of methamphetamine, and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, both infractions. She was placed on two years probation.
YORK  The Four Corners Health Department is reporting a surge of COVID-19 cases in York County and officials say two variants have been identified here.

The uptick, health officials say, is due to two separate outbreaks in the community, which are happening simultaneously. Several of the earlier test results have been sequenced, and two variants of concern were confirmed on Friday, June 25, including the Delta (B.1.617) and P1 (first seen in Brazil) variants. Both of these variants are more contagious and easily spread than the earlier COVID seen last winter. The most important action we can take at this moment is to get vaccinated so that these variants do not spread further into the community.

Between June 23 and 35, there were 18 new cases in the health district  16 were in York County.

The surge in new cases brings the cumulative case number here over the 1,800 mark  at 1,809.

The other two cases were in Polk County.

As of June 25, the total cumulative number of cases in the health district was 5,291. There were 38 new cases in the past two weeks with 36 of recorded in the past seven days.
Today, were able to announce partnerships with 41 colleges across 22 states plus a national online partner, including two in Nebraska. That number of partnerships will continue to grow.

Any of our 66,000-plus team members nationwide with us for at least six months, plus any number of their dependent children, can enroll so long as either the team member or one child participates at a time. We pay all tuition fees upfront, ensuring they need not worry about loans.

Our goal is to unlock rural Americas potential, and were OK if students pursue other opportunities for themselves after graduation. That builds community and strengthens hometowns.

As one of the nations leading food companies, with beef, pork, poultry, prepared foods and plant-based production facilities across America, we play a pivotal role in rural job creation, long-term capital investment, and through the billions of dollars we pay to farmers and ranchers that flow through to others, supporting the local economy.

Many of our team members are from first-generation American families. The dependable jobs we offer provide a path to the middle class, and a tuition-free college education offers them and their children another step up, promoting greater diversity, equity, and inclusion in society.
The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. Print edition not available for Day Pass option.
Barger pleaded guilty March 25 to the obstruction charge with the others being dropped, according to court document database Judici. He was sentenced to one day in jail with a credit of one day applied from his stay in jail. He was also sentenced to 24 months of probation, 30 hours of community service and was ordered to pay a fine.

June 3, prosecutors moved to "nolle prosequi"  or to drop  the case against Fish, also according to Judici court records.

Also charged with crimes relating to their work at Choate were: Mathew Wiseman, 28, of Marion, Johnny Brimm, 40, of Jonesboro, Dalton Anderson, 29, of Jonesboro, Bobby L. Lee, 33, of Marion and Kevin Jackson, 37, of Carbondale.

Not excusable

State Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, sits on the mental health subcommittee in Springfield  she said the alleged crimes by these defendants are not excusable.

Im not excusing the people that have been indicted, she said. Bryant went on to say that chronic understaffing and overworking current staff could be part of the problem.

What has been going on is an absolute failure to hire staff thats needed, she said.

But she said this is easier said than done.
The truck hit the rear of the 2013 Toyota Highlander driven by Wren, causing it to overturn. Wren was injured, and, according to Paducah Police, her daughter, Emery, was pronounced dead a short time later at Baptist Health Paducah by McCracken County Coroner Amanda Melton.

Wrens other two children sustained possible injuries, according to the collision report.

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Kumars truck then proceeded to hit the other seven vehicles listed above before coming to rest against the cable barrier in the median. Kumar was not reported injured, information from the sheriffs office said,. Brown, Kernan, Kaeser, Flach, and Fincutter and his passenger, Abriel Odling, 28, of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, all were reported injured.

All were taken to Mercy Health Lourdes Hospital or Baptist Health Baptist for treatment except Kernan, who was flown from the scene by helicopter to an out-of-state hospital. He was listed in stable condition Monday morning.

All vehicles except for Spartzs Ford Escape had to be towed from the scene, and debris littered the interstate for about a quarter of a mile. The interstate was closed for nearly seven hours, Paducah Police said.

The Paducah Police Departments collision reconstruction team and detectives are investigating.
Kierra Coles disappeared more than two years ago, but her family is still searching for information about their daughter, then a mail carrier who was pregnant with her first child.

Joseph Coles, Kierra Coles father, and mother Karen Phillips gathered Sunday afternoon with other advocates in Daley Plaza to again ask anyone with information about her disappearance to come forward and urge officials to do more.

I know she would want me to do everything possible to track her down, Joseph Coles said. If you know something, say something.

Kierra Coles, a letter carrier for about three years, went missing Oct. 2, 2018, on her way to work. Phillips reported Coles missing two days later as calls to her cellphone went straight to voicemail. Her baby was due in April 2019, her family has said.

Joseph Coles, who has long distributed flyers, posted on social media and searched for his daughter, has previously criticized police for a lack of information, and said Sunday that communication has continued to be scarce.

Coles and Philips said every day is a struggle, but they still have hope.
Its not there. The scars there, but the wound is gone. Its closed, he said.

Ladson told the crowd, I sat back on God long enough.

God has blessed me. God has brought me out of things. When I shouldve been testifying to the glory of him, I sat on it. Sat on it, he said.

But I want to tell you something, I aint sitting on this, he said.

And wherever I have to go to give this testimony, Im willing. We can do it in an airplane in the sky. We can do it in a ship in the middle of the ocean. If he sends me, Im going, he said.

God is good. Good is great. Words just cant explain how I feel about that man, he added.

Because of his time in the hospital, Ladson wasnt able to attend the swearing in ceremony for his peers in early January.

On Saturday, Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell administered the oath to him on the lawn of The Shepherd Outreach Ministries, located on Pineland Street, in Vance.
Meanwhile, the programs that arise seem less designed to solve problems than to micromanage people into behaviors that benefit favored constituencies. Consider the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. SNAP benefits can be used to buy food, but not vitamins, cleaning supplies, or hygiene items. To be eligible, a person must be working at least 30 hours per week or, if not working, caring for a child under age 6. Or, the person must be unable to work due to a physical or mental limitation, or participating in an alcohol or drug treatment program, or a full-time student (but not a college student). Otherwise, the person must register for work, and participate in employment training, and take a suitable job if offered.

This is just an introduction to the micromanagement involved in qualifying for SNAP. There are additional rules for receiving SNAP, different rules for adults without dependents, and still other rules for people older than 49 or younger than 18. Just figuring out who is and is not eligible is a full-time job.
Nov. 4, 1950, was the worst day of his life, Korean War veteran William Funchess stated.

It was the day when Funchess would begin to discover his inner strength to survive three years of circumstances that were beyond horrific, circumstances that many next to him did not survive. It was the day he was captured and become a prisoner of war by the Chinese and North Korea governments.

Funchess, a Rowesville native and 1944 graduate of Orangeburg High School, spent his life haunted by his experience in The Forgotten War. He authored a book about being a prisoner of war and spoke often about the physical and mental torture inflicted upon him and other Americans in the war.

Funchess, who died June 10 at his home in Clemson, was the keynote speaker at the Veterans Day ceremony in Orangeburg in 2007, telling his remarkable story.

That faithful November day in 1950 found Funchess as a platoon leader in Korea. His platoon came under attack from a barrage of machine gun fire. One of the bullets from managed to make its way through one of Funchess' feet. As he was on the ground, a third of his platoon was either captured or killed. Funchess was one of the fortunate ones to live, but he was captured.
Job Title: Driver

Organization: International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Duty Station: Uganda

Reports to: Supply Chain Assistant

About US:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the worlds worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC works with people forced to flee from war, conflict and disaster and the host communities which support them, as well as those who remain within their homes and communities. At work today in over 40 countries and 25 U.S. cities, we improve outcomes in the areas of health, safety, economic wellbeing, education and power.

The IRC has been working in Uganda since 1998 supporting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), refugees and various institutions in the country, notably the government, community-based organizations (CBOs), civil society organizations (CBOs) and the private sector. The current program portfolio in Uganda includes health and nutrition, support to persons with specific needs (PSNs) including case management, legal assistance to refugees, prevention and response to gender-based violence, Education and economic recovery and development (ERD). The IRC has a country office in Kampala and field offices in Amudat, Imvepi, Kyegegwa, Lamwo, Moroto/ Kiryandongo and Yumbe, as well as an urban office in Nsambya within Kampala.

Job Summary: Under the direct supervision of the Fleet Assistant, the Full time Driver will provide transportation support to the West Nile Program including field site offices, as well as visitors to IRC.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Inspect and record the condition of the vehicle on a daily basis; prepare weekly maintenance checklist.

Ensure timely servicing and maintenance of IRC vehicles (complete service request forms and maintain service maintenance records); report to head driver any mechanical problems.

Ensure vehicle is insured and all legal documents are in order at all times; inform fleet Assistant three weeks in advance of any renewals due (i.e. insurance, road license, etc.).

Conduct daily assessments of road conditions and security situation.

Drive IRC program staff in a safe and courteous manner to field sites across the district.

Deliver mail/messages as directed.

Operate HF and VHF mobile radio equipment.

Maintain cleanliness of interior/exterior of vehicle.

Give accurate reconciliation within the given period.

Obey IRC vehicle policy and operating procedures at all times (use of logbook, no drinking and driving, signing out vehicle on vehicle registry and so on).

Assist the fleet assistant in loading cargo for road/air transport.

Assist with other duties as assigned by the supervisor(s).









Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

The ideal applicant must have at least O- Level Certificate; A- Level Certificate an added advantage;

Valid drivers license with classes A, B, CM,CH,DL and DM.;

Good driving record; Minimum four years driving experience;

Knowledge of Codan radio equipment; Fluent in English;

NGO experience; Kiswahili language skills and knowledge of mechanics preferred.

How to Apply:

All suitably qualified and interested candidates are encouraged to apply online at the link below.

Click Here

Deadline: 28th June 2021

For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline
Job Title: WPE Prevention Officer (Fresher Jobs)

Organisation: International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Duty Station: Uganda

About US:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the worlds worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

The IRC has been working in Uganda since 1998. The current program portfolio in Uganda includes health, protection & rule of law, gender-based violence and womens protection and empowerment, economic recovery and development.

Job Summary: The WPE Prevention Officer will lead IRC GBV Prevention activities and the roll out of behavioral change methodologies like adolescent girls programming (Girl Shine), Male Engagement (ToT and roll out) and advocacy on the prevention of Sexual Exploitation, Harassment and Abuse in Bidibidi Settlement. He /she will be the focal person for coordinating actions with other stakeholders to prevent GBV in the community while mentoring and building the capacity of the team to implement GBV prevention Activities. Reporting to the WPE Manager, the Officer will be tasked to prepare regular weekly and monthly reports, work plans and budget forecasts for the team.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Program design and implementation

Reinforce adherence to the GBV guiding principles throughout all WPE activities.

Ensure that engagement with women, girls and the wider community adheres to best-practice principles when working with survivors of GBV.

Work with the Community structures to train them and mentor them to conduct outreaches and sessions on GBV.

Prepare and maintain/update detailed work plan(s) with the structures that support and achieve activities.

Hold regular debriefing feedback sessions with structures to identify challenges early and find appropriate local solutions to the problems and work to strengthen the working relation among the teams and with staff.

Provide ongoing supervision, support, mentoring and guidance to WPE Prevention team, and Volunteers to ensure outreach activities meet the highest quality standards and adheres to GBV best practice and guiding principles.

Create and consolidate strong synergies with the local community stakeholders like Protection partners, LCs, women groups, the religious leaders and government counter parts the police and the health to support local activism at sub county level.

Plan and mobilize communities to participate in community mass awareness events like womens day, Day of the Girl child, World Refugee day and 16 days of activism

Ensure timely and accurate procurements and finances for activities by ensuring all Purchase Requests and payment requests are raised at least two weeks before delivery date in accordance with program budget provisions to avoid disruption of activities.

Monitoring and Documentation

Document all activities: Meetings, Trainings, and Events, Field monitoring e. t. c. using appropriate documentation and reporting tools in the sector as required and ensure that all documents/data collected is properly and safely filed and stored.

Actively plan and submit weekly and monthly work plans and progress reports against set work plans using agreed reporting tools to the Manager.

Develop, reprint and distribute IEC materials on behavioral change and awareness aspects.

Prepare and share weekly and monthly reports as required.

Coordination and Representation

Develop and maintain effective working relationships with all stakeholders including community leaders, NGOs, UN agencies, Community Based Organizations and other IRC sectors to enhance multi-agency and sectoral cooperation and coordination.

Ensure that the community of operation is consulted in the development of Womens Protection and Empowerment programs and as much as possible are involved in the implementation, monitoring and supervision of activities.

Participate actively in all zonal protection and GBV Coordination meetings while proactively sharing updates









Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

The ideal candidate for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) WPE Prevention Officer job placement should hold a University degree in Social Sciences (i.e. social work, counseling, sociology, psychology, gender studies, human rights, etc.).

At least two years of experience in working in the social sector, particularly in GBV Prevention with refugees.

Excellent communication, facilitation and analytical skills and ability to present ideas effectively, in both oral and written form.

Ability to communicate sensitively and without judgment; good diplomatic and persuasion skills.

Ability to use good judgment when making decisions and to take accountability for decisions made.

Emotional maturity and stability to resolve conflicts in non-violent way and maintain appropriate boundaries.

Good interpersonal skills including ability to gain trust and build relationships.

Ability to handle multiple tasks; proven self-initiative and problem solving abilities.

Good computer skills including Microsoft Excel, Access, Word, Outlook, and Power Point.

Be able to work in a stressful setting and adapt quickly to changing environments.

How to Apply:

All candidates should apply online at the link below.

Click Here

Deadline: 9th July 2021

For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline
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Coquille, OR (97420)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low near 55F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low near 55F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph.
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But opponents of the lawsuit, including the solicitor general, say that argument was nullified when the terminals developer, Lighthouse Resources, declared bankruptcy in December. Even if the Supreme Court sided with Wyoming and Montana and forced Washington to approve the permits, the port wouldnt be built, because its developer no longer exists.

It is symbolic of the end of an era, said Jan Hasselman, a senior attorney with Earthjustice, and that era was a 10-year attempt to rescue a dying industry by building an export market. There were a lot of reasons why that effort was doomed to fail. And the Supreme Courts decision, I think, represents a symbolic final nail in the coffin on that effort. Like it was over before today, but now its really over.

Before it went bankrupt, Lighthouse Resources sued the state of Washington over several rejected permits. Those lawsuits were either won by the state or dismissed when Lighthouse went under.

Shortly after the bankruptcy announcement, Wyoming and Montana requested a hearing from the Supreme Court, arguing that Washington state was violating their rights to conduct interstate commerce.
National

AP

Rescue's pace frustrates families

DAVID SANTIAGO, MIAMI HERALD VIA AP Radames Ocasio prays during Sunday mass at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Miami Beach, Fla. The feeling in the church, just a few blocks from where rescuers continued to dig for survivors through the rubble of a partially collapsed building at Champlain Towers South, was solemn, with people filtering in and out for the early masses. DAVID SANTIAGO, MIAMI HERALD VIA AP Search and rescue personnel search for survivors in the rubble Sunday at the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Fla. The apartment building partially collapsed on Thursday. DAVID SANTIAGO, MIAMI HERALD VIA AP Search and rescue personnel search for survivors in the rubble Sunday at the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida. The apartment building partially collapsed on Thursday. DAVID SANTIAGO, MIAMI HERALD VIA AP Sonia Rivas prays during Sunday mass at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Miami Beach, Fla. The feeling in the church, just a few blocks from where rescuers continued to dig for survivors through the rubble of a partially collapsed building at Champlain Towers South, was solemn, with people filtering in and out for the early masses.

SURFSIDE, Fla.  Families of the missing visited the scene of the Florida condo building collapse Sunday as rescuers kept digging through the mound of rubble and clinging to hope that someone could yet be alive somewhere under the broken concrete and twisted metal.

The death toll rose by just four people, to a total of nine confirmed dead. But after almost four full days of search-and-rescue efforts, more than 150 additional people were still missing in Surfside. No one has been pulled alive from the pile since Thursday, hours after the collapse.

Some families had hoped their visit would allow them to shout messages to loved ones possibly buried deep inside the pile.

Buses brought several groups of relatives to a place where they could view the pile and the rescuers at work.As relatives returned to a nearby hotel, several paused to embrace as they got off the bus. Others walked slowly with arms around each other back to the hotel entrance.

We are just waiting for answers. Thats what we want, said Dianne Ohayon, whose parents, Myriam and Arnie Notkin were in the building. Its hard to go through these long days and we havent gotten any answers yet.

Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai, who visited with family members, led a humanitarian delegation to Surfside that included several Israeli experts in search-and-rescue operations. He said the experts have told him of cases where survivors were found after 100 hours or more.

So dont lose hope, thats what I would say. But you have everyone understanding the longer it takes, the prospects of finding someone alive goes down, he said.

If you watch the scene, you know its almost impossible to find someone alive, Shai added. But you never know. Sometimes miracles happen, you know? We Jews believe in miracles.

Rescuers sought to reassure families that they were doing as much as possible to find missing loved ones, but the crews said they needed to work carefully for the best chance of uncovering survivors.

Some relatives have been frustrated with the pace of rescue efforts.

My daughter is 26 years old, in perfect health. She could make it out of there, one mother told rescuers during a weekend meeting with family members. A video of the meeting was posted by Instagram user Abigail Pereira.

Its not enough, continued the mother, who was among relatives who pushed authorities to bring in experts from other countries to help. Imagine if your children were in there.

Scores of rescue workers remained on the massive heap of rubble Sunday, searching for survivors but so far finding only bodies and human remains.

In a meeting with families Saturday evening, people moaned and wept as Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah explained why he could not answer their repeated questions about how many victims they had found.

Its not necessarily that were finding victims, OK? Were finding human remains, Jadallah said, according to the video posted on Instagram.

He noted the pancake collapse of the 12-story building, which had crumbled into a rubble pile that could be measured in feet. Those conditions have frustrated crews looking for survivors, he said.

Every time crews find remains, they clean the area and remove the remains. They work with a rabbi to ensure any religious rituals are done properly, Jadallah said.

If crews find any artifacts, such as documents, pictures or money, they turn them over to police, officials said.

Alan Cominsky, chief of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department, said they are holding out hope of finding someone alive, but they must be slow and methodical.

The debris field is scattered throughout, and its compact, extremely compact, he said.

Debris must be stabilized and shored up as they go.

If there is a void space, we want to make sure were given every possibility of a survivor. Thats why we cant just go in and move things erratically, because thats going to have the worst outcome possible, he said.

In meetings with authorities, family members repeatedly pushed rescuers to do more. One asked why they could not surgically remove the largest pieces of cement with cranes, to try to uncover bigger voids where survivors might be found.

Theres not giant pieces that we can easily surgically remove, replied Maggie Castro, of the fire rescue agency.

Theyre not big pieces. Pieces are crumbled, and theyre being held together by the rebar thats part of the construction. So if we try to lift that piece, even as carefully, those pieces that are crumbling can fall off the sides and disturb the pile, Castro said.

She said they try to cut rebar in strategic places and remove large pieces, but that they have to remove them in a way that nothing will fall onto the pile.

Rescue workers identified an additional four bodies that had been recovered earlier, bringing the number of people unaccounted for to 152, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Sunday.

Meanwhile, owners of units in the collapsed condo building were just days away from a deadline to start making steep payments toward more than $9 million in major repairs that had been recommended nearly three years earlier.

That cost estimate, from the Morabito Consultants engineering firm in 2018, meant owners at Champlain Towers South were facing payments of anywhere from $80,000 for a one-bedroom unit to $330,000 or so for a penthouse, to be paid all at once or in installments. Their first deadline was July 1.
Chris Bobo had only been fishing for five minutes when he felt the tug.

The tug was an 18-inch longnose sucker, more than 9 inches around and weighing in at 2 pounds, 4.5 ounces.

The Casper angler now holds the state record for the largest longnose sucker caught in Wyoming (and he has the 11 by 17 inch certificate hanging on his wall to prove it).

Bobo was fishing with his brother and a friend in the North Platte on May 21, near Robertson Road in Paradise Valley.

He normally prefers fishing for walleye, and was on the lookout for trout that day. But when he saw the sucker on the end of his line, he suspected he had a record on his hand.

Ive caught lots bigger than that, you know, Bobo said. The only reason I noticed it was a sucker was I caught one turning red.

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The people at the local Game and Fish outpost sent him to the post office, where he verified the weight before measuring its dimensions back at Game and Fish. They took a picture, recorded it, and Bobo was back on the river in time to finish out the day.
A former Metro Animal Shelter employee faces two felony charges of theft for allegedly stealing nearly $6,000 from the shelter over six years.

Michael Gaylord worked as a kennel technician at the shelter for six years, according to a press release Monday from the Casper Police Department.

The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation conducted an independent inquiry into Gaylord starting in April, when a citizen complaint over an unissued receipt prompted a closer look into financial records.

The investigation found numerous discrepancies in the shelters financial reporting and unaccounted receipts. Gaylord allegedly misappropriated $5 or $10 at a time during small cash transactions where the customer didnt want a receipt.

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Jail records show Gaylord was arrested on Thursday and booked into the Natrona County Detention Center on a criminal warrant. He is now out.

Metro has been under the administrative umbrella of the Casper police since 2019.

Police spokesperson Rebekah Ladd confirmed Monday that Gaylord no longer works at the shelter. A police roster issued last week shows he was employed there as of June 22.
The state's 14-day average in total new cases is 88.5 per day. That number is up 14 from a month ago.

The state's number of total active cases is 522. That number is up 65 from a month ago.
GILLETTE (WNE)  A local teen boy has a lot to be thankful for, especially an off-duty Campbell County firefighter who alerted him and got the teen out of a burning house Wednesday.

No one was hurt in the afternoon fire at 1803 Plumcreek Ave., according to the Campbell County Fire Department. The teen and three other members of his family were displaced by the fire.

The firefighter, who wasnt identified in a Fire Department press release about the incident, responded and found the teen was the only one home at the time.

Neighbor Alan Blocker said the family is upset but doing OK.

Its a pretty sad deal, he said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but it had likely been burning in the attic for some time prior to a neighbor noticing the flames. The home and its contents are a complete loss, the Fire Department reports.

Firefighters received the call at 12:43 p.m. and had the fire under control by 3:30. They remained at the scene through Wednesday night and will periodically be there Thursday to monitor for any potential flare-ups.
The multimillion-dollar fees paid out to attorneys and firms under the Peoples National Movement (PNM) Government are no longer secret, having been revealed by Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi.

Last month, the AG was adamant that he would not disclose the fees of attorneys who do work for the State.
Trinidadian Akil Inniss, who was stuck in the United States due to Trinidad and Tobagos border closure, will never get the chance to return home as he contracted Covid-19 and died of the virus last month.

Inniss left Trinidad a week before the borders closed in March 2020 to go to New York to seek medical attention.
Sometimes the black sheep is the only one telling the truth.

As I read the Express Editorial dated Sunday July 4, that phrase came to mind.

The editorial chose to defend the Ministry of Healths medical team, unceremoniously attacked the Leader of the Oppositions stance of questioning the competence of the medical team in their response to Covid-19 over the past 15 months.
THERE is much talk about returning to normal after the pandemic. I suspect people envision the frenzied activity that had become a characteristic of modern life; the rushing here and there and getting fundamentally nowhere; the obsession with materialism and its unending push to acquire; and the pursuit of pleasure as a principal purpose producing the superficiality that abounds.
Tucson Unified School District has proposed a $660 million budget for the upcoming school year, which the board is set to vote on in July.

TUSD is the third-largest school district in Arizona and serves about 42,000 students.

The governing board approved several budget initiatives over the last few months that are included in the 2021-2022 budget.

One of the initiatives includes raising the minimum hourly rate across the district to $13 an hour.

The district also raised the starting wage for bus drivers and special education teaching assistants, both hard-to-fill positions in high demand. Bus drivers new starting wage is $16 an hour, up from $13.35, and the teaching assistants new wage is $15 an hour, up from $12.15.

The district also approved an additional $685,000 for raises to bus drivers and special ed teaching assistants who already make more than the starting wage.

And the salary initiative included $175,000 for a rate increase for substitute teachers and $596,000 for a rate increase for retired educators who return to the district.
Its been sold out from under the now thread-bare staff, Simon said.

Phil Davis, who was in the newsroom the day of the attack, recalled how three years ago he stood downtown amid hundreds gathered as the community gathered for solace in the aftermath.

Now three years later, this heat feels all too familiar, but still just as hot, Davis said. "Its hard to avoid all that surrounded The Capital in the years since the shooting, as time and corporate interests did not stand still after the tragedy.

Local officials also expressed concern about the newspaper's future.

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman, who wrote a letter this month to the hedge fund urging it to preserve local news coverage, said he hoped its leadership would visit the community soon.

I hope that their stockholders hear our story and work with us to grow, rather than shrink our newspaper, and if they dont I hope that we can find a way to recreate what they take away from us," Pittman said.

The memorial dedication was held the day before opening statements are scheduled for the second phase of the trial for gunman Jarrod Ramos. He pleaded guilty to all 23 counts against him in October 2019, but he is contending hes not criminally responsible due to mental illness. A jury has recently been selected to determine whether Ramos should be sentenced to prison or committed to a maximum-security psychiatric hospital.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
My colleagues and I were able to speak with Trevor today," Sullivan said after the court hearing. "He is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstance. Hes a remarkable and resilient young man.

Reed is one of two Americans imprisoned in Russia under controversial circumstances. Paul Whelan, a former corporate security executive who also holds Canadian, Irish and British citizenship, was arrested in Moscow in 2018, convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years. His lawyer has said his client was handed a flash drive that had classified information on it that he didnt know about.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Whelan and Reed are being wrongfully imprisoned in Russia and raised their plight with Putin at their summit in Geneva earlier this month.

Putin had opened the door to possible discussions about a prisoner swap with the U.S. and said those conversations would continue. Biden said he would follow up too.

The U.S. is holding two prisoners whose release Russia has sought for more than a decade, including arms trader Viktor Bout. The other is Konstantin Yaroshenko, a pilot who was extradited from Liberia in 2010 and convicted the next year of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the U.S.
The prospective charges this week, he said, are limited to a couple of Trump Org employees who didn't declare taxes on fringe benefits they received. The company itself also could be charged, he added.

Lawyers representing Donald Trump's company also met virtually with prosecutors for more than 90 minutes last Thursday.

It isn't illegal for a company to offer employees tuition help, lease them cars or let them use company-owned apartments, but such arrangements can be subject to income tax.

Fischetti has called the possibility of charges absolutely outrageous and politically motivated. He said it would be extremely unusual for prosecutors to seek criminal charges over unpaid tax on fringe benefits.

Some of the scrutiny has been focused on longtime Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg.

Vances investigation of Weisselberg, 73, stemmed in part from questions about his sons use of a Trump apartment at little or no cost, cars leased for the family and tuition payments made to a school attended by Weisselbergs grandchildren.

Weisselbergs attorney, Mary Mulligan, has declined to comment.

In addition to fringe benefits, prosecutors have looked into whether the Trump Organization lied about the value of real estate holdings to lower taxes or to obtain bank loans or insurance policies on favorable terms. They have also looked into the companys role in paying hush money to two women who say Trump had affairs with them, accusations Trump has denied.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
It requires them to be called to the Capitol within 10 days if they are not already in session. Potentially more significant, it spells out that any special session does not end until the state of emergency is terminated, whether by the governor or the legislature.

Thats important because the measure, if approved by voters, says lawmakers can do more than simply vacate the emergency declaration.

They also can leave the declaration in place but can terminate, modify or continue any individual executive order. It even would permit the legislature to issue its own executive orders which would have the same force and effect as if handed down by the governor.

Finchem said it restores the balance of power to where it should be: with lawmakers closest to the people.

Where there is a tyranny, whether its petty or massive, we are the ones that our constituents turn to, he said.

I can guarantee you that if you were to pick up the phone and try and call Gov. Ducey, you would not reach him, Finchem told his colleagues. But if your constituents call you, Im pretty sure youll pick up the phone and speak with them.
OPINION: Water for wildlife and the changes at the Pima County Attorney's Office are the topics of the day. Join the discussion by submitting a letter to the editor at tucson.com/opinion.
The investment account has a baseline return rate of 7.5%, but in the market upturn, investors are making in the mid-twenties, Sigler said. So far, the rate topped out in April at 26.67%, and, to officials surprise, May closely followed at 26.5%.

The cost-of-living adjustment was just the icing on the cake. Benefits increased by 2% if a person was retired for between two and five years as of July 1, 2020, and by 4% if the person was retired for five or more years as of July 1, 2020.

Sigler called the timing a wonderful coincidence for those already thinking of heading out the door.

The guys that were pretty close to retiring anyway, they all pulled the trigger so they could get these big market rate returns, Sigler said. Were just excited for them. This is just one little thing we can do to thank them for what they do for us.

Big shoes to fill, fewer feet

Twenty years ago, hundreds of people were vying for a spot in the Tulsa Police academy. Now, administrators consider themselves lucky if a dozen make it there, Meulenberg said.
OSDH has reported only 41 known cases of the Delta variant so far, but Bratzler says that variant already accounts for more than 20% of new COVID cases in the U.S.

Im betting that there are many, many more cases in Oklahoma right now, Bratzler said. The UK variant  the Alpha variant  had been the predominant strain in Oklahoma, but now I think it is the Delta variant.

There have been only about 25 Oklahoma specimens sequenced per week in the past four weeks of reports, according to state data. Stone said she wants to see hundreds of new specimens added to each weekly report if enough samples are sent to the state.

Stone said OSDH specifically has reached out to partners in Tulsa, Tulsa County and northeast Oklahoma to submit COVID samples because of local rises in cases and proximity to the Delta variant outbreak in southwest Missouri.

The state has received criticism from the Oklahoma State Medical Association for suddenly choosing to move the Public Health Lab during a pandemic.

Having not necessarily been involved in the discussions, Stone said she couldnt speak on the timing of the move but that it was necessary to gain more space and equipment to ultimately improve its sequencing efforts.
President Joe Bidens negotiators are moving toward renewing former President Barack Obamas 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, a deal renounced by former President Donald Trump. If the Biden team succeeds, it will be the biggest foreign policy coup of the presidents first year  as well as a massive political headache.

Trump believed that by canceling the deal Obama had negotiated, he could force Iran to accept far tougher terms. So he walked away, slapping massive economic sanctions on Tehran, and waited for the regime to collapse.

But the mullahs didnt buckle. Instead, freed from the agreements limits, they accelerated uranium enrichment and moved closer to the point at which they could quickly build a bomb.

A renewed agreement would not only halt that progress, but reverse it. And it would reimpose international inspections that made it impossible for Iran to build a nuclear weapon more rapidly than the United States could stop it.

So whats the problem?

Like many international agreements  and this one involves not only Iran and the United States, but five other countries  the nuclear deal isnt perfect.
The school I went to is a great school but when it came to history, I was taught a history that was whitewashed and seen through white-colored glasses.

My school history classes never taught the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Osage murders, the first person to die in the Revolutionary War was Black or the first person to the North Pole was Black.

When I grew up, all the cowboys were white even though there were more than 5,000 Black cowboys.

Amos and Andy were white, and Black people were slow moving and slow thinking.

Chinese people were either cooks or laundry persons, and Native Americans were savages.

I hope that schools teach a critical race theory.

A theory based on the truth and not to whitewash the true history of the United States.

If I did not take the initiative to find out what is true history, I might have never known.

If we do not tell the truth, we will have more generations who live under a lie.

David Phillips, Tulsa
Party General Secretary and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith arrived in Hanoi on Monday morning to begin his two-day official friendship visit to Vietnam.

The visit was made at the invitation of Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

After landing at Noi Bai International Airport, the top Lao leader, along with his spouse and a delegation of Lao officials, was welcomed by Vo Van Thuong, member of Vietnams Politburo, and other high-ranking officials.

Party General Secretary and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith (R) is officially welcomed by Vietnamese State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc in Hanoi, June 28, 2021. Photo: Vietnam News Agency

The official welcome ceremony was later organized at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, chaired by State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his spouse.

General Secretary Sisoulith then joined talks with General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and witnessed the signing of many important documents.

This is his first trip to Vietnam as Lao Party General Secretary and President for the 2021-26 tenure.

Party General Secretary and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith joins talks with Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in Hanoi, June 28, 2021. Photo: Vietnam News Agency

The trip is aimed at implementing consistent foreign policies between Laos and Vietnam to promote their great friendship, special solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation.

It also provides an opportunity for the two countries to further exchange experience in national development and accelerate the effective implementation of bilateral agreements.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
A footwear company, which employs more than 4,000 workers, in the northern Vietnamese province of Hung Yen has been temporarily shuttered after one of them caught COVID-19.

The entire facility of Fulgent Sun Footwear Co. Ltd. in the provinces My Hao Town has been locked down from 6:00 pm on Sunday until further notice, local authorities said.

The company closure came after N.T.K.D. had tested positive for the coronavirus and had been registered as COVID-19 patient No. 15,459.

D.s husband, a driver who often travels between the northern and southern regions of the country, had also been infected with the pathogen and is being treated in southern Binh Duong Province.

Previously, functional forces in Hung Yens Yen My District had sealed off Tan A - Hung Yen Co. Ltd. from 5:00 pm on June 25 as four of its 520 workers were positive for the virus.

From June 21 to date, Hung Yen has recorded 39 local cases of COVID-19, of which 35 in Yen My District, two in Khoai Chau District, one in An Thi District, and one in Kim Dong District.

Local authorities have suspended karaoke parlors, massage service, bars, discos, barbershops, amusement parks, sidewalk food and drink services, and dine-in service.

The Ministry of Health confirmed at noon on Monday 149 new coronavirus cases, including 94 in Ho Chi Minh City, raising the national tally to 15,889 infections, with 6,319 recoveries and 76 deaths.

Since April 27, when the pandemics latest wave broke out in the country, it has documented 12,547 patients across 47 of its 63 provinces and cities, including 76 cases in Hung Yen.

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Read what is in the news today:

COVID-19 Updates

-- The Vietnamese Ministry of Health confirmed on Monday morning 97 new local COVID-19 cases, including 62 in Ho Chi Minh City, raising the national tally to 15,740 infections, with 6,319 recoveries and 76 deaths.

-- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested authorities in southern Dong Nai Province consider quarantining COVID-19 patients without severe symptoms and their direct contacts at home at a meeting on Sunday afternoon.

-- Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have suspended the entirety of Hoa Hung Market in District 10 and Hoang Hoa Tham Market in Tan Binh District from Sunday until further notice due to their connection with coronavirus patients.

-- The Ministry of Health on Sunday issued a new set of guidelines for piloting home medical isolation of COVID-19 patients direct contacts in Ho Chi Minh City.

-- An additional field hospital specializing in treating coronavirus-sickened patients having no or mild symptoms, with a capacity of 1,000 beds, has been put into operation in Ho Chi Minh City from Monday morning.

Society

-- Rescuers saved a man having his head and shoulders stuck inside a dumbwaiter in Dong Da District, Hanoi on Sunday evening.

-- A man damaged a 22kV underground power line while driving an excavator in Hoi An City, located in central Quang Nam Province, causing a power outage on Cu Lao Cham Island, which is 18km away from the citys Cua Dai coast, from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm on Sunday.

-- A group of four teenage students in northern Vinh Phuc Province were caught throwing stones at vehicles running on the section of the Hanoi - Lao Cai Expressway through Tam Duong District, imitating a video they watched on TikTok.

Business

-- Vietnamese airlines have incurred short-term and due debts of up to VND36 trillion (US$1.6 billion) since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country early last year, according to the Vietnam Aviation Business Association (VABA).

-- Supermarket systems in Ho Chi Minh City have sourced supplies from other wholesale markets following the seven-day suspension of delivery service at the Hoc Mon wholesale market in the namesake district due to 19 COVID-19 patients detected there.

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A woman from the south-central Vietnamese province of Phu Yen attempted to dodge quarantine by hiding in a field of sugarcane behind her house after her COVID-19 test result returned positive.

The woman is S., a 46-year-old resident in Cung Son Town, the towns administration confirmed on Sunday.

Her neighborhood was locked down from Saturday following the detection of a COVID-19 case.

Her younger brother was a direct contact of the patient and had been brought to a concentrated quarantine facility, while S. was required to undergo home quarantine.

Her test result came back positive for COVID-19 at 11:00 pm the same day.

As local authorities arrived at her house to take her to the hospital for quarantine and treatment, the woman was nowhere to be found.

Officers spent the entire night looking for S. but were unable to find her.

An announcement regarding the case was issued on Sunday morning.

At around 9:30 am the same day, S. was found in a sugarcane field about 100 meters away from her house.

Vietnam has documented 15,889 COVID-19 cases as of Monday afternoon, with 6,319 recoveries and 76 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

The country has recorded 12,547 local infections in 48 provinces and cities, including 38 cases in Phu Yen, since the fourth wave of transmissions broke out on April 27.

A social distancing drive was reinstated in Phu Yen Province from 0:00 on Sunday until further notice.

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Foreign citizens living and working in Vietnam will be given favorable conditions for vaccination against COVID-19 when the country receives more vaccines, Le Thi Thu Hang, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asserted at a recent press conference.

Talking to the media at a regular press conference held online on June 24, Hang said that with a goal toward herd immunity to make life return to normal, Vietnam has inoculated more than 600 members of foreign diplomatic missions, and United Nations agencies in the country and their family members.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also coordinating with the Ministry of Health to arrange vaccination for more than 50 reporters and press assistants at foreign press agencies offices in Vietnam early this week, she added.

In the humanitarian spirit, the Vietnamese government always cares for and supports foreigners living, studying, and working in Vietnam so they can live normally and safely, and receive medical care and intensive treatment when necessary.

Hang stated that there is no discrimination between Vietnamese and foreigners during the COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

Foreign citizens will be vaccinated when Vietnam receives more vaccines, with the aim to create herd immunity to drive back the pandemic, she affirmed.

The spokesperson added that the foreign and health ministries have been studying amendments to immigration policy and medical measures for international arrivals in the country with a certificate of vaccination, which is also known as a vaccine passport.

The amendments include promoting mutual recognition of vaccine passports and reducing the isolation time and the number of COVID-19 tests for those who have been vaccinated against and tested negative for the coronavirus.

The two ministries have also studied a roadmap to allow more subjects to enter and exit Vietnam in accordance with the local pandemic situation, according to Hang.

The Ministry of Health confirmed on Monday morning 97 new local COVID-19 cases, including 62 in Ho Chi Minh City, raising the national tally to 15,740 infections, with 6,319 recoveries and 76 deaths.

Since April 27, when the pandemics latest wave broke out in the country, it has documented 12,401 patients nationwide.

The nation had administered 3,386,607 COVID-19 vaccine doses, with 157,136 people receiving two full doses, by Sunday.

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About 50 reporters and press assistants at foreign news agencies offices in Vietnam received COVID-19 vaccine doses on Sunday as groups prioritized by the Vietnamese government for inoculation against the viral disease, according to The World & Vietnam Report.

With the aim to create favorable conditions for foreign press staff working in Vietnam, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinated with the Ministry of Health to arrange the vaccination at the National Lung Hospital in Hanoi.

The reporters and press assistants at foreign press agencies offices in Vietnam got injections at different time frames to ensure social distancing and strictly comply with the pandemic prevention and control rules set by the Ministry of Health.

They had their body temperature and blood pressure measured, as well as declared their health condition and medical history, along with receiving thorough consultancy before being jabbed with COVID-19 vaccine.

The vaccination session went smoothly, with no serious reactions occurring to the vaccine recipients.

A foreign reporter has his body temperature measured before COVID-19 vaccine injection at the National Lung Hospital in Hanoi, June 27, 2021. Photo: Ministry of Health

A number of the reporters and press assistants highly appreciated the countrys pandemic prevention and control efforts, especially its support for them to get early COVID-19 vaccination, according to The World & Vietnam Report, which is under the auspices of theMinistry of Foreign Affairs.

With a goal toward herd immunity to make life return to normal, Vietnam has inoculated more than 600 members of foreign diplomatic missions, and United Nations agencies in the country and their family members recently.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang asserted at a regular press conference last week that there is no discrimination between Vietnamese and foreigners during the COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

In the humanitarian spirit, the Vietnamese government always cares for and supports foreigners living, studying and working in Vietnam so they can live normally and safely, and receive medical care and intensive treatment when necessary, Hang said.

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The Ministry of Health on Sunday issued a new set of guidelines for piloting home medical isolation of COVID-19 patients direct contacts in Ho Chi Minh City.

Under the ministrys guidelines, grassroots authorities in the southern metropolis allow home isolation only after checking that the quarantine subjects accommodations, which must be separate houses, villas, or townhouses, meet the requirements.

A warning sign on a red background with yellow letters 'Medical Isolation Location' must be placed in front of these accommodations.

The quarantined person must stay in a single isolation room, which is separated from the familys common living area and does not use the same air-conditioning system with the remaining space.

The quarantined person must strictly abide by the regulations and the time of medical isolation at home.

They must not leave the isolation room during the quarantine period as well as not contact family members, other people, or even pets.

Daily online medical declaration and body temperature measurement during the quarantine time are needed.

The quarantined person will be sampled five times on the first, seventh, 14th, 21st, and 28th days of the isolation period.

People living under the same roof with the quarantined people who are children or the elderly must take care of them.

Elderly people and those with underlying medical conditions who need medical care are not allowed to live in the same house with the quarantined person.

Local health authorities must manage and supervise the implementation of home quarantine as well as the collection and transportation of medical waste for treatment according to regulations.

Ho Chi Minh City is the third locality after Bac Giang and Bac Ninh that has been allowed to isolate COVID-19 patients direct contacts at home as they are taking the lead in the number of infections, with 3,278, 5,587 and 1,580 cases, respectively.

However, Bac Ninh and Bac Giang have not applied the home quarantine measure as their concentrated quarantine facilities still have room while large numbers of quarantine subjects have put pressure on Ho Chi Minh Citys centralized isolation capacity.

The Ministry of Health confirmed on Monday morning 97 new local COVID-19 cases, including 62 in Ho Chi Minh City, raising the national tally to 15,740 infections, with 6,319 recoveries and 76 deaths.

Since April 27, when the pandemics latest wave broke out in the country, it has documented 12,401 patients nationwide.

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Vietnams Ministry of Health recorded 382 local COVID-19 cases on Monday, of which 218 were registered in Ho Chi Minh City.

The southern province of Binh Duong detected 40 cases, while the northern province of Bac Giang logged 26 cases.

The remaining infections were documented in 16 other provinces and cities.

A total of 340 cases were in quarantine facilities or locked-down areas.

Aside from the community-based infections, the health ministry also recorded nine imported COVID-19 cases on Monday.

Vietnam has registered 12,693 local infections in 48 out of its 63 provinces and cities since the fourth transmission wave broke out on April 27.

Bac Giang is leading the table with 5,663 patients, followed by Ho Chi Minh City with 3,436 and Bac Ninh Province with 1,589.

By comparison, Vietnam 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.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Southeast Asian country has reported 16,041 coronavirus cases, including 14,263 local and 1,778 imported cases.

A total of 6,519 patients have recovered from the respiratory disease, including 200 announced on Monday.

Seventy-six coronavirus-related deaths have been recorded, most of which were due to serious underlying health conditions.

Thirteen provinces and cities in the country have not logged any local infections over the past 14 days.

Vietnam has administered more than 3,386,600 COVID-19 vaccine shots since it rolled out inoculation on March 8.

Over 157,000 people have completed the two-dose regimen.

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Following last weeks Australia Talks special, ABC TV Plus is screening 3 x Australia Debates episodes in which comedians argue some of the results.

The will feature Steph Tisdell, Sam Campbell, Veronica Milsom, Nina Oyama, Danielle Walker and Blake Freeman. Moderated by Nikki Britton.

Episode 1: Are pets better than people?

9:30pm Monday June 28

The brightest minds in Australia and abroad created an exhaustive national survey, asking 60,000 Australians 600 questions about pretty much everything. Now the funniest minds in Australia will debate the findings of three of those issues and come to their own conclusions.

Episode 2: Do younger Australians have it harder these days?

9:30pm Tuesday June 29

The brightest minds in Australia and abroad created an exhaustive national survey, asking 60,000 Australians 600 questions about pretty much everything. Now the funniest minds in Australia will debate the findings of three of those issues and come to their own conclusions.

Episode 3: Should social media be banned?

9:30pm Wednesday June 30 (repeated Thursday July 15 9:30pm on ABC)

The brightest minds in Australia and abroad created an exhaustive national survey, asking 60,000 Australians 600 questions about pretty much everything. Now the funniest minds in Australia will debate the findings of three of those issues and come to their own conclusions.
From Thursday July 1st viewers in regional NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania will see networks switching channels.

This is because Nine signed a 7 year affiliate deal with WIN TV, which has the biggest regional footprint.

As a result 10 has now signed a 2 year deal with Southern Cross (Queensland, Southern NSW and Victoria), and a 5 year deal for WIN (Northern NSW).

It means shows like MasterChef, The Project and Have You Been Paying Attention? will screen on Southern Cross while Australian Ninja Warrior, A Current Affair and 60 Minutes are on WIN.

There is no change to NBN (Nine) viewing in Newcastle.

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WIN

WIN Television market Channel Number Channel Name Southern NSW & ACT, Griffith, Regional Qld & Vic,

Mildura, Tasmania, Mt Gambier & Riverland (SA) 8 9 80 9HD 81 9Gem 82 9Go! 83 Sky News on WIN* 84 TVSN 85 Gold Regional WA 8 9 80 9HD 82 9Gem 83 9Go! 84 Sky News on WIN* 85 TVSN Northern NSW 5 10 50 10HD 51 10Bold 52 10 Peach 53 Sky News on WIN 54 TVSN 54 Gold *9Life commences 1 August 2021 (replacing Sky News on WIN)

From 1 August, SKY News Regional will be available on the WIN Networks Channel 53 in Northern NSW and on Channel 83 in Griffith, NSW and South Australia. The new regional channel will replace SKY News on WIN which will cease to broadcast across the WIN Network from 31 July, except for the Northern NSW, Griffith and South Australian markets which will begin broadcasting the new SKY News Regional channel.

WIN News

From July 1st WIN introduces statewide bulletins across Queensland and Victoria and the western areas of Southern NSW to screen from 5:30pm. These will broadcast into the additional regions of Mackay, Bundaberg and Hervey Bay in Queensland, Orange, Dubbo, Wagga Wagga and Griffith in New South Wales and Albury / Wodonga.

WIN News in Wollongong, Canberra and Tasmania will operate in their current form but also in a new timeslot of 5.30pm.

4:30pm Hot Seat

5.30pm WIN News

6pm Nine News

7pm A Current Affair

10 / WIN

WIN will also broadcast Channels 10, 10 Bold and 10 Peach into Northern NSW.

Southern Cross

5 10 50 10 HD 52 10 Peach 53 10 BOLD 54 10 Shake 56* SKY News

* SKY News Regional channel from August 1st in Victoria, Southern NSW and Queensland including Cairns, Townsville, Sunshine Coast, Canberra, Wollongong, Wagga Wagga, Orange, Bendigo, and Ballarat.

If you need to rescan your TV:

Auto Tuning

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A sign has been posted near the site of a proposed concrete batch plant off Burkett Road (County Road 139) in Flint. Tycon Ready Mix LLC applied to build the plant in Janurary 2020 near the intersection of Hunters Trail and Burkett Road in Flint. The land has now been sold to townhouse developers.
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1)
By Gloria Falcao Dodd

The University of Dayton Spring 2021 Commencement was held in person once again with the appropriate safety protocols. Two of the five graduates of the International Marian Research Institute were able to participate in the ceremony held at the University of Dayton Arena on May 7, 2021.

Father Henry M. Sseriiso of Alta Loma, California, received his Doctorate of Sacred Theology degree magna cum laude. Father Johann Roten, S.M., directed his dissertation, The Blessed Virgin Mary in the Life and the Writings of Father Frederick William Faber (1814-1863) in the Light of the Mariology of the Second Vatican Council and Subsequent Developments. The author of two books  The Patron Saints of Forgiveness and Once a Sinner, Now a Saint  Sseriiso has also recorded the album Pray for Peace. Originally from Uganda, Sseriiso continues to serve as the pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church in the Diocese of San Bernardino, California.

James R. Koelsch of Mentor, Ohio, earned the Doctorate of Sacred Theology degree summa cum laude. Father Bertrand Buby, S.M., directed his dissertation, The Magnificat as a Model for Witness in the New Evangelization in Light of Papal Teaching Since Vatican II. Koelsch is a freelance writer and assistant editor for Marian Studies, the journal of the Mariological Society of America. He is also designing an introductory course about Mary for the international online program of the University of Dayton's Institute for Pastoral Initiatives.

Stuart Alan Schafer and his wife, Lisa, flew in from San Pedro, California, to celebrate his graduation with the Doctorate of Sacred Theology, summa cum laude. Buby directed Schafer in his dissertation, The Theology Behind Marian Ark of the Covenant Typology of the First Millennium.

Father Rayar R.K. Kulandaisamy earned the Doctorate of Sacred Theology degree magna cum laude. His dissertation, directed by Roten, is Vailankanni: A Marian Shrine in a Multi-Cultural and Multi-Religious Mileu, Toward a Model Theology for Vailankanni. The author of The Marian Dimension in Post-Conciliar Theology with a Particular Focus on Some Christologies and Ecclesiologies and Mary in Our Search for Fullness of Life, he also has written two more books on Mary, the Exemplar of Faith Alone and Mary the Exemplar of Grace Alone. Among his many initiatives in the Catholic Church, Kulandaisamy supports venture capital for ministries and is well-respected in both thinking forums and in parish life. He is currently a parish priest in the Diocese of Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, India, and teaches at St Paul's Major Seminary in Tiruchirappalli, India. He is also the founder of the Mariological Society of India.

Marie-Louise Handal of New York City earned the Licentiate of Sacred Theology degree summa cum laude. Father Thomas Thompson, S.M., directed her thesis, "The Poetry of St. John Henry Newman: Evolution of Marys Image 18221890 and Its Theological Implications. Her continuing research on Newman has supported her media-oriented apostolate in affiliation with the Daughters of St. Paul. She is a promised member of the International Association of Pauline Cooperators and has organized Pauline Family retreats, media presentations and educational programs in the New York Archdiocese and environs. Handal lives in Manhattan, where she is a writer and adult education teacher in a program for health care workers who are returning to school after many years. She plans to continue her studies for the Doctorate of Sacred Theology.

Gloria Falcao Dodd is the director of academic programs for the International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton.
(Bloomberg) -- Australia has imposed lockdown on a third regional capital as the delta variant spreads nationwide. Hong Kong banned flights from the U.K. amid rising infections.

Mixing doses of Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and AstraZeneca Plc creates a strong immune response, according to results from a University of Oxford study, a finding that could enable greater flexibility in the use of scarce supplies.

Britain reported the most new cases since January that were fueled by the delta variant first identified in India. Even so, an end to restrictions in England is very likely to go ahead on July 19, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

Meanwhile, Singapore is grappling with how to reopen as rival financial center Hong Kong presses forward with easing travel restrictions for vaccinated residents. Indonesia will start offering Covid-19 vaccination to those aged 12 to 17 years old.

Key Developments:

Global Tracker: Cases top 181.2 million; deaths pass 3.9 millionVaccine Tracker: More than 2.97 billion doses administeredThe last-and-only foreign scientist in Wuhan lab speaks outU.K.s Johnson ready to lift Covid rules despite rise in casesThe best and worst places to be as the world finally reopensHeart problems, blood clots and other vaccine fears: QuickTake

Indonesia to Start Vaccinating Teens (8:00 a.m. HK)

Indonesia will start offering Covid-19 vaccination to those aged 12 to 17 years old, after last week extending the inoculation to all adults in order to curb a worsening virus resurgence.

The food and drug regulator has issued an emergency use of authorization for Sinovac vaccine to be applied on teens, President Joko Widodo said in a press briefing on Monday.

Malaysia Unveils $36 Billion Package (7:50 a.m. HK)

Malaysia unveiled a 150 billion ringgit ($36 billion) package to help people through a nationwide lockdown that was extended for a second time with Covid infections still elevated.

The plan includes a 10 billion ringgit direct fiscal injection and will result in the government disbursing 10 billion ringgit in cash aid to the people by the end of the year, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Monday. The announcement marks the fourth stimulus package announced by the government this year.

Story continues

U.S. Says Dont Travel to UAE, Uganda (5:45 a.m. HK)

The U.S. increased its travel warning for the United Arab Emirates and four African countries to the highest risk level, telling residents not to go to those nations because of Covid-19.

The UAE has one of the worlds highest vaccination rates, but daily new cases have continued to hover around 2,000 since March. Liberia, Mozambique, Uganda, and Zambia have all experienced recent outbreaks and were put in the same Level 4 category as the UAE, according to a State Department statement.

The revisions follow updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has also led to the lowering of advisories for countries such as Mexico, Canada, Japan and Ireland.

Biden to Mark Independence From Virus (5:11 a.m. NY)

U.S. President Joe Biden and his White House are planning a slate of travel and events this weekend -- including a barbecue for more than a thousand people -- to celebrate his administrations progress combating the pandemic, though the country fell short of his July 4 vaccination goal.

While coronavirus infections and deaths have fallen dramatically since Biden took office, thanks to an expansive vaccination campaign, the White House fell short of its goal of 70% of U.S. adults receiving at least one shot by July 4. As of Monday, 66.1% of adults had gotten at least one shot.

The country is still recording more than 11,000 cases of Covid-19 per day, on average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But thats a better than 95% reduction since U.S. cases peaked on Jan. 10. There have been 287 deaths per day from the disease, on average, for the last seven days.

South Africa Official Death Toll Tops 60,000 (2:30 p.m. NY)

South Africas official death toll from Covid-19 has passed 60,000, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases said. Over the last 24 hours 138 deaths from the disease were reported, bringing the total to 60,038, the NICD said in a statement on Monday.

South Africas actual number of deaths from the virus could exceed 170,000, according to excess death studies by the South African Medical Research Council, which tracks the number of deaths above the historical norm in weekly reports.

Abu Dhabi to Keep Unvaccinated From Malls (1:30 p.m. NY)

Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, will restrict access to some public places like schools and restaurants unless people are vaccinated. It takes effect Aug. 20.

The Abu Dhabi media office said the decision came after 93% of target groups had been vaccinated. It covers shopping centers, restaurants, recreational facilities, resorts, nurseries, schools and universities. Children under 15 are exempt.

U.K. Reports Most Cases Since January (11:15 a.m. NY)

The U.K. reported 22,868 new Covid-19 cases, the most since Jan. 30, according to its latest update. The number of reported deaths stayed low, with three more reported within 28 days of a positive test. More than 84% of adults in the U.K. have had one vaccine and nearly 62% of adults have had two.

England is very likely to see the end of pandemic restrictions on July 19, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday, despite the surge in infections fueled by the delta variant first identified in India.

Mixing Doses Found to Offer Strong Protection (11:10 a.m. NY)

Mixing doses of Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and AstraZeneca Plc creates a strong immune response, according to results from a University of Oxford study, a finding that could enable greater flexibility in the use of scarce supplies.

A mixed schedule of the Pfizer shot followed by the Astra vaccine, and vice versa, resulted in high concentrations of antibodies against Covid-19 when given four weeks apart, researchers reported Monday in the Lancet medical journal.

Scotland Reports Record Number of Cases (10:30 a.m. NY)

Scotland reported a record 3,285 new cases of coronavirus during the last 24 hours, the biggest daily increase since the start of the pandemic.

That exceeds the previous daily record of 2,999, which was reported last week, according to official figures from the devolved Scottish government, which is responsible for health.

Johnson Sees End to English Curbs in July (8 a.m. NY)

England is very likely to see the end of pandemic restrictions on July 19, Johnson said, despite a surge in infections of the new delta variant.

Hospitalization and death rates remain relatively low as the U.K.s vaccine program progresses, Johnson said, adding that it would be sensible to take a few more weeks to analyze the infection patterns and deliver more second vaccine doses before lifting the curbs.

With every day that goes by its clearer to me and all our scientific advisers that were very likely to be in a position on July 19 to say that really is the terminus, and we can go back to life as it was before Covid as far as possible, Johnson told reporters Monday.

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UK travellers banned from Hong Kong this week as extremely high risk country (PA)

British travellers will be banned from Hong Kong from Thursday.

The UK will be added to Hong Kongs list of extremely high risk countries.

Passenger flights will be banned from entering the territory from Thursday as the UK faces more travel restrictions.

The law will take effect from July 1 and anyone who has been in Britain for longer than two hours will be restricted from boarding passenger flights bound for Hong Kong.

The move comes days after the city toughened quarantine rules for visitors.

On Sunday, the UK recorded a further 14,876 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases.

It added a further 11 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Sunday, bringing the UK total to 128,100.

The news comes as British travellers face growing travel restrictions with more countries announcing limitations.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stated the country will start to demand a negative Covid-19 test or proof of vaccination from British tourists who want to enter Mallorca, Ibiza and the surrounding Balearic islands.

What we are going to do is apply to British tourists who go to the Balearic islands the same requirements we make of other European citizens, Mr Sanchez told Cadena SER radio.

The UK will be added to Hong Kongs list of extremely high risk countries (PA Archive)

They will need a full dose of vaccine or a negative PCR, he added, referring to a type of test for the coronavirus.

In Portugal, those who are not fully vaccinated against Covid-19 must quarantine for 14 days on arrival.

Anyone travelling to mainland Portugal by air, land or sea, from Monday, will have to confirm they are fully vaccinated at least two weeks ago or have to isolate.

The new rules were introduced by the Portuguese government and will last until at least July 11.

Passenger flights will be banned from entering the nation from Thursday (PA Archive)

They said the decision may be revised at any time, depending on the evolution of the epidemiological situation.

Malta has also announced, from Wednesday, only fully-vaccinated travellers will be allowed to enter the country from the UK.

Children under 12 will also be permitted if they are accompanying parents or guardians who have had both doses.

Story continues

Meanwhile, Germany will on Monday launch an attempt to ban British travellers from the EU- including those who are double jabbed.

German chancellor Angela Merkel previously called for a European Union-wide quarantine on British tourists, with Environment Secretary George Eustice criticising the move as not justified.

Ms Merkel wants to designate Britain as a country of concern due to the spread of the Delta variant, according to The Times.

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After the parliamentary elections in Armenia, the re-elected "revolutionary" government, headed by Nikol Pashinyan and his Civil Contract party, did not publish a coherent political program for bringing the republic out of the protracted political crisis. The authorities ignore the position of the nationalist wing of Armenian politics, and the losers, but the leaders of the Karabakh separatism who have passed to parliament, refuse to accept the results of the extraordinary vote. The confrontation will continue, but in a different format.

Significant figures in Armenian politics and business seem to have caught the wind of change, considering the recent elections to be the collapse of the ideology of Karabakh separatism that followed the defeat of Armenia in the Second Karabakh War. Even before summing up the results at the headquarters of the Civil Contract, the former head of the unrecognized NKR Arayik Harutyunyan, who thus expressed support for Pashinyan. Such a political maneuver cannot be considered something unexpected, if we take into account the distance that Harutyunyan kept in relation to ex-presidents Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sargsyan when they arrived in Karabakh at the height of hostilities.

Harutyunyan is a typical representative of the second generation of Karabakh separatists who do not share the romance of trench life, preferring to develop their own business interests. Supporting Pashinyan, Harutyunyan concludes a mutually beneficial agreement, thanks to which he will nominally retain his fake political positions, and most importantly, the remnants of his monopoly business on the territory of the unrecognized republic. Under Pashinyan, Harutyunyan and his entourage do not need to prepare for the next military campaign, donate their funds to prepare for war. Pashinyan removes any responsibility from the top of the separatist regime, since he is ready to delegate the solution of issues related to the post-war settlement either to Russia or to the OSCE Minsk Group.

A little more unexpected was the fact that the head of the "Tashir" company Samvel Karapetyan, during a personal meeting with Nikol Pashinyan, expressed his readiness to cooperate with the newly elected government. A long-term ally and sponsor of the Karabakh clan, a man who helped finance the Armenian army and, according to rumors, paid the bail for the suspect Kocharyan, considered the outcome of the early elections favorable for himself. Karapetyan is a businessman, and Pashinyan has never been at enmity with businessmen, preferring to cooperate with them through his wife's charitable foundations. Some Armenian oligarchs took advantage of this, having received a kind of indulgence, which allowed them to continue their business under the new government.

Three years ago, Karapetyan refrained from recognizing Pashinyan, expecting a counter-revolution on the part of Kocharian. Then the position of the business empire of the head of the "Tashir" group in Armenia was greatly shaken. After two defeats of the separatists - in the war and in the elections - Karapetyan apparently intends to restore his influence in the republic so that the financial channel between Russia and Armenia is not occupied by anyone else from among the influential members of the Armenian diaspora in the Russian Federation. At the same time, there are no ideological contradictions between the newly elected prime minister and a Russian businessman of Armenian origin. Karapetyan has previously invested in Armenian politics in exchange for broad preferences in the Armenian business space. Like Harutyunyan, Karapetyan no longer risks re-investing in the Armenian army, which Pashinyan is not interested in.

The systemic opposition, once loyal to the separatists, is switching to a backup version of political development. Such parties as Prosperous Armenia of Gagik Tsarukyan will go into the shadows for an indefinite time, concentrating on preserving their business assets. Since doing business in Armenia without cooperation with the Pashinyan administration is unsafe, there is hardly a businessman in the republic who is ready to provide indirect financial support to the enemies of the newly elected prime minister, who does not hesitate to demand from the investigating authorities to initiate criminal cases.

The leaders of the local self-government bodies of Syunik and a number of regions, who supported Kocharian during the elections, also fear for their future. During the election campaign, Pashinyan was ready to lose everywhere except Syunik. His unsuccessful trips to the region, acting The prime minister more than once concluded with words about imminent retaliation against regional self-government bodies in the event of his re-election. It seems that the worst thing for the Syunik officials did happen, because on June 25 a meeting was held at the headquarters of the Kocharian bloc between the ex-president and the heads of the communities. The future of many officials of the Syunik region is now in question.
A Belarusian emergencies ministry helicopter had a crash landing in the Brest region on Sunday, no one was hurt, the countrys emergencies ministry vsaid.

"A Mi-2 helicopter of the Belarusian emergencies ministry, which was on a forest surveying mission, made a crash landing near the village of Chderebasovo, Brest region. The crew of two managed to leave the rotorcraft. They were not hurt but, nevertheless, will be examined by medics," BelTA cited the statement as saying.

The helicopter received mechanical damages. An investigation is underway.
A forest fire that broke out in Turkey's southwestern Mugla province on June 27 has been brought under control, a local official said.

"The fire is now under control. Teams continue cooling work from air and land in the region," Orhan Tavl, the Mugla governor, told Anadolu Agency.

For reasons unknown, the fire broke out in forestland close to hotels and settlements in Icmeler in the Marmaris district of the coastal province. Many forest workers and firefighters as well as six helicopters, sprinklers, bulldozers, and water tankers battled flames that the wind helped quickly spread over the region.

A forest worker died while battling the forest fires along with firefighters, Tavl also said.

According to Mugla Regional Directorate of Forestry, the forest worker was 38-year-old Gorkem Hasdemir.

Vice President Fuat Oktay on Twitter shared a message of condolences over Hasdemirs death and wished Allah's mercy on him.
The number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 has increased to 23 million, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said in an interview with Russian TV.

"Today, its already 23 million (people vaccinated against the coronavirus). The speed has picked up the pace a lot," TASS cited him as saying.

Earlier, Russias Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said that the number of people vaccinated with the first shot had reached 20.7 million by June 23, and the number of fully vaccinated people had risen to 16.7 million.

Russias vaccination campaign for adults was launched on January 18, people can choose between three vaccines created and produced in Russia. The fourth vaccine, Sputnik Light, is still yet to become available for the general population.

According to the latest statistics, more than 181.2 million people have been infected worldwide, and more than 3,900,000 deaths have been reported. To date, 5,472,941 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 4,969,340 patients having recovered from the disease. Russias latest data indicates 133,893 fatalities nationwide. The Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.
Tactical exercises 'Mustafa Kamal Ataturk - 2021' have begun in Baku, according to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

Reportedly, the exercises are taking place with the participation of the Azerbaijani and Turkish Armed Forces within the framework of the agreement on military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey.

The purpose of the exercises is to improve the interaction of the armies of the two countries during combat operations and to develop skills in commanding subunits.

Up to 600 personnel are involved in the exercise, which will last until June 30. The maneuvers involved up to 40 tanks and other armored vehicles, 20 mortars and other types of artillery cannons of various calibers, 7 combat and transport helicopters, 3 drones for various purposes and up to 50 vehicles, the ministry added.
The U.S. military launched airstrikes against Iranian-backed militias in Syria in retaliation for drone attacks, the Pentagon announced Sunday evening.

The strikes targeted sites that been used to launch drone attacks on U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement.

"Specifically, the U.S. strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those countries," Kirby said. "Several Iran-backed militia groups, including Kata'ib Hezbollah and Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, used these facilities."

U.S. F-15 and F-16 warplanes carried out the airstrikes, targeting three facilities that had been used to control the drones and for logistics, according to a Defense official who was not authorized to speak publicly. All the pilots returned safely. It's too early to tell if there were casualties on the ground among civilians or militants, the official said.

Kirby stressed in his statement that Biden ordered the attacks in self-defense, an obligation the president has under the U.S. Constitution. It's an important distinction, as Congress has moved to repeal the nearly two-decade-old war resolution that paved the way for the U.S. military invasion of Iraq, USA Today reported.

"As demonstrated by this evening's strikes, President Biden has been clear that he will act to protect U.S. personnel," Kirby said. "Given the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting U.S. interests in Iraq, the President directed further military action to disrupt and deter such attacks."

The attacks were designed to act as a deterrent to further attack but avoid further escalation, Kirby said.
We did not want war. We do not want it today either, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev said addressing the meeting with a leadership and a group of military personnel of Azerbaijani Army on the occasion of the Armed Forces Day at Gulustan Palace, Trend reports.

"The April fighting was not a lesson for Armenia. Two years later, as a result of the Nakhchivan operation, we took over a large area, demonstrating our strength and professionalism once again. That did not serve them as a lesson either. Finally, the second Karabakh war was a lesson that they will remember forever. The second Karabakh war is our glorious history. This history will live in the hearts of the Azerbaijani people forever. It was a celebration of justice. It was a celebration of pride, a celebration of national dignity, a celebration of the indomitable spirit of the Azerbaijani people. We mobilized all our resources, won this war and drove the enemy out of our lands. We put the enemy in such a disgraceful situation that they knelt before us, waved the white flag and were forced to sign an act of capitulation. However, during the war, I repeatedly said in my speeches and interviews that we were ready to stop. As President, I declared that the Armenian leader should personally provide us with a timetable of when Armenian military units would leave our lands, provide a date to us, and we will stop the war. However, the Armenian side lost this chance yet again. As a result of the war, the Armenian army was completely crushed. I voiced these figures before, so you know them very well. You have destroyed the Armenian army, there is no Armenian army any longer  336 tanks were destroyed or taken as spoils of war. Eight S300 installations were destroyed, other anti-aircraft systems were destroyed, artillery pieces were destroyed. In other words, there is no Armenian army any longer. During the war  it is no longer a secret  the mediators sent a message to Armenia that it is necessary to stop and provide a timetable for the withdrawal. But they refused. After we had liberated Shusha from the occupiers, they were forced to sign an act of capitulation in the early hours of 10 November, Azerbaijani president said.

We showed strong resolve and courage. We demonstrated national spirit and achieved what we wanted. I want to say again that the second Karabakh war is forever inscribed in the history of Azerbaijan in golden letters as a glorious victory. From now on, Azerbaijan will live as a victorious state and Armenia as a defeated country, President Aliyev said.

I can say that the second Karabakh war was inevitable. Everyone knew that. The Azerbaijani public knew that, the international mediators knew that, and so did we. There were only hopes that the Armenian leadership would at least show the self-defense instinct and leave our lands of its own free will. If that had happened, there would have been no need for war. We did not want war. We do not want it today either. I think that various initiatives should be put forward in our region, in the South Caucasus to reduce the risk of war to zero. We are ready for that. We do not need war. We have achieved what we wanted, and a new era has already begun for us  an era of construction, an era of restoration of our lands, Azerbaijani president said.

But this should be a lesson for Armenia. Because they must finally understand that this hostility towards us cost them dearly. What did they achieve? Nothing! They have failed to build an independent state in 30 years. Armenia today cannot be considered an independent state. How can it be independent if it entirely depends on external circles. It is completely dependent on foreign military aid. It depends entirely on political orders from abroad. They had 30 years, why couldn't they build an independent country? Because of the occupation of our lands. This occupation has brought them to this plight. This hostility, the hatred of the Azerbaijani people brought them to this state, and justice triumphed. Sometimes we think in different situations that there is no justice. We wonder why there is no justice. One just has to be patient. One needs to wait for the right time and work every day towards ones goal. Every day we brought this day closer. The Karabakh issue was the first, issue on my agenda every day as President. Every single day. Every day, I thought what else should be done to achieve this victory and to liberate our lands. We demonstrated it, the head of state said.
Two years ago, Le Nguyen Khanh Trinh appeared on Shark Tank Vietnam with pull-up bars he had invented.

Le Nguyen Khanh Trinh introduced his own pull-up bars at Shark Tank Vietnam 2019. Photo courtesy of Shark Tank Vietnam

The innovator applied for a patent in five countries around the world (Vietnam, Nigeria, South Africa, the US, and Australia).

The pull-up bar frame is designed to be higher than the reach of teenagers, easily adjusted and with much better bearing capacity than cheap Chinese-made door/wall-mounted bars.

Trinh wanted to raise US$5 million in exchange for a 10 per cent stake in the company. The capital would be used for PR and marketing to promote exports to foreign markets.

However, the offer was considered ridiculous and his dream was crushed by the Sharks.

"In my opinion, your product is too simple. Makes me feel like a waste of time, Shark Nguyen Hoa Binh said.

Shark Pham Thanh Hung agreed: "I think $5 million for simple pull-up bars like this is crazy. In my opinion, don't produce these things.

You can invest in the production of those money-printing machines, maybe then you can print $5 million, he added.

For Shark Do Thi Kim Lien, Trinhs invention was a pretty simple product that anyone can make.

The startup CEO also received comments on Facebook disparaging the product, such as "A few pieces of scrap iron that a welder can make in a few hours," or "The design is too simple to make any difference", to saying he "had problems" and was even a "psycho".

However, the tables have turned.

Despite the disparagement of the "Sharks" as well as the Vietnamese online community, Trinhs business is booming.

Recently on its website pullupbarkt.com, there is a video with the appearance of Shark Kevin Harrington, one of the first "Sharks" of Shark Tank America.

Kevin Harrington, founder of Harrington Enterprises, praised the multi-purpose function of the product.

The KT Pull-up bar is everything you need for your home work out and more, youve got to check it out, Harrington said.

Stable and safe, this multi-purpose folding frame allows you to do pull-ups and chin-ups in the most comfortable way.

Many customers say that its one of the sturdiest pull-up bars theyve ever tried. You can even explore other exercises by adding a punching bag and exercise ring or aerial silk for yoga.

If you suffer from back pain, the KT pull-up bar is also a great way to stretch and help protect your spine. Adjustable by height, it can be used by all family members.

Compact, yet durable, it can be folded and moved to any area in your house or back yard. You can even add a swing for the kids or a hammock to relax.

On Amazon, Khanh Trinh's products are popular among American customers.

I'm 63 and live in a house with old doorways. So, I needed a freestanding pull-up bar that was high enough to accommodate me and strong enough to support my weight, said Amazon user Michael Moravcsik.

The product took a month to arrive, and I was worried it wouldn't come, but rather than asking for a refund I contacted the seller. She was incredibly helpful and identified a problem with the shipping, rerouting it and personally overnighting it," he said.

It did arrive finally, and was everything I hoped for and more. This is without doubt the best freestanding bar on the market."

For Trinh, success will never be achieved without hard work and dedication, especially with his starting point.

Writing on his website, Trinh said that he had quit his job as a bank worker to focus entirely on the business in 2013, but he had the idea of designing and selling pull-up bars since 2008.

With nothing but knowledge of finance and banking, he had to do a lot of research on geometry and physics, and then teach himself mechanics to turn a product from idea into reality.

To save costs and bring the products to market, he studied web design and posted the products for sale on popular e-commerce sites at that time, such as Vat Gia (Prices), Rong Bay (Flying Dragon), Cho ien Tu (E-Market), Mua Re (Cheap Buy).

After a month he got his first order, and more customers came after they started introducing his products to others.

In August 2013, with a solid foundation, Trinh quit his job at the bank and focused entirely on the business. He also applied for a patent in the US to bring his products to this promising market.

"If you want to have high income, work hard to think creatively to find new and breakthrough ideas that serve many people, Trinh told Doanh nghiep va Tiep thi (Business and marketing) newspaper.

Please direct your product or service to the world, focusing on quality and prestige, because there are many people with high income, so create a product or service that is 'Simple but needed by many people'.

"There are things that seem simple but they are not. Don't think that everyone can do it. Because each person has a different ability, situation, and fate that pushes them into their profession.

Never look down on others or compare or envy others.

Source: Vietnam News

Foreigner starts company that makes new kind of motorbike lock in Vietnam Robert Thorwath, who has been living and working in Vietnam for six years, has invented a special lock for motorcycles.
The trend of shoppers going online en masse is driving demand for cold storage facilities, something that is in severe short supply in Vietnam.

Demand for cold storage is increasing sharply as consumers in Vietnam turn to online shopping. (Photo: Baodautu.vn)

Nguyen Quoc Trinh, chairman of the Long An Dragon Fruit Association, said June is the peak harvest season for many agricultural products in Long An, but exports remain difficult and local consumers have tended to switch online due to the COVID-19 epidemic, causing severe congestion and overload at cold storages.

Seafood is the other product that requires the largest cold storage capacity.

Trang Bui, senior director of markets, JLL Vietnam, said in fact seafood exports top the list.

During the peak COVID period, 30 - 50 percent of seafood export orders were cancelled, leading to an increase in inventories, forcing cold storages to work at maximum capacity.

Supply is constrained in part because cold storages take more time to build than other types of logistics facilities and more expensive than standard warehouses, she said.

They cost two to three times more, and the lease term is usually only 15-20 years, making the already scarce supply even scarcer, she said.

Besides, the industry requires expertise in temperature maintenance since each fruit, vegetable, meat, and fish has its own temperature requirements, and this explains why of the thousands of companies in the logistics sector only a few set up cold chains, she said.

JLL Vietnam said cold storage demand would continue to grow strongly for at least the next half decade as global consumers change their shopping behaviour due to the pandemic.

With its huge potential real estate for cold storage is now attracting the attention of investors, venture capital funds and lenders.

They are also considering it an alternative to traditional industrial real estate, while logistics companies looking to expand into new markets.

The Louis Holdings Group has invested 250 billion VND (10.7 million USD) in vegetable processing and cold storage facilities in Long An province.

Huynh Quang Vinh, general director of the Louis Holdings Group, said the plant would focus on exports of the main agricultural products of Long An province and surrounding areas such as jackfruit, dragon fruit, pineapple, and mango.

With a capacity of four tonnes per hour, it is expected that the plant will supply 15,000-20,000 tonnes of agricultural products to the global food supply chain.

Ken Research, a global publisher of market intelligence, said that in 2016-21 the Vietnam cold chain industry grew at a compound annual growth rate of 10.4 percent.

It expects the market to be worth 1.8 billion USD this year./.

Source: VNS
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has set up a working group to inspect the implementation of the law on rice imports and exports at five local rice import and export companies.

They include: Tan Long Group; Thuan Minh Import-Export Joint Stock Company; Loc Troi Group; Tan Dong Tien Joint Stock Company and Khanh Tam Company Limited.

The Ministry has issued an express document requesting these firms to assign representatives to work with the Ministry's inspection team at the office of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Ho Chi Minh City. The Ministry also requested the companies to prepare reports on their import and trade of Indian rice.

According to data from the Indian Ministry of Trade and Industry, in the first three months of 2021, India's rice exports to Vietnam reached nearly 247,000 tons, worth $74.8 million. The figures rose by more than 3,250 times in volume and nearly 554 times in value compared to 76 tons and $135 million in the same period of 2020.

This is the largest amount of rice that India has ever exported to Vietnam. Previously, from 2019 and earlier, India's rice exports to Vietnam only reached a modest level of 500 tons to several thousand tons a year.

In 2020, Vietnam imported 46,700 tons of rice from India, an increase of more than 9.5 times compared to 2019 and the upward trend continued in the first months of 2021.

H. Duy
The two years for intellectual property registration in Vietnam is said to be too long, affecting business activities and the image of the brand.

Chairman of Pacific Foods Le Ba Linh worked very hard for eight years to bring the traditional Vietnamese fish sauce bottle to Amazon. As an exporting company, the boss of Pacific Foods attached importance to intellectual property registration and trademark protection very early.

When selling their products on Amazon, businesses are required to have intellectual property registration, transparent trademark. Without these factors, they cannot carry out marketing and promotion programs," said Linh. He said that without registration of intellectual property, businesses selling goods on Amazon are like "hired sellers".

Without registered intellectual property, Vietnamese fish sauce ranked over 2,000th. After registering intellectual property, we did marketing campaigns and our product gradually moved up and officially reached Top 1 on Amazon in April 2020," Lin said.

In early 2020, the Covid-19 epidemic broke out and directly affected traditional retail channels and businesses immediately promoted the online sales channel, including Amazon. Currently, about 18,000 bottles of Vietnamese traditional fish sauce are sold each month on this giant e-commerce platform, leaving behind the fish sauce products of strong competitors from Thailand, Taiwan, China or Singapore.

The sale of Pacific Foods' fish sauce on Amazon rose from 0% in 2018 to 2,590% in mid-April 2020.

Vietnamese fish sauce ranks number 1 on Amazon.

In Vietnam, many experts believe that Vietnamese businesses need to pay attention to the brand.

If a company has a good business orientation, brand recognition is indispensable," said Vietstar Windows boss Nguyen Ngoc Luan.

However, the domestic intellectual property registration process is very complicated, which takes up to two years. During this time, if the trademark is found to have been used, the intellectual property registration will be refused. That means businesses take more than 700 days to wait for the relevant agencys decision.

Our Vietstar Windows brand is an example. State agencies have no interaction with us. All of the registration process was conducted through an intermediary company. We spent a lot of money to market the brand so what would happen if it is not accepted? If not, we will have to wait another two years to develop a new brand before repeating this vicious cycle," Luan said.

Viet Duc - the owner of a new coffee brand in the market - said he had to live with anxiety during the two years registering his coffee brand. Waiting for two years is a big risk. We are tired of waiting, Duc said.

Meanwhile, it took Luan just a week after registering the intellectual property for a coffee trademark in the US to receive a full report from the local authorities on the relevant trademarks for his business to assess legal problems, the possibility of success if a dispute occurs around the category name, owner's name, duplicate characters in the registered name... If there are no other issues, a certificate of brand protection will be issued to the business within six months.

Mr. Le Ba Linh introduces his companys traditional fish sauce product to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan.

Le Ba Linh said that other countries set periods of three months or six months to respond to businesses related to complaints during the process of brand registration, while it takes up to two years to receive an answer for brand registration in Vietnam.

In 2019, through the System of Receiving and Responding to Enterprise Proposals, the Club of Former National Assembly Deputies suggested that the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP) should soon improve the registration of intellectual property rights for products and inventions. The waiting time for registration of intellectual property rights of two years is too long, causing troubles and disadvantages for businesses.

Responding to the petition, the Ministry of Science and Technology at that time said that it had directed the NOIP to urgently implement solutions to speed up the processing of applications and shorten the waiting time for registration, such as: reviewing and simplifying the appraisal process, recruiting more staff, improving the capacity of the information technology system, participating in rapid appraisal programs, and purchasing access to specialized data.

Quang Dinh

From humble start to worlds best rice The Vietnamese rice sector was shocked last month when companies from the US and Australia attempted to attain the trademark for ST25 rice.
For vaccines not to become a political issue, we must return to the Party's orientation set 15 years ago that external forces are important, internal resources are decisive," Dr. Nguyen Duc Kien, head of the PM's consultation group told VietNamNet.

Dr. Nguyen Duc Kien: We must both strengthen our vaccine production capacity and try to negotiate to buy vaccines and reopen the economy.

The world has experienced nearly two years of hardship under the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The US and some European countries have resumed normal operations while Vietnam is still struggling against the epidemic. What will be the impact of this situation?

Dr. Nguyen Duc Kien: We previously predicted that the epidemic might be under control and no one expected that the virus would mutate into the British and Delta (formerly called Indian) strains with much faster infection ability. We have identified the problem on the basis of two new strains. In this fourth wave, the number of infected people in Vietnam is equal to the total number of patients of the previous three waves, but the mortality rate is still low and the situation is much more difficult than last year. It is more difficult because people have run out of stockpiles; what people had saved was used to cover the recent epidemics.

In the world, some countries have recovered quickly such as the US and China. When the recovery of these superpowers is accompanied by huge economic support packages, the prices of materials and goods may be pushed up.

For Vietnam, with export turnover 2.1 times higher than GDP, we are surely affected in terms of both production and workers' lives.

Currently, we are maintaining workers' living standards at a stable level. As for the impact on production, we have to accept it because Vietnam operates under a market economy; When demand is high and supply is low, prices will go up.

Vaccines: external force is important, internal force is decisive

Vaccines are the weapon to bring our country back to normal. But so far, just over 1% of the population has been vaccinated. The Ministry of Health said that it negotiated to buy vaccines very early, but it seems that it has been difficult to get the vaccines soon?

In March, I said vaccines had become a political issue, not just an economic issue. So far, this has been evident. Whether a vaccine is recognized to meet international standards or not is political.

Let's try to put ourselves in a situation. If there is no vaccine, is there a better option than the one we are using? The solution we are applying is detecting and isolating the infection area, which is the optimal solution so that it does not become a pandemic and has no impact on society.

For vaccines not to become a political issue, we must return to the Party's orientation set 15 years ago that external forces are important, internal forces are decisive. This means that we have to both increase our capacity to produce vaccines, while trying to negotiate to buy vaccines for our people and reopen the economy.

Can you analyze specifically the internal factors affecting the vaccine story in Vietnam?

The first batch of 811,200 doses of COVID-19 vaccine sponsored by COVAX arrived in Vietnam in April 2021. Photo: Ministry of Health

I think there are three reasons. Firstly, Vietnam is not an epidemic area as we and the world perceive. Secondly, Vietnam's foreign relations and strength in the international arena today are the results of the countrys foreign policy of independence and self-reliance. Thirdly, we need to strengthen the internal strength of the country (in vaccine production).

Therefore, the vaccine story of our country needs to be viewed from that angle. Our consulting team sent a quick report to the Prime Minister on the vaccine approval process, which stated that countries like Russia and the US all applied wartime laws to produce vaccines.

The US vaccine production law signed in April 2020 has two important points: All vaccine manufacturers must stop other production activities to produce Covid-19 vaccines under state order, otherwise the business will be expropriated; pharmaceutical companies are allowed to carry out the second stage of research and then launch the vaccine to the market, which will be both used and further researched.

The Vietnamese Government has opened up to businesses and organizations the right to buy and import vaccines. The State has also announced which types of vaccines that businesses can import into Vietnam. The State has also assigned the Ministry of Health to be responsible for consulting organizations on organizing vaccination programs to ensure vaccination safety.

What recommendations do you have for the Government in the second half of 2021 to achieve the dual goals of fighting the epidemic and developing the economy?

In the second half of the year, the Government's direction will probably focus on three directions: epidemic prevention, public investment, and opening the door to create openness for the economy in general. The government is implementing in accordance with the motto of dialectical materialism that quantity is converted into quality, doing small things in each locality to study and evaluate the impact and then replicate them to the national level. It is also a new way of doing things, different from the previous Governments.

For example, the Government recently held an unscheduled meeting to deal with problems of highway projects. The government also met and immediately issued a resolution to buy vaccines. Those decisions were made very in a timely manner and quickly. This requires the assisting apparatus to raise specific issues to consult with members of the Government to help the head of the Government to have sufficient grounds to make decisions. That shows the collectivity of the Government as well as the responsibility of the head.

In the medium and long term, in your opinion, what macro policies are necessary to promote economic development?





Those in charge of macroeconomic management must stick to the document of the 13th Party Congress because this is the development step for the 2011 platform, which clearly stipulates: a socialist-oriented market economy is a modern market economy, with international economic integration, compliance with market economic rules, with the management and administration of the State.

The management and administration of the state is not that the state uses the state-owned economy to intervene directly in the market but through tax solutions, administrative procedures, etc., to shorten the production process and create faster capital flow, thereby creating more efficiency to offset the increase in the price of the market, keeping profits for business.

In the model of economic restructuring, Vietnam must get rid of the confusion between the market economy and the market economy under the control of the state. When Vietnam joins the global chain, it must be ensured that all businesses in this chain enjoy economic benefits brought by this chain.

Lan Anh

Vietnam should not be criticized for slow pace of vaccinations: FPT official Some people have criticized the Government for being slow in vaccinating its people. To date, only nearly 1 percent of population has been vaccinated, a figure which is even lower than Laos and Cambodia.
Buyers nowadays only need to scan a QR code by their phones to pay for items, and shops have even stopped accepting cash payments.

A banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich) shop on Dang Van Ngu Street in Hanoi attracts a large number of young buyers not only because its banh mi is less than VND20,000 ($0.8), but also because young customers are excited with the shops new payment method. Instead of paying cash, buyers can swipe the QR code that is affixed right on the glass cabinet containing the sandwich.

The store accepts payment via more than 10 types of e-wallets, enabling faster and more convenient payments.

Payment via QR code has become popular in Vietnam. On social networks, people were impressed with the story about a shoe shiner in the mountainous province of Tuyen Quang who refused cash, only accepting payments via QR Code.

Cashless payments everywhere

The story was told on the Facebook page of Vu Thanh Trung. Trung was impressed by a shoe shiner in Tuyen Quang City who asked Trung to not pay in cash but via an electronic wallet. The shoe shiner turned his shoe shine box with a QR sticker on it and explained why cash shouldn't be used.

Trung was quite shocked when the shoe shiner told him the story about a QR code in a faraway country. He didn't think that a shoe shiner would be so tech savvy.

Trung scanned the QR code and was more surprised to see that the name of the money recipient shown on his phone was Danh Giay (shoe shine), with a total amount of VND20,000 for two pairs of shoes shined. Trung asked him why he decided to use this electronic payment, and he replied: "I can save money if you transfer it to my e-wallet. If you pay me in cash, I will spend the money very quickly."

For housewives who shop at Vinmart chain, the Scan & Go feature is very convenient. They only need to open the application; select the products they want to buy; and add them to the e-shopping cart then scan the barcode on the product price stamps to create an order on the app. With this order, they can pay quickly at the priority counter. The payment time only takes about 30 seconds.

The advantage of this feature is the ability to pay super-fast, saving up to 90% of waiting time - a concern of housewives when shopping during rush hours. In fact, Scan & Go shopping technology has been adopted by many of the world's leading retailers such as Tesco, Sainsbury's and Amazon Go.

Shoe shining in the 4.0 era

With just a simple operation, patients can immediately pay hospital fees without having to queue and they don't have to take cash or bank cards with them, and at the same time the hospital can save costs, human resources and manage effectively," said an official of the Medicine and Pharmacy University Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

So far, 15 banks have cooperated with the hospital to provide the payment service via QR code.

Ms. Thuy, the owner of a breakfast shop, said that up to 50% of customers use this payment method. For her, the best benefit is that she no longer has to worry about change. So she encourages customers by giving discounts to those using this payment mode.

When the poor benefit

2019 was the year of e-wallets when many were launched in Vietnam, with huge promotions to attract users, and each wallet had its own strengths. Many non-cash payment services offered spending stimulus programs, online payment solutions or financial services. Mobile money services were also deployed by mobile carriers to energize a cashless economy, and the poor also benefited.

At a seminar on mobile money, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said that in developing countries, about 15% adults earn revenue from selling agricultural products, but most of them receive cash - a risky, inefficient and inconvenient form of collecting money.

But they cannot sell agricultural products to a person far away, so according to Minister Hung, payment via mobile subscription accounts helps people in the city pay for bananas from an orchard in any village in their country. Thus, farmers can sell their products at a higher price.

In fact, the poor in rural, remote and isolated areas have been excluded from the mainstream financial system. Mobile money is expected to be the solution to help them access life-changing paid services on Internet platforms such as healthcare, education, finance, employment, and social security.

Vietnam will be the 91st country in the world with Mobile Money service if this platform is licensed this year.

"Technology can help solve many problems of the country, but we have to change, dare to change, dare to accept new models," Minister Hung said.

Mobile money is also expected to contribute to a boom in Vietnamese startups. The Minister of Information and Communications explained that along with mobile money, many digital businesses and technology startups will appear. This will be the most popular payment method accepted by startups.

Mobile Money allows people to receive, store and spend money from mobile phone accounts from anyone and anywhere with cellphone signals, and without any intermediaries. In areas with no internet connection, people, including feature phone users, can use their Mobile Money accounts to make payments via SMS.

Mobile payments are already booming. "Even a shoe shiner has a rather progressive thought, so it is not far away to apply electronic payment methods to buy vegetables, to shop at the market, or buy and sell anything in the future," said Trung, who told the story about the shoe shiner.

Duy Anh

Fintechs to partner with telecom carriers to offer Mobile Money The pilot program on providing the Mobile Money service is expected to increase non-cash transactions, especially in remote areas. To improve users' experience, fintechs should work with network operators, experts say.
Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong delivered an important speech at a national teleconference on June 12 reviewing the five-year implementation of the 12-tenure Politburo's Directive 05-CT-TW

on enhancing the studying and following of President Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and lifestyle.

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong delivers an important speech at a national teleconference on June 12. (Photo: VNA)

Following is the full text of the speech.

Esteemed delegates



Distinguished guests,



Dear comrades,



The entire Party, people and army of Vietnam are paying homage to our great President Ho Chi Minh and celebrating, in a wide variety of ways, his 131st birthday, the 110th anniversary of his departure in search of national salvation, and the 80th anniversary of his return to the homeland to directly lead the Vietnamese revolution. The Vietnamese people across the country are also rejoicing with pride and confidence at the resounding success of the 13th National Party Congress, and the election of deputies to the 15th National Assembly and all-level Peoples Councils for the 2021-2026 term. In such an ambience, we are today to solemnly organize the National Conference to review the 5-year implementation of the Politburos Directive No.5 on Promoting the study and emulation of Ho Chi Minh thoughts, morals and style. This is necessary deed of great significance.



On behalf of the Party Central Committee, I would like to extend my warmest welcome, most sincere greetings and best wishes to the leaders of the Party and State, the exemplary collectives and individuals, and all delegates attending this Conference.

Late President Ho Chi Minh and students from Hanoi's Trung Vuong Secondary School in May 1956. (Photo: VNA)

Dear comrades,



As we all know, our beloved President Ho Chi Minh is the brilliant leader of the Party and nation, the great mentor of the Vietnamese revolution, the national liberation hero, an exemplary fighter among international communists, and a world cultural celebrity. He is no longer with us, but the legacy he left for our Party and people is monumental and invaluable, including the Ho Chi Minh Era, Ho Chi Minhs cause and Ho Chi Minh thoughts, morals and style, and an exemplary model for us to always follow. He is the noblest symbol of Vietnams patriotism and revolutionary heroism, a radiant crystallization of virtue, wisdom, courage and conscience of our nation and our time.



Throughout his life, President Ho Chi Minh made tireless efforts in dedication to our Fatherland, our countrymen and our cause of national liberation, class liberation, social liberation and human liberation. His was a life full of hardships and sacrifices. Yet it is an extremely glorious and noble, a truly vibrant, virtuous and admirable life. He had gone down in history as a colossus, even a legend during his lifetime. His life and cause have become a symbol of revolution, inspiring hope and dream for the Vietnamese and the progressive people around the world in their struggles for independence, freedom, peace, democracy and social progress. Our nation, our people and our country nurtured President Ho Chi Minh, the great national hero, and it was him who in turn glorified our nation, our people and our country.



The thoughts, morals and style of President Ho Chi Minh are invaluable spiritual assets of our Party and people, illuminating our revolutionary cause, guiding each step forward to the success of the Vietnamese revolution. Studying and following President Ho Chi Minhs thoughts, morals and style remain a crucial, regular and indispensable task for the entire Party and people, particularly the Party organizations, State agencies, and Party cadre and members, in their endeavors for self-improvement, and in service of the country and people.

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong delivers an important speech at a national teleconference on June 12. (Photo: VNA)

How, then, should we understand Ho Chi Minh Thought? Ho Chi Minh morals? And Ho Chi Minh style?



- In brief, Ho Chi Minh Thought is a system of fundamental positions, understanding and guiding thoughts by President Ho Chi Minh concerning Vietnam revolution and its way forward in the present era. It is resulting from the innovative application and further development of Marxism-Leninism against the backdrop of Vietnam's particular condition, inheriting and advancing the traditional virtues of our nation while absorbing the cultural quintessence of mankind. President Ho Chi Minh had said on multiple occasions that "Vietnam is one country. The Vietnamese are one nation. Rivers may run dry, mountains may erode away, but this truth shall never change"; "We would rather sacrifice all than forfeit our country or be slaves"; "Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom"; "Even though we have to set ablaze the Truong Son Range , we must resolutely win national independence; "I have but one desire, a desire above all else, and that is for our country to be truly independent, our people to be truly free, for every single one among our countrymen to have food, clothes and education, and for our nation to enjoy a commensurate standing in the world.". "If our country were to be independent yet our people are without happiness and freedom, that independence would be meaningless".



Therefore, independence must go hand-in-hand with socialism. National liberation must be coupled with class liberation, social liberation, and human liberation. To that end, we must conduct socialist revolution. Whether Vietnam would become prosperous and the Vietnamese nation would stand proudly as equals to major powers of the five continents, are much predicated upon our ability to marshal the strength of the all-nation unity and rally all forces, ethnicities, religions and patriotic Vietnamese national. "Unity, unity, great unity. Success, success, grand success!""For national salvation and liberation, there is no way other than the way of proletarian revolution". "Today there are so many theories and doctrines, yet the truest and most revolutionary of all philosophies is Leninism, Marxism-Leninism. Revolutions are the people's cause, for the people and by the people, under the judicious leadership of a true revolutionary party. Only with a strong Party would the nation be strong, for the Party is the vanguard and the leader of the working class, the working people, and the entire nation.



- Ho Chi Minh Morals are indeed the revolutionary morals. These are the virtuous qualities of a revolutionary: diligence, frugality, integrity, uprightness, public-spiritedness and selflessness. Diligence means to work hard and tirelessly, and devote whole-heartedly to the common good in the interest of our country and people. Frugality means to exercise moderation without extravagance or luxury, especially when it comes to public property. Integrity means to keep ourselves untarnished and untainted. Uprightness means to remain true and honest, never to bend our knees, and uphold a noble and righteous spirit. Public-spiritedness and selflessness mean to act in the common good and place the common interest above all, without private designs for personal gains. We must resolutely combat individualism, "wipe out individualism", as "individualism is the enemy from inside", "the most wicked foe", and "an insidious and crafty enemy that pulls the unwary down a slippery slope". President Ho Chi Minh paid special attention to the education and reinforcement of revolutionary morals. He often said that "just as rivers would run dry without their sources, or as trees would wither without their roots, revolutionists must have morals, without morals no matter how talented they are, they shall not be able to lead the people".



- Ho Chi Minh Style refers to a humble lifestyle and simple presence. It also means to be willing to learn from, to stay close to, to respect, and to trust the people. Everything is done in the best interest of the people. The Party cadre and members are the servants of the people, neither their masters nor revolutionary mandarins". Each Party cadre and member must take it upon themselves to study and discipline themselves so as to continually enhance their understanding and expertise, and ennoble themselves as principled human beings, who are "wholly loyal to the Party, wholly filial to the People, who shall fulfill any mission, overcome any hardship, and defeat any enemy".

President Ho Chi Minh. (Photo: VNA)

In his life, President Ho Chi Minh was especially attentive towards the education and cultivation of the Party cadre and members. He often shared that "ours is a ruling party. Each Party member and cadre must be truly immersed in revolutionary morals, to truly uphold diligence, frugality, integrity, uprightness, public-spiritedness and selflessness. We must maintain a truly untarnished Party that is a worthy leader and a loyal servant of the people". It is important to understand that "success or failure of all things boil down to whether our cadre is good or bad" and "cadre is the root of all our work". As such, it is essential to pay special attention to the education, training and cultivation of the Party cadre and members, nurture a wealth of exemplary persons and deeds. Uncle Ho reminded us that "good folks and good deeds are as flowers blossoming in spring, setting the bright examples of revolutionary heroism". "Upholding exemplary persons and deeds to educate each other daily is one of the best ways to build our Party, build the revolutionary organizations, and build a new people and a new life".



In recent years, the Party has early invoked and provided leadership over the study and emulation of Ho Chi Minh thoughts, morals and style through various decrees and resolutions. The most recent iteration is Directive No. 5 issued by the 12th Politburo on Promoting the study and emulation of Ho Chi Minh thought, morals and style in conjunction with the implementation of the Resolution of the 4th Meeting of the 12th Central Party Committee on "Strengthening Party-building and rectification, combating and stemming the tide of degradation in political thoughts, morals, lifestyles, and signs of 'self-evolution' and 'self-transformation' within the Party. Through new, creative and practical ways of conduct, these efforts have achieved important and fairly well-rounded achievements. As a result, dramatic positive and far-reaching changes have been generated within the Party and the entire society, and were highly applauded by the 13th Party Congress.



Notably, the leadership and guidance concerning the study and emulation of Ho Chi Minh thoughts, morals and style were exercised seriously, professionally and with high quality. There has been improvement in the cultivation of morals in conjunction with the duty to set the example. The Party committees, cadre and members, and heads of organizations and units, especially the Members of the Politburo, Members of the Secretariat and Members of the Central Committee, have set examples through concrete acts and deeds, taking to heart the mantras "Leaders first, subordinates later", "inner first, outside later" and "studying side-by-side with doing". Mass education was conducted in a variety of innovative ways, thus positively improving both the awareness and actions of the Party cadre and members and the broader public. This has gradually turned the Ho Chi Minh thoughts, morals and style into the spiritual bedrock of our society. Inspections and supervision have received due attention and proved to be an effective channel of education and deterrence and prevention of wrongdoings.



These positive results have contributed to our fights against degradation in political thoughts, morals, lifestyle, and signs of self-evolution and self-transformation among Party cadre and members, particularly among the leadership and managerial echelon and heads of organs, offices and units. Such accomplishments are a boon to the building of a collective of Party cadre who are endowed with solid political mettle, untarnished morals, and a righteous sense of responsibility and motivation. They themselves are also the exemplary vanguard that shall successfully fulfill any given task, and the contributors to breakthroughs in socio-economic development, nation-building and defense. A plethora of difficult and highly complex issues in Party-building, especially with Party rectification, were mentioned across different terms of office, and as of the tenure of 12th Congress, saw clear improvements.



From within the movement of studying and emulating Uncle Ho has emerged a multitude of exemplary collectives and individuals. Their undertakings are encouraging to the broader society, inspiring the national spirit and patriotism, and the motivation and desire to devote to the nation from all walks of life. Their examples speak to the entire Vietnamese nation, exhorting us to resolutely and eagerly work towards the goal of national independence alongside socialism.



On behalf of the Party Central Committee, I would like to send my warm congratulations and salutations to all exemplary collectives and individuals of excellence in their study and emulation of President Ho Chi Minh. Each and every such exemplary collective and individual are as "beautiful flowers", whose efforts are blooming into a forest of beautiful flowers for our nation. Such endeavors of yours are well recognized by the Party and State. It is my hope that you would continue to build upon these accomplishments, set the examples and duplicate your good deeds for others to follow, and therefore grow.



However, apart from these achievements, there remain considerable shortcomings in the implementation of Directive No. 5 that require rectification. These include the irresolute, slow and impractical guidance, directions and organization of implementation, and the indistinct roles and responsibilities of the leadership in certain places. Commitments to self-improvement and discipline alongside the duty to set examples were not truly effective among a part of the Party cadre and members. The identification of potential breakthroughs was muddled in places. Refutation of false and hostile narratives remains passive. Discovery and praise given to exemplary collectives and individuals in studying and emulating Uncle Ho are yet timely or complete. Public information and commendation of such exemplary persons and deeds are not persuasive enough from time to time.



The struggles against phenomena of degradation in political thoughts, morals and lifestyle are not yet carried out with due vigor. It is exhibited by the insincere and superficial process of self-criticism and criticism in a number of places from time to time. It also includes the unwillingness to admit but blame the mistakes on external circumstances, and hesitation in confronting wrongdoings. Inspections and supervision are executed irregularly and irresolutely with limited scope. Early warning and prevention of violations remain inefficient.



Dear comrades,



After 35 years of Doi Moi, from a poor country with outdated and underdeveloped physical, technical, economic and social infrastructure, Vietnam has arisen and achieved enormous and historical accomplishments. Our country has never enjoyed such fortune, power, international standing and prestige as it does today".

The international and domestic landscapes are changing rapidly, in complicated and unpredictable ways, with opportunities intertwining with challenges and adversities. This poses new, more complex and more urgent questions to our cause of nation-building, renewal and development. The revolutionary cause of our Party and people is still faced with a multitude of hardships and challenges. The four threats warned by our Party still remain relevant, perhaps even more severe in certain aspects. Hostile elements are relentlessly working to subvert the revolutionary cause of our Party and people through denying the leadership of the Party and dividing the Party from the people, with the aim of overthrowing our Party and polity.



This state of affairs has exerted dramatic and multidimensional effects on our Party cadre and members and the people. It requires us to continue stepping up the study and emulation of Ho Chi Minh thoughts, morals and style, protecting the ideological cornerstone of the Party, and combating and refuting misleading and hostile narratives in order to meet the requirements of the revolutionary cause in the new period.



The Resolution of the 13th Party Congress clearly pointed out that "in the upcoming years, we must especially pay attention to and advance comprehensive Party building and rectification with regards to politics, ideology, morals, organization and cadre work". "We must remain steadfast and perseverant in the implementation of the Resolutions of the 4th Meeting of the 11th Central Party Committee and the 4th Meeting of the 12th Party Central Committee on Party-building in conjunction with stepping up study and emulation of Ho Chi Minh thoughts, morals and style. This must be conducted through vigorous, determined and cohesive measures in order to stem the tide of degradation in political thoughts, morals, lifestyle, and signs of self-evolution and self-transformation within our own ranks".



The Party Committees, Government and State agencies must build upon the achievements of the past years, and continue to strengthen the study and emulation of Ho Chi Minh thoughts, morals and style. The Party cadre and members must take it upon themselves to seriously and effectively meet the requirements and fulfill the tasks set under the recent Conclusion No. 01-KL/TW dated 18 May 2021 of the Politburo on Promoting the study and emulation of Ho Chi Minh thoughts, morals and style. In this regard, it is important to focus on and effectively implement three tasks, namely the study and emulation of President Ho Chi Minh thoughts, morals and style, and setting good examples among the Party cadre and members.

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (C), permanent member of the Party Central Committee's Secretariat Vo Van Thuong (L) and Chairman of the Party Central Committee's Commission of Popularisation and Education Nguyen Trong Nghia chair the conference. (Photo: VNA)

Learning from Uncle Ho means to study the revolutionary thoughts, world outlook and perceptions of life, and the morals and lifestyle of a genuine communist. Learning from Uncle Ho should become part of the lifestyle, way of thinking, and work method of each Party cadre and member, and people. The thoughts, morals, and lifestyle of President Ho Chi Minh need to be truly integrated into the social life and become the spiritual bedrock and sources of immense strength, thus enabling the entire Party, people, and army to fully demonstrate our internal synergy, overcome difficulties and challenges, and accomplish all revolutionary missions in the new period.



Every Party cadre and member needs to fully understand the thoughts of Uncle Ho and become consistent in their thoughts and deeds, words and actions. Each and every person can find in Uncle Hos philosophy a moral standard to learn from and emulate, and a natural need and desire for self-improvement. Such qualities are the courage, perseverance, and absolute loyalty to the revolutionary goals and ideals; diligence, frugality, integrity, uprightness, public-spiritedness and selflessness; closeness to, faith in and love for the people, and the willingness to learn from and forge a flesh-and-blood connection with the masses; and whole-hearted dedication to the Fatherland and the people. These virtues help nourish patriotism, the spirit of national self-reliance and resilience, the aspirations for prosperity, happiness, and the desire to play our part in national development to bring about enduring prosperity to our people.



With a well-trained and mature pool of Party cadre and members, our Party will grow stronger with enhanced combativeness and candor. As such, our Party befits the revolutionary leadership and mission, and meeting the peoples trust and expectations to be the worthy leader and the loyal servant of the people.



Emulating Uncle Ho means to promote a strong shift from studying to emulating, and deliver on promises through concrete programs and actions to implement the political mandate at each locality, agency, and unit, and in the work of Party building and rectification. These efforts need to go in tandem with upholding the responsibilities and ethics of each Party cadre and member, effectively implementing the breakthroughs and resolving critical pressing issues in reality, with the Ho Chi Minh Thoughts and Marxism-Leninism as the guiding principles in all actions.



Each Party cadre and member needs to have a thorough understanding of Ho Chi Minh Thoughts on Party building and rectification in terms of political thoughts, ideology, morals, lifestyle, organization and personnel. It is important to enhance the leadership capacity and the combativeness of the Party, build a socialist rule-of-law state that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people.



Being an exemplar means to learn from and emulate Uncle Ho and at the same time set an example. It is crucial to promote the effectiveness of the inter-relationships between these three tasks through upholding the pioneering role of the Party cadres and members. In this connection, the leaders of the Party committees, authorities, and agencies, particularly the members of the Politburo, the Party Secretariat, and the Party Central Committee need to take the lead in setting examples.



Each Party cadre and member needs to shoulder the responsibility of being a role model. The higher the position and rank, the more responsibility one must take in setting example in the cultivation of morals, in the lifestyle, manner, and work discipline for the people to follow. It is of great importance to firmly uphold the ideology and correct viewpoints; dare to think, dare to act, and dare to assume responsibility; and dedicate to the country and people. A leader must display science-based leadership, grounded in democracy and reality, and serve as the nucleus of solidarity and unity, in order to stimulate and harness collective wisdom. As Uncle Ho said, a living role model is worth more than 100 motivational speeches.



It is essential to uphold revolutionary morals, wipe out individualism, persistently and patiently combat, prevent and repel corruption, vices, stem the tide of degradation in political thoughts, morals, and lifestyle of Party cadres and members, and the phenomena of self-evolution and self-transformation. The study of Ho Chi Minh Thoughts and emulation of his morals and lifestyle must become a routine task, for they serve the Partys spiritual need and leave behind a deep imprint on the cultivation of the Party culture. Such endeavors will truly bring about a truly virtuous and civilized Party.



While performing these three tasks, it is important to closely combine building and combating. In this process building is of fundamental and strategic significance while combating is a vital and urgent task. It is essential to walk the talk, promote lifelong self-improvement and regularly conduct self-reflection and self-correction. We need to exert every effort to combat, prevent and stem the tide of degradation in political thoughts, morals, lifestyles, and signs of 'self-evolution' and 'self-transformation' within the Party. We also need to persistently and patiently fight corruption and wrongdoings, bearing in mind that there is neither red zone, exception nor influence from any ill-intentioned organization or individual in these struggles. To that end, it is vital to enhance inspections and supervision, warning and deterrence against any wrong thoughts or deeds. At the same time, we need to encourage the Party cadre and members to think and act in the interests and for the happiness of the people, and to build a truly pure and strong Party.



Dear comrades,



Our people often say that Party members are the ones at the forefront, followed by the people. Throughout different chapters in the revolutionary history of our nation, our people always have the firm belief that Under the able leadership of the Party, our nation has incessantly advanced from one victory to another. Our party has nurtured a generation of revolutionary youth, regardless of being male or female, that are enthusiastic and courageous in all aspects. They are as beautiful flowers bloomed from revolutionary heroism.



I sincerely hope that after this Conference, the movement of studying and emulating President Ho Chi Minh thoughts, morals and style will continue to be promoted and deepened to be more practical and effective, thus contributing to the successful implementation of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress and the cause of renewal, nation-building and defense. We will exert every effort so that by the mid-21st century and on the centenary of the birth of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Vietnam will become a developed and high-income country. This also aims to realize President Ho Chi Minhs wish for Vietnam to stand proudly as equals to major powers across all five continents.



May I wish you all good health, happiness and success!



Thank you for your kind attention.

Source: VNA
General Secretary of the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith, his spouse and a Lao Party and State high-level delegation were welcomed to Vietnam

at an official ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi on June 28 morning chaired by State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his spouse.

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Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) and General Secretary of the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party Central Committee and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith inspect the guard of honour at the welcome ceremony in Hanoi on June 28. (Photo: VNA)

Also present at the event were permanent member of the Party Central Committees Secretariat Vo Van Thuong, head of the Party Central Committees Commission for Organisation Truong Thi Mai, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Thanh Man, Minister of National Defence Phan Van Giang, and Minister of Public Security To Lam, among others.

The welcome ceremony in Hanoi on June 28. (Photo: VNA)

It is first overseas trip by Thongloun Sisoulith in his capacity as Lao Party General Secretary and President for the 2021  2026 term.



The visit aims to implement consistent foreign policy Laos and Vietnam in reserving and promoting the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation of the two countries.



It also provides an opportunity for the two countries to further exchange experience in development and accelerate the effective implementation of bilateral agreements in 2021 and beyond.



Following the welcome ceremony, the Lao leader and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong will have talks.

Source: VNA
In this era of booming information technology, infringements of privacy and personal data on social media have continuously increased in frequency.

Easy access to the Internet plus the widespread popularity of cheap electronic gadgets capable of filming, photographing and recording is fertile ground for other people to monitor and interfere in others life without the latters consent.

The right to privacy in Vietnam has changed considerably. The 2013 Constitution rules that everybody is entitled to imprescriptible right to personal life.  SGT Photo: Uyen Vien

It is more difficult to define the jurisdiction of the right to privacy in this digital age if it is juxtaposed with other freedoms, such as freedom of the press, the right to access information and freedom of speech.

Social networks have helped citizens exercise their democratic rights and express their attitude towards social issues. However, some have taken advantage of social media to blatantly violate others privacy, including revelation of personal life, revelation of bank information, defamation, intrusion of mobile phones to extract sensitive images or personal data for sale. The number of handled violations remain humble, though.

Over the years, the right to privacy in Vietnam has changed considerably. The 2013 Constitution rules that everybody is entitled to imprescriptible right to personal life; and nobody is entitled to illegally opening, controlling, or taking hold of and keeping other peoples correspondence, telephones, telegraphs and other forms of information exchange. These stipulations were later stated in Article 38 of the 2015 Civil Code, which says that personal life, personal secrets and family secrets are imprescriptible and protected by law, and personal life has a wider scope than personal secret.

Despite these conspicuous regulations, privacy in Vietnam is substantially impacted by the local distinctive culture associated with villages where families lived in close proximity and contact allowing virtually no place for freedom of interference.

Moreover, that situation has been influenced by the culture assimilated in the subsidy time when everything was considered collective, which allowed institutions and some individuals to interfere in social affairs and even personal affairs.

This legal ambiguity has resulted in many cases in which violators made use of excuses for their privacy infringements. For instance, they might think or say they did so on behalf of others or hacking personal information was not a violation because the people involved was a bad one.

Many have heartily received hacked personal information and shared it, considering themselves being spared from such hacks. Others have showed their power, when frustrated or angry, by posting statuses or livestreaming content to defame the people they disliked. Some violators have even enticed their friends and others in the community into boycotting their victims regardless of effective law provisions.

The result was several victims even so distressed because of these libels or defamations that they committed suicide. On March 11, 2018, a schoolgirl in grade 11 in Nghe An Province killed herself in her yards pool, leaving a suicide note that she apologized to her parents for her mistake. The reason for her death was a video clip filming the scene in which she was kissing her male classmate, which had gone viral on social media.

There have been also cases where personal information of Covid-19 patients was posted online against their will and their untrue relationships were traced as if they were criminals giving rise to disparaging or offhand comments. Some stories were made up and adversely affected the victims legitimate rights and interest.

How are these violations of privacy handled by law

In Vietnam, violations of privacy on social media are treated as follows.

Criminal prosecution. Violators may be subject to the following counts: humiliation (Article 155); libel (Article 156); infringements of the secrecy or safety of correspondence, telephones, telegrams or other forms of personal information exchange (Article 159; however, this article stipulates that one is subject to this count only after he or she has already given administrative or disciplinary punishment and continued to commit the infringement); violations of illegally sharing or using information on the Internet or telecom networks (Article 288).

Administrative punishment. Decree 15/2020/ND-CP rules that (1) fines worth between VND5-10 million will be imposed on individuals who take advantage of social media to conduct one of the following acts: supply and dissemination of fake information, untrue information, defamation and slander to undermine credibility of organizations, institutions and individuals; supply and dissemination of information on promoting bad habits, superstition, obscene and depravation unsuitable to fine customs of the people; (2) fines worth between VND10-15 million will be imposed on acts of revealing personal life and other secrets which are misdemeanors not subject to criminal responsibility. In addition, the responsibility to implement measures for remedying bad consequences can be assumed so that untrue or misleading information must be removed.

The enterprise which owns the social network is subject to fines worth between VND50-70 million if involved with violations, such as active storage or dissemination of fake information, untrue information, defamation and slander to undermine credibility of organizations, institutions and individuals.

In addition, violators may be subject to civil liability as follows: giving compensation of losses in accordance with the Civil Code in case the victim in question submits a lawsuit.

Self-protection and respect for others

The first thing to start with is minimizing the upload of person data on social media. Many have voluntarily and innocently posted plenty of personal and family information on the Internet, such as family photos, childrens academic achievements or even proofs of their properties.

At the same time, Internet users should be aware of others privacy. This is particularly important because only when one respects others privacy will his or her privacy be respected by others. For example, the principle that a persons images or information cannot be posted on social networks without his or her consent must be applied. Another case is while visiting a persons residence, photos of the house or scenes of it must not be posted or livestreamed on the Internet if not permitted. Also, personal information must be double-checked before being posted on social networks.

If ones privacy is infringed, the people involved should store the proof or request a bailiff to record the proof of violation and send it to the provincial department of communication and information or the police. In severe cases, a lawsuit can be lodged at court in accordance with civil procedures to seek compensation.

Handling of violations too slow

Another legal issue which should be paid adequate attention to at present is citizens privacy protection when it comes to the digital environment. This is still relevant although the formation of the legal framework for it continues to be a tough task. In many cases, no sooner had a regulation been introduced than technology was developed to surpass the framework of the regulation. Yuval Noah Harrari wrote in his book A Brief History of Tomorrow that Internet is a free and lawless zone that erodes state sovereignty, ignores borders, abolishes privacy and poses perhaps the most formidable global security risk.

Basically, Vietnam has the ample legal framework with which violations of privacy can be treated. However, its enforcement is still a problem. The implementation of the concerned regulations requires technical facilities as well as time and efforts of relevant agencies. In plenty of cases, the treatment of violations comes only a very long time after the consequences.

It must be acknowledged, however, that the handling of privacy violations in Vietnam on social media is by no means simple because in many cases, violators use unknown accounts or are from another country. If violators use accounts in Vietnam, the relevant agencies should deal with them quickly and forcefully to deter similar infringements.

If violators utilize overseas accounts, the relevant agencies should immediately support the victims to minimize bad consequences, such as proposing communication firms removing related personal information or sending out messages roundly condemning such violations of privacy.

Dr. Thai Thi Tuyet Dung

University of Economics and Law under the Vietnam National University  HCMC

Source: SGT

Solutions for using, managing livestreams The state needs to resolve disputes about social networks by law. This is the solution of a modern society that respects a rule-of-law culture.
To prevent overloading at centralized quarantine facilities, the Ministry of Health has allowed people categorized as F1 cases (having close contact with Covid-19 patients) to be under home quarantine.

Previously, all people who were F1 cases were isolated at concentrated quarantine centers.

According to the Ministry of Health, the new strains of SARS-CoV-2 virus are capable of spreading quickly on a large scale. The number of F1 cases is large, and thus centralized quarantine facilities are now overloaded.

To reduce the risk of cross-infection at concentrated quarantine centers, the Ministry of Health has permitted Ho Chi Minh City to pilot home quarantine for F1 cases.

Local authorities are responsible for closely monitoring, and supervising, taking samples for covid testing for quarantined people under current regulations.

According to the guidance of the Ministry of Health, F1 cases are eligible for home quarantine if they stay in separate houses such as villas, townhouses... There must be a warning sign with red background and yellow letters in front of the door: "Quarantine place to prevent and control the Covid-19 epidemic.

The home quarantine period is 28 days.

There must be a closed room for the F1 case, which is separate from the family's common living area. If the house has several floors, one should be used as the quarantine area.

Next to isolation rooms, there must be a separate room for medical staff to conduct medical examination, take samples and monitor health (with tables, chairs, hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol, containers for infectious waste, household waste).

In the isolation room, there must be a waste container, yellow in color, with a lid, opened by foot pedal, covered with a yellow bag for infectious waste (masks, towels, tissues) and a container for common household waste. Every day, the quarantined person must clean and disinfect the room by himself. In the room, there must be hand soap, hand sanitizer, and a temperature measuring device.

The isolated people are not allowed to use the central air conditioning system. They are not allowed to leave the isolation room during the quarantine period, and not have contact with family members as well as other people and even pets.

Every day, quarantined people measure their body temperature, and monitor their health to update information on VHD or Bluezone app.

There must be a table in front of the door of the isolated room to provide meals, drinking water and other necessities for the quarantined person. It is strictly forbidden to bring belongings and items of the quarantined person out of the house, and not share personal items such as bowls, chopsticks, spoons, cups, toothbrushes, and face towels with people under quarantine.

In addition, in families with F1 cases under home quarantine, there must be adequate means of infection prevention such as masks, gloves, shoes, goggles, and clothes for family members to use when they must have contact with the person under quarantine.

During 28 days of quarantine at home, the isolated person will be tested at least 5 times (days 1, 7, 14, 20 and 28).

If the F1 case is a child or elderly person, who has underlying diseases and needs a caregiver, a caregiver can be assigned.

The People's Committees of communes and wards only allow people to begin home quarantine after checking and confirming that they are eligible for home isolation. The management and supervision of F1 cases must strictly comply with regulations. Transportation and collection of medical waste must be done.

Thuy Hanh
90% of tourism workers in Hanoi lose jobs in first half of 2021

Revelers enjoy a music performance near Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi. Many tourism workers in the city have lost their jobs due to a lack of tourists since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out - PHOTO: VNA

Some 90% of workers of travel companies in Hanoi, equivalent to over 12,000 people, have lost their jobs since early this year, according to the Hanoi Department of Tourism.

Under the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of tourists in Hanoi fell 25% year-on-year to 2.9 million in the first half of 2021. Most of them were domestic tourists as the country has not yet reopened its doors to international tourists. The number of foreigners visiting the country during this time was modest, comprising mainly experts and workers.

The city has earned only VND8.1 trillion (US$353 million) from tourism, falling 57% compared with the same period last year.

In June, the average occupancy rate of hotels in the city is estimated at 25.7%, falling 0.7% from the previous month and 3.5% from the same period last year.

To attract more domestic tourists, the city has launched a number of new tourism products such as the night tour to the Thang Long Imperial Citadel, which is a world cultural heritage site recognized by the UNESCO, the folk experience tour to the Museum of Ethnology and the night tour to the Hoa Lo Prison relic site.

The city has drawn up three growth scenarios for the tourism sector in 2021. According to the best scenario, an early recovery will enable the city of Hanoi to attract over 15 million domestic tourists, equivalent to 70% of the pre-Covid-19 level in 2019.

Phung Quang Thang, chairman of the Hanoi Travel Association, said travel companies in the city should restructure their products, offer more attractive tours and apply new technologies to provide tourists with better and safer experiences.

He suggested travel companies and the local authorities work together to unleash the potential of night tourism in the city. Two pedestrian areas in the Old Quarter around Hoan Kiem Lake and on Trinh Cong Son Street near West Lake have become popular night attractions for tourists in Hanoi.

The city attracted some 8.65 million tourists in 2020, equivalent to 30% of the figure in 2019. Of them, foreign arrivals were estimated at 1.11 million, equivalent to only 15.8% as compared with the previous year.

Source: SGT
Not only is Vietnam famous for its beautiful beaches, which are ranked among the worlds most popular destinations, its national park system has also impressed many international tourists.

Recently, the London-based website The Culture Trip has picked out 10 best national parks in Vietnam.

Phong Nha  Ke Bang National Park

Phong Nha  Ke Bang National Park in Quang Binh Province is home to some of the largest caves in the world (Mikoaj Michalak / Alamy Stock Photo)

Perhaps the most naturally stunning and well-preserved area in all of Vietnam, Phong Nha  Ke Bang National Park in Quang Binh Province is home to some of the largest caves in the world. The park, which shares a border with Hin Namno Nature Reserve in Laos and covers an area of nearly 900sqkm (347sqmi), is often a stop for those following the Ho Chi Minh Highway.

Gibbons and macaques roam the forests, yet it is the sprawling karst cave systems that have earned Phong Nha a spot on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Hundreds of miles of underground labyrinths run beneath limestone giants as they tower towards the sky.

Phu Quoc National Park

Phu Quoc National Park is home to more than 1,000 species of plants and 200 species of animals. (Andreas Rose / Alamy Stock Photo)

A gem nestled in the northwest corner of the most popular and unfortunately most overdeveloped island in Vietnam, Phu Quoc National Park is home to more than 1,000 species of plants and 200 species of animals.

Increasingly rare old-growth forests run throughout the park, and dipterocarp trees climb to over 30m in height. Hiking and camping are easily accessible from Ganh Dau Village.

Nui Chua National Park

Nui Chua National Park is set on the eastern edge of the Truong Son Mountain Range. (Hemis / Alamy Stock Photo)

Located in Ninh Hai District, Ninh Thuan Province, Nui Chua National Park is set on the eastern edge of the Truong Son Mountain Range, overlooking one of the cleanest and best-preserved stretches of coastline on the East Sea/South China Sea.

The region, like much of Vietnam, is best visited by motorbike and is fringed by one of the most beautiful coastal roads in the country. Bears and primates roam the hillsides within the confines of the semi-arid park, while bats and birds soar through the skies. The shoreline is of particular importance as it is home to the nesting grounds of a number of endangered turtle species.

Cat Tien National Park

Cat Tien is the closest national park to Ho Chi Minh City (Anders Blomqvist / Alamy Stock Photo)

Cat Tien is the closest national park to Ho Chi Minh City and an oft-overlooked gem. The lowland forests are the largest and most important in the country, home to gibbons, deer and wild boar. The nature trails are extensive and well maintained, and most can be completed without a guide and on bicycle.

An excellent variety of lodging, from campsites to riverside bungalows, makes the park a great place to escape from the concrete madness of Saigon.

Cat Ba National Park

Cat Ba serves as a focal point of iconic Ha Long Bay (Hemis / Alamy Stock Photo)

Floating in a sea of limestone peaks, Cat Ba serves as a focal point of iconic Ha Long Bay. Located in Cat Hai District, Hai Phong City, the park should be a stop on any northern excursion.

Much of the region resembles something out of Jurassic Park, as jungles shoot skywards into the mist. A number of beautiful treks of moderate difficulty lie in the confines of the park. Cat Ba is also home to the majority of the worlds remaining white-headed langurs.

Ba Be National Park

The park is made of towering limestone mounts that crash down to pounding waterfalls (J Marshall - Tribaleye Images / Alamy Stock Photo)

Ba Be National Park in Bac Kan Province is home to a number of ethnic minorities, including Tay, Dao and Hmong, and offers travellers the opportunity to experience life in traditional homestays.

The park is made of towering limestone mounts that crash down to pounding waterfalls before settling in Ba Be Lake, the largest in Vietnam. Trekking in the region is superb and can be arranged via most homestays or guesthouses. Cavernous limestone grottos, hidden along the waters edge, should be explored by boat as well.

Yok Don National Park

Yok Don happens to be home to some of the last remaining wild elephants in the country. (Stefan Liebhold / Alamy Stock Photo)

Stretching over Dak Nong and Dak Lak Provinces, Yok Don is the largest of all the national parks in Vietnam. It also happens to be home to some of the last remaining wild elephants and leopards in the country. However, over the years, poaching and illegal logging have decimated their populations, dropping the chances of seeing one to pretty much zero.

Nevertheless, the park retains an off-the-beaten-track feel and is seldom visited by foreign tourists. Guided day and overnight treks through the dry forests are a great way to see it all.

Cuc Phuong National Park

Minority villages can be visited on a number of guided treks at Cuc Phuong National Park (Hemis / Alamy Stock Photo)

Cuc Phuong National Park in Ninh Binh Province is one of the most accessible parks Vietnam has to offer, lying just over 100km from Hanoi. The region can be explored on foot, motorbike or bicycle and is best travelled over two or three days.

Minority villages dot the lands and can be visited on a number of guided treks. The park is also home to a vast array of flora and fauna, including some of the most endangered turtles in Thailand.

Con Dao National Park

Con Dao Park encompasses some of the most untouched coral reefs and white-sand beaches in the country (Image Professionals GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo)

Con Dao National Park is part of Con Dao Archipelago, which comprises 16 small islands with the largest one being Con Son. The unblemished archipelago of green is reached by ferry from the Mekong or plane from Ho Chi Minh City.

The national park lies on Con Son Island and encompasses some of the most untouched coral reefs and white-sand beaches in the country. Endangered sea turtles nest along the shorelines, while the strange and friendly dugong, a cousin of the manatee, lounges in the clear waters of the park.

Bach Ma National Park

Bach Ma National Park lies hidden just 40 km to the west of the imperial capital of Hue (Oscar Dominguez / Alamy Stock Photo)

Bach Ma National Park lies hidden just 40 km to the west of the imperial capital of Hue, near the central coast of Vietnam. Dilapidated French villas overrun by pine forests, peer out through the wilderness as mile-high peaks float in the distance. The park is home to some of the most dense and pristine ribbons of jungle in central Vietnam.

Source: Nhan Dan
As the push to vaccinate as many people as possible continues in the New River Valley, the New River Health District says one demographic seems to be lagging behind. Its those who are 30 years old and younger who are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine.

A lot of people in the younger population tend to feel that COVID may not be quite as risky for them, and in most cases, thats true, said Noelle Bissell, the districts health director, while talking with members of the news media on Monday, June 28. But thats not 100 percent true. We do have otherwise young and healthy people who have gotten sick with COVID and have died.

The districts staff and volunteers continue to travel to community events and other sites to offer COVID-19 vaccines. The district also will continue to work with universities to vaccinate college students, including those who are international and may not have had access to the vaccine, Bissell said.



Virginia Tech requires COVID-19 vaccinations for all students for the fall semester, and students must receive them by Aug. 6. University employees are strongly encouraged to be vaccinated. Read more on deadlines for certain vaccines.

Currently, 39.9 percent of the New River Valley population is fully vaccinated, a percentage that doesnt change dramatically from week to week, Bissell said. Thats because demand for vaccines has dropped off across the region and nationally.

When we are talking about doing events from week to week we are not talking about vaccinating thousands of people, she said. Were talking about vaccinating, if were lucky, 100 people. Our focus now is not wasting an opportunity.

President Joe Biden set a national goal that at least 70 percent of a states population would be vaccinated by July 4th. In Virginia, 70.9 percent of adults 18 and older have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

A variant of COVID-19, the Delta variant, is circulating in Southwest Virginia, but it has not yet been detected in the New River Health District, Bissell said. She expects the Delta variant to become the dominant strain. All three versions of the coronavirus vaccine protect against this strain, she said.



Bissell reminded people that receiving a vaccine protects the individual and protects members of the public who cannot be vaccinated for various reasons. This is the concept of herd immunity.



Its important to have as many people protected as we can, she said. Every single vaccine we give is a success at this point.



 Written by Jenny Kincaid Boone
From: Virginia Tech Center for Economic and Community Engagement

The Virginia Tech Council on Vibrant Virginia (VV) is accepting proposals for applied research projects or engagement activities that address a range of community and economic development concerns facing Virginia. For full consideration, expressions of interest should be submitted by July 3. Review will begin July 6. Decisions will be made this summer by the council, and project work will be initiated next fall.

A recent webinar about the Vibrant Virginia Impact Fund Call for Proposals took place on June 3. You can watch the webinar and find out more about the request for proposals here.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  California Republicans accused Democrats of acting unfairly Monday as state lawmakers passed a bill aimed at moving up Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's recall date.

The conclusion is inescapable that Gavin Newsom is cheating in the recall and this Legislature is his willing accomplice," said Republican Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, who is considering running in the contest.

The proposal, now headed to Newsom's desk, would allow the recall to proceed at least 30 days earlier than under existing state law. Democrats hope to take advantage of what they view as favorable conditions for Newsom as the state moves on from the worst days of the pandemic and related restrictions.

Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting acknowledged the bill will ensure that this recall election happens as soon as possible" and said that's something the recall's supporters should want.

Recall organizers collected 1.7 million signatures in support of recalling Newsom, and he'll face an election later this year. Without the recall, he'd next face voters in 2022 for a regularly scheduled reelection.
TOP 100

How ManTech turns its tagline into strategy

'Bringing Digital to the Mission'

ManTechs return to sustained revenue growth is five years running but the underlying fundamentals that made that happen go back further.

The current blueprint guiding ManTech is its 2023 strategy that can be partially told by the tagline in the companys logo -- Bringing Digital to the Mission.

Five key technical focus areas fall under that umbrella as described to me by Chief Operating Officer Matt Tait, who said that they are the ones ManTech sees as the most important and would make the most difference in us supporting the national security mission.

Tait listed four of the areas as cognitive cybersecurity, mission and enterprise IT, data at the tactical edge, and intelligence systems engineering. Area number five is internally called A-cubed for including everything in automation, artificial intelligence and analytics.

Back to the tagline however: what is the bigger picture idea in bringing digital to the mission as ManTech sees it?

We are at the tactical edge on a daily basis when you look across our business, Tait told me. Bringing that digital capability out to that tactical edge and making a difference from a mission perspective is exactly what were trying to do.

The company's strategy helped it land at No.26 on the 2021 Top 100 with $1.3 billion in prime contract obligations during government fiscal 2020. For calendar year 2020, ManTech recorded 13-percent overall revenue growth to $2.5 billion with 11 percent of that increase organic. The Herndon, Virginia-headquartered companys current guidance for this year indicates growth of between 5 and 9 percent.

Tait characterized calendar 2020 as a great year in terms of the launching point for its current three-year strategy and also one somewhat defined by three significant wins.

Win number one Tait highlighted was a three-and-a-half year, $265 million contract the company announced in December to help the Defense Department develop and field an operational cyber infrastructure.

Known as the Joint Common Access Platform or JCAP, that program is part of a larger architecture to help DOD cyber operators connect to their target beyond friendly firewalls. ManTech will also provide specialized procurement support to the department for JCAP and help manage fielded versions of that capability.

Award number two Tait pointed out came from the Customs and Border Protection agency, which selected ManTech for a $273 million business intelligence support services contract.

That five-year BISS award sounds very broad given its name, but is focused on helping CBP get ahead of and prevent acts of crime and terrorism across the U.S. nearly 17,500 miles of borders and coastlines.

Tait said ManTech will focus on helping CBP increase its use of technologies and techniques in artificial intelligence and analytics to support its mission. Data visualization is also part of that effort to help CBP personnel have actionable intelligence in their hands.

A third booking with the Navy mentioned by Tait is for intelligence systems engineering: which is right in the middle of ManTechs strategy.

All of those are aligned to all five (technical focus areas) in terms of how they combine and differentiate, Tait said. I looked at that as an exciting blastoff to our 2023 strategy.

No story about ManTech can be told without looking at its most recent acquisitions, of which the company completed two last year and both heavily tilted toward cybersecurity.

In November and December of 2020, ManTech closed its purchases of Minerva Engineering and Tapestry Technologies in quick succession. One common thread between both deals was ManTech being able to deepen its roster of cyber talent, which Tait said has come in and made a real difference from the get go.

Tait said Tapestry stood out for its work to develop a zero trust architecture offering in use across the Defense Department and other agencies. Regarding Minerva, there was not much Tait could say about what that company does beyond being pleased with their capabilities and how theyre delivering.

But what he could say about both companies is that they are part of ManTechs push to become more of the full spectrum cyber company it sees itself as.

So what is the definition of full spectrum cyber as ManTech sees it?

That is everything from policy in terms of making sure people are doing things right from a cyber perspective, its defensive cyber and its also enabling an offensive capability as well, and everything in between, Tait said.

One other aspect of ManTechs 2023 strategy is to make sure the company is taking into account everything that is driving todays market, but with a keen eye looking ahead to what will shape the environment for the many years beyond that.

So in the bigger picture where does ManTech want to go and hence become more of?

The high end technical engineering and technology company within the federal space thats focused on national security, Tait said. We want to be the best at it, were making tremendous strides in that. But even when we get to 2023, theres no planting of any victory flags. This is just a stepping stone to greater things as we go along.

(A future episode of Project 38 will feature my full conversation with Tait that also includes his views on post-pandemic future of work in the government market, broader technology trends and what ManTech is doing to win the talent recruiting and retention fight)
As part of her fraud scheme, Henny used a power of attorney to gain access to her victims bank accounts and annuities without the knowledge of the victims children, who lived out of state.

In 2015, knowing that the victim lacked the capacity to understand her actions due to severe cognitive and physical disabilities, Henny obtained a power of attorney over her victims finances. Henny then transferred and spent the victims funds for her own purposes, according to prosecutors.

In November 2018, state authorities arrested Henny on related criminal charges. The next month, Henny entered into a stipulation  in a proceeding the judge would later call a sham divorce  that awarded Henny $90,000 in retirement benefits.

She transferred the $90,000 to other accounts she controlled, including a prepaid debit card, and then spent the funds. In addition, after she pleaded guilty in federal court, Henny understated to the probation office certain COVID-19 related unemployment benefits she was receiving from the government.

Henny was released on the bond previously set and is to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on a date yet to be set.

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SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP)  The University of Rhode Island decided not to revoke an honorary degree bestowed upon Michael Flynn, an alumnus who briefly served as President Donald Trumps national security adviser and who has remained an ardent supporter of the former president since his election loss.

URI President David Dooley will not forward a recommendation to the Board of Trustees regarding Flynns honorary degree, a school spokesperson told The Providence Journal.

Dooley had asked the school's honorary degree committee to discuss Flynns honor, bestowed in 2014. The committee sent a recommendation to Dooley for his consideration. That recommendation will not be made public, school spokesperson Linda Acciardo told the newspaper.

The Board supports the presidents decision and no action will be taken at this time, Acciardo said in a statement at the time. He is not forwarding a recommendation to the trustees. The degree stands.

The spokesperson later said June 28 that the board took no position or vote on the honorary degree.
Mexicos central bank on Monday swatted down the cryptocurrency enthusiasm expressed over the weekend by one of the country's leading bankers.

Ricardo Salinas Pliego, a magnate with large operations in retail, banking and television who has been seen as President Andres Manuel Lopez Obradors closest business ally, wrote in his social media accounts Sunday that Bitcoin is a good investment. He said his Banco Azteca was working on ways to allow the public to buy the cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin is a good way to diversify your investment portfolio and I think every investor should study cryptocurrencies and their future, Salinas Pliego wrote. At Banco Azteca, we are working to bring them to our customers and continue promoting freedom.

But Mexicos central bank issued a public warning Monday, saying banks in Mexico are not allowed to conduct transactions with cryptocurrencies. It cited the volatility of cryptocurrencies and the fact they are not backed by any government.

This country's financial institutions are not authorized to conduct or offer to the public transactions with virtual assets like Bitcoin, the Bank of Mexico said in a statement.
Worthington Mayor Gary Langel described Loras and his family as the epitome of Worthington, due to the familys community involvement.

Loras is very supportive of Worthington and our local nonprofit organizations, and he does it with a smile on his face, Langel said. Ive known Loras since I was a little kid. I grew up on a farm about a mile from where the Wolfe family lived. When I was growing up on a farm, we patronized the ag center when it was in town.

Langel said the store served as a community gathering space.

In the front room there was a transaction counter, and on the other side of the room there were some tables and chairs, Langel said. The fathers went there for their morning gossip.

When Loras took over the business in 1973, the store sold mostly bag and some bulk feeds, as well as seed and fertilizer.

Loras said he was able to maintain some previous contacts with farmers by the time of the 1973 purchase.

Before I bought it, I used to sell seed corn, he said. I had a big territory east of here, so I knew all of those farmers east of here.
Now, 600,000 Americans have died in a pandemic that began under suspicious circumstances in China and about which the Chinese government is stonewalling all meaningful investigation. 600,000 dead  that is a lot bigger than a few Russian Facebook ads in Wisconsin. And yet leading figures in the Biden administration and the Democratic Party seem to have far less zeal about pursuing the origins of a disease that killed 600,000 Americans than they had in investigating what Russia did in the 2016 election.

It doesnt make sense. Everyone involved, scientist and non-scientist, agrees it is important to know the real origins of COVID. The Americans who want more investigation are not accusing China of deliberating loosing the virus on the world, but they do think there is persuasive evidence that the virus escaped into the human population as a result of an accidental leak during research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. And they know that China has hidden the facts from the very beginning.
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Lubbock, TX (79423)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with thunderstorms becoming likely overnight. Low near 70F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with thunderstorms becoming likely overnight. Low near 70F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Martha Quinn, 62

At 22, Quinn was the youngest of the original VJs. Now she's the mother of two children and lives in Malibu, California, with her husband, Jordan Tarlow, formerly of the Fuzztones, a garage rock band. Quinn briefly cohosted Star Search with Ed McMahon and has worked as an actor, landing the role of Bobby Brady's wife in a Brady Bunch prime-time reboot as well as appearing on Full House. In the 2000s, she settled into radio work, first as a DJ on SiriusXM's 80s channel and more recently on a San Francisco radio station with an all-'80s format. Her old MTV boss, Bob Pittman, now the CEO of radio conglomerate iHeartMedia, recruited Quinn to his latest endeavor, assuring her that she could host the show from her Southern California home studio. But hosting the show offers her another perk: the chance to interact with listeners.

"People who love 80s music are people who are into good vibes, into supporting people around them, and it always feels like family, Quinn says. I really feel it's because it's almost like we all went to MTV High. Maybe we didn't all go at the same time, but we all know Professor Jon Bon Jovi. We all know Madonna. We all know so many of the same cultural landmarks, and we have a great understanding of each other."


Strong Carpentaria-1 Flow Rates

Sydney, June 28, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Empire Energy Group Limited ( ASX:EEG ) ( OTCMKTS:EEGUF ) is pleased to provide shareholders with an update regarding the ongoing flow testing of the vertical Carpentaria-1 well in Empire's 100% owned and operated EP187 tenement, located onshore Northern Territory in the Beetaloo Sub-basin.- Empire's Carpentaria-1 vertical well has flowed gas to surface at rates that exceed expectations including an initial peak rate of >0.5 mmscf / day and an initial stabilized rate of 0.37 mmscf / day over a 72-hour test period and an instantaneous peak rate following a short shut in of >1.6 mmscf / day- As a result, Empire has lodged a Discovery Notice with the Northern Territory Government- Results achieved to date compare favourably to other results across the Beetaloo Sub-basin and indicate that future horizontal development wells in EP187 have the potential to produce at commercial flow ratesSince the last operational update to shareholders on 17 June 2021, Empire has successfully installed production tubing and completion equipment, and recommenced fluid flowback. Flowback is proceeding well, indicating that the fracture stimulation of the four stages carried out in the Velkerri A, Intra A / B, B and C shales have created a fracture network within those zones which is liberating material volumes of hydrocarbons from the gas-rich target shales. Sonic logging demonstrates that the fracture stimulation stages have been placed safely with the induced fractures contained within the target shale zones.Empire has not yet processed the data required to assess which of the 4 stimulated zones is providing the greatest contribution to flow rates and the relative gas v liquids composition of each zone. This will be determined by analyzing gas samples in the coming weeks. The most productive zones are likely to be targeted for future horizontal appraisal well drilling.The volume of fluid being produced to surface is gradually reducing, which indicates that the fracture network that has been created by hydraulic stimulation is being drained of fluids, allowing for gas flow.The proportion of CO2 present in the produced gas streams is less than the measurable lower limit of 1%. This is lower than other wells drilled in the Beetaloo Sub-basin which have had CO2 contributions of 1% to 3%.The total cost of the fracture stimulation and flow test is expected to be A$5.25 million, which is below budget. The program is being executed safely with no environmental incidents.Empire's proven low-cost operating model and low Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO2 emissions are likely to have a material positive impact on the economics of future development activities.Future Development PotentialThe flow rates achieved to date at Carpentaria-1 compare favourably to other wells drilled and flow tested in the Beetaloo Sub-basin, particularly given the reduced development costs Empire expects in future given the shallower depths in which the target shales are present in Empire's Beetaloo Sub-basin properties.The first flow test of Santos' Tanumbirini-1 vertical well flowed at initial rates of 1.2 mmscf / day settling down to 0.4 mmscf / day. The second test, which followed an extended shut-in period, flowed at higher rates. Origin Energy's Kyalla 117 horizontal well flowed at 0.4 - 0.6 mmscf / day over 17 hours and Origin Energy's Amungee NW-1H horizontal well, which had 11 fracture stimulation stages, flowed at 1.15 mmscf / day over a 57-day test.Empire's Carpentaria-1 initial vertical flow rates indicate that the shallower liquids-rich gas window of the Eastern side of the Beetaloo Sub-basin has the potential for commercial hydrocarbon production in future horizontal wells which may have up to 100 fracture initiation points from 20 - 30 fracture stimulation stages, rather than the 4 stages fracture stimulated in the Carpentaria-1 vertical well. Optimization of fracture stimulation design in future horizontal wells is likely to further enhance productivity.While Carpentaria-1 vertical flow testing operations are ongoing, Empire is continuing preparations for the drilling and completion of its first horizontal appraisal well. That well will be fully funded from Empire's existing cash at bank.Investor and Analyst Briefing CallEmpire Managing Director Alex Underwood will host an investor and analyst briefing meeting to be conducted at 11am on Wednesday 30th June 2021 to discuss the results and the next steps in Empire's Beetaloo Sub-basin work programs. Due to COVID-19 restrictions in Sydney this meeting will be conducted virtually.To view details on joining the briefing, please visit:About Empire Energy Group Ltd

Empire Energy (ASX:EEG) (OTCMKTS:EEGUF) holds over 14.5 million acres of highly prospective exploration tenements in the McArthur and Beetaloo Basins, Northern Territory. Work undertaken by the Company since 2010 demonstrates that the Eastern depositional Trough of the McArthur Basin, of which the Company holds 80% has very considerable conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon potential. The Beetaloo sub-Basin, in which Empire holds a substantial position, has independently assessed world class hydrocarbon volumes in place with a major ramp up in industry activity underway to appraise substantial discoveries already made by major Australian oil and gas operators.

Empire Energy is an experienced conventional oil and gas producer with operations in the Appalachia region (New York and Pennsylvania). Empire has been successfully developing and producing oil and gas since 2006.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  T-Mobile employees raised thousands of dollars to patch and repair the parking lot at Storehouse New Mexico, according to a release from the food pantry.

As part of its Pave the Way campaign, T-Mobile raised more than $13,000 for the project. The company pledged to donate $10 per volunteer hour from their staff. T-Mobile staff members volunteered thousands of hours, and donated themselves, the release said.

T-Mobile employees became a regular fixture at the Storehouse, sorting food, pushing full grocery carts and helping food pantry clients, the release said. This sweat equity made all the difference, really engaging the T-Mobile team in the Storehouse mission. Donations poured in from employees through the T-Mobile giving portal, T-Mobile matched employee donations dollar for dollar, so this made a huge impact in reaching the fundraising goal.

T-Mobile staff members have volunteered at Storehouse New Mexico for several years, sorting food, working with clients and organizing projects like holiday toy drives. A staff member prompted the parking lot project after asking Storehouse Executive Director Swarupa Watlington what the organization really needed, the release said.

The team at T-Mobile really listened when we expressed the true needs of the food pantry, Watlington said, according to the release. Though a parking lot is not the most glamorous of projects, they volunteered thousands of hours to make sure the repairs could be done. The Storehouse team and our clients are incredibly grateful.

The Storehouse provides food for about 45,000 New Mexicans every year, including about 10,000 children. For more information, visit www.StorehouseNM.org.

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On Sunday, June 28, 1970, around noon, in New York gay activist groups held their own pride parade, known as the Christopher Street Liberation Day, to recall the events of Stonewall one year earlier. People often think that this was the tipping scale point of the LGBTQ+ community, but that is not accurate. This movement began in the later part of the 50s and really picked up steam in the 60s and 70s.

In those days, it wasnt unusual for a person to lose their job because they were gay. The homosexual community was considered a pariah by most of the population of the United States. It wasnt uncommon for a homosexual person to be arrested for various reasons just because the arresting officer did not like something or another about the individual. Illicit activities, such as being caught performing a sexual act on another individual, carried a jail sentence. Your name was also published in the local newspaper. Due to this the person was often shunned by his/her community.

There were anti-homosexual laws in every state in the Union, with the most stringent laws originating in the South. Gay men were often placed in cells with violent criminals that hated the homosexual with the hope that they would either be raped or killed by the criminals incarcerated in that cell. You never admitted that you were a homosexual because you could be reported by anyone. You would be arrested with no questions asked.

Bayard Rustin  March 17, 1912-August 24, 1987  was the major organizer for the community in the 60s and 70s. He also organized the March on Washington and other organized protests for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was a very charismatic individual who was very adept in organizing protests, all peaceful.

You see, we were considered no better than the trash in the street and were treated as such.

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You never knew when the other shoe would drop. Many homosexual people were disenfranchised from their families because the family was ashamed of their homosexuality.

This was not a great time in our history, yet it was a time of movement and the beginnings of our fight for acceptance. As many know, acceptance does not come easy nor does this acceptance happen overnight. So from 1950 until June 26th, 2015, we had not truly secured our rights of equality and acceptance. That was 55 years before we were able to get married, adopt openly and were able to file a joint tax return. There are many horror stories about a couple being together for 50 years or more, building a life together and when one of them died, the family taking everything and throwing them out on the street. Its been a uphill battle. More to come.
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The recent decision by the city of Albuquerques Environmental Health Department (EHD) to issue an air pollution permit for yet another polluting industry in the Mountain View neighborhood is a blatant case of environmental racism. For decades, Mountain View, a community along the Rio Grande just north of the Pueblo of Isleta, has been disproportionately overburdened with toxic and hazardous contamination.

New Mexico Terminal Services applied for an air pollution permit from EHD to construct a hot mix asphalt plant at 9615 Broadway SE, just south of the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge in the Mountain View neighborhood. The property is next to the Rio Grande and the bosque, a green corridor that runs through the Middle Rio Grande Valley. The land is zoned for agricultural use; regardless, the city of Albuquerque issued an air pollution permit for the asphalt plant, ignoring Bernalillo County zoning laws.

Mountain View is a residential community of approximately 6,000 residents, predominantly working-class and low-income people of color. Agricultural farms have thrived in Mountain View for many generations. Our elementary school is over 100 years old.

People who did not live in Mountain View zoned much of the neighborhood for industrial use in the 1970s. There was no public input. Since then, dozens of industrial companies have contaminated Mountain Views air, water, and land with toxins and hazardous wastes. The Environmental Protection Agency designated Mountain View as an environmental justice community, meaning the federal government has already identified it as a community facing the disparate and inequitable impacts of environmental pollution.

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Disturbingly, the citys Environmental Health Department does not consider cumulative impacts on public health from combined industrial facilities. These pollutants negatively impact our health, especially children, elders and those with pre-existing health conditions. Residents already face higher rates of asthma and cancer. On average, Mountain View residents have a 10- to 24-year shorter life expectancy than other more affluent, majority-white neighborhoods in Albuquerque.

Mountain View neighbors worked diligently to obtain the old Prices dairy for a national wildlife refuge, Valle de Oro. The refuge is nationally recognized as a model that serves a community overburdened with pollution. The air pollution permit for a hot mix asphalt plant, close to the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge, is the last straw for us who live and work in Mountain View. This permit, stacked upon all of the other industrial permits, is nothing less than institutional and systemic racism.

The current city administration under Mayor Tim Keller touts itself as promoting diversity, equity and inclusion and strives to be a national leader on racial equity. However, if equity is a central focus of the administration, the city should stop issuing permits for polluting industries in a part of the county that is already disproportionately overburdened with industrial waste, contaminated air, water and land.

We who call Mountain View home deserve to live in a healthy and clean environment; it is a fundamental human right. Its time to hold the administration and polluters accountable to ensure city and county governments treat all of our communities in Bernalillo County equitably.

Stop the industrial dumping and focus more on enhancing the rural beautification of the South Valley to include the Mountain View neighborhood with its culture and heritage in mind. End the discrimination of holding our Sector Development Plan hostage by continually deferring it, and develop our community so we can maintain a safe and healthy environment for all.

Mountain View refuses to be a sacrifice zone. Deny the development of the New Mexico Terminal Services asphalt plant and future polluting industries in Mountain View.

Go to bit.ly/stoptheasphaltassault for more info.

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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Prison populations have dramatically decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nationwide, there was a push to lower population levels in these congregate living settings, and now as the pandemic comes to an end, its unclear whether these numbers will rise again.

The pandemic caused a historic low for inmate populations in the past 20 years for New Mexico, said Eric Harrison, New Mexico Department of Corrections spokesman.

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Currently, the department is at a 74% occupancy rate, Harrison said. This means there are 5,662 inmates incarcerated with the department at this time.

An executive order required the Corrections Department to lower the prison populations, which included early release for some inmates. As of Friday, 532 inmates were released under this order since April 2020, Harrison said.

What you see across the nation is a policy shift around corrections which refocuses on reduction of populations and the treatment and opportunities for successful reintegration, Harrison said. You see this national change, and our state is sort of shifting policy in that same direction.

Pre-pandemic, the department was hovering around an 87% occupancy rate, he said, with a 100% occupancy level being 7,645 inmates.

However, some of the states privately run prisons are raising concerns with the population reduction.

The Guadalupe County Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa, which is run by private prison company GEO Group, recently asked to renegotiate its contract. GEO Group and other private prison operators are typically paid based on the number of occupied beds at their facilities.

The Guadalupe County facility had just a 42% occupancy rate, with only 252 inmates being held at a prison that has a capacity of 590 inmates.

But Harrison said there are no current plans for the state to take over operations of the prison, or to close it.

Throughout the pandemic, the department was hovering around the 75% occupancy rate mark, according to a New Mexico Sentencing Commission report. Projected incarceration is continuing to decline, with about 5,539 inmates projected by December 2021.

The commission report stated new inmate admissions will likely decrease from current levels, and parole admissions have also shown a downward trend.

Douglas Carver, New Mexico Sentencing Commission deputy director, said the population began trending downward pre-COVID. He said the trend was likely accelerated due to the pandemic, but its hard to say definitively.

The commission is currently working on a new projection, Carver said, which will come out in July.

He added that there could be an incarceration backlog due to the pandemic and the pause in jury trials, which wouldnt appear until next years projections. It takes about a year to 18 months for changes to pop up in the forecast, he said.

We might not know what the post-COVID environment truly looks like until next year, he said. To see whether post-COVID is going to bend the curve back up, and how steeply, or whether it does at all.

Lalita Moskowitz, New Mexico American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney, said permanent inmate population reduction is essential. She said the ACLU is urging the state to reduce mass incarceration in general.

The fact that this pandemic resulted in a reduction of the prison population is maybe a silver lining to this difficult time, she said. And we would hope, be an opportunity to continue that trend rather than to go back to business as usual.

Throughout the pandemic, Moskowitz said the ACLU was advocating for some of these executive order measures to continue after the pandemic ends to keep prison populations down, one of those being the early release of incarcerated inmates.

Moskowitz said theres actually a state statute that allows early release  regardless of the pandemic.

The law states the department can place inmates within 12-months of parole eligibility in a community-based setting, under the adult community corrections fund. Inmates without a firearm offense are eligible for this program.

That statute hasnt been used in the past by the Corrections Department, but it exists, she said. And that would be an opportunity to continue these releases a little bit early.

In addition, the ACLU is also advocating for probation and parole to stop putting people back in prison for technical violations. A technical violation is any violation that doesnt include committing a new crime, such as a missed appointment.

Based on current estimates, about a third of the inmate population is incarcerated on a technical parole or probation violation, Moskowitz said. A change in this procedure alone would significantly reduce the prison population.

This pandemic really highlighted what is already wrong in our criminal system, she said. And its already true that mass incarceration was a public health crisis.

Journal Capitol Bureau Chief Dan Boyd contributed reporting.
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DEL RIO, Texas  Marianela Rojas huddles in prayer with her fellow migrants, a tearful respite after trudging across a slow-flowing stretch of the Rio Grande and nearly collapsing onto someones backyard lawn, where, seconds before, she stepped on American soil for the first time.

I wont say it again, interrupts a U.S. Border Patrol agent, giving orders in Spanish for Rojas and a dozen others to get into an idling detention van. Only passports and money in your hands. Everything else  earrings, chains, rings, watches  in your backpacks. Hats and shoelaces too.

Its a frequent scene across the U.S.-Mexico border at a time of swelling migration. But these arent farmers and low-wage workers from Mexico or Central America, who make up the bulk of those crossing. Theyre bankers, doctors and engineers from Venezuela, and theyre arriving in record numbers as they flee turmoil in the country with the worlds largest oil reserves and pandemic-induced pain across South America.

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Two days after Rojas crossed, she left detention and rushed to catch a bus out of the Texas town of Del Rio. Between phone calls to loved ones who didnt know where she was, the 54-year-old recounted fleeing hardship in Venezuela a few years ago, leaving a paid-off home and once-solid career as an elementary school teacher for a fresh start in Ecuador.

But when the little work she found cleaning houses dried up, she decided to uproot again  this time without her children.

Its over, its all over, she said into the phone recently, crying as her toddler grandson appeared shirtless on screen. Everything was perfect. I didnt stop moving for one second.

Last month, 7,484 Venezuelans were encountered by Border Patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico border  more than all 14 years for which records exist.

The surprise increase has drawn comparisons to the midcentury influx of Cubans fleeing Fidel Castros communist rule. Its also a harbinger of a new type of migration that has caught the Biden administration off guard: pandemic refugees.

Many of the nearly 17,306 Venezuelans who have crossed the southern border illegally since January had been living for years in other South American countries, part of an exodus of nearly 6 million Venezuelans since President Nicolas Maduro took power in 2013.

While some are government opponents fearing harassment and jailing, the vast majority are escaping long-running economic devastation marked by blackouts and shortages of food and medicine.

With the pandemic still raging in many parts of South America, they have had to relocate again. Increasingly, theyre being joined at the U.S. border by people from the countries they initially fled to  even larger numbers of Ecuadorians and Brazilians have arrived this year  as well as far-flung nations hit hard by the virus, like India and Uzbekistan.

U.S. government data shows that 42% of all families encountered along the border in May hailed from places other than Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras  the traditional drivers of migratory trends. That compares with just 8% during the last sharp increase in migration in 2019. The Border Patrol recorded more than 180,000 encounters in May, a two-decade high that includes migrants repeated attempts to cross.

Compared with other migrants, Venezuelans garner certain privileges  a reflection of their firmer financial standing, higher education levels and U.S. policies that have failed to remove Maduro but nonetheless made deportation all but impossible.

The vast majority enter the U.S. near Del Rio, a town of 35,000 people, and they dont try to evade detention but rather turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents to seek asylum.

Like many of the dozens of Venezuelans The Associated Press spoke to this month in Del Rio, 27-year-old Lis Briceno had already migrated once before. After graduating with a degree in petroleum engineering, she couldnt get hired in the oil fields near her hometown of Maracaibo without declaring her loyalty to Venezuelas socialist leadership. So she moved to Chile a few years ago, finding work with a technology company.

But as anti-government unrest and the pandemic tanked Chiles economy, sales plunged and her company shuttered.

Briceno sold what she could  a refrigerator, a telephone, her bed  to raise the $4,000 needed for her journey to the U.S. She filled a backpack and set out with a heart lock amulet she got from a friend to ward off evil spirits.

I always thought Id come here on vacation, to visit the places you see in the movies, Briceno said. But doing this? Never.

While Central Americans and others can spend months trekking through the jungle, stowing away on freight trains and sleeping in makeshift camps run by cartels on their way north, most Venezuelans reach the U.S. in as little as four days.

This is a journey theyre definitely prepared for from a financial standpoint, said Tiffany Burrow, who runs the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalitions shelter in Del Rio, where migrants can eat, clean up and buy bus tickets to Miami, Houston and other cities with large Venezuelan communities.

They first fly to Mexico City or Cancun, where foreign visitors are down sharply but nearly 45,000 Venezuelans arrived in the first four months of 2021. Smugglers promoting themselves as travel agencies have cropped up on Facebook, claiming to offer hassle-free transport to the U.S. in exchange for about $3,000.

Were doing things the way they do things here  under the table, a smuggler said in a voice message a migrant shared with the AP. Youll never be alone. Someone will always be with you.

The steep price includes a guided sendoff from Ciudad Acuna, where the bulk of Venezuelans cross the Rio Grande. The hardscrabble town a few hundred wet steps from Del Rio is attractive to both smugglers and migrants with deeper pockets because it had been largely spared the violence seen elsewhere on the border.

If youre a smuggler in the business of moving a commodity  because thats how they view money, guns, people, drugs and everything they move, as a product  then you want to move it through the safest area possible charging the highest price, said Austin L. Skero II, chief of the U.S. Border Patrols Del Rio sector.

But the number of smugglers caught with weapons has recently increased in the area, and agents who normally hunt down criminals are tied up processing migrants.

The uptick in migrants crossing is purely a diversion tactic used by the cartels to carry out crime, Skero said as a group of Haitians carrying young children emerged from a thicket of tall carrizo cane on the riverbank.

Once in the U.S., Venezuelans tend to fare better than other groups. In March, Biden granted Temporary Protected Status to an estimated 320,000 Venezuelans. The designation allows people coming from countries ravaged by war or disaster to work legally in the U.S. and gives protection from deportation.

While new arrivals dont qualify, Venezuelans requesting asylum  as almost all do  tend to succeed, partly because the U.S. government corroborates reports of political repression. Only 26% of asylum requests from Venezuelans have been denied this year, compared with an 80% rejection rate for asylum-seekers from poorer, violence-plagued countries in Central America, according to Syracuse Universitys Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

I can write their asylum requests almost by heart, said Jodi Goodwin, an immigration attorney in Harlingen, Texas, who has represented over 100 Venezuelans. These are higher-educated people who can advocate for themselves and tell their story in a chronological, clean way that judges are accustomed to thinking.

Even Venezuelans facing deportation have hope. The Trump administration broke diplomatic relations with Maduro when it recognized Juan Guaido as Venezuelas rightful leader in 2019. Air travel is suspended, even charter flights, making removal next to impossible.

Meanwhile, as the migrants leave Del Rio to reconnect with loved ones in the U.S., they are confident that with sacrifice and hard work, theyll get an opportunity denied them back home.

Briceno said that if she had stayed in Venezuela, she would earn the equivalent of $50 a month  barely enough to scrape by.

The truth is, says Briceno, hustling to catch a bus to Houston where her boyfriend landed a well-paying oil industry job, its better to wash toilets here than being an engineer over there.

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Follow Goodman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APjoshgoodman.
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TEXARKANA, Ark.  A 37-year-old man was fatally shot by a Texarkana, Arkansas, police officer when he charged at officers with an object in his hand and threatened them, according to police.

One officer opened fire, shooting Don Crowson as Crowson approached the officers Saturday night with the object, yelling he was going to kill them, according to a statement by the police department.

Police did not reveal what the object is or release the name of the officer, who was placed on paid leave pending an investigation into the shooting.

Crowson was dead at the scene and his body is being sent to the state medical examiner, according to the statement.

No officers were injured.

Officers were investigating reports of a man pacing in a street, jumping on a fence and saying he was going to kill someone when officers encountered Crowson inside an apartment, the statement said.

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LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz.  Even before the pandemic, a scarcity of nurses was an ongoing concern in Arizona especially in more rural areas.

An Arizona State University nursing program, set to debut at the schools Lake Havasu City campus this fall, aims to put a dent in that shortage.

ASU Havasu, which is still a young campus at 9 years old, got approval in April from the Arizona Board of Nursing to offer a 12-month bachelor of science degree in nursing. The program is expected to draw more than 30 new students, the Todays News-Herald reported.

Anita Harger, the chief human resources officer at Kingman Regional Medical Center, said she has never seen such a dearth of nurses in her 30-year career. Its a worry for most hospital administrators across the region, she added.

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One reason it can be difficult to lure prospective nurses to Mohave County is a lack of job opportunities for spouses and partners.

Other than the hospital and the school district, the largest employer in town is Walmart, Harger said.

Hospitals in rural areas also find it hard to compete with regional hospitals or private medical practices.

People think that hospitals make a ton of money, but it couldnt be further from the truth, she said.

Amanda Goodman, a spokeswoman for Arizona State Universitys Edson College, is hopeful the class of future nurses will consider planting roots. Nurses who get their education in rural areas are likelier to stay in there after graduation.

June Weiss, the director of nursing programs at Mohave Community College, said many graduates have gone on to become registered nurses in Mohave County communities. Classes cant fit more than 20 students each semester in order to ensure they all get the proper clinical experience. That amounts to 160 new students total per year across its campuses.

Under the ASU program, nursing students will be able to partake in virtual and immersion lab experiences. Some will include visits to Health Futures Center in Phoenix. The program is expected to complement programs at Mohave Community College.

Harger, of Kingman Regional Medical Center, said with only 30 nursing students to start, it will take some time to see the payoff of this new nursing program.

It is going to get a lot harder before it gets easier, Harger said.
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Dr. Rania Awaad was attending a virtual religion program this Ramadan when discussion turned to an unexpected question: Is it religiously acceptable to say a prayer for someone who died by suicide?

Suicide is a complex and delicate topic that Awaad, as director of the Muslim Mental Health & Islamic Psychology Lab at Stanford University, knows much about  but one she says isnt discussed nearly enough in U.S. Muslim communities. When it is, she said, its often poorly understood and shrouded in misconceptions.

Awaad and other mental health professionals are trying to change that, working alongside some faith leaders and activists to bring nuance and compassion to such conversations, raise awareness in Muslim communities about suicide prevention and mental health and provide religiously and culturally sensitive guidance.

The effort took on new urgency in the aftermath of an apparent murder-suicide that left six family members dead in Allen, Texas, in April, sending shock waves through Muslim communities in the area and beyond. Investigators believe two brothers made a pact to kill their parents, sister and grandmother before taking their own lives.

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The incident sparked a flurry of activity in Muslim spaces, from public discussions on mental health and trainings on suicide response to healing circles and private conversations.

The initial reaction of the community was total shock, said Imam Abdul Rahman Bashir of the Islamic Association of Allen, where the familys funeral was held. Their reaction went from shock, grief to then concern about other families around them: Are they saying something that they cant hear? Is something out there that they cant see?

It definitely opened up the conversation for understanding what mental health is and the importance of mental well-being, he added.

Suicide is theologically proscribed under Islam, and Awaad while acknowledging that, takes a nuanced view on the issue, arguing that its not up to people to judge. Contrary to what shes heard some say about people who took their own lives, she believes the deceased may receive prayers regardless of how they died.

We dont know the state of a person when they reach this point in their life, and we dont know their mental state in that moment, she said.  Only God can judge on this.

The importance of seeking professional help for mental health struggles, without worrying about what people may say, is a message the Texas Muslim Womens Foundation sought to drive home in a recent video. Aimed at the South Asian American community, it featured actors, young activists and others sharing their experiences to help break the stigma.

Some community leaders in Texas addressed suicide and mental health issues after a Muslim American woman took her own life in 2018, according to Saadia Ahmed, director of the foundations youth leadership program. Following the Allen tragedy, shes heard from lots of people who have reached out to share their personal battles or ask how to get help for loved ones.

One young man opened up about having previously had suicidal thoughts and about how getting help made things better. There was a high school student who needed therapy but her parents werent getting her any; with the aid of a school counselor, she ended up getting help. Ahmed also heard from parents worried about their kids.

I feel like at least I see progress, Ahmed said.

Sameera Ahmed  no relation  a psychologist and executive director of The Family & Youth Institute, a not-for-profit research and education institute, said that when her group was developing suicide prevention resources for Muslim communities a few years ago, some questioned the need.

People wouldnt share what was happening because they were afraid of the stigma, Ahmed said. They were afraid people wouldnt come to their loved ones janazah, or funeral.

But today she sees more openness to conversation and says some well-known imams have begun addressing the issue from more compassionate perspectives. Still, much work remains, she added.

Following the Allen tragedy, Awaad gave virtual trainings on suicide response from her base in California to help people navigate the aftermath, including to religious and community leaders. Her lab at Stanford provided guidelines for Islamic sermons.

The crisis response is the hardest part, she said. Many imams and religious leaders grapple with striking a balance between healing the community and Islams stance on the impressibility of suicide.

She also co-authored a piece detailing dos and donts after a suicide, like providing resources and support to those who may be struggling, while refraining from speculation on spiritual implications such as whether someone who took their life will go to paradise.

By the end of 2022, Awaad hopes 500 Muslim religious leaders will have received training on suicide using material developed by a nonprofit, Maristan, in collaboration with her lab at Stanford thats grounded in both science and the teachings of Islam.

Several religious leaders have thrown their weight behind the effort.

One of them, Imam Bashir, of the Islamic Association of Allen, said that while Islam doesnt allow suicide as a way to solve problems, the faith encourages the community to be one body with ears, eyes and arms to help each other not get to a point where that would be a consideration.

Wrestling with difficult questions around suicide isnt unique to Muslims. Mathew Schmalz, a professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, said a belief common to theistic traditions is that ones life belongs to God, so taking it fundamentally violates Gods most precious gift.

Yet attitudes have been evolving with a greater appreciation of the complexities of mental illness, he added, and its important to challenge beliefs that suicide signals moral weakness or a failure to be grateful of God.

While an understanding of God as merciful is important, Schmalz said, equally important is being part of a faith community in which mental health issues are taken seriously and not stigmatized.

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Resources from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline are available at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org and the 24-hour hotline number is 1-800-273-8255.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through The Conversation U.S. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
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WASHINGTON  U.S. troops in eastern Syria came under rocket attack Monday, with no reported casualties, one day after U.S. Air Force planes carried out airstrikes near the Iraq-Syria border against what the Pentagon said were facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups to support drone strikes inside Iraq.

Iraqs military condemned the U.S. airstrikes, and the militia groups called for revenge against the United States.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the militias were using the facilities to launch unmanned aerial vehicle attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq. It was the second time the administration has taken military action in the region since Biden took over earlier this year.

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There was no indication that Sundays attacks were meant as the start of a wider, sustained U.S. air campaign in the border region. But a spokesman for the U.S. military mission based in Baghdad, Col. Wayne Marotto, wrote on Twitter Monday that at 7:44 p.m. local time U.S. forces in Syria were attacked by multiple rockets. He said there were no injuries and that attack damage was being assessed.

Marotto later tweeted that while under rocket attack, U.S. forces in Syria responded in self-defense with artillery fire at the rocket-launching positions.

Kirby said the U.S. military targeted three operational and weapons storage facilities  two in Syria and one in Iraq. In its release of videos of the strikes by Air Force F-15 and F-16 aircraft, the Pentagon described one target as a coordination center for the shipment and transfer of advanced conventional weapons.

Kirby said the airstrikes were defensive, saying they were launched in response to the attacks by militias.

The United States took necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation  but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message, Kirby said.

The Pentagon said the facilities were used by Iran-backed militia factions, including Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada.

A Pentagon spokeswoman, Navy Cmdr. Jessica McNulty, said Monday that each strike hit its intended target and that the U.S. military was still assessing the results of the operation.

The targets selected were facilities utilized by the network of Iran-backed militia groups responsible for the series of recent attacks against facilities housing U.S. personnel in Iraq, McNulty said. She said those groups have conducted at least five such one-way drone attacks since April.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking to reporters in Rome on Monday, said Biden has been clear that the U.S. will act to protect American personnel.

This action in self-defense to do whats necessary to do to prevent further attacks, I think sends a very important and strong message. And I hope very much that it is received, he said. I think weve demonstrated with the actions taken last night and actions taken previously, that the president is fully prepared to act and act appropriately and deliberately to protect us.

Two Iraqi militia officials told The Associated Press in Baghdad that four militiamen were killed in the airstrikes near the border with Syria. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give statements. They said the first strike hit a weapons storage facility inside Syrian territory, where the militiamen were killed. The second strike hit the border strip.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that closely monitors the Syrian conflict through activists on the ground, reported that at least seven Iraqi militiamen were killed in the airstrikes.

The Iran-backed Iraqi militia factions vowed revenge for the attack and said in a joint statement they would continue to target U.S. forces. We  will avenge the blood of our righteous martyrs against the perpetrators of this heinous crime and with Gods help we will make the enemy taste the bitterness of revenge, they said.

The Popular Mobilization Forces, an Iraqi state-sanctioned umbrella of mostly Shiite militias  including those targeted by the U.S. strikes  said their men were on missions to prevent infiltration by the Islamic State group and denied the presence of weapons warehouses.

Iraqs military condemned the strikes as a blatant and unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty and national security. It called for avoiding escalation, but also rejected that Iraq be an arena for settling accounts  a reference to the U.S. and Iran. It represented rare condemnation by the Iraqi military of U.S. airstrikes.

In Iran, foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh accused the U.S. of creating instability in the region. Definitely, what the U.S. is doing is disrupting the security of the region, he said on Monday.

U.S. military officials have grown increasingly alarmed over drone strikes targeting U.S. military bases in Iraq, which became more common since a U.S.-directed drone killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani near the Baghdad airport last year. Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was also killed in the attack. The strike drew the ire of mostly Shiite Iraqi lawmakers and prompted parliament to pass a nonbinding resolution to pressure the Iraqi government to oust foreign troops from the country.

Sundays strikes mark the second time the Biden administration launched airstrikes along the Iraq-Syria border region. In February, the U.S. launched airstrikes against facilities in Syria, near the Iraqi border, that it said were used by Iranian-backed militia groups.

The Pentagon said those strikes were retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq earlier that month that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. service member and other coalition troops.

At that time, Biden said Iran should view his decision to authorize U.S. airstrikes in Syria as a warning that it can expect consequences for its support of militia groups that threaten U.S. interests or personnel.

You cant act with impunity. Be careful, Biden said when a reporter asked what message he had intended to send.

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Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Rome and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON  When President Barack Obama flew to California to dedicate a national monument to Latino labor leader Cesar Chavez nearly a decade ago, a group of the activists relatives were invited to pose for photos with the president.

Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Chavezs granddaughter, hung back. As a member of Obamas staff, she had traveled with the official party to the event, but did not want to call attention to herself.

Only when Obamas senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett, insisted did Rodriguez reluctantly step forward, barely making it into the frame.

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I said, Julie, you have to be up there with your family,' said Jarrett, who was Rodriguezs boss in the White House Office of Public Engagement. And she said, No, Im staff today.'

White House staffers are often of a type, hard-charging strivers who crave their own sliver of the limelight or even trade on a famous name. Rodriguez is a clear exception as she begins a second tour serving a president, this time as director of intergovernmental affairs for Joe Biden.

Rodriguez and her staff help state, local and tribal governments, and Puerto Rico and the other U.S. territories, with their federal government needs. Lately, that has centered on combating COVID-19 and distributing aid from the $1.9 trillion in Bidens coronavirus relief plan.

Jarrett and others who have worked with Rodriguez describe a dedicated worker who, while shaped by a famous progenitor, doesnt put her family front and center.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki recently name-checked Julie Rodriguez at a press briefing  dropping Chavez in keeping with Rodriguezs preference.

Cecilia Munoz, who led the intergovernmental affairs office for five years under Obama, said Rodriguez has the job now because she is Julie  not because she is a Chavez.

Being a Chavez is part of who she is, Munoz said, but shes there because she is so skilled and has such deep integrity.

And because Biden wanted her on his team.

Rodriguez is among a group of Latinas serving in the White House and advising Biden on matters ranging from communications to policy. Latino advocates had accused Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign of not doing enough to reach out to these voters.

CHAVEZ INFLUENCE

New presidents always freshen up the look of the Oval Office, both to reflect their personal tastes or send broader messages about their values and what inspires them.

Bidens updates for a time included placing a bronze bust of Chavez among family photographs on a desk directly behind his own, giving the late labor leaders likeness prominent placement any time Biden was seen at his desk. The bust is now on a pedestal elsewhere in the Oval Office.

Rodriguez was overwhelmed the first time she saw the bust of her Tata in the Oval Office. Her grandfather is a hero to her, someone she hoped to emulate, she said in an interview. Rodriguez described the profound sense of pride she felt in knowing that the contributions that our community has made are being recognized in the most powerful room in the world.

Biden supported her grandfathers cause of improving conditions for migrant farm workers, Rodriguez said, and both men were influenced by their Roman Catholic faith and its teachings.

I think theres that sort of shared history and shared  support for the cause that he was leading, Rodriguez said of Biden.

The Biden familys admiration for Chavez and his legacy also is shared by the first lady.

Jill Biden flew to California earlier this year for the March 31 commemoration of Chavezs birth. She visited the Forty Acres property near the city of Delano, the first permanent headquarters for the United Farm Workers union.

A national historic landmark, the location is where Chavez conducted two lengthy fasts  25 days in 1968 for nonviolence and 36 days in 1988 over the threat of pesticides. Its also where thousands of farm workers received COVID-19 vaccinations this year.

CALIFORNIA ROOTS

Rodriguez, 43, was born in Delano to Chavezs daughter, Linda, and her husband, Arturo Rodriguez. Her grandparents, Cesar and Helen Chavez, volunteered full time for the United Farm Workers of America organization, and Rodriguez often went to labor rallies with both couples and helped them with community outreach.

She grew up in the farm worker movement and was active in campaigns, picket lines, boycotts, marches and union meetings, said Paul Chavez, Rodriguezs uncle.

He recalled how she would hop off the bus when she got home from elementary school and pop into the offices to see what was going on and offer to help. She was engaging and inquisitive, with a level of maturity beyond her years, he said.

She knew how to talk to older folks and kids her age, Paul Chavez said.

After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2000 with a degree in Latin American studies, Rodriguez worked at the foundation named for her grandfather before she became a volunteer on Obamas 2008 presidential campaign in Colorado.

She was at the Interior Department working on a youth initiative when Jarrett recruited her to work on immigration and Latino outreach at the White House.

Jarrett said she wanted Rodriguez on her team because of her extraordinary reputation for excellence, hard work, competency and focusing not on herself, but on how we could engage as many voices as possible.

Rodriguez later became Jarretts deputy and her portfolio grew to include outreach to veterans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and gun violence prevention groups.

Shortly before Obamas term ended in January 2017, Rodriguez was named state director for then-Sen. Kamala Harris of California. Rodriguez later joined Harris 2020 presidential campaign as a political director and traveling chief of staff.

Rodriguez joined Bidens campaign to help oversee Latino outreach after Harris dropped out. After Biden was elected, he named her to lead the office of intergovernmental affairs.

Her uncle said Rodriguezs standing with the president is an encouraging message for young people of color.

Her presence and her being is a very powerful thing for people that havent had a lot of opportunities, and especially those that have been shut out of the political and civic affairs of our communities, Paul Chavez said.

HUMBLE SERVANT

Kendra Barkoff, who served a stint as Interior Department press secretary under Obama, with Rodriguez as her deputy, said Rodriguez was so humble that staff members didnt realize the family connections at first.

Once we learned, we were even more inspired by her, said Barkoff.

Rodriguez still answers Barkoffs telephone calls and emails even though they havent worked together since Barkoff went to the private sector in 2015.

Shes pretty high up in the White House and still calls me boss,' Barkoff said.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  A Texas-based wallboard product manufacturer has been awarded a $500,000 Local Economic Development Act grant by the New Mexico Economic Development Department to modernize its Bernalillo County manufacturing facility, according to a release from the state.

The funds will go to make electrical and other improvements to American Gypsums aging Bernalillo County plant, which was built in the 1960s. The company plans to invest $22 million in New Mexico over the next 18 months, the release said.

This investment means New Mexico jobs will stay in New Mexico, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said, according to the release.  Im glad the state could partner with American Gypsum and ensure long-term viability of their operations and stabilize a New Mexico employer.

American Gypsum plans to purchase materials and supplies for the upgrade locally and hire about 50 construction workers.

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Peter L. Bauer, vice president of manufacturing for the Dallas-based company, said Albuquerque is a prime location because of its proximity to Interstate 40 and Interstate 25, according to the release. Bauer said the incentive funds helped solidify the companys decision to upgrade the Bernalillo County facility.

Its certainly a major decision and having the LEDA support and other partnerships has made it easier to invest in New Mexico and improve our facility in Bernalillo County, Bauer said.

American Gypsum also operates manufacturing plants in South Carolina, Oklahoma and Colorado.

Albuquerque Economic Development helped provide technical assistance for the project.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District board on Friday officially declared Joaquin Baca as the winner of the June 8 election for a Bernalillo County position.

The board had been set to canvass and declare the election results on June 11.

But candidate Simon Scooter Haynes had contested his loss to Baca.

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Haynes said ballots cast before June 5 were incomplete because they did not include his nickname Scooter.

Lorna Wiggins, MRGCDs general counsel, said her law firms investigation concluded that Baca won the election handily, even if early ballots that did not include the nickname were discarded.

Official results showed that Haynes received 576 votes to Bacas 1,609. The board voted to certify all early, absentee, provisional and election day ballots for the race.

We concluded that the omission of Mr. Hayness common (name) or nickname does not appear to have affected the outcome of the election, Wiggins said at a June 25 special meeting.

Haynes had also said it was unfair that Baca was at the MRGCD office on election night.

Wiggins said Baca arrived at the district office after polls closed and was never in the room where votes were being counted.

Hayness attorney had told the MRGCD legal team that one voter had been turned away on election day.

Poll workers had been unable to quickly confirm if the voters property, which is held in a family trust, was in the conservancy district boundaries.

Wiggins said the legal team had not confirmed the allegation that poll workers failed to follow up with the voter, but said there was no evidence that multiple qualified electors were denied the right to vote.

Thank you for taking my concerns seriously, Haynes told the board.

The board also certified the reelection of Karen Dunning and Michael Sandoval, and the victory of Socorro County chile farmer Glen Duggins.

The outcome of this election was legitimate, Baca said. The voters have spoken. I am grateful for their faith and confidence in my continued leadership on this board.
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RENO, Nev.  A federal judge on Monday postponed until at least October what was set to be Nevadas first execution in 15 years.

U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware II in Las Vegas said he would issue a formal injunction this week to prevent the state from executing four-time convicted murderer Zane Michael Floyd in July.

Boulware said after a five-hour hearing that he agreed with arguments by Floyds public defenders that they need more time to determine the constitutionality of a never-before-used sequence of drugs that prison officials want for the execution.

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His lawyers argue lethal injection would subject him to cruel and unusual pain and that Floyd prefers safer alternatives, including a firing squad or a single dose of a barbiturate.

The judge told lawyers that he based his decision on the fact that experts at Nevadas Department of Corrections had at least three months to ensure the drugs, dosages and sequence planned for the execution will be done in a constitutional manner.

Fundamental fairness and the due process clause means that Mr. Floyd and his counsel should be afforded at least the same amount of time, he said, emphasizing this is an untested drug protocol that the state kept secret until last month.

Boulware said his written order this week will prevent the state from going forward with the execution before Oct. 18. He expects at least three days of testimony from experts at a hearing he plans to schedule the week of Oct. 4.

He said his ruling will be subject to appeal in the coming weeks.

Defense lawyers also appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court last week, saying the Clark County district attorneys office should be disqualified from helping prosecute the case because of a conflict of interest for two deputy district attorneys who also serve as members of the Nevada Senate.

Meanwhile, the manufacturer of one of the execution drugs says the state obtained it illegally. Lawyers for Hikma Pharmaceuticals told Nevadas attorney general last week that the company wants the state to return 50 vials of the anesthetic ketamine.

Chief Deputy Nevada Attorney General Randall Gilmer, who argued the states case Monday, said prosecutors expect to prevail if the company follows through on threats to sue but that the state can obtain ketamine from other sources.

Floyd, 45, was convicted of killing four people and wounding a fifth in a 1999 shotgun attack at a Las Vegas grocery store.

A death warrant for Floyd had been scheduled to be issued July 9, with an exact execution date to follow. It would have been the first execution in Nevada since 2006.

Federal public defenders representing Floyd had asked the judge to slow down the case to allow enough time to examine the effects of the lethal drugs that would be used, including the powerful opioid fentanyl, ketamine, heart-stopping potassium chloride and perhaps a muscle paralytic called cisatracurium.

Prosecutors said in recent court filings that the Nevada Department of Corrections has provided the court with undisputed medical and pharmaceutical evidence establishing the execution will not result in unconstitutional pain or suffering  indeed, it is likely to result in very minimal to no pain.

Floyds lawyers say the state wrongly maintains the alternatives they have suggested are not legitimate options because Nevada law provides only for lethal injection and the Department of Corrections has been unable to get a barbiturate.

But they said the Supreme Court has made it clear that an inmate seeking to identify an alternative method of execution is not limited to choosing among those presently authorized by a particular states law. They said both of Floyds proposed alternatives are well-established in other jurisdictions.

Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah authorize execution by firing squad, they said. Texas, Georgia and the U.S. government have recently used pentobarbital in executions.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals said in its cease-and-desist letter to the state that the ketamine it produces is meant to save lives and long has opposed use of its products for capital punishment. It said the drug has never been used in an execution and notes the company won a federal court order in 2018 that concluded the Nevada Department of Corrections had resorted to subterfuge when it similarly illegally acquired ketamine.

This is not Hikmas first rodeo with NDOC on this issue, its lawyer wrote Thursday. It is nothing less than shocking and embarrassing for the state of Nevada.
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

DENVER  Colorado Gov. Jared Polis isnt conceding defeat in the so-called Chile War with New Mexico, but he may be in need of a napkin to lick his wounds after tasting defeat in a story that literally comes out of left field.

A concession stand on the outfield concourse near the left field foul pole at Coors Field in Denver sells a variety of sausages, including a Hatch green chile and cheese bratwurst. To elbow in on territory in Colorados state capital where the home team is called the Colorado Rockies amounts to a squeeze play victory for New Mexico chile. But Polis refuses to surrender his claim that chile grown in Pueblo, Colorado, is somehow superior to that grown south of his states border.

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The chile wars continue and the chile to our south remains an inferior chile, Polis insisted in a statement to the Journal. Anyone is free to serve whatever theyd like and we urge them to serve the best chile in the world: the Pueblo chile.

Colorado and New Mexico have been engaged in a friendly competition over who grows the best chile in the world for some time now. The dispute heated up after New Mexico started issuing licence plates declaring the state more than just the Land of Enchantment, but also the Chile Capital of the World.

The state staked its claim following a monumental win by the Centennial State when Whole Foods switched to selling Pueblo chile at its regional stores  except those in New Mexico.

Polis then boasted that Pueblo chile was widely acknowledged as the best chile in the world, adding, New Mexico stores will unfortunately not be offering the best chile and will instead keep offering inferior New Mexico chile.

We have the best chile in the world  period, New Mexicos then-Gov. Susana Martinez fired back. Whether youre going for red, green or Christmas, you cant go wrong with New Mexico chile. And while I enjoy a little friendly competition with our neighbors to the north, I think we all know that theres only one chile capital of the world: New Mexico.

The war of words heated up again after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham took office and the New Mexico Department of Tourism launched a New Mexico True: Chile Capital of the World marketing campaign that invaded Colorado.

Polis roasted the attack on his state.

The fact that they have to design a promotional campaign in support of their chiles shows how superior the Pueblo Chile is, Polis said tweeted. Our Pueblo chile promotes itself. Granting yourself a title doesnt simply make it true.

Lujan Grisham then sent a spicy volley back to her Colorado counterpart.

If Pueblo chile were any good, it would have been on national shelves before now, she replied in a tweet. If Colorado wants to go chile to chile, no question that New Mexico can bring the heat  Hatch chile is, has always been and will always be the greatest in the world.

The pandemic seems to have caused a cease-fire in the Chile War. But its back on now, with New Mexico chile scoring a home run in Colorados own ballpark.

Polis went so far as to suggest that the New Mexico green chile and cheese bratwurst being sold at Coors Field was responsible for the poor play by the team that bears the name of his great state.

The way the Rockies have been playing, its clear they need to upgrade their chile, he said.

Alas, the Rockies, whose top minor league team is the Albuquerque Isotopes, entered play on Monday with a 31-47 record, 19 games behind the San Francisco Giants in the National League West.

Informed that New Mexico seemingly scored victory in the Chile War with a Hatch green chile and cheese bratwurst at Colorado Rockies games, Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett celebrated victory.

Ha! New Mexico chile is always the winner, she replied in an email.
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Looking back at her experience was working alongside the late actress, the Sharon McKendrick and Susan Evers depicter calls her on-screen mother 'a real force of nature.'

Jun 28, 2021

AceShowbiz - Veteran actress Hayley Mills has marked the 60th anniversary of her hit Disney film "The Parent Trap" by paying tribute to her late movie mum Maureen O'Hara.

Mills played a pair of twins in the original film, which later became a vehicle for Lindsay Lohan, and she admits the highlight of the experience was working alongside O'Hara.

"She was wonderful, absolutely wonderful," Mills tells EW.com. "I remember I was very in awe of her in the beginning, she was so very real and down to earth. She was very Irish. She was very warm and demonstrative, and extremely talkative."

"She never stopped talking and laughing and hugging you. She was a real force of nature. When she walked on set there was this energy telling us that Maureen had arrived. And she was so beautiful. I couldn't take my eyes off of her when I first met her. It was all natural, too. She took her beauty for granted but I never did, because I had never seen anyone so beautiful."

Former child star Mills explains that to this day "The Parent Trap" remains one of her favorite films - because it had such a powerful message.

"It's very high on my list because it's a good movie, it had a good script, and it had wonderful actors," she adds. "But it was also about something important. It was about children dealing with divorce, and it came out at a time when more and more families were breaking up."

"When I went to boarding school, there was this one girl in my class whose parents were divorced, and she was so unhappy about that and she felt ashamed. But she never admitted she was. When the 60s kicked in, people were getting divorced and the impact on the children was dreadful."
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Created by Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black for FX, 'Under the Banner of Heaven' will be directed by David Mackenzie with filmmaker Ron Howard serving as one of its executive producers.

Jun 28, 2021

AceShowbiz - Andrew Garfield and Daisy Edgar-Jones will lead the cast of a new limited series based on Jon Krakauer's Mormon crime drama "Under the Banner of Heaven".

The FX project, created by Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black, will be directed by David Mackenzie.

Garfield will play a Mormon elder who starts to question his faith through his contact with a suspected murderer. Daisy will play a murder victim.

Lance Black and filmmaker Ron Howard, an executive producer on the series, attempted to turn the book into a movie at Warner Bros. a decade ago.

Speaking of the series, Lance Black said in a statement, "After so many years of work, I'm incredibly grateful to Imagine and FX for their patience with and commitment to bringing this story to screen." He added, "Raised in the LDS faith, my hope is that this true-crime thriller might shed light on the horrific brutalities perpetrated in the name of God in our own backyards."

FX Original Programming Director Gina Balian was full of praise for Lance Black. "Dustin Lance Black is a gifted storyteller and the perfect artist to adapt Jon Krakauer's gripping novel for FX," she gushed in a statement.

"Lance joins an incredible creative team led by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard at Imagine Television who have been passionate about telling this story with him for years," she added. "We are thrilled that David Mackenzie has come aboard as a director and to have Andrew Garfield and Daisy Edgar-Jones star in 'Under the Banner of Heaven'."
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Representing the bisexual community, the 'Transformers' beauty shares a number of sultry selfies while showing off her rainbow-tip manicure in honor of Pride Month.

Jun 28, 2021

AceShowbiz - Megan Fox is celebrating Pride Month. Being a part of the LGBTQIA community, the "Transformers" stunner proudly celebrated her "over two decades" of bisexuality in a new social media post.

On Saturday, June 26, the "Jennifer's Body" star shared a number of sultry selfies flaunting her rainbow-tip manicure in honor of Pride Month. In the caption, she went on to declare that she has been bisexual for over two decades, and promote non-profit organizations MoveOn and Into Action. "Putting the B in #LGBTQIA for over two decades @moveon @intoactionus #pride," she noted complete with rainbow emojis.

In the comment section of the post, Megan's followers commented how much they love the girlfriend of Machine Gun Kelly for putting herself out there and reminding everyone that she is a member of the LGBTQIA community. "Honey you made us realize the B in a lot of us," a user wrote, while another chimed in, "My fellow bi queen."

However, others were also shocked by the post due to not knowing that the "Midnight in the Switchgrass" actress is bisexual. Though she came out more than ten years ago, she doesn't often address her sexuality in the media, which may have led to fans being surprised by her statement. A fan questioned, "WHEN SHE GOES BOTH WAYS?" In the meantime, a different follower added, "So you are really a trans?"

Megan first opened up publicly about her sexual identity in a 2008 interview with GQ. "I just think that all humans are born with the ability to be attracted to both sexes. I mean, I could see myself in a relationship with a girl," the 35-year-old actress told the magazine.

A year later, Megan claimed that she believes everyone was born "bisexual" during an interview with Esquire magazine. "I think people are born bisexual and they make subconscious choices based on the pressures of society," she explained. She then pointed out, "I have no question in my mind about being bisexual."

Megan, who shares three kids with estranged husband Brian Austin Green, also used her social media to speak publicly about LGBTQ+ rights. In 2019, she urged fans and followers to help stop anti-LGBTQ legislation in Tennessee. "My home state of Tennessee is on the verge of passing a 'Slate of Hate.' A slew of anti-LGBTQ bills including business license to discriminate, child welfare and anti-trans bills," she wrote at the time.
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The former 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians' star shares during her appearance on Harris Faulkner's Fox News show, 'We don't need to set them back and try to teach them racism.'

Jun 28, 2021

AceShowbiz - One thing that Caitlyn Jenner will do if she's elected to be California's next governor is fighting against critical race theory which is taught in schools. During a appearance on Harris Faulkner's Fox News show, she claimed that young generation doesn't need that.

"I will do everything to fight critical race theory being taught to our children," Caitlyn shared. "This generation coming up is probably the least racist generation, the most open minded generation in the history of our country, you know?"

The former "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star went on to say, "We don't need to set them back and try to teach them racism. I am totally 100% against that."

Her statement sparked outrage among Internet users. "A grandmother to SEVERAL black grandchildren. My disdain for this person grows daily," a user wrote on Instagram, noting that Caitlyn's grandchildren are in fact black. "Doesn't she have black grandkids? A mess," someone added, while another person said, "Feel sorry for her grandchildren."

"When we don't know our history it's bound to repeat itself. Wypipo the true stories need to be told to these kids," a user added. "I'm not understanding why white people think CRT is so bad. You don't want your children to understand race for WHAT?" someone questioned. Another comment, meanwhile, read, "She is a walking oxymoron...Conservative but living a very Liberal life, has a black grandchild but is against teaching critical race theory."

During the interview, the 71-year-old Republican also discussed the immigration crisis facing border states like California. "I would close our California border. I would use state funds to close the border. We have to have control of our immigration system," she revealed. Despite that, Caitlyn shared that she supports amnesty for immigrants who have been "good citizens," saying, "They are a vibrant part of our economy. They are a vibrant part of our state. They need to get legal protection to be able to stay."

Caitlyn announced her candidacy for California governor back in April. "I have been a compassionate disrupter throughout my life, from representing the United States and winning a gold medal at the Olympics to helping advance the movement for equality," Caitlyn said. "As Californians, we face a now-or-never opportunity to fundamentally fix our state before it's too late."
Instagram Celebrity

Some others criticize the City Girls member for responding to the trolls, writing, 'She swears she unbothered but be pressed after everything she upload online.'

Jun 29, 2021

AceShowbiz - JT was one of the stars who brought their best styles to the red carpet at the 2021 BET Awards. Arriving at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 27, the City Girls member looked stunning in a bedazzled ensemble. However, it was her hair that got people's attention.

Some people apparently were not impressed by JT's wig. The "Twerkulator" femcee caught wind of the mockery and she didn't waste time to take to her Twitter account to clap back at haters.

"It's always JT wig JT clothes but make sure y'all never leave out JT talent f**k he BS I like what I like do WTF I do!" so the raptress wrote on the blue bird app.

In a separate post, she added, "I hope the citizens are proud! We couldn't do it without y'all constantly sticking by us through countless set backs keep going steady with us it's no rush as long as WE get there."

Despite her defense, fans kept insisting that the wig was awful. "Girl the wig was amess," someone noted in an Instagram comment. "her barber did her wrong," another fan opined, while someone else called it "horrible."

Some others criticized JT for responding to the trolls. "here she go responding again," one person said. "She swears she unbothered but be pressed after everything she upload online," another person echoed the sentimen. A fan, meanwhile, urged the raptress to "just celebrate & be in the moment JT!!! Stop addressing bs."

That aside, JT and Yung Miami offered a mesmerizing performance of their viral TikTok hit "Twerkulator" at the 2021 BET Awards. Bringing heat to the stage, the pair and their dancers twerked onstage almost the entire song.
WENN Celebrity

Words are the warring brothers were quarrelling within minutes they're inside the castle and beyond camera vision, despite their friendly chat when leaving St George's Chapel.

Jun 28, 2021

AceShowbiz - Prince William and Prince Harry didn't brush aside their differences at Prince Phillip's funeral, despite what it seemed on camera. In contrary to what most people believed, there was reportedly no reconciliation between the sons of Prince Charles and Princess Diana at the sacred ceremony to honor their late grandfather.

The two princes were seen having a friendly chat while walking with Kate Middleton and other royal family members from St George Chapel to cross the crossyard. However, "within minutes of the siblings getting inside the castle and beyond camera vision. They started quarrelling again," according to British historian and biographer Robert Lacey who wrote an article published by Daily Mail.

One alleged longtime friend said, "There they were, at each other's throats as fiercely as ever." The source added of the siblings' rivalry, "The rage and anger between those two has grown so incredibly deep. Too many harsh and wounding things have been said."

It has been long reported that Meghan Markle is one of the roots of William and Harry's conflict. As the Duchess of Sussex was accused of bullying royal staff, the Duke of Cambridge reportedly referred to his sister-in-law as "that bloody woman."

"But look at the way that bloody woman treated my staff - merciless!" he reportedly said during a conversation with friends about a difficult sister-in-law.

It doesn't help that their father's priorities are reportedly set elsewhere. "The main thing Charles wants is for the pair of them to smile on Camilla becoming his full Queen Consort [instead of Princess Consort, as officially pre-ordained at present]," said one friend.

"He's fixated about it - something he never stops trying to negotiate with both of them," the source dished. On this, however, the brothers may agree as the source claimed, "But they will never say 'Yes' to Camilla taking the place that should have been filled by their mother."
Update 1:10 p.m. Sunday, July 4, 2021 - Camping at Philbrook Reservoir reopened on Friday afternoon. A representative from Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) said on Saturday that the boat ramp and day-use area have reopened as well.

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Update 12:35 p.m. Sunday, July 4, 2021 - The Sky Fire burning in the Philbrook Lake and Snag Lake area is now 96% contained. There are approximately 50 people assigned to the incident.

On July 1 @PGE4Me will reopen the boat ramp and day use area at Philbrook Reservoir, with the campground reopening Friday, July 2 at 2 p.m. Camping reservations honored. Please drive careful on roads to Philbrook due to emergency vehicles for #skyfire @LassenNF @ButteSheriff  Paul Moreno (@PGE_Paul) June 30, 2021

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Update 10:50 p.m. Saturday, July 3, 2021 - The Sky Fire remains at 76 acres with 88% containment.

Firefighters continue to mop up the interior and reduce the risk of hazard trees in the area. They are backhauling unused equipment with plans to demobilize and transition from an Incident 3 Command 3 to an Incident 4 Command situation on July 5.

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Update 12:00 p.m. Saturday, July 3, 2021 - The Sky Fire is now 88% contained.

Firefighters continue to patrol, secure lines, mop up, and conduct operations to mitigate snags.

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PHILBROOK LAKE, Calif. - Lassen National Forest is battling a 76-acre fire in the Philbrook Lake area on the Almanor Ranger District.

The Lassen National Forest said the fire is 60% contained.

On Wednesday, the evacuation warnings for the Lake Philbrook and Snag Lake areas have been lifted by the Butte County Sheriff's Office.

The Butte County Sheriff's Office is issuing an evacuation warning for the Lake Philbrook and Snag Lake areas because of the Sky Fire.

Officials said there are containment lines around the fire but areas of heat pose a threat to the security of the lines.

FIRE WATCH: Stay updated with the latest news on active fires in the North State

Three helicopters are working on the fire but travel time to access the fire is lengthy and impacts how quickly resources can gain control.

CAL FIRE is assisting the Lassen National Forest at this time.

There was a fire in the same area on June 24 called the Philbrook Fire.

This fire is in the High Lakes area of Northern California named for more than two dozen small lakes on the High Lakes Plateau, most of which is on Lassen National Forest land. All of the lakes are within Plumas County except for Philbrook Lake which is in Butte County.

A campground at Philbrook Lake is managed by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E). It is not technically considered one of the High Lakes but it resides on the High Lakes Plateau.
CHICO, Calif.  First-term Chico City Council Member Kami Denlay resigned Saturday from her elected government position in District 3.

Denlay shared in her resignation letter that she was concerned for the safety of her family. She added that the resignation brings her sadness.

After misled rumors were fed to media outlets, Denlay said in her letter. I discovered that my children and husband had been surveilled as a means to get to the bottom of rumors.

Without describing what actually occurred that scared the councilmember and her family, she said, the action taken was a frightening experience for my young children.

Chico Mayor Andrew Coolidge said more information on what occurred will most likely come to light in the coming days.

Mayor Coolidge said the resignation of two council members over the last week is unprecedented for the City of Chico.

RELATED: Chico City Council member Scott Huber resigns, effective immediately

In the end, well be stronger for this, added Coolidge, who said recent issues have divided the community. We will get through this process.

Coolidge said the next step is to meet with the Council on Tuesday, July 6 to accept the two tendered resignations. At that meeting the process to replace the resigning council members will be explained, the Mayor said.

Action News Now called Kami Denlay but is working to recieve a callback. Kenlay said in her resignation letter that she would like the media to respect my familys privacy as we move our lives out of this very public circumstance.

In her resignation letter, Denlay mentioned a recent incident that her family had with a reporter, but did not give any details of the incident she was referring to.

She did, however, say that "certain members of the community have taken it upon themselves to investigate where my young family lives."

Denlay said in a Facebook post that she used "decoy addresses" to protect the privacy of her family, but says she has a residence in the district to fulfill the legal requirement that she lives in the district she represents.
BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. - District Attorney Mike Ramsey said that any possession of fireworks in unincorporated Butte County is illegal and prohibited.

Some fireworks are designated as safe and sane and are sold within the city limits of Oroville and Gridley.

Do not buy fireworks within the city and believe just because they are designated as safe and sane that they can be taken out of the city. No fireworks can leave the city limits, Ramsey said.

Ramsey said lighting or possessing fireworks outside the city limits of Oroville and Gridley is illegal and fines can be up to $1,000 and six months in county jail.

As fire danger is high, Ramsey said possession will be vigorously prosecuted.

Ramsey said any fire started by fireworks either intentionally or negligently would be prosecuted as a felony.
REDDING, Calif. - Redding Police said 45-year-old Christopher Meagher of Redding, assaulted an elderly man inside a bar.

Police said Meagher attacked a 73-year-old man at The Tropics on Market Street just after midnight Saturday, knocking the man unconscious.

Meagher left the scene before officers arrived and the victim had to be treated at a local hospital.

During the investigation, officers viewed a video of the assault and said they were able to identify Meagher.

On Sunday, officers said they were able to locate Meagher at an associate's residence.

He was arrested and transported to the Redding Detectives Division.

Meagher was then booked at the Shasta County Jail for assault and felony elder abuse and is being held on a $25,000 bail.
Dangerous heat will persist across northern California this week, and the threat of thunderstorms will be returning to some of our mountain areas. High pressure centered to our north continues to dominate our forecast Monday, and will continue to do so through this week. The Excessive Heat Warning remains in effect in the valley, foothills, Lassen County and Plumas County through 10pm Wednesday night. The Excessive Heat Warning has been extended through 11pm Thursday in Modoc and Siskiyou Counties. The Excessive Heat Warning remains in effect in northern Trinity County through 9pm Tuesday night. A Red Flag Warning for high fire danger is set to be in effect from 1pm through 9pm today on the west side of Siskiyou County due to localized gusty winds over very dry fuels. We also have a Fire Weather Watch that's been issued for portions of Lassend and Plumas Counties from Tuesday afternoon through Tuesday evening due to the threat of thunderstorms returning to that area. We have clear conditions overhead this morning, and will have plenty of sunshine across northern California today. Temperatures are starting out in the 60's to 70's in the valley and foothills, while mountain areas are starting out in the 50's to 60's. Most of us will have south winds up to around 15mph today, with gusts up to 20mph this afternoon. Siskiyou County will have gusts up to 35mph out of the south this afternoon and evening. Humidity will dip into the 10 to 22 percent range later today. High temperatures are projected to range from 102 to 109 degrees in the valley, 91 to 98 degrees in the foothills, and the lower 90's to around 101 degrees in our mountain zones this afternoon. The heat will be dangerous again today, and the hot temperatures paired with the very dry conditions and dry fuels will keep our fire danger in the moderate to high range this afternoon.

Tuesday is projected to be a degree or two hotter than Monday, and we'll also have the threat of thunderstorms returning to our higher elevations closest to the Nevada border. The threat of thunderstorms has prompted a Fire Weather Watch to be issued for portions of Lassen and Plumas Counties from Tuesday afternoon through Tuesday evening. Moisture drawn north into our region from low pressure to our south will be the source of this thunderstorm threat, and that will be possible through Thursday evening. High temperatures will dip by a few degrees by the end of this week as the ridge breaks down, and we start to get a little more influence from the Delta Breeze. The current forecast keeps valley aresa in the upper 90's to lower trilpe digits from Thursday through this weekend. Foothill and mountain areas will mostly have high temperatures in the 80's to 90's through this weekend. This does look to be a fairly toasty 4th of July weekend on the way, so make sure to plan accordingly. Dress for the heat, plan your outdoor activities for earlier in the day, and don't forget to stay hydrated.
Competition is part of almost every goods and service available in India and globally. But sometimes competition results in the competitors alleging unfair trade practices or deceptive trade practices, especially when they believe that the competitor is attempting to confuse the consumer with a similar packaged product and infringe its Trade Mark. Part 30 of the series of articles on Misleading Ads by Advocate Aazmeen Kasad, serves to demystify and provide an in-depth understanding of what our Trade Mark laws are, what constitutes a Trade Mark infringement, in India.

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India is one of the largest biscuit manufacturing countries in the world, after the US and China. Indias biscuit market stood at Rs 28,387 crore ($3.9 billion) in 2016, and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.27%, in value terms, between 2017 and 2022, to reach Rs 52,771 crore ($7.25 billion) by 2022. (Source: India Business Market Overview 2017-2023 Report). A market research conducted by BlueWeave Consulting estimated the Indian biscuits market to grow significantly by 2023, owing to a change in consumer taste and preferences, increasing health-conscious consumers, and rising demand for convenience food. The dominant organised players operating in the biscuit market of India are Britannia Industries Ltd (Britannia), Parle Biscuits Pvt Ltd (Parle), ITC Ltd (ITC), Surya Food & Agro Ltd and Unibic Foods India Pvt Ltd.

Packaging plays a key role in attracting the eyeballs of the consumer. It is no wonder then that each player tries to differentiate its product from that of its competitor not only through different flavours, distinct brands, memorable advertising, but also through unique packaging designs.

There are a raft of judicial precedents stemming from cases filed by companies in India alleging Trade Mark infringement by competitors within the category. In the recent past, Britannia filed a case in the Delhi High Court, against ITC and others, seeking an injunction against ITC to restrain ITC from manufacturing or selling biscuits in the deceptively similar packaging for its biscuit.

On September 11, 2020, the Trademark Registry registered the following Trade Mark under Class 30 of the Trade Marks Rules, 2017 in favour of Britannia Industries, who manufactures and sells Nutri Choice Digestive using the said Trade Mark in its packaging.

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Britannia was aggrieved by the fact that ITC are manufacturing and selling Sunfeast Farmlite 5-Seed Digestive biscuits in a packaging which, according to Britannia, is deceptively similar to the packing in which Britannia sells its Nutri Choice Digestive biscuits; and ITC have infringed the registered trademark of Britannia together with passing off their Sunfeast Farmlite 5-Seed Digestive biscuits as those of Britannia.

Britannias Arguments

Britannia, in its petition made the following arguments in favour of the injunction against ITC:

Britannias trademark was registered on September 11, 2020, and Britannia has been using the said trademark on its digestive biscuits since 2014.

ITC do not have any registered trademark in respect of the impugned pack. ITCs Sunfeast, Sunfeast Farmlite and 5-Seed Digestive biscuits were launched under the impugned pack on September 28, 2020.

Prior to adopting the impugned packing, the defendants were marketing their digestive biscuits, including their Sunfeast, Sunfeast Farmlite and 5-Seed Digestive biscuits in the following packs, which were not, in any manner, infringing Britannias pack and, in fact, uses this fact as a ground to contend that ITC deliberately changed their pack to deceptively resemble that of Britannia, to encash on Britannias goodwill and reputation:

The overall trade dress, colour combinations, colour scheme, arrangement of features, get-up and layout of the impugned pack of ITC were deceptively similar to that of Britannia, highlighting the following similarities:

use of the colour scheme of red and yellow, with yellow on the left side of the pack and red on the right,

depiction of the image of the biscuit on the right side,

embossing of the brand name of the company and of the biscuit on the body of the biscuit in similar font and style,

use of the word Hi-Fibre, below the name of the biscuit,

depiction of the words Nutri Choice in the case of the plaintiffs pack, and of the words 5-Seed Digestive in the defendants pack, on a white background,

depiction of two sheaves of wheat below the picture of the biscuit on the right side of the pack along with scattered grains of wheat,

an orange shading at the intersection of the yellow and the red colour on the pack, and

depiction of the word digestive in red lettering on the pack.

As the biscuits are normally stocked together in stores, there is also a clear aspect of initial interest confusion.

As Britannia and ITCs biscuits are both digestive biscuits, the constituents or ingredients of the biscuits are immaterial.

ITCs Arguments

In its defense, ITC made the following arguments:

Britannia does not have any Trade Mark registration for the colour combinations red and yellow, though colour combinations are individually registrable as marks within the meaning of Section 2(m) of the Trademarks Act.

There are any number of distinctive features on the pack of ITCs products, which make the two packs so dissimilar as to obviate any possibility of confusion or deception.

Britannias pack contained two colours, that is, red and yellow, whereas ITCs pack contained red, yellow and saffron.

Yellow is the predominant colour in Britannias pack, whereas red is the predominant colour in ITCs pack.

Britannias pack predominantly displays the brand name Nutri Choice in large green letters, whereas ITC brand name is Farmlite printed in brown letters on its pack.

ITCs pack contains a vertical curved band towards the centre of the pack, in which the seeds contained in the defendants biscuits are reflected from top to bottom under the head Power Seeds, with a picture of each seed, indicating, from top to bottom, flak seeds, chia seeds, watermelon seeds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds; and

ITCs brand name Sunfeast Farmlite Digestive is predominantly displayed on the biscuits package.

Etching of the brand name of the biscuits on the body of the biscuits was a common industry practice and that, in fact, this feature would serve to discredit Britannias allegation of deceptive similarity, as ITCs brand name and that of its biscuits are completely different from those of Britannia.

Representing wheat and grains on the pack of digestive biscuits, is also a matter of common practice, as these serve to emphasise the nutritional value of the biscuits and represent their ingredients. ITCs pack also shows seeds, raisins and almonds, which are not present on Britannias pack.

The use of the word Hi Fiber was, again, a matter of common industry practice, as it represented the high fiber content in the biscuits, again emphasising their nutritional value. The lettering and the colour of the word Hi Fiber as contained on ITCs pack, is different from that of Britannia.

The Principles of Law applied

Based on several quoted past Indian judicial precedents, the Court culled out the following principles:

In assessing deceptive similarity, the class of the customer who would purchase the product is relevant. The look/ appearance, and the sound of the trade marks, as well as the nature of the goods, are all relevant considerations. Surrounding circumstances are also relevant.

The onus of proof is on the plaintiff, who alleges passing off. As against this, in an opposition to the registration of a trademark, the onus to prove deceptive similarity is on the defendant who seeks non-registration, or removal of the trade mark from the register.

Confusion refers to the state of mind of the customer who, on seeing the mark, thinks that it differs from the mark on the goods, which he has previously bought, but is doubtful whether that impression is not due to imperfect recollection. The question is one of first impression.

This is especially true in the matter of phonetic similarity. A meticulous comparison of the words, syllable by syllable, is to be avoided. The possibility of careless pronunciation and speech, both on the part of the buyer walking into the shop, as well as the shop assistant, is also required to be factored into consideration.

The matter has to be examined from the point of view of a person of average intelligence and imperfect recollection. It has to be seen as to how such a purchaser would react to the trade mark, the association which he would form and how he would connect the trade marks with the goods he would be purchasing.

The Pianotist test, postulated over a century ago, has repeatedly been endorsed by the Supreme Court, as the definitive test to be adopted while comparing rival trademarks. According to this test, the Court is required to judge the rival trade marks by their look and sound, and consider, (a) the goods to which they are to be applied, (b) the nature and kind of customer who would be likely to buy those goods, (c) all surrounding circumstances, and (d) the consequences which would follow if each of the marks is used in the normal way as the trade mark for the goods of the respective owners. [(1906) 23 RPC 774]

The whole word/ mark is to be considered. An ordinary man would not split a word or name in a trade mark into its components, but would go by the overall structural and phonetic similarity of the marks at the nature of the goods previously purchased, or of which he has been told and which he wants to purchase. It has to be examined whether the totality of the trade mark of the defendant is likely to cause deception/ confusion or mistake in the minds of the persons accustomed to the existing trade mark of the plaintiff.

The resemblance may be phonetic, visual or in the basic idea represented by the plaintiff's mark. The Court is, however, required to apply both the phonetic and the visual tests. At times, ocular similarity may be sufficient to find possibility of confusion/ deception, even if the marks are visually dissimilar, though ocular similarity, by itself, may not, generally, be the decisive test. Where, however, (i) in all other respects, the marks of the plaintiff and defendant are different, (ii) the word/words, in the marks, which are phonetically similar, cannot be regarded as the dominant word, or essential feature, in the marks, and (iii) the surrounding circumstances also belie any possibility of confusion, it has been held that deceptive similarity cannot be found to exist merely on the basis of phonetic similarity or even identity. The matter, apparently, is always one of fact. The Court would have to decide, on a comparison of the two marks, and the parts thereof which are phonetically similar, as to whether such phonetic similarity is likely, considering all other circumstances, to confuse or deceive a purchaser of average intelligence and imperfect recollection, always bearing in mind the nature of the goods, and the degree of circumspection which would be expected of the purchasers who would purchase such goods.

The Court is required to examine whether the essential features of the plaintiff's mark are to be found in the mark of the defendant. Identification of the essential features is a question of fact, left to the discretion of the Court.

No objective standards are possible, regarding the degree of similarity which is likely to cause deception. It has to be seen from the viewpoint of the purchasers of the goods.

The test to be applied would depend on the facts of the case. Precedents are valuable only to the extent they specify tests for application, and not on facts.

On the issue of deceptive similarity, and especially with respect to the aspect of phonetic similarity, English cases are not of relevance. English cases are useful only to the extent they aid in understanding the essential features of trade mark law. The tests for deceptive similarity, which apply in other jurisdictions, may not always apply in India.

Analysis

The Court based its decision on the basis of the following analysis:

The perception, whether in the case of infringement or passing off, is to be that of a person of average intelligence and imperfect recollection  not of an idiot, or an amnesiac. The average human mind has not been particularly conditioned to observe only similarities, and overlook dissimilarities. Section 29(1) uses the word deceptive, whereas Section 29(2) uses the expression cause confusion. Deception and confusion are both states of mind, of which no physically tangible evidence can ever be found. If similarities can cause deception or confusion, dissimilarities, if sufficient, can also obviate any suchpossibility. At the end of the day, the court is required to come to an opinion as to whether a person of average intelligence and imperfect recollection is likely be deceived, or to confuse the defendants marks (in the case of infringement) or the defendants product (in the case of passing off) with that of the plaintiff. If, therefore, between the rival marks, the points of dissimilarity are so stark that they shade or overweigh the points of similarity, the court may legitimately arrive at a conclusion that, irrespective of the points of similarity, no possibility of confusion or deception exists.

The points of similarity, between Britannias pack and ITCs pack, cannot be gainsaid. At the same time, there are also stark and apparent points of dissimilarity which, immediately impress themselves on the mind, even of a person of average intelligence and imperfect recollection.

Even a person of average intelligence and imperfect recollection is bound to notice the absence, on ITCs pack, the words Nutri Choice, which are contained on Britannias pack. The test, to reiterate, has to be that of the perception of a person of imperfect recollection, and not that of an amnesiac.

Digestive biscuits having watermelon seeds, Chia seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds are, clearly, a species of digestive biscuits sui generis. There is no other manufacturer making Digestive biscuits with the 5 seeds. ITC has prominently displayed, on the package, the words 5-Seed Digestive, apart from a clear pictorial representation of the five seeds contained in the biscuits. The words 5 Seed are absent on Britannias pack.

The different brands of the biscuit and the different companies manufacturing the biscuits are, prominently displayed on the pack both of Britannia as well as of ITC. It is only, therefore, if the mythical gentleman of average intelligence and imperfect recollection does not recollect either the brand of the biscuit or the name of the company manufacturing the biscuit, or even the prominent features of the left side of the pack, that he is likely to confuse the Farmlite 5-Seed Digestive biscuit of ITC for the Nutri Choice Digetive biscuit of Britannia.

If the packs of Britannia and ITCs biscuits are stored side by side, then, unless the customer is situated at so great a distance that he can see only the colours of the packs, and not the distinctive features thereof, he is unlikely to be confused between the two.

The Delhi High Court Judgement

The High Court rejected Britannias application for an injunction against ITCs Farmlite packaging. ITC pack was held not to be confusingly similar to that Britannias. No case of infringement, therefore, exists, prima facie. When it comes to the question of passing off, additionally, the fact that the Sunfeast logo of ITC and the Britannia logo are clearly visible on the face of the rival packs, would also minimise the possibility of a consumer mistakenly purchasing the ITC product, assuming it to be that of Britannias.

The Court also gave its reasoned order for differing from the judgement provided in the case of Parle by the Supreme Court of India (1972 SCC (1) 618), which was relied on by Britannia.

The Court also pronounced its judgement in a separate but related case filed by Britannia against ITC in respect of the box pack of Britannias Nutri Choice 5 Grain Digestive biscuits, and ITCs SUnfeast Farmlite Veda Digestive biscuits, dismissing the application on the grounds that it did not find deceptive similarity in the two product packs and a consequent infringement or passing off action by ITC.

In light of the above judgement, it is advisable for manufacturersto review the principles of the law cited by the Honble Court in cases bordering on Trade Mark infringement or passing off. The ensuing Parts of the series will pertain to various aspects of what constitutes Misleading Advertising and key judicial precedents on the same.

Advocate Aazmeen Kasad is a practicing corporate advocate with over 20 years of experience, with a focus on the Media, Technology and Telecom industries. She is also a professor of law since 14 years. She is a member of the Consumer Complaints Council of the Advertising Standards Council of India. She is a speaker at several forums.
Divo, one of Indias leading and well-established digital media and music companies has partnered with Indo Overseas Films (IOF) for the digital release of the international, highest-grossing movie, Mojin: The Treasure Valley in India. The movie is the second in the Mojin series (first being Mojin: The Lost Legend - 2015) to be released and originally was called Mojin: The Worm Valley (now being released by Divo & IOF under the name Mojin - The Treasure Valley for OTT platforms).

The movie revolves around a legendary tomb explorer named Hu Bayi who is on a hunt to find the cure to an ancient curse in the Tomb of Emperor Xian featuring Hang Cai, Xuan Gu, and Heng Yu in leading roles.

This highly acclaimed movie is now available to viewers in 4 languages (English, Hindi. Tamil and Telugu) for a pay-per-view model across all leading OTT platforms such as BookMyShow stream, Gudsho, Google Play, Shemaroo, Hungama Play, Filme, Oct Square, and Apple TV.

The movie is being released by Indo Overseas Films (IOF) in India and to ensure a smooth digital release, they have partnered with Divo and handed them the complete digital distribution of the movie on various leading OTT platforms.
Loco, an Indian game streaming platform, has raised $ 9 million from investors including Korean game developer Krafton Inc., in its first fundraising effort. The startup was backed by gaming media fund Lumikai, Hiro Capital, 3one4 Capital and Axilor Ventures.

The startup will use this money to upgrade its content and technology. Founded by Anirudh Pandita and Ashwin Suresh as Loco Interactive Pte, It was a part of Pocket Aces Pvt, a digital studio that created streaming content and web series. The gaming startup will be spun off from Pocket Aces after the funding.

While gaming on desktops and consoles did not take off in India, mobile gaming and esports is a fast growing genre. Loco features some of the countrys best known streaming who play games such as Clash of Kings, Call of Duty Mobile, FreeFire and hosts top esports teams and tournaments.
Personal Healthcare ad volumes on traditional media  Television, Print and Radio  saw a huge rise in Jan-May21, compared to Jan-May20, as per TAM AdEx data. Sector ad space in Print rose the highest at 95% during Jan-May21, followed by Radio at 93% and Television at 86%. In comparison, Personal Healthcare ad insertions on Digital grew by 50% during this period.

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Television

Ad volumes of Personal Healthcare sector on Television grew by 86% during Jan-May21, compared to same period in previous year.

Rubs and Balms (21% share) and Antiseptic Creams/ Liquids (15% share) together had more than 1/3rd of the sector ad volumes. The Top 10 categories covered 93% of the ad volumes. Reckitt Benckiser topped among the advertisers with 30% share of the sector ad volumes, followed by Smithkline Beecham at a distant second place with 8% share. The Top 10 advertisers had 69% share of ad volumes.

Over 240 new brands were present during Jan-May21 over Jan-May20. Evion Capsules, Otrivin Breathe Clean and Livogen Tonic among the Top 10 new brands were from OTC Products category.

Top 2 channel genres News (34% share) and GEC (24% share) added 58% of the sector ad volumes in Jan-May21. The Top 5 channels genres covered 98% share. With a share of 28%, Feature Films were the most preferred to promote Personal Healthcares brands on Television. The Top 2 program genres  Feature Films (28% share) and News Bulletin (24% share)  together added more than half of the sector ad volumes.

Prime Time was the most preferred time-band on TV, followed by Afternoon time-band. Prime Time, Afternoon and Morning time bands together accounted for more than 70% share of the ad volumes.

Advertisers of Personal Healthcare sector preferred 20-40 seconds ad size on TV. 20-40 seconds and <20 seconds ads together covered 97% share of ad volumes during Jan-May21.

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Print

Personal Healthcare ad space in Print grew by 95% during Jan-May21, compared to Jan-May20. Range of OTC Products leads the list of Top 10 categories with 21% share of the sector ad space. SBS Biotech was the top advertiser with 46% share during Jan-May21. The Top 10 categories and advertisers added 94% and 75% of ad space, respectively.

In Print medium, 640+ new brands seen during Jan-May21 over Jan-May20. Itchku Range of Products was the top new brand, followed by Zandu Nityam Range of Products.

Hindi publication language was on top with 63% share of the ad space. The Top 5 Publication languages added 91% share. General Interest publication genre contributed almost 100% share of sectors ad space.

Among the 4 zones, North Zone topped with 42% share of the sector ad space in Print during Jan-May21. Mumbai and Nagpur were the Top 2 cities in overall India as well as in West Zone for the sector advertising in Print.

In Personal Healthcare sector, Sales Promotion had 28% share of ad space in Print medium. Among Sales Promotions, Volume Promotion occupied 76% share of ad space, followed by Add on Promotion with 17% share during Jan-May21. Among the Sales Promotions advertisers, SBS Biotech topped with 82% share of the ad space, followed by Emami with 4% share during Jan-May21.

Radio

Ad volumes of the Personal Healthcare sector on Radio grew by 93% during Jan-May21, compared to same period in the previous year. On Radio, Corporate-Pharma/ Healthcare category topped with 51% share of the ad volumes in the sector. The Top 10 categories had 97% of ad volumes. The Top 10 Advertisers added 78% share of the ad volumes during Jan-May21, among which Pfizer was leading the list with 33% share.

There were 110+ new brands during Jan-May21 over Jan-May20. Pfizer was the top new brand on Radio medium.

The Top 3 states  Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu  occupied 44% of the ad pie for the Personal Healthcare sector. With a share of 17%, Gujarat topped in the sector advertising on Radio, closely followed by Maharashtra with a share of 16% in Jan-May21.

Advertising in Personal Healthcare sector was preferred during Evening and Morning time-bands on Radio, combining 76% share of the ad volumes during Jan-May21.

Digital

50% growth observed in ad insertions of the Personal Healthcare sector on Digital medium during Jan-May21, compared to Jan-May20. On the Digital medium, Vitamins/ Tonics/ Health Supplements category was on top with 24% of the sectors ad insertions, closely followed by Range of OTC Products with a share of 23%. The Top 10 categories had 96% of the sector ad insertions. The Top 10 advertisers accounted for 57% share of the ad insertions during Jan-May21, with Thermo Fisher Scientific India at top of the list with a share of 8%.

During Jan-May21, Programmatic transaction method topped with 45% share of the sectors ad insertions on Digital, followed by Ad Network method in the 2nd place with 34% share.
General Secretariat of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications; General Secretariat DETEC

Bern, 28.06.2021 - Federal Councillor Simonetta Sommaruga will be travelling to Senegal and Ghana from 5 to 9 July. Climate protection will be the main item on the agenda in both countries. In Senegal, Ms Sommaruga will sign a bilateral agreement on climate protection similar to the one already signed with Ghana. She will also take part in several bilateral meetings and a ministerial roundtable discussion in Ghana to examine joint initiatives to protect the climate and the environment. Both in Senegal and Ghana, she will visit several energy and environmental project sites.

Switzerland is a global pioneer when it comes to climate protection, setting a standard for international climate projects that respect both human rights and nature. In recent months, Switzerland has signed bilateral agreements with Ghana and Peru for carbon offsetting projects in these two countries and similar agreements are being prepared for other countries. During her visit to Dakar, Federal Councillor Sommaruga and the Senegalese Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Mr Abdou Karim Sall, will sign the bilateral agreement on climate protection approved by the Federal Council on 23 June.

A similar bilateral agreement was signed in Ghana over six months ago. Discussions in this country will therefore focus mainly on measures to implement Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Ms Sommaruga will attend a ministerial roundtable discussion to assess progress towards implementation. She will also seek assurances that the private sector will be able to benefit from the carbon credits system laid out in the Swiss-Ghanaian bilateral agreement.

During her visit to Accra, Ms Sommaruga will also present SECOs country strategy for Ghana, which is a SECO priority country for economic development cooperation. For the 2021-2024 period, Switzerland intends to allocate a total of CHF 65 million for economic development cooperation in Ghana.

In Ghana, she will also visit the Agbogbloshie electronic waste dump as well as a plantation and factory specialised in the sustainable cultivation and production of cocoa. In Senegal, she will visit the largest wind farm in West Africa.

Address for enquiries

DETEC Communication, Geraldine Eicher +41 58 466 80 00

Publisher

General Secretariat of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications; General Secretariat DETEC

https://www.uvek.admin.ch/uvek/en/home.html



Federal Office for the Environment FOEN

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Federal Department of Finance

Bern, 28.06.2021 - On 28 June 2021 in Dublin, Federal Councillor Ueli Maurer met the Irish Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, for an exchange on bilateral and multilateral tax issues.

The talks between the two finance ministers focused on international tax policy. On the one hand, they discussed the OECD project on taxing the digital economy. Both Switzerland and Ireland are members of the OECD Inclusive Framework, which is currently developing the new rules for international corporate taxation. On the other hand, Ueli Maurer and Paschal Donohoe discussed the EU's latest plans for a corporate tax system fit for the 21st century, which includes digital and environmental taxes. The challenges for the Eurogroup were also addressed. Paschal Donohoe has been president of this group for the past year.

Furthermore, the two finance ministers spoke about the post-Brexit relationship between the EU and the United Kingdom.

Address for enquiries

Communications

Federal Department of Finance FDF

Tel. +41 58 462 60 33, info@gs-efd.admin.ch

Publisher

Federal Department of Finance

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State Secretariat for International Financial Matters

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Polio is the iconic epidemic, its conquest one of medicines heroic dramas. The narrative is by now familiar: Random, inexplicable outbreaks paralyzed and killed thousands of infants and children and struck raw terror into 20 th century parents, triggering a worldwide race to identify the virus and develop a vaccine. Success ushered in the triumphant era of mass vaccination. Now polios last hideouts amid the poorest of the poor in Asia and Africa are under relentless siege by, among others, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Eradication is just a matter of time, and many more illnesses will soon meet the same fate.

But based on our research over the past two years, we believe this narrative is wrong  and wrong for reasons that go beyond mere historical interest. The misunderstanding of polio has warped the public health response to modern illnesses in ways that actually make them harder to prevent, control, and treat.

The reality, we believe, is that the virus itself was just half the epidemic equation -- necessary but not sufficient to create The Age of Polio. Outbreaks were not caused solely by poliovirus  the microbe was an ancient and heretofore harmless intestinal bug -- but by its interaction with a new toxin, most often innovative pesticides used to treat fruits and vegetables.

This alternative narrative makes better sense of the natural history of polio, and it resolves a number of anomalies that remain to this day. It suggests why poliomyelitis outbreaks emerged, evolved, and exploded the way they did; it probably solves, for the first time, the enduring riddle of why Franklin D. Roosevelt was afflicted 90 years ago this summer on Campobello Island; and it may mean todays billion-dollar-a-year eradication effort is misguided, if not downright quixotic.

These are large claims. Let us explain.

--

Polio was a strange illness, never fully understood even by those who devoted their lives to studying and subduing it. It was a summer plague, coming on in late spring and all but vanishing in the fall. Many thought contagion had something to do with water, and Americans kept their children away from swimming pools in droves.

There is a profound distinction between poliovirus  an enterovirus, one that enters through the mouth and takes up residence in the GI tract and bloodstream  and poliomyelitis, the paralytic form of the illness. In the vast majority of cases, the virus causes either a minor illness or an inapparent infection.

But in 1 or 2 in 100 cases, the virus somehow gets past multiple defenses and into the nervous system, where it finds its way to the anterior horn cells at the top front of the spinal column. There, it preferentially attacks the gray-colored motor neurons (polio means gray in Greek) and causes inflammation of the protective myelin sheath (myelitis). This interferes with nerve signals to the muscles and can lead to temporary or permanent paralysis of the limbs and the respiratory system. A small number of people who contract poliomyelitis -- on the order of 1 percent -- die.

The first recorded U.S. outbreak was in 1841 in West Feliciana, Louisiana (10 cases, no deaths). There was a half-century gap until the next cluster, in 1893 in Boston (26 cases, no deaths). Then, in 1894, came what is widely regarded as the first major epidemic, in Rutland and Proctor, Vermont (132 cases, 18 deaths). Thirty more outbreaks  from such seemingly disparate locations as Oceana County, Michigan, and Californias Napa Valley -- were reported in the United States through 1909. The worst by far was New York in 1907, with 2,500 cases and a five percent mortality rate, a harbinger of the 1916 epidemic in the Northeast that killed 2,000 in New York City alone.[i]

What is most remarkable about this list is that so few outbreaks of paralytic polio were recorded anywhere in the world before the latter 19th century. Poliomyelitis is considered an ancient scourge, but the evidence supporting that belief is quite threadbare. An oft-cited Egyptian drawing depicts a priest with a withered leg that could have stemmed from paralytic polio, but for most of recorded history there were few observations of the sudden-onset fever and paralysis in infants that characterizes the disease. The earliest well-documented case of infantile paralysis in an individual is widely considered to be Sir Walter Scott, afflicted as an infant in 1773.[ii]

There is little question that the poliovirus was endemic in humans for millennia; there may even have been isolated cases of poliomyelitis for much of that period. Yet the poliovirus did not trigger widespread outbreaks of poliomyelitis. Setting aside for now the 1841 Louisiana outbreak, reported retrospectively, something seems to have happened around 1890 to launch The Age of Polio in the United States. And something else must have changed around the end of World War II to create the large modern epidemics seared into the minds of older Americans, thousands of whom are poliomyelitis survivors and almost all of whom know someone who was afflicted.

While we have not written about polio, we have seen this pattern before. In our book, The Age of Autism  Mercury, Medicine, and a Man-made Epidemic, we argued that something happened in the 1930s to launch The Age of Autism.[iii] We proposed it was the commercialization of ethyl mercury compounds for use in pesticides  seed disinfectants and lumber preservatives  and in vaccinations; we offered evidence of those inventions in the family backgrounds of the first autism cases identified in the medical literature, in 1943. Similarly, we proposed that the sharp rise in autism cases beginning around 1990 tracks with the federal government recommending several more mercury-containing shots.

Our attention was drawn to polio during our autism research when a virologist mentioned, in passing, that poliomyelitis could be triggered in some instances by injections. Called provocation poliomyelitis,[iv] this can happen when a needle stick punctures a nerve in the peripheral nervous system. An active poliovirus infection  typically, in a child exposed to the virus for the first time and not yet immune -- can gain access to the nervous system through a process called retrograde axonal transport, traveling back to the spinal column and triggering the dreaded paralytic form, poliomyelitis.

Such cases of provocation paralysis, we learned, occurred in Eastern Europe when antibiotics were excessively administered by injection; this practice led to multiple cases of poliomyelitis.[v] Bulbar polio  of the throat and respiratory system  was recognized as more common after tonsillectomies, again because nerve endings had been exposed.[vi] Outbreaks, then, can unquestionably occur as a result of an environmental injury, in these instances either excessive injection or surgery that led to peripheral nerve damage, in the presence of poliovirus infection.

We began to look at the poliomyelitis literature and found that another and much more comprehensive environmental theory of the disease had been put forward almost immediately after the early outbreaks, although it never gained mainstream attention. This theory proposed that what is called polio is not caused by a virus at all, but by poisoning from pesticides. In this theory, lead arsenate triggered the early clusters, and DDT kicked off the large outbreaks after World War II. (The pesticide theory has been championed in recent years by Jim West[vii] and by Janine Roberts[viii].)

That really got our attention. In our research for The Age of Autism, we investigated a paralytic illness we believe resulted from an unrecognized interaction between a toxin and a microbe. Called general paralysis of the insane, or GPI, it was a gruesome and universally fatal outcome in a percentage of people infected years earlier with the syphilis bacteria. We proposed that a manmade mercury compound -- ironically used to treat syphilis -- allowed syphilis to gain entrance to the brain. When penicillin was developed in the 1940s and actually killed syphilis infections, GPI disappeared because one of the two requirements for the illness  the microbe  was destroyed.

We suggested that a number of other illnesses may follow a similar pattern in which microbes and metals interact, including, in some instances, autism. So the idea that an environmental insult  whether a needle stick or surgery or a toxic metals exposure  could be at work in outbreaks of poliomyelitis intrigued us.

But we did not find the claim that polio was simply poisoning by pesticides alone to be persuasive. The strong versions of both the virus theory and the pesticide theory  that it was entirely one or the other  are too simple to explain the pattern of evidence. The strong viral theory cant explain the sudden emergence of poliomyelitis; the strong pesticide theory cant explain the sudden protective effect of poliovirus vaccinations. Rather, we propose that poliomyelitis outbreaks are man-made events that result from the synergy of microbe and toxin.

--

A threshold question  one that requires an answer for our argument to make sense  concerns what scientists call biological plausibility. What is the mechanism by which the virus and a toxin could cause such damage? Well look at the particular properties of lead and arsenate shortly, but our fundamental idea is that both the poliovirus and the pesticide enter the body by the same route -- they are ingested -- and both end up in the stomach. There, the toxin could damage the stomach lining in such a way that the virus gains access to peripheral nerves. This kind of virus-toxin interaction (perhaps with arsenic or lead acting alone as the toxin) took place sporadically before 1890 and increased dramatically, we propose, with the invention of more potent insecticides like lead arsenate. With the advent of DDT, the interaction became even more dangerous, dramatically increasing the number of cases.

The idea that toxins have played any role in poliomyelitis outbreaks is not widely accepted, to say the least. In his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1995 book, Polio, Peter Oshinsky dismisses it in a sentence: By 1952, the peak year of the epidemic, the search for answers had grown so desperate that a few blamed the dumping of poisons into the environment, especially the pesticide DDT, he writes.[ix]

Yet on the very next page, Oshinsky describes a farm family, frantic about the epidemic sweeping Iowa that awful summer. The parents tested the well water  it was fine  and used extra DDT to drive away flies. Still, nine of their 11 children were affected, two of them paralyzed. The family had done everything they were told to do, Oshinsky writes, everything they could. Why had it happened to them?

Why, indeed? The search for an answer begins in the 1850s in Medford, Massachusetts.

2. A Gypsy Moth Flaps Its Wings.

Etienne Leopold Trouvelot arrived in the United States from France in the late 1850s and settled into his brand new house at 27 Myrtle Street in Medford, a suburb of Boston. A self-taught scientist and later an astronomer affiliated with Harvard, his interest alighted first on insects, and he turned the land adjoining his home into a virtual boarding house for bugs.

To contain his hordes of larvae he constructed a stupendous barricade to encircle his grounds  a wooden fence eight feet high that encompassed his full five acres of shrubs and small trees, writes author Robert J. Spear. Netting was stretched from the perimeter of the fences across the trees and was supported in the middle on posts, making it possible for Trouvelot to walk upright through his specialized insectary.[x]

A decade later, he acquired a handful of gypsy moths, probably on a trip back to France  there were none in the United States. What happened next can be deduced from the title of Spears book, The Great Gypsy Moth War. Inevitably, insects escaped, not least because birds continually pecked their way into what they viewed as a very large diner.

The gypsy moths did not make their presence known outside the stupendous barricade for about a decade, but when they did, the results were apocalyptic. Lacking natural predators, they denuded trees  especially fruit trees  in what seemed like a single collective gulp. Then they crawled onward and upward. Citizens could only stare in disbelief as the dirt streets became carpeted with millions of larvae across Myrtle Street, writes Spear, turning its surface black with the bodies of fast-moving caterpillars.

Horrified residents combed gypsy moth larvae out of their hair, shoveled them off the steps, stomped them underfoot and burned huge clusters in noxious kerosene fires. But humans were simply outmatched. The Hellstrom Chronicles, the 1970s movie that suggested insects would inherit the earth, was coming alive in suburban Boston.

Even professional bug-killers were defenseless against the new arrival  Paris Green and London Purple, two state-of-theart arsenic compounds that were potent against most pests, didnt work at all. To some, it appeared that the food supply of the United States was at imminent risk. The state put together a Gypsy Moth Commission with an urgent mandate: Kill the bugs dead.

Fortunately  or so it seemed  a scientist working for the commission quickly found a solution. Adding lead to arsenic proved lethal to the larvae, and the new compound was sprayed on trees in and around Boston starting in 1893. It quickly proved its value against not just gypsy moths but all manner of agricultural pests. In fact, it worked better against codling moths, the source of the proverbial worm in the apple.

In the case of insects which do not readily yield to Paris Green, a different substance, used with great success by the Gypsy Moth Commission, with which it originated, may be applied, wrote George H. Perkins, state entomologist of Vermont in his annual report for 1893, published in early 1894. This is arsenate of lead; sodic arsenate 29.93%, lead acetate 70.07%, are mixed in water, from which arsenate of lead is soon formed.[xi]

--

Something else of note happened in 1893 in the Boston area. Two doctors used to seeing sporadic cases of paralysis in infants became concerned when the small caseload suddenly increased, to 23. There had only been six in the same September-November time span the year before.

Is Acute Poliomyelitis Unusually Prevalent This Season? asked Drs. James J. Putnam and Edward Wyllys Taylor in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal for November 23, 1893.[xii] It would not have seemed worthwhile to report these few observations had it not been that the number of cases observed at the Massachusetts General Hospital in September and October of this year is decidedly larger than usual, they wrote. (The comment shows that isolated cases of paralysis were not unusual in Boston, where the Gypsy Moth War had been raging since 1890. It was the number and timing that drew their attention.)

While the doctors noted the time of year, they did not notice that September and October were apple-harvesting season. They did ask other physicians who have seen these interesting cases, or may see them in future, to send brief records.

The future came quickly. Within seven months, Vermont  where George H. Perkins had given the formula for lead arsenate in his annual report  was hit hard. The first major polio outbreak to be recognized in the United States did not occur until 1894, writes well-known vaccine developer Samuel Katz. It came in Rutland, Vermont, for reasons I need an epidemiologist to explain to me. There had been scattered individual cases prior to that date, but this was the first recorded outbreak resulting in 18 deaths and 32 individuals with residual paralysis among a total of 132 cases.[xiii]

The outbreak was described in a classic report by Dr. C.S. Caverly, a Rutland physician and president of the Vermont Board of Health.[xiv] During the month of June, 1894, there appeared in a portion of the valley of the Otter Creek, in the State of Vermont, an epidemic of nervous disease, in which the distinctive and most common symptom was paralysis. Caverly didnt know what to make of it, but he noted that the cases tended to cluster along Otter Creek and its tributaries.

In 1896, in a follow-up report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Caverly noted something strange: During this epidemic and in the same geographical area, an acute nervous disease, paralytic in its nature, affected domestic animals. Horses, dogs and fowls died with these symptoms.

A horse died paralyzed in the hind legs, a fowl was paralyzed in its legs and wings. In the horse, the spinal cord showed atrophy of the anterior nerve root; in the fowl, an acute poliomyelitis of the lumbar portion of the cord ...[xv]

--







After the Boston and Rutland outbreaks, poliomyelitis clusters were reported in the United States almost every year. Earlier, we mentioned the 33 U.S. outbreaks recorded before 1910. Returning to that list, there appears to be an overlooked association with intensive commercial fruit and vegetable growing. After its introduction in 1893, lead arsenate was soon used on apples, apricots, asparagus, avocados, blackberries, blueberries (huckleberries), boysenberries, celery, cherries, citrus (in Florida), cranberries, currants, dewberries, eggplant, gooseberries, grapes, loganberries, mangoes, nectarines, peaches, pears, peppers, plums, quinces, raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes and youngberries.[xvi]

With that in mind, consider these pre-1910 outbreaks:

--Boston, 1893. The year lead arsenate was first used there or anywhere.

--Rutland, Vermont, 1894. The year the state entomologist gave the formula for making it.

-- Cherryfield, Maine, 1896. Commercial blueberry-producing center.

-- San Francisco and the Napa Valley, 1896. Home to vineyards and many other crops.

-- Dutchess County and Poughkeepsie, N.Y., 1899. Agriculture and especially orchards  the countys Web site features a stylized apple.

-- San Joaquin Valley, California, 1899. The nations Salad Bowl.

-- San Francisco and vicinity, 1901. A reprise of 1896.

-- Galesville, Wisconsin, 1907. Apples again. The Chamber of Commerce logo features an apple, and the annual Apple Affair is held the first Saturday in October. Orchards from the area set up stands on the square where visitors can purchase apples and apple treats served up by local growers. Apple pie, apple slices, caramel apples, Apple Normandy, Queen's Apple, apple cider, apple juice -- if it's apple, you'll find it here.

-- Oceana County, Michigan, 1907. Self-proclaimed Asparagus Capital of the World, the largest asparagus producer in Michigan and one of the largest in the nation. Home to the National Asparagus Festival held the second week of June. (One of us, born in Chicago in June 1952, spent summers in Pentwater, in Oceana County. His parents wanted to get their children away from the risk of polio in the big city.)

These links, we suggest, are far from random, pointing instead to locations where circulating poliovirus strains might combine with the growing use of the new lead arsenate insecticide to disastrous effect. Other locations point more generally to agriculture  Central Illinois in 1905, the states of Iowa and Wisconsin in 1908, rural locations in Pennsylvania in 1907 and 1908  or to population centers where produce would be shipped  particularly New York City in 1907, a veritable fresh fruit and vegetable market to this day.

--

So the convergence of time and place in the early natural history of poliomyelitis outbreaks raises intriguing questions. But what can we say about the toxin itself and its relation to features of poliomyelitis? We can say:

Lead and arsenic can kill and paralyze humans.

Whether ingested or inhaled, several metals have long been recognized as hazards in the workplace and for miners; in Roman times, work in mercury mines was so lethal that only slaves and prisoners were sent into them. More recently, lead was removed from gasoline and paint because both inhalation and ingestion can stunt the mental development of children; arsenic has been banned from medicine and agricultural use in the United States; small amounts in apple juice, made from apples grown in China, triggered a national controversy this month.

That arsenic can produce paralysis was already known in the 14th century, begins the monograph On Arsenical Paralysis, written in 1893 by S.E. Henschen in Sweden. Since then many similar cases have been observed; and at present there are more than 150 cases of arsenical paralysis mentioned in the literature.[xvii]

The cases, he said, were comparatively few, and most recovered. He described the case of Maja Lisa Blomster, age 49, who in 1883 took a white tasteless powder on the advice of a traveler who said it would help her epilepsy. After that the patient experienced a prickly sensation or slight pains in the inside of the hands and soles of the feet, and when she walked she thought she felt something like needles between her feet and the floor.

The following morning she noticed on waking that the feet refused to do service. She tried in vain to bend and stretch out the foot joints and on trying to stand and walk the feet turned on the sides.

Lead is even more toxic to humans. The ancients were unquestionably aware of the dangerous character of lead and knew that it was poisonous when taken internally, wrote H.A. Waldron in Lead Poisoning in the Ancient World.[xviii] The most toxic sources appeared to be lead drinking goblets. And yet  shades of mistakes and misjudgments to come  the Romans and Greeks continued to expose themselves to the effects of a metal they knew to be harmful through their food and drink.

In the seventh century, Paul of Aegina gave the first account of an epidemic of lead colic he described as having taken its rise in the country of Italy, but raging also in many other regions of the Roman empire, like a pestilential contagion, which in many cases terminates in epilepsy, but in others in paralysis of the extremities.  of the paralytics the most recovered, as their complaint proved a critical metastasis of the cause of the disorder.

In Lead and Lead Poisoning in Antiquity, Jerome R. Nriagu of Environment Canada writes literary classics sparkle with passages on lead poisoning, reflecting, no doubt, the attempts by men of letters to deal with problems of their time.[xix] In The Uncommercial Traveler, Charles Dickens describes a woman who worked in the lead mills because she had no alternative but desperate poverty. What could she do? Better be ulcerated and paralyzed for eighteen pence a day, while it lasted, than see the children starve.

In the Book of Minerals, Albertus Magnus wrote in 1262 that care must also be taken lest it [lead] cause paralysis of the lower limbs, and unconsciousness. This, then, is the nature of lead in its constitution and effects.

And these, then, were the compounds chemists were mixing beginning in 1893 in Boston. Is it any wonder that Dr. Putnam raised the question the same year whether infantile paralysis was unusually common this season?

In fact, just two years before, a speech Putnam gave to the Massachusetts Medical Society was described in a British Medical Journal article titled, The Injuriousness of Arsenic as a Domestic Poison.[xx] Putnam points out that paralysis is only the final and gross symptom of a neuritis which may have been going on for a long time. Arsenic was hard to avoid, he added, because it was still widely used in medicine (a book about the ubiquity of arsenic during the era is titled The Arsenic Century).

Lead arsenate can paralyze and kill animals that ingest it. In January 1920, Veterinary Times published an article by J.W. Kalkus, head of Veterinary Science at the State College of Washington Agricultural Experiment Station, titled Orchard Horse Disease. This revealing piece begins: The writer recently had an opportunity of making an investigation of a disease which has been causing considerable loss among horses in certain sections of Washington.[xxi]

It went by several names, Kalkus reported, among them orchard horse disease; orchard poisoning; alfalfad horses; arsenate of lead poisoning; mold poisoning.

Regardless of the name, the circumstances were the same: The condition occurs in enzootic form in the irrigated apple orchard districts.  The disease was little known prior to the last three years.  It is now claimed by many that it is practically impossible to keep a horse for any great length of time on an irrigated orchard tract, where orchard-grown hay is fed, without the animal attracting the disease.  Present knowledge indicates this disease is confined to the irrigated apple orchard districts where fruit is grown on a commercial basis, and where it is common practice to use arsenate of lead in spraying fruit trees.

Alfalfa was grown as a cover crop between orchard trees. Lead arsenate spray was often applied so thickly that it dropped onto the alfalfa, giving it a gray color. While some veterinarians did not believe lead arsenate caused the problems  because it did not exactly mimic what was known of lead and arsenic poisoning  Kalkus seemed in little doubt. One reason is that such problems had already been reported.

Experiments with lead arsenate conducted on pigs, calves, and sheep produced symptoms similar to horse orchard disease, Kalkus wrote. Another researcher fed different amounts of lead arsenate to five cows, all of which died following symptoms of violent purgation, in some cases followed by paralysis.

The horses Kalkus describes all became ill with fever, apparent abdominal pain and a cough. Some started to recover, but were then affected by paralysis of the vocal cords. Kalter quotes a veterinarian who was convinced lead arsenate was the cause: As lead and arsenic are contained in the spray material it is highly possible that an idiosyncrasy exists, some individuals being susceptible to lead and acquiring the chronic form and others showing an acute form due to arsenic.

In early polio epidemics, both animals and people suffered from paralysis. In May 1912, The Medical Times published an article by Jacolyn Van Vliet Manning titled, The Correlation of Epidemic Paralysis in Animal and Man.[xxii]

A close relationship between paralytic cases in man and animal during epidemics of poliomyelitis has been observed in nine Western states of the United States as well as in England and Sweden, he wrote, affecting dogs, cats, sheep, hogs and fowl. One case: On May 27, 1911, a boy contracted poliomyelitis. One week before the boys illness a horse belonging to this lads father had an attack of what is locally known as poke-neck; it is said to have been paralyzed in the neck and forequarters; it fell down in the stable and was unable to rise.

In Minnesota in 1909, during an epidemic of 1,000 cases in humans, a state epidemiologist reported that a disease strongly analogous in clinical history and symptoms to the disease in the human had simultaneously afflicted three colts. Wrote Dr. C.S. Shore: In my veterinary practice of the past five or six years I have found a disease appearing among one or two year old colts that shows a line of symptoms corresponding closely to anterior poliomyelitis in children. I have had from five to six cases a year during this time, always occurring during the Summer months, and the majority of them during the month of August.[xxiii]

In fact, as Manning notes, C.S. Caverly made the same observation about the first U.S. epidemic in Vermont in 1894. Something was causing polio-like symptoms in both humans and animals at the same time, in the same place.

The poliovirus may have been a key co-factor in the human cases of poliomyelitis, but the local presence of lead arsenate is also demonstrated by the paralytic cases of animals. These could not have been caused by the virus, which only produces illness in primates. The simultaneous illness of humans and animals is thus a crucial but overlooked clue to causation.

There were concerns lead arsenate caused polio outbreaks. Astonishingly, lead arsenate was proposed as a cause of polio outbreaks early on. In Massachusetts, where the compound was first used, the State Forester reported in 1912, under a section headed Infantile Paralysis: In view of the fact that a feeling has been entertained by some people in the State that infantile paralysis has been caused in some instances by arsenate of lead used in spraying for the gypsy and brown-tail moths, the State Forester has caused a rigid investigation to be made in order to determine if there is any foundation upon which to base such fears.[xxiv]

On the other side of the globe, a New Zealand newspaper reported in 1914: The oft-expressed opinion that the arsenate of lead spray on fruit is the cause of the prevalence of infantile paralysis will be discussed at the next meeting of the Upper Clutha Fruit-growers Association at Bannockburn. The association is taking steps to obtain the result of Government experiments regarding this matter.[xxv] (We have not found a follow-up report.)

Toxins as a possible factor in outbreaks of paralysis were dismissed by biased investigators. Given these connections and concerns, what happened? Or rather, what didnt happen? Why did such strong clues about the nature of a disease that followed the planting season like clockwork year after year fail to crystallize in the minds of researchers?

The simple answer is that right from the start, the wrong people were in charge of connecting the dots. Regarding the fears of Massachusetts residents, the State Forester  whose job is to look after trees, not people  wrote that as a result of his research he is firmly convinced that the use of arsenate of lead has in no way been responsible for the existence of the disease [infantile paralysis], and apprehends no danger in the future from its use. Any anxiety concerning the danger from the use of arsenate of lead is entirely unwarranted.[xxvi]

As for animals, in 1897 A.H. Kirkland, a researcher for the Gypsy Moth Commission in Massachusetts, home to lead arsenate, conducted an experiment with a single horse fed the pesticide. The animal not only remained well and hearty but in better condition [italics in original] than before.[xxvii] That contradicted not only the Washington state report that described horse orchard disease, but several other veterinary studies.

A 1917 article in the journal Economic Entomology  by and for specialists who make their living controlling pests that threaten profits  also examined the risk to livestock and, by extension, people. So far as our experiments with guinea pigs may be relied on, the results indicated that five or even ten times the average maximum per apple found in our analyses could not be expected to constitute a dangerous single dose for a human being.[xxviii]

In the 1962 classic Silent Spring, Rachel Carson addressed this kind of convenient blindness and bias when she wrote about the inability of parties with an economic interest to acknowledge the damage pesticides caused to wildlife.

"The credibility of the witness is of first importance, she wrote. Compared to a wildlife biologist, the entomologist, whose specialty is insects, is not so qualified by training, and is not psychologically disposed to look for undesirable side effects of his control program.

Yet it is the control men in state and federal governments  and of course the chemical manufacturers  who steadfastly deny the facts reported by the biologists and declare they see little evidence of harm to wildlife. Like the priest and the Levite in the biblical story, they choose to pass by on the other side and to see nothing. Even if we charitably explain their denials as due to the shortsightedness of the specialist and the man with an interest this does not mean we must accept them as qualified witnesses."[xxix]

And so poliomyelitis spread unchecked through the first two decades of the 20th century before snaring, in 1921, its most famous victim.

3. Making Sense of Campobello.

Despite its name, the town of Cherryfield, Maine, calls itself the Blueberry Capital of the World, and there is no disputing the claim. Ninety-five percent of the worlds commercial blueberries are grown in surrounding Washington County, and Cherryfield is a major processing and shipping center. Machias, the county seat, hosts the annual Blueberry Festival every August. The festival puts on a musical, this year titled Blueberry Fields Forever, and a pie-eating contest  blueberry, of course.

The area has a couple of other claims to fame. Washington County hugs the Atlantic Coast where the United States meets Canada, the easternmost point in the United States; the city of Eastport is the first to see the sunrise. The region is known as Down East







[A Map of Washington County Maine, also known as Sunrise County, with Cherryfield and Campobello circled. Click photo to enlarge.]

Two miles offshore is the island of Campobello, part of New Brunswick, Canada, where Franklin D. Roosevelt and his family spent summers. It was on his beloved island in August, 1921  ninety years ago  that Roosevelt was afflicted with a paralytic illness diagnosed as poliomyelitis.

But this remote and lightly populated area already had a significant history with polio  one of the first clusters in the United States occurred in Cherryfield a quarter-century earlier, in 1896 (we cited it in our list of pre-1910 outbreaks with links to fruits and vegetables). Seven children were affected, and one died. In all the discussion and theorizing about Roosevelts illness over the intervening decades, this convergence has been overlooked.

--

Roosevelt arrived at Campobello on Sunday afternoon, August 7, on the yacht of a friend who sailed him up from New York City. The previous week, Roosevelt had visited a Boy Scout camporee on Bear Mountain, N.Y., not far from the familys Hudson River home in Hyde Park.[xxx]

At the dock, his family was waiting. His children played on the yacht through the adults cocktail hour, then were taken home while Franklin and Eleanor stayed for an elegant dinner on the fantailed aft deck, served by uniformed stewards.

Three days later, on Wednesday, August 10, Roosevelt went to bed early in the cranberry-red cottage on Campobello Island, unusually tired and suspecting a slight case of lumbago (lower back pain). He had chills during the night, and in the morning one of his legs was weak; the paralysis had begun. By the next night, both legs were paralyzed.

Because of the defining role it played in his life and, inevitably, world history, the days leading up to the attack have been dissected in detail by Roosevelts multiple biographers. Most historians believe he contracted the poliovirus on his visit to the Boy Scouts, which would have multiplied the chances of exposure to a youth with an active infection. Alternatively, he could have come down with the virus sometime between the Bear Mountain trip and his departure for Campobello.

After his arrival at Campobello, much has been made of a fall overboard while sailing in the Bay of Fundy; of his typically energetic activities on the day he first felt ill, which included putting out a small forest fire on a nearby island and going for a dip with his children in a freshwater pond near his house. The paralyzingly cold water of the Bay of Fundy became an ominous metaphor for what was about to happen, but was never a serious biological argument.

Since most victims were infants or children, the fact that Roosevelt was 39 at the time has also gotten attention. In 2003, a study in The Journal of Medical Biography proposed Roosevelt actually had GuillainBarre syndrome, not poliomyelitis.[xxxi] While interesting, the evidence for such a diagnosis is not strong. Arguing against it is a comment by Elliott Roosevelt, FDRs young son who was present when his father took ill. He and other children went on a previously planned camping trip  now without their stricken father -- because Eleanor wanted to keep them away from the risk of infection.

On that trip, Elliott wrote, each of us children had some of the same symptoms as Father but in much milder form. We had runny noses, slight temperatures, and, a telltale sign, an odd feeling of stiffness in the neck. These comparatively mild aches and pains got overlooked in the developing crisis which gripped us all.[xxxii]

Poliomyelitis remains the likeliest diagnosis: the timeline fits with an exposure at the Boy Scout camp. Estimates of the incubation period  typically a week or two, though that can vary considerably in either direction match the Roosevelt scenario, no longer than 13 days.

And Roosevelts presence in the worlds commercial blueberry capital at harvest time when his illness struck seems remarkable in light of the lead arsenate theory, which already had been proposed more than once in the decade before his illness. (Next years Blueberry Festival begins August 14.) Eleanor herself did the familys grocery marketing in Eastport, and Roosevelts love of blueberries and other fresh fruit is well documented. His chef in the White House, Henrietta Nesbitt, wrote that he was fond of blueberry and other pies.[xxxiii] In the cafeteria at FDRs presidential library in Hyde Park, the Henrietta Nesbitt Cafe, the most prominent picture is of the broadly grinning president being served a big piece of pie.

Before a trip to South America, Nesbitt wrote, I made up a list of his favorite dishes for the ships mess, and it was practically a copy of the list Mrs. Roosevelt had made out and had ready for me on my first day at the White House. That list began with Roast beef pink juice running and includes frozen strawberries, raspberries, and cherries for dessert. Eleanor Roosevelts recipe for Blueberry Pudding has survived.[xxxiv]

None of this shows FDR eating a mound of fresh blueberries treated with lead arsenate in August 1921, but it seems more probable than not.

--

Roosevelt famously survived polio, turning his personal tragedy into Sunrise at Campobello and leading America through the Great Depression and World War II, though his health flagged in later years as a result of his battle with polio. Some historians believe he was not up to the task of confronting Stalin at the Yalta conference that shaped the post-War world and led to the descent of the Iron Curtain and the Cold War. Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Ga., in 1945, the retreat where he had worked valiantly to overcome paralysis and help others do the same.

In death he became a symbol for the suffering of thousands of polio victims and galvanized the search for a vaccine. Sadly, despite the March of Dimes campaign he helped launch to find the cause and cure, polio outbreaks were about to get worse. Much worse.

4. Post-War Epidemics and the Triumph of Vaccination.

Life magazine for August 15, 1949, reflected the booming exuberance of the times. The cover, How to Dress for Hollywood, featured a buxom starlet in suitably sultry attire. There were ads for DeSotos and Nashes and Chevys to mobilize families and their growing broods of children; cigarettes like Pall Mall, whose greater length of traditionally fine, mellow tobaccos serves as a longer, natural filter to screen and cool the smoke on the way to your throat; toothpastes to brush away smokers breath and shine stained teeth, and articles on everything from a new sailboat called the Sunfish to a town in Louisiana that cut its taxes in half by installing slot machines.[xxxv]

But twin specters of death and destruction hung over this bright baby-boomer world  the anxiety over atomic annihilation if the Cold War turned hot, and every parents most proximate fear for their children, polio.

There were two articles on polio in this August issue. One was titled Summer season brings epidemics of this uncontrollable disease and noted that throughout the nation last week the threat of polio was growing. Starting with some spotty outbreaks during May and June the disease had reached near-epidemic proportions during the sultry drought-ridden month of July. By Aug. 1, 8,300 cases had been reported, a 43% increase over last year. Polio seemed more uncontrollable than ever.

The peak was still ahead  1952 would bring 58,000 cases -- but the path to prevention had already accelerated faster than any of the cars on display in Lifes pages in 1949. The year before, John Enders research group in Boston had cultivated the poliovirus in human tissue, a Nobel-winning breakthrough that cleared a path for Jonas Salks vaccine, which followed in 1955. Successful field trials among several hundred thousand children known as Polio Pioneers were announced on April 12, 1955  the tenth anniversary of FDRs death. Church bells rang out across the nation.

The jubilation was justified in terms of the vaccines effect on the poliovirus  by 1961, only 161 cases of poliomyeltis were confirmed in the United States, just 29 more than the first epidemic year of 1894. But with the outbreaks ending, basic research withered. As Life noted, how polio is spread, how the virus enters the body, they do not know.

--







In 1949, the same year as the Life article, Drs. Morton S. Biskind and Irving Bieber published DDT Poisoning  A New Symptom With Neuropsychiatric Manifestations in the American Journal of Psychotherapy. By far the most disturbing of all the manifestations are the subjective reactions and the extreme muscular weakness, they reported.[xxxvi]

In subsequent papers and testimony, Biskind linked DDT directly to cases of poliomyelitis  including a Dec. 12, 1950, statement to the Select Committee to Investigate the Use of Chemicals in Food Products, United States House of Representatives.[xxxvii] He quoted another doctor that wherever DDT had been used intensively against polio, not only was there an epidemic of the syndrome I have described but the incidence of polio continued to rise and in fact appeared where it had not been before.

This is not surprising since it is known that not only can DDT poisoning produce a condition that may easily be mistaken for polio in an epidemic but also being a nerve poison itself, may damage cells in the spinal cord and thus increase the susceptibility to the virus.

Facts are stubborn, Biskind concluded, and refusal to accept them does not avoid their inexorable effects -- the tragic consequences are now upon us.

The theory was also advanced by Ralph R. Scobey, who in 1952 gave a statement to the same House committee. Titled The Poison Cause of Poliomyelitis and Obstructions To Its Investigation,[xxxviii] it described associations between harvest seasons, fresh fruit consumption, and polio epidemics.

The next year, Biskind made the link even more explicit: In the United States the incidence of polio had been increasing prior to 1945 at a fairly constant rate, but its epidemiologic characteristics remained unchanged. Beginning in 1946 the rate of increase more than doubled. Yet far from looking into a toxic etiology, he said, virtually the entire apparatus of communication, lay and scientific alike, has been devoted to denying, concealing, suppressing, distorting and attempts to convert into its opposite, the overwhelming evidence. Libel, slander and economic boycott have not been overlooked in this campaign.[xxxix]

But the idea that the active compounds in pesticides could cause paralysis was hardly farfetched. Pesticides are designed to cause mayhem with the nervous systems of their targets.

Lead arsenate was an inorganic pesticide, DDT an organochlorine compound. Both cause neurons to fire randomly, interfering with the ability of the brain to communicate with the rest of the body and leading to paralysis, spasms and death. DDTs unintended impact on other living things was recognized after Silent Spring, though the focus then was on wildlife, not humans. That was enough to get both DDT and lead arsenate banned in the United States.

Because DDT required a co-factor  the poliovirus  to trigger outbreaks of poliomyelitis, the effect on humans was missed. Adding to the complexity may be the fact, observed in horse orchard disease, that living things react with different levels of sensitivity to toxins.

So DDT, we believe, succeeded lead arsenate not just as the insecticide of choice, but as an even more potent environmental co-factor in polio outbreaks. Understanding the role these toxins played was a significant insight and deserved serious attention, just as the early concerns about lead arsenate might have ended The Age of Polio almost as soon as it began.

The DDT theory, like the lead arsenate observation, failed because it wrongly dismissed the equally important role of the virus itself. It could not account for the prompt collapse of polio in the U.S. after the vaccine was developed. The vaccine clearly eliminated outbreaks in the United States. Subsequent attempts to show that domestic DDT use waned about the same time, or that polio was reclassified as other illnesses in an elaborate scam to hide the vaccines ineffectiveness, dont really stand up against the evidence.

The pesticide theory was an important one, and Biskind pointed to the synergy of toxin and virus when he suggested DDT might damage cells in the spinal cord and increase the susceptibility to the virus  though that is not the mechanism we believe was at work. But the virus hunters were not about to be distracted as they closed in on a vaccine that could stop the epidemics in their tracks. This meant, as we shall see, that in areas where the vaccination effort was less successful, co-factors could continue to trigger outbreaks.

Before addressing that, however, there are two more obvious tests to which we need to put our theory. Infantile paralysis occurred before lead arsenate was invented in 1893. How do we explain that? And what about polio outbreaks that have continued in the absence of either lead arsenate or DDT pesticides? Do they fit our new narrative?

5. Before.

Our research on the natural history of autism convinced us that while there may have been a few scattered cases throughout history, the disorder first occurred in appreciable numbers  as clusters and ultimately as an epidemic -- only after 1930. Observations at that time about the rarity and novelty of the disorder are far more persuasive than retrospective efforts to claim significant numbers of cases before then.

The same holds true for poliovirus. Nowhere is that clearer than in the 1917 book Poliomyelitis In All Its Aspects,[xl] by John Ruhrah and Erwin E. Mayer. It seems to be a disease of comparatively recent origin, they wrote. In the history of most diseases there is a gradual shading off into the older writers until the disease is lost in confusion of inaccurate descriptions. Not so with polio.

They continued: The disease is so striking in its symptomatology, so devastating in its results, and produces such a deep impression on the popular mind that it does not seem possible that any very considerable epidemics could have happened in the countries in which there were physicians making records of what occurred.

The same point is driven home by John R. Paul in his standard 1971 text on the disease, A History of Poliomyelitis[xli]. There was no idea in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries that poliomyelitis was contagious, wrote Paul, a professor of preventive medicine and epidemiology at Yale who conducted important polio research himself. A half a dozen cases within a half-mile of each other might have escaped notice, but had there been larger outbreaks in the early or mid-19th century it seems highly unlikely that they would have gone unnoticed.

But just as arsenic and lead caused instances of paralysis before the invention of lead arsenate, there was also an emerging medical literature of poliomyelitis before recurring outbreaks began in 1893. Beginning just before 1800, theres a history of doctors who took a reasonable cut at identifying the disease. These include, in 1789, Michael Underwood, who used the term debility of the lower extremities[xlii]; and in 1840, Jacob Heine, who is sometimes credited as the first to diagnose poliomyelitis.

Several doctors later used the word paralysis in describing a similar condition in infants: West in 1843; Rillet in 1851; Duchesne in 1864. By 1860, Heine had pinpointed the spinal cord as the source of the paralysis, and in 1872, the great French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot called it tephromyelitis anterior acuta parenchymatose. This was a pretty modern description, but his precise nomenclature didnt quite catch hold. In 1874, German doctor Adolph Kussmaul coined the term poliomyelitis anterior acuta, later shortened to poliomyelitis.

Going further back, plausible descriptions grow sparse but include the crippled Egyptian priest in a stele dated from 1580-1350 B.C. In 460 B.C., Hippocrates wrote about clubfoot, which may have included some cases of infantile paralysis. And in 200, Galen also discussed clubfoot.

But those were vanishingly rare, and when Underwood described debility of the lower extremities in 1789, he clearly thought he was reporting a new phenomenon, just as Ruhrah and Paul asserted with the benefit of much greater epidemiological sophistication. This disorder either is not noticed by any medical writer within the compass of my reading, or is not so described as to ascertain the disease here intended, Underwood wrote. It is not a common disorder anywhere, I believe.

--







Outbreaks of more than one case, then, were a distinctly 19th-century phenomenon, and until the 1890s worldwide episodes can be counted on two hands[xliii]:

-- In 1835, John Badhams description of 4 cases in Worksop, England.

-- In 1830-36, Charles Bells discussion of multiple cases in St. Helena.

-- In 1841, George Colmers discussion of 8-10 cases in Feliciana, Louisiana.

-- In 1868, Bulls discussion of 14 cases in Odalen, Norway (cited by Leegard, 1914).

-- In 1881, Bergenholtzs description of 13 cases in Umea, Sweden.

--In 1883, a report of 5 cases in Arenzano, Italy (cited by Hull, 1917).

--In 1885, another report of 13 cases in Sainte-Foy LArgentiere, France (cited by Hull, 1917).

--In 1886, 9 cases in Mondel, Norway (cited by Hull, 1917).

-- In 1887, Oskar Medins discussion of 44 cases in and around Stockholm. This description uses the term poliomyelitis anterior acuta, argues that it is likely to be infectious and gives a pretty clear description of the modern disorder. His piece is considered a classic and polio used to be called Heine-Medin disease in honor of his very contemporary description.

Obviously, all these cases were described before the invention of lead arsenate in 1893. So there were undoubtedly other ways to make this pattern occur; a prime suspect would be arsenic in other forms, as well as other toxic metals, since they are well known to cause paralysis in workers and others exposed to them. Interestingly, both Badham and Colmer mention teething, and the latter said it was a likely cause. In fact, teething paralysis was sometimes used as a term for infantile paralysis.[xliv]

Teething powders containing calomel  mercurous chloride  were used beginning around then, and mercury is well-known to cause paralysis. Mercury in medicine was so widespread that it doubtless caused numerous disorders identified as something else, especially by the doctors who prescribed it. (Badham even prescribed calomel in repeated doses for his paralyzed patients.)

Teething powders also caused pink disease, a feature of which was sometimes paralysis. In Pink Disease, Charles Rocaz reports that Karl Petren of Lund (Sweden) has suggested that pink disease is due to chronic arsenical intoxication.  Nervous manifestations occur in the form of paresis [paralysis] of the lower limbs with pain, tingling and burning of the hands and feet.[xlv]

So a number of outbreaks might be explained by exposures to metals, including earlier pesticides and other products and medicines containing arsenic. The arsenic-containing Paris Green was originally a pigment and was used in wallpaper as early as 1814.

As for the larger Scandinavian clusters in the later 1880s, northern climes  think Campobello Island, Canada  are hospitable to berries. Also, apples are grown there and are part of the traditional cuisine. Keeping worms (actually codling moths, not gypsy moths) out of apples was something people were obviously concerned about for a long time before the war on gypsy moths provided the tools to fight codling moths.

But none of these reached the scale, or occurred with the frequency, of poliomyelitis outbreaks after 1893 and the invention of lead arsenate. This leads to the second test of our theory  once lead arsenate and DDT disappeared from the scene, why did poliomyelitis outbreaks continue, albeit in diminished fashion?

6. After -- The Persistence of Polio.

To summarize our theory: Polio is a virus, contagious like all viruses, and generally a harmless enterovirus. When it is introduced into the human body, it has the capacity to enter the nervous system when nerves are damaged. Damage can occur many ways: mechanically through needle puncture or surgery, or, we propose, biochemically via pesticidal or other toxic exposure. Once the virus enters the nervous system, it becomes dangerous in a way nature never allowed before. It spreads through the nervous system via "retrograde axonal transport." The resulting damage can lead to paralysis or death.

Two regions of the world continue to experience polio outbreaks, despite hopes the virus would be eradicated by 2000. This persistence has surprised and confused the experts.

The eradication campaign has been stalled from about 2002 to 2007  Why is it so difficult to complete the global eradication of wild poliovirus? asked Neal Nathanson of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in a 2008 medical review, The Pathogenesis of Poliomyelitis: What We Dont Know.[xlvi] (What we dont know turns out to be a lot  the paper runs to 50 pages.)

Currently, there are two epicenters that have resisted virus elimination, one in South Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, northern India) and one in West Africa (centered in Nigeria). What explains the persistence of wild polioviruses in these two foci?

Nathanson cites three possibilities: those are warm climates, so poliovirus doesnt go dormant in the winter as it theoretically did in other countries; the prevalence of other enteroviruses means that the live-virus polio vaccine is not as effective because the other viruses interfere with it; and poor public health infrastructure couple with fears about vaccination made the achievement of herd immunity harder than expected.

If one considers the toxin idea, however, another explanation jumps out, especially in South Asia. Erase national borders for a moment. While outbreaks are small and have waxed and waned over the past decade, the primary sites have been directly south of the Himalayan range in a smiley-face arc that runs west from Nepal and Bangladesh, through the Northern India districts of West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, into Pakistan and Afghanistan.







This also happens to be the area with the worst mass poisoning from arsenic in human history. This is not ancient history  it didnt even begin until the 1980s. It is a story of the single-minded war against microbes gone badly wrong. What happened is beautifully outlined in an American Scientist article, No one checked: Natural Arsenic in Wells.[xlvii]

The wells that now supply the people's drinking water are sealed from bacterial contamination; their tight concrete tubes reach down 60 feet or more, past surface contamination, write Phillip and Phylis Morrison. The big investment in concrete wells, originally made by UNICEF and the World Bank, has beaten back diarrheal diseases, making a real contribution to the vigor and quality of life of the people here.

But what no one checked was the possibility of another kind of contamination: the wells tapped into the deeper water table and pulled up arsenic that had been swept down the Himalayan watershed by the Ganges and Indus Rivers, both of which drain both slopes of the mighty range.

And that proved to be a catastrophic failure. A new calamity as astonishing as it is threatening confronts the country people of the Bengal Basin, the Morrisons write  a calamity that has continued to spread through India and westward. The drinking water, though sealed from infection, can hold a chronic dose of invisible, tasteless, odor-free dissolved arsenic.  That trace presence is a public poison.

In Bangladesh alone, the World Health Organization calls arsenic contamination of drinking water the largest mass poisoning of a population in history (an eerie echo of Biskind calling DDT use the most intensive campaign of mass poisoning in human history). In focusing solely on microbes, in failing understand the ecology they were tapping into, public health experts failed in their due diligence  no one checked, and so they simply missed the risk from the toxin. In a deep and disturbing irony, we believe that this arsenic exposure  born of a sincere but disastrously conceived effort to protect people from dangerous microbes -- has also led to the persistence of poliomyelitis.

--

On May 12, 2010, Bill Gates boarded a boat in the city of Patna, on the Ganges River in the Indian province of Bihar, and traveled 140 miles east to the small village of Guleria. He was there to personally take the Gates Foundations fight against polio into the heart of the beast. Bihar is one of only two Indian States where new cases of polio continue to be reported, according to UNICEF. Uttar Pradesh is the other.[xlviii]

This is also arsenic country. The districts on both sides of the Ganges, including Patna and Khagara, are among the 16 worst arsenic-affected districts in Bihar.[xlix] In neighboring Uttar Pradesh, as many as 20 districts have alarmingly high arsenic content in the groundwater and the state government is at its wits end.[l]

The consequences include lesions on the hands and feet, intestinal problems, and cancer that can kill. In India, the spread of arsenic contamination in groundwater seems to be assuming gargantuan proportions, reported Current Science in 2005. What is worse is that inhabitants of the affected areas are unaware and the local authorities totally oblivious to this grave problem. It was known that West Bengal (WB) and Bangladesh had high levels of arsenic in the groundwater, but slowly the problem is spreading to other states like Uttar Pradesh. This is confirmed by the reports of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi that people living in the Ballia district of UP also have high levels of arsenic in their blood, hair, nails, etc.[li]

This convergence has totally escaped the polio fighters, just as the arsenic risk from deeper wells escaped the planners (ironically, those planners include the same World Health Organization now combating poliomyelitis there). Most parts of India are polio free. Of the 35 states and Union Territories, 33 have stopped indigenous polio virus transmission. Only Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar remain endemic for polio virus because of the uniquely challenging conditions like poor environmental sanitation, high population density, high birth rate which make them the most challenging places on earth to eradicate polio.[lii]

But do those factors really make the two areas unique in all India? And why does the polio arc sweep across the same arsenic-poisoned swath of neighboring countries?

--

At the proverbial 30,000-foot level  Himalayan height, as it happens -- the theory makes sense. But it also holds up on the ground. District by district, city by city, the dots connect.

-- In West Bengal, Howrah District was singled out for high arsenic contamination[liii]  and polio. A case of poliovirus reported there in April has shocked the World Health Organization, UNICELF, Rotary International and the government itself.[liv]

-- In Pakistan, Another polio case in Muzaffargarh[lv] coincides with the fact that arsenic was recently found in Pakistan, in and around Muzaffargarh on the south-western edge of the Punjab.[lvi]

-- In Afghanistan, half a million people are potentially at risk from arsenic poisoning, and the country is one of four where poliovirus remains endemic.

Why, given the arsenic disaster in Bangladesh, are there no recent polio cases there? It appears the virus has been wiped out. Concerted efforts to eradicate polio in Bangladesh, resulted in the country being declared polio free in August 2000. [lvii]

Arsenic abatement also has been attacked most aggressively in Bangladesh, where the problem first surfaced. In Bangladesh and West Bengal, at present less people are drinking arsenic contaminated water due to growing awareness and access to arsenic safe water. But no doubt the problem would not have attained such gravity, if it were not ignored for quite a long time. Unfortunately today similar mistakes are being repeated in Bihar, UP, Jharkhand, and Assam where still the villagers are drinking contaminated water. Non recognition of truth continues.[lviii]

Indeed it does. Polio outbreaks, we believe, are persisting today for the same reason they arose. South Asia is simply a place where toxic interactions are triggering outbreaks that highlight the presence of the virus, like Luminol bringing out hidden blood splatters at a crime scene.

That would seem to spell trouble for programs guided by the belief that going after polio outbreaks will eradicate the virus  despite the vast resources currently being thrown at the effort.

On January 31, Bill Gates spoke at the Roosevelt House in Manhattan  Bill Gates Channels Franklin Roosevelt, as one news service put it -- where FDR recuperated after being stricken at Campobello. Gates said his foundation is making polio eradication its top priority because it is the thing we can do to most improve the human condition. He set a goal of 2013 but said, Eradication is not guaranteed. It requires campaigns to give polio vaccine to all children under 5 in poor countries, at a cost of almost $1 billion per year. [lix]

Polio eradication itself is a controversial priority. Bill Gates own vanity  a heroic effort to make as big an impact on the technological destruction of disease as he did on the technology of computer software  has driven his poliovirus campaign, but many public health advocates grumble that its a low priority. Millions die every year from preventable diseases ranging from pneumonia to diarrhea.

As Bill Gates presses forward in a costly mission to eliminate the disease, some eradication experts and bioethicists ask if its right to keep trying, reported The New York Times in February 2011. As new outbreaks create new setbacks each year, he has given ever more money, not only for research but for the grinding work on the ground.

We ought to admit that the best we can achieve is control, argued Arthur L. Caplan, director of the University of Pennsylvania bioethics center, who had polio as a child. Gates calls his critics cynics who are accepting 100,000 to 200,000 crippled or dead children a year if polio resurges.

We believe a more cost-effective way to reduce and contain poliomyelitis outbreaks  as well as improve total health outcomes -- would be an all-out effort to reduce arsenic contamination and make sure people in South Asia have safe drinking water.

7. Where was God? -- Lessons learned and lost.

What, then, is the natural history of polio telling us? Beyond the lessons for containing polio outbreaks themselves, we suggest that a single-minded focus on germs  and an unwillingness to explore novel and potentially uncomfortable ideas from outside medical orthodoxy  is an inadequate strategy when it comes to modern diseases.

Its hard to overstate the impact the polio experience has had on our modern medical culture, starting with the doctors who watched helplessly as its victims fell. J.R. Paul, in his definitive A History of Poliomyelitis, wrote how the flowering of scientific medicine brought a new point of view, an era of sudden and incredible hope that something might be done after all.

For a generation of medical professionals born in the heart of this period, the heroic conquest of poliomyelitis was among the most influential narratives that shaped their beliefs about medicine. These beliefs go far beyond science, as Paul suggests. As the crusade heightened, the world looked on expectantly.  Much as our grandparents had contributed during the nineteenth century to missionary societies, our dimes and dollars went to another religious cause, signalized by efforts to stamp out this pestilence and to alleviate the suffering and tragedy it inflicted.

Paul leaves no doubt as to the hero of this new religious crusade. [I]n due time, the disease was abruptly scotched by means of vaccination. It was to all intents and purposes finished. The crusade has been described as one of the greatest technical and humanistic triumphs of the age. It was one of those rare achievements which the world greeted as an example of what could be done when science and technology were directed to good use for mankind.[lx]

--

But the victory over the epidemics of poliomyelitis means our understanding of polio is essentially frozen in amber, circa 1955. Few diseases have been so completely conquered, at least at home, while being so incompletely understood, and that is not a good outcome. In leaving so many important topics on the table  why outbreaks occurred, why the pattern of contagion was so atypical for an infectious disease  scientists allowed some weak ideas to become conventional wisdom and some important ones to be missed.

The prevailing current explanation for the rise of poliomyelitis outbreaks is the hygiene hypothesis, which posits that such simple steps as clean underwear, better sanitation and good housekeeping, along with less exposure to germs like polio in early infancy, meant the effects of disease became much worse when children were finally exposed. This is not a satisfactory explanation, and it never has been  the epicenter of the 1916 epidemic was placed in possibly the filthiest place in Brooklyn, an Italian immigrant community evocatively called Pigtown. And hygiene certainly doesnt work very well to explain polios persistence among the worlds poorest, where sanitation is bad and public health infrastructure is close to nonexistent. (One injection stops smallpox, The Times noted in its article of Gates polio drive, but in countries with open sewers, children need 10 polio (vaccine) drops up to 10 times.)

Yet those ideas have spread and now are used to explain other ailments that are likely also mostly environmental, such as asthma (hygiene hypothesis: because children no longer tumble around in the barnyard with farm animals, they are less likely to be exposed  etc.).

And the connection of other illnesses to pesticides, and environmental toxins in general, has been slow in dawning, though it is now becoming clear that a range of degenerative and neurological diseases are related to such exposures.

In a new epidemiological study of Central Valley residents who have been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, researchers found that years of exposure to the combination of  two pesticides increased the risk of Parkinson's by 75 percent, reports Science Daily.

The Central Valley was also the setting for a study that found women who live near California farm fields sprayed with organochlorine pesticides may be more likely to give birth to children with autism, according to a study by state health officials, reported the Los Angeles Times.[lxi]

The rate of autism among the children of 29 women who lived near the fields was extremely high, suggesting that exposure to the insecticides in the womb might have played a role. The findings echoes those from a 2005 study in Italy pesticides known as organophosphates could cause neurological changes that lead to autism.

Recall that the San Joaquin Valley, the Southern Half of the Central Valley of California, was the site of an 1890s outbreak of poliomyelitis, along with nearby San Francisco, Napa Valley, and other agricultural hubs. If mainstream scientists had made this connection between polio and pesticides a century ago  or even after the great epidemics ended in the 1950s  would pesticide use have continued in the same fashion, endangering great-great grandchildren of the first polio generation? Church bells might not have rung for this discovery, but the toll on later generations could have been greatly reduced.

--

Nor has the polio vaccine, for all of its efficacy, been a risk-free remedy. There were accidents and deaths from the beginning  starting with the Cutter incident in the first weeks of the mass vaccine campaign, in which tainted shots paralyzed dozens of children and killed five.[lxii] There is ongoing debate about whether a cancer-causing monkey virus, SV-40, infected millions of doses of vaccine in the 1960s and may be causing cancers today.[lxiii] There is the theory that mass vaccine trials in Africa in the 1950s gave rise to the AIDS epidemic  an idea that has been dismissed and derided by the medical industry with the same religious disregard for inconvenient truths as weve seen in other man-made epidemics.[lxiv]

And the live virus vaccine now in use in South Asia and Africa indisputably spreads the virus and, in a small percentage of case, causes poliomyelitis. For that reason alone, vaccination may perpetuate polio in the service of eradicating it. The vaccine strain also can and does mutate. (Polio spreads fast in Nigeria after rare mutation, reads a 2009 headline.)[lxv] The only thing better than ending polio epidemics, in short, would have been not causing them in the first place. The real polio narrative is an American tragedy as much as the triumph of scientific medicine.

--

Yet triumphalism is an ongoing legacy of The Age of Polio. Merely invoking the word today can shut down debate over public health, especially concerns over any aspect of vaccination policy. Asked during the presidential campaign of 2008 whether he favored vaccination choice, Barack Obama responded: I believe that it will bring back deadly diseases, like polio."[lxvi]

In a similar vein, a commenter on our blog who identified herself as Kim asked, What would you like us to do? Let's stop all immunizations. Guess what will happen? Measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, polio, influenza will all come back. We will now not only have people scarred from the diseases, but so many people dying. People do not remember when people actually died from these diseases because they have been literally obliterated from the industrial nations.

I would give just about anything to have a grandmother, but she died from polio when my mother was 17 months old. I have empathy for those with autistic children, but we have gotten so focused on immunizations that we do not look at any other causes. So the next time you hug your child remember my mother who cannot remember any hugs from her mother. Be thankful you have a child to hug.

In offering our new narrative, we recognize the very real suffering over a very long time. In 1916, the year of the epochal Northeastern epidemic, a New Jersey nurse named Charlotte Talley wrote an article for The American Journal of Nursing with the antiseptic title, Tracing the Sources and Limiting the Spread of Infantile Paralysis.[lxvii] But her descriptions were deeply empathetic:

Blease, blease, do something, pleaded a Polish mother hysterically, clasping her hands in supplication, her mouth quivering. They took my boy to ospital and see, showing the bathtub full of soiled clothing, here are all the clothes from the sickness and no water to wash em. Landlady said she get plumber today. She gets no one.

The epidemic turned health workers into bystanders to despair.

A little girl of nine had died of paralysis after a few days of great suffering. She had been a beautiful, bright, lovable child, the pride of the household, Talley wrote. Apparently, despite all her parents precautions, she had played with a neighbor child with an inapparent infection and may have been exposed to the virus that way.

Where was God? asked Talley. It is difficult to understand how such things are permitted by Providence to occur. Evidently human intelligence is expected to work out this serious problem in order to prevent such disasters.

The suffering of polios victims is honored by learning all of its lessons, including the danger of environmental toxins and the perils of ignoring their role in modern disease; the risk of focusing all of our energy on vaccinations as magic bullets, and the fundamental ethical obligation to search for the truth without fear or favor. Only then can we work out the real nature of illnesses that confront us here and now, ranging from autism to Parkinsons to the persistence of poliomyelitis itself. Only then can we begin to prevent such disasters as The Age of Polio.

--

Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill are co-authors of The Age of Autism  Mercury, Medicine, and a Man-made Epidemic, published in paperback in September by Thomas Dunne Books. Olmsted is Editor, and Blaxill is Editor at Large, of ageofautism.com.
EAST PEORIA, Ill.  National and state lobbyists told Illinois beef producers at their summer conference to be cautious, not scared of the new administration in the White House.

Farmers are being listened to on some issues, Ethan Lane, the National Cattlemens Beef Association vice president of government affairs, told producers. The first 100 days of President Joe Bidens administration were better than expected.

Its not as scary as it might seem. There are some dealmakers, Lane said of the new legislators.

Under the Obama administration, we had no access. They were not interested in talking to rural America. Now I get a call from the White House once a week, Lane said.

Biden and his team feel a mandate to heal the country. They are aware they dont have a united party, he said.

Lane said producers shouldnt be scared, but still be extremely cautious.

For many of the 150 people gathered for the Illinois Beef Associations Summer Conference and annual meeting June 8-9

in East Peoria, Illinois, it was their first large in-person post-pandemic commodity event. The conference included discussion of state and national industry issues, networking, elections, awards and tours of a nearby farm and ag facilities.

Leveraging power

On environmental issues, it is important to move cattle into the solutions bucket, Lane said. This requires educating lawmakers and making sure producers get credit for what they do for the environment, he said.
SEYMOUR, Iowa  Ray Cook isnt sure who has more miles on the motor  him or the 1946 Farmall B his father purchased two months after his birth.

That tractor is still running, and I guess so am I, says the 75-year-old retired farmer.

That tractor provided the foundation for a collection of nearly 40 machines representing the Farmall name. All are housed in buildings located on Cooks south central Iowa farm.

Although Cook has been around Farmall tractors most of his life, his collection did not begin in earnest until 1997.

My daughter thought we needed to restore that old B, so we fixed it up, he says. We went on WHOs tractor ride and started buying more tractors after that.

He started with the letter series, which includes the popular M and H models. Cook then went to the 100 series tractors and also owns four Wheatlands and two Crawlers.

Cook has tractors from the 656 class, calling them my big boys. His most recent purchase is a 766 black-striped model. That tractor was built in 1975.

I really enjoy looking at these tractors. I guess I have my whole life, Cook says. We had a big dealership in Seymour, and I always liked looking at those red tractors.

Cook grew corn and soybeans before retiring in 2016.

Another thing I liked about Farmalls is the fact that if they needed work, I knew how to work on them, he says. I have always liked how they ran.

He starts his tractors at least once a year, taking them down the road to make sure they warm up. Cook primarily checks the oil, water and tires.
DENISON, Iowa  Kelly Garrett has his eyes set on the Iowa record books. To get his farm there, he is always trying new things.

I want to set the state record on corn, the northwest Iowa farmer said. Its 442 (bushels per acre). I want to break it.

In an effort to hit that last year, he planted 50,000 seeds per acre to raise a half-pound of grain per stalk. To break the record, he calculated he needs 49,652 plants to come up at that mark. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other ideas.

I knew it was a risk because it was so thick, Garrett said. Then on Aug. 10, we had the derecho and it was flat.

Garrett, a seventh-generation farmer who manages 6,500 acres, 400 cows and a trucking company with his family near Denison, Iowa, said he has been trying new practices on his farm since he started farming full time in 1998, with drip irrigation being one of his most notable improvements.

While moisture is key to getting those high yields, he said carbon is one of the most important aspects in farming.

Everybody talks about nutrients and fertilizer  those are elements, Garrett said. The most important element we need is carbon.

Garrett emphasizes carbon sequestration for his success, limiting the amount of carbon lost in soil and utilizing practices to add it back in. Practices such as cover crops or no till have environmental benefits, but he said the best benefit is in his crop.

Im happy about it being better for the climate and the environment, but when I put the carbon in the soil, its better for my yields, he said. Ninety-five percent of raising corn is water, sunlight and CO2, and we all worry about the other 5%.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill.  Last year, researchers focused on improving yields by enhancing the effectiveness of photosynthesis saw tobacco and soybean yield increase by 20% over conventional varieties.

Research will progress with two new buildings this year at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The RIPE (Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efciency) Crop Transformation Facility provides lab space for researchers. And the RIPE High-Throughput Phenotyping Facility includes a full greenhouse to help the project move an increasing number of transgenic traits from model to crop systems, said Steve Long, RIPE director.

Both were funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, and the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. They were built through partnerships with University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign Research Park and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, Long said.

Brett Feddersen, senior research programmer with RIPE, said more than 100 people are involved. In Illinois, they work with partners at Louisiana State, the University of California-Berkley, and Australia and the United Kingdom.

The goal is to engineer crops to be more productive by improving photosynthesis, the natural process all plants use to convert sunlight to energy and yields.

In the greenhouse, Feddersen is among those working on the genetic transformation of plants. They grow seed developed in the lab, measure it and see how it performs. The best plants will go out to the fields, where they are tweaked and the cycle continues, he said.
Farmers needing some construction work done should be willing to open their wallets as well their calendars.

Prices for building materials have risen to levels never seen before, and contractors are backed up.

Demand is not slowing down. Everybody still wants to keep building, said Megan Miller, executive director of the National Frame Building Association. The workloads are great. They have enough business to add people. Theyre glad about how much business they have and how good the year is, even 2020, but theyre scrambling to get whatever they can.

Manufacturers and distributors are feeling the effects of the price increases and material shortages across the country.

Were definitely having problems getting stuff in, said Mark Young of Wyoming-based Western Building Supply. The increase in pricing has gone above and beyond what weve ever thought it would be.

WBS distributes wood, metal and other building materials. In addition, the company manufactures trusses, laminated columns, metal siding and roofing. Delays are common.

A year ago we were about three days out on a pole barn kit. Now were anywhere from three to five weeks, Young said.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, lumber prices increased 180% from April 2020 to April 2021. Much of the increase occurred since last fall.

Ohio State University professor Brent Sohngen said in a report that the problem feeds on itself. Many timber owners are reluctant to cut trees under the assumption that prices will rise even more, so they hold on to what they have.
https://www.aish.com/tp/i/sacks/Lessons_of_a_leader.html

The parsha of Pinchas contains a masterclass on leadership, as Moses confronts his own mortality and asks God to appoint a successor. The great leaders care about succession. In parshat Chayei Sarah we saw Abraham instruct his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac, so that the family of the covenant will continue. King David chose Solomon. Elijah, at Gods bidding, appointed Elisha to carry on his work.

In the case of Moses, the Sages sensed a certain sadness at his realisation that he would not be succeeded by either of his sons, Gershom or Eliezer.1 Such is the case with Keter Torah, the invisible crown of Torah worn by the Prophets and the Sages. Unlike the crowns of priesthood and kingship, it does not pass dynastically from father to son. Charisma rarely does. What is instructive, though, is the language Moses uses in framing his request:

May the Lord, God of the spirits of all flesh, choose a person over the congregation who will go out before them and come in before them, who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord will not be like sheep without a shepherd. (Num. 27:16)

There are three basic leadership lessons to be learned from this choice of words.

The first, noted by Rashi, is implicit in the unusually long description of God as the Lord, God of the spirits of all flesh. This means, Rashi explains, Master of the universe, the character of each person is revealed to You, and no two are alike. Appoint over them a leader who will bear with each person according to their individual character.2

The Rambam says that this is a basic feature of the human condition. Homo sapiens is the most diverse of all life forms. Therefore co-operation is essential  because we are each different, others are strong where we are weak and vice versa  but cohesion is also difficult, because we each respond to challenges in different ways. That is what makes leadership necessary, but also demanding:

This great variety, and the necessity of social life, are essential elements in human nature. But the well-being of society demands that there should be a leader able to regulate the actions of each person; they must complete every shortcoming, remove every excess, and prescribe for the conduct of all, so that the natural variety should be counterbalanced by the uniformity of legislation, and the order of society be well established.3

Leaders respect differences but, like the conductor of an orchestra, integrate them, ensuring that the many different instruments play their part in harmony with the rest. True leaders do not seek to impose uniformity. They honour diversity.

The second hint is contained in the word ish, a person over the congregation, to which God responds, Take for yourself Joshua, a person [ish] of spirit (v. 18). The word ish here indicates something other than gender. This can be seen in the two places where the Torah uses the phrase ha-ish Moshe, the man Moses:

One is in Exodus:

The man Moses was highly respected [gadol meod, literally very great] in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of Pharaohs servants and the people. (Ex. 11:3)

The second is in Numbers:

Now the man Moses was very humble [anav meod], more so than anyone else on the face of the earth (Num. 12:3)

Note the two characteristics, seemingly opposed  great and humble  both of which Moses had in high degree (meod, very). This is the combination of attributes Rabbi Yochanan attributed to God himself: Wherever you find Gods greatness, there you find His humility.4 Here is one of his proof-texts: For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the orphan and the widow, and loves the stranger residing among you, giving them food and clothing (Deut. 10:17-18).

An ish in the context of leadership is not a male but rather, someone who is a mensch, a person whose greatness is lightly worn, who cares about the people others often ignore, the orphan, the widow and the stranger, who spends as much time with the people at the margins of society as with the elites, who is courteous to everyone equally and who receives respect because they give respect.

The real puzzlement, however, lies in the third clause: Choose a person over the congregation who will go out before them and come in before them, who will lead them out and bring them in. This sounds like saying the same thing twice, which the Torah tends not to do. What does it mean?

The Torah is hinting here at one of the most challenging aspects of leadership, namely timing and pace. The first phrase is simple: who will go out before them and come in before them. This means that a leader must lead from the front. They cannot be like the apocryphal remark of one British politician: Of course I follow the party. After all, I am their leader.5

It is the second phrase that is vital: who will lead them out and bring them in. This means: a leader must lead from the front, but he or she must not be so far out in front that when they turn around, they find that no one is following. Pace is of the essence. Sometimes a leader can go too fast. That is when tragedies occur.

To take two very different examples: when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister she knew she was going to have to confront the miners union in a long and bitter struggle. In 1981 they went on strike for a pay rise. Mrs Thatcher immediately made enquiries about the size of coal stocks. She wanted to know how long the country could survive without new supplies of coal. As soon as she discovered that stocks were low, she in effect conceded victory to the miners. She then, very quietly, arranged for coal to be stockpiled. The result was that when the miners went on strike again in 1983, she resisted their demands. There was a prolonged strike, and this time it was the miners who conceded defeat. A battle she could not win in 1981 she was able to win in 1983.

The very different example was that of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The peace process he engaged with the Palestinians between 1993 and 1995 was deeply controversial, within Israel and beyond. There was some support but also much opposition. The tension mounted in 1995. In September of that year, I wrote an article in the press giving him my own personal support. At the same time, however, I wrote to him privately saying that I was deeply worried about internal opposition to the plan, and urging him to spend as much time negotiating with his fellow Israeli citizens  specifically the religious Zionists  as with the Palestinians. I did not receive a reply.

On Motsei Shabbat, 4 November 1995, we heard the news that Prime Minister Rabin had been assassinated at a peace rally by a young religious Zionist. I attended the funeral in Jerusalem. Returning the next day, I went straight from the airport to the Israeli ambassador to sit with him and talk to him about the funeral, which he had not been able to attend, having had to stay in London to deal with the media.

As I entered his office, he handed me an envelope, saying, This has just arrived for you in the diplomatic bag. It was Yitzhak Rabins reply to my letter  one of the last letters he ever wrote. It was a moving re-affirmation of his faith, but tragically by the time it was delivered he was no longer alive. He had pursued peace, as we are commanded to do, but he had gone too fast for those who were not yet prepared to listen.

Moses knew this himself from the episode of the spies. As Maimonides says in The Guide,6 the task of fighting battles and conquering the land was just too much for a generation born into slavery. It could only be done by their children, those born in freedom. Sometimes a journey that seems small on the map takes forty years.

Respect for diversity, care for the lowly and powerless as well as the powerful and great, and a willingness to go no faster than people can bear  these are three essential attributes of a leader, as Moses knew from experience, and as Joshua learned through long apprenticeship to the great man himself.

QUESTIONS (AROUND THE SHABBAT TABLE)

Why is it important that leaders consider their successors? Should leaders have a key role in choosing who will lead after they step down? Do you think the Rambams expectations of a leader are similar to your own? Are these expectations too demanding? What qualities in Moses do we see mirrored in Joshua?

NOTES

That is the implication of the statement that Moses long to die as did Aaron, Sifrei, Pinchas, 136, s.v. vayomer. Rashi to Num. 27:16, based on Tanchuma, Pinchas, 11. Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed, book 2 chapter 40. From the liturgy on Saturday night. The source is Pesikta Zutreta, Eikev. This statement has been attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, Stanley Baldwin and Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin. The Guide for the Perplexed, Book 3, chapter 32.

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https://www.aish.com/tp/ss/ssw/Pinchas-5781-And-Justice-for-All.html

GOOD MORNING! One of the more polarizing topics in the United States of the 21st century surrounds the question of whether or not racism is systemic and institutionalized. This is a serious issue because systemic racism can lead to such issues as discrimination in criminal justice, employment, housing, health care, political power, education, etc.

This has resulted in a fierce debate over Critical Race Theory (CRT). Critical race theorists hold that the legal system and other institutions in the United States are inherently racist insofar as they function to create and maintain social, economic, and political inequalities between whites and nonwhites, especially African Americans.

This topic has exploded onto the educational landscape over the last few months as school boards discuss its merits while numerous state legislatures debate bills seeking to ban its use in public schools. Is CRT a legitimate way of understanding how racism has shaped the various American legal, educational, and economic institutions, or is it a divisive conversation that pits people of color against white people? Unsurprisingly, liberals and conservatives are in sharp disagreement.

Like many arguments there is an element of truth to both sides  truths that are conveniently ignored by the other side. Liberals conveniently ignore or reframe statistics (e.g. most of the murders in the country are committed by 13% of the population and their victims are overwhelmingly other minorities). Conservatives forget that for many decades all-white juries in the south almost never convicted a white person accused of attacking a black person, which of course led to a deep distrust of the American legal system.

Personally, I find CRT distasteful  and I certainly do not want to believe that racism is systemic in our various American institutions. But this is merely an opinion and it obviously colors how I see the facts.

Unfortunately, this type of prejudice is also the basis for much of the American legal system; judges and juries often decide law based on their preconceptions. When George Zimmerman was being tried (for the death of Trayvon Martin) his attorney began jury selection with the following joke: Knock, knock. Whos there? Zimmerman. Zimmerman who? Okay, youre good for the jury.

In common law (which is what the American legal system is based on), there is no absolute right and wrong; rather current opinions and values shape the law. For example, fifty years ago abortion was akin to murder while today it is mostly considered a fundamental right. Will a conservative Supreme Court overturn Roe vs. Wade in the future? Who knows?

(Roe vs. Wade also stunningly highlights how judges sometimes vote against what they believe the law should be. Chief Justice Warren Burger was a conservative who later voted to restrict abortions  and yet he voted with the Roe vs. Wade 7-2 majority in favor of abortion rights. Most scholars explain Burgers vote as a simple strategic move; as long as he voted with the majority, Burger, as Chief Justice, could control who wrote the majority opinion in Roe, and thus partially control what that opinion said.)

Bottom line: The American legal system of common law is both fluid and based on the lowest common denominator. In other words, what can most of us agree upon?

By comparison, the Jewish legal system is much more rooted in concrete and unchanging fundamentals. This is because it is based on the Torah, which was given to us by the ultimate judge of right and wrong: The Almighty. However, there is also another unique element that makes the Jewish legal system far superior to any other.

In ancient Israel there was a sophisticated network of courts. The Jewish version of the Supreme Court (called the Beit Din Hagadol, Great House of Law) was comprised of 71 sages who would convene on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This court system dated back to the times of Moses, who appointed 70 sages to join him in guiding the nation  thus creating the original court of 71. This court had the final say on all legal matters.

There were several courts of 23 judges, which would meet in Israels larger cities. Like the great court, these courts were authorized to adjudicate monetary rulings, as well as corporal and capital punishments.

In small communities (comprising less than 120 adult males) there were courts of just three (or more, provided that the number remained odd), which were basically only authorized to adjudicate monetary disputes. Here is how Maimonides, the great codifier of Jewish law, described the court system (Mamrim 1:4):

As long as there was the High Court in Jerusalem there was never a conflict among the Jewish people (as to what the law was). If someone needed to know a law he would ask his local court, if they knew the answer they gave it to him. If they did not, then both the inquirer and the judges would travel to Jerusalem to ask the (lower) court that was located on the Temple Mount [...]

If they didn't know then all the judges went to the higher court that was at the entrance to the courtyard and asked the question [...] If they didn't know then everyone went to the Beis Din Hagadol (the High Court of 71 sages) in the Lishkas Hagazis (Hewn Chamber  a room adjacent to the Temple).

The High Court was the court of final appeal and they would determine the final law to resolve the original question. From here we see a remarkable aspect of the Jewish legal system; when there is an unresolved question every single court must accompany the original inquirer on this process until his question is answered.

Thus, we discover a critical element of Jewish law. In the Jewish legal system judges dont merely adjudicate; they have a responsibility for the law. In other words, if they dont know what the law is they dont simply make it up based on their personal sentiments or the public opinion at the time. They also dont shrug their shoulders and tell the applicants to go to a higher court.

Rather, they now have an issue that they themselves must resolve so they have to accompany the original inquirers to succeeding higher courts until the matter is concluded. Interestingly enough, this process made it possible to have well over a hundred people present while the question was being presented to the High Court, with all of the parties having an interest in the final ruling.

Several commentaries have wondered from where Maimonides sourced this law. It seems very likely that Maimonides sourced this law from this weeks Torah reading.

The daughters of Tzelofchad came [...] and stood before Moses and Elazar the Cohen and in front of the leaders and the entire congregation (27:1-2).

This weeks Torah reading relates the quandary of the daughters of Tzelofchad who wished to receive their fathers portion in the Land of Israel even though he died prior to the division of the land and had no male heirs to inherit. They argued that it wasn't fair that his portion should be taken away from his family just because he had no male heirs.

According to Rashi (ad loc), Moses forgot what the law was in such a case and therefore presented the question to the Almighty. Ultimately, God sided with the daughters of Tzelofchad and they were awarded their fathers share in Israel.

Clearly, Maimonides found a source in this story. The Torah makes a seemingly random observation; the daughters stood before Moses and Elazar the Cohen and in front of the leaders and the entire congregation. The Torah isn't in the habit of repeating irrelevant facts. Therefore, it must be that their presence had something to do with the original question. In fact, Rashi points out that this is very strange; if Moses didn't know then Elazar definitely wouldn't know either  so why was he there?

In most societies, the court system is intended to adjudicate and apply the laws that have been enacted by a separate legislature. There is no actual responsibility for the law  just its application. It is very different in the Jewish legal system. Every court has a responsibility for the law, therefore a lack of knowledge of the law is a problem for the court itself. Thus, the court itself now becomes a principal in the quest for a resolution as to what the law is. It is for this reason that every court must join the process of coming to a resolution.

This is how Maimonides knows that, after a question is presented through the normal chain of law, every person in that chain has a responsibility to see it through to the end. The daughters of Tzelofchad began with their local court and proceeded to each higher court until they reached Moses court. No one knew the answer. That is why all those individuals are mentioned as being present when the daughters of Tzelofchad finally presented question to Moses for a resolution.

Pinchas, Numbers 25:10 - 30:1

This week's Torah portion, Pinchas acted to stop a public display of immorality. He thus stemmed the plague of retribution that was killing the multitudes. He is rewarded by being made a Cohen  by Divine decree.

The Almighty commands Moses to attack the Midianites in retribution for the licentious plot the Midianites perpetrated upon the Israelites. A new census is taken of the Jewish people revealing that there are 601,730 men available for army duty. God directs the division of the Land of Israel amongst the tribes. The Levites are tallied. The daughters of Tzelafchad come forward to petition Moses regarding their right of inheritance. Moses inquires of the Almighty, Who answers in their favor.

Moses asks the Almighty to appoint a successor and the Almighty directs Moses to designate Joshua (Yehoshua). The Torah portion concludes with the various offerings  daily, Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, and holidays.



http://www.aish.com/sh/c/ Wisdom is knowing what you dont know

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Today

Isolated thunderstorms this evening. Skies will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 73F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Isolated thunderstorms this evening. Skies will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 73F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
Now that genetically modified mosquitos have been unleashed upon Florida in a "groundbreaking" experiment, it might be time to become familiar with the upcoming gene-editing world  especially since it will more than likely become part of the science and medical world, thus affecting society at every level of health care.

You may ask, what is wrong with an advancement in health care that can save and improve lives? Well, nothing if this were a perfect and godly world. But it isn't. Gene editing can alter DNA in ways you need to know. This technique is coding body-altering information into our bodies. Therefore, we had better make sure that the people developing the therapeutics by means of gene-editing are held accountable for the products being pushed.

You may ask why the term editing is being used in this article. Most refer to the editing of genetic code as engineering. But this new medical technique of instructing human genes through a cut-and-paste vector is much like coding a computer program. The human element of empathy, caring, and ethics can be easily removed in the process.

A company called Oxitec, based in the U.K., is piloting a program using gene-/information-modified mosquitos to eliminate the invasive female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the Florida Keys. The mosquitoes potentially spread diseases such as Dengue fever and Zika.

Dr. Nathan Rose, head regulator of Oxitec, said mosquito-borne diseases are likely to worsen as a result of climate change. According to the CDC, in a ten-year span between 2010 and 2020, there were 71 cases of Dengue fever transmitted in Florida. In essence, the experiment is being conducted for fear of climate change causing a drastic increase in incidence of Dengue fever. In the Fox article, Rose states that Oxitec will first experiment in Florida, collect data, then "go to the U.S. regulatory agencies to actually get a commercial registration to be able to release these mosquitoes more broadly within the United States."

Don't think the Florida Keys just opened their arms with a great big bear hug to this experiment. No, there were pushback and questions. In fact, Oxitec had been pushing this experiment to Key Haven and Key West for years, only to be rejected. Many other places have also declined this experiment. When it was conducted in Brazil, it initially seemed to work, but in the end, the mutated mosquitos transferred mutations to the general public. Thankfully, gene drive was not used in the Brazil experiment, for this type of gene manipulation cannot be reversed and can wipe out a species over time.

Evidently, Oxitec has created a second-generation "friendly mosquito" technology, where new male mosquitoes are programmed to kill only female mosquitoes, with males serving and passing on the modified genes to male offspring for generations. Yes, they are programmed to kill. Oxitec CEO Grey Frandsen announced in 2020 that Oxitec looked forward to working with the Florida Keys community to "demonstrate the effectiveness of our safe, sustainable technology in light of the growing challenges controlling this disease-spreading mosquito."

Let's hope the Florida mosquitoes experiment is truly a necessity and not some type of climate-change fear-mongering "sustainable" technology based on speculation. That brings us to another gene-editing experiment currently conducted throughout the United States.

By now, Americans know much about the push for societal COVID vaccines. These are deadly vaccines. They are experimental, and many utilize gene-editing techniques. It remains a mystery as to how the human body will react long-term to them. Because of herd immunity, the real efficacy of these therapies is a matter of pure speculation. The motivational factor for pushing this societal vaccination is suspect, as natural immunity is completely ignored. Natural immunity is a real thing! Every medical professional in the United States knows this as a fact. Every single infection control or human anatomy course ever taught explains the beauty of the immune system. The groupthink of segregating the vaccinated from the unvaccinated is simply absurd.

As with the Florida mosquitoes experiment, one certainly hopes the COVID vaccine experiment is truly necessary, lest we forget the history of eugenics and depopulation pushes in America. The obsession with fertility control has not waned. Remember the deceitful tetanus campaign in Kenya that proved to be laced with HCG. Likewise, the Indian Parliament's Standing Committee on Health deemed the Gates Foundation's behavior with the girls of Khammam a breach of trust and a violation of human rights.

Every single person should get familiar with the technology of CRISPR, which will catapult genome editing into a whole new dimension. China has already delved into the world of creating gene babies. When you reflect on this technology, it inspires hope to see the benefit of such advances. However, without knowing the long-term effects and adding a dimension of ethics, this technology can go very wrong.

The push and coercion for societal vaccinations is the warning bell. Society has to trust the people in charge to be more than ethical. If the words population control are connected to even one of the vaccination powers that be, then governments, businesses, and families must question the intent. Keep in mind that viruses like HIV have been known and researched for almost fifty years in attempts to find a vaccination, to no avail. It is reasonable to question how a warp-speed vaccine was developed in less than a year for a novel coronavirus. Maybe the answer circles back to CRISPR and genetic editing. But can there be more to the hypnotic way governments, pharmaceutical, medical communities, and families are obviously taken with this new experiment?

If you really want to know a possible answer, carefully digest this article on transhumanism. There is a fascination with experimentation of the human body, mind, and soul. Evidently, it is a struggle for humans to resist the power of these experiments. Even with the censorship of knowledge, there is still so much available for people to learn about this gene-editing fascination. Knowledge is power, and now you know.

Image: Triggermouse via Pixabay, Pixabay License.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
Everywhere other than in Big Media newsrooms, Americans speak openly of President Joe Biden's cognitive decline and wonder whether he can last out his four-year term. If he cannot last, there are certain things we can be confident will happen and other things about which we can only speculate. The latter will be much more intriguing.

Should Biden leave office, willingly or otherwise, Kamala Harris will become president. This is a given. Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution makes clear that in "case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President."

The Constitution, as written, did not address what happens next. The 25th Amendment, adopted after the assassination of President Kennedy, answered that question, at least in principle. It reads, "Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress."

In recent memory, there have been two precedents, both involving Richard Nixon. On October 10, 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew pleaded no contest to charges of tax evasion and money-laundering and resigned. Despite Nixon's landslide victory in 1972, Democrats retained firm control of Congress, with a 50-seat majority in the House and a 14-seat majority in the Senate. This mattered. The Democrats all but dictated Nixon's choice of the congenial, moderate House minority leader, Gerald Ford, to assume the vice presidency. Ford was nominated two days after Agnew stepped down and confirmed by overwhelming majorities in both Houses of Congress.

At the time of Ford's confirmation, Democrats had good reason to suspect that Nixon would soon be forced out himself. The coordinated Democrat-media plot to oust Nixon as a result of his presumed involvement in the Watergate affair was well underway. The plot climaxed on August 9, 1974, with Nixon's resignation. Ford was sworn in later that same day.

It now fell to Ford to choose his vice president. Given the composition of Congress, he excluded any conservatives from consideration and settled on the GOP's most prominent liberal, former New York State governor Nelson Rockefeller. For Rockefeller, the confirmation hearings were considerably rougher than they had been for Ford  less for ideological reasons than for personal ones  but he was eventually confirmed despite opposition from conservatives in both parties.

As history shows, the "when" of a vice presidential opening can determine the "who." Right now, Big Media remains deeply in denial that there will ever be a "when." In his well-sourced book on the 2020 campaign, Battle for the Soul, Edward-Isaac Dovere makes only one reference to Biden's mental state and suggests that the dementia rumor was a conspiracy theory cooked up somewhere deep in a Bernie Sanders soup kitchen.

Last week, White House physician turned Republican congressman Ronny Jackson forced the mental health issue into the news. He challenged Biden to undergo a cognitive assessment, much as President Trump had successfully done. Rushing to Biden's defense, the Washington Post recruited a professor of public health  his Ph.D. is in sociology  to assure Post readers, "With Biden, not only are there not warning signs, the signs that you see show he's in exceptional health." In truth, the warning signs for Hurricane Katrina were less obvious.

In the movie version, reporters with access to the White House would be showing their audiences evidence of Biden's mental meltdowns and probing their sources to find out what happens next. In real life, they take their own cultish vows of omerta more seriously than did the Corleones. Their emperor remains fully clothed.

Those insiders who do talk, like Dr. Jackson, get punished. The fact that President Obama appointed Jackson admiral for his service as White House physician won him no reprieve. Although entirely irrelevant to the state of Biden's mind, the Post reminded its readers that, according to the Defense Department, "[Jackson] had bullied and intimidated staff and made inappropriate sexual remarks."

Lacking access to the White House, I take my cues from presidential history and the extensive research I have done on Barack Obama, including his presumed third term through proxy Joe Biden. One historical given is that timing matters. During the 2020 campaign, having finessed Bernie Sanders out of the race, the Democrats' leaders knew they had to ride the seemingly moderate Biden as far as he could take them. With the help of the media, they were largely able to conceal the erosion of Biden's mental facilities. Unless the polls show an impending disaster, Democrats have no more motive to dump Biden before the 2022 election than they did in 2020.

After the election, party leaders will have a decision to make. If they hold majorities in both Houses, they can put that decision off indefinitely. If they lose control decisively in either House, they will be wise to give the media a prompt green light to highlight Biden's cognitive issues. Once the ground is softened, they can move to usher Biden out through the complex process described in the 25th Amendment. They will have to be quick. There are only two months between Election Day and the installment of a new Congress.

Until January 2023, the Democrats will control the House and share power in the Senate. In 1973 and 1974, Republican senators proved more pliable to Democrat wishes than did GOP House members. Little has changed. For a half-dozen GOP senators, pliability is their vocation. If Democrats wait until a new Congress is seated, they sacrifice much of their negotiating power. The Republicans will insist on an unelectable milquetoast of the Gerald Ford model.

If Biden leaves office when the Democrats still have leverage, that's when the fun begins. The competing power blocs within the party will stage a quietly vicious knife fight for that second spot. Knowing Harris's weaknesses, they understand its potential. Until six or so months ago, no one could have denied that spot to New York's rock star, Governor Andrew Cuomo. His stardom collapsed quicker than Milli Vanilli's. The Democrats' values being what they are, his lethal indifference to the fate of thousands of old women did not diminish his star nearly as much as his "unwanted advances" toward a handful of young ones.

Cuomo's fall had to surprise him. That's not supposed to happen to Democrats. Dovere speaks at some length about how the Democrat-media "ecosystem" managed to keep the charges of sexual assault leveled against Biden by Tara Reade  Tara who?  out of the news. Although Reade's accusation was more serious and substantial than any brought against Cuomo, the ecosystem encouraged Cuomo's accusers. Someone gave the media permission. Someone wanted Cuomo gone.

With Harris as president, this may be the last time in the foreseeable future that a white male will be the preferred Democrat nominee for anything. Although the pickings are slim, Ted Cruz spokeswoman Erin Perrine unwittingly summed up the qualifications of the one white man with a good shot at the job. Said Perrine, "Terry McAuliffe is a swampy career politician who sold his soul to Nancy Pelosi and the radical left to bankroll his fledgling campaign." Given those qualifications, if McAuliffe wins the Virginia governor's race in November 2021, he might even be the betting favorite for vice president.

If the party is willing to put two women at the top, the contest gets much more interesting. According to Dovere, the selection for Biden's VP came down to six women: Harris; Massachusetts's Sen. Elizabeth Warren; Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer; Biden's domestic policy council director, Susan Rice; California's Rep. Karen Bass; and Georgia's self-appointed governor in exile, Stacey Abrams. Other than Warren and Whitmer, all of these women were in the running to add literal color to a Biden ticket. With Harris as president, they are all redundant. Warren does not have friends enough to put her on an all-female White House team, and Whitmer will be lucky if she doesn't get recalled.

Only two women have friends enough and ambition enough to get the nod: Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama. Obama's friends are younger. Hillary's are crueler. May the best and baddest win.

Jack Cashill's latest book, Barack Obama's Promised Land: Deplorables Need Not Apply, is now on pre-sale. See www.cashill.com for more information.

Image: Nathania Johnson via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
I am a native Californian and have lived here since 1962. California has always had its fair share of problems, some episodic and others chronic. The one absolute constant problem is the water supply, which relies primarily on snowmelt from the Sierra mountains and is thus susceptible to drought years. Since California is the largest agricultural producer in the nation, water is critical for farmers, residential consumers, and wildlife. You wouldnt know theres a problem, though, if you peruse Governor Gavin Newsoms website, or, for that matter, the official California website, CA.gov.

Here is an excerpt from Newsoms splash page:

The California Dream -- the idea that every person can achieve a better life, regardless of where they start out -- is central to who we are as Californians. Even in a time of economic growth and record employment, too many Californians are experiencing the squeeze of stagnant wages and the rising price of building-block necessities such as housing, health care, education, and child care. We can and must reanimate the California Dream, building a California for All.

This is a manifestation of Newsoms priorities for California: housing, health care, education, and child care. The problem with this list is not that these priorities are unimportant, but rather that the most obvious chronic problem facing California, water supply, is ignored completely. For that matter, there are other chronic problems that are ignored: reliable energy supply, infrastructure decay (especially poorly maintained roads), traffic congestion, and poorly managed rural lands that have caused devastating and deadly wildfires. Notice how Newsoms priorities are social programs aligned with special interests. If you replace housing, health care, education, and child care with the homeless industrial complex, taxpayer subsidized health insurance, and teachers unions (with childcare a subset of that), you get the picture. Also, note that priorities left off the list also reflect Newsom-aligned interest groups. For example, one solution to the water supply problem is additional storage capacity, which is opposed by environmentalists. Newsom has the endorsement of the Sierra Club, among others. By the way, added storage capacity is not my favorite, either. I support tertiary treatment of pre-treated wastewater over things like added storage or desalinization of seawater.

Newsoms priorities seem driven not by a desire to solve Californias most obvious chronic problems that affect all Californians, but instead by special interest groups that are his most ardent supporters. The rest of the splash page has several updates on COVID response, which is also important but is not a chronic problem. Its not even an episodic problem (please, Lord, make it not episodic). Californians deserve a governor who is willing to address chronic problems here, instead of just the problems that are favored by his aligned special interests. Yes, the chronic problems are complicated and have developed over many years, but that is not an excuse for ignoring them. Compare Newsom in this regard to his immediate predecessor, Jerry Brown, who took a complicated, politically fraught problem like pension reform, and, more broadly, the perilous state of Californias finances, and moved the ball significantly on both problems. Heres another example of Newsoms unwillingness to address difficult problems: whether or not you agree with Browns high-speed rail initiative, Newsoms solution was to simply halt the project after billions of dollars had already been spent.

A large part of the focus of the recall effort has been Newsoms response to the pandemic, which has seemed heavy-handed to many residents, with questionable lockdowns and other restrictions on daily life. And, of course, theres the nausea-inducing spectacle of Newsom flouting his own lockdown to party it up at one of the most exclusive restaurants in the country, Napas famous French Laundry. While Newsom deserves all the scorn rained down on him for that incident, it is a sideshow, really. Its only long-term value may be to awaken the residents of California to Newsoms shallow approach to governing the state and his reluctance to address Californias chronic problems.

Finally, theres the issue of Newsoms dereliction as the head of Californias administrative bureaucracy. There hasnt been a lot of reporting on the billions of dollars in fraud discovered in Californias unemployment insurance program, but it is an outrage and as the chief executive of the state, he bears ultimate responsibility.

When Newsom was elected governor, I had my doubts about him, primarily based on his performance as the mayor of San Francisco. Specifically, he made addressing the problem of homelessness a priority there but didnt move the ball an inch, and the problem of homelessness in San Francisco has only gotten worse since his departure. I was open to the possibility that he might do a good job as governor because he was Browns protege, had some business experience, and sounded like a moderate. By now, theres plenty of evidence that Newsom is out of his depth and lives in a bubble populated by his friends, supporters, and special interests. His failure to talk seriously about, or take any steps to address Californias chronic problems is the most glaring example. That is why I plan to vote in favor of the recall.

Image: Thomas Hawk

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
At first glance, the Chauvin sentence strikes me as middling  not as much as he deserves, more than might be expected from the "criminal justice system," at this point. At least we didn't hear the standard response to police misbehavior: "We have investigated and found no evidence of wrongdoing."

Perhaps a better way to look at it is that Chauvin is getting two years for every minute he squatted on a dying man's back. That's what he did. There has been a tendency since the May before last to turn the argument to legal technicalities, legal tricks to muddy the issue: "Well...y'know...it's not really murder...and it's not manslaughter, either...and not negligent homicide, sorta, in a way...so...I guess that's it, then. Good afternoon, officer, sorry to have inconvenienced you."

He squatted, like a malignant toad, on a dying man's back for nearly ten minutes. That's what's at issue here. It makes no difference that Floyd was a punk, a habitual offender who spent much of his adult life in prison. It makes no difference how high he was. It makes no difference what the semantics or legal terminology might be. That's what Chauvin was judged for, and that's what he'll do time for. You can't do what he did in God's country and just walk away.

And he will do his time. An appeal may well overturn the murder verdict, but not the manslaughter verdict. (For the record, I still believe that it was murder, and nothing will convince me otherwise. Look at the video. Look at his face, his eyes. It's the face of a Blokhin, a Mengele, or a Bundy. If that's your idea of a legitimate officer of the law, then God help you.)

Chauvin is going away for a long time, and we needn't waste any more thought on him. But we do need to curb any further influence he might have. The man is already responsible for triggering the worst series of riots in American history, for degrading his profession, and encouraging some of the foulest elements in American society. And doing it all quite willingly. At no point did Chauvin ever speak out in public to apologize or to call for calm. Even Rodney King, the L.A. George Floyd, did that. But not Derek Chauvin.

We also can't expect anything from the wokies and their military arms, Antifa and BLM. They've already forgotten about Chauvin. He's last year's news. They're waiting for the next incident that they can inflate into a synthetic apocalypse. (Isn't it curious that these always happen in "woke" areas? Portland, Atlanta, New York City, Chicago... Just take Minneapolis alone. Nobody has bothered to draw the lines between Chauvin and Mohammed Noor, the department's trophy Somalian who shot an innocent woman for no rational reason, or Kim Potter, the officer who somehow confused her heavy pistol with a lightweight taser and shot a man in suburban Brooklyn Park.)

We can't expect anything from our honest media. If it bleeds, it leads, and it seems that they bleed a lot more when a cop is involved.

We can't expect anything from the Dems, needless to say.

But can't we expect something from conservatives? Our team has a conviction that "the cops are on our side." This is based on nothing but wish-fulfillment fantasies and is the right-of-center equivalent of left-wing unicorn and butterfly daydreams. In truth, the cops are on the side of whoever controls their pensions, and that ain't you and me, playmates.

You have doubts? Look back on last summer. How many police forces in the beleaguered cities acted to fulfill their duties, do their jobs, and keep the public peace? I believe I'm correct in saying "zero." They all obeyed their leftist masters down to the last comma. How many cops protested? In those half-dozen cities, among all those hundreds of officers, I know of one: Seattle's chief of police, Carmen Best, who got up on her two feet and condemned the mayor and the administration and was sent packing forthwith. Nobody bothered to wave goodbye when she left.

Apart from that, we have the cops who arrested Kyle Rittenhouse, who was transparently and clearly defending himself from armed left-wing goons.

We have the cop who shot an unarmed woman in the U.S. Capitol and is being protected by the full force of the American government.

And here's an incident from just the other day, when a cop ordered the arrest of an American citizen standing in a public building attending a public meeting. Take a look at that smirking feeb. What do you expect from him? You expect him to come your aid? You expect him to help you?

The answer to that is a simple "no." Police forces are not living up to their responsibilities. If you think different, then your first encounter with the 21st century lies before you.

Image: Hennepin County Sheriff's Office.

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Montpelier, Vermont's capital city, canceled Independence Day celebrations under a shallow ruse that the pandemic posed a threat, instead encouraging Vermonters to attend an alternative African drumming exhibition collecting people from across and around the state. Invoking as its goal the "promotion of diversity," the city canceled the recognition of American First Principles that have always been celebrated on this same date and ground, demonstrating how supposed "diversity" is being used to extinguish American culture and is ideologically intolerant.

To those aware of the extreme toxicity of this city's council and mayor toward the Constitution and the First Amendment, this anti-American decision is unsurprising. It is highly unlikely Vermont will ever have a celebration of Independence Day in its capital again  its RINO governor has endorsed BLM, even telling BLM protesters during the pandemic that they were exempt from COVID restrictions.



Downtown Montpelier (photo credit: David Wilson, CC BY 2.0 license).

Following the George Floyd incident, Montpelier was one of the first jurisdictions in the nation to paint the "Black Lives Matter" message on a public thoroughfare  on State Street, in front of the Vermont State Capitol Building. When a group of political candidates filed a petition to paint an accompanying "Liberty and Justice For All" message, they were twice denied. Montpelier is an ultra-progressive Mecca in the cult of ultra-progressive in-tolerance. It is, like Critical Race Theory (CRT), the opposite of inclusion, or compassion, or reconciliation  it seeks strife, axes to grind, racial grievances to nurture into rage.

Vermont has completely reopened post-COVID, and its citizens are in desperate need of outdoor positive events for their mental and physical health. Instead, and replete with crocodile tears, the "extremely difficult decision" was made by this anti-American enclave to ixne the Fourth of July under the pathetic pretense of COVID and then announce a new Independence Day free from any such health concerns:

Events like July 3rd require many months of planning and careful coordination. Unfortunately, there is too much continued uncertainty for us to plan a safe and successful celebration this year[.] ... Please consider attending the Shidaa Projects July 3rd Celebration on the Statehouse Lawn instead! Shidaa Projects Inc., a non-profit organization focused on sharing West African Culture through dance, drumming and cultural education, invite you to celebrate Independence Day, as the city of Montpelier returns from the past year of COVID seclusion and inactivity. Shidaa will take to the State House Lawn July 3rd from 5-8 pm., with a goal to promote diversity by mobilizing drummers, dancers, and performers across multi-racial lines who share a similar vision to celebrate diversity in our city. This evening of music and dancing will include performances by: Stuart Paton and the Burlington Taiko drummers, Akwaaba Dance Ensemble (Manchester, NH), Jeh Kulu Drum and Dance Theater (Burlington), Karl Miller and his group Z-Jaz team (Montpelier) and Other Local Solo performers, including: Sara Grace (Montpelier), Julia Rose Riback (Rutland) and Jason Mallery (Montpelier).

Social justice ideology seeks to dismantle the Bill of Rights and the Constitution as tools of racist white oppression against blacks. It is unconstitutional for government to favor one political or religious view over others  CRT is both, and it deliberately seeks to obviate all constitutional safeguards. Vermont proves this for the world to see, as well as the sly deception of the so-called "goal to promote diversity"  a cultural event has been extinguished instead of tolerated alongside multiple alternatives. No doubt the African drummers are fantastic, but it is not diversity to schedule them so as to blot out a tradition.

Recently, a Vermont high school student was summarily dismissed from his job for daring to question CRT teachings in his school, at a forum created for that discussion. Vermont schools led the nation in displaying obviously partisan BLM flags and, now, teach white-hating racist poetry. White Vermonters are shamed for alleged silence, shamed even more sharply if they utter the least of dissents. This is a cult!

The canceling forever of public celebration of our national holiday in Vermont is just a preview of the extremist ideological agenda of Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden. Vermonters who understand this threat will be gathering in defiance of this contemptuous action by Montpelier on July 3 at the Vermont State House (at noon).

We the People will not be stymied by tyrants and their toxic hate  liberties and rights are not created by government, any more than the City of Montpelier owns Vermonters' public places, or controls how or when they celebrate their remarkable heritage.

John Klar writes on Vermont topics for True North Reports and can be found on Twitter and at vtliberty.net.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
The only thing that binds Americans is Big Ideas. We do not have shared skin colors, shared cultural backgrounds, or historic geographic enclaves. Instead, we have the idea that, as human beings, we are equal before God and the law and that, if we are left to enjoy America's constitutional liberties, we will thrive. Take away the belief in our universal commonalities and focus instead on a victim and victimizer hierarchy, and you will quickly erase the delicate bonds the make America a united and superbly successful country. It's a terrible idea, and it's what Biden just did in his latest executive order, targeting both Whites and men.

According to the Daily Caller:

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Friday that ensures that every part of the federal government will conduct race-conscious diversity training and engage in race-conscious hiring. The executive order "establishes an ambitious, whole-of-government initiative that will take a systematic approach to embedding DEIA [diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility] in Federal hiring and employment practices," according to a White House fact sheet. In practice, it will ensure that federal agencies employ tenets associated with Critical Race Theory (CRT) within their hiring practices and day-to-day activities. [snip] The executive order directs federal agencies to "develop strategic plans to eliminate any barriers to success faced by under-served employees." This will be felt through federal hiring, which will prioritize "communities that have historically faced employment discrimination and professional barriers, including people of color, women, first-generation professionals and immigrants, individuals with disabilities, [and] LGBTQ+ individuals." [snip] Notably, the order requires diversity trainings like the one conducted by Sandia National Laboratories, a government contractor that helps manage nuclear weapons. During a three-day "White Men's Caucus," male employees were required to recite "white privilege" and "male privilege" statements, according to leaked documents reported on by Manhattan Institute fellow Christopher Rufo. Trainers at the caucus told the participants that "white supremacists," "KKK," "Aryan Nation," "MAGA hat," "privileged" and "mass killings" were all associated with "white male culture."

Everything that Biden just mandated is illegal. The federal government is barred by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 from discriminating against people based on race, skin color, or sex. Yet that is precisely what it is doing. Merely forcing attendance at classes that denigrate and humiliate people based on race, color, or sex is illegal and abusive. On those bases alone, the executive order must be stopped instantly.

It's not just legal rules, though, that make this a strikingly horrific executive order. Critical Race Theory (CRT) is indistinguishable in species from the Nazi and KKK training that all decent people abhor  and that leftists are constantly claiming continues to exist as a clear and present danger to minorities.

By embracing CRT, the left is telling the American people that two wrongs do make a right. That is, even though systemic racism was made illegal in America in 1964 and had vanished almost entirely by the early 1980s, the only way to purge it from America, say Democrats, is to impose systemic racism against Whites. The same goes for the now extinct sexist policies that the left is claiming must be purged by telling the world that White men are especially toxic.

The leftists pushing this racist garbage know it's not about purifying America. This is about destroying America by destroying the ideas that bind this nation: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [the 18th-century word for humankind] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights[.]" Or as Biden, the most racist man to occupy the White House since Woodrow Wilson, calls this bold statement of equality and inherent rights, "You know...the thing."

The sad thing is that no one in the federal government is going to push back against this racist, sexist, illegal training. Employees and contractors will suck it up because of mortgages, school fees, etc. And the ignorant and vulnerable among them will believe it and begin to act on it with discrimination and, if they're crazy, with violence.

Image by Andrea Widburg.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
Many years ago, Marty Robbins sang about being in love with a Mexican girl in the West Texas town of El Paso. The next country song will be more like "clueless in El Paso."

At one point, things got so silly that Representative Veronica Escobar, the one who replaced Beto in the U.S. House, said El Paso was the new Ellis Island. Did someone tell her that people were actually checked at Ellis Island before they came into the country?

It was a bad day because V.P. Harris, and President Biden, have no idea of the mess that they started.

First, she went to El Paso, 600 miles from where the damage is. This is like visiting the Canary Islands to talk about the "root causes" in Guatemala. Let me add that a lot of Democrats in South Texas were hoping for Harris to visit them in McAllen or Brownsville. Maybe Harris did not want to shake hands with Javier Villalobos, the new GOP mayor of McAllen.

The whole trip was counterproductive, as reported by the New York Post:

Harris claims "we've made progress" on the crisis. Which is true, we suppose, if you consider skyrocketing growth in illegal crossings "progress." In May, detentions hit a 21-year monthly high of 180,000. Biden backed his veep's trip, saying she "set up the criteria" to "know what we need to do." Yet his firing of Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott on Wednesday is more proof his team is clueless: Scott didn't cause the surge; Biden's reversal of his predecessor's successful policies did  halting border-wall construction, putting a moratorium on deportations and ending the Remain in Mexico policy that saw migrants awaiting their case results outside the country. "Never listen to anyone who says you can't do something," Harris told a group of unaccompanied girls she met with. What bizarre advice to give to those sent alone as lawbreakers. Instead of announcing changes that would have a real effect, Harris' office released flattering quotations from her meeting with the girls, with one reportedly telling her, "You're an example to us."

Never listen?

Well, I think that a lot of people in South Texas are saying never listen to someone who does not have a clue or who is putting a pretty face on an ugly problem.

Harris got back on the plane and left a lot of people down here wondering what in the world this trip was all about anyway. For sure, it was not about resolving the problem. Maybe she had to get back on the jet because she's "Never Been to Spain."

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).

Image: Boston Public Library.

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Money has always been important in political campaigns, but now huge money donations come from international or globalist corporations, and most congressional legislation is no longer benefiting the nation or the average American.

There are political action committees or PACs, dark money, and non-profit educational corporations doing the ideological bidding of candidates. Even with money transparency laws for all political contributions and strict limits on campaign financing, money from independent groups will always find a way to support incumbents in direct and indirect ways.

It is no secret that a majority of politicians often spend more than half their time soliciting campaign funds for the next election. Changing this reality is really mission almost impossible.

To put it bluntly, the political system is rigged on the national and local levels. The duopoly of Democrats and Republicans reigns supreme, and any hope of a third party gaining popularity is highly improbable. Only about 10% of congressional elections are marginally competitive, with all mostly favoring incumbents, with about 90% of the money collected going to them.

It all begins in the primaries, where only about 20% of registered voters determine whether the incumbent will continue in power or be replaced by a rare upstart who has many unfair procedural rules to follow, all favoring the incumbent. Because of the near collapse of the establishment media's investigative reporting, calling out false attack ads and pointing out political corruption are becoming a lost art with little hope that political money corruption will surface in the foreseeable future.

Neal Simon, an unsuccessful independent Senate candidate in Maryland, has detailed how broken the political system is in his book Contract to Unite America: Ten Reforms to Reclaim Our Republic. He offers some ten ways to make the system more responsive to the American public. Simon has done a good job outlining what should be done and what probably won't be done in all fifty states at both the national and local levels.

It is very easy to become cynical and say nothing substantive can be done to improve U.S. politics.

At your peril, ignore politics, and hope it won't get much worse and result in a tyranny of corporate oligarchs and one-party rule. If you are an optimist and hope to make a political difference someday, then here are four excerpts of what Simon advocates to return some power back to American voters who historically and presently feel disenfranchised.

On the national level, a constitutional amendment to make term limits a reality. Two terms for senators and three for congressmen. This is an attempt to eliminate career politicians and somewhat reduce the incumbent campaign contributions necessary for political office.

On the national level, a campaign transparency act to reveal the donors of contributions of $100 or more and distinguishing between corporate and individual contributions. Perhaps this is the most important change needed because if you can follow the money, then it is often possible to publicly pinpoint the source of corruption and then take measures against this corruption.

On the national, which is actually local, level, civics education should become mandatory in all high schools so citizens are aware of what the Constitution says and what legal rights they have in the country.

On the local level, open primaries for all candidates along with a reduction in the number of ballot signatures to not more than 5,000 necessary to get on the voting roll.

On the local level, a politically unbiased drawing of congressional districts, although this is a difficult thing to legislate since independent commissions are often not truly independent and unbiased.

We must realize that if we can't get out of political gridlock, the American democratic republic will no longer be the gold standard for the constitutions of other countries in the world. Not only do we lack moral leadership in the world, but our political system is becoming a laughingstock of the world. Congressional gridlock and an addiction to deficit spending are rapidly plunging the economy into an abyss.

Current politics is largely a circus where most politicians sell their souls to the highest bidder.

I look at vehicle traffic with accidents a relative rarity, most riding relatively new cars, store shelves and Amazon filled with many products to buy. I look at humans going through self-check registers and standing in line  are all signs of civility. Basically everywhere that I go, I see orderly public behavior. I still have hope in the American people and know they will come through any crisis that may befall the nation. Life is good for me, and people are more resilient than we give them credit for. I recharge with much optimism for America every time I take a break from politics and go into public places.

Yes, I, fortunately, don't live in a crime-ridden urban poverty hellhole, but neither do most Americans. So nationwide, most Americans are doing just fine and have survived the pandemic without starving.

The political system is largely split, with much money corruption, but I am thankful that there are still some good people out there advocating reasonable reforms to a dysfunctional divided political system.

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
Violent crimes are soaring in places like New York City. The left has called for defunding the police, and as leftist politicians bow down to them, police are retiring in droves.

What does the queen of the far left have to say now that the news is getting out?

All that far-left socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez can offer is this: Don't be hysterical.

According to Fox News:

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D, N.Y., has expressed concern that recent headlines referring to spikes in crime across U.S. cities are stirring up "hysteria." "We are seeing these headlines about percentage increases," Ocasio-Cortez said during a conversation with New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman over Zoom. "Now, I want to say that any amount of harm is unacceptable and too much, but I also want to make sure that this hysteria, you know, that this doesn't drive a hysteria and that we look at these numbers in context so that we can make responsible decisions about what to allocate in that context."

This is really pretty...Marie-Antoinette, actually, given the $2 billion she voted for her own personal security in Congress, as Fox noted, later down in the report.

And even more amusingly, it's projecting, given her own record of hysteria. Remember this?

I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where theres common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out.



Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that arent trying to get me killed.



In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign. https://t.co/4mVREbaqqm  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 28, 2021

And all her "therapy" and "trauma" and tears and flapdoodle? She wasn't even in the building when the Jan. 6 fracas happened.

Compare and contrast to being pushed in front of an oncoming subway in New York City based on being Asian. Or robbed and looted as real rioters get let off. Or being shot at in a police car. The list of crimes in New York goes on and on and on.

The real story here that Ocasio-Cortez is trying to minimize as "hysteria" and sweep the problem under the rug, just as the actual alarm is being felt at places like the New York Times and obviously on the much of the left, where pro-police mayoral candidate Eric Adams is holding a commanding lead in the ranked-choice voting election, which will likely be determined by July 12.

According to Paul Mirengoff at Power Line:

The New York Times reports that crime is starting to worry "progressives"  not the phenomenon, but the politics of it. I don't know whether progressives in general are worried, but the ones at the Times sure are. This Times article focuses on the success of Eric Adams in the Democratic mayoral primary. The Times frets that the winner of the race (at least in terms of the popular vote) "focused much of his message on exposing progressive slogans and policies that he said threatened the lives of 'Black and brown babies' and were pushed by 'many young, white and rich' people." That's hitting awfully close home for the New York Times. The Times acknowledges that Adams' message resonated with Black and Latino voters, constituencies upon which Democrats depend. It quotes Hakeem Jefferson, a Stanford political science professor. In Jefferson's view, there's a disconnect between these voters and the Democratic left. Says Jefferson, "the middle black voter is not AOC and is actually closer to Eric Adams." Bernie Sanders, who unsuccessfully courted black voters in two separate campaigns, would probably agree, at least privately.

Those black and Latino voters voted for Ocasio-Cortez in her district in the Bronx and Queens in 2020...but they flooded to Adams in this particular election, giving Adams his surprise showing, which will likely end in victory. That's some kind of sea change, and it's the result of the left's demonization and defunding of police. Most criminals caught by police who are black are not helpless victims of police "racism," but in fact are the result of someone in the black or brown community who became a victim and called the cops on them.

That inconvenient fact doesn't mesh with Ocasio-Cortez's world vision about defunding the police and ending prisons, and it's not at all surprising. As Adams said: It's a rich whitey thing to inflict crime on non-white people. Ocasio-Cortez is basically one of them. Unlike her voters, she was raised in a rich, white neighborhood north of the Bronx, and not in the place where the crime is occurring and the voters are responding. Her perspective is identical to that of the rich white wokester cited by Adams in the Mirengoff piece. She's as elite and out of touch as the rich whites because that's all she knows.

So, naturally, she plays the comic role of trying to shunt the problem aside with phony claims about "hysteria." That's something men do to shut women up, as lefties say. There she goes, playing insensitive white again, claiming to be Miss Probity and warn against "hysteria."

The problem is mostly hers, as the Adams voters come in large numbers from her congressional district. She's up for re-election again in 2022, and she's basically a fool to be talking like this given that the Adams revolution is right at her doorstep. From our point of view, keep talking, bozo. New York's voters are listening carefully these days.

Image: Screen shot from shareable Vogue video posted on YouTube, filtered with FotoSketcher.

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Hospitals and individual physicians that refuse to commit abortion, assisted suicide, genital mutilation in the name of "sex change," and certain other practices seem to enrage those who have no ethical qualms about such practices. It is not enough for the critics to affirm their own lack of moral scruples; they want to bully those who object to those practices into submission and active affirmation. Or else, suffer punishments...from taxpayer-funded organizations.

The Catholic News Agency reports:

The regents of the University of California have advanced a proposal that could end longtime partnerships with Catholic hospitals, as well as with other hospitals whose ethics bar participation in assisted suicide, abortion or transgender-affirmative care.



St. Mary's Medical Center in San Francisco, one of the many hospitals that would be punished.

The partnerships at issue allow physicians to do their residencies (a very important part of medical training) at hospitals.

The University of California Board of Regents chairman John Perez successfully included an amendment to a proposed policy that would push out University of California-partnered hospitals through "policy-based restrictions" on health care by 2023, the Sacramento Bee reported. The policies in question are ethical policies related to prohibitions on abortion procedures, assisted suicide, in vitro fertilization, "gender-affirming care" for self-identified transgender people, and "end of life services," a euphemism for assisted suicide. (snip) The proposed changes appear to target the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Ethical and Religious Directives, last revised in 2018, which aim to ensure ethical treatment at Catholic hospitals. Other amendments proposed by Perez say partner hospitals must provide procedures to all people on a non-discriminatory basis, and must provide emergency services when transferring a patient to another facility would be detrimental to them. It is unclear how broad the non-discrimination proposal will be, but some advocates contend that failure of hospitals to provide abortion discriminates against women, and failure to provide "sex change" surgery discriminates against the self-identified transgender population.

The move is not final:

The board of regents approved Perez's amendments to the proposed policy on June 23. It has 60 days to consider the proposal and make a final determination.

And the proposal does recognize that the bullying would reduce the care available to patients in areas with limited facilities (emphasis added):

"The university recognizes that such restrictions limit services for women, LBGTQ+ people, and those facing death, and therefore are not aligned with UC values," said the proposal. "However, affiliations with organizations that have adopted such policies provide thousands of patients with access to (UC health) providers they would not otherwise encounter, thus expanding clinical access, and make available opportunities for critical educational rotations that the university is unable to offer on its own."

And the president of the U.C. system (a physician) recognizes the downside:

University of California president Michael Drake has urged the regents to preserve the hospital partnerships, because they help provide mutual access for University of California Healthcare and people in more rural locations distant from the chain's medical centers. In Merced, the site of a University of California campus, the Catholic-run Dignity Health system operates the only hospital.

But to advocates of the bullying, the real cost to patients matters not at all. The key issue is "discrimination" (that is, the refusal to provide services that violate the individual or institutional consciences). See this column by a Los Angeles Times business writer, titled, "UC regents push back, finally, against Catholic healthcare restrictions." The column does not contain the word "moral" or "morality."

Many in the UC community considered any such restriction to be an infringement on "the university's commitment to provide treatment based on the best scientific information available," as the UC Academic Senate observed in a May 11 letter to UC President Michael V. Drake, a physician. "It goes against the university's obligation ... not to discriminate against any individuals," the letter said.

Even if the U.C. regents fail to approve the bullying, the state Legislature may act.

The board of regents' proposal echoes a proposal in the state legislature from State Sen. Scott Weiner, D-San Francisco. His Equitable and Inclusive University of California Healthcare Act, S.B. 379, would require the University of California health system to renegotiate agreements with Catholic hospitals. The hospitals would be forced to allow their staff to provide all care deemed medically necessary, or to end their links to the state university medical system. Co-sponsors of the legislation include the ACLU of California, NARAL Pro-Choice California, and Equality California.

Compelling doctors and hospitals to violate their consciences and compelling religious institutions to violate their theology is totalitarian.

Photo credit: St. Mary's Medical Center.




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India overtakes USA in Coronavirus Vaccination drive:- The second wave of coronavirus is slowly calming down in the country. A total number of 46,148 cases are reported in India in the last 24 hours and the total number of cases reached 3,02,79,331. As per the reports coming from the Union Health Ministry, a total number of 58,578 recoveries are reported in the last 24 hours and the total number of recoveries reached 3,02,79,331. 979 deaths are reported in the last 24 hours and the total death tally reached 3,96,730. As per the reports from the Union Health Ministry, the total recovery rate in India reached 96.80 percent. India overtook the United States as per the total vaccine doses administered by Sunday.

A total number of 31,69,40,160 vaccine doses are provided and the total consumption including wastages is 30,54,17,617 doses. The United States has given 32.33 crore doses of coronavirus vaccine till date. Close to 5.6 percent of adults in India are vaccinated for now. "India's vaccination drive keeps gaining momentum! Congrats to all those who are driving this effort. Our commitment remains vaccines for all, free for all (sic)" tweeted Narendra Modi. The Indian government said that the Delta Plus variant is more infectious and is spreading on a fast note. The total number of active cases for coronavirus dropped down to 5.2 lakhs.

Indias vaccination drive keeps gaining momentum!



Congrats to all those who are driving this effort.



Our commitment remains vaccines for all, free for all.



 ,   https://t.co/VK15ZPHMUm  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 28, 2021

As per the reports from the Indian Council of Medical Research, the total samples that are tested for coronavirus in the country on June 27th are said to be 15,70,515 and the total samples tested in the country till date reached 40,63,71,279.
Samsung isnt at all happy about a rumored LG decision to sell Apple products at its LG Best Shop locations. And it plans to do something about it, according to new reports stemming from the two companies shared home region of South Korea.

In fact, if theres any weight to the rumors at all, Samsung is betting on an agreement signed between itself and LG to intervene. Albeit, not in the way that agreement might seem to suggest. Instead, the company hopes to convince LG indirectly to sell its own Galaxy lineup at LG Best Shop. Allegedly, by demanding that the three biggest carriers in the region pressure LG into doing so.

What agreement does Samsung say that LG broke in the purported Apple deal?

Now, as noted above, the latest reports follow other allegations that LG would soon start selling iPhones and other iOS products in its dedicated storefronts. But such a deal would allegedly be impossible, according to an agreement signed between Samsung and LG. While LG claims that the sale of Apple products doesnt violate the Samsung agreement, the latter company disagrees.

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Summarily, the agreement, signed in 2018, allows only LG phones to be sold at LG-run stores. And Samsung can, subsequently, sell only its own phones at its shops. The goal of the agreement was to prevent Samsung or LG shops from driving consumers away from smaller shops.

LG and Samsung collectively owned a significant portion of the market share. At least, thats before LG left the smartphone business. So being able to purchase both at either would effectively nullify the point of those smaller retailers.

LGs disagreement may not be without merit

From LGs perspective, the deal doesnt necessarily negate its ability to sell iPhones, iPads, and other gadgets. Although it allegedly wont sell Apples laptops or desktops, since that may undermine its own businesses on those fronts. The company currently has over 400 of its LG Best Shop locations in the region.

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The company indicates that there is a clause in the agreement that allows renegotiation. And, pertinently enough, that renegotiation is meant to happen when large changes happen, which LG leaving mobile behind arguably fits with. At least one official, according to reports, agrees with LGs position. But it remains to be seen if the company will be able to push forward with its Apple deal.
Huawei may be down but definitely not out. The beleaguered Chinese giant, whose chip supply has been cut out by the US sanctions, is now reportedly looking to build its own wafer fabrication plant. According to a DigiTimes report, Huawei will set up its first wafer fab in Wuhan, Hubei province of China. It expects to start production at the new factory as early as next year, though not in full capacity.

Huawei will initially make optical communication chips and modules, as well as microcircuit designs, at the pant. But in the long run, the company could also produce advanced semiconductor chips including smartphone SoCs at its new HiSilicon factory.

HiSilicon, if you dont already know, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Huawei. The company designs Kirin chipsets for the Chinese giant. However, like many other chipmakers out there, it is also a fabless company. It designs its own chipsets but outsources the actual manufacturing to other companies, Taiwans TSMC, in its case.

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TSMC is one of the very few companies that own chip fabrication plants, with Samsung and Intel being the other big names in the industry. Perhaps the limited number of chip manufacturers is a primary reason for the ongoing global semiconductor chip shortage, though thats a story for another day.

Since the US sanctions prevent TSMC from manufacturing chips for HiSilicon, Huawei is now looking to build its own wafer fab. The company will reportedly invest 1.9 billion Yuan (approx. 278 billion USD) in the project that will help it become more self-sufficient.

Huawei aims to become more self-sufficient by building its own wafer fab

Huawei has become a shadow of itself since the US government put it on the countrys Entity List back in May 2019. Updated sanctions a year later cut the companys access to American technologies. The effect is that it cannot offer Google Mobile Services (GMS) on its phones.

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Worst yet, its chipmaking subsidiary HiSilicon can no longer make Kirin chipsets for the company. As a recent Strategy Analytics report revealed, HiSilicon suffered an 88 percent decline in application processor shipment in Q1 2021. The global industry grew 21 percent during the same period.

This poor show fueled speculations that Huawei may spin-off HiSilicon as it did with its HONOR sub-brand. However, it appears the company has no such plans. It sees a bigger picture and is looking to make HiSilicon self-sufficient.

The latest report comes just weeks after a Huawei executive confirmed that the company intends to keep HiSilicon intact. There are no plans for layoffs even if it doesnt contribute to earnings, Catherine Chen, a Huawei director and senior vice president, told Nikkei Asia. The company will continue research on semiconductor technology even if it doesnt make chips anymore.

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Since Huawei is a privately-held company, theres no investor pressure. As such, it could continue operations at HiSilicon for as long as it wants, Chen said. The Chinese giant is also hoping other countries to come up with their own chip supply chain that doesnt rely on American technology. It will now be interesting to see how things pan out.
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A health worker inoculates a young cricketer with the jab of Covishield vaccine against the Covid-19 coronavirus during a vaccination drive at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad on June 28, 2021.
(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 28 - Talks between Premier Mario Draghi and United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Rome Monday focused on climate change and the Libyan crisis, as well fighting the COVID pandemic, renewed US-EU ties and bilateral relations, sources said after the meeting at Palazzo Chigi.

The talks, they said, touched on bilateral ties in the broader context of transatlantic relations and on the need to give concrete followup to the renewed climate of strong harmony and collaboration between the EU and the US.

The pair examined the main global and systemic challenges, such as the fight against the pandemic, economic and social recovery and fighting climate change, as well as the most important international crises, with specific attention on instability in the Mediterranean region and on Libya, the sources said. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 28 - ISIS has been beaten in territorial terms but not yet eradicated, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said opening an anti-Daesh coalition ministerial meeting in Rome Monday.

"Daesh has been defeated in its territorial dimension, but it has not been eradicated, That is why Italy, with over 800 units deployed between Iraq and Kuwait, will continue to maintain in Iraq, while respecting Iraqi sovereignty and in full agreement with Baghdad, a significant military contingent with the aim of making the country able to address the threat autonomously," he said.

Italy is gearing to up its part in the NATO mission in Iraq and to take command after Denmark's duty presidency ends, he added.

Di Maio went on to say that the Islamic State poses a threat to Africa and an ad hoc working group was needed on this threat.

"Precisely because of the significance gained by Daesh's threat in Africa today," he said, "I propose to the partners of the Coalition to examine the possibility of setting up a Working Group dedicated to Africa, to face the issues in their entirety, beyond the thematic Working Groups already existing. A Group that valorises to the best the participation of African Countries interested in providing their contribution." United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the global coalition fighting ISIS had achieved "significant results" that "reflect what you can achieve together".

He reiterated that "we have made progress" against Daesh "because we have worked together".

The US is co-chairing the meeting with Italy.

Di Maio said that the summit highlighted the fact that the international spotlight had been trained onto Italy again and "we are back as protagonists". (ANSA).


Gaza: provision of fuel for power plant resumes Israel eases blockade on Strip to support truce

(ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, JUNE 28 - Provisions of fuel for the electrical power plant of Gaza resumed on Monday as part of measures to ease a blockade on the Gaza Strip decided in an attempt to support the truce with Hamas.



Public Israeli radio Kan said this effort is supported by Egyptian diplomacy and by Qatar, which has partly funded fuel for Gaza. According to the broadcaster, for the moment the issue of access to Gaza of millions of dollars coming from Qatar remains unresolved. The money is meant to pay salaries and support poor families.



For its authorization, Israel intends to receive from Hamas a pledge to maintain calm along the border. If this will happen, the broadcaster concluded, by the end of the week crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel will be reopened. (ANSAmed).




Dominic Raab and counterparts from more than 50 countries have affirmed their commitment to eliminating threats from the so-called Islamic State, in their first in-person meeting since 2019.

The Foreign Secretary announced that the UK is committing an extra 12.6 million to efforts to counter IS, also known as Daesh, through regionally-led military intervention and encouraging fighters to leave the terrorist group.

The Global Coalition Against Daesh met in Rome on Monday and issued a joint statement afterwards, in which they expressed grave concerns about the growing threat of terrorism in Africa.

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Money from the UK will focus on efforts in the Lake Chad Basin in West Africa  which covers north-east Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad  where ISs affiliate known as Islamic State West Africa (ISWA) is responsible for violence.

The foreign ministers also stressed their collective determination to prevent an IS resurgence in Iraq and Syria, and said they would address the drivers that make communities vulnerable to recruitment by terror groups.

A joint statement issued after the meeting said: The Ministers committed to strengthening cooperation across all Coalition lines of effort in order to ensure that Daesh/Isis Core in Iraq and Syria, and its affiliates and networks around the world are unable to reconstitute any territorial enclave or continue to threaten our homelands, people, and interests.

The Ministers remain firmly united in our outrage at atrocities perpetrated by Daesh/Isis and in our determination to eliminate this global threat, and stand alongside survivors and families of victims of Daesh/Isis crimes working for accountability.

Mondays meeting in Rome, co-hosted by Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, marked the first time coalition has met in person since November 2019.

In a speech at the meeting announcing the new funding, Mr Raab told his counterparts: The UK will maintain troops deployed in support of operations in Syria and Iraq.

We will continue to support stabilisation, and we will continue to lead Coalition efforts to puncture and disrupt Daesh propaganda, undermining their efforts to recruit and incite attacks.

The foreign ministers also reaffirmed their intent to hold the next meeting of the coalition by June 2022.
Historic amnesia around Britains colonial past on the syllabus is a blatant political function to divide the working classes, an MP has said.

Labour MP for Streatham Bell Ribeiro-Addy made the comments during a debate about the teaching of black history after a petition demanding it become a mandatory part of the curriculum attracted 270,000 signatures.

Ms Ribeiro-Addy said the UKs historical amnesia around slavery, colonialism and its own civil rights movement serves as a pretty blatant function in our political discourse.

She continued: Obscuring the past victories of the oppressed and marginalised does not help prevent it from being repeated.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Ms Ribeiro-Addy said a similar amnesia existed around the battle for rights by the working classes, such as the miners strikes, the poll tax riots and the history of the trade unions.

She said she feared there was an ideological reason behind the Governments resistance to change.

Because if working class kids learn about movements for change and if they learn about just how much power they have as citizens, whats to stop them from recognising parallels about whats going on in the present? she said.

Also whats to stop them from mounting effective challenges and bringing about change?

The UK Government has waded into a number of attempts by educational institutions to address their colonial past in recent months.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden told the Museum of the Home in Shoreditch, east London, it must retain and explain its controversial statue of slave trader Robert Geffrye after a petition was launched calling for its removal.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson criticised a group of Oxford students who reportedly voted to remove a picture of the Queen from their common room due to the monarchys links with colonialism.

Mr Williamson branded the decision to remove the portrait simply absurd when the news broke earlier this month.

During Mondays debate, Labour MP Claudia Webbe said the aims of the petition are not new, noting in 1999 the inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence recommended the mandatory teaching of black history in schools.

The MP for Leicester East used the example of the lack of teaching around British massacres of the Kikuyu people during the Mau Mau Uprising in the 1950s as an example of the UKs historical amnesia.

This is recent history, where members of the Kikuyu tribe were systematically tortured, starved, mistreated and raped, she said.

Ms Webbe added: If we are to end the scourge of institutional racism and the destructive legacy of colonialism, it is vital that children and young people are taught their true history.

She accused the Government of orchestrating a troubling project to pit working class communities against one another to distract from the real cause of inequality and injustice.

The Government must recognise they risk being on the wrong side of history, they must abandon their divisive culture wars and commit to introducing an accurate and diverse curriculum, she said.

Labour MP Chris Evans noted that while many students learn about the American civil rights movement, very few are taught the full reality of Britains role in the slave trade.

Where students learn about the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Britains role in this is often simplified, or just a small part of their study, he said.

He added: Even fewer learn how British involvement in the global slave trade shaped the economics, politics, empire building and industrialisation.

The MP for Islwyn said: I suspect we feel more comfortable looking at discrimination perpetuated by Americans than we do taking a closer look at our own history.

Elsewhere Afzal Khan, Labour MP for Manchester Gorton, said the current curriculum eliminates or misrepresents the contributions of black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in Britain.

He added: We gloss over colonialism and depict racism a historical artefact rather than a current and lived reality and in doing so we fail our young people.

Without concerted Government action to embed diversity and anti-racism at every level of our education system all our children will miss out on learning about the wonderful richness of our society, he said.

Gillian Keegan, minister for apprenticeships and skills, told the debate that Political power, industry and empire: Britain 1745 to 1901 was a mandatory theme in history, but that teachers can choose different topics within the theme.

Teachers have freedom over the precise details so they can teach lessons that are right for their pupils, she said.

At the same time the teaching of any issue at schools should be consistent with the principles of balance and objectivity.

She added: We believe that good teaching in history should always include the contribution of black and minority ethnic people to Britains history, as well as the study of different countries and cultures around the world.
Born to make her happy. Britney Spears is getting plenty of support from boyfriend Sam Asghari after her emotional courtroom address, a source exclusively tells Us Weekly.

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After the Wednesday, June 23, hearing, the Toxic singer, 39, flew to Hawaii with her security team and her beau. Asghari, 27, made adjustments to ensure he could focus on Spears well-being after her 24-minute testimony, in which she stated how the conservatorship negatively affects her life.

Sam made sure his schedule was clear the week after the hearing to be there for her 100 percent and support her, the insider tells Us.

The personal trainer met Spears when he was in her 2016 Slumber Party music video. Their relationship went Instagram official in January 2017, and theyve been going strong ever since.

Britney Spears and Sam Asghari

The Iranian model loves her unconditionally, and he has been making every effort to make sure the Crossroads star knows how he feels. Shes been super emotional so hes making sure shes loved and treating her like a princess, the source adds.

The duo returned to a resort they love in Hawaii where the staff knows Spears as one of their kindest guests. The Circus performer is enjoying herself with Sam, during the low-key vacation. Theyre tanning, swimming and snapping plenty of pics while theyre in the gorgeous locale.

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The fitness expert is also making sure Spears takes care of herself. Theyre cooking delicious food, and eating fresh and healthy meals, the insider explains. Shes eating clean and working out with Sam as a form of detox to help her body mentally and spiritually.

The relaxing getaway comes after the former Las Vegas headliner claimed the conservatorship meant she was forced to use birth control and couldnt get married or expand her family without approval.

I would like to progressively move forward, and I want to have the real deal. I want to be able to get married and have a baby. I was told right now in the conservatorship, Im not able to get married or have a baby, she told the court. I have a (IUD) inside of myself right now so I dont get pregnant. I wanted to take the (IUD) out so I could start trying to have another baby.

Britney Spears and Sam Asghari at the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood premiere

Spears continued, alleging that her guardians wont allow her to remove the contraceptive device. This so-called team wont let me go to the doctor to take it out because they dont want me to have children  any more children, the mother of two said. So basically, this conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good. I deserve to have a life.

She shares children Sean, 15, and Jayden, 14, with ex-husband Kevin Federline. The two finalized their divorce in 2007.

The Mickey Mouse Club alums conservatorship started in 2008. According to her testimony last week, she was unaware that she could petition to end the adult guardianship.

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Her father, Jamie Spears, is in charge of her finances along with Bessemer Trust. Jodi Montgomery is the conservator of her person, which means she can make medical decisions. Judge Brenda Penny suggested Montgomery file a care plan with the court to detail Spears medical plans.

I have to be in agreement to this care plan, Britney interjected at the time. I cant be forced to do what I dont want to do.
IAF with the help of forensic experts has begun an internal probe into the incident that took place overnight

Special security force arrives at Air Force Station after two low intensity explosions reported in the technical area of Jammu Air Force Station in the early hours of Sunday. (Photo:PTI)

SRINAGAR: Seen as a major security lapse, the disquieting twin blasts in the highly-sensitive Air Force Station (AFS) at Jammu are likely to be investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The Indian Air Force (IAF) has with the help of forensic experts has begun an internal probe into the incident that took place overnight, leaving two personnel with minor injuries and a barracks marginally damaged.

Soon after hearing about the incidents, a team of NIA rushed to the spot for the initial evidence gathering, the sources said.

The IAF and J&K police sources in Jammu said that two explosions, within a gap of five minutes, rocked the high-security technical area of Air Force Station (AFS) on the outskirts of Jammu the intervening night of June 26-27, causing minor damage to a barracks. Though Jammu-based defence spokesperson Lt Col Davendra Anand claimed that there was no injury to any personnel or any damage to equipment, sources said that two IAF personnel had received minor injuries.

The first blast occurred at 1.37 am and the second one at 1.42 am. The IAF tweeted, Two low intensity explosions were reported early Sunday morning in the technical area of Jammu Air Force Station. One caused minor damage to the roof of a building while the other exploded in an open area. There was no damage to any equipment. Investigation is in progress along with civil agencies.

Officials said that most probably drones were used for dropping bombs, but the investigators are also examining the possible sabotage from within angle. Sources said that the possible target of the act was the aircraft parked in the dispersal area.

A defence official who spoke to this newspaper on the condition of anonymity said, "The perpetrators may have failed to inflict fatalities or major damage to aircraft or equipment, it is a serious lapse which needs serious action."

Defence minister Rajnath Singh, before leaving for Leh on a three-day visit of Ladakh, spoke to Vice Air Chief Air Marshal Harjit Singh Arora regarding the explosions. A report said that Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria who is on a three-day visit to Bangladesh will soon reach Jammu for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation.

Soon after the blasts, a security alert was issued for all airports, air stations and vital installations across J&K and Ladakh. Also, tight vigil is being maintained near key installations in Pathankot in neighbouring Punjab. On January 2, 2016, a terror attack was carried out by a heavily armed group at the Pathankot AFS which is part of the Western Air Command of the IAF, leaving five attackers and six security personnel dead.

The sources and witnessed said that while a team of IAF officials along with forensic experts and a bomb disposal squad reached the scene of occurrence within the AFS Jammu immediately, those of the NIA and J&K police which has registered an FIR under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the case and also officials of Central intelligence agencies were seen entering the premises at first light. Simultaneously, a massive search operation was launched outside the AFS. Media persons were not allowed to walk beyond the main entrance to the station "for security reasons."

The sources said that a team of the National Security Guard (NSG), the elite counter-terrorism unit under the Union home ministry, is also reaching the AFS.

The incident did not affect routine flight operations from the Jammu Airport, the officials said. The airport is manned by the IAF in Satwari of Jammu. "All flight operations were normal and as many as 16 flights scheduled for the day operated between Jammu and Delhi, Srinagar, Leh and Gwalior. Only two flights, G8 185 and SG 963, were cancelled for the day due to operational reasons,",said Jammu Airport director Pravat Ranjan Beuria.

Sources and that while the security agencies are looking into whether drones were used to drop an IED payload inside the AFS, located just 14 km from the India-Pakistan border, to trigger the blasts. They said that weapons and narcotic drugs have been dropped as far as 12 km inside Indian territory using drones in the recent past.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs the Department of Local Affairs Innovative Affordable Housing Strategies bill into law at the construction site of Basalt Vista, the 27-home affordable housing complex co-created by Pitkin County, the town of Basalt, Habitat for Humanity and Roaring Fork Schools. Pictured behind him (from right): Pitkin County Commissioner Greg Poschman, Colorado Rep. Dylan Roberts, Pitkin County Commissioner Patti Clapper, Colorado Rep. Julie McCluskie and Basalt Vista stakeholders, including a Habitat for Humanity representative.
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BEV

SUV

EV

The 2024 Honda Prologues name symbolizes the first in a new series of volume Honda BEV models, as the company aims to have a zero-emission lineup in North America by 2040, consisting of(battery electric vehicles) and fuel cell (hydrogen cars).Out first volume Honda BEV (battery electric vehicle) will begin our transition to electrification and the name Honda Prologue signals the role it will play in leading to our zero-emission future", said Honda Americas executive VP, Dave Gardner. The Prologue will provide our customers with a battery-electric SUV, with the excellent functionality and packaging theyve come to expect from Honda.According to the Japanese automaker, North Americas 2024 Prologue will be built around a flexible global platform, developed in partnership with General Motors , and will use Ultium batteries.More details about it will be announced in the coming months, Honda said, adding that its electric plans also include an Acura for 2024. This one will also use the same nuts and bolts as the Prologue, and it might very well be a rebadged version, with more luxury appointments, which would allow it to take on the likes of premium electric crossovers, though this assumption is best taken with the proverbial pinch of salt.Furthermore, Hondas global CEO, Toshihiro Mibe, said back in April that the automaker is looking to achieve carbon-neutrality for its products and corporate activities by 2050. As a result, it needs to boost its sales ratio of battery-electric and fuel cell vehicles in North America from 40% by 2030, to 80% by 2035 and ultimately to 100% by 2040.
Chinas Zhurong rover driving along the surface of Mars! pic.twitter.com/LOOsn1tOOS  Everything Space (@totalspace360) June 27, 2021

To date, five rovers made in America, at least partially, have been sent to the Red Planet. They are the Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity , Curiosity, and Perseverance. Of them, only two are presently still active, the Curiosity and the recently arrived Perseverance, and theyre accompanied by a tiny helicopter called Ingenuity.Each of the five land-based pieces of hardware sent up there by the Americans is extraordinary in one way or another. A good chunk of them far exceeded their initial life expectancy, some have made discoveries no one expected, while others (or should we say pretty much all of them) have sent back precious data and images that kept keep scientists busy and the public in the loop.Even if you personally are not all that interested in space exploration in general or the exploits of the human-made rover on Mars in particular, chances are you at least once saw a photo of the planet sent back by the said rovers or a selfie portraying one of them surrounded by the surreal Martian landscape.Theyre extraordinary stills, revealing a world our race might eventually end up colonizing, a future home for the generations to come. They also reveal how, at times, the lack of an idea so simple it should seem obvious to all allows others to take the lead.The American photos of Mars show just the desolate landscape, or the motionless rovers from awkward angles, at times weirdly distorted on account of a large number of shots being stitched together for a more panoramic look.To date, despite decades of experience, American engineers didnt think of sending to the planet a wireless camera one of the rovers could plant in the soil and snap the first, proper photo of a human-made wheeled machine on Mars.Also, despite decades of experience, the Americans didnt consider for one bit they could use that camera to snap an actual video of the rovers moving on the reddish surface of the neighboring piece of rock, making this entire Mars exploration thing much more real for us here on Earth.The Chinese did both in the span of a single month.As you might already know, back in May, the Asian nation became the second to land a rover on Mars. Zhurong is how its called, and while its not supposed to live for long, it has already made history.Shortly after it came down from its lander, it planted a wireless camera in the Martian soil and moved away some 30 feet (10 meters) to take a photo of itself and the lander, Chinese flag includedthat reminds me, when's the last time you've seen the American flag on Mars?That happened in mid-June, but now, as the month is drawing to a close, the Chinese released something even better: actual footage of the Zhurong moving away from the camera (check tweet attached below), which, if I am not mistaking, is the first time humans can experience a rover from this perspective.China is a very propaganda-conscious nation and one that has ambitions of colonizing the solar system. It has these ambitions since about the same time as the Americans, but it is only in the past two decades or so that they have really taken off.Thats because China is pumping huge amounts of resources into space exploration. In the span of a few short years, the country sent its people to space, landed on Mars, and sent a crew to a space station it just began building in orbit this month.The scary (or encouraging, depending on which side of the fence you're on) part is that this whole space thing seems to come natural to the Chinese, who make it look all easy and simple.It might be a big gamble, but if I were a betting man, Id put my money on China becoming the first to send people to Mars, and who knows, even set up a colony there.
So far, two companies are involved in the program, Sikorsky with the SB-1 Defiant and Bell with the V-280 Valor. The former is a compound helicopter with coaxial rotors, while the latter a tiltrotor machine, and both are in their final stages of development.The Valor , which will end the supremacy of the V-22 Osprey in this particular tiltrotor segment, is described as twice as fast and capable as other vertical lift aircraft. It can reach a top speed of 345 mph (555 kph) and fly for as much as 575 miles (925 km), carrying with it a crew of four and an additional 12 soldiers or, when it cargo configuration, payloads weighing as much as 12,000 lbs (5.4 metric tons).At the end of last week, its maker, Bell, announced that it is getting ready to transition the aircraft from testing stage to getting it ready for the Army's specific fighting needs.The company has been flying the Valor since three years ago, during which time it was in the air for 214 hours during 15 sorties, and checked all the boxes when it comes to low-speed agility, long-range cruise, high-speed flights, and rapid mission systems integration.Now comes the time to focus on preliminary designs for major subsystems and the conceptual weapons systems, says the company, which should be ready in line with the Armys schedule.Bell has already begun assigning contracts for the production version Valor, with France-based multinational corporation Safran Landing Systems being tasked back in May with providing the main landing gear, tail landing gear, wheels and brakes, extension/retraction system, steering, and indication sensors.No official date for when the aircraft will enter service is known.
As an '80s kid, I used to drool over our neighbor's B MW E21 3 Series , though back then I only knew it was a BMW and that it had a Rolling Stones tongue sticker on the windshield - well, that it had A tongue sticker since I had no idea who the Rolling Stones were. More importantly, though, despite my limited knowledge, I could still sense it was a much superior car to the one we owned.In retrospect, I can now tell it was either a 316i or a 318i because it had the single headlights design, with the double layout reserved for the more potent 320i. Well, calling it "potent" may sound a bit ridiculous by today's standards since it only made 109 hp, but considering it weighed next to nothing and had no power steering, driving it must have been quite an experience.Being a BMW 3 Series, albeit the first generation, the E21 is still reasonably easy to come by, which means it's hardly a collector's piece. Even so, we can't say seeing one in such a horrible state as the one in the clip below doesn't hurt, particularly for someone with an emotional connection with the model such as myself.The video states the Bimmer had been abandoned for over ten years, and seeing the state it's in, we tend to believe them. Not only that but it also slept in a poorly sealed shed, so while it did have a roof over its head, it was hardly completely isolated from the elements.Given the way its body looks, we'd be surprised if it was in anything close to pristine shape even back when it was first discarded there. The engine, on the other hand - a four-cylinder carburetor-fed unit - had no problem firing back to life with minimum interventions. A new battery was obviously required.With the tires inflated, the BMW was ready for its long overdue outing. Make no mistake, the German two-door sedan (you can't really call it a "coupe") looked and, even more so, sounded terribly (the exhaust either had a massive hole in it or there just wasn't any), yet all the major components seemed to work just fine. The driver even briefly switched on the indicators despite being in the middle of a field, showing he didnt lack a sense of humor.It's always a nice feeling seeing these cars brought back to life, but this clip ends on a very sad note. After taking the BMW out for a spin, instead of taking it to shop for a complete restoration, they just drive it back into the derelict shed where it will probably sleep for ten more years. It feels similar to taking a lion out of the zoo for a stroll in the Serengeti, only to lock it back behind bars when it's done. Yes, it's just a car, but it definitely deserves more than that.
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kWh

With a U.S. inventory said to have been at the lowest point over the last 12 months, the BMW i3 will be discontinued in July 2021, BMWBlog reports, citing a dealer bulletin. The model will remain on sale in other markets, however, for the moment at least, the quoted website claims.We have also reached out to the Munich auto firm and will be updating this story when we hear back from them.In the meantime, those who need an i3 in their lives can still place an order, as the EV is listed on the BMW USA official website in two variants. The 2021 i3 carries an MSRP of $44,450, before incentives, and packs a 168and 110 lb-ft (149 Nm) of torque electric motor that enables a 0-60 mph (0-97 kph) acceleration in 7.2 seconds, and a 93 mph (150 kph) top speed.With the 42battery all juiced up, which can be charged in less than 6 hours, it can travel for up to 153 miles (246 km). The range extender option lifts the range to 200 miles (322 km), and is offered from $48,300. A slightly sportier BMW i3s is also part of the range, offered from $47,650, with 181 HP, and a 0-60 mph (0-96 kph) in 6.8 seconds.Sales of the BMW i3 were at 6,092 in 2014, when it was introduced in the U.S., only to peak at 11,024 the following year, according to Carsalesbase . In 2016, 2017 and 2018, the automaker delivered 7,625, 6,276 and 6,117 units, respectively. The demand dropped to 4,854 cars in 2019, and only 1,508 last year.
EV

On Tesla Battery Day, it was already evident that LFP cells would play a major role in its strategy: its affordable, high-volume EV will use them. It was only natural that the deal with CATL would be extended. On June 28, it was: until December 2025.CATL released the information to the Chinese stock market, and it was published on the CNInfo website . Sadly, it does not mention quantities, chemistries of form factors Tesla will buy from CATL over these years. Although LFP cells will undoubtedly represent the larger volumes, it would not be strange if Tesla bought 2170 or even 4680 ternary cells  which use nickel, cobalt, and manganese in their cathodes.Apart from ensuring a steady supply, the new deal with Tesla would also help the company launch a Model Y with LFP cells, according to CNEVPost . If that really happens, it will be a completely different approach from that Tesla has adopted in the US with its electric crossover.For the American market, Tesla has killed the Model Y Standard Range Plus because it would have a low range even with 2170 cells. Considering that LFP batteries have a lower energy density than NCA (nickel-cobalt-aluminum), a Model Y with them would run even less than the Model Y that Tesla decided not to sell to its American customers.That said, either the EV maker has a secret plan to offer a more extended range with LFP cells (eventually offering a larger battery pack), or it believes Chinese customers will not care if they can drive less than the ones in the US. Car buyers in China are considered way more demanding than their American equivalents, making the first hypothesis more likely to apply.
DOHC

Over the last few months, we checked out Holger Breuers portfolio on multiple occasions to admire the juiciest pieces of bespoke machinery bred in his workshop. For example, the autoevolution pages were recently honored with the presence of a cafe racer-style Honda CB750 looking seriously rad.Several other masterpieces like this unique four-banger have been crafted by the moto doctor in Husum, a coastal town located in Germany, where he operates under the alias of HB-Custom. Today, well examine yet another one of Holgers mechanical marvels, namely a 1979 Kawasaki KZ750B adorned with a generous dose of aftermarket wizardry.The donor is put in motion thanks to an air-cooledparallel-twin engine, which packs four valves and a displacement of 745cc. At 7,000 spins, this bad boy can summon 55 ponies and 45 pound-feet (61 Nm) of twist lower down the rpm range. Without further ado, lets see what Breuer has achieved on this spectacular venture.First, he tasked Ingo Wurbel of Old School Superbikes with rebuilding the machines powerplant. As soon as the twin-cylinder mill returned carrying new valves, bearings, and pistons, HB-Custom's solo mastermind busied himself with installing a fresh exhaust system and dual Mikuni TM34 carburetors, which sport premium K&N air filters.After fitting a lithium-ion battery and a KZ750 LTDs electronic ignition module, the next step consisted of rewiring the beast using modern goodies. Furthermore, the addition of Koni shock absorbers and grippy Heidenau K67 tires bring about a considerable upgrade in terms of handling.At the rear, we find a classy leather saddle sitting atop a revised subframe, as well as a chromed fender, Kellermann blinkers, and an aftermarket taillight. On the other end, you will spot a minute speedometer and bar-end turn signals from Motogadget, while Magura is responsible for supplying the handlebar. The finishing touch comes in the form of a repurposed headlight transplanted from a BMW R45.
The Lancer, also referred to by its pilots as The Bone, which would be a mispronunciation of B-One, has been around since the mid-1980s, and chances are it will continue to be flown well into the 2030s.But that doesnt mean some of them (there are a bit over 60 currently in service) are not being pulled from the front line right now. Like the one we have here.The current lineup of B-1Bs is scheduled to start being replaced with something called B-21 Raider as soon as the middle of this decade. By 2036, all Bones should be out of service.The one we have here, deployed with the Dyess Air Force Base in Texas, was just flown to the Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. There, it will be stripped of all the secret hardware as it will be decommissioned and put on display as part of the Global Power Museum airpark.That means it will take its place among historic aircraft, like the B-17 and B-24 bombers of World War II, the P-51 Mustang , and even the SR-71 Blackbird. And this new addition to the outdoor museum will take quite a lot of space, as it comes with a wingspan of 137 feet (42 meters) and a height of 34 feet (10 meters).Its unclear what missions this exact plane was part of, but the entire family proved to be a valuable asset during the wars in Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, and Iraq. It also flew over Yugoslavia in 1999, where it performed just 2 percent of all strike missions, but the bombs it dropped amounted to 20 percent of all the ordnance released over the former European country.
Delegations from more than 70 countries were invited to the International Maritime Defense Show (IMDS 2021) that took place in St. Petersburg, from June 23 to June 27.This is where Rosoboronexport, Russias state organization for military products and technologies export (part of the famous Rostec), introduced the latest naval equipment and defense systems. From smaller corvettes and multi-purpose frigates, to the latest generation of submarines, offshore patrol ships and coastal minesweepers, the Russian exhibition had something for everybody.Packed with various weapon systems, the new multi-purpose frigate (Project 22350) was tested during transoceanic trips, and its capable of destroying critical land facilities and taking on even the combat ships with strong air defense. A Club-N integrated missile system with a 186 miles (300 km) fire range and a ?-192E artillery gun with a 13.5 miles (22 km) fire range, are some of its weapons, including an anti-submarine torpedo system.Although smaller than a frigate, the latest Russian corvette (Project 22800) is also a force to be reckoned with, thanks to its integrated missile system, anti-aircraft guns and multiple radars that can detect air and sea-surface targets.Next in line is a submarine . Known as the Silent Threat, the Amur-1650 is a new model, with highly automated control and low noise level, equipped with Club-S missiles with extensive range and torpedoes that can fire as far as 31 miles (50 km) away.One of the most versatile models is the offshore patrol ship (Project 22160), which comes with a helicopter, 2 drones, an amphibious assault boat and 2 fast motor boats. When needed, it can be fitted with modular weapons to increase its defense capabilities. Last but not least, the coastal minesweeper (Project 12700) effectively detects and neutralizes mines, using both standard and new technology.According to the Russian Defense Export Organization, all of these vessels are built using innovative materials and shipbuilding technologies, besides from incorporating the lasts weapon systems.
In that video, Duran said that he worked for Tesla for five years until he found a better job. He repeated some of the accusations Richard Ortiz made in a short documentary about the working conditions at the Fremont plant. Ortiz was fired for trying to unionize Teslas plant. NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) ordered the company to reinstate him, but Tesla has appealed the decision.According to Duran, he saw people throwing up for not drinking enough water, working more hours than they should, and even a worker having his leg ran over on the production line. In orientation, all he heard was that Tesla was a fantastic place to work. When he actually started working in wet sand at the paint shop, he was told they didnt know when he would get a day off. That meant they could work 8 or 10 days straight.Working in wet sand is not an easy task, but Duran said he had to do that 12 hours a day with no job rotation. On his fourth day, he said he woke up with a cramp in his arm and that the maximum anyone should work on such a task was 8 hours. At this point, the video mentions that the injury rate in Fremont was 102% above the automotive industry average in 2015 and 82.5% in 2016.In 2018, Tesla said it was a safer place to work than its competitors but Reveal said it did not lower the number of injuries: it would have just underreported them. Cal-OSHA opened a probe about that and released in 2020 that Tesla omitted hundreds of injuries in the factory.The Pingwest article makes very similar claims about Giga Shanghai as those made about Fremont. According to the Chinese news, the pressure to achieve higher production numbers made Tesla lower its quality control, and many workers give up on the company. If that is a subject that interests you, we recommend that you read it in full. Tesla has sued Pingwest , accusing the article of being outrageous. Pingwest stood by what it wrote, said it could prove every word, and countersued Tesla. Meanwhile, Tesla has promised Jorg Steinbach  the minister for Economic Affairs, Labour, and Energy of the State of Brandenburg  that Giga Grunheide will comply with all labor laws, such as allowing a works council to form.[YOUTUBE=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ibwQh6G9E)
Launched roughly a fortnight before the start of the hill climb event, the guys at Unplugged Performance (UP) had very limited time to get the car ready for the race. However, since not much is changed in terms of the bodywork from the previous Model S, they had everything ready in advance, so they only needed a few hours for prepping once the vehicle was delivered.Then again, it's not like they're not used to working against the clock. During the 2020 Pikes Peak edition, after Randy's unfortunate crash in the qualifiers, they managed to procure a second Tesla Model 3 to use as a parts donor and repair the original electric sedan in time for the race. It wasn't a win per se, but the simple fact they managed to race in the end must have felt pretty close.This year, things went a lot better. To be fair, Randy probably could afford to drive a little further from the edge given just how powerful the car was, but that's not to say the experienced racing driver was out for a stroll. The UP Model S dominated the qualifiers in the exhibition class of the event, meaning it had the option of choosing its starting position.Since this isn't a well-maintained track but an actual public road, that means it's better to let the other cars go first and sweep the asphalt, removing as much of the dirt and debris as possible. Not that it mattered to Randy, but it also allowed him to know just how hard he needed to push for the win, though we're pretty sure the only real opponent he was racing against was time.One of the key decisions that needed to be made was picking up the right tires. With the track dry in the lower part and wet nearer the top (where it even snowed the night before), it was a difficult call to make. Luckily, one of the team's partners was Yokohama, so at least they had access to high-quality counseling as well as the actual rubber itself.The fact the Model S Plaid won came as no surprise. EVs are notoriously apt at continuing to provide full performance at high altitudes, something internal combustion engines can't due to their reliance on oxygen to burn fuel. And since the only team able to line up a Model S Plaid at the 2021 PPIHC was Unplugged Performance, there was no real competition despite the host of heavily modified 911s and whatnot.If there's one thing the in-cabin view of Randy's climb up the mountain showsapart from his skill, obviouslyis just how bad of an idea the yoke is when driving at the limit. And no, that kind of driving doesn't happen only when racing.
With 10.5 million units sold since 1982, the C-Class is one of the best moneymakers for Mercedes-Benz, yet with the multitude of smaller models on sale, such as the A-Class, B-Class and CLA, together with their derivatives, it is no longer their entry-level product. So, with Benz bringing the battle to the smaller segments, is the C-Class better than ever?It depends on what better means to you, because if you dont care for anything else other than huge screens inside, fewer physical buttons, lots of ambient lighting, and the latest tech features, then the answer is 'yes.'However, if the interior build quality is something that matters, and you dont like fake air vents and exhaust tips, then there are better cars out there, as the C-Class is a rival to the likes of the BMW 3 Series, Audi A4, Alfa Romeo Giulia, and Jaguar XE.Also, the space for backseat occupants isnt that great, even though the new C-Class is bigger overall than its predecessor. The trunk capacity has been slightly improved, yet if you need to haul bigger items, then you should consider buying the station wagon.The Russian doll approach has made the C-Class look like a mini-S-Class, which is great if you for opt for such a ride, but not so good if you have chosen the flagship sedan, because you will find yourself constantly explaining to your petrolhead close ones the visual differences between the two.Despite looking like the S-Class, the new C-Class doesnt behave like it. There is a bit of road noise coming into the cockpit, it is not as refined, and the build quality isnt as good. But we already told you that, so lets move on to different things, such as the overall ride quality, steering feel and grip, which are all impressive, apparently.The video reviews shared at the bottom of the page give more feedback on the 2022 Mercedes-Benz C-Class , and theyre worth a watch, whether you are into the model or not. That said, you know the drill.
A video of a car drifting on water in Alexandria, Egypt, has recently gone viral. Before you think someone has been able to mod a Corvette to make it amphibious, its nothing as spectacular as that. Its still pretty neat, but this is not a car that drives on water, as the video from Inside Edition describes it. Its a jet ski shaped like a car, as Reuters and The National News report.It is the creation of three friends from Egypt, based on an idea from Karim Amin: he wanted to create a new watersport experience. Amin is a 28-year-old engineer who used to live outside of Egypt until just recently and who has been working hard to make the product locally. The only part thats sourced internationally is the engine, which is from Japan, he tells Reuters.Last week, Amin and his friends took to the waters in Alexandria to showcase their creation. It looks like a car, but its essentially a jet ski , heavier than a regular jet ski and, as such, more stable. That allows it to be driven at faster speeds and somewhat more recklessly than a jet ski. The top speed is claimed at 40 mph (64 kph).The car comes with an infotainment unit to watch movies (just in case you get bored with riding on water), a surround system and Bluetooth connectivity to play music, and GPS tracking in case you wander off into unknown waters. Amin tells Reuters that some units of the car are already available for rent on certain upmarket beaches in Alexandria and that others are for sale. He doesnt name one location, whether for renting or buying.According to Amin, he and his friends have built 12 such units so far, and theyre now working on plans for a more family-oriented version with four seats. The 2-seat, Corvette-inspired unit costs between $19,000 and $44,000, depending on how the future owner wants to spec it.If this boat car looks familiar, its because you might have seen it before. In March this year, a company named JetCar Turkiye was showing off a similar unit in Antalya . Social media posts revealed the existence of more jet skis of the kind, which were offered for demos in the area. Weve been unable to confirm whether the mastermind behind this project, Kadir Soylu, is in any way connected to Karim Amin. But if you compare videos, you will notice the men doing the demo look alike.
NHTSA

The latest recall campaign for the exotic model affects 2,701 units from the 2018 to 2021 model years. The entire population was determined based on internal records and was built between January 31, 2017, and December 18, 2020.The reversing camera glitch is blamed on a software bug within the infotainment system, which could sometimes generate a fault that makes it inoperable when subjected to temperatures below 41 F (5 C). If this happens, the screen will tell drivers that the camera is unavailable when selecting the reverse gear.As the problem may increase the risk of a crash, the vehicles do not comply with the FMVSS (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard) number 111.Lamborghini is aware of an undisclosed number of warranty claims in the US market related to the software issue. The matter was brought to the safety committees attention in May, and they immediately ordered an evaluation of the noncompliance and identification of the range of potentially affected cars. The decision to conduct a recall was taken in mid-June.The automaker will reach out to owners of the affected Huracans within 60 days via mail, informing them of the recall and advising them to schedule an appointment with an authorized dealer, who will reprogram the software with an updated version, free of charge.The recall should kick off on August 6, and concerned owners with questions on the topic can reach out to the Raging Bull at 1-866-681-6276, using the number L62X-R.01.21, or theat 1-888-327-4236.
HP

Say hello to the new M917A3 HDT, U.S. Armys latest dump truck, which is designed to transport supplies on logistic and tactical missions. Its story began earlier this year, in march, when Mack Defense, part of the Volvo Group , was awarded a contract for 99 of these trucks, by the Army.Previously, in 2020, Mack Defense and the U.S. Army signed an agreement for the purchase of a HDT based on the civilian Mack Granite model, a top-selling truck. This came after the Army successfully tested the vehicle at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, over the course of 2 years. Following the initial agreement, the HDT got an all-wheel drive, heavier-duty rear axles, plus other features adapted for Army requirements, and this is how the M917A3 was born.This truck was designed to do the job in any conditions, no matter how challenging the terrain, the weather or any other factors are.What Mack Defense calls its workhorse engine, the MP8 delivers up to 520and 2,522 Nm (1,860 lb-ft) of torque. The chassis was built to be solid as a rock and went through extensive testing for endurance and component-fatigue. Its also flexible enough to be transformed into various types of platforms for different military needs  it can be turned into a tanker, or fitted with a crane for heavy lifts. Plus, it comes with a 27-ton payload capacity and a high-capacity dump body.Production of the Mack Defense HDT began earlier this year and the first trucks were delivered to the Army in May. Now, a $6.5 million investment was used to create a dedicated production line for this model, at the Mack Experience Center.Previously, the HDT was made at the Lehigh Valley Operations (LVO), where all Mack trucks are produced, and then it was transported for the final assembly at the Center. With the production process now simplified, Mack Defense will roll out the HDT for the U.S. Army faster and more effectively.
Tens of thousands of homeless, such as David Moran of Berlin, Vt., who now has a job at Applebees, have been staying in hotels across the US paid for by federal programs aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19. Im not going to be able to get a shower on a regular basis, which around food is not a good thing, he said.
According to the final results published on Sunday, Pashinians party received 53.91 percent of the votes, while the Hayastan Alliance of former President Robert Kocharian and the Pativ Unem Alliance affiliated with former President Serzh Sarkisian got 21.9 percent and 5.22 percent of the vote, respectively.

While not clearing the 7-percent threshold set for alliances to enter parliament, Pativ Unem has been allowed to be represented in the next parliament as the force that finished third in the race.

According to the Central Electoral Commission, the results will translate into 71 seats in parliament for Civil Contract, while Hayastan and Pativ Unem will control 29 and 7 mandates in the 107-seat National Assembly.

The alliances of the two former presidents as well as the Zartonk National-Christian Party, which did not clear the 5-percent threshold for political parties, had applied to the Central Electoral Commission with a demand to declare the election results invalid.

Presenting their grievances, the opposition groups claimed that the alleged violations had a significant impact on the vote results.

They, in particular, claimed that Pashinian violated the constitution by continuing to act as prime minister after May 10 when the Armenian parliament was dissolved. They also referred to the alleged use of administrative resources by the ruling party, Pashinians hate speech and calls for violence during the election campaign, prosecutions against opposition members and other alleged violations on election day that they claimed had an impact on the outcome of the vote.

The Central Electoral Commission rejected the demands of the opposition groups, reaffirming the results of the vote.

The Kocharian-led Hayastan Alliance has said it will challenge the election results in the Constitutional Court.

Both opposition alliances say they have not yet made their final decision on whether they will pick the mandates.

International observers gave largely a positive assessment of the Armenian authorities handling of the parliamentary elections in their statements that followed the June 20 vote.

In an interview with RFE/RLs Armenian Service late last week, Eoghan Murphy, head of the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission in Armenia, said that incidents observed by them during Armenias snap parliamentary elections did not impact the validity of their results.

It was a competitive election. People could campaign freely, candidates were able to go and organize events and they organized events. But also the voters had choice in the number of parties running and voters were able to attend events if they wanted to attend events. And when it came to election day, people were able to go out and vote in a well-managed process where they could cast their vote, and that vote would be both respected and reflected in the overall results, Murphy said.
On Monday, Armenias Ministry of Defense denied accusations from Azerbaijan that Armenian servicemen opened fire at Azerbaijani army positions in the northeastern Tavush province in an incident that Baku claims happened late on June 27.

This is another disinformation. The Armenian Armed Forces did not fire a single shot towards the Azerbaijani positions, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

Earlier, Armenia denied Azerbaijans claims that its armed forces located in the eastern Gegharkunik province fired at Azerbaijani military positions. Moreover, Armenia accused Azerbaijans armed forces of firing indiscriminately towards the positions of its troops in the region.

The latest incidents come amid continuing discussions about the deployment of Russian troops in Gegharkunik to prevent a further escalation of the situation at the restive border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Under acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians decision, an Armenian government delegation is currently in Moscow to negotiate the issue of the expansion of Russias military base in Armenia.

Russian border-guards were already deployed at different sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in the southern Syunik province after last years war in Nagorno-Karabakh in which Baku recaptured several districts around the Armenian-populated region to restore its land border with Armenia in the south.

Armenia says Azerbaijani troops crossed several sections of the border on May 12-14 and advanced a few kilometers into Syunik and Gegharkunik, part of which borders on the Kelbajar district that was also retaken by Azerbaijan following the 44-day war.

At least one Armenian soldier has been killed in a border shooting incident since then. Dozens of soldiers on both sides were injured in reported brawls between the two opposing sides in which no firearms were used.

International partners of Armenia and Azerbaijan have urged both sides to disengage their troops and get down to delimitating and demarcating their borders to avoid any further escalation.

Armenias acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian indicated in late May that he was ready to sign a Russian-brokered deal to set up a committee for the purpose on condition that Azerbaijan withdraws its troops from what Yerevan says is sovereign Armenian territory.

Pashinian made that statement several days after Armenia formally appealed to the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization to hold consultations on its border dispute with Azerbaijan.
In an interview with RFE/RLs Armenian Service (Azatutyun) on Sunday, Arayik Harutiunian, chief advisor to the prime minister, denied, however, any ongoing discussions about the future of the mayor.

It is very much regretful that Mr. Marutian showed such an attitude before the elections, since the mayor, who was nominated by the Civil Contract party and My Step Alliance [of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian], did not express his public support for Civil Contract during the election campaign. I regret this, because the votes due to which Mr. Marutian became the mayor of Yerevan, was largely for the political party that will now form the government for the second time, Harutiunian said.

The senior official said that no discussions were currently underway regarding the mayor, but added that members of the ruling party had the same attitude in this matter.

We should understand how to act in such a situation in order to make decisions on this issue within our party, but so that the city and city authorities do not suffer from it, Harutiunian added.

Harutiunians remarks sparked fresh speculations about Marutians possible resignation.

Marutian, a popular actor and producer who supported Pashinian during the 2018 Velvet Revolution and was elected mayor of Yerevan later that year in an election where the pro-Pashinian alliance scored a landslide victory, would not comment publicly on various media speculations in recent months and weeks about his disillusionment with politics and plans to quit.

After the June 20 snap parliamentary elections in which the Pashinian party retained its majority in the National Assembly a number of media reports suggested that the government planned a change of the mayor of Yerevan  Armenias capital and largest city with a population of about a million people.

In a Facebook post in the wake of the elections addressed rather to the opposition chief of the prime ministers staff Arsen Torosian called on elected community leaders that had supported other political parties and alliances to take note of the Pashinian partys landslide victory and decide on whether they wanted to continue in office or resign.

The post has sparked criticism from the opposition that also claims that pressure has been put on some local elected officials, including mayors, to resign.

Several weeks before the early elections Marutian, a member of the Civil Contract party, publicly hinted that he would remain politically neutral during the elections. I am not interested in elections, I am busy doing my work, he said in May.

But during the June 22 session of the Yerevan Council of Elders, which is a municipal assembly of elected representatives, Marutian congratulated the citizens on holding free and transparent elections.

Hakob Karapetian, a spokesperson for the Yerevan Mayors Office, told RFE/RLs Armenian Service (Azatutyun) on Monday that Marutian has no intentions to resign.

The mayor of Yerevan, together with his team, actively continues to work, continues to implement the mandate given to him by the people of Yerevan in September 2018. The mandate was given by the people of Yerevan for a period of five years, Karapetian stressed.

Izabella Abgarian, a member of Yerevans Council of Elders who quit the ruling My Step faction last November, said she did not like what Harutiunian said about Marutian in an interview with RFE/RLs Armenian Service.

Because it is not an internal party issue, they simply ought to respect the vote of the people, she said.

The mayor was elected by the people of Yerevan. Lets not forget about the independence of local government bodies. Our list of candidates was headed by Hayk Marutian, not Nikol Pashinian, and people in Yerevan voted for Hayk Marutian and his program, which he is implementing. And I think it will be unfair to the people of Yerevan if the party makes a party decision, she added.

Emin Yeritsian, the head of the Union of Communities of Armenia, meanwhile, stressed that the issue of the mayor of Yerevan should in any case be decided by the Council of Elders. No one from the outside can make changes unless it is decided by the Council of Elders, he said.
A group of missing soldiers parents said they made the suggestion at their meeting with Pashinian in his office on Monday.

The premiers office did not release any statement on the meeting by late afternoon. But the missing soldiers parents said Pashinian had welcomed the idea.

I demanded it and said, Mr. Prime Minister, lets create a commission. He [Pashinian] said it was a great idea and that they would create one, said Edik Arevshatian, whose son was deployed in a Nagorno-Karabakh district captured by Azerbaijani armed forces in October and has been missing since.

A DNA test has confirmed that Arevshatians son was among the dead, but the father claims he has gathered information suggesting that his son could still be alive and could be among Armenian captives in Azerbaijan.

There can be no such thing These children will come back. I will prove it by all means Lets create a commission, we will understand then who is to blame for it, he said.

According to official data, the number of Armenian servicemen missing after the 44-day war is 230. There are 142 unidentified bodies in morgue refrigerators in the towns of Metsamor, Martuni, Abovian, as well as in Yerevan. Some parents have also undergone DNA tests but still await answers.

The parents of MIAs say they are not satisfied with the work of the government. I do not see any results. If someone does something and there is no result, it means they do their work wrong. This work must be reviewed to understand where mistakes, omissions have been made to correct them and get a result, said Yeghishe Zakunts, a missing soldiers father.

According to the latest data of the Ministry of Health, so far 3,777 bodies and remains have been subjected to forensic examinations; 106 bodies and remains are still being identified. Many of the samples have been examined several times, but these examinations have failed to identify the persons.

The ministry has told RFE/RLs Armenian Service that negotiations are being conducted with some foreign expert organizations to send damaged samples to them for examination.
Gunman who killed two people after crashing stolen truck is fatally shot by police in Massachusetts
At least 77 people shot in weekend violence in Chicago, including 17 in two mass shootings: These people at war over here
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One of the Central Valley's largest agricultural companies has responded to the many needs that have arisen during the pandemic by again focus


Prior to being named vice president at Seton Hall, Cooper-Gibson served as assistant provost for Student Academic Services at Loyola University Chicago, dean of students for the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago, director of African American Student Affairs at Northwestern University, and assistant director of student activities at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In announcing the appointment, Executive Vice President Michael Lochhead praised Cooper-Gibson as an experienced student affairs leader with a proven record of accomplishment in fostering student engagement and success at both private research and Catholic universities.



"Shawna stood out as the ideal person to lead Student Affairs at Boston College because of her vast experience in higher education and her commitment to BCs mission and Jesuit, Catholic heritage, said Lochhead. She is a tremendously gifted individual who has earned praise for her efforts and unwavering support of students wherever she has worked. I know that the entire BC community will welcome her when she begins her new role as vice president in August.

Cooper-Gibson said she was excited to come to Boston College to lead Student Affairs and to support the Universitys strategic commitment to student formation.

I have a deep respect for and commitment to Jesuit education based on my 11 years at Loyola University Chicago, said Cooper-Gibson. When an opportunity became available to recommit myself to Jesuit, Catholic education at Boston College, I knew I could not pass it up.

I am excited to contribute to the Universitys Strategic Plan, to enhance the overall student experience, and to build an equitable experience for all BC students. The important work of Student Affairs is not done alone. I look forward to partnering with Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley, with Haub Vice President for University Mission & Ministry Jack Butler, S.J., and with BC faculty and administrators across the University to create not just best practices, but next practices so that we can prepare our students to go into the world to become global leaders.
Billy Preston (B.P. or Bill) Miller, age 91 of North Tazewell, VA passed away Friday, July 2, 2021 at his home. Born March 16, 1930 in Boissevain, VA he was the only son of the late Ernest and Willie Miller who were from Abbs Valley, VA. Bill was a member of Main Street United Methodist Chur
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Beaumont's new mayor is as homegrown as one can get in this city, which has had mayors from New York, Massachusetts and even from China -- the one west on U.S. 90, not the other one. Robin Mouton was grown from her neighborhood -- centered around Sarah and Lou streets, named for daughters of Ozan Blanchette, an early educator of Black people.

Blanchette, with his brother Usan Hebert, were formerly enslaved men in the late 19th century, who founded a school on their own property, that eventually became Blanchette Elementary and the former Hebert High School, on property they owned.

From these roots sprang Mouton, who is now Beaumont's 42nd mayor; the city's second Black mayor, and first Black female mayor; and now the only woman who will be serving on City Council.

For Mouton, now, 61, her pride in that community and the lesson she took from her education still resonates in her. She is a 1978 graduate of Hebert High School -- the Panthers -- and although the name Hebert is gone from the school, Panther pride lives on.

"Whatever Hebert does, it must be the best," Mouton said of her school's motto.

When students recited the Pledge of Allegiance each morning, that motto followed.

"It was instilled in us," she said.

She was born on May 7, 1960, at the Hotel Dieu, French for "Hostel of God," which occupied a bluff above the port of Beaumont. The hospital closed in the 1970s, and the port acquired the property.

In 2015, when Mouton first ran for and won the Ward IV City Council seat, her grandmother, Ida Herbert, was able to vote for her. Her grandmother died at the age of 103.

"She went from not being able to vote, then having to pay a poll tax, to voting for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and to vote for her grandchild," Mouton said.

She knew she'd be giving up her seat as Ward IV council member to make her bid for mayor. She knew she'd have to make it to the runoff in a field that included the late W.L. Pate Jr., who died June 20 after a brief illness; and also well-financed candidate Roy West, who drew the most votes in the general municipal election in May.

"I didn't run for mayor because I'm Black. I ran because I was the most qualified," Mouton said.

Mouton defeated West in the June 19 runoff election by more than 3 percentage points.

That was the same election that saw Pate's mayoral bid end, along with his service as an at-large member of council.

"W.L. always wanted to be mayor," she said. I really thought it would be W.L. and me in the runoff. We talked about it. He said to me, 'If I don't make it, I'll support you.' I had talked with him on my birthday, which was (regular) election day."

Pate died the morning after the runoff -- Juneteenth, the day in 1865 that Black people in Texas learned they were no longer enslaved. It was designated as a federal holiday just two days before the runoff.

Mouton also served as mayor-pro tem for two of the six years she spent as Ward IV council member.

While being pro-tem gives one a feel for the center seat on City Council, it's not the same as actually being mayor, which comes with special responsibilities, such as chief emergency management officer for the city.

That means if a hurricane looms, or any similar disaster occurs, it's up to the mayor to order an evacuation. That also requires specialized training by the state for new mayors.

During the tenure of Mayor Becky Ames, who served for 14 years after spending 13 years as an at-large member of the council, 19 disasters threatened Beaumont. From hurricanes to massive floods, it was the most a single mayor has had to face.

But Mouton enjoys the strong support of her Hebert alumni, still the closest-knit group of high school graduates in Beaumont and perhaps anywhere. Every two years, Hebert Panthers gather for a massive reunion that draws close to 1,000 people, filling a hotel for the multi-day event.

Hebert's centennial is in 2022, but the next Panther gathering will be in 2023, pushed back by the pandemic that upturned what passes for normal life these days.

Organized labor also turned out to support Mouton, from the local fire fighters to industrial craft unions.

Mouton's husband Kenneth is a member of the United Steel Workers and is employed at Optimus Steel on the Orange County bank of the Neches River.

The Moutons are parents of Julian, 37, and Karmen, 27, both of whom live in Houston. They are the grandparents of Julian Jr., 10, and Kash, 6.

Mouton herself is a member of the Communications Workers of America and spent her entire career with Southwestern Bell and then the reorganized AT&T, working in the building at 555 Main St. The building currently is a focal point of City Council, which has to decide whether to purchase and demolish the building to instead use the site to develop riverside recreation on what was once called Tevis Bluff, a high point along the Neches.

It is a controversial major issue facing council and features solid opposition from Ward II Council member Mike Getz.

But at a council meeting the week before Mouton was scheduled to take office, Getz offered her his support.

He said it was well-known that he supported West, but he would look forward to supporting Mouton as mayor and hopes she does well.

"Unless she doesn't and then she'll get an opponent in two years," he said.

Mouton said she wants to show that council can unite and work for the city's best interests.

"It's not about yourself or your personal agenda," she said. "If there is bickering and fighting, why would citizens trust us? The pandemic brought so much to a halt. I think we can look forward to new things happening. I'm truly excited about being mayor for all the people. You have to serve for the people who didn't vote for you as well as the ones who did. I hope people will give me an opportunity before they pre-judge me and give me a fair shot. They may find out, 'I like her!'"

Dan Wallach is a freelance writer.
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Screenwriter and award-winning producer Cynthia Hargrave, who helped launch the careers of Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson, has died due to complications from systemic scleroderma. She was 64.

With Andersons 1993 debut Bottle Rocket, Hargrave was the first producer to turn a Sundance Film Festival short into a Hollywood studio feature. Hargrave was a producer on the original short as well as the subsequent 1996 feature film of the same name, which stars Owen and Luke Wilson and has become an indie classic.

Hargrave was married to the late L.M. Kit Carson, who also produced and acted in Bullfighter and Hurricane Streets. She helped lift her husbands projects off the ground and served as a mentor for cinematographer Enrique Chediak, composer Jan Kaczmark and a long list of below-the-line professionals.

Hargrave also produced Morgan J. Freemans debut feature Hurricane Streets, which was the first film to win three awards at Sundance, as well as Michael Rymers Perfume  starring Jeff Goldblum and Rita Wilson  and Rune Bendixens Bullfighter  featuring Willem Dafoe, Olivier Martinez, Michelle Forbes and Jared Harris.

She also frequently produced short films to help boost the careers of promising young talent, and in 2003, Hargrave took time off to teach production and screenwriting at New York Citys Columbia University School of the Arts.

In 2010, Hargrave produced the docuseries Africa Diary, the first broadcast-quality program shot on a cell phone. A year later, she co-founded the experimental New Media Story-Finders Workshops, which aimed to develop a new audiovisual language based on burgeoning technology.

Hargrave is survived by her companion of six years, Eddy Burnett. Memorials will be held on Aug. 8 in Los Angeles and in early September in New York City.

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Mathew Schmalz, College of the Holy Cross

(THE CONVERSATION) The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recently approved drafting a document on receiving Communion in the Catholic Church. It will include a section regarding standards for politicians and public figures who support laws allowing abortion, euthanasia and other moral evils.

The proposed document has already caused controversy. The Vatican has warned against exclusively focusing on abortion and euthanasia and cautioned that the document could further divide U.S. Catholics.

As a Catholic scholar of religion, I would argue that battles over Communion are nothing new in the Catholic Church.

The importance of Communion

In the Catholic Church, the Communion service is one of seven rituals called sacraments that have a primary significance. During this service, called a Mass, Catholics believe that the bread and wine, when specially blessed by a priest, become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Ritually consuming this bread and wine is a special way to commune, or be united, with Jesus Christ.

Catholics call both the celebration of Mass and the blessed bread and wine the Eucharist, from the Greek word meaning thanksgiving. Receiving Communion can also be called receiving the Eucharist.

The Catholic Church teaches that in order to receive Communion, a person must not be conscious of a serious sin  such as murder or adultery  that has not already been absolved through confession to a priest.

In early Christianity, rules about receiving Communion could be strict. Christians who were known to be guilty of serious sins were not supposed to receive Communion until they went through a process of reconciliation with a local bishop. In the Middle Ages, very few Catholics actually received Communion at all, as many believed that they were unworthy to do so.

The possibility of scandal

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Catholic Church encouraged a more frequent  even daily  reception of Communion.

Still, one of the main concerns surrounding Communion is that someone publicly known to be committing serious sins would receive Communion. Such cases create scandal.

In the Catholic Churchs terminology, scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. So, someone who accepts Communion while at the same time publicly continuing in sinful behavior encourages others to continue to do the same as well.

When it comes to public policy, the compendium of Catholic doctrine, the Catholic Cathechism, specifically states, they are guilty of scandal who establish laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice.

Denying Communion

There is a history of the Catholic Church denying Communion to those participating in what is considered publicly sinful behavior.

One of the most famous examples is of Ambrose, bishop of Milan, who baptized the theologian Augustine of Hippo, who later became one of the most influential figures in Christian history. Ambrose denied Communion to the Roman Emperor Theodosius in the fourth century. Enraged by the lynching of a leader of a Roman army garrison, Theodosius gave orders that led to a massacre in the port city of Thessalonica, which killed 7,000 citizens. In a letter calling for Theodosius to take responsibility for his actions, Ambrose wrote, Are you ashamed, O Emperor?

From 1208 to 1214, Pope Innocent III asked his bishops to place England and Wales under interdict, or prohibition, which banned the performance of all sacraments  including the Eucharist  except for baptism and confession of the dying. The reason for this extreme act was said to be that King John had rejected Innocent IIIs candidate for the important position of archbishop of Canterbury.

In the early 20th century, Irish bishops spoke against continuing acts of violence by Irish nationalists who opposed the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921, which established the Irish Free State and ended the Irish War of Independence. In a letter published on 22 October 1922, the Irish bishops denied absolution and Communion to irregulars using violence against the legitimate authority of the government.

More recently, it was reported in 2011 that priests in Malta were denying Communion to Catholics who supported legalizing divorce. In the United States, presidential candidate John Kerry was denied Communion in 2004, reportedly for his support for abortion rights. The same issue saw Joseph Biden denied Communion in 2019 by a church in South Carolina.

Communion controversies

At the same time, the Catholic Church has also been questioned for not denying Communion to Catholic public figures who have behaved sinfully.

In his trip to Chile in 1987, Pope John Paul II criticized the military dictatorship under the Army General Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet led a revolt that toppled the elected government. Thousands were tortured and executed under his rule. But the pope still gave Pinochet Communion.

When Pope John Paul II was beatified  a crucial step in becoming named a saint  Zimbabwes ruler, Robert Mugabe, was in attendance. Among many human rights abuses, Mugabe sanctioned the killing of 20,000 people belonging to the Ndebele ethnic minority who were loyal to his rival, Joshua Nkomo. Nonetheless, Mugabe was allowed to take Communion at the Vatican, in St. Peters Square. Some in the African Catholic media called this a scandal.

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The path forward

Pope Francis has stated: The Eucharist, although it is the fullness of sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak. And so one of the key issues that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops proposed document will surely need to address is when human weakness becomes serious sin and scandal.

While the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops will issue guidelines for reception of Communion, it will be the task of individual bishops to decide how to put them into practice. And some Catholic bishops, notably Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington D.C., have said they will not deny communion to President Biden in their jurisdictions.

At the present time, the Catholic Church in America is highly polarized. For his part, President Biden, who goes to Mass every week, has said that he has no plan to change how he worships. In such a context, U.S. Catholic bishops will have to move forward very carefully.

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SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  Many Americans aching for normalcy as pandemic restrictions end are looking forward to traditional Fourth of July fireworks. But with a historic drought in the U.S. West and fears of another devastating wildfire season, officials are canceling displays, passing bans on setting off fireworks or begging for caution.

Fireworks already have caused a few small wildfires, including one started by a child in northern Utah and another in central California. Last year, a pyrotechnic device designed for a baby's gender reveal celebration sparked a California blaze that killed a firefighter during a U.S. wildfire season that scorched the second-highest amount of land in nearly 40 years.

Some regions of the American West are experiencing their worst drought conditions in more than a century this year, said Jennifer Balch, director of Earth Lab at the University of Colorado. People setting off fireworks at home is a concern because of both the tinder-box conditions ripe for starting wildfires and the threat of injuries. Last year, injuries spiked to their highest level in 15 years after the pandemic canceled large gatherings, federal data shows.

As a fire scientist, Im bracing myself for this fire season because of how dry and hot it is already, Balch said. I think fireworks right now are a terrible idea.

Fireworks industry professionals, who also stressed caution in drought-prone areas, expect strong sales despite a shortage caused by pandemic-related manufacturing slowdowns and trade disruptions.

We think we're going to have a tremendous year, said James Fuller, a fireworks safety expert with Alabama-based TNT Fireworks.

While fireworks are integral to the country's Independence Day celebrations, they ignite thousands of fires a year  including one that burned Bobbie Unos home in Clearfield, Utah, on the holiday last year. She had to jump out of the way before it struck the side of her house.

Within five seconds, my house, from the bushes to the rooftop, it was burning, Uno said. The blaze caused $60,000 in damage and forced her family out of their home for weeks.

I want everyone to be aware of the danger, because its scary even in a small cul-de-sac, Uno said.

Several Utah cities are banning people from setting off their own fireworks this year during the record drought, but many Republicans are against a statewide prohibition. GOP Salt Lake County Councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton supports restrictions but thinks this year is a bad time for a blanket ban.

Were just coming out of this pandemic where people already felt like government was restricting them in so many ways, she said. When you issue bans arbitrarily, we could have a situation where people who werent going to light fireworks purposely go and buy fireworks to just send a message to government.

State fireworks laws vary considerably across the U.S., but local bans on personal fireworks are popping up from Montana to Oregon, which was stricken by massive wildfires last year.

In Arizona, which already is being scorched by more than a dozen wildfires, many cities have canceled their public fireworks shows. The Yavapai-Apache Nation typically hosts a display outside its casino near the central Arizona city of Camp Verde.

This year, with conditions being worse than last year, we decided in May that we would not have fireworks, said James Perry, a spokesman for the tribes Cliff Castle Casino Hotel. Based on the large fires currently burning in and around our community, were happy with our decision.

It's a similar story in Colorado, where dozens of shows have been scuttled, including in Steamboat Springs, a ski town where firefighters are already spread thin.

The grass always catches on fire ... why are we doing something that causes fire when fires our biggest issue? said Winnie DelliQuadri, town special projects manager.

But in neighboring Wyoming, business is booming at fireworks stores, including sales of products prohibited elsewhere. The parking lots fill on weekends, and many cars have out-of-state plates.

Its not just Colorado, said Ben Laws, manager of Pyro City. We see people from Nebraska, we see people from Montana, we see people from all over coming to buy.

Other cities, including Boise, Idaho, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, are working to ban personal fireworks while keeping their public displays, where safety precautions are often stronger and firefighters are on alert.

In North Dakota, where more than two-thirds of the state is in extreme or exceptional drought  the two worst categories  some areas are passing local bans. In South Dakota, where conditions are somewhat less dire, the governor is fighting the federal government to hold a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore.

A show that draws tens of thousands of people to Lake Tahoe, Nevada, near the California state line, was originally canceled for the second year in a row, but organizers later decided to mount a smaller, safe fireworks experience." Holding fireworks shows over water is one of the safer ways to celebrate, said Balch, the professor.

The industry urges people lighting their own fireworks to follow local restrictions, pick a flat location a safe distance from homes, have a water source at hand to douse used products and dispose of them carefully.

Some safety officials would rather see people avoid lighting their own fireworks all together. Michele Steinberg with the National Fire Protection Association pointed to federal data showing 15,600 Americans went to emergency rooms for fireworks-related injuries last year, thousands more than the year before.

I love watching the fireworks displays, but theyre honestly not safe in consumer hands," she said. Even a sparkler can get up to 1,200 degrees, which is actually how hot a wildfire burns.

___

Associated Press writers Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona; Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming; Cedar Attanasio in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada; and Associated Press/Report for America corps member Patty Nieberg in Denver contributed to this report.
Police investigators inspect the site of a suspected gas explosion in central Dhaka, the morning after the incident that killed seven and injured scores, June 28, 2021.

Police in Bangladesh say a gas leak may have caused a major explosion in a busy neighborhood in Dhaka late Sunday, killing at least seven people and injuring scores more.

The blast at around 7:30 p.m. caused the partial collapse of a three-story commercial building where the explosion happened, and shattered the windows of neighboring buildings and damaged buses passing by.

Inspector General of Police Benazir Ahmed said methane gas might have caused the blast.

When gas cylinders are not properly maintained, they can turn into explosives, he said after visiting the scene of the explosion. We will work with the Fire Service to find out the reason behind this incident.

No conclusion can be drawn before a full probe is complete, Benazir said, adding however that the blast scene did not look like a bombing.

The very building where the blast occurred has collapsed partially but irreparably. It may totally break down any time, Debashish Bardhan, deputy director for Dhaka of the Fire Service and Civil Defense, told BenarNews.

A reporter at the scene saw two damaged buses outside the blast site, where mangled beams and broken concrete testified to the strength of the explosion.

Its horrific. I never heard this kind of terrible boom in my life, Siddiq Mondol, a tailor in a shopping center adjacent to the doomed building, told BenarNews.

Seven people have died, so far. We also have information about at least 50 people being injured in the incident, the chief of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Shafiqul Islam, told reporters.

Local residents said the toll of injured was likely higher. A shopkeeper at a nearby store said more than 200 injured people were rushed to local hospitals.

We have treated more than a hundred injured people, Momena Abedin, a nurse at the nearby Dhaka Community Hospital, told BenarNews.

Seriously injured people were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, according to police and firemen at the scene.

A man looks at the back of the partially collapsed building in central Dhaka where a blast the night before killed at least seven people and injured scores more, June 28, 2021. (BenarNews)

Bombing ruled out

Shafiqul Islam, the city police chief, ruled out the possibility of a bombing. Splinters would have been scattered at the scene had it been a bomb blast, he said.

The explosion caused destruction in a single direction. In the case of bombings, it normally causes destruction in at least three to four directions, Benazir, the police chief, said as he explained why he did not think that a bomb caused the explosion.

The governments chief explosives inspector, meanwhile, noted that hydrocarbons, a component of natural gas, were found on the ground floor of the building.

However, the occurrence of such a large explosion from gas alone is unusual, Abul Kalam Azad said.

We inspected the spot soon after the explosion and again today. There was a cafe. The building has gas lines and cylinder gas. There were air conditioners also, he said.

Harunur Rashid, the 65-year-old caretaker of the building where the blast took place, was still missing on Monday, his daughter said.

We have been searching for him since last night. I have visited five to seven hospitals, but I didnt find him. His phone is also switched off, a distraught Hena Begum told BenarNews.

A man told reporters at Dhaka Medical College Hospital that his 23-year-old wife and 9-month-old baby were killed, and his 12-year-old brother was being treated for injuries. He said the blast went off as the four were eating at Shawarma House, an eatery on the ground floor of the doomed building.

According to hospital sources, three people died at the Burn Institute on Sunday, but their identities were not immediately known.
Amnesty International protesters hold photos of inmates held at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during a protest at the NATO summit in Brussels, June 14, 2021

Three Southeast Asian terror suspects held since 2006 at a U.S. military base in Cuba are to be arraigned Aug. 30 on charges tied to deadly bombings in Indonesia, the Pentagon said Monday, after their initial court date was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Indonesian national Hambali, whose real name is Encep Nurjaman, and Malaysians Mohammed Nazir bin Lep and Mohammed Farik bin Amin, had been scheduled to be arraigned before a military court at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in February on charges related to their alleged roles in large-scale terrorist attacks in Bali in 2002 and Jakarta in 2003.

Earlier this month, military judge Cmdr. Hayes C. Larsen denied requests from prosecutors to move up the arraignment based on improved conditions amid the pandemic.

With the increased availability of COVID-19 vaccines, decreasing infection rates, and an overall improvement in the pandemic environment, the government now seeks reconsideration of the commissions order setting the arraignment for 30 August 2021, prosecutors had said, according to a June 16 ruling.

Larsen also denied a request from defense lawyers to delay until adequate representation and resources are available, in a separate ruling filed on the same day.

There is currently a single courtroom available at NSGB [Naval Station Guantanamo Bay] to conduct sessions/hearings, thus scheduling must take into account the docketing orders in other Military Commissions cases, Larsen ruled.

In a news release issued Monday, the U.S. Department of Defense included the arraignment date for the three Southeast Asian while announcing that seats would be allocated on a military-charter flight for members of the media who wish to travel to Cuba for the court hearing.

A spokesman for the Office of Military Commissions did not immediately respond to a BenarNews request seeking more information about the Aug. 30 arraignment.

Murder, other charges

Hambali faces eight charges while the Malaysians face nine, according to charge sheets uploaded online by the Office of Military Commissions. All three are charged with conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, terrorism, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, and destruction of property.

The two Malaysians also face a charge of accessory after the fact  all in violation of the law of war.

Authorities have said the charges do not carry the death penalty.

The trio were arrested in Thailand in 2003 and sent to a secret CIA prison network before being moved to Guantanamo in September 2006.

A U.S. military profile of Hambali described him as an operational mastermind for Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a Southeast Asian militant group affiliated with al-Qaeda, the group that carried out the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Indonesian authorities blamed JI for carrying out bombings that killed 202 people in Bali in October 2002  the deadliest terrorist attack to date in Indonesia.

Authorities in the U.S. allege Hambali helped plan the 2002 Bali bombings as well as the 2003 bombing of the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta that left 12 dead.

The upcoming arraignment will mark the first time that the three will be formally charged since they were sent to Guantanamo 15 years ago.

A U.S. Senate report on CIA detentions of terrorism suspects and interrogation techniques in years following the Sept. 11 attacks confirmed the use of torture.

Hambali was not water boarded, but other enhanced interrogation techniques used included long stretches of being shackled in painful positions and being slammed into a wall or being kept in the nude and confined in a coffin-like box, according to that report.

Indonesian officials indicated in 2016 that if Hambali were to be released, they would be reluctant to allow his return over fears it could spur a revival among domestic terror cells.
The United States and Indonesia are building a U.S. $3.5 million coast guard training center on Batam, an industrial and transport hub at the south end of the South China Sea, to boost Jakartas capacity to fight domestic and transnational crime, authorities said.

Representatives of Indonesias Coast Guard (Bakamla) and the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta were present at the groundbreaking ceremony at the Batam Navy Base on Friday. The U.S. ambassador and Indonesian Coast Guard chief attended virtually.

[T]he United States remains committed to supporting Indonesias leading role in advancing regional peace and security by countering domestic and transnational crime, U.S. Ambassador Sung Kim was quoted as saying in a joint statement about the event.

Vice Adm. Aan Kurnia, the Bakamla chief, said construction of the training center would be completed next year, and after that, it would be owned and operated entirely by his institution.

No U.S troops will be stationed there, Aan said.

He said there was no specific reason behind the location of the new facility, when asked if it was part of efforts to strengthen Indonesias maritime presence amid incursions by Chinese fishing and coast guard vessels in nearby waters.

Everything is still in the corridor of the principle of a free and active foreign policy, Aan told BenarNews. We, as a new institution, are still limited in capacity, so there needs innovation to improve human resource capabilities.

Batam, the capital of Riau Islands province, lies just 32 km (20 miles) south of Singapore, near the border of disputed waters between China and several Southeast Asian countries.

The training center is a collaborative effort between Bakamla, which was established in 2014; the U.S. Coast Guard; the U.S. State Departments International Narcotics and Law Enforcement office; and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Disputed waters

Bakamla has intensified sea patrols in recent years after Chinese fishing boats escorted by China Coast Guard ships sailed into Jakartas Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off the Natuna islands, Indonesias name for its waters at the southern end of the South China Sea.

It also seized dozens of Vietnamese fishing boats trespassing in Indonesian waters. In early 2021, Bakamla apprehended two tankers in the Java Sea carrying out an unauthorized oil transfer from an Iran-flagged tanker to a Panama-flagged one, in violation of international law.

Adding to tensions in the congested waterways, Beijing has authorized China Coast Guard ships to use weapons against any vessels found in waters that Beijing claims as its territory.

Indonesia does not regard itself as a party to territorial disputes over the South China Sea, but Beijing claims historic rights to parts of the maritime region that overlap Indonesias EEZ.

A clear signal

The U.S. previously helped Indonesia build a maritime training center at the Ambon Navy Base in the eastern province of Maluku in 2018.

The new facility will accommodate up to 50 trainees and 12 instructors, and include classrooms, offices, a kitchen and dining area, barracks, and a vessel launch ramp, the statement said.

Aristyo Rizka Darmawan, a senior researcher at the Center for Sustainable Ocean Policy at the University of Indonesia, described the new facility as an exciting development for Indonesia-U.S. relations, at a time when Jakarta has been involved more with China.

This is a positive development for both countries, [while] also very beneficial for Indonesia to confirm its symbol of presence in the North Natuna Sea, Aristyo told BenarNews.

He said the cooperation also showed Indonesias efforts to balance its position amidst a rivalry between the two superpowers.

Indonesia is showing its neutrality from the cooperation, as the Southeast Asian country also takes advantage of its relationship with China, which will contribute to stability in the region, he added.

Aristyo said this initiative by the U.S. would also extend Washingtons presence in the region in a way that is acceptable to the Indonesian public.

But geopolitically, this is a clear signal for the U.S. to confront Chinas presence in the region, especially after the salvage operation of the KRI Nanggala-402 with the help of Chinese naval ships.

Indonesia recently accepted help from three Chinese naval ships in its ultimately fruitless operation to salvage a submarine that sank north of Bali in April with 53 sailors on board.

Ships and aircraft from Australia, India, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States were involved in earlier search efforts for the sub, which sank during a torpedo-firing exercise.
Supporters of the New Peoples Army, the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines, protest near Malacanang Palace in Manila over peace talks in Oslo, Norway, March 31, 2017.

The Philippine government vowed Monday to investigate and prosecute those responsible for funding terrorist groups after a global watchdog placed the country on its gray list of states facing scrutiny over efforts to combat money laundering and other illicit financing.

The Financial Action Task Force, a Paris-based intergovernmental body, said on Friday that it added the Philippines, Haiti, Malta and South Sudan to its list of countries subject to increased monitoring in order to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing.

In Manila, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the Philippines was serious about instituting reforms.

There were no counter-measures imposed. This only means we will be under increased monitoring, Roque told a virtual news briefing. We have promised to implement our action plan to include amending the Anti-Money Laundering and CTF (Counter-Terrorism Financing) laws, he said.

Terrorism financing investigations and prosecutions are to be increased, along with public awareness efforts, he said.

The Philippine government made a high-level political commitment this month to boost its laws against money laundering and terror financing, the task force said, adding that Manila was required to submit progress reports three times a year.

The task force noted that the governments action plan includes demonstrating that effective risk-based supervision of non-financial businesses is occurring and that supervisors are using proper controls to mitigate risks associated with casino junkets. In the Philippines, casino junkets and the gaming industry cater largely to high-spending gamblers from China.

The plan also includes demonstrating an increased use of financial intelligence and in identification, investigation and prosecution of terrorism financing cases, according to the task force.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Money Laundering Council of the Philippines said it was working to address deficiencies at the national level. The council said the countrys strategy was being updated and that all loopholes would be plugged.

The mere identification of the Philippines as having Jurisdiction under Increased Monitoring with serious AML/CTF deficiencies does not automatically mean imposition of countermeasures, the council said in a statement on June 25, referring to the money laundering and terror financing laws.

It is only when the country fails to meet the deadlines will the FATF call on countries to impose countermeasures against the Philippines, it said. Hence, all government agencies involved should deliver expected outputs on the action plans pertaining to them.

Recipients of illicit funding

Roque called out the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New Peoples Army, which the government has placed on the countrys list of terrorist organizations, as likely recipients of dirty money from foreign donors.

So we really need to trace and shut their sources of funds, the presidential spokesman said. This is also to the benefit of the republic and we agree that more efforts have to be exerted so that the sources of funds of these terrorists would dry up.

Besides the outlawed communists, Muslim militants in the southern Philippines linked to the Islamic State (IS) group have been known to receive funding from foreign backers. In recent years, authorities have arrested several Filipino and foreign militants in the south who had allegedly helped funnel funds to the region, according to authorities.

These shadowy figures often use Filipino Muslims in Mindanao to donate money for charitable work in the name of Islam, but part of these funds often find their way into the hands of militant organizations, said a Philippine official with knowledge of terrorist financing in the south, but who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue.

Filipino intelligence officials have said they do not know how much funding was needed to finance the 2017 siege of the southern city of Marawi by pro-IS militants, although one of the IS lieutenants killed during a five-month battle there was Malaysian Mahmud Ahmad. The intelligence official said that Mahmud had channeled funds from foreign militant backers.

In 2019, a Jordanian man identified as Mahmoud Afif Abdeljalil, was arrested in the southern city of Zamboanga and subsequently deported.

Police identified him as an operative of al-Qaeda who was an associate of Osama bin Ladens brother-in-law, Mohammad Jamal Khalifa, who was killed in Madagascar in January 2007 and was known to have funneled money to Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern Philippines.

There was no evidence to link Abdeljalil to the Marawi attack, although his arrest showed the extent of foreign militant network in Mindanao, the Philippine official told BenarNews.

A BenarNews correspondent in Zamboanga, Philippines, contributed to this report.
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Members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra will perform a pop-up concert outside Berkshire Medical Center on July 7, with other concerts planned at other Berkshire Health Systems facilities this summer.
Ruth Bass is an award-winning journalist. Her website is ruthbass.com. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of The Berkshire Eagle.
This 2020 electron microscope image shows a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 particle isolated from a patient, in a laboratory in Fort Detrick, Md.
Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka said she supports an extension of mail-in voting, but two legislative versions must be reconciled.
Sarah Gardner is a documentary film producer, Berkshire Grown board member and chair of the Williamstown Agricultural Commission. She teaches environmental studies at Williams College.
News

Environmental assessment positive for veterans nursing home

A preliminary environmental assessment required for federal funding of a veterans nursing home in Bowling Green shows no significant adverse impact is expected from the project, meaning construction of the 60-bed, 80,000-square-foot facility could begin in early 2022.

Plans to build the nursing home in Bowling Green have been in the works for more than a decade, and the environmental assessment on a 25-acre site in the Kentucky Transpark is the latest in a series of steps that have moved it closer to reality.

Mark Bowman, executive director of the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Kentucky Veterans Centers, said the preliminary environmental assessment now moves on to the public comment phase before becoming final.

That comment period started Monday and will continue for 30 days. Bowman said interested local residents can visit the veterans.ky.gov website to view the environmental assessment document and learn how to submit comments. A hard copy of the full document is available at the Warren County Courthouse as well.

If all goes well, we can start construction in the spring of 2022, Bowman said. Were still fine-tuning the design.

A look at the preliminary environmental assessment would indicate that all will go well.

The conclusions section of the document states: This analysis determines ... that an environmental impact statement is unnecessary for implementation of the proposed action (building the nursing home), and a finding of no significant impact is appropriate.

The veterans nursing home itself, though, promises to have a huge impact.

According to the EA document, the nursing home will provide skilled nursing services for veterans in a 17-county region that has an underserved veteran population of more than 28,000, with 13,000 of those being age 65 and older. A secondary service area of seven counties has more than 14,000 veterans, half of whom are 65 and older.

The facility will incorporate the Small House Design model, which provides a more homelike environment for the veterans it serves.

A description of the facility says it will include an outdoor therapy area with pathways; an event plaza/pavilion; outdoor seating/dining area; courtyard with a covered grilling area, seating and landscaping; private staff patio with seating; parking areas; and room for future additions to the facility.

The $30 million facility will be paid for with $19.5 million in U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs funds and $10.5 million in state funds. It will be the fifth veterans nursing home in Kentucky, joining others in Hazard, Wilmore, Hanson and Radcliff.

Because of delays in getting this facility approved, Bowman said it has been scaled back from the original plan of 90 beds to only 60.

The 25-acre site for the nursing home, behind the Crown Holdings Inc. aluminum-can manufacturing plant being built on Mizpah Road, is being donated by the Inter-Modal Transportation Authority that oversees the Transpark.

Bowman expects the nursing home to have 120 to 140 employees and be built in a way that will accommodate expansion.

While we had to reduce its scope, were planning for the future, Bowman said. We can add 30 beds or even more.
Spearfish, SD (57783)

Today

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 67F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 67F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Today

A clear sky. Low around 65F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.

Tonight

A clear sky. Low around 65F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.

Tomorrow

Mainly sunny. High around 100F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph.
Many lawmakers have repeatedly pressed Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in recent weeks to resume in-person services at her branch offices around Michigan.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Benson closed the Secretary of State branch offices  where Michiganders go to renew their drivers licenses, IDs, and vehicle registrations, and more  to walk-in services.

Instead, she offered more services online and at remote kiosks in places like supermarkets and encouraged residents to use those, and allowed scheduled in-person appointments. The agencys website says appointments can be scheduled up to six months in advance or in as little as one days notice.

Several residents, however, have complained of long wait times to get appointments and no help over the phone. Rural residents, especially, cant benefit from the kiosks  the closest one to Alpena is in Gaylord.

Lawmakers have demanded Benson open the offices to walk-ins once more now that coronavirus statistics are headed in the right direction.

Well say, first, that we appreciate Bensons efforts to modernize her office and offer more convenient choices for Michiganders, such as the supermarket kiosks.

For many Michiganders, thats allowed them to do their business quickly and efficiently, without giving up whole mornings or afternoons waiting for someone to call their number at a branch office.

However, government must meet its constituents where they are, and shouldnt require constituents to come to it. Large swaths of Northeast Michigan lack reliable internet connections, and many residents here and elsewhere are uncomfortable using that technology.

With no self-service kiosks anywhere near, Northeast Michiganders and the thousands of other Michiganders in similar situations get stuck if the appointment system proves unreliable.

With most coronavirus restrictions already lifted, we join those lawmakers who say Benson should make all options available to Michiganders to do the important business they need to do with her office.

 Alpena News
The neurology and brain stroke team at Fortis Noida, led by Dr Jyoti Bala Sharma has treated over 100 stroke patients in the first quarter of 2021

Fortis Hospital Noida has been awarded the WSO Angles Award (diamond category) by the World Stroke Organization for the Best Management of Brain Stroke Patients. The neurology and brain stroke team at Fortis Noida, led by Dr Jyoti Bala Sharma has treated over 100 stroke patients in the first quarter of 2021 (despite the challenges posed by the pandemic), showcasing seamless coordination and timely intervention which are key in preventing long term damage among stroke patients.

Dr Sharma, Director -Neurology, Fortis Hospital Noida said, We are one of the first hospitals in Noida to have started an acute stroke thrombolysis programme and have around 16 years of experience behind us. In the past year, we have faced many operational and logistical challenges due to the pandemic. We realigned ourselves to the new safety protocols, worked in rotation as several staff members were on dedicated COVID duty, spent long hours in PPE suits to ensure patient safety and responded in a timely and efficient manner, treating ever,y stroke patient who came to us."

Mohit Singh, Head - SBU, Fortis Hospital Noida said, It is a matter of great honour to be awarded Diamond status for brain stroke management by World Stroke Organisation. The achievement has been a milestone in our journey and our doctors have been relentlessly working towards providing the best services to the patients."

The WSO Angels Awards are conferred quarterly and aim to provide practical support to improve stroke care globally, recognise and promote best practice in stroke care and share key learning around the implementation of quality stroke care. The award (consisting of a gold, platinum, and diamond category) recognises hospitals that have demonstrated a clear commitment to quality stroke care and have established cultures and systems to support continuous improvement.
Whether it is the industry or academia, life sciences workers are gradually accepting the fact that lab data digitisation improves processes, simplifies workflows and makes research and development (R&D) more efficient. With increasing advances in machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), digitisation in the research environment is set to become an integral part of every laboratory worldwide. But in emerging markets such as India, there are a large number of factors responsible for its slow adoption such as lack of skilled workforce, high maintenance and service costs, limited expertise, data security etc.
Despite Johannesburg being known as the concrete jungle of Africa, the city is encouraging greener living for its citizens with a number of initiatives and environmental projects. The proudly South African Bain's Cape Mountain Whisky, and twice awarded as the World's Best Grain Whisky, has joined the movement by creating the Bain's Urban Forest in the heart of Johannesburg at the Modderfontein Nature Reserve.

Bain's Cape Mountain Whisky named World's Best Grain Whisky Bain's Cape Mountain Whisky became the first South African whisky to be awarded the World's Best Grain Whisky at the annual Whisky Magazine's World Whisky Awards (WWA) held in London on 21 March 2013, ahead of those from traditional whisky-producing countries such as Ireland, Scotland and the US.

SA's Andy Watts to be inducted into Whisky Hall of Fame Andy Watts, Distell's master distiller of South African whiskies Bain's Cape Mountain Whisky and Three Ships Whisky will be inducted into Whisky Magazine's Whisky Hall of Fame...

Recycle spent grains for animal feed  which is high in protein.

Through a reverse osmosis plant the distillery treats wastewater on site.

We take the spent grains to the anaerobic digester whereby we separate the spent grains (animal feed) from the waste water and treat it in our reverse osmosis plant down to a standard whereby it can be reused in the process as boiler water. This is resulting in an approximate saving of 35% of our water requirements.

We capture methane gas as a by-product from the anaerobic digester in order to reduce coal usage

By collecting the CO emanated during fermentation, the distillery repurposes this greenhouse gas towards the use in carbonated drinks.

In partnership with Greenpop and PlantNation, Bains Cape Mountain Whisky together with the assistance of 300 local volunteers, planted 5,000 indigenous trees in an effort to help restore and protect the local environment with the newly planted woodlands.The reserve, managed by the Endangered Wildlife Trust, is being re-established and whilst invasive species are removed, the intention is to restore the area by planting a selection of carefully chosen species to help support the soils, clean the water/air and survive through the seasons, which present frost and fires.The Bains Urban Forest celebrates the brands launch of a limited-edition green label earlier this year in recognition of the James Sedgwick Distillery, the home of Bains Cape Mountain Whisky, numerous international sustainability awards for their innovative environmentally friendly projects.The James Sedgwick Distillery in Wellington, Western Cape, was recognised with the prestigious Green Company of the Year award by the Business Intelligence Group BIG Awards for Business towards the end of 2019.Then, in 2020, was awarded the world title of Sustainable Distillery of the Year at the 2020 Icons of Whisky Awards held annually byin London, beating fierce competition from producers across the globe ranging from Scotland, America and Ireland to Australia. Most recently, again at the BIG Awards for Business, the distillery was awarded with the Sustainability Leadership Award.Founder-distiller Andy Watts says the distillery, the only commercial whisky distillery in Africa, has been at the forefront of innovation with ingenious sustainability projects.Making whisky is not just about the liquid. Its about finding ways to lessen the impact on the environment, says Watts.Over the years, the distillery team have implemented several initiatives that include:The Modderfontein Nature Reserve is an essential space for the protection of a wide variety of our local flora, fauna and wild mammals including being the home to the national bird, the blue crane.Although initially established in 1894 to meet the growing gold mining industrys need for dynamite manufacturing, the once dormant reserve is now frequented by city dwellers, hikers and cyclists to enjoy the fresh air, forests, wetlands, dams, grasslands and peacefulness of nature.Similar to Johannesburg being a world-class African city founded in one of the world's biggest and richest gold rushes, Bains Cape Mountain Whisky was crafted with innovation and masterfulness in mind.Harnessing the warm South African climate, which accelerates maturation, resulting in an exceptional smooth whisky with extraordinary flavour, the whisky is truly one of a kind.I wanted to create a whisky that celebrates our extraordinary quality South African yellow maize with its light, sweet taste, and instead of using the customary older wood, matured the spirit twice in first-fill bourbon casks for double the extraction of flavour over a five-year period. Its time consuming but definitely worth the wait! Similarly, as with planting trees being monitored every six months for a year and then each year for three years to measure their growth and health, so do we taste the whisky over a number of intervals as it matures quietly in barrel, revealing incredible depth of flavour unravelling with each passing year towards the very moment when the whisky is ready to be called Bains Cape Mountain Whisky, says Watts.
On 1 July 2021, Johannesburg's Northern Suburbs will be able to tune in to StarFM on the 91.9 frequency. This community station is youth driven and takes to the airwaves playing "The Best in Local Music, and More..." Targeting the 18-34 age group, StarFM 91.9 has secured a fully inclusive lineup of radio talent.

Caren Du Preez, StarFM 91.9s programme manager.

How and when did this come about?

Who are you targeting and why?

What can listeners expect to hear from StarFM?

Radio is competitive, so what will you be doing differently to stand out?

What have the challenges been in the run-up to going on air on 1 July?

What was the process of getting the presenter lineup together?

What shows can we expect?

How's the teaming feeling before the first show airs?

We find out more from Caren Du Preez, StarFM 91.9s programme manager...With ICASA having granted Classic a partial change in format to Old Skool and R&B, the opportunity arose for the HOT format and team to move onto the larger transmitter and 1027 frequency. The Gauteng Media Development Project which is the non-profit licensee of the 919 frequency decided that  in order to meet their undertaking to provide a platform for radio training and development, they should look to a new format that encouraged the youth and supported local content on the 919 frequency.By working together and both contributing to the Hot Cares charity, we can benefit more listeners in the greater Johannesburg area through Classic or Hot 1027, as well as StarFM, with its local community focus.Our GMDP community station signal footprint primarily reaches the northern suburbs of Johannesburg. We believe that our presenters and our music format will find appeal amongst the residents of this area, in the same way that Hot did. This is an audience that is highly mobile, and who are interested in what is going on in the surrounding community. We believe that we will still fill the gap, making a difference in the lives of the community and also developing future radio talent.StarFM has assembled a team of young, vibrant presenters and we aim to appeal to the audience based in the Northern Johannesburg area. Well be playing a lot of local music and we will be keeping our finger on the pulse of the Northern suburbs community and direct our content and messaging at issues that appeal to the residents of this area. We are incredibly humbled by and excited about this amazing community broadcasting opportunity.StarFMs sound can be attributed to seasoned broadcasters. The best new and familiar music, entertaining and engaging content, powerful imaging and a passion for giving back to the community! We dont aim to stand out, we aim to be fully inclusive, and our approach will certainly be noticed.Radio is a competitive business and any successful business owner will tell you a winning strategy, undeniable focus and a strong game plan gives you an advantage; however its your consistency in delivery that will create loyalty in your product and have your consumer back for more! We are taking a very professional approach to the station, and we aim to win over listeners and advertisers with a very focused and engaging approach, in the same way that the Hot format did in this community.To date there have been no challenges, only tight deadlines to ensure that we are 100% ready come 1 July, which we are. The way everything has run so smoothly leans me toward knowing that this was just meant to be!Although no challenges; the one set back has been with me contracting Covid-19. I was very nervous about this initially as Ive set tight timelines however my fantastic team pulled together, and we havent missed a single beat!The presenter lineup was very carefully and strategically put together. As a community licensee, we must ensure that our listeners have great presenters with great offerings, from different cultures, different sexual preferences and different taste in just about everything so we can be fully inclusive.We looked for people who would gel together to make the community station a family and a team as it was when it was called Hot, people who are aligned in terms of their values and who are less about the ego and more about the fun and the connection of radio. We have a team that are all excellent at what they do, and who will build strong relationships with the listeners.Greg and Lucky will definitely be entertaining you in the morning and giving you a strong dose of laughter to get you through the day! Mid morning, its YOU and Mzi, from music sweeps to motivational chat in a chilled zone.Then Mantsou Pout enters at midday with her bubbly, cheeky personality and contagious laugh! Have fun with your big Sista before handing over to Justin and Sibz on Drive! Its the last time you're going to be angry in traffic because you are actually going to want to be in your car for longer to hear these two!Weekends we kick off with a Comedy breakfast show starring Mark Mdluli! Every week, he will have someone join him in studio to get your weekends started off with a real laugh! Weekends bring in music and other strong presenters (Adrian, Sivan, Shaun and Lucy) to make sure to gear you up and then wind you down!The team is amped and raring to go! We are looking forward to going live on 1st July. Were like a bunch of race cars revving at the start line, waiting for the flag to drop.
Sudan has rejected an Ethiopian proposal to manage the filling for a second time of a giant dam that it is building on the Blue Nile, a senior official said on Sunday, 27 June, deepening a regional dispute over the project.

Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the river Nile in Guba Woreda, Benishangul Gumuz Region, Ethiopia September 26, 2019. Reuters/Tiksa Negeri

Arab states call on UN Security Council to meet over Ethiopian dam Arab states are calling on the UN Security Council to discuss the dispute over Ethiopia's plan to fill a giant dam it is building on the Blue Nile...

Open to partial interim agreement

Ethiopia has pinned hopes of development and power generation on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), while downstream Sudan is concerned about regulating flows to its own dams and Egypt fears an impact on its water supply.Addis Ababa has said it will again fill the reservoir behind the multi-billion dollar hydropower dam after seasonal rains start this summer, a move that both Sudan and Egypt oppose without a binding agreement on filling and operating the dam.Sudan and Egypt last week sent letters asking the UN Security Council to take up the issue. Talks mediated by the African Union, most recently in the Democratic Republic of Congo, have repeatedly stalled.Sudan has also indicated that it is open to a partial interim agreement before the second filling of the reservoir, with certain conditions.However, on Sunday, the senior Sudanese official said the Ethiopian proposal for the second filling was "not real" and "a way to buy time", adding that any such proposal should come under the auspices of AU mediators and involve all parties.Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official also said that Ethiopia had put forward "impossible conditions" related to the division of the share of the water, which Sudan considers outside the scope of negotiations.Ethiopian water minister Seleshi Bekele did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Senior Traffic Manager

Remuneration: market-related Location: Cape Town Job level: Senior Job policy: Employment Equity position Type: Temporary Reference: #SnrTraffMan99c Company: Ninety9cents

Job description

Schedule and traffic work into studio, from small tasks to large workflows

Facilitate creative workflow planning with Projects Managers, Account Managers, Department Heads

Daily interaction with Project Managers and the Production Team

Oversee/monitor work trafficked by Junior Traffic Managers (team management)

Plan and facilitate weekly status meetings

Ensure projects/campaign kick offs are scheduled on time i.e. traffic creative briefs, ensure briefs are received and actioned etc.

Weekly capacity planning and risk reporting

Traffic timesheets and reports

Manage freelancer database executed by the Junior Traffic Managers

Manage the onboarding of freelancers

Manage leave applications of the respective team

Manage and track freelancer purchase orders

Requirements

Industry-related diploma or degree

At least five years experience as a Traffic Manager with 2 years being in a Senior role

Advertising agency experience is essential

Proficient in MS Office (i.e. Word / Excel Advanced)

Able to work on Workbook to monitor and track jobs

Excellent time management and organizational skills

Excellent project management skills

Strong people management skills

Strong verbal and written communication skills

Ability to work well under pressure and adhere to strict deadlines

Meticulous with attention to detail

Logical thinker

Assertive

Solution driven

Self-motivated

Flexible to work over and above the normal working hours from time to time

Our Cape Town office is looking for a dynamic Senior Traffic Manager to join our team for a maternity cover.Interested candidates must please submit a concise CV and salary expectation. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Should you not hear from us within two weeks after submitting your application, please consider your application, unsuccessful.We remain committed to the principles of employment equity. Posted on 28 Jun 14:20
Arabile Gumede joins Business Day TV

Financial journalist and broadcaster Arabile Gumede has been announced as the host of a new weekly show, Africa Trade & Business that will air on Business Day TV.



The show aims to tell the story of the challenges and opportunities across the continent in the wake of the signing of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement. Business Day TV is on channel 412 on DStv.
Over the course of the past century, a number of truly awe-inspiring heists have been carried out by con artists, whose modus operandi is to exploit human frailties such as credulity, insecurity and greed. Con is short for confidence, for the con artist must first gain the trust of his targets, after which he persuades them to hand their money over to him. A con job differs from a moral transaction between two willing, fully informed trading partners because one of the partners is deceived, and deception constitutes a form of coercion. In other words, the person being swindled is not really free. If he knew what was really going on, he would never agree to invest in the scheme.

The " Ponzi scheme " was named after Charles Ponzi, who in the 1920s persuaded investors to believe that he was generating impressive profits by buying international reply coupons (IRCs) at low prices abroad and redeeming them in the United States at higher rates, the fluctuating currency market being the secret to his seemingly savvy success. In reality, Ponzi used his low-level investors' money to pay off earlier investors, support himself, and expand his business by luring more and more investors in. More recently, Bernie Madoff managed to abscond with billions of dollars by posing as an investment genius who could deliver sizable, indeed exceptional, returns on his clients investments.

It is plausible that at least some of the early investors in such gambits, who are paid as promised, suppress whatever doubts may creep up in their minds as they bask in the splendor of their newfound wealth. But even those who begin consciously to grasp what is going on may turn a blind eye as the scheme grows to engulf investors who will be fleeced, having been persuaded to participate not only by the smooth-talking con artist, but also by the reported profits of previous investors. Eventually, however, the house of cards collapses, revealing the incredible but undeniable truth: there never were any investments at all. No trading ever took place, and all of the companys transactions were either deposits or withdrawals of gullible investors cash.

Before a con artist is unmasked, nearly everyone involved plays along, either because they stand to gain, or because they truly believe. Sometimes the implications of having been wrong are simply too devastating to admit, and these same psychological dynamics operate in many other realms where most people would never suspect anything like a Ponzi scheme. It is arguable, for example, that the continuous siphoning of U.S. citizens income to pay for misguided military interventions abroad constitutes a form of Ponzi scheme. If President George H. W. Bush had never used taxpayers dollars to wage the First Gulf War on Iraq in 1991 and to install permanent military bases in the Middle East, then Osama bin Laden would likely never have called for jihad against the United States. If the U.S. military had not invaded Iraq in 2003, then ISIS would never have emerged and spread to Syria and beyond. Such implications are deeply unsettling, and even in the face of mounds of evidence , most people prefer to cling to the official story according to which the 1991 Gulf War was necessary and just, while the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, were completely unprovoked, and all subsequent interventions a matter of national self-defense.

The series of bombing campaigns in the Middle East beginning in 1991 are plausibly regarded as a type of Ponzi scheme because the "investors" (taxpayers), have actually paid to make themselves worse, not better, off. Not only have the "blowback" attacks perpetrated in response to U.S. military intervention abroad killed many innocent persons, but the lives of thousands of soldiers have been and continue to be wrecked through dubious deployments abroad. Along with all of the blood spilled, much treasure has been lost. The more than $28 trillion national debt (as of June 2021) is due in part to the massive Pentagon budget, rubber-stamped annually by Congress, to say nothing of the many other "discretionary" initiatives claimed to be necessary in national defense. Afghanistan is a perfect example of how billions of taxpayer dollars continue to be tossed into the wind even as the formal U.S. military presence winds down. The reason why the War on Terror continues on is not because it is protecting the citizens who pay for it or helping the people of the Middle East but because it has proved to be profitable to persons in the position to influence U.S. foreign policy.

One might reasonably assume that anyone who stands to enrich himself from government policies should be excluded from consequential deliberations over what ought to be done, and in certain realms, the quite rational concern with conflict of interest still operates to some degree. With regard to the military, however, there has been a general acquiescence by the populace to the idea that because only experts inside the system are capable of giving competent advice, they must be consulted, even when they will profit from the policies they promote, such as bombing, which invariably increases the value of stock in companies such as Raytheon. Throughout history, there has always been a push by war profiteers to promote military interventions, but Dick Cheney, who served as Secretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush and vice president under his son, George W. Bush, took war profiteering to an entirely new level. By privatizing many military services through the Logistics Civilian Augmentation Program (LOGCAP), Cheney effectively ushered in a period of war entrepreneurialism, beginning with Halliburton (of which he was CEO from 1995-2000), which continues on today, making it possible for a vast nexus of subcontractors to profit from the never-ending War on Terror, and to do so in good conscience. When more people have self-interested reasons for supporting military interventions, then they become more likely to take place.

With the quelling of concerns that conflict of interest should limit the persons who advise the president on matters of foreign policy, the formal requirement that the secretary of defense be not a military officer but a civilian has been effectively dropped, with both James Mattis and Lloyd Austin easily confirmed as "exceptions" to the rule, despite the fact that, not only did both have significant financial interests in promoting war, but each also had a full career in the military before retiring and being invited to lead the DoD. Military men are inclined to seek military solutions to conflict, which is undoubtedly why high-ranking officers are invited to join the boards of military companies, making Mattis and Austin textbook examples of "revolving door" appointments.

Arguably even more ruinous to the republic in the longterm than the rampant conflict of interest inherent to "revolving door" appointments between the for-profit military industry and the government has been the infiltration of the military into academia, with many universities receiving large grants from the Defense Department for research. Academia would be a natural place for intellectual objections to the progressive militarization of society, but when scholars and scientists themselves benefit directly from DoD funds, they have self-interested reasons to dismiss or discredit those types of critiqueswhether consciously or notin publishing, retention and promotion decisions. In addition to the institutional research support provided by DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), successful academics may receive hefty fees as consultants for the Pentagon and its many affiliates, making them far more likely to defend the hegemon than to raise moral objections to its campaigns of mass homicide euphemistically termed "national defense".

As a result of the tentacular spread of the military, Cui bono? as a cautionary maxim has been replaced by Who cares? People seem not at all bothered by these profound conflicts of interest, and the past year has illustrated how cooption and corruption may creep easily into other realms as well. Indeed, there is a sense in which today we have two MICs: the military-industrial-complex and, now, in the age of Covid-19, the medical-industrial-complex. This latter development can be viewed, in part, as a consequence of the former, for in recent decades the military industrial complex has sprouted tentacles to become the military-industrial-congressional-media-academic-pharmaceutical-logistics banking complex. Long before Covid-19 appeared on the scene, the Veterans Administration (VA) adopted pro-Big Pharma policies, including the prescription of a vast array of psychotropic medications in lieu of "talk therapy" to treat PTSD among veterans and to preemptively medicate soldiers who expressed anxiety at what they were asked to do in Afghanistan and Iraq. The increase in the prescription of drugs to military personnel generated hefty profits for pharmaceutical firms, allowing them to expand marketing and lobbying efforts to target not only physicians but also politicians and the populace.

Since the initial launch of Prozac in 1986, the pharmaceutical industry has become an extremely powerful force in Western society, made all the more so in the United States when restrictions on direct-to-consumer advertising were lifted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1997. Already by 2020, about 23% of Americans ( nearly 77 million out of a population of 331 million) were taking psychiatric medications, and those numbers appear to have increased significantly during the 2020 lockdowns , which took a toll on many peoples psychological well-being. As medications are prescribed more and more throughout every sector of society, drug makers exert a greater and greater influence on policy, even as the heroin/fentanyl overdose epidemic , caused directly by the aggressive marketing and rampant overprescription of opioid painkillers, continues on.

Just as the military industry is granted the benefit of the doubt on the assumption that they are helping to protect the nation, the pharmaceutical industry accrues respectability from its association with the medical profession. Who, after all, could oppose "defense" and "health"? In reality, however, for-profit weapons and drug companies are beholden not to their compatriots, nor to humanity, but to their stockholders. War and disease are profitable, while peace and health are not. The CEOs of military and pharmaceutical companies, like all businesspersons, seek to ensure that their profits increase by all means necessary, the prescription opioid epidemic being a horrific case in point. Just as academics may enjoy Defense Department funding, many doctors and administrators of medical institutions today derive essential funding from drug companies and the government, whether directly or indirectly. These connections are immensely important because many politicians receive generous campaign contributions from Big Pharma , which by now has more lobbyists in Washington, DC, than there are congresspersons, and not without reason. Formulary decisions at the VA regarding the appropriateness of prescribing, for example, dangerous antipsychotic medications such as Astrazenecas Seroquel to soldiers as sleep aids are made by administrators who are political appointees, as are public health officials more generally.

Charles Ponzi. Image source: Wikimedia Commons.

With a functional Fourth Estate, it would be possible to question if not condemn the conflicts of interest operating in the for-profit military and medical realms. Unfortunately, however, we no longer have a competent press. Throughout the Coronavirus crisis, this has become abundantly clear as alternative viewpoints on every matter of policy have been squelched, suppressed, and outright censored in the name of the truth, when there may have been ulterior motives at play. In fact, the complete quashing of any directives regarding non-vaccine therapies for mitigating the effects of Covid-19including Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine may be best explained by the simple fact that FDA emergency use authorization of vaccines in the United States is possible only when "there are no adequate, approved, and available alternatives," as is stated plainly on the specification sheets for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

Regarding the origins of the virus, early claims by some researchers that Covid-19 may have been produced in the virology lab in Wuhan and released accidentally were swiftly dismissed as "conspiracy theories." Anyone who suggested this eminently plausible origin of the virus was immediately denounced by the media and deplatformed or censored by the big tech giants. "Gain-of-function" research, often funded by the military, involves making existent viruses deadlier to human beings and is said by its proponents to be necessary in order to be prepared for future natural pandemics or in the event that some enemy might use such a virus as a bioweapon. The latter is a familiar line of reasoning among military researchers, invoked also (mutatis mutandis) in nuclear proliferation and the military colonization of space: we must develop the latest and greatest nuclear bombs and effect total spectrum domination of the galaxy before any other government has the chance to do so! Many of the scientists involved in these endeavors may have the best of intentions, but that does nothing to detract from the propensity of human beings to commit errors.

Read the rest of the full essay here.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) added a warning about the risk of developing heart inflammation to information about the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines.

The FDA announced earlier this month that it would add the warning after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had reported that more cases of heart inflammationeither myocarditis or pericarditiswere found in young adults and children after they received the vaccines, which use mRNA technology.

On June 25, the agency said that it would add revisions to its patient and provider fact sheets about the increased risks of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart) following vaccination using the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 shots. The Pfizer or Moderna vaccines use mRNA technology and require two doses, whereas the vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson uses an adenovirus and requires a single dose.

Health officials have said that the risks of developing heart inflammation are outweighed by the vaccines benefits.

The risk of myocarditis and pericarditis appears to be very low given the number of vaccine doses that have been administered, Janet Woodcock, the acting FDA commissioner, said in a statement last week. The benefits of COVID-19 vaccination continue to outweigh the risks, given the risk of COVID-19 diseases and related, potentially severe, complications.

The warning issued by the FDA says that there may be increased risks particularly following the second dose and with [the] onset of symptoms within a few days after vaccination.

Additionally, the Fact Sheets for Recipients and Caregivers for these vaccines note that vaccine recipients should seek medical attention right away if they have chest pain, shortness of breath, or feelings of having a fast-beating, fluttering, or pounding heart after vaccination, the agency said. The FDA and CDC are monitoring the reports, collecting more information, and will follow-up to assess longer-term outcomes over several months.

COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

There have been more than 1,200 cases of pericarditis or myocarditis in individuals who are aged 30 or younger who have received the vaccine doses, according to the latest CDC findings last week.

The case rate, based on submissions to the FDA- and CDC-operated Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, is higher than expected in young males.

For males between the ages of 12 and 17, the expected number of cases of heart inflammation following dose one using a 21-day window were two to 21. The observed number of cases was 32 through June 11. For males between the age of 18 and 24, the expected number of cases using the same parameters were three to 34. The observed number of cases was 47.

Representatives for Pfizer and Moderna didnt respond to requests for comment by press time.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
The United States said on Sunday it carried out another round of air strikes against Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria, this time in response to drone attacks by the militia against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq.

In a statement, the U.S. military said it targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq. It did not disclose whether it believed anyone was killed or injured.

The strikes came at the direction of President Joe Biden, the second time he has ordered retaliatory strikes against Iran-backed militia since taking office five months ago. Biden last ordered limited strikes against a target in Syria in February, that time in response to rocket attacks in Iraq.

"As demonstrated by this evening's strikes, President Biden has been clear that he will act to protect U.S. personnel," the Pentagon said in a statement.
The US governments regime change funding organization  the National Endowment for Democracy (NED)  headed since its inception in 1983 by Carl Gershman  now has a new president and CEO  Damon Wilson.

The NEDs own announcement regarding the handover provides some background for Wilson, claiming:

Mr. Wilson currently serves as Executive Vice President of the Atlantic Council, a role he has held since 2011, overseeing Council strategy and managing its 14 centers and programs. Earlier, Wilson served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council (2007-2009). He was Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff at the US Embassy in Baghdad (2006-2007), where he helped manage one of the largest US embassies during a time of conflict. Prior to this posting, he worked at the National Security Council as the Director for Central,

Wilsons previous employment  unlike Gershman who at least on paper came from a humanitarian background  reveals an unapologetic pro-war, pro-American hegemony administrator and policymaker.

These suspicions are immediately grounded in Wilsons own activities over the past decade at the Atlantic Council  an arms industry, oil company, and bank-funded think tank promoting US socio-economic, political, and military domination over the planet and all the wars, interventions, and meddling used to achieve it.

Understanding Wilsons career of promoting American belligerence abroad will help one better understand which direction the US NED will take in its continued role in funding US-backed opposition groups and the regime change operations they are tasked with carrying out by Washington around the globe.

Removing the Velvet Glove

The NEDs inception in 1983  according to the Western media itself  was to rehabilitate the image of what was at the time CIA-sponsored regime change operations.

The Washington Post in a 1991 article titled, Innocence Abroad: The New World of Spyless Coups, would admit:

The great democratic revolution that has swept the globe over the past few years has been a triumph of overt action. The CIA old boys spent a generation fantasizing about this sort of global anti-communist putsch. But when it finally happened, it was in the open. There were no secret paramilitary armies, and there was almost no bloodshed. The key operatives in the conspiracy turned out to be telephones, televisions and fax machines.

Working in broad daylight, the United States and its allies were able to do things that would have been unthinkably dangerous had they been done in the shadows.

Regarding the NED specifically, the Washington Post would note:

The sugar daddy of overt operations has been the National Endowment for Democracy, a quasi-private group headed by Carl Gershman that is funded by the US Congress. Through the late 1980s, it did openly what had once been unspeakably covert  dispensing money to anti-communist forces behind the Iron Curtain.

In other words, the NED was a rebranding effort meant to dress up dirty and destructive US regime change campaigns as promoting freedom around the world  just as the NEDs slogan says on its official website. It always was  from 1983 when it was first announced to today  a velvet glove placed over the iron fist of covert US interventionism.

And under Gershman for the last almost 40 years, that is what the NED served as. A presentable facade constructed over otherwise invasive, dirty, and destructive regime change campaigns  as invasive, dirty, and destructive as anything the CIA had carried out beforehand  but sold to the public as democracy promotion.

Over the years, as the NED and parallel organizations, institutions, and agencies have attracted more scrutiny, the once transparent nature of their work has been increasingly covered up, with key opposition groups receiving NED money removed from public disclosures on the NEDs website, and the NED becoming increasingly covert  defeating the entire purpose of its creation and existing simply as a redundant extension of the CIA itself.

With Wilsons appointment as president and CEO of the NED, the velvet glove is coming off altogether.

In a 2018 Atlantic Council talk titled, Frontlines of Freedom, Wilson would admit:

the strategy [of consolidating control over Eastern Europe] is not meant to create new dividing lines in Europe. The aim is to anchor a vulnerable, insecure zone in the certainty of a stable and prosperous and free Europe, and over the long time [sic] this vision includes a democratic Russia. But the pathway to reform in Moscow might just begin with choices that are made in Kiev, Chisinau, Yerevan, and Tbilisi.

Wilson reveals the goal of US policymakers and their involvement in both the EU and NATO is not only to move both organizations up to Russias borders, but to absorb Russia itself  a policy that couldnt be more obvious to geopolitical observers and the clear driving force behind Western-Russian tensions today.

Throughout his time at the Atlantic Council he has helped promote US State Department narratives regarding not only the EU and NATOs antagonism toward Russia, but the Wests wars abroad in general including those in North Africa and the Middle East.

In 2016 at the US Embassy in Berlin, he would advocate continued sanctions on Syria as well as continued support for armed militants the US is sponsoring to fight Syrias government by proxy.

Wilson also participated directly in war propaganda projects with other notorious appendages of the Atlantic Council. This includes a co-authored paper he wrote with US government-funded Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins titled, Hiding in plain sight: Putins war in Ukraine.

Together with Wilson as president of the NED  sitting on the NEDs board of directors  are people like convicted criminal Elliott Abrams who oversaw death squads in Central and South America, Scott Carpenter who directly participated in the US occupation of Iraq as director of governance for the Coalition Provisional Authority, and Victoria Nuland whose conversations regarding the US hand-picking Ukraines new government in the wake of the US-sponsored 2014 coup was leaked to the media.

The NEDs role in promoting US-backed regime change under the paper-thin veneer of promoting freedom around the world will likely transform into a much more direct tool of aggression wielded by the US alongside sanctions and the ever-looming threat of military aggression.

And while the US may believe Wilsons appointment as president and CEO of the NED signals strength, in reality it is a sign of Americas growing weakness in combination with an increasingly aware global public  a global public that understands what the NED is, what it does, and the danger it poses  no matter what it claims to represent or to be doing worldwide.

Wilsons appointment as president and CEO of the NED may help governments around the globe better explain to their respective populations the danger the NED poses and the necessity of legislation to inhibit or entirely ban the organization and those taking money from them from within their borders.

Gershman  for nearly 40 years  oversaw an NED attempting and ultimately failing to put a velvet glove over CIA-sponsored regime change. Wilson will be overseeing an NED unable to hide behind such facades any longer  with his own pro-war, pro-intervention, and pro-special interests background undermining the organizations self-proclaimed but obviously misleading mission statement even further.

Brian Berletic is a Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine New Eastern Outlook.
Dr Anthony Fauci was accused of lying Sunday after claims he falsely denied knowing the reasons behind President Trumps's decision to cut funding to the Chinese lab accused of releasing COVID-19.

The White House's chief medical advisor initially resisted Trump's order to halt taxpayer funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology in April 2020, according to an upcoming book, before telling a house committee in June that he 'didn't know the reason' behind the then-president's decision.

However, Fauci's account is contradicted by 'verbatim' quotes which show he was fully aware Trump took the decision out of concern about the lab's safety record and fears it was the source of the COVID pandemic, included in the new book 'Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration's Response to the Pandemic That Changed History' by Washington Post journalists Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta.

Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., told Fox News: 'Dr. Fauci is so obsessed with maintaining his own relevance and downplaying President Trump's role in combatting this crisis that he's once again been caught lying.

'We need someone leading the pandemic response and our investigation into its origins who is more concerned with the truth than their own PR campaign. It's time for Dr. Fauci to go.'

Fauci, who leads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at first resisted a White House directive to cancel a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to EcoHealth Alliance  a nonprofit conducting research on coronaviruses that had previously worked with the Wuhan lab.
For the second time in the five months since he was inaugurated, President Joe Biden on Sunday ordered a U.S. bombing raid on Syria, and for the first time, he also bombed Iraq. The rationale offered was the same as Biden's first air attack in February: the U.S., in the words of Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, conducted defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region. He added that the United States acted pursuant to its right of self-defense.

US President Joe Biden salutes along with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin before delivering an address at the 153rd National Memorial Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day in Arlington, Virginia on May 31, 2021. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Embedded in this formulaic Pentagon statement is so much propaganda and so many euphemisms that, by itself, it reveals the fraudulent nature of what was done. To begin with, how can U.S. airstrikes carried out in Iraq and Syria be "defensive in nature? How can they be an act of self-defense"? Nobody suggests that the targets of the bombing campaign have the intent or the capability to strike the U.S. "homeland itself. Neither Syria nor Iraq is a U.S. colony or American property, nor does the U.S. have any legal right to be fighting wars in either country, rendering the claim that its airstrikes were "defensive and an act of self-defense to be inherently deceitful.

The Pentagon's description of the people bombed by the U.S.  Iran-backed militias groups  is intended to obscure the reality. Biden did not bomb Iran or order Iranians to be bombed or killed. The targets of U.S. aggression were Iraqis in their own country, and Syrians in their own country. Only the U.S. war machine and its subservient media could possibly take seriously the Biden administration's claim that the bombs they dropped on people in their own countries were "defensive in nature. Invocation of Iran has no purpose other than to stimulate the emotional opposition to the government of that country among many Americans in the hope that visceral dislike of Iranian leaders will override the rational faculties that would immediately recognize the deceit and illegality embedded in the Pentagon's arguments.

Beyond the propagandistic justification is the question of legality, though even to call it a question dignifies it beyond what it merits. There is no conceivable Congressional authorization  none, zero  to Biden's dropping of bombs in Syria. Obama's deployment of CIA operatives to Syria and years of the use of force to overthrow Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad never had any Congressional approval of any kind, nor did Trump's bombing of Assad's forces (urged by Hillary Clinton, who wanted more), nor does Biden's bombing campaign in Syria now. It was and is purely lawless, illegal. And the same is true of bombing Iraq. The 2002 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) in Iraq, which the House just last week voted to repeal, has long since ceased to provide any legal justification for ongoing U.S. troop presence and bombing campaigns in that country.

In its statement justifying the bombing raids, Biden's Pentagon barely even bothered to pretend any of this is legal. It did not cite either the 2002 AUMF for Iraq or the 2001 AUMF authorizing the use of force against those responsible for 9/11 (a category which, manifestly, did not include Iran, Iraq or Syria). Instead, harkening back to the days of John Yoo and Dick Cheney, the Biden Defense Department claimed that as a matter of international law, the United States acted pursuant to its right of self-defense, and casually asserted that as a matter of domestic law, the President took this action pursuant to his Article II authority to protect U.S. personnel in Iraq."

Those claims are nothing short of a joke. Nobody seriously believes that Joe Biden has congressional authority to bomb Syria and Iraq, nor to bomb Iranian-backed forces of any kind. As The Daily Beast's long-time War on Terror reporter Spencer Ackerman put it on Sunday night, discussions of legality at this point are "parody because when it comes to the U.S.'s Endless Wars in the name of the War on Terror, we passed Lawful behind many many years ago. Authorization citations are just pretexts written by lawyers who need to pantomime at lawfulness. The U.S. presence in Syria is blatantly illegal. Such things never stop the U.S.

That is exactly right. The U.S. government is a lawless entity. It violates the law, including its own Constitution, whenever it wants. The requirement that no wars be fought absent congressional authority is not some ancillary bureaucratic annoyance but was completely central to the design of the country. Article I, Section 8 could not be clearer: The Congress shall have Power . . . to declare war. Two months after I began writing about politics  back in December, 2005  I wrote a long article compiling the arguments in the Federalist Papers which insisted that permitting the president unchecked powers to wage war without the approval of the public  through their representatives in Congress  was uniquely dangerous for ushering in the kind of tyranny from which they had just liberated themselves, and another article in 2007 which did the same:

The Constitution -- while making the President the top General in directing how citizen-approved wars are fought -- ties the use of military force to the approval of the American citizenry in multiple ways, not only by prohibiting wars in the absence of a Congressional declaration (though it does impose that much-ignored requirement), but also by requiring Congressional approval every two years merely to have an army. In Federalist 26, this is what Alexander Hamilton said in explaining the rationale behind the latter requirement (emphasis in original): The legislature of the United States will be obliged by this provision, once at least in every two years, to deliberate upon the propriety of keeping a military force on foot; to come to a new resolution on the point; and to declare their sense of the matter by a formal vote in the face of their constituents. They are not at liberty to vest in the executive department permanent funds for the support of an army, if they were even incautious enough to be willing to repose in it so improper a confidence. Public opposition is the key check on the ill-advised use of military force. In Federalist 24, Hamilton explained that the requirement of constant democratic deliberation over the American military is "a great and real security against military establishments without evident necessity". . . . Finding a way to impose checks on the President's war-making abilities was a key objective of the Founders. In Federalist 4, John Jay identified as a principal threat to the Republic the fact that insufficiently restrained leaders "will often make war when their nations are to get nothing by it, but for purposes and objects merely personal, such as a thirst for military glory, revenge for personal affronts, ambition, or private compacts to aggrandize or support their particular families or partisans. These and a variety of other motives, which affect only the mind of the sovereign, often lead him to engage in wars not sanctified by justice or the voice and interests of his people."

But as Ackerman says, even discussing legality at this point is meaningless, an empty gesture, a joke. It gives far too much credit to the U.S. ruling class, as it implies that they care at all about whether their posture of endless war is legal. They know that it is illegal and do not care at all. Many have forgotten that President Obama not only involved the U.S. in a devastating regime-change war in Libya without congressional approval, but so much worse, continued to do so even after the House of Representatives voted against providing him authorization to use force in Libya. Obama ignored the House vote and kept troops in Libya anyways as part of a NATO mission, claiming that NATO and U.N. authorization somehow entitled him to do this despite his own country's Congress voting against it, reflecting overwhelming opposition among the citizenry. (The U.N. authorization  even if it could somehow supplant the U.S. Constitution  only allowed the use of force to protect civilians, not to overthrow the Libyan government, which quickly and predictably became the NATO mission, making it clearly illegal).

This is one reason I found the Trump-era discourse so suffocatingly dishonest and fraudulent. I began writing about politics in 2005 in order to document the systemic lawlessness that had become the fully bipartisan Bush/Cheney War on Terror. The executive power theories that were adopted  that the president has the right to do whatever he wants under Article II regardless of congressional laws or any other acts by courts or the citizenry, even including spying on American citizens without warrants  was the pure expression of authoritarianism and lawlessness. That lawlessness not only continued but escalated severely under the Obama administration, with the war in Libya, the claimed right to assassinate anyone in the world without due process, including U.S. citizens, and the CIA's covert regime-change war in Syria.

Having to watch the Bush/Cheney and Obama/Biden operatives who ushered in this permanent state of illegality and lawless wars prance around during the Trump years as noble defenders of the sacred rule of law  all while being celebrated and profiting greatly  was nauseating in the best of times. American elites do not care about the rule of law or the Constitution. Ignoring it is how they empower themselves at the expense of the citizenry. That is why very few will care about the fact that Biden (indulging the fiction for a moment that it was he) ordered the bombings on two countries without the slightest whiff of legal authority to do so.

While it feels frivolous even to raise questions of legality  since so few in Washington care about such matters  the real overarching question is the simplest one. Why does the U.S. continue to have a military presence in Iraq and Syria? What conceivable benefits redound to American citizens from the massive expenditures required to keep U.S. troops stationed in these two countries, the risk of those troops lives, the endless acquisition of bombs and other weapons to fight there, and the obvious but severe dangers from triggering escalation with powerful militaries that  unlike the U.S.  actually have a vital interest in what takes place in their bordering countries?

While the ordinary American only suffers from all of this, there are definitely some sectors of U.S. society which benefit. The corporation that Bidens Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin left in order to run the Pentagon  Raytheon  needs ongoing troop deployment and permanent warfare for its profitability. According to The New York Times, it was Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, [who] briefed Mr. Biden on attack options early last week, after which "Mr. Biden approved striking the three targets. So Gen. Austin's colleagues on the Raytheon Board of Directors, as well as his comrades on the Boards of General Dynamics and Boeing, are surely thrilled with this attack.

Indeed, anyone invested in endless war in the Middle East  including the entire U.S. intelligence community and the weapons industry which feeds off of it  must be thrilled by all of this. Each time the U.S. "retaliates against Iran or Iraqi militias or Syrian fighters, it causes them to "retaliate back, which in turn is cited as the reason the U.S. can never leave but must instead keep retaliating, ensuring this cycle never ends. It also creates a never-ending supply of angry people in that region who hate the U.S. for bringing death and destruction to their countries with bombs that never stop falling and therefore want to strike back: what we are all supposed to call "terrorism. That is what endless war means: a war that is designed never to terminate, one that is as far removed as possible from actual matters of self-defense and manufactures its own internal rationale to continue it.

But what is beyond doubt is that this illegal, endless war in the Middle East does nothing but harm American citizens. As they are told that they cannot enjoy a sustainable let alone quality standard of living without working two or three dreary hourly-wage, benefits-free jobs for corporate giants, and while more Americans than ever continue to live at home and remain financially unable to start families, the U.S. continues to spend more on its military than the next thirteen countries combined. This has continued for close to two full decades now because the establishment wings of both parties support it. Neither of them believes in the Constitution or the rule of law, nor do they care in the slightest about the interests of anyone other than the large corporate sectors that fund the establishment wings of both parties. The bombs that fell on Syria and Iraq last night were for them and them alone.
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NSW Health has issued interstate travel advice saying anyone who enters the state after 12.01am on Wednesday, 30 June, after spending time in the Northern Territory, Queensland, or Western Australia in the past 14 days must complete a declaration form.

It has advised against non-essential travel to lockdown areas in other states and territories at this time.

Do not travel to NSW if you have attended a venue of concern as close contacts must isolate immediately, get tested and remain in isolation for 14 days, and contact the relevant health authorities in their state or territory, it said.

A police checkpoint at the Queensland-NSW border late last year. Credit:Dan Peled

If you are permitted to travel to NSW after 12.01am on Wednesday 30 June, and have been in the areas that are subject to lockdown measures, you must follow the stay at home orders in place in NSW for 14 days after being in the lockdown area.

This means people will only be permitted to leave their place of residence for limited reasons, including shopping for essential items, medical care, caregiving, outdoor exercise, and work or education, if you cannot do it from home. You will also be required to comply with all other public health orders in NSW.
The Commonwealth on Monday said it was working to add 236 GPs to the Pfizer roll-out this week, with 51 of them in NSW, taking the states total to 140. Another 500 GPs will be added to the national Pfizer roll-out in the week of July 12, with an additional 310 coming online the following week. There are also extra roving vaccination clinics. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Responding to Ms Berejiklians concerns over the lack of GPs available to administer the incoming Pfizer doses, COVID-19 taskforce commander Lieutenant-General John Frewen said he had spoken with NSW government officials last week about the implementation of the vaccine for the rest of the year. Were working very closely with both NSW and the other jurisdictions to make sure that we can deliver the vaccines as they come available, particularly towards the end of the year, when we get those greatly increased supplies of vaccines, he said.

Loading NSW recorded 18 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking this outbreaks total to 130, including 124 linked to the Bondi cluster. Late on Monday night NSW Health expanded its list of exposure sites, saying anyone who visited Karls Charcoal Chicken in Marrickville during the listed time was a close contact and must immediately get tested and self-isolate. It also issued alerts for six train services on the T4 line on Wednesday June 23 and Thursday June 24, and 10 bus routes starting and ending in Drummoyne on Wednesday June 23, Thursday June 24 and Friday June 25. On the third day of the metropolitan area lockdown of greater Sydney, thousands of people, including school students and teachers, were also in strict isolation as the government tightens its classification around close contacts in a bid to halt the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.

Data from NSW Healths COVID-19 weekly surveillance report showed just one of the first eight cases in the Bondi cluster had received a single dose of vaccine, and the remaining seven were not vaccinated at all. Health Minister Brad Hazzard said of the 30 people who attended a West Hoxton birthday party, the six people at the super-spreader event who have not caught the virus are all vaccinated. Now, obviously, its an unfolding situation, as is every aspect of this COVID-19 pandemic, but the early and strong indications from that party ... are: If youre vaccinated, you are much more likely to not be infected with COVID-19, Mr Hazzard said, adding that people should not find excuses or kid themselves out of getting their shot. Australian National University infectious diseases physician Sanjaya Senanayake said the situation demonstrated the need for people to be vaccinated with the shot for which they are eligible for.

Your protection from symptomatic infection, if youve only had one dose of vaccine Pfizer or AstraZeneca, which is the vaccines were using here, is only 33 per cent and that goes up to 60 per cent with two doses of AstraZeneca, just about 88 per cent with two doses of Pfizer, he said. So what it really says is, if you are eligible for your second dose of AstraZeneca, please go and get it. The UK data has also shown you have over 90 per cent protection from hospitalisation of two doses of either vaccine. NSW recorded its highest number of COVID-19 vaccinations last week, largely due to NSW Health clinics administering shots on a Sunday. There were 114,242 vaccines administered by NSW Health during the week and 111,795 doses administered by GPs and Commonwealth respiratory clinics between Monday and Saturday.

Loading Despite these figures, NSWs vaccination coverage is still among the worst nationally, with just over 22.6 per cent of people having received their first dose, compared to 29 per cent of Victorians and 39.5 per cent of Tasmanians. There has been a drop in the number of AstraZeneca vaccines administered at GP and Commonwealth respiratory clinics in NSW in recent weeks, following advice that people aged 59 and under yet to have a first dose should instead receive Pfizer. NSW recorded three overseas cases during the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday, as well as one interstate case: a man from Glen Innes who worked at the Northern Territorys Granites gold mine. The mine is linked to seven infections after another case was detected in Darwin, which entered a three-day lockdown on Sunday. Initially constrained by both supply and specific refrigeration needs, the Therapeutic Goods Administration in May changed its advice to allow Pfizer to be stored in regular vaccine fridges.
Police say two nude sunbathers received emergency assistance and $1000 fines for breaching COVID-19 public health orders after being startled by a deer and becoming lost in the Royal National Park.

Announcing 44 fines for breaches of COVID-19 health orders over the past 24 hours, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller warned enforcement had ramped up over the first weekend of the lockdown.

Unbelievably, we saw two men sunbaking naked on a beach on the South Coast. They were startled by a deer, ran into the ... national park and got lost, Mr Fuller said.

Not only did they require assistance from SES and police to rescue them, they also both received a ticket for $1000.
A man who allegedly attacked his neighbours father with a chainsaw has been charged.

Police said a fight broke out between a 36-year-old and a 24-year-old about 1am on Sunday over a noisy party on Koda Street in Burpengary East.

Police have charged a man after he allegedly punched his neighbour and attacked his neighbours father with a chainsaw.

The younger man had thrown the party.

A 36-year-old allegedly punched him in the head and bit him on the arm, stomach and leg.
Sixty-three Queensland police officers have been forced to isolate after becoming close contacts of a COVID-19 at Brisbane City Watchhouse as Queensland introduces mask wearing, no dancing and social distancing restrictions.

Queensland Health released a list of more than 40 exposure sites on Monday after two local cases of COVID-19 were reported.

The infected individuals were a cleaner who worked at Brisbane Airport DFO and the CBDs police watchhouse, and her partner who worked on the Sunshine Coast who were linked with the Four Points hotel quarantine leak.

In a statement, QPS said it was assisting Queensland Health as all staff and persons held in custody were assessed following the COVID-19 case.
Queensland police have used data collected by the Check In Qld app, despite assurances from the state government it would only be used for contact tracing purposes.

Brisbane Times can reveal police accessed check-in details as part of an investigation into the reported theft of an officers gun and Taser from a regional pub.

The Queensland governments official COVID-19 check-in app. Credit:Stuart Layt

It has led to calls from Queenslands privacy and human rights commissioners for the state government to keep its word and ban the use of the data for all but contact tracing purposes.

The unloaded firearm, initially believed to have been stolen on the night of the first State of Origin game from a locked room in the Miriam Vale Hotel, about 450 kilometres north of Brisbane, was found the next day during a more detailed search of the pub, a police spokesman said in a statement.
Queensland recorded two cases of community transmission on Monday, and masks will be mandated from 1am on Tuesday.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said one case of COVID-19 was linked to a Portuguese restaurant in Brisbanes south, while a female miner from the Bli Bli region on the Sunshine Coast, linked to the Northern Territory mine site, was officially confirmed with the Delta strain of coronavirus.

Ms Palaszczuk said masks would be mandatory for two weeks from 1am on Tuesday across Brisbane, Noosa, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich, Logan, Redlands, Moreton, the Gold Coast, the Scenic Rim, the Lockyer Valley and Somerset regions.

Wedding numbers would be restricted to 100, while 30 people would be allowed in homes.
However, Victorian residents returning from a red zone may come home. But they must be quarantined for 14 days upon arrival. Meanwhile, authorities have identified seven miners in Victoria as having worked at the same site as a miner who tested positive for COVID-19 in the Northern Territory. So far, three of those miners have tested negative for coronavirus, and Victorias COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said the remaining four were having their tests done on Monday. About 900 people had worked at the same mine as the NT miner, the Granites gold mine in the Tanami Desert, but had since left. Victoria has recorded no new local cases of coronavirus for the second day in a row as concern mounts about the prospect of a national outbreak of the highly contagious Delta strain of COVID-19. Two cases were recorded in Victorias hotel quarantine in the 24 hours to midnight on Sunday, and 17,617 test results were processed. Almost 14,300 people received their vaccine doses in the 24 hours.

Victorian health authorities have revised their figures on how many in the state were affected by a Virgin Australia flight attendant testing positive to coronavirus. Mr Weimar on Monday said authorities had confirmed there were 94 passengers on flight VA334 from Brisbane to Melbourne on Friday evening, not 128. A flight attendant onboard tested to coronavirus the following evening, on Saturday, after staying in hotel isolation overnight at the Holiday Inn Express at Southbank. All of [the passengers] have been contacted and were working through with them on their test results, Mr Weimar said.

The commander said more than a third of the passengers had already returned interstate, and 152 Virgin staff had been identified as close contacts of the flight attendant. He said nine people at the Holiday Inn were returning negative COVID-19 tests as we speak, and there was no bad news to report about the flight attendants case so far. Mr Andrews said plans to increase outdoor stadiums capacity, including the MCG, to 85 per cent by this weekend will go ahead if crowds can remain COVID-safe. The capacity increase is set to go ahead at 11.59pm on Thursday. Mr Andrews said the decision would ultimately be down to the states Chief Health Officer, as would the decision about whether Victoria should have a hub for interstate teams. If we can host those events in a COVID-safe way and we can take that step to 85 per cent again, COVID-safe, then we will, and we would be happy to, Mr Andrews said.

But I think all of us have to recognise that Australia is a very different place today even than it was a week ago. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Mr Andrews noted the COVID-19 outbreaks in several Australian states, and said coronavirus didnt respect state borders. There were 37 new cases of community transmission recorded across four jurisdictions on Sunday. Authorities are chasing down 900 people who worked at the same gold mine as a Northern Territory miner while he was potentially infectious, and reaching out to hundreds of people on flights with a Virgin Australia flight attendant who has tested positive to coronavirus.

Loading Australian Medical Association vice-president Dr Chris Moy said the virulence of the Delta strain was a major factor in the national outbreak. Were basically having a cross-country seeding event, thats as simple as that, he said. Dr Moy said states and territories have to go hard on restrictions early to minimise the spread after two separate coronavirus outbreaks sparked cases in NSW, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland. Its beaten the NSW contact tracers, and the reliance on contact tracers and holding out [on introducing a lockdown] for a few days has led to seeding across the country.

This is a different beast. Youve got to go hard at this. Really, thats your best chance. Loading Senior Victorian cabinet ministers were considering shutting the border to New South Wales, as well as parts of Queensland and Western Australia, where new COVID-19 cases were recorded over the weekend. Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton announced late on Sunday that anyone who travelled to the state from Greater Brisbane, Perths metropolitan area or the Peel region after 1am on Monday would have to immediately isolate. The three regions were declared as orange zones, with travellers into Victoria having to get a COVID-19 test within 72 hours of arrival, isolate until they receive a negative test and obtain a travel permit.

Greater Brisbane includes the local government areas of Brisbane City, Ipswich City, Logan City, Redlands City and the Moreton Bay Region. Loading Back in Melbourne, lord mayor Sally Capp said she was confident the city will bounce back after its fourth lockdown, now that 75 per cent of office workers are allowed back into the city with masks indoors. Were in bounce-back number four I call it, Cr Capp said. Pedestrian activity on Sunday recovered to 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in the city, Cr Capp said.
An Aboriginal elder says a blast of verbal abuse from Greens senator Lidia Thorpe during a meeting at Parliament House left her physically ill, shaken and requiring medical attention.

First Peoples Assembly of Victoria co-chair Aunty Geraldine Atkinson is seeking a formal apology from Senator Thorpe  an Indigenous senator in her first term  for her conduct during a meeting to discuss Victorias treaty process at Parliament House in Canberra last Tuesday.

Co-chair of the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria, Aunty Geraldine Atkinson.

According to a letter of complaint Ms Atkinson sent to Senate President Scott Ryan and the Greens leader Adam Bandt, Senator Thorpe began the meeting by telling Ms Atkinson they were not friends and that she did not respect her, accusing her of holding high-paid roles in organisations that did not benefit the Indigenous community.

The letter also contains allegations that Senator Thorpe criticised the prominent Bamblett family, of which Ms Atkinson is a member, saying they had always tried to undermine her and bring her down, and that she suggested Ms Atkinson was involved in corrupt Aboriginal organisations.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has plunged Perth and Peel into a full lockdown for at least four days.

On Monday night he said the current COVID-19 outbreak had grown to three cases and was a rapidly evolving situation requiring action to be taken to protect the community. He had earlier warned delaying action was dangerous.

WA Premier Mark McGowan provides an update on the COVID-19 situation in his state. Credit:Peter de Kruijff

Mr McGowan said there had been another positive case recorded on Monday evening and genomic sequencing has confirmed case 1022  a physiotherapist in her 50s from Mindarie, who had visited Sydney  had the dangerous Delta variant.

The latest Perth case is a man in his 30s who worked and dined at Indian Ocean Brewery in Perths northern suburbs, where the original case 1022 dined at on Tuesday, June 22.
*for full place names and exact exposure times, refer to chart that appears earlier in this article*

June 15  A woman in her 50s travels to Sydney for an event outside the city.

June 18  The woman returns to Sydney and hangs out in the Bondi area.

June 19  She has brunch with her husband and son at the Lyfe Cafe. The WA Government brings in a new rule requiring recent arrivals from NSW to get tested and isolate until returning a negative test. People who have visited exposure sites have to stay quarantined regardless for 14 days.

June 20  The couple returns home to Perth, and gets tested as required.

June 21  The woman returns a negative test for COVID-19. Husband also tests negative.

June 22  The woman, a physiotherapist, has a full day planned. She goes to work at a small Joondalup gym in the morning. Then she has appointments at two primary schools in Koondoola. Over lunchtime she visits Ikea, then goes back to the gym for a couple more appointments before clocking off. Then, busy day over, she heads to the Indian Ocean Brewing Co for dinner, stopping for fuel on the way.

June 23  Today isnt so packed. She heads to the gym again in the morning, then has a break before another late afternoon stint at the gym. After work she visits Ocean Keys Shopping Centre to run some errands, going to Kmart and Coles.

June 24  WA also goes to Phase 5 restrictions. The woman has no gym appointments this morning, just school visits: again to Burbidge School in Koondoola and then to Connolly Primary School, only finishing in the early afternoon. She then has a stint at the gym. Work done for the day, she goes to Woolworths at Currambine Central, then has a quick look at Rockmans, still open for Thursdays late-night shopping. It is only now she starts to feel ill.

June 25  Feeling sick, she stays at home. She learns the Lyfe Cafe is now an exposure site.

June 26  She gets a test at Joondalup Health Campus. Its positive.

June 27  WA goes back to Phase 1 restrictions.
State leaders will push the federal government for more vaccines when national cabinet meets on Monday evening as cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant grow around the country.

The emergency national cabinet agenda includes a look at introducing day 16 post-quarantine testing, mandating vaccinations for aged care staff, testing and vaccinating all people working directly or indirectly in the quarantine system, and banning the practice of allowing low-risk travellers to quarantine near high-risk international travellers.

International return travellers arriving at hotel quarantine in Melbourne. Credit:Jason South

The 5.30pm meeting will also include a briefing from Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly on the state of the outbreaks and the Delta variant, and a briefing from Lieutenant-General John Frewen on vaccine stocks and the rollout.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews was hesitant to throw his support behind a Commonwealth proposal to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for aged care workers, given hes yet to see it.
When it comes to the global image war, the narrative battle that has raged between China and the US over COVIDs origins is just one skirmish in a much wider campaign. Yet the impact of the pandemic has been to supercharge the conflict, reshaping the battlefield and allowing Beijing to take advantage of Washingtons distraction at a time of domestic Trump-related turmoil.

The elephants are just one manifestation of Beijings decade-long obsession with boosting what it calls its discourse power. President Xi firmly believes that Beijing needs to upgrade its global image in fitting with its status as the worlds second largest economy. To that end, its been steadily redrawing the global media landscape through the overseas expansion of its state-run media, the acquisition of stakes in foreign news outlets by pro-China businesspeople and the construction of global communications infrastructure, such as its satellite television network across Africa.

Chinas latest media stars are 14 photogenic wild elephants who wandered 500 kilometres from their home to end up on the outskirts of the southwestern city of Kunming. Images of the elephants nuzzling each other to sleep have whizzed around the world, accompanying stories outlining officials desperate attempts to guide the herd home. Thanks to the elephants, an image of a real and caring China is emerging, trumpeted the Global Times newspaper . This is no coincidence; the cuddly elephants are the latest weapon in President Xi Jinpings propaganda offensive to present a more lovable global image of China .

This represents a more assertive strategy, harnessing the web of content-sharing agreements it has already built, which offers Chinese propaganda for free to overseas news outlets. Beijing is also spending millions placing advertorials in foreign newspapers. Beijings sheer propaganda reach was revealed during a single week during the March meeting of Chinas legislative assembly, when the Peoples Daily boasted that it had placed a total of 4500 articles  or media drops as it terms them  in 12 languages in 200 news outlets.

In the pre-COVID era, Beijing also bought sympathetic coverage in foreign papers by offering free junkets to China for foreign journalists, wowing them with five-star treatment. Dozens of high-profile Australian journalists have availed themselves of such tours; many wrote breathless, wide-eyed paeans echoing the party line on Chinas warp-speed economic development. Wittingly or not, they ended up telling Chinas story well.

It is one indication of Beijings surprising sophistication at propaganda that even though the first known COVID-19 outbreak originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, China has managed to leverage the pandemic to bolster its global reputation. In research for the International Federation of Journalists, our survey of journalism unions in 50 countries found that almost 60 per cent of respondents judged that coverage of China in their country had become more positive since the COVID outbreak. The vast majority  more than 90 per cent  of those surveyed had received Chinese medical aid, while 42 per cent were recipients of Chinas COVID vaccine. In vaccine recipient countries, the predominant narrative regarding Chinas handling of the pandemic was twice as likely to be positive.

Meanwhile, chaotic American and European responses to the pandemic played into Chinas hands, since they resulted in developing countries publicly pleading for Beijings help in providing masks, PPE and medical aid. The deliveries of these provided an opportunity for dramatic and public shows of gratitude, such as gigantic billboards bearing the words Thank you, brother Xi! in the streets of the Serbian capital. In Tunisia the opening of a Chinese-funded $70 million hospital caused many Tunisians to view Beijing as a saviour. In this way, Chinese aid donations do double duty by providing Beijing with propaganda wins that project its image as a responsible member of the international community.
Seoul: Everyone in North Korea is heartbroken over leader Kim Jong-uns apparent weight loss, said an unidentified resident of Pyongyang quoted on the countrys tightly controlled state media, after watching recent video footage of Kim.

The rare public comment on Kims health comes after foreign analysts noted in early June that the autocratic leader, who is believed to be 37, appeared to have lost a noticeable amount of weight.

Kim Jong-un at Workers Party meetings in Pyongyang on February 8, left, and on June 15. Last time Kim faced rumours about his health, he had walked with a cane, missed an important state anniversary or panted for breath. Credit:KCNA/AP

Seeing respected general secretary [Kim Jong-un] looking emaciated breaks our peoples heart so much, the man said in an interview aired by state broadcaster KRT on Friday.

Everyone is saying that their tears welled up, he said.
Washington: The United States has stepped up air strikes in Iraq and Syria, this time in response to drone attacks by militia groups against American personnel and facilities in Iraq.

The attack using F-15 and F-16 aircraft targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq which the Department of Defence said were being used by Iran-backed militias. It did not disclose whether it believed anyone was killed or injured but officials said assessments were ongoing.

President Joe Biden, pictured at the White House on Sunday, June 27, approved the US air strikes on Iran-backed militias. Credit:AP

As demonstrated by this evenings strikes, President [Joe] Biden has been clear that he will act to protect US personnel, the department said in a statement.

Defence Press Secretary John Kirby said the militias had been using the facilities to launch unmanned aerial vehicle attacks against US troops in Iraq.
Ryan Ramczyk can't really pinpoint whether he's a few blocks away, around the corner or just down the street. But the New Orleans Saints' star right tackle knows he's approaching being the player he wants to be.
French automobile manufacturer Citron has partnered with CarWale, a platform that provides customers information on new car pricing and other related issues, for last-mile delivery of its flagship vehicle model, the new Citron C5 Aircross

Under the tie-up, customers purchasing the car through a 100 per cent direct online selling model will now have an option to get the vehicle delivered at their doorstep, a release said on Monday.

Citron currently has showrooms across 10 cities in the country, including Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Delhi, Kochi, and Gurugram. For customers outside these cities, it has launched a 100 per cent direct online buying for its flagship model.

Customers in over 50 Indian cities will be covered through this online initiative and can order directly from the factory and will be supported by a dedicated test drive fleet, e-sales advisor, virtual product demo and a doorstep delivery facility, according to the release.

"For us, this partnership presents a unique opportunity to further expand our set of offerings in the automotive space and helps us take another step towards creating and building products and services for our customers," said Banwari Lal Sharma, CEO, CarWale.

As part of the arrangement, CarWale through its network across India, apart from the door-step delivery of the vehicle, will also help the customer get the car registered at the nearest Regional Transport Office, it said.

"The 100 per cent direct online selling model is part of Citron's seamless, omni-channel brand experience. We believe this direct online selling model will see rapid adoption in the future as digitisation continues to grow in India," said SaurabhVatsa, Head-BrandCitron in India.

This last-mile delivery partnership with CarWale for the new C5 Aircross ties up very well with the company's brand ethos of Citron 360 degree comfort to enhance the overall customer experience, he added.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited, India's largest power generating company under the Ministry of Power, has become the first energy company in the energy domain in India to declare its Energy Compact Goals as part of the UN High-level Dialogue on Energy (HLDE).

As per the official release by the ministry, NTPC has set a target to install 60 Giga Watts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2032. India's largest power producer is also aiming at 10 per cent reduction in net energy intensity by 2032.

NTPC is among the few organisations globally to declare its Energy Compact Goals.

Further, NTPC has declared that it will form at least 2 international alliances/groups to facilitate clean energy research and promote in the energy value chain by 2025.

The targets were unveiled in the recently held 'Ministerial Thematic Forums for the HDLE' event. The commitment from NTPC has been made public on the UN's website as well.

United Nations is set to convene a high-level dialogue in September 2021 to promote the implementation of the energy-related goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

NTPC has been taking various steps in increasing its green energy portfolio by adding significant capacities of Renewable Energy (RE) sources.

The company had earlier planned to have a minimum of 32 GW capacity through RE sources constituting nearly 25 per cent of its overall power generation capacity by 2032. This development will prove to be a huge boost for the nation's largest energy producer that will catapult its position in the green energy map of the country.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has kept the approval of Go Airlines (India)s Rs 3,600-crore initial public offering (IPO) in abeyance.

While the airline denied receiving any communication from the stock market regulator, Sebis website shows that it had sought clarifications from ICICI Securities, the lead banker for the pre-issue, on June 11. The issuance of observations on the airlines draft red herring prospectus has been kept in abeyance, it said.

The Wadia-group owned airline was rebranded as Go First, positioning itself as an ultra-low-cost airline and filed papers last month to raise Rs 3,600 crore through a share sale. It plans to use the proceeds to meet its debt obligations, pay oil companies, replace letters of credit given to aircraft lessors towards lease rent, and future maintenance of aircraft.

Issuance of observations by implies approval for a public offering. As the market regulator, it is Sebis job to vet documents submitted by before giving them the go-ahead for an It is a common practice for the regulator to raise queries to investment banks on an offer document.

Market experts said, typically, an issue is kept in abeyance when the violation is serious in nature. They said it could take a company more than a month to address the issue before the regulator begins the vetting process afresh.

In this case the exact observations issued by could not be ascertained, but the regulatory action could delay the airlines fundraising plans.

According to documents filed with Sebi, the Wadia family and their company Go Investment hold 100 per cent stake in the airline. At least 22.56 per cent of Go Investment is pledged with a lenders consortium. In the nine month ending December 2020, the airline posted a loss of Rs 470 crore on total income of Rs 1,438 crore. The airline posted a loss of Rs 1,270 crore in FY20 on an income of Rs 7,258 crore, according to consolidated financial statements that were part of the filing.

While negotiations with lessors were highlighted as risk factors in the prospectus, the airline has been able to negotiate a longer repayment schedule for one of its loans with the French lender BNP Paribas.

It has also received positive feelers from lessors for further deferment of lease payment on account of the second wave of the pandemic.
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British-Swedish biopharmaceutical firm has in partnership with the University of Oxford rolled out human trials for booster shots against Beta Covid variant.

The booster shot, named AZD2816, will be administered to individuals who have previously been fully vaccinated with two doses of vaccine/Vaxzervia or an mRNA vaccine, at least three months after their last injection.

In non-vaccinated individuals, AZD2816 will be given as two doses, four or twelve weeks apart, or given as a second dose following a first dose of vaccine/Vaxzervia --four weeks apart, the company said in a statement on Sunday.

AZD2816 has been designed using the same adenoviral vector platform as AstraZeneca vaccine/ Vaxzervia, with minor genetic alterations to the spike protein based on the Beta (B1351) variant, first identified in South Africa.

The study aims to enroll 2,250 participants from the UK, South Africa, Brazil and Poland to build immunity against the Beta Covid variant.

"Testing booster doses of existing vaccines and new variant vaccines is important to ensure we are best prepared to stay ahead of the pandemic coronavirus, should their use be needed," said Professor Sir Andrew J. Pollard, chief investigator and director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, in the statement.

Initial data from the trial is expected later this year and, once available, will be submitted to regulators for assessment as a next-generation booster vaccine and through an expedited regulatory pathway, the company said.

"The Beta variant vaccine contains 10 changes across the spike protein, many of which are also seen in other variants of concern, and which lead to effects such as, reduced ability of antibodies induced against the original virus to block cell entry (K417N, E484K, N501Y), increased infectivity compared to the original virus (D614G); reduced sensitivity of neutralising antibodies to the original virus (L452R)," the company said.

Besides these minor modifications, the two AZD2816 and AstraZeneca vaccine/ Vaxzervia vaccines are the same, it noted.

In May, the UK launched a clinical trial that aimed to assess the efficacy of a third 'booster' dose of seven different Covid-19 vaccines -- Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Novavax, Valneva, Janssen and Curevac -- on patients immune responses.

It costs 19.3 million pound and is being funded by the UK government and led by the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.

Meanwhile, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has noted that there is currently no data to support that a Covid-19 vaccine booster shot is needed for the general population. But, an extra dose may be needed for more-vulnerable groups, such as older adults or organ transplant patients.

Both Pfizer and Moderna are investigating a third dose of Covid vaccine, while Johnson & Johnson is studying the need for a second dose to raise protection against the virus, the report said.

The US NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, or NIAID, is also conducting a clinical trial to understand whether a third shot of a Moderna vaccine could be given after a person initially received two shots of Pfizer, or one shot of Johnson & Johnson, the report added.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in has increased by 33,704 to 18,420,598 within the past 24 hours, the country's said on Sunday.

With 739 more death, the toll now stands at 513,474.

Over 16.61 million people have recovered since the start of the outbreak. On Saturday, the country confirmed a record of 64,134 new cases and 1,593 fatalities.

Meanwhile, global cases of COVID-19 have surpassed 180 million. deaths are the world is set to cross 4 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

comes second in terms of the death toll following the US with over 603,000 fatalities and third in terms of the number of confirmed cases after the US and India.

The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The infamous spy case which first surfaced in the mid nineties, that recently took a different turn, when the then probe team of Police and Intelligence Bureau now turning accused and the then 'villain', country's premier scientist, now watching from the sidelines the new proceedings initiated by the CBI.

On Monday the new team of the CBI (Delhi Special Unit) arrived in the state capital and for a while from now on, they would be here to go forward to unravel the spy case and will look from a different angle if there was any conspiracy on the part of the probe teams of the Police and the IB.

It was last week, the CBI put pedal on the probe and registered an FIR with the Thiruvananthapuram Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court against 18 people, including top former police and IB officials, who have been charged for conspiracy and fabrication of documents.

Soon came the news the next day a Thiruvananthapuram court granted anticipatory bail to former Kerala Director General of Police Siby Mathews, named in a fresh FIR registered by the CBI in the ISRO spy case.

Sources in the know of things revealed that the new CBI team has already started their probe and will very soon call the witnesses and those named in the FIR and speculations are that they might even arrest some.

Things changed for the victim S. Nambi Narayanan, a former ISRO scientist, after numerous long-drawn court battles when the Supreme Court in 2020 appointed a three-member committee headed by retired judge Justice D.K. Jain to probe if there was a conspiracy among the then police officials to falsely implicate Narayanan.

The list of accused in the FIR includes former Gujarat DGP and then IB Deputy Director, R.B. Sreekumar, besides other police officials which include S. Vijayan, Thampi S. Durgadutt, K.K. Joshua, who were all from the local police, which first registered the ISRO spy case.

Apart from Mathews, by now another official whose name figures in the FIR has also secured anticipatory bail and the news is that, many others are also approaching the court for anticipatory bail, as they fear they might be arrested.

The ISRO spy case surfaced in 1994 when Nambi Narayanan was arrested on charges of espionage along with another senior ISRO official, two Maldivian women and a businessman.

The CBI freed Narayanan in 1995 and since then he has been fighting a legal battle against Mathews, Vijayan and Joshua who probed the case and falsely implicated him.

Narayanan has now received a compensation of Rs 1.9 crore from various agencies, including the Kerala government which in 2020 paid him Rs 1.3 crore and later awarded Rs 50 lakh as directed by the Supreme Court in 2018 and another Rs 10 lakh as directed by the National Human Rights Commission.

The compensation was because the former ISRO scientist had to suffer wrongful imprisonment, malicious prosecution and humiliation.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The wait to hit the was finally over for Delhiites on Monday as gyms and yoga centres opened in the national capital after a gap of three long months.

These centres were shut to check the spread of The Delhi government Saturday allowed them to operate at 50 per cent capacity.

Gym-owners and instructors have devised plans including frequent sanitisation and slots allowing only up to 50 per cent of their establishment's capacity in accordance with the Covid guidelines.

The city government has also allowed weddings at banquet, marriage halls and hotels with 50 people in attendance under the phased unlock process initiated with an improvement in the city's COVID-19 situation.

Chirag Sethi, the vice president of Delhi Association, said the fitness industry welcomed the opportunity to reopen while following the guidelines.

Sethi, also the owner of Anytime Fitness in Malviya Nagar, said they were allowing members to come in about 16 slots of 50-60 people from 6 am till 9 pm.

"People are excited about coming back as they have realised it's important to be healthy to fight COVID-19," Sethi told PTI.

Along with segregating groups of gym-goers, Sethi has also vaccinated his staff and directed them to sanitise all the equipment frequently.

"We are also giving discount offers for members who have been vaccinated. We have placed a bottle of sanitiser and a cloth next to each equipment so anyone who uses it can clean it," he said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India on Monday reported a net reduction of 13,409 in active cases to take its count to 572,994. Indias share of global active cases now stands at 4.96 per cent (one in 20). The country is third among the most affected countries by active cases. On Saturday, it added 46,148 cases to take its total caseload to 30,279,331 from 30,233,183  an increase of 0.2%. And, with 979 new fatalities, its Covid-19 reached 396,730, or 1.31 per cent of total confirmed infections.

With 1,721,268 more Covid-19 vaccine doses being administered on Saturday, Indias total count of vaccine shots so far reached 323,663,297. The count of recovered cases across India, meanwhile, reached 29,309,607  or 96.8 per cent of total caseload  with 58,578 new cured cases being reported on Monday.

Now the third-most-affected country by active cases and deaths, second by total cases, and first by recoveries, India has added 344,110 cases in the past 7 days.

India now accounts for 4.96% of all active cases globally (one in every 20 active cases), and 10.07% of all deaths (one in every 9 deaths).

India has so far administered 323,663,297 vaccine doses. That is 1068.92 per cent of its total caseload, and 23.22 per cent of its population.

Among Indian states, the top 5 in terms of number of vaccine shots administered are Maharashtra (35854534), Uttar Pradesh (35333088), Rajasthan (29014907), Gujarat (28841497), and West Bengal (25253416).

Among states with more than 10 million population, the top 5 in number of vaccine shots per one million population are Kerala (451898), Gujarat (451549), Delhi (447508), Uttarakhand (425090), and J&K (367621).

Backwards from here, the last 1 million cases for India have come in 17 days.

The count of active cases across India on Sunday saw a net reduction of 13,409, compared with 9,162 on Sunday. States and UTs hat have seen the biggest daily net increase in active cases are Maharashtra (1007), Manipur (144), Nagaland (36), and Andaman and Nicobar Islands (8).

With 58,578 new daily recoveries, Indias recovery rate stands at 96.8%, while fatality rate remained unchanged at 1.31%.

The Indian states and UTs with the worst case fatality rates at present are Punjab (2.69%), Uttarakhand (2.09%), and Maharashtra (2.01%). The rate in as many as 17 is higher than the national average.

Indias new daily closed cases stand at 59,557  979 deaths and 58,578 recoveries. The share of deaths in total closed cases stands at 1.64%.

Indias 5-day moving average of daily rate of addition to total cases stands at 0.2%.

Indias doubling time for total cases stands at 454.5 days, and for deaths at 280.5 days.

Overall, five states with the biggest 24-hour jump in total cases are Kerala (10905), Maharashtra (9974), Tamil Nadu (5127), Andhra Pradesh (4250), and Karnataka (3604).

Among states with more than 100,000 cases, the five with worst recovery rates at present are Karnataka (95.21%), Maharashtra (95.91%), and Kerala (96.09%).

India on Saturday conducted 1,570,515 to take the total count of tests conducted so far in the country to 406,371,279. The test positivity rate recorded was 2.9%.

Five states with the highest test positivity rate (TPR)  percentage of tested people turning out to be positive for Covid-19 infection (by cumulative data for tests and cases  are Goa (18.22%), Maharashtra (14.71%), Dadra & Nagar Haveli-Daman & Diu (14.55%), Kerala (12.71%), and Sikkim (12.14%).

Five states with the highest TPR by daily numbers for tests and cases added  are, Sikkim (20.81%), Meghalaya (13.49%), Manipur (12.9%), Kerala (10.49%), and Nagaland (8.27%).

Among states and UTs with more than 10 million population, five that have carried out the highest number of tests (per million population) are Delhi (1136877), J&K (721681), Kerala (636544), Karnataka (500838), and Uttarakhand (485312).

The five most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (6036821), Kerala (2888894), Karnataka (2834630), Tamil Nadu (2465874 ), and Andhra Pradesh (1879872).

Maharashtra, the most affected state overall, has reported 9974 new cases to take its tally to 6036821.

Kerala, the second-most-affected state by total tally, has added 10905 cases to take its tally to 2888894.

Karnataka, the third-most-affected state, has reported 3604 cases to take its tally to 2834630.

Tamil Nadu has added 5127 cases to take its tally to 2465874.

Andhra Pradesh has seen its tally going up by 4250 to 1879872.

Uttar Pradesh has added 212 cases to take its tally to 1705596.

Delhi has added 259 cases to take its tally to 1433934.
As part of plan to provide relief to the tourism industry, among the worst affected sectors by the pandemic, and to encourage activities, the government on Monday said that it would offer tourist visa free of charge till March 31, 2022.

As part of the financial relief package for the industry, finance minister Sitharaman announced that once visa issuance is restarted, the first 5 lakh tourists' visas will be issued free of charge.

She said that this has been one of the demands of the industry which the government has accepted. The financial implication of the move is expected in the range of Rs 100 crore.

The scheme will be applicable till March 31, 2022 or till 5,00,000 visas are issued, whichever is earlier. The benefit will also be available only once per tourist.

About 10.93 million foreign tourists visited India in 2019, spent $30.098 billion on leisure and business. Average daily stay for a foreign tourist in India is 21 days. Average daily spending of a tourist in India is around $34 (Rs 2,400).

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India believes in resolving disputes through dialogue with neighbouring countries, but is always prepared to give a befitting reply if provoked, Defence Minister said on Monday.

During his address to the officers and jawans of the Indian Army's 14 Corps at Karu Military Station in Ladakh, Singh stated that India is a peace-loving nation that never resorts to any kind of aggression, but at the same time, it is always prepared to give a befitting reply if provoked.

He reiterated the government's stand of resolving disputes through dialogue with neighbouring countries, but assured the country that the safety and security of the nation will not be compromised at any cost.

The Indian military has for long flagged the threat of a two-front war. With the disputed border with China, and Pakistan active at the same point of time, the Armed Forces are on high alert and preparedness.

The Defence Minister assured all possible support to the Armed Forces, reaffirming the vision of the government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, of a strong military that is capable of dealing with every eventuality

The Defence Minister paid rich tributes to the brave jawans who laid down their lives in the service of the nation during the Galwan Valley incident in 2020, saying that the country will never forget their supreme sacrifice.

He lauded the exemplary courage displayed by the Indian Army during the incident and stated that the nation is proud of its Armed Forces.

He also commended the 14th Corps for their invaluable contribution during the 1965 Indo-Pak War as well as the 1999 Kargil war.

General Officer-Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command Lt. General Y.K. Joshi and General Officer Commanding of the 14 Corps Lt. General P.G.K. Menon were among those present on the occasion.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Over 46,148 fresh cases reported

India reported 46,148 fresh coronavirus infections on Monday, taking the cumulative caseload to about 30.3 million, according to central health ministry data. The country had 979 pandemic-related deaths, taking the toll to 396,730. The active caseload is at 572,994, while the total recoveries have surged to 29.3 million. As many as 323.6 million vaccine shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, 1.7 million were given on Sunday. Read more





Full-page ads for gold jewellery auctions point to severe economic distress

Many financial institutions operating in the gold loan segment have been running full-page newspaper ads for the auction of gold jewellery over the last few months, indicating severe economic distress faced by Indian households, a report in ThePrint said. As many households suffered a loss of jobs and livelihoods, loans against jewellerytypically considered to be the last resort for many households and small businesseshave been going up sharply. Read more

Delhi: Patients in ICU or on ventilator support far outnumber those in wards

In Delhi, Covid patients in the ICU and on ventilators far outnumber those in the general wardswith or without oxygen supporteven as Covid cases in the city are on a steady decline and the number of hospital beds being occupied by patients has also dipped, a report in The Indian Express said. Out of the 27,284 beds set aside for Covid patients in hospitals, 1,037 are occupied. Of these, 930 are either admitted in the ICU or are on ventilators, according to Delhi government data. The remaining 107 are in the wards, most of them on oxygen support, the report said. Read more

Chennai: Only 5,000 doses to be administered today amid shortage

Chennai will administer only 5000 Covid vaccine doses today amid a shortage and will conduct vaccination camps at only 19 urban health centres, a report in The Indian Express said. The vaccination drive takes place at 45 vaccination centres and 19 urban communities normally.

A senior official from the civic body Greater Chennai Corporation said they havent received the doses from the centre, according to the report. Read more

Maharashtra gears up for third wave of cases

Maharashtra, which is among the worst-hit during the pandemic, is preparing for a possible third wave on a war footing, a report in ThePrint said. The state has been taking quick containment measures to limit the impact of the new Delta Plus variant. The state administration has also imposed stricter lockdown measures across the state and is pulling up laggard districts each week based on weekly forecasts. The government also plans to make all 36 districts in Maharashtra self-reliant in terms of oxygen and will set up a Covid care centre in every village, the report said. Read more
In another significant COVID-19 vaccination milestone, India has overtaken the of America in the total number of vaccine doses administered so far, the union informed on Monday.

As many as 32,36,63,297 doses have been administered in India since the vaccination drive started on January 16.

The United States, meanwhile, has administered 32,33,27,328 doses of the vaccine since vaccinations started on December 8. The United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and France, have administered 7,67,74,990, 7,14,37,514, 4,96,50,721 and 5,24,57,288 doses respectively.

As many as 46,148 fresh COVID-19 cases were reported in the last 24 hours in India. Active cases have further declined to 5,72,994.

Daily recoveries continued to outnumber the daily new cases for the 46th consecutive day, with 58,578 recoveries in the last 24 hours, dropping the active caseload down to 5,72,994.

The national recovery rate stands at 96.80 per cent.

The cumulative tally of positive COVID-19 cases in the country stands at 3,02,79,331, including 2,93,09,607 recoveries and 3,96,730 deaths.

(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 on Monday said India had overtaken the US in the total number of Covid vaccine doses administered so far, having given more than 323.66 million doses as of 8 AM on June 28.

According to Our World in Data, the US has given 323.33 million doses so far, covering 54 per cent of its population with at least one dose. India has vaccinated 19 per cent of its population with a single dose. The government has also advised against laxity at this stage cautioning that the second wave of Covid-19 has still not subsided and 80 districts in the country still have high positivity. The information was provided in the 29th meeting of the Group of Ministers on Covid-19, chaired by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.

While 19 states are reporting fatality figures in single digits, four states of Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu are reporting more than a hundred deaths daily.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh, while addressing a public health summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, said the medical fraternity should not create panic for a third wave and should advise precaution instead. Let us put our minds together to fight the second wave instead of talking about the third one. Instead of being tempted to make alarmist observations we could be a little more reassuring, Singh said. He said India had one of the fastest Covid drives in the world and those raising do not take into account that its a huge and heterogeneous country.

It is heterogeneous in character, customs, topography... In the next two weeks, we will be able to streamline the drive and provide enough vaccines at the district level, he said.

Speaking at the same event, All India Institute of Medical Sciences Director Randeep Guleria said while health was a state subject, currently, there was a lack of coordination among states.
India has redirected at least 50,000 additional troops to its border with China in a historic shift toward an offensive military posture against the worlds second-biggest economy. Over the past few months, India has moved troops and fighter jet squadrons to three distinct areas along its border with China, according to four people familiar with the matter. All in all, India now has roughly 200,000 troops focused on the border, two of them said, which is an increase of over 40 per cent from last year. Both the and a spokesman for the Prime Ministers Office didnt respond to requests for comment. Whereas previously Indias military presence was aimed at blocking Chinese moves, the redeployment will allow Indian commanders more options to attack and seize territory in China if necessary in a strategy known as offensive defense, one of the people said. That includes a lighter footprint involving more helicopters to airlift soldiers from valley to valley along with artillery pieces like the M777 howitzer built by BAE Systems Inc. While its unclear how many troops China has on the border, India detected that the Peoples Liberation Army recently moved additional forces from Tibet to the Xinjiang Military Command, which is responsible for patrolling disputed areas along the Himalayas. China is adding fresh runway buildings, bomb-proof bunkers to house fighter jets and new airfields along the disputed border in Tibet, two of the people said.

Beijing also adding long-range artillery, tanks, rocket regiments and twin-engine fighters in the last few months, they said. The current situation on the border between China and India is generally stable, and the two sides are negotiating to resolve relevant border issues, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular press briefing in Beijing on Monday in response to a question about troop deployment. In this context, the words, deeds and military deployments of relevant military and political leaders should help ease the situation and increase mutual trust between the two sides, not the other way around. The fear now is that a miscalculation could lead to an even deadlier conflict. Several recent rounds of military-diplomatic talks with China have made minimal progress toward a return to the quiet status quo that had prevailed along the border for decades. Having so many soldiers on either side is risky when border management protocols have broken down, said D S Hooda, a lieutenant general and former Northern Army commander in India. Both sides are likely to patrol the disputed border aggressively. A small local incident could spiral out of control with unintended consequences. The northern region of Ladakh  where India and China clashed several times last year  has seen the largest increase in troop levels, three of the people said, with an estimated 20,000 soldiers including those once engaged in anti-terrorism operations against Pakistan now deployed in the area. The reorientation means India at all times will have more troops acclimatised to fight in the high-altitude Himalayans, while the number of troops solely earmarked for the western border with Pakistan will be reduced.
A Nagpur-based lawyer appeared before the here on Monday in connection with a in which the central agency had earlier summoned former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, a police official said.

The ED summoned advocate Tarun Parmar last week after he complained to the agency against Deshmukh and some other politicians, claiming that he knew how these people were involved in money laundering and had documents to prove it.

On Monday, Parmar reached the ED's office around 11 am. He was carrying some documents when he entered the central agency's office in south Mumbai.

Earlier, Deshmukh was asked to depose before the investigating officer at the ED's office on Saturday for questioning in the related to an alleged multi-crore bribery-cum-extortion racket that led to his resignation from the post of state home minister in April this year.

The NCP leader, however, had sought a fresh date for appearance before the ED, following which the agency asked him to appear for questioning this week.

The central agency on Saturday arrested Deshmukh's personal secretary Sanjeev Palande (51) and personal assistant Kundan Shinde (45) after it carried out raids against them and the former home minister in Mumbai and Nagpur on Friday.

The ED's case against Deshmukh and others was made out after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) first carried out a preliminary enquiry followed by a regular case being filed on the orders of the Bombay High Court.

The court had asked the CBI to look into the allegations of made against Deshmukh by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

Deshmukh, who resigned from his post in April following the allegations, has denied any wrongdoing.

(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.)
Activists of several Left-backed organisations staged a protest outside Swastha Bhavan in Salt Lake on Moday, alleging links between Trinamool Congress leaders and fake IAS officer Debanjan Deb who organised dubious COVID vaccination camps in

Members of the CPI(M)-backed DYFI and other youth organisations demanded that the police expedited its probe in the case.

The protesters raised slogans against the Mamata Banerjee government outside the Health Department headquarters in Sector 5 before being bundled into police vehicles.

A scuffle also broke out between the police and the protesters as the main entrance was barricaded, officials said.

The protesters were taken into preventive custody, they said.

A group of Left activists also demonstrated near the Municipal Corporation headquarters in the central part of the city over the issue.

The protestors tried to block a road, alleging nexus among Deb, officials of the civic body and KMC ward coordinators of TMC. The police swiftly removed them.

Deb was arrested a few days back for masquerading as the joint commissioner of the KMC and operating dubious immunisation camps.

(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.)
will extend its current restrictions until the Covid-19 pandemic is further contained, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has announced.

In a statement on Sunday, Muhyiddin said the national recovery plan, which is divided into four phases, would see phase 1 remain in place until the targeted threshold are met, Xinhua news agency reported.

A nationwide lockdown has been effective in since June 1, which bans all economic and social activities except essential services.

The country will move into Phase 2 if fresh daily infections dropped below 4,000 and at least 10 per cent of the population fully vaccinated.

Phase 2 will see workplaces have up to 80 per cent of staff return to work with some additional non-essential sectors being allowed to operate.

reported another 5,586 new Covid cases on Sunday, bringing the national total to 734,048.

Another 60 more fatalities were also reported, which increased the overall death toll to 4,944.

--IANS

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Militants shot dead a special police officer, his wife and daughter in Jammu and Kashmir's district, officials said on Monday.

The ultras barged into the house of SPO Fayaz Ahmad at Hariparigam in Awantipora area at around 11 pm on Sunday and opened fire on the family, the officials said.

The injured were rushed to a hospital where the SPO succumbed. His wife Raja Begum and daughter Rafia also died later on.

Security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to track down the assailants but no arrests have been made so far, the officials said on Monday.

Militants have intensified attacks on cops and security forces. While an inspector and a constable were killed in Nowgam and Eidgah areas of Srinagar last week, a civilian died in a grenade attack on security forces at Barbarshah in the heart of the city.

(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 Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight-tested the Agni-P, Indias most technologically advanced, nuclear-capable, from Balasore, Odisha, on Monday.

Various telemetry and radar stations positioned along the eastern coast tracked and monitored the ( P) missile. The missile followed a textbook trajectory, meeting all mission objectives with a high level of accuracy, stated a Ministry of Defence (MoD) press release.

While the MoD was silent on this, the Agni-P has been developed specifically to strike targets in Its range of 1,000-2,000 kilometres (km) is too short to reach targets in the Chinese mainland, but can comfortably cover all of Pakistans territory.

The Agni-P will replace the Prithvi, Agni-1 and Agni-2 missiles in Indias arsenal  missiles that were built two decades ago with technologies that are now considered outdated.

While the Agni-P will be the workhorse of the nuclear deterrent against Pakistan, the Agni-5 will be the mainstay of the anti-China nuclear arsenal.

Agni-P is a new generation, advanced variant of the class of missiles. It is a canisterised missile with range capability between 1,000 and 2,000 km, said the MoD.





The Agni-P will enter service as a two-stage, solid propellant missile. Both stages will have composite rocket motors and guidance systems with electro-mechanical actuators. The missiles will be guided to their targets by inertial navigation systems (INS) that are based on advanced ring-laser gyroscopes.

The Agni-P and Agni-5 ballistic missiles trace their origins back to the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) that the then chief, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, launched in the early 1980s.

The first missile built under the IGMDP was the liquid fuelled, single-stage Prithvi, which could drop a nuclear bomb with moderate accuracy on a target 150-250 km away.

Next to come were the two-stage Agni-1 and Agni-2 missiles that had conventional maraging steel fuselages, older propellants, hydraulic actuation systems that were vulnerable to leaks and far less accurate navigation systems.

A major technology leap took place with the Agni-4 missile in 2011, in which the first tested technologies that were being developed for years. These included on-board computers based on the Power PC platform, and avionics changes involving integrated technologies. By combining several avionics packages into one, the designers improved reliability and saved space and weight by reducing cabling and harnesses.

The Agni-4 also incorporated composite rocket motors, high-energy propellants, electro-mechanical actuators and ring-laser gyro-based navigation systems that could guide a to a target thousands of miles away, striking it within a few hundred metres.

Increased accuracy in ballistic missiles allows them to deliver relatively lower-yield nuclear bombs, thereby reducing collateral damage. A former chief told Business Standard: Megaton warheads were essential for destroying targets in the days when accuracies were low. Now we talk of accuracy of a few hundred metres. That allows a smaller warhead, perhaps 150-250 kilotons, to cause unacceptable damage.

The DRDO believes that the cutting-edge technologies developed for the Agni-4 and Agni-5 missiles, which have now been reverse-engineered into the Agni-P, are as advanced as those in intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) anywhere.

Many of these systems were developed by the Research Centre Imarat, a DRDO laboratory that was headed for many years by Satheesh Reddy, now the DRDO chief.

Being a canisterised missile, the Agni-P can be transported easily by road or railway and fired at very short notice.
Parliament Standing Committee on Information Technology is scheduled to hold a meeting on June 29 to hear the views of India and India on safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social online news media platforms.

The Committee has called the representatives of the two IT giants to register their views on the matter.

Earlier on June 18, the Committee had called Twitter to appear before the panel to give representation on how to prevent misuse of social media and online news.

On June 20, India's permanent mission at the United Nations had clarified that India's new IT rules are "designed to empower ordinary users of social media" and that they were finalised after the government held broad consultations with civil society and other stakeholders in 2018.

The Central government has framed the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 ('new IT Rules') and notified the same on February 25, 2021. The Rules have come into effect from May 26, 2021.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Vice President on Sunday addressed the 6th Anniversary of Rashtrethara Samakhya and said that people's movement is needed for the preservation of our languages.

"In order to deliver the benefits of our language traditions to future generations, people's movement is needed to preserve languages, complementing the efforts of the government", said the Vice President.

Highlighting the power of language to unite people across generations and geographies, Vice President Naidu called for a concerted effort to preserve, enrich and propagate our languages, cultures and traditions.

Speaking at the 6th annual 'Rashtretara Samakhya' conference, Naidu suggested that people should come together as one for the cause of the Telugu language and the revitalisation of our local traditions.

Noting that neglecting a language will lead to its decline, the Vice President advised that it is the duty of each individual to preserve and promote one's mother tongue, without belittling other languages and cultures.

As per the official release by the Vice President's Secretariat, Naidu also underscored the need for primary education to be in one's mother tongue, as envisaged by Educational Policy, 2020. He noted that the persons presently occupying the highest constitutional offices of the country, including the President, Vice President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India all had primary education in their mother tongue.

"People should not have the false impression that one cannot succeed and grow in life if they learn in their mother tongue. We have many past and present exemplars to disprove that", he said.

The Vice President also called for more initiatives in translating Telugu literature into other Indian languages, thereby spreading the richness of one's language tradition. Appreciating the fact that many such cultural organisations continued their work online in the wake of the pandemic, Naidu suggested that efforts be intensified to integrate language and technology in the same spirit.

Noting that there are more than a thousand organisations outside the Telugu states for the preservation and propagation of the Telugu language, the Vice President commended the initiative of the organisers in coming together on a common platform called 'Rashtretara Telugu Samakhya'. He conveyed his best wishes for their future endeavours.

Bandaru Dattatreya, Governor of Himachal Pradesh, Dr Shashi Panja, Minister for Women and Child Development and Social Welfare, Government of West Bengal, Mandali Buddha Prasad, former Deputy Speaker of Andhra Pradesh, Dr CMK Reddy, President of All India Telugu Federation, Sundara Rao, President of Rashtrethara Telugu Samakhya and others were present during the virtual event.

(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.)
Amid reports that people who have taken the (SII)-manufactured vaccine Covishield will face challenges in travelling to Europe, SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said on Monday that he has taken it up at the highest levels.

In a tweet from his official handle, Poonawalla said, I realise that a lot of Indians who have taken Covishield are facing issues with travel to the EU, I assure everyone, I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries.

He says that he hopes to resolve the issue soon.

Speaking to a television channel, Poonawalla said he has already applied to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for approval of Covishield in the European markets. He further noted that he is taking up the issue with the EMA diplomatically.

Covishield is already cleared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Kingdom's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (UKMHRA), so I hope the EMA clearance will also come on over the next few weeks, he added.

Meanwhile, reports also suggest India plans to take this matter of non-inclusion of Covishield in the list of approved vaccines for Eurpean Union (EU) Green Pass up with the This pass, which will be launched from July 1, is required for easy travel to and within the

The Ministry of External Affairs, reports suggest, has taken this up with the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the drug regulator.

While Covishield has not been included in the list of vaccines for Green Pass, the manufactured vaccine Vaxzevria has been approved by the EMA. People who have got a Vaxzevria shot can enter the EU.

The EU had said sometime back that member states can issue certificates for vaccines that have received EMA nod.

At present, four vaccines have been approved by the EMA  Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNTech), Moderna, Vaxzervria (AstraZeneca-Oxford), Janssen (Johnson & Johnson).

The move is surprising as Covishield features in the World Health Organisation (WHO) Emergency Use List (EUL) and is also supplied by the vaccine alliance Covax. The vaccine has been administered largely to Indians and people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICS) who got it through the WHO-led Covax initiative.

WHO has listed eight vaccines under its EUL, which includes Covishield.

According to reports, EU countries have the options to accept other vaccine certificates too for travelers apart from those approved by the EMA. Iceland will allow entry to individuals who have been vaccinated by vaccines authorized by either the EMA or the WHO. France, on the other hand, has indicated that it will approve vaccines approved by the EMA only.

This would rule out Indian, Chinese, Russian vaccines developed by Covid-19.
Top headlines of the hour:Government reaches out to investors ahead of LIC IPO, hurdle for govts Fund of Funds scheme for small businesses, leads in Indias capacity expansion

Govt dials investors ahead of LIC's IPO

The government has reached out to investors to apprise them about Life Insurance Corporation of Indias (LICs) growth and prospects as it prepares for the countrys largest initial public offering (IPO).

Preliminary presentations have been made to inform investors on how the organisation is being restructured ahead of the IPO, along with its financials. In the Finance Bill, 2021, the government had proposed a slew of changes to the LIC Act, 1956. The changes include introducing corporate governance provisions in line with the Sebis norms and that the exchequer would hold at least 75 per cent in the insurer for five years after the IPO. Read more

With massive investment plans, leads Indias capacity expansion

Reliance Industries is not the only company planning massive investments in a new business and other verticals. Several top companies, led by majors ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India), JSW Steel, Tata Steel and Hindalco, are planning to expand capacity in the next few quarters as demand from their customers rises.

AM/NS India, a joint venture between the worlds leading steel maker ArcelorMittal and Japans Nippon Steel, has plans of ramping up capacity to 30 million tonnes (mt) at an investment of Rs 85,000 crore. Read more

Global capability centres bet big on Indian talent

Global capability centres (GCCs) of Goldman Sachs, NatWest, and Walmart are set to expand in the country and continue to count on Indian talent to drive their global operations as the industry looks set to add almost double the number of units from pre-Covid levels.

Having come a long way from doing mere back-office operations for multinationals, GCCs are growing employment in double digits, and are catering to their parent enterprises to drive the digital transformation, Viswanathan said. Read more

Thyrocare deal: founders aims to make it big in healthcare

API Holdings, the parent company of online pharmacy PharmEasy, announced last week that it would pick up a 66.1 per cent stake in diagnostics firm Thyrocare for Rs 4,546 crore. It is the first unicorn to acquire a listed company.

Siddharth Shah, Dhaval Shah, Dharmil Sheth, Harsh Parekh, and Hardik Dedhia are now a step closer to their dream of building Indias Amazon in the healthcare delivery platform. Read more

Govt's Rs 50K-cr Fund of Funds scheme for small businesses hits hurdle

The government's Rs 50,000-crore Fund of Funds (FoF) scheme for small businesses has hit a hurdle as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has questioned the existing structure of the scheme. According to the market regulator, it does not comply with the current regulatory framework.

The scheme, announced in May 2020 as a part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package, calls for state-owned Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) to set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) under the scheme and register it with The regulator asked the government to review its compliance requirements, a senior government official told Business Standard. Read more
Indias Managing Director has filed a caveat in the Supreme Court, dated June 26, asking that he be heard before any orders are passed in any appeal filed by the Ghaziabad police against the relief granted by Karnataka High Court.

The Karnataka HC had on Thursday granted interim relief to Maheshwari in a case relating to an assault video that had gone viral on the microblogging platform. The HC had also directed that no coercive action be taken against him till Tuesday.

The court had remarked that if the Ghaziabad police wished to examine the MD it could do so virtually.

An email sent to remained unanswered till the time of going to press.

The UP police had issued a notice to Maheshwari on June 17 to report at the Loni Border police station within seven days of receiving the notice to get his statement recorded. The case relates to an ongoing complaint related to tweets on the assault of an elderly Muslim man in Ghaziabad.

Twitter on June 21 restricted tweets showing the video and images from it, according to a filing with the Lumen Database by the microblogging platform.

The tweets are withheld for users in India.

Ghaziabad Police said the assault on the Muslim man was a personal dispute but was being painted as a communal incident on Twitter. Some media platforms and journalists were also named in the complaint.

Maheshwari, who is based in Bengaluru, was summoned last week for questioning and had made himself available for a video call, but the police summoned him to appear in person at the Loni Border station.

The lawyer appearing for Maheshwari cited the case of journalist Vinod Dua, where another High Court had allowed investigation through video conferencing.
As the is poised to miss its July 4 goal of vaccinating 70 per cent of adult Americans, calls are rising from some experts for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to move faster to fully approve the COVID-19 vaccines as a key step to address vaccine hesitancy.

According to The Hill, polling indicates full approval could help convince some of the remaining unvaccinated people to get the vaccine doses. Some unvaccinated people view the current emergency use authorisations for the vaccines as an indicator that they are still in experimental stage and not fully tested, despite the rigorous process that went into those authorisations.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer had begun submitting data for full approval on May 7, but it is still unclear when the FDA would act, thus leading to calls for it to pick up the pace. Moderna had later applied for full approval on June 1.

The rise of the highly transmissible delta variant means unvaccinated people are at increased risk, highlighting the urgency for getting shots to more people.

"I would be interested in knowing what the holdup is... It could have a big impact on people getting [vaccinated] if it is FDA approved. I think it's worth asking why it hasn't happened yet," said Gigi Gronvall, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

"1 out of 3 American adults still unvaccinated. Pfizer initiated request on May 7. It's 6 weeks later. Data is in. Vaccines are safe and effective. It's time for full approval," said Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, on Twitter.

"If they hurry it up and don't complete their review very carefully, that will actually have the opposite effect," The Hill quoted Jesse Goodman, a former FDA chief scientist now at Georgetown University. "I think that would really undermine confidence."

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has urged more people to get vaccinated, although he has yet to call on the FDA to move faster with the vaccine approval process.

"I predict, as soon as we go from temporary approval to permanent approval, which just takes time ... it's going to increase the number of people willing to move as well," Biden said on Thursday.

According to The Hill, a Kaiser Family Foundation poll in May found that about a third of unvaccinated people -- 32 per cent -- said they would be more likely to get the shots if a vaccine received full approval.

Experts noted that the FDA should have even more confidence for full approval as more than 170 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine have already been administered in the US -- and more than 130 million for Moderna -- with a good record of safety and efficacy.

Full approval of the COVID-19 vaccines is likely to lead to more employers requiring the vaccine for their employees, which could further boost vaccination numbers in the US and other countries.

(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 Greater Corporation (GCC) has suspended its vaccination drive for June 28 following shortage of vaccines. The GCC website on June 27 mentioned that there would not be any vaccination on June 28 and that the drive would resume once the vaccine arrives.

However, sources in the GCC told IANS that the vaccination drive would resume immediately as the stocks would be replenished soon.

A special vaccination drive for advocates and staff of the Madras High Court, which was to be inaugurated by the chief justice Sanjib Banerjee, would take place on Monday as the Greater Corporation provided the necessary vaccine doses.

Senior officials of the Greater Corporation told IANS that the corporation had utilized all its stock it received four days ago and that it would get a clear picture of the availability and replenishment of stocks by Monday itself.

The Chennai Corporation has been carrying out vaccination through 45 vaccination centres and 19 urban community health centres. The GCC has been conducting special vaccine drives in markets and other crowded public places as part of its outreach programme.

Tamil Nadu had faced an acute shortage of vaccines at the start of June but later the stocks arrived in large quantities and situation improved. The GCC itself had administered 39,366 vaccines on June 25 which was the second highest in Tamil Nadu in a single day since the vaccination drive began.

Sources in the medical and family welfare department told IANS that there is a shortage of vaccines since Sunday and that there is a fall in vaccination across the state as the number of doses administered has come down from 3,72,618 on June 26 to a paltry 89,402 vaccine doses on June 27, Sunday.

The medical and family welfare department, however, said that the vaccine shortage is temporary and the government has taken necessary steps for replenishment and that the drive would commence immediately.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
bans alcohol, shuts schools to curb virus surge

will move to level-4 restrictions, the second-highest level of curbs as the country battles a deadly wave, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant. In a televised address to the nation, President Cyril Ramaphosa said there will be a ban on alcohol and public gatherings, and that schools will be shut for 14 days. The tighter restrictions threaten South Africas nascent recovery from its worst contraction in a century last year, when gross domestic product shrank 7 per cent. The country's situation has been worsened by a slow vaccination campaign, with only 2.7 million of the nations 60 million people either fully or partially inoculated. The Beer Association of said it is seeking legal advice on the ban, which it said will be the death knell for businesses and jobs. Read here

Let's look at the global statistics Global infections: 181,096,913 Global deaths: 3,923,105 Vaccine doses administered: 2,889,195,874 Nations with most cases: US (33,625,036), India (30,279,331), (18,420,598), France (5,831,972), Turkey (5,409,027). Source: John Hopkins Research Center

Worlds rich steer superyachts to Greece after reopening

The wealthy are traveling like never before to Greece, which has inoculated almost 37 per cent of its population. The country reopened to foreign tourists on May 14 with no quarantine required, provided visitors have a vaccination certificate or proof of a negative Covid test. But not everyone is happy about that. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron recently criticised Greece and other tourism-dependent nations for freely accepting visitors who have been inoculated with less-effective Chinese and Russian vaccines. Read here

Millions in are missing their second vaccine dose

Millions of people in are missing their second doses of Covid-19 vaccine, further complicating a campaign already marred by supply shortages and allegations of graft. Some 4.1 million Brazilians had not returned for their second shot as of June 1, according to data compiled by researchers who are following the vaccine rollout. This represents nearly 16 percent of those eligible for a second dose. The reasons for people missing their second dose are varied, but experts warn that a large number of people with only partial protection could set back Brazils already troubled vaccination effort. Read here

UK military chiefs self-isolate after head of army catches Covid

The defence secretary and six of the UKs most senior military commanders have been forced to self-isolate after Gen Sir Nick Carter, the head of the armed forces, tested positive for The Ministry of Defence confirmed in a statement to the Guardian that Carter, chief of the defence staff, had tested positive for Covid-19. The Labour Party accused the government of falling short of its duty to protect members of the armed forces. Read here
Inking (FTAs) will Indias major trading partners such as the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Israel, among others, will boost exports and help in attracting more foreign investments into the country, Federation of Indian Exports Organisation (FIEO) said on Monday.

One of the reasons for the success of Vietnam, in attracting investment and relocating units, is its effective FTAs with the rest of the World. It is extremely encouraging that the government is moving simultaneously with many trade partners in this direction. We are confident that the Industry will play a proactive role in such negotiations and will give required elbow room to our negotiators, FIEOs new President A Sakthivel said in a virtual briefing.

India is likely to kick start formal negotiations for FTAs with the UK and EU by the end of 2021, soon after the preparatory work is completed. India is also focusing on resuming trade talks with Canada, Australia. Negotiations with new countries such as Israel are also being considered.

While the Centres $400 billion target for exports for 2020-2021 looks little ambitious', Sakthivel said that in order to achieve this, it would require aggressive marketing strategy and venturing into new markets. According to official data, merchandise exports in the first two months of the fiscal year was $62.9 billion, up 12 per cent as compared to April-May 2019.

FIEO has urged the government to look into increasing market access initiative funds and formulate a scheme for marketing with a minimum corpus of Rs 1,000 crore annually, to take exports to $1 trillion in the next five years.

Since traditional export sectors have not been losing their share in the global market amid stiff competition from other nations, there is also a need to push growth in sunrise sectors such as electronics, machinery, pharma, networking products, among others, according to the apex trade promotion organisation.

Sakthivel further said that delay in issuing refunds on exports has resulted in limiting liquidity for exporters.

For instance, as far as the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme is concerned, in the absence of the rates, exporters are perplexed as to how they compute the benefit in the scheme for quoting for new orders. The liquidity of exporters have also been affected as they could not get refunds for exports made from 1st January, 2021 onwards, FIEO said, adding that there is also a need to release the benefits under Merchandise Exports from India scheme (MEIS) scheme for April-December 2020.
India has decided to allow ethanol-based 'flex engines', which power vehicles using local farm produce and not fossil fuels, and will be rolling out a scheme on the same in the next three months, Union Minister said on Monday.

Gadkari said other countries of the world like Brazil, the US and Canada have flex engines which are powered by farm produce and exhorted automakers like BMW, Mercedes and Toyota to develop vehicles running on the alternative fuel.

A switch to locally-produced will be helpful for a country like India which relies majorly on crude oil imports for powering the transport sector, he said, adding that it will also be less polluting and cost-saving.

A litre of comes at between 60-62 per litre as against the over Rs 100 paid for petrol, the minister said, admitting that the calorific value of the is low.

In the US, Brazil and Canada, they have flex engines, so as the transport minister we are going to launch this flex engine facility to all the consumers in the country, Gadkari said at an event organised by state-run lender Indian Bank.

We are going to launch this scheme now and within three months we are going to start, he added.

Gadkari said the government has already started giving permissions to establish 100 per cent ethanol petrol pumps and added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already inaugurated two such facilities in Pune, Maharashtra.

We can make ethanol from sugarcane juice molasses and now the government is giving permission to make ethanol from food grains that are from rice, corn and food grains, he said, asking states like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh to take the lead.

At present, India allows for 20 per cent ethanol-blending in fuels. The country is saddled with excess stocks of rice and wheat as well, Gadkari said, after flagging hunger as one of the key challenges for the country.

He said Indian automakers including TVS and Bajaj have already developed two-wheelers to run exclusively on ethanol, asking their peers to develop their own models.

Speaking at the launch of a mentoring initiative developed by the bank for small businesses in Maharashtra, Gadkari said bankers also need to take the lead in identifying disruptive technologies of the future and fund them at the appropriate time.

Meanwhile, in order to increase credit supply to the all-important small businesses segment, Gadkari, who also holds the micro, small and medium enterprises portfolio, asked the industry to develop a robust rating system on which bankers can rely for lending.

Such a system, which will take inputs from a business's balance sheet, GST payments, turnover etc, can help speed up credit for the deserving businesses, Gadkari said.

He also asked banks to support lending to fishermen wanting to buy Cochin Shipyard's trawlers costing over Rs 1 crore, which will enable the boats to go deeper into the sea and increase the catch.

(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.)
By Sophie Yu and Kane Wu

BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - He Shuang, a student at a U.S. university stranded in her home city of Chongqing in southwest China during the pandemic, has added more than 300 domestic brands to her list of favourites on Alibaba's Taobao online mall.

Like with He, are hot with most shoppers and have spurred billions of dollars in investment, as consumers increasingly make patriotic choices amid a growing backlash against foreign brands https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/chinese-apps-join-celebs-backlash-against-western-fashion-brands-over-xinjiang-2021-03-26 in the country.

A surge in online shopping after people were forced indoors due to COVID-19 last year, a recovery in the market since then, and infrastructure that allows vendors to scale up swiftly have also propelled demand for local brands.

"Once you try, you find the quality of local products is as good as foreign products," said the 19-year old He, who favours home-grown labels from Carslan eye shadows and Feiyue sneakers to Bestore Co snacks and Miniso homeware.

Maia Active, a Sequoia Capital-backed athleisure wear maker, said its products were designed based on body measurements of Asian women and, therefore, offered local customers a better fit and more comfort than western counterparts.

In lockstep with demand, too have been pouring funds into local consumer brands this year.

Chinese consumer firms raised 69.7 billion yuan ($11 billion) from primary market in the first five months, more than double the year-earlier amount, according to Cygnus Equity, a Chinese boutique investment bank.

"Beauty products, food and beverage brands are the most popular. Recently hotpot and ramen brands are particularly coveted," said Ming Jin, managing partner at Cygnus.

Up to 200 brands are currently seeking new capital from investors, bankers and said.

"China is the easiest market for building something from zero to a 100-million-yuan sales target," a private equity investor in tea chain operator Nayuki said, declining to be named as he was not authorised to speak to media.

Nayuki last week raised $656 million in a Hong Kong float, which gave it a valuation of $4.4 billion, more than double the level in a December funding round.

Weilong Delicious Global Holdings, whose flour-based spicy sticks sell for under 5 yuan per pack, raised 3.56 billion yuan in May from big name investors including Tencent, Jack Ma's Yunfeng Capital, CPE, Hillhouse Capital and Sequoia Capital China. The snack maker was valued at nearly 70 billion yuan.

Sequoia-backed Genki Forest, a soft drink brand seeking to challenge Coca Cola, said it was valued at $6 billion after an April fundraising, ten times more than 18 months earlier.

Its fundraising attracted investors such as Louis Vuitton owner LVMH's private equity arm and Singaporean state investor Temasek.

LOCAL VS GLOBAL

During JD.Com's online shopping festival this month, sales growth of was 4% higher than brands. The growth in their customer numbers exceeded that of brands by 16%, JD.com said.

Chris Mulliken, a Shanghai-based partner at consultancy EY, said nationalism was a factor driving the popularity of local brands, including pride in China's recovery from COVID-19 even as several other countries battle high infection rates.

"People are travelling (albeit domestically) and taking the opportunity to rediscover their own country, return to their customs and discover new Chinese brands," he said.

The recent Xinjiang cotton ban imposed by several global brands including H&M, Nike and Adidas over concerns about alleged rights abuses in the province, which offended many Chinese consumers, was another catalyst. China strongly denies the claims and says all labour in Xinjiang is consensual and contract-based.

Shares of domestic sportswear producers Xtep, Li Ning and Anta have risen 196%, 60% and 38% respectively since April.

Dealmakers have warned about the sharply higher valuations, while they also say the demand trend will stay for a long time.

"Consumers no longer idolize international, multinational brands. They like products and brands that speak for them," said Nina Gong, a Shanghai-based managing director with private equity firm Carlyle Group.

($1 = 6.4525 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Sophie Yu in Beijing and Kane Wu in Hong Kong; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

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The in the apartment in Surfside, Florida, has gone up to nine, informed Miami-Dade County, Florida, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava on Sunday.

There are at least 152 people missing after the Search and rescue teams are racing to find survivors, reported CNN.

"As of today, one victim passed away in the hospital, and we've recovered eight more victims on-site, so I am confirming today that the is at nine," the mayor said on Sunday.

"We are making every effort to identify those who have been recovered, and additionally, contacting their family members as soon as we are able," she added.

Meanwhile, the City of Miami Beach has declared a state of emergency in the wake of the incident. US President Joe Biden, Governor Ron DeSantis, and Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava have issued emergency declarations as well.

Family members of people who died or are still missing in the collapse in Surfside were taken to the site at Champlain Towers South Sunday, according to Cava's office.

With an additional four victims pulled from the debris, a total of 134 people have been accounted for while 152 remain unaccounted for, she said.

A large oceanfront condo building near Miami Beach partially collapsed on Thursday, prompting a massive search-and-rescue response as many people were reported missing.

A 2020 study conducted by Shimon Wdowinski, a professor in the department of earth and environment at University, found that the building had been sinking since the 1990s, according to US media.

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Former US President on Sunday (local time) called his former Attorney General William Barr a 'disappointment in every sense of the word' following the latter describing Trump's repeated unsubstantiated claims about the 2020 election as "bullshit" in an upcoming week.

"Bill Barr was a disappointment in every sense of the word. Besides which, Barr, who was Attorney General (lawyer) shouldn't be speaking about the President," The Hill quoted a statement by Trump on late Sunday.

He added: "Instead of doing his job, he did the opposite and told people within the Justice Department not to investigate the election. Just like he did with the Mueller report and the cover up of Crooked Hillary and RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA, they don't want to investigate the real facts. Bill Barr's weakness helped facilitate the cover up of the Crime of the Century, the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!"

Trump further described Barr as a "RINO" who "really let down the American people" and complained about Barr's handling of the 2020 election and bemoaned that his former attorney general did not sufficiently investigate wrongdoing during the Obama administration.

"Now it was revealed that Barr was being pushed to tell lies about the election by Mitch McConnell, another beauty, who was worried about damaging the Republicans chances in the Georgia runoff," Trump said.

In a newly published excerpt from an upcoming book "Betrayal", Barr described the rapidly deteriorating relationship he had with Trump as the then-president became more vocal in his belief that the 2020 election was fraudulent, reported The Hill.

"If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it. But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there. It was all bullshit," Barr told journalist Jonathan Karl.

Barr also told Karl that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had urged him to push back against Trump's falsehoods, worrying that Trump's rhetoric would cost the Republicans in January's Senate runoffs in Georgia.

Since the results of the 2020 presidential election, Trump had spent months claiming that the election was rigged against him, pointing to what he calls suspicious votes in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

According to The Hill, Trump had pointed to Barr's words in his resignation letter where he said that he was "greatly honoured" to have served in the Trump administration.

Barr went on to praise Trump at the time, highlighting "the many successes and unprecedented achievements you have delivered for the American people. Your record is all the more historic because you accomplished it in the face of relentless implacable resistance."

Barr has long faced criticism from Democrats who said he served as Trump's personal attorney and defended the former president rather than the interests of the American public.

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In her first public appearance since her divorce announcement, Melinda French Gates traveled to the White House, leaders from her charity and investment firm in tow. She pressed Biden officials on two issues central to her priorities: paid family leave and child care.

The same day this month, appeared in a virtual address to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. Wearing his familiar sweater, collared shirt and glasses, the Microsoft Corp. co-founder spoke for nearly 11 minutes about the impact of climate change on the worlds food supply.





ALSO READ: Warren Buffett resigns as trustee of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

The topics laid bare the diverging interests of the billionaire ex-couple behind one of the worlds largest philanthropic foundations. Their split after 27 years of marriage, announced in May, now throws into question the destination of their vast fortune and the focus of their charitable endeavors. It also highlights their individual private-investment arms, which they have been quietly building over the past five years.

Both have said theyll remain involved in the $50 billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where theyve promised to spend the majority of their wealth through their Giving Pledge. But in the years leading up to their breakup, each spouse has dived into projects outside the scope of the foundations work, a trend thats expected to accelerate post-divorce.

One couple is now two individual households, said Elizabeth Dale, associate professor of nonprofit leadership at Seattle University. The couples philanthropic efforts have been enormously influential, she said, and that likely will continue, both through the current foundation and maybe in other ways as well.

For French Gates, 56, the divorce could mean that more resources will be focused on Pivotal Ventures, her 90-person incubation and investment firm largely focused on gender equality. Shes already received stock worth more than $3 billion from the Gatess Cascade Investment, just a tiny fraction of their combined $145 billion fortune at the time of the divorce, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Bill Gates, 65, has centered much of his work on Breakthrough Energy, an organization launched in 2015 that now employs about 100 people specializing in various aspects of climate change, while funding nonprofits and startups employing hundreds more.

Spokespeople for Breakthrough and Gatess private office, Gates Ventures, declined to comment. A spokesman for Pivotal said that French Gatess commitment to advancing womens power and influence around the world, whether as co-chair of the foundation or founder of Pivotal Ventures, remains unchanged.

Fewer rules

Both Breakthrough and Pivotal operate through LLCs, which means they can operate as for-profit entities. Its an increasingly popular form of giving, used by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan with their Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and by Steve Jobss widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, with her Emerson Collective.

An LLC doesnt always provide the same tax deductions that traditional foundations do, but it comes with fewer rules. Money can go to political lobbying or campaign donations, which arent tax-deductible. And, unlike foundations, an LLCs activities, funding and staff dont need to be disclosed in annual tax filings that are made public.

Depending whom you ask, they are either an innovative tool in the toolbox of the worlds best philanthropists, or a major step backward in terms of transparency.

They dont face the same checks and balances as foundations, said Linsey McGoey, a professor of sociology at the University of Essex, who wrote a book called No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of 

Pivotal, launched in 2015, has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in more than 150 organizations to-date, according to a spokesperson. It uses grants as well as venture capital to focus on empowering women, including getting more females into technology jobs and elected to public office, supporting women and girls of color and advocating paid family leave.

In Washington this month, French Gates met with officials including President Joe Bidens chief of staff, Ron Klain, and domestic policy adviser Susan Rice, along with directors from Pivotal and the Gates Foundation. From Pivotals side, they discussed paid leave and care giving as it related to Bidens American Families Plan, according to a person close to the firm, who asked not to be named speaking about a private meeting.

In April, Pivotal hired lobbying firm Finsbury Glover Hering in Washington to focus on caregiving and paid leave issues, said the person, a sign it may be stepping up its efforts in Washington.

Early days

The White House is a far cry from the basement of the Gates Foundation, where one of Pivotals managing directors recalls working years ago. In the early 2010s, the foundation was taking on projects tied to womens equality -- funding initiatives affecting contraception and family planning, for example -- but French Gates wanted to speed up their focus on gender equality and make it a central issue to everything they did.

Progress was steady, but it was too slow for me, French Gates wrote in her 2019 book, The Moment of Lift. People were still speaking softly about gender at the foundation, sometimes in whispers, not quite wanting to come forward.

That year, French Gates started working with a team of lawyers on the divorce, with one concern her husbandss business dealings with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Wall Street Journal reported. Pivotal began ramping up around that time because the first few years were focused on planning and research, not because of the divorce, the person close to the firm said.



ALSO READ: Gates divorce casts harsh glare on trusted $170 billion money manager

She had founded Pivotal in 2015 as a separate organization of around 10 people, a handful of whom were plucked from the Gates Foundation, including Haven Ley, the gender expert who joked about working in the basement, and John Sage, Pivotals current chief executive officer.

French Gates really started to come into her own as a philanthropist and as a leader in the early 2010s, and that was sort of a gradual evolution for her, Dale said. Pivotal represented her taking kind of a greater ownership and leadership role.

Its only relatively recently that Pivotals purpose has come into focus. Its initial years were spent talking about and researching what it might become, according to three people familiar with its early days. Until December 2018, Pivotals website was no more than a landing page that read Executive Office of Melinda Gates with links to French Gatess social media pages. Things only started picking up around when her book was published in 2019.

Climate focus

has grown increasingly focused on Breakthrough and climate change, the subject of his book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster that came out this year. He said in February that hes devoted $2 billion to climate, and plans to spend another $2 billion.

Gates has said his interest in the area began with a meeting with a couple of climate scientists, arranged by two former Microsoft employees, in 2006. For the next 15 years, hes steadily dug deeper into the topic -- launching companies, investment funds, scientific projects and lobbying efforts aimed at fighting climate change.

In 2015, the same year French Gates started Pivotal, Gates recruited some of his fellow billionaires to pitch some money into a new $1 billion fund, called Breakthrough Energy Ventures, that, when launched the following year, would invest in businesses and technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with a longer-term focus than traditional venture firms. Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma, Richard Branson and Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, all signed on to the funds first round.





The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle. (Photo: Bloomberg)

What Breakthrough did is bring a whole lot more capital, and the megaphone and the messengers that werent part of the conversation before, said Alicia Seiger, who is managing director of Stanford Universitys Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance.

Breakthroughs venture arm closed another $1 billion round in January of this year, recruiting a few new billionaire funders -- including Fidelity Investments CEO Abigail Johnson and Ben Walton, the grandson of Walmart Inc. founder Sam Walton -- with the goal of investing in as many as 50 startups. Its also building a 100 million-euro pilot fund created last year through a partnership with the European Commission.

Gates has kept the focus of Breakthroughs non-investment work on innovation as well, largely funding its philanthropic, policy, advocacy and research work himself. Its Catalyst program, which tries to accelerate the deployment of clean technologies like green hydrogen, is launching a $1 billion initiative with the European Commission. Breakthrough Energy Sciences does original research, like a detailed model of the U.S. energy grid released this year.

Gates started his private office, Gates Ventures, in 2008. It focuses on a variety of his interests, such as investing in technology and funding education and health projects -- including an Alzheimers research initiative -- outside the purview of the Gates Foundation.

Pivotal stands to become much more active. French Gates said in a 2019 Time magazine column that she is committing $1 billion over the next 10 years toward womens empowerment.

Since 2016, her firm has invested more than $65 million in organizations like National Partnership for Women & Families and Paid Leave for All. Last year, she committed $50 million for an initiative that aims to increase representation and leadership of women in tech in three cities over the next five years.

French Gates also is funding an effort alongside MacKenzie Scott--who has been accelerating her own charitable giving following her divorce from Bezos. The Equality Cant Wait Challenge calls for organizations to apply with how theyd spend $10 million to speed up womens empowerment. The winners will be announced this summer.
will not deliver records of its nuclear activities to the Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after a temporary understanding reached in January expired, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said.

"Nothing was extended, and therefore none of the items recorded inside will ever be given to the agency," Xinhua news agency quoted Qalibaf as saying on Sunday.

Answering a question by an MP in a public session, the Speaker added that the records are in possession of the Iranian authorities, and Tehran's Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions (SAPCS) law is being "thoroughly" implemented.

The SAPCS act was passed by Parliament in December 2020, requiring among other measures the Iranian executive branch to stop implementing the Additional Protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) by February 23, in case the sanctions imposed on the country by the US were not lifted.

The IAEA and Iranian officials reached a temporary understanding in February to keep the Agency's monitoring cameras under Tehran's supervision for a period of three months up to May 24, and deliver the records to the agency only after sanctions on the country are lifted.

On June 25, the IAEA required an "immediate response" from regarding the "possible continued collection, recording and retention of data", as contemplated in the temporary understanding, the media reported.

Iran's Ambassador to Vienna-based organizations, Kazem Gharibabadi said on June 26 that Tehran's continued collection of data was "solely based on good will, and not as part of its obligations" towards the IAEA.

" is not bound by any commitment to implement the agency's demand," and has "no duty to report on the expired agreement," Gharibabadi added.

Later in the day, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry warned that Tehran will not negotiate endlessly over the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, urging the US to abandon the "failed legacy" of former President Donald Trump.

The US government under Trump withdrew from the deal in May 2018 and unilaterally reimposed sanctions on Iran.

In response, Iran gradually stopped implementing parts of its commitments to the agreement from May 2019.

Since April 6, the Joint Commission of the nuclear agreement have continued discussions about a possible return of the US to the deal and how to ensure the full and its effective implementation.

--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.)
(Reuters) - Chief Executive Marco Gobbetti will step down from the role to take up another opportunity that will let him be closer to his family in Italy, the British luxury group said on Monday.

Gobbetti will be leaving at the end of 2021 after almost five years with the company, during which he transformed Burberry's brand and business, to take up a position that will let him return to Italy, said.

"With re-energised and firmly set on a path to strong growth, I feel that now is the right time for me to step down," Gobbetti said as Burberry said it will start the search for a successor.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Louise Heavens)

(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.)
By Scott DiSavino

NEW YORK (Reuters) - fell on Monday after hitting their highest since 2018 earlier in the session, as a spike in COVID-19 cases in Asia and Europe put a brake on the rally before this week's OPEC+ meeting.

Brent futures fell 73 cents, or 1.0%, to $75.45 a barrel by 10:47 a.m. EDT (1447 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 64 cents, or 0.9%, to $73.41.

In volatile trade so far on Monday, both benchmarks fell over $1 a barrel and rose to their highest since October 2018. On Friday, both closed at their highest since October 2018 as rebounded on strong economic growth and increased travel during the Northern Hemisphere summer.

"The forecast for oil demand recovery over the summer may be a bit overestimated, and traders are facing a reality check this week as the (COVID-19) Delta variant reached Europe and as an infections surge in Southeast Asia and Australia is bringing back lockdowns," said Louise Dickson, oil analyst at Rystad Energy.

All eyes will be on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, to see what happens at their meeting on Thursday.

Following previous cuts, OPEC+ was returning 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil supply to the market from May to July and could decide to add more barrels in August after crude prices last week rose for a fifth week in a row with recovering demand.

OPEC's forecasts point to an oil supply deficit in August and in the rest of 2021 as economies recover from the pandemic, suggesting OPEC+ has room to raise output.

Analysts at Australian bank ANZ and Dutch bank ING said they expect OPEC+ to increase output by about 500,000 bpd in August.

But in a move that surprised some market watchers, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) will reduce the volume of crude it supplies to Asian term buyers by 15% in September, according to six sources with direct knowledge of the matter. It was not immediately clear why ADNOC would cut supplies.

Rising COVID-19 infections in Asia put a dampener on some oil demand outlooks. Indonesia is battling record-high cases, Malaysia is set to extend a lockdown and Thailand has announced new restrictions.

Australia also reported on Sunday one of the highest numbers of locally acquired coronavirus cases this year, triggering lockdowns in some cities.

Iran and the United States, meanwhile, were expected to resume indirect talks on reviving a 2015 pact over Tehran's nuclear work.

Agreement could lead to a lifting of U.S. sanctions and more Iranian crude on the market. But tensions rose after U.S. air strikes on Sunday against Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria.

Iran said on Monday it has yet to decide whether to extend a monitoring deal with the U.N. nuclear watchdog which lapsed last week.

(Additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London and Florence Tan in Singapore; Editing by Jan Harvey, Kirsten Donovan and Jonathan Oatis)

(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.)
slipped on Monday after hitting more than 2-1/2 year highs earlier in the session, as a spike in COVID-19 cases in Asia put a brake on their rally before this week's OPEC+ meeting.

Brent was down 20 cents, or 0.3%, to $75.98 a barrel at 1040 GMT, after climbing to $76.60, its highest since October 2018. U.S. crude was 10 cents, or 0.1%, lower at $73.95 a barrel.

But analysts said the rally had not yet run out of steam.

"With sentiment running high, market watchers say crude prices are likely to keep rising ... Vaccination rollouts and strong summer demand make for a potent bullish cocktail," said Stephen Brennock of oil broker PVM.

rose for a fifth week last week as fuel demand rebounded on strong economic growth and increased travel during the northern hemisphere summer, while crude supplies were tight as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, maintained production cuts.

OPEC+ is gradually easing those curbs, adding 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd) to the market from May to July. OPEC+, which meets on July 1, could decide to add further barrels in August as rise with recovering demand.

ANZ and ING expect OPEC+ to increase output by about 500,000 bpd in August, which is likely to support higher prices.

Rising COVID-19 cases in Asia have however put a modest dampener on the outlook. Indonesia is battling record-high cases, Malaysia is set to extend a lockdown and Thailand has announced new COVID-related restrictions.

Australia also reported on Sunday one of the highest numbers of locally acquired coronavirus cases this year, triggering lockdowns in some cities.

Iran and the United States are expected to resume indirect talks on reviving a pact over Tehran's nuclear work.

Agreement could lead to a lifting of U.S. sanctions and more Iranian crude on the market. But tensions rose after U.S. air strikes on Sunday against Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria.

"We do not currently expect Iranian exports to return anytime soon, in other words, so OPEC+ should have free rein at its meeting," said Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg.

(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London; Additional reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Kenneth Maxwell and Jan Harvey)

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A journalists' union has sought to know from Prime Minister his position on free speech after his Special Assistant on Information Shehbaz Gill announced that the ruling Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government would control all the current affairs programmes on TV news channels.

Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) said in a statement that the journalists' body expressed grave concern over the statement of Gill in which he openly announced that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government would control all the current affairs programmes on TV news channels and would even finalise the list of guests.

Terming it a fascist tendency, PFUJ's president Shahzada Zulfiqar and Secretary-General Nasir Zaidi in a statement strongly condemned these remarks and demanded of to clarify his position over the statement of Gill.

The union leaders stated that the freedom of the press and the freedom of expression is a fundamental human right that is guaranteed by the Constitution. "In addition to that Pakistan is a signatory of treaties and conventions on press freedom and freedom of expression. "We would like to know if the Prime Minister will adhere to such treaties or not."

The leaders observed that since PTI came to power, the media has been under tremendous pressure. "There has been a phenomenal surge in the incidents of editorial dictations, censorship, press advice, arm twisting of journalists, content control, and use of advertisement as a tool of blackmailing media houses," the statement added.

The union leaders said on the one hand the government asks Pakistanis to improve the image of the country but on the other hand "elements like Gill are doing no service to the country by hurling veiled threats at media persons by openly expressing government's intention of muzzling the media."

Imran Khan's PTI party has found itself on the back foot on the proposed digital regulation draft after a strong protest by the media and journalist community calling for a struggle to preserve free speech.

While the government is mulling curbs on content on social media platforms, mainstream journalists are adamant not to allow such restrictions as they believe electronic media is already subjected to over-regulation, reported The News

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Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former finance minister Miftah Ismail on Sunday lashed out at Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government for a looming energy crisis in the country and delays in the dry docking of liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals, causing shortages in gas and electricity.

While addressing a press conference, Ismail questioned the Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government's choice of opting for expensive fuels, such as furnace oil and diesel, for electricity production, Dawn reported.

His remarks came after Federal Energy Minister Hammad Azhar acknowledged that the country could face a power shortage from as early as June 29 to July 6, as the regasified liquified natural gas (RLNG) terminal would be non-functional during that period.

Explaining that dry docking was necessary for meeting safety standards and obtaining a safety certificate to keep the terminals operational, Ismail alleged that Azhar had wrongfully blamed the operators.

He also said that since the government had been delaying the matters, it now had to carry out the maintenance of multiple gas fields all at once.

Ismail also hit out at the federal government for constantly delaying the purchase of furnace oil and then buying it in haste at an exorbitant price. The leader highlighted that due to the use of expensive fuels, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) had to increase the electricity tariff.

"There is no reason for using furnace oil for electricity production but that this government is inefficient and dishonest," Dawn quoted the opposition leader.

Earlier this month, Geo News reported the worsening state of Pakistan's energy crisis, as the country was facing an electricity shortfall of somewhere between 7,000 and 8,000 megawatts.

Unannounced load-shedding has reached its peak in Punjab, including Lahore, due to the electricity shortfall. Unannounced power suspension of up to three to five hours at many places during the last 72 hours had heightened the misery of the public.

Due to the power crisis, besides Lahore, long hours of load-shedding are also taking place in other cities, including Islamabad, Peshawar and Karachi.

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(Reuters) - prosecutors on Monday filed 13 additional charges against a local businessman in relation to a scheme that allegedly raised more than S$1 billion ($746 million) from investors to fund bogus nickel trades.

Authorities in the city state have implicated Ng Yu Zhi, a former managing director of trading Envy Global Trading (EGT) and an inactive firm, Envy Asset Management, in the scandal, one of the biggest in

According to the charge-sheets, prosecutors allege that Ng cheated nine individuals and three corporate entities of about $63.6 million in connection with EGT's non-existent forward nickel contracts.

They also allege he committed "criminal breach of trust by dishonestly misappropriating" a sum of at least S$201.2 million between August 2020 and February 2021 while being the director of EGT.

The number of charges against Ng now stands at 31.

The scheme purportedly raised about S$1.5 billion from nearly 1,000 investors, with about S$731 million of this later withdrawn by investors, according to interim judicial managers at accounting firm KPMG.

Authorities have previously said at least S$1 billion was raised in the scheme, which ensnared the likes of lawyers and fund managers.

Ng and his lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Ng has not previously made any public comment on the charges and has been removed from his role as managing director of EGT.

If convicted, Ng faces a jail term of up to seven years on each of the fraudulent trading charges, while cheating is punishable with up to 10 years per count.

Criminal breach of trust carries a punishment of imprisonment of up to 20 years.

($1 = 1.3436 Singapore dollars)

(Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan in Singapore and Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Ed Davies)

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U Zaw Htay, who served as the spokesman of the Aung San Suu Kyi-led ousted government of Myanmar, has been freed from military custody in capital Nay Pyi Taw after more than four months in detention, family sources told IANS.

U Zaw Htay was the Director-General at Suu Kyi's Office and also doubled up as spokesman for the President until the November 2020 parliament polls.

The former military officer had also served as spokesman for the U Thein Sein government (2010-15) that preceded the Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy (NLD) government, which was ousted following the February 1 military

As the military takeover unfolded , government residences in Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon, as well as in the states and regions, were ringed in by military vehicles, leading to the detention of a majority of senior NLD figures and senior civil servants.

Military vehicles surrounded U Zaw Htay's house in the capital city on the night of February 1 and he was not been seen ever since.

Some reports suggested that the military junta wanted him to retain his position following the But U Zaw Htay resigned in protest a day after his detention.

A military source, requested anonymity, told the Irrawaddy Online that U Zaw Htay was released around 10 days ago from military custody and discharged from his position.

"It seemed he was told to stay out of view and keep quiet," the source added

Now a family member confirmed U Zaw Htay's release on a Facebook message to IANS.

She told IANS that U Zaw Htay is staying at a location she could not disclose, but added: "He is definitely out of military custody and in reasonable health. Looks like he has to play it cautiously."

NLD sources were not yet willing to read too much into U Zaw Htay's release but at least one top leader of the party did not rule out 'backroom parleys' between the military junta and the NLD.

"U Zaw Htay could be useful in such parleys because he knows the army as a former soldier but he is also close to our leaders."

At his last press briefing in Nay Pyi Taw on January 8, U Zaw Htay dismissed accusations of voting fraud made by the military and its allied political parties as a refusal to accept electoral defeat.

"These are the acts of those who can't accept defeat. The voters know best about the election and whom they voted for and supported," U Zaw Htay had said at the press briefing.

"Those who are making false accusations are committing political suicide," he added.

Military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing was believed to be furious at U Zaw Htay's statement, all the more because he was a soldier brought into administration by former general U Thein Sein after he took charge of government after the 2010 polls.

General Hlaing is said to be have personally asked for U Zaw Htay's detention, after he furiously denied that former President U Win Myint or Suu Kyi had breached the 2008 Constitution or Union Election Commission rules while campaigning ahead of the November 8, 2020, general election.

Hours before the newly-elected Parliament was to convene, the military seized power.

The military claimed mass fraud and voting irregularities to justify its and says it will hold a new election.

Western diplomats in Yangon told IANS that U Zaw Htay's release indicated the military junta was under huge pressure.

"We can't say they are buckling under pressure but surely they are trying to display some backing down from hard repression. May be it is cosmetic , just window dressing but surely indicative that pressure was felt," said one European diplomat on the condition of anonymity.

"We can't rule out some result from ASEAN counselling. Some gestures are expected," said another American diplomat.

--IANS

anwesha/ksk/

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Shipments of Qatari-funded fuel into the Strip will resume for the first time since last month's 11-day war between Israel and Gaza's militant rulers, the UN envoy to the Mideast said Sunday.

The move indicates a return to the informal understandings between Israel and in recent years, in which the Islamic militant group has traded calm for much-needed aid and development projects in the blockaded territory.

The fuel will be delivered to Gaza's sole power plant starting Monday, UN envoy Tor Wennesland said in a statement.

The Israeli military body that oversees civilian affairs in confirmed the deliveries without saying who was paying for the fuel. The military said permission for the deliveries was conditional on the continued maintenance of security stability.

Last month's war was halted by an informal truce brokered by Egypt. has demanded a significant easing of the blockade, while Israel has vowed to respond militarily to even minor attacks from the territory.

The delivery of Qatari aid is controversial in Israel, where critics say it rewards militancy. When he was education minister, current Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in a 2018 interview with Israeli media compared it to protection money.

Qatar has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years to pay for electricity, help Hamas cover the salaries of its civil servants and provide monthly stipends to poor families. Qatar has also funded the construction of new roads and hospitals in

Israel and Egypt imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza in 2007 after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces. Israel says the restrictions are needed to keep Hamas from importing military resources, while critics of the blockade view it as collective punishment of the territory's more than 2 million Palestinian residents.

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The US Air Force struck Iran-backed militias in and Syria on Sunday, in a test of Irans incoming president, whose election this month has already complicated efforts to revive a 2015 deal on Irans nuclear program.

The raids on operational and weapons storage facilities were in response to attacks on US interests and were a necessary, appropriate and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

There was no immediate reaction from the region, where Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisis (pictured) next moves are being closely watched for clues on whether hell seek to negotiate with the West, or ratchet up tensions further. Iran and world powers have been locked in weeks of talks in Vienna that could see sanctions on the Islamic Republic ease in return for hemming in its contentious nuclear work.

The oil market appeared to shrug off the latest military action, with oil prices holding steady near a two-year high and traders focused on a Thursday meeting of the Opec+ bloc. Futures in New York traded near $74 a barrel.

The talks in Vienna are expected to reconvene in the coming days, but the expiry of a nuclear monitoring pact between Iran and the Atomic Energy Agency last week has added a further risk to efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. Iran hasnt yet decided whether to extend the pact, or whether to erase recordings from nuclear sites that were retained under it, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday.

President Joe Biden ordered strikes on operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq on Sunday evening Washington time to deter future attacks on US interests in Iraq, where the US is aiding government forces in efforts to defeat Islamic State, Kirby said.

His statement made clear that Iran was the common denominator in the targets but also that the US move was meant to be defensive in nature. The fact that the US hit Iranian proxies outside the country could give both sides a way to avoid escalating tensions.



US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Italy and will likely face questions about the US actions . Over the weekend, Blinken met with Israels foreign minister, Yair Lapid, who said his country has serious reservations about the talks in Vienna.

Israel has vowed to block Iran from building an atomic weapon, an ambition Tehran has denied having. Even before the military strikes, indirect talks in Vienna aimed at getting the US and Iran back into compliance with the 2015 deal were already dragging past initial timetables. Diplomats are now aiming to seal an agreement before President Hassan Rouhani hands over power to Raisi in August. Rouhani and his administration helped seal the original deal that former President Trump quit in 2018.
The US military, under the direction of President Joe Biden, conducted airstrikes Sunday against what it said were facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups near the border between and

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the militias were using the facilities to launch unmanned aerial vehicle attacks against US troops in

Kirby said the US military targeted three operational and weapons storage facilities two in and one in

He described the airstrikes as defensive, saying they were launched in response to an ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting US interests in Iraq.

The United States took necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message, Kirby said.

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Dodla Dairy made a strong debut on the bourses on Monday, with the stock getting listed at Rs 550, a 28 per cent premium over its initial public offer (IPO) issue price of Rs 428 per share on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The stock opened at Rs 528 on the BSE, up 23 per cent. It extended gains to Rs 588.95, a premium of 38 per cent over its issue price.

At 10:01 am, shares of Dodla Dairy were trading at a premium of 35 per cent over the issue price at Rs 575 on the BSE and NSE. A combined 5.1 million shares had changed hands on the counter on the NSE and BSE at the time of writing this report.

Dodla Dairy is a South India based integrated dairy company that is ranked the third largest among private players in terms of milk procurement per day (average 1.02MLPD).

The public issue of Dodla Dairy was subscribed 45.62 times as the offer received bids for 388 million equity shares against the IPO size of 8.51 million equity shares. The qualified institutional buyers (QIB) put in bids for 84.88 times of their reserved portion and the quota of non-institutional investors garnered 73.26 times bids. The part set aside for retail investors was subscribed 11.34 times. The company said the net funds raised from the fresh issue will be utilised for repaying of borrowings.

Most analysts had a 'Subscribe' rating on the issue as they expect a rerating of valuations given Dodla Dairy's market leadership, high return ratios, thrust on expanding footprint and improved efficiencies.

The company during 9MFY21 (April to December) witnessed a robust rebound in financial performance, led by healthy improvement in Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) margin. The profit after tax (PAT) stood at Rs 116 crore in 9MFY21 as against an average annual profit of Rs 0.6 billion over the last three years. Further, operating cash flow (OCF) generation continues to remain steady with a cumulative OCF of Rs 580 crore during FY18-9MFY21.

The sharp gains in EBITDA margins was due to cost-cutting measures implemented to tackle the COVID-19 impact. These heightened margins are unlikely to sustain and management, too, has guided towards normalisation, analysts at Ventura Securities said in an IPO note.

Despite the lack of earnings growth over the forecast period (given the high base effect of net earnings for FY21), we expect a re-rating of the valuations given the market leadership, strong sectoral growth trends, improved efficiencies (by eliminating market intermediaries), thrust on expanding retail footprint, debt-free status, completion of capex cycle and high return ratios, the brokerage firm said.
Warren Buffet, the greatest investor of all times, once junked bitcoins and in fact called them rat poison squared. Not many investors heed to this advice though; have generated a lot of interest for investors of all ages due to recent increase in value. It is estimated that roughly a crore Indians have invested in cryptocurrencies, reports suggest.

Are gains from taxable?

Tax authorities around the world have been working to carve out rules of taxation for Even though cryptocurrencies are not mentioned in the Indian income tax act and there are no rules defined yet, you must report them in your income tax return and pay tax on them.

An asset or a currency?

When we talk about taxation a bunch of questions arise. Should cryptocurrencies be considered currency or a digital asset? If considered to be an asset, what should be the holding period of these assets for them to be classified between long term or short term capital assets? Since cryptocurrencies are not yet widely accepted the way other currencies are, they are now being regarded as digital assets in several countries. Note that currently, India does not have a rule around how these cryptocurrencies should be taxed.

Should they be treated as capital assets in India?

Countries such as the UK and USA have laid down that cryptocurrencies should be treated like capital assets. The definition of capital assets in the Indian income tax act is a more inclusive one and will therefore cover assets which may not be separately defined. Such assets may be treated as long term assets when held for a period exceeding three years and short term assets when held for less than 3 years time period. It may be reasonable to allow indexation @ 20% for the cost of acquisition. When it comes to the rate of taxation, we may choose to tax them at a rate of 20% (additional cess and surcharge as applicable). Short term capital gains may be taxed at slab rates applicable to the taxpayer. Do note that so far no specific guidance is available under the income tax act for taxation of crypto assets.

Can frequent be classified as a business activity?

If a taxpayer has a significant volume of transactions and does not intend to hold these assets for the longer term, a question arises as to whether such an activity should be considered as a business. This has to be evaluated on a case to case basis. Considering as a business activity involves reporting and claiming expenses involved in such an activity. If the turnover crosses a specified threshold, a doubt regarding GST applicability may arise. Some of these issues are not yet addressed by the tax authorities. Another aspect that needs to be clarified is whether loss from sale of crypto assets can be set off or carried forward.

What should you do?

Firstly, you must ensure that you are maintaining proper records of all your transactions. Secondly, always keep in mind that these assets are unregulated in India and therefore there is high potential risk in owning or trading in them. However, you must pay taxes if you have earned an income. Seek the help of an expert who can guide you through. If you are a miner, you may have created a self generated asset. Miners also spend a lot of time and money to build these assets and therefore taxation may be a completely different ballgame in their case.

Archit Gupta is founder and CEO, ClearTax. Views are his own.
Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) made a good debut at the bourses, on Monday, with the stock listing at Rs 1,009, up 22 per cent against its issue price of Rs 825 per share on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

At 10:06 am, the stock was trading at Rs 1,003, after hitting a low of Rs 990 on the NSE and BSE. A combined 4.38 million shares have changed hands on the counter on both the exchanges, so far.

is one of the largest corporate healthcare groups in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in terms of the number of patients treated and treatments offered. It operates nine multi-specialty hospitals under the ' Hospitals' brand, with an aggregate bed capacity of 3,064, including over 2,500 operational beds as of March 31, 2021.

The company has a flagship hospital at Secunderabad, which, according to Crisil, is one of the largest private hospitals in India at a single location with a capacity of 1,000 beds. At the end of FY21, its nine hospitals had recorded average revenue per operating bed of Rs 20,609, and bed occupancy rate of 78 per cent.

Most of the brokerages recommend investors subscribe to the issue for a long-term considering healthy industry growth prospects and the company's strong track record.

The public issue of had seen a decent response with the issue oversubscribed 3.86 times as the offer received bids for 55.6 million equity shares against IPO size of 14.4 million equity shares. The qualified institutional buyers have put in bids for 5.26 times of their reserved portion while the non-institutional investors portion was subscribed 1.89 times. A part set aside for retail investors has been subscribed 2.90 times. The proceeds from the fresh issue will be used to repay debt of the company and its subsidiaries.

Religare Broking believes that the high-quality healthcare and the company's encouraging financial performance make KIMS well-positioned to consolidate Indias large, unorganized and yet rapidly growing and underserved affordable healthcare market. Besides, KIMS has diversified revenue streams with no single specialty accounting for more than 25 per cent of its total income in the last three years.
and Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) made a strong debut on Monday. The shares of got listed at Rs 528, a 23 per cent premium to the issue price. The stock gained another 15 per cent on Monday and closed the session at Rs 609, a 42 per cent premium to its issue price. Post listing, the company commands a market capitalisation of Rs 3,624 crore.

The initial public offer (IPO) of garnered an enthusiastic response; the IPO was subscribed 45 times. The institutional portion was subscribed 85 times, the wealthy investor portion was subscribed 73 times, and the retail portion was subscribed 11.3 times. Dodla Dairy had priced its IPO between Rs 421-428 per share.

The company intends to utilise the proceeds of the fresh issue to repay its debts and funding capital expenditure. Dodla Dairy sells milk and dairy-based value-added products.

The company's operations in India are primarily across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. And their overseas operations are based in Uganda and Kenya.

Analysts had raised concerns about Dodla's steep valuation and the lack of pricing power for producers in the dairy industry. The company's presence being confined to four south Indian states and Maharashtra also concerned analysts.





got listed at Rs 1,009, a 22 per cent premium to its issue price. However, the stock corrected a bit and ended the session at Rs 996, a 21 per cent premium to its issue price.

The response to the IPO of hospital chain Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) was somewhat tepid compared to Dodla. Overall the issue was subscribed 3.8 times. The institutional bucket was subscribed 5.2 times, the wealthy investor portion by 1.8 times, the retail portion by 2.9 times and the portion reserved for employees was subscribed 1.06 times. had priced its Rs 2,143 crore IPO between Rs 815 to Rs. 825 per equity share. is one of the largest corporate healthcare groups in AP and Telangana and operates nine multi-speciality hospitals. It provides a range of healthcare services across over 25 specialities and super specialities.
TCS on Monday announced that Commercial Bank of Kuwait (CBK) has selected TCS BaNCS for treasury to manage risk, enhance asset class coverage and drive future growth.

TCS BaNCS for treasury will help CBK offer a wider range of cash and derivative treasury products, integrate various trading and messaging platforms, manage cash and positions in real time, and offer extensive accounting and reporting capabilities. The front-to-back, cross-asset solution will also enable the bank to lay a firm foundation for digitization and expand its customer base.

TCS BaNCS for treasury is a cross-asset-class solution is a multi-entity, multi-currency solution for front-, middle-, and back-office operations in treasury and trading. The solution supports a range of asset classes such as cash products on the foreign exchange, money markets, fixed income, and equity. It also covers OTC and exchange traded derivative on FOREX, rates, equity, credit, commodities and alongside OTC hybrid structures.

The integrated solution offers comprehensive straight-through processing, and fully automated confirmation, settlement, clearing, collateral management and dispute resolution along with integrated accounting. It rests on a digital core and comes with standardized and well-documented APIs that can seamlessly integrate with the existing IT landscape of CBK.

Venkateshwaran Srinivasan, global head of TCS Financial Solutions said, We are delighted to partner with the Commercial Bank of Kuwait in their treasury transformation initiative. TCS BaNCS' comprehensive treasury solution offers much higher levels of straight-through-processing, enhances risk management and compliance and enables superior customer experience. This partnership further underscores our strong commitment to the Middle East market and is a testimony to our deep contextual understanding of the industry and local market practices.

TCS is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization. The IT major reported a 6.3% growth in consolidated net profit to Rs 9,246 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q3 FY21. Revenue grew 4% to Rs 43,705 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q3 FY21.

Shares of TCS were down 1.27% at Rs 3,337.65 on BSE.

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Shares of Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) were trading at Rs 977 at 10:14 IST on the BSE, a premium of 18.42% over the initial public offer price of Rs 825.

The stock was listed at Rs 1008.9, a premium of 23.29% to the initial public offer (IPO) price. So far the stock hit a high of Rs 1,057.95 and low of 973. On the BSE, 2.04 lakh shares were traded on the counter so far.

The IPO of Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences opened for bidding on Wednesday, 16 June 2021, and closed on Friday, 18 June 2021. The price band for the IPO was set at Rs 815-825 per share.

The issue received bids for 5.56 crore shares as against 1.44 crore shares on offer, according to the stock exchange data. The issue was subscribed 3.86 times.

The qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) category was subscribed 5.26 times. The retail individual investors category was subscribed 2.90 times. The non-institutional investors category was subscribed 1.89 times.

The IPO comprised fresh issue of shares aggregating up to Rs 200 crore and an offer for sale of up to 2,35,60,538 equity shares from promoters and existing shareholders.

Ahead of the IPO, the company finalized allocation of 1,15,84,060 equity shares to anchor investors at Rs 825 per share aggregating to Rs 955.68 crore.

The company proposes to utilize the net proceeds of the fresh issue towards repayment/pre-payment, in full or part, of certain borrowings availed by the company and by subsidiaries viz KHKPL (KIMS Hospital Kurnool), SIMSPL (Saveera Institute of Medical Science) and KHEPL (KIMS Hospital Enterprises) amounting Rs 150 crore and balance towards general corporate purposes. Total borrowing as on 31 March 2020, was at Rs 220.164 crore.

Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) is one of the largest corporate healthcare groups in Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Telangana in terms of number of patients treated and treatments offered. It provides multi-disciplinary integrated healthcare services, with a focus on primary, secondary & tertiary care in tier 2-3 cities and primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary healthcare in tier 1 cities.

The company operates 9 multi-specialty hospitals under the KIMS Hospitals brand, with an aggregate bed capacity of 3,064, including over 2,500 operational beds as of March 31, 2021, which is 2.2 times more beds than the second largest provider in AP and Telangana. It offers a comprehensive range of healthcare services across over 25 specialties and super specialties, including cardiac sciences, oncology, neurosciences, gastric sciences, orthopaedics, organ transplantation, renal sciences and mother & childcare.

The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 201.22 crore and total income of Rs 1329.94 crore in the twelve months ended on 31 March 2021.

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Reliance Industries Ltd is quoting at Rs 2100.35, down 0.19% on the day as on 13:19 IST on the NSE. The stock jumped 21.89% in last one year as compared to a 53.7% rally in NIFTY and a 37.01% spurt in the Nifty Energy index.

Reliance Industries Ltd fell for a fifth straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 2100.35, down 0.19% on the day as on 13:19 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is down around 0.06% on the day, quoting at 15850.1. The Sensex is at 52835.53, down 0.17%.Reliance Industries Ltd has eased around 2.78% in last one month.Meanwhile, Nifty Energy index of which Reliance Industries Ltd is a constituent, has increased around 0.39% in last one month and is currently quoting at 19961.05, up 0.13% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 58.36 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 114.34 lakh shares in last one month.

The benchmark July futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 2112, down 0.28% on the day. Reliance Industries Ltd jumped 21.89% in last one year as compared to a 53.7% rally in NIFTY and a 37.01% spurt in the Nifty Energy index.

The PE of the stock is 48.25 based on TTM earnings ending March 21.

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On or before 15 July 2021

SEAMEC announced that the company is in process of acquisition of a diving vessel - Subtech Paladin from James Fisher Marine Services, London, United Kingdom, at a price of USD 17,300,000.

The remittance is likely be made on 28 June 2021 in accordance with regulatory approvals and the whole transaction is likely to be completed on or before 15 July 2021.

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The IT major, through its wholly-owned subsidiary viz., Tech Mahindra (Americas) Inc., approved the proposal to acquire 100% equity shares in US-based Brainscale Inc.

Brainscale Inc. is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, US. The company is a cloud focused asset having expertise in cloud consulting, enablement, application development and data analytics. It has more than 120 employees. For the financial year ending 31 December 2020, the company had revenue of $10 million.

The acquisition will bolster Tech Mahindra's consulting capabilities in the Cloud transformation space and will enable Tech Mahindra to drive growth of Cloud related IT services in the North American market.

Tech Mahindra will pay total consideration of up to $28.8 million including earnouts. The transaction is expected to close by 15 August 2021.

Tech Mahindra's consolidated net profit fell 17.44% to Rs 1,081 crore on 0.9% rise in revenues to Rs 9,730 crore in Q4 FY21 over Q3 FY21.

Tech Mahindra is engaged in the business of computer programming, consultancy and related services.

Shares of Tech Mahindra lost 0.25% to Rs 1,086.55 on BSE. The stock hovered in the range of Rs 1,081.35 to Rs 1,099.45 so far.

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Tech Mahindra announced that the Company through its wholly owned subsidiary viz., Tech Mahindra (Americas) Inc. approved the proposal to acquire 100% equity shares in Brainscale Inc. (Brainscale).

The acquisition will bolster Tech Mahindra's consulting capabilities in the Cloud transformation space and will enable Tech Mahindra to drive growth of Cloud related IT services in the North American market.

The cost of acquisition will be USD 28.8 million including earnouts. The transaction is expected to close by 15 August 2021.

Brainscale is a Cloud focused asset having expertise in Cloud Consulting, Enablement, Application Development and Data Analytics.

The company is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey. The company has more than 120 employees. For the financial year ending 31st December, 2020, the company had revenue of USD 10 million.

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on Sunday asked actor and leader to appear before it on Monday, via video conference for questioning about his controversial speech during campaigning for Assembly polls.

On June 16, actor-turned-politician was questioned by the on Wednesday over the controversial speech during the Bengal election campaign.

Chakraborty, who was among the BJP's star campaigners in the April-May election, was questioned virtually in connection with a case filed against him over the speech.

The FIR was filed by the Trinamool Congress at the Manicktala police station in Kolkata.

Chakraborty during an election campaign recited dialogues in his speech from his movies: "Marbo ekhane lash porbe shoshane (Will hit you here and the body will land at the crematorium)."

Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress won 213 seats in the West Bengal Assembly elections that concluded last month. The Bharatiya Janata Party garnered 77 seats in the 294-seat state assembly.

Violence was reported in several parts of West Bengal after the results of the Assembly elections were declared on May 2.

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The on Monday dismissed a PIL seeking a directive to the Central government to ban the operation and use of if it is not willing to co-operate with the lawful authorities in India.

Bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly dismissed the petition.

KG Omanakuttan a Software Engineer from Idukki district in Kerala submitted the plea.

The court while dismissing the petition said, "It was premature and should be the job of investigating agencies and courts to decide whether messages from were manipulated by users to not be used as evidence. We are not inclined to entertain any of the prayers sought for, we are dismissing the writ petition."

The plea submitted that, " itself violates the privacy of its users. It is violating the fundamental rights of the citizens guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution and posing a potential threat to the national interest and national security. If the app was not willing to change its technology and did not co-operate with the government, it should not be allowed to operate in the country. The Centre had banned many websites and mobile Apps for acting against the interest of the country. The app cannot blame the law of this land."

It stated that fake information in the form of texts, images and videos is been widely spread and circulated.

Character assassination of many prominent personalities of all political parties was done using such messages, said the plea.

"The company stated in its privacy policy that it would collect any type of data from its users, including their phone's battery level. This statement was contrary to the claims of the app that the messages sent on its platform were protected by end-to-end encryption. The claims were baseless," it said.

The petition stated that the app was exposed to a lot of bugs and errors and could be easily manipulated, adding that it was being used by anti-national elements to send messages and information.

"This app is being used by anti-nationals to pass their messages and information. Criminal activities such as threats, honey traps, fake visas, admissions and job placements are a few instances of misuse of the app. The authorities are finding it difficult to trace the source of unlawful activities as there are no laws in India to insist that they share the source. The company has never cooperated with the authorities saying that the platform is end-to-end encrypted, even in cases which involve the security of the nation," it said.

"No one is above the law and no one should be allowed to be above law. The app should abide by the laws of this country so as to function here. If the app is not willing to change its technology and cooperate with the government, it should not be permitted to operate," it added.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Joseph Menn

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - said on Friday an attacker had won access to one of its customer-service agents and then used information from that to launch attempts against customers.

The company said it had found the compromise during its response to hacks by a team it identifies as responsible for earlier major breaches at SolarWinds and

said it had warned the affected customers. A copy of one warning seen by Reuters said the attacker belonged to the group Microsoft calls Nobelium and that it had access during the second half of May.

"A sophisticated Nation-State associated actor that Microsoft identifies as NOBELLIUM accessed Microsoft customer support tools to review information regarding your Microsoft Services subscriptions," the warning reads in part. The U.S. government has publicly attributed the earlier attacks to the Russian government, which denies involvement.

When Reuters asked about that warning, Microsoft announced the breach publicly.

After commenting on a broader phishing campaign it said had compromised a small number of entities, Microsoft said it had also found the breach of its own agent, who it said had limited powers.

The agent could see billing contact information and what services the customers pay for, among other things.

"The actor used this information in some cases to launch highly-targeted attacks as part of their broader campaign," Microsoft said.

Microsoft warned affected customers to be careful about communications to their billing contacts and consider changing those usernames and email addresses, as well as barring old usernames from logging in.

Microsoft said it was aware of three entities that had been compromised in the phishing campaign.

It did not immediately clarify whether any had been among those whose data was viewed through the support agent, or if the agent had been tricked by the broader campaign.

Microsoft did not say whether the agent was at a contractor or a direct employee.

A spokesman said the latest breach by the threat actor was not part of Nobelium's previous successful attack on Microsoft, in which it obtained some source code.

In the SolarWinds attack, the group altered code at that company to access SolarWinds customers, including nine U.S. federal agencies.

At the SolarWinds customers and others, the attackers also took advantage of weaknesses in the way Microsoft programs were configured, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Microsoft later said the group had compromised its own employee accounts and taken software instructions governing how Microsoft verifies user identities.

A White House official said the latest intrusion and phishing campaign was far less serious than the SolarWinds fiasco.

"This appears to be largely unsuccessful, run-of-the-mill espionage," the official said.

Scott McConnell, a spokesman for Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said the defensive group "is working with Microsoft and our interagency partners to evaluate the impact. We stand ready to assist any affected entities."

A SolarWinds spokesperson said, "The latest cyberattack reported by Microsoft does not involve our company or our customers in any way."

(Reporting by Joseph Menn; Editing by Aurora Ellis, Kenneth Maxwell, Chris Reese and Daniel Wallis)

(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.)
Parliament Standing Committee on Information Technology (I&T) has issued summons to India and India asking them to send their representatives to appear before it on Tuesday to hear their views on safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social online news media platforms.

The meeting will be held at 4 p.m. onwards at Main Committee Room, Parliament House Annexe in presence of committee members, officials of Ministry of I&T and the representatives of and Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor is the Chairman of the committee, which includes 31 members -- 21 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha.

The meeting schedule mentions that the committee is "to hear the views of representatives of India and India on the subject Safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space".

In its next sitting on July 6, representatives of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will submit evidence related to the subject before the committee.

There have been more than two similar meetings between the committee and the representatives of social media sites, including Facebook, Google and Twitter.

In a recent one, the committee had called Twitter to appear before it on June 18 to give representation on how to prevent misuse of social media and online news. On June 20, India's permanent mission at the United Nations had clarified that India's new IT rules are "designed to empower ordinary users of social media" and that they were finalised after the government held broad consultations with civil society and other stakeholders in 2018.

The Central government has framed the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 ('new IT Rules') and notified the same on February 25 this year. The Rules came into effect from May 26.

In January this year, the committee had issued summons to officials of Facebook and Twitter to question them over misuse of the social media or online news platforms. The committee has also questioned Facebook's India head Ajit Mohan over the issue of political bias on the social media platform.

The allegations of a Facebook bias towards the BJP were reported in The Wall Street Journal in August 2020 and had claimed that Ankhi Das, the platform's then India Policy Head had opposed the idea of removing hate posts by BJP leaders, warning that this could hamper their "commercial interests".

Das has now quit Facebook.

Taking cognizance of misuse of social networking sites, the National Commission For Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on June 14 sought a report from Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Telegram regarding posts on these social networking sites offering illegal adoption of children orphaned amid ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The apex child rights body has also directed these four social media entities to submit their report within 10 days, and also warned them to take strict action against them if they fail to report such posts.

In a letter written to these social networking sites, the NCPCR suggested if any person posts any such content, an immediate report should be sent to the commission or law enforcement authorities or state commission with a detailed IP address of the user.

--IANS

rak/dpb

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 28 (ANI/BusinessWire India): In an effort to bring in global education to India, Jaro Education has collaborated with Rotman School of Management (University of Toronto) as its academic partner to offer the Certification in Advanced Data Science Programme.

This 10-month virtual programme is designed to enable working professionals improve their analytical thinking, innovative capability and data-driven decision-making skills. Considering the growing demand for data scientists and the race to acquire the requisite skill sets to bridge the talent gap, there is a need for working professionals to have access to such programmes in advanced data science from top ranked universities.

Ranked amongst the top business schools in Canada, the Rotman School of Management is part of the University of Toronto, which has been ranked as the number 1 university in Canada according to QS World University Rankings 2021. The business school is a catalyst for transformative learning, insights, and public engagement, bringing together diverse views and initiatives around a defining purpose, which is to create value for business and society.

The Certification in Advanced Data Science Programme is designed to equip participants with the new-age tools and techniques in data science. It also enables them to explore the evolution of data science and big data analytics, know statistical concepts and techniques like regression analytics, and apply data science in risk management.

The programme also provides learners the ability to adopt techniques and technologies including data mining, data visualisation, data-driven prediction, data science for cybersecurity, and represent big data findings visually to aid decision-makers.

Commenting on the significance of the collaboration, Ranjita Raman, Chief Executive Officer, Jaro Education said, "Jaro Education aims to deliver informative and renowned executive programmes in a flexible and accessible manner to the working professionals. The collaboration with the Rotman School of Management enables us to offer an advanced programme in data science, which will enable learners to equip themselves with the requisite skill sets and grow their career in this space."

Elaborating on the same, Stephanie Hodnett, head of Rotman Executive Programs- Rotman School of Management said, "Collaborating with Jaro Education is an incredible opportunity for us to extend our programmes to working professional thereby giving them access to a superior-quality learning experience, that offers them the much-needed edge not only in the business arena but in society at large."

As a global centre of research and academic excellence, Rotman is always pushing boundaries of inquiry in the search for innovative answers to the most challenging questions. This is reflected in the Advanced Data Science Programme, which will commence in November 2021. The sessions will be held on weekends. On completion, participants will receive a completion certificate along with benefits of alumni services.

This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India)

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bhubaneshwar (Odisha) [India], June 28 (ANI/PRNewswire): Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, celebrated its first convocation ceremony in virtual mode on 27th June 2021.

Delivering the convocation address, Prof. Ganeshi Lal, Hon'ble Governor of Odisha, congratulated the graduates, and said that there is no dearth of talents in tribal communities. What is needed is the right environment, encouragement and timely exposure.

He exhorted the graduates to make the 'Vocal for Local' as their resolution and contribute to the successful making of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' through their participation and endeavours.

"My heart fills with admiration and appreciation for Dr. Achyuta Samanta, Founder of this University, for building such a unique institution that has drawn global attention. It was the idea of an equitable world that propelled Dr. Samanta to a great extent. What has been achieved with the love, compassion, dedication and determination of one individual is indeed remarkable," Prof. Ganeshi Lal said. He also received Honoris Causa Degree of D.Litt. from KISS Deemed to be University.

The University conferred Honoris Causa Degrees of D.Litt. upon three more eminent personalities from Odisha - Shri Girish Chandra Murmu, Hon'ble Comptroller and Auditor General of India; Hon. Dr. Swarup Ranjan Mishra, Member of Parliament for Kesses Constituency, Kenya and Founding Chairman, Mediheal Group of Hospitals, Kenya; and Shri Bibhu Mohapatra, Fashion Designer and Costume Designer, New York.

KISS has indirectly impacted over a million tribal children and youth, which is in itself a milestone in the history of tribal empowerment. "It's the story of a dream-come-true which took off with 125 students on board in 1992-93 and has today become an inspiring tale of transformation beyond even my imagination. Development of education is the development of the country," Dr. Achyuta Samanta said while welcoming the dignitaries and congratulating the degree recipients.

Thanking the University for the honour, Shri Murmu requested Dr. Samanta to replicate KISS-like institutions in every nook and corner of the country. In their acceptance speeches, Dr. Mishra and Shri Mohapatra expressed gratitude to the University for recognizing their contributions.

Addressing the graduating students, Shri Satya S. Tripathi, Chancellor, KISS Deemed to be University, said, "As you transition from student to graduate, please remember that your alma mater is a pillar of compassion and humanity and it is on your shoulders to carry forward this unparalleled legacy and tradition of selfless service with grace and conviction."

Dr. Upendra Tripathy, Pro-Chancellor stated that KISS has shown how to lead the way from the front. It would be developed into a global academic centre under the guidance of world academic leaders in the coming decade, informed Dr. Tripathy.

In his report, Prof. Deepak Kumar Behera, Vice-Chancellor said, "KISS is one-of-its-kind institution that offers specialization in innovative tribal centric areas and encourages research scholars to pursue their work on the indigenous population and topics close to their hearts." Prof. Pitabasa Sahoo, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Dr. Prashanta Ku. Routray, Registrar also spoke on the occasion and expressed their best wishes to the graduates.

Malho Mardi (2019 batch), School of Tribal Resource Management and Prashant Majhi (2020 batch), School of Indigenous Knowledge, Science & Technology won Founder's Gold Medal for securing highest CGPA in the whole University across all Post Graduate programs. Similarly, 14 students were awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal, while another 14 students got the Vice Chancellor's Silver Medal for their outstanding academic performance.

This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pune (Maharashtra) [India], June 28 (ANI/BusinessWire India): The Bajaj Finserv EMI Store is hosting a special Mega Monsoon Sale from 24th-10th July. Customers will get up to 40 per cent off on electronics and home appliances.

Besides this, EMI Store will also provide discounts and cashback up to Rs 1,000 on a wide range of kitchen appliances.

Those looking to switch to a new washing machine or buy a new AC for the summers can now shop online on the EMI Store and buy their chosen products on No Cost EMIs, zero down payment and a range of attractive offers. Shoppers can also get products delivered to their homes without any additional cost from the dealer of their choice.

Below are some of the home appliance offers on the EMI Store:

1. AC's on No Cost EMIs starting Rs 1,400

2. Air coolers on No Cost EMIs starting Rs 667

3. Washing machine on No Cost EMIs starting Rs 683

4. LED TVs on No Cost EMIs starting Rs 667

5. Refrigerators on No Cost EMIs starting Rs 480

Customers from cities like Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Surat, Ahmedabad can buy home appliances online on the Bajaj Finserv EMI Store.

This is a limited period offer across the EMI Store, and customers can explore more products like mattresses, smartwatches, tablets and mobile phones. Shopping from the EMI store is an easy 4 step process:

1. Log in to the Bajaj Finserv EMI Store using a registered mobile number.

2. Choose the product to be purchased, select the preferable EMI tenor, and proceed to checkout.

3. Enter the shipping address and click on 'Generate OTP'. Enter the OTP received on the registered mobile number and click on submit.

4. A confirmation of purchase will be sent to the registered mobile number, post which the washing machine will be dispatched, and home delivered.

For further information, visit (https://www.bajajfinservmarkets.in) / or download Finserv MARKETS App on Google Play Store or App Store.

This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India)

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A new survey carried out by e-recruitment platform, IrishJobs.ie has revealed that almost two fifths of employees have yet to receive clarity from their employer in relation to post Covid working practices. According to the survey, which was carried out among 3,077 employees in Ireland, 38% of employees have received no update from their employer in relation to long-term working practices.



Amongst those still awaiting clarity, 37% suggested that this was because their employers were still awaiting further guidance from Public Health Authorities in relation to returning to the office protocols. A further 25% attributed this information vacuum to poor internal communications; 20% said their employers were waiting to see what their industry peers would do and 15% said they were still consulting with employees on their preferred working model.



Amongst the cohort of employees that are still awaiting guidance from their employers, 45% suggested this lack of clarity has made it very difficult to plan ahead in their personal lives. A further 20% say that it has implications on their living situation, making it difficult to make decisions on where to live, rent or buy long-term.



The data reveals that nearly half of employers (46%) have consulted with their staff on their preferred post-Covid working practises and more specifically, on their preferences in relation to remote working, hybrid working and returning to the office on a full-time basis. However, a further 42% of employees suggest they have received no formal consultation in relation to long-term working strategies.



Commenting on the results, General Manager of IrishJobs.ie, Orla Moran said, "As restrictions begin to ease, many employers now have a decision to make in relation to what they want their post-Covid workplace to look like. Fundamental to this question is whether they intend to continue to facilitate remote- or hybrid-working or is their intention to get everyone back to the office. Within this decision, there are a multitude of strategic considerations to weigh up, including a corporates core business needs, the progression and development of employees, and their ability to recruit and retain the best talent. Equally, many Irish-based professionals are re-evaluating what they want from their own careers, including where and how they want to work."

She added, "For employers looking to attract and retain talent in the months ahead, clear, consistent and pro-active internal communication should be at the centre of their Covid-response strategies and wider corporate culture."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
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Fresenius Medical Care Supports Education for Healthcare Professionals in Korea With the Opening of Its First Training Center
Cryptocurrency mania is a fundamentally destructive, nonproductive activity that should be stamped out at all levels. Like doctors working to eradicate a virus, doing so will ultimately benefit society as a whole. Photo: VCG

Now is the time for China to declare all-out war on cryptocurrencies.

Many countries have strengthened regulations on cryptocurrencies, but no one has been tougher or more determined to put an end to speculative trading of digital currencies than China has.

On Tuesday, the Peoples Bank of China (PBOC), the countrys central bank, summoned several financial institutions and payment services to a meeting where they were instructed to stop providing crypto-related services. The move marks an escalation in regulating cryptocurrencies. Regulators are now putting more scrutiny on over-the-counter trading of digital currencies like Bitcoin.

The current measures didnt just appear out of thin air. They are the result of policymakers ever-growing understanding of the emerging risks associated with cryptocurrencies, as well as the countrys needs to better manage financial risks and to transition to a low-carbon economy.

The Chinese governments attitude toward cryptocurrencies has kept up with the times. In 2013, authorities issued the Notice on Precautions Against the Risk of Bitcoin. In 2017, they put out the Announcement on Preventing the Financial Risks of Initial Coin Offerings. Then, in mid-May of this year, the National Internet Finance Association of China, the China Banking Association and the Payment and Clearing Association of China together issued a statement that warned investors against speculative cryptocurrency trading.

All of this shows that the thrust of Chinas cryptocurrency regulations has remained unchanged. The State Councils Financial Stability and Development Committee held a meeting on May 21 that emphasized cracking down on Bitcoin mining and trading and preventing the transmission of individual-level risks to systemic risk that affects the economy.

This is an unmistakable signal that more rigid policies are yet to come.

The escalating chaos surrounding cryptocurrencies fuels financial risks by distracting financial institutions from what they are supposed to be doing  serving the real economy. It is also at odds with the national strategy for low-carbon economic growth. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are not issued by any monetary authority, and thus lack many attributes that would connect them to the real economy. At best, they can be seen as virtual assets. The understanding of their economic and social benefits varies widely, and they might ultimately turn out to be detrimental.

Some people value cryptocurrencies because they see them as being cutting-edge assets at the core of the internet economy. Others have denounced them as a Ponzi scheme and their fans as being part of a cult. Chinas current efforts  from developing blockchain technology to introducing centralized digital currencies  are completely different from the nature of cryptocurrency operations, which are characterized by speculation and hoarding.

Since their inception, cryptocurrencies have gone hand in hand with speculative trading and the creation of bubbles. The have been used for money laundering, fraud, pyramid schemes and other illegal activities. Like the PBOC has said, such activities disrupt the economy and financial system, creating risks by facilitating illegal cross-border asset transfers or money laundering. They also significantly undermine property security. Inevitably, we must also ask what benefits cryptocurrencies actually bring to the real economy, especially considering their significant environmental costs.

Cryptocurrencies are considered unproductive assets because of the energy it takes to mine them. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index published in April, Bitcoin mining consumes approximately 127.48 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity each year. If Bitcoin were a country, it would rank 29th for total energy consumption. A study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University concluded that the electricity consumed by the Chinese Bitcoin blockchain is expected to peak in 2024 at 296.59 TWh, generating 130 million metric tons of carbon emissions. This is more than the total energy consumption of Italy and Saudi Arabia combined. Such vast energy consumption runs counter to Chinas goal to reach peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.

Over recent years, in response to the central governments call, some of Chinas regions where cryptocurrency mining is prevalent  including Sichuan province and the Xinjiang Uyghur and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions  have begun to shut down crypto mining operations. But even though many mines have closed, there are still more that have found ways to survive. Mines are reemerging, either by becoming nomads or by rebranding themselves. As mining machines become smaller and easier to move, crackdown campaigns face greater technical obstacles. However, the issue we should really be paying attention to are the bribes that mine operators pay public officials. Once blockchain is integrated into the chain of corruption, the damage will be much worse.

This current crackdown is far more comprehensive and stringent than those in the past, showing the central governments determination. However, some still believe that cryptocurrencies  on account of their large fan base  are here to stay. There is something to this belief because it does seem that each time a cryptocurrency comes under regulatory pressure, it always comes back even stronger than before. However, the Chinese government is serious this time. Domestic speculators are advised to give up their illusions or risk going broke.

For anti-cryptocurrency measures to have a lasting effect, they must be supported by a comprehensive legal system. However, the current law is incomplete, relying primarily on departmental rules. Therefore, new laws should be introduced and old ones ought to be amended to better illuminate the boundaries of legal entities. Moreover, illegal activities involving cryptocurrencies  such as money laundering, illicit fundraising and pyramid schemes  need to be targeted with more robust measures.

Cryptocurrency mania is a fundamentally destructive, nonproductive activity that should be stamped out at all levels. Like doctors working to eradicate a virus, doing so will ultimately benefit society as a whole, including local governments, businesses and individuals.

Once the war is over, Chinas economy and society will be both healthier and more prosperous.

Contact editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)

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Here is todays ranking of the 10 most-read international stories in China. While these headlines can help give you a sense of whats trending in the Chinese language sphere, the veracity and accuracy of the headlines hasnt been independently verified by Caixin.

Social media users are following Ukraines withdrawal from a Canada-led joint statement on Xinjiang at the U.N. Human Rights Council. They are also concerned about demonstrations in London, where thousands took to the streets to protest Covid lockdown measures.

1.Nike CEO says the brand is of China and for China

2.Ukraine pulls out of Canadas joint statement on Xinjiang to U.N. Human Rights Council

3.U.S. intelligence community releases UFO report

4.Vietnam will not go through with a plan to distribute Chinese-donated Covid-19 vaccines because of a requirement to vaccinate Chinese nationals first

5.More than 1,700 nearby solar systems offered the appropriate vantage point over the last 5,000 years to monitor Earth, a study published in Nature shows

6.Colombian President Ivan Duques helicopter attacked by gunfire

7.Organic fluorine pollution reported in groundwater in 21 locations in Japan, Environment Ministry survey shows

8.Thousands take to Londons streets in anti-lockdown protests

9.Former U.S. President Donald Trump holds his first rally in Ohio since leaving the White House

10.U.K. will ban junk food ads online and before 9 p.m. on TV from 2023

Read the top 10 domestic news on the same day.

Translated by reporter Cai Xuejiao.

The daily ranking of the most-read news stories among Chinese people, about China and global affairs, is jointly provided to you by Caixin Insight and HANA Data, an artificial intelligence technology team.

The key indicators calculated on the list are based on mass data sourced from Chinas mainstream social media platforms and online news websites. Click here for a detailed introduction of our methodology.
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Do you have an athlete in mind that contributes to the team or sport, holds sportsmanship and team spirit, has epic playmaker moments and/or in general makes the the sports fun? If yes, please make your nominations for our edition of Athlete Spotlight.

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In the past couple of years, Volkswagen has been slowly setting in motion specific changes that are aimed at rekindling the hearts and minds...
Crews work near a open tunnel, center near the bottom, in the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo, Sunday, June 27, 2021, in Surfside, Fla. One hundred fifty-nine people were still unaccounted for two days after Thursday's collapse. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Carroll, IA (51401)

Today

Generally clear skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 70F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph..

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Generally clear skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 70F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.
Four castaways find themselves marooned on a small island inhabited by crumbling stone colossi. They are forced to scale the islands sole peak to avoid a slowly approaching tsunami.

Or rather, you are forced, for Ascenders is a virtual reality experience in which you and up to three others inhabit the characters. Developed by Frances Backlight, it was the sole vr project to be presented as a work in progress at the recently concluded Annecy Festival.

Backlight has been working in vr since 2014, which makes it a veteran by the standards of this field. It has a marked interest in interactive multiplayer experiences which resemble games more than films. In Ascenders, the players split into two teams which collaborate to reach the summit. The Backlight crew compared it an escape game in their presentation, but stressed that it has a contemplative aspect and a special mood created by the open landscapes.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Hydro One Inc. has reached a tentative contract agreement with the union that represents about 1,800 employees in critical engineering, supervisory and administrative jobs.

Terms of the two-year deal with the Society of United Professionals were not immediately available.

Union members are expected to vote on the agreement by the end of July.

Michelle Johnston, president of the Society of United Professionals, says the agreement provides stability as Ontarians turn their minds to pandemic recovery.

Hydro One is Ontario's largest electricity transmission and distribution provider.

It has approximately 8,700 employees.
Photo: The Canadian Press Military personnel salute motorcade at 12 Wing Shearwater for victims of helicopter crash.

A military investigation has found that a software glitch played a major role in the deadly crash of a Cyclone helicopter off the coast of Greece last year.

The military's flight safety directorate says manual inputs to the flight controls overrode the aircraft's automation system, causing the naval helicopter to plummet into the Ionian Sea, killing all six personnel on board.

The report lists several recommendations, including the need to modify flight control software and establish a working group to review operational requirements around complex turning manoeuvres for the new CH-148 Cyclone.

The Cyclones are typically deployed on board Canadian frigates and used for search and rescue, surveillance and anti-submarine warfare.

The crash of the Stalker 22 on April 29, 2020, marked the third incident involving a Cyclone, with defective software blamed for one of the helicopters' suddenly dropping several hundred feet during a test flight in 2017. Another had a "hard landing" on a ship in February 2019.

Several restrictions were placed on the helicopters after the 2017 incident forbidding crews from performing certain manoeuvres.
Photo: The Canadian Press A churchgoer prays at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Miami Beach, Fla., just a few blocks from site of condo collapse.

Rescue workers digging for a fifth day into the remnants of a collapsed Florida condo building stressed Monday that they could still find survivors in the rubble, a hope family members clung to even though no one has been pulled out alive since the first hours after the structure fell.

Another body was recovered overnight, bringing the confirmed death toll to 10. But more than 150 people are still missing in Surfside. Their families rode buses Sunday to a nearby site to watch the intense rescue effort, which included firefighters, sniffer dogs and search experts using radar and sonar devices.

Early Monday, a crane lifted a large slab of concrete from the debris pile, enabling about 30 rescuers in hard hats to move in and carry smaller pieces of debris into red buckets, which are emptied into a larger bin for a crane to remove. The work has been complicated by intermittent rain showers, but the fires that hampered the initial search have been extinguished.

Andy Alvarez, a deputy incident commander with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, told ABCs Good Morning America that rescuers have been able to find some voids inside the wreckage, mostly in the basement and the parking garage.

We have over 80 rescuers at a time that are breaching the walls that collapsed, in a frantic effort to try to rescue those that are still viable and to get to those voids that we typically know exist in these buildings, Alvarez said.

We have been able to tunnel through the building, Alvarez added. This is a frantic search to seek that hope, that miracle, to see who we can bring out of this building alive."

Others who have seen the wreckage up close were daunted by the task ahead. Alfredo Lopez, who lived with his wife in a sixth-floor corner apartment and narrowly escaped, said he finds it hard to believe anyone is alive in the rubble.

"If you saw what I saw: nothingness. And then, you go over there and you see, like, all the rubble. How can somebody survive that? Lopez told The Associated Press.

Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai, head of a humanitarian delegation from Israel that includes several search-and-rescue experts, said professionals have told him of cases where survivors were found after 100 hours or more.

So dont lose hope, thats what I would say, he said.

Some families had hoped their visit to the site near the 12-story building would enable them to shout messages to loved ones possibly buried inside the pile. As they returned to a nearby hotel, several paused to embrace as they got off the bus. Others walked slowly with arms around each other back to the hotel entrance.

We are just waiting for answers. Thats what we want, said Dianne Ohayon, whose parents, Myriam and Arnie Notkin, were in the building. Its hard to go through these long days and we havent gotten any answers yet.

The building collapsed just days before a deadline for condo owners to start making steep payments toward more than $9 million in repairs that had been recommended nearly three years earlier, in a report that warned of major structural damage."

Authorities on Sunday identified the additional four people who have been recovered as Leon Oliwkowicz, 80, and his wife, Christina Beatriz Elvira Oliwkowicz, 74; and Ana Ortiz, 46, and her son Luis Bermudez, 26. The number of people left unaccounted for was 152.

Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah explained that conditions at the site have frustrated crews looking for survivors. Alan Cominsky, chief of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department, said his team must move slowly and methodically.

The debris field is scattered throughout, and its compact, extremely compact, he said, noting that teams must stabilize and shore up debris as they go.

We cant just go in and move things erratically, because thats going to have the worst outcome possible, he said.

Among the tools rescuers used was a microwave radar device developed by NASAs Jet Propulsion Lab and the Department of Homeland Security that sees through up to 8 inches of solid concrete, according to Adrian Garulay, CEO of Spec Ops Group, which sells them. The suitcase-size device can detect human respiration and heartbeats and was being deployed Sunday by a seven-member search-and-rescue team from Mexicos Jewish community.

Six to eight teams are actively searching the pile at any given time, with hundreds of team members on standby ready to rotate in. Teams have worked around the clock since Thursday, said Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.

Crews spent Saturday night digging a trench that stretches 125 feet long, 20 feet across and 40 feet deep, which, she said, allowed them to find more bodies and human remains.
Photo: The Canadian Press Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, arrives to hold a press conference in Ottawa on Monday, June 28, 2021. McKenna has announced she will not stand for re-election in her riding of Ottawa Centre. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna says as she leaves politics she will use what platform she has to push for climate action and an end to the hateful comments and personal abuse targeting public figures.

McKenna told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the weekend that she won't be seeking re-election as the Liberal MP in Ottawa Centre, citing a desire to spend more time with her three children, and pursue climate action from outside government.

She insisted it is not because she was frustrated and said she is proud of the accomplishments of the government, including a the national climate plan and price on pollution.

"I just told you the truth," she said. "I want to spend more time with my kids and there are other ways to tackle climate change," she said at a news conference next to Ottawa's famed Rideau Canal Monday morning.

Her departure was largely unexpected and has only heightened already intense speculation that Trudeau is readying to call an election later this summer. McKenna, 49, was first elected just six years ago and, as the environment minister in charge of the government's pledge to overhaul federal climate policy, was one of the most prominent ministers in Trudeau's first cabinet.

She was also singled out for torrents of online abuse that eventually spilled out of the virtual reality and to in-person tirades.

In 2017, she got international attention for calling out former Conservative MP Gerry Ritz, who took to Twitter to refer to her as "Climate Barbie," a sexist insult born on the far-right website The Rebel.

She told The Canadian Press just before the 2019 election that she had begun to sometimes require security because of the growing threats. Men screaming abuse at her when she was out with her children was not a rare occurrence.

Days after that election her campaign office was vandalized with a degrading sexist slur.

After the 2019 election when Trudeau shuffled her out of environment to the infrastructure portfolio of cabinet, many speculated he was trying to give her a break from the intensity of the abuse she was taking.

While her role has been less prominent, particularly during the pandemic, the abuse hasn't stopped. An RCMP officer stood guard near her outdoor news conference Monday, confirming he was there as security for a cabinet minister.

The prime minister has long had constant RCMP protection in Canada but it is far more rare for cabinet ministers to require it.

But she said as she prepares to leave politics  she has offered to stay in Infrastructure until the election if Trudeau desires  she intends to be a voice to stand up for others facing similar attacks.

"I've thought about this a lot," she said. "I have had my share of attacks but I realize that's just noise, that people want you to stop doing what you're doing, they want you to back down. But guess what? We didn't back down on the price on pollution. We doubled down."

McKenna said she learned a lesson in waiting too long to call out what was happening, and finally decided she couldn't be quiet about it any longer.

She said the outpouring of support from Canadians in response was heartening and that is what she wants young women or anyone feeling marginalized or intimidated by the sometimes toxic environment of public life.

"I will do everything to fight that," she said. "Why? I'm gone but I want girls, I want members of the Indigenous community, Indigenous Peoples, Black Canadians, I want new immigrants. I want members of the LGBTQ2+ community to feel safe in politics. And we've heard that that's not always the case. So I think it's incumbent on someone like me, because I kind of don't care anymore, I will fight that. Because we need good people in politics."
Nathan Maung was detained in Myanmar for more than three months.
Fitch rates West China Cement's proposed US$ notes as 'BB'

28 June 2021

Fitch Ratings has assigned West China Cement's (WCC) proposed US dollar senior unsecured notes a rating of 'BB'. The proposed notes will be issued by WCC and guaranteed by WCC's existing subsidiaries, other than those organised under the laws of China.



WCC plans to use the proceeds of the proposed notes for refinancing and general corporate purposes, including potential investments.



Fitch highlights that WCC maintains a strong position in Shaanxi province, with a market share of around 25 per cent, the highest in the province. In particular, it has a dominant position in southern Shaanxi at around 75 per cent of the market share, and 30-40 per cent market share in central Shaanxi. "The company is prudent in choosing new markets, and targets regions where there is limited production capacity. For example, market share in Hetian, Xinjiang, was about 40 per cent at end-2020, and that in Mozambique was over 60 per cent."



Fitch expects WCC to increase capex in overseas market in the next few years because of restrictions on adding capacity in China. This overseas capex will facilitate the company's geographical diversification and drive business growth. Overall capex should peak in 2021 at around CNY4bn (US$619m), due to the overseas investment as well as the remaining work on the 5Mta replacement cement-production line in Shaanxi, before declining over 2022-23, the research house notes.



Fitch also expects WCC's diversification to continue to improve, with revenue from outside of Shaanxi increasing to 30-40 per cent of total cement revenue in 2021-22, from around 18 per cent in 2020, driven by acquisitions, including the Mozambique project and Paomashan project in Sichuan.

Published under
PCA welcomes bipartisan infrastructure deal

28 June 2021

The Portland Cement Association's (PCA) Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, Sean ONeill, has released the following statement regarding the USA's bipartisan infrastructure package.



"PCA, representing Americas cement manufacturers, applauds the White House and the bipartisan group of 21 senators for reaching a deal on a US$953bn infrastructure package. America's economic vitality depends on an integrated, national transportation network that moves goods and people safely and efficiently, while ensuring quality of life and economic prosperity for all citizens.



"PCA said it has continually advocated for passage of a long-term bipartisan infrastructure package and is encouraged that this plan takes the vital steps needed to provide significant investment in our nations infrastructure.



PCA encourages both parties in Congress to work towards enacting strong bipartisan infrastructure legislation as outlined in the agreement between the White House and the group of bipartisan Senators."

Published under
Chattanooga Police ask anyone with information regarding this incident to call 423 698-2525

or submit a tip via the CPD Mobile App. You can remain anonymous.

A Harley Davidson was traveling south on Cummings Highway, when for unknown reasons, the driver accelerated and left the roadway, striking a guard rail.He was pronounced deceased on scene.

Latest Hamilton County Arrest Report

Police Blotter: People Walking Around At 3 AM Are Theft Suspects; Woman Skipping Out On Paying For $29 Artificial Eyelashes

Man, 63, Shot On Lee Highway, While Sitting In His Car

Here is the latest Hamilton County arrest report: ARNOLD, BRANDON DEVON 3905 CREEKVIEW LN CHATTANOOGA, 374212109 Age at Arrest: 28 years old Arresting Agency: Chattanooga THEFT OF ... (click for more)

A woman on East 45th Street called police to say a man had come onto her property and was harassing her. When police arrived the woman said that after the officer left on a previous call for ... (click for more)
An off-duty Hamilton County corrections officer has been arrested for domestic violence.

Collegedale Police responded to the Summit at Hawthorne Apartments during the early Saturday morning after a concerned neighbor heard a woman screaming for help.

Upon their arrival officers made contact with Jordan Brown and her boyfriend, Ronnie Tyler Grasham, the off-duty officer.

Ms.

Brown informed Collegedale officers that she had just broken up with Grasham and had asked him to leave the residence. The two continued to argue until Grasham allegedly grabbed her and threw her on the ground, according to Ms. Brown. Ms. Brown also told officers that Grasham had placed his knee in her back and his arm around her neck and told her that she was going to jail because he was a cop.

Grasham explained to the responding officers that Ms. Brown had been out with friends and had returned home smelling of alcohol. When he questioned her about it, Grasham told Collegedale Police that Ms. Brown grew more agitated and their argument became physical when she had allegedly struck him. Grasham told officers that Ms. Browns actions triggered him to respond and that he put her on the ground.

Collegedale officers observed marks on Ms. Browns neck and arm, but found none on Grasham.

Grasham was arrested for aggravated domestic assault and transported to Silverdale. He is currently out on a $6000 bond and awaiting his court date, which has been set for Aug. 25, with the Collegedale Municipal Court.
A man was killed and his wife was injured in a wreck Sunday afternoon in Cleveland.

Cleveland police officers responded on Sunday at 12:56 p.m., to a crash with injuries on North Lee Highway in front of Captain Ds.

Officers found a white Toyota Camry and a red Jeep Wrangler pulling a small smoker trailer, that were involved in the crash.

The driver of the Camry, Jerry Freeman, 81, was pronounced deceased by Bradley County EMS personnel on scene. His wife, Shirley Freeman, 75, was in the passenger seat. Ms. Freeman was airlifted to Erlanger Medical Center with substantial injuries. The driver of the Jeep, John Norton, 59, was transported to Tennova with minor injuries and has been treated and released.

Based on the preliminary investigation, it appears the Camry was coming out of Captain Ds and turning left onto North Lee Highway. When Mr. Freeman pulled out of the parking lot, he was struck by the Jeep that was traveling north on North Lee Highway.

The crash does not appear to be speed or alcohol related at this time.
The popular on-demand streaming service hoopla digital, is available as of July 1 from the Collegedale Public Library. Library card holders can access over 950,000 titles (audiobooks, eBooks, comics, music, movies and TV).

Content can be streamed from any computer, television, mobile device or tablet by downloading the hoopla digital app for iOS, Android, AppleTV, Chromecast, or Roku.

There is no wait time for checking out any item on hoopla as it is a simultaneous use model, which means it allows patrons to check out content immediately. Each user gets up to eight checkouts per month. Technologically, hoopla digital focuses on the latest browser, phone, tablet, and TV products to deliver the best possible experience to each user  the public library patron.

The hoopla digital collection includes fan favorite movies, newly released albums, New York Times bestselling titles and exclusive STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math), educational content to enhance each users experience.

The Collegedale Public library still offers Tennessee Reads, but hoopla will offer even more content on demand for library patrons. Tennessee Reads has some short educational films, but hoopla digital has full TV series, including some BBC titles (which are always in demand), and there is an app for smart TVs, Roku, etc. Patrons will be able to sign in and use hoopla the same way as Netflix or Hulu - but for free.

For more information on how to sign up for hoopla digital service, call the Collegedale Public Library at 396-9300, or visit the library for assistance in setting up the app on a device.




As a native of Bessemer, Alabama, David McCampbell was the United States Navys all-time leading flying ace and the top F6F Hellcat ace with 34 aerial victories over Japanese aircraft in the Pacific during 1944 in World War II.

After short stints at Staunton Military Academy in Staunton, Virginia and one year at George Tech in Atlanta, McCampbell received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy and graduated in 1933 with a degree in marine engineering.

He would receive his flying wings on April 21, 1938 at Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida and was originally assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Ranger in May 1940 as a landing signal officer (LSO) from that date on various ships.

He survived the sinking of the aircraft carrier USS Wasp by a Japanese submarine near Guadalcanal on September 15, 1942.

Returning to the United States he rose in rank to Lieutenant Commander and was stationed at Naval Air Station Melbourne, Florida where he served as LSO instructor until August 1943.

McCampbells heroic actions which led him to be awarded the Medal of Honor from President Franklin Roosevelt took place in 1944 beginning on June 11 when he made his first kill of a Mitsubishi AGM Zeke (Zero) near Saipan in the Marians Islands.

From that date through November 14, 1944 he destroyed 34 enemy aircraft.

As Commander of Air Group 15 from February 1944 to November 1944 he was air commander of the USS Essex aircraft carrier assemblage of fighters, bombers and torpedo bombers.

The unit participated in the First and Second Battles of the Philippine Sea.

Air Group 15 (AG15) titled the Fabled Fifteen destroyed more enemy planes (315 in the air and 348 on the ground) and sank more enemy shipping than any other unit in the Pacific War.

Individually McCampbell became the Navys ace of aces for his record in 1944.

Although often outnumbered by enemy fighters the AG 15 achieved an outstanding record.

Two significant dates are important in McCampbells resume against the enemy.

On June 19, 1944 during the fabled Mariana Turkey Shoot he shot down five Japanese Judy dive bombers to earn his classification as an ace pilot. He re-fueled and later than day shot down two more Japanese Zekes over the island of Guam.

However, this was not his most outstanding achievement as a fighter pilot.

On October 24, 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf he destroyed a total of nine enemy planes including seven Zeros and two Oscars.

Ironically when he landed his Grumman F6F Hellcat on the USS Langley his six machine guns had just two rounds remaining and he was out of fuel.

His last destruction of an enemy aircraft took place on November 14, 1944 in Manila Bay in the Philippines when he shot down an Oscar to finalize his total of 34 kills.

Following World War II McCampbell served in many capacities in the naval command structure during peacetime and in Korea as well as commands on several ships including the aircraft carrier USS Bon Homme Richard.

He would be awarded the Medal of Honor by Franklin D. Roosevelt prior to the presidents death on April 12, 1945.

McCampbell would be awarded numerous other recognitions including the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, and Distinguished Flying Cross.

McCampbell retired from active duty in 1964 after 31 years of service.

He would live out his retirement in the state of Florida at Rivera Beach and would die on June 30, 1996 at the age of 86 and was interred in Arlington National Cemetery.

His is one of over 30 military personnel from the state of Alabama who were awarded the Medal of Honor through the Vietnam War.
A father and son were arguing inside a storage facility on East Brainerd Road. Police spoke with the man who said he and his son were arguing over how hot it was outside. He made clear that

everything was perfectly fine.

* * *

Police were called to Rainbow Circle to investigate a car in a ditch and found it was stolen. It was removed from NCIC and White's Auto Repair towed the vehicle.

* * *

An employee at High Point Antiques on Broad Street said a medium size man with brown hair in his 40's stole the city of Chattanooga trash can that belonged to the businesses. No other info is known on the man, as none of the workers had seen him before.

* * *

A store manager at 4850 Hwy. 58 said that she needed to turn in to police two counterfeit/replica bills. She turned over a replica $100 bill and a replica $10 bill. The woman did not know where the bills came from or which employee turned them in to the main office. The officer took them to the Property Division.

* * *

A man on Kellys Ferry Road told police that he rents the property out and they were behind on rent. He was also showing two men the property to possibly sell in the future. The man gave police permission to enter the house with him. When police entered, the woman renting the property began to yell at the police to leave. The property owner and the woman had a conversation and the woman did not allow the two men who were attempting to see the property to look inside the house. The man told police that he will call if he needs police again, but at this time police were no longer needed.

* * *

A man on Highland Avenue said two days ago someone stole his homemade grill from his backyard. He said a woman saw a gold/brown Ford F-150 truck in the back yard of his address two days ago. The woman said she did not see anyone taking the grill but did observe a brown/gold truck in the man's backyard. The man believes that a certain man who lives down the street stole the grill, due to the fact that he drives a gold/brown Ford F-150. Police knocked on the man's door but no one was home. An anonymous neighbor called the neighbor and handed the phone to police. The neighbor said he did not take the grill but did drive behind the man's address through an alley which runs behind it in search of scrap metal. At this time there is no proof to identify the suspect. The man was asked to call back should any additional information surface. He said the homemade grill is worth approximately $200.

* * *

A man on Standifer Gap Road said someone damaged his car while it was parked. He said the damage is to the rear driver side corner in the form of a dent and the panel is coming off the car.

* * *

A woman on Campbell Street said she had called police to stand by because she needed to retrieve her belongings from her cousin's apartment. While talking to the complainant, police learned that her cousin had just left the apartment. The woman agreed to come back tomorrow.

* * *

A man on Shallowford Road told police someone had used his identity to get a loan with a company called Plain Green. He told the officer that the person got a loan for $1,800. The person then cashed the loan out at Debt Direct Management. The man said that he wasn't out any money, but wanted to make a report about someone using his identity.

* * *

An employee at 2288 Gunbarrel Road said someone ran out of the store with two Night Owl cameras worth a total of $800. Officers were given the tag on a Honda Element that the employee said was on the suspect's vehicle. The tag came back to a Ford Explorer. The employee said the same guy came into the store and stole other items on another day.

* * *

A woman called police to say a red Honda Civic had been following her around town all day. She provided dispatch with the tag on the vehicle which did not return to any vehicle. The woman said she would like to report the incident.

* * *

Police were called to Airport Road where a man said another man was on the bus possibly exposing himself. He said the man had to leave that bus and could get a ticket for another bus. No evidence or proof were provided. The man exited the bus and was issued a ticket for another bus.



* * *

A woman at work on Volkswagen Drive said she had parked her vehicle and, when she returned after work, she saw a slight scuff mark on the passenger's side front bumper where she believed her vehicle had been hit. There is no other information regarding the incident at this time.

* * *

An officer responded to an assist a citizen call at the Police Service Center/Hamilton County 911 Center where a man said he had asked multiple police for a ride to his cousin's house. The officer drove the man to his cousin's home on Mulberry Street.

* * *

A woman on Anderson Avenue said a neighbor had cut down a tree on their property line and it had almost fallen on her dogs in the back of her yard. The officer spoke with the neighbor who said that they did cut the tree down, but that it wasn't near the dogs. The officer saw the tree that fell and it was not near any animals in the woman's back yard. The woman just asked that the neighbors wait until she was home before they cut trees again.

* * *

A man was yelling at Taco Mamacita on North Market Street. Police arrived and asked the man to leave the property and he left.

* * *

A woman said she was driving on East 3rd Street when she noticed a silver Chevy Impala similar to her ex's was tailgating her. She said she pulled into the Speedway on E 3rd Street and believed it may have been her ex. She told the officer that when she stopped at the Speedway this car kept driving and left. She wanted this to be documented.

* * *

A man on Manor Road had been arguing with his boyfriend and wanted to leave. He couldn't drive or walk because he was drunk. But he refused to stay home because he was angry. After deciding whether he'd needed to go to jail for his safety or to a motel, he finally decided to stay home and go to sleep.

* * *

Police were asked to check on a man who was sleeping in the parking lot of Taco Bell on Lee Highway. The man said he was alright and was just resting. Taco Bell staff did not request for him to be removed from the property and allowed him to stay in the area.
Hamilton County District Attorney General Neal Pinkston said he plans to bolster the fight against gun violence by capitalizing on a new state law. He said the Tennessee Legislature passed a law that calls for increased jail time for felons who commit crimes while in possession of a firearm. It becomes effective on July 1. The new law boosts that to 85 percent. Currently, a felon convicted of committing a crime while in possession of a firearm must serve 30 percent of his/her sentence.The new law boosts that to 85 percent.

This renewed effort, which begins on July 1st, is an extension of our TARGET initiative, which we started in 2016 to focus on gang and gun violence, said DA Pinkston. This will place a more detailed focus on guns, based on the new sentencing laws. TARGET stands for Tactical All Region Gang Enforcement Team, which is a joint effort by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to cut gun violence and gang-related crime. This renewed effort, which begins on July 1st, is an extension of our TARGET initiative, which we started in 2016 to focus on gang and gun violence, said DA Pinkston. This will place a more detailed focus on guns, based on the new sentencing laws. TARGET stands for Tactical All Region Gang Enforcement Team, which is a joint effort by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to cut gun violence and gang-related crime.

He said two members of his office will lead this effort: Assistant District Attorney Colin Campbell, who worked on similar initiatives with the Memphis District Attorneys Office, and Investigator Ben Scott, who is a retired Resident Special Agent in Charge with the Drug Enforcement Agency.



DA Pinkston said those two individuals, and others in the DAs office, will work closely with the newly expanded Gun Unit with the Chattanooga Police Department, and other local, state and federal agencies to investigate and prosecute these cases.



He said, I truly believe that Chattanooga is a great place to live and work. However, this city does have a serious problem with gun violence and my office will do everything it can to use this new state law to make our city safer.
Police said an incident in which veteran Chattanooga Police Officer Michael Early and his wife, Brandy Brooks, were arrested came in connection with an incident in which they went to a house looking for their daughter.

Early, 52, was charged with aggravated burglary and assault and was relieved of duty while an investigation is completed.

Ms. Brooks, 47, was charged with two counts of assault.

In the incident on Friday, police said a man at a duplex on 7th Avenue called police said a man who identified himself as a police officer was in his house yelling about his daughter. Police said Early was not on duty at the time of the incident.

The man said he was in the back bedroom with his fiance watching a movie when he heard a commotion and looked up to see Early in his bedroom yelling and asking where the daughter was. He said the front door to the residence had been unlocked, but had been closed.

The man said he jumped up and yelled for Early to leave the residence. He said Early told him, "Oh, I could hurt you real bad, boy," while balling his fist. He said his fiance got between the two of them while telling Early to leave. The fiance had just been released from the hospital that day suffering from kidney failure, it was stated.

The man said he was in fear of being assaulted as he suffers from a seizure disorder, and he said Early is much larger than him.

He said Early made his way to the front porch, where Early's wife was standing, while he was calling police. He said the two continued to demand to know where the daughter was. He said Brandy Brooks declared that if the daughter was in the house they would regret it.

It was then that the daughter arrived in a black pickup truck with another female. Early and his wife then went to the vehicle, it was stated.

Early and his wife then pulled the other woman from the vehicle and threw her belongings out, police were told.

When Early entered the house he was wearing a police soft uniform of a polo shirt and khaki pants with a firearm and badge, witnesses said.

The woman who was with the daughter said they had gone to the house to check on the fiance, who is the mother of their male friend. She said while she was pulled from the pickup truck she was told that if she was found to be with the daughter again she would be going to jail.

She said Brandy Brooks told her she was not getting out of the vehicle fast enough and grabbed her arm to pull her out. She said Early got in her face, putting his forehead against hers and pushing off with the forehead.

All three people confronted by Early and his wife said they were not injured, but did want to prosecute.
The American Legion 102nd national convention will take place the last week in August in Phoenix.

Chris Dooley, Carl Levi and Luther Holsonback are among Tennessee Legionaires delegates to the annual event.

Mr. Dooley is commander of American Legion Post 14 in Chattanooga, Mr. Levi is past commander of the local post and Mr. Holsonback is past Tennessee department commander and a member of the state executive committee.

Mr. Levi joined post 14 in 1954. This will be his 56th national convention.

Mr. Dooley, Mr. Levi and Mr. Holsonback discussed the upcoming event and some of the issues that will be discussed. Mr. Holsonback said Legionnaire delegates will continue to push for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to prevent desecration of the American Flag. He also said the convention is expected to take a strong stand on veterans health care for both men and women.
The American Red Cross continues to experience a severe blood shortage that is negatively affecting blood product availability across the country. Donors of all blood types  especially type O and those giving platelets  are urged to make an appointment to give now and help ensure hospital shelves are stocked with blood products over the Fourth of July holiday and beyond.

Right now, the Red Cross is working around the clock to provide blood products to hospitals responding to an unusually high number of traumas and emergency room visits, as well as overdoses and resulting transplants. As a result of the blood shortage, some hospitals are being forced to slow the pace of elective surgeries until the blood supply stabilizes, delaying crucial patient care.

In addition, while summer is traditionally a time when blood donations decline, this year is particularly challenging as many Americans receive their vaccinations and resume summer activities after more than a year of limited interactions and travel, leading to lower donor turnout. The need for blood doesnt take a holiday break - patients still depend on lifesaving transfusions.

Donors are needed now to prevent further delays to patient care. Schedule an appointment to give blood now by using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or enabling the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device.

As a thank-you, all those who come to give July 1-6 will receive a Red Cross embroidered hat, while supplies last. And, donors who come to give July 7-31 will receive a $10 Amazon.com Gift Card by email, plus a chance to win gas for a year (a $5,000 value). (Terms and conditions apply; visit rcblood.org/fuel).

In most cases, those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine can donate. However, knowing the name of the manufacturer of the vaccine they received is important in determining donation eligibility.

Upcoming blood donation opportunities June 28-July 15

Monday: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Greater Community Church of Chattanooga, 1817 E. Third St.

July 15, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Southeast Tennessee American Red Cross Blood Drive, 4115 S. Access Road

To donate blood, individuals need to bring a blood donor card or drivers license or two other forms of identification that are required at check-in. Individuals who are 17 years of age in most states (16 with parental consent where allowed by state law), weigh at least 110 pounds and are in generally good health may be eligible to donate blood. High school students and other donors 18 years of age and younger also must meet certain height and weight requirements.

Donors can also save up to 15 minutes at the blood drive by completing a RapidPass. With RapidPass, donors complete the pre-donation reading and health history questionnaire online, on the day of donation, from a mobile device or computer. To complete a RapidPass, follow the instructions at RedCrossBlood.org/RapidPass or use the Red Cross Blood Donor App.

At a time when health information has never been more important, the Red Cross is also screening all blood, platelet and plasma donations from self-identified African American donors for the sickle cell trait. This additional screening will provide black donors with an additional health insight and help the Red Cross identify compatible blood types more quickly to help patients with sickle cell disease. Blood transfusion is an essential treatment for those with sickle cell disease, and blood donations from individuals of the same race, ethnicity and blood type have a unique ability to help patients fighting sickle cell disease.

Donors can expect to receive sickle cell trait screening results, if applicable, within one to two weeks through the Red Cross Blood Donor App and the online donor portal at RedCrossBlood.org.

The Red Cross has updated its pandemic safety protocols in alignment with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Fully vaccinated individuals, including staff and donors, no longer need to wear masks or socially distance. Unvaccinated individuals continue to be required to wear masks and socially distance. Donors are asked to schedule an appointment prior to arriving at the drive.




The Navy League of the United States-Greater Chattanooga Council will locally host the U. S. Navys Official 246th Birthday Ball on Saturday, Oct. 16, at the Chattanooga Convention Center. This is a Navy-wide birthday celebration to enhance a greater appreciation of the Navys heritage and to provide a positive influence toward pride and professionalism in the naval service.

The Navy League-Chattanooga Council and Surfs Up Car Wash will join efforts with a fundraising event at Surfs Up Car Wash at 407 Signal Mountain Road, Friday, July 9, starting at 9 a.m. and Saturday, July 10, starting at 8:30 a.m. Navy League volunteers will offer assistance to motorist by giving tender, loving care to their vehicles. Donations will be accepted and will be used to offset the cost of the 246th U. S. Navy Birthday Ball.

The mission of the Navy League-Greater Chattanooga Council is to educate the community about the importance of Sea Power to our nations survival and continued prosperity; to directly support men and women serving in the Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Merchant Marines and their families and to support the youth programs-Navy Sea Cadets, the Howard High School Navy JROTC Unit-by giving time, talent and financial support.
Senator Marsha Blackburn is among senators who introduced a resolution calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to end its mask mandate for fully vaccinated individuals on public transportation throughout the United States - including at airports, commercial airplanes, buses, and rail systems.

Senator Blackburn said, "Experts have been clear for months - if you are vaccinated you do not need to wear a mask. Its time we end these absurd political charades and start following the science.
The Karate Kid Part III didnt exactly kill the Karate Kid franchise. Even before Cobra Kai brought it back, they still made The Next Karate Kid in 1994, but the 1989 sequel was lower grossing than the first two phenomena, and even the filmmakers admit they didnt really want to make it. So it may be surprising that the third film keeps coming up on Cobra Kai.

[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for the Karate Kid movies and Cobra Kai.]

L-R: William Zabka and Martin Kove | Netflix

Cobra Kai creators Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald and Hayden Schlossberg spoke with Showbiz Cheat Sheet by Zoom on June 14. They explained why Karate Kid Part III still inspires them, and will continue to in Season 4.

The creators of Cobra Kai didnt know Karate Kid III was considered less than

When they grew up, Heald, Hurwitz and Schlossberg learned how movies work. They now understand why Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita and Martin Kove, let alone screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen and director John G. Avildsen werent thrilled to be making another one.

I think for all of them, it was a sequel movie that they made at this time in their lives where they had a lot going on, Schlossberg said.

L-R: Ralph Macchio and Martin Kove | Curtis Bonds Baker/Netflix

RELATED: Cobra Kai Star Martin Kove Originally Had an Even Bigger Role in Karate Kid III  Why Terry Silver Took Over

The boys were just waiting for the next installment. By the time they created Cobra Kai, it was a valid part of the saga.

For us, we were just kids at home watching part three and taking it all very seriously because we werent old enough yet to say, Oh, is this a little far fetched? Schlossberg said. Our first impression of the movie I think is legitimate. We felt like this is a continuation of these characters.

How The Karate Kid Part III has inspired Cobra Kai

The Karate Kid Part III introduced the character of Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith). Silver was an old Vietnam War buddy of John Kreese (Kove) who helped him plot revenge on Daniel (Macchio).

Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) first hears Silvers name in Cobra Kai Season 1 when he learns Silvers actions got the dojo barred from the All-Valley Karate Tournament. Daniel told his Miyagi-Do students about his time training with Silver in season 2 and a young Silver appeared in flashback in season 3. Griffith will return in the present day in season 4.

L-R: William Zabka, Martin Kove and Ralph Macchio | Netflix

RELATED: Cobra Kai Stars Ralph Macchio and William Zabka Address New Challenge of Season 4 Team Up

To John Avildsens credit and [composer] Bill Conti and Thomas Ian Griffith, theres a lot in the movie that is really fun and gets your blood pumping, Schlossberg said. I think theres definitely scenes that are fun to rewatch. So its not one of these oh my God, lets just forget about that and put that away. Theres stuff there that we love and its exciting to delve back into that.

But how do they feel about The Next Karate Kid?

Macchio was not in The Next Karate Kid but Morita returned. Miyagi trained a teenage girl, Julie Pierce (Hilary Swank). There hasnt been any mention of Pierce yet in Cobra Kai, but the creators acknowledge it as much as Part III.

Youd have to talk to Ralph about it but hes aware that we talk about The Next Karate Kid as something thats canon, Hurwitz said. Theres potential for characters to come back from that world so he knows that its canon in our universe. I think for him at that point, Karate Kid was part of the past for him. I dont even know if he ended up seeing that movie or not. Hed have to tell you that. I think hes more comfortable with that movie perhaps than he was with his own experience making the third movie at a time when he was not eager to and with some of what was going on with the story again.
John Lennon became famous during his years with The Beatles, but 10 years after the band broke up, he continued making music, and he was arguably even more well known than he had been before.

Sadly, the people who loved his music will never know where his remarkable talent might have taken him, because on December 8, 1980, Lennon was shot outside his apartment building. In the days following his death, fans all over the world demonstrated their love and grief by gathering together for vigils.

But how did his former bandmates remember him?

How John Lennon died

John Lennon | Michael Putland/Getty Images

On that shocking night in December, Lennon was coming home with his wife, Yoko Ono, when he was fatally shot outside his home. According to The Guardian, Lennons killer was a man named Mark David Chapman, a 25-year-old man from Hawaii.

Chapmans motive for the murder was hard to comprehend. He has since said that he did it to become famous, but at the time, he made a statement through his lawyer, saying I understood his words, but I didnt understand his meaning.

Whatever his reason, Chapman waited outside Lennons home for most of the day. He even had Lennon autograph an album for him in the afternoon, then continued to wait until nighttime. As Lennon and Ono returned from a recording session late that night, Chapman stepped out of the shadows and shot him five times.

Candlelight vigils for John Lennon around the world

6/7 After answering all these questions many, many times, it got down to all we were saying was give peace a chance. Not we have a formula, or communism or socialism will answer it, or any -ism could answer it. #givepeaceachance pic.twitter.com/DX7i5Hjbyz  John Lennon (@johnlennon) June 1, 2021

John Lennon was rushed to the hospital, but doctors were unable to save him. Later, Ono released a statement, saying that they would not have a funeral for him, but asking fans to remember him in another way.

Later in the week we will set the time for silent vigil to pray for his soul, she said. We invite you to participate wherever you are at the time.

According to Biography, thousands of fans gathered near the building where Lennon was shot. Vigils were held around the world to mourn him. To this day, events are still held on December 8 all over the globe to remember Lennon and his extraordinary contribution to music.

How the rest of The Beatles mourned

"I feel The Beatles were doing what they wanted to do, and a lot of it was that youthfulness of trying to change ideas. () So many people have always said, Oh, its OK for you to dress like that or to do that, but its OK for anyone, really."  Ringo pic.twitter.com/7KJFHGJ6Bh  The Beatles (@thebeatles) June 14, 2021

All Thats Interesting reports that the other members of The Beatles were scattered around the world when they heard the news of their friends death. Ringo Starr was in the Bahamas, but he dropped everything to fly to New York. He went directly to Ono to offer his help. She asked him to keep her son with Lennon, five-year-old Sean Lennon, busy, so he cared for the boy.

Not long after receiving the call about Lennons death, Paul McCartney was leaving a recording studio in London. Reporters stopped him to ask how he was feeling. He responded, Drag, isnt it? He was criticized for this statement, because many people thought it sounded uncaring. He later explained that he was in shock and didnt know how to express his grief.

George Harrison released a statement to the press, expressing his great love and respect for Lennon.

Chapman was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for the murder. Hes still in prison, and he has been denied parole 11 times so far, most recently in 2020. He has said that hes sorry for what hes done, explaining that, I felt that by killing John Lennon I would become somebody, and instead of that I became a murderer, and murderers are not somebodies.

Although there was no formal funeral to mark the loss of Lennon, his former bandmates and those who loved him found their own ways to mourn the man who changed the world of music.

RELATED: Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney Honor John Lennon on What Would Have Been His 80th Birthday
Sometimes actors find themselves in a tough spot after having played one character for a long time. Most times, the job offers run dry, and they have nothing to fall back on. Actor Jason Segel was in the same spot when the hit How I Met Your Mother concluded in 2014.

The series had helped launch his and his co-stars careers, and it seemed as though his star was rising. However, the actor was facing an existential crisis after the show concluded, and although he landed some acting gigs here and there, things werent as rosy as they were on HIMYM.

Jason Segel on HIMYM

Jason Segel | Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images

How I Met Your Mother was a hit sitcom that aired on CBS from 2005 to 2014. The show followed five friends as they navigated life in the Big Apple, falling in and out of love and approaching adulthood as a group. The shows format included a voice-over by Bob Saget.

The concept of HIMYM was that an older Ted was telling his children the story of how he met their mother. Throughout the series, viewers are tricked into thinking they have met The Mother only for the character to turn out to be a date, or as from the pilot (their aunt Robin).

The show adopts a Friends-like theme where the five friends hang out at MacLarens Pub (a similar hangout spot with the Central Perk cafe in Friends.). Most of the events happen at the bar or Teds apartment, which he shares with longtime couple Marshall and Lily.

Other times we get to see different locations such as Robins apartment, Barneys, and cafes and restaurants. HIMYM also featured subplots of Barneys journey towards falling in love with Robin and later getting divorced. A common running gag was Barneys attempts at keeping score of the women he sleeps with and teaching Ted how to pick up women while wearing a suit.

Segel played Marshall, Lilys longtime boyfriend, and eventual husband. Viewers follow Marshalls life as he goes from studying law and eventually passing the bar and working alongside Barney (an unfortunate career path that strayed away from what he initially wanted to do).

Segel faced an existential crisis after HIMYM ended

After nine seasons, HIMYM came to its natural conclusion with viewers discovering who The Mother was and Robin becoming the kids stepmother eventually. After the show ended, the cast moved on to other projects. Segel landed a few acting roles, but the workflow wasnt consistent, and he ended up questioning his acting career. The star went on the Armchair Expert Podcast to discuss his life and accomplishments post HIMYM.

Segel said, I had this blank canvas ahead of me, where most things by which I defined my identity were suddenly gone. So what do I do now? A big scary moment of who I am without this stuff?. The star continued saying, and so I didnt know if I was a good enough actor to do it. And I kind of walked through the are you a conman in this business kind of fear.

Segel has achieved more incredible things since HIMYM

After HIMYM ended, Segel moved away from comedy briefly with the biographical film The End of The Tour. Segel said in the podcast that he was very scared to do it because I did know if I was good enough at it. The actor received critical acclaim for his portrayal of David Foster Wallace in the film.

In 2014 he starred in Sex Tape alongside his Bad Teacher co-star Cameron Diaz and appeared in The Discovery in 2017. He followed that up a year later with Come Sunday and landed a role on Our Friend in 2019, playing Dane Faucheux. As of 2020, the star has appeared in Home Movie: The Princess Bride and Dispatches From Elsewhere, which he also wrote, directed, and executive produced.

RELATED: Jason Segel Is a Successful Childrens Author
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge became a royal in 2011 after marrying Prince William. She and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex became sisters-in-law in 2018 after the latter married Prince Harry.

It has been said that Meghan was not happy with the lack of support she received from Kate in her transition to royal life. However, a royal commentator claims Kate did try to help Meghan, especially in adjusting to life in the United Kingdom.

Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle | Karwai Tang/Getty Images

Meghan Markle allegedly believes Kate Middleton should have helped her more

According to the book Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durandwhich Meghan contributed toMeghan hoped to bond with Kate. However, Kates actions towards Meghan reportedly left much to be desired.

Their relationship hadnt progressed much since she was Harrys girlfriend, the authors wrote, according to an excerpt published by The Times. Although Meghan might have understood Kates wariness to strike up a meaningful friendship, they were still no closer by the time she was a fellow senior working member of the royal family and the wife of Williams brother.

The authors continued, Flowers for her birthday were nice, but Meghan would far rather have had Kate check in on her during the most difficult times with the press Meghan was disappointed that she and Kate hadnt bonded over the position they shared, but she wasnt losing sleep over it.

Royal experts share Kate Middleton did try to help Meghan Markle

RELATED: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Didnt Like How Tiny Their Home Was Compared to the Cambridges, Royal Expert Claims

It seems the narrative from Meghans camp is that Kate could have done more to build their friendship. However, royal experts alleged that Kate did, indeed, try to help Meghan out during the latters early days in the royal family, as reported by Express.

By all accounts in those early months, she did reach out to Meghan, broadcaster Bidisha said.

Meanwhile, royal editor Emily Andrews shared, She said she could put her in touch with any fashion designers she knew. Kate did try as much as possible to help Meghan as she entered the royal fray.

Royal expert Katie Nicholl recalled Kate inviting Meghan to Wimbledon and a polo match.

Bidisha explained that Kates behaviors towards Meghan was very regal, saying, Apparently Kate also school Meghan in some of those English conventions, which you may not think about as an arriving American. What are all those unspoken rules that you need to follow when youre a royal? That makes me think that when its her time to be the Queen, she herself is going to be kind and warm and opening to successive generations.

What is the duchesses relationship like now?

RELATED: Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle Were Both Disliked at School for Very Similar Reasons

In 2020, Meghan and Harry stepped down as senior royals and moved to California. The couple has since spoken to media outlets about their grievances while being a part of the royal family.

These interviews have reportedly not sat well with other royals. For example, royal experts claim the royal family no longer trusts Meghan and Harry, especially because they talk to the press too much. Meghan and Kate have not talked about what their relationship is currently like, but it likely the two women are not very close.

However, royal writer Camilla Tominey believes Kate is trying to repair hurt relations in the royal family.

Setting aside any personal resentment she may still feel about Harry and Meghans televised two-hour tell-all, Kate put her best foot forward in trying to carve a path to reconciliation between the brothers, Tominey said, according to the Daily Mail.
The last thing fans heard of The Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kenya Moores marriage to Marc Daly is that she was moving forward with her divorce. But Moores recent posting of family pictures of her with Daly has many wondering if they are reconciling. Moore says the two are focusing on healthy co-parenting.

Marc Daly and Kenya Moore attend 2020 Bronner Brothers International Beauty Show | Paras Griffin/Getty Images

Kenya Moore says her and Marc Daly are simply co-parenting

Moore has been sharing photos of herself on vacation in the Bahamas. Aside from solo shots, shes also posted pictures with her daughter. She surprised many when she posted a family portrait of her with her estranged husband and their daughter on the beach. The photo may have shocked fans but it was well-received by some of Moores celebrity fans, including her former RHOA co-star Claudia Jordan.

Apparently, Moore revealed that Daly was with her in the Bahamas during an Instagram live a day before she posted their family shot. While speaking with fans, she dropped the news when one fan asked where her daughter was.

Source: YouTube

RELATED: RHOA: Kenya Moore Alludes to Husband, Marc Daly, Being Verbally Abusive During Latest Episode

Brooklyn is on the beach actually with her dad, she said with a smile. Marc is here. I know thats a bombshell, but its not what you think. Were just having a family Fathers Day vacation. We are co-parenting and everything is working out pretty well so far. Its his Fathers Day present from Brooklyn and I think its working out pretty good so far.

Furthermore, she says co-parenting peacefully is what she is focusing on. So please continue to keep us in your prayers because Brooklyn is the happiest girl in the world and I think we can only achieve that by having a good relationship  with me with Marc.

The haircare line-owner previously said she filed for divorce and was granted full custody of their daughter

Its great to see Moore and Daly in a better place as Season 13 of RHOA showed them at a standstill in their marriage. Theyd been living separately for nearly a year. The coronavirus pandemic added more stress with Daly living full-time in New York and Moore caring for their daughter as practically a single mother.

Daly appeared to flip-flop in terms of whether or not he wanted to stay in the marriage. He filed for divorce without notifying Moore personally and asked for alimony. Moore says Daly later apologized and said it was a legal mixup. She also revealed to a therapist that Daly would often block her calls.

Source: YouTube

RELATED: RHOA: How Kandi Burruss Feels About Kenya Moores Love Life and Relationship History

During the reunion special, Moore admitted she was moving forward with the divorce. She told Cohen, Hes fighting for all the wrong things in court, she said of him dragging his feet with their split. For Brooklyn not to be on this show. Its not about custody, its not about time being spent, [and] not about child support.

Moore says Dalys actions were ego-driven. It has everything to do with his ego, she continued. And all of the things that happened with us that trigger him are ego-driven. And that is what turns me off. Because its not about the family, and its not about what works for us, its not about compromise  its about [him]. Its about what happens with [him].

Its unclear when their divorce will be finalized but its great to see the two in a civil space.
The Percy Jackson movies are famously disliked by fans of the books. And author Rick Riordan hates them even more. In fact, he didnt even see the movies because of how much he disliked the scripts. He was largely shut out of the creative process for the films, and his input was rarely considered when offered. But with the Percy Jackson TV series on Disney+, thats all going to change. A TV adaptation means theres plenty of time to include scenes from the books the movies left out (or in some cases, completely changed). And Riordan revealed a scene hes looking forward to creating the most in a recent interview.

Logan Lerman at the premiere of Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief in 2010 | Theo Wargo/WireImage

Is the Gateway Arch in Percy Jackson?

A lot of pivotal things from Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief were excluded from its big screen adaptation in 2010. The characters were also completely contradictory to the source material. And things as basic as the age of the characters were changed. While aging up characters is common, its a major flaw for Percy Jackson. The prophecy the entire book series is based on depends entirely on Percy growing from age 12 to 16.

Major battles from The Lightning Thief were excluded as well. One thing the Logan Lerman movie left out was the battle at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Percy and his friends, Annabeth and Grover, travel across the United States on a quest to find Zeus stolen thunderbolt. They encounter countless monsters along the way, and many battle scenes take place at American landmarks.

At the Gateway Arch, Percy fights Echidna, Mother of Monsters, and the Chimera (which manifests as a chihuahua). The scene is significant because Percy jumps from the top of the 630-foot tall structure and survives. He lands in the Mississippi River below. A being the son of Poseidon, the water heals him. Hes also completely dry and breathing while submerged. This scene marks the first time Percy prays to his father for help. And while still in the river, a nymph approaches the young demigod with a message from his father telling him where to go on his quest next.

RELATED: Percy Jackson TV Series Director Will Be a PJO Book Fan, Rick Riordan Says

Rick Riordan is excited to finally depict the Gateway Arch scene for the Percy Jackson TV series

Its a big moment, to say the least  one fans wish they had seen in the movie. And Riordan is eager to make it. He cited it in a recent interview while on a press tour for his book The Tower of Nero (part of The Trials of Apollo, a Percy Jackson spin-off series).

I am especially looking forward, I think, to the St. Louis Arch scene because we havent gotten to see that ever, he said, according to fan site Oraculo dos Semideuses. So thatll be fun.

On June 13, Riordan shared on his blog that the pilot script and season 1 outline are already complete. The plan for the St. Louis Arch scene is undoubtedly included. A previous update also announced theyve begun the search for their Percy Jackson actor. Now, finding a director is the last hurdle before the show can start production in earnest, Riordan said.

Once they start, theyll have access to Disneys bevy of resources and funding. Its Riordans hope that Percy Jackson will be approved for a budget comparable to that of The Mandalorian and WandaVision.

"When this series moves forward (fingers and toes crossed, of course) I am confident it will be the show weve been waiting for."https://t.co/m9JY8uHcLt  Rick Riordan (@rickriordan) June 14, 2021

RELATED: Percy Jackson TV Series on Disney+ Will Be the Show Weve Been Waiting for, Rick Riordan Says

Percy Jackson on Disney+ could use film tech made famous by The Mandalorian

Riordan is hoping Percy Jackson will have more in common with The Mandalorian than just budgets. As he said:

So the filming. Thats later, but there is a lot of different ways were looking at doing this, like, for instance, we could do some location visits. We also might have access to the rig, which is the virtual environment where they, for instance, film The Mandalorian, and they do it like all there in the room, but they do amazing things with it. So we have a lot of very cool toys that we can maybe play with.

This specific rig is a revolutionary new tool created by famed special effects company Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). Rather than actors having to perform in a room made of green screens on every wall, the Stagecraft by ILM is a round room with large LED screens. Also called the Volume, the technology powering it allows for the image on the LED screens to follow along with the camera. The effect is an extremely realistic landscape for actors to perform in front of and fans to enjoy. And it eliminates the need for a green screen.

Percy Jackson will be filled to the brim with special effects. And depicting Percy jumping from the top of the St. Louis Arch into the Mississippi river below will be able to be more realistically portrayed with the help of the Stagecraft.
Kenya Moore is one of the stars of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Over the course of her time on the Bravo series, the former beauty queen has showcased the ups and downs of her relationship. Her marriage to Marc Daly was the focus of her storyline in season 12 and her divorce filing followed in season 13. Despite Moores troubles with Daly, theres one thing for sure  they both are doing their best for their daughter Brooklyn.

Kenya Moore | Tommy Garcia/Bravo

Kenya Moore shares a happy family photo

Moore and Daly have a turbulent relationship, which was showcased on RHOA. Daly left season 12 in the middle of an event he threw when he had a feud with Moore. He stopped appearing the following season and didnt allow Brooklyn to be featured on the show anymore. This is the reason why Moores daughters face is blurred in season 13.

Although the status of their relationship is not completely known, Moore and Daly have been working together to co-parent their daughter. Moore recently shared a photo of the trio as they vacationed in the Bahamas. Daly is seen holding Brooklyn, while Moore is is next to them smiling for the camera with a gorgeous setting as a backdrop.

Family Time! Moore captioned while making sure to tag the resort where they were staying at.

In the end, whatever their relationship is like between Moore and Daly, its good for Brooklyn to see her parents be able to be cordial with one another to grow up in a healthy environment.

RELATED: RHOA Icon Kandi Burruss Teases OLG Project Bravo Spinoff

Fans react to Kenya Moores photo with Marc Daly

It wasnt long before RHOA fans took to the comments to troll Moore and Daly. As the couple has been on and off, some viewers have taken it as a joke and replied poking fun at the scenario.

Is Marc real or is he just photoshopped in the picture? a fan joked.

He gone start trippin on her when filming start, just watch, a follower noted.

Its giving, Im here for the kid, vibes, an Instagram user said.

You dont expect me to like this pic huh? With how the way this man treats you publicly another fan added.

Not all of the comments were negative and some fans were cheering for the couple to get back together.

So glad to see! I was cheering from the star, a fan noted.

Beautiful picture. More, more, more, a follower added.

Yesssssss!!!!! This makes me smile! Beautiful family, an Instagram user replied.

Kenya Moore | Tommy Garcia/Bravo

RELATED: RHOA Season 14 Cast: Cynthia Bailey Talks About Future if She Exits Real Housewives of Atlanta

RHOA Season 14 cast shakeup?

The new season of RHOA is expected to start filming in the coming days in Atlanta. Moore is one of the few stars that is for sure returning to the franchise. Kandi Burruss has said she will come back, as well as Porsha Williams. Up in the air is the future of Cynthia Bailey and Drew Sidora.

Other rumors point to OGs returning to the franchise like Sheree Whitfield, which is something Burruss is not aware of.

They dont really tell us stuff, Burruss told ET recently. I mean, they do ask us, do we have any friends that may be interesting? And they do interview different people that we are personally connected to or have relationships with. They wont necessarily tell us if theyre bringing an OG. A lot of times in the past when they brought OGs on, we were surprised. That person just popped up and was like, Oh! Unless that person tells you.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta is expected to air by the end of the year on Bravo.
Vicki Gunvalson is forever going to be known as the OG of The Real Housewives of Orange County. The Bravo alum was the breakout star of the franchise and was on the show for 14 seasons. As RHOC goes through a major cast shakeup, Gunvalson is talking about Kelly Dodd receiving the ax and what she remembers about filming with her.

Vicki Gunvalson and Kelly Dodd | Tommy Garcia/Bravo

Vicki Gunvalson remembers Kelly Dodd fondly

Gunvalson and Dodd quickly became friends on RHOC when the latter joined in season 11. The insurance maven was on the outs with most of the cast and Dodd gravitated toward her. Gunvalson and Dodd made an incredible duo but ultimately fell out and their friendship never got better. Despite their differences in the end, Gunvalson says some of her fondest memories of the show are with Dodd.

Some of my funnest moments were with Kelly, Gunvalson said during an appearance on Access Hollywoods Housewives Nightcap. When we were in Ireland, we went in the middle of the night and got hamburgers on the side of the road and went to this reunion party and danced. There was no cameras there. We got back and we had to get ready to shoot at seven in the morning. We never slept. It was just fun.

Kelly Dodd and Vicki Gunvalson | Dale Berman/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank

RELATED: RHOC: Kelly Dodd Fires Back at Shahs of Sunset Star Golnesa for Calling Her an Insecure Bully

Why Vicki Gunvalson thinks Kelly Dodd was let go

Joining RHOC Season 16 once again is Heather Dubrow, who infamously clashed with Dodd in season 11. After four seasons off the franchise, Dubrow is returning as Dodd leaves. Gunvalson suggested that couldve been the reason why Dodd had to give up her orange.

I think what theyre doing now with the new cast so Kelly and Heather do not get along, Gunvalson said. They live in the same community. And theres just a riff and there always will be. Heather doesnt think Kellys fancy enough and Kelly thinks Heather is too fancy. So whatever that is, at an elevated level theyre not going to get along.

One of the hosts of the show said that Dodd was good drama, which Gunvalson agreed with. However, there was one thing that made things difficult to film with Dodd and it was her

Her mouth just was awful, Gunvalson continued. I mean to film with her, you never really knew she was going to go after you or not. I dont want to bring up all the mean things but when she so got some mean, she called me later or at the reunion  and she would say, I dont mean all that. Im like, Then dont say it! Dont say it because youre putting it out to the universe, and now we gotta defend it.

RELATED: RHOC: Kelly Dodd Blames Braunwyn Windham-Burke for Getting the Ax From Bravo

Vicki Gunvalson wants Kelly Dodd to be happy

Despite Gunvalson and Dodd not ending on a good note on RHOC, the OG star only wishes good things to come her way.

She seems super happy with Rick [Leventhal] and thats all I want is for all my friends, all my cast members to be happy, she added. When you put yourself out there  sometimes you get ridiculed and you get bad people in your lives  Im happy that shes married and shes happy.

The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 16 is expected to start filming over the summer.
The hit series The Last Kingdom has finished filming in Hungary, which is an exciting prospect for fans. However, season 5 will be the final season, which is still hard for some fans to come to terms with.

Jon East, a director for the series who has directed episodes in previous seasons and who will also direct in season 5, recently shared an image of Hilds stunt double.

Alexander Dreymon in The Last Kingdom | Adrienn Szabo/Netflix

Who is Hild in The Last Kingdom?

Hild (Eva Birthistle) is a good friend to the main character, Uhtred (Alexander Dreymon), and they meet in season 1. She is a nun, and she becomes Uhtreds close confidant. Shes religious and good-natured, but she isnt afraid to fight when needed. After they meet, Hild stays with Uhtred for a while. She leaves the church for a life of fighting, but it doesnt last, and she eventually returns to it.

RELATED: The Last Kingdom: Has Season 5 Officially Finished Filming?

Although just friends in the series, in The Saxon Stories written by Bernard Cornwell in which the series is based, Hild and Uhtred are romantically involved at one point. Hild is a fierce warrior, and fans get to see her metamorphosis over the course of the series.

Director Jon East shared an image of Hilds stunt double

Love this moment! Hild and Uhtred's friendship is #goals  are you watching with your BFF right now? #TheLastKingdom @EBirthistle pic.twitter.com/KEG6XntmPF  The Last Kingdom (@TheLastKingdom) March 30, 2017

Jon East, who will direct in season 5 of the series, has recently been sharing throwback pictures that fans will surely appreciate. On June 25, 2021, he shared an image on Instagram of the stunt double for Hild in the series from season 2. They are seated atop a horse, although a lot cant be seen based on the lighting of the shot, which is quite dark up close. It appears the rider has on warrior attire, as Hild is known to wear, with their hair back. Other people can be seen in the background, as well as a ray of light. Buildings can be seen as well.

East captioned the photo: Hilds stunt double, rehearsing her arrival to Eoferwic in TLK2 ep3 (2016).

Jon East also shared an image of Brida on a horse while holding an umbrella

That same day, East shared another behind-the-scenes image on Instagram, this time with Emily Cox playing Brida. Emily is dressed as Brida while on top of a horse. In one hand she holds an umbrella, and in her other hand she holds the reins of the horse. The image is from the side, and lush greenery can be seen on the ground and in the background as well. Other people can also be seen in the image, as well as red tents in the background and smoke as well. The moment came before filming for a portion of The Last Kingdom season 2.

Jon East captioned the post: Brida with a brolly!  The wonderful Emily Cox just before shooting a scene for ep3 of TLK2 in 2016, (which I seem to recall we eventually cut for pacing reasons, as is often the case with all TV dramas).

Its always nice to see behind-the-scenes content from our favorite shows. Well have to see what else is shared before season 5 of The Last Kingdom premieres.
The exit is a perfect match for High-Tech Grunderfonds (HTGF), bringing together an international tech company with over a 100-year history and a start-up that will benefit from each others strengths.

"For Schunk, the ultrashort-pulse laser technology represents a technological expansion that will enable us to further enhance our expertise in optics and photonics. As a highly innovative company, Pulsar Photonics is therefore a perfect fit for our Success by Innovation initiative", Dr. Arno Roth, Chief Executive Officer of the Schunk Group.

"Were delighted that Schunk Group is investing in Pulsar Photonics. Schunks financial strength and the tech companys existing global network unlock whole new opportunities for us to further develop our cutting-edge technology and market it around the world", Dr. Jens Holtkamp, one of the three founding managing directors of Pulsar Photonics.

"One of HTGFs goals is to establish contact between established companies and start-ups, with both sides benefiting from their collaboration. We would like to wish Pulsar Photonics and the Schunk Group all the best for their joint future. HTGF finances many spin-offs from German research institutes. In addition to the powerful technology, we were mainly impressed by the three founders back in 2015", Klaus Lehmann, Partner for Industrial Tech at High-Tech Grunderfonds.

Pulsar Photonics is a spin-off from the renowned Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (ILT), which is based in Aachen. The companys launch in 2013 was supported by the EXIST Transfer of Research program initiated by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. HTGF was Pulsar Photonics first investor in 2015, with the Falk Strascheg Holding coming on board in 2018.

Pulsar Photonics is now a full-service provider for laser micro-machining with short-pulse and ultrashort-pulse lasers. It currently has around 40 employees, who support customers from application development to the series production of components for their products. With laser machines developed in-house, Pulsar Photonics sets new standards in laser processing with ultrashort-pulse lasers. Sophisticated optical and sensory solutions enable enhanced efficiency and reliability. User-friendly software and easy-to-operate machines enable further performance enhancements and minimise the chance of errors.
A private family graveside service will be held for Wayne Robnett at the Marlow Cemetery in Marlow, OK. Wayne passed away on June 18, 2021 at the age of 83 in his home in Chickasha, Oklahoma with his family at his side after battling cancer. Wayne was born on June 4, 1938 in Oklahoma City, O
A nonnegotiable rule of political discourse these days is that it should operate on the basis of public reason. Debates about law and public policy, we are told, should only appeal to universally shared principles, rather than personal morality or religious belief, which vary from person to person. Therefore, in the public square, one must translate religious arguments into generally accepted public reasons, which in practice means secular reasons.

In his latest book, The Tyranny of Merit: Whats Become of the Common Good?, Michael Sandel refreshingly turns the public-reason doctrine on its head. Sandel, a Harvard University professor as well as a popular author and speaker, casts secular arguments about social and political values in terms appealing to religious believers. Though the book betrays nothing about Sandels personal religious leanings (or lack thereof), it invokes concepts with deep roots in the soil of Christian theologyterms like humility, community, dignity, grace, purpose, and the common good.

Against the grain of modern political philosophy, Sandel argues for a decidedly thick view of public morality and personal well-being. He makes the case that politics ultimately requires us to ask who we want to be as a people, a question at the heart of a Christian understanding of history.

Frustration and resentment

Some years ago, a Newsweek profile described Sandel as a rock star moralist. This is a curious description, as Sandel remains modest and soft-spoken even amid his worldwide fame as a lecturer on issues of public morality, justice, and the common good. He converses with his audience as much as he lectures. Firm in his own views, he nevertheless remains generous toward those who disagree with him.

The Tyranny of Merit concerns one of the few propositions enjoying bipartisan support: America both aspires to be and substantially is a meritocracy, a place where success depends on ability rather than ancestry. To quote Barack Obama, in America bright, motivated young people  have the chance to go as far as their talents and their work ethic and their dreams can take them. Sandel labels this the rhetoric of rising. Presidents from Reagan through Obama, along with counterparts in other Western democracies, have made this rhetoric a campaign-speech staple.

What does Sandel think about this? When politicians reiterate a hallowed verity with mind-numbing frequency, he writes, there is reason to suspect that it is no longer true. And by 2016, he argues, the rhetoric of rising indeed [rang] hollow. Around the world, many nationsboth industrialized and emergingwere outshining the United States in their levels of social mobility. More ominously, the rhetoric of rising started puffing up the pride of the risers. Financial success took on an aura of moral superiority. Sandel calls this meritocratic hubris. Wealth seemed to become an entitlement rather than a blessing. Hedge fund managersSandels poster children for meritocratic hubrisconcluded that they deserved those seven figure bonuses. It was, to quote George Harrison (a true rock star), I, me, mine all the way down.

How did this happen? Politicians tell us that the key to rising is a college education. You earn what you learn, Bill Clinton liked to say. Unfortunately, the vaunted college degree wasnt always delivering the goods. In the 1930s, Harvard president James Bryant Conant promoted the Scholastic Aptitude Test as a way to identify top-ranking students from all geographic regions and economic strata, with the goal of reducing Harvards overpopulation by the privileged few. Unfortunately, SAT testing turned out to correlate most strongly with family wealth, strengthening the very inequity it was designed to combat. As a result, a shockingly small percentage of college students actually rose from true poverty to wealth.

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Worse yet, those who fail to achieve financial success now seem somehow culpable. Either they didnt have the goods to begin with, or they havent worked hard enough. Earning capacity becomes a gauge of ones intrinsic value. In place of Aristotles vision of justice as due recognition of, and reward for, moral virtue, argues Sandel, we now have a degraded, market-centered measure of personal worth. The rhetoric of rising, supposedly a message of hope and optimism, turns out to foster frustration and resentment, creating a patchwork of winners and losers that divides rather than unites us.

Among the products of this resentment, Sandel argues, are Brexit and Trumpism. It doesnt stop there. It has crept into all areas of American culture. Sandel sees it, for instance, in libertarian objections to public health care. Those with poor health, the thinking goes, are probably smokers or drinkers or couch potatoes, responsible for their own physical woes. Sandel includes a brief discussion of the prosperity gospel, arguing that it rests ambiguously on the idea of being blessed by grace rather than blessed with talent and ability.

Ultimately, Sandel has little use for the prosperity gospel, which he finds gratifying when things go well but demoralizing, even punitive, when things go badly. This comes as part of his brief moral history of merit, which attempts to find parallels between 21st-century secular ideas of meritocracy and Puritan attitudes about predestination, salvation, and worldly success.

Unfortunately, this section is marred by Sandels choice to draw as much on German sociologist Max Weber and his Protestant ethic hypothesis as on real Protestant theologians.

According to Weber, capitalism flourished because of Protestant industry and wealth accumulation, first as a sign of Gods election but then as a way to secure salvation. Sandel carefully avoids the conclusion that Protestantism bears the responsibility for the current outbreak of meritocratic hubris, which is not necessarily tied to religious assumptions. He acknowledges that Scripture rejects the connection between merit and blessingGods speech to Job (3841) being a case in point. The Augustinian view of salvation as pure grace won out over the Pelagian emphasis on works. Sandel notes, as well, how Luther and Calvin themselves were anti-meritocratic in their views of salvation: Merit drives out grace, he writes, or else recasts it in its own image, as something we deserve.

Nevertheless, Webers cameo appearance is both the one false note in the book and a missed opportunity to illustrate the kind of impoverished moral reflection that Sandel deplores. It would not be a stretch to call Webers Protestant ethic (not to mention the prosperity gospel) a thin version of Protestantism, bearing the same relation to Calvinism as marketplace morals do to Aristotelean virtue. Early Protestant capitalism was only a part of a larger social vision that emphasized the communal over the individual. Equity, common good, and special concern for the poor all figure prominently in Calvinism. Financial success carried with it an obligation to others.

Calvin would have deplored the whole meritocratic package: the theology behind it, the resulting assortment of people into winners and losers, and the abrogation of those duties the fortunate owe to the less fortunate. We can imagine Calvin riffing on the question raised by the books subtitle: What, indeed, becomes of the common good in a culture of winners and losers?

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The true Protestant ethic

Not surprisingly (for those familiar with his previous work), Sandel concludes that theories of justice that prioritize individual freedom above thicker notions of human flourishing impair civic (and civil) engagement over moral issues. Sadly, if we cant debate what constitutes the good life, we end up where we are today: stuck in endless shouting matches from one side or the other of a false binary. For example, Sandel says this about the current argument over the meaning of equality:

It is generally assumed that the only alternative to equality of opportunity is a sterile oppressive equality of results. But there is another alternative: a broad equality of condition that enables those who do not achieve great wealth or prestigious positions to live lives of decency and dignitydeveloping and exercising their abilities in work that wins social esteem, sharing in a widely-diffused culture of learning, and deliberating with their fellow citizens about public affairs.

This, Sandel says, describes a community truly dedicated to the common goodinclusive in its vision of who belongs and generous in the benefits it bestows. Wendell Berry, the farmer and agrarian writer, articulates a similar ideal: the mental and spiritual condition of knowing that the place is shared, and that the people who share the place define and limit the possibilities of each others lives. To get there, we must reject the rhetoric of rising and accept the inherently theological premise that all humans are of equal worth.

Heres how Sandel closes The Tyranny of Merit:

The meritocratic conviction that people deserve whatever riches the market bestows on their talents makes solidarity an almost impossible project. For why do the successful owe anything to the less-advantaged members of society? The answer to this question depends on recognizing that, for all our striving, we are not self-made and self-sufficient; finding ourselves in a society that prizes our talents is a good fortune, not our due. A lively sense of the contingency of our lot can inspire a certain humility: There, but for the grace of God, or the accident of birth, or the mystery of fate, go I. Such humility is the beginning of the way back from the harsh ethic of success that drives us apart. It points beyond the tyranny of merit toward a less rancorous, more generous public life.

There, but for the grace of God, go I. This sentiment, frequently attributed to the Protestant martyr John Bradford, better expresses the true Protestant ethic than anything written by Max Weber. It is a fitting end to Sandels splendid book.

Daniel Rentfro is the managing editor of the Bible and the Contemporary World journal at the University of St Andrews, and a practicing attorney. He is the author of The Law of Freedom: Justice and Mercy in the Practice of Law.
While headlines focused on intra-Baptist fights during the recent Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in Nashville, many commentators overlooked a remarkable resolution advocating for Uyghur Muslims in China.

With Resolution 8, Southern Baptists joined Pope Francis in highlighting the abuses suffered by Uyghurs but went a step further by labeling their persecution as genocide.

Uyghurs are an ethnolinguistic group, predominately Muslim, found in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang. Chinese atrocities specifically targeting Uyghurs and other traditionally Muslim ethnic groups are well documented. These abuses by China were a rare area of agreement between the Trump and Biden administrations, with both labeling the Chinese persecution as a genocide.

In Nashville, among resolutions dealing with sexual abuse and amid the election of a new SBC president, the 15,000 delegates or messengers considered Resolution 8: On the Uyghur Genocide. It cited credible reporting from human rights journalists and researchers that concludes that more than a million Uyghurs, a majority Muslim ethnic group living in Central and East Asia, have been detained in a network of concentration camps in the Xinjiang Province.

Griffin Gulledge, a PhD student in systematic theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, drafted the resolution. He became outspoken after watching videos of Uyghurs chained and shackled. China is committing one of the grossest acts of human rights violations in modern history, he wrote on Twitter, and we arent saying a word because it financially benefits most of the rest of the world.

Gulledges resolution built the biblical case for Christian human rights advocacy. From the Old Testament, it quoted Genesis 1:27 (people are made in Gods image) and cited the call in Psalm 82:3 to provide justice for the needy ... [to] uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. From the New Testament, it quoted the admonition in Hebrews 13:3 to remember those in prison, as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated, as though you yourselves were suffering bodily.

The resolution commended the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) for its advocacy and cited past SBC statements that affirm the full dignity of every human being of whatever political or legal status or party and denounce rhetoric that diminishes the humanity of anyone.

In the resolution, the SBC directly called out China. It urged the Chinese Communist Party and the Peoples Republic of China to cease its program of genocide against the Uyghur people immediately, restore to them their full God-given rights, and put an end to their captivity and systematic persecution and abuse.

As Baptists would say, Amen to that.

Significantly, Americas largest Protestant denomination declared, We stand together with these people against the atrocities committed against them. The SBC encouraged US government efforts to bring an end to the genocide of the Uyghur People, and work to secure their humane treatment, immediate release from reeducation camps, and religious freedom, as well as to admit them as refugees into the United States.

Image: Eric Brown / Baptist Press

Some may be surprised to see Southern Baptists advocating for the religious freedom of Muslims and their resettlement to America. Many recall when in 2017 the ERLC and the International Mission Board (IMB) were defending the right of American Muslims to build a mosque, the IMB changed its policy due to internal backlash. The Southern Baptist entity initially explained that its call on foreign governments to support the religious freedom of their citizens will ring hollow if, in the USA, we only support freedom of religion for Christians. However, IMB leaders finally decided to speak only into situations that are directly tied to our mission.

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This months Resolution 8 breaks with past concerns. The statement was a human rights document, grounded in Christian theology, denouncing atrocity crimes against a non-Christian community because of their faith. It was a message of solidarity, with Southern Baptists committing to earnest prayer for the Uyghur people as they suffer under such persecution.

Observers such as Nury Turkel, chair of the Uyghur Human Rights Project and vice chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), believe the resolution represented the first time an American denomination specifically labeled Uyghur persecution as a genocide.

The [SBC] has blazed a trail for others to follow, Turkel, who today was awarded the inaugural Notre Dame Prize for Religious Liberty, told CT. This is a historic resolution where Baptists have come out to affirm solidarity in standing up against atrocities, no matter the ethnic and religious identity of the victims.

Having worked in international religious freedom for two decades, I know that statements of concern that cross religious lines are unusual. And with restrictions on religion on the rise, more are needed.

Religious persecution impacts every community somewhere, with people daily confronting repression for what they believe. The Pew Research Center has reported how religious restrictions impact almost two-thirds of the global community. Christians of all stripes suffer from repression. But persecuted Christians are rarely aloneoppressors also target individuals of different faiths and no faith. And sometimes it is the others who suffer more, like the Uyghurs.

Christians should be at the forefront of human rights efforts, which is why the SBC resolution is so important. As our world continues to shrink and becomes more interconnected, the persecuted are our neighbors. Christians believe in all peoples inherent dignity, regardless of creed or nationality or beliefs. Fighting for our neighbors, including individuals different from ourselves overseas, is the most tangible testimony of Gods love we can show.

Freedom of conscience will not be fully enjoyed if it is only for favored communities. As someone who grew up in a Southern Baptist church, it was good to see Southern Baptists turn away from internecine fights to confront horrific persecution abroad. It hails back to the roots of Baptist life, focused on religious freedom for all and a sympathy for persecuted minorities.

While the SBC has many challenges, hopefully its strong statement will be an example to others of promoting religious freedom for all. If they and other faiths consistently speak up for the oppressed, regardless of race or creed, we may see a day where no one lives in fear of violence because of their beliefs.

Knox Thames served as the US State Departments special advisor for religious minorities during both the Obama and Trump administrations. He is writing a book on 21st-century strategies to combat religious persecution. You can follow him on Twitter.

Speaking Out is Christianity Todays guest opinion column and (unlike an editorial) does not necessarily represent the opinion of the publication.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misattributed a citation from Psalm 139:14 to Genesis 1:27.
Ive accepted the role of general editor for Sermon Central, ChurchLeaders.com, and other publications at Outreach, including becoming editor in chief of Outreach Magazine.

Image: Canva

Earlier this week, the folks at Outreach announced that I will be joining them as editor-in-chief of Outreach Magazine, and general editor of Sermon Central, ChurchLeaders.com, and their other web resources.

Outreach explained:

Outreach Inc. will soon be welcoming a new face. As of July 1st, noted missiologist, evangelist, researcher, author, preacher and regular Outreach magazine contributor Ed Stetzer will be joining the team as general editor of Outreach media group and editor-in-chief of Outreach magazine. Stetzer will provide editorial direction, helping these platforms continue equipping the church for greater gospel impact.

As you may know, Ive been a columnist for Outreach Magazine for a long time. Ive loved writing for their small church issue, their church planting issue, their innovation issue, and, yes, their Outreach 100. That will continue, though my role will be different now.

As part of this move, I will be leaving Christianity Today. Im thankful for my time there. It includes several friendships and some significant impact together. I will remain a paying subscriber and a supporter because I think that Christianity Today is an important part of evangelicalism. As this will be my last week blogging at Christianity Today, I wanted to say thanks to the team there. Im grateful for the platform you gave me to steward.

For me, the invitation to speak into all of those publications mentioned above, and the desire to focus on equipping pastors and church leaders, was a good fit for me. James Long was the long-term editor of Outreach Magazine (and, was also a part of Christianity Today before that).

Jim once explained his vision for the magazine.

The mission of Outreach is to further the kingdom of God by empowering Christian churches to reach their communities for Jesus Christ. Our vision is to share stories of outreach, helping Christian leadership discover the ideas, innovations and resources that will equip them to advance the kingdom of God through the outreach efforts of the local church.

I like that vision and Outreach has a strong team that has been leading well. I look forward to coming alongside them, helping to influence editorial direction and more, and serving church leaders like you. And, yes, I look forward to carrying on the legacy of James Long.

Ill blog here at Christianity Today through the end of June, and then my work will move to Outreach in a configuration yet to be determined!

Thanks, Christianity Today, and I look forward to working together, Outreach!
Image: Unsplash/Jamie Street

Six decades ago, America experienced a period of moral, political, and even spiritual turmoil very similar what many are experiencing today. Years of political polarization were capped by an outpouring of protest and violence at the DNC Convention in 1968. The Vietnam War was increasingly seen as an intractable quagmire even as the casualty count grew. Political and cultural leaders were being assassinated at an unprecedented rate. As the decade neared its end, the counterculture solutions of free love and drugs were revealed as counterfeit solutions even as ruined countless lives.

At this most unlikely point, the Holy Spirit provoked one of the most unlikely revivals amongst some of the most unlikely people in American history. Originating in various points across the country but most strongly in Southern California, networks of hippies, musicians, pastors, and evangelists. It was amazing how hippies, houseless people and the marginalized of society were being transformed by the Word of God into preachers, worship leaders, and agents of redemption.

Remembering the Jesus People

For those hoping and praying for revival, it is important to reflect on the history of Gods faithfulness to his people. Just as God called Israel to rememberhis past works so that they would not depart from the truth (Deut. 8:2), the Church must listen to and learn from the past so we might engage our world today. With this in mind, let me offer two initial takeaways in surveying the Jesus People Movement that current students, pastors, church leaders, and everyday Christians praying for revival may learn.

First, amidst U.S. and global turmoil, the revival was led largely by and focused toward young people. Over the course of a decade, thousands of young lives were being delivered by the power of the Holy Spirit. Rejecting the methods and music of their parents, young people were looking for an expression of faith that not only spoke to the issues they cared about but in a cultural language they understood and spoke. Faced with this need, countless young people struck out to innovate a religious expression that did not set barriers at the doors to church for those who did not conform to the cultural or political expectations. Driven by this mission, these leaders instilled within a resurging evangelicalism a willingness to adapt to fresh cultural expressions in service to the broader aim of proclaiming the gospel to the world. Reflecting back, if we are fulfilling our missional mandate in the 21st century, the Holy Spirit will continue to use young people to fulfilled Gods plans in our world.

Second, while the Jesus People Movement was largely aimed at those on the periphery of society and the organized Church, its impact reshaped much of the American Church. It is difficult to estimate how many people were reached through the movement, a significant component of its enduring legacy centers on the ways it reformed multiple elements of church life and thought. Worship, evangelism, youth ministry, bible study, and discipleship are only a few of the areas of church life revolutionized by the Jesus People Movement. In particular, the worship music we take for granted today was birthed from this period where musicians felt an abiding sense of calling to use music to reach the lost. As we reflect on this legacy, it is critical to recognize the power of institutional and structural influence for culture change. As writers such as Andy Crouch have argued, we must continue to send people into public and private spheres as agents of gospel transformation .

Ablaze 2021

To this end, Biola Universitys Center for the Study of the Work of the Ministry of the Holy Spirit is excited to announce ABLAZE 2021, a conference dedicated to the legacy of the Jesus Movement. Fifty years after Time Magazine heralded the The Jesus Revolution, we will gather to reflect on and learn from the movement. What are the central lessons the Jesus People Movement can teach the church today? What were its strengths and weaknesses? Its victories and failure? Its lasting innovations and passing fads?

We are coming together to celebrate the 50th plus anniversary of the JPM, which was truly one of the most important revivals of modern American Christianity. Together, we will reflect on the legacy and implications of this movement and seek to learn relevant lessons for today.

The conference will be hosted at the BIOLA University campus on October 7-9, 2021, and is jointly sponsored by the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center and the Center for The Study of the Work and Ministry of the Holy Spirit Today. The center is a resource for students and scholars seeking a greater understanding and experience of the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. Housed at Talbot School of Theology, the center aims to produce biblically faithful resources that equip Christians to be transformed and empowered by the Spirit for the sake of the gospel.

Consisting of 3 days of plenary sessions, workshops, and worship, The Ablaze conference will explore the themes of the Jesus Movement as well as hearing from those who experienced it first-hand. Ablaze will also feature a Jesus People Concert on the night of October 8th. Featuring signature Jesus People bands and artists such as Love Song, Nancy Honeytree, The Salt Company, and Matthew Ward and Nelly Greisen of The 2nd Chapter of Acts. We are praying this night inspires by testifying to Gods faithfulness in using this season for revival.

As we look into the future, the JPM also helps us to refocus by emphasizing three key Missional Theologys: celebration of the Kingdom of God & the Glorified Christ, intergenerational evangelism & the proclamation of the Word to all spheres in opening our hearts to the surprising work of the Holy Spirit. These missional emphases are not new to the life of the church, they were demonstrated in the ministry of Jesus Christ, and his disciples. Also, are found during the establishment of the primitive church. We see them during the reformation and resurging in the JPM. These themes and others will be discussed at the conference. See you at Ablaze 2021.



Reference:

Crouch, Andy. 2008. Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling. Intervarsity Press.

Eskridge, Larry. 2013. God's Forever Family: The Jesus People Movement in America. Oxford

University Press.

Kuyper, Abraham. 1943. Lectures on Calvinism. Eerdmans Publishing.

Mouw, Richard J. 2001. He Shines in All That's Fair: Culture and Common Grace. Eerdmans

Publishing.

Niebuhr, H. Richard. 2001. Christ and Culture. Harper Collins.aa

Look Magazine: https://2neat.com/product/look-magazine-february-9-1971/

Life Magazine: https://www.originallifemagazines.com/product/life-magazine-may-14-1971/

Time Magazine : http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19710621,00.html
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I dont usually start an article by telling you that I disagree with it, but let me do so here. My friend, York Moore, is someone I would have called an evangelical, and a conservative evangelical at that. He is an evangelist which shares the same root as evangelical. Furthermore, I am writing a book on the future of evangelicalism. However, York reached out and I think his case is worth hearing. Ill probably publish my own thoughts soon, and perhaps some reponses. But, for now, here is a provocative essay from my friend York Moore:

I became a Christian at the age of 20, while doing my honors work in philosophy at the University of Michigan. Up until that point, I was an atheist, being raised by atheists. My childhood home had a sign declaring, The Moores, The Atheists, and a barrel for Bible burningseriously. Thats why when I converted to Christianity, I had nearly zero history with organized religion and was utterly unfamiliar with a great many terms and labels that came with my conversion.

One of the most important labels I inherited at the time was evangelical. I was told that was what I had become, an evangelical Christian. It seemed right to me, because, after all, I had not become a Catholic, Pentecostal, fundamentalist, or Orthodox Christian, I had become an evangelical Christian, and that meant something to me at the time.

At the time, as I learned about the ecosystem of the variety of Christian expressions, evangelicals cared deeply about intellectual engagement, spreading the message of Jesus to the world, working together to accomplish that mission, and had a commitment to personal spiritual transformation. That isnt to say these hallmarks didnt also present themselves in other forms of Christianity, but after my conversion in the early 1990s, I found them all to be replete within evangelicalism.

How has evangelicalism changed

At its core, evangelicalism is a global expression of Protestantism, which is patently trans-denominational, and fundamentally concerned with the spread of the Christian message through mission and evangelism. At its best, evangelicalism was a highly ecumenical movement that enjoyed a long era of engaging issues of social good and justice, intellectual and academic engagement, and a culturally sophisticated understanding of peoples and ethnic social capital. Through my commitment to the evangelical brand of Christianity, I spent nearly 20 years as an abolitionist, mobilizing state and federal lawmakers, faith communities, corporations, and hundreds of thousands of citizens in the fight against modern-day slavery. This was because of the brand of my Christian faith, but today, it is despite it.

Today, evangelicalism has devolved into a grasp for cultural and political superiority at any cost as we can see from its collapse into Christian nationalism. Today, evangelicalism is rife with conspiracy theories and an anti-intellectual, anti-scientific worldview. This collapse is simply the proof that evangelicalism went from hallowed to hollow somewhere along its way, and we are now just witnessing its inevitable demise. For most Americans, theyve never known a world where evangelical was a term to be revered, even amongst its antagonists. For most, there have never been the good old days of evangelicalism, and that is part of the problem.

Evangelicalism is a shadow of what it used to be, offering little to the world it once cherished and lived in as a good global citizen. It is hard to break with ones heritageafter all, it was evangelicals that first taught me, as a former atheist, to care for the environment, to fight for modern-day slaves, to believe in the power of science, to speak out for racial diversity and empowerment, and pursue a lifelong commitment to intellectual integrity.

These were some of the many reasons why I originally, proudly accepted this label for myself, but as my spiritual journey has evolved, Ive increasingly kept my evangelical card-carrying identity close to the vest. Being an evangelical has become cumbersome and a source of embarrassment, always needing to be nuanced, contextualized, and qualified. Well, Im not that kind of evangelical, or Many evangelicals are like that, but not me. For many, the term is synonymous with MAGA and Christian nationalisma corruption of the ways of Jesus for sure. For many outsiders, the word evangelical summons amorphous images that are homophobic, misogynist, anti-scientific, and racist. The constant negotiating of the term evangelical has gone beyond tedious; it is clearly unsustainable. This is why I am no longer considering myself an evangelical Christian. I am no longer willing to participate in the charade of pretending that evangelicalism means what it meant.

Beyond faith labels

As I leave the faith tradition that has given me so much, I want to qualify what I mean when I say Im no longer an evangelical. I will always be Christian, but no longer of the evangelical variety, primarily because I dont see how evangelicalism can ever be salvaged from what it has become. Today, to be an evangelical in the minds of our society is to be an enemy of the ways of Jesus. To be sure, there are millions of Christians who still don the name evangelical who are passionately and unswervingly following the ways of Jesus but under the banner of that label are doing so to their detriment. We are in desperate need of a new expression of Christianityan expression that creates space for a new way forward.

The ways and teachings of Jesus were radically incompatible with many of the aspects of the mainstream culture of His day, things like misogyny, elitism, and the oppression of the immigrant. One needs only to read one of the four biblical gospel accounts to see that the good news Jesus announced envisioned a new normal that would dismantle many of the powers and privileges of the elite. For many American evangelicals, these are the same powers and privileges they seek to control and benefit from through their use and abuse of political power and cultural echoes from past eras when evangelicalism had a much bigger megaphone than it does today. American Evangelicalism, as it now stands, is quickly becoming synonymous with the very culture and power systems Jesus Himself sought to dismantle!

I am no longer an evangelical, but I am a Christian. In abandoning my evangelical faith tradition, I am sure I will cross and disappoint many who are still desperately trying to redeem and defend the term. But lets be honest it is a lost cause. We have gone too far, made way too many compromises, and cashed in what little equity we had left in evangelicalism during these last four years. My call is for others to do the same: to denounce what evangelicalism has become and re-embrace the radical ways of Jesus. For millions of church-going, Bible-reading, sincerely praying Americans, who love God and their neighbor, we are not helped by continuing to own this bankrupt label. What our world needs in this time of healing are women and men who are committed to justice, peace, equity, and, most of all, love. This, after all, is the way of Jesus in the first place, so lets begin by returning to that and figure out what a post-evangelical faith in America looks like together.
2 injured in church bombing before confirmation ceremony in DRC; 2nd bomber killed by own IED

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At least two people were injured after a makeshift bomb exploded inside a Catholic church in the conflict-plagued eastern city of Beni in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday. Hours later, a suspected bomber was killed by his own improvised explosive device at a busy intersection.

The bomb exploded in the church premises at 6 a.m. on Sunday, according to authorities. A police official told Agence France-Presse that the homemade bomb was "set up for an ambush." The attack reportedly marked the first time a Catholic church had been attacked in the region.

Beni Vicar General Laurent Sondirya told the outlet that the explosion went off before people gathered for a confirmation ceremony and two women were injured.

They were targeting a large crowd because the ceremony would bring together children, their parents and the faithful, Sondirya was quoted as saying.

Blood was seen at the entrance to the church and shards of glass were inside the church after the explosion.

Media reports have not identified the parish where the bomb exploded.

In the second explosion in Beni on Sunday, a suspected bomber was killed at a busy intersection. Photos were shared online showing the blood-soaked torso of the suspected bomber, Reuters reported.

Beni Mayor Col. Narcisse Kashale Muteba put a curfew in place over security concerns.

Im asking the population to take shelter and remain indoors," Muteba was quoted as saying on Congos RTR private radio. "I dont want to see anyone outside. There was no damage, only the transporter of the bomb died on the spot.

While no group claimed responsibility for either of the attacks, militants from the Allied Democratic Forces, a group based in neighboring Uganda that has publicly aligned itself with Islamic State, has been active in the country.

Even though DRCs population is around 95% Christian, violence from Islamic extremism is worsening, especially in the eastern region.

Islamic extremist groups have a clear Islamic expansionist agenda, Illia Djadi, an Open Doors spokesperson on freedom of religion or belief in sub-Saharan Africa, said earlier this year.

It is a reminder of what is happening in other parts of the central Sahel region  groups like Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria, for example," Djadi said. "The ideology, the agenda of establishing a caliphate in the region, and the way they operate is the same, and we can see how they afflict terrible suffering on innocent people."

Between Nov. 20 and Dec. 3, 2020, men from the Allied Democratic Forces killed at least 30 Christians, raped 10 young women and girls, and abducted several others from churches in a string of attacks on five villages in North Kivu province, according to the Barnabas Fund.

Last October, militants believed to be from the Allied Democratic Forces killed at least 18 people and burned down a church and several homes in an overnight attack in Baeti Village in the North Kivu province, Reuters reported at the time.

The Allied Democratic Forces were formed in the mid-1990s, merging several existing rebel groups.

In a 2020 report, the United Nations acknowledged that widespread, systematic and extremely brutal human rights abuses by the Islamic militant group could constitute, by their nature and scope, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

DRC is ranked No. 40 on the Open Doors USA's 2021 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the greatest persecution.
4 Canadian Catholic churches destroyed in 'suspicious' fires on indigenous lands

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Four Catholic churches located in indigenous territory in Canada have been damaged by fires that officials are calling suspicious in nature as the Catholic Church has faced scrutiny since the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves of indigenous children.

St. Ann's Church and the Chopaka Church, both located in British Columbia, burned to the ground on Saturday, according to The Vancouver Sun. The incidents happened less than an hour between each other.

Chief Keith Crow of the Lower Similkameen Indian Band told the media that both churches were destroyed by fires at about 4 a.m.

The chief said the fires are suspicious and "possibly" linked to the fires that destroyed Sacred Heart Church and St. Gregory's Church in British Columbia's South Okanagan last Monday on the Canadian observance of National Indigenous People's Day.

"I'm angry," Crow was quoted as saying by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. "I don't see any positive coming from this and it's going to be tough."

Crow told The Vancouver Sun that the fires were heartbreaking, as members of his tribe belonged to the churches.

Luckily, no one was injured and the fire here was contained before it spread to any of the neighbouring homes, said Crow. If youre hurting at this time, please reach out to somebody and make the call. There is a lot of upset people.

Sgt. Jason Bayda with Penticton South Royal Canadian Mounted Police told CBC on Saturday that the investigations into the fires are ongoing. He confirmed that the fires are suspicious but no arrests or charges have been made so far.

In May, the remains of 215 children were found buried under an area on which Kamloops Indian Residential School stood in British Columbia, which closed in 1978.

The residential school, affiliated with the Catholic Church, was part of a nationwide system overseen by government and religious authorities that sought to assimilate the indigenous communities of Canada.

Later in the week, an additional 751 unmarked graves were located near the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan, which had been under Catholic Church administration.

The findings prompted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call upon Pope Francis to visit the country and offer an official apology for the disturbing discoveries.

I have spoken personally directly with His Holiness Pope Francis to press upon him how important it is not just that he makes an apology but that he makes an apology to indigenous Canadians on Canadian soil, stated Trudeau to reporters.

I know that the Catholic Church leadership is looking and very actively engaged in what next steps can be taken.

For its part, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a formal apology and committed to walking side by side with Indigenous Peoples in the present, seeking greater healing and reconciliation for the future.

The news of the recent discovery is shocking. It rekindles trauma in numerous communities across this land. Honouring the dignity of the lost little ones demands that the truth be brought to light, stated the CCCB.

We lift up prayers to the Lord for the children who have lost their lives and pledge our close accompaniment of Indigenous families and communities.
Mali: Gunmen release Christian leader, 4 others abducted en route to priest's funeral

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A Catholic priest and four other people have been freed by their kidnappers in Mali. In the West African country, jihadi insurgencies led by groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State are known for carrying out abductions and committing atrocities.

Gunmen drove the five victims to the village of Parou within the Diocese of Mopti in central Mali and dropped them off at a roadside last Wednesday, three days after kidnapping them, Catholic News Service reported.

The victims were identified as Fr. Leon Douyon, the parish priest of Segue; Thimothe Somboro, the village chief of Segue; Pascal Somboro, deputy mayor; and two other members of the community, Emmanuel Somboro and Boutie Tolofoudie.

Gov. Major Abass Dembele of the Mopti region said that the kidnappers freed the captives after their vehicle broke down not far from Malis border with Burkina Faso and local Dogon and Fulani notables mediated for the release of the hostages.

The five were abducted as they were traveling to the funeral of a priest, Fr. Oscar Thera, in the town of San.

Kidnappings in Mali are usually carried out for ransom money or to exert political pressure on the government.

In April, the body of Beatrice Stockli, an evangelical missionary from Switzerland who was held captive by extremists in Mali affiliated with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb since January 2016, was found.

Stockli was initially kidnapped in 2012 but was released 10 days later after mediation led by neighboring Burkina Faso. The missionary left Mali after being asked to do so by her family. However, she soon returned even though the Swiss government warned her not to.

She was dragged from her home again in 2016 by armed men in four pickup trucks.

Beatrice Stockli is a Swiss nun who declared war against Islam in her attempt to Christianize Muslims, a masked speaker with a British accent, who claimed responsibility for her kidnapping on behalf of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, said in a video at the time.

The jihadi group wanted their jailed fighters in Mali and one of the groups leaders detained at the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands, to be freed in exchange for Stocklis release. Additionally, the extremists demanded that Stockli never return to a Muslim land to preach about Christ.

Sister Gloria Cecilia Narvaez Argoti, a member of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary Immaculate, was kidnapped in southern Mali in 2017. She is still believed to be held by extremists affiliated with al-Qaeda.

Last October, a Catholic priest held hostage for years in Mali was released along with three others by extremists linked to al-Qaeda.

Mali is ranked as the 28th-worst country in the world for Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USA's 2021 World Watch List.

The organization, which monitors persecution in over 60 countries, reports that many Christians were forced to flee after Islamic extremists took control of northern Mali in 2012. While many have returned under police protection, evangelistic activities in northern Mali are "especially risky" since they can lead to attacks and abductions.
Most Americans say abortion should be illegal after first trimester in most or all cases, AP poll finds

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Strong majorities of Americans believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases in the second or third trimesters of pregnancy, according to a new poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

AP and the NORC at the University of Chicago released the findings of a poll on American opinions on abortion legality in a report published last Thursday. The report comes as the U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a challenge to a Mississippi abortion law that bans most abortions in the state after 15 weeks gestation.

Data for the report came from a nationwide poll conducted online and over the phone from June 10 through June 14 with a sample of 1,125 adults and a margin of error of +/- 4.2 percentage points.

Although the poll found that 57% of Americans believe that abortion, in general, should be legal in all or most cases, support for the procedure varied considerably based on trimester.

While 61% of respondents said abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances during the first trimester, only 34% said the same for the second trimester and 19% for the third trimester.

About 30% of respondents said abortion should be "illegal in most cases" during the second trimester. Thirty-five percent said that it should be "illegal in all cases" during the second trimester.

In the third trimester, 54% believe that abortion should be "illegal in all cases," and 26% believe that third-trimester abortion should be "illegal in most cases."

This decline in support as the term of pregnancy continued was seen even among Democrat respondents, whose political party holds a pro-choice stance on the abortion issue.

AP found that while 81% of Democrat respondents believe that first-trimester abortions should be legal in all or most cases, the number dropped to 52% for the second trimester and 28% for the third trimester.

Republican respondents were the least likely to support abortion at any stage of pregnancy, with 41% saying it should be legal in most or all cases in the first trimester and 18% saying the same for the second trimester. About 8% of Republicans said they think abortion should be legal in most or all cases in the third trimester.

The poll also found that respondents who identified as non-religious were the most likely to support abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with 89% saying abortion should be legal for most or all cases during the first trimester, 62% for the second trimester and 36% for the third trimester.

By contrast, respondents identified as Born-again or evangelical Christian were the least likely to support abortion at all stages. Thirty-four percent of "born-again evangelical Christians" surveyed said abortion should be mostly or entirely legal in the first trimester, 16% said the same for the second trimester and 8% for the third trimester.

Earlier this month, Gallup released a poll of over 1,000 adults suggesting that 67% of Americans either support limits on abortion or an outright ban, with 47% of respondents identifying as pro-life.

By contrast, 32% of respondents for the Gallup poll believed that abortion should be legal under any circumstances, which was the highest such percentage since the early to mid-1990s, when it was consistently at that level.

The Supreme Court is slated to hear oral arguments over the Mississippi abortion law as several states in recent years have passed laws banning late-term abortions, with some banning abortion as early as six weeks of gestation.

The case is significant because the Mississippi law is attempting to give legal protection to unborn babies that have not reached viability, which goes against the standard set by the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life lobbying group Susan B. Anthony List, said in a statement that the case represents a landmark opportunity to reverse Roe.

Across the nation, state lawmakers acting on the will of the people have introduced 536 pro-life bills aimed at humanizing our laws and challenging the radical status quo imposed by Roe, stated Dannenfelser.

It is time for the Supreme Court to catch up to scientific reality and the resulting consensus of the American people as expressed in elections and policy.

Other polls have found similar results over the years when it comes to Americans' attitudes about late-term abortion.

A Marist poll released in January sponsored by the Catholic fraternal organization Knights of Columbus found that about three-quarters of Americans favor restrictions on abortions. The survey found that 55% of self-identified pro-choice respondents favor limiting abortion access to the first three months of pregnancy or favor stricter limitations.

A 2019 poll conducted by YouGov on behalf of the pro-life organization Americans United for Life found that about two-thirds of Americans who identify as pro-choice oppose third-trimester abortions.
NC gov. vetoes bill banning abortions based on Down syndrome, race and sex

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North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed a bill that, among other things, would have prohibited abortions from being performed because an unborn baby has been diagnosed with Down syndrome.

Last Friday, Cooper announced that he vetoedHouse Bill 453, also known as the Human Life Nondiscrimination Act, arguing that the bill is unconstitutional. The bill would have made it illegal in the Tar Heel State to perform abortions based on innate characteristics, such as race, sex or genetic characteristics, including any genetic abnormalities.

This bill gives the government control over what happens and what is said in the exam room between a woman and her doctor at a time she faces one of the most difficult decisions of her life, the Democrat governor said in a statement.

This bill is unconstitutional and it damages the doctor-patient relationship with an unprecedented government intrusion.

North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican, took exception to the veto.

Gender, race, and disability are protected classes in most other contexts. Why should we allow the unborn to be discriminated against for these same traits? Moore said in a statement.

The message sent by this veto is that some human life is more valuable than others based on immutable characteristics.

According to The Associated Press, the veto will require bipartisan support in the state legislature to override.

Among its provisions, HB 453 prohibited what it described as Eugenics abortions," meaning abortions based on the presumed race and sex of the child or presumed presence of Down syndrome. North Carolina already bans abortions based on the sex of the baby but the vetoed law would have bolstered existing law.

A person shall not intentionally or knowingly perform, induce, or attempt to perform or induce an abortion of an unborn child if the abortion is being sought because of the actual or presumed race or sex of the unborn child or because of the presence or presumed presence of Down syndrome, stated the bill.

Introduced in March, the proposed legislation passed the House of Representatives in May by a vote of 67-42 and passed the Senate earlier this month by a vote of 27-20.

Recently, multiple states have considered banning abortions performed because of a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis. A number of states have passed those bills, such as South Dakota and Arizona.

In April, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed a lower court decision and released a full-court opinion upholding Ohios Down syndrome abortion ban.

Circuit Judge Alice M. Batchelder, a George H.W. Bush appointee, authored the majority opinion, concluding that the right to an abortion, even before viability, is not absolute.

In [Roe v. Wade], the Supreme Court said, we do not agree with the contention that the womans right is absolute and that she is entitled to terminate her pregnancy at whatever time, in whatever way, and for whatever reason she alone chooses, wrote Batchelder.

Simply put, there is no absolute or per se right to an abortion based on the stage of the pregnancy. The district court erred by so holding, and the plaintiffs cannot succeed on that proposition standing alone or show any likelihood that they could do so.

In January, the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a Down Syndrome abortion ban passed in Arkansas.
Supreme Court lets ruling in favor of trans student Gavin Grimm stand in school bathroom case

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The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a Virginia school district's appeal in a case brought by a trans-identified former high school student who sued for the right to use bathrooms and locker room facilities designated for the opposite sex.

In an order list released Monday, America's high court denied a petition for a writ of certiorari in the case of Gavin Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board.

The court noted in its brief order that Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, two of the court's more conservative members, would have granted the petition to hear the case.

"Too many people played integral roles in our success and too many people who loved me so much," Grimm wrote on Twitter Monday. "I have nothing more to say but thank you, thank you, thank you. Honored to have been part of this victory."

The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Grimm, celebrated the Supreme Court allowing a legal victory at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals last year to stand.

This is the third time in recent years that the Supreme Court has allowed appeals court decisions in support of transgender students to stand, stated Josh Block, senior staff attorney with the ACLUs LGBTQ & HIV Project, in an emailed statement.

This is an incredible victory for Gavin and for transgender students around the country. Our work is not yet done, and the ACLU is continuing to fight against anti-trans laws targeting trans youth in states around the country.

In 2015, Grimm, born female but identifies as male, filed a lawsuit against Gloucester County Public Schools. The student claimed that policies preventing trans-identified students from using bathrooms and sex-specific changing areas that correspond with their gender identity violated Title IX civil rights law.

At issue was the preference of Grimm to use the boys restrooms and locker rooms, despite being biologically female.

As a compromise, the high school had built three single-use, gender-neutral restrooms at its campus to accommodate Grimm, allowing any student to use those restrooms.

Supporters of the school district's position have argued that school districts should be able to "protect their students' privacy, safety, and dignity without federal government interference."

In September 2015, U.S. District Court Judge Robert G. Doumar, a Ronald Reagan appointee, ruled against Grimm. But that decision was overturned in April 2016 by a three-judge Fourth Circuit panel.

In a 2-1 decision, the Fourth Circuit panel concluded that federal antidiscrimination law applied to the case, with the majority arguing that Title IX requires schools to provide transgender students access to restrooms congruent with their gender identity.

However, in a 5-3 decision released in August 2016, the Supreme Court put a stay on the panel decision, pending the filing and decision on an appeal. After the case was remanded back to the Fourth Circuit, the appeals court sent the case back to the district court in July 2017.

In August of last year, a three-judge Fourth Circuit panel again ruled 2-1 in favor of Grimm. The majority stated that they were joining a growing consensus of courts in concluding that equal protection and Title IX can protect transgender students from school bathroom policies that prohibit them from affirming their gender.

The two judges who ruled in Grimm's favor were appointed by President Barack Obama.

Judge Paul Niemeyer, a George H.W. Bush appointee, authored a dissent to the panel decision. Niemeyer argued that the Virginia high school had "reasonably provided separate restrooms for its male and female students and accommodated trans-identified students by also providing unisex restrooms that any student could use.
Does Jesus welcome sin into the church?

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America used to believe that homosexual behavior is contrary to the will of God. That all changed in 2009 when the ELCA voted to ordain practicing homosexualsat a convention that was, ironically, hit by a tornado.

Today many ELCA congregations celebrate homosexuality, and this month ELCA head bishop Elizabeth Eaton appeared in a gay pride video to celebrate Pride Month.

Westwood Lutheran is an ELCA congregation in the Twin Cities area. It is the devil's job to take something ugly and make it look pretty, and the below video is very apropos. Listen to Westwood's "amazing welcome that comes from God": "We are called to be ourselves...including sexuality...God gives unconditional welcome to all people...This includes people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions and relationship status".

Is this true? I personally have struggled with same-sex attraction most of my life, and I am grateful that Jesus welcomes people who struggle with all kinds of sin. But what does He welcome us to? To repentance from sin and new life in Him. But you will hear no mention of repentance in the video because what was once sinful, no longer is. Now sexual sin is something to be celebrated. And what does it mean that Westwood welcomes people regardless of "relationship status"? It is not spelled out, but I am guessing that Westwood has no problem welcoming heterosexual couples who are living in fornication.

Does Jesus radically welcome everyone into His Church? No. He welcomes sinners who come to Him in repentance and faith. On the Last Day Jesus Himself will say "Depart from me" to the unrepentant (Matthew 7:22-23). Jesus taught that we should expel the impenitent person from the Church (Matthew 18:15-17) and the Apostle Paul taught the same (I Corinthians 5:13). It is not loving to welcome people to continue to live a life of sin. Sin will ultimately eternally separate them from God (I Corinthians 6:9-11).

I hope you attend a good Biblical church which welcomes all kinds of sinners, but one which also welcomes them to repentance from sin, and to faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.




Federal judge sides with transgender student in Va. bathroom case

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A federal judge ruled Friday that a Virginia school district's policy preventing transgender student Gavin Grimm from using boys' bathroom facilities violates the U.S. Constitution, the latest ruling in a case remanded to lower courts by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted Grimm's motion for summary judgment against Gloucester County School Board.

Judge Arenda Wright Allen, an appointee of President Barack Obama, contended in her court order that the school district violated the14th Amendment and Title IX of education civil rights law by not allowing the biologically female student into boys' bathrooms and by refusing to change school transcripts to reflect the student's gender identity.

The judge ordered the school district to change Grimm's transcripts to reflect a male identity within 10 days and pay Grimm's attorney fees.

"[T]he perpetuation of harm to a child stemming from unconstitutional conduct can not be allowed to stand," the judge wrote.

Wright Allen argued that there is "no question" that the school board's policy "discriminates against transgender students on the basis of their gender nonconformity."

Having graduated in 2017, Grimm first filed a lawsuit in 2015 as a sophomore over a school district policy that required students to use restrooms and changing facilities that correspond with their biological sex.

"Under the policy, all students except for transgender students may use restrooms corresponding with their gender identity," the judge stated in her order. "Transgender students are singled out, subjected to discriminatory treatment and excluded from spaces where similarly situated students are permitted to go."

Grimm, now 20 years old, expressed relief in a statement and said the ruling brought "closure and vindication" after "years of fighting" for himself and other trans youth in the U.S.

"I promise to continue to advocate for as long as it takes for everyone to be able to live their authentic lives freely, in public, and without harassment and discrimination, Grimm concluded.

Grimm's case had previously gone to the Supreme Court for consideration.

But in 2017, the nation's high court sent the case back to lower courts because the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals based its ruling in favor of Grimm on a 2015 Obama administration guidance encouraging all public schools to allow transgender students to use facilities consistent with their gender identity.

The Obama-era guidance interpreted Title IX law that bars discrimination on the basis of sex to also include protections on the basis of "gender identity" and "sexual orientation" even though such protections are not expressly written into federal law.

The Obama guidance was opposed by a number of social conservatives and concerned parents who feared that a policy allowing access based on gender identity would violate the privacy rights of other students who feel uncomfortable changing clothes in front of members of the opposite sex.

The Obama-era bathroom guidance was rescinded under the Trump administration in 2017.



After the Supreme Court remanded Grimm's case back to the Fourth Circuit, the case was again remanded back to the U.S. District Court of Eastern Virginia.

Last year, the district court rejected a motion from the Gloucester County School Board to dismiss the case.

At the time, the court cited the fact that Grimm had a documentation letter from doctors showing that he was receiving medical treatment for gender dysphoria and to be treated as a male "in all respects."

Joshua Block, Grimms attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, told The New York Times that last Friday's ruling only applies to Grimm but could become a "persuasive precedent" for other cases.



Additionally, the ruling does not force the school district to change its policy.

The Gloucester County School Board has the option to appeal the federal court's ruling. The school board has not yet commented on the judge's order.

Across the nation, policies on transgender students and bathroom access vary by the school district and by state. While some school districts have opened their bathroom and locker room facilities on the basis of gender identity, others have passed rules allowing bathroom access only in accordance with one's "biological sex."

A Gallup poll earlier this year found that more Americans (51%) believe governing policies should require transgender individuals to use the restroom that corresponds with their birth gender.

Nevertheless, other federal courts have ruled in favor of transgender students. Last year, a federal judge in Oregon upheld a school district's policy allowing students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

In his July 2018 ruling, District Court Judge Marco Hernandez rejected the argument that a student's right to privacy was violated by the school district's transgender policy.

"Courts have recognized that the presence of transgender people in an intimate setting does not, by itself, create a sexually harassing environment that is severe and pervasive," Hernandez wrote.



According to Block, it is not clear if the Supreme Court will take up any transgender-related cases until there are conflicting opinions between federal appellate courts.
How dads change with fatherhood

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In the 1987 flick starring Tom Selleck, "Three Men and a Baby", a trio of bachelors share a New York apartment and they take turns bringing home one-night stands. All seems to be going according to this hedonistic plan until one of their one-night stands leaves a baby at their doorstep.

One of them is the father, but hes out of town. Hilarity ensues as his two roommates rearrange their lives to care for little baby Mary. After bumbling their way through bottles and diapers and bedtime and babysitting, something surprising happens: these clueless cads find themselves actually acting like dads. The bond they form with this little girl brings mom and dad together in the end for something that looks more like a family than just a casual fling.

Now, Im not recommending this movie or this lifestyle, but I do think that it illustrates the power of parenthoodespecially the power of parenthood to transform both the attitudes and the priorities of men.

Fathers are more than just sperm donors. They have a connection with their children beyond contributing DNA. In fact, that whole myth is losing credibility in the face of scientific and medical evidence. For instance, we know now that fathers bond physically and emotionally with their children in a way that complements a mothers bond. Thats why skin-to-skin contact with dad is now a common practice in delivery rooms. And the connections dont end there.

Recent discoveries suggest that dedicated fathers, like dedicated mothers, undergo dramatic hormonal and neurological shifts upon the arrival of a baby. Some experts now even think that those shifts and the father-child bond that creates them begin even before birth.

Writing recently in The Atlantic, Ariel Ramchandani describes a bizarre condition that sometimes afflicts expectant fathers. Whats known as Couvade syndrome is a poorly understood set of symptoms in which a man experiences physical changes that mirror those of his pregnant partner. Things like weight gain, vomiting, aches and pains  even cravings. Understandably, dads who go through such things are often embarrassed to talk about it. It sounds like one of Arnold Schwarzeneggers worst movies, "Junior."

Until recently, the go-to explanation was that Couvade syndrome is psychosomatic. In other words, Its all in your head. But Ramchandani marshals evidence that something physical could be at work when men are experiencing so-called pregnancy symptoms. The key is probably hormones triggered by living with a pregnant partner, and caring for a child. Becoming a dad is associated with declines in mens level of testosterone, she writes, and those declines are linked with greater paternal investment. Hormonal changes could explain fathers weight gain as well as their pre- and postnatal depression.

According to one psychology professor at the University of Southern California, Couvade Syndrome is still a mystery, but less dramatic. Hormonal shifts among fathers are well documented and biologically important. We celebrate a vision of men as high-testosterone, aggressive and manly, said this professor, and thats inconsistent with the parenting role. In this view, men who feel pregnant may simply be experiencing an extreme form of the natural shifts in body chemistry that prepares them to become good dads.

Unlike mothers, however, fathers dont undergo these shifts automatically. It comes after investment and time. Research at the University of Michigan points to a feedback loop in which fathers become better suited hormonally to nurture the more time they actually spend nurturing. According to one University of Notre Dame anthropologist quoted in The Atlantic, the degree to which fathers physically adapt to their new role can even depend on cultural norms of fatherhood.

Now given all this, its not surprising that Tom Selleck and company slipped into their paternal roles so easily. Men who behave like dads, science seems to suggest, become better dads. But this research also understates an enormous difference between mothers and fathers in that they each contribute to child-rearing in unique, distinct and important ways. Ironically, the fact that some men experience symptoms reminiscent of motherhood could be proof that mothers arent the only thing that children need.

Male bodies respond to the call to nurture in their own way. This supports the claim that Dr. Ryan T. Anderson often makes, that theres really no such thing as parenting; theres only mothering and fathering. The fact is that we have a day set aside to recognize Fathers Day, and even a few movies that describe it, even bad ones. Hence that on some level, we knew this all along.

Originally published at BreakPoint.
Sex trafficking victims can sue Facebook for giving pimps platform to prey on kids: Texas Supreme Court

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Responding to civil actions involving teenage sex trafficking victims from Houston, the Texas Supreme Court has ruled that lawsuits can be filed against Facebook for the conduct of pimps who use the social media site to prey on children.

We do not understand Section 230 to create a lawless no-mans-land on the internet in which states are powerless to impose liability on websites that knowingly or intentionally participate in the evil of online human trafficking, the state Supreme Courts majority wrote in the ruling on Friday, The Epoch Times reported.

Facebook and similar platforms use Section 230 of the U.S. Communications Decency Act, one of the clauses of which states that what users say or write online is not akin to a publisher conveying the same message, to protect themselves from lawsuits over what users post online. However, the same clause that shields online platforms from liability is often used to ban conservative viewpoints.

Holding internet platforms accountable for words or actions of their users is one thing, and the federal precedent uniformly dictates that section 230 does not allow it, the state Supreme Court ruled. Holding internet platforms accountable for their own misdeeds is quite another thing. This is particularly the case for human trafficking.

The ruling comes after three Houston-area teenage trafficking victims filed lawsuits alleging that their traffickers used Facebooks messaging service to prey on them. They sued the California-based social media site for negligence and product liability.

Facebook told Fox Business they were considering next steps.

Were reviewing the decision and considering potential next steps. Sex trafficking is abhorrent and not allowed on Facebook, a spokesman was quoted as saying. We will continue our fight against the spread of this content and the predators who engage in it.

Prosecutors said that Facebook had failed to do more to block sex traffickers from using the platform.

Annie McAdams, a lead attorney for the plaintiffs, called it a groundbreaking ruling, saying this is the first case to beat Facebook on its arguments under Section 230.

While we have a long road ahead, we are grateful that the Texas Supreme Court will allow these courageous trafficking survivors to have their day in court against Facebook, Houston Chronicle quoted McAdams as saying.

We believe trafficking survivors in Texas can expose and hold accountable businesses such as Facebook that benefit from these crimes of exploitation, she added, referring to an anti-trafficking provision under the 2009 Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code called Chapter 98.

The state law allows legal action against those who benefit from sex trafficking but the plaintiffs cant pursue claims under federal law, Justice James Blacklock of the Texas Supreme Court said, according to Bloomberg.

Facebook appealed to the Supreme Court after it couldnt get the complaints quashed in district court and the 14th Court of Appeals in Texas.
USCCB: Eucharist document vote doesn't deny communion for pro-abortion politicians

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A week after voting to approve a Document on the Meaning of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has clarified that their vote will not lead to a blanket ban preventing pro-abortion politicians from receiving communion.

As The Christian Post previously reported, the USCCB voted to approve the request of the Committee on Doctrine to proceed with the drafting of a formal statement on the meaning of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church at its virtual general assembly meeting, which took place from June 1618.

The document, which was characterized as a rebuke to President Joe Biden and other pro-abortion Catholics and an effort to prevent them from receiving communion, was approved by the bishops by a vote of 168 to 55.

U.S. Bishops approval of the document received swift backlash from pro-abortion Catholic politicians. Following the vote, nearly 60 Catholic House Democrats signed a letter suggesting that the Sacrament of Holy Communion is central to the life of practicing Catholics, and the weaponization of the Eucharist to Democratic lawmakers for their support of a womans safe and legal access to abortion is contradictory.

Shortly after the letter was released, Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., went a step further, writing on Twitter: If theyre going to politically weaponize religion by rebuking Democrats who support womens reproductive choice, then a rebuke of their tax-exempt status may be in order.

The USCCB published a question-and-answer document last week, which includes a statement addressing the concerns about the vote and its implications for pro-abortion Catholic politicians. The statement stresses that the question of whether or not to deny any individual or groups Holy Communion was not on the ballot.

The document being drafted is not meant to be disciplinary in nature, nor is it targeted at any one individual or class of persons, the statement continues. It will include a section on the Churchs teaching on the responsibility of every Catholic, including bishops, to live in accordance with the truth, goodness and beauty of the Eucharist we celebrate.

Additionally, the body of bishops asserted that  ... bishops made no decision about barring anyone from receiving Communion. The Q&A document, however, doubled down on the importance of all Catholics to support pro-life policies: Each Catholic  regardless of whether they hold public office or not  is called to continual conversion, and the U.S. bishops have repeatedly emphasized the obligation of all Catholics to support human life and dignity and other fundamental principles of Catholic moral and social teachings.

There will be no national policy on withholding Communion from politicians. The intent is to present a clear understanding of the Churchs teachings to bring heightened awareness of the faithful of how the Eucharist can transform our lives and bring us closer to our creator and the life [H]e wants for us.

Responding to a question about why the bishops are choosing to issue a statement about the meaning of the Eucharist at this time, the Q&A document maintains that, For some time now, a major concern of the bishops has been the declining belief and understanding of the Eucharist among the Catholic faithful.

As a result, the bishops have launched a multi-year Eucharistic Revival Project, with the statement on the Eucharist acting as the foundation of the initiative.

Catholic Church teaching, as laid out in the Code of Canon Law, declares that those obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion. A 2004 letter from then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to U.S. bishops proclaims that the Church teaches that abortion or euthanasia is a grave sin.

Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, quoted from the Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae, which states, In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law or to vote for it.

Therefore, by this logic, Catholics who openly advocate for the legalization of abortion or liberalization of existing abortion laws are committing a grave sin and should refrain from receiving communion.

At a recent Students for Life of America rally urging bishops to support the statement on the meaning of the Eucharist, Michael New, a research associate at the Catholic University of America, echoed the point made by the bishops in their clarification statement last week, saying that Catholic elected officials who support abortion are not the only group that should refrain from receiving communion.

New cited Catholics who are engaging in any kind of extramarital sexual activity, including the viewing of pornographic materials as well as those who do not attend mass every Sunday and engaged in committing other mortal sins as examples of those who should not present themselves for communion.
Army won't punish chaplain threatened with reprimand for Facebook post on transgender military ban

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A U.S. Army chaplain who faced potential punishment for criticizing a possible end to a ban on openly trans-identified individuals serving in the military on social media will not face a formal reprimand.

The First Liberty Institute, which represents Chaplain Maj. Andrew Calvert, announced Thursday that the U.S. Army will not issue a potentially career-ending formal reprimand against the chaplain.

Calvert recently contested a reprimand he received after posting from his Facebook page his opposition to the Biden administration's intention of dropping a Trump-era ban on trans-identified troops serving in the armed forces.

The Army issued Calvert a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand on April 22 after screenshots were sent to the 3rd Forces Assistance Brigades Facebook account of Calvert's Jan. 25 comment on a news article reporting on the plan to reverse the transgender military ban. An investigator determined that the chaplain had violated a Defense Department directive and suspended him from his duties.

But according to First Liberty, Calvert will have his record cleared and again has the possibility for future promotions and assignments.

Were very happy for Chaplain Calvert and we commend the Army for making the right decision, First Liberty General Counsel Mike Berry said in a statement. No service member should ever be punished because of their religious beliefs.

In his Jan. 25 post, Calvert expressed his support for the Trump-era ban, asking how rejecting reality is not evidence that a person is mentally unfit, and as a result, unqualified to serve.

An unknown party took screenshots of Calverts comments.

In May, Calvert filed an appeal to the reprimand, getting support from multiple entities, including the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty.

The right to freedom of conscience' is the most sacred belief held by all Americans and proponents of a free society, and that is why it is our first constitutional right, Alliance Executive Director Derek Jones said in a statement shared with The Christian Post in May.

Chaplain Calverts sincerely held beliefs are protected by the First Amendment and our federal courts have repeatedly ruled in favor of First Amendment protection for religious expression such as Chaplain Calverts.

Critics argued that the chaplains remarks on trans-identified service members and earlier comments criticizing progressive Christians are outside of First Amendment protections.

His critics include the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which advocates for the separation of church and state.

 the U.S. Supreme Court has held for nearly half a century that speech such as Calverts deliberate and hateful calumnies against transgenders and Progressive Christians, are NOT protected under the U.S. Constitution as he is a member of the American armed forces, stated MRFF's Mikey Weinstein, as reported by DailyKos.

The Army must timely, publicly and aggressively investigate and punish this wretched, Old School bigot-imbecile in order to make an example of him and make it perfectly clear that such seething, divisive hatred will NEVER be tolerated in our nations military."
As ex-megachurch leader Kirbyjon Caldwell reports to prison, wife says she cried a river

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Suzette Caldwell, the wife of Kirbyjon Caldwell, who formerly led the 14,000 member Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Texas, says she cried a river as her husband began a six-year prison term for defrauding members of his church and other investors Tuesday.

I want to encourage you, church family, to cry. I cried a river yesterday [June 22], and as you can see, Im still crying, she revealed in an emotional video message to the church, where she also serves as associate pastor.

But we have to go forward. I want to encourage you to cry and shed the tears. Some of you are feeling sadness, Im sure. Some of you are disappointed. Some of you are angry and your feelings matter."

Kirbyjon Caldwell, who served as a spiritual adviser to former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty in March 2020 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection to his role in a multimillion-dollar investment scheme that preyed on the elderly.

The former megachurch leader and Gregory Alan Smith, an investment adviser based in Shreveport, Louisiana, were charged with 13 counts, including conspiracy to commit money laundering. According to prosecutors, Smith and Caldwell raised around $3.5 million in historical Chinese bonds from 29 investors between 2013 to 2014 that carried no value outside the memorabilia market.

Both men reportedly tricked investors into believing that they were buying the bonds through a Shreveport-based company called Smith Financial Group LLC. The U.S. Department of Justice charged that the bonds were issued by the former Republic of China before losing power to the communist government in 1949.

In a going away video to his church family, Kirbyjon Caldwell said he and his lawyer were not aware that he was committing wire fraud.

Over three years or so ago, I was indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud.  Wire fraud is very inclusive [of a wide range of activities], obviously. I did not know I was committing wire fraud, neither did my attorney at the time, and thats the way it goes, the 67-year-old former church leader said.

Windsor Village issued a statement after their pastors sentencing in January stating that he was remorseful about the scheme and that all of his victims had been repaid.

The court found that Caldwell made full restitution to all of the victims. Notable, restitution began prior to indictment and was completed before sentencing," the church said. "Many victims were paid over and above the amount that they invested. Voluntary restitution is virtually unheard of and extremely rare in these kinds of cases."

The church further noted that Caldwell was also removed as an ordained elder in the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Kirbyjon Caldwell is currently staying at a satellite prison camp adjacent to the Beaumont low-security prison within the Beaumont Federal Correctional Complex in eastern Texas. These prison camps usually have dormitory housing, a relatively low staff-to-inmate ratio, and limited or no perimeter fencing, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The camps are work and program-oriented.

Hes able to freely go in and out and move around. Where he is, they dont have the bars and that kind of things  the doors that lock behind you as you are walking from one place to the next, his wife explained. As we were told by a gentleman that greeted us when we got there, they are free to come and go, but he just said, but you cant go home. And that was pretty sobering."

"So, church family, I want you to know something. Im not pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell. And I will not try to be Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell," she added. "But I do want you to know that Ive committed my life to serve you, this church family and this community.

Her husband explained that even though he is going to prison, he still has hope in God and believes God is with him.

I know how long Im on the books to stay, but as you know, there are a few laws on the books of the United States Congress which will allow you to be released prior to the stated time. God is with me, he told the church family.

God will surely be with you. God has been doing a great job through Pastor Suzette and the leadership team. You can fully expect that to continue. Ill be praying for you. You continue to pray for me. Gods not through with you, or me, or Windsor Village yet. This may sound strange, but the best is still yet to come."
Jim Bakker ministry to pay $156K in settlement over coronavirus cure claims

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Controversial televangelist Jim Bakker will pay $156,000 in restitution as part of a settlement agreement with the state of Missouri for promoting a fake cure for coronaviruses on his program.

In February 2020, The Jim Bakker Show featured a product known as Silver Solution in which a guest said it was able to cure certain coronaviruses.

On Tuesday, the state of Missouri and Bakker entered into a consent judgment in which Bakkers ministry would pay $156,000 in restitution for selling the product on his show.

According to the order, signed by Associate Circuit Judge Alan Blankenship, Bakker has agreed to stop selling the product but also denied any wrongdoing in the matter.

Nevertheless, both parties agreed to the settlement in order to avoid substantial expense and the uncertainties of further litigation.

Restitution checks for those who purchased the Silver Solution from Bakker are scheduled to be mailed out within 30 days of the execution of the consent judgment.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said in a statement Wednesday that he was pleased with the settlement and the strong safeguards to prevent the marketing of silver solution as a cure or treatment for COVID and other medical issues.

My Office will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of Missouri consumers, and will not hesitate to take action when those consumers are being defrauded, stated Schmitt.

On a Feb. 12, 2020, broadcast of The Jim Bakker Show, Bakker featured Dr. Sherrill Sellman, a regular guest, who said Silver Solution was effective against some coronaviruses.

This influenza, which is now circling the globe, youre saying that Silver Solution would be effective? Bakker asked Sellman during the episode.

Well, replied Sellman, lets say it hasnt been tested against this strain of the coronavirus, but its been tested on other strains of the coronavirus and has been able to eliminate it within 12 hours.

The Silver Solution was priced at over $80 on the show and was marketed on several episodes until March 2020, when the Missouri attorney general sued the program.

The Food and Drug Administration and the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James both sent cease and desist letters to Bakker in response to his promotion of Silver Solution.

The 2019 novel coronavirus poses serious consequences to public health, and consumers are concerned as to how they can best protect themselves and their families, wrote James last year.

Your shows segment may mislead consumers as to the effectiveness of the Silver Solution product in protecting against the current outbreak.

Bakker was not without his supporters, as former Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon decided to serve as an attorney for Bakker during the legal battle and filed a motion to dismiss.

Jim Bakker is being unfairly targeted by those who want to crush his ministry and force his Christian television program off the air, stated Nixon in May of last year.

The video recording of the Jim Bakker Show clearly shows the allegations are false. Bakker did not claim or state that Silver Solution was a cure for COVID-19. This case is about religious freedom.
mRNA vaccine inventor concerned over adolescents receiving vaccine; YouTube removes video

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Dr. Robert Malone, who helped create some of the mRNA technology used in the COVID-19 vaccine, cautioned adolescents about being vaccinated as many public and private universities are mandating vaccines for the next school year and reports have emerged linking the vaccine to mild heart inflammation.

Malone appeared on Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight on Wednesday to discuss his concerns about the vaccine for people who are not high risk for COVID-19, like children and young adults.

"[O]ne of my concerns are that the government is not being transparent with us about what those risks are. And so, I am of the opinion that people have the right to decide whether to accept vaccines or not, especially since these are experimental vaccines," Malone said on the show.

He emphasized that the vaccines are not officially approved by the FDA but are administered under emergency use authorization.

"This is a fundamental right having to do with clinical research ethics," he continued. "And so, my concern is that I know that there are risks. But we don't have access to the data and the data haven't been captured rigorously enough so that we can accurately assess those risks. And therefore  we don't really have the information that we need to make a reasonable decision."

Google-owned YouTube recently deleted a video showing a podcast where Malone and others discussed concerns with the COVID-19 vaccines, Fox News reported.

Malone said he has a bias that the benefits probably don't outweigh the risks for younger Americans receiving the vaccine, but said the risk-benefit analysis is not being done.

But unfortunately, the risk-benefit analysis is not being done, so that is one of my other objections, that we talk about these words 'risk-benefit analysis' casually as if it is very deep science, he continued. "It's not. Normally at this stage, the CDC would have performed those risk-benefit analyses and they would be database and science-based. They are not right now. Its kind of a little bit the seat of the pants, and that I really object to.

Watch the latest video at foxnews.com

Malone said there is a "pretty good chance" that the risk-benefit ratio for those 18 years old and under doesn't justify vaccination in these very young adults.

Malone said his understanding is that the CDC is overwhelmed and waiting on data from other countries to come in before they make decisions.

I think that what we have is a structural problem in how the databases were built and how they are being analyzed, he continued.

Not too surprising, but here we go.

CDC panel says heart inflammation cases likely linked to mRNA COVID-19 vaccineshttps://t.co/mk2cA7lHiX  Robert W Malone, MD (@RWMaloneMD) June 23, 2021

Data shows that children who have COVID-19 are very unlikely to suffer heavily or require hospitalization though the CDC recommends everyone who is eligible and over 12 years old should receive the vaccine because "widespread vaccination is a critical tool to help stop the pandemic."

The Food and Drug Administration first authorized 12 to 15-year-olds to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on May 10.

One week after the vaccine was greenlighted for this age group, at least 600,000 children ages 12 to15 received their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the CDC reported.

As of June 17, over 4 million children had tested positive for COVID-19, which represents 14% of all cases, according to The American Academy of Pediatrics.

Reporting from 23 states and New York City showed that children were 1.4% to 3.3% of total reported hospitalizations and 0.1% to 1.9% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in hospitalization. The age range defining child varies in some states in the report.

Data from 42 states, New York City, Puerto Rico and Guam shows that children made up 0.00% to 0.22% of the COVID-19 mortality rate in states that reported child COVID-19 deaths, according to the June report. Seven states reported zero child deaths.

Only about 0.4% of children under 12 years old have received at least one dose of the vaccine, compared to 29.2% of 12 to 15-year-olds and 42.1% of 16 to 17-year-olds, according to CDC data updated on Thursday.

A CDC safety panel reported on Wednesday that there is a likely a likely association of receiving the vaccine and heart inflammation in adolescents and young adults.

The reported cases of myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis, or inflammation of the membrane surrounding the heart, are generally mild and typically come with fatigue, chest pain and disturbances in heart rhythm.

Of the 1,200 initial reports CDC officials are tracking of the rare heart inflammation following mRNA coronavirus vaccine doses, most of the reports have come from those in their teens and early 20s and are most common in males. It is not confirmed these cases are linked to receiving the vaccine.

"Clinical presentation of myocarditis cases following vaccination has been distinct, occurring most often within one week after dose two, with chest pain as the most common presentation, Dr. Grace Lee, chairwoman of the CDC's vaccine safety committee, said.

Dr. Meryl Nass, an internal medicine physician, said the highest rates of myocarditis after receiving the vaccine are in the youngest kids," according to LifeSiteNews.

However, the CDC maintains the benefits of receiving the mRNA vaccine outweigh the risks.

Isaiah Harris, a healthy 18-year-old male from Arkansas, is one case of a teen who developed myocarditis after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine in April, according to Childrens Health Defense.

In exclusive The Defender interview, 18-year-old Isaiah Harris + his father described how Isaiah had to be hospitalized within 48 hours of second dose of Pfizer vaccine + subsequently had a heart attack.



SUBSCRIBE to #TheDefender: https://t.co/zL66Edfiw5https://t.co/3UR2mjV5LL  Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) June 22, 2021

Harris felt sick and feverish at first after his second dose, but when he began to have trouble breathing, he was rushed to the hospital to find what his parents say was a heart attack.

Harris is now recovering, but will likely deal with a possible life-long heart issue.

I believe President Biden said in a recent statement that if you arent vaccinated, youll end up paying the price or youll have to wear a mask. But Id rather have COVID than a heart attack, Harris said in an interview.

The CDC reports over 178 million Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine, which is over 53% of the population.
Pakistani Christian girl forced to convert to Islam, kept as slave cook

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A Muslim couple in Pakistans Punjab province forcibly converted a 13-year-old Christian girl to Islam so that she could work as a cook in their kitchen and touch utensils and food items. Now they are refusing to allow her to return home to her parents unless they pay a ransom, according to a report.

The Muslim man, identified only as a medical doctor named Altaf, recently told the parents of Neha, the Christian teenager, that she had embraced Islam and he and his wife were keeping her as their servant, the U.K.-based nonprofit Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement said in a statement Thursday about the abduction.

Nehas father, Munawar Masih, and his wife, Mehtan Bibi, who live in Muzaffargarh district, are economically poor and had hoped that their daughter would earn a little money by working in Altafs house.

The young Christian teen has seven siblings and their parents earn only about $50 a month.

Altaf was introduced to Masih as someone who was looking to employ two girls to work in his house. Initially, Masih sent Neha and her sister, Sneha, to work in Altafs house, and the two worked there for four years despite being treated as slaves, CLAAS said.

The sisters complained about mistreatment by the family, who would swear at them and even physically assault them.  They told the family that they wanted to go back home and live with their family, but Dr. Altaf did not allow them to leave.

The girls were promised $65 a month but were only paid $20.

Due to her deteriorating health, Altaf allowed Nehas sister to return to her parents. But when Masih requested Altaf to return also, he was told that Neha had embraced Islam and therefore could not live with her parents any longer.

Altaf told Masih that it was not possible for them to allow any non-Muslim to enter the kitchen and touch their food items and kitchen utensils so she had to convert.

He also claimed that he had mistakenly overpaid Masih $1,750 and told him he must pay him that amount if he wants to get his daughter back.

Perhaps Pakistan is the only country where such crimes are happening on a daily basis under the cover of Islam, CLAAS-UK Director Nasir Saeed said. It cannot be justified at any cost that a young girl was converted to Islam against her will and without her parents knowledge and now she cannot be returned to her parents because her parents are Christians, and she cannot be allowed to live them.

A 2014 study by The Movement for Solidarity and Peace Pakistan estimated that about 1,000 women and girls from Pakistans Hindu and Christian communities were abducted, forcibly married to their captor, and forcibly converted to Islam every year.

International persecution watchdog group Open Doors USA ranks Pakistan No. 5 on its 2021 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most severe persecution due to an extreme level of Islamic oppression. Pakistan is also listed by the U.S. State Department as a country of particular concern for tolerating in or engaging in egregious violations of religious freedom.
Tavistock gender clinic permits unlawful acquiring of consent from minors, lawyer tells court

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A gender clinic in the United Kingdom this week appealed a court ruling that held that minors under 16 cannot consent to experimental puberty-blocking drugs as part of a medicalized gender transition.

Lawyers for the London-based Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, which runs England National Health Service's only gender identity clinic for children, urged an appeals court this week to overturn the ruling from the U.K. High Court of Justice. Two days of appeals hearings were held this week.

According to The Guardian, Tavistocks legal team led by Fenella Morris QC argued the Dec. 1 ruling undermined the entitlement of children under the age of 16 to make decisions for themselves when they have been assessed individually as competent to do so by their treating clinician."

Additionally, they argued that the ruling intruded into the realm of decisions agreed upon by doctors, patients and their parents, where the court had not previously gone."

The high court's judicial review was in part brought about by Keira Bell, a 24-year-old woman who identified as transgender during her teen years.

Bell maintained in the case that she wasn't adequately informed about, nor capable of understanding, the long-term consequences to her health and that she was making rash decisions as a troubled youth.

The high court sided with Bell and held that children under the age of 16 are unable to make such decisions given the risks under the relevant standard for medical consent in British law.

Tavistock's legal team argued that the puberty blockers are fully reversible and not experimental," a claim that many critics have contested.

Reports state that attorneys for Bell repeated their arguments in court that young trans-identifying people are not capable of giving consent. Bell's legal team, led by attorney Jeremy Hyam, argued that puberty blockers are a controversial and quite possibly unique experimental treatment about which there are many uncertainties."

They also argued that the Tavistock clinic "permits or encourages" illegal behavior relating to obtaining consent from such young people.

The way that consent was being obtained was illegal, Hyam said, according to Pink News.

Hayam argued that children need to be able to "understand the bigger picture" when it comes to "what is coming down the line if they take puberty blockers.

He added that youth might not be concerned about their sexual relationships, but that could likely change years later. Therefore, at age 12 or 13, it is "unlikely or very unlikely" that giving consent to the experimental drugs is possible.

Earlier this year, in what some say amounted to a partial reversal of the initial ruling, the court held that parents could consent on behalf of their child for puberty blockers without first gaining a judge's approval.

Intervening in the appeal in support of the clinic are several organizations, such as The Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust and University College London Hospital, neither of which were part of the judicial review last year.

An attorney for the hospitals said that whether or not a child is to be prescribed puberty blockers is determined by a pediatric endocrinologist. The Tavistock clinicians merely refer the patients.

The document being challenged relates to the Tavistock, and that is no more than a consent procedure for referring patients to the Trusts, judges were reportedly told.

It does not purport to be the document used by an endocrinologist to determine if there is consent under Gillick.

What is known as Gillick competency  the standard for youth medical consent in the U.K.  centers around a 1985 case that was decided in the House of Lords, Gillick v. West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority. Lawmakers debated if a child younger than 16 could be prescribed contraception by and with the discretion of a doctor, without parental consent.

The Tavistock appeal comes amid greater degrees of scrutiny worldwide about the safety and efficacy of transgender medicalization.

As of April 1, the Karolinska Hospital in Sweden said, citing the 2020 Bell ruling, that it would no longer prescribe puberty blockers to patients under 16.

In April, lawmakers in Arkansas overrode the veto of Gov. Asa Hutchinson on a bill that prohibited the experimental hormonal and surgical practices on minors in that state. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the state, arguing that the move is unconstitutional.

Last week, the California-based Center for Bioethics & Culture Network released the documentary "Trans Mission: What's the Rush to Reassign Gender?" The film highlights the Bell ruling and mentions some Tavistock staff members' concerns about how patients suffering from gender dysphoria are being treated. The documentary notes that the U.S. government has never formally approved puberty blockers for this purpose.
Love them or loathe them, Amazon's growth is intrinsically tied to Seattle.

Founded in 1994, the company humbly began from a garage in Bellevue as an online marketplace for books, capitalizing on the new age of the internet. And by 2001, the company had moved beyond just selling books to sell items like electronics and cookware, steadily growing into the e-commerce entity it is today. Amazon's CEO and founder Jeff Bezos was already a billionaire and becoming a household name.

READ ALSO: Amazon won't test jobseekers for cannabis

At the time, online shopping was gaining traction for its ease and convenience with total e-commerce sales estimated to be $32.6 billion in the U.S., up 19% from the previous year.

It can be hard to put into perspective just how much Amazon has and hasn't changed, but there are a few metrics we can use. Keep reading for a look back on Amazon in 2001 compared to what it is today.

Barry Sweet/Associated Press

Yearly sales in 2001:

According to their annual report, sales grew to $3.12 billion in 2001, up 13% from $2.76 billion in 2000. International sales took off in 2001, with 25% of all sales coming from outside the U.S. The largest international markets were in the U.K. and Germany.

The company served over 25 million customer accounts at the time, up from 20 million the previous year.

Yearly sales now:

While the 2001 numbers seem like a lot, they are pennies compared to what Amazon earned in a single quarter of this year alone. For the quarter ending March 31, net sales were $108.5 billion according to Forbes, the company's best first quarter and up 44% year over year.

Profits in 2001:

With the dot-com bubble burst in the early part of the new century, the year 2001 actually saw Amazon go negative in profits. According to the New York Times, the company had a negative operating cash flow of $120 million. At the year's end, the company had $997 million in cash, down from $1.1 billion a year earlier.

Profits now:

With online shopping skyrocketing amid the pandemic, Amazon had a record year in 2020 with revenue up 38% to $386 billion according to Forbes.

Matthew Rutledge, Flickr

Seattle offices in 2001:

South Lake Union was the tech-centric neighborhood back them. The online retailer moved into the Pacific Medical Center building on Beacon Hill in 1999 and occupied 13 floors for $1.5 million a year. Although it was damaged by the Nisqually Earthquake in 2001, the e-commerce company continued to occupy the building during its rehabilitation.

The company left the building in 2010 and began to move to its new headquarters in South Lake Union.

GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM

Seattle offices now:

The steel and glass spheres on Lenora Street are as much of a tourist site today as they are Amazon's Seattle headquarters. Sometimes called "Bezos' Balls" by disgruntled locals, the Spheres officially opened in 2018 and feature over 40,000 plants from around the world.

The company currently operates out of 40 buildings in South Lake Union in a sprawling urban campus and is also expanding its footprint on the Eastside, with construction on its new Bellevue 600 office building beginning in spring.

Barry Sweet/Associated Press

Workforce in 2001:

Amazon employed a total of 7,800 employees in 2001 after laying off 15% of its staffers. The shrinking was due to warehouse and customer service center closures after the dot-com bubble burst.

In a message to shareholders in 2001, Bezos wrote "Its not easy to work here. When I interview people I tell them, 'You can work long, hard, or smart, but at Amazon.com you cant choose two out of three.'"

Workforce now:

According to the last annual report, the company directly employed 1.3 million people around the world in 2020. Over 75,000 people are employed by Amazon in the Seattle area, according to Geekwire.

Jeff Bezos in 2001:

Known as the geeky founder and CEO of Amazon.com, Inc., Bezos was becoming a household name and face of e-commerce after being named Time Magazine's "Person of the Year" in 1999.

"There were two great themes of the year, online shopping and dot-com mania, and the minute we thought of Bezos it was obvious that he embodied both," the magazine wrote.

GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM

Jeff Bezos now:

While he has been the face of the brand for nearly three decades, Bezos won't be CEO of the company he founded for much longer. He announced plans to step down in July and will pass the baton to Andy Jassy, who currently runs Amazon Web Services.

Web design in 2001:

You can almost hear the screechy dial-up internet tone looking at this image. Advertising books and electronics, the website design was certainly much simpler. While the design may be an eyesore now, it was similar to many other catalogue websites back in the day.

Web design now:

The streamlined website is now advertising Prime Day Sales, a promotion that didn't exist until 2005.
Late-night nerds, rejoice.

The nighttime dance party Mixers and Elixirs will return to the Houston Museum of Natural Science on July 17, with more planned for later in the year. The event offers the unique chance to have cocktails while roaming through the museum.

BULK WEDDING: This former Texas anchor celebrated her nuptials at Costco

Oh, and a dance party among dinosaurs.

This year will be like every other, except the museum will limit capacity of 1,500 partygoers. There will also be a pair of DJs and several food trucks.

"Because our museum is super large, for us we can still fit a bunch of people," Director of Promotions Ashley Zalta said. "Were not really changing much of anything. Our goal is to have the same exact experience we had pre-pandemic."

The summer series of events was put on pause in 2020 and comes back after much anticipation.

Those who are not vaccinated are asked to wear masks. Zalta also suggested buying tickets online to ensure a spot since there is limited capacity this year.

Mixers and Elixirs runs from 7 to 10 p.m. on July 17 and Aug. 13. Tickets are $25, although museum members will receive a discount.

There will also be a special Spirits and Skeletons party at the museum Oct 30. Details on that event have not been announced.
ATHENS, Greece (AP)  Greek police say they have recovered two paintings by 20th century masters Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian, nearly a decade after their theft from the country's biggest state art gallery in Athens.

A statement late Monday said the two works were in the hands of the police, but provided no detail on their condition and on whether any arrests had been made.
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Puerto Rico will receive nearly $4 billion in federal pandemic relief funds for education as part of the American Rescue Plan, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced while visiting the island.

The students of Puerto Rico have suffered enough, Cardona said on Monday, according to the AP, during a trip to the American territory  a first for a cabinet secretary in the Biden administration. Its time to get back to school safely and quickly.

Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said in a statement that the new funds would help repair school buildings, making necessary improvements to schools that suffered damage from earthquakes. Two billion dollars will come from the American Rescue Plan, $1.2 billion will come from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, and an additional $662 million will come from program grants.

In March, Cardona announced the release of another $912 million in federal education funds which had not been made available to Puerto Rico due to restrictions placed by the Trump administration. Bidens approach to the American citizens of Puerto Rico has been vastly different than his predecessors. In April, Biden also released more than $8 billion in Hurricane Maria recovery funds that Trump had prevented Puerto Rico from accessing.

Todays announcement reinforces the Biden Administrations strong partnership with the island and underscores our shared commitment to supporting Puerto Ricos students, educators, and families, Cardona said. I look forward to the progress we will continue to make together now, and in the weeks and months ahead.

The islands public school system tried to reopen in March, but an increase in Covid-19 cases forced schools to close again in April. According to the AP, approximately 24,000 students in Puerto Rico failed their classes this past year, and 13,000 earned an F grade in all of their classes. Many students live below the poverty line and in unsafe housing without internet or computers. Already $210 million of the $912 million funds from March are providing summer learning and enrichment programs to students who failed, hosted by Puerto Ricos Department of Education.

Cases of Covid-19 have been declining in Puerto Rico, with a current seven-day average of 45 new cases and one death. Earlier this month, the territory eased its entry protocols around Covid-19 and raised the number of people allowed in commercial businesses to help its tourism industry rebound after an economic lull caused by the pandemic. According to CDC data, as of June 18, more than 42 percent of the territorys population is fully vaccinated.

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Objects of Desire, by Clare Sestanovich (Alfred A. Knopf)

The characters in Clare Sestanovichs debut story collection, Objects of Desire, are middle- to upper-middle-class, well-educated and tightly wrapped. Theyre baby boomers or their 20-something kids who havent quite grown up. While those with jobs in marketing or tech can afford to live in glass high-rises, the aspiring artists and writers either have lots of roommates or temporarily move back home.

In the first story, Annunciation, Iris, a college student, is flying home for the holidays, seated between a married couple. The woman, after returning from the bathroom, reaches across Iriss lap and waves a positive pregnancy stick in front of her husband. Theyre elated. Iris doesnt recoil or say Ewwww! Instead, she politely congratulates them, then goes back to cutting her green beans with a plastic knife.

Its a hilarious scene, a modern take on the Christian theme of annunciation, told in Sestanovichs characteristic deadpan voice. Back at college, Iris will date a boy, graduate, find out shes pregnant, have an abortion. Different characters  her mother, her best friend, the aunt of the former boyfriend  will express their views on sex and procreation while Iris just struggles to keep it together.

Sestanovich, an editor at The New Yorker, is an elegant writer whose stories deftly capture the foods, clothes and customs of contemporary life. Parents grapple with their daughters anorexia. A couple wonders if it is ethical to keep a cat in a small apartment. A woman is hired as a night nanny for a little girl who has three day nannies.

Over the 11 stories, told in a variety of different voices, we meet a large, angsty, mostly privileged cast of characters who nonetheless seem to reflect a society thats been knocked back on its heels. For the most part, the themes are domestic, not politicalpolyamory, infidelity, abandonment, isolation  though one story features an up-and-coming politician.

If the younger people in these stories had been alive in the 1920s or 30s, they might have trudged off to war. In the 50s, hit the road. In the 60s or 70s, turned on and dropped out. These characters, by contrast, seem hemmed in, uptight, ambivalent about having children, uncertain about the path forward, doomed to live up to their parents or their own high expectations, and struggling to do the right thing and not succumb to despair.
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More than 30,000 people are suing Texas Governor Greg Abbott over his early cessation of $300-per-week supplemental federal unemployment payments for state residents during the pandemic.

The group of plaintiffs organized through Facebook groups created to help unemployed Texans navigate the states bureaucracy to claim benefits. They argue in the suit that Abbott did not have the authority to end the payments from the federal government, the Houston Chronicle reported. Abbott decided to decline the benefits beginning June 26th, even though the federal government has them scheduled to continue through at least September 6th. The federal payments were also going to gig workers and self-employed Texans who are not eligible for the states unemployment benefits.

The suit claims that Abbott exceeded his power when he halted the federal unemployment payments. Abbott justified the move by claiming they were no longer necessary as the states economy recovered from the pandemic.

The number of job openings in Texas is almost identical to the number of Texans who are receiving unemployment benefits, Abbott said in a statement, pushing the Republican talking point that people are incentivized by the additional funds to stay on unemployment instead of seeking full-time jobs. But a Morgan Stanley analysis, reported by Axios, said the benefits are likely no more of a factor than other impediments to workplace re-entry, such as the rising costs of child care, transportation and health care.

The plaintiffs crowdfunded to hire attorney David Sibley and filed a suit this past week in Austins state district court. Texas has what is known as a weak governor and a large part of Texas is run by commissions, Sibley told the Chronicles Rebecca Carballo. We just believe the governor is acting outside of his authority, and its something the TWC (Texas Workforce Commission) should address.

Allowing the TWC to consider the decision could end in the same result  the cessation of benefits  the suit acknowledges, but it would at least delay its implementation. As many as 24 other states have also opted to end the federal supplemental unemployment benefits early, with a number of them stopping the benefits in June and July.

The groups also filed a temporary restraining order to postpone the halt in benefits while their suit was underway, but a judge rejected it on Friday while also remarking that he had concerns regarding the groups standing to sue.
We're all aware by now that homes are Texas are in high demand, with many being snatched off the market almost the moment they're listed  but seeing the data recorded over the course of the frenzy is truly staggering.

Existing homes in Texas stayed on the market for only a month in May, per Culture Map's John Egan. This marks a new low since the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University began keeping track of the data in 1977.

ON THE MARKET: 5 Houston homes listed at $500K or less

Mortgage rates are still hovering around 3 percent, and ongoing demographic trends continue to support housing demand, said Luis Torres, research economist at the Texas Real Estate Research Center.

Existing home sales rose to 29,000 transactions in May, a 2.5 percent month-over-month increase, per the center. But there were still more than 2,000 sales below the year's peak. Sales fell for the fourth month in a row in April, but still exceeded pre-pandemic levels for a rise of 46.2 percent.

The monthly increase in sales combined with a 3.1 percent drop in new listings in May reduced Texas' existing home market's months of inventory to 1.1 months.

"The extremely low level of supply available is holding back sales," said Torres. "The limited inventory for homes priced less than $300,000 is particularly distressing and is stressing home affordability."

SELLING YOUR HOME? The Thursday before Labor Day is the best day to list your home in Houston

The median existing home sale price in Texas increased 27.8 percent year over year to $289,900, with the national metric increasing by 21.5 percent to $306,000, per NAR.

Torres believes a "shift in the composition of sales toward higher-priced homes" explains some of the increase in the median sales price, owing to a scarcity of inventory in the lower price cohorts.
DALLAS (AP)  Southwest Airlines plans to raise minimum pay to $15 an hour for about 7,000 employees, citing the need to attract and keep workers as the airline industry continues to recover from the pandemic.

Southwest said Friday that it intends for the raises to take effect on Aug. 1.

The airline said the raises will work out to 7% to 11% for new hires and cover call center operators, customer service agents, skycaps and others. For some, the company will have to negotiate with labor unions.

READ ALSO: Longtime Southwest CEO will step down next year

Southwest continually works to attract and retain the best candidates for open positions, said spokesman Brad Hawkins. As part of this ongoing effort, Southwest is increasing minimum pay rates so that all hourly employees will make at least $15 per hour.

Southwest's announcement comes as air travel picks up at the beginning of the summer vacation season after the pandemic turned last year's peak season into a disaster. The number of people going through security checkpoints at U.S. airports has topped 2 million seven times in the past two weeks, hitting levels not seen since early March 2020.

However, domestic travel this month is still running 27% below June 2019, according to figures from the Transportation Security Administration.

READ MORE: Southwest Airlines surprises passenger after TikTok about pool noodle goes viral

Dallas-based Southwest carries more passengers within the United States than any other airline and is less dependent than rivals American, Delta and United on business travel, which is still in a deep slump. Those factors have helped Southwest fare better than other airlines this year  it turned a small profit in the first quarter, thanks to federal pandemic relief, after losing $3 billion in 2020.

Southwest has about 56,000 employees, down from about 61,000 a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing. The company announced Wednesday that longtime CEO Gary Kelly will step down next February and be succeeded by Robert Jordan, the airline's executive vice president of corporate services.

News of the pay raises was reported earlier by Bloomberg.
Due to errors in a June 27 DVINO article, DVINO is publishing the corrected version here. DVINO regrets the error.

The Anxiety Couple from Laredo has a successful TikTok page of 6.9 million followers. Names for the photo are Jonathan Scott, Haydee Mercado, Jayden Gutierrez and Skylr Scott.

With videos dating back to 3 years, tell us how you got started vlogging?

- My Fiancee and I wanted to create a YouTube channel where I was able to help people with anxiety and panic disorder while also doing couple challenges. That's how the name anxiety couple was born. We were able to create a big fan base/family while helping people with mental health and sharing our humor too.

What was your first vlog post?

- Our first vlog was a candy kissing challenge video. That's where it all began with that one video. We were bored one afternoon in our apartment and we just said screw it and just started filming. Since that moment our lives have changed for the better.

What was your breakout moment?

-I remember Haydee filmed a video where she was losing her hair and had many bald spots. She was going through a lot of emotional changes due to that and decided to record herself telling me. She posted that video to bring awareness to ALOPECIA AREATA. That video went viral within 3 days. The amount of support that was given to her and advice left us speechless.

Has anything you've created gone viral?

- We have 6 videos that have gone viral on YouTube and too many to count on TikTok. The one memorable viral video was when we drove all the way to Florida, which is where I'm from to reunite with my mom after 15 years. That video till this day is my most memorable one.

How has vlogging changed your life?

- Creating videos and filming our life has been the best thing to ever happen to us. Imagine waking up every morning and your career is just you and your family being themselves. You are your own boss and you never have to change who you are. We have all the freedom we want and our opportunities are limitless.

How do you keep up with social media?

- We do spend an hour or two a day keeping up with trends or any new social changes. We live in a very social media influenced world so keeping up with everything is very important.

Since starting YouTube would you say you've helped destigmatize mental health?

- I believe we have helped people realize they aren't alone, which is the biggest step to facing your fears or battling mental health. We have helped thousands of people with coping mechanisms to face their battles and even helped people get out of an abusive home. We know we aren't counselors or therapists but we are two people who have and are still going through their own battles. Our experience with our own lives is what has helped others. We also have a huge supportive fan base so no one is ever alone.

What advice would you give to a YouTuber just getting started?

- Be original and stay in school! Never give up on a dream and just be yourself. We get carried away on seeing other people get viral videos or "famous" so we tend to copy them to try to be like them. Don't do that and be yourself. We are just a regular geeky, anime loving and weird couple and we have never changed that. People feel in love with who we are.

How long do you see yourself sharing online?

- We never want to stop. This is the only career that has ever made us happy. Honestly we both had really tough childhoods. I grew up very poor and because of that I missed out on everything in life. I went to the military but due to my panic disorder, threats and other horrible things I ended up in the psych hospital and got discharged back home which things got worse from there. My mental state got worse and I was kicked out of my home. I was homeless and even ate out of the trash. Life was tough but all of those things and more made me who I am today. I never want my family to go through what I did. That's another reason why we are so motivated to succeed in our career.

What can we expect for the future of the Anxiety Couple?

- We would love to go to our local school and speak about social media careers. To really help kids understand the possibilities but also the struggles of doing this. We are also planning to take a trip to Cali to collaborate with other big content creators!
LIVINGSTON, Mont. (AP)  A freight train hit a semitractor-trailer at a crossing east of Livingston, killing both people in the cab of the semitractor, Park County officials said.

The crash happened just after 9 p.m. Sunday, Park Rural Fire District officials said. The collision, in which the tractor was separated from its trailer, sparked a fire that caused some damage to the BNSF Railway train cab and burned grass near the tracks.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Meg Sorg, Purdue University

(THE CONVERSATION)

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question youd like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

Why do we sneeze?  Naomi, 9, San Francisco, California

Why do people sneeze with their eyes closed? Is there a way for people to sneeze with their eyes open?  Carlos, 11, Riverview, Florida

Why do adults make a loud noise when they sneeze?  Artie, 8, Brooklyn, New York

Aaaaa-choo! While your first thought may be to say Gesundheit! your second might be to ask: Where did that sneeze come from?

Sneezing is a phenomenon that occurs in both people and animals. It happens when your body forcibly expels air from your lungs through your nose and mouth.

Most of the time, sneezing happens when something infectious, like a virus or bacteria, or irritating, like an allergen or chemical, enters your nostrils. Your body uses sneezing as a defense mechanism to clear your nose of mucus  also known as snot  and prevent foreign objects and particles from entering your airway.

But sneezing can also occur as a reaction to more unusual stimuli.

Chemicals like piperine or capsaicin found in foods like black pepper and chili peppers can irritate the nerve endings inside your noses mucous membranes and lead to a sneeze.

Another type of sneeze is psychogenic, meaning its caused by something more mental than physical. Though not fully understood, researchers believe it occurs when a strong emotion triggers your brain to send a chemical signal to your nose that makes you sneeze.

And finally, about one in four people experience something called photosneezia, or a photic sneeze reflex, where light, particularly sunlight, can trigger a sneeze.

Is it possible to sneeze without closing your eyes?

Despite a popular myth that sneezing with your eyes open will make them pop out, its actually possible to keep your eyes open when you sneeze.

Closing your eyes during a sneeze is an autonomic reflex. This means that your body does it without you needing to consciously think about it. Scientists believe that your body makes your eyes close when you sneeze to decrease the likelihood of germs getting into them.

Its possible to fight that reflex and intentionally keep your eyes open. But it might be better to keep them closed to avoid getting the germs you expelled into your eyes.

Why do you make noises when you sneeze?

Some people have very loud sneezes, while others have more delicate sneezes.

The noise you make when you sneeze is a result of air escaping your mouth or nose. Generally, the more air you breathe in, the louder your sneeze will be. Like closing your eyes, inhaling prior to a sneeze is largely a reflex but could be consciously controlled as well.

Some people even hold in or swallow their sneezes, though health experts dont recommend this due to potential risk for injury. Some sneezes can be so powerful they expel mucous droplets as forcefully as 100 miles per hour!

What is proper sneezing etiquette?

Although sneezing is sometimes just a reflex, or the result of an allergy or chemical irritation, sneezing can also be a symptom of a contagious illness or upper respiratory infection.

When you feel the urge to sneeze, best practice is to sneeze into a tissue or your sleeve to catch the germs that may come out with the air you expelled. If you caught your sneeze with a tissue or touched your nose and mouth, good hand hygiene, like washing with soap and water or using hand sanitizer, is especially important to help prevent spreading germs.

Whether you sneeze with your eyes open or closed, loudly or quietly, covering your mouth and nose when you sneeze and washing your hands for 20 seconds after can help protect others from getting sick.

Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question youd like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

And since curiosity has no age limit  adults, let us know what youre wondering, too. We wont be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/a-pediatric-nurse-explains-the-science-of-sneezing-160970.
BOSTON (AP)  An associate of a Massachusetts mayor convicted last month of corruption charges has avoided prison and was sentenced Monday to probation.

Antonio Costa, whose testimony helped convict former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Boston to three years of probation, the first 15 months of which must be spent in home confinement. He was also fined $10,000, ordered to forfeit more than $100,000 and to perform 100 hours of community service.
WASHINGTON (AP)  When President Barack Obama flew to California to dedicate a national monument to Latino labor leader Cesar Chavez nearly a decade ago, a group of the activist's relatives were invited to pose for photos with the president.

Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Chavez's granddaughter, hung back. As a member of Obama's staff, she had traveled with the official party to the event, but did not want to call attention to herself.

Only when Obama's senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett, insisted did Rodriguez reluctantly step forward, barely making it into the frame.

I said, Julie, you have to be up there with your family, said Jarrett, who was Rodriguezs boss in the White House Office of Public Engagement. And she said, No, Im staff today.

White House staffers are often of a type, hard-charging strivers who crave their own sliver of the limelight or even trade on a famous name. Rodriguez is a clear exception as she begins a second tour serving a president, this time as director of intergovernmental affairs for Joe Biden.

Rodriguez and her staff help state, local and tribal governments, and Puerto Rico and the other U.S. territories, with their federal government needs. Lately, that has centered on combating COVID-19 and distributing aid from the $1.9 trillion in Bidens coronavirus relief plan.

Jarrett and others who have worked with Rodriguez describe a dedicated worker who, while shaped by a famous progenitor, doesn't put her family front and center.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki recently name-checked Julie Rodriguez at a press briefing  dropping Chavez in keeping with Rodriguezs preference.

Cecilia Munoz, who led the intergovernmental affairs office for five years under Obama, said Rodriguez has the job now because she is Julie -- not because she is a Chavez.

Being a Chavez is part of who she is, Munoz said, but shes there because she is so skilled and has such deep integrity.

And because Biden wanted her on his team.

Rodriguez is among a group of Latinas serving in the White House and advising Biden on matters ranging from communications to policy. Latino advocates had accused Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign of not doing enough to reach out to these voters.

CHAVEZ INFLUENCE

New presidents always freshen up the look of the Oval Office, both to reflect their personal tastes or send broader messages about their values and what inspires them.

Bidens updates for a time included placing a bronze bust of Chavez among family photographs on a desk directly behind his own, giving the late labor leader's likeness prominent placement any time Biden was seen at his desk. The bust is now on a pedestal elsewhere in the Oval Office.

Rodriguez was overwhelmed the first time she saw the bust of her Tata in the Oval Office. Her grandfather is a hero to her, someone she hoped to emulate, she said in an interview. Rodriguez described the profound sense of pride she felt in knowing that the contributions that our community has made are being recognized in the most powerful room in the world.

Biden supported her grandfathers cause of improving conditions for migrant farm workers, Rodriguez said, and both men were influenced by their Roman Catholic faith and its teachings.

I think theres that sort of shared history and shared ... support for the cause that he was leading, Rodriguez said of Biden.

The Biden family's admiration for Chavez and his legacy also is shared by the first lady.

Jill Biden flew to California earlier this year for the March 31 commemoration of Chavezs birth. She visited the Forty Acres property near the city of Delano, the first permanent headquarters for the United Farm Workers union.

A national historic landmark, the location is where Chavez conducted two lengthy fasts -- 25 days in 1968 for nonviolence and 36 days in 1988 over the threat of pesticides. Its also where thousands of farm workers received COVID-19 vaccinations this year.

CALIFORNIA ROOTS

Rodriguez, 43, was born in Delano to Chavezs daughter, Linda, and her husband, Arturo Rodriguez. Her grandparents, Cesar and Helen Chavez, volunteered full time for the United Farm Workers of America organization, and Rodriguez often went to labor rallies with both couples and helped them with community outreach.

She grew up in the farm worker movement and was active in campaigns, picket lines, boycotts, marches and union meetings, said Paul Chavez, Rodriguez's uncle.

He recalled how she would hop off the bus when she got home from elementary school and pop into the offices to see what was going on and offer to help. She was engaging and inquisitive, with a level of maturity beyond her years, he said.

She knew how to talk to older folks and kids her age, Paul Chavez said.

After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2000 with a degree in Latin American studies, Rodriguez worked at the foundation named for her grandfather before she became a volunteer on Obamas 2008 presidential campaign in Colorado.

She was at the Interior Department working on a youth initiative when Jarrett recruited her to work on immigration and Latino outreach at the White House.

Jarrett said she wanted Rodriguez on her team because of her extraordinary reputation for excellence, hard work, competency and focusing not on herself, but on how we could engage as many voices as possible.

Rodriguez later became Jarretts deputy and her portfolio grew to include outreach to veterans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and gun violence prevention groups.

Shortly before Obamas term ended in January 2017, Rodriguez was named state director for then-Sen. Kamala Harris of California. Rodriguez later joined Harris 2020 presidential campaign as a political director and traveling chief of staff.

Rodriguez joined Bidens campaign to help oversee Latino outreach after Harris dropped out. After Biden was elected, he named her to lead the office of intergovernmental affairs.

Her uncle said Rodriguez's standing with the president is an encouraging message for young people of color.

Her presence and her being is a very powerful thing for people that havent had a lot of opportunities, and especially those that have been shut out of the political and civic affairs of our communities, Paul Chavez said.

HUMBLE SERVANT

Kendra Barkoff, who served a stint as Interior Department press secretary under Obama, with Rodriguez as her deputy, said Rodriguez was so humble that staff members didn't realize the family connections at first.

Once we learned, we were even more inspired by her, said Barkoff.

Rodriguez still answers Barkoffs telephone calls and emails even though they havent worked together since Barkoff went to the private sector in 2015.

Shes pretty high up in the White House and still calls me boss, Barkoff said.
GENEVA (AP)  The U.N. human rights chief, in a landmark report launched after the killing of George Floyd in the United States, is urging countries worldwide to do more to help end discrimination, violence and systemic racism against people of African descent and make amends to them  including through reparations.

The report from Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, offers a sweeping look at the roots of centuries of mistreatment faced by Africans and people of African descent, notably from the transatlantic slave trade. It seeks a transformative approach to address its continued impact today.

The report, a year in the making, hopes to build on momentum around the recent, intensified scrutiny worldwide about the blight of racism and its impact on people of African descent as epitomized by the high-profile killings of unarmed Black people in the United States and elsewhere.

There is today a momentous opportunity to achieve a turning point for racial equality and justice, the report said.

The report aims to speed up action by countries to end racial injustice; end impunity for rights violations by police; ensure that people of African descent and those who speak out against racism are heard; and face up to past wrongs through accountability and redress.

I am calling on all states to stop denying  and start dismantling  racism; to end impunity and build trust; to listen to the voices of people of African descent; and to confront past legacies and deliver redress, Bachelet said in a video statement.

While broaching the issue of reparation in her most explicit way yet, Bachelet suggested that monetary compensation alone is not enough and would be part of an array of measures to help rectify or make up for the injustices.

Reparations should not only be equated with financial compensation, she wrote, adding that it should include restitution, rehabilitation, acknowledgement of injustices, apologies, memorialization, educational reforms and guarantees that such injustices wont happen again.

Bachelet, a former president of Chile, hailed the efforts of advocacy groups like the Black Lives Matter movement, saying they helped provide grassroots leadership through listening to communities and that they should receive "funding, public recognition and support.

The U.N.-backed Human Rights Council commissioned the report during a special session last year following the murder of Floyd, a Black American who was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis in May 2020. The officer, Derek Chauvin, was sentenced to 22-1/2 years in prison last week.

Protests erupted after excruciating bystander video showed how Floyd gasped repeatedly, I cant breathe! as onlookers yelled at Chauvin to stop pressing his knee on Floyds neck.

The protests against Floyd's killing and the momentous verdict against Chauvin are a seminal point in the fight against racism, the report said.

The report was based on discussions with over 340 people  mostly of African descent  and experts; more than 100 contributions in writing, including from governments; and review of public material, the rights office said.

It analyzed 190 deaths, mostly in the U.S., to show how law enforcement officers are rarely held accountable for rights violations and crimes against people of African descent, and it noted similar patterns of mistreatment by police across many countries.

The report ultimately aims to transform those opportunities into a more systemic response by governments to address racism, and not just in the United States  although the injustices and legacy of slavery, racism and violence faced by African Americans was clearly a major theme.

The report also laid out cases, concerns and the situation in roughly 60 countries including Belgium, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Colombia and France, among others.

We could not find a single example of a state that has fully reckoned with the past or comprehensively accounted for the impacts of the lives of people of African descent today," Mona Rishmawi, who heads a unit on non-discrimination in Bachelet's office. "Our message, therefore, is that this situation is untenable.

Compensation should be considered at the collective and the individual level," Rishmawi said, while adding that any such process starts with acknowledgment of past wrongs and it's not one-size-fits-all." She said countries must look at their own pasts and practices to assess how to proceed.

Rishmawi said Bachelet's team found "a main part of the problem is that many people believe the misconceptions that the abolition of slavery, the end of the transatlantic trade and colonialism have removed the racially discriminatory structures built by those practices.

We found that this is not true, said Rishmawi, also denouncing an idea among some associating blackness with criminality ... there is a need to address this.

The report called on countries to make amends for centuries of violence and discrimination such as through formal acknowledgment and apologies, truth-telling processes and reparations in various forms.

It also decried the dehumanization of people of African descent that was rooted in false social constructions of race in the past to justify enslavement, racial stereotypes and harmful practices as well as tolerance for racial discrimination, inequality and violence.

People of African descent face inequalities and stark socioeconomic and political marginalization in many countries, the report said, including unfair access to education, health care, jobs, housing and clean water.

We believe very strongly that we only touched the tip of the iceberg, Rishmawi said, referring to the report. We really believe that there is a lot more work that needs to be done.

___

Follow all AP stories about racial injustice at https://apnews.com/Racialinjustice.
PRAGUE (AP)  The Czech Foreign Ministry summoned Russia's ambassador to Prague on Monday to request full compensation for damages from a huge ammunition depot explosion allegedly caused by Russian spies.

The ministry said deputy Foreign Minister Martin Smolek handed Ambassdor Aleksandr Zmeyevsky a diplomatic note invoking the responsibility of the Russian Federation under international law for its involvement in the explosions of ammunition depot in Vrbetice in 2014.

Czech leaders said on April 17 that they had evidence pointing to the participation of two agents from Russias military spy agency in the depot explosion that killed two people. Russia has denied any involvement.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova acerbically denounced the Czech compensation demand as an extortion attempt.

Those who act like that, demanding payments using threats and insults without an investigation or trial, are called extortionists, she said on her messaging app channel.

The same two Russians were charged by British authorities in absentia in 2018 with trying to kill former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok in the English city of Salisbury.

The findings resulted in a serious diplomatic crisis between the Czech Republic and Russia, with dozens of diplomats ordered to leave their respective embassies.

At the same time, the Czech ministry requested that Russia revoke its decision from May that designated the Czech Republic, alongside the United States, as nations that engage in unfriendly actions. The move limits the hiring of staff for their embassy operations.

The Russian ambassador was told that it constitutes a violation of international law, specifically of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the Treaty between the Czech Republic and Russian Federation on Friendly Relations and Cooperation.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  The estranged brother of Robert Durst, the real estate heir on trial in his best friend's slaying, reluctantly testified Monday that the two never got along and he feared his oldest sibling would kill him.

Hed like to murder me, Douglas Durst bluntly told jurors in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Douglas Durst, head of one of New Yorks largest commercial real estate firms, said his brother was angry and bitter over an acrimonious inheritance settlement for tens of millions of dollars. He had not seen his brother in 20 years but worries because of threats he has made.

The chairman of the Durst Organization, which owns some of Manhattan's premier skyscrapers and 2,500 apartments, said he and his brother have fought since childhood.

He treated me miserably, Douglas Durst said. He would fight with me at every chance. He would embarrass me.

Despite the bad blood, Douglas Durst said he did not want to testify against his brother, who is on trial on charges of fatally shooting Susan Berman in 2000 at her Los Angeles home. He said he cooperated with prosecutors under threat of subpoena.

There are other places Id much rather be, he said.

Prosecutors say Berman provided an alibi for Robert Durst after he killed his first wife, Kathie, in 1982 and that he silenced his friend after she decided to tell police what she knew about the disappearance. Robert Durst has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Kathie Durst had told Douglas Durst she planned to seek a divorce from his brother, he testified.

Douglas Durst said his brother told him Kathie Durst vanished three days after he put her on a train to New York City from their lakeside house in Westchester County. Robert Durst said that was the last time he saw his wife.

His tone was very neutral, Douglas Durst said. "There was no great anxiety in his tone. It seemed a little strange.

On cross-examination, he said his brother seemed distraught but added he would have been more upset if his wife was missing.

"There is almost no emotion that Bob shows that is genuine, he said.

He said his brother told him the disappearance might be related to a drug dealer who had come by the couple's apartment. The defense has suggested Kathie Durst, who was on the brink of graduating from medical school, had a cocaine problem.

Kathie Durst has never been found but wasalso declared dead. Robert Durst has long been considered a suspect in her death but has denied any involvement and has never been charged with a crime related to her disappearance.

Douglas Durst, tan and wearing a crisp white shirt with French cuffs and a gray mask to comply with COVID-19 court rules, cut a much different figure than his ailing brother.

A pale, thin Robert Durst, 78, with a shaved head that revealed a massive scar where fluid was drained from his skull, was seated in a wheelchair and dressed in baggy brown jail scrubs.

Durst, who has bladder cancer and several other maladies, stood and addressed the judge to counter a suggestion by Deputy District Attorney John Lewin that he was seeking sympathy by displaying his urine bag and shaving his head.

Durst said it was the only haircut he could get in jail. He said he wants a doctor to remove his catheter.

I am not seeking sympathy from the jury, Durst said in a throaty voice.

Douglas Durst showed no emotion while testifying. He recounted how their mother's death in a fall from the roof of their estate when he was 5 had been traumatic for the whole family, not just for Robert, who was 7 at the time.

He also disputed that $50,000 in checks that Robert Durst gave to Berman were out of generosity, saying his brother was stingy and everything had an ulterior motive.

His brothers trials have tarnished the reputation of his family, he said.

Its the most embarrassing thing that Ive ever encountered, he said. Its very painful to have our names associated with these incidents.

Durst said the last time he spoke with his brother was in 1999 and he had last seen him in Texas at a nephews wedding in 2001.

About two weeks after the wedding, Robert Durst fatally shot neighbor Morris Black in Galveston, where he had gone to hide out from New York authorities after they reopened the investigation into Kathie Dursts disappearance.

Robert Durst was acquitted of murder after testifying that he killed Black in self-defense. He served jail time for chopping up Black's body and tossing it out to sea and for jumping bail.

While he was on the lam in that case, he showed up outside his brothers Westchester home, Douglas Durst said he learned.

Robert Durst was later recorded in a jail phone call in essence plotting to kill his brother, Douglas, Lewin said in arguing that jurors should hear about him showing up at his brother's home.

He has compared the way he feels about Douglas to the way he felt about Kathie, Lewin said. Our argument and position is that is what he did, he killed her.

Robert Durst twice showed up outside his brother's house in 2008, including once when he was wearing a ski mask and fled after a security guard drew his weapon, Lewin said.

Douglas Durst said that although his brother is jailed without bail, he still is concerned about his safety and had flown to California with a security detail.

I have a fear that my brother has threatened to kill me, and I fear that he may have the means to do so, he said.
PARIS (AP)  France's top administrative court on Monday definitively banned the use of glue trapping to hunt birds, a technique that was denounced by animal protection groups as barbaric and endangering some species.

The Council of State ruled that glue trap hunting of thrushes and blackbirds cannot be authorized" because it is contrary to European law.

In addition, the court stated that being a traditional hunting method doesn't alone justify an exception.

The technique, used in southeastern France, consists of brushing branches with glue to trap birds, which are later used to attract other birds for shotgun hunters.

The ruling follows a decision in March of the Court of Justice of the European Union which stated that the practice was breaking EU rules.

The case has been brought by the One Voice animal welfare group and the French League for the Protection of Birds, which argued that the method is leading to the capture of many other species than those authorized and is causing severe problems for the birds.

The National Federation of Hunters was pushing for the continued use of the method in areas where it is considered traditional.

France was the last country in the EU to have a legal practice of glue trap hunting, after Italy, Spain and Malta had been previously previously condemned by the European Court of Justice for similar reasons.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Patrick Greiner, Vanderbilt University

(THE CONVERSATION) While fossil fuels were powering wealthy nations economic growth in the 19th and 20th centuries, many countries across the Global South remained largely impoverished.

Today, all that burning of oil, coal and natural gas has warmed the planet toward dangerous levels, and science shows that fossil fuel use must decline to slow climate change. At the same time, more than 40% of the global population survives on less than US$5.50 a day, primarily in developing countries.

Fossil fuels are still among the cheapest ways to power economic growth, making them hard for developing countries to ignore.

So, can we find a way to lift nearly half of the world out of poverty and still reduce fossil fuel use? As an environmental social scientist, I believe there can be no sustainable development, and likely no energy transition, if poverty is not addressed too. Current international efforts, like the chronically underfunded U.N. Green Climate Fund, whose board meets this week, arent doing enough.

Shadows of colonialism

The fact that nearly half the worlds population is still struggling to escape poverty while the thermometers mercury hurtles upward is not a coincidence.

Since the Age of Discovery, when European explorers began expanding trade and claiming colonies in the 1400s, problems of resource scarcity have been managed through colonial conquest and economic integration. These approaches impoverished Global South nations, robbing them of their natural wealth. The introduction of international financial institutions after World War II further locked them into a cycle of uneven exchange.

For hundreds of years the natural resources that southern nations exported to countries like Germany and the United States have been sold at a lower cost than the finished products they import for their own consumption. The result has been development in the Global North, destabilization and impoverishment in much of the Global South and climate change for all.

Fossil fuels have been a central element in development history because they have provided a cheap, mobile source of energy. They still predominantly boost wealthy countries growth. In 2019, the 37 nations belonging to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, which represents industrialized economies, still accounted for a staggering 40% of energy consumption. The remaining 60% was spread across 158 countries whose combined populations were 5.83 times as large as those of Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development nations.

Without a rapid transition to renewable energy, it is unlikely that populations outside the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development will be able to use energy as freely as others have while still keeping global temperature increases below 1.5 C (2.7 F), the goal countries set under the Paris climate agreement.

Development is not a right

The inequalities born of these processes make stopping the drivers of climate change a real challenge.

Southern nations rightly insist that viable climate solutions must include a realistic pathway for them to continue to develop. This resulted in three principles included in the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development: that countries have a right to development, that the development needs of developing countries should be prioritized and that nations have a common but differentiated responsibility to address the dual problems of global development and climate change.

The U.S. famously rejected these principles during the George H.W. Bush administration, stating that development is not a right. That statement reflected a general concern among wealthy nations that they might be held financially responsible for ensuring the continued development of poorer nations.

The Green Climate Fund

In 2010, the recognition of ongoing injustices resulted in the creation of the Green Climate Fund.

The U.N. launched the fund with the goal that wealthy countries would voluntarily mobilize $100 billion a year to support climate projects in developing countries and help enable them to pursue their development interests. But the Green Climate Fund has never been funded at more than $9 billion a year.

While the Biden administrations pledge to provide the Green Climate Fund with $5.7 billion annually is a dramatic improvement, in my view it is still far from adequate. The wealthy G-7 nations, at their meeting in June 2021, recommitted themselves to the $100 billion goal, but that is only a statement so far.

Historically, it has been difficult to displace cheap and readily available energy sources like fossil fuels in the presence of poverty and systematized economic inequality. Instead of energy transitions, countries made energy additions. My research with Julius McGee has found that nations with greater economic inequality have used renewable energy to carry electricity to underserved populations, increasing access to electricity, but they have not reduced overall fossil fuel use.

With more support to help cover the high upfront investments, the falling costs of renewable energy could help developing countries take meaningful steps toward the eradication of poverty without relying on carbon-packed sources of energy to do so. But that alone will not be enough.

Trying to set limits in a fair way

The most effective path for allowing poorer countries to develop while the world reduces greenhouse gas emissions may be whats known as contraction and convergence.

First introduced by India in 1995, the framework is meant to encourage the adoption of policies that would lead to an overall contraction in global emissions. Wealthier nations would cut their emissions, while poorer countries could continue increasing their emissions as they build the social and economic infrastructure to lift their populations out of poverty. Eventually, poorer nations would begin to reduce their emissions as well.

Ultimately, helping poorer countries develop in sustainable ways is in the interest of wealthier populations too, because climate change will affect lives everywhere. Ignoring the glaring social inequalities of past development and current responses to climate change ensures that much of the globes population will believe they have little choice but to lean on fossil fuels as they develop, and slowing global emissions may come far too late.

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This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/how-colonialisms-legacy-makes-it-harder-for-countries-to-escape-poverty-and-fossil-fuels-today-159807.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  A high-ranking California police official was nominated Monday to serve as the next police chief in Lincoln, Nebraska, making her the city's first female chief and the first who is openly gay.

Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird said she has selected Teresa Ewins, a 55-year-old commander with the San Francisco Police Department. Ewins was one of four finalists who was chosen from a field of 31 applicants. If the Lincoln City Council approves her as expected, Ewins would assume the role on Aug. 31.

During her visit to Lincoln last week, Teresa articulated a vision that connected with stakeholders in the search process, Gaylor Baird said at a news conference. I heard from street officers, command staff and community members, all of whom expressed their belief that she is the right leader for the Lincoln Police Department.

Gaylor Baird said Ewins showed a commitment to the priorities outlined in the city's search process, including community policing, support for on-the-ground officers, an emphasis on diversity in the department, and accountability and transparency. She said Ewins was also selected for her record of leadership, communications skills and humility.

The appointment comes a year after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin. Floyd's death led to protests and rioting nationwide and in Lincoln, the second-largest city in Nebraska, with a population of about 289,000 and more than 350 sworn police officers.

Ewins has served in the San Francisco Police Department since 1994 in a variety of roles, including the agency's field operations bureau, investigations bureau and special operations bureau.

As the commander of the field operations bureau, she oversaw five of the city's 10 district stations in downtown San Francisco, with about 900 sworn members. She also worked within the department to develop policies designed to minimize bias in policing.

Ewins also won the endorsement of the city's police union, which said in a statement that Ewins stood above the rest of the field and urged Gaylor Baird to nominate her. Ewins will replace Jeff Bliemeister, who left in January to take a private sector job, and Brian Jackson, who has been serving as the city's acting police chief.

I really look forward to just getting to know Lincoln and LPD officers, command staff, and working with the community, Ewins said at the news conference via a video link from California.

The other finalists for the chief job were former Mesa, Arizona, police chief Ramon Batista; Darryl McSwain, the chief of the Montgomery County Division of the Maryland-National Capital Park Police; and Genelle Moore, a retired Lincoln Police Department captain.

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Follow Grant Schulte on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GrantSchulte
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Los Angeles police fatally shot an armed man Monday morning after a pursuit, authorities said.

The man, who has not yet been identified, was pronounced dead at the hospital, according to Los Angeles police Officer Tony Im.

The incident began in the city's Pacoima neighborhood shortly before 10 a.m. when officers saw a driver commit an alleged traffic violation, Im said. They tried to pull him over but he refused to stop.

They pursued him onto Interstate 5, Im said. The driver exited the freeway and lost control of his vehicle.

The driver then allegedly got out of the vehicle with a handgun, prompting at least one officer to open fire. Im said he did not know if the driver fired his weapon.

No officers were injured.

Monday's shooting was the seventh one this year where Los Angeles police officers fatally shot a person, according to the Los Angeles Times.
STURGEON BAY, Wis. (AP)  A 24-year-old Madison man has died after authorities say he apparently drowned in a Door County lake.

The Door County Sheriffs Office says authorities responded to a call of a person in distress in Clark Lake, in the town of Sevastopol, at about 8 p.m. on Saturday night.

The Wisconsin State Journal reported that the man was found in the water nearly 40 minutes later and was unresponsive. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.

His name has not been released.
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP)  MGM Resorts International switched on a giant solar farm Monday that will power up to 90% of the company's 13 Las Vegas properties and 36,000 hotel rooms.

As Nevadas largest private employer and operator on the Strip, MGM Resorts is uniquely positioned to use our scale and resources to make a significant and positive difference. Its an obligation and commitment to take incredibly seriously," MGM Resorts President and CEO Bill Hornbuckle said. Its fair to say that much in Las Vegas Strip has now gone solar.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  Two prominent Mississippi physicians urged lawmakers Monday to put guardrails in place if medical marijuana is legalized in the state, warning that officials should be careful about making a product available that has not been thoroughly tested by the FDA  especially when it comes to children.

Meanwhile, a patient advocate told the stories of three Mississippi children who experience seizures and want to be able to access medical marijuana as a treatment. The advocate said they have tried FDA-approved pharmaceutical drugs, and none have helped.

The Mississippi Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee met to hear testimony on the effect a medical marijuana program could have on the state. Its the second time the committee has met since the state Supreme Court ruled in May that a voter-approved medical marijuana initiative is void because Mississippis initiative process is outdated.

Many lawmakers, including Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, have expressed support for the Legislature returning to the Capitol outside of the normal session to pass medical marijuana legislation and honor the will of the voters.

To do so, they need the approval of the governor. Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said he will support a special session, but he does not want it to go on for too long, costing more taxpayer money. The governor said lawmakers need to come to a consensus on how to implement the program before returning to the Capitol.

The lawmakers gathered Monday did not discuss in detail what a medical marijuana program could look like in Mississippi, or whether they believe a medical marijuana program should exist in the state. They mostly listened to speakers, which included lawmakers from Utah and Oklahoma  two states with their own medical marijuana programs  physicians, an advocate and a business owner that sells CBD products.

Amy Smoot, a patient advocate from DeSoto County, told the stories of three families who want to access medical marijuana to ease their childrens suffering. She said one 9-year-old girls family finally went to Colorado in 2017, when no prescription drugs were working. After starting on THC oil, she has not had a seizure in three years.

Im asking that you give these children a chance, she told lawmakers.

Medical marijuana advocates were outraged after Initiative 65, a state constitutional amendment approved by voters last November, was thrown out. It would have required the Health Department to create a program so marijuana could be available to people with debilitating medical conditions. The long list included cancer, epilepsy and sickle cell anemia.

However, Dr. Jennifer Bryan, chair of the Mississippi State Medical Association Board of Trustees, said the idea of a medical marijuana program coming to Mississippi has always concerned her. She said she does not see the marijuana plant as medication, but rather a substance to be studied. Calling marijuana medication is an attempt to make it more benign than it really is, she said.

Bryan said without enough restrictions in place, she fears people will abuse the medical marijuana program in order to use the drug recreationally.

Were trying to keep guardrails on the program, but its a slippery slope, she said.

Dr. Scott Hambleton, medical director of the Mississippi Physicians Health Program, shared her concerns, saying he also wished more research had been done on the product.

Bryan said if a program is implemented, the legislature will need to make strict rules about how the product is packaged and marketed, avoiding anything that could attract children.

Mark Cash, owner of the CBD dispensary The Green Guys in Starkville, said theres a lot of misconceptions about medical marijuana. When he started selling CBD products, he had a stereotype of what his customers would be like.

As time progressed, that has drastically changed, he said. Cash said he sees clients from a wide array of socio-economic backgrounds who are looking for any means to treat their pain. People who want medical marijuana are no different, he said.

Karmen Hanson of the National Conference of State Legislatures, said 36 states, three territories and Washington D.C. have medical marijuana programs, and each place approaches the subject differently. The programs are also constantly evolving over time, she said.

This is is not a one and done situation, she said. You might enact something one year, and the next year youre going to have dozens of bills to make tweaks.

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This story was first published on June 28, 2021. It was updated on June 29, 2021, to correct the name of the chair of the Mississippi State Medical Association Board of Trustees. She is Dr. Jennifer Bryan, not Dr. Jennifer Bryant.

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Leah Willingham is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
VERNON, Conn. (AP)  A Connecticut motel owner was shot and killed after an argument over the price of a pass to use the motel's swimming pool on a hot summer day.

Zeshan Chaudhry, 30, of Vernon, was shot Sunday afternoon near the pool at the Motel 6 in Vernon after demanding $10 for a pool pass, police said.

The suspect, 31-year-old Alvin Waugh, of Hartford, had offered $5, police said.

Mr. Chaudhry did not take the money, police Sgt. Robert Marra told The Hartford Courant. There was a verbal argument that ensued after that.

Chaudhry told Waugh, who was staying at the motel with a friend, to leave, police said. But he instead went upstairs, retrieved a gun and came back down, Marra said.

It sounds like the victim began to antagonize him, Marra told the newspaper. I dont know if he knew that he had a gun.

Chaudry was shot several times and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

Waugh ran into some nearby woods, but surrendered to police after being contacted on his cellphone.

He was being held in lieu of $2 million after his arraignment in Superior Court Monday on charges including murder, criminal use of a weapon, use of a firearm for a felony, carrying a firearm without a permit, tampering with physical evidence, reckless endangerment and risk of injury to a minor.

Temperatures in the area hovered near 90 degrees (32 Celsius) on Sunday.
RENO, Nev. (AP)  A federal judge on Monday postponed until at least October what was set to be Nevada's first execution in 15 years.

U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware II in Las Vegas said he would issue a formal injunction this week to prevent the state from executing four-time convicted murderer Zane Michael Floyd in July.

Boulware said after a five-hour hearing that he agreed with arguments by Floyd's public defenders that they need more time to determine the constitutionality of a never-before-used sequence of drugs that prison officials want for the execution.

His lawyers argue lethal injection would subject him to cruel and unusual pain and that Floyd prefers safer alternatives, including a firing squad or a single dose of a barbiturate.

The judge told lawyers that he based his decision on the fact that experts at Nevada's Department of Corrections had at least three months to ensure the drugs, dosages and sequence planned for the execution will be done in a constitutional manner.

Fundamental fairness and the due process clause means that Mr. Floyd and his counsel should be afforded at least the same amount of time, he said, emphasizing this is an untested drug protocol that the state kept secret until last month.

Boulware said his written order this week will prevent the state from going forward with the execution before Oct. 18. He expects at least three days of testimony from experts at a hearing he plans to schedule the week of Oct. 4.

He said his ruling will be subject to appeal in the coming weeks.

Defense lawyers also appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court last week, saying the Clark County district attorneys office should be disqualified from helping prosecute the case because of a conflict of interest for two deputy district attorneys who also serve as members of the Nevada Senate.

Meanwhile, the manufacturer of one of the execution drugs says the state obtained it illegally. Lawyers for Hikma Pharmaceuticals told Nevadas attorney general last week that the company wants the state to return 50 vials of the anesthetic ketamine.

Chief Deputy Nevada Attorney General Randall Gilmer, who argued the state's case Monday, said prosecutors expect to prevail if the company follows through on threats to sue but that the state can obtain ketamine from other sources.

Floyd, 45, was convicted of killing four people and wounding a fifth in a 1999 shotgun attack at a Las Vegas grocery store.

A death warrant for Floyd had been scheduled to be issued July 9, with an exact execution date to follow. It would have been the first execution in Nevada since 2006.

Federal public defenders representing Floyd had asked the judge to slow down the case to allow enough time to examine the effects of the lethal drugs that would be used, including the powerful opioid fentanyl, ketamine, heart-stopping potassium chloride and perhaps a muscle paralytic called cisatracurium.

Prosecutors said in recent court filings that the Nevada Department of Corrections has provided the court with undisputed medical and pharmaceutical evidence establishing the execution will not result in unconstitutional pain or suffering  "indeed, it is likely to result in very minimal to no pain.

Floyds lawyers say the state wrongly maintains the alternatives they have suggested are not legitimate options because Nevada law provides only for lethal injection and the Department of Corrections has been unable to get a barbiturate.

But they said the Supreme Court has made it clear that an inmate seeking to identify an alternative method of execution is not limited to choosing among those presently authorized by a particular states law. They said both of Floyds proposed alternatives are well-established in other jurisdictions.

Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah authorize execution by firing squad, they said. Texas, Georgia and the U.S. government have recently used pentobarbital in executions.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals said in its cease-and-desist letter to the state that the ketamine it produces is meant to save lives and long has opposed use of its products for capital punishment. It said the drug has never been used in an execution and notes the company won a federal court order in 2018 that concluded the Nevada Department of Corrections had resorted to subterfuge when it similarly illegally acquired ketamine.

This is not Hikmas first rodeo with NDOC on this issue, its lawyer wrote Thursday. It is nothing less than shocking and embarrassing for the state of Nevada.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)  A plea agreement hearing is set next month for a West Virginia woman accused of taking a Members Only sign near the Senate chambers as she accompanied supporters of former President Donald Trump in storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

The hearing for Gracyn Dawn Courtright of Hurricane is scheduled for July 20 in federal court in Washington, D.C., according to court documents. The notice of the hearing was made last week. Courtright remains free on personal recognizance bond.

Courtright is charged with theft of government property under $1,000 and four counts involving her conduct in a Capitol and restricted building.

Eight people have pleaded guilty in federal court to riot-related offenses. Courtright is one of at least four others who apparently have agreed to plead guilty, according to court records.

According to an FBI affidavit in support of the criminal complaint and arrest warrant, a witness saw a video of Courtright in the halls of the Capitol and messaged her on Instagram asking if she was there. The witness provided a screenshot of the messages to the FBI.

Courtright admitted she went in, prompting the witness to express embarrassment, according to the FBI.

Courtright allegedly said, Im not embarrassed so you shouldnt be, bragged that the event was making history and said she thought it was cool.

When the witness accused her of treason, Courtright said she did not know what treason was, according to the affidavit. Before Courtright deleted her Instagram account, she wrote, Infamy is just as good as fame. Either way I end up more known. XOXO.

According to the affidavit, in two Instagram photos in which she is raising her arms in the air, Courtright wrote, cant wait to tell my grandkids I was here!

The affidavit said photos of a woman seen at the Capitol on Jan. 6 were similar to the physical features of Courtrights drivers license and her Instagram account. The FBI said she was wearing a black coat and a hat with a yellow band at the Capitol.

A woman whose clothes and physical features matched those of Courtright was seen on a video near the Senate chamber carrying a Members Only sign before a law enforcement officer confiscated it. A newspaper photo also appeared to place Courtright in a crowd that initially clashed with police in the halls of the Capitol, the FBI said.

The affidavit said Courtright at the time of her arrest was a senior at the University of Kentucky. According to the university, she was majoring in mathematical economics.
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP)  After nearly two years of renovations complicated by COVID-19 restrictions, the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum is ready to welcome visitors back with an updated focus on how Truman's legacy resonates today.

The museum opens to the public July 2, with hours and visitor numbers initially restricted because of pandemic regulations.

Visitors will find a museum completely reimagined during its most extensive renovation since it opened in 1957 in Truman's hometown of Independence, Missouri, an eastern suburb of Kansas City. The nearly $30 million project includes a sparkling new entrance; many more artifacts, photographs, videos and films; and exhibits that encourage visitors to touch and interact with displays.

One solemn gallery showcases Trumans first four months in office, some of the most consequential months in U.S. history. Germany surrendered, the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Japan to end World War II, and world leaders at the Potsdam conference determined the makeup of the postwar world.

Nearly everyone knows Truman dropped the bombs, but his legacy was formed in the next 7 1/2 years of his presidency, when he set out to win the peace and put the world back together, said Museum Director Kurt Graham.

If you focus only on the bomb, you miss the heart of his legacy. My job isnt to say he got everything right, but I think its important for people, especially young people, to realize that Harry Truman had more influence on the world they have inherited than most other U.S. presidents, he said.

Graham said the museum, which closed in July 2019 for the renovations, was demolished down to the bare studs. People who remember the old building will recognize little except a Thomas Hart Benton mural, some artifacts and a recreation of Trumans Oval Office, he said.

After starting in the new 3,000-square-foot Grandview Hall entrance, visitors first see Truman giving a speech in 1945 when he was running as Franklin Delano Roosevelts vice president. FDR died only 82 days into that term, leaving the world wondering, who is this farmer from Missouri who is taking over the free world? Graham said.

The exhibits try to answer that question. The first gallery shows Trumans life in Missouri before he entered politics, from his childhood on a farm to his service in World War I to his failed haberdashery and his connection to Kansas City political machine boss Thomas Pendergast.

The previous museum had showcased Trumans political life and presidency and relegated his personal life in Missouri to the basement. Now, his story is told in a more linear way.

Now you can truly weave through his boyhood into the presidency and beyond," said Kelly Anders, deputy director of the museum.

The centerpiece of the gallery about Truman's first months in office shows a safety plug from the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. Nearby is a display about the more than 1,000 origami cranes symbolizing peace that were created by Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who died at age 12 from radiation poisoning. Her brother donated to the museum what is believed to be one of the last cranes she folded.

Those types of artifacts illuminate why Truman is one of the most significant presidents in U.S. history, said A.J. Baime, author of several non-fiction books, including Dewey Defeats Truman and The Accidental President.

That's why presidential libraries are so important, said Baime, who did research at the library and toured it during renovations. Many people are not going to crack open a 300-page book, but seeing those artifacts makes history come alive.

The galleries highlight challenges such as the Red Scare, over the perceived Communist threat in the U.S. during the Cold War; Truman's firing of Gen. Douglas MacArthur after disagreements about the Korean War; desegregating the military and promoting civil rights; and recognizing the state of Israel.

Other displays include a beam from the White House before it was extensively updated during Truman's tenure, some humorous gifts he received, and the famous The Buck Stops Here sign he kept on his desk in the Oval Office.

Because of the controversial decisions he made, Truman left the presidency in 1953 with a 32% approval rating, the lowest for a president in U.S. history.

In subsequent decades, however, the public and politicians from both major parties have come to appreciate Truman's legacy and often cite his example. Former President Lyndon Johnson and other prominent politicians have visited the museum to sign legislation. The museum showcases praise from current leaders with vastly different beliefs to highlight Truman's continuing relevance, Graham said.

As visitors head to the exit, they can stop in a courtyard where Truman, wife Bess, their daughter and son-in-law are buried.

Most of the museum makeover was paid for through private funding, and another $7 million was raised for endowments and programming.

Baime said he initially was skeptical that a museum renovation was needed, but the result won him over. He calls it an experience that can really open people's eyes, minds and hearts. There will be people walking through who remember those events, and kids walking through who are going to see things to really inspire them to understand how our country came to be what it is.
The Teamsters, a historic union and one of the largest in both Illinois and the nation, is attempting to unionize Amazon workers, who have been making headlines recently for their unionization battles, including in Alabama.

In a vote on Thursday, representatives from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents 1.4 million workers, voted to make unionizing Amazon a priority. That means the Brotherhood will create a division that is focused on Amazon and set aside funding for that division's efforts.

Per the AP, the Teamsters said Amazon, which is the nation's second-largest private employer, is exploiting employees by paying them low wages, overworking them and giving them no job security. It also said the company, which is growing its delivery business rapidly, threatens the working standards created in part by the Teamsters for workers at other freight and delivery companies like UPS.

Amazon has a distribution center in Edwardsville which handles many deliveries in central Illinois and northern Missouri regions.

The Teamsters were originally truck drivers and team drivers, or a person who drove a team of animals, usually oxen, horses or mules which pulled a wagon and were founded in of draft horses and truck drivers. That threat to delivery and freight companies is likely something the Teamsters take very seriously.

No effort to unionize Amazon has yet been successful in the company's 26-year history. That includes the recent effort at an Alabama warehouse where workers overwhelmingly voted against joining a union, although there are allegations that it was not a fair and free election.

Randy Korgan, the national director for Amazon at the Teamsters, wrote in a Salon article on June 14 that the Teamsters will try a new strategy for unionizing Amazon. Organizing Amazon workers, Korgan wrote, will take actions like taking to city streets and holding warehouse strikes. Companies like Amazon, Korgan wrote, have the money and legal resources to kill unionizing efforts inside their facilities if attempts are made at one facility at a time.

Amazon fought the union push in Bessemer, Alabama hard. It hung anti-union signs throughout the warehouse and held mandatory meetings to convince workers why the union is a bad idea, one worker testified at a Senate hearing.

The Teamsters told the AP it is targeting workers in Amazon's delivery business, the drivers of vans and those who pack orders in warehouses. Amazon wants to rely less on UPS and other carriers and deliver most of its packages itself.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  North Carolina textile executives joined advocates for the environment and the poor on Monday to urge state legislators to reject a major energy bill pushed by House Republicans.

The coalition held a news conference to criticize the wide-ranging proposal, which would order an early retirement of several coal-fired plants operated by Duke Energy subsidiaries. The bill, which got a committee hearing earlier this month, also would expand solar production and allow the electric utility to seek multiyear rate increases from the North Carolina Utilities Commission.

Textile companies are worried about the financial expense the likely rate increases would have upon Duke Energy customers like themselves. They warned the burden would be so great it would discourage efforts to expand in the state.

North Carolina is home to 30,000 textile industry positions, which in turn support 90,000 additional related jobs, Dan Nation with Gastonia-based Parkdale Mills said. Significantly higher electricity costs would push industry investments out of North Carolina and into other states, Nation said.

The executives cite an analysis performed for the Carolina Utility Customers Association, a trade group for industrial and manufacturing ratepayers, that says the debated measure would result in a 50% increase in electric bills over 10 years if it became law.

This bill will affect both our business as well as our families. It will make it harder for us to operate as a going business, Brian Rosenstein, the CEO of TSG Finishing, which employs about 200, with plants in Catawba County. Many textile companies struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 50% projection contrasts with an analysis of the measure by the public staff of the Utilities Commission, dated last week. The cumulative rate increases projected in the public staff's analysis are well under half of what was calculated by the association.

The competing analyses appear to have differing assumptions, including whether to calculate expenses related to modernizing the state's energy grid. The Carolina Utility Customers Association stood by its analysis on Monday while calling on bill sponsors to consider other ideas, including the development of market competition for electricity production.

Duke Energy praised the public staff's analysis, which also estimates the bill would contribute to a 64% reduction in power-sector greenhouse gas emissions in the state by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.

We applaud the legislative sponsors and stakeholders for finding a balanced approach that will protect against price spikes, ensure continued reliability and maintain North Carolinas competitive edge, Duke Energy said in a news release.

Representatives of the North Carolina Justice Center and the Southern Environmental Law Center also spoke in opposition to the bill on Monday. Environmental groups argue the measure handcuffs the states energy future by forcing too many coal-fired plants to transition to natural gas to power electric generation and weakens the Utilities Commission.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper opposes the House GOP proposal, saying it would cost too much and fail to meet clean energy goals. His energy plan would reduce power-sector carbon emissions by 70% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. He told Republicans to go back to the drawing board and get input from a broader array of interested parties.

The bill's sponsors have said they welcomed constructive criticism but believed the measure represented a reasonable all of the above strategy that relies on natural gas, batteries and solar and nuclear power.
NEW YORK (AP)  Lawyers for the Trump Organization met again Monday with prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in a last bid to forestall a potential indictment stemming from a long-running investigation into the former presidents company.

Trump Organization lawyer Ron Fischetti told The Associated Press the meeting came as a grand jury nears a vote on an indictment this week following a more than two-year investigation into Trump's business affairs.

He said prosecutors have told him Trump himself will not be charged at this time  at least not with what's coming down this week"  but added the investigation is continuing.

There is no indictment coming down this week against the former president," Fischetti said in a telephone interview Monday. "I cant say hes out of the woods yet completely.

The Manhattan district attorneys office declined to comment.

The former Republican president, however, issued a blistering statement in which he derided District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.'s office as rude, nasty, and totally biased in the way they are treating lawyers, representatives, and some of the wonderful long-term employees and people within the Trump Organization.

After hundreds of subpoenas, over 3 million pages of documents, 4 years of searching, dozens and dozens of interviews, and millions of dollars of taxpayer funds wasted, they continue to be in search of a crime," Trump alleged, calling the investigation a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt of all time.

In recent months, investigators in Vance's office have focused on fringe benefits the company gave to top executives, such as use of apartments, cars and school tuition.

Investigators have scrutinized Trumps tax records, subpoenaed documents and interviewed witnesses, including Trump insiders and company executives.

Another person familiar with the investigation confirmed there were communications between defense lawyers and prosecutors on Monday. The person declined to give any details of the talks.

Such final exchanges are considered formalities that rarely change the course of an investigation in a late stage, suggesting the grand jury is near a vote.

The person was not authorized to discuss the case and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Fischetti, who did not attend Mondays meeting, said the gathering had been arranged for the Trump Organization  not Donald Trump himself.

Were just waiting, Fischetti said, adding he expects to know this week whether charges will be brought.

The prospective charges this week, he said, are limited to a couple of Trump Org employees who didn't declare taxes on fringe benefits they received. The company itself also could be charged, he added.

Lawyers representing Donald Trump's company also met virtually with prosecutors for more than 90 minutes last Thursday.

It isn't illegal for a company to offer employees tuition help, lease them cars or let them use company-owned apartments, but such arrangements can be subject to income tax.

Fischetti has called the possibility of charges absolutely outrageous and politically motivated. He said it would be extremely unusual for prosecutors to seek criminal charges over unpaid tax on fringe benefits.

Some of the scrutiny has been focused on longtime Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg.

Vances investigation of Weisselberg, 73, stemmed in part from questions about his sons use of a Trump apartment at little or no cost, cars leased for the family and tuition payments made to a school attended by Weisselbergs grandchildren.

Weisselbergs attorney, Mary Mulligan, has declined to comment.

In addition to fringe benefits, prosecutors have looked into whether the Trump Organization lied about the value of real estate holdings to lower taxes or to obtain bank loans or insurance policies on favorable terms. They have also looked into the companys role in paying hush money to two women who say Trump had affairs with them, accusations Trump has denied.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP)  Testimony continued Monday in the capital murder trial of Christopher Henderson, a north Alabama man accused of working with his first wife to kill his pregnant second wife and four members of her family.

Prosecutors say Christopher Henderson was still legally married Rhonda Carlson, when he married Kristen Smallwood Henderson. They said Christopher Henderson and Carlson later plotted to kill Kristen Henderson and her family in 2015. The five family members, including two children, were shot and stabbed before the house was set ablaze, authorities said.
GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP)  A Wyoming man who asked a sheriff's dispatcher why he hadn't been arrested soon found himself in handcuffs.

The 62-year-old man called the Campbell County Sheriff's Office on Thursday to ask why he hadn't been arrested after deputies raided his house the previous day.
The Republican primary for governor is probably over, before it ever really started.

Greg Abbott already won the supporter who really counts, having converted his current tight focus on conservative populist issues into a Donald Trump endorsement that removes any threat from the likes of Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, Republican Party of Texas Chair Allen West, or former state Sen. Don Huffines of Dallas.

THE LATEST: Texas House Democrats and legislative staffers take Gov. Abbott to court for defunding Legislature

Intentional or not  did you really think Abbott was ad-libbing?  the governor ended a conservative legislative session by snagging the Trump golden ticket thats preemptive in the Republican primary. Now hes adopted the former presidents pet project of a wall separating the United States and Mexico, and Trump is coming to Texas next week for a border tour with Abbott.

Good news for Greg Abbott. Bummer for everybody else. Hes got the lucky charm that can ward off attacks from the right  threats that were accumulating a year ago, when Abbott was issuing unpopular pandemic orders to close certain businesses, wear masks and remain at a distance to flatten COVID-19s curve.

The opponents, none of them especially formidable but most of them worthy of attention, started to line up.

Miller never said in public that he would challenge the governor, though at least one outside group, calling itself the Conservative Republicans of Texas, was encouraging him to jump in and Miller was saying Abbott cannot get reelected in the general election. And he and West were outside the Governors Mansion last October, manning the bullhorns and protesting Abbotts emergency responses to the pandemic. After some thought, and that Trump endorsement, Miller now says he will be running for reelection.

West resigned from his party post and hasnt said whether he plans to run for office  or which office he might covet. But with Trump hugging the incumbent, its hard to see where West might be looking for votes; his potential audience is listening to someone else.

Huffines is still in, with some personal money but little in the way of visible political support. He needs Texas voters more than they seem to need him. Hell recognize that line, maybe, after telling WFAA-TV on Sunday that he wants to close the U.S.-Mexico border.

RELATED: Texas border wall project receives over $450K in donations, a week after Gov. Abbott announced plans

Im going to communicate to Mexico, and they know it, they need us a lot more than we need them, and this is a proven tactic that can work, Huffines said. Hes still pushing Trump themes, especially with his talk of an invasion on the border  a word Abbott has also adopted  and with his claim that Abbott is stealing some of his ideas.

Maybe, but thats how it goes in politics, and Abbott is no slacker. He wants a wall between here and Mexico. Unlike Huffines, hes got the Trump seal of approval and will, in about a week, have TV footage with the former president on the border.

Its not the only Texas GOP contest where the man from Mar-a-Lago gets to make a decisive call. Look at the race for attorney general.

Ken Paxton, the Republican incumbent, sought favor as one of the pre-insurrection speakers at a Trump event in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6. Hes been under indictment on securities fraud charges for six years  through a reelection cycle in 2018  and is under investigation after several top lawyers in his state agency accused him of using that office for the benefit of a political donor. Even so, hes still the one to beat.

But Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, whose father Jeb was emasculated by Trump in the 2016 presidential primary, sought the former presidents blessing for his challenge to Paxton.

TXLEGE: Abbott sets July 8 date for special legislative session on voting bill, other issues

Trump hasnt picked a favorite, which is good news for Bush. But when he does, it has a good chance of deciding the race.

Eva Guzman, who quit the Texas Supreme Court to join that race, hasnt yet made a play for Trumps favor, relying so far on the support of Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a Republican-leaning political group that signals a candidates establishment ties. That amounted to more formidable backing in Texas politics 20 years ago, before Republican tastes turned to Trump. If Paxtons troubles catch up with him, she could advance, but thats the funny thing about the 2022 Republican primaries.

They could well be decided by a non-Texan who wont be on the ballot.

Disclosure: Texans for Lawsuit Reform has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them  about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
The COVID-19 pandemic appeared to undo years of improvement for Texas students meeting grade requirements in reading and math, with students who did most of their schooling remotely suffering "significant declines" compared to those who attended in person, according to standardized test results released Monday by the Texas Education Agency.

In districts where fewer than a quarter of classes were held in person, the number of students who met math test expectations dropped by 32 percentage points, and the number of students who met reading expectations dropped by 9 percentage points compared to 2019, the last time the test was administered. In districts with more than three-quarters in-person instruction, the number of students meeting math expectations only dropped by 9 percentage points and those who met reading expectations by 1 percentage point. Students of color and lower-income students saw greater gaps as well, although those gaps were smaller than the one between remote and in-person instruction.

RELATED: U.S. education secretary praises SAISD's 'amazing' vaccination work

The impact of the coronavirus on what school means and what school is has been truly profound, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath told reporters Monday. What we know now with certainty is that the decision in Texas to prioritize in person instruction was critical.

The STAAR test was optional last year due to coronavirus-related orders, but 87% of students still participated  compared to 96% of students in 2019. Morath said those numbers allow for fairly effective comparisons. The STAAR assessment for math and reading is administered from grades 3 to 8.

Since 2012, test results in the state had been steadily improving, but after COVID-19 related disruptions, the percentage of students meeting reading expectations dropped back to 2016 rates and the percentage meeting math expectations dropped to 2013 passing rates. Math test performance saw the most significant drop, from 50% of students meeting their grade level in 2019 to only 35% this year.

Hispanic students in districts with over three-quarters of learning done remotely saw the largest drops compared to other demographics, with a 10 percentage point decrease in the number of students meeting reading expectations and a 34 percentage point decrease in those meeting math expectations. This is followed by Black students taking mostly remote classes, who saw a 6 percentage point decrease in those meeting reading expectations and a 28 percentage point in those meeting expectations for math.

Students who took the test in Spanish also saw far more significant declines in rates of grade level than those who took the test in English, Morath said.

The data may be disheartening, but with it, our teachers and school leaders are building action plans to support students in the new school year, he said. Policymakers are using it to direct resources where they are needed most.

He said parents can also sign in to TexasAssessment.gov to go over their childrens results and strategize how to catch them up.

There were outliers among the results, with some remote learners demonstrating progress and even some school districts containing a high concentration of remote learners with good outcomes. These outliers will be studied by a new commission on remote learning formed by the Texas Legislature.

While many districts expected remote learning to continue as an option moving into next year, a bill that would have funded it died during the final days of the Texas Legislatures regular session. Some programs were canceled with thousands of students signed up, such as in Frisco, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Morath said on average, only 4% of students across all grades who are below grade level catch up within two years. But he pointed to the recently passed House Bill 4545 as an opportunity to help with catching students up. The bill requires school districts to offer tutoring to any student who doesnt meet grade level expectations and to offer high-performing teachers.

He said the agency will also be offering rigorous instructional materials, additional teachers support, help wherever appropriate to expand learning time, and targeted tutoring this summer in an effort to close the gap.
Read a headline containing the phrase "labor shortage," and you may picture a scene like this: a bustling economy with open jobs, full of restaurants, bars, and busy shops, but not enough people to staff them.

Texas-based American Airlines is the most recent subject of those headlines. Hundreds of flights, including some at San Antonio International Airport, have been canceled due to both bad weather and "labor shortages."

But read beyond the beginning of articles like this on the airline and hundreds of other companies and you'll find a different story.

With the pandemic easing and masks pilling up in landfills, this summer has been branded as the "The Summer of Quitting," by the Atlantic.

Salaried professionals in Texas and all over the U.S. are handing in job resignations while hourly employees are sometimes simply walking off jobs, often with to-the-point messages that have gone viral, in what could be described as organizing in the digital age.

RELATED: Hollywood celebs are moving to Texas. But there's more to the story.

The problem remains that major companies aren't lacking qualified candidates or an available labor force, but living wages. Are there workers available? Yes. Do they want to work for an outdated wage? No.

American Airlines responded to a lack of staff amid the summer travel surge by finally raising its wage to $15 an hour. OK  that's a start. But workers have been fighting for a decade for a $15 minimum wage, which hasn't been increased since 2009 when it hit (and stayed at) $7.25 per hour, according to the Department of Labor. Meanwhile, the cost of living has continued to climb.

In San Antonio, our robust tourism industry is suffering as a result. A recent report from the Express-News highlights the difficulty local hospitality groups are having filling positions. During a June 23 job fair, only about 200 prospective employees showed up for on-the-spot interviews at area resorts and hotels with" hundreds of jobs" to fill. One company tried to entice new hires with pay of $5.50 an hour plus tips, while housekeepers "could" earn $15 an hour.

Texas A&M researcher and professor Anthony Klotz described what's happening now, and what Texas is seeing, as the possibly the biggest employment shift since the industrial revolution.

Rather continue to accept the reality of too much work for too little, a concept that has been disgustingly normalized since the advent of the Great Recession, workers are rising up, whether that means leaving jobs that they've been miserable in during the pandemic, or refusing to accept wages that couldn't even offset needed resources, like childcare, if they returned to the workforce.

RELATED: Opinion: America, the idea, is lost

Unemployed Texans recently lost federal unemployment aid after our governor opted out of the benefit. While Abbott may think he's motivating people back to work, the fact remains that Texans and Americans are weary, as our daily outlook continues to look grim despite the positive moves on Wall Street.

Just as Klotz cited the industrial revolution as a catalyst for workers rising up, it appears a new social media-fueled industrial revolution may be here  and it doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.
Lets take a field trip! Theres so much to see and do in and around Houston this summerconcerts, ball games, outdoor movies, and more! Depending on your activity, and if youre going solo or with the family, youll need the best gear to explore the Bayou City in style. If youre the adventurous type, you can navigate the area on two wheels, or even with paddles.

So, grab your waterproof bag and map out a trail, or head to a local waterpark for some daring slides. Not your speed? For more peaceful excursions, choose tranquility in a park or relax by the shore. Whatever your pleasure, theres a summer field trip option in Houston thatll suit you just fine.

Kayaking on the Bayou

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Explore the 26-mile paddling trail on the Buffalo Bayou. As you paddle through downtown Houston on a kayak, you'll discover turtles, fish, and birds. Remember to pack your valuables in a waterproof drawstring bag, especially your cell phone!

Going to an Astros Game

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Catch a game at Minute Maid Park but come dressed to support the home team! At Fanatics, you can find all the Astros gear you need, from head to toe, for fans of all ages. Astros game tickets are available now.

Yoga on the Greens

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Grab your outdoor yoga mat and head to Discovery Green in Houston for a Hatha Yoga class under the tall trees, or plan your summer field trip to Central Green Park in Katy.

Cooling off at the Zoo

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Plan a field trip to meet the Houston's Zoo's newest elephant calf, Teddyimportant note: online reservations are required for guests and members. While exploring the habitats, turn on your portable misting fan to keep cool and refreshed.

Drive-in Movie Night

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Attend outdoor events in style with an oversized-directors chair. Aside from the fold-up convenience, you can keep drinks cold in the attached cooler. Youll appreciate the comforts of home when going back in time to watch a movie at the Showboat Drive-in in Hockley.

Picnic in the Park

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Find a spot under a shady tree and dine al fresco with your well-stocked picnic basket. Visit the beautiful Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park, the 20-acre Sam Houston Park, or the Tony Marron Park which has a playground and picnic areas.

Shows under the Stars

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Concerts are back! Grab your outdoor blanket for lawn seats at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, or catch a show at the Miller Outdoor Theatre in Houston.

Water Park Excursions

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Families have their choice of Houston-area water parks for a fun field tripTyphoon Texas in Katy, Yogi Bears Jellystone Park in Waller, Schlitterbahn in Galveston,and Hurricane Harbor Splashtown in Spring. Dont forget to add another layer of protection to keep the kiddos safe near the water with a life vest and pick up a new bikini, mens trunks or one-piece swimsuit for yourself.

Texas Beaches

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With more than 350 miles of Texas coastline to explore, you can find a quiet Gulf retreat on Bolivar Peninsula, or plan a trip to a resort town like Galveston or Corpus Christi. You'll want to protect the family from the sun and wind at the beach with an easy-to-assemble light-weight beach canopy.

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But, dont forget to grab a sturdy sand anchor to keep your umbrella from going up, up, and awaaaaay!

Biking around Houston

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Check out the Buffalo Bayou Guide for a map of Houston parks, art work, memorials, bats, and much more. Mark your trail to visit popular places like The Water Works and Sesquicentennial Park in Houston. Bring the kiddos along for a special bike trek through the many trails in and around the Bayou Citytheyll love riding in their special bike trailer, with enough room for a friend.

Hearst Newspapers participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.

Jennifer Miko is a Local Deals Curator for Hearst Newspapers. Email her at .
Florida, FL (34429)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds light and variable.
Seven reasons to go from permanent resident to Canadian citizen.

What are the benefits of Canadian citizenship?

What are the benefits of Canadian citizenship? Seven reasons to go from permanent resident to Canadian citizen.

What are the benefits of Canadian citizenship? Seven reasons to go from permanent resident to Canadian citizen.

What are the benefits of Canadian citizenship? Seven reasons to go from permanent resident to Canadian citizen. Michael Schwartz Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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More than 80 per cent of Canadian permanent residents apply for citizenship when they become eligible. So, what are the factors that make Canadian citizenship so desirable?

Every persons situation will vary. There are external factors to consider, such as other countries laws about dual citizenship and taxes. But, there are several important reasons why so many people go for Canadian citizenship.

Certainty

Once a person obtains Canadian citizenship, they do not have to actively do anything to retain it. In fact, it is very difficult, particularly following 2017 reforms by the Trudeau government, for a person to lose their Canadian citizenship.

Get professional help applying for Canadian citizenship

Travel Rights

Canada enjoys an excellent global reputation. Canadian citizens are thus able to visit most countries in the world without a visa, or to receive one on arrival. This category includes countries such as the USA, UK, and the Schengen Countries  the vast majority of European Union members.

The Henley and Partners Passport Index 2021, which ranks different world passports by power, i.e., the ability they give their holders to visit other countries. Canadas ranked 9th out of 199 passports in the report.

A Canadian passport also gives its holder the constitutionally-protected right to enter, remain in, and leave Canada.

Benefits for Children

A Canadian citizen can transmit their citizenship to their descendants. In general, anyone born in Canada has Canadian citizenship. Only a citizen, however, can automatically transmit their citizenship to children born outside Canada.

Job Opportunities

Some jobs, particularly sensitive positions in the government or security, may give preferential or exclusive consideration to people who are Canadian citizens.

Political Participation

The Canadian Constitution guarantees only Canadian citizens the right to vote or run for the federal Parliament. Unlike the United States, Canada poses no bar whatsoever for someone who was not born a citizen to become the head of government. But, to fully participate in Canadas democratic life, citizenship is required.

Dual Citizenship

Canada permits dual citizenship. This fact means that Canada will allow a person to become a Canadian citizen, while retaining their other citizenship.

Symbolism

For many people, becoming a citizen is the fullest and final way to join the Canadian family. Ceremonies are often deeply moving events for participants and their loved ones.

Get professional help applying for Canadian citizenship

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
For the past several years, Experian has been transforming its business with analytics and AI. Shri Santhanam, executive vice president and general manager of global analytics and AI at the consumer credit reporting company, says Experians data transformation has focused on three pillars: internal modernization, creating analytics products and services, and driving commercial impact and business impact for customers.

Despite the impact of the pandemic, weve actually managed to make good progress in the foundations of analytics and AI, Santhanam says. The demand for analytics and AI has dramatically increased. Theres interest and engagement in how data and analytics for clients can help us help them make better decisions in how they run their business.

Ascend Intelligence Services is a prime example of Experians efforts to create analytics products that can revolutionize its clients businesses. As a managed analytics service, Ascend provides lenders with AI-powered modeling and strategy development, management, and deployment. Experian data scientists build a machine learning (ML) custom credit risk model, optimize a decision strategy, and deploy the model in production for clients. The services include Ascend Intelligence Services Challenger, which is a collaborative model development service, and Ascend Intelligence Services Pulse, a proactive model monitoring and validation service.

Data science as a service

Midsize lender Atlas Credit recently won a CIO 100 Award in IT Excellence for its work with Experian Ascend Intelligence Services. Ascend helped the Texas-based lender double its credit approval rates while reducing credit losses by up to 20%.
The end of Albanys legislative season on June 10 only heightened the state-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authoritys state of suspended animation. Gov. Andrew Cuomo waited until the final three days of the session to present a proposal changing both the structure of the MTAs leadership, and the people atop it. Lawmakers were reluctant to make these big changes in an artificially induced hurry. Despite a last-minute near-compromise, they left town without acting.

The episode is a reminder of Cuomos weakened state  and of the unresolved questions about the MTAs future. The authority has yet to provide clues on two issues that will help determine the course of New Yorks recovery: how to grapple, fiscally and operationally, with ridership that may remain depressed for years, and if, how and when to bring congestion pricing to a wounded New York City.

On June 7, Assembly Member Amy Paulin of Westchester, and state Sen. Diane Savino of Staten Island submitted a short Cuomo-backed bill that would split the MTAs top post in two. This includes a chair atop the board, but with no full-time management duties, and a chief executive to run the place on a day-to-day basis. A measure of how rushed the bill was were its blatant errors: The first version repeatedly referred to the MTA as the Metropolitan Transit Authority.

Current MTA Chair and CEO Pat Foye would leave to be succeeded by Interim NYC Transit head Sarah Feinberg, as chair, and MTA Construction & Development head Janno Lieber, as CEO. In a functional corporate or government world, a company or public authority can operate smoothly whether its chair and CEO are the same person, or whether the role is split. The argument for combining the role is to avoid any inconsistency between policymaking (done by the board) and execution (done by the CEO). The argument for splitting them up is to avoid having the CEO have too much control over the board, which sets the CEOs pay. The bigger issue is whether the people in individual roles  chair, board members and CEO  can freely act with some measure of independence.

But the MTA isnt a normal corporation, and the way its leaders interact with the governor is not exactly functional. For example, the chair is supposed to serve a fixed term, so that they can make decisions about fares or labor agreements without fear of being fired by the governor. Yet two separate news reports claim that Foye, who led the authority through the pandemic, isnt thrilled about leaving, and his term doesnt end until 2023.

If even partial MTA independence from the governor is a fiction, the Legislature should confirm it before naming another chair who serves (in practice if not in law) at the pleasure of the governor, just like any other state agency head. If so, and if the board is superfluous, its past time to rethink the whole public-authority structure.

Cuomos proposal would have injected even more potential for dysfunction. Though the chair would still need state Senate approval before serving, the CEO would not. The CEO would be (both in practice and in law) someone the governor could hire and fire at will.

This peculiar structure could lead to conflict. The chair and the board could set policy, only to see it undermined by a call from the governor to the CEO to execute the opposite of the determined policy. The chair could easily become a figurehead, thwarted in practice by on-the-ground decisions within the MTA itself.

It may be paranoid to suspect that this toxic tension was exactly what Cuomo meant to happen  except for there was no other reason for this split. Feinberg reportedly is not interested in a full-time CEO position, yet she has shown an intricate grasp of the MTAs fiscal, managerial, and public safety challenges, and could serve as a probing chair member. But there is no reason, under the current leadership structure, that she couldnt serve as chair and simply delegate a full-time deputy CEO to carry out her policies  unless Cuomos idea is for her to say one thing, and for the MTA CEO to do another.

Its tempting to say: Who cares? We all know that Cuomo exerts undue influence over the MTA, right down to personally executing its labor agreements. He has already created a muddle of the MTAs management structure over the past three years during which the organization brought in outsiders in new titles  Anthony McCord as chief transformation officer, and COO Mario Peloquin  only to see them flail (Peloquin left early this year). What difference does it make if it all gets even more muddled?

Yet the Legislature shouldnt pass some watered-down version of Cuomos bill without noting: The MTA faces critical decisions in the next year or so, the direction and execution of which will help or hurt New Yorks recovery.

First, how does the MTA approach service and staffing if ridership remains double-digit percentages below pre-pandemic levels? As of early June, subway ridership has reached about 40% of 2019 normal; commuter-rail ridership is about one-third of normal. Ridership should increase in the fall, as commuters return to Midtown and downtown offices and tourism begins to rebound. Yet few forecasters predict a five-day-a-week return to the office; the MTA itself projects that ridership will eventually recover only to 86% of normal.

This gap may be too optimistic, but it leaves massive deficits  covered only until late next year by federal relief money. For 2023 and 2024, the MTA faces deficits of at least $4.4 billion, or 11% of its budget.

Does the authority respond by slashing service  thus driving more riders away? Lack of express service on commuter rails is already a deterrent to resuming commutes that are now more than twice as long in some cases. Or does it start a gradual but firm process of asking its labor unions  particularly at the overtime-heavy Long Island Rail Road  for productivity savings? The Citizens Budget Commission's Alex Armlovich outlined a program for such savings in a recent paper.

There are more mundane questions, as well: Does a part-time, unpaid chair face restrictions on outside income?

The MTA also needs a plan for implementation of congestion pricing. More than two years ago, the Legislature authorized the authority to charge car and truck drivers a fee to drive below 60th Street in Manhattan. They left virtually all of the details, from whether and when the MTA ever executes congestion pricing at all, to the toll to be charged, and any exemptions or discounts to that toll entirely up to the MTA.

Its clear from trying to traverse Midtowns streets that New York City needs congestion pricing sooner rather than later; as car and truck traffic has largely recovered.

But the details matter. For example, will congestion pricing favor nighttime deliveries by charging a low price at night and a high one during the day? And if so, will city enforcers coordinate in ensuring that truck drivers make their deliveries inside loading docks, and not on the street to avoid disturbing Manhattan residents and hotel guests?

Will the MTAs congestion pricing program allow the city the flexibility to ask the MTA to charge a surge price during a pollution alert day, or just after a snowstorm, or during the two weeks just before Christmas? A six-member advisory board will eventually advise the MTA on these matters  but the final decision is entirely up to the MTAs board.

State lawmakers may return as early as this summer to reconsider a version of Cuomos bill. They should hold full hearings before they do so, not on the people involved (Feinberg and Lieber are more than capable), but on the political conditions under which they would operate.
Administratorii portalului nu poarta raspundere pentru continutul postarilor si materialelor plasate de utilizatorii site-ului. Utilizati informatia din acest articol pe propriul risc.
Early on Thursday morning, a residential condo collapsed in Surfside, a town just north of Miami Beach, in Florida. Joey Flechas, a reporter for the Miami Herald, was quickly on the scene, since he lives ten minutes away from the building. Im a member of this community who has talked to some of these first responders, politicians and neighbors before, he said. And Im just one of many of us who can say the same thing. Since the collapse, Flechas and his colleagues have worked tirelessly to cover the storythe state of the rescue mission; the identities of the deceased and the missing; the fact that, as far back as 2018, an engineer had flagged major structural damage linked to drainage issues on the pool deckin English and also in Spanish, for readers of the Heralds sister title, El Nuevo Herald, in the Miami area and far beyond. The Miami Herald has updated its website with a series of huge banner headlines: COLLAPSE, HEARTBREAK, and, as of early this morning, SEARCHING; El Nuevo Heralds homepage was still on ANGUSTIA, meaning anguish. Meanwhile, the confirmed death toll rose to one, then four, then five, then nine. More than a hundred and fifty people are still unaccounted for.

As Flechas noted, the collapse has been deeply personal for many journalists in the Miami area. Two of the named victims, Gladys and Tony Lozano, were the godmother and uncle of Phil Ferro, the chief meteorologist at 7News, a local TV station. My cousin called me. He was basically in tears. I still couldnt believe it, until we got the surveillance video that showed the building collapsing. And that kinda it kinda breaks your heart, Ferro told his station yesterday. They were found together. And so were all going with the thought that they never knew what happened. They fell asleep, and that was it. While living it, reporters in the area have also run into the typical obstacles that come with covering a story of this magnitudeaccess issues; navigating interviews with traumatized survivors and relativesas well as more specific challenges, like thick smoke at the collapse site, and bad weather. The Surfside collapse is not the first major tragedy theyve faced in recent times: theyve had to cover the pandemic, mass shootingsincluding at a high school in nearby Parkland in 2018and even a prior infrastructure disaster, when a pedestrian bridge at Florida International University collapsed the same year, killing six people. Many Miami journalists must be exhausted. Now theyre up at night wondering if their buildings, like the Surfside condo, may somehow be unsafe.

ICYMI: Trump is gone. Deep immigration coverage must continue.

National and international media outlets, of course, have been on the scene, too. NBCs Lester Holt and CBSs Norah ODonnell flew in to anchor their respective evening newscasts from Surfside on Thursday night; CNN sent a variety of its top talents, including Wolf Blitzer, Chris Cuomo, and Anderson Cooper; MSNBC sent Ali Velshi. Print and radio reporters, too, have congregated both at the collapse site, and at a reunification center a few blocks away. Surfside may be next to a bustling metropolis, but it is itself a sleepy town, and thus unaccustomedlike so many other American locales that have been thrust, ill-fatedly, into a harsh spotlight down the yearsto life at the epicenter of a global news story. As Martin Vassolo reports for the Herald, town staff have worked around the clock, answering phone calls from family members, reporters, and residents with unrelated concerns; the clerks office received scores of record requests from media outlets, including the Miami Herald, which has requested construction permits, blueprints and architectural plans, and records of any building inspections or code violations logged by the town related to the collapse. The effect has been overwhelming.

The coverage has extended far beyond those who are on the ground. Some national outlets have moved the story forward in meaningful ways: NPR, for example, obtained the minutes of a meeting, in the wake of the engineers report about the condo in 2018, at which a local official apparently told residents that the building is in very good shape. NPR got wind of the meeting from Susana Alvarez, a resident and survivor of the collapse who gave a heart-rending interview to Lulu Garcia-Navarro on Weekend Edition and recalled being told that the condo was safe. Alvarez spoke about having to leave her cat behind, and hearing the screams of other residents; afterward, Garcia-Navarro said that in my many years talking to survivors, Ive never experienced a conversation that was so intimate and open. The collapse led some of the Sunday shows yesterday, including Meet the Press, whose host, Chuck Todd, himself a Miami native, interviewed Daniella Levine Cava, the mayor of Miami-Dade County; that soon gave way to fluffier fare on Biden, bipartisanship, and infrastructure wrangling in Washington, but later in the hour, MSNBCs Joshua Johnson brought the story back roundnoting, correctly, that Florida is one big infrastructure project, right? On CNN, Cuomo compared the collapse to 9/11. The front page of yesterdays New York Post splashed the faraway story and drew the same local link.

This morning, the collapse is still the top story on the front pages of the Washington Post and the New York Times, illustrated, respectively, by photos of rubble, and of two people reading Hebrew psalms on the beach, the sun glinting off the sea. The Timess lead story reports that the collapse may have started at or near the base of the condo, but the precise cause remains a mystery; add the painstaking progress of the search, and, as CNNs Brian Stelter put it overnight, theres very little actual news to reportin terms of those central facts, at least. On Friday, Bianca Padro Ocasio, a Herald reporter who, like Flechas, lives close to the condo, told PRIs The World that, as the hours pass by, I think that people feel less and less hope about the news that theyre going to get. Sometimes, time makes things feel like theyre a little further away, but now its the oppositeits kind of like, as the hours pass by, it feels like its gonna get worse. Padro Ocasio added, everyone just feels really on edge, and really unable to sleep.

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Below, more on Surfside:

The victims: The Herald has been among the outlets to profile some of the people who are confirmed to have died in the collapse, and those who remain missing. They all had different reasons for being there that night, Carlos Frias wrote. But their stories intersect with a thunderclap and a roar in the dark. One of those who remains missing is Graciela Cattarossi, an Argentine national who worked as a photographer. Her parents, sister, and seven-year-old daughter, Stella, are missing, too.

The Herald has been among the outlets to profile some of the people who are confirmed to have died in the collapse, and those who remain missing. They all had different reasons for being there that night, Carlos Frias wrote. But their stories intersect with a thunderclap and a roar in the dark. One of those who remains missing is Graciela Cattarossi, an Argentine national who worked as a photographer. Her parents, sister, and seven-year-old daughter, Stella, are missing, too. Media criticism: Veronica Soledad Zaragovia, a reporter with WLRN, South Floridas NPR station, called on TV news stations not to air interviews with people saying that buildings collapsing is the sort of thing that happens in third-world countries, not the US. When someone is in pain and angry, you dont need to air everything they say, Zaragovia wrote on Twitter, certainly not hurtful and untrue comments. Among those to have made such remarks is Charles Burkett, Surfsides mayor.

Veronica Soledad Zaragovia, a reporter with WLRN, South Floridas NPR station, called on TV news stations not to air interviews with people saying that buildings collapsing is the sort of thing that happens in third-world countries, not the US. When someone is in pain and angry, you dont need to air everything they say, Zaragovia wrote on Twitter, certainly not hurtful and untrue comments. Among those to have made such remarks is Charles Burkett, Surfsides mayor. Media praise: Garcia-Navarros NPR interview with Alvarez won praise yesterday from Barry Jenkins, the movie director. I myself question the efficacy of placing survivors of such unprecedented disasters before the public. And yet, Lulu is SO present and gentle here, it becomes clear that Ms. Alvarez needs to be heard as much as we desire to listen, Jenkins (who is also a Miami native) wrote. You can hear Ms. Alvarez processing her grief in real time, turning it over in her mind and moving through it, releasing it in bursts In this interview journalist and counselor are one and the same.



Other notable stories:

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Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop.
A 2018 engineering report released by the city of Surfside, Florida on Saturday found a major error in the construction of the 12-story condominium building that collapsed on Thursday morning, leading to water infiltration that caused structural damage below the pool deck.

The main issue with this building structure is that the entrance drive/pool deck/ planter waterproofing is laid on a flat structure, says the October 2018 report by Morabito Consultants. Since the reinforced concrete slab is not sloped to drain, the water sits on the waterproofing until it evaporates. This is a major error in the development of the original contract documents prepared by William M. Friedman & Associates Architects Inc. and Breiterman Jurado & Associates, Consulting Engineers.

The Champlain Towers South homeowners association hired Morabito as it prepared for an inspection required by the Miami-Dade County for multifamily residential buildings that reach 40 years of age. The structural engineering firm recommended $9 million in repairs to the building, but did not say there was any imminent danger.

Morabitos report said that failed waterproofing is causing major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below the pool deck. The report said where the slab had been epoxy-injected, new cracks were radiating from the originally repaired cracks.

Failure to replace the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially, the report said.

Morabito said repairs to the waterproofing around the pool deck would be disruptive and create a major disturbance to the occupants of this condominium building.

About half of the condominium building, containing 136 units, collapsed early Thursday morning. Rescue teams continued digging through the rubble on Sunday after recovering nine bodies among the debris.

The Miami Herald reported that Surfside Town Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer said residents of the building expressed concern about water leaking from the pool deck and collecting in the basement parking garage before the disaster.

Steel rebar laced into concrete forms to increase tensile strength can expand when water infiltrates the structure, causing cracks in the surrounding concrete in a process called spalling. Engineers speculated even before the city released the inspection report that corrosion of reinforcing steel may have been a factor leading to the collapse.

Gregg Schlesinger, a former construction project engineer who is now a lawyer handling construction defect cases, said another area of concern in the report is cracks that were discovered in the towers stucco facade, the Associated Press reported. Schlesinger said that could indicate structural problems inside the exterior that could have been critical in the collapse.

The building speaks to us. It is telling us we have a serious problem, Schlesinger said in a phone interview with an AP reporter on Saturday.

He added that there are frequently telltale signs on oceanfront buildings indicating problems structurally largely from saltwater and salty air intrusion.

This is a wakeup call for folks on the beach. Investigate and repair. This should be done every five years, Schlesinger added. The scary portion is the other buildings. You think this is unique? No.

Abi Aghayere, a Drexel University engineering researcher, said the extent of the damage shown in the engineering report was notable. In addition to possible problems under the pool, he said several areas above the entrance drive showing signs of deterioration were worrisome and should have been repaired immediately because access issues prevented a closer inspection.

Were the supporting members deteriorated to the extent that a critical structural element or their connections failed leading to progressive collapse? he wrote in an email to the AP after reviewing the report. Were there other areas in the structure that were badly deteriorated and unnoticed?

Engineer John Pistorino told WUSF News that concern about corrosion caused by South Floridas humid and salty ocean air led Miami-Dade County to require recertification of multiple-family structures once they reach 40 years of age.

Pistorino was a consulting engineer for the county in 1974 when the federal Drug Enforcement Agency building in downtown Miami collapsed, killing seven employees, WUSF reported. He told the news service that aggregate rock used in concrete can contain salt that when combined with humidity can corrode reinforcing steel.

Pistorino told WUSF that it is far too soon to make guesses about what caused the Surfside building to collapse. However, he also said corrosion in older buildings prompted Miami-Dade and other Florida jurisdictions to require recertification after 40 years and every 10 years thereafter. The DEA building was about 40 years old when it collapsed.

Champlain Towers South happened to be going through its recertification process when disaster struck. Mark Direktor, an attorney who represents the condominiums homeowners association, told the New York Times that the association had hired an engineering firm to begin the inspection. The engineers have a good idea where the building needed restoration, but the extent of the corrosion is often not clear until the work is underway, he told the Times.

According to the Times and other media reports, a resident filed suit against the homeowners association in 2015, alleging that poor maintenance of the building allowed water to damage her unit after entering cracks through the outside wall.

Researchers know that the land under the Champlain Towers South building was sinking before the building partially collapsed, but engineers said some other factor must have triggered the catastrophic structural failure.

Florida International University professor Shimon Wdowinski and colleagues noted in a paper published in April 2020 that land subsidence or settling  had occurred at the location of the condominium complex from 1993 to 1999. Using satellite radar data, the researchers measured a 12mm drop over the six year period. Thats about half an inch.

Wdowsinski told the Miami Herald that the sinkage was not significant, but stood out because most of the surrounding area was stable. He said that subsidence alone, however, could not have caused the collapse.

Wdowsinki told FIU News that he has seen far more dramatic subsidence in other locations. Mexico City, for example, is sinking at a rate of 15 inches per year, he told the universitys news service.

David Peraza, a principal engineer with Exponent in New York City, told the Claims Journal in an email that the land subsidence noted in the FIU report would not have raised any concerns about potential structural damage. He said most times buildings are not affected when land subsides unless the settling is differential, meaning much greater on one side of a structure. Nothing in the research noted any differential subsidence, he said.

Peraza said something else must have caused the collapse.

It is highly unusual for a building that has stood for 40 years to collapse spontaneously, without an apparent trigger, he said. By trigger I mean an added load, like an impact, explosion, hurricane, snow, etc. Or a trigger can be a significant reduction in strength, as might be caused by the removal of a major structural element, or severe deterioration.

Peraza said the owners of the building or perhaps the city of Surfside will likely retain structural engineers to conduct a forensic investigation to determine what went wrong, and also assess the safety of the portion of the structure that remains standing.

Initially, a structural engineer will develop a list of hypotheses and he or she will then attempt to whittle those down by process of elimination, he said. This is easier said than done.

The investigation will be complicated by the intense rescue and recovery effort at the site of the collapsed building. The removal of debris to search for survivors will take precedence over evidence preservation.

And the rescue operations may be underway for sometime. Peraza said the rescue/recovery effort took eight days after the 16-story LAmbiance Plaza collapsed in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1987 while under construction, killing 28 workers.

Some arent waiting for a full investigation before assigning blame. On Thursday, Champlain Towers South homeowner Manuel Drezner filed a purported class-action lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court alleging that the association had failed to take adequate and reasonable measures to ensure the safety of residents and their property.

Defendant knew, or should have known, of the risks inherent in its activities or involving Champlain Towers South, as well as the importance of adequate safety measures, says the lawsuit, filed by the Brad Sohn law firm.

About the photo: People look at the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Fla., Thursday, June 24, 2021. (David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP)
SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP)  A very deep fire hampered rescue efforts Saturday at the collapsed oceanfront condominium tower near Miami where authorities are racing to recover any survivors beneath a mountain of rubble, officials said.

Rescuers were using infrared technology, water and foam to battle the blaze, whose source was unclear. Smoke has been the biggest barrier, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during a news conference.

Were facing very incredible difficulties with this fire. Its a very deep fire. Its extremely difficult to locate the source of the fire, she said.

One hundred fifty-nine people remain unaccounted for since Thursdays collapse, which killed at least four.

Authorities also announced Saturday they are beginning an audit of buildings nearing their 40-year review  like the fallen Champlain Towers South  to make sure theyre safe.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials have joined local and state authorities at the site, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said.

On Saturday, a crane could be seen removing pieces of rubble from a more than 30-foot pile of debris at the collapse site. Scores of rescuers used big machines, small buckets, drones, microphones and their own hands to pick through the mountain of debris that had been the 12-story Champlain Towers South.

Levine Cava told WPLG there was no change in the number of people still unaccounted for: We are at status quo, she said. Im hopeful this will be a day that we have will have a breakthrough.

Rachel Spiegel was anxious for any update on her missing mother, 66-year-old Judy Spiegel, who lived on the sixth floor.

Im just praying for a miracle, Spiegel said. Were heartbroken that she was even in the building.

Jeanne Ugarte was coming to grips with what she feared was a tragic end for longtime friends Juan and Ana Mora and their son Juan Jr., who was visiting his parents in their condo at the tower.

I know theyre not going to find them (alive), Ugarte said. Its been too long.

While officials said no cause for the collapse early Thursday has been determined, Gov. Ron DeSantis said a definitive answer was needed in a timely manner. Video showed the center of the building appearing to tumble down first, followed by a section nearer to the beach.

The 2018 report was part of preliminary work by the engineering company conducting the buildings required inspections for a recertification due this year of the buildings structural integrity at 40 years. The condominium tower was built in 1981.

Condon reported from New York. Associated Press Terry Spencer in Surfside contributed to this report.

About the photo: A crane works at the site of the Champlain Towers South Condo building, Saturday, June 26, 2021, in the Surfside area of Miami. The apartment building partially collapsed on Thursday. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP)  Managers of a burning warehouse, which rapidly became so engulfed that flames threatened nearby homes, waited a day before calling the local fire department for help, Georgia state investigators said in a report.

A giant pile of wood pellets awaiting export at the Port of Brunswick caught fire in early May and destroyed the vast warehouse where they were being stored. No one was injured, but firefighters shut off gas lines to nearby homes and remained at the scene for weeks to make sure flames didnt rekindle.

Georgia state investigators sharply criticized the company that operates the warehouse, Logistec, in a report of their preliminary findings. They learned the Montreal-based company utilized a private `fire brigade for approximately a day before alerting the Brunswick Fire Department.

The fire grew rapidly and dangerous to the surrounding residences and warehouses, the report read. Ultimately the fire grew out of control and caused a violent explosion. Several neighboring fire departments responded to assist.

Brunswick Fire Chief Randy Mobley said the fire would likely have been less severe had his department known to respond earlier.

We should have been called, Mobley told The Brunswick News. If we would have been called sooner, they would probably still have a warehouse.

Logistec did not immediately respond to email messages seeking comment. The investigators report said Logistec managers had downplayed the hazards associated with the storage of these pellets stating that they are generally safe.

The company told Georgia officials it stores and exports about 1 million tons (0.9 metric tonnes) of wood pellets each year using warehouses on property leased from the Georgia Ports Authority. The wood pellets are shipped to countries in Europe where they are used to fuel power plants.

The investigators for Georgias insurance and safety fire commissioner said preliminary findings suggest the wood pellets spontaneously combusted after they began to decompose. Their report said the pellets may have been piled too high inside the warehouse, with their sheer weight causing compression that increased the risk of fire.

At a meeting June 2, Logistec managers told state investigators they follow all industry prescribed standards, the report said.

Yet the fire in May wasnt the companys first in Brunswick. The port warehouse that burned last month was built in 2016 to replace two buildings destroyed by a previous wood-pellet fire in July 2015.

Before the new warehouse was destroyed, firefighters responded to smaller wood-pellet fires there in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

The state investigators found no sign that Logistec had ever applied to the insurance commissioners office for a permit to store materials  such as wood pellets  that pose a risk for fire or explosion from combustible dust. They also reported that the companys storage facilities at the Port of Brunswick failed to meet standards of the International Fire Code or the National Fire Protection Association.

Logistec was required to have (Office of Commissioner of Insurance) permits to store wood pellets, said Weston Burleson, a spokesman for the state insurance commissioners office. And, while our investigation is still ongoing, it appears they never did secure those permits.

Burleson said the investigation hasnt been completed and its too early to say whether state officials might take action against Logistec. He said the companys suppliers have suspended shipments of wood pellets until its determined the company can store them safely.

During a tour of Logistecs storage facilities, investigators reported seeing larges piles of dust around a hopper and conveyor belt system. Brunswick Fire Chief Randy Mobley, who joined the tour, told them a spark from the conveyor could ignite the dust like gunpowder. He also said the warehouses didnt have enough water connections for fire hoses.

When Logistec managers pressed the officials about when they might resume storing and exporting wood pellets, the report said, Chief Mobley was adamantly opposed to allowing operation under current conditions.

Investigators recommended that Logistec meet several conditions before being allowed to resume operations at the Port of Brunswick. They included calling firefighters immediately if wood pellets catch fire or smolder, using fire-resistant barriers to separate piles of wood pellets in storage and developing in six months a plan to comply with state and national standards on combustible dust.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated the amount of wood pilots stored and exported by the warehouse.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The city of Akron will celebrate its 47th year of free summer dance performances in Akron city parks through the 14th annual Heinz Poll Dance Festival in late July and early to mid-August.
How to help

Several synagogues and organizations have created funds to assist in the wake of the tragedy:

 thechesedfund.com/shulofbalharbour/miamitragedy

 jewishmiami.org/gift/surfsidebuildingcollapse

 theshul.org/8777

 Donation checks can also be sent to:

Greater Miami Jewish Federation

Surfside Building Collapse

4200 Biscayne Boulevard

Miami, FL 33137

 For more information about the Greater Miami Jewish Federations special relief funds, call 305-576-4000.
Deborah E. Lipstadt, the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, answers Urban League of Greater Cleveland CEO Marsha Mockabees question as to how the Black community and Jewish community can work together as allies during a webinar June 24. The webinar was moderated by Jewish Federation of Cleveland board chair J. David Heller and sponsored by the Federation, the Anti-Defamation League and AJC Cleveland.
To help calm little boys getting a first haircut, barbers ordered special chairs with added seats shaped like animals. The Emil Paidar Company made this chair in the early 20th century. It was a feature that added value to the Cowan chair at auction. It sold for $1,375, just a few bids from the low estimate.  2021 by Cowles Syndicate Inc.
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Matthew Lahey | HISDA Huntsville ISD teacher lectures her class in January 2021. Educators faced countless hurdles to continue schooling throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Russ O'Reilly is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @RussellOReilly.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28)  All health workers in the country who are part of the vaccination masterlist have gotten their COVID-19 shots, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Monday.

Of the 1.6 million vaccinated frontline health workers, 1.13M have already completed their two doses since the start of the inoculation program in March, he added.

"Sa ngayon gusto ko din ibalita na 100% na tayo sa healthcare workers. In terms ng masterlisted, nakuha na natin lahat. We're now pursuing ang second dose nila," he said

[Translation: I'd like to report that we have now reached 100% vaccination of masterlisted healthcare workers, we have vaccinated them all. We're now pursuing their second dose.]
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28) - A leader of an advocacy group on Monday said that President Rodrigo Dutertes proposal to arm civilians to help in crime prevention is like an insult to the police.

Parang iniinsulto ang sarili mong kapulisan na may kakulangan sila kaya kailangan sibilyan ang bigyan mo ng karapatan na mag-armas, said Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order founder Teresita Ang See in an interview with CNN Philippines.

[Translation: Its like insulting your own police force for some shortcomings so that you have to give civilians the right to carry guns.]

Duterte last week called for the arming of civilian groups to help the police in the fight against crime. Philippine National Police chief General Guillermo Eleazar backed the proposal, saying only those who will qualify under the law may be permitted to own and possess firearms.

Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque noted on Monday that there is no policy yet on Dutertes proposal.

For her part, Ang See added that arming civilians could also lead to a bigger problem as it will be hard to monitor them. She pointed out that PNP is already having a difficult time in looking after its personnel.

Hindi nga nila ma-disiplina ang sarili nilang kapulisan....ilan ang mga nasawi dahil sa mga indiscriminate firing? Di ba during new year, nakakatawa na kailangan pang tape-an yung baril ng mga pulis. Di ba nagpapakita yan na walang disiplina ang iyong mga pulis? she said.

[Translation: They cant even discipline their own personnel...how many have died due to indiscriminate firing? Every New Years celebration, cops have to tape their guns. It only shows how that our police are not disciplined.]

Kung sila nga di mo magawan ng paraan na gawin nila ang kailangan nilang gawin, paano pa kaya yung mga sibilyan na hindi mo nakikita araw-araw, added Ang See.

[Translation: If you cant even push them to do what they should do, how much more are the civilians you dont even see every day.]
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28)  The Department of Health on Monday confirmed an "isolated" case of breach in COVID-19 vaccination protocols, ensuring a thorough investigation will be conducted to prevent a similar incident.

DOH confirmed the video circulating on social media showing a volunteer nurse administering the COVID-19 vaccine struck the needle into the arm of a woman, but did not press the plunger that will release the contents.

"This is a clear breach of vaccination protocol," DOH said in a statement. "The vaccine recipient, who was filming the incident, noticed that the healthcare worker failed to push the contents of the syringe. The vaccination site was quick to address the mistake and she was successfully vaccinated after showing the video to the vaccination team."

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III was appalled with the negligence, but he said it was an honest mistake.

"It can be attributed to honest error on the part na nakalimutang itusok yung karga," he said. "Sa mga mamamayan, baka pwede maya't-maya silipin ninyo kung ang syringe ay talagang naubos ang karga. Pagod din ang ating bakunador."

[Translation: It can be attributed to an honest error when they forgot to inject the content. To the public, maybe you can check if the contents of the syringe is used up. Our vaccinators are also tired.]

He also reminded all vaccinators to exercise an abundance of caution during inoculation.

Makati Mayor Abby Binay said the nurse has already sent an apology, which she said she accepted because it was a "human error."

Earlier, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said the video and audio, where a Tagalog conversation can be heard, could have been manipulated to cast doubts on the government's vaccination drive.

"Imbestigahan natin kung authentic ang video kasi lumalabas galing ang video sa Indonesia at ibang area... Ang tagal natin nagva-vaccinate, wala tayong instances na ganyan. Ang nakita nong viral na yan noon pa. I think somebody wanted to stir up controversy against our ongoing national vaccination program. Kung talagang totoo yan, we will penalize," he said.

[Translation: We will investigate the authenticity of the video. It seems it came from Indonesia or another area. We have been conducting vaccinations for so long, but there have been no similar instances. I've seen that viral video before. I think somebody wanted to stir up controversy against our ongoing national vaccination program. If it's true, we will penalize those at fault.]

Over 10 million COVID-19 shots have been administered in the country since March, with at least 2.52 million Filipinos completing their vaccination.

CNN Philippines correspondent Melissa Lopez contributed to this report.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28)  The Department of Environment and Natural Resources belied the Rotterdam-based Ocean Cleanups study identifying Pasig River as the most polluting river in the world when it comes to plastic waste.

Ocean Cleanups report stated that 62,591 tons of plastic coming from the Pasig River go to the oceans every year.

READ: Pasig River as world's top plastic polluter a 'badge of dishonor'  Roque

However, Environment Undersecretary Benny Antiporda claimed the basis of the study is outdated, noting the figures were based on 2016 data.

We cannot accept Pasig River is number one all over the world, Antiporda said, saying the government already started its rehabilitation in 2019.

Antiporda said Ocean Cleanup failed to use the proper method in assessing the Philippine rivers situation, adding that their study was only based on geographical data, terrain, flow, and the number of nearby informal settlers.

An in-depth review and assessment of the data from governmental efforts under the current DENR leadership showed a different conclusion. The method used did not reflect that the actual condition of plastic waste from land coming to the river have variation during the summer, low discharge rate and rainy, high discharge rate, he said.

The major study used a probabilistic approach. Probabilistic po, hindi po data-based approach ang ginamit (a data-based approach was not used)," the DENR official added.

Environmental Management Bureau Assistant Director Vizminda Osorio also said the "river warriors" have already been catching most of the solid waste in the Pasig River even before it flows to Manila Bay.

In 2020, she said they were able to collect 7 tons of plastic waste, which is equivalent to 216,044 sacks.

Ibig sabihin, na-prevent na kaagad itong... na-control natin hindi mapunta sa Manila Bay and then sa ocean, she said.

[Translation: This meant, it was prevented immediately...we were able to control it, for it to not end up in the Manila Bay and then the ocean.]

Environmental Management Bureau Director William Cunado also pointed out that the coliform level in Manila Bay has already improved.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28)  The Department of Justice said there is no proof that accused drug lord Peter Go Lim has left the Philippines, but cannot say whether he is still in the country.

"There is no record of departure by Peter Go Lim. His last recorded foreign travel was in 2017," Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said in a message to reporters on Monday.

However, Guevarra admitted there was no assurance that Lim was still in the couintry, given the country's geography.

"We cannot really be sure... Our country has a very extensive coastline. There are known backdoors in our southern borders," he said.

Guevarra said Lim's passport expired in 2019.

The Bureau of Immigration said Lim has several namesakes "with at least one having left the country recently," but he had no recent departure records.

"I can only answer with regards to if he left via our airports or seaports. If he used a fraudulent passport, then our equipment would be able to detect it," said Immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval.

Lim, a businessman based in Cebu, is allegedly part of the illgeal drug trade but has denied all accusations of such. He even personally appeared to President Rodrigo Duterte to clear his name.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28)  President Rodrigo Duterte ordered on Monday the use of all government air and sea assets in the storage and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

We are using all assets of government, be it plane, boat or anong klaseng barko, para mahatid lang sa far-flung places yung bakuna [or any kind of ship, which will be used to transport vaccines to far-flung places], Duterte said during his weekly briefing.

Duterte appealed to local government units to let national government officials know in advance if they have adequate vaccine storage capacity so that the vaccines transported by military ships or planes would not go to waste.

It will go to waste kung magdala kami doon na wala kayong [if we bring vaccines but you dont have] refrigeration or something akin to it that would ensure the integrity of the vaccine, said Duterte. The military assures us that they will take care of the delivery for as long as you have the refrigeration or equipment necessary to preserve the efficacy of the medicine.

The President made the remark after Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana presented to him the 20 Philippine Army hospitals, eight Philippine Air Force hospitals, nine Philippine Navy hospitals, and 11 Unified Area Command hospitals that will aid local government units in the national vaccination program.

In anticipation of the arrival of huge volumes of vaccines, I have alerted the military hospitals all over the country to assist the LGUs (local government units) in the vaccination program, Lorenzana said.

Lorenzana added that 11 military ships have refrigeration capacity to store vaccines, which will be useful in distributing the doses in remote islands of the country.

The countrys defense chief said military airplanes are also ready to transport vaccines to distant areas.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. said the Philippines breached the 10-million mark in its vaccination program last June 26.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28)  A factory worker in Valenzuela City received his two-day salary in centavo coins.

The worker sought help from Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian on Monday after getting his 1,056 pay in five and ten centavo coins.

Gatchalian met the worker and the representative of Next Green Factory to discuss the complaint. The owner of the company will be summoned in their next meeting as he is out of town.

Mayor REX reiterates that industry workers should be treated accordingly and not be demoralized, the Twitter post of the Valenzuela City government reads.

In a separate statement, Gatchalian said he will face the owner of the company on Wednesday together with the worker who complained to him.

"Sending a company representative won't cut it for me. I'll see to it that we get to the bottom of this "cruel and unusual" labor practice and deal with it accordingly," Gatchalian said.

According to a circular issued by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in 2006, coins in denomination of 1 to 5 can be accepted as payment in amount not exceeding 1,000.00.

Coins in denomination of 1 centavo, 5 centavos, 10 centavos, and 25 centavos can be used to pay an amount not exceeding 100.00, the circular added.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28)  The OCTA Research group favors an extension of the general community quarantine status in Metro Manila to July  a likely scenario, according to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque.

OCTAs recommendation comes amid the threat of the highly transmissible Delta and Delta Plus COVID-19 variants across the world.

Speaking with CNN Philippines' New Day on Monday, OCTA Research fellow Guido David said he prefers extending GCQ in the capital region even while increasing the capacity of businesses to bolster economic recovery.

"For the NCR, we could add capacity to businesses," David said. "We could open some other businesses, but I agree with the position of the DOH (Department of Health) that we should maintain GCQ in the NCR because although the trend is decreasing, the virus is still present."

Meanwhile, Roque said in a Malacanang briefing that he believes the capital region will remain under GCQ. Without explaining further, he added it may be difficult to change the level of COVID-19 restrictions at this time.

He clarified that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases will still meet on Monday to discuss the matter.

It is also still uncertain if the July quarantine classifications will be announced during President Rodrigo Dutertes address to the nation on Monday night, Roque said.

San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora also recommended keeping the GCQ status, noting that the public must not let their guard down.

"Given that there is indeed a real threat [brought by] the Delta variant and there's still cases, although low, but sustained, I would rather keep the GCQ status," Zamora said.

"Right now, we are seeing that businesses are operating, the economy is functioning while cases remain stable so I would rather have the GCQ," he added.

David said that while the national government continues to monitor the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) and its Delta Plus mutation (B.1.617.2.1) which has already been reported in other countries, the Philippines must continue to protect its borders.

Meanwhile, Philippine Genome Center executive director Cynthia Saloma told The Source on Monday that they continue to ramp up genome sequencing efforts but there has been no community transmission of the Delta variant in the Philippines so far. The 17 cases that were earlier recorded were all from returning Filipino travelers, she noted.

READ: PH records more cases of Delta coronavirus variant

David said Metro Manila is already under a moderate-low risk area, back to its pre-COVID-19 surge level. He warned, however, that loosening border restrictions may cause a surge that is worse than what the capital region experienced a few months ago.

In its report on Monday, OCTA bared that daily COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila decreased by 9%, from 731 per day from June 14 to 20 to 667 new cases daily over the past week.

The region has a 4.83 average daily attack rate, with 36% hospital bed occupancy, 45% bed occupancy, and 32% mechanical ventilator occupancy, "all within safe levels."

Navotas, San Juan and Pateros also logged the fewest daily cases of less than 10 among other local government units.

READ: OCTA flags 'serious surge' in NCR but lockdowns lower month-end projection

Zamora said speeding up their vaccination program is a way to further control COVID-19 transmission in their city. He added that so far, the local government has inoculated 63,960 residents or 75% of their 85,400 target population.

Metro Manila and Bulacan are currently under GCQ "with some restrictions" until June 30, while Rizal, Laguna and Cavite are under GCQ "with heightened restrictions" for the remainder of the month.

The national government advises the public to complete their COVID-19 doses, continue wearing face masks, face shields, and follow physical distancing rules to protect themselves from the virus.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28)  A close friend of the late former President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III shared how his old colleague convinced him to become a public servant with fervor.

Former Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras told CNN Philippines' The Source on Monday how his friend and former Ateneo classmate convinced him to work for the government even after declining the offer for at least "five times."

"I never in my wildest dream aspired to be in the government. I said no to him five times...finally sabi niya, pare nasaan na ang man-for-others? (finally he said, 'brother, what happened to man-for-others?)" Almendras shared, "I kind of got hit big time."

Aquino was referring to the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University's mission and vision "to train men and women-for-others."

Almendras was President of Manila Water Company before his appointment in government. He served as energy secretary, then as Cabinet secretary, and finally as foreign affairs secretary under the Aquino administration. He recently stepped down as president and CEO of the Ayala Corporation group.

"Before, private sector all the way naman ako. Never nga akong gustong tumawid (I was in the private sector all the way. I never wanted to cross that path) but he showed me na there are really good, honorable people there who really are just working to make this country a better place," Almendras added.

"As a person, he taught me that you need to hang on to the things you believe in," he added.

Almendras said had he been in Aquino's shoes, he probably would have easily given up as a public official, but his friend taught him the essence of serving "para sa bayan" (for the country).

"I always asked myself, had I been in his shoes and I had gone through difficulties, the challenges and problems he went through, I dont think I would have held on. I would probably have packed up and left this country or gone somewhere else," he said.

"But he showed me, hindi, para sa bayan. Kung hindi ako, sino? Kung hindi ikaw, sino? ('no, for the country. If not me, who? If not you, who?')"

Aquino served as president from 2010 to 2016. He died on Thursday, June 24, of renal disease secondary to diabetes.

He was laid to rest on Saturday. The 15th president of the nation was buried at the Manila Memorial Park in Paranaque City beside his parents, democracy icons former president Corazon "Cory" Aquino and former senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr.

READ: Former president Aquino laid to rest
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28)  The late former President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III was already preparing for a simple and quiet life after a kidney transplant that was already being eyed prior to his unexpected passing, a close friend bared on Monday.

Speaking to CNN Philippines' The Source, former Energy and Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras shared how his close friend and college classmate quietly battled his ailments until he eventually decided to undergo a transplant to improve his health condition.

Almendras said they were already making plans as to where the country's 15th president would stay for at least a year to recover from surgery.

"In fact, we had many plans," he said. "One was a place to stay for the one year after the transplant."

He said there were talks whether Aquino will stay in a farm or in a beach house to recuperate, while the former president already tapped certain people who would eventually take care of his dogs since he could not be exposed to them.

"We had long discussions on the sound system that we will set up to wherever this place was going to be," Almendras also said. "We had long discussions about which music servers and CDs ang ililipat doon (will be transferred)."

"He was a very simple man," he added. "It wasnt about plans on big things. He was looking forward to the quiet life as many people have been writing."

Almendras shared that Aquino was initially hesitant to get a transplant, and he would only do so if his kidney donor was neither a family member nor a child.

"Originally, the President did not believe in the idea of a transplant," Almendras disclosed, "Eventually, he became more open to transplant. He told me, papayag ako pero (I will say yes but) on one condition."

"'Hindi pwedeng galing sa kamag-anak ko, hindi pwedeng galing sa bata, hindi pwedeng galing sa any of the relatives." Almendras added. "Sabi niya, 'I still feel bad about somebody sacrificing a portion of his body for me.'"

[Translation: "The organ cannot come from someone from the family, from a child, or from any of the relatives," Almendras added. "He said, "I still feel bad about somebody sacrificing a portion of his body for me.']

Almendras also bared how Aquino used to insist on interacting with everyone, even the most ordinary ones who used to serve him. He said that the late former leader was generally not used to causing people any "inconvenience."

RELATED: 'Pare, nasaan ang man for others?': Ex-CabSec shares how PNoy convinced him to enter public service

Aquino, 61, died on June 24 of renal disease secondary to diabetes.

He was laid to rest on Saturday, June 26, at the Manila Memorial Park in Paranaque City beside his parents, former President Corazon "Cory" Aquino and former Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28) -- Senator Risa Hontiveros has filed a resolution seeking to declare July 12 as National West Philippine Sea Victory Day to commemorate the countrys arbitral victory against Beijing over the disputed waters in 2016.

In filing Proposed Senate Resolution No. 762, Hontiveros said having a date for the commemoration of the award is also a way to counter misinformation and disinformation that deliberately diminishes the ruling made by The Hague.

Celebrating a National WPS (West Philippine Sea) Day will enable Filipinos to understand and know more about the importance of fighting for the WPS, she said in a statement. Kung taon-taon nating mapaparangalan ang kahalagahan ng WPS, mas maisasapuso din natin ang ating karapatan sa ating sariling karagatan (If we will recognize the importance of the WPS every year, we will take to heart more our rights over our own territory).

Hontiveros added that the Senate resolution also honors the efforts made by the late President Noynoy Aquinos administration in securing the landmark win.

PNoy is the father of our 2016 victory at The Hague. If not for his unwavering commitment to put the Philippines first, we would not have been awarded a landmark legal decision in international law, which established our credibility in the global arena, said Hontiveros in a statement.

Under the Aquino administration, the country challenged Chinas claim over much of the South China Sea in 2013. Three years later on July 12, during President Rodrigo Dutertes term, the international court ruled in favor of the Philippines.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28)  A group of employers is pushing back against proposals to increase the number of service incentive leaves mandated by law.

In a Senate hearing on Monday, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said employees are already being granted several local and national non-working holidays, paid leaves, and even intermittent work suspensions due to typhoons and other calamities.

The Philippines already has one of the highest numbers of non-national working days in the ASEAN region. In addition, other paid leaves are provided for by existing laws, such as solo parent leave, maternity leave, paternity leave, gynecological leave, among others, said Robert Maronilla, ECOPs legal service manager.

He said the group is also "worried" about the negative impact on small and medium enterprises which have incurred losses due to the pandemic.

"Any further reduction of working days through additional leaves would have a critical impact on productivity and the cost of doing business," Maronilla added.

He also cited President Rodrigo Dutertes Proclamation No. 1107 which reduced the number of non-working days for 2021. For the country to recover from the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need to encourage economic productivity by, among others, minimizing work disruption and commemorating some special holidays as special (working) days instead, Dutertes proclamation read.

Under Senate Bills No. 425 and 641, and House Bill No. 1338 which was passed by the lower chamber last year, employees who have rendered service of at least one year shall be entitled to a service incentive leave of 10 days with pay, from the current five days under the Labor Code. Employees who already enjoy at least 10 days of vacation leave are not covered by the proposed measures.

Labor groups stressed that the current five-day service incentive leave is not enough.

The concern is those who have no unions. At present, the five-day service incentive leave, masyadong mababa (is too short), said Federation of Free Workers president Sonny Matula.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines believes an expanded service incentive leave would ensure workers' health, safety, and even productivity, contrary to ECOPs concerns.

Senator Joel Villanueva, chairman of the committee on labor, said lawmakers will look into these opposing views and try to find a balance. "We are fully aware of the timing and the sensitivity of this particular measure," he said.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 28)  The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology on Monday warned against the volcanic smog seen over Taal Volcano, which may cause health problems to nearby residents.

Phivolcs said the volcanic smog or vog  a type of air pollution  is a result of the volcanos continued emission of sulfur dioxide gas.

It said it observed high levels of such gas emission from the Taal main crater over the past two days, along with steam-rich plumes that have gone up as high as three kilometers.

The vog, Phivolcs explained, can cause irritation of the eyes, throat and respiratory tract. The severity of the effects depends on the gas concentrations and duration of exposure, it added.

Should SO2 (sulfur dioxide) gas emission continue at the same rate or increase, and atmospheric conditions promote the formation of vog, communities surrounding Taal Lake are advised to take necessary precautions, it said.

The agency noted those with health conditions, such as asthma, lung disease and heart disease, as well as the elderly, pregnant women and children should exercise a heightened level of caution.

If exposure to the vog cannot be avoided, the public is advised to take the following steps:

- Limit your exposure. Avoid outdoor activities, stay indoors, and shut doors and windows to block out vog.

- Protect yourself. Cover nose, ideally with an N95 face mask.

- Drink plenty of water to reduce any throat irritation or constriction.

- If belonging to the particularly sensitive group of people above, watch over yourself and seek help from a doctor or barangay health unit if needed.

- If serious effects are experienced, call the doctor or the barangay health unit.

Phivolcs also reminded that the Alert Level 2 (or increased unrest) prevails over Taal Volcano. This means the threat of sudden steam or gas-driven explosions and lethal accumulations or expulsion of volcanic gas may occur anytime and threaten areas within the Taal Volcano Island.

As such, the agency said venturing into the island must remain strictly prohibited.

RELATED: Phivolcs warns of possible Taal Volcano eruptions but says not as serious as January 2020 incident
The Senate introduced five bills Friday afternoon and ran them so fast through committees that it was a race to see whether anyone would get to see what was in those bills before they were reviewed by the committees.
I've been a reporter and editor at Missouri community newspapers for 35 years and joined the Columbia Missourian in 2003. My emphasis at the Missourian is on local government and elections. You can reach me at swaffords@missouri.edu or at 573-884-5366.

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The Danville Area Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday will consider recommending approval of a semi-final plat, 74 Eastgate Addition, for Danville Hospitality LLC. The property is the former Ramada Inn, now an Econo Lodge at 388 Eastgate Drive. Its being divided for potential future development. Jennifer Bailey | Commercial-News
06/28/2021

Photo (c) David Espejo - Getty Images Coronavirus (COVID-19) tally as compiled by Johns Hopkins University. (Previous numbers in parentheses.)

Total U.S. confirmed cases: 33,627,131 (33,622,105)

Total U.S. deaths: 603,979 (603,891)

Total global cases: 181,198,800 (180,846,945)

Total global deaths: 3,925,198 (3,918,516)

Study finds lasting immunity from Pfizer and Moderna vaccines

Some health experts have suggested that people who are vaccinated against the coronavirus may need booster shots to maintain immunity. A new study, published in the journal Nature, suggests otherwise.

Both drugs are mRNA vaccines, which apparently is the key to their lasting power to prevent the virus. Dr. Ali Ellebedy, an immunologist at Washington University in St. Louis who led the study, told the New York Times that the findings underscore how powerful the vaccines are.

The study did not include the vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson, but Ellebedy said its believed that the vaccines that do not use mRNA technology wont provide immunity that is as long-lasting.

FDA to add warning to Pfizer and Moderna vaccine fact sheets

While theres good news about the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines immunity properties, theres still a concerning issue about potential heart inflammation. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it plans to quickly add a warning to the fact sheets for both vaccines.

"Based on the available data, a warning statement in the fact sheets for both health care providers and vaccine recipients and caregivers would be warranted in this situation," said Doran Fink, deputy director of FDA's vaccines division.

A safety panel advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said theres a likely association between a rare heart inflammatory condition in adolescents and young adults following COVID-19 vaccination. The condition is said to mostly affect young men.

U.S. closely watching how the U.K. deals with the Delta variant

U.S. health officials are keeping a wary eye on the U.K., where COVID-19 cases involving the Delta variant have surged in recent weeks. The concern is that the British experience could be repeated in the U.S. in areas where vaccination efforts have lagged.

It just exploded in the U.K., Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Bidens chief medical advisor, told NBC News. It went from a minor variant to now more than 90% of the isolates in the U.K.

Fauci said it is alarming how quickly the Delta variant spreads. He said it became the dominant strain in the U.K. in about two weeks.

Around the nation
06/28/2021

Photo (c) Josie Desmarais - Getty Images Juul Labs, one of the most well-known e-cigarette companies, will pay $40 million to the state of North Carolina to settle charges that it marketed its products to teens and misled the public about their safety. Officials say the money will be paid over six years and will go towards young people who have been negatively impacted by e-cigarettes.

The lawsuit was originally filed back in 2019 by state attorney general Josh Stein. Under the settlement, Juul will no longer be able to sell flavored e-cigarettes in North Carolina and it will need to change its marketing practices.

Juul must abandon all marketing strategies and content that appeals to young people. Juul will be prohibited from influencer advertising, outdoor advertising near schools, sponsoring sporting events and concerts, and most importantly, most social media advertising. Juul cannot use anyone under the age of 35 years in their advertising. Juul cannot make any claims that its e-cigarettes are safer or better for your health than combustible cigarettes, Stein said.

In addition to those mandates, Juul will also be required to implement a barcode age-verification system at establishments that sell its products. Consumers who shop online will only be able to buy two of Juuls e-cigarette devices and 60 of its pods per month, with a cap of 10 devices per year.

Juul has faced a lot of legal headwinds from various states over the past few years. The company saw actions taken against it in California, Massachusetts, New York, and other states over similar claims of marketing to teens and youths. In September 2019, the legal pressure became so immense that the companys CEO stepped down and it decided to suspend advertising efforts in the U.S.
06/28/2021

Photo (c) John M Lund Photography Inc - Getty Images Virgin Galactics long-term goal of taking passengers into space has just taken a big positive turn. On Friday, the companys license for space transportation was updated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to include passengers -- making it the first company granted permission to do so.

Now that the British-American spaceflight company has received the FAAs blessing, its moving forward with test flights and data collection to keep the initiative on track. Virgin Galactic said the approval is further substantiation of the meticulous testing program it had in place -- one which has met the verification and validation criteria required by the FAA.

First full test flight coming soon

The company is certainly ready to get started. It said its already succeeded with three minimally crewed test flights -- including the first from New Mexicos Spaceport America. It plans to launch a fully crewed test flight soon.

Were incredibly pleased with the results of our most recent test flight, which achieved our stated flight test objectives, Michael Colglazier, Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Galactic, said in a statement. He noted that the flight achieved a speed of Mach 3 (2,301.81 mph) and reached an altitude of 55.5 miles.

The flight performed flawlessly, and the results demonstrate the safety and elegance of our flight system. Approval by the FAA of our full commercial launch license, in conjunction with the success of our May 22 test flight, give us confidence as we proceed toward our first fully crewed test flight this summer.

Start saving your pennies

If youre hoping to get a ticket for one of Virgin Galactics flights, itll cost you -- about a quarter-million dollars. That boarding pass will allow you to experience weightlessness for a few minutes and see planet Earth from high above.

In the interim, the companys test flights are already making money. The latest flight successfully carried three revenue-generating research experiments that tested and demonstrated technologies in microgravity as part of NASAs Flight Opportunities Program.
D33.cc scored 45 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 2/5.0 Stars by Social Team

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Editor's note: In this commentary, industry expert Akshay Talai shares personal insights on the evolution and re-invention of cosmetic ingredients. He has 20+ years in the industry, overseeing all aspects of R&D, including for some of the largest multinationals.

Twenty five years ago, after experiencing the clinically driven and regulated pharmaceutical industry, I joined the innovative world of beauty. Intuitively, my passion was to bring highly efficacious and dermatology-inspired products into cosmetics. New to the cosmetic industry as a bench chemist, I envisioned my lab as an "apothecary" to compound creative and breakthrough formulations using alpha hydroxy acids, retinoids, niacinamide, vitamin C, salicylic acid, caffeine, hyaluronic acid and amino peptides.

In fact, my first patent granted in the industry in 1998 was for the stabilization of retinol in a commercial cosmetic serum. I remember those days when I used to suit up, head to toe, in personal protective equipment (PPE), handling concentrated retinol in yellow lighted chambers and gassing nitrogen in aluminum foiled packaging.

See archived: Protection of Retinol in Organosilica Microparticles

Fast forward to today and ... guess what? Products are still being launched claiming stabilized retinol. Key trending molecules across the world in most leading brands are also the same as I had in my tool chest decades ago. What is different is we are now using higher percentages and playing the numbers game boldly on front of the package. We are creating "fancy" product textures such as jellies, oil-serums, fat-waters; and we are presenting newer marketing messages of conscious beauty. Over the years, I have seen many of these cyclical trends phasing in and out and resurfacing with redesigned and different flavors.

Natural Ingredients

Antioxidants to adaptogens: Historically, natural ingredients were always the backbone of the cosmetics industry, and I personally have used almost everything commonly known to target wrinkles, pigmentation, skin dryness, barrier function, excess skin oil, sensitive skin, etc. What started as high-performing antioxidants, such as ginseng, cordyceps, goji berry, schisandra, turmeric, licorice and holy basil, have recently resurfaced as adaptogens.

Cultural to ayurvedic and TCM: Cultural and indigenous ingredients, e.g., coleus, clary sage, boswellia, Indian gooseberry, Centella asiatica and bitter melon, have reemerged as ayurvedic herbs. Gingko, chaga mushroom, green tea catechins, lotus root and mung bean have all had their days of glory and are now rebranded as Traditional Chinese Medicine, inspired thanks to the exponential growth of the beauty industry in China.

Amazonian to ethnic-centered, and superfoods: Resources from the Amazon rainforest also have been tapped into to uncover exotic ingredients such as acai, babassu oil, murumuru butter, cupuacu butter and buriti fruit oil, and have made their way back into ethnically centered beauty brands. Leaves, roots, flowers, berries or fruit extracts rich in natural vitamins, polyphenols, minerals, fiber and phytochemicals such as spinach, kale, pineapple, broccoli, lycopene-rich tomatoes and watermelon have all made a comeback as superfoods.

Products sell as a complete package of six key criteria: product branding and communication, consumer experience plus perceived performance, consumer perception, quality, value and convenience.

Historically, all these natural ingredients made their way through the food or nutritional industry (hint: resveratrol and cannabinoids) to an equally lesser-regulated cosmetic industry, where the emotional attachment to these materials truly impacts the buying habits of the consumer. The current challenge is for chemists and marketers to reintroduce these ingredients as new again (remember plant stem cells?).

Cross-pollination from foods, nutritionals: Chemists and marketers are also on the lookout for inspirational ingredients at nutraceutical and food trade shows to find plants and folklore-based naturals that have not yet entered cosmetics. This has led to the introduction of hemp seed oil, coriander extract, moringa extract and plum oil in recent years.

Bio-fermentation to antimicrobials, prebiotics, sustainable solutions: There was a time when bio-fermentation, enzymes and biotechnology were the biggest trend; and yeast, bacteria and mushroom ferments were found in everything from acne and skin brightening, to anti-aging products. Now, we see a resurgence of these technologies to introduce antimicrobial ferments in self-preserving products. Also, the gut-inspired skin microbiome trend has brought ferments to the forefront surprisingly repositioned as prebiotic materials, along with traditionally used sugars, polysaccharides, lipids and natural plant materials.

These technologies have also been exploited to efficiently recreate petrochemical-based materials and biodegradable materials in bioreactors while sustainably growing existing plant-based molecules in bio-cultures. The consumer demand for naturalness has driven the use of biotech to re-create historical synthetic molecules through natural meansthere is already a quest to find a "natural" niacinamide, retinol and salicylic acidand lab-grown animal-sourced bioactives have been a delight for the cruelty-free society. Does cholesterol, collagen and elastin ring a bell?

Extremophiles and Earth sourced: Over the years, we have even tapped into exotic materials sourced from meteorites that rocked Mother Earth; precious gems; stones such as hematite, malachite and tourmaline; and even searched every continent to grab extremophiles and thermophiles, from the Sahara Desert to Antarctica. Ores of mountains have been dug to provide mineral sunscreens, clays such as calamine, volcanic ash, montmorillonite and fullers earth. Oceans and riverbeds have vastly been explored to bring us diverse algae, sea salt and coral extracts.

See related: Inside Ingredients; Diatomaceous Earth

J- and K-Beauty: Japanese Beauty, or J-Beauty, has been an epicenter of cosmetic dominance and a benchmark for premium essences, waters and serums. Korean or K-Beauty trends brought a spark into the industry with much-needed freshness. Economically, it was a boon to cosmetic companies, as women were suddenly using a regimen of 10 products instead of their usual two; and they even started double cleansing.

It all started with trendsetting BB creams but in truth, to the eyes of the discerning chemist, the future was a year-on year explosion of numerous cleverly branded products with the same molecules or natural ingredients. Examples include cica creams; elegant new product textures like bubbling oxygenating masks; creative product names in modern packaging, e.g., TonyMolys Magic Food Banana Sleeping Pack (a banana-scented night cream in a banana-shaped tube); or novel delivery systems such as sheet masks, freeze-dried tablets and micro-needle hyaluronic acid patches.

Clean and conscious beauty: More recent trends are clean and conscious beauty, following philosophies that encompass the following:

1. Simplicity and minimalism, using fewer ingredients; however, brands like Cetaphil, Eucerin, Nivea and Vaseline were pioneers of their time;

2. Vegan beauty, naturalness, eco-conscious and sustainability, but brands like Origins and Aveda were already playing in this space 20 years ago;

3. Free-from and fear-mongering claims that exclude and proclaim ingredients that are considered taboo by self-regulated retailers or indie brand founders. They forget that scientifically speaking, every ingredient used to build a formula is a chemical;

4. Naturally preserved or preservative-free claims, which expert chemists achieve by using non-traditional chemical ingredients that are not classified as a preservative. These ingredients are still performing a preservation function, they are just not listed as a preservative. Only aseptically manufactured and sealed products are truly preservative-free, which exists primarily in the pharma industry; and

5. Water-free beauty for a better planet, including balms, sticks, bars, oils and pressed powders, all have been water-free and existed for ages.

Most high-performing, standardized ingredients will succeed in the long run through a synthetic route; i.e., where biology, chemistry and targeted action can be cleverly manipulated for optimized functionality.

The clean and conscious beauty trend has brought forth many green-washing claims, and approximately 50% of all products launched today have some type of natural claim. On a positive note, however, it brought transparency to consumers and cosmetic houses are sincerely sharing more authentic information and being more ethically, ecologically and socially conscious about the products they create.

Relatively soon, if not by the time this article meets your eyes, most products will be in some shape or form that is self-compliant with the clean beauty categoryand there will be minimal differentiation between them. So, this just a small detour on another cyclical wave until we jump on to the next trend.

Old Favorites and Key Messages/Product Criteria

Most current skin care formulations are still based on the same historic, tried-and-tested, ages-old winners such as humectants (e.g., glycerin, glycols, polyols and sugars); emollients (including plant oils, fatty acids, esters and butters); and structuring agents (ranging from emulsifiers, waxes and polymers to thickening agents). The remainder of the formula is filled with emotive ingredients and/or performance-based hero ingredients.

As I have navigated these cyclical trends throughout my career, two key messages emerge: 1) what is old is always new again and 2) no idea is a bad idea. Also, eventually the product sells as a complete package of six key criteria: product branding and communication, consumer experience plus perceived performance, consumer perception, quality, value and convenience.

Hero Molecule? Synthetic is the Way Forward

Circling back to the core question: Are we desperately in need of a new hero molecule that is tried and tested and clinically proven as the way forward?

While the industry would love to use active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), the laws clearly prevent us from doing so; although we are awfully close to blurring those lines. The recent use of tranexamic acid and azelaic acid in higher percentages are examples. Long before mRNA made the headlines as a COVID-19 vaccine, this advanced technology was being embedded in the genes of the cosmetics industry by both raw material manufacturers and finished goods houses.

The possibility of a new molecule coming from botanicals is surely promising, too. And naturals always have a leg up with consumers based on familiarity and marketability. Take bakuchiol, for example. However, most high-performing, standardized ingredients will succeed in the long run through a synthetic route; i.e., where the biology, chemistry and targeted action can be cleverly manipulated for optimized functionality.

Until then, to meet the demand for products launches based on real-world trends, we will see more of the same concoctions of teas, ceramides and vitamins. These will be presented in elegant souffles of aerogels catering both to the mindful hedonists and Gen Zswho are practical, Google informed, influenced by social media, innovation hungry, eco-conscious and seeking a multifunctional approach to balance their need of science and spirituality.
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Marvel's first attempt to modernize the character, Spider-Man: Chapter One, was just a lazy retelling of the original 1962 stories but with more skateboards and backwards caps. Somehow, it failed to turn Marvel's fortunes around. But Marvel still liked the basic idea, so in 2000 they tried again with Ultimate Spider-Man, which actually made Peter look and sound like a bullied millennial teen who gets bitten by a genetically modified spider (minus the part where the hospital costs bankrupt his family for generations).

Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics Money issues and untreated mental illness? Yep, definitely a millennial.

Ultimate Spider-Man was a hit, and you could see its cultural influence almost right away when the 2002 Spider-Man movie took many pointers from it (as did every other Spidey movie after that). Ultimate X-Men also sold a crapload of comics, so Marvel asked the same writer, Mark Millar, to give the Ultimate treatment to the Avengers next. At the time, Millar was best known for being the second writer on DC's The Authority, a controversial series based on showing superheroes as they would be in the "real world" -- that is, ultra-violent, kind of unpleasant, and not terribly concerned by stuff like "borders" or "international law."

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It's worth noting that one issue written by Millar featured the Authority brutally beating up a group of fascist "superheroes" who looked suspiciously like Marvel's top characters (but slightly less so after DC made some changes on the "Captain America" one).

Marvel Comics "Eh, you can leave the rest as they are. No one's heard of that Iron Man guy anyway."

Incidentally, by the time Marvel came calling, Millar had just quit DC because they kept censoring references to stuff like necrophilia, oral sex, and (most offensively) George W. Bush on The Authority. Apparently, Millar's pitch to Marvel was "I'm gonna do that, more or less, but with your characters." Marvel said "sure," and the result was called The Ultimates, either because they didn't want to risk ruining the Avengers brand, or because there was no Avengers brand at that point, so who cared?
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Anyway, each battle lasts about 3-4 episodes because Record of Ragnarok is a proud graduate of the Dragon Ball Z by way of the WWE school of fighting where everyone spends 90% of their time talking about their backstories, transforming into their ultimate forms, and naming their kicks super-extra names like The Divine Axe. But that remaining 10% is a shot of pure, uncut awesomeness straight into your eyeballs, and, besides, the non-fighting stuff is equally insane, with a nice additional helping of blasphemy.

Take the story of the Biblical Adam who goes up against Zeus armed with a knuckleduster (hell yeah), and reveals through flashbacks that he hates gods because the Biblical Serpent tried to sexually assault Eve, and when she escaped from him, he framed her for eating the Forbidden Fruit. In court. Where one of the jurors was Cthulhu. Mmmm, sacrilicious!

Netflix

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By the way, not everyone is too cool with deities being turned into Mortal Kombat characters as envisioned by Ricky Gervais. One of the gods featured in the anime is Shiva, who is still very much worshipped by Hindu people, and whose portrayal in Record of Ragnarok actually got the show banned in India. Its probably why most of the heavenly hitters come from Greek or Norse mythology cause, you know, those dont literally have a billion followers.

But its the human fighters who are the most intense part of the show. Think Adam vs. Zeus is an insane set-up? The fourth battle is fought between Jack the Ripper (definitely the guy you want proving that humanity is worth saving) and Hercules, with future contestants including Nicolai Tesla, Nostradamus, Rasputin, Leonidas, and Simo Hayha, the insane Finnish sniper. I dont think Hayha is even going to need any help from the Valkyries. They can just stuff him full of meth like that other Finnish superman, and hell soon be able to kill Beelzebub who, by the way, is also going to be fighting in the tournament.

Netflix

So pour yourself a glass of bathtub gin, put on Record of Ragnarok, and slowly come to terms with the fact that you are now an anime fan. Your official Anime Thor body pillow will arrive in the mail in 5 to 6 business days. No, you dont get to choose the design. Yes, you are lying to yourself that you wouldnt have gone with Anime Thor anyway.

Follow Cezary on Twitter.

Top Image: Netflix
Anna Mae Wilson-Welborn, 86, of Crossville, passed away at her home surrounded by her family on Monday, June 28, 2021. She was born July 11, 1934, in Spencer, TN, daughter of the late Floyd Stanton Dodson and Annie (Lawson) Dodson. Anna worked as a seamstress and was of the Baptist faith. Sh
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Following the epic ransomware attacks on Colonial Pipeline and top meat producer JBS, some government officials have called on Congress and the administration to ban organizations from making ransom payments to threat actors. The goal of such a ban would be to codify the FBI's current advice: Don't pay ransomware attackers lest you encourage more of the same.

Despite some support at the federal level, most administration officials don't seem to embrace the idea of an outright ban fully. "Typically, that is a private-sector decision, and the administration has not offered further advice at this time," Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cybersecurity, told reporters at a White House press briefing in May. No member of Congress or the Senate has yet introduced legislation banning ransom payments.

Four states propose to ban ransom payments

But the picture is different at the state level. So far, four states have five pending pieces of legislation that would either ban paying a ransom or substantially restrict paying it. In New York, Senate Bill S6806A "prohibits governmental entities, business entities, and health care entities from paying a ransom in the event of a cyber incident or a cyber ransom or ransomware attack."

Another New York Senate bill, Senate Bill S6154, provides money so that local governments can upgrade their networks. But it also "restricts the use of taxpayer money in paying ransoms in response to ransomware attacks."

New York stands alone in terms of barring private sector businesses from paying a ransom. Legislatures in North Carolina (House Bill 813), Pennsylvania (Senate Bill 726), and Texas (House Bill 3892) are all considering bills that would prohibit the use of state and local taxpayer money or other public money to pay a ransom payment. This public money prohibition would likely hamstring local governments from paying off ransomware attackers.

Pennsylvania Republican State Senator Kristin Phillips-Hill tells CSO she introduced her Safeguarding the Commonwealth from Ransomware Attacks bill to discourage at least some ransomware attacks, those aimed at public agencies, by removing the attackers financial incentives. If cybercriminals are rewarded for their efforts, they will simply continue to launch ransomware attacks, she says.

Phillips-Hills bill also aims to develop guidelines agencies should follow in beefing up their preparedness to respond to ransomware attacks. The bill, however, does not appropriate any funds to help agencies bolster their ransomware response capabilities.

Banning ransom payments could hurt more than help

These bills are understandable reactions to the frightening shut-down of both Colonial Pipeline and JBS in the wake of their high-profile infections. But legislation banning ransom payments would likely cause more harm than good, industry experts say, particularly given the short response windows and complexity of most ransomware attacks.

"In the end, I think you're going to be hurting just by banning payments," Tyler Hudak, incident response practice lead at TrustedSec, tells CSO. "You're gonna be hurting more than helping."

The harm from banning ransom payments is particularly true given the growing sophistication of ransomware attackers, who often lurk in networks for weeks, mapping out the organization, stealing data to hold hostage in a second ransom demand, and possibly wiping out system backups. "If attackers are successful and they are able to remove backups, then sometimes the only way to get that data back is to pay the ransom," Hudak says.

"Whether or not to pay a ransom is an extremely hard choice for a business to make," Adam Kujawa, director of Malwarebytes Lab, tells CSO. "Despite what many may believe, paying the ransom isn't the most expensive part of an attack and certainly isn't the end of the experience for businesses under attack. There are many larger issues here that need to be considered, including how to prevent these attacks in the first place and how to crack down on the actors themselves."

An outright ban on ransom payments "would mean that many businesses tempted to pay the ransom may be less likely to disclose a breach, which would impact both our understanding of the latest ransomware threats and leave customers of impacted businesses in the dark," Kujawa says.

Bill Siegel, CEO of ransomware first responder firm Coveware, agrees. "I think the idea of an out and out prohibition as an immediate fix to the problem is kind of pedantically academic at best," Siegel tells CSO. "It would actually lead to the development of a very murky market of service providers that are either offshore or are not law-abiding that cater to companies that have to pay in order to save their businesses."

Paying ransom could mean survival

The problem is that many, if not most organizations, might collapse if paying a ransom is not an option. "If you need to pay, it's because you're in pain," Siegel says.

Banning ransom payments is akin to deciding that some organizations should live but others should die. "Which business sectors, municipalities, schools, or non-profit organizations are you okay with losing?" asks Chris Ballod, associate managing director, Kroll. "Our official position is we would prefer you don't pay the ransom, but we understand when it's between the jobs of a thousand people, the livelihoods of a thousand people, and paying a ransomware actor. We understand you're going to make that decision."

Even more concerning for municipalities is the potential shut-down of essential services. "You can imagine, worst-case scenario, let's say a 9-1-1 system gets compromised and ransomed," TrustedSec's Hudak says. If they can't pay a ransom, "they have to rebuild a 9-1-1 system from the bottom up. That's not an overnight job. That's something that's going to take days or weeks to do."

Mandatory ransomware attack reporting a better alternative

A better alternative to banning ransom payments is requiring companies to report ransomware attacks to a central authority, as most of the state bills also do. "We've clearly seen that a more effective strategy against ransomware is for everyone to share their attack data and use that information to empower our investigative services to go after the criminals, not the victims," Malwarebytes Kujawa says.

Coveware's Siegel says that "the United States should do something at the federal level to require reporting and to require some subset of information to be collected. It is a very good idea because there could be a centralized repository for mandatory notification and coordination of what to do with the active attacks, whether it be law enforcement investigation, aggregation of data, to put out notices, whatever."

On the other hand, mandating ransomware attack reporting requirements at the state level could likely impose unnecessary burdens on organizations, Siegel says. "It becomes very complicated because companies exist across different states. It could actually add to the cost of compliance with any sort of notification requirements associated with these attacks."

The best solution is to harden infrastructure

The best solution to managing ransom infections is to harden infrastructure to handle these attacks better while also hiring more security personnel. "You still can't keep going with old legacy servers and firmware and one to two people servicing an organization with several thousand employees and endpoints," Siegel says. "That's just the recipe for the attacks continuing."

Ballod points to the more significant investments in data protection technology fostered by the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as a critical factor in why ransomware attacks are not as severe in Europe as they are in the U.S. "It's made [European] targets more hardened. It's just made them harder to get into, [making them less attractive], particularly when you've got wide open targets here in the United States, or more of them, anyway," he says.
3 1 of 3 Photo by Paul Mutino / Patrick Nagatani Estate / Contributed photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Paul Mutino / Patrick Nagatani Estate / Contributed photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3





From the ghost photography of the Victorian era to the airbrushed portraits of todays models and celebrities, its clear that pictures are not always what they appear. And while some images are meant to deceive, others are clearly manipulated, tweaked to amuse or challenge, educate or outrage.

Count Patrick Nagatani (1945-2017) among those for whom photography was more than a matter of pure optics. Chicago-born and California-bred, he devoted much of his effort to addressing the multi-faceted fallout of the atomic age. Chain Reaction: The Photography of Patrick Nagatani  on view at the Bruce Museum June 27 through Oct. 31  offers a good look at the photographers concerns and how he used his chosen medium to open eyes and minds.
When health care leaders in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country began laying out a strategy to distribute COVID-19 vaccines, they knew it would be a tough sell with the Amish, who tend to be wary of preventive shots and government intervention.

Early on, they posted flyers at farm supply stores and at auctions where the Amish sell handmade furniture and quilts. They sought advice from members of the deeply religious and conservative sect, who told them not to be pushy. And they asked three newspapers widely read by the Amish to publish ads promoting the vaccine. Two refused.

By May, two rural vaccination clinics had opened at a fire station and a social services center, both familiar places to the Amish in Lancaster County. During the first six weeks, 400 people showed up. Only 12 were Amish.

The vaccination drive is lagging far behind in many Amish communities across the U.S. following a wave of virus outbreaks that swept through their churches and homes during the past year. In Ohio's Holmes County, home to the nation's largest concentration of Amish, just 14% of the county's overall population is fully vaccinated.

While their religious beliefs dont forbid them to get vaccines, the Amish are generally less likely to be vaccinated for preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough. Though vaccine acceptance varies by church district, the Amish often rely on family tradition and advice from church leaders, and a core part of their Christian faith is accepting Gods will in times of illness or death.

Many think they don't need the COVID-19 vaccine now because they've already gotten sick and believe their communities have reached herd immunity, according to health care providers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana, home to nearly two-thirds of the estimated 345,000 Amish in the U.S.

Thats the No. 1 reason we hear, said Alice Yoder, executive director of community health at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, a network of hospitals and clinics.

Experts say the low vaccination rates are a reflection of both the nature of the Amish and the general vaccine hesitancy found in many rural parts of the country.

Because many Amish work and shop alongside their neighbors and hire them as drivers, they hear the skepticism, the worries about side effects and the misinformation surrounding the vaccine from the English, or non-Amish, world around them even though they shun most modern conveniences.

They're not getting that from the media. They're not watching TV or reading it on the internet. They're getting it from their English neighbors, said Donald Kraybill, a leading expert on the Amish. In many ways, they are simply reflecting rural America and the same attitudes.

In one case, an anti-vaccine group took out a full-page newspaper ad showing a smashed buggy with the words Vaccines can have unintended consequences.

Public health officials trying to combat the confusion and hesitancy have put up billboards where the Amish travel by horse and buggy, sent letters to bishops and offered to take the vaccines into their homes and workplaces, all without much success.

Its not due to lack of effort, said Michael Derr, the health commissioner in Holmes County, Ohio. But this thing is so politically charged."

Some health clinics that serve the Amish are hesitant to push the issue for fear of driving them away from getting blood pressure checks and routine exams.

One local business and the organizers of a community event told the health department in Holmes County that it would no longer be welcome if it brought the vaccine to them, Derr said.

Staff members at the Parochial Medical Center, which serves the Amish and Mennonites in Pennsylvanias Lancaster County, encourage patients to get the vaccine, but many have little fear of the virus, said Allen Hoover, the clinics administrator.

Most of them listen and are respectful, but you can tell before youre finished that theyve already made up their mind, he said.

The clinic, he said, hardly sees any virus cases now after dealing with as many as five a day last fall. I would suspect weve gained some kind of immunity. I know thats up for debate, but I think thats why were seeing only a spattering right now, Hoover said.

Relying on possible herd immunity when little testing has taken place among the Amish is risky, said Esther Chernak, director of the Center for Public Health Readiness and Communication at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Its not a community living on an island, not interacting with other people, she said. They dont have zero interaction with the outside world, so theyre still exposed.

Also, how long someone remains immune after having COVID-19 isnt clear, and many experts advise getting vaccinated because it brings a higher level of protection.

Close to 180 million Americans  54% of the population  have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Experts say low vaccination rates could allow the virus to mutate and make a comeback.

During the first months of the pandemic, the Amish followed social distancing guidelines and stopped gathering for church and funerals, said Steven Nolt, a scholar at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania.

But when non-Amish neighbors and local elected officials began pushing back against state and federal mandates, they resumed the gatherings, he said. What followed was a surge of outbreaks last summer, Nolt said.

Most now say they have already had the virus and dont see a need to get vaccinated, said Mark Raber, who is Amish and a member of a settlement in Daviess County, Indiana, which has one of the state's lowest vaccination rates.

As long as everything stays the same, I dont think Ill get it, he said.

Changing those opinions will require building trusting relationships with the Amish, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report looking at outbreaks in those communities last year.

What won't work, health care providers say, is bombarding the Amish with statistics and vaccine lotteries because of their general mistrust and rejection of government help. The Amish don't accept Social Security benefits.

Trevor Thain, who owns Topeka Pharmacy in northern Indiana, where there are 25,000 Amish, worked with the CDC on bridging communication gaps in LaGrange County, where just 18% of all residents are fully vaccinated.

Since the vaccine became available, they've immunized 4,200 people, perhaps only 20 of them Amish, he said.

A few weeks ago he put out flyers offering private appointments or doses dispensed inside homes. Only a few Amish people responded, Thain said, including one who came with a request: Dont tell my family.
BETHEL  A state police trooper arrested last week became the latest member of his agency to be charged with driving under the influence in recent years.

Andrew Murphy, 33, a state trooper out of Troop A in Southbury, was accused of repeatedly ignoring a Bethel police officers commands when he was found struggling to keep his balance in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven near his home last Sunday, according to an incident report.

Murphy, who is free after posting $500 bond, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in state Superior Court in Danbury on charges of DUI, disobeying the signal of an officer and interfering with an officer.

Murphy is at least the third Connecticut state trooper to be arrested on a DUI charge in the past two years.

In 2019, state police arrested Sgt. John McDonald, a member of the Western District Major Crimes Squad, after they said he drove through a stop sign and crashed into a car carrying a woman and her daughter.

Police said McDonald, who like Murphy worked out of the Troop A barracks in Southbury, downed eight drinks at an Oxford brewery during a retirement party for another officer before getting behind the wheel.

State police said McDonald remains on administrative suspension. Last month, he pleaded nolo contendere to two counts of second-degree reckless endangerment as part of a plea deal allowing him to avoid jail time. He is also being allowed to take a pretrial alcohol education program to have the DUI charge dismissed.

Last March, state police said they arrested Trooper Shaquille Williams, a patrol officer out of Troop I in Bethany, on a DUI charge after they found his cruiser pulled off the side of Interstate-84 in Waterbury. A 911 caller spotted the vehicle and reported the car had its hazard lights on and the driver was either asleep or unresponsive, police said.

State police said Williams failed a field sobriety test. In body-cam footage of the arrest, Williams admitted he messed up to the officers who arrested him. He was charged with illegal operation of a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs and released on bond.

A spokeswoman for the states judiciary system said the case against Williams was nolled on Dec. 3, 2020.

State police said last week that Williams remains on administrative suspension.

Bethel police do not have body cameras and a Hearst Connecticut Media request was denied for dash cam footage of Murphys arrest last week. Bethel police Lt. George Bryce said the dash cam footage is is not releasable, citing an exemption in a state statute regarding public records.

The exemption allows law enforcement to withhold information or materials that an agency reasonably believes may prejudice a pending prosecution or a prospective law enforcement action, the statute reads.

According to a police incident report of the arrest, Murphy was off-duty when he told an officer who instructed him to not get behind the wheel to watch this, before getting into his car and driving about a mile to his house, traveling around 10 mph and swerving.

Police detained Murphy in his driveway and conducted a field sobriety test. The report said Murphy repeatedly identified himself as a state trooper and told the arresting officer that he was hurting one of your own.

Editors note: We have updated the sequence of the photo gallery in this story to reflect the most recent incident first.
There are nearly 40 active civil lawsuits filed over the past three years against three of Connecticuts largest school bus companies that show a trend of accidents resulting in a range of injuries to students, school staff members and drivers, according to court documents.

Many of the lawsuits have been filed by family members of students who claim injuries were caused by school bus accidents or negligence by the bus driver, court documents show.

And some of the complaints have even been filed by school bus drivers, who claim they were injured in accidents caused by their colleagues, according to the court documents.

In response, the school bus companies  First Student, DATTCO and Durham School Services  have often denied liability and claimed the plaintiffs injuries were caused by their own negligence, the court documents show.

In a review of the 37 active lawsuits against these school bus companies, Hearst Connecticut Media found that 35 percent of them involve injuries to children and passengers and 54 percent involve drivers of other vehicles.

FIND OUT MORE: Here is Hearst Connecticut Medias database of all 37 lawsuits

Bus drivers sue employer after accidents

In the past two years, First Student has been sued by two of its bus drivers who claim they were injured when co-workers crashed into them, according to court documents.

In one case, a First Student driver said her bus was rear-ended by a co-workers bus while she was stopped and waiting for students to be released from a New Haven school in April 2019, according to a lawsuit filed in March 2021 in New Haven Superior Court.

The plaintiff said she experienced strain of her neck muscle, fascia and tendon because of the accident, according to the lawsuit. The company has not yet responded to the allegations, but in May filed an extension to plead.

A similar case was filed against First Student in August 2019, stemming from an incident when an employee was stopped at a red light in Stamford in 2017.

According to the lawsuit filed in Stamford Superior Court, the plaintiff claims her bus was rear-ended by a co-worker who failed to stop for the red light. The crash caused the plaintiffs bus to be pushed into the vehicle in front of her, according to the complaint.

The plaintiff suffered several injuries, some of which may be permanent, according to court filings. These injuries include headaches, vertigo, shoulder, neck and back pain, and three bulging discs in her back, the filings read.

In its response to the lawsuit, First Student admitted the defendant and plaintiff were employees at the time of the accident, but has denied claims of negligence. The company claimed the plaintiff was negligent, stating she failed to act reasonably and did not take necessary safety precautions, according to court documents.

The company also stated the plaintiff was awarded workers compensation benefits after the accident, and therefore, is prohibited under state law to receive personal injury claims, the court documents said.

The undersigned defendants demand judgment in its favor, dismissing the complaint and denies all prayers for relief against it, together with the costs and disbursements of this action, including any expenses incurred by it in the defense, the document reads.

The plaintiff denied these claims in her response to the special defense. In July 2020, the plaintiff submitted an offer of compromise to the defendants for $150,000, but court records do not show that it was accepted. However, earlier this year, the defendants twice sought a continuance of the trial date to pursue a settlement, and the court rescheduled the jury trial to December 2021.

Bus company blames student for her injuries

In May 2019, a child was riding a First Student bus in New Haven and fell from her seat and hit her face on the bus floor when the driver allegedly abruptly hit the brakes, according to a lawsuit filed in April 2021 in New Haven Superior Court.

The young girl suffered a facial injury and cervical, thoracic and lumbar spinal injuries, according to court documents.

First Student responded to the allegations by stating any injuries the child sustained were not the companys fault, according to court documents. An attorney for First Student stated one of the other students on the bus may have tripped the plaintiff, causing the injuries, according to the court documents. Among other defenses, the lawyers also stated the plaintiffs negligence could have also caused her injuries, according to court documents.

According to the companys lawyers, the child failed to properly observe the bus rules, protocols and policies of remaining seated while the bus was moving, and was standing in violation of said rules, protocols and policies without excuse, authorization or emergency circumstances to do so, court documents state.

One accident, multiple lawsuits

In February 2019, a woman was operating a DATTCO school bus in South Windsor where she rear-ended another one of the companys buses, causing a young girl to hit her head on the seat in front of her, according to a lawsuit filed in December 2020 in Hartford Superior Court.

The child suffered neck and back injuries as well as multiple concussions and contusions, according to the complaint.

The girl can no longer participate in cheerleading, and has difficulty doing schoolwork, the complaint reads.

DATTCO responded to the lawsuit in February, admitting the young girl was on a bus driven by its employee at the time of the incident, the court documents state. In its response, the company admits the accident occurred when one of its employees struck the rear of another one of its buses, the court documents state.

The company also admits its driver was negligent and careless in that she failed to keep a proper and reasonable lookout, according to the filings. However, in its response to the lawsuit, DATTCO denied its employee was negligent in other respects. The company also denied any negligence caused the injuries, the court documents stated.

The incident resulted in three lawsuits that were consolidated in January.

A young boy on the other bus who suffered multiple injuries, some that resulted in pain, tenderness, spasms and limitation of motion, also filed suit against DATTCO in October 2020 in Hartford Superior Court. The bus company has asserted similar defenses in response to that complaint.

City employee injured

In another case, a Waterbury city employee sued Durham School Services, alleging she was helping kids on a bus at a summer camp when the driver closed the door on a young girl, trapping her legs in the bus entrance area in August 2018, according to a lawsuit filed in 2020 in Waterbury Superior Court.

The plaintiff claimed she feared the child would be badly injured and other children near the bus could have also been hurt, according to the lawsuit.

She claimed she started yelling and banging hard on the bus door to get the driver's attention to prevent her from driving off, the lawsuit said.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiff claims she suffered right arm, hand, wrist and finger injuries. Some of the injuries included loss of range of motion, acute right wrist fracture, contusions, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, numbness and tingling and muscle atrophy, according to the lawsuit.

Durham School Services has denied all allegations, stating in a special defense that the injuries were the womans own fault.

In response to the lawsuit, a lawyer representing Durham cited three reasons why the injuries were caused by the city employees own negligence. According to court documents, the lawyer stated the woman failed to keep a reasonable distance and proper attention for her own safety, failed to use reasonable care for her own safety and failed to use her senses to avoid the accident.

The company also claimed if the woman did sustain the injuries listed in her complaint, they were the result of causes the defendant could not control, the court documents state.

The plaintiff has denied the bus companys special defense allegations that she was at fault, according to court documents.

The City of Waterbury has also intervened in the case, which is scheduled to go to trial in May 2022. The city is seeking reimbursement from the bus company for any workers compensation payments it makes to the plaintiff, court documents show. The bus company, however, denies knowledge of those claims and liability, according to the court documents.

In a statement to Hearst Connecticut Media, a Durham spokesperson declined to comment about pending litigation.

Each case is unique and is handled on case-by-case basis, spokesperson Edward Flavin said. This can include an internal and/or external investigation. Any change to an employees status is managed in accordance with companys safety and employment policies, as well as applicable law.

DATTCO and First Student did not respond to requests for comment about cases involving their companies.

christine.derosa@hearstmediact.com
The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for parts of Connecticut through Tuesday.

According to the NWS, a heat advisory is issued when the combination of heat and humidity is expected to make it feel like it is 95 to 99 degrees for two or more consecutive days or 100 to 104 degrees for any length of time.

The projected highs for coastal Connecticut are around 92 degrees. In upstate areas like Hartford, the NWS is projecting a high of approximately 97 degrees during the heat advisory.

The forecast high temperatures prompted Gov. Ned Lamonts office to advise vulnerable residents to take caution, noting that cooling centers will be opening across the state.

Everyone should take the necessary precautions as the heat rises over the next several days, Lamont said in a statement. A few steps can greatly reduce heat-related issues, especially for the elderly, the very young, and people with respiratory ailments who are more susceptible to the effects of high temperatures.

The statement from the governors office recommended those at risk stay indoors with air conditioning, wear light clothing and avoid direct sunlight.

The NWS said heat index values could reach 104 degrees over the next few days. The heat index values will occur during the afternoon and early evening hours.

Older adults and those with chronic health problems or mental health conditions are at an increased risk. Homes without air conditioning can be much hotter than outdoor temperatures, the NWS said.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP)  Survivors and family members of victims of the five people who died in a mass shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper dedicated a memorial to them and the First Amendment on Monday on the third anniversary of the attack.

The tribute came amid grave concerns expressed by some in a long list of speakers about the future survival of the newspaper, which has come under new ownership.

The memorial titled Guardians of the First Amendment includes five pillars to represent the five lives lost in the shooting: Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith and Wendi Winters. It includes a rounded brick edifice, which holds a panel showing the First Amendment.

Maria Hiaasen, Robs widow, said the memorial pays tribute to the losses of loved ones, as well as the triumph of the staff, who rallied to publish on the next day despite the attack.

Its also perfect because of its honor of the First Amendment, the basic principal journalism stands on," Hiaasen said.

Rick Hutzell, the former editor, choked up as he remembered his slain colleagues before a crowd that sat for nearly two hours on a hot summer day on a closed-off street in front of the new memorial in downtown Annapolis. He urged people who care about journalism to subscribe to local news outlets.

If you care about journalism and truth and freedom of the press anywhere, subscribe to your local news organization whether its a newspaper or a digital new service or something because thats the only way they will survive," Hutzell said.

He added of his former paper, "its going to need a lot of support to keep going.

The newspaper was recently acquired by New York-based hedge fund Alden Global Capital. The Alden deal is the latest major acquisition of a newspaper company by an investment firm dedicated to maximizing profits in distressed industries. The collapse of print advertising as readers migrated to digital publications has rocked the traditional newspaper business.

David Simon, a former Baltimore Sun journalist and creator of the HBO show The Wire, excoriated the solitary metric of maximized profit that he said "is devouring American newspapering.

Here in Maryland, the Capital Gazette of this city and The Sun of Baltimore are brutalized by out of town ownership that answers to the hunger of shareholders, not to any public or community obligation," Simon said.

He painfully noted that here in Annapolis the newsroom of the paper where people gave their lives no longer actually exists." The Capital Gazette moved to another newsroom office, but former owner Tribune Publishing closed it and four other newspaper offices last year. The newspaper has continued to publish.

Its been sold out from under the now thread-bare staff, Simon said.

Phil Davis, who was in the newsroom the day of the attack, recalled how three years ago he stood downtown amid hundreds gathered as the community gathered for solace in the aftermath.

Now three years later, this heat feels all too familiar, but still just as hot, Davis said. "Its hard to avoid all that surrounded The Capital in the years since the shooting, as time and corporate interests did not stand still after the tragedy.

Local officials also expressed concern about the newspaper's future.

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman, who wrote a letter this month to the hedge fund urging it to preserve local news coverage, said he hoped its leadership would visit the community soon.

I hope that their stockholders hear our story and work with us to grow, rather than shrink our newspaper, and if they dont I hope that we can find a way to recreate what they take away from us," Pittman said.

The memorial dedication was held the day before opening statements are scheduled for the second phase of the trial for gunman Jarrod Ramos. He pleaded guilty to all 23 counts against him in October 2019, but he is contending hes not criminally responsible due to mental illness. A jury has recently been selected to determine whether Ramos should be sentenced to prison or committed to a maximum-security psychiatric hospital.
Supporters of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, the first and only marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean, once again have reason to be optimistic for the future of this ecological wonder. After more than a year without most of the monuments protections, recent news reports indicated that Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has recommended President Joe Biden fully restore protections for the three monuments devastatingly opened to commercial resource extraction during the Trump administration.

The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is pristine, supporting fragile and ancient deep-sea corals, a large diversity of marine mammals, and threatened and endangered species. There are canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon and underwater mountains that rise thousands of feet from the ocean floor. The entire monument stretches for 4,913 square miles  about the same size as Connecticut  and it supports a unique ecosystem unlike anywhere else in the world.

After years of advocacy, including broad public support across New England and tremendous efforts of Connecticuts congressional delegation led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the marine monument was established by President Barack Obama in 2016.

The Antiquities Act gives U.S. presidents the authority to designate national monuments on land as well as in the ocean. For more than 100 years, both Democratic and Republican presidents have used this power to establish national monuments and protect special areas and natural resources on land and in the ocean near our coasts. Iconic marine areas protected under these designations include Glacier Bay near Alaska, the Channel Islands along Californias coast, Papahanaumokuakea near Hawaii, and of course the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts.

In 2017, the Trump administration led an unprecedented attack on our lands and ocean based around a so-called review of national monuments designated under the Antiquities Act. They searched for ways to undo protections for 27 national monuments and open these wondrous places to the highest bidder. Monuments, including some that were established decades ago, were threatened by the fossil fuel industry and corporate special interests.

People were furious and submitted more than 2.7 million comments in support of keeping protections for the monuments in place. But, despite the incredible public support for maintaining monument protections, Trump drastically slashed the size of two national monuments in southern Utah  Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante  in late 2017. No surprise the now-unprotected areas of these monuments were priorities for fossil fuel and extractive industries. There was more backlash, and we thought maybe the rest of the monuments would be preserved. Then, in June 2020, Trump removed most of the protections for Northeast Canyons and Seamounts.

It has been a long year, and President Biden cannot wait any longer to restore protections for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. He campaigned and won on an ambitious climate and conservation agenda. He has reversed course from the Trump era of denial and destruction and putting corporate interests first. We are back in the Paris Climate Agreement. We are committed to a national conservation goal of preserving 30 percent of our lands, waters, and ocean by 2030, based on science and local input. Now, President Biden has the chance to right another wrong and restore protections for all three monuments.

Lori Brown is executive director of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters.
Loud, bold headlines splashed across the banking press a few weeks ago:

Michigan credit union aims to buy Florida bank in years 5th such tie-up reads one.

The sky is falling, the sky is falling.

Or isnt it?

The headline refers to the $97 million buyout of Pilot Bank by Lake Michigan Credit Union.

That is Lake Michigans second bite of the Florida banking apple. In 2018, it bought $395 million Encore Bank.

In other deals this year, Michigan based United Federal Credit Union bought Edgewater Bank for around $30 million.

Iowa-based GreenState Credit Union announced they have entered into purchase and assumption agreements with Oxford Bank & Trust of Oak Brook, Illinois, and Premier Bank of Omaha, Nebraska. GreenState assets are $7.5 billion.

In March, Jacksonville, FL based Vystar bought Jonesboro, GA based Heritage Southeast Bank with its 22 branches.

The beat goes on and the expectation is that we will see more such deals. Lots of people are talking with each other, said Cornerstone Advisors expert Vincent Hui. And some of those conversations will result in deals.

Know three important facts:

There are no hostile takeovers here, said Hui. A survey of bankers found 60% to be open to being acquired.

Community bankers may scream that such deals prove credit unions should lose their federal tax exemption but nobody thinks that is happening in todays Washington DC. There will be drama, probably hearings, but the sparks wont light a fire. Though there has been some news regarding tax exemption, motions havent made much momentum, said Jim Pendergast, senior vice president at altLINE, a company partnered with The Southern Bank Company.

Even if credit unions lost their tax exemption, significant impacts would be felt by a handful or three of credit unions, most experts predict. The only impact 3400 with assets below $100 million likely would see is they would have to pay a new invoice from their CPA for preparing tax documents.

Third: Very, very few community banks have been swallowed by credit unions.

There are about 5000 community banks in the US. Lets say there are 10 bank acquisitions by credit unions in the first half of 2021. Maybe 20 in the year.

And so?

In 2019 there were 16 purchases of banks by credit unions. That more than doubled the 7 deals made in 2018.

There were five in 2020.

Lets do the math. Under 50 in the four years through 2021. That is 1% of community banks.

Sometimes, too, bankers are sufficiently irked to persuade state officials to block a bank acquisition. That has happened when the Colorado State Banking Board stopped the 2020 acquisition of Cache Bank and Trust by Elevations Credit Union.

Know, however, that banks sell out to a credit union when the bank wants to sell and a credit union has put the best offer on the table. When an acquisition is blocked, shareholders of the bank just may be the most disappointed of the many players.

Understand, too, credit unions arent buying banks because they have money to spend. They buy when they see a strategic opportunity, said Hui at Cornerstone Advisors. They are seeking new markets, either geographic or lines of business, he elaborated.

The Lake Michigan purchase of Pilot is a classic case in point. That bank has had a specialty lending practice involving aircraft (note the institutions name). Between that and the geographic location, Pilot was a strong target for Lake Michigan.

Hui conceded that an acquiring institution has to look at the option of simply seeking to build a practice inhouse, perhaps involving strategic hires, but that always involves a risk of failure. When an existing practice is bought and staff retained  deals sometimes are contingent on key employees signing employment agreements with the acquiring institution  the likelihood of success is that much higher.

Of course, acquiring institutions also often are looking to expand into an attractive geography. Florida, for instance, is attractive to Michigan because Michigan has seen many residents leave the state to retire in Florida. Theres undeniable logic in following members who are moving away.

Hui added that there is a ton of merger activity involving two community banks (heres a list). Its not just credit unions that are buying but also community banks as institutions seek a size they believe will enable them to stay competitive in an era of even bigger mega banks.

Bottomline: expect merger activity to continue. Bigger looks to be better to many in financial services today and an acquisition is an undeniably fast way to bulk up. Size does matter.
Cyber Police Crack Hacker Group

Together with law enforcement officers of the Republic of Korea and the United States of America, the Ukraine National Cyber Police have exposed a hacker group though to be responsible for the theft of $500 million from companies in South Korea and the United States.

The Ukraine's specialist police unit have arrested members of the hacker group who carried out ransomware attacks on several foreign companies as well as universities between 2019-21. They have detained six members of Cl0p, a ransomware gang that most recently was associated with attacks on Stanford University Medical School and the University of California.

With the help of the malicious program "Clop", the hackers had encrypted the data on the media of companies in the Republic of Korea and the United States. Later, they demanded ransom-money to restore access. The six arrested individuals have been charged under Ukrainian law with offenses related to unauthorised access to computers, automated systems, and telecommunication networks. The individuals face a maximum of up to eight years in prison if convicted on all charges.

In 2019, four Korean companies were attacked with the Clop encryption virus, as a result of which 810 internal servers and personal computers of employees were blocked. Hackers had sent e-mails with a malicious file to the mailboxes of company employees.

After opening the infected file, the program sequentially downloaded additional programs from the distribution server and completely infected the victims' computers with a remote managed program "Flawed Ammyy RAT". Using remote access, the suspects activated malicious software "Cobalt Strike", which provided information about the vulnerabilities of infected servers for further capture. The attackers demanded a "ransom" in crypto currency for decrypting the information.

Unlike common ransomware attacks, which encrypt a large number of uninstalled PCs and servers, the Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) attack is aimed at a specific victim's computer network and infects the entire system with a ransomware program. Law enforcement has managed to shut down the infrastructure from which the virus spreads and block channels for legalising criminally acquired crypto-currencies.

Police officers conducted 21 searches in the capital and Kiev region, in the homes of the defendants and in their cars. Computer equipment, cars and about $5m in cash were seized. The property of the perpetrators was alsdo seized. In 2020, the Ukraine Cyber Police carried out ten international police operations to expose hacker groups, detained 326 online fraudsters and prevented 62 facts of breach of intellectual property rights.

As noted in a message on the Cyber Police website, members of the exposed hacker groups also caused damage to the countries of the European Union, Great Britain and the United States.

Ukraine Cyber Police: Dark Reading: Republic World: Interfax: AIN:

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Russia Wants A Deal With The US On Cyber Security

After talks with US President Joe Biden in Geneva, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow and Washington could agree on the rules of behavior in the fields of strategic stability, cyber security and regional conflicts.

Russia hopes to agree co-operation on cyber security in a bilateral format with the US said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the Moscow Conference on International Security on Thursday 24th June. "We expect, of course, that our cooperation on cyber security will continue through bilateral channels, and we would like to also see productive dialogue on cyber security issues with the US side, as was discussed at the Geneva summit," he said.

The Russian government is concerned over "the plans of certain states to militarise the Internet and unleash a cyber arms race there... For our part, we are actively working on adopting a code of responsible behavior of states in the global information space, given the interests of each country in the field of military and political security. Simultaneously, we are promoting the project of a universal convention on combating cyber crimes," Lavrov said.

Relations between the US and Russia have warmed up after a summit in Switzerland, following which they have announced that they "will embark together on an integrated bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue in the near future that will be deliberate and robust."

Both these Russian initiatives have received support at the latest session of the UN General Assembly, and "on both tracks special negotiating mechanisms were set up, which will consider these two crucial projects with the participation of all states".

Biden and Vladimir Putin sought to cool tensions in the combustible US-Russian relationship at their first summit in Geneva, but Biden drew a red line at cyber attacks, declaring them "off limits." The two leaders emerged in mostly positive moods after more than three hours of talks, including two hours alone with just the Russian foreign minister and US Secretary of State.

Both Presidents have subsequently praised their talks in Geneva.

TASS: Moscow Times: BBC: EU Observer: Telegraph: Iamge: Unsplash

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Cyber Attacks Are The New Cold War:
Dr. Charles J. Balesi is the author of The Time of The French in the Heart of North America, 1671-1818. He served as elected representative of the French expatriates for the 13 states of the Midwest within the French legislative system. He is now promotes the French Heritage Corridor from the banks of the Mississippi to the Great Lakes.
Mrs. Martha Lyndell Wilbanks, age 84, of Chatsworth passed away Thursday, July 1, 2021, at Chatsworth Health Care. She is survived by her husband, Damon Wilbanks of Chatsworth. No public memorial services have been planned at this time. Cremation services were provided by Peeples Funeral Hom
Paul Kirby is a reporter for the Freeman, covering Kingston politics. He has been at the Freeman since August 1996.
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Why didnt Boris Johnson sack Matt Hancock last Friday after his energetic clinch with Gina Coladangelo  in blatant contravention of government regulations  came to light?

Given his own rackety private life over the past two decades, the Prime Minister may have felt he couldnt fire Mr Hancock without being accused of hypocrisy.

He has long maintained that what politicians do in private is entirely their own business. Boris didnt want to risk undermining this self-serving thesis by giving the heave-ho to the philandering cabinet minister.

But the main charge against the now former Health Secretary wasnt that he had betrayed his wife of 15 years, whom he has now brutally dumped, but that he had flouted regulations he had applied with officious zeal.

Why didnt Boris Johnson sack Matt Hancock last Friday after his energetic clinch with Gina Coladangelo  in blatant contravention of government regulations  came to light?

Here was a Grade A hypocrite who has enforced coercive Covid measures with puritanical relish  while at the same time displaying a high degree of incompetence  and was caught red-handed breaking his own rules.

Boris should have acted swiftly and got rid of him at once. Yet he seemed incapable of grasping that Mr Hancocks behaviour was morally obnoxious, and declared with lofty insouciance that he considered the matter closed.

Thank God it wasnt. Unsurprisingly, Labour politicians lined up to denounce Mr Hancock. But so, mostly in private, did many members of local Conservative associations, as well as numerous Tory MPs.

Like the majority of the British public (a YouGov poll found that twice as many respondents thought Hancock should quit than remain in office), grassroots Tories understood the widespread fury at the behaviour of a bumptious and slippery minister who devised the rules which he himself ignored.

Boris, though, failed to see this. Is it because he is, by nature, genial and pretty soft-hearted? Partly. It is also because, for all his popular touch which has endeared him to so many voters, he is often frighteningly out of step with the moral compass of ordinary people.

The main charge against the now former Health Secretary wasnt that he had betrayed his wife of 15 years, whom he has now brutally dumped, but that he had flouted regulations he had applied with officious zeal

He displayed a similarly reckless indulgence towards Dominic Cummings in April 2020 after his chief adviser had broken lockdown rules, first by driving 260 miles from London to County Durham, and then by undertaking a 60-mile round trip to Barnard Castle, with the ludicrous excuse that he was testing his eyesight.

Many people were infuriated by the Prime Ministers exoneration of his chief adviser who, like Mr Hancock, was a proponent of stringent restrictions which he then disregarded. Cummings has since repaid Mr Johnsons forbearance by attacking him viciously, as he has the hapless Mr Hancock.

The upshot of the PM sparing those close to him is to foster the impression that theres one set of happy-go-lucky rules for him and his mates, and an altogether tougher set for law-abiding humanity.

It was the same last autumn when an official report found that Home Secretary Priti Patel had behaved as a bully at work, and broken the ministerial code. Mr Johnson breezily declared his full confidence in her, and in Boys Own language urged Tory MPs to form a square around the Pritster.

We should hardly be surprised by these double standards. After all, in his own private life Boris has long cut corners and scorned rules that constrain lesser mortals. Its true of his endless sexual shenanigans, and its true of the way he runs his finances.

Just recently, the Governments new standards adviser found significant failings over the 90,000 refurbishment of the PMs No. 11 flat. Lord Geidt judged that the handling of a planned trust to fund its refurbishment was not subject to rigorous project management by officials.

An optimist would say that Mr Hancocks departure from the Government could enable it to have a moral make-over. His successor as Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, (pictured) seems straightforward and doesnt carry much doubtful baggage

Rigorous is a word that seldom, if ever, applies to Boris Johnson. He wasnt being rigorous when he gave a clean bill of health to Matt Hancock last Friday, and so further undermined what little stock of moral authority there remains in No. 10.

Mr Hancock was, in his way, as egregious a corner-cutter as Boris Johnson, the main difference being that he conducts himself with much less aplomb, and absolutely no charm.

More than anyone in the Cabinet  which is saying something  he has developed a reputation for encouraging chumocracy  handing contracts to friends or contacts. One such was Alex Bourne, whose firm, Hinpack, was awarded a 30 million contract to supply test tubes to the NHS.

Mr Bourne is the landlord of Mr Hancocks local pub in his West Suffolk constituency. Although the ex-Health Secretary has insisted he had nothing to do with the contract, emails obtained after a Freedom of Information battle reveal that he referred Mr Bournes plea for business to a senior civil servant in the Department of Health.

Questions also remain as to how a 28 million NHS million contract was awarded to a company of which Gina Coladangelos brother, Roberto, is a director, though the firm has denied that the contract had anything to do with the former Health Secretary.

The presence of Gina Coladangelo, a very old friend of Mr Hancocks, as a part-time adviser in the Department of Health is in itself a conundrum, and possibly an example of taking chumocracy to an entirely new level.

Mr Hancock does not stand accused only of helping his pals. Among many alleged mistakes too plentiful to enumerate, he is blamed by some for thousands of avoidable deaths in care homes, as a result of the decision to discharge NHS patients without Covid tests in March last year.

This is just one of the charges of incompetence which Mr Hancock will have to answer when the official inquiry into the pandemic begins next year. He was totally f****** hopeless, according to a Boris Johnson text written in March 2020 and recently released by the vengeful Dominic Cummings.

An optimist would say that Mr Hancocks departure from the Government could enable it to have a moral make-over. His successor as Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, seems straightforward and doesnt carry much doubtful baggage, apart from being identified as a special favourite of Carrie Johnsons.

Im afraid, though, there are other Cabinet ministers who dont have a spotless record. One is Robert Jenrick, who as Housing and Communities Secretary has attracted several allegations of sleaze.

In November 2019 he overturned a planning decision against a property developers 1 billion plan to build 1,500 homes in East London the day before a new tax was introduced, saving him millions of pounds. The developer, Richard Desmond, had made a 12,000 donation to the Tory Party two weeks earlier.

And then there is swashbuckling, shameless Boris Johnson who, incidentally, still faces investigation by the Greater London Authoritys oversight committee into whether he conducted himself in a way expected of those in public office during his relationship with Jennifer Arcuri while he was Mayor.

How one longs for rulers who are rigorous and even-handed, who do not indulge their favourites and treat them as members of a privileged gang permitted to follow their own convenient rules.

Im glad the archetypal hypocrite Matt Hancock has departed, but I dont think we will suddenly have a Government characterised by virtue and integrity.

On the contrary, as a result of not sacking him when he should have done so, Boris Johnson has reinforced the impression that No. 10 is short on probity, and a little more of his already diminished moral authority has drained away.
Products featured in this Mail Best article are independently selected by our shopping writers. If you make a purchase using links on this page, we may earn an affiliate commission.

If you like outdoor adventures, hiking and family travel, you may be on the lookout for ways to make the experience more comfortable for everyone involved.

Thousands of mums and dads are upgrading their family trips with a MiniMeis foldable child carrier, which is the world's first shoulder carrier for children.

Little ones love it since a child can see more sitting on a parent's shoulders than they would be able to in a front facing carrier on your chest or a backpack style seat.

The MiniMeis foldable child carrier is the world's first shoulder carrier for children, and it helps prevent child-carry injuries with its clever design

And parents report being able to move more freely with the weight spread across their shoulders and the force of the baby evenly distributed around the body.

It's an ideal gift for mums and dads that love to be out and about and making memories as not only does the carrier enable the whole family to have fun together, it helps parents to protect their body from child-carrying injuries.

In the MiniMeis carrier, the child sits on a specially designed seat, hovering just above your shoulders, relieving your neck and shoulders from direct stress.

A supportive backrest is designed to help the child sit up straight while harnessed in the carrier.

With adjustable straps, a carrier caters for children aged from six months to five years, until they are old enough to walk alongside you.

When not in use, the MiniMeis foldable child carrier folds up like a laptop and fits into most bags. Weighing just over 3lb, it's the lightest framed child carrier on the market

Founders Tarjei and Julius took five years to develop the product and in two years, they've had more than 150,000 happy customers

So while the 149.99 price tag is an investment, it will last for years and it's sturdy enough to use with any siblings that may arrive.

When not in use, the MiniMeis foldable child carrier folds up like a laptop and fits into most bags. Weighing just over 3lb, it's the lightest framed child carrier on the market.

It took five years for founders Tarjei and Julius to develop the product and in two years, they've had more than 150,000 happy customers and the carrier has been been named Invention of the Year by TIME Magazine.

And if you get inspired by testimonials, the website is full of photos of families using it on adventures from city breaks in New York and theme park fun at Disneyland to exploring fjords in Norway and beach trips to Miami.
A woman has divided opinion with a lenghty rant about how her group of female pals give her generic and cheap presents, while everyone else gets more expensive and thoughtful gifts.

The unnamed British woman said on the parenting website Mumsnet's Am I Being Unreasonable, that over the course of three years, she and her three other friends have taken part in group birthday gift exchange.

She explained she felt the gifts for the three other friends, who knew each other for longer, were more thoughtful and pricier than what she's received from them, while she usually contributes a minimum of 15.

People said she was putting too much attention on the financial aspect and should stop worrying about it, but others sympathised and said it must be hard not to receive thoughtful gifts.

A British woman complained her friends asked her to pay for each other's more expensive and thoughtful gifts while gifting her generic and cheap gifts (stock picture)

The unnamed woman explained she had been friends with the three other women for several years and that the trio had lived together for a year before she met them through work.

'I have a lot less money than all three of them but always pay whatever is needed, even if it's difficult. Every year I am part of three group 'birthday' chats on Facebook to discuss what we are buying for the "birthday girl",' she said.

After three years of friendship and birthday gifts, the woman said she noticed her gifts were noticeably cheaper than the others'.

She said that the first year she received a gift, it included a bottle of pink gin, cheap wine, a box of Ferrero Rocher and a mini bag of Thorton's chocolate she estimated much have cost 30 in total.

The woman, who had known the friends for three years, said she felt 'left out' and admitted she googled the gifts' prices to see how much chea[er to the others' they were

For the second year, she said she received another bottle of gin, and a few packs of socks from Primark.

She admitted she googled the prices and found that the bottle of gin for her second birthday cost only 10 and was aggravated by the fact she was paying more for their gifts.

People said the woman was too focused on the financial aspect of the friendship, and called her out for googling the prices of her gifts

'All of them have worked out as a minimum of 15 pounds per person, sometimes a lot more,' she said.

'In 2019 the long list of presents for friend A came to around 70 pounds, which I think was about 23 per person,' she added.

Friend B has had coffee from Whittards "because she loves it," books that she likes, clothes, perfume.,' she went on.

'Friend C has had a really expensive, fancy bra and a canvas painting of her favourite piece of artwork,' she continued.

She said that her issue was not about the money, but more the fact that her presents were always generic, and the others' were more thoughtful.

'I know that the three of them have known each other longer and are therefore closer/perhaps know more what they want/more inclined to spend money on each other, but I do talk to all of them every day, we have a group chat,' she said.

She added she had tried to hint at specific gifts she'd like to get, but that she had received none of those.

Some people were sympathetic to the woman's story, but agreed she needed to drop out of the gift exchange

The unhappy friend also said that her partner and her family had told her to get out of the gift exchange, and thought she was 'being taken advantage of.'

'I've been trying to work out for a while now what's happening - whether it's a conscious, deliberate thing to spend less on me or whether it's simply a case of not knowing what to get me and just going with the cheap/easy options,' she said.

'My partner and others think I should just end this friendship. But I'm torn. I don't know whether I'm just being vain. So...I need other opinions,' she concluded.

Most people were not sympathetic to the woman's plight and said she needed to stop obsessing about her gifts' prices.

'From the money aspect its not a massive disparity but I can see why you would be hurt not having something thoughtful,' one said.

'Easiest way to side step this is to say Sorry girls, this year I spotted a gorgeous XYZ in a gift shop and grabbed it for Xs birthday, hope you dont mind but Ill opt out of the group gift this year,' they advised.

'I really expected to take your side here to be honest, but youre coming across as so petty. I expected a huge difference financially but the difference between 10 or 15 pounds is neither here nor there. Theyre not leaving you out as you get a gift every year,' another said.

'Cripes OP, this is taking up a lot of headspace needlessly. I was ready to maybe defend as it's only been what, 3 years? But this is way OTT and you need to step back a wee bit,' one wrote.

'The fact that you took the time to sit down with a calculator tells us that you need to leave this friendship group. It cannot be good for you to be dwelling on precise gift values to this extent,' one said.

'If these women are your friends and youre skint enough to be tracking pennies like this and obsessing over a tenner here or a tenner there; why havent you raised it with them? They may genuinely not mind the gift price disparity and if you havent raised its a problem then how are they going to realise you are struggling,' one said.

'You seem to know the price of everything and the value of nothing, as my Nan used to say,' another wrote.

'You all need to "get a life" and stop buying Birthday presents...they are for kids especially if they cause this much grief,' one bluntly said.

'I agree you are putting a lot of thought into the amount spent on gifts and you need to consider the value of the friendships more generally,' one said.

'I honestly can't believe people really think such awful thoughts against their friends for perceived slightly over 10/20 or whatever. Baffling,' another wrote.

Others felt sympathetic of the woman, and agreed it hurt when people didn't get them thoughtful gifts.

'Im really failing to see what YOU get from this friendship,' one said.

'Tell them youve given up alcohol and chocolate This group buying thing is seriously hard work! My friends and I sometimes club together to buy a present for a special birthday, but wouldnt dream of doing it every year. Once a decade is enough,' one said.

'Not sure I have any advice, but I do sympathise with you - getting generic presents when the others have thoughtful gifts is upsetting. This is far more upsetting than the actual amount spent. Do you genuinely like these friends,' they added.

'It's the lack of thought put into the gifts, though. I had a similar thing happen to me at uni with three 'friends' that were all closer to each other than they are to me. It hurt,' one said.

'OP, time to loosen the ties with these particular friends, I think, and definitely time to opt out of the gift exchange. You don't have to let them keep treating you as 'less than' - I think you should empower yourself to walk away and start investing in (or building) friendships with people who value you more,' they added.
The ex-husband of a beauty therapist has described how she beat him and his new partner after surprising them in bed together.

CCTV footage shows the moment Nicole Clarke climbed over the wall of the marital home she once shared with Simon Deaton in Derbyshire, running across the snow covered grass in high heels on her way to attack the new couple.

Simon, 44, a successful businessman, said Nicole, 41, who he met on the dating site Plenty of Fish in 2014, posed as the perfect woman at first, showering his parents with gifts and making a fuss of his friends.

But when they married after two years of dating, she began drinking heavily, subjecting him to violent outbursts which culminated in her attacking him and his new girlfriend one night as they lay in bed in December 2020.

Simon Deaton, 44, from Derbyshire, has revealed his ex-wife Nicole Clarke, 41, (pictured together) was given a restraining order after attacking him and his new girlfriend

Simon and Nicole, pictured on their wedding day, married two years after meeting on Plenty of Fish, and she impressed him by showering his parents with gifts and making a fuss of his friends

Simon said Nicole seemed like his 'soulmate', however her personality changed after she launched her own beauty business

Dad of two Simon, from Derbyshire, said: 'Nicole seemed like my soulmate, but looking back, it was total manipulation. As soon as she got what she wanted, she turned on me.

'When the police came, they blamed me, not her, at first. There should be more support for men suffering domestic violence.'

Simon, who runs a family scrap metal business and is an amateur racing driver, met Nicole on the popular dating site seven years ago.

'Nicole was very pretty, and she was generous and thoughtful,' he recalled. 'I'm very close to my family, and she befriended them. She and my mum went out shopping together and she'd often bring designer treats home for me.

'She even paid for me to go to the Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi. For Christmas that year, she bought me a 5,000 designer watch. She absolutely bowled me over.

'It was reassuring for me that Nicole wasn't after my money. She was independent and successful in her own right. She ran a transport business and managed to get me some sponsors for my motor racing.

Simon said Nicole was pretty, thoughtful and even paid for him to go to the Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi. Pictured: Simon after a race track win

Simon said Nicole, who ran a transport business, managed to get him sponsors for his motor racing. Pictured: Simon after a race track win

Father-of-two claims Nicole (pictured) seemed independent and it was reassuring that she wasn't after his money

Simon proposed after Nicole moved into his 750 000 Grade 2 listed home (pictured) in 2014 and they welcomed their first child the following year

'She made a real fuss of my mates too. Looking back, she was very clever; she knew how to ingratiate herself into my life.'

Nicole moved into Simon's 750,000 Grade 2 listed home and in July 2014, he proposed. Their daughter was born the following year. A second daughter followed in May 2016.

Simon said: 'I was incredibly proud of my family, and I adored my two little girls. I was a real hands-on dad.'

The couple were married at Chatsworth House, a stately home in Derbyshire, and afterwards had a honeymoon in the USA.

After the birth of their second daughter, Nicole launched her own beauty business and training school, which quickly became successful.

'The beauty business seemed to consume her, and she became obsessed with cosmetic treatments,' Simon explained. 'From being a woman who was comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt she started dressing very glamorously.

Simon and Nicole married at Chatsworth House (pictured) then enjoyed a honeymoon in the USA

Simon said the beauty business and training school Nicole (pictured) launched began to consume her as she became obsessed with treatments

Simon said Nicole (pictured) began drinking heavily and would accuse him of having an affair with her friends

Simon said Nicole, who is only 5'2, would become very aggressive and punch him when drunk. Pictured: Couple on their honeymoon

'She began drinking heavily and accusing me of being unfaithful. She claimed I was sleeping with her friends which was totally untrue. When she was drunk, she was very aggressive. She would hit and punch me. I tried to defend myself, but I didn't hit her back. I'm 6ft3' and she is only 5ft2'.

'I was under a lot of stress, and I felt ashamed of the way she was treating me. But my priority was our daughters and I wanted to keep the family together. But I began to dread her drinking binges  every two or three weeks, she would just turn into a monster.'

In February 2018, Simon suspected Nicole had been unfaithful to him and in the ensuing argument she attacked him again. But when the police came, he was arrested instead.

Simon said: 'Nicole told them I'd attacked her, even though she had no injuries. But I was much bigger and stronger, and they just believed her.'

Simon said he felt ashamed of how Nicole was treating him but wanted to keep their family together. Pictured: Nicole and Simon

Simon said Nicole attacked him during an argument in 2018, however he was arrested because she blamed him and police took her word for it

Simon (pictured) said he lost two stones in weight and became very anxious after being arrested, although the case was later dropped

Simon was arrested but the case was later dropped.

'The impact of the arrest was massive for me. I found it extremely traumatic. I lost 2st in weight, and I was very anxious,' he recalled.

'The sense of injustice was huge. She'd attacked me maybe 25 times, and I had never laid a finger on her. Yet I was the one who was arrested.'

Simon went back to Nicole, believing her promises to change, but the violence continued.

He said: 'I felt I had to give her one last chance. But in effect our relationship just got worse; every time we argued, she would threaten to call the police, knowing that she could have me arrested.'

In October 2019, Simon filed for divorce after a violent row which he filmed but did not report to police.

Simon filed for divorce from Nicole (pictured) in October 2019, while struggling to remain on friendly terms for the sake of their children

'We tried to stay on friendly terms, for the sake of the kids. But it was tough,' he admitted.

Early in February 2020, Nicole's beauty school was accused of scamming hundreds of students. The company was later liquidated.

In October 2020, he met a new partner.

Simon said: 'I knew Nicole had been seeing other men, which was fine. But as soon as she heard I'd met a new partner, she flipped.'

In December 2020, on a snowy night, Simon and his new girlfriend were at home in bed.

'I got an alert on my phone that there was someone outside and I knew it was Nicole,' he said. 'I found her high heel shoes outside and realised she had climbed up the outside wall of the house.

'She got in and lunged at me and hit me at the side of my head. My ear was ringing. She ran upstairs and began battering my new girlfriend, pulling her hair extensions out.

Nicole was given a two-year restraining order and 12-month community order after admitting to two counts of assault. Pictured: Simon and ex-wife Nicole

'I was frightened to restrain her, because of what had happened in the past.

'I just had to stand there and let Nicole continue attacking us both.'

Nicole Clarke appeared before Chesterfield Magistrates on June 17. She admitted two counts of assault by beating following the attack and was handed a two-year restraining order along with a 12-month community order including 120 hours unpaid work.

Simon said: 'My relationship broke down as a result of the attack and I'm focussing on our daughters now. I'm bringing them up as a single dad.

'It's a horrendous situation for any man or woman to be in. I didn't want to break my family up. I had no confidence in the police; they just took Nicole's side until eventually the evidence was so stacked against her that they couldn't ignore it.

'There's more and more men suffering with this and there ought to be more support.'
An 'inspirational' woman who had her confidence shattered after a freak accident lead to burns on a third of her body moved viewers to tears after appearing on Channel 5's 10 Years Younger in 10 Days last night.

Lisa, 47, from Truro, Cornwall, spent six weeks fighting for her life in hospital after getting burned at a family barbecue in 2014.

Speaking to the show's host Cherry Healey, Lisa, explained she went through countless surgical procedures to help with her mobility and she felt it would be vain to worry about her appearance, because she was lucky to be alive.

The mother-of-two said added felt she had been 'surviving' since the accident and was yearning to reconnect with her old self after spending years not paying attention to the way she looked.

The public guessed Lisa's age as 51 - four years older than she her actual age - but the show's experts all teamed up with special treatments used on burn victims to help Lisa feel and look her age.

Viewers absolutely loved the emotional episode, praising Lisa for being 'incredibly strong, 'an inspiration' and 'moving viewers to tears'.

Lisa, 47, explained on last night's 10 Years Younger in 10 Days on Channel 5 that she had been though an extraordinarily difficult period after a freak accident in 2014 left her with third degrees burns on 33 per cent of her body. The mother-of-two, pictured before, left, said she wanted to reconnected with the old her. At the end of the episode, pictured right, she said she had learned she needed to value herself even if she had changed form

'On 10 Years Younger I've met a lot of people who had to deal with struggles in their lives,' host Cherry said at the beginning of the episode.

'But Lisa, the next woman we're about to meet, has had to cope with something extraordinarily difficult.

'Can we help her move forward in her life, you bet we can,' the host added.

Lisa explained the accident that took place on May Bank Holiday 2014,.

'Looking back at the accident and how it's made me feel, it's strange in some ways it doesn't seem long ago at all and in some ways, it seems a lifetime ago,' she said.

'It was a beautiful day and my husband and I and the two children went to my sister and my brother in law's house for a barbecue,' she recounted.

'When we got there, my youngest was asleep, I thought I would get in quick and get to the food, and there was some flammable liquid nearby that overheated and burst out of its container and caught me on fire,' she said.

Lisa's husband Steve rushed to her help after the liquid took flame.

'I heard a great loud bang, I turned around and Lisa was walking towards me, head to toe on fire, I managed to throw her onto the ground and eventually get the flames out.

'But it was pretty clear that Lisa's injuries were very severe and life threatening,' he said, adding an air ambulance airlifted Lisa to the nearest regional burns unit where she would receive treatment.

The mother-of-two, pictured before, was left with scarring on her chin, neck, chest, arms and down to her knees after the accident, which saw her spend six weeks in hospital recovering, before a long series of surgical procedures to improve her mobility

'I didn't see her for maybe three weeks. So I didn't know at the start whether she was alive or dead, really,' he said.

To kick-start her makeover journey, Lisa was subjected to the eyes of strangers and said she expected people to think she looked older than she was.

She added she wasn't surprised when people said she looked 51 rather than her actual 47.

'Do you know what, it's what I expected, it could have been lot worst,' she told Cherry Healey.

Talking about why Lisa was motivated to do a makeover now, she said: 'The experts have said "that's about as far as we can go, there's not much more that we can do," and it was all about mobility and repair, it wasn't never about aesthetics,

'You almost feel like you're being a bit vain and shallow for saying "it's all very well being about mobility but what about the way I look?" You feel like you should be grateful for being alive,' she said.

'It's not a vanity thing, it's about rediscovering myself,' she explained.

Cherry was excited at the idea of helping Lisa reconnect with her old self.

'We haven't help someone like Lisa before and it's a very exciting idea of watching her blossom,' she said.

'It was very difficult to come to terms with that kind of accident because it was so all-consuming,' Lisa said.

'Physically the scars are a constant reminder of how I've changed and how my life is not the same as it used to be,' she admitted.

'I feel like up until now I've been surviving and now I want a bit more than surviving and I want to live a bit more,' she told Cherry.

'If you're not feeling confident in yourself, it's hard to feel confident in what you're doing,' she added.

What are burns and how should you treat them? Burns are damage to the skin caused by dry heat, such as an iron or a fire. This is different to scalds, which occur due to wet heat like hot water or steam. Burns can be very painful and may cause: Red or peeling skin

Blisters

Swelling

White or charred skin But the amount of pain a person feels is not always related to how serious the burn is. Even a very serious burn can be painless. To treat a burn: Remove the heat source

Cool with cool or lukewarm running water for 20 minutes. Do not use ice

Remove any nearby clothing or jewellery unless it is stuck to the skin

Keep the person warm with a blanket

Cover the burn with clingfilm

Use painkillers like paracetamol if necessary

If the face or eyes are burnt, keep sitting up to reduce swelling Burns that require immediate A&E treatment are: Chemical or electrical

Large or deep - bigger than the injured person's hand

Those that cause white or charred skin

Those on the face, hands, limbs, feet or genitals that blister Pregnant women, children under five, the elderly, those with a weak immune system and people suffering from a medical condition, like diabetes, should also go to hospital. Treatment depends on what layers of the skin are affected. In severe cases, a skin graft may be required. Advertisement

'A burn injury can really affect someone's confidence, once we've managed to get that person treated following injury, we need to manage their scars,' Odhran Shelley said.

'Undoubtedly, there are treatments which are not routinely practised by the NHS which maybe useful, provided that they are given by experienced practitioner,' he added.

The first step of Lisa's makeover was to have her upper lip tattooed in a shade as subtle and as close to her lip colour as possible.

Lisa, who was self-conscious about her lips, was blown-away by the results.

'It looks like I have full lipstick on, they look so symmetrical now, and you can just see the outline,' she said, enthusiastically.

'It's always been the lower part of my face I've been self-conscious about, it's really made me more confident about that area,' she said.

She then had a meeting with Dr Uchenna Okoye, who set out to replace Lisa's upper set of teeth with veneers to hide discolourations and imperfections.

'The lower third of your face is actually the most important in regards to how good you look, how young your look, and I now that's something Lisa's really concerned about,' Dr Uchenna said.

'I find it so rewarding working with someone like Lisa who's been through such horrific life experiences,' she added.

'I just feel honoured to be able to make a difference, she's going to be stunning,' she added.

Lisa was very pleased with her teeth, saying they 'looked amazing,' and she was ready for her next appointment, with cosmetic physician Dr Tapan Patel.

'There are so many different aspects to scars and it never ceases to amaze me how reluctant people are to ask about cosmetic improvement because they feel it's just a vanity thing,' Dr Tapan said.

'But I completely disagree, I think if that scar is causing somebody to be upset and there are treatments to improve it, why not try them out,' he added.

He explained to Lisa the challenge was the scar tissue on her chin, which could cause the filler not to set properly.

Instead, he injected a small amount of derma-fillers in her lips to make them look plumper.

Once it was done, Lisa met with cosmetic specialist Nilam Holmes, who also told her she had had experience treating burns victims with a similar type of scars as Lisa's.

'Microneedling is a great treatment for somebody who has scars from burns,' Nilam said.

'It's an organic treatment where we get the body to do the work in repairing itself,' she added.

As well as a microneedling treatment on Lisa's chin and chest, Nilam dyed and laminated Lisa's eyebrow to bring more definition to her face and move the attention away from the scars on her chest.

Make-up expert Hannah Martin then gave a masterclass on how to use full coverage foundation, colour correctors and primers and concealers to mask the appearance of scars.

'With scarring, texture maybe the main concern but there are lots of silica based products that will help smooth the area before you apply the make up,' she said.

She said that colour correctors could help if the scars were still discoloured.

'Theatrical make up is designed to withstand heat, sweat, long hours on set and they conceal absolutely anything and everything,' she said.

Lisa also admitted she had stopped going out and dressing up after the accident, and had given up on the clothes she wore. She was overdue a visit in stylist Gemma Sheppard's workshop.

'I feel I've lost my way a little bit with fashion, I don't make much effort anymore,' Lisa admitted.

'The climax of my social life would be a lunch with a friend which means I can be quite casual,' she added.

Viewers were moved to tears by 'inspirational' Lisa and branded her 'brave' and 'a lovely lady'

Gemma wanted to show that Lisa could still look confident in a casual look, by pairing basic with fun pieces.

She put Lisa in three outfits, with high-waisted trousers, comfy trainers and silk tops, to show her how she could dress up her shape without going too out of her comfort zone.

The appointment Lisa had been looking forward to the most was her hair appointment with celebrity John Vial.

'Hair can be such a huge part of your look, it feels like the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle, really,' she said.

She explained to the hairstylist how she stopped caring for her hair after the accident.

'There wasn't much I could do with it at first to be honest, they had to cut a few bit outs that were burn, I've had a 30cm strip of hair shaved off,' she said.

'And then I almost kinda gave up a bit on it I used to take pride in my hair so it would be nice to be able to do that again, she said.

'You go through a mourning process: you mourn who you used to be and having to come to terms with the new person that you are and that was quite hard,' Lisa added.

John put together a plan to reduce the thickness of Lisa's hair, and how to get rid of her greying locks.

Cherry Healey, pictured, was Lisa's cheerleader throughout the whole process and told her she was 'worth fighting for'

Odhran Shelley, Consultant Plastic Surgeon at the National Burns Unit, St James's Hospital, Dublin, talked about Lisa's case.

'Lisa suffered third degree burns, affecting 33 per cent, or one third, of her body,' he said.

'Patients who have a burn over 30 per cent will expect that they have significant organ dysfunction, and this may cause other medical problems and make them quickly ill,' he went on.

'Following a third of the body being injured, we then have to take tissue from those uninjured parts and of course this results in the patient having a much greater part of their body which is now effectively injured,' he said.

Lisa said she spent a total of six weeks in hospital for her burns, as well as a long ongoing treatment for her scars and her mobility.

'I remember looking in the mirror for the first time and being horrified,' she said.

'All the burns were on the front of my body, from my chin to my knees, my surgeon had to shave half my hair to stop any risk of infection, so there was quite a long full head of hair and suddenly half of that had been shaved off,' she said.

John Vial, Gemma Shepphard and Hannah Martin performed their best work on Lisa, giving her the haircut, wardrobe and makeup of a confident woman

Sharon, Lisa's sister said: 'I can remember seeing her in intensive care, for the first time, she was beyond recognition and that was so so difficult to cope with, so difficult for all of us as a family,' she said.

'I don't know how she keeps going, I think everyday the pain and the exhaustion is just a constant battle for her and yet you would never know, she never lets on that she's struggling, she always has a smile on her face, she's just an absolute inspiration to anybody,' Sharon added.

Lisa talked about how the accident affected her family life as well.

'One of the hardest thing about my accident was not able to see the children. When they could come and see me, my youngest son didn't want me to cuddle him or touch him because of how I appeared to him,' she said.

Steve revealed Lisa had an extremely hard time accepting how she looked in the immediate aftermaths of her accident.

'Immediately after the accident she didn't even want to have the curtains opened in the house, because she'd worry people would see her, she didn't want to go out for long time,' he said.

'It's been a very, very long time to recovery,' he added.

'The scars that are left,' he said, 'I think she's moved on in other ways, but the scars are always a reminder of what it's done too her,' he said.

'I don't think I lost who I am completely but I think it's a much dampened down version of my old self,' Lisa admitted.

'I think now I want to start thinking about how I look more, I feel like I almost had this guilt or shame that worrying about how I looked shouldn't really have been important,' she added.

'I should be pleased I was alive, it's seven years after the accident, I'm in a place where I'm ready to embark on this journey and want to look better so that I feel more confident,' she said.

All hands on deck! Nilam Holmes, Dr Tapan Patel and Dr Uchenna Okoye helped with Lisa's scars, skins and teeth

After all these professional appointments, it was time for Lisa to discover her new self.

Her sister Sharon and husband Steve couldn't wait to see the way she looked either.

'She just fought so hard to get where she is today and she's never given up,' Sharon said.

'I'm hoping that this process will perhaps take me to a third phase of my life where I can start to move forward and enjoy life a bit more,' Lisa said.

Cherry couldn't believe how good Lisa looked after her transformation.

'You look absolutely incredible, you look stunning, like a film star,' she said.

'You look amazing and I think this is what you've been waiting for,' she added.

Lisa's hair was styled in a long red bob by John, who also gave her a fringe.

Meanwhile, all of Nilam and Dr Tapan's work as well as some well-applied makeup meant the scarring on her chin was barely visible.

Gemma had dressed her in a beautiful purple dress with a graphic detail and love sleeves, which was ankle-length and flowed beautiful.

'Lisa when we met you told me that you had gone through so much, you had survived, but you told me you felt it was a bit vain that you care about how you looked,' Cherry said.

'You've done an amazing, amazing thing to get through that trauma, but you are worth fighting for,' she said.

Seeing herself after the transformation, Lisa couldn't believe her reflection in the mirror.

'Oh my goodness,' she said, before adding: 'It's a lovey dress, I love my hair, I can't believe the colour.

'I cant really see the scarring much at all now, I look so different,' she added.

Cherry told Lisa the public now put her age as 46, a year younger than she actually was.

'Its been a bit of a roller coaster just because the emotions i felt through it all,' Lisa told the camera.

'Each procedure I had, each step has brought me closer to the end goal which is to feel like I used to feel and feeling more coincident,' she said.

'I got some of the old me back,' she added.

Her sister Sharon cried upon seeing Lisa after her transformation.

'Look at you, you just look amazing, fantastic I love your hair,' she said, while Sharon, Lisa and her husband embraced.

'I am a bit overwhelmed, it's almost like you can't help look at yourself loads of time, it doesn't feel real,' Lisa told them.

'The transformation is incredible, she's been much more confident and radiating that,' Steve said.

'I've really been excited to see what she looks like and to see her just smiling and being comfortable and happy with how she looks is just incredible,' Sharon said.

Lisa said she had learned a lot from her 10 Years Younger experience.

'I think the challenge for me was to learn to love and value yourself even if you might have changed forms slightly,' she said.

10 Years Younger in 10 Days is available on My5.
You may not have heard of this bizarre-sounding beauty ingredient, but actress Reese Witherspoon, 45, has and shes now a fully paid-up member of the squalane fan club.

So sold is she on the credentials of this plant-based oil, with anti-ageing superpowers, shes signed up as Global Ambassador for squalane skincare brand Biossance.

What is squalane? Firstly, squalene (with an e) is one of the most common oils the body makes, which keeps our skin moisturised, supple and youthful-looking. As we age we make less of it, leaving us prone to dryness and wrinkles.

Victoria Woodhall puts a selection of creams and oils containing squalene to the test, as Reese Witherspoon (pictured) becomes Global Ambassador for squalane skincare brand Biossance

Squalane (with an a) is almost identical, can be made from plants, and our skin laps it up, softening lines and adding glow.

Aesthetician Fiona Brackenbury counts squalane among the top treats for skin conditioning. There isnt a skin type that wouldnt benefit from this hero ingredient, she says.

If youre prone to waking up with skin dry as a husk after a night of menopausal sweats, squalane will help prevent that moisture loss too.

For decades cosmetics companies put an animal squalene into everything from sun creams to lip balms. It came from sharks liver. Now the plant version squalane, which comes from olives, sugar cane and rice bran, is having a moment.

Its the vegan and sustainable halo that has captured Witherspoons attention. Biossance claims it saves two million sharks a year simply by using the plant alternative.

We put the best squalene creams and oils to the test . . .

HOLLYWOOD HIT

Biossance Squalane + Vitamin C Rose Oil, 61, 30ml, cultbeauty.co.uk (pictured above)

WHAT IS IT? Reese Witherspoons favourite, this rose-scented oil (from extracts of petals rather than artificial fragrance) is made from sustainably sourced sugar cane squalane and has vitamin C for brightening and antioxidant protection.

I loved the scent and the pretty packaging. Because it absorbs so fast you can end up finishing this pricey bottle in a flash. I spritzed on a face mist first, which helped it go further and locked in more moisture.

VERDICT: Sinks in easily for an A-list finish. Too pricey for regular use though. 3/5

HORMONE HEALING

CBD Moisturiser JTanicals 49.95, 50ml, jtanicals.co.uk

Victoria said CBD Moisturiser JTanicals (pictured) is like a spa break for your face

WHAT IS IT? Founder Julia Wilde struggled with hormonal breakouts and sensitivity and so this just-out moisturiser targets sensitive and reactive skin. Squalane is a key oil and it also uses probiotics which, like squalane, are a power player for the skin barrier, while CBD (cannabidiol, a cannabis-derived oil) calms and regulates oil production.

When I used it at night, my skin looked really rested and for once I awoke without that tight-face feeling.

VERDICT: Like a spa break for your face. 3/5

YASMINS CHOICE

320Mhz Hydration Recovery Bio-energetic Serum Concentrate, 75, 30ml, 320mhz.com

Victoria said a little of 320Mhz Hydration Recovery Bio-energetic Serum Concentrate (pictured) goes a long way

WHAT IS IT? The Rolls-Royce of organic facial oils and a repeat purchase of Yasmin Le Bon, this is all about moisture-locking, with a combination of olive squalane, moringa and baobab oils.

The aromatherapy-grade essential oils of rose otto and neroli make this a treat for the senses without being overwhelming.

I liked the 30 ml rollerball (it also comes as a bottle with a pipette), which makes the application easy and less wasteful (a plus given the price!).

Theres a microalgae extract too, to combat damaging free radicals. My skin felt supple and nourished.

VERDICT: A little goes a long way. 4/5

BUDGET BEAUTY BUY

Q+A Squalane Facial Oil, 10, 30ml, qandaskin.com

Victoria said Q+A Squalane Facial Oil (pictured) goes with everything

WHAT IS IT? Theres nothing but olive squalane in this handbag-friendly dropper bottle. It makes the perfect booster to ramp up your moisturiser or body lotion, or to apply directly to dry skin.

Beware, bearded members of your household might want to steal it for beard oil.

I used it on top of my nightly retinol serum and it effectively lessened that morning-after dry feeling. Squalane is so versatile and neutral it pairs well with almost any active ingredient.

VERDICT: Goes with everything. 4/5

FOR RAVAGED HANDS

Green People Manuka & Lemon Tea Tree Hand Cream, 13, 50ml, greenpeople.co.uk

Victoria said Green People Manuka & Lemon Tea Tree Hand Cream (pictured) is non-sticky and has a velvety feel

WHAT IS IT? An antibacterial, organic hand cream that soothes dry or cracked hands. If you dont want to wait for a gloopy hand cream to sink in, this is your new best friend.

It stops hands from drying out and creates a strong barrier.

Theres a slight medicinal smell from the antibacterial lemon tea tree, but this is a real winner in the age of hand sanitiser.

VERDICT: Non-sticky with a velvety feel. 3/5
An American expat living in Melbourne has revealed the Australian inventions he can no longer live without, including Tim Tams, Wifi and Google Maps.

In a recent TikTok video, Adam Foskey, from Georgia, US, spoke about the life-changing products that have come out of Australia.

'I just want to run through a few things which were invented in Australia that I can't live without,' he said in his distinct accent.

Scroll down for video

An American expat living in Melbourne has revealed the Australian inventions he can no longer live without, including TimTams, Wifi and Google Maps

In a recent TikTok video, Adam Foskey, from Georgia, US, spoke about the life-changing products that have come out of Australia

'First thing we have is wifi and on behalf of everyone globally, thankyou Australia,' he says in the recent video.

'Secondly we have Tim Tams, specifically the all chocolate ones. I love sweets so y'all know I love these,' he said.

The expat, who has previously shared viral videos about his life in Australia, also added Google Maps to his list.

'Without this there would be no way I would be able to navigate some of these Australian streets, especially some of these intersections,' he said.

The last thing on his list was McCafe which he claims 'changed the entire McDonald's game'.

And people agreed with his list, especially 'number two, Tim Tams'.

He included Google Maps and Wifi on his list of inventions he can't live without

He also said McCafe, which was invented in Australia 'changed the face of McDonalds

'Yum, double coated Tim Tams are the best,' one person wrote.

While another offered frozen caramel Tim Tams up as the king of the biscuits.

Others laughed at the list.

'It is hilarious that we invented wifi but you can't get good wifi in most of the country,' one woman said.

Another fan offered up their own list of 'must have' inventions from Australia.

Including medical penicillin, The inflatable slides on the side of aircraft and the cochlear ear implant.

Recently the American expat shared the unwritten rules of Australia, much to the delight of his fans.

He said there are four habits he advises all overseas residents to form if they want to fit in with 'true blue' Aussies.

They include holding onto the handrail on trams, having a go-to coffee order that you always place and walking on the left-hand side of paths and escalators.

Mr Foskey also recommends following an AFL team or at least understanding the sport so you can get involved with the annual Grand Final parties, which he said are 'always a good time'.

The most important lesson Mr Foskey said he has learned is to always hold on to something while riding the tram around Melbourne.

'I had to learn this the hard way. We rounded this corner at 90 miles an hour, next thing I know I'm sprawled on the floor with 10 other people,' he said.

Mr Foskey's observation is grossly exaggerated as statistics from network operator Yarra Trams show trams move sluggishly around the Victorian capital at an average speed of just 16 kilometres per hour.

Mr Foskey said he has learned to hold onto tram rails (left) and have a go-to coffee order (right) since moving to Melbourne

Next, he encouraged viewers to stick to the left side while out and about in the city.

'It'll just help traffic flow,' he said.

Mr Foskey then urged viewers to choose a favourite AFL team because Australians are more than likely to ask who you support.

'Also try to keep up with the AFL throughout the year because the Grand Final parties are always a good time,' he said.

Finally, Mr Foskey said Australians drink 'a lot of coffee' so it's best to have a usual order to save time in the queue.

'Mine's an iced long black,' he said.
Susan Harmsworth, MBE, 76, founded global wellness brand ESPA in 1993 before selling it in 2017. Twice divorced, she lives in Surrey and has two sons and six grandchildren aged 24 to ten.

In my early career, I worked as deputy editor for Vogue. I then moved to New York and, later, Toronto with my first husband.

There was no magazine industry to speak of there, so, aged 25, I opened a hair and beauty salon with more than 80 staff.

Susan Harmsworth, MBE, 76, (pictured) who lives in Surrey, founded ESPA in 1993, after spotting a need for luxury retreats and wellness centres

When I returned to the UK, I ran Grayshott Hall hotel in Hampshire for several years while my two sons were at school locally, before setting up my own consultancy in 1988, designing products, treatments and spas.

I started Espa as a total spa company in 1993. Back then, spas were no-frills health farms. I wanted to create a chain of luxury retreats and wellness centres.

We went away from the traditional salon model of nail bars and blow-dries to focus on holistic treatments. Stress was becoming a huge issue; people were flying more and technology had started to dominate our lives. I believe prevention is the best way forward, so we integrated complementary medicine into the business, bringing in naturopaths, osteopaths, acupuncturists and physios. We also manufactured the most natural products we could find.

When I launched the company, I was a single mother. Several times I nearly lost my house as I funded the venture myself. But it paid off.

In 2010, I was made an MBE and, seven years later, aged 72, I sold the business, planning to take things easier. It was only when I heard about a friends spa experience that I was inspired to return.

Stress buster: Luxury spa

She had terminal cancer and was bought a spa day by three friends. They all went along, but she was told she couldnt have any of the treatments owing to her cancer. It turns out many cancer patients are turned away due to a lack of understanding and training.

I came up with the idea of introducing a new industry standard  qualifying therapists to treat cancer sufferers, and providing clarity and confidence for consumers.

I got 14 leading names in the spa and wellness industry together to create the independent, not-for-profit Standards Authority for Touch in Cancer Care (SATCC).

We launched last September, providing a direct way to find SATCC-accredited, safe, welcoming salons, spas and therapists who offer treatments for those touched by cancer  from diagnosis to remission.

satcc.co.uk
Jessica Mulroney has shared a cryptic post about 'losing friends and finding better ones' - months after her friendship with Meghan Markle was said to be on the rocks following the stylist's racism row.

The Canadian stylist, 41, from Toronto, posted a lengthy quote on Instagram yesterday, which read: 'Life changes. You lose love. You lose friends. You lose pieces of yourself that you never imagined would be gone.'

The quote continued: 'And then, without even realizing it, these pieces come back. New love enters. Better friends come along. And a stronger, wiser you, is staring back in the mirror.'

It comes after Meghan, 39, stayed silent as Jessica found herself at the centre of a Black Lives Matter race row last year when she was accused of using her white privilege against a black social media influencer.

Jessica Mulroney, 41, has shared a cryptic post about 'losing friends and finding better ones' - after her friendship with Meghan Markle, 39, was said to be on the rocks following the stylist's racism row last summer

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 alleged that Jessica 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.

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.

The Canadian stylist, from Toronto, posted a lengthy quote on Instagram which suggested she had 'lost friends' and found 'better' ones

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.'

The insider added: 'Of course, Meghan has been worried about Jess. Shell always have love for her.'

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.

A source had claimed Meghan and Jessica's 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'

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.

Jessica's friendship with Meghan was not the only aspect of her life that suffered as a result of the controversy.

Having quickly shot to fame thanks to her close friendship with the Duchess of Sussex, Jessica's fall from grace was even swifter.

DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that ABC had quickly severed ties with her, confirming that Jessica would not be returning to her occasional role as a fashion contributor on Good Morning America.

Canadian TV network CTV also distanced themselves from the stylist, revealing that it was pulling all episodes of her wedding-focused reality show I Do Redo from its platforms ahead of its expected US premiere on Netflix.

It was claimed last 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

She then stepped down from the board of directors of The Shoebox Project, a charity that she founded with her sisters-in-law, Caroline, Vanessa, and Katy Mulroney.

In a statement shared on Instagram, the charity said: 'Jessica Mulroney is a founding member of The Shoebox Project and she has dedicated herself to its growth and success over the years, for which we are very grateful.

'In light of recent events, the charity supports Jessicas decision to step away from the Board of Directors.'

Jessica's husband Ben - the son of former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney - then stepped down from his role as the host of CTV's celebrity news show 'etalk', a position that he had held for 18 years.
Prince William and Prince Harry will not heal from their rift while the Duke is 'so under the thumb' of wife Meghan Markle, a royal biographer has claimed.

The Duke of Cambridge, 39, and the Duke of Sussex, 36, are expected to put any tensions aside for unveiling of Princess Diana's statue on Thursday at Kensington Palace to mark what would've been their late mother's 60th birthday.

But according to Hugo Vickers, any attempts of a reunion in London could result in Prince Harry having to answer for it when he returns to his wife in their 11million mansion in Montecito, California.

'I don't know what they can do under the present circumstances,' he said, speaking to The Express about the possibility of the pair mending their relationship. 'Harry has got to wake up to what's going on. It's a very unpleasant situation and I don't think it's going to be the right moment this week.

'Harry is so under the thumb of Meghan it is not really possible until he emerges from that.'

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Peter Phillips, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Vice-Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, during the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on April 17, 2021 in Windsor

During the bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview (pictured), Prince Harry referred to his relationship with William amid reports the brothers had fallen out in the wake of Brexit

The royal biographer, who doesn't think Prince Charles will intervene, went on to say that the brothers could speak via videolink or phone but claimed neither Harry or his wife Meghan Markle wanted to.

'He has thrown in his lot with his wife,' said Hugo. 'That's it, isn't it? Slagging off his family didn't help anybody. It's a dreadful situation.'

He continued: 'You've got to remember that Harry has to return to his wife in Los Angeles. If he starts reconciling, he will get his head bitten off, won't he?'

The royal expert also went on to say how the tension between the brothers is likely to steal the limelight from the poignant event - adding that 'everyone will be focusing on' the two boys being together.

Pictured, Princess Diana with her sons Prince William and Prince Harry during a holiday with the Spanish royal family at the Marivent Palace in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, August 1987

It will mark the first time Harry has both travelled to Britain and spent time with his brother since the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral at Windsor Castle on April 17.

His wife Meghan Markle has remained at their 11million mansion in Montecito with two-year-old Archie and their second child, Lilibet Diana, who was born 21 days ago at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.

The reunion comes in the aftermath of Harry and Meghan Markle's explosive two-hour CBS interview with Oprah Winfrey which aired in March, where the royal made reference to his relation with William amid reports the brothers had fallen out in the wake of Brexit.

Prince Harry told the talk show host: 'As I've said before, I love William to bits. He's my brother. 'We've been through hell together. I mean, we have a shared experience. But we're on different paths.
Widowed illustrator Gary Andrews, who went viral with his doodles on dealing with grief, has revealed in his latest artwork how he discussed with his teenage daughter meeting someone new - after the tragic death of his wife four years ago.

Gary Andrews, 60, who lives in Horley, Surrey, lost the mother of his two children, Joy, 41, from sepsis in 2017, and saw his daily diary drawings about family life after loss shared thousands of time on social media.

Last year he published Finding Joy, a moving account in art of how the family grieved for Joy and this week he revealed - again in a doodle - how he discussed during a 'bedtime chat' with his daughter Lily how he had fallen for new girlfriend Lisa.

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After the sudden death of his wife Joy, 41, from sepsis in 2017, illustrator Gary Andrews turned to his doodle diary documenting the family's grief in drawings' - his latest shows how he discussed with his teenage daughter Lily finding love again

Gary, who lives in Surrey, lost his 'soul mate' of 19 years when Joy fell ill with what they both thought was flu in October 2017. He was away on a week-long work trip to Vancouver, Canada (Pictured on the their wedding day)

Gary, 60, says his teenage daughter Lily, right, told him 'Mum was your great love but if you'd met Lisa then, it would have been her' as the pair broached the subject of him finding a new relationship

The sketch sees Gary telling Lily: 'You know although I love Lisa, I don't love mum any less, right?'

Lily, sat on her bed, responds: 'Oh yes, mum was your great love who you thought 'she's the one forever...' but if you'd not met her, but met Lisa then, it would have been her.'

On Twitter, he captioned the drawing: 'Bedtime chat with Lily about my new relationship. Marvelling as ever at her maturity and understanding.'

He reveals Lily also told him: 'I'm just so pleased you've chosen someone nice'.

On Twitter, many shared their own experiences and thanked Gary for being honest about the conversation with Lily.

@thresholdweller wrote: 'Im delighted for you and your daughters approval. The guilt of finding love after bereavement can be overwhelming, but it ebbs as you feel support from others that you love.'

@Laura_Halifax added: 'Lily is as amazing as she is because you and Joy raised her so well and allowed her to flourish into the young woman she is today. I am sure Joy would be very proud of you all.'

@braddersmk2 penned: 'This so echoes talks I had with my kids 15 years ago after I lost my first wife to Cancer. Wishing you the same happiness with Lisa as I have with my 2nd wife, and continuing good rapport with your kids!'

He also shared a sketch of new love Lisa supporting him during his latest work on A Midsummer Night's Dream

Gary lost his 'soul mate' of 19 years when Joy fell ill with what they both thought was flu in October 2017. He was away on a week-long work trip to Vancouver, Canada. She died while he was on the flight home.

He began writing a doodle diary to record family life before Joy's death and, as a happily married father of two, his exquisite drawings were filled with gentle humour and sheer delight at his good fortune.

However, when he was blindsided by her death, Gary turned to his diary for solace, pouring his heart out on to the page to capture his grief and the struggle to cope as a single parent.

Memories: Gary and Joy, who died in 2017, with their children, Lily and Ben

His artwork quickly captured the attention of people on social media and in 2020, he published the drawings in his book, Finding Joy.

Last year, Gary, turned his talents to recording the family's ongoing journey through lockdown too - from snuggling up on the sofa with his children to home-schooling.

As always, the ethereal image of his late wife, Joy, was often to be found in the background of his cartoons - her guiding presence in the family's life as strong as it was before her tragic death.

In one image, Joy appears next to Gary as he watches daughter Lily baking a cake, with the caption: 'She gets more and more like you every day . . . It's beautiful. Thank you for that gift.'

Gary said at the time of the Covid pandemic: 'It has brought the loneliness of not having Joy here back, which was going away before because life was so busy.

In his book: Gary reveals how he stretches himself with new activities and (right) documents the loneliness of being a single parent and missing Joy's company

'She still pops up in my drawings  not as much as in the earlier days, when everything was happening for the first time  but she is never going away.'

Of his wife's untimely death, he adds: 'When it first happened, the grief was all-encompassing. Her sudden and unexpected death was a massive shock to the system. It totally enveloped me.

'The grief itself you never get over, but you learn to live with it and put it in a place where it's manageable and you can control it.

Moving on: 'She has gone but the love is still there'. (Right) Height of happiness: Ben finally has his birthday party

'Now, it sits comfortably and quietly in a little corner  not defining me, but informing everything about who I am.

'Being a solo parent is hard enough, and to have this pandemic and lockdown thrust upon us is tough, although I know a lot of people have it tougher.

'It would be nice to have Joy here to bounce ideas off, to share the load, to laugh with, to tag-team the home-schooling with and just to sit on the sofa with in the evening.'

It would be the first of 700 doodles charting his struggle to fill the gap left by Joy as he embarked on the lonely, but ultimately inspiring, journey from despair to something closer to happiness.

Darling daughter: Celebrating Lily becoming a teen. (Right) Gin genius: Like many in lockdown, Garys social life has to become virtual

Drawing every night before going to bed, Gary sees his doodles as a way of immortalising the woman he married in 2004, after she graduated from York University where she had studied film, TV and acting.

Before her death, Joy ran a media company with Gary, who has worked as an animator on children's TV series Fireman Sam and is currently directing Horrid Henry, and he often wonders what she would have made of this tribute to her.

'People have told me the book has helped them navigate their own journey of grief. I've had terminally ill people tell me they've bought it for their spouses. It's been unbelievably humbling and beautiful.'

Legacy of Joy: Gary can see so much of his wife in Lily. (Right) Party of one: Gary joins the Zoom revolution in lockdown

Gary hopes that Joy would have been proud of the way he stepped up to the challenge of bringing up their adored children alone.

'Lily was ten when Joy died, so she was old enough to be able to process it and understand,' he says.

'Now she's a teen and is dealing with all those things teenagers have to cope with as well as this, but it has made her a very strong and emotionally confident young woman.

Last year Gary said a new relationship wouldn't 'take anything away from the feelings I had before. Falling in love again is not cheating.'

'We can talk about anything. Having to become mum and dad to her means that any kind of barrier there may have been has gone. It's made for an open and close relationship.

'Ben was seven when Joy died, old enough for it to impact him, but not old enough for him to process it.

'He's developed a dark sense of humour and he's very funny. His defence has been to stick two fingers up at death, and that's a pretty valid response.

'Neither of my children is afraid to talk about what happened, we're a great little team.'

'The love I have for Joy is never going to go away. She's gone, but that love is still there.

'That love is now in a particular place, and there's no reason why someone else can't come into my life for whom I can have those feelings again.

'It does not take anything away from the feelings I had before. Falling in love again is not cheating.'

Finding Joy (16.99, John Murray) is available at all good bookshops
Prince Harry's yoga teacher friend Lady Zoe Warren has revealed how she became society's go-to wellness guru by teaching how not to 'run from negative emotions.'

Zoe, 37, who lives in Berkshire and is the daughter of the recently titled 14th Earl of Galloway, became a lockdown hero after raising thousands for the NHS via her online yoga lessons.

The philanthropic yogini requested charity donations in return for her weekly virtual classes, with society chums such as Daisy Hambro and the Duchess of Cambridge's best friend, Sophie Snuggs, taking part.

'A lot a lot of us try to run from our negative emotions and we do things that numb them,' she said, speaking to The Times. 'So we avoid them. Its part of being human, and yet theyre seen as negative, and were encouraged not to look at them. Whereas if we do, it gives them less power.'

Prince Harry's friend Lady Zoe Warren who has an 'anxiety toolkit' has told how anyone who advocates awareness of mental health is 'brilliant' - adding that 'everyone's voice is worthy.' Pictured, with Kate Middleton as she attends the second day of Royal Ascot on June 15, 2016

Pictured, Zoe Warren, Jake Warren and Prince Harry attending Ladies Day at Royal Ascot Racecourse on June 19, 2014

Kind-hearted: Zoe Warren, daughter of the recently titled 14th Earl of Galloway, became a lockdown hero after raising thousands for the NHS via her online yoga lessons

Having trained as a teacher 10 years ago at The Power Yoga Company and Triyoga, the mother-of-two - whose daughter Zalie was a bridesmaid at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's wedding - now gives classes at Wasing Park in Hampshire, in between her online tutorials.

Zoe, who admits she's a 'worrier' and can 'overthink things a lot,' went on to say that while she hasn't suffered 'unduly' from anxiety, she experienced some time in her twenties where she was 'trying to be someone else.'

She continued: 'That gets exhausting. Maybe the older you get, the less you try and perform  and that becomes so freeing, to just be yourself.'

'You want to be the same person to your children as you are to your friends. When someone is authentic, there's instant trust.'

Society chums: Daisy Hambro and the Duchess of Cambridge's best friend, Sophie Snuggs, took part in her virtual classes. Zoe is married to Jake Warren (right together at Princess Eugenie's wedding), who is a friend of Prince William and Prince Harry. Her daughter Zalie is the Duke of Sussex's goddaughter and was a bridesmaid at his wedding to Meghan Markle, left

Zoe went on to say that anyone who advocates awareness of mental health is 'brilliant' - adding that 'everyone's voice is worthy' whether you're 'well known or not well known.'

The yoga enthusiast, who didn't reference Prince Harry directly, said: 'I completely think that anyone who is advocating awareness of mental health - its brilliant. Whatever anyone can do.

'Everyones voice is worthy, isnt it? Whether you are well known or not well known. Everyones story is worthy.'

She added: 'And so yes, I think it is really important. I wish everyone luck with all they do when people are trying to create more contentment, more awareness.'

When mentioned, she went on to clarify she couldn't speak about Prince Harrys five-part AppleTV+ docuseries The Me You Can't See which focuses on mental health - adding that she knows 'nothing about it.'

During the episode, the Duke of Sussex dropped another nuclear 'truth bomb' on the Royal Family accusing them of 'total silence' and 'neglect' when Meghan was suicidal.

He claimed his father Prince Charles made him 'suffer' as a child and insisted he would not be 'bullied into silence' when he alleged 'The Firm' 'trapped', smeared and dumped them.
Meghan Markle's ex-husband Trevor Engelson has announced that he and his wife Tracey Kurland are expecting their second child together in the fall.

The Hollywood producer, 44, who already shares a daughter Ford Grace Engelson, with his second wife, confirmed the happy news on his private Instagram account, according to OK magazine.

Trevor, who was married to the Duchess of Sussex from 2011 to 2013, remarried Tracey in Montecito, in May 2019.

Sharing their exciting announcement, the proud dad wrote: 'This baby thing has been good so far... let's do it again... coming this fall!'

Meghan Markle's ex-husband Trevor Engelson (pictured together) has announced that he and his wife Tracey Kurland are expecting their second child together in the fall

The Hollywood producer, 44, who already shares a daughter Ford Grace Engelson, with his second wife Tracey Kurland (pictured together), confirmed the happy news on his private Instagram account, according to OK magazine

The gushing Instagram post included a cute photograph of the family, with Trevor holding on to his daughter Ford Grace, who was born in August 2020, as she sat on his shoulders, while his glowing wife appeared next to him.

Looking picture perfect, the film producer was dressed in a white and blue striped T-shirt with dark trousers and aviators on.

His wife appeared radiant in a pink and blue floral floor-length summer dress with a square-shaped neckline, which she teamed with a pair of black, pearl-embellished sandals.

The Hollywood producer announced his engagement to American heiress Tracey two weeks after Prince Harry and Markle's Royal wedding in May 2018.

Engelson and Tracey then tied the knot in a lavish ceremony at the Rosewood Miramar Beach resort in Montecito, California, in May 2019.

Trevor, who was married to the Duchess of Sussex from 2011 to 2013, remarried Tracey in Montecito, in May 2019. Pictured, Trevor's Instagram post announcing his second wife's first pregnancy

Engelson, from Great Neck, New York, and Meghan first began dating in 2004 before she shot to fame on TV legal drama Suits.

The couple dated for six years before getting engaged in 2010 and marrying in a luxurious beach ceremony in Jamaica in 2011.

Their marriage lasted just two years, with sources close to the couple telling the Daily Mail in 2017 that her ascent to fame took its toll on their relationship.

Weeks into their marriage Meghan got her big break on Suits and spent months each year filming in Toronto, Canada, while Engelson stayed at their home in Los Angeles.

'It put a strain on the relationship. Trevor was in LA making movies, Meghan was in another country five hours flight away and it simply took its toll,' the source said.

Engelson, from Great Neck, New York, and Meghan (pictured in 2011) first began dating in 2004 before she shot to fame on TV legal drama Suits

They separated in the summer of 2013 and divorced in 2014, with papers citing 'irreconcilable differences'.

It is understood it was Meghan who ultimately decided the marriage was over. She reportedly sent her wedding ring back to Engelson in the post after they split.

Engelson, who owns his own production company called Underground and produced films including Robert Pattinson's 'Remember Me' and the Bradley Cooper-Sandra Bullock comedy 'All About Steve,' moved on with nutritionist Tracey.

He proposed to the multi-millionaire banker's daughter in June 2018 while on a tour of California's wine country after dating for a year.

The couple celebrated their engagement with a bash in October that year held at a private home in the exclusive Hidden Hills, California.

Meghan moved on with husband Harry and their son Archie, two, and their new baby daughter, Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor who was born on 4 June 2021.
Prince William's 'second mum' Carole Middleton taught him 'how a loving and supportive family works' - but Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 'lack experiences of stable relationships', according to a royal expert.

Carole, the Duchess of Cambridge's mother, has provided a real sense of normality amid any chaos for the Duke of Cambridge since he married Kate in 2011, royal biographer Angela Levin told The Sun.

The 66-year-old founder of party supplies company Party Pieces is said to have acted as a second mother for Prince William, while his brother Prince Harry hasnt had that parental opportunity, claimed the author.

It comes ahead of the warring brothers putting their differences aside on Thursday to attend the unveiling of a statue to their late mother Princess Diana on what would have been her 60th birthday.

Prince William's 'second mum' Carole Middleton taught him 'how a loving and supportive family works' - but Prince Harry (pictured left, with Prince William in 2018) and Meghan Markle 'lack experiences of stable relationships', according to a royal expert

Angela claimed that while the Duke of Cambridge adored his late mother, who died aged 36 in a 1997 Paris car crash when William was 15 and Harry 12, she was 'relentlessly demanding' on him.

However as an adult, he's been accepted and supported by his mother-in-law, with the pair having become extremely close since he started dating Kate at university.

Angela said: William adored Diana and was drawn to her magnetic charm, but she was relentlessly demanding on him as a young child, describing him as her closest confidant and talking about her lovers, when its a mothers duty to care for her son, not the other way round.

[Carole] made him feel secure, comfortable and protected and he didnt have to worry about what he said or be responsible for her emotions.'

The author added that the prince learnt through Kate's household how a 'loving and supportive family works'.

Carole (pictured with her husband Michael in 2013), the Duchess of Cambridge's mother, has provided a real sense of normality amid any chaos for the Duke of Cambridge since he married Kate in 2011, royal biographer Angela Levin claimed

'Harry hasnt had that parental opportunity,' Angela continued. 'Both he and Meghan come from very damaged backgrounds it must be hard for them to help each other and lack experience in how stable, strong, understanding relationships work.'

Earlier this year, it was reported that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had been leaning on 'immensely influential' Carole since Prince Harry and Meghan left the royal family.

Prince William and Kate looked to the businesswoman, of Berkshire, as a 'stabilising and supportive force', royal author Phil Dampier told The Sun.

Meanwhile, another source told the publication that Prince William views his mother-in-law as his 'second mum' in the absence of Princess Diana.

The 66-year-old founder (pictured in 2019) of party supplies company Party Pieces is said to have acted as a second mother for Prince William, while his brother Prince Harry hasnt had that parental opportunity, claimed the author

They said: 'Williams in-laws have become like second parents and Carole is almost a Diana-Type mum.'

The royal author said Prince William and Kate would feel increasingly pressured following the Duke and Duchess' decision to step back from their royal duties.

He said: 'Carole will be a stabilising and supportive force in the background, looking after [her grandchildren] when needs be but also just being there for them.'

He went on to call her a power behind the throne, and said her influence on the Duke and Duchess was 'immense.'

He also commented on the close bond between Prince William and former BA air hostess Carole and her husband Michael Middleton, who run the event supplies company Party Pieces.

Earlier this year, it was reported that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had been leaning on 'immensely influential' Carole (pictured in 2019 with her husband) since Prince Harry and Meghan left the royal family

The royal expert said they had 'provided a middle class down-to-earth haven for him', and 'helped to keep him grounded'.

He added that this may have been something Prince Harry had missed out on 'because of the splintered nature' of Meghan's parents.

A source close to the family told the publication that Carole has been like a 'second parent' for Prince William.

The source claimed that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Berkshire 'quite a few' times following the Sussexes departure from the UK.
Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines may provide lifetime protection against COVID-19, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that people who received either of the two-dose shots, which use new messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, had strong and 'persistent' immune responses.

What's more, the vaccines produced high levels of neutralizing antibodies against two variants of the virus.

This could mean that Pfizer and Moderna recipients could have long-lasting immunity - for years or potentially the rest of their lives - and may not even need boosters, reported first by The New York Times.

'It's a good sign for how durable our immunity is from this vaccine,' lead author Dr Ali Ellebedy, an immunologist at Washington University in St Louis told the newspaper.

Researchers took samples from the lymph nodes of people given two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and looked at germinal centers, which act as a sort of 'boot camp' for immune system cells called memory B cells. Pictured: Vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus vaccines

At least four months later, the recipients had germinal centers that did not wane (above) and the number of memory B cells that recognized the virus had not fallen.

For the study, published on Monday in the journal Nature, the team recruited 14 people who received both doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

Among them, eight people had previously has been infected with COVID-19.

Researchers looked at lymph nodes, which produce a type of immune system cell known as a memory B cell.

Memory B cells lock onto the surface of invading pathogens and mark them for destruction by other immune cells.

They also can circulate in the bloodstream for years - even decades - and the immune system can call up on them if there is another infection.

The vaccine also generated high levels of neutralizing antibodies against the Alpha variant from the UK (center) and the Beta variant from South Africa (right)

After someone is infected with COVID-19 or vaccinated against it, a germinal center forms in the lymph nodes, which acts a sort of 'boot camp' for memory B cells, according to The Times.

This center helps trains B cells to recognize the genetic sequence of the virus as well as any variants in this sequence.

The team took samples from the lymph nodes five times - at three weeks, four weeks, five weeks, seven weeks and 15 weeks after the first dose.

Results showed that even four months, the recipients had highly active germinal centers and the number of memory B cells that recognized the virus had not fallen.

Ellebedy told The Times that with most vaccine , germinal centers peak at one or two weeks post-immunization before fading.

'The fact that the reactions continued for almost four months after vaccination - that's a very, very good sign,' he said.

The stud survy found that participants also developed high levels of neutralizing antibodies against two variants: the Alpha variant, which originated in Kent, and the Beta variant, which originated in South Africa.

Researchers did not examine the vaccine's effect against the Delta variant, which was first identified in India, and is more transmissible than previous variants.

Although the study only looked at people vaccinated with Pfizer, Ellebedy said the findings can apply to Moderna because both vaccines used the same technology.

The study did not look at the coronavirus vaccine produced by Johnson & Johnson, but Ellebedy told The Times he does not think the immune response would be as strong because it uses different technology.

If booster shots are needed for J&J recipients, the extra dose could produce the same effect seen in COVID-19 survivors who were later immunized, meaning high levels of antibodies.

'If you give [memory B cells] another chance to engage, they will have a massive response,' Ellebedy told The Times.
The former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning that the country is likely to see outbreaks of the Indian 'Delta' coronavirus variant in some communities.

In an appearance on CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday, Dr Scott Gottlieb said he expects cases to rise in areas with low vaccination rates.

'It's not going to be as pervasive,' Gottlieb said.

'It's going to hyper-regionalized. There's certain pockets of the country where you're going to have very dense outbreaks.'

This means southern and western states such as Arkansas, Mississippi and Wyoming - who have less than one-third of their population fully vaccinated - are at high risk, and already seeing a rise in cases.

It comes as the variant continues to ravage the UK, with Delta driving an explosion of new cases, and COVID-19 infections up 60 percent from a week ago,

Gottlieb warned that the U.S. is only 'about a month or two' behind the UK and that America should expect to see a similar situation.

Former FDA commissioner Dr Scott Gottlieb said on Sunday (pictured) he expects outbreaks of the Indian 'Delta' variant to rise in areas with low vaccination rates

The variant makes up 20% of American cases and Gottlieb said U.S. is only a month behind the UK, which saw daily cases hit 22,000 cases per day on Monday from 2,000 in April

Southern states with a small percentage of the population fully vaccinated are seeing an increase in cases due to Delta

Known as B.1.617.2, the Delta variant has been labeled as a 'double mutant' by India's Health Ministry because it carries two mutations: L452R and E484Q.

L452R is the same mutation seen with the California homegrown variant and E484Q is similar to the mutation seen in the Brazilian and South African variants.

Both of the mutations occur on key parts of the virus that allows it to enter and infect human cells.

Its transmissibility has been clear as it wreaks havoc in the UK.

On Monday, the UK recorded 22,868 new cases of COVID-19, which is the most reported since late January.

This is a 1040 percent increase from 2,000 cases recorded in late April, when the Delta variant first took hold.

Additionally, deaths have nearly tripled in the last week, with 122 COVID-related fatalities recorded in the last seven days compared to 48 the previous seven days.

Last week, Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said during a White House COVID-19 Response Team press briefing that the variant is also rapidly in the U.S., currently accounts for 20.6 percent of infections.

Gottlieb says he believes that what is happening in the UK is a foreshadowing of what's to come in the U.S.

That means the 20 percent figure is only expected to rise.

'I think as you look across the United States, if you're a community that has low vaccination rates and you also think that there was low immunity from prior infection, so the virus really hasn't coursed through the local population, those communities are vulnerable,' he told Face the Nation .

'So, I think governors need to be thinking about how they build out health care resources in areas of the country where you still have a lot of vulnerability.'

One of those states in Arkansas, which currently only has xx percent of its population fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Arkansas has seen an average of 300 cases per day, an increase from 200 the last month, and health officials say the Delta variant is to blame.

Currently, 56 percent of all cases in the state that undergo genetic sequencing are linked to Delta.

'That tells us that the variant is spreading widely and that it's spreading quickly,' Dr Jennifer Dillaha, the Director of Epidemiology for the Arkansas Department of Health told Action News 5.

'My concern is that if people are not immune to it, then this variant will find them and infect them and cause illness.'

Arkansas has seen an average of 300 cases per day in the last week, an increase from 200 the last month, and 56% of all cases are linked to the Delta variant

In Mississippi, there has been 18% increase in the seven-day rolling average of cases from 111 to 132, and at least 60 cases are associated with Delta

Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas said hospitalizations are up 30 percent and encouraged residents to get vaccinated.

'The Delta variant is a great concern to us. We see that impacting our increasing cases and hospitalizations,' Hutchinson told Face the Nation.

'We've got to make sure we do everything we can to get the word out, which we have. We have used incentives that have not been very successful. We've obviously done marketing for our vaccines. We are educating, doing everything we can.'

In Mississippi, health officials said there a growing number of cases linked to the Delta variant.

According to WAPT, state epidemiologist Dr Paul Byers said there have been at least 60 cases associated with the variant since the fist infection was identified a few weeks ago.

The state is currently averaging 132 COVID-19 infections per day, an 18 percent increase from 111 from earlier this month.

Meanwhile, less than 30 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.

'The vaccine is still effective against it, but remember that a vaccine is not 100 percent,' Byers said.

'And when you have an individual in congregate settings in very close contact and put in a place with highly infectious variants, there is a possibility of transmission.'
Television chef Rosemary Shrager is the kind of person who usually springs out of bed as soon as she wakes up.

But until recently this has been a struggle  though not for lack of energy and enthusiasm. As the veteran of popular programmes such as Ladette To Lady and Im A Celebrity says: I might be 70, but that doesnt mean Im ready to stop.

The problem was her overhanging upper eyelids, which were preventing her from getting straight on with her day.

It felt like the upper lids were being weighed down over my eyes, says Rosemary, who has two grown-up children. Each morning, without fail, Id wake up and literally be unable to open my eyes.

Television chef Rosemary Shrager is the kind of person who usually springs out of bed as soon as she wakes up. But until recently this has been a struggle  though not for lack of energy and enthusiasm

It was not only quite scary  you take it for granted that you wake up and you can see  but pretty painful, too.

In fact, for the past year or two, the only way Rosemary could open her eyes was to physically prise them apart with her fingers.

After rubbing and prising the eyelids open with my fingers for a good few minutes, the drooping would ease throughout the day, says Rosemary, who lives in Sussex.

It sounds mad that something as light as an eyelid could cause such trouble.

The sagging around her eyelids that started to bother her five years ago caused other problems, too, making her eyes weep.

This meant doing her live Facebook Cookalongs during the pandemic (to help families cook) was increasingly challenging, as she had to keep wiping her eyes.

Thats why earlier this year, Rosemary decided to take the plunge and have her lids surgically lifted.

The procedure is not without risk  some people find they cant close their eyes properly afterwards  but she decided the risks were worth it.

I just felt I couldnt go on like this, she says. It was demoralising and uncomfortable.

Drooping eyelids are a common problem. They are caused by a weakening of muscle (known as ptosis) or excess skin, fat or muscle in the eyelid area (known as dermatochalasis).

As the veteran of popular programmes such as Ladette To Lady and Im A Celebrity says: I might be 70, but that doesnt mean Im ready to stop. The problem was her overhanging upper eyelids, which were preventing her from getting straight on with her day

Rosemary had both.

A study in England published in the journal Age and Ageing in 1995 found that 11 per cent of the over-50s had some degree of ptosis. Children can have it too but the incidence increases with age.

Thats because the levator muscle, which is responsible for lifting the eyelid, weakens with age, explains Raj Das-Bhaumik, a consultant oculoplastic surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London.

But genetics can also cause this, as some people may be born with weakened muscles.

Other risk factors include smoking, sun exposure and excess drinking  All of which can damage skin cells and cause the skin to sag prematurely, adds Mr Das-Bhaumik.

Drooping eyelids are also more common in those who wear contact lenses, says Elizabeth Hawkes, an oculoplastic and ophthalmic surgeon at the Cadogan Clinic in London.

I found myself having to hold my eyes wide open  I just felt so self-conscious, says Rosemary

Every time you take a lens out, you might be stretching the skin around the eyelid, and this can cause the muscles to droop.

While for some people drooping eyelids are purely a cosmetic issue, it can sometimes lead to medical complications, says Mr Das-Bhaumik.

Drooping lids can cause eyelashes to turn inwards, irritating or scratching the surface of the eye and possibly leading to infection and, in rare cases, ulcers  which can threaten sight. They can also restrict vision and may make driving dangerous.

It can feel like theres a curtain on the upper outer edges of the eyes so those affected may need to turn their head more.

It would be almost like wearing blinkers, says Mr Das-Bhaumik.

Another problem related to drooping eyelids is eyes weeping, as in Rosemarys case.

As Saj Ataullah, a consultant ophthalmic, oculoplastic and orbital surgeon at the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, explains: One possible reason for this could be that if the skin folds over the outer corner of the eye, this can create a wick-like effect and draw tears out of the outer corner.

Drooping eyelids can even trigger headaches, as those affected may constantly raise their eyebrows and forehead to stop the lids drooping, thereby causing muscle tension in the forehead.

The most common treatment is an upper blepharoplasty carried out under local anaesthetic. Here, folds of loose skin, muscle and fat are cut away from the upper eyelid.

Around 2,500 such operations were performed last year on the NHS. Its offered only if the normal field of vision is being obscured or if the patient is suffering serious physical discomfort as well as vision problems.

Mr Ataullah argues that the procedure should be more widely available on the NHS as a lot of patients suffer with compromised vision and symptoms arising from this  though it is important to distinguish between what is cosmetic and what is functional.

Rosemary paid to have the procedure done privately as she wanted to get the problem corrected quickly once she had made up her mind to have treatment.

I found myself having to hold my eyes wide open  I just felt so self-conscious, says Rosemary.

It was only when I mentioned it to a friend in February that I realised that something could be done surgically.

She admits that the idea of messing with my eye gave me the shivers. But I told myself that I just had to be brave.

Happy hour Everyday activities that boost your happiness hormones. This week: Have a sauna The heat of a sauna has been shown to trigger the release of endorphins  chemicals that reduce pain and make us feel good. The stress of heat activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which releases a number of hormones including beta-endorphins, says Ilpo Huhtaniemi, an endocrinologist and Professor Emeritus at Imperial College, London. Researchers at Colorado University in the U.S. have also found that a set of neurons (nerve cells) in the brain release serotonin, another hormone that signals happiness, in response to heat. Serotonin helps to cool the body and has the knock-on effect of raising mood. So how long should you stay in a sauna to benefit? If you are otherwise healthy (anyone with high blood pressure, heart failure or who is pregnant is advised to avoid saunas), Professor Huhtaniemi suggests 30 to 40 minutes, but divided into short stays of 5 to 10 minutes with cooling in between. Advertisement

The procedure is performed using local anaesthetic injected under the eyelid. Incisions are then made in the creases of the upper lids and excess tissue removed (in Rosemarys case the surgeon cut away 2.8 mm of skin, which is at the upper end for this procedure).

If the remaining muscle is slack, it is repaired and tightened with tiny, absorbable stitches.

It sounds a bit gruesome when you explain what happened  but actually, during the procedure, I felt incredibly comfortable, says Rosemary.

The only sore part was the needle for the anaesthetic.

After the 45-minute procedure, she was given a mirror.

Im not often speechless, she says, but I couldnt believe it. I could see my eyes were open  well, they were half open because of the stitches and swelling.

I was ecstatic.

Her enthusiasm waned somewhat, though, when she woke up the next day looking like shed been in a fight.

I was so bruised and sore. So much so that I couldnt open my eyes properly for a day or so.

I also had throbbing pain, so I took paracetamol. I had been warned, of course, but even so I thought, Oh dear, what have I done here? 

After six days, the bruising had gone down. Three months on and Rosemary is thrilled with the results  though it will be around six months until her eyes are fully opened owing to the scars having to mature and soften.

Im absolutely over the moon, she says. The biggest improvement is when waking up in the morning. My eyes now open wider and the feeling of not having heavy eyes is the biggest relief.

My eyes dont weep and my whole face seems alive.

For those considering a similar procedure, Mr Das-Bhaumik urges caution.

The big issue with blepharoplasty is overdoing it. Its important that the surgeon is a specialist who achieves a very natural functional outcome.

If you take away too much skin, you can be left with eyes that dont close properly. There are also risks of infection, bleeding, bruising and scarring. It also should not be done if you have very dry eyes: that needs to be treated first.

Nor is the operation, which costs upwards of 2,500 privately, always a permanent solution as there can be creep back of drooping skin  though this tends to be after about 15 to 20 years.

At the moment, Rosemary is very happy. I really do see the world differently now, she says.

It has been a revelation.
Lying on an operating table after a suspected heart attack in July last year, David Fortes struggled to take on board what his consultant was telling him.

The 75-year-old retired painter and decorator had just had an angiogram  where dye is injected into the bloodstream during an X-ray.

The team were checking for a blocked artery but didn't find any. Nor did they find any sign that David had suffered a heart attack.

But what they did find was a wire over a foot long buried inside his arm, running up to his shoulder and into his neck then down into his chest.

David, who was sedated but conscious for the treatment, recalls the cardiologist stopping minutes into the angiogram and going to consult with a colleague.

The 75-year-old retired painter and decorator had just had an angiogram  where dye is injected into the bloodstream during an X-ray

'When he returned, he said: 'Mr Fortes, I think you have a wire in your arm,' says David.

'I was a bit out of it and wasn't sure what he was talking about. But within minutes, all hell broke loose.'

Three months earlier David, from Redruth in Cornwall, had had a heart attack, and underwent a procedure to clear a blocked coronary artery to prevent him having another one. Then, one morning, he began experiencing pain in his arm, chest and jaw and had to be re-admitted to hospital for what was thought to be a second heart attack.

No one could confirm whether the wire, which had been used as part of the procedure to clear the blockage, had caused the symptoms  but clearly it should not have been there.

A subsequent investigation by the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust found the wire was left behind after David's treatment to unblock his arteries three months before, in April last year.

The wire was a guide used to push equipment into place  no one had noticed that part of it had snapped off during the procedure and had become lodged in his body.

This was a calamity, classed in the medical world as a 'never event'  so called simply because it should never happen, a potentially life-changing blunder that is entirely preventable if medical staff follow the proper procedures.

These events range from surgery on the wrong part of the body to medical equipment being left behind after an operation.

Guidewires specifically are a particularly egregious example. On average, about once a fortnight a guidewire is accidentally left inside an NHS patient, according to research by the University of Cambridge and others published in the Journal of Patient Safety in January this year.

This revealed 236 cases of guidewire retention were recorded between 2004 and 2015, with the numbers increasing as time passed.

'We found a rising frequency of retained guidewires, with an average of two per month,' the researchers noted in their report.

The damning numbers... There were 364 never events (a preventable medical blunder) in England in the 12 months between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021. These included: n 80 cases where patients had foreign objects left inside them after surgery, including 15 surgical swabs, 20 guidewires  used to help guide larger surgical instruments into place  and 23 vaginal swabs. n 30 cases where the wrong implant or prosthesis was implanted. n 80 per cent of all healthcare errors are caused by human factors  such as poor team communication  a 2019 NHS report found. Advertisement

This could be owing to more people undergoing these types of procedures as an alternative to open-heart surgery, but what researchers found most worrying was that, in more than half the cases they looked at, doctors only realised their mistake during follow-up scans months  sometimes years  later, often when patients were admitted for unrelated illnesses.

Some only discovered the blunder when the metal started to poke through their skin. After his initial heart attack, David was rushed by ambulance to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.

There, doctors carried out an angiogram, which showed a blockage in his main coronary artery  hard deposits (plaques) had ruptured in the blood vessel, restricting blood flow.

Wires embedded in blood vessels

David was told he urgently needed a rotablation procedure to break up the hard deposits.

Performed on thousands of patients every year, this involves inserting a thin wire with a drill-like tip on the end through a tiny incision in the wrist and feeding it up into the chest. The tip spins at high speed and grinds away the plaque.

David's artery was successfully cleared and a metal tube called a stent was placed inside to prop it open. But at some point during the procedure a 15 in (38 cm) strip of the guide wire broke off and lodged inside the network of blood vessels running from his left elbow up through his shoulder and neck and into his chest.

The widower and father of one was discharged but within days developed what he describes as 'a painful swelling on the inside of the left elbow and my whole arm ached all the time. The skin started to go yellow, as if I had a bruise forming. I couldn't straighten my elbow or bend it properly.

No one could confirm whether the wire, which had been used as part of the procedure to clear the blockage, had caused the symptoms  but clearly it should not have been there

'Because I was already on several daily tablets for my heart, I didn't want to take painkillers in case it affected how they worked, so I just put up with the agony.'

David managed to get through to a cardiac nurse on the phone who said there might be some tissue damage from the procedure but it would settle down in time.

A couple of weeks later, his GP gave him the same response.

It was only when David suffered his suspected heart attack three months later  with pain in his arm and chest  that the blunder came to light.

Doctors were reluctant to remove the wire because the likelihood was new tissue would have grown around it, making extraction difficult. 'But I insisted,' says David. 'I'm an ex-soldier so I didn't mince my words. I told them to get it out, whatever it took. And they did.'

This procedure was done under sedation and did not cause any damage. David was fortunate because such errors can be disastrous. Previous research has found up to one in five patients dies after guidewires are left behind in their blood vessels. They can pierce the heart, cause blood vessel blockages that lead to a stroke and result in clots that can become deadly if they migrate round the body and end up on the lung.

The Cambridge researchers said blunders they identified were owing to human error resulting from a failure to follow procedure, pressures of work or inexperience  almost 90 per cent involved junior doctors. Only 36 out of the 236 cases detailed the likely cause  but in most of these 36 cases doctors were blamed for not following proper procedure.

Medical blunders not being tackled

Guidewires are not the only bit of medical kit featuring in never events. Drill bits, scalpel blades, forceps and needles are discovered lurking in patients' bodies months, or even years, later. In 2016 Good Health reported on the case of Frank Hibbard, 69, who died after surgeons accidentally left a swab inside his abdomen during routine prostate cancer surgery more than a decade earlier.

A coroner's report concluded the 5 in (13 cm) strip of gauze had triggered the growth of an angiosarcoma, the cancer that eventually killed him.

And evidence suggests the NHS is failing to reduce the number of such blunders. According to the latest figures, there were 297 never events reported in less than a year, between April 1, 2020, and the end of January 2021.

This is lower than the 435 cases recorded between April 2019 and February 2020. Experts agree the fall was owing to a huge slump in elective surgery during the Covid-19 pandemic  but the fact is they aren't going down.

One patient had vision-correcting laser surgery on an eye that didn't need it, another had her ovaries mistakenly removed and a third underwent surgery on her rectum  when it should have been her vagina. In about 24 of the cases the wrong skin lesion was removed, while in 20 cases guidewires were left inside blood vessels, and in 34, swabs weren't removed at the end of surgery.

This isn't just a problem in the NHS. Figures from the Private Healthcare Information Network, which collates data on private medical care provided by nearly 300 clinics in the UK, show there are about 21 serious safety incidents a year among fee-paying patients. In 2019, in five instances they operated on the wrong part of the body.

'Never events are perfectly avoidable by using established good practice,' says Peter Walsh of patient safety charity Action against Medical Accidents. 'Yet they continue to occur at an alarming rate.'

Are safeguards being followed?

While the chances of falling victim to a surgical never event are slim  the NHS carries out nearly five million surgical procedures each year and mistakes like these occur in about one in 20,000  what worries experts is that the number of never events does not seem to be declining.

The 2019/2020 total of 435 cases is only slightly lower than the 489 incidents logged in 2011/2012.

This is despite enormous efforts to eradicate them. For example, the National Reporting and Learning System, part of the NHS, recommends inserting and removing a guidewire should be a two-person task; one to carry it out and one to observe that it is done correctly.

This includes verbally agreeing out loud with each other that the wire has been removed and documenting it in the patient's records. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends all hospitals use a 'smart' device called WireSafe, a plastic box that contains the wire, sutures and needles to complete the procedure. Crucially, the box only unlocks  giving access to the sutures and needles  once all of the wire has been removed from the body and fed back into it.

WireSafe has been around since 2016, but a document from NHS Improvement suggests it is not yet in widespread use.

And over the past decade virtually every hospital in the country has adopted the WHO's surgical safety checklist. The 19-point guide aims to prevent blunders by ensuring theatre staff have carried out routine checks such as ensuring the correct operation site is marked in advance and all surgical equipment, sponges and swabs are accounted for once the procedure is finished.

In another safety initiative, since 2015 it has been mandatory for NHS trusts in England to investigate all serious surgical errors in order to work out ways to stop them happening again. Other steps include appointing Freedom to Speak Up Guardians, as hundreds of hospitals have done. This is a nominated member of staff in an NHS trust whom other employees can approach, without fear of reprisals, if they have concerns about patient safety.

Swab that could have killed new mother Amy Berry, 28, a former care coordinator for a mental health trust, lives with husband Daniel, 29, a data analyst for a car company, and their daughter Ivy, three (below, with Amy). She says: What happened to me was a horror show from start to finish.When I was pregnant, my 20-week scan showed that my baby was too big and was moving less. I was monitored for the next 18 weeks, by which time the baby was 10 lb and I had to be induced. Amy Berry, 28, a former care coordinator for a mental health trust, lives with husband Daniel, 29, a data analyst for a car company, and their daughter Ivy, three (above, with Amy) On the day they induced me, despite pushing for two hours, the baby wasnt descending, so they decided to use forceps. They kept pulling but nothing was happening. Then they discovered one of the forcep blades had become lodged on her face. I was really distressed. A doctor finally managed to pull out the blade but because I was bleeding and there were risks to me and the baby, I had an emergency caesarean. Ivy was born with severe injuries to her face  which have left a permanent scar. The next day I felt really unwell, with hot and cold sweats, but the nurses said they were discharging me. I remember specifically asking if I was fine to go home and they said I was. But at home I felt worse every day, with flu-like symptoms and I began shaking with fever. A midwife came to check me but said I didnt match signs of infection so didnt need to go into hospital. I became more ill over the next ten days, with abdominal pain so bad I couldnt stand up or hold Ivy. Then I started passing fist-sized blood clots: it felt like I was giving birth again. I called the GP and hospital but they told me it was probably normal after such a traumatic birth, and just to keep taking painkillers. But I felt like I was at deaths door. The next day, 11 days after the birth, I had horrendous tummy pain and then a swab fell out of me. The smell was terrible, which I now know is a sign of a serious internal infection. Daniel drove me to hospital, where I was diagnosed with sepsis [a life-threatening condition caused by an infection]. A scan showed that part of the swab was still inside my uterus  and because it had been there for almost two weeks, it had caused a pelvic abscess and a hole in my uterus. They had left the swab inside me during the surgery. It was only luck that it created a hole big enough for some of it to pass through. If the rest had stayed inside me for much longer, it could have killed me. The fact that it fell out saved my life. I spent the next week in hospital on intravenous antibiotics and morphine  and I continued this treatment at home for two months. Im still in pain even now, more than three years on, and Ive had to leave my full-time job. The abscess has potentially caused fertility issues and I now have Ashermans syndrome, with scar tissue in the walls of the uterus, which reduces its size. Eventually, the hospital apologised. They called it a never event, as it shouldnt have happened. I got compensation because Ive been left with potentially lifelong fertility problems and my babys face has been permanently scarred. This has been put into a trust fund should she want cosmetic surgery for this when shes older. I feel like I just cant trust anyone in a medical position any more. Interview: Jinan Harb Advertisement

Meanwhile, the use of barcode technology is helping operating theatre staff in a small number of NHS trusts to track microchipped surgical instruments such as scissors, clamps and forceps  reducing the chances of them being accidentally left behind.

So why, despite these initiatives, has the number of never events not plummeted?

'Surgical checklists can make a big difference but only if they are used in the right way,' says Martin Bromiley, a commercial airline pilot who set up the Clinical Human Factors Group  a charity that campaigns for safer healthcare  following the death in 2005 of his wife Elaine, after mistakes were made during routine nasal surgery she was having for sinusitis.

Anaesthetists had failed to follow emergency procedures for dealing with a blockage in her windpipe and, as a result, Elaine's brain and heart were starved of oxygen and she died a few hours later. An independent review found it was an entirely preventable error.

Martin says one of the checks on the WHO Safe Surgery list is whether the correct blood has been ordered and delivered should the patient need a transfusion during surgery. He says the team member responsible may simply answer yes because they think they remember it being delivered.

'But what they should do is check for certain that the blood is not just available, but everybody knows precisely where to find it if they need to access it quickly.

'Everyone has to be engaged in the process  otherwise it doesn't work.'

Unfortunately, humans 'will always make mistakes and in medicine there are a great many opportunities for human error', says John Pickles, a retired NHS ear, nose and throat consultant who chairs the Clinical Human Factors Group.

'Never events should not happen  hence the name. But with the best will in the world, it's unlikely we will ever be able to stop them completely.'

However, he adds: 'There has been no sign of a downward trend and we don't know exactly why.

'Yet we still need to put in place the most effective barriers we can find.' Mr Pickles and colleagues have spent years trying to get the NHS to follow the aviation industry, where reporting 'near misses' and errors is mandatory. The information is not used to punish the pilots involved but to educate others about the potential risks.

However, until 2018, Mr Pickles says, NHS England encouraged local health authorities to fine hospitals for never events.

'But now they discourage it,' he says. 'They realised if people are frightened of being punished they won't report their errors and safety won't improve.'

In December, the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust  which oversees the Truro hospital where David was treated  said it was addressing its standards of care after an inspection by the Care Quality Commission revealed seven never events between February and October. It says it has tightened up protocols on the use of guidewires.

Chief executive Kate Shields says: 'We are determined to make our hospitals among the safest in the country.'

Meanwhile, David has instructed lawyers. He says: 'The hospital has been most apologetic to me about it. But I don't want this to just go away  I want to be sure that doctors learn from their mistakes.'
E-cigarette giant Juul Labs has agreed to a $40 million settlement in a North Carolina case alleging the company marketed its products towards children and teenagers.

The company will also be forced to adjust its marketing to avoid potentially marketing towards youngsters.

Jull will now no longer be able to use people under the age of 35 in marketing material, advertise near schools or sell fruit flavors that are popular among teens.

The settlement comes as teen tobacco use is on the rise after a long period of declines, and while products like flavored e-cigarettes are getting targeted by regulators.

Juul, the largest e-cigarette brand in the United States, will pay out a $40 million settlement in a lawsuit alleging it marketed its products towards children

'North Carolina is now the first state in the nation to hold Juul accountable for its instrumental role in creating a youth vaping epidemic,' said Josh Stein, North Carolina Attorney General, after the hearing on Monday.

Stein filed the lawsuit on behalf of North Carolina in 2049, making the Tar Heel State the first to bring this type of lawsuit against Juul.

'Juul sparked and spread a disease, the disease of nicotine addiction,' Stein said.

'They did it to teenagers across North Carolina and this country, simply to make money. Their greed is not only reprehensible, it is unlawful and that is why I took action.'

He brought forward the suit after 'hearing from friends about the devastation that this product had visited on kids' lives - addiction, depression, bad grades, switching schools, medical treatment and more,' he said at a news conference.

Teen use of e-cigarettes skyrocketed more than 70 percent after Juul's launch in 2015, leading the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to declare an epidemic of underage vaping among teenagers.

Health experts said the unprecedented increase risked hooking a generation of young people on nicotine, an addictive chemical that is harmful to the developing brain.

The design of Juul devices make them easy to use, carry and conceal for teens. They also come in fruity and candy flavors that are attractive to younger people

The many flavors of the e-cigarettes, combined with their ease of use and the ability to conceal them since they look like a standard USB device, have made them popular among high school students.

Juul argued that there products actually provide health benefits, as it attracts teens to smoking nicotine rather than the more harmful tobacco, according to the News & Observer.

'This settlement is consistent with our ongoing effort to reset our company and its relationship with our stakeholders, as we continue to combat underage usage and advance the opportunity for harm reduction for adult smokers,' Juul said in a statement after the court hearing.

'We seek to continue to earn trust through action.'

Juul will pay out the first $13 million of the suit in the next 30 days, then pay the remainder over the following six years.

Several states, including Florida, Texas and Oregon, have filed their own lawsuits against Juul.

A group of 39 state attorneys general have been cooperatively investigating the companys marketing and products since February 2020.

Juul also faces hundreds of personal injury lawsuits from customers and families of young people who said they were hurt or addicted by the companys products, which have been consolidated in a California federal case.

A target has been placed on e-cigarettes and their manufacturers in recent years.

Last year, sale of all electronic cigarettes was banned in San Francisco and Chicago banned the sale of flavored nicotine.

Teen use of e-cigarattes has increased by 70% since Juul first launched in 2015

The entire state of New York became the first to do so when it banned the sale of flavored tobacco products last year.

A bill in Florida that would have done the same passed through the state legislature in 2020, but was vetoed by Gov Ron DeSantis.

Members of Congress are pressuring the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to follow suite, and put a national ban on the devices in place.

Led by Rep Katie Porter of California, the House Oversight and Reform Committee pressured FDA Commissioner Dr Janet Woodcock to ban flavored e-cigarettes.

Woodcock refused to commit to doing so.

Earlier this year, the FDA announced they would work towards pulling menthol cigarettes off the market, as the mint-like flavor of them are also believed to assist in getting teens addicted to tobacco.
A fledgling entrepreneur says she was stung by a cold call from a third party intermediary that left her stuck in an expensive three-year energy contract.

Polly Ellis opened a tanning salon in Hertfordshire earlier this year with her partner, Jonathan, after she was made redundant last year.

Shortly after launching, she took an 'aggressive' phone call from a firm, she was led to believe was business energy supplier Yorkshire Gas and Power, that said it must immediately remove the emergency meter tariff it claimed she was on.

However, the phone call turned out to be from Select Energy Direct which claims to be a 'leading energy consultancy' for business energy contracts.

One business owner believes she was scammed by a firm after it moved her energy supplier

Unwittingly, she was signed up to an energy deal with Yorkshire Gas and Power which is now charging her 800 a month in electricity and gas  despite not having gas mains  and is demanding 3,000 for her to leave the contract.

When Polly was called by the company, she said she was told the landlord of her salon had provided her details, as she needed to remove the emergency meter to stop her receiving further charges which were 'on their way'.

Polly said: 'The gentleman on the phone was very pushy to me. I kept asking him further questions but he said I must take him seriously and proceed with removing the meter as soon as possible.'

The man on the phone asked for Polly's bank details claiming it was standard procedure and was just to remove the emergency tariff.

After feeling pressured, she handed them and he began to read the contract with their supposed electricity provider, Yorkshire Gas and Power.

Yorkshire Gas & Power says it has listened to a phone call and does not believe there was an issue with the broker's conduct with Polly. Select Energy declined to comment, as it hadn't had a direct complaint from her.

Polly added: 'I had no idea I was being signed up with a provider. At one point I did ask to him slow down.

'I ended up hanging up mid conversation and turning my phone off. He then proceeded to ring me consistently.

Polly and her partner, Jonathan, are now stuck in a three year expensive contract

'When I turned my phone on again he had left me multiple missed calls and said that it wouldn't take long to go through the contract which was mandatory.'

Polly says she was unaware that she was being read contract terms or that she was agreeing to anything, however, since then, her tanning salon has received a monthly bill for 800 from Yorkshire Gas and Power which also shows she is tied into the contract until April 2024.

Obviously, as a tanning salon, electricity bills are likely to be higher, but when she contacted the supplier asking to cancel their contract, she was told it would cost 3,000.

As a result, she has not paid anything yet but is concerned as Yorkshire has advised it will be sending debt collectors if it does not receive payment.

She also believes that, rather than the landlord handing over her details, Select Energy Direct found them through the new business registrations on Companies House.

She, and her partner, Jonathan, have listened to the calls back and are confident Polly was unaware she was signing up to a new three year contract.

However, they are now being hit with more charges including for cancelled direct debits  after Polly cancelled payments when she thought she had been scammed - and cancellation costs.

Another major concern is that the salon is being charged for gas, which they do not even have at the property, just electricity.

The customers say they are being charged for a gas supply when the property doesn't have it

Jonathan said: 'This is our first business and we are both very stressed. In what should be a happily exciting time for us, starting our own business, we have been hoodwinked by this third party company that maliciously cold called Polly.'

He added they have offered to pay the electricity they have used to Yorkshire so far but this offer was rejected.

A Yorkshire Gas and Power spokesperson said: 'We are sorry to hear of the dissatisfaction this customer feels. YGP has rigorous standards in our contracting process through third parties and internal sales processes.

'YGP prides itself on a high standard of customer service.

'We have listened to a call recording lasting 7 minutes and 21 seconds between the customer and the third party broker and we have not been able to find any issue with the way in which the sale was conducted by broker.

'The call recording does not indicate any form of pressurised selling from the broker and verifies that the broker did make it clear at numerous times within the call that they are a third party energy broker who are not employed by Yorkshire Gas and Power.'

It added it believes the recording makes it clear to the customer they are entering in to an energy supply contract and made clear the contract standing charges and unit rates.

The spokesperson continued: 'Select Energy is a wholly separate and independent company from Yorkshire Gas and Power. It is an independent energy brokerage that can access and sell commercial energy supply contracts. We are one of many other commercial energy suppliers to whom they have access to the supply market.'

Regarding the gas supply, it says it has checked the status of the gas meter and believes there is a live gas supply.

Although Polly and Jonathan now have emails from Yorkshire's customer service confirming they can move supplier, this has also been rescinded.

This is Money has contacted Select Energy Direct for comment but it said it would be unable to comment as it has not yet received a complaint from Polly and Jonathan.

The firm said it operates to high standards which are set out by the energy companies it deals with.

It added it will investigate any complaint it receives accordingly.

On Trustpilot, despite a number of positive reviews, there are also a large amount of people complaining of a similar experience to Polly's.

'Scam': One Trustpilot review said they were cold called by Select Energy Direct

Another review said they were called repeatedly by the company despite saying not interested

One review had a similar situation to Polly and is now stuck in a 3 year minimum contract

How to save on business energy Bionic Energy, a comparison site and This is Money's partner to help small firms save on business energy bills, has these recommendations for businesses. 1) If you've never switched business energy before, or you've let a fixed rate deal expire without arranging a new one, then you'll be overpaying for energy. This is because your supplier will have placed you on its expensive 'out of contract' rates, pretty much in the same way domestic energy suppliers put you on an expensive variable rate tariff if you don't switch. 2) The best way to ensure you're getting a good deal on energy is to speak to the comparison sites such as Bionic. We can compare rates from a panel of trusted UK energy suppliers to find the best deal for your business. 3) Cold call scams have become so sophisticated that's it's difficult to know if the person you're speaking to is who they say they are. If you get a cold call from someone pretending to be your energy company or broker, you should ask them for some details about your business before they ask you - if they're genuine, they should know your business name, address, and meter number. But even if they do know this information, there's no guarantee that they're genuine. Don't be afraid to hang up if something doesn't feel right, and remember to never provide your personal or bank account detail and do not be fooled into thinking they may already have the details and are just looking to confirm them. Never be intimidated into making a quick decision, for example, because the offer is available for a limited period only. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. > See if your business can save money on energy bills with our Bionic-powered service

What to do if you think you have been misled?

Third party intermediaries, such as Select Energy Direct, are not subject to direct sectoral regulation in the same way as energy suppliers by Ofgem.

The watchdog has said it is mindful of the potential benefits and risks of the intermediaries and is currently progressing a number of projects that consider improvements in the services that will enhance consumer experience.

However, there are steps customers can take if they believe they have been misled by a salesperson into joining an energy deal, according to Citizens Advice.

It said customers should immediately contact either their old supplier or the new one.

Let them know that you didnt agree to the switch, and ask them to cancel it if its still in progress. If the switch has already happened, ask them to reverse it.

Make a note of the date and time you call, and who you spoke to.

Once youve contacted the supplier, they should write to you within 5 working days to explain what they plan to do and within 20 working days to confirm theyre reversing the switch or explain why it was correct.

If they believe it was correct, then you can take the case to the Energy Ombudsman which will review it and make a decision.
Jaguar Land Rover has paused production of its Defender 4X4 because of the worldwide shortage of semiconductor microchips.

Work has been stopped at its factory in Nitra, Slovakia, where it is scheduled to make 150,000 of the off-roaders a year.

Demand for the new Defender has been so high since it went on sale in 2019 that it is already subject to delivery waiting times of up to a year.

However, this period is set to extend further as workers down tools at it's latest state-of-the-art production facility.

Shutdown: Work has been stopped at Jaguar Land Rover's factory in Slovakia, where it makes 150,000 of the Defenders a year

Manufacturers in all industries have been affected by the shortage of semiconductor chips, which pre-dated the pandemic.

Outputs of new cars have been massively impacted, with the latest models becoming increasingly dependent on chips for everything from digital displays to engine management.

Car makers shut their plants during lockdowns, prompting chip makers to switch production to more profitable processors for consumer electronics.

When car factories reopened earlier than expected, there were far fewer chips available than needed.

It has been reported that nearly 100,000 customers are currently waiting for deliveries of Jaguar Land Rover products due to the supply shortage.

It means waiting times can range for between four months and almost a year for certain models.

Models with plug-in hybrid powertrain are said to have been impacted most by the semiconductor chip shortage.

The bulk of the backlog originates from mainland Europe and the domestic market, according to chief financial officer Adrian Mardell, who spoke about the maker's chip woes in May.

'It's the result of the supply side,' he said in a statement to investors regarding JLR's quarterly earnings.

'Expect those order books to normalize in six, nine- or 12-months' time,' he added.

Production is down 7,000 units in the first quarter of 2021 due to the chip supply issues - and more than 20,000 orders for the Defender are currently in place, Mrdell said.

JLR has already curbed production at its Halewood factory in the past few weeks due to the shortage, while other makers - including BMW, Daimler, Ford and General Motors - have also had to pause assembly lines due to supply issues.

Production has been put on hold at Jaguar Land Rover's Nitra factory, which also produces the Discovery 4X4

The state-of-the-art Slovakian factory, which began production of vehicles in October 2018, has been forced to pause the Defender production line due to the semiconductor chip shortage

Jaguar Land Rover has already curbed production at its Halewood factory in the past few weeks due to the shortage (pictured, the Defender production line in Nitra, Slovakia)

Last week, the UK automotive trade body said car manufacturing would be recovering from the coronavirus pandemic much better if it were not for global supply shortages caused by the pandemic.

While production rose dramatically in May, according to the latest figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the sector still faces 'ongoing Covid-related issues', it warned.

Some 54,962 cars rolled off production lines compared to just 5,314 a year ago, when coronavirus halted manufacturing.

Outputs, however, were still far below pre-pandemic levels, down 52.6 per cent on the same month in 2019 as the supply of semiconductor chips used in the latest models, which has brought assembly lines almost to a grinding halt.

The car manufacturing sector is desperate to bounce back from the impact of the pandemic over the last 16 months, which saw outputs fall by almost a third to less than 1 million vehicles in 2020 - the biggest year-on-year plunge since the financial crisis and the lowest total output since 1984.

Demand for the new Defender has been so high since it went on sale in 2019 that it is already subject to four- to five-month waiting times for deliveries

The pause in production means customer waiting times are set to extend further as workers down tools

Land Rover said in February last year that since the Defender was unveiled in September it had seen over 1.2 million customers globally express an interest in the 4X4

So far this year UK factories have turned out 429,826 cars, up some 105,063 units on last year, the majority (95.3 per cent) of the additional volume built for export, but overall output remains down 22.9 per cent on the same five-month period in 2019.

The SMMT said this is 'reflective of the scale of the challenge facing the industry' as it seeks to recover from the pandemic while grappling with global supply shortages, notably of semiconductors.

When compared with a five-year average, production was down a massive 58 per cent for May and more than a third (36.3 per cent) off the pace in the opening five months of the year.

Jaguar Land Rover spent 1.4bn (1bn) on the Nitra factory, which opened less than three years ago

Last week, the SMMT said UK car manufacturing would be recovering from the coronavirus pandemic much better if it were not for global supply shortages caused by the pandemic

Global inflationary pressures affecting materials like copper, steel and oil are adding to the well reported issues surrounding semiconductor supply, which continue to hamper global automotive output, according to experts

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said: 'The recovery of car production is still massively challenged here and abroad by global supply shortages, particularly semiconductors.

'If the UK is to remain competitive, therefore, it must ensure it has a globally attractive policy framework for both vehicle production and the supply chain.'

Richard Peberdy, UK head of automotive at KPMG UK, explained the reason behind the supply shortage issues felt by auto makers.

'Global inflationary pressures affecting materials like copper, steel and oil are adding to the well reported issues surrounding semiconductor supply, which continue to clip UK automotive output,' he told This is Money.

'And while the Covid-19 picture is improving, new outbreaks have forced some port shutdowns in China, creating new blockages in the global supply chain.

'Inventories have fallen to very low levels as production remains stifled and demand recovers.'
A takeover of Morrisons could see the supermarket giant shift offshore for tax reasons, experts fear.

The grocer is bracing itself for a fresh offer from US group Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) after an initial 5.5billion bid was rejected last week.

But it is feared that a private equity buyout could see Morrisons' tax base shifted out of the UK.

A bad sign: It is feared that a private equity buyout could see Morrisons' tax base shifted out of the UK

Asda  one of Britain's 'Big Four' supermarkets alongside Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury's  has already fallen into private equity hands after a 6.8billion takeover by the Issa brothers backed by TDR Capital.

Mohsin and Zuber Issa had arranged for Asda to be legally owned in the offshore tax haven of Jersey.

CD&R has not yet made a formal approach for Morrisons. It has until July 17 to table an official bid or walk away. Although CD&R's intentions are unclear, under its ownership fellow British retailer B&M was moved offshore.

A Daily Mail investigation found the bosses of the discount chain funnelled millions of pounds through Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands under structures set up by CD&R.

Dame Margaret Hodge, former chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, said: 'If, as they have done in the past, they create a financial structure in a tax haven for no reason than to avoid tax then they will be betraying the British people by not contributing towards the services we all need.'

B&M is noted to be a private equity success story  as it has since rejoined the stock market and seen growth.

CD&R offered to pay 230p per share for Morrisons, which employs 118,000 staff.

It is one of the most audacious takeovers attempted by a private equity firm during the pandemic  and sparked fears that other household names could be next.

The Morrisons bid has so far been rejected on the grounds that it is too low and 'significantly undervalued' it. Former pensions minister Ros Altmann warned that Morrisons' property assets could be moved offshore.

This could require the company to pay big rents that the private equity owners wouldn't pay any tax on.

Altmann said: 'This has happened with care homes  it's part of the model that private equity terms typically use.'
New York prosecutors have reportedly told former President Donald Trump's attorneys and those working for the Trump Organization that they must respond by Monday with any final arguments as to why criminal charges shouldn't be filed against his family business.

The Washington Post, citing two people familiar with the matter, said the deadline was another strong signal that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and New York Attorney General Letitia James are considering criminal charges against the company as an entity.

Both prosecutors are now working together to probe Trump's alleged wrongdoing. They are believed to be probing whether the former president's corporation lied about the value of its assets to benefit from more favorable tax payments, as well as terms on loans it took out.

On Friday, the New York Times reported that Vance could announce charges against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, as soon as this week. Weisselberg has refused to turn on Trump, according to the Post.

Earlier this year, it was reported prosecutors inquiries were centering on payments made to Weisselberg's grandkids private school, Columbia Grammar and Prep. Both Trump and Weisselberg are reported to have paid the fees for Weisselberg's son Barry, whose two children attended the Manhattan school. The probe centers on whether those payments - said to total $500,000 - should have been declared as a gift for tax purposes.

The Manhattan district attorneys office has informed Donald Trump s lawyers that it has until later on Monday to persuade prosectors not to bring criminal charges against The Trump Organization in connection with benefits the company awarded its chief financial officer, Allen H. Weisselberg (seen between Trump and Donald Trump Jr)

It's unclear if Trump himself would face charges

Trump Organization lawyer Ron Fischetti said he met virtually with prosecutors Thursday for around 1 1/2 hours to try and persuade them not to seek a criminal indictment against the company, but that the charges would not be unexpected.

'The charges are absolutely outrageous and unprecedented, if indeed the charges are filed. This is just to get back at Donald Trump,' he said on Friday. 'We're going to plead not guilty and we'll make a motion to dismiss.'

Trump and Weisselberg deny claims of wrongdoing, with Trump branding the latest probe into him another Democrat-led 'witch hunt.'

The Manhattan district attorney's office declined to comment.

Any criminal charges would be the first in Vance's probe into Trump and his business dealings.

Law enforcement officials familiar with the matter say the investigation has reached a critical point. A grand jury was recently empaneled to weigh evidence and New York Attorney General Letitia James said she was assigning two of her lawyers to work with Vance on the criminal probe while she continues a civil investigation of Trump.

Prosecutors have been scrutinizing Trump's tax records, sought subpoenas documents and interviewing witnesses, including Trump insiders and company executives.

Legal experts have said an indictment against the Trump Organization could bankrupt the company by undermining its relationships with banks and other business partners.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has been conducting a long-running investigation into Donald Trump's businesses

Vance's office has said it was investigating 'possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct' at the Trump Organization, including tax and insurance fraud and falsification of business records.

It is possible that no charges will be brought.

Vance's probe nevertheless could complicate any return to politics by Trump, who has lost some of his ability to communicate publicly after being permanently banned from Twitter and suspended for two years by Facebook.

James' office has been investigating whether the Trump Organization inflated the values of some properties to obtain better terms on loans, and lowered their values to obtain property tax breaks.

They have also looked into the company's role in paying hush money to two women who say Trump had affairs with them, accusations Trump has denied.

Some of the scrutiny has been focused on longtime Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg.

Vance's investigation of Weisselberg, 73, stemmed in part from questions about his son's use of a Trump apartment at little or no cost, cars leased for the family and tuition payments made to a school attended by Weisselbergs grandchildren.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said she was assigning two of her lawyers to work with Vance on the criminal probe while she continues a civil investigation of Trump

Court filings and records subpoenaed in the investigation show that Weisselberg and his son Barry received corporate perks and gifts worth tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in their years associated with the Trump Organization.

There's nothing illegal about companies giving lavish perks to valued employees, but in many circumstances those benefits count as compensation subject to income tax.

If they failed to account properly for that money on tax returns and other financial filings, they could be in legal jeopardy, legal experts have said.

Weisselberg's attorney, Mary Mulligan, declined to comment.

Fischetti said any charges against the company based on fringe benefits would be overreach by prosecutors.

'We looked back 100 years of cases and we haven't found one in which an employee has been indicted for fringe benefits - and certainly not a corporation,' he said. For it to be a crime, he said, 'it would have to be for the benefit of the corporation with the knowledge of the corporation. They don't have the evidence at all.'
A suicide note was found in the pocket of tech mogul John McAfee, who was found dead in a Spanish prison cell last week.

The revelation was made by an official source familiar with the investigation who told the Associated Press that the note had been found on McAfee at the time of his death.

The source, who was not authorized to speak about the ongoing judicial inquiry, refused to comment on the contents of the note.

Authorities in Spain are conducting an autopsy on McAfee's body but have said that everything at the scene in his cell indicated that the 75-year-old did kill himself.

Meanwhile, his widow Janice McAfee, has demanded a 'thorough investigation' of his death, saying her husband did not appear suicidal when they last spoke.

The widow of John McAfee, Janice, pictured, said Friday that her husband was not suicidal when she last spoke to him hours before he was found dead

'His last words to me were 'I love you and I will call you in the evening,' Janice McAfee told reporters outside the Brians 2 penitentiary northwest of Barcelona where she recovered her late husband's belongings

In her first public remarks since the software entrepreneur's death on Wednesday, Janice said she wanted a 'thorough investigation' to provide 'answers about how this was able to happen.'

'His last words to me were 'I love you and I will call you in the evening,' the 38-year-old told reporters outside the Brians 2 penitentiary northwest of Barcelona where she recovered her late husband's belongings.

She said they spoke earlier on the day he was found dead and made no indication that he wanted to take his own life.

'Those words are not words of somebody who is suicidal,' she added.

'Those words are not words of somebody who is suicidal,' Janice McAfee said, while demanding a 'thorough investigation' in her first public remarks since the software entrepreneur's death on Wednesday

John McAfee is pictured together with his wife Janice, who insists he did not kill himself

John McAfee was arrested at the Barcelona airport in October last year on a warrant issued by prosecutors in Tennessee who were seeking up to three decades of imprisonment for allegedly evading more than $4 million in taxes.

The day before he was found dead, Spain's National Court had announced that it was agreeing to his extradition to the U.S. but the decision was not final.

'We had a plan of action already in place to appeal that decision,' Janice McAfee told reporters. 'I blame the U.S. authorities for this tragedy: Because of these politically motivated charges against him my husband is now dead.

'I don't believe he did this, I will get answers,' she said.

The couple met in 2012 in Miami and married the following year. John McAfee had several children from previous relationships, Janice McAfee said.

The entrepreneur had not been connected with the companies that took over the antivirus software he built after he sold his shares in the 1990s. That early success had made McAfee rich and followed him in his troubled biography.

John McAfee's wife Janice speaks briefly with journalists on leaving the Brians 2 penitentiary center in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, near Barcelona, northeast Spain, on Friday

Lawyer Javier Villalba, left and John McAfee's wife Janice leave the Brians 2 penitentiary center in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, near Barcelona

In 2012, he was sought for questioning in connection with the murder of his neighbor in Belize, but was never charged with a crime. The controversy didn't stop him from making long-shot runs for the U.S. presidency starting in 2016.

But it was his more recent tax problems that kept him away from the U.S., the country where the British-born entrepreneur was raised and had built his early success.

The Tennessee prosecutors' indictments from 2020 showed that the tycoon allegedly failed to declare income made by promoting cryptocurrencies, attending speaking engagements and selling the rights for a documentary on his eventful life.

'Even though he was born in England, America was his home,' Janice McAfee said. 'He came there when he was a child. He had his first girlfriend there, his first case, you know, his first job. He made his first millions there and he wanted to be there. But, you know, politics just wouldn't allow for that to happen.'

John McAfee's social media postings indicated that he had chosen a northeastern Spanish coastal resort town as his base in Europe at least since late 2019.

'All John wanted to do was spend his remaining years fishing and drinking,' his widow said on Friday. 'He had hope that things would work out. We knew that there would be an uphill battle to continue to fight this situation. But he's a fighter ... And anybody that knows John, that knows him even a little bit, knows that about him.'

'He was just so loving. He had a big heart and he just loved people and he just wanted to have peace in his life,' Janice McAfee added. 'My prayers are that his soul has found the peace in death that he could not find in life.'

McAfee's Spanish lawyer, Javier Villalba, left, said the entrepreneur's death had come as a surprise to his wife and other relatives, since McAfee 'had not said goodbye.'

John McAfee's wife Janice enters the Brians 2 penitentiary center in Sant Esteve Sesrovires

The National Court judge said John McAfee had provided no evidence to back his allegations that he was being politically persecuted.

'On the contrary, according to his own testimony, he took part in primaries of a certain party to defend his convictions with a result little favorable to him,' the judge wrote in the ruling.

In an e-mailed statement, the U.S. State Department confirmed for the first time the tycoon's death, offering the family condolences. It said: 'We are closely monitoring local authorities' investigation into the cause of death. We stand ready to provide all appropriate assistance to the family. Out of respect to the family during this difficult time, we have no further comment.'

Results of McAfee's autopsy could take 'days or weeks,' authorities have said.

Soon after his arrest last year, McAfee's Twitter account posted a dark hint suggesting that if he died in an alleged suicide, a conspiracy would be to blame

Final Tweet: In one of his final tweets, presumably dictated to his wife from behind bars, McAfee said 'I have nothing. Yet, I regret nothing.'

McAfee's lawyer, Javier Villalba, said the family was awaiting the results of an official autopsy, but he would request a second, independent autopsy as instructed by the McAfee family, who he said could take legal action once the investigation into the death was concluded.

Spanish authorities insist that there was no evidence of foul play, but McAfee's previous tweets that he would never take his own life 'a la Epstein' have fueled conspiracy theories.

'I am content in here. I have friends. The food is good. All is well. Know that if I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault of mine,' McAfee tweeted on October 15.

Furthermore, just minutes after his death was reported on Wednesday, his official Instagram account posted an image of the letter 'Q' - in an apparent reference to QAnon.

Some wild conspiracy theories are now emerging including the idea the tech guru activated a so called 'dead man's switch' to expose the government.

The mysterious 'Q' post shared to McAfee's Instagram minutes could indicate a hidden encryption, the theorists suggest.

A 'dead man's switch' is activated when the device's owner dies.

Just minutes after his death was reported, his official Instagram account posted a plain image of the letter 'Q' in an apparent reference to the QAnon conspiracy theory

McAfee got a tattoo in 2019 saying 'Whackd' - after he said the US government was after him and that he would never kill himself; his comments have now sparked conspiracy theories

John McAfee tweeted a shirtless photo in 2019 from the Spanish prison

The jailhouse photos from 2019 showed McAfee smiling

McAfee spent his final months of freedom in a mysterious 'ghost hotel' where he was tracked down by web sleuths.

While McAfee claimed to be jetting around to Belarus and hoaxed an arrest in Norway for wearing a thong as a mask, he was actually staying in the Daurada Park Hotel in Cambrils, Catalonia, according to the New York Post.

McAfee appears to have been hiding out in the hotel from March 2020 until his arrest in October, and was busted by amateur sleuths who spotted Spanish products and images of the Catalonian coast in his photos on Twitter.

At the hotel, no one answered the phones and it was impossible to make a reservation, according to El Confidencial, leading the Spanish newspaper to call the Daurada Park a 'ghost hotel.'

Last spring, McAfee claimed to be in 'lockdown' in Belarus, he posted photos that eagle-eyed followers noted contained Spanish products.

McAfee's photos showed beaches and balconies in the background that the sleuths were able to trace to Cambrils, and eventually the Daurada Park.

Confronted about the inconsistencies, McAfee lashed out on Twitter, claiming he had 'visited Spain for a few days.'

But it appears he used the mystery hotel as his base of operations for months before his arrest on U.S. tax and fraud charges.

McAfee was arrested at Barcelona airport in early October when he was about to board a flight to Istanbul with a British passport.

He languished in Spanish prison until a court this week approved his extradition to the U.S. to face the charges.

McAfee was found dead in his cell on Wednesday in what authorities say appears to be a suicide by hanging.
The son of a policeman who was allegedly mowed down by a stolen car had big dreams of joining the force and working with his father.

Senior Constable David Masters, 53, was hit and killed while trying to stop a Hyundai Kona SUV with tyre-deflating road spikes on the Bruce Highway near Deception Bay, north of Brisbane, at 3am on Saturday.

Alleged passenger Kari OBrien, 24, was arrested at her home in the Moreton Bay Region and charged with murder on Sunday, but detectives are still searching for the alleged driver, Skye Anne Wallis, 33.

Queensland Police Union boss Ian Leavers said on Monday that Mr Masters' childhood sweetheart wife Sharon and their son Jack were shattered by his sudden death.

Pictured: Senior Constable David Masters with his wife Sharon and their son Jack, who dreamed of being a cop like his dad

'One of Jack's wishes was to join the police force and work with his dad, and sadly, that'll never happen for Jack,' Mr Leavers told David Koch on Sunrise.

'It's just one of those things which should never have happened.'

He also said the officer's friends and colleagues at Deception Bay were 'doing it really, really tough. They've lost a good mate'.

'Our thoughts are with Dave's family and we're just hoping that some sense can come out of this into the future,' he said.

Senior Constable David Masters was trying to stop an alleged stolen vehicle with road spikes when he was allegedly hit

Police are searching for Skye Anne Wallis, 33, (pictured) who they suspect was driving a car that struck a Queensland policeman

Pictured: Kari O'Brien, 24, who was arrested on Sunday and charged with murder, arson and unlawful use of a vehicle

Police on Sunday urged alleged driver Skye Wallis to turn herself in to police.

Mr Leavers warned that if she did not turn herself in, police would hunt her down.

'Hand yourself in. We know who you are. We've got an an active homicide investigation. Hand yourself in,' he said.

'The community at large are just appalled by what has happened. Hand yourself in because you're going to be caught. It's not if - it's when we are going to get you, and you will be before the courts.'

Although her exact whereabouts are unknown, police said she had connections with the North Brisbane and Moreton areas.

She is described as 170cm tall, Caucasian, with dyed silver hair and brown eyes.

Police allege that Kari O'Brien (pictured), 24, was a passenger in the car when Constable Dave Masters was hit

'My sincerest condolences go out to the officer's family, friends and colleagues at this incredibly difficult time,' Queensland Commissioner Katarina Carroll said following the incident (pictured, Mr Masters)

Senior Constable David Masters, 53, died on the scene when he was hit by a white Hyundai Kona SUV while trying to deploy a tyre-deflating device on the Bruce Highway

Police are urging Wallis, or anyone with information on her whereabouts, to contact police.

The burnt-out wreckage of the vehicle was found in Moodlu, about 25km away from the scene, close to the home of the alleged passenger.

O'Brien, the alleged passenger, was charged with murder, arson, and unlawful use of a vehicle.

She was refused bail and will face Caboolture Magistrates Court on Monday morning.

Queensland Commissioner Katarina Carroll delivered an ominous message to the runaway driver, who allegedly fled the scene.

'Our message is you come to us, because we will be coming to you very shortly,' Commissioner Carroll said.

Queensland Police Officers are seen comforting each other at the scene where 53-year-old Senior Constable David Masters was killed on the Bruce Highway at Burpengary in Brisbane, Saturday

A woman is seen leaving flowers outside the Deception Bay Police Station following the tragedy

The police cap of 53-year-old Senior Constable David Masters is seen next to an evidence marker beside the Bruce Highway

'It is with a very heavy heart we confirm the loss of a senior constable who was working hard to protect his community.

'My sincerest condolences go out to the officer's family, friends and colleagues at this incredibly difficult time.'

Police appealed for witnesses - especially anyone with dashcam footage - to the incident.

The registration of the vehicle involved is 803ZLA.

Queensland Police Forensic Crash Unit and Ethical Standards Command immediately began investigating the horrific incident.

Masters (pictured) had been trying to pull the car over around 3am on Saturday on the Bruce Highway, near Deception Bay north of Brisbane

One man delivers flowers to the police station in honour of Mr Masters who died on Saturday morning

'This is devastating news for our police family and we are offering support to all officers and staff,' Commissioner Carroll said on Sunday.

'Sadly, this incident demonstrates the dangers our officers face when working to keep our community safe each and every day.

'I spoke to his colleagues and spent some time with them at Deception Bay and they had nothing but wonderful words for Dave  hard-working, capable, a beacon at the station, much loved by everyone at the station and across the community.'

The incident closed the Bruce Highway for close to eight hours on Saturday morning.

Queensland Police Union General Secretary Mick Barnes struggled to fight off tears as he spoke about his friend.

'It's one thing to turn up to these scenes in the hours of darkness but when you realise that it's one of your friends  David lived for the job and he was dedicated and loved the outdoors, loved these horses  hence he was in the mounted unit,' he said.

Investigations are continuing.

A police officer is hugged by friends outside the Deception Bay Police Station on Saturday
A right-wing commentator has sparked debate by labelling a vigilante who tipped off the police about a family breaching coronavirus restrictions as 'un-Australian'.

The family from Sydney's eastern suburbs disobeyed stay-at-home orders to attend a pony club event 270km away in the NSW Hunter Valley, where they were busted by police not wearing masks.

Controversial Melbourne commentator Avi Yemini weighed into the debate to slam the horse trial event attendee who 'snitched' on the family of three.

'NSW Police stopped and fined a Sydney family following a Crime Stoppers tip-off by a member of the public that they were attending a pony club in Hunter Valley,' he tweeted.

Avi Yemini (pictured at anti-lockdown event in Melbourne) has accused a member of the public who tipped off police about a Sydney family breaching restrictions as 'un-Australian'

'Snitching on your neighbour is the most un-Australian act possible. SHAME ON YOU.'

Yemini's tweet divided public opinion, with many agreeing dobbing in fellow Australians was unacceptable, but others thought Covid was too important.

'People should be ashamed of themselves, living in fear daily. Grow a pair and stop thinking the government cares about you,' one agreed.

But another disagreed: 'How is driving three hours and 200km to ride your horse acceptable?'

Another added: 'Just for a moment I thought Avi was going to be balanced and have a crack at NSW Police for arresting lockdown breakers. But no, he found a way to avoid doing so.'

The right wing commentator weighed into the online debate on Sunday (his tweet pictured)

NSW Police have issued dozens of penalty infringement notices since restrictions were enforced on Friday. Pictured are officers patrolling the streets in Parramatta

A Paddington man, 56 and Maroubra woman, 22, were each fined $1,000 for travelling from Sydney and were slugged another $200 each for not wearing a mask.

A teenage girl, 13, was issued a warning.

The incident in the small Hunter Valley town of Denman sparked community concern.

'The guidelines were a bit fuzzy to begin with, it's just disappointing that they've come to our little town,' Denman Pony Club secretary Jayne Parker told the ABC.

'I hope that we can continue to run our regional events and maybe be a little more diligent with who comes in and who goes out.'

NSW Police repeated its appeal to the community to report suspected breaches of the public health orders that are in place until at least July 9.

Sydneysiders can only to leave their homes for four reasons, including work, shopping for essential items, seeking medical care, or for caregiving or compassionate reasons.

Former Israeli soldier Avi Yemini (pictured) is well-known for his right wing views

The same restrictions extend to the surrounding Blue Mountains, Wollongong, and Central Coast regions as NSW recorded 30 new locally-acquired cases on Sunday.

'No matter how people think that they have to attend some of these events with their children or need to go on holidays, public health orders are clear,' NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys said.

'The family were issued an infringement notice and that will happen to any family who has travelled outside the metropolitan area and against public health orders.'

Mr Yemini is a former Israeli soldier who ran a gym in Melbourne before moving on to run communications for fellow far-right activist Tommy Robinson in Britain.

He has since returned to Australia and fashioned himself as a political commentator on YouTube and for Rebel News and other fringe outlets.
Fleets of aeroplanes are collecting dust at a storage facility in the heart of Australia, as Covid-19 continues to bring international and domestic flights to a grinding halt.

There are 132 aircrafts are sitting idle on the dirt at the Asia Pacific Airline Storage facility in Alice Springs, Northern Territory.

The $8 billion worth of aeroplanes range from giant Airbus A380s to brand new Boeing 737 Max models.

The company housing the aircrafts say desert conditions that are low in humidity are perfect for preserving their lifespans while they wait to return to the air.

Vision captured by 9News shows the aircrafts parked in rows, in a seemingly endless graveyard of aeroplanes.

While the current planes will be indefinitely stored, 60 more will be welcomed in the coming months as carriers across the Asia Pacific feel the effects of the pandemic.

The graveyard of aircraft (pictured) in Alice Springs is the current home of 132 unused plane's as airlines continue to feel the effects of coronavirus

The Asia Pacific Airline Storage Facility (pictured) in the Northern Territory desert has the perfect conditions for their storage

Jetstar Engineer, Peter Reece told 9News: 'It's sad, there's billions of dollars worth of aircraft here, some of the most modern aircraft in the world'.

Australia' state borders continue to close and there is no clear indicator of when international borders may be re-opened.

Similar stretches of unused aeroplane's can be seen across the world, as some aeroplanes are left to be scrapped.

The airplanes (pictured) on a runway at Kemble airfield in Gloucestershire, England are part of a salvage company

Aerial photographs of Kemble airfield in Gloucestershire, UK, show a graveyard of airliners, including British Airways 747s, waiting to be scrapped.

The images were taken on October 12, 2020 showing that it is the end of the runway for a number of the iconic jets.

Airplanes have been rendered unviable doe to the downturn in international travel and are now in the stock of a salvage company.

The jumbo jet graveyard (pictured) is currently housing 16 Boeing 747s and the last of British Airways's G-CIVB fleet, which landed there on October 8, 2020

The recognisable 747 has become a symbolic victim of the crisis facing the aviation industry as a result of coronavirus.

Flight paths and even airports are thought to be at risk as the economy tries to recover from the pandemic.

The fallout from the crisis has also seen airport jobs at risk due to passenger numbers massively decreasing following the nationwide lockdown.
In a bid to turbo charge the slow pace of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, unions are calling on the NSW and Commonwealth governments to provide a minimum half day of paid leave for workers to get the jab.

Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey said NSW government was the nation's largest employer and Premier Gladys Berejiklian could lead the way by introducing 'vax leave' for all public servants.

'She can instruct all department heads to provide a half day of paid 'vax leave' to the one in ten NSW workers who are employed by her Government,' he said.

Unions are calling on the NSW and Commonwealth governments to provide a minimum half day of paid leave for workers to get the jab

He says the premier should make the case for vaccination leave at national cabinet and push to have it funded for all casual and contract workers as well as making it a right for all permanent employees.

'Every barrier and impediment to vaccination must be removed as soon as possible,' he said on Monday

'There are many things slowing the vaccine rollout, but one element is the cost of missing work, especially for people who are insecurely employed and on modest incomes.'

'Why are we creating more barriers to vaccination?

Ms Berejiklian could instruct all department heads to provide a half day of paid 'vax leave' to the one-in-10 NSW workers who are public servants, he said.

And the federal government could cover the cost of a half day of pay for people in industries where many workers were casuals such as transport, care and food delivery.

'The current Sydney outbreak stems back to an unvaccinated Bondi limousine airport driver. Rather than blaming these workers, perhaps it's time to make it easier and more attractive to get vaccinated,' he said.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian could instruct all department heads to provide a half day of paid 'vax leave' to the one-in-10 NSW workers who are public servants

More than 7 million doses of either Pfizer or AstraZeneca Covid vaccine have been administered in Australia. Pictured: Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino receives his second Pfizer vaccination

More than 7 million doses of either Pfizer or AstraZeneca Covid vaccine have been administered in Australia.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said Sunday was a challenging day for Australia during the latest Sydney outbreak, while Labor emphasised the government's failures in establishing permanent quarantine facilities and procuring vaccines.

'The Morrison Government had two jobs this year - effective national quarantine and the rollout of the vaccine, and they have failed both,' Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese told reporters.
The Justice Secretary has hit out at the decision to free Colin Pitchfork, saying he is frustrated that the sadistic child killer could soon be walking the streets.

Speaking for the first time about his decision to challenge the Parole Boards ruling, Robert Buckland revealed his exasperation at the limited powers he has as Lord Chancellor to stop the double murderer being freed.

In a rare intervention from a Cabinet minister, he told the Daily Mail he shared readers fury and understood why the Parole Boards decision to order Pitchforks release had rocked public confidence.

Pitchfork was the first person convicted using DNA evidence. He was jailed for life in 1988 for raping and strangling Lynda Mann, 15, in November 1983, then raping and murdering Dawn Ashworth, 15, in July 1986.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland has hit out at the decision to free Colin Pitchfork, saying he is frustrated that the sadistic child killer could soon be walking the streets

Victims: Furious relatives of the two schoolgirls murdered by a notorious paedophile have condemned a decision to let him go free. Left: Lynda Mann, right: Dawn Ashworth

He was caught a year later in the worlds first mass screening for DNA after 5,000 men in three Leicestershire villages were asked to volunteer blood or saliva samples. Pitchfork pleaded guilty and was jailed for at least 30 years, which was reduced on appeal to 28 years.

The Lord Chief Justice said at the time: From the point of view of the safety of the public I doubt if he should ever be released. But the Parole Board has now sanctioned his release.

Yesterday, Mr Buckland told the Mail he would ask the Parole Board to reconsider.

Describing Pitchforks attacks as the gravest, most sadistic of crimes, he added: Three decades on, the loved ones of Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth still live with the pain.

Pitchfork was the first person convicted using DNA evidence. He was jailed for life in 1988 for raping and strangling Lynda Mann, 15, in November 1983, then raping and murdering Dawn Ashworth, 15, in July 1986. Pictured: Police take Lynda Mann's body away from the murder scene

The former barrister promised to build a bigger, better Probation Service with extra investment to cut crime, tackle reoffending and protect victims.

As a new, unified Probation Service is launched, Mr Buckland revealed plans for record recruitment so officers can carry out closer supervision and pay more visits to offenders homes to better protect children and partners from domestic abuse.

More than 300million in extra funding has been pumped into the service since July 2019 to double the recruitment of probation officers from the usual annual intake of 600 trainees to 1,000 in 2020, with plans for a record 1,500 this financial year.

A new National Security Division will oversee the most high-risk criminals and terrorists, linked to MI5 and the National Crime Agency to monitor the most dangerous offenders.

Fresh standards will ensure staff meet all offenders they supervise face to face at least monthly  or more frequently for higher-risk ones.

Mr Buckland said: The Government is backing the new Probation Service with more money and more staff so the public is better protected, crime is cut and fewer people become victims.

ROBERT BUCKLAND: Probation system WILL work better for victims

ByRobert Buckland Secretary Of State For Justice For The Daily Mail

I share the frustrations of many Daily Mail readers that Colin Pitchfork could soon be out of prison. His were the gravest of crimes which left two families in unimaginable grief.

Three decades on, Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworths loved ones still live with the pain, and they have been front and centre in my thoughts in recent weeks.

If convicted today, he would almost certainly have received a whole life order, behind bars without any hope of release. That will become the default for any premeditated child murder under our new Sentencing Bill.

But such a power was not available then, and so it fell to the independent Parole Board to decide, not if the original punishment was right, but if he is now safe to release.

Mugshot of Colin Pitchfork, the first murderer convicted and jailed using DNA evidence, who was given a 30 year minimum sentence in 1988 for raping and murdering fifteen year old Leicestershire schoolgirls Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth

My role as Lord Chancellor here is limited. The Government cannot overrule the Boards decisions, but I can ask them to reconsider if it looks like the way they reached a decision was wrong or if its out of step with the evidence.

After careful consideration, I will be doing that with the Pitchfork decision today. And while I cant control the outcome of that review, we can control the level of supervision he would be given by the Probation Service if released.

He would face strict controls on his movements, have to wear a GPS tag and undergo regular polygraph testing to make sure he is being honest. If theres any sense he poses an increased risk they wouldnt hesitate to put him back in prison.

Probation staff do amazing, difficult work every day keeping the public safe, but its rarely spoken about.

I share the frustrations of many Daily Mail readers that Colin Pitchfork could soon be out of prison. His were the gravest of crimes which left two families in unimaginable grief, writes Robert Buckland

They are unsung crimefighters with eyes trained on offenders released from prison to prevent reoffending. Weve invested an extra 310million in probation since I took office so they can do that even better.

Were recruiting record numbers of probation officers, with over 1,000 trainees employed last year and plans to bring in 1,500 this year. That will mean staff can spend more time supervising offenders and working with the police to share intelligence.

They will carry out more visits to offenders homes to protect children and partners from domestic and sexual abuse.

Three-quarters of the decisions the Board makes are to keep prisoners inside for the publics protection.

But, occasionally, decisions like the Pitchfork one rock public confidence.

We are conducting a review of the system so it works better for victims and to restore peoples faith in its ability to keep them safe.

It will report back later this year and, in the meantime, you can rest assured that the Probation Service will now be protecting the public even better than before.
Queensland recorded two Covid cases overnight including a woman on the Sunshine Coast testing positive to the highly-contagious Indian Delta variant.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced new restrictions would apply in the state from 1am tomorrow as a result of the discovery of the strain.

A female miner from the Bli Bli area of the Sunshine Coast had been confirmed as testing positive to the Delta strain.

Ms Palaszczuk urged any Sunshine Coast residents with symptoms to go and get tested immediately.

'This a highly infectious strain and we need to get on top of this very, very quickly,' she said.

'Were going back now to the restrictions we put in place in January.'

Only some fans at last night's State of Origin match in Brisbane bothered with masks

WHAT ARE THE NEW COVID RESTRICTIONS IN QUEENSLAND? Detection of a woman with the Delta strain of Covid-19 on the Sunshine Coast mean the following restrictions will be introduced in Queensland: - Mandatory mask wearing from 1am, Tuesday June 29 in eleven LGAs including Brisbane, Noosa, Sunshine Coast, Logan, Ipswich, Moreton, Redlands, Ipswich, Gold Coast, Scenic Rim and Somerset. - Masks do not need to be worn while driving or exercising - Seating in cafes and restaurants and compulsory check-in - Limits of 30 people allowed to visit in homes, including children. - One person per 4sqm restriction in public places. - Weddings and funerals are limited to 100 people. Only 20 people are permitted to dance at one time at weddings Advertisement

A new mask mandate was introduced for large areas of Southeast Queensland from 1 am tomorrow.

Eleven local council including Brisbane, Noosa, Sunshine Coast, Logan, Ipswich, Moreton, Redlands, Ipswich, Gold Coast, Scenic Rim and Somerset will now require residents to wear masks.

The mask mandate will apply for the next two weeks. Masks do not need to be worn while driving a car or outside exercising.

Only 30 people would be allowed to visit people in their homes and the one person per 4sqm restriction had also been reintroduced in public places.

People visiting restaurants and cafes must be seated, and must use Queensland's check-in app on entry.

Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young urged people in the affected LGAs to wear masks to combat the spread of the Delta strain.

Queensland now has 41 active cases of Covid-19, from 6,656 tests conducted in the past 24 hours.

More than 5,700 people in the state received a vaccine on Sunday.

Dr Young said 56,000 people had checked in at the State of Origin match at Suncorp Stadium last night.

'We are not going to change the capacity allowed for seated and ticketed events, because I know how well [venues] have been managing their Covid-safe plans,' she said.

The woman from the Sunshine Coast was active in the community for a day after contracting the virus.

'She came to us so quickly and got tested,' Dr Young said.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the new cases at a press conference in Brisbane on Monday morning

Fans seen outside of Suncorp Stadium at last night's State of Origin match - 56,000 people were asked to check in before entry to the ground

She said a list of exposure sites would be released later today, including petrol stations and a cafe.

The second case is linked to the Portuguese Family Centre cluster caused by an overseas Emirates flight attendant who tested positive after observing 14 days hotel quarantine a week ago.

A third case is in hotel quarantine and posed no concern, Dr Young said.

Both Ms Palaszczuk and Deputy Premier Seven Miles renewed their attacks on the failures in Australia's hotel quarantine system and argued for a reduction in international arrivals into Australia.

'Our caps need to be lowered for overseas arrivals,' Ms Palaszczuk said.

Mr Miles said purpose-built quarantine facilities should already have been built.

'We wouldnt be reducing our number of international arrivals, if we had purpose-built facilities,' he said.
Fears are growing that a two-week lockdown of Sydney will not be enough to contain the latest coronavirus outbreak plaguing the city.

Epidemiologists say the outbreak, which began with international flight crew who passed the virus to a Sydney limousine driver, is far more concerning than the Northern Beaches cluster which required a three-week lockdown from December 19 to January 9.

This is because it involves the more contagious Indian Delta variant of the disease and has affected about 260 venues across Sydney - rather than being largely contained in a peninsula over the Spit Bridge which could easily be closed off due to its separation from the rest of the city.

Fears are growing that a two-week lockdown of Sydney will not be enough. Pictured: Testing at Bondi Beach on Sunday

The Northern Beaches outbreak was dealt with using a local lockdown. Pictured: Residents wearing masks during the outbreak in December

The Northern Beaches outbreak totalled 151 cases while the current outbreak - dubbed the 'Bondi cluster' - had already infected 112 by Sunday.

On Monday morning, virus experts predicted Sydney's lockdown, which was imposed on four areas on Friday night and extended to the whole city on Saturday, would need to last longer than two weeks.

Chair of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Jane Halton, told Sunrise: 'I've got to be honest with you, I'm feeling a bit nervous it might go on for longer.

'Two weeks is the amount of time you need to make sure that you actually keep an eye on it in terms of the first round of infections, but potentially there will be seeding going on beyond that time, so let's see how the contact tracers go.'

Nancy Baxter, head of the Melbourne School of Population & Global Health, wrote: 'I am not thinking two weeks is going to be enough.

'Sending positive energy to all the folks in Sydney right now. This will be hard, but you will get to the other side.'

The Delta variant of the Covid-19 was identified in India earlier this year and is estimated to be twice as transmissible as the original disease, which affected the Northern Beaches.

People exercise on the boardwalk at Bondi Beach in Sydney on Sunday on the second day of lockdown

States shown in red have imposed restrictions after Covid cases were detected. A lock symbol indicates the capital city is in lockdown

Australian Medical Association vice-president Dr Chris Moy explained why that meant this outbreak is so different.

'Not only is it really infectious in terms of taking only 10 seconds to be transmitted, the other thing is its incubation period is really short, it's maybe one to two days before people become infectious,' he told Melbourne radio 3AW on Monday.

'Previously is it has been five days before people become infectious and contact tracers had a bit of time to get on top of it.

'The problem with these ones is by the time contact tracers have got in front, caught the people, the next generation have already been out there infectious. This is why it has been outrunning the contact tracers in NSW.'

New South Wales Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant provided hope on Sunday when she said the contact tracers were not being overwhelmed, with only two cases not yet linked to another infection.

But she warned the Delta strain was proving too hard to contain without a lockdown.

'We need these measures in place to allow us to bring this outbreak under control,' she told reporters on Sunday.

'What we're seeing is by the time [contact tracers have alerted patients], and uncovered the chains of transmission, we have a number of people infectious in the community.

A health worker at the Bondi drive-thru clinic performs a swab test (pictured on Sunday) as the Bondi cluster grew to 110 cases, with two more mystery cases lingering in Sydney

Surfers packed the sea at Bondi Beach on Sunday as Sydney endured its second day of lockdown

'Given we are aiming to get to no community transmission and as we roll out the vaccine, it is important that we get to that as quickly as possible.

'The restrictions need to be applied absolutely and it's critical that we all comply with them,' she said.

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro acknowledged there were calls to lock down Sydney earlier than Friday as cases increased - but said the government has always adopted a proportionate approach which takes into account the impact on businesses.

'We could have gone two days earlier or later but the reality is that it is the same way we have managed for 18 months,' he told Sunrise.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce backed his Nationals colleague, saying: 'Shops go broke if you shut down the place down, one after the other. We've seen that in Victoria.

'So let's hope Gladys and the Nationals and Liberals in NSW can manage this like they did the Northern Beaches outbreak and see if we can get through it.'

Over the weekend the Sydney outbreak spread to Western Australia after a woman contracted the Delta strain from a stranger at a Bondi cafe before flying to Perth.

Fears are also growing over two separate clusters in other states believed to be linked to the UK Alpha variant.

Many were seen walking out in Sydney (pictured at Bondi Beach on Sunday) as the city endured the start of its two week lockdown

Four cases of the variant in Queensland have been traced to a Portuguese flight attendant who unwittingly transmitted the virus after landing in the Sunshine State earlier this month.

Another Queensland-born outbreak is also wreaking havoc on the Northern Territory after a fly-in-fly-out miner in Central Australia is thought to have contracted Covid from a quarantine hotel in Brisbane.

The worker then travelled to a gold mine, potentially exposing 900 others in the process.

The flood of cases across Australia has seen lockdowns and Covid restrictions imposed in NSW, parts of the NT and Western Australia, as interstate borders slam shut once again, on the eve of school holidays.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called a federal cabinet meeting to discuss the outbreaks on Monday and will convene National Cabinet later this week.

Thousands of beachgoers headed out for a day in the sun despite stay-at-home orders in place for all but essential activities (pictured, Bondi on Sunday)
EX-MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove has given a rare, personal insight into how he handled one of the West's most important double agents during the Cold War.

He is not meant to talk about Secret Intelligence Service  the formal name for MI6  operations, but said he has 'licence to describe certain cases' if the material is 'already to an extent in the public domain'.

He also revealed at the Daily Mail Chalke Valley History Festival how the double agent's daughter ended up very wealthy after receiving the thousands he was paid and hid in a London bank.

The case unfolded after Sir Richard was posted to the British embassy in Prague earlier in his career as a first secretary in communist Czechoslovakia in 1973 with his wife Rosalind.

EX-MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove has given a rare, personal insight into how he handled one of the West's most important double agents during the Cold War. Dearlove pictured in a file image above

'I had obvious diplomatic tasks but I was there essentially as a member of SIS under diplomatic cover. My main job was to run an espionage case,' he said.

It involved what is called a 'walk-in'  a man who had indicated to the British authorities he wanted to spy for them.

'He was a Czech intelligence officer in charge of the operations that the Czechs were running to try and penetrate British intelligence,' Sir Richard said.

He did not name the man but referred to how information about the case from the Czech archives had been publicised  a reference, it is understood, to reports about Miloslav Kroca, codename 'Freed', who was a KGB-trained major in the Czech secret police force.

Sir Richard told the festival: 'Running a case like was a great risk  not to me, but to the source. If he was caught he would be executed.

'Yet we were able to meet him regularly over a number of years. Because he himself was an intelligence officer he knew in detail the forces that were deployed against me by the Czechs on a continuous basis.

'If you were a young energetic diplomat in the British embassy who spoke Czech you were suspected of being a spy. You were constantly being examined to see if you were running a case like this.'

But when the Czech officer had a heart attack and ended up in hospital, his Russian wife handed a bundle of secret papers into his office  among which was one that revealed instructions for his next rendezvous with Sir Richard.

Sir Richard said the meetings were carefully planned so he and the source came independently from different directions. Because of his training, Sir Richard knew the surveillance on him would be in front of, rather than behind, him, 'i.e. cars parked at strategic places'.

'We're deep in the Czech countryside and I recognise them immediately because I know all the number plates that these are surveillance cars,' he said. 'They're clearly trying to find out who's going to the meeting. Of course, the agent doesn't turn up and eventually he dies of natural causes.'

But Sir Richard, who was head of MI6 between 1999 and 2004, said the story had a 'wonderful ending'. The source's motivation had partly been revenge on his colleagues but he also wanted his daughter to have a different life.

'He earned a lot of money that he never touched and went into a bank in London. Compound interest can make you very wealthy over a significant period of time,' he said. Years later, a British intelligence officer went to Prague to see the president Vaclav Havel and said: 'I want you to find this girl.'

Sir Richard added: 'She's had a terrible life, she didn't know what had happened to her father other than something catastrophic. She is summoned to meet Havel and he hands her a cheque which is her father's money  many, many thousands of pounds. She is now a very, very wealthy Czech businesswoman.'
A Greek pilot who hatched an elaborate plan to cover up his wife's murder asked her parents to pay 3,500 for her coffin, it has been revealed.

Charalambos Anagnostopoulos suffocated his wife Caroline Crouch with a pillow in front of their 11-month-old daughter.

He then told investigators his wife had been killed during a violent home invasion where armed burglars had tied him up and killed his wife.

But Anagnostopoulos, known as Babis, later confessed he had killed Caroline in a fit of rage after she had ordered him out of the house and demanded a divorce.

According to the Sun, the 33-year-old asked Caroline's grieving parents to pay 3,500 - or about 4,000 Euros - for her coffin.

Thanassis Haramanis, the lawyer for Caroline's family, yesterday told The Sun: 'This man has no shame.

Charalambos 'Babis' Anagnostopoulos who killed his wife Caroline Crouch (pictured together) by suffocating her with a pillow then asked her grieving parents to pay 3,500 for her coffin

Pictured: The coffin of Caroline Crouch is carried into the Agia Paraskevi church for her funeral on the island of Alonissos in Greece last month before her husband confessed to killing her

'First he killed Caroline, then he asked her parents for money to pay for her coffin and to fly her body from Athens for the funeral.

'They gave him 4,000 euros.

'He paid nothing.'

A source also told the Sun Carolines family had lent her and Anagnostopoulos more than 43,000 for a plot of land. The newspaper reports that only his name is on the deeds.

On May 11, Anagnostopoulos staged a break-in at their villa in the affluent suburb of Glyka Nera in an elaborate plot to cover his tracks  accusing a gang of merciless foreign burglars of tying him up, killing Caroline in front of their baby daughter, Lydia, and stringing up their puppy, Roxy, from the stairwell.

Following his arrest last week, he finally admitted having smothered his wife with a pillow because, he told police, she had threatened to leave him and take one-year-old Lydia with her.

Caroline's father, David Crouch, 78, a retired gas executive who was born in Liverpool, spoke movingly about 'my wonderful daughter' (pictured with her baby Lydia) in an interview

Data from Caroline's smartwatch showed she was in an 'extreme state of mental or physical stress for six minutes', as well as showing that she did not die at the time Anagnostopoulos had originally claimed.

In other words, it could have taken six minutes for her to die.

Her murder has resulted in a custody battle for baby Lydia between the two sets of grandparents.

She is currently being looked after by the parents of Charalambos Anagnostopoulos, and was pictured on Greek TV yesterday being cradled in the arms of his mother, Georgia Anagnostopoulos.

The teacher, and her husband, who live in the Greek capital, are happy to share their granddaughter's upbringing.

But Caroline's parents, David and Susan, who live on the island of Alonissos, want sole custody of the baby.

Caroline's father, David Crouch, 78, a retired gas executive who was born in Liverpool, spoke movingly about 'my wonderful daughter' in an interview with the Mail this week.

Yesterday Babis was pictured from behind barbed wire as he stretched his legs in the exercise yard of the notorious Korydallos prison.

The prison is located on the outskirts of Athens and is Greece's main maximum-security facility.

Conditions inside the prison are so bad that the Greek government has vowed to shut it down but Anagnostopoulos is being housed in its 'VIP' wing, enjoying a host of luxuries that have left other inmates and prison wardens fuming at the 'five-star' treatment he is receiving.

Photographs were also published in the Greek media on Saturday showing the inside of Anagnostopoulos's cell, which comes with its own shower, toilet, set of furniture, large window which allows in plenty of light and a television.
Australians are fleeing Sydney and Melbourne to live in regional areas by the coast with lockdowns accelerating this trend.

The Commonwealth Bank, Australia's biggest bank, revealed south-east Queensland, the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales and northern Tasmania have experienced a population surge since the pandemic.

Intriguingly, residents of Sydney's picturesque Northern Beaches are the most keen to leave, as this area endures its second, extended lockdown since Christmas.

Grant Cairns, Commonwealth's general manager for regional banking, said working-age Australians and not just baby boomers were making the switch to a regional area, citing change-of-address data among the bank's 10million customers.

Australians are fleeing Sydney and Melbourne to live in regional areas by the coast with lockdowns accelerating this trend. Noosa on Queensland's Sunshine Coast saw a 49 per cent annual surge in migration from capital cities, new Commonwealth Bank data showed

'Australians formerly living in capital cities have embraced remote ways of working as an opportunity to experience what these areas have to offer, while those already in regional areas are finding reasons to stay,' he said.

Of the Commonwealth Bank's customers who moved from a capital city to a regional area in the year to March 2021, 49.5 per cent of them had come from Sydney, now in the midst of a two-week lockdown.

Another 46.4 per cent came from Melbourne.

Noosa on Queensland's Sunshine Coast saw a 49 per cent annual surge in migration from capital cities, the largest by local government area.

Queensland's Southern Downs, taking in Stanthorpe near the NSW border, had a 44 per cent increase in new residents from a big city.

The Port Macquarie-Hastings area on the NSW Mid-North Coast had a 38 per cent increase, ahead of Launceston's 34 per cent rise and Queensland's Fraser Coast covering Hervey Bay, which saw a 26 per cent increase.

The Port Macquarie-Hastings area on the NSW Mid-North Coast had a 38 per cent increase. Pictured is Diamond Head near Laurieton, south of Port Macquarie

Of the Australians moving from a capital city to a regional area, 11 per cent went to the Gold Coast, followed by the Sunshine Coast (6 per cent), Geelong (4 per cent), Wollongong (3 per cent) and Newcastle (2 per cent). Pictured is Noosa

Of the Australians moving from a capital city to a regional area, 11 per cent went to the Gold Coast, followed by the Sunshine Coast (6 per cent), Geelong (4 per cent), Wollongong (3 per cent) and Newcastle (2 per cent).

All those areas are a one or two-hour drive from a capital city.

Australians are also more likely to sell up even in nice suburbs of the big cities.

Separate data from Westpac showed house owners on Sydney's Northern Beaches were particularly keen to leave with Avalon, Newport, Mona Vale, Warriewood and Palm Beach topping the list of residents most likely to sell during the next six months.

Australians are also more likely to sell up even in nice suburbs of the big cities. Separate data from Westpac showed house owners on Sydney's Northern Beaches were particularly keen to leave with Avalon (pictured) topping the list of residents most likely to sell during the next six months.

These suburbs north of Narrabeen were the subject of a three-week lockdown starting shortly before Christmas.

Apartment owners in Sydney's north were also keen to leave, with St Ives, Avalon, Dee Why, Mount Colah, Palm Beach and Newport topping the list.

Westpac's managing director of mortgages Anthony Hughes said potential buyers would have more choice in late 2021 as property prices kept surging.

'In welcome news for buyers, the report also found more people are now thinking about selling,' he said.

'This is largely being driven by confidence in getting a good return on their home, as well as an increasing desire to live in a new area as people seek more living space.'

Westpac hired Lonergan Research to survey 2,017 adults in Australia in May.
More teenagers have been murdered in London this year than in the whole of 2020.

Despite police getting extra funding and resources to combat violence in the capital, the appalling teenage murder rate is on course to be one of the highest since the Second World War.

So far this year, 18 teenagers have been killed. The latest victim was a 19-year-old who was knifed to death in Sydenham, south-east London, on Friday night.

Of the murders, 16 victims were stabbed and two thirds were black.

Jalan Woods-Bell, 15, was stabbed to death on his way to school in Hayes, west London, at 8.35am on June 11

Last year the lives of 15 teenagers were lost. The worst year on record for teenage murders in the capital was 2008 when 29 were unlawfully killed.

Those targeted recently have included children hunted down outside schools and parks.

In one particularly shocking killing, Jalan Woods-Bell, 15, was stabbed to death on his way to school in Hayes, west London, at 8.35am on June 11.

A 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged with his murder.

John Jackson, a relative of Jalan, said: We have a pandemic of violence that is not being treated like a pandemic.

The latest victim was a 19-year-old who was knifed to death in Sydenham, south-east London, on Friday night

In the latest attack, police were called to Sydenham just after 9.30pm on Friday where they found a teenager with multiple stab wounds. Paramedics tried to save the 19-year-old but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Last week, mothers who lost their children to knife crime joined a Metropolitan Police appeal to local communities in London for help.

Yvonne Lawson MBE, whose 17-year-old son Godwin was stabbed to death in north London in March 2010, said: The police alone dont have the cure, we urgently all need to work together, report what you know about violence and free young people from this terrible cycle.

The forces lead for violence, Commander Alex Murray, said: We are devoting huge resources into doing everything within our power to minimise violence.
The remains of 20 people, including two children, have been found on a boat drifting about a mile off Grand Turk Island on a well-known route used by people smugglers.

Authorities in the Turks and Caicos Islands said investigators had ruled out foul play but were still trying to determine what happened and the cause of their deaths. The identities and origin of the dead were also under investigation.

Fishermen spotted the small boat Thursday morning and alerted the marine branch of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force, who towed the vessel ashore.

Police communications officer Takara Bain said that investigators had discounted foul play and were looking at other possibilities as to how the people met their deaths, without giving any specifics.

The remains of 20 people, including children, have been found on a boat drifting about a mile off Grand Turk Island on a well-known route used by people smugglers

Police Commissioner Trevor Botting said the boat appeared to have come from outside the Caribbean and authorities did not think it had the Turks and Caicos as its intended destination.

'It is believed that the boat originates from outside of the Caribbean region and that neither the Turks and Caicos Islands nor the Region was their intended destination,' he said in a statement.

'My investigators are working to establish their identities and how they met their death. This work will take some time to complete.

'Whatever the circumstances, this is a tragic situation where many people have lost their lives, and the thoughts and prayers of the Force go out to those families who have lost a loved one. We will do all we can to identify them and contact their families.'

Police Commissioner Trevor Botting (pictured) said the boat appeared to have come from outside the Caribbean and authorities did not think it had the Turks and Caicos as its intended destination.

Commissioner Botting added: 'In dealing with this situation, I want to pay tribute to my policing team on Grand Turk and those from Health and other TCIG agencies who assisted in the recovery of the bodies.

'This incident was a human tragedy and a very distressing scene. However, my officers have acted with professionalism, humanity and care in the very upsetting work they did yesterday to recover those who have died.

'I thank them for a job well done for the humanity and professionalism they have shown'.

The Turks and Caicos are often a magnet for desperate Haitians seeking to flee that poverty-stricken nation and the territory also has been used as a transshipment point by human traffickers.

On Friday, a day after the 20 dead bodies were found, an illegal vessel with 43 Haitian migrants onboard was intercepted by the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force off the coast of the islands.

The 40 foot vessel, which was powered by a single motor, was towed to the South Dock Port on Providenciales.

But during that time one male jumped overboard but was immediately apprehended by the Marine Branch Officers, according to a police press release.

On Friday, a day after the 20 dead bodies were found, an illegal vessel with 43 Haitian migrants onboard was intercepted by the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force

43 Haitian nationals were found onboard the boat which had a sail and single motor on Friday

The 34 males, eight females and one minor who were found onboard were handed over to the Immigration Task Force for processing and repatriation.

Superintendent of Police and Head of Special Operations, Martyn Ball, said, 'I would like to congratulate the Marine Branch Team for yet another successful operation.

'Even during extremely rough seas and weather, this unit always executes with care and professionalism.

'I want to express thanks to our partners at the Coastal Radar Centre for the important role they play together with us in keeping the borders of the Turks and Caicos Islands safe.'

In June 2020, Sri Lanka-born Canadian citizen Srikajamukam Chelliah pleaded guilty to human trafficking charges before a Turks and Caicos judge and was sentenced to 14 months in prison. He was extradited to Florida and sentenced Feb. 24 to 32 months in prison for conspiring to smuggle people into the United States.

Chelliah had been caught in August 2019 skippering a boat carrying 158 people, including 28 Sri Lankans. They told investigators they were bound for the United States.
MI5 is set to hold discussions with the Cabinet Office over leaked footage of Matt Hancock kissing his aide amid government concerns over a security breach with the Cabinet Office.

They will this week hold talks on whether the leaked footage, which shows Mr Hancock locked in an embrace with his aide Gina Coladangelo, could constitute a national security breach.

It comes as the CCTV camera that filmed the former health secretary and his aide has reportedly been covered over by black masking tape as a precautionary measure while an internal probe is ongoing.

Mr Hancock resigned as Health Secretary less than 48 hours after pictures emerged of him in a passionate embrace with Gina Coladangelo, pictured together above

Matt Hancock in his Department of Health and Social Care office. The CCTV camera has now been covered over with black tape, the Times reported

The Department of Health and Social Care has launched an internal investigation into how the footage was leaked to the media.

They are also investigating why the CCTV camera was installed in the office. It emerged the camera had been there since at least 2017.

A police source said that the footage raises the issue of blackmail.

'Hancock having a kiss with his girlfriend is not a national security issue, it's a national embarrassment issue,' the source told The Times newspaper.

'But it raises issues of blackmail and extortion.

'What if sensitive material on docu-ments could be seen on the cameras and passed on to those who wish Britain harm? That would certainly elevate it.'

The news that the camera was no longer being used came as former health secretary Jeremy Hunt suggested that whoever released the footage may have broken the Official Secrets Act and could face jail.

Mr Hunt spoke as an official investigation got underway into how footage from inside the Department of Health and Social Care on May 6 ended up on the front page of the Sun and eventually triggered his resignation.

Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show he said: 'We have, rightly in this country as a democracy, as an open society, protection for whistleblowers who find things out and release them in the public interest and we don't want to undermine that, it's very important part of how we work.

'But I do think we need to understand how this happened, and to make sure that ministers are secure in their offices, to be able to have conversations that they know aren't going to be leaked to hostile powers.'

Mr Hancock resigned as Health Secretary less than 48 hours after pictures emerged of him in a passionate embrace with Ms Coladangelo at the Department of Health.

He told Boris Johnson in his letter of resignation that the Government 'owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down'.

Images and video showed Mr Hancock in an embrace with aide Ms Coladangelo last month inside his private office

Mr Hancock told his wife, Martha, he would be leaving her on Thursday night - immediately after discovering that his affair with Gina Coladangelo was about to be laid bare.

Images and video showed Mr Hancock in an embrace with aide Ms Coladangelo last month inside his private office, sparking intense pressure on him to quit over the breaking of social-distancing rules.

Friends said on Saturday night the pair had been seeing each other for around six weeks, but were a 'love match'.
Boris and Carrie Johnsons favourite grocer has become the latest company to fall victim to a cyber attack.

Daylesford Organic was targeted by hackers last Wednesday.

Chief executive Nick Fletcher said it had caused significant disruption to the companys operations and IT systems.

Daylesfords range includes a hamper of breakfast food and drinks for 80, above, jars of 29.99 Manuka honey and organic French trim beef rib for up to 155.99

It is one of a growing number of companies offering high-end ready meals. A Daylesford farm delivery is seen going into Number 10 in January

Mr Fletcher said it had been very upsetting  but added that there was no evidence personal data had been taken.

Daylesford was founded by Carole Bamford, the wife of JCB boss Lord Bamford, in 2002.

It now has three shops in London, an online store and a farm shop in Gloucestershire.

It is one of a growing number of companies offering high-end ready meals.

In eight months last year the Johnsons ate 27,000 worth of Daylesford food.

Daylesfords range includes a hamper of breakfast food and drinks for 80, jars of 29.99 Manuka honey and organic French trim beef rib for up to 155.99.
A top civil servants widow has hit out at accusations that he was to blame for bringing disgraced financier Lex Greensill into Downing Street.

Suzanne Heywood has told MPs it was unfair that her late husband Sir Jeremy had become a scapegoat for the Greensill scandal and insisted that he acted with complete integrity as Cabinet Secretary.

She was scathing about former ministers and civil servants who have distanced themselves from Mr Greensill by claiming Sir Jeremy was solely responsible for giving him jobs and promoting his finance projects.

She claimed it had been David Cameron, who later notoriously worked as a lobbyist for the Australian businessman, who agreed that Mr Greensill could have a No 10 business card.

A top civil servant's widow, Suzanne Heywood, has hit out at accusations her late husband, Sir Jeremy, was to blame or bringing disgraced financier Lex Greensill into Downing Street (pictured together in 2012)

The saga began with the revelation that former PM Mr Cameron had lobbied ministers and officials on behalf of Greensill Capital in a failed attempt to get the now collapsed firm access to huge Covid support loans last year.

The official inquirys report will be handed to Boris Johnson next week. It has also looked into how Mr Greensill was given privileged access to the Cabinet Office and No 10 a decade ago as a Crown Representative and how the Government came to back his idea of supply chain finance to pay pharmacists early.

Select committees are also investigating the affair and have been told that Sir Jeremy, who met Mr Greensill when they worked at the investment bank Morgan Stanley, had played a key role.

She claimed it had been David Cameron, (pictured) who later notoriously worked as a lobbyist for the Australian businessman, who agreed that Mr Greensill could have a No 10 business card

But in a letter to the parliamentary investigators, Lady Heywood said: My late husband took no personal benefit of any sort in relation to Mr Greensills appointments within Government or in relation to Greensill Capital. His only interest was in exploring the potential to use supply chain financing to further the Governments policy aims.

She added: I am also certain that... there is not the slightest doubt that my late husband always acted with complete integrity. I therefore hope... the committee will reflect on the decisions that people actually took and the actions that followed, and judge accordingly attempts to side-step responsibility by attributing these to someone who dedicated his life to public service and who is sadly unable to appear before them.

Lady Heywood, a former Treasury official, said witnesses appearing before the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee had sought to evade accountability.

The official inquirys report will be handed to Boris Johnson next week. It has also looked into how Mr Greensill (pictured) was given privileged access to the Cabinet Office and No 10 a decade ago as a Crown Representative

She singled out former Cabinet Office minister Lord Maude, who she said was unable to remember several decisions and meetings yet did recall that he agreed to Mr Greensills appointment in 2012 to avoid a row with Sir Jeremy.

Flattering though it is to believe things happened simply because my husband supported them, this is not how Government worked then or now, she said.

Lady Heywood also criticised witnesses for their efforts to shift accountability on to my late husband over Mr Greensills appointment as a Crown Representative, an unpaid role for business executives who try to save the Government money.

She pointed out that the now controversial pharmacy earlier payment scheme had been successful and signed off by the Treasury, and was launched at No 10 in October 2012 with Lord Maude attending although he does not remember doing so.
A scientist has put the microscope on a disturbing discovery inside fish fingers and the impact it could have on your health.

The Australian expert showed how microplastics, small pieces of plastic debris caused by the disposal and breakdown of consumer products, get lodged in fish.

He bought the cheapest fish fingers he could find, sliced them into thin pieces, and used a microscope to reveal the tiny plastic shards.

He said the much-loved frozen food contained 'a fair amount' of microplastics, which if consumed could end up in human organs.

The fish fingers contained, microplastics, which can impact on human organs if eaten

'You might be thinking that it doesn't matter if I eat it anyway, so what,' the scientist from One Min Micro explained.

'But researchers have found microplastics accumulating in important organs such as your kidneys and there is concern for the toxicity of these chemicals, as well as their physical presence as they're just not degrading.

'So we don't know what the long term health impact will look like.'

He told Daily Mail Australia the results were based on the findings of just one brand and stressed that it may not represent other processed fish products.

The scientists conceded he only tested one brand of fish fingers for microplastics

'No need to abandon fish fingers - maybe different brands are sourced differently,' he said.

Many viewers were shocked, but others pointed out microplastics can also be found in other common foods such as fruit and vegetables.

University of Queensland researchers revealed Australians may consume up to 4mg of plastic in an average 100g serve of uncooked rice.

Boiling the rice to cook it is unlikely to get rid of the microplastics as it has no filtration system.

The scientist urged everyone to do their own research after he found microplastics inside one brand of fish fingers
Tourism operators are calling for more federal government support, saying the latest lockdown will cost the sector more than $6 billion in lost revenue.

The Greater Sydney two-week lockdown covering the entire NSW school holidays is expected to cost Australia's struggling tourism industry more than $6 billion.

The Tourism and Transport Forum says the industry will struggle to survive more lockdowns, imploring the federal government to consider subsidies and urgently boost vaccine rollout rates.

The two-week coronavirus lockdown in Sydney (CBD pictured) is set to rock the already struggling tourism industry, as school holiday tourism revenue's will be lost

It estimates the latest COVID-19 outbreak and the border restrictions imposed on Sydney and NSW residents will devastate the mid-year school holiday period for travel-related firms, with spending predicted to be down by $6.3 billion nationally.

Forum chief Margy Osmond says NSW's tourism sector will lose business worth $2.1 billion - or $153 million a day  almost one third of the total losses predicted nationally for the holiday period.

It's the third school holidays in a row that a COVID outbreak had forced a lockdown in a capital city.

'While health remains the number one priority in the management of COVID-19, I'm not sure how much longer we can survive while this lack of certainty continues,' Ms Osmond said on Monday.

The latest outbreak was proof of how important it was for the vaccination program to be fast-tracked, she said.

'The tourism industry continues to suffer from a lack of international travel and the lack of confidence among Australians in the domestic travel market and in planning holidays is diabolical, making it very difficult for businesses in our sector to stay afloat,' Ms Osmond said.

Bondi Beach is pictured on the first day of a city-wide lockdown a NSW tourism is predicted to lose over $2 billion during the school holiday period

TTF data showed that in the equivalent 2019 school holidays more than 1.7 million Australians travelled domestically but it's predicted the Sydney lockdown will see that number drop by 73 per cent - to about 460,000 travelers.

Australia now has outbreaks in NSW, Western Australia and Queensland and the Northern Territory causing lockdowns, tightened restrictions and border closures.

This situation confirmed the federal government's decision to end the Jobkeeper wage subsidy - particularly for the tourism industry - in March 'was somewhat short-sighted', Ms Osmond said.

'They will now need to look very seriously at some other form of ongoing support for the tourism sector to ensure we come out the other side of the pandemic.,' she said.
A landmark global ban on a toxic chemical which scientists say would mark the beginning of the end for plastics is being considered by the United Nations.

The compound called UV-328 is widely used in plastic packaging despite being a potential risk to human health and wildlife.

But chemical giants are fighting plans to regulate it, documents uncovered in a joint investigation by the Daily Mail and Greenpeaces Unearthed news site reveal. Industry groups representing multinationals including ExxonMobil and Shell fear banning or restricting the substance would set a precedent allowing plastic additives to be regulated in the same way as other hazardous chemicals.

European regulators deem UV-328 to be of very high concern as it can harm the liver and kidneys in high doses.

It is bioaccumulative, meaning humans and wildlife absorb it faster than their bodies get rid of it, leading to ever higher levels with repeated exposure.

A landmark global ban on a toxic chemical, a compound called UV-328 which is widely used in plastic packaging, which scientists say would mark the beginning of the end for plastics is being considered by the United Nations (stock photo)

Scientists supporting a ban said it would be a watershed moment heralding the end for plastics because the additives are an essential component of consumer plastic products.

The Mail has been at the forefront of attempts to reduce the amount of plastics in the environment with our Turn the Tide on Plastic campaign.

The Swiss government has put forward a proposal to ban or limit UV-328 to the Stockholm Convention, the UNs global treaty on cross-border pollutants. Documents obtained from the US Environmental Protection Agency via freedom of information requests show industry attempts to thwart any regulation.

Karissa Kovner, a senior policy adviser at the EPA, has also spoken against action at a UN meeting.

The agency told the Mail its scientists had found the chemical had not met the conventions requirements in terms of bioaccumulation, long-range transport and adverse effects and so they believed the proposal should be put aside until further studies were completed.

But Professor Hideshige Takada, of Tokyo University, said it should be strictly banned. He added: Regulation of UV-328 is the beginning of the end of plastics.
Housing firm Persimmon is boosting soaring profits by giving buyers no option but to sign up to its broadband service.

Families moving on to new estates built by the developer found the only internet network they can choose is FibreNest  which is owned by Persimmon.

In the past year, the internet providers customer numbers have more than doubled from 6,000 to 14,000.

Critics say the move is a ploy to reap ongoing revenue from buyers  and MPs said Persimmon had created its own monopoly by forcing residents to use their broadband.

Families moving on to new estates built by the developer found the only internet network they can choose is FibreNest, which is owned by Persimmon, as Bill Esterson, Labour MP for Sefton Central, said: This is predatory behaviour'

Bill Esterson, Labour MP for Sefton Central, said: This is predatory behaviour.

Persimmon, which made a pre-tax profit of 784million in 2020, says it provides the network to ensure homeowners do not have to wait for another company to connect.

The firm said it would support other providers who wish to use its cables. Ones such as BT-owned Openreach could legally install their own fibre on Persimmon estates. But a spokesman said it was unable to make the business case work.

Sir John Hayes, Tory MP for South Holland and The Deepings, said: These huge building firms should not be taking advantage of homeowners for the sake of their own financial interests. No residents should be tied to the builders own provider and forced to dance to their tune.

FibreNest charges 14 a month for download speeds of 10 megabits per second (Mbps) and up to 45 for 500Mbps.

Persimmon said it launched FibreNest to ensure households would not face long waits for other firms to install cables once they had moved in, or endure sluggish speeds.

It also promised that customers will never have to pay more for the same speed than they would with the UKs largest broadband provider, BT.

But Andrew Ferguson, editor of thinkbroadband.com, said: This is a developer who is seeing a broadband service as a way of providing an ongoing revenue once homes on an estate have been sold. Persimmon is following the law, but it is not playing fair.
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Five women who are dating a jailed 'kinky sex overlord' in a 'strange' polyamorous relationship signed servitude contracts before moving into his sprawling home, but his lawyer swears it was nothing more than 'play acting' that was not taken seriously.

James-Robert Davis was denied bail in the Supreme Court of New South Wales on Monday as he faces charges of slavery and reducing a woman to servitude.

He will categorically deny any wrongdoing, arguing the victim was well aware that the contract she signed was not legally binding.

His five current girlfriends, including one who is pregnant with his child, have all signed similar contracts, the court heard.

And yet each will testify that they are aware of the limitations of the document they signed, and do not feel compelled to stay in the relationship because of it.

Pictured: Robert James Davis (centre) with lingerie-clad women. He has been charged with slavery offences, which he strenuously denies

Daily Mail Australia has obtained a contract that Davis reportedly issued to potential partners in the past, in which the 'submissive' agrees to 'forfeit elements of [their] body, mind and will'

Instead, the contract is meant to be an affectation of the 'play pretend' nature of their consensual, polyamorous BDSM relationship, the say.

'At no stage did my client exercise any real powers of ownership... There are aspects of play acting, affectations of slavery which do not amount to real slavery,' Davis' barrister Ian Lloyd QC said.

Daily Mail Australia has obtained a draft template of a contract that Davis reportedly issued to potential partners in the past, in which the 'submissive' agrees to 'forfeit elements of [their] body, mind and will'.

In the contract, the 'submissive' agrees to display affection whenever required and engage in 'predetermined kink events, kink related domestic and social activities, play parties and special days'.

The 'slave' signs over her sexuality and right to sexual gratification in the contract, which states that 'all sexual gratification whether by myself or others is a privilege granted at the grace and pleasure of my Owner'.

In total there are 20 clauses that a prospective 'submissive' must sign in the contract, which is reviewed first after three months and then renewed every six months.

The contract appears to be based on a broader template, given the names of Master/Slave are left blank, but was shared by an account named 'Master James' and specifically referenced the 'House of Cadifor', the name Davis gave to his 'BDSM family'.

Each of the women appeared at Davis' last court appearance to support him and prove to the court that they were in a consensual relationship

None of the charges relate to his present girlfriends, and they all insist they are in a consensual and loving polyamorous relationship with the 40-year-old

Read the 'contract of fielty' reportedly given to Davis' potential partners CONTRACT OF FIELTY TO MASTER _______ AND THE HOUSE OF CADIFOR I Submissive ________, of sound body and mind solemnly agree to the following. 1:r03; I agree to enter into a contract of submission and servitude to ______, and upon signing hereby forfeit elements of my body, mind, and will to the ownership of the _______ as a token of my submission. 2:r03; I agree and understand that this will be enforced from the date of signing said contract for a period of three months, where on the completion of, my performance will be assessed and I may be offered a renewal of contract for a further six month period of engagement. 3:r03; I agree and understand that upon signing; that, as property of _______, I am a member of and subject under the general rules and regulations of the House of Cadifor, as well the overall authority of my Master; Master _____ 4:r03; I agree and understand to be engaged to serve ______ in our personal life, in predetermined kink events, kink related domestic and social activities, play parties, or on other special days that _______ requires my services as dictated him. 5:r03; I agree and understand that I will display affection toward ______ as and whenever he sees fit, according to his needs and desires. 6:r03; I agree and understand that it is expected that if ______ wishes to partake in a recreational or social activity, and wishes for me to accompany him, that I will, wherever possible, do so, and endeavour to assist and serve as best as I can. 7:r03; I agree and understand that as property of _______, I no longer own my sexuality, or have right to sexual gratification. And that all sexual gratification whether by myself or with others, is a privilege granted at the grace and pleasure of my Owner. If I wish to seek self sexual gratification, I must first gain approval, and said approval shall last until it is revoked or suspended. 12:r03; I agree and understand that I am subject to chastisement, discipline, punishment, and retaining for any minor breaches of protocol, etiquette, or service according to what ______ sees fit. 13:r03; I agree and understand that my only rewards for service are; The pleasure my service may bring to my Owner, The growth and development that my service may render me The compliments and encouragement that _______ may bestow upon me. The scenes that ________ may grant to me in order to assist me open my eyes or push my boundaries. The affection that ______ may give, only when it had been earned and is deserved. The sexual gratification that _______ may allow me to seek or participate in. 15:r03; I agree and understand that if I breach my contract in anyway deemed by _______ to be a serious offence; my Owner reserves the right to terminate my contract and release me from Service. I Submissive _____, I herby agree to, and in sound mind, understand all the above. I herby surrender my will, mind and body into the ownership of ________. I herby pledge my fielty to the House of Cadifor, and its members as my brothers and sisters. I herby promise to carry out my service to the best of my ability; forsaking myself. I herby solemnly swear all these several points on my honour; for the duration of the contract or until terminated or released from Service by _______. Signed Submissive __________: ________________________ Signed Master ________: _____________________________ Witnessed Master ________: ____________________________ Advertisement

James-Robert Davis was denied bail in the NSW Supreme Court on Monday

Mr Lloyd argued there is 'no way... [this relationship] could ever be categorised in law as slavery'.

He urged the public to keep an open mind and said any future jury would be expected to differentiate between 'real slavery... women being kept as sex slaves, and those that are living out a relationship with aspects of play acting'.

Davis and his girlfriends have always lived 'a strange lifestyle with elements of BDSM,' the court heard, but Mr Lloyd stressed that there 'is nothing criminal about that, per se'.

Davis was arrested in March and charged with possessing a slave, reducing a person to slavery and causing a person to remain in servitude after an AFP investigation and a 15-hour raid on his property near Armidale in the New South Wales Northern Tablelands.

Until then, Davis was living with the women in a 'consensual polyamorous BDSM relationship' at the sprawling rural property.

The home, which is 30km out of town, is owned by Davis and his pregnant girlfriend and has bedrooms for each of his other partners.

They split household bills evenly.

The court heard that one of the women is willing to be cross examined under oath, at which point she is expected to explain how important it is to her that Davis is home to witness the birth of their child.

Davis is facing one count of reducing a person to slavery, another of possessing a slave and a third charge of causing a person to enter into servitude.

None of the charges relate to his present girlfriends, and they all insist they are in a consensual and loving polyamorous relationship with the 40-year-old.

The women tuned in to the audiovisual link on Monday afternoon to watch as Davis applied for bail.

Davis (centre) had allegedly been living with as many as six women he called 'slaves' at his home near Armidale in northern New South Wales

Five highly educated, sexually adventurous women (pictured) stood by their man as he languishes in jail accused of keeping a sex slave when they arrived in court during his last appearance

The property where Davis and his girlfriend live contained a shed which had a barber's chair and boxes filled with whips, collars and other sex instruments

Daily Mail Australia understands at least three of his girlfriends were going to make the six-hour trek to Sydney from their home to attend the hearing before the city was thrust into a Covid-induced lockdown.

Justice Mark Ierace refused bail, stating the proposed conditions did not satisfy the public's need to assure the safety of any complainants or witnesses.

He is accused of making a woman sign a contract to enter into slavery, forcing her to wear a steel collar and locking her in a cage for up to three days.

But Mr Lloyd argued that each of the women were given collars upon signing their 'play' contract, and that they had access to the Allen keys to unlock the collars whenever they needed.

Police allege the woman was subjected to extreme violence and threatened with court action if she broke the contract for the most minor of indiscretions, like going to the toilet without permission.

It is further alleged the woman was forced to work as a prostitute at a brothel six nights a week and hand over every dollar she earned when Davis was tight on cash.

This allegation will also be 'strenuously denied', Mr Lloyd told the court.

Several small wooden huts are scattered throughout the rural property, several hundred metres from the main home

Pictured is a supplied Australian Federal Police photo of their raid on the sprawling rural estate outside of Armidale

James Robert Davis (pictured), 40, has been charged with slavery offences relating to a former 'girlfriend' who signed a 'play acting' contract
Calls are growing to allow vaccinated Australians to quarantine at home when they return to the country to free up coveted hotels.

Several Liberal MPs say the option should be considered once more of the population are vaccinated against Covid-19.

There are about 40,000 registered Australians overseas who have cannot get a flight home due to arrival caps imposed to protect the hotel quarantine system.

Liberal MP Dave Sharma wants home quarantine for vaccinated travellers who test negative before and after their flight. Pictured: Airport testing in Russia

They would be able to return faster if vaccinated travellers, who are less likely to catch and transmit Covid-19, are allowed to quarantine at home instead of in hotels.

The MPs who have supported home quarantine include Hollie Hughes, Jason Falinski, Dave Sharma, Katie Allen and Fiona Martin.

Mr Sharma, a former ambassador who represents Wentworth in eastern Sydney, said vaccinated travellers should be able to quarantine in a hotel for less than 14 days or isolate at home, provided they test negative before and after their flight.

'We should consider that you're eligible for a different form of quarantine. Maybe it's fewer days in the current hotel quarantine or attending at home with checking codes,' he told Sky News.

'What that would do is reflect the different level of risk of some of these incoming travelers, and it will free up space in our quarantine program.'

Prime Minister Scott Morrison first mentioned the idea of home quarantine in September, saying: 'I think [it] can play a role in the future and it's something that is being considered by the AHPPC, particularly as we move beyond the phase we're in now.'

Prime Minister Scott Morrison previously said that allowing home quarantine would incentivise people to get the vaccine

However, medical experts are concerned that vaccinated people can still transmit coronavirus and fear home quarantine may increase the risk of further outbreaks.

Mr Morrison in April said he was 'doing the planning work' to understand if home quarantine could be safe.

'If we can get ourselves in a position, perhaps in the second half of the year, where Australians for essential purposes can travel and return to the country without going into hotel quarantine if they have been vaccinated, it is a good incentive to get vaccinated,' he said.

'That would potentially open the door later for returning Australian residents to have a successful home isolation quarantine.

'We have to make sure that would work and that would be as effective as the hotel quarantine.'

Nervous state premiers are unlikely to agree to any home quarantine plan, having already refused Mr Morrison's proposal to allow vaccinated Australians to be exempt from state border shutdowns.

States shown in red have imposed restrictions after Covid cases were detected. A lock symbol indicates the capital city is in lockdown

'I've put it to them, they're not ready to accept that as something you can do,' Mr Morrison told Sky News host Paul Murray on Thursday night.

Rather than moving towards home quarantine, the federal government is building a new quarantine facility in Victoria and has written to the Queensland and Western Australia governments to offer further facilities.

It comes as NSW recorded 18 new Covid cases, including one mystery infection and two more primary school children who tested positive on the second day of Greater Sydney's lockdown.

The new cases were announced after restrictions were brought in for 11 local government areas of southeast Queensland, while masks will be mandatory on Perth public transport and Darwin went into a snap 48-hour lockdown.

All but one of Sydney's Monday's infections are linked to the Bondi cluster and the eighteenth case is believed to be linked to Westfield Bondi Junction.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said about six of the new cases were in isolation for their entire infectious period, while more were isolated for part of the same period.

A woman walks her dog past the St Vincent's Hospital drive-through testing clinic in Bondi on Sunday

'Unfortunately some were active in the community. As Dr Kerry Chant has told us already, the cases we are seeing today are a reflection of what may have occurred in the previous week and obviously there is a lag time,' she told reporters on Monday.

Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said officials will need to wait 'at least another five days' to reap the benefits of lockdown.

Meanwhile, Queensland recorded three new locally transmitted cases on Monday. One new case is believed to the Alpha strain and linked to the cluster involving the Portuguese Family Centre in Brisbane.

The other is a case of the Delta strain, a close contact of a miner who was out in the Sunshine Coast town of Bli Bli after arriving from a mine in the Northern Territory.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says the state is 'on the verge of a lockdown' and has moved to mandate masks indoors and outdoors across 11 local government areas in the southeast.
Two 'idiots' who got lost in the bush after being startled by a deer while sunbaking naked are among dozens fined by police for breaching coronavirus restrictions.

NSW Police handed out 44 infringement notices on Sunday as Sydney and surrounds had its first day of lockdown.

They included two men who had to be rescued from Royal National Park in Otford, south of Sydney, after they got lost in the bush when a deer startled them while they were sunbaking at a remote beach.

There was also cafe owner in Wollongong fined for refusing to wear a mask while serving customers on Saturday, and a western Sydney man fleeing the city.

Emergency services launched a search through the national park after the lost nudist pair raised the alarm late Sunday afternoon.

NSW Police have ramped up their crackdown on coronavirus restriction breaches. Pictured are officers speaking to Sydneysiders at Bondi Beach on Sunday

Police said one man, 30, was found naked and carrying a backpack on the walking track before the other man, 49, was found partially clothed a short time later.

They were each fined $1,000 for breaching the public health order which prohibits Sydneysiders from travelling outside the city.

The debacle angered NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller as he gave them a public dressing down at Monday's press conference.

'It's difficult to legislate against idiots,' he said.

'Putting people at risk by leaving home without a proper reason and then not only on top of that, but then getting lost in the national park and diverting important resources away from the health operation, I think they should be embarrassed.'

A 33-year-old man from Ermington in western Sydney was also fined and ordered to return home in after patrol officers stopped his vehicle on the Hume Highway near Goulburn, 200km away from home.

Commissioner Fuller issued a stern warning to anyone who continues to flout public health orders after police issued dozens of move along orders at beaches in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

Dozens of others were fined $200 each for not wearing mandatory masks.

NSW Police issued 44 infringement notices on Sunday. Pictured are officers speaking to Sydneysiders in Parramatta on Sunday

Pictured: Police are seen speaking with a woman sat on a wall enjoying a drink at Bondi Beach on Sunday

Thousands of locked-down Sydneysiders flocked to beaches and parks on Sunday as they endured their first day of full, city-wide lockdown.

Police, who were out in force as the stay-at-home orders came into effect, were far from happy with what some residents claimed to be 'essential exercise'.

At Bondi Beach, the epicentre of the current Covid-19 outbreak, revellers were pictured with drinks in hand relaxing on the sand and nearby patches of grass.

Others were seen sprawled out on park benches lapping up the winter sunshine, while some kicked soccer balls and played volleyball on a day NSW recorded 30 new cases.

NSW recorded another 18 cases on Monday as police urged the community to continue reporting suspected breaches of public health orders.

'It's only a small percentage of the NSW people that are not following the health guidelines, but I can assure you, if you breach the health orders or the guidelines, you will be punished,' Commissioner Fuller warned.

'Police continue to patrol and we are out in the same numbers protecting the people of NSW.'
Alex Dodds, 25, has opened up about the chilling moment he was attacked by a great white pointer on whilst spearfishing north of Perth.

Mr Dodds was mauled by the shark, estimated to be about four metres, near Leeman in the Beagle Islands about 260km north of Perth.

The attack on Wednesday left Mr Dodds with a 20cm gash on his leg under the knee, requiring more than 100 stitches.

Mr Dodds said he was still coming to terms with the encounter which almost cost him his life if not for a brave friend.

Alex Dodds, 25, (pictured with this partner of five years) was left with a 20cm gash on his leg and over 100 stitches after being attacked by shark

'Mouth literally that wide, and just teeth everywhere,' he said while describing the attack.

'And its tail was just flapping behind it, full pelt, coming towards me.

'I literally stared straight into its soul, hey  like the eyes rolled back.'

'[It's] hard to make sense of at the moment.

'There's been a few moments where I've been like 'I'm so lucky, hey.'

Mr Dodds' friend Brodie Paino, who was only metres away when he witnessed the attack, scared he shark with his speargun in an attempt to poke it away.

'When I dived down, I saw it right underneath me so I rushed back up towards the surface. I was directly on top of it,' Mr Paino said.

'It really startled me, and as I was coming back up it swam up too, and went straight from the bottom to the top and grabbed him by the leg.'

'If it had wanted to come back it could've, but thank God it left. I think I startled it, to be honest.'

Mr Dodds was attacked by a four-metre great white shark on Wednesday off the coast of Perth whilst spearfishing

After the attack, Mr Paino helped his friend back to their boat and called St John Ambulance before wrapping Mr Dodd's bloody leg in a towel and skippering him five kilometres back to shore.

'We wrapped his leg up with a towel and used a weight belt as a tourniquet and put ropes around his knee and the bottom of his leg,' Mr Paino said.

'He could move his toes. He couldn't feel at first but he got his feeling back so that's a relief.'

'He was pretty calm to be honest. He just asked, 'is it bad?'.

The great white shark (stock image) attacked Mr Dodd's whilst he was spear-fishing near Leeman, in the Beagle Islands, about 260km north of Perth

Upon reaching shore, Mr Paino was assisted by two locals to carry Mr Dodds up the beach where he was then airlifted by the Royal Flying Doctor Service to Perth.

Mr Dodd's remains in a stable condition.

There have been multiple shark attacks in Western Australia so far this year including another spear fisherman bitten on the leg by a two-metre shark and an attack on a ten year old boy by a two-metre bronze whaler, both in Coral Bay.

Access to the track leading to popular beach and camping spot, Gum Tree Bay, near Leeman, has since been closed by the local Shire pending further shark sightings.
A child and two adults were killed when a Chicago Metra train smashed into their car on a railroad crossing at 79mph and pushed it for half-a-mile along the tracks.

The train, heading north into the city, struck the vehicle just after 5pm on Saturday at the railroad crossing of 107th Street and Vincennes Avenue on the city's Far South Side, Chicago fire officials told the Chicago Sun-Times.

All three passengers - a man, woman and child - were pronounced dead after the train came to a stop near 103rd Street and Vincennes Avenue, with Chicago fire officials saying they were believed to be from the same family.

A child and two adults were killed on Saturday when a Metra train smashed into their car on a railroad crossing at 79mph, before pushing it for half-a-mile in Chicago. Pictured: The wreckage is seen where the car came to a stop after being struck by the train on Saturday

Pictured: A map showing where the train struck the vehicle, and where it pushed it to

The force of the impact caused the train's front car to partially derail, according to Metra spokeswoman Meg Reile, and at some point the vehicle caught fire.

The train's 43-year-old conductor was injured in the crash and taken to Little Company of Mary Hospital, officials said.

An engineer also suffered a leg injury. Metra spokesman Michael Gillis said that neither employees' injuries were life threatening.

Pictures from the scene showed the crumpled frame of the vehicle at the front of the train, the front few cars of which were off the rails. Rocks from the tracks littered the intersection at 103rd Street and Vincennes Avenue.

'It's heart-rending,' Gillis said in his statement. 'It's the worst thing I've seen. I've been doing this job for 12 years, this is the worst scene I've seen.'

The train, heading north into the city, struck the vehicle just after 5 p.m. at the railroad crossing of 107th Street and Vincennes Avenue on the city's Far South Side, Chicago fire officials told the Chicago Sun-Times

All three passengers were pronounced dead at the scene of where the train came to a stop near 103rd Street and Vincennes Avenue (pictured), with Chicago fire officials saying they were believed to be family

Pictured: Metra police and engineers work the scene where a train collided with a vehicle, killing three occupants, including a child, in the 10300 block of South Vincennes in the East Beverly neighborhood of Chicago, Sunday, June 27, 2021

Reile said 41 passengers aboard the train declined medical attention and were transported to a different station so they could continue their way into the city.

Speaking to the Chicago Sun-Times, Matt Townsend - who was riding back to the city with his girlfriend - said he was still trying to process the 'traumatic' event.

'It was hard to see out of the windows because there was so much dirt on both sides of the train,' Townsend said in a phone interview on Sunday night with the news outlet. 'And I knew there was something wrong at that time.'

The 47-year-old said he was in either the third or fourth rail carriage, and that people were in shock as they were escorted off the train.

'Everybody was anxious, tensions were running high, and we were wanting to get off faster than the line was allowing us to,' Townsend told the Sun-Times.

'... The car was unrecognizable as a car, it was just a clumped up piece of metal... and I started seeing flames come from the car, and that was scary. But most importantly, I knew that people had died,' he added.

Sandy Wilson, who witnessed the event from across the street at the intersection where the train came to a stop said she saw two men run to try to help the victims, before emergency crews worked to remove the child and woman from the vehicle.

The train's 43-year-old conductor was injured in the crash and transported to Little Company of Mary Hospital in a good condition, officials said. An engineer also suffered an injury to his leg, with Metra spokesman Michael Gillis saying at the scene that both employees' injuries were non-life threatening

Reile said 41 passengers aboard the train declined medical attention and were transported to a different station so they could continue their way into the city

Metra has opened an investigation into the incident, and all Metra Rock Island services have been stopped near 103rd street.

It was not immediately known how fast the train was traveling at the time of the collision, though Reile said the speed limit for trains in that area is 79 mph, although Gillis added that the train was basically expressing through the area at about 79 mph.

'Our understanding at this point in time that everything was functioning as intended,' Reile said.

'However, we will be doing - and this is normal operating procedure anytime theres an incident involving a train whether its a fatality or not - we take downloads and check the equipment to make sure it was functioning at the time properly.

'But we have no information at this time to indicate that our signals and gates were not working.'

Pictures from the scene showed the crumpled frame of the vehicle at the front of the train, the front few cars of which were off the rails. Rocks from the tracks littered the intersection at 103rd Street and Vincennes Avenue

Metra has opened an investigation into the incident, and all Metra Rock Island services have been stopped near 103rd street
South Australia has introduced new Covid restrictions despite having no new local cases, amid fears the Indian Delta variant is spreading around the country.

Indoor gatherings were cut to 150 people and masks made mandatory in confined public spaces and 'high-risk' settings from midnight.

Pubs and restaurants will revert to the one person per two square metres rule, or 50 percent capacity, and buffets are banned.

Masks will be required in residential aged care homes, hospitals, and personal care settings such as salons and gyms.

'We also highly recommend them for public transport in SA,' Premier Steven Marshall said.

'I apologise, it is very disruptive... but we are making these decisions for the safety of South Australians at this point in time,' South Australia's chief health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said on ABC Radio Adelaide on Monday morning as she flagged new restrictions

Singing is also be banned in 'high-risk environments' such as karaoke bars or choirs, except for commercial performers.

All plans for events with crowds of 1,000 must be reviewed by authorities before proceeding.

'We hope this will be for a week. We dont want to put any restrictions in place but we feel the rapid spread of the Delta variant, we have to take preemptive action to keep our state strong,' Mr Marshall said.

South Australian chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier said she believed contact tracers had the situation with FIFO mine workers returning from the Northern Territory under control.

'We haven't had a case of the Delta strain detected here yet in terms of community transmission,' she said.

'We've been very lucky.'

South Australian Premier Steven Marshall closed the state's borders to all states and territories except Tasmania and Victoria from 3pm last Sunday

Professor Spurrier responded to claims the new restrictions and the border closure were an overreaction when South Australia had no new cases, nor evidence of the transmission of the Delta strain.

'Borders remain porous,' she said. 'This virus has a way of getting in here.

'We saw on the weekend three people fly in here on a private plane from NSW... fortunately we were able to catch up with them.

'Even with border controls in place you still have travel of people... we have essential workers coming in.

'This is not a minimal risk, this is a significant risk.'

Capped numbers on home gatherings, enforced mask wearing in confined public spaces, and restricted numbers in public venues will be reintroduced in South Australia

Earlier, she flagged the changes on ABC Radio in Adelaide on Monday morning.

'There's no intention to have this [the restrictions] for a long period of time, it will be for a short period of time as those other states work very hard to get on top of their outbreak,' Professor Spurrier said.

'Because we haven't had any cases as yet here in South Australia we want to remain like that because once you get cases with this particular strain it moves very, very rapidly, even with excellent contact tracing.

'It will not respond as well to things that we've done in the past.

'I apologise, it is very disruptive, and it impacts family gatherings and family events, but we are making these decisions for the safety of South Australians at this point in time.'

South Australia closed its borders to all states and territories except Tasmania and Victoria from 3pm last Sunday.

The man and two women (pictured) in their 20s and 30s who entered South Australia from NSW by plane despite border restrictions would be asked to leave the state today, said SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens

The state is on alert after 29 miners who were working at the Granites mine, 540km north-west of Alice Springs, returned to South Australia following possible close contact with a miner who tested positive to the virus last Friday.

About 900 fly-in fly-out mine workers returned to their homes around Australia.

SA Health said the miners were now self-isolating in South Australia, with 11 of them having tested negative for coronavirus on Monday morning.

SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said the three people who had flown into the state after ignoring border controls would be asked to leave South Australia 'in their plane' today.

Earlier on Monday, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said a female miner who returned from the Northern Territory mine tested positive to the highly-contagious Delta strain, prompting new restrictions in her state.
The owner of a cafe which was fined after staff refused to wear a face mask while serving customers is a 'freedom keeper' who has vowed to support customers who choose not to follow Covid protocols or get vaccinated against the virus.

Three staff at Village Fix, in Shellharbour, were allegedly ignoring the mandatory face mask orders for hospitality workers when police arrived at the cafe at 9am on Saturday.

Concerned customers had called to report the failure to comply with public health orders.

Owner Anthony Reale said on Monday that his staff have medical exemptions for not wearing masks, but was unable to provide the correct documentation to officers.

'If you are not wearing a mask and/or have not been vaccinated, we understand you are free to make your own decisions regarding your health and support your choices,' he said in a post

Owner Anthony Reale and his wife Natalie Holz (pictured) describe themselves as 'freedom keepers'

Natalie Holz shared a photo of another 'freedom keeper' (pictured) wearing the same shirts her husband wore in the cafe during an anti-lockdown march back in February

But the 41-year-old father-of-three shared on social media that he has no qualms about rulebreakers, even telling his customers: 'No mask, we won't ask'.

'If you are not wearing a mask and haven't been vaccinated, we understand you are free to make your own decisions regarding your health and support your choices,' he said in another post.

His wife, Natalie Holz, was also present when officers arrived at the cafe and filmed herself as she was taken to the Lake Illawarra police station in the back of a cop car.

'I know my rights and there is nothing they can do,' she said.

Ms Holz told the camera officers drove past her business four times before storming in and demanding to see the supposed medical exemptions.

But the couple refused to hand them over, claiming officers 'had no rights' to ask for their personal medical records.

In a video since posted online, Ms Holz said she refused to accept the fines that were issued, telling officers to 'send them in the mail' instead.

Pictured: A masked police officer sitting next to Ms Holz in the back of a police car as she was taken to the station for failing to comply with a public health directive

Owner Anthony Reale said on Monday that his staff have medical exemptions for not wearing masks, but was unable to provide the correct documentation to officers

The couple, along with other staff at the cafe, wear matching shirts with the words 'freedom keeper' printed on them. They claim to have the support of their customers

The couple, along with other staff at the cafe, wear matching shirts with the words 'freedom keeper' printed on them.

Ms Holz has promoted anti-lockdown rallies in the past where people wore the same bright yellow shirt that her husband and staff wore in the cafe.

'Let's spread the word that our freedom has and will always be ours. Stand up for your rights,' Mr Reale said.

Village Fix claim they have the support of their customers, many of whom congratulated them on social media on Monday for 'standing up for their beliefs'.

They called on their fellow 'freedom keepers' to rally behind them as they continue to fight for what they claim to be basic human rights, attracting hundreds of responses from likeminded people around the globe.

Three staff at Village Fix on Addison St in Shellharbour were allegedly ignoring the mandatory face mask orders for hospitality workers when police arrived at the cafe at 9am on Saturday

Ms Holz told the camera officers drove past her business four times before storming in and demanding to see the supposed medical exemptions

Ms Holz filmed the officers who arrested her for breaching the mandatory mask orders

But others said the cafe had 'lost their business for putting the community at risk'.

'They've used hashtags on their post that invites people from all over the world to leave comments that are supportive of them. They wouldn't even know where Shellharbour is let alone spend their money at this business,' another critic said.

Those that did question Mr Reale and Ms Holz for refusing to wear masks were met with backlash from supporters, who said 'good riddance' that they would take their business elsewhere.

Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys said during a press conference on Sunday police were called out to the venue south of Sydney by outraged customers.

'There was an absolutely resistance of the cafe owner and those people at front of house to wear a mask,' he said.

Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys said during a press conference on Sunday police were called out to the venue south of Sydney by outraged customers

Reale refers to himself as a 'freedom keeper' online. 'Let's spread the word that our freedom has and will always be ours. Stand up for your rights,' he said in a post accompanying this photo

'It is clearly irresponsible. The community, when you look at social media, was certainly against that stance taken by the cafe.

'In fact, police had to issue infringement notices and I will follow that up in the coming days to make sure that they comply.'

Face masks were mandatory for hospitality staff in Illawarra even before the lockdown across all of Sydney, Blue Mountains, Central Coast, and Wollongong kicked in at 11.59pm on Saturday.

Sydneysiders are only allowed to leave their home for four reasons, including work, shopping for essential items, seeking medical care, or for caregiving or compassionate reasons.
A baby girl has died after being struck by the family car outside her home.

Baby Alice Lambert was killed on June 25 in Aitkenvale in Townsville as the family were getting ready to leave for a holiday.

The toddler had just began walking when she was 'hit' by the family car.

Baby Alice Lambert (pictured) was killed on June 25 in Aitkenvale in Townsville as the family were getting ready to leave for a holiday

Alice died shortly after arriving at Townsville University Hospital.

The infant has been remembered by family and friends as a 'vibrant, beautiful girl' with an 'angelic smile'.

'[Alice] had just started walking and taking on her curiosity of the world around her,' family friend Rochelle Magro wrote on a GoFundMe she set up.

'Her mum and dad are such devoted and loving parents to all three children and really make their little family such a desired unit of love.'

Ms Magro set up the donations page to help Mr Lambert and his wife Maxine with 'financial hurdles' as well as funeral costs.

'Now they have to do the most indescribable thing of burying their daughter,' she said.
The husband of an Instagram-famous pole dancer has been accused of masterminding a $64million cocaine smuggling plot where drugs were stashed in the underside of a cargo ship.

Bondi fitness instructor Julian Lee was arrested at his home in Sydney's east last week in the latest arrest resulting from the hi-tech AN0M sting, where police invented an encrypted messaging app for criminals and used it to read their texts.

A tip off from Australian investigators led Belgian authorities to find 216kg of cocaine hidden in the hull of a fruit juice tanker heading from Brazil to Australia via Europe last Monday.

Four days later, Lee, 41, was arrested at the home he shares with his wife, the Sydney police-dancing influencer 'Dirdy Birdy', who has more than 100,000 Instagram followers and her own activewear range.

Lee was charged with directing a criminal group and leading a conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of drugs.

The mammoth alleged drug bust came about after the AFP intercepted 'scant' , intelligence about the shipment via Operation Ironside.

Bondi fitness instructor Julian Lee, 41 (pictured with his wife Hoang Anh Lee, better known as Dirdy Birdy) is accused of directing a plot to import 216kg of cocaine from Brazil, with the drugs stashed in the underside of a cargo ship

DirdyBirdy - real name Hoang Anh Le - is the Lee's husband and boasts more than 100,000 Instagram followers. There is no suggestion she was involved in her lover's alleged conspiracy

Ironside is the AFP program which saw fake encrypted branded messaging technology distributed among organised crime gangs.

AN0M technology became popular among global crime syndicates - but unknowingly let police read every word they wrote.

The operation has resulted in the arrests of more than 800 people in Australia, the United States and Europe.

It has kneecapped mafia and bikie organisations, busting drug and gun smuggling conspiracies and prevented some 21 murders, authorities insist.

Acting off vague intelligence, Border Force officers recently pinned down which ship was transporting Lee's alleged drug load.

Belgian authorities raided the cargo hauler last Monday after it arrived at the port town of Ghent in the European nation's north-west.

Police divers allegedly found three camouflaged bags of cocaine stashed in the vessel's 'sea chest'.

A sea chest is an opening in a ship's hull under the water line, where water is pumped to either fill ballast tanks or cool the engine room.

Prosecutors will allege that Lee was arranging for a dive team to retrieve the packages from the bottom of the ship when it arrived in Australia.

Lee, 41, is led away by police in handcuffs on Friday following his arrest

Three alleged camouflaged bags of cocaine was found inside the vessel's sea chest last Monday (some of the contraband is pictured above)

The Australian Federal Police estimated the drugs were valued at 10million Euros, or about $AUD64million

Lee has been charged with three offences, including possessing a prohibited weapon.

The conspiracy charge alone carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, which Lee would face if found guilty.

The three camouflaged bags that were found in the ship's hull

Mr Lee's wife has locked down her social media profiles, setting her popular Instagram-page to private, and limiting her Facebook page to a picture of a cat.

Another man, 40, who is currently awaiting trial on separate offences, has also been charged in connection with the conspiracy.

Lee will face Central Local Court on Wednesday where his bail will be reviewed by a magistrate.

Detective Superintendent Elias Petropoulos said the bust was a warning to organised crime groups that the fallout from Operation Ironside continues.

'We will not let these criminals profit at the expense of our communities,' Detective Superintendent Petropoulos said.
Sources told CBS Boston that this photo identifies the gunman as Nathan Allen, 28. He considered whites 'apex predators,' the DA said. He was fatally shot by police.

A 'white supremacist' who considered himself an 'apex predator' crashed into Winthrop, Massachusetts, home on Saturday then 'executed' two innocent black bystanders in a suspected hate attack, it is claimed.

Nathan Allen, 28, is believed to have deliberately murdered victims David Green, 58, and Ramona Cooper, 60, because of the color of their skin.

Early in the investigation, police found 'troubling' white supremacy rhetoric and statements Allen wrote, which included the superiority of the white race, about whites being apex predators and drawings of swastikas, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said.

Before Saturday's fatal encounter, Allen wasn't on her office's radar. He was married, employed, had a Ph.D. and no criminal history, Rollins said.

'To all external sources he likely appeared unassuming,' she said.

'And then, yesterday afternoon he stole a box truck, crashed it into another vehicle and a property, walked away from the wreckage interacting with multiple individuals and choosing only to shoot and kill the two black people he encountered.'

Green, was retired Massachusetts state trooper with 36 years on the job, and Cooper was retired Air Force staff sergeant. It's unclear if the two victims knew each other.

A gunman has shot two people in suburban Boston before being shot by police, in an incident that saw a plumbing truck crash into the side of a house

One of the victims was David Green, 58, a retired Massachusetts state trooper who served for 36 years and was described as the 'quintessential pro'

The second victim was Ramona Cooper, 60, a retired Air Force staff sergeant

The incident unfolded around 2:45pm Saturday in the city of Winthrop, about six miles outside of Boston, when Allen crashed the stolen box truck into the building.

He walked away from the crash and shot Cooper in the back multiple times and Green in the head, neck and torso, DA Rollins said.

When responding officers got to the scene, a Winthrop police sergeant found Cooper and Green on the ground with gunshot wounds, quickly identified and confronted Allen, and shot him, police said.

Rollins said the police sergeant followed protocol by telling Allen to drop the gun before shooting him and then 'immediately rendered' aid. Allen died shortly afterwards.

'This Police Sergeant, like Trooper Green and Staff Sergeant Cooper, is a hero,' Rollins said on Sunday. 'The Sergeant stopped a volatile and escalating situation, saving lives, and protecting the community he serves.'

The incident unfolded at 2.41pm Saturday afternoon in Winthrop, Massachusetts , where police responded to reports of a large truck crash as well as 911 calls of shots fired

The Winthrop police sergeant who shot the gunman was placed on administrative leave, as part of standard protocol.

Rollins said police found the 'troubling' racist literature but didn't say where they were found or go into any other details about them, but said, 'There is a growing national, and global, problem with extremism and white supremacy.

'The FBI believes the most serious domestic violent extremist threat comes from "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, specifically those who advocated for the superiority of the white race."'

Winthrop Police Chief Terence Delehanty told Masslive.com, 'We have no tolerance for hate in this community.'

Medics wheel a gurney toward the scene after two people were shot in suburban Boston

Police secure the scene after a large truck crashed and shots were fired

The investigation is ongoing.

Massachusetts state police told Fox News that Green was the 'quintessential professional' and are trying to determine if attempted to confront the suspect.

'As the investigation continues and resources are extended to the victims loved ones and to the Winthrop community, we must say loud and clear that hate has no place in our communities or our nation,' Rollins tweeted on Sunday.
The fatal attack on beloved Melbourne identity and cafe owner Sisto Malaspina in Bourke Street almost three years ago was a premeditated act of terrorism, a coroner has ruled.

Victorian State Coroner John Cain has handed down his findings into the horrifying 19-second attack by Hassan Khalif Shire Ali in November 2018, finding it was motivated by his adherence to Islamic extremism and ISIS.

He found opportunities to prevent the attack may have been missed, but he was unable to conclude that Shire Ali's trajectory toward it would have been averted if intelligence gaps had been filled, if a different threat assessment had been made or if Shire Ali had not been bailed weeks earlier.

Mr Malaspina, the co-owner of Pellegrini's Espresso Bar, was one of three people stabbed in a frenzied attack by Shire Ali who was a national security person of interest.

A coroner has ruled that Hassan Khalif Shire Ali's stabbing rampage was a premeditated ISIS terrorist attack. Hassan Khalif Shire Ali is pictured lunging at police who were forced to take him down

The horror began when Shire Ali set fire to gas tanks in his car.

Bystander Rod Patterson believed he was running to help the driver when he was blindsided by Shire Ali and stabbed in the head with a 22cm hunting knife.

Shire Ali then overpowered Mr Malaspina, repeatedly stabbing him before chasing down security guard Shadi and stabbing him in the neck.

He turned then on police, who tried first to disarm him with their batons before one fired his weapon.

In a hearing on Monday, Judge Cain said the available evidence supported a finding that Shire Ali's actions constituted a premeditated act of terrorism and an ISIS-inspired attack, attributable to Shire Ali's adherence to an extremist interpretation of Islam.

Pellegrini's Expresso Bar owner Sisto Malaspina (pictured) was a much-loved Melbourne identity before his life was tragically cut short in November 2018

Police seen running toward Hassan Khalif Shire Ali (pictured, in grey jogging bottoms)_ to stop him from stabbing others during a terrorist attack on November 9 in 2018

He said while the actions of one man that day were intended to intimidate and harm, the acts of many others who stepped in demonstrated the opposite result.

He praised Mr Patterson and other bystanders, including two off-duty police officers who acted with real courage, and in scant regard for the consequences for themselves.

Judge Cain also found the use of lethal force by police was justified in the circumstances.

The two officers who first arrived on the scene, known as A1 and B2, believed they were responding to a car fire but instead found themselves confronted with an armed and determined assailant.

He commended them for their presence of mind, restraint and effective collaboration in a volatile and dangerous situation, noting one of the officers only graduated from the police academy five months earlier and it was their first time working together.

Police were just one day away from arresting Hassan Khalif Shire Ali (on the ground) but were too late when the rampage attack began on Bourke Street

Judge Cain said there was evidence Shire Ali's criminal behaviour was escalating in the lead-up to the attack, including allegations he assaulted an acquaintance, damaged a vehicle with a sledgehammer, assaulted a person with a hammer, was involved in a hit-run and kicked a car door after an altercation with a stranger.

All of those were reported to police.

On October 12, 2018 Shire Ali was pulled over by police. He had five warrants outstanding and was bailed on the side of the road by a police sergeant.

Judge Cain found those actions were reasonable and appropriate.
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A school principal named as one of five people killed in a hot air balloon crash was gifted the trip by her colleagues as a bucket list experience.

Susan Montoya, 65, was given the trip as a farewell present from her colleagues at Georgia O'Keefe Elementary School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she had worked since 2015.

Montoya - who died alongside her husband John, 61, on Saturday - was moving onto a new job at the end of the academic year, with Superintendent Scott Elder telling KOB4 that Montoya's colleagues were shell-shocked by her sudden death.

'The staff at Georgia O'Keefe chipped in funds to purchase a balloon ride for Susan and three guests as a farewell gift,' Elder said. 'It was their way of showing Susan how much they love and appreciated her. There are no words to describe the heartache and trauma the staff at Georgia O'Keefe is dealing with today. Please keep them in your prayers.'

The Montoyas and the other three people who died when the balloon struck power lines and its basket detached have since been named and pictured.

Susan Montoya, right, and her husband John, left, were killed in Saturday's Albuquerque hot air balloon crash while enjoying a 'bucket list experience' gifted to Susan by colleagues at the school she'd just quit

Hot air balloon pilot Nicholas Meleski, 62, has also been pictured in the wake of his tragic death

They are pilot Nicholas Meleski, 62, as well as another husband and wife couple, Martin Martinez, 62, and his wife Mary.

All five victims had ties to Albuquerque Public schools, according to a news release published by the district on Sunday.

Meleski was the father of a school crisis counselor. And Mary and Martin Martinez were very close-knit with the school district.

Susan's husband, John, started his career with APS as a substitute teacher in 2014 and, the following year, became an educational assistant for the special education program at Sandia High School.

'Susan was a gifted administrator. John worked with our most vulnerable students. Both school communities are devastated,' said Associated Superintendent Troy Hughes in the school's news release. 'Susan was known for having a joyful spirit and a kind heart. John had a servant's heart. He loved working with students and was always so kind. He was the kind of person that made you remember that there was kindness in this world.'

Hughes added that the couple was involved in their church and enjoyed Zumba.

Jim Marable, a friend of the Montoya's, wrote in a Facebook post that they were 'True servants and sweetest people' who leave behind many children and grandchildren and 'grieving churches in Albuquerque and Gallup.'

The district has set up a crisis team to meet with staff and students this week, said Kristine Meurer, executive director of the school system's Student, Family, and Community Supports Division, in the school's new release.

Meanwhile, many other balloon pilots and fanatics were shaken by the loss of one of Nick Meleski. 'Every time he opened his mouth  it would be something to be learned or experienced through his excitable story  his love for the sport and his love for life,' said Chris Jones, another balloon pilot, in an interview with KOB4. 'You were happy to be experiencing vicariously or in reality with him and I'm sad I will never get that opportunity today.'

'He was a great pilot, I've known him a long time  he'd do anything for ya,' another pilot, Bill Noe, told KOB4. 'If you were down in the dumps, he'd try to cheer you up, 'come on, let's go!' If you were hesitant about putting your happy face on, he'd do what he could to help you change. We're pretty saddened by this morning's event... it's always... it's a big loss when you lose not only a pilot, but passengers as well. It's tough to take,' Noe said. 'We're trying to be supportive. We're trying to understand.'

Kalyn Chieruzzi wrote in a Facebook post, 'The ballooning family lost an incredible friend today. Nick Meleski, you were the life of the party. Wherever you were, you knew how to light up the room. You put many smiles on people's faces. If someone was having a bad day, you lifted their spirits. I loved being around you. Everyone loved you. It's an honor to call you my friend! We all will miss you so much. We love you. We love you too Mona! Keeping you both in our hearts and prayers. Lost for words, except forlife is too short. Don't take it for granted  love one another, especially your loved ones. Fly high my friend!'

Martin Martinez, 59, a retired Albuquerque police officer and sergeant in the Albuquerque Public Schools Police Department, and his wife Mary, 62, died in the crash Saturday

Martin Martinez, 59, a retired Albuquerque police officer and sergeant in the Albuquerque Public Schools Police Department, and his wife Mary, 62, were first identified during a Saturday afternoon press conference. Their son is a current prison transport officer in the department.

Family friends paid tribute to the couple on social media, with one writing 'Dios Los Bendiga' - meaning 'God bless you' in Spanish.

Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said he worked with Martin Martinez when he first entered the department, which made the tragedy even more traumatic for him and the other officers who responded.

'In 26 years, it was one of the scenes that hit me the most,' Medina said. 'There were officers on the scene who worked with Martin and we did have to send some officers home because they were disturbed by what had occurred and it took its toll on them.'

The Albuquerque Public Schools issued a statement giving condolences to the Martinez family.

'Sgt. Martinez will forever be remembered for his lifelong dedication, courage and selflessness to the profession of law enforcement. He had long careers with both the Albuquerque Police Department and the Albuquerque Public Schools Police Department.'

The hot air balloon is believed to have split in two in mid-air, sending the gondola with passengers still onboard crashing into a power line at 100ft, while the balloon itself drifted off. The reason for the gondola breaking off is not yet known, with police on Sunday telling Dailymail.com they are still investigating the sequence of events.

The balloon came down on a street corner in the West Side neighborhood of Albuquerque around 7am Saturday, about six miles from Albuquerque International Sunport Airport.

Five people have been killed in a hot air balloon crash in New Mexico after it flew into power lines, according to authorities

The hot air balloon basket, shown here, separated from the colorful envelope and crashed on a busy intersection in Albuquerque

The basket lies on the street in the West Side neighborhood of Albuquerque, about six miles from Albuquerque International Sunport Airport, while the investigation continues

The envelope - the colorful balloon part - was later found in the backyard of a home about a mile away.

Medina said several nearby citizens ran to the basket with fire extinguishers and tried to help the victims.

Unfortunately, four of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene. One of the victims was rushed to the hospital but died shortly thereafter.

'We want to thank all the individuals who helped out today. There were greats acts of heroics done by citizens,' Medina said.

Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina, at the podium, said during a Saturday afternoon press conference, 'In 26 years, it was one of the scenes that hit me the most.' Behind him is the city's mayor Tim Keller

The hot air balloon split in two in mid-air, sending the gondola with passengers still onboard crashing into a power line at 100ft, while the balloon itself drifted off. The reason for the gondola breaking off is not yet known

The basket plummeted to the ground in flames, landing in a busy street close to a pharmacy

The colorful balloon was later found in the backyard of a home about a mile away (above)

Albuquerque Police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said at a press conference that the multi-colored balloon skirted the top of the power lines at around 7am.

Witnesses told KOAT the basket was on fire when it crashed into the street with several bystanders rushing to try to put the fire out.

Another witness told KOB4 he was in a gym nearby when he heard a loud bang that 'sounded like gunshots'.

Joshua Perez rushed out and saw the balloon part flying off detached, before noticing the basket lying in the street.

He said people turned off the propane on the balloon and ran over with fire extinguishers to help save the victims.

'I was just thinking save these people, save these people and you could just see them on the ground no one was moving,' he said.

'We turned off the propane off the balloon so it didn't blow up on them.'

Police said the four people were already dead when they arrived on the scene.

The basket is seen on the ground in the busy street Saturday with victims lying close by as emergency crews respond to the scene

Gallegos said: 'It's just a very tragic situation. Our officers who arrived first on scene had a tough time when they saw what they saw. These things are just horrible anytime they happen.'

Gallegos said it was not clear what had caused the balloon to strike the power line but 'sometimes winds kick up or things happen that make it difficult for balloons to navigate.'

'Our balloonists tend to be very much experts at navigating, but sometimes we have these types of tragic accidents,' he said.

The collision also left one of the lines dangling down and cut off power to more than 13,000 homes in the area.

Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) crews were seen working to fix the downed line and restore power as soon as possible.

Albuquerque Police, the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident.

The aircraft came down on a street corner in the West Side neighborhood of Albuquerque around 7am Saturday, about six miles from Albuquerque International Sunport Airport

A friend of the victims is comforted at the scene of the fatal hot air balloon crash

Albuquerque Police, the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident

Emergency crews on the scene of the deadly crash are seen hiding victims lying by the hot air balloon basket

According to an NTSB database, there have been 12 fatal hot air ballooning accidents in the US since 2008 and Saturday's deadly crash comes just months after another fatal balloon incident just outside the city of Albuquerque.

In January, a passenger in a hot air balloon was ejected from the basket after a hard landing.

He was taken to hospital but later died from his injuries.

In 2016 in neighboring Texas, 16 died when a hot air balloon hit high-tension power lines before crashing into a pasture, killing all on board.

Federal authorities said at the time it was the worst such disaster in US history.

Albuquerque is a popular destination for hot air balloon rides, with colorful balloons regularly spotted above the skies.

Every October, the city hosts a nine-day event that draws hundreds of thousands of spectators and pilots from around the world.

Five people were flying in the craft at the time. Two men and two women including the male pilot were killed while a fifth victim is in a critical condition in hospital
Three country NSW residents who sneaked into a remote South Australian town on a light plane will be forced to fly back to whence they came.

Amelia Johnson, 39, from Cessnock, Elizabeth Nichols, 21, from Lower Belford and Tom St Hill, 27, from Forster, flew in under the radar to avoid the border closure.

The trio were caught at a karaoke bar in Coober Pedy, about 850km north of Adelaide, late on Friday night and locked up.

NSW residents Amelia Johnson (left) Elizabeth Nichols (right) and Tom St Hill (centre) shared a photo on the runway in the NSW Hunter Valley region on Wednesday

The trio allegedly flew to the outback town of Coober Pedy and then tried to fly to the Northern Territory but were denied access

Elizabeth Nichols, 21, from Lower Belford, was part of the NSW trip who entered SA illegally

SA Police were notified on Friday that the Cessna with a pilot and two passengers attempted to land in the Northern Territory on Friday, but was denied entry.

They allege the plane departed Griffith, in NSW's Riverina region, on Thursday and first landed in Coober Pedy against cross-border directions.

'The group then attempted to enter the NT on Friday but were denied and returned to Coober Pedy, again in breach of cross border directions,' police said.

'Coober Pedy Police were tasked to locate the travellers and identify where they had been to assess the risk posed to our vulnerable outback communities.'

The three faced the Port Augusta Magistrates Court on Monday by video link.

They did not offer a plea to one count each of failing to comply with a Covid-19 direction and were released on on $500 bail agreements. They will face court again in August.

The three were directed to leave South Australia today in the plane they flew in on

Amelia Johnson, 39, from Cessnock poses by a plane in a social media post

During the announcement of the reintroduction of Covid-19 restrictions in SA on Monday, police Commissioner Grant Stevens said the three would be directed to leave the state today.

'They [were] before the courts and they will be leaving South Australia as soon as those processes are finished today,' he said.

'They will flying out on their plane and they will be directed to leave the state.'

South Australian chief health officer Nicola Spurrier also cited the actions of the three as one justification for the reintroduction of Covid-19 restrictions in the state.

'Borders remain porous. This virus has a way of getting in here,' she said.

'We saw on the weekend three people fly in here on a private plane from NSW... fortunately we were able to catch up with them.'

The group posted photos and videos to social media detailing their alleged border-busting trip which one described as an 'absolute dream'.

One post showed a video of Uluru filmed from the air as they flew over central Australia.

Another post showed the three next to their light plane before take-off in NSW's Hunter Valley on Wednesday.

They also visited Broken Hill on their way to the Northern Territory.

SA closed its border to NSW - except for an area within 100km of the border - last week in response to a Covid cluster emerging in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

The state later closed its border to all states and territories except Tasmania and Victoria from 3pm on Sunday.
Two separate mass shootings in less than two hours in Chicago have left two women dead and at least 15 others injured.

In the first, a woman was killed while four men and a 15-year-old teenager were wounded when a black SUV drove by and shots were fired in the South Shore area just before 9pm on Sunday, news outlets reported.

The second shooting took place at about 10.50pm when three men came out of an alleyway and started firing shots at another group, hitting at least 10 in Marquette Park.

One woman was shot in the chest and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead by police.

Of the group that included six men and four women, three people transported themselves from the site and eight others were taken to hospital, fire officials said.

A vehicle collision was also reported nearby in which two people were injured.

It was not immediately clear how the shooting and the crash may be related. Authorities also did not immediately say what may have led up to the shooting.

No suspects or arrests were immediately announced in either shooting, and not link between the two shootings has been reported.

The victims of the first shooting are being treated at the University of Chicago, Jackson Park, and Northwestern hospitals.

Authorities work the scene where at least eight people were shot in the 6300 block of South Artesian Avenue in the Marquette Park neighborhood, Sunday, June 27, 2021, in Chicago

About two hours after the first drive-by shooting, a separate shooting in the Marquette Park area wounded eight people, Chicago fire officials said. A vehicle collision was also reported nearby in which two people were injured

Six people, including a 15-year-old boy, were injured in a drive-by shooting on Chicago's South Side on Sunday night

The victims were standing outside when a someone in a black SUV drove by and began shooting

Police have not yet identified the victim or arrested a suspect in the shooting

The woman from the first shooting was in critical condition after the shooting, officials said, though it is not immediately clear what injuries she sustained.

Two of the men, both 21, sustained gunshots wounds, but are in stable condition, according to police. The 15-year-old and 19-year-old were also injured in the gunfire, but are in stable condition. And a fifth man, whose age was not revealed, has sustained a gunshot wound to the buttocks and in also in stable condition.

The black SUV fled the scene and headed westbound on 71st Street. Police have not yet made an arrest in connection to the shooting.

What appeared to be bloody cloths were strewn on the sidewalk at the site of the violence, along with a bicycle that had been tipped over, according to reporting from the Chicago Sun-Times.

It was not immediately clear how the shooting and the crash may be related. Authorities also did not immediately say what may have led up to the shooting

Chicago police work the scene where at least six people were shot in the 2000 block of East 71st Street in the South Shore neighborhood, late Sunday, June 27, 2021, in Chicago.

A local nail salon on the corner of 71st and Clyde streets had a front window shattered, the outlet reported, and there was at least one bullet hole in a dark-colored mini-van that was parked in front.

The shooting caps off another bloody weekend in Chicago as shooting incidents and violent crime surge into the summer. Since Friday, 62 people have been injured in Chicago shootings and two have died.

A 25-year old man, who has not yet been identified, was fatally shot early Saturday in Humboldt Park on the Northwest Side. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police told the Chicago Sun-Times.

And an hour later, a 35-year old man was killed and three others were injured after an argument escalated into gunfire in West Rogers Park on the North Side. The 35-year-old man, who has also not yet been identified, was struck in the chest and leg. He was rushed to St. Francis Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.
An army veteran says he was left 'gobsmacked' after a Melbourne restaurant turned him away because of his wheelchair.

Quadriplegic Joel Sardi, made a phone booking for five people for dinner at the busy restaurant in the north-east of the city.

The Afghanistan veteran then informed the staff member he was in a wheelchair and was shocked at the response.

Joel Sardi (pictured) says a restaurant in north-east Melbourne denied his reservation due to his wheelchair

The restaurant immediately rescinded his booking on the phone.

The eatery claimed 'your wheelchair would take up too much space and we need the money'.

Mr Sardi, speaking to Tony Jones on 3AW, said the boss of the restaurant was unapologetic when he pointed out that it was wrong to deny his reservation.

'The boss was forward in saying I was not welcome, and was by no means taking a step back or being apologetic, he was quite aggressive' Mr Sardi said.

Mr Sardi said it was not his first experience being discriminated in society.

'If a 10-year-old went into this venue and they said no because of the wheelchair, he or she would accept that because they think adults are always right,' Mr Sardi said.

Mr Sardi (pictured) suffered an accident in August 2014, leaving him paralyzed from the shoulders down

'Now in this case they are extremely wrong and the child will grow up thinking and expecting its acceptable when its so far from the truth.'

Mr Sardi served in the Australian Army for the past five years as a rifleman when his accident occurred.

He had returned home from a seven month deployment in Afghanistan in December 2013.

Mr Sardi suffered irreparable spinal cord damage in a fall on August 31, 2014 which left him paralysed from the shoulders down.

Mr Sardi had just returned from service in the Afghanistan war and returned in December 2013, before the accident occurred

He can activate some movement in his biceps, forearms and wrists.

The Afghanistan war veteran wants to use the incident to tell everyone that this type of discrimination is not acceptable.

'It's not acceptable to discriminate or let people miss an opportunity based on any ability or disability they may have,' Mr Sardi said.
A mother and her disabled son, as well as an elderly husband and wife, have become the latest victims of the Miami condo collapse to be formally identified.

They are a mother Ana Oritz, 46, and her son Luis Bermudez, 26, who suffered from muscular dystrophy and was unable to walk.

Also named as victims were Leon Oliwkowicz, 80, and his wife Christina Elvira, 74. All remains bar those of Christina were pulled from the wrecked building on Saturday, with Elvira's discovered on Sunday.

Bermudez's father Luis Bermudez Sr paid a heartbreaking tribute to his late son on Facebook, writing in Spanish: 'God decided that he wanted one more angel in heaven. I still do not believe it. I LOVE you and will love you forever.'

He also shared a photograph of a handwritten note, which said: 'My Luiyo. You gave me everything. I will miss you all my life...I will never leave you alone.'

Anna Ortiz, left, and her son Luis Bermudez, right were among four new victims of the Champlain Towers condo collapse disaster named Sunday evening

Leon Oliwkowicz and his wife Christina were also identified as victims of the tower collapse on Sunday evening

Luis Bermudez's dad Luis Sr left heartbreaking Facebook tributes in Spanish saying 'I will miss you all my life'

The victims were named as families of those still missing were taken to the site on Sunday to see recovery work - with one set of relatives screaming their loved one's name in the hope she'd hear them.

Relatives were bussed to the ruins of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside, Florida, on Sunday morning. Once there, loved ones of missing student Nicole Langsfeld began screaming her name, apparently in the hopes that she might hear them and reply.

Langsfeld and her husband Luis Sadovnic are among 152 people still missing after the 12-story building collapsed early last Thursday morning. Nine people are so-far confirmed to have died, with eight of those victims identified by medical examiners.

CNN reporter Faith Karimi, who witnessed Sunday's harrowing visit, tweeted: 'Some relatives of those missing in Surfside were allowed to visit the collapse site this afternoon. (The area is cordoned off).

Relatives of Nicole Langsfeld - pictured with her husband Luis - called her name while visiting the Miami condo collapse site on Sunday, in the hopes their loved one might hear them

Nicole and Luis have not been seen since the 12-story apartment building which they lived in collapsed in the early hours of last Thursday

'Nicole Langsfeld's uncle told me when they got there, they took turns screaming out her name, hoping she'd hear them beneath the rubble.'

Karimi later shared details on Nicole given to her by the missing woman's uncle. She tweeted: 'She was funny and smart and loved animals -- all sorts of animals...She would have moved an elephant into that condo if she could.'

Hopes are beginning to fade that anyone will be rescued from the rubble alive, with four more of the nine people so far confirmed to have died named on Sunday evening.

Four other victims previously named are Stacie Fang, 54, whose 15 year-old son Jonah Handler was filmed being pulled alive from the rubble.

Antonio Lozano, 83, and his wife Gladys, 79, were killed, as was Manny LaFont, 54. One person whose remains were pulled from the collapsed tower has yet to be identified.

Families were bussed to the scene of the tragedy after one angry relative confronted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis about what she claimed were inadequate efforts to try and save their loved ones.

That confrontation, captured on Saturday, saw the woman said: 'Its not enough.

'Imagine if your children were in there. You are going to leave here and you are going to take a nice picture. I know you are doing everything you can, but its not enough.'

Relatives are pictured being bussed to the recovery site on Sunday, after some complained they felt not enough was being done to try and save their missing loved ones

Explaining the purpose of Sunday's visit, a spokesman for Miami-Dade Daniella Levine Cava said: 'It is a private and deeply emotional moment for the families.'

DeSantis and other officials have stressed that crews have been working 24 hours a day since the tower collapsed, often in rainy conditions, and face the delicate task of trying to extract possible survivors from heaps of rubble without injuring them further.

Rescue teams from Israel and Mexico have joined Miami's highly skilled search and rescue teams. Surfside's Mayor Charles Burkett stressed he was still hoping for 'miracle' rescues from the rubble, saying: 'I expect miracles. I'm expecting many miracles.

'I think we all believe and expect miracles.'

Workers sift among the rubble of the site on Sunday, with workers trying to rescue any potential survivors without putting them at risk of further injury from rubble

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett says he expects 'miracles' in the coming days as people are rescued, although hopes are fading that anyone else will be pulled out alive

Teams from Israel and Mexico are set to join highly experienced local search and rescue squads in the hopes of finding survivors

Levine Cava also sounded a note of optimism while giving the latest updates on the search Monday evening.

She said crews now had much greater access to the rubble pile, with good weather helping speed their work.

Rescues have also been able to suppress fires currently smoldering in the rubble.

Levine Cava said: 'It's an inspiration to all of us, and to people all around the world. Their work, getting a fire and the smoke under control, was very pivotal, and the good weather today, were two very positive developments in the search, and they have allowed the search and rescue effort to move forward without some of the previous challenges that we have faced

They are actively working on the trench and it actually was extremely helpful for the location of bodies

The mayor also called on the families of the missing to file police reports about their loved ones, so investigators could collect DNA samples to help identify any remains they later fine.

Leo Soto, who lost a friend in the disaster, was among loved-ones paying tributes at a makeshift shrine on Friday. It has continued to grow over the weekend

An investigation into what caused the collapse is ongoing. The Champlain Towers was undergoing repairs as part of a mandatory 40 year recertification process for the building, which was constructed in 1981.

Suspicion is currently focused on the complex's raised swimming pool, which was said to be leaking and eroding its concrete foundations, but investigators say it is too early to draw any firm conclusions.
Three-hour queues for the Covid-19 vaccination at a Sydney hospital are causing people to give up and walk away.

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital at Camperdown in Sydney's inner west had seen hundreds of people turn up to its vaccination centre on Monday.

Daily Mail reporter Peter Vincent, one of those who waited for three-and-a-half hours for his jab, said security had tried to organise the hordes of people into lines in the basement of a carpark.

Despite turning up on time for appointments, crowds have been left waiting for hours in queues snaking around the building.

'A few people are just walking away because of the long wait,' he said.

'People are standing in the cold, not properly socially distanced, for hours. The guy next to me is p***ed and on the phone to 2GB now.'

Sydneysiders have flocked to get vaccinated since the city was put into a two-week lockdown, with many more concerned than ever about the virus lingering in the community.

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital at Camperdown in Sydney's inner west had seen hundreds of people turn up to its vaccination centre on Monday (pictured)

'We've had a surge today for sure but that's a good thing, people wanting to get vaccinated,' a NSW Health spokesperson said (pictured, the waiting area at the inner city hospital)

Those attending the vaccination centre were using a new appointment system that allocated a window for a person to be vaccinated.

'A NSW Health worker told us some staff were not vaccinated and had to be under a new public health order so they could administer vaccines,' Vincent reported.

'So the vaccine appointments got overloaded as they were piling extra appointments into the system to cope.'

'They don't have enough staff to cope with the appointments they've booked, either.'

Vincent said staff were flustered and apologising to those waiting, while some arguments had also occurred as people's patience was tested.

Once vaccinated, people were also being told to walk to 300m to a registration centre. Many complained they would likely receive parking tickets as a result of the delays.

Sydneysiders have flocked to get vaccinated since the city was put into a two-week lockdown, with many more concerned than ever about the virus lingering in the community

Daily Mail Australia's man on the ground said staff were flustered and apologising to those waiting, while some arguments had also occurred as people's patience was tested.

'RPA Hospital is turning away people with vaccine appointments and telling them they cant be vaccinated today because they're 'too busy,' Twitter user @kicks1776 wrote.

'While those they are taking are waiting three hours! Get your s*** together!'

A NSW Health spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that claims about unvaccinated workers were incorrect and that the centres at RPA and Olympic Park are appointment only.

'All our staff at vaccination centres at RPA and Olympic Park have been vaccinated in February and March this year,' the spokesperson said.

'We've had a surge today for sure but that's a good thing, people wanting to get vaccinated.

'We had a record number of vaccinations yesterday on our first day of opening on a Sunday.

'Obviously there is a demand for services when there's an outbreak but I hope people are a little bit understanding on a day like today, that we're doing the very best we can.

Daily Mail reporter Peter Vincent, stuck in this queue, said there were around 400-500 people at RPA awaiting Covid-19 vaccination today - with many appointments over-running by three hours

SYDNEY'S LOCKDOWN: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW UNTIL JULY 9 Those living in Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Shellharbour and Wollongong must abide by the following: Masks are mandatory in all indoor settings outside the home, including offices Weddings are banned and funerals are capped at 100 people - or 1 person per 4sqm - with masks required indoors There is no curfew but a stay at home order applies, with only four reasons to leave your home *The four reasons you can leave your home: Shopping for food or other essential goods and services Medical care or compassionate needs (including to get a COVID-19 vaccine) Exercise outdoors in groups of 10 or fewer Essential work, or education, where you cannot work or study from home The rest of NSW (including regional areas) is subject to the following restrictions: No more than five visitors (including children) allowed in homes Masks are compulsory in all indoor non-residential settings The four-square-metre rule is back for indoor and outdoor settings and drinking while standing at indoor venues is not allowed Dancing will not be allowed at indoor hospitality venues or nightclubs, but dancing is allowed at weddings for the wedding party (no more than 20 people) Dance and gym classes are limited to 20 people per class and masks must be worn When does the lockdown end? Stay at home orders apply to Greater Sydney including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour until 11.59pm on Friday, 9 July 2021 Advertisement

The TRUTH about AstraZeneca and your miniscule chances of dying from the jab - and why Australia's rollout is the SLOWEST in the first world

By Charlie Moore, political reporter

Australia's sluggish Covid-19 vaccine program was slammed on Monday as the nation recorded the slowest rollout of 38 wealthy countries after it was derailed by changing health advice.

Only 5.79 per cent of Australians have had both doses of the jab, compared with 60 per cent of Israelis and almost half of Britons and Americans.

Even New Zealand, which only uses Pfizer, is now ahead, with eight per cent jabbed as of last week.

Australia's rollout started in late February, more than two months after the UK and the US, and was then thwarted by supply issues and health advice which prevented millions from getting the AstraZeneca shot due fears of very rare blood clots which have only killed two people across the nation.

The deaths came after 3.8million had taken the AstraZeneca vaccine, meaning a death rate of one per 1.9million.

By comparison, Aussies have a one in 33 chance of dying if they catch Covid-19, a one in 12,000 chance of being struck by lightning and a one in 55 chance of winning the Oz Lotto.

Australian swimmer Cate Campbell has her vaccination against Covid-19 at the Queensland sports and Athletics center

Australia's sluggish Covid-19 vaccine program was slammed on Monday as the nation recorded the slowest rollout of 38 OECD nations

What are the chances of dying from a blood clot after AstraZeneca? One in 1.9million people have died from a blood clot after AstraZeneca in Australia. By comparison, Aussies have a one in 33 chance of dying if they catch Covid-19, a one in 12,000 chance of being struck by lightning and a one in 55 chance of winning the Oz Lotto. Advertisement

The first setback came in March when the EU banned the export of vaccines made on the continent, meaning that 3.1million out of 3.8million doses of AstraZeneca did not arrive in Australia on time.

As a result, Prime Minister Scott Morrison missed his target to vaccinate four million Aussies by the end of March by 85 per cent.

Then in April the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation advised that Australia's main vaccine and the only one it can make onshore, the AstraZeneca jab, should not be given to patients under 50 due to a very rare but serious blood-clot side effect.

The move threw the rollout into chaos as the government scrambled to secure more doses of Pfizer, its only other approved vaccine, and pushed back its aim to give everyone a first dose by October to December.

Pfizer agreed to sell Australia 20 million more doses, doubling the existing total, but said they would not all arrive until the end of the year.

Mr Morrison admitted that the change had huge implications for the vaccination program, saying: 'Now, that was a big shock to the roll-out and they are events outside of the government's control.'

The change also prompted an increase in hesitancy as an Essential survey found 16 per cent of Aussies said they would not get vaccinated, up from 12 per cent in March, and the portion willing to get vaccinated as soon as possible slumped from 47 per cent to 42 per cent.

Then earlier this month, the experts changed the advice again, recommending that only people over 60 get the AstraZeneca jab after 12 more cases of blood clots were recorded in a week, seven in their 50s.

Officials made their decision based on a risk-benefit analysis which took into account that Australia had very low levels of Covid-19 due to its tough international border closure.

Ambulance officers transfer a resident from the Epping Gardens aged care facility in the Melbourne suburb of Epping. Australians have a one in 33 chance of dying if they catch Covid-19

States shown in red have imposed restrictions after Covid cases were detected. A lock symbol indicates the capital city is in lockdown

Australia's rollout started in late February, more than two months after the UK and the US, and was then thwarted by supply issues and health advice. Pictured: Scott Morrison at Melbourne's CSL factory in February

Government experts did modelling (above) to show the risk of getting a blood clot from the Astrazeneca vaccine for each age group, compared with the benefits of getting the jab

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the experts had been very cautious in their recommendations.

'The UK, for example, has an age range of 40 and above, South Korea 30 and above, and Germany has no age limits after 18 and above,' he said.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese admits the government cannot control health advice but has slammed Mr Morrison for not signing more vaccine deals last year.

'The government put all its eggs in the AstraZeneca basket and now the chickens have come home to roost,' he said on Monday.

Australia currently only has access to Pfizer and AstraZeneca while France, Germany and Italy have four vaccines and the US, UK and Canada have three.

Mr Hunt said he has always followed the medical advice of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation when making decisions on vaccine deals.

Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said the clotting was extremely rare and doctors now have a lot more information on how to diagnose and treat the condition to lower the risks.

The 18 new cases in Sydney came from more than 58,000 tests in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday

'We will continue to learn from these unfortunate circumstances and will tie it into advice to all practitioners,' he said earlier this month.

On Monday Sydney, Darwin, Perth and Brisbane battled outbreaks of Covid-19, prompting an emergency meeting of National Cabinet.

With Sydney locked down for two weeks due to 130 cases of the Indian Delta variant, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said there were not enough vaccine doses to go around.

'There's no hesitancy. People want to get the vaccine,' she said.

Ms Berejiklian also said the nation could not start a 'conversation' about ending the cycle of lockdowns and border bans until 80 per cent of the nation had been vaccinated.

Meanwhile, Britons, Europeans and Americans are enjoying summer holidays and relaxed restrictions with about 50 per cent of their populations jabbed.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk demanded a cut to international arrivals to ease pressure on the hotel quarantine system.
Europe has seen a resurgence of deadly violence against women as abusers experience a 'loss of the control' they enjoyed throughout the coronavirus lockdowns.

In Spain, for example, since the state of emergency ended in May, one woman has been killed every three days, compared with an average of one a week before.

In Belgium, 13 women have died from violence since the end of April compared with 24 in the whole of 2020, while in France, 56 have been killed so far this year compared with 46 for the same period a year earlier, NGO figures show.

Chahinez, a French mother-of-three, was burnt alive by her estranged husband

Many of their faces are making headlines and sparking protests, such as Chahinez, a French mother-of-three who was burnt alive by her estranged husband, or the five women killed in three weeks in spring in Sweden.

'With women gaining more freedom, the aggressors feel as if they're losing control and react with more extreme violence,' explained Victoria Rosell, head of the Spanish government's taskforce against gender violence.

'In the case of the increasing numbers we've seen in recent months, we've seen how easing the restrictions has exposed another underlying pandemic, that of male violence.'

In 2004, Spain approved Europe's first law that specifically cracked down on domestic violence, making the victim's gender an aggravating factor in cases of assault.

La Fondation des Femmes president Anne-Cecile Mailfert (pictured at a protest) has called on the government to act on the rise in gender violence

And with the recent rise in deadly violence, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has reiterated his desire to put an end to this 'misogynist scourge' once and for all.

Throughout Europe, the lockdowns have made it harder to pick up on cases of domestic violence.

Forced to stay at home with their abusers, victims could only reach out for help with extreme discretion.

During Spain's three-month lockdown at the start of the pandemic, appeals for help rose by 58 per cent compared to the same period in 2019 with online - or 'silent' - appeals soaring by 458 per cent, equality ministry figures show.

'This shows how women were not even able to make a phone call from home,' said Rosell.

Prosecutors say that Chahinez from Bordeaux was gunned down by her ex husband and set alight in the street.

Her killer, known as Mounir B, had recently been released from prison for domestic violence ben when Chahinez told police in March this year that he had attacked her after his release, authorities were unable to find him.

The Women's Foundation in France has questioned why Mounir B was not wearing an electronic tag after being freed from prison.

Flowers are placed at the scene where Chahinez was shot in the legs and burned to death in Bordeaux

The group's president Anne-Cecile Mailfert told France Info that only 40 electronic bracelets were distributed last year, despite the government's pledge to use the tags to enforce restraining orders.

The same was true in Italy and Germany, with calls to domestic violence hotlines peaking in April and May 2020, while in the UK, the NGO Refuge said calls almost doubled between spring 2020 and February 2021.

To provide a lifeline to women at risk, different counties came up with innovative ways to call for help, such as Italy where women could call a police emergency number and say: 'I'd like to order a margarita pizza' which would alert the operator to send a patrol.

In Spain, women could alert the authorities by going into a chemist, one of the few shops open during the lockdown, and requesting 'a purple mask'.

Although the number of calls for help rose, both the number of complaints and murders fell during the lockdowns, explained Angeles Carmona, head of Spain's Observatory for Domestic and Gender-based Violence.

In France, Italy and Spain, the number of women killed by their partner or ex-partner fell last year to 90, 67 and 45 respectively, while in Belgium it remained unchanged at 24.

But the numbers don't surprise Angeles Jaime de Pablo, head of Themis, a Spanish organisation of women jurists, who says the combination of working from home and the lack of social contact created the 'ideal conditions for exercising the violence of control'.

And in that light, the recent increase in deadly violence was 'foreseeable', she told AFP.

Under normal circumstances, such violence is often triggered by a divorce or separation, or when an ex-partner starts a new relationship - situations which have been largely put on hold during the lockdown.

'Once the state of emergency and the lockdowns ended, many victims took things into their own hands and decided to leave,' explained Carmen Ruiz Repullo, a sociologist who specialises in gender violence.

'And that's where the risk is much higher and you start seeing these murders.'
The young entrepreneur behind popular wearable blanket 'The Oodie' has revealed how he failed six other businesses before coming up with his multi-million dollar idea.

Davie Fogarty, 26, is on track to make $200million this year after launching the hoodie-meets-blanket in 2018.

But before stumbling upon overnight success, the Adelaide entrepreneur tried his luck in a series of fruitless ventures - flogging everything from headphones and cookies to Vietnamese rolls.

Davie Fogarty, 26, (pictured) failed six business ventures before launching his multi-million dollar brand, The Oodie

'I was baking cookies and going next door to my school and trying to sell them to the teachers, I was selling pencils at one stage and that flowed to trying to sell on eBay,' Mr Fogarty told 9News of his young business attempts.

'I had a couple of businesses in school and then after I left I tried all sorts of things from headphones to iPhone cases. I launched a Vietnamese roll shop which failed.

Mr Fogarty's first brush with success came with the 2018 launch of his Calming Blanket franchise, which is touted as a tool to ease anxiety.

He then developed the idea to create a wearable blanket, using prolific social media marketing to give the Oodie traction.

The Oodie, which comes in an array of colours and prints, features a Sherpa fleece interior, a flannel exterior, a hood and pockets.

They sell for $109, which is discounted if several are purchased in a bundle.

The Oodie (pictured) is a wearable blanket, which features a Sherpa fleece interior and flannel exterior

The cosy garment has quickly become a winter-must have, accruing more than 149,000 followers online.

Mr Forgarty described the success as 'pretty instant', which he attributed to a combination of having a popular product, the right timing, and good digital marketing.

Although his business journey started off rocky, Mr Fogarty credits his hardship with providing the tools needed to kick start his multi-million group of brands.

'In all I failed about six businesses and that pushed me to this journey of learning new skills, of learning digital marketing and giving me the tools for better businesses,' he said.
A Sydney artist has blamed Prime Minister Scott Morrison for the nation's delayed vaccine rollout as millions endures day two of a hard lockdown.

Local artist James Powditch placed the sign in the window of his shop and studio 'Roulette' in Annandale, an inner-city suburb in Sydney's west on Saturday.

'Dear Customers, We will be closed for the foreseeable future because Scott Morrison is a useless d***head who only ordered enough vaccine to vaccinate 4% of the population 18 months into a pandemic', the sign read.

While Australia has failed to meet its initial vaccination goals, the rollout has been widely impacted by the rare blood clots associated with AstraZeneca - which was once to make up the bulk of our vaccines.

Local artist James Powditch placed the handmade sign in the window of his shop and studio 'Roulette' in Annandale, an inner-city suburb in Sydney's west on Saturday

As the Indian Delta variant spreads further across Australia, Mr Powditch's shopfront sign may express the frustration of many citizens at the delayed vaccine rollout.

According to the Department of Health a total of 7,374,666 vaccine doses have been administered across Australia's states and territories as of Sunday.

Of this figure, 426,811 of these doses have been administered in aged care and disability facilities with 200,714 people having received their second dose.

Since the vaccine rollout began in late February, only four per cent of Australia's population of 25 million have been fully vaccinated.

The government previously aimed to vaccinate four million people by March, and the entire population to be inoculated by October.

However, only 832,325 people have been fully vaccinated, with 6,542,316 Australian's having received their first dose.

The United Kingdom has vaccinated 47 per cent of its population, with the United States not far behind with 46 per cent inoculated, according to Our World in Data.

As the Indian Delta variant spreads further across Australia, Mr Powditch's shopfront sign may express the frustration of many citizens at the delayed vaccine rollout

Since the vaccine rollout began in late February, only four per cent of Australia's population of 25 million have been fully vaccinated

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham was forced to defend the Commonwealth's delayed vaccine rollout last week after it was labelled 'an absolute shambles' by Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino.

'I don't accept all of that,' Mr Birmingham said when asked by breakfast host Karl Stefanovic if he agreed with that assessment of the bungled program.

The senator said 2.3 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine were being administered in June alone, while another 3.4 million vials would arrive in Australia for processing next month.

Mr Birmingham blamed issues out of the government's control for the delays, including safety issues with the AstraZeneca vaccine and supply disruption in Europe.

'There have just been things that have hit along the way. We've had to respond and pivot as best we can,' he told the Today show.

'Obviously there have been disruptions - disruptions we wish had never occurred. It would be far preferable if the AstraZeneca vaccine had been able to be administered to all Australians.'

Earlier this month the federal government was advised to only give AstraZeneca doses to over-60s after seven people in their 50s developed rare blood clots due to the jab in the space of a week.

The Prime Minister has defended the vaccine rollout, claiming an increase in supply 'will really kick in next month in July' with 600,000 Pfizer doses to arrive in the country next week

Meanwhile Sydneysiders have flocked to get vaccinated since the city was put into a two-week lockdown, with many more concerned than ever about the virus lingering in the community (pictured, queues at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on Monday)

Pfizer has an agreement to supply 40 million vaccines to Australia in 2021, with two jabs needed to fully vaccinate one person.

Trials are also expected to begin by the end of this year into making Australia's first locally developed vaccine, which would use the same mRNA technology as Moderna and Pfizer - both highly successful jabs.

Mr Morrison was asked if he and the slow vaccine rollout were responsible for the ongoing lockdowns by Today Show hosts last Thursday.

The prime minister replied by saying an increase in supply 'will really kick in next month in July' with 600,000 Pfizer doses to arrive in the country next week.

Mr Morrison said Australia has new supply arrangements with AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna and has promised an 'escalating ramp-up' in the second half of 2021 (pictured, vaccine queues on June 24)

He described the medical advice in relation to the AstraZeneca vaccine as a 'big shock' to the rollout and was an event outside the government's control.

Mr Morrison added there were new supply arrangements with AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna and promised an 'escalating ramp-up' in the second half of 2021.

It's hoped that greater vaccination rates would help to curb any further outbreaks across the nation, stopping them from ballooning to unmanageable levels or causing snap lockdowns.

Meanwhile Sydneysiders have flocked to get vaccinated since the city was put into a two-week lockdown, with many more concerned than ever about the virus lingering in the community.

However, three-hour queues at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital at Camperdown in Sydney's inner west are causing people to give up and walk away.

According to the Department of Health a total of 7,374,666 vaccine doses have been administered across Australia's states and territories as of Sunday

On Monday, New South Wales recorded 18 new locally-acquired infections bringing the spiralling Bondi cluster to a total of 130 cases. Pictured: Sydneysiders at Coogee Beach

On Monday, New South Wales recorded 18 new locally-acquired infections bringing the spiralling Bondi cluster to a total of 130 cases.

All but one of Sydney's Monday infections are linked to the Bondi cluster and the eighteenth case was 'in the vicinity' of other positive tests, which is believed to be a Westfield Bondi Junction exposure.

Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said officials will need to wait 'at least another five days' to reap the benefits of lockdown.

Lockdowns, harsh restrictions and mask mandates have been imposed on nearly all states and territories as the Delta variant spreads further across the country.

The flood of cases across Australia has seen new restrictions brought in for 11 local government areas of southeast Queensland, while masks will be mandatory on Perth public transport and Darwin will remain in lockdown until Friday.
Matt Hancock finally decided to quit as health secretary after he was told that 80 Tory MPs had complained about his attempt to cling on, it was claimed today.

Mr Hancock announced his resignation on Saturday evening, following the leaking of video footage showing him breaking social distancing rules by kissing an aide in his ministerial office.

He had initially tried to stay in the job as he issued an apology on Friday afternoon and Number 10 said Boris Johnson believed the matter was closed.

A phone call with the Tory Chief Whip Mark Spencer is said to have contributed to the subsequent decision to step down as the scale of backbench fury was spelled out to the Cabinet minister.

Meanwhile, reports this morning suggested that Mr Hancock will not accept a 16,000 payoff to which he is entitled after resigning.

Matt Hancock finally decided to quit as health secretary after he was told that 80 Tory MPs had complained about his attempt to cling on, it was claimed today

Mr Hancock walks with his aide Gina Coladangelo outside the venue for the Conservative Party annual conference in Manchester, Britain, September 30, 2019

Mr Johnson has faced criticism from some quarters for deciding to initially back Mr Hancock.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said this morning that there was a change in tact when it became apparent at the backlash.

Asked why Mr Johnson backed Mr Hancock and then changed his mind, Mr Buckland said: 'I think there was a swirl of things going on here.

'There were of course the private matters, the private life matters, and indeed as the hours went by it was clear that there was, I think, an understandable groundswell of concern about how important it is that those who set the rules keep to them.

'I think that when we look back at this we will see that it took a day or so but the right outcome was achieved and it was correct for Matt Hancock to resign.'

The Telegraph reported that Mr Hancock had a 'fairly direct' conversation with Mr Spencer on Saturday lunchtime.

A source told the newspaper: 'There were 80 Tory MPs saying he should go at that time.'

Mr Hancock informed Mr Johnson later in the afternoon that he had decided to resign.

One Government source said that Mr Johnson had initially backed Mr Hancock because he believes in standing by his top team.

Boris Johnson, pictured at the back entrance to Downing Street this morning, has faced criticism from some quarters for deciding to initially back Mr Hancock

They told The Times: 'The Prime Minister stands by his people. He stood by Priti [Patel], he stood by [Robert] Jenrick, it's what he does. He doesn't like giving in to pressure.'

Mr Hancock was rapidly replaced as health secretary by Sajid Javid who returned to the Cabinet after quitting as Chancellor in February 2020.

Mr Hancock's resignation entitles him to a payoff which is given to ministers when they leave the frontbench.

However, both The Times and The Telegraph reported that Mr Hancock does not intend to accept the cash.
Olivia Humphreys, 26, took her own life after living in fear of her ex-boyfriend, an inquest has heard

A mother-of-four took her own life after she was left living in fear of her 'abusive' ex-boyfriend, an inquest has heard.

Olivia Humphreys, 26, had fled 220 miles from her former home in Scotland and moved to a new house in Salford, Greater Manchester, to be closer to her father.

But she was still anxious the unnamed man would turn up at her home which left her struggling to cope with her young children and fearful of stepping outside her front door.

On July 15 2020, Miss Humphreys took an overdose after penning her feelings in a diary.

She called 999 herself to stop the children finding her but paramedics were unable to revive her.

Her final harrowing entry in her diary read: 'Woke up feeling sh*t again, I have no motivation. The depression on Sunday was too much. All my magic feelings have disappeared. The demon depression is back.'

In her note she was said to have expressed sorrow to her children, adding that she would 'be with her children everywhere they go' and gave instructions for her funeral.

The hearing in Bolton was told Miss Humphreys had settled in Irvin in 2001.

Mr Humphreys said: 'At 16 she gave birth to her first child and has since had three more children but the father of her children is someone who was extremely abusive towards her.

'He was involved in drugs and was behaving in a way that was manipulative by keeping her away from me. He was manipulative for his own agenda.

'She ended up having mental health problems because of the toxic relationship she had with the father of her children. There were times in her life where things became too much to bear so she used drugs and alcohol as a way of coping.

Miss Humphreys was anxious the unnamed man would turn up at her home which left her struggling to cope with her young children and fearful of stepping outside her front door

'I believe he got into her mind so much that she could not cope without him. She pushed herself away from me when I tried to offer to help. She had also self harmed before when she was in Scotland although they were probably cries for help, she needed support.'

The hearing was told Miss Humphreys eventually ended the relationship in early 2020 and moved to the Salford area as she felt safer with her father but it is thought her ex-partner turned up at a birthday party that April for one of the children.

Mr Humphreys added: 'On Father's Day last year she sent a text to say she had taken a lot of tablets and found that she could not cope so we went to the house. When we got there, we took her to the hospital and my wife and I took the children home.

'Later we got a call from social services to say she had taken another overdose and they said things weren't looking good. Her four-year-old had run out into the road and there was a near miss with a car. She felt guilty about that and was trying to blame herself.

'My wife stayed with Olivia overnight and she seemed fine, and took the older children to school the next day. At 12.45pm my wife rang her and said: "Are you sure you are okay" and Olivia said she felt great, she had showered and put makeup on. She took her two younger children to nursery at lunch time. There was no concern she was concerned or upset at the time.

'But by 1.30pm she started to take the tablets had a seizure and paramedics were unable to revive her. She left a note, although I do not think it could have been written in that time as it was 3 A4 sides of paper.

'She had no financial worries and would borrow money if she needed to to buy things. She had something on her mind and no one was going to stop what she was doing.'

Another entry in Miss Humphrey's diary dated July 12 said: 'Feeling like sh*t, completely exhausted. Kids talking to me like sh*t, I am unable to look after myself, children are not going to sleep until 12 or 1am.

'They are physically hurting each other, why can I not cope? I am a parent, I am meant to be able to cope. Am, making crumpets and Nutella but have thoughts of putting a fork through my neck.'

Maurice Noble chair of Salford Community Safety Partnership which helped Miss Humphreys said: 'There were allegations of domestic violence and a review is taking place.

'It is clear that issues date back to her early childhood and events in her early childhood where she suffered low level mental health depression and anxiety, which continued into her adult life and with her long term partner, these issues were intensified.

'It appears she had a difficultly coping with some of her life experiences which were impaired by her mental health and four very young children who she has to look after.

'She was dedicated to her children and considered their safety a priority, but that was compromised with her ability to look after her children in the way she wanted to.

'Clearly, she made a decision in early 2020 that she did not wish to continue in a relationship with her partner and instead she came to her family in Salford.

'There is a highly complex set of background including her parenting, mental and physical well-being, her family and the father of her children.'

Amy Lawrence a a manager at Salford Home Based Treatment Team which helps people in a mental health crisis said: 'She was struggling to cope with the children and had no real control.

'Her four-year-old ran into the road and she was frightened a car might hit one of her children. I went round on July 14. She was increasingly overwhelmed. She was saying she was anxious about the children's father coming from Scotland to support the children. She felt like she had no other choice.

'She had daily thoughts about ending her life but no plans to do this. Her home was in disarray but she was engaging well. She appeared to be flat and in a low mood and was struggling to cope with her children. She was fearful of going outside. There were flies and bin bags in the kitchen, it was a catalogue of serious stress.'

Recording a conclusion of suicide coroner Timothy Brennand said: 'Olivia had much to live for and wanted to be the best mother she could be.

'There is an awful lot of background to this which caused her anguish and depression and her father thought she had come to the end of the road. She had written a long, careful and thorough note which was addressed to her members of the family to explain why she did what she did.'

Anyone in need of confidential emotional support can call Samaritans free on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org.
An occupational therapist who slapped a four-year-old boy with learning difficulties when he refused to put on his shoes and socks has avoided being struck off from his profession, a court has heard.

Ramon Priess, 34, struck the vulnerable child's face '10 to 20 times' after he pretended to be asleep at a session at the Maximum Potential clinic in Devonshire Place, central London, in April 2019.

The attack, which happened in front of the boy's mother, left the child with a 'reddened' right cheek.

German-born Priess was convicted of assault by beating following a trial last year and was sentenced to 12 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months.

But a conduct and competence committee of the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service has ruled he will only be suspended from the profession for six months, after hearing it was an 'isolated event' and that he had apologised.

Ramon Priess slapped the four-year-old boy with learning difficulties '10 to 20 times' at the Maximum Potential clinic in Devonshire Place, central London, in April 2019

The tribunal heard the boy had difficulties with language, communication, motor skills, and possible Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

From January 2018, Priess treated him for 'sensory processing difficulties' during weekly 45 minute sessions at Maximum Potential.

Towards the end of a session in April 2019 the boy was sat on Priess' lap when he asked the child to put his shoes on.

The tribunal heard the child then 'played dead' or pretended to be asleep.

In response, Priess slapped the right side of his face several times 'initially leaving his cheek reddened and causing the child to cry'.

The mother witnessed the incident and spoke to the child's father later that evening, who then sent an email to Priess.

He wrote: '[The child] came home today distraught. I am extremely disappointed that [he] was repeatedly slapped in an aggressive manner. This is extremely disappointing and unprofessional.

'He has been crying hysterically, this is not what I expect from a qualified professional.'

Priess responded: 'Apologies for what has happened today. This wasn't meant to hurt him at all. He complained over pain in his mouth just before as well.

'There is nothing I can do to justify what happened and I suppose it is probably best if [the child] stays with Maximum Potential and does not see me privately.

'The lines are blurring between my professional relationship/private friendship with [the mother] and [the child]. They feel like family to me and I handled it in a way I would with my nephews and nieces.

'Not acceptable from a professional view. I adore [the child] and can't tell you in words how sorry I feel.'

In September 2019, Priess was charged with assault by beating but he left the UK in December 2019 and started work in a paediatric occupational health practice in Berlin, Germany. He was still working there in February this year.

The occupational therapist pleaded not guilty but was convicted following a trial at Westminster Magistrates Court in March 2020

He told the committee he had not practised without supervision since starting his new job.

He pleaded not guilty but was convicted following a trial at Westminster Magistrates Court in March 2020 and was handed a 12 week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months in June 2020.

The tribunal noted: 'His actions constituted a criminal assault on a four-year-old child who had a number of developmental difficulties. The child was a vulnerable service user.

'The child's care as a service user had been entrusted to [Mr Priess] and he undermined that trust by doing what he did.

'[Mr Priess'] actions were carried out in the exercise of registered practice. They were violent, amounting to an assault on a four-year-old child who was a particularly vulnerable service user.'

The tribunal decided to suspend Priess from the profession for six months instead of striking him off completely.

It added: '[Mr Priess] has insight, does appear to be willing to resolve matters, is unlikely to repeat the misconduct, and has apologised for his actions, which were an isolated event in his career.

'A Striking Off Order would be disproportionate in all the circumstances.'

It is unclear if the suspension will affect Priess' ability to practise abroad or if he will only be suspended in the UK, with the tribunal adding that it only 'might have an effect on his ability to work as an Occupational Therapist in Germany'.
A father who borrowed his son's e-scooter to get to a doctor's appointment has been fined 1,000 and had the gadget confiscated for illegally riding without insurance.

James Bladen, 41, said he had slept through his alarm and had to rush from his home in Pentrebane in Cardiff to get to his GP on time.

But after borrowing son Tionree's 400 scooter he was stopped by officers from South Wales Police.

They threw the book at him and alerted him to the rules on e-scooters which state they are illegal to ride on roads or pavements in Wales.

It meant he fell foul on rules on 'powered transporters' which meant he was fined for having no insurance to ride the machine.

Mr Bladen said: 'It's an absolute joke I feel like I'm being made a scapegoat. I live on my own with my son and get 500 a month to pay all the bills and look after him and the dog.

'I was panicking that I was going to miss my appointment and Tionree said to take the e-scooter. I had no idea they were illegal or I wouldn't have got on it.

James Bladen, 41, from Pentrebane in Cardiff, said he was landed with an 'extortionate' bill

'When the police called me over, the way they were acting I thought they mistook me for a burglar or that I'd stolen the scooter or something.

'They said I was riding it without insurance and they took it off me.

'I walked away from the scene a bit angry and was my son was gutted when I told him,' he added to Wales Online.

His run-in with the law happened at the end of May with the written demand for the fine arriving a month later.

Mr Bladen said he 'walked away from the scene a bit angry' and son Tionree 'was gutted'

Legalise them, says Halfords Legalise them, says Halfords The car and bike specialist Halfords has launched a petition to have privately owned e-scooters allowed on public roads. The retailer, which has more than 450 UK stores, sells the scooters, with prices ranging from 90 up to 990. The petition says: 'Join us in calling for an end to the road ban on privately owned electric scooters.' Posters have gone up in shops urging customers to sign. Privately owned e-scooters are banned on public roads and footpaths, but trials are taking place in more than 40 areas across the UK. The petition adds: 'Any new regulations should deliver safer roads and ensure that electric scooter road-users behave responsibly and with due care and attention.' A Halfords spokesman said: 'E-scooters are permitted on roads in many European countries and in other parts of the world. We believe e-scooters can make a significant contribution to reducing congestion and making urban travel greener.' Advertisement

He is challenging the penalty through a solicitor and says the e-scooter has a top speed of just 15mph.

Mr Bladen also says the 1,056 fine is more than double the monthly amount of his universal credit payments.

He has also started learning to drive and so faces six points on his provisional driving licence.

The law on e-scooters currently forbids them from being used on public roads and pavements, unless they are part of a trial scheme looking at their use and viability.

Mr Bladen added: 'I bought the scooter on finance for my son and it's now been destroyed and I'm still paying it off.

'A scooter is a scooter at the end of the day, it's environmentally friendly and I don't see how it's a problem as long as you're not going mental on it.

'I felt really down, depressed and I couldn't sleep.

'There's no way I can pay that it seems extortionate.'

It comes just days after it was reported that e-scooter casualties in London soared by more than 570 per cent in just a year  with the true increase is likely to be far higher.

Figures show the number of riders injured in collisions in the capital leapt from 27 in 2019 to 181 between January and November 2020.

The number of pedestrians hurt by e-scooters doubled over the same period, from 13 to 26, according to data released under Freedom of Information legislation.

More than 70 per cent of the public have reported seeing an e-scooter being driven illegally on a pavement, according to a survey of over 2,000 people by the charity Guide Dogs.

A spokesman said: 'Fast-moving and silent vehicles such as e-scooters are always much more difficult for blind and partially sighted people to detect and thus it becomes very difficult for the dog's training to be reinforced.'
A British woman killed by her husband in Greece was scared of him and had been looking for somewhere else to live months before he suffocated her, her counsellor has revealed.

Caroline Crouch was suffocated with a pillow by her husband Charalambos Anagnostopoulos, a Greek pilot, in May.

Anagnostopoulos, known as Babis, initially told investigators that his wife had been killed during a violent home invasion in which armed burglars had tied him and Caroline up.

He later confessed to killing his 20-year-old wife in a fit of rage after she ordered him out of the house and demanded a divorce.

The couple's one-year-old daughter Lydia was in the home at the time of the killing, as was the family puppy Roxy, which Anagnostopoulos, 33, admitted to smothering and stringing up from the stairwell of the apartment building.

Speaking to local media at the weekend, a lawyer for Eleni Mylonopoulou - described in local media as 'the couple's mental health counsellor' - said Caroline had been looking for an apartment in central Athens in order to leave her husband.

She wanted to leave in November and find a home near a cooking school she planned to attend, tanea.gr reported.

Caroline had told her counsellor that she was very afraid of Anagnostopoulos and sought advice on how to improve her situation, lawyer Stamatia Markou said.

'Caroline had revealed from the first moment to my client the fears for her husband,' the lawyer said.

A British woman murdered by her husband in Greece was scared of him and had been looking for somewhere else to live months before he killed her, her counsellor has revealed. Caroline Crouch (left) was suffocated with a pillow by her husband Charalambos Anagnostopoulos (right), a Greek pilot, in May

Anagnostopoulos, known as Babis, initially told investigators that his wife had been killed during a violent home invasion where armed burglars had tied him and Caroline up. Pictured: The couple with one-year-old daughter Lydia

Anagnostopoulos later confessed to killing 20-year-old Caroline in a fit of rage after she had ordered him out of the house and demanded a divorce

'The fear that Caroline felt in her sessions was pervasive,' she said, adding that Caroline's counsellor would ensure the door was closed properly so that her husband could not hear what was discussed in their sessions.

Markou went on to say that the couple had 'many problems' and that 'there had been no relationship between them, not even sexual, in recent months.'

Mylonopoulou said she had urged Caroline to speak to her mother but Caroline had refused, saying she did not want to disappoint her.

The counsellor said that Caroline realised she had made the wrong choice in marrying Anagnostopoulos and was looking for a way out of the relationship.

'She was trying to find ways to get out of the situation,' Markou said.

Markou also accused Anagnostopoulos of attempting to 'blackmail' the counsellor, saying without elaborating that Mylonopoulou was 'indirectly blackmailed by the confessed perpetrator.'

'He went and found her up close. He had the courage! My client made sure she was not alone, precisely because she was afraid of him,' Markou said.

Mylonopoulou also reportedly received a message from Caroline asking to end the counselling sessions. Markou claimed it was not unlikely that this message had actually been sent by Anagnostopoulos.

The revelations from Caroline's counsellor came as the juvenile prosecutor's office prepared to issue a decision on Monday on the temporary custody of baby Lydia.

The child is currently being looked after by the parents of Anagnostopoulos, and was pictured on Greek TV yesterday being cradled in the arms of his mother, Georgia Anagnostopoulos.

The teacher and her husband, who live in the Greek capital, are happy to share their granddaughter's upbringing with her maternal grandparents.

Speaking to local media at the weekend, Stamatia Markou, a lawyer for Eleni Mylonopoulou - described in local media as 'the couple's mental health counsellor' - said Caroline had been looking for an apartment in central Athens in order to leave her husband

The revelations from Caroline's counsellor came as the juvenile prosecutor's office prepared to issue a decision on the temporary custody of Caroline and Anagnostopoulos' daughter Lydia. Pictured: Anagnostopoulos' mother with Lydia

But Caroline's parents, David and Susan, who live on the island of Alonissos, want sole custody of the baby.

Caroline's father, David Crouch, 78, a retired gas executive who was born in Liverpool, spoke movingly about 'my wonderful daughter' in an interview with the Mail this week.

Anagnostopoulos' parents have suggested that Lydia live with them in Athens from October to April every year and spend the rest of the time with her mother's family in Alonissos.

Protothema.gr reported that social workers appointed by the prosecution have visited both families and submitted reports to the prosecutors handling the case.

The decision, due today, will be valid for 30 days, during which time either set of grandparents can appeal.

In the application submitted to the prosecutor's office, Anagnostopoulos' family states: 'Under the weight of the tragic events, we believe that the balanced contact and development of our granddaughter Lydia with both families, both paternal and maternal, and in fact with a time distribution that is beneficial and necessary for the protection of balanced and smooth growth '.

After suffocating Caroline as she slept, Anagnostopoulos then smothered puppy Roxy (pictured) and hanged the pup's lifeless body on the banister of their first floor flat in Athens

The family said sharing custody of Lydia would ensure the child maintains a close relationship with both families and help mitigate the effects of the tragic loss of her mother.

On Saturday, Anagnostopoulos was pictured from behind barbed wire as he stretched his legs in the exercise yard of the notorious Korydallos prison.

The prison is located on the outskirts of Athens and is Greece's main maximum-security facility.

Conditions inside the prison are so bad that the Greek government has vowed to shut it down but Anagnostopoulos is being housed in its 'VIP' wing, enjoying a host of luxuries that have left other inmates and prison wardens fuming at the 'five-star' treatment he is receiving.

Photographs were also published in the Greek media on Saturday showing the inside of Anagnostopoulos's cell, which comes with its own shower, toilet, set of furniture, large window, which allows in plenty of light, and a television.

The photos came amid reports that Anagnostopoulos had asked Caroline's grieving parents to pay 3,500 - or about 4,000 Euros - for her coffin.

Recounting the alleged request, Thanassis Haramanis, the lawyer for Caroline's family told The Sun: 'This man has no shame.

Anagnostopoulos was pictured from behind barbed wire in the exercise yard of the notorious Korydallos prison, which is Greece's main maximum-security facility

Photos of Anagnostopoulos in jail amid reports that he had asked Caroline's grieving parents to pay 3,500 - or about 4,000 Euros - for her coffin. Pictured: Caroline's coffin

'First he killed Caroline, then he asked her parents for money to pay for her coffin and to fly her body from Athens for the funeral.

'They gave him 4,000 euros.

'He paid nothing.'

A source also told the Sun Caroline's family had lent her and Anagnostopoulos more than 43,000 for a plot of land. The newspaper reports that only his name is on the deeds.

On May 11, Anagnostopoulos staged a break-in at their villa in the affluent suburb of Glyka Nera in an elaborate plot to cover his tracks  accusing a gang of merciless foreign burglars of tying him up, killing Caroline in front of their baby daughter, Lydia, and stringing up their puppy, Roxy, from the stairwell.

Following his arrest last week, he admitted to having smothered his wife with a pillow because, he told police, she had threatened to leave him and take one-year-old Lydia with her.

Data from Caroline's smartwatch showed she was in an 'extreme state of mental or physical stress for six minutes', and revealed that she did not die at the time Anagnostopoulos had originally claimed.

In other words, it could have taken six minutes for her to die.
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Fewer than one in a thousand people who catch Covid in England now die from the disease, according to scientists at Cambridge University.

They estimate the overall infection fatality rate (IFR) of coronavirus has been driven down to 0.085 per cent thanks to the country's hugely successful vaccine rollout.

For comparison, the team at Cambridge's Medical Research Council (MRC) biostatistics unit estimated that about one in 90 cases (1.1 per cent) resulted in death at the end of the second wave.

In the most vulnerable over-75s group, the IFR is now thought to be under 2 per cent after plummeting from 17 per cent during the winter peak in January.

Experts told MailOnline that while the findings were encouraging, the death rate will likely increase in the coming weeks as a result of the rise of the Indian variant.

Department of Health data shows a further 14,876 Covid cases were recorded yesterday, up 60 per cent from last week. But while deaths are slowly creeping up, they remain relatively low, with 18 victims announced on Sunday.

The promising figures could be seized upon by newly appointed Health Secretary Sajid Javid who this afternoon is due to deliver his verdict on whether all lockdown restrictions can be lifted in England on July 19.

Mr Javid, who is thought to be more lockdown-sceptic than his predecessor, is expected to say the country is on track for the new terminus date when he gives a statement to MPs in the House of Commons.

But Mr Javid will reportedly say the nation is not yet in a position to bring forward the unlocking to July 5, when SAGE and ministers are due to review the Covid situation next.

The former Home Secretary and Chancellor replaced Matt Hancock as Health Secretary on Saturday after Mr Hancock was caught kissing his aide.

This graph shows the proportion of people who catch Covid that are dying from the disease by age group. The rate has fallen markedly among older people, who are most at risk from the virus, since the vaccine roll-out began in January

Cambridge University scientists estimated fewer than one in a thousand people who catch Covid are dying from the disease following a successful vaccination roll-out. They believe that the overall infection fatality rate (IFR) is 0.085 per cent, which is shown left in the above graph but as a decimal rather than a percentage. As a decimal, 0.085 per cent is expressed as 0.00085. In the most vulnerable over-75s group, the IFR is now thought to be under 2 per cent after plummeting (shown right) from 17 per cent. Two per cent as a decimal is expressed as 0.02 per cent

Newly appointed Health Secretary Sajid Javid (left) is expected to signal that England's Covid restrictions can be eased as planned on July 19. He was appointed by Boris Johnson over the weekend after Matt Hancock resigned after an affair with his aide was revealed

The above table shows the risk of dying from Covid after catching the disease at the peak of the second wave in January, first column, and now after more than half of all people in Britain have received two doses of the Covid vaccine, second column. The estimates were calculated by Cambridge University scientists and are for England only. Overall for all age groups one in 90 (1.1 per cent) of those who caught the virus died from the disease in the darkest days of January. For comparison, fewer than one in 1,000 (0.085 per cent) of infected individuals were dying in June. Among over-75s only 2.1 per cent of those who caught the virus died from it in June, compared to 17 per cent in January. But for children and teenagers there risk of dying from the virus has barely changed between January (0.0015 per cent) and June (0.0011 per cent)

The MRC 'nowcasting' unit estimates the number of infections that lead to fatalities based on official data including daily Covid cases, deaths and hospital admissions. It also takes into account asymptomatic cases who are missed by the centralised testing scheme.

Booster jabs are not needed this winter because two doses work well against the Indian variant, expert says There is no need to give Britons booster Covid vaccines this year because the current jabs work so well, a leading scientist claimed today. Oxford University's Professor Andrew Pollard, the lead researcher behind trials of the AstraZeneca vaccine, said sending the extra doses to developing countries where the most vulnerable are yet to receive any jab would be a better use of the UK's supplies. His comments came despite his team at Oxford finding that a booster third dose stimulates an even better immune response than sticking to the current two-dose regimen. The trial of 90 Britons showed for the first time that the third dose 'significantly' boosts the antibody and T-cell counts, key indicators that the body is primed to defend against Covid. Professor Pollard said booster vaccines were a 'good tool' to have in Britain's arsenal. But he warned that because the vaccines are protecting people so effectively against the Indian variant, there was little need to vaccinate people for a third time this winter. Two doses of the AstraZeneca jab have been shown to reduce hospitalisations by more than 90 per cent against both the Indian and Kent variants. There is not enough data to show whether a third jab would improve that figure, he said. Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock said last week that the government would set out plans for an autumn booster programme within the next few weeks. Professor Pollard said: 'This is about preparedness. The study shows we can boost responses with extra AstraZeneca vaccines. 'So that's a good tool if needed. It is about preparedness rather than proving we need it. We still need more data for that.' He added that there is 'no indication at the moment that we need boosters'. Advertisement

Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at Reading University, said it was likely the number of infections leading to deaths would rise in the coming weeks because of the rapid rise in cases over the past two months.

'We also have got to remember that what we are dealing with now is an increasing situation (of cases) and an increasing rate of infection,' he told MailOnline.

'Most people who have had the infection are in the early stages of it so they won't have died yet.

'I think it will go up later on, but it won't go anywhere near the one in 90 (at the peak of the second wave), but I expect more than one in a thousand.'

Asked whether the July 19 easing was likely to go ahead, he said this would 'probably' happen.

'There is evidence  good evidence  it seems that the vaccine is working and the vaccines are protecting' against serious disease and death, he added.

The latest findings are more confirmation that the vaccines are breaking the link between infections and deaths.

So far 32.4million British adults  or 61 per cent  have been fully immunised and in total 44million  84 per cent have been given at least one dose.

The vaccines have been shown to be up to 96 per cent effective at stopping severe illness and hospitalisation from the Indian variant after two doses  and even better at preventing deaths.

But one dose is significantly weaker against the new strain than older versions of the virus, which prompted the four-week delay of the original June 21 Freedom Day because millions of over-40s are still to get their follow-up shot.

The Cambridge team suggested the number of people dying after catching the virus was highest among the over-75s, followed by 65 to 74-year-olds, although the rate in both groups was far lower than during the darkest days of January.

For 65 to 74-year-olds one in 200 were now dying after catching the virus (0.46 per cent). For comparison, in the darkest days of January it was one in 40 (2.5 per cent).

Older people are most at risk of hospitalisation and death if they catch the virus, reams of official data shows. They were prioritised in the vaccines roll-out which aimed to protect the most vulnerable first.

Among children and teenagers (5 to 14-year-olds) the MRC team estimated their risk of death after catching the virus was very low at one in 90,000 (0.0011 per cent). Even in the darkest days of the pandemic it was nearly one in 70,000 (0.0015 per cent), far below the level in older age groups.

Children and teenagers have been at an incredibly low risk throughout the pandemic.

For 15 to 24-year-olds, the risk of dying after catching the virus was one in 76,000 (0.0013 per cent) compared to one in 25,000 (0.004 per cent) in January.

Among 25 to 44-year-olds, it was one in 6,600 (0.015 per cent), whereas it was one in 3,000 (0.029 per cent) during the darkest days of the second wave.

And for 45 to 64-year-olds, it was one in 700 (0.13 per cent), a significant drop from almost one in 300 (0.37 per cent) in January.

Professor Paul Hunter, a virologist from the University of East Anglia, said the death rate was 'remarkably low' compared to the situation in the second wave.

'You can see deaths are increasing, as you would expect from the rapidly increasing case numbers, but still at a very low level compared to the same point of the second wave,' he told The Times.

He added he would be wary of relying too much on the MRC unit's model because it can be prone to unrealistic fluctuations. But he added it was 'reassuring, even though cases are going up more quickly'.

Mr Javid today suggested on a vists to St Thomas' Hospital in London that it was his 'absolute priority' to lift restrictions as soon as possible, but also stressed the need for caution to ensure the changes were 'irreversible'.

He told reporters: 'I want to see the restrictions lifted and life going back to normal as quickly as possible.

'Right here and now that is my absolute priority. I want to see those restrictions lifted as soon as we can, as quickly as possible.

'In terms of the road map to that youll have to wait for my statement to Parliament later today. Its going to be irreversible, theres no going back. Thats why we want to be careful during that process.'

It comes as a leading scientist today claimed there was no need to give Britons booster Covid vaccines this year because jabs work so well against the current crop of variants.

Oxford University's Professor Andrew Pollard, the lead researcher behind trials of the AstraZeneca vaccine, said sending the extra doses to developing countries where the most vulnerable are yet to receive any jab would be a better use of the UK's supplies.

His comments came despite his team at Oxford finding that a booster third dose stimulates an even better immune response than sticking to the current two-dose regimen.

The trial of 90 Britons showed for the first time that the third dose 'significantly' boosts the antibody and T-cell counts, key indicators that the body is primed to defend against Covid.

Professor Pollard said: 'This is about preparedness. The study shows we can boost responses with extra AstraZeneca vaccines.

'So that's a good tool if needed. It is about preparedness rather than proving we need it. We still need more data for that.'

He added that there is 'no indication at the moment that we need boosters'.

Mr Javid said yesterday that fighting the pandemic would be his first priority in office.

Health sources yesterday said the easing of Covid restrictions was looking good for July 19, despite new figures showing that cases have jumped by almost 60 per cent in the last week.

Mr Javid, a former chancellor and business secretary, has spoken repeatedly over the last year about the need to reopen the economy at the earliest opportunity.

Allies have said his appointment would tip the balance in the Cabinet in favour of opening back up.

Former aide Salma Shah said Mr Javids liberal instincts were likely to result in a very different approach to that of Mr Hancock, who championed lockdown policy.

The immediate thing you are going to see is a change in complexion around the Cabinet table, she said. He [Mr Javid] could be defined as a lot more liberal when it comes to Covid restrictions. I think you will see that immediately.

But in an early sign of the internal battles the Health Secretary is likely to face, the Department of Health later put out another statement which dropped mention of his desire to lift restrictions as soon as possible.

Health experts have warned the Health Secretary faces a 'baptism of fire', with a groaning in-tray that includes record waiting lists, disputes on nurses pay and a crisis in social care  as well as dealing with the pandemic.
A maid of honour out buying a dress for her friend's wedding and a mother who died shielding her daughter have been revealed as victims of a jihadist knifeman in Germany.

Somali immigrant Abdirahman J., 24, was shot dead after slaughtering three women while shouting 'Allahu Akbar' during the daylight rampage in Wurzburg on Friday.

He killed 24-year-old Steffi W. from the small town of Spessart who had travelled to the Bavarian city to buy a bridesmaid dress for her best friend's wedding.

The wedding, which would have taken place yesterday, has been postponed for Steffi's funeral after she was stabbed through the neck by Abdirahman.

Also slain, was Brazilian national Christiane H., who had leapt to the defence of her 11-year-old daughter as Abdirahman marauded through the Woolworth department store on Kaiserstrasse.

One of the victims, a Brazilian woman pictured and named locally Christiane H (pictured) 49, leaped on top of her daughter during the attack

The alleged suspect (pictured during his arrest), identified as 24-year-old Somali immigrant Abdirahman J., was shot in the leg by police and arrested after the Friday afternoon rampage in Wurzburg

People lay flowers near the site of a fatal attack by a knife-wielding man in Wurzburg, Germany, on Friday

The attacker had entered the shop and asked, 'Where are the knives?' before he grabbed one of the longest blades and stabbed a shop assistant to death.

Christiane, a German teacher, instinctively protected her daughter, identified as Akines, as the attacker knifed them both, killing the mother and seriously injuring the girl.

Pensioner Johanna H., 82, was then killed as she intervened to free Akines who fled the shop covered in blood shouting: 'I don't want to die yet.'

Second knife attack in four days rocks Germany Two men were injured in a knife attack in the German city of Erfurt on Monday morning, police said, just three days after a deadly knife rampage in the Bavarian city of Wuerzburg. The attacker fled and police were searching for him using a helicopter, police in the central German city said. The two injured victims, aged 45 and 68, were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment and their injuries were not life-threatening, a police spokeswoman said. The attacker was said to be between 20 and 30 years old, wearing a brown jumper and dark jogging pants, with blond to reddish curly hair and a scarred face. A forensic team with sniffer dogs was at the scene, police said. Advertisement

Akines only came to Germany at the start of the year with her mother who was due to start teaching at a Wurzburg school, and the girl is now recovering from her injuries having been told of her mother's death.

A friend told Bild: 'The little one knows that her mother is dead. Her father is still at home. Akines just wants her dad to come here.'

In addition to the three women killed and Christiane's daughter, six others were wounded including a 15-year-old girl and a 73-year-old woman, Ingrid L, who was stabbed 13 times.

Her son, Thomas W, told Bild am Sontag: 'My mother was about to go to the tram stop when she felt stabs in her back and neck.

'The perpetrator missed her main artery by two millimetres. Otherwise, my mother would be dead.'

The suspect, who has a history of mental health problems, has since told police he was carrying out a 'personal jihad'.

Investigators have found Islamist literature in his bedroom and anti-terrorist authorities are probing his links with extremist groups.

Witnesses said he shouted 'Allahu Akbar' and was beaten by passersby who hit him with a broomstick, branches and shopping bags in a bid to stop the massacre.

When police arrived at 5pm after the seven-minute rampage, Abdirahman allegedly waved his knife at officers before he was shot and arrested.

The knifeman who allegedly killed three people in an attack in Germany on Friday was a Somali immigrant who had been placed in compulsory psychiatric treatment just days earlier

Candles are lit at the site of the rampage on Saturday to mourn the victims of the horrific attack

He said after his arrest: 'Allahu akbar. I realised my personal jihad.'

It later emerged that he had been placed under compulsory psychiatric treatment just days before the attack.

The man, whose name was not released by police, had lived in the German city of Wuerzburg since 2015, the same year that Germany opened its borders to more than a million migrants and refugees fleeing war and poverty.

The suspect had most recently lived in a shelter for the homeless in the city and apparently did not know the victims.

Bavaria's top security official, Joachim Herrmann, said the suspect had been known to police and had been admitted to a psychiatric unit just a few days earlier.

'His condition had been noticed in recent months, including violent tendencies, and a few days ago he was put into compulsory psychiatric treatment,' Herrmann said.

Herrmann told news agency DPA on Friday that he couldn't rule out an Islamic extremist motive because one witness had reported hearing the suspect shout 'Allahu akbar,' Arabic for 'God is great'.

'That suggests a possible Islamist motive, and that is also part of the investigation,' he added.

The suspect was identified as a 24-year-old Somali immigrant, who was shot in the leg by police and arrested after the attack in Wurzburg, Germany. Pictured: German police in action at the scene on Friday

The knifeman killed at least three people and wounded at least five others in the street rampage. Pictured: Armed police secure the cordoned-off area in the city centre in Germany

People were seen leaving bouquets of flowers at a makeshift memorial which had been set up on Saturday at the scene in tribute to the victims of the deadly attack

People place flowers and candles at a makeshift memorial in tribute to the victims of a deadly attack in the city centre of Wuerzburg

People were seen leaving bouquets of flowers at a makeshift memorial which had been set up on Saturday at the scene in tribute to the victims of the deadly attack.

Police officers were seen at the scene of the attack over the weekend as people placed flowers, candles and other items in memory of those killed in the horrific rampage.

As investigators continue to try and pinpoint the suspect's motive, police said there was no indication that there were any other attackers, and that the situation was now under control.

Videos posted on social media showed pedestrians surrounding the attacker and holding him at bay with chairs and sticks at Barbarossaplatz in Wurzburg on Friday.

Bavaria's security official, Joachim Herrmann, said the suspect had been admitted to a psychiatric unit just a few days earlier. Pictured: People place flowers and candles at a makeshift memorial in tribute to the victims of the attack

Police officers were seen at the scene of the attack this morning as people placed flowers, candles and other items in memory of those killed in the horrific rampage

On Saturday, investigators were looking for a motive behind the attack in the German city of Wuerzburg. Pictured: People mourn at a makeshift memorial at the scene of the attack

Another video showed one man, armed with a bag, attempting to scare off the knifeman by shouting at him before he disappeared off screen.

A woman who said she had witnessed the incident told German RTL television that the police then stepped in.

Julia Runze said: 'He had a really big knife with him and was attacking people. Then many people tried to throw chairs or umbrellas or cellphones at him and stop him.'

'The police then approached him and I think a shot was fired, you could hear that clearly.'

'The attacker was overpowered after police used a firearm,' Lower Franconia police said on Twitter. 'There are no indications of a second suspect. There is NO danger to the population.'

As investigators continue to try and pinpoint the suspect's motive, police said there was no indication that there were any other attackers, and that the situation was now under control

A video posted to social media showed a man, armed with a bag, attempting to scare off the knifeman by shouting at him before he disappeared off screen

The videos of members of the public chasing the knifeman matched the reported location of the attacks on and around Wurzburg's central Barbarossaplatz

Videos posted on social media showed a young man seemingly holding a knife being warded off by other men holding chairs until police arrived

Police spokeswoman Kerstin Kunick said officers were alerted at around 5pm to a knife attack in Barbarossa Square in the centre of the city.

Bavaria's governor Markus Soeder expressed shock at the news of the attack. 'We grieve with the victims and their families,' he wrote on Twitter.

Police said on Twitter that there was no danger to the population.

Bavaria's top security official Joachim Herrmann was on his way to Wurzburg, a city of about 130,000 people located between Munich and Frankfurt.

Armed police walk in the German city of Wurzburg on Friday during a 'major operation' in which a 24-year-old Somali man was arrested after reports of multiple stabbings

Police officers run in the centre of the German city of Wurzburg today. The force said multiple people had been killed and injured, but did not give detail

Police had sealed off parts of the city centre (pictured) for a 'major operation' on Friday afternoon and asked residents to stay away

Police secure the area in the German city of Wurzburg on June 25 during a 'major operation' in which a suspect was arrested after local media had earlier reported multiple stabbings
The business department today became the latest public body to announce a review of its membership of Stonewall's workplace diversity initiative amid warnings of an 'exodus' from the scheme after the Ministry of Justice announced it would sever ties.

Officials will scrutinise the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's participation in the Diversity Champions programme, which offers workplace training and produces a ranking of the 100 most LGBT-friendly employees.

The scheme - membership of which starts at around 2,500 - has been criticised for its 'dubious' training, as well as claims the charity was using the rankings to 'coerce' public bodies into lobbying for changes to sex and gender laws.

Senior figures in Number 10, including Henry Newman, an adviser to Boris Johnson and an ally of his wife, Carrie, are resisting any move to withdraw from the scheme over fears about the message it could send to LGBT people.

Minister Lord Callanan (pictured) will lead a review of Stonewall's workplace diversity programme

Officials will scrutinise the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's participation in the Diversity Champions programme, which is run by Stonewall (pictured)

Stonewall: The controversial LGBT charity which has come under fire in recent weeks Just this week, the Equalities Minister Liz Truss said she wanted the Government to quit a diversity scheme run by Stonewall amid a row over trans rights. Miss Truss is said to be pushing for departments to join the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and Acas in dropping the Diversity Champions scheme over fears it is not providing value for money. After criticism from the gay former Conservative MP Matthew Parris, Ms Kelley told the BBC: 'With all beliefs including controversial beliefs there is a right to express those beliefs publicly and where they're harmful or damaging - whether it's anti-Semitic beliefs, gender critical beliefs, beliefs about disability - we have legal systems that are put in place for people who are harmed by that.' According to Stonewall there are more than 850 organisations, including 250 government departments and public bodies such as police forces, local councils and NHS trusts, signed up as 'diversity champions'. Membership to the scheme starts at around 2,500, which according to the LGBT charity's website, buys employers access to expert advice and resources to make their workplaces 'inclusive'. However, the charity was embroiled in a new row over transgender rights last week, when its chief executive Nancy Kelley likened 'gender critical' beliefs to anti-Semitism as she defended its pro-trans campaigning. The EHRC, Britain's equalities watchdog, then cut ties with a Stonewall scheme for 'woke' workplaces after claims that it curbs free speech among staff. Its decision comes amid accusations the scheme is encouraging public bodies and firms to adopt policies that create a 'culture of fear' among workers who disagree with transgender ideology. A letter to the feminist campaign group Sex Matters from new commission chairman Baroness Falkner revealed: 'We wrote to Stonewall in March to let them know that we would not be renewing our membership, and this has now expired.' Before that, a former top judge claimed transgender groups such as Stonewall are having too much say over hate crime laws that could cause freedom of speech to 'suffer'. Charles Wide, a retired Old Bailey judge, said last month only an 'limited range' of views was being sought out to advise on a possible expansion of legislation. The government currently looking at expanding hate crimes, and the Law Commission is consulting on whether misogyny, age, sex workers, homelessness, and some subcultures should become protected groups. But the judge fears the Commission's over reliance on certain campaign groups has seen it move away from its non-political brief to draw on 'contentious and controversial sociological theories'. Writing for the think tank Policy Exchange, he said: 'No adequate thought seems to have been given to the difficulty of reaching beyond a limited range of academics and organisations to the full variety of academic voices, organisations, commentators and members of the public who have no organisation to speak for them.' He singled out LGBT campaigners Stonewall, saying the Commission was treating them more like 'a consultant than consultee'. Advertisement

Minister Lord Callanan will analyse whether the programme is value for money for both the business department and the quangos it oversees, including HM Land Registry and the Competition and Markets Authority, The Times reported.

A BEIS spokesman told MailOnline today: The Government supports inclusive workplaces and, as has been the case for many years, departments work with a variety of external schemes.

We keep membership of all external organisations and benchmarking schemes under continuous scrutiny.

Should it break ties, it will follow the Ministry of Justice, which announced it was withdrawing this month, as well as the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Channel 4 and Acas, the employment dispute service.

Other departments are expected to follow suit, after Equalities Minister Liz Truss suggested that government bodies should withdraw from the scheme over growing concerns about its value for money.

Sources at the MoJ told the Sunday Telegraph that the decision to withdraw from the scheme was also based on concerns about Stonewall's approach to free speech and what they called its 'dubious' training.

One session involved prison and probation staff closing their eyes to imagine walking through a park where they come across different people, after which they are challenged to say if everyone they 'saw' was white, able-bodied or in a heterosexual relationship.

Campaigners have accused the controversial equality charity of encouraging public bodies and firms to adopt policies that create a 'culture of fear' among workers who disagree with transgender ideology.

Amid growing criticism of Stonewall, a report in The Times on Saturday suggested the charity is using its LGBT rankings to 'lobby on their behalf' - rewarding those who follow its gender policies and punishing those who do not.

Former founding member of the group Simon Fanshawe said: '[The index] started out as a way of helping employers ensure their lesbian and gay staff were well looked after.

'But what it has turned into now sounds more like coercion - a way of coercing employers in their language and structure, instead of encouraging them to embrace the different needs of their LGBT staff.'

Stonewall says its rankings - which use the Workplace Equality Index referred to as the UK's 'leading benchmark tool for LGBT inclusion' - provide a list of the 'best employers for LGBT people'.

More than 500 public bodies, from NHS trusts to the Scottish government, applied to be listed on the charity's exclusive index last year.

These bodies must complete a 31-page form that questions social media use, HR policies and inclusion measures which can take months to complete.

But new documents reveal the lengths these organisations go to in order to satisfy Stonewall's rigid requirements - including offering screenshots of employees social media posts and promising changes to internal inclusion policies.

Nicola Sturgeon's Scottish government is one of many high profile diversity applicants - who are said to have sent details of Pride events attended by the First Minister and examples of dissenting colleagues being muzzled in internal communications.

Legal changes to the Gender Recognition Act were also mooted as part of earlier applications, although Holyrood plummeted out of the top 100 rankings in Stonewall's 2020 index.

Outspoken critics have also slammed Stonewall's attempt to impose its own interpretations of sex and gender on employers.

Kate Lee, a former Stonewall volunteer who lobbied MPs for gay marriage rights, told the Times: 'It [the index] is a Ponzi scheme.

'They have invented an idea [gender identity] which they are imposing on others without their consent. You don't get acceptance by demanding compliance. Gay people are getting sick of it.'

The diversity charity is accused of using its rankings to 'lobby on their behalf' - rewarding those who follow Stonewall's gender policies and punishing those who do not. [Stock image]

The Scottish Government is said to have been encouraged to campaign for sex and gender law changes in return for a higher Stonewall ranking. Above: Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, pictured at Pride Glasgow

The public bodies that have been 'coerced' by Stonewall's workplace diversity scheme Stonewall has been accused of 'coercing' employers by using its Top 100 Employers index to lobby for new sex and gender law in the UK. So who are some of the public bodies who have applied to be part of the charity's exclusive rankings? The Scottish Government Nicola Sturgeon's administration offered up elected ministers' social media activity, as well as mooting possible changes to the Gender Recognition Act 2004 as part of its previous applications. Nicola Sturgeon poses at Glasgow Pride It failed to crack the top 100 rankings in 2020, placing 127th. Central London Community Heathcare Trust The NHS body, which cares for more than 2million people in the capital, was told by Stonewall to remove references to 'mother' and replace it with 'pregnant employee' or 'birthing parent'. Intellectual Property Office The IPO soared 80 places in the index to 13th after appearing in a 2018 Stonewall advert that urged people to fill in self-identification forms as part of a government consultation. The organisation denied influencing the consultation and said it does not take part in 'lobbying activity'. Welsh council Rhondda Cynon Taf South Wales council Rhondda Cynon Taf was praised and moved into the Top 100 rankings after the public body removed gendered language from its HR policies. Hackney Council The London council, whose Labour mayor Philip Glanville was the first in the borough to convert a same-sex civil partnership in 2014, was penalised in its 'role models' section in its application. Advertisement

Stonewall told MailOnline that organisations on their Top 100 Employers list are rewarded for their 'impressive work towards becoming a more inclusive workplace.'

Stonewall said: 'Our Workplace Equality Index is a robust benchmarking tool which offers a free and voluntary way for all organisations to reflect on their own LGBTQ+ inclusion journey. All of the organisations who place on our Top 100 Employers list gain their ranking based on their impressive work towards becoming a more inclusive workplace, which is marked against thorough and standardized criteria.

'Our Workplace Equality Index is free and separate to our Diversity Champions programme, which employers can join to help them better support their LGBTQ+ staff. As with every voluntary index, organisations can enter  or not enter - the Index depending on what works best for them at the time.

'It is completely normal and appropriate for national charities to engage with public sector organisations to support them in making their workplaces inclusive for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer staff. and we're proud to help organisations in this work through our Workplace Equality Index and our Diversity Champions programme.

'All our guidance on the Equality Act is based on the Equality and Human Rights Commission's Equality Act Code of Practice, which was recently reaffirmed in the High Court.'

Government bodies and NHS organisations have also tried to place among the Top 100 in recent years.

Central London Community Health NHS Trust was reportedly asked to replace the word 'mother' with 'birthing parent' or 'pregnant employee' in order to receive a better ranking.

The body, which cares for more than two million patients across the capital, was also told to ensure its social media accounts 'clearly shows support for LGBT equality'.

The Trust ranked 339th in the charity's Top 100 employers of 2020.

In 2018, the Intellectual Property Office faced a barrage of questions after appearing in a Stonewall advert that urged people to complete gender self-identification forms as part of a Government consultation.

Members of the public pondered why the IPO, a government body, was taking a stance on a politicised debate.

When Stonewall revealed its Top 100 employers of 2019, the IPO had soared up to 13th place in its rankings - moving up 80 positions on the previous year.

The charity reportedly reserved special praise for the IPO's very 'public support for reform to the Gender Recognition Act' and its social media use that showed a 'commitment to LGBT equality'.

Central London Community Health NHS Trust was asked to replace the word 'mother' with 'birthing parent' or 'pregnant employee' in its application. The Trust ranked 339th last year

The top 10 employers on Stonewall's Workplace Equality Index 1 - Newcastle City Council 2 - Gentoo Group 3 - Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service 4 - Pinsent Masons (Top Northern Ireland Employer) 5 - Ministry of Justice 6 - GSK 7 - Citi 8 - National Assembly for Wales (Top Welsh Employer) 9 - Welsh Government 10 - Cardiff University Advertisement

A spokesperson for the IPO denied influencing the consultation and said it does not take part in 'lobbying activity'.

Councils across England and Wales have also clamoured to be a part of Stonewall's list, with some going as far as removing all gendered language from its policies.

Rhondda Cynon Taf, the only Welsh council to make the top 100 last year, was praised for removing 'gendered pronouns' such as 'mother' on its application.

Hackney Council, whose Labour mayor Philip Glanville was the first in the borough to convert a same-sex civil partnership in 2014, was penalised in its 'role models' section and told to include transgender leaders.

Chair of Sex Matters and barrister Naomi Cunningham, told The Times: 'Stonewall sells its Workplace Equality Index as a scheme to help organisations comply with equality law.

'But what it offers is lobbying  it presents its own highly contentious understanding of what the law should be presented as 'training' on what the law is.

'It tells organisations to treat anyone who identifies as the opposite sex as if they have changed sex, and are therefore automatically entitled to use spaces such as toilets, changing rooms and showers that others rely on for privacy.

'That's not the law.'
The Church of Scotland has come under fire after campaigners claimed that its use of the term 'leper' in a crossword was 'archaic, derogatory and harmful'.

The church used the term in the June edition of its in-house Life and Work magazine as the answer to 2 Down - Outcast (5).

Leper comes from leprosy, a chronic infectious disease that affects the skin, nerves and eyes.

It features in the Bible with one of Jesus's most famous miracles seeing him heal a man suffering from leprosy with a single touch.

However, it is more commonly used as a term to describe a person who is strongly disliked and avoided by other people because of something bad they have done.

Linda Todd, CEO of The Leprosy Mission Scotland, wrote to the Church of Scotland magazine to criticise the crossword.

Linda Todd, CEO of The Leprosy Mission Scotland, wrote to the Church of Scotland magazine to criticise its use of the word leper in a crossword

She added that she was 'somewhat dismayed' and said the use of 'the 'L' word' should be banned.

Ms Todd said: 'One of the most damaging effects of leprosy is the stigma, isolation and discrimination it can lead to.

'The use of the word 'leper' to describe someone affected by leprosy is archaic, derogatory and harmful.

'People affected by leprosy have asked that it not be used - surely that in itself should be reason enough to stop.'

'In fact we have a campaign entitled 'Delete the L word',' she added.

Ms Todd's also requested that the magazine use terms such as 'people affected by leprosy' or a 'leprosy village or colony', rather than 'leper', in the future.

The church used the term in the June edition of its in-house Life and Work magazine as the answer to 2 Down - Outcast (5)

A spokesperson for Life and Work said: 'We were grateful to the leprosy society for bringing the issue to us and we were happy to publish their letter to the editor raising awareness about the impact of language and the leprosy society's campaign.'

Leprosy is a long-term infectious disease which can result in the inflammation of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes.

It is caused by a slow-growing bacterium called Mycobacterium leprae, and is more likely to be caught by children than adults.

However, it is only contagious if someone comes into close and repeated contact with droplets from the nose and mouth of untreated patients.

Since 2015 there have been an average of five new cases of leprosy in the UK each year, according to the Leprosy Mission England and Wales.

Historically lepers have often been ostracised by their families and communities, leading to the setting up of leper colonies during the Middle Ages to quarantine patients.

The disease is initially symptom-less and can remain undetected for five to 20 years.

In 2012, the number of chronic cases of leprosy was 189,000, down from some 5.2 million in the 1980s, with India accounting for more than half of all cases.

The disease, also known as Hansen's Disease, can cause nerve damage that leads to disfiguring skin sores and nerve damage in the arms and legs.

It is easily treatable with a course of multi-drug therapy over a period of six to 12 months.
Professor Sir Andrew Pollard said there is 'no indication at the moment that we need boosters', despite his study showing that the third jab gave high protection against Covid

A third dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine may offer enhanced protection against Covid variants, a study has suggested.

Scientists at Oxford University found that a booster jab given six months after the second dose increased levels of antibodies that target the Indian, Kent and South African strains.

The findings will give No10 confidence that the AstraZeneca vaccine can be used in a booster vaccine programme this autumn.

However, the lead scientist behind the trials said the standard two-dose regimen was working so well that there was little need for a third shot yet.

Studies have shown that two doses of AstraZeneca or Pfizer reduce hospitalisations by up to 96 per cent from the currently dominant Indian variant. Protection is even higher against the Kent one.

And the latest study found that antibody levels remain elevated for at least one year after a single dose of the AZ vaccine, with protection from two jabs likely to prevail even longer.

Professor Sir Andrew Pollard claimed sending the extra doses to developing countries where the most vulnerable are yet to receive any jab would be a better use of the UK's supplies.

It comes after Oxford University began trialling a tweaked booster jab at the weekend, which is adapted for the South African variant, feared to be the next looming threat to the UK.

Last week, the former Health Secretary Matt Hancock promised the Government would set out plans for an autumn booster programme within the next few weeks.

The green vertical lines show participants' antibody levels when they were given the first vaccine (V1), 28 days after that (V1+28 days), the second jab (V2), 28 days after that jab (V2+28 days), the third booster injection (V3), 14 days after that (V3+14) and 28 days after the booster (V3+28). The findings show that the antibody response increased after each jab and were at their highest, by a small margin, 28 days after the booster injection

The scientists also measured antibody levels when there was a different length of time between the first and second jab. They found that antibodies were at their highest 28 days after the second dose when there was a 44 to 45 week delay between the injections. The lowest levels were found when there was just an eight to 12 week delay, while a 15 to 25 week lag was in the middle

The Oxford University researchers found that antibody levels are elevated for at least one year after a singe dose of the Oxford AstraZeneva vaccine. The red line shows the level of antibodies recorded in 261 people for one year from the day they were vaccinated. Antibodies dropped over the course of the year, but remained higher than before the jab was given

Figures from Our World in Data show that the UK has vaccinated 65.28 per cent of the whole population, but separate government data shows that 84.4 per cent of over-18s have had at least one Covid injection. Malta, Iceland, Canada and Chile have administered the highest proportion of first doses, according to the statistics

The new results come from laboratory tests that gave 90 volunteers - who had the average age of 40 - a third dose of the Oxford vaccine. Their blood was then taken to measure levels of antibodies.

Researchers found neutralising antibodies increased significantly after the third dose, compared to the second dose for the variants.

But Professor Pollard cautioned that it was not clear how antibody levels would translate into protection in the real world.

Teresa Lambe, associate professor at the Jenner Institute at Oxford, and lead senior author of the study, said: This is very encouraging news, if we find that a third dose is needed.

New jab that targets South African variant trialled by Oxford University The University of Oxford yesterday began administering doses a new Covid jab - called AZD2816 - that targets the South African 'Beta' variant. The university has partnered with AstraZeneca to give 2,250 participants in the UK, South Africa, Brazil and Poland the jab. The scientists are trialling the jab in people who have had no, one and both jabs. For those who have not been vaccinated, they will get two doses four or twelve weeks apart. People who have had one Oxford AstraZeneca jab already can get the new vaccine as their second jab after four weeks. Double-jabbed participants must have already had their second dose of the Oxford vaccine, or another mRNA jab, three month ago. The Beta variant is only responsible for 0.1 per cent of cases in England, according to data from the Sanger Institute, but it is feared to be the next looming threat because it is vaccine resistant. Oxford University Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, who is chief investigator of the study, said: 'Testing booster doses of existing vaccines and new variant vaccines is important to ensure we are best prepared to stay ahead of the pandemic coronavirus, should their use be needed.' Dr Maheshi Ramasamy, principal investigator at the Oxford Vaccine Group, said: 'The UK vaccine roll out programme has been incredibly successful at preventing hospitalisations and deaths, but we don't know how long protection lasts. 'This study will provide vital evidence on whether further doses including 'tweaks' against new virus variants may be needed in the future.' The researchers plan to submit trail stat to regulators later this year Advertisement

Additionally, the researchers also saw higher levels T-cells, a type of white blood cell that plays a role in defending from the infection, were also boosted.

Professor Pollard said the booster shot could be used if the South African 'Beta' variant starts to take off in the UK.

That strain is considered the most resistant to vaccines but is circulating in low numbers in the UK.

Some scientists believe it could rise to the top when the entire nation is vaccinated and other variants find it difficult to spread.

The reason why these new trials are so important is because we know that the Beta variant is a variant which has been quite good at escaping vaccine immunity,' Professor Pollard said.

So it is a good idea to have new vaccines available which could cope with that, if it became more of a problem.

But he said said there was little need to give a third dose to people now because the double dose statreg already works so well against the Indian 'Delta' and Kent 'Alpha' variants.

The policy question of whether third jabs should be rolled out this year 'cannot be answered from a scientific perspective at this point', Professor Pollard said.

'At this level of high protection in the UK to give third doses now when others do not have first doses is not acceptable. We need to make sure other countries are protected.'

He added that two Covid vaccines already offer 'very high levels of protection' against the virus, as well as variants of concern, even though they were designed to protect against the original mutation.

Giving people in the UK a third injection when at-risk people in other countries have not had any 'is not acceptable', he said.

Professor Teresa Lambe, who was also involved in the study, said: 'It is not known if booster jabs will be needed due to waning immunity or to augment immunity against variants of concern.'

Some countries have not been able to source enough vaccines to give people their second jab within the eight to 12 weeks recommend by the World Health Organization, and this has led to concerns that people with just one jab will have compromised immunity, they said.

Researchers found that antibody levels 28 days after the second dose got higher the longer that was left between doses.

Professor Pollard said it is 'fairly typical' for vaccines to offer a better response if a longer window is left between jabs.

But is it a 'trade-off' between giving two doses to get better protection in the population more quickly, or waiting longer between jabs to boost the effectiveness of the vaccines.

They also monitored 261 peoples' immune response after they received just one dose of the vaccine.

The Oxford scientists previously found that one jab offered protection for at least three months. But they have now found that antibody levels are elevated for at least one year after a singe dose.

Antibodies dropped over the course of the year after a single jab, but remained higher than before the jab was given, the researchers found.

Government data shows that 44.3million people in the UK have received their first dose of the vaccine, while 32.4million have had two jabs

The scientists said this was important for countries where second doses are delayed due to a shortage of supply.

It comes as data from Saturday shows that 44.3million people in the UK have received their first dose of the vaccine, while 32.4million have had two jabs.

All over-18s can now get a Covid vaccine, with hundreds of vaccination sites operating on a walk-in basis over the weekend.

Oxford University yesterday launched a trial that will give around 2,250 participants in the UK, South Africa, Brazil and Poland a new Covid vaccine that targets the South African 'Beta' variant.

The Beta variant is only responsible for 0.1 per cent of cases in England, according to data from the Sanger Institute, but it is feared to be the next looming threat because it is vaccine resistant.

A study by scientists at the Tel Aviv University, which was published in April, found that the South African variant was eight times more prevalent in people who had both Covid jabs.

Meanwhile, Professor Pollard told BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning that the UK is in a 'very good position' for restrictions being lifted.

He said: 'We're looking at the data that's coming from Public Health England about the effectiveness of the vaccines and we're seeing more than 90% protection.

'If that persists as more and more data emerge, and we will get much greater certainty of those figures in the weeks ahead, then we reach a point where, with most people vaccinated with at least one dose and those at highest risk having two doses, it does put us in a very good position.

'But in the end it's going to be a political decision about the timing of when those should end.'
India has deployed another 50,000 troops on its disputed Himalayan border with China - a significant display of power to its nuclear rival.

The two sides clashed in a high-mountain battle last year that left more than 20 soldiers dead in the bloodiest days since the Sino-Indian War of 1962.

Over the last three months, India has dispatched soldiers and fighter jets to the border, bringing its total up to 200,000 troops, an increase of 40 per cent on last year, sources told Bloomberg.

It is not clear what numbers China has but it has bolstered its infrastructure across the tundra with runways, bomb-proof bunkers for fighter jets, howitzers and outposts.

Beijing has also sent long-range artillery, tanks, anti-aircraft missiles and fighter jet squadrons over the last few months, Bloomberg reported.

China's state broadcaster CCTV released video in February which purported to show the bloody mountain battle last June, which left 20 Indian soldiers dead and at least four Chinese troops

The fiercely contested Line of Actual Control stretches from Ladakh in the west to India's eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims in its entirety. It is broken in parts where the Himalayan nations of Nepal and Bhutan sit between India and China. According to India, the de facto border is 2,167 miles long, while China says it is considerably shorter.

India's new deployment allows commanders more options if attacked and a tactic known as 'offensive defence,' a source said.

The northernmost Ladakh region has seen the largest increase in troop levels from both sides. It was the area where Indian and Chinese soldiers took up arms against each other several times last year.

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh took his first visit to the region last week since February, when he had personally overseen the de-escalation in tensions following the battle on the banks of Pangong Tso, a glacial lake 14,000 ft above sea level.

In addition to Ladakh, India has sent more men to its other borders with China, including along the southern Tibetan plateau, between Nepal and Bhutan.

In that more populous region, regular soldiers armed with machine guns have been recruited to support paramilitary officers.

While in the far eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, where historically the bulk of India's forces have been deployed, new French-made Rafale fighters are helping to provide more of a deterrent.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, though with less money to spend on defence due to the pandemic, realises that China poses the biggest strategic threat.

He has, therefore, moved soldiers away from Pakistan, providing security through diplomacy, so that he can put more troops on the Chinese frontier.

The standoff last year began in early May in the Karakoram mountains, when Indian and Chinese soldiers ignored each other's repeated verbal warnings not to send out patrols into each other's territory.

It triggered shouting matches, stone-throwing and fistfights on the northern bank of Pangong Lake, which is marked by eight contested ridges where rivers flow into the waterbody.

The Indians claimed that during the mountain battle last June the Chinese used nail-studded clubs

The battle took place after 'the foreign military openly violated the consensus reached with us and blatantly crossed the line to provoke [us],' according to the military channel of CCTV

The official channel claimed that the clip showed an Indian army 'several times the size of the Chinese side' launching a violent revenge attack after China attempted talk to them peacefully

By June, frictions escalated and spread north in Depsang and Galwan Valley, where India has built an all-weather military road along the disputed frontier.

The Galwan Valley clash was the most fierce of all as hundreds of men fought with nail-studded clubs, riot shields and rocks, leaving at least 20 Indian soldiers dead, while the Chinese claimed just four of their men were killed.

Each side accused the other of instigating the violence, which has dramatically changed the India-China relationship.

Commanders held a summit in March of this year that saw a withdrawal from the Galwan Valley and Pangong Lake.

In this photograph provided by the Indian Army, army officers of India and China hold a meeting at Pangong lake region in Ladakh on the India-China border on February 10

In this file photo taken on July 4, 2020, Indian soldiers drive vehicles along mountainous roads as they take part in a military exercise at Thikse in Leh district of the union territory of Ladakh

But standoffs remained in Depsang and at least two other places, Gogra and Hot Springs.

The two sides fought a border war in 1962 that spilled into Ladakh and ended in an uneasy truce. Since then, troops have guarded the undefined border while occasionally brawling.

The fiercely contested Line of Actual Control stretches from Ladakh in the west to India's eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims in its entirety. It is broken in parts where the Himalayan nations of Nepal and Bhutan sit between India and China.

According to India, the de facto border is 2,167 miles long, while China says it is considerably shorter. As its name suggests, the Line of Actual Control divides the areas of physical control rather than territorial claims.
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Military police have been brought in to establish how top secret documents that included travel plans for a Royal Navy warship were discovered at a bus stop in Kent, a minister confirmed today.

Defence procurement minister Jeremy Quin told MPs that some papers marked 'Secret - UK Eyes Only' were among the soggy dossier found last week and passed to the BBC.

Among the 50-page Minister of Defence documents were papers showing that ministers knew that sending a Royal Navy warship close to the Crimea last week would provoke Russia, and did it anyway, sparking an international incident.

Mr Quin, who was standing in for self-isolating Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, said officials are assessing whether any sensitive defence documents are still missing, but said early analysis suggested the papers were lost accidentally.

Shadow defence secretary John Healey, who secured the urgent question on the issue, told MPs: 'Sensitive MoD documents found strewn behind a bus stop in Kent last Tuesday morning is certainly embarrassing for ministers, but it is deeply worrying for those concerned with our national security.'

One of the documents outlined possible Moscow responses to the decision to send the Type 45 destroyer through an international shipping lane 12 miles from Crimea, which is illegally occupied and claimed by Vladimir Putin's regime.

They ranged from acting in a 'safe and professional' manner to behaving 'neither safe nor professional', the Times reported today. It could have followed an alternative route taking it further into the middle of the Black Sea.

One document shows that the Royal Navy's Type-45 destroyer was ordered to sail between Ukraine and Georgia last Wednesday to make a show of support for Ukraine in the expectation that Moscow could respond with force.

On Wednesday more than 20 Su-24s and two coastguard ships shadowed the warship as it sailed about 12 miles off the coast. The Russian Ministry of Defence said a patrol ship fired warning shots and a jet dropped bombs in the destroyer's path, but the UK Government rejected this account and denied that any warning shots had been fired.

Jeremy Quin (left), who was standing in for self-isolating Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, said officials are assessing whether any sensitive defence documents are still missing, but said early analysis suggested the papers were lost accidentally. Shadow defence secretary John Healey (right), who secured the urgent question on the issue, told MPs: 'Sensitive MoD documents found strewn behind a bus stop in Kent last Tuesday morning is certainly embarrassing for ministers, but it is deeply worrying for those concerned with our national security.'

HMS Defender arrives at the port of Batumi, in Georgia, Saturday, June 26, 2021

The document outlined possible Moscow responses to the decision to send the Type 45 destroyer through an international shipping lane 12 miles from Crimea, which is illegally occupied and claimed by Vladimir Putin 's regime.

What is in the top secret MoD dossier found in the rain in a Kent bus stop? Officials knew Russia was likely to respond with aggression to Black Sea voyage A mission described by the MoD as an 'innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters' was a calculated decision by the Government to make a show of support for Ukraine, and was conducted in the expectation that Russia might respond aggressively. The Crimea mission, dubbed 'Op Ditroite', was the subject of high-level discussions as late as Monday, with officials speculating about Moscow's reaction if HMS Defender sailed close to the peninsula. An official at Permanent Joint Headquarters, the UK's tri-service headquarters at Northwood, reportedly asked: 'What do we understand about the possible 'welcome party'?'. Recent interactions in the eastern Mediterranean between Russian forces and a Carrier Strike Group led by HMS Queen Elizabeth had been unremarkable and 'in line with expectations', the document reportedly said. However, officials knew this was about to change and expected Russian naval and airforce interactions would become 'more frequent and assertive'. A series of slides prepared at PJHQ reportedly shows two routeing options, one described as 'a safe and professional direct transit from Odessa to Batumi', including a short stretch through a 'Traffic Separation Scheme' close to the south-west tip of Crimea. One slide concluded that this route would 'provide an opportunity to engage with the Ukrainian government in what the UK recognises as Ukrainian territorial waters.' Three potential Russian responses were outlined, from 'safe and professional' to 'neither safe nor professional'. In the event, Russia responded aggressively, with radio warnings, coastguard vessels closing to within 100 metres and repeated buzzing by warplanes. An alternative route was considered, which would have kept HMS Defender well away from contested waters. The presentation notes that this would have avoided confrontation, but ran the risk of being portrayed by Russia as evidence of 'the UK being scared/running away'. Officials feared that such a move would have been a boon to the Russian government, whose annexation and occupation of the Crimean peninsula is not recognised by Britain. The MoD also anticipated competing versions of events, noting 'we have a strong, legitimate narrative' and adding that the presence of journalists from the Daily Mail and the BBC 'provides an option for independent verification of HMS Defender's action'. British military presence in Afghanistan could be continued - but would lead to loss of life Another document contained in the dossier found at the bus stop in Kent reportedly details plans for a possible British military presence in Afghanistan after the US-led NATO operation there ends - but admits that there will be a possible loss of British life. The document, addressed to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace's private secretary and marked 'Secret UK Eyes Only', reportedly discusses a US request for British assistance in several specific areas, and addresses the question of whether any Special Forces will remain in Afghanistan post-withdrawal. Amid reports of a worsening security situation in the country, the document warns: 'Any UK footprint in Afghanistan that persists... is assessed to be vulnerable to targeting by a complex network of actors' - adding that 'the option to withdraw completely remains.' The document warns that Afghanistan is already becoming more dangerous and that the reduced presence of NATO troops 'is already impairing the situational awareness that we (and the US) used to enjoy across the country'. Though Britons have been killed in Afghanistan since the US-Taliban deal in February 2020, the document grimly warns that 'this would be unlikely to remain the status quo'. Other - Biden's policy on China and arms export competition with European allies The dossier also includes updates on President Joe Biden's early focus on China and the Indo-Pacific, which they say shows 'much continuity from the previous administration'. It also includes updates on arms exports campaigns, including areas where Britain might find itself competing with European allies. The BBC reports that 'SofS' (Mr Wallace) insists that the six-member European Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation, of which Britain is a member, 'must not be hijacked' by 'entryism' from the European Commission. Advertisement

The dossier, which includes emails and PowerPoint presentations, originated from the office of a senior official at the MoD and were passed to the BBC by a member of the public after they made the discovery early on Tuesday morning - a day before the Black Sea crisis.

Another document contained in the dossier found at the bus stop in Kent reportedly details plans for a possible British military presence in Afghanistan after the US-led NATO operation there ends - but admits that there will be a possible loss of British life.

Mr Quin said a number of documents were lost by a senior official last week, noting this person 'self-reported' on June 22.

He told the Commons: 'The documents lost included a paper that was secret - UK eyes only. The documents were found by a member of the public at a bus stop in Kent, the member of the public then handed the papers to the BBC.

'The Ministry of Defence has launched a full investigation. The papers have now been recovered from the BBC and are being assessed as I speak to check that all documents missing have been recovered and what mitigation actions might be necessary.

'The investigation will look at the actions of individuals, including the printing of the papers through to the management of the reported incident and at the underlying processes for printing and carriage of papers in defence.'

Mr Quin said the investigation is expected to be completed 'shortly', adding: 'While the investigation is being conducted, the individual's access to sensitive material has been suspended.'

A source told the Times: 'This is hugely serious. This is UK eyes-only stuff. Pink pieces of paper are not meant to have left the building'. But they blamed 'a stupid civil servant who forgot to zip up his bag' rather than espionage.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace had been ordered to appear in the Commons to face questions on the documents this afternoon. However he is self-isolating after coming into contact with General Sir Nick Carter, the Chief of the Defence Staff, who has tested positive for Covid.

In a statement last night, the MoD also insisted that HMS Defender conducted 'innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law'.

A spokesman said: 'The Ministry of Defence was informed last week of an incident in which sensitive defence papers were recovered by a member of the public. The department takes the security of information extremely seriously and an investigation has been launched. The employee concerned reported the loss at the time. It would be inappropriate to comment further.

'As the public would expect, the Ministry of Defence plans carefully. As a matter of routine, that includes analysing all the potential factors affecting operational decisions. HMS Defender conducted innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law.'

The BBC reported that the Crimea mission, dubbed 'Op Ditroite', was the subject of high-level discussions as late as Monday, with officials speculating about Moscow's reaction if HMS Defender sailed close to the peninsula.

An official at Permanent Joint Headquarters, the UK's tri-service headquarters at Northwood, reportedly asked: 'What do we understand about the possible ''welcome party''?'.

Recent interactions in the eastern Mediterranean between Russian forces and a Carrier Strike Group led by HMS Queen Elizabeth had been unremarkable and 'in line with expectations', the document reportedly said. However, officials knew this was about to change and expected Russian naval and airforce interactions would become 'more frequent and assertive'.

A series of slides prepared at PJHQ reportedly shows two routeing options, one described as 'a safe and professional direct transit from Odessa to Batumi', including a short stretch through a 'Traffic Separation Scheme' close to the south-west tip of Crimea.

One slide concluded that this route would 'provide an opportunity to engage with the Ukrainian government in what the UK recognises as Ukrainian territorial waters.'

Three potential Russian responses were outlined, from 'safe and professional' to 'neither safe nor professional'. In the event, Russia responded aggressively, with radio warnings, coastguard vessels closing to within 100 metres and repeated buzzing by warplanes.

An alternative route was considered, which would have kept HMS Defender well away from contested waters. The presentation notes that this would have avoided confrontation, but ran the risk of being portrayed by Russia as evidence of 'the UK being scared/running away'.

Officials feared that such a move would have been a boon to the Russian government, whose annexation and occupation of the Crimean peninsula is not recognised by Britain.

The MoD also anticipated competing versions of events, noting 'we have a strong, legitimate narrative' and adding that the presence of journalists from the Daily Mail and the BBC 'provides an option for independent verification of HMS Defender's action'.

The document supports claims that the Black Sea passage was an attempt to rile the Russian government, which used live ammunition to deter a NATO warship for the first time since the Cold War.

It reflects the growing risk of military incidents amid soaring tensions between Moscow and the West on issues from Russian aggression towards Ukraine, her involvement in the war in Syria and the use of chemical weapons in Salisbury in 2018 to allegations of cyberwar and election hacking.

Last week General Carter, the head of the British Armed Forces, said he is suffering sleepless nights due to his fear of war with Russia and said the incident was an example of where a miscalculation could come from 'unwarranted escalation'.

The Chief of the Defence Staff was speaking at the Chalke Valley History festival when he said: 'The thing that keeps me awake in bed at night is a miscalculation that comes from unwarranted escalation. The sort of thing we saw in the Black Sea is the sort of thing it could come from.'

General Carter, who has spent four years leading the armed services, said the dispute between the two nations was a 'classic example of the battle of the narratives', adding: 'The jury is out as to who won that battle.'

Tory chair of the Commons' Defence Committee Tobias Ellwood also warned that there is a prospect of an engagement flaring up with Britain's 'dangerous game' of sailing in disputed waters.

The Kremlin said that Russia would respond harshly to any similar actions in the future and warned against any further 'provocations'. Despite their warnings, Cabinet minister George Eustice said 'of course' Royal Navy ships will continue to sail through the disputed waters around Crimea and said: 'We never accepted the annexation of Crimea'.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: 'No shots were fired at HMS Defender. The Royal Navy ship was conducting innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters. We were doing so in accordance with international law and the Russian characterisation is predictably inaccurate.'

Defence Secretary isolating after military chief's positive Covid test The Defence Secretary and top UK military commanders are self-isolating after the chief of the Armed Forces tested positive for Covid-19 last week. Cabinet minister Ben Wallace and the heads of the Royal Navy, RAF and Strategic Command were alerted by the NHS Test and Trace app to stay at home for a period of 10 days after coming into close contact with the Chief of Defence, General Sir Nick Carter, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed. The head of the Army, General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, and Sir Nick's deputy have also spent the weekend in quarantine while they await the result of PCR tests after also attending the meeting but maintaining a greater distance from the commander, the Daily Telegraph reported. Sir Nick, 62, held the meeting at the Defence Academy at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire, on Thursday with Mr Wallace, Vice-Chair of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tim Fraser and Sir Mark. Also present were First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston and General Sir Patrick Sanders, Commander of Strategic Command. Social distancing measures are said to have been adhered to during the meeting but the men still came into contact with Sir Nick, who tested positive the day after the meeting after appearing at the Chalke Valley History Festival on Friday. Military business will be conducted remotely while the commanders self-isolate during the period. An MoD spokesperson said: 'The Chief of the Defence Staff has tested positive during routine Covid-19 checks. Colleagues who were in a senior meeting with him last week, including the Secretary of State, are self-isolating in line with government guidelines.' Advertisement

However, Mr Raab is said to have raised concerns abou the decision to send the Royal Navy warship through contested Crimean waters before a confrontation with Russian forces.

The Foreign Secretary is said to have been in a 'dispute' with Defence Secretary Ben Wallace over the route taken through the Black Sea by HMS Defender earlier this week.

Ministers have insisted that the route was pre-planned and followed an internationally recognised route between Ukraine and Georgia. But a source told the Telegraph that Mr Raab and Mr Wallace clashed at a meeting, before demanding Boris Johnson make the final decision.

'The whole dispute was between Raab and Wallace, then it went to the PM. The decision was sent to Defender on Monday that she was to take innocent passage through those waters,' they said.

Mr Raab is said to have warned that Moscow could seek to exploit the journey for propaganda purposes.

Russia on Friday launched sweeping military manoeuvres in the Mediterranean Sea after Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkob on Friday warned Britain and the US that Russia will defend its borders using 'all possible means' including military force and accused the two countries of trying to incite conflict.

He was speaking a day after Moscow warned the UK it would bomb British naval ships in the Black Sea if what it called provocative actions by the British navy were repeated off the coast of Russia-annexed Crimea.

Russian news agency RIA quoted Ryabkov as saying Washington and London were sowing strife in the region by failing to accept Crimea as a part of Russia.

'Washington and London are denying reality... they are trying to provoke conflict,' he said. 'These are Russian territorial waters, this is our border. I can confirm that we will defend it with all possible means, including military.'

According to the BBC, the dossier also includes one document which outlines highly sensitive recommendations for Britain's military footprint in Afghanistan, following the end of the NATO operation.

The document, addressed to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace's private secretary and marked 'Secret UK Eyes Only', reportedly discusses a US request for British assistance in several specific areas, and addresses the question of whether any Special Forces will remain in Afghanistan post-withdrawal.

Amid reports of a worsening security situation in the country, the document warns: 'Any UK footprint in Afghanistan that persists... is assessed to be vulnerable to targeting by a complex network of actors' - adding that 'the option to withdraw completely remains.'

The documents show that a mission described by the MoD as an 'innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters' was a calculated decision by the Government to make a show of support for Ukraine , and was conducted in the expectation that Russia might respond aggressively

The Type-45 destroyer was involved in an international incident after using an international shipping lane that went close to the Ukrainian peninsula, which is illegally occupied and claimed by Russia

In the video released by Putin's regime, three shots each with two shells are seen fired as warning shots, by which time HMS Defender is visible but at a long distance away

One document shows that the Royal Navy's Type-45 destroyer was ordered to sail close to disputed territorial waters off the coast of Russian-annexed Crimea in eastern European to make a show of support for Ukraine in the expectation that Russian could respond with force

The document warns that Afghanistan is already becoming more dangerous and that the reduced presence of NATO troops 'is already impairing the situational awareness that we (and the US) used to enjoy across the country'.

Though Britons have been killed in Afghanistan since the US-Taliban deal in February 2020, the document grimly warns that 'this would be unlikely to remain the status quo'.

The US military has completed more than half its withdrawal from Afghanistan and is set to finish within weeks. Officials say between 600 and 700 US troops are likely to remain to help provide security for diplomats.

President Joe Biden announced in April that all US forces would be out of Afghanistan by the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

And US officials have been clear that the US President will not halt the American departure. He also is unlikely to approve any US military support to Kabul to halt the Taliban's advances beyond advice, intelligence, and aircraft maintenance.

The dossier also includes updates on President Biden's early focus on China and the Indo-Pacific, which they say shows 'much continuity from the previous administration'.

It also includes updates on arms exports campaigns, including areas where Britain might find itself competing with European allies. The BBC reports that 'SofS' (Mr Wallace) insists that the six-member European Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation, of which Britain is a member, 'must not be hijacked' by 'entryism' from the European Commission.
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It is an image which would strike terror into the heart of any seaman: two hornet-like enemy fighter jets flying low over the water as they prepare to strike with deadly bombs.

The photo, which was taken on May 25, 1982, showed two Argentine A-4 Skyhawk planes flying just feet above Atlantic Ocean as they hurtled towards the Royal Navy Type 22 frigate HMS Broadsword during the Falklands War.

Previously, the identity of the person who took the image was unknown.

But MailOnline can now reveal that Broadsword's Chief Petty Officer, John Edward Bradburn, who died earlier this month aged 75, took the photo in the belief the planes were British jets on a training exercise.

CPO Bradburn's son Ian revealed in an interview with MailOnline that, when the water started 'lighting up', his father and other members of Broadsword's crew realised the planes were enemy jets and dived to safety.

Remarkably, one bomb dropped by the jets bounced off the surface of the water and tore through Broadsword but did not explode.

Instead, it tore through the 'Action Stations' compartment which CPO Bradburn had sought shelter in before exiting out of another part of the ship's body and exploding harmlessly in the sea.

Whilst CPO Bradburn later had to be cut out of the compartment, the only injury he received was a bruised finger after he shut it in a door during his earlier scramble to safety.

Three bombs of the bombs dropped by other following Skyhawks hit the adjacent HMS Coventry. Tragically, the ship sank within 20 minutes, taking the lives of 19 sailors.

Mr Bradburn, 51, from Plymouth, said: 'The actual event was the Broadsword's first engagement. Dad was stood on the quarterdeck with some friends. Because it was the first engagement they thought it was an exercise.

'The Action Stations got called and they went on the quarterdeck and they saw these planes coming in and Dad took a snap.

'The water started lighting up and they realised it was real. They all skipped into a hatch as first as they could.'

The proud son also shared with MailOnline other images which his father took, including the damage caused by the bomb which hit Broadsword and one of the stricken HMS Coventry as it sank.

It is an image which would strike terror into the heart of any sea man: two hornet-like enemy fighter jets flying low over the water as they prepare to strike with deadly bombs. The photo, which was taken on May 25, 1982, showed two Argentine A-4 Skyhawk planes flying just feet above Atlantic Ocean as they hurtled towards the Royal Navy Type 22 frigate HMS Broadsword during the Falklands War. Previously, the identity of the person who took the image was unknown

MailOnline can now reveal that Broadsword's Chief Petty Officer, John Edward Bradburn (pictured above right with another member of Broadsword's crew), who died earlier this month aged 75, took the photo in the belief the planes were British jets on a training exercise

CPO Bradburn's son Ian revealed in an interview with MailOnline that, when the water started 'lighting up', his father and other members of Broadsword's crew realised they were enemy jets and dived to safety. Above: HMS Broadsword

The men who died on the Coventry were among 255 British military personnel who died in Britain's 10-week war with Argentina. A further 775 were wounded.

The Coventry was one of seven British vessels which were sunk in the conflict.

The fighting was triggered when Argentinian forces invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands - which were part of the UK  in April 1982.

Britain and Argentina's 10-week war Fascist military leaders in Argentina invaded the British Falkland Islands on April 2, 1982. At a time of economic crisis, Argentine leaders believed recapturing the Falklands would restore support for the ruling party. The UK had ruled the islands for 150 years at the time of the invasion, which the junta justified by saying they had inherited the land from Spain in the 1800s, citing the Falklands' proximity to South America as a further reason. But Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher deployed a task force to fight on behalf of the traditionally British residents of the Falklands. In the short war that followed, 649 Argentinians died, along with 255 British servicemen and three islanders. Following a tough sea battle, British forces made landing to the north of Stanley, before fighting their way in to the capital. The Argentinians surrendered on 14 June Advertisement

The then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sent a naval taskforce to re-take the islands. The fighting ended with an Argentine surrender on June 14, 1982.

On the Argentine side, 649 men were killed. A further 1,657 were wounded and 11,313 were captured by British troops.

On May 25 1982, the Argentine Air Force had tasked two of its top pilots with taking out the Coventry and Broadsword, both of which acted as 'bodyguards' for the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes.

Captain Pablo Carballo, in the left plane, and Lieutenant Carlos Rinke, right, skimmed just a few feet above the water to avoid radar detection.

Both pilots survived because the Sea Wolf missile system on HMS Broadsword was unable to choose between their A-4s when they became visible on the radar.

The aircrafts released one bomb each. One missed the target, while the other one hit the Broadsword, in spite of the intense anti-aircraft fire.

The bomb, which was dropped from such a low height that it did not immediately detonate, bounced off the surface of the ocean and hit the side of the Broadsword.

Mr Bradburn, who was aged 12 at the time of the Falklands War, said the projectile tore through a Lynx helicopter before passing over his father's head 'by about two feet'.

'It went through the Action Station where he was in,' he said.

The bomb then exited through part of the ship's deck before landing in the sea and finally exploding, thankfully harmlessly.

CPO Bradburn, who was now covered in fuel which had leaked from the damaged helicopter was rescued after the Broadsword's crew used cutting equipment to get him out of the crushed compartment he was in.

Mr Bradburn said his father shouted, 'don't use cutting equipment because I'm going to catch fire!'

He then added once he was free that, 'if any of you are smoking I am going to kick you overboard.'

Remarkably, one bomb dropped by the jets bounced off the surface of the water and tore through Broadsword but did not explode. Instead, it tore through the 'Action Stations' compartment which CPO Bradburn had sought shelter in before exiting out of another part of the ship's body and exploding harmlessly in the sea. Above: The point where the bomb entered

Mr Bradburn, who was aged 12 at the time of the Falklands War, said the projectile tore through a Lynx helicopter before passing over his father's head 'by about two feet'. Above: The exit point of the bomb, which then landed in the sea and exploded harmlessly

Once safe from the damaged part of the ship, CPO Bradburn was present as crewmen were rescued from the sinking Coventry. Above: CPO Bradburn's image of the ship's demise. The lives of 19 sailors were lost in the attack

Mr Bradburn said his father's 'worst' memory of the whole war was helping to rescue men who had been horrendously injured in the explosions and fires caused by the bombs hitting the Coventry. 'Some of them their faces had melted. He couldn't recognise them. He knew their names. He had beers with them. But he couldn't see their faces anymore,' he said

On May 25 1982, the Argentine Air Force had tasked two of its top pilots with taking out the Coventry and Broadsword, both of which acted as 'bodyguards' for the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes. Above: CPO Bradburn's image of HMS Hermes

Another image from CPO Bradburn's archive showing a helicopter low in the air above HMS Broadsword. Mr Bradburn believes it may have been taken during the operation to rescue seamen from the stricken Coventry. CPO Bradburn had been due to retire after 22 years' service in the Royal Navy when the Falklands War broke out

Once safe from the damaged part of the ship, CPO Bradburn was present as crewmen were rescued from the sinking Coventry.

Mr Bradburn said his father's 'worst' memory of the whole war was helping to rescue men who had been horrendously injured in the explosions and fires caused by the bombs hitting the Coventry.

'Some of them their faces had melted. He couldn't recognise them. He knew their names. He had beers with them. But he couldn't see their faces anymore,' he said.

Speaking of how he came across the image his father had taken, Mr Bradburn said: 'I was looking for images for Dad's funeral and also out of interest and I found some images online and I recognised the photo of the two fighters coming in head on and I recognised that as Dad's photograph.'

He said that his father wrote a diary during his time in the Falklands. Inside, he attached photographs, including the one which Mr Bradburn spotted online.

'Some years ago the diary was borrowed by somebody, we don't know who. And never returned. It was a bit of a shame,' he added.

CPO Bradburn served in the whole conflict before leaving military service soon afterwards. Despite being bombed a second time during its service in the war, Broadsword continued operating throughout. Above: An image in CPO Bradburn's archive which is believed to show the HMS Ardent on fire before it sank. The ship sank after being bombed on May 21, four days before the attacks on the Broadsword and Coventry

Mr Bradburn then spotted the image in an old MailOnline story and realised 'that's my Dad'.

CPO Bradburn took the image on a 35mm 'point and shoot' camera, his son said.

Fortunately, CPO Bradburn took other images which did not go in the diary and so can now be revealed for the first time.

Mr Bradburn poignantly pointed out that, whilst the Argentine pilots who dropped the bombs on the Broadsword and Coventry were Britain's enemies, they were also heroes in Argentina.

Mr Bradburn he was told by his father that the pilot of plane which was shot down by Broadsword on May 25 pleaded with his British captors when he was rescued: 'Please don't eat me'.

The man had allegedly been told made-up propaganda detailing how every British ship had a 'team of Gurkhas' on board who would eat prisoners of war.

CPO Bradburn had been due to retire after 22 years' service in the Royal Navy when the Falklands War broke out.

He served in the whole conflict before leaving military service soon afterwards. Despite being bombed a second time during its service in the war, Broadsword continued operating throughout.

Mr Bradburn said his father 'made a pact with God' on one particular day of the conflict, when Broadsword was repeatedly targeted by enemy forces.

'He said if it's my time then I'll go willingly but if he could see me through to wife and family again, I would devote my life to you [God].'

After he left military service, CPO Bradburn did become a deeply religious man. He went on to buy a fishing trawler and also sold conservatories before his retirement

The war hero, who had Mr Bradburn and other son Steve with his wife Vaneata, passed away on June 2, aged 75.

'He hadn't been ill. He had been out for lunch and for a walk with Mum. He went to sleep and didn't wake up,' Mr Bradburn said.

'A consultant said he had some sort of a coronary event but it wasn't a heart attack.

'My own way of reconciling it was that he had seen everything he wanted. He had seen his sons happy.

'He felt like it was as good a time as any. He just went to sleep and didn't wake up. It was nice way to go.'

Mr Bradburn said his father had a 'tough' upbringing in Liverpool. He was one of two sons and five sisters.

After his father and brother 'died early', the teenager was forced to mostly look after himself.

Mr Bradburn said his father 'made a pact with God' on one particular day of the conflict, when Broadsword was repeatedly targeted by enemy forces. 'He said if it's my time then I'll go willingly but if he could see me through to wife and family again, I would devote my life to you [God]'. Above: CPO Bradburn with his wife Vaneata at a street party after the Broadsword had arrived back in Plymouth at the end of the Falklands conflict. Right: CPO Bradburn as a teenage sailor

CPO Bradburn and his wife had both Mr Bradburn and his older brother Steve. Above: Vaneata waiting in Plymouth as the Broadsword arrives with her husband on board

CPO Bradburn lied about his age to get into the Royal Navy at the age of 15 and even hid the pain of a broken leg to get through his examination. Above: Bradburn poses in his white uniform as a young man (left). He was also a keen boxer (right)

The crew of HMS Broadsword are seen posing on the frigate's deck. CPO Bradburn is seen far right on the front row

The war hero, who had Mr Bradburn and other son Steve with his wife Vaneata, passed away on June 2, aged 75

Mr Bradburn (right) with his mother Vaneata at his home in Plymouth. Mr Bradburn is a trained car mechanic and now owns his own Volkswagen garage

Some of the notes which CPO Bradburn made during his time in the Falklands. The above list shows the Royal Navy ships which either sank or were damaged. Beneath, he has written a verse from the famous Laurence Binyon poem For the Fallen

He then lied about his age to get into the Royal Navy at the age of 15 and even hid the pain of a broken leg to get through his examination.

'The joining age then was 16. He wanted to get out of Liverpool so badly that he lied.

'He told me a story a few times about the doctor in his medical noticing he had a broken leg. It had been pinned. It was quite fresh.

'Dad had to stand on his broken leg for a minute to get in to the Navy. It was so painful that tears were running down his face.

'The doctor said "if you want to get in that badly I'm not going to stop you".

Mr Bradburn added: 'He was an amazing man. I just wanted the recognition for him. He was an incredible guy. I just wanted people to know, to put his name to an incredible photograph.'
Vaccination of aged care workers and everyone in the hotel quarantine system is to be made mandatory under a move endorsed by the national cabinet, Scott Morrison has announced.

In a change of policy to help the fledging rollout, Mr Morrison also confirmed anyone under 60 can now get the AstraZeneca jab if they want to, despite earlier advice that younger people should get another jab.

The decisions come as Australia's growing coronavirus outbreaks have reignited calls for vaccinations to be increased amid concern about the highly contagious Indian Delta strain sweeping across Sydney.

Cabinet's national security committee met on Monday to discuss the unfolding situation with lockdowns and tighter restrictions emerging around the nation.

The prime minister said the mandatory vaccines would apply to anyone who worked, either directly or indirectly, in hotel quarantine - including drivers. He is pictured visiting a vaccine manufacturing facility in February

The decision comes as outbreaks have reignited calls for vaccinations to be increased Pictured: Staff are seen leaving Arcare Aged Care facility in Melbourne last month

Announcing the outcome of the emergency meeting on Monday night, the Prime Minister said the mandatory vaccines would apply to anyone who worked, either directly or indirectly, in hotel quarantine - including drivers.

Sydney's outbreak, which has topped 130 cases, began when an unvaccinated limo driver transporting flight crew caught the virus and started unknowingly spreading it around Bondi.

Asked whether those under 40 could receive the AstraZeneca jab, as the nation waits for shipments of Pfizer, Mr Morrison said Australians could do so after seeking medical advice.

'If they are willing to go and speak to their doctor and have access to the AstraZeneca vaccine, they can do so. So the answer is yes, they can go and do that,' he said.

Mr Morrison said national cabinet has agreed on an indemnity scheme for GPs to give the AstraZeneca vaccine to Australians under the age of 60 who are willing to accept the extremely rare blood clot risk.

Indemnity schemes offer insurance cover to professionals and business owners in the event of an adverse incident caused by the practitioners misjudgement.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured) has announced vaccinations will be made mandatory for aged care workers

Cabinet's national security committee met on Monday for emergency discussions as Covid outbreaks have popped up across several states. Pictured: Health workers conduct COVID-19 tests at the St. Vincents Hospital drive-through testing clinic at Bondi Beach on Saturday

'If you wish to get the AstraZeneca vaccine, then we would encourage you to go and have that discussion with your GP, and weve already made announcements to support those additional consultations with the GPs so you can have that conversation,' he said.

'And secondly, we are also providing the indemnity scheme for those general practitioners, so they can actively engage with you, and you can make the best decision for your health.'

In May, the federal government announced the Pfizer vaccine was the recommended shot for people under 50 after AstraZeneca was linked to rare blood-clotting condition thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), which has caused two deaths in Australia.

KEY POINTS FROM EMERGENCY NATIONAL CABINET Scott Morrison revealed that quarantine workers, including those only indirectly working in the program, now have to be vaccinated The same applies to aged care workers, who will need to have at least one dose by mid-September this year Travellers in hotel quarantine must also do an additional Covid test 2-3 days after they finish the 14 day isolation 'Two to three days after having left that quarantine facility, get a test. We will be requiring it. We seek your cooperation,' he said. The Commonwealth also signed off an $11million grant program to help related facilities get staff vaccinated An indemnity scheme has been put in place for GPs to give AstraZeneca to anyone under 60 who is willing and accepts the very rare risk of blood clots Advertisement

Earlier this month, the minimum age for the Oxford University jab was increased from 50 to 60 after fears grew that more could develop the ultra-rare blood clots.

Mr Morrison also said cabinet had the 'opportunity to assess the outbreaks in five separate jurisdictions'.

'It has been a busy evening in the midst of what is a very serious situation that we are confronting but as always, we are doing it together,' he said.

Despite aged care workers and residents being in the initial Phase 1a rollout, many are still not vaccinated.

Of the 910 deaths in Australia from COVID-19, 685 have been aged care residents.

There will also be a ban on accommodating low-risk domestic travellers next door to high-risk international arrivals, which triggered an outbreak in Queensland.

Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino receives his second Pfizer Covid-19 vaccination at the Royal Exhibition Building on Saturday

This could be done by separating them into different accommodation or floors in the one facility, like is already done in the Northern Territory which has different sections of accommodation depending on the risk-level of the traveller.

The meeting received a detailed briefing on the vaccination program from three top officials - Covid-19 task force commander John Frewen, health department boss Brendan Murphy and Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly.

Earlier, Lieutenant General Frewen told reporters while Pfizer supplies remained constrained, there were ample AstraZeneca doses for people over 60.

He warned the disease would not be eradicated in the near future.

'We will have to get more comfortable with the idea that there will be ongoing outbreaks in the COVID space,' he said.

'But with all of those mitigation measures we can hopefully keep people alive, keep people from getting seriously ill and then as quickly as we can transition back to normal life as quickly as we can.

'Vaccination underpins all of that.'

With Sydney in lockdown, NSW recorded 18 new coronavirus cases and all but one confirmed as linked to existing cases.

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital at Camperdown in Sydney's inner west had seen hundreds of people turn up to its vaccination centre on Monday (pictured)

The number was down from 30 on Sunday and came from 59,000 tests.

Queensland is on the verge of another lockdown in the state's southeast after two new local cases with more than 160 returned mine workers being tested.

Masks will be mandatory across large swathes of the state, home visits will be capped at 30 guests and venues will need to adhere to a one person per four square metre rule.

In South Australia - which hasn't recorded a new case - beefed up restrictions include masks in high-risk settings and reduced densities in pubs, cafes and restaurants.

Western Australia recorded one new case in a woman who briefly came into contact with another person who had visited Sydney.

Sydney's CBD is a virtual ghost town after workers were ordered to work from home once again after infections numbers rose on the weekend

Mounted Police on patrol at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Monday, June 28, 2021. More than five million people in Greater Sydney and its surrounds have gone into a 14-day lockdown

In the Northern Territory, an outbreak linked to a central Australian mine has grown to seven cases, sparking an extension of a snap lockdown until at least Friday.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese continues to slam the federal government for the slow rollout and not taking charge of isolating people entering the country.

'This is a race to get people vaccinated, it is a race also to set up national quarantine facilities,' he told reporters in Canberra.

Ahead of thee meeting, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said it would be appropriate for national cabinet to discuss further limiting passenger arrivals given breaches were leading to lockdowns.

'Hotels are made for tourists. They're not purpose-built and they're not much good at keeping things like the Delta variant at bay,' he said.

Almost 7.4 million Australians have been vaccinated.
Serco has won a new contract worth up to 322 million to continue running Covid-19 testing sites for another year.

Bosses said they signed a new deal with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to operate regional, local and mobile testing centres in England and Northern Ireland following a competitive tendering process.

The value of the new 12-month contract, with the option of a six-month extension, could change significantly depending on levels of demand in coming months, they added.

It means Serco will continue operating around 20% of sites across England and Northern Ireland, including drive-through and walk-in test centres, alongside mobile sites.

Serco has come under scrutiny for the large profits it has made from the pandemic and also faced criticism after the accidental sharing of the email addresses of 300 of its recruits for the government's contract tracing efforts.

In 2013, it was also claimed that Serco had charged the government for electronically monitoring people who were either dead, in jail, or had left the country, the latest in a string of controversies faced by the contractor.

NHS Test and Trace employees work at a drive through testing site in Southport, north west England. Serco will continue operating around 20% of sites across England and Northern Ireland

Serco chief executive Rupert Soames, who received 4.9 million during 2020, said: 'We are proud of the part we have played in building and operating the UK's highly successful Covid-19 testing infrastructure.

'From a standing start in March 2020, NHS Test & Trace has grown a network of regional, local and mobile sites which have delivered over 18.5 million individual tests, an average of 51,000 tests a day.

'We are delighted that the DHSC has selected us to continue to support them in providing these services for at least the next 12 months.'

He added that the new contract is unlikely to increase profits beyond previous guidance set out earlier this month.

Serco chief executive Rupert Soames, who received 4.9 million during 2020, hailed the deal

On June 14, Serco said it expects underlying trading profit to hit 200 million this year - 15 million more than previously forecast due to the extension of Covid-19 restrictions.

Serco has faced criticism over the large profits it has made from the pandemic and its decision to start paying a dividend to shareholders.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said in February it was 'outrageous' that dividends would be reintroduced this year.

He tweeted at the time: 'Taxpayers' money shouldn't be given to Serco's shareholders via dividends.

'The Government should have placed Test and Trace in the hands of our NHS and local communities.'

But Serco has defended its role, pointing out it repaid previously claimed furlough cash and shared a 5 million bonus among 50,000 frontline workers.

The string of controversies faced by government contractor Serco Serco has been hit by several controversies in the past few years, including claims in 2013 that it had charged the government for electronically monitoring people who were either dead, in jail, or had left the country. The contractor, along with security firm G4S, were accused of overcharging for their work tagging criminals. Reports revealed that up to one in six of the 18,000 tags the government was billed for every day were not real. The tags had been placed on criminals who were either dead, in jail or had left the country, it was claimed. The accusations prompted Whitehall to scrutinise every government contract given to the two private firms. Serco and G4S were both stripped of their respective contracts by the government over the claims. G4S agreed to pay back more than 100million in 2014, while Serco was fined nearly 19.2million and pay costs of 3.7million in 2019 as part of a settlement with the Serious Fraud Office. In September 2013, just months after the tagging allegations emerged, a Serco-run immigration centre was stung by sexual abuse allegations after a 23-year-old Roma woman claimed she was assaulted. Two male members of staff were sacked a month later due to 'inappropriate behaviour' with a detainee. Despite the troubles, the Home Office awarded Serco 70million in 2014 to keep operating Yarl's Wood for another eight years. Serco hit headlines once again in November 2017, when leaked Paradise Papers revealed a law firm branded Serco a 'high risk' client for its troubled past. The Guardian reported that concerns had been raised about Serco's 'history of problems, failures, fatal errors and overcharging'. In August 2018, Serco sparked fury after it emerged it planned to evict hundreds of asylum seekers living in private accommodation in Glasgow without court orders. In May 2020, Serco, whose chief executive is Sir Winston Churchill's grandson Rupert Soames, faced fresh criticism after accidentally sharing the email address of 300 of its recruits for the government's contract tracing efforts amid the pandemic. It has also faced widespread anger over its large profits during the pandemic. On June 14, Serco said it expects underlying trading profit to hit 200 million this year - 15 million more than previously forecast due to the extension of Covid-19 restrictions. It faced further outrage over its decision to start paying a dividend to shareholders. Advertisement

Bosses previously revealed they banked 400 million in extra revenues from Covid-19-related services, although profits from the pandemic were minimal - at 2 million.

They also said other services in parts of the economy that had shut were hit.

In March, a leaked government email revealed that Serco had been invited to put their staff forward for New Year honours.

Sources confirmed the leak after it was reported that Rupert Soames, the chief executive of outsourcing giant Serco, was among those to have received the email.

The request from BEIS permanent secretary Sarah Munby said: 'I would like to invite you to submit honours nominations on behalf of your organisation as well as for any other individuals you think worthy of recognition.'

The Hampshire-based private contractor has been hit by a string of controversies in the past few years, including claims in 2013 that it had charged the government for electronically monitoring people who were either dead, in jail, or had left the country.

In May 2020, Serco, whose chief executive is Sir Winston Churchill's grandson Rupert Soames, faced fresh criticism after accidentally sharing the email address of 300 of its recruits for the government's contract tracing efforts.

But the blunder, which will do little for the confidence of millions of Britons who will be asked to hand over their personal details as part of the contact tracing system, is far from the first time Serco has faced criticism.

In July 2013, Serco, along with security firm G4S, who are also in the running to provide call centre staff for the contact tracing app, were accused of overcharging for their work tagging criminals.

Reports revealed that up to one in six of the 18,000 tags the government was billed for every day were not real.

The tags had been placed on criminals who were either dead, in jail or had left the country, it was claimed.

The accusations prompted Whitehall to scrutinise every government contract given to the two private firms.

Serco and G4S were both stripped of their respective contracts by the government over the claims.

G4S agreed to pay back more than 100million in 2014, while Serco was fined nearly 19.2million and pay costs of 3.7million in 2019 as part of a settlement with the Serious Fraud Office.

In September 2013, just months after the tagging allegations emerged, a Serco-run immigration centre was stung by sexual abuse allegations after a 23-year-old Roma woman claimed she was assaulted.

The woman - who wasn't identified - was awaiting deportation at Yarl's Wood in Bedfordshire after committing an unspecified crime.

Two male members of staff were sacked a month later due to 'inappropriate behaviour' with a detainee.

Despite the troubles, the Home Office awarded Serco 70million in 2014 to keep operating Yarl's Wood for another eight years.

In August 2014, campaigners claimed Serco was among a list of private contractors who used immigrant detainees for cheap labour.

Corporate Watch, the organisation behind the report, alleged Serco, G4S and others were 'exploiting their captive migrant workforce'.

The Guardian reported some detainees held at detention centres were paid as little as 1 an hour.

Serco staff working on behalf of NHS Test and Trace operate a coronavirus testing centre

Serco claimed at the time that the paid work was voluntary and in accordance with strict government rules.

Just months later, in January 2015, a refugee charity claimed female immigrants being held at the Serco-ran Yarl's Wood were 'treated like animals and sexually abused by staff'.

Winston Churchill's grandson and Serco boss who is paid 5 million Serco boss Rupert Soames has bagged almost 5million in annual pay, recently published accounts show. The firm's chief executive, 61, received 4.9million during 2020  down from 5.2million in 2019. His package included an 850,000 salary, 191,250 in pension contributions, 53,255 in benefits such as healthcare and bonuses worth 3.8million. Serco boss Rupert Soames (pictured) Serco has faced criticism for its role in NHS Test and Trace, which took months to become effective after it was launched last May to tackle the Covid pandemic. The firm runs about a quarter of testing centres and half of contact tracing operations, with contracts worth about 350million. Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Centre, called Mr Soames' pay package 'excessive'. He said it was 'symptomatic of what's wrong with outsourcing' which also saw 'low-paid workers lose the rights, pay and protections of public sector employees'. Serco's annual report said the bonus awarded to Mr Soames, left, was 'a true and fair reflection of the underlying performance of the company and the executive directors throughout what has been an incredibly challenging year'. Advertisement

Women for Refugee Women said females held at the centre were watched by male staff in intimate situations including when using the toilet.

The charity interviewed 38 women who were recently or currently detained in Yarl's Wood.

Six women claimed staff had made sexual suggestions and three alleged they were touched sexually. Seven reported being physically assaulted.

Serco hit headlines once again in November 2017, when leaked Paradise Papers revealed a law firm branded Serco a 'high risk' client for its troubled past.

The Guardian reported that concerns had been raised about Serco's 'history of problems, failures, fatal errors and overcharging'.

In August 2018, Serco sparked fury after it emerged it planned to evict hundreds of asylum seekers living in private accommodation in Glasgow without court orders.

Officials provide free housing for asylum seekers until their applications are accepted.

Serco paused the move to evict tenants whose application was denied after the criticism over the planned action, the BBC reported.

The firm was taken to court over the move, which furious activists described as a form of 'housing apartheid'.

But Scotland's highest court ruled in November 2019 the eviction of asylum seekers without court orders was lawful.

In April this year, two former Serco chiefs were cleared of defrauding the Ministry of Justice in a 12million electronic tagging scam after the Serious Fraud Office dropped the case mid-trial.

Nicholas Woods, 51, and Simon Marshall, 59, were alleged to have encouraged a man, who cannot be named, to submit fictional costs to the MoJ between 2011 and 2013.

Mr Woods was the former finance director of Serco Home Affairs and Mr Marshall was the former operations director of field services.

The pair were accused of reducing Serco's profits from a Government-awarded prisoner tagging contract from 27million to 15million.

This meant more than 12million in profits were concealed, the court heard.

But the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) today offered no evidence against Marshall and Woods three weeks into their trial at Southwark Crown Court.
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More than two-thirds of Australians have been placed under new lockdown rules as cases of the Indian variant have flared up across the country after escaping from quarantine hotels.

With just 5 per cent of the population fully vaccinated and the more infectious strain on the loose, Australia's vaunted 'zero Covid' strategy - which allowed its economy to get back up and running last year - is on precarious ground.

Around 18 million Australians, 70 per cent of the population, are now under some form of lockdown restrictions after cases of the Indian variant exploded out of quarantine hotels in Brisbane, Darwin, Perth and Sydney.

The largest outbreak is in Sydney, where 130 people have tested positive for Covid-19 since a limousine driver for an international flight crew was diagnosed with the Indian variant on June 16. The city's residents are now under a draconian stay-at-home order for two weeks.

Underlining the importance of jabs today, it emerged that six vaccinated healthcare workers were the only guests at a 'super spreader' house party who had not contracted the virus in Sydney two weeks ago.

Thirty people attended the birthday bash in the West Hoxton suburb, with 24 of the guests contracting the 'Delta' variant, which led to numerous further contacts being traced across the city.

Scott Morrison, who is under fire for the glacial vaccine roll-out, constant 'circuit breakers' and brutal border restrictions, chaired a national security committee on Monday before announcing that all care home workers must have a vaccine. The PM also ordered mandatory jabs for anyone working, either directly or indirectly, in quarantine hotels - including airport private hire drivers.

Mr Morrison made another policy shift as he invited anyone under 40 to get an AstraZeneca jab if they want to, despite earlier advice that younger people should get another vaccine.

Around 18 million Australians, 70 per cent of the population, are now under some form of lockdown after cases of the Indian variant exploded out of quarantine hotels in Brisbane, Darwin, Perth and Sydney

Graphs showing the seven-day average of new cases and deaths in Australia since March last year to now

Prime Minister Scott Morrison (right) chaired a cabinet's national security committee on Monday for emergency discussions as Covid outbreaks have popped up across several states (pictured, left, health workers conduct Covid tests at the St. Vincents Hospital drive-through testing clinic at Bondi Beach on Saturday)

Mounted Police patrol as a surfer walks on the grass at Bondi Beach amid touch new lockdown restriction in Sydney on Monday

Six vaccinated health workers are only guests of a Sydney 'super spreader' party who DID NOT catch Indian variant Six vaccinated health workers are the only guests of a Sydney 'super spreader' party who did not contract the Indian variant, the New South Wales government revealed today. Thirty people attended the birthday bash in the West Hoxton suburb on June 19. All 24 of the guests who had not been vaccinated caught the 'Delta' strain, while six health professionals who had been jabbed did not get infected. NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard told reporters on Monday: 'I can report that of the more than 30 people that were at that party, 24 of those people are now positive for Covid-19. 'And not one of those 24 people were vaccinated. I could also advise that six health workers who attended at that party, who were fully vaccinated, not one of those people has been infected with (the coronavirus).' The birthday party took place three days before the first community case was reported and prior to the outbreak of the Indian variant prompting new lockdown rules. The partygoers included people from the eastern suburbs who were unknowingly already infected with Covid. The guests infected included a two-year-old child and an adult who travelled to Victoria before testing positive. Mr Hazzard used it as an opportunity to warn people hesitant about the vaccines that they were essential to cracking the pandemic once and for all. 'If you're vaccinated, you are much more likely to not be infected with Covid-19,' Mr Hazzard said. 'So, for those still out there who think that vaccinations aren't important, they can find excuses not to have vaccinations, they can kid themselves  Short message is: get vaccinated.' Advertisement

Thousands queued to receive their vaccines in Sydney on Monday, with many giving up and heading home after waiting for more than three hours.

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital at Camperdown in Sydney's inner west had seen hundreds of people turn up to its vaccination centre.

Daily Mail reporter Peter Vincent, one of those who waited for three-and-a-half hours for his jab, said security had tried to organise the hordes of people into lines in the basement of a carpark.

Despite turning up on time for appointments, crowds were left waiting in lines which snaked around the building.

'A few people are just walking away because of the long wait,' he said. 'People are standing in the cold, not properly socially distanced, for hours. The guy next to me is p***ed and on the phone to 2GB (talk radio station) now.'

Sydney residents have flocked to get vaccinated since the city was put into the new lockdown, with many more concerned than ever about the virus lingering in the community.

Business owners, who basked in the early success of the government's response to the virus, are worried about how much longer the constant 'circuit breakers' will continue to plague their livelihoods.

James Powditch, who runs an art studio in Sydney, told CNN: 'We can't leave the country, people can't come in, and we end up periodically in lockdowns, which cost a friggin' fortune.

'People have been accepting that this is a diabolically difficult situation, but once we start watching the rest of the world open up, we're going to turn to anger over the way things like vaccines have been rolled out here.'

In the north, a 48-hour lockdown of Darwin and surrounding areas - due to end Tuesday - was extended to Friday after a cluster linked to an outback gold mine grew to seven cases.

The miner flew into Brisbane on June 18 and is believed to have been infected in a quarantine hotel before arriving at Newmont Corporation's Tanami gold mine.

All mine workers who travelled to Alice Springs and Darwin are in isolation, while authorities are frantically trying to track and trace 900 miners across Australia who may have had contact with the initial case.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner said that for the first time during the pandemic there were hotspots of local transmission in Darwin, which is home to a large indigenous population feared to be more vulnerable to Covid-19.

'The risk to the community has grown in the past 24 hours. We are now in an extremely critical period. We must stay in lockdown while we keep this virus trapped,' he said, urging Aboriginal people living in remote areas not to travel to Darwin.

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital at Camperdown in Sydney's inner west had seen hundreds of people turn up to its vaccination centre on Monday (pictured)

'We've had a surge today for sure but that's a good thing, people wanting to get vaccinated,' a NSW Health spokesperson said (pictured, the waiting area at the inner city hospital)

Naked sunbathers are fined $1,000 along with another 44 Aussies who flouted stay-at-home orders Two men who got lost in the bush after being startled by a deer while sunbathing naked are among dozens who have been fined by police for breaching coronavirus restrictions. NSW Police handed out 44 infringement notices on Sunday as Sydney and surrounds had its first day of lockdown. They included two men who had to be rescued from Royal National Park in Otford, south of Sydney, after they got lost in the bush when a deer startled them while they were sunbathing at a remote beach. There was also cafe owner in Wollongong fined for refusing to wear a mask while serving customers on Saturday, and a western Sydney man fleeing the city. Emergency services launched a search through the national park after the lost nudist pair raised the alarm late Sunday afternoon. Police said one man, 30, was found naked and carrying a backpack on the walking track before the other man, 49, was found partially clothed a short time later. They were each fined $1,000 for breaching the public health order which prohibits Sydneysiders from travelling outside the city. Advertisement

Authorities in the cities of Perth and Brisbane again tightened local restrictions Monday, with masks mandatory and limits on social gatherings imposed on more than two million people in Brisbane and surroundings.

It comes after a retail worker at the DFO shopping centre near Brisbane Airport tested positive last week before her husband also developed symptoms.

In Perth, a woman tested positive after returning from a known hotspot in Sydney.

As well as the tougher social distancing rules, Western Australia tightened its borders with the Northern Territory and Queensland. A hard border remains with New South Wales - the state which Sydney belongs to.

Other regions without confirmed cases have ramped up their rules protectively, with masks now required indoors in the nation's capital Canberra and sweeping restrictions announced for South Australia.

'We feel, given the nature of the rapid spread of the Delta virus, we have no alternative but to take pre-emptive action in South Australia to keep our state and our economy strong,' said state Premier Steven Marshall.

Australia has recorded a total of just over 30,000 cases and 910 deaths in a population of about 25 million since the pandemic began.

Officials have been quick to implement restrictions when clusters emerge - almost always after the virus escapes the hotel quarantine system.

But the latest measures are among the most widespread since a nationwide lockdown in the early stages of the pandemic.

Even New Zealand, the only country with an open travel corridor with Australia, announced a three-day suspension of quarantine-free travel starting on Saturday because of the outbreaks.

Mr Morrison was forced to call a meeting of national leaders late Monday as his government faced a fresh round of criticism for the sluggish vaccine rollout and failing to improve the leaky hotel quarantine system.

Almost 7.4 million vaccine doses have been administered to date, but only a small fraction of people have received both jabs.

Australia's 5 per cent of the population double-jabbed, compares to 46 per cent in the United States and 47 per cent in the United Kingdom.

People are tested for Covid-19 at a pop up clinic at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Monday. More than five million people in Greater Sydney and its surrounds have gone into a 14-day lockdown as health authorities try to regain control of a coronavirus outbreak

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital at Camperdown in Sydney's inner west had seen hundreds of people turn up to its vaccination centre on Monday (pictured)

Crowds queue outside a vaccination centre in Sydney on Thursday as the highly-infectious Delta Covid strain spreads across the city

The problem is aggravated by vaccine hesitancy. A survey by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age found that 15 per cent of adults were 'not at all likely' and 14 per cent were 'not very likely' to have a jab.

The survey was taken shortly after European countries started to suspend use of the AstraZeneca vaccine over sporadic cases of blood clots.

Mr Morrison is aiming to reach herd immunity - have around 80 per cent of the population vaccinated - before reopening the country's borders. But earlier this month he was unable to commit to even a Christmas 2022 reopening.

The PM has claimed that vaccine supply is going to 'really kick in next month in July,' with another 600,000 doses of Pfizer arriving next week.

Pedestrians wearing face masks in the deserted central area of Sydney on Monday

A food delivery cyclist rides down a deserted shopping street in Sydney on Monday amid new lockdown measures

'The challenge we've had, of course, has been with AstraZeneca. I mean, the medical advice has restricted its availability to those over 60, and prior to that over 50. Now, that was a big shock to the rollout and they are events outside of the government's control,' he told Channel 9.

'So, we'll keep working towards that goal, by the end of the year, of offering that vaccine to everybody who would want one and there will be an escalating ramp-up as we move through the second half of the year,' he added.

His government is also facing criticisms for leaving Australian citizens stranded overseas, with tough hotel quarantine measures making the prospect of visiting family not just extortionately expensive but almost impossible for expats working abroad.

And it's just as difficult to leave, with the government requiring a special exemption for those who want to travel outside Australia.

Inside the Covid cluster threatening to shut Australia down: Gold miner who caught Delta strain of virus in quarantine then worked while infectious - before 900 exposed FIFO workers travelled across the nation

By CHARLOTTE KARP FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Millions more Australians could be plunged into isolation within the next week after a gold miner exposed hundreds of colleagues to the Indian Delta strain of Covid-19 - who then flew home to every state.

About 750 workers at Granites gold mine, north-west of Alice Springs, were sent into isolation over the weekend after the miner tested positive on Saturday.

But another 900 fly-in-fly-out workers had already travelled home to cities across Australia before the worker was told he had coronavirus, sending state health authorities into panic.

Darwin went into a snap 48-hour lockdown on Sunday after 196 of the workers presented for testing, which resulted in four confirmed cases.

Another 24 went to Alice Springs and tested negative, and there are an additional 70 contacts at the Howard Springs hotel quarantine facility.

Western Australian health authorities scrambled to isolate and start testing 252 contacts who flew into the state over the weekend.

About 900 fly-in-fly-out workers had already travelled home to cities across Australia before the worker at the Granites gold mine near Alice Springs was told he had coronavirus

Another 177 people were identified as close contacts of the infected person and were told to isolate for 14 days, regardless of whether they get a negative test.

Southeast Queensland is 'on the verge of lockdown' after 170 workers arrived in Brisbane and a female miner from the Bli Bli area of the Sunshine Coast tested positive to the Delta strain after spending time out in the community.

The state is also grappling with a further three infections from a different cluster, bringing the total up to 41.

Twenty-nine of the workers flew in to Adelaide, according to SA Health. So far, there is one confirmed case and 11 have tested negative.

Two workers also flew to Tasmania and are awaiting their test results, while three out of the seven who went to Victoria have tested negative so far.

It is not known how many miners entered NSW, but one person linked to the outbreak in the NT tested positive in Australia's most populated state - bringing the total number of infections to 130.

Sydney entered into a two-week lockdown on Saturday evening after the eastern suburbs cluster started spiraling out of control.

The gold miner is believed to have been unknowingly infectious from June 18 until he tested positive.

NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner announced at a press conference that the lockdown, which will cover Darwin, Palmerston, and Litchfield, would start at 1pm on Sunday and run through to 1pm on Tuesday.

'We are assuming the worst,' Mr Gunner said.

City of Darwin, City of Palmerston, Litchfield, Wagait Shire and Belyuen Shire, and Darwin Waterfront will all stay into lockdown until Friday at 1pm (pictured a woman getting a Covid test in Darwin)

'We are expecting more cases. There is a stronger chance that any new cases will have exposure sites which makes the job of tracing and testing much bigger.'

At first it was believed the miner may have contracted the virus while in a Brisbane quarantine hotel as the man staying opposite was infected with the British Alpha strain.

WHERE THE EXPOSED MINERS WENT: Western Australia: 252 workers South Australia: 29 workers Queensland: 170 workers Victoria: 7 workers Tasmania: 2 workers NSW: Unknown, 1 infection Northern Territory: 754 in isolation at the mine; 24 in Alice Springs; 70 in Howard Springs Advertisement

The mining outbreak brings the total number of locally-acquired infections in the Territory to six.

Meanwhile, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the next 24 to 48 hours are critical if health workers are going to stop a surge in cases in the state after three new infections were recorded overnight on Monday.

When asked at a press conference about the threshold for lockdown, Ms Palaszczuk said: 'When we have unlinked community transmission.'

'We are going to be looking at this day by day and we will not hesitate to take action, I'll tell you that,' she told reporters.

'This a highly infectious strain and we need to get on top of this very, very quickly.'

As of 1am on Tuesday, masks will become mandatory in Noosa, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Logan, Redlands, Moreton, Scenic Rim, Somerset and Lockyer Valley.

The mask mandate will apply for the next two weeks. Masks do not need to be worn while driving a car or outside exercising.

Only 30 people would be allowed to visit people in their homes and the one person per 4sqm restriction had also been reintroduced in public places.

People visiting restaurants and cafes must be seated, and must use Queensland's check-in app on entry.

The second case in Queensland is linked to the Portuguese Family Centre cluster caused by an overseas Emirates flight attendant who tested positive after observing 14 days hotel quarantine a week ago.

A retail worker at the DFO shopping centre near Brisbane Airport tested positive for the virus before her partner also developed symptoms overnight on Sunday.

There are also reports the person worked at a police watch house, and officers are working to determine when the woman may have worked her last shift and whether she was infectious at the time.

About 750 workers at Granites gold mine (worker accommodation pictured), north-west of Alice Springs, were sent into isolation over the weekend after the miner tested positive on Saturday

Usually busy streets in the Territory are currently deserted after the lockdown was extended until Friday, July 2

Territorians in hotspots will also only be allowed to exercise for one hour a day with one other person they live with Pictured: NT officers checking on people in quarantine

Neither of the new cases are the Indian Delta variant and are suspected to be linked to the infected Portuguese flight attendant who travelled to the Sunshine State earlier this month.

Chief Health Office Jeannette Young urged people not to wait until the total mask mandate comes in on Tuesday.

Fears are growing the nation is on the edge of a deadly new wave of infections, with Mr Morrison calling an emergency national security committee meeting on Monday.

There are also separate clusters in other states believed to be linked to the UK Alpha variant.

Sydney's worrying outbreak has also spread to the west coast after a woman dined in a Bondi cafe at the same time as an infected resident.

The physiotherapist ate lunch at Lyfe Cafe in Sydney's east before flying home to Perth on June 20, when she returned a negative Covid test.

Premier Mark McGowan responded with sweeping restrictions to the Perth and the Peel region in an attempt to curb any further spread.

Face masks will be mandatory for at least the next three days on public transport, all indoor settings and outdoors when physical distancing is not possible.

All public events that cannot be restricted to under 150 people must be cancelled.

Sunday's AFL match between West Coast Eagles and Western Bulldogs went ahead without any spectators.

A 30-person limit has also been introduced for all private gatherings, while hospitality, retail and entertainment venues must now comply with the two square metre rule.

Weddings and funerals will be permitted to proceed with no more than 150 attendees.
Piers Morgan has taken to social media to encourage people to get the coronavirus vaccination, using a tragic case to demonstrate his point.

The 56-year-old TV personality took to Twitter to share the story of a father who appeared to refuse to have the vaccination, who has now reportedly died.

Mr Morgan's post captures four tweets sent by user @gridirondawg, likely from the U.S. and known only as Brent H, where he shares his views on the vaccination rollout. His Twitter description/bio says, 'MSU sports, Dallas Cowboys, fishing#'.

Piers Morgan, 56, took to Twitter to share the 'tragedy' of someone not getting their jab

Did you know Brent? If you are Brent's daughter or if you knew Brent, please email: newsUS@dailymail.com Advertisement

In one tweet, he writes: 'I've never taken a flu shot and I'll never take a COVID shot!'

In another, he said: 'Zinc and vitamin D regiment > Moderna and Phizer.'

In response to another user, he wrote: 'I haven't taken it and haven't had any COVID issues.'

A glance at his profile shows the most recent update on June 24, which appears to have been posted by his daughter.

The tweet reads: 'This is Brent's daughter... dad died of COVID. He had no underlying conditions and was in his early 50s.

'I know he's been saying otherwise, but PLEASE save your families this heartache. Go get your shot.'

She then shares a link to an online platform where people can find their nearest vaccination centre.

Mr Morgan captioned the image with: 'The tragedy of refusing to take covid & vaccines seriously. Get the jab.'

The screenshots were shared on Twitter via Mr Morgan's account

Mr Morgan, who has now received both coronavirus jabs, has been outspoken about encouraging people to get their vaccinations.

And Brent H is not the only person who died in the US as a result of not receiving the vaccine.

New figures found that nearly all Covid-19 deaths in the US are now in people who weren't vaccinated.

An Associated Press analysis of available government data from May shows that 'breakthrough' infections in fully vaccinated people accounted for fewer than 1,200 of more than 853,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations. That's about 0.1%.

And only about 150 of the more than 18,000 COVID-19 deaths in May were in fully vaccinated people. That translates to about 0.8 per day, or five deaths per day on average.

The AP analyzed figures provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC itself has not estimated what percentage of hospitalizations and deaths are in fully vaccinated people, citing limitations in the data.

Still, the overall trend that emerges from the data echoes what many health care authorities are seeing around the country and what top experts are saying.

Earlier this month, Andy Slavitt, a former adviser to the Biden administration on COVID-19, suggested that 98% to 99% of the Americans dying of the coronavirus are unvaccinated.

And CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on Tuesday that the vaccine is so effective that 'nearly every death, especially among adults, due to COVID-19, is, at this point, entirely preventable.' She called such deaths 'particularly tragic.'

Deaths in the U.S. have plummeted from a peak of more than 3,400 day on average in mid-January, one month into the vaccination drive.

About 63 per cent of all vaccine-eligible Americans  those 12 and older  have received at least one dose, and 53 per cent are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. While vaccine remains scarce in much of the world, the U.S. supply is so abundant and demand has slumped so dramatically that shots sit unused.

Ross Bagne, a 68-year-old small-business owner in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was eligible for the vaccine in early February but didn't get it. He died June 4, infected and unvaccinated, after spending more than three weeks in the hospital, his lungs filling with fluid. He was unable to swallow because of a stroke.

'He never went out, so he didn't think he would catch it,' said his grieving sister, Karen McKnight. She wondered: 'Why take the risk of not getting vaccinated?'

The preventable deaths will continue, experts predict, with unvaccinated pockets of the nation experiencing outbreaks in the fall and winter. Ali Mokdad, a professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle, said modeling suggests the nation will hit 1,000 deaths per day again next year.

In Arkansas, which has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation, with only about 33 per cent of the population fully protected, cases, hospitalizations and deaths are rising.

'It is sad to see someone go to the hospital or die when it can be prevented,' Gov. Asa Hutchinson tweeted as he urged people to get their shots.

In Seattle's King County, the public health department found only three deaths during a recent 60-day period in people who were fully vaccinated. The rest, some 95 per cent of 62 deaths, had had no vaccine or just one shot.

'Those are all somebody's parents, grandparents, siblings and friends,' said Dr. Mark Del Beccaro, who helps lead a vaccination outreach program in King County. 'It's still a lot of deaths, and they're preventable deaths.'

In the St. Louis area, more than 90 per cent of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 have not been vaccinated, said Dr. Alex Garza, a hospital administrator who directs a metropolitan-area task force on the outbreak.

'The majority of them express some regret for not being vaccinated,' Garza said. 'That's a pretty common refrain that we're hearing from patients with COVID.'

The stories of unvaccinated people dying may convince some people they should get the shots, but young adults  the group least likely to be vaccinated  may be motivated more by a desire to protect their loved ones, said David Michaels, an epidemiologist at George Washington University's school of public health in the nation's capital.

The stories of unvaccinated people dying may convince some people they should get the shots

Others need paid time off to get the shots and deal with any side effects, Michaels said.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration this month began requiring health care employers, including hospitals and nursing homes, to provide such time off.

But Michaels, who headed OSHA under President Barack Obama, said the agency should have gone further and applied the rule to meat and poultry plants and other food operations as well as other places with workers at risk.

Bagne, who lived alone, ran a business helping people incorporate their companies in Wyoming for the tax advantages. He was winding down the business, planning to retire, when he got sick, emailing his sister in April about an illness that had left him dizzy and disoriented.

'Whatever it was. That bug took a LOT out of me,' he wrote.

As his health deteriorated, a neighbor finally persuaded him to go to the hospital.

'Why was the messaging in his state so unclear that he didn't understand the importance of the vaccine? He was a very bright guy,' his sister said. 'I wish he'd gotten the vaccine, and I'm sad he didn't understand how it could prevent him from getting COVID.'

Concerns are rising about the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 as President Joe Biden falls short of his July 4 vaccine rollout goal.

The highly contagious Delta variant first identified in India now represents at least 20 per cent of COVID cases in the United States, where it is expected to become dominant in a matter of weeks, according to the CDC.

'US has just 1 month to act before US becomes full blown #DeltaVariant dominant. 1 month to slow it down. 1 month to fully vaccinate. Or else. But we likely have even less time than that if CDC doesn't act soon,' tweeted Eric Feigl-Ding, a public health scientist who frequently comments on the pandemic.

Concerns are rising about the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in the U.S. as President Joe Biden falls short of his July 4 vaccine rollout goal

A regional map shows the prevalence of Delta (dark orange) as a percentage of all COVID cases, with the variant gripping the Mountain West and heartland strongest

Feigl-Ding is a former Democratic candidate for Congress, who stridently advocates for vaccinating children and re-imposing universal mask rules even for those who are vaccinated.

Though he has a PhD in epidemiology, his background is in nutrition and chronic diseases rather than infectious diseases, leading some to criticize his pronouncements.

However, other U.S. infectious disease experts are also raising alarms about the Delta variant, citing worrying trends abroad.

'The delta variant is currently the greatest threat in the U.S. to our attempt to eliminate COVID-19,' Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said at a White House briefing on the virus this week.

'Good news: Our vaccines are effective against the Delta variant,' he added. 'We have the tools. So let's use them, and crush the outbreak.'

In the US, Delta has gained its strongest foothold in Mountain West and heartland states. Many of those infected are young and unvaccinated.

It is now clear that the U.S. will not meet Biden's stated goal of vaccinating 70 per cent of U.S. adults by July 4.

At this point, about 178 million American adults have received at least one vaccine dose, representing 68.9 per cent of those 18 and older.

At the current pace of vaccination, which has slowed due to hesitancy and concerns among those who remain unvaccinated, Biden's goal won't be met until late July.

The White House on Tuesday acknowledged that Biden will fall short of reaching his his Independence Day goal.

Biden also expects to miss a second goal: fully vaccinating 165 million adult Americans by July 4.

White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients projected it will take several more weeks to hit that number. On Saturday, the U.S. crossed 152 million fully vaccinated.
The police officer nearly killed in the Novichok attack says he couldn't watch the TV dramatisation of the Salisbury poisoning and that he and his wife were forced to defend themselves from social media trolls.

Former Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, 41, fell ill when he touched a door handle which had been smeared with the deadly nerve agent following the attack in March 2018.

Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found poisoned in the Wiltshire city and Mr Bailey was treated in intensive care after he was the first person to enter Mr Skripal's home.

While Mr Bailey recovered from the incident, he left Wiltshire Police in October 2020 after 18 years in the force.

A three-part drama series about the poisonings was aired on BBC One last June starring Rafe Spall as the former policeman and, although he and his wife Sarah were involved in making the drama, Mr Bailey has admitted he has not watched the finished product.

Former Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey (pictured with wife Sarah) says he couldn't watch the TV dramatisation of the Salisbury poisoning

A three-part drama series about the poisonings was aired on BBC One last June starring Rafe Spall as the former policeman

Although he and his wife Sarah were involved in making the drama, Mr Bailey has admitted he has not watched the finished product

Speaking on the Crisis What Crisis podcast, he said: 'I didn't watch it when it was aired. We were heavily involved with the making of it because we wanted it to be accurate.

'We knew they were going to do it so we said 'if you're going to do it please make it as accurate as you possibly can within the restrictions of a three one hour long drama episodes'.

'I saw raw cuts of it, edited versions of it, but I didn't watch the final thing, I didn't want to be involved in that.

'I think it was done very sensitively and very well and I think that it did to a certain extent bring me a little bit of closure on that part because it was going on for a long time.

'Did it help? No it didn't help, because I was still very much living through problems that I was facing.

'Did it cause more problems? Not really, I mean I didn't watch it but I suddenly felt - both Sarah and I felt - very compelled to justify and defend ourselves on social media because people were watching it and then understandably airing their views and their opinions on social media.

'So we felt we had to defend ourselves and explain that this is a drama based on real events, but you are not watching the people that were involved or watching the true reflections of how we dealt with it, this is a drama.'

It comes after Mr Bailey recently revealed he wants to meet the Skripals, having never actually come face-to-face, despite their shared ordeal, some three years on.

While the three of them managed to survive the incident, it later tragically claimed the life of Dawn Sturgess, 44, after she came into contact with a perfume bottle believed to have been used in the attack and then discarded.

Mr Bailey said: 'I would, I think I would [like to meet them]. Sarah and I talked about this a lot as to whether we'd want to speak to them and to meet them. For a long time I was like 'no, I don't', not for any other reason, I just couldn't cope with that.

Personnel in hazmat suits work to secure a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury in 2018, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill

The Skripals having dinner. Bailey who served in the police for 18 years left the force in October last year because he 'could no longer do the job'

Sergei Skripal's house, where the door handle was smeared with Novichok as part of the hit

Alexander Petrov (left) and Ruslan Boshirov, the Russian military intelligence officers accused of carrying out the poisoning

'I look back now, obviously it's been three years and I've had enough time, and I think it'd be very interesting to speak to them and to get their take on everything and see how they're doing as well, because obviously nobody knows how they are.'

The Skripals spent more than a year living in an MI6 safe house after being released from hospital and have since begun a new life in New Zealand under new identities.

And Mr Bailey added: 'I do wish them well and I hope that they can come out of it as unscathed as you possibly can.'

Two Russian nationals have been accused of travelling to the UK to try to murder Mr Skripal with Novichok, smearing the highly toxic substance on his door handle.

Evidence gathered by intelligence agencies led the Government to conclude the men were officers from the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU.

The suspects  known by the aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov  were caught on CCTV in Salisbury the day before the attack.

Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement, with President Vladimir Putin claiming the two suspects were civilians, and the pair stating in an interview that they were tourists visiting Salisbury Cathedral.
A poignant letter penned by a tragic British Tommy to his family 'in the event of his death' nine days before he was killed has emerged for sale 106 years on.

Lieutenant Frank Stuart Shoosmith fought in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915 as Allied casualties spiralled into the hundreds of thousands.

Fearful he could suffer the same fate as so many fallen comrades, the 21-year-old wrote a letter he hoped his parents would never have to read.

In one heartbreaking passage, he tells his mother to 'take care' of his partner Ivy and 'help her to forget me'.

He urges her to 'fall in love with someone else' and says he hopes they are proud that he died 'fighting for his country'.

Just over a week later, on August 21, 1915, he died instantly when he was shot through the head while moving along a trench.

He was one of 31,000 British soldiers killed in the campaign. In total 51,000 Allied troops lost their lives. A further 250,000 were injured.

A poignant letter penned by a tragic British Tommy to his family 'in the event of his death' nine days before he was killed has emerged for sale 106 years on

Lieutenant Frank Stuart Shoosmith fought in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915 as Allied casualties spiralled into the hundreds of thousands. Pictured: A book of his letters along with a watchstrap containing Lieutnant Shoosmith's photo is being sold with C&T Auctions, of Ashford, Kent

The letter was kept by the mother and then transcribed by another family member into a book containing all Lieutenant Shoosmith's wartime correspondence.

The book of his letters is being sold with C&T Auctions, of Ashford, Kent, alongside a watchstrap containing Lieutenant Shoosmith's photo which his mother wore in his memory.

Lieutenant Shoosmith, of the 5th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, wrote on August 12, 1915: 'My dearest family. Am writing this letter as a precaution and it will be forwarded to you in cause anything shall happen to me.

'You see one can never tell the fortune of war, so it is as well to be ready.

He said towards the end of the letter: 'If I shall get knocked out you will know that I died fighting for my country, and I hope you will be proud of me. What more can I do?'

The letter was kept by the mother and then transcribed by another family member into a book containing all Lieutenant Shoosmith's wartime correspondence (pictured)

A C&T Auctions spokesperson said: 'The "memorial" notebook contains transcribed letters to his family from Gallipoli in 1915'

The sale of the items, which are valued at 300, takes place on Wednesday

'I don't think I have much to say, there is not much I can say.

'If I shall get knocked out you will know that I died fighting for my country, and I hope you will be proud of me. What more can I do?

'Of course take care of Ivy, help her to forget me (in a way) and she must fall in love with someone else, whatever happens take care of her.

'I think that is all. Goodbye, love Stuart.'

A C&T Auctions spokesperson said: 'The "memorial" notebook contains transcribed letters to his family from Gallipoli in 1915.

'There is some very interesting detail including his work as a machine gun officer and his personal impressions of being in action.

'The letter he wrote in the event of his death is particularly poignant, and there is also a watchstrap with a photo of Stu believed to have been kept by his mother in memory of her son.'

The sale of the items, which are valued at 300, takes place on Wednesday.

Another transcription shows the letter written by the 'Keeper of the Privy Purse' - an aide to the King - expressing Buckingham Palace's sadness at Lieutenant Shoosmith's death
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A paranoid schizophrenic who stabbed eight people during a 90-minute knife rampage in Birmingham has today admitted killing a Sheffield Hallam graduate and wounding seven.

Zephaniah McLeod, 27, had already pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Jacob Billington, 23, on the grounds of diminished responsibility, but has now admitted four charges of attempted murder and three of wounding with intent in a series of knifings on September 6 last year.

The defendant, who appeared in court over a video link from Ashworth Hospital wearing a white T-shirt and dark blue zip-up top, spoke to confirm his name and say he understood proceedings, before entering pleas.

University worker Mr Billington, from Crosby, Merseyside, died from a wound to the neck on his way back to a hotel after enjoying a night out while visiting a friend who was studying in the city.

The seven other people McLeod stabbed were Dimitar Bachvarov, Migle Dolobauskaite, Thomas Glassey, Michael Callaghan, Shane Rowley, Rhys Cummings and Ryan Bowers.

Mr Billington's family were present in Birmingham Crown Court and over the video-link to hear the pleas of McLeod, whom the court heard suffered with paranoid schizophrenia.

Prosecuting, Peter Grieves-Smith QC said McLeod, of Selly Oak, had carried out 'totally unprovoked' attacks on members of the public and had stabbed the first three victims in 'quick succession'.

Zephaniah McLeod had already pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Jacob Billington on the grounds of diminished responsibility, but has now admitted four charges of attempted murder and three of wounding with intent in a series of knifings on September 6 last year. Left, handout photo. Right, court artist sketch

University worker Mr Billington, from Crosby, Merseyside, died from a wound to the neck on his way back to a hotel after enjoying a night out while visiting a friend who was studying in the city

Forensic officers cross a cordon on Hurst Walk near the Arcadia Centre, where part of the attack took place

Prosecutor Karim Khalil QC told the court the guilty and not guilty pleas were acceptable to the prosecution. The barrister told the brief hearing: 'Those pleas were entered as anticipated... they are pleas which the Crown accepts in this case.'

Explaining the decision, Mr Khalil added: 'The psychiatrists instructed by both the Crown and the defence concluded in agreement with one another that the defendant clearly suffered from a condition of paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the material events.

'It was unquestionably a condition which affected his ability to understand all that was going on.'

Mr Khalil said consultations had taken place prior to the decision, with victims and their parents in the case of Mr Billington. After the pleas were entered and accepted, the Recorder of Birmingham, Judge Melbourne Inman QC, said of the stabbings: 'There are many people touched and affected by the case.

'The hearing this morning may appear to be disproportionately short given the very grave seriousness of the case. But it's quite clear that the Crown and the defence have given very careful expert consideration of the evidence.'

The defendant, who appeared in court over a video link from Ashworth Hospital wearing a white T-shirt and dark blue zip-up top, spoke to confirm his name and say he understood proceedings, before entering pleas

Police had issued CCTV images of a man wanted in connection with a series of stabbings

The judge added that it was important that the psychiatrists involved in assessing McLeod were now given time to help the court determine the proper sentence on him.

McLeod had approached his first victim, Dimitar Bachvarov, in Constitution Hill, and asked for a cigarette before stabbing him in the neck with a knife and running off. About 20 minutes later in Livery Street, Migle Dolobauskaite was stabbed to the left side of the neck and shoulder by McLeod.

Thomas Glassey was in Barwick Street when he was stabbed twice by McLeod and left in a critical condition. Mr Grieves-Smith said the knife the defendant used was later found in a drain nearby.

McLeod then went to a pizza shop and tried to get another knife. When his request for a knife was refused, he got a taxi back to his home and armed himself with another knife before going out again to look for more victims.

He then stabbed Mr Billington and Michael Callaghan who were with a group of friends who had returned to a hotel after a night out. A post-mortem examination concluded that Mr Billington died as a result of a neck wound.

McLeod will be sentenced on September 27 and 28.
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Trevor Phillips today revealed that Cabinet minister Brandon Lewis has 'expressed his sympathies' to him privately after the Sky News presenter slammed the Northern Ireland Secretary and the government for defending Matt Hancock's rule-breaking affair - while hundreds of loved ones were prevented from attending his daughter's funeral.

The anti-racism campaigner told Mr Lewis on Ridge on Sunday that he buried his daughter, freelance journalist Sushila Phillips, 36, on May 11 - just five days after cheating Mr Hancock kissed aide Gina Coladangelo in his ministerial office.

Mr Phillips, who chaired the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said 300 friends and family were forced to watch the funeral online because they were banned from the graveside 'even though it was in the open air, because of the rule of 30, because of the instruction by Mr Hancock'.

A visibly uncomfortable Mr Lewis listened as the Sky News broadcaster then asked: 'Now the next time one of you tells me what to do in my private life, explain to me why I shouldn't just tell you where to get off?'

The emotional interview led to an outpouring of support for the presenter, with others criticising Mr Lewis and the government.

Taking to Twitter today, Mr Phillips revealed that the Northern Ireland Secretary had reached out to him and added: 'Thank you everyone for your condolences and your support for our family. Since Brandon Lewis and I spoke he has been in touch privately to express his sympathies; I am grateful.'

His daughter Sushila died 'peacefully in her own bed' after a 22-year battle with anorexia, her family announced on Facebook in April. They called her 'one of the wisest, kindest, strongest and funniest people' and 'a force and the most beautiful soul'.

Pointing out the Government's double standard during Sunday's show, Mr Phillips said: 'I want to put a private - personal question I guess, in a way - to you. Over the past two days every Cabinet minster including you has come out to essentially defend the Prime Minister and Matt Hancock.

'The pictures that we saw were of an encounter on May the 6th. On May the 11th my family buried my daughter who had died not of Covid but during the lockdown. Three hundred of our family and friends turned up online but most of them were not allowed to be at the graveside even though it was in the open air because of the rule of 30, because of the instruction by Mr Hancock.

'Now the next time one of you tells me what to do in my private life, explain to me why I shouldn't just tell you where to get off?'

Sky News presenter Trevor Phillips yesterday told a Cabinet minister defending Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson 'where to get off' after describing how hundreds of loved ones were prevented from attending his daughter's funeral while the Health Secretary broke rules with his mistress

Sushila died 'peacefully in her own bed' after a 22-year battle with anorexia, her family announced on Facebook in April. They called her 'one of the wisest, kindest, strongest and funniest people' and 'a force and the most beautiful soul'

The news came less than two hours after Matt Hancock announced his resignation from the position following the emergence of video footage showing him kissing an aide in his ministerial office in a breach of coronavirus restrictions

Mr Phillips wrote about his daughter's battle with anorexia in March in an article for The Times in the wake of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey

Saj gets down to business: New Health Secretary thanks cheating predecessor for his 'hard work' and says his 'most immediate priority is ending pandemic as soon as possible' as he speaks for first time in new role Sajid Javid today announced his 'most immediate priority' will be ending the pandemic as soon as possible and praised cheating Matt Hancock's record in government after the disgraced former minister was pictured flouting coronavirus restrictions. Speaking to the media for the first time since becoming Health Secretary on Saturday, Mr Javid said: 'I just want to start by saying I think Matt Hancock worked incredibly hard, he achieved a lot, and I'm sure he will have more to offer in public life. 'I was honoured to take up this position. I also know that it comes with a huge responsibility and I will do everything I can to make sure that I deliver for this great country. 'We are still in a pandemic and I want to see that come to an end as soon as possible and that will be my most immediate priority, to see that we can return to normal as soon and as quickly as possible.' Advertisement

Mr Lewis then blurted out: 'Look I absolutely accept and understand the frustration, even the anger, people have, having been rough the situations they've been through.

'People across the country, I've lost friends whose funerals I've not been able to go to over the last period - that is such a tragic situation for any of us to be in, and that's - I have to say - why its so important all of us do what we can to keep ourselves, our families, our friends, our wider community safe.

'It's also why what Matt did was wrong. He acknowledged that, why he apologised immediately for his behaviour and acknowledged what he did was wrong, and it's also why he's taken the decision that his position was untenable and distracted from the wider work that we've all got to do to move forward in the pandemic and out of the pandemic.'

The anti-racism campaigner is the latest public figure to criticise Mr Hancock's double standards after DailyMail.com's editor-at-large Piers Morgan attacked the former Health Secretary on Twitter before his resignation.

Mr Morgan shared a picture of the Health Secretary embracing Miss Coladangelo next to one of the Queen sitting alone at Prince Philip's funeral a month earlier.

'I thought you said the rules were for everyone', reads a heartbreaking speech bubble from the masked Queen, who was forced to sit through her husband's funeral alone in line with social distancing guidelines.

Posting the meme on Twitter, Mr Morgan wrote: 'This perfectly sums up why Hancock is toast.'

Mr Phillips wrote about his daughter's battle with anorexia in March in an article for The Times in the wake of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.

He revealed that Sushila - who graduated with a first class honours degree in English literature from York University in 2008, and also had a diploma in law and masters degree in English literature - had been having regular treatment at a specialist medical unit.

In his article, Mr Phillips compared his daughter's struggles with anorexia to those described by Meghan. He wrote: 'Though I have thankfully never sunk to the despair described by the duchess, our family has spent more than two decades watching helplessly as my older daughter battled a severe eating disorder.

Gina Coladangelo (pictured with the Health Secretary in September 2019), initially taken on by Mr Hancock as an unpaid adviser on a six-month contract in early 2020, is also leaving her position on the board of the Department of Health

Matt Hancock wrote a letter of resignation (pictured above) to Boris Johnson where he said the Government 'owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down

Martha Hancock's husband stood down from his role as Health Secretary after leaked CCTV footage surfaced of him locking lips and fondling married mother-of-three Gina Coladangelo, 43

After allowing a month to elapse, the whistleblower approached lockdown sceptics and asked them to help sell the incendiary footage to the media

'Hours before writing these words she and I bade farewell on a familiar threshold: the specialist unit to which she admits herself periodically when the daily struggle against her demons proves just too exhausting.'

Mr Phillips recounted in painful detail his struggle to help his daughter through her ordeal - which extended to physically intervening to prevent her throwing herself out of a moving car.

He said: 'I do know what it feels like to have to pin your teenage child to the floor of a speeding car to prevent her throwing herself out of the door. I understand what it is to hear that she may not live long enough to go to university.

'I have met the girls with whom she shared the hellish wards reserved for the most distressed, and learnt not to look away when she tells me that I'll never see one of them again because she has taken her own life.'

Mr Phillips said his experience meant he did not 'take the duchess's words lightly' about her mental health, although he said it was 'hard to imagine any family would knowingly ignore such distress'.
A Champlain Towers resident says when he first felt his bedroom shake last week, he thought he was dreaming about an earthquake, but soon he realized his nightmare was a reality filled with dust raining from the ceiling and his neighbors' desperate screams for help.

Steve Rosenthal, 72, was among some of the more fortunate tenants who were rescued when the 12-story condominium building in suburban Miami collapsed early Thursday morning, killing at least 10 people and leaving more than 150 others missing.

Rosenthal was asleep in his corner unit on the fourth floor of the apartment building in Surfside at around 1.30am on the morning of the disaster when he said he heard what he described as 'the loudest thunderclap times a hundred,' followed by violent shaking.

Steve Rosenthal, 72, was rescued from his corner unit at the doomed Champlain Towers in Surfside, Florida, last Thursday. He said he heard people screaming: 'Help me! Get me out!'

Search and rescue personnel search for survivors through the rubble at the Champlain Towers South in Surfside on Sunday

Rosenthal said the unit right next to his crumbled. So far, 10 people have been confirmed dead

'I'm saying, "I'm in a dream about an earthquake in California. This isn't real,"' he recounted on Sunday to multiple news outlets, including News4Jax.

When dust began settling on Rosenthal, he realized that what he was experiencing was no dream and ran into the hallway.

'The ceilings down. Cement and rocks. People yelling and screaming, "Help me. Help me. Get me out. Get me out,"' Rosenthal recalled.

The collapse survivor said the apartment that was located right next to his crumbled.

'One unit over, and Im gone, and Im gone,' Rosenthal said.

Rosenthal ran back inside his apartment to change clothes and pack a few of his belongings. He then went onto his fourth-floor balcony, where he was rescued by firefighters via a ladder truck.

Rosenthal was rescued by firefighters from his fourth-floor balcony, similar to those pictured above

Rescue workers are using sniffer dogs to try and locate survivors in the rubble

'Thank God I am alive, I believe my parents were looking out for me,' he told the New York Post.

Rosenthal said when he observed the pile of rubble that had been his apartment building, he realized that he likely lost several friends in the collapse.

Repeated calls to those people have gone unanswered, said Rosenthal.

'I lost at least 10 people that theyre showing pictures on the TV that are missing,' the man said. 'They are all on that one side that went down.'

Rosenthal is now one of the survivors receiving aid from Global Empowerment Mission, a non-for-profit organization started by Miami businessman and philanthropist Michael Capponi, reported NBC Miami.

In the wake of the building collapse, Capponi's foundation has been handing out $1,500 prepaid debit cards and care packages containing basic necessities to people who have lost their homes.

Meanwhile, a search and rescue operation at the site of the collapse entered its fifth day, with workers feverishly digging through mounds of debris in search of survivors, aided by sniffer dogs and radar and sonar equipment.

No one has been pulled out alive from the rubble since the first day the structure fell.

More than 150 people remain unaccounted for as the search for survivors enters Day 6

Family members of those missing from Champlain Towers South Condo collapse arrive back at the reunification center after visiting the scene in Surfside Sunday

The death toll rose by just five people Monday, to a total of 10 confirmed dead. But more than 150 people are still missing in Surfside.

The 40-year-old building came down just days before a deadline for condo owners to start making steep payments toward more than $9million in repairs that had been recommended nearly three years earlier, in a report that warned of 'major structural damage.'

Rosenthal, who had lived in his corner unit No 705 for 20 years, told the Post he had observed cracks in his balcony but was not concerned about the structural integrity of the building.

'Now that I am seeing these structural engineers reports coming  stuff should have been done years ago, and maybe theyre negligent,' he told the paper. 'It is scary to think about.'
Donald Trump blamed Mitch McConnell on Monday for helping seal Joe Biden's 'corrupt election' win, claiming the Republican leader worked with former Attorney General Bill Barr to downplay his election fraud claims

'He never fought for the White House and blew it for the Country,' Trump wrote in a statement released Monday. 'Too bad I backed him in Kentucky, he would have been primaried and lost!'

'Based on press reports, he convinced his buddy, Bill Barr, to get the corrupt election done, over with, and sealed for Biden, ASAP!' he continued.

Trump claimed that the Republican leader didn't fight enough to try and overturn the election in his favor  and said if he was president, he would be vetoing Democratic legislation left and right.

'Had Mitch McConnell fought for the Presidency like he should have, there would right now be Presidential Vetoes on all of the phased Legislation that he has proven to be incapable of stopping,' he wrote.

'Not to mention, he lost two Senatorial seats in Georgia, making the Republicans the Minority in the Senate.'

The statement was the second from Trump in less than 24 hours lashing out at McConnell and 'disappointment' Barr for 'letting down the American people' after a report emerged Sunday that the former attorney general felt the election fraud investigation was 'bulls**t' from the start.

Donald Trump claimed Monday that Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (right) didn't do enough to try and overturn the 2020 presidential election.

'RINO former Attorney General Bill Barr failed to investigate election fraud, and really let down the American people,' Trump said in his Sunday evening statement from his Save America political action committee email.

The term 'RINO', or Republican in name only, has been dubbed an insult to those on the right who identify as Republicans but pro-Trumpers feel are not Republican enough.

'It's people in authority like Bill Barr that allow the crazed Radical Left to succeed,' the former president continued in his statement. 'He and other RINOs in the Republican Party are being used in order to try to convince people that the election was legitimate when so many incredible facts have now come out to show conclusively that it wasn't.'

Trump has repeated his claims nearly daily that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and rigged by Democrats for Joe Biden.

Barr said, according to excerpts from an upcoming book published on Sunday, that he only really launched a Justice Department probe into Trump's voter fraud claims because he wanted to cover his bases when the then-president came to him about it.

'My attitude was: It was put-up or shut-up time,' Barr told Axios' Jonathan Karl. 'If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it.'

'But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there. It was all bulls**t,' he added. 'Instead of doing his job, he did the opposite and told people within the Justice Department not to investigate the election.'

Trump lashed out at his former Attorney General Bill Barr on Sunday evening for being a 'disappointment' and 'letting down the American people' by not fully investigating claims of voter fraud when he was head of the Justice Department. Barr was Trump's attorney general from February 2019 until December 2020

'PEOPLE LIKE BARR LET THE RADICAL LEFT SUCCEED': TRUMP'S FULL STATEMENT ATTACKING FORMER AG RINO former Attorney General Bill Barr failed to investigate election fraud, and really let down the American people. Even the scam that took place in Georgia of ballot stuffing on camera, he couldn't see what was wrong with it. Just like he failed to understand the Horowitz report and let everyone down with respect to getting a timely investigation (where's Durham?) on all of the corruption of the Obama-Biden Administration. It's people in authority like Bill Barr that allow the crazed Radical Left to succeed. He and other RINOs in the Republican Party are being used in order to try to convince people that the election was legitimate when so many incredible facts have now come out to show conclusively that it wasn't. He came in with a semi-bang and went out with a whimper. Earlier in his term Bill Barr went ballistic on CNN with Wolf Blitzer warning Democrats were changing election rules to flood the system with mail-in ballots that 'as a matter of logic' are 'very open to fraud.' They are, and Bill Barr did nothing about it. If there was no fraud, why are Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and other States spending so much time and effort on exposing the fraud? We already know that: 101,789 'obsolete' voters on the rolls in Georgia, including 18,486 dead people Ballot batches off by up to 17.5 percent in Maricopa County, Arizona 'Massive' chain of custody problems with drop boxes in Georgia, missing hundreds of thousands of records for months after the election Thousands of ballots 'wheeled in through the back door' in Fulton County days after the election 'Double feeding' ballots in Fulton County, Georgia Nearly 200,000 illegal 'indefinitely confined' votes in Wisconsin that violated Voter ID law 'Cash for votes' scheme in Nevada Illegal alien votes Election law changes were not authorized by the State Legislatures, which is mandated by the U.S. Constitution And much more! If he felt this way, why did Barr say he was 'greatly honored' and 'proud to have played a role in the many successes and unprecedented achievements you have delivered for the American people' in the final letter he wrote to me? He said, 'Few could have weathered these attacks, much less forge ahead with a positive program for the country.' Now it was revealed that Barr was being pushed to tell lies about the election by Mitch McConnell, another beauty, who was worried about damaging the Republicans chances in the Georgia runoff. What really damaged the Senate Republicans was allowing their races to be rigged and stolen, and worse, the American people to no longer believe their vote matters because spineless RINOs like Bill Barr and Mitch McConnell did nothing. Bill Barr was a disappointment in every sense of the word. Besides which, Barr, who was Attorney General (lawyer) shouldn't be speaking about the President. Instead of doing his job, he did the opposite and told people within the Justice Department not to investigate the election. Just like he did with the Mueller report and the cover up of Crooked Hillary and RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA, they don't want to investigate the real facts. Bill Barr's weakness helped facilitate the cover up of the Crime of the Century, the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election! Advertisement

Trump said in his statement that it was then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who pressured Barr to downplay GOP claims of voter fraud because he was worried about losing Republican Senate seats in two runoff elections in Georgia at the time.

Bill told Karl in interviews published in The Atlantic Sunday, that he concluded early on when declaring the investigation that it was highly unlikely that any evidence existed that would change that outcome of the 2020 election.

'He came in with a semi-bang and went out with a whimper,' Trump wrote Sunday of his former DOJ head, claiming he 'did nothing about' COVID-era election rules that he said left the ballots 'very open to fraud.'

'Bill Barr was a disappointment in every sense of the word,' he added.

Instead of doing his job, he did the opposite and told people within the Justice Department not to investigate the election.

Barr said he opened an investigation because he knew former Trump was going to confront him about his claims of fraud and a 'rigged' election, and he wanted to be able to say he looked into it and found nothing.

The former attorney general said that McConnell urged him to keep in good favor with Trump, but also speak out against election fraud claims because he felt he wasn't in a good position to do so himself.

'Look, we need the president in Georgia,' McConnell said, according to Barr. 'And so we cannot be frontally attacking him right now.'

At the time, the Republicans were vying in two key Senate runoff elections in Georgia, which ultimately decided the Democratic majority in the upper chamber after both Republican incumbents were defeated.

Barr said McConnell told him: 'You're in a better position to inject some reality into this situation. You are really the only one who can do it.'

Trump responded to this part of the report with: 'Now it was revealed that Barr was being pushed to tell lies about the election by Mitch McConnell, another beauty, who was worried about damaging the Republicans chances in the Georgia runoff.'

'What really damaged the Senate Republicans was allowing their races to be rigged and stolen, and worse, the American people to no longer believe their vote matters because spineless RINOs like Bill Barr and Mitch McConnell did nothing,' he accused.

Barr said that he knew from the start that Donald Trump's election fraud claims were 'bulls**t' despite opening a Justice Department investigation into it, according to an upcoming book

Following Joe Biden's declared win in November 2020, Trump immediately launched claims of widespread voter fraud by Democrats and began a series of lawsuits and probes into the election  especially involving the mass amount of mail in ballots in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The former president is still spewing these claims, including at his first post-presidency rally in Ohio on Saturday night where he said that he is the legitimate election winner.

'This was the scam of the century and this was the crime of the history,' he said to a massive crowd gathered in Wellington, Ohio.

Last December, Barr told the Associated Press: 'To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election.'

Karl said Barr told him about a conversation he had with Trump after the report went out.

'Did you say that?' Trump had asked Barr, according to the former attorney general.

'Yes,' Barr responded.

'How the f**k could you do this to me? Why did you say it?' he shot back

'Because it's true,' Barr said he told the then-outgoing president.

'You must hate Trump. You must hate Trump,' he responded, referring to himself in the third person.

Trump insisted to supporters at his Ohio rally Saturday that in some states there were 'more votes than voters', that there was 'North Korean-style turnout' and that 'ballots were wheeled in backdoors.'

'There's just mountains of evidence,' Trump claimed, adding that Democrats 'used COVID in order to cheat.'

He said the Trump campaign lost dozens of court cases because 'many of our judges were gutless.'

'And I am ashamed of our Supreme Court,' the ex-president said.

The court, which skews 6-3 conservative thanks to three Trump nominees making it through in his four years, refused to take up the election fraud cases.

Trump gave a shout out to MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who has been publicly pushing the conspiracy that Trump won.

'Where's Mike, the pillow man?' Trump asked the crowd as he referred to Lindell as a 'patriot.'

He also raged at the government's treatment of the 'greatest mayor in the history of New York' Rudy Giuliani, who lost his law license Thursday over the election fraud farce. He also had his home raided by the FBI earlier this year and 18 electronic devices were seized.

'I'm not the one trying to undermine American democracy, I'm the one trying to save American democracy,' Trump went on.
Schoolteacher Marion Barter appeared happy and content with life before 'something happened' in the months before she vanished, a NSW coroner has been told.

The mother-of-two was last seen on June 22, 1997 - the day she flew out of Brisbane for an indefinite trip to England.

But her relatives and police now know she'd already changed her name by deed poll to Florabella Natalia Marion Remakel and would soon slip back into Australia without ever making contact.

Marion Barter, 51, (pictured) was last seen at a depot on Scarborough Street at Southport on June 22, 1997 - the day she flew out of Brisbane for an indefinite trip to England

The beloved teacher had worked at The Southport School on the Gold Coast since 1994 but quit in the middle of 1997, a move her daughter described as 'out of character'

Sally Leydon, who has led the charge to find her mother, said her mother's decision to quit her job at The Southport School in the middle of 1997 was 'out of character'.

Ms Barter had worked at the prestigious school since early 1994 and had appeared to have made friends with colleagues and parents.

'She seemed very happy and content,' Ms Leydon told the NSW Coroners Court on Monday.

But in late 1996 or early 1997, Ms Barter began to speak to her daughter about a staff member causing her a lot of grief.

'I felt they got on very well and then something happened,' Ms Leydon said.

But she was unsure what that was or even if it was really the catalyst for her mother upending her life.

She accepted 'in hindsight' that her mother had not been open about what was going on in her life.

Her daughter Sally Leydon told the NSW Coroners Court on Monday her mother had spoken of a staff member 'causing her a lot of grief' before her mysterious disappearance

Ms Barter (pictured) sold her Southport home, put her possessions in storage and told family she would return in a year or find work in England

Ms Leydon described her mother as somewhat naive, easily influenced when in love and 'the kind of person who didn't like being on her own'.

But the loved teacher, who had an 'outrageously funny laugh' and wore her heart on her sleeve, hadn't mentioned any new flames before her disappearance, her daughter said.

Ms Barter sold her Southport home, put her possessions in storage and told family she would return in a year or find work in England.

Among her final acts, she helped Ms Leydon and her newly engaged partner Chris book their 1998 wedding in the chapel at The Southport School, never mentioning she wouldn't attend.

A passport in her new name was used on re-entry to Australia on August 2.

Ms Leydon later learned her mother's bank account was used in Byron Bay, travelling there in October 1997 to hand out flyers and alert police to her missing mother.

Marion Barter, who changed her name by deed poll to Florabella Natalia Marion Remakel, has not been confirmed as being seen since departing Australia in 1997

Ms Leydon (right) described her mother as somewhat naive, easily influenced when in love and 'the kind of person who didn't like being on her own'

But the police report was marked 'occurrence only' and shelved for 10 years, with the original officer now assuming Ms Leydon hadn't expressed a sense of urgency or an explicit request to file a missing person report.

State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan is examining whether Ms Barter's disappearance was intentional, why it occurred and whether she is alive or dead.

A two-year police investigation determined in 2011 she was not a missing person but the case has been in the care of the homicide unit since 2019.

NSW Police on Friday announced a $250,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of any person or persons responsible for Marion's disappearance.

The inquest continues.
A British holidaymaker plunged to his death in a Grand Canyon skydive after being given a parachute that was patched with holes waiting to be repaired, an inquest heard.

Thrill seeker Christopher Swales, 55, was also partnered with a military instructor who was said by his bosses to have 'panicked' and executed an 'aggressive left turn' in midair which led to the accident.

Self employed joiner Mr Swales, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, had been given his first jump as a 30th anniversary present by wife Deborah, then 53, while they were holidaying in the USA in September 2019.

The inquest heard top US Air Force jump master Matthew McGonagle told police everything was normal when he and Mr Swales left the Cessna jet in tandem.

But when he realised they were going to land short of the landing area he performed a left turn.

The parachute appeared to open as normal but then collapsed and the pair went into free fall.

Both men hit the ground where Mr McGonagle injured his side and Mr Swales suffered multiple injuries.

He was certified dead at the scene despite frantic attempts to revive him including CPR, the coroner was told.

Self employed joiner Christopher Swales, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, had been given his first jump as a 30th anniversary present by wife Deborah, then 53, while they were holidaying in the USA in September 2019

The thrillseeker had been given a parachute that was patched with holes waiting to be repaired

He was found unconscious after the fall at the Grand Canyon National Park Airport but later died from his injuries in hospital

The inquest heard top US Air Force jump master Matthew McGonagle, pictured, told police everything was normal when he and Mr Swales left the Cessna jet in tandem

Police were called out when father-of-two Mr Swales lay dying at the Grand Canyon National Park Airport.

Five people were on board the six-seater Cessna when it left the airport just after 9.30am  as ground winds gusted at up to 27mph  2mph more than would be permitted for a British jump.

Mr McGonagle, 34, one of two tandem jumpers on board said 'there was a bit of chaos' over the seating arrangements.

Mr McGonagle, a veteran of more than 1,500 drops, later told police from his hospital bed: 'The only thing that was unique was that the wind was somewhat higher than normal - but that in itself was not unusual as I had experience of high winds.'

He continued in his police statement that he and Chris were the first to leave the Cessna 20 minutes later.

'He explained they exited the plane, they free fell for a short period of time at which point he opened their parachute,' a report by Coconino County Sheriff's Office said.

'He explained their parachute opened and they began to slowly fall, being held up by the canopy.

'He explained that in the last turn as they approached the landing area he felt a pressure change and possibly his canopy collapse.

'At which point, him and the individual he was attached to fell to the ground which resulted in him being injured.

'He explained from that point forward it got a little fuzzy and he remembered medical staff treating him and him being brought to the hospital.'

Towards the end of the interview, McGonagle, who had suffered a broken leg, asked 'if Chris was OK'.

On being told he was dead, he became 'very upset' and it appeared he had not been told, the report added.

Deborah Swales leaves the inquest into her husband's death in Northallerton

The father-of-two, from Harrogate, north Yorkshire, was killed when he came into land when something went wrong. His instructor survived with a broken leg

The trip had been authorised by Paragon Skydiving, whose owner Jason Thuema, 38, witnessed the accident from the ground.

The report says Mr Thuema removed the red parachute and its canister from the scene because it was 'hindering emergency services'.

It was 'seized' the same morning from the main storage room at Paragon headquarters on the instructions of a detective.

The inquest heard Det Sgt Jason Lurkins examined the parachute on September 13 at Flagstaff Police HQ along with US Air Force Tech Sergeant Joshua Keyes and a USAF Master Sgt.

Det Sgt Lurkins said: 'We then suspended the chute from one of the garage doors to allow TSgt Keyes to inspect the interior side of each chute cells.

'During the inspection, I observed numerous patches sewn into the fabric on the top of the chute. Most, to all, of these patches were found to be on the top fabric towards the front of the chute.

'Near these patches I observed, and TSgt Keyes pointed out, some defects/holes in the chute material that appeared to have been noted by the rigger and circled with pen to track movement, or continuing tear, of the material.'

But Mr Thuema, 38, said in a statement to the inquest that he did not observe any problem with the equipment on descent.

He added that Mr McGonagle 'must have panicked' and 'performed an aggressive left turn' on realising they were going to come in short of the landing area.

He added: 'I saw the parachute fall down. They hit the ground at high speed. Matthew worked at the Air Force full time as a jump master before coming to work weekends at Paragon. Matthew must have panicked.'

The police report added: 'Jason then stated that the subjects missed the landing zone by approximately 100 yards and impacted the ground at high speed,' the report added.

'Jason described the landing as a loud 'boom' and a cloud of dust.'

The parachute appeared to open as normal but then collapsed and the pair went into free fall

'Jason advised that there could not have been any mechanical failure or equipment failure and, again, that Matthew must have 'panicked'.'

The inquest was told that the Cessna's pilot had returned to Colombia before US cops could interview him.

Coroner Jonathan Heath told the inquest in Northallerton, North Yorkshire: 'It appears there was nothing untoward at the start of the freefall parachute jump.

'It then appeared the landing site was going to be missed. A manoeuvre was performed.

'The parachute did not recover from that manoeuvre, which led to a freefall.'

His conclusion was that 'on the balance of probabilities that this was an accident'.

Mr Swales' widow and family attended the hearing and issued a statement at the end of the proceedings.

They said: 'The inquest was to establish the facts of Chris's death.

'He had a very full life. He was full of fun and love. He was full of spirit and fun times. That is how we are going to remember him.'

They declined to comment further after the hearing.

The company said at the time: 'The chute was functioning 100 per cent correctly. The parachute was three weeks old.

'The chute never collapsed. The equipment was maintained according to the regulations.'

US police have closed the case, concluding death was an accident. According to British Skydiving, jumps in Britain are not normally permitted above gusts of 25mph.
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A diver has shared stunning images captured during a treacherous dive to investigate a 300-year-old Royal Navy ship wreck.

The lives of 1,100 sailors were lost when the vessel, HMS Victory, sank in 1744.

The 100-gun ship was launched in 1737, and seven years later it was the flagship of a fleet led by Admiral Sir John Balchen.

He successfully led a force to relieve a British convoy trapped by a French blockade of the River Tagus, in Portugal.

But on the return journey, Victory was separated from the fleet and sank on 5 October 1744.

Its sinking is considered the worst single British naval disaster in the English Channel.

The ship, which predated Lord Nelson's famous flagship of the same name, was long sought after by wreck finders.

It was discovered lying 50 miles south-east of Plymouth in 2009 by Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration.

When Lord Nelson's Victory was named, there were some doubts about using the title because of the fact that the 1744 vessel and all of its sailors had been lost.

The more famous HMS Victory was the flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, in which Britain - led by Lord Nelson - triumphed against Napoleon's France in 1805. Lord Nelson was famously killed in the battle.

A diver has shared stunning images captured during a treacherous dive to investigate a 300-year-old Royal Navy ship wreck. The lives of 1,100 sailors were lost when the vessel, HMS Victory, sunk in 1744

Dominic Robinson - the officer in charge of the Joint Service Sub Aqua Centre at HMNB Devonport - and two of his colleagues, completed the challenging dive on the wreck in September 2020 and has now shared pictures. Above: One of the divers

Dominic Robinson - the officer in charge of the Joint Service Sub Aqua Centre at the Royal Navy Devonport base - and two of his colleagues, completed the challenging dive on the wreck in September 2020.

Organising a dive to HMS Victory proved to be a significant challenge for the team of divers, as there are only a relatively small number of days per year when the conditions are suitable for diving this far out and at this depth.

They spent just over three hours in the water observing the shipwreck in the depths of the ocean.

The incredible photos show the cannons of the shipwreck have been well-preserved, despite having spent nearly 300 years under water.

Some of the cannons even visibly display the beautifully detailed royal crests.

Muzzle tampions - canvases that cover the guns - also remain in place, and it's very likely that the guns are still loaded.

Although the cannons are undoubtedly the main attraction, the team was very surprised to see how much else remained on the site.

The 100-gun ship was launched in 1737, and seven years later it was the flagship of a fleet led by Admiral Sir John Balchen

Lord Nelson's HMS Victory is now in dry dock in Portsmouth and is visited by thousands of people every year

Some of the cannons even visibly display the beautifully detailed royal crests and lifting dolphins. Diver Richard Keen, who began searching for the Victory in 1973, previously said: 'It was the wreck that every wreck-finder wanted to find'

Organising a dive to HMS Victory proved to be a significant challenge for the team of divers, as there are only a relatively small number of days per year when the conditions are suitable for diving this far out and at this depth

A strange home: One image shows a fish swimming inside one a barrel of one of the canons. As the only first-rate warship with an intact collection of bronze cannon, Victory's guns provide a unique snapshot: soon after, such weapons would be made of iron, and naval tactics would shift

Built during a period of British naval ascendancy, Victory, and its more famous successor, were two of the most expensive and grandest ships of the period. PIctured: Corrosion on top of one of the canons which is seen lying on the sea bed in the English channel

The dive team, from left to right: Danny Daniels, Fran Hockley, Jason Keveren, Scott Yeardley, John Potten, Paul Downs, and Dominic Robinson

A more recent addition: What appears to be a modern wine bottle is seen lying next to one of the ship's canons. The divers also discovered a massive copper kettle and galley bricks - a reminder that HMS Victory was once home to more than a thousand men

Further photos show heavily corroded ironwork, large quantities of timber, and various lead objects, one of which may have been a gun pillow.

The divers also discovered a massive copper kettle and galley bricks - a reminder that HMS Victory was once home to more than a thousand men.

Diver Richard Keen, who began searching for the Victory in 1973, previously said: 'It was the wreck that every wreck-finder wanted to find.'

The professional diver from Guernsey grouped together with five others to scour the seabed for two months near Les Casquets, a group of islands eight miles west of Alderney, the northernmost Channel Island.

The group did chance upon the wreck of passenger steamer Stella, which sank in 1899 claiming 105 lives but HMS Victory remained elusive.

Search efforts initially focused on the infamous Casquets - where the ship was thought to have been wrecked due to the poor navigation of Balchin.

But in 2009, Odyssey Marine Exploration announced it had discovered Victory, 62 mile away from those rocks.

This suggested that a fierce storm rather than a navigational error had been behind the sinking.

As with the Mary Rose, the Tudor warship which was raised in 1982, there was great public interest in the find.

Built during a period of British naval ascendancy, Victory, and its more famous successor, was one of the most expensive and grandest ships of the period.

The wreck was first discovered in 2009 but there were then legal wrangles over whether artefacts should be brought to the surface or left where they are. Above: The divers use lights to examine the remaining parts of the wreck

The royal crests on the ship's cannons are still visible, although they have corroded due to their long time underwater

Although the cannons are undoubtedly the main attraction, the team was very surprised to see how much else remained on the site. Pictured: The rear of one of the canons is seen surrounded by pieces of wood from the doomed ship

'It was a time when the Royal Navy's power was absolutely central to British power, the growth of its maritime empire, and its prosperity,' said Philip Sheldon, executive director of heritage at the National Museum of the Royal Navy.

'It would be hard to overstate how important they [both ships] are.'

The wreck of the Mary Rose would go on to yield 19,000 artefacts of great historical significance but of no private commercial value, because of laws governing sovereign naval property.

But bringing Victory's treasures to the surface would be a costly exercise - one companies like Odyssey would usually fund through the sale of artefacts.

Despite the majority of the wreck lying some 250feet below the surface, two of Victory's bronze guns, a giant 42-pounder and a 12-pounder, have been brought up from the deep with the permission of the government.

The discovery of the larger gun - only carried on a first-rate vessel of Victory's size during the first half of the 18th Century - is what enabled salvagers to identify the wreck.

As the only first-rate warship with an intact collection of bronze cannon, Victory's guns provide a unique snapshot: soon after, such weapons would be made of iron, and naval tactics would shift.

In addition to the cannon, rigging, glass bottle fragments and remains of the hull and anchors were discovered.

But a massive gold hoard rumoured to be aboard the Victory has not been found.

One man who was convinced Victory's artefacts would be best taken out of harm's way as wDr Sean Kingsley, a marine archaeologist for the Maritime Heritage Foundation (MHF), which was gifted the wreck site in 2012.

He wanted to see artefacts brought up and displayed in a UK museum.

'The government believes this unique wreck can be managed untouched, 80km offshore, in one of the world's busiest sea lanes,' he said in 2019.

In addition to the cannon, rigging, glass bottle fragments and remains of the hull and anchors were discovered. Pictured: The divers during their expedition in September. Images of the operation have recently been shared

Leading the way: One of the divers is seen carrying a light to illuminate the sea bed. The sinking of HMS Victory is considered the worst single British naval disaster in the English Channel

Diver Fran Hockley is seen taking a selfie underwater during the dive on HMS Victory. Admiral Sir John Balchin was aboard HMS Victory during the ship's final voyage in October 1744 and he was long thought to be responsible for its sinking, due to poor navigation. However, in 2009, Odyssey Marine Exploration announced it had discovered Victory, 62 mile away from where it was thought to have sunk. This suggested that a fierce storm rather than a navigational error had been behind the sinking

An artefact from the wreck lies on the sea bed. As well as the items which lie at the bottom of the ocean, the remains of sailors who lost their lives when HMS Victory sank will also be nearby

'An irreplaceable piece of British history ends up abandoned, out of sight and mind, with the government's stamp of approval.'

The site is also at risk of damage from fishing trawlers, erosion and illegal salvage, something noted by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in 2014.

While the extent of threat to the wreck from fishing and looting is disputed, Dr Kingsley is concerned a 2018 decision to put the foundation's initial 2014 'research and rescue' application on hold will mean the site could be further threatened.

While there is a consensus on the historical importance of the wreck, not everyone in the archaeological world agrees with the Maritime Heritage Foundation's plans for the site.

he divers prepare to investigate the wreck of HMS Victory. In September 2019, the High Court ruled that the artefacts from HMS Victory should remain on the sea bed.

'This is basically a grave - this is the last resting place of 1,100 British sailors and it should not be disturbed lightly,' said Robert Yorke, chairman of the Joint Nautical Archaeology Policy Committee, in 2019.

'You don't go into a local churchyard and start digging them up hoping you're going to find some gold underneath the bodies.'

Mr Yorke was a long-term opponent of the foundation's plan to excavate the wreck site, saying the project lacks adequate funding, facilities and a museum willing to house artefacts.

He also said the foundation's contractors Odyssey Marine were motivated by profit.

This is a claim the foundation rejected. It pointed out that selling artefacts to fund the project would be illegal.

When a skull was found on the Victory wreck, work immediately stopped and the MoD was informed, it says.

In September 2018, the wreck site was declared 'environmentally stable' and ordered to be 'left in situ', according to the MoD and the Department for Digital, Culture Media & Sport.

In addition, Unesco rules do not allow for items to be removed from the wreck. A September 2019 High Court ruling confirmed that artefacts should remain on the wreck.
Three new venues have been added to Queensland's sprialling list of Covid exposure sites as the state deals with two separate Covid outbreaks and increased restrictions.

The latest locations flagged by Queensland Health late Monday are a busy Woolworths supermarket and a BWS liquor store on the Gold Coast, along with a public toilet in the North Burnett Region, north west of Brisbane.

The urgent health alerts come after a group of police officers patrolling Sunday's State of Origin clash in Brisbane were among 63 cops forced into isolation, after the Sunshine state recorded two locally-acquired infections on Monday.

State Health authorities said anyone who visited Woolworths at the Oasis Shopping Centre at Broadbeach (pictured) on Saturday June 26 between 1.25pm - 1.50pm is considered a close contact

It is the same story for those who attended the BWS Bottle shop (pictured) in the same shopping complex on the same date between 1.30pm - 2pm

New public exposure sites in Queensland: Anyone who visited the following venues is considered a close contact and must immediately self isolate and get tested. Woolworths Oasis (Broadbeach) - The Oasis Shopping Centre. 75 Surf Parade Broadbeach. Saturday June 26 between 1.25pm 1.50pm. BWS Bottleshop - The Oasis Shopping Centre. 75 Surf Parade Broadbeach. Saturday June 26 2021 between 1.30pm - 2pm Anyone who visited the following venues is considered a casual contact and must immediately self isolate until they receive a negative result. Ban Ban Springs Public Toilet (female) Ban Ban Springs. Saturday June 26 2021, between 9am - 11.59pm. Advertisement

State Health authorities said anyone who visited Woolworths at the Oasis Shopping Centre at Broadbeach on Saturday June 26 between 1.25pm - 1.50pm is considered a close contact.

It is the same story for those who attended the BWS Bottle shop in the same shopping complex on the same date between 1.30pm - 2pm.

Anyone who visited the venues at the listed times must immediately self isolate and get tested for Covid.

Queensland Health also issued an alert for a female public toilet at Ban Ban Springs on Saturday June 26 between 9am - 11.59pm.

Anyone who may have attended the toilet block is considered a casual contact must immediately get tested and self isolate until they receive a negative result.

A NSW supporter sits next to Queensland fan at Suncorp Stadium, which was patrolled by some police who had been in contact with a Covid-positive man

The officers forced into isolation were deemed close contacts of a Covid positive case that worked at the Brisbane City Watchhouse.

The positive case was linked to a cluster which emerged out of the Portuguese Family Centre in Brisbane, where a flight attendant passed on the UK Alpha variant earlier this month.

Queensland Heath said in a statement: 'Those officers were all contacted on Sunday evening and asked to self-quarantine until a full assessment can be completed and directions issued where required.'

Some, on duty patrolling the State of Origin match where even told to go and self-isolate midway through the match, forcing them to abandon their post.

Game two of the series went ahead at Suncorp Stadium in front of a sold out crowd of 52,000 spectators, despite Covid concerns, with fans told to wear masks unless they were sat down.

Blues fans are seen during Game 2 of the 2021 State of Origin series at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Sunday - which has now been linked to Covid-exposed police

Just hours before kickoff, a bizarre health order was issued to footy fans telling them that masks were mandatory when entering and leaving the ground, but not compulsory while seated.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk took to Twitter to explain the strange rules.

'Masks must be worn on arrival to Suncorp Stadium and especially on exit,' she wrote.

'The only time you don't need a mask is when you are seated. Masks will be available on arrival.

'Please check in using the Check In Qld app. And if you are sick - stay home.'

In a bizarre health order issued to footy fans, masks were made mandatory when entering and leaving the ground, but are not compulsory while seated

The Sunshine State is currently dealing with two separate clusters with two new infections reported on Monday. Pictured: Queensland fans cheer on the Maroons at the second 2021 State of Origin match in Brisbane

The other case recorded on Monday is tied to the Indian Delta strain, after a close contact contracted virus from a fly-in-fly-out worker returned to the Sunshine Coast town of Bli Bli after becoming infected at a Northern Territory mine.

The infection has put the state on high alert after it was revealed 170 Queensland mine worker deemed close contacts of the Covid-positive case, returned home to the state while potentially infectious.

This outbreak has not yet been linked to Sydney's growing Bondi Cluster.

With fears of multiple out-of-control outbreaks Ms Palaszczuk brought in a range of Corvid restrictions on Monday and warned Southeast Queensland is 'on the verge' of a lockdown.

The Premier moved to mandate mask use indoors and outdoors across 11 local government areas and capped public gatherings.

'We are on the verge (of a lockdown), but we are monitoring very, very closely over the next 24 to 48 hours (whether) will we see any further community outbreaks in Queensland,' Ms Palaszczuk told reporters.

'This is the Delta strain, you've seen how quickly it has escalated NSW over a period of about 10 days.

'So, you know, we're looking at this day by day and we will not hesitate to take action.'

Residents of Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan City, Moreton Bay, Redlands, Sunshine Coast, Noosa, Somerset, Lockyer Valley, Scenic Rim and Gold Coast will have to wear masks for 14-days from 1am on Tuesday.

Any person who leaves the 11 local government areas will have to continue wearing masks while they do.

Police officers patrol the Southbank precinct on January 08, 2021 in Brisbane after a three-day lockdown was called

Other restrictions have also been tightened with a maximum of 30 people including children allowed to visit homes.

Wedding and funerals will be restricted to 100 people with only 20 people allowed to dance at the former.

There will be a one person per four square metre rule in venues and no dancing will be allowed at all.

Ticketed or fully seated venues with Covid plans will be allowed to continue operating at full capacity.

Ms Palaszczuk warned the NSW border could be shut if there was further community transmission in the north of the southern state.
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Pope Francis on Monday held talks with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who was visiting the Vatican in the wake of a decision by American Catholic bishops that could lead them to deny Communion to President Joe Biden.

Blinken is the highest-ranking U.S. administration official the pontiff has met since Biden's inauguration in January.

Pope Francis voiced affection for the American people as he met at length with Blinken, the Vatican said, without indicating whether the two discussed the sharp divide among U.S. bishops over giving Holy Communion to politicians supporting abortion rights like President Biden.

Biden is the first Catholic president since John F. Kennedy.

The pontiff accorded Blinken a substantial chunk of time, especially in view of a government official who isn't a national leader.

The audience in the Apostolic Palace 'played out in a cordial atmosphere,' a Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said. 'It lasted about 40 minutes, and it was for the pope, the occasion to recall his 2015 visit and to express his affection and his attention to the people of the United States of America.'

Bruni was referring to the pontiff's U.S. pilgrimage, which included a meeting at the White House with then President Barack Obama. In recent years, the U.S. church hierarchy has been increasingly more polarized about U.S. politics and politicians.

The visit follows a conference at which U.S. Roman Catholic bishops voted to draft a statement on Communion that may admonish Catholic politicians, including Biden, who support a woman's right to abortion despite opposing the practice personally.

The bishops decided to move forward with the document, mostly disregarding a Vatican warning that it would be highly divisive.

Conservative U.S. bishops have been clamoring for clear directives against giving Holy Communion to U.S. political figures who are Roman Catholics and support women's right to abortion. Vatican teaching forbids abortion as a grave sin. This campaign has put the spotlight on Biden, a Catholic who has said that while he personally opposes abortion, he supports abortion rights.

Pope Francis on Monday held talks with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who was visiting the Vatican in the wake of a decision by American Catholic bishops that could lead them to deny Communion to President Joe Biden

He held 40 minutes of private talks with Pope Francis in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace after having a separate meeting with Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican's foreign minister

Secretary Of State Antony Blinken Visits the Sala Regia and the Sistine Chapel at the Apostolic Palace

Blinken received a private tour of the famed chapel with its ceiling frescoed by Michelangelo

Secretary Blinken appeared wowed after his private tour of the Sistine Chapel

Francis himself hasn't weighed in publicly on the latest developments within the heavily polarized U.S. Conference of Bishops, although in 2015 he issued a letter expressing compassion to women over the agonizing choice they face over abortion.

Earlier at the Vatican, Blinken on Monday received VIP treatment, getting a private tour of the Sistine Chapel before he sat down for closed-door talks with Francis.

Blinken was the first high-level official of Biden's administration to have a private audience with the pontiff.

Last year, when Blinken's predecessor, Mike Pompeo, came to the Vatican, he wasn't granted private time with Francis. At the time, Vatican officials said that was because the Holy See didn't want to give any impression of favoritism only weeks before the U.S. presidential election that brought Biden to power.

China was a thorny issue between both sides. Pompeo had blasted the Vatican for what he said was a lessening of its moral authority by signing an accord with Beijing over the nominations of Chinese bishops. Pompeo called on the Holy See to take a tougher stand against Chinese restrictions on religious freedom.

Biden, for his part, has criticized China for forced labor practices. Francis has championed human rights in many countries to draw attention to peoples' suffering.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that Blinken in his talks with Parolin and Gallagher discussed various topics including 'human rights and religious freedom in China.'

Since the Vatican and Beijing signed an agreement in 2018 on the naming of bishops in China, critics of the deal have appealed to the Vatican to speak out more about religious freedom in Hong Kong and mainland China.

NATO took a tough line on China at Biden's debut summit earlier this month.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that the atmosphere was cordial and that it gave the pope a chance 'to express his affection for and attention to, the people of the United States of America.'

The Vatican and the Biden administration agree on the dangers of climate change, which was a main point of contention with the White House while Donald Trump was president.

Trump was dismissive of the problem as he dismantled climate policies and regulations on fossil fuels.

The pope criticized Trump's withdrawal of the United States from the 2015 Paris accord to limit global warming. The Vatican welcomed Biden's return to the accord.

Blinken gave the pope a gold and silver sculpture of a dove holding an olive branch and pope gave him copies of several of his writings, including the landmark 2015 encyclical 'Laudado Si' on the protection of the environment.

Pope Francis voiced his affection for the American people, but it is not clear if they discussed the US bishops' vote

Blinken, accompanied by Charge d'Affaires of the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See Patrick Connell, gets a tour of the Sala Regia at the Vatican in Rome

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that Blinken in his talks with Parolin and Gallagher discussed various topics including 'human rights and religious freedom in China'

Blinken gave the pope a gold and silver sculpture of a dove holding an olive branch

Blinken also got a tour of the Sistine Chapel. Blinken is on a week long trip in Europe traveling to Germany, France and Italy

Blinken gave the pope a gold and silver sculpture of a dove holding an olive branch and pope gave him copies of several of his writings, including the landmark 2015 encyclical 'Laudado Si' on the protection of the environment

On Monday, Blinken also met with the Holy See's No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, and with Archbishop Paul Gallagher, its foreign minister.

Blinken, Parolin and Gallagher in their session 'discussed human rights and religious freedom in China,' Price said in a statement.

For his part, Blinken stressed U.S. support for a return to democracy in Venezuela 'and our desire to help the Venezuelan people rebuild their country,' Price said. Global issues discussed also included migration and climate change - both matters close to the pope's heart. Also covered in the talks, Price said, were 'efforts to expand distribution of vaccines against COVID-19.'

Many poorer countries are struggling to receive or buy enough supplies to make substantial progress in vaccination during the pandemic.

Blinken, in his talks with Parolin and Gallagher, 'reaffirmed our shared efforts to promote religious freedom and combat human trafficking,' both campaigns heavily promoted by the Vatican in recent years.

The secretary of state was also treated to a private tour of the Sistine Chapel.

Visitors to the Sistine Chapel, with its ceiling frescoed by Michelangelo and a 30-by-60-foot wall painting, 'Last Judgment,' by the Renaissance master almost always emerge wowed.

Blinken appeared to be no exception after his short, guided tour.

'Mr. Secretary, pretty impressive?' a reporter asked. Blinken nodded and gestured around the cavernous space.

Price tweeted that he and Blinken toured the 'breathtaking Sistine Chapel.'

On more substantive matters, Price said in the tweet: 'We are grateful to have the Vatican as a partner in promoting peace and human rights around the world.'

Blinken is visiting Rome before flying to southern Italy for Tuesday's Group of 20 meeting of foreign ministers, which is focused on improving collaboration among nations on climate change, health issues and development.
A British yacht crew were forced to fend off 30 killer whales after the pod attacked their vessel near Gibraltar.

Footage of the terrifying moment shows several orcas swimming alongside the yacht before appearing to dive underneath it.

Black fins appear on both sides of the vessel as the enormous predators jump above the surface of the water less than a metre from the boat.

The Sun reported that the attack lasted two hours, with the orcas slamming the boat's hull throughout.

The killer whales destroyed the rudder of the German-owned luxury yacht, forcing the three-man crew to seek safety on Gibraltar.

Later in the clip, the camera plunges into the water to reveal the damaged rudder, the end of which has been shredded.

A British yacht crew were forced to fend off 30 killer whales after the pod attacked their vessel near Gibraltar

Footage of the terrifying moment shows several orcas swimming alongside the yacht before appearing to dive underneath it

Later in the clip, the camera plunges into the water to reveal the damaged rudder, the end of which has been shredded

The frightening video was captured by Martin Evans, 45, one of three British men working on the delivery of the luxury sailing vessel from Ramsgate in Kent to mainland Greece.

Unfortunately, the boat, named Kismet, never arrived at its destination as the attack left the crew stranded on Gibraltar.

Speaking over the clip, Evans explains that the crew were sailing about 25 miles off the coast of Spain at the time of the attack.

'You can see the wheel here being ripped from my hands, violently on its full lock from left to right.

'At no point was I able to control it,' he says as the wheel spins frantically.

He says the crew soon turned off the engine and electrics in the hope that the whales would lose interest but instead they continued to bash the vessel.

Orcas can grow up to eight metres in length and can weigh as much as five tonnes. Their enormous mass led the crew to fear the attack would sink their vessel

The frightening video was captured by Martin Evans, 45, one of three British men working on the delivery of the luxury sailing vessel from Ramsgate in Kent to mainland Greece

The boat, named Kismet, never arrived at its destination as the attack left the crew stranded on Gibraltar, where the vessel is now being repaired

'At one point they did stop and go away but they did return and that kind of filled me with a bit of dread to be honest,' Evans said

'At some point we did notice behind the boat chunks of the rudder that had been bitten off.

'At one point they did stop and go away but they did return and that kind of filled me with a bit of dread to be honest,' Evans said.

Orcas can grow up to eight metres in length and can weigh as much as five tonnes.

Their enormous mass led the crew to fear the attack would sink their vessel.

Evans, who lives in Greece, described the ordeal as 'an onslaught' but a fellow crew member revealed it could have been much worse.

Nathan Jones, 27, told The Sun: 'I began to think: "Is this how it all ends?"

'If the boat had sunk we would have been in a life raft surrounded by killer whales. That would have been drastic,' he said'.

It is not clear why the orcas attacked the sailing yacht but an expert has suggested one of the whales may have been hurt by a boat in the past.

Evans said it felt like the whales 'had a plan and were angry.'

'It was not like watching dolphins who come up to the side of the boat and swim along, this was something more orchestrated.'

The boat is now being repaired on Gibraltar.

It is not clear why the orcas attacked the sailing yacht but an expert has suggested one of the whales may have been hurt by a boat in the past

The killer whales destroyed the rudder of the German-owned luxury yacht, forcing the three-man crew to seek safety on Gibraltar
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange plans to marry the mother of his two children inside HMP Belmarsh, it emerged today.

The Australian activist, who turns 50 this week, has spent more than two years inside the maximum security prison as he awaits possible extradition to the US for releasing confidential military records.

Mr Assange started a secret relationship with South African lawyer Stella Moris, 38, while confined to the Ecuadorian embassy, fathering two sons, Gabriel, four, and Max, two, while claiming political asylum to avoid deportation.

The Australian activist, who turns 50 this week, has spent more than two years inside Belmarsh

Mr Assange started a secret relationship with South African lawyer Stella Moris, 38, while at the Ecuadorian embassy (she is seen with their two sons, Gabriel, four, (left) and Max, two

The pair got engaged in 2016, and Ms Moris has now revealed they want to get married as soon as possible rather than waiting for the legal proceedings to go on any longer.

'The most likely thing is that we'll get married in the prison and then we'll have another kind of wedding celebration with friends and family once once he's free', she told news agency DPA.

'We have spoken to the Belmarsh chaplain services about it and they said they haven't seen a wedding in Belmarsh for as long as they've been there, which is 12 years. So it's not a straightforward thing to do.'

Ms Moris is urging US President Joe Biden to let her fiance go free to show that the country is a 'beacon of press freedom'.

Washington has sought the extradition of Mr Assange over his role in one of the biggest ever leaks of classified information, accusing him of putting lives in danger by releasing vast troves of confidential US military records and diplomatic cables.

He has now spent nine years in jail or self-incarceration in Britain, and both Ms Moris and the British judge overseeing the extradition request have warned he may not survive a process to send him across the Atlantic.

Ms Moris said she wanted to get married inside Belmarsh (pictured) rather than waiting any longer

'If Biden really wants to break with the Trump legacy, then he has to drop the case,' Ms Moris said. 'They can't maintain this prosecution against Julian while saying that they defend a global press freedom.'

When Barack Obama served as president and Mr Biden was his vice president, the US decided not to seek Mr Assange's extradition on the grounds that what WikiLeaks did was similar to journalistic activities protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Weeks after taking office Trump administration officials stepped up public criticism of Mr Assange and later filed a series of criminal charges accusing him of participating in a hacking conspiracy.

The US Justice Department said in February it planned to continue to seek the extradition for Mr Assange to face hacking conspiracy charges.

Ms Moris said the couple were planning to marry soon at the top-security Belmarsh prison where he is being held.

Ms Moris said she had spoken to the chaplain service at the prison (pictured is the chapel)

US prosecutors and Western security officials regard Mr Assange as a reckless enemy of the state whose actions threatened the lives of agents named in the leaked material.

Supporters pit him as an anti-establishment hero who exposed US wrongdoing in Afghanistan and Iraq and say his prosecution is a politically-motivated assault on journalism that gives a free pass to oppressive regimes around the world.

WikiLeaks came to prominence when it published a US military video in 2010 showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff.

Ms Moris is urging US President Joe Biden to let her fiance go free to show that the country is a 'beacon of press freedom'

An effort to extradite him was launched in 2019 after he was detained in London after taking refuge in Ecuador's embassy in the British capital for seven years to avoid being extradited to Sweden.

British judge Vanessa Baraitser said in January that although she accepted the US legal arguments in the case, she said Mr Assange's mental health issues meant he would be at risk of suicide if extradited, leading to her rejecting the request.

Ms Moris said the 49-year-old was very low but still fighting. She likened his treatment as akin to the way some journalists are treated in China and Saudi Arabia.

'I think there's no doubt that Julian wouldn't survive an extradition,' she said.

She argued that any robust democracy had to accommodate internal dissent. 'A superpower that has a free press is very different in nature from one that does not.'

She said she is hopeful that the case will be viewed differently under a Biden administration, but refused to say if his legal team had held talks with US officials.

The lawyer said she is hopeful that the case will be viewed differently under a Biden administration, but refused to say if his legal team had held talks with US officials

Despite that hope, she said the couple were planning to marry soon inside Belmarsh, once the paperwork is done, rather than wait to hear his fate.

She said Mr Assange had been given a huge lift recently when she was allowed to take their two sons to visit, allowing him to touch his children for the first time in over a year.

'He was happy to see us, but he's struggling,' she said. 'He's very low but he's fighting. He has the hope that this will end soon.'
New surveillance footage shows the moment a CD vendor opened fire Sunday afternoon in Times Square outside of the city's largest hotel, leaving a United States Marine injured.

The footage, released by the New York Police Department on Monday, shows a man in a mostly red sweater walking backwards on a sidewalk at around 5.15pm.

As he shoots, nearby pedestrians run for their lives. The gunman can then be seen fleeing the scene, eastbound, toward Sixth Avenue.

Police said the shooting broke out when a group of five or six CD vendors started arguing under the Marriott Marquis sign on West 45th Street, and one pulled out a gun. An investigation is still underway and the mayor launched a new plan starting immediately to increase police patrols at the iconic tourist attraction.

United States Marine Samuel Poulin, 21, was struck by a stray bullet in the attack and was rushed to Bellevue Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He is stable, police report.

Poulin, who was visiting the city from Northville in upstate New York to attend a baptism, was walking with his family at the time when he was hit in the back by the bullet.

New surveillance footage shows the moment a man opened fire in Times Square Sunday night

The New York Police Department is asking for the public's help in identifying this man, caught on surveillance footage shooting at someone and fleeing from the scene

According to his social media posts, Poulin is a United States Marine

Live 5 News reported that he recently graduated from the Citadel, and was treated by paramedics on the scene.

'He was standing up,' said another tourist Sydney Santana. 'He was talking and then they put him on a stretcher and took him on.'

Tourists were left shocked and frightened by the random shooting.

A small group watched as crime scene tape was used to block the area; one police officer told a tourist that it wasn't 'a show' and that someone had been shot.

Shell casings were recovered on West 45th Street outside the Minskoff Theater, which remains closed because of COVID.

'We were sitting at Juniors when a loud pop happened. And everybody ran for the hotel, they ran inside,' said Santana who witnesses the shooting, to the New York Post.

'It really is bad that [the shooting] happened in Times Square,' Santana said.

Samuel Poulin, 21, was walking with his family at the time when he was struck by a bullet at around 5:15pm

A man was shot in New York's Times Square in broad daylight, on Sunday afternoon, just outside the Marriott Hotel

Officers cordoned off the area immediately outside the hotel where the shooting took place

A small group of people watched as crime scene tape was stretched around the area. One officer told a tourist that it wasn't 'a show' and that someone had been shot

Crime scene techs can be seen working close to where Sunday evening's shooting happened in Times Square

Law enforcement flooded the area outside the Marriott, which is normally thronging with tourist

A small group of interested passers-by gathered to watch what was happening

Sunday evening's shooting is the second in Times Square in little over a month and comes just as the city is welcoming tourists back to one of its most famous landmarks.

Three bystanders were struck by gunfire in May, including a four-year-old child.

The alleged gunman responsible for the May shooting was apprehended days later in Florida after fleeing the city.

On Monday, Mayor Bill De Blasio said he is increasing police presence in the area.

'Now, we've seen patterns in Times Square that we are going to address very, very aggressively,' he said in a news conference, introducing his new Times Square Safety Plan.

The plan would include the deployment of 50 more officers to the area 'to make sure that anyone who goes to Times Square knows they're safe.'

The plan, which went into effect immediately after Sunday's shooting, includes the deployment of 'dozens' more police officers, some of whom will be plainclothes, to engage with street vendors.

They would ensure the vendors are not engaging in 'aggressive panhandling,' NYPD Chief Rodney Harrison said, and would make sure they are not threatening pedestrians.

It would be in addition to the officers the NYPD previously deployed to the area last month, De Blasio said.

'We are going to flood the area with additional police officers,' De Blasio said, adding later: 'There's no question in my mind this is going to work.'

Statistics show shooting crimes have been up this year city-wide compared to last year

Crime rates in New York City are up from last year in every category

Meanwhile, crime rates in every category are up from last year.

As of June 20, 777 people have been shot throughout New York City in 680 shootings in 2021, according to department crime figures online.

That is an increase of 48 percent in the number of victims compared with the same time last year, in 53 percent more shootings which have skyrocketed since the pandemic gripped the country.
The battle to win a key northern Labour seat turned increasingly nasty today amid attacks on party activists and fake documents being circulated to undermine rival parties.

Voters will go to the polls on Thursday in Batley & Spen after a campaign that has been dogged by accusations of racism and foul play in an area with a multi-cultural population.

Labour lashed out today over a fake leaflet proporting to have been released by the TUC highlighting party leader Keir Starmer's support for Black Lives Matter in a bid to hit his popularity among working class white voters.

The TUC said it was part of a 'dirty tricks campaign' and those responsible 'should be ashamed of themselves'.

Labour's former MP in the seat, Tracey Brabin, who quit after being elected mayor of West Yorkshire, also claimed last night that activists had been pelted with eggs and kicked in the head while on the campaign trail.

However, Labour itself was under pressure today after an leaflet circulated critical of Boris Johnson's diplomatic dealings with Indian president Narendra Modi - a Hindu nationalist - in an area with a sizable Muslim population.

Labour lashed out today over a fake leaflet proporting to have been released by the TUC highlighting party leader Keir Starmer's support for Black Lives Matter in a bid to hit his popularity among working class white voters.

Kim Leadbeater is standing for Labour in Batley & Spen. Her sister Jo Cox represented the area before she was murdered by a white supremacist terrorist in 2016

Supporters of hard Left former MP George Galloway were accused last week of using the recent fighting between Israel and Hamas in Palestine - and the Jewish heritage of Sir Keir's wife - to attack Labour. He denies all knowledge.

However, Labour itself was under pressure today after it circulated a leaflet critical of Boris Johnson's diplomatic dealings with Indian president Narendra Modi - a Hindu nationalist - in an area with a sizable Muslim population

Boris says area wants 'positive change' Boris Johnson has insisted that voters in Batley and Spen are focused on "a positive change" in the area rather than the row surrounding former health secretary Matt Hancock. The Prime Minister visited the West Yorkshire constituency on Monday ahead of Thursday's by-election, with bookies backing the Conservatives to take the lead in the forthcoming poll. Mr Johnson was asked if Mr Hancock had "derailed" the campaign, after the former health secretary was pictured breaking social distancing guidelines to combat coronavirus by intimately embracing aide Gina Coladangelo. Tory MPs and ministers will have been eyeing the by-election amid the fallout surrounding Mr Hancock, who quit on Saturday and was replaced by Sajid Javid. The Prime Minister told reporters during a visit to Johnstone's Paints Limited in Batley: "I read about that story on the Friday, and we had a new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on Saturday. "I think what people are focused on, I know what people on the doorsteps are saying, what Ryan (Stephenson, Tory candidate) is saying, is that we want to have a positive change in Batley and Spen. "And we see the opportunity, now that we're coming towards the end of the pandemic, as we get all the jabs in, we see an opportunity for a jobs-led recovery here in Batley and Spen and across the whole country." He said that the party's contender, Leeds councillor Ryan Stephenson, was a "fantastic local candidate" who was "passionate" about the area he hopes will become his constituency. Advertisement

It all broke after supporters of hard Left former MP George Galloway, who is also standing in the election, were accused last week of using the recent fighting between Israel and Hamas in Palestine - and the Jewish heritage of Sir Keir's wife - to attack Labour.

And last Friday, Sir Keir condemned as 'disgraceful' the abuse Labour candidate Kim Leadbeater faced while campaigning.

Ms Leadbeater, the sister of former MP Jo Cox who was murdered in the constituency in 2016, was confronted by a man who challenged her over the situation in Kashmir and her stance on LGBT+ education in schools amid what he said were concerns from Muslim parents.

The Tories believe they are in a strong position to take the seat, which would heap more pressure on Sir Keir to step down or face a leadership challenge.

Ms Brabin said she was leafleting with 'colleagues, volunteers, campaigners' in Batley on Sunday when they 'were followed, verbally abused and physically assaulted by a group of young men'.

She said: 'The group I was with included young people and the elderly. I witnessed them being egged, pushed and forced to the ground and kicked in the head.'

West Yorkshire Police confirmed on Sunday evening that they were investigating, and Ms Brabin - who also holds the police and crime commissioner responsibility for the region - praised officers for their swift response.

But she added: 'We know why tensions are rising in our streets. Those who want to sow division are not welcome in our community.

'The actions of these people do not represent the Batley and Spen I know. We are kinder than this.'

Labour MP for Halifax Holly Lynch added: 'There has been a series of increasingly serious and violent attacks in recent days and this is absolutely unacceptable.

'Lawless thugs are seeking to intimidate and attack those involved in the proper democratic process.'

In a video that circulated online on Friday, Ms Leadbeater was seen to ask the man not to shout at her, before turning away and being pursued and heckled by a group.

In the video, he raises his voice at Ms Leadbeater, who responds by repeatedly asking why he would shout at her in the street.

Newly elected West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin (pictured centre with fellow campaigners while out canvassing) said Labour activists were verbally and physically assaulted on the trail

Ms Brabin said West Yorkshire Police were investigating the incident which took place yesterday

Ms Leadbeater then leaves and is pursued by a group to a car.

She later alleged that opponent and former MP George Galloway, who is standing for his Workers Party, had been 'laughing' nearby.

Mr Galloway said it was a 'false statement' and, asked whether he would condemn the behaviour, he replied: 'Absolutely.'

But shadow crime reduction minister Ms Lynch said on Sunday: 'George Galloway's campaign has created a toxic environment that is suffocating democracy and drowning out the voices of local people.'

Labour was itself criticised today over a leaflet that went out referencing Boris Johnson and Narendra Modi.

Tory MP Richard Holden said: 'Would Keir Starmer not meet Narendra Modi? Labour are, again, playing the identity politics they have a go at George Galloway for.'

The sister of murdered MP Jo Cox was heckled and chased by Muslim protesters over her support for LGBT rights as she campaigned to become the next MP in her sister's old seat

Kim Leadbeater (pictured above with Labour leader Keir Starmer), 45, is standing as the Labour candidate in next Thursday's by-election in Batley & Spen. The poll was triggered by incumbent Tracy Brabin's decision to stand down to become the new mayor of West Yorkshire

Tensions have been rising in the race - where voters go to the polls on Thursday - which has a total of 16 candidates but is seen as a two-party battle between Labour and the Conservatives.

Stephen Yaxley-Lennon - also known as Tommy Robinson - was reported to be visiting the seat for a rally on Saturday, prompting counter-demonstrations.

But Mr Yaxley-Lennon did not turn up and West Yorkshire Police said that despite around 400 people gathering, demonstrations passed mostly without incident.

A total of three arrests were made - two for public order offences and a man was also arrested for possession of an offensive weapon.

Officers also assisted two people who are believed to have suffered medical episodes.

Assistant Chief Constable Scott Bisset, who led the policing operation, said: 'Our overall aim was to ensure that the demonstrations remained peaceful and were effectively managed, so that the wider public were able to go about their business unaffected.'
People smugglers trying to sneak migrants into the UK have started using boats as big as 36 feet long to pack in more people.

The massive dinghies were spotted today in Dover as numbers who have got across the Channel have topped 5,000.

By this time last year there had been just 2,000, a rise that has sparked serious questions on the effectiveness of the UK's borders.

It came just days after up to 60 migrants were picked up in a dinghy before being taken to Dover Marina on HMS Seeker, where they then went to a holding facility.

Immigration officials have already warned Border Force agents are struggling to cope with the extraordinary surge in crossings, and claimed the system 'is at the point of collapse'.

And Kent County Council said last week it had 'reached the limit' for the number of unaccompanied child migrants it can look after.

The huge dinghy could be seen in Dover, Kent, today that had been used by people smugglers

The enormous inflatable vessel was stopped by border force and the inhabitants caught

The size of the boat shows the greed of the criminals operating the smuggling routes

There have been a record-breaking amount of migrants come through already this year

More than 1,000 migrants have crossed the Channel this month, while over 5,000 have made the perilous journey from France this year - more than double the number during the same period in 2020. It is now predicted 10,000 will cross in 2021, a landmark for illicit sea immigration to the UK.

Lucy Moreton of the Immigration Services Union said 'the pressure across the board is intolerable' and warned of 'serious health and safety concerns on behalf of staff connected with the excessive hours this causes'.

Speaking to MailOnline, Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said the Government 'seems incapable of stemming the flow' and said the 'public are in despair as migrant after migrant pushes their way into the UK at will and people-smugglers laugh all the way to the bank'.

Boris Johnson is apparently furious about the growing number of Channel crossings facilitated by people-smugglers, and allegedly blasted Miss Patel for her mismanagement.

Pictured: In total, more than 5,300 migrants have arrived in the UK so far this year

Migrants disembarking HMS Seeker in Dover Marina last week as the crisis continues

Up to 60 migrants, most of them young men, were picked up in a dinghy in the Channel

Miss Patel is bringing forward new laws to try to crackdown on the journeys but ministers are apparently frustrated that Border Force officials are failing to enforce the existing rules.

And it also comes as the Home Secretary is working on laws which could see migrants sent to an offshore immigration centre, a report has revealed.

The legislation would allow the country to build a processing centre of this kind for the first time as the total number of migrants arriving in the UK this year has reached 5,300.

Priti Patel is in discussions with Denmark to share an immigration centre in Africa and is also set to unveil plans to crackdown on people smugglers.

According to the Times, the plans will form part of the Nationality and Borders Bill and will see asylum seekers processed outside the UK in a bid to stop migrants making the dangerous journey across the English Channel.

Denmark is said to be considering a site in Rwanda where two Danish ministers visited last month to sign off a memorandum on asylum and migration, according to the newspaper.

A government source told The Times: 'The prime minister and home secretary are determined to look at anything that will make a difference on Channel crossings.'

The Home Office has also studied the Australian system which bans the arrival of migrants travelling by sea and sends them to offshore immigration centres in neighbouring countries such as Papa New Guineau.
An Ohio man who helped a teenage boy commit suicide by buying him a gun and ammunition, was sentenced to up to seven years in state prison Thursday.

Duncan R. McElroy, 20, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, improperly furnishing firearms to a minor and assisted suicide in May over the death of Ace Stenger, 17, who was found dead in Brecksville, just outside Cleveland, on July 12, 2019.

McElroy, then 18, and Stenger, had met on the dating app Bumble on June 28, 2019, and met in person one day later. They only knew each other for about two weeks before Stenger took his own life.

During the sentencing hearing, prosecutors painted a picture of McElroy as a 'master manipulator' who had bought Stenger the weapon with the intent of watching someone die.

But lawyers for the defense argued McElroy was plagued by his own mental health problems, including depression and past suicide attempts.

When it came time for McElroy (pictured at sentence hearing in Cuyahoga County on Thursday) to address the court, he mentioned that he understood his actions and felt remorse

On July 12, 2019, Duncan R. McElroy, 19 (left) was charged with the death of Ace Stenger, 17 (right) who was found dead in Brecksville, just outside Cleveland, on July 12

On Thursday, the 20-year-old was sentenced to between five and seven years in a state prison.

The court heard how, in the lead up to his suicide, McElroy drove Stenger to three different stores in the area before locating one that sold him a 22-caliber rifle and ammunition.

Afterward, McElroy drove Stenger to a location in the Brecksville Reservation where Stenger used the rifle to fatally shoot himself in the head.

McElroy then called 911 to report Stenger's death.

First responders found McElroy beside his teenage friend's body when they arrived.

McElroy had initially told police that Stenger had stolen the rifle, which he had bought a day earlier, from his car.

According to reports, McElroy (pictured at sentence hearing in Cuyahoga County on Thursday) drove Stenger to three different stores in the area before locating one that sold him a 22-caliber rifle and ammunition

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Nancy McDonnell (pictured) sentenced McElroy, to five to seven and one-half years in prison after McElroy pleaded guilty in May to involuntary manslaughter and assisted suicide

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Nancy McDonnell sentenced McElroy, to five to seven and one-half years in prison after McElroy pleaded guilty in May to involuntary manslaughter and assisted suicide.

Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Saleh Awadallah claims that McElroy was a 'master manipulator' who deliberately preyed on Stenger's history of battling depression during Thursday's proceedings in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.

Awadallah told presiding Judge Nancy McDonnell that McElroy 'was obsessed' with death and used Stenger's history to convince him to shoot himself.

'He wanted to see somebody die,' Awadallah said, according to The Plain Dealer. 'He picked this person, manipulated this person all the way through the end, which was the death.'

After purchasing the firearm, McElroy then drove Stenger to a location in the Brecksville Reservation (pictured) where Stenger used the rifle to fatally shoot himself in the head

McElroy later called 911 to report Stenger's death. When first responders arrived on scene, they found McElroy beside his teenage friend's body

Awadallah also said McElroy 'greased the situation towards suicide, towards the demise of Ace, including getting them off the track to college and on the track to death,' according to Local Fox affiliate WJW-TV.

In an attempt to have Judge McDonnell sentence McElroy to an inpatient facility instead of a prison, McElroy's attorney, Terry Gilbert, called McElroy's lifelong pediatrician and childhood psychologist to document McElroy's own history of depression and suicide attempts.

Gilbert argues that placing McElroy in prison could cause him to once again self-harm, saying he didn't want to 'see another young person die over this.'

However, McDonnell rejected Gilbert's suggestion, reasoning that he was an integral part of the events surrounding Stenger's death, the Plain Dealer reports.

'If you didn't buy that gun for... him, it wouldn't have happened,' McDonnell said. 'Period. End of story.'

When it came time for McElroy to address the court, he mentioned that he understood his actions and felt remorse.

'I wish that I had understood what I was doing before all of this, and the effects that it would have on everyone, especially the family. I'm sorry,' He said, according to the newspaper. 'I can only hope that there's something to look forward to.'

Since his arrest, McElroy had been housed at an inpatient facility in Geauga County, but will serve his sentence in a state prison.

If you or anyone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
The EU is poised to agree an extension on both fish and sausages after officials today edged towards a breakthrough in two of the thorniest post-Brexit issues.

In one significant development, Jersey announced it was giving French trawlers another three months to fish in its waters without meeting conditions for the new Brexit permit.

A dispute over the fishing licences flared earlier this year, with both France and Britain sending patrol vessels off the shores of the Channel Island after a flotilla of French fishing boats sailed to the island in protest.

An interim accord had been due to expire on June 30 as part of the UK's deal with the EU, after which French vessels would be required to prove the 'extent and nature' of past fishing activity for access to be granted.

But many French fishermen say their small boats do not carry the electronic equipment to do this.

Therefore today, Jersey said 177 such vessels would be able to keep fishing off its shores while negotiations continued.

French fishing boats protest in front of the port of Saint Helier off Jersey last month

'We are offering this extension to the amnesty period to allow the continuation of discussions,' Ian Gorst, Jersey's Minister for External Relations, said in a statement.

The amnesty means that until the end of September there will be a suspension on stating the number of days previously fished in Jersey waters and the type of gear used as conditions for access.

France's junior European minister, Clement Beaune tweeted: 'We're making progress!

'We will continue to defend our fishermen, their interests, the future of (French) fishing.'

Meanwhile, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator today expressed confidence a resolution can be found to a looming ban on GB sausages entering Northern Ireland.

European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic signalled that the bloc would respond favourably to a UK request to extend an exemption period on the prohibition on chilled meats for a further three months.

Mr Sefcovic said an 'obvious' way to remove new Irish Sea trade checks and restrictions on a longer term basis would be for the UK to strike a deal on animal and plant standards that would see London align with Brussels agri-food regulations.

The UK has asked for an extension to the chilled meats grace period, which is due to expire on Wednesday night, to provide further space to find a way to avoid a ban on such produce entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.

French fishing boats protest in front of the port of Saint Helier off Jersey last month

The prohibition on chilled meats is one element of Brexit's contentious Northern Ireland Protocol, which has created a series of economic barriers on Irish Sea trade.

Mr Sefcovic appeared before a special sitting of a Northern Ireland Assembly committee on Monday to field questions on the Protocol.

He took the opportunity to update MLAs on the EU's position on the chilled meats issue.

'While I cannot today announce the EU's formal agreement to the UK Government's request (for an extension), after all the internal contacts I have had I remain confident that we can find a solution within the next 48 hours that will address both sides' needs and concerns,' he said.

Northern Ireland's deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill, speaking in the Stormont Assembly later, welcomed the prospect of an extension but stressed a long-term solution was needed.

'There is an indication in terms of the extension for the chilled meats that it is expected there is going to be a positive response,' she said.

'That is good, we should bank that, but what we need are longer term solutions and I hope that we can find those solutions in the period ahead.'

Downing Street said talks were continuing with the EU about an extension to the grace period.

The EU's chief Brexit negotiator today expressed confidence a resolution can be found to a looming ban on GB sausages entering Northern Ireland

'We have asked for a three-month extension to allow movements to continue while we seek a permanent solution,' the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.

Addressing members of the Executive Office committee, Mr Sefcovic said the EU was prepared to consider 'bold steps' to reduce all the checks required under the Protocol to an 'absolute minimum'.

He said the EU was willing to accommodate permanent flexibilities but said the UK had to reciprocate by demonstrating a commitment to the 'full and faithful' implementation of the arrangements.

The Protocol, which was agreed by the EU and UK as a way to keep the land border on the island of Ireland free-flowing, has created a series of new checks and restrictions on goods moving from Great Britain into Northern Ireland.

Technical talks are ongoing between London and Brussels to try to hammer out ways to reduce the burden of red tape.

The UK/EU exchanges are playing out as tensions among Northern Ireland loyalists mount over the arrangements they claim have driven a constitutional wedge between the region and the rest of the UK.

There are concerns that loyalist anger could boil over during Northern Ireland's sensitive loyal order parading season during the summer.

The exchanges at the 90-minute Assembly committee session encapsulated the differing perspectives that exist in Northern Ireland.

European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic signalled that the bloc would respond favourably to a UK request to extend an exemption period on the prohibition on chilled meats for a further three months

Unionist members accused Mr Sefcovic of not listening to their concerns and demanded the immediate scrapping of the Protocol, while other MLAs highlighted the potential benefits provided by arrangements that give traders in Northern Ireland unfettered access to both the UK and EU markets.

Mr Sefcovic told MLAs there was a need to 'de-dramatise' the rhetoric around the Protocol.

'We are willing to consider taking bold steps if the UK Government demonstrates a clear and concrete commitment to implementing the Protocol in full,' he said.

Mr Sefcovic said the Protocol emerged from the long Brexit withdrawal negotiations as the 'only possible solution' to keep the Irish land border free-flowing.

The senior European official said since then there had been no viable alternative put forward.

'Nobody has yet suggested a better workable alternative,' he said.

'The Protocol needs to be fully and correctly implemented, and at the same time our approach has been, and still is, solution-oriented, constructive and flexible.

'The Protocol is a unique solution that the EU has never offered before. We are outsourcing the control of part of our border to a third country.

'The EU has demonstrated the pragmatism we are occasionally and wrongly accused of lacking. We have spared no efforts in trying to mitigate problems that have arisen in the implementation of the Protocol and have explored and put on the table practical and permanent solutions.'

Mr Sefcovic said a Swiss-style deal on agri-food shipments from Great Britain to Northern Ireland would do away with the 'vast majority' of new checks.

The agreement the EU has with Switzerland avoids animal and plant health checks because the Swiss align their own regulations with the bloc's.

When the EU changes its rules, the Swiss change theirs to ensure continued alignment.

'I want to see necessary checks reduced to absolute minimum possible,' said Mr Sefcovic.

He said a New Zealand-style deal would not do away with as many checks. The EU and New Zealand agreement involves both parties mutually recognising that the other has high food safety standards.

This reduces the proportion of checks required but allows New Zealand to continue to set its own SPS regulations.
Democrats are going to war over infrastructure with liberal senators threatening not to support President Joe Biden's compromise bill without a second $6 trillion measure that contains their wish list items, such as free child care and green projects.

The latest derailment comes after Biden had to walk back a comment he made on Friday that had moderate Republicans hopping mad and threatening to walk. After a statement on Saturday reassured them the president would not hold the bipartisan compromise hostage to a fast-track measure known as reconciliation, the GOP was appeased.

Liberal Democrats were not.

'Let me be clear: There will not be a bipartisan infrastructure deal without a reconciliation bill that substantially improves the lives of working families and combats the existential threat of climate change. No reconciliation bill, no deal. We need transformative change NOW,' Senator Bernie Sanders wrote on Twitter.

'Understand this: We're not leaving child care behind. We're not leaving green energy behind. And we're not going to make America's middle-class families pick up the ticket for this package. It's time for billionaires and big corporations to step up,' Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted.

The back-and-forth over the last three days shows the delicate dance the White House is doing as Biden tries to hold together the competing factions while brandishing his reputation as a bipartisan deal maker.

President Joe Biden is trying to hold together competing factions of Democrats as a war breaks out within the party over infrastructure

Liberal Senator Bernie Sanders said he would not support Biden's bipartisan infrastructure plan without a second, $6 trillion measure for 'human' infrastructure

The nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill - which focuses on traditional infrastructure projects - can be passed through regular Senate order with enough Republican support.

A second measure - which contains 'human infrastructure' items such as tax increases, green energy projects, health care provisions and investments in child care - would have to be passed through a process know as reconciliation. That allows Democrats to bypass the 60-vote thresh hold usually needed to advance legislation in the Senate.

Progressive lawmakers are threatening to with hold their support from the compromise plan without it being paired with the reconciliation bill.

But the reconciliation bill would need all 50 Democrats in order to proceed. That would include moderate Senators like Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema.

Manchin has indicated he will support a reconciliation bill but not at the funding level liberals want. The measure is approaching the $6 trillion mark.

'If Republicans don't want to make adjustments to a tax code which I think is weighted and unfair, then I'm willing to go reconciliation,' Manchin said Sunday on ABC's 'This Week.' 'But if they think in reconciliation I'm going to throw caution to the wind and go to $5 trillion or $6 trillion when we can only afford $1 trillion or $1.5 trillion or maybe $2 trillion and what we can pay for, then I can't be there.'

Sinema has been quiet on the issue.

Both Democratic congressional leaders - Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi - have indicated they would like to pass both measures and send them together for Biden's signature.

Pelosi said she would not put the bipartisan measure on the House floor without the reconciliation package.

'Well, as I said, there won't be an infrastructure bill unless we have a reconciliation bill. Plain and simple. In fact, I used the word 'ain't.' There ain't going to be an infrastructure bill, unless we have the reconciliation bill passed by the United States Senate,' she said on Thursday.

Biden, on Friday, indicated he wanted the same.

'If this is the only thing that comes to me, I'm not signing it,' Biden said at the time. 'It's in tandem.'

But when his comments riled up Republican senators who supported the bipartisan plan, the president walked them back.

In a statement on Saturday Biden said it was not his 'intent' to suggest he was issuing a veto threat on the bipartisan bill if it didn't pass without the reconciliation bill.

'So to be clear,' his statement said, 'our bipartisan agreement does not preclude Republicans from attempting to defeat my Families Plan; likewise, they should have no objections to my devoted efforts to pass that Families Plan and other proposals in tandem.'

Moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said he would support a second measure but said the $6 trillion price tag was too high

Republicans, meanwhile, were appeased when President Biden walked back comments from Friday threatening to tie the two infrastructure bills together: 'The waters have been calmed,' Republican Senator Mitt Romney said

Republicans were appeased.

'Over the weeks and weeks in negotiations with Democrats and with the White House on an infrastructure bill, the president's other agenda was never linked to the infrastructure effort,' Republican Senator Mitt Romney said Sunday on CNN's 'State of the Union.'

But, after Biden's statement, 'the waters have been calmed,' Romney said.

And Senator Rob Portman said the bipartisan plan was back on track.

'We were all blindsided by the comments the previous day, which were that . . . these two bills were connected,' Portman said Sunday on ABC's 'This Week.' 'And I'm glad they've now been delinked and it's very clear that we can move forward with a bipartisan bill that's broadly popular, not just among members of Congress, but the American people.'

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell threw some fuel on the fire Monday morning by warning one package should not be contingent on the other.

'Republicans have been negotiating in bipartisan good faith to meet the real infrastructure needs of our nation. The President cannot let congressional Democrats hold a bipartisan bill hostage over a separate and partisan process,' he said in a statement.
Pictured: Anna Coffey, who is desperate to see her dying father in Victoria

An Australian woman who rushed home from the United States to comfort her dying father has been told she needs to fork out thousands of dollars for a private jet if she wants to travel from Sydney to Melbourne.

Anna Coffey, 32, raced home less than a week ago upon getting the heartbreaking news her 80-year-old father John suffered a stroke and is in palliative care at a Melbourne hospital.

Doctors say he may only have days to live and that time is running out for Ms Coffery to see her beloved father one last time, the Daily Telegraph reported.

But despite being fully vaccinated with the Moderna jab, the Columbia Business School student has been blocked by the Victorian and New South Wales health departments from driving south in a ridiculous case of box-ticking.

Diplomats have been allowed to fly into Sydney and then drive to Canberra to enter quarantine, but Ms Coffey was told the 'travel time' to Melbourne was too far - and she would instead be forced to fork out $7,500 for a private plane.

Anna Coffey has been told she needs to fork out thousands of dollars for a private jet if she wants to travel from Sydney to Melbourne to see her beloved dad (pictured, left) before he dies

Ms Coffey raced home less than a week ago upon getting the heartbreaking news her 80-year-old father John (pictured together) suffered a stroke and is in palliative care at a Melbourne hospital

'My dad's doctors can't really say if he will be gone tomorrow, or if it could be a week. He has had two "incidents" in the last week, so if another happens it's probably over,' she told the Daily Telegraph.

Upon her arrival in Sydney, she was not aware she would be stopped from driving the nine hours to Melbourne.

She's currently in hotel quarantine and is frantically gathering information to prove her father is expected to die before the mandatory 14 days of isolation are up, so she can receive an exemption.

But state health authorities are highly concerned about the length of the drive and instructed her to secure a charter flight to Melbourne, worth about $7,500.

'The difference in your situation is that the travel time by road from Sydney to Melbourne is approximately nine hours plus stops and you would need to travel through both NSW and Victoria,' an email from NSW Health said.

The health department said while they understand her situation is 'upsetting and stressful,' the stringent quarantine measures are in place for the 'protection of the community'.

Ms Coffey (pictured with family) has called Australia's strict Covid measures 'inhumane' after being banned from seeing her dying father

Ms Coffey, who hasn't seen her family since the start of the pandemic, called the restrictions 'inhumane' with compassionate exemptions only granted for the very rich.

Since hearing of Ms Coffey's heart-wrenching ordeal, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has expressed his sympathies in a letter and said he hopes a 'solution can be found'.

'To be so close to home but to still be so far away from being able to see your father must be heartbreaking,' he said.

'I farewelled my own father last year and I know how important those last moments are.'

Mr Morrison, who has no control over state quarantine policies, is now reaching out to the Australian Health Principal Protection Committee to draw up a more consistent plan to deal with compassionate exemptions for those blocked from seeing critically ill loved ones.
Former President Donald Trump got in an obscenity-laced screaming match with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley as the president tried to get Milley to take charge of a crackdown on domestic protests last summer.

Trump berated the top military commander and Army General over the president's demand that Milley oversee the effort  which Milley resisted by invoking longstanding constraints on military interference in domestic affairs.

'I said you're in f***ing charge!' Trump yelled at Milley, according to a new Axios excerpt from Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender's book, Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost.

'Well, I'm not in charge!' Milley shouted back, according to Bender, further stoking Trump's fury.

'You can't f***ing talk to me like that!' Trump responded.

Former President Donald Trump and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley got into a shouting match after Trump told Milley to take charge of a protest crackdown effort, according to a new book

That led to pronouncements about the legal role of the military in domestic affairs at a time when protesters were breaking out throughout U.S. cities, sometimes clashing with law enforcement.

''Goddamnit. There's a room full of lawyers here. Will someone inform him of my legal responsibilities?' Milley said  in comments he made to others, according to Bender.

'He's right, Mr. President,' Barr injected. 'The general is right.'

The account follows a previous excerpt that recounts Trump telling Milley to 'crack skulls' and 'beat the f--- out' of protesters who took to the streets following the death of George Floyd. And it comes following reports that top Trump administration officials drafted a proclamation that would invoke the Insurrection Act, an 1807 law that would call up the military amid the domestic unrest and allow Trump to call up active-duty troops to be deployed in Washington, D.C.

The reported blowup took place in the White House Situation Room, and was also attended by former Attorney General Bill Barr and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

Trump furiously denied the account, with the former president telling Axios through an aide: 'This is totally fake news, it never ever happened. I'm not a fan of Gen. Milley, but I never had an argument with him and the whole thing is false. He never talked back to me. Michael Bender never asked me about it and it's totally fake news.'

He added: 'If Gen. Milley had yelled at me, I would have fired him.' Bender says he presented Trump with a written question about the incident during and that Trump didn't respond. He said it was confirmed by multiple senior administration officials.

Milley apologized after taking part in a photo-op outside St. John's Church in Washington after police cleared Lafayette Square. 'I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics,' he said

The meeting was attended by Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Attorney General Bill Barr

Trump rapped Milley at his Ohio rally Saturday night, saying: 'You see these generals lately on television? They are woke.'

The former president also ripped Milley over his testimony that he has studied critical race theory.

'I've read Mao Zedong. I've read Karl Marx. I've read Lenin. That doesn't make me a communist. So what is wrong with understanding  having some situational understanding about the country for which we are here to defend?" Milley told Congress following questioning by Trump loyalist Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).

'And I personally find it offensive that we are accusing the United States military, our general officers, our commissioned, noncommissioned officers of being, quote, "woke" or something else, because we're studying some theories that are out there."

Trump called Milley's statement 'pathetic,' while Fox News host Tucker Carlson called referred to Milley as 'stupid' and a 'pig.'

White House aides wrote a draft proclamation to invoke the Insurrection Act as then- President Donald Trump threatened to deploy active-duty troops to Washington D.C. amid protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd, according to a report.

Two senior Trump administration officials told The New York Times that the proclamation was drafted on June 1, 2020 in case Trump moved to deploy active-duty troops in Washington.

That same day, Trump had given a fiery speech in which he threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 and said he would call up the military if governors did not respond how he wished to the escalating protests, CNN reported at the time.

'If the city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residence, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them,' Trump had said in the speech.

Two senior Trump administration officials told The New York Times that the proclamation was drafted on June 1, 2020 - the same day Trump had given a fiery speech in which he threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act

Trump said he would call up the military if governors did not respond how he wished to the escalating protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd

Trump 'was aware' that the aides had drafted the document, one former official told The New York Times.

Trump never invoked the act and denied that he had wanted to deploy active-duty troops in a statement to The New York Times.

'It's absolutely not true and if it was true, I would have done it,' Trump said.

The outlet reported that the aides had drafted the proclamation during a 'heated debate' about how to respond to the escalating protests then gripping the nation.

One official said Trump told Attorney General William Barr, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Mark Milley that he wanted 'thousands' of active-duty troops in Washington D.C.

Three officials, who were not revealed, reportedly talked Trump out of deploying troops to the United Stats capital. However, some staffers reportedly wanted to leave the option of invoking the Insurrection Act open.

Later that same day, Trump made his infamous walk across Lafayette Park to St. John's Church where he posed holding a Bible as law enforcement and protesters clashed near the White House.

The revelations in The New York Times came after CNN obtained excerpts from a new book by Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender.

In the book, Bender revealed that Milley was a 'lone voice' in repeatedly pushing back on Trump's desires to use the military to stop civil unrest around the country.

People react after learning the sentencing of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin outside the Hennepin County Government Center on Friday

Protesters gather on May 30, 2020 in New York City to protest the death of George Floyd

In the book, 'Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost,' Bender reports that Trump pushed for the military to intervene and 'crack skulls' at civil rights protests across the nation in 2020.

While watching protests unfold in places like Seattle and Portland, Trump highlighted cops' physical exchanges with protestors and told his administration that's what he wanted to see, CNN reported.

'That's how you're supposed to handle these people,' Trump told his top law enforcement and military officials, Bender wrote, according to CNN. 'Crack their skulls!'

Trump also told his team that he wanted the military to go in and 'beat the f--k out' of civil rights protestors, Bender wrote, according to CNN.

CNN reported other examples of Trump telling the military to shoot protestors. At one point, a Trump senior advisor Stephen Miller compared the protests to third-world countries, which angered Milley, Bender wrote.

Milley, who commanded troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, said, 'Shut the f--k up, Stephen,' CNN reported from one of the excerpts.

Bender's book showed Milley was concerned that Trump was going to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to deploy the military in cases of rebellion or terrorist attack.

Milley reportedly saw the protests and unrest as a political issue - not a military one - and was strongly against implementing the Insurrection Act.

CNN reported that Milley made a 'concerted effort' to stay in Washington as much as possible during Trump's final months in office.

In one excerpt, Milley reportedly pointed to a picture of former President Abraham Lincoln's portrait hanging just to the right of Trump.

'That guy had an insurrection,' Milley said. 'What we have, Mr. President, is a protest.'

After Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, some of his supporters returned to calling on the president to invoke the Insurrection Act, Politico reported.

Sidney Powell and Lin Wood, prominent MAGA figures who led 'stop the steal' efforts claiming without evidence that the 2020 election had been rigged against Trump, were among those who voiced support of invoking the act, according to the outlet.
Ringo Starr has dropped his legal case with the makers of a sex toy called Ring O.

The legendary Beatles drummer, aged 80, challenged the Ring O trademark, saying it's too similar to his name and might cause confusion.

However, he has now withdrawn his complaint after reaching an agreement with manufacturers Pacific Coast Holdings and Momentum Management.

According to the dismissal settlement, Starr has consented to the use of the name Ring O 'only in connection with adult aids and desensitising sprays, and so long as there is a separation between the word 'RING' and the letter 'O''.

Ringo Starr, aged 80, challenged the Ring O trademark, saying it's too similar to his name and might cause confusion

The Ring O is part of the Screaming O range, with other names including the Swingo, The Big O and the Primo, which have sold 25 million products around the world.

Starr, who is twice married and a father of three, argued that his reputation would be damaged if the Ring O sex toy name was registered as a trademark with US authorities.

His lawyers originally complained that the brand was 'identical in appearance, sound, connotation and pronunciation' to his own name, which he has already trademarked.

Documents filed by his lawyers in 2019 said: 'Consumers will likely believe that Opposer's [Starr's] newest venture is sex toys - and this is an association that Opposer does not want.'

The rock legend - who now lives in Los Angeles - wanted 'nothing to do with the goods', they said, adding that any connection would tarnish his 'name, likeness, and brand'.

Now, according to the settlement, Pacific Holdings and Momentum Management have agreed 'to avoid any activity likely to lead to confusion' between their product and Starr.

The deal says the companies can only use the name for 'adult sex aids and desensitising sprays'.

And they must make sure there is a space between the 'Ring' and the 'O'.

Starr with fellow Beatles Paul McCartney, George Harrison and John Lennon in 1964

The companies have pledged not to 'degrade, tarnish or deprecate or disparage' Starr's name or image.

They also said they wouldn't make any reference or innuendo associating the product with Starr, or give the impression that he's associated with it.

The name Ringo is also registered as a trademark by various companies for a range of products in the UK, from mop wringers and biscuits to a hormonal contraceptive vaginal ring.

Starr was knighted under his real name Richard Starkey and celebrated his 80th birthday on July 7, 2020.

Pacific Coast Holdings IP, LLC, the parent company of Screaming O, had applied to trademark the name Ring O for a vibrating penis ring, which they have marketed under that name since 2008.

They accused Starr of being a 'trademark squatter' as he attempted to oppose them, and suggested their customers would 'not be of the generation to connect the item' with the Beatle.

His legal team hit back, saying Pacific Coast Holdings broke their agreement, which allowed them to use the name so long as they never attempted to trademark it.

Despite using the name for some time, the company did not seek to trademark the name until years later, with their application for trademark being published in 2018.

In 2019, Starr launched his first opposition to the name, stating he already owns seven trademarks for the name and has used that name since 1962.

The case was heard before the USPTO (The United States Patents and Trademark Office).
A hiker missing for more than a week was found alive Sunday, having survived in the woods during a heat wave on just berries and river water.

Andrew Devers, 25, disappeared June 18 near a hiking trail in North Bend, Washington, the King County Sheriff's Office previously reported, and for the past week, deputies along with trained search-and-rescue volunteers, have scoured the Washington state wilderness to find him.

They reportedly called off the search a few days ago, according to the Seattle Times, but on Sunday morning, the sheriff's office tweeted that a trail runner near Middle Fork Snoqualmie River trailhead, northeast of North Bend, found Devers.

He was brought to a local hospital for evaluation. Authorities said he had survived on berries and river water.

'We're obviously very glad he was found alive,' King County sheriffs spokesperson Sgt. Tim Meyer told the Times. 'Certainly the favorable weather this weekend helped.'

Andrew Devers, 25, disappeared on June 18, while hiking at Middle Fork Campground near North Bend, Washington. He is pictured here on a 2017 trip to Seattle

Devers was found by a runner Sunday morning near the Middle Fork Trailhead, northeast of North Bend, Washington

King County Sheriff's Office officials tweeted on Sunday that Devers was found safe and had survived for eight days on berries and river water

Devers reportedly disappeared June 18, but was not reported missing for four days, according to KIMA.

At that point, his girlfriend, Krysteena Mann, posted about his disappearance on the Missing People in Washington State Facebook group, writing: 'The Sheriff has informed me of posting in local social media groups for any more potential leads or if anyone spotted him on the trail.'

By Friday, his information also was posted to Reddit, asking people on a Seattle-based thread if they had any information about Devers' disappearance.

One user, with the handle Able-Jury 6211, responded that the Middle Fork Campground where Devers was hiking 'has a trail that's been closed to the public for some time, but is one of the longer trails accessible from the southern campground parking lot.

'That being said,' he continued, 'it's easy to get to and the landslide area in particular is easy to get lost in' with 'lots of big drops and cut-outs in the trail.'

'It's closed for good reason,' Able-Jury wrote.

Another Redditor, Super_Natant, wrote that he had been in the park last weekend and saw that 'melt is in full effect now.'

It caused rapid waters in the river, he said, which is only going to get worse as a heatwave in the Pacific Northwest continues.

'Real easy to imagine falling in and not being able to recover,' Super_Natant wrote.

Redditors said the North Bend's Middle Fork Trailhead could be dangerous as melting continues in the area during a heat wave that has been gripping the Northwest

His girlfriend, Krysteena Mann, posted about Devers in a Facebook group for Missing People in Washington State, and asked if anyone had any information about his whereabouts

Devers, left, has been in a relationship with Mann for at least four years, according to his social media

It remains unclear why Devers was missing.

But his disappearance came as a record-breaking heat wave swept the area. The Friday he disappeared, North Bend faced a high of just 74 degrees, according to AccuWeather, but by the next Monday, temperatures reached 90.

Over the weekend, temperatures soared past 100 degrees, and Sunday reached a high of 103.

Washington officials warned people against hiking in such extreme weather, telling KIMA that the heat may cause dizziness, headaches, cramping and confusion, which could make falls and slips more likely.

Jennifer Brenes, the president of the King County Search and Rescue Association, said the organization had responded to 10 calls of hikers needing help of some kind as of June 24. Last year, she said, the association responded to a total of 227 calls.

And at one point a few weeks ago, she said rescue crews were responding to four missions at the same time, spreading resources thin.

Brenes suggested hikers bring a lot of water, take frequent breaks while hiking in the heat and tell someone when they expect to be back.
An Australian scientist who was the only foreign researcher at the Wuhan laboratory at the centre of the leak theory has said she did not see anything 'strange' but admits she is 'not naive enough' to dismiss the speculation.

Danielle Anderson, 42, an expert in bat-borne viruses, researched at the Wuhan Institute of Virology's BSL-4 until November 2019, around the same time three researchers allegedly became ill at the lab.

But she says she never saw anyone become sick and she never showed any symptoms of Covid-19, and regularly tested negatively before her vaccination.

The scientist added that many of her colleagues in Wuhan came with her to Singapore for a conference in December 2019 but there was no word of any illness.

She told Bloomberg: 'If people were sick, I assume that I would have been sickand I wasn't. I was tested for coronavirus in Singapore before I was vaccinated, and had never had it.

'There was no chatter. Scientists are gossipy and excited. There was nothing strange from my point of view going on at that point that would make you think something is going on here.'

Australian scientist Danielle Anderson (pictured) said she did not see anything 'strange' at the Wuhan Institute of Virology but admits she is 'not naive enough' to dismiss the speculation

China and the lab's most famous researcher, Shi Zhengli, known as Bat Woman, have repeatedly denied that anyone from the facility became ill with Covid-19, despite a US intelligence report suggesting three workers were hospitalised with an unknown illness in the months before the outbreak at the nearby wet market.

Despite playing down the theory that the virus was leaked from the lab, Anderson admitted: 'I could foresee how things could maybe happen. I'm not naive enough to say I absolutely write this off.'

She believes it emerged naturally and says she is not surprised that no one has pinpointed Covid's exact origins since it took almost a decade to discover where SARS came from.

But she still wants an investigation to firmly prove how the devastating virus came into existence.

The Wuhan lab leak theory was quickly peddled by Donald Trump and his supporters, but it was immediately dismissed as a conspiracy theory by mainstream outlets and scientists.

Speculation has grown in recent months after the US intelligence report was leaked, prompting Joe Biden to call for an investigation.

China and the lab's most famous researcher, Shi Zhengli, known as Bat Woman, have repeatedly denied that anyone from the facility became ill with Covid-19

Anderson maintains that everything she saw at the laboratory was above board and very typical of the other places she has worked.

She said: 'It's not that it was boring, but it was a regular lab that worked in the same way as any other high-containment lab. What people are saying is just not how it is.'

The researcher started working with the Wuhan lab in 2016 when she was scientific director of the biosafety lab at Singapore's Duke-NUS Medical School.

Her work focuses on why viruses such as Ebola and Nipah cause no disease in bats even though that's where they circulate.

After a distinguished career that has taken her from Australia to working as a lab technician at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, post-doctoral work in Montreal and work in Singapore, Anderson ended up in Wuhan after it offered funding for international collaboration.

Despite being the only foreigner, she says she got on well with the other researchers who looked out for her, and they regularly met up outside of work.

The lab has the highest biosafety designation meaning air, water and waste has to be filtered and sterilised before it leaves the building.

Anderson undertook 45 hours of training to be allowed to work independently at the lab, showing knowledge of containment procedures and understanding of the potential risks, even while wearing air-pressured suits.

Dr Shi gave a rare interview this month in which she backed her government, saying the accusations are 'filth' and claimed no one at the lab ever got sick

Researchers had to take both a scheduled chemical and personal shower when entering and exiting the facility, while disinfectants were monitored daily, something Anderson said was even more stringent than other labs she had worked in.

But that has not stopped many doubting China's claims that the virus naturally jumped to humans and was not the result of a leak.

The Chinese government refused to allow international scientists into Wuhan in the early days of the virus to probe the new disease and has also hidden data from WHO investigators.

Anderson admits the lab is so large she did not know what everyone was working on and said she knew researchers were testing viral components for their ability to infect human cells.

She says she is convinced no one intentionally wanted to infect people if it turned out the virus was the result of a leak.

But she conceded it was possible for a scientist working on a gain of function experiment to accidentally infect themselves and then unwittingly spread the virus.

When Anderson later worked in Singapore, her lab was one of the first to isolate SARS-CoV-2 from a Covid patient outside of China and then to grow the virus, a process she said was very complicated.

She said that even though her team consisted of experts in the field who understood its characteristics, it was highly complex and anyone trying to create a new virus would not understand how it would target protein receptors.

Anderson has been previously targeted by conspiracy theorists after exposing falsehoods being perpetuated about the pandemic and she has since shied away from the media after filing a police report against her harassers.

Critics have lashed back against scientists who last year refused to entertain the idea which was dismissed as a conspiracy theory.

The nomination comes despite growing speculation that the virus did not occur naturally but escaped from the lab (pictured)

US infectious diseases boss Dr Anthony Fauci has faced calls to resign over the scandal after he last year dismissed the lab leak theory as nonsense but appeared to be considering it behind closed doors, it has since been revealed.

And scientists who put their names to a letter denouncing the 'lab leak' theory last year have since changed their minds and said a full inquiry is required.

President Joe Biden has ordered a full investigation into the origin of the pandemic virus and demanded scientists work out whether there is truth to the theory.

China has rejected the allegations, despite the US pushing them to carry out further probes, citing findings by the World Health Organisation that said it was 'extremely unlikely' the virus emerged from the lab.

Dr Shi gave a rare interview this month in which she backed her government, saying the accusations are 'filth' and claimed no one at the lab ever got sick.

The accepted wisdom has been that the virus emerged in a bat and then spread to people in the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan (pictured) in late 2019, but there is a growing counter-argument that the virus existed before this and could have been leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology nearby

'How on earth can I offer up evidence for something where there is no evidence?' She told The New York Times.

'I don't know how the world has come to this, constantly pouring filth on an innocent scientist,' Dr Shi added.

She said the theories were completely unsubstantiated and said it was untrue that three of her colleagues had fallen ill with Covid before the outbreak emerged.

'Bat woman' has been accused of conducting controversial 'gain of function' experiments which genetically modify viruses in order to better understand the risks they pose.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology employs nearly 300 people and is the home to only two Chinese labs given the top bio-safety clearance, Level 4. It is the only lab in China permitted to handle deadly viruses such as ebola, bird flu and HIV.

While China has tried to insist the virus originated elsewhere, academics, politicians and the media have begun to contemplate the possibility it escaped from the WIV - raising suspicions that Chinese officials simply hid evidence of the early spread

'The Wuhan Institute of Virology has not come across such cases,' she wrote. 'If possible, can you provide the names of the three to help us check?'

But China has blocked an independent probe of the lab and hasn't released any of the raw data from the facility, making it impossible to validate anything Dr Shi says.

And in recent days, one of the UK's top virologists said she couldn't rule out the possibility that the coronavirus had been leaked.

But Professor Wendy Barclay, a member of the SAGE advisory group and infectious disease expert at Imperial College London, said she thought the accepted idea that the bug spread to humans in an animal market was 'much more likely'.

Her comments came after Boris Johnson said 'anybody sensible' would 'keep an open mind' about the origin of the coronavirus outbreak but the UK does not currently believe the so-called 'lab leak' theory.

Professor Wendy Barclay, a member of SAGE and infectious disease expert at Imperial College London, told MPs today that she 'could not exclude the possibility' of a lab leak but that a natural jump was more likely

Mr Johnson told a press conference at the end of the G7 summit in Cornwall: 'At the moment, the advice that we have had is it doesn't look as though this particular disease of zoonotic origin came from a lab.

'Clearly anybody sensible would want to keep an open mind about that.'

The head of the World Health Organization insisted just a day earlier that the theory that Covid emerged from a Wuhan lab has not been ruled out  as he said China should help solve the mystery out of 'respect' for the dead.

The body's director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, suggested that Beijing had not cooperated fully as he urged more 'transparency' in the continuing investigation.

The Trump administration attempted to raise the alarm with intelligence dumps about the lab which said researchers fell ill in the fall of 2019 with symptoms consistent with Covid-19. That was at least a month before Beijing officially reported the existence of a new respiratory illness to the world on December 31, 2019.

Among the dossiers were claims that the Bat Woman's team were working with a bat coronavirus that is 96.2 percent similar genetically to the virus that causes Covid and that the lab had secret links to Chinese military.

The first investigation in January by Western scientists, which was strictly supervised by Beijing from start to finish, resulted in a report that a Wuhan laboratory incident was 'highly unlikely' to have caused the pandemic. Pictured: Scientists at the WIV in 2017

Earlier this month one of the original authors of a controversial letter in The Lancet medical journal at the start of the pandemic said he had changed his stance on whether the lab leak was possible.

Dr Peter Palese, a microbiologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, signed the letter in the Lancet in February last year claiming the virus could only have been natural in origin and to suggest otherwise would create 'fear, rumors, and prejudice'.

The 'bullying' letter, orchestrated by Dr Peter Daszak, the head of a non-profit that funnelled U.S. taxpayer dollars to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, was criticized by experts for ostracizing anyone offering different opinions on the virus' origins, dismissing them as conspiracy theorists.

It is only now, nearly 16 months after that letter was published in the world-renowned medical journal, that the theory Covid was accidentally leaked from a lab in Wuhan is being looked at seriously.

US President Joe Biden ordered intelligence agencies to launch a probe into whether Covid was man-made after all. But China immediately hit back and called the suggestion a 'conspiracy'.

And now Professor Palese, 77, made a significant U-turn, admitting all theories on how Covid came about now need proper investigating.

He told MailOnline: 'I believe a thorough investigation about the origin of the Covid-19 virus is needed.

'A lot of disturbing information has surfaced since the Lancet letter I signed, so I want to see answers covering all questions.'

Asked how he was originally approached to sign the letter and what new information had come to light specifically, Professor Palese declined to comment.

Professor Palese spoke out as America's leading pandemic expert Dr Fauci continued to face fevered calls to resign after emails revealed that leading virus experts warned Covid could be man-made even as he downplayed the possibility.

The emails also showed he communicated with Dr Daszak, the head of the non-profit that funnelled U.S. taxpayer dollars to the Wuhan lab.

Biden threw his support behind the embattled expert on Friday, saying: 'Yes I'm very confident in Dr Fauci.'

Another scientist who signed the letter, Dr Jeremy Farrar - director of the Wellcome Trust in London - declined to comment on the Fauci allegations but said it remains 'most likely' the virus came from an animal but 'there are other possibilities which cannot be completely ruled out and retaining an open mind is critical'.
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As thousands of New Yorkers took to the streets of Manhattan for the annual Pride parade on Sunday, Don Lemon held a LGBTQ celebration of his own at his Hamptons cottage with friends.

The CNN anchor and his fiance Tim Malone marked the occasion with a festive barbecue at their $4.3million Sag Harbor home, exclusive DailyMail.com photos show.

Lemon, 55, who publicly came out as gay in 2011, showed off his pride with a rainbow striped t-shirt that he paired with white shorts and blue espadrilles.

Other guests followed suit with theme, donning multi-colored dresses, shorts, and even tie-dye pants.

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Celebration time: Don Lemon celebrated pride on Sunday by hosting a barbecue at his $4.3million Hamptons home, exclusive DailyMail.com photos show

The CNN host, 55, showed off his LGBTQ pride with a rainbow striped shirt that he paired with white shorts and blue espadrilles

Among the guests in attendance was fellow CNN host and best friend, Chris Cuomo, who was seen arriving in his his black, classic muscle Chevy

Cuomo, who owns a home in South Hampton, was accompanied by his wife, however the two arrived in different cars rather than riding together

Lemon, who lives in the four-story cottage with his fiance Tim Malone, even hired a Mister Softee ice cream truck (pictured in the driveway) for his guests. He also treated them to high quality meats from gourmet butcher, Center Cuts

Refreshing: Friends of the CNN presenter were seen helping themselves to ice cream and milkshakes on the front yard

Among those in attendance was friend and fellow CNN host, Chris Cuomo, who arrived in his black, classic muscle Chevy.

The 50-year-old presenter strayed away from rainbow attire and instead opted for a pattered short-sleeved button-up, gray shorts, sneakers, and topped off his outfit with a navy blue fedora.

His wife Cristina was seen arriving separately in a Tesla. She wore a black body-hugging dress with rainbow stripes and black espadrille wedges.

Lemon treated his guests to high quality meats from gourmet butcher, Center Cuts, and even hired a Mister Softee ice cream truck for dessert.

At one point, Malone was seen making a run to the grocery store to stock up on more bottled water for the party.

The couple arrived in the Hamptons for the weekend early Saturday morning after Lemon wrapped his show, Don Lemon Tonight, earlier that night.

While New Yorkers marked the occasion at the Pride parade in Manhattan, Lemon hosted guests at his home in the leafy Hamptons neighborhood

The father-of-three has had a close friendship with Lemon, which is often showcased when the two appear on air together

Cuomo, 50, decided against rainbow attire and instead opted for a nautical themed button up shirt, gray shorts, sneakers, and a navy blue fedora

Just like his best friend Lemon, Cuomo has an affinity for vintage cars. The sleek, black classic Chevy was parked outside the home

Later that morning, the pair were spotted driving around the neighborhood in a vintage Lincoln Continental convertible before heading into Sag Harbor and getting refreshments at Sylvester & Co Cafe.

Lemon, who got engaged with Malone in 2019, has been splitting his time between the city and the Hamptons after purchasing the 2,750-square-foot four-bedroom cottage in 2016 for $3.1million.

Last week, the news presenter was slammed over his luxurious lifestyle and accused of hypocrisy by Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Carlson blasted Lemon during his show on Monday after spotting what appeared to be a 'black-face' cookie jar in the background of a video of Lemon in his kitchen.

He said: 'You've heard from the White House and the President himself that white supremacy is a lurking threat and you might not see it but it's always there like Russian spies, white supremacists, in the dark of night and the most surprising form.

Cuomo and his wife Cristina appear to have different styles when it comes to driving, with his spouse opting to take her Tesla to the party instead

The 48-year-old mom showed her LGBTQ support by wearing a black bodycon dress with rainbow stripe and black espadrille wedges

The couple's youngest daughter was seen walking alongside her mom as they arrived for the festivities

While some guests stuck to the rainbow theme, others were more dressed down and casual, opting for classic linens and button up shirts

Good hosts: At one point, Malone was seen making a run to the grocery store to stock up on more bottled water for the party

'We're not calling it to be a white supremacist here but you have to ask yourself - and we're putting it on the screen now. What is this? The symbol of hate? Symbol of hate posing as a cookie jar doing in Don Lemon's kitchen?

'You see that? That right there, ladies and gentlemen, is a white supremacist QAnon cookie jar. We are not calling for the Department of Justice to look more deeply into this and that's not our place and we're cable news show not a law enforcement agency.

'But let's put it this way if you find yourself with a black face cookie jar in your kitchen, it's time to reflect. That means you, Don Lemon.'

The Fox News host appeared to be making a sarcastic dig at CNN's repeated calls for probes into QAnon supporters, domestic terrorists and white supremacism, which has seen the network accused of sacrificing editorial integrity to lecture its viewers.

A woman wearing tie-dye pants, pink slippers, and fuzzy cat ears, was seen bringing a grocery bag full of goods to the party

Two guests, including one holding what appears to be a bottle of wine, arrive at the home on Sunday afternoon

Lemon purchased the $4.3million, 2,750-square-foot four-bedroom cottage in the predominantly white area of Sag Harbor, New York, in 2016

On Saturday Lemon and his fiance were spotted driving around the neighborhood in his vintage Lincoln Continental convertible

The two were seen heading into Sag Harbor and getting refreshments at Sylvester & Co Cafe

Lemon appears to share a love for vintage cars like his best friend Chris Cuomo. He and Malone stopped for a coffee before getting back into the beautiful classic and going home

Carlson also referred to a recent interview with the Washington Post in which Lemon said the Trump presidency proved the racism in America, and that, 'We're living in two different realities as black and white people,' while promoting his book This is the Fire.

'It's interesting we read that and here's a guy who makes millions of dollars a year from presiding over a show that's failing, and that seems like a pretty good deal,' Carlson said, 'But like so many, is also a victim a successful victim.'

Lemon, who is black, makes $4milllion as host of 'Don Lemon Tonight' and lives in a $4.3million, 2,750-square-foot four-bedroom cottage in the predominantly white area of Sag Harbor, New York, with his fiance Tim Malone.

Carlson said the 55-year-old's lifestyle indicated a loose commitment to diversity.

'He lectures America about diversity. What he did not tell The Washington Post is that in his free time he runs away from diversity. His reality is that he doesn't like diversity at all. None of them do.'

Fox News host Tucker Carlson hit out on Don Lemon Monday evening, saying his lifestyle, and in particular, a chef cookie jar in black face indicated the CNN host's hypocrisy after recent comments he made about racism in America

Lemon's black face cookie jar was spotted in the background of a snap taken in his $4.3 million Sag Harbor home

Lemon, who is black, lives in a $4.3 million four-bedroom cottage in Sag Harbor, New York state where 80% of the population are white and just 3% black with his fiance Tim Malone (pictured together in front of their home)

In fact, Sag Harbor has seven times more white residents than any other race or ethnicity, according to Data USA.

In 2018, 80 percent of the population were white, while just 3 percent were black or African-American.

Lemon spoke to the Post about racism in America, following the release of his book 'This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism' in March.

'There's also this false reality that we're living in a post-racial world after the election of Barack Obama,' Lemon said.

'That was all bulls**. It was a wake-up call to white people who thought we were living in a nonracist world.'

He added: 'We're living in two different realities as black and white people.

'We knew, as black people, what was lurking beneath the surface. I still believe that [Trump] was the necessary wake-up for America to realize just how racist it is.'
New Zealand will strive to live up to its 'clean green' reputation by phasing out most single-use plastics by 2025.

The ban will crack down on cotton buds, packaging, bags, bowls, plates and cutlery and will be implemented from the beginning of 2022.

The move comes after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern vowed to rid the country of plastic cutlery, single-use coffee cups and fruit stickers in September last year.

The move comes after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (pictured) vowed to rid the country of plastic cutlery, single-use coffee cups and fruit stickers in September last year

Officials hope the crackdown will remove more than two billion single-use plastic items from the country's environment and landfill each year

The new policy means businesses will have less than five years to find substitutes for everyday items like disposable cups and lids, straws and drink stirrers.

New Zealand is currently one of the top ten per-capita producers of landfill in the world, making the 'clean green' country actually one of the highest waste generators.

Environment Minister David Parker said every day New Zealanders were throwing away an estimated 159 grams of plastic waste per person.

The bans, which will be implemented between 2022 and 2025, would 'ensure we live up to our clean, green reputation', Mr Parker said.

Officials hope the crackdown will remove more than two billion single-use plastic items from the country's environment and landfill each year.

While New Zealand already forbid the use of plastic bags in 2019, the new policy will focus attention on packaging for produce and a series of other items.

While New Zealand already forbid the use of plastic bags in 2019, the new policy will focus attention on packaging for produce and a series of other items

The ban will crack down on cotton buds, packaging, bags, bowls, plates and cutlery and will be phased in from the start from 2022

Associate Professor Terri-Ann Berry, the director of the Environmental Solutions Research Centre at Unitec said the bans were a good first step.

The professor said that while highlighting the amount of household waste was important, the country's commercial sectors still had a lot to answer for.

Construction and demolition continue to be big users of plastic, accounting for up to 50 per cent of landfill waste across the country.

The government will then set its sights on eliminating single-use coffee cups and wet wipes with work to devise alternatives to begin in 2022.

A fund for businesses to research substitutes for single-ban plastics will also be available to encourage the boycotting of single-use plastic.

In September last year, New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced her zero-waste policy and pledged $50million to research plastic alternatives

In September last year, prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced her zero-waste policy and pledged $50million to research plastic alternatives.

The Labour leader accelerated the ban after she received a series of letters from young schoolchildren who expressed concern over plastic waste.

About $3million was previously given to packaging company Pact to develop a range of recycled food packaging for deli foods, meats and bakery trays at its Auckland location.

The move comes as Australia's environment ministers work to phase out a range of 'problematic and unnecessary' plastic products over the next four years.

A comprehensive list of plastic items the ministers want eliminated by 2025 was announced in April after the states chased differing bans on products.

In February, supermarket giant Coles announced it would soon stop selling single-use plastic tableware and cutlery from July 1

South Australia was the first in Australia to ban single-use plastics in March only to be closely followed by Victoria and Western Australia.

Queensland and the ACT have also passed laws to ban plastic products, with Tasmania and the Northern Territory committed to phasing items out by 2025.

In February, supermarket giant Coles announced it would soon stop selling single-use plastic tableware and cutlery from July 1.

Coles customers will no longer be able to purchase plastic products such as cups, plates, bowls, straws and cutlery from the popular chain.

The ban on plastics is predicted to reduce 1.5 million tonnes of the material ending up in landfill each year.
Dominic Cummings today reignited his war of words with Downing Street as he mocked Boris Johnson over the resignation of Matt Hancock.

Mr Johnson suggested at lunchtime that he had sacked Mr Hancock but the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman then said the Cabinet minister had resigned.

Mr Hancock announced he was stepping down on Saturday evening, following the leaking of video footage showing him breaking social distancing rules by kissing an aide in his ministerial office.

His departure came a day after Number 10 said Mr Johnson had accepted an apology from Mr Hancock and considered the matter closed.

Mr Cummings seized on the chaos as he labelled Mr Johnson 'Trolley' in a tweet in which he poked fun at the PM for seemingly changing his mind on the issue.

He also jibed that Mr Johnson had only seen sense on whether Mr Hancock should stay or go after he received '89 texts per hour' from his wife Carrie.

Mr Cummings and Mrs Johnson clashed in the past, with the former leaving Downing Street in November last year after losing an internal power struggle.

Dominic Cummings today reignited his war of words with Downing Street as he mocked Boris Johnson over the resignation of Matt Hancock

Mr Johnson suggested at lunchtime that he had sacked Mr Hancock but the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman then said the Cabinet minister had resigned

Mr Cummings seized on the resignation chaos as he labelled Mr Johnson 'Trolley' in a tweet in which he poked fun at the PM for seemingly changing his mind on the issue

The PM's former top aide tweeted: 'Trolley Fri: Argh, accept apology I consider the matter closed Media/MP babble, 89 Carrie texts p/hour.

'Trolley Sat, SMASH: Arghhh Matt go now you'll be back better stronger shortly matey forward to victory!

'Trolley Mon, CRASH: when I saw the story on Fri we had a new SoS on Sat.'

It emerged in a BBC report published in May of this year that some Number 10 staff privately call Mr Johnson 'Trolley'.

It is reportedly a reference to the PM's apparently chaotic approach to decision-making.

One insider explained to the broadcaster that the premier was like a shopping trolley because 'you think you are pushing it along a path towards your goal then suddenly it veers off disastrously'.

Mr Johnson suggested at lunchtime that he acted over Mr Hancock because it undermined the Government's message that the nation has been in the pandemic together.

'That's right,' Mr Johnson told broadcasters. 'And that's why when I saw the story on Friday we had a new Secretary of State for Health in on Saturday.'

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner accused Mr Johnson of trying to take credit for the resignation and of attempting to 'rewrite history because he didn't have the guts' to fire Mr Hancock.

The PM's Official Spokesman was later asked if Mr Johnson had sacked Mr Hancock.

Mr Cummings and Mrs Johnson clashed in the past, with the former leaving Downing Street in November last year after losing an internal power struggle.

The spokesman replied: 'No, the former health secretary resigned.'

Asked if Mr Johnson had urged Mr Hancock to resign, the spokesman said: 'No, the Prime Minister accepted his resignation, he agreed it was the right decision.'

The spokesman declined to explain what changed between Friday  when a Number 10 spokesman said Mr Johnson accepted Mr Hancock's apology and 'considers the matter closed'  and Saturday, when he accepted his resignation and appointed Sajid Javid as his replacement.

'All I can say is they discussed it further and the Prime Minister agreed with the former health secretary that it was right for him to offer his resignation,' the spokesman said.
An 18-year-old boy was killed and three other people were wounded when gunfire erupted during a violent melee in a crowded Walmart parking lot in Rochester, New York, overnight.

The shooting happened shortly before 1am on Monday outside the Walmart SuperCenter on Hudson Avenue.

Cellphone video recorded by a bystander shows several young women brawling before a barrage of gunfire erupts near then, sending everyone fleeing for their lives.

A wild brawl broke out early Monday morning in the parking lot of the Walmart Supercenter in Rochester, New York. During the melee, shots were fired, killing one and wounding three

A bystander recorded video of the fight, showing a group of women trading punches in the crowded store parking lot overnight

A minute into the video, a barrage of gunfire rings out, sending people fleeing for their lives

An 18-year-old man was killed in the shooting, Police Capt. Frank Umbrino told the Democrat & Chronicle.

The 18-year-old and three other people were taken by private vehicle to Rochester General Hospital, where the teen was pronounced dead, Umbrino said. His name was not immediately released.

The teenager's killing marks the 35th homicide in Rochester so far this year.

A 43-year-old man suffered serious injuries, and a 23-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl suffered injuries not considered life-threatening, police said.

'It's terrible,' Umbrino said during a press conference, as WHEC reported. 'It's another tragedy we're facing, unfortunately. We've had way too many of them.'

An 18-year-old boy was killed in the shooting, and three other people suffered injuries, including a 15-year-old girl

The Walmart store was closed at the time of the brawl and fatal shooting

The police captain said he does not know what is causing the current surge in violence.

'At what point in a child's life do they learn that it's okay to shoot somebody or to harm somebody?' Umbrino said, before urging ]parents to take an active part in their children's lives and set a good example for them.

'Know where your kids are. Their life may depend on it,' he pleaded. 'Be a parent, be a role model.'

Rochester Police Capt. Frank Umbrino called the shooting a 'tragedy'

Hundreds of people were gathered in the parking lot when a fight broke out early Monday, police said. The store was closed at the time of the shooting.

Bystander video shows women trading punches and tussling in the store parking lot crammed with people.

A woman in a colorful T-shirt is seen sprawled out on the ground after being repeatedly punched by several other women.

About a minute in the recording, gunfire rings out, prompting the person recording the video to flee.

Some 20 gunshots were fired from multiple weapons, police said. So far, no arrests have been made.

'Investigators are still determining whether the combatants of the fight had anything to do with the shots being fired, or if the shots were fired as the result of a separate altercation in the parking lot,' officials said in a statement
Rules on school bubble isolation must be reconsidered before the start of the next academic year, a SAGE expert has urged ministers.

Professor Russell Viner stopped short of calling for bubble arrangements to be scrapped but said a balance should be struck between how much some measures might protect society and how much they might harm children.

He said the government needs to 'rethink all of our rules about schools' and said there must be careful thought around putting restrictions on children as the one group in society who are not vaccinated against coronavirus.

Prof Viner also believes that any spare testing capacity should be used on children to try and cut down how much education they miss through isolation.

At the moment, secondary school pupils are asked to take twice weekly lateral flow tests.

In secondary schools, 4.2 per cent were absent because of Covid and isolation, up from 1.4 per cent a week earlier.

Professor Russell Viner stopped short of calling for bubble arrangements to be scrapped but said the government needs to 'rethink all of our rules about schools'

However, Prof Viner told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'We set our rules on bubbles quite early in the pandemic and we isolate large numbers of children. I think we need to rethink all of our rules about schools, all of our protections about schools, as we move through into the new school year.'

He added: 'I absolutely understand the need for certainty in schools, but one of the problems is we have rapidly rising cases and we need some flexibility to be able to react to circumstances.

'If all adults will be vaccinated - and we won't get to 100% but we hopefully will get close - and if all adults are vaccinated and can move around freely, we need to think carefully before we put restrictions on the one part of society - our children - who won't be vaccinated.

'We need to think carefully about that and we need to look at the evidence.'

Asked if he was talking about getting rid of bubbles for the new academic year, he said: 'No, not quite. I'm not saying that.

'I'm saying let's re-look at all the evidence across all the things we do in school, look at the balance between how much they protect broader society, but how much they harm children.'

Prof Viner also warned that ditching any Covid rules in schools 'may be a place we get to in the next year, I don't think it's a place we will be in September'.

However, he said that schools were 'not the driver of this pandemic  infections tend to flood into schools from the community.'

According to Government guidance as of May this year, schools must 'do everything possible to minimise contacts and mixing while delivering a broad and balanced curriculum'.

They are advised to keep groups in bubbles and to maintain distance between individuals, taking into account pupils' ability to distance, the layout of the building and the feasibility of keeping distinct groups separate while continuing to offer a broad curriculum.

Bubble arrangements are aimed at making it quicker and easier to identify contacts of positive virus cases who might need to self-isolate.

Staggered start and finish times, avoiding large gatherings such as assemblies or collective worship, and keeping distance within classrooms where possible also form part of the guidance.

The current wave that is surging through the UK is being driven by young people who have not been vaccinated.

Rates of infection in the 10-19 age group have more than doubled over the past fortnight and are now 18 times higher than in the over 80s.

According to Government guidance as of May this year, schools must 'do everything possible to minimise contacts and mixing while delivering a broad and balanced curriculum'

This has led to school bubbles being forced to isolate after someone tests positive.

172,200 pupils were not in school on June 17 and the number is expected to rise.

Secondary school pupils missing school because of Covid also shot up from 1.4 per cent to 4.2 per cent.

The main vaccine-makers have already started, and in some cases published results, from clinical trials on the jabs on children.

Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen  the four to have been approved in the UK  are all being tested on under-18s.

In its own clinical trial Pfizer found that the vaccine appeared 100 per cent effective, with no cases of Covid in the vaccinated group, and there were no serious side effects.

Blood tests on the 2,000 children aged 12 to 15 who took part in the trial showed that the jabs appeared to be triggering immunity just as well as they did in adults.

Professor Whitty said that helping schools to stay open could be a big benefit of giving jabs to children.

School-age children and teenagers currently have some of the highest infection rates in the country, and every time a pupil tests positive their whole class is at risk of being sent home to self-isolate.

Public Health England data showed that 10 to 19-year-olds, most of whom are not included in the current vaccine rollout, had the second highest infection rate in the country in the first week of this month, with 99 cases per 100,000 people. This was behind only 121 per 100,000 among people in their 20s.

It comes after a shock report revealed that almost 100,000 pupils have become the 'lost children of lockdown' after the pandemic ravaged the education system.

A leading think-tank has uncovered the huge number of youngsters who have failed to return to education full-time after schools reopened their doors.

Analysis of official figures by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has identified 93,514 pupils who were mostly absent between September and December  more than the capacity of Wembley stadium.

The figure for those off school more often than they were present has rocketed by more than 50 per cent on the previous year, with a particularly 'alarming' rise in primary schools, as the chaos caused by Covid made it easy for vulnerable youngsters to slip through the net.

It is feared many will end up being expelled or simply drop out of education altogether after the disruption of the past year, putting them at risk of being drawn into a life of crime.

And today's study says the 3 billion announced by the Government in post-Covid funding will not help those who are no longer in school, pointing out that 'kids can't catch up if they don't show up'.

CSJ chief executive Andy Cook said: 'When a child disappears from our school system, their future often disappears with them.

'Our research shows that by the end of last year almost 100,000 pupils were missing more than half of lessons, even after Covid absence is stripped out.

'These are the lost children of lockdown. Charities working with these children are telling us there's now a real risk of children being picked up by street gangs.'
Healthy fast food brand Leon is to launch its first drive-thru restaurant, just months after the company was taken over by billionaire tycoons.

The site in West Yorkshire, described as the 'first of many' planned as the brand looks to expand further across the UK, will launch in autumn, creating 30 jobs.

Leon, which runs more than 70 restaurants, was bought by the Blackburn billionaire brothers, Mohsin Issa and Zuber Issa, behind EG in April in a deal reported be worth about 100 million.

It came months after the Issa brothers bought the Asda supermarket business for 6.8 billion.

The Issa brothers said the move would also be the first of 'many, new strategic openings' for Leon now it has secured EG's financial backing.

Healthy fast food brand Leon is to launch its first drive-thru restaurant in West Yorkshire

Blackburn-born brothers who started out cleaning toilets have built 3.5bn petrol station business They were brought up in a terraced house after their father came to Britain to work in the textiles industry. Four decades on, Mohsin and Zuber Issa's journey from the back streets of Blackburn to the top of the property ladder appears complete. The self-made billionaires, who own Euro Garages, Europe's biggest independent forecourt firm, have recently bought a 25million Knightsbridge mansion. Their woollen mill worker father Vali and mother Zubeda were living at a two-up, two-down terraced house on Balaclava Street in Blackburn when Mohsin and Zuber were born in the early 1970s. Euro Garages has a partnership with a several household name brands, including Spar, Greggs, Burger King, Subway and Starbucks. It was founded by brothers, Zuber Issa and Mohsin Issa in 2001 with a single petrol filling station in Bury, Greater Manchester. Just 15 years ago they were working in a petrol station in Halifax, doing the stock-taking and cleaning the toilets among other things. They took a lease on a local garage with their combined savings of 5,000 and today they control a business with an estimated value of some 3.56billion. Advertisement

Investment will also be driven into the site's 'digital-first restaurant', which will include kiosks for digital ordering and payments.

The owners also said it will be most sustainable Leon restaurant to date, with 100% of power sourced through renewable energy.

Nick Ayerst, managing director of the chain, said it is a 'significant milestone' for Leon.

He added: 'We've been discussing the first Leon drive-thru with EG Group for five years now, and we're excited to open in West Yorkshire later this year.

'We have three other Leons in the surrounding area and we've received such a warm welcome from locals, who tell us they love our naturally fast food.

'We receive lots of emails and tweets every week asking us to open even more restaurants in the north, and we hope this opening signifies that there are many more to come.'

In a joint statement, Mohsin and Zuber Issa, said: 'Opening a Leon drive-thru concept is a landmark moment for the brand, creating a fantastic opportunity to bring Leon's naturally fast food to even more people.

'Our investment in Leon, together with our unparalleled operational experience of drive-thrus and access to high-quality roadside locations through our forecourts, creates new opportunities for the company and a strong platform to deliver significant growth.'

It comes just months after it emerged that the billionaire brothers are poised to make a takeover bid for struggling Caffe Nero after buying up the company's debt.

The pair could be due to take control of the coffee chain after purchasing around 140million in loans from Swiss private equity firm Partners Group via investment bank Morgan Stanley, the Sunday Telegraph reports.

Buying up the debt pile puts the Issa brothers in a strong position for takeover if Caffe Nero defaults on the 145million of senior ranking debts due to be repaid in 2022.

Meanwhile, the duo also recently saw the 5million 'landmark' mosque they proposed approved by council chiefs.

The ambitious project had been faced with objections over the height of the building as well as potential noise.

Leon, which runs more than 70 restaurants, was bought by the Blackburn billionaire brothers, Mohsin Issa and Zuber Issa, behind EG in April in a deal reported be worth about 100 million

There were also concerns regarding road safety and possible damage to trees in the area of Blackburn, where the mosque was to be built.

But Blackburn with Darwen Council approved the plans in March after the Issa Foundation agreed to address 21 issues.

The siblings, who recently bought supermarket giant Asda, said the mosque hopes to promote 'respect, diversity and a better understanding of different cultures'.

A spokesman for the Issa Foundation said: 'The Issa Foundation is delighted to have submitted plans for a new place of worship and community centre for the people of Blackburn with Darwen.

'Communities play an even more important role during challenging times such as these, and we are very pleased to be able to do our part to ensure the wider local community will have much needed new facilities to meet their religious and social needs.'
The leaders of Russia and China hailed increasingly close ties between their countries and announced the extension of a 20-year-old friendship treaty on Monday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping announced the extension of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship, signed in July 2001, a show of unity amid their tensions with the West.

Speaking to Xi Jinping during a video call, Putin said that the treaty helped take relations between Moscow and Beijing to an 'unprecedented height' and would be extended for another five years.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping (pictured on the screen) announced the extension of a 20-year-old friendship treaty between the countries on Monday

The Russian leader noted that the coordination of foreign policy efforts by Russia and China has played a 'stabilizing role in global affairs.'

Putin said the treaty enshrined the two powers' support for defending national unity and territorial integrity, at a time when both Moscow and Beijing are at odds with Western countries on a wide range of issues.

'In today's world, such agreements are of serious importance,' the Kremlin cited Putin as saying.

'In the context of increasing geopolitical turbulence, the dismantlement of arms control agreements and increased potential for conflict in different corners of the world, Russian-Chinese coordination plays a stabilising role in world affairs.'

Speaking during a video call, Putin said that the treaty helped take relations between Moscow and Beijing to an 'unprecedented height' and would be extended for another five years

President Xi emphasized the importance of a 'strategic cooperation' between the two former Communist rivals in defending their common interests on the global stage

Putin said the agreement would be automatically extended for another five years after it expires in February 2022.

Xi in his opening remarks emphasized the importance of a 'strategic cooperation' between Moscow and Beijing in defending their common interests on the global stage. He added that Russia and China have worked to uphold a 'true multilateralism and global justice.'

Putin and Xi have developed strong personal ties to bolster a 'strategic partnership' between the two former Communist rivals as they vie with the West for influence and face soaring tensions in relations with the U.S. and its allies.

While Moscow and Beijing in the past rejected the possibility of forging a military alliance, Putin said last year that such a prospect cant be ruled out entirely.

Putin and Xi have developed strong personal ties to bolster a 'strategic partnership' as they vie with the West for influence and face soaring tensions in relations with the U.S. and its allies. Pictured: Putin (right) held a summit earlier this month with U.S. counterpart Joe Biden

During Monday's call, Putin congratulated Xi on the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China celebrated Thursday, saying that China is marking it with 'new achievements in the country's social-economic development and on the international stage' and recalling Soviet support for the Chinese communists.

Moscow marked the CPC's centennial by sharing historic documents on Soviet-Chinese links with Beijing.

Russia's relations with the United States and other Western countries linger at post-Cold War lows over issues ranging from Moscow's annexation of Crimea to allegations of Russian meddling in U.S. elections.

Putin held a summit earlier this month with U.S. counterpart Joe Biden in which they decided to cooperate in some areas despite their tense relations.
Mixing and matching Covid vaccines may result in higher protection against the virus, a UK Government-backed study has found.

People who had been vaccinated with AstraZeneca's jab initially and then received a top-up with Pfizer's had nine times more antibodies than those who stuck to the UK vaccine.

Although antibodies are just one part of the immune response, the Oxford University researchers said the findings strongly suggested the approach could enhance immunity.

However, Professor Matthew Snape, chief investigator of the trial, said the UK should stick to its standard dosing regimen because it was proving to work in the real world.

He warned there was a danger of complicating the hugely successful rollout, which has seen four-fifths of the adult population jabbed at least once.

'The default has to stay to what is proven to work,' he told a press briefing this afternoon.

However, the findings opened the door for more flexible rollouts in countries with limited supplies, the scientists said.

They will continue to monitor 830 participants in the trial to see how much protection the 'mix and match' strategy provides against Covid in the real world.

The top graph shows that two doses of Pfizer (green line) produces the highest antibody response out of any other vaccine combination, followed by one AstraZeneca jab and one Pfizer jab (orange line), one Pfizer and one AstraZeneca (blue line) and lastly two AstraZeneca jabs. The bottom graph shows that the mix of one Oxford jab and one Pfizer jab produces the most T-cells, followed by one Pfizer jab and one AstraZeneca injection, two Pfizer jabs and two Oxford vaccines

The latest study, published today in the Lancet, looked at the efficacy of either two doses of Pfizer, two of AstraZeneca, or one of them followed by the other.

All second doses were given four weeks apart and the trial recruited 830 volunteers who were aged 50 and above. All combinations worked well, priming the immune system.

The Com-Cov trial found that AstraZeneca's vaccine followed by Pfizer's induced higher levels of antibodies and T cells than vice versa.

Both antibodies and T cells, a type of white blood cell, play a crucial role in defending against Covid.

The mix-match approach produced more antibodies than two regular doses of AstraZeneca's, no matter which way round the jabs were given.

Which jab combinations provided the best protection? The early results from the Com-Cov trial, published today in the Lancet, looked at the efficacy of either two doses of Pfizer, two of AstraZeneca, or one of them followed by the other. All second doses were given four weeks apart and the trial recruited 830 volunteers who were aged 50 and above. All combinations worked well, priming the immune system. It found:  AstraZeneca's vaccine, followed by Pfizer's, induced higher levels of antibodies and T cells than vice versa.  Both antibodies and T cells, a type of white blood cell, play a crucial role in defending against Covid.  The mix-match approach produced more antibodies than two regular doses of AstraZeneca's, no matter which way round the jabs were given.  The largest antibody levels were induced after two doses of Pfizer, and the highest T cell response was from AstraZeneca's followed by Pfizer. Advertisement

The largest antibody levels were induced after two doses of Pfizer, and the highest T cell response was from AstraZeneca's followed by Pfizer.

A higher proportion of people in the mix and match group suffered symptoms than the standard dosing cohort.

But the side effects were short-lived and mild. Scientists will continue to monitor participants to see how long their protection lasts.

Professor Snape said the findings will give officials confidence that, if the UK's Covid situation changes, then different dosing strategies are safe and highly effective.

The approach could be deployed if there are supply problems or someone has an allergic reaction to their first dose, for example.

The data could also be useful for planning a potential vaccine booster regime, he added.

But Professor Snape said while the data provides 'reassuring evidence' in these cases, he would not go as far as saying it was better to mix and match, despite the promising results.

The only vaccine schedules we have 'direct evidence' of protecting against infection, as well as the Indian 'Delta' variant, is two Pfizer jabs or two AstraZeneca jabs, he said.

'The default should be sticking to vaccine schedules that we know work,' he said.

Professor Snape said the sample size of 810 was 'not enough to pick up rare side effects' that are one in 1,000 or one in 50,000, so that was one of the reasons why sticking to the default schedule was best.

But a mixture of vaccines was 'better than none' and people 'need a second dose', he said. 'So if it is a case of no second dose or a mixed dose, then definitely get mixed,' he said.

People will have different opinions of the data, but others will take his view of 'what do we know works and what do we know about the safety', he said.

He added that it was 'more complicated' to design a mixed vaccination schedule, but it has been done before with Ebola vaccines.

Professor Snape noted that the four week schedule does not favour the AstraZeneca vaccine, as it is recommended that there is an eight to 12-week wait between those jabs.

The same researchers are working on an almost identical study that gives the same vaccination combinations but 12 weeks apart instead. They plan to publish this study in July.

The scientists are also examining different combinations of the Moderna and Novavax vaccines.

Professor Snape said he thinks there will be higher antibody and T-cell levels in all vaccine combinations in the results of this study.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said the data was a 'vital step forward' and shows that mixing vaccines 'gives people protective immunity against Covid-19 after four weeks'.

Researchers found that one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, followed by one Pfizer jab four weeks later, gave the best protection out of the combinations the trialled

Booster jabs are NOT needed this autumn because two doses work so well against Indian variant, leading Oxford scientist says There is no need to give Britons booster Covid vaccines this year because the current jabs work so well, a leading scientist claimed today. Oxford University's Professor Andrew Pollard, the lead researcher behind trials of the AstraZeneca vaccine, said sending the extra doses to developing countries where the most vulnerable are yet to receive any jab would be a better use of the UK's supplies. His comments came despite his team at Oxford finding that giving a booster to people months after they've been double-jabbed brings their immunity levels back to their peak. The trial of 90 Britons showed for the first time that the third dose 'significantly' boosts antibody and T-cell counts, key indicators that the body is primed to defend against Covid. Two doses of the AstraZeneca jab have been shown to reduce hospitalisations by more than 90 per cent against both the Indian and Kent variants. But there is nothing in the data to show that a third jab would improve on that figure, Professor Pollard said. Last week, the former Health Secretary Matt Hancock promised the Government would set out plans for an autumn booster programme within the next few weeks. It comes as Professor Pollard said the UK is in 'a very good position' for restrictions being lifted. He is also leading an Oxford University trial of a new Covid vaccine that targets the South African 'Beta' variant. Advertisement

He said: Equally, they offer supportive evidence that the standard (non-mixed) JCVI recommendations for Covid-19 vaccination all produce highly satisfactory immune responses, for both main vaccines in use.

'Given the UKs stable supply position there is no reason to change vaccine schedules at this moment in time.

The results for the 12-week interval, which are yet to come, will have an instrumental role to play in decisions on the future of the UKs vaccination programme.

Our non-mixed (homologous) vaccination programme has already saved tens of thousands of lives across the UK but we now know mixing doses could provide us with even greater flexibility for a booster programme, while also supporting countries who have further to go with their vaccine rollouts and who may be experiencing supply difficulties.

Professor Deborah Dunn-Walters, chair of the British Society for Immunology Covid-19 Taskforce, and professor of immunology at Surrey University, said it was 'welcome news' that all combinations of the jabs produced a 'strong immune response' against the virus.

She said: 'While we look forward to more data on doses given 12 weeks apart, mixing these two vaccines not only appears to be safe but can give a higher immune response than the standard dosing regimens where first and second doses of the vaccine are the same.

'While the findings of this study might allow for some flexibility and optimisation of the vaccination programme in the future, we continue to strongly encourage people to accept the offer of both doses of the vaccine within the current programme to ensure maximum protection from Covid-19.'

Professor Peter Openshaw, a professor of experimental Medicine, Imperial College London, noted that the 'beautifully designed' study found that the antibody responses were best with the two-dose Pfizer jabs, but the best T-cell responses were in those who had the AstraZeneca followed by Pfizer vaccines.

He said: 'Which of these is more protective in the long run remains to be determined, but in the meantime the study is reassuring that using a mixed vaccine approach is not only safe but can potentially give immune responses that are as good or better than those induced by single vaccine regimens.

'The next set of data from the 12 week dose interval is keenly awaited.'

Professor Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, said the findings are unlikely to affect the UK's vaccination strategy, given that over 60 per cent of adults have had their second doses.

'But this could have major impact on strategy for a booster campaign in the autumn,' he said.

Professor Hunter said: 'Those most at risk from the virus will most likely get a booster jab.

'People who have had a first course of AstraZeneca should probably be offered the Pfizer vaccine, or possibly Moderna or Novavax dependent on the future trial data from this study

'People who had a Pfizer first course may not need an autumn booster but if they do then it probably does not matter much which vaccine they are offered.'

He added that the AstraZeneca jab will likely 'perform somewhat better' in the study with a 12 week gap between doses.
The US Supreme Court on Monday handed victory to a transgender high school student who sued his school to be able to use the boys' bathroom.

The justices declined to take up the case involving Gavin Grimm, leaving in place a lower court's ruling that a Virginia public school board acted unlawfully by making him use the female bathroom at his high school when he was 15 because it lined up with his biological sex.

The justices opted to not hear the Gloucester County School Board's appeal of a 2020 ruling by the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Grimm is protected under the federal law that bars sex discrimination in education, known as Title IX, and the Constitution's requirement that people be treated equally under the law.

Grimm, now 22, was born female but identifies as male. He was allowed to use the boys' bathroom in 2014 for several weeks until parents complained.

In response, he was then told he could either use the girls' bathroom or a single private stall in a move the school said would respect the privacy of all students.

The Supreme Court's decision to reject the appeal represents a victory for Grimm, who sued the school board in 2015.

The justices previously took up the case in 2016, but did not issue a ruling and sent it back to lower courts.

'We won,' Grimm wrote on Twitter. 'I have nothing more to say but thank you, thank you, thank you. Honored to have been part of this victory.'

The brief court order noted that conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would have taken up the case.

Transgender high school student Gavin Grimm (pictured left in 2019 and right in 2015) celebrated a victory in the Supreme Court on Monday after he sued his Virginia school board to be able to use the boy's bathroom

The justices declined to hear the case, leaving in place a lower court's ruling siding with Grimm, although a note stated that conservative Justices Samuel Alito (bottom row, far left) and Clarence Thomas (bottom row, 2nd left) would have taken up the case

President Joe Biden's administration, reversing the position taken by the government under his predecessor Donald Trump, said on June 16 that Title IX protects both gender identity and sexual orientation. The administration has not said specifically how that applies to school bathroom access.

Grimm, 16, told his parents he was transgender in April 2014.

They helped him legally change his name, and a psychologist diagnosed him with gender dysphoria, characterized by stress stemming from conflict between one's gender identity and assigned sex at birth.

He had his breasts removed and began hormone treatment to deepen his voice and give him a more masculine appearance, ABC reported.

Grimm began attending Gloucester High School in September 2014. With the school's permission, Grimm used the boys' bathroom for about seven weeks without incident.

But after complaints from parents, the county school board adopted a new policy in December 2014 that required students to use the bathroom that corresponded with their gender at birth.

Grimm was given the option of using a separate gender-neutral bathroom, but refused to do so, feeling stigmatized.

'We won,' Grimm wrote on Twitter. 'I have nothing more to say but thank you, thank you, thank you. Honored to have been part of this victory.' The brief court order noted that conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would have taken up the case

The Supreme Court's decision to reject the appeal represents a victory for Grimm, who sued the school board in 2015 after officials at a local public high school refused to allow him to use the boys' restrooms

Grimm is pictured in 2017 with his parents after he graduated from high school. He filed the lawsuit over bathroom use in 2015

Judge Henry Floyd, writing for the 4th Circuit, said the school board's actions constituted 'a special kind of discrimination against a child that he will no doubt carry with him for life.' The 4th Circuit upheld a federal judge's 2019 ruling in Grimm's favor.

Grimm graduated in 2017 and has worked as an activist and educator while his case continued in the lower courts.

In its petition asking the Supreme Court to hear the case, the school board argued that its bathroom policy poses a 'pressing federal question of national importance.'

The board claimed previously that federal laws protect against discrimination based on sex, not gender identity. Because Grimm had not undergone sex-reassignment surgery and still had female genitalia, the boards position has been that he remained anatomically a female.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Grimm in his yearslong lawsuit against Gloucester, argued that federal law makes it clear transgender students are protected from discrimination.

Joshua Block, an attorney for ACLU, told a federal judge in July 2019 of the 'pain and discomfort' that Grimm felt from not going to the bathroom for a long time at his high school.

Block said Grimm sometimes felt like his 'bladder was going to burst' and eventually suffered a urinary tract infection.

David Corrigan, a lawyer for the school board, argued that its bathroom policy is based on a binary, 'two choices for all' view of gender  not a 'societal construct.'

Bathroom access has become a major issue in the battle over transgender rights, and Grimm's suit has been the most prominent legal case on the subject.

Grimm's case was previously set to be argued at the Supreme Court in 2017 but was taken off the schedule after Trump's administration rescinded guidance issued under his predecessor Barack Obama regarding bathroom access for transgender students.

Trump sought to roll back transgender rights in other areas, and his fellow Republicans in several states have passed laws seeking to restrict transgender girls in school sports.

The Biden administration has reversed various Trump policies on LGBT issues.

The Supreme Court issued a landmark 2020 ruling that gay and transgender people are protected under a federal law that bars sex discrimination in employment.

That ruling helped guide the 4th Circuit's decision in the Grimm case and the Biden administration's position on Title IX protections. Floyd wrote that in light of the 2020 ruling, 'we have little difficulty in holding that a bathroom policy precluding Grimm from using the boys restrooms discriminated against him.'
A MS-13 gang member pleaded guilty in connection with the murders of two men, aged 17 and 23, who were lured to a New York park then ambushed and killed.

Elmer Gutierrez, 21, pleaded to second-degree murder and first-degree conspiracy during court hearing last Wednesday, according to acting Nassau County District Attorney Joyce Smith. He is slated to be sentence August 10.

While Gutierrez could spend between a minimum of 20 years to life behind bars, Smith suggested a 31-year prison term.

Gutierrez and four other defendants, including two teens, plotted to assassinate Ian Cruz, a 23-year-old a resident of the Queens neighborhood of Far Rockaway, because he had reportedly disrespected their gang.

The Nassau County District Attorney said the gang members also had pictures which reportedly showed Cruz showing a lack of respect to the MS-13.

Elmer Gutierrez, 21, appeared in court last Wednesday pleaded guilty to his role in the the December 2018 murders of two young male. He conspired - but was not present - for the December 15 assassination of 23-year-old Ian Cruz, who was lured to have sex with a 13-year-old girl in a New York City park. He did participate in the murder of 17-year-old Harold Sermeno on December 17 when he delivered a blow to the victim's neck with a machete

Bayswater Point State Park in the Queens neighborhood of Far Rockaway was the site of a December 15, 2018 murder of a 23-year-old man who allegedly disrespected members of the MS-13. Authorities have so far convicted two men

On December 15, 2018, Cruz, was invited to Bayswater Point State Park where he was expecting to receive drugs and have sex with one of the five defendants, a 13-year-old girl.

Co-defendant Yonathan Sanchez, Carlos Guerra, who is now 21, and 15-year-old boy were armed hiding behind the bushed in the park before they ambushed Cruz.

Sanchez used a .22 caliber gun to shoot Cruz four times in the head. The four suspects then tool Cruz's belongings and fled to a Far Rockaway apartment that Sanchez and Guerra shared.

Although Gutierrez helped with plotting Cruz's killing, he was not present on the night of the murder.

The next day a park visitor alerted authorities after discovering Cruz's body over a blanket.

Sanchez was to 34 years to life in jail in July 2020.

On December 17, the gang used the same 13-year-old girl to invite 17-year-old Harold Sermeno to Five Towns Community Center in the Nassau town of Lawrence.

Five Towns Community Center in the Nassau (New York) town of Lawrence was the site of a December 17, 2008 murder of 17-year-old Harold Sermeno who was lured by members of the MS-13, including a 13-year-old girl

Sermeno and the girl were sitting at a park table drinking and smoking while the other gang members waited nearby. Sanchez approached shot him four times in the head and once in the chest. Gutierrez then sliced Sermeno's neck with a machete.

The five other defendants escaped and hid at the same apartment in Far Rockaway.

Authorities raid the home and recovered the gun and machete that were used in both murders.

The New York Police Department arrested Sanchez, Guerra, Gutierrez and the two minors on December 20. A team of agents from the NYPD and the Nassau County Police Department arrested a sixth defendant - a minor - on December 28.

'This senseless violence has no place in our community, and I thank our partners at the NYPD, NCPD, Queens District Attorneys Office and FBI Long Island Gang Task Force for helping solve these two murders," Smith said.

Guerra's case is still pending as are the cases against an 18-year-old male (who was 15 at the time of the incident) and a 15-year-old girl (who was 15 at the time of the murders. Each defendant was charged with second-degree murder.

A defendant who was 15 at the time of the gang executed the assassinations pled guilty to one count of second degree murder and is looking at 8 1/2 years to life in prison.
Greg Abbott is calling on Joe Biden to solved the federal-level illegal immigration crisis as he threatens to shut down facilities currently housing around 4,500 migrant children in Texas.

The Lone Star State Republican governor sent a letter to Biden's Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra stating: 'The federal government must solve the federal problem caused by the Biden administration's disastrous open-border policies.

'Texas will not be commandeered into federal government service,' he continued.

A series of June letters between Texas and HHS was obtained by Politico.

Abbott is planning to strip shelters of their license, which are needed to remain open, if they continue to serve migrant kids beginning August 31, which is estimated to uproot the accommodations for nearly 4,500 unaccompanied minor border crossers.

This plan would force shelters to stop caring for children and would specifically target the 52 shelters across Texas that currently accommodate for minor migrants

Federal health officials are threatening to sue Abbott if he goes forward with the plan.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is planning to revoke 52 migrant detention center licenses if they continue to cater to the 4,500 unaccompanied minors in their custody by August 31. In letters to Biden's HHS, Abbott wrote: 'The federal government must solve the federal problem caused by the Biden administration's disastrous open-border policies'

Mass numbers of migrants continue to flow into the U.S from Central America and Mexico as the Biden administration experiences record numbers of encounters since he took office. Here immigrant kids walk toward border patrol after crossing the Rio Grande into La Joya, Texas on June 21, 2021

Record numbers of apprehension were reported since Biden took office. In May there were the most so far with 180,034 encounters that month alone

The intensifying conflict between Abbott and Biden's administration comes as the Texas governor plans to accompany former President Donald Trump during a border trip near McAllen, Texas on Wednesday.

Abbott's plan would leave more than 25 per cent of the migrant kids in U.S. custody without a place to stay.

HHS is already stretched thin with massive numbers of illegal border crossers every day and record numbers of encounters each month since Biden took office  including the biggest spike yet from February to March.

In the letters, Abbott did not offer any housing alternatives if the shelters shutter their doors to migrants.

Instead, the Trump ally has said that's the responsibility of the federal government, and in particular HHS.

Deputy General Counsel Paul Rodriguez sent a letter to Texas officials, including Abbott, asking about specifics on how they planned to implement the order.

A spokesperson for HHS said they are still awaiting a response to the more than two dozen questions.

'We are exploring our options, for the sake of protecting the safety and well-being of unaccompanied children at licensed facilities in Texas,' the spokesperson said.

Illegal crossers wait to be processed after crossing the Rio Grande into the U.S. on June 16, 2021

HHS set up several temporary shelters to house minor migrants to more quickly move them from border processing facilities, which were slammed as overcrowded, understaffed and inhumane.

Abbott criticized the emergency pop up sites. Two months ago, he called one shelter in Texas 'a health and safety nightmare.'

A legal filing earlier last week also revealed that the HHS emergency sites are no better, and sometimes even worse, than the conditions in the border patrol facilities.

Children reported being kept for more than 60 days and receiving little sleep or outdoor time and limited access to showers and clean clothes.

They also wrote testimonials describing bouts of depression, trouble sleeping and being served undercooked or spoiled food.

Abbott invited Trump to survey the southern border with him, after several months of Vice President Kamala Harris neglecting to visit the U.S.-Mexico border despite the administration putting her in charge of the crisis.

Earlier this month, Trump announced he accepted the invitation  and he will visit on Wednesday with Abbott.

Harris, eight days after Trumps announcement of an impending visit, finally decided to make the trek to the southern border.

She went to El Paso, Texas on Friday, five days before Trumps scheduled trip.

The vice president, however, was criticized for going to El Paso instead of the Rio Grande, where the majority of encounters and apprehensions are taking place.
A Texas woman was arrested on felony charges after she was caught on video driving her SUV into a liquor store, striking a bystander and crashing into several parked cars during a lovers' quarrel.

The bizarre incident took place at 8pm last Friday when police were dispatched to the Liquor Depot in the 3500 block of North Belt Line Road in the Dallas suburb of Irving for a hit-and-run report.

According to the Irving Police Department, the suspect, identified as 58-year-old Annie Williams, had been fighting with her domestic partner and tried to hit him with her black Chrysler SUV, but instead drove into the store.

Police in Irving, Texas, say 58-year-old Annie Williams drove her black Chrysler into Liquor Deport during an argument with her domestic partner on Friday

Bystander video shows Williams' vehicle backing up, allegedly to try and run down her partner

The Chrysler hits a woman standing next to a parker car, leaving her with a broken ankle

Bystander video shows Williams' vehicle backing up, allegedly to try and run down her partner, only to strike a woman standing next to a parked car.

Williams has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, evading arrest, DWI and criminal mischief

The black Chrysler then rear-ends another parked vehicle and smashes into two other cars before Williams drives away at a high rate of speed.

'What the f*** just went on?!' the onlooker recording the video exclaims in shock.

A patrol sergeant attempted to pull Williams over a short time later, but she allegedly led police on a chase, reported NBC DFW.

The pursuit came to an end at North Story and Rochelle roads, where the woman was taken into custody.

The pedestrian who was hit took herself to a hospital to be treated for a broken ankle.

Police said Williams crashed into four parked cars before fleeing the scene and leading them on a brief chase

The liquor store sustained $25,000 worth of damage as a result of the crash

The liquor store was said to have sustained about $25,000 worth of damage.

Williams was booked into the Irving city jail on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, evading arrest, DWI and criminal mischief.

Her name was no longer listed on the jail's roster as of Monday afternoon.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell praised President Joe Biden for walking back his commitment to link the bipartisan infrastructure bill to 'massive, unrelated tax-and-spend' legislation in a statement Monday.

'The President has appropriately delinked a potential bipartisan infrastructure bill from the massive, unrelated tax-and-spend plans that Democrats want to pursue on a partisan basis,' McConnell said. 'Now I am calling on President Biden to engage Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi and make sure they follow his lead.'

McConnell blasted the Congressional Democratic leaders for trying to pass 'trillions of dollars for unrelated tax hikes, wasteful spending, and Green New Deal socialism' and said Biden's reversal would be a 'hollow gesture' if Pelosi and Schumer didn't cooperate.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell praised President Joe Biden for walking back his commitment to link a bipartisan infrastructure bill to a 'human' infrastructure bill Senate Democrats would pass using reconciliation

President Joe Biden (right), returning to the White House Sunday with first lady Jill Biden (left), reversed what sounded like a veto threat of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, appeasing Republicans but annoying progressive Democrats

McConnell also urged Biden to pressure Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (left) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (right) not to push a 'massive, unrelated tax-and-spend' bill through using reconciliation

'The president cannot let congressional Democrats hold a bipartisan bill hostage over a separate and partisan process,' McConnell said.

On the heels of the infrastructure deal being announced last week, Biden said he would also pursue his 'human' infrastructure priorities through a bill that could pass the Senate using the reconciliation process - meaning it would only need Democratic votes.

He originally said he wouldn't sign one without the other.

That comment had moderate Republicans hopping mad and threatening to walk away from the infrastructure deal.

In a statement on Saturday Biden said it was not his 'intent' to suggest he was issuing a veto threat on the bipartisan bill if it didn't pass without the reconciliation bill.

'So to be clear,' his statement said, 'our bipartisan agreement does not preclude Republicans from attempting to defeat my Families Plan; likewise, they should have no objections to my devoted efforts to pass that Families Plan and other proposals in tandem.'

That statement appeased the GOP.

Liberal Democrats, however, were not happy.

'Let me be clear: There will not be a bipartisan infrastructure deal without a reconciliation bill that substantially improves the lives of working families and combats the existential threat of climate change. No reconciliation bill, no deal. We need transformative change NOW,' Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote on Twitter.

'Understand this: We're not leaving child care behind. We're not leaving green energy behind. And we're not going to make America's middle-class families pick up the ticket for this package. It's time for billionaires and big corporations to step up,' Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday the administration was in touch with all wings of the Democratic Party to move the legislation forward.

'We're in touch with members of from all parts of both parties, you know, all parts of the Democratic Party,' she said.

Liberal Senator Bernie Sanders said he would not support Biden's bipartisan infrastructure plan without a second, $6 trillion measure for 'human' infrastructure

The back-and-forth over the last three days shows the delicate dance the White House is doing as Biden tries to hold together the competing factions while brandishing his reputation as a bipartisan deal maker.

The nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill - which focuses on traditional infrastructure projects - can be passed through regular Senate order with enough Republican support.

A second measure - which contains 'human infrastructure' items such as tax increases, green energy projects, health care provisions and investments in child care - would have to be passed through a process know as reconciliation. That allows Democrats to bypass the 60-vote thresh hold usually needed to advance legislation in the Senate.

Progressive lawmakers are threatening to with hold their support from the compromise plan without it being paired with the reconciliation bill.

But the reconciliation bill would need all 50 Democrats in order to proceed.

That would include moderate Sens. like Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema.

Manchin has indicated he will support a reconciliation bill but not at the funding level liberals want. The measure is approaching the $6 trillion mark.

Moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said he would support a second measure but said the $6 trillion price tag was too high

Republicans, meanwhile, were appeased when President Biden walked back comments from Friday threatening to tie the two infrastructure bills together: 'The waters have been calmed,' Republican Senator Mitt Romney said

'If Republicans don't want to make adjustments to a tax code which I think is weighted and unfair, then I'm willing to go reconciliation,' Manchin said Sunday on ABC's 'This Week.' 'But if they think in reconciliation I'm going to throw caution to the wind and go to $5 trillion or $6 trillion when we can only afford $1 trillion or $1.5 trillion or maybe $2 trillion and what we can pay for, then I can't be there.'

Sinema has been quiet on the issue.

Pelosi and Schumer have indicated they would like to pass both measures and send them together for Biden's signature.

Pelosi said she would not put the bipartisan measure on the House floor without the reconciliation package.

'Well, as I said, there won't be an infrastructure bill unless we have a reconciliation bill. Plain and simple. In fact, I used the word 'ain't.' There ain't going to be an infrastructure bill, unless we have the reconciliation bill passed by the United States Senate,' she said Thursday.
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Britain's daily Covid cases more than doubled in a week today but deaths plunged 40 per cent  in another clear sign the vaccines have severed the link between infections and fatalities.

The Department of Health posted another 22,868 infections in the past 24 hours, an increase of 115 per cent on the 10,633 recorded last week.

It is the highest daily case number since late January when the second wave was dying down, and the biggest week-on-week surge in infections since October last year. But there were just three deaths registered today, compared to five a week ago.

Daily Covid fatalities have ticked upwards in the past week, with an average of 17 victims now compared to nine in the middle of the month  a far cry from the levels seen in previous waves.

In a clear sign of the 'vaccine effect', the last time cases were at around 22,000 and rising was in early December, when there were roughly 400 Covid deaths a day and the second wave was starting to spiral.

There are currently on average 211 Covid hospital admissions each day across the UK, which is double the amount at the beginning of May. In early December, the country was averaging 1,500 daily hospitalisations.

New Health Secretary Sajid Javid jumped on the promising figures this afternoon, saying he saw 'no reason' the final unlocking should be delayed beyond July 19.

'While we decided not to bring forward Step 4, we see no reason to go beyond July 19, because, in truth, no date we choose comes with zero risk for Covid,' he told the Commons during his first speech to MPs after taking over from his disgraces predecessor. 'We know we cannot simply eliminate it, we have to learn to live with it.'

And Boris Johnson confirmed today it was 'looking set fair' that England's long-anticipated 'freedom day' would go ahead. But the Prime Minister ruled out any earlier easings of the remaining restrictions.

Britain has so far inoculated 44.4million adults with first doses  or 84.4 per cent of the population  and 32.5million with second doses  or 61.9 per cent.

The country's infection rate is being driven up by a record number of people testing positive in Scotland, where daily cases have surpassed the January peak.

Nearly 3,300 people tested positive today, which is the most in a single day ever north of the border. Scotland's infection rate is now 258.9 cases per 100,000 people, more than double England's 128.7 per 100,000.

Scotland is dealing with an outbreak of the highly infectious Indian 'Delta' variant and its case rate is being driven up due to a testing blitz launched to curb the spread of the mutant strain. But its hospitalisation rate remains at 25 admissions a day, far below the almost 200 in early January at the peak of the second wave.

Newly appointed Health Secretary Sajid Javid (left) is expected to signal that England's Covid restrictions can be eased as planned on July 19. He was appointed by Boris Johnson over the weekend after Matt Hancock resigned after an affair with his aide was revealed

This graph shows the proportion of people who catch Covid that are dying from the disease by age group. The rate has fallen markedly among older people, who are most at risk from the virus, since the vaccine roll-out began in January

Fewer than one in 1,000 Covid-infected people die from the disease, Cambridge scientists say Fewer than one in a thousand people who catch Covid in England now die from the disease, according to scientists at Cambridge University. They estimate the overall infection fatality rate (IFR) of coronavirus has been driven down to 0.085 per cent thanks to the country's hugely successful vaccine rollout. For comparison, the team at Cambridge's Medical Research Council (MRC) biostatistics unit estimated that about one in 90 cases (1.1 per cent) resulted in death at the end of the second wave. In the most vulnerable over-75s group, the IFR is now thought to be under 2 per cent after plummeting from 17 per cent during the winter peak in January. Experts told MailOnline that while the findings were encouraging, the death rate will likely increase in the coming weeks as a result of the rise of the Indian variant. The promising figures could be seized upon by newly appointed Health Secretary Sajid Javid who this afternoon is due to deliver his verdict on whether all lockdown restrictions can be lifted in England on July 19. Mr Javid, who is thought to be more lockdown-sceptic than his predecessor, is expected to say the country is on track for the new terminus date when he gives a statement to MPs in the House of Commons. But Mr Javid will reportedly say the nation is not yet in a position to bring forward the unlocking to July 5, when SAGE and ministers are due to review the Covid situation next. Advertisement

In another day of Covid news:

Crowds broke into applause at Wimbledon's Centre Court for Oxford vaccine creator Dame Sarah Gilbert;

Boris Johnson claimed he did sack Health Secretary Matt Hancock as soon as he saw the story about his affair;

Study suggested Pfizer and Moderna vaccines could provide lifetime protection against Covid;

Leading Oxford scientist saws booster jabs are not needed this Autumn because two doses work so well against the Indian variant;

Spain today said it would only let Britons who are 'fully vaccinated' or have a negative Covid test enter the country;

Mother-of-three, 47, dies after AstraZeneca jab sparked blood clots on her brain which led to a stroke.

Mr Javid said he was 'very confident' that the remaining restrictions could be eased on July 19.

He told the Commons: 'The more people that are getting vaccinated, were seeing clear evidence that were breaking the link  and this is absolutely crucial  between people getting infected by Covid, so the number of cases, versus those that are ending up, sadly, in hospital or even in some cases losing their lives.

'The more evidence we see of that, the more confident that can make us that well put this pandemic behind us.

'Thats what gives me confidence about July 19 and all the data that Ive seen  yesterday I sat down and discussed it with the experts, some of my colleagues  its very clear that were heading in the right direction and I am very confident about that date, July 19.'

He added: 'We owe it to the British people, who have sacrificed so much, to restore their freedoms as quickly as we possibly can and not to wait a moment longer than we need to.

'With the numbers heading in the right direction, all while we protect more and more people each day, July 19 remains our target date.'

The former Home Secretary and Chancellor said he spent Sunday going over data and 'testing it to the limit' to understand whether restrictions could be eased.

He took over from Matt Hancock at the weekend, after he resigned from the position when his affair with an aide was revealed. Mr Hancock also admitted breaking his own social distancing rules.

Mr Johnson told reporters during a campaign visit to Batley that he wanted to use the 'next three weeks or so really to complete as much as we can' of the vaccine rollout to bolster the nation's defences against the disease.

The Prime Minister said 'with every day that goes by' it is clearer to him and his scientific experts that 'we're very likely to be in a position on July 19 to say that really is the terminus and we can go back to life as it was before Covid as far as possible'.

He said: 'Although there are some encouraging signs and the number of deaths remains low and the number of hospitalisations remains low, though both are going up a bit, we are seeing an increase in cases.

'So we think its sensible to stick to our plan to have a cautious but irreversible approach, use the next three weeks or so really to complete as much as we can of that vaccine rollout  another five million jabs we can get into peoples arms by July 19.

'And then with every day that goes by its clearer to me and all our scientific advisers that were very likely to be in a position on July 19 to say that really is the terminus and we can go back to life as it was before Covid as far as possible.'

On a visit to St Thomas' Hospital in central London this morning, the former Home Secretary Mr Javid said: 'I want to see the restrictions lifted and life going back to normal as quickly as possible and right here and now, that is my absolute priority.

I want to see those restrictions lifted as soon as we can, as quickly as possible.

In terms of the roadmap to that you will have to wait for my statement to Parliament later today.

The green vertical lines show participants' antibody levels when they were given the first vaccine (V1), 28 days after that (V1+28 days), the second jab (V2), 28 days after that jab (V2+28 days), the third booster injection (V3), 14 days after that (V3+14) and 28 days after the booster (V3+28). The findings show that the antibody response increased after each jab and were at their highest, by a small margin, 28 days after the booster injection

Professor Sir Andrew Pollard said there is 'no indication at the moment that we need boosters', despite his study showing that the third jab gave high protection against Covid

World's first 'mix and match' Covid vaccine study finds combination of AstraZeneca and Pfizer jabs gives enhanced protection Mixing and matching Covid vaccines may result in higher protection against the virus, a UK Government-backed study has found. People who had been vaccinated with AstraZeneca's jab initially and then received a top-up with Pfizer's had nine times more antibodies than those who stuck to the UK vaccine. Although antibodies are just one part of the immune response, the Oxford University researchers said the findings strongly suggested the approach could enhance immunity. However, Professor Matthew Snape, chief investigator of the trial, said the UK should stick to its standard dosing regimen because it was proving to work in the real world. He warned there was a danger of complicating the hugely successful rollout, which has seen four-fifths of the adult population jabbed at least once. 'The default has to stay to what is proven to work,' he told a press briefing this afternoon. However, the findings opened the door for more flexible rollouts in countries with limited supplies, the scientists said. They will continue to monitor 830 participants in the trial to see how much protection the 'mix and match' strategy provides against Covid in the real world. Advertisement

Separate data today showed fewer than one in a thousand people who catch Covid in England now die from the disease.

Scientists at Cambridge University estimate the overall infection fatality rate (IFR) of coronavirus has been driven down to 0.085 per cent thanks to the country's hugely successful vaccine rollout.

For comparison, the team at Cambridge's Medical Research Council (MRC) biostatistics unit estimated that about one in 90 cases (1.1 per cent) resulted in death at the end of the second wave.

In the most vulnerable over-75s group, the IFR is now thought to be under 2 per cent after plummeting from 17 per cent during the winter peak in January.

Experts told MailOnline that while the findings were encouraging, the death rate will likely increase in the coming weeks as a result of the rise of the Indian variant.

The MRC 'nowcasting' unit estimates the number of infections that lead to fatalities based on official data including daily Covid cases, deaths and hospital admissions. It also takes into account asymptomatic cases who are missed by the centralised testing scheme.

Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at Reading University, said it was likely the number of infections leading to deaths would rise in the coming weeks because of the rapid rise in cases over the past two months.

'We also have got to remember that what we are dealing with now is an increasing situation (of cases) and an increasing rate of infection,' he told MailOnline.

'Most people who have had the infection are in the early stages of it so they won't have died yet.

'I think it will go up later on, but it won't go anywhere near the one in 90 (at the peak of the second wave), but I expect more than one in a thousand.'

Asked whether the July 19 easing was likely to go ahead, he said this would 'probably' happen.

'There is evidence  good evidence  it seems that the vaccine is working and the vaccines are protecting' against serious disease and death, he added.

Britain has been administering Covid vaccines in order to reach 'herd immunity'  when the virus stops spreading in the community because enough people have antibodies to fight it off.

The jabs have been shown to be up to 96 per cent effective at stopping severe illness and hospitalisation from the Indian variant after two doses  and even better at preventing deaths.

But one dose is significantly weaker against the new strain than older versions of the virus, which prompted the four-week delay of the original June 21 Freedom Day because millions of over-40s are still to get their follow-up shot.

The Government is considering plans to administer booster doses to older age groups in the Autumn, but a leading Oxford scientist today said there is no need for the extra inoculations.

Professor Andrew Pollard, the lead researcher behind trials of the AstraZeneca vaccine, said sending the extra doses to developing countries where the most vulnerable are yet to receive any jab would be a better use of the UK's supplies.

His comments came despite his team at Oxford finding that giving a booster to people months after they've been double-jabbed brings their immunity levels back to their peak.

The trial of 90 Britons showed for the first time that the third dose 'significantly' boosts antibody and T-cell counts, key indicators that the body is primed to defend against Covid.

Two doses of the AstraZeneca jab have been shown to reduce hospitalisations by more than 90 per cent against both the Indian and Kent variants. But there is nothing in the data to show that a third jab would improve on that figure, Professor Pollard said.

Last week, the former Health Secretary Matt Hancock promised the Government would set out plans for an autumn booster programme within the next few weeks.

Professor Pollard said: 'This is about preparedness. The study shows we can boost responses with extra AstraZeneca vaccines.

'So that's a good tool if needed. It is about preparedness rather than proving we need it. We still need more data for that.'

He added that there is 'no indication at the moment that we need boosters'. It is expected that immunity will wane over time, but 'it won't go to zero'.
Piers Morgan has branded the BBC 'utterly spineless' after the Corporation slammed Emily Maitlis for sharing a Twitter post that criticised the government's handling of the pandemic.

The Newsnight presenter, 50, was told she had breached impartiality rules after sharing a tweet by fellow journalist Piers Morgan that slammed the government's pandemic response.

BBC presenter Emily Maitlis, 50, was reprimanded by bosses after she shared a 'controversial' tweet from Piers Morgan

A statement on the complaints section of the BBC's website criticised the broadcaster's social media activity after she shared a post by fellow journalist Piers Morgan in February.

The Twitter post said: 'If failing to quarantine properly is punishable by 10yrs in prison, what is the punishment for failing to properly protect the country from a pandemic?'

Morgan labelled the BBC's reaction as 'quite incredible', adding the post was 'not a partisan comment, it's a statement of fact'.

'Why is the BBC so utterly spineless?' he tweeted.

The Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) statement said the 'retweeted material was clearly controversial, implying sharp criticism of the Government, and there was nothing in the surrounding context to make clear that Ms Maitlis was not endorsing it or to draw attention to alternative views'.

Mr Morgan, 56, branded the BBC as 'utterly spineless' for its statement in response to an earlier tweet he had posted

The BBC2 Newsnight presenter, 50, deleted this retweet within ten minutes - but not before someone complained to the BBC

It added: 'Ms Maitlis deleted the retweet from her account within 10 minutes of its appearance but, in the absence of a public acknowledgement that it had been out of keeping with the BBC's editorial standards, this did not seem to the ECU sufficient to resolve the issue of complaint.'

BBC director-general Tim Davie warned staff over their use of social media when he took on the role at the broadcaster last year.

He said staff sharing their opinions online could harm the broadcaster's reputation for impartiality, which he described as a 'number one priority' amid accusations of bias from figures across the political spectrum.

A spokeswoman for the BBC said: 'We note the ECU findings.'

The BBC said the complaint was lodged by a member of the public who thought Maitlis 'gave an impression of partiality in a controversial matter'.

The reprimand is the latest for Miss Maitlis, who has been under fire for several jibes aimed at the Government over its handling of the pandemic.

She was embroiled in an impartiality row over a Newsnight monologue in May about Dominic Cummings hugely controversial trip to County Durham from London during lockdown.

The presenter said Boris Johnsons former adviser broke the rules, adding: The country can see that and its shocked the Government cannot.

Her tirade led to 20,000 complaints that she had shown bias. The BBC released a statement within 24 hours saying the programme had not met standards of due impartiality.
A woman who is among the more than 150 missing from the Miami Condo collapse called her husband to say she had seen the swimming pool cave in 'and screamed bloody murder' seconds before the Champlain Towers fell down.

Model Cassondra Billedeau-Stratton said in a phone call with her husband Mike Stratton that she had seen a sinkhole where their pool used to be before before the line cut out.

'It was 1.30am, I'll never, never forget that,' Mr Stratton, a 66-year-old Democratic political strategist, told The Miami Herald.

Billedeau-Stratton, 40, had felt sudden shaking from her fourth-floor balcony and called her husband screaming before saying that there was a sinkhole, reports the newspaper.

Model Cassondra Billedeau-Stratton said in a phone call with her husband Mike Stratton that she had seen a sinkhole where their pool used to be before before the line cut out

Billedeau-Stratton has worked as an actress, model and Pilates instructor, bringing 'a vivacious love of life to everything she does,' her husband Mike Stratton, right, said in a statement

Mr Stratton, who was in Denver at the time of the call, told the Washington Post that she screamed that she had seen the pool deck cave in and 'then the phone went dead.'

'She screamed bloody murder and that was it,' Mr Stratton told Billedeau-Stratton's older sister Ashley Dean.

Ms Dean told the Washington Post that her sister 'knew something was wrong' in the says before the collapse as she had complained to her family about water damage in the building and heavy equipment being lifted to the roof for repairs.

She said it is hard to hold out hope for her sister to come back to her.

'I want to have hope,' she said, 'but I'm a realist. I don't want to hold on to false dreams.'

Billedeau-Stratton is among the 151 people who are missing after the 12-story condominium building in suburban Miami collapsed early Thursday morning. Ten deaths have been confirmed so far.

A structural engineer who inspected the Champlain Towers last year told CNN that the hole witnessed by Billedeau-Stratton 'definitely' could have been a factor in the sudden collapse.

Jason Borden said that if the pool deck or a structural slab near the building failed or had been compromised, 'it could have contributed to the end result'.

Billedeau-Stratton (pictured at the top among those missing) is among the 152 people who are missing after the 12-story condominium building in suburban Miami collapsed early Thursday morning. Ten deaths have been confirmed so far

Mr Borden expressed confidence in the integrity of the Champlain Towers North and East.

He said: 'You know they are maintaining their buildings. Personally, I am confident in the stability of those buildings because I've been closely involved with Champlain Towers East.'

Mr Borden said he had seen cracks and deterioration when he inspected Champlain Towers South last year but was not alarmed as it was typical of buildings of that age that are on the coast.

'I saw cracks in the stucco facade, he said. 'I saw deterioration of the concrete balconies.

'I saw cracks and deterioration of the garage and plaza level but those are all things that we are accustomed to seeing and that's why our job exists  to maintain and repair the buildings.'

Workers search the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo on Monday for the missing

Billedeau-Stratton has worked as an actress, model and Pilates instructor, bringing 'a vivacious love of life to everything she does,' her husband said in a statement.

'Cassie is a wife, mother and true friend to so many,' said Mr Stratton. He told Denver's KMGH-TV that he and his wife spent much of their time during the coronavirus pandemic in the condo they have owned for four years.

Mr Stratton said he saw saw his wife on June 21 before he left on a business trip to DC, the Miami Herald reported.

The couple met seven years ago at a Super Bowl Party in New York and married two years later in 2015.

Billedeau-Stratton, who splits her time through Miami and New York City, was originally from New Orleans.

Mr Stratton told the Herald that his wife has so many friends that he created the phrase 'everybody loves Cassie' years ago.

'She was the most fun, vivacious person you could ever imagine,' he told the paper as his voice cracked with emotion.

'She was full of life, we were always doing something. There are so many interesting places to go in Miami and we took it all in.'

Billedeau-Stratton loved walking and biking along the beach, her sister, Stephanie Fonte, told The New York Times. When the sisters were together, she often would make them pose for photos on the beach or near a burst of flowers.
Houston's police chief has publicly apologized to the family of a man killed by six officers more than four decades ago, calling it a 'straight-up murder.'

Chief Troy Finner issued the apology on Sunday to the family of Joe Campos Torres, a Mexican-American Vietnam War veteran, who was beaten to death and his body dumped in the Buffalo Bayou by Houston police officers in 1977.

Five of the officers were charged in the death, with two convicted of negligent homicide, and the other three convicted of violating Torres' civil rights.

'I am the chief of police, but I am a son of Houston, and what people need to understand is if you cannot see and feel 44 years of pain and suffering of this family, you're not human,' Finner said.

Houston Police Chief Troy Finner apologized to the family of Joe Campos Torres for his death in 1977 in Houston police custody, calling it 'straight-up murder'

Torres, a US Army Vietnam veteran, was 23 when he was arrested on May 5, 1977 for disorderly conduct at a bar, and beaten. His body would end up in the Buffalo Bayou, where it was found three days later

The apology to Torres' family was the first by any city official, and Finner promised to work with the family to build a monument in Torres' name.

'Let's get this clear because there's been some chatter in the neighborhoods [about] how Chief Finner feels about this,' he said of Torres' death, 'and that is straight-up murder of somebody. You've got five officers sworn to protect, five, sworn to protect and serve and murdered an active military soldier,'

Surviving members of Torres' family also spoke on Sunday.

Torres' nephew, Richard Molina, said the family is in communication with the city to find a proper way to memorialize his uncle.

'Our ultimate goal is humanizing our uncle at this point. We want to let the people know what kind of person he was and what he meant to my family,' Molina said.

'My mother was never the same after Jose was killed,' his sister Janie Torres, who was 10 at the time her brother's death, said. 'I will never be the same, my family will never be the same. This has destroyed all of us. The pain is a lot deeper than what you could have ever imagined.'

Torres' sister Janie said she was 10 at the time of her brother's death and that her family was never the same. City officials vowed to memorialize Torres in some way

The worst thing for her, she said was that, 'No matter how many apologies we get, it can never change the fact because Joe, at the end, never got justice.'

Officers Terry Denson and Stephen Orlando were convicted of negligent homicide, a misdemeanor, and were fined $1 and sentenced to probation.

They were, however, later convicted of civil rights violations and served nine months in prison.

Torres was 23 on the night of May 5, 1977, when he was arrested for disorderly conduct at a bar, according to reports from the Houston Chronicle at the time.

The arresting officers took him to a place dubbed 'the hole,' an area behind a warehouse along the Buffalo Bayou, and beat him before taking Torres to the city jail.

Officials at the jail refused to book Torres due to his injuries, and told the officers to bring him to a hospital.

Officers Terry Denson (left) and Stephen Orlando (right) were the only two officers convicted of negligent homicide, a misdemeanor, in the death of Torres, and each was fined $1 and given probation

Torres' death and the light punishment the officers involved received would spark the infamous Moody Park riot one year later.

Rioters looted and set fire to a shopping center, and fifteen people were injured including five police officers and two news personnel

Instead, they returned him to the hole, where they continued to beat him, and where he was either pushed or fell into the bayou.

His body was found by a boater three days later.

His death and the light punishment the officers received would spark the infamous Moody Park Riot one year later.

Rioters looted and set fire to a shopping center, and fifteen people were injured including five police officers and two news personnel.

Sunday's formal apology comes after Finner and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner met privately with Torres' family over Memorial Day weekend, but wanted to make a public showing ABC 13 reported.
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An old poetry book is expected to sell for 150,000 after it was found to contain lost artwork from the famous English landscape painter John Constable.

An auctioneer was doing a routine valuation at a country cottage when he spotted the 1836 illustrated edition of poet Thomas Gray's 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard' in a bookcase.

He opened it and was stunned to find three watercolours by Constable fastened to pages inside, alongside a hand-written letter and ink sketch by him.

They refer to scenes the Hay Wain artist was asked to illustrate for the re-printing of the popular 1750 poem about mortality and remembrance.

One of the watercolours shows two soldiers looking on in shared contemplation over the tomb of an English knight.

An 1836 illustrated edition of poet Thomas Gray's 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard' is expected to sell for 150,000 after it was found to contain lost artwork from the famous English landscape painter John Constable. Pictured: One of the watercolours which depicts two soldiers looking on in shared contemplation over the tomb of an English knight

The others depict the moonlit ruin of a tower and a person reflecting in a churchyard as the sun rises over far-away fields.

Constable's letter, penned in 1835, features a sketch of the churchyard at Stoke Poges, Bucks.

This is where Gray would visit the grave of his beloved aunt Mary Antrobus, whose death in 1749 inspired his work.

This book was the personal copy of the editor and bookseller John Martin, who commissioned Constable for the illustrated edition.

It contains 17 original paintings and drawings from artists including Constable, Charles Landseer, Peter De Wint and Richard Westall.

The lady vendor, who lives in a cottage in south east England, had no idea of the book's contents.

She is now selling it with auctioneers Gorringe's, of Lewes, East Sussex and the sale takes place on Tuesday, June 29.

The unique edition of the poetry book was found to contain three watercolours by Constable, as well as other artists, alongside a hand-written letter, penned in 1835, with an ink sketch of the churchyard at Stoke Poges, Bucks (pictured)

The art was found in the poetry book (left), originally the personal copy of the bookseller John Martin, who commissioned Constable for the illustrated edition, before it lay undiscovered on a bookcase in a Sussex cottage for a many years

Philip Taylor, of Gorringe's, said: 'Discovered during a routine valuation visit, this unique edition of Gray's Elegy is the property of a private lady vendor - the owner until now unaware of the importance waiting patiently in her bookcase.

'Estimated at 100,000 to 150,000, this reflects a truly unique opportunity to acquire a body of work compiled by one of Britain's best-loved and widely celebrated artistic sons.'

Upon being published, Gray's Elegy soon became popular and was regarded as 'the best known and best loved poem in English'.

Constable is famous for his landscape paintings and is recognised as one of Britain's greats. Pictured: Oil painting of John Constable by Ramsay Richard Reinagle that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, London

The 1836 illustrated edition is believed to have been funded by the poet and banker Samuel Rogers.

Constable (1776-1837) is principally known for his landscape paintings including Wivenhoe Park (1816), Dedham Vale (1821) and The Hay Wain (1821).

He was not financially successful during his lifetime, but has since become recognised as one of the greats.

One of his paintings, The Lock (1824), fetched 22.8million at auction in 2012.

Joseph Trinder, auctioneer at Gorringe's, said: 'The pieces are interleaved within the book, which means they are fastened in the pages beside the stanzas of poetry that they are illustrating.

'They reflect some of Constable's later work and his comparatively lesser known role as an illustrator - an important element of his oeuvre.

'Our response to this discovery is one of great excitement and humble appreciation.

'Constable is one of the names best known and celebrated in the art market - so to find these pieces waiting patiently on a shelf during a routine valuation was a very special moment indeed.'
Sir Lindsay Hoyle has ordered a review of parliamentary security amid growing concerns among MPs in the wake of Matt Hancock's resignation following the leaking of CCTV footage.

The Commons Speaker said this afternoon that he had 'directed senior officials to consider what implications there are for security arrangements' in Parliament after the Whitehall leak.

Sir Lindsay said that he will take any 'necessary steps with urgency' to boost security.

Meanwhile, MPs questioned whether a camera in Mr Hancock's private office in the Department of Health and Social Care had been placed there 'covertly'.

Junior Cabinet Office minister Julia Lopez insisted that was not the case and her understanding was 'it was a CCTV camera and it was not a covert device'.

But MPs said 'the more we go into this the more odd it gets' as they warned it is 'totally unacceptable for private conversations' to be recorded.

It came as Cabinet ministers demanded their offices be urgently swept for secret cameras after the exit of Mr Hancock.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said this morning that departmental offices must be a 'safe space' where ministers and officials can discuss sensitive material away from prying eyes.

He warned that such footage could be used to damage national security should it fall into the hands of 'unfriendly governments'.

Mr Buckland said he and his Cabinet colleagues have called for checks for cameras and bugs to now be 'conducted regularly' in the future.

Meanwhile, MI5 is due to speak to the Cabinet Office this week to determine if it should probe the leaked video footage of Mr Hancock which showed him breaking social distancing rules by kissing an aide in his ministerial office.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle has ordered a review of parliamentary security amid growing concerns among MPs in the wake of Matt Hancock's resignation following the leaking of CCTV footage

MI5 is due to speak to the Cabinet Office this week to determine if it should probe the leaked video footage of Matt Hancock

Sir Lindsay stressed to MPs this afternoon that the security of Whitehall departments has nothing to do with Parliament.

But he said the incident had prompted him to look at security arrangements on the parliamentary estate.

He said: Before we come to the next urgent question, I want to say something about the implications for the House of the apparent security breach involving the Department of Health and Social Care.

We do not comment on the detail of security arrangements on the floor of the House.

However, I want the House to be reassured that I have directed senior officials to consider what implications there are for security arrangements in the House with recent events in Whitehall and take any necessary steps with urgency.

MPs sought answers from Ms Lopez as she was grilled on the issue of cameras in ministerial offices.

Tory MP Peter Bone said: It seems to me that the revelations over the weekend that the secretary of state for healths personal office had recording devices in it should be of national concern.'

He added: 'Several Cabinet ministers have gone on the record since this disclosure to say that they had no knowledge that their offices might be subject to surveillance.

It is totally unacceptable for private conversations between ministers, civil servants, members of parliament and members of the public to be secretly recorded.

Ms Lopex told MPs: My understanding on this basis was it was a CCTV camera and it was not a covert device but there are obviously questions to answer about the way in which civil servants are vetted and they do go through stringent vetting processes and then there is a risk based approach to which departments need to be more regularly swept.

Tory MP Jacob Young sought assurances from Ms Lopez that as well as cameras, ministerial offices should not have microphones hidden in them and that any review of security will ensure that all ministerial offices are checked for these regularly.

Lib Dem MP Jamie Stone said: It occurs to me that the security camera, and I think we are accepting they are security cameras, must have been pretty covert, surely to goodness.'

He said 'the more we go into this the more odd it gets and I think the public do deserve an absolutely open explanation as to what has happened here'.

The Department of Health and Social Care has now disabled the camera in the secretary of state's office.

Officials are also said to have covered the lens with masking tape as a precaution as Mr Hancock's replacement, Sajid Javid, takes up his new role.

Mr Hancock was apparently unaware of the camera in his office and ministers are now calling for all ministerial offices to be swept amid mounting national security concerns.

Mr Buckland told Sky News: 'I think that there is an important principle here about the need for ministers and civil servants who often are handling very sensitive material and information to have a safe space within which to work.

'Now, I accept that CCTV is a factor of all our daily lives, we are probably being filmed in all sorts of places as we go about our lawful business.

'But I do think that there is a wider issue here of concern that we should all satisfy ourselves about that there isn't inappropriate coverage being taken of sensitive matters which could be used in a way by those who wish us ill, other unfriendly governments or other people who do not have the interests of our country at heart.'

Asked if there is CCTV in his office, Mr Buckland said: 'I have asked that question. I don't think so. I have never seen any camera facilities.

'I know there is CCTV in the building for obvious security reasons but I am sure that many of my colleagues will be asking the same question and making sure that the offices are swept just in case there are unauthorised devices in there that could be a national security breach. I think that is the sensible thing to do.'

Told that it seems unbelievable that the offices of ministers are not already regularly swept for cameras and bugs, Mr Buckland replied: 'You raise a really legitimate question and I think frankly sweeps should be conducted regularly, particularly where sensitive material is being handled.'

One minister told The Times: 'All of us are now wondering whether much more damaging material to Britain's national security could have been breached from another camera. We need an urgent sweep of all high-level government offices.'

The Department of Health has launched an internal probe into the leaking of the footage.

That investigation will look at how the images were made public and when the camera was first installed, with reports suggesting it may have been there since 2017.

Meanwhile, The Time said MI5 chiefs will speak to Cabinet Office officials this week to determine whether there has been a national security breach and whether the threshold has been reached for them to get involved.

However, the bar for MI5 to launch a probe is high, with a security source telling the newspaper: 'The major issue is for the people that own the cameras inside the office, and that's the government itself.'
An 18-year-old woman has been rushed to hospital by air ambulance after she was stabbed in East London today.

The victim was knifed in a Sainsbury's car park in Billet Lane, Hornchurch, around 4.10pm on Monday.

Police have arrested a 27-year-old man at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder.

An 18-year-old woman was rushed to hospital by air ambulance after she was stabbed in a Sainsbury's car park in Billet Lane, Hornchurch, around 4.10pm on Monday

The store car park has been closed after shoppers exiting witnessed the shocking attack, The Sun reported.





Video footage from the scene shows part of the Sainsbury's car park cordoned off and police still at the scene.

A black car can be seen inside the police tape with its boot open.

Part of the car park has been cordoned off and a crime scene remains in place as officers continue their investigation.

A Met police spokesperson said: 'Police were called shortly after 16:10hrs on Monday, 28 June following reports of a stabbing in car park in Billet Lane, Hornchurch.

Police have arrested a 27-year-old man at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder. (Pictured: police leading a man into the back of a police car)

'Officers and London Ambulance Service attended and a woman, believed to be 18, was found with knife injuries.

'She was taken to hospital and we await an update on her condition.'

A police dog unit along with multiple police vehicles attended the scene with ambulance and paramedics.

Officers are continuing their investigation while a crime scene remains in place.
Wanted murderer Lazaro Barbosa (pictured in a previous mugshot) was shot dead on Sunday

A gunman who murdered a family-of-four in cold blood, before taking another family hostage during his 20 days on the run, has been shot dead by police.

Almost 300 cops, plus K9s and a helicopter were deployed to take down Lazaro Barbosa, 32, after he was spotted in the city of Aguas Lindas, west of Brasilia, in Brazil on Sunday.

Authorities say he was shot after he opened fire on the police as they closed in on him. Local media footage shows officers dragging a blood-stained Barbosa from the back of a vehicle into an ambulance as officers cheered; ''It's over, it's over, it's over!'

Paramedics rushed him to Bom Jesus Municipal Hospital where he died.

Barbosa has been on-the-run since June 9 when he broke into a farm home in the Federal District town of Ceilandi, where he shot and stabbed Claudio Vidal, 48, and his two sons, Gustavo Vidal, 21, and Carlos Vidal, 15.

Vidal's wife and mother of their two children, Cleonice Marques, 43, saw Barbosa breaking into the residence and called family members to seek help but was taken hostage, her brother told the police.

Barbosa led Marques to a stream near the home and shot her dead, abandoning her body at the site, where fire fighters located her June 12.

During the 20 days that Barbosa avoided capture, the career criminal shot two police officers. Their wounds were not considered life threatening.

Brazilian online news portal G1 reported that Barbosa broke into at least 11 homes.

Gustavo Vidal, 21, (left) and Carlos Vidal, 15, (right) were shot and stabbed dead by murder suspect Lazaro Barbosa on June 9 inside their farm house in Ceilandi, Brazil

Cleonice Marques (left) was kidnapped and shot dead after the attempted to alert her family when Lazaro Barbosa broke into her home and launched a deadly attack against her husband, Claudio Vidal (right), and her two children on June 9 in Ceilandi, Brazil

Three days after the murder, he broke into a farm where he shot and injured four people before he burned down the home. He allegedly kidnapped the farmhouse's caretaker and forced him to smoke marijuana.

On June 14, Barbosa was reportedly shot by man housesitting a residence in Cocalzinho de Goias.

The next day, Barbosa invaded a home and kidnapped a married couple and their 16-year-old daughter, but not before the girl alerted the police with a text message.

The murder suspect took the teen and her parents into a nearby forest and forced them to walk through a stream so that they would not leave any foot tracks.

He fled after he saw police helicopters hovering over the area. The three individuals were rescued by the police.

Barbosa had called his mother two days after the killings and told her that he had not acted alone.

Cops in Brazil drag murder suspect Lazaro Barbosa after he was wounded during a shootout in the central state of Goias. The 32-year-old had evaded capture since June 9 for killing married couple and their two children. While eluding the police, Barbosa kidnapped a family and also shot two cops, who survived

Authorities in Goias, Brazil, carry Lazaro Barbosa after he was wounded in a shootout and arrested on Monday

However, authorities have not arrested any other suspects linked to the massacre.

Police finally caught up with him on Sunday in Aguas Lindas - just three miles from the home where his ex-wife lives with her mother, Public Security Secretary Rodney Miranda said during a press conference.

He was wearing a military police jacket and was also in possession of a police badge at the time of his arrest.

Barbosa, who had escaped from prison on three occasions, was planning to meet his former wife and warned the police that he would shoot himself in the face.

Public Security Secretary Miranda said that after Barbosa's arrest, they found he had a gun and hundreds of dollars - 'proof that he had people with him making out work difficult,' he added.

'It was a matter of time before our police, the most prepared in the country, captured the murderer Lazaro Barbosa,' Goias Governor Ronaldo Calado tweeted after the arrest.

A police officer checks a house during a June 20 operation in Brazil to capture Lazaro Barbosa

Barbosa has been on-the-run since June 9 when he broke into a farm home in the Federal District town of Ceilandi, where he killed a family

'Congratulations to our security forces. You are a source of great pride for our people! Goias is not a bandit's Disneyland.'

Barbosa's criminal rap sheet stretches all the way back to 2007, when he was arrested in Barra dos Mendes, Bahia, on double murder charges, but escaped from prison 10 days after his capture.

He was arrested in 2009 and jailed at the Papuda Penitentiary Complex in Brasilia, but escaped in March 2016. He was nabbed in March 2018 and then escaped jail July 2018.

Barbosa broke into a farm in the Goias town of Santo Antonio do Descoverto on April 8, 2020 and attacked an elderly man with an ax.

Authorities said that was involved in a home invasion in the Federal District city of Sol Nascente on April 26, 2021, and locked a man and his son in a bedroom before he raped his wife.

On May 17, Barbosa once again attempted to rob a house and took a family hostage. He locked the men in a room and forced the women to remove their clothing and cook him dinner.

Barbosa's aunt Zilda Maria told G1 that she learned of her fugitive nephew's arrest on television while visiting her local electricity provider's office.

'It's something we have to conform to, but when we see the images... I am shaken,' she said from her home in Barra do Mendes, Bahia. 'I still don't know how his mother is doing, but she shouldn't be ok. I'm not happy with the news, but we have to put up with it.'

Maria described Barbosa as a 'dear person,' but added that the police hunt for her nephew cost the family a lot of sleepless nights.

'I still don't know what we're going to do with the body, whether we're going to bury it there or here. I saw the image of him dead and at the time he even went hungry,' Maria said. 'But now everyone will live in peace. Everyone was afraid, even [us] here. Even though we knew he wouldn't come here, we lost nights of sleep.'
New details have emerged about the suspected white supremacist who authorities in Massachusetts say crashed into a home and executed two black bystanders in an alleged hate crime, including that he was a married physical therapist with a doctorate.

The gunman, identified as 28-year-old Nathan Allen, was shot and killed by a Winthrop police sergeant on Saturday, after officials say Allen crashed a stolen truck into a building and then gunned down David Green, a 68-year-old retired Massachusetts State Police trooper, and Romana Cooper, a 60-year-old Air Force veteran, both black.

Early in the investigation, police found 'troubling' racist and anti-Semitic statements written in Allen's hand, which exalted the superiority of the white race and described whites as apex predators. Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins also said that detectives found drawings of swastikas among the suspect's possessions.

Rollins added that Allen walked by several other people who were not black and didn't harm them.

Pictured: Nathan Allen, 28, is seen in a driver's license photo provided by DA Rachael Rollins . Allen has been identified as the suspect who shot and killed two black bystanders in Saturday's alleged hate crime attack

Allen is seen brandishing a gun during the deadly incident in Winthrop, Massachusetts

One of the victims was David Green, 58, a retired Massachusetts state trooper who served for 36 years and was described as the 'quintessential pro.' The second victim was Ramona Cooper, 60, a retired Air Force staff sergeant

'They are alive,' she said. 'Two visible people of color are not. It could have been many, many more.

In a tweet on Monday mourning the two victims, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker called the deadly attack in Winthrop a 'despicable act.'

Before Saturday's fatal encounter, Allen wasn't on the DA's office's radar. He was married, employed as a physical therapist, had a doctorate and no criminal history, Rollins said.

'To all external sources he likely appeared unassuming,' she said.

'And then, yesterday afternoon he stole a box truck, crashed it into another vehicle and a property, walked away from the wreckage interacting with multiple individuals and choosing only to shoot and kill the two black people he encountered.'

Greens longtime friend, Nick Tsiotos, said the two had coffee together just hours before the attack. He said the retired trooper had been sitting outside his home and tried to help after hearing the crash.

'He went out and tried to do what he was doing for 36 years with the state police: trying to help save lives and help save people,' Tsiotos, who attended high school with Green, told WCVB-TV. 'I really believe he saved peoples lives. Dave probably stopped him from going into homes and killing people.'

Massachusetts State Police Col. Christopher Mason said Green retired from the state police in 2016 after nearly 40 years in law enforcement. He also served in the Air Force.

'Trooper Green was widely respected and well-liked by his fellow Troopers, several of whom yesterday described him as a true gentleman and always courteous to the public and meticulous in his duties,' Mason said in a statement. 'From what we learned yesterday, he was held in equally-high regard by his neighbors and friends in Winthrop.'

Coopers son, Gary Cooper Jr, remembered his mother as 'caring and selfless' and always ready to help anyone in need.

'We are heartbroken and she will be missed, just a senseless thing to have happened,' he said in a statement to WCVB-TV.

Others placed flowers bouquets and other remembrances on the temporary fencing around the destroyed building over the weekend.

'Praying you are dancing in the sunshine and singing with the angels,' one note on the makeshift shrine read, The Boston Globe reported.

A gunman has shot two people in suburban Boston before being shot by police, in an incident that saw a plumbing truck crash into the side of a house

In this Saturday photo, the wreckage of a car sits on a sidewalk after a stolen truck collided it and crashed into a building before a suspect fatally shot two people in Winthrop

Coopers son, Gary Cooper Jr, remembered his mother (left and right) as 'caring and selfless' and always ready to help anyone in need.

A neighbor places a bouquet of flowers on a fence outside of a building in Winthrop

The incident unfolded around 2:45pm Saturday in the city of Winthrop, about six miles outside of Boston, when Allen crashed the stolen box truck into the building.

He walked away from the crash and shot Cooper in the back multiple times and Green in the head, neck and torso, DA Rollins said.

When responding officers got to the scene, a Winthrop police sergeant found Cooper and Green on the ground with gunshot wounds, quickly identified and confronted Allen, and shot him, police said.

Rollins said the police sergeant followed protocol by telling Allen to drop the gun before shooting him and then 'immediately rendered' aid. Allen died shortly afterwards.

'This Police Sergeant, like Trooper Green and Staff Sergeant Cooper, is a hero,' Rollins said on Sunday. 'The Sergeant stopped a volatile and escalating situation, saving lives, and protecting the community he serves.'

The Winthrop police sergeant who shot the gunman was placed on administrative leave, as part of standard protocol.

Rollins said police found the 'troubling' racist literature but didn't say where they were found or go into any other details about them, but said, 'There is a growing national, and global, problem with extremism and white supremacy.

'The FBI believes the most serious domestic violent extremist threat comes from "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, specifically those who advocated for the superiority of the white race."'

Winthrop Police Chief Terence Delehanty told Masslive.com, 'We have no tolerance for hate in this community.'

Medics wheel a gurney toward the scene after two people were shot in suburban Boston

Police secure the scene after a large truck crashed and shots were fired

Massachusetts state police told Fox News that Green was the 'quintessential professional' and are trying to determine if attempted to confront the suspect.

'As the investigation continues and resources are extended to the victims loved ones and to the Winthrop community, we must say loud and clear that hate has no place in our communities or our nation,' Rollins tweeted on Sunday.
A young Marine who was shot in the back in Times Square by a stray bullet has been revealed as the newlywed son-in-law of a former Pentagon official.

Samuel Poulin, 21, married Jacqueline Jensen - daughter of retired U.S. Army Col. Jack Jensen - on May 22 at the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

Photos posted to social media of the big event shows Jacqueline, 23, being escorted down the aisle by her proud father before joining her now-husband Poulin, who is currently recovering in hospital after the random shooting on Sunday.

Jack Jensen served more than 30 years as a member of the Armed Special Forces and was commander of the United States Central Command's Special Operations command in Lebanon from 2011 to 2012, according to his LinkedIn.

He then spent two years as an assistant deputy director for counterterrorism under the Joint Chief of Staff, briefing White House officials and members of Congress on operations as well as 'orchestrating national command and control and strategic nuclear watch.'

Jensen retired in 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile, and worked for a short time as a private sector analyst before being hired by the Treasury Department, where he is now the principal director for policy and strategy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Management.

Poulin, meanwhile, graduated from The Citadel military academy in Charleston, South Carolina last month.

Samuel Poulin, 21, married Jacqueline Jensen, 23, on May 22 in North Carolina

He is now the son-in-law of U.S. Army Col. Jack Jensen, right

He was walking with his family at the time when he was struck by a bullet at around 5:15pm

He was a member of the Marine Corps ROTC, and in April, he received the Daughters of the American Revolution Award, which is awarded to one cadet from each ROTC unit who 'demonstrates the qualities of dependability and good character, leadership ability and a fundamental and patriotic understanding of the importance of ROTC training,' The Citadel's website says.

He also received a bachelor's degree in physics.

Citadel President Glenn Walters, a retired Marine Corps general said that Poulin 'was a President's List cadet and exemplifies the kind of principled leader The Citadel strives to produce.'

'The Citadel family - in Charleston, South Carolina and around the world - is greatly saddened to learn what happened to our Class of 2021 graduate, 2nd Lt. Samuel Poulin in Times Square on Sunday when he was hit by a bullet from a shooting event unrelated to him,' Walters wrote in a tweet.

'We are encouraged that he is reported to be in stable condition,' and we are 'sending our prayers to his new wife and family.'

Poulin, who was visiting the city from Northville in upstate New York to attend a baptism, was walking with his family Sunday night when he was stuck by a bullet.

He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and is stable, police report.

Poulin is a recent graduate of The Citadel military academy in South Carolina

Citadel President Glenn Walters wrote in a tweet that the school is 'sending our prayers and our love to his new wife and his family'

Jensen, right, served more than 30 years as a member of the Armed Special Forces and was commander of the United States Central Command's Special Operations command in Lebanon from 2011 to 2012, according to his LinkedIn

Police said the shooting broke out at around 5.15pm when a group of five or six CD vendors started arguing under the Marriott Marquis sign on West 45th Street, and one pulled out a gun.

An investigation is still underway and the mayor launched a new plan starting immediately to increase police patrols at the iconic tourist attraction.

Surveillance footage released by the New York Police Department Mondays shows a man in a mostly red sweater walking backwards on a sidewalk at around 5.15pm.

As he shoots, nearby pedestrians run for their lives. The gunman can then be seen fleeing the scene, eastbound, toward Sixth Avenue.

New surveillance footage shows the moment a man opened fire in Times Square Sunday night

The New York Police Department is asking for the public's help in identifying this man, caught on surveillance footage shooting at someone and fleeing from the scene

Tourists were left shocked and frightened by the random shooting.

A small group watched as crime scene tape was used to block the area; one police officer told a tourist that it wasn't 'a show' and that someone had been shot.

Shell casings were recovered on West 45th Street outside the Minskoff Theater, which remains closed because of COVID.

'We were sitting at Juniors when a loud pop happened. And everybody ran for the hotel, they ran inside,' said Santana who witnesses the shooting, to the New York Post.

'It really is bad that [the shooting] happened in Times Square,' Santana said.

A man was shot in New York's Times Square in broad daylight, on Sunday afternoon, just outside the Marriott Hotel

Officers cordoned off the area immediately outside the hotel where the shooting took place

A small group of people watched as crime scene tape was stretched around the area. One officer told a tourist that it wasn't 'a show' and that someone had been shot

Crime scene techs can be seen working close to where Sunday evening's shooting happened in Times Square

Law enforcement flooded the area outside the Marriott, which is normally thronging with tourist

A small group of interested passers-by gathered to watch what was happening

Sunday evening's shooting is the second in Times Square in little over a month and comes just as the city is welcoming tourists back to one of its most famous landmarks.

Three bystanders were struck by gunfire in May, including a four-year-old child.

The alleged gunman responsible for the May shooting was apprehended days later in Florida after fleeing the city.

On Monday, Mayor Bill De Blasio said he is increasing police presence in the area.

'Now, we've seen patterns in Times Square that we are going to address very, very aggressively,' he said in a news conference, introducing his new Times Square Safety Plan.

The plan would include the deployment of 50 more officers to the area 'to make sure that anyone who goes to Times Square knows they're safe.'

The plan, which went into effect immediately after Sunday's shooting, includes the deployment of 'dozens' more police officers, some of whom will be plainclothes, to engage with street vendors.

They would ensure the vendors are not engaging in 'aggressive panhandling,' NYPD Chief Rodney Harrison said, and would make sure they are not threatening pedestrians.

It would be in addition to the officers the NYPD previously deployed to the area last month, De Blasio said.

'We are going to flood the area with additional police officers,' De Blasio said, adding later: 'There's no question in my mind this is going to work.'

Statistics show shooting crimes have been up this year city-wide compared to last year

Crime rates in New York City are up from last year in every category

Meanwhile, crime rates in every category are up from last year.

As of June 20, 777 people have been shot throughout New York City in 680 shootings in 2021, according to department crime figures online.

That is an increase of 48 percent in the number of victims compared with the same time last year, in 53 percent more shootings which have skyrocketed since the pandemic gripped the country.
Hopes are fading that a travel corridor between the UK and the US will be established this summer.

Doubt has been cast as fears grow that Britons vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine will be barred from entering the States.

It comes as EU countries continue to impose increasingly tough restrictions on Britons travelling to the continent over concerns about the Delta variant.

Officials involved in talks about the potential US UK travel corridor said they thought it was increasingly unlikely they would reach a conclusion by the end of July, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

The officials added that the rise in cases of the Delta variant in the UK and the complexities of the U.S. political system were set to extend the talks into August and even September, the newspaper said.

The matter is further complicated by the fact that the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine has yet to be approved in the US.

The possibility of a travel corridor between the UK and the US looks unlikely this summer as concerns over the Delta variant and the unapproved AZ vaccine cast doubt on the matter. Pictured: Travelers wait in line at John F. Kennedy Airport last month in New York City

This could mean that Britons who have been jabbed with the vaccine could be barred from entering the US until it is approved - a process which could take several months.

One UK diplomat told the FT: 'AstraZeneca is proving a real problem. If the US doesn't recognise it, it means millions of Brits won't be eligible to travel if we agree to a new corridor.'

Britain's daily Covid cases more than doubled in a week today but deaths plunged 40 per cent  in another clear sign the vaccines have severed the link between infections and fatalities.

The Department of Health posted another 22,868 infections in the past 24 hours, an increase of 115 per cent on the 10,633 recorded last week.

It is the highest daily case number since late January when the second wave was dying down, and the biggest week-on-week surge in infections since October last year. But there were just three deaths registered today, compared to five a week ago.

Daily Covid fatalities have ticked upwards in the past week, with an average of 17 victims now compared to nine in the middle of the month  a far cry from the levels seen in previous waves.

In a clear sign of the 'vaccine effect', the last time cases were at around 22,000 and rising was in early December, when there were roughly 400 Covid deaths a day and the second wave was starting to spiral.

There are currently on average 211 Covid hospital admissions each day across the UK, which is double the amount at the beginning of May. In early December, the country was averaging 1,500 daily hospitalisations.

Meanwhile countries in the EU continue to impose tough restrictions on travelling Britons over concerns regarding the Delta variant despite the UK having one of the highest vaccination rates in the world.

Earlier today, Spain announced it will only let fully vaccinated Britons or those who have had a negative Covid test enter the country after Angela Merkel called for an EU-wide ban on UK tourists.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced the move just two days before the Balearic Islands are due to be added to the UK's green list - along with Malta.

Pictured: German holidaymakers Majorca last week as Britons remain unable to travel to Spain

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron (pictured in Berlin in 2019) want a continent-wide ban on all British holidaymakers because of the Indian variant

Spain joins Malta and Portugal in making late changes as Germany and France are expected to up the ante at today's EU Covid summit.

Merkel and Emmanuel Macron want a continent-wide ban on all British holidaymakers because of the Indian variant.

Malta has changed its policy to only allow UK arrivals who are fully vaccinated, while Portugal will require a 14-day quarantine for any Britons who are not double-jabbed.

Spanish PM Sanchez called Britain's Covid numbers 'worrying', citing its accumulated 14-day rate which is 'well above 150 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.'

Critics argue the Franco-German campaign to clamp down on Britain, which has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, is driven by politics not data.
CNN host Chris Cuomo raised eyebrows after posing a photo of himself flexing his bicep after being branded an ego-crazed compulsive masturbator by an internet troll.

The musclebound soapboxer, 50, wrote: 'That how this happened?!' after a Twitter user called uncle ruckus sneered: 'You're gonna break your arm j**king yourself off.'

Cuomo's response continued: 'Hahahaha. Come on, baby, dont hate - facilitate. You can do better than this petty bs.'

The bizarre exchange came after uncle ruckus blasted Cuomo over his coverage of last Thursday's Miami condo collapse, that has killed at least 10 people, and left 51 unaccounted for.

One tweeter called StanYeahMan hailed Chris for his reporting of the Florida disaster, writing: 'Chris, you and your colleagues are doing crucial work and doing it damn well. God bless you, man, and take care of yourself.'

CNN host Chris Cuomo posted a picture of his arm on Twitter Monday in a widely panned response to a critic

Chris responded to the simpering words by sharing the tweet, and adding his own thoughts. He wrote: 'Appreciated. We all know what we would want if we had missing loved ones. Crisis has no hue of red or blue. Or at least it shouldnt. The #SurfsideCollapse community was warm and embracing of need. Impressive and respected.'

But his apparent self-congratulations cut little ice with uncle ruckus, with others joining in after Cuomo stoked the flames by replying to the unkind message.

Predictably, the backlash was swift, with many references to the host's ego, a particular Godfather character, as well as the various scandals he his brother Andrew Cuomo have found themselves in.

'Find yourself someone who loves you... as much as Chris Cuomo loves himself,' tweeted KTTH Radio host Jason Rantz.

'Kind of says it all...doesn't it?' posted Fox host Lisa Booth.

Fox host Joey Jones appeared to lambast Cuomo's workout form, tweeting: 'If you ever want to work your triceps I'm happy to share some tips and routines!'

'Is this the arm you use to threaten the biker who caught you breaking quarantine,' Federalist writer Kate Hyde tweeted, and later added. 'This tweet is not the flex you think it is, @chriscuomo.'

Others were just astonished.

Many of the responses made reference to a specific Godfather character Cuomo has been open about his disdain for

Others pointed to scandals that he or his brother, Andrew Cuomo have been involved in

The mocking responses ranged from astonishment, to comments about Cuomo's ego and various scandals he has found himself in

References to Fredo are a jab at Cuomo's sensitivity at being referred to as the Godfather character Fredo Corleone, the brother in the family who is viewed as weak.

In a 2019 Cuomo was caught on tape in a heated exchange with a festival-goer who had called him by the name.

'Punk-ass b****es from the right call me "Fredo." My name is Chris Cuomo. I'm an anchor on CNN,' a visibly angry Cuomo tells the man. 'They use that as an Italian slur. Are any of you Italian?... It's a f***ing insult to your people. It's an insult to your f**kin' people. It's like the N-word for us. Is that a cool f***ing thing?'

Other references made to Cuomo scandals include his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's sexual harassment allegations and his response to the coronavirus, as well as when the CNN host expressed his rage at a biker who passed by his Long Island home and confronted him about social distancing rules.

'I dont want some jackass, loser, fat-tire biker being able to pull over and get in my space and talk bullst to me, I dont want to hear it,' Cuomo said on his SiriusXM show last April.
Federal laws against the cultivation and sale of marijuana may 'no longer be necessary,' according to Clarence Thomas, one of the Supreme Court's most conservative justices.

He outlined his views on Monday as the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by a Colorado medical marijuana dispensary against the decision to deny it federal tax breaks afford to other businesses.

In a five-page statement, Thomas wrote that a federal ban on marijuana cultivation, possession and use may once have made sense.

But today's piecemeal approach, he said, with states able to make up their own policies meant the prohibition was no longer appropriate.

'Once comprehensive, the federal governments current approach is a half-in, half-out regime that simultaneously tolerates and forbids local use of marijuana,' he wrote.

'This contradictory and unstable state of affairs strains basic principles of federalism and conceals traps for the unwary.'

Justice Clarence Thomas said federal laws on marijuana may 'no longer be necessary' as he slammed a 'contradictory and unstable state of affairs' that 'strains basic principles of federalism and conceals traps for the unwary'

His comments come as campaigners push for reform, pointing out that public opinion has softened on the issue as 18 states - plus two territories and Washington D.C. - have legalized recreational marijuana use since 2012

His comments come as lawmakers try to capitalize on social justice campaigns to kickstart a major overhaul of laws

Some 36 states now allow the medical use of marijuana and 18 - as well as two territories and Washington D.C. - permit its recreational use.

Last year, President Biden was the only major Democratic primary candidate to oppose federal legalization of the plant.

He said more study was needed, a position that has not changed since he took office. This year the White House fired and disciplined staffers for past pot use.

Meanwhile Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he is ready to move ahead with major changes to the laws, but has yet to say whether that would mean full federal decriminalization or a more modest push to decriminalization.

Public opinion has softened on the issue in recent years.

In April, Pew Research published a poll reporting that 60 percent of respondents believed marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use while 31 percent said it should should be legal for medical use only.

Thomas said the changing legal landscape meant the Supreme Court's 2005 decision in Gonzales v Raich, that Congress could prohibit the cultivation and use of marijuana, was outdated.

'Whatever the merits of Raich when it was decided, federal policies of the past 16 years have greatly undermined its reasoning,' he wrote.

'Once comprehensive, the Federal Governments current approach is a half-in, half-out regime that simultaneously tolerates and forbids local use of marijuana.'

At the same time, he said, Congress has repeatedly barred the Justice Department from spending federal money on anything that would interfere with state medical marijuana laws.

'Given all these developments, one can certainly understand why an ordinary person might think that the Federal Government has retreated from its once-absolute ban on marijuana,' he wrote.
Facebook's value surpassed $1trillion on Monday for the first time, as the share price rose four percent following the dismissal of antitrust lawsuits bought against the tech giant by the government.

A federal judge on Monday dismissed the complaint brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a coalition of state attorneys general - dealing a significant blow to attempts by regulators to rein in tech giants.

US District Judge James Boasberg ruled that the lawsuits were 'legally insufficient' and did not provide enough evidence to prove that Facebook was a monopoly.

Boasberg wrote that the FTC did not do enough to back up its assertion that Facebook holds a '60pc-plus' share of the social media market.

The ruling dismisses the complaint but not the case, meaning the FTC could refile another complaint.

'These allegations - which do not even provide an estimated actual figure or range for Facebook's market share at any point over the past ten years - ultimately fall short of plausibly establishing that Facebook holds market power,' he said.

Facebook, founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, is now worth $1 trillion, thanks to a 4pc share rise following a federal judge's decision on Monday

Facebook's share price rose 4.18 percent on Monday after Judge James Boasberg's ruling

The US government and 48 states and districts sued Facebook in December 2020, accusing the tech giant of abusing its market power in social networking to crush smaller competitors and seeking remedies that could include a forced spinoff of the social network's Instagram and WhatsApp messaging services.

The FTC had alleged Facebook engaged in a 'systematic strategy' to eliminate its competition, including by purchasing smaller up-and-coming rivals like Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said when filing the suit that Facebook 'used its monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and snuff out competition, all at the expense of everyday users'.

Boasberg dismissed the separate complaint made by the state attorneys general as well.

The 'Like' logo is shown on a sign at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California. A federal judge has dismissed antitrust lawsuits brought against Facebook by the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of state attorneys general

Boasberg said the attorney generals waited too long to challenge Facebook's Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions, which were completed in 2012 and 2014, respectively.

'We are reviewing this decision and considering our legal options,' said a spokesperson for James, one of the leading state AGs on that case.

The FTC has not commented on the ruling and it was unclear whether the agency planned to try again.

Facebook said they believed in fair competition.

'We are pleased that today's decisions recognize the defects in the government complaints filed against Facebook,' the company said in a statement.

'We compete fairly every day to earn people's time and attention and will continue to deliver great products for the people and businesses that use our services.'

Alex Harman, competition policy advocate for Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, said the ruling was not surprising in that other courts had grappled with and thrown out cases in which consumers weren't charged directly for the services in question.

'Courts really have a hard time with that market definition for some reason,' Harman said.

'It's Exhibit A for why we need the laws changed.'

An ambitious package of legislation to overhaul the antitrust laws, which could point toward breaking up Facebook as well as Google, Amazon and Apple, was approved by the House Judiciary Committee last week and sent to the full US House.

Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, the chief Republican sponsor of the legislation, said in a statement that Monday's ruling 'shows that antitrust reform is urgently needed. Congress needs to provide additional tools and resources to our antitrust enforcers to go after Big Tech companies engaging in anticompetitive conduct'.
President Joe Biden said Monday Iran would 'never' acquire a nuclear weapon on his watch, following repots that U.S. forces in Syria came under attack a day after the U.S. launched strikes on Iranian proxies.

'What I can say to you Iran will never get a nuclear weapon on my watch as they say,' Biden said in the Oval Office while meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.

Biden told Rivlin the U.S. commitment to Israel's security was 'ironclad.'

'Were committed to  unwavering commitment to your self defense,' he told the Israeli leader.

'It's real. It's something that I often say: If there weren't an Israel we'd have to invent one,' Biden added.

'What I can say to you Iran will never get a nuclear weapon on my watch as they say,' Biden said in the Oval Office Monday. His comment came after rockets hit a U.S. base in Syria

He also spoke to the legal justification to U.S. strikes Sunday on Iran-backed militia groups sites in Syria and Iraq.

He said the Iran-backed forces were 'responsible' for recent attacks on U.S. forces, then spoke to his authority under Article II under the Constitution.

'I have that authority under Article II,' Biden said.

'Even those up on the Hill who are reluctant to acknowledge that have acknowledged thats the case,' he said. Biden also said he looked forward to hosting Israels new prime minister Naftali Bennett at the White House 'very soon.'

Biden spoke soon after multiple rockets hit a US military base in eastern Syria on Monday, less than 24 hours after President Biden launched airstrikes on Iranian-backed militia sites.

Coly. Wayne Morrotto, spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, said: 'At 7:44 PM local time, U.S. Forces in Syria were attacked by multiple rockets. There are no injuries and damage is being assessed.'

A US defense official told CNN the rockets were 'likely' fired by Iranian-backed militia in the area, but the origin had not been determined.

Biden's comments about Iran's nuclear capability come as some experts have predicted there is now a window to proceed on the Iran nuclear deal following elections in Tehran.

The president, 78, also inserted a comment about his own political staying power. He told Rivlin, 81: 'I have only one regret. Youre leaving as president. But not me  not soon.'

Some of the missiles in Monday's strike landed near US troops, according to the report. The attack took place at a site known as the 'Green Village' near an oil field, where 900 American troops are believed to be stationed.

Iraq on Monday condemned overnight U.S. air strikes against Iran-backed militia groups on the Syrian-Iraqi border that killed at least seven fighters and sparked calls for revenge from Iraqi armed factions.

Biden spoke during a meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in the Oval Office

The second strike of Biden's administration on pro-Iran sites sparked fears of further escalation between Tehran and Washington during faltering efforts to revive Iran's nuclear deal.

Two targets were attacked in Syria, with a third also bombed in Iraq. The Pentagon said multiple Iran-backed militia groups including Kata'ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS) had been hit.

The Pentagon released video footage from the cockpit of the attack Monday morning.

U.S. Air Force F-15 and F-16 jets dropped 500 and 2,000-pound satellite-guided missiles during the strike on the Al Qaim region near the border, and returned to base without incident afterwards.

At least six more fighters were wounded and the targets included an arms depot near Albu Kamal, a Syrian town which lies where the border crosses the Euphrates river, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Iraq on Monday condemned overnight U.S. air strikes against Iran-backed militia groups on the Syrian-Iraqi border that killed at least seven fighters and sparked calls for revenge from Iraqi armed factions. The Pentagon released video from the mission on Monday morning

U.S. Air Force F-15 and F-16 jets dropped 500 and 2,000-pound satellite-guided missiles during the strike on the Al Qaim region near the border, and returned to base without incident afterwards

Iraq's Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi condemned the attack as a 'blatant and unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty and Iraqi national security'.

'Iraq reiterates its refusal to be an arena for settling scores,' Kadhemi added in a statement, urging all sides to avoid any further escalation.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said the Biden administration was 'taking the wrong path' in the region and was continuing the 'failed legacy' of the Trump administration.

'Instead of emotional actions and creating tensions and problems in the region, the U.S. should change its behavior and let the regional people establish security without Washington's interference,' he said during his weekly news conference.

The fighters were stationed there to prevent jihadists from infiltrating Iraq, the group said in a statement, denying that they had taken part in any attacks against U.S. interests or personnel.

Two targets were attacked in Syria, with a third also bombed in Iraq. The Pentagon said multiple Iran-backed militia groups including Kata'ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS) had been hit

The Hashed, an Iraqi paramilitary alliance that includes several Iranian proxies and has become the main power broker in Baghdad, said the strikes killed four of its fighters in the Qaim region, eight miles away from the border.

'We reserve the legal right to respond to these attacks and hold the perpetrators accountable on Iraqi soil,' the Hashed said.

'The Americans believe only in the language of force, and they and their agents must have their noses put in the mud,' tweeted Faleh al-Khazali, an Iraqi lawmaker affiliated with the militias.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the 'precision' strikes had been launched at the behest of President Biden on Sunday evening.

Kirby said the targets had been chosen because they had previously launched drone strikes against US personnel and bases in Iraq using rudimentary unmanned aerial vehicles.

Aerial footage of the targeted sites before the airstrike is seen above. Iraq's Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi condemned the attack as a 'blatant and unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty and Iraqi national security'

Smoke billows from a facility used by Iran-backed groups following U.S. air strikes on the Syrian-Iraqi border in footage broadcast on Syria TV

President Biden and his wife Jill are pictured returning to the White House from Camp David Sunday evening. He said 'tomorrow' when asked to comment about Sunday's strikes

President Biden returned to the White House from Camp David on Sunday evening, and answered 'Tomorrow' when asked by reporters to comment on the strikes.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed the strikes were 'a proportional response to a serious and specific threat.'

'The Iran-backed militias utilizing these facilities have been engaged in attacks threatening US service members,' she added.

But Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, said he feared the U.S. was inching towards a new war with Iran, which elected hardline president Ebrahim Raisi to power last week.

Murphy said: 'The pace of activity directed at U.S forces and the repeated retaliatory strikes against Iranian proxy forces are starting to look like what would qualify as a pattern of hostilities under the War Powers Act.'

Unverified Twitter photos showed flames and smoke rising from the site of what one user claimed was a target site.

Kirby said: 'At President Biden's direction, U.S. military forces earlier this evening conducted defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region.

'The targets were selected because these facilities are utilized by Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq.

'Specifically, the U.S. strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those countries.

Sunday's strikes were carried out by U.S. Air Force F-15 and F-16 jets. An F-15 is pictured over Iraq on a previous mission

Kirby's statement continued: 'Several Iran-backed militia groups, including Kata'ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS), used these facilities.

'As demonstrated by this evening's strikes, President Biden has been clear that he will act to protect U.S. personnel. Given the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting U.S. interests in Iraq, the President directed further military action to disrupt and deter such attacks.

'We are in Iraq at the invitation of the Government of Iraq for the sole purpose of assisting the Iraqi Security Forces in their efforts to defeat ISIS. The United States took necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation - but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message.

'As a matter of international law, the United States acted pursuant to its right of self-defense. The strikes were both necessary to address the threat and appropriately limited in scope. As a matter of domestic law, the President took this action pursuant to his Article II authority to protect U.S. personnel in Iraq.'

President Biden launched his first air strikes against other Iranian-backed militias on February 25, just over a month after being sworn into office.

Those strikes destroyed multiple buildings used by Shi'a militias along the Syrian-Iraqi border, with Kirby claiming at the time that they'd been 'proportionate.'

In his own comments with Biden, Rivlin said he was 'really delighted' to be at the White House again, and said Israel had 'no greater friend, ally, than the United States of America.

The Likud leader said that 'We, according to real friendship, can from time to time discuss matters, and even agree not to agree about everything.'
More than a dozen Conservative donors, peers and former aides have been handed top jobs overseeing Whitehall departments as non-executive directors, it can be revealed today.

Ministers are facing growing scrutiny over the roles after Downing Street yesterday admitted Matt Hancock personally appointed Gina Coladangelo  who was revealed as his lover last week  as a NED at the Department of Health.

The departmental board members are supposed to be recruited through fair and transparent competition and come primarily from the commercial private sector, with experience of managing complex organisations.

But at least 13 of those currently holding the positions  which carry an average salary of 15,000 per year  have close links to the Conservatives.

They include donors who have contributed hundreds of thousands of pounds to party coffers.

There were fresh questions yesterday about the appointments after No10 said former health secretary Mr Hancock had personally handed Miss Coladangelo her role as a NED last September

NEDs: Nick Timothy, Theresa Mays former No10 joint chief-of-staff and Wol Kolade, who is a non-executive director at NHS Improvement, has given more than 859,000 to the Conservatives, including 15,000 to Mr Hancock

Lord Nash, who is the Governments lead non-executive director across Whitehall, is a former Tory schools minister who has donated more than 484,000.

The peer is also a NED at the Cabinet Office led by Michael Gove. He gave 3,250 to Mr Goves failed 2016 Tory leadership campaign.

Another Cabinet Office NED, Henry de Zoete, is a former special adviser to Mr Gove.

At the Department for International Trade board members include former Tory vice-chairman Dominic Johnson, who has donated 290,000 to the party.

He is a business partner of Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg  they co-founded investment firm Somerset Capital Management.

Former Tory MP Douglas Carswell also sits on the departments board. Baroness McGregor-Smith, who ran to be Conservative candidate for London Mayor, is a NED at the Department for Education along with Nick Timothy, Theresa Mays former No10 joint chief-of-staff.

Eleanor Shawcross, who was a special adviser to former chancellor George Osborne, is a NED at the Department for Work and Pensions.

Baroness Wyld, who worked in No10 as an aide to ex-PM David Cameron, is one at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Lord Hill, who served in Mr Camerons Cabinet as Leader of the Lords, is a NED at the Treasury.

Fellow Tory Baroness Morrissey has the same role at the Foreign Office.

Ben Goldsmith sits on the board at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs where his brother Zac is a minister.

He has donated 76,000 to the party, including 2,500 to Taunton Deane MP Rebecca Pow, who is also a minister in the department.

Nick Campsie, a NED at the Ministry of Justice, states on his LinkedIn page that he campaigned on behalf of the Conservative Party during the EU referendum and has made donations in support of the partys activities.

Wol Kolade, who is a non-executive director at NHS Improvement, has given more than 859,000 to the Conservatives, including 15,000 to Mr Hancock.

There were fresh questions yesterday about the appointments after No10 said former health secretary Mr Hancock had personally handed Miss Coladangelo her role as a NED last September.

Baroness Wyld, who worked in No10 as an aide to ex-PM David Cameron, is a NED at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Mr Hancock stood down on Saturday after leaked footage showed him in an intimate embrace with Miss Coladangelo on May 6 when such contact between households was advised against

Mr Hancock stood down on Saturday after leaked footage showed him in an intimate embrace with Miss Coladangelo on May 6 when such contact between households was advised against.

The PMs spokesman said: I believe ministers are entitled to make direct appointments. Her appointment followed correct procedure.

Labours shadow Cabinet Office minister Fleur Anderson said: The Government must publish all documents relating to the appointment of Gina Coladangelo.

'The role of a non-executive director is to challenge and scrutinise the minister.

'We need to know if the nature of their relationship was declared and whether the recruitment process was carried out in a fair and transparent way.

It remains unclear if their romance began before she was appointed to the department or if this was ever declared as a conflict of interest.

But Justice Secretary Robert Buckland told Sky News: Everything that I understand so far leads me to believe due process was followed in the appointment of this person and any declarations that shouldve been made were made.
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President Xi Jinping launched preparations for a celebration of 100 years of China's Communist Party behind closed doors, boasting that the country has beaten Covid while ignoring the fact it was the source of the virus.

The coronavirus first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan before it spread across the world and has resulted in the deaths of nearly four million people but has now been virtually quashed in China.

Jinping led the applause at Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium late on Monday for a celebration of Party history, with China's rebound from the coronavirus given special treatment during the spectacle.

The event, held under tight security and not broadcast live on television, comes before the July 1 centenary of the party that has shaped the modern history of China, guiding the country from war-torn to superpower status.

The extravagant show - replete with tightly choreographed set-pieces of Communist history, big-screen dedications to key leaders from Mao Zedong to Xi, 100 trumpets and a greeting from a group of Chinese astronauts currently in space - omitted uncomfortable chapters of China's turbulent recent history.

Those include famine, the purges of the Cultural Revolution, the crackdown on student protesters in Tiananmen Square, the pro-democracy rebellion in Hong Kong and the detention of millions of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.

Instead, performers triumphantly punched fists in the air, danced and gave a theatrical retelling of party highlights - from the foundation of the party in a Shanghai house in 1921 to Mao's Long March.

In a speech on Tuesday, Jinping urged all party members to 'firmly keep the loyalty and love for the party and the people close to one's heart, turn that into action, dedicate everything, even your precious life, to the party and the people'.

President Xi Jinping launched preparations for a celebration of 100 years of China 's Communist Party behind closed doors, boasting that the country has beaten Covid while ignoring the fact it was the source of the virus.

In a speech on Tuesday, Jinping (pictured) urged all party members to 'firmly keep the loyalty and love for the party and the people close to one's heart, turn that into action, dedicate everything, even your precious life, to the party and the people'

The event, held under tight security and not broadcast live on television, comes before the July 1, 2021 centenary of the party that has shaped the modern history of China, guiding the country from war-torn to superpower status

Spectacular event: A large screen showing communist leader Jiang Zemin during the art performance celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China which took place in Beijing, China, today ahead of anniversary

Performers dressed as first responders in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic take part in a gala show as China boasts about its response to the pandemic and the fact that Covid has been quashed in the country where the virus first emerged

Pictured: China's military members perform near a display showing the navy's aircraft carrier in a segment of a gala show

A special dedication was given to China's 'defeat' of Covid-19, with performers in PPE and soldiers wearing masks.

Xi has carefully reframed the pandemic, which emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, as a victory for party organisation and Chinese resilience under his watch.

The virus has been virtually squashed within China's tightly-controlled borders, and the economy is on the rebound.

That contrasts with the rolling lockdowns, high death rates and economic ruin that have roiled swathes of the world since the outbreak.

Fireworks, typically banned in China's capital city, boomed overhead, as thousands crowded for a view outside the venue - which was constructed for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

On Tuesday, Jinping urged Chinese Communist Party members to remain loyal and continue to serve the people as he awarded a new medal of honour to 29 members as part of the ruling party's 100th anniversary celebrations this week.

The medal award ceremony took place in Beijing's Great Hall of the People with much fanfare and was broadcast live on national television, as the party prepares to mark its 100th birthday on Thursday.

The 'July 1 medal', announced in 2017 and given out for the first time on Tuesday, is part of Xi's efforts to shore up the image of one of the world's most powerful political parties.

Honoured for 'outstanding contributions' to the party, the medal recipients included soldiers, community workers and professionals in the arts and science.

The Chinese Communist Party had 91.9 million members in 2019, or 6.6% of China's population, and has ruled the country since 1949.

Chinese President Xi Jinping waves as he attends the art performance in Beijing today ahead of the anniversary on July 1

Actors perform to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China at Birds Nest

The extravagant show was replete with tightly choreographed set-pieces of Communist history, big-screen dedications to key leaders from Mao Zedong to Xi, 100 trumpets and a greeting from a group of Chinese astronauts currently in space

Spectators attend the art performance celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China on June 28, 2021 in Beijing, China

People take photographs of fireworks above the Bird's Nest national stadium where an art and performance was being held to mark the upcoming 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party, in Beijing on June 28, 2021

The spectacle omitted uncomfortable chapters of China's turbulent recent history including the purges of the Cultural Revolution, the crackdown on student protesters in Tiananmen Square and pro-democracy rebellion in Hong Kong

The show culminated with the audience singing the song 'Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China,' and five minutes of fireworks.

Many Chinese cheered the celebration by posting online well-wishes for the country and party on social media.

Some comments were less cheery.

'Only when housing price falls, can the people start to feel happiness,' read one comment, which received 39 'likes'. Dissenting views are quickly squashed in China by a state apparatus that tightly controls information, particularly over the internet.

Amid celebrations Jinping awarded loyal party members with medals and called for adherence to Marxism.

Jinping led the applause at Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium late on Monday for a celebration of Party history, with China's rebound from the coronavirus given special treatment during the spectacle. Pictured: Fireworks above the stadium

The show omitted uncomfortable chapters of China's turbulent recent history. Those include famine, the purges of the Cultural Revolution, the crackdown on student protesters in Tiananmen Square, the pro-democracy rebellion in Hong Kong and the detention of millions of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang

Pictured: Fireworks exploding during an art performance held at the Bird's Nest national stadium to mark the upcoming 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party

While unleashing private industry, the ruling party has maintained an iron grip on political power, along with preferential policies toward state-run companies.

'All party comrades should take their faith in Marxism and the socialism with Chinese characteristics as their life's purposes,' Xi said in his address to medal winners. Celebrations conclude with a commemoration Thursday at Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Over his nine years as party head, Xi has established himself as China's most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong, who founded the People's Republic in 1949 after defeating Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists amid civil war.

Like Mao, Xi is not bound by term limits and, at 68, will likely remain in office for years to come. While repressing any sign of political opposition at home and promoting an anti-corruption campaign, he has advanced an increasingly assertive foreign policy that seeks to command control over the South China Sea, intimidate Taiwan into accepting Beijing's control, and join with Russia in challenging U.S. influence in international affairs.

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at the medal award ceremony marking the 100th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, June 29, 2021

Audience members hold national flags during a Cultural Performance as part of the celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China, at the Bird's nest national stadium in Beijing on June 28, 2021

Performers dressed with military uniforms take part in a Cultural Performance as part of the celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China, at the Bird's nest national stadium in Beijing on June 28

China's Communist Party now boasts almost 92 million members, just over 6% of the country's population of 1.4 billion. The vast majority of government officials and leaders of state industry are party members, providing what the leadership hails as a source of social cohesion in contrast to partisan divides in the U.S. and elsewhere.

China's Communist Party now boasts almost 92 million members, just over 6 percent of the country's population of 1.4 billion. The vast majority of government officials and leaders of state industry are party members, providing what the leadership hails as a source of social cohesion in contrast to partisan divides in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Alongside the anniversary celebrations, the party has been giving heavy coverage in the entirely state-controlled media to racial inequality and other social problems in the West.

That appears to reflect confidence in its ability to deflect heavy criticism over China's detention of more than 1 million Uyghurs and a crackdown on freedom of speech and political opponents in Hong Kong.

In his speech, Xi said party members should lead the drive for China's 'great rejuvenation,' a reference to his agenda for China to retake its centuries-old role as a regional and international power in culture, economics and military power.

'On the new march to a fully established modern socialist nation, keep moving toward the goals of the second century,' Xi said.
Donald Trump won't be personally charged in the Manhattan district attorney's case against the former president's business organization when the first indictment comes down, his attorney claimed.

Trump, in a lengthy and rambling statement issued on Monday, called the DA's investigation 'a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt of all time' and claimed prosecutors 'failed' to find a crime even as 'millions of dollars of taxpayer funds wasted.'

His words came as an indictment against the business that made his fame and fortune, The Trump Organization, grows closer.

Ronald Fischetti, a New York attorney who represents Trump, told Politico that, at a meeting with Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance on Monday, he was told the DA's office will not bring charges against Trump himself when the first indictment arrives, which could be as soon as this week.

'They just said, 'When this indictment comes down, he won't be charged. Our investigation is ongoing,' he said.

Trump railed against the prosecution in his response.

'They will do anything to stop the MAGA movement (and me),' the former president said. 'They also know that no matter how strong our case, they will work hard to embarrass us and the Republican Party.'

He claimed the prosecution of his business organization meant other companies would see it as a reason not to station their businesses in New York.

'Having politically motivated prosecutors, people who actually got elected because they will get Donald Trump, is a very dangerous thing for our Country. In the end, people will not stand for it. Remember, if they can do this to me, they can do it to anyone! Why would anyone bring their company to New York, or even stay in New York, knowing these Radical Left Democrats would willingly target their company if viewed as a political opponent? It is devastating for New York!,' Trump said.

He also claimed to be the victim after he saved the country from COVID.

'These Witch Hunters are relentlessly seeking to destroy a reputation of a President who has done a great job for this Country, including tax and regulation cuts, Border control, rebuilding the Military, and developing the vaccine in record time - thereby saving our Country, and far beyond. Washington, D.C. and ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court, should finally stop these vicious, angry, and highly partisan prosecutors. They are a disgrace to our Nation!,' he concluded.

Donald Trump won't be personally charged in the Manhattan district attorney's case against the former president's business organization in the first indictment, his attorney said

Meanwhile, Fischetti said he was told the charges against the Trump Organization and its individual employees related to alleged failures to pay taxes on corporate benefits and perks.

They would not be related to so-called 'hush money' payments that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen said were made to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.

'Nothing. Not a word on that,' he said.

Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in October 2016, a month before the election, to stop her discussing the alleged affair with Trump, which Trump denied having. The New York Times reported that, in court documents, Cohen said Trump Organization officials were involved in the payoff. Cohen pleaded guilty to eight federal charges on August 21, 2018, including a campaign finance violation, for his role in the payment.

Nor would the charges be related to concerns The Trump Organization used misleading valuations of its properties to deceive lenders.

'We asked, 'Is there anything else?' Fischetti told Politico. 'They said, 'No.'

'It's crazy that that's all they had,' he added.

'They just said, 'When this indictment comes down, he won't be charged,' Ronald Fischetti, a New York attorney who represents Trump, told Politico

He noted he expects charges to be filed against the company this week or next.

Prosecutors gave Trumps attorneys a Monday afternoon to make their final case as to why the Trump Organization should not face criminal charges over its financial dealings, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

The charges will be in connection with fringe benefits the company awarded its chief financial officer, Allen H. Weisselberg, The New York Times reported, citing several people with knowledge of the matter.

It would be the first criminal charges to emerge from Vance's long-running investigation into Trump's business work in New York.

Over the past few weeks, a grand jury has been hearing evidence about Weisselberg, with prosecutors obtaining the executive's personal tax returns. Companies can be tried for crimes, and if they are convicted or plead guilty, they would face fines and other penalties.

Letitia James, the New York State Attorney General running a civil probe, has also reportedly acquired those tax returns. James' office had been investigating whether Trump's company falsely reported property values to secure loans and obtain economic and tax benefits.

Earlier, prosecutors were also able to obtain the personal bank records of Weisselberg.

Investigators are looking at whether or not Weisselberg failed to pay taxes on benefits over the years, including apartments, leased cars and private school tuition for one of Weisselberg's grandchildren.

To that end, prosecutors have subpoenaed records from an Upper West Side private school, the Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School.

Vance is reported to be seeking records into Mercedes-Benz vehicles leased for Weisselberg and other Trump Organization employees.

They are also looking at an apartment Trump may have gifted Weisselberg in Manhattan.

Trump's company, The Trump Organization, likely to face charges on alleged failures to pay taxes on corporate benefits and perks; charges would not be related to so-called 'hush money' payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels

The Manhattan district attorney's office has informed Donald Trump 's lawyers that it is considering criminal charges against The Trump Organization in connection with benefits the company awarded its chief financial officer, Allen H. Weisselberg (seen between Trump and Donald Trump Jr)

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has been conducting a long-running investigation into Donald Trump's businesses

Meanwhile, Weisslberg's former daughter-in-law, Jennifer, has been interviewed in the probe six times and is cooperating with prosecutors.

She has been asked about the tuition payments, as well gifts her ex-husband, Barry Weisselberg, received from Trump, such as leased cars and an apartment on Central Park South.

It's not clear what charges Weisselberg may be facing, though experts suggest it could be grand larceny, scheme to defraud or tax fraud.

If Weisselberg is charged with tax fraud and failing to pay more than $10,000 in taxes for a single year, he could face up to seven years in prison.

Charges against the Trump Organization could come this week or next

If Weisselberg is charged with scheming to defraud, he could face a maximum of four years in prison.

Prosecutors are hoping Weisselberg will cooperate with the probe into Trump and will flip on the former president. The indictments could put additional pressure on him to cut a deal.

The issue took on a renewed sense of urgency when Vance said in April that he will retire at the end of 2021 and there is speculation his office will issue any indictments before that.

Weisselberg is still an employee of the Trump Organization, however, suggesting that he probably has not turned star witness against the former president at this point.

Weisselberg previously worked for Donald Trump's father and has been the chief financial officer at the Trump Organization for more than two decades.
A new Morning Consult poll shows that GOP voters are more likely to blame Congressional Democrats and President Joe Biden for the January 6 Capitol attack than former President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans.

When pollsters asked Republican voters who's at fault for January 6, 52 per cent pointed a finger at Democrats in Congress and 41 per cent said Biden.

Just 30 per cent held Trump responsible, while 22 per cent said Republicans in Congress.

Republican voters in a new poll believed President Joe Biden and Congressional Democrats were more responsible for the January 6 MAGA attack than former President Donald Trump (pictured) and Congressional Republicans

Morning Consult found that 52 per cent of GOP voters today believe Democrats should be blamed for the Capitol attack and that 41 per cent believe President Joe Biden should get blamed. Just 30 per cent said the same thing about Trump

The 11 per cent drop among GOP voters blaming Trump likely comes as Republican leaders have become less critical of the ex-president's role in the January 6 attack as months have gone by

Among all voters today, 61 per cent believe Trump deserves some or a lot of blame.

Another 52 per cent said Republicans in Congress deserved blame too.

Overall just 27 per cent said Biden should be blamed and 33 per cent said Democrats in Congress.

Republicans were more likely to blame Trump directly after the attack.

When Morning Consult surveyed reactions to the MAGA riot in January, 41 per cent of GOP voters said Trump was at least somewhat responsible for what happened that day.

The 11 per cent drop of holding Trump responsible among Republicans mirrors the party's treatment of him.

Out of the gate both Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy condemned Trump's action.

Trump told thousands of his supporters gathered in Washington on January 6 that the election was stolen from him and then was slow to call off the assault on the Capitol Building, where Vice President Mike Pence and lawmakers were ceremonially tabulating the Electoral College votes.

Within weeks, however, Republicans saved Trump from being convicted of inciting an insurrection when an impeachment vote happened in the Senate.

McCarthy made amends with the ex-president, and even though McConnell didn't, he still pushed Republican senators to quash a 9/11-style commisson to investigate January 6.

'Leading Republicans have been working to shift the blame to groups like antifa or the FBI - in conservative media, both those groups are frequently portrayed as anti-Trump,' J. Miles Coleman, associate editor of Sabatos Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, told Morning Consult. 'Perhaps over the past several months, this message has sunk in with Republicans at large, which seems reflected in the polling here.'
The data protection watchdog was poised last night to launch an investigation into the use of personal email accounts by ministers including Matt Hancock.

Elizabeth Denham, the UK Information Commissioner, said she was looking carefully at claims they were being used to conduct government business.

Labour called for health minister Lord Bethell to be sacked over claims he had used a personal email address to discuss government contracts.

Downing Street insisted yesterday that both Mr Hancock and Lord Bethell only ever conducted government business through their departmental email addresses.

Boris Johnson refused to state whether he had used a personal email account for work purposes, saying: I dont comment on how I conduct government business'

Mr Hancock is reported to have routinely used a private account, according to minutes of an official meeting at the Department of Health and Social Care

But Boris Johnson refused to state whether he had used a personal email account for work purposes, saying: I dont comment on how I conduct government business.

Cabinet Office guidance states ministers should use official email accounts to leave a paper trail for important decisions and to maintain scrutiny.

But Mr Hancock is reported to have routinely used a private account, according to minutes of an official meeting at the Department of Health and Social Care seen by The Sunday Times.

They also stated Lord Bethell routinely uses his personal inbox and the majority of [approvals for contracts] would have been initiated from this inbox.

Last night there were also claims that health minister Helen Whately had copied in a private Gmail address to a diary invitation.

The Information Commissioner said: I am... considering what further steps may be necessary to address the concerns raised with me.

Dominic Cummings, the Prime Ministers former aide, said last night that Mr Johnson and Mr Hancock routinely used WhatsApp instead of official communication channels.
Matt Hancock's mistress has left her millionaire husband and is determined to 'make a go' of her relationship with the disgraced former Health Secretary, friends claimed today.

Gina Coladangelo, 43, stepped down from her Health Department director role hours after Mr Hancock himself resigned over pictures of them in a passionate embrace in his Whitehall office.

Mr Hancock, 42, had also ended his marriage to wife Martha after 15 years shortly before the revelations were made public and is now understood to be living with his lover.

It has now been reported by The Sun that Mrs Coladangelo, 43, has split with her husband Oliver Tress after her affair was exposed.

As Mr Hancock and his lover look to move in together, it also emerged today:

Matt Hancock's lover Gina Coladangelo posted 'The longer the wait the sweeter the kiss' and pondered: 'I'd rather die of passion than boredom' on her Pinterest page;

Ministers face probe over private emails: Data protection watchdog is set to launch inquiry into use of personal accounts by ministers in the wake of Matt Hancock scandal;

Disgraced former Health Secretary 'must be the stupidest man on Earth' if he knew about the camera and still canoodled with his lover in full view of CCTV, MP says;

More than a dozen Conservative donors, peers, friends and former aides have been handed top jobs overseeing Whitehall departments as non-executive director - with Miss Coladangelo a prime example;

Matt Hancock's mistress Gina Coladangelo has left her millionaire husband Oliver Tress (pictured together) and is determined to 'make a go' of her relationship with disgraced former Health Secretary Matt Hancock

Mr Hancock, 42, had also ended his marriage to wife Martha after 15 years shortly before the revelations were made public and is now understood to be living with his lover

Gina Coladangelo stepped down from her Health Department director role hours after Mr Hancock himself resigned over pictures of them in a passionate embrace in his Whitehall office

The key questions Matt Hancock still has to answer about his affair What was he using his private Gmail address for at work? Former health secretary Matt Hancock used a private Gmail account and whether it was used to help conduct his affair in work time. According to The Sunday Times, Department of Health officials had complained that he 'only' deals with his private office 'via Gmail account'. However sources insist he has had a departmental email address since he became Health Secretary in 2018. Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said there must be 'full transparency' and a 'full investigation'. She told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: 'I've written to ensure that there is an investigation into ministers using private emails to conduct official Government business in secret, agreeing contracts in private etc.' She added: 'We need full transparency on this and a full investigation.' Will he take his 16,000 pay-off from the taxpayer? There were calls last night for Mr Hancock to be stripped of his 16,000 severance pay. The payment is standard to ministers in whatever circumstances they leave their role. Mr Hancock is said to be weighing whether to take it. Labour housing spokesman Lucy Powell told Sky's Trevor Phillips On Sunday that people would be 'appalled to think that there's going to be a severance payment to Matt Hancock in this circumstance'. She added: 'We will certainly be calling that out and asking the Prime Minister not to give him that.' Did he share a bed with his aide at the G7 summit? Matt Hancock is facing fresh questions into whether he pursued his affair with his aide at public expense. The disgraced former Health Secretary is claimed to have taken mistress Gina Coladangelo, 43, to a G7 health summit in Oxford. It is not known however if they remained together after the event, which involved a dinner and overnight stay in a luxury hotel in the city where they met as university students. The meeting came four weeks after the now infamous clinch they shared in Mr Hancock's ninth-floor departmental office. According to The Sunday Times, it is understood Boris Johnson had no idea of claims his Health Secretary had invited married Mrs Coladangelo to Oxford for the events on June 3 and 4. But it is believed senior Government figures have now raised concerns that the pair pursued their extra-marital affair at a cost to the taxpayer. How long was their affair going on? Friends insisted the extramarital affair only began in May, the same month the pair were caught in the incriminating footage. But others said the pair, who have known each other since university days when they met at Oxford, have raised eyebrows for some time. Miss Coladangelo was confronted as long ago as 2019 by ministerial aides who asked outright if there was any romance between the pair, something the twice-married mother-of-three flatly denied. Does Hancock know who was behind the leak? The CCTV leak which led to Mr Hancock's resignation as Health Secretary has sent shudders through Parliament as ministers demanded to know if there are cameras in their offices and whether security staff have access to audio which could reveal sensitive discussions about key issues posing a risk of national security. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said: 'I do know that [the leak] is something the Department of Health will be taking forward as an internal investigation.' He told Sky News' Trevor Phillips On Sunday programme it was 'something we need to get to the bottom of'. 'Quite rightly what happens in Government departments can be sensitive and important,' he added. Mr Lewis also told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show that the investigatory team will be looking into the issue 'across Government'. Why did Misss Coladangelo get a Parliamentary pass? Mr Hancock sponsored a Commons pass for Miss Coladangelo between June 2019 and February 2020, but it is not known in what capacity she was working for him or if he declared their friendship. Last September, she was made one of just four non-executive directors in the Department of Health. And The Times has reported she had a new Parliamentary pass sponsored by junior health minister Lord Bethell - but she never worked for him. Advertisement

Sources have said the millionaire Oliver Bonas founder has been left 'devastated' by the affair and her departure from their 12-year marriage.

She was pictured leaving her 4.5million south west London home hours before pictures of their hallway tryst were exposed.

Husband Oliver however helped as she loaded packed bags into the back of her 70,000 Audi Q7. He did not leave with her.

Friends now say that Mr Hancock and Mrs Coladangelo are in love and want to 'make a go' of their new relationship.

A neighbour in Wandsworth, South West London, told the publication: 'Gina and Matt are giving it a proper go and Olly was left reeling.

'They had lots of friends here so we are all trying to help look after Olly.'

Sources had said on Saturday night - when Mr Hancock resigned - that the pair had been seeing each other for around six weeks, but were a 'love match'.

The leaked CCTV footage of their tryst sparked a furious backlash among Tory MPs behind closed doors, while an awkward silence remained among ministers.

Mr Hancock initially clung on to his Health Secretary job, helped by the Prime Minister's backing, but later resigned under intense pressure from 80 MPs.

In a video announcing his resignation Mr Hancock said: 'The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis.

'I want to reiterate my apology for breaking the guidance, and apologise to my family and loved ones for putting them through this. I also need (to) be with my children at this time.'

The Prime Minister said he was 'sorry' to receive Mr Hancock's resignation as Health Secretary.

He said Mr Hancock 'should leave office very proud of what you have achieved - not just in tackling the pandemic, but even before Covid-19 struck us'.

Boris Johnson added: 'I am grateful for your support and believe that your contribution to public service is far from over.'

Mr Johnson has since faced criticism for his decision to back Mr Hancock - with a spokesman even saying he 'considered the matter closed' - only for Mr Hancock to resign amid increasing pressure.

And yesterday he at one point even appeared to suggest he had sacked Mr Hancock but the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman then said the Cabinet minister had resigned.

Mr Johnson told broadcasters: 'When I saw the story on Friday we had a new Secretary of State for Health in on Saturday.'

The comment ignited a war of words from Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister's former adviser, who mocked Mr Johnson over the Health Secretary's resignation.

Mr Cummings seized on the chaos as he labelled Mr Johnson 'Trolley' in a tweet in which he poked fun at the PM for seemingly changing his mind on the issue.

He also jibed that Mr Johnson had only seen sense on whether Mr Hancock should stay or go after he received '89 texts per hour' from his wife Carrie.

There were also questions yesterday about Mrs Coladangelo appointment after No10 said former health secretary Mr Hancock had personally handed her a role as a non-executive director (NED) for his department last September.

It remains unclear if their romance began before she was appointed to the department or if this was ever declared as a conflict of interest.

Labours shadow Cabinet Office minister Fleur Anderson said: The Government must publish all documents relating to the appointment of Gina Coladangelo.

'The role of a non-executive director is to challenge and scrutinise the minister.

'We need to know if the nature of their relationship was declared and whether the recruitment process was carried out in a fair and transparent way.

But Justice Secretary Robert Buckland told Sky News: Everything that I understand so far leads me to believe due process was followed in the appointment of this person and any declarations that shouldve been made were made.

Sajid Javid, the former Chancellor, took over the role of Health Secretary, writing that he was 'honoured to be serving my country from the Cabinet once again'.

Boris Johnson was yesterday accused of 'rewriting history' after he implied he sacked Matt Hancock over his affair despite initially refusing to fire the cheating Health Secretary when he was caught in a passionate embrace with an aide.

Mr Johnson's claims ran contrary to No 10's insistence, hours after CCTV footage of the clinch emerged on Thursday night, that Mr Johnson considered the 'matter closed' and had 'full confidence' in Mr Hancock, who would keep his job because he had said sorry.

But after 80 Tory MPs told No 10 he had to go after they were deluged with complaints, Mr Hancock gave a video statement on Saturday afternoon that he had quit after he breached social distancing guidance by kissing Gina Coladangelo against his office door.

In response Mr Johnson said he was 'sorry to receive' Hancock's resignation.

And an extraordinary U-turn was completed on a campaign visit to Batley ahead of Thursday's crucial by-election yesterday afternoon, where the PM suggested he had fired the Health Secretary and replaced him with Sajid Javid, adding that the Government's 'moral compass' is intact.

No 10 sources said the Prime Minister (left today) had only agreed 'reluctantly' to accept his resignation. It came after fellow Cabinet ministers warned they were unwilling to support him in public after the PM insisted the matter was closed

Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock's wife Martha, a 44-year-old osteopath, was pictured outside her North London home on Sunday. She was said to have had no idea about her husband's betrayal

The sting that brought down Matt Hancock was executed by a whistleblower in his department who contacted opponents of the Health Secretary's stance on lockdown to help expose his affair. The clinch took place around this corner (bottom right part of image). The camera in question can be seen on the ceiling (top right-hand corner)

After allowing a month to elapse, the whistleblower approached lockdown sceptics and asked them to help sell the incendiary footage to the media

The Hancocks, Gina Coladangelo and Oliver Tress: How they met and the affair that has torn them apart Mr Hancock resigned as Health Secretary less than 48 hours after pictures emerged of him in a passionate embrace with Gina Coladangelo, pictured together above 1993 : Oliver Tress opens the first Oliver Bonas store on London's Fulham Road

: Oliver Tress opens the first Oliver Bonas store on London's Fulham Road 1995 : Matt Hancock starts studying PPE at the same time as Gina Coladangelo at Oxford University, where he also meets his future wife Martha Millar

: Matt Hancock starts studying PPE at the same time as Gina Coladangelo at Oxford University, where he also meets his future wife Martha Millar 1998 : Matt Hancock and Gina Coladangelo graduate from Oxford, where they also worked on studio radio

: Matt Hancock and Gina Coladangelo graduate from Oxford, where they also worked on studio radio 2006 : Matt Hancock marries Martha Millar

: Matt Hancock marries Martha Millar 2002 : Gina Coladangelo starts working at lobbying firm Luther Pendragon, where she stays until 2014

: Gina Coladangelo starts working at lobbying firm Luther Pendragon, where she stays until 2014 2011 : Oliver Tress and Gina Coladangelo are believed to have married around this year

: Oliver Tress and Gina Coladangelo are believed to have married around this year 2 0 14 : Gina Coladangelo starts working as marketing and communications director at Oliver Bonas

: Gina Coladangelo starts working as marketing and communications director at Oliver Bonas 2018 : Matt Hancock becomes Health Secretary

: Matt Hancock becomes Health Secretary 2020 : Gina Coladangelo is hired by Matt Hancock as a non-executive director at the Department of Health. But she may have been advising him since 2019

: Gina Coladangelo is hired by Matt Hancock as a non-executive director at the Department of Health. But she may have been advising him since 2019 May 6, 2021: Colleagues kiss passionately in his Whitehall office

Colleagues kiss passionately in his Whitehall office June 3: Matt and Gina head to Oxford together for G7 health summit and may have stayed together

Matt and Gina head to Oxford together for G7 health summit and may have stayed together June 25: The Sun reveals the affair after CCTV emerges of them kissing

The Sun reveals the affair after CCTV emerges of them kissing June 26: Matt Hancock resigns as Health Secretary and the new couple go to ground Advertisement

When asked whether Hancock's affair undermined the message about the country being 'all in it together', Mr Johnson said: 'That's right, and that's why when I saw the story on Friday we had a new Secretary of State for Health in on Saturday.' He added: 'I think that's about the right pace to proceed in a pandemic'.

Adding to the confusion over Mr Hancock's exit, the Prime Minister's spokesman later said Boris Johnson did not sack Matt Hancock as health secretary, or urge him to quit over the scandal, despite Mr Johnson's implication he acted to remove him.

He said: 'You can see that actions that the Prime Minister took. He felt it was the right decision to accept the former health secretary's resignation, and we moved to accept a new health and social care secretary that day.' When asked what had changed between Friday and Saturday he said: 'They discussed it further the next day and he accepted the resignation.'

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner accused Mr Johnson of trying to take credit for the resignation having ignored calls to sack him immediately.

'Boris Johnson is trying to rewrite history because he didn't have the guts to sack Matt Hancock,' Ms Rayner said.

'A fish rots from the head down, and by failing to sack the former Health Secretary, Johnson proved he doesn't have the leadership qualities or judgment required to be Prime Minister.'

Mr Johnson's combustible former chief advisor Dominic Cummings seized on the confusion today accuse the PM's wife Carrie of ordering the removal of Hancock and the appointment of her 'friend' Mr Javid after '89 texts per hour'.

In a series of tweets where Mr Cummings referred to Boris as 'The Trolley' - a nickname he gave his former boss because he said in No 10 he was like 'a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other'.

Giving a mock timetable of events Mr Cummings said: 'Trolley Fri: Argh, accept apology I consider the matter closed Media/MP babble, 89 Carrie texts p/hour

'Trolley Sat, SMASH: 'Arghhh Matt go now you'll be back better stronger shortly matey forward to victory!

'Trolley Mon, CRASH: when I saw the story on Fri we had a new SoS on Sat'.

He added 'Free top tip for Saj (Javid): there's only thing 'irreversible' with the Trolley, only one line that is ever held thro crises, & all in No10 live by this rule: 'no comment' on PM's private life. *Everything* else is 'reversible' & usually reversed'.

Mr Hancock was accused of 'sh**ging on the taxpayer' after it was revealed he took his mistress to the G7 summit and claims they may have started their affair a year ago with the shamed Tory who has abandoned his wife Martha and is said to have told friends: 'He loves her and wants to be with her. It's properly serious'.

The Health Secretary's trip to a meeting of fellow ministers at Oxford University in early June included an overnight stay - but it is not known if his lover Gina Coladangelo shared his bed four weeks after their CCTV kiss against his office door.

But there are suspicions that they may have enjoyed a night away together in a luxury hotel after a day of working in the city where they met while studying more than 20 years ago. The summit was just 50 miles from his north London family home, which he shared with his wife of 15 years Martha, 44, and their three children - but Mr Hancock decided to have a night away on June 3.

One cabinet source told The Sunday Times: 'She went with him to the G7 health ministers summit. Did he disclose this to the PM? If it was shown he was sh**ging on the taxpayer, he had to go. He's been puritan-in-chief in the government and now it turns out he's a massive, lying hypocrite'.

It came as rumours emerged that they may have been having a secret affair for more than a year. The millionaire lobbyist, 43, whose husband is the founder of Oliver Bonas, first started working for Mr Hancock since his failed leadership bid in 2019.

CCTV at Matt Hancock's office 'was no secret', MP says The door (to the left) is the same one as seen in the footage of Matt Hancock's clinch Matt Hancock has been accused of naivety as MPs were told that the camera which caught him kissing his aide was not a secret. Cabinet Office minister Julia Lopez admitted the device was not covert, dismissing theories that a rogue member of staff or security guard had planted a recording device to capture the former health secretarys affair with Gina Coladangelo. Ministers offices are now being swept for bugs and hidden cameras. Mrs Lopez told MPs that the camera in Mr Hancocks office was an outlier and that it was not general policy for recording devices to be put in ministerial offices. But she confirmed it was a CCTV camera operated by the Department of Health, adding that responsibility for security was down to the department, which was led by Mr Hancock until his resignation. The Mail understands that security arrangements had been outsourced to a private contractor. But the House of Commons was told that ministers offices are regularly swept for bugs, with some dealing with important issues of national security being checked more often on a risk-based assessment. Advertisement

Other sources said the 'love match' had featured intimate restaurant meals and a hotel stay during a summit.

Mr Hancock's demise began late on Thursday afternoon. He had been in the House of Commons, defending his department's controversial plans to share data on tens of millions of National Health Service patients with outside organisations.

After saying his piece and leaving, he received a call from The Sun newspaper at around 6pm, informing him that they had photos and video of him kissing his aide in his office, taken on May 6.

After saying as little as possible to the journalist, he returned to the London residence he shares with wife Martha, when they are not at their home in his Suffolk constituency, and their three children.

Mr Hancock is understood to have told her that the story was set to appear, about the photographs it contained and that their marriage was over.

He then woke their youngest son, who is just eight-years-old, to tell him too that he was going.

Family friends said yesterday it was a bombshell from nowhere for Martha. She had believed their marriage had been 'happy and stable', and reportedly had no suspicions over her Facebook friend, whom she had also met while at Oxford.

The Hancock family had enjoyed Christmas parties with Miss Coladangelo and her husband, a joint founder of the Oliver Bonas retail chain.

Miss Coladangelo was seen on Thursday evening, shortly after the newspaper's phone call, outside the 4million mansion she shares with her husband and children. He was reportedly helping her load her car with belongings.

She is said to be lying low at a house in West Sussex and - on Friday as the scandal gathered pace - to have been 'cheery'. On that day, despite the devastating headlines and an instant storm of calls for Mr Hancock to resign, both he and Downing Street insisted they were standing firm.

By late morning, Mr Hancock had finally conceded he may have behaved wrongly, apologising for breaching social distancing rules - but he insisted that he was staying in the job.

He and Miss Coladangelo had come a long way since they met on Oxford student radio station Oxygen FM in the late '90s. She was the star of the show, presenting a politics programme, with many male admirers - while Mr Hancock, according to his fellow volunteers, was a lowly sports reporter.

Miss Coladangelo even told Radio 4 how when he was given a rare free ticket to commentate on a rugby match, he ended up oversleeping and failing to get to the stadium on time.

Instead, he watched the match on a pub television screen - but phoned his report in at half-time, pretending he had been at the game in person.

The lies and bluffing finally came to an end early on Saturday evening, when Mr Hancock visited the Prime Minister's country residence Chequers then issued a video resigning his post. Mr Hancock said: 'The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis.'

There were calls last night for Mr Hancock to be stripped of his 16,000 severance pay. The payment is standard to ministers in whatever circumstances they leave their role.

Tory MPs also started to turn against Mr Hancock over the weekend as they were deluged with complaints from constituents about his conduct.

Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen said the PM had made a misjudgment in initially trying to keep him in post.

'Loyalty is normally a virtue,' he said. 'But it became clear within hours that Matt Hancock was losing the confidence of the public.

'A lot of colleagues raised that with the Chief Whip and No 10 on Saturday morning. The moment he lost public confidence, how could he stand up and say people have to adhere to these rules when he had broken them himself?' Mr Hancock quit on Saturday night, around 40 hours after CCTV pictures emerged of him in a passionate embrace in his office with glamourous married aide Gina Coladangelo.

In his resignation letter, which followed private talks in No 10 with the PM, he said he did not want to 'distract attention' from efforts to fight Covid.

In reply, Mr Johnson said he could be 'very proud' of his record during the pandemic.

No 10 sources said the Prime Minister had only agreed 'reluctantly' to accept his resignation.

Matt Hancock's lover Gina Coladangelo posted 'The longer the wait the sweeter the kiss' on her Pinterest page

Matt Hancock's lover left a string of relationship-related posts on her social media page that could allude to her love life.

Gina Coladangelo was caught in a passionate embrace with the disgraced former Health Secretary in his ninth-floor Whitehall office.

While the revelation shocked readers, rumours emerged that they may have been having a secret affair for more than a year.

Matt Hancock's lover and former aide Gina Coladangelo left a string of relationship-related posts on her Pinterest social media page that could allude to her love life

Mrs Coladangelo used the social media platform's 'board pins' to put up phrases such as 'the longer the wait, the sweeter the kiss'

And in posts on her Pinterest account over the last two years, Mrs Coladangelo has shared messages relating to love and relationships.

She used the social media platform's 'board pins' to put up phrases such as 'the longer the wait, the sweeter the kiss'.

Another shared post gives the inspirational message: 'It's ironic how you feel most alive when your heart skips a few beats.'

And another message read: 'I'd rather die of passion than boredom.'

The account has 91 posts with some dating back to 2019. Other messages cover topics such as family, work and happiness

Mr Hancock said sorry for breaking social distancing and asked for 'privacy' for his family

The account has 91 posts with some dating back to 2019. Other messages cover topics such as family, work and happiness.

People tend to use image-sharing site Pinterest to create online 'mood boards' as well for sharing photos of family and friends and even sharing cooking recipes.

One other note Mrs Coladangelo saved to her mood board reads: 'People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.'

She also shared a quote purported to be said by Vincent Van Gogh: 'I would rather die of passion than boredom'.
A JB Hi-Fi, a popular chicken shop and 16 new public transport routes are the latest additions to Sydney's coronavirus exposure list.

Karl's Charcoal Chicken in Marrickville has been listed as a high-risk site, while a number of train lines between Town Hall and the city's south were added as casual contacts.

Anyone who visited Karl's at G013/20 Smidmore Street on Wednesday 23 June between 12.10pm and 12.30pm must immediately be tested and self-isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.

Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi in the Bondi Junction Westfield were also added to the exposure list, with their contact coming on Friday June 25, the lead-up to the areas lockdown.

The public health alerts issued late on Monday come after the state recorded 18 new locally acquired infections, bringing the total number of cases linked to the ever-growing Bondi cluster to 130.

NSW Health warned anyone who visited Karl's Charcoal Chicken in Marrickville (pictured) on Wednesday, June 23 between 12.10pm and 12.30pm is a close contact and must get tested and self-isolate for 14 days, regardless of their test result

JB Hi-Fi in Bondi Junction Westfield was also added to the exposure list, with anyone who visited the store on Friday, June 25 told to get tested immediately and isolate.

The T3 train line as well as five T4 trains were exposed to the virus on Wednesday June 23 and Thursday June 24. Pictured: A Sydney train

Bus and train routes declared Covid exposure sites Anyone who travelled on the following train routes at the listed times is considered a casual contact and must immediately get tested and self-isolate until a negative result is received. TRAINS: T4 Train Line from Town Hall to Sydenham on Wednesday, June 23 departed 6:25am - arrived 6:36am T4 Train Line from Sydneham to Town Hall Wednesday, June 23 departed 4pm - arrived 4:13pm. T4 Train Line from Hurstville to Wolli Creek, Thursday June 24 departed 12:47pm - arrived 12:56pm. T4 Train Line from Town Hall to Sydneham, Thursday June 24 departed 6:35am - arrived 6:40am T4 Train Line from Wolli Creek to Hurstville, Thursday June 24 departed 11:10am - arrived 11:22am. T3 Train Line from Sydenham to Town Hall, Thursday June 24 departed 3:48pm - arrived 4:02pm. BUSES: Drummoyne to Town Hall. 504 bus from Lyons Road to Stand H Park Street Town Hall, Wednesday June 23, departed 6:07am - arrived 6:22am. Town Hall to Drummoyne. 503 bus from Stand K Park Street Town Hall to Drummoyne Fire Station, Wednesday June 23 departed 4:24pm - arrived 4:43pm. Drummoyne to Drummoyne. 490 bus. Lyons Road at Formosa Street to Lyons Road Gipps Street, Wednesday June 23, departed 5:12pm - arrived 5:16pm Drummoyne to Town Hall. 504 bus from Lyons Road to Stand H Park Street Town Hall, Thursday June 24 departed 6:08am - arrived 6:25am Town Hall to Drummoyne. 500X bus from Stand K, Park Street Town Hall to Victoria Road after Lyons Street, June 24 departed 4:12pm - 4:26pm. Drummoyne to Drummoyne. 492 bus from Lyons Road to Rodd Point shops, Friday June 25 departed 4:25pm - arrived 4:30pm. Drummoyne to Drummoyne. 490 bus from Lyons Road to Rodd Point shops, Friday June 25 departed 8:42am - arrived 8:47am. Drummoyne to Haberfield. 406 bus from Rodd Point shops to Dalhousie Street before Parramatta Road, Friday June 25 departed 8:48am - arrived 8:54am. Haberfield to Five Dock. 406 bus from Dalhousie Street to Ramsey Road, Friday June 25 departed 9:23am - arrived 9:32am. Five Dock to Drummoyne. 503 bus from Five Dock shops Great Northern Road to Lyons Road at Byrne Avenue, Friday June 25 departed 9:53am - arrived 10:02am. Advertisement

Pictured: Commuters are seen boarding a bus in Sydney as multiple train and bus routes were flagged as Covid exposure sites.

Sydney, Wollongong, the Blue Mountains, Shellharbour and the Central Coast are just two days into a 14-day lockdown.

Residents and anyone who has worked in Sydney in the last two weeks are only allowed to leave home to shop for food or other essential goods and services, give medical care or for compassionate needs, to exercise outdoors with a maximum of ten people, or for essential work or education.

Masks must be worn at all indoor public venues, while hospitality venues and pubs are only permitted to stay open to serve takeaway.

Households will not be allowed to have any visitors, although there are exceptions for intimate partners that don't live with each other who are permitted to visit each other's homes.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said workers and students can only leave the house if they are unable to get educated or work from home.

Many people were seen walking in Sydney (two women are pictured at Bondi Beach on Sunday) as the city started its two-week lockdown

Fifteen of the 18 new cases are linked to the Bondi cluster while three were acquired overseas (pictured, people in Sydney's locked-down CBD on Monday)

Ms Berejiklian said about six of the state's new cases were in isolation for their entire infectious period, while more were isolated for part of the same period.

'Unfortunately some were active in the community. As Dr Kerry Chant has told us already, the cases we are seeing today are a reflection of what may have occurred in the previous week and obviously there is a lag time,' she told reporters on Monday.

Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said officials will need to wait 'at least another five days' to reap the benefits of lockdown.

'It is important the community understands that the numbers are not expected to decline for another five days,' she said.

With Australia on the brink of an out-of-control nationwide outbreak, the national cabinet met on Monday to discuss the unfolding situation with lockdowns and tighter restrictions being enforced around the country.

Scott Morrison later announced vaccination of aged care workers and everyone in the hotel quarantine system is to be made mandatory under a move endorsed by the cabinet.

This includes anyone who worked, either directly or indirectly, in hotel quarantine - including drivers.

In a change of policy to help the lagging Covid rollout, the Prime Minister also confirmed anyone under 60 can now get the AstraZeneca jab if they want to, despite earlier advice that younger people should get a different jab.

The decisions come as Australia's growing coronavirus outbreaks have reignited calls for vaccinations to be increased amid concern about the highly contagious Indian Delta strain sweeping across Sydney.

Sydney's soaring outbreak began when an unvaccinated limo driver transporting flight crew caught the virus and started unknowingly spreading it around Bondi.

The prime minister said the mandatory vaccines would apply to anyone who worked, either directly or indirectly, in hotel quarantine - including drivers. He is pictured visiting a vaccine manufacturing facility in February

The national cabinet decision comes as outbreaks have reignited calls for vaccinations to be increased Pictured: Staff are seen leaving Arcare Aged Care facility in Melbourne last month

Asked whether those under 40 could receive the AstraZeneca jab, as the nation waits for shipments of Pfizer, Mr Morrison said Australians could do so after seeking medical advice.

'If they are willing to go and speak to their doctor and have access to the AstraZeneca vaccine, they can do so. So the answer is yes, they can go and do that,' he said.

Mr Morrison said national cabinet has agreed on an indemnity scheme for GPs to give the AstraZeneca vaccine to Australians under the age of 60 who are willing to accept the extremely rare blood clot risk.

Indemnity schemes offer insurance cover to professionals and business owners in the event of an adverse incident caused by the practitioner's misjudgement.

'If you wish to get the AstraZeneca vaccine, then we would encourage you to go and have that discussion with your GP, and we've already made announcements to support those additional consultations with the GPs so you can have that conversation,' he said.

'And secondly, we are also providing the indemnity scheme for those general practitioners, so they can actively engage with you, and you can make the best decision for your health.'

In May, the federal government announced the Pfizer vaccine was the recommended shot for people under 50 after AstraZeneca was linked to rare blood-clotting condition thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), which has caused two deaths in Australia.
A former maintenance manager at the Miami condo building which collapsed last week claims its basement flooded every month during the five years he worked there.

William Espinosa said the basement of Champlain Towers South was regularly inundated with salt water - which can corrode concrete and 'rebar' metal rods inserted into concrete to strengthen it during construction.

Espinosa, who worked at the doomed building between 1995 and 2000, told CBS Miami: 'Any time that we had high tides away from the ordinary, any King Tide or anything like that, we would have a lot of saltwater come in through the bottom of the of the foundation,' he told CBS Miami, adding they had to use two large pumps to try and remove the rising water.

'But it was so much water, all the time, that the pumps never could keep up with it so we always had to be replacing pumps and the water would just basically sit there and then it would just seep downward,' he said.

'It would just go away after a while. And I would think, where does that water go? Because it had to go in through somewhere. I'm talking about a foot, sometimes two feet of water in the bottom of the parking lot, the whole parking lot.'

William Espinosa, a former maintenance manager at the Miami condo building, said its basement - which contains its foundations - was flooded on a monthly basis while he worked there between 1995 and 2000

The basement of Champlain Towers South was used as a parking lot, and also housed maintenance facilities. Video footage of last Thursday's collapse suggests the building began to crumble from its basement, although investigators say it's too early to say what caused the disaster.

Espinosa spoke as Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava confirmed that the death toll from last Thursday's disaster has risen to 11. She made the announcement on Monday, but offered no further detail on the latest victim, with 150 people still unaccounted for.

Espinosa, who had a team of three maintenance workers, also told CBS Miami how he would regularly see exposed rebar rods poking out of corroded concrete. He claimed he would plaster over it with cement in a bid to fix it. The bars, which cannot be seen from intact, structually-sound concrete, would then appear in other parts of the 12-story building's basement, Espinosa said.

He added: 'But nothing like a real big, big crack or anything like that,' he said. 'My biggest issue, which was it was just the water. The amount of water would come in there. It was all saltwater. It was coming from the ocean. I don't know how deep that goes. But it had to go through somewhere after the fact because we couldn't get it pumped out.'

When he raised the issue to officials at the condominium association and building managers, Espinosa was told that it's always been like that and that the only solution is to replace the pumps and keep pumping out the water, which he called an endless cycle. 'Every month we had a problem with this again. Water and water and I go . . . this is just not normal. This is too much water.'

Espinosa spoke days before a contractor made similar claims to the Miami Herald about a visit to the complex last week, just 36 hours before its collapse.

That contractor - who visited to assess cosmetic repairs to the swimming pool - told of his shock at seeing standing water in the parking garage.

He also claimed staff told him the pumps used to suck out flood water from Champlain Towers were used so regularly they had to be replaced every two years.

Photos taken during an engineer's visit to the doomed complex in 2018 show corroded concrete - with 'rebar' metal reinforcements contained within poking through

'There was standing water all over the parking garage,' said the contractor, who requested not to be identified, in a Miami Herald article. He added that there was cracked concrete and rusted over rebar under the pool.

Saltwater is corrosive to concrete, especially in decades-old structures where the material is more porous than that which is used today. When concrete is exposed to saltwater for extended period of time, it dries and leaves salt crystals that eat away at it.

This eventually leads to the exposure of the rebar inside the concrete, or the mesh steel used to keep it in place. When that steel rusts, it expands and breaks apart the surrounding concrete even more. This creates a damaging cycle that could cause the structure to weather away and perhaps, collapse, in years or decades time.

According to the Herald, the contractor visited the condo a week ago so he could put in a bid to restore the pool and its equipment as part of a recently launched multimillion-dollar restoration project.

He noted that he worked in the industry for decades and went to 'some scary places,' but was shocked by the infrastructure issues he saw at the Miami condo building's lower level.

He raised his concerns to a building staff member, who told him it was just a matter of waterproofing the interior. 'I thought to myself, that's not normal,' the contractor said.

Rebar could be seen at one corner of the building, amid claims its basement was inundated with corrosive saltwater once a month for decades

Damage to the building's concrete ceiling was also visible during engineer Frank Morabito's 2018 inspection

A huge chunk of plaster appears to have been ripped away from an outside ceiling area

The staff member also told him that they pumped water out of the equipment room so often that they needed to replace the pump every two years.

He took some pictures for his supervisor because, he said, the job required more efforts than he thought. In one snap shared with the Herald by the unnamed contractor, the rusted metal rebar can be seen poking out through the corroded concrete. It is not visible in undamaged concrete.

The building caved in two days later, before the contractor assembled his bid.

'I wonder if this was going on in other parts of the building and caused this collapse,' he told the Miami Herald.

Officials won't yet comment on what exactly brought the 40-year-old tower down but experts who have viewed footage of it say it started with a problem in the bottom of the building - perhaps the parking garage - and once that crumbled, huge swathes of the building came down with it.

An engineer called Frank Morabito identified spalling - cracking - in the columns in the Champlain Towers South parking garage in a 2018 report. He flagged a 'major error' around parking spot 78, which is directly under the pool deck, where the contractor also noted seeing the deepest puddle of standing water.

Recovery efforts at the collapsed Champlain Towers South condo building continued on Monday, as the death toll rose to 11, with 150 people still missing

He also found damage elsewhere and recommended $12million worth of repairs but nothing was done to until this year, when the condo association board planned to overhaul the property to meet its 40-year recertification requirements.

Morabito broke his silence on Monday to release a statement saying he recommended the changes three years ago to the condo association - a board of seven volunteers, five of whom were living in the building and one of whom remains missing.

The cost of the repairs he suggested was $12million which would have had to have been paid for with money raised through fees levied

'Morabito Consultants was retained in 2018 by the Champlain Towers South Condominium Association to prepare the 40-year-old recertification of the condo building. We completed our inspection and provided our report to the condo association on October 8, 2018, detailing our findings and recommendations.

'We provided the condo association with an estimate of the probable costs to make the extensive and necessary repairs. Among other things, our report detailed significant cracks and breaks in the concrete, which required repairs to ensure safety of the residents and public.

'Champlain Towers South Condo Association engaged our firm again in June 2020.

'We are deeply troubled by this building collapse and are working closely with the investigating authorities to understand why the structure failed,' the statement said.

The association has not commented on why they didn't enact the repairs right away.
Calls are growing to ban smacking across the UK amid claims it has no benefits and can make childrens behaviour worse.

Experts say evidence the practice is harmful is overwhelming.

But any move to ban smacking will prove controversial, with campaigners saying it impinges on peoples right to parent as they see fit.

The latest research, published in The Lancet yesterday, evaluated 69 studies into corporal punishment conducted over the past 20 years

England is one of four European countries where parents can legally use physical force against children if it is reasonable punishment.

Scotland outlawed physical punishment of under-16s last year and a law imposing a similar ban will be implemented in Wales next year.

England and Northern Ireland must follow suit, said researchers from University College London, who were backed last night by health experts and childrens charities.

But others said banning smacking would be an invasion of government into family life that risks criminalising loving parents.

The latest research, published in The Lancet yesterday, evaluated 69 studies into corporal punishment conducted over the past 20 years.

It found under-16s who have been hit by parents are more likely to be aggressive, anti-social and display behavioural problems. The more frequently children are smacked, the worse their behaviour.

Lead author Dr Anja Heilmann, from the UCL department of epidemiology and public health, said: Physical punishment is ineffective and harmful, and has no benefits for children and their families. This could not be clearer from the evidence we present.

We see a definitive link between physical punishment and behavioural problems such as aggression and anti-social behaviour.

This is a public health issue. But physical punishment is not only harmful  it also violates childrens human rights.

Joanna Barrett, from the NSPCC, said: This is yet another significant study that shows physical punishment is harmful to children.

It cannot be right that in 2021 children are the only group in society that it is legally acceptable to assault in England. The case for reform is beyond doubt. The Childrens Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza said yesterday: This report lays out starkly the negative effects smacking can have on childrens development and why it is simply outdated, wrong and unnecessary.

Scotland outlawed physical punishment of under-16s last year and a law imposing a similar ban will be implemented in Wales next year. (Pictured, MSPs in Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh, celebrating the passing of the Children Equal Protection from Assault Scotland Bill)

But she added that, while she has never agreed with smacking and I never smacked my child, it was too early to back a law change.

The Be Reasonable campaign, which opposes smacking bans, said: Parents who love their children should be trusted to decide when a smack on the bum is appropriate. Ordinary mums and dads are fed up of so-called experts demonising their parenting.

Andrea Williams, of Christian Concern, added: There is an important issue of parental freedom at stake here. A blanket ban on smacking would be a damaging invasion of government into family life.

In England parents who hit their children can claim a defence of reasonable punishment under section 58 of the Children Act 2004.

But if the violence leaves a mark, such as a scratch or a bruise, parents can be prosecuted for assault.

Smacking is illegal in 62 countries including all of Europe apart from England, Italy, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
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Boris Johnson has slammed the 'despicable harassment' of Chris Whitty after two yobs followed him in a London park and got him in a headlock.

The Prime Minister condemned 'the behaviour of these thugs' and said public servants 'should not have to face this kind of intimidation'.

Meanwhile Priti Patel said she was 'horrified' by the 'appalling' attack in St James's Park on Sunday night - the third time the Chief Medical Officer has been accosted in just four months.

The Home Secretary said it was important Prof Whitty got the support he needed but refused to reveal if he will now get greater levels of protection.

A 16-second clip emerged last night of the moment the two men wrapped their arms around the epidemiologist's head.

They cheer and yell as they tackle the top scientist while continuing to film his stunned reaction.

A Metropolitan Police squad van is seen in the background of the video and the force confirmed officers spoke to the individuals and got their details.

But members of the public rounded on the Met and asked why the thugs were only spoken to and not arrested on the spot.

The attack also sparked calls for scientific officers to get the personal protection offered to senior politicians after they were launched into the limelight by the pandemic.

It is the second time Prof Whitty has been attacked this month after a man harassed him in the street in Oxford and accused him of lying about coronavirus.

He was also rounded on by a young thug in February, who uploaded his video to TikTok and was later scolded by his mother.

Meanwhile last week an anti-vaxxer protester filmed himself yelling abuse at Jonathan Van-Tam while accusing him of 'genocide' and lying to Britons.

This is the moment two thugs appear to grab government advisor Professor Chris Whitty and put him in a headlock as they harass him in a park as he grapples with them to get away

Chief Medical Officer for England Prof Chris Whitty is seen walking past the Department of Health and Social Care in London on Monday afternoon

Mr Johnson tweeted this morning: 'I'm shocked at seeing the despicable harassment of Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty.

'I condemn the behaviour of these thugs. Our hard-working public servants should not have to face this kind of intimidation on our streets and we will not tolerate it.'

Ms Patel told Times Radio: 'I'm just horrified by that, I really am. Chris is just a remarkable public servant, a man who has been leading the whole coronavirus response - nationally, yes, he has a high profile, and I think he's an incredibly respected figure.

'I'm horrified by what has happened to Chris and the police are actually involved as well and we're also speaking to Chris to look at what we can do to support him, it's just appalling.'

Asked if she thinks Prof Whitty needs security measures, she said: 'I can't speak about that but it's important that we make sure that Chris is given the right kind of support.

'It's terrible to see such an important public figure, someone that day in, day out, has been serving our country in the way in which he has to keep us safe, being subject to just appalling abuse.'

The video shows the yobs cheering and yelling as they start their attack on the scientist. They both appear to be trying to restrain him as he struggles to get free from their grasps.

While one of the two thugs continues to yell at the camera, another can be heard shouting: 'Please, sorry, one photo.'

Prof Whitty looks terrified throughout the clip as he tries to walk away from the men who repeatedly try to grab him and film him. As the video ends, a voice off camera can be heard saying: 'Leave the gentleman alone.'

During the terrifying video, Prof Whitty looks concerned as he tries to escape their grasp while the thugs appear to laugh off his attempts

Politicians and public figures have slammed the attackers after the video was viewed more than half a million times online

What personal protection do Cabinet ministers get and could Chris Whitty have the same? Cabinet ministers are given more personal protection than their colleagues due to the increased profile of their role. They are privy to officers from the Metropolitan Police's elite Protection Command while in office. The specialist unit has two branches - Royalty and Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection. These officers are licensed to carry firearms with them at work, unlike most police in Britain. The Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection branch take care of high-profile ministers and also control access to Downing Street. PC Keith Palmer was in the unit when he died outside the Palace of Westminster in 2017. An unnamed personal protection officer assigned to the then Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon shot and killed the attacker. Wayne Couzens, who was arrested over the death of Sarah Everard, was also in the branch. The role is perhaps best known to the public by the thriller series Bodyguard, which came out in 2018. Officers are in a pool and they may not protect the same person on different days after the Royalty and Diplomatic protection was merged a few years ago. It is not clear if an officer from here would be appropriate for Prof Whitty, but Priti Patel vowed to 'look at what we can do to support him' when asked about his protection. Asked if she thinks he needs security measures, she said: 'I can't speak about that but it's important that we make sure that Chris is given the right kind of support.' Advertisement

Other politicians and public figures also slammed the attackers after the video was viewed more than half a million times online.

They called for an investigation into how the shocking incident could happen and for a greater protection for the country's leading advisers.

Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi tweeted: 'This is disgusting and these thugs must be found and charged. 'Zero tolerance for harassing a public servant.'

Newly-appointed Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: 'I've seen the video of the CMO being harassed. It's appalling and totally unacceptable.

'The CMO works tirelessly on behalf of the country. We will not tolerate this sort of behaviour towards our public servants. The men behaving in this disgraceful way should be ashamed.'

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tweeted: 'This is disgusting behaviour. Chris Whitty is a dedicated public servant who has worked tirelessly to help get us through this crisis. The police are right to investigate this harassment.'

Labour MP Jess Phillips said Prof Whitty had been made to feel 'awful and uncomfortable' and issued a reminder that public figures 'are human beings'.

She said: 'Even if you perceive it as non violent it is clear that he felt awful and uncomfortable and resisted. Public figures are not dolls, they are human beings, it is stunning how easily this is forgotten.'

Schools minister Nick Gibb told Sky News he hoped the 'whole weight of the law will come down on people that engage in that kind of behaviour'.

He said: 'I think this thing is absolutely appalling and I'm sure all your viewers and the general public will absolutely condemn the behaviour of these yobs.

'Chris Whitty has done a fantastic job throughout the pandemic in advising the government of the necessary measures to keep our NHS safe, to save lives.

'He has been a very effective chief medical officer during that period and those scenes should not have happened.'

Asked if Prof Whitty should be afforded close protection, Mr Gibb said it was a 'matter for the security services and for Chris Whitty'. He added: 'Those scenes should never have occurred in our society - absolutely wrong.

'People, whatever role they have in government, should be able to walk along the street, walk through the park unaccosted by that kind of behaviour. It should not happen in a free, law-abiding society like ours.'

Former chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal also weighed in on the incident and claimed the men 'were radicalised by others'.

He posted: 'I won't share the Chris Whitty being abused video, but I know that if he was the statue of someone with a dubious past, he would have a dozen strong security detail.

'The offenders were radicalised by others - they share the blame. This is just the latest incident of harassment involving the Chief Medical Advisor.'

NHS GP partner Dr Ayan Panja wrote: 'Awful. Poor Chris Whitty. He remained calm and professional unlike his harassers who must be appropriately reprimanded.'

Piers Morgan branded the latest attack on the Chief Medical Officer 'disgusting'. Presenter Adil Ray said on Twitter: 'This is an utterly disgusting way to treat a person who has devoted his time to save our lives.

'These complete and utter imbeciles must be found and dealt with. Meanwhile Boris Johnson please provide Chris Whitty with security.'

News presenter Simon McCoy added: 'This is a complete disgrace. Chris Whitty should be protected from idiots like these.'

Channel 4 news presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy shared the footage and wrote: 'It should not be hard to identify the men harassing Chris Whitty in this video.'

A Met Police spokesman said: 'We're aware of a video being shared online showing an incident in St James' Park on Sunday, June 27.

'Officers spoke to all those involved at the time and their details were taken. We are in contact with the victim and the circumstances continue to be investigated.'

But social media users asked why the police squad van seen in the footage did not react to the attack. One said: 'With a police van in the background? They were there.'

Another put: 'If the attack on Professor Chris Whitty isn't assault, what is? He was physically manhandled by a group of thugs, who clearly knew what they were doing (they noticed the Police Van), against his wishes, he looked scared.'

And one more added: 'He is clearly distressed and there's a police van in background, what were they doing just sitting in there laughing!'

'Appalling' harassment of health chiefs leading Britain's fight against Covid: Chris Whitty and Jonathan Van Tam have been confronted by yobs four times during pandemic amid calls for greater protection

Earlier this month, Professor Whitty was harassed in the street by a man accusing him of lying to the public about coronavirus. The thug, who appeared to film the video himself, went after the medical officer on a street in Oxford.

The government's Chief Medical Advisor was shown walking briskly down a street as he was followed and bombarded with questions.

The man filming, believed to be Geza Tarjanyi, a family DJ and producer who has become known online for his activism against fracking and mask wearing.

Prof Whitty was leaving the G7 health summit at the university but the man says: 'Hello Chris. Lying to the public again? You don't represent us, you don't represent the public.

'Oxford-AstraZeneca right in the centre - what a surprise you're here. Come speak to us Chris, come speak to the public - you're the expert,' the DJ is heard saying.

'Is Bill Gates funding this?' Mr Tarjanyi asks, after accusing the CMO of lying and after rattling off a variety of other unproven theories about the pandemic response.

Mr Whitty, wearing a suit and backpack while carrying a briefcase, is shown hurrying down the road away from the man filming and refusing to reply to his comments.

At one point, England's CMO is shown stopping beside a police van to ask if the officers can stop the man following him.

'These gentlemen don't seem to want to leave me alone at all,' Mr Whitty is heard saying to the officers in the van. But he quickly continues down the street away from the person holding the camera who continues following him.

'Why are you lying to the public? Why is everything designed for the vaccine,' Mr Tarjanyi is heard asking. He says 'there is no covid' and accuses Mr Whitty of manipulated the figures shown during No 10 press conferences.

He goes on to say he has been arrested ten times 'because of your Covid lie, your experts'. He also accuses Professor Neil Ferguson, whose data modelling was key to the decision behind the UK's first lockdown last year.

Mr Tarjanyi tells Mr Whitty that he has spoken to him on three occasions, and has 'never been a threat what-so-ever'.

Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for England, has been harassed in the street again by a man accusing him of lying to the public about coronavirus. Pictured: Still grabs from a video shared to Facebook that saw Mr Whitty confronted by a man in the street

The person filming the Oxford video, identified on Facebook as Geza Tarjanyi (pictured), is a family DJ and producer who has become known online for his activism against fracking, and against mask wearing and other public health covid measures during the pandemic

How Geza Tarjanyi has become known for his anti-lockdown protests Geza David Tarjanyi - also known as Gayzer Frackman - is a family DJ and producer who has become known online for his activism against 5G mobile networks, fracking, mask wearing and other public health measures during the pandemic. The anti-vaxxer, 60, lives in Leyland, Lancashire, but has travelled around the UK over the past year to protest against Covid-19 lockdowns, including outside 10 Downing Street. In recent weeks he has targeted key figures in the fight against the virus - including Jonathan Van-Tam in London and Chris Whitty in Oxford. In October 2020, he held an anti-lockdown protest in Durham which was attended by councillor Irene Hewitson, who claimed that Covid-19 is a 'fake virus' which does not exist and compared life under lockdown to 'living in North Korea'. Last September, Mr Tarjanyi lost an appeal to overturn a conviction for a public order offence after disrupting a performance staged by anti-fracking campaigners during the Lancashire Fringe festival in May 2019. Preston Magistrates' Court heard he entered the performance area, filming and shouted comments at a group of women called 'Nannas with Banners'. Advertisement

He asks why he would flag down the police when he is being filmed like he is on the BBC and ITV.

'But they're safe hands aren't they,' Mr Tarjanyi is heard saying before the video - shared on Facebook by Piers Corbyn - cuts off, implying the two broadcasters are complicity in the conspiracy.

According to the Lancashire Post, Mr Tarjanyi lost a bid to overturn a conviction for a public order offence after he disrupted a performance by anti-fracking activists at the Lancashire Fringe Festival in May 2019.

Mr Tarjanyi, who at the time of his failed bid in October 2020 was 58, was said to have entered the performance area, filming and shouting abuse towards the performing women. At the time, he was said to be living in Leyland.

The first time Prof Whitty is believed to have been accosted in the street was in February by a young thug who put the video on TikTok.

The film showed the CMO saying hello to passers-by but he refuses to be goaded by the youth who films the scientist standing in a queue.

The yob says: 'You're a liar. Mandem is a liar. You lie about the Covid-19 cases man. Stop lying to the TV.'

At Westminster's Strutton Ground market, the cameraman repeatedly called Prof Whitty a 'liar' while shoving the phone in Prof Whitty's face.

At the time the epidemiologist dismissed the incident and later told a Downing Street briefing: 'The odd young lad, showing off, occasionally happens.'

He added: 'I'm sure he'll become a model citizen in due course and hopefully more like Captain Tom, who is the kind of person who I think much more exemplifies the spirit of the UK.'

The youth was later told off by his mother, who told MailOnline she had confiscated his games console.

In February, a young man confronted Prof Whitty in Westminster and accused him of lying about the pandemic while filming a video on his phone for the social media site TikTok

Mr Tarjanyi, 60, of Leyland, Lancashire, also harassed Jonathan van Tam - the Deputy Chief Medical Officer - as he walked into the Ministry of Defence building last week.

He asked him 'what was really in that needle that you put into Matt Hancock', in relation to Professor Van-Tam giving the Health Secretary his first Covid jab in April.

Mr Tarjanyi shouted at Prof Van-Tam while a receptionist in the building asked him for advice on whether he should have the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine.

Asked about the abuse, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'People working to fight the pandemic and save lives, which is what Professor Van Tam is doing every single day, should never face that kind of appalling behaviour for doing their job.

'The right to free speech is fundamental to our democracy but violence, threats or intimidation are absolutely never acceptable.'

Mr Tarjanyi has become known online for his activism against 5G mobile networks, fracking, mask wearing and other public health measures during the pandemic.

Do you know these men? Get in touch by emailing tips@mailonline.co.uk

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam was filmed being abused and accused of 'genocide' in London last week
Two people have been killed and three injured following a gas pipe explosion in Texas.

Contractors from Atmos Energy were working on a section of the pipeline near Farmersville, in Collin County - about 40 miles north east of downtown Dallas.

It was unclear what caused the explosion, which was reported at 4pm on Monday.

Local media showed footage from the scene, with no visible flames or sign of disturbances.

Police and firefighters are seen by the pipeline on Monday, after an explosion was reported. Two people were killed and three injured in the accident, which happened as Atmos Energy contractors worked on the site

Fire trucks are seen arriving at the scene near Farmersville, on the outskirts of Dallas

Farmersville police chief told WFAA that the contractors were repairing the line at the time of the explosion.

Police and firefighters from Farmersville and neighboring Princeton were on the scene.

'The scene is safe, but we ask that you try to avoid this area, if possible,' the Collin County Sheriff's Office said.
Pupils' mobile phones may be banned from schools in a drive to crack down on bad behaviour and create calm classrooms.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said yesterday he wants to make the school day mobile-free as the phones can be distracting and potentially damaging when misused.

The idea is being considered as part of a six-week consultation, launched today, seeking the views of teachers and parents on how to manage behaviour.

Mr Williamson believes good discipline in classes is essential to help pupils catch up after the pandemic.

It comes amid growing concerns that pupils are using phones to bully each other on social media or for sexual harassment.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson (above) has said he wants to make the school day mobile-free as the phones can be distracting and potentially damaging when misused

Teachers have spoken about the growing trend of up-skirting where boys take photos of female pupils and teachers without their knowledge.

Many schools are trying to ban phones in classrooms, but it can be a struggle when parents are not supportive.

Mr Williamson said: No parent wants to send their child to a school where poor behaviour is rife. Every school should be a safe place that allows young people to thrive and teachers to excel.

'Mobile phones are not just distracting. When misused or overused, they can have a damaging effect on a pupils mental health and well-being.

It comes amid growing concerns that pupils are using phones to bully each other on social media or for sexual harassment

I want to put an end to this, making the school day mobile-free. In order for us to help pupils overcome the challenges from the pandemic and level up opportunity for all young people, we need to ensure they can benefit from calm classrooms which support them to thrive.

The consultation comes ahead of planned updates to Government guidance later this year on behaviour and discipline.

It will also address suspensions and permanent exclusions of disruptive children.

Ministers have so far supported headteachers who want to exclude pupils, but Left-wing campaigners say disadvantaged children are more affected and youngsters become vulnerable to gangs.

The Department for Education has already announced details of a 10million behaviour hub programme.

Headteachers and specialists from schools with reputations for good behaviour are supporting institutions struggling with poor discipline.

Kevin Courtney, of the National Education Union, said last night: Talking about mobile phones is a distraction.

'Schools generally have very clear policies and will not see the need for another consultation.

Geoff Barton, of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: The Education Secretary appears to be obsessed with the subject of mobile phones in schools.

In reality, every school will already have a robust policy on the use of mobile phones. It isnt some sort of digital free-for-all.

'This is an operational decision for schools, not something that can be micromanaged from Westminster.
Victoria has recorded zero new local Covid-19 cases after 20,000 tests overnight.

Victorian police have been patrolling the border with New South Wales ensuring any Greater Sydney residents aren't coming in as cases soar in the neighbouring state.

Around 260 officers are marking six zones along the border, enforcing random booze-bus style operations and even using the Police Airwing to monitor the areas from the sky.

Heavy police presence has been seen in areas like Swan Hill, Echuca, Yarrawonga, Wodonga and Cann River.

Chief Commissioner Shane Patton warned any rule-breakers they'd be hit with a whopping $4957 fine if they were found entering Victoria unlawfully.

Victoria has recorded zero new local Covid cases after 20,000 tests overnight

Since Friday more than 2000 checks have been carried out on people crossing the border with 53 warnings being handed out.

A formal request has also been made to get border assistance from the Australian Defence Force.

Victoria has also declared Darwin a red zone meaning any residents currently in the Top End will have to stay in isolation there or return to their home state and undergo 14 days of quarantine.

Three capital cities are now in lockdown with Perth joining Sydney and Darwin after another confirmed virus case in the west.

A four-day stay-at-home order for Perth and the neighbouring Peel region started at midnight, just hours after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced new measures in the coronavirus battle.

Aged care and quarantine workers will be compelled to get a Covid-19 jab and doctors allowed to give the AstraZeneca shot to under-60s as governments seek to revive the vaccine rollout.

Chief Commissioner Shane Patton warned any rule-breakers they'd be hit with a whopping $4957 fine if they were found entering Victoria unlawfully

The prime minister met with state and territory leaders for a virtual national cabinet meeting on Monday, as the proportion of fully vaccinated Australians stood at just under five per cent.

Until now the advice from medical experts has been not to force workers to be vaccinated.

But Mr Morrison said that advice had changed and state public health orders and Commonwealth measures would be used to enforce the new rules, with the aim of completing the task by mid-September.

'This has been a difficult group to get vaccinated (but) ... I'm pleased we have finally got here tonight,' he said.

Advocates in the sector have been concerned forced vaccinations will lead to a flood of staff leaving, or large gaps in rosters as workers are impacted by vaccine side-effects.

To make this easier, the federal government will provide $11 million to cover paid leave for workers having vaccinations.

Vaccination and testing of all quarantine workers will also be made mandatory, including those involved in transporting people to quarantine.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is seen speaking to the media on Monday having been away from the public eye for months as he recovered from a back injury

A man is seen running on an almost deserted Brighton Beach, in Melbourne on Friday

The states and territories will be in charge of the program and no timeframe has been set for its completion.

National cabinet also agreed to compulsory post-quarantine testing for returned travellers, which must occur two to three days after they leave.

As well, there will be a ban on accommodating low-risk domestic travellers next door to high-risk international arrivals, which triggered an outbreak in Queensland.

Travellers who have gone through 14-day quarantine in one jurisdiction will be able to enter other jurisdictions without having to quarantine for a further 14 days.

And in a bid to encourage broader vaccination, the federal government will provide a no fault indemnity scheme for GPs who administer Covid-19 vaccines.

The scheme would enable, for example, a person under-60 who is happy to get the AstraZeneca vaccine - which is currently only recommended for over-60s - to do so if their doctor considers it is the best option.

Victorian police have been patrolling the border with New South Wales ensuring any Greater Sydney residents aren't trying to force their way in

Mr Morrison said it was hoped with the changes, as well as a boost to vaccine supplies, Australia could 'move through the balance of the program over the course of this year'.

A man in his 30s is the latest case in Perth. He worked and dined at the Indian Ocean Brewery on the same night as another positive case - a woman who travelled from Sydney. She also came into contact with a 32-year-old woman who has tested positive.

With Sydney in lockdown, NSW recorded 18 new coronavirus cases with all but one confirmed as linked to existing cases.

Queensland is on the verge of another lockdown in the state's southeast after two new local cases, with more than 160 returned mine workers being tested.

In the Northern Territory, an outbreak linked to a central Australian mine has grown to seven cases, sparking an extension of a snap lockdown until at least Friday.

Mr Morrison, who is quarantining in Canberra after an overseas trip, said he understood the frustration of Australians at the disruption.

'We've got to hang in there - we don't have a choice.'

Australia has not had a Covid-related death this year.

Asked whether the country should learn to live with the virus in the community even if there are deaths, the prime minister said: 'It would be unwise to surrender up that advantage at this point and preferably at no point, but that is a decision that will have to be made in the next year'.

National cabinet will meet again on Friday.
Scientists have confirmed a new type of stellar explosion that can explain why a 1,000 year old supernova was so bright our ancestors could see it for 23 days.

Described as an 'electron capture supernova,' this is a destructive event first theorised 40 years ago, but only now confirmed from observations.

Electron capture supernova are thought to arise from the explosions of massive super-asymptotic giant branch (SAGB) stars, for which there is little evidence.

Scientists at Las Cumbres Observatory, a network of telescopes run from Goleta, California, scoured space for the telltale signs of this explosion and their output.

Doing so also solved a mystery dating back to 1054 CE, when a bright light was seen in the daytime for 23 days all around the world, it is though this became the beautiful crab nebula, which has a 5.5 light year radius and is about 1,000 years old.

These 'new' types of supernova sit between those created when a white dwarf pulls in matter from another star, and the supergiant explosions that create black holes.

Dr Ken Nomoto, from the University of Tokyo, one of the first to propose this type of supernova, said this was a 'Eureka moment,' closing a 40-year theoretical loop.

Las Cumbres Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope colour composite of the electron-capture supernova 2018zd (the large white dot on the right) and the host starburst galaxy NGC 2146 (toward the left), were used to confirm a 1,000 year old mystery

WHAT ARE ELECTRON-CAPTURE SUPERNOVAE? The electron-capture supernovae, sit between the white dwarf binary and massive giant star type of nova. They are created when massive super-asymptotic giant branch (SAGB) stars come to the end of their life. The stars stop fusion when their cores are made of oxygen, neon and magnesium as they aren't massive enough to create iron. In the case of supermassive stars, they reach the end of their life when all that is left is iron in the core. While gravity is always trying to crush a star, what keeps most stars from collapsing is either ongoing fusion. Or in cores where fusion has stopped, the fact that you can't pack the atoms any tighter. In an electron capture supernova, some of the electrons in the oxygen-neon-magnesium core get smashed into their atomic nuclei. This removal of electrons causes the core of the star to buckle under its own weight and collapse. The collapse of the star is what results in this 'in between type' - or electron-capture supernova. If the star had been slightly heavier, the core elements could have fused to create heavier elements, prolonging its life until it exploded. The describe it as a 'middle type' because its end of life is like a 'reverse-Goldilocks situation.' That is - the star isn't light enough to escape its core collapsing but not heavy enough to prolong its life and die later via different means. They were first predicted by Ken'ichi Nomoto of the University of Tokyo in 1980 and have avoided confirmation until this new study. Advertisement

The discovery is based on observations of supernova 2018zd, confirming it meets all the requirements for an electron-capture type of stellar explosion.

This supernova was discovered in March 2018 by Amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki from Japan who has helped 'change the face' of nova research.

Its origins and type have been subject of speculation since it was first observed.

Historically, there have been two main supernova types, the thermonuclear type and the iron-core collapse supernova.

Data analysis and new observations from a team using the Las Cumbres Observatory network revealed that it is a long-theorised type of nova that sits between those two types.

In the case of a thermonuclear supernova - it is the result of the explosion of a white dwarf star after it gains matter in a binary star system.

These white dwarfs are the dense cores of ash that remain after a low-mass star, one up to about eight times the mass of the sun, reaches the end of its life.

Another main supernova type is an iron core-collapse supernova where a massive star - one more than about 10 times the mass of the sun - runs out of nuclear fuel and has its iron core collapse, creating a black hole or neutron star.

The electron-capture supernovae, as this has been classified, are on the borderline between these two types of supernovae.

The stars stop fusion when their cores are made of oxygen, neon and magnesium as they aren't massive enough to create iron.

While gravity is always trying to crush a star, what keeps most stars from collapsing is either ongoing fusion, or in cores where fusion has stopped, the fact that you can't pack the atoms any tighter.

In an electron capture supernova, some of the electrons in the oxygen-neon-magnesium core get smashed into their atomic nuclei.

This removal of electrons causes the core of the star to buckle under its own weight and collapse, resulting in this 'middle type' - or electron-capture supernova.

If the star had been slightly heavier - up to ten times the mass of the sun, then its core elements could have fused to create heavier elements, prolonging its life and resulting in an iron-core collapse nova.

The study authors described it as being like a 'reverse-Goldilocks situation,' named for the fairy tale of Goldilocks and the Tree Bears where she tries porridge that is too sweet, too salty and just right.'

In the case of this new nova type, the star isn't light enough to escape its core collapsing, nor is it heavy enough to prolong its life and die later via different means.

That's the theory that was formulated beginning 1980 by Ken'ichi Nomoto of the University of Tokyo, and others.

Over the decades, theorists have formulated predictions of what to look for in an electron-capture supernova and their SAGB star progenitors.

The stars should have a lot of mass, lose much of it before exploding, and this mass near the dying star should be of an unusual chemical composition.

Artist impressions of a super-asymptotic giant branch star (left) and its core (right) made up of oxygen (O), neon (Ne), and magnesium (Mg). A super-asymptotic giant branch star is the end state of stars in a mass range of around 8-10 solar masses

WHAT IS THE CRAB NEBULA? The Crab Nebula, also known as M1, NGC 1952 and Taurus A is a supernova remnant in the constellation of Taurus. Its name comes from astronomer William Parsons, who observed it in 1850 and produced a drawing that looked like a crab. It was first discovered in 1731 and later study suggested its creation corresponded to a bright supernova observed by the Chinese in 1054. Its link to the supernova explosion SN 1054 came in the early 20th century when astronomers studied observations by Chinese astronomers dating back to July 4 1054. They reported sighting of a new star bright enough to be seen in the daytime in the same part of the sky as the crab nebula is found today. It isn't visible to the naked eye, but has a similar apparent magnitude of Saturn's moon Titan, meaning it can be made out using binoculars if the conditions are right. It is about 6,500 light years from the Earth and is 11 light years across, expanding at 930 miles per second. There is a Pulsar at the centre of the nebular spinning at 30.2 times per second emitting a pulse of radiation from gamma rays to radiowaves. Advertisement

Then the electron-capture supernova should be weak, have little radioactive fallout, and have neutron-rich elements in the core.

The new study, published in Nature Astronomy, is led by Daichi Hiramatsu, a graduate student at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).

Hiramatsu is a core member of the Global Supernova Project, a worldwide team of scientists using dozens of telescopes around and above the globe.

The team found that the supernova SN 2018zd had many unusual characteristics, some of which were seen for the first time in a supernova.

It helped that the supernova was relatively nearby - only 31 million light-years away - in the galaxy NGC 2146. That may seem like a long way, but is close in terms of identified supernovae.

This allowed them to examine archival images taken prior to the explosion from the Hubble Space Telescope and detect the likely progenitor star before it exploded.

The observations were consistent with another recently identified SAGB star in the Milky Way, but inconsistent with models of red supergiants, the progenitors of normal iron core-collapse supernovae.

The study looked through all published data on supernovae, and found that while some had a few of the indicators predicted for electron-capture supernovae, only SN 2018zd had all six.

Those indicators include an apparent SAGB progenitor, strong pre-supernova mass loss, an unusual stellar chemical composition, a weak explosion, little radioactivity, and a neutron-rich core.

'We started by asking 'what's this weirdo?'' Hiramatsu said. 'Then we examined every aspect of SN 2018zd and realised that all of them can be explained in the electron-capture scenario.'

The crab nebula was created by an exploding star in an electron-capture supernova that was first spotted by astronomers in China over 1,000 years ago

WHAT ARE SUPER-ASYMPTOTIC GIANT BRANCH (SAGB) STARS? A super-asymptotic giant branch (SAGB) star is one with a mass. It sits between those that end their lives as a white dwarf, and those that end when their core collapses into a supernova, creating a black hole. They have properties between asymptotic giant branch stars and red supergiants and an initial mass of between 7.5 and 9.25 that of the Sun. When they exhaust hydrogen and helium in their core they leave the main sequence of stars. At this point they expand to become cool, large and luminous, rather than red giants or white dwarfs. Recent studies suggest the most massive of the stars end their life as an electron capture supernova. Advertisement

The new discoveries also illuminate some mysteries of the most famous supernova of the past - SN 1054 - linked to the crab nebula.

This supernova happened - or at least was witnessed from Earth in 1054 CE in the Milky Way Galaxy, and according to Chinese and Japanese records, it was so bright that it could be seen in the daytime for 23 days, and at night for nearly two years.

The resulting remnant, the crab nebula, has been studied in great detail.

It was previously the best candidate for an electron-capture supernova, but this was uncertain partly because the explosion happened nearly a thousand years ago.

The new study of the supernova 31 million light years form Earth increases the confidence that the historic SN 1054 was an electron-capture supernova.

It also explains why that supernova was relatively bright compared to the models.

Its luminosity was probably artificially enhanced by the supernova ejecta colliding with material cast off by the progenitor star as was seen in SN 2018zd.

Dr Nomoto was excited that his theory had been confirmed after 40 years.

'I am very pleased that the electron-capture supernova was finally discovered,' he said.

Adding it is something 'predicted to exist and have a connection to the Crab Nebula 40 years ago.'

'I very much appreciate the great efforts involved in obtaining these observations. This is a wonderful case of the combination of observations and theory,' he said.

Hiramatsu added, 'It was such a 'Eureka moment' for all of us that we can contribute to closing the 40-year-old theoretical loop.'

He said it was also important for him personally as his astronomy career started when he looked at pictures of the iconic crab nebula.

The team found that the supernova SN 2018zd had many unusual characteristics, some of which were seen for the first time in a supernova

'The term Rosetta Stone is used too often as an analogy when we find a new astrophysical object,' said Dr. Andrew Howell, a staff scientist at Las Cumbres Observatory and adjunct faculty at UCSB, 'but in this case I think it is fitting.

'This supernova is literally helping us decode thousand-year-old records from cultures all over the world,' he added.

'And it is helping us associate one thing we don't fully understand, the Crab Nebula, with another thing we have incredible modern records of, this supernova.'

Howell said the new nova is teaching astronomers fundamentals about physics, including how some neutron stars get made and extreme stars live and die.

It is also teaching us 'about how the elements we are made of get created and scattered around the universe.'

The findings have been published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
A group of the world's smallest hog has been released into the wild in northeastern India as part of a conservation program to boost the population of a species once thought to have become extinct.

The pygmy hog once thrived along plains on the Himalayan foothills in India, Nepal and Bhutan, but habitat loss cut their population to no more than 400 in the wild.

A total of 12 pygmy hogs were reintroduced under Pygmy Hog Conservation Program (PHCP), with eight released on June 22 and the remaining on June 25.

This is the second batch to return to their natural habitat, as last year PHCP released 14 hogs.

'We are releasing 12 pygmy hogs including seven male and five female,' the program's field scientist Dhritiman Das told AFP at the release site in Manas National Park on Saturday.

A group of the world's smallest hog has been released into the wild in northeastern India as part of a conservation program to boost the population of a species once thought to have become extinct

India's pygmy hog lost its habitat primarily to agriculture and was believed to have been wiped from the Earth for much of the early 1900s, until it was 'rediscovered' in 1971.

Then in 1996, PHCP captured six wild hogs and began a breeding scheme in an attempt to revive the population.

Since then, the group has helped create 76 captive hogs.

Other scientists are pigging backing off this success and have released 130 pygmy hogs into two national parks, Manas and Orang, and two wildlife sanctuaries, Barnadi and Sonai Rupaiall in Assam, National Geographic reports.

The pygmy hog once thrived along plains on the Himalayan foothills in India, Nepal and Bhutan, but habitat loss cut their population to no more than 400 in the wild

The past week's releases take the number of pigs reintroduced into the wild by the program to 142.

'In next four years, we target to release 60 hogs... so that they can build their own population in the wild,' Das added.

The program has also sought to rehabilitate the grasslands home to the tiny creatures, with the hopes of bringing the population back from the brink of extinction.

The species' survival has been threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitats due to human activity such as settlement and agriculture, and the improper management of such areas, experts say.

Pygmy hogs grow about 10 inches tall, 25 inches long and can weigh between 17 to 20 pounds

Pygmy hogs grow about 10 inches tall, 25 inches long and can weigh between 17 to 20 pounds.

The animals were first described in 1847, but were rarely seen by humans due to their shy behavior and small stature.

They typically live in grasslands and use the grass to create thatched roofs for their nests to keep predators at bay.

'Conservation of pygmy hog was initiated by noted naturalist Gerald Durrell and his trust in 1971,' PHCP's Project Director Parag Jyoti Deka said.

'The pygmy hog was brought back from near-extinction by the partnership effort, and now we are moving towards the establishment of a population across the entire range.'
A huge ice-covered lake in East Antarctic disappeared in less than a week, potentially due to climate change, a new study reveals.

Researchers used radar images to track the rapid melting event at the Amery Ice Shelf, which occurred in June 2019, during the Antarctic winter.

Scientists believe the weight of meltwater (water released by the melting of snow or ice) accumulated in the deep lake and cracked open the ice shelf beneath  an event called a 'hydrofracture'.

It's estimated that between 600 million and 750 million cubic metres (21-26 billion cubic feet) of water drained to the ocean below  about twice the volume of San Diego Bay.

Landsat 8 images over the Southern Amery Ice Shelf show the ice-covered lake before drainage (left) and the resulting ice doline - or depression - with summer meltwater (right)

WHAT IS AN ICE SHELF? Ice shelves are permanent floating sheets of ice that connect to a landmass. Most of the world's ice shelves hug the coast of Antarctica. However, ice shelves can also form wherever ice flows from land into cold ocean waters, including some glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere. Source: National Snow and Ice Data Center Advertisement

After drainage, in place of the lake, there was a crater-like depression in the ice shelf surface, covering about 4.25 square miles.

This surface depression, known as an ice 'doline', contained the fractured remains of the ice cover.

'We believe the weight of water accumulated in this deep lake opened a fissure in the ice shelf beneath the lake, a process known as hydrofracture, causing the water to drain away to the ocean below,' said study author Roland Warner, a glaciologist with the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership at the University of Tasmania.

The team can't say for sure what triggered the rapid draining event.

It is too early to conclude that the drainage of this meltwater lake was related to the warming of the climate around Antarctica, they say.

But it's well known that rising air temperatures melts ice shelves, increasing the risk of widespread hydrofracturing.

Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities cause a rise in global temperatures, which in turn melt ice and snow and result in a rise in sea levels.

The rare event occurred during the 2019 Antarctic winter on Amery Ice Shelf in East Antarctica

It is estimated that 600-750 million cubic metres (21-26 billion cubic feet) of water were lost to the ocean. This volume is put into context over the city of New York

These human activities include burning fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil, which release carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas, as well as deforestation.

Scientists have previously predicted that sea levels will rise to such an extent within this century that entire cities will be submerged due to greenhouse gas emissions, forcing millions of people to evacuate their homes.

'Surface melting over Antarctica's floating ice shelves is predicted to increase significantly during coming decades, but the implications for their stability are unknown,' the team say in their paper.

For their study, researchers used images from Landsat 8, a radar satellite that can 'see' during the polar night to pin the event's timing down to a week or less in June.

The event was also captured by a green-light laser instrument on NASA's ICESat-2, which transmits pulses of photons and accurately locates the reflection point of each photon it receives back from Earth.

Photo courtesy of the Australian Antarctic Division shows a 'loose tooth' - or rift in the ice - on the Amery Ice Shelf in eastern Antarctica

Antarctica is home to a number of ice shelves, including Amery. The formations are also found along Arctic coastlines

Repeat orbits of ICESat-2 on the exact ground tracks before and after the lake drainage revealed the vertical scale of the disruption.

'It is exciting to see ICESat-2 show us details of processes that are occurring on the ice sheet at such fine spatial scale,' said co-author Helen Amanda Fricker, a glaciologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

'Since surface meltwater on ice shelves can cause their collapse which ultimately leads to sea-level rise when grounded ice is no longer held back, it's important to understand the processes that weaken ice shelves.'

The future of the newly formed 'doline' is uncertain, the scientists say, although it may accumulate meltwater again or drain to the ocean more frequently.

The hydrofracture process has been implicated in the collapse of smaller ice shelves in the Antarctic Peninsula, where meltwater forms on the surface of ice shelves during the Southern Hemisphere's summer.

But it is not often seen driving through ice as thick as the 1,400 meters (4,590 feet), as observed at this location on Amery Ice Shelf.

The study has been published in Geophysical Research Letters.
They played an integral role in many of the early Antarctic expeditions, but a new study suggests that dogs tasked with pulling sleds may have been underfed.

Researchers from Canterbury Museum, Lincoln University and the University of Otago have analysed a century-old dog biscuit known as 'Spratt's dog cake' to understand the nutrition dogs received during early British Antarctic expeditions.

The analysis suggests that while the contents of the early dog cakes weren't that different to modern varieties, the quantity the dogs were given on expeditions didn't provide enough fuel for their high-energy activities.

The cakes were used on two Arctic polar expeditions before they were taken south by Captain Robert Falcon Scott for the 18 dogs that were part of the Discovery expedition in 1901.

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Spratt's cakes were given to dogs on a range of famous expeditions, including Sir Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod (1907-1909) and Endurance (1914-1917) expeditions

Explorers who fed their dogs Spratt's cakes The cakes were used on two Arctic polar expeditions before they were taken south by Captain Robert Falcon Scott for the 18 dogs that were part of the Discovery expedition in 1901. The sledge dogs were fed Spratt's dog cakes alongside dried fish from Norway, and sadly died after consuming rancid fish. Following on from this expedition, the handlers on Scott's Terra Nova expedition in 1910 fed the animals on Spratt's cakes alone. However, the dogs were given just 300 grams of the biscuits per day, leading to them becoming desperately hungry, and even eating their own excrement. Sir Ernest Shackleton took the cakes on his Nimrod (1907-1909) and Endurance (1914-1917) expeditions, where they were given to dogs alongside seal meat, blubber, biscuits and pemmican. Advertisement

In the study, the team set out to research the lives of dogs in Antarctica during early explorations of the continent.

Dr Jill Haley, who led the study, said: 'The early explorers valued their dogs, not just for pulling sledges but for their companionship in the bleak isolation of Antarctica.

'Our analysis of a partially crumbled Spratt's dog cake, one of four cared for by Canterbury Museum, found that the contents of the cakes weren't that different to modern dog biscuits.

'However, the quantity dogs were fed on the expeditions didn't provide enough fuel for their high-energy activities.'

Early polar explorers tended to opt for Spratt's dog cakes for their pooches as they were easy to transport, did not perish, and took little to no effort to prepare.

The cakes were used on two Arctic polar expeditions before they were taken south by Captain Robert Falcon Scott for the 18 dogs that were part of the Discovery expedition in 1901.

The sledge dogs were fed Spratt's dog cakes alongside dried fish from Norway, but sadly died after consuming rancid fish.

Following on from this expedition, the handlers on Scott's Terra Nova expedition in 1910 fed the animals on Spratt's cakes alone.

However, the dogs were given just 300 grams of the biscuits per day, leading to them becoming desperately hungry, and even eating their own excrement.

Early polar explorers tended to opt for Spratt's dog cakes for their pooches as they were easy to transport, did not perish, and took little to no effort to prepare

The handlers on Scott's Terra Nova expedition in 1910 fed the animals on Spratt's cakes alone. Pictured: Stareek, a dog on Scott's Terra Nova expedition, photographed in 1911

Meanwhile, Sir Ernest Shackleton took the cakes on his Nimrod (1907-1909) and Endurance (1914-1917) expeditions, where they were given to dogs alongside seal meat, blubber, biscuits and pemmican - a high-energy mix of fat and protein.

In the study, the team used laser-based systems to determine the composition of the cakes down to micron resolution.

Their analysis identified wheat, oats and bone as the main constituents.

The team then compared the cakes to modern dog foods, calculating exactly how many kilojoules of energy each biscuit provided.

Ernest Shackleton, Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Dr Edward Wilson on the British National Antarctic Expedition 1901-1904 (Discovery-Expedition)

To match the energy intake needed by modern sledge dogs, the dogs on these early expeidiotns would have need to eat between 2.6 and 3.2kg of Spratt's dog cakes every day, according to the researchers.

However, historic accounts suggest that on some expeditions, the dogs were given as little as 300g of the cakes per day.

This suggests that Spratt's dog cakes were probably nutritionally sound for sledge dogs  but the pups simply weren't fed enough of them.
People who are better at making up 'bulls**t' explanations for things tend to have a higher cognitive ability than their peers, a study has concluded.

Experts from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, conducted tests to explore the link between people's willingness and skill at lying and their cognitive abilities.

Fortunately, even though smarter people are better at making up nonsense, the team found that they were less likely to do so than their less-intelligent counterparts.

The researchers also found that people who are more willing to make things up are also more susceptible themselves to believing profound-sounding twaddle.

Similar results  that liars are more vulnerable to misinformation  were reported back in March by researchers from the University of Waterloo, in Ontario, Canada.

People who are better at making up 'bulls**t' explanations for things tend to have a higher cognitive ability than their peers, a study has concluded (stock image)

ARTISTIC LIES While this probably wasn't what Pablo Picasso had in mind when he said 'Art is not truth', Ms Kara-Yakoubian said that, in one sense, it was through art that she became interested in the psychology of bulls**t. In a previous study, she and her colleagues found 'that people couldnt differentiate artspeak (i.e., the language artists and art scholars use to discuss art) from pseudo-profound bulls**t,' the clinical psychologist explained to PsyPost. 'I thought this was amusing, as I was doing a minor in Fine Arts at the time, predominantly taking art history courses,' she added. 'The more I bulls**tted an essay, the better my grade was. Naturally, the research grew on me; I could see its relevance in my life!' Advertisement

'A persons bulls**tting ability is positively associated with how smart they seem and how smart they genuinely are,' paper author and clinical psychologist Mane Kara-Yakoubian of Ryerson University told PsyPost.

'We propose that bulls**tting may have emerged as an energetically inexpensive strategy of obtaining prestige, status, or goods in domains where success is determined by the subjective evaluation of others.'

Such areas, she noted, include politics, public speaking and the fine arts.

'A person can go through the process of acquiring the necessary skills to succeed in a particular domain, or they can bulls**t their way through it, and be rewarded similarly,' Ms Kara-Yakoubian continued.

In their study, Ms Kara-Yakoubian and colleagues conducted two experiments to look for associations between people's willingness to bulls**t, their ability to do so and their levels of cognitive ability.

In the first study, which involved 483 students from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, participants were presented with the names of ten theoretical concepts  six of which were real, and four of which were fictitious.

For example, real terms included 'cognitive dissonance' (the sense of discomfort felt when one holds two contradictory beliefs) and 'general relativity' (the theory that mass can distort the fabric of space and time, an effect experienced as gravity).

While the four fictitious concepts were 'declarative fraction', 'genetic autonomy', 'neural acceptance' and 'subjunctive scaling'.

Each participant was asked to rate their knowledge of each of the ten concepts, real and fake, on a five-point scale that ranged from 'never heard of it' to 'know it well, understand the concept'.

From their responses to the phoney theories, each subject was given a score based on their willingness to bulls**t  that is, to feign knowledge of the fake concepts.

'We propose that bulls**tting may have emerged as an energetically inexpensive strategy of obtaining prestige, status, or goods in domains where success is determined by the subjective evaluation of others,' clinical psychologist Mane Kara-Yakoubian told PsyPost . Such areas, she noted, include politics (pictured), public speaking and the fine arts

Following this, the researchers selected a subset of 220 of these participants, dubbed the 'Bulls**t Producers', and tasked them to 'produce the most convincing and satisfying explanation' for each of the ten concepts.

These producers were instructed  if they were unfamiliar with a given term  to creatively make up an explanation that they felt others would accept.

Explanations were then assessed by a different group of 263 volunteers and rated on a scale of one-to-five for both how 'accurate' and satisfying it was.

Finally, based on the ratings of their descriptions for the fake concepts, each producer was given a 'Bulls**t Ability Score'.

These scores were then compared to the results of tests of verbal intelligence, abstract reasoning and sensitivity to pseudo-profound statements.

The second experiment  which involved 534 undergraduate students  mirrored the first, with the addition that the participants doing the ratings were also asked to judge the intelligence of the producer of each explanation.

Based on ratings of their descriptions of fake theoretical concepts, study participants were given a 'Bulls**t Ability Score' on a scale of one to five

The researchers found that those participants who were more adept at producing satisfying and seemingly accurate explanations of fake concepts also tended to score higher in tests of both verbal intelligence and abstract reasoning.

However, the team also found that the more intelligent people were  and, by extension, the more artful they were bulls**tting  the less willing they actually were to make things up in the earliest part of the experiment.

'We found that bulls**tting ability and bulls**tting willingness were independent of each other,' Ms Kara-Yakoubian told PsyPost.

The reluctance of smarter individuals to engage in bulls**t, she added, 'might be explained by their greater capacity to attribute mental states to others'  a skill which psychologists refer to as the 'theory of mind'.

This, she continued, enables more intelligent people 'to be more cognizant of when bulls**tting will work and when it won't.'

With their initial study complete, Ms Kara-Yakoubian said, future research might explore the relationship between bulls**ting and theory of mind.

The team are also considering the potential to explore personality factors that might be connected to an individual's willingness to make thing up.

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology.
Scientists have dashed any remaining hopes of finding life on Venus, the second-closest planet to the Sun.

Clouds on Venus don't contain enough water to sustain even organisms that are adapted to live in extreme environments on Earth, they reveal.

The researchers, led by Queen's University Belfast, looked at data from various scientific probes, including Galileo, sent to different planets in the Solar System.

There is more than a 100 times less water available in Venus' atmosphere than what is necessary for any organisms to survive, they found.

Venus is terrestrial planet similar in size to Earth, but it has a surface temperature around 867F (464C) and pressure 92 times that of our home planet.

Image of Venus showing its acidic clouds, taken by the ultraviolet imager of the Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki on November 27, 2018

Known as Earth's 'evil twin', scientists believe Venus was likely habitable 700 million years ago, before it mysteriously became inhabitable.

Today, Venus is a world of intense heat, crushing atmospheric pressure and clouds of corrosive acid.

A high level of sulphuric acid droplets in the planet's clouds reduce 'water activity', the scientists explain.

'In our study, we looked at the effective concentration of water molecules which we scientifically called water activity,' author Dr John E Hallsworth at the School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast told PA Media.

'Not only we found the effective concentration of water molecules is slightly below what is needed for the most resilient microorganism on Earth, its more than 100 times too low.

This picture of Venus was taken by the Galileo spacecraft, at a range of almost 1.7 million miles. A spatial filter has been applied in order to emphasise the smaller scale cloud features, and the rendition has been colourised to a bluish hue in order to show the subtle contrasts in the cloud markings and to indicate that it was taken through a violet filter

VENUS: EARTH'S SISTER WORLD Venus and Earth are remarkably similar in size but their histories differ. The second planet from the Sun sits in the inner edge of the habitable zone, in fact scientists believe it may have been habitable 700 million years ago. A single day on the inhospitable world is 243 Earth days, compared to the 24 hours on Earth. It is a terrestrial planet similar in size, mass proximity to the sun and bulk composition as the Earth. However, it has the densest atmosphere of the terrestrial planets, made up of 96% carbon dioxide and a pressure at the surface 92 times greater than Earth. It has the hottest surface of any planet in the solar system with a mean temperature of 867 degrees Fahrenheit. Its clouds are made of sulfuric acid, with acid rain falling to the hot surface. It may have had oceans in the past, but the water would have been vaporised as temperatures rose due to a runaway greenhouse effect. Advertisement

'It is almost at the bottom of the scale and an unbridgeable distance from what life requires to be active.'

The results appear to contradict research published last year that suggested phosphine gas in Venus's atmosphere was an indicator of life in the planet's clouds.

While Venus doesn't appear to be habitable, researchers found that Jupiter's clouds have the right water conditions that would allow life as we know it.

'One thing which we found which was unexpected was that the clouds of Jupiter actually have the right temperature and water activity combination to support active life,' Dr Hallsworth added.

'We absolutely hadn't expected that.

'I am not suggesting there is life on Jupiter  it would need the right nutrients to be there and I am not sure of that.

'Life doesn't only need a nice temperature and water availability to be active. But still, it is a profound and exciting finding and totally unexpected.'

Water activity, measured on a scale of 0 to 1, is equivalent to the relative humidity, or availability of water, in a planet's atmosphere.

The water activity of an environment can considerably affect organisms, including those that are capable of living in extreme environments, known as extremophiles.

Laboratory studies have shown that life requires a water activity of at least 0.585 for metabolism and reproduction to take place.

The authors found droplets of sulphuric acid reduce the water activity of Venus' clouds to below 0.004  more than 100 times less than the limit for life.

Illustration of stormy clouds on Jupiter, based on images from the Stellar Reference Unit camera of the Juno mission (NASA)

Researchers used temperature and pressure data taken from the Galileo Atmospheric Entry Probe (pictured). Galileo became the became first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter in 1995

In comparison, the representative water activity in Mars' clouds is 0.537, which is slightly below the habitable range for life and similar to that of the second layer, or stratosphere, of the Earth's atmosphere.

The lowest atmospheric layer of Earth, the troposphere, is, however, permissible for life.

Jupiter's atmosphere has a 'biologically permissive' water activity of more than 0.585 for temperatures between 50F and -40F (10C and -40C), although factors such as cloud composition may limit habitability.

'We derive water activity of atmospheres without a model of any sort, based only in direct observations of pressure, temperature, and water concentration,' said study co-author Professor Christopher P McKay at NASA.



NASA's Galileo probe is depicted here in this artist's impression passing over one of Jupiter's moons

Professor McKay said the findings for Venus were 'unfortunate' because he was 'very interested in searching for life on other worlds'.

'It's also unfortunate that our conclusions are based directly on measurements  it is not a model with assumptions so it is hard to imagine that the results will change as we do further exploration,' he said.

However, the researchers said the methods used in their study can also be used to determine water activity in the atmospheres of planets beyond the Solar System, and help narrow down the search for alien life.

The findings, published in Nature Astronomy, come after NASA and the European Space Agency recently announced three missions to Venus in the coming years.

NASA announced its two new $500 million missions at the start of June, which will launch in the next 10 years to understand how Venus 'became an inferno-like world'.

Just over a week later, the ESA said it will send a probe, known as EnVision, to study 'Earth's evil twin', targeting a launch in the early 2030s.
The Greater Yellowstone Area, which is one of the last and largest remaining intact ecosystems in the northern temperate zone, is being threatened by climate change, a new report finds.

Researchers at Montana State University, the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the University of Wyoming found the more than 3,000-square-mile area will become warmer and drier by 2100.

Temperatures in the area have increased by more than two degrees Fahrenheit since 1950 and are expected to rise another five to 10 degrees by the end of the century.

Yellowstone is also set to see an annual precipitation increase of up to 15 percent, but with elevated temperatures and higher evaporation rates, the region will likely have drier summers  increasing the risk of wildfires.

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The Greater Yellowstone Area, which is one of the last and largest remaining intact ecosystems in the northern temperate zone, is being threatened by climate change, a new report finds

Steve Hostetler, a USGS scientist and co-lead author of the report, said in a statement: Greater Yellowstone is valued for its forests, rivers, fish and wildlife.

The trend towards a warmer, drier climate described in this study will likely affect ecosystems in the region and the communities that depend on them.

The team studied climate change in the Greater Yellowstone Area from 1950 through 2018 and found the average temperature has increased approximately 2.3 degrees, with the most warming observed at elevations above 5,000 feet.

Due to the rising temperatures, there will be a dramatic reduction in soil moisture over the summer months, which place many plant communities under stress and drought  all of which means a likely increase in wildfires.

Temperatures have increased by more than two degrees Fahrenheit since 1950 and are expected to rise another five to 10 degrees by the end of the century

Researchers at Montana State University, the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the University of Wyoming found the more than 3,000-square-mile area will become warmer and drier by 2100

However, some areas are already feeling the effects.

Researchers also note that Bozeman, Montana, and in Jackson, Pinedale and Cody, Wyoming are all likely to experience 40 to 60 days in the year that are exceeding 90 degrees by the end of the century.

Cathy Whitlock, Regents Professor Emerita of Earth Sciences at Montana State University and report co-lead author, said in the statement: The assessment is intended to provide the best available science on past, present and future conditions in the GYA so that stakeholders have needed information to plan ahead.

Geologic studies done for the report also highlights the effects of climate change over recent decades, showing the average temperature was as high or higher than any period in the last 20,000 years and likely the warmest of the last 800,000 years, according to geologic studies.

The growing season has also increased by nearly two weeks and average snowfall has decreased by 23 inches, all of which have happened since 1950.

The growing season has also increased by nearly two weeks and average snowfall has decreased by 23 inches, all of which have happened since 1950. Image A was taken in 1935, B in 1988, C 2006 and D in 2015

Annual precipitation is also set to increase up to 15 percent, but with elevated temperatures and higher evaporation rates the region will likely have drier summers. Yellowstone is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined and is home to more than 10,000 hydrothermal features that include geysers

Report co-author Bryan Shuman, Wyoming Excellence Chair in Geology and Geophysics at the University of Wyoming, said in the statement: The decrease in snow is due to the increase in temperature over time, which caused more precipitation to fall as rain instead of snow.

Yellowstone is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined and is home to more than 10,000 hydrothermal features that include geysers, hot springs, mud pots and fumaroles  vents in which volcanic gas escapes.

The national park was established on March 1, 1872, by US President Ulysses S. Grant, and was the first national park in existence.
Competition over electric vehicles is definitely charging up, but one parking attendant went a bit too far when he ticketed a Tesla at a GM factory in Missouri for being a 'foreign car in a domestic lot.'

A photo of the ticket was posted on the Facebook group 'Useless, Unsuccessful, and/or Unpopular Signage,' and quickly went viral.

A Tesla driver received a ticket for parking a 'foreign' car in a lot at GM factory in Missouri designated for 'domestic cars,' despite the fact that his Model 3 was made in the US

Tesla founder Elon Musk is South African, and the car enjoys popularity in Europe, but the roadster, a gray Tesla Model 3, was indeed made in America.

In fact, the Model 3 just this month topped Cars.com's American-Made Index for the first time ever, followed by the Ford Mustang, the Tesla Model Y, Jeep Cherokee and the Chevrolet Corvette, the only GM model in the top five.

Not all vehicles put out by US automakers are manufactured in the States, of course, but this one was.

Approximately 45 percent of all Tesla Model 3s produced in the world are constructed in US and Canadian factories, according to research done at American University, compared to about 66 percent of Chevrolet Volts, GM's entry in the EV marketplace.

While public parking lots generally don't differentiate between domestic and foreign cars, The Drive reports many automakersincluding Ford, Subaru and, yes, GM segregate lots by brand.

In 2016, Jalopnik writer David Tracy wrote that, while he worked at a Fiat Chrysler factory in Michigan, the company barred the competition from parking in certain lots.

'And if they do, they either receive a ticket or wind up with a parking boot. In the latter case, employees have to tell their supervisors, and the supervisor will have to call security; it's a bit of a mess, and can be rather embarrassing for an employee.'

Non-company cars are forced to park in much less desirable spots, Tracey reported, and the regulations are usually the result of pressure from local car unions.

Like many US car factories, the General Motors Assembly Plant in Wentzville, Missouri, has segregated parking. Most exile cars made by other auto manufacturers to far-off lots

'Ford said their parking setup is not a corporate policy, but one that started at the Dearborn truck plant about a decade ago and has been adopted by other facilities to 'encourage them to buy what they build.'

Tesla did not immediately replied to a request for comment about the incident, but a GM representative told DailyMail.com the ticket was issued in error.

'Wentzville, like many of our manufacturing sites, has a parking policy and designated parking locations for GM vehicles, non-GM domestic vehicles and foreign nameplates,' they said.

'Plant security inadvertently thought the Tesla was a foreign car and wrote a ticket accordingly.'

The ticket is just a 'warning,' the rep said, with no financial penalties associated.

A GM representative admitted 'plant security inadvertently thought the Tesla was a foreign car and wrote a ticket accordingly.' Pictured: A Tesla Model 3

Former talk-show host and noted auto enthusiast Jay Leno has defended Tesla in hte past from claims it's 'un-American' in the past, Teslarati reported.

The auto industry is 'a tough business to get into; and the fact that Tesla is making a go of it and quite successfully, I think is impressive and should be applauded,' Leno, host of Jay Leno's Garage, told CNBC in 2016.

'We're becoming like the British  we like noble failures,' he added. 'I would watch, listen to these radio talk shows just tear Tesla apart; and I go, 'Here's a guy, building an American car in America, using American labor. Why are you not rooting for it to be successful? Why do you wish it would fail?' I don't quite understand,' Leno said.

Elon Musk's electric car company has ruffled the feathers of traditional US automakers before, but Musk seems to be willing to be generous to the competition: Tesla could begin letting other car companies use its network of Supercharger stations as early as next year, Tesla told Norwegian officials.

It's unclear if Tesla will start with stations in Norway or allow electric vehicles from manufacturers like Ford and GM access to its entire global network of more than 25,000 chargers at over 2,700 stations.

Elon Musk (pictured) is reportedly planning on making Tesla Supercharger stations available to electric vehicles from other automakers

'The condition for benefits is that infrastructure must be developed with a publicly available offer,' according to minutes of the meeting, first reported by Electrek. 'Tesla applied for benefits to expand five fast-charging stations. Tesla's charging stations today are just available for Tesla cars.'

'That type of infrastructure is then only open for use by one group and not for the general public otherwise.'

Tesla might soon raise the hackles of other US corporations like McDonald's and Burger King: earlier this month, the company filed a trademark application for restaurants that could be located at or near its Supercharger stations.
Nearly a year after it was reported the Japanese Defense Ministry would draw up plans for any potential encounters with UFOs, the country is opening up a research lab dedicated to unexplained phenomena near the site of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

According to Japanese news outlet The Mainichi, the International UFO Laboratory opened up on June 24, the day before the Pentagon released its 9-page report on unidentified aerial phenomena.

The lab, which is on the grounds of UFO Interactive Hall, will 'strive to unravel the enigma' of these objects and its director will be 51-year-old Takeharu Mikami, the editor-in-chief of Mu occult magazine.

'Until now, even if UFOs were discovered, the information was shared only on an individual level,' Mikami was quoted as saying by the news outlet.

'I hope the research lab will serve as a base receiving information, and lead to new discoveries. I'd like to get to the bottom of their identity.'

Japan is opening up a research lab dedicated to unexplained phenomena near the site of the Fukushima nuclear disaster

Its director is Takeharu Mikami, the editor-in-chief of Mu occult magazine. The lab will look into various sightings, including the Mount Senganmori incident in the 1970s

The new lab is located in Iino, Fukushima Prefecture, just miles from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (Fukushima-1) in Okuma, Fukushima.

The UFO lab will look into a number of sightings that have occurred near the district, which calls itself the 'hometown of UFOs.'

In the 1970s, a light-emitting cone-shaped object was witnessed near Mount Senganmori, which eventually became known as the Mount Senganmori incident.

Mikami wants residents of the area to share images with the laboratory.

'Particularly during quarantine, look up at the sky and see if you can see anything. I hope the research institute will be a base for receiving more information on UFOs so we can get to the bottom of what they are,' Mikami said in a translated article from Kyodo News.

In May 2020, the Japanese Defense Ministry began to 'consider procedures to respond to, record and report encounters, but the unknown nature of such objects may confuse Self-Defense Forces pilots, including those of F-15 fighter jets,' according to Nippon News.

The update from the Defense Ministry came just one week after the Pentagon officially released three videos of unidentified aerial phenomena taken by Navy aircraft which had circulated in the public for years.

In April 2020, the Pentagon officially released three videos of unidentified aerial phenomena taken by Navy aircraft which had circulated in the public for years

On June 25, the long-awaited report from the Pentagon on the subject of 'unidentified aerial phenomenon' (UAPs) offered no explanation for 140 of the 144 observations dating back to 2004

Last week, the long-awaited report from the Pentagon on the subject of 'unidentified aerial phenomenon' (UAPs) offered no explanation for 140 of the 144 observations dating back to 2004.

The declassified June 25 report, which came from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, added that it lacks sufficient data to determine the nature of mysterious flying objects.

'In 18 incidents, described in 21 reports, observers reported unusual UAP movement patterns or flight characteristics,' the report reads.

'Some UAP appeared to remain stationary in winds aloft, move against the wind, maneuver abruptly, or move at considerable speed, without discernable means of propulsion. In a small number of cases, military aircraft systems processed radio frequency (RF) energy associated with UAP sightings.

'The UAPTF holds a small amount of data that appear to show UAP demonstrating acceleration or a degree of signature management. Additional rigorous analysis are necessary by multiple teams or groups of technical experts to determine the nature and validity of these data.

'We are conducting further analysis to determine if breakthrough technologies were demonstrated.'
While the idea of venturing deep into the ocean fills many people with dread, for thrill-seeking freedivers it's an exciting sport.

Now, a study has revealed that elite freedivers who dive unaided to depths of up to 350ft (107 metres) have brain oxygen levels even lower than seals.

At these depths, most people would become unconscious, yet elite divers are able to tolerate the extremely low oxygen levels.

Researchers from the University of St Andrews found that these divers have similar physiology to marine mammals including seals, whales and dolphins while in the water.

The team hopes the findings could pave the way for new treatments for cardiac patients, and increase the safety of freedivers.

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A study has revealed that elite freedivers who dive unaided to depths of up to 350ft (107 metres) have brain oxygen levels even lower than seals

What is freediving? Freediving is the sport of breath hold diving, sometimes known as apnea, according to Go Freediving. It explained: 'It's the way that humans have dived underwater for millennia, long before the invention of scuba. 'It is, quite literally, diving on a single breath of air  and it's the most natural way of adventuring beneath the waves.' Advertisement

Freediving is the sport of breath hold diving, sometimes known as apnea, Go Freediving explained.

It said: 'It's the way that humans have dived underwater for millennia, long before the invention of scuba.

'It is, quite literally, diving on a single breath of air  and it's the most natural way of adventuring beneath the waves.'

In the study, the team set out to understand how freedivers are able to withstand low oxygen levels during their deep dives.

Professor Erika Schagatay, who led the study, said: 'Before now, understanding the effects on these exceptional divers' brains and cardiovascular systems during such deep dives, and just how far these humans push their bodies, was not possible, as all research was done during simulated dives in the lab.

'The diver can reach a point where hypoxic (low oxygen) blackout occurs, and the diver then needs to be rescued.

'One of the main aims of the research is to warn the diver and safety personnel of an imminent blackout.'

The researchers used a device that works in a similar way to a smartwatch, using light-emitting LEDs in contact with the skin to measure heart rate, blood volume and oxygen levels.

Dr Chris McKnight, one of the lead authors of the study, explained: 'The divers showed exceptional physiological responses during their dives.

'We measured heart rates as low as 11 beats per minute and blood oxygenation levels, which are normally 98 per cent oxygenated, drop to 25 per cent, which is far beyond the point at 50 per cent at which we expect people to lose consciousness and equivalent to some of the lowest values measured at the top of Mount Everest.'

In the study, the team set out to understand why freedivers are able to withstand low oxygen levels during their deep dives

The researchers hope the findings could not only make freediving a safer sport for elite athletes, but could also be pave the way for better treatments for cardiac patients.

Dr McKnight added: 'Beyond the exceptional physiological responses that freedivers display and the extremes they can tolerate, they may be a very informative physiological group.

'Their physiological reactions are so unique and the conditions they're exposed to are not easily replicated, so they offer a unique way of understanding how the body responds to low blood oxygen, low brain oxygenation and severe cardiovascular suppression.

'Our instrument now allows us to study unique physiological responses while these incredible athletes do their maximal performances.'
Though long derided as 'fool's gold,' pyrite might actually contain trace amounts of the precious metal that could be extracted through environmentally friendly means.

Researchers at Curtin University and the University of Western Australia, both in Perth, and the China University of Geoscience in Wuhan reported on the 'invisible' gold in pyrite in a mew research published in the journal Geology.

'Previously gold extractors have been able to find gold in pyrite either as nanoparticles or as a pyrite-gold alloy, but what we have discovered is that gold can also be hosted in nanoscale crystal defects, representing a new kind of 'invisible' gold,' lead author Denis Fougerouse, a geologist from Curtin's School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said in a statement.

'The more deformed the crystal is, the more gold there is locked up in defects. The gold is hosted in nanoscale defects called dislocations  100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.'

The gold in pyrite has been long overlooked, Fougerouse explained, because it's only observable via atom probe tomography (A{T), a technology which uses a position-sensitive detector to deduce atoms' location.

And the earliest APT prototypes weren't developed until the late 1980s.

There is trace, almost 'invisible' amounts of gold in pyrite, also known as 'fool's gold'

The team also explored cost-effective but more environmental methods of extracting the 'trapped gold.'

Gold is typically extracted using pressure oxidation, 'similar to cooking', Fougerouse said, calling it an extremely 'energy hungry' process.

'We wanted to look into an eco-friendlier way of extraction,' he said.

The method they select was selective leaching, which utilizes a fluid to selectively dissolve the gold from the pyrite.

Using 'selective leaching,' geologists can safely dissolve the gold in pyrite while keeping the rest of the mineral intact. The process uses less energy than the pressure oxidation used now

'Not only do the dislocations trap the gold, but they also behave as fluid pathways that enable the gold to be 'leached' without affecting the entire pyrite,' Fougerouse said.

If perfected, the method could be used to extract 'invisible gold' from other minerals.

The breakthrough, backed by the Australian Research Council and the Science and Industry Endowment Fund, is particularly timely, he added, as 'the discovery rate of new gold deposits is in decline worldwide with the quality of ore degrading.'

The most abundant sulfide mineral on Earth, pyrite's yellow metallic hue can make it be mistaken for the more precious metal.

The discovery rate and quality of new gold deposits is in decline worldwide, according to experts. Perfecting selective leaching could allow tiny amounts of gold to be taken from other minerals, as well

Alchemists often tried to transform it into real gold but it had its own uses in ancient timesoften to create a spark when struck against a flint.

Pyrite was also a source of pigments such as red ochre, according to New Scientist, and may have been an early non-herbal remedy since it emits sulphur oxide gases when burned that can the clear sinuses.

Pyrite is usually found in quartz mines, coal beds, fossils, and sedimentary and metamorphic rock, but has also been identified in the the scales of the sea pangolin, a deep-sea gastropod.
The Hubble Space Telescope's problems have worsened, as NASA said the backup computer is also malfunctioning, nearly two weeks after issues with the telescope first arose.

In a statement released late Friday, the US space agency said that preliminary tests done on June 23 and 24 showed that the backup computer suffered the same malfunction as the main payload computer, a 1980s machine that controls the Hubble's science instruments.

'The tests showed that numerous combinations of these hardware pieces from both the primary and backup payload computer all experienced the same error - commands to write into or read from memory were not successful,' NASA said in the statement.

'Since it is highly unlikely that all individual hardware elements have a problem, the team is now looking at other hardware as the possible culprit, including the Command Unit/Science Data Formatter (CU/SDF), another module on the SI C&DH.'

The backup computer had not been powered on since it was installed in 2009 during Hubble's last servicing mission.

The Hubble Space Telescope has been offline for nearly two weeks. NASA said that preliminary tests done on June 23 and 24 showed that the backup computer suffered the same malfunction as the main payload computer

Initially, it was believed that a memory module on the NASA Standard Spacecraft Computer-1 (NSSC-1) system was failing

Launched in 1990, Hubble is showing more and more signs of ageing, despite a series of repairs and updates by spacewalking astronauts during NASA's shuttle era

In addition, NASA engineers are also looking at the power regulator to see if the voltage being supplied to the machines are not flowing to ensure a steady supply.

Over the next week, NASA said engineers will 'continue to assess hardware on the SI C&DH unit to identify if something else may be causing the problem.'

'If the team determines the CU/SDF or the power regulator is the likely cause, they will recommend switching to the backup CU/SDF module and the backup power regulator.'

A NASA spokesman told DailyMail.com there has been no update since June 25.

A joint project between NASA and the European Space Agency, the Hubble has been idle since shortly after 4 pm EDT June 13.

On June 14, flight controllers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland tried to restart the computer after they noticed it stopped working on June 13, but they ran into the same issue and could not get it to operate normally.

Although it has stopped collecting data, Hubble's the cameras and other instruments are in a so-called safe mode.

Last week, after several tests on the main payload computer, a NASA Standard Spacecraft Computer-1 (NSSC-1) system built in the 1980s, the space agency admitted the issue was bigger than first believed.

'After performing tests on several of the computers memory modules, the results indicate that a different piece of computer hardware may have caused the problem, with the memory errors being only a symptom,' the US space agency wrote in a June 22 update.

'The operations team is investigating whether the Standard Interface (STINT) hardware, which bridges communications between the computers Central Processing Module (CPM) and other components, or the CPM itself is responsible for the issue.'

Earlier this month, a spokesperson for the ESA told MailOnline that 'Hubble is in safe mode, restoration work in progress, no back-to-service date given yet.'

Initially, it was believed that a memory module on the NASA Standard Spacecraft Computer-1 (NSSC-1) system was failing.

Launched in 1990, Hubble is showing more and more signs of ageing, despite a series of repairs and updates by spacewalking astronauts during NASA's shuttle era.

The Hubble recently marked its 31st anniversary in space, doing so with an image of a giant star that is 'on the edge of destruction'.

The US space agency is going to replace the Hubble with $10 billion James Webb Telescope, however it has run into delays recently.

The delay is a result of the European Space Agency-funded Ariane 5 rocket to launch not being ready.

A NASA spokesperson told DailyMail.com earlier this month the launch of the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope will happen 'no earlier than October 31.'

It is still expected to launch for space this year and James Webb will spent at least 30 percent of its first year studying exoplanets.
Clays collected from Gale Crater on Mars by NASAs Curiosity rover in 2016 may contain remnants of a mineral that suggests the planet had habitable conditions for up to a million years.

Researchers, including those from the University of Vigo, Spain, analyzed samples from the crater and found the clay minerals are structurally and compositionally related to glauconitic clays.

Glauconitic is found on Earth and is an iron potassium phyllosilicate mineral of characteristic green color.

Its presence on the Red Planet suggests the Martian world once had stable conditions with temperatures of 26 degrees to 123 degrees Fahrenheit and the water inside Gale had a neutral pH level.

The existence of glauconitic clays indicates the presence of liquid water remaining long-term under steady-state conditions, Elisabeth Losa-Adams at the University of Vigo, Spain, the studys lead author, and her colleagues wrote in the study published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

In addition, the geochemical parameters required for their formation (that is, neutral pH and low temperature) would have also created supportive habitable conditions for potential organisms.

Scientists led by the University of Vigo, Spain analyzed samples from the crater and found the clay minerals are structurally and compositionally related to glauconitic clays. The features in image A are consistent with with glauconitic found on Earth

NASAs Curiosity rover arrived in the Gale Crater in August of 2012 and has been searching for signs of water and organic compounds in the soil.

It has long been thought that the 96-mile wide crater contained an ancient lake for up to 10 million years about 3.5 billion years ago, but scientists have yet to determine if the body of water was suitable for life.

Losa-Adams and her team studied the samples taken from Curiosity in the lower slope of the central mound called Aeolis Mons, which is commonly known as Mount Sharp.

They used the X-ray diffraction data obtained by Curiositys onboard instruments to characterize the degree of disorder of clay minerals, according to the study.

Glauconitic is found on Earth and is an iron potassium phyllosilicate mineral of characteristic green color

A geochemical modelling was used to obtain information about the water composition in the Gale crater lake and to evaluate whether it was consistent with the formation of glauconitic clay here on Earth.

Initially, during the increase of salinity by evaporation, as nontronite does not consume K+ [potassium], this cation increases in solution, according to the study.

As glauconite starts to grow, K+ [potassium] decreases because it is incorporated into the glauconite. Iron is first incorporated into nontronite.

As glauconite and nontronite follow an opposite trend of dissolution and precipitation, the iron from nontronite is recycled.

Its presence on the Red Planet suggests the Martian world once had stable conditions with temperatures of 26 degrees to 123 degrees Fahrenheit and water inside Gale had a neutral pH level

Consequently, the amount of iron in solution remains constant, increasing only at the end of the process and providing the source for further formation of oxyhydroxides.

The solvent-mediated transformation of nontronite to glauconite is captured by the model.'

Although the study indicates Mars was once habitable, the clay minerals are not evidence that life was actually on the planet  this is what NASAs Perseverance is currently searching for.

Perseverance, nicknamed Perky, landed on the Red Planet in February 2021.

It is currently exploring its new home in search of ancient signs of life inside the Jezero Crater that is also believed to have been an ancient lake 3.8 billion years ago.
As the western United States and Australia continue to recover from last year's devastating wildfires, an Italian architect has come up with a design for a dissolving 'skyscraper' that would naturally disperse vital nutrients and seeds to ravaged forests.

'Regenera,' the brainchild of Alberto Roncelli, isn't a true skyscraperthat's just a reference to structure's 'exaggerated dimensions,' Roncelli said in a Q&A with KooZA/rch, a blog associated with the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.

As more of the structure blows away, it shrinks to the size of a room, then eventually dissolves completely.

Composed of soil, seeds and nutrients, the biodegradable lattice would be placed in the center of a burnt ecosystem, Design Boom reported.

During Regenera's initial phases, scientists in a laboratory on the ground level would monitor the ecosystem and its rejuvenation.

Eventually, the researchers would abandon the crumbling structure and allow it to provide shelter for birds and small animals as it disintegrated through wind action and the passage of time.

Architect Alberto Roncelli's concept for Regenera is a tower made of seeds, soil, nutrients and other biomatter that would 'feed' a fire-damaged forest as it disintegrated

'If we imagine a world in which technology allows us to build buildings made of nutrients and that are fully compostable, what role should they play?' Roncelli said in the Q&A.

'Should we begin to understand architecture as a living organism, in the sense that at its death it is capable of decomposing and serving its natural ecosystem?'

For his design to be truly effective, Roncelli says he would need to collaborate with chemists, biologists, meteorologists and farmers to determine 'the quantity and variety of nutrients, erosion time and wind reaction' for each tower.

Claiming to be able to 'cure' an ecosystem damaged by human action is itself a major act of human intervention, Roncelli admits, but hopefully one with 'new sensitivity and a new meaning.'

In the earliest phase, Regenera would house a lab in its base where scientists could monitor the damaged ecosystem. As it dissolved, the researchers would abandon the structure and allow birds and small mammals to use it as shelter until it completely blew away

He describes Regenera as a 'manifesto for a new possible way of relating architecture and nature, structure and ecosystem, time and erosion, skyscrapers and forests.'

Last summer, more than two dozen major wildfires ravaged California, with the August Complex, which started on August 17, officially designated the largest blaze in the state's history.

By September 10, 2020, it had burned more than 471,000 acres in and around Tehama County.

More than 100 fires were reported in the Western US by that point in 2020, burning nearly 4.7 million acres, the highest year-to-date area since 2018, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

More extreme fire behavior in recent years has been driven by drought and warming temperatures due to climate change, experts report.

Among the most concerning developments are that fast-moving wildfires leave less time for warnings or evacuation.

The composition and size of each tower would have to be determined in collaboration with chemists, biologists, meteorologists and farmers, Roncelli said

Hotter temperatures, longer fire seasons and an estimated 140 million dead trees from a five-year drought mean that 'fires in California are moving faster and growing larger', University of Utah fire expert Philip Dennison told the Associated Press in 2020.

And in Australia, the 2019-2020 bushfire season was referred to as 'Black Summer,' due to its severity.

The fires peaked in December 2019 and January 2020by March, some 46 million acres had been engulfed across New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, killing at least 36 people and hundreds of millions of reptiles, marsupials and other animals.

NASA estimated the Australian fires emitted some 337 million tons of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas.

'Natural fires can have beneficial effects on native vegetation, on animals and on ecosystems that have evolved with wildfires,' Roncelli wrote in his proposal.

'The problem has arisen in recent decades, where we are facing increasing intensity in large fires caused by humans,' he added. 'In the case of large and heavy forest fires, it is common to have a totally destroyed ecosystem and, in some cases, the inability to regrow.'
Israel's Polaris Solutions, a survival product manufacturer, has unveiled a redesigned camouflage net that claims to make soldiers virtually 'undetectable.'

Developed in partnership with Israel's Ministry of Defense (MoD), the Kit 300 sheet is made of thermal visual concealment (TVC) material that combines microfibers, metals and polymers to make soldiers harder to see with the human eye and thermal cameras.

The sheet weighs just 1.1 pounds, allowing soldiers to easily roll it up and carry it while trekking through dangerous war zones.

Soldiers wrap it around themselves when on the move and join their sheets together to build a barrier that resembles rock when they set up a position.

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Israel's Polaris Solutions, a firm that creates technology for survivability solutions LESS JARGONY, has unveiled a redesigned camouflage net that claims to make soldiers virtually 'undetectable'

'Someone staring at them with binoculars from afar will not see soldiers,' Gal Harari, the head of the detectors and imaging technology branch of the MoD's research and development unit, said in a statement.

The Kit 300 aims to reinvent the traditional camouflage gear that has gone nearly unchanged.

'Camouflage nets haven't changed too much in the past 50 years,' Yonatan Pinkas, director of marketing at Polaris Solutions, told The Media Line. 'We wanted to bring in a new type of material,' he added. 'So TVC was born.'

The Kit 300 is double sided, each with its own colorization to blend into the battlefield.

Developed in partnership with the Israel Ministry of Defense (MoD), the Kit 300 sheet is made of thermal visual concealment (TVC) material that combines microfibers, metals and polymers to make soldiers harder to see with the human eye and thermal cameras

One side is to be used when in dense vegetation and the other is designed for more desert-like areas.

However, the company will customize patterns and coloring based on need.

The Kit 300 is also waterproof and can provide military personnel with shelter. that can stand like a small tent.

Although the material is lightweight, it is sturdy enough to mold into three-dimensional shapes and can be used as a stretcher to carry wounded soldiers.

Soldiers can wrap it around themselves when on the move and join their sheets together to build a barrier that resembles rock when they set up a position

The Kit 300 is also waterproof and can provide military personnel with shelter

Pinkas told The Media Line Kit 300 is capable of carrying up to 500 pounds, can be used as a splint and a hypothermia blanket.

The inspiration for Kit 200 came during the Second Lebanon War in 2016, while Picciotto was in a special Israel Defense Forces (IDF) unit.

He saw a desperate need for better ground cover for soldiers, who were exposed to thermal cameras and night-vision equipment.

'You have to be better than the enemy and we understood that there were big gaps in the survivability part,' Picciotto recalled.

'Our product is being tested by several units, which I can't name, and we have some joint operations there.'
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Saturday's dramatic crash at the Tour de France, which left 21 riders injured, was 'like a war zone' with the same 'chaos' and 'moans' from those involved, according to the on-site surgeon.

Gilbert Versier has been working as an orthopaedic surgeon on the Tour for 11 years but previously served as a medical officer, a three-star general, operating out in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The crash, deemed one of the worst in Tour de France history, was caused when a female spectator had her back to the peloton with a handmade sign sticking out into the road at handlebar height.

In a split-second it caused German Tony Martin and around 50 other riders to crash. The incident caused 21 injuries, and even forced Jasha Suetterlin of Team DSM to abandon the race.

'It looks like a war scene, the same chaos, the same moans, bodies everywhere and tangled machines,' Versier told French daily newspaper L'Equipe.

'You can't imagine so much breakage. In the midst of the commotion, the runners getting up and wanting to start again, the most serious cases must be identified.

'In general, these are the ones who are furthest from the accident site, because they have been thrown.'

British rider Chris Froome was among those caught up in the wreckage but he was able to get back on his bike on Sunday and complete stage two of the Tour de France despite being admitted to hospital on Saturday in light of the crash.

Speaking from a hospital bed on Saturday evening, Froome said: 'In a split second there were 50 or 60 of us all on the ground.

'I guess that's bike racing.'

A roadside spectator (left) caused a massive crash in the Tour de France on Saturday with a banner aimed at her family

Tony Martin had nowhere to go when the supporter stepped out, looking at the TV cameras and it started the huge pile-up

The accident caused a massive blockage and saw more than 20 riders hit the deck in one of the Tour's worst crashes

Riders survey the damage after the crash during the 108th Tour de France 2021, with many left bruised and battling injuries

Tour de France surgeon Gilbert Versier (right) likened the chaos caused in the crash to a 'war zone' such as Afghanistan or Iraq

Crazy crash at Tour De France 2021 



A fan who was holding a message to her grandparents & grinning for the cameras took out most of the peloton with a cardboard sign    #TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/OEZmiSjBE9  Nigel D'Souza (@Nigel__DSouza) June 26, 2021

Versier revealed it was common to see adrenaline fuel many riders to completing the stage despite others like Swiss rider Marc Hirshi dislocating his shoulder in the pile-up.

'The adrenaline rush is so bad that it makes them forget the pain,' the surgeon added.

'Even seriously affected riders, such as Spaniard Marc Soler, both elbows fractured, Briton Chris Froome, with hip and chest injuries, or Swiss Marc Hirshi, his right shoulder completely disjointed, manage to finish.'

Hirshi suffered a dislocated shoulder with acromioclavicular ligament injury, a grade 3 injury, according to UAE team doctor Jereon Swart.

But 'after six hours sleep' he was back ready to race on Sunday, fuelled by codeine, caffeine and paracetemol.

Prosecutors in Brittany have since launched a criminal inquiry after the unidentified female smiled to a TV camera while waving a cardboard sign with a message written in a mix of French and German to her grandparents during the first stage of the 108th Tour de France on Saturday.

A spokesman for the Finistere Gendarmerie said: 'The spectator who caused this accident left the scene before the arrival of the investigators. Everything is being done to try and find her. She was wearing glasses and dressed in blue jeans, a red and white striped sweater, and a waxed yellow jacket.'

The massive crash took place near the summit of the Saint-Rivoal hill in the town of Saint-Cadou, some 30 miles from the end of the 123-mile race from the Atlantic port city of Brest to Landerneau at the mouth of the Elorn River, according to regional newspaper Ouest France

One of the cyclists, Swiss star Marc Hirschi, found himself thrown into the nearby hedges and he dislocated his shoulder

The crash has been labelled as one of the worst ever in the history of the Tour de France, which is in its 108th instalment

Prosecutors have opened a criminal inquiry for 'deliberately violating safety regulations and so causing injuries that might prevent someone working for up to three months'. This is an indictable offence punishable with up to a year in prison and a fine equivalent to just under 13,000.

The massive crash took place near the summit of the Saint-Rivoal hill in the town of Saint-Cadou, some 30 miles from the end of the 123-mile race from the Atlantic port city of Brest to Landerneau at the mouth of the Elorn River, according to regional newspaper Ouest France.

Tour deputy director Pierre-Yves Thouault told AFP that he is suing the woman for 'behaving so badly' to ensure 'that the tiny minority of people who do this don't spoil the show for everyone'.

Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins said he had no sympathy for the fan involved, telling Eurosport: 'They're part and parcel of the spectacle of the Tour de France. And this year, in particular, being able to come back onto the route and watch it. I don't know how you police it.'

Race director Christian Prudhomme slammed the French public for turning out in their droves and behaving 'inadmissibly' following the relaxation of the coronavirus lockdown, with 'people running across the road in front of the race and children left to their own devices'.

'You come here to see heroes,' he told French media. 'If you want to see yourself look in the mirror.'

Martin was the man brought down initially, left with some road rash on his left side but he got back on his bike to ride

In the wake of Saturday's crash, an official Tour statement read: 'We're glad to have the public on the side of the road on the #TDF2021. But for the Tour to be a success, respect the safety of the riders! Don't risk everything for a photo or to get on television!'

In a team press release, Mr Martin said: 'We had everything under control until the crash. I brought the guys to the front via the right side of the road, but crashed into the sign of the spectator.

'It all happened very quickly; suddenly almost the entire team was on the ground. Many spectators behave respectfully, but unfortunately not this one. Fortunately, Primoz came through it well. I hope the physical damage to myself and the other guys is manageable.'

Mr Thouault said that organisers had filed a complaint against the woman who could now be facing legal action from the tour.

'This is unacceptable behaviour,' he said.' There are safety rules to follow. Spectators don't cross the road, they don't take selfies. Frankly, her attitude was insane. The show is the riders, not spectators who want to be on TV.

'The Tour must remain a party but because of the attitude of a very small minority, it is ruined. We can no longer accept this.'
You did not really expect Andy Murray to go gentle into that good night did you?

The 34 year-old Scot with the metal hip continues to rage against the dying light, a man who wants to take his leave at the time of his own choosing.

That time does not appear to be now, and on Tuesday evening he was back at his spiritual home to knock out world number 28 Nikoloz Basilashvili in one of the most extraordinary performances of his career.

Andy Murray defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili to progress to the second round of Wimbledon

The Brit produced one of the most extraordinary performances of his career to seal victory

Heart. Determination. Murray.@andy_murray seals a battling victory on his return to singles action at #Wimbledon, overcoming Basilashvili 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 pic.twitter.com/Z2OjYYyrjy  Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 28, 2021

'It's amazing to be back out here playing again on Centre Court. Such a brilliant atmosphere, it's something I have really missed,' Murray said.

'I did well to win the foruth set because mentally it wasn't easy going back to the locker room after the third. I had a shower and went to the toilet, just a number one. I was really disappointed I had lost the third. I served better in the fourth set and turned it back round, remembered what I'd been doing well.

'It's been so frustrating not to get on the court, I've had so little momentum these last two years. I keep getting asked if this is my last Wimbledon  no, I want to play. I can still play at this level, he's ranked 28 in the world and I beat him.'

Murray came through an unprecedented crisis to win 6-4 6-3 5-7 6-3 .He was left awaiting one of two qualifiers, German Oscar Otte or Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech.

It had been so easy to forget all that Murray has gone through in these past four years, that he is ranked 118 in the world and the owner of a metal hip.

That had all been made to seem like some bizarre fiction as he ploughed his way to 6-4 6-3 5-0 up against a player ranked 90 places above him in the world.

Then came the shuddering reminder, not just in the lack of energy from someone who has lost the muscle memory of playing best of five set matches. It was also evident in the loss of nerve that accompanied his three attempts to serve out the match.

It was not, it turned out, the Murray of old that the Centre Court had convinced itself was being reborn in front of the assembly.

This was Murray 2.0, whose service percentage began to drop like a stone as the winning post came into view, the body once again becoming increasingly unco-operative.

Murray and Basilashvili shake hands at the end of an extraordinary three-and-a-half hour battle

There were some hairy moments in the final set as Murray squandered his 5-0 lead

The 34-year-old cut a frustrated figure after being forced to go into a fourth set

It also had a lot to do with his opponent, who suddenly cut down on the errors that had begun to come so thick and fast it looked like he had checked out of the tournament.

Three times Murray served for the match, on each occasion with more desperation. He has had some nerve shredders before here, but had always plundered his reservoirs of self-belief to get through.

He had two match points at 5-4, both against his opponent's serve. The first was missed when he put a backhand in the net, the second lost to an ace.

When he was broken for a fourth time to lose the set, the emotionless Georgian now rampant and firing winners from the baseline, they closed the roof and took the players off, coming back out at 9pm under the lights.

This was a challenge the like of which Murray had never seen before, which is saying something.

Remarkably, he came back out and broke in the first game to love, having stewed in the locker room that he knows so well. That was immediately wiped out, only for Basilashvili's errant ways to return and the break to be restored.

The undulations were sharp, neither player seemed able to make up his mind which way they wanted this to go.

Murray had a point to take a double break for 4-1, not that this would have brought with it any certainties.

The sight of Murray walking out earlier for the primetime slot had bestowed a semblance of order to an occasionally shambolic day on Centre Court, by its pristine standards.

The world No 28 rallied back to take the third set and had the momentum going into the fourth

But a delay to shut the roof benefited Murray as he managed to regroup to finish the job off

The crowd was closer packed together than expected, with the rear rows empty, giving the appearance of it being fuller than it actually was. The new 25-minute shot clock  designed to stop timewasting between points  had been malfunctioning.

A trial of having 35 minutes between matches had seen line judges come out early and been sitting there stranded, nobody seeming to know the new rule.

But now here was the return of the double champion after four years of almost solid aggravation, and enough physical setbacks that would have broken lesser men.

The half-full arena roared their appreciation for his return, as a solo artist, for the first time since limping off after losing in five sets to Sam Querrey in the 2017 quarter final. It was too empty for it quite to be thunderous.

On his last singles visit Murray played someone who was the 24th seed that year, the same as his opponent on Monday.

The Georgian is the kind of player who Murray, in his full pomp, would cut down with some ease, slowly vitiating his game through a combination of angles and drives, generally managing to give him the kind of shot he least wants. The good news: he can still do that.

Although the Scot was mixing his game up to increasingly wrongfoot his opponent there was little in it until 4-5, when he edged towards his first break, and set, point.

What followed was something plucked straight from 2016, the year of Peak Murray. Basilashvili thumped down a first serve into his wheelhouse and the twice champion returned it with interest, drawing a backhand error.

Murray salutes the rapturous home support after sealing his place in the second round

The Scotsman's wife was in the crowd to cheer her husband on to his first win back at SW19

The middle of the second set saw the first serious test of wills, a mental tug of war during which Murray could easily have gone away.

The dead-eyed, bearded Georgian forced a break point in the fifth and seventh games. Murray let out a cry as he saved both of them, the second one breaking Basilashvili's resolve.

His groundstrokes, which come off his racket like a gun crack, were beginning to go haywire, and when Murray dug out a ball from the baseline the reply went into the net.

The advantage was compounded in the first game of the third and, given the way he had been serving, it just needed him to maintain that to see the finish line ahead.

Fellow Scottish sporting knight of the realm, Sir Jackie Stewart, looked on approvingly from the front row of the Royal Box as he continued to break down his opponent.

Basilashvili treats the net as a total exclusion zone, so that was precisely where he kept being dragged with dropshots whose range had improved as the match went on.

And then, at 5-0, came the totally unforeseen turnaround.
Travis Scott has been praised by relatives of Pop Smoke after showcasing the late rapper on a Dior shirt for his Cactus Jack brand.

Pop Smoke's brother Obasi Jackson, speaking with TMZ on Sunday, said he and his family were grateful for the high-profile fashion collar, which paid homage to the late rapper, who was fatally shot in a February 2020 home invasion at his home in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles.

Scott, 29, had debuted the shirt amid Paris Fashion Week, showing off a white T-shirt with an image of the late rapper, whose real name was Bashar Jackson, with lyrics from his track titled Dior imprinted on the back of the top.

The latest: Travis Scott has been praised by relatives of Pop Smoke after showcasing the late rapper on a Dior shirt for his Cactus Jack brand

'It gets me so emotional to think that people care so much about my little brother ... but I'm so thankful for everybody and we just want to let y'all know that,' Jackson said. 'There's more to come and we're just thankful that you're gonna listening to the music ... I'm emotional, it's so much overwhelming to know that there's so much love, and especially from from Travis Scott and the same thing for Dior.'

Jackson said he found the shirt to be 'a big step' in the right direction for fans of the late rapper.

'I think it's definitely what the fans and the people who are supporting want,' he said, 'and I see a lot of people they're chiming in and they're loving what Travis did and they're loving that Dior's still keeping Pop's name going, that that love, that the camaraderie is still there - I think it means a lot.'

Jackson said he and his family hoped to have more creative input moving forward with potential collaborations.

Scott had debuted the shirt amid Paris Fashion Week, showing off a white T-shirt with an image of the late rapper

The shirt featured lyrics from Pop Smoke's track titled Dior imprinted on the back of the top

'So my mom she saw the T-shirt first, she thought it was going to be an approval on the T-shirt, but it was actually the final cut and she was very appreciate of the sentiment of Travis Scott, doing that for Pop,' Jackson told the outlet. 'I definitely appreciate the love he's trying to create around Pop. I definitely appreciate that love he's trying to put forward in this time, I think the only thing is that we want to be a little more included on it.'

News of the collaboration comes as the relatives of one of the four suspects in the murder trial, Corey Walker, has asked to talk to Pop Smoke's survivors, according to the New York Daily News.

'The Walker family has asked me to contact the victim's family so that they might speak privately. I hope to reach out to the family soon,' said famed lawyer Christopher Darden, who is representing Walker, who was the only adult prosecutors said was involved in the home invasion.

Pop Smoke's brother and mom, Audrey and Obasi Jackson, accepted a Billboard award on the late rapper's behalf last month in LA

Focused: Scott was snapped Friday in Paris at the Dior show

Pop Smoke's mother Audrey Jackson told the paper that she had not been aware of the efforts and couldn't really say any more on the request.

Darden acknowledged that he was aware of 'how uncomfortable such a conversation might be' that his mother might not 'be inclined to have that conversation,' and that the family 'might need time' to respond.

Said Darden: 'Everything we have done and said has been done and said while keeping in mind the great respect we have for the victim and the victim's family.'

The next hearing in the case is slated for July 6.
A Channel Seven insider has blasted former Sunrise host Samantha Armytage after she tweeted last Monday that her successor Natalie Barr wanted her job 'forever'.

The tweet 'went down like a lead balloon' at Seven, the source told The Australian, adding that it was especially rich coming from Sam, who often complained about snarkiness in the media before retiring to the Southern Highlands in March.

'When she left Sunrise, Sam said she wanted to get away from the attention. But the only one creating the attention around her is Sam,' the insider said.

Speaking out: A Channel Seven insider has blasted former Sunrise host Samantha Armytage after she tweeted last Monday that her successor Natalie Barr wanted her job 'forever'

'And her accusation that Nat wanted the job "forever" is so untrue. She never did,' the source added.

Sam, 44, made headlines last Monday when she criticised Natalie on Twitter for continuing to speak about her in the press, three months after taking over as anchor of Seven's breakfast show.

She was responding to an interview Natalie had done with The Australian Women's Weekly in which she claimed the pair weren't friends outside the workplace.

Hitting back: The tweet 'went down like a lead balloon' at Seven, a source told The Australian, adding that it was especially rich coming from Sam, who often complained about snarkiness in the media before retiring to the Southern Highlands in March. Right: Natalie Barr

'Nat's wanted the job forever... and she's finally got it': Sam last Monday criticised Natalie on Twitter for continuing to speak about her in the press, three months after taking over as anchor

After brushing off a question about their rivalry on The Kyle and Jackie O Show, Sam tweeted: 'Look, I'm out. Nat's wanted the job forever... and she's finally got it. She just needs to get on and enjoy it - and forget about me (even though I'm unforgettable).'

Natalie was reportedly 'gutted' by her predecessor's hurtful tweet.

On Monday, a source told New Idea the 53-year-old was not expecting Sam to be so 'snarky' after they'd worked together at Seven for years.

'No one was more shocked and saddened over Sam's comments than Nat,' the insider claimed.

Mean: Natalie (pictured) was reportedly 'gutted' by Sam's hurtful tweet, according to New Idea

'She is gutted and has no idea why the snarkiness continues, even though Sam has been gone [from Sunrise] for months.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Seven for comment and clarification.

Sam was co-anchor of Sunrise from June 2013 until March this year, when she stepped down to spend more time with her family. Natalie, the show's longtime newsreader, replaced her the week following her departure.

New chapter: Sam stepped down as host of Sunrise in March to spend more time with her husband, equestrian businessman Richard Lavender
Empire star Taraji P. Henson was tapped to host this year's 21st annual BET Awards held at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles.

The 50-year-old multi-nominated actress made her red carpet debut on Sunday evening in a stunning Versace gown with a high slit.

Speaking to PEOPLE about her grand entrance for the evening she teased: 'I'm going to get my Beyonce on! God, I have chills.'

Leggy: BET Award show host Taraji P Henson, 50, flashes leg in a Versace gown at Los Angeles' Microsoft Theatre while teasing a very grand entrance

Taraji went all out for the evening and commanded the red carpet ahead of her hosting gig.

She looked incredible in a Versace gown that featured a black sheer corset adorned with sequins on the bodice and a very high slit exposing her left leg.

The dress featured a high neck with sparkle detailing and the train and bust were draped with the Italian brand's signature print in shades of black, gold, and hot pink.

Henson went head to toe Versace as she showed off black platform heels with an ankle strap. Her hair was styled straight and it cascaded past her hips.

Show stopping: She offset the glamorous Versace look with straight tresses and delicate pearl drop earrings

Big night: The Empire star was tapped to host the 21st annual award show and teased a 'Beyonce' like performance

Iconic: 'I'm going to get my Beyonce on! God, I have chills' she told PEOPLE of her hosting entrance

Other details of her event look included pearl drop earrings and matching rings from UK based designer Nadine Aysoy, and she flashed a custom manicure that featured dazzling crystals.

Speaking to PEOPLE about her entrance she teased big things to come. 'I am looking forward to my entrance! It is a check off of my life's bucket list. That's all I'm going to say ... I'm going to get my Beyonce on!'

She continued to express nerves about it all. 'God, I have chills. Check this off the bucket list! And I'm getting ready to do it on national TV, live! I have to calm myself down.'

Details: She flashed a custom manicure that featured dazzling crystals

Dazzling: A snap shared to her Instagram gave a close up look at her nails which she flashed on the carpet

Pearls: The couture look was accessorized with pearl drop earrings and matching rings from Nadine Aysoy

Take a village: In more behind the scene snaps she was seen preparing with a full team around her

The Oscar-nominated actress also shared that she would be making a few outfit changes throughout the night, teasing that each one would 'make you gag.'

In preparation for her hosting appearance she had confessed: 'I'm watching what I eat so I can fit in all of these fabulous costumes,' which were selected and styled in part with stylist Jason Bolden.

'So, I have to stick to the numbers that he [Jason] turned in for all of these designers. I am working out. That's good for the body and for the mental, and just taking it easy, getting a lot of rest, drinking a lot of water, staying moisturized and out the way.'

The award show celebrates Black excellence in music and the theme for this year's show is 'Year of the Black Woman.'

First outfit: She also shared that she would be making a few wardrobe changes, teasing that each one will 'make you gag'

Preparation: 'I'm watching what I eat so I can fit in all of these fabulous costumes,' she had teased of her various event looks

Queen Latifah will be receiving this year's Lifetime Achievement Award for her decades-long success in film and music.

During her red carpet interview, Taraji raved over the Beauty Shop star, and said she 'taught' her a thing or two about acting.

'I'm grateful that we're giving Queen Latifah her flowers while she's still alive. This is an award that is long overdue for her. She taught me that it's more to acting than just being in front of the camera.'
He has been announced as Bruno Toniolo's replacement on the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel for the next series of the BBC ballroom show.

And Anton Du Beke is in for a hefty pay rise when the show returns this year, with his new salary reported to be 'between 175,000 and 200,000'.

According to The Sun, Anton, 54, earned 'around 65,000 as a pro dancer', meaning the star has trebled his earnings, with a source telling the paper: 'He will be paid handsomely.'

Pay rise: New judge Anton Du Beke, 54, is in for a hefty pay rise when Strictly returns this year, with his new salary reported to be 'between 175,000 and 200,000'

They added: '[Anton] and many of the other dancers felt that they were underpaid but now he can't complain.'

However, doting father Anton - who unsuccessfully auditioned to be a judge after Len Goodman left the show in 2017 - won't be raking in as much as his predecessor, with the source continuing: 'He won't earn as much as Bruno due to experience.'

MailOnline has reached out to representatives for both Anton and Strictly Come Dancing for comment.

The paper also explained that Bruno, 65, is 'normally paid 250,000 for a full series' but pandemic travel restrictions meant that the Italian dancer had his salary halved, as he could only appear on Strictly via videolink from the US, where he is on Dancing With The Stars' judging panel.

All down to experience: Anton won't be raking in as much as his predecessor, Bruno Tonioli (far right), with the source continuing: 'He won't earn as much as Bruno due to experience'

On Friday, Anton shared his delight at being named as the show's new judge, after Bruno was forced to pull out due to travel restrictions caused by Covid-19.

Speaking about his new appointment on BBC Breakfast, Anton said: 'Everybody knows how much I love the show, so just being involved is an enormous thrill every year.'

Appearing via video link from his Buckinghamshire home, Anton continued: 'To be asked to come in and judge for this year, I'm so delighted, I can't even begin to tell you. It hasn't sunk in yet, really.'

'I can't wait to get started, get on the panel and sit with the other three judges and watch the show unfold in front of me.

'I'll have that feeling of, I know exactly what you meant to do, and I know exactly how that has gone for you.'

Elated: Happy days: Anton shared his delight as being named as the show's new judge, after Bruno was forced to pull out due to travel restrictions caused by Covid-19

Standing in! The pro will replace Bruno, 65, who will not be able to take part in the 19th series due to the ongoing uncertainty regarding travel restrictions caused by COVID-19 (Bruno, pictured in 2019)

A day earlier Anton, who will join returning judges Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, and Craig Revel Horwood, said on Thursday: 'My loves I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to be stepping into Bruno's brogues for the next series of Strictly.

'It's a dream come true to be judging alongside the best of the best and I promise to be kinder to all the couples than any of them have ever been to me.'

The announcement was made via the official BBC Strictly account, as dazzling portraits of the judges were shared alongside the words: 'It's the judges!...

'Please welcome back to Strictly, Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse AND Anton Du Beke, who'll be stepping into Bruno Tonioli's shoes for 2021!'

Bruno - who has been a Strictly judge since 2004 - is 'gutted' about missing this year's show, but he is 'so excited' to see Anton on the programme.

He added: 'Whilst I am gutted to not be on the show this year there is one person and one person only that could take my place - it's just a shame they weren't available ... ha ha.

'Darlings, I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Seriously though, I have to tell you, Anton is Mr Strictly and if anybody is filling in for me, it has to be him. I honestly wouldn't have it any other way and I am so excited to see him waggle his paddle.'

Anton will bring a lot of experience to the panel after he joined Strictly during its first series, and he is the only pro dancer to have danced in every series to date.

While he has performed in all 18 series, Anton has sadly never walked away victorious.

The highest place he has scored was coming in second with Emma Barton in 2019.
Retired AFL player Barry Hall and his partner Lauren Brant will discuss the death of her sister-in-law Sandra on Nine's A Current Affair on Monday night.

In a preview for the emotional episode, the Sydney Swans great, 44, and the former children's entertainer, 32, break down in tears as they reflect on the tragedy.

'The heartache that has brought Barry Hall to tears... The footy legend and his Hi-5 partner like you've never seen before,' a voice over says.

Heartbreaking: Retired AFL player Barry Hall and his partner Lauren Brant will discuss the death of her sister-in-law Sandra on Nine's A Current Affair on Monday night

'Your whole world shatters,' Lauren tells reporter Leila McKinnon before the voice-over adds: 'And the secret helping this family heal.'

Sandra died from bowel cancer on March 4. She was 41.

On Monday, Lauren urged her Instagram followers to trust their gut and see a doctor if they notice any unusual physical changes.

'The symptoms are NOT obvious They can be a persistent "niggle" that takes your life,' she wrote.

Devastating: In a preview for the emotional episode, the Sydney Swans great, 44, and the former children's entertainer, 32, break down in tears as they reflect on the tragedy

'If you are fighting cancer, survived cancer or know someone who's life it took, please SHARE THE SYMPTOMS below to help spread the awareness.

'Friends - no matter how minor your symptom is, get a second opinion, get all the tests - do not feel embarrassed or "over the top"! It's your health, your body to look after.'

She continued: 'Our beautiful Sandy had pain in her stomach for over a year. Her GP and other specialists diagnosed and treated her for: cramps, IBS and muscle issues. It was bowel cancer all along.'

Emotional: 'The heartache that has brought Barry Hall to tears... The footy legend and his Hi-5 partner like you've never seen before,' a voice over says

'When the unknown cancer spread to her hip bone, it was misdiagnosed as GERD [gastroesophageal reflux disease] and hip issues due to her running training.

'Sandy was 38 with no history of cancer in her family. If she had been aware that bowel cancer affects young people, or knew of someone's story, she may have done a test and may have been able to beat it and survive.

'But it was detected too late for our darling Sandy, and left too long untreated. Awareness could have saved Sandy's life.'
Their split was revealed after 15 months of dating last week.

And Priscilla Anyabu showed Mike Boateng what he is missing as she looked sensational while out for drinks in Mayfair on Sunday evening.

The Love Island star, 27, wowed in a bright green crop top and matching trousers which she paired with a black faux fur coat - while cracking a cheery smile.

Stunning: Priscilla Anyabu showed Mike Boateng what he is missing as she looked sensational while out for drinks in Mayfair on Sunday evening

She completed the look with black strapped open toe heels and a small handbag.

She accessorised with stylish gold hoop earrings and swept her dark locks back into a high ponytail.

The star oozed with confidence as she braved the London rain for a night out in MNKY HSE a Latin American bar and restaurant.

Priscilla and Mike, who met on the winter series of Love Island in 2020, no longer follow each other on Instagram, while Mike, 26, has removed any recent pictures of her from his profile.

Sad news: Priscilla and Mike, who met on the winter series of Love Island in 2020, no longer follow each other on Instagram, while Mike, 26, has removed any recent pictures of her from his profile

Work it! The Love Island star, 27, wowed in a bright green crop top and matching trousers which she paired with a black faux fur coat

Style: She completed the look with black strapped open toe heels and a small handbag

A source close to the pair confirmed to MailOnline the former policeman and model have gone their separate ways, but they still remain friends.

An insider said: 'Mike and Priscilla made the most out of their relationship and supported each other throughout their time post-villa and during lockdown.

'But it's not worked out between them  and they've now decided they're better off as friends.'

The couple met on the winter series of Love Island in 2020, and lost out on winning the show to Paige Turley, 22, and Finn Tapp, 21, who scooped the 50,000 prize.

In January, Mike reflected on his time in the ITV2 villa, saying he had 'embarked on a journey of discovery' and being part of the series helped him to 'grow as a person.'

Mike said in his eyes he had 'won the show' by meeting Priscilla and it was a miracle he'd gone from having 'the ick' to being in a relationship with someone he loved.

MailOnline has contacted Mike and Priscilla's representatives for comment.

Beautiful: The star oozed with confidence as she braved the London rain for a night out in MNKY HSE a Latin American bar and restaurant

It's over: Mike and Priscilla have split after 15 months of dating, MailOnline can reveal (pictured on Love Island in 2020)

'Separate ways': The Love Island couple, who met on the winter series in 2020, no longer follow each other on Instagram and Mike has removed any pictures of Priscilla from his profile

'It's not worked out': A source close to the pair confirmed to MailOnline the former policeman and model have gone their separate ways, but they still remain friends

In April, the former couple spoke to GUAP magazine about their relationship, which at the time was going strong.

Priscilla said: 'We met in the most unconventional way ever  I wasn't looking for love but we ended up getting along much more than I expected to, and here we are today.'

Mike revealed he was attracted to Priscilla from the moment he saw her, saying: 'You were nervous but it was cute, I just thought you were a vibe.

'We're both in similar boats, you've got your thing going on and I've got mine but I feel like every win you get, we're almost growing together so I'm just like, do you, you enjoy that.'

'I wasn't looking for love': In April, the former couple spoke to GUAP magazine about their relationship, which at the time was going strong

Love Island 2020 winners Paige and Finn are still going strong in their relationship, as are runners-up Siannise Fudge and Luke Trotman.

Callum Jones and Molly Smith are also still together after meeting on the show while Luke Mabbott ended his romance with Demi Jones and is now dating Love Island 2019 star Lucie Donlan.

Nas Majeed and Eva Zapico have also withstood the test of time, proving the winter edition of the ITV2 series has the strongest success rate of remaining couples in the show's history.

The summer series of Love Island is about to begin, with a new cast of singletons ready to find love, this time in Mallorca.

Which Love Island couples are still together?

Full list of Love Island 2021 Contestants: Series 7 cast members confirmed by ITV2
She revealed she was engaged to her boyfriend Shannan Dodd earlier this month.

And it appears Ruby Tuesday Matthews is already settling into married life with her handsome beau.

The couple were seen looking very comfortable as they picked up breakfast in Byron Bay over the weekend.

Settling into married life already! Makeup free Ruby Tuesday Matthews flashed her new engagement ring as she picked up breakfast with fiance Shannan Dodd in Byron Bay on Saturday after the pair got engaged earlier this month

The model-turned-Instagram influencer went completely makeup free for the outing and dressed casually in a Metallica T-shirt and black leggings.

The mother-of-two flashed her large diamond ring as she carried several paper bags containing treats.

Shannon also dressed comfortably for the outing in a black T-shirt and grey jeans.

The DJ was glued to his phone as he walked alongside his new fiancee.

Flashy! The mother-of-two flashed her large diamond ring as she carried several paper bags containing treats

Ruby announced her engagement earlier this month by uploading a photo of herself locking lips with Shannan to Instagram.

She placed her left hand on his neck, drawing attention to the diamond sparkler on her ring finger.

'My favourite person,' the Bryon Bay based beauty wrote in the caption, along with a white love heart.

Casual outing: The model-turned-Instagram influencer went completely makeup free for the outing and dressed casually in a Metallica T-shirt and black leggings

Exciting news: She announced her engagement earlier this month by uploading a photo of herself locking lips with Shannan to Instagram

Meanwhile on her Instagram Story, she shared a post showing a plate of oysters and another angle of her ring.

Among those who were quick to respond was Real Housewives of Melbourne star Jackie Gillies, who commented: 'Congratulations, beauty.'

Her manager Roxy Jacenko shared a series of flame emojis, and Not So Mumsy blogger Marcia Leone wrote 'Omgggggg' with heart-eyes emojis.

Meanwhile, a fan wrote: 'He liked it and he put a ring on it.'

Casual Saturday: Shannon also dressed comfortably for the outing in a black T-shirt and grey jeans. The DJ was glued to his phone as he walked alongside his new fiancee

It's not known exactly when Ruby and Shannan began dating, but she started posting loved-up Instagram photos with him in May.

Shannan also happens to be the ex-boyfriend of P.E. Nation founder Pip Edwards.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ruby Tuesday Matthews for comment.

Ruby is a doting mother to two sons, Rocket, four, and Mars, three, whom she shares with her ex-partner Ryan Heywood.

While Ruby has been a social media influencer for many years, she made headlines in October last year for holding up a Jetstar flight to eat a plate of oysters.

That was quick! It's not known exactly when Ruby and Shannan began dating, but she started posting loved-up Instagram photos with him in May

She was due to fly from Byron Bay to Sydney on a Thursday at 5pm, but a technical issue caused the flight to be delayed.

The budget airline asked travellers to stay put while waiting for an engineer, and told passengers the new departure time would likely be about 7.30pm.

But Ruby and her travel companion left the airport to grab a bite to eat at a beachside restaurant, holding up the plane an extra 30 minutes as it waited on the tarmac for them to return.

In videos exclusively taken by Daily Mail Australia, frustrated passengers could be heard heckling Ruby as she boarded half an hour after the plane was due to take off.

They shouted 'how were the oysters?' and 'what a day to be pretty'.

When the plane touched down in Sydney, Ruby wasted no time in calling out Jetstar on Instagram, slamming the airline for its handling of the incident.

She blamed Jetstar for what had happened and told the passengers to 'grow up'.

Famous exes: Shannan also happens to be the ex-boyfriend of P.E. Nation founder Pip Edwards

She also claimed she was met with 'very personal comments' when she got on the plane.

'I was basically bullied by about seven to 10 to 14 people at different times, then they made comments about my children. No Jetstar staff stopped this at any time. I copped it hard for about 15 minutes,' she said.

'I was scared for myself because number one, I was by myself... number two, no one else who was later than me copped any abuse, it was just me alone.'
The Handmaid's Tale

Rating:

Kate: Our Queen In Waiting

Rating:

No show uses classic pop better than The Handmaid's Tale (C4). But as killer Bunny Girls enticed lecherous men to swig poisoned gin, to a soundtrack of David Bowie's Suffragette City, the dystopian thriller surpassed itself.

Now in its fourth season, this fantasy  set in a patriarchial America renamed Gilead, where the only fertile women are sex slaves  has always loved to showcase epic songs and imbue them with dark meaning.

The very first episode landed a knockout punch by closing with Lesley Gore's 1963 feminist rallying cry, You Don't Own Me.

There's a danger that The Handmaid's Tale, starring Elisabeth Moss (pictured), will taper off into a series of bog-standard cliffhangers

Hits sung by Kate Bush, Debbie Harry and Grace Slick have made an equally unforgettable impact. As the series returned last week, the commentary hidden in the music became even more twisted.

Rebel handmaid June (Elisabeth Moss) gave 15-year-old Esther (Mckenna Grace) a slaughterman's knife and urged the girl to butcher the brute who raped her.

When Esther returned, soaked in blood, June comforted her  to the sound of Carole King and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.

If little Esther with her psychotic temper and demented elf's scowl is a natural woman, I'd feel safer with synthetic, thank you.

But the plastic women in Gilead are just as dangerous. At an upmarket party resort, reminiscent of Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion, the escort girls were draped in silver lame as they passed around shots of firewater . . . laced with deadly nightshade by June and Esther.

'Wooaaawwh . . . wham bam thank you ma'am!' shrieked Bowie.

The sadistic glee in these song choices reflects how The Handmaid's Tale has evolved. It began with an oppressive vision of male domination, based on Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel.

Easy reading of the week: Why is the 'breaking news' tickertape on BBC and Sky so small? It's as though they don't care if viewers can read it. At least the scrolling headlines on GB News (Freeview channel 236) are big enough to be legible. Advertisement

But June is no longer a slave. She has become a resistance fighter, on the run and striking blows against the regime wherever she can.

She exhausted any hope of mercy from the government when she helped dozens of children to escape from Gilead to Canada. Now the story's intensity has been diluted: it has become a conventional adventure of wartime resistance.

We've seen the plucky heroine battle an evil empire many times before, from Carve Her Name With Pride to the latest Star Wars blockbusters. There's a danger that The Handmaid's Tale will taper off into a series of bog-standard cliffhangers: will she be captured, will she escape, will her next daring plan succeed?

There is also the slight drawback that Canada appears, in this version at least, to be such a bland, insipid place that no one could possibly want to seek refuge there. It looks like a motorway service station, 2,000 miles across, under an inch of beige slush.

Still, Canada is where Meghan and Harry headed when they escaped the Evil UK Empire, so I suppose we must recognise it as an automatic haven of choice for oppressed people everywhere.

Kate: Our Queen In Waiting (C5) made only glancing reference to the flight of the Sussexes. This obsequious portrait of the Duchess of Cambridge mostly confined itself to comments such as, 'She has not put a foot wrong' and 'This is a relatable form of royalty'.

One of the chuntering palace insiders did admit: 'I'm not sure there was a natural connection between Meghan and Kate.' This was British understatement taken beyond its limits  not an observation, merely a string of words with all meaning sucked out of them.

We also learned that Kate was 'a reluctant clothes horse', but that she now rivals Jackie Kennedy as a style icon. Much more tosh like this and I'm escaping to Canada myself.
Bindi Irwin has retreated from public life and social media amid her family's highly publicised rift with her grandfather Bob Irwin Snr.

And on Saturday, the 22-year-old conservationist was noticeably absent from Australia Zoo's school holiday opening show.

She instead let her husband Chandler Powell, 24, take the reins at the Crocoseum, alongside her brother Robert, 17, and mother Terri, 56.

Crikey! Bindi Irwin was noticeably absent from Australia Zoo's school holiday opening show on Saturday, instead letting her brother Robert (left) and husband Chandler Powell (centre) take the reins at the Crocoseum

The trio put on a thrilling show for the audience as they fed a large crocodile.

The Irwins all wore the signature Australia Zoo khaki uniforms as they performed in the croc enclosure.

At one point, Robert jumped into the water just metres away from the large reptile.

Stepping back: Bindi Irwin (left, with daughter Grace, mother Terri and brother Robert) has retreated from public life and social media amid her family's rift with her grandfather Bob Irwin

Taking the reins: She instead let Chandler, 24, Robert, 17, and Terri, 56, handle things at the zoo

He's brave! At one point, Robert jumped into the water just metres away from the large reptile

Lively: The trio put on a thrilling show for the audience as they fed a large crocodile

The Irwin family feud was blasted wide open last week, after Bindi claimed her grandfather Bob Snr, 82, had 'ignored her' since she was a little girl and 'returned gifts' the family had sent him.

The mother of one wrote on Facebook: 'I really wish that my entire family could spend time with Grace. Unfortunately, my grandfather Bob has shown no interest in spending time with me or my family.'

She went on to claim that Bob had 'returned gifts I've sent after he opened them' and ignored any letters sent from her.

Look out! Robert was just metres away from the hungry crocodile in the compound

Doing her thing: Matriarch Terri welcomed crowds to the show at the Crocoseum

Rift: The Irwin family feud was blasted wide open last week, after Bindi said her grandfather Bob Snr, 82, had 'ignored her' since she was a child and 'returned gifts' the family had sent him

'From the time I was a little girl he has ignored me, preferring to spend time doing anything else rather than being with me,' she continued.

'He has never said a single kind word to me personally. It breaks my heart.'

She went on to say that her mother Terri still writes to him and sends birthday cards and Christmas gifts, but claims they have received no reply.

Claims: She went on to claim that Bob (pictured in 2006) had 'returned gifts I've sent after he opened them' and ignored any letters sent from her

Making headlines: She went on to say that her mother Terri still writes to Bob and sends birthday cards and Christmas gifts, but claims they have received no reply

'We have also been his financial support since 1992 when he retired from Australia Zoo, sending him funds every week,' she added.

'We built him a house on a beautiful property and will always do our best to ensure his well-being.

'I hope everyone remembers to be kind to one another but most of all care for your own mental health.

Mental health: Bindi, who welcomed her daughter Grace Warrior in March, concluded by saying she had to 'choose to care for her own mental health now'

Parting words: 'I hope everyone remembers to be kind to one another but most of all care for your own mental health,' she wrote

Time out: 'I'm taking a break from social media and most of my work in the public eye for a month to be with my daughter and my wonderful family,' Bindi wrote in a subsequent post

'I have struggled with this relationship my entire life and it brings me enormous pain.'

Bindi, who welcomed her daughter Grace Warrior in March, concluded by saying she had to 'choose to care for her own mental health now'.

She later announced she was taking a break from social media after her Facebook comment made headlines around the world.

She wrote: 'Hi guys, Just a note to say thank you for your support. I'm taking a break from social media and most of my work in the public eye for a month to be with my beautiful daughter and my wonderful family.'

Meanwhile, a family friend has said Bob Snr is 'deeply upset' by his granddaughter's claims he's 'ignored' her since she was a child - leading those close to him to fear the rift may have tragic consequences.
Gerard Butler was pictured planting a kiss on his girlfriend, Morgan Brown, as the two made their way around a farmer's market in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon.

The 51-year-old actor appeared to be excited to spend time with his partner as they made their way around a few booths, and he was later spotted walking his dogs around the shopping area.

The 300 star has been linked to his girlfriend for nearly a decade, and the two recently reconciled after splitting up last year.

It's love! Gerard Butler was seen planting a kiss on his girlfriend, Morgan Brown, as they spent time at a farmer's market in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon

Butler kept it toned-down during the shopping trip, as he wore a dark gray t-shirt above a camouflage-printed pair of cargo pants.

The Machine Gun Preacher star finished off his look with a pair of dual-tone high-top sneakers and a trucker cap.

Brown appeared to be outfitted for the weather as she wore a light blue patterned sundress with short sleeves as she spent time with her boyfriend.

Much of her gorgeous brunette hair shot out from underneath her wide-brimmed hat while hanging out at the farmer's market.

Taking it easy: The 300 star was seen wearing a dark gray t-shirt and camouflage cargo pants during the shopping trip

Starting off strong: The performer and his girlfriend were first seen together during a PDA-packed beach trip in Malibu that occurred in 2014

Butler and his girlfriend were first spotted together during a beach trip in 2014, where they were pictured getting very close to one another while standing in the cool waves.

The Reign Of Fire actor had previously been romantically linked to actresses such as Jennifer Aniston and Lindsay Lohan, among others.

The two went steady for over a year before they called it quits on their romance for the first time in 2016.

The couple quietly reconnected the following year just before embarking on a getaway to Mexico, although they broke up for a second time shortly after the trip.

Back and forth: The couple engaged in an on-again-off-again relationship over the next few years, and notably took a trip to Mexico in 2017

Butler and Brown went on to rekindle their connection in 2018, and the actor notably proposed to the real estate developer, who turned down the offer of marriage.

However, the rejection did not deter the Phantom Of The Opera star, who remained committed to the relationship for well over a year before the two split for the third time in August of last year.

Shortly after the two separated, a source spoke to Us Weekly and pointed out that they were 'both handling the breakup with maturity.'

Not the right time: Butler reportedly proposed to Brown in 2018, although she rejected the offer and the two eventually split up over their period of quarantine

Specifically, the insider cited the performer's busy lifestyle as the main reason for the split, expressing that he 'couldn't fully settle down with Morgan and commit.'

The source concluded by noting that 'those close to them believe they're better off as friends.'

Following several sightings over the last few months, Butler and Brown were spotted during a PDA-filled outing this past April, seemingly confirming that their romance was back on.

The following month, the couple was spotted sharing a kiss following a lunch date in West Hollywood.
Megan Thee Stallion raised the sexy and steamy level inside the Microsoft Theater when she performed her new single, Thot S**t, at the BET Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Heading into the ceremony with DaBaby for the most nominations with seven each, Megan made a dramatic entrance with a sheer black veil over her head, which gave a hint of her face, and a long icy blonde wig.

She then proceeded to command the stage with a healthy dose of confidence and charisma, all while taking cues from her Thot S**t music video.

Brining the heat: Megan Thee Stallion delivered a steamy performance of her new single, Thot S**t, during the BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday

After building tension with the song intro, Megan pulled the veil off her head and quickly removed a section of the top of her black sequin leotard, giving fans a glimpse of her ample cleavage.

The move with the veil was a direct reference to the opening moments of George Michael's Too Funky music video in 1991.

The Texas native then broke into the opening lines for her tune, Thot S**t, as a group male and female backup dancers circled around her.

The leotard hugged her curves with a mixture of solid black and sheer fabric in order to tease viewers just a little more.

Grand arrival: After building tension with the song intro, Megan pulled the veil off her head and removed a piece of fabric off the top of her black sequin leotard, giving fans a glimpse of her ample cleavage

Working it: The rapper was surrounded by a group of male and female backup dancers

Commanding the stage: While strutting her stuff center stage, Megan flaunted her derriere, which included some twerking alongside her dancers

With a long-sleeve design full of sequins, the outfit also included black garter belts along each leg that attached to matching knee-high boots.

The long platinum blonde wig served as contrast to the ensemble, as did the blinged-out gold ball necklace that wrapped around several times.

For an added touch of cool, she wore a pair of stylish dark sunglasses.

At one point during the performance, Megan strutted her way to center stage, with dancers on both sides, and began to shake her hips and booty as she slowly moved her body up and down.

There was even some twerking during the bridge of the song, and she stood overtop one of the male dancers, all while sharking her derriere in a fast motion.

The leotard hugged her womanly curves with a mixture of solid black and sheer fabric

Lady in black: With a long-sleeve design full of sequins, the outfit also included black garter belts along each leg that attached to matching knee-high boots

Added touches: The long platinum blonde wig served as contrast to the ensemble, as did the blinged-out gold ball necklace that wrapped around several times

At last check, Megan won the award for Best Female Hip Hop Artist, Video Of The Year for the song WAP with Cardi B and Viewers' Choice Award for Savage featuring Beyonce.

Before the the ceremony, Megan brought the wow factor on the red carpet decked out in a barely-there Gaultier gown that was held together with metallic cords and open-toe heels.

With her cleavage and legs nearly on full display, the Diamonds star also went with the flashy blonde wig during her time posing in front of the line of photographers.

Actress Taraji P. Henson served as host of the BET Awards for the very first time.

The evening included a tribute to musician and actress Queen Latifah (born Dana Elaine Owens), who received the Lifetime Achievement Award for her storied career that dated back to the 1980s.

Winner! Megan won the award for Best Female Hip Hop Artist

Another trophy: The rapper also won for Video Of The Year for the song WAP with Cardi B
They once spoke of their desire to move back to Australia after living and working in the US for several years.

And former Home and Away star Luke Mitchell and his wife Rebecca Breeds were seen back on home soil last week, after arriving from LA and completing their mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine.

Before Sydney went into a two-week lockdown, the couple were seen taking a stroll on the beach and enjoying some burgers and coffees at a cafe.

Back for good? Former Home and Away star Luke Mitchell and his wife Rebecca Breeds were spotted in Sydney last week after completing their two-week hotel quarantine

Rebecca, who is currently starring in the Stan series Clarice, dressed in activewear - showing off her fit figure in a pair of black leggings and a sweater.

Meanwhile, The Code star Luke kept warm in a Patagonia jacket, a black sweater and some trousers.

He shaded his famous face with a pair of designer sunglasses.

Good to be home... Or? Before Sydney went into a two-week lockdown, the couple were seen taking a stroll on the beach and enjoying some burgers and coffees at a cafe

Back in 2019, Luke shared his family plans wife Rebecca.

Speaking to BW Magazine, the actor spoke about the possibility of having children as well as their thriving careers.

'We're riding this wave of our career at the moment,' he said at the time.

Time for exercise: Rebecca, who is currently starring in the Stan series Clarice, dressed in activewear - showing off her fit figure in a pair of black leggings and a sweater

Cute: The happily married couple held hands as the walked along the beach

Keeping toasty: Meanwhile, The Code star Luke kept warm in a Patagonia jacket, a black sweater and some trousers

New York-based Luke appeared on the CBS military drama The Code.

The handsome Gold Coast-born actor played Captain John 'Abe' Abraham, who is a former US marine who winds up in the courtroom as a lawyer.

Despite being based in America for years, Luke explained back in his interview two years ago that he still missed Australia.

Children on the cards? Back in 2019, Luke shared his family plans wife Rebecca. Speaking to BW Magazine , the actor spoke about the possibility of having children as well as their thriving careers

Big role: New York-based Luke appeared on the CBS military drama The Code. The handsome Gold Coast-born actor played Captain John 'Abe' Abraham, who is a former US marine who winds up in the courtroom as a lawyer

'I miss the beach, fresh air, green grass and the laid-back lifestyle,' Luke said of the land Down Under.

He continued: 'You get used to living over there [in the US] but when you come back home you realise how lucky we are to be Australian.'

He went on to say that Australia and Sydney will always be home, and that the pair wanted to move back at some point in time.

Heading home: Luke said of his native Australia in his interview two years ago: I miss the beach, fresh air, green grass and the laid-back lifestyle.' Pictured here with Rebecca (L) in Sydney

After landing the role of Todd 'Romeo' Smith on Home And Away, Luke's career has gone from strength to strength since the US move.

The handsome actor has starred in TV series The Tomorrow People, series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the drama, Blindspot.

Luke and Rebecca have become fan favourites of Home and Away alum, with the couple regularly sharing snaps of themselves on loved-up holidays.

Luke has shared romantic snaps of the couple spending time together in snowy Switzerland and on the idyllic Mediterranean Sea.

Luke proposed in 2012 before the lovebirds tied the knot a year later at a ceremony in New South Wales' Kangaroo Valley.

They share a spaniel-cross-poodle, Alfred Hitchcockatoo Mitchell.
Hollywood star Matt Damon spent six months living in Australia with his family, where he filmed a role in the latest Thor installment.

And on Monday, the 50-year-old actor was spotted catching a commercial flight back home to the US with his daughters.

The Bourne Identity star appeared in good spirits as he made his way through Sydney Airport ahead of the flight after flying in from Byron Bay via private jet.

Jetting home: On Monday, Matt Damon was pictured leaving Australia with his daughters and catching a commercial flight home to the US after six months living Down Under

Matt cut a relaxed and casual figure in a pair of jeans and rugged up against the chill in a white sweater.

He pulled his own luggage through the terminal and covered up his face with a cap and a face mask, abiding by the strict new face mask rules in Sydney amid the city's current lockdown.

Inside the international terminal, Matt checked into an American Airlines flight.

Casual: Matt cut a relaxed and casual figure in a pair of jeans and rugged up against the chill in a white sweater

Safety first: He pulled his own luggage through the terminal and covered up with a cap and a face mask, abiding by the strict new face mask rules in Sydney amid the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown

Feeling patriotic? Inside the international terminal, Matt checked into an American Airlines flight

At one point, he happily posed for a photograph with a woman who appeared to be a flight attendant or airport staffer.

Sydney is currently in the midst of a two-week lockdown after a Covid outbreak.

The New South Wales recorded 18 new locally transmitted Covid cases on Monday.

There are fears the outbreak could carry on growing with thousands exposed.

One for the fans: At one point, he happily posed for a photograph with a woman who appeared to be a flight attendant

Long-haul flights: The Bourne Identity star appeared in good spirits as he made his way through Sydney Airport ahead of the flight

Lockdown: Sydney is currently in a two-week lockdown after a Covid outbreak

Saying goodbye: Matt and his daughters hugged a man as they got dropped off at the terminal

Restrictions now in place in the Northern Territory, WA, Queensland and NSW.

Other states have shut their borders to keep the virus out as clusters grow.

Matt and his wife Luciana Barroso, 45, and their daughters Isabella, 15, Gia, 12, and Stella, 10, first jetted to Australia in January, so Matt could film his role in the upcoming Thor installment, Thor: Love and Thunder.

Hollywood star life: Matt and his wife Luciana Barroso, 45, and their daughters Isabella, 15, Gia, 12, and Stella, 10, first jetted to Australia in January, so Matt could film his role in the upcoming Thor installment, Thor: Love and Thunder

It was reported earlier this month that filming had wrapped.

The film, directed by Taika Waititi, also stars the likes of Natalie Portman, Chris Hemsworth, Russell Crowe, Melissa McCarthy and Sam Neill.

When he first jetted Down Under, where he underwent a mandatory 14-day quarantine amid the coronavirus pandemic, Matt said he was 'so excited' to be in Australia.

New role: It was reported earlier this month that filming had wrapped. The film, directed by Taika Waititi, also stars the likes of Natalie Portman, Chris Hemsworth, Russell Crowe, Melissa McCarthy and Sam Neill

No star treatment: When he first jetted Down Under, Matt said he was 'so excited' to be in Australia

'I'm so excited that my family and I will be able to call Australia home for the next few months,' Matt said.

'Australian film crews are world renowned for their professionalism and are a joy to work with so the 14 days of quarantine will be well worth it.'

He added: 'Australia definitely is the lucky country.'

The Good Will Hunting actor thanked the New South Wales and Australian Government for the 'enormous support' regarding his entry into the country.

In May, Matt reportedly donated $10,000 to a domestic violence charity as he made a surprise appearance at a luncheon in Brisbane to raise funds.

According to The Courier Mail, Matt and his wife Luciana attended the lunch to learn more on the issues surrounding coercive control.
They captured Australia's heart with a memorable kiss during The Bachelor Australia last year.

And Irena Srbinovska has revealed that the first smooch shared with Locky Gilbert happened exactly one year ago, in a Sunday Instagram Story.

The 31-year-old nurse also shared a steamy image of the pair in their passionate clinch.

Memories: Irena Srbinovska has revealed that first smooch shared with Locky Gilbert happened exactly one year ago, in a Sunday Instagram Story

In a subsequent post, Irena addressed her fans' burning question about the reality TV lovebirds.

'For those asking our anniversary is [The Bachelor] finale which is July 18th'.

The insight comes after Irena and Locky revealed their 'five-year' plan in a series of Instagram Stories earlier this month.

Nurse Irena explained the couple would love to have two children - ideally twins - and that marriage was also on the cards.

Special date: In a subsequent post, Irena addressed her fans' burning question about the reality TV lovebirds

She said of their future: 'Locky is super easy to talk to about marriage and babies. He is just as excited about our future as I am.'

The couple recently completed a trip around Australia and are almost at the end of their holiday as they settle back into Locky's home state of Perth.

The pair had initially moved to Perth in October, shortly after The Bachelor finished airing.

Still kissing: The insight comes after Irena and Locky revealed their 'five-year' plan in a series of Instagram Stories earlier this month

Irena was also asked during her Instagram Q&A whether she still kept in touch with other stars from The Bachelor.

She indicated she had heard from 'all but a couple of the girls', and said she was particularly close with contestant Laura Calleri.

Her career in nursing was also brought up, with Irena revealing she will take up a new position in Perth in the near future.

She had previously quit her old job at a Melbourne hospital last year.
Orlando Bloom melted hearts on Saturday when he shared a sweet snap showing him with fiancee Katy Perry and son Flynn, 10, while out on a stroll.

The actor, 44, who is believed to be in the UK, shared a picture of the trio all holding hands, with the caption 'FAMILY LOVE' - and a red heart emoji on Instagram.

He kept things casual in a white T-shirt and khaki bottoms, with Katy opting for a pink jumpsuit complemented by a black bumbag and crochet bucket hat.

Family love: Orlando Bloom melted hearts on Saturday when he shared a sweet snap showing him with fiancee Katy Perry and son Flynn, 10, while out on a stroll

Orlando son, Flynn Christopher, was gazing up at his father as the snap was taken. The Pirates Of The Caribbean actor co-parents Flynn with his ex-wife Miranda Kerr.

The pair split in 2013 after three years of marriage but the divorce was amicable and they remain good friends.

Not pictured in the snap was Orlando and Katy's 10-month-old daughter Daisy Dove, who was born in August. Katy, 36, recently shared a throwback video on Instagram of Orlando in the delivery room.

Her 125million followers enjoyed a video of the actor in hospital scrubs, holding a speaker and humming to soothing music whilst Katy laughed from her bed.

Amicable: The actor co-parents son Flynn, 10, with ex-wife Miranda Kerr (pictured above)

Healer of my heart: Not pictured in the snap was Orlando and Katy's 10-month-old daughter Daisy Dove, who was born in August. Katy, 36, recently shared a throwback video on Instagram of Orlando in the delivery room

In love: The California Girls hitmaker wrote this caption alongside the video on Father's Day, saying she loves Orlando 'the whole world'

"Ready to bring her in baby," he said in the clip.

Alongside the video, the California Girls hitmaker praised her fiance, writing: 'Happy first Fathers Day to to the healer of my heart and the giver of my greatest gift ... I love you WHOLE world .'

The father-of-two also took to Instagram on Father's Day, posting a humorous pic of him eating a pastry.

Grateful: The actor, who follows Soka Gakkai Buddhism, shared this sweet post on Father's Day

He wrote: 'A shout out to all the dads and father figures today. Enjoying my favorite breakfast brought to me by the family. I couldnt help, but reflect on what fatherhood has meant for me, especially after becoming a father for the second time.'

The star also referenced quotes from Japanese Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda in his post, whose work 'anchors' him in life.

Orlando became a follower of Soka Gakkai Buddhism after an eye-opening trip to South Africa back in the early 2000s.
Ellidy Vlug has spoken candidly about retrieving sperm from her late partner, Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin, in the hours after his tragic death.

Speaking on her podcast, Darling, Shine!, on Sunday, the 29-year-old widow of the late Olympic snowboarder spoke about her desperate rush to collect his sperm.

Ellidy announced she was pregnant with Chumpy's baby on Instagram on Sunday, almost a year after he drowned while spearfishing at a reef off Palm Beach in Queensland.

Starting a family: Ellidy Vlug has spoken candidly about retrieving sperm from her late partner, Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin, in the hours after his tragic death

'Everyone knew we were trying so hard for a baby,' she said of the months leading up to Chumpy's death on July 8 last year.

'As soon as we got together, we were talking about the future and babies and everything we were going to do.'

Ellidy revealed they had to 'hustle' to retrieve Chumpy's sperm in the days after his tragic death.

Bumpy ride: Ellidy announced she was pregnant with Chumpy's baby on Instagram on Sunday, almost a year after he drowned while spearfishing at a reef off Palm Beach in Queensland

Under Queensland legislation, sperm can be removed posthumously when a designated officer declares their belief that the deceased wouldn't object.

The consent of the immediate family - including Chumpy's parents - is also required before any sperm can be retrieved.

An IVF specialist assists with the retrieval, with a recommended removal timeframe of between 24 and 36 hours after death.

'Everyone knew we were trying so hard for a baby,' she said of the months leading up to Chumpy's death on July 8 last year

Ellidy admitted it was quite an undertaking, with everyone having to sign off on legal documents, while also dealing with coroners, lawyers and doctors.

'[It was] incredibly fortunate we had the resources and the means to make this happen in such crucial time,' she added.

Ellidy said her pregnancy is 'the most bittersweet thing in the world', but added that she was determined to parent a child with Chumpy.

'As soon as we got together, we were talking about the future and babies and everything we were going to do,' she said

'I'm not saying it's going to be easy or a walk in the park. I have a lot ahead of me, I've got big shoes to fill,' she continued.

'I've got to be a dad and a mum in one, and not just any dad, I've got to be a Chumpy dad.'

She added: 'I go through a lot every day and I will forever grief, that never leaves you, but I was always so sure of one thing - that I was always going to have this bub.'
Channel 5 has released a trailer for upcoming drama Lie With Me, a new four-part noir thriller starring Charlie Brooks.

The actress - famed for her role as conniving Janine Butcher on EastEnders - takes on the part of Anna Fallmont - who moves to Australia with her husband and children after infidelity rocks her marriage.

Anna finds herself crippled by paranoia following her spouse's past betrayal, which is worsened when they hire a young local nanny who isnt as innocent as she appears.

Gritty: Channel 5 has released a trailer for upcoming drama Lie With Me, a new four-part noir thriller starring Charlie Brooks

The trailer sees Anna unable to relax around her sleazy husband - the Australian actor Brett Tucker, also seen in the likes of The Americans, Station 19, Mistresses, and Neighbours.

Anna also watches the nanny Becky - played by Phoebe Roberts (Ja'mie: Private School Girl, Nowhere Boys) - and deadly consequences follow.

Anna is heard saying that her husband's affair 'nearly destroyed us'.

Yet he assures her they have moved to Australia from London to 'start a new life' and 'leave all that behind'.

Drama: The actress - famed for her role as conniving Janine Butcher on EastEnders - takes on the part of Anna Fallmont - who moves to Australia with her husband and children after infidelity rocks her marriage

Harlot? Anna finds herself crippled by paranoia following her spouse's past betrayal, which is worsened when they hire a young local nanny who isnt as innocent as she appears

But flashes of dramatic scenes - including a body floating in a pool, a coroner's bag and what looks like a gun shot through a window, hint that the past is far from behind Anna and her family.

The series wrapped production on location in Melbourne, Australia earlier this year and is coming soon to Channel 5.

Charlie, 40, is also set to reprise her iconic role as Janine in EastEnders, following the news she will return to the soap after a break.

The actress, who departed the soap in 2014, is set for a rollercoaster comeback, with bosses hinting she'll take centre stage in the soap's 'biggest storyline of the year'.

Suspicious: The trailer sees Anna unable to relax around her sleazy husband

Nanny: Becky is played by Phoebe Roberts (Ja'mie: Private School Girl, Nowhere Boys)

Announcing the news, the bosses assured fans of the show that 'drama and scandal' are never far behind Janine, and she'll make a stormy return to the soap in the coming months.

Speaking about returning to the role, Charlie said: 'I am beyond excited to be slipping back into Janines shoes and returning to The Square.

'The time feels right and I cant wait to find out what shes been up to for the last seven years! She is and always has been SO much fun to play. Feels a bit like coming home. Its good to be back.'

Jon Sen, executive producer for EastEnders, added: 'Janine is one of EastEnders most iconic characters who is loved, and often despised, in equal measure by viewers and all those in Walford.

'Charlies portrayal of Janine over the years has created some of EastEnders most memorable moments and we are all really excited to see Charlie bring her incredible portrayal of Janine back again.'

Deadly consequences: Anna is heard saying that her husband's affair 'nearly destroyed us', yet he assures her they have moved to Australia from London to 'start a new life' and 'leave all that behind'

Big news: The actress, who departed EastEnders in 2014, is set for a rollercoaster comeback, with bosses hinting she'll take centre stage in the soap's 'biggest storyline of the year'

Appearing to provide a hint for fans about future story lines, he continued: 'We have lots of drama in store for Janine, in fact it may be wise for some of the residents of Walford to invest in some slip on shoes'

Viewers were quick to comment about their excitement for her return, with one writing: 'SHE IS COMING TO SAVE 2021.'

Another said: 'Omg we NEED Janine. The best character ever!.

One remarked: 'yesss!!!! weve been waiting for this announcement. im so excited for her to come back.'

Return: She is pictured on the soap in 2008

Rumours of Charlie's return to the show have been circulating in recent weeks and it appeared they were confirmed when she was spotted on the set at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire earlier this week.

The actress was taken to set in a blacked out people carrier as show bosses aimed to keep her return top secret.

It was previously reported that Charlie would resurrect her role as the murderous Janine on EastEnders, seven years after she departed Albert Square.

It was claimed that Charlie would make an explosive return to Albert Square, leaving fans swarming social media to state she would 'save the soap'.

The murderous character is said to be part of a 'huge' storyline planned by BBC bosses, according to The Sun.

Charlie explained why she is excited to reclaim the role of Janine on the podcast.

Giddy: Rumours of Charlie's return to the show had been circulating and it appeared they were confirmed when she was spotted on the set recently

She added: 'She's good fun, I love Janine. I always wonder what she's been up to. I think it's really important to sympathise with your characters and for me, she became so layered.

'I honestly believe she's completely misunderstood in so many ways, although she does get more and more difficult to defend. But that is where all the juicy stuff is.'

Plot details of her return are not yet known, but Janine has been involved in her fair share of drama during her time on the soap, which first began in 1999.

Most notably, Janine married Barry Evans  played by Shaun Williamson  for his money before pushing him off a cliff.

She went on to marry a rich elderly Jewish businessman called David, who died of a heart attack at the ceremony, before tying the knot with Ryan Malloy (Neil McDermott), whom she also tried to kill.

Jon Sen, executive producer for EastEnders, said: 'We are all really excited to see Charlie bring her incredible portrayal of Janine back again'

Shocking: Most notably, Janine married Barry Evans  played by Shaun Williamson  for his money before pushing him off a cliff

Although she was unsuccessful in her murder plot against Ryan, she framed arch-rival Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) for the attempted crime.

Janine married a fourth time to Michael Moon (Steve John Shepherd) and had her daughter Scarlett with him, before she eventually set out to kill him too.

The evil killer was successful in ending Michael's life, but was found not guilty in court - leading to her being shunned by locals which made her eventually leave Walford.

She was last seen at St Pancras as she boarded a train to go to Paris - where she joined daughter Scarlett and sister Diane.
Martin Lewis made quite an impression during his Good Morning Britain presenting debut on Monday - after going missing and flouting the show's dress code.

The finance expert, 49, co-hosted the breakfast show with Susanna Reid however she was left stunned when he had appeared to go missing - although his absence transpired to be an ill-timed toilet visit.

Aside from his disappearing act, Martin was seen to host the show in an open white shirt and a black blazer, which he admitted had gone against the dress code by not wearing a tie despite the request from producers.

Show officials then hosted an official poll on Twitter to ask viewers' thoughts on the need to wear a tie - leading to a whopping 89.5% agreeing it was not necessary.

Fury: Martin Lewis made quite an impression during his Good Morning Britain presenting debut on Monday - after going missing and flouting the show's dress code

It was revealed last week that Susanna would be joined by Martin for a three day stint as bosses have still not filled host Piers Morgan's role following his walkout in March in a row over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

When the camera returned to the panel on Monday, Charlotte Hawkins laughed and said: 'He's gone already!... Was it something you said?'

Susanna then pointed at her co-anchor's seat and said: 'I don't know what I said! before viewers learnt that Martin had merely visited the toilet.

He said: 'The truth is people when you're new to a job and you've been drinking tea since 7 O'clock this morning and you can't find the loo in the ad break you might occasionally be back late to your seat.'

What! The finance expert, 49, co-hosted the breakfast show with Susanna Reid however she was left stunned when he had appeared to go missing - although his absence transpired to be an ill-timed toilet visit

Hitting out: The finance expert, 49, co-hosted the breakfast show with Susanna Reid in an open white shirt and a black blazer, and he admitted he had gone against the dress code following a cheeky jibe made towards him by the stalwart host

It was then that Piers' now-legendary departure arose as Susanna said: 'We've got an issue with people leaving the studio on this programme. So I'm glad you're back.'

Elsewhere, Susanna couldn't resist a cheeky dig at his lack of tie, jokingly asking if his recent tooth surgery prevented him from wearing one. Martin said: 'Wow, two minutes in and she's already started.'

Martin went on to explain he decided to ignore the producers, who told him a tie was GMB protocol, because he doesn't like viewers to see him as corporate.

He said: 'The tie thing is interesting because the bosses said, 'Are you gonna wear a tie, it's part of our format to wear a tie'. I'm not disrespectful of the programme's structure, I was on it for 15 years.

No! Martin went on to explain he decided to ignore the producers, who told him a tie was GMB protocol, because he doesn't like viewers to see him as corporate (Richard Madeley, pictured hosting the show earlier this month)

Thoughts? The official Good Morning Britain Twitter account hosted a poll asking whether he needed to wear a tie with a whopping 89.5% agreeing a tie was not necessary

'Because I talk about money I've always had a deliberate thing, I won't wear a tie because it appears corporate and when you're talking money, I want people to understand I'm not on the corporate side I'm on the other side.'

The MoneySavingExpert founder caught Susanna giving him a look as he explained his decision and he jokingly told her to not 'pull a face at me.' Martin then let the viewers decide if he should have worn a tie for the show in a poll on social media.

He explained: 'Viewers are the ultimate arbiter of this so I've agreed that I won't wear a tie on the first day, we're gonna do a poll on Twitter asking whether you think I need to wear a tie.

Clean cut: He normally has a clean shaven appearance when offering his expert advice during the financial segments on This Morning

'I feel more comfortable without but if you say wear a tie from tomorrow I will put a tie on.'

However, Susanna was quick to note that he was happy to ignore ITV bosses but would change his stance for the audience.

She added: 'So when the bosses say wear a tie you say no, but when the viewers say wear a tie, they're the important ones.'

The poll revealed that 89 per cent of viewers were happy with Martin's choice of wardrobe.

Another one: Susanna is yet to have a full-time co-anchor assigned since Piers left in March

Later in the show, 'GMB' guest Tony Hadley backed Martin's decision. He said: 'You don't need a tie, it's too formal for the morning.'

Last week on This Morning, Martin explained that the reason behind his different appearance was because he is unable to shave due to recent dental surgery.

Joking about his rugged-looking face, Martin said: 'Before anyone says it no I'm notdoing tips on saving money on razor blades without shaving. I had dental sugery - hence the lisp - last week.

'I can't actually touch my top lip at the moment. And you'll have to forgive me for not speaking as clearly as normal everybody, sorry.'
Coleen Rooney cut a casual figure as she stepped out to pick up coffee in Cheshire on Monday.

The 35-year-old looked lovely in a purple ombre hoodie worn with black leggings and trainers after a visit to the gym.

Coleen's pretty features were on show as she opted for very little make-up for her outing.

Au naturel: Coleen Rooney, 35, cut a casual figure as she stepped out to pick up coffee in Cheshire on Monday, wearing minimal make-up and a pastel hoodie

Stepping out: The WAG wore a pair of comfortable black gym leggings which showed off her slender legs

The outing comes after it was revealed at the High Court that Coleen kept her husband Wayne Rooney, 35, in the dark when she launched her infamous sting investigation against Rebekah Vardy.

Coleen had accused her account of leaking stories about her to the press.

Coleen's lawyer David Sherborne revealed his client's secrecy as he fought a motion from Rebekah's lawyers to have a large portion of Mrs Rooney's defence 'struck out' on Friday.

It came as Mrs Vardy's counsel said her children were abused at school as a result of Coleen's Wagatha Christie Instagram post accusing their mother of leaking stories.

Claims: The outing comes after it was revealed at the High Court that Coleen kept her husband Wayne Rooney, 35, in the dark when she launched her infamous sting investigation.

Mrs Rooney wrote on Instagram and Twitter: 'I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them. It's . Rebekah Vardy's account' - in a notorious post that sparked the Wagatha Christie libel battle

Mrs Vardy, 39, launched her 1.5m claim after Coleen accused her in her October 2019 Instagram post of being the source of leaks to the media on stories about her.

The court has heard how peace talks between the warring WAGs broke down during mediation and the case is now expected to go to a full trial.

Hugh Tomlinson QC for Rebekah Vardy, told the libel court that the case had been extremely serious, despite the 'highly entertaining stories in the media referring to the Wagatha Christie... she suffered widespread abuse and hostility as a result of the post for a long period and her children were also abused at school. It was a very serious matter for her'.

Going about her business: Coleen could be seen in a pair of practical grey trainers as she carried her belongings in her hands, including her phone and keys

The long-running feud between the high-profile WAGS erupted after Coleen revealed that she had set a trap to see who was responsible for the leaks, which earned her the nickname Wagatha Christie.

Coleen famously wrote: 'I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them. It's ................ Rebekah Vardy's account.'

Rebekah's team have now launched a bid to have large parts of Coleen's defence in the ongoing libel case struck out.

Making the best of assets: Her pretty features were on show as she opted for very little make-up for her outing

On the run: Coleen checked her phone as she walked along the street in the north west, wearing a practical pair of grey trainers

David Sherborne described the attempt by Rebekah's side to exclude large portions of evidence from the hearing as 'a tactical exercise to remove evidence which serves to undermine her case or embarrass her.'

Meanwhile, Coleen's outing comes after she shared a picture of son Kai, 11, wearing a Manchester City top on Instagram last week despite his father previously playing for Manchester United.

Sharing the snap online, she simply captioned it with a heart emoji.

Surprised at what he saw, fellow former Manchester United team player Rio Ferdinand, 42, jokingly commented: 'Whats he doing in that top????'

Her identity: The star could be seen clutching her keys in her hand with a yellow keyring attached which had her first initial on it

Days earlier Coleen marked Father's Day on by sharing a sweet family collage.

Posting nine photographs of herself, her husband Wayne and their four boys over the years, Coleen told her spouse of 13 years: 'Happy Fathers Day @waynerooney. Thanks for everything you do for our boys, we love you.'

Coleen and Wayne, 35, share sons Kai, Klay, eight, Kit, five, and Cass, three.

Controversial: Coleen recently shared a picture of son Kai wearing a Manchester City top on Instagram last week despite his father previously playing for Manchester United
She's famous for her minimalist style, and Lara Worthington (nee Bingle) showed off yet another classic ensemble on Instagram on Monday.

Posing in front of a mirror alongside her friend, Bella Thomas, the 34-year-old model wore an oversize beige pantsuit.

'@bellathomas & me in @bettter.us,' the mum-of-three simply captioned the video post.

Well-suited! Lara Worthington [right] showed off her androgynous sense of style with friend Bella Thomas [left] in a post shared to Instagram on Monday

Meanwhile, Bella opted for a dark pantsuit, with Lara slicking back her bobbed blonde hair as she posed next to her.

In another post on Instagram last month, Lara shared a series of rare mirror selfies of herself modelling a marine-inspired dress.

The Cronulla-born beauty showed off her slender physique in a floor-length figure-hugging gown with a racer neckline.

Sleek: Posing in front of a mirror alongside her friend, Bella Thomas, the 34-year-old model wore an oversize beige pantsuit

Chic: '@bellathomas & me in @bettter.us,' the mum-of-three simply captioned the video post

Duo: Meanwhile, Bella opted for a dark pantsuit, with Lara slicking back her bobbed blonde hair as she posed next to her

The eye-catching black dress was patterned with yellow stripes and blue crescents, reminiscent of tropical fish.

Lara captioned the post simply, adding a series of fish emojis.

Her bobbed blonde hair was styled loose, and she appeared to have been wearing minimal makeup as she posed in front of her mirror.

Little mermaid: In another post on Instagram last month, Lara shared a series of rare mirror selfies of herself modelling a marine-inspired dress

Ocean girl: The Cronulla-born beauty showed off her slender physique in a floor-length figure-hugging gown with a racer neckline

In one photo, Lara threw on a black blazer over her dress and crouched down, with her phone concealing the bottom half of her face.

She accessorised with black boots, standing side-on in the mirror, which further emphasized her slim figure.

Last month, it was revealed that Lara and her husband of seven years, actor Sam Worthington, had sold their home in LA after moving back to Australia in January.

Covered up: In one photo, Lara threw on a black blazer over her dress and crouched down, with her phone concealing the bottom half of her face

Home sweet home: Last month, it was revealed that Lara and her husband of seven years, actor Sam Worthington, had sold their home in LA after moving back to Australia in January

According to a report by MSN at the time, the couple sold their Hollywood Hills home for $8.2million.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph in April, Lara said she was relishing being back home in Australia.

'If I can steal a moment I love an early morning or night ocean swim, as the sun goes down,' she said at the time.
She's become a popular influencer since starring on the 2019 season of Love Island.

And Molly-Mae Hague pampered herself at a hair salon in Wilmslow, Cheshire on Monday, showing off perfectly curled blonde tresses as she left her appointment.

The 22-year-old, who covered up her trim figure in a casual ensemble, was all smiles as she and her manager Francesca Britton headed back to their car.

Tressed to perfection! Love Island's Molly-Mae Hague (left), 22, showed off her perfectly styled blonde locks as she left a hair salon in Wilmslow, Cheshire on Monday. Pictured with her manager Francesca Britton

Molly-Mae kept comfy in a white T-shirt which she paired with grey pocketed sweatpants and vibrant Nike sneakers.

She draped an oversized blue denim jacket over one arm and carried her belongings in a chic beige handbag as well as a black tote bag.

The blonde bombshell, who has over five million followers on Instagram, drew attention to her perfectly curled locks as they bounced in the breeze.

Natural beauty: The influencer covered up her trim figure in a white T-shirt which she paired with grey pocketed sweatpants and vibrant Nike sneakers. She draped an oversized blue denim jacket over one arm, and went makeup free for the outing

Candid with fans: The sighting comes after Molly-Mae recently told fans in a YouTube video (pictured) that she will undergo surgery for endometriosis after finally getting a diagnosis from a private specialist

Smiling and engaging in friendly banter with her manager, the former reality star also highlighted her natural beauty by opting to go makeup free.

The sighting comes after Molly-Mae recently told fans in a YouTube video that she will undergo surgery for endometriosis after finally getting a diagnosis from a private specialist.

Her excruciating symptoms were repeatedly ignored by doctors previously but, while there is still a chance it could return in later life, the starlet reassured fans the procedure could help treat the condition.

Health battle: Her excruciating symptoms were repeatedly ignored by doctors previously but, while there is still a chance it could return in later life, the starlet reassured fans the procedure could help treat the condition

She said: 'I actually have got to have an operation for something that I want to tell you guys about. It's kind of a good thing and it's kind of a bad thing.

'I've told you guys for so long now that I suffer with excruciating periods and so many of you guys were commenting on my videos telling me to check for endometriosis.'

Molly-Mae added that she was repeatedly told by doctors she couldn't have endometriosis, and finally decided to seek help from a private specialist.

Diagnosis: She explained: 'Straight away they said ''You absolutely do have endometriosis, it's clear as day''. So I guess that's kind of a good thing because at least I know now what it is'

She explained: 'Straight away they said ''You absolutely do have endometriosis, it's clear as day''.

'So I guess that's kind of a good thing because at least I know now what it is.

'It's not a good thing that I have endometriosis, because obviously it can affect fertility and loads of other things, and you can never really cure it.'

Popular: Molly-Mae has become a popular fashion and beauty influencer since starring on the 2019 season of Love Island UK
Victoria Beckham shared a family snap on her parents 50th wedding anniversary on Instagram on Monday, alongside her rarely seen brother, Christian.

Fashion designer Victoria, 47, simply stunned in a black sequinned two-piece teamed with a pair of mint green heels as she smiled for the picture.

Her brother Christian, who is rarely seen, was pictured next to her, wearing a blue shirt and rolled-up jeans.

'I've missed this time together so much': Victoria Beckham shared family snap on Instagram on Monday with rarely-seen brother after celebrating her parents 50th wedding anniversary (from left to right: Louisa Adams (sister), Jackie Adams (mother), Anthony Adams (father) Victoria and Christian Adams (brother)

Louise, Victoria's sister, looked colourful in red, green and yellow, with mother Jackie also opting for a crimson dress.

Victoria's father Anthony stood in the centre of the photograph and donned a pale shirt and smart trousers.

Victoria, 47, penned the post: 'Such a special day yesterday celebrating my parents 50th wedding anniversary! So inspiring, 50 years, wow!! We love you so much and so happy we finally got to celebrate as a family. Ive missed this time together so much! @jackie.adams_ @louisesadams @christianadams_79'.

Christian is rarely seen in public but has four children with his wife Emma - and he is said to have remained close with both Victoria and Louise over the years.

Heartfelt: The fashion designer was 'so happy' that they finally got to celebrate as a family

Siblings: Victoria with Christian back in 2018 at her husband's Haig Club House Party

The fashion mogul and husband David Beckham have been lapping up family time lately and last weekend they both posted birthday well-wishes for David's mother, Sandra.

The Spice Girl shared a throwback snap after a boozy family bash to celebrate her mother-in-law's birthday.

Victoria put on a very animated display with David, his sister Joanne and Sandra as they celebrated the matriarch's big day in a snap she shared via Instagram last Saturday.

She struck a pose by flashing peace signs behind her husband and in-laws, Victoria joked with fans to guess who was 'the drunken Beckham here'.

'Who do you think was the drunken Beckham here?' The fashion mogul shared a very animated throwback snap after boozy family bash to wish mother-in-law Sandra a happy birthday last weekend

Victoria appeared to be in very good spirits as wore an amusing expression while David, Joanne and Sandra smiled brightly for the camera.

In the caption, she wrote: 'Happy Birthday @sandrabeckham! Who do you think was the drunken Beckham here??

'Spice up your life, take a leaf out of your daughter in law's book and have a glass of wine (or a Cointreau!) to celebrate today.'

Sandra was clearly delighted with the reminder, as she responded in the comments: 'I wonder [laughing emojis] thank you '

Hilarious: As she was seen flashing peace signs behind her husband and in-laws, Victoria joked with fans to guess who was 'the drunken Beckham here'

Amused: Sandra was clearly delighted with the reminder, as she responded in the comments: 'I wonder [laughing emojis] thank you'

David also took to Instagram to share his well wishes with his mother, posting a throwback snap from his youth.

Sandra was seen in the picture alongside a young David and Joanne as they all smiled for the camera.

In the caption, he wrote: 'Happy Birthday to the most amazing mum  Thank you for everything that you do for us we love u so much.'

Dutiful son: David also took to Instagram to share his well wishes with his mother, posting a throwback snap from his youth
Hugh Jackman has just finished his time in hotel quarantine in Sydney.

After 14 days locked up, the actor headed off to his mandatory Covid-19 test, and he didn't mind at all.

The Wolverine star, 52, shared photos of himself getting the test down to his Instagram on Monday.

Testing: Hugh Jackman (pictured) has just finished his time in hotel quarantine in Sydney. After 14 days locked up, the actor headed off to his mandatory Covid-19 test

He wrote in the caption: 'Thank you nurse Sandra! Even though I'm fully vaccinated and completed 14 days in quarantine, the protocol still requires another Covid test.'

The X-Men actor added gratefully: 'Whatever is needed to help stop the spread I will do.'

Hugh surprised fans earlier this month by announcing on Instagram he had flown to Sydney from NYC.

Careful: The Wolverine star, 52, shared photos of himself getting the test to his Instagram on Monday. 'Whatever is needed to help stop the spread I will do,' he said

He wrote in the caption: 'Thank you nurse Sandra! Even though I'm fully vaccinated and completed 14 days in quarantine, the protocol still requires another Covid test.'

He may be a Hollywood star, but Hugh asked to be treated like any other Australian returning from overseas when he entered hotel quarantine last week.

According to a mummy blogger who is staying in the same building, Hugh specifically asked staff for no special treatment.

The blogger wrote on Wednesday: 'Little Hugh update: The nurse who called this morning said he is good and he has been great and insisted from the start he is treated the same as everyone else.'

In town: Hugh surprised fans earlier this month by announcing on Instagram he had flown to Sydney from NYC

Tasty! He was treated to a Father's Day surprise from his family back in the USA, where the holiday is celebrated on June 20

On June 20, the Broadway star's family treated him to breakfast from Bills restaurant in Sydney for American Father's Day, while in quarantine.

The Logan actor hadn't indicated previously that he planned to travel to Australia.

He posted a photo of a sunrise over the Harbour City, and wrote: 'Good morning Australia. Second sunrise in quarantine.'

Hugh moved to New York with his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, and their children in 2008, and they own a swanky apartment in the West Village.
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She's known for looking completely composed on any occasion.

And Kim Kardashian looked chic as can be while touring the Colosseum in Rome with her glam squad on Sunday.

The 40-year-old looked breathtaking exploring the ancient city in a low-cut top amid reports she 'worries' about dating post divorce from Kanye West.

When in Rome! Kim Kardashian was spotted touring the ancient Colosseum with her glam squad in Italy on Sunday

The KKW Beauty founder radiated beauty in a tight white bodysuit which featured a small keyhole cut-out neckline.

She showed off her tanned and toned legs in a pair of high-waisted blue shorts and added a few inches to her petite frame with blue sandals.

Kim opted for a pair of oversized shades with a Bea Bongiasca choker, and wore her long, brown hair parted down the middle with tendrils cascading down her back.

All eyes were on the stunning reality star as she took in the ancient amphitheater in her stylish and sexy ensemble.

If you've got it! Kim put her cleavage and legs front and center during her explorations

Just like any other tourist! Kim looked amazed as she took in the ancient city

Walk this way! Heads turned as Kim showcased her envy-inducing legs

While Kim is ordinarily the one exuding an air of cool, the star looked absolutely gleeful exploring the stunning city.

Stopping by a vintage store, the reality star beamed with joy as she struck a variety of playful poses.

The star grinned gleefully as she tossed her long wavy hair around.

Va va voom! The reality star put on a very leggy display in her waist-high blue shorts

Taking the plunge! She also put on a traffic-stopping display with her cleavage-baring top

Wow: The reality star strolled along the ancient amphitheater

Strike a pose! Kim beamed with joy as she posed before a vintage shop

Parting crowds: Kim turned heads as she stepped outside of the restaurant

Kim didn't let her sandal heels stop her from exploring the cobblestone streets of Rome.

The reality star carefully made her way up a stone staircase as her glam team followed close behind.

After working up an appetite amid her day of playing tourist, Kim was spotted arriving at Dal Bolognese restaurant for a bite to eat.

Stylish: Kim was a sight to behold rocking a trendy key hole top and cross choker necklace

Taking it a step at a time: The mother of four carefully climbed the stone steps

Looking glam: She looked radiant as usual with a perfectly applied makeup

Adventure buddies: Kim grabbed onto her gal pal's wrist as they climbed down the staircase

Heads turned as the reality star strutted outside of the restaurant with an air of confidence to her.

Taking to Instagram, Kim posted a snap of herself touring the Colosseum with her longtime makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic and hair artist Chris Appleton.

The trip comes amid a report that the mother-of-four 'worries' about dating again and 'did not think that Kanye would move on with someone else before her,' a source told Us Weekly.

All eyes on her: Kardashian caught the attention of various passerby

Making memories: The trip will certainly be one Kim won't soon forget

Hello gorgeous! The aspiring lawyer looked in good spirits during her explorations

'She's not focused on dating at the moment but actually worries that guys will not want to date her because of how public her relationship was with Kanye,' an insider said on Saturday.

Kim filed for divorce from her estranged husband in February after nearly seven years of marriage.

'She also knows how hard it is to build trust with someone so she thinks it's going to take time before letting someone into her private life. It was easy with Kanye because they were friends before so they had years' worth of trust,' the source explained.

Best tressed! The star playfully whipped her hair during her impromptu shoot

Who wears short shorts? The blue bottoms left little of Kim's legs to the imagination

Picture perfect! Though ordinarily exuding an air of cool, Kim looked absolutely gleeful

The insider also continued to dish on Kanye's blossoming relationship with Russian supermodel Irina Shayk, 35, saying that the SKIMS founder 'did not think' the rapper would 'move on' before she did.

'She certainly did not think that Kanye would move on with someone else before her,' the insider noted.

Irina and Kanye have reportedly been dating for a 'couple months,' and they were seen celebrating his birthday in Provence, France after he decided to 'shoot his shot' in photos obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com.

The center of attention: The superstar stole the spotlight

Walk and talk: Kim caught up with one of her pals as they strolled through the historic city

Chic in the city: Kim looked chic as can be while touring the Colosseum in Rome with her glam squad in snaps shared to Instagram on Monday morning

Views: The 40-year-old reality star took in the sights alongside her longtime makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic and hair artist Chris Appleton in Italy

Kanye and Irina have known each other for at least a decade, having first worked together when she played an angel in the music video for his song Power before hitting the runway for the rapper when he debuted a fall/winter collection at Paris Fashion Week in 2012.

Despite Kim's hesitation to dip into the dating pool again, her famous family and inner circle of VIP friends have offered reassurance that 'she has nothing to worry about,' while maintaining that they will be 'setting her up,' with eligible bachelors.

'Friends and family are telling her she has nothing to worry about and when she's ready to date again, they gladly will be setting her up with potential suitors,' the source shared.

Fashion forward: The KKW Beauty founder radiated beauty in a tight white bodysuit which featured a small keyhole cut-out neckline

Moving on: Kim filed for divorce from her estranged husband in February after nearly seven years of marriage; seen in 2016
AFL legend Barry Hall and Lauren Brant have given fans a glimpse of their quaint wedding after secretly tying the knot earlier this year.

On Monday, the Sydney Swans icon, 44, and his Hi-5 star bride, 32, posted a string of videos of their impromptu big day, which took place suddenly in February so Lauren's terminally ill sister-in-law Sandra could attend.

The loved-up couple had confirmed their marriage on A Current Affair, where they also revealed they were expecting their third child; another baby boy.

Just married! AFL legend Barry Hall and his new wife Lauren Brant have shared a glimpse into their wedding after secretly tying the knot back in February

After the episode aired, Lauren shared a video from the day of the ceremony where she flashed her sentimental wedding ring to the camera.

'We just got married! And I got Sandy's 21st ring on...' Lauren said in the footage.

She also shared a video of the newlyweds standing on the back of her brother Tyron's car, while Felix Mendelssohn's Wedding March played in the background.

Tragically, Sandra died from the disease just two weeks later on March 4.

After discussing her untimely death on the Channel Nine show, Lauren shared a sweet tribute to her 'angel' Sandra alongside images of the wedding on Instagram.

The caption read: 'In amidst the twilight of heartache, hopelessness and suffering, we found the purest joy, a transformational discovery.

Newlyweds: On Monday, the Sydney Swans icon, 44, and his Hi-5 star bride, 32, posted a string of videos of their impromptu wedding day, which took place suddenly in February so Lauren's terminally ill sister-in-law Sandra could attend as maid of honour

Joy: She also shared a video of the newlyweds standing on the back of her brother's car, while Felix Mendelssohn's Wedding March played in the background

'February 17, 2021. Barry and I married, completely engulfed in [nothing but] LOVE. A moment so true, time stood still - souls together, silently understanding that LOVE is transcendental. That it is all that matters and all we have.

'May our Angel Sandra, rest in peace - as we always remember her joy in celebrating us - as the Maid of Honour.'

Barry also shared a tribute on his own Instagram page, writing: 'Proud to now call you my wife @laurenbrant.

Bittersweet: Sandra was able to be Lauren's maid of honour at the wedding - which took place two weeks before her tragic death on March 4

'Sad circumstance but such a happy day with our Sandy by your side. Ahhhh and of course now we can also say boy number 3 is on the way. Cant wait for whats ahead! Love you.'

After learning Sandra would not be able to beat the disease, Barry proposed to Lauren beside her hospital bed and she was asked to be maid of honour.

Before her death, she learned the incredible news that she had another nephew on the way to join Barry and Lauren's two sons Houston, two, and Miller, four.

Sandra and her husband Tyron - Lauren's brother - were high school sweethearts, and share two children together; Connor and Allegra.

After the shock cancer diagnosis in 2019, she had been officially declared cancer free in March 2020 - but found out that the disease had returned just months later.

Another one on the way: Barry and Lauren also confirmed they're expecting their third child, a baby boy. They are already proud parents to sons Houston, two, and Miller, four (pictured)

Prior to the emotional episode airing, Lauren urged her Instagram followers to trust their gut and see a doctor if they notice any unusual physical changes in their bodies.

'The symptoms are NOT obvious They can be a persistent "niggle" that takes your life,' she wrote.

'If you are fighting cancer, survived cancer or know someone who's life it took, please SHARE THE SYMPTOMS below to help spread the awareness.

'Friends - no matter how minor your symptom is, get a second opinion, get all the tests - do not feel embarrassed or "over the top"! It's your health, your body to look after.'
She recently sold her 8million Primrose Hill Mansion that she used to share with ex-husband Jude Law.

And Sadie Frost was spotted on Monday in casual attire, house-hunting for a new property in North London.

The actress, who kept it laid-back in a purple hoodie and pale blue joggers, visited two properties that were much smaller than her previous home.

House-hunting: Sadie Frost was spotted house-hunting in the rain on Monday after sharing her fondest memories of The House of Sin - the 8m Primrose Hill mansion she recently sold

The 56-year-old wasn't put off by the rain as she looked for a new property in a north London neighbourhood.

The house-hunting comes after the mother-of-four threw a farewell party when she sold her 8million Primrose Hill mansion a few weeks ago.

Sadie has revealed some of her fondest memories of the family home that was a magnet for the stars  and dubbed The House Of Sin.

Next chapter: The actress, who used to share her old home with ex-husband Jude Law, wasn't put off by the rain as she looked for a new property in a north London neighbourhood

Praising it for being 'the best house to raise my bubas'  not to mention a base for the Primrose Hill Set, Sadie said: 'Once the Kings Of Leon did a mini impromptu gig on the climbing frame' and 'Rhys Ifans lived in the Wendy house'.

She bought the house with ex-husband Jude Law, who she was married to for six years before divorcing him in 2003. She added that Florence Welsh, of Florence And The Machine fame, sang around her kitchen table at the six-bedroom Victorian villa named Steeles.

Friend Meg Matthews, ex-wife of Noel Gallagher, advised the mum of five to keep the memories 'for our eyes only'.

To be fair to Sadie, she left out any mention of what the house was most famous for... celebrity wife swapping!

Sadie revealed some of her fondest memories of the family home that was a magnet for the stars  and dubbed The House Of Sin

The mother-of-four threw a farewell party when she sold her 8million Primrose Hill mansion a few weeks ago

Sadie also shared a throwback of her as a vampire with her 73,000 Instagram followers on Sunday.

She starred in Bram Stoker's Dracula back in 1992 and it has been described as her most memorable film appearance.

'Sometimes i like to remind myself i was a vampire once and everything is possible .. #happysunday' she wrote.
Courtney Stodden has made some big changes in the wake of the Chrissy Teigen cyberbullying scandal.

The 26-year-old social media personality - who identifies as non-binary, using pronouns them/they - looked unrecognizable as they took to Instagram to post a make-up free selfie featuring a new haircut.

As Courtney's platinum blonde bombshell locks were the star's signature look, they changed it up with a medium-length bob in a much darker hue.

Wow factor: Courtney Stodden looked unrecognizable as they took to Instagram to post a make-up free selfie featuring a new bob haircut

Not a swipe of make-up was worn on Stodden's usually glammed up face as the star puckered up in the mirror selfie.

The stunner also went braless in a white cropped top with 'Hawaii' written across the chest along with tiny black shorts as their bellybutton piercing was proudly on display.

Courtney captioned the snap to their 315K followers: 'New hair who dis? #bobhaircut #naturalhair #nomakeup *ignore the busted manicure [manicure and rolling with tears in eyes laughing emojis]'

Last week Stodden said that they would like to be a part of the rumored Meghan Markle-style interview between Oprah Winfrey and Chrissy Teigen to discuss her cyber-bullying scandal.

'New hair who dis?': The 26-year-old social media personality - who identifies as non-binary, using pronouns them/they - posted the snap in the wake of the Chrissy Teigen cyberbullying scandal

Courtney brought up past tweets from 2011 where Teigen told the former teen bride to commit suicide, prompting others to come forward.

Last Saturday, when arriving for a racy club performance in Downtown Los Angeles, Courtney, 26, said they would consider appearing alongside Chrissy and Oprah if it could help 'save lives' of those affected by bullying.

'I think that would really be interesting... Oprah has a really big platform, and I think if it helps save lives, by me sharing my story I would consider it,' the ex Celebrity Big Brother star said.

Courtney added: 'I think that it's important to be kind in this world. There's been so much meanness, and a lot of deflecting, so I would consider it, yeah. If it [would] help people.'

Can Oprah save Chrissy? Last week, it was rumored that Teigen 'wants an interview with Winfrey to save her reputation' amid growing cyber-bullying scandal

Sources told Rob Shuter's Naughty But Nice podcast earlier this month that while Chrissy, 35, is 'being advised to go into hiding and lay low' the wife of John Legend allegedly has been plotting a sit-down chat with Oprah.

'Chrissy is in talks with Oprah to do a Meghan Markle sit-down type interview and tell her truth,' a source has claimed. 'Chrissy is a fighter and believes that she is such an excellent communicator that there isnt a mess she cant talk her way out of!'

Teigen wrote a blog post to apologize for her past bullying tweets including one which told then-16-year-old Courtney Stodden to commit suicide.

DailyMail.com has reached out to representatives for Teigen to comment.

'I think that would be interesting': Last Saturday, when arriving for a racy club performance in Downtown Los Angeles , Courtney, 26, said they would consider appearing alongside Chrissy and Oprah if it could help 'save lives' of those affected by bullying, as she is seen in a social media post from last week

The sources add: 'Every news outlet in the world has contacted Chrissy about getting her first on-camera interview, but Oprah is her first choice. If Oprah can forgive Chrissy, then so can the nation.'

Meanwhile, Teigen's mea culpa this week has only only served to cause more controversy, after Project Runway's Michael Costello came forward to say he had 'thoughts of suicide' after alleged bullying from the star.

The 35-year-old model took to Medium on Monday morning to write a lengthy post in which she admitted to being a 'troll' and an 'a**hole' while insisting that she is 'no longer that person.'

She has come under fire in recent weeks for cruel posts on Twitter aimed at Stodden, Lindsay Lohan, Quvenzhane Wallis, and others.

Glam: Stodden is seen in February 2019 at a gala event in Hollywood

In 2011, Teigen published a barrage of tweets telling then-16-year-old Stodden, who had just married 50-year-old actor Doug Hutchison, to 'go to sleep forever'.

Stodden said this was only part of the picture, saying Teigen would also 'privately DM me and tell me to kill myself.'

Stodden incurred relentless bullying both publicly and in private from Teigen, who tweeted at the then-teen in 2011: 'My Friday fantasy: you. dirt nap. mmmmmm baby', followed by: 'go. to sleep. forever.'

Old tweets from 2013 have also resurfaced in which she described nine-year-old Oscar nominee Wallis as 'cocky' and called Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham, then 21, a 'wh***'.

Teigen apologized to Stodden last month, but the television personality, who identifies as non-binary, questioned the sincerity of the apology.

Teigen began by writing: 'Hi all. It has been a VERY humbling few weeks.'

'I won't ask for your forgiveness, only your patience and tolerance,' Teigen wrote

Earlier this month, Abraham, 30, said Teigen needs professional help over her 'highly disturbing' past tweets, and calls her an 'unfit person in society.'

'It's really just a pathetic statement after someone has gone to therapy publicly for sex shaming, working through my own depression, bereavement, and vulnerabilities at that time,' Abraham told Fox News.

In her Medium post, Teigen wrote that she plans to reach out personally to the other celebrities she insulted.

Relentless: In one tweet Teigen told the non-binary reality star to 'take a dirt nap,' which is slang for death

Hatred: In another tweet she told Stodden 'I hate you,' and insinuated that drugs must be responsible for her affected speech

'Lindsay [Lohan] adds a few more slits to her wrists when she sees emma stone,' read the tweet dated January 16 2011

'Lindsay [Lohan] adds a few more slits to her wrists when she sees emma stone,' read the tweet dated January 16 2011

Amid the backlash, Teigen has been dropped by several companies, including Safely, the cleaning brand she founded with Kris Jenner; Macy's; Target; and Bloomingdale's.

The large retailers have removed her line of Cravings cookware from its shelves. Teigen has also pulled out of Netflix's Never Have I Ever.

Teigen was slated to be one of the guest narrators for the series, co-created by Mindy Kaling, but is exiting the gig amid the fallout following her cyberbullying scandal.

Vitriolic: Teigen shared this tweet about Farrah in 2013

Under pressure: After the barrage of tweets came to light and people called for the model to be 'canceled' she issued an apology to Stodden

Teigen began by writing: 'Hi all. It has been a VERY humbling few weeks.

'I know Ive been quiet, and lord knows you dont want to hear about me, but I want you to know Ive been sitting in a hole of deserved global punishment, the ultimate "sit here and think about what youve done",' the supermodel wrote.

'Not a day, not a single moment has passed where I havent felt the crushing weight of regret for the things Ive said in the past.'

Teigen has been the target of backlash since abusive tweets by the star, originally made in 2011, resurfaced online, including one that urged a then 16-year-old Stodden to kill themselves.

Interesting: Recently Project Runway's Michael Costello (seen in June 2018) came forward to say he had 'thoughts of suicide' after alleged bullying from the star

Lohan was also the subject of an insensitive post by Teigen. A tweet from January 2011 read: 'Lindsay adds a few more slits to her wrists when she sees emma stone'

The tweet was shared by user @Leyton last month.

'I was a troll, full stop. And I am so sorry,' Teigen writes in her Medium post from Monday.

She added: 'There is simply no excuse for my past horrible tweets. My targets didnt deserve them. No one does.

Moving on: 'I accept her apology and forgive her. But the truth remains the same, I have never heard from her or her camp in private,' Stodden wrote last month after the scandal broke

'Many of them needed empathy, kindness, understanding and support, not my meanness masquerading as a kind of casual, edgy humor.'

Teigen continued: 'When I first started using social media, I had so much fun with it.

'I made jokes, random observations. Think of all the engineers, working day and night to develop this amazing new platform and technology, connecting people all over the world to learn, create, and find kindred spirits.

'And I used it to snark at some celebrities.'

Under fire: Teigen wrote a blog post to apologize for her past bullying tweets including one which told then-16-year-old Courtney Stodden to commit suicide

Teigen writes that her tweets were borne out of being 'insecure, immature and in a world where I thought I needed to impress strangers to be accepted.'

'If there was a pop culture pile-on, I took to Twitter to try to gain attention and show off what I at the time believed was a crude, clever, harmless quip,' she wrote.

'I thought it made me cool and relatable if I poked fun at celebrities.'

Teigen wrote that when she is now confronted with some of her past posts, 'I cringe to my core.'
Love Island beauties Francesca Allen and Belle Hassan looked sensational as they attended the Boohoo launch party alongside Chris Hughes in London on Monday.

Francesca, 23, turned heads as she paired statement fuchsia trousers with a midriff-baring yellow crop top that showcased her toned frame.

She completed the look with a pair of white trainers and beamed on her way into the event.

Turning heads: Francesca Allen put on a stylish display as she stepped out in pink trousers to attend the Boohoo launch party in London on Monday

Francesca styled her hair in a sleek straight style and kept her tresses away from her face with some sweet baby pink clips.

She accessorised with a pair of eye-catching heart-shaped hoop earrings, a gold charm bracelet and a pinky ring.

The brunette beauty toted an enviable Fendi cross-body bag with their signature logo pattern in multiple colours.

Stepping out: Francesca's fellow Love Island co-star Belle Hassan, 22, also attended the Boohoo party and opted for a busty nude body suit for the event

Trendy: Chris Hughes, 28, looked trendy in a pair of ripped jeans teamed with a white T-shirt and trainers

Francesca's fellow Love Island star Belle, 22, also attended the Boohoo party and opted for a busty nude body suit for the event, as did Chris, 28, who also opted for ripped jeans.

Belle put on a cheeky display as she styled the skin tight top with a pair of light blue jeans, which featured rips on both knees and on the bum.

The blonde styled her golden tresses in rippling waves and let her hair freely cascade around her shoulders as she walked.

Stylish: The Love Island star, 23, paired statement fuchsia trousers with a midriff-baring yellow crop top that showcased her toned frame

Summer style: She completed the look with an enviable Fendi cross body bag and beamed on her way into the event

Belle appeared upbeat as she threw out a peace sign at onlookers while walking to the event with a white striped blazer over her arm.

She completed the stylish ensemble with a nude shoulders bag and kept herself hydrated with a large bottle of water.

Belle completed her evening outfit with a gold pendant necklace and a matching watch as she put on a sultry display in the plunging top.

The pair's outing comes as the new series of Love Island is set to kick off on Monday evening.

Curves: Belle put on a cheeky display as she styled the skin tight top with a pair of light blue jeans, which featured rips on both knees and on the bum

Ready to party: Belle appeared upbeat as she threw out a peace sign at onlookers while walking to the event with a white striped blazer over her arm

Finishing touches: Belle completed her evening outfit with a gold pendant necklace and a matching watch as she put on a sultry display in the plunging top

Francesca took part in the 2019 series and enjoyed a brief romance with Curtis Pritchard before being booted off.

Last week, Francesca admitted she didn't trust the producers of the show and felt like she's been thrown in the deep end.

She said to the Mirror: 'Erm... Do you know what, I do think when you first go in there you get thrown into the deep end, it's a whole other world and it's trying on your mind.

'It's very peculiar, you're in another little world, you have your phone taken off you, you have no friends and no family there.

She added that it was a 'play on your mental state' but eventually said she would do the show again as it made her 'grow up a lot'.

Iconic: Francesca took part in the 2019 series of Love Island, appearing as a bombshell midway through the series alongside Chris Taylor (pictured)

Belle also appeared on the 2019 series where she had a relationship with Anton Danyluk.

It was reported that Anton and Belle called it quits just five weeks after leaving the villa as she believed the hunk was 'disrespecting' their relationship.

A source told The Sun at the time: 'Belle has seen all the pictures and videos of Anton in Ibiza and now just wants out. She feels he's disrespecting their relationship and can't see him changing his ways.'
She leads a busy life as a mother, television personality, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.

So no doubt Bethenny Frankel was in need of a relaxing day.

The 50-year-old Skinnygirl founder enjoyed a day at the beach with her 11-year-old daughter Bryn in The Hamptons on Saturday.

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Rest and relaxation: Bethenny Frankel took time away from her career as a television personality, entrepreneur, and philanthropist

Bond: The 50-year-old Skinnygirl founder enjoyed a day at the beach with her 11-year-old daughter Bryn in The Hamptons on Saturday

Bethenny looked in incredible shape as she sported a white floral-patterned bikini for the day of fun in the sun on eastern Long Island's South Fork in New York.

The Real Housewives Of New York City alum arrived in a pair of Daisy Dukes and large straw hat.

She accessorized with aviator shades featuring mirrored lenses, a watch, and her engagement ring featuring a huge diamond.

Her brunette tresses were tucked into her headwear as she showed off her natural looks by going make-up free.

Wow factor: Bethenny looked in incredible shape as she sported a white floral-patterned bikini for the day of fun in the sun on eastern Long Island's South Fork in New York

Country vibes: The Real Housewives Of New York City alum arrived in a pair of Daisy Dukes and large straw hat

In the details: She accessorized with aviator shades featuring mirrored lenses, a watch, and her engagement ring featuring a huge diamond

She had her hands full as she lugged along two straw beach mats along with along with a colorful Mexican serape tote bag.

Meanwhile, Frankel has been doing a lot of good as her BStrong Foundation continued its effort to raise funds for victims and displaced residents of the deadly building collapse in South Florida, while also providing much-needed supplies and temporary housing.

By the early evening on Saturday, Frankel took to her Instagram page to announce the non-profit has already received donations totaling more than '$250,000 and counting.'

On-the-go: Her brunette tresses were tucked into her headwear as she showed off her natural looks by going make-up free

Juggling act: She had her hands full as she lugged along two straw beach mats along with along with a colorful Mexican serape tote bag

Sadly, 152 people remain missing since the Champlain Towers South building came down in the early hours of Thursday morning. Nine deaths have been confirmed so far.

The Real Housewives Of New York City alum began the update by revealing BStrong has been in direct contact with the families who have been evacuated.

Those in need are receiving aid in the form of $1500 per family.

'We have been doing distributions all day, and in addition we have survival kits, and all of this is thanks to you and thanks to the donations,' Frankel said of the relief effort.

Big heart: Frankel gave an update on the ongoing relief effort of her disaster relief foundation, BStrong, on Saturday night

Making a difference: Frankel announced BStrong had received $250,000 in donations

She and her team are also securing housing for those now homeless due to the sudden collapse of about 55 of the 136 units at the building that's just a few miles north of Miami Beach.

The BStrong program became active in disaster relief efforts in 2017, and has since been at the forefront of a number of tragedies following natural disasters during the last few years.

Officials have not determined the exact cause of the collapse. It is expected to take time, since investigators aren't expected to do an extensive search of the rubble until the rescue mission has concluded.

Direct assistance: People are being urged to donate whatever they can, and that '100% of your donation will go towards cash cards to be distributed directly to the victims'
Bella Hadid cut a typically stylish figure when she stepped out in Paris on Monday, flashing her taut midriff in a chic black jumpsuit.

Wearing her glossy brunette hair loose, the runway star, 24, added height to her frame in black pointed boots and teamed her look with a trendy pair of orange tinted sunglasses.

Bella's lace bra could be seen peeking out beneath her gorgeous one-piece, and on her right shoulder she toted a luxury black designer handbag.

Chic: Bella Hadid, 24, cut a typically stylish figure when she stepped out in Paris on Monday, flashing her taut midriff in a black jumpsuit

The brunette beauty made sure to wear a black facemask in keeping with pandemic protocol, and accessorised with a beautiful gold bracelet worn on her left wrist.

The outfit featured racy cut-out panels above the waist which teased her toned midriff.

She was also sporting an immaculate, pale pink manicure.

In her right hand, Bella clutched her phone, making sure she was ready to share photos of her European adventures with her 43.6million Instagram followers.

Bella was joined by Jacquemus founder Simon Porte Jacquemus, who she greeted with a kiss on the cheek.

It comes as Bella and her sister Gigi, whose father Mohamed is a Palestinian born in Nazareth, waded controversially into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict last month.

Boots: Wearing her glossy brunette hair loose, the runway star added height to her frame in black pointed boots

Pandemic protocol: Bella made sure to wear a black face mask when she stepped out at the beginning of the week in keeping with pandemic protocol

Friends: Bella was joined by Jacquemus founder Simon Porte Jacquemus (pictured), who she greeted with a kiss on the cheek

Trendy: Jacquemus looked typically trendy in camouflage cargo shorts teamed with a lime green jumper

Keeping comfy: The designer, 31, opted for comfort in a pair of white trainers teamed with ankle-high white socks

Lace: Bella's lace bra could be seen peeking out beneath her gorgeous one-piece, and on her right shoulder she toted a luxury black designer handbag

Trendy: Bella teamed her look with a trendy pair of orange tinted sunglasses as she strolled through the French capital

Bella was accused of antisemitism after posting cartoons denouncing Israel, which she has since deleted from her Instagram.

The post, which Gigi liked, argued that Israel was 'not a country' and accused the Jewish State of 'ethnic cleansing, military occupation and apartheid.'

Bella preempted allegations of bigotry by posting a clip of Bernie Sanders arguing: 'It is not anti-Semitic to be critical of a right-wing government in Israel.'

French adventures: In her right hand, Bella clutched her phone, making sure she was ready to share photos of her European adventures with her 43.6million Instagram followers

Fresh-faced: Bella stepped out make-up free on Monday and looked fresh-faced while running errands

All in the details: On her right wrist, the supermodel wore a beautiful, chunky gold bracelet and was rocking a fresh manicure

Bootcut: Bella's striking black jumpsuit also featured a bootcut style and showcased her gym-honed physique

'Hate from either side is not okay - I do not condone it!!' wrote Bella.

'I will not stand to hear people talk badly about Jewish people through all of this.'

Gigi also wrote on her Instagram: 'One cannot advocate for racial equality, LGBT & women's rights, condemn corrupt and abusive regimes and other injustices yet choose to ignore the Palestinian oppression. It does not add up. You cannot pick and choose whose human rights matter more.'

Bella also found herself in hot water when she went Live on Instagram from a pro-Palestinian protest in New York City.

She filmed herself chanting the popular Palestinian slogan: 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!' along with other protestors.

The State Of Israel directly condemned her on its official Twitter account writing: 'When celebrities like @BellaHadid advocate for throwing Jews into the sea, they are advocating for the elimination of the Jewish State.'

Palestinian roots: The daughter of Palestinian real estate developed Mohamed and former Real Housewife Yolanda Hadid was slammed for after sharing a now-deleted post that said Israel wasn't a country

Dangerous rhetoric: It was said that her post inflamed the very fraught geopolitical situation and contributed to rising anti-semitism on a global scale

Firing back: Sister Gigi Hadid also was accused of anti-semitism on social media, to which she responded by posting a screen grab of her comments section
She's usually seen serving up her stylish looks on the streets of Manhattan.

But Nicky Hilton adapted perfectly on Monday when she revealed a lovely poolside look amid her vacation in Ischia, Italy.

The 37-year-old sister of Paris Hilton showed off a winning smile in a new Instagram photo of herself relaxing in an elegant black-and-white one-piece bathing suit.

Bathing beauty: Nicky Hilton, 37, grinned ear-to-ear in a stylish black-and-white striped one-piece swimsuit while vacationing on the island of Ischia in Italia on Monday

Nicky's eye-catching yet modest suit was cut low at the top in a pattern with thick black-and-white horizontal stripes.

It had a thick black band emphasizing her slim waist and hourglass figure, plus bottoms with a smaller striped pattern.

The heiress protected herself against the sun with a floppy black hat over her blond tresses and a pair of chunky black sunglasses.

She had a refreshing orange-tinted drink in one hand and crossed her arms over her body.

Pretty in pink: Nicky tagged the island in her Instagram Stories while posting a photo of her feet in cute pink flats tied with drawstrings, which were framed against a tile floor

Paradise: Another photo featured a stunning view of the sun-dappled island and a bay with clear blue water

Nicky was sitting on the side of a powder blue lounge chair at the side of a pool which appeared to be on the side of a cliff overlooked by a large red-brick building.

'Ciao Italia!' she captioned the photo, adding an Italian flag emoji and tagging her location as Ischia.

The volcanic island is a popular tourist destination thanks to its scenic beauty, hot springs and volcanic mud, and its proximity to Naples.

Nicky tagged the island again in her Instagram Stories on Monday while posting a photo of her feet in cute pink flats tied with drawstrings, which were framed against a tile floor covered in intricate floral designs.

Another photo featured a stunning view of the sun-dappled island and a bay with clear blue water.

She's a fan: The daughter of Kathy Hilton snapped a picture of a sky banner reading, 'Max Mara Loves Ischia.' She has previously been seen in clothing from the Italian fashion label

Yum! Nicky gave her 1.2 million followers a taste of some food porn with a closeup of her cannoli meal augmented with fruit

The daughter of Kathy Hilton snapped a picture of a sky banner reading, 'Max Mara Loves Ischia.'

She has previously been seen in clothing from the Italian fashion label.

Nicky gave her 1.2 million followers a taste of some food porn with a closeup of her cannoli meal augmented with fruit.

It wasn't clear if she was traveling solo or with her family, as her husband James Rothschild, 36, and their children Lily-Grace, four, and Teddy, three, weren't pictured.

Shocked: Earlier this week, Nicky admitted on Watch What Happens Live that she was devastated when she learned her mother Kathy Hilton had joined The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills

Earlier this week, Nicky admitted to Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live that she was emotionally devastated when she learned that her mother Kathy Hilton had joined the cast of season 11 of The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills.

'Do you want to admit something I've never admitted in my life, besides to my husband? When I found out, I cried,' she said.

Kathy, 62, looked shocked at the news.

'Well I knew you weren't happy! But what about now?' she asked.

'I've come around, but I cried,' Nicky said, though she was able to laugh about it with some distance. 'I was very worried but I have been pleasantly surprised.'

She added, 'I watch the show. I watch all of them! So I witness the craziness.'

Nicky, who was bartending for the episode, revealed that she had denied that her mother would be on the show because she had turned it down so many times before, only to be shocked when she learned in the press that her Kathy had finally given in.

'I didn't talk to my mom for a few days,' said Nicky. 'I love the show. I am a huge fan. But if someone were to ask me, "Do you want your mother on it?" No!'
She recalled the terrible recurring dream she started experiencing after attending the Provo Canyon School in her documentary This Is Paris.

But after recalling the horrors of her alleged experience at the school in the film and beginning her advocate work, Paris Hilton says she no longer experiences nightmares.

'I used to have very bad insomnia, but ever since I did my documentary and I've been doing all of my work for my cause to help the children, it's been so healing that I don't have nightmares anymore,' the heiress, 40, told WSJ. Magazine.

'It's been so healing': Paris Hilton says she no longer suffers from insomnia and nightmares after releasing her deeply personal documentary This Is Paris last year

In her interview, Paris says she has also learned to be embrace time at home during the pandemic despite otherwise being quite the social butterfly.

'I learned that I can stay home, that I don't need to be everywhere, because I've always been one of those people who needs to be everywhere and then I have FOMO. I've learned that I don't need to be at every single event, I can just be at home. Also, just getting so much work done with the technology we have available, I just feel like I've saved so much time. I can literally do 20 Zooms in one day, get a week's worth of work done in one day.'

The heiress, who is engaged to entrepreneur Carter Reum, also said she was struggling to book a wedding venue for her upcoming nuptials.

Speaking of her upcoming Peacock docuseries Paris In Love, which follows her journey down the aisle, she told the magazine: 'It's very stressful because so many wedding venues have been booked up because of what happened during the pandemic; a lot of weddings had to be rescheduled. So every venue that I want is basically booked.'

'It's very stressful': The heiress, who is engaged to entrepreneur Carter Reum, also said she was struggling to book a wedding venue for her upcoming nuptials

The interview comes nearly a year after Paris described the alleged abuse she endured while attending the Provo Canyon School as a teenager.

The heiress started started suffering from insomnia and nightmares afterwards.

'I always have this recurring nightmare no matter what I do. I'm in bed and these two people come into my room and say, "Do you want this to happen the easy way or the hard way?" Paris recalled in her documentary. 'I try and just run.'

'I knew it was going to be worse than anywhere else': The interview comes nearly a year after Paris described the alleged abuse she endured while attending the Provo Canyon School as a teenager

Paris spent 11 months at Provo Canyon, the last in a series of schools her parents enrolled her in, which focused on behavioral and mental development.

She told People: 'I knew it was going to be worse than anywhere else... It was supposed to be a school, but [classes] were not the focus at all.'

'From the moment I woke up until I went to bed, it was all day screaming in my face, yelling at me, continuous torture.'

'Continuous torture': Hilton, pictured June 2021, recalled the alleged horrors she endured in her candid documentary

The House of Wax actress continued: 'The staff would say terrible things. They were constantly making me feel bad about myself and bully me. I think it was their goal to break us down.

'And they were physically abusive, hitting and strangling us. They wanted to instill fear in the kids so we'd be too scared to disobey them.'

'You couldn't trust anyone there,' she said of a classmate who snitched on her for trying to escape.

Isolation: Paris said she was subsequently placed in solitary confinement as punishment: 'They would use that as punishment, sometimes 20 hours a day'

Paris said she was subsequently placed in solitary confinement as punishment: 'They would use that as punishment, sometimes 20 hours a day.'

Three of her former classmates from Provo Canyon also appear in the documentary, making similar allegations, including the use of restraints and being force-fed medication.

She added: 'I was having panic attacks and crying every single day. I was just so miserable. I felt like a prisoner and I hated life.'

Paris said she never told her parents: 'I didn't really get to speak to my family, maybe once every two or three months. We were cut off from the outside world. And when I tried to tell them once, I got in so much trouble I was scared to say it again.

'I didn't want to speak of it': The Stars Are Blind artist left the school in 1999, after she turned 18

'They would grab the phone or rip up letters I wrote telling me, 'No one is going to believe you.' And the staff would tell the parents that the kids were lying. So my parents had no idea what was going on.'

The Stars Are Blind artist left the school in 1999, after she turned 18, recalling: 'I was so grateful to be out of there, I didn't even want to bring it up again. It was just something I was ashamed of and I didn't want to speak of it.'

Upon the This Is Paris' release in September, Provo denied the star's abuse allegations, also claiming they had fallen under new management and thus were not liable for any previous wrongdoing, as per TODAY.

In February, Paris testified about the 'traumatizing' abuse she says she endured at the school while speaking at the Utah Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee in favor of the bill that would require more government oversight of youth residential treatment centers and require them to document when they use restraints.

The measure passed out of committee unanimously following testimony from Paris and other survivors.

The bill was signed by Utah Governor Spencer Cox in March, and Paris returned in April for a ceremonial bill signing.
She shocked her fans Sunday night at the BET Awards when she announced she was expecting her second child.

And Cardi B shared some stunning pregnancy photos on Monday, including a steamy photo of herself topless with her husband Offset, 29.

'We listened to each other, communicated, prayed and then God blessed us and our family with another little blessing,' she captioned her post, referencing how she's worked on her marriage with the rapper after a turbulent few years.

Baby love: Cardi B, 28, shared a stunning topless photo on Monday featuring her husband Offset caressing her growing baby bump. She announced her second pregnancy Sunday at the BET Awards

'Our home feels so blissful and very busy but we are ready and so happy!! Thank you soo much everyone for the congrats and well wishes.' she added.

The 28-year-old WAP rapper covered her chest with her hands as the Migos member gently kissed her neck.

Cardi appeared to only be wearing a set of mauve panties, which were partially hidden behind her husbands hands.

Sweet: Cardi's two-year-old daughter Kulture looked excited to meet her little sister in a sweet photo showing her resting a hand on her mother's tummy

He cradled her burgeoning tummy as she closed her eyes.

The Bodak Yellow rapper had her raven locks styled in an ornate updo, and she wore thick dangling gold earrings and matching gold bracelets.

In another snap, Cardi's two-year-old daughter Kulture looked excited to meet her little sister while her resting a hand on her mother's tummy.

She was dressed in flowing white robes, though Cardi wore a more risque look with a cut-out to highlight her stomach, a high slit showcasing her legs, and a criss-crossing halter top over her chest.

Show-stealer: Cardi revealed her pregnancy at Sunday's BET Awards when she rapped a verse during Migos' performance of Type S***. She emerged in a stunning jeweled bodysuit, which featured a sheer panel over her midriff that revealed her pregnant tummy

Both women wore white head wraps, but Cardi's was enormous and appeared to stand two feet above her head.

'I just know these two will love each other soo much and argue soo much since they're 3 years apart...just like me and Henny,' the hitmaker wrote, giving a nod to her younger sister Hennessy Carolina, 25. 'But one thing for sure is they'll have each others back like no one else ever will.'

Cardi first revealed her pregnancy to viewers of Sunday night's BET Awards when she made a surprise appearance for a guest verse during Migos' performance of their hit song Type S***.

She emerged from a cloud of smoke in a stunning jeweled bodysuit, which featured a sheer panel over her midriff that revealed her pregnant tummy.

Shortly afterward, she shared a nude photo of herself with her torso covered in a plaster cast to confirm the pregnancy.

'#2!' she captioned it with a heart while tagging Offset (real name: Kiari Cephus)

It's official: Shortly afterward, she shared a nude photo of herself with her torso covered in a plaster cast to confirm the pregnancy

Cardi (given name: Belcalis Almanzar) and the Migos member began their relationship in early 2017, and they were engaged by October of that year.

In July 2018, it was reported that the couple had actually gotten married a month prior to their public proposal, which Cardi later confirmed.

She announced her first pregnancy in April 2018 while performing as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, and the happy parents welcomed baby Kulture in July of that year.

Rocky road: Cardi married Offset secretly in September 2017, but they've split at least twice, with Cardi filing for divorce in September 2020, only to change her mind months later

The couple have had a rocky relationship, as Cardi separated from Offset in December 2018 over infidelities.

However, the two were back together within months, yet they appeared ready to part again in September of last year when Cardi filed for divorce, only for them to reunite again months later.

In December 2019, the Invasion Of Privacy rapper opened up to Vogue about how her fans reacted to her marital difficulties.

'If you love somebody and you stop being with them, and youre depressed and social media is telling you not to talk to that person because he cheated, youre not really happy on the inside until you have the conversation,' she explained.

'Then, if you get back with them, its like, "How could you? You let all of us down."

'When I was pregnant with Kulture, a lot of people was like, "Oh, he has three kids already; why would you have a kid with somebody that have three kids?" And its like, how is that such a bad thing?' she continued.

'My dad has eight kids, and we all get along, and it feels better, fuller. And with Offset, I feel like his kids just bring a pop of fun to life when theyre in his house. I actually love it. It brings out a different side of him that I like to see, and I love to see my baby interacting with her siblings. The more the merrier.'
There are some criminals even Detective Elliot Stabler to control.

Christopher Meloni, 60, shared a snap of the hilarious belated Father's Day gift given to him by his daughter Sophia, 20, on Sunday.

The gift was clearly worth the wait as the Law & Order star declared the framed tweet about a 2007 parenting fail the 'best gift ever.'

Too funny! Christopher Meloni, 60, shared a snap of the hilarious belated Father's Day gift given to him by his daughter Sophia, 20, of a framed tweet of his 2007 parenting fail

'Belated Fathers Day gift from @sophiaemeloni,' he penned with the hashtag '#BestGiftEver.'

Sophia, one of the SVU actor's two children, posed for a photo with her pop holding up the gift - a framed Twitter exchange about Meloni.

Author Rebecca Makkhai recently asked followers to send her their 'very best' celebrity sightings and she got a doozy about the TV detective.

'I saw Chris Meloni, one of the toughest tough guys on television, failing to control two toddlers at a brunch at Columbus Circle circa 2007,' responded film critic Matt Zoller Seitz.

Jokes! Sophia printed and framed a tweet about her dad not being able to 'control' his toddlers back in 2007 and for good measure, added a snap of her younger brother from when they were little

Sophia captured the amazing exchange and had it printed and framed. For good measure, she added a blurb at the bottom that read 'The toddlers in question?' with a cut out photo of she and her younger brother from when they were little.

Meloni shares Sophia and 17-year-old Dante whom he shares with his wife Sherman Williams.

Recently, the actor delighted legions of longtime Stabler stans by returning to the Law & Order franchise in a new show, Law & Order: Organized Crime.

Back in action: Recently, the actor delighted legions of longtime Stabler stans by returning to the Law & Order franchise in a new show, Law & Order: Organized Crime

Elliot Stabler reunites with his former partner Olivia Benson, played by real life best friend Mariska Hargitay, in the crime drama alongside actor Dylan McDermott.

The series, from creator Dick Wolf, premiered on NBC in April and wrapped up its first season earlier in June.

Meloni portrayed hardline-with-a-big-heart detective Detective Elliot Stabler for 12 seasons in Law & Order: SVU, which premiered in 1999. He began reprising his role on the series in guest appearances in season 22 and then in his own spin-off.

Law & Order: SVU was renewed for its 24th season, becoming the longest running live action show in history.
Olivia Wilde was seen for the first time after her ex Jason Sudeikis confirmed his 'secret' romance with Keeley Hazell.

The 37-year-old actress was seen out with the two kids she shares with Sudeikis - son Otis, six, and daughter Daisy, four - in New York City on Sunday.

This comes amid new exclusive images obtained by DailyMail.com, in which the 45-year-old actor and Keeley, 34, were pictured in the same major city over the weekend on Sunday looking every inch the happy couple, putting on a series of PDAs.

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Bond: Olivia Wilde was seen out with the two kids she shares with Jason Sudeikis - son Otis, six, and daughter Daisy, four (pictured) - in New York City on Sunday

The look of love! This came as her 45-year-old ex Sudeikis and confirmed his 'secret' romance Keeley Hazell during PDA-filled date in New York over the weekend in photos exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com

Olivia - who has also moved on with One Direction star Harry Styles, 27 - seemed to be enjoying the day of bonding with her kids as they rode around on scooters in the Big Apple.

The Booksmart director sported a white blouse over skinny grey jeans cropped just above the ankle and white Vans Era sneakers.

She accessorized with large brown designer shades, multiple golds bracelets and a brown leather bag.

Pushing along: Olivia - who has also moved on with One Direction star Harry Styles , 27 - seemed to be enjoying the day of bonding with her kids as they rode around on scooters in the Big Apple, son Otis is shown

Out and about: The Booksmart director sported a white blouse over skinny grey jeans cropped just above the ankle and white Vans Era sneakers

Her signature blonde tresses were pulled back in a ponytail as she let her natural looks show by going make-up free.

Meanwhile her ex Jason's new relationship began after her romance with Styles despite the actor first meeting Keeley while filming Horrible Bosses 2 together in 2014, and are understood to have been friends ever since.

Keeley is known for her career as a glamour model in the UK - having found fame posing topless for The Sun's Page 3, and regularly appearing in men's magazines including FHM, Loaded, Nuts and Zoo Weekly.

Stunning: Her signature blonde tresses were pulled back in a ponytail as she let her natural looks show by going make-up free

She previously dated Little Britain star David Walliams for nine months in 2020.

The new couple sent tongues wagging in March when Jason appeared via Zoom at the Golden Globes to accept the award Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on Ted Lasso.

Eagle-eyed fans noticed that he was in the same living room where Keeley had posed in a recent social media post, sparking speculation they were already living together in London.

Yum: She had her daughter drink a healthy green smoothie on the outing

The relationship is thought to have healed the reported 'heartbreak' that Jason has endured amid his split from Olivia.

While it emerged in November 2020 that Jason and Olivia had separated after seven years together, it was later reported that her relationship with Harry, 27, started as early as October 2020.

Just this month, a source claimed to PageSix that Jason is 'still heartbroken' over the saga.

PDA: Meanwhile, ex-model Keeley was seen grabbing her beau's arm as they crossed a busy street in NYC

Seeing the sights: The pair put on a romantic display of affection as Jason showed Keeley around NYC

'Jason is heartbroken about Olivia and Harry's relationship,' a source claimed to the outlet. 'They're going from strength to strength, and he's still massively upset and, to be honest, is still a little angry.'

It was reported earlier this year that Jason and Keeley had 'grown close' and had been out and about together on several occasions.

Speaking to The Sun, a source claimed: 'Jason has always found Keeley incredibly attractive, and has told pals he's had a crush on her since her Page 3 days.

'When Jason found out about his wife and Harry, Keeley was one of the people whom he turned towards. During this time he was understandably devastated, but she was brilliant and incredibly supportive.'

'He invited her to join him for a dinner with mates in LA, and their flirty banter quickly set tongues wagging. They have met up since, but obviously it's all very early days.'

Former glory: Olivia and her husband Jason Sudeikis announced the end of their relationship in November 2020 after being engaged for seven years; seen at the Oscars in 2016 (Right, Olivia is pictured with Harry Styles)

The source did, however, add that Jason feels it is 'too soon' to get into another relationship and he is in 'no rush' to do so.

Meanwhile, Olivia's relationship with Harry continues to grow stronger - as the pair are understood to have just spent several months together in London.

Last week, Olivia was seen arriving at the San Vicente Bungalows in LA, travelling in Harry's Range Rover.

Jason has also been in London working on season two of his award-winning Apple TV plus series, Ted Lasso, which debuts in July.

Family: Jason shares two children, son Otis, six, and daughter Daisy, four, with ex Olivia, 37 (pictured above in 2018)

On the go: On Monday, Olivia was spotted leaving JFK Airport in New York. The Booksmart director opted for a comfortable ensemble with a black long-sleeve shirt and white sweatpants

Heavy lifting: She carried a brown-and-tan Gucci tote bag along with a black leather duffel bag, while wrapping a navy blueandwhite scarf around her throat. She appeared to have lightened her hair as well

On Monday, Olivia was spotted leaving JFK Airport in New York.

The Booksmart director opted for a comfortable ensemble with a black long-sleeve shirt and white sweatpants.

She carried a brown-and-tan Gucci tote bag along with a black leather duffel bag, while wrapping a navy blueandwhite scarf around her throat.

The actress wore a black cloth mask to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus and covered her hair, which appeared to have been lightened, with a black baseball cap.

Big smile: The actress and director sported a huge smile while grabbing a ride
Amber Tamblyn is recounting her own struggles as a child actor and being managed by her parents, in a new essay supporting Britney Spears.

In an op-ed for The New York Times, Tamblyn - who found fame appearing on General Hospital from 1995 to 2000 and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants film series - discussed the tricky business of having family control your earnings.

'My money paid for our vacations, dinners out, and sometimes even the bills,' she wrote in the piece. 'When it finally came time to disentangle our personal and professional relationships, it was deeply painful for all three of us.'

Spears, 39, currently has no say in her estimated $60million fortune due to being under her conservatorship, and is given a weekly allowance of $2,000.

'I was everyone's ATM': Former child star Amber Tamblyn relates to Britney Spears conservatorship battle in new essay about difficulties of parents managing her money

Tamblyn, 38, revealed that her parents were active as her managers until she got engaged to her now husband David Cross, when she was 28 and he was 48.

Appearing to understand the frustration heard by Spears - who told a Judge last week that she was 'no-one's slave' - Tamblyn said: 'I was everyone's A.T.M.'

Tamblyn was 12 when she started acting, and described herself as being 'a bank' but one that was 'nonetheless, unconditionally loved,' adding: 'Still, as I got older, it got harder to trust the source of that love.'

Work: Amber found fame appearing on General Hospital from 1995 to 2000 and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (above)

Hit movie: The actress was part of the lucrative film franchise, The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants

She was also careful to point out that her parents were 'supportive and ethical in every way,' describing her father as 'fiercely protective advocate.' Still, the business side of things created problems.

'Having my parents on payroll was damaging to our relationship, whether we understood that or not,' Tamblyn explained.

'I couldn't shake the feeling that every time I had a conversation with my parents about money it felt as if I was asking for an allowance  only the allowance came from money I'd earned.'

Protesters gathered in Los Angeles on Wednesday ahead of the eagerly-anticipated hearing

However, she made clear that she did not endure anywhere near the same trauma that Spears has.

'I can see how easy it would have been to slip into those dynamics,' Tamblyn said.

'In these situations, some kind of damage is invariably done - a stunting of the ability of an individual to grow and make the most basic of decisions, or practice good boundaries.'

'When I finally parted professional ways with my parents, they couldn't help but feel as if they had done something wrong. But they hadn't. Money had.'

Spears told a Judge last week that she wants to end her 13-year-long conservatorship that has been controlled by her father Jamie Spears.
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Neel Bhatt, a UW assistant professor of otolaryngology, specializes in treating patients with voice problems. Through his work, he began to realize people did not like the sound of their own voices. With the transition to school over Zoom, many students can relate to the discomfort of hearin
There wasnt any one breaking point that led former state Sen. Alex Kasser to resign from office, Kasser said in an interview. Rather, it was a gradual decision.

I very much wanted to continue being a state senator. I wanted to continue my job. I loved my job, Kasser said in a phone interview Thursday, two days after she resigned, effective immediately.

While her time in the Senate was marked with legislative accomplishments, Kasser has also been engaged in a contentious three-year divorce from her husband, Seth Bergstein, a senior Morgan Stanley executive.

Eventually this divorce litigation became such a drain on my time and energy that I couldnt devote as much of my time and energy to my job as I wanted to and as it deserved, so it was gradual, she said.

Over time the divorce became an overwhelmingly demanding feature of my life, she said, adding that the drain was both emotional and took time and attention.

It took an enormous toll and the fact of the matter is that no matter what I accomplished in terms of legislation, the coverage and the comments were always about my personal life, she said. This was a real barrier to me being able to perform my job for the public.

One political blogger focused significant attention on the personal life of Kasser, who won the seat as Alex Bergstein and changed her name while in office.

Looking ahead, Kasser said, I have to focus my time and energy on this divorce...Theres a trial scheduled for September.

Kasser, who was in her second term as state senator representing all of Greenwich and parts of Stamford and New Canaan, said like many other women she was ultimately forced to choose between her career and her family.

Kassers children are ages 17, 21 and 23. It is too painful to be in Greenwich now that Ive been erased from their lives, just as their father promised would happen if I ever left him, she said in personal statement released with her resignation.

In the interview, she added, My children have always been my priority and they continue to be my priority...I need to be focused on this personal situation before I can resume my professional focus.

Despite that, she rebuffed the notion that her need to focus on her children was a factor in her resignation. Asked during Thursdays phone interview whether her children were proud of her for getting into politics, Kasser replied: not at all.

Kasser said she has not yet moved from Greenwich. She would not say where she and her partner, Nichola Samponaro, will move  other than that she does not have plans to leave the state.

Connecticut is my home. Im very committed to Connecticut, and I have my children still living in the state, she said.

Kasser was first elected to the state Senate in 2018, defeating incumbent Republican Sen. L. Scott Frantz and making history for being the first Democrat in 90 years to win the seat.

She counted among her legislative wins with fellow Democrats passing a bill that raises the minimum wage in Connecticut, establishing a paid family medical leave program, supporting balanced budgets that didnt raise taxes, and pushing through voting reforms.

We advanced democracy in Connecticut, she said.

Kasser was a vociferous proponent of highway tolls, so much so that she threatened to vote against a version of the tolls bill that she said did not raise enough money. The bill never came to a vote in the Senate.

One of her proudest legislative achievements came from a deeply personal place.

In 2020, Kasser introduced a bill to include coercive control, a type of non-physical violence that can involve manipulative and isolating conduct that traps victims in abusive relationships, in the legal definition of domestic violence.

If thats the cornerstone of my legislative legacy, Id be very proud of that because that bill will actually save lives and will help so many people and their children who are trapped in abusive situations, Kasser said.

The proposal was inspired in large part by Jennifer Dulos, a murdered mother of five who lived in her district, but also by Kassers own divorce. In an op-ed in October 2020, Kasser said she had told her husband ten years earlier that she was gay and asked for a divorce.

He said if I divorced him, hed take full custody of our kids and use my sexuality against me in court. His words paralyzed me, which is exactly the power of coercive control. We do not choose to stay. We think we have no choice. I stayed for eight more years, she wrote.

Bergstein has denied the allegations.

In a statement released Tuesday in response to Kasser's resignation announcement, Janet Battey, a partner in the firm of Ferro and Battey, which is representing Bergstein, told Hearst Connecticut Media: Ms. Kassers outrageous allegations and narrative couldnt be further from the truth. Ms. Kasser sadly continues to wage a public battle in the press while simultaneously dragging out the court proceedings.

The statement called Kassers comments on her divorce blatantly false and concluded, Mr. Bergstein trusts the legal system and family court and that the upcoming trial will reveal Ms. Kassers narrative for what it is.

Jennifers Law passed both chambers of the General Assembly this year. Gov. Ned Lamont has not yet signed it and has not indicated his intentions. Some Republicans in the General Assembly questioned whether the effective date of the coercive control definition in the bill was pushed up to benefit Kasser.

In addition to broadening the definition of domestic violence, the bill would enable judges to consider coercive control, not just physical abuse, in granting a temporary restraining order. While its conceivable that the provision could apply to someone in Kassers situation, the protective order provisions dont take effect until later on.

Kasser said she requested the coercive control provision take effect as soon as the governor signs the bill.

It does not have impact on my divorce, she said. The law is intended to protect people and save lives and making that immediately effective will only protect more people and save more lives.

julia.bergman@hearstmediact.com
In 1955, a New Haven Railroad commuter train could run nonstop through the 36-mile distance from Stamford to Grand Central in 48 minutes. Today that run takes 59 minutes at best, despite Gov. Ned Lamonts long-promised dream of a 30-minute trip time.

But now theres a new effort to speed up the New Haven line: Connecticut Department of Transportations ambitious Time for CT $8- to $10-billion plan. It promises 10-minute faster running times from New Haven to New York by next year and a 25-minute quicker run by 2035.

While some dream of a new high speed rail system running from Washington to Boston at speeds in excess of 200 mph, DOT and Metro-North are taking, in my view, a much more realistic approach to fixing our existing system. Higher speeds will be fine.

Reading the consultant-driven 138-page plan, which has been years in the making, one gets a sobering picture of how badly our railroad has deteriorated.

For safety reasons, slow orders all along the line have cut speeds to 37 mph, both for commuter trains and Amtrak.

As one trouble spot gets fixed, another pops up as Metro-North plays whack-a-mole with decaying infrastructure. Layer on top of this permanent slow orders implemented by the Federal Railroad Administartion in 2013 and you can understand commuters frustrations.

There are 57,000 track-ties that must be replaced. Of the 134 bridges between New Haven and the New York state line, 34 are rated as poor or in serious conditions. The open deck timber bridges are most in need of attention.

And of the five movable bridges, only one has been replaced while the others are each more than a century old. The South Norwalk swing bridge project alone will cost about $1 billion.

The catenary (overhead power) system is in better shape, but some of its trackside support structures are also in the century-plus club. Theres a lot of work to be done. And trying to do it while still running the railroad will be like changing the fan belt on a car running 60 mph.

At the Stratford event unveiling the DOTs plan, the construction unions photobombed the press conference unveiling a huge banner reading Jobs Jobs Jobs. And every speaker pandered to them, promising 45,000 good paying union jobs on this project.

But its not like DOT or Metro-North will be hiring 45,000 new plumbers, electricians and carpenters. That number is a hypothetical projection based on the cost and time involved in the work.

The Metro-North unions have jurisdiction over all track work and you cant join that union until you get hired by the railroad. Then you need training, which can only be done on the job. And you need track equipment, some of which on the New Haven line is 30 years old.

Hopefully well have enough money to make all this happen thanks to Sen. Richard Blumenthal and the congressional compromise on infrastructure achieved recently. But then we still need leadership.

DOT has been suffering a brain drain in recent years, losing its best and brightest planners and engineers to retirement, state pensions or lucrative consultant jobs. With so much federal money being thrown at transportation, Connecticut will be in serious competition for a limited pool of expertise.

Theres so much to be done. But its all achievable given enough money and patience.

Jim Cameron is a longtime commuter advocate based in Fairfield County. Contact him at CommuterActionGroup@gmail.com.
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Srinagar: A Special Police Officer (SPO) was shot dead and his wife and daughter critically injured by suspected militants in Jammu and Kashmir's southern Pulwama district late Sunday night.

The mother-daughter duo succumbed to their injuries in hospital later. The SPO's son is reportedly serving in the Army.

The police said two to three gunmen barged into the house of SPO Fayaz Ahmed in Hariparigam village of Awantipora area of Pulwama and resorted to indiscriminate firing, resulting into the on-the-spot death of the police official and grievously injuring his 45-year-old wife Raja Banoo and daughter Rafia Jan, 25.

The trio was rushed to a nearby healthcare facility, where doctors declared Ahmed brought dead while as his wife and daughter were shifted to Government Medical College Hospital in neighbouring Anantnag district. However, Banoo succumbed to her injuries within a few hours, the police and hospital sources said.

As the condition of the cop's daughter also deteriorated, she was brought to Srinagar's Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) for specialized treatment. But she too died at around 4 am on Monday, the hospital officials said.

Reports said that Ahmed's son is serving in the Army and was away on duty when the attack took place.
HYDERABAD: The Telangana state government on Monday issued orders permitting TS Genco to generate hydel power up to 100 per cent installed capacity ignoring the orders of the Centre to stop hydel power generation at Srisailam project.

The move is expected to escalate the ongoing water war between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh further over sharing of Krishna water.

The AP government lodged a complaint with the union Jal Shakti ministry against Telangana state for utilising water in the Srisailam project for hydel power generation despite lower water levels. It sought immediate directions to the TS government against the move following which the Centre instructed the TS government on Sunday to stop hydel generation at Srisailam.

The Jal Shakti ministry has written to TS Genco stating, "The TS Genco authorities are requested to stop further release of water immediately through Srisailam left power house and follow the water release orders issued by KRMB (Krishna River Management Board) except in case of extreme grid exigency."

However, a day after this, Telangana energy department secretary Sandeep Kumar Sultania issued orders stating, "Typical terrain of Telangana state leaves no option except to lift water from either of the rivers (Godavari, Krishna) to fulfill the aspirations of the farmers of the state. For this, huge power is required. At the same time, Telangana has around 2,500 MW hydel power generation installed capacity with much lower capacity utilisation. To tap more hydel power generation in the state, the government has taken a decision to generate hydel power in the state up to 100% installed capacity."

In its letter to KRMB, the AP government said that if Telangana state continues hydel power generation, they could not draw water for Chennai drinking water, Telugu Ganga, SRBC, KC Canal and Galeru-Nagari projects. In a swift reaction, the TS government dashed off a letter to KRMB indicating that Srisailam is a hydel project and not an irrigation project.

Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao in a recent Cabinet meeting had directed officials to utilise hydel power generation to optimal levels so as to provide power to various lift irrigation schemes during monsoon. The state has generated 66.85 million units of hydel power between June 1 and 25.
India and Bhutan have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the environment sector, Union Environment Prakash Javadekar said on Friday.

"India has symbiotic relationship with Bhutan. Today, both countries signed an MoU which will open new vistas of bilateral cooperation in the areas of climate change, waste management, etc.," the minister tweeted.

The MoU between India's Ministry of Environment and Bhutan's National Environment Commission will strengthen technological, scientific and management capabilities, and expand the areas of cooperation in the field of environment to promote a mutually beneficial partnership, ministry officials said.

"The MoU will be the platform to further enhance our partnership and support, exchange best practices in areas of #AirPollution, Waste Management, Chemical Management, #ClimateChange, etc.," the ministry tweeted.

The MoU will be the platform to further enhance our partnership and support, exchange best practices in areas of #AirPollution, Waste Management, Chemical Management, #ClimateChange, etc. pic.twitter.com/bdzHUSY85O  MoEF&CC (@moefcc) June 18, 2021

Javadekar and Tandi Dorji, Bhutan's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairperson of the National Environment Commission, signed the MoU during a virtual meeting.
At a time when Nepal is battling with the Covid-19 pandemic, its political stability, once again, has been pushed to the brink. Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli (K P Oli), the care-taker Prime Minister of Nepal lost a vote of confidence which he sought on May 10, 2021.

Ironically, Oli had dissolved the House of Representatives in December 2020 which was later reinstated by the Supreme Court. In the confidence vote, 93 MPs voted for Oli while 124 were against him.

Out of the total strength of 271 members in the Lower House, 28 members of K P Olis party, CPN-UML, including two former prime ministers - Jahlnath Khanal and Madhav Nepal - remained absent, and 15 other members remained neutral in the voting procedure.

Reappointed as the PM as per Article 76(3) of the Constitution, K P Oli, again, failed to prove majority despite carving out an alliance with a terai-based Madheshi Janata Samajwadi Party.

Read more: Nepal inks $150-million concessional loan with World Bank

As the political scenario turned grim, the President dissolved parliament on May 22 and declared fresh elections to be held on November 12 and 19. While such political fitfulness hardly surprises anymore, factionalism in Nepal politics does not seem to have lost its charm.

Following the promulgation of the Constitution in September 2015 and subsequent parliamentary elections in 2017, the CPN-UML and the Maoist Centre led by Prachanda emerged victorious to form a majority government under a merger banner of Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

The merger was perceived as an end to factionalism in Communist politics. The unholy alliance, which could barely last two years, was poised with the personal and competing ambitions.

Within the UML, Oli was constantly threatened by his fellow partymen and former prime ministers Jahlnath Khanal and Madhav Nepal. Similarly, Prachanda was also not out of the personal ambition of acquiring the PM position.

The merger was a calculated risk because the UML-led government preceding the present one had collapsed with Prachandas withdrawal in 2017.

Apart from the constitutional safety net for two years, Olis assertion of territorial nationalism against India could not yield much to his luck as factionalism only intensified to topple his government.

Factionalism among the Communists in Nepal goes back to the 1960s when the party witnessed splits on the pro-Soviet versus pro-China lines. During the three decades of the panchayat regime, Nepal witnessed seven major Communist parties functioning under the United Left Front (ULF).

The UML a merger of two important constituents of the ULF that has headed four governments since 1994, has always been a victim of factionalism. The Maoists have also gone through many episodes of splits.

In its present form, under the leadership of Prachanda, the party does not have the leaders like Baburam Bhattarai. While the role of the Maoists in bringing down the centuries-old monarchy and introducing democracy remain as their most important contributions to the Nepalese state, their current position in Nepal politics has been drastically minimised.

Nepalese media

The (in)direct role of India and China have also been important factors in sustaining factionalism and contributing to political instability in Nepal. In the latest political episode, Nepalese media highlighted active roles that the Chinese and Indian diplomats played in unifying or dividing the political parties.

Similarly, Oli was desperately trying to strike a balance between his pro-Chinese stand and as a new friend of India. A Modified Oli, as Nepalese media observed, was getting closer to India in the last few months. As two Asian giants are into a not-so-discreet confrontation against each other, their roles in contributing to factionalism in Nepal politics cannot be undermined.

The promulgation of the new Constitution in 2015 following years of uncertainty and the subsequent Parliamentary elections were seen as movements towards political stability that the Himalayan state had been aspiring for a long time.

However, the political culture guided by personal ambitions of the political elites leading to extreme factionalism has only contributed to jeopardising the aspirations of common Nepalese. While resorting to anti-Indian rhetoric by the governments in the past and the present one alike has proved to be furthering the political ambitions of the power elite, Nepal still struggles to get a stable government, at least for a five-year term.

The prolonged political instability adds to the already deep-rooted anti-India sentiment among the political elites. With the active involvement of China, Indias position in Nepal seems to be shrinking substantially.

As worlds largest democracy, India should only support the spirit and principles of democracy that would contribute developing a stable political culture. A stable and democratic Nepal would best serve its citizens and the bilateral interests of India. At this point of time when the political scenario looks precarious, factionalism continues to triumph in Nepal.

(The writer is Associate Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru)
The most widely used coronavirus vaccines are designed as two-shot inoculations, and nearly everyone worldwide who has had both doses has received the same vaccine both times.

But that is changing, as more countries are allowing  and even, in some cases, encouraging  mix-and-match inoculation, with people receiving a first shot of one vaccine and then a second shot of a different one. On Tuesday, Germanys government revealed that Chancellor Angela Merkel, 66, had received two different shots, adding to the growing interest in the practice.

Some nations have tried that approach out of necessity, when supplies of a particular vaccine ran short, or out of caution, when questions were raised about the safety of a shot after some people had already received their first doses. US regulators so far have been reluctant to encourage the practice.

Read more: AstraZeneca tests booster vaccine dose against Covid variant

But scientists and health policymakers are interested in the possibility that giving different shots to the same person could have significant advantages.

Here are some common questions raised by mix-and-match vaccination.

What are the potential benefits?

Mixing vaccines  scientists call it heterologous prime-boost  is not a new idea, and researchers have experimented with it in fighting a handful of other diseases, including Ebola.

Scientists have long theorized that giving people two slightly different vaccines might generate a stronger immune response, perhaps because the vaccines stimulate slightly different parts of the immune system or teach it to recognize different parts of an invading virus.

The argument is that one and one makes three, said John Moore, a virus expert at Weill Cornell Medicine. How well that argument holds up in practice in the Covid area is going to need to be judged by the actual data.

In addition to the potential immunological benefits, mixing and matching also offers much-needed flexibility when vaccine supplies are uneven or limited, said Zhou Xing, an immunologist at McMaster University in Canada.

What does the data say?

Multiple clinical trials are currently underway to determine whether there are benefits or drawbacks. Researchers at the University of Oxford are testing different combinations of vaccines  including the AstraZeneca-Oxford, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Novavax shots  in the Com-Cov trial, and the US National Institutes of Health recently launched a trial of mixed booster doses.

Russian researchers are testing a combination of their Sputnik V vaccine and the AstraZeneca shot. Sputnik is, itself, somewhat based on a mix-and-match approach, with the first and second shots having different formulations.

Most studies are still in early stages, but some have released promising preliminary results. Last month, for instance, a team of Spanish researchers announced that people who received a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, followed by a dose of the Pfizer vaccine, showed a robust immune response.

This regimen appeared to elicit a stronger immune response than two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, Xing said. Whether it is better than two doses of the Pfizer vaccine is not yet clear.

Is it safe?

Read more: Is Bengaluru in for booster doses and mixed vaccines?

Preliminary data from the Com-Cov study suggests that mixing and matching vaccines may increase the odds of mild and moderate side effects, including fever, fatigue and headache.

The data suggests that a mismatched regimen might have some short-term disadvantages, the researchers wrote, although it is also possible that the side effects may be a sign of a strong immune response. Most side effects faded within 48 hours, they found.

Overall, scientists say that they expect the data to show that the approach is safe.

As weve learned in 18 months of Covid-19 shocks, never say never, but its really hard to rationalize any new risk associated with what is really a basic, tried and tested immunological approach, Daniel Altmann, an immunologist at Imperial College London, said in an email.

Where is this happening?

Health authorities in a variety of countries are allowing some degree of mixing and matching. The United Kingdom began allowing vaccine mixing in the early days of its vaccine rollout.

Officials in a number of countries  including Germany, Canada, Sweden, France, Spain and Italy  have said that people who have received one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been linked to a rare blood-clotting disorder, can receive a different vaccine for their second shot. In response to delayed deliveries of the AstraZeneca shot, South Korea announced last week that health care workers who had received a first dose of that vaccine could receive the Pfizer shot as a second dose.

Canadas vaccine advisory panel has also said that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines can be used interchangeably.

The US Food and Drug Administration has been more conservative. The agency says people who got one dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine may receive a second dose of the other in exceptional situations, such as when the original vaccine is not available.

I cannot imagine that the FDA will allow this kind of mix-and-match strategy without properly evaluating clinical trial data, Moore said.

Why did Merkel get two different shots?

Germany is fiercely protective of medical privacy, even that of its leaders, but Merkels spokesman, Steffen Seibert, suggested that her vaccine choices were in part about setting an example.

Isolated reports of abnormal clotting and bleeding prompted many European countries to suspend use of the AstraZeneca shot in March. Most of them, including Germany, resumed its use a few weeks later, after a review by the European Unions drug regulator.

Read more: South Korea to mix-and-match Covid-19 vaccine doses for 760,000 people

But when Merkel got the AstraZeneca shot in April, many people remained deeply skeptical of it, slowing the vaccination campaign.

With her first vaccination with AstraZeneca, the chancellor was possibly able to encourage many people to get vaccinated with AstraZeneca, Seibert told reporters Wednesday.

Germanys vaccine commission recommended in April that anyone younger than 60 who had received a first shot of AstraZeneca should follow it up with either Pfizer or Moderna. Regulators relaxed that advice this month, but Merkel got the Moderna vaccine a few days ago.

Perhaps she can also relieve people of their worries about a so-called cross-vaccination by getting one herself, Seibert said.

It was not clear why she had the Moderna shot, when there is considerable national pride in Germany about the work of BioNTech, a German company.

Moore said he saw no problem with mixing vaccines, but he was curious about what expert advice Merkel had received about it. He said he doubted that an American president would have done the same at this stage of the pandemic, because US regulators, who are extremely cautious, have not approved it.
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William Penn School District Superintendent Dr. Eric J. Beacoats sat down recently to talk about his first year on the job.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden walk on the South Lawn of the White House after stepping off Marine One, Sunday, June 27, 2021, in Washington.
The family of a young Derry man killed by a drunken hit-and-run driver in the city over 11 years ago have welcomed proposals to increase the length of jail sentences imposed in such cases.

Martin Marty Gallagher was 25 years old when he was killed on the Racecourse Road as he walked home after celebrating the citys Halloween festival in 2009.

The driver, Jonathan Francis McGonagle, was drunk, speeding and had drugs in his system.

He was handed a six-year sentence in December 2010 for causing death by dangerous driving. Half of that sentence was spent in prison and the other half on license in the community.

Custodial sentences are often reduced based on guilty pleas, probation reports which lay out the defendants background and the likelihood of reoffending and other mitigating factors.

Further upset was caused in 2019 when McGonagle avoided jail for offences including dangerous driving and driving while disqualified.

Today, the Derry News can reveal that a third of offenders found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving over the past five years served less than 12 months in prison or no time at all.

Comparable, or sometimes accompanying charges to the aforementioned offence, are those of causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs or causing death by careless driving and failing to provide a specimen.

Figures obtained after a Freedom of Information (FOI) request was submitted to the Department of Justice focus on the specific offence of causing death by dangerous driving.

In the period 2015  2019, the most recent year for which information is available, there were 24 prosecutions at courts where at least one of the offences involved was for causing death by dangerous driving.

These cases resulted in 18 convictions, three of which were dealt with at Derry Courthouse.

Custodial sentences ranged from six months in custody with a further six months on licence, to a custodial period of 11 years with a further three years on licence.

The FOI response specified that fewer than three resulted in a suspended sentence being handed down  an exact figure could not be provided for legal reasons.

In five cases a sentence imposed was for a period of less than one year in custody, followed by a period of less than one year on licence.

When combined those cases mean that at least one third of all offenders served less than twelve months in jail.

In six cases, the sentence imposed was for a period of four years custody or more, followed by a period of four years or more on licence.

In the other cases, the custodial period imposed fell between one year and four years, with similar periods on licence.

SENTENCING REVIEW

The Department of Justice has published The Sentencing Review Policy - Way Forward which sets out Minister Naomi Longs decisions following the review and public consultation.

Minister Long announced proposals to increase the maximum jail term for causing death by dangerous driving from 14 to 20 years.

Amongst other proposed changes, she agreed that a discretionary life sentence should be the maximum sentence available to a judge when an offender has a previous conviction for the same offence.

Speaking to the Derry News, Martin and Elizabeth Gallagher explained that they had a constructive discussion with Justice Minister Naomi Long (below) in recent weeks and are very pleased with proposals being put forward.

Their only concern is that it will not be possible to action the proposals before the next scheduled Assembly election in May 2022.

They have urged the Justice Minister, whether it be Naomi Long or a new appointment, to do the right thing by ensuring proposals are implemented in full.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE

Reflecting on their recent meeting, Minister Long paid tribute to the Gallagher family for sharing their personal experience of the pain and trauma endured following the tragic loss of their son.

She said: I can only imagine the hurt that is caused in cases such as theirs, particularly when little or no remorse is shown by the offender.

I discussed the changes I intend to make to sentencing for offences such as causing death or serious injury by dangerous driving and careless driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs with Martin and Elizabeth Gallagher and Im happy to continue to engage with them as we move forward.

The Justice Minister expressed an awareness of the need to improve public confidence in sentencing, describing it as the biggest challenge because it is a matter of changing often firmly held views about the way in which criminal justice operates.

She recognised the difficult and complex role the judiciary perform when sentencing.

The Justice Minister continued: I believe that the proposed changes will assist in ensuring the judiciary have available to them an appropriate sentencing framework.

I am of the view that recommendations should be taken forward in a single focussed Sentencing Bill, and I would hope this bill can be introduced early in the next mandate.

It should be noted that, unlike England, Wales and Scotland no distinction in the available maximum sentence is currently made, in Northern Ireland, whether the outcome of the unlawful driving is death or serious injury.

She added: The proposed increase to a maximum sentence from 14 to 20 years, and to a discretionary life sentence for a repeat offender for that offence, reflects responses received during the public consultation.

There was little, if any, desire expressed to see a distinction made in the maximum sentence between the offences of causing death or causing serious injury through unlawful driving.

The current maximum sentence in Northern Ireland for causing serious injury through these unlawful driving offences already exceeds the maximum available in our neighbouring jurisdictions.
A man described as being a part of an organised group of street beggars has been conditionally discharged at Derry Magistrates Court.

Ladis Sotir, 31, of no fixed abode, appeared at Derry courthouse charged with begging on Ferryquay Street on June 26.

The court heard that police were on cycle patrol when they noticed the defendant sat on the ground with his hand extended asking the public for money.

A police officer confirmed that Sotir has no criminal record in this jurisdiction.

He said police officers tried to deal with the incident on the street but the defendant had no address and had to be arrested.

The PSNI officer submitted that 58 in change was located inside a hat and 360 in Sotirs wallet.

Police believe the defendant is part of an organised group of beggars from Romania.

Normally, the police officer said, the individuals state they will be going back to Dublin the following day.

The court was told that the resident Magistrate Barney McElholm takes a stern view on repeat offenders in such cases.

When an interpreter translated those comments to Sotir, he responded by saying he needed money to get plane tickets to travel back to Romania with his brother.

Deputy District Judge McStay told the defendant that initially an opportunity is given but if people fail to respond it will quickly go to a severe custodial sentence.

Defence solicitor Maoliosa Barr said he spoke to the investigating police officer who informed him that the group is very loosely organised, not a gang with a Mr Big.

A group of them meet up themselves and decide where to go, he added.

He acknowledged that police try to deter beggars by issuing warnings rather than taking drastic action.

Mr Barr submitted that his client is homeless and living rough in the city,

The PSNI contacted the Housing Executive on Sotirs behalf, he added, and he has accommodation available to him.

The defence solicitor said his client intends to go back to Romania via Galway with his brother.

He reiterated, it is not an organised gang where he is the principal player, he is a somewhat vulnerable man living on the streets.

Judge McStay said the court takes a serious view when it comes to repeated incidents of begging on the streets of Derry.

The judge was astonished by the lengths police went to in order to assist Sotir and warned him that the court will not forget you have been given many chances.

Sotir was conditionally discharged for a period of 12 months.

Judge McStay advised the defendant that if he comes before the court in the next year he can be sentenced for this offence and any new offence.
New funding will accelerate the development and commercialization of easy-to-use AI for industrial quality inspections

BOSTON, Massachusetts -- June 28, 2021 -- Today, Neurala, the leader in vision AI software, announced that it has raised $12 million in funding to advance the development of vision AI for manufacturing. The round, led by Zebra Ventures and Pelion Venture Partners, with participation from Draper Associates, Friulia, AddValue, 360 Capital Partners, Idinvest Partners, Cougar Capital, and industrial investors IMA and Antares Vision, brings the total invested in Neurala to $26 million.

The funding will enable Neurala to evolve and accelerate adoption of its vision AI in the industrial and manufacturing sectors on a global scale, as manufacturers increasingly prioritize automation as part of Industry 4.0 initiatives.

Neurala is a pioneer in vision AI for manufacturing. Built on the companys deep AI expertise, Neuralas VIA software delivers an integrated solution designed to help manufacturers improve quality inspection on the production line. With VIA, manufacturers are empowered to answer the call for increased productivity, accuracy and speed.

In the last twelve months, the company has increased its capacity to identify and resolve problems in manufacturing facilities through expert system integrator partners and well-entrenched suppliers. In addition to expanding its work with system integrators threefold, Neurala has also worked with an ever-growing number of OEMs, including investors IMA, IHI Logistics & Machinery and FLIR, to deliver easy-to-use AI solutions that will improve the speed and efficiency of inspections at a price point that makes them affordable for a wide range of customers.

The funding comes at a time when manufacturers are increasingly focused on AI and automation as a key tool in their ability to adapt to new realities established by the pandemic. With this funding, Neurala will be able to evolve VIA to make it more efficient for a wider range of applications and use cases.

This past year we were able to turn a global crisis into an opportunity to both completely transform our business and to catalyze much-needed innovation in the AI space, said Max Versace, CEO and co-founder of Neurala. There was always an opportunity for AI and automation to improve manufacturing, but the pandemic really accelerated the industrys willingness to embrace the technology. Our team has worked relentlessly over the last year to introduce VIA to partners and customers across the globe, and now that the world is ready to embrace it, we are ready to deliver it. The funding will enable us to do that at a much greater scale that meets the demand were seeing in the space.

This funding comes on the heels of the launch of Neuralas subsidiary, Neurala Europe, based in Trieste, Italy. The new capital represents the next phase of growth for Neurala as it will be used to expand upon its newfound global presence as the company continues to help manufacturers around the world harness the power of vision AI.

Todays manufacturers are leveraging AI and automation to address challenges such as production constraints, supply chain disruptions, and imperfect workforce availability, said Tony Palcheck, managing director of Zebra Ventures. Zebra Technologies is proud to invest in Neurala as it commercializes VIA software to enable faster, more cost-effective, easy-to-deploy solutions for customers looking to improve their decision making and productivity on the production line.

As a long-time investor in Neurala, we have always recognized the power of its technology to enable smarter, autonomous decision-making in real-world scenarios, said Ben Lambert, General Partner at Pelion Venture Partners. Now were seeing a significant impact as Neurala has focused on applications in industrial and manufacturing. Theres a big opportunity for Neurala to grow that presence, not only in the US, but in Europe, Asia and beyond. We are excited to support the Neurala team in that journey as we know that it has the right team, the cutting-edge technology, and the global reach to capitalize on this significant market opportunity.

About Neurala

Neurala is a pioneer in vision AI software. On a mission to make AI more applicable and useful in real-world applications, Neurala helps industrial companies improve their quality inspection process, with technology that dramatically reduces the time, cost and skills required to build and maintain production-quality custom vision AI solutions. Founded in 2006, Neuralas research team invented Lifelong-DNN (L-DNN) technology, which lowers the data requirements for AI model development and enables continuous learning in the cloud or at the edge. Neurala is headquartered in Boston, MA with a European subsidiary in Trieste, Italy.






365 Days actor Michele Morrone reveals he has indeed been approached by Bollywood filmmakers, says his team has expanded to India

Just a few weeks back, reports had been all over the industry that 365 Days actor Michele Morrone has been approached for a Bollywood film. It was also said that none other than Karan Johar had approached the actor who created sensation after being a part of the Netflix erotica film. Now, the actor has confirmed that he had indeed been approached for a Bollywood film and that his team is expanding to India.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Michele Morrone (@iammichelemorroneofficial)

Talking to ETimes, Michele Morrone revealed, "Bollywood is big and its reach is undeniable. I love the culture, music, colours and beauty of what Bollywood creates. I dont know much, but I recently started educating myself by looking for information on Bollywood. My management team has also expanded to India and I cant wait to see what the outcome can be."

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Michele Morrone (@iammichelemorroneofficial)

He also added, "I would love to do a Hindi film. As an actor, I love challenging roles and they can sometimes make you uncomfortable. I believe when youre uncomfortable, thats when you start creating magic."

Well, we have our fingers crossed that he does appear in a Bollywood film. Michele shot to fame as the Massimo Torricelli in 365 Days.
Kangana Ranaut's renewal process to be expedited post corrections: HC

The Regional Passport Office (RPO) here told the Bombay High Court on Monday it will "expeditiously" decide on renewing Kangana Ranaut's passport once the actor made requisite corrections in her application for the key travel document. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Singh, who appeared for the RPO, told a bench of Justices SS Shinde and Revati Mohite-Dere that the application that Ranaut had submitted with the passport office in Mumbai, had factual inconsistencies.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kangana Ranaut (@kanganaranaut)

He said that for instance, her application said that she had criminal cases pending against her. However, only an FIR had been registered against her and criminal proceedings in the said case were yet to begin, Singh said. Singh told the HC that if Ranaut's counsel, advocate Rizwan Siddiquee, clarified the same before the court, and if the actor made the necessary corrections in her application, the passport office would consider her plea and take an expeditious decision as per the procedure. The bench accepted Singh's statement.

"The learned ASG on instructions submits that application does not mention the correct facts, inasmuch as, it is stated in the said application that criminal cases are pending against the petitioner (Ranaut), when in fact only FIRs are registered against the petitioner," the HC observed. "He (Singh) submits that in case the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner is ready to make a statement that no criminal case is pending against the petitioner and make appropriate corrections in the pending application before the Respondent Passport Authority, the said Authority is ready to consider the application for renewal of passport, in accordance with the Passport Act/rules/ procedure, expeditiously," the HC said in its order.

Advocate Siddiquee then clarified that no criminal proceedings were pending against Ranaut. He also agreed to make the necessary corrections in Ranaut's application. Ranaut had filed an interim application in the HC earlier this month, saying she needed to travel to Budapest (Hungary) this month for the shooting of her upcoming film 'Dhakkad' and thus, needed her passport renewed. The actor said in her plea that the renewal had been denied by the passport office on the ground that she and her sister Rangoli Chandel had an FIR registered against them by the suburban Bandra police last year on charges of sedition and for alleged hateful tweets. She said in her plea that the RPO had raised an objection to renew or reissue her passport because of the said FIR.

On the previous hearing last week, advocate Siddiquee had said the shooting of the film had been scheduled already and that its producers were losing money due to the delay in the shoot because of the actor's inability to travel to Budapest. On Monday, the bench of Justices Shinde and Mohite-Dere accepted the statements made by ASG Singh and advocate Siddiquee, and accordingly disposed of Ranaut's interim application.

"In the light of statement made by Mr Siddiquee, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, Mr Anil Singh, learned ASG, submits that the application filed by the petitioner for renewal of passport will be decided as expeditiously as possible, in accordance with relevant provisions of the Passport Act/rules/procedures," the bench said.
Sourabh Raaj Jain on Khatron Ke Khiladi 11 host Rohit Shetty: He would constantly push and motivate all of us

The handsome and very popular Sourabh Raaj Jain had a gala time in Cape Town, South Africa where he shot for the 11th and much awaited season of Khatron Ke Khiladi. The actor shared many group pictures along with his very own series of The Fear Factor Diaries, which gave us a small glimpse of his journey in the stunt reality show. Well, Sourabh and the rest of the contestants are now back home after 42 days of shooting and fans are eagerly waiting for the show to premiere on television.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sourabh Raaj Jain (@sourabhraaj.jain)

In a recent chat with Pinkvilla, Sourabh opened up about working with host Rohit Shetty. He shared, I have always been an admirer of Rohit sir for the movies that he has made, but after knowing him a little more due to Fear Factor, my respect for him has gone much higher. He would constantly push and motivate all of us to do our best with his technical inputs related to stunts. Its incredible how involved he is in the show and I think that stands out for the audience too. Hes extremely humble which truly is a quality I admire.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sourabh Raaj Jain (@sourabhraaj.jain)

According to buzz, Arjun Bijlani won the 11th season of Khatron Ke Khiladi. While the news has not been confirmed by the actor or any of the other contestants, Rakhi Sawant blurted out this piece of information in a media interaction.
Priyank Sharma on his equation with ex Divya Agarwal: 'Everything is great, everything is sorted... we have handled it maturely'

Priyank Sharma and Divya Agarwal were one of the IT couples of the TV industry. The duo, however decided to part ways after Priyank's stint in Bigg Boss, post which he started dating Benafsha Soonawala while Divya Agarwal started seeing Benafsha's ex, Varun Sood. It was said that Priyank and Benafsha developed feelings for each other while being a part of Bigg Boss. Now, in a recent interview, the Puncch Beat actor has clarified that he has sorted everything out and is on good terms with not just Divya but also with Varun.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Priyank Sharma (@priyanksharmaaa)

In a conversation with radio host Siddharth Kannan, Priyank said, Meri dono se baat hoti hai (I speak to Divya and Varun both). People should know that everything is great. Everything is sorted. We have handled it maturely. I believe that past tha (it is in the past). They must have also had their reasons, I respected that always,

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Divya AmarSanjay Agarwal (@divyaagarwal_official)

He also added that he might have hurt them unintentionally in the past and said, Theek hai, I respect ki kabhi unintentionally ho gaya hoga (Okay, I respect that I might have hurt them unintentionally) because it was unintentional. Nothing was purposely done. Kabhi kabhi lag sakta hai kisiko bhi bura kisi bhi cheez ka. Aisa main bolunga nahi ki main bhi perfect raha honga (People can feel bad about things sometimes and I am not saying that I have always been perfect). But I believe that with time, they have also realised that we are not those kind of people also. And I remember talking to both of them. Unfortunately, recently, Divyas father also passed away. It was very unfortunate. I ended up texting her, we spoke on a very good note. I ended up speaking to Varun also. Everything is good, dono taraf se (from both sides).

That's so heartwarming to hear. Recently, Priyank appeared in the web series Puncch Beat, while Varun just returned from Cape Town after shooting for Khatron Ke Khiladi 11.
Subscriber content preview

Hostility toward Big Tech has grown in recent years with the belief that its size and swagger have stifled competition, limited consumer choice and raised prices.



By MARCY GORDON

AP Business Writer

WASHINGTON  Groundbreaking legislation is advancing in Congress that would curb the market power of tech giants Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple and could force them to untie their dominant platforms from their other lines of business. Hostility toward Big Tech has grown in recent years with the belief that its size and swagger have stifled competition, limited consumer choice and raised prices.

The bipartisan legislation targets the companies' structure and points toward breaking them up, a dramatic step for Congress to take against a powerful industry whose products are woven into everyday life. Its backers say it would help ensure lower prices and more choices for consumers, and a fairer playing field for smaller businesses to compete.





. . .
Subscriber content preview

MIAMI (AP)  Carnival Corp. said Thursday that it lost more than $2 billion in its latest quarter as the company's cruise lines remained mostly shut down by the pandemic, but it said bookings for next year are running ahead of 2019's pace.

The cruise industry was a visible early victim in the pandemic, as passengers and crew members tested positive for COVID-19 and some ships were turned away from ports. The industry has battled the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over health requirements for resuming sailing in U.S. waters.





. . .
Louth farmers are set for refunds as approximately 100,000 farmers across the country are to receive Basic Payment Scheme Refunds.

The refunds will total more than 13.35 million and will commence today.

The money was deducted from their 2019 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments under the Financial Discipline rule and is now being reimbursed in line with the EU regulations.

Commenting on the refund, Minister McConalogue said: "I am pleased to confirm that these payments are now being reimbursed to eligible farmers."

"These payments will bring the total paid to Irish farmers under the 2019 Basic Payment Scheme to over 1.194 billion."

In the context of the annual budgetary procedure of the European Union, the financial discipline mechanism which is implemented by the Member States involves a monetary deduction (1.4% for the 2019 reduction) from some direct payments thereby creating a financial Crisis Reserve for the European Union.

The crisis reserve is intended to provide additional support for the agricultural sector in the case of major crises affecting agricultural production or distribution. In the event that the Crisis Reserve is not activated in the financial year, or it is not fully utilised, the unused balance is refunded to farmers in the subsequent financial year.
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North Andover, MA (01845)

Today

Cloudy with occasional light rain...mainly this evening. Low around 55F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional light rain...mainly this evening. Low around 55F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
There's no public interest in deputy paid over $117,000 on leave after getting caught having phone sex with inmate, attorney says
Just after his first week of official practice, new transfer Jesse Miritello persuaded sever
Ayten Rustamova has been appointed Regional Head of the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). She will be based in Bishkek, the capital of the Kyrgyz Republic and will assume her duties on 1 September 2021.

Ms. Rustamova said: I am very happy to stay in Central Asia, where I have been working for the last 4 years. The need for the EBRDs knowledge and resources in the countries, I am going to cover, has significantly increased in the post-Covid-19 environment. Ill be closely working with counterparts in all countries to promote green, inclusive, digital and life changing projects, which will help make of all these economies more sustainable. This is the challenge I am really looking forward to.

An Azerbaijani national, Ayten Rustamova joined the EBRD in 2001 and held various banking positions in the Baku office of the Bank before becoming EBRD Head of Tajikistan in 2017. She holds Masters Degree in languages from Azerbaijan State University of Foreign Languages and MBA in International Business from Khazar University (Azerbaijan) in association with Georgia State University (Atlanta, USA).

As EBRD Regional Head of the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, Ms. Rustamova is succeeding Neil McKain, who is returning to the Banks Headquarters in London.
Rika Ishii has been appointed Head of Tajikistan for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). She will be based in the countrys capital, Dushanbe, and is due to take up her duties on 1 September 2021.

Ms. Ishii said: I am very excited to return to Central Asia, where I used to work before. The EBRD has been very active in Tajikistan in recent years, promoting better access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises, supporting women entrepreneurs and upgrading essential infrastructure. I would like to use my skills and experience to enhance our engagement with the country.

A Japanese national, Ms. Ishii joined the Bank in 1997 and served as Senior and Lead Sector Economist for a number of economies in which the EBRD invests. Most recently, she covered the Western Balkans as Lead Regional Economist, based in Belgrade.

Ms. Ishii succeeds Ayten Rustamova, who has been appointed Regional Head of the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

To date, the EBRD has invested 765 million through 144 projects in Tajikistans economy.
By James Ward, PA

The price of an average home in Dublin has risen by 1,500 a week since the end of March, a survey by the Real Estate Alliance (REA) has found.

House prices in the capital rose dramatically in the second quarter of the year, increasing from 438,500 in March to a present rate of 456,667.

The startling increases echo the Celtic Tiger-era, with a rise of 4.1 per cent over three months in the second quarter of 2021, compared to an annual increase of 1.4 per cent in the whole of 2020.

The REA said the increases are fuelled by pent-up demand and the return of physical viewings post-lockdown, combined with scarcity of supply and some of the shortest selling times in recent history.

REA spokesman Barry McDonald has said multiple bidders competing for low levels of supply is forcing property prices up. Photo: REA/PA

Spokesman Barry McDonald said: While the market operated steadily through lockdown, the ability to view homes and the reopening of estate agents has seen a further flood of mortgage-approved buyers emerge.

Many people were not comfortable with the idea of buying houses without the traditional viewing, and they have now joined the ranks of those chasing a limited supply.

Buyers are motivated and have financial firepower, and our agents are seeing far more multiple bidders forcing prices up.

Lockdown has caused severe disruption to the new homes sector, forcing many people to concentrate on the scarce stock levels available in the second-hand residential market.

However, we are starting to see a moderate increase in homes coming to market, both second-hand and new, which may improve the situation.

House prices in Dublin have risen by 1,500 a week since March, a study by the Real Estate Alliance has shown. Photo: REA/PA

With multiple buyers now competing for a small number of properties, the average three-bed semi now takes an average of just four weeks to reach sale agreed status, compared to a 10-week average this time last year.

Commuter counties saw the largest increases in Q2, as buyers continue to move out further from cities in preparation for long-term remote working situations.

Three-bed semis in commuter counties rose 4.33 per cent by over 11,000 in the past three months to an average of 270,111 euro.

The average home is selling in just three weeks, down from a high of 11 weeks a year ago.

The countrys largest rise came in Drogheda where prices increased by 30,000 to 250,000 in 12 weeks  an increase of 13.5 per cent in the quarter and 19 per cent annually.

With many buyers using lockdown to save for their deposit, the large number of house-hunters battling for low levels of stock has seen sales agreed quicker than ever before.

Mr McDonald said: In Kilkenny city, properties are now reaching sale agreed after just two weeks and agent REA Boyds reported 70 mortgage-approved parties ringing to view one particular property in three days.

Multiple bidders are a factor in most transactions, with agents stressing the importance of ensuring that buyers are committed.

REA Southern in Carlow report that they have converted a number of sales to auction when they have a significant amount of bidders, so the process is more transparent for those involved.

Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford cities shared a combined increase of 3.5 per cent in the past 12 weeks with prices rising by 10,000 to an average of 275,000.

While Cork and Galway saw steady rises, the post-lockdown effect was more pronounced in Limerick and Waterford.

In Limerick City, prices rose by 20,000 over the last three months, up 9.3 per cent to 235,000, with a large cohort of first-time buyers continuously bidding on a record low supply, according to the REA.

This is having a knock-on effect in surrounding areas, with prices in Co Limerick increasing by 10 per cent in the same period, up by 18,000 to 196,000.

Waterford City saw prices rise by 4.3 per cent or 10,000, to 240,000, with the time taken to sell halving in three months to four weeks.

Increases were less pronounced in Cork City, up 1.5 per cent to 330,000, and Galway City, up 1 per cent to 295,000.

The REA Average House Price Survey concentrates on the actual sale price of Irelands typical stock home, the three-bed semi.

The average price of a three-bedroomed semi-detached house nationwide rose by 10,000 over the past three months to 253,685, representing an annual increase of 8 per cent.
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Mercy Hospital pictured from the intersection of Third Street and Highway 47 Wednesday, Sept. 16.
Fully vaccinated visitors can now travel to the Isle of Man without isolation

People who are fully vaccinated can now travel to the Isle of Man.

Those who have received two doses of a vaccine don't have to be tested or isolate on arrival.

The law allowing the new exemption came into force at just after midnight.

The Island has now moved to Border Level 1.5.
Ricky VanHoozer, 65, of Athens, Alabama, died Tuesday, June 29, 2021, in Madison Hospital. A 2 p.m. graveside service will be Saturday at Bottom Cemetery with son-in-law Billy Sims officiating. Visitation is from noon until 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Spry Funeral Home in Athens. Pallbearers will 
President Joe Biden, with a bipartisan group of senators, speaks Thursday June 24, 2021, outside the White House in Washington. Biden invited members of the group of 21 Republican and Democratic senators to discuss the infrastructure plan. From left are, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Biden, Sen, Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.
Samsung is finally ready to show the first results of its Wear OS partnership with Google, and it will be very easy to get a front row seat. The company is livestreaming its Mobile World Congress event at 1:15PM Eastern, and you can watch through the Samsung YouTube channel (below) or the MWC website. You can, of course, expect plenty of in-depth coverage on Engadget.

The stream will focus on "reimagining smartwatches," so you can expect both a deeper look at the Samsung-influenced Wear OS and, possibly, new watch hardware. You'll also hear more about security improvements for a range of Galaxy devices. Just don't count on new phones  Samsung typically reserves its mid-year flagship launches for August.
Lenovo is back with more smart clocks. Its one of a handful of third-party companies that make Google Assistant-powered displays, and we were impressed by the original Lenovo Smart Clocks simplicity and low price. Lenovo then followed it up with the Smart Clock Essential, which was basically a smaller alarm clock with speakers and a mic for you to talk to Googles Assistant. This time around, the company is launching the Smart Clock 2, and it offers some improvements over its predecessor for $10 more. Plus, it comes with a wireless charging pad that lets you juice up your compatible devices and doubles as a nightlight.

Gallery: Lenovo Smart Clock 2 hands-on pictures | 5 Photos







/5 Gallery: Lenovo Smart Clock 2 hands-on pictures | 5 Photos







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Like its predecessor, the Smart Clock 2 is a four-inch display encased in a cute, sort of pyramid-shaped frame. It looks nearly identical to the last model, except it has a taller base below the screen now. This is likely because Lenovo moved the devices speakers to the front, so they now fire outwards, which is nice for people who place these clocks in front of walls or on shelves.

The fabric covering the Smart Clock 2 is also pretty much the same as before, but there are two new color options to choose from: black and blue. Theyre both subtle hues and are inoffensive enough to blend into most living spaces or bedrooms.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

The most obvious hardware difference on the new Smart Clock is the addition of the wireless charging dock. Its not quite clear whether this is included everywhere yet  a press release says this is an optional accessory, but Lenovo told Engadget that the $90 price includes the pad. Its possible those in the US will only be able to purchase the bundle rather than get the clock on its own for cheaper.

Whether the mat comes with or you choose to buy it, youll be getting a wireless charging surface for your Qi-compatible devices. Theres also a USB-A socket on the back edge for wired charging, since there is no longer one on the screens rear. The left half of this dock is reserved for the clock, which attaches and is powered via pogo pins. A little tube encircles the devices base and it lights up when you lift the clock slightly.

Lenovo said a software update is coming that will also let you trigger the nightlight by swiping down on the screen. Both methods are meant to let you activate the bulb without having to say anything to the Assistant, so you can avoid waking light sleepers when you need illumination for your midnight pee.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

The software control wasnt available when I checked the Smart Clock 2 out at a recent demo in New York, but the night light did turn on when I popped the device off its charger. It emitted a soft glow that wasnt at all glaring in our conference room, but I can imagine itd be plenty bright in a dark bedroom.

The rest of the Smart Clock 2s features are pretty much the same as the original  swipe on the screen to see and set alarms, get the weather forecast, control your smart home devices and more. You can pick a new dark theme to make the interface easier on your corneas at night, and the Assistant is available for your spoken requests. Theres also a microphone mute switch if youd rather the device not hear you, and as with earlier models, theres no camera here.

Ive been a fan of Lenovos smart clocks and am happy to see the line get some love, even if its in the form of a minor update. While I dont use wireless charging much and would rather get the clock on its own, I could see myself using it more for things like earbuds and smartwatches. At $90, the Smart Clock 2 is less tempting than the original but since itll only be available in September, theres time to wait till we get a review unit in to tell if the updates are worth the price hike.
Samsung made a virtual appearance at Mobile World Congress with an event centered around Wear OS. The company has been working with Google on the smartwatch operating system over the last several months, and it showed off the latest One UI Watch experience during the stream.

One UI for Wear OS is designed to create a more seamless integration between smartwatches and phones, with apps and settings mirrored between Galaxy devices. Samsung didn't reveal a new Wear OS watch that takes advantage of the interface, unfortunately. You'll need to wait until an Unpacked event later this summer for that. That said, you can get caught up on the highlights from Samsung's MWC event with our four-minute supercut.
Today, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) proposed a new bill, called the Protect Reporters from Excessive State Suppression (PRESS) Act, that would protect journalists data records from being seized by the government. This comes several months after the Justice Department admitted that it acquired phone and email records from reporters at The Washington Post, CNN and the New York Times in order to identify sources.

Wyden said in a statement that there needed to be rules protecting reporters from government surveillance and that it should be written into black-letter law. He said: The Trump administration spied on reporters it suspected of no crimes in its hunt to identify their sources and prevent the American people from learning the truth about Trumps lawlessness and corruption.

Even though Bidens DOJ had initially defended the use of subpoenas, the president soon said it was wrong, putting a stop to the practice. Attorney General Merrick Garland had also requested new rules be put in place around cases involving reporters. He also met with executives from the aforementioned three news organizations to discuss the situation.

While most states have some form of shield law for reporters, the federal government does not. One of the problems with prior attempts at this legislation had to do with how a journalist is defined plus what kind of activities should be protected. A federal law, for example, would have to figure out how to safeguard journalists privacy while also protecting national security interests.

Wydens bill proposes that journalists be shielded from court-ordered disclosures of sources, but allows for exceptions if the information would prevent terrorism, identify terrorists, or if it would prevent violence or death.
TCL may have raised eyebrows with its wearable display, but that doesn't mean it's forgotten about affordable phones. Today, the company revealed US release dates for the 20-series handsets it debuted in Europe in the spring. Alongside the phones, TCL is launching the $100 MoveAudio S600 true wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation.

The headliner here is the $500 TCL 20 Pro 5G (pictured above), which features a Snapdragon 750G chipset with 6GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage, expandable to 1TB with a microSD. It offers a 6.67-inch, 20:9 curved AMOLED display with a full HD resolution, while the camera has the same 48-megapixel Sony IMX582 sensor found in the TCL 10 Plus. That's accompanied by a 16-megapixel ultra-wide camera, a 5-megapixel macro, and a 2-megapixel depth-sensor, with a 32-megapixel camera at the front. TCL says the phone will work with most GSM networks at launch, and Verizon low-band 5G and 4G in the coming weeks.

TCL

Next in line based on price is the $250 TCL 20S (pictured above), essentially a variant of the 20L+ from April. The cheaper handset packs a similar 6.67-inch display, but comes with 128GB of storage (also expandable to 1TB) and 4GB RAM. The Snapdragon 665 chipset here is also not as powerful as the 20 Pro's 750G. Still, the handset boasts some interesting deviations from its pricier sibling. Chiefly, TCL says this is its first phone with a circular polarized screen, which apparently reduces eye strain by 85 percent and appears natural even when viewed through sunglasses. The 64-megapixel sensor also sounds superior than its sibling's on paper.

TCL

Finally, the $190 TCL 20 SE (which won't win any awards in the title department) understandably has the lowest-specs of the bunch. While it does feature a larger 6.82-inch display, it pairs that with a sub-par 720p resolution. Keeping with the no-frills approach, inside is a Snapdragon 460 chipset, along with 4GB RAM combined with 128GB of storage (which can only be upgraded to 256GB). It also has a 5,000 mAh battery, though you won't get the same fast-charging tech as on its pricier counterparts. The camera includes a 48-megapixel main snapper, a 5-megapixel wide-angle, a 2-megapixel macro and 2-megapixel depth cam. There's also a 13-megapixel selfie taker on the front.
I don't consider myself an audiophile. For years, my primary pair of headphones were just the wired earbuds that came with my phone. Im hard-pressed to tell the difference between MP3 and FLAC. Yet, I recently bought a U-Turn Audio Orbit Plus turntable, a pair of Kanto YU4 speakers and several vinyl records on eBay. How did this happen?

It all began nearly a decade ago when I joined a They Might Be Giants fan club. For an annual fee, the band would send members not just bumper stickers and t-shirts, but also several 7-inch singles and the occasional 12-inch LP. Two years later and I had accumulated a mini collection of vinyl that I had no way of playing.

Not wanting to spend a ton of money, I decided to see what the fuss was about and buy a cheap Crosley Cruiser Deluxe (you know, the one in its own suitcase that every late-millennial hipster bought from Target a few years back). I wasnt expecting much for $50, but somehow it still managed to fall far short of those expectations, with thin and flat audio that sounded bad even to my untrained ears.

Engadget

But the experience was strangely charming: Its hypnotic to set a record on the platter, watch it spin and witness the needle transforming its grooves into sound. Playing a record also reminded me of my childhood, when I would spend hours in my bedroom listening to cassette tapes and CDs, and reading the liner notes. I got lost in the music in a way that random playlists on Spotify cant quite replicate.

I looked around for higher-quality turntables, but the only ones I could find at the time were far outside my price range. I was also reluctant to spend more money on extra equipment like amplifiers, preamps and speakers. Plus I wasnt entirely convinced that my non-audiophile ears would be able to tell the difference between vinyl and digital. It didnt seem worth it.

But as time went by, I secretly longed for one. I know it sounds shallow, but to me turntables just look cool. Additionally, vinyl has undergone a resurgence and its not uncommon these days for artists to release special edition LPs with album artwork and bonus tracks that aren't available elsewhere. Call me pretentious, but the idea of owning something tangible, something beautiful, that also supports an artist I love, really appeals to me.

Engadget

Then came 2020, and in a fit of quarantine-induced mania, I decided that this was the time to finally give in to the vinyl lust thats been building all these years. After a copious amount of research that included reading reviews and watching YouTube videos, I chose a setup that could deliver a combination of affordability, design and quality, at least for my tastes and budget.

I knew right away that I wanted U-Turn Audios Orbit Plus ($309) as the turntable. Its not quite as inexpensive as the companys own Orbit Basic ($200), but its still relatively affordable compared to some of the higher-end turntables on the market. Admittedly, one of my primary reasons for going with U-Turn Audio is the sleek and minimalistic design of the companys hardware. I opted for the Plus over the Basic because its acrylic platter makes for more consistent speeds. It also comes with the Ortofon OM5E cartridge, which I had read delivers a more neutral, balanced sound.

As someone whos never set up a turntable before, I was impressed with how easy the U-Turn Audio was to put together. When I received it, the tonearm and cartridge were already in place. All I had to do was position the platter, the mat and the belt, connect the appropriate plugs, and I was ready to go in a little over five minutes. Plus, changing speeds between 33 rpm and 45 rpm is as easy as slipping the belt into another pulley groove.

Engadget

Another thing I like about the Orbit Plus is how customizable it is. It comes in a variety of different eye-catching colors, and I could choose to change out the cartridge for something a little more premium later on if I wanted to. I could also add a built-in phono preamp (which is needed to amplify the signal from the cartridge to your amplifier or speakers) or incorporate a cue lever that lowers and raises the tonearm. Bear in mind that adding these different options (aside from the color change) will cost extra. The addition of the preamp, for example, increases the price of the Orbit Plus to $379.

I went without a preamp on the Orbit Plus because my choice of speakers are the Kanto YU4s, which already have one built-in. I decided against separate components like an amplifier or a standalone phono preamp because I wanted to keep the setup simple, with as few devices as possible. Powered speakers like the YU4 allow me to do that. In fact, the YU4s versatility is one of the reasons I like it so much. It has RCA and AUX inputs, optical inputs, a USB charge port, a subwoofer output, plus Bluetooth capabilities. Thanks to the latter feature, I often use the YU4 as computer speakers as well.

Engadget

What's more, the YU4s are just so good-looking. It has this modern, minimalist design that I think pairs wonderfully with the Orbit Plus. I currently have the YU4s positioned on either side of it, and I'm very pleased with how it all looks together. On top of that, I found the YU4s price ($370) quite reasonable as well, especially with all of its features.

As a self-professed non-audiophile, I found the audio quality of this entire setup to be more than satisfactory. The highs are crisp and the volume is powerful enough to fill the room. The one complaint I would have is that the Kanto YU4s bass is a little lacking. Its there, but it just isnt as thumpy as I would like. Kanto does sell a separate subwoofer for extra bass, but for $300, I think I can live without it.

Since Ive purchased the turntable, Ive spent many evenings sitting in my room listening to entire albums without the distractions from the phone or computer. I even enjoy the ritual of cleaning each record and putting them back in their sleeves. Its become a form of meditative self-care for me. Is that too precious? Does that make me a hipster? I dont pretend it isnt at least a little tiresome. But right now, in the midst of a pandemic, Ill take any kind of self-care I can get.
Eric Cantrell and Teirna Adair were just a few minutes too late getting to the hospital in this file photo. Baby Tally Mae was born the evening of Sept. 25, 2019, in the Sunset Plaza parking lot in Enid.
Mads Mikkelsen unveiled the one wish involving Johnny Depp and his role in the "Fantastic Beasts" franchise.

Mikkelsen recently sat for an interview where he talked about Depp who lost his spot in the franchise after losing his legal showdown. For what it's worth, the original actor was accused of being a wife-beater in an article about his alleged assault toward his ex-wife, Amber Heard.

Despite having the role now, Mikkelsen told The Sunday Times how much he wished to talk to him about the role. Per the 55-year-old actor, he knew that Warner Bros. would push through the new film even without Depp.

"I don't know what happened [in his private life], and I don't know if it was fair, him losing the job, but I just knew that the show was going on, and I would've loved to have talked to him about it if I had the chance, but I just don't know him in that sense," he continuously explained.

He revealed that he received a call from the creators, who sounded they were in a hurry. After reading the script, Mikkelsen immediately said yes.

Although he knew it was controversial, the actor said that things go like this most of the time.

Mads Mikkelsen Wants to Talk To Johnny Depp

After scoring the Gellert Grindelwald role, Mikkelsen expressed his desire to make the character his own instead of becoming the "successor."

According to Mikkelsen, he refused to copy what the "Pirates of the Caribbean" actor did and created. He explained that copying him would result in creative suicide instead. Because of this, he wants to become different and a bridge at the same time.

Things could have been much easier if he got the chance to talk to Depp about the role. However, he never really got the chance to do so.

READ ALSO: John Langley Dead While Competing In Off-Road Race: Tragic Cause of Death Confirmed [REPORT]

Before his appearance in "Fantastic Beasts," the Danish actor currently works for "Indiana Jones 5."

For Johnny Depp's part, he waits for his upcoming defamation trial against his ex-wife. Apart from Grindelwald's role, he also lost Captain Jack Sparrow's role in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" role for good.

He was already defended by his fans and colleagues, with Greg Ellis as the latest one to say that Depp undeserving of all the losses he faced.

READ MORE: Johnny Solinger Dead A Month After Receiving Bad Health Prognosis - Tragic Cause of Death Explored

See Now: Famous Actors Who Turned Down Iconic Movie Roles
Prince Harry has cut off a lot of people in his life, particularly some of his friends, since marrying Meghan Markle.

The Duke of Sussex has arrived in the UK ahead of the Princess Diana statue unveiling which is scheduled to take place in Jul. 1.

The dad-of-two is believed to be in quarantine for five days, according to the UK's government COVID-19 travel restrictions.

but after the mandated quarantine, Prince Harry will be able to socialize with whoever he wants, just as long as he gets a negative COVID-19 test.

Ahead of the highly-anticipated event, however, it is believed that Prince Harry will be meeting and reuniting with some of his old pals during this trip.

According to the Daily Mail, "After the wedding, Harry cut everyone from the UK off. But now he's at last showing signs of wanting to reconnect with his old life."

But do his pals still want to see him? Per the outlet, they're all excited to talk to the former senior royal.

"They think that the old Harry is coming back out of his shell."

Royal experts are watching Prince Harry's every move while in the UK and they think that perhaps the 36-year-old younger brother of Prince William isn't ready to abandon his old life just yet.

"It sounds like he's starting to realize that he doesn't have to abandon his old life to enjoy a new one in California with Meghan."

As for his reunion with pals, the Daily Mail's insider revealed that they may get lunch and talk about memories, however, it's unclear who exactly may be on the guest list.

The insider also shared how a few names have already come up including Mark Dyer, Jack Mann, and Charlie van Staubenzee, but it's still unsure who Prince Harry will be reconnected with within the coming days.

READ ALSO: Prince Harry Almost Didn't Make It To His UK Flight Because of a Police Chase [REPORT]

Will Prince William Join The Boys Lunch Out with Prince Harry?

The publication's source revealed that Prince William will not probably join his brother and his pals for lunch.

The insider spoke of the two brothers' rift as "deeper than ever."

Though they are currently fighting, the two sons of Princess Diana are expected to put their differences aside for the event, which will take place on what would've been her 60th birthday.

Another insider revealed that the event will be a "very personal moment" for Prince Harry and Prince William, as well as their close family.

READ MORE: Queen Elizabeth II New Photos Spark Health Concerns -- Here's What Royal Experts Had To Say

See Now: Famous Actors Who Turned Down Iconic Movie Roles
Colin Farrell refuses to let a pending court case ruin his day. While a lot is at stake on this decision, the actor makes sure he is not compromising his health waiting for it, as he can be seen running shirtless through Los Angeles.

One look at the actor and no one would know he's anxiously waiting for the court to decide whether he can have conservatorship over his 18-year-old son, according to Radar Online.

Farrell, 45, was sporting short black shorts, casual blue and red running shoes, and some patterned ankle socks. He also has a navy sweatband on.

In reality, though, it was reported that he's really worried about whether his application or petition of a conservatorship for James Padraig, his 18-year-old son, would be approved.

His son is diagnosed with Angelman Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that can cause developmental disabilities and nerve-related symptoms.

In a previous report, the former couple filed their request with the Los Angeles Superior Court back In May. If they are approved, the two of them would become co-conservators of their son before he becomes of legal age in September. At present, they are already James' main caregivers. Their request is for them to continue being so. An approval would also mean they could make medical decisions for him.

ALSO READ: Prince William 'Relieved' Kate Middleton To Stay Away from Princess Diana's Statute For One 'Telling' Reason

Colin and Kim already take care of their son but need the court's approval to continue. Per the court documents, James is "nonverbal, has issues with his fine motor skills and cannot provide for his own health and well-being."

On his part, James cannot testify for himself because of his anxiety, which his doctor has testified on. Colin however, revealed to the judge that if James could only make his thoughts known verbally, he would no doubt tell them that he wants his father to have conservatorship over him.

The relevant document reads, "James "lacks the capacity to express his preference over who he would want to serve as his conservator(s)," but it is understood that "he would choose [his parents] as co-conservators."

Colin Farrell also revealed emotionally that his son is in dire need of assistance on the daily. He needs someone to take care of his most basic of needs, preparing his food, getting him dressed, among others.

When he talked about the disease his son is suffering from back in 2017 in a "Today" interview, he shared that James' struggles are so brutal they "tear at the very fabric" of his heart.

ALSO READ: Ellen DeGeneres 'Better Off' Without 'The Ellen DeGeneres' Show'?

See Now: Famous Actors Who Turned Down Iconic Movie Roles
2021-06-28

Maeci

Italy hosts and co-chairs with the United States today, 28 June, in Rome the Plenary Ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh/ISIS. This is a very important event for the 83 members of the Coalition, more than half of whom will be attending at Ministerial level, two years on from the last full-format meeting. It is also a recognition of Italy's efforts in combating the terrorist group, in both the military and civilian spheres.

The Rome Ministerial meeting will be an opportunity to reaffirm the Coalition's cohesion in ensuring a lasting defeat of Daesh, to reaffirm the common commitment to the stabilisation of the liberated areas in Syria and Iraq, and to strengthen cooperation in the thematic working groups. Furthermore, as prompted by Italy, ample space will be dedicated to combating the threat posed by organisations affiliated to Daesh in other areas, particularly in the Sahel and in various regions of Africa, a phenomenon that has grown in size and danger in recent years and which poses serious risks for the security of the Mediterranean region.

Read the Joint Communique of the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh/ISIS

Read the Joint Communique of the Ministerial Meeting on Syria
2021-06-28

Maeci

We, the Ministers and representatives of the United States, Italy, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Iraq, Ireland, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UAE, the United Kingdom, and representatives of the League of Arab States and European Union, met today on the margins of the Defeat ISIS Coalition Ministerial to discuss the crisis in Syria. We stressed the critical importance of meeting humanitarian needs, including life-saving assistance and COVID-19 response for all Syrians in need through all modalities, including through the provision and expansion of the UN cross-border mechanism to which there is no adequate alternative. We also underlined the importance of continued support to Syrian refugees and host countries until Syrians can voluntarily return home with safety and dignity in line with UNHCR standards.

We welcomed UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersens briefing and reaffirmed strong support for UN-led efforts to implement all aspects of UN Security Council Resolution 2254, including continued support for an immediate nation-wide ceasefire, the unimpeded and safe delivery of aid, and the Constitutional Committee, as well as fighting against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

Reaffirming the unity and territorial integrity of Syria, we remain committed to continue working actively to reach a credible, sustainable, and inclusive political solution based on Resolution 2254. This is the only solution that will bring an end to Syrias decade long conflict and guarantee the security of the Syrian people and fulfil their aspirations.
Preliminary results from the European gene therapy trial for Crigler-Najjar syndrome, conducted by Genethon in collaboration with European network CureCN, were presented at the EASL (European Association for the Study of the Liver) annual International Liver Congress on June 26. Based on initial observations, the drug candidate is well tolerated and the first therapeutic effects have been demonstrated, to be confirmed as the trial continues.

Crigler-Najjar syndrome is a rare genetic liver disease characterized by abnormally high levels of bilirubin in the blood (hyperbilirubinemia). This accumulation of bilirubin is caused by a deficiency of the UGT1A1 enzyme, responsible for transforming bilirubin into a substance that can be eliminated by the body, and can result in significant neurological damage and death if not treated quickly. At present, patients must undergo phototherapy for up to 12 hours a day to keep their bilirubin levels below the toxicity threshold.

Dr. Lorenzo D'Antiga (Azienda Ospedaliera Papa Giovanni XXIII, Bergamo, Italy), one of the investigators working on the gene therapy trial being conducted into Crigler-Najjar syndrome by Genethon, presented the results from the first treated patients at this year's EASL (European Association for the Study of the Liver) congress. The treatment involves providing the liver cells with a copy of the UGT1A1 gene that encodes an enzyme designed to facilitate bilirubin elimination. Based on initial observations, the results are encouraging.

Specifically, the first two cohorts reveal that:

The product is safe and well tolerated in the four patients undergoing treatment

There appears to be a dose-response relationship (to be confirmed): In cohort 1, treated at the lowest dose, the clinicians observed a temporary therapeutic effect but that was insufficient to allow prolonged stopping the phototherapy at the sixteenth week post-injection (the product efficacy endpoint) In cohort 2, treated at a higher dose, a major reduction in bilirubin levels was demonstrated in the first patient, enabling her to stop phototherapy a few weeks ago. The second patient has also seen a major decrease in her bilirubin levels. Her treatment is too recent to demonstrate a stable decrease, but if this decrease is confirmed she will also be able to discontinue phototherapy in a few weeks' time.



"We are very excited with the results achieved so far in this trial of AAV-mediated gene therapy for Crigler Najjar syndrome. The treatment, at appropriate doses, has shown to be safe and able to correct the disease to an extent that allowed the first patient to stop daily phototherapy, eliminating the risk of neurological injury. The degree of improvement of the second patient suggests that soon she might be able to stop phototherapy too. Our work on the immunomodulation protocol is now focused on maintaining a durable effect in the long term. This innovative strategy may replace liver transplantation in patients with a genetic liver disease". Dr. Lorenzo D'Antiga, who treated the last two patients and presented their results at the EASL congress.

The trial uses a technology developed by Genethon's Immunology and Liver Gene Therapy team, headed up by Dr. Giuseppe Ronzitti: "The team has worked incredibly hard on this project, from designing and developing the approach right through to the trial. We designed the drug candidate, undertook the preclinical efficacy testing, then designed the product for the clinical trial. We are continuing our work to develop new approaches for other liver diseases".

"These initial observations presented at this year's EASL congress indicate that gene therapy could become an alternative treatment for this severe liver disease. We need to remain cautious, as the trial is ongoing and will allow us to evaluate these initial encouraging results in other patients and over a longer period." Frederic Revah, CEO of Genethon.

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About the trial

This European trial aims to assess the product's safety, identify the optimal dose, and evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of the drug candidate. The clinical trial is being conducted at four European study sites: in France (Prof. Labrune - Hopital Beclere, Clamart), Italy (Prof. Brunetti-Pierri - Hopital Federico II; Prof. d'Antiga - Azienda Ospedaliera Papa Giovanni XXIII, Bergamo) and the Netherlands (Prof. Beuers - Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam). The project is supported by European consortium CureCN, which brings together 11 European partners, and has received funding from the European Union?s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

About Crigler-Najjar syndrome

Crigler-Najjar syndrome is a rare genetic liver disease (1 case in 1,000,000 births) characterized by the abnormal accumulation of bilirubin--a yellow substance produced by the liver--in all the tissues of the body. This hyperbilirubinemia is caused by a deficiency of the enzyme (UGT1A1) responsible for transforming bilirubin into a substance that can be eliminated by the body. When this enzyme does not work, bilirubin builds up, causing severe, chronic jaundice and brain toxicity. If it is not treated quickly, this accumulation of bilirubin can result in significant neurological damage and death. At present, affected patients must undergo phototherapy for up to 12 hours a day to keep their bilirubin levels below the toxicity threshold. The only treatment is liver transplantation -- a major, complicated procedure.

Press contact: Stephanie Bardon - +33 (0)6 45 15 95 87 - communication@genethon.fr
Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent.

1. Case reports thrombocytopenia with thrombosis following COVID-19 mRNA vaccine

Abstract: https:/ / www. acpjournals. org/ doi/ 10. 7326/ L21-0224

Editorial: https:/ / www. acpjournals. org/ doi/ 10. 7326/ M21-2680

URL goes live when the embargo lifts

A single case reports thrombocytopenia with thrombosis syndrome (TTS) following the mRNA-1273 vaccine for COVID-19. Previously, it was hypothesized that adenoviral vector-based vaccines were the sole cause of TTS or vaccine-induced TTS (VITT). The case is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers from Allegheny Health Network, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania report the case of a 65-year-old man with chronic hypertension and hyperlipidemia who presented to the hospital with 1 week of bilateral lower-extremity discomfort, intermittent headaches, and 2 days of dyspnea 10 days after receiving a second dose of the mRNA-1273 vaccine. The patient had no known exposure to heparin, a medication that has been associated with TTS. They were unable to identify other causes of TTS, including SARS CoV-2 infection, other concurrent infections, immune thrombocytopenia, or thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, leading the investigators to conclude that the diagnosis might be VITT, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Brighton Collaboration. Despite rapid and exhaustive treatment, the patient died.

The authors note that COVID-19 vaccines that use mRNA technology are proven safe and effective and have been used with no such events in millions of people. This is the only report to date of possible VITT or TTS in an mRNA vaccine recipient. They conclude that such a rare event, even if confirmed by additional reports, should not prevent persons from receiving the benefits of these vaccines. An accompanying editorial from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania discusses the uncertainty around whether the vaccine was the inciting factor and reiterates that, even if it were, given the rarity of the adverse event and the already associated high risk of thrombotic complications of COVID-19, this case report should not dissuade people from vaccination.

Media contacts: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Angela Collom at acollom@acponline.org. To speak with the corresponding author, Swathi Sangli, MBBS, please contact Dan Laurent at daniel.laurent@highmarkhealth.org.

2. Robot-assisted surgery offers no clear advantage over conventional surgery

Abstract: https:/ / www. acpjournals. org/ doi/ 10. 7326/ M20-7006

URL goes live when the embargo lifts

A review of published research found no clear advantage to surgery with existing robotic platforms, which are costly and increase operation duration. The authors suggest that with refinement, competition, and cost reduction, future versions have the potential to improve clinical outcomes. The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Robotic surgery is a form of minimally invasive surgery that aims to overcome the limitations inherent to both laparoscopy and open surgery. However, the description of current platforms as "robotics" is a misnomer because they lack any automation, but rather are surgeon-controlled devices. The initial cost of the most prevalent robotic platform is at least $1.5 million, plus additional costs associated with training and maintenance. In order to provide value, robot-assisted surgery must demonstrate clinical benefit to justify the steep financial burden.

Researchers from the University of Texas, Houston reviewed 50 published randomized controlled trials comprising more than 4,800 patients to assess the quality of evidence and outcomes for robot-assisted abdominopelvic surgery compared with laparoscopy, open surgery, or both. The majority of studies showed no difference in intraoperative complications, conversion rates to open surgery, and long-term outcomes. Overall, robot-assisted surgery had a longer operative duration than laparoscopy, but no obvious difference was seen versus open surgery. While robot-assisted surgery is proven safe and effective, the authors conclude that it currently has no clear clinical benefit given its considerable cost and lack of improvements over conventional surgeries.

Media contacts: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Angela Collom at acollom@acponline.org. The corresponding author, Naila H. Dhanani, MD, can be reached directly at naila.dhanani@uth.tmc.edu or naila.dhanani@yahoo.com.

3. Trial finds bedside teaching effective and efficient for improving patients' understanding of their care

Abstract: https:/ / www. acpjournals. org/ doi/ 10. 7326/ M21-0909

Editorial: https:/ / www. acpjournals. org/ doi/ 10. 7326/ M21-2447

URL goes live when the embargo lifts

A randomized, controlled trial found that bedside discussions were efficient, but the use of medical jargon and discussion of sensitive topics were associated with patent discomfort and confusion, suggesting that communication skills are essential for effective bedside teaching. The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Patient-centered care involves patients in all aspects of medical decision-making. For inpatient care, this includes discussions of the patient's illness during ward rounds, which can take place outside of the patient's room or at the bedside. These discussions typically involve medical jargon and terminology that a patient may not be familiar with which could lead to misunderstandings or discomfort. This is important because knowledge and comprehension are considered important predictors of adherence to treatment instructions. As such, it's important to determine the best location for case discussions, but research on this topic is lacking.

To fill this knowledge gap, researchers from University Hospital Basal, Basal, Switzerland randomly assigned 919 patients at 3 Swiss teaching hospitals to receive either bedside or outside the room case discussions to compare these two styles in helping patients understand their disease, the therapeutic approach being used, and further plans for care. In summary, the researchers found that compared with patients in the outside the room group, those in the bedside presentation group reported a similar knowledge about their medical care, and an objective rating of patient knowledge by the study team was similar for both groups. However, the bedside presentation group had higher ratings of confusion regarding medical jargon and uncertainty caused by team discussions. Bedside rounds were found to be more efficient, taking less time than outside the room discussions, yet patient-physician interaction time was increased. Sensitive topics were less frequently addressed at the bedside.

An accompanying editorial from Annals of Internal Medicine humanities editor, Michael A. LaComb, MD, says these findings should encourage physicians to bring teaching back to the bedside and suggests that organizations such as the American College of Physicians should promote the practice. He writes that patients want to feel cared for. With proper training that includes setting rules with each individual patient, bedside discussions can enhance that feeling.

Media contacts: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Angela Collom at acollom@acponline.org. The corresponding author, Sabina Hunziker, MD, can be contacted directly at Sabina.Hunziker@usb.ch. To speak with the editorialist, Michael A. LaComb, MD, please contact Angela Collom.

Also new in this issue:

Evidence-Based Prescribing and Polypharmacy for Patients With Heart Failure

Ankeet S. Bhatt, MD, MBA; Niteesh K. Choudhry, MD, PhD

Ideas and Opinions

Abstract: https:/ / www. acpjournals. org/ doi/ 10. 7326/ M21-1427

Moral Injury

Venktesh R. Ramnath, MD

On Being a Doctor

Abstract: https:/ / www. acpjournals. org/ doi/ 10. 7326/ M21-0997

See/Draw: A COVID-19 Distraction

William J. Doan, BA, MFA, PhD

Annals Graphic Medicine

Abstract: https:/ / www. acpjournals. org/ doi/ 10. 7326/ G20-0111

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Some exoplanet searches could be missing nearly half of the Earth-sized planets around other stars. New findings from a team using the international Gemini Observatory and the WIYN 3.5-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory suggest that Earth-sized worlds could be lurking undiscovered in binary star systems, hidden in the glare of their parent stars. As roughly half of all stars are in binary systems, this means that astronomers could be missing many Earth-sized worlds.

Earth-sized planets may be much more common than previously realized. Astronomers working at NASA Ames Research Center have used the twin telescopes of the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF's NOIRLab, to determine that many planet-hosting stars identified by NASA's TESS exoplanet-hunting mission [1] are actually pairs of stars -- known as binary stars -- where the planets orbit one of the stars in the pair. After examining these binary stars, the team has concluded that Earth-sized planets in many two-star systems might be going unnoticed by transit searches like TESS's, which look for changes in the light from a star when a planet passes in front of it [2]. The light from the second star makes it more difficult to detect the changes in the host star's light when the planet transits.

The team started out by trying to determine whether some of the exoplanet host stars identified with TESS were actually unknown binary stars. Physical pairs of stars that are close together can be mistaken for single stars unless they are observed at extremely high resolution. So the team turned to both Gemini telescopes to inspect a sample of exoplanet host stars in painstaking detail. Using a technique called speckle imaging [3], the astronomers set out to see whether they could spot undiscovered stellar companions.

Using the `Alopeke and Zorro instruments on the Gemini North and South telescopes in Chile and Hawai'i, respectively, [4] the team observed hundreds of nearby stars that TESS had identified as potential exoplanet hosts. They discovered that 73 of these stars are really binary star systems that had appeared as single points of light until observed at higher resolution with Gemini. "With the Gemini Observatory's 8.1-meter telescopes, we obtained extremely high-resolution images of exoplanet host stars and detected stellar companions at very small separations," said Katie Lester of NASA's Ames Research Center, who led this work.

Lester's team also studied an additional 18 binary stars previously found among the TESS exoplanet hosts using the NN-EXPLORE Exoplanet and Stellar Speckle Imager (NESSI) on the WIYN 3.5-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, also a Program of NSF's NOIRLab.

After identifying the binary stars, the team compared the sizes of the detected planets in the binary star systems to those in single-star systems. They realized that the TESS spacecraft found both large and small exoplanets orbiting single stars, but only large planets in binary systems.

These results imply that a population of Earth-sized planets could be lurking in binary systems and going undetected using the transit method employed by TESS and many other planet-hunting telescopes. Some scientists had suspected that transit searches might be missing small planets in binary systems, but the new study provides observational support to back it up and shows which sizes of exoplanets are affected [5].

"We have shown that it is more difficult to find Earth-sized planets in binary systems because small planets get lost in the glare of their two parent stars," Lester stated. "Their transits are 'filled in' by the light from the companion star," added Steve Howell of NASA's Ames Research Center, who leads the speckle imaging effort and was involved in this research.

"Since roughly 50% of stars are in binary systems, we could be missing the discovery of -- and the chance to study -- a lot of Earth-like planets," Lester concluded.

The possibility of these missing worlds means that astronomers will need to use a variety of observational techniques before concluding that a given binary star system has no Earth-like planets. "Astronomers need to know whether a star is single or binary before they claim that no small planets exist in that system," explained Lester. "If it's single, then you could say that no small planets exist. But if the host is in a binary, you wouldn't know whether a small planet is hidden by the companion star or does not exist at all. You would need more observations with a different technique to figure that out."

As part of their study, Lester and her colleagues also analyzed how far apart the stars are in the binary systems where TESS had detected large planets. The team found that the stars in the exoplanet-hosting pairs were typically farther apart than binary stars not known to have planets [6]. This could suggest that planets do not form around stars that have close stellar companions.

"This speckle imaging survey illustrates the critical need for NSF telescope facilities to characterize newly discovered planetary systems and develop our understanding of planetary populations," said National Science Foundation Division of Astronomical Sciences Program Officer Martin Still.

"This is a major finding in exoplanet work," Howell commented. "The results will help theorists create their models for how planets form and evolve in double-star systems."

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Notes

[1] TESS is the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, a NASA mission designed to search for planets orbiting other stars in a survey of around 75% of the entire night sky. The mission launched in 2018 and has detected more than 3500 candidate exoplanets, of which more than 130 have been confirmed. The satellite looks for exoplanets by observing their host stars; a transiting exoplanet causes a subtle but measurable dip in the brightness of its host star as it crosses in front of the star and blocks some of its light.

[2] The transit technique is one way of discovering exoplanets. It involves looking for regular decreases in the light of a star that could be caused by a planet passing in front of or "transiting" the star and blocking some of the starlight.

[3] Speckle imaging is an astronomical technique that allows astronomers to see past the blur of the atmosphere by taking many quick observations in rapid succession. By combining these observations, it is possible to cancel out the blurring effect of the atmosphere, which affects ground-based astronomy by causing stars in the night sky to twinkle.

[4] `Alopeke & Zorro are identical imaging instruments permanently mounted on the Gemini North and South telescopes. Their names mean "fox" in Hawaiian and Spanish, respectively, reflecting their respective locations on Maunakea in Hawai?i and on Cerro Pachon in Chile.

[5] The team found that planets twice the size of Earth or smaller could not be detected using the transit method when observing binary systems.

[6] Lester's team found that the exoplanet-hosting binary stars they identified had average separations of about 100 astronomical units. (An astronomical unit is the average distance between the Sun and Earth.) Binary stars that are not known to host planets are typically separated by around 40 astronomical units.

More information

This research is presented in the paper "Speckle Observations of TESS Exoplanet Host Stars. II. Stellar Companions at 1-1000 AU and Implications for Small Planet Detection" to appear in the Astronomical Journal.

The team is composed of Kathryn V. Lester (NASA Ames Research Center), Rachel A. Matson (US Naval Observatory), Steve B. Howell (NASA Ames Research Center), Elise Furlan (Exoplanet Science Institute, Caltech), Crystal L. Gnilka (NASA Ames Research Center), Nicholas J. Scott (NASA Ames Research Center), David R. Ciardi (Exoplanet Science Institute, Caltech), Mark E. Everett (NSF's NOIRLab), Zachary D. Hartman (Lowell Observatory & Department of Physics & Astronomy, Georgia State University), and Lea A. Hirsch (Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University).

NSF's NOIRLab (National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory), the US center for ground-based optical-infrared astronomy, operates the international Gemini Observatory (a facility of NSF, NRC-Canada, ANID-Chile, MCTIC-Brazil, MINCyT-Argentina, and KASI-Republic of Korea), Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC), and Vera C. Rubin Observatory (operated in cooperation with the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory). It is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF and is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. The astronomical community is honored to have the opportunity to conduct astronomical research on Iolkam Du'ag (Kitt Peak) in Arizona, on Maunakea in Hawai'i, and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachon in Chile. We recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that these sites have to the Tohono O'odham Nation, to the Native Hawaiian community, and to the local communities in Chile, respectively.

Links

Research paper

Photos of the Gemini North Telescope

Photos of the Gemini South Telescope

Videos of the Gemini telescopes

`Alopeke & Zorro Speckle Imagers

Contacts

Katie Lester

NASA's Ames Research Center

Email: kathryn.v.lester@nasa.gov

Steve Howell

NASA Ames Research Center

Cell: +1 520 461 6925

Email: steve.b.howell@nasa.gov

Amanda Kocz

Press and Internal Communications Officer

NSF's NOIRLab

Cell: +1 626 524 5884

Email: amanda.kocz@noirlab.edu
Imagine having feelings of distress and negativity at some point as you are going about your day. Then imagine feeling that way every day, for almost 21 days. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer youth don't have to imagine having negative feelings at some point throughout the day for an extended period of days. A new study from American University reveals just how pervasive emotional distress is related to stigma around sexual orientation.

"Although we know that LGBTQ youth experience bullying, discrimination, and microaggressions during adolescence, we don't know how prevalent these experiences are in their day-to-day lives," said lead study author, licensed psychologist and American University Health Studies Prof. Ethan Mereish.

"Our study shows that LGBTQ youth experience stresses related to their multiple stigmatized identities almost daily, and sexual orientation-specific stressors on a weekly basis. These experiences are associated with greater negative emotions that can lead to depression or other mental health issues."

Researchers have long known that minority stressors harm LGBTQ youth. However, what is less understood is their daily effects and youth resilience and well-being in the face of stigma. Minority stressors range from hearing homophobic, transphobic or racist remarks to more severe stressors such as experiencing discrimination, prejudice and harassment directly related to one's sexual orientation or gender identities.

Could the pervasiveness of negative emotions lead to more serious mental health issues? LGBTQ youth are at greater risk for poor mental health outcomes, including depression, compared with their heterosexual and cisgender peers. "Having negative emotions does not necessarily make one clinically depressed; however, if they persist over several days and weeks, it could become depression," Mereish said.

For the study, nearly 100 racially diverse youth and adolescents between the ages of 12 to 18 were recruited from the Washington, D.C. LGBTQ community, with the greatest number of participants attending high school. The participants filled out a daily diary, which consisted of responding to daily surveys. Every day for 21 days, participants received a link to a survey that asked about their experiences in the last 24 hours to gauge their level of distress around minority stressors. The questions asked about their experiences with discrimination, prejudice, harassment and rejection. Participants also completed a psychological questionnaire as a baseline measure.

According to the study results, the participants experienced an average of 17 minority stressors during the 21-day monitoring period, and some participants experienced even more. Most participants attributed these stressors to their sexual orientation. Some minority stressors were more commonly experienced than others such as seeing or hearing negative or offensive messages; being made to feel uncomfortable or unsafe because of one's identity; experiencing one's identity to interfere with their life; and being misunderstood.

On days when participants experienced a greater number of minority stressors, they reported higher same-day negative emotions, or "negative affect," a medical term that refers to moods and emotional states. Additionally, the youth experienced heightened negative affect on days when they experienced a sexual orientation-specific minority stressor. A similar association between minority stressors and negative emotions was found on days when stressors occurred related to other identities, such as their gender or race.

The study models similar research done in adults, which also confirm a link between the daily stressors of being a sexual minority and negative emotions. The youth study differs for its diverse sample (both in race and gender identity diversity), and the implications, as youth and adolescents are developing, and interventions will be different, Mereish notes.

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Future work with larger sample sizes will be needed to better understand the impacts of minority stress and LGBTQ youth. The study is published in Journal of Counseling Psychology.
Announcing a new article publication for BIO Integration journal. In this article the authors Chunxiong Zheng, Mingqiang Li and Jianxun Ding from Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China and Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Changchun, China discuss the challenges and opportunities of nanomedicines in clinical translation.

Researchers are rapidly gaining a much deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities of nanomedicines allowing for improvements in disease treatment and improved patient survival.

Deep exploration of the connections between preclinical and clinical modeling will facilitate the development of unique animal-based disease models remarkably similar to the human pathological mechanism to elevate the accuracy of predicting therapeutic efficacy in human clinical trials. Integration of active-targeting ligands and smart stimuli-responsive materials as well as the bio?nano interface interactions will endow nanomedicines with advanced functionalities to pioneer new-concept nanoparticle-based drugs.

By overcoming the obstacles of controllable, reproducible, as well as scalable nanoparticle production, cost, and toxicity, the next generation of nanomedicines that are incorporated with unique molecular modules and therapeutic agents, including cell-based therapeutics, siRNA, mRNA, DNA, protein, and so forth, will be accelerated into clinical development.

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Article reference: Chunxiong Zheng, Mingqiang Li and Jianxun Ding, Challenges and Opportunities of Nanomedicines in Clinical Translation. BIO Integration, 2021, https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 15212/ bioi-2021-0016

BIO Integration is fully open access journal which will allow for the rapid dissemination of multidisciplinary views driving the progress of modern medicine.

As part of its mandate to help bring interesting work and knowledge from around the world to a wider audience, BIOI will actively support authors through open access publishing and through waiving author fees in its first years. Also, publication support for authors whose first language is not English will be offered in areas such as manuscript development, English language editing and artwork assistance.

BIOI is now open for submissions; articles can be submitted online at:

https:/ / mc04. manuscriptcentral. com/ bioi

Please visit http://www. bio-integration. org to learn more about the journal.

Editorial Board: https:/ / bio-integration. org/ editorial-board/

Please visit http://www. bio-integration. org to learn more about the journal.

Editorial Board: https:/ / bio-integration. org/ editorial-board/

BIOI is available on the IngentaConnect platform (https:/ / www. ingentaconnect. com/ content/ cscript/ bioi ) and at the BIO Integration website (http://www. bio-integration. org ).

Submissions may be made using ScholarOne (https:/ / mc04. manuscriptcentral. com/ bioi ).

There are no author submission or article processing fees.

Follow BIOI on Twitter @JournalBio; Facebook (https:/ / www. facebook. com/ BIO-Integration-Journal-108140854107716/ ) and LinkedIn (https:/ / www. linkedin. com/ company/ bio-integration-journal/ ).

ISSN 2712-0074

eISSN 2712-0082

Keywords: nanomedicines; clinical translation
The electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (e-NRR) under ambient conditions is an emerging strategy to tackle the hydrogen- and energy-intensive processes entailed in industrial ammonia (NH 3 ) synthesis via the traditional Haber-Bosch process. However, the e-NRR performance is currently impeded by the inherent inertness of N 2 molecules, extremely slow kinetics, and overwhelming competition from the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), all of which result in an unsatisfactory yield and ammonia selectivity (Faradaic efficiency, FE). To achieve a high-selectivity and high-performance NRR under ambient conditions, the rational design of efficient electrocatalysts is urgently required. Defect and interface engineering are capable of achieving novel physical and chemical properties as well as superior synergistic effects for various electrocatalysts.

Recently, the Wang Danhong research group of Nankai University reviewed the latest progress of e-NRR catalysts under ambient conditions from the perspective of defect and interface engineering. The authors first provided a general introduction to the NRR mechanism. Subsequently, the authors provided a comprehensive and detailed review on defect and interface engineering for e-NRR electrocatalysts, emphasizing the elucidation of active sites and intrinsic mechanisms. They discussed how the defect (vacancies, heteroatom doping, single-atom, crystal facets, amorphization) engineering and the surface (metal-metal oxide interface, metal-carbon material interface, intermetallic compounds from the viewpoint of alloyed structures, gas-electrolyte-catalyst interface) regulation alter the number of active sites or the electronic structure and then promote the activity of NRR electrocatalysts. In the final section, the authors summarized the present research status and challenges in this emerging field from different aspects and discussed the potential strategies to develop more advanced NRR electrocatalysts. It is expected that this review will be stimulating and assist researchers to create more efficient catalysts for the electrochemical NRR.

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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21904071 and 22071115).

The review was published in the Journal of Energy Chemistry. (DOI: 10.1016/j.jechem.2021.06.012)

About the journal

The Journal of Energy Chemistry is a publication that mainly reports on creative researches and innovativeapplications of chemical conversions of fossil energy, carbon dioxide, electrochemical energy and hydrogen energy,as well as the conversions of biomass and solar energy related with chemical issues to promote academicexchanges in the field of energy chemistry and to accelerate the exploration, research and development of energyscience and technologies.

At Elsevier

https:/ / www. sciencedirect. com/ journal/ journal-of-energy-chemistry

Manuscript submission
28 June 2021: Only now, more than a year after Covid-19 infection rates first hit peak levels and in the knowledge that receptors for SARS-CoV-2 are present in the ovary, are we able to assess the effect of the virus on reproductive function. Now, a new study has shown that the ovarian reserve of women previously infected with the virus was not adversely affected, and that their chance of success from fertility treatment remained as it was before infection.*

The study, which monitored hormone levels in women having IVF at one of 11 clinics in the IVI group in Spain between May and June 2020, is described today by Dr Maria Cruz Palomino from IVI Madrid at the online annual meeting of ESHRE.

All the women in the study had baseline hormone measurements before starting treatment, which included measurements of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH, as a marker of ovarian reserve). AMH has become a widely used measurement in fertility clinics in recent years, able to predict how patients might respond to ovarian stimulation in IVF - although its reliability as a marker of general female fertility is more disputed.

The study included 46 patients having IVF whose baseline measurements of AMH suggested they would be normal or low responders to ovarian stimulation when treatment began. "Generally," said Dr Palomino, "the data showed no variation in AMH levels before and after SARS-CoV-2 infection, and we could assume that the chances of success in their fertility treatment remained intact." However, the results did show a slight decline in AMH measurements in those predicted to be normal responders, which Dr Palomino said was not a "radical decrease" and unlikely to compromise ovarian reserve - nor, she added, "can we attribute this variation to SARS-Cov-2 infection".

Several studies reported so far have been reassuring about the effect of Covid-19 infection on female fertility, and this provides further reassurance for those planning fertility treatment with IVF. Experts have described intrauterine infection via placental or congenital routes as unlikely, and reported that perinatal infection found at and after delivery was a more likely explanation for any neonatal infection.

This, as Dr Palomino explains, was a small study and not robust enough for emphatic public health conclusions, but it does join others in suggesting that ovarian function, as reflected in AMH measurements, is not affected by SARS-Cov-2 infection. There have been concerns because the virus invades its target cells by binding to the ACE2 receptor, which is widely expressed in the ovaries (as well as the uterus, vagina and placenta). The SARS-CoV-2 virus has been said to interrupt female fertility through regulating ACE2. This has caused some anxiety for women contemplating fertility treatment, and this latest study suggests that, while there was a variation in levels of AMH as a marker of ovarian reserve, this variation appeared dependent on patient response to ovarian stimulation, not on previous infection. "Nevertheless," said Dr Palomino, "we could assume that the chances of success of fertility treatment remain intact." The results reflect those of a recent study from Wuhan, China, which similarly found that average sex hormone and AMH concentrations of women of child-bearing age with COVID-19 were not different from those of age-matched controls.(1)

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Presentation 0-079, Monday 28 June 2021

Could ovarian reserve be affected after SARS-CoV-2 infection?

* Ovarian reserve

Ovarian reserve describes the ability of the ovary to produce eggs for fertilisation (natural and medical) and pregnancy. Because of the ovary's fixed store of eggs which depletes over time, ovarian reserve is known to decline, beginning at around the age of 35 and continuing to the menopause, when reproductive function stops. Diminished ovarian reserve and decline in egg quality are known to explain the decline in fertility with age.

Tests of ovarian reserve, such as AMH and counting small early follicles in the ovary (by ultrasound), will thus give an indication of how many egg follicles remain in the ovary, but will not provide an accurate prediction of fertility. Some women will get pregnant with low markers of ovarian reserve, while others with high measurements will not. However, AMH test results have been found to correlate closely with how women respond to ovarian stimulation for IVF, thereby predicted as normal, low (few eggs produced) or high responders (many eggs produced and with them a risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome).

1. See Li K, Chen G, Hou H, et al. Analysis of sex hormones and menstruation in COVID-19 women of child-bearing age. Reprod Biomed Online 2021; 42: 260-267.
The use of transparent masks during communication increases comprehension of speech by about 10% for people with hearing loss and people with normal hearing, according to a study published in the journal Ear and Hearing.

The study was conducted at the University of Texas in Dallas (USA), with the participation of Regina Tangerino, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo's Bauru Dental School (FOB-USP) in Brazil, and with support from Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP.

"Our findings show that wearing a transparent mask can facilitate communication for everyone, minimizing stress and improving interaction. Protection obviously has to be the primary concern, and no clear models with proven effectiveness are sold in Brazil right now," Tangerino told.

In the US, she explained, two models of mask with a see-through portion in the mouth area have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "One of our aims is calling attention to the importance of the topic," she said.

The study began early in the pandemic, in 2020, when the group posted on the internet a set of videos lasting 40 minutes, with Tangerino voicing several utterances against background noise without a mask, wearing a mask with a clear mouth panel, and wearing an opaque fabric mask.

The study used 154 volunteers recruited via social media or by email. They were divided into three groups based on whether they had normal hearing, or confirmed or suspected hearing loss (with or without cochlear implants or hearing aids). They were invited to watch the videos in a quiet place and to type what they understood after each sentence. They also had to rate their level of confidence in responding and how intensely they had to concentrate to understand what was said. Each volunteer's score was computed at the end.

On average, the volunteers in all three groups correctly understood 83.8% of the sentences spoken without a mask, 68.9% of utterances with a see-through mask, and 58.9% with an opaque mask.

"The difference of 10 percentage points [between the latter two averages] is statistically significant. This benefit applies to more than just comprehension: the participants also felt more self-confident and were able to follow what was said with less effort when the see-through mask was used," Tangerino said. "In another study, conducted in the UK with 460 participants, the researchers noted that opaque masks influenced fatigue, anxiety and emotions in both listeners and speakers."

Visual cues

To find out if the difference in comprehension between transparent and opaque masks was due to visual cues such as lip reading, acoustic differences between the recordings, or the tendency for some masks to muffle sound, a follow-up study using audio only was conducted with 29 volunteers, who were not told which sentences were recorded with or without a mask.

"In this case, the average performance was actually worse for sentences spoken with a clear mask than with an opaque mask, confirming the significance of visual cues in the first study. They helped listeners surmount the problem of muffled sound when a mask is worn," Tangerino said.

Production of transparent masks certified by ANVISA, the national health surveillance agency, should be stimulated in Brazil, she added. Currently, the only see-through type available is a vinyl mask, considered insufficiently effective to block transmission of the novel coronavirus.

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About Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)
For the first time, scientists from the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK) partner site in Essen/Dusseldorf have discovered stem cells of the hematopoietic system in glioblastomas, the most aggressive form of brain tumor. These hematopoietic stem cells promote division of the cancer cells and at the same time suppress the immune response against the tumor. This surprising discovery might open up new possibilities for developing more effective immunotherapies against these malignant brain tumors.

The DKTK is a consortium centered around the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, which has long-term collaborative partnerships with specialist oncological centers at universities across Germany.

Glioblastomas are the most common dangerous brain tumor in adults; they grow diffusely into healthy brain tissue and are therefore almost impossible to completely remove by surgery. They defy the combination of surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy and usually continue to grow unchecked. Even immunotherapies, which achieve good results in some cases in other types of cancer, have had no effect on these malignant brain tumors to date.

"Glioblastomas apparently create an environment that actively suppresses the immune response," explained Bjorn Scheffler, DKTK Professor of Translational Oncology at the West German Tumor Center in Essen, partner site Essen/Dusseldorf. "They produce immunosuppressive messengers, and in the immediate environment of the tumors we find certain types of immune cells that specifically suppress the immune defense."

Researchers were not previously aware of the variety of immune cells in the microenvironment of glioblastomas in any detail. Yet Scheffler and his colleagues realized that a precise knowledge of the cellular composition of glioblastomas was necessary in order to be able to overcome tumor-related immunosuppression using appropriate treatments.

In tissue samples of 217 glioblastomas, 86 WHO grade II and III astrocytomas, and 17 samples from healthy brain tissue, the DKTK researchers used computer-assisted transcription analyses to draw up profiles of the cellular composition. The tissue samples were taken directly from the resection margins - where remaining tumor cells and immune cells meet.

The team were able to distinguish between signals from 43 cell types, including 26 different types of immune cells. To their great surprise, the researchers discovered hematopoietic stem and precursor cells in all the malignant tumor samples, while this cell type was not found in healthy tissue samples. "Blood stem cells are actually found in bone marrow, from where they supply the body with all kinds of mature blood cells - obviously including all the different types of immune cells. Blood stem cells of the brain tumor itself have never been described before now," remarked lead author Celia Dobersalske.

An even more surprising observation was that these blood stem cells seem to have fatal characteristics: They suppress the immune system and at the same time stimulate tumor growth. When the researchers cultured the tumor-associated blood stem cells in the same petri dish as glioblastoma cells, cancer cell division increased. At the same time, the cells produced large amounts of the PD-L1 molecule, known as an "immune brake", on their surface.

Tumor organoids - tiny tumors grown in a petri dish from the brain tumor cells of individual patients - reacted to the blood stem cells too. In the presence of these cells, the cancer cells formed a network of cell processes that connects them. Only a few years ago, scientists from the DKFZ and Heidelberg University Hospital discovered that glioblastoma cells communicate using these connections and can thus protect themselves against treatment-related damage.

All these observations suggested that the blood stem cells found in glioblastomas have a negative impact on the course of disease. This was confirmed in a study of 159 glioblastoma patients for whom data were available on the clinical course of disease. In this group of patients, it was consistently observed that the more blood stem cells a tumor contained, the more immunosuppressive messengers were released and the more immunosuppressive markers the cancer cells formed - and the lower the overall survival of the patients was.

In order to investigate brain tumor blood stem cells in more detail, the authors teamed up with the Department of Neurosurgery at Essen University Hospital (Director: Ulrich Sure) to extract individual cells from fresh patient tissue. Using gene expression sequencing in 660 individual cells, the researchers created a profile and compared it with cells from healthy bone marrow and blood. Analysis of these data led to several specific new suggestions as to how this tumor-promoting cell population could be made harmless.

It was already known from research reports that the blood stem cells in bone marrow tend to mature into immunosuppressive cell types during differentiation in the course of cancer. It appears that they are programmed by the tumor to do so. Expert and last author Igor Cima suspects that a similar phenomenon might be responsible for the observations in the glioblastoma-associated blood stem cells: "We can now see an opportunity to intervene in order to modify the differentiation process of the glioma-associated blood stem cells, for example through particular cell messengers, and hence prevent the immune system from being blocked as a result of the tumor. Immunotherapies would then have a better chance of being effective against glioblastomas."

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I-Na Lu, Celia Dobersalske, Laurel Rauschenbach, Sarah Teuber-Hanselmann, Anita Steinbach, Vivien Ullrich, Shruthi Prasad, Tobias Blau, Sied Kebir, Jens T. Siveke, Jurgen C. Becker, Ulrich Sure, Martin Glas, Bjorn Scheffler and Igor Cima: Tumor-associated hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells positively linked to glioblastoma progression Nature Communications 2021, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23995-z

A picture is available for download: http://www. dkfz. de/ de/ presse/ pressemitteilungen/ 2021/ bilder/ Scheffleer-lab_PM. png

Caption: The image shows a collage of fluorescently labeled tumor organoids grown from patient cells in the Scheffler lab as a "mini brain tumor" for research.

Note on use of images related to press releases

Use is free of charge. The German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) permits one-time use in the context of reporting about the topic covered in the press release. Images have to be cited as follows: "Source: K. Stratmann und C. Dobersalske ".

Distribution of images to third parties is not permitted unless prior consent has been obtained from DKFZ's Press Office (phone: ++49-(0)6221 42 2854, E-mail: presse@dkfz.de). Any commercial use is prohibited.

The German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) with its more than 3,000 employees is the largest biomedical research institution in Germany. More than 1,300 scientists at the DKFZ investigate how cancer develops, identify cancer risk factors and search for new strategies to prevent people from developing cancer. They are developing new methods to diagnose tumors more precisely and treat cancer patients more successfully. The DKFZ's Cancer Information Service (KID) provides patients, interested citizens and experts with individual answers to all questions on cancer.

Jointly with partners from the university hospitals, the DKFZ operates the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) in Heidelberg and Dresden, and the Hopp Children's Tumour Center KiTZ in Heidelberg. In the German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research (DKTK), one of the six German Centers for Health Research, the DKFZ maintains translational centers at seven university partner locations. NCT and DKTK sites combine excellent university medicine with the high-profile research of the DKFZ. They contribute to the endeavor of transferring promising approaches from cancer research to the clinic and thus improving the chances of cancer patients.

The DKFZ is 90 percent financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and 10 percent by the state of Baden-Wurttemberg. The DKFZ is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers.
A worldwide team led by scientists at Las Cumbres Observatory has discovered the first convincing evidence for a new type of stellar explosion -- an electron-capture supernova. While they have been theorized for 40 years, real-world examples have been elusive. They are thought to arise from the explosions of massive super-asymptotic giant branch (SAGB) stars, for which there has also been scant evidence. The discovery also sheds new light on the thousand-year mystery of the supernova from A.D. 1054 that was seen all over the world in the daytime, before eventually becoming the Crab Nebula.

Historically, there have been two main supernova types. One is a thermonuclear supernova -- the explosion of a white dwarf star after it gains matter in a binary star system. These white dwarfs are the dense cores of ash that remain after a low-mass star (one up to about 8 times the mass of the sun) reaches the end of its life. Another main supernova type is an iron core-collapse supernova where a massive star -- one more than about 10 times the mass of the sun -- runs out of nuclear fuel and has its iron core collapse, creating a black hole or neutron star. The electron-capture supernovae are on the borderline between these two types of supernovae. The stars stop fusion when their cores are made of oxygen, neon and magnesium; they aren't massive enough to create iron.

While gravity is always trying to crush a star, what keeps most stars from collapsing is either ongoing fusion, or in cores where fusion has stopped, the fact that you can't pack the atoms any tighter. In an electron capture supernova, some of the electrons in the oxygen - neon - magnesium core get smashed into their atomic nuclei, in a process called electron capture. This removal of electrons causes the core of the star to buckle under its own weight and collapse, resulting in an electron-capture supernova.

If the star had been slightly heavier, the core elements could have fused to create heavier elements, prolonging its life. So it is a kind of reverse-Goldilocks situation: the star isn't light enough to escape its core collapsing, nor is it heavy enough to prolong its life and die later via different means.

That's the theory that was formulated beginning 1980 by Ken'ichi Nomoto of the University of Tokyo, and others. Over the decades, theorists have formulated predictions of what to look for in an electron-capture supernova and their SAGB star progenitors. The stars should have a lot of mass, lose much of it before exploding, and this mass near the dying star should be of an unusual chemical composition. Then the electron-capture supernova should be weak, have little radioactive fallout, and have neutron-rich elements in the core.

The new study, published in Nature Astronomy, is led by Daichi Hiramatsu, a graduate student at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), and Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO). Hiramatsu is a core member of the Global Supernova Project, a worldwide team of scientists using dozens of telescopes around and above the globe. The team found that the supernova SN 2018zd had many unusual characteristics, some of which were seen for the first time in a supernova.

It helped that the supernova was relatively nearby -- only 31 million light-years away -- in the galaxy NGC 2146. This allowed the team to examine archival images taken prior to the explosion from the Hubble Space Telescope and to detect the likely progenitor star before it exploded. The observations were consistent with another recently identified SAGB star in the Milky Way, but inconsistent with models of red supergiants, the progenitors of normal iron core-collapse supernovae.

The study looked through all published data on supernovae, and found that while some had a few of the indicators predicted for electron-capture supernovae, only SN 2018zd had all six - an apparent SAGB progenitor, strong pre-supernova mass loss, an unusual stellar chemical composition, a weak explosion, little radioactivity, and a neutron-rich core.

"We started by asking 'what's this weirdo?'" Hiramatsu said. "Then we examined every aspect of SN 2018zd and realized that all of them can be explained in the electron-capture scenario."

The new discoveries also illuminate some mysteries of the most famous supernova of the past. In A.D. 1054 a supernova happened in the Milky Way Galaxy, and according to Chinese and Japanese records, it was so bright that it could be seen in the daytime for 23 days, and at night for nearly two years. The resulting remnant, the Crab Nebula, has been studied in great detail. It was previously the best candidate for an electron-capture supernova, but this was uncertain partly because the explosion happened nearly a thousand years ago. The new result increases the confidence that the historic SN 1054 was an electron-capture supernova. It also explains why that supernova was relatively bright compared to the models: its luminosity was probably artificially enhanced by the supernova ejecta colliding with material cast off by the progenitor star as was seen in SN 2018zd.

Dr. Ken Nomoto at the Kavli IPMU of the University of Tokyo was excited that his theory had been confirmed, adding "I am very pleased that the electron-capture supernova was finally discovered, which my colleagues and I predicted to exist and have a connection to the Crab Nebula 40 years ago. I very much appreciate the great efforts involved in obtaining these observations. This is a wonderful case of the combination of observations and theory."

Hiramatsu added, "It was such a 'Eureka moment' for all of us that we can contribute to closing the 40-year-old theoretical loop, and for me personally because my career in astronomy started when I looked at the stunning pictures of the Universe in the high school library, one of which was the iconic Crab Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope."

"The term Rosetta Stone is used too often as an analogy when we find a new astrophysical object," said Dr. Andrew Howell, a staff scientist at Las Cumbres Observatory and adjunct faculty at UCSB, "but in this case I think it is fitting. This supernova is literally helping us decode thousand-year-old records from cultures all over the world. And it is helping us associate one thing we don't fully understand, the Crab Nebula, with another thing we have incredible modern records of, this supernova. In the process it is teaching us about fundamental physics: how some neutron stars get made, how extreme stars live and die, and about how the elements we're made of get created and scattered around the universe." Dr. Howell is the leader of the Global Supernova Project, and the lead author's PhD advisor.

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D.H., D.A.H., G.H., C.M., and J.B. were supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) grants AST-1313484 and AST-1911225, as well as by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) grant 80NSSC19kf1639.
In a new scientific investigation headed by the German Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), water from African and Mongolian waterholes as well as bloodmeals from Southeast Asian leeches were assessed for the ability to retrieve mammalian viruses without the need to find and catch the mammals. The scientists analysed the samples using high throughput sequencing to identify known viruses as well as viruses new to science. Both approaches proved to be suitable tools for pandemic prevention research as they allow finding and monitoring reservoirs of wildlife viruses. For example, a novel coronavirus most likely associated with Southeast Asian deer species was identified. The results are published in the scientific journal "Methods in Ecology and Evolution".

Finding and monitoring reservoirs of wildlife viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 - for which the reservoir has yet to be discovered - is challenging. Many areas which wildlife inhabit are difficult to access and the species in question are hard to find or catch. In order to prevent future pandemics such as COVID-19, new and effective methods to discover and monitor viruses circulating in wildlife are urgently needed. Environmental DNA (eDNA) and invertebrate-derived DNA (iDNA) based approaches may enhance the available toolkit to overcome these challenges, when coupled with high throughput sequencing. The team of scientists assessed water from African and Mongolian waterholes and bloodmeals from Southeast Asian leeches for the ability to retrieve viruses from both sample types. The usual limitation of such samples is that they contain only tiny amounts of low-quality DNA, particularly pathogen DNA. The author therefore used a modern "hybridisation capture" approach to fish out sequences similar to those from currently known vertebrate viruses and then sequenced them using sophisticated high-throughput techniques. This approach was successful in that it allowed the identification of known and novel viruses in both water and leech samples.

The DNA from water samples yielded several viruses common to zebras and wild ass, which were expected as these animals frequently visit the waterholes in large numbers. In the case of the viruses found in African water holes, the authors demonstrated in a related publication that the viruses are still infectious, suggesting that the water itself may be a source of viral transmission. From the Southeast Asian leeches, many known as well as novel viruses were identified. Of particular interest was a novel coronavirus previously unknown to science, which potentially represents an entirely new genus in the Coronaviridae family and seems to be associated with deer species.

"For many of the deadliest viruses such as Ebola we still don't know where they come from", says Prof Alex Greenwood, head of the Department of Wildlife Diseases. "The current pandemic demonstrates that we still know very little about the viral diversity in nature. New methods might help us to identify novel viruses and their potential hosts without the usual logistical and ethical problems associated with collecting wildlife samples directly." Environmental DNA is proving useful in a number of contexts including the characterisation of the diversity of wildlife species from inaccessible regions, the study of ancient populations and more recently in pathogen research. Environmental DNA from water and DNA derived from blood-sucking invertebrates can be useful in different environments. "Water is an essential resource for life and, particularly in areas of seasonal shortages, a concentration point for animals", Greenwood says.

"Terrestrial leeches are often highly abundant in areas of previous viral emergence in Southeast Asia and their bloodmeals can be used to identify their mammalian hosts, including the pathogens contained in their blood", adds Dr Niccolo Alfano, a former PostDoc from the Leibniz-IZW Departments of Wildlife Diseases and Ecological Dynamics, now working at the University of Pavia in Italy. "We identified mammalian viruses from five different viral families in our leech samples and more than 50 % of the samples contained mammalian viruses. Some of these, such as a porcine circovirus or a bear annellovirus could be assigned to the bearded pig and sun bear, their mammalian hosts which were also detected in the leech samples. Most interesting was the discovery of the novel coronavirus, as this showed that with our method we are able to discover viral pathogens previously unknown to science circulating in wildlife", Alfano adds. This may help to identify potentially infectious viruses at an early stage which may help to prevent potential future epidemics."

Further work will be needed to characterise the newly discovered viruses, such as sequencing their complete genomes and confirming their host-virus relationships. In addition, waterholes or leeches are not found in all environments. Soil, faeces and other invertebrates represent additional sources of nucleic acids that could be used to supplement direct animal sampling and enhance our ability to discover and monitor viruses as we go forward from the current pandemic and hopefully learn to prevent them in the future.

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Publication

Alfano N, Dayaram A, Axtner, J. Tsangaras, K. Kampmann, M.-L., Mohamed, A., Wong, S.T., Gilbert, M.T.P. Wilting, A., Greenwood, A. D. (2021). Non-invasive surveys of mammalian viruses using environmental DNA. METHODS ECOL EVOL, doi:10.1111/2041-210X.13661

Contacts

Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) in the Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V.

Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin

_ Prof Alex Greenwood

Head of the Department of Wildlife Diseases

phone: +49 (0)30 5168255

e-mail: greenwood@izw-berlin.de

_ Dr Niccolo Alfano

Former PostDoc in the Department of Ecological Dynamics

phone: +393803914437

e-mail: niccolo.alfano@gmail.com

_ Jan Zwilling

Science Communication

phone: +49 (0)30 5168121

e-mail: zwilling@izw-berlin.de
To understand the how and why of rising rates of Black youth suicide, researchers call for a 'Ground Zero' approach

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) - While little research exists on how and why the rates of Black youth suicide are rising, research does show the rate of suicide in Black youth younger than 13 years of age is approximately two times higher compared to white peers. From 2009 to 2019, the percentages of Black youth who considered suicide, made a suicide plan and attempted suicide all increased.

In a statement published in JAMA Pediatrics, researchers at the Nationwide Children's Hospital, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the nonprofit research institute RTI International responded to a call from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) requesting information on how to prevent Black youth suicide. The researchers emphasize the need for research and action of suicide prevention among Black youth must start from the ground up.

"Applying the white-centric lens that has driven existing suicide research is not sufficient to solving the increasing rates of suicide among Black youth," said Arielle Sheftall, PhD, lead author of the statement, and principal investigator in the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research in the Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion at Nationwide Children's Hospital. "That's why we call for a 'ground zero' approach. We need to look at our basic assumptions and theories about suicide, and assess whether they hold true for Black youth."

The three key points described by the authors include:

1. Set a 'ground' zero research funding agenda prioritizing theory development and tests of culturally relevant risk factors for Black youth suicide. Risk factors for suicidal behaviors (e.g., depression, trauma) may not apply equally to Black youth compared to white youth. A particular area of concern is the exposure to the murders of unarmed Black men. This exposure has been associated with negative mental health outcomes throughout the Black community, but it is unclear how exposure (either direct or via media coverage) affect Black youth mental health. 2. Fund research aimed at understanding the developmental trajectory of Black youth suicidal ideation and behavior. Because evidence suggests that Black youth may not exhibit expected or "classic" warning signs of suicidal behavior, such as depression, reported suicidal ideation or attempts before dying by suicide, research aimed at understanding the trajectory of suicide should be a priority. 3. Engage trusted community organizations/institutions in suicide prevention efforts for Black youth. Community interventions, including those in barber and beauty shops, have already been tested to tackle health issues such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular health and HIV testing. Similar successes could be achieved in mental health, within settings where trust may already exist, such as churches, Black Greek organizations, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, after-school programs and others.

"To understand how disparities in suicide rates are driven, we need to develop and test culturally informed theories of suicide risk and behavior," said Dr. Sheftall. "Identifying unique risks, specifically race-related stressors, will enable us to create more effective prevention tactics."

In the statement, the authors note that common risk factors for suicide, including mental health problems, may be less likely to precede Black youth suicide, but more research is needed.

"Black youth suicide is on the rise, but our effort to understand it is not keeping pace," said statement author Adam Bryant Miller, PhD, research assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Neurosciences at the UNC-Chapel Hill and researcher at RTI. "We hope this article brings more attention to the issue and motivates communities and funding organizations to support research and outreach related to Black youth suicide prevention."

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Study shows which leaders most likely to 'go it alone'

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The most narcissistic U.S. presidents since 1897 preferred to instigate conflicts with other great power countries without seeking support from allies, a new study suggests.

Results showed that of the presidents measured, those highest in narcissism - including Lyndon B. Johnson, Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon - were about six times more likely to initiate a dispute with another great power in any given year than a president with average levels of narcissism.

The inclination to "go it alone" in international disputes fits with the desire of those high in narcissism to boost their own reputation and self-image and appear tough and competent to others, said John Harden, author of the study and a doctoral student in political science at The Ohio State University.

"More narcissistic U.S. presidents differed from others in how they approached foreign policy and world politics," Harden said.

"They were more likely to weigh their personal desires more heavily than political survival or the country's interests when it came to how they handled some disputes."

The study was published online recently in the journal International Studies Quarterly.

Harden studied presidents from 1897 - roughly the time the United States became a great power in the world - through George W. Bush in 2009.

In order to measure presidential narcissism, Harden used a dataset from 2000 created by three researchers to assess the personalities of presidents.

These researchers tapped the knowledge of presidential historians and other experts who had written at least one book on a president. Each expert completed a personality inventory with more than 200 questions about the president they studied.

How valid could it be to complete a personality test for another person? It actually works very well, Harden said. Other research has had people complete the same personality inventory used by the historians on behalf of an acquaintance. Results showed that these people answered the personality questions very similarly to the acquaintances themselves.

Using the personality test results for the 19 presidents from 1897 to 2008, Harden analyzed five facets of the test that relate with a common measure of grandiose narcissism: high levels of assertiveness and excitement-seeking and low levels of modesty, compliance and straightforwardness.

Harden determined those five factors are correlated with narcissism in a separate analysis using a general population sample.

"These facets describe people who want to be in charge, seek the spotlight, brag about their accomplishments and are willing to lie and flatter to get what they want. They certainly would be willing to insult others, too," Harden said. "So it is a pretty good description of a narcissist."

Based on these results, Lyndon Johnson was the president who scored highest on narcissism, followed by Teddy Roosevelt and then Richard Nixon.

The president who scored lowest on narcissism was William McKinley, followed by William Howard Taft and Calvin Coolidge.

"The results are in line with common assessments of the presidents," Harden said.

"Ethically principled McKinley, sensitive and often overwhelmed Taft, and taciturn Coolidge are at the bottom of the list. Meanwhile, self-absorbed and image-conscious figures like Johnson, Roosevelt and Nixon are at the top."

To see how narcissism was related to international conflict, Harden used another dataset, called Militarized Interstate Disputes. This data includes all instances where one country threatened, displayed, or used force against another from 1816 to 2014.

Harden looked specifically at disputes started unilaterally by the United States against other great powers, such as the Soviet Union and China. Any conflicts in which the United States sought support from allies were not counted as a unilaterally initiated great power dispute.

Many of these disputes are not well-known by the public, Harden said, but created a great deal of tension among world leaders.

For example, Nixon initiated Operation Giant Lance in 1969, which sent a squadron of B-52s armed with nuclear weapons to patrol the glacier caps near Moscow. Johnson launched the so-called Lightning Bug War in 1964, sending drones on missions deep inside China.

In his study, Harden took into account and controlled for a wide range of factors other than the narcissism of the president that may have played a role in these conflicts - including, but not limited to, the president's political party, whether the president was in his final term and whether he had military experience, whether the country was war-weary or in a recession, whether the government was unified under one political party and whether the incident occurred during the Cold War.

After taking all of these factors into account, results showed that the probability that the United States would unilaterally initiate at least one great power dispute in any given year was about 4%. For presidents highest in narcissism, the likelihood was around 29%, more than six times higher. For presidents who were at the low end of the narcissism scale, the probability was less than 1%.

"The raw data speaks for itself. The three most narcissistic presidents had unilaterally initiated great power disputes that made up 33% to 71% of all disputes they initiated. Meanwhile, the bottom three had none," Harden said.

There are several reasons why more narcissistic presidents would have a greater likelihood of starting fights with other great power nations without allied support, Harden said.

For one, they would only want to deal with great powers.

"Why would a leader who focuses on their historical notability and image 'waste their time' with lesser status powers?" he said.

They also would work without partners because they don't want to share the spotlight and wouldn't believe that others would have anything to contribute.

Leaders high in narcissism also behave in ways that increase tensions, such as taking actions to project strength. They are willing to accept risks. They also behave dramatically and send unclear signals, Harden said.

While the public and some political scientists may believe that U.S. presidents act with the best interests of the country at heart, Harden said this study provides evidence that some leaders use their office to make themselves feel powerful and important.

"Leaders high in narcissism don't want the same things from their position as others do," Harden said.

"For them, the world truly is a stage."

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Contact: John Harden, Harden.496@osu.edu

Written by Jeff Grabmeier, 614-292-8457; Grabmeier.1@osu.edu
HOUSTON - (June 28, 2021) - Rice University computer scientists are sending RAMBO to rescue genomic researchers who sometimes wait days or weeks for search results from enormous DNA databases.

DNA sequencing is so popular, genomic datasets are doubling in size every two years, and the tools to search the data haven't kept pace. Researchers who compare DNA across genomes or study the evolution of organisms like the virus that causes COVID-19 often wait weeks for software to index large, "metagenomic" databases, which get bigger every month and are now measured in petabytes.

RAMBO, which is short for "repeated and merged bloom filter," is a new method that can cut indexing times for such databases from weeks to hours and search times from hours to seconds. Rice University computer scientists presented RAMBO last week at the Association for Computing Machinery data science conference SIGMOD 2021.

"Querying millions of DNA sequences against a large database with traditional approaches can take several hours on a large compute cluster and can take several weeks on a single server," said RAMBO co-creator Todd Treangen, a Rice computer scientist whose lab specializes in metagenomics. "Reducing database indexing times, in addition to query times, is crucially important as the size of genomic databases are continuing to grow at an incredible pace."

To solve the problem, Treangen teamed with Rice computer scientist Anshumali Shrivastava, who specializes in creating algorithms that make big data and machine learning faster and more scalable, and graduate students Gaurav Gupta and Minghao Yan, co-lead authors of the peer-reviewed conference paper on RAMBO.

RAMBO uses a data structure that has a significantly faster query time than state-of-the-art genome indexing methods as well as other advantages like ease of parallelization, a zero false-negative rate and a low false-positive rate.

"The search time of RAMBO is up to 35 times faster than existing methods," said Gupta, a doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering. In experiments using a 170-terabyte dataset of microbial genomes, Gupta said RAMBO reduced indexing times from "six weeks on a sophisticated, dedicated cluster to nine hours on a shared commodity cluster."

Yan, a master's student in computer science, said, "On this huge archive, RAMBO can search for a gene sequence in a couple of milliseconds, even sub-milliseconds using a standard server of 100 machines."

RAMBO improves on the performance of Bloom filters, a half-century-old search technique that has been applied to genomic sequence search in a number of previous studies. RAMBO improves on earlier Bloom filter methods for genomic search by employing a probabilistic data structure known as a count-min sketch that "leads to a better query time and memory trade-off" than earlier methods, and "beats the current baselines by achieving a very robust, low-memory and ultrafast indexing data structure," the authors wrote in the study.

Gupta and Yan said RAMBO has the potential to democratize genomic search by making it possible for almost any lab to quickly and inexpensively search huge genomic archives with off-the-shelf computers.

"RAMBO could decrease the wait time for tons of investigations in bioinformatics, such as searching for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater metagenomes across the globe," Yan said. "RAMBO could become instrumental in the study of cancer genomics and bacterial genome evolution, for example."

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Shrivastava is an associate professor of computer science and Treangen is an assistant professor of computer science.

Additional study co-authors include Benjamin Coleman, Bryce Kille, Leo Elworth and Tharun Medini.

The research was funded by that National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Office of Naval Research.

DOI: 10.1145/3448016.3457333

Read the paper at: https:/ / dl. acm. org/ doi/ 10. 1145/ 3448016. 3457333

High-resolution IMAGES are available for download at:

https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2021/ 06/ 0628_SIGMOD-gg-lg. jpg

CAPTION: Gaurav Gupta (Photo courtesy G. Gupta/Rice University)

https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2021/ 06/ 0628_SIGMOD-my-lg. jpg

CAPTION: Minghao Yan (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

This release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,978 undergraduates and 3,192 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 1 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance.
LA JOLLA, CALIF. - June 29, 2021 - Carl F. Ware, Ph.D., director of the Inflammatory Diseases Center at Sanford Burhnam Prebys, has received the 2021 International Cytokine & Interferon Society Honorary Lifetime Membership Award. The award is a tribute to his seminal and original contributions to our understanding of the role of cytokines in immunology and active engagement in cytokine research.

"It's a tremendous honor to receive this prestigious award," says Ware. "I'm grateful for the many outstanding scientists and students I've worked with over the years who have contributed to the field of cytokines. It's especially gratifying to see how our discoveries are now being translated into much-needed therapies for infectious and inflammatory diseases--and even cancer."

Ware began studying cytokines as a graduate student in the early 1970s. His decades-long career has produced many scientific breakthroughs, including the discoveries of several cytokines controlling immune defenses to viral infections. Recently, Ware showed that LIGHT levels are increased in COVID-19 patients progressing to pneumonia, which launched a Phase 2 trial using a LIGHT antibody that he developed.

With continuous support from the National Institutes of Health, Ware continues to investigate cytokine networks as a source of therapeutics for diseases without effective treatment. His work is providing new insights into immune evasion mechanisms and novel approaches to treat persistent viral infections. He is the holder of 18 patents, including one recently licensed to develop a new drug for patients with autoimmune diseases.

Among his several positions, he served with distinction as president of the International Cytokine Society and is on the scientific advisory board of the International Congress on TNF-related cytokines for many years. He has served on numerous advisory boards and study sections including the editorial board of the Journal of Interferon and Cytokine Research from 1996 to the present. In addition to his many scientific achievements, Ware has an outstanding record of mentorship with trainees who continue to shape the cytokine field all over the world.

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About Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Research Institute

Sanford Burnham Prebys is a preeminent, independent biomedical research institute dedicated to understanding human biology and disease and advancing scientific discoveries to profoundly impact human health. For more than 40 years, our research has produced breakthroughs in cancer, neuroscience, immunology and children's diseases, and is anchored by our NCI-designated Cancer Center and advanced drug discovery capabilities. For more information, visit us at SBPdiscovery.org or on Facebook at facebook.com/SBPdiscovery and on Twitter @SBPdiscovery.
Coral bleaching and the ecological degradation of coral reefs have become increasingly severe due to the global warming and human activities. As "mixotrophic" organisms, scleractinian coral can not only obtain energy through photosynthesis of symbiotic zooxanthellae (autotrophy), but also ingest nutrients in seawater through the coral host (heterotrophy). However, the influence of coral's trophic flexibility on environmental adaptability remains unclear. Coral reefs are widely distributed in the South China Sea (SCS), spanning about 20 latitudes from north to south. The environmental conditions of coral reef areas at different latitudes are significantly different. The Sanya coral reef in the northern SCS (relatively higher latitude) is seriously affected by human activities; coral reefs in the central and southern SCS (relatively lower latitude) are less affected by human activities due to their distance from the mainland. Exploring coral trophic patterns among different coral reefs in large spatial scale in the SCS is conducive to revealing the adjustment mechanism of coral trophic status and their effects on coral's environmental adaptability.

A recent study have revealed the effects of coral's unique trophic flexibility on their environmental adaptability. Research paper titled "Spatial variations in the trophic status of Favia palauensis corals in the South China Sea: Insights into their different adaptabilities under contrasting environmental conditions", which is the cover article of "SCIENCE CHINA: Earth Sciences", Issue 6, 2021. Dr. Xu Shendong and Professor Yu Kefu from Guangxi University are the first author and corresponding author of this article, respectively.

In this study, a total of 70 samples of Favia palauensis, a type of scleractinian coral, were collected from coral reefs at different latitudes (Sanya, Xisha Islands and Nansha Islands) in the SCS. Firstly, researchers have analyzed the spatial differences of zooxanthellae density (ZD). The results show that ZD decrease with the decreasing latitude (Figure 1). Further analysis found that changes of nutrient level, sea surface temperature (SST) and light intensity are the main reasons for the spatial difference of ZD in the SCS.

In addition, through the separation of coral polyps and their symbiotic zooxanthellae, as well as the stable carbon isotope composition(13C) analysis of the coral polyps and zooxanthellae, revealed the significant spatial differences in coral trophic patterns (i.e. relative autotrophic photosynthesis and heterotrophic predation intensity). The results show that corals in Sanya have higher photosynthetic rates and autotrophic abilities, while corals in the Xisha and Nansha Islands have relatively higher heterotrophic abilities (Figure 2). This means that the conspecific coral can adjust the intensity of autotrophic/heterotrophic under different environmental conditions. The flexible adjustment of trophic patterns, especially the improvement of heterotrophic predation ability, is conducive to enhance its adaptability to different environmental conditions.

This study illustrates the importance of the trophic flexibility to coral's environmental adaptability from the perspective of energy supply. The research conclusions provide new indicators and information for assessing the adaptation potential of coral in the SCS under global warming and human activities.

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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 42090041, 42030502 & 41663001), the Laboratory for Marine Geology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Grant No. MGQNLMTD201801), the Guangxi Scientific Projects (Grant Nos. AD17129063, AA17204074 & 2020GXNSFAA297026).

See the article:
The most significant feature of global land surface wind speed (SWS) recently is the long-term weakening trend since the 1960s, that is, the phenomenon known as global terrestrial stilling. Many studies have found that stilling is widespread worldwide. It has seriously affected the ecological environment and social economy, especially restricted the sustainable development of the wind energy industry. It is found that the stilling reversed around 2010 and global SWS is strengthening; then, has the stilling of surface wind speed ended in China? A recent study systematically answered this question. The related paper titled "Has the stilling of the surface wind speed ended in China?" was recently published in Science China Earth Sciences in 2021. The paper was completed by Yang Qing et al., from Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Based on observational SWS data from 1971 to 2019, results showed that annual mean SWS in China underwent a reversal from a continuous weakening trend to a significant strengthening trend around 2014 (Figure 1), implying that stilling may have ended in 2014. Note that the reversal had obvious regional and seasonal variations. For example, in Northeast China, Western Xinjiang and on the Tibetan Plateau, the years when both annual and seasonal mean SWS changed from a weakening to a strengthening trend were around 2013/2014, 1993/1994 and 2000, respectively; however, stilling is ongoing in the eastern and southern coastal areas, North China and Eastern Xinjiang.

In addition, by comparing the SWS data observed by China's stations with the wind speed data obtained from global surface database (GSOD and HadISD), it is found that GSOD and HadISD may have some uncertainties in characterizing the trend changes of SWS in China. The GSOD/HadISD-based results could be considered with some cautions.

Wind power is an integral part of China's strategy to achieve the carbon emission reduction targets set in the Paris Agreement. The results can provide scientific support for the layout of China's wind power industry.

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This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFA0600404), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41705073, 41530532, 41506040), and the Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Climate Change.

See the article:

/ www. sciengine. com/ publisher/ scp/ journal/ SCES/ 64/ 1/ 10. 1007/ s11430-020-9738-4?slug= fulltext
Multi-business firms have flexibility advantages over single-business rivals because they have the option to redeploy resources across businesses. This flexibility, it has been assumed without empirical evidence, is purported to inspire quicker exits from markets.

A 2017 survey revealed that 70 percent of corporate executives expected to make at least one divestment in the subsequent two years, with the primary motive being strategic realignment of portfolios as non-core assets are shed. A large number of academic studies have established that parent firms tend to use the external market to sell businesses that are unrelated to their core business. However, this seemingly ignores the fact that there is an important alternative to divestment--the internal reallocation of business resources elsewhere within the corporation.

A new study published in the Strategic Management Journal (SMJ) examines how the relatedness of businesses and market efficiency might inspire exit through resource redeployment versus divestment. The researchers, Timo Sohl, Univ. Pompeu Fabra (UPF) Barcelona, Spain and Timothy B. Folta, University of Connecticut, examined 3,082 retail chains across 106 countries.

"The influence of business relatedness on exit decisions has been of great interest to strategy research," write the authors. "However, little is known about how business relatedness might influence exit through internal redeployment versus divestment.

"On the one hand, business relatedness makes resource redeployment less costly and hence, it should increase the probability of exit. On the other hand, business relatedness might also decrease the likelihood of exit through divestment because it increases the chances that the same resources enable intra-temporal economies of scope, commonly referred to as synergy."

The research objective was to provide more clarity around this puzzle and also to provide a template to help distinguish between the two exit modes when they are not directly observable.

"To examine how the potential for resource redeployment affects exit, we focused on potential redeployments of highly location-bound resources (i.e., physical stores) to sibling businesses within country divisions," write the authors. "This allowed us to produce a set of patterns that, as a whole, provide the first large-scale empirical evidence supportive of the view that market exit is taking place through internal redeployment."

"In particular, we find that greater potential for resource redeployment--which is when there is a larger number of more-related sibling businesses--has a significant and sizable effect on market exit, especially when there are higher external transaction costs and businesses perform poorly relative to their business siblings."

The focus of this research on fixed assets complements an earlier study on the redeployment of human capital. Future research could combine the role of fixed asset redeployment with labor redeployment, and Sohl's and Folta's research framework could be used to focus on other types of fixed assets, such as manufacturing plants, power plants, or heavy tools and machinery.

"We also encourage future research to examine additional boundary conditions such as sales price (i.e., inducements in the external market), ownership structure, and/or organizational structure," the researchers write. "Moreover, to the extent that some corporate chains are at least partially owned by franchisees, this may hinder the ability to redeploy. We attempted to rule out this explanation in our analysis of retail subsegments that might be more or less inclined to have franchise-owned stores, but future analysis could more thoroughly explore this issue with data on the number of franchise-owned stores across chain-country-years."

"We assume that corporate decisions are made with the intent of maximizing the efficiency of resources in a country, but we acknowledge there may be alternative objectives, some of which may be driven by incentives or brand hierarchy."

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The SMJ is published by the Strategic Management Society (SMS), comprised of 3,000 academics, business practitioners, and consultants from 80 countries, focuses on the development and dissemination of insights on the strategic management process, as well as on fostering contacts and interchanges around the world.
Phase 1/2 clinical trial of CoronaVac in 550 children and adolescents aged 3-17 years in China suggests two doses of the vaccine are safe and generate a strong antibody response.

First published data on safety and immune response generated by a COVID-19 vaccine in children as young as 3-years-old supports use of CoronaVac - which was recently approved for emergency use in China among children over 3-years-old - in further studies to inform immunisation strategies.

Two doses of CoronaVac are safe and provoke a strong antibody response among children and adolescents aged 3-17 years, according to a randomised controlled trial of 550 young people published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.

More than 96% of children and adolescents who received two doses of the vaccine - manufactured by Sinovac - developed antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. Most adverse reactions were mild or moderate, with pain at the injection site the most commonly reported symptom.

Qiang Gao, of Sinovac Life Sciences Co, Ltd, China, said: "Children and adolescents with COVID-19 usually have mild or asymptomatic infections compared with adults; however, a small number may still be at risk of severe illness. They can also transmit the virus to others, making it vital to test the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in younger age groups. Our finding that CoronaVac was well tolerated and induced strong immune responses is very encouraging, and suggests that further studies in other regions, involving larger, multi-ethnic populations, could provide valuable data to inform immunisation strategies involving children and adolescents." [2]

The authors conducted a randomised, double-blind, controlled phase 1/2 clinical trial of CoronaVac in healthy children and adolescents aged 3-17 years in Zanhuang County, China. Between October 31 and December 2, 2020, 72 participants were enrolled in phase 1, with 480 participants enrolled in phase 2 between December 12 and December 30, 2020. The vaccine (either 1.5g or 3g per dose) or a control was given by intramuscular injection in two doses, at day 0 and day 28. In studies involving adults aged 18-59 years and people aged 60 years and older, participants received two doses of 1.5g, 3g, or 6g, with 3g doses suggested for use in further research. [1]

Among the 550 participants who received at least one dose of vaccine or the control, adverse reactions within 28 days occurred in 56 (26%) of 219 participants in the 1.5g group, 63 (29%) of 217 in the 3g group, and 27 (24%) of 114 in the control group. Most adverse reactions were mild or moderate, with pain at the injection site (13%, 73/550 participants) the most commonly reported symptom. Only one serious adverse reaction - a case of pneumonia - was reported in the control group; however, this was unrelated to the COVID-19 vaccination.

In phase 1, 100% of participants in both the 1.5g and 3g groups (27/27 and 26/26 participants, respectively) generated antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. Stronger immune responses - determined by the amount of antibodies produced that can neutralise the virus, expressed as geometric mean titre (GMT) - were detected among the 3g group compared with the 1.5g group (GMTs of 117 and 55, respectively). In phase 2, 97% (180/186) of participants in the 1.5g group produced antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, compared with 100% (180/180 participants) in the 3g group. Participants in the 3g group again produced a stronger immune response that those in the 1.5g group (GMTs of 142 and 86, respectively). Similar to findings for other vaccines that increasing age is linked with reduced immune responses, the authors note that immune responses among children and adolescents were higher than those in adults aged 18-59 years and elderly aged 60 years and older (GMTs of 44 and 42, respectively). [1]

No significant differences in immune response were detected in an analysis by age group, with more than 93% of those in the 1.5g and 3g groups aged 3-5 years, 6-11 years, and 12-17 years producing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 (with GMTs ranging from 78 to 146) at day 28 after the second dose. In each age group, there were significant differences in GMTs between the 15 g and 30 g groups after the second dose, except in the group aged 12-17 years old in phase 1.

Based on their results, the authors recommend two 3g doses of the vaccine for children and adolescents aged 3-17 years.

The authors acknowledge some limitations to their study. T cell responses - which play an important role in SARS-CoV-2 infections - were not assessed in the study, though these have been investigated in related studies. The study involved a small number of participants and all were of Han ethnicity, highlighting a need for larger studies in other regions and involving multi-ethnic populations. Long-term safety and immune response data were not available, though participants will be followed for at least 1 year. Owing to the small number of participants in the study, the results should be interpreted with caution as it was not possible to draw strong statistical conclusions.

Writing in a linked Comment, Professor Bin Cao, of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, China, highlights the need to include children in immunisation campaigns, explaining: "Herd immunity against COVID-19 is the prerequisite to end this pandemic, either through vaccinations or natural infection. Most estimates placed the threshold at 65-70% of the population gaining immunity, mainly by vaccination. However, widely circulating virus variants and persistent hesitancy on vaccine make this threshold difficult to reach. (...) Thus, the calculation has to be revised upward and children must be covered in the immunisation campaign."

In calling for longer follow-up assessments in children, Professor Cao also emphasises the vital importance of determining the safety of vaccines in younger age groups, saying: "While vaccinating children is essential to reach herd immunity and limit the severity of COVID-19, safety should be the paramount factor to be considered before COVID-19 vaccines can be rolled out in younger children."

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NOTES TO EDITORS

This study was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program and the Beijing Science and Technology Program. It was conducted by researchers from Hebei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Sinovac Biotech Ltd, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Zanhuang County Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing Key Tech Statistics Technology Co., Ltd., and Sinovac Life Sciences Co, Ltd, China.

[1] https:/ / www. thelancet. com/ journals/ laninf/ article/ PIIS1473-3099 (20)30987-7/fulltext and https:/ / www. thelancet. com/ article/ S1473-3099 (20)30843-4/fulltext

[2] Quote direct from author and cannot be found in the text of the Article.

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Anxiety, commonly termed as a feeling of fear, dread, and restlessness, is a perfectly normal reaction to stressful situations. However, a state of heightened anxiety, which is the reality for thousands of people who struggle to cope with these feelings, is called anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorder can invoke debilitating fear or apprehension, even without any immediate threat. Though intensive research over the years has yielded a plethora of information, and effective drugs like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have been used to alleviate this condition, a lot remains to be understood about this complex condition and its treatment.

For a group of Japanese researchers from Tokyo University of Science and University of Tsukuba, endeavoring in this line of research is not new. In a previous study, they used a drug called KNT-127, which acts by activating specific receptors in the brain, called "delta opioid receptors." The researchers found KNT-127 to reduce anxiety-like behavior in mice. They found that KNT-127 caused the reduction of an excitatory neurotransmitter, called glutamate, in the extracellular regions of a part of the brain that controls several emotional states, called the "prelimbic subregion of the medial prefrontal cortex" (PL-PFC). The researchers went on to study this phenomenon in a new study published in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications.

According to Professor Akiyoshi Saitoh, from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokyo University of Science, and corresponding author of this study, there is a good reason to have investigated the glutamate levels specifically in PL-PFC. He says, "The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) plays a vital role in the processing of emotional events. It has been shown that activation of the glutamatergic transmission in PL-PFC evoked anxiety-like behavior in rodents."

Accordingly, Professor Saitoh and his colleagues conducted electrophysiological studies at a single-neuron level in mice. The team measured spontaneous excitatory currents from the glutamate-releasing presynapse region of various important neurons treated with and without KNT-127, in the PL-PFC of mice that had been induced to exhibit anxious behavior.

For neurons treated with KNT-127, the results showed that release of glutamate was reduced at the PL-PFC synapses. Since this excitatory neurotransmitter relays information from one neuron to the other, at the synapse region, the corresponding brain activity was also found to be lowered. Interestingly, the team found that KNT-127 treatment made the PL-PFC neurons less excitable. The researchers considered these findings to be a consequence of the anxiolytic effects of KNT-127.

Overall, this study proposes a novel pathway--and a novel drug candidate--that can be targeted for treating anxiety disorder. Commenting on the clinical potential of drugs like KNT-127, Dr. Daisuke Yamada, one of the investigators in the study from Tokyo University of Science, says, "There is a need for the development of new therapeutic agents that have different mechanisms of action from existing drugs. The results of this study are expected to lead to the development of evidence-based antipsychotics with a new mechanism of action, targeting opioid delta receptors."

Indeed, the world can hope for groundbreaking anxiolytic drugs to enter the market, taking after the results of this promising study!

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Reference

Title of original paper: Modulation of glutamatergic synaptic transmission and neuronal excitability in the prelimbic medial prefrontal cortex via delta-opioid receptors in mice

Journal: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications

DOI: https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1016/ j. bbrc. 2021. 05. 002

About The Tokyo University of Science

Tokyo University of Science (TUS) is a well-known and respected university, and the largest science-specialized private research university in Japan, with four campuses in central Tokyo and its suburbs and in Hokkaido. Established in 1881, the university has continually contributed to Japan's development in science through inculcating the love for science in researchers, technicians, and educators.

With a mission of "Creating science and technology for the harmonious development of nature, human beings, and society", TUS has undertaken a wide range of research from basic to applied science. TUS has embraced a multidisciplinary approach to research and undertaken intensive study in some of today's most vital fields. TUS is a meritocracy where the best in science is recognized and nurtured. It is the only private university in Japan that has produced a Nobel Prize winner and the only private university in Asia to produce Nobel Prize winners within the natural sciences field.

Website: https:/ / www. tus. ac. jp/ en/ mediarelations/

About Professor Akiyoshi Saitoh from Tokyo University of Science

Dr. Akiyoshi Saitoh is a professor at the Laboratory of Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokyo University of Science. Dr. Saitoh is a reputed expert, with over 20 years of experience in the field of pharmacology, specifically in medicinal and behavioral pharmacology; and neuroscience. Some of his key areas of research include the role of the amygdala in the fear extinction memory in rodents, and development of the novel opioid delta receptor agonist for antidepressants/anxiolytics. He has over 100 research publications to his credit and has been awarded patents for several neuropsychopharmacological drugs.
Sixteen of the 146 health-related All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) in the Houses of Parliament (UK) received over a 1 million in payments from 35 pharmaceutical companies between 2012-2018 according to a new study.

The researchers behind the analysis from the University of Bath's Centre for the Analysis of Social Policy suggest their findings reveal a worrying lack of transparency over payments received and potential conflicts of interests towards public policy.

Through their research they extracted details from 6,624 entries about funding registered by APPGs, and found 1,177 payments from external donors, 168 of which were from pharmaceutical companies. Two APPGs - the APPG for Health and the APPG for Cancer - received more than half of the total funding (414,921 and 252,557 respectively) provided by pharmaceutical companies.

They also found that patient organisations, which had also received pharmaceutical industry funding, were frequently providing support for APPG's secretariat function (304 payments worth 986,055). The secretariat's role is at the heart of an APPG, responsible for its day-to-day running and activities and therefore holding significant influence.

Whilst the new study suggests there is no evidence of wrongdoing, the researchers argue that a lack of transparency highlights a much broader issue about funding and transparency over access to APPGs and policymaking more broadly.

Emily Rickard, lead researcher and a doctoral student at Bath's Department of Social & Policy Sciences, explains: "APPGs are a unique and valuable forum for exchange of opinion between parliamentarians and civil society.

"The focus of our research is on transparency and the democratic process. We have identified that APPGs receive money from various sources and it could be that this money is put to very good uses. However, the impact of the money is unclear and the way in which it is reported is not transparent. This is important to address."

Supervisor, Dr Piotr Ozieranski also from the Department of Social & Policy Sciences adds: "This research is important in the context of recent controversies relating to the transparency of lobbying, campaign and personal donations to politicians. Sometimes the perception of conflicts of interest is no less important than actual conflicts of interest."

Controversies about APPGs have long existed and a recent Parliamentary Inquiry was launched looking into the rules for and regulation of APPGs. Emily Rickard and Dr Ozieranski submitted evidence to this with a focus on transparency issues identified via this research.

The researchers argue that there is now a need to reform transparency in the system and to create a more user-friendly interface so the public can access and assess information about funding. They also say that payments should be aggregated annually so that it is presented in the most straightforward way. This might include information to indicate which industry each donor represents.

Dr Ozieranski adds: "Currently if the total contribution from a given company is less than 1,500 in a year it does not need to be disclosed, but we suggest that all payments should be public. This is particularly important in the context of pharmaceutical industry funding and the decisions taken over future healthcare. We know that even small payments can influence decisions."

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URBANA, Ill. - June 28, 2021 - The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has submitted a Letter of Intent to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to apply for a license to construct a research and test reactor facility on the UIUC campus. The submission of the Letter of Intent (Project No. 99902094) is the first step in NRC's two-step process to license a new reactor, including a process of public hearings on the proposed project for full transparency.

The University's Grainger College of Engineering (and its Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering), in collaboration with Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC), is spearheading the new reactor deployment. The new research and test reactor facility will offer UIUC staff and students a diverse set of opportunities for research: instrumentation and control (I&C), multi-physics validation, reactor prototype testing, micro-grid operations, cybersecurity, hydrogen production for transportation and energy storage, and other energy intensive, high-value products.

"This impressive project takes advantage of the diversity of expertise and spirit of innovation across all relevant areas of science and technology at the University of Illinois," said Susan Martinis, vice chancellor for research and innovation at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. "We know that Illinois ingenuity will play an important role in advancing the technology that makes microreactors safe, versatile, and cost effective."

The university plans to partially re-power its fossil fuel-fired Abbott power station with the Ultra Safe Nuclear Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) Energy System, providing a zero-carbon demonstration of district heat and power to campus buildings as part of its green campus initiative. The project team aims to demonstrate how microreactor systems integrate with existing fossil fuel infrastructure to accelerate the decarbonization of existing power-generation facilities.

"Nuclear energy and microreactor technology are poised to play an important role in building a cleaner and more sustainable future," said Rashid Bashir, dean of The Grainger College of Engineering. "This proposed reactor continues our proud tradition of leading academia in the pursuit of safe, transformative nuclear technologies, and enables us to innovatively train and develop the next generation workforce to lead the nation's new economy."

In addition to supporting the university's clean energy goals, the microreactor will serve as a valuable workforce training tool for a new generation of nuclear scientists, engineers, and operators.

"Universities have nearly 80 years of pioneering nuclear reactor technology and safely operating nuclear reactors. UIUC's TRIGAa reactor operated for 38 years with a site license in the heart of campus before decommissioning and returning the site to greenfield," said Rizwan Uddin, Department Head of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering. "Next generation energy research facilities are critical to training the emerging clean-energy focused workforce."

The submission of the Letter of Intent to the NRC is the first formal step toward pursuing a construction permit, and ultimately obtaining an operating license. The proposed reactor, designed by U.S.-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, is a GEN-IV High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR). The Ultra Safe Nuclear MMR features the industry's most mature high-temperature gas cooled technology and a design that is inherently safe.

"The University of Illinois provides a unique environment for innovation in research and education combined with the opportunity of commercial-level implementation on a scale that is ideal to our micro reactor product," said Francesco Venneri, USNC's CEO. "We expect the licensing process to be exceptionally comprehensive and open to public review and comment, exactly as it should be."

The State of Illinois is no stranger to nuclear power and the community is as educated on the benefits and challenges of nuclear power as any you will find in the country. The project team has spent the last two years engaging with the university and surrounding community; local, state, and federal governments; and potential industry partners. The docketing of these efforts with the NRC will help the team continue to provide transparency of the project status.

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About the MMR Energy System

The MMR Energy System is a zero-carbon power plant, integrating one or several standardized micro reactors with a heat storage unit and a non-nuclear adjacent plant for power conversion and utilization. 10 to 100 MW electrical power and/or process heat can be produced by MMR Energy Systems, depending on configuration. The standard micro reactor unit is a small high-temperature gas-cooled reactor generating between 15-30MW (thermal) at a temperature of 650oC and expected for first-of-a-kind deployment in Canada at the Chalk River site of the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. The MMR uses USNC's proprietary meltdown-proof FCM TRISO fuel (co-developed with Idaho National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory). The heat is transferred from multiple MMRs to a molten salt energy storage unit that decouples the nuclear system from the power conversion system, greatly simplifying operations and allowing flexible use of the energy generated. No water is required for cooling. The MMR Energy System can be used to generate power, complement renewables, provide process heat to industrial applications or for high-efficiency hydrogen production, providing clean, reliable energy for any use, anywhere.

About Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation

Ultra Safe Nuclear is Seattle-based global leader in the deployment of microreactors as a strong vertical integrator of nuclear power technologies, entirely committed to bringing safe, commercially competitive, clean and reliable nuclear energy to markets throughout the world. USNC's MMR technology is the first and currently the only small modular reactor (SMR) to enter the formal licensing review phase with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. The company adheres to inherent and intrinsic safety principles through technological innovation in fuels, materials, and design practices: Safe, Simple, Secure.
LOWELL, Mass. - UMass Lowell's annual Cool Science contest, which calls on K-12 students in Massachusetts and the Midwest to help teach the public about climate change, has honored a Bay State second-grader as this year's top winner.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, Cool Science teaches young people about science and art by asking them to create displays that illustrate concepts behind climate change. Adapting the competition in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the best of these submissions from contest years 2020, 2021 and 2022 will appear in and on transit-authority buses in Massachusetts, Kansas and Missouri next year, with the goal of educating tens of thousands of passengers and others each day. More than 4,000 students have participated in Cool Science since it began in 2012.

Margaret Deglialberti of Boylston, a student at Boylston Elementary School, is the 2021 recipient of the UMass Lowell David Lustick Award, presented to the competition's overall winner. Margaret and the contest's other winners from Massachusetts will have their artwork displayed in and on Merrimack Valley and Worcester regional transit authority buses next year.

Cool Science winners and runners-up, their parents, teachers and mentors involved in the program were honored during online award celebrations this month held for participants from across Massachusetts, Kansas and Missouri.

The researchers behind Cool Science are studying how effective the student artwork is in teaching people about science.

"We've found that bus riders have increased knowledge about the science topics covered in the students' art after the artwork is exhibited on public buses. The students' work is engaging and easy to process for the general public, thus it provides an easy avenue for adult learning in informal spaces. We are excited to be engaging youth artists in science learning while also growing informal science education on public transit," said College of Education Associate Prof. Jill Lohmeier of Acton, who presented the Lustick Award to Margaret.

The honor is named in memory of David Lustick, a former Nashua, N.H., resident and UMass Lowell College of Education professor who was a nationally recognized champion of environmental education. Lustick and Lohmeier co-founded Cool Science to study the effectiveness of using public artwork to stimulate interest in learning more about scientific concepts.

Lohmeier continues this work with UMass Lowell Associate Prof. Stephen Mishol, chairman of the Art and Design Department; Prof. Robert Chen, interim dean and professor in the UMass Boston School for the Environment; and researchers from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, University of Kansas and Kansas City Art Institute.

"I'm learning so much from viewing the students' art. By blending art and science approaches in the development of their responses to the Cool Science contest's questions, the students are proving that the future is bright. The next generation is ready to tackle the really complex problem of climate change with their innovative and creative ideas," Chen said.

Mishol, one of the contest's judges, is impressed each year by the quality of the artwork submitted.

"As an artist, I'm always fascinated to see how these young people are able to use their experiences and imagination to create images that engage and educate the public on the important subject of extreme weather. The students work with a variety of media: drawing, painting, and collage, as well as digital image-making technology, and create work that is both scientifically informed and creatively inventive. Varied and quite often skillful and accomplished, the images continue to show they have the ability to transcend traditional boundaries, connecting and communicating with people across a wide segment of the community," he said.

Students from across Massachusetts chose to compete to have their artwork displayed on either Worcester or Merrimack Valley regional transit authority buses. In addition to Margaret, 2021 contest winners whose entries will be shown on the Worcester lines include:

Xavier Cardenales of Westfield, a fourth-grader at Munger Hill Elementary School;

Ruby Henry of Montague, an eighth-grader at Four Rivers Charter School;

JenaRose Zawalski of Belchertown, a seventh-grader with Pioneer Valley Homeschoolers;

Anna Alcorn of Amherst, a sophomore at Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School;

Sarah Nicholson of Hadley, a freshman at Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School.

Contest runners-up also honored include:

Elijaah and Yeremiah Fagan of Leominster, a fourth- and fifth-grader, respectively, at Johnny Appleseed Elementary School;

Kona McConkey of North Hampton, a third-grader with Pioneer Valley Homeschoolers;

Miroslav Wang of Amherst, a sixth-grader at Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School;

Paolo Kago of Brockton, a senior at Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School;

Jack Vaughan of Rochester, a junior at Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School;

Brittany Riley of Stoughton, a junior at Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School.

Contest winners whose artwork will appear on Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority buses include:

Zoya Pathan of Lowell, a third-grader at Islamic Academy for Peace;

Annalise Philpot of Westford, a fifth-grader at Stony Brook Middle School;

Anushka Takede of Westford, a sixth-grader at Stony Brook Middle School;

Sherry Ye of Westford, a sixth-grader at Stony Brook Middle School;

Heiel Gomez of Lowell, a junior at Greater Lowell Technical High School;

Desmond Marrero of Lowell, a senior at Greater Lowell Technical High School.

Runners-up also honored include:

Ailyn Craig, a second-grader from Middleborough;

Soriya Soeun of Chelmsford, a fourth-grader at South Row Elementary School;

Dhiren Kamesh of Westford, a fourth-grader at Norman E. Day Elementary School;

Annabelle Schneider of Somerville, a fifth-grader at John F. Kennedy Elementary School;

Cora Hogan of Whitman, a fourth-grader at Louise A. Conley Elementary School;

Ocean Farinella of Beverly, a home-schooled seventh-grader;

Sabina Lochtefeld of Ipswich, a sixth-grader with Pioneer Valley Homeschoolers;

Leo Huang of Westford, a sixth-grader at Stony Brook Middle School;

Benjamin Hart of Westford, a sixth-grader at Stony Brook Middle School;

Alyssa Bellardino of Middleborough, a freshman at Middleborough High School;

Mikayla Begeal of Lowell, a senior at Greater Lowell Technical High School;

Andrew Long of Newbury, a sophomore at Newburyport High School.

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PHILADELPHIA-- In addition to sickening and taking the lives of millions across the globe, COVID-19 complicated patient care in a range of less-direct ways, from increased incidence of heart attacks to decreased cancer screenings. The virus also increased the risk of complications and death among trauma patients with injuries from car crashes, falls or other accidents, or who were victims of violent injuries such as gunshots and stabbings, according to new research conducted by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published recently in The Journal of Trauma and Acute Surgery.

The findings reveal that patients in trauma centers across the state of Pennsylvania who also tested positive for COVID-19 had six times higher risk of death than patients with similar injuries without COVID. COVID-positive patients also demonstrated double the likelihood of complications such as venous thromboembolism, renal failure, need for intubation, and unplanned ICU admission, as well as more than five times the odds of pulmonary complications. These risks were even greater in patients over age 65.

"COVID-19 had the largest impact on patients whose injuries were relatively minor, and who we would have otherwise expected to do well," said lead author Elinore Kaufman, MD, MSHP, an assistant professor in the Division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery at Penn Medicine. "Our findings underscore how important it is for hospitals to consistently test admitted patients, so that providers can be aware of this additional risk and treat patients with extra care and vigilance."

Researchers conducted a retrospective study of 15,550 patients admitted to Pennsylvania trauma centers from March 21, 2020, (when Governor Tom Wolf ordered the closure of non-essential businesses statewide) to July 31, 2020. Of the 15,550 patients, 8,170 were tested for the virus, and 219 tested positive. During this period, the researchers evaluated length of stay, complications, and overall outcomes for patients who tested positive for COVID, compared to patients who did not have the virus. They found that rates of testing increased over time, from 34 percent in April 2020 to 56 percent in July. Rates of testing varied substantially across centers, however, with a median of 56.2 percent and a range of 0 percent to 96.4 percent.

"First, we need to investigate how to best care for these high-risk patients, and establish standard protocols to minimize risks," said senior author Niels D. Martin, MD, chief of Surgical Critical Care and an associate professor in the division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery. "Second, we need more data on the risks associated with patients who present symptoms of COVID, versus those who are asymptomatic, so we can administer proven treatments appropriately and increase the likelihood of survival with minimal complications."

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This research was supported by the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation.

Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $8.9 billion enterprise.

The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top medical schools in the United States for more than 20 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $496 million awarded in the 2020 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center--which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report--Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Medicine Princeton Health; and Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.

Penn Medicine is powered by a talented and dedicated workforce of more than 44,000 people. The organization also has alliances with top community health systems across both Southeastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey, creating more options for patients no matter where they live.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2020, Penn Medicine provided more than $563 million to benefit our community.
Research team, led by academician GUO Guangcan from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), collaborating with researchers from Sun Yat-sen University and Zhejiang University, realized two-photon quantum interference in the structure of valley-dependent topological insulators based on the valley Hall effect.

The study was published in Physical Review Letters on June 11st, 2021.

Topological photonics has a practical application prospect in the research of photonic chips due to its robust energy transport prosperities. The key to topological phase transition is to generate an energy gap at certain degenerate points by breaking either the time-reversal symmetry (TRS) or inversion symmetry.

By breaking the spatial inversion symmetry of the system, the valley-dependent helical edge states travel in certain directions, which is known as Valley-Hall effect. Hexagonal lattice photonic crystals (PCs) with inequivalent sublattices can realize the valley-dependent topological insulators. More compact and sharp bending optical circuit can be realized, which contributes to device integration and robust energy.

In recent years, robust quantum state transfer in topology has been a hot research. Yet as the core of photonic quantum information, quantum interference remains to be verified in topologically protected PCs chip.

Researchers designed and fabricated harpoon-shaped beam splitters (HSBSs) in silicon photonic crystals. The orientation of the electromagnetic phase vortex inside PCs with hexagonal lattice structure depends on lattice structure with different topological Chern numbers and its band position, thereby to form two topological edges of different structures.

Based on a 120-deg-bending interfaces, they realized on-chip Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference in one HSBS with a high visibility of 95.6%. Furthermore, the generation of path-entangled state in valley-dependent quantum circuits is demonstrated by cascading two HSBSs.

The study provides a novel method for topological photonics, especially topological insulators, to be applied in more complex quantum information processing. Reviewers agreed that the research is interesting and important, and highly praised that "This is an interesting and important work. I find the results interesting, in particular, the implementation of the Hong-Ou-Mande effect in this device, which may have implications in high fidelity on-chip quantum information processing."

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A conclusive narrative review has found physical punishment of children is not effective in preventing child behavior problems or promoting positive outcomes and instead predicts increases in behavior problems and other poor outcomes over time. The study by an international group of scientists including a researcher from The University of Texas at Austin was published today in The Lancet.

Caregivers in many parts of the world use physical punishment as a response to children's perceived misbehavior: 63% of children between the ages of 2 and 4 worldwide - approximately 250 million children - are regularly subjected to physical punishment by caregivers.

Sixty-two countries have banned the practice, which is increasingly seen as a form of violence.

The team looked at studies involving physical punishment such as spanking and excluded any behaviors that could constitute child physical abuse. The researchers found ample evidence to support a United Nations statement from the Committee on the Rights of the Child that recommended countries end the use of all types of physical punishment on children.

"There is no evidence that physical punishment is good for children," said Elizabeth Gershoff, the Amy Johnson McLaughlin Centennial Professor in Human Development and Family Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin and senior author of the paper. "All the evidence indicates that physical punishment is harmful to children's development and well-being."

The review looked at 69 studies, most of which were from the United States, with eight from other countries. Scientists found that physical punishment was not associated with any positive outcomes for children and increased the risk that children would experience severe violence or neglect. The paper points out that negative outcomes associated with physical punishment, such as behavior problems, occurred no matter the child's sex, race, or ethnicity and regardless of the overall parenting styles of the caregivers. The authors also found evidence that the magnitude of negative outcomes for children increased the more frequently physical punishment was used.

"Parents hit their children because they think doing so will improve their behavior," Gershoff said. "Unfortunately for parents who hit, our research found clear and compelling evidence that physical punishment does not improve children's behavior and instead makes it worse."

In the U.S., it is legal in all 50 states for parents to use physical punishment. It is also legal in 19 states for schools to use physical punishment against children. The paper was intended as a resource for policymakers and people who work with families, such as medical and mental health providers.

"This is a public health issue," said Anja Heilmann, lead author of the paper who is an associate professor at University College London. "Given the strength of the evidence that physical punishment has the potential to cause harm to children, policymakers have a responsibility to protect children and legislate to end the use of physical punishment in all settings."

Gershoff previously authored a landmark 2016 meta-analysis of dozens of studies and found that physical punishment was not associated with any positive outcomes for children and was heavily associated with a variety of negative outcomes. Gershoff's work was cited by former Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. in a 2016 federal letter urging states to consider ending the use of physical punishment in schools. Gershoff also helped to inform policy statements from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association that use research on the harmful effects of physical punishment as a basis for recommending that caregivers no longer use it.

###

Heilmann, Anita Mehay, Richard G. Watt and Yvonne Kelly of University College London (UK); Joan E. Durrant of the University of Manitoba (Canada); and Jillian van Turnhout, former Senator, Irish Parliament also contributed to the research. The research was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the UK Economic and Social Research Council.
A dangerous security vulnerability was discovered by TU Wien in collaboration with the Ca' Foscari University (Italy): Anyone who assumes control over subdomains of websites can cause severe damage

The internet is full of dangers: Sensitive data can be leaked, malicious websites can allow hackers to access private computers. The Security & Privacy Research Unit at TU Wien in collaboration with Ca' Foscari University has now uncovered a new important security vulnerability that has been overlooked so far. Large websites often have many subdomains - for example, "sub.example.com" could be a subdomain of the website "example.com". With certain tricks, it is possible to take control of such subdomains. And if that happens, new security holes open up that also put people at risk who simply want to use the actual website (in this example: example.com).

The research team studied these vulnerabilities and also analysed how widespread the problem is: 50,000 of the world's most important websites were examined, and 1,520 vulnerable subdomains were discovered. The team was invited to the 30th USENIX Security Symposium, one of the most prestigious scientific conferences in the field of cybersecurity. The results have now been published online.

Dangling Records

"At first glance, the problem doesn't seem that bad," says Marco Squarcina from the Institute of Logic and Computation at TU Vienna. "After all, you might think that you can only gain access to a subdomain if you're explicitly allowed by the administrator of the website, but that's a mistake."

This is because often a subdomain points to another website that is physically stored on completely different servers. Maybe you own the website example.com and want to add a blog. You don't want to build it from scratch, but instead use an existing blogging service of another website. Therefore, a subdomain, such as blog.example.com, is connected to another site. "If you use the example.com page and click on the blog there, you won't notice anything suspicious," says Marco Squarcina. "The address bar of the browser shows the correct subdomain blog.example.com, but the data now comes from a completely different server."

But what happens if one day this link is no longer valid? Perhaps the blog is not needed anymore or it is relaunched elsewhere. Then the link from blog.example.com points to an external page that is no longer there. In this case, one speaks of "dangling records" - loose ends in the website's network that are ideal points of attack.

"If such dangling records are not promptly removed, attackers can set up their own page there, which will then show up at sub.example.com," says Mauro Tempesta (also TU Wien).

This is a problem because websites apply different security rules to different areas of the internet. Their own subdomains are typically considered "safe", even if they are in fact controlled from outside. For example, cookies placed on users by the main website can be overwritten and potentially accessed from any subdomains: in the worst case, an intruder can then impersonate another user and carry out illicit actions on their behalf.

Alarmingly common problem

The team composed by Marco Squarcina, Mauro Tempesta, Lorenzo Veronese,Matteo Maffei (TU Wien), and Stefano Calzavara (Ca' Foscari) investigated how common this problem is: "We examined 50,000 of the most visited sites in the world, discovering 26 million subdomains," says Marco Squarcina. "On 887 of these sites we found vulnerabilities, on a total of 1,520 vulnerable subdomains." Among the vulnerable sites were some of the most famous websites of all, such as cnn.com or harvard.edu. University sites are more likely to be affected because they usually have a particularly large number of subdomains.

"We contacted all the people responsible for the vulnerable sites. Nevertheless, 6 months later, the problem was still only fixed on 15 % of these subdomains," says Marco Squarcina. "In principle, it would not be difficult to fix these vulnerabilities. We hope that with our work we can create more awareness about this security threat."

###

Original publication

Further information and the original paper: canitakeyoursubdomain.name, opens an external URL in a new window

Contact

Prof. Matteo Maffei

Institute for Logic and Computation

TU Wien

Favoritenstrae 9-11, 1040 Vienna

+43 1 58801 184860

matteo.maffei@tuwien.ac.at

Dott. Marco Squarcina

Institute for Logic and Computation

TU Wien

Favoritenstrae 9-11, 1040 Vienna

+43 1 58801 192607

marco.squarcina@tuwien.ac.at
Monday, June 28, 2021

David Chandler was a stringer for Life Magazine, and knew Garrison quite well. In fact, Garrison was the best man at his wedding. Chandler was in Garrison's office quite often in the early part of his investigation. That all changed after he reported on organized crime in New Orleans.

He testified at the perjury trial of Dean Andrews :

David Chandler was also interviewed by James Kirkwood for his book American Grotesque. Here is an excerpt from that interview:

Kirkwood: Were you around him at all in the early part of this thing?

Chandler: I was around from the -- best I've been able to pin down is -- any sort of terminal date for starting this thing -- was November 25 of '66. I think that's the date. Whatever the date is, I think it's the 25th, it's the date on which he issued the instructions to his staff. For my purposes I count that as the beginning. So from that evening through December the 22, I was in almost daily contact with him on the case ... They broke off at that point because (Trish and I) ... going down to Guatemala. And shortly after we came back is when I got involved in -- with asking these questions about bribery in his office. I didn't have any contact with him after that.

Kirkwood: What was he like then, at the early part?

Chandler: Seemed mad. He was -- well, it's in this early part he first comes up with the Ferrie business.

Kirkwood: From the original '63 arrest.

Chandler: Yes, And the mug shot, and physically -- deterioration, there seemed to be deterioration from when I'd just seen him last, which was about three or four months prior, September of '66. And he'd put on more weight, his nails were black -- which in his situation was rather striking. Because he used to be fairly well groomed ... drinking -- I've never seen that before, he put in the refrigerator in his office ... Sego -- S E G O, it's a Metrecal, sort of, ... and ... physical differences at the time.

...

Kirkwood: Well now, how did -- he first got wind of Clay Shaw through -- in the meantime then someone must have pointed up the Dean Andrews ==

Chandler: No, I subsequently learned from Dean Andrews that Garrison had been talking with him casually on the subject, as early as October. And intensively in the middle part of November. And that's where he got onto the Clay Bertrand theory, and those other names. That Andrews said he made up. And it is in the course of Garrison's cataloguing Oswald's connection in New Orleans -- that he came onto Clay Shaw's name and ... the connection, all that business. At the time he was also interested -- no, he became interested ... coffee company in January. Shaw almost immediately he figured was part of it, because Oswald had demonstrated in front of the building and he had this syllogistic reasoning about Bertrand = Shaw.

Kirkwood: Did anybody ask him early on about --- if someone wanted to use an alias ... why anyone would use their first name? Which was unusual. I mean Clay is not a usual first name like Joe or Fred.

Chandler: I don't think so, because my instructions from Billings at the time were to just let Garrison go along and at least I didn't nor Billings nor anyone else in my presence ever subjected him to any sort of critical questions. At that period. So when he came up with the Shaw business, I just laughed. It was embarrassing, it was so idiotic. I wasn't quite sure that he was serious.

Jim Garrison had no good reason to suspect Clay Shaw was Clay Bertrand. But that didn't stop him. Garrison also had no serious evidence that Clay Shaw was a conspirator in the JFK assassination before he was arrested.

Take the $64 challenge :

Anybody up for the challenge? Please feel free to email me your answer - what serious evidence did Garrison have, at the time Shaw was arrested, that he had conspired with anybody to kill JFK?
Monday, June 28, 2021

In the FX program, The Most Dangerous Animal of All, first aired on March 6, 2020, document examiner Patti Fisher inaccurately critiqued the work I performed in 2012 for the book by the same name.

Ms. Fisher said a document examiner must not cherry pick letters and words when comparing the writing on various documents. She also raised the issue that there was an insufficient number of exemplars (documents known to be written by Earl Van Best, Jr.) to use for comparison with the letters written by the Zodiac killer.

Both statements are correct.

What is incorrect are her assumptions about how I performed the analysis, which I documented in my 2014 book, The End of The Zodiac Mystery.

When presented with the challenge in 2012 to perform this analysis, it was immediately obvious that I had too few known documents written by Earl Van Best, Jr. to make a valid comparison with the numerous Zodiac killer documents. The only handwriting I had that was allegedly written by Mr. Van Best was on the marriage certificate for his 1962 marriage to Judith Chandler.

At first, this presented a conundrum. Many document examiners would have declined to continue, stating they could not offer any insight. In fact, at least one document examiner did decline to accept the case, stating there were an insufficient number of exemplars.

Ms. Fisher assumed this was the way I moved forward with the analysisusing one known writing exemplar, which would have provided insufficient data.

This is not how I conducted my analysis. In 2012, after spreading out all the Zodiac documents chronologically in front of me, it took some time, but a lightbulb went off that arose from out-of-the-box thinking. After careful thought, I devised a valid approach to provide the required insight.

The Zodiac documents contained known writing. The killer had provided these documents to the press and to the police departments, in his twisted, manipulative way, to publicize his killings and to taunt the polices departments inability to track him down.

So, rather than treating the Zodiac killers letters as questioned documents, I treated them as the known documents. This enabled me to treat the marriage certificate as the questioned document. This shed a whole new light on the subject, enabling me to perform valid research complying with industry standards.

Forensic investigations often require a carefully-constructed approach using unique, valid paradigms. Thats what makes them intriguing.

The ASTM standards Ms. Fisher references in the documentary additionally state that known documents must be compared to determine whether they were written by the same person. The images on pages 17, 19 and 20 in my book, The End of The Zodiac Mystery, validate that I did this.

As a result of this comparison, I was able to eliminate one document provided to me as known Zodiac writing. It was the document written by Detective David Toschi in 1976 to rekindle public interest in the case to increase his visibility and stature. This was revealed in the subsequent documentary. There was an additional document and envelope from 1990 that was not written by the same person who wrote the legitimate Zodiac letters.

After setting the stage using this reverse procedure that enabled me to perform the analysis, the next step I used in my investigation was to determine which words and letter combinations were commonwhich ones were used in both the known Zodiac documents and the questioned document, allegedly written by Earl Van Best, Jr.

When examining documents, it is invalid to compare different words or letters from two documents with each otheryou can only compare the same words or letters to determine if the same person wrote the document in question.

Pages 98 through 108 and 111 of my book illustrate the comparisons I was able to make. In total, I compared 12 letter and word combinationsnot just a few cherry-picked items as claimed by Ms. Fisher in the documentary.

Two examples are:

 The letters est from the word Best on the marriage certificate compared with est from the word west in the Zodiac letters.

 The words San Fran on both the marriage certificate and the Zodiac letters and envelopes.

These are only two examples of many letters and words that are common between the Zodiac letters and the marriage certificate. The book provides my complete analysis.

A single similarity of letter or word formations never offers sufficient evidence of a common author. The referenced pages demonstrate many common attributes I discovered among the writings, such as the formation and spacing of the letters, and the location and length of crossbars on the letter E. Again, these are just a few examples of my complete analysis.

Ms. Fisher indicated in the documentary that I cherry picked a few letters, comparing one Zodiac letter at a time with the same letters from the marriage certificate. This is not a proper analysis and it is not what I did. I compared all the writings in the Zodiac letters with the common words and letters in the marriage certificate.

In short, Ms. Fishers comments in the documentary did not address the actual procedure I used. Her failure to realize that I was using the Zodiac letters as the known documents as well as not knowing which words and letters I actually compared, led her to reach an erroneous conclusion regarding the validity of my research.

Unfortunately the film crew did not come back to allow me to respond to these criticisms. Had they returned and permitted me to review Ms. Fishers critique, the documentary would have been different.
Everything that was missing from the Fourth of July last year  fireworks, theme park visits, parades, 5Ks and celebrating with people you dont see every single day  returns this year.

That includes the San Antonio Parks Foundations annual celebration at Woodlawn Lake Park, which will include food vendors, carnival games, music by the U.S. Air Force Band of the West and, of course, fireworks.

The only thing that is going to be different this year is were not doing the carnival rides to keep some of those COVID safety precautions in place, said Libby Day, director of communications for the foundation.

Those who go should bring plenty of water  its likely to be hot  and sunscreen. They also should bring along trash bags so that they can more easily dispose of any litter they accumulate throughout the day. And because parking is limited, they are encouraged to use ride share services or, if possible, bike to the park.

Those who go should also be mindful of the fact that the park is a small place in a residential neighborhood and behave accordingly. Dont block driveways, and dont leave garbage in homeowners yards.

The event will run from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday at the park, 1103 Cincinnati. Admission is free.

Express-News file photo

Other celebrations include:

SeaWorld San Antonio: The theme park will be sending pyrotechnics into the sky in the evenings all weekend, with displays slated to start at 9:30 p.m. nightly. The fireworks will be accompanied by music. The celebration is included in the parks regular admission. Park hours this weekend are 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Sunday, Sea World, 10500 Sea World Drive. $49.99, seaworld.com/san-antonio/tickets.

On ExpressNews.com: Guide to summer arts and entertainment in San Antonio

Six Flags Fiesta Texas: Fiesta Texas is celebrating all weekend, too, with fireworks each night. It also is kicking off its monthlong All-American Food Festival, which includes deserts using summer fruits, bacon-wrapped goodies and more than 100 craft and seasonal beers. Park hours this weekend are 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Sunday. $28.99 to $38.99, sixflags.com/fiestatexas.

Boerne: The Hill Country Council for the Arts is presenting a celebration Sunday including snacks, free childrens crafts and a silent auction at the AgriCultural Museum and Arts Center. The Boerne Fire Departments fireworks display will be visible from the center. Gates open at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Center, 102 City Park Road. Admission $10 at tinyurl.com/3cn4dvjm. Fireworks start about 9:15 p.m. at City Park, 106 City Park Road. Folks can watch from the park, as well. Admission is free. Info, tinyurl.com/4fyep94p.

Fredericksburg: The celebration starts with living history demonstrations at Fort Martin Scott, 1606 E. Main St., from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Independence Day holds VFW Post 7105s Fourth of July Kiddie Parade at 11:30 a.m. at Marktplatz, 101 West Main; the July 4 Parade, which starts at 1 p.m. at the intersection of Main and Adams; a patriotic program, including live music by Bill Smallwood's Lone Star Swing Orchestra, at 2 p.m. at Marktplatz; and fireworks at 9:30 p.m. at Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park, 432 Lady Bird Drive. Free. Info, fbgtx.org, under the events tab.

Helotes: The city of Helotes celebration is on Saturday night. It includes food, drink and craft vendors and live music by Mike Sanders and the Country Boys, the Helotes Area Community Band and Trisdon Fredric. 6 p.m. to midnight Saturday, Helotes Festival Grounds, 12210 Leslie Road. Fireworks start at 9:15 p.m. Free. Info, tinyurl.com/tbvdvfmp.

On ExpressNews.com: Comedian Gabriel Fluffy Iglesias returns to stand-up with a run in SA

Leon Valley: The citys celebration includes a parade, food trucks and fireworks. It starts with the Pioneer Firecracker 5K Run/Walk at 7:30 a.m. at the Northwest Little League; 6828 Poss Road; $25 in advance and $30 on Sunday. The rest of the festivities are free. Parade starts at 7:30 p.m. at Evers and Poss roads. Food trucks will be set up from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Raymond Rimkus Park, 6440 Evers Road, where the fireworks start at 9:15 p.m. Info on everything, including race registration, at tinyurl.com/3t5adbuw.

Schertz: The Sunday celebration includes the Let Freedom Run 5K starting at 9:15 a.m. at the Schertz Civic Center, 1400 Schertz Parkway; registration ranges from $25 to $30. The Jubilee Parade starts at 9:30 a.m. at Elbel Road and Schertz Parkway. The rest of the celebration spreads out between Thulemeyer Park, 901 Oak, and Pickrell Park, 710 Oak St., and includes a childrens carnival, live music, family activities and food vendors. Carnival rides start at $3. Fireworks start at 9:15 p.m. Info, tinyurl.com/5rjttva6.

Staff writer Priscilla Aguirre contributed to this report.

dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN
Texas elementary school students fell dramatically behind in math during the COVID-19 pandemic, dipping to the worst proficiency levels in six years, newly released state standardized test score data shows.

The number of students in grades three through eight who did not meet state standards in math increased from 21 percent in 2019 to 37 percent in 2021, results from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, show. The tests were not administered in 2020 because of the pandemic.

While economically disadvantaged students fared worse than their peers, the largest decline was seen in districts with higher percentages of students learning virtually.

This means probably 800,000 or more students fell below in math than usual, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said Monday.

As national trends suggested, there was little negative impact in English test scores of students in all grades. Math proficiency was impacted the most among core subjects because, unlike literacy and language skills, students are less likely to learn math skills outside of the classroom.

The results are not surprising, said Cathy Horn, chair of the University of Houstons Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.

When we think about a really technical subject area like mathematics, the opportunities to interact and to ask questions are not as readily available in virtual learning, she said.

Peer-to-peer learning interactions, which greatly help some students master math, also became more elusive during COVID-19, Horn said.

Districts that had less than 25 percent of students learning in-person for a majority of the school year saw 32 percent not meeting math standards on average, according to TEA data. School systems that had a majority of students opting to be in the classroom experienced only 9 percent failing math proficiency, on average.

The number of students from lower-income families who did not meet math requirements jumped by 20 percent this year compared with 2019. That likely is because students whose families were struggling financially faced more challenges in accessing the technology they needed for classes, Horn said.

The number of students with satisfactory performance in reading decreased by 4 percentage points in 2021. Thirty-three percent did not meet the state standard this year, compared with 29 percent in 2019.

The data is consistent with what educators and experts warned early in the pandemic, which disrupted education across the United States and pushed millions of Texas students into virtual-only learning for varying lengths of time.

Test results from spring algebra tests given to Texas high school students also showed a major decline in math performance compared with 2019, particularly among Black, Hispanic and lower-income students. The grade three through eight data offers a better apples-to-apples comparison to 2019, however, because high school students can take the test at different grade levels and can retake it if they fail.

Despite years of improvements seen in STAAR math results, the pandemic set the number of students meeting state standards back considerably.

The level of proficiencies we see currently is akin to what we experienced in 2015 to 2017, Morath said.

Houston, Fort Bend, Pasadena, Alief and Aldine ISDs all experienced the downward trend in math test scores. The districts serve predominantly low-income and non-white students.

The biggest drop in test scores for HISD students was in eighth-grade math. This year, 66 percent of the districts eighth-graders did not meet math proficiencies, compared with 28 percent in 2019. The school systems reading scores did not change as drastically. The most noticeable decrease was in fourth grade, with 44 percent of students behind state standards in 2021, compared with 32 percent in 2019.

HISD is aware and concerned about the learning loss that has resulted statewide from educational challenges caused by the pandemic, the district said in an emailed statement Tuesday. The recent STAAR test results provide us an opportunity to address student academic needs and utilize resources to regain learning.

The district announced in early April that it would add 15 additional days of instruction to the upcoming school year.

We expect this will produce better student outcomes, the statement reads. We are formulating plans that will mitigate students lost time and improve educational performance.

In addition to shortfalls in math, Alief ISD also saw sizable drops in reading scores. This year, 51 percent of the districts sixth-graders did not meet the states reading standards, up from 41 percent in 2019.

Our campuses have been hard at work implementing innovative academic recovery plans such as personalized learning blocks, redesigned master schedules and expanded tutorials, said Kimberly Smith, director of communications for Alief ISD. This fall, we will use all data sources to refine our plans and build on the momentum of our recovery work from this past spring; ensuring both students and staff feel supported from academic and social-emotional perspectives.

The impact on test scores was seen in wealthier school systems, such as Conroe and Katy ISDs, thought the decreases in proficiencies were less dramatic.

Sarah Blakelock, director of communications for Conroe ISD, noted that the school system had the highest in-person learning percentage among large districts in the state. Of the districts more than 65,000 students, 84 percent were in the classroom this past school year.

We believe opening our schools at the beginning of the year and being able to keep them open throughout the year played a significant role in our students learning outcomes, she said.

Lori Gracey, executive director of the Texas Computer Education Association, said the states educators had little guidance in navigating virtual teaching and finding new ways to prepare students for standardized testing.

We hope this report illustrates the need for greater resources, collaboration and coordination when it comes to digital teaching and learning, she said. The kind of remote learning put into place in 2020-21 was a stopgap, and not the thoughtful implementation of tested ideas that should define online learning, much less any kind of educational technology.

Texas is one of the first states to release all of its 2021 standardized testing data and offers a glimpse into what trends might be seen across the nation.

Teachers will face an unprecedented challenge in trying to bring students back up to speed this fall, Morath said.

There is a significant number of students starting noticeably below grade level this year, he said. This is going to be an all-hands-on-deck effort to catch them up.

hannah.dellinger@chron.com

twitter.com/hdellingermedia
La Juana Chambers Lawson woke to the flashing lights of emergency vehicles.

It was the mid-1990s, and just moments before, shed been safely ensconced in the family Chevrolet Blazer on the way to visit relatives. Her life was changed forever on that icy Virginia highway.

The Blazer hit a stretch of black ice and flipped more than a dozen times on the interstate outside Norfolk. Lawson scanned the vehicles interior and saw her father  LaDon Chambers, a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton  wrapped in the wreckage.

Are you OK? a police officer yelled at her as he banged on a window. Wheres your mom?

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio youth counselor offers kids love, attention and motherly discipline

Emergency workers found her mother, inches from rolling into the James River.

The accident changed the course of Lawsons life. Authorities took her to a Ronald McDonald House, where staff cared for her as her parents recovered in a Veterans Affairs hospital. The staff catered to her needs at the place that became her anchor.

That care influenced Lawson to pursue roles as a social entrepreneur and advocate for nonprofits, students, individuals and neighborhoods across San Antonio and beyond.

The common denominator in her business, teachings and community activism is an element she calls heart service.

Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News

Its easy to be mean and negative. Thats very easy to do; its a lazy response, said Lawson, 33. Im going to give you love because I dont know where you are in your life. Were moving to this utopia where things are based on merit, productivity and creation, rather than color and class, things that should not matter.

Lawson is the author of Master Grant Writing: A Project Managers Guide and owner of Tacit Growth Strategies, an impact investment firm and project management office featured in Oprah magazine, Entrepreneur and Forbes. Shes also served as president and board chair of the San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum.

But Lawsons service to others began when she was 11 years old. Her parents divorced, and she lived with her father, who was in a wheelchair after the accident. He served as a mentor to others who were paralyzed at a VA hospital in Richmond, Va. She would accompany him to the spinal cord injury ward and read to the veterans.

On ExpressNews.com: The Wild Side:San Antonio mans YouTube channel focuses on exotic animals

More Information About the author A 22-year veteran of the Air Force, Vincent T. Davis embarked on a second career as a journalist and found his calling. Observing and listening across San Antonio, he finds intriguing tales to tell about everyday people. He shares his stories with Express-News subscribers every Monday morning. See More Collapse

If they were smiling, I knew they were alive, Lawson said. Thats how powerful the energy is. Its enough to improve a mood.

Her father and mother, Juanita Cummings, taught her to live a life of purpose.

When Lawson went out with her father, she saw the need for more options for people in wheelchairs. It upset her when she had to walk him up flights of stairs in buildings without elevators.

If I see an injustice, why not bring it up and follow up until its made better? she asked. That gave me a unique vantage point.

She grappled with questions about spirituality, seeking answers at Catholic, Episcopal and Lutheran churches. Then Lawson realized the link between the religions.

Everyone had dedicated their lives to service, she said. Thats what I would have to do if I could lay out what I wanted to do to live a life thats happy and fulfilled.

She carried that philosophy with her as an educator and shares it with students she teaches at the University of the Incarnate Word and Our Lady of the Lake University. Lawson wrote grants for more than a decade and helped others build businesses, but she struggled to keep a home and health insurance. She thought that if she could lift up organizations that communities had written off for years, why couldnt she do the same for herself.

In 2018, Lawson founded Tacit Growth Strategies. It was based on project management as a life skill used in personal and professional lives.

That same year, she became a committee member of Pastor Shetigho Nakpodias Redeemers Praise Church on the East Side, near the Friedrich building on Commerce Street. The church is undergoing renovations. Lawson is helping Nakpodia expand the church with the Love Community Center beside it.

La Juana is a beautiful woman and dynamic lady, Nakpodia said. Shes been a big encourager to me.

Related: Senior dances at Royal Palace a South Side tradition

When businesses ground to a halt during the pandemic, Lawsons skills were instrumental for several nonprofits. Tiffany Jones-Smith, president of the Texas Kidney Foundation, said Lawson helped the agency revamp its internal practices. The entrepreneur also helped with a mailing program that delivered 10,000 free at-home kidney screening kits.

As nonprofits, a lot of us are heart-driven, not business-driven, Jones-Smith said. You have to have a La Juana to keep both things going. She really does think about her fellow man. Being a woman gives her a beautiful perspective, a warmth that transcends all things even to people who are opposite of where she sits.

Bexar County Clerk Lucy Adame-Clark said having Lawson in the community has been a blessing. She said the entrepreneurs passion, dedication and perseverance do not go unnoticed.

She serves many equally, Adame-Clark said, and is a strong voice for the voiceless.

As Lawson moves forward in these days of rallies and political unrest, she offers a trifecta of care, love and grace. But she emphasizes that you cant do anything alone and leans toward her husband, Christopher Lawson, whom she calls her rock.

We have to have people out here actually find a way to build instead of destroy, Lawson said. Thats the only way to make a brighter future. And thats why we need to be more socialized, so we remember that change only happens because of a person; people are the system.

vtdavis@express-news.net
The early morning battle on March 6, 1836, ended a 13-day siege and left horrific images that townspeople of San Antonio would long remember: the stench of Alamo defenders bodies burning in funeral pyres and corpses of Mexican soldiers floating in the river.

The few remaining civilian men in the village were pressed into service to burn, bury or discard the dead.

Experts will dissect and examine the famous, sometimes controversial 1836 battle for Texas independence during a panel discussion Tuesday evening as part of the $400 million Alamo makeover.

The discussion, the third of at least six this summer hosted by the Alamo Citizens Advisory Committee, is set for 5:30 p.m. and available to the public via live stream on the citys YouTube page. It will feature author-historians James Crisp and Bruce Winders as speakers and Alamo Curator Ernesto Rodriguez and local history professor Gilberto Hinojosa as panelists. Retired Army Col. Alan Huffines, a military historian and member of the committee, will moderate.

On ExpressNews.com: Alamo history dating 10,000 years explored by panelists

Though many people had fled before the siege, resident Eulalia Yorba, then in her mid-30s, would recall noises that sounded like ten thousand guns, screams of the combatants and the moans of injured Mexican troops she tended to right after the battle.

Bob Owen /San Antonio Express-News

The stones in the church wall were spotted with blood, the doors were splintered and battered in. Pools of thick blood were so frequent on the sun-baked earth about the stone building that we had to be careful to avoid stepping in them, Yorba, who followed a Mexican colonel into the Alamo to help the wounded, recalled in an 1896 San Antonio Express article.

She recalled seeing David Crocketts body lying by the side of a dying man, whose bloody and powder-stained face I was washing.

His coat and rough woolen shirt were soaked with blood so that the original color was hidden, for the eccentric hero must have died of some ball in the chest or a bayonet thrust, Yorba later recounted.

The mission-era Alamo Church and adjacent Long Barrack are the only buildings that remain standing. In the citizen committees latest panel discussion earlier this month, one expert noted the structures had been threatened with demolition before and after the battle, from 1811 to 1910.

These two buildings dodged a bullet seven times. The rest of the compound, of course, did not, said artist and historian George Nelson, author of The Alamo: An Illustrated History.

The former Mission San Antonio de Valero, converted to a Spanish military outpost in the early 1800s, had been deemed surplus property by Mexican government officials in the 1820s, he said. But Anastacio Bustamante, a high-ranking military officer who later became Mexicos president, saved the fort known as El Alamo.

So if it hadnt been for him, there wouldve been no Alamo standing in 1836, Nelson said.

Few people realize that Mexican Gen. Martin Perfecto de Cos kept siege with about 500 soldiers for more than 50 days at the Alamo in the fall of 1835, leaving behind trenches, gun positions and other fortifications that the Texans seized after the Battle of Bejar.

Nelson said he and others who have studied mid-1800s drawings of Mission San Jose believe the bell-shaped parapet added by the U.S. Army to the church facade in 1850 may have been taken from a part of San Jose.

On ExpressNews.com: Alamo to host its first-ever Juneteenth event

Scott Woodard, historian with the U.S. Army Medical Department Center of History and Heritage, said the Army found quite a few skeletons while clearing debris from the church to use it as a warehouse. Some speculate the dirt used in the 1830s to create a cannon ramp in the roofless stone church might have been from the sites mission-era graveyard.

Destruction of the Alamo compound by the Mexican army, and later the city and private developers, left only the two structures. The site became immediately revered to some as sacred, with Sam Houston comparing the battle to the ancient Greek battle of Thermopylae. But a meat market, opera house, stores, a movie theater and the Menger Hotel were later built around it.

The place, the site, was always important, Winders said. It continued to be used until  enough progress came and the Comanches are pushed away that the town can begin to actually develop. And it starts developing around the Alamo.

shuddleston@express-news.net
The beige wooden buildings on Military Highway in Camp Bullis have seen better days. One of them, long vacant and well beyond repair, has collapsed. The paint is peeling on others.

The inside of Building 5107 conveys a feeling of time travel back to the old Army  the World War II Army.

One three-star general, surprised by what he saw some years ago, felt that way.

I think the term he used was, This looks like its the Beetle Bailey Army, said Michael Waldrop, director of installation support at Camp Bullis. And we told him no, it was actually pre-World War II.

Try the Depression. Building 5107 might be the oldest dining facility, or DFAC, in the Defense Departments inventory. Waldrop thinks it was built in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps. The 2,822-square-foot building has no restrooms.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Darryl Roberson set out to replace it. Waldrop worked for years to get a modern DFAC where the kitchen would have air conditioning and diners wouldnt have to use portable toilets.

But that mission was halted in 2019 when President Donald Trump reprogrammed $3.8 billion in military construction projects to help pay for his border wall. The diverted funds included $18.5 million earmarked for the new dining hall at Bullis.

In the ensuing controversy, Pentagon officials insisted the money had been deferred, not lost for good. Congress recently approved $22 million for a new DFAC.

Construction on the 29,000-square-foot dining hall could begin in early 2022, on land now occupied by a storage building, and could take two or three years.

It should have lots of glass, stucco and some stone, and there will be some wood elements to it, or wood in appearance  that will maintain the look and color of the natural setting around here, Waldrop said.

William Luther /William Luther

If it had been built as planned in 2019, the dining facility would have encompassed 36,705 square feet. It was the only Air Force project in Texas lost to the wall. Funding was taken from a total of 127 military construction projects, including $20 million for a road at the Armys Fort Bliss in El Paso.

There were challenges to the constitutionality of repurposing money appropriated by Congress. The Supreme Court upheld Trump, who had declared a national emergency. The military construction money funded 11 sections of wall covering 115 miles.

The opposition was about the cutbacks overall to the military, taking the military budget away to build a meaningless wall. Has that stopped anybody? The answer is no, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said.

And so thats what we were all very upset about. It was the idea that you would take necessary facilities away from our troops.

President Joe Biden ended construction of the wall and Joint Base San Antonios commander last week announced the restoration of funds for the DFAC.

On ExpressNews.com: Replacement delayed by border wall, Camp Bullis vintage dining hall still feeds GIs

Its important for us to be able to provide a modern, functional facility for the service members who train at Camp Bullis and were confident this project will deliver a facility that fits their needs, Brig. Gen. Caroline Miller said.

The new dining facility will have up to 40 workers, rather than the 20 or so who worked in the one it will replace. It will be able to serve up to 400 people at a time for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with as many as four sittings between 11:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

It will be everything the old building isnt  including much cooler for kitchen workers and more energy-efficient  with a dedicated kitchen and loading dock for crews to roll hot meals into four trucks for delivery to troops in the field.

Now Playing: Video: San Antonio Express-News

On ExpressNews.com: A growing S.A. spurs new efforts to protect bases

The current 3,347-square-foot DFAC annex, built with funding Roberson obtained, has a loading dock that can handle one truck at a time. Workers there must carry containers to the trucks, but at least there is a roof. Before the annex was built, they worked outside with only a tent over their heads.

Moving meals to field dining is what the facility has been doing for the past 15 months, since the dining hall has been shuttered as a precaution against the coronavirus. Its scheduled to reopen within weeks.

I like my job and I like to cook, but the heat in the kitchen is terrible, said a civilian kitchen worker, Magdalena Martinez, as a tall fan blew warm air in her direction.

The workers have always impressed retired Sgt. 1st Class Richard Lawson, the DFACs former assistant manager.

When I first got here, I was probably like the majority of people who came here, like, wow, you know, its unique because of what you see the employees have to do to make it happen every day, Lawson said.

Once the new DFAC is finished, the old one will be razed. The new building also will replace a separate dining facility built within the Air Forces Security Forces training compound at Camp Bullis.

A new DFAC has been a subject of anticipation for so many years that it could be a Carly Simon song. People worked for decades waiting for the day they could eat in the new dining facility, only to retire.

Waldrop, 72, has been waiting about as long as anyone. He retired as an Army lieutenant colonel in 2003 and then served for a time as the civilian deputy to Fort Sams garrison commander. That was before he became director of installation support at Camp Bullis.

Hell miss the old dining facility, so steeped in lore, but hes thinking of staying on in his current job just to get the chance to celebrate opening the new one.

Ive been coming here for 20-something years now and kind of like the old Army atmosphere and ambiance of it, Waldrop said. Its become just too inefficient, too ineffective for the modern feeding of the kinds of people were trying to train out here.

sigc@express-news.net
Robert B. Green Memorial Hospital is showing its age.

Many of its walls have deep cracks. Some parts, especially in the east wing, have already deteriorated.

Structural engineers found the 105-year-old buildings foundation in critical need of repair.

The building is an important part of San Antonios history, but just how to restore it hasnt been decided.

The propertys fate is up to the Bexar County Hospital Districts Board of Managers  a public board whose seven unpaid members are appointed by County Judge Nelson Wolff and the Commissioners Court.

This board, which oversees University Healths business operations, has taken a special interest in preserving the public health systems legacy, including its humble beginnings. It is expected to make a decision on what to do with the Robert. B. Green facility this summer.

In January 2020, architectural firm Munoz & Company was contracted to look at the historic hospital and determine how to repair its east wing. The firm was later directed to evaluate the entire 24.4-acre campus and come up with a master plan.

Whatever we end up doing, we need to keep in mind two things  honor our past and, at the same time, that part of the city, which is still very important for health care, said Board Chairman Jim Adams.

On ExpressNews.com: University Health System is ever-challenged - and expanding

Adams said the hospital, built on land just west of downtown San Antonio, was a guidestone for the city.

Kin Man Hui/Staff photographer

University Healths former preservationist Karen Glenney wrote a history book published in 2019 about the systems first 100 years with current President and CEO George Hernandez. The book details the health systems journey from charity hospital to academic medical center and includes a poem by Carmen Tafolla referring to its role as el corazon del pueblo, the heart of our town.

It was designed in 1915 by architect Atlee Ayers, whose Spanish Colonial Revival style can be seen at county courthouses across the state, the Menger Hotel and the McNay Art Museum.

City and county commissioners at the time named the hospital after late county judge Robert B. Green, who advocated for the working class and cut his own salary to help Bexar County recover from debt.

Unfortunate reputation

It officially opened its doors in February 1917. For many years it was the city and countys only charity hospital.

Because of this lack of stable funding, the staff endured closures and mass layoffs.

These health care workers saw the worst of the Spanish Flu, polio and tuberculosis epidemics, two world wars and the Great Depression. The hospital once had segregated wards for nonwhite patients, and its first Black nurses werent hired until 1946.

Dr. Roberto Jimenez, a psychiatrist and longtime hospital board member, said for a time the county hospital had the unfortunate reputation as a place to go and die.

Jimenez served as the hospital districts board chairman from 2000 to 2012, at which point Adams took over.

The hospital took in the regions most vulnerable, poverty-stricken residents. San Antonio residents, thousands of Mexican Americans, struggled with malnutrition, as was chronicled in a 1968 CBS documentary on hunger.

Robert B. Greens director of social services told CBS they saw 300 people every day in the hospitals clinic and another 200 in the emergency room. She said inadequate food at home led to longer recoveries at the hospital.

Nursing students and volunteer physicians healed these patients. New doctors seeking medical training were drawn to the urban hospital because it offered ample opportunities to treat trauma cases.

For South Texas residents, the hospital became a lifeline, with some traveling by train for services.

I was born there  September 13, 1940, Jimenez told the board. All my family got their care there. My parents, brothers and sisters  all my aunts and uncles. They didnt have any money.

Jimenez said he and his 12 siblings grew up on the West Side of San Antonio, not far from the hospital.

After he got his medical degree in Galveston and served in the military, Jimenez worked at the Robert B. Green facility.

The way he tells it, he held the record  22 infants  for delivering the most babies in a single shift.

It was quite a place, he said.

Just off the Robert B. Green campus on Frio Street is a detoxification and substance abuse treatment facility named after Jimenez.

100 years later

Over the years, University Health has grown significantly and improved its image. Hospital services moved out to what is now University Hospital in 1968.

It is the only Level I trauma center for both adults and children in South Texas. The system now includes a major transplant center and employs about 9,000 people at its main hospital and around two dozen community clinics.

Under a 2009 capital improvement program, University Health built a six-floor ambulatory care center on the Robert B. Green campus thats become part of the cityscape. It also houses a new pharmacy and CareLink offices, among other outpatient health care services.

In 2020, Bexar County taxpayers ad valorem taxes represented 21 percent of the systems revenue.

The system shares the market with for-profit hospital system Baptist Health System and nonprofit Christus Santa Rosa Health System. Methodist Healthcare System is under a 50/50 ownership agreement between Methodist Healthcare Ministries and the nations largest hospital operator HCA.

University Health is currently undergoing a major expansion with the construction of a 12-story, $515 million womens and childrens hospital expected to open in 2023 and the recent purchase of land near Retama Park and the citys fast-growing far West Side.

Last year, hospital officials boasted a stronger affiliation with the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio to improve health care access for underserved residents. The UT system is also constructing a $430 million multispecialty and research hospital steps away from University Hospital, which serves as its major teaching hospital.

Recently, University Health has been recognized for operating as the citys largest COVID-19 vaccine provider with its hub at Wonderland of Americas.

Work in progress

The five-story historic hospital is now mostly vacant, a shadow of its former self.

There is a rehabilitation center on the far west corner and some administrative offices, but they will soon move out.

Don Ryden, University Healths vice president of planning, design and construction, said the building has numerous structural issues with the foundation, columns and beams. Floors on the east wing, added in 1939, have risen five to six inches.

An assessment conducted in the fall of 2018, citing four previous evaluations of the building, recommended a $5.7 million plan that preserves the historic facade and replaces the interior framing with a new steel structure.

Munoz & Company, now tasked with the downtown campus master plan under an $1.8 million contract, is expected to give the board an update with its own recommendations in the next two to three months, Ryden said.

He noted the campus is roughly the same size as the main campus in the South Texas Medical Center.

So far, the firm has several options for the old hospitals east wing: stabilize its foundation and repair structure already in place; stabilize exterior walls and demolish the internal structure; or demolish the entire east wing and replace it with new construction that replicates the historic appearance.

Theres still a lot of work that needs to take place, Ryden said. This is definitely a work in progress.

laura.garcia@express-news.net
For the past few Saturdays, teens from the Bexar County juvenile probation program have received hands-on culinary experience through the Recipe for Life course.

Inside of the Anne Marie Catering building, Chef Milas Williams offered ingredients for success. He stood on stage before the eight teens  who sat two to a table, each draped with blue cloth. Williams wore a white chefs coat, jeans and a gray baseball cap with the word skills, gifted to him by the executive chef of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks hockey team.

Im not here to make you a chef, Williams said to the teens, who attended the course as part of a community service commitment. Im here to give you options.

The class offers a different perspective of life. Williams, a former gang member, was 19 when he was arrested for aggravated robbery. He served 15 of a 25-year sentence in a Texas penitentiary. Five years into his sentence, a culinary class became his salvation.

Through his nonprofit World LOLEI, Williams has outreach initiatives that include an annual junior chef competition, a yearly Thanksgiving dinner for youth and financially assisting families in need of resources. LOLEI stands for Loyalty Over Liberty Equals Integrity.

Now, he has partnered with the Bexar County Juvenile Probation division for the four-week course. A graduation ceremony is set for July 17 at the sixth annual Community Junior Chef Competition at the Kitchen Campus, 3014 Rivas St. The free event will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

In 2014, Williams founded the nonprofit with Athena Williams and his brother Detrick Williams, one of the first-day speakers at the course. The class falls under the nonprofits elite intervention program that helps teens avoid the pitfalls that plagued the chef in the past.

Robin Jerstad, San Antonio Express-News

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Williams said the idea for the course came to him spontaneously while sitting in his doctors office. He contacted Julie Diaz at the juvenile probation department, and he said it was a go within 15 minutes. Two and and a half weeks later, a schedule was set up. The course was scheduled to kick off last year, but it was put on hold because of the pandemic.

My goal and vision would be that this class would possibly be the endgame, Williams said, the class that the judge would recommend a juvenile go through before the decision to go away to prison is an option.

Williams was joined in a recent class by executive pastry chef Quila Polk and executive chef Kim Van Winkle, both part of his nonprofits staff.

He played a 15-minute video that chronicled his journey from the gang life to incarceration to preparing culinary cuisine in top-tier restaurants. The clips included one of his mentors, executive chef Johnny Hernandez, and brother Charles Sattiewhite, who said they left the days of gang banging behind to create opportunities for youngsters.

Weve got to be the bow in their life, Sattiewhite said. Were going to stretch them, and then when were done, let them go and hopefully point them in the right direction. That way, theyll know what theyre getting out of life.

Williams told the students their assigned book was their Bible. The black and white primer is the same one he studied when he took a culinary class in prison.

Then it was time for review. The students wrote down rules Williams stressed, such as the French phrase mise en place, or put everything in place, and preventing cross-contamination in the kitchen. When he asked what a mallet was used for, a young girl explained its purpose. Williams was ecstatic.

Yall clap for your queen, he said. Were brothers and sisters in here; were kings and queens.

Williams kept the pace light, weaving in stories of his past through the culinary curriculum.

When a student nodded off repeatedly, the chef said, in the name of Jesus, to get the teens attention. After suggesting the teen wake up by walking around the room, Williams talked proudly about a chefs uniform. For their purposes, the teens could wear black or checkered pants, a white or black shirt and black socks and black shoes  all proper attire for the undergarment of a chef.

Jill Mata, chief juvenile probation officer for Bexar County, said the course is one of several initiatives in the departments enrichment services program. Children from ages 10 to 16 are referred to the department, and some are placed under some supervision. Mata said the hope is that the culinary arts program can lead to some career opportunities for the young people. Mata said other courses include art classes, a Gemini Ink writing course and CHAPS (Children and Horses Always Produce Success).

Over the decades, research tells us that children do best when they see themselves in positive circumstances, Mata said. Hopefully, these experiences create a spark of interest that can lead to a passion and a way of seeing their future in a positive light.

On the second Saturday, the class convened in a classroom at the catering building near the San Antonio International Airport. Only three of the original eight class members were in attendance. Five new students joined the class at two large, round tables spaced three feet apart to follow COVID safety protocols. Williams thought of rapper Jay-Zs song, Public Service Announcement, and the lyric, allow me to reintroduce myself.

Given a second chance, Williams said hed allow the five original students to come back and finish in time for the four-week graduation.

He went over the first class exercises with the new students and the refrain that they had to be the executives of their lives.

Polk and Van Winkle helped Williams talk about dry, moist and combination cooking methods. They explained different cuts of meats for cows, pigs, lamb and fish. The trio emphasized the internal temperature of each meat, the dangers of not cooking meat properly, and food-borne illnesses related to each meat.

On ExpressNews.com: East Side community group helps give Wagner High basketball team opportunity to play for college coaches

When the chef asked what they learned, one student said he could be a leader instead of being a follower.

That right there touched me, Williams said.

The chef said some of the students fought back emotions when he said while he was incarcerated, he held onto a song or word that got him through challenging, hard times. The music embedded in his heart was an album by rapper DMX, titled Its Dark and Hell is Hot.

One of the lyrics states, A lot of people I let ride because it wasnt in my hands. A lot of people I let slide because it wasnt in my plans.

He urged the teens to write a song or word, read it to themselves one last time and then tear it up.

Make room in your life recipe and find a new song, a new word to carry you on, Williams said. Now, its time for a new success.

vtdavis@express-news.net
If you were surprised by the recently completed legislative sessions focus on far-right social issues  permitless gun carry, fetal heartbeat abortion restrictions, curbs on teaching race in public schools, transgender athletes and voting restrictions  and not on definitive solutions to the breakdown of our energy grid, be prepared for even more in Julys special session.

Elections have consequences, and the only way to change this dynamic is for Democrats to not abandon the field in 2022, no matter how daunting the task. The first step is for someone to seriously challenge Gov. Greg Abbott, someone who needs no introduction to the Texas electorate: Beto ORourke.

You may have heard all the reasons why he should not run.

Another statewide defeat will finish his career. He ran too far to the left in the presidential election. The Democrats crushed expectations in 2018 prove this is an overwhelmingly red state. Mexican Americans are moving into the GOP column.

But these reasons are not insurmountable. As of late, ORourke has been all over television and social media, keeping up a presence in Texans minds. Remember that liberal icon Ralph Yarborough lost three statewide races before becoming a senator.

ORourke ran to the left for president, but if youve seen the crowds around him on his For the People voting rights campaign, hes still young, charismatic and perfectly capable of raising campaign funds and mobilizing turnout. Running against an ideological right-wing Legislature, while memories of the February freeze are fresh, might just resonate. And unlike 2018, pair him with serious Democratic candidates who can gain attention on their own, and you just might have a ticket that can inspire turnout, particularly as Democrats return to the kind of door-to-door campaign they abandoned during the pandemic last year.

What about Republican gains in South Texas? Along the Rio Grande, jobs in policing, border security and the oil and gas industry are particularly important. In 2020, Texas Democrats were caught flat-footed on accusations of defunding the police. Joe Bidens gaffe about banning all fracking, including on private lands, was also not helpful. Better messaging and more clarity, versus defensiveness, can temper their losses here.

Commentary: Would Texans like a fresh voice? Would it be McConaughey?

In the end, this is ultimately not about winning in 2022, especially with gerrymandering in redistricting making the retention of previously won seats a Democratic priority. Its about building and sustaining a viable alternative to an ultra-conservative agenda that appeases the right. Every cycle that Democrats offer unknown candidates for statewide office kicks the prospects of any political change further down the road. Just look at the entire 2018 statewide ticket. No matter how vulnerable Republicans Dan Patrick or Ken Paxton or Sid Miller might have been, Democratic candidates such as Lupe Valdez, Mike Collier and Justin Nelson never registered in the publics mind.

ORourke changed that dynamic by literally visiting nearly every county in Texas. Its that kind of effort  and that kind of candidate  that reminds people there is an alternative and gives those voters a reason to come to the polls.

Serious debate on issues such as public education, lack of medical insurance and the importance of migrant labor to our state economy versus border security depend on a general election electorate weighing in, not just the narrow, far more conservative Republican primary voters. Even Republicans who dream of nominating conservative moderates such as former House Speaker Joe Straus will need competitive general elections to convince GOP primary voters that electability is more important than ideological purity.

Competition among all voters is what a two-party democracy is built on. If Democrats abandon the field, that dream gets deferred for all Texans.

Paul Stekler is the Wofford Denius Chair in Entertainment Studies and a documentary filmmaker at the University of Texas at Austin.
WASHINGTON  As Gov. Greg Abbott tries to raise cash so the state can pick up building former President Donald Trumps border wall, Texas Democrats are trying to keep him from tapping into more than $15 billion in COVID relief funding the federal government is sending to Texas.

Every Texas Democrat in Congress signed a letter on Monday urging Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to take steps to block Abbott from using COVID relief funding on border barriers, asking her to issue a formal rule making clear that recovery funding cannot be used for a border wall, fence, or similar installation. They also say the Treasury needs to make rules ensuring the money cant be used to replenish state funding spent on a border barrier.

Its the latest in an ongoing battle over record numbers of migrants crossing the border and encountering border patrol  a fight in which Abbott seeks to lead the GOP on a national level as he pushes to have the state of Texas finish the border wall and begin arresting migrants. Abbott also moved to revoke state licenses from shelters housing migrant children as he declared an emergency in counties along the border earlier this month.

APPROVAL GAP: Texans agree with Gov. Abbott over Biden on border response, poll finds

The governor  who will tour parts of the border with Trump this week  on Monday tweeted out a video of a tractor clearing brush, declaring that building the border barrier has begun.

But Democrats point out that Abbott has so far identified just a fraction of what it would cost to fill the gaps of the border barrier, and they fear he plans to use federal money to reimburse state funding hes already started to pull for the project.

With no Republican support, we approved $350 billion in the American Rescue Plan for eligible state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to assist local leaders, who confronted pandemic challenges, and to assist with economic and job recovery, the 13 Texas Democrats in Congress wrote in a letter to Yellen. We are concerned by the prospect of Texas Governor Greg Abbotts potential misuse of these funds to continue the misguided plans of President Trump to extend a wall along the border between Texas and Mexico.

A spokeswoman for Abbott said he still plans to call a special legislative session in the fall for lawmakers to decide how to dole out the $15.8 billion in COVID relief Texas is set to receive so the entire Legislature can participate in the allocation process in a way that best serves all Texans.

The governor will work with the Legislature during that special session to determine the most effective use of those federal funds to address the needs of Texans, Renae Eze said.

Abbott has directed that $250 million be taken from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as a down payment for the wall and his office reported raising $450,000 in private donations as Abbott has stressed crowdsourcing will be key to funding the effort. Abbott said the $250 million will go toward hiring a project manager, who will eventually provide a full cost and timeline for the project.

The former administration devoted about $2.8 billion to build or replace barriers along portions of the border in Texas, completing just 55 miles of new wall, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Trump officials had planned to add some 280 miles to the wall in the state. Biden stopped construction on the wall and the White House said earlier this month that some portions of the wall cost the Trump administration $46 million per mile.

[Abbott] has failed to raise enough money to construct more than a few yards, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a San Antonio Democrat, said in a statement. With so many needs in Texas, spending for a useless wall is truly outrageous. With Abbott having already wasted millions on his pseudo-border security effort, we are determined to restrain him from robbing the recovery funds to misuse for this boondoggle.

It isn't the first time congressional Democrats have asked the federal government to keep a close eye on Texas' stimulus spending decisions.

Beating Biden on the border

During the first round of COVID funding last year, Congress allocated $1.3 billion to support public education in Texas, but officials cut state commitments by the same amount and moved the money into the general fund.

Congress later passed another two rounds of stimulus funding that included billions more in public school money. Democrats wrote a similar letter to federal leaders in April, asking that they ensure Texas only use the cash to supplement existing funding commitments, rather than replace them.

IN-DEPTH: White House to Congress: Leave border wall funding to Texas, at up to $46M a mile

The letter comes as recent public polling in Texas shows that Abbott, running for reelection next year, has earned the approval of substantially more Texans than Biden has on the issue.

Forty six percent of Texans approve of Abbotts handling of immigration and the border, according to the survey from the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune, while just 37 percent disapprove. Just 27 percent of Texans approve of Bidens handling of the issue, meanwhile, and 57 percent disapprove.

The online poll of 1,200 residents found Texans are deeply divided on the issue along party lines as well as racial and ethnic groups. Notably, Abbott has a slight edge on the subject among Hispanic Texans, who both parties are trying to woo. Thirty nine percent approve of his handling of the border, compared to 34 percent who side with Biden.

Biden, meanwhile, has said he is working to build a more humane immigration system as his administration deals with a surge in encounters with migrants that began under the Trump administration and reached record levels this spring. The White House has focused its efforts on standing up shelters to house a record number of unaccompanied children arriving at the southern border, an effort that could soon be complicated by Abbotts move to revoke state licenses from shelters housing many of them.

Abbott, who has not ruled out a run for president, has remained laser-focused on the border as he heads into a more immediate gubernatorial primary field in which at least one challenger, former state Sen. Don Huffines, was already campaigning on a border wall.

Abbott has Trumps endorsement, but Huffines has continued to hammer him over the border, saying in a statement last week that Abbott stole his wall idea and calling his plan unacceptable and impractical.

Abbotts plan also includes directing state troopers to begin arresting migrants, a move that immigration experts say is legally dubious after the Supreme Court stopped Arizona from a similar effort in 2012, ruling that only the federal government can enforce immigration law.

Cayla Harris contributed reporting from Austin.

ben.wermund@chron.com
Josh Hawley was just explaining how much he agreed with Barack Obama when Kamala Harris arrived. For weeks, the junior senator from Missouri had raised hell over who should head the federal agency that is the equivalent of the federal governments human resources department. Hawley gave speeches and made procedural motions that deadlocked the Senate, ultimately resulting in the arrival of the vice presidents motorcade on Capitol Hill. Thats when Hawley lost the fight.

And Hawley knew he had lost the moment his chief of staff leaned over to interrupt an interview with RealClearPolitics. She is here, he announced.

The veeps trip down Pennsylvania Avenue was unscheduled but necessary. Harris had to travel to the Senate last Tuesday to rescue the nomination of Kiran Arjandas Ahuja, President Bidens pick to head the Office of Personnel Management. It was Hawley, in large part, who had convinced his Republican colleagues to oppose the nomination. Until Harris motorcade rolled to a stop, the Senate was split 50-50. She cast the deciding vote.

But the fact that the vice president was even in the building was evidence, that same aide decided, that Hawley had also won: I think Republicans, at least in this case, have started to listen to what Josh is saying.

How could, of all things, the nomination of a glorified human resources manager become so controversial? Because of previous opinions Ahuja had expressed in support of critical race theory. More specifically, because the debates over those kinds of beliefs, as former President Obama recently explained, get at what story we tell about ourselves.

He is absolutely right, Hawley told RCP around the time Harris was making her way to the upper chamber. This is about the story we tell about ourselves, he insisted. It is about what you think about America. Where Hawley and Obama disagree, he added, is that I take my stand on the goodness of the American people.

The dust-up over the OPM nominee was the latest skirmish in the larger ideological battle over the soul of the nation. Progressives who espouse critical race theory argue that white people should own up to the benefits afforded to them by the systemic racism woven into the fabric of this countrys past and present. Conservatives such as Hawley reject that characterization. They say that such an approach, when sanctioned by government, amounts to little more than state-sanctioned racism. Welcome to Joe Bidens culture war.

Hawley says he doesnt want this fight. The conservative populist with an undeniable soft spot for big government, a la Teddy Roosevelt, would rather be off hunting down monopolies or slaying tech giants. In this culture war, the president is the aggressor. Or so says the 41-year-old senator rumored to have his eyes on Bidens job.

Its not Republicans, and certainly not the American people, who are putting critical race theory front and center in this country. Hawley argues. It is Joe Biden. He is the one who's nominating these people. Joe Biden is the one who's forcing this controversy on America. Joe Biden is the one who's trying to divide America.

But Kiran Ahuja, the soft-spoken attorney who last week became the first ever Indian American to lead OPM, does not seem particularly divisive. Her back-and-forth with senators was anything but confrontational during her confirmation hearing, and the former civil rights attorney pledged in committee to uphold merit-based principles in government hiring. Ahuja did not, however, deny that she thought systemic racism remains a problem.

Formerly the CEO of Philanthropy Northwest, a nonprofit focused on diversity and equity programing, Ahuja has previously written that her goal is to free minorities from the daily trials of white supremacy. Also alarming to Republicans: Her connection to Ibram X. Kendi. Her organization hosted the Boston University professor who has pioneered the term anti-racist, argued that the history of the country is one of American tyranny, and advocated for an extra-constitutional Department of Anti-Racism to discipline policymakers and public officials who do not voluntarily change their racist policy and ideas.

Conservatives are suspicious of any Kendi connection due to his prescription for addressing systemic racism. Specifically, his rigid binary approach: The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination, he has written. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.

Adherence to those kinds of ideas ought to be disqualifying for anyone who wants to lead a nonpartisan government agency, Hawley says. Hes hardly alone, but that is how the latest episode in identity politics began. White House officials, for their part, seemingly wants no part in the controversy. Asked about Republican criticism of Ahuja, White House press secretary Jen Psaki demurred and would only tell RCP that Congress should move forward expeditiously." But this wasnt the first time critical race theory, a decades-old concept that rejects traditional ideas of liberalism and meritocracy as insufficient, was dragged out of the academy and into the public square. Donald Trump made that introduction.

Last September, as RCP first reported, the former president directed all federal agencies to cease and desist any government programs that referenced critical race theory or advanced the concept of white privilege. Later that same month, Trump created the 1776 Commission to identify the core principles of the American founding  as opposed to CRT, which he condemned as ideological poison threatening to dissolve the civic bonds that tie us together.

Hawley and other social conservatives cheered. Democrats countered that Republicans were, at best, overreacting to diversity and equality training or, more likely and much worse, catering to white rage. They were teaching people that our country is a horrible place  its a racist place. And they were teaching people to hate our country, Trump said in defending the moves during the first 2020 presidential debate. Nobodys doing that, Biden shot back on stage. Hes the racist.

Trump is gone now. Biden is back in the White House, this time as president. Five months into the new administration, Hawley claims that critical race theory is the White Houses animating ideology. Is the president, who brands himself as just another blue-collar Joe from Scranton, really familiar with the ins and outs of academias proclamations on racism? Hawley wont say. I don't know what Joe Biden knows or doesn't know, he told RCP. I don't know how involved he is in these nominations or not. I attribute to him knowledge and control because he's the president. But he is drawing conclusions from how the top Democrat staffs his administration.

His objections to critical race theory, as well as the constellation of ideological thought that flows from it, Hawley says, is a protest against the falsification of our history and the castigation of America as an inherently racist and evil nation. Some may counter that Hawleys definition of CRT is too broad. But the senator isnt chasing phantoms. There's a huge literature on critical race theory. It has existed for decades, says the graduate of Yale Law School who later taught at the University of Missouri Law School. You can go and read it. I've read it. I've written about it as a scholar.

Maybe this kind of abstract talk sounds a little out of place, especially at a moment when Congress is debating an infrastructure package to build very real roads and bridges that people can someday actually walk and drive along (if a bill ever gets passed). But to Hawley, the conversation is elemental. Debates over first principles matter because, as Obama explained, they get at what story we tell about ourselves. Start with different ideas, Hawley says, and radically different conceptions of the nation emerge.

My view of this country is defined by hope. It's not defined by despair. It's not defined by oppression. It is not defined by the view that we've got to level the whole country's social institutions and start over again, Hawley counters. I don't believe any of that, because I believe that the American people are fundamentally good and decent, and that they want to see the best for their fellow citizens.

Others have doubts, and critics detect a whiff of political opportunism. Chuck Todd of NBCs Meet the Press recently called the outrage over CRT manufactured, while Jane Mayer of the New Yorker penned an essay dismissing the backlash as having all the red flags of a dark money AstroTurf campaign. Asked about that criticism, Hawley likened it to those who doubt climate change. Theyre the deniers, he deadpanned. Then he suggested they go and visit with some voters in Missouri.

Parents who have filed into recent school board meetings in Missouri likely arent familiar with the scholarship of Derrick Bell, the late New York University law professor credited with originating CRT. Most likely, they havent read the writings of Kimberle Crenshaw either, the law professor from Columbia Law School who pioneered the study of intersectional feminism. Many are furious all the same.

A forum on race hosted by Springfield Public School employees, details of which were later leaked to conservative journalist Chris Rufo, encouraged middle school teachers to use their gender and ethnicity to locate themselves on an oppression matrix. An accompanying handout compared covert forms of racism, such as saying all lives matter or claiming reverse-racism, to overt forms of racism like lynching and burning crosses. It is not enough to simply oppose racism, one of the trainers explained in audio leaked to Fox News. When one attendee wondered when it was appropriate to speak about these issues, the trainer responded, What might an underrepresented or under-resourced student say in regards to our fear of speaking up? Another voice chimed in, Silence is violence. An incredulous teacher interrupted, Is the district saying that we should be Marxists?"

Springfield Public Schools later released a statement saying it was pleased to provide robust professional development. Controversy has followed in Missouri and around the country with many state legislatures seeking to ban the teaching of critical race theory.

Becky Pringle, a close ally to the Biden White House and president of the National Education Association, has publicly opposed those GOP bills, saying instead that lessons about race should be added to school curriculum. We have made many mistakes in this country, she said in an interview with NBC. But our kids  deserve to learn all of that truth."

The debate has spilled out into popular culture as well. Journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates and Hollywood actress/screenwriter Lena Waithe penned a recent open-letter in The Root supporting Nikole Hannah-Jones and the teaching of her New York Times 1619 Project curriculum, which is influenced by CRT and described by Coates and Waithe as a landmark exploration of Americas deep roots in enslavement.

Former Trump administration OMB director Russ Vought counters that critical race theory, even under the banner of diversity training and branded as antiracism instruction, has no place in public schools. He has founded a new group called Citizens for Renewing America and released an A-to-Z guide for parents who want to stop Critical Race Theory and reclaim your local school board.

At the end of the day, parents are seeing it with their own eyes and are hearing it with their own ears, and no amount of obfuscation by the left is going to hide the fact these frameworks and concepts are race-based identity politics indoctrinating their kids, Vought told RCP. No matter what the left calls it  parents around the country are calling it racism.

Those debates, many of them between school boards and outraged parents, have reverberated in Washington. Back in his Senate office, Hawley says it was the New York Times 1619 Project that started the chatter over critical race theory, a term he hadnt heard much about since law school. That was a huge catalyst for people saying, Whoa, whoa, woah. Wait a minute. You're telling me the United States was actually founded in slavery, founded in racism, founded to be oppressive and racist? he says. Voters in his district saw that, rejected that, and said, I dont believe that defines our country.

But to some, even that kind of response is problematic. Writing in The Atlantic the day Harris voted to break the tie to confirm Ahuja, Ibram X. Kendi argued that to deny that the country still struggles with racism is to assume that the work of reconciliation is over, that America is a post-racial nation. He continued: To say that there is widespread racial inequity caused by widespread racism, which makes the United States racist, isnt an opinion, isnt a partisan position, isnt a doctrine, isnt a left-wing construct, isnt anti-white, and isnt anti-American. It is a fact."

Hawley does not believe that racism has been vanquished. He talks about it in past and present tense.

It is absolutely a fact of our history that we had slavery in this country. We had to fight a civil war in order to eradicate slavery. After slavery we had a century of Jim Crow, he says before declaring that the civil rights movement that followed was one of the highest points of our history. And he said of Dr. King's example  what he said about America, that this was a nation that was founded in liberty, and that it was founded with these great ideals that we haven't fully lived up to them, but we have to  I believe every word of that.

And then, in a move perhaps odd for someone railing against CRT, Hawley does not even reject the idea of structural inequality. A modern sort of Bull Moose populist, he just points the finger at industry.

You want to talk about something that is a systemic problem, the senator says, returning to form when asked about how Republicans and conservatives ought to address lingering inequality. Look at what corporate America has done to our inner cities, to our rural areas, and then look at their systematic policy of hollowing out our industrial base and sending jobs overseas, seeking labor arbitrage and tax arbitrage, to destroy jobs in this country.

The corporations that caused this American carnage, the companies that unbolted factories and shipped industry overseas, in his telling, well, they are the least responsible people in America, and they should be on the hook. Inequality isnt a made-up concept, he concludes. Are there structures that need to be taken on? Yeah, there are. Id start with corporate America.

Most Republicans arent inclined to make that distinction. More likely, they will try to make CRT a Democratic millstone, and new polling from the National Republican Senatorial Committee shows that the majority of Americans oppose the idea that white people benefit from the American culture of systemic racism and white privilege. An NRSC spokesman confirmed the polling, first reported by the Washington Post, and told RCP that we absolutely plan to make this part of the campaign.

Like Hawley, Jessica Anderson, executive director of the Heritage Action, sees Biden and the left as the aggressors. The debate over CRT is just the latest salvo in a larger culture war. For the last year, Americans have seen their basic institutions under assault from the left, including our schools, churches, police, and elections, she said. The left forced critical race theory into our schools, indoctrinating children from K-12. And this wont end well for Democrats, Anderson added. Critical race theory is electrifying the movement, and concerned parents across the country are fighting back against the lefts radical teachings with the same energy that carried the Tea Party a decade ago.

Hawley doesnt doubt that there are parallels between his current fight and the one that delivered Republicans a House majority in 2010. He says he hasnt thought much about it that way. He declines, twice, to say whether fellow Republicans should follow his example or how. Floor speeches arent that hard to deliver and press releases are easy to issue. But again, he wont say what his colleague should or shouldnt do beyond those simple steps.

Americas central idea is the equality of all, and our politics and history  however imperfect and incomplete  radiate out from that. The modern left does not hold to that idea, but believes inequality defines America and everything about it, Matt Spalding, executive director of the 1776 Commission, which Trump established and Biden dismissed, told RCP.

By pressing that point, Hawley may have won a larger victory while losing the fight over confirmation of the federal governments human resources manager. At least for Republicans, the junior senator from Missouri has managed to frame the national debate.

While Hawley wont say if Biden actually knows all the ins and outs of CRT, he thinks that by nominating candidates who endorse the essential elements of that theory, the president  who launched his campaign promising to bind up the wounds of the national soul  is making clear his opinion.

His view of the soul of the nation is that it's suffering from major maladies  deformed in many ways. Again, that this is a systemically racist and unjust place. I just don't share that vision at all, he said before concluding, I think the soul of this nation is fundamentally good.
Nine years ago today, in a 5-4 decision that surprised many observers, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the four members of the Supreme Court's liberal voting bloc to uphold the Affordable Care Act.

On June 28, 2012, when the U.S. Supreme Court narrowly upheld the Democrat' sweeping 2010 health care reform widely known as "Obamacare," Republican Party leaders immediately vowed to repeal it. Mitt Romney said that while the court may have found the act constitutional, "it didn't say that Obamacare is good law and good policy."

"Obamacare was bad policy yesterday, it's bad policy today," Romney added. "Obamacare was bad law yesterday, it's bad law today."

These days, liberals tend to admire Mitt Romney; certainly, the media fawns all over him. This wasn't the case nine years ago. At that time, his official residence wasn't in Utah, he didn't serve in the U.S. Senate, and he had friendly relations with Donald Trump -- who had endorsed him for president five months earlier in Las Vegas. ("Mitt is tough, he's sharp, he's smart," Trump said at the time. "Donald Trump has shown an extraordinary ability to understand how the economy works," Romney reciprocated. "It means a great deal to me to have the endorsement of Mr. Trump.")

Today is another story entirely. Romney's estimation in the eyes of Democrats and the press corps has increased in direct proportion to his antagonism toward Trump. Back in 2012, Romney's opponent wasn't Trump, it was Barack Obama, the incumbent U.S. president Romney was trying to unseat. When it came to the Affordable Care Act, however, Romney was in a delicate spot. "Obamacare" was modeled after "Romneycare," the Massachusetts state law signed by Romney when he was governor of the Bay State.

Chief Justice Roberts had a dilemma, too. When it came to the question of whether it was constitutional, the Affordable Care Act had an Achilles' heel that was glaring to "strict constructionists" -- conservative jurists who tend to take the Founders at their word: Obamacare's individual mandate seemed to run squarely afoul of the U.S. Constitution's "commerce clause."

Using creative legal reasoning, Roberts sidestepped this problem by declaring ACA's individual mandate a "tax," instead of an unconstitutional encroachment upon individual liberty. Roberts conceded in the body of his ruling that this wasn't the most obvious way to look at the mandate, but that court precedent suggested an out: "The question is not whether that is the most natural interpretation of the mandate," Roberts wrote, "but only whether it is a 'fairly possible' one."

Conservative legal scholars were furious and felt, as they had previously with high court appointments ranging from Earl Warren to David Souter, as though they'd been duped yet again during the nominating process.

But others were impressed:

"He's a guy trying to find the right constitutional arguments," Notre Dame University law school professor Richard Garnett told NPR's Liz Halloran. "He's able to confirm his commitment to federalism, and to look really closely at a piece of federal legislation, regardless of the party that produced it, and see if it is constitutional. That's to be admired, no matter what you think of the decision."

Yet while defending Roberts, there was a context to this litigation that liberal scholars did their best to ignore. In the run-up to the decision, Democrats had overtly politicized the legal challenge to the ACA. President Obama had shamelessly assailed the Supreme Court and served notice that an adverse ruling would engender further attacks.

So Roberts, at least in my view, was put in the position of trying to save an institution he cares about -- his own institution -- from being delegitimized. Writing on SCOTUSblog, UCLA constitutional law professor Adam Winkler gave the chief a tip of his cap for his efforts.

"With this deft ruling, Roberts avoided what was certain to be a cascade of criticism of the high court. No Supreme Court has struck down a president's signature piece of legislation in over 75 years. Had Obamacare been voided, it would have inevitably led to charges of aggressive judicial activism. Roberts peered over the abyss and decided he didn't want to go there."

On a final point, if conservative scholars care about the doctrine of separation of powers -- and most of them do -- there was always an easier way to get rid of Obamacare: Elect Republican majorities in both houses of Congress and repeal it.

Carl M. Cannon is the Washington bureau chief for RealClearPolitics. Reach him on Twitter @CarlCannon.
A 28-year-old farmer from Co Londonderry, Northern Ireland has been fined 1,000 for water pollution offences.

Jordan Yorke, from Inishrush, was convicted at Magherafelt Magistrates Court last week.

The court heard that in August 2019 water quality inspectors, acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) carried out an inspection at the Tyanee Burn, upstream of its confluence with the Clady River.

The inspectors observed extensive grey fungus on the bed of the Tyanee Burn and on vegetation along the waterway and its tributaries for approximately 1.7km.

They entered the farm on the Inishrush Road and discovered a silage clamp with effluent discharging from the rear of the clamp.

This silage effluent was ponding next to and entering the storm drains of an adjacent shed as well as ponding in a nearby field.

A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture (DAERA) said: "In accordance with procedures, a sample of the active discharge was collected and analysed and found to contain poisonous, noxious, or polluting matter which was potentially harmful to fish in the receiving waterway.

"Effluents of this nature enrich fungus coverage on the bed of the watercourse which may lead to the destruction of fish spawning sites, as well as starving river invertebrates, on which fish feed, of oxygen."

Mr Yorke pleaded guilty and received a fine of 1,000 plus 15 offenders levy.
Scotland and Northern Ireland's farming ministers have warned UK government that they risk 'disproportionally impacting' farmers following the Australia trade deal.

Mairi Gougeon MSP and Edwin Poots MLA have sent a joint letter to the UK's international trade secretary Liz Truss demanding new assurances for the industry.

In the letter, the two ministers said the UK-Australia trade agreement risked having a disproportionate impact on farmers and growers.

Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison announced the post-Brexit trade agreement earlier this month, despite fears of lower-standard food imports.

There have also been concerns about varying levels of animal welfare between the two countries, with Australian standards seen as considerable lower.

Ms Gougeon and Mr Poots said they remained 'extremely concerned' for the agriculture sector following the announcement.

"The UK government is signing up to a deal that would lead to a sustained increase in imports of Australian agri-food and produced to lesser standards," they said.

As you know, agriculture and food standards are devolved responsibilities. We have been clear that where there is an increase in imports of Australian agri-food, this must be managed by tariff rate quotas that are not eroded over time.

This is to ensure that domestic producers are protected and not disproportionally impacted.

The farming ministers added that UK farmers would still be at a disadvantage despite a non-regression clause on animal welfare standards.

Their joint letter stated to Ms Truss that they had "little faith that these concerns are currently being taken seriously."

Responding, a UK government spokeswoman said that Number 10 had 'always been clear' that any deal would 'include protections for sensitive UK agriculture'.

Trade deals like the one agreed in principle with Australia will pave the way for us to access regional trading blocs like CPTPP (the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership)," she said.

"We will continue to work with the farming industry, as well as the Scottish government and the Northern Ireland Executive, to help our farmers take advantage of these dynamic markets.

UK farmers have a strong reputation for their high quality, high welfare produce. We put British farming at the heart of our trade policy and we have some of the most robust and transparent scrutiny arrangements in the world.
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One of the most gifted actors of the Indian film Industry, Irrfan Khan has always stood out for his acting skills and film choices, no wonder hes a National Award winning actor. In his three decade old acting career, Irrfan did not just leave a mark in the industry with his performance but he also made sure that each role he did was different from the other. He did films as varied as Paan Singh Tomar, Life of Pie, PIku to The Lunchbox. And made the viewers cherish his roles forever. In memory of the acting maestro, we have listed a few of his Irrfan Khan Movies Take a look.




Ravi Teja loves to entertain the masses and no wonder hes rightly called Mass Maharaja. Today we learn about his next film and how it already promises to be another entertainer. With Telangana lockdown being completely lifted, Ravi Teja will now start shooting for his next from this Thursday  July 1st.



According to reports on E Times, Ravi Tejas next is with director Sarath Mandava, the project remains to be untitled as of now and is said to be based on real events. Ravi Teja will have a completely new avatar for this one. Majili actress Divyansha Koushik is roped in to play the lead role and the team is all set to roll out this week itself.

Apart from this project, the actor has Khiladi ready to release. Ravi Teja had shot for Khiladi before the lockdown in Italy. Recently a clipping from the shoot went viral where Ravi Teja is seen indulging in a stylish bike chase. Joining him in Khiladi are divas Meenakshi Chaudhary and Dimple Hayathi.


Our celebrities are often used to their fans doing crazy stuff for them and even landing up at their residence just to catch a glimpse of them. Rashmika Mandanna had one such experience yesterday which shocked her.

Last evening, Rashmika took to her social media and tweeted about a fan who travelled from far away to catch a glimpse of her at her Mumbai apartment. The actress was shocked by this and requested her fans to send her love on social media. She said, Guys it just came to my notice that one of you had travelled super far and had gone home to see me. Please don't do something like that... I feel bad that I didn't get to meet you. I really really hope to meet you one day but for now, show me love here.. I'll be happy! Now theres a valid point for the actress to make.



Rashmika Mandanna has moved into a new pad in Mumbai. The actress has a lot of work in Hindi films as of now and looks like this South import wants to focus on Bollywood for some time. Giving her company in Mumbai is her cute little puppy that she has recently included in her family. Rashmika often shares videos and pictures of her pet. Meanwhile at the work front, Rashmika will be next seen in two Hindi films  Mission Majnu with Sidharth Malhotra and Goodbye with Amitabh Bachchan.




HONG KONG, June 26, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - China Mengniu Dairy Company Limited ("Mengniu" or the "Group", HKEx: 2319), one of the leading dairy product manufacturers in China, announced that it has issued its 2020 Sustainability Report, which highlights Mengniu's practices and achievements in five key areas, including sustainability management, corporate governance, economy: more nutritious products, society: a better life, and environment: a more sustainable earth. In 2020, Mengniu adhered to its vision of "Promising a Healthier World" and its mission of "Producing More Nutritious Products, Guiding Consumers Towards a Better Life, and Safeguarding a Sustainable Planet", and reaffirms its commitment to sustainable development.Mr. Lu Minfang, Chief Executive Officer of Mengniu, commented, "Guided by a strong conviction that clear waters and green mountains are invaluable assets on our earth, we strongly believe that creating a path to sustainable development is the best choice for Mengniu's future. For the benefit of humanity and our planet, we continually imbed social responsibility into the foundation of our business, and sustainable development into the DNA of Mengniu. We are steadily making progress on our mission of nourishing every life with healthy products."In 2020, Mengniu continued to make progress on its ten sustainability commitments through effectively implementing 27 actions and a rigorous three-level ESG management structure. The concept of sustainable development has been embedded into the day-to-day operational practices and as an integral part of all business activities and functions.To ensure the distribution of high-quality milk, Mengniu has established a comprehensive management system for the use of veterinary drugs and disclosed the progress that it has made in this year's report for the first time. In line with the principle of "reduced use and no antibiotics", Mengniu released the Mengniu Principles and Commitment for the Use of Veterinary Anti-Microbial Drugs in 2020. All dairy farm suppliers of the Group have signed the Commitment, ensuring that the raw milk used for production does not contain any antibiotics.Mengniu's progress in sustainable development was highly recognized by numerous stakeholders during 2020. The Group became the only food enterprise from mainland China to be included in the Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Index (TOP 30); was honoured with the Outstanding Contribution to the Fight against Covid-19 award at the 11th China Charity Awards, earning the highest honour in the field of public charity in China; ranked first in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' CSR Development Index for Dairy Enterprises, and was awarded the "2020 Five-Star Chinese Corporate Citizen" title by the China Committee of Corporate Citizenship.Mengniu proactively supports China's pledge to become carbon neutral by 2060 and aims to lead the industry in achieving carbon neutrality by providing regular disclosure of emission reduction targets and an execution roadmap. The Group will cooperate with the entire value chain by launching green production, creating a responsible supply chain, and practising circular economy, to lead the industry in achieving carbon neutrality and fulfil its promise of a healthier world. Meanwhile, Mengniu has incorporated specific ESG appraisal targets into the management team's annual key performance indicators for the first time aiming to motivate management to drive the Group's sustainable development efforts.As one of the top eight dairy companies in the world, Mengniu has not only focused on providing nutritious, healthy, and delicious dairy products to consumers in China and around the world, but has also consistently committed to social responsibility and sustainability at the very foundation of its business. Looking ahead, Mengniu will continue to promote sustainable development of the industry, implement the concept of "Creating a New Mengniu" to guide its "FIRST" (First-Choice, International, Responsibility, Spirits, and Technology) strategy, and carry out its four-dimensional sustainable practices: responsible supply chain, green production, inclusive nutrition, and rural revitalization.For the full 2020 Sustainability Report please visit:https://media-mengniu.todayir.com/2021062117320220619810135_en.pdfAbout China Mengniu Dairy Company LimitedChina Mengniu Dairy Company Limited and its subsidiaries manufacture and distribute quality dairy products in China. It is one of the leading dairy product manufacturers in China, with MENGNIU as its core brand. Mengniu offers diverse products including liquid milk products, ice cream, milk formula and cheese. In 2020, Mengniu ranked as "Global Dairy Top 8", and placed 31th on BrandZ list of most valuable Chinese brands, TOP10 of brand contribution. Mengniu also made it again among Brand Finance's list of the top 500 most valuable brands of the world in 2020. As of the end of December 2020, the Group's annual dairy production capacity reached 9.90 million tonnes. In March 2014, Mengniu became a Hang Seng Index constituent, making it the first blue-chip Chinese dairy product manufacturer. In August 2020, Mengniu was included as a constituent of Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Index and Hang Seng ESG50 Index. For more information, please visit www.mengniuir.com.Media Contact:China Mengniu Dairy Company LimitedName: Willow WuE-mail: ir@mengniu.cnSource: China Mengniu Dairy Company LimitedCopyright 2021 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
SELANGOR, Malaysia, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The European Wellness Aesthetic Academy (EWAA) has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the School of Professional, Executive Education and Development and Asia e University, which has presence and accredited certification recognized across 34 Asian countries, to launch the Wellness Beautypreneurship program that is aimed at enhancing the scientific knowledge and entrepreneurial skills of beauticians, estheticians and therapists around the globe.

This project is the brainchild of both Prof Dato Sri' Dr Mike Chan and Prof Dato Sri' Dr Michelle Wong who are the Founders of the European Wellness Biomedical Group. The academic team that drives this initiative is headed by the EWAA Head of School, Dr. Volodmyr Chernykh assisted by a team of European medical doctors and Chief Trainers Dr. Bawani Nesamany and Mr. Joel See. The course syllabus is developed by medical doctors and the programs are deployed via a flexible e-learning platform to ensure easy access to learners without disrupting their full-time careers.

Learners with no industrial experience can begin with the Foundation in Wellness Beautypreneurship which is an intensive 2 week hands-on program that will impart the essential skills needed to operate a mobile spa, while practitioners with working experience or CIDESCO or CIBTAC diploma holders can progress directly to the 3-month Certified Professional in Wellness Beautypreneurship program comprises of 16 core modules that cover key entrepreneurial elements and scientific components. The 5-month Certified Master in Wellness Beautypreneurship program has 5 levels completed over 150 practicum hours where veteran estheticians focus on specific area of interest in their field of practice and research on viable treatment solutions for their clients.

European Wellness Aesthetic Academy

The European Wellness Aesthetic Academy is the Swiss educational arm of the European Wellness Biomedical Group which is renowned for its pioneering developments in precursor/progenitor stem cell therapeutics, as well as its biomedical and scientific knowledge in anti-aging, aesthetics and disease management. It also collaborates with the European Wellness Academy, which offers post-graduate continuous biomedical education programs to physicians in more than 70 countries to date for more than 3 decades.

https://ewaesthetic.academy/

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KINGSTOWN, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global trading broker Samtrade FXLtd. ("Samtrade FX"), and together with its subsidiaries (the "Group"), has announced that Mr. Richard Christopher Dyason has been appointed as the Group's Chief Strategy Officer ("CSO").

Mr. Dyason brings 30 years of management experience in the financial services sector to his new role. Prior to joining the Group, he was the General Manager of the Securities Investors Association of Singapore, the Vice President of the Private Investors division at the Singapore Exchange, and the Vice President and Head of the Strategic Marketing Division at the United Overseas Bank, Singapore.

Sam Goh, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Samtrade FX, said: "Richard joins us at an exciting time! Earlier this year, the Group achieved a new milestone and its affiliate, S.A.M. Trade (Asia) Pte Ltd became publicly traded on the U.S. OTC Markets, under the symbol (OTCMKTS:SMFX). We look forward to Richard's strategic insights as the Group further advances with its growth plans while becoming the choice online trading broker globally."

As the Group's new CSO, Richard will be leading the strategy team to formulate and implement the Group's overall international strategy and direction, as well as working with the executive team to create policies and strategies for the various entities under Samtrade FX. Additionally, he will also be providing strategic inputs on Samtrade FX's risk management framework, growth of Samtrade FX's Assets Under Management (AUM), regulatory approvals for Samtrade FX's products, as well as new product and market development.

On accepting his new role, Mr. Dyason stated that: "I am glad to be embarking on this new journey with Samtrade FX. The Group has continued to enhance its trading platform to improve its client experience and its recent accomplishments have allowed it to expand its presence across the globe. I look forward to working with the team to continue shaping Samtrade FX to realize its vision of becoming a global financial powerhouse."

ABOUT SAMTRADE FX

Samtrade FX is an online trading broker that provides forex trading and other related services. It was founded with the objective of providing traders with safe, easy, and low-cost access to foreign exchange markets. Samtrade FX's founders and partners are all traders themselves and have extensive trading experience. Its Advisory Board includes knowledgeable and experienced professionals who are able to provide clients with unrivalled professional advice.

Samtrade FX is incorporated in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines by the Registrar of International Business Companies (registered number 25290 IBC 2019). Samtrade FX is also a member of The Financial Commission and is registered and regulated by FINTRAC (Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center of Canada) under Money Services Business (MSB) with registration number: M19977589. Its affiliate, S.A.M. Trade (Asia) Pte Ltd is publicly traded on the OTC Markets in the United States of America with the symbol (OTCMKTS:SMFX).

Media Contact

Heidi Chan

marketing@samtradefx.com

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Basel, June 28, 2021 - Novartis announced today the appointment of Rob Kowalski, Pharm.D., Global Head Regulatory Affairs and US Head of Drug Development as Chief People & Organization Officer. He will report to Vas Narasimhan, M.D., CEO of Novartis and become a member of the Executive Committee of Novartis (ECN), effective September 1, 2021.



Steven Baert, currently Chief People & Organization Officer, will step down from the Executive Committee of Novartis, effective June 30, 2021 after 15 years with the company and almost 8 years in position. Vicki Rawlinson, US Head People & Organization will lead the function ad-interim until Dr. Kowalski takes over.

Dr. Kowalski is a senior drug development and regulatory executive with over 25 years of industry experience. He has successfully built and led Global Regulatory Affairs, a large organization within the Novartis Drug Development with many interfaces into our commercial and R&D organizations on global and local levels. Prior to his current role he has served in various leadership roles in the US and Europe. Dr. Kowalski has significant experience in large scale global transformations and has been highly regarded for his development of key talents, many of whom have moved into senior leadership roles within Novartis. He holds a Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, US. Dr. Kowalski is a US citizen and, in his future role, will be based in Basel, Switzerland.

"Rob is a strong business and people leader with a proven track record of building and leading global organizations. Based on his Novartis business experience and focus on culture and talent development he will help us to scale our culture change and talent agenda, deliver our People & Organization operating model, and help us to further connect human capital decisions with business strategy," said Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis. "I thank Steven for his invaluable contributions as a leader and advisor to the ECN and Board of Directors. He has driven a cultural and organizational transformation that supports our company's long-term priorities and purpose and makes us an industry leader in human capital. I wish him the very best for his future."

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by words such as "appoints," "appointment," "will," "become," "until," "become," "effective," "ad interim," "until," "may," "could," "expectations," "wish," or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding the appointment of Rob Kowalski as Chief People & Organization Officer of Novartis and a member of the ECN. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that Dr. Kowalski will ultimately assume the role of Chief People & Organization Officer, or on any particular date. In particular, our expectations regarding the outcome of the forward looking statements in this press release could be affected by, among other things, general political, economic and business conditions, including the effects of and efforts to mitigate pandemic diseases such as COVID-19, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Novartis

Novartis is reimagining medicine to improve and extend people's lives. As a leading global medicines company, we use innovative science and digital technologies to create transformative treatments in areas of great medical need. In our quest to find new medicines, we consistently rank among the world's top companies investing in research and development. Novartis products reach nearly 800 million people globally and we are finding innovative ways to expand access to our latest treatments. About 110,000 people of more than 140 nationalities work at Novartis around the world.

Find out more at https://www.novartis.com (https://www.novartis.com).

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+1 862 579 8456

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CMR Surgical raises $600 million in Series D financing

Fund ing fully supports the accelerated continued global expansion and commercial scale up of the business

F inancing round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and co-led by Ally Bridge Group

The largest ever MedTech private financing round worldwide to help bring Versius to hospitals around the worldi

CAMBRIDGE, UK - 28June 2021, 07:01 (BST). CMR Surgical (CMR or "the Company"), a global surgical robotics business, today announces that it has raised $600 million (425 million) in a Series D financing. The round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2ii and co-led by Ally Bridge Group and will support the Company's mission to make keyhole surgery accessible to more people worldwide. The funds will be used to increase the global commercialisation of Versius, CMR's next-generation surgical robotic system, and further develop its digital ecosystem.

CMR works with surgeons and hospitals to provide an optimal tool to make robotic keyhole surgery universally accessible and affordable. Versius' size, portability and versatility have made it very popular with hospitals and surgeons around the world. As part of CMR's ongoing international expansion, Versius has been successfully launched in multiple geographies worldwide including across Europe, Australia, India and the Middle East. Global demand for CMR's surgical robot continues to grow with significant further momentum anticipated.

The Series D secures the financing to fully execute CMR's strategy to rapidly accelerate its geographical expansion and builds upon the framework the Company has established to grow a long-term independent global business. The new funds also support the continued development of the system's digital framework, including new technological developments such as Versius Connect, an app for surgeons using the Versius surgical robotic system.

In addition to SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Ally Bridge Group, the financing was supported by other new international investors including RPMI Railpen, Tencent and Chimera, broadening the geographic scope of the shareholder base. Existing investors, including LGT and its affiliate impact investing platform Lightrock, Watrium, Cambridge Innovation Capital, PFM Health Sciences and GE Healthcare, also participated in the round.

Per Vegard Nerseth, Chief Executive Officer of CMR, commented:"This latest financing equips CMR with significant funds to accelerate our mission of bringing Versius to hospitals worldwide, whilst providing full flexibility to achieve our goals. This major injection of capital that now values us at $3billion not only reflects the level of interest we have seen in our product, but also the scale of the business, and will enable significant technology developments and global expansion. As the lead investor, SoftBank has a wealth of experience supporting disruptive business models and innovative technologies, and we look forward to leveraging their expertise and extensive ecosystem. I would also like to thank our existing investors for their long-term support."

Yanni Pipilis, Managing Partner for SoftBank Investment Advisers, commented: "Demand for minimally invasive robotic surgery is growing rapidly among surgeons and patients yet high costs have historically hindered adoption. CMR Surgical is transforming surgical robotics to convert underpenetrated open & laparoscopic procedures in new international markets where robotic surgeries are less prevalent such as India, the Middle East and Latin America. We look forward to working with CMR in its mission to make robotic keyhole surgery available to everyone."

Charles Chon, Partner and Head of MedTech, Ally Bridge Group, said: "As life science-dedicated specialists and active investors in surgical robotics, we believe the user-friendliness and cost-effectiveness of the Versius system allows a meaningfully differentiated robotic experience that democratizes robotic surgery both procedurally and geographically. We are proud to support CMR as a hallmark of UK innovation and a solution for all surgeons and their patients."

J.P. Morgan acted as sole placement agent on CMR Surgical's Series D financing.

- ENDS -

Media Contacts:

If you wish to see more, please contact CMR Surgical at:

Press Office, CMR Surgical

T +44(0) 1223 755801

Epressoffice@cmrsurgical.com

Mary-Jane Elliott / Angela Gray / Lindsey Neville

Consilium Strategic Communications

T +44 (0)20 3709 5700

Ecmr@consilium-comms.com

Notes to Editors:

The Versius Surgical Robotic System

Versius resets expectations of robotic surgery. Versius fits into virtually any operating room set-up and integrates seamlessly into existing workflows, increasing the likelihood of robotic minimal access surgery (MAS). The portable and modular design of Versius allows the surgeon to only use the number of arms needed for a given procedure.

Biomimicking the human arm, Versius gives surgeons the choice of optimised port placement alongside the dexterity and accuracy of small fully-wristed instruments. With 3D HD vision, easy-to adopt instrument control and a choice of ergonomic working positions, the open surgeon console has the potential to reduce stress and fatigue and allows for clear communication with the surgical team. By thinking laparoscopically and operating robotically with Versius, patients, surgeons and healthcare professionals can all benefit from the value that robotic MAS brings.

But it's more than just a robot. Versius captures meaningful data with its wider digital ecosystem to support a surgeon's continuous learning. Through the Versius Connect app, Versius Trainer and CMR clinical registry, Versius unleashes a wealth of insights to ultimately improve surgical care.

About CMR Surgical Limited

CMR Surgical (CMR) is a global medical devices company dedicated to transforming surgery with Versius, a next-generation surgical robot.

Headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom, CMR is committed to working with surgeons, surgical teams and hospital partners, to provide an optimal tool to make robotic minimal access surgery universally accessible and affordable. With Versius, we are on a mission to redefine the surgical robotics market with practical, innovative technology and data that can improve surgical care.

Founded in 2014, CMR Surgical is a private limited company backed by an international shareholder base.

i PitchBook, May-21

ii As of the date of this press release, SoftBank Group Corp. has made capital contributions to allow investments by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 ("SVF 2") in certain portfolio companies. The information included herein is made for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy limited partnership interests in any fund, including SVF 2. SVF 2 has yet to have an external close, and any potential third-party investors shall receive additional information related to any SVF 2 investments prior to closing.
June 28, 2021: Oslo, Norway, PGS has been awarded a significant 4D acquisition contract by ExxonMobil for work offshore Guyana. A Titan class vessel is scheduled to mobilize for the project in Q4 2021 and acquisition is planned to be completed in Q1 2022.



"We acquired the 4D baselineof this area and consider it strategically important for us to be awarded a repeat survey for parts of the initial program. We are very pleased with the recognition of our Ramform acquisition platform and superior multi-sensor GeoStreamer technology, which are well suited for high quality 4D acquisition programs. The contract adds further visibility to our order book for the coming winter season," says President & CEO in PGS, Rune Olav Pedersen.

FOR DETAILS, CONTACT: Bard Stenberg, VP IR & Corporate Communication

Mobile: +47 99 24 52 35



***

PGS ASA and its subsidiaries.

***

The information included herein contains certain forward-looking statements that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects, projects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future. These statements are based on various assumptions made by the Company, which are beyond its control and are subject to certain additional risks and uncertainties. The Company is subject to a large number of risk factors including but not limited to the demand for seismic services, the demand for data from our multi-client data library, the attractiveness of our technology, unpredictable changes in governmental regulations affecting our markets and extreme weather conditions. For a further description of other relevant risk factors we refer to our Annual Report for 2020. As a result of these and other risk factors, actual events and our actual results may differ materially from those indicated in or implied by such forward-looking statements. The reservation is also made that inaccuracies or mistakes may occur in the information given above about current status of the Company or its business. Any reliance on the information above is at the risk of the reader, and PGS disclaims any and all liability in this respect.

--END--




- Chrysalis Investments leads the 165m Series D round

- Round includes 110m of primary and 55m of secondary equity

- Investment will further strengthen Smart's global retirement technology platform offering, and expansion into the world's largest retirement markets

LONDON, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Smart, the global retirement savings technology platform provider that powers the Smart Pension Master Trust, one of the 'big four' UK auto enrolment master trusts, has announced today that it is concluding a 165m Series D funding round. Chrysalis Investments, one of the UK's leading crossover investors, has led Smart's Series D funding round with a 75 million equity investment, with additional investors to be announced in the coming weeks. The overall round will comprise 110m of primary and 55m of secondary equity.

The investment from Chrysalis, whose portfolio includes Klarna, Wise (formerly TransferWise), Starling Bank, The Hut Group and Graphcore, as well as wefox, the insurtech unicorn from Germany, will see Smart further grow its retirement technology platform offering in the UK, the US, Australia and the Middle East, with additional territories to follow.

Commenting on the investment, Richard Watts, Head of Strategy and Co-Manager of Chrysalis Investments said: "Smart is an innovator and continues to establish itself as the leading retirement technology platform provider globally. In just a few years it has disrupted the retirement savings industry, working with some of the world's most well-known financial services providers to create a better way to save toward retirement and access funds during retirement.

"The world has changed. Just as companies like Wise and Klarna add huge benefits to their users via best-in-class financial technology, Smart offers user experience and technology to transform retirement for savers around the world. What Smart has achieved in the last 12 months alone was a real catalyst for our support and we believe that together we can help Andrew and Will achieve their global ambitions."

Chrysalis Investments joins Legal & General, J.P. Morgan, the Link Group, Barclays and Natixis Investment Managers, the strategic investors to date in Smart.

Smart saw enormous growth in 2020, with assets on the platform growing by more than 160% to 1.8bn and the successful rollouts of the Smart platform with Bank of Ireland's insurance arm, New Ireland Assurance, and with global insurance giant Zurich and the Dubai International Financial Centre in the Middle East, both at the height of the pandemic.

The co-founders of Smart, Andrew Evans and Will Wynne, said:

"Chrysalis Investments joins us at a really exciting time. Smart's achievements over the last 12 months are testament to our amazing team, and also to the incredible resilience of both our operating model and the Smart platform that we deploy for large financial institutions and national governments. With close to a million savers on our platform already, we now have straight line visibility through to well over five million savers on the platform within the next 24 months.

"We are very excited to welcome Chrysalis as they really understand the global scale of our vision and opportunity. Chrysalis's investment adviser, Jupiter Asset Management, is a prominent leader in UK investment and Chrysalis itself has an astonishing track record of backing Europe's most successful tech businesses. We are delighted to join the Chrysalis portfolio."

"We are very focused on our core goal: offering the very best technology to improve the lives of retirement savers around the world. We also recognise that there are tremendous opportunities for us to cost effectively deploy capital in M&A to bring members and assets onto our technology platform in the UK, the United States and beyond and we will be pursuing such opportunities with the energy those markets' retirement savers deserve."

The co-founders concluded: "The global retirement market is already a colossal $55trn of AUM. A huge wave of regulatory change is sweeping the globe, with governments shifting responsibility for retirement liabilities from their own balance sheet onto the mass market, via the workplace. Smart is the only proven, global, cloud-native retirement technology solution to this challenge. Smart is set to become the global operating system for retirement."

Notes for editors:

An image of Andrew Evans and Will Wynne is attached

About Smart

Smart is a global savings and investments technology platform provider. Its mission is to transform retirement, savings and financial well-being around the world.

Smart partners with governments and financial institutions (including insurers, asset managers, banks, financial advisers) to deliver retirement savings and income solutions that are digital, bespoke and cost efficient.

In addition to the UK, Smart is operating in the USA, Europe, Australia and the Middle East with close to a million savers entrusting over 1.8 billion in assets on the platform.

Smart supports its clients with a 550 strong global team and saw 160% growth in assets on its technology platform in 2020.

Chrysalis Investments joins Legal & General, J.P. Morgan, the Link Group, Barclays and Natixis Investment Managers, the strategic investors to date in Smart.

For more information, please visit Smart.co .

About Smart Pension

The award winning Smart Pension Master Trust is powered by the innovation of the Smart platform.

Launched in 2015, the Smart Pension Master Trust has grown from 100 million in AUM to well over 1 billion in the last two years. It is overseen by an independent board of professional trustees and is regulated by The Pensions Regulator.

Smart Pension is a signatory of the UN Principles of Responsible Investing (PRI) and has partnered with Make My Money Matter to develop its investment approach and commit to Net Zero emissions well ahead of the 2050 deadline.

For more information visit www.smartpension.co.uk , we tweet as @SmartPensionUK .

About Chrysalis Investments

Chrysalis Investments is an investment trust, listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, that is managed by Jupiter Asset Management's (formerly Merian Global Investors) multi award-winning small-and mid-cap UK equities team. With assets under management of over 7.5 billion across its portfolio of actively managed UK equity funds, the investment team has established itself as one of the UK's leading crossover investors. Chrysalis Investments is a permanent capital vehicle which provides investors with access to the world's most innovative and disruptive companies, across both public and private markets.

Media contacts:

For Smart: Candida Hilton, Head of PR and Media at Smart

candida.hilton@smartpension.co.uk

+44 7525 860054

For Chrysalis Investments: Charlotte McMullen, Toto Reissland-Burghart and Miles McKechnie at Montfort Communications

Chrysalis@montfort.london

+44 (0)20 3779 7920
Second location in Hamburg will provide additional high-speed IP transit options for ISPs and enterprises throughout Germany's second largest city

Hurricane Electric, the world's largest IPv6-native Internet backbone announced today that it has deployed a new Point of Presence (PoP) at Internet Port Hamburg (IPHH). The new PoP is located at Wendenstrasse 408, Hamburg, Germany.

IPHH is a full-service provider, offering server hosting and housing, domain management and solutions and consulting for all IT topics, as well as profound support for Linux. This main IPHH data center is strategically located to provide reliable service to customers in and around this German economic center. This PoP is Hurricane Electric's second location in Hamburg. It will provide enterprises in the Greater Hamburg area with improved fault tolerance, load balancing and congestion management in the delivery of next generation IP connectivity services.

As the second-largest city in Germany, which has the fourth-largest national economy in the world, Hamburg is flourishing with business. It is home to numerous established IT companies, along with many robust startups. In 2017, Hamburg was dubbed the German capital for starting a business, outstripping Berlin. The city is a powerhouse of both German and European economies, with an impressive employment rate of 92.1%.

Customers of IPHH and those in and around Hamburg now have a variety of new connectivity options and access to Hurricane Electric's extensive IPv4 and IPv6 network through 100GE (100 Gigabit Ethernet), 10GE (10 Gigabit Ethernet) and GigE (1 Gigabit Ethernet) ports. Additionally, customers at the facility are able to exchange IP traffic with Hurricane Electric's vast global network, which offers over 20,000 BGP sessions with more than 9,000 different networks via more than 250 major exchange points and thousands of customer and private peering ports.

"Hurricane Electric is thrilled to open a second location in Hamburg," said Mike Leber, President, Hurricane Electric. "This PoP will help satisfy the growing bandwidth needs of customers of IPHH and throughout this region."

About Hurricane Electric

Hurricane Electric operates its own global IPv4 and IPv6 network and is considered the largest IPv6 backbone in the world. Within its global network, Hurricane Electric is connected more than 250 major exchange points and exchanges traffic directly with more than 9,000 different networks. Employing a resilient fiber-optic topology, Hurricane Electric has no less than five redundant 100G paths crossing North America, four separate 100G paths between the U.S. and Europe, and 100G rings in Europe and Asia. Hurricane also has a ring around Africa and a PoP in Australia. Hurricane Electric offers IPv4 and IPv6 transit solutions over the same connection. Connection speeds available include 100GE (100 gigabits/second), 10GE, and gigabit ethernet.

Additional information can be found at http://he.net.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210627005078/en/

Contacts:

Media

Adam Waitkunas

Milldam Public Relations

adam.waitkunas@milldampr.com

(978) 828-8304
Hub One chooses Streamwide to optimize the use of its private professional 4G/5G network on the Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport platform

_ Hub One, an operator of digital technologies for businesses, has called on STREAMWIDE, a major player in the critical communications market for 20 years, to switch its mobile terminals in the Paris airports to its new private professional 4G/5G network. Through this network, airport professionals will benefit from enriched and dedicated private communications, and will be able to exchange information in an optimal way. This choice is part of the launch of Hub One's professional 4G/5G mobile services at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport, following the opening of Paris-Orly a few weeks ago.

In January 2020, ARCEP awarded Hub One professional 4G/5G frequencies at Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly and Paris-Le Bourget airports. The deployment of this very high-speed professional network is part of the development of the smart airport, which aims to improve the fluidity and security of operations as well as the travelers' customer experience.

In order to take full advantage of these new frequencies, Hub One had to migrate its entire fleet of mobile and portable terminals - using a dedicated Tetra PMR* network - to its new network. In this context, the group called upon STREAMWIDE and its team on mission solution to perform the switch from the Tetra PMR network to the professional 4G/5G network.

While the old Tetra PMR network only allowed airport professionals to receive messages and communicate by voice via walkie-talkies, STREAMWIDE and Hub One's professional 4G/5G network will give them the ability to exchange a multitude of enriched data on different media. Indeed, they will have unified access to all voice, data and MCPTT** services, and will be able to share photos, videos and documents in addition to traditional voice and message communication.

They will be able to receive data in real time on all types of media (tablets, smartphones and computers) and to set up reliable information feedback systems. In addition, all of their exchanges will be centralized and secure; the STREAMWIDE solution for Hub One has been audited and authorized by the ANSSI, the French National Agency for Information Systems Security.

STREAMWIDE's solution also enables Hub One to interconnect airport terminals with the information systems of their companies, thus facilitating the transmission of information.

In addition, the team on mission application, regularly updated by STREAMWIDE to improve the user experience, adjusts to the interfaces of the organizations which can then optimize its use according to their needs.

"The development of the smart airport is a priority for us and it is in this objective that we launched the deployment of a professional private 4G/5G network on the airport platforms of Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Le Bourget and Orly. Our collaboration with STREAMWIDE is part of this dynamic and will enable us to offer airport operators optimal connectivity for their critical communications", explains Henri Tallon, Director of the Telecom Division at Hub One.

"We are delighted to be collaborating with Hub One and to be able to offer our services on one of the first private 4G/5G business networks opened in France. Companies at the Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport platform will be able to benefit from a reliable and secure tool, and thus work efficiently to continuously improve the travel experience," said Pascal Beglin, CEO at STREAMWIDE.

*PMR: private mobile radio network

** MCPTT: Mission Critical Push to Talk

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

About Hub One:

Hub One is the digital technology operator for companies and public organizations. As a key player in digital transformation in constrained environments, Hub One relies on its three areas of expertise: broadband connectivity, business software and cybersecurity. Hub One offers the best technologies through proven solutions adapted to the needs and uses of professionals.

With more than 10 regional agencies and 570 employees serving more than 5,000 customers on a daily basis, Hub One generated a turnover of 136 million euros in 2020. Hub One is a member of the ADP Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aeroports de Paris SA.

Press Contacts Hub One:

Grayling Agency: Manuel Chaplet / Sonia Bonvalet - tel: 01 55 30 71 00 / 80 99 - hubone@grayling.com

Hub One: Severine Vilbert - severine.vilbert@hubone.fr / Berengere d'Heucqueville - b.dheucqueville@hubone.fr

About STREAMWIDE (Euronext Growth: ALSTW)

A major player for 20 years in the critical communications market, STREAMWIDE has successfully developed its Team on mission (mission critical) and Team on the run (business critical) software solutions for administrations and businesses. These solutions for smartphones and PCs, offered in a SaaS model or on Premise, benefit from numerous functionalities such as the multimedia group discussions, VoIP, push-to-talk (MCPTT and MCx new generation 4G / 5G LTE), geolocation, digitization and automation of business processes. These innovative solutions meet the growing needs for digital transformation and real-time coordination of interventions. They allow field teams to transform individual contributions into collective successes and to act as one in the most demanding professional environments.

STREAMWIDE is also present on the Value-Added Services software market for telecom operators (visual voice messaging, billing and charging of calls in real time, interactive voice servers, applications and announcements) with more than 130 million end users all over the world.

Based in France and present in Europe, USA, Asia and Africa, STREAMWIDE is listed on Euronext Growth (Paris) - ALSTW FR0010528059.

For more information, http://www.streamwide.com and visit our LinkedIn pages @streamwide and Twitter @streamwide.

Contacts

Pascal Beglin | Olivier Truelle Gregoire Saint-Marc Vivien Ferran President Directeur General | DAF Investor Relations Press Relations T +33 1 70 22 01 01 T +33 1 53 67 36 94 T +33 1 53 67 36 34 investisseur@streamwide.com streamwide@actus.fr vferran@actus.fr

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LONDON (dpa-AFX) - NatWest Group plc (NWG.L), formerly known as the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, announced Monday that NatWest Holdings Limited and Ulster Bank in the Republic of Ireland or UBIDAC have entered into a binding agreement with AIB Group p.l.c.



The deal is for the sale of about 4.2 billion euros gross performing commercial lending and associated undrawn exposures of about 2.8 billion euros.



The deal is part of NatWest Group's phased withdrawal from the Republic of Ireland.



In February, NatWest and UBIDAC said they had agreed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Allied Irish Banks, a unit of AIB Group, in respect of performing commercial lending.



The company now said the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. NatWest and UBIDAC will provide further information at the appropriate time.



On completion, it is estimated that a small gain on disposal will be recognized, based on the net carrying value of the lending as of December 31, 2020. The exact impacts of disposal will depend on movements in the book between now and transfer, the timing of which remains uncertain.



Under the deal, it is anticipated that around 280 colleagues will transfer from UBIDAC to AIB with the final number of roles confirmed as the deal completes.



NatWest Group CEO Alison Rose said, 'In line with our strategy of a phased withdrawal from the Republic of Ireland, I am pleased that we have now reached agreement with AIB on the sale of the majority of Ulster Bank's performing commercial lending portfolio.'



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AIB GROUP-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de
Regulatory News:

Air Liquide (Paris:AI) will invest around 70 million euros to build a state-of-the-art gases plant in Wuhan, Central China, to supply a major memory chipmaker. Air Liquide has been producing ultra-pure industrial gases for this leading Chinese high-tech company for more than 12 years.

Air Liquide will build, own and operate this ultra-high purity industrial gas plant,which has been designed leveraging the Group's latest state-of-the-art technology. This facility will produce 52,000 Nm3 of nitrogen per hour, as well as oxygen and argon among other ultra-high purity gases, and is planned to be operational in 2022.

Secured by a new long-term supply agreement with this major memory chipmaker, this contract will more generally allow Air Liquide to support the growth of the semiconductor sector in the Wuhan basin. In recent years the city of Wuhan has been actively supporting the development of a high-tech hub, particularly for the NAND flash memory chips industry.

Francois Abrial, Member of the Air Liquide Group's Executive Committee supervising Asia Pacific, said: "Wuhan, where Air Liquide has been present since 2007, is a key electronics basin for the Group. We are pleased to strengthen our partnership with our client, a flash memory leader we have been successfully collaborating with for more than 12 years. This new production facility will strengthen Air Liquide's position in China and support the growth momentum of the Group's Electronics activities in the country."

Air Liquide China

Air Liquide in China operates nearly 120 plants and employs close to 5,000 employees. With a strong presence in the key coastal industrial areas, Air Liquide is now expanding into the center, south and west. Its main business activities include industrial and medical gas operations, Engineering Construction (designing, manufacturing and installing air separation units/hydrogen facilities), as well as Innovation activities.

Air Liquide Electronics

Generating 2,001 million in revenue in 2020, the Electronics business line of Air Liquide is a world reference in designing, manufacturing and supplying ultra high purity gases and advanced materials for this industry. The Electronics business line of Air Liquide is a long-term partner providing innovative and sustainable solutions to the semiconductors, photovoltaics and flat-panel displays markets. Close to 4,300 employees worldwide are dedicated to providing the working agility and reliability our customers need.

A world leader in gases, technologies and services for Industry and Health, Air Liquide is present in 78 countries with approximately 64,500 employees and serves more than 3.8 million customers and patients. Oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen are essential small molecules for life, matter and energy. They embody Air Liquide's scientific territory and have been at the core of the company's activities since its creation in 1902.

Air Liquide's ambition is to be a leader in its industry, deliver long term performance and contribute to sustainability with a strong commitment to climate change and energy transition at the heart of its strategy. The company's customer-centric transformation strategy aims at profitable, regular and responsible growth over the long term. It relies on operational excellence, selective investments, open innovation and a network organization implemented by the Group worldwide. Through the commitment and inventiveness of its people, Air Liquide leverages energy and environment transition, changes in healthcare and digitization, and delivers greater value to all its stakeholders.

Air Liquide's revenue amounted to more than 20 billion euros in 2020. Air Liquide is listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange (compartment A) and belongs to the CAC 40, EURO STOXX 50 and FTSE4Good indexes.

www.airliquide.com

Follow us on Twitter @airliquidegroup

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210627005012/en/

Contacts:

Corporate Communications

media@airliquide.com

Investor Relations

IRTeam@airliquide.com
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Retailer Burberry Group plc (BRBY.L) announced Monday that Marco Gobbetti has notified the Board of his intention to step down as Chief Executive Officer and leave the company at the end of 2021. Gobbetti will be stepping down after nearly five years with the company to take up another opportunity that will enable him to return to Italy and be closer to his family. The Board will now begin the search for a successor. Gobbetti is expected to remain with the company until the end of the calendar year. In that time, he will work with Chairman Gerry Murphy to provide full support to the executive leadership team on an orderly transition. Gobbetti, CEO, said, ' As a group, we have elevated and strengthened the brand and the business, while continuing to be a force for good. With Burberry re-energised and firmly set on a path to strong growth, I feel that now is the right time for me to step down.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
STOCKHOLM, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sherlock Holmes is ready for new intriguing and mind-boggling adventures going audio first. An exclusive agreement between Storytel and The Conan Doyle Estate gives Storytel the privilege of developing completely new stories featuring the world's most iconic and loved detective. The adventures will be written by a team of writers under the creative lead of award winning novelist and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz.

"The Conan Doyle Estate's curiosity and interest in our idea of taking the Sherlock Holmes legacy to a new place in a new digital format is a dream come true, and so is getting Anthony Horowitz signed to the project. Not only is he an amazing plot maker and writer of successful novels and tv-scripts, through the novels House of Silk and Moriarty he has already dwelled deep into the Sherlock Holmes universe. I am more than convinced that Anthony is perfect for leading this unique project creatively," said Rickard Henley, Head of Global Direct Publishing at Storytel.

Anthony Horowitz is one of the most versatile, prolific and successful authors in the UK - and unique for working across many media. His Alex Rider series has sold around 20 million copies worldwide and is credited with encouraging an entire generation to read. In total, Anthony has written over 40 books including new Sherlock Holmes and James Bond novels and award winning television series including Midsomer Murders and Foyle's War. His bestselling novel, Magpie Murders has just been filmed. A Line to Kill, the third in the series which involves him personally in murder investigations, along with ex-DI Hawthorne, comes out in August.

In a deal brokered by his agent Jonathan Lloyd at Curtis Brown, Horowitz has signed a showrunner agreement with Storytel for three completely new stories about Sherlock Holmes. The license agreement with Conan Doyle Estate will give him and Storytel access to both the brand and the vast knowledge and expertise that lies in the heritage of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

"Growing up, we were always reminded of my great uncle Arthur's passion for telling stories to his children as his mother had done with him. He created some of the world's most famous stories and characters because of his first love for storytelling. Our mission for the estate is to expand Sir Arthur's universe and characters far past the original stories. We are delighted to be collaborating with Storytel and Anthony Horowitz on this audio first project which will give Sherlock and his universe a whole different dimension," said Richard Doyle of The Conan Doyle Estate.

Anthony Horowitz

said:"This is going to be Sherlock Holmes from a very different perspective, staying true to the spirit of the books - which I have always loved - but expanding the narrative and the vision of Conan Doyle in all sorts of unexpected ways. I'm excited to be collaborating with Storytel who has a huge worldwide audience. For me this project is an adventure in itself".

The scripted series will be written by a team of writers under the creative lead of Anthony Horowitz and Storytel's Executive Producer Sren Vestergaard. The format is audio first for release on all Storytel markets from Spring 2022. Discussions with print publishing partners and tv- and movie adaptations are already underway.

FNCA Sweden AB is the company's certified adviser. FNCA can be reached at info@fnca.se or +46 8 528 00 399.

For more information, please contact:

Dan Panas, Head of Global Communications & PR at Storytel

Tel: +46 70 186 52 90

Email: dan.panas@storytel.com

About Storytel

Storytel is one of the world's largest subscribed audiobook and e-book streaming services and offers listening and reading of more than 500 000 titles on a global scale. Our vision is to make the world a more empathetic and creative place with great stories to be shared and enjoyed by anyone, anywhere and anytime. Storytel's streaming business is conducted under the brands Storytel and Mofibo. Storytel's publishing business area is carried out through the audiobook publisher StorySide and acclaimed Nordic publishing houses such as Norstedts, People's and Gummerus. Storytel operates in 25 markets around the globe and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/storytel/r/storytel-and-the-conan-doyle-estate-in-exclusive-agreement---bestselling-author-anthony-horowitz-cre,c3375268

The following files are available for download:
Leading PPE manufacturer partners with global player in critical communication technology to revolutionise the way professional mobilised teams on the ground communicate and protect their hearing in noisy conditions

Swedish-based hearing protection pioneers, Sordin, today announced a new partnership with global player in critical communications technology, Cardo Crew, in a move that will combine high-end hearing protectors with cutting edge communications.

The partnership, which will lead to countless game-changing benefits for mission-critical teams on the ground, was announced ahead of the launch of SHARE, Sordin's groundbreaking new electronic hearing protector. The SHARE device will launch in August 2021 and will combine Cardo Crew's state-of-the-art dynamic mesh communications technology with features such as ambient sound filtering, voice activation and a dedicated mobile app.

The device will allow teams on the ground to clearly pick up important sounds such as instructions from colleagues or warning signals, whilst also protecting them from potentially damaging noise from machinery and other sound. Thanks to Cardo Crew's dynamic mesh technology, two-way, hands-free communication for groups of two to 15 workers will also be possible via a fully autonomous network, without the need for a traditional base station, making SHARE the perfect communication tool for busy teams on the move in noisy environments.

Peter Ovrin, Global Product Manager at Sordin, commented on the partnership: "In addition to the primary function to protect against harmful noise, many users of Sordin hearing protectors need easy and robust communication with team members. To meet this user requirement, Sordin is launching the SHARE hearing protector. With Cardo's state-of-the-art Dynamic Mesh Technology, and other supporting features such as a mobile app, voice control and Bluetooth, SHARE is a groundbreaking product that will revolutionise hearing protection and communication in the field."

The move also creates a valuable opportunity for Cardo Crew to further extend its award-winning technology to relevant industry verticals, with a primary focus on the European PPE market where Sordin's product will initially be launched.

Shachar Harari, Chief Business Officer Head of Cardo Crew commented: "Sordin's strong brand and 30-year experience in the field will prove invaluable to Cardo's efforts to make our technology available across verticals where team communications are critical. There are countless applications and use cases, including industrial and construction environments, where the combination of Cardo Crew's state of the art intercom system and Sordin's expertise in designing best-in-class hearing protection devices would be an excellent fit."

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005303/en/

Contacts:

Eleanor Smith

eleanor.smith@contextpr.co.uk
LONDON and LEWES, Delaware, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SEPA Cyber Technologies, a global fintech provider, is providing MultiBank Group with fintech and regtech solutions to grow into a fully digital bank and expand their business. The final goal is to enrich their service portfolio and become licensed EMI (Electronic Money Institution) in the EEA.

To reach this aim, SEPA Cyber Technologies is consulting MultiBank on licensing and incorporation as well as principal membership for VISA, MasterCard, and Union Pay. The two companies have set ambitious deadlines and plan to go live before the end of 2021.

The revolutionary services of SEPA Cyber will open the doors for MultiBank to complete digitalisation. The full package of solutions includes a digital wallet, issuing and acquiring processing, IPG, KYC, KYB, PEP and Sanctions.

'We are extremely honoured that a financial giant such as Multibank Group has chosen SEPA Cyber with the delivery of financial technologies and consultancy services. We know we're on the right track when people part of TOP 50 Influential Figures in Global Financial Markets choose us as their trusted technology and solution provider.'

- Marvin Blazhevski, CEO and Founder of SEPA Cyber Technologies

"I have always firmly believed that a company is nothing without the effort and support of its core team that works hard in their day-to-day job and making this happen. In this aspect, I have been blessed to have a very talented team, particularly our extremely competent and dynamic Management Board."

- Mr. Naser Taher - Chairman of MultiBank Group.

About SEPA Cyber Technologies

SEPA Cyber Technologies is an award-winning fintech company that enables the establishment of neobanks and digitisation of financial services. The unique technological solution CoreX banking system, into which the SEPA MuSe (Multi-Service Gateway) platform is integrated, distinguishes a company with scalability and the capability of creating a tailor-made solution for every client.

For more information, visit https://www.sepa-cyber.com/

About MultiBank

MultiBank Group has been at the frontier of the forex industry. Being early adopters of the digitization of financial services, MultiBank Group has launched a fully transparent electronic forex and financial derivatives exchange. Since then, MultiBank Group has become one of the world's largest online financial derivatives providers today. With a client base of over 320,000, MultiBank Group facilitates 90,000 daily trades with a trading volume of over USD 7.2 billion. The company provides advanced trading platforms and tight pricing for online financial products, including forex, metals, shares, indices, commodities, cryptocurrency, and CFDs.
PUNE, India, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ReportsnReports added 5G Core Market by Component (Solutions and Services), Network Function (Access and Mobility Management Function, Policy Control Function, Unified Data Management), Deployment Model (Cloud and On-premises), End User, and Region - Global Forecast to 2025 Report to its online database.

The global 5G core market size is projected to grow from USD 630 million in 2020 to USD 9,497 million by 2025, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 72.0% during the forecast period. The 5G core market is gaining traction due to the evolution of cellular network technology, which has offered higher data speeds and lower latency. The 5G core market is gaining traction due to its cloud-native and service-based architecture that will improve the modularity of products with greater emphasis on low latency, URLLC, eMBB, and mMTC offerings.

This research study outlines the market potential, market dynamics, and major vendors operating in the 5G core market. Key and innovative vendors in the 5G core market include Nokia (Finland), Ericsson (Sweden), Huawei (China), ZTE (China), Samsung (South Korea), Affirmed Networks(US), Mavenir(US), NEC(Japan), Cisco(US), HPE(US), Oracle(US), Athonet(Italy), Casa SYSTEMS(US), Cumucore(Finland), Druid Software(Ireland), IPLook (China), and Metaswitch(UK).

Get a Free Sample Copy of Global 5G Core Market with 266 No. of pages Research Report at https://www.reportsnreports.com/contacts/requestsample.aspx?name=4029798

The managed services segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period

Managed services in the 5G core market outsource a complete network or a part of it on a proactive management basis to improve the network operations and reduce the organizational expenses. These services outsource solutions related to network security, and storage, desktop, server, hosting, applications, and mobile device management. As the 5G core market is in its initial phase, most vendors are not capable of providing a standalone solution and its associate services to the customers. This enforces them to manage a few of the services from vendors who are experts in providing those to deliver the required services to the customers.

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

Enterprises are undergoing digital transformation across different industries. Businesses are in various stages of implementing new technologies to develop new solutions, improve service delivery, increase operational efficiency, reduce cost, gain competitive advantage, and meet rising customer expectations. 5G will soon make it into the list of technologies enterprise will consider, with standalone 5G solutions that will enable various new industrial applications, such as robotics, big data analytics, IIoT and AR/VR in engineering and design, as well as new ways to provide remote support and training.

Asia Pacific (APAC) region to record the highest growing region in the 5G core market

APAC has several growing economies, such as China, India, and Japan, which are expected to register high growth in the 5G Core Market. These countries have always supported and promoted industrial and technological growth. Also, they possess a developed technological infrastructure, which is promoting the adoption of 5G core solutions across all industry verticals. The network market in APAC is driven by the growing acceptance of cloud-based solutions, emerging technologies such as the IoT, and big data analytics and mobility. APAC is one of the biggest markets for connected devices

By Company Type : Tier 1 - 35%, Tier 2 - 39%, and Tier 3 - 26%

: Tier 1 - 35%, Tier 2 - 39%, and Tier 3 - 26% By Designation : C-level - 55%, Directors - 40%, and Others - 5%

: C-level - 55%, Directors - 40%, and Others - 5% By Region: North America - 38%, Europe - 40%, APAC - 21%, and Rest of the World (RoW)- 1%

Research coverage

The market study covers the 5G core market across different segments. It aims at estimating the market size and the growth potential of this market across different segments based on components (solutions and services), deployment models, end users, network functions, and region. The study also includes an in-depth competitive analysis of the key market players, along with their company profiles, key observations related to product and business offerings, recent developments, and key market strategies.

Direct Purchase of this Research Report at https://www.reportsnreports.com/purchase.aspx?name=4029798

Key benefits of buying the report

The report is expected to help the market leaders/new entrants in this market by providing them information on the closest approximations of the revenue numbers for the overall 5G core market and its segments. This report is also expected to help stakeholders understand the competitive landscape and gain insights to improve the position of their businesses and to plan suitable go-to-market strategies. The report also aims at helping stakeholders understand the pulse of the market and provide them with information on key market drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities.

Table Of Contents:

Introduction Research Methodology Executive Summary Premium Insights Market Overview 5G Core Market, By Component 5G Core Market Analysis, By Deployment Model 5G Core Market, By End User 5G Core Market, By Network Function 5G Core Market, By Region Competitive Landscape Company Profiles Adjacent/Related Markets

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PHOENIX, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / June 28, 2021 / Hiru Corporation (OTC PINK:HIRU), a Georgia corporation ('HIRU' or the 'Company'), has completed the acquisition of AZ Custom Bottled Water, Inc., a Nevada corporation ('AZ Water'), which owns and operates a 11,000 square foot state-of-the-art bottling and distribution facility located in Phoenix, Arizona which has been in production since 2007.

Ms. Kathryn Gavin (President and CEO the Company), states' The Company has made its initial acquisition. We acquired AZ Water in a simple equity exchange agreement. We felt like this transaction was an important to be the first acquisition for the Company as it clearly met our simple acquisition criteria: seasoned operations, cash flow positive financials, and in a high growth industry. Currently, we are focusing on business operations in the consumer bottled water market in the Southwest United States.'

The Company acquired AZ Water pursuant to an equity exchange agreement executed on Saturday, June 26, 2021 ('Agreement'). Pursuant to this Agreement, the Company acquired all outstanding equity of AZ Water, making it a wholly owned subsidiary, in exchange for 100,000,000 shares of Common Stock (Restricted) of the Company.

Ms. Gavin further stated'AZ Custom Bottled Water has been in operations since 2007 and currently operates out of a 11,000 square foot facility in Phoenix, Arizona. Its current bottling line is state of the art and as of the date of this press release, the 2021 revenue forecast (including purchase orders in hand) puts it on pace for a record setting year for the facility. To meet this increase demand for our products across both current and new clients we are building out a new second facility (12,500 Square Feet) with bottling line. Moving forward, we anticipate double digit revenue growth over the next couple years.'

AZ Water bottles water for convenience stores, major grocery stores, small business, and the federal government. It is currently upgrading its bottling line and building out new facilities (with bottling lines) to meet expected growth in demand due new large contracts and purchase orders received during the first half of 2021. AZ Water specializes in store brand delivery, office and home delivery, and custom bottle labeling for both small and large batch orders. AZ Water operates a B2C website at https://azcustombottledwater.com/.

Disclaimer Regarding Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements that we make may constitute 'forward-looking statements' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include information concerning future?strategic objectives, business prospects, anticipated savings, financial results (including expenses, earnings, liquidity, cash flow and capital expenditures), industry or market conditions, demand for and pricing of our products, acquisitions and divestitures, anticipated results of litigation and regulatory developments or general economic conditions.? In addition, words such as 'believes,' 'expects,' 'anticipates,' 'intends,' 'plans,' 'estimates,' 'projects,' 'forecasts,' and future or conditional verbs such as 'will,' 'may,' 'could,' 'should,' and 'would,' as well as any other statement that necessarily depends on future events, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees, and they involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. ?Although we make such statements based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable, there can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements.? We caution investors not to rely unduly on any forward-looking?statements.

ABOUT US

Hiru Corp. is a Georgia corporation, is a public quoted Pink Sheet issuer under the ticker symbol 'HIRU' (the 'Company'). The Company reports as an alternative reporting issuer with OTC Markets Group, Inc. and is current in its mandatory required filings (e.g., Pink Sheet Current). Currently, the Company has one wholly owned, operational subsidiary, AZ Custom Bottled Water, Inc., a Nevada corporation ('AZ Water'), which owns and operates a commercial water bottling and labeling facility based in Phoenix, Arizona. AZ Water operates a B2C website at https://azcustombottledwater.com/.

CONTACT:

3331 North 35th Avenue

Phoenix, Arizona 95107

Web Site: www.waterandiceshop.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hirucorp

Phone: 928-408-4486

Email: info@waterandiceshop.com

Contact: Kathryn Gavin, CEO

SOURCE: Hiru Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/653222/HIRU-CORPORATION--Acquisition-of-AZ-Custom-Bottled-Water
Oakville, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 28, 2021) - Cardiol Therapeutics Inc. (TSX: CRDL) (OTCQX: CRTPF) (FSE: CT9) ("Cardiol" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing innovative anti-inflammatory therapies for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, is pleased to announce that the Company's virtual Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders (the "AGM") will be webcast on June 29, 2021, at 4:30 p.m. EDT.

Cardiol Therapeutics 2021 AGM

When: June 29, 2021

4:30 p.m. EDT

Where: Virtual meeting only via live audio webcast online at: web.lumiagm.com/448532842

Additional information on the AGM, including details on how to participate and vote, is available on the Company's website at cardiolrx.com/investors/events-presentations/.

About Cardiol Therapeutics

Cardiol Therapeutics Inc. (TSX: CRDL) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the research and clinical development of innovative anti-inflammatory therapies for the treatment of cardiovascular disease ("CVD"). The Company's lead product, CardiolRx, is a pharmaceutically produced oral cannabidiol formulation that is being investigated in a Phase II/III outcomes study in hospitalized patients testing positive for the COVID-19 virus. This potentially registrational trial is designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of CardiolRx as a cardioprotective therapy to reduce mortality and major cardiovascular events in COVID-19 patients who have a prior history of, or risk factors for, CVD, and to investigate the influence CardiolRx has on key markers of inflammatory heart disease.

Cardiol is also planning to file an investigational new drug ("IND") application for a Phase II international trial that will investigate the anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic properties of CardiolRx in patients with acute myocarditis, which remains the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in people under 35 years of age. In addition, Cardiol is developing a subcutaneous formulation of CardiolRx and other anti-inflammatory therapies for the treatment of chronic heart failure - a leading cause of death and hospitalization in North America, with associated annual healthcare costs in the U.S. alone exceeding $30 billion.

For more information about Cardiol Therapeutics, please visit cardiolrx.com.

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking information:

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events, or developments that Cardiol believes, expects, or anticipates will, may, could or might occur in the future are "forward-looking information." Forward looking information contained herein may include, but is not limited to, statements relating to the Company's focus on developing innovative anti-inflammatory therapies for the treatment of CVD and the fact that Cardiol plans to file an IND application. Forward-looking information contained herein reflects the current expectations or beliefs of Cardiol based on information currently available to it and is subject to a variety of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual events or results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information, and are not (and should not be considered to be) guarantees of future performance. These risks and uncertainties and other factors include the risks and uncertainties referred to in the Company's Annual Information Form dated March 31, 2021, as well as the risks and uncertainties associated with product commercialization and clinical studies. These risks, uncertainties and other factors should be considered carefully, and investors should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information. Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Cardiol disclaims any intent or obligation to update or revise such forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

For further information, please contact:

David Elsley, President & CEO +1-289-910-0850

david.elsley@cardiolrx.com

Trevor Burns, Investor Relations +1-289-910-0855

trevor.burns@cardiolrx.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/88872


CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Australian and NZ dollars depreciated in the European session on Monday, as surging COVID-19 cases across Asia and associated restrictions dampened investor sentiment at the start of trading week.



Australia's largest city, Sydney, moved to a two-week lockdown on Saturday due to concerns over the Delta variant virus cases.



Malaysia will extend a lockdown that was set to expire today, while Thailand implemented tough lockdown measures in the capital Bangkok and other provinces as the current curbs failed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.



In the U.K, coronavirus cases involving the Delta variant are rising, prompting European nations such as Spain and Portugal to impose new restrictions on travelers.



Investors await more clues about the outlook for monetary policy from speeches from Fed officials, as well as key data on U.S. employment.



The kiwi dipped to 5-day lows of 77.99 versus the yen and 0.7033 against the greenback, off its prior highs of 78.42 and 0.7086, respectively. Next likely support for the kiwi is seen around 76.00 against the yen and 0.68 against the greenback.



The kiwi depreciated to a 4-day low of 1.0751 against the aussie and a 5-day low of 1.6943 versus the euro, reversing from its early more than a 3-week high of 1.0713 and near a 3-week high of 1.6847, respectively. If the kiwi slides further, it may find support around 1.09 against the aussie and 1.71 against the euro.



The aussie was lower against the yen and the greenback, touching 5-day lows of 83.82 and 0.7557, respectively. This followed the currency's early rises to 84.16 against the yen and 0.7602 against the greenback. On the downside, 82 and 0.72 are possibly seen as its next support levels against the yen and the greenback, respectively.



The aussie weakened to a 5-day low of 0.9305 against the loonie and a 4-day low of 1.5763 against the euro, down from its previous high of 0.9347 and near a 2-week high of 1.5700, respectively. The aussie is likely to test support around 0.92 against the loonie and 1.62 against the euro.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Alcon (SIX/NYSE: ALC), the global leader in eye care dedicated to helping people see brilliantly, today announced changes to its Executive Committee of Alcon (ECA). Changes take effect September 1, 2021.

Ian Bell, currently President, International, and a member of the ECA, is named President, Global Business Innovation. Michael Onuscheck, current President, Global Business Innovation, and a member of the ECA, will be stepping down from his roles at the Company.

Raj Narayanan, Senior Vice President, Operational Strategy and Chief Transformation Officer, and a member of the ECA, will succeed Ian Bell as President, International.

Sue-Jean Lin, Senior Vice President Chief Information Officer, will be appointed as Senior Vice President,Chief Information Transformation Officer and will add oversight of Alcon's Transformation program to her remit. She will also become a member of the ECA.

"We are excited to have Ian's leadership advancing our innovation agenda, where he can bring his deep industry experience and International successes to drive our portfolio decision making," said David Endicott, Chief Executive Officer at Alcon. "Ian's passion for seeking customer insights that inform our product development will continue to be a core characteristic of Alcon's strength."

"On behalf of everyone at Alcon, I want to thank Michael for his leadership in building our Global Business and Innovation team, which has advanced one of the strongest pipelines in eye care," said Mr. Endicott. "It has been a privilege to work with the Alcon team over the past six years to build an industry leader," said Mr. Onuscheck. "I am proud of the work we have done to create value for our customers and improve patients' lives."

"We are also pleased that Raj has agreed to lead our International business. His significant commercial experience in both Europe and Asia, and his success establishing our Transformation program, make him the natural successor to Ian," said Mr. Endicott. "We are equally thrilled to welcome Sue-Jean to the Executive Committee. She has made tremendous contributions to date, including successfully separating Alcon's systems and processes in our stand up as an independent public company. Her deep understanding of our ways of working will continue to advance our transformation agenda."

"We are emerging from COVID-19 as an even stronger company and are inspired by the significant opportunities we have to advance the frontiers of sight. These changes will allow us to further accelerate our growth while continuing to advance our purpose of helping people see brilliantly."

The ECA will remain with seven committee members and effective September 1, will be comprised of the following members: David Endicott, Laurent Attias, Ian Bell, Sergio Duplan, Sue-Jean Lin, Raj Narayanan, and Tim Stonesifer.

About the ECA

The ECA, led by Chief Executive David Endicott, is a governing body responsible for the overall management of Alcon. The ECA prepares and, upon approval of the Board, implements corporate policies, strategies and strategic plans. The ECA also coordinates Alcon's various functions to achieve its business targets and ensures the efficient operation of the Alcon business, managing its use of capital and financial resources. The ECA prepares and submits quarterly and annual financial reports for the attention and approval of the Board or its Committees and keeps the Board informed of all matters of fundamental significance to the business.

Executive Bios

Ian Bell is currently President, International, overseeing Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific, China, Japan and Latin America and is a member of the ECA. He joined Alcon in March 2016 as President of EMEA. He brings extensive international, sales, marketing and strategy experience having served most recently in a senior role at Hospira Inc.

Raj Narayanan is currently Senior Vice President, Operational Strategy and Chief Transformation Officer, and a member of the ECA. He joined Alcon in June 2017 as President, Asia Pacific Region from Allergan, Inc., where he worked for 22 years in roles of increasing responsibility, in multiple international markets.

Sue-Jean Lin is currently Senior Vice President Chief Information Officer for Alcon and a member of the Executive Leadership Team. She joined Alcon in August of 2018. Sue-Jean brings extensive IT and Digital leadership experience having served most recently in senior roles at Hill-Rom, a global medical technology company.

Additional Information

Information regarding the Executive Committee of Alcon and the members of the Committee can be found online at Alcon's Investor Relations website, or by clicking on the link: https://investor.alcon.com/governance/executive-committee/default.aspx

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as: "anticipate," "intend," "commitment," "look forward," "maintain," "plan," "goal," "seek," "believe," "project," "estimate," "expect," "strategy," "future," "likely," "may," "should," "will" and similar references to future periods.

Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties and risks that are difficult to predict. Some of these factors are discussed in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. Should one or more of these uncertainties or risks materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date they are made, and we assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

ABOUT ALCON

Alcon helps people see brilliantly. As the global leader in eye care with a heritage spanning more than seven decades, we offer the broadest portfolio of products to enhance sight and improve people's lives. Our Surgical and Vision Care products touch the lives of more than 260 million people in over 140 countries each year living with conditions like cataracts, glaucoma, retinal diseases and refractive errors. Our more than 23,000 associates are enhancing the quality of life through innovative products, partnerships with eye care professionals and programs that advance access to quality eye care. Learn more at www.alcon.com.

Connect with us on

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View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005615/en/

Contacts:

Investor Relations

Christina Cheng

+ 41 589 112 110 (Geneva)

+ 1 817 615 2789 (Fort Worth)

investor.relations@alcon.com

Media Relations

Wes Warnock

+ 41 589 112 111 (Geneva)

+ 1 817 615 2501 (Fort Worth)

globalmedia.relations@alcon.com
Regulatory News:

Alcon (SIX/NYSE: ALC), the global leader in eye care dedicated to helping people see brilliantly, today announced changes to its Executive Committee of Alcon (ECA). Changes take effect September 1, 2021.

Ian Bell, currently President, International, and a member of the ECA, is named President, Global Business Innovation. Michael Onuscheck, current President, Global Business Innovation, and a member of the ECA, will be stepping down from his roles at the Company.

Raj Narayanan, Senior Vice President, Operational Strategy and Chief Transformation Officer, and a member of the ECA, will succeed Ian Bell as President, International.

Sue-Jean Lin, Senior Vice President Chief Information Officer, will be appointed as Senior Vice President,Chief Information Transformation Officer and will add oversight of Alcon's Transformation program to her remit. She will also become a member of the ECA.

"We are excited to have Ian's leadership advancing our innovation agenda, where he can bring his deep industry experience and International successes to drive our portfolio decision making," said David Endicott, Chief Executive Officer at Alcon. "Ian's passion for seeking customer insights that inform our product development will continue to be a core characteristic of Alcon's strength."

"On behalf of everyone at Alcon, I want to thank Michael for his leadership in building our Global Business and Innovation team, which has advanced one of the strongest pipelines in eye care," said Mr. Endicott. "It has been a privilege to work with the Alcon team over the past six years to build an industry leader," said Mr. Onuscheck. "I am proud of the work we have done to create value for our customers and improve patients' lives."

"We are also pleased that Raj has agreed to lead our International business. His significant commercial experience in both Europe and Asia, and his success establishing our Transformation program, make him the natural successor to Ian," said Mr. Endicott. "We are equally thrilled to welcome Sue-Jean to the Executive Committee. She has made tremendous contributions to date, including successfully separating Alcon's systems and processes in our stand up as an independent public company. Her deep understanding of our ways of working will continue to advance our transformation agenda."

"We are emerging from COVID-19 as an even stronger company and are inspired by the significant opportunities we have to advance the frontiers of sight. These changes will allow us to further accelerate our growth while continuing to advance our purpose of helping people see brilliantly."

The ECA will remain with seven committee members and effective September 1, will be comprised of the following members: David Endicott, Laurent Attias, Ian Bell, Sergio Duplan, Sue-Jean Lin, Raj Narayanan, and Tim Stonesifer.

About the ECA

The ECA, led by Chief Executive David Endicott, is a governing body responsible for the overall management of Alcon. The ECA prepares and, upon approval of the Board, implements corporate policies, strategies and strategic plans. The ECA also coordinates Alcon's various functions to achieve its business targets and ensures the efficient operation of the Alcon business, managing its use of capital and financial resources. The ECA prepares and submits quarterly and annual financial reports for the attention and approval of the Board or its Committees and keeps the Board informed of all matters of fundamental significance to the business.

Executive Bios

Ian Bell is currently President, International, overseeing Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific, China, Japan and Latin America and is a member of the ECA. He joined Alcon in March 2016 as President of EMEA. He brings extensive international, sales, marketing and strategy experience having served most recently in a senior role at Hospira Inc.

Raj Narayanan is currently Senior Vice President, Operational Strategy and Chief Transformation Officer, and a member of the ECA. He joined Alcon in June 2017 as President, Asia Pacific Region from Allergan, Inc., where he worked for 22 years in roles of increasing responsibility, in multiple international markets.

Sue-Jean Lin is currently Senior Vice President Chief Information Officer for Alcon and a member of the Executive Leadership Team. She joined Alcon in August of 2018. Sue-Jean brings extensive IT and Digital leadership experience having served most recently in senior roles at Hill-Rom, a global medical technology company.

Additional Information

Information regarding the Executive Committee of Alcon and the members of the Committee can be found online at Alcon's Investor Relations website, or by clicking on the link: https://investor.alcon.com/governance/executive-committee/default.aspx

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as: "anticipate," "intend," "commitment," "look forward," "maintain," "plan," "goal," "seek," "believe," "project," "estimate," "expect," "strategy," "future," "likely," "may," "should," "will" and similar references to future periods.

Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties and risks that are difficult to predict. Some of these factors are discussed in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. Should one or more of these uncertainties or risks materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date they are made, and we assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

ABOUT ALCON

Alcon helps people see brilliantly. As the global leader in eye care with a heritage spanning more than seven decades, we offer the broadest portfolio of products to enhance sight and improve people's lives. Our Surgical and Vision Care products touch the lives of more than 260 million people in over 140 countries each year living with conditions like cataracts, glaucoma, retinal diseases and refractive errors. Our more than 23,000 associates are enhancing the quality of life through innovative products, partnerships with eye care professionals and programs that advance access to quality eye care. Learn more at www.alcon.com.

Connect with us on

Facebook

LinkedIn

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005620/en/

Contacts:

Investor Relations

Christina Cheng

+ 41 589 112 110 (Geneva)

+ 1 817 615 2789 (Fort Worth)

investor.relations@alcon.com

Media Relations

Wes Warnock

+ 41 589 112 111 (Geneva)

+ 1 817 615 2501 (Fort Worth)

globalmedia.relations@alcon.com
'The International Business Brokers Association (IBBA) has announced this year's Member Excellence Award recipients in recognition of their exceptional achievements in 2020.'

LAS VEGAS, NV / ACCESSWIRE / June 28, 2021 / Founded in 1994, First Choice Business Brokers is a business brokerage that has fast risen to become the largest Business Sales Organization in Nevada. First Choice Business Brokers has grown into a family of over a hundred brokers and agents nationwide. They assist their clients in the buying and selling of businesses in the most professional and effective manner possible.

Trent Lee, a business broker, and an agent of First Choice Business Brokers has been named as the #1 Business Broker in the US for 3 Years in Row. The award was given to Mr. Lee as the person who sold the greatest number of qualified businesses in 2020.

As stated by the IBBA Executive Director, Kylene Golubski, '2020 presented many unique challenges, yet these individuals rose to the occasion and delivered impressive results.' She also continued by explaining the importance of Business brokers; 'Business Brokers support the health of small businesses and communities worldwide, and these award recipients are among our industry's best.'

'This year's recipients are especially impressive given the results they achieved despite the challenges posed by COVID,' said IBBA Board Chair and Chief Governance Office Lisa Riley. 'Their achievements are not only a testament to their skill and competence as Business Brokers but also to their adaptability, fortitude and client dedication.'

Trent Lee has shown his commitment to helping buyers and seller with their business and his online reviews support his most recent award. According to him, 'My expertise and can-do attitude will help you sell your business for its maximum value, and as quickly as possible. I am always working with many qualified buyers looking for businesses just like yours. Our services will allow you to focus on running your business throughout the sales process. You can leave the time-consuming and highly confidential process of identifying the right buyer, negotiating the best deal and getting to the closing table to me. '

Trent plays the primary role of a fiduciary (meaning a position of trust) for the business owner and/or new buyer. As a licensed Las Vegas business broker, licensed in Real Estate, Harvard educated, as well as a certified business appraiser, he uses the knowledge and skills he has acquired to become the one of the most educated, accomplished and successful business brokers in the United States.

First Choice Business Brokers is a well-positioned member of the Institute of Business Appraisers, International Business Brokers Association, and a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. Their agents help their clients in the process of selling their businesses. They evaluate the business, find the right buyer and manage the sale for their clients at no cost until a deal is closed. All this is done while maintaining Confidentiality.

ABOUT TRENT LEE

Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, Trent Lee is a business broker who has been named the #1 business broker in the country three years in a row. In addition, he is the recipient of this year's IBBA's award as the #1 business broker in the country for the most closed transactions.

According to the IBBA, not only did Trent set a record for the number of closed transactions, but no one in IBBA history has been the #1 business broker in the country three years in a row. To close more deals than anyone other business brokers in the country is a feat in and of itself, but to do so three years running has never been done before this. Trent sets a new standard and is positioning himself as possibly one of, if not the undisputed, single best business broker in the industry.

He is a committed and licensed professional keeping with his vision of helping others sell their businesses in integrity, accountability, and all sense of responsibility

CONTACT DETAILS

Name: Trent Lee

Business Name: First Choice Business Brokers

Address: 5420 W Sahara Ave #201 Las Vegas, NV 89146 United States

Phone: 702-505-2789

Email: trent@fcbb.com

Website: https://sellbusinessinlasvegas.com/

SOURCE: First Choice Business Brokers

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/653370/First-Choice-Business-Brokers-Trent-Lee-has-set-a-New-Record-for-the-Number-of-Closed-Deals
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 28, 2021) - Satori Resources Inc. (TSXV: BUD) ("Satori" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has closed its private placement offering for gross proceeds totaling $1,714,350. The Company issued 10,450,000 flow through common shares at a price of $0.135, and 2,760,000 common shares at a price of $0.11 per share.

The funds will be allocated primarily toward drilling activities in the vicinity of the existing mine infrastructure at the Tartan Lake Gold Mine Project, Flin Flon, Manitoba, follow up geophysical analyses, a summer ground reconnaissance program to test underexplored targets, and for general working capital.

In connection with this closing, the Company paid cash finders' fees totaling $100,911 to eligible finders. All of the securities issuable in connection with the offering are subject to a hold period expiring four months and one day after date of issuance.

Pete Shippen, Chairman, states "We would like to thank our shareholders for the continued support of our Company through this financing. Our existing stakeholders formed an overwhelming majority of this Private Placement and share our belief in the upside potential at Tartan Lake."

AOUT SATORI RESOURCES INC. (TSXV: BUD)

Satori is a Toronto-based mineral exploration and development company whose primary property is the past producing Tartan Lake Gold Mine Project, located in the prolific Flin Flon Greenstone Belt, Manitoba. Satori also holds a 100% interest in the New Delhi Project, an advanced polymetallic gold project in the Sudbury Mining District, Ontario.

The Tartan Lake Project (2,670 Ha.) is located approximately 12 kilometres northeast of Flin Flon, Manitoba, and includes the Tartan Lake Mine (1986-1989); which produced 36,000 ounces of gold from 250,000 tonnes of ore feed. Remaining infrastructure includes: all season access road, grid connected power supply, mill, mechanical, warehouse and office buildings, tailing impoundment and a 2,100 metre decline and developed underground mining galleries to a depth of 300 metres from surface. Gold mineralization is associated with anastomosing quartz-carbonate veins hosted in east-west striking, steeply dipping shear zones up to 30 metres in width. The veins vary from several centimetres to several metres in width and gold grades vary from 1.0 to +100 g/t. Mineralization at the mine is currently drill limited and open at depth.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Jennifer Boyle, B.A., LL.B.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Satori Resources Inc.

(416) 904-2714

jennifer@capexgroupinc.com

Mr. Pete Shippen

Chair, Satori Resources Inc.

(416) 930-7711

pjs@extramedium.ca

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

CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release of Satori contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Satori's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

THIS PRESS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/88915
TORONTO, ON and NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 28, 2021 / GlobeX Data Ltd. (OTCQB:SWISF)(CSE:SWIS)(FRA:GDT) ("GlobeX" or the "Company"), the leader in Swiss hosted secure communications and secure data management, is pleased to report that it has been published on Stockhouse as part of a general product marketing the commercial launch of its SekurMessenger Swiss hosted messaging security and privacy solution in Latin America.

The Article can be seen here: The New Wave of Privacy and Cyber Security Lands in Latin America

GlobeX Data and America Movil are looking at offering a secure and private alternative to other non-secure and non-private messaging applications. The market is geared primarily for business and government users, and privacy conscious consumers. According information published on America Movi's website , Telcel is the largest mobile operator in Mexico, with over 75 million mobile subscribers. America Movil (NYSE:AMX) is the 7 th largest telecom operator in the world with over 277 million mobile subscribers in over 20 countries throughout Latin America and Europe.

Recent data breaches in messaging applications and in particular in the WhatsApp application have created a certain urgency for businesses and data privacy advocates to protect their communications form cyber-attacks and identity theft via mobile and desktop devices.

SekurMessenger eliminates many of the privacy and security risks by not only not requiring a phone number, which would divulge a user's phone device ID, but also by not social engineering a user's phone or computer contact list and infecting the contacts by default as well, eliminating a huge loophole in security and privacy. SekurMessenger issue each user a username and a SM number. The SM number is the contact ID a user would disclose in order for other SM users to be added. As the Introduction Video demonstrates, the service comes with a self-destruct timer and other features as well, including GlobeX's proprietary VirtualVaults and HeliX technologies with all data stored in Swiss hosted encrypted servers.

Additionally, SekurMessenger now comes with a proprietary feature and technology called Chat by Invites. This feature allows a SekurMessenger user ("SM user") invite a non-SM user, or a group of non-SM users, to chat in a fully private and secure way, without the recipient ever having to register to SekurMessenger or download the app. At the end of the chat, the initiator of the conversation can remotely terminate the conversation and all traces of the conversation are deleted from all users, including the recipient. This unique feature is now fully deployed and functional on all iOS and Android devices and web platforms. The target sectors are numerous, including but not limited to real estate, legal, financial, government, energy, mining, manufacturing, trade and medical sectors.

GlobeX's Data privacy solutions are all hosted in Switzerland, protecting users' data from any outside data intrusion requests. In Switzerland, the right to privacy is guaranteed in article 13 of the Swiss Federal Constitution. The Federal Act on Data Protection ("FADP") of 19 June 1992 (in force since 1993) has set up a strict protection of privacy by prohibiting virtually any processing of personal data which is not expressly authorized by the data subjects. The protection is subject to the authority of the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.

Under Swiss federal law, it is a crime to publish information based on leaked "secret official discussions." In 2010 the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland found that IP addresses are personal information and that under Swiss privacy laws they may not be used to track Internet usage without the knowledge of the individuals involved.

About GlobeX Data Ltd.

GlobeX Data Ltd. is a Cybersecurity and Internet privacy provider of Swiss hosted solutions for secure communications and secure data management. The Company distributes a suite of secure encrypted e-mails, and secure communication tools, secure cloud-based storage, disaster recovery and document management. GlobeX Data Ltd. sells its products through its approved wholesalers and distributors, and telecommunications companies worldwide. GlobeX Data Ltd. serves consumers, businesses and governments worldwide.

On behalf of Management

GLOBEX DATA LTD.

Alain Ghiai

President and Chief Executive Officer

+1.416.644.8690

corporate@globexdatagroup.com

For more information, please visit us at https://globexdata.com .

For more information on Sekur visit us at: https://www.sekur.com .

Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws ('forward-looking statements'). All statements other than statements of present or historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as 'anticipate', 'achieve', 'could', 'believe', 'plan', 'intend', 'objective', 'continuous', 'ongoing', 'estimate', 'outlook', 'expect', 'project' and similar words, including negatives thereof, suggesting future outcomes or that certain events or conditions 'may' or 'will' occur. These statements are only predictions. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guaranteeing future performance. GlobeX cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond GlobeX's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the future of the Company's business; the success of marketing and sales efforts of the Company; the projections prepared in house and projections delivered by channel partners; the Company's ability to complete the necessary software updates; increases in sales as a result of investments software development technology; consumer interest in the Products; future sales plans and strategies; reliance on large channel partners and expectations of renewals to ongoing agreements with these partners; anticipated events and trends; the economy and other future conditions; and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in GlobeX's prospectus dated May 8, 2019 filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and available on www.sedar.com. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, GlobeX undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

SOURCE: GlobeX Data Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/653406/GlobeX-Datas-Sekur-Latin-American-Launch-Featured-in-Stockhouse-Article
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil prices drifted lower on Monday, dragging the most active crude futures contract to its lowest close in more than a week. Concerns about outlook for energy demand following new travel restrictions in some European countries, including Germany, Spain and Portugal, and fresh lockdown moves in Australia amid concerns over the spread of the delta variant of Covid-19 weighed on oil prices. Traders were also a bit reluctant to create fresh long positions ahead of the upcoming meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, due this Thursday. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down by $1.14 or about 1.5% at $72.91 a barrel, the lowest close since June 18. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect OPEC+ to raise their collective output levels by another 550,000 barrels per day (bpd) in August. Data showing a slowdown in China's industrial profits growth raised concerns about oil demand from the world's second largest economy. Traders also noted the developments on the geopolitical front. The U.S. carried out airstrikes against Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria on Sunday, in response to drone attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq. The strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, the Pentagon said. The Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, described the airstrikes as 'defensive'. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Combined Company to Commence Trading on the New York Stock Exchange Under "IS" Ticker on June 29, 2021

TEL AVIV, Israel and SAN FRANCISCO, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ironSource, a leading business platform that enables mobile content creators to prosper within the App Economy, and Thoma Bravo Advantage (NYSE: TBA), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, today announced the completion of their previously-announced business combination. ironSource has been approved for trading on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") on June 29, 2021 under the ticker symbol "IS." As previously announced, Thoma Bravo Advantage shareholders approved the transaction at the Extraordinary General Meeting on June 22, 2021.

The transaction included $2.15 billion in cash proceeds, including an oversubscribed PIPE of $1.3 billion and funds from the trust account of Thoma Bravo Advantage. With the conclusion of the business combination, ironSource received approximately $660 million of cash proceeds following payment of transaction expenses to fuel its growth and further its market leadership. Tomer Bar Zeev, CEO and co-founder of ironSource, and ironSource's founder-led management team, will continue to lead the combined company. Orlando Bravo, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Thoma Bravo Advantage, as well as a founder and managing partner of Thoma Bravo, L.P., will join the ironSource Board of Directors effective as of the closing of the business combination.

"Today marks an important step for ironSource as a leading platform for global app and game developers, and we are excited to enter the public markets and continue to advance our platform and our vision for the company and the App Economy," said Tomer Bar Zeev, CEO and co-founder of ironSource. "We are proud to achieve this milestone, which is a testament to the strength of our platform, and we look forward to our future as a public company. I am grateful to the ironSource team for all their hard work, which has brought us to this pivotal moment, and for the unparalleled support of our partner Thoma Bravo Advantage."

"ironSource presents a highly compelling investment opportunity due to its unique combination of scale, superior growth rate, and strong EBITDA margins - as well as its standing as one of the most widely-used platforms in the App Economy," said Orlando Bravo. "The ironSource team has a demonstrated track record of developing innovative products that drive tremendous value to its rapidly-expanding customer base. I'm thrilled to partner with Tomer and the talented ironSource team to build upon the company's leadership position in its fast growing, $40 billion market."

To celebrate the completion of the merger, ironSource's management team will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange at 9:30 am ET on June 29, 2021. A live stream of the event and replay can be accessed by visiting nyse.com/bell.

Advisors

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Jefferies LLC and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. served as financial advisors to ironSource and as placement agents in the PIPE, and Latham & Watkins LLP and Meitar Law Offices served as legal advisors to ironSource. Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Goldfarb Seligman & Co. and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP served as legal advisors to Thoma Bravo Advantage.

About ironSource

ironSource is a leading business platform that enables mobile content creators to prosper within the App Economy. App developers use ironSource's platform to turn their apps into successful, scalable businesses, leveraging a comprehensive set of software solutions which help them grow and engage users, monetize content, and analyze and optimize business performance to drive more overall growth. The ironSource platform also empowers telecom operators to create a richer device experience, incorporating relevant app and service recommendations to engage users throughout the lifecycle of the device. By providing a comprehensive business platform for the core constituents of the App Economy, ironSource allows customers to focus on what they do best, creating great apps and user experiences, while we enable their business expansion in the App Economy. For more information please visit www.is.com

About Thoma Bravo Advantage

Thoma Bravo Advantage is a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company for the purposes of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. Its Class A ordinary shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "TBA." Thoma Bravo Advantage is sponsored by Thoma Bravo Advantage Sponsor LLC, which was formed by individuals affiliated with Thoma Bravo, a leading private equity firm focused on the software and technology-enabled software services sector. Thoma Bravo Advantage was formed for the purpose of executing a business combination in the software industry.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws with respect to the business combination transaction between Thoma Bravo Advantage ("TBA") and ironSource Ltd. ("ironSource"). All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this communication, including statements regarding ironSource's, TBA's or the combined company's future financial position, business strategy and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "could," "intends," "targets," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential" or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, ironSource's or TBA's expectations concerning the outlook for their or the combined company's business, productivity, plans and goals for future operational improvements and capital investments, operational performance, future market conditions or economic performance and developments in the capital and credit markets and expected future financial performance, as well as any information concerning possible or assumed future results of operations of the combined company. Forward-looking statements also include statements regarding the expected benefits of the proposed transaction between ironSource and TBA.

Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and actual results or events may differ materially from those projected or implied in those statements. Important factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (i) the effect of the transaction on ironSource's business relationships, performance, and business generally; (ii) risks that the transaction disrupts current plans of ironSource and potential difficulties in ironSource employee retention as a result of the transaction; (iii) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against ironSource or against TBA related to the merger agreement or the transaction; (iv) volatility in the price of the combined company's securities due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive industry in which ironSource operates, variations in performance across competitors, changes in laws and regulations affecting ironSource's business and changes in the combined capital structure; (v) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations after the completion of the transaction, and to identify and realize additional opportunities; (vi) ironSource's markets are rapidly evolving and may decline or experience limited growth; (vii) ironSource's reliance on operating system providers and app stores to support its platform; (viii) ironSource's ability to compete effectively in the markets in which it operates; (ix) ironSource's quarterly results of operations may fluctuate for a variety of reasons; (x) failure to maintain and enhance the ironSource brand; (xi) ironSource's dependence on its ability to retain and expand its existing customer relationships and attract new customers; (xii) ironSource's reliance on its customers that contribute more than $100,000 of annual revenue; (xiii) ironSource's ability to successfully and efficiently manage its current and potential future growth; (xiv) ironSource's dependence upon the continued growth of the app economy and the increased usage of smartphones, tablets and other connected devices; (xv) ironSource's dependence upon the success of the gaming and mobile app ecosystem and the risks generally associated with the gaming industry; (xvi) ironSource's, and ironSource's competitors', ability to detect or prevent fraud on its platforms; (xvii) failure to prevent security breaches or unauthorized access to ironSource's or its third-party service providers data; (xviii) the global scope of ironSource's operations, which are subject to laws and regulations worldwide, many of which are unsettled and still developing; (xix) the rapidly changing and increasingly stringent laws, contractual obligations and industry standards relating to privacy, data protection, data security and the protection of children; and (xx) the effects of health epidemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

ironSource and TBA caution you against placing undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect current beliefs and are based on information currently available as of the date a forward-looking statement is made. Forward-looking statements set forth herein speak only as of the date of this communication. Neither ironSource nor TBA undertakes any obligation to revise forward-looking statements to reflect future events, changes in circumstances, or changes in beliefs. In the event that any forward-looking statement is updated, no inference should be made that ironSource or TBA will make additional updates with respect to that statement, related matters, or any other forward-looking statements. Any corrections or revisions and other important assumptions and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements, including discussions of significant risk factors, may appear in ironSource's public filings with the SEC, which are or will be (as appropriate) accessible at www.sec.gov, and which you are advised to consult.

Market, ranking and industry data used throughout this communication, including statements regarding market size and technology adoption rates, is based on the good faith estimates of ironSource's management, which in turn are based upon ironSource's management's review of internal surveys, independent industry surveys and publications, including reports by Altman Solon, App Annie, AppsFlyer, Apptopia, eMarketer, Newzoo, Omdia and Sensor Tower and other third-party research and publicly available information. These data involve a number of assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such estimates. While ironSource is not aware of any misstatements regarding the industry data presented herein, its estimates involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change based on various factors, including those discussed above.

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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Shares of social networking giant Facebook Inc. (FB) gained over 4% on Monday after a federal judge dismissed anti-trust lawsuit filed against the company.



U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington dismissed the complaints filed last year by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general led by New York's Letitia James. The complaint was seeking to break Facebook's monopoly in social networking, which could have resulted in divestiture of Instagram and WhatsApp.



In the complaint, FTC and the states had claimed that Facebook violated antitrust laws by buying photo-sharing app Instagram and messaging service WhatsApp to eliminate any competition and continue its monopoly.



However, in the filing, the court states that the FTC did not prove Facebook controls over 60 percent of the market -a monopoly.



'Although the Court does not agree with all of Facebook's contentions here, it ultimately concurs that the agency's Complaint is legally insufficient and must therefore be dismissed,' reads the filing from U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. 'The FTC has failed to plead enough facts to plausibly establish a necessary element of all of its Section 2 claims -- namely, that Facebook has monopoly power in the market for Personal Social Networking (PSN) Services.'



Facebook, which was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in his dorm room in 2004, has recently found itself under siege by American regulators and politicians, who want to keep the company under a tight rein. Facebook boasts of nearly 2.85 billion monthly active users as of the first quarter of 2021, while Instagram has nearly 1.074 billion users worldwide and WhatsApp is reported to have more than 2 billion monthly active users globally.



'The Court agrees that the first - the possession of monopoly power in the market for Personal Social Networking Services (as defined by the agency) - is not adequately pleaded here,' the filing reads. 'No more is needed to conclude that the Complaint must be dismissed.'



The FTC has until July 29 to file an amended complaint.



Following the ruling, the social media giant's market cap breached the $1 trillion milestone for the first time.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

FACEBOOK-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 28, 2021) - Ameriwest Lithium Inc. (CSE: AWLI) (FSE: 5HV0) (the "Company" or "Ameriwest") is pleased to announce the appointment of Graeme Wright as the Company's new Chief Financial Officer and Gregory Bell to the Company's Advisory Board.

David Watkinson, the Company's CEO, stated: "Ameriwest is very fortunate to have appointed two seasoned professionals. Mr. Wright's experience and leadership will be crucial to the development of Ameriwest. While, Mr. Bell's experience as an experienced mining engineer can prove essential in identifying additional high potential lithium projects and the success of our exploration programs. Mr. Bell's expertise in Hydrology and groundwater management provides a layer of expertise that is key for development of lithium brine projects."

Graeme Wright

Mr. Wright has over 35 years of financial management, consulting and accounting experience involving a wide range of industries. Mr. Wright has held Vice President of Finance and Administration positions in various Vancouver-based technology companies, one of which, Healthpricer Interactive Limited, was a publicly traded company. Mr. Wright's contribution was critical to the and sale of Healthpricer and the spin out and privatization of its operating subsidiary.

Mr. Wright graduated from the University of Toronto with a bachelor's degree in commerce, majoring in Accounting and Economics, and received his initial training at PricewatehouseCoopers.

Greg Bell

Mr. Bell is the first appointee to Ameriwest's Advisory Board. Mr. Bell is a multi-disciplined engineering management professional with more than 30 years experience in the natural resources sector. He has successfully built and managed several start-up operations in various capacities as project engineer, project manager, chief technology officer, president or managing member.

Previously, Mr. Bell analyzed the lithium from oil-field brines potential of the Bashaw property in central Alberta for Fathom Nickel prior to it becoming part of E3 Metals Clearwater Project. He has also explored for lithium and cobalt deposits in many parts of the western U.S.

Mr. Bell has B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the Universities of Colorado and Wyoming. He is a Professional Engineer registered in the states of Arizona and Utah, and is a Certified Groundwater Professional recognized by the National Groundwater Association.

In conjunction with Mr. Wright's appointment, the Company has now entered into a Financial Consulting Services Agreement with Mr. Wright which includes, as partial compensation to Mr. Wright thereunder, the granting of a fully vested stock option to acquire up to 100,000 common shares of the Company at an exercise price of $0.87 per common share for a period of two years from the date of grant.

As partial consideration for the services being provided under his Consulting Services Agreement, the Company has now granted Mr. Bell a fully vested stock option to acquire up to 100,000 common shares of the Company at an exercise price of $0.87 per common share for a period of two years from the date of grant.

In connection with the Company's search for and appointment of Mr. Wright, the Company would like to thank Sam Eskandari, a director of the Company, for his valuable contribution as the interim Chief Financial Officer.

About Ameriwest Lithium Inc.

Ameriwest Lithium Inc. is a Canadian-based exploration company with a focus on identifying strategic lithium mineral resource projects for exploration and development. The Company is currently focused on exploring the Deer Musk East Property, located in the prolific Clayton Valley, Nevada, totaling 5,500 acres, and the Railroad Valley property, totaling 6,163 acres.

Additionally, Ameriwest's current resource portfolio includes the ESN Project, located in White Pine County, Nevada, and the Koster Dam property, located in the Clinton Mining Division of British Columbia, in which Ameriwest has a 45% interest.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Glenn Collick

Chief Operating Officer, Director

For further information, please contact:

Glenn Collick

Chief Operating Officer, Director

(778) 868-2226

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not in any way passed upon the merits of the matters and Private Placement referenced herein and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "intend", "should", and similar expressions. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information as a result of regulatory decisions, competitive factors in the industries in which the Company operates, prevailing economic conditions, changes to the Company's strategic growth plans, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information should not be unduly relied upon. Any forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the Company's expectations as of the date hereof, and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities legislation.

Not for distribution to U.S. Newswire Services or for dissemination in the United States. Any failure to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of U.S. Securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/88958
Is your graduate headed to college, joining the military or headed into the workforce? Tell us all about it!
Qualcomm has been expanding its 5G technology with new additionals lately and in similar lines today at an event in Barcelona, the company has announced its 2nd generation 5G RAN (Radio Access Network) Platform for Small Cells and has also introduced a new 5G Distributed Unit Accelerator Card.

The 5G RAN Platform for Small Cells  FSM200xx is the industrys first 3GPP Release 16 5G Open RAN (Radio Access Network) platform that brings support for bands n259 (41 GHz), n258(26 GHz), and FDD bands. With Release 16 support, this platform is designed to support features like Enhanced Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (eURLLC).

This 5G RAN platform which is designed to extend the mmWave coverage offers up to 8Gbps data speeds with 1 GHz bandwidth support on mmWave and support for wider 200MHz carrier bandwidth. It also supports spectrum aggregation of 200 MHz of Sub-6 GHz spectrum. Other features of this 5G RAN platform include open and flexible architecture, reliability, high performance, and power efficiency.

Further, Qualcomm has also introduced Qualcomm 5G DU X100 Accelerator Card which is a PCIe inline accelerator card with concurrent Sub-6 GHz and mmWave baseband support. Qualcomm says that this is designed to deliver a low latency, high Performance, and power-efficient solution.

Commenting on this, Gerardo Giaretta, senior director, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc said:

Qualcomm Technologies engineers have been leading in the small cells industry for over a decade with our Qualcomm RAN platform. As Open RAN and small cells infrastructure continue to gain momentum, Qualcomm Technologies is at the forefront of delivering cutting edge 5G mmWave and Sub-6 GHz technology to power 5G networks on a global scale. Small cells have been at the heart of the global 5G proliferation and Qualcomm Technologies is leading the charge as the industry transitions to open and virtualized 5G RAN networks.

Durga Malladi, senior vice president, and general manager, 5G, mobile broadband and infrastructure, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc said:
Local residents are invited to celebrate Americas independence with the City of Fontanas Fourth of July Fun Week. Patriotic-themed activities for all ages will take place Monday, June 28 through Sunday, July 4.
(CNN) -- Defense officials are investigating after an employee from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) lost several "sensitive" documents that were later found by a member of the public, a ministry spokesperson said.

The action follows a BBC report that the papers were found at a bus stop in Kent, southeast England.

"The Ministry of Defence was informed last week of an incident in which sensitive defence papers were recovered by a member of the public," the spokesperson told CNN in a statement on Sunday.

"The department takes the security of information extremely seriously and an investigation has been launched. The employee concerned reported the loss at the time."

The BBC says it was passed the documents, which numbered almost 50 pages, by the member of the public when they realized the sensitive nature of the files.

The incident comes after a British warship -- the HMS Defender -- became embroiled in a confrontation with Russian forces off the coast of the disputed territory of Crimea on Wednesday. Russia says one of its warplanes dropped bombs and a patrol boat fired warning shots to turn back the British destroyer it claims entered into its territorial waters in the Black Sea. The UK's MoD denied Moscow's accusation, saying that the vessel was making a legal and innocent passage.

The BBC reports that the documents found at the bus stop discuss Russia's likely reactions to HMS Defender's passage on Wednesday.

Asked about the contents of the documents relating to HMS Defender, the MoD spokesperson told CNN: "As the public would expect, the Ministry of Defence plans carefully. As a matter of routine, that includes analysing all the potential factors affecting operational decisions.

"HMS Defender conducted innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law."

The lost documents also allegedly discussed a possible British military presence in Afghanistan following the end of the NATO mission in that country. CNN cannot independently verify the contents of the documents. The MoD did not comment on Afghanistan when contacted by CNN.

UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis described the incident as a "serious breach" of security, speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show on Sunday.

"To an extent, processes were followed; it was reported by the individual as soon as they were aware they had left those documents and obviously somebody handed it into the BBC, but there will be a full investigation by the Ministry of Defense into how this happened," Lewis said.

"We've got to ensure when things like this happen,whether it's human error or otherwise, that it can't happen again."
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FILE  In this March 8, 2012 file photo, then Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and then first lady Michelle Obama present the 2012 International Women of Courage Award to Samar Badawi of Saudi Arabia, on the 101st Anniversary of International Womens Day, at the State Department in Washington. Badawi and another Saudi womens rights campaigner, Nassima al-Sada, have been released from prison, three years after a sweeping crackdown by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman targeting female activists whod peacefully advocated for greater freedoms, rights groups said Sunday, June 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
Galveston, TX (77553)

Today

Partly cloudy with a slight chance of thunderstorms overnight. Low near 80F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy with a slight chance of thunderstorms overnight. Low near 80F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Indian game streaming app Loco has raised $9 million in seed funding to continue expanding, according to a report from GamesBeat.

South Korean company Krafton, which owns popular battle royale shooter PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, took part in the investment round alongside others including Lumikai, Hiro Capital, North Base Media, Hashed, and more.

The cash will be used to help the Mumbai-based company double down on game streaming, and will also allow it to be spun off from its parent company, Pocket Aces.

Loco has managed to build communities around popular games including FreeFire, Call of Duty Mobile, Valorant, Grand Theft Auto, and Clash of Clans, and also serves as the home of some of India's biggest esports teams and streamers.

Company co-founder Anirudh Pandita said Loco was launched in response to soaring demand for gaming content in India, with players and fans rallying around smartphone titles.

"During 2019, Indian gaming had a fundamental inflection point. Fueled by high penetration of cheap mobile internet and affordable smartphones, Indian consumers took to gaming in ways they had not done earlier,said Pandita. .

Pre-2019, hypercasual games dominated the charts but post-2019 mobile arcade games like Battlegrounds IP and Freefire, came into their own. Over 100 million users were actively playing these games on a monthly basis. The demand for gaming content started to climb but there was no platform that brought streamers and viewers together. The Indian gaming community was clamoring for something homegrown and we released Loco as an answer to that."

Moving forward, Loco intends to serve its burgeoning community by accelerating product development, investing in its streamer base, and supporting original content.




[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.]

Suez Canal Simulator is now available with Chinese language support.. And to celebrate, enjoy a 50 percent discount on the regular purchase price as part of our Summer Sale going on right now!

From now through July 8th Suez Canal Simulator is 50% off! Drive real 1:1 scale ships through the world famous Suez Canal. Drive massive container ships supertankers and ocean liners through the most vital waterway in the world, the Suez Canal.. available now at 50% off the regular price!

And coming soon.. the Ever Given, the most famous ship in the world!

Click here to find out more.... get underway today!...

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1347240/Suez_Canal_Simulator/






[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.]

STOCKHOLM  June 28, 2021  After epic battles with the Mad Elven Queen and slaying more than 1.6 million Spiderlings since RPG dungeon crawler Demeos launch last month, wizards and warriors might have thought theyd earned their rest -- but they cant let down their blades and arrows just yet. Resolution Games has launched Realm of the Rat King today (trailer here): a new adventure that will see players of the critically acclaimed virtual reality game Demeo unlock new spells, fight new monsters, and battle an amalgamation of nightmarish proportions.



Once players have proven victorious in Demeos first adventure, The Black Sarcophagus, the heroes learn that the town of Sunderhaven is suffering from an unlikely infestation. Feral rats have begun to appear, and the rumors among the locals suggest that theyre being steered by someone or something. Adventurers will delve deep into the sewers beneath Sunderhaven to locate the source of this mysterious scourge and eliminate it by any means necessary.



The best part of playing tabletop adventures with your friends  other than tackling the forces of evil together  is knowing that there are always more adventures waiting just around the corner, said Tommy Palm, CEO and co-founder of Resolution Games. Were committed to bringing that same promise of ongoing fun to Demeo. Realm of the Rat King is just the first addition of many new adventures we have in the works. Well be introducing more magic, more mayhem, and even more heroes over time for players to party up with and plumb the VR depths.



Building on the world and characters of Demeo, Realm of the Rat King will introduce a number of new elements that will challenge even the most seasoned group of heroes:

New environment: The sewers are dark and very dangerous. With endless threats lurking in the shadows, adventurers will want to stick together if theyre going to survive.

The sewers are dark and very dangerous. With endless threats lurking in the shadows, adventurers will want to stick together if theyre going to survive. New enemies: Spore Fungus are filled to the brim with poison, so be sure to watch your step  and dont let the multi-headed Gorgon catch your gaze, or you might just turn to stone!

Spore Fungus are filled to the brim with poison, so be sure to watch your step  and dont let the multi-headed Gorgon catch your gaze, or you might just turn to stone! New cards: Brighten your way with the trusty Torch card, treat any poisons with the new Antitoxin and go on the offensive with your brand new Web Bomb.

Brighten your way with the trusty Torch card, treat any poisons with the new Antitoxin and go on the offensive with your brand new Web Bomb. New boss: The Rat King is the last monster youd want to be trapped with when youre five levels underground, but thats exactly where youll find this horrifying monarch that is literally bound to his subjects.

Along with todays expansion, Resolution Games has shared that Demeo has been submitted for approval to the Oculus Rift store. For the latest updates on when that will go live in the coming days for cross-play available to all supported headsets, please follow Demeo on Facebook and Twitter. Players can also join Demeos Discord here.



Realm of the Rat King is now available as a free update for current owners of Demeo. New adventures who wish to join the adventure can download Demeo from the Oculus Store or Steam VR for $29.99 USD. To learn more about Demeo, visit www.resolutiongames.com/demeo. For a more extensive look at the new adventure, the overview trailer can be viewed here.



Resolution Games has also provided an early look at possible future themes for upcoming adventures that the team is researching, including a city environment and a forest environment. You can check out some early concept art here.



###



About Resolution Games:

Resolution Games is a games studio led by some of the top minds in the industry, forging a world-class catalog of titles that brings players into the richest VR and AR worlds possible. As one of the first studios dedicated solely to creating experiences for these platforms, Resolution Games titles rank among the top rated and most downloaded games in the space. Games like Bait!, Blaston, Demeo, Acron: Attack of the Squirrels!, Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs and Cook-Out: A Sandwich Tale illustrate the innovative and immersive ways the studio is constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible.



Founded in 2015, Resolution Games is privately held and based in Stockholm, Sweden. Follow the company at www.resolutiongames.com and on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
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Gillette, WY (82718)

Today

Partly cloudy. Gusty winds diminishing after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 65F. SSE winds at 20 to 30 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Gusty winds diminishing after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 65F. SSE winds at 20 to 30 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph.
Gillette, WY (82718)

Today

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph.
Corinth, Mississippi, June 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mississippi Polymers, Inc. (Mississippi Polymers or the Company), a family owned and operated plastic film manufacturer, today issued a formal statement in response to the United Steelworkers (USW) decision to strike at the Companys Corinth, Mississippi plant on June 4th, 2021. Mississippi Polymers also wishes to address and correct certain statements made through a United Steelworkers-issued Press Release on June 5, 2021, as well as claims and information presented on the USW website regarding this matter.



Mississippi Polymers would like to clearly state that this formal response should in no way be construed as an attempt to negotiate with the United Steelworkers through the press or social media. The Company is issuing this statement to go on the record and set right the sequence of events leading up the USW strike:

Mississippi Polymers did NOT lock out the United Steelworkers. The United Steelworkers chose to strike around 12 Noon CT on Friday, June 4, 2021.





lock out the United Steelworkers. The United Steelworkers chose to strike around 12 Noon CT on Friday, June 4, 2021. At approximately 1 pm CT on Friday, June 4, 2021, the United Steelworkers posted a message instructing members of Local 759L to check their individual voicemail and text message to receive their picket line assignment.





The agreement with the United Steelworkers expired at midnight CT on June 4, 2021. Each member of the bargaining unit will be paid by the Company through expiration in accordance with the agreement.





Mississippi Polymers appreciates the hard work and dedication of all of our employees and sincerely hopes a fair resolution may be reached soon.

About Mississippi Polymers

Mississippi Polymers is a family owned and operated plastic film manufacturer, primarily vinyl and polyolefin. We are proud of our Made in the U.S.A. manufacturing heritage, our team and are dedicated to providing valuable, cost-effective solutions that help our customers succeed.





United Steelworkers Local #759L message
English Estonian

Admiral Markets AS is expanding and opening a subsidiary in Jordan. It is the implementation of the company's long-term strategy, one of the goals of which is to continue expanding in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The investment required to open a new subsidiary is JOD 3 280 000, or just over 4 million EUR.

Sergei Bogatenkov, the CEO of Admiral Markets AS, participated at the visit of the official high-level Estonian business delegation to Jordan in September 2019. After successful meetings and contacts with local state representatives, the company launched a project to expand to Jordan which was finalised on 06.06.2021 when Admiral Markets was issued a license to start operations there. The company is opening a local office in Amman, Jordan, with 10 employees. At present, this is the first Estonian company establishing its long-term existence in the country and the first financial company with European origin starting its operations.

According to Bogatenkov, Jordan has exemplified a hybrid environment where strong historical and cultural pasts relating to trade and focus on economic growth mixes with a continued strive towards modernisation and alignment with European standards. At the same time it ensures that it differs from the region with its European economic and cultural essences remaining at the forefront of this evolution into a modern day hub for business.

One of the important arguments for establishing a subsidiary was Jordan's initiative and interest in attracting foreigner companies and encouraging them to enter the local market. Jordan is known for its steady and secure financial system. "The Middle East and North Africa region is home to 600 million people, which means a great potential for us to grow our customer base and gain a larger market share, while looking to provide the opportunity for people in the region to experience the joys of alternative financial products which we have seen take off so successfully in Europe over the last years," said Sergei Bogatenkov, adding: "Our expansion plans are supported by the rapid development of the IT sector there."

According to Bogatenkov, the company has been operating for 20 years, expanding its service and value offering to both customers and investors. In March, celebrating its 20th anniversary, the company announced its rebranding to Admirals, explaining that over the past two decades Admiral Markets has revolutionised trading and investing, enabling millions of satisfied individuals to structure and manage investments in a safe, secure and simplified way. Back in 2001, Admiral Markets was a Forex and CFD brokerage company. Today, it stands for an innovative and streamlined personal finance experience. Our goal is to offer integrated solutions for investing, paying, lending and managing money. In 10 years' time, we want to provide financial freedom for 10 million people. The local presence in Jordan is one of the steps in implementing the long-term vision and positioning the company in new markets, added Bogatenkov.

Although the official state language in Jordan is Arabic, for historical reasons English is also spoken. "In Jordan, we can use our strong experience in Europe and build a new business center. Although Jordan's neighbours are not known for their political stability, Jordan has managed to avoid conflicts. It is appropriate for us to compare this country with Switzerland," said Bogatenkov.



Investment company Admiral Markets AS, established in Estonia, is a branch of Admiral Markets Group AS, which has the right to provide investment services under the operating license of the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority in the European Union and the European Economic Area countries. Admiral Markets Group AS is physically represented in 20 countries through its regulated trading companies with a customer portfolio covering over 145 countries.



Additional information:

Communication manager of Admiral Markets AS

kaia.gil@admiralmarkets.com

+372 53 413 764










Hong Kong, June 27, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (via Blockchain Wire) Forkast.News today announces a groundbreaking three-part series, Asia Powers Up: How the region, led by China, is embracing blockchain and what that means for the world, that dives into China's determination to lead the future of digital technology and its effects on geopolitics and the global financial system. The multimedia production, supported by the Judith Neilson Institutes Asian Stories project, is simultaneously published by several partners, including Newsweek and South Morning China Post for three consecutive days starting June 28.

Viewers can watch the related video series: Blockchain in Asia: Defining the Race



Packed with analyses, videos and infographics, the series underscores Forkast.News unmatched expertise and unique perspective into Asias booming importance in the blockchain and digital currency space. Supported by Forkasts independent reporting, data, papers from research firms and interviews with industry experts, the series makes the case that China is taking a broad approach to challenge the dominance of the U.S. dollar. The series is written and produced by Alexander Zaitchik, Jeanhee Kim, Kelly Le, Justin Solomon and Angie Lau.



Chinas ascension as the leader of the new financial frontier is complicated, formidable and understood by few. As journalists, our goal is to present information that helps our audience make informed decisions and this is why we have put in thousands of hours and tread across Asia and the globe for this project, said Angie Lau, editor-in-chief of Forkast.

The series unravels the thinking driving these innovations and asks simply how a widely accepted digital yuan could rewrite the rules of global commerce and transactions, Lau added. The far-reaching consequences include geopolitics and global financial systems.

Lisa Main, JNI Director of Grants said, Asia is a growing source of technological innovation and we need more great journalism to better understand what it means for the region but also the world.

Digital Silk Road



The series starts by exploring Chinas plan to unveil the worlds first major central bank-backed digital currency, its digital yuan, at the upcoming Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. The distribution of this new money is the culmination of a more than decade-long plan to diversify the international monetary system.

China has also invested deeply in the Blockchain Service Network, a public-private collaboration that has become the worlds biggest blockchain ecosystem, with an aim to build the next generation of the internet.

The series describes how China is influencing the region, with many Asian nations moving quickly  if reluctantly  to embrace not only their own central bank-backed digital currency, or CBDC, but also building new networks to allow cross-border transactions of multiple digital currencies. The peer pressure is moving some of the worlds biggest economies, such as Japan and India, to jump on the CBDC bandwagon.

The Trappings of Convenience in the Digital Era



Asia Powers Up shines a light on the erosion of privacy as a result of the use of digital money. Such vulnerability has drawn red-hot warnings from experts such as J. Christopher Giancarlo, a former chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, who has warned the U.S. government that if China leads the development of CBDC, its social values may become ingrained in the design, which could jeopardize privacy, free enterprise, freedom of speech and democracy.

ABOUT FORKAST



Founded in 2018, Forkast.News is a digital media platform covering all things blockchain and emerging technology at the intersection of business, economy, and finance  from Asia, to the world. Led by former Bloomberg TV anchor Angie Lau, Forkast.News is an authority in this space and has partnered with organizations like OECD, World Economic Forum, IBM, EY, and more.



Contact:

Jenny Hsu

PR/Comms

Forkast.News

+886 937331097

pr@forkast.news

https://forkast.news/






Vast Resources plc / Ticker: VAST / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining

28 June 2021

Vast Resources plc

(Vast or the Company)

Appointment of Corporate Broker

Vast Resources plc, the AIM-listed mining company with mines and projects in Romania and Zimbabwe, is pleased to announce the appointment of Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited (Shore Capital) as a corporate broker to the Company, with immediate effect. Shore Capital will act alongside the Companys joint broker, Axis Capital Markets Limited.

Andrew Hall, CCO Vast Resources plc, commented:

We are delighted with the appointment of Shore Capital as Joint Broker to the Company. The rationale behind the appointment is to build further awareness of the Company amongst an institutional investor base. We look forward to working with the team at Shore Capital.

**ENDS**

For further information, visit www.vastplc.com or please contact:

Vast Resources plc

Andrew Prelea (CEO)

Andrew Hall (CCO)



www.vastplc.com

+44 (0) 20 7846 0974 Beaumont Cornish  Financial & Nominated Advisor

Roland Cornish

James Biddle



www.beaumontcornish.com

+44 (0) 20 7628 3396 Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited  Joint Broker

Jerry Keen (Corporate Broking)

Toby Gibbs / James Thomas (Corporate Advisory)



www.shorecapmarkets.co.uk

+44 (0) 20 7408 4050 Axis Capital Markets Limited  Joint Broker

Richard Hutchison



www.axcap247.com

+44 (0) 20 3206 0320 St Brides Partners Limited

Susie Geliher





www.stbridespartners.co.uk

+44 (0) 20 7236 1177

About Shore Capital

Shore Capital is an independent securities business offering institutional and corporate clients leading investment banking, research, sales and trading services, including fixed income. The business is represented across the UK enabling extensive distribution and institutional coverage. This distribution capability is complemented by the firms experienced corporate advisory and broking team which offers discreet, innovative and valued advice to companies on both the Main Market and AIM. Shore Capital is also the third largest market maker by number of AIM stocks covered.

Shore Caps cross-disciplinary team has deep, market leading experience in a wide range of small and mid-cap UK companies within the following sectors: Consumer, Financials, Healthcare, Insurance, Natural Resources, Real Estate, Support Services, Technology and Media. Its research on over 250 companies is distributed to an extensive institutional client base in the UK, Europe and US.

Shore Capital is a trading name of both Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited and Shore Capital and Corporate Limited.

ABOUT VAST RESOURCES PLC

Vast Resources plc is a United Kingdom AIM listed mining company with mines and projects in Romania and Zimbabwe.

In Romania, the Company is focused on the rapid advancement of high-quality projects by recommencing production at previously producing mines.

The Company's Romanian portfolio includes 100% interest in the producing Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine, located in the Apuseni Mountains, Transylvania, an area which hosts Romania's largest polymetallic mines. The mine has a JORC compliant Reserve & Resource Report which underpins the initial mine production life of approximately 3-4 years with an in-situ total mineral resource of 15,695 tonnes copper equivalent with a further 1.8M-3M tonnes exploration target. The Company is now working on confirming an enlarged exploration target of up to 5.8M tonnes.

The Company also owns the Manaila Polymetallic Mine in Romania, which was commissioned in 2015, currently on care and maintenance. The Company has been granted the Manaila Carlibaba Extended Exploitation Licence that will allow the Company to re-examine the exploitation of the mineral resources within the larger Manaila Carlibaba licence area.

In Zimbabwe, the Company is focused on the commencement of the joint venture mining agreement on the Community Diamond Concession, Chiadzwa, in the Marange Diamond Fields.
June 28, 2021: Oslo, Norway, PGS has been awarded a significant 4D acquisition contract by ExxonMobil for work offshore Guyana. A Titan class vessel is scheduled to mobilize for the project in Q4 2021 and acquisition is planned to be completed in Q1 2022.



We acquired the 4D baseline of this area and consider it strategically important for us to be awarded a repeat survey for parts of the initial program. We are very pleased with the recognition of our Ramform acquisition platform and superior multi-sensor GeoStreamer technology, which are well suited for high quality 4D acquisition programs. The contract adds further visibility to our order book for the coming winter season, says President & CEO in PGS, Rune Olav Pedersen.

FOR DETAILS, CONTACT: Bard Stenberg, VP IR & Corporate Communication

Mobile: +47 99 24 52 35



***

PGS ASA and its subsidiaries (PGS or "the Company") is an integrated marine geophysical company that provides a broad range of seismic and reservoir services, including acquisition, imaging, interpretation, and field evaluation. The Company MultiClient data library is among the largest in the seismic industry, with modern 3D coverage in all significant offshore hydrocarbon provinces of the world. The Company operates on a worldwide basis with headquarters in Oslo, Norway and the PGS share is listed on the Oslo stock exchange (OSE: PGS). For more information on PGS visit www.pgs.com.

***

The information included herein contains certain forward-looking statements that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects, projects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future. These statements are based on various assumptions made by the Company, which are beyond its control and are subject to certain additional risks and uncertainties. The Company is subject to a large number of risk factors including but not limited to the demand for seismic services, the demand for data from our multi-client data library, the attractiveness of our technology, unpredictable changes in governmental regulations affecting our markets and extreme weather conditions. For a further description of other relevant risk factors we refer to our Annual Report for 2020. As a result of these and other risk factors, actual events and our actual results may differ materially from those indicated in or implied by such forward-looking statements. The reservation is also made that inaccuracies or mistakes may occur in the information given above about current status of the Company or its business. Any reliance on the information above is at the risk of the reader, and PGS disclaims any and all liability in this respect.

--END--




Dublin, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Industrial Construction Projects, Europe" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The report tracks construction projects with significant industrial work in Europe with a total value of US$389.1 billion, which includes projects from the announced to execution stages.

Russia accounts for the highest value project pipeline, with US$172.8 billion. The overall projects pipeline in Europe is dominated by projects in the pre-execution and execution stages, with a total value of US$222.8 billion, accounting for 57% of the project pipeline. Projects in the pre-planning and planning stage (design, tender and award) amount to US$166.4 billion



This report provides a detailed analysis of industrial construction projects in Europe, based on projects tracked by the publisher.



Scope

The report provides analysis based on the publisher's construction projects showing total project values and analysis by stage and funding.

The top 50 regional projects are listed giving country, stage, value of projects. Ranked listings of the key operators for the sector are also provided showing the leading contractors, consulting engineers and project owners. Country profiles are provided for the top 10 countries.

Reasons to Buy

Gain insight into the development of the industrial construction sector.

Assess all major projects by value, start date, scope and stage of development globally, for the regions and top 10 countries to support business development activities.

Plan campaigns by country based on specific project opportunities and align resources to the most attractive markets.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Overview



2. Project Analytics by Country

2.1 Russia

2.2 France

2.3 United Kingdom

2.4 Germany

2.5 Belarus

2.6 Sweden

2.7 Turkey

2.8 Italy

2.9 Hungary

2.10 Poland



3. Construction



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ydl8a3
English French

MONTREAL, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Falco Resources Ltd. (TSX.V: FPC) (Falco or the Corporation) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement in principle with Glencore Canada Corporation (Glencore) establishing the framework of the terms and conditions (the Agreement in Principle) pursuant to which the parties will enter into the Principal Operating License and Indemnity Agreement (the OLIA) in order to enable Falco to develop and operate its flagship Horne 5 Project (the Horne 5 Project), as further described in the updated feasibility study filed on SEDAR on April 29, 2021 (the UFS). It is anticipated that the OLIA will be finalized in the third quarter of 2021.



The Agreement in Principle outlines the terms to be included in the OLIA which will establish the framework to govern Falcos development and operation of its world-class Horne 5 Project, including:

The creation of Technical and Strategic Committees, comprised of both Glencore and Falco representatives, to collaborate in the successful and safe development and operation of the Horne 5 Project and to capitalize on the many synergies between the parties.

The right to appoint one (1) Glencore representative on Falcos Board.

Rights of access, use and transformation rights in favour of Falco.

Financial assurance including guarantees, and indemnification to cover risks to Glencores copper smelting operations (the Horne Smelter).

The life of mine offtake agreements for the copper and zinc concentrates, as entered into on October 27, 2020 (the Concentrate Agreements) and the UFS will also form part of the final OLIA.

Discussions between the parties have accelerated since the start of the Glencore work program (the Work Program) and the signing of the Concentrate Agreements. Falco believes that this is a major step forward into the final phase of negotiations of the OLIA, which will establish the terms upon which Falco will be granted the right to proceed with its Horne 5 Project development and operation to the mutual benefit of both parties.

Luc Lessard, President and Chief Executive Officer of Falco noted: This agreement is a major milestone for the development of the Horne 5 Project that we have been working towards over the last five years. It is the culmination of an extensive technical and strategic collaboration between Falco and Glencore and, together with the significant advancement of the Work Program, has enabled the parties to build the foundation for the OLIA. The Work Program has achieved its objective to identify and mitigate the potential risks to the Horne Smelter, in addition to strengthening our partnership and relationship with Glencore. I am confident that the parties will be successful in finalising the OLIA within the expected timeframe.

Aline Cote, Glencore Global Zinc and Lead Industrial Lead, and Claude Belanger, Chief Operating Officer of Glencores North American copper assets (including the Horne Smelter and CCR Refinery), commented: This agreement represents a milestone towards the development of Falcos Horne 5 Project. We are very pleased with the work accomplished over the past 10 months and the strong working relationship that has developed between Falco and Glencore. Copper produced at Horne 5 and processed through Glencores integrated Quebec Copper Operations will be some of the greenest and lowest-carbon footprint copper in the world. While it is impossible to eliminate all of the risks inherent with having two such operations in close proximity, Glencore is confident that with the work done to date, our strong relationship and the successful completion of the OLIA, an alignment of interests will have been achieved and a path to success for the Horne 5 Project will have been set out.

Work Program Update

Since November 2020, Glencore and Falco have conducted an intensive Work Program to address concerns and mitigate potential risks of the Horne 5 Project to the Glencore operations. The key components of the Work Program were established by Glencore after a complete due diligence review of the Horne 5 Project by their technical teams.

The Work Program with a budget of approximately $7.5 million was largely financed through the proceeds of the convertible debenture financing made available by Glencore to Falco in October 2020. The Work Program was managed by a joint Technical Committee between Glencore and Falco and addressed key components, categorized as follows:

Geotechnical advancement (drilling investigation, crown pillar stability, seismicity potential, backfill characterisation, etc.);

Water management of the Horne 5 Project;

Synergies between the Horne 5 Project and the Horne Smelter.





At this date, Falco and Glencore have successfully addressed the majority of the key components, including the backfilling of old underground workings to secure certain crown pillars at the Horne Smelter and will continue to collaborate to finalize the current Work Program. The parties are working diligently to mitigate risk factors for the Horne Smelters operation and are in agreement on the path forward towards the dewatering phase of the Horne 5 Project.

Conference call details

Falco will be hosting a conference call to discuss this milestone on Monday, June 28, 2021 at 10:00 Eastern time with the Falco team. Participants may join the call by dialing:

Participant Toll-Free Dial-In Number: (888) 880-5556

Participant International Dial-In Number: (438) 801-4093

A recorded playback of the call will be available two hours after the calls completion until July 12, 2021 by dialing (800) 585-8367 or (416) 621-4642 and entering the conference ID# 1342774.

About Falco

Falco Resources Ltd. is one of the largest mineral claim holders in the Province of Quebec, with extensive land holdings in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt. Falco owns approximately 70,000 hectares of land in the Rouyn-Noranda mining camp, which represents 70% of the entire camp and includes 13 former gold and base metal mine sites. Falcos principal asset is the Horne 5 Project located in the former Horne mine that was operated by Noranda (now Glencore Canada Corporation) from 1927 to 1976 and produced 11.6 million ounces of gold and 2.5 billion pounds of copper. Osisko Gold Royalties Ltds subsidiary, Osisko Development Corp., is Falcos largest shareholder owning 18.2% interest.

For further information, please contact:

Luc Lessard

President and Chief Executive Officer

514-261-3336

info@falcores.com

Jeffrey White, LL.B, MBA

Director, Investor Relations

416-274-7762

rjwhite@falcores.com

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

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, forward-looking statements) within the meaning of applicable securities laws, in particular Falcos ability to enter into a definitive and binding OLIA with Glencore, the expectation that such OLIA would be finalized in the third quarter of 2021, the terms of the OLIA and the related benefits, the ability of Falco to efficiently develop and operate the Horne 5 Project based on the terms of the OLIA, the mitigation of the risks related to the Horne Smelters operations and the ability to commence the dewatering of Falcos Horne 5 Project. These statements are based on information currently available to the Corporation and the Corporation provides no assurance that actual results will meet managements expectations. The occurrence of such events or the realization of such statements is subject to a number of risk factors, including, without limitation, the finalization of the binding and definitive OLIA with Glencore, the ability of Falco to provide the financial assurance guarantees required by the OLIA and the exercise by Glencore of rights under the OLIA which could affect the development and operation of the Horne 5 Project, together with the other risk factors identified in Falcos Annual Information Form and other continuous disclosure documents available at www.sedar.com.

Although Falco believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Except where required by applicable law, Falco disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
English French

MONTREAL, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerleau, one of Canadas leading construction companies, is joining forces with the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) Foundation to support a groundbreaking cancer project. With a $250,000 donation over five years, Pomerleau is supporting research led by Dr. Peter Metrakos, Cancer Research Program Lead at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). Using local engineering expertise in artificial intelligence, Metrakos work will significantly improve survival rates of patients diagnosed with stage IV colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in Canadians and is responsible for more deaths than breast cancer or prostate cancer. Stage IV colorectal cancer is incredibly deadly, with a five-year survival rate of only 12 per cent.

Pomerleau has had a long-standing collaboration with the MUHC that began with building the MUHC Research Institute and then evolved into a philanthropic affiliation. Like the MUHC, we value innovation, transformation and excellence and aspire to have a positive impact on the lives of the people we serve. We are proud to continue our partnership and support the kind of life-changing research that will save and improve countless lives.



Pierre Pomerleau, President & CEO, Pomerleau

Using liquid biopsy techniques, Drs. Metrakos and Lazaris, with their team will help separate DNA, RNA, proteins and other constituent parts of the blood, to identify the ones associated with a patients cancer. Artificial intelligence (AI) will be used to identify patterns and insights into the data gathered from each patients blood sample. These patterns will then be used to create a test that will predict outcomes, providing a critical key to personalized treatment and improved survival.

Our goal is to understand each individuals cancer so we can provide precise and personalized treatment. Having support from Quebec industry means we can make these treatments a reality.



Dr. Peter Metrakos, Cancer Research Program Lead, RI-MUHC

Quebec continues to be a leader in the field of artificial intelligence applied in health care and Dr. Metrakos work will drive innovation for years to come. With over 26,000 Canadians diagnosed with colorectal cancers each year, this project has the potential to affect millions of lives, from the patients going through cancer treatment to their families, friends, and colleagues.

Pomerleaus donation enables research done here in Quebec to impact patients and their families right across the country. We are grateful to be collaborating with a respected, forward-thinking company and for their confidence in medical innovations like this one.

Julie Quenneville, President & CEO, MUHC Foundation

MEDTEQ+, funded by the Ministere de lEconomie et de lInnovation, is providing matching funds for industry investment and donations. This process enables donor funds to leverage their philanthropic support and impact.

About the McGill University Health Centre Foundation

The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) Foundation raises funds to support excellence in patient care, research and teaching at the McGill University Health Centre, one of the top university hospitals in Canada. Our Dream Big Campaign to change the course of lives and medicine is raising millions of dollars to solve humanitys deadliest puzzles: infectious diseases; end cancer as a life-threatening illness; fix broken hearts through innovative cardiac care; detect the silent killersovarian and endometrial cancersearly; create the best skilled health care teams in Canada; and much more. We are rallying our entire community to solve the worlds most complex health care challenges. www.muhcfoundation.com

About Pomerleau

Pomerleau is one of Canadas leading construction companies and a pioneer in sustainable buildings. It specializes in the building, infrastructure, civil engineering, and renewable energy sectors. The company also excels in virtual design and construction (VDC). Founded close to 60 years ago, the company employs up to 4,000 people at its nine regional offices and more than 150 worksites across the country. In 2020, Pomerleau was named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers. For more details about Pomerleau, visit www.pomerleau.ca.

Media Contacts:

Tarah Schwartz

Director, Communications & Marketing

McGill University Health Centre Foundation

Tarah.schwartz@muhc.mcgill.ca

Juliette Boissinot

Communications Team Leader

Pomerleau

Juliette.Boissinot@pomerleau.ca

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/787cb299-f7bc-4fff-9239-cadd5f491a22
Industry veteran, Dr. David Leigh, joins as Chief Technology Officer for Additive Manufacturing to drive application and product innovation



Chuck Hull to increase focus on breakthrough regenerative medicine technology as Chief Technology Officer for Regenerative Medicine

ROCK HILL, S.C., June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 3D Systems [NYSE:DDD] today announced it is expanding its executive leadership team focused on innovation with the addition of a Chief Technology Officer for Additive Manufacturing. Effective today, industry veteran Dr. David Leigh joins the company in this capacity to expand and accelerate application development and product innovation including all hardware, software, and materials development for production-scale additive manufacturing solutions.

With Dr. Leighs arrival, 3D Systems co-founder, Chuck Hull, will increase his emphasis on biotechnology as Chief Technology Officer for Regenerative Medicine, leading the development of solutions that are creating exciting new opportunities in regenerative medicine. Based upon the breakthroughs that Hulls team of researchers have now demonstrated through the companys partnership with United Therapeutics, a broad range of human applications are emerging, ranging from tissue implants to human organs, in addition to laboratory applications that offer the potential to accelerate the development of new drug therapies. Mr. Hull will also continue to support Government programs with the companys next-generation large-scale metal 3D printing platform.

This expansion of technology leadership capacity is a direct reflection of the accelerating rate of additive manufacturing adoption across healthcare and industrial markets. This leadership focus will further catalyze 3D Systems pace of innovation, which is the foundation for the companys strategic purpose as the leader in enabling additive manufacturing solutions for applications in growing markets that demand high-reliability products.

Dr. Leigh has more than 30 years of experience in the additive manufacturing industry. Prior to joining 3D Systems, he served as the Chief Technology Officer (global) and Chief Operations Officer (North America) for EOS, an additive manufacturing equipment vendor. Dr. Leigh also founded Harvest Technologies which was a pioneer in end-use parts applications in aerospace and established one of the first AS9100 certified additive manufacturing facilities. Harvest was acquired by Stratasys in 2014, at which time Dr. Leigh assumed the role of Senior Vice President of Emerging Technologies. He holds a Doctorate in Materials Science and Engineering, a Master of Science in Engineering, and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering - all from the University of Texas at Austin, a pioneering research university in additive manufacturing.

Over the last year we have made tremendous progress through our intense focus on additive manufacturing (AM) - reorganizing our business, restructuring our operations, and divesting assets that are not core to AM, said Dr. Jeffrey Graves, president & CEO, 3D Systems. As we look to the future, with a strong balance sheet and operating cash flow we are accelerating our investments in people, processes, infrastructure, and technologies that position us for continued growth and profitability. 3D Systems has tremendous potential to revolutionize the industrial and healthcare markets through the enablement of production-scale additive manufacturing, and delivering breakthrough innovation is essential to achieving our potential. We are very fortunate to have David and Chuck in these executive leadership roles to drive application and technology development. Over their distinguished careers, both have demonstrated their ability to rethink processes, advance technology, and create solutions that change the way organizations operate and deliver products and services to customers. David will be an outstanding asset to our leadership team and 3D Systems. He is a recognized leader in additive technology with a track record of building high-performance teams that drive innovation and product development. Chuck, who pioneered 3D printing, is now taking us into the new frontier of regenerative medicine - a market that will change our company and the world in the years ahead. There has never been such an exciting time for our company and our industry.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements made in this release that are not statements of historical or current facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from historical results or from any future results or projections expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In many cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as "believes," "belief," "expects," "may," "will," "estimates," "intends," "anticipates" or "plans" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are based upon managements beliefs, assumptions, and current expectations and may include comments as to the companys beliefs and expectations as to future events and trends affecting its business and are necessarily subject to uncertainties, many of which are outside the control of the company. The factors described under the headings "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in the companys periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as other factors, could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected or predicted in forward-looking statements. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not, and should not be relied upon as a guarantee of future performance or results, nor will they necessarily prove to be accurate indications of the times at which such performance or results will be achieved. The forward-looking statements included are made only as of the date of the statement. 3D Systems undertakes no obligation to update or review any forward-looking statements made by management or on its behalf, whether as a result of future developments, subsequent events or circumstances or otherwise.

About 3D Systems

More than 30 years ago, 3D Systems brought the innovation of 3D printing to the manufacturing industry. Today, as the leading additive manufacturing solutions partner, we bring innovation, performance, and reliability to every interaction - empowering our customers to create products and business models never before possible. Thanks to our unique offering of hardware, software, materials, and services, each application-specific solution is powered by the expertise of our application engineers who collaborate with customers to transform how they deliver their products and services. 3D Systems solutions address a variety of advanced applications in healthcare and industrial markets such as medical and dental, aerospace & defense, automotive, and durable goods. More information on the company is available at www.3dsystems.com.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f3739502-7952-4177-8b6c-35ab225c81d1
New York, USA, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A latest report on the global 3D cell culture market has been added by Research Dive to its offerings. As per the report, the market is projected to hit $12,638.8 million and rise with a remarkable CAGR of 29.4% from 2019 to 2026. The report offers a comprehensive lookout of the present scenario and future scope of the global industry. The report is drafted by expert market analysts and guarantees to be a trustworthy source of data and all-inclusive market insights for new entrants, investors, existing market players, stakeholders, shareholders, etc.

Factors Impacting the Market Growth

A considerable surge in the awareness of oncological diseases such as skin cancer, lung cancer, and others, across the globe and rising use of 3D cell culture in drug development are boosting the growth of the global 3D cell culture market. In addition, growing advancements in the diagnosis and treatment of neuromuscular diseases are anticipated to unlock profitable opportunities for the market growth during the forecast period. Also, growing financial support for cancer research by government as well as non-government bodies is highly contributing to the growth of the market.

For More Detail Insights, Download Free Sample Copy of the Report at: https://www.researchdive.com/download-sample/73

However, high capital investments needed for the procurement of 3D cell culture systems and dearth of skilled professionals are expected to hinder the market growth.

The report segments the global 3D cell culture market into product, application, end use, and region.

Microchips Sub-Segment to Dominate the Market Growth

Among the product segment, the microchips sub-segment is expected to witness significant growth and hit $2,515.1 million by 2026. The growth of this sub-segment is mainly because microchips are a vital tool that offer numerous benefits for cell culture systems; for instance, the scale of the cultured environment inside a microchip is exactly similar to the cell size.

Cancer Research Sub-Segment to Lead the Market

Among the application segment, the cancer research sub-segment is expected to hold a leading market share and garner $4,057.1 million by 2026. The growth of this sub-segment is mainly because of the increasing occurrence of cancer, rising collaborations amongst pharmaceutical companies, and growing investments in cancer research.

Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Companies Sub-Segment to Grab Highest Market Share

Among the end use segment, the biotechnology & pharmaceutical companies sub-segment is expected to observe significant growth and garner $5,184.4 million by 2026. The growth of this sub-segment is mainly because of the rising revolutions in the research laboratories and growing advancements in operations, strategy, and technologies used in biotechnology & pharmaceutical companies.

Connect with Analyst to Reveal How COVID-19 Impacting On Market: https://www.researchdive.com/connect-to-analyst/73

North America Region to Lead the Market

The report analyzes the global 3D cell culture market across several regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. Among these, the North America region market is expected to grow rapidly and garner $4,019.1 million by 2026. The growth of this region market is mainly due to the rising need for innovations in drug discovery, presence of the key companies such as GE Healthcare, Corning Inc., and Merck KGaA, and growing occurrence of diseases in this region.

Major Players in the Market

The report lists some of the leading players functioning in the global 3D cell culture industry including -

Corning Incorporated

Advanced BioMatrix

Thermo Fisher Scientific

3D Biotek

QGel SA

SynVivo

Greiner Bio-One International

Lonza

Hrel Corporation

TissUse GmbH

The report also offers several industry-top tactics and approaches such as top strategic moves & developments, product/service range, business performance, Porter five forces analysis, and SWOT analysis of the foremost players, functioning in the global industry. For instance, in December 2020, eNuvio, a designer and producer of novel cutting-edge tools for electrophysiology, neuronal co-culture, and 3D culture applications, declared the launch of the first completely reusable 3D cell culture microplate: the EB-Plate.

Top Trending Reports-
BURNABY, British Columbia, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TrendiTech Inc. (Trendi), a Canadian-based start-up dedicated to creating new robotic, AI-driven food waste processing solutions, today announced it has raised 2.25 million CAD in seed funding for its Biotrim mobile processing technology. The funding was led by WGG Capital Canada and Floridas Vestech Partners.



Trendi was also recently named a semi-finalist in the Government of Canada's Food Waste Reduction Challenge .

When I look to invest in a seed round for a company, I look for viability, technology, and potential growth, explains Herbert Madan of WGG Capital Canada. Trendi caught my eye because they are solutions-based, using innovative technology to turn food waste into useful, edible products for human consumption on a global scale. Nations at large can be positively impacted by what they are creating. Their Biotrim robotics can reach all corners of the world. By championing a significant cause, they will help create a circular economy for the food waste diversion industry.

According to the 2021 Food Waste Index Report by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), an estimated 931 million tonnes of food waste was generated in 2019. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates the direct economic consequences equals $750 billion annually.

Trendi aims to bring on agricultural partners, non-profits, food processors, and more to galvanize change. It hopes to revolutionize global food waste by reducing food loss at its source. Its state-of-the-art Biotrim mobile processing units upcycle avoidable food waste and turns it into a shelf-stable product that can be repurposed, called Bioflakes. One unit can upcycle approximately 300,000kg of food waste annually.

Bioflakes can be repurposed for use in a variety of industries, including food and beverage, agriculture, packaging, textile, and biofuel. For example, Trendis future Enhanca line turns shelf-stable Bioflakes into multi-purpose, nutrient-dense food and beverage enhancers.

Food waste is a growing global problem, exacerbating not only food insecurity, but also contributing to climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss, says Craig McIntosh, CEO and co-founder of TrendiTech Inc. We are both thrilled and excited to have secured vital seed funding for our Biotrim mobile processing technology. It shows how reducing food waste is and should be a priority for all. Most importantly, it gives our partners the power to turn their unwanted food into edible, tasty, and nutritious products for people to enjoy.

Trendis Biotrim mobile processing units are currently in production, with a prototype expected to be complete for testing and evaluation in 2022.

For more information about TrendiTech Inc., please visit www.trendi.com.

About TrendiTech Inc.

TrendiTech Inc. is a Canadian-based start-up dedicated to creating AI-driven robotic and product solutions for the food and beverage industry. Its mission is to rescue misfit and excess food at the source and upcycle them into nutritious shelf-stable products for human consumption - making healthy plant-based foods more accessible.

www.trendi.com

Instagram: @trendi.tech | Facebook: TrendiTech.inc | Linkedin: TrendiTech

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/26c614ce-2d57-44d6-9ad6-3ebdb0dd06ee
Portland, OR, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to the report, the Canada crop micronutrients market was pegged at $175.4 million in 2019, and is expected to reach $261.7 million by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 7.2% from 2021 to 2027. The report provides an in-depth analysis of the top investment pockets, top winning strategies, drivers & opportunities, market size & estimations, competitive landscape, and changing market trends.

Increase in deficiency of micronutrients in soil, use of advanced technology to optimize efficiency to boost micronutrients market expansion, and upsurge in population that elevates the demand for food products drive the growth of the Canada crop micronutrients market. On the other hand, lack of awareness regarding dosage, proper application of micronutrients among farmers, and availability of cheap alternatives & counterfeit products restrain the growth to some extent. However, implementation of new methods of farming is expected to create lucrative opportunities in the industry.

Download PDF Sample Copy Of this Report @ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/10719

COVID-19 scenario-

The outbreak of the pandemic led to restrictions on import & export. Also, several lockdown measures imposed by the government impacted the Canada crop micronutrients market negatively.

The distorted supply chain and value chain has also been detrimental for the market growth. However, the situation is being ameliorated and the market is expected to revive soon.

The Canada crop micronutrients market is analyzed across form, product type, crop type, and application. Based on form, the chelated segment accounted for more than four-fifths of the total market share in 2019, and is expected to retain its dominance by 2027. The same segment would also register the fastest CAGR of 7.4% from 2021 to 2027.

Get Detailed Covid 19 Impact on Canada Crop Micronutrients Market @ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/10719?reqfor=covid

Based on product type, the zinc segment contributed to more than one-fifth of the total market revenue in 2019, and is anticipated to lead the trail by 2027. The same segment would also cite the fastest CAGR of 10.1% from 2021 to 2027.

Based on crop type, the cereals & grains segment held the major share in 2019, generating nearly half of the Canada crop micronutrients market. The same segment is projected to grow at the fastest CAGR of 8.4% during the forecast period.

Send Me Purchase Enquire here @ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/10719

The leading market players analyzed in the Canada crop micronutrients market include Akzo Nobel N.V., BASF SE, Agriculture Solutions, Inc., Concentric Ag, Nutrien Ltd., Omex Agriculture, Inc., the Mosaic Company, Compass Minerals International Inc., Univar Solutions Inc., and Yara International ASA. These market players have incorporated different strategies including partnership, expansion, collaboration, joint ventures, and others to brace their stand in the industry.





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Pune, India, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The North America marshmallow market size is expected to reach USD 535.26 million by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 6.61% during the forecast period. The growing shift towards luxurious and premium confectioneries will have a tremendous impact on the market during the forecast period, states Fortune Business Insights, in a report, titled North America Marshmallow Market, 2021  2028. The market size stood at USD 319.18 million in 2020.





COVID-19 Impact:

Various factories and warehouses throughout the country have been forced to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumers considered panic buying and stockpiling of candies and chocolates as a means of warmth and indulgence during the initial stages of the lockdown. Besides, the industry saw a slight increase in revenue as convenience stores and grocery stores reopened. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), in March 2020, supermarket food sales experienced a surge of 57 percent on food-at-home spent by consumers, compared to the year 2019. The heavy demand for marshmallows due to the stay-at-home policy further helped the market expansion during the global pandemic.





The report on North America marshmallow market includes:

Terrific insights into the industry

Essential data with in-depth research

Reasons exhibiting market growth

Broad study about main regions

COVID-19 impact on the market

Leading developments in the industry





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Competitive Landscape :

Companies to Focus on Product Development for Strong Market Presence

The market is dominated by prominent companies such as Mondelez International, Inc., General Mills Inc., Just Born, Inc., and Stuffed Puffs, LLC. The key players are constantly developing new products and expanding their production capabilities to cater to the needs of the consumers.





Key Development :

September 2020: Stuffed Puffs, LLC launched 25 exclusively wrapped marshmallows in various shapes such as vampire, pumpkin, and mummy on the occasion of Halloween in the U.S.





The Report Lists the Key Companies in the North America Marshmallow Market:

Mondelez International, Inc. (Chicago, United States)

General Mills, Inc. (Minnesota, United States)

Doumak, Inc. (Illinois, United States)

North Mallow (Minnesota, United States)

Just Born, Inc. (Pennsylvania, United States)

Chicago Vegan Foods (United States)

Stuffed Puffs, LLC (Pennsylvania, United States)

Madysons Marshmallow (Washington, United States)

Hammonds Candies (Colorado, United States)

Kitchening & Co. (Vancouver, Canada)





Browse Detailed Summary of Research Report with TOC:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/north-america-marshmallow-market-105434





Key Driving Factor :

Rising Popularity of Plant-based Foods to Back Development

Consumer knowledge about the advantages of natural, plant-based goods has risen dramatically in recent years. Moreover, the vegan movement has resulted in heavy demand for plant-based foods. According to the plant-based food Association, the retail sales of plant-based foods in the U.S. increased by 11% in 2019 compared to the previous year. Marshmallows are high in calories and contain eggs, animal-sourced gelatin, sugar, and corn syrup. However, the rising trend of veganism has urged manufacturers to introduce marshmallows with plant-based ingredients carrageenan, soy protein, tapioca syrup, and natural vanilla flavors. This, in turn, will enable speedy expansion of the market in the future. Though, the rising demand for sugar-free and low-calorie products can negatively affect the North America marshmallow market share in the future.





Market Segments :

Based on product type, the market is divided into flavored and unflavored. The flavored variant is expected to hold the largest share owing to the consumer proclivity for new and innovative confections.

Based on nature, the market is divided into vegan, organic, kosher, and conventional. The conventional ones are expected to hold the lions share during the forecast period due to its wide availability. Based on distribution channels, the market is classified into supermarkets/hypermarkets, specialty stores, convenience stores, and online retail. Supermarkets/hypermarkets are expected to hold the largest share due to the accessibility of the extensive product range.





Regional Insights :

Rising Food Consumption to Foster Growth in the US

The U.S. accounted for USD 261.62 million in 2020. The booming confectionery industry is ppropelling growth in the region. Changing consumer patterns and expanding the food industry will create immense value for the market. Moreover, the rising popularity of desserts and chocolates will boost the consumption in the US. The consumer demand for ready-to-eat snacks and confectionery products will have an outstanding impact on the North America marshmallow market growth. Canada is likely to experience a significant growth rate during the forecast period. The booming sugar and confectionery industry will contribute to the growth of the market in Canada. According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), in 2019, the sugar and confectionery segment accounted for USD 4.0 billion.





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Detailed Table of Content:

Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities

Key Insights Overview on the North America Confectionery Market Analysis on U.S. Non-Chocolate/Sugar Confectionery Market Factors Impacting Consumers Buying Behaviour Supply Chain & Regulatory Analysis Industry SWOT Analysis Recent Industry Developments - Policies, Mergers & Acquisitions, and New Product Launches Market Analysis and Insights (in Relation with COVID-19) Impact of COVID-19 on the Market Supply Chain Challenges due to the Pandemic Potential Opportunities to Support the Market during the North America Crisis

North America Marshmallow Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2017-2028 Key Findings / Summary Market Size Estimates and Forecast By Type (Value) Flavored Unflavored By Nature (Value) Vegan Organic Kosher Conventional By Distribution Channel (Value) Supermarkets/Hypermarkets Specialty Stores Convenience Stores Online Retail By Country (Value) U.S By Type (Value) Flavored Unflavored Canada By Type (Value) Flavored Unflavored



TOC Continued!





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Have a Look at Related Research Insights:

Chocolate Filling Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, White Chocolate, Others), By Application (Cookies, Cupcakes, Breakfast Cereals, Others) and Regional Forecast, 2021-2028

Confectionery Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Chocolate, Sugar, and Gums), Distribution Channel (Hypermarket/Supermarket, Convenience Stores, Departmental Stores, and Online Retails), and Regional Forecast, 2019  2026





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Potsdam, NY, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Anthony G. Collins, president of Clarkson University since 2003, will step down as Clarksons 16th president at the conclusion of the 2022 academic year. A Clarkson faculty member since 1982, President Collins has been a booster for economic development in the North Country and throughout New York State, and a national advocate for higher education.

Tony Collins has advanced the reputation of Clarkson University, a nationally ranked institution whose 44,000 living alumni are well represented in the leadership ranks of American business, where one in five serves as CEO, president, vice president, founder or owner of a company. During his tenure as president, student outcomes including retention, graduation rate, placement in field of interest, starting salaries, and return on educational investment have been outstanding.

Under President Collins leadership, the Vision of a Clarkson Education and Clarkson@125 have guided strategic initiatives which have been substantially realized over almost two decades. Clarksons Potsdam hill campus has been expanded both physically and in academic reach, while the downtown campus has been repurposed to advance interdisciplinary entrepreneurship, the recently added Lewis School of Health Sciences, and the economic revitalization of the Village of Potsdam. Outside of Potsdam, Clarkson has expanded geographically in recent years, with new graduate and professional programs accessible at its Capital Region Campus in Schenectady and at the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries on Dennings Point.

President Collins contributions to Clarkson University have been extraordinary and will prove to be enduring. He has exceeded the broadest measure of success, leaving the institution in far better shape than when he accepted the role of president. In addition to advancing many of the metrics typically considered in assessing institutional success, Tonys leadership throughout the challenges wrought by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 has been outstanding, said Tom Kassouf 74, chair of the Board of Trustees. We are exceptionally appreciative of his long service as president, as well as for the supportive and engaging student environment unceasingly nurtured by Tony and Karen Collins, amplifying what has always been one of Clarksons greatest strengths  direct personal connection amongst students, faculty, and administration.

It has been an honor afforded by the trustees to lead Clarkson University as the President, motivated by the commitment and dedication of our faculty, staff and inspirational students. Beyond the campus constituents, the communities surrounding our multiple campuses have joined us in working to propel Clarkson forward, said Tony Collins. Clarkson has a unique character that attracts this support. I am grateful to our federal, state and regional representatives, as well as our donors, often alumni, who have provided the resources necessary to build this great university.

A native of Australia, President Collins earned an undergraduate civil engineering degree from Monash University. He then worked for Australian Consolidated Industries and the Utah Development Company before earning masters and doctoral degrees from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. After receiving his Ph.D in 1982, he launched his career at Clarkson, progressing from assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering to full professor, department chair, dean, vice president for academic affairs, and provost. During that time, he received awards for outstanding teaching, research, and advising, as well as lecturing internationally, and authoring more than 90 publications.

He currently serves as chair of the Association of Independent Technological Universities (AITU), is emeritus chair of New Yorks Commission for Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU), serves on the board of the Business Council of New York State, is president of the Seaway Private Equity Corporation, and was previously nominated to serve on the Advisory Board of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, and has served on a number of New York State advisory task forces as well as co-chair for the North Country Regional Economic Development Council.

A search committee, to be co-chaired by Trustees Georgia Keresty 83, board secretary, and Sanjeev Kulkarni 84, chair of the Academic Mission committee, will be formed to identify a successor to Tony Collins. It will include trustees, faculty, staff, students, and alumni, representing Clarksons core constituencies. The search committee will provide details on the full committee membership and the process guiding the search for Clarksons 17th president when available.

For further questions and information, please contact Kelly Chezum 04, Vice President for External Relations and Assistant Secretary of the Board of Trustees, at 315-268-4499 or kchezum@clarkson.edu.

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EmiSwap , the first community-governed decentralized exchange (DEX) that compensates liquidity providers with substantial rewards, has announced the listing of its $ESW utility governance token on Ignition, PAID Network , and MANTRA DAO 's Zendit , two of the most popular IDO launchpads that draw large communities. The DeFi paragon also added its own launchpad functionality following the DEX's own community showing clear excitement and support for the proposed project.



The popular launchpads people can buy $ESW on are:

EmiSwap Internal Launchpad : You can go to EmiSwap's website to start buying, the Invest section on the website will act as the launchpad. You will have to register to EmiSwap's waiting list and go through a simple KYC process to be eligible for buying $ESW on the EmiSwap Launchpad.

Date : 28 - 6 - 2021

: 28 - 6 - 2021 Amount to raise: 100,000 USD

100,000 USD Important: Waiting list closes on June 27, 14:00 UTC.



MANTRA DAO : MANTRA DAO is a community-governed DeFi platform focusing on Staking, Lending, and Governance. Zendit is MantraDAO's super-popular platform that employs a decentralized fixed swapping protocol which has many advantages such as providing transparency on the number of tokens offered during a token launch as well a neutralized risk of bad actors artificially inflating the token price and then dumping.

Date: 29 - 6 - 2021

Amount to raise: 150,000 USD

Ignition, PAID Network : PAID Network is building the world's first borderless SMART Agreement DApp for all business needs. Ignition properly vets and selects only top-tier cutting-edge projects. The platform is trusted to bring quality projects, fixed swaps, and equitable lottery participation to the massive PAID community.

Date: 30 - 6 - 2021

Amount to raise: 300,000 USD

*As DeFi is still a fresh space that's expanding by the hour, constant updates and small changes are part of the adventure. Therefore, please bear in mind that EmiSwap may add more launchpads to the list! Furthermore, launchpad users on EmiSwap may have to undergo a standard KYC (Know-Your-Customer) procedure to later withdraw their $ESW tokens. We are grateful for your cooperation in making DeFi a safer place!

Please note that users from the following countries are unfortunately restricted from joining $ESW launchpad sales, for the time being, they are: The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Liberia, Myanmar, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and the USA.

EmiSwap is built on a multi-project-driven DAO system that empowers multi-blockchain interoperability, distributes all DAO fees, and an NFT based community loyalty program. Along with their 100% ETH gas compensation and benefits, EmiSwap's motto for this is "The more you use, the more you own." The project's economic structure is intended to be equitable for all involved parties, delivering one of the most meaningful and lucrative ecosystems on the market.

Following the launchpad sales, EmiSwap will implement farming and staking options for $ESW tokens! EmiSwap then intends to launch on the Binance Smart Chain, followed by the Huobi Chain. According to their roadmap, they will integrate Limit, Stop Limit, and Stop market orders for EmiSwap and other DEXs such as (UniSwap, SushiSwap, DODO, and others) in the third quarter of 2021, as well as voting, NFT farming, and more.

EmiSwap is the EmiDAO alliance's inaugural venture, and its members are constantly engaged in its management and support. An investment fund focused on developing blockchain companies is part of the EmiDAO alliance, Alpha Sigma Capital; a top cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume and liquidity, DigiFinex Exchange; an exchange with 2.1 million global users and over 300 cryptocurrencies listed, Bitmart Exchange; the first decentralized financial project that distributes all its revenue among stakeholders, Emirex Exchange; an all-in-one and open-source white-label exchange solution that lets anyone run a complete crypto trading platform, HollaEx Exchange; a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange and financial services company working in areas including media, social, mining, digital asset management, markets and research, IDCM Exchange, and a global banking platform that is integrating its services of eKYC, AML, whitelist-as-a-service, and fiat-in/out ramps, Everest Group. For more information, please visit EmiSwap's official Website and Medium .

EmiSwap raised $330,000 during its pre-seed for early adopters and $770,000 from reputable funds and partners after the seed round ended. The price of 1 $ESW token increased by 110%. Jumping from $0,055 to $0,115! The private round then amassed the novice DEX a whopping $1,725,000. The launchpad sales are projected to raise funds after selling 5,000,000 $ESW tokens. Shortly after, EmiSwap is planning to launch on a chain of widely accessible CEXs and DEXs; a win for DeFi enthusiasts everywhere!

About EmiSwap

EmiSwap ( https://emiswap.com ) is the first community-governed decentralized exchange (DEX) that provides high rewards for liquidity providers (LPs) and offers 100% compensation for Ethereum's transaction fees in $ESW governance tokens. EmiSwap is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) in which $ESW token holders vote to govern the development of the platform. Participants will be rewarded daily based on their trade volume and will have exclusive opportunities to collect EmiSwap's limited edition NFT cards. EmiSwap is the first project in the EmiDAO alliance which includes Alpha Sigma Capital, DigiFinex Exchange, Bitmart Exchange, Emirex Exchange, HollaEx Exchange, IDCM Exchange, and Everest Group.

Media Contact

Company: EmiDAO

Email: greg.mars@emidao.org

Website: https://www.emiswap.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rybalgri

SOURCE: EmiDAO
PALM BEACH, FL, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Luxury Lifestyle Awards has honored Tahi Honey as the Best Luxury Honey in the world.

We are honored that a prestigious organization, such as Luxury Lifestyle Awards, which seeks to celebrate the best luxury goods and services in the world, has chosen Tahi as the Best Luxury Manuka Honey in the world, says Suzan Craig, founder and director of Tahi honey in New Zealand.

The expert judges praised Tahis Manuka Honey UMF+ Collection for its biodiversity-positive production processes and the companys determined focus on sustainability, as well as its unique taste and texture profile -- rich and golden, smooth and creamy, sweet yet mild.

At Tahi, we are passionate about our honey, bees, and the land on which it is produced," Craig says. In addition to making the worlds best luxury Manuka honey, we took a run-down cattle farm and restored it to its natural beauty and made it a nature sanctuary.

Craig explains that Tahi Honey comes with a Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) rating, which is a scientifically developed scale for rating Manuka honey's potency.

The UMF rating puts consumers at ease the Manuka honey they are buying is 100 percent pure. Manuka honey comes from bees that pollinate the native Manuka bush in New Zealand.

The difference between Manuka honey and other varieties is its high methylglyoxal concentration, which is Manuka honey's major antibacterial component. Manuka honey contains high nutritional content and low-fat content. It has been used in traditional healing remedies in many cultures for centuries.

As well as producing honey, Tahi is an award-winning, sustainability-led and ecologically-conscious nature sanctuary and eco-retreat based in Northland, New Zealand. 100% of the profits from every jar of Tahi honey goes directly towards Tahis community, culture and conservation projects.

Tahi honey varieties, which are available on OneLavi.com, include:

Tahi Manuka Multifloral Honey MGO 80+, 400gm, which has a sweet, smooth and mildly tangy taste.

Tahi Manuka lozenges, which has a delicious soothing with a sweet yet slightly tangy taste. Tahi Manuka honey lozenges are 100 percent pure with no added water, sugar, or anything artificial.

Tahi UMF 5+ 250gm Manuka honey, certified as authentic New Zealand Manuka honey, containing all the unique and natural properties that make Manuka honey popular worldwide.

Tahi Beelicious Honey (Bee) 250gm/400gm, which has a tasty blend that kids will love.

Being named the Best Luxury Manuka Honey is an honor for Tahis staff, who believe in our mission to create the best honey in the world and take care of the land we live on, Craig adds.

For more information about Tahi, visit OneLavi.com.

* Oxford University study, August 2020: honey beats antibiotics and other over-the-counter medications for relieving coughs, sore throats and colds.

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TORONTO and CHICAGO, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Medexus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (the Company or Medexus) (TSX: MDP) (OTCQX: MEDXF) today announced that it has received a Notice of Compliance (NOC) from Health Canada to commercialize treosulfan, developed by medac GmbH, in Canada, following the satisfactory review of the submission for the bifunctional alkylating agent.



Treosulfan will be marketed in Canada under the brand name Trecondyv and indicated in combination with fludarabine as part of a conditioning treatment prior to allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). To date, Medexus has been distributing treosulfan in Canada only under the Special Access Program pursuant to the authorization received in March of 2019. With this recent decision, Trecondyv will soon be made available for commercial sale for the treatment adult patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) or Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) who are at increased risk for standard conditioning therapies, as well as in pediatric patients older than one year old with AML or MDS.

Ken dEntremont, CEO, commented, We are thrilled that Health Canada has approved treosulfan for full scale commercialization under the name Trecondyv. We believe that there is an unmet need in Canada for this product and are happy to provide patients with this potentially curative treatment solution. We are also pleased that Health Canada has approved this drug for pediatric patients, which we believe is a reflection of the significant survival data that it has demonstrated in clinical trials. This Health Canada decision also gives us further confidence of attaining a positive outcome in the FDAs upcoming decision in connection with our Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date on August 11th, which we hope will allow us to offer the product to patients in the United States.

Kerry Bakewell, Vice President of Specialty Markets for Canadian Operations, noted, The approval of treosulfan will provide Canadians suffering from AML and MDS with a treatment option that has shown reduced toxicity and improved survival outcomes compared to standard myeloablative regimens. With Gleolans approval last September, this important milestone marks the second Health Canada approval in the last ten months, reinforcing our commitment to bringing life saving medications to the North American markets. We expect to launch Trecondyv commercially within the third quarter this year and will continue to supply the drug to patients via the Special Access Program until then.

Medexus is in the final stages of extending its licensing partnership with medac GmbH (medac) to include treosulfan for Canada. Under the terms of the agreement, medac is expected to be responsible for the manufacturing and supply of the drug, while Medexus will be responsible for sales and marketing of the product.

About Medexus

Medexus is a leading innovative and rare disease company with a strong North American commercial platform. From a foundation of proven best in class products we are building a highly differentiated company with a portfolio of innovative and high value orphan and rare disease products that will underpin our growth for the next decade. The Companys vision is to provide the best healthcare products to healthcare professionals and patients, through our core values of Quality, Innovation, Customer Service and Teamwork. Medexus Pharmaceuticals is focused on the therapeutic areas of auto-immune disease, hematology, and allergy. The Companys leading products are: Rasuvo and Metoject, a unique formulation of methotrexate (auto-pen and pre-filled syringe) designed to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other auto-immune diseases; IXINITY, an intravenous recombinant factor IX therapeutic for use in patients 12 years of age or older with Hemophilia B  a hereditary bleeding disorder characterized by a deficiency of clotting factor IX in the blood, which is necessary to control bleeding; and Rupall, an innovative prescription allergy medication with a unique mode of action.

For more information, please contact:

Ken dEntremont, Chief Executive Officer

Medexus Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Tel.: 905-676-0003

E-mail: ken.dentremont@medexus.com

Roland Boivin, Chief Financial Officer

Medexus Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Tel.: 514-344-8765

E-mail: roland.boivin@medexus.com

Investor Relations (U.S.):

Crescendo Communications, LLC

Tel: +1-212-671-1020

Email: mdp@crescendo-ir.com

Investor Relations (Canada):

Tina Byers

Adelaide Capital

Tel: 905-330-3275

E-mail: tina@adcap.ca

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements made in this press release contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (forward-looking statements). The words anticipates, believes, expects, will, plans and similar expressions are often intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Specific forward-looking statements contained in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the timing of a commercial launch in Canada, Companys expectations regarding receipt of FDA approval for treosulfan and the expansion of the Companys partnership with medac. These statements are based on factors or assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection, including assumptions based on historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments. Since forward-looking statements relate to future events and conditions, by their very nature they require making assumptions and involve inherent risks and uncertainties. The Company cautions that although it is believed that the assumptions are reasonable in the circumstances, these risks and uncertainties give rise to the possibility that actual results may differ materially from the expectations set out in the forward-looking statements. Material risk factors include those set out in the Companys materials filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities from time to time, including the Companys most recent annual information form and managements discussion and analysis. Given these risks, undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date hereof. Other than as specifically required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent or otherwise.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arizona Gold Corp. (Arizona) (TSX: AZG, OTCQB: AGAUF) and Golden Predator Mining Corp. (Golden Predator) are pleased to announce that they have entered into a definitive arrangement agreement (the Agreement) pursuant to which Arizona and Golden Predator have agreed to merge to create a new North American focused near-term gold producer (the Transaction). The Transaction combines the fully permitted past-producing Copperstone gold mine in Arizona and the historic past-producing Brewery Creek gold mine in the Yukon.



Under the terms of the Agreement, all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Golden Predator will be exchanged for common shares of Arizona on the basis of 1.65 common shares of Arizona per common share of Golden Predator (the Exchange Ratio). Upon completion of the Transaction, existing Arizona and Golden Predator shareholders will own approximately 55% and 45% of the combined company common shares, respectively, on an outstanding basis.

Transaction Highlights

Creates a diversified near-term gold producer in North America through sequential development of the fully permitted Copperstone mine in Arizona followed by the Brewery Creek mine in the Yukon;

Combined resource base 1 of approximately 1.1 million oz gold in the Measured & Indicated categories, plus an additional approximate 1.5 million oz gold in the Inferred category, paired with considerable exploration upside at each project;

of approximately 1.1 million oz gold in the Measured & Indicated categories, plus an additional approximate 1.5 million oz gold in the Inferred category, paired with considerable exploration upside at each project; Experienced leadership team including Giulio Bonifacio as President & CEO and William Sheriff as Non-Executive Chairman, to be supported by a technical team with backgrounds in both mine-building and operations;

Improved capital markets scale to enhance investor visibility and positioning amongst peers, plus a broadened shareholder base; and

Combined cash and investments of $23M2, including shareholdings in Seabridge Gold Inc., C2C Gold Corp. and Group 11 Technologies Inc.



Giulio Bonifacio, CEO & Director of Arizona, commented: We view this as a great opportunity to bring together the advanced-stage Copperstone Mine and the Brewery Creek Mine, both former producing gold mines in superior jurisdictions, under the same umbrella to leverage a shared technical team and corporate infrastructure. The combined company will provide for stronger peer positioning amongst gold producers as we advance Copperstone to production in the very near term, and continue to advance Brewery Creek towards a re-start decision.

William Sheriff, Executive Chair of Golden Predator, further added: I have long been aware of and admired the Copperstone project, from its days as an open pit mine to its current incarnation as an underground operation. Golden Predator shareholders shall benefit from this rational consolidation and increased scale. Creating a more robust combined company, we believe that stakeholders in the Brewery Creek project, including the Trondek Hwechin First Nation, will benefit from the Transaction.

Transaction Details

Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Golden Predator will be exchanged for common shares of Arizona at the Exchange Ratio. Outstanding and unexercised warrants and options to purchase common shares of Golden Predator will be adjusted in accordance with their terms based on the Exchange Ratio.

The Agreement includes standard deal protection provisions, including non-solicitation, right-to-match, and fiduciary out provisions, as well as certain representations, covenants and conditions that are customary for a transaction of this nature, along with a reciprocal termination fee of $1.5 million payable in certain circumstances.

The proposed business combination will be effected by way of a plan of arrangement completed under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia). The Transaction will require approval by (i) two-thirds of the votes cast by Golden Predator shareholders at a special meeting of the shareholders of Golden Predator to be called in connection with the Transaction; (ii) a simple majority of the votes cast by Arizona shareholders at a special meeting of the shareholders of Arizona to be called in connection with the Transaction; and (iii) if required, a simple majority of the votes cast by Arizona and Golden Predator shareholders at their respective shareholder meetings, excluding the votes held by certain persons as required my Multilateral Instrument 61-101.

The shareholder meetings of Arizona and Golden Predator are expected to be held in August 2021. An information circular detailing the terms and conditions of the Transaction will be mailed to the shareholders of both companies in connection with the special shareholder meetings. All shareholders are urged to read the information circular once available, as it will contain important additional information concerning the Transaction.

Closing of the Transaction is subject to the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals and the satisfactions of certain other closing conditions customary in transactions of this nature, including, without limitation, court and exchange approval. Closing of the Transaction is anticipated to occur in September 2021.

Corporate Matters

The combined company will be managed by the current Arizona executive team, led by Mr. Bonifacio as President & CEO, John Galassini as COO, Dale Found as CFO and Michael Maslowski as VP Technical Services & Exploration. Janet Lee-Sheriff, current CEO of Golden Predator, will continue in an advisory role with the combined company with a particular focus on community engagement.

Each company will select three board of director nominees, including Mr. Sheriff as Non-Executive Chair (Golden Predator), Stefan Spears (Golden Predator), Tony Lesiak (Golden Predator), Fahad Al Tamimi (Arizona Gold), Claudio Ciavarella (Arizona Gold), and Mr. Bonifacio (Arizona Gold).

Upon closing of the Transaction, Arizona will change its name to Sabre Gold Corp., subject to the receipt of all necessary approvals.

Board Recommendations & Voting Support

The Agreement has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of Arizona and Golden Predator, and each board recommends that its respective shareholders vote in favour of the Transaction.

All of the directors and officers of Golden Predator have entered into customary voting support agreements agreeing to vote in favour of the Transaction.

Similarly, all of the directors and officers of Arizona have entered into customary voting support agreements agreeing to vote in favour of the Transaction.

Certain shareholders have also indicated support to vote in favour of the Transaction, including Eric Sprott who is a shareholder of both Golden Predator and Arizona.

Advisors and Counsel

Haywood Securities Inc. acted as financial advisor to Arizona. Peterson McVicar LLP acted as legal counsel to Arizona.

Morton Law LLP acted as legal counsel to Golden Predator.

Conference Call & Webcast

Arizona and Golden Predator will be hosting a joint online investor webinar on Tuesday, June 29, 2021 at 1:00 PM EDT / 10:00 AM PDT to discuss the Transaction.

To register and attend the webinar please visit:

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1749026547624844301?source=cl

Registration will also give you access to the on-demand replay.

Qualified Persons

The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in NI 43-101 and reviewed and approved on behalf of Arizona by Michael R. Smith, SME Registered Member (Geology), and on behalf of Golden Predator by Mike Maslowski, CPG, both of whom are each individually a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

About Arizona

Arizona Gold is an emerging American gold producer advancing the restart of production at its 100% owned, fully permitted, past-producing Copperstone mine project, located in mining-friendly Arizona. The Copperstone mine project demonstrates significant upside exploration potential that has yet to be drilled within a 50 km2 land package that includes past production of over 500,000 oz gold by way of an open-pit operation.

The companys current focus is on maximizing Copperstones potential by defining and expanding current resources and further optimizing the mines economics for purposes of the restart of gold production in the near-term as a result of the recent project funding transaction with Star Royalties Ltd.

For further information please visit the Arizona website at www.arizona-gold.com.

About Golden Predator

Golden Predator is advancing the past-producing Brewery Creek mine towards a timely resumption of mining activities in Canadas Yukon. The project has established resources grading over 1.0 g/t gold and both a technical report and Bankable Feasibility Study underway to define the economics of a restart of heap leach operations at the Brewery Creek mine. The 180 km2 brownfield property is located 55 km by road from Dawson City, Yukon and operates under a Socio-Economic Accord with the Trondek Hwechin First Nation. The Company also holds the Marg project, with a NI 43-101 compliant resource, the Gold Dome project and the Grew Creek project.

For additional information on Golden Predator and the Brewery Creek mine, please visit the website at www.goldenpredator.com.

Contact Information

Arizona Gold Corp.

Giulio Bonifacio

CEO & Director

604-318-6760

gtbonifacio@arizona-gold.com Golden Predator Mining Corp.

William Sheriff

Executive Chair

972-333-2214

wms@goldenpredator.com

Cautionary Statements

Certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking information or statements under applicable securities legislation and rules. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the anticipated completion of the Transaction. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Arizona and/or Golden Predator to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: (i) any inability of the parties to satisfy the conditions to the completion of the Transaction on acceptable terms or at all; and (ii) receipt of necessary stock exchange, court and shareholder approvals. Although management of each of Arizona and Golden Predator has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Neither party will update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws. The parties caution readers not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and it does not undertake any obligation to revise and disseminate forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, or to reflect the occurrence of or non-occurrence of any events.

This press release is not and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States. The distribution of the Arizona common shares in connection with the transactions described herein will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 (the U.S. Securities Act) and the Arizona common shares may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the Arizona common shares, nor shall there be any offer or sale of the Arizona common shares in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

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

_______________

1 For Copperstone, please reference the independent technical report titled National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report: Preliminary Feasibility Study for the Copperstone Project, La Paz County, Arizona, USA completed by Hard Rock Consulting, LLC, effective date April 1, 2018. For Brewery Creek, please reference the Independent technical report titled NI 43-101 Technical Report on Resources  Brewery Creek Project, Yukon, Canada completed by Gustavson Associates LLC, effective date May 31, 2020.

2 Includes pro forma cash of $9.6M as at March 31, 2021 and pro forma equity investments calculated as at June 25, 2021, excluding transaction costs.
Gloucester, MA (01930)

Today

A shower or two around the area early, then partly cloudy overnight. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

A shower or two around the area early, then partly cloudy overnight. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
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GOSHEN [mdash] Thomas went to be with his Lord and Saviour early July 2. He was born to John W and Elizabeth (McNeilly) Detwiler on Jan. 14, 1949. He married D Sue (Shaum) on Nov. 27, 1969. He is survived by his wife, three children Thomas Edward (Wendy), Audra J (Scott) Hoover, and Anthony 
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Governor Northam Announces Over $11.1 Million in GO Virginia Grants

Funding will support workforce and site development, infrastructure, entrepreneurial ecosystems

RICHMONDGovernor Ralph Northam today announced an allocation of more than $11.1 million in Growth and Opportunity for Virginia (GO Virginia) grants to help advance economic recovery efforts across the Commonwealth. This funding will support 20 projects focused on expanding workforce development and talent pipelines in key industries, growing startup businesses and entrepreneurial ecosystems, and increasing Virginias business-ready sites portfolio.

The targeted support that GO Virginia provides is critical to ensuring communities across our Commonwealth are well positioned to succeed in a post-pandemic economy, said Governor Northam. These projects demonstrate how regional collaboration can drive innovation and deliver positive economic results, including diversifying our workforce, supporting entrepreneurs, and upgrading our infrastructure.

Included in this round of GO Virginia funding is one statewide project, 16 regional projects, and three projects through GO Virginias Economic Resilience and Recovery Program. The awarded projects will leverage an additional $7.1 million in local and other non-state resources.

The regional approach of GO Virginia continues to spur creative economic development strategies throughout the Commonwealth, said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball. These projects will support regional priorities and help communities achieve economic growth goals now and in the future.

The collaboration inspired by GO Virginia is evident in these projects, said Nancy Howell Agee, who was elected to serve as Chair of the GO Virginia Board at the June 15th meeting. It is important to recognize the leadership of the GO Virginia regional councils and the localities partnering on these important initiatives and acknowledge their continued efforts to build stronger regional economies that provide quality job opportunities for Virginians.

Since the programs inception in 2017, GO Virginia has funded 182 projects and awarded approximately $68 million to support regional economic development efforts. To learn more about the GO Virginia Program, visit dhcd.virginia.gov/gova.

2021 ROUND TWO STATEWIDE GRANT AWARDS

Cybersecurity Job Creation System | $1,450,000

Region 5 (lead): Counties of Isle of Wight and Southampton and cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach

Region 7: Fairfax County

Regions 3, 4, 6

Old Dominion University Research Foundation will develop and deliver a cost-effective, cloud-based compliance system to help Virginias Department of Defense contractors achieve Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) accreditation. A NIST 800-171/CMMC education program will be developed and delivered by Old Dominion University, Eastern Shore Community College, and as part of the four VA-affiliated universities and participating community colleges.





2021 ROUND TWO REGIONAL GRANT AWARDS

Southwest Virginia Regional Ecosystem Initiative Implementation | $290,850

Region 1: Cities of Bristol, Galax, and Norton and the town of St. Paul

The University of Virginias College at Wise is partnering with SWVA Startup and Opportunity SWVA to increase the number of entrepreneurs in the region by 2027 and ensure they have access to a robust ecosystem, including support for existing, early-stage businesses. The multi-prong strategy includes hiring a regional ecosystem builder, implementing a virtual accelerator program, and focusing on increased outreach and programming to develop a more diverse entrepreneurship community.

Project Fuse | $70,000

Region 1: Counties of Dickenson, Lee, Scott, and Wise, and the city of Norton

Project Fuse will develop an action-oriented plan with business retention and recruitment tools for local economic developers to promote telework employment strategies in the Lonesome Pine Regional Industrial Facilities Authority territory. This project supports the needs of companies and economic developers looking to expand the use of teleworking strategies as well as residents interested in remote employment opportunities.

Project Thoroughbred | $100,000

Region 1: Counties of Lee and Scott

Project Thoroughbred will add capacity to the maximum output farmers can produce, strengthen market confidence in the regions ability to meet quality specifications, diversify products, and take the first step toward creating jobs for graduates of the Mountain Empire Community Colleges Grain Management Program.

Dearing Ford Industrial Park | $506,000

Region 2: Campbell County and the town of Altavista

The Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance will manage a project to extend gas service to the Dearing Ford Industrial Park and the adjacent publicly-owned development parcels. This project will create the only gas-serviced site in the Lynchburg sub-region and significantly increase the marketability of the sites.

Helping Local Employers Prepare the Existing and Future Workforce for Industry 4.0 | $45,360

Region 2: Counties of Alleghany, Botetourt, Franklin, and Roanoke, the cities of Covington, Roanoke, and Salem, and the town of Vinton

The Learning Factory in Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech, in partnership with the Virginia Tech Roanoke Center, will address the need for trained talent in Industry 4.0 technology skills in the region and increase competitiveness for manufacturers. The project will convene employers and stakeholders to help identify areas of needed growth in Industry 4.0 such as necessary new technology, skill gaps among the current and future workforce, areas of potential collaboration and others.

Lynchburg Beacon of Hope | $97,740

Region 2: Amherst County and the city of Lynchburg

Lynchburg Beacon of Hope will develop a Playbook for Future Centers to provide a programmatic guide of its existing Future Centers model that will focus on in-demand careers in the regions targeted industries of manufacturing, information technology, and life sciences. The playbook will guide the operations and sustainability of the Future Centers model, a template for hiring a director of each Future Center, and a professional development and training module for effective Future Centers.

Building a Regional Health Sciences Talent Pipeline | $100,000

Region 2: Counties of Alleghany, Botetourt, Franklin, and Roanoke, the cities of Covington, Roanoke, and Salem, and the town of Vinton

The project will establish the Blue Ridge Partnership for Health Science Careers to work as a consortium with public institutions and private employers, helping them to more systematically collaborate to leverage resources and align curriculum with employers future growth strategies. This project will accelerate the development of a new model for widespread business-education collaboration, increase the number of health and life science graduates, and begin to formalize a health science talent pipeline focused on engineering, cybersecurity, mechatronics, and the broader life sciences trade sector.

Minority Small Business Launch Center at Virginia State University | $453,000

Region 4: Counties of Charles City, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Greensville, Henrico, Prince George, Surry, and Sussex and the cities of Colonial Heights, Emporia, Hopewell, Petersburg, and Richmond

The Division of Research and Economic Development and the Center for Entrepreneurship at Virginia State University will create a Minority Small Business Launch Center that will provide a comprehensive suite of services for minority business founders and early-stage businesses. Funding will support the creation of 90 jobs and 40 new businesses.

Virginias Gateway Region Sites | $1,634,407

Region 4: Counties of Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Greensville, Prince George, and Powhatan and the city of Petersburg

Virginias Gateway Region will advance site readiness in Region 4 by three-fold, elevating 15 sites (totaling 1,652 acres) to Tier 4 on the Virginia Economic Development Partnerships Virginia Business Ready Sites Program. This effort will promote the availability of shovel-ready sites to prospective businesses, which will in turn help to create higher-paying jobs in the region.

Sussex County Water Study | $96,000

Region 4: Counties of Isle of Wight, Sussex, and Surry

Virginias Gateway Region will facilitate a preliminary engineering report for the evaluation of water supply alternatives to serve a 1,000-acre development site in Sussex County. Funding will support the expanded marketability of the site by identifying strategies to provide additional water capacity.

Campus 757 | $500,000

Region 5: Cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, and Portsmouth

The Hampton Roads Workforce Council will create an initiative to increase the percentage of college students who stay and work full time in Hampton Roads. The project aims to assist up to 400 companies and connect 700 to 1,500 students with employment opportunities.

757 Collab | $2,415,573

Region 5: Cities of Hampton, Newport News, and Norfolk

757 Collab, an ongoing venture of 757 Accelerate, 757 Startup Studios, and 757 Angels, will continue building and delivering new innovation and entrepreneurship programming, capacity, and services to early-stage companies by bringing together an accelerator, private capital, collaborative space, and community outreach programs.

Establishing a Regional Internet of Things Accelerator Program in the Rappahannock Regional Entrepreneur Ecosystem | $215,000

Region 6: Counties of King George and Stafford and the city of Fredericksburg

Stafford County and partnering localities will collaborate with the Center for Innovative Technology to expand entrepreneurial programs in the Rappahannock Region. Programs will also support the technology-based Virginia Smart Community Testbed in Stafford and provide entrepreneurs with access to the proven Regional Internet of Things Accelerator Program and additional community-focused programming.

Northern Virginia Community College Dual Enrollment Expansion Program for Information and Engineering Technology | $1,106,777

Region 7: Counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park

Northern Virginia Community College, in conjunction with multiple partners, will implement the Dual Enrollment Expansion Program for Information and Engineering Technology (DEEP-IET) to develop regional workforce capacity in IET, specifically targeting information technology and engineering technology. The DEEP-IET approach will target successful student outcomes with multiple touch points on the STEM talent pipeline and will result in 288 additional graduates, 96 new internships, and expand the number of certified dual enrollment teachers in the region.

Innovation Forward | $100,000

Region 7: Counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park

The Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance will undergo a strategic planning process to determine the best approaches to organization and management, budgeting and funding, staffing, policy development, business development activities, and brand development. This project will ultimately develop regional capacity and leverage combined assets to grow and diversify the regional economy.

Accelerating Regionally Significant Sites | $786,333

Region 9: Counties of Culpeper and Louisa

The Central Virginia Partnership for Economic Development will elevate one 700-acre site to Tier 4 on the Virginia Economic Development Partnerships Site Characterization scale and enhance the marketability of a 266-acre Tier 4 site by completing water and sewer engineering studies for the sites. The project will benefit the region by increasing the number of shovel-ready sites and supporting economic development efforts that will increase the business tax base and create high-paying jobs.





2021 ROUND TWO ECONOMIC RESILIENCE AND RECOVERY STATEWIDE GRANT

Expansion of Innovation Commercialization Assistance Program Mentor Network | $882,794

Region 7 (lead): Counties of Loudoun and Prince William and the cities of Alexandria and Fairfax

Region 2, 4, 5, 6

George Mason University will expand the statewide network of Innovation Commercialization Assistance Program mentors, who will support startups and early-stage companies. Services will include assistance with developing strategic plans and accessing funding and grants through a new regional hub service network.





2021 ROUND TWO ECONOMIC RESILIENCE AND RECOVERY REGIONAL GRANTS

The Future of Workforce Development Outreach | $148,689

Region 9: Counties of Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Madison, and Nelson

Virginia Career Works  Piedmont will address newly identified service equity gaps by providing targeted assistance to displaced workers who do not have access to a career center or high-speed internet. They will create face-to-face support for job seekers and increase access to training and employment opportunities.

Accelerate 2022 | $100,000

Region 7: Counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William and the city of Fairfax

Refraction Inc., in partnership with George Mason University, will launch Accelerate 2022, a high-profile, multiday showcase and pitch competition that will bring investors from across the United States to fund Northern Virginia startups and high-growth companies. The project will address the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic by focusing on raising critical capital, which will lead to more than 100 high-paying jobs and $16 million in follow-on funding within five years.

# # #
Governor Northam Welcomes Air Force F-22 Training Unit Move to Joint Base Langley-Eustis

Virginias congressional delegation and General Assembly members united in support of relocation to Hampton Roads

RICHMONDGovernor Ralph Northam today welcomed the decision by the United States Air Force to permanently locate the F-22 Raptor formal training unit (FTU) at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Hampton.

In 2019, Governor Northam joined Virginias bipartisan congressional delegation and General Assembly members in urging the Air Force to select Joint Base Langley-Eustis as the new home for the F-22 FTU after it was displaced from Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida due to Hurricane Michael.

We are thrilled to welcome the F-22 Raptor formal training unit to our Commonwealth, said Governor Northam. Home to a significant number of military installations with critical national security missions and operations, there is no place that welcomes service members more warmly than the Hampton Roads region. Langley-Eustis is the right choice, with the ideal environment to achieve the maintenance and supply efficiencies that are critical to successful F-22 squadron training. This move is good for the Air Force and the Langley-Eustis community, and demonstrates that Virginia is best suited to host this mission and the next generation of air dominance fighter aircraft.

After years of advocating alongside the Virginia congressional delegation, were pleased that the U.S. Air Force has confirmed what we already knew: Hampton Roads is the ideal location to permanently house the F-22 training squadron, said United States Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. We look forward to working with the U.S. Air Force and the Virginia Air National Guard to make sure the relocation process is a smooth one for the service members and their families that will now make the Commonwealth their new home.

The United States Air Force has chosen Joint Base Langley-Eustis here in Hampton for the F-22 Flight and Maintenance Formal Training Unit, said Congressman Bobby Scott. The Hampton Roads area is vital to our military and national security and we look forward to welcoming these service members to our community.

I am proud to welcome the F-22 Flight and Maintenance Formal Training Unit to Joint Base Langley-Eustis and Hampton Roads, said Congresswoman Elaine Luria. This decision from the Air Force and the Department of Defense sends a strong message about our communitys commitment to active duty personnel, our veterans, and their families.

The rebasing of the F-22 FTU will include the relocation of more than 31 F-22 and 16 other training aircraft, along with an estimated 700 skilled military and civilian personnel and contractors and approximately 1,600 dependents. The personnel will settle in communities near Joint Base Langley-Eustis to support the units training mission and operations.

Joint Base Langley-Eustis is home to the Virginia Air National Guard 192nd Fighter Wing, which flies the F-22 Raptors. The Virginia Air Guard has experienced instructors and maintainers to help support the FTU.

Consolidating the F-22 FTU at Langley-Eustis is the sensible move, and will allow the Air Force greater training opportunities while ensuring that investments in Langley-Eustis and its infrastructure get the use for which they were intended, said Senator Mamie Locke. This is important for our region and for the entire Langley-Eustis community.

One in 12 Virginians is a veteran, which speaks to the value and welcome we have for our military and its installations, said Delegate Jeion Ward. We welcome the F-22 FTU and its airmen to Langley-Eustis and the Hampton Roads community.

# # #
Q: We want to install a swimming pool in our backyard. How can we make it as safe as possibl
F1 race director Michael Masi has played down claims that the stewards are being influenced by "doomsday" complaints about on-track incidents made by rival teams.

Valtteri Bottas was severely punished for accidentally spinning in the pitlane during practice in Austria last weekend, with McLaren's radio complaint to Masi aired publicly on TV.

The Finnish driver said rival teams are always "trying to screw you over" with these sorts of cries on the grounds of safety.

"It's highly entertaining how quickly some of these teams report to Masi with their doomsday scenarios," Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said.

"I like it a lot that this radio channel is now open so that we can all laugh at them."

Wolff acknowledged that Bottas' move was dangerous, but he said the 31-year-old could have potentially minimised his penalty by making an excuse.

"Valtteri answered the race stewards openly and honestly that he was practicing something," he said.

"Many other drivers would have pretended that they had no idea what happened, or pointed out that the adverts all over the track were slippery or something. But what Valtteri did was honestly admit his mistake.

"I think we could use a little more integrity in the paddock, as Bottas shows himself," said Wolff.

However, Masi rejected the idea that the F1 stewards are being influenced by rival teams and their "doomsday" mongering.

"Actually, the stewards don't hear my conversations with the teams," the F1 race director insisted. "They don't hear the teams during the race either.

"They have no access to that information."

Masi also explained that no team other than McLaren complained about the Bottas incident.

"I want to emphasis this: when incidents like this occur, we immediately notify all the teams that an investigation has begun," he said.

"It's fair to say that I would still have asked the stewards to look at that incident even if McLaren had not said anything."

(GMM)
Toto Wolff has leapt to Sebastian Vettel's defence, after the quadruple world champion waded into the world of politics.

The Aston Martin driver recently gave an interview to Der Spiegel in which he revealed that he has embraced solar power, electric cars and filtered tap water.

"Yes, I will vote Green," the 33-year-old admitted.

The reaction within the political world in Germany and elsewhere was instant, with critics calling him out for the hypocrisy of arguing for 'green' issues whilst racing in fuel-burning and jet-setting Formula 1.

Mercedes boss Wolff defended Vettel.

"Sebastian is someone who not only looks at sustainability, but also lives by it. It is his nature that he has this attitude. That's absolutely fine with me," he told Bild newspaper.

"Of course it is sometimes a tightrope to fly around the world as a Formula 1 driver, operate these monster machines and at the same time say you're choosing green," Wolff added.

"So he has to put up with that criticism, but he wears his heart on his sleeve and says what he thinks without paying much attention to people's reactions.

"He thinks it's important and that's why he says it."

Vettel has embraced a mentor role for his friend Michael Schumacher's son Mick this year, but the 22-year-old Haas rookie is not yet ready to dive into politics.

When asked about Vettel's controversial green-leaning statements, Schumacher said in Austria: "I just want to talk about racing."

(GMM)
A study by researchers at RWTH Aachen University in Germany has found that synthetic dimethoxymethane (DMM) is not only a promising fuel or blend component because of its outstanding combustion characteristics, but that it could be very attractive from a production point of view as well.

In an open-access paper in the RSC journal Energy & Environmental Science, the team reports its findings on the analysis of five DMM reaction pathways in terms of exergy efficiency, production cost, and climate impact.

Because the pathways have different technology readiness levels, the team developed a methodology to ensure consistent boundary conditions and model detail between pathways. The methodology enables a hierarchical optimization-based process design and evaluation.

The urgent need for introducing renewable energy into the mobility sector and the low energy density of state-of-the-art batteries call for alternative solutions to meet climate targets. Chemical energy carriers produced from renewable electricityso called e-fuelsmay contribute substantially to such a solution. Oxymethylene ethers (OME n ) are particularly promising as they can not only be produced from carbon dioxide and renewable hydrogen. They can also drastically reduce hazardous emissions during combustion (such as nitrogen oxide and soot emissions) compared to fossil diesel. The commercial production of OME n is however not sustainable and prevents its broad introduction into the transportation sector. Major inefficiencies are caused by the multitude of involved process steps already towards the first member of OME n , dimethoxymethane (DMM). To improve process performance, new catalysts have been developed enabling more direct and potentially sustainable pathways for DMM production. In order to evaluate how much these achievements in catalyst development improve sustainabilityand finally estimate whether DMM can become a sustainable e-fuela combined techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) of the these pathways is inevitable. Burre et al.

OME n can be produced from renewable syngas via biomass gasification, or from renewable hydrogen and carbon dioxide, potentially achieving carbon neutrality over their entire life cycle. Their volumetric energy density (20 MJ L1) is about 40% lower than that of diesel, but it is similar to that of other e-fuels and about one order of magnitude higher than that of Li-ion batteries for BEV. This makes OME n particularly suitable for long-distance and heavy-duty transportation, the researchers note.

Both OME 1 (methylal or dimethoxymethane, hereinafter referred to as DMM) and OME 35 offer outstanding combustion characteristics (e.g., high thermodynamic efficiency, low pollutant emissions ) but differ in production, infrastructure, and engine compatibility. Whereas OME 35 has more diesel-like properties and can be combusted in conventional diesel engines, DMM needs to be either mixed with additives to gain engine compatibility or blended with diesel. However, engine modifications seem to remain indispensable for both DMM and OME 35 . In addition to the potential direct application in internal combustion engines, DMM is a key intermediate in OME 35 production via paraformaldehyde, trioxane, or in novel routes via gaseous formaldehyde. Burre et al.

The researchers examined five pathways: the established pathway of the condensation reaction of methanol and aqueous formaldehyde (FA); the direct oxidation of methanol to DMM; the direct reduction of CO 2 to DMM; the coupling of the dehydrogenation of methanol to FA with the acetalization of FA with methanol; and methanol transfer-hydrogenation.

The results showed that the non-oxidative (i.e., reductive, dehydrogenative, and transfer-hydrogenative) pathways consume stoichiometrically less hydrogen not only than the established and oxidative pathway, but also less than most other electricity-based fuels (e-fuels).

The higher resource efficiency of these pathways increases process exergy efficiency from 75% to 84%; production cost (2.1$ L diesel-eq. 1) becomes competitive to other e-fuels; and the impact on climate change reduces by up to 92% compared to fossil diesel, if renewable electricity is utilized.

With considerable catalyst improvements, a maximum exergy efficiency of 92% and minimum production cost of 2.0$ L diesel-eq. 1 are achievable. Burre et al.

Resources
MAN Truck & Bus and Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) are jointly testing autonomously driving prototype trucks in real-world applications. The practical test drives at the HHLA Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA) showed that automation can be integrated efficiently and safely into customers actual logistics workflows.

German lawmakers recently created the basic framework for autonomous trucks to be used in logistics applications in defined operating areas in Germany.

MAN Truck & Bus and Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) have been driving forward the Hamburg TruckPilot research and testing project since the end of 2018 to develop automation solutions. Following the preparation and test phase, the highlight was the practical test drives from the end of May, during which prototype trucks equipped with electronic automation systems ran in regular logistics operations.





The involvement of the forwarding company Jakob Weets e.K. from Emden was important for the successful process. The logistics partner not only provided drivers, but also took care of the complete container handling and integrated the prototype trucks into their regular transport process.

During the respective practical trip, the Weets driver first transported a 40-foot container on behalf of VW Group Logistics from the Weets Container Terminal in Soltau to the Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA) in the Port of Hamburg, about 70 kilometers away, in a completely conventional manner.

After the CTA check gate, the driver switched to the passenger seat and a safety driver climbed in instead, who had to be on board for legal reasons and could also intervene in the event that the test under prototype conditions required this.

The truck then drove autonomously across the terminal site to its correct position in the block storage lane and also maneuvered autonomously backwards into the correct parking position. After container handling, the return trip to the check gate was also autonomous, and beyond the terminal site, the driver of Spedition Jakob Weets e.K. again took full command.

The tests have shown it. We can integrate autonomous trucks into our terminal processes. An important step, because autonomous driving is coming. Accordingly, we at HHLA want and need to prepare ourselves early on for the prospect of autonomous trucks picking up or delivering containers at our terminals. Till Schlumberger, project manager at HHLA and responsible for Hamburg TruckPilot

The project partners will present the detailed results of Hamburg TruckPilot at the ITS World Congress in October 2021.
McPhy, specialized in zero-carbon hydrogen production and distribution equipment (electrolyzers and hydrogen stations), is opening a new industrial site dedicated to the development and mass production of hydrogen stations. Operational from March 2022, this new factory will bring together the research and innovation, engineering and production activities currently based in La Motte-Fanjas and Grenoble, as well as support functions.

From 2022, the factory will multiply McPhys hydrogen station manufacturing capacities sevenfold, from 20 to 150 units per year, and create more than 100 direct jobs, at full load, in the Grenoble area.

In March 2022, McPhy will move into the heart of Grenoble, renting a 4,000 m2 existing industrial building. The teams currently spread between the La Motte-Fanjas and Grenoble sites will be brought together there, which will increase efficiency in the realization of projects, promote knowledge-sharing by creating synergies of teams and skills, and further improve the level of customer service with reduced turnaround times.

The surface area of the new offices and their location in an urban area, accessible by public transport, will facilitate the onboarding of new employees with the objective of recruiting over 100 employees by the time the site is running at full load, the company said.

The factory is expected to gradually ramp up production to reach an annual manufacturing capacity of 150 stations from 2022. This increase in volume, when McPhy already has 35 stations delivered or in the process of being delivered, will significantly lower manufacturing costs while guaranteeing optimum delivery times.

At the same time, the Group will implement a new integrated test platform and demanding lean manufacturing processes based on digital manufacturing tools, with the aim of mass-producing its new range of stations for refueling all types of vehicles: light vehicles, buses, trucks or trains.

The takeover of this industrial site marks, for McPhy, a strengthening of its foothold in Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, a pioneering region in the development of hydrogen.
GREENWICH  The firm hired to carry out a special education audit for Greenwich Public Schools will now be tasked with helping the district implement the recommendations from the report.

The Board of Education voted Friday to extend its contract with Public Consulting Group for up to $200,000 of federal COVID-19 relief funds to continue the work in the special education department.

PCG, a Boston-based firm that was hired last fall, released its report last week.

The board called a special meeting Friday  its third meeting in just over a week  to vote on extending the contract. Two days earlier, on Wednesday, the board held a special meeting where representatives from PCG presented the findings from their audit to the school board.

PCG is very excited to do the work, Superintendent of Schools Toni Jones said. I think weve got a really and great supporting team in PCG to be able to get these recommendations moving forward and moving forward very quickly.

The report listed a litany of needed improvements in the long beleaguered special education department and gave 28 recommendations for the Pupil Personnel Services Department  of which special education is a part  including a name change.

The school board had originally approved a contract just shy of $100,000 for PCG in September, with the funds coming from the districts capital budget. The board voted Friday to use funds from American Rescue Plan Act (ARP), sometimes called Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) III. The Greenwich school district is due to receive just under $10 million in ARP funds, which expire in 2023-24.

Per federal guidelines, districts using ARP funds must solicit input from staff, students and the community before allocating the money. The district is now collecting survey results to gauge where the community would most like to see the money spent, within certain parameters set by the federal government

Using the ARP funds for special education initiatives is absolutely an appropriate use of the money, because the grant is meant to help transform education in eligible districts, Jones said.

Its really all about transformation and we really want to transform our special education program by getting everything implemented, she said.

PCG began its work on the audit in October and first delivered an executive summary of its findings June 18. It presented the full 167-page report to the school board June 23.

The board voted 7-1 in favor of the contract extension. Board member Peter Sherr voted against the item and questioned the boards ability to award the contract without posting a bid, calling it a sole source contract, or one awarded to a firm without a competitive bidding process.

We cant do this. Were going to be violating our own procurement rules and the procurement rules of the town of Greenwich with this motion, Sherr said. Im not comfortable out of the blue awarding a sole source contract with a completely new and different scope.

Jones said she and the districts Chief Operating Officer Sean OKeefe checked with the town of Greenwich to ensure they were not breaking procurement rules and had received approval to move forward.

It is a sole source because this company has spent a yearlong effort studying our district and has very unique knowledge that we would have to bring in another company to start all over again, Jones said. So this is a very appropriate way for us to move forward with PCG.

Audra ODonovan, Caroline Lerum and Jennifer Kutai, who are Greenwich special education parents and co-founders of the districts Special Education Advisory Council, on Monday embraced the contract extension.

It is a step in the right direction, to have an independent party who is well aware of the issues that require immediate improvement to serve as the oversight and ensure the changes are made and not put on a shelf like the numerous previous audits, they said in a statement.

justin.papp@scni.com; @justinjpapp1; 203-842-2586
BARCELONA, Spain (AP)  A major wireless technology trade fair kicked off in Barcelona on Monday with scaled-back attendance and beefed-up health and safety measures, changes that reflect the new reality for industry conventions in the pandemic era.

Mobile World Congress was canceled at the last minute last year because of COVID-19 concerns. Its 2021 revival makes it one of the few big trade shows so far to attempt a comeback even as the coronavirus pandemic continues to simmer in many parts of the world.

The show, known as MWC, is typically a glitzy and well-attended affair, with tech and telecom companies setting up elaborate pavilions to unveil the latest mobile devices, schmooze clients and lobby government officials. But this year, the world's biggest mobile industry trade show is likely to be a shadow of its former self.

Obviously, there is a huge difference from previous years. This show is going to be much smaller, much safer from a health and safety perspective, said Mats Granryd, director general of GSM Association, which organizes the show and represents more than 750 mobile network operators.

Were taking a lot of precautions: Testing people regularly within 72 hours, no hands, everything is touchless."

Still, companies like Ericsson, Nokia, Intel, Sony and Qualcomm are staying away while South Korea's Samsung, the world's biggest mobile phone maker, is only holding a virtual device launch. Chinese tech giant Huawei, a major sponsor, is one the few big names that will have a show stand.

Granryd said he's expecting 25,000 to 30,000 people from 143 countries to attend in person, a fraction of the more than 100,000 visitors from 200 countries in recent years.

Other visitors will be attending virtually, as will a third of the shows 350 speakers, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

At Barcelonas Fira Gran Via exhibition centre, visitors had their temperatures checked by staff at the entrance. Other safety features include COVID-19 testing, extra ventilation and one-way routes around the venue. Attendees use an official MWC app to flash the negative test result needed to get in.

My first impression is that I am very happy to be back, said Lionel Anciaux, CEO of Brussels-based smart sensor company IOT Factory. Anciaux said he usually attends every year, and last year without Mobile World Congress we really felt that we missed something in terms of finding new partners and also getting to know the new trends in technology.

The GSMA delayed the show from its usual February slot to buy time in the hope the pandemic would be under control by now. Granryd said they plan to move it back to February for 2022.

To help make the four-day show happen, Spanish authorities agreed to exempt exhibitors, attendees, sponsors and partners from travel restrictions that might otherwise prevent them from entering the country.

Spain eased COVID-19 restrictions on Saturday by scrapping a requirement to wear face masks outdoors, as long as people remain at least 1.5 meters (5 feet) apart. Masks remain mandatory indoors in public places and on public transport.

Barcelona has hosted MWC since 2006 and last year's cancellation dealt a major economic blow to the city, with lost revenue for hotels, restaurants and taxi companies.

Authorities estimate the show typically generates 473 million euros ($516 million) and more than 14,000 part-time jobs for the local economy.

Other big tech industry trade fairs disrupted by the pandemic are planning to return in force, including Berlin's IFA in September, Lisbon's WebSummit set for November and CES in Las Vegas in January.

___

Chan reported from London.
ROME (AP)  As the U.S. works on its military withdrawal from Afghanistan, members of the global coalition fighting the Islamic State group met Monday to chart future steps against the extremist group.

The meeting came just a day after the U.S. launched airstrikes against Iran-backed militias near the Iraq-Syria border

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio co-chaired the gathering of senior officials from the seven-year-old, 83-member bloc. Participants were taking stock of current efforts to ensure the complete defeat of IS, whose remnants still pose a threat in Iraq and Syria and have shown signs of surging in parts of Africa.

Amid significant other international priorities, including taming the coronavirus pandemic and stepping up the fight against climate change, the coalition is hoping to stabilize areas liberated from IS, repatriate and hold foreign fighters accountable for their actions and combat extremist messaging.

Blinken and Di Maio urged representatives of the 77 other countries and five organizations that make up the coalition not to drop their guard.

We must step up the action taken by the coalition, increasing the areas in which we can operate, said Di Maio.

Outside of Iraq and Syria, he said there was an alarming surge in IS activity, particularly in the Sahel, Mozambique and the Horn of Africa. He called for the coalition to create a special mechanism to deal with the threat in Africa.

Blinken noted that despite their defeat, IS elements in Iraq and Syria "still aspire to conduct large-scale attacks."

Together, we must stay as committed to our stabilization goals as we did to our military campaign that resulted in victory on the battlefield, he said.

Blinken announced a new U.S. contribution of $436 million to assist displaced people in Syria and surrounding countries and called for a new effort to repatriate  and rehabilitate or prosecute  some 10,000 IS fighters who remain imprisoned by the Syrian Defense Forces.

This situation is simply untenable, Blinken said. It just cant persist indefinitely. However, no countries present made any new commitment to repatriating their citizens and it was unclear if the number of detainees could be reduced in any significant way in the near-term.

Blinken also announced sanctions against Ousmane Illiassou Djibo, a native of Niger, who is a key leader of the Islamic State affiliate in the greater Sahara. Djibo was designated a global terrorist, meaning that any of his U.S. are frozen and Americans are barred from any transactions with him.

In addition to the meeting on IS, foreign ministers of countries concerned about the broader conflict in Syria met in Rome ahead of a critical U.N. vote on whether to maintain a humanitarian aid corridor from Turkey. Russia has resisted reauthorizing the channel amid stalled peace talks between the Syrian government and rebel groups.

Two senior U.S. officials said Blinken told the Syria conference that the U.S. believes the corridor must be reauthorized and expanded to prevent more deaths. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to publicly discuss the private diplomatic conversations, said Blinken made clear that any U.S.-Russia cooperation on Syria would be dependent on Moscow agreeing to the extension. Russia, however, wasn't present at the meeting.

Last week, the U.N. special envoy for Syria, Geir Pederson, said there were worrying signs that the Islamic State may be getting stronger in the country and called for a boost in cooperation to counter it. Pederson has also joined calls for new international talks on ending Syria's civil war.

Since the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011, numerous high-level gatherings aimed at ending the fighting and guiding the country to a political transition have failed. The U.N., U.S., Russia and many other countries support a 2015 Security Council resolution endorsing a road map to peace in Syria that calls for a new constitution followed by U.N.-supervised elections.

Blinken, who also met with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and President Sergio Mattarella on Monday, hailed the state of U.S.-European relations, noting that Italy, France and Germany  the three countries he visited on his current European tour  are the only members of NATO, the Group of Seven and the European Union.

We share a deep commitment to promoting democracy and human rights, he said. We see the same big challenges on the horizon. And we recognize that we cant tackle them alone.

Blinken and Di Maio downplayed differences between the U.S. and Italy over China, saying there was an increasing awareness of the complexities and dangers of dealing with Beijing.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)  A judge in West Virginia has granted a group's request to stop a law tightening requirements on needle exchange programs from being implemented next month.

The American Civil Liberties Union's West Virginia chapter filed a federal lawsuit last week. A judge issued a temporary restraining order Monday and scheduled a July 8 hearing on the issue. The law was set to take effect July 9.

Were encouraged by this decision from the court," chapter legal director Loree Stark said. "This harmful, constitutionally flawed bill should never be allowed to take effect. Harm reduction saves lives.

Republican Gov. Jim Justice signed the bill in April over the objections of critics who said it will restrict access to clean needles amid a spike in HIV cases.

The governors office did not return an email seeking comment Monday.

The bill would requires licenses for syringe collection and distribution programs. Operators would have to offer an array of health outreach services, including overdose prevention education and substance abuse treatment program referrals. Participants also must show an identification card to obtain a syringe. Advocates view the regulations as onerous.

Supporters said the legislation would help those addicted to opioids get connected to health care services fighting substance abuse. Some Republicans lawmakers had said the changes were necessary because some needle exchange programs were operating so irresponsibly that they were causing syringe litter.

The ACLU chapter called it one of the most restrictive state laws governing syringe exchange services in the nation. The group said it would likely lead to more HIV cases and the spread of other bloodborne illnesses.

The law, if implemented, would take effect amid one of the nations highest spikes in HIV cases related to intravenous drug use. The surge, clustered mainly around the capital of Charleston and the city of Huntington, was attributed at least in part to the cancellation in 2018 of Charleston's needle exchange program.

It has led to an investigation by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that last week found emergency departments and inpatient medical personnel rarely conducted HIV testing on intravenous drug users in Kanawha County.

Previously, city leaders and first responders complained that the program in Kanawha County led to an increase in needles being left in public places and abandoned buildings, and it was shut down.

The CDC describes syringe programs as safe, effective, and cost-saving.

On Saturday, dozens of volunteers formed the letters HIV SOS at a health event as activists seek a public health emergency declaration in Charleston for the HIV crisis as well as overdoses from prescription pain pills.

___

Associated Press writer Cuneyt Dil contributed to this report.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  An effort to recall the founder of Cowboys for Trump from his public office as a county commissioner can move forward, under an order Monday of the New Mexico state Supreme Court.

In a written order, state Supreme Court justices unanimously rejected an appeal from Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin and upheld a lower court ruling that found adequate reasons for voters to circulate a recall petition. A successful petition with enough signatures would trigger a special election vote on whether Griffin can finish his four-year term in office.

We are grateful for this opportunity to provide the registered voters of Otero County ... the chance to decide if Commissioner Griffin is still the person they want to continue to represent them on the county commission, as well as nationwide," the Committee to Recall Couy Griffin said in a statement.

Griffin formed Cowboys for Trump in 2019 with a group of rodeo acquaintances to hold horseback-riding parades across the country in support of then-President Donald Trump, and has ascribed to unsubstantiated claims of massive 2020 election fraud.

Griffin was arrested in Washington after vowing to take his guns to the inauguration of President Joe Biden, and has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor criminal charges in connection with the siege on the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, where he appeared on an outdoor terrace and attempted to lead the crowd in prayer.

Retired military veteran Paul Sanchez and other members of the Committee to Recall Couy Griffin are accusing Griffin of using his elected county position for personal gain.

They say Griffin skipped commission meetings and used his county office space to solicit contributions to Cowboys for Trump that covered his personal expenses.

And they have criticizing Griffins pursuit of travel reimbursements from taxpayers in Otero County for a cross-country trip in 2019 that culminated in a visit with Trump at the White House.

Contacted Monday, Griffin called the recall initiative frivolous and vowed to stand strong. Griffin's term runs through 2022.

I still have a lot of confidence in the people in my district, Griffin said. Those voters in my district are constitutional conservatives. You know, they believe in individual freedoms and individual liberties. And I think I'm in tune with them."

Griffin described Cowboys for Trump as a name brand he proudly created and still wears on shirts in public, but says his visit with Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in September 2019 was an opportunity to raise concerns about the management of federal lands in Otero County.

I mean, how much bigger representation can you bring to Otero County? Griffin said.

Griffin says that Cowboys for Trump is a for-profit endeavor that is not subject to financial disclosure requirements for political organizations.

The recall committee is seeking final approval of its petition before it can be circulated for signatures. Officials at the Otero County clerk's office were unavailable Monday to confirm requirements and deadlines in the recall drive.
Lenovo Yoga Tab 13 goes global, the smaller and cheaper Yoga Tab 11 and Tab P11 Plus join it

Following the launch of the Yoga Pad Pro 13 in China, Lenovo has announced that the unique tablet will become available in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in June for 800 and in the US in July for $680. Note the slight name change to Yoga Tab 13.



Lenovo Yoga Tab 11 (left) and Yoga Tab 13 (right)  Yoga Tab 11 hanging out

If that 13 tablet is too large (or too pricey) for you, theres also the Lenovo Yoga Tab 11, which will start at $320/350. It will be available in EMEA in June and in the US in August. You lose the microHDMI in port and the Snapdragon 870 chipset, but the 11 slate is not without its charms.

It is powered by a Helio G90T chipset and is available in Wi-Fi only and LTE versions. The 13 model is Wi-Fi only. This 12nm chip (TSMC) features 2x Cortex-A76 cores and a Mali-G76 GPU. The base configuration has 4GB of RAM and 128GB storage (UFS) and theres an option to double both numbers (8/256 GB).

The Yoga Tab 11 has an 11 LCD with 2,000x1,200px resolution (15:9). It matches the larger slate with 400 nits of brightness and Dolby Vision support, but it lacks HDR10. Either way, youre getting 60Hz refresh rate.

On the plus side, the smaller tab offers the same audio experience with four JBL speakers (5 cc audio chambers) with Dolby Atmos support and Lenovo Premium Audio Solution.

The 7,500 mAh battery may have smaller capacity, but with a smaller screen to feed it promises 15 hours of video playback (up from 12 hours). Charging is done at 20W (down from 30W). Also, the tablet is lighter, 655g vs. 830g.



The Lenovo Precision Pen 2 is supported (sold separately)  Google Kids Space

The Lenovo Precision Pen 2 is supported for those with artistic abilities. The stainless steel kickstand/hanger can be used to position the tablet in various orientations, whatever suits the need, be it watching Netflix or doodling your next masterpiece.

The Lenovo Yoga Tab 11 features Google Kids Space (with Family Link parental controls) for a curated library of kid-friendly content.

A more work-oriented offering is the new Lenovo Tab P11 Plus, a spruced up version of the Tab P11 from January (though its not as fancy as the Tab P11 Pro). The Plus model will be available in EMEA from July for 300 and in the US in August for $260.

Lenovos P11 lineup with the optional keyboard: Tab P11 Pro (left), Tab P11 Plus (center), Tab P11 (right)

The Plus model swaps out the Snapdragon 662 (11 nm, 4x Cortex-A73 based cores and Adreno 610) with the same Helio G90T chipset as the Yoga model (12 nm, 2x A76, Mali-G76). As before you get three memory options: 4/64 GB, 4/128 GB and 6/128 GB (LPDDR4 RAM, a microSD slot is on board).

This tablet uses the same 11 IPS LCD (2,000 x 1,200 px) as the vanilla model. It has 60 Hz refresh rate, brightness of 400 nits and covers 70% of the NTSC color space. The tablet alone weighs 490g.



Lenovo Tab P11 Plus

We say alone as the Tab P11 Plus is ideally paired with the Lenovo Keyboard Pack for added productivity. Though Google Kids Space is supported as well, so its not all about work.

The 7,500 mAh battery is good for 12 hours of streaming video and you get quad speakers with Dolby Atmos to listen to (without JBLs involvement this time around). The battery charges at 20W.

Lenovo also unveiled the third generation of its small, affordable Tab M7 and M8 tablets. The Lenovo Tab M7 (3rd gen) will start shipping in June at 120 (July for the US, where it will cost $110, though B&H lists it at $90). The M8 is coming later this year, though it will miss the North American market. Pricing is TBA.

The M7 (3rd gen) has a 7 IPS LCD with 1,024 x 600 px resolution and brightness up to 350 nits. The Wi-Fi only model is powered by the MediaTek MT8166, the LTE Model gets the MT8766 instead. The MT8166 has four Cortex-A53 cores and an IMG GE8300 GPU.

This is an Android 11 Go Edition slate, so dont expect miracles in terms of performance. It has only 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB storage, which you can expand with a microSD card. Additional features include Wi-Fi 5 (ac) connectivity, a microUSB port for charging, a 3.5 mm audio jack and a 3,750 mAh battery that is good for up to 10 hours of web browsing or streaming video. You get a single speaker with Dolby Audio (not Atmos).

The Lenovo Tab M8 (3rd gen) is notably fancier with a Helio P22T chipset (8x A53 cores, IMG G8320 GPU). And it has an 8 IPS LCD with 1,280 x 800 px resolution (350 nits) plus a front-facing speaker with Dolby Atmos. Cheap as these are, both M-series tablets have an all-metal build.



Lenovo Tab M8 (3rd gen) supports Google Assistant's Ambient Mode with the Smart Charging Station

Finally, the company unveiled the Lenovo Smart Clock 2. It has a 4 IPS LCD touchscreen and a cloth exterior in Shadow Black, Heather Grey and Abyss Blue. Theres no camera on this one (which is touted as a privacy feature).



Lenovo Smart Clock 2  with the optional wireless charging pad

Besides showing you images from Google Photos and playing some tunes (with 3W front-firing stereo speakers), this clock can also be a wireless phone charger with the optional dock. The dock also doubles as an ambient nightlight.

The Smart Clock 2 will be available in August at 90.

Source | Via
Samsung is not attending MWC 2021 in person but the company will introduce new products and services in a V virtual dvent that will be live-streamed on YouTube. The live stream will start at 19:15 CEST, which is 17:15 UTC.

We expect to learn more about the company's plans for its wearables going forward and its adoption of Wear OS.

Samsung has already confirmed its new Galaxy Watches will come with Google Wear OS rather than the in-house Tizen, and leaks have already revealed two vanilla and two Active wearables in different sizes.

A bunch of Galaxy Book laptops was officially introduced back in April, and we might hear about more of those given the laptop icon in the stream thumbnail.

It also has a foldable with the Samsung Knox security system, so there's a chance to see the service updated, as well as a Galaxy S21 Ultra Enterprise Edition.
Samsung's next smartwatch OS is called One UI Watch and it will be based on Google's Wear OS. Samsung didn't deatil the Galaxy Watch4, but confirmed it will premiere the One UI Watch user experience when it becomes official at an Unpacked event later this summer.

Because it's based on Wear OS, One UI Watch will integrate more deeply with Android than Tizen OS did. If you install an app from the Play Store that has a watch app, it will automatically be installed on the watch as well. And there is seamless sync between watch and smartphone, so if you have more than one city in your clock app or you've blocked a number on your phone, these settings will carry over to your watch.

One UI Watch also opens up a bigger list of apps to your wrist than Tizen - popular titles like Strava, Adidas Running, Calm, Spotify, YouTube Music and Google Maps will be available for the Galaxy Watch.

Samsung says that the next Galaxy Watch will enjoy longer battery life, faster performance and the aforementioned wide variety of apps, thanks to Google's wearable OS.

To distinguish its watches from other Wear OS ones, Samsung will bring an improved watch face design tool for designers.

Samsung will officially unveil the first Galaxy Watch with One UI Watch later this summer, but we've already seen multiple renders of what could be called the Galaxy Watch4. It's expected in early August with a body composition monitor that can measure body fat and muscle mass.
Xiaomi is about to launch its new flagship laptop dubbed Mi Notebook Pro X. The notebook is going to be unveiled in China on June 30, according to the company's official Weibo posts.

The two teasers don't go much into detail but mention slim and portable chassis coupled with the latest generation hardware from Nvidia and Intel. We are talking Intel's 11th Generation H35 CPUs running at 45W along and Nvidia's brand new RTX 3050Ti GPU.



The teaser posters from Xiaomi's Weibo posts

We will soon know more about the product and we hope to hear something about international availability during the Chinese event.

Source 1  Source 2 (both in Chinese)




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Haiti - FLASH : Binational markets open 5 days a week





On Saturday Dominican President Luis Abinader and Victor-Ito-Bisono, the Minister of Industry and Commerce ordered that binational markets in border provinces now take place 5 days a week Monday to Friday and not just two days a week on Monday and Friday.



This decision was immediately supported by "Compromiso Santiago" a group of companies and professional associations from Sandtiago de los Caballeros, the country's largest province.



"Compromiso Santiago" believes that this measure will allow the normalization and increase of trade between the two Nations, which will result in an improvement in the quality of life of citizens on both sides of the border.



This decision will also help distract the crowds of buyers and vehicles that previously focused on two days in indescribable chaos, especially in Dajabon.



"The benefits of this decision will begin to be felt as businesses and individuals adjust to this new reality, taking advantage of a more attractive business environment [...]" Compromiso Santiago said in a statement after thanking the decision of the Dominican Government.



Find out more about "Compromiso Santiago" :

Compromiso Santiago is made up of the Association of Industrialists of the North Region, the Association of Traders and Industrialists of the Dominican Republic, the Corporacion of the Industrial Free Zone of Santiago, the Chamber of Commerce and Production de Santiago, the Association for Development, the Association of Companies of the Free Zone of Santiago and the Council for the Strategic Development of the City and Municipality of Santiago.



SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Social : Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, message from Lesly Conde





On June 27, 2021, brings back the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Patron Saint of Haiti, on this day of celebration, Lesly Conde, Ex-Consul General of Haiti in Chicago, delivered a message to all Haitians, that we invite you to read and share :



"Dear compatriots and friends everywhere,



As every year, our whole Nation bows before Our Lady of Perpetual Help to ask her to protect us and guide us in this world where individualism tends to become a norm which threatens the existence of the less powerful. This year, I especially invite you to thank the Patron Saint of Haiti for the many graces she has granted us despite our setbacks and especially despite our iniquities.



We live, in fact, in a world where cooperation between humans exists only in the greatest distrust because the interests of some do not always necessarily coincide with those of others. The protection of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is essential to us in this pseudo-civilized world where man is a wolf for man. Our frail Nation has always needed a lot of self-sacrifice, temperance, and above all an extraordinary resilience to cling to its existence in this ocean infested with malicious sharks. Isolated as it is, if Haiti has learned to subsist on the edge of the abyss, we must believe that Our Lady of Perpetual Help has never abandoned us. So let's be grateful, and keep our fervor as well as our faith. We are not alone in this fight.



Our country has overcome several trials thanks to the protection of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Despite our many misfortunes, we have reason to be thankful and to be hopeful. Today more than ever, as our Nation faces the challenges of the 21st century, we must redouble our fervor in our prayers to Notre-Dame du Perpetuel Secours to ask her to protect Haiti from this pandemic which leaves its mark everywhere in the world. Faced with the deadly challenge that is rising up before our country in the form of this tenacious virus, knowing that all our infrastructures are reduced to their simplest expression, a population left to itself at such a crucial moment in its existence, needs of a sublime inspiration. You have to cross this merciless desert. In addition to the invariable protection of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, we must also count on an aggressive prevention campaign. The patron saint of Haiti has always inspired us in this direction. Even if it is incredibly destitute and too often badly served by its own sons, Haiti will survive thanks to the protection of our Patron Saint.



We always turn to Our Lady of Perpetual Help with confidence because she is the Patron Saint of our country, and she has never abandoned us.



Thank you for your attention"



Lesly Conde

Former Consul General of Haiti in Chicago

(August 26, 2004 - May 25, 2018)



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





Cap-Haitien : Overdue seaside development work

Nader Joiseus, the Minister of Public Works accompanied by Robenson Leger, Coordinator of the Control and Execution Unit of the Ministry participated in an important meeting in visioconference, with representatives of the World Bank (WB). Discussions focused on activities related to the rehabilitation of the SOS road and the development of the Cap-Haitien seaside, 2 flagship projects of the Ministry and the Administration in place. The studies are in progress and the works should already be started. However, contrary to all expectations, the Representatives of the World Bank, coordinators of the Culture Heritage and Urban Development (CHUD) program, announced that the work could start in December in order to take into account the deadline for finalizing the studies of program activities



Handicapped and urban guerrillas

The Office of the Secretary of State for the Integration of People with Disabilities (BSEIPH) thanks all partner institutions and all people who show solidarity with it to provide their support to people with disabilities who are victims of acts of violence at the La Piste camp in Delmas. BSEIPH is handling this situation very carefully. People with disabilities fleeing acts of violence are currently being moved to a temporary shelter in Delmas 103.



Thoughts on violence during an election period

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP-Haiti) in collaboration with UN Haiti and the funding of UN Peacebuilding recently organized a day of discussions and reflections on strategies for preventing and combating violence in this period. electoral.



Father's Day : Rain of wishes



President Jovenel Moise :

"Happy birthday to my compatriots 'dad'. Being a father is a noble, demanding job that imposes social responsibility, commitment and limitless love. May we continue to exercise it in the sense of the true values to be transmitted to our children for the advancement of Haiti."



Prime Minister a.i. Joseph Jouthe

"Nothing in this world, as precious as it may be, can equal or replace the love of a loving, caring and responsible father for his child. Here, as elsewhere, this model of a father embodies courage, determination and stability within the home. Long live responsible fatherhood ! Strength and honor to all the dads of Haiti! Happy Birthday !"



Mayor of Delmas Wilson Jeudy :

"In the vast majority of families, there is a father who loves without saying it, without even letting it show on his face. However, his efforts, his advice, his courage, his sense of responsibility, not to mention his way of defending and protecting his children, do not suggest otherwise. If the love of a mother is known from birth, that of a father is known when we have grown up, when we have the capacity to understand our role in what we have become. To all these courageous fathers of the town of Delmas, the Municipal Administration wishes a happy birthday. Hats off to you !"



National Police of Haiti :

"The family is the priority of all fathers of families. A policeman father, his priority is to protect the family in general, and sometimes even abandoning his own. A police officer father risks his life day and night, always on duty and at his post, in the streets, under the blazing sun and in the rain, to save the lives of others. A polic offcier father is a hero and a true humanist. Well done, and thank you to you policeman father. Happy birthday to all police dads."



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Hastings, NE (68901)

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Editor: Andy Worth, clearly you need to stop listening to the lies that CNN and th
Havre care center closed to visitation till July 8

Editor's note: This version corrects the number to contact Northern Montana Care Center.

Though numbers remain down compared to last fall and early winter, COVID-19 cases are still being confirmed in this part of Montana and still impacting local residents.

Blaine County Health Department reported Friday that it had seven new cases confirmed Thursday and Friday, with nine active cases including one hospitalization.

"This bump in active cases is telling us people are still encountering the effects of this pandemic, and those effects can be devastating," the release from the Blaine County Health Department said. "The vaccines that are free to everyone and widely available are still our best tool to fight this."

And Christen Obresley, administrator at Northern Montana Care Center which is conducting twice-weekly testing, said a new case was confirmed last week, shutting down inside visitation until July 8.

The closure will prevent people from visiting relatives inside the facility over the Independence Day holiday.

Obresley said residents are not in quarantine or isolation, but Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services mandates prevent visitation in the facility for two weeks. She said family members of residents can call 406-265-2238 for more information.

Hill County Health Department reported two new cases Wednesday and two new cases Thursday with four active and no active hospitalization.

The directors of the Hill and Blaine county health departments have not responded to requests for an update by printing deadline this morning..

The state COVID-19 tracking map this morning listed no new cases for Hill County and listed four active cases in the county with no new or active cases in Liberty or Chouteau counties.

And the new cases come as new variants of the virus - the latest of great concern the Delta variant that devastated India and now is causing severe problems in Britain - that appear to be much more contagious are spreading.

The Delta variant has been spreading rapidly in the U.S., causing a greater and greater percentage of new cases, and has been confirmed in Montana as well.

Health officials say the variants do not appear to be a great concern for fully vaccinated people - the vaccines appear to be effective against known variants so far - but people who are not vaccinated or have only had one of the two shots in vaccines needing a series are at greater risk of contracting the disease.

The Pfizer vaccine has been approved for use in people 12 and older and take a series of two shots to be fully effective.

The Moderna vaccine, which also takes two shots, and Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which only takes one shot, are only approved for people 18 and older at this point, although studies are being conducted for 12 and older for Moderna and Johnson & Johnson and studies also are being conducted for younger children.

The Blaine County release said the health department there is actively vaccinating people 12 and older with the COVID-19 vaccine. People can call the health department at 357-2345 if they have questions.

Hill County Health Department has been holding vaccine clinics the third Tuesday of the month and held a Pfizer vaccine clinic Thursday.

People can call the department at 406-400-2415 if they have questions.

The Chouteau and Liberty county health departments also have been offering vaccinations including with the Pfizer vaccine.

People can call the Chouteau County Health Department at 406-622-3771.

People can call the Liberty County Health Department at 406-759-5517.

The health departments at Rocky Boy's and Fort Belknap Indian reservations also have the Pfizer vaccine and are offering it to all.

People can call the Rocky Boy Health Department at 4066-395-1655 and the Fort Belknap Health Department at 406-353-3219.

And other options also are available.

Northern Montana Health Care's flu clinic is taking calls at 406-262-1585 to schedule vaccinations.

In Havre, Gary & Leo's Pharmacy is taking walk-ins seven days a week for vaccinations with Johnson & Johnson, and Western Drug at 406-265-9601 is taking calls to schedule Moderna vaccinations and taking walk-ins for Johnson & Johnson.

Bullhook Community Health Center is booking vaccinations at 406-395-4305 , and its pharmacy also is taking calls at the same number to tell people about vaccine availability.

People can also call Big Sandy Pharmacy at 406-378-5588 to schedule a vaccination.

People can also call Big Sandy Pharmacy at 406-378-5588 to schedule a vaccination.
Headstones stand visible at Hungry Hollow Cemetery after people attending the Bear Paw Bowmen 3D Archery Shoot at the Barber Ranch in the Bear Paw Mountains cleaned up the cemetery.

During the Bearpaw Bowmen Archery Club's recent 22nd Annual Barber Ranch Bearpaw Bowmen 3D Archery Shoot, members also spent some time doing community service by cleaning Hungry Hollow Cemetery.

Bettie Barber, who hosts the event on their ranch along with her husband, Frank, said six group members worked for four hours to fix up the cemetery. She said, roughly 100 years ago, some lilac bushes were planted, which tend to spread.

"They just had covered up headstones and the fence and just over the years with ground moving and heating and whatever, one of the headstones, that's probably, oh man, three and a half, four feet tall, it tipped over off of its base. So the kids got the headstone replaced, or stood back up again, and they cut down all the lilacs, and cleaned out all the brush and got it all going again." Barber said.

Club secretary Brandy Kurtz, daughter of club president Clyde R. Thomas Jr., said she worked alongside her brother, her husband and some friends from Washington to get the job done.

"Frank and Bettie graciously donate their land and everything. We like to donate time to a project of theirs that they pick or choose. Last year, even though we weren't able to have the shoot, we put in two auto passes on their land and were able to do that. This year, they asked if we could get the cemetery cleaned up," Kurtz said.

"So a group of about, I think, five or six guys, and myself got together and got weed eaters and mowers and chainsaws and everything and just went up there, started about 10:30 in the morning, and we were done by about 2 in the afternoon, getting it all cleaned up," she added.

Kurtz said that, before the clean-up, only one grave marker was visible, which became three or four by the time work was finished. She also mentioned there are possibly more which sank into the ground and aren't visible anymore.

"They were able to lift one up that was completely laying on the ground. Frank brought his tractor up. The four guys were able to get it into the bucket and then lift it back up and put it on its rightful base where it needs to be," Kurtz said.

Barber echoed what Kurtz said, that as an expression of gratitude for having the annual two-day event on their ranch, the archery club usually tries to buy the Barbers a gift or do something in appreciation for being hosts.

"I love being involved in everything I can be. I'm part of a whole bunch of different groups, but the Bearpaw Bowmen is pretty special. They do stuff to benefit the great outdoors and benefits stuff, archery, land and places that not everybody gets to see and experience. So we like to benefit those areas, and especially to Frank and Bettie, we can't thank them enough for everything that they've done for our group because, without them, we wouldn't be able to have such a successful shoot," Kurtz said.

Barber said she told the group they don't need anything and that it's just nice seeing families getting together.

Barber said around 500 people and 300 shooters normally attend the shoot. Barber said 290 registered shooters attended this year, which Kurtz confirmed. Both said there was a dip in attendance with the Canadian border being closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The shoot was not held last year.

Kurtz added if Canadian shooters had been able to participate, this year would have been the biggest shoot to date as Canadians usually amount to 50 to 75 additional shooters.

"So we were down a little but still without Canada and they're probably you know, I don't know a third of the shoot, usually, the people that are there, but it was just great. What was really great is there were 90 children 12 and under at the shoot," Barber said.

"So this is going to continue for a long time, because those kids are all being taught and learned and participating and enjoying and having a great time. So they're gonna want to come back," Barber continued.

In addition to the work done at the cemetery this year, Barber said the group holds an auction at the shoot each year. The auction raises money for an agricultural scholarship named after the Barbers at Montana State University-Northern.

The Bearpaw Bowmen Archery Club meets at 7 p.m. the third Tuesday of every month at the Havre Elks Club on Second Street.

People can see more about the club at its website at http://www.bearpawbowmen.com .

People can also visit the group's Facebook page or call 406-265-4572.
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Expansion makes Foothills shooting range largest in Carolinas

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and Cleveland County partnered to construct several new shotgun ranges at the Foothills Public Shooting Complex at 283 Fielding Road in Cherryville.

The new ranges include a skeet range, two combination skeet and trap ranges and a 5-stand range. The new ranges opened to the public on June 23.



The $1.3 million dollar expansion is the most recent investment into the Foothills Public Shooting Complex, which is now a $4.3 million dollar facility and the largest outdoor public shooting complex in the Carolinas. Capital funding was led by the Wildlife Commission with supplemental funding received from the Outdoor Heritage Advisory Council.



Cleveland County will operate and staff the new ranges as part of the Foothills Public Shooting Complex which also includes a 250-yard precision rifle range, a 20-yard handgun range, a 50-yard rifle and pistol range, three 50-yard multi-purpose ranges and an archery practice range.

The Foothills Public Shooting Complex has drawn people from all 50 states and 14 countries, said County Commissioner Johnny Hutchins, who was instrumental in the development of the facility. Since it opened in April 2016 we have had more than 85,000 visits."



Foothills Public Shooting Complex is a safe and modern facility for people of all ages and skill levels to enjoy year-round social events, competitive tournaments and educational classes. With an events pavilion, the shooting complex provides a unique setting for corporate, civic and family events. In addition to being used by the general public for recreation, the shooting complex is also used by law enforcement for professional training. The addition of the new range will allow the Foothills Public Shooting Complex to be able to host national matches.



This project could not have been possible without the partnership between Cleveland County and the Wildlife Commission, said Commissioner Hutchins. In addition, I would like to thank the Outdoor Heritage Foundation for their support of this project.



For more information on the Foothills Public Shooting Complex, visit https://foothillspublicshooting.cc. For more information on shooting ranges in North Carolina, visit https://www.ncwildlife.org/Outdoor-Activities/Shooting-Ranges.






CAMPAIGNERS have had their efforts to challenge a housing blueprint thwarted for a third time.

Bioabundance, a community interest company, went to the Court of Appeal after the High Court twice refused to allow a judicial review of South Oxfordshire District Councils local plan.

But the court refused to overturn the earlier decisions.

The company was founded by district councillor Sue Roberts with the aim of protecting and enhancing biodiversity.

Bioabundance claimed councillors were put under pressure by Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick to adopt the plan in December.

Councillor Roberts said they were worried they would lose vital infrastructure funding and control over future planning matters.

Seven councillors voted against it, including council leader Sue Cooper, while nine members abstained.

When the Liberal Democrat and Green coalition took charge of the council in May 2019, it proposed to scrap the plan, which had been drawn up by the former Conservative administration.

However, this was blocked by Mr Jenrick, who directed that the plan be adopted by the end of 2020.

Cllr Roberts said the adopted plan did not give enough weight to the climate and ecological emergency and that the 23,350 homes proposed was too many.

Responding to the latest decision, she said: Building these unneeded houses will release over three million tonnes of CO2. The houses will continue to belch out greenhouse gases until they are pulled down.

The judge said that, unarguably, the plan includes policies designed to contribute to the mitigation of climate change and the contrary is not reasonably arguable.

How is the unnecessary release of so much CO2 contributing to the mitigation of climate change?

The lost world of South Oxfordshire is one of the worst areas in the country for access to nature in a country that almost tops the list for natures degraded state.

Kiss goodbye to a future for us as we kill off animals and plants by cutting up our land into islands, crisscrossing it with roads and soulless estates and carpeting it with concrete.

Nature cannot be restored if you take away the land and we cannot survive without the fabric of the natural world of which we are a part.

Bioabundance continues to work to restore nature in South Oxfordshire.
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Vote for your favorite businesses and professionals in greater Haverhill -- health clubs, hair salons, restaurants and many more. Simply fill in your choices and submit your ballot by Friday, June 25.

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On Friday (June 25), a Somali immigrant went on a stabbing spree, killing 3 people and injuring 5 others, in the Wurzburg city of Germany. The deadly attack took place at around 5 pm in Barbarossa Square, which lies at the centre of the city.

As per reports, the unnamed accused has been identified as a 24-year-old immigrant from Somalia. He had been staying in Wurzburg city since 2015. According to eye witnesses, the accused had a big knife, which he used it to stab the passersby. During the attack, three people including a child and one of his parents was killed. An eyewitness informed that the accused shouted Allah hu Akbar prior to attacking the victims.

Julia Runze, who witnessed the incident, informed, He had a really big knife with him and was attacking people. Then many people tried to throw chairs or umbrellas or cellphones at him and stop him. The police then approached him and I think a shot was fired, you could hear that clearly. As per the Lower Franconia police, the accused was arrested after the police fired a gunshot to his leg.

In a video that has now gone viral on social media, a man was seen trying to overpower the accused using a bag. The Somali immigrant was seen walking barefoot and wielding a huge knife.

In another video, locals at the Barbarossa Square were seen chasing and intimidating the attacker with sticks and chairs. The police had clarified that there was no second suspect and that the people were out of danger. The cops informed that the accused did not know the victims and are now investigating the motive behind the knife attack.

#BREAKING #GERMANY  GERMANY, WURZBURG: KNIFE ATTACK

At least 2 dead, 6 injured, several seriously in a knife attack in Wurzburg, Germany and the aggressor arrested after being shot by the police in the leg.#BreakingNews #Flash #Wurzburg #KnifeAttack #Video -Anabel pic.twitter.com/r0EiiQiCfN  loveworld (@LoveWorld_Peopl) June 25, 2021

While speaking about the matter, Bavarias security official Joachim Herrmann informed that the police were aware of the accused. His condition had been noticed in recent months, including violent tendencies, and a few days ago he was put into compulsory psychiatric treatment, Herrman added. He further informed that the Islamic extremist motive behind the attack could not be ruled out as eye witnesses heard him yelling Allah hu Akbar.

That suggests a possible Islamist motive, and that is also part of the investigation, he pointed out. Herrman confirmed that three were had died while other 5 injured remained in critical condition. He added that it was unclear when they would survive after the attack. While condemning the incident, Bavarias governor Markus Soeder said, We grieve with the victims and their families.

Wurzburg is a city of 130,000 people and is located between Munich and Frankfurt. Germany had opened its borders for refugees from poverty-stricken and war-torn countries in the year 2015. Coincidentally, the accused began living in the Wurzburg city from the same year itself. Hundreds of people came forward to pay tribute to those killed in the deadly knife attack. They left flower bouquets, and candles outside a makeshift memorial for the deceased.

How Germany exacerbated the refugee crisis ?

At the height of the migrant crisis in Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that the country had the economic strength to take in refugees. She also claimed that there was no upper limit to the number of refugees that the country could take in. Angela Merkel had come under fierce criticism for not consulting the federal States. Seehofer, the leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), had criticised the Chancellor and estimated that 30% of all refugees were from Syria. He had called upon the EU to cut funding to member States that reject mandatory refugee quotas.

A German study in 2018 found that the countrys fourth-most-populous state, Lower Saxony, witnessed an increase in violent crimes due to incoming migrants. Between 2007 and 2014, the region saw a 21.9% decline in such crimes. However, there was a 10.4% hike by 2016 end. It was found that Lower Saxony had about 7.5 lac residents without German citizenship. By 2016 end, only 1.5 lac migrants had applied for asylum. 92.1% of the total increase in crimes in Lower Saxony was attributed to the incoming migrants.

Bloomberg reported, Between 2014 and 2016, the share of solved violent crimes attributed to asylum seekers increased to 13.3 percent from 4.3 percent  a disproportionately high share compared with the states foreign population The breakdown of specific crimes committed by the asylum seekers is equally thought-provoking. In some 91 percent of murders and three-quarters of cases involving grave bodily damage, the victims are other migrants.

The liberal, open-border policies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel had turned the country into the most sought after destination for refugees. Between January and December 2015, a whopping 1.091 million asylum-seekers registered with the German government for their distribution among federal States. However, in February 2016, the government conceded that it lost track of 13% of the asylum seekers. Reportedly, the migrants did not move to their accommodation and instead migrated to other European countries or kept living in the country illegally.

The result of left-liberal indoctrination was such that a German politician by the name of Selin Goren lied about the racial identity of the 3 perpetrators who raped her in 2016. The woman was caught off guard by the men at night in a playground and forced to perform sexual acts. She had concealed the fact that the accused spoke in Arabic /Farsi. She claimed that she did not want to stoke hatred against migrants in Germany. The policies of the German government to wholeheartedly welcome the refugees proved costly.

Source : OpIndia
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) added a word of caution on Friday to the literature affixed on Moderna and Pfizer COVID vaccine shots, indicating the potential risk of heart inflammation. According to the FDA, for every vaccine, the fact sheets for healthcare providers have been modified to insert a warning, reporting incidents that suggest increased risks of pericarditis and myocarditis particularly after the second shot and with the onset of symptoms within a few days after inoculation.

As of June 11, over 1,200 cases of pericarditis or myocarditis have been reported to the US Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) out of around 300 million mRNA vaccine shots administered. It appeared that the cases were notably higher in males and in the week following the second vaccine shot.

CDC's Take

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the findings do not alter the basic recommendation that all people 12 and older should be inoculated against the novel coronavirus. However, with vaccination rates slowing as the Delta variant becomes prevalent nationwide, the susceptibility may add to the concerns that vaccine skeptics already hold as reasons not to get vaccinated.

The most recent update follows an expansive review of data and the discussion by CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting on Wednesday, reported The Edge Markets.

309 Hospitalizations

The CDC identified 309 hospitalizations from heart inflammation among individuals under the age of 30. Two hundred ninety-five of them have been discharged. Health regulators in many countries have been probing into cases of pericarditis and myocarditis after a dose of Moderna or Pfizer, vaccines that are based on the mRNA technology, reported Fox Business.

Meanwhile, Moderna and Pfizer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Read Also: CDC Prolongs Eviction Moratorium Until July to Stabilize Housing, Says It's or the Last Time

Dr. Mark Sawyer, an infectious disease specialist at San Diego's Rady Children's Hospital and pediatrics professor at the University of California San Diego, recently treated two of the eight boys under 15 years old who were brought to the hospital late after experiencing the painful inflammatory condition.

According to Sawyer, "Naturally it's concerning when you hear about inflammation in the heart, but I want to reassure people that it's really not fundamentally different from inflammation in your arm muscle when you got the vaccine. We don't think it has any long-term consequences, just like we don't think your arm muscle has any long-term consequences," reported NBC San Diego.

As explained by the experts, pericarditis is the inflammation of the membrane bordering the heart while myocarditis is underscored by inflammation of the heart muscle.

The condition is rare, with over 1,200 cases under probing as of June 11 among over 150 million people who have been inoculated with either the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

VAERS indicates there were 347 observed cases of heart inflammation in the week following the second vaccine shot in males from 12 to 24 years old.

Related Article: US Life Expectancy Diminished by 'Alarming' Amount During the Pandemic

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A zebra called Melton had horrific injuries and died from a savage goring. The setting was the Blair Drummond reserve close to Stirling in Scotland.

Pleased to gore you, Melton

It was quite shocking for guests at the reserve to witness how ferocious and dangerous a rhinoceros can be. Most of the staff were alleged to be ordered to keep the incident at the animal reserve quiet. It was reported by The Sun UK that other animals have died in the Drummond reserve and that the location was under investigation.

Animals like monkeys, lions, antelopes, and lemurs reportedly died at the reserve before this incident. One of the former employees said the animals' deaths were preventable and the employee added they were told these incidents would be dealt with.

Death of a zebra

One of the former animal reserve employees told a bombshell report about an incident that led to the death of Melton, a 15-year zebra, which happened way back in 2017.

He added on that day when the unfortunate animal encountered the rhino, patrons saw what happened. The zebra was severely injured by the attack and was put to sleep.

More stories came from the same unidentified employee. The source alleged that management had caused the death of three turkeys when they were packed in a plastic feed sack.

On that day, one of the visitors saw a bag moving. One of the zookeepers found the fowl trapped inside and left to suffer under the hot sun. One reportedly died and the two were put to sleep. However, the incident of one fierce rhino gored to death a zebra is the most violent occurrence at the reserve.

Read also: British Woman Seriously Injured After her Twin Fights Off Savage Crocodile in Mexican Lagoon

All these happenings drew the attention of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Veterinarian Dr. Mark Jones, of the Born Free Charity, called animal deaths tragedies. More attention needs to be given to the zoo inspection system, cited the Inside Express.

But, the allegations were denied by a Blair Drummond spokeswoman who said that the maltreatment of animals was not true. She also added that there was no cover-up.

More rhino news

An earlier incident of a rhino-related incident that was reported last May 20 involving a Scottish national on a conservation trip in South Africa, noted the BBC.

Escaping with only a dislocated hip and bruises was Kieran Munns, 21-years old when he was with rangers in Zululand when it happened.

He was hit by a 1.5-ton rhino cow when one of the calves stepped on his leg. Working as an advocate of conservation of this endangered species, he was part of the WWF Save the Rhino Campaign.

The encounter happened on a Wednesday after he joined conservation rangers in a private reserve. They were monitoring a female black rhino that was seen after some time. It ended with animal charging and the victim getting hospitalized for injuries.

Incidents such as when a fierce rhino gored to death a zebra are because of the animal's response to situations and staying out of the way is best.

Related article: Zookeeper Fatally Wounded As He Tried to Escape Rogue Siberian Tiger That Leapt From Its Cage

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Classified British military documents were discovered in a soggy heap at a bus stop in the southern parts of England, which allegedly detail official plans of a warship that traveled off the coast of Crimea last week and extended presence in Afghanistan.

The 50-page document was discovered early Tuesday behind a bus stop in Kent. Afterward, the Ministry of Defence immediately announced they were conducting an investigation to look into the authenticity of the papers.

Misplaced Classified Documents

Some of the contents of the document were classified as "official sensitive," which is a low-level classification. However, the papers also included one that detailed Britain's future plans in Afghanistan, which were marked with "Secret UK Eyes Only." Additionally, that section was addressed to Ben Wallace, the private secretary of defense.

According to reports, the classified document contained "highly sensitive recommendations" regarding the country's military footprint in war-stricken Afghanistan after NATO followed U.S. President Joe Biden's order to withdraw all troops in the region by Sep. 11.

The papers also detail American officials requesting British support in multiple key areas. It also sheds light on the UK's plans for British special forces that are still in Afghanistan after the completion of the withdrawal process, Politico reported.

In February 2020, Washington signed a deal with the Taliban for peace efforts. Since then, no Britons have lost their lives in Afghanistan. However, the document noted that peaceful times would not go on forever.

Read Also: Hackers Strike Again at SolarWinds; Microsoft Confirms the Cyberattack

Allegedly, the papers also detailed the defense staff's plans prior to the departure of HMS Defender, a British navy destroyer that traveled through contested waters off the Crimean coast last Wednesday.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced it was conducting an investigation into an incident regarding sensitive defense papers that a public member discovered. The MoD employee related to the documents who reported them lost at the time. The person who found the documents resolved to remain anonymous.

Russian Counter-Intelligence

Russian officials said that more than 20 aircraft and two coast guard ships shadowed their navy destroyer during its near-12 mile sail. The UK government also denied Moscow's defense ministry's claim that a patrol ship fired warning shots while a jet bomber dropped explosives in the vessel's path.

Officials called the mission "Op Ditroite," which also became the topic of several high-level discussions. The documents showed that UK authorities speculated about Russia's reaction to the HMS Defender sailing close to Crimea, BBC reported.

Later, the British government announced the project was made in accordance with international law despite Russia claiming it breached their territory. The incident comes amid British officials considering the occupation of Crime as illegal, Business Insider reported.

Earlier this month, the British MoD was involved in another security gaffe when an email was accidentally sent to various government personnel. The online message contained the promotions of noncommissioned officers, including special forces members in the SAS's E Squadron.



Related Article: Trump Organization Braces for Criminal Charges From New York Prosecutors as Soon as Next Week, Lawyer Says

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump's attorneys have a Monday deadline to provide arguments and evidence as to why his organization should not face criminal charges.

The Manhattan district attorney's office considered bringing criminal charges against Trump Organization and executive Allen Weisselberg last week. Trump Organization's attorneys have appealed to district attorney's office prosecutors to disregard the filing of criminal charges against the company.

Criminal Charges Against Trump's Organization

The Trump Organization has until Monday to present a case that would counter the charges and explain why the charges should not be filed. The Manhattan district attorney's office's investigation is related to the company's financial dealings. The organization is accused of inflating the value of some assets in an attempt to deceive lenders and insurers. Weisselberg's case appeared to be about tax issues.

The New York attorney general's office announced last month that the investigation, which was civil in nature in its early stages, was expanded to include criminal possibilities as well. A spokesperson for the office said they have notified the Trump Organization regarding the investigation not being civil in nature anymore, MSN reported.

The investigation is headed by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Officials announced that no charges against the Trump organization have been filed as of the moment.

However, if the case progresses, Vance Jr. could file criminal charges against the organization as early as next week. The Manhattan attorney general's prosecutors have been working with lawyers from the New York State attorney general's office in handling the investigation.

Read Also: Trump Joins Video Platform Rumble, Says Media is Shifting Tone Against Him

If an indictment is made, it would be the first to come from the long-running investigation, which would force the former president into the frontlines to defend the company he founded. For decades, Trump has run the organization despite several accusations of criminal behavior.

Financial Compensation and Benefits

Much of the investigation in recent weeks has been focused on the perks that Weisellberg and other executives received from Trump. The perks allegedly include tens of thousands of dollars in private school tuition for one of Weisellberg's grandchildren, rents on apartments, and car leases.

Prosecutors are looking into whether or not the perks were properly logged into the company's ledgers. They are also investigating whether taxes for the benefits were paid accordingly.

On Thursday, Trump's lawyers met with senior prosecutors in the district attorney's office in an attempt to convince them not to file the criminal charges. However, the final decision of the prosecutors regarding the charges remains unclear, the New York Times reported.

Weisselberg is accused of not paying taxes on the benefits he received and has previously refused to coordinate with prosecutors regarding the investigation, Yahoo News reported.

Ronald P. Fischetti, one of Trump's personal lawyers, said that in his 50 years of practicing his work, he has never observed a district attorney target a company for providing financial compensation to its employees for criminal charges. He called the case 'ridiculous and outrageous."



Related Article: Third Stimulus Check Not Received: Why Are Some Checks Delayed? Out of 2.3 Million, Only 900,000 Payments Were Sent

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The Pentagon claimed on Sunday that the US carried out three airstrikes in Iraq and Syria early Monday morning. The airstrikes targeted weapons storage facilities used by Iranian-backed militias that have carried out armed drone strikes against places where the US military has been stationed in recent weeks.

The Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby stated that the sites hit by the Iranian-backed militias were used for drone strikes in locations where the Americans were stationed, including Kata'ib Hezbollah and Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada. In late February, the US launched airstrikes in eastern Syria on structures linked to what the Pentagon identified as Iran-backed militias responsible for recent assaults in Iraq against American and allied soldiers.

Per Fox News, a US strike defense officer said to Fox News that the F-15s and F-16s of the US air force were launched during the operation. At about 6 p.m. Eastern Time or 1 a.m. local time, strikes took place.

The US targets Iran-backed militants facilities

The officer said that there was damage to at least one facility used by Iran militants to start and retrieve drones. The Americans in Baghdad and Erbil in Northern Iraq have been targeted by recent crude drone strikes. The official also remarked that he did not expect "many losses" from the Iranian-supported forces due to the time the strikes were launched.

A defense official told Military Times that the US aircraft, which has returned safe to their bases, utilized a combination of precision-guided explosives. "It is too early to assess whether there were militia or civilian casualties," he added.

The Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center was hit by a drone strike earlier this month, according to Marine Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, head of US Central Command, in an exclusive interview with Military Times on June 11.

Army Col. Wayne Marotto, a coalition spokesman, said earlier this month that there were minor casualties among American soldiers at the facility, which accommodates several hundred US/Coalition service members stationed there.

A US Embassy spokesperson informed Military Times that the diplomatic facility suffered minor damage and some personnel were treated and released for smoke inhalation. He did not say whether the injured personnel were soldiers or civilians and did not mention what kind of munitions were used.

Read Also: Israel Reportedly Sends Robots Armed With Machine Guns to Gaza Border Days After Easing Some Restrictions

Why did Biden order airstrikes against Iraq, Syria?

According to Navy Cmdr. Jessica McNulty, a Pentagon spokeswoman, the US airstrikes on Sunday were in reaction to continued Iran-backed militia drone and rocket attacks against US and coalition forces in Iraq.

It remains uncertain if anyone was hurt or killed as a result of the attacks. When reporters asked President Joe Biden about the airstrikes when he arrived at the White House from Camp David on Sunday evening, he said, "Tomorrow," Daily Mail reported.

Kirby said in a statement released Sunday evening that due to the recent US attacks Biden has made clear that he will act to protect troops. Given the continuous sequence of assaults in Iraq by Iran-backed militant groups aimed at US interests, President Biden has ordered further military action to disrupt and prevent such operations.

The February strikes were retaliation for attacks on US interests in Iraq, including a February 15 rocket attack in northern Iraq that killed one civilian contractor and injured a US service member and other coalition troops, according to Pentagon officials. Two Air Force F-15E aircraft delivered seven precision-guided munitions, destroying nine facilities and severely injuring two others, making the two functionally destroyed. He said the facilities, which were located near border entry checkpoints, had been used by militia groups that the US blamed for a series of recent attacks against US interests in Iraq.

Related Article: Ethiopia's Military Airstrike Hits Tigray Marketplace; 64 Killed Including Children



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Allison Mack, an American actress who became famous for her role Chloe Sullivan in the "Smallville" series, has delivered several statements apologizing to the public for her involvement with the NXIVM case.

The actress made her statements ahead of a June 30 ruling where a federal judge will decide her fate after she pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges. In a statement, Mack said she was experiencing "overwhelming shame" while coming to grips with the facts of the case and the decisions that led her to where she is now.

Plea for Leniency

Many of Mack's family and friends sent letters to U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis, testifying that the actress has significantly changed since she separated from Keither Raniere, the mastermind for the NXIVM. The actress was arrested in April 2018 before authorities sentenced Raniere to 120 years in jail with racketeering and sex trafficking charges.

In April 2019, Mack pleaded guilty to the charges regarding her involvement with the NXIVM. Due to her cooperation with the case, prosecutors requested leniency from the judge. Mack provided crucial audio recording that helped legal experts pin down Raniere's schemes, AOL reported.

Mack's statements included apologies to the people that were affected by her actions with the NXIVM. She revealed she cooperated with Raniere, arguing she believed the mentor's ideologies of leading her to a better life. The actress helped the mastermind reel in people into the cult, eventually leading them into an abusive circle of schemes.

Read Also: CDC Prolongs Eviction Moratorium Until July to Stabilize Housing, Says It's or the Last Time

Authorities sentenced Mack to 15 years to life in prison for her involvement with the NXIVM. The sentencing came after her attorneys argued she should not receive jail time after she realized that she committed a grave mistake in being involved with the cult. They also argued Mack publicly denounced Raniere in the "strongest possible terms," People reported.

The attorneys said Mack's plea allocution and her willingness to cooperate with the government and her continued expression of her regret to the public showed she should be given mercy regarding the case.

Sincere Apologies

During her time with the NXIVM, Mack became a high-ranking member. She also believed in the group's Executive Success Programs (ESP), which the group says is a personal growth curriculum. The group was based in Colonie but had chapters in Mexico, Vancouver, and Los Angeles.

The actress also became one of eight "first-line masters" in the cult's lower groups Dominus Obsequious Sororium (DOS). The group's existence was allegedly kept secret from recruits despite being led by Raniere.

Mack and seven other "first-line masters" answered directly to Raniere while in DOS. Later, Mack got married to another actress named Nicki Clyne who is also a first-line. Mack's lawyers acknowledged the marriage was a sham that Raniere orchestrated to enable Clyne to stay within the U.S.

Mack's attorneys revealed she later divorced Clyne to correct that fraud and continued to distance herself from the member. Clyne was known to be an avid supporter of Raniere, Times Union reported.

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More than 390,000 coronavirus deaths have been officially reported in India, but families who have lost loved ones, health experts, and statisticians think this figure grossly underestimates the real toll. The undercount in India has also created a major gap in the world's understanding of the Delta variant's impact, which health experts think contributed to one of the world's worst COVID-19 surges in April and May.

The country was the first to discover the extremely contagious variant, which has now spread worldwide. According to Christopher Murray, head of the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a precise count of infection and death is the crucial element of determining how great a threat new variants entail.

COVID-19 infections surge amid Delta variant concerns

Official statistics indicated that India's COVID-19 infections increased by 50,040 on Sunday, as fears mounted over the detection of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus in several regions. In India, where more than half of the population has not been vaccinated, the new variants are a major concern. Only about 6% of India's 950 million adult population has received two doses, as per Reuters via MSN.

According to the Health Ministry, at least 20 cases have been linked to the Delta variation, which India identified as a variant of concern last week. The official death toll in India is currently 395,751, but experts and international health organizations like the World Health Organization believe the figure is likely to rise significantly. Of the 35.51 million infected citizens, 29.25 million individuals have recovered.

State governments relaxed lockdown restrictions earlier this month when there was a downtrend in cases. However, experts are concerned that the existence of the Delta variant, which was originally discovered in India, and the sluggish rate of vaccination might result in another wave of illnesses.

Read Also: Oxford University Scientists to Give Ivermectin Drug to COVID-19 Patients, Exploring If It Can Help Them Recover at Home

India's government accused of covering up Delta variant impact

Murad Banaji, a mathematician at Middlesex University, believes the country's real death toll is likely to be five times higher than the official total. Poor recordkeeping and lack of extensive testing were among the reasons that were cited to explain why there seemed to be a failure in obtaining a comprehensive report on the total number of infections in India, according to more than a dozen experts.

Experts said the undercounting might be caused by insufficient testing, overburdened facilities, and a lack of healthcare access in rural areas of the country, Daily Mail reported. This might indicate that many COVID-19 deaths may have occurred at home, particularly in rural areas, thus resulting in miscounting. According to some experts, families are hesitant to admit that their loved ones died of the virus.

In India, the system for keeping death records is equally inaccurate, with just four out of every five deaths being medically evaluated prior to the outbreak. According to a WHO report released last month, the worldwide death toll might be two or three times greater than what was previously recorded. The Indian government has been compelled to deny that COVID-19 deaths are underreported widely.

The government does not intend to change its death toll, according to a top official. More than 30 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the country, with 579,937 cases currently active.

Children in India face rare infection after recovering from COVID-19

Per BBC, India is now facing a rise in cases of multi-system inflammatory syndrome, an uncommon inflammatory and possibly life-threatening disease (MIS-C). After children and teens have recovered from COVID-19, this condition generally arises four or six weeks later.

Two of the ill children have recovered at Kasturba Hospital, while the other two are being treated in intensive care. Pediatricians throughout India are reporting increasing cases of this rare but severe illness as the devastating second wave of the coronavirus subsides.

It's unclear how many children have been impacted thus far because physicians are still reporting instances. According to doctors, the disease is caused by an extremely defensive immune reaction to the virus, which can result in organ inflammation.

At first, symptoms such as high and prolonged fever, rash, red eyes, swollen lymph nodes, stomach pain, low blood pressure, body soreness, and tiredness might be mistaken for those of other conditions. Some of the symptoms are similar to those of Kawasaki disease, a rare disease that primarily affects children under the age of five.

According to Dr. Jhuma Sankar, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the syndrome is truly a spectrum of diseases ranging from mild Kawasaki-like disease to multi-organ failure.

Related Article: Third COVID-19 Wave to Hit India, Only 5% of Population Are Vaccinated

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After the pandemic and Britain caused a shortage of over 100,000 truck drivers, industry experts have warned that the UK might suffer gaps on supermarket shelves this summer and an "unimaginable" collapse of supply chains.

The sector requested Prime Minister Boris Johnson's personal assistance in allowing access to European labor by creating temporary worker visas for HGV drivers and adding them to a "shortage occupation list" in a letter dated June 23. However, a government spokesperson advised the sector to recruit local workers instead, citing the country's new post-Brexit immigration system.

Britain stores lack fresh produce

Due to a shortage of drivers and production workers, chilled food will fail to reach certain UK stores this summer, according to logistics organizations. The end of lockdown and opening of hospitality, along with the UK's forced staycation, have worsened a chronic lack of HGV drivers, which has been compounded by Britain and COVID-19. Smaller businesses have already been impacted, with late delivery resulting in lost sales and increased waste of chilled items.

Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, and Morrisons, among others, rely on an army of trucks and warehouse employees to transport fresh produce from Europe's farms to their shelves. The logistics business in the United Kingdom has been one of the most outspoken in the run-up to Britain's exit from the European Union, saying that additional border checks and friction would deter truck drivers from coming to the country.

The pandemic has exacerbated the situation, as many European drivers who had been residing in the UK returned to their own countries. The impending summer vacations, the economy's ongoing expansion, and surges in demand for food and drink caused by hot weather and key sporting events will worsen the situation. Christmas preparations would be a hit as well, as per Reuters via MSN.

Tesco executives addressed the problem with transport minister Lady Vere last week, saying that rising vacancies were causing 48 tons of food waste each week. They claimed the shortfall was wreaking havoc on fresh products with a limited shelf life.

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UK government looks to possible solutions to combat food shortages

The Food and Drink Federation, Cold Chain Federation, British Frozen Food Federation, British Beer and Pub Association, and the British Meat Producers Association all signed the letter. Eddie Stobart, XPO Logistics, Wincanton, and KUEHNE + NAGEL are among the CEOs of logistics companies who signed the letter. According to a government spokesperson, the government met with industry representatives to examine HGV driver shortages and potential solutions for recruiting and retention, Daily Mail reported.

A long-standing shortage of HGV drivers worsened in recent months, reaching 100,000 people and showing no signs of subsiding. According to a recent survey of 796 firms conducted by the Road Haulage Association, all companies had job openings.

The letter said, "Supermarkets are already reporting that they are not receiving their expected food stocks and, as a result, there is considerable wastage," as per The Independent. However, the letter to the prime minister claims there is "no urgent strategy" to address the driver shortages.

The problem was sparked by a combination of Brexit, which resulted in a reduction in European truckers, and COVID-19, which saw no new HGV drivers taught for a year, said the Road Haulage Association. Fruit and vegetables are decaying in cold storage, according to Tim O'Malley, managing director of Nationwide Produce PLC, one of the largest firms selling fruit and vegetables to supermarkets and restaurants across the UK.

He has cautioned that perfectly good food is being thrown away due to a lack of truck drivers who can carry goods throughout the country. Brexit, COVID-19, and changes to the tax structure for HGV agency drivers have all harmed his industry, claims O'Malley.

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Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $230 million to New York state to settle claims that the pharmaceutical giant helped fuel the opioid crisis, Attorney General Letitia James said on Saturday.

Johnson & Johnson To End Manufacture and Distribution of the Drug

In a statement announcing the settlement, James said the pharmaceutical also agreed to permanently stop producing and distributing opioids in New York and the rest of the country, as reported in a recently published article in Merced Sun-Star.

New York attorney general Letitia James said, "The opioid epidemic has wreaked havoc on countless communities across New York state and the rest of the nation, leaving millions still addicted to dangerous and deadly opioids," per BBC News.

She also added that Johnson & Johnson is now committed to leaving the opioid business. The pharmaceutical company also commits to stop this not only in New York but across the country. Additionally, James remained focused on raising funds for the communities affected by the opioid crisis.

Read Also: US Sues Walmart Due to Alleged Role in Fueling the Opioid Crisis

Important Information About the Deal in the Filed Lawsuit

The settlement, which involves a complaint filed by James in 2019, exempts Johnson & Johnson from a trial set to begin next week on Long Island as part of a series of lawsuits stemming from an epidemic that has resulted in over 500,000 deaths in the past two decades, as per NJ.

Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson issued its own statement on Saturday, downplaying the attorney general's decision. It claimed the settlement included two prescription medicines produced by a subsidiary that accounted for less than 1 percent of the market and are no longer available in the United States.

The payment was not an admission of responsibility or misconduct by Johnson & Johnson, according to the corporation. It went on to say that its marketing and promotion of key prescription pain medicines were acceptable and reasonable.

Opioid Addiction is a Growing Problem in the United States

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioid addiction to both legal and illicit narcotics has been a significant, continuing issue in nations such as the United States, where over half a million people died from overdoses between 1999 and 2019.

Opioids are a group of potent medicines derived from opium poppies that may be used to inhibit pain signals between the brain and the body. They are available as legal prescription medicines, as well as illicit street narcotics like heroin.

Combined Payments of Pharmaceutical Companies Related to Opioid

Johnson & Johnson and the three biggest U.S. drug distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson have proposed settling thousands of opioid claims for a total of $26 billion. This already included the settlement payment of Johnson & Johnson.

Furthermore, Johnson & Johnson has been challenging an Oklahoma judge's decision in 2019 that it must pay the state $465 million for misleading opioid marketing. The opioids trial on Tuesday is one of the already scheduled hearings this year, with others already underway in California and West Virginia.

Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin pills, struck an $8.3 billion settlement and agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges in October to end a probe into its involvement in the opioid epidemic in the United States.

Related Article: Purdue Pharma Pleads Guilty To Criminal Charges Over Its Involvement in the US Opioid Crisis



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After being driven over and dragged by a fleeing car, an Arkansas police officer was declared dead on Saturday. Officer Kevin Apple was approaching a motorist in Benton County at roughly noon when a suspect struck a patrol car and ran over the law enforcement officer.

Shawna Rhae Cash, 22, and Elijah Anadoloza Sr., 18, have both been detained, with one facing capital murder charges and the other facing attempted capital murder charges. During the encounter, an onsite officer fired at the Jeep, which was alleged to be inhabited by Cash and Anadoloza; but the vehicle fled.

Arkansas police officer dies after approaching a driver

Multiple units pursued the car until the two were arrested miles away. The officer's death caught the attention of Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who ordered all flags in the state to be flown at half-staff in Apple's honor, Arkansas Online reported.

The Pea Ridge Police Department wrote in a Facebook post, "Our hearts are filled with sorrow and despair from the loss of our brother. Kevin was so important to us and will forever be missed. We feel the love and prayers from everyone."

Apple, a 23-year veteran of the police, and colleague officer Brian Stamps had responded to a tip about a blue Jeep being seen in connection with a recent property crime. They saw one that fit the description at a White Oak Lake, Arkansas, convenience store and gas station and decided to box it in with their vehicles before speaking with the driver at 12:09 p.m., reported Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

When Apple approached the driver to talk with him, the Jeep allegedly struck the police cars, ran over, and dragged Apple as it drove away. One suspect attempted to flee the arresting police but was apprehended in a neighboring trailer.

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One suspect has previous criminal records

According to online court records, Cash has a criminal record in Arkansas dating back to 2018, when she pled guilty to a drug possession charge. In 2019, she pled guilty again to another drug possession charge as well as burglary and theft counts. She was detained for drug possession in late 2019, and she was charged with property theft and credit card fraud in early 2020, after being arrested twice for theft earlier this year.

On Saturday night, a candlelight vigil was held in Pea Ridge for Apple. Per Daily Mail, Apple's remains were carried from the Benton County Coroner's Office to the Arkansas State Crime Lab on Sunday morning, with law enforcement officials from all around the area participating in the procession. Dozens of police cars lined up in Bentonville for the funeral procession of the fallen officer.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson ordered flags at half in tribute to Apple, who worked with the Pea Ridge department for three years. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge also expressed her condolences.

Related Article: Missing US Student, Ex-Marine Found Dead in Russia Days After Sending Cryptic Text to Her Mom @YouTube

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In fear of the growing number of cases of the COVID-19 variants, German authorities announced their plans to impose travel restrictions, prohibiting British travelers from going to the European Union regardless of their vaccination status.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said she wanted to classify Britain as a "country of concern" due to the prevalence of the Delta coronavirus variant in the region. Several senior European and national officials will discuss the plans on the EU's integrated political crisis response committee.

Travel Ban

However, several countries will be opposing the ruling, including Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Portugal, and Spain. Merkel is also scheduled to personally meet with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson next week at Chequers to talk about their future plans.

British officials will soon announce plans that would allow fully vaccinated individuals to travel to all countries with no restrictions. Exceptions include regions with the highest risks of spreading the coronavirus disease, Reuters reported.

The situation comes amid the resignation of Matt Hancock, Britain's health minister, amid a slew of controversies, including his affair with one of his senior aides Gina Coladangelo and his alleged mismanagement of the COVID-19 situation during the early stages of the pandemic. The health expert was previously photographed hugging Coladangelo, revealing his affair and a violation of the country's social-distancing protocols.

Read Also: Families and Experts Claim India Undercounted Real COVID-19 Deaths, May Reach 2 Million

Hancock's resignation comes at a time when the country is battling a surge of COVID-19 cases related to the deadly Delta variant. The number of cases recorded is the highest observed since the beginning of February. Health officials recorded nearly 100,000 residents who were confirmed to be infected by the disease, which is about a 50% spike from the previous week.

The former health minister was responsible for leading Britain's efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also the latest member of Johnson's government to be involved in accusations of violating the country's safety regulations regarding the health crisis. Hancock was frequently seen in news conferences at Downing Street, urging the public to follow lockdown protocols and other restrictions, the New York Times reported.

Violation of Health Protocols

In a video statement released on Saturday, Hancock said he understood the sacrifices that residents across the country made to support the fight against the virus. He noted how officials who made the rules should also follow them, citing it as a reason for his resignation. On the same day, Downing Street introduced Hancock's successor Sajid Javid, a former home secretary and chancellor of the Exchequer.

Additionally, the defense secretary and six of the UK's most senior military commanders were forced to self-isolate after the head of the country's armed forces Gen. Sir Nicholas Patrick Carter tested positive for COVID-19. In a statement, the Ministry of Defense confirmed the news of Carter's infection.

On Sunday night, the MoD also said that the colleagues who were close to Carter during meetings in the last week, including Ben Wallace, the defense secretary, were conducting self-isolation. Carter was reportedly self-isolating late last week after his results came back positive, The Guardian reported.

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Pentagon officials are advising that the plane will not go supersonic unless in short bursts. This will prevent the joint strike fighter to be fully utilized by the army or navy.

So what's the deal?

It comes with several variants such as the F-35A used by the US Air Force (USAF) and the F-35B, which can take off like a Harrier jump jet and land vertically for Marine Corps. The last is the C-variant with a different wing for carrier operation. All three variants of the stealth fighter are the same in and out, with similar components, reported Popular Mechanics.

Defense News indicates that the affected variants are the B and C variants. Variant A is not. The reason why the A variant can operate normally was not given by the source. In the affected variants, Pentagon will not have the improvements done.

The problem is that when the plane goes supersonic, the skin of the fighter gets hot when at higher altitudes. It causes the stealth coating to be damaged on the plane's surface. Another part that is compromised is the rear antennas. High speed and heat will lessen the stealth it will end up being detectable by radar. Antennas are at risk and will limit the reception of relevant information and data, cited by Flip Board.

Restrictions for flying with afterburners

With all these problems present, for the Navy and Marine, F-35 has a problem with going supersonic. As a rule, hitting Mach 1 will be so short, but the altitude or time in supersonic is not stated yet.

Read also: US F-35 Stealth Fighters Debut at Cope North Drills in Guam

For the F-35 Joint Program Office, it said that creating a new coating that is more resilient will take too long.

The supersonic flying issue was initially designated as a "Category 1" deficiency, a most serious inadequacy that concerns the F-35 program. However, it will not be fixed. Compared to the F-22, the F-35 does not rely on speed. One air warfare expert says keeping a limit on the afterburners will be compromised, even for the best pilots using the plane.

It might be a concern as for the past 50 years or more, the military has never had a fighter capable of prolonged supersonic flight, which illustrates how essential supersonic flight is in a close dog fight.

While it's regrettable that a trillion-dollar fighter can't even fly supersonic, it was never intended to be among the stealth fighter's main characteristics.

The lightning II has avionics and sensors meant to best another fighter beyond visual range, fire, and shoot at them before they are aware of its presence. Getting into a dogfight like an F-22 Raptor is not one of its strengths.

How can it compromise the JSF?

It will be a concern when enemies know that it cannot go supersonic. It will affect what missions they are sent on with the Marines and Navy relying on its abilities. Forcing the stealth fighter into an unwanted dogfight will be dangerous, although if it's undetected it will be advantageous.

If the F-35 has a problem with going supersonic, then how it performs should be based on the actual performance that it was designed for.

Related article: Lockheed Martin F-35A Stealth Fighter Launches Kongsberg Anti-Surface Joint Strike Missile

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On Friday, Shiba Inu, a Dogecoin offshoot, reached its highest price in six weeks when Elon Musk tweeted about the name he would give his Shiba Inu.

Elon Musk Tweets About Shiba Inu

In a recently published article in Business Insider, the price of Shiba Inu reached its highest level in six weeks when Elon Musk tweeted about the name he would give to his Shiba Inu.

My Shiba Inu will be named Floki  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 25, 2021

Like Dogecoin, the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Shiba Inu includes a picture of a Shiba Inu hunting dog. This year, both Shiba Inu and Dogecoin have gained a large market volume, and their values continue to grow.

Elon is also a big fan of Dogecoin, which had a 25 percent increase in value on Friday when Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson endorsed it. Meanwhile, it is unclear if Musk's mention of the Shiba Inu was simply accidental or intended to inflate its price, according to a published article in Business Today.

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Price of Shiba Inu Coin Surges

At 7:23 a.m. ET, Shiba Inu hit a high of $0.00000790 on CoinMarketCap, a 16 percent increase minutes after Musk tweeted. Around 9:10 a.m. ET, it was last seen at $0.00000724. Shiba Inu coin, which was launched less than a year ago, was inspired by Dogecoin, which is more well-known. It has dubbed itself a "Dogecoin killer." Shiba Inu is an "experiment in decentralized community development," according to its website.

According to CoinMarketCap.com, SHIB was trading around 1 percent higher, while Bitcoin priced BTCUSD, 5.78 percent, were down over 8 percent, changing hands at $32,192.43 on CoinDesk, as the wider crypto complex continued under pressure owing to China's mining restriction.

It can be remembered that in May, Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin contributed 50 trillion Shiba Inu tokens, valued at approximately $1 billion at the time, to a crypto-based COVID-19 relief fund for India, and then destroyed 90 percent of his shares only days later.

Will Elon Musk Accepts the Invitation of Jack Dorsey?

In a published article in NDTV, Elon Musk was one of the first to react when Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey posted a link inviting his followers to a Bitcoin event. The Crypto Council for Innovation has launched a campaign called 'The B Word.'

While Mr. Dorsey has been a vocal supporter of Bitcoin on social media and will speak at the 'The B Word' event, Tesla CEO Elon Musk famously declared in May that Bitcoin would no longer be accepted for vehicle sales, citing long-standing environmental concerns.

However, Musk has subsequently changed his position on the matter, stating that his firm would restart Bitcoin transactions after miners who verify transactions use more renewable energy, although his comments against the cryptocurrency often cause its market value to plummet.

Furthermore, when Mr. Dorsey repeated his invitation, the Twitter banter persisted. He wrote, "Let's have THE discussion." Elon Musk responded by saying that the responses to their discussions were "absolute gold."

The mere mention of Jack Dorsey to call in Euro Pacific Capital CEO Peter Schiff, a Bitcoin critic who has lauded the importance of gold investment on many occasions. The playful discussion between two renowned individuals with such different opinions on Bitcoin delighted many Twitter users.

Related Article: Elon Musk's Tweets Sparks Dogecoin Price Increase

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Tensions between India and China have reignited recently after Indian authorities stationed 50,000 more soldiers to the border between the two countries, the most recent sign of aggression after months of no clashes.

Since the historic battle between India and China in 1962 that was waged in the Himalayas, Indian officials are primarily looking to control Pakistan after the departure of the British colony. The two Asian nations have since fought three wars against each other over the disputed region of Kashmir.

Rising Tensions

The deadliest confrontation between the two counties' troops occurred last year, which prompted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take steps to ease tensions with Islamabad to focus on fighting against Beijing.

India has shifted large groups of troops and fighter jet squadrons towards three key areas along the border. The additional soldiers increased the total number of troops on the border to around 200,000, an increase of over 40% in the number of soldiers stationed there last year. However, the Indian army and a spokesman for the prime minister's office did not provide information regarding the decision, Bloomberg reported.

Previously, India only had enough forces to block and defend against the Chinese military attacks; but the newly-reinforced Indian forces now have more options to attack and take control of territories held by China. The strategy is known as "offensive defense," a person familiar with the matter said.

Indian officials believe the Chinese forces moved troops from Tibet to the Xinjiang Military Command that patrols disputed areas along the Himalayas. The Chinese administration has also continued to build runway buildings, bomb-proof bunkers, and new airfields.

The heightened tensions come after a Chinese court ruled for the imprisonment of a blogger that uploaded posts claiming the death toll of Chinese soldiers during clashes with Indian troops last year.

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In February, Chinese officials arrested at least six people in relation to online posts about the Galwan Valley clash, which includes Qiu Ziming. The standoff between the two nations started in May and later turned into a fistfight among soldiers, leaving dozens dead.

Brutal Slaughter

During the confrontation, at least 20 Indian troops lost their lives, Indian authorities reported. China, on the other hand, did not confirm the number of Chinese troops who dies from the fight. But in February, Chinese officials honored four soldiers, The Guardian reported.

Qiu was a blogger on Weibo who had more than 2.5 million followers. He suggested in his posts that Chinese officials downplayed the number of troops it lost during the clash. The blogger also claimed a high-ranking officer survived the confrontation due to his position.

China sentenced Qiu to eight months in jail under a 2018 law regarding the defamation of "heroes and martyrs." The blogger is the first to be arrested under the legislation, which was revised earlier this year, to include three years of jail time as punishment.

The India-China tensions have been running low since the last confrontation between the two nations' troops in Ladakh, where both administrations accused each other of trespassing, BBC reported.

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One of the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchanges Binance has been barred from functioning in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Financial Conduct Authority Ruled that Binance Cannot Operate in the United Kingdom

In a recently published article in BBC News, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) stated over the weekend that Binance Markets Ltd, Binance's sole regulated UK company "shall not carry out any regulated activity... with immediate effect" without the FCA's prior written permission.

It also issued a consumer alert on Binance.com, urging users to be cautious of advertisements promising large returns on cryptocurrency investments. This comes as authorities across the globe are pushing back against crypto-currency platforms.

Additionally, Binance.com is a centralized online exchange that allows users to buy and sell a variety of digital currencies, as well as digital wallets, futures, stocks, savings accounts, and even loans, according to a published report in News Sky.

Read Also: Let's Firmly Confirm the Risk of Virtual Currency Before Aiming To Be a "Billionaire"

FCA Says Binance is Not Authorized to Undertake Activities

Binance Markets Limited (BML), which is controlled by Binance Group, is presently not allowed to engage in any regulated activity without the FCA's prior written permission, according to the regulator. However, it has until Wednesday to comply with the decision.

In a published article in City Wire, the FCA regulates crypto assets but not cryptocurrencies. In order to promote or sell such goods in the United Kingdom, companies must be approved by the authority.

This implies that residents of the United Kingdom are not permitted to utilize Binance's services to speculate on whether the price of a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin will rise or fall. They are, however, permitted to use the website to buy and trade unregulated crypto-currencies.

Other Controversies of Binance

In the United States, one of the firm's companies, Binance Holdings, has been the target of an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), particularly by its money laundering and tax enforcement officers. In April, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a similar warning to U.S. customers regarding the site.

Meanwhile, Binance announced its withdrawal from Ontario, Canada, on Saturday, after the Ontario Securities Commission accused it and many other cryptocurrency trading platforms of violating provincial laws.

For the second time in three years, Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) notified Binance on Friday that it is operating without authorization in the nation.

The United Kingdom is not alone in its investigation into Binance because Japan did the same thing on Friday. Politicians and authorities across the world are becoming more interested in cryptocurrencies and the goods that are connected to them.

Binance's Bank Partner Stop Processing Transfer and Withdrawals

According to a published article in Coindesk, Binance's US partner Silvergate Bank said in mid-June that it will no longer handle US dollar deposits and withdrawals for the company. Though Binance provides the option to buy digital currencies using local money, a feature known as fiat on-ramp in the industry.

Furthermore, people who purchase them should be prepared to lose all of their money, according to Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey.

Related Article: Best Bitcoin Accounts

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Superpower China is taking its next step in the space race. Its next investment puts it at the doorstep of outer space. It is one indication that Beijing is catching up on critical technologies for long-term space habitation.

A dragon in space

In the middle of June, the People's Republic of China (PRC) sent three astronauts to the main module of the new Tiangong space station, which is a modest 54-feet long. They will spend 90 days in zero gravity working on the station to make it fully operational, reported Science.

There will be more missions. This particular one is the third of 11 scheduled missions from 2021 to 2022 to finish the station. Two more laboratories will be added to the main docking capsule for scientists to occupy within the next two years.

Construction of the T-shaped orbiting habitat called 'Heavenly Palace' started in April 2021. Placed in low earth orbit from an altitude of about 211 to 280 miles, it is projected to be operational within 10 to 15 years, said Xinhua.

China's big leap to space

Tiangong will have multiple purposes that include the operation of spacecraft and its maintenance. It will also feature technologies that will allow the first missions into the solar system. According to Bai Linhou, Tiangong's Deputy Chief Designer, it will encompass the reasons for Chinese space development. The Chinese space station 'Tiangong' will redefine the International Space Station's mission.

Read also: How an F-15 Eagle Shoots down a Satellite on September 13, 1985

Science will be the reason why experiments will be done by astronauts for longer periods. Its goal is to make cutting-edge research like that done on the ISS. Most important is to use the 'Heavenly Palace' to develop space research and resources with other nations.

Tiangong and the ISS

The Chinese space station and the Zhurong Mars rover are successes for Beijing's foray into space, which might push the U.S space programs to move forward faster.

Last May, NASA's new head, Bill Nelson said that China is moving ahead and catching up. Adding that NASA should get funds for its programs, as noted by Spaceflight Now.

Dale Skran, Chief Operating Officer for the National Space Society, mentioned that the Tiangong will affect the ISS. He said that the US should not leave the ISS program, because it a political statement to China. This means extending the service life of the ISS and allowing a transition to future commercial LEO (low-Earth orbit) stations.

Agreements with all participants of the ISS has it lasting till 2024, but efforts to keep it running until 2030 are under negotiation. Nelson Pace, a NASA Administrator, said the station will not stay in orbit forever. Pace remarked that some components will wear out in time, like the Russian modules Zarya and Zvezda, which were meant for the Mir-2 Station.

One solution by NASA would be adding stations owned by future space corporations in low earth orbit.

There are doubts about China's intentions, but ultimately, the Chinese space station 'Tiangong' will redefine the International Space Station's mission in space as well as set the stage for The Dragon's ambitions in space.

Related article: US Expert Fears the Advancing Chinese Space Program Will Leave a Dangerous Hole in American Defenses

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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Now Open

28 June 2021

Radisson Hotel Group is proud to announce the opening of Radisson Hotel Izmir Aliaga and welcome guests to one of Turkey's key ports and gateway to Izmir, the pearl of the Aegean Sea. The opening of the hotel strengthens the brand's presence in Turkey and brings the Group's portfolio across the country to over 31 hotels in operation and under development.

Radisson Hotel Izmir Aliaga features 185 rooms and suites equipped with individual desks or work areas, free high-speed Wi-Fi, and a wide range of amenities such as in-room coffee and tea facilities, together with bathrobe and slippers to make guests as comfortable as possible. With small personal touches that go a long way, guests can enjoy a range of different-sized private balconies as well as a delightful sleep experience with plush bedding and pillows.

Guests can enjoy a sumptuous culinary experience at Hazar Restaurant which serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a warm and relaxing atmosphere, including a selection of traditional Turkish and international dishes. Hazar Restaurant is the perfect place for guests to relax after a day of sightseeing and enjoy the surrounding views with a drink at the Lobby Bar, have a browse at the extensive selection at the Patisserie, or sample the flavors of local Turkish and international desserts.

With its technologically advanced facilities, equipment, and catering services, Radisson Hotel Izmir Aliaga is the ideal venue for meetings, conferences, and events. The stylish ballroom, three meeting rooms, and six private offices are all equipped with modern audio-visual equipment in a stylish and professional setting. Meeting rooms range in size from 25m2 to 196m2 and can accommodate up to 180 people, including the hotel ballroom for weddings and receptions.
Press Release

28 June 2021

Tourism eyes around the world are focused on a resort island in Thailand next week for the reopening of international, vaccinated travel to the Phuket Sandbox. A key emerging storyline from the islands frenzied runaway to 1st July has been the remarkable cross sector partnerships that has become a true catalyst of change.

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Phukets private sector has massively rallied in the final days leading up to the Sandbox in support of its greatest asset, its people. The islands rich cultural tapestry is the theme of the newly launched Welcome Back Home hospitality community collaboration.

One key working part of Thailands Sandbox scheme, has been to achieve the vaccination a baseline of over seventy percent of Phuket residents. With local government resources already stretched in fighting the Covid-19 crisis, hotels have thrown open their doors and embraced their neighborhoods in hosting vaccination centers to help achieve the numbers.

The Sandbox has brought together various tourism organizations in a way our industry has never witnessed before, said Laguna Phukets Managing Director Ravi Chandran who has experienced past events like SARS, the Asian tsunami, and the global financial crisis.

The Sandbox has broken down barriers within our industry, and the hope displayed in the determination and spirit is teaching us a true-life lesson. Welcome Back Home is our tribute to acknowledging people first and supporting our local neighbours and not just relying on Instagram-ready photo libraries.

Sandbox discussions: (left) Laguna Phukets Managing Director Ravi Chandran; (right) Phuket Tourism Association President Bhummikitti Ruktaengam  Photo: C9 Hotelworks Ltd.

On an island that showcases some of Asias best beaches and world-renowned resorts, leading Phuket-based consultancy C9 Hotelworks Managing Director Bill Barnett added: We wanted the campaign to represent the true face of our tourism industry, its people.

So, we took to the streets, had conversations, and engaged with our community which has remained resilient in the face of adversity, to actively be the face of this amazing change that is about to take place.

The campaign was shot by Delivering Asia Communications Thai photographer and videographer Thunwa Siripotisorut of over two days of traveling the length and breadth of the island visiting local villages, markets and fishing communities. See video here:

Sandbox champion and President of the Phuket Tourism Association, Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, expressed pride at how the efforts of local people had brought us to this historic point.

There will be bumps in the road but we will get there. We are working together as one, one island. The industry has never shared a vision and intent so passionately, he said.

Photo: C9 Hotelworks Ltd.

Welcome Back Home is a unique undertaking between the Laguna Phuket, Phuket Tourist Association, Delivering Asia Communications, and C9 Hotelworks. The social media focused campaign in the lead-up to the beginning of July is highlighted by the voice and images of Phuket people who have endured the pandemic and remain ready to welcome travelers back home in the coming weeks ahead. This is the true voice of Phuket tourism
Press Release

28 June 2021

Clal acquires 49% stake in two London hotels from PPHE

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Israel-based Clal Insurance has acquired a 49% stake in a new JV with PPHE (formerly Park Plaza Hotels Europe) for 113.7 million. The JV holds two assets, being the 645-room Park Plaza London Riverbank, as well as the 200 million, 343-room artotel London Hoxton development project in Shoreditch. The deal values the Riverbank property and the all-in development cost budget of the artotel at 542.3 million (548,000 per room, less the value of some 5,000 sqm of office space in the artotel project). The special purpose company will indirectly hold the real estate and operations of the two assets, and Clal will also invest a further 12.1 million into the artotel project, which is scheduled to be completed in early 2024.

Union forward buys Premier Inn Castleforbes in Dublin

Irish developer Glenveagh Properties has forward sold the 262-room Premier Inn in Castleforbes development in the Dublin Docklands to German institutional investor Union Investment for a reported 70 million (267,000 per room). Construction of the hotel is scheduled to begin next month with expected completion in autumn 2023. The development includes a reported 1,256 apartments, 12,545 square meters of office space and a second 219-room hotel. The transaction marks the third major Dublin hotel sale in the past two months, following Zetland Capitals acquisition of Dublins Morrison hotel last month and MHL Hotel Collections acquisition of the Moxy Dublin City hotel.

Ascott and QIA acquire livelyfhere Gambetta Paris

Singapore-based REIT The Ascott Limited and sovereign wealth-fund Qatar Investment Authority have acquired the 139-room livelyfhere Gambetta Paris on behalf of their jointly owned Ascott Serviced Residence Global Fund. The acquisition is part of a two-property portfolio, which also includes the 364-room Somerset Metropolitan West Hanoi. The combined price for the two assets is a reported 131.5 million (261,000 per room on average). The two properties will be acquired on a turnkey basis, and are expected to open in 2024. Following the completion of renovation works at the Paris property, the hotel will relaunch as Ascotts first co-living property in Europe under the lyf brand.

Castleforge acquires Hilton Cardiff

UK-based private equity firm Castleforge Partners has acquired the 197-room Hilton Cardiff in the Welsh capital for an undisclosed price, from a private owner who had owned the property for fourteen years. The seven-floor hotel has views over Cardiff Castle and the citys Edwardian civic centre. The deal quickly follows Castleforges debut entry into the hospitality sector in May, when it acquired the Best Western Plus Bruntsfield Hotel in Edinburgh.

Ibis Styles Reading Oxford Road, UK acquired by private investor

The 97-room Ibis Styles Reading Oxford Road has been sold off a guide price of 4.5 million (46,000 per room) to a private investor. The purpose-built property in west Reading, UK was marketed on a current or alternative use basis with a supportive pre-application for development into a six-storey apartment block with 73 residential units. The new buyer intends to continue to operate the property as a hotel.
Press Release

28 June 2021

This Fourth of July will mark a pivotal moment in the USs recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, as the nation heads back outside for a taste of normalcy 16 months in the making. Many Airbnb guests will be kicking off their summer vacation plans this holiday weekend, whether to escape the hot weather at the beach or to reunite with family and friends. According to Airbnb data, searches for stays on Airbnb over the July 4th weekend have increased by 57 percent this year, compared to 2019.

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Ahead of the holiday weekend, heres how Americans plan to embrace a once-in-century travel rebound this Independence Day.

Getting outside in the Great Outdoors

According to the recent Airbnb Report on Travel & Living, the great escape to rural will remain popular this holiday weekend, with travelers particularly eager to take in some sand and surf. In just the past month, searches for beachfront stays on Airbnb in the US over the Fourth of July increased by 127 percent.*

Its not just white sand beaches on Americans minds this summer: Many are eager to discover spacious skies, amber waves of grain, and purple mountain majesties. From guests looking for a retreat in the Ozarks or the chance to celebrate the USs 245th birthday in the nations capital, the following US states and district have seen the biggest increase in searches for summer stays over the past month:

Kansas (+199%)

Oklahoma (+169%)

Washington, DC (+130%)

Illinois (+119%)

Mississippi (+105%)

Arkansas (+104%)

Texas (+97%)

Arizona (+95)

Nebraska (+94%)

Georgia (+91%)

A holiday once again spent with family and friends

After a year of isolation and separation, its no surprise that travelers are most looking forward to the opportunity to reconnect with loved ones this summer. As we revealed in the Airbnb Report on Travel & Living last month, as of April 30, 2021, family travel has spiked from 27 percent of overall nights booked in summer 2019 to 33 percent in summer 2021 globally.

This Fourth of July, Airbnb guests are warming up the grill, firing up the fireworks and breaking out some classic traditions, surrounded by family and friends. Searches in the US over the holiday weekend for family travel, or listings with five or more bedrooms, are up 56 percent this year compared to 2019.

The opportunity to host this summer

As Americans travel this summer, the expected demand presents a huge opportunity for anyone that has space or a home to share, and weve made it easier for anyone who wants to host and potentially take advantage of the coming travel surge. As of April 2021, the average annual earnings per Host who had welcomed at least one guest over the past year was $9,600  and since the pandemic was declared in March 2020 through March 2021, new Hosts with only one listing have earned more than $1.2 billion globally on Airbnb.

From sea to shining sea, a number of US cities have seen an uptick in new active Airbnb listings, as Hosts open their doors to safely welcome travelers and earn additional income. From March 2020 through June 2021, the top US cities with the largest percentage increase in the number of active listings include:

Jordan Valley, Oregon

Branson, Missouri

Sevierville, Tennessee

Alexandria, Virginia

Tampa, Florida

Port Aransas, Texas

Scranton, Pennsylvania

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

Keystone, Colorado

In addition, half of new listings that were both activated and booked in early 2021 got a reservation request within four days.

Prospective Hosts can learn more about this opportunity at at airbnb.com/host.

Staying safe while celebrating

Earlier this year, we shared Airbnbs Summer of Responsible Travel, an 8-point plan to help Hosts, guests and communities they call home stay safer. As part of this plan, we are blocking one-night reservations during the July 4th weekend of entire home listings in the US. Guests who have a history of positive reviews on Airbnb or who already booked their one-night reservation will not be subject to this restriction.

In addition, as part of the 100+ product upgrades that we announced last month, we have improved our Community Support to serve the summer demand, to be faster and more responsive when Hosts or guests need help. This includes doubling the number of support agents; tripling the number of languages we provide support in; and making our Help Center easier to navigate by offering more personalized support.
Opinion Article

28 June 2021

Are we just "numbers"? No! But behind this provocative question where most people would agree on the answer, there are many others whose response will not please everyone. These are the three questions on HR analytics that I think are important: Are we more complex than numbers? (Yes, of course), Should we use numbers to evaluate people? (Yes, I strongly recommend it), Are we treated like numbers? (Yes, sometimes).

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I decided to write this article for one main reason. Many people do not understand what HR/People Analytics is, or how complex it is to select the right person for a position. A few years ago, I was delivering an executive education module on talent assessment and was speaking about the use of psychometrics. I remember that one of the participants, the COO of a big restaurant chain, told me that he had not anticipated the process of selection to be so quantitative. He thought that recruiting the right person required a sense of psychology and intuition.

My students also sometimes tell me, but we cannot know someone just by numbers and test scores. People analytics is about quantifying the potential of employees for companies. Am I going too far? Should I step back, forget numbers and let my intuition speak? No, I dont think so. Here is why.

Are we more complex than numbers?

Yes, we cannot summarize a person with a series of test scores and numbers. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. If you know that someone scores very high on the dimension of conscientiousness, average in openness to experience, average in agreeableness and low in extraversion and neuroticism you know very little about a person. The problem is that many laypeople use this idea to declare that no decision can be made by these numbers. For sure, these numbers will not tell you everything you might want to know about a person - but they can give enough information to judge to what extent a person might fit in a job.

Many studies have indeed shown that test scores predict an important variety of outcomes in life: academic achievement, job performance, intention to quit a job, divorce, etc. Discarding this source of information on the sole reason that they do not depict the whole person is then irrational and dangerous.

Should we use numbers to evaluate people?

I would say a big YES. Laypeople declare very often that the only way to know someone is to observe him/her and that our impressions of others are far more accurate than test scores. Interacting with a candidate will probably increase our confidence that it is the right or the wrong person for the job. But confidence does not equate all the time with accuracy.

It is not because we have met a candidate face to face and discussed one or two hours with him/her that our judgment will be more accurate. Of course, you can learn interesting facts about a person and the reasons why he/she acted in a certain way in some situations. But do these new pieces of information help to make talent decisions? Maybe yes, maybe no.

I have in mind a study that showed that interviewers who had met with a student were less able to predict his/her future GPA, whereas people who had only access to previous GPA (but got less information than the first group) did far better. These results mean that in a job interview you make impressions about others on thousands of pieces of information, but not all of them are relevant.

Test scores and numbers will never tell you if the person makes good jokes, or prefers Roger Federer to Rafael Nadal, but is this information important? For that reason, I recommend recruiters and managers to make talent decisions with data and numbers. Not because they are correct all the time (no selection device can ever be), but because the test scores are immune to gender, age, or good-looking biases (at least, if they respect some quality standards) and will only provide information on the aspects that seem important about a job.

If a candidate scores high in extraversion, it means that he/she is more comfortable surrounded by others, more active and more risk-taking which might make him a good candidate for the positions that require these characteristics.

Are employees treated like numbers?

Yes, this is unfortunately what happens in some companies. Leaders do not know their subordinates, their competences and do not care about their well-being. I do not mean that they do so intentionally. Very often, they do not have the time to do so. One important aspect that employees expect from their leaders is to be humane, to recognize the good work which is done. It is one of the major problems nowadays. Employees feel that they do not receive enough recognition and feel like numbers. It is a pity, particularly when their leaders avoid numbers as much as possible and prefer to stick to their intuition and first impressions.

My takeaway for leaders is this one: dont treat your people like numbers but make important decisions with them by using HR analytics (performance evaluations, promotions or selection decisions). Decisions with numbers will be more legally defensive and objective than decisions without numbers.

*This article was originally published on LinkedIn.
Opinion Article

28 June 2021

Summer is underway and US travelers are ready to celebrate the Independence Day holiday weekend. As vaccination numbers increase and COVID restrictions have eased or lifted in many states, hotel stays are being booked further in advance of any holiday since the beginning of COVID-19.

Amadeus, a global leader in travel technology, with its unique ability to track forward-looking, on-the-books hotel occupancy in major markets around the world, cites the leading markets for Independence Day holiday travel. All of the top 10 markets are over 68% occupancy two weeks prior to the holiday. Current overall US occupancy leading up to the holiday is 37% which is a 236% increase over 2020. In addition to occupancy, another important metric for market performance is the hotels Average Daily Rate (ADR). At the height of the pandemic, the US saw ADR decline to $94 in April 2020. Looking ahead to the 2021 Independence Day holiday, we see the ADR currently at $170 for the region, a 25% improvement over the 2020 holiday performance and closely aligned with pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019.

Photo: Amadeus

The top 10 markets are in Hawaii, Florida, beach destinations in Maryland and South Carolina, and cities close to national parks. Two weeks prior to the Independence Day weekend there are 44 markets at or over 50% occupancy.

A change from previous holiday periods, markets over 50% occupancy are more broadly spread throughout the United States, perhaps reflective of reduced COVID restrictions across the country. Florida and California have the highest number of markets over 50% occupancy. Interestingly, Hawaii only has three markets over 50% occupancy, though all of them are included in the top 10 markets for the holiday. As reference, for Memorial Day, the states with the highest number of markets over 50% occupancy were Florida, Texas and California.

Photo: Amadeus

During the height of the pandemic in 2020, we saw the most significant volume of bookings (72%) being made within 7 days of travel. Looking at Independence Day 2021, there is a significant increase in booked occupancy in the weeks leading up to the holiday when compared with the previous year. As of June 18, 2021, 57% of bookings are being made within 7 days of travel compared to 44% in 2019, creating optimism for occupancy growth in the final days leading up to the holiday weekend.

Photo: Amadeus

Top destinations where U.S. travelers are flying for Independence Day:

Air travel searches in the month of June indicate that people are ready to venture beyond domestic borders. Of the 50 top searched destinations for travel around the holiday, 17 are international. Based on booked flights to date, Amadeus has identified the following top five flight destinations for the Independence Day holiday weekend with Hawaii leading the list, matching the top hospitality market.

Honolulu

Cancun

Los Angeles

New York

Seattle

(Source: Amadeus Travel Intelligence Portal as of June 18, 2021)

Top international destinations where American travelers are headed for the holiday weekend are Mexico (Cancun and Cabo), Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic.

Your trusted source for industry-leading, forward-looking, on-the-books market insight

Amadeus Demand360 is the only business intelligence solution that provides actual on-the-books, forward-looking occupancies for your hotel and your selected competitive sets. The data provided is updated twice per week and occupancy information represents actual rooms sold, including market segment and channel statistics, so you know who is traveling and how they are booking their reservations. If you want to know what is happening in your market, contact us today. For more research, insight, and best practices on leveraging data to build an effective marketing strategy, please visit our Rebuild Travel resource center.

Amadeus Air Search Travel Data is the most complete suite of air data in the travel industry and includes shopping transactions performed by +2,500 customers including the worlds top travel agencies. It consists of consolidated data generated by daily transactions.
Danielle Anderson was working in what has become the worlds most notorious laboratory just weeks before the first known cases of Covid-19 emerged in central China. Yet, the Australian virologist still wonders what she missed.

An expert in bat-borne viruses, Anderson is the only foreign scientist to have undertaken research at the Wuhan Institute of Virologys BSL-4 lab, the first in mainland China equipped to handle the planets deadliest pathogens. Her most recent stint ended in November 2019, giving Anderson an insiders perspective on a place thats become a flashpoint in the search for what caused the worst pandemic in a century.

The emergence of the coronavirus in the same city where institute scientists, clad head-to-toe in protective gear, study that exact family of viruses has stoked speculation that it might have leaked from the lab, possibly via an infected staffer or a contaminated object. Chinas lack of transparency since the earliest days of the outbreak fueled those suspicions, which have been seized on by the U.S. Thats turned the quest to uncover the origins of the virus, critical for preventing future pandemics, into a geopolitical minefield.

The work of the lab and the director of its emerging infectious diseases sectionShi Zhengli, a long-time colleague of Andersons dubbed Batwoman for her work hunting viruses in cavesis now shrouded in controversy. The U.S. has questioned the labs safety and alleged its scientists were engaged in contentious gain of function research that manipulated viruses in a manner that could have made them more dangerous.

Its a stark contrast to the place Anderson described in an interview with Bloomberg News, the first in which shes shared details about working at the lab.

Half-truths and distorted information have obscured an accurate accounting of the lab's functions and activities, which were more routine than how theyve been portrayed in the media, she said.

Its not that it was boring, but it was a regular lab that worked in the same way as any other high-containment lab, Anderson said. What people are saying is just not how it is.

Now at Melbournes Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Anderson began collaborating with Wuhan researchers in 2016, when she was scientific director of the biosafety lab at Singapores Duke-NUS Medical School. Her researchwhich focuses on why lethal viruses like Ebola and Nipah cause no disease in the bats in which they perpetually circulatecomplemented studies underway at the Chinese institute, which offered funding to encourage international collaboration.

A rising star in the virology community, Anderson, 42, says her work on Ebola in Wuhan was the realization of a life-long career goal. Her favorite movie is Outbreak, the 1995 film in which disease experts respond to a dangerous new virusa job Anderson said she wanted to do. For her, that meant working on Ebola in a high-containment laboratory.

Andersons career has taken her all over the world. After obtaining an undergraduate degree from Deakin University in Geelong, Australia, she worked as a lab technician at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, then returned to Australia to complete a PhD under the supervision of eminent virologists John Mackenzie and Linfa Wang. She did post-doctoral work in Montreal, before moving to Singapore and working again with Wang, who described Anderson as very committed and dedicated, and similar in personality to Shi.

Theyre both very blunt with such high moral standards, Wang said by phone from Singapore, where hes the director of the emerging infectious diseases program at the Duke-NUS Medical School. Im very proud of what Danielles been able to do.

On the Ground

Anderson was on the ground in Wuhan when experts believe the virus, now known as SARS-CoV-2, was beginning to spread. Daily visits for a period in late 2019 put her in close proximity to many others working at the 65-year-old research center. She was part of a group that gathered each morning at the Chinese Academy of Sciences to catch a bus that shuttled them to the institute about 20 miles away.

As the sole foreigner, Anderson stood out, and she said the other researchers there looked out for her.

We went to dinners together, lunches, we saw each other outside of the lab, she said.

From her first visit before it formally opened in 2018, Anderson was impressed with the institutes maximum biocontainment lab. The concrete, bunker-style building has the highest biosafety designation, and requires air, water and waste to be filtered and sterilized before it leaves the facility. There were strict protocols and requirements aimed at containing the pathogens being studied, Anderson said, and researchers underwent 45 hours of training to be certified to work independently in the lab.

The induction process required scientists to demonstrate their knowledge of containment procedures and their competency in wearing air-pressured suits. Its very, very extensive, Anderson said.

Entering and exiting the facility was a carefully choreographed endeavor, she said. Departures were made especially intricate by a requirement to take both a chemical shower and a personal showerthe timings of which were precisely planned.

Special Disinfectants

These rules are mandatory across BSL-4 labs, though Anderson noted differences compared with similar facilities in Europe, Singapore and Australia in which shes worked. The Wuhan lab uses a bespoke method to make and monitor its disinfectants daily, a system Anderson was inspired to introduce in her own lab. She was connected via a headset to colleagues in the labs command center to enable constant communication and safety vigilancesteps designed to ensure nothing went awry.

However, the Trump administrations focus in 2020 on the idea the virus escaped from the Wuhan facility suggested that something went seriously wrong at the institute, the only one to specialize in virology, viral pathology and virus technology of the some 20 biological and biomedical research institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Virologists and infectious disease experts initially dismissed the theory, noting that viruses jump from animals to humans with regularity. There was no clear evidence from within SARS-CoV-2s genome that it had been artificially manipulated, or that the lab harbored progenitor strains of the pandemic virus. Political observers suggested the allegations had a strategic basis and were designed to put pressure on Beijing.

And yet, Chinas actions raised questions. The government refused to allow international scientists into Wuhan in early 2020 when the outbreak was mushrooming, including experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who were already in the region.

Beijing stonewalled on allowing World Health Organization experts into Wuhan for more than a year, and then provided only limited access. The WHO teams final report, written with and vetted by Chinese researchers, played down the possibility of a lab leak. Instead, it said the virus probably spread via a bat through another animal, and gave some credence to a favored Chinese theory that it could have been transferred via frozen food.

Never Sick

Chinas obfuscation led outside researchers to reconsider their stance. Last month, 18 scientists writing in the journal Science called for an investigation into Covid-19s origins that would give balanced consideration to the possibility of a lab accident. Even the director-general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the lab theory hadnt been studied extensively enough.

But its U.S. President Joe Bidens consideration of the ideapreviously dismissed by many as a Trumpist conspiracy theorythat has given it newfound legitimacy. Biden called on Americas intelligence agencies last month to redouble their efforts in rooting out the genesis of Covid-19 after an earlier report, disclosed by the Wall Street Journal, claimed three researchers from the lab were hospitalized with flu-like symptoms in November 2019.

Anderson said no one she knew at the Wuhan institute was ill toward the end of 2019. Moreover, there is a procedure for reporting symptoms that correspond with the pathogens handled in high-risk containment labs.

If people were sick, I assume that I would have been sickand I wasnt, she said. I was tested for coronavirus in Singapore before I was vaccinated, and had never had it.

Not only that, many of Andersons collaborators in Wuhan came to Singapore at the end of December for a gathering on Nipah virus. There was no word of any illness sweeping the laboratory, she said.

There was no chatter, Anderson said. Scientists are gossipy and excited. There was nothing strange from my point of view going on at that point that would make you think something is going on here.

The names of the scientists reported to have been hospitalized havent been disclosed. The Chinese government and Shi Zhengli, the labs now-famous bat-virus researcher, have repeatedly denied that anyone from the facility contracted Covid-19. Andersons work at the facility, and her funding, ended after the pandemic emerged and she focused on the novel coronavirus.

Im Not Naive

Its not that its impossible the virus spilled from there. Anderson, better than most people, understands how a pathogen can escape from a laboratory. SARS, an earlier coronavirus that emerged in Asia in 2002 and killed more than 700 people, subsequently made its way out of secure facilities a handful of times, she said.

If presented with evidence that such an accident spawned Covid-19, Anderson could foresee how things could maybe happen, she said. Im not naive enough to say I absolutely write this off.

And yet, she still believes it most likely came from a natural source. Since it took researchers almost a decade to pin down where in nature the SARS pathogen emerged, Anderson says shes not surprised they havent found the smoking gun bat responsible for the latest outbreak yet.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology is large enough that Anderson said she didnt know what everyone was working on at the end of 2019. She is aware of published research from the lab that involved testing viral components for their propensity to infect human cells. Anderson is convinced no virus was made intentionally to infect people and deliberately releasedone of the more disturbing theories to have emerged about the pandemics origins.

Gain of Function

Anderson did concede that it would be theoretically possible for a scientist in the lab to be working on a gain of function technique to unknowingly infect themselves and to then unintentionally infect others in the community. But theres no evidence that occurred and Anderson rated its likelihood as exceedingly slim.

Getting authorization to create a virus in this way typically requires many layers of approval, and there are scientific best practices that put strict limits on this kind of work. For example, a moratorium was placed on research that could be done on the 1918 Spanish Flu virus after scientists isolated it decades later.

Even if such a gain of function effort got clearance, its hard to achieve, Anderson said. The technique is called reverse genetics.

Its exceedingly difficult to actually make it work when you want it to work, she said.

Andersons lab in Singapore was one of the first to isolate SARS-CoV-2 from a Covid patient outside China and then to grow the virus. It was complicated and challenging, even for a team used to working with coronaviruses that knew its biological characteristics, including which protein receptor it targets. These key facets wouldnt be known by anyone trying to craft a new virus, she said. Even then, the material that researchers studythe viruss basic building blocks and genetic fingerprintarent initially infectious, so they would need to culture significant amounts to infect people.

Despite this, Anderson does think an investigation is needed to nail down the viruss origin once and for all. Shes dumbfounded by the portrayal of the lab by some media outside China, and the toxic attacks on scientists that have ensued.

One of a dozen experts appointed to an international taskforce in November to study the origins of the virus, Anderson hasnt sought public attention, especially since being targeted by U.S. extremists in early 2020 after she exposed false information about the pandemic posted online. The vitriol that ensued prompted her to file a police report. The threats of violence many coronavirus scientists have experienced over the past 18 months have made them hesitant to speak out because of the risk that their words will be misconstrued.

The elements known to trigger infectious outbreaksthe mixing of humans and animals, especially wildlifewere present in Wuhan, creating an environment conducive for the spillover of a new zoonotic disease. In that respect, the emergence of Covid-19 follows a familiar pattern. Whats shocking to Anderson is the way it unfurled into a global contagion.

The pandemic is something no one could have imagined on this scale, she said. Researchers must study Covid's calamitous path to determine what went wrong and how to stop the spread of future pathogens with pandemic potential.

The virus was in the right place at the right time and everything lined up to cause this disaster.
Lauren Haller grew up in a family with high expectations.

Hallers great-great-grandfather was an emancipated slave who became a Walker County commissioner and, in 1893, became one of the first African Americans elected to the Texas Legislature.

Her mother is a judge in Houston and her father was an executive at an international multiline insurer dealing with downstream energy properties.

Hallers photo album as a youth included photos of dinner with President George H.W. Bush, shaking hands with Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, hugs with Texas Gov. Ann Richards and poses with civil rights icon and Congressman John Lewis.

On HoustonChronicle.com: A massive solar farm may be a boon to Houston's Sunnyside. Or not.

My upbringing was anything but normal, Haller said. Learning about my great-great-grandfather also made me realize how much my entire family, including my mother and father, had done for their communities. The need to impact the community has been passed down in our family from generation to generation.

Even now, it makes me question whether I am doing enough, she said.

By all accounts, Haller is a rock star in the Texas corporate law community. At 38, she is senior director and legal counsel for operations at one of the worlds largest renewable energy companies.

During the past two years, Haller led Pattern Energys expansion of its commodities trading program, led the completion of the sale of $13.1 million in intellectual property and information technology assets related to Patterns corporate restructuring in 2019 and worked on the $166 million sale of Patterns interest in the K2 wind power facility in Ontario.

Pattern Energy, based in San Francisco with a 100-person office in Houston, operates 28 utility-scale renewable energy facilities in the U.S., Canada and Japan. Haller is also responsible for Patterns expansive trademark and domain portfolio in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Japan.

Last year, she created and launched Patterns Blacks in Renewable Energy project, a cutting-edge effort in the recruitment, professional development and retention of diverse renewable energy leaders. In December, the Association of Corporate Counsels Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook, citing the BiRE initiative, honored Haller with the 2020 Award for Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion.

Haller is now playing a critical role in Patterns litigation regarding the February winter storm that hit Texas, which has led Pattern to be both a plaintiff and defendant in various legal disputes, as well as tackling much needed regulatory reforms.

Its a mess  a total mess, she said. Theres never been a situation like this before.

Norton Rose Fulbright partner Mark Oakes, who represents Pattern Energy in its winter storm litigation, said Haller is an engaged and proactive in-house lawyer.

What has stood out to me is her sound judgment and ability to keep her eye on the big picture in the face of difficult legal issues, and her aptitude for building consensus amongst the team members, Oakes said.

Haller, who also spent time in the legal departments at ConocoPhillips and Hess Corp., is widely viewed as having a career in the renewable energy beyond corporate law.

Lauren is insightful, empathetic and courageous, which makes her a natural leader, said Pattern Energy Senior Vice President of Corporate Operations Christopher Shugart. Her positive energy about everything she sets her mind to is infectious to those of us that work with her.

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Alex Holtan, a partner in the Houston office of Eversheds Sutherland and an expert on energy and commodities derivatives, said Hallers legal work expanding Patterns commodity trading program, including forming a new entity, enhancing compliance protocols and negotiating with relevant exchanges and brokers, showcased the young lawyers intellect.

Lauren impressed me from Day One because she came in with no background in the regulatory matters we worked on, she asked great questions and quickly understood what was important, Holtan said.

Laurens meetings are efficient and inclusive, he said. Everyone is asked to be heard, which means there is better buy-in from all the stakeholders.

Local roots

Born and raised in Houston, Haller was 3 years old when her mother, Francelia Totty, was appointed to a municipal court judgeship by then- Mayor Kathy Whitmire.

Lauren came to court with me when she was little, Totty said. She saw defendants being brought into the courtroom in handcuffs and watched me decide if they were guilty and then sentence them.

Haller demonstrated strategic thinking early in life. She had a choice of five specialty public high schools to attend. Her mother thought that Haller, who was in a ballet, would select the high school for the performing arts. Instead, she decided to attend the Engineering Academy at Heights High School.

Lauren did research and learned that students at the school for engineering received many more scholarships to college than students at the performing arts, Totty said.

A year later, Totty told her daughter, then a freshman, about her great-great-grandfather.

Wait  What? My great-great-grandfather was what? Haller said her responded.

It was a huge deal to learn about my dads great-grandfather, Haller said. It was a life-impacting moment.

Journey to Texas

Nathan H. Haller was born into slavery in 1840 in Charleston, S.C., and was taken to Walker County just prior to the start of the Civil War.

Records do not show whether Haller was freed when President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 or in 1865 when an Army general proclaimed the end of slavery at Galveston on what is now known as Juneteenth. As part of Reconstruction, her great-great-grandfather became a farmer and ran for public office as a Republican  first as a county commissioner in Walker County and then as a representative in the Texas Legislature serving Brazoria and Matagorda counties in 1893.

In 1999, Haller, then a high school junior, had an early confrontation with racism. She served as a congressional page in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she delivered confidential documents to members of the House and Senate. She even witnessed the Clinton impeachment trial and was on the floor of the U.S. House on the evening the Senate voted to acquit.

A white male page rooming down the hall from Haller hung a poster on his door of the back of the truck operated by three white supremacists that dragged Jasper resident James Byrd, an African American, causing his death in 1998.

Haller and another African American page met with House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt about the situation.

The only consequence was that the page was told to take the poster down, she said.

Despite having a mother as a judge and watching the legal and political systems up close as a teenager, Haller decided to study engineering at the University of Oklahoma

Growing up, my parents emphasized math and science, and I excelled in both, she said.

Haller excelled at OU, graduating cum laude with a degree in mechanical engineering in 2005. As she approached graduation, she realized that law and politics were still pulling her.

I think law and politics have always been in my blood, she said, pointing to the fact that her mother was a judge. As a small child, not only could I give a firm handshake, I attended numerous fundraisers, rallies and much more.

Haller graduated from OU in 2008 with a law degree and went to work at ConocoPhillips as a lawyer working to protect the energy giants intellectual property portfolio.

A decade later Pattern Energy was one of three companies that pursued Haller in hopes of adding her talent to their legal departments. She chose Pattern because it allowed her to move outside of my comfort zone.

Pattern was a young company, and the renewable energy space was gaining significant momentum, she said. Although I knew absolutely nothing about renewable energy, Pattern was willing to gamble on me and I on them. Joining Pattern was by far one of the smartest professional decisions I have made to date.

Shugart said Haller has tremendous drive and energy, but shes also very humble and almost prefers for the people she attracts to the cause to get the credit and the limelight.

He said her innovative work on diversity, especially establishing Blacks in Renewable Energy, has been nothing short of impressive.

Lauren has been one of the biggest forces for advancement and change of diversity and inclusion at Pattern, he said. With solely her force of will, she became the clear employee leader for D&I issues in the company. She had the vision of a diversity month event this year and attracted like-minded grassroots employees from across the company to the team and made it happen  culminating with an event featuring our executives and one of our board members.

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Lauren has all the right insights and skills to help guide Pattern, or any other teams she sets her mind on, to get there. Im looking forward to seeing that unfold, he said.

Haller said that affinity groups such as BiRE are employee-driven, which means workers shape the conversation.

In response to the senseless deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and countless others, Pattern executives made powerful personal statements and reached out to individual employees to offer support and solidarity, she said. At every step of the way, Pattern leadership has been both a cheerleader and a champion for efforts surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion.

Pattern truly believes in listening to and partnering with its employees to create a more diverse, equal and inclusive environment, she said.

Totty said her daughter will likely end up having a bigger impact on diversity and inclusion in corporate American than any of her ancestors.

Lauren is tiny, but she is determined and tenacious, and she stands up for herself, for her client and for what is right, Totty said.

For a longer version of this article, please visit TexasLawbook.net.
This article, Robocalls are out of control. But that could change after June 30, originally appeared on CNET.com.

A big deadline in the fight to beat back those annoying robocalls is coming June 30. As of that date, every major voice provider in the US, including phone companies AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile and cable provider Comcast, will have to implement a technology called Stir/Shaken.

That's good news for everyone whose phone has been jangling with bogus phone calls involving health-related scams, expiring car warranties and fake banks offering nonexistent interest-rate discounts for credit cards. For years, the scourge of illegal robocalls has plagued the public. It's the No. 1 consumer complaint and a top priority at the Federal Communications Commission.

US consumers have received just under 22 billion robocalls in the first five months of the year, on pace to hit over 52 billion robocalls for the year, according to YouMail, a company specializing in blocking robocalls.

Robocalls use automated dialers and recorded messages. To be fair, not all robocalls are bad or annoying. Some businesses and public entities use robocalls to communicate important information. For example, your pharmacy may use an automated recording to tell you your prescription is ready to be picked up, or your kids' school may be alerting you to a snow day. These are legitimate robocalls, and they require that consumers sign up to receive them.

Then there are the illegal robocallers. Because robocalls are cheap to make, they've been exploited by scammers all over the world, who use them to defraud billions of dollars from Americans every year. The problem has gotten so bad that many of us don't answer the phone when it rings, especially if it's an unfamiliar number on the caller ID. All too often, scammers disguise their phone numbers to trick people into answering.

An end to these annoying and costly calls could be on the horizon thanks to the implementation of Stir/Shaken, which will require voice providers to verify where calls are coming from. That's where the FCC's June 30 deadline comes in. To help you get a handle on that and other efforts to stamp out robocalls, CNET has put together this FAQ.

What's Stir/Shaken?

"Stir" stands for "secure telephone identity revisited," and "Shaken" for "signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens." Stir is the technical protocol, and Shaken is the framework by which calls can be tracked in the new robocall mitigation database.

The way it works is that Stir/Shaken technology ensures that calls traveling through phone networks have their caller ID "signed" as legitimate by originating carriers and validated by other carriers before the calls reach you. In short, the technology authenticates a phone call's origin and makes certain the information on the Caller ID matches.

What's 'caller ID spoofing'?

Spoofing is when callers disguise their identity by deliberately falsifying the information transmitted to your caller ID display. Scammers do this to make calls less easily traceable. Also, by using so-called neighbor spoofing, which makes it appear as though the number is a local one you may already know or trust, scammers try to trick you into picking up a call.

Is spoofing illegal?

Under the Truth in Caller ID Act, the FCC's rules prohibit any person or entity from transmitting misleading or inaccurate caller ID information with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongly obtain anything of value. Spoofing isn't illegal if there's no intent to cause harm.

Illegal spoofers can face fines of up to $10,000 per violation of the law.

Spoofing that's intended to hide identity can be permitted under certain circumstances. For example, law enforcement agencies working on cases, victims of domestic violence, or doctors wishing to discuss private medical matters may all be exempt from these rules.

What's the Traced Act? How will that stop robocalls?

The Traced (Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence) Act, was signed into law in December 2019 by President Donald Trump. It basically makes compliance with the Stir/Shaken technology mandatory for all voice service providers.

The law directed the FCC to come up with rules to require voice providers to implement the technology within 18 months.

What's the June 30 deadline about?

The FCC has set a deadline of June 30 for companies that provide phone service to implement Stir/Shaken, the call verification system that'll make it harder for scammers to hide their numbers. Phone companies will also have to publish robocall prevention strategies in a public database.

The program was created in late 2019 by the Traced Act. The FCC released the standards in March 2020, and it set a deadline for service providers to comply by the end of June 2021.

Major phone companies, such as AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, as well as cable provider Comcast, have said they're implementing Stir/Shaken. Multiple carriers asked for an extension, but the FCC denied those petitions in March.

Does this mean we'll see a huge drop in robocalls come July 1?

That's the hope. But sadly, it probably won't be the reality. For one thing, some carriers have already been implementing Stir/Shaken. So the deadline won't necessarily mark a hard switchover for most phone companies. It's a technology and framework they've been implementing and deploying for a while.

The second reason is that scammers are always coming up with new ways to make illegal robocalls. The sad truth is that making these calls is cheap and scamming people is lucrative.

"It ends up being a game of whack-a-mole," FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said in an interview with CNET in May. "So the long-term solution is still difficult. We'll see how much progress we can make."

Will all carriers be required to hit this deadline?

Previously, the FCC had given small providers, those with fewer than 100,000 subscribers, until June 30, 2023, to implement Stir/Shaken. The extension would allow smaller providers to evaluate the implementation costs and plan deployment. But the FCC said in April that there's evidence a large volume of illegal robocalls are coming from a subset of smaller providers, so the agency has proposed bumping up the deadline for these carriers by a full year.

What's the government been doing to stop illegal robocalls?

The Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and the FCC have worked together to combat robocalls. In March 2020, the DOJ won an injunction against two internet telephone providers that allegedly transmitted hundreds of millions of calls to consumers.

What about the FCC?

The agency has stepped up its enforcement, sending cease-and-desist letters to carriers that facilitate scam calls and imposing fines on illegal robocallers. In one case, the FCC fined Texas telemarketers $225 million for spoofing roughly 1 billion robocalls.

Though the June 30 date is the deadline for carriers to implement Stir/Shaken, many carriers have already started using the technology. As these carriers have gotten Stir/Shaken working, it's gotten easier for the FCC to track down carriers that illegally transmit calls. And it could potentially get even easier as all carriers meet the deadline for implementation.

"We need to use every tool we have to get these junk calls off of our networks," acting FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement in May. "From these new cease-and-desist letters to STIR/SHAKEN implementation to large fines and our robocall mitigation database, we are going to do everything we can to protect consumers from these nuisance calls," Rosenworcel said. "We're not going to stop until we get robocallers, spoofers, and scammers off the line."

Carr noted in an interview with CNET in May that there isn't a silver bullet for stopping these calls. Multiple technologies and policies are needed to address this issue, he said.

"I think combined that's what's going to break the back of these robocallers," Carr said. "If it doesn't, then we've got to continue to innovate and find more technologies that are going to stop this, because certainly the bad actors that are out there have a profit motive to find a way around these systems."

Is there any more movement in Congress to get tougher?

Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, both Democrats from New York, introduced the Deter Obnoxious, Nefarious, and Outrageous Telephone (Do Not) Call Act to increase penalties for individuals and companies intentionally preying on consumers through unsolicited and illegal robocalls.

The bill would:

Clarify violations under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which outlaws robocalls.

Allow prison terms of up to one year for willfully and knowingly violating the TCPA.

Allow prison terms of up to three years for aggravated violations of the TCPA.

Double the maximum penalties under the TCPA for falsifying caller ID, from $10,000 to $20,000.

"Americans are desperate to 'hang up the phone' and the DO NOT Call Act is the antidote we need to cut the cord on 'spoofing' scams that target especially elderly New Yorkers," Schumer said in a statement.

Gillibrand added, "This vital piece of legislation will give the FCC the tools needed to combat scammers who grossly violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and, all too often, target and defraud senior Americans."
NACOGDOCHES  A 50-year-old baby blue Volkswagen Beetle stops in the middle of Fredonia Street. The cars white-haired occupant steps from the car and says to a man on the sidewalk, Are you Joe Lansdale?

The author smiles and nods. I like your writing, the driver says and then he gets back into the car and disappears just like that.

Its always nice when somebody takes the time to say something like that, Lansdale says. The only thing that could ruin a moment like that is if a car went around and ran him over.

Lansdale pauses a moment. Well, it wouldve ruined the moment, but it mightve made for a more interesting story.

For all but a few of his nearly 70 years, Lansdale has considered, studied, practiced, refined and mastered the architecture of storytelling. His body of work testifies to that: Hes written and published nearly 50 novels, dozens of novellas, short stories, chapbooks, several screenplays for film and TV, anthologies, comic books. His work spans crime and suspense, fantasy and horror, science fiction and westerns.

Hes really somebody that you might call a cult writer, but hes a cult writer with 10 different cults, says Steve Davis, curator of the Southwestern Writers Collection at Texas State Universitys Wittliff Collections. I dont think people in Texas quite understand what we have with Joe Lansdale. Hes an amazing precious natural resource. I think hell go down in history as one of the great writers. People will look back and think, Wow, we had this guy here in Texas.

Moon Lake By Joe R. Lansdale Mulholland Books 352 pages, $28 See More Collapse

The Sundance TV series Hap and Leonard recently drew greater attention to a crime series Lansdale has written across 30 years. His latest work, though, is not part of a series. Moon Lake  out this week  is a standalone novel set in East Texas, naturally. Where many writers find the open expanse of West Texas tantalizing, Lansdale instead pitched his tent in the dense Big Thicket. Moon Lake incorporates so much of what makes Lansdales far-flung work so good: He touches on old social issues with contemporary resonance; he gets into family and corruption with characters presented so richly that they almost walk off the pages; and once again he finds himself in writing with an unflinching elegance about the things that lurk beneath the surface of a body of water.

Its never only about the water with me, Lansdale says. Its that idea of mystery underneath. Something representational. I like that a whole lot.

Dark water

On a day with oppressive heat and no cloud coverage, Lansdale moves around the historic center of Nacogdoches in little bursts like a lizard. He points out historic sites and buildings, before leading the way to the Boss Light, a space owned by fellow novelist Tim Bryant that sells books, art and music. Lansdales titles command an entire shelf.

Lansdale has been in Nacogdoches for decades. If Stephen King has Maine, Lansdale has East Texas. Hes spent years considering and conjuring stories that might lurk in its dark nooks.

The action in Moon Lake starts in 1968, when Daniel Russells dad deliberately drives his car off a bridge in the town of Long Lincoln. Russell is rescued by a Black man and his daughter and briefly lives with them until he can be placed with an aunt. The story picks up a decade later in New Long Lincoln when Russells fathers car is finally found with an additional set of bones in the trunk. Moon Lake, it turns out, holds a lot of secrets, including the history of a part of town that had been occupied by Black residents until a dam was built and the neighborhood was left underwater.

Lansdale spent much of 2020 writing the book, drawing from all manner of sources  some more obvious than others. He remembered Harper Lee once described a murderous grift near her hometown that he stored in the back of his mind. He recalled a news story about a person driving off a bridge. Places like Old Bluffton  an underwater Texas ghost town  were also on his mind, as was his hometown of Gladewater.

A theme regarding home emerges from an evocative first sentence: My name is Daniel Russell. I dream of dark water.

What lurks beneath

My mother was always telling me if I didnt get an education, Id end up digging ditches, Lansdale says.

He pauses.

My first job was digging ditches.

Lansdale was born and spent most of his childhood in Gladewater. His father, Bud, was a mechanic who couldnt read or write. His mother, OReta, filled the house with books and magazines. He was drawn to comic books first, then Classics Illustrated, which took books by Dickens and Dostoevsky turned them into graphic novels long before that phrase had cultural currency. He found Edgar Rice Burroughs speculative fiction around age 10.

I wanted to be a writer before that, but after reading Burroughs, I knew I had to be, he says. Of course I had no idea there was a career in it or anything.

Lansdale got a few stories published in the 1970s. But hed never met another writer until he came across Ardath Mayhar, a Timpson native who settled in Nacogdoches, where she ran a bookstore. Lansdale had read her story Crawfish in an Alfred Hitchcock anthology.

It was set in East Texas, and it had the East Texas vernacular, he says. The background. That changed my life right there.

Lansdale leaned into what he knew: the people, the places. Theres a passage in Moon Lake where he describes the sound of a cockroach moving beneath wallpaper. Its as fleeting a moment as can be: a single sentence in a novel that has no bearing on the plot. But his use of crackle to describe the sound is instantly unnerving.

Its pretty terrible, Lansdale says with a crooked smile, when you see the wallpaper move.

Chaos and order

Lansdales biography reads like a movie. Before his books began to sell, he worked as a janitor at Stephen F. Austin University. He never got a degree, but would later go on to serve as writer-in-residence there. Bryant is among his former students.

He taught me everything I know, Bryant says.

Lansdale offers an alternative to the quintessential reclusive novelist. He radiates with energy and presents the persona of an enthusiast, whether hes talking about books by his friends, his affinity for ZZ Top or the history of his adopted town. Hes quick with a joke, self-deprecating  hed be the sort of history professor students favored. Hes also an inductee in two martial arts halls of fame, the result of 60 years work to attain a 10th degree black belt in Shen Chuan Martial Science.

Here his seemingly permanent smile flattens almost imperceptibly. He points out hell be 70 this October.

But I can still put you in the home  

Lansdale says these two pursuits  writing and self-defense  dont serve as counterweights to one another.

I think writing and martial arts require a lot of the same thinking, he says. When martial arts is done right, its creative and spontaneous. Its dealing with chaos. So theyre very similar.

Chaos is the coal that burns in Lansdales fiction. He imagines it, sets it loose, and tries to find ways to contain it with words. For all his cheeriness, Lansdale has hatched some vivid descriptions of despicable acts, often  but not always  committed by despicable people. He also is unafraid to tread on any terrain. He operates as though hot buttons are to be pushed rather than avoided.

You have to admire Joe because he has that independent Texas spirit, Davis says. He writes unabashedly about this particular area in Texas with great affection and insight. And no fear either. Hes not afraid to offend anybody.

Lansdale once wrote a list of his thoughts on writing. Frankly, he wrote, when I write, I try to write like everyone I know is dead. This way Im not worried about what anyone thinks.

Moon Lake finds the author writing again about race and class in East Texas. He returns to the subject frequently in some of his best work like The Bottoms and A Fine Dark Line. Even Hap and Leonard, his amateur investigator odd couple, allow him to work heavy themes into briskly paced crime novels. Hap is white, a guy who went to prison for refusing to serve in the Vietnam War, and somebody whos list of jobs mirrors Lansdales. Leonard is a gay, Black veteran with no tolerance for homophobia and racism, but a fairly rigid conservative sense of justice and decorum otherwise.

You have to be impacted by these things if you grow up around them, Lansdale says. Thats why I feel like John Lewis was right: Things are better than they were. To say they arent sounds hopeless. There was a time a Black person couldnt walk into this bookstore. There have been steps forward, but clearly we need more.

Lansdale finds fiction the best vessel to comment on such issues. I get to make a living being a liar, he says. But theres a sort of thing, telling the truth is easer to do in fiction and I think it has greater validity. I feel like you can touch the heart of a matter of something faster with fiction than non-fiction.

Ditches, ruts and retirement

Lansdales description of his work day sounds like the way he moves around town, just with his fingers doing all the work.

Im not one of those people who enjoys having written, he says. I enjoy writing and having written. Sometimes I have a bad day, but theres been no writers block in my life. I dont believe in it.

He quotes his friend, writer Stephen Graham Jones, whom Lansdale says once asked Do ditch diggers get ditchdigger block?

Maybe they do, he says. But I used to dig ditches. I worked in the aluminum chair plant, Imperial American it was called. I worked as a farmer. I worked for Goodwill Industries. I was a janitor at the university.

All that stuff about writing where you crawl up on the cross every day, to hell with you. Go dig a ditch.

Shortly before he left his house to offer a short tour of Nacogdoches, Lansdale finished an introduction to a collection of Hap and Leonard short stories and a short story unrelated to that book. Hes two-thirds of the way through a new novel. What follows? He has a screenplay he may return to. He may start pushing on a new Hap and Leonard novel.

As usual, Ive got more things than I can get done, he says. But thats fine because I cant imagine retiring. I dont want to retire ever. Thats the scariest thing Ive ever heard of.

andrew.dansby@chron.com
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Two Saudi womens rights campaigners have been released from prison, three years after a sweeping crackdown by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman targeting female activists who'd peacefully advocated for greater freedoms, rights groups said Sunday.

It now appears that all the womens rights activists detained in the 2018 sweep have now been released from prison, although the status of one woman remains unclear.

The London-based ALQST rights group, which primarily focuses on Saudi Arabia, said the two women  Samar Badawi and Nassima al-Sada  were released sometime late Saturday or early Sunday. Human Rights Watch also confirmed their release.

The women had been sentenced to five years imprisonment, two of which were suspended.

They had been vocal critics of Saudi Arabias male guardianship laws, which gave husbands, fathers and in some cases a womans own son control over her ability to obtain a passport and travel. They had also advocated for the right of women to drive. Both restrictions have since been lifted.

The two women remain barred from travel abroad for five years as part of their conditional release, rights groups contacted by The Associated Press said. Like other Saudi women's rights activists released from prison, rights groups said the two women likely face bans on speaking to the media and posting online about their case.

Most of the women detained in the crown prince's campaign were arrested in May 2018, but Badawi and al-Sada were detained several weeks later in July of that year.

Nearly a dozen of the women previously told Saudi judges they were caned on their backs and thighs, electrocuted and waterboarded by masked men during interrogations. Some women say they were forcibly touched and groped, and threatened with rape and death. One of the women attempted suicide in prison.

The Saudi government has not commented on the individual cases of most of the women nor publicized their charges.

It is unclear what Badawi and al-Sada were found guilty of. Several people with knowledge of al-Sada's case said she'd been charged under a cybercrime law and was found guilty of undermining public order by communicating with foreign journalists and organizations.

Badawi is a well-known human rights activist based in Jiddah who first came to prominence when she petitioned Saudi courts to remove her father as her legal guardian on grounds he was barring her from marrying potential suitors. Years later, she spoke out in defense of her brother Raif Badawi, who is serving 10 years in prison over internet posts critical of the ultraconservative religious establishment. He was publicly flogged in 2015 under King Abdullah. The mother of two was later married for a time to Waleed Abul-Khair, a human rights lawyer currently serving 15 years imprisonment.

Al-Sada is a prominent women's rights activist from the Eastern Province, an area heavily populated by the kingdom's minority Shiite Muslims. She was also outspoken in defense of greater rights for Shiites. Amnesty International said she had been held in solitary confinement for a year, and was not allowed to see her children or her lawyer for months at a time.

The arrests of the women, some of whom are mothers, grandmothers and well-known college professors, caught many by surprise because it came around the same time the kingdom lifted its longstanding ban on women driving in June 2018.

Months later, the crown prince faced widespread international criticism over the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in an operation planned by two of the princes top aides, although neither was found guilty by Saudi courts. Eleven men faced trial in Saudi Arabia for the killing. The kingdom maintains the crown prince had no knowledge of the operation, despite a U.S. intelligence assessment implicating him.

Activists with knowledge of female activist Mayaa al-Zahrani's case said she was convicted in December by the same counter-terrorism court as prominent rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul and received a similar sentencing. It's unclear whether al-Zahrani has been released from prison.

Al-Hathloul was released from prison in February after serving nearly three years in detention. She'd been convicted on charges related to her activism, such as agitating for change, pursuing a foreign agenda and using the internet to harm public order.

Several of the Saudi men who supported women's rights activists remain detained.
Courtesy/Harris County Democratic Party

The Harris County Democratic Party on Sunday elected Odus Evbagharu as its new chair, according to a news release.

Evbagharu (Eh-va-GHA-ro), 28, who currently serves as a Texas House of Representatives chief of staff, is the youngest person and the first African American to hold the position, the party said in the release. He will fulfill the unexpired term of Lillie Schechter, who stepped down June 16 after four years of service.
The claim: We see an uncompleted wall that was duly appropriated dollars during the Trump days to build over 700 miles. Only 150 miles were constructed.  George P. Bush, Texas land commissioner.

Bush made the claim in a June 9 interview on Fox Business as he blasted Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration for their response to the influx of migrants arriving at the southern U.S. border.

PolitiFact rating: False. Its unclear how Bush concluded that only 150 miles were constructed of the border wall during the Trump administration. However, U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows that this is an undercount. About 453 miles of primary and secondary border walls were completed between 2017 and 2020.

Bushs claim that Congress appropriated money to build over 700 miles of barriers also misses the mark.

Discussion

About PolitiFact PolitiFact is a fact-checking project to help you sort out fact from fiction in politics. Truth-O-Meter ratings are determined by a panel of three editors. The burden of proof is on the speaker, and PolitiFact rates statements based on the information known at the time the statement is made. See More Collapse

As part of his recently launched bid to unseat Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the 2022 Republican primary, Bush has designs to join other state leaders in finishing the border wall using state resources.

Continuing construction on the border wall in Texas is emerging as a popular commitment among the states Republican leaders and primary candidates.

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

Former President Donald Trump indeed fell short of his original border wall goals. His 2016 campaign promised 1,000 miles of barriers along the 2,000 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, but by 2017 that goal shifted to anywhere from 700 to 900 miles. In 2020, the goalposts moved again to about 537 miles altogether. And before Trump left office, he claimed to have completed the wall.

Is Bush lowballing Trumps border wall achievements, or was Trump exaggerating the number of miles that were constructed during his term?

On Jan. 8, during the final weeks of Trumps tenure, U.S. Customs and Border Protection released a border wall status memo detailing additions made between 2017 and 2020.

According to the memo, about 738 miles of barriers were planned. Of those, about 453 miles were completed, and the remaining 285 miles were either under construction or in the pre-construction phase, which President Joe Biden ceased upon entering office. Only about 17 of these miles were constructed in Texas, all within the Rio Grande Valley sector.

There are several ways to count border wall miles. U.S. Customs and Border Protection divides wall barriers into several different categories. There are walls constructed in locations where no barriers previously existed, and walls constructed in place of dilapidated or outdated designs. There are barriers built as primary walls, which people walking across the border would encounter first, and barriers built as secondary walls, which run behind the length of primary walls along some sections.

Of the 453 completed miles, about 47 miles of primary walls and 33 miles of secondary walls were constructed where no barriers previously existed. And 351 miles of primary walls and 22 miles of secondary walls were constructed to replace dilapidated or outdated designs.

Its unclear what math Bush used to find that only 150 miles were constructed. His office referred all questions to his campaign, and a spokesperson for his campaign did not respond to questions asking for his calculus.

But by no permutation of these figures can you arrive at a total of 150 miles. If looking at primary walls alone, a total of about 400 miles were built. Fifty-five miles of secondary walls were constructed. If looking at walls only built where no barriers previously existed, 80 miles of walls were erected, while 373 miles were built in place of dilapidated or obsolete structures.

Furthermore, Bush makes a dubious claim that wall construction was funded by duly appropriated dollars during the Trump days.

The Trump administration initially requested $13.3 billion through 2020 for wall construction, but Congress provided $4.47 billion through Department of Homeland Security appropriations, according to the Congressional Research Service. Of that total, about $1 billion was directed to barrier replacement projects, $1.4 billion was directed to planning and $2 billion was directed to construction needs in the Rio Grande Valley sector.

Funds appropriated by Congress for wall construction are legally obligated to be used consistent with their appropriated purpose, no matter the administration in office.

The only other money appropriated to border wall construction was part of a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill passed by Congress in 2020. That bill included $900 billion for COVID-19 relief and nearly $1.4 billion for wall funding. Biden has since paused the flow of those funds to border wall construction projects.

However, the primary way the Trump administration funded the border wall project was by redirecting dollars originally appropriated by Congress to other government agencies for other purposes, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection memo. Between 2017 and 2019, about $15 billion was redirected from three agencies to Trumps wall project through a series of executive actions.

Since January 2017, ~$15 billion has been identified to construct ~738 miles of new border wall system through a combination of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Defense (DoD) funding and the Treasury Forfeiture Fund (TFF), the memo reads. Funding received supports planning, design, real estate, environmental, construction and oversight activities.
The calendar may say June, but what promises to be a bruising 2022 election cycle is unofficially underway in Texas, with candidates and potential candidates already crisscrossing the state, hitting up their supporters for money and testing campaign slogans.

Billboards for Republican Don Huffines for governor dot the interstates as Texans head to the beach this summer. Meanwhile potential Republican gubernatorial candidate Allen West, of Garland, is speaking to GOP activists from the Dallas Metroplex to the coastline, leading to speculation that he, too, could jump into the race.

Democrat Beto ORourke hasnt announced whether hell run for governor, but he just finished a 22-city road trip reminiscent of his go-everywhere U.S. Senate campaign in 2018, making it clear he hasnt ruled it out either.

And while all that is going on, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is trying to shore up his right flank by traveling to the Texas border this week with former President Donald Trump at his side to deliver a tough-on-border-security message.

Its all earlier than we are used to and earlier than what weve seen in past years, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor.

The secretary of state wont even start qualifying candidates to run for governor and other state offices until November.

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

Though both major parties are at a crossroads, it is mainly Republicans who are hastening the 2022 cycle, in part because those launching primary challenges have to get to work early if they hope to knock off incumbents who often have more money and name recognition. Rottinghaus said that means the candidates need to assess early how far they can go to appeal to Trump Republicans without alienating moderates who will be needed in the ever-tightening battles for statewide offices such as governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

Then there is the dramatically changing electorate in Texas.

Ricardo B. Brazziell, MBR / Associated Press

Since Abbotts last reelection, in 2018, the state has added 1.7 million more voters. And over the last eight years, 3.5 million more voters have been added. Counties such as Harris and Bexar, where statewide Republicans won races just eight years ago, went so heavily for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election that he came within 6 percentage points of winning Texas  the best showing for a Democratic presidential candidate in a quarter-century.

In the last two weeks, two high-profile Republicans announced primary challenges to Attorney General Ken Paxton, two others have filed to run for state land commissioner, and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced they are staying put and running for reelection, instead of challenging Abbott, as some predicted.

Democrats face the same primary timeline, but ORourke can afford to wait longer, based on his name identification and proven fundraising skills. George W. Bush did the same in 1993 when he announced his campaign for governor against Democrat Ann Richards one year from the general election.

Lesser known Democrats dont have that same luxury and have had to start even earlier. Democrat Mike Collier, who ran against Patrick in 2018, announced his campaign for lieutenant governor in April. And in the attorney generals race, former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski, a Democrat, announced his candidacy seven months ago.

Abbott on the border

Abbott starts his reelection campaign with major advantages. Having been a statewide officeholder for 25 years  and after a year and a half of controlling the Texas response to the pandemic  Abbott, 63, has a name recognition advantage over any potential challenger and more than $39 million in his campaign account to fend them off.

But even with all that, Abbott moved quickly to get Trumps endorsement  an acknowledgment that Trump still holds major sway with GOP voters, particularly the super voters who dont miss primary elections.

Governor Greg Abbott will continue to be a great leader for the Lone Star State, and has my complete and total endorsement for reelection. He will never let you down! Trump said in a statement in early June.

Ryan Pelham / The Enterprise

On Wednesday, Abbott and Trump will tour parts of the Texas border  a favorite issue of Trumps but also one that Abbott has spent considerable time talking about over the last two months as Texas has seen a record surge of Border Patrol encounters with migrants crossing into Texas between Del Rio and Brownsville.

I thank President Trump for his leadership, and I will continue to fight for the values that make Texas the greatest state in America, Abbott said after Trump endorsed him.

But all that Trump support isnt deterring Abbotts best-known challenger. Huffines, a former state senator from Dallas, has already put up dozens of billboards around Texas announcing his campaign with border security themes. One on Interstate 35 in Williamson County calls for building a border wall; another near Corpus Christi along Interstate 37 calls for stopping giving illegals our money.

I am the clear Trump candidate in the Texas governors race, Huffines said.

Huffines made finishing the wall a central part of his campaign and is reminding people that he made that pledge before Abbott committed Texas to doing more work on wall construction.

When I am governor, we will finish building the wall, Huffines said.

Those two may have serious competition in the race soon if West jumps in. West, the current Republican Party of Texas chairman, is also a former congressman, early tea party leader and author who continues to have a national following. West announced he will resign from his party post in July and has told reporters that hes weighing what his next political move is  specifically refusing to rule out running for governor.

Any primary challenge for Abbott is a novelty for the two-term governor. Abbott has been a statewide official for 25 years, including stints as a Texas Supreme Court justice and attorney general, and he never has had a serious primary opponent.

In 2018, he won his primary with 90 percent of the GOP vote and defeated Democrat Lupe Valdez in November by carrying 56 percent of the vote to Valdezs 43 percent.

What about ORourke?

On the Democratic side, it is all about ORourkes next move. While the former congressman from El Paso has not announced hes running for anything, hes acting very much like a candidate by traveling the state, hosting a major rally at the Texas Capitol about voting rights and sending out fundraising appeals for his political action committee that continues to raise money.

Asked if hes going to run for governor, ORourke said his focus now is helping Texas House and Senate Democrats fight what he calls voter suppression bills.

Im going to see this fight through to the finish, ORourke said. And once we do that, we can start thinking about other things.

Sergio Flores, Stringer / Getty Images

At the June 20 rally he organized, ORourke tried to share the spotlight with other Democrats who could be statewide contenders in 2022 in their own right, whether ORourke runs or not.

State Sen. Royce West of Dallas and state Reps. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas, Gina Hinojosa of Austin and Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio were among the speakers. Crockett, Hinojosa and Martinez Fischer were key leaders when Democrats in the House walked out in the closing hours of the Legislature to prevent Republicans from passing a massive elections bill.

But Democrats say they have a deep bench with other potential statewide candidates, including U.S. Reps. Sylvia Garcia of Houston and Veronica Escobar of El Paso  both of whom were featured during the Democratic National Convention last summer  and county judges such as Harris Countys Lina Hidalgo and Dallas Countys Clay Jenkins who have found themselves in pointed policy disagreements with Abbott over the handling of the pandemic.

At the ORourke-led rally, Democrats made clear that whoever runs is going to lay the blame for the states faulty power grid on Abbott and Republican leaders throughout the government who have run the state for two decades.

Democrats are also watching for how Republicans in the statehouse handle redistricting for the states congressional and legislative districts to see what opportunities there may be to move up the political ladder.

Because census data was delayed by the pandemic, the Legislature is expected to meet in a special session this fall to redraw all the lines  including adding two new congressional districts because of Texas continued population growth.

That has created questions about whether the March 1 election will even be able to go on. Republican leaders in the Legislature have already floated the possibility of moving the Texas primaries to next May to give lawmakers more time to draw districts and get them through potential court challenges.

jeremy.wallace@chron.com
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The most popular video on my YouTube channel is called Gods Promise for a Broken Heart. I created that video as part of a Bible study series through the book of Psalms, not knowing that it would resonate with so many people. No matter how different we are, chances are if you have a heart, at one point in your life, it has or will be broken. Maybe someone you loved betrayed you. Maybe you were rejected. Maybe you lost love in one way or another.

Either way, when your heart is broken, it often feels like it can never be repaired. The pain, hurt and anguish may be so deep youre tempted to think youll never be happy again and you will be forced to make it through the rest of your life with this heavy burden of carrying your heart around in a million pieces.

I can tell you that although things may not be the same, we do serve a God who is a healer and is in the business of restoring that which is broken and making it into something beautiful.

So in todays video, Im sharing 7 ways God heals a broken heart that you may find wholeness and joy once again.

7 WAYS GOD HEALS A BROKEN HEART

The first way God heals a broken heart is with truthful vulnerability. When I say the truth, I mean our ability to admit to God that we are hurting and broken in the first place. In 1 Peter 5:6-7, we are encouraged to cast our cares on God. The verses read:

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7 NKJV)

Why is pouring out our hearts to God and casting our cares on Him important to our healing heart? Because healing cant occur if we cant admit that healing needs to happen in the first place.

Be it because of shame, pride, or guilt, we face the temptation when our hearts are broken to deny our brokenness. In an effort to appear strong, we may act like were not weak. We avoid vulnerability to protect ourselves from further hurt. But acting like we dont need to be healed is not healing. We dont have to be strong in front of God, but we can be honest about our hurt and brokenness with Him because a hard heart is not a healed heart.

The gift that God grants us in our relationship with Him is the ability to be honest with ourselves and Him. We can lay all our broken pieces at His altar and allow Him into the most fragile parts of our hearts. Jesus tells us its the truth that will set us free (John 8:32) and 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that love rejoices in the truth. (1 Corinthians 13:6)

No matter how bad the situation that caused our broken heart, we can honestly take it to God knowing He can handle it with love, grace and gentleness.

The second way God heals a broken heart is with forgiveness. God grants us the power to forgive those who caused our brokenness. Now you may be wondering: how can letting that person off the hook help me heal? We have to remember that forgiveness is not for the other person, but for you. Forgiveness helps you to let go of the offense so you can heal and carry on with your life. Unforgiveness on the other hand, breeds bitterness, resentment, and prolonged anger that only further harms us. We can find the courage to forgive when we keep a few things in mind:

God called us to forgive just as we have been forgiven. (Ephesians 4:32) It is God's desire that we remember we too need forgiving and extend that same grace. God will fight our battles for us. (Romans 12:19) Its better to allow Gods justice to prevail than to seek out our own revenge. Forgiveness is a process. It doesnt happen overnight, but something we experience as we seek God for strength and power. Sometimes the forgiveness we need to extend is not to another person, but to ourselves and Gods grace is available for that too.

The third way God heals a broken heart is through gratitude. Bitterness can cause us to miss how God is blessing us even in the midst of a broken heart. I think of Naomi in the book of Ruth who traveled from Moab to Israel when her husband and sons died. When Naomi arrives in Israel, she told everyone not to call her Naomi anymore but to call her Mara which means bitter because, in her words:

She said to them, Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me? (Ruth 1:20-21 ESV)

In her bitterness, Naomi failed to realize that God blesses her with a faithful daughter in law Ruth who stayed by her side (she was not alone), it was harvest season when she arrived in Israel (she was not hungry), she had a home to go back to, (She was not lost) and God had a plan even when she couldnt see it yet (Her God was still faithful). If youve read the book of Ruth, you know the Lord miraculously provides for Naomi and Ruth, even in their heartbreak.

I know its hard to look on the bright side when everything feels dark. When our hearts are broken, its easy for jealousy, resentment, bitterness and defensiveness to fester. But when we take time to pause and really see how God was and is moving and protecting us, even in our heartbreak, we can move our hearts towards gratitude. We can slowly take our focus off the pain alone and see Gods love and goodness to begin healing.

The fourth way God heals a broken heart is with love. Many times, our broken hearts come from a love lost. As much as that may hurt, we cant forget that although we may lose the love of people, we will never lose the love of God, and that is something we should cherish and never take for granted. God is not like man. (Number 23:19) He keeps His promises, Hes faithful, and Hes beyond patient, forgiving, kind and gentle. Its Christs ultimate sacrifice on the cross that proves Gods love for us. We are loved and there is nothing anyone can do or say to ever take that away.

The fifth way God heals a broken heart is with purpose. When our hearts are broken, life can feel like a waste. We may think what good is it when were experiencing so much pain. But we must remember that God can turn our brokenness into beauty and our pain into purpose. Not only can God heal us, He often then uses our testimony to help others. You are not the only one who is experiencing this type of heartache and you wont be the last. When we trust God to bring us to healing and wholeness, we become a beacon of hope to others navigating the same dark season that they too can make it out. Im not going to pretend to know why God has you going through a particular heartbreak, but I do know that when we lean into Him for healing, He has the power to turn any situation around for His glory and our good (Romans 8:28) because His Word says so, and His Word is always true.

The sixth way God heals a broken heart is with His presence.

Psalm 34:18 tells us:

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34: 18 ESV)

We are so blessed to serve a God that walks with us through our valleys. Because Chrst knows suffering to the fullest, He completely empathizes with our pain. (Hebrews 4:15) No matter how heartbroken we are, we are never alone. In fact, it is the heartbroken who God is near to. When we can quiet our souls and really pay attention, we can find healing in knowing God is always with us and He will never leave us. The more we make much of God in our hearts and believe that His presence is more than enough, we find hope despite anything we may have lost on this side of eternity.

The seventh and final way God heals a broken heart is with hope. Hope reminds us it wont be like this forever. Roman 15:13 encourages us:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:13 ESV)

Hope gives us the will to keep walking in the dark until we find the light, because we believe there is light at the end of this tunnel, even if we cant see or feel it right now. Hope helps us not to stay stuck, but gives us reason unseen to believe the best and keep walking towards the light. And God is that light for us. He gives us reason to wake up in the morning and to continue to believe for the best. If God has given you breath today, you have hope for tomorrow because that means Hes not finished with you.

Now Id love to hear from you, Beloved. How has God helped to heal your broken heart? Let's lift one another up in the comments.

Before you go, I want to invite you to this years Beloved Womens Conference, an online event filled with speakers, worship, fellowship, and more to replenish women like us who do so much for our families, churches, and communities, so we can continue to build better futures for ourselves and those we love and serve. Learn more and join us at Belovedconference.org.

For more Beloved encouragement, the Beloved women mobile app offers hundreds of Biblically encouraging videos, bible study series, and authentic sisterhood. Download the Beloved women app today in the Apple or Google Play stores to renew your mind, encourage your heart, and satisfy your soul.

If you enjoyed todays message, please be sure to like and share with a friend because you just never know who may need some Beloved encouragement today.

As always, thank you so much for watching and until next time, be beautiful, be blessed, and be loved.

Christina Patterson is a wife and stay-at-home mom with a passion to encourage women in the love of Jesus Christ and the truth of Gods Word. When she is not folding laundry or playing blocks you will find her with her head deep in her Bible or a commentary. She holds her masters in Theology from Liberty University and is the founder of Beloved Women, a non-profit providing resources and community for women to truly know who they are in Christ: His Beloved. She blogs at belovedwomen.org.
Tribute to Fabio Hazin, international fisheries and aquaculture consultant

June 28,2021 | Source: FAO

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has paid tribute to the esteemed international consultant, Fabio Hazin, who worked with FAO on global issues related to fisheries and aquaculture. He passed away in Brazil in early June.



Hazin, an academic and respected shark scientist, was the chair of FAO's Committee on Fisheries from 2014-2016. He also chaired technical consultations for guidelines on Small-Scale Fisheries 2013-2014 and technical consultations that led to the adoption of the FAO Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA). The PSMA is the first binding international agreement designed to prevent and eliminate IUU fishing.



FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, expressed his condolences and acknowledged Hazin's contribution to the organization's initiatives.



Manuel Barange, Director of FAO Fisheries, also expressed his profound loss at the passing of his colleague and friend.



"Fabio was not just a consultant. He was an excellent chair of FAO COFI," Barange said. "He also chaired two FAO SSF Guidelines Technical Consultations, which he managed with a great diplomacy and technical excellence."



"FAO and NFI have lost a great man and many of us have lost a friend. My thoughts are with his family."



Hazin was a professor in the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture at the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE). He graduated in Fisheries Engineering from UFRPE and received his master's degree and doctorate in Marine Science and Technology/Fisheries Oceanography at the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology.



In recent years Hazin chaired meetings of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and played a key role in UN negotiations on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ). He was also a former Chair of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) as well as head of the Brazilian delegation for the same organization.



Alejandro Anganuzzi, the Global Coordinator of the FAO-led Common Oceans Program, said Hazin was a well-known scientist in the field of biology and shark conservation and a recognized leader at international forums and events.



"His inquisitive mind, professional integrity, and clear and organized approach to lead a process, meant that he was often elected to chair important international meetings," Anganuzzi noted.



Hazin left an important legacy to colleagues and the international community.



"It was always a pleasure with work with Fabio, thanks to his positive attitude, his endless energy and the clarity of his ideas, which he was able to communicate effectively to many audiences."

Theme(s): Fisheries Development and Aquaculture.
French fishermen attempt to blockade wind farm installation vessel

June 28,2021 | Source: Marex

Last week, after a coordinated social media campaign to raise support for an anti-wind-farm movement, a flotilla of French fishing vessels surrounded the offshore support vessel Aethra at a position near the future Saint-Brieuc wind installation.



The Aethra was off the coast of Brittany, conducting repair work on electrical cables for connecting the future wind farm to the shoreside grid. She reported the disturbance, and French maritime agency Premar Atlantique mobilized the patrol boat Trieux and the Marine Nationale training ship Lion to the scene.



The responders found the flotilla of fishermen engaged in a range of illegal acts, including failure to comply with the prefecture's orders governing the work on the wind farm; navigating into the designated work area; approaching within 500 meters of the working vessel; violating COLREGs by making dangerous maneuvers in proximity to the vessel; firing distress rockets at the vessel; and making verbal threats of boarding and sabotage - specifically, propulsion sabotage - against the Aethra.



Surrounded by hostile fishing vessels, the OSV's captain decided to halt work and temporarily depart the scene in order to reduce tensions and protect his crew.



The protest began at about 1000 hours and broke up shortly before 1200. On their return to the quay, the fishermen who had engaged in the protest were met by officers of the maritime police investigation brigade. The Brest maritime prosecutor's office has begun its first hearings on the alleged violations.



The 500 MW Saint-Brieuc installation is Iberdrola's first offshore wind farm off Brittany. Van Oord has been contracted to carry out pile and turbine installation using the WTIV Aeolus, and Iberdrola's marine subsidiary is conducting subsea cable installation. All cables will be buried to permit fishing to continue in the area.



It is the latest in a string of confrontations between Breton fishermen and Iberdrola's contractors. Local fishermen believe that the 62-turbine project will destroy access to a prime scallop fishing site, and they have threatened to engage in "unprecedented confrontations" if necessary to prevent its completion. In December, France's Council of State ruled against a lawsuit filed by fishermens' groups, ending an appeals process and paving the way for the project to proceed.



Direct action has been a prominent part of the campaign for more than a year. In May 2020, fishing vessels attempted to blockade a survey vessel at the site, and recently they have mobilized to protest the operations of the Aeolus. Iberdrola maintains that the wind farm is sited away from the most lucrative scallop-fishing area in the bay, and that fishing will still be permitted between turbine rows.



In mid-June, work on foundation installation at Saint-Brieuc was temporarily suspended due to a discharge of biodegradable hydraulic oil from the Aeolus' equipment. The source was a leaking hydraulic connection, and Aeolus has returned to her home port in the Netherlands for inspection and repairs.

 2021 The Maritime Executive, LLC. All rights reserved.

Theme(s): Others.
Sri Lanka banks on the ocean to chart a green path toward a blue economy

by Dennis Mombauer

June 28,2021 | Source: Mongabay

Authorities in Sri Lanka have called for a renewed focus on conserving the islands rich coastal ecosystems, identifying the blue economy as key to the nations sustainable development.



The Indian Ocean island has a coastline of 1,340 kilometers (833 miles), territorial waters spanning 21,500 square kilometers (8,300 square miles), and an exclusive economic zone of 517,000 km2 (200,000 mi2), almost eight times its land area. Its coastal zone is home to most of the urban population and infrastructure as well as to bountiful ecosystems that include mangrove forests, tidal marshes, seagrass beds, and coral reefs.



However, large swaths of these ecosystems have been lost or degraded over recent decades, leaving many parts of the coastal belt exposed.



Even though we are blessed with our geographical location and with our pristine and highly biodiverse coastal and marine environment, our coastal and marine environments are under immense pressure, Darshani Lahandapura, chair of Sri Lankas Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA), told an annual research symposium on the marine environment in May. While much attention is focused on the problems facing the ocean, the ocean is also the source of potential solutions and innovations.



Ocean-based climate actions such as ocean-based renewable energy, ocean-based transportation, coastal and marine ecosystems, fisheries and aquaculture, and carbon storage in the seabed have the potential to close the emission gap and mitigate climate change impacts, Lahandapura added. Sustainably developing oceans and economic growth for development while maintaining ocean health can define a new era of opportunities for ocean-facing countries.



The concept of the blue economy promotes inclusive economic growth and livelihood development that also ensures the environmental sustainability of oceans and coastal areas. UNESCO defines it as the decoupling of socioeconomic development through oceans-related sectors and activities from environmental and ecosystems degradation.



A blue economy can include renewable energy, fisheries, maritime transport, tourism, waste management, and other sectors connected to the coastal and marine environment, according to Ruchira Cumaranatunga, a senior professor at the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the University of Ruhuna.



There are many sustainable socioeconomic development programs that could be carried out in Sri Lanka without harming or with the least impact to the natural vegetation, Cumaranatunga told Mongabay.



They are possible and economically feasible, but when preparing such development programs, suitable experts on coastal environment and vegetation should be consulted.



Sri Lanka isnt short of ocean-related knowledge and expertise. But this expertise needs to be actively utilized and integrated into planning and implementation processes, Cumaranatunga said. Enhancing livelihoods that use coastal and marine resources in a sustainable and holistic way is often made difficult by gaps in awareness, knowledge, institutional coordination, and cross-sectoral collaboration, he added.



Boosting sustainability and economic growth in the coastal belt without harming the environment can improve existing livelihoods, for example by optimizing supply chains, introducing value addition, or reducing post-harvest losses in fisheries.



With respect to fishery waste in Sri Lanka, it is discarded haphazardly without considering that it is a valuable resource, causing serious environmental impacts, Cumaranatunga said.



Every year, 50-60% of Sri Lankas fish harvest is discarded as trash fish or fishery waste and dumped into lagoons, estuaries, or the sea. However, if collected, fish waste could be converted to valuable products, for example animal feed, fertilizer, fish oil, fish-skin leather, collagen and gelatine, chitin and chitosan from crab shells and shrimp waste, or natural calcium from shellfish.



Experts have long identified many opportunities to create additional livelihoods in Sri Lankas coastal and marine sector without destroying local ecosystems, for example through seaweed farming, which is currently only done on a small scale without value addition; coral reef transplanting to create artificial reefs; captive breeding to replenish fish populations; mariculture; or even building an underwater observatory for tourism and educational purposes. The tourism sector itself provides many opportunities for sustainable development within the blue economy and would greatly benefit from healthy ecosystems, proponents say.



In Sri Lanka, when buildings are put up, the coastal vegetation is removed to get a better view of the ocean without thinking of its functions, Cumaranatunga said. If the coastal vegetation is kept as nature tracks for people to walk through and still get to the beach while enjoying the beauty of coastal natural ecosystems, it would also help to protect the coastline and act as a barrier against coastal erosion. This kind of development will give long-term benefits while helping sustainable socio-economic development.



When restoration programs have been launched for already disturbed coastal ecosystems, the natural flora and fauna of these areas should be taken into consideration to prevent introduction of alien or invasive species, experts say. For example, when replanting mangroves, the natural diversity and density should be taken into consideration, for which aerial photographs and even Google images prior to destruction could be used.



Vulnerable coastal communities that often depend on a few key livelihoods, such as fisheries or tourism, would also benefit under a blue economy, proponents say. Climate-related impacts and other shocks can severely affect these livelihoods and push people into poverty, and if coastal ecosystems are degraded and lost, this will reduce fish populations and tourism potential as well.



But thriving ecosystems would help mitigate these impacts while also providing a wide range of other goods and services, for example protection against floods, reduction of coastal erosion, and greater carbon sequestration  with mangroves and other blue carbon ecosystems being among the most efficient ecosystems in the world for climate change mitigation.



Already, the shift toward a blue economy is enshrined in Sri Lankas national policy framework, Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour, which commits to sustainable ocean resource management for a blue-green economy. Other key policies and commitments include Sri Lankas nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement; the national adaptation plan for climate change impacts; and the national policy on conservation and sustainable use of mangrove ecosystems in Sri Lanka.



Within the global context, Sri Lankas efforts to move toward a blue economy align directly with the Sustainable Development Goals; the U.N. Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030; and the U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030. Sri Lanka is also the chair of the Mangrove Ecosystems and Livelihood Action Group under the Commonwealth Blue Charter and a member of the Indian Ocean Rim Association, which has a priority focus area on the blue economy as well as a blue carbon hub.



Its position as an island surrounded by the natural wealth of the Indian Ocean gives Sri Lanka enormous potential to invest in its blue economy, experts say. But they note this will require the sustainable and integrated management of coastal and marine spaces, inclusion of ecosystems into planning processes, consultation of technical experts, and a legal regime that facilitates these processes.



Awareness creation and training are crucial, as is further research focused on practical application and the improvement of livelihoods, covering topics such as marine ecology, blue carbon, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, ecotourism, circular economy, renewable energy, control and treatment of land-based waste and pollution, and perceptions and risk notions among coastal populations.



Between the impacts of climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need for sustainable development, coastal and marine ecosystem conservation can unlock many synergies for Sri Lankas blue economy, proponents say. Conservation and development do not have to be at odds, they argue: they can be mutually beneficial, support livelihoods, and address the causes and impacts of climate change.

 2021 Copyright Conservation news

Theme(s): Fisheries Development and Aquaculture.
Global broking and business advisory WTW to support climate resilience in Fiji and Papua New Guinea

An innovative risk financing project devised by Willis Towers Watson is set to launch in Fiji and Papua New Guinea  aimed at reducing the impact of climate change on coastal communities.



Global broking and business advisory Willis Towers Watson (WTW) has launched the project to support coastal communities in Papua New Guinea and Fiji vulnerable to the effects of climate change. To be implemented in collaboration with the WWF Pacific, local communities, government, and private enterprise, the project seeks to develop innovate risk financing mechanisms that will provide shock-responsive funds at a local level.



Ocean-related risk means that coastal communities are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change, with rising land and ocean temperatures, sea-level rise, flooding, coastal erosion, and an increase in extreme weather events threatening lives and livelihoods, said Rowan Douglas, head of Willis Towers Watsons Climate and Resilience Hub.



The project is a part of the $10 million Global Environment Facilitys (GEF) Challenge Program for Adaptation Innovation, with WTWs novel concept declared one of nine winning proposals at the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid. Since its establishment in 1992, the GEF has provided over $20 billion in direct grants with an additional $100-plus billion in co-financing for more than 5,000 projects worldwide.



We intend to deploy the analytical tools and products of the insurance industry and broader financial sector to foster effective climate risk management. Raising awareness of the risks from climate change, and building capacity around solutions, are critical foundations of the economic empowerment required to underpin effective and sustainable adaptation strategies, WTW Climate Hub senior director Simon Young said at the time of the successful bid.



With the majority of coastal communities throughout the Pacific highly reliant on the ocean and coastlines for economic well-being, the project will broadly focus on risk ownership and responsibility in communities, including public and private risk-sharing opportunities, with support for communities to shift from an ad hoc after-the-fact response to major climate events to a more formalised response based on forecasting and financial preparedness.



The latter says WTW  which itself recently committed to a net zero emissions target of before 2050  will serve to get funds quickly and efficiently in the hands of those that need it to smooth shocks, reduce disruptions, manage natural resources, and respond to impacts, whereas the current informal response model is often disjointed, delayed, and ineffective when it comes to reducing disruption and short- and long-term impacts on communities.



Another element of the project will be in exploring incentives for ecosystem management and adaption in insurance product design, tying community-level financial resilience to physical risk reduction which mitigates the impact of extreme climate events, described as a significant co-benefit. For communities of low-lying atolls and the coastal areas of Melanesian islands, adaptation to climate change is an essential priority, said Douglas.



He continued; The project will build the enabling environment for greater financial resilience through community engagement on community priorities, risk understanding, and financial and risk management literacy. This engagement will inform the design of bespoke insurance products and programmes to support community-led resilience.

Theme(s): Others.
FAO & Spain pledge to continue collaborating on global food security & nutrition

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Kingdom of Spain, acknowledged their joint efforts to fight global hunger and malnutrition in the past decade, and pledged to further strengthen their collaboration in the future.



The director-general of FAO, QU Dongyu, was joined by Spain's Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas Puchades, and Spain's Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Angeles Moreno Bau, at a virtual event to release the first edition of their Partnership Report entitled FAO plus Spain: Working for global food security and nutrition to mark their long-standing co-operation.



QU Dongyu said, "The strategic alignment between our priorities is steadfast and so is the foundation of our long standing partnership. It reflects our shared goals and historic commitment to eradicate global hunger and malnutrition."



Minister Planas Puchades congratulated FAO for 'the tremendous role' it is playing and stressed that Government of Spain and FAO were working together to find global solutions to combat malnutrition and hunger so that no one was left behind.



The Partnership Report captures the nature and scope of the cooperation between FAO and Spain over the past ten years and highlights areas where results were achieved at a global, regional and country level, thanks to Spain's continued support for FAO from 2010 to 2020.



Secretary of State Moreno Bau cited various initiatives supported by Spain in Africa, Asia, and Central America to underline Spain's commitment and shared objectives with FAO to eradicate hunger and achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).



Spain's objectives have long been closely aligned with FAO's strategic framework and regional priorities. In recent years, Spain's assistance has focused on Latin America and the Caribbean, the Near East and North Africa as well as Sub-Saharan Africa.



However, joint efforts to enhance food security, protect the livelihoods of farming families and improve the resilience of rural communities and support activities aligned with achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have become even more challenging due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

 Food And Beverage News. All rights reserved.

Theme(s): Fisheries Development and Aquaculture.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has been an uncertain time for early-career journalists as many media stopped their activity, put their internships and entry-level positions on hold, reduced their staff and shifted all their mentoring schemes online. In this context, how can a young journalist start building their career? What resources have they used more? How have they adapted to remote reporting? And most important of all, how can journalists unions help young media workers in their first professional steps?

One of the main changes the pandemic brought for journalists starting their careers was the closing of physical newsrooms, which used to be the key place for young journalists to meet and learn from experienced journalists. Many in-person conferences, networking events and other opportunities to build connections have vanished as most large-scale gatherings are cancelled, depriving young journalists of the opportunity to grow their professional networks.

For journalist Harry Tsatryan, executive board member of the European Youth Press, this remains a challenge for young journalists, as mentors and experienced journalists are not yet fully ready to welcom young journalists to face-to-face meetings and help them to be trained in physical newsrooms. However, there are alternatives to build professional networks online.

Many online gadgets/platforms have fully replaced those physical newsrooms, and there is no need to have these kinds of meetings any more: for example, Slack channels, MS Teams or even different messenger groups are in use to help young journalists to start their career or be in touch with the mentors. Of course, we do not have the same environment, the same feeling, but its also a working and understandable option, Tsatryan comments.

Online reporting has been also challenging for all media workers, especially for those new to the profession as they normally struggle more to build up their sources. In addition, not all young journalists live in a fully and technically equipped house or have the skills and training on the online alternatives to work.

With young journalists stuck at home, learning how to use new platforms to tell stories in fresh ways, like podcasts or newsletters, has been key. The pandemic has pushed many newsrooms to find new ways of producing journalism, making these skills more attractive than ever.

In this context, training and workshops on the use of these new tools can really make a difference for young media workers and universities are starting to prepare journalism students for the digital-first future of journalism.

Journalism is a difficult to join profession, but still trendy

The media sector suffered a big negative economic impact during the pandemic, mainly due to a loss of advertising revenues that is slowly starting to recover in some[II2] countries. As a result, young journalists have realized that not all journalism skills need to be developed in a major publications newsroom and that, after all, journalism can be exercised in multiple in innovative ways and on a variety of platforms.

Content generation, research, social media reporting and other communications skills can be learnt out of a newsroom.

We see that the salaries of journalists have been cut recently, many leading newsrooms have decided to do the same work with fewer staff members, but journalism is still a trendy profession for young people, says Tsatryan.

The role of journalists unions

Journalists unions need to listen and understand the needs of a new generation of media workers who are facing difficulties in joining the profession but are full of enthusiasm to overcome them and start telling stories.

Providing relevant and good quality training on new communication tools and formats, being in touch with journalism universities to develop these trainings and develop professional networks for young journalists are crucial actions that unions should consider.

Making sure there are means for young journalists to be involved in the life of the union and consulting them  and listening to their responses  are crucial to ensure the union is seen as welcoming and taking up the issues that matter to younger journalists.

Journalists unions should be active in creating crash courses/activities on different aspects of media for young journalists: starting from getting knowledge on their rights and responsibilities when being contracted by media organizations or volunteering in the newsroom, comments Tsatryan.

IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger, said: We need to understand the needs of young journalists who want to start their career in a hard-hit sector like journalism and take action to guarantee they can build their careers successfully. Only by carefully listening and offering solutions to our young colleagues can we ensure they join our unions and defend their rights collectively and not individually, which is essential to end precariousness in the sector.
A few days after pictures showed North Koreas Kim Jong-un had lost weight, people in the country have said they are worried and heartbroken to see him looking emaciated, according to state media reports.

After watching video footage of the North Korean leader, an unidentified Pyongyang citizen was quoted as saying by state broadcaster KRT: Seeing respected general secretary [Kim Jong-un] looking emaciated breaks our peoples heart so much.

Everyone is saying that their tears welled up, he said, according to Reuters.

While the clip could not be verified independently, Reuters said that residents of Pyongyang seen in the video aired were watching a musical concert attended by Mr Kim.

Speculation about the North Korean leaders health has been rife since earlier this month when photos released by state media showed him looking significantly thinner.

Its not the first time questions have been raised over Mr Kims health. When he missed anniversary celebrations of state founder Kim Il Sung in April last year, there were rumours he was in great danger after heart surgery had gone wrong. He finally appeared in public view three weeks later, putting the rumours to rest.

Analysts following North Korea said there was likely propaganda value in Mr Kim looking slimmer at the same time as there are food shortages in the country.

Mr Kim this month admitted his country was facing a tense food situation caused in part by the Covid-19 pandemic and in part by the flooding due to typhoons last year.

While North Korea claims there has not been a single case of Covid-19 in the country, Mr Kim has imposed strict anti-virus measures which have caused a strain on the economy.
People in India who have been inoculated with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine may not be eligible for the European Unions green pass scheme, according to reports.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) recognises four Covid-19 vaccines: Comirnaty (BioNTech-Pfizer), Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), Moderna and Vaxzevria (Oxford-AstraZeneca).

Covishield, which is the branding for the AstraZeneca shot produced in India by the Serum Institute of India (SII), has been granted emergency use listing by the World Health Organisation but it is yet to be approved by the EMA. The EUs drug regulator told The Wire it has not yet received an approval application for Covishield.

SII has produced hundreds of millions of doses of Oxford-AstraZenecas vaccine, millions of which have been exported to other countries including the UK, where they are not then branded as Covishield.

Top Indian virologist Shahid Jameel told The Wire that while batches of Vaxzevria and Covishield may be made by different manufacturers, the end products are qualitatively similar.

Addressing concerns of those vaccinated with Covishield, SIIs chief executive Adar Poonawalla said he had taken the matter up at the highest levels.

He said in a tweet: I realise that a lot of Indians who have taken Covishield are facing issues with travel to the EU. I assure everyone, I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries.

The Economic Times said it has learnt that Indias foreign ministry has also already raised the issue with the EMA.

An AstraZeneca spokesperson said: We are working closely with the EMA as they develop guidance to support opening of borders and relaxing restrictions, and this includes guidance on inclusion of Covishield as a recognised vaccine for immunisation passports.

The EUs vaccine certificate, the digital green pass, is due to come into effect from 1 July and aims to facilitate movement during the pandemic within the bloc. It will serve as a proof that a person has been vaccinated, received a negative test result or recovered from Covid-19.

The European Commission has said it also aims to ease restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU. For those travelling from a non-EU country, it said the rules for acceptance of proof of vaccination would be the same as for EU nationals.

This means that vaccines that have received EU-wide marketing authorisation have to be accepted, but individual member states can decide to also accept vaccines approved by the WHO, the commission said.

India is currently administering Covishield and Covaxin, a jab made by local firm Bharat Biotech which is yet to be approved by either the WHO or the EMA. The country has also started to roll out Russias Sputnik V, as it aims to inoculate all adults in India by the end of 2021.
Two explosions that rocked an Indian Air Force station in the northern region of Jammu were attacks caused by explosives-laden drones and orchestrated by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group, according to Indian police and ministry sources.

In what is believed to be the first of its kind attack on an air base station in the country, two Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel suffered minor injuries in the blast.

Following the initial investigation, it has been revealed that the Pakistan-based terror group was attempting to target the air traffic control (ATC) tower of the airbase with one drone and another was either intended to bomb a parked IAF helicopter or the radar, a top Indian military official told the Hindustan Times.

The two IEDs weighing around 5-6 kilograms with RDX as the main explosive charge were dropped at a distance of 50 yards from each other, a senior security official said.

One charge was some 40 yards from the ATC, while the other was around the same distance from the parked helicopter.

But the handlers missed the target maybe due to faulty execution or high wind factor, he said.

The suspected twin drone strike that happened just minutes apart took place about 14.5 kilometres away from the international border with neighbouring Pakistan after midnight on Sunday.

One blast blew off a portion of the roof of a building in the technical section of the airbase while another exploded in open space.

An Indian security official told the Hindustan Times the two drones took a flight from across the border to Jammu airport and flew back to Pakistan after the attack.

Hours after the blast shook the air base, police in Indias restive Jammu and Kashmir arrested a man allegedly with a cache of 4kg explosives that was suspected to be used for another blast in a crowded place.

Jammu and Kashmir police chief Dilbagh Singh said they averted another IED blast by Pakistan-based out LeT by seizing the explosives.

"Another crude bomb was found by the Jammu police. This IED was received by a Lashkar e Taiba operative and was to be planted at some crowded place, NDTV quoted the officer as saying.

Talking about the blasts on Sunday, he told media drones with payload were used in both the blasts.

The blast took place hours before Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh and army chief General MM Naravane were to begin their three-day visit to Ladakh to review the situation amid ongoing de-escalation with China.

"Efforts should be made to find a solution through dialogue with the neighboring countries. The intention should be clear. We neither want to show eyes to anyone, nor is it acceptable to show anyones eyes. Our army has the capability to give a befitting reply to every challenge", Indias defence minister said in a tweet on Monday.

A complaint was filed against unnamed people in the incident under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act that allows the arrest of suspects and their detention for up to six months without evidence.

The case is being investigated by Indias National Investigation Agency, a counter-terrorist task force.

The airbase in the southern city of Jammu is in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir. There has been a long-standing dispute between India and Pakistan over the Jammu and Kashmir region. The valley is governed by both in parts but claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan.

India and Pakistan in February reached an agreement to stop cross border firing along the Line of Control, a demarcated border that separates the two countries.
Canada has recorded its highest temperatures on record as the countrys west, along with the US Pacific north-west, suffer an unprecedented heatwave.

The village of Lytton, in the interior of southern British Columbia, saw the mercury hit 46.6C on Sunday  an all-time high in the countrys 84-year-old record, officials said.

The previous national record was 45C, which was set in Yellow Grass and Midale in Saskatchewan in July 1937.

More than 40 other places in British Columbia also set new records, according to the Canadian weather agency.

Officials warned temperatures could continue to rise this week. Speaking to CTV, Environment Canada senior climatologist, David Phillips, said: I like to break a record, but this is like shattering and pulverising them.

Its warmer in parts of western Canada than in Dubai, he said, adding there was a chance some places could see temperatures reach 47C.

Alberta, parts of Saskatchewan, Yukon and the Northwest Territories should be on alert, Environment Canada said.

Kristie Ebi, a professor at the University of Washington who studies global warming and its effects on public health, told Associated Press that the days-long heat wave was a taste of the future as climate change reshapes global weather patterns.

Heat warnings have been issued to residents in most of western Canada as well as the US Pacific Northwest, who have been affected by a heat dome of high pressure running from California to Canadas Arctic territories and stretching inland through Idaho.

In the northwest of the US, particularly in the states of Washington and Oregon, historic heatwave conditions are expected to persist all week, according to the US National Weather Service (NWS). In Seattle and Portland, temperatures have already surpassed 40C.

This event will likely be one of the most extreme and prolonged heatwaves in the recorded history of the inland Northwest, the NWS said.

Residents are urged to avoid extended periods of time outdoors, stay hydrated and check on vulnerable family members/neighbours, the service continued.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are enjoying a stable July, after a summer that has seen them fluctuate wildly.

In the first couple of days of the month, the price of most crypto has stayed fairly flat, even amid wildly divergent predictions of where they will trade in the future.

It follows a rally at the end of of June, when bitcoin rose in price from close to $30,000 on the weekend to above $36,000 on Wednesday.

Other leading cryptocurrencies saw a similar bounce, with Ethereum (ether) and dogecoin breaking above the crucial markers of $2,000 and $0.25 respectively.

Beyond brief peaks above $40,000 and dips below $30,000, the cryptocurrency has spent the entire month trading within a $10k price range.

The relative stability has divided crypto analysts over whether the market is in a bull or bear phase, meaning Julys movements will be under close scrutiny.

Still down by around a half from its peak in mid May, bitcoin has entered a buy phase for only the fifth time in its history, according to one indicator. The Puell Multiple graph, which charts mining profitability, entered the green zone this week for the first time since March 2020.

You can find all the latest updates, analysis and expert price predictions right here.
All political parties must learn from the low voter turnout in Sundays regional elections, said president Emmanuel Macron, after the numbers taking part in the second round of votes hit a record low.

Pollsters estimated that only around 35 per cent of eligible voters casting their ballots. They also found that nearly 90 per cent of Frances youngest eligible voters did not take part.

These elections are the first for Mr Macrons En Marche party, which did not exist when the last elections were held in 2015. As En Marche failed to win control of a single region, the result is being described as humiliating.

Similarly, Marine Le Pens far-right National Rally party did not win control over a single region, including the Provence-Alpes-Cote dAzur, which she had hoped to win to boost her presidential hopes for 2022.

Instead, centre-right and centre-left regional politicians have been the winners of the elections. Among them, northern conservative Xavier Bertrand beat the far-right party by more than 25 percentage points in the Hauts-de-France region.

Mr Bertrand has hinted that he intends to challenge Mr Macron and Ms Le Pen in the April 2022 presidential election.

Speaking with Mr Bertrand at a visit to a new electric car battery plant in Douai, northern France, on Monday, Mr Macron said: The abstention rate says a lot of things. We must all draw the consequences from it.

A government source said a cabinet reshuffle was not expected following the humiliating election night for Mr Macron, but added that a few adjustments were possible.
More than 50 people have been arrested after an illegal rave attended by thousands led to dozens of cows escaping from their field.

At its height, up to 2,000 people were at the unlicensed music event in the West Sussex town of Steyning on Saturday.

Drone footage showed a long line of cars snaking up a country road, where police set up road blocks to stop anyone from entering or leaving the area.

A herd of about 40 cattle, including heavily-pregnant cows and calves, also disappeared from a field after a large section of fence was reportedly cut down to make the dancing area bigger.

James Wright, a local farmer and councillor for Storrington and Washington, said a group of 10 to 15 farmers were left searching for the animals, which belonged to his neighbour.

To make the dancing area bigger they cut the fence down, he told The Independent. I dont think they knew the cows were in there.

They are all fine now but with cattle big stresses are always concerns.

A couple are quite heavily pregnant and one actually gave birth the morning after being chased about.

Mr Wright said incidents like this were very rare thankfully in Steyning, but added: The thing I want to get across is that even though four-and-a-half thousand people think theyve had the best of times, theres a cost to the farmer, to the land owners and an enormous cost to the police and the human cost of how many people have caught Covid.

Video footage shared on social media appeared to show crowds failing to socially distance as they danced in a field while music blasted out from a tower of speakers.

Sussex Police said officers sent to the scene in the early hours of Sunday were met with significant hostility, including one officer who was assaulted while attempting to detain an individual resisting arrest.

A police community support officer was also treated for a suspected broken arm after a collision involving a police car and a vehicle being driven by someone leaving the event.

The driver and passengers of the second vehicle were also taken to hospital as a precaution.

A 20-year-old man, from Redditch, was arrested on suspicion of driving while under the influence of both drink and drugs in relation to the incident.

A second collision with another police vehicle was reported at about 7pm. The driver was arrested on suspicion of failing to stop, dangerous driving and failing to provide a breath test.

A large volume of music equipment, including sound systems and speakers, was seized by officers.

As a result, a further eight people were arrested after being identified as the organisers of the unlicensed event.

More than 50 people have been arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of offences including drink and drug-driving, possession of drugs and theft.

Police expect the figure will increase, making it one of the largest unplanned operations the force has experienced in recent years.

Detective Superintendent Juliet Parker said: Due to the mindless actions of a large number of people, the majority of whom have travelled from out of county, the community of Steyning has experienced significant disruption and Id like to personally thank the public for their patience, understanding and co-operation as we sought to bring this event to a close.

With a situation of this size, our utmost priority must be the safety of the public as well as our officers and emergency services colleagues at the scene.

This therefore has required a significant police response involving officers from across Sussex as well as officers from surrounding forces. Officers who would have normally been dealing with serious crime and supporting the most vulnerable in our counties.

These individuals have demonstrated a complete disregard for the local community, the heritage of the area and the existing Covid-19 regulations.

We will not tolerate behaviour like this within Sussex, as can be seen by the high volume of arrests made over the course of the event.

We will continue to robustly investigate this illegal activity, seeking to further arrest and prosecute wherever possible.
More than 100 firefighters tackled a spectacular fire under a railway arch in Londons Elephant and Castle on Monday that injured six people and caused major disruption to trains.

Witnesses reported hearing an explosion and videos posted to social media show a fireball erupting from a car garage that was already ablaze.

Thick black smoke billowed across the railway tracks and residents were warned to say indoors and close windows.

Sara Scarpa, 25, lives in nearby building Hurlock Heights and said smoke and the noise of the explosion reached her window.

We opened the window for a sec as you could hear people shouting, and we smelt something very very strong, she said. The smoke [was] dying down a little... we heard an explosion.

Emergency services at the scene of a fire that has broken out at garages close to Elephant and Castle railway station (PA)

Martin Bobrowski, a builder working opposite the station, said the smell from the fire was awful and smelt like a burning electrical cable smell.

Network Rail said no more trains would run through or to the station for the rest of the day, affecting Thameslink services from London Blackfriars.

Sadiq Khan, Londons mayor, said his thoughts were with all those affected by the very serious fire and thanked the emergency services for their work at the scene.

James Ryan from the London Fire Brigade said the first firefighters at the scene found the blaze had spread from a car garage to several cars and a telephone box outside. It later ignited further, spreading to three other commercial units.

It was eventually brought under control just before 4pm.

The London Ambulance Service said six people were treated for injuries, with one of them taken to hospital.
Brandon Lewis has once again acknowledged that a tweet he sent out in January, in which he claimed there is no Irish Sea border, is not entirely true.

I fully accept that tweet hasnt aged well, the Northern Ireland secretary told Andrew Marr on Sunday when he appeared on the broadcasters eponymous BBC1 show.

Mr Marr had shown his guest a screenshot of the tweet and asked him to straightforwardly accept that that is not true.

Quick to defend both himself and the government, Mr Lewis responded: On 1 January [when the tweet was published], we were very clear that we didnt want a sea border.

He went on to blame the EU for its implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol post-Brexit, which he branded purist.

Whats happened since [1 January] is weve seen the implementation of the Protocol, the outworking of it, the purist way the EU want to see it, has meant that weve seen disruption in Northern Ireland.

Asked repeatedly by Mr Marr if right now there is in fact an Irish border, Mr Lewis admitted while there was not a sea border by the traditional definition, there were barriers to trade.

If youve travelled to Northern Ireland, as I do regularly, when you go through the airports, you're not going through a border in the sense that anybody expects the border, but I'm not denying the fact there is big disruption in Northern Ireland to businesses and consumers.

We need to rectify that and we will do.

Pressed on whether it was an issue for ministers at home or in the European bloc to resolve, Mr Lewis said it was a two-way thing, adding that the EU needs to show the flexibility that they keep talking about.

His response to the tweet was similar in an interview with Belfast newspaper The News Letter back in March, when he framed it as something he truly believed at the time he wrote it.

Looking to do the Protocol in a way that consumers in Northern Ireland effectively wouldnt see it, wouldnt feel it, wouldnt have an issue with it, he told the paper. Clearly that is not the lived experience on the ground and that is why weve taken measures over the last couple of months with the EU and obviously we took the measures unilaterally last week.

The cabinet ministers latest remarks come amid ongoing talks between the UK and EU to reduce the burden of red tape required to move goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Northern Irelands Protocol, which was agreed by UK and EU officials as a way to keep the land border on the island of Ireland free-flowing, has created a series of new checks and restrictions  particularly on transporting GB produce into Northern Ireland.

A prohibition on chilled meats is due to come into force this week  the so-called sausage war  but the EU has indicated it is willing to grant a request from Boris Johnsons administration to extend a temporary exemption period from the ban for a further three months.

The EUs ambassador to the UK said last week the bloc was turning regulations upside down to try and find a solution to this problem.

What we didnt like to see was unilateral action by the government in breach of what we had agreed, Joao Vale de Almeida added. I hope that is behind us now, although the legal procedures must continue, and that we can find a new way of working on these issues.

Tensions continue to mount in Northern Ireland as loyalists claim the trade arrangements have driven a constitutional wedge between them and the rest of the UK.

There are fresh concerns loyalist anger could result in violence during the countrys sensitive loyal order parading season during the summer. It comes after a string of riots in April  one of which saw a bus hijacked and set on fire in Belfast city centre  erupted due to unrest over the post-Brexit legislation.

Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission vice president, is due to appear before a Stormont committee on Monday to answer questions on the blocs stance on the Protocol.
Keir Starmers immediate future as Labour leader could be safe, even if the party suffers another historical defeat at a crucial by-election, due to a lack of unity around any potential replacement, MPs have suggested.

With polls pointing towards a second rare victory for an incumbent government in under two months and Labour insiders increasingly downbeat about Labours prospects in Batley and Spen, speculation has inevitably turned to questions over Sir Keirs leadership.

The co-chair of the left-wing group Momentum told The Independent that the Labour leader had been an utter failure and suggested he should consider resigning if the party loses control of the seat for the first time since 1997.

In a further sign of how acrimonious relations between the left and Labours high command have become of late, one MP remarked Sir Keir would become a lame duck leader if he endures another defeat at the ballot box in under two months.

But senior figures on the left also played down the prospect of any imminent challenge to Sir Keirs leadership, pointing to the absence of a candidate to rally around, or one being able to gather the required number of 40 MPs to kick-start a challenge.

It was also claimed the recent shake-up of the Labour leaders backroom operation at Westminster, including the influential positions of chief-of-staff and director of communications, may be used in an attempt placate frustrated MPs as evidence of the party taking a fresh approach later this week.

Diane Abbott  a key figure during Jeremy Corbyns leadership  told The Independent that MPs had obviously discussed what happens if we lose Batley and Spen.

People are talking about Starmers position, she said. But the thing which that makes him safe, I think, is the question of who we would replace him with.

Theres no resolution on that, whether from the left of from the sort of erstwhile Blairites, so my guess would be that even if we lose Batley and Spen, Starmer remains secure for the time being.

Pressed on what discussions had taken place, the former shadow cabinet minister said: Well, we can all see the polls. Some of us have been up there and seen and heard the response. Who does Starmer appeal to? He doesnt appeal to the sort of soft Tory vote in places like Chesham and Amersham.

He didnt appeal to hardcore Labour supporters in Hartlepool, so the question is, what is his electoral base and who does he appeal to? If hes too grey a character to appeal to anybody, is his position sustainable? But, as I say, theres no unity on who should replace him.

Ms Abbott added that various names had come up, but suggested the strongest name was the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham. But hes not an MP, so hes not a short-term proposition, she added.

The obvious names have come up, Angela Rayner, obviously, but you wouldnt necessarily get unity around Angela Rayner at this point. Thats why I think even if we lose Batley and Spen, Starmer can carry on.

Another MP on the left agreed there was a lack of unity around any potential candidate, but also suggested Sir Keir would be in a dangerous position if he lost the election, saying: There will be a large number of MPs who will look at that result and think to themselves, on the current trajectory Im going to lose my seat.

His authority in the party will diminish, so even if there isnt a political outrider, for the next two years hes going to be a lame duck leader.

A second senior MP said: I dont think there will be a challenge, however, the disaffection will continue to grow. I think he has got a sense of shame and will have to think very, very carefully about his leadership.

Andrew Scattergood, the co-chair of the Momentum group set up to support the left-wing policies of the Corbyn leadership, suggested another defeat in the wake of recent defeats in Hartlepool and Chesham & Amersham would signal Sir Keirs leadership in its entirety has been an utter failure.

I think that is on the back of a by-election defeat previously, I think that is on not showing proper opposition to the Tory party throughout his leadership, he said. I think its also an example of failed leadership in the way hes treating the members and I think that signals the final failure that should be sort of allowed as Labour leader.

Asked whether he believed Sir Keir should resign, he replied: If they lose the by-election he should seriously consider his position and consider resigning.

Everything is pointing towards Labour certainly not doing well at the next general election. I think its time that Labour had an overhaul of where they stand and the policies and politics this country and broader need in the post-pandemic world that we will sooner or later be entering.

At the minute there are no signs and there is no confidence from me in Starmer being able to come up with the answers and the policies, not only to change peoples lives, but to prove successful at the ballot box.

Frustration over the Labour leaders performance, however, isnt confined to the left of the party. Speaking at an event hosted by The Independent last week, the Labour peer Lord Adonis suggested that a change in leadership may not be long in coming, stressing: Theres a limit to how much failure even the Labour Party can take.

The thing to understand about Labour in the past is that, though its true that weve been very good at keeping leaders who lose elections, in mid-term they have generally looked as if they could win, he said.

Its important to understand that. Theyve been winning by-elections, ahead in the polls. Thats true even of Ed Miliband and, of course, remember that Jeremy Corbyn did well in the 2017 election and that made people think he may be able to pull another rabbit out of the bag. The issue for Keir, and were all hoping that we hold the Batley and Spen by-election, but there is a certain dynamic of events there too.

But offering a defence of Sir Keir, Dame Margaret Beckett, a former deputy leader of the party, dismissed calls for him to resign, saying the current context of the pandemic was a nightmare for any leader of the opposition and worse than under any normal circumstances.

People talk about it being unprecedented times for a government. Its an unprecedented challenge for a leader of the opposition, she told The Independent.

Its absolutely ridiculous, he cant get anything across, he cant get himself heard. The prime minister is playing from the Trump playbook, spends all his time going out having his photograph taken, and hes on the news every night.

The most difficult thing for any opposition at any time is always to get a hearing and, at the moment, its just almost incomparably difficult, and I think in the circumstances hes doing extremely well.

Pressed for her thoughts on colleagues suggesting the possibility of a leadership contest, she replied: If they have any real concerns for the welfare of the British people they should find better things to do with their time.

On the partys prospects in the West Yorkshire seat, a Labour source admitted: Its very, very tough. The impact of different people coming in, [George] Galloway coming in and other candidates taking pro-Brexit votes in comparison to 2019, is hugely disruptive and frankly its looking very, very difficult for us.
Supporters of independence for Catalonia protested Sunday against a visit to its regional capital Barcelona by Spains King Felipe VI, as high-level efforts to allay tensions there gain new momentum.

The king was in Barcelona to help mark the opening of a major international wireless trade fair, called Mobile World Congress, which begins Monday.

Demonstrations against visits to Catalonia by the monarch, who is a symbol of rule from Madrid and who has criticized separatist movements, are common.

But despite the entrenched and confrontational positions, recent developments have raised the possibility that senior officials might find a path to some degree of compromise. Scores turned out for Sundays demonstrations  a number far lower that in some protests in recent years.

The Catalan regional president, Pere Aragones, who supports Catalan independence, is due to meet in Madrid on Tuesday with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. It will be their first encounter since Aragones became regional chief earlier this year.

The talks come exactly a week after Sanchezs government pardoned nine Catalan separatists who were in prison because of their attempts to break their region away from Spain.

The pardons were seen as a goodwill gesture by Sanchez as he seeks a breakthrough on an issue that has dogged Spain for decades.

Catalonias separatist movement, which is supported by roughly half the 7.5 million residents in the region, wants to create a republic for the wealthy northeast corner of Spain.
At the end of 2020, as Donald Trump continued to make false claims about a supposedly rigged election, Mitch McConnell reportedly urged then attorney general William Barr to publicly speak out, worried that trashing the electoral process could hurt the Republican partys chances in upcoming runoff elections in Georgia which would determine who controls the Senate.

Look, we need the president in Georgia, Mr McConnell told Mr Barr, according to interviews for Betrayal, a new book from journalist Jonathan Karl, about the final days of the Trump administration, and so we cannot be frontally attacking him right now. But youre in a better position to inject some reality into this situation. You are really the only one who can do it.

At the time, neither the Senate leader, who confirmed Karls account, nor the attorney general, believed Mr Trumps debunked claims about the election.

My attitude was: It was put-up or shut-up time, Mr Barr told the reporter. If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it. But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there. It was all bulls***.

That led the attorney general, normally a staunch Trump defender who stuck by the president and echoed his talking points on other issues like the Mueller investigation, to go out against his boss in a 1 December interview with the Associated Press, where he told the news agency: To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.

Neither GOP leaders warnings were enough though. Both Republican candidates in Georgia lost in a historic upset, with Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossof becoming the first Democrats to win a Senate race in the state since the 1990s.

GOP officials had warned that the presidents repeated attacks on the integrity of the election, especially in swing states like Georgia, could hurt the party.

You cant say the system is rigged but elect these two senators, Eric Johnson, a campaign adviser to Kelly Loeffler, one of the defeated Republican Senate candidates, told The New York Times in November. At some point he either drops it or he says I want everybody to vote and get their friends to vote so that the margins are so large that they cant steal it.

Mr McConnell didnt speak out against Mr Trumps election claims until the morning of 6 January, telling his colleagues in the Senate he wouldnt join them in opposing the results, the most important vote Ive ever cast.

Nothing before us proves illegality near the massive scale that would have tipped the entire election, Mr McConnell said. The Constitution gives us here in Congress a limited role. We cannot simply declare ourselves a national board of elections on steroids.

Later that day, a mob of Trump supporters whod been fed months of lies about a rigged election stormed the US Capitol.

The Senate leader later acknowledged that Mr Trump and his election conspiracies were to blame, telling Congress the man was practically and morally responsible because of the crescendo of conspiracy theories leading up to 6 January, though he declined to impeach the outgoing president over the Capitol attack.

And Mr Barr, despite his one-time stand against the president, has previously backed some of his other debunked election claims, telling CNNs Wolf Blitzer that expanded mail-in voting would cause voter fraud, an essentially non-existent problem according to experts.

"Were a very closely divided country here," the former attorney general said. "People trying to change the rules to this, to this methodology  which, as a matter of logic, is very open to fraud and coercion  is reckless and dangerous and people are playing with fire.

Mr Barr may reveal more about behind-the-scenes discussions following the election, as it was recently announced hes working on a memoir, one of the few Trump officials to secure a book deal after the attack on the Capitol.
The Czech Republics head of state Milos Zeman has sparked anger by describing transgender people as disgusting in a television interview.

During the interview, on CNN Prima news, the president also said that if he were younger, he would organise a huge demonstration of heterosexuals in Prague.

I can understand gays, lesbians, and so on, Zeman said. But do you know what I dont understand at all? Transgender people.

If someone undergoes a sex change operation, he commits the crime of self-harm. Every operation is a risk. And these transgender people are really disgusting to me, he added.

Zemans comments came in response to questions about his stance on Hungarys controversial new law to restrict the promotion of LGBT-positive content in education and in the public sphere.

The Czech Republic has been conspicuous by its absence from EU statements condemning the Hungarian move. Yet Zeman has now, in no uncertain terms, clarified his own position.

[Hungarian prime minister] Viktor Orban says he is not against homosexuals  he is against the manipulation not only of parents, but also of children in sex education, he said.

I see no reason to disagree with him, because I am completely annoyed by the suffragettes, the Me Too movement, and Prague Pride.

The presidents tirade confirmed his long-suspected hostile stance towards such minority groups. Zeman, who was also previously prime minister of the country, suggested that LGBT+ people try to rise above others by asserting their sexual identity, and sardonically claimed heterosexuals should organise their own march, in order to highlight the pointlessness of demonstrations concerning the intimate affair of sexual orientation.

Zemans social conservatism is well-known, but the interview has nonetheless prompted shock among Czech LGBT+ organisations.

We are extremely saddened to hear such comments coming from the president, Daniel Zikmund, from the Prague Pride Association, told The Independent. His statements will be very damaging to the mental health of LGBT+ people.

It is feared the presidents endorsement of anti-LGBT sentiments will grant greater legitimacy to such attitudes in the Czech Republic.

Although the majority of the Czech population supports equal rights for LGBT+ people, transgender people remain the group most discriminated against. And only a few weeks ago, a gay couple were openly attacked in Prague. This is worrying to see, said Zikmund, confirming the precarious situation still faced by LGBT+ people in the country.

LGBT+ rights groups have long criticised the Czech Republics failure to rectify laws which discriminate against LGBT+ people. The countrys requirement that transgender people undergo sterilisation surgery in order to legally change gender has been described as an illegal violation of the right to protection of health.

As a result of such laws, advocacy group ILGA-Europe recently cited concerns that the Czech Republic could follow in the footsteps of illiberal neighbours Poland and Hungary in further restricting LGBT+ rights.
Hundreds of people in a northern Czech town took to the streets in protest on Saturday to commemorate the death of a Roma man who died after a police officer knelt on his neck.

Video footage shows a police officer kneeling on the mans neck for several minutes during the arrest in Teplice on 19 June.

The man, who has not been named, later died in an ambulance.

Police have said that a preliminary investigation showed no link between the police officers actions and the mans death, according to the Associated Press.

Roma protesters and supporters have rejected that assertion, however, drawing comparisons to the death of George Floyd, whose murder sparked demonstrations around the world.

Mr Floyd, who was black, died after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest over the alleged use of a counterfeit $20 note.

Chauvin was sentenced on Friday to 22 and a half years having been found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.

In an apparent reference to the Black Lives Matter movement, protesters in Teplice on Saturday held up banners emblazoned with the words: Roma Lives Matter, according to AP.

The Roma have long endured racism and discrimination in eastern Europe, with Amnesty International identifying the group as one of Europes oldest and largest ethnic minorities, and also one of the most disadvantaged.

Across the continent Romani people are routinely denied their rights to housing, health care, education and work, and many are subjected to forced eviction, racist assault and police ill-treatment, the organisation says in a report on Roma rights.

Europes main human rights body and Amnesty International have called for an independent investigation into the 19 June incident.

Meanwhile, the countrys deputy ombudsman has said she will also launch a separate investigation.
After only one new nation, Malta, was added to the governments green list of quarantine-free locations, a leading analyst has concluded that chance plays a significant role in allocating countries into traffic light categories.

Robert Boyle has reverse engineered the latest moves from the amber list to the green list and red list in a bid to calculate the governments criteria.

But Mr Boyle, who is former director of strategy for BAs parent, IAG, says he is baffled at why 22 European countries, including France and Italy, remain on the amber list.

In his blog for Gridpoint Consulting, he says there are two main problems. Firstly, the government wont say how it uses the data to reach its decisions  we have the data but dont know the algorithm, he writes.

Secondly, the data is only provided for countries where classifications change. Most of the challenges from the industry are about why countries didnt change classifications, in particular why so many countries seems to be stuck on amber or red.

The two most important parameters are the overall case rate and test positivity  the proportion of tests that indicate Covid.

Getting low scores on both metrics is a good indication that the real infection levels are low, Mr Boyle writes. A high score on either metric signals the opposite.

For green list status, he calculates, the UK government wants to see a case rate at or below 20 and test positivity of 1.5 per cent or less. The location must also have a testing rate of 1 or more per 100,000, and at least 15 per cent of the population must be fully vaccinated.

Mr Boyle identifies 22 countries that meet all of those criteria, including the key holiday destinations of France and Italy.

Other continental European candidates include Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia,

From Scandinavia, Denmark, Finland and Norway all appear to qualify, Mr Boyle says.

Beyond Europe, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Taiwan and Vietnam meet the criteria.

The big thing that I cannot explain is why a whole raft of other countries are on the amber list, rather than the green one, says Mr Boyle.

He discounts concern about variants, and speculates: Im sure the answer is politics somehow, but there doesnt even seem to be any obvious political logic for why two apparently similar countries get classified differently.

Lucky strike? The flow chart analysing government decisions (Robert Boyle)

On a flow chart shared on social media, the analyst includes the box: Die roll. Got a 6? If so, the chart indicates, the country goes green. If not, its amber.

The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, rejects any criticism of the governments evaluation of green list countries.

Theres no circumstance in which there is not a scientific basis, he told the BBC Today programme on Friday 25 June.

The evening before, when announcing one new addition to the green list  Malta  and several moves from amber to the green watchlist, Mr Shapps said: Its right that we continue with this cautious approach, to protect public health and the vaccine rollout as our top priority, while ensuring that our route out of the international travel restrictions is sustainable.

For a country to appear on the red list, Mr Boyle predicts that a case rate of over 125 or test positivity of over 12.5 per cent  signifying one in eight tests reveals an infection  triggers red list status.

Turkey, which is the red list country with the highest number of UK visitors in a normal year, has a case rate of 50 and a test positivity of 2.7 per cent, way below the trigger points.

But Istanbul airport is now the leading international hub in Europe, and being a leading transit location was the reason for the UAE and Qatar joining the red list.
As the world grapples unevenly with the effects of Covid-19, a parallel and equally horrific pandemic has threatened half the worlds population.

In the early months of the pandemic, the United Nations projected that quarantines and lockdowns could lead to a shocking 15 million additional cases of gender-based violence every three months. Sadly, those predictions appear to be coming true.

This week, world leaders and others will gather at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris and online in a massive push for gender equality. At that meeting, I will call on states, companies and individuals to join in a global initiative, with proven results, to end the fear and insecurity that threaten the health, rights, dignity and lives of so many women and girls.

From domestic violence to sexual exploitation, trafficking, child marriage, female genital mutilation and online harassment, violent misogyny has thrived in the shadow of the pandemic.

Full data will take time to collect and assess, but the trends are clear. In 12 countries tracked by the United Nations, the number of cases of violence against women and girls reported to various institutions, and published in the Spotlight Initiative Global Annual Report, increased 83 per cent from 2019 to 2020, and cases reported to the police grew by 64 per cent.

In the first months of the pandemic, calls to helplines increased by an average of 60 per cent across the European Union. Calls to Perus sexual violence hotline almost doubled in 2020 compared to 2019. In Thailand, the number of clients visiting domestic violence crisis units in hospitals in April 2020 was more than double the number from the same time period of the previous year.

Such statistics and stories span the world, adding to an existing epidemic of violence against women and girls. Before the pandemic, the World Health Organisation estimated that one in three women would experience male violence in their lifetime.

Just over a year ago, I raised the alarm. Echoing my call for a global ceasefire, I appealed for peace in the home  an end to all violence everywhere, from war zones to peoples homes  to allow us to face the pandemic, humankinds common enemy, with solidarity and unity.

More than 140 countries expressed support. Some 800 measures have been adopted in 149 countries, the majority focused on shelter, legal assistance and other services and support.

But, in many cases, these actions have been limited and short-lived. Worse, other countries are retreating, rolling back legal protections and standing by as violence is used to target women, including human rights defenders protesting these reversals.

The pervasiveness of violence against women and girls has led to acquiescence that it is somehow inevitable or impossible to end. This is as outrageous and self-defeating as it is plain wrong. Despite the challenges of the past year, the United Nations, with significant funding from and partnership with the European Union, has demonstrated that change is possible.

Over the course of 2020, the Spotlight Initiative to eliminate violence against women and girls has delivered notable results in 25 countries. Eighty-four laws and policies to protect women and girls were adopted or strengthened. The prosecution of perpetrators increased by 22 per cent. Some 650,000 women and girls received services, despite lockdowns and mobility restrictions. Close to 900,000 men and boys  including traditional leaders, heads of religious institutions, male taxi drivers and young gamers  were engaged to be allies in finding solutions. And across these countries, national budget allocations for preventing and responding to violence against women and girls increased by 32 per cent, a clear indication of future sustainability.

By coming together, in Paris, around a proven model, we can begin to ensure that the next generation of girls will not be expected to live with fear simply because we didnt act. In time, there will be many lessons learned about what the world got right and wrong in handling this pandemic. One of the first must be to ensure that this disgraceful hidden pandemic facing half our population ends now.

Antonio Guterres is secretary-general of the United Nations
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A U.S. Border Patrol agent monitors a group of apprehended men from India who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border on July 16, 2018 in San Diego, California. Indian asylum seekers are believed to be among the first detainees to use hunger strikes as a means to protest long detention times. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
To the concern of finance officers everywhere, the quick issuance of stay-at-home orders during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic gave IT teams the authority to quickly scale up cloud usage to meet a rapidly changing set of employee and customer needs, almost overnight. In fact, cloud spending outpaced on-premises investments for the first time ever in 2020, marking a tipping point in enterprise consumption of cloud services.

Now, as the end of the pandemic hopefully comes into view, the party might be coming to an end, and cloud cost optimization will be on the agenda for many organizations as purse strings tighten.

At the start of the pandemic, people were focused on getting stuff working. The cost of cloud was on the back burner, 451 Research analyst Owen Rogers told InfoWorld. Over the past three months there has been increased interest in managing that cost and optimizing for the future. The thing I am less sure about is when the dust will fully settle for enterprises.

Where that cloud-cost level finally rests will vary from organization to organization, but according to Eugene Khvostov, vice president for product and engineering at cost-optimization specialist Apptio, The core pains are the same: Who is responsible for what cost, how do I make them aware and accountable, and how do I scale that across the organization.

What is for certain is that cloud costs cant continue to grow out of line with revenue. This is less a story about cutting cloud costs than it is about right-sizing for your environment. The great cloud correction is upon us.

Why finops may help manage cloud costs

Over the years, weve heard the same stories over and over again. Engineering teams spend more than they need to on cloud, with little understanding of cost efficiency. Meanwhile, finance teams struggle to understand and keep up with what teams are spending. Then, to top it off, leadership doesnt have enough input into company spendingand sometimes doesnt even show a willingness to influence priorities, JR Storment and Mike Fuller wrote in their 2020 book Cloud Finops.

Finops is a divisive term that is essentially a new model for technology cost governance, where organizations use a set of techniques and tools to better plan, budget, and forecast cloud spending requirements. As Storment and Fuller wrote:

In the simplest terms, finops brings financial accountability to the variable spend model of cloud. But that description merely hints at the outcome. The cultural change of running in cloud moves ownership of technology and financial decision-making out to the edges of the organization. It flips long-held, forward-looking capacity planning methodology on its head to become rate-optimization analysis for technology thats already been used. And it forces IT, finance, and business professionals to work together in unfamiliar ways. Its an acceptance that the old ways of managing infrastructure arent just ineffective in cloud; they are irrelevant.

As Storment and Fuller alluded, a new hub-and-spoke model for cloud cost management is emerging, where a central group is tasked with finding optimization opportunities and negotiating the best rates with vendors, while engineers and product owners must take ownership of their own cloud costs.

As you would expect, online grocery delivery company Ocado saw a huge spike in demand for its services during the pandemic, and cost savings werent the priority. Instead, it was scaling to meet demand, Alex Howard Whitaker, principal cloud engineer at Ocado Technology, told InfoWorld.

To help manage that increased usage, Ocado tasked its central platform team with identifying company-wide savings opportunities, such as using spot instances for its more stateless applications and shutting off environments on the weekends. The central observability team also now incorporates cost in the information it provides individual product owners, who are increasingly responsible for the cost of their applications.

Why finops may not really help contain cloud costs

Finops is flexible and built into the processes of the business, but I dont think enterprises are at that stage yet, where cloud is still consumed on an ad hoc basis, said 451s Rogers. Investigating the use of reserved instances, cutting out waste, and bringing in optimization tooling are the interesting things, as not many organizations will have the guts to make a cultural change of this scale while there is still so much uncertainty.

In a recent survey of 304 IT and business decision-makers, cloud-management provider CloudCheckr found 63% of respondents still see cost management as a key area of improvement when it comes to their public cloud usage, with only 31% reporting that they monitor and optimize public cloud costs effectively. Or, as cloud billing consultant Corey Quinn told InfoWorld, everyone says they have a handle on [cloud costs], kind of, but we arent doing it well.

Thats because the scale of cultural change can be offputting for established enterprises with well-established ways of working. This is why Quinn isnt completely sold on the organization-wide approach espoused by finops advocates. There is no golden path, because you are talking about changing your culture in engineering, finance, and how they communicate, and that is a heavy lift, he said.

Instead, Quinn advises organizations to get better at the small things, like switching off what they dont need and taking advantage of committed use discounts. However, even the easy stuff doesnt always get done, because inertia is a powerful thing.  Companies tell themselves after a sprint completes they will make good decisions, like resizing and using higher level managed services, but they dont.

The CloudCheckr survey backs up Quinns assertions. It found a lack of rightsizing (43%), unused instances that are never turned off (35%), low usage of cloud instances (34%), and application migrations that dont adjust architecture for the cloud (32%) were all commonly cited as key areas where cloud cost optimization could be improved.

How HSBC, Sainsburys, Airbnb, and Spotify are managing cloud costs

Still, regardless of finopss suitability, enterprises of all kinds are starting to get serious about tackling their rising cloud costs.

Global bank HSBC had to shift several major applications onto cloud infrastructure during the pandemic. We saw huge increases in online banking services, hundreds of government aid and benefit schemes to be implemented, and some very dynamic markets. This accelerated our deployments to the cloud. And, for existing workloads, we were able to react to some very dynamic demand, said Ian Haynes, CTO for global cloud services at HSBC, during a recent AWS event. Now, the bank is at the start of our [finops] journey and need to make it a part of everyones job.

Like many enterprises today, cloud investment at British retailer Sainsburys has been focused on building new features and digital capabilities, which led to a rapid escalation in cloud service consumption. Somewhere down the line, the operations team was trying to keep a lid on spend, group CIO Phil Jordan told InfoWorld.

Following an intensive four-month change process throughout the pandemiccomplete with training for suppliers, finance, staffers, and service teams Sainsburys shifted the entire technology function into a new operating model called end-to-end product life cycle management. It essentially pushes accountability for a product or service out to the engineering teams, including cost, vulnerability, risk, and partner management.

These teams continue to be supported by a central platform team, which is responsible for activities such as building reusable assets, eliminating waste, finding cost savings opportunities, negotiating discounts, and identifying more efficient service use with vendors and partners.

We did this for lots of reasons, and one was to make engineers fully accountable for total cost of ownership, including third-party costs and how we use partners. As we consume from the cloud almost by default, optimization becomes part of it, Jordan said. At its core, cloud is a consumption model, and consumption has been rife, so we needed to find some control and manage things more proactively.

Even well-funded, cloud-first companies like Spotify and Airbnb have recently gone public in their efforts to bring some cost rigor to their engineering teams, with each company recognizing the time and effort this requires, even for highly mature cloud organizations with excellent engineering teams.

Both companies faced similar issues: Their monthly cloud bills were growing faster than company revenue. We had a problem, but we lacked an in-depth understanding of how teams use AWS resources, and how planned architectural and infrastructure changes would impact our future AWS costs, Airbnb engineers Jen Rice and Anna Matlin wrote in a company blog post.

As a result, they set out to build up the cost-attribution data required to start to show their data-driven developer community just how big a problem they were facing, to gain some buy-in. Now, a centralized cost efficiency team takes a birds-eye view of the entire Airbnb ecosystem to make more efficient infrastructure purchasing decisions, and incentives were extended to engineering teams to make their services more cost-effective.

At Spotify, as RedMonk analyst James Governor recently wrote, the approach was similar: Give engineers the data and tools required to make better cost decisions for their applications. The idea is that engineers and engineering teams are incentivized to take more responsibility for the costs associated with the products theyre building. Modeling cost becomes part of the engineering process, rather than being a separate process for finance teams to manage, Governor wrote.

Maybe you shouldnt use the cloud so much

There is also a growing school of thought that in certain cases the cloud isnt the answer at all. As industry experience with the cloud maturesand we see a more complete picture of cloud life cycle on a companys economicsits becoming evident that while cloud clearly delivers on its promise early on in a companys journey, the pressure it puts on margins can start to outweigh the benefits, as a company scales and growth slows, Andreessen Horowitz partners Sarah Wang and Martin Casado wrote in a recent blog post.

Dropbox provides the most prominent example of a company that has swum against the industry tide here, shifting away from its roots as a storage company built on AWS by building its own infrastructure, reportedly saving about $75 million over two years as a result. But, as Quinn wrote in his popular newsletter, this figure doesnt fully account for the sheer amount of operational overhead involved in maintaining, patching, and updating servers this decision added, nor the cost of missed innovation.

And Quinn noted that while Dropbox was nonetheless right to bring the infrastructure in-house, the cloud storage provider is not a good model for most enterprises. In his newsletter, Quinn wrote, It was reportedly a single, very large, very well-understood workload: storing user files. That use case wasnt scaling in dramatic swings up and down, the capacity growth was easy to predict, and Dropbox engineers certainly understood it start to finish. This cannot be said for most enterprises, whether they were born in the cloud, cloud-native, starting their cloud journey, or still running things on mainframes.

Get started with better cloud cost governance

Whether you adopt finops or use simpler cloud-optimization principles, there are several ways to start.

For finops, wrote Storment and Fuller in their book, A single person might be assigned to manage commitments to cloud providers. They set out to implement an initial account, label, and tagging hierarchy. From there, as the practice gets larger, each part of the process can be scaled up.

Visibility is the key first step to finops maturity. Once everyone is working from the same data, education can begin, helping an organization scale up its cost optimization practices around a small team of experts. Gain visibility into whats happening in your cloud environment and do the hardbut importantwork of cleaning up your allocation so that you know who is truly responsible for what before you start making changes, Storment and Fuller wrote.

More broadly, come in with a plan, said Apptios Khvostov. Learn the frameworks like finops and consume the free resources from the cloud providers themselves. Dont come in and wing it by downloading the cloud usage report from AWS and going from there. Make this a consistent approach and iterate and get better at how you analyze, optimize and control cloud costs as you go.

451s Rogers advised starting with your cloud vendors own cost-optimization tools, or turning to a third-party vendor like Apptio or VMware CloudHealth if you are running a multicloud environment.

Next, identify the right business metric to measure your cloud costs. The business metric is important, because it allows you to change the conversation from one that is just about dollars spent to one about efficiency and the value of cloud spend. Being able to say It costs $X to serve customers who bring in $Y in revenue brings a context that helps you make the decision whether $X and $Y are reasonable for the organization. Then, as services evolve or change entirely with new features, companies are able to measure the impact of these changes via these business metrics, Storment and Fuller wrote.

This may all sound intimidating and complicated, but as cloud makes up a bigger and bigger chunk of an organizations technology bills, its only a matter of time before these practices become mainstream and every engineer will need to know their way around a cloud bill.
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A woman accused of setting a fire that damaged three buildings and displaced a dozen New Jersey families earlier this month has been arrested, prosecutors said.

The Hudson County prosecutors office announced the arrest of the 62-year-old suspect in a brief statement on social media without providing details. The announcement came hours after authorities asked for help from the public in finding the Jersey city suspect.

Jersey City firefighters responded to an alarm just before 10 p.m. on June 17 and reported flames climbing the exterior of one building that was home to six families. A second six-family building was also damaged while a third building was left with exterior fire damage.

The flames were under control within an hour and a half. No injuries were reported. A total of 33 people were displaced. Officials said the blaze appeared to have started in an alleyway between two of the multi-family buildings.

Prosecutors said the suspect will face charges from the Hudson County Regional Arson Task Force of second-degree aggravated arson and second-degree causing widespread damage. It wasnt immediately clear whether she had an attorney and a listed number for her couldnt be found.

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Topics Arson
Hiscox has agreed an arbitration settlement with a group of policyholders over business interruption losses due to the governments COVID-19 lockdown last year, the Lloyds of London insurer said on Monday.

Hiscox was one of six of the worlds largest commercial insurers to lose a test case in Britain brought on behalf of policymakers by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Britains highest court said policyholders had a right to payouts from insurers who had argued many business interruption policies did not cover widespread disruption after government efforts to curb the virus from last March.

Read more: Pandemic-Related Business Interruption, Cyber Top Business Risks for 2021: Allianz

The judgment did not detail the size of the payments which insurers needed to make.

Hiscox said in a statement its settlement with the Hiscox Action Group of policyholders was in line with the Supreme Court Judgment and the proceedings have now been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of all parties.

The terms of the settlement were confidential, it added.

Hiscox said in March it had reserved $475 million overall for pandemic-related claims and that the insurer had suffered brand damage after the high-profile court case.

The judgment affects dozens of insurers with similar policy wordings.

The FCA said earlier this month that 757 million pounds ($1.05 billion) in interim or final payments had been made by insurers to policyholders so far.

($1 = 0.7194 pounds) (Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Iain Withers and Mark Potter)

Related:

Topics COVID-19 Profit Loss Policyholder
PERILS, the independent Zurich-based organization that provides industry-wide catastrophe insurance data, disclosed its second industry loss estimate for the New South Wales and Queensland floods, which occurred in March 2021.

The second estimate of the insurance market loss is A$916 million (US$695.7 million), an increase from the initial loss estimate of A$1.055 billion ($800 million), issued by PERILS on May 7, 2021.

The estimate includes losses in the property and motor hull lines of business and is based on loss data collected from the majority of the Australian insurance market.

The East Coast of Australia experienced an extreme period of rainfall from March 18 to 24, 2021, which resulted in major river and surface water flooding. The rainfall was the result of a blocking high pressure system in the Tasman Sea and a low-pressure system off north-west Australia which fed large volumes of moist tropical air into eastern Australia.

The areas most affected were the Mid North Coast, and the Hunter and Greater Sydney regions. In addition, adjacent parts of South-East Queensland and Eastern Victoria were also affected by storm and flood damage.

An updated estimate of the property and motor hull market loss from the New South Wales and Queensland floods, including a detailed footprint breaking down the industry loss into postcode area and lines of business, will be made available on Sept. 24, 2021, six months after the event end date.

Source: PERILS

Photograph: A truck drives through a flooded road at Old Pitt Town north west of Sydney, Australia, Sunday, March 21, 2021. Australias most populous state of New South Wales on Sunday issued more evacuation orders following the worst flooding in decades. Photo credit: AP Photo/Mark Baker.

Topics Profit Loss Flood
The parents of an infant who died at a Sioux Falls hospital have agreed to settle their malpractice lawsuit against the healthcare provider.

The terms of the mediated settlement between Avera McKennan Hospital and the babys parents, Khayyam and Tejumade Gordon, were not disclosed, the Argus Leader reported.

The boy, identified in court records as K.G., was born on Jan. 1, 2018, at Avera Holy Family Hospital in Estherville, Iowa, and was released two days later. Tejumade Gordon brought the boy to the emergency room 11 days later because of swelling in his left groin area, according to the lawsuit.

An ultrasound showed a hernia, and Tejumade Gordon was instructed to call her babys primary care physician the next day to discuss surgery. But his symptoms got worse, so Gordon returned to the ER with him later that night. He was again released.

The mother returned to the emergency room the next morning because her son had stopped eating, had been vomiting, was lethargic and had a temperature of 102 degrees, according to the complaint. An X-ray showed that he had multiple loops in his small intestine.

The infant was flown to Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls and placed in the pediatric intensive care unit. Another X-ray revealed a blockage in his bowel.

The baby had two surgeries in two days, but his condition continued to worsen and sepsis developed. Brain scans showed he was suffering seizures. The Gordons put him on a do-not-resuscitate order on the advice of his medical providers, and he died at less than 3 weeks old.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Medical Professional Liability
Residents in the Detroit area were cleaning up June 27 after flooding in the area overloaded sewer systems, damaged homes and knocked out power for thousands.

Bags of trash lined neighborhood streets in suburban Grosse Pointe Farms as garbage trucks made special rounds to help pick up debris, including damaged furniture and bedding.

A day earlier Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmers office declared a state of emergency for Detroit and surrounding Wayne County daylong rain flooded freeways and streets. Health officials warned of hazardous conditions the amid cleanup efforts and cautioned residents to stay out flood waters.

Floodwater and standing waters can be dangerous and can make you vulnerable to infectious diseases, chemical hazards and other injuries, said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, states chief medical executive and chief health deputy.

The Port Austin area on Michigans Thumb was also reeling from storm damage, including a suspected tornado in the evening on June 26. There were reports of a badly damaged home, scattered trees and downed power lines, but no major injuries.

DTE Energy said roughly 22,000 customers remained without power June 27. Indiana Michigan Power said crews also were restoring power for thousands in Michigan and northern Indiana.

More than 6 inches of rain fell on June 25 in parts of the Detroit area, overloading sewer systems. Some streets were completely flooded, while low-lying sections of freeways saw water deep enough to cover car tires and hoods.

Indiana Tornadoes

The National Weather Service confirmed two tornadoes touched down in north central Indiana on June 25.

The first tornado was reported around 8:18 p.m. night in far eastern Tippecanoe County at winds of 95 mph.

At around 8:30 p.m., reports were made of a second tornado in Carroll County.

Reports of damage in Carroll County included mainly tree damage and some minor shingle or siding damage to homes, but there were no reports of any injuries, according to WTHR-TV.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Windstorm Flood Michigan Indiana
Two more individuals have pleaded guilty to conspiring to stage automobile accidents in Louisiana in a scheme to defraud insurance and trucking companies, the U.S. Justice Department says.

The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana reported that James Curtis Williams, 66, of Gibson, Louisiana, and Ryan Wheaten, 53, of Lafayette, Louisiana, each entered a plea of guilty on June 23, 2021, to Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud, in connection with staged automobile accidents with tractor-trailers in New Orleans.

According to todays guilty plea, on March 27, 2017, Williams conspired with co-defendants-passengers Tanya Givens, John Diggs and Lois Russell to stage an accident with a tractor-trailer at the intersection of Chef Menteur Highway and Downman Road.

Damien Labeaud and Roderick Hickman, who have pleaded guilty to staging other accidents, also participated in this accident. Hickman, while driving Russells car, intentionally struck the 18-wheeler and then fled the scene with Labeaud.

Russell advised NOPD that she was the driver and she, along with Williams, Givens and J. Diggs, made claims for personal injuries. In total, the victim trucking and insurance companies paid out approximately $272,500.00 for these fraudulent claims.

According to Wheatons guilty plea, on May 17, 2017, he and other participants  Labeaud, Mario Solomon, Henry Randle, and Dakota Diggs  participated in a staged automobile accident in the vicinity of U.S. Highway 90 East and Calliope Street in New Orleans.

Labeaud and Solomon fled the scene, and Randle falsely reported to police that he had been driving and that the tractor-trailer had struck his vehicle.

Shortly thereafter, Labeaud and Solomon went on to stage a second accident in the vicinity of Louisa Street and Chickasaw Street with Bernell Gale, Troy Smith, Marvel Francois, and another passenger. Labeaud, Solomon, Wheaten, Gale, Smith, and Francois were also charged. Labeaud, Solomon, Gale, Smith and Francois previously pleaded guilty in the case.

After the staged accident, Wheaten, Randle and D. Diggs made claims for personal injuries. The victim trucking and insurance companies paid out approximately $10,000.00 for these fraudulent claims.

With the current guilty pleas, Williams and Wheaten each face a maximum sentence of five years in prison, as well as up to three years of supervised release, and/or a fine of $250,000 or. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 27, 2021.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Louisiana State Police and the Metropolitan Crime Commission assisted with the investigation. The prosecution of this case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward J. Rivera, Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Carboni, Assistant U.S. Attorney Shirin Hakimzadeh, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian M. Klebba, Supervisor of the Financial Crimes Unit.

Source: U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana

Topics Auto Louisiana
The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers Compensation (DWC) has extended its mandatory data call to selected insurance carriers seeking certain information related to COVID-19 injuries reported to on or after Dec. 1, 2019, through the end of the year.

The DWC said the extension is to ensure it has sufficient information to determine the impact of COVID-19 injuries on the Texas workers compensation system.

As a reminder:

Only selected insurance carriers/groups are required to comply with the data call. Selected insurance carriers must provide summary data using the COVID-19 data call reporting forms and instructions. Each selected insurance carrier or group is required to provide one data submission per insurance carrier or group.

Insurance carriers/groups must submit the requested data to DWC through the insurance carrier Austin representatives secure file transfer protocol box no later than 5 p.m., Central time to be considered timely. See the schedule attached to this bulletin for a complete list of data call submission deadlines.

Data call submissions are cumulative.

COVID-19 Data Call Submission Deadlines

What to Submit Submission Deadline to DWC COVID-19 exposures and injuries reported to the insurance carrier from Dec. 1, 2019, through June 30, 2021, and payments made on those injuries as of June 30, 2021. July 30, 2021 COVID-19 exposures and injuries reported to the insurance carrier from December 1, 2019, through Sept. 30, 2021, and payments made on those injuries as of Sept. 30, 2021. Oct. 29, 2021 COVID-19 exposures and injuries reported to the insurance carrier from Dec. 1, 2019, through Dec. 31, 2021, and payments made on those injuries as of Dec. 31, 2021. Jan. 31, 2022

Source: TDI, DWC

Topics COVID-19 Texas Claims Workers' Compensation
Gov. Henry McMaster again said South Carolina is recovering better from the COVID-19 pandemic than just about any other state as he held a ceremonial signing of a bill preventing people from suing companies over the virus

The new law protects businesses and other groups as long as they follow guidelines to protect people from the virus. Dozens of other states have passed similar measures.

McMaster headed less than 2 miles (3 kilometers) from his Statehouse office to Cafe Strudel in West Columbia, whose owner praised him and the Legislature for taking steps to reduce his risk from reopening after the worst of the pandemic.

The governor again said his decision to resist closing restaurants and other businesses and allow them to reopen more quickly meant South Carolina suffered less economic problems.

As a result a lot of other states are struggling to get out of the holes they were in. Were ready to blast off, McMaster said Thursday before signing the bill.

The May unemployment rate in the state was 4.6% in May, down from the pandemic high of 11.5% in May 2020 and well below the national rate of 5.8% in May 2021, according to the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce.

COVID-19 has killed more than 9,800 people in South Carolina since March 2020. Only about 37% of the population has been fully vaccinated against the disease.

After the bill signing, McMaster said he wasnt worried about the low vaccine rates or new COVID-19 variants that have caused increased case counts and hospitalizations in other states.

Were always on alert. We watch it very closely and were ready to respond as necessary, the governor said.

McMaster made the COVID-19 liability bill a priority. He actually signed the bill on April 28 after it passed the House 89-18 and the Senate 40-3.

Opponents of the bill said existing laws would work protect the businesses without changes and as of this spring there was just one lawsuit pending in state court where someone blames a business for their illness.

But the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance and other business groups said the bill protects companies and others as they try to bounce back from the economic downturn caused by the pandemic.

The bill offers certainty to businesses that if they do the right thing, they will be protected, House Speaker Jay Lucas said.

Were not rewarding poor behavior with a bill like this. This isnt a get out of jail free card, said Lucas, a Republican from Hartsville.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics COVID-19 Lawsuits South Carolina
The board that licenses and disciplines doctors in California is failing to hold bad actors accountable, endangering patients in the process.

Thats the verdict of state lawmakers and patient advocates who have been working for years to reform the Medical Board of California.

But an attempt this year to give the board more money and power to investigate complaints of fraud, gross negligence, sexual misconduct and other misbehavior is under attack from one of the most politically potent forces in Californias Capitol: doctors themselves.

And so far, it seems, the doctors are winning.

The California Medical Association (CMA), whose top lobbyist sat next to Gov. Gavin Newsom at the infamous French Laundry dinner last fall, swooped in to slash a proposed hike on physicians licensing fees even though the board, which relies on those fees, is teetering on insolvency. It also beat back a proposal to put more non-physician members of the public on the board, which would have diminished the influence of the doctors who represent a majority.

The strength and the power of the CMA is that they are able to deflect and obstruct the beneficial and necessary legislation to protect the consumer and to ensure the success of the medical board, said former state Sen. Jerry Hill, who four years ago lost his push to overhaul the board. Thats what I found, and thats what I see occurring this year.

This years bill was approved by the state Senate after it was amended under pressure from the doctors group. The measure is now before the state Assembly, where it remains a target of the California Medical Association. As currently written, SB 806 would authorize a smaller licensing fee increase, restore the boards authority to recoup investigative costs from doctors who have been disciplined and create an independent monitor to evaluate the boards complaint and disciplinary processes.

The mission of the medical board, composed of eight physicians and seven members of the public, is to license and discipline doctors. But critics say the board has allowed some doctors who have committed wrongdoing to keep their licenses, despite reports of egregious behavior, while families complain theyve been left in the dark for years.

The board received 10,868 complaints in the 2019-20 fiscal year. During that period, it initiated 1,956 investigations, revoked 35 physician licenses, put 170 doctors on probation and reprimanded 108 doctors, according to the boards 2019-2020 Annual Report. An additional 96 physicians surrendered their licenses.

In his independent review of cases that came before the panel last year, board member Eserick TJ Watkins told lawmakers the board had settled 84% of complaints, with a bias toward allowing doctors to continue to practice without real rehabilitation.

This boards value is we protect the doctors, and well go over and above in order to do so, said Watkins, one of the boards members representing the public.

Earlier this year, the boards executive director told lawmakers the board is taking longer to investigate complex cases than it did six years ago, in part because of more complaints and vacancies among the boards support staff. In fiscal year 2019-20, those cases took an average of 548 days from start to end, he said, compared with 310 in fiscal year 2013-14.

Patients and their families who have testified at legislative hearings describe an unresponsive and uncommunicative board that usually allows doctors accused of negligence or malpractice to continue to practice.

I thought there would be a lot of integrity and thoroughness to the investigation process, and I didnt get a sense that the medical board really looked at the matter, said Alka Airy, who in 2019 filed a complaint of unprofessional conduct and potential negligence against the University of California-San Franciscos Lung Transplant Program after her sister, Shilpa Airy, died the year before.

According to the complaint, doctors who treated Shilpa Airy between 2015 and 2018 failed to evaluate how her lung failure affected her heart or refer her to a cardiologist. She died of end-stage heart failure while waiting for a lung transplant. Airy said the board closed the complaint without taking action. The board declined to comment.

By comparison, when Alka Airy filed a complaint with the California Board of Registered Nursing, she said, she was interviewed by an investigator who requested additional records beyond what the doctors or hospital may have provided. Airy said she is still waiting to learn the outcome of the case.

A UCSF spokesperson said its clinicians have fully cooperated with all investigators and could not comment on pending investigations.

I think my experience was very similar to thousands of other folks who sent in complaints to the medical board, Airy said. Its not a transparent process. So much happens behind closed doors.

Board spokesperson Carlos Villatoro said the board bases its disciplinary decisions on the facts and circumstances of each case to determine whether revoking a physicians license is necessary.

The board does not have the authority to punish a licensee by imposing a level of discipline that goes beyond what is necessary to protect the public, Villatoro said via email.

Advocates for patients and even some board members believe that tipping the boards balance of power to public members could regain some of the publics trust. But that provision was removed from this years bill after the California Medical Association argued the panel  like other comparable state boards  needed the expertise of people in the profession it regulates.

Dr. Howard Krauss, himself a former trustee of the CMA, has been on the board for eight years. In that time, he said, hes never witnessed a decision that pitted physicians on the board against public members.

The optics of having a board with one more public member than a physician might be of benefit, Krauss said at an emergency hearing this month.

Critics say the board also lacks the resources and the ability to pursue timely investigations, hamstrung by a legislature beholden to the CMA, whose 50,000 pediatricians, surgeons and other physicians are influential members of every lawmakers district.

The California Medical Association is one of the most prolific campaign contributors in Sacramento and has given to Newsom and all but one of the 119 lawmakers currently serving in the state legislature.

In addition to making campaign contributions directly to lawmakers, the association spent $18.6 million between Jan. 1, 2011, and March 30, 2021, lobbying lawmakers and state agencies on a variety of issues, from flavored tobacco to medical malpractice caps, according to records filed with the California secretary of states office. It employs its own lobbyists and hires outside lobbying firms.

The group routinely scores access to the states top leaders. Among the movers and shakers at the French Laundry dinner party in Napa Valley in November were the associations top lobbyist, Janus Norman, and CEO, Dustin Corcoran.

CMA spokesperson Anthony York said the organization is like any other group in the Capitol that advocates for its members. He said the $367 increase in licensing fees that lawmakers initially proposed  from $783 to $1,150  would have been too big a burden on doctors who fought to stay open during the pandemic.

Family medicine physicians in California earned an average annual wage of $220,240 as of the first quarter of this year, according to the state Employment Development Department. A lot of physician practices are struggling to keep their doors open, York said. Now is not the time for a fee increase.

After state Sen. Richard Roth (D-Riverside) introduced the legislatures must-pass bill to reauthorize the medical board in May, the CMA issued an action alert to its members, urging doctors to call, text and email their senators to voice their opposition. Eight days later, it declared a partial victory when Roth amended his bill to lower the fee increase to $863 and eliminate a requirement that the board be controlled by public members, a provision that had been backed by Senate leader Toni Atkins.

While the bill is not perfect, the association wrote on its website, the removal of those provisions was a major victory.

Despite repeated requests from the medical board, lawmakers havent approved a licensing fee increase in 16 years, even though the fees are the boards primary source of income. The CMA agreed to the last fee increase in 2005 as part of a deal that also took away the boards ability to recover legal and investigative costs for cases in which doctors had been disciplined.

York said the association remains opposed to the provision that would restore the boards ability to recoup investigative costs and has concerns about the role of the independent monitor.

In its report to the legislature, the medical board projected it would be insolvent by the end of 2021-22 without an increase in licensing fees.

Doctors just dont want to pay for it, said Bridget Gramme, an attorney at the Center for Public Interest Law at the University of San Diego School of Law. What is the money going for? Its going for a stronger discipline system, which they dont want.

Roth, who chairs the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee, said the CMAs influence wasnt the reason he amended the bill to reduce the fee increase. Rather, he said the board hadnt justified the large fee increase  even though he included it in the original version of the bill  and could make do with a modest fee increase combined with better money management.

Everybody had an opportunity to voice their perspective, Roth said, pointing out that the bill still includes provisions that doctors oppose. The goal is to make sure that we have a medical board that is functioning effectively and efficiently, that the enforcement process does the right thing at the right time for the right reasons, and that we squeeze every bit of operational efficiency that we can afford.

As he watches from afar, Hill, the former legislator, said he doesnt think the California Medical Association will give up until it kills every provision it opposes.

This whole thing is part of CMAs playbook. Its how they operate, Hill said. They hire just about every available lobbyist in Sacramento to remove the rest of what was in the bill.

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.

Subscribe to KHNs free Morning Briefing.

Topics California
The Hawaii Department of Taxation has been boosting its monitoring of peer-to-peer car rentals.

The industry operates with the help of apps like Turo, which people can use to rent their personal cars to others.

Department Director Isaac Choy told Hawaii Public Radio that residents should do research before doing so.

One thing to know, he said, is that Hawaii law requires taxes and a rental car surcharge to be collected on every vehicle.

I think its along the lines of vacation rentals and everything. Everybodys trying to make a little extra money, Choy said. Peer-to-peer cars, I dont know if its going to be the next big thing, but its going to be a thing and we just want to make sure that if youre renting your car that youre being really, really fair with any commercial car rental operation.'

The state requires Turo to pay rental car taxes, he said. The person who owns the car must pay a half-a-percent wholesale rate.

Lou Bertuca, the head of government relations for Turo, told The Associated Press rental car companies dont pay sales taxes on vehicles they purchase in most states, creating what he called a front-end sales-tax loophole. In Hawaii, Bertuca said the companies must pay a 0.5% tax on vehicle purchases, which is significantly less than the more than 4% general excise tax plus paid by Hawaii retail car buyers.

Choy said owners should also check with their insurance agent or attorney before posting their vehicle on Turo because its important to know what their liability would be if a renter damages the vehicle or private property.

Some residents have complained to officials after seeing their streets become parking lots for vehicles. The issue emerged at a Waialae-Kahala neighborhood board meeting this month.

Tax department investigators recently checked out a site in Kahala and took pictures of more than a dozen cars offered on Turo that were parked on public streets.

The Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting has received complaints from Kahala as well as Ewa, Kalihi and Salt Lake.

Turo wants people to reach out to the company to let them know if a host is not being a good neighbor, Bertuca said. We want hosts to be good community members and citizens, he said.

Hawaii airport officials have ticketed operators in Honolulu and Maui. They said they are monitoring the situation closely and considering changing some administrative rules.

Turo is trying to obtain parking permits from airports around the country, Bertuca said. It already has such arrangements with airports in Denver and Tampa, he said.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Auto Sharing Economy
The Department of Health has said it could spend a further 22.4m over a 12-month period on an extension of the mandatory hotel quarantine (MHQ) system for people arriving in Ireland from designated countries.

The department had issued a tender for the provision of MHQ services, with the potential requirement for up to 1,600 hotel rooms.

However, it said the cost estimate was based on an occupancy level of just 200 rooms.

The Health Amendment Act 2021, which provides for the MHQ system, is due to end on July 31 but department officials expect it to be extended.

The department said it was now conducting a competition for the provision of MHQ facilities to ensure there would be no gap in such services.

There is a continued requirement to provide for the mandatory hotel quarantine of persons coming into the State from certain areas from where there is known to be sustained human transmission of Covid-19 or any variant of concern.

Health officials said a minimum of 200 rooms will be required with a potential maximum requirement for 1,600 rooms depending on the number of countries placed on the red list.

The winning bidder is expected to provide a range of services including accommodation, transport, security, healthcare assessment and monitoring and interpretation services.

The new contract is set to take effect from early September.

The Department of Health said the initial contract will be for a two-month period at an estimated cost of 3.2m, with the possibility of extension of three-month periods up to a maximum of 12 months.

A leading hotel group, Tifco, is being paid more than 5.4m for operating the original MHQ contract, which covered a three-month period with potential extensions of another two months.

'Extreme urgency'

The Department of Health said Tifco was awarded the contract outside the normal public procurement process which requires high-value State contracts to be advertised in the official journal of the EU because of the extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable.

Fresh bids are expected from some of 11 different hotel, travel and event management operators who had declared an interest in providing quarantine facilities and other services before the scheme was first introduced in May.

Under the contract, Tifco is required to provide a central reservation system through an online portal for MHQ as well as providing full-board accommodation to visitors for up to 14 days.

The group must also provide shuttle services from ports and airports to hotels as well as health assessment and monitoring services which include two Covid-19 PCR tests during a 14-day stay.

Tifco must also arrange up to three supervised breaks daily for each guest in quarantine.

Individuals arriving into Ireland and entering mandatory hotel quarantine are required to pay 1,875 with a cost of 625 for each additional adult and children aged 12-17.

The cost for children aged four-12 is 360, while there is no charge for infants up to three years.

Tifco hotels being used for MHQ are the Crowne Plaza hotels in Santry and Blanchardstown, Clontarf Castle, the Holiday Inn Express in Santry and the Hard Rock Hotel on Exchange Street.

Other hotels also providing MHQ facilities are the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel on Golden Lane, the Croke Park Hotel on Jones Road and the Red Cow Moran Hotel on Naas Road.

61 countries on red list

Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy has called for a review of the mandatory hotel quarantine system. 'If people are just walking out the door, its worrying.' File picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

There are currently 61 countries on the designated list, with the vast majority based in Africa, Asia and South America.

The only European countries currently on the list are Russia and Turkey.

Social Democrats co-leader, Catherine Murphy has called for a review of the MHQ system including its security arrangements after a report in the Sunday Times revealed that the Department of Health had been notified that only 24 of 75 individuals who absconded from quarantine hotels returned voluntarily after gardai intervened.

Ms Murphy said MHQ was meant to be a key part of the containment strategy for keeping numbers exposed to the Delta variant down.

If people are just walking out the door, its worrying, Ms Murphy remarked.
The Taoiseach is opposed to the coalition parties entering into a voting pact in the Dublin Bay South by-election.

Reports have suggested that Higher Education Minister Simon Harris, the Fine Gael director of elections, has urged Fianna Fail and the Greens to unite the parties' bases to secure the seat for one of the ruling parties and stop Sinn Fein's Lynn Boylan from winning the July 8 by-election.

However, Micheal Martin said Fianna Fail is focused on winning the seat for its candidate, councillor Deirdre Conroy. He told RTE's The Week In Politics the Irish people rarely like to be told how to vote and any official pact is not a good idea.

"I was surprised by [the reports[ in the sense that from my own experience, formal voting pacts don't work. The Irish people are sophisticated enough to know how to work the PR voting system. That's my experience in elections and referendums. My experience tells me that the most important thing will be to respect the voter and seek the voter's support."

Sources in Fianna Fail and the Green Party also bristled at the idea. One Fianna Fail TD suggested Mr Harris may be nervous at the prospect of his party's councillor James Geoghegan not being elected to the seat vacated by the resignation of former Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy.

The Greens, likewise, rejected the notion that they should ask people how to vote beyond their candidate, councillor Claire Byrne. One source said the Greens would "try to win the seat for the party like any other election" and moving purely to stop the opposition is "not a viable plan".

With two weeks to go to the election, a poll shows support for Fine Gael has risen to 30% among voters, regaining its lead over Sinn Fein.

The latest Business Post/Red C poll shows support for Leo Varadkars party has risen by 1% since last months poll, just enough to narrowly edge past Mary Lou McDonalds party which remains at 29%.

The two parties have been neck and neck in the Red C poll in recent months, well ahead of the Taoiseachs own party.

Support for Fianna Fail rests at a mere 13% nationally, down a percentage point since Mays poll.

The Green Partys support remains unchanged at 5% while Labour is stuck on 3%. The Social Democrats are down to 4%, which is 1% lower than its polling last month.

Support for Independents, meanwhile, has risen by a percentage point, bringing them up to 11%. Solidarity-People Before Profit and Aontu remain unchanged at 2%.
Burma Myanmar Junta to Sell Metal Worth US$51 Million

Metal refinery in Namtu, Shan State / The Irrawaddy

Myanmars military regime is selling metal worth at least US$51 million as it seeks to raise hard currency to fund its coup. The junta-controlled Ministry of Mines (MOM) has invited bids in US dollars for copper cathode and by-products from metal mines.

The MOM announced in state-controlled newspapers that it will sell 5,008 metric tons of copper cathode by open tender on July 21, based on London Metal Exchange prices.

It has also invited bids for 300,000 tons of smelter slag and 140,000 tons of mill tailings from Bawdwin Mine in Namtu, Shan State, as well as 69 metric tons of lead ore from a mine in Loilem, Shan State and 20 metric tons of antimony ore from a mine in Heho, Shan State. Tenders are to be submitted by July 26.

When similar items were put out to tender in December last year, a metric ton of copper cathode sold for US$7,970, while a metric ton of smelter slag sold for US$38.10. From those figures, the value of the metal to be sold in July is estimated to be at least US$51 million.

Myanmar receives a share of copper cathode from the copper mines it operates as joint ventures with Chinese-run mining companies. The Irrawaddy has found that when copper cathode and other metals were sold under tender by previous governments, most of the buyers were Chinese firms.

To meet its high demand for metal, China buys up all the metal from Wa State, a self-administered region in Shan State, as well as all the rare earth metals from Panwar in Kachin State. The Chinese-owned Myanmar Wanbao Co, which operates a copper mine in Sagaing Regions Salingyi Township, also buys most of the copper cathode sold by the Myanmar government.

Two other Chinese companies  Myanmar Apex and Cornerstone Resources (Myanmar)  are the usual buyers of smelter slag and mill tailings from the Bawdwin Mine.

Myanmar Apex extracts zinc from the old lava dumps at the Bawdwin mine and supplies it to China. Cornerstone Resources (Myanmar) operates a refinery at Tangyan Township in northern Shan State.

Copper is extracted from the Letpadaung, Sabetaung and Kyisintaung mines in Salingyi Township in Sagaing Region, with copper production essentially monopolized by the Chinese companies Myanmar Yang Tse and Myanmar Wanbao Co.

The controversial Letpadaung copper mine is operated by Myanmar Wanbao Co, with Myanmar receiving 51 percent of the profits under a new contract signed in 2013, Myanmar Wanbao Co receiving 30 percent and the military-run Myanma Economic Holdings, 19 percent.

Until the Second World War, the Bawdwin mine was the worlds largest producer of lead, as well as one of the biggest producers of silver on the planet. A large amount of smelter slag has been left over from the extraction of silver. Chinese companies buy the smelter slag and extract lead, zinc and other minerals to export to China. They also buy mill tailings from Bawdwin to extract minerals to be exported to China.

The Bawdwin mine was nationalized in 1965, three years after the coup led by Ne Win, and was handed over to the Asia World Company owned by U Htun Myint Naing, a son of the late drug lord Lo Hsing Han. The companys subsidiary, Win Myint Mo Industries Co Ltd, operates a number of open pit mines at Bawdwin. The Bawdwin mine was subsequently privatized in 2010.

The Bawdwin Joint Venture Co Ltd is planning to resume operations at Bawdwin by 2023. The joint venture includes two domestic companies  EAP Global Mining Co Ltd and Win Myint Mo Industries Co Ltd  which each have a 24.5 percent stake and Australias Myanmar Metals Limited with a 51 percent stake.

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Burma Myanmar Regime Locks Down Chinese Border Town Amid COVID-19 Spike

Laukkai in the Kokang Self-Administered Zone in August 2020. / The Irrawaddy

Myanmars military regime locked down Laukkai Township in northern Shan States Kokang Self-Administrative Zone near the Chinese border on Monday as more than 100 COVID-19 positive cases have been reported within 10 days.

It becomes the second Shan township to impose a stay-at-home order, following Lashio on Sunday. Lashio recorded more than 300 COVID-19 cases by June 27.

COVID-19 positive cases have been rising in northern Shan State, including Lashio, Nawng Cho, Kalaw, Hspiaw, Namkham, Kutkai, Laukkai and Chin Shwe Haw townships in the last two weeks.

The restrictions on travel have been imposed since June 23, with limited numbers allowed into Laukkai, according to a migrant working at a hotel in Laukkai.

We are staying indoors. We were told the restrictions would be lifted on July 6, however, as the cases are rising we think it will be extended, said the migrant worker on condition of anonymity.

The worker said they had been tested for coronavirus and are awaiting the results. Some residents have received coronavirus jabs.

Laukkai was locked down from April 23 to May 1 due to COVID-19.

Residents said the transport of goods and passengers has been suspended. Some of Laukkais many construction workers have returned to their homes as work is suspended.

Kokangs COVID-19 Disease Control and Response Committee has threatened to act against anyone entering the township illegally.

The committee said it would take action against armed groups which are helping those illegally entering the township. Companies or departments are not allowed to hire anyone without a COVID-19 test certificate and could be charged under the Natural Disaster Management Law.

On Sunday 804 new COVID-19 cases were reported across Myanmar, according to the juntas Ministry of Health and Sports. Myanmar on Sunday recorded 153,160 COVID-19 cases with 3,297 deaths nationwide. Coronavirus testing decreased following the military coup on Feb. 1 with health-care workers starting the civil disobedience movement.

Myanmar has been hit by a fresh wave of COVID-19 since May with most cases near the Indian, Chinese and Bangladeshi borders.

Sagaing Region, which borders India, has seen the largest number of cases, followed by Chin State, which is also on the Indian border. Clusters of infections have also been reported in Yangon and adjacent Bago Region.

The regime has previously imposed stay-at-home orders on nine townships: Tamu and Kale in Sagaing Region; Tonzang, Hakha, Tedim, Falam and Thantlang townships in Chin State; and Bago Regions Letpadan and Phyu townships.

Last week, three people who had received two COVID-19 jabs tested positive in Maungdaw, a border town with Bangladesh in Rakhine State.

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Around 30 Myanmar Junta Troops Killed in Sagaing

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Burma Nine Myanmar Junta Troops Killed in Sagaing: PDF

Protesters turn militant in Kale Township on March 29. / CJ

Nine junta soldiers were killed during a shootout with civilian resistance fighters in Kale Township, Sagaing Region, on Sunday afternoon.

The Kale Peoples Defense Force (PDF) ambushed three military vehicles carrying about 50 troops on the Gangaw-Kale highway, according to the Kale PDF.

The troops traveling from Gangaw to Kale were ambushed between Thanphu and Khway Kyein villages.

Kales PDF said at least nine junta soldiers were killed while the resistance escaped without casualties.

The Irrawaddy was unable to confirm the casualties independently.

A nearby farmer was injured by a bullet, a Thanphu villager told the Irrawaddy on Monday.

A 56-year-old villager was detained by junta troops after the shootout with resistance fighters, saying he was not involved with the conflict.

Most of the 4,000 Thanphu villagers and several Khway Kyein villagers have fled their homes.

We dont want war as most people are sick and we have the danger of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those fleeing are suffering from hardships in the forest, the resident said.

On Saturday afternoon, more than 20 military vehicles traveling from Gangaw to Kale were hit by landmines laid by Kales PDF on the Gangaw-Kale highway near Natchaung village.

There were military casualties in the attack, said Kales PDF.

Kale residents started to take up homemade firearms in early April after the junta started killing peaceful anti-regime protesters in Kale on March 2.

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Burma Worried About COVID-19 Spike, Detained Suu Kyi Urges People for More Caution

Myanmar's State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visits the first COVID-19 vaccination center in Naypyitaw on January 27, 2021, a few days before the military coup. / The Irrawaddy

Detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is worried about the countrys rising cases of coronavirus and urged people to be more careful.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is concerned about the COVID-19 infections. She told the people to be more careful, said Daw San Mar Lar Nyunt, one of her lawyers, who met her on Monday during her ongoing trial.

Two of her lawyers, Daw San Mar Lar Nyunt and U Kyi Win, tested negative for COVID-19 before traveling to Naypyitaw to represent her on Monday. With rising COVID-19 cases, they have to test every time before traveling and acquire certificates to prove their health.

The regime has filed seven charges against her following the February coup.

Myanmar has been hit by a wave of COVID-19 since May with most cases reported in the border towns with India, China and Bangladesh and Yangon and Bago regions.

On Sunday, there were 804 new COVID-19 positive cases across Myanmar, according to the juntas health ministry. Myanmar on Sunday had 153,160 COVID-19 cases with 3,297 deaths nationwide, according to the junta.

When the first cases of coronavirus were reported in late March last year, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi asked people to follow preventative measures, including wearing masks, washing hands and practicing social distancing. She used Facebook for the first time to engage with more people. Her government imposed stay-at-home orders and opened quarantine centers.

Following the February coup, COVID-19 testing dropped as health care staff joined the civil disobedience movement, refusing to work for the military regime.

As COVID-19 cases have risen, the regime reopened quarantine centers but the military-controlled authorities lack any popular support. Hospitals and quarantine centers are largely undermanned as many staff remain on strike. Many people with symptoms remain in self-isolation at home rather than heading to hospital, in contrast with last year, as they believe the regime could not provide proper care.

By Monday, the regime had imposed stay-at-home orders on 11 townships in Sagaing and Bago regions, and Chin and Shan states.

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Editorial If Myanmars Coup Is a Fait Accompli, Who Is Complicit in the Crime?

Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Naypyitaw in January. / Supplied

Its official: China and several of Myanmars other neighbors have no intention of condemning the military coup.

Since the military seized power in February, Myanmar has seen sustained anti-China demonstrations. Nearly five months since the takeover, the military continues to face daily protests, though the number has declined since the days immediately after the coup. At the same time, we are seeing more violence and targeted killings aimed at regime targets in some parts of the country. The message to the junta from the majority of Myanmar citizens remains clear: We will not let you rule the country.

Despite this, the Chinese government has made a fundamental assessment that Myanmar is moving into another prolonged period of military rule, according to the Financial Times.

Yun Sun, an expert on Myanmar-China relations with the Stimson Center, a US think-tank, said, I think the Chinese can see that this military coup is successful and is here to stay.

China is one of the top investors in Myanmar and has strategic infrastructure projects in the country, including energy pipelines that give Beijing a critical link to the Indian Ocean. China also continues to provide political and military support to ethnic armed groups based along the Myanmar-China border.

Among the Myanmar public today, the perception that Beijing has long been and remains a staunch supporter of the military has resulted in growing levels of public discontent and disgust toward China.

China is taking a huge risk by doing business in military-run Myanmar in defiance of the publics condemnation.

On June 5, Chinese Ambassador Chen Hai met coup maker and State Administration Council (SAC) leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw, becoming the first ambassador to do so.

According to the Chinese Embassy, Chen stressed the value and importance to China of its traditional friendship with Myanmar. China sincerely hopes for the earlier restoration of peace and stability in Myanmar, and supports the implementation of [the] consensus by ASEAN and Myanmar. China will continue to play a constructive role in this regard, it said in a statement, in which the coup maker was referred to as the leader of Myanmar.

In the past, Beijing cultivated good relations with now ousted government officials including State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently in detention in Naypyitaw. But its refusal to condemn the coup and its support for the regime at the UN Security Council has made China, and institutions associated with it, a target for anti-junta protesters in Myanmar.

Attacks on China-linked businesses and Chinas natural gas pipelines in Myanmar since the coup prompted the Chinese to request an emergency meeting with regime officials, at which the Chinese side urged the junta to tighten security measures.

Chinas interest in Myanmar is deep, but Myanmar citizens revulsion toward China runs deeper.

It is easy enough to speculate that Myanmar is set to suffer a prolonged period of military rule. But if the coup is judged to have achieved its aims and the generals can claim victory over the peoplewho have steadfastly rejected military rulethen we must ask ourselves: Who are the militarys partners in crime?

The answer is crystal clear: Apart from China, Russia and Myanmars neighbors are at the top of the list of Myanmar citizens naming and shaming campaign.

Min Aung Hlaing arrived back in Myanmar on Sunday night after his weeklong trip to Russia. During his visit, he lauded Russia as Myanmars friend forever. The coup leader, of course, was bound to say this, due to the military ties between the two countries. Plus, Russia is the second-largest arms exporter to Myanmar after China, and both Moscow and Beijing continue to act as diplomatic shields for the junta against any action by the UN, not to mention their failure to condemn the coup.

Closer to home, neighboring countries like Thailand, India and others have also been tightlipped about the coup. The silence of India, Myanmars biggest neighbor after China and the worlds largest democracy, can probably be attributed to its military ties with Min Aung Hlaings military and the coup leaders good relations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Thailand has turned out to be a bird of a similar feather. Its Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon has taken a hands-off approach, describing the military takeover in Myanmar as an internal matter. It should also be noted that both India and Thailand abstained from voting on a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a halt to weapons supplies to Myanmar, further proving their complicity in the juntas crimes.

Enter Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

In the end, well remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.

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Guest Column Military Coup Renews Rebellions in Myanmars Kayah and Chin States

Civilian resistance fighters torch a regime security outpost in Demoso, Kayah State in late May.

It is hardly surprising that the ethnic rebellions in states like those inhabited by the Kachin and Karen have flared anew since the military seized absolute power in Myanmar on Feb. 1, and that Bamar dissidents from cities and towns have sought refuge in areas controlled by ethnic rebels in the north and east. That happened after the military crushed a nationwide uprising for democracy in 1988 as well. But this time, the sound of gunfire and bomb blasts can be heard in Yangon, Mandalay and other cities and towns in the countrys heartland. And, in the ethnic areas, some of the heaviest fighting has raged in Chin and Kayah states, which for decades have not seen any widespread insurgencies.

Even there, it is a new type of rebellion. Myanmars older ethnic rebel armies, who have been battling for self-rule and autonomy for decades, are dressed up in uniforms with insignia, the officers have ranks, they are based in camps and are organized along the lines of regular armies anywhere in the world. The new rebels in Chin and Kayah states have none of that, and, unlike the ethnic rebel armies, are not equipped with automatic rifles but hunting guns, homemade weapons and bombs they have assembled themselves.

Even so, if reports on social media sites are to be believed, they have managed to inflict heavy casualties on the Myanmar military, the Tatmadaw. Dozens of soldiers have been killed in ambushes and by roadside bombswhich, in turn, has provoked a massive and brutal response from the Tatmadaw. Heavy artillery and airpower have been used, but since the Tatmadaw is facing a largely invisible enemy, the firing into villages suspected of harboring the rebels has been indiscriminate, houses have been torched and even places of worship, like churches in predominantly Christian areas of Kayah State, have been damaged.

As a result, according to a June 24 statement by Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, an estimated 230,000 people have been displaced because of violence, fights and insecurity. According to local sources in Demoso, Kayah State quoted by The Irrawaddy, Tatmadaw troops have also looted shops and entered homes and taken whatever they feel like. With all of that comes widespread anger at central military authoritiesand the possibility of strengthening older, centrifugal forces on the periphery, which would be a challenge to anyone who wants to keep the country together.

Kayah State is inhabited by several ethnic groups of whom the Karenni, or Kayah, are the predominant among the states population of approximately 286,000. Originally Animist, many of them were converted to Christianity, mainly by Baptist missionaries, in the 19th century. But the Mong Pai (Mobye in Burmese) area on the Shan State borderwhere more than a dozen Tatmadaw soldiers were killed by local rebels in Mayis where the Kayan, or Padaung, people live. They are predominantly Roman Catholic and their women are famous for wearing brass neck rings, which make their necks seem longer.

There is an old rebel army in Kayah State, the Karenni Army (KA), which is the armed wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) but has been engaged only in sporadic fighting since it was formed in the 1970s. But Kayah State has a very different administrative history from other Myanmar states. Although Animist or Christian, its people adopted at an early stage in history Shan political culture and established their own principalities. Following the advent of British colonial power in the 19th century, central Burma, as it was then called, became a colony, while the 40-or-so Shan states achieved a status similar to that of being protectorates.

The Karenni states, on the other hand, were recognized as independent under an agreement signed in 1875 by T.D. Forsyth for the British crown and Kinwun Mingyi U Kaung, the representative of the king in Mandalay: It is hereby agreed that the Burmese and British Governments that the states of Western Karenni shall remain separate and independent and that no sovereignty or governing authority of any description shall be claimed or exercised over that State. Consequently, the Karenni states of Kyebogyi, Kantarawaddy and Bawlake were marked as independent on maps throughout the colonial era although, in reality, they enjoyed the same status as the Shan principalities. But British presence was light, and there was little interference in the internal affairs of the Karenni states.

The Karenni and Shan states were the only states which, according to the 1947 constitution, had the right to secede from the then proposed Union of Burma after 10 years of independence. The Kachin and Karen states, which were to be formed after independence, did not have that right. But the Karenni rose in rebellion as early as 1946 in anticipation of the formation of the Union. The United Karenni Independent States were proclaimed to safeguard the independence of the area. An armed wing called the United Karenni States Independence Army was formed in 1948 but the rebellion petered out after the arrest of the main leader, Saw Maw Reh, in 1949. He was released in 1953 and was among those who formed the KNPP in 1957. The KA was set up in 1974, but like its mother organization the KNPP, it was based mainly on the Thai border opposite Mae Hong Son, where it benefited from the black-market trade between the two countries. A smaller faction broke away and formed an alliance with the Communist Party of Burma (CPB), but its presence in Kayah State was very limited. When Saw Maw Reh died in 1994, the KNPP/KA lost most of its remaining strength and the movement slipped more or less into oblivionuntil now.

The Kayan formed their own organization called the Kayan Newland Party (KNLP). Set up in 1964, it was for years led by Shwe Aye, aka Naing Hlu Ta, a former university student, who allied the movement with the CPB. In 1994, the KNLP was one of many rebel groups that made peace with the then military government. Local conflicts with rival groups and government demands for total surrender have decimated the group and it is now no longer active. The recent surge of fighting in Kayah State, therefore, appears to be unconnected with older insurrections.

The Chin, like the other hill peoples, including their distant relatives the Kachin, were also Animists before the arrival of the Christian missionaries. But unlike the Kachin they never managed to establish a formidable rebel army. One reason is thatagain unlike the Kachin, among whom the Jinghpaw dialect became the lingua francathe Chin remained divided by more than 30 (according to some counts, 44) different, mutually unintelligible dialects. In the 1970s, the Kachin Independence Army made an attempt to raise an allied force in Chin Statethe Chin Independence Army, with the unfortunate abbreviation of CIAbut it soon vanished from the scene.

The Chin are more closely related to the Mizo (or Lushai, as they were called during the colonial era) of northeastern India, and cross-border contacts have always been strong and frequent. The establishment of Mizoram, a separate state for the Mizo, in India in 1987 also had repercussions in Chin State. Much to the embarrassment of the Indian government, the Indian flag was hoisted in several towns in Chin State in 1988. It was followed by a demand by local leaders that Chin State should secede from Myanmar and join newly formed Mizoram.

A smaller rebel group called the Chin National Front (CNF) with the Chin National Army (CNA) as its armed wing was formed when a number of Chin students went underground after the 1988 uprising. They did get some support from across the border in India, where the Research and Analysis Wing (Indias external intelligence agency) used them to collect intelligence. They were also unofficially allowed to set up a base in a remote part of southern Mizoram. It was known as the Victoria Camp and named after Mount Victoria (Nat Ma Taung in Burmese), the highest mountain in Chin State. But it was abandoned in 2005 and the CNF remained an insignificant groupuntil ex-general U Thein Sein launched his so-called peace process after assuming the presidency in 2011.

In 2015 the CNF became one of the eight original signatories of U Thein Seins Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, but it was then so small and insignificant that it was awarded an area in Chin State where it could set up a headquarters, also called Victoria Camp. It was seen as important that the so-called signatories were credible forces, although only two of them, the Restoration Council of Shan State and the Karen National Union, had any actual armed forces. Photos of uniformed CNA troops began to appear on social media sites, but their weaponry seems to consist almost exclusively of wooden cutouts.

The CNA does not appear to have taken an active role in the recent fighting in Chin State, where in May a local force calling itself the Chinland Defense Force (CDF) seized control of a town called Mindat and, according to local sources, killed more than 30 Tatmadaw soldiers before being forced out after heavy bombardment from the air and by artillery fire. The CDF has also launched attacks near the Chin State capital Hakha and other places in the area. But on May 28, the CNF, perhaps because it did not want to be overtaken by events, declared that it had forged an alliance with the National Unity Government (NUG), which consists of elected MPs who were ousted on Feb. 1 and other pro-democracy individuals. It is also worth noting that the main spokesman of the NUG, Dr. Sasa, is a Chin who is among the thousands of Chin who fled to India after the coup and the subsequent flare-up of fighting in the home areas. Some sources put the number of refugees in India at more than 20,000, nearly all of them from Chin State and adjacent lowland areas. A smaller number of refugees are in Manipur, the Indian state north of Mizoram.

It is too early to say whether the new rebellions that the coup has ignited will have any significant, long-term impact. The initial success of their ambushes could not have been carried out without widespread popular support, but in order to fight an insurgency, they would need more sophisticated weaponry than they presently have at their disposal. In the past, Thailand had a huge gray weapons market where many Myanmar rebel armies bought their guns. But that is no longer the case and China, the only other possible source of military hardware, would provide only the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and, indirectly, the allied forces of that group with weapons. None of the new rebel armies would fall into that category. The UWSA has also shown through its inactivity that it wants to be aloof of the post-coup anti-Tatmadaw movement, and will remain uninvolved.

It is also not possible that the new rebels will have access to safe havens in neighboring countries, which they would need in order to survive and expand. The Thais are not even willing to let the thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in eastern Myanmar cross the border, and those who did manage to escape to Mizoram can, at most, expect humanitarian assistance from their fellow Mizo.

And then there is the issue of ethnic identity. Is there any coordination between the new rebel groups in ethnic areas and urban guerrillas carrying out attacks in cities and towns? Will the new armies in ethnic areas, in the end, join kindred rebels fighting for autonomy or, in some cases, secession from an oppressive, Bamar-dominated central power? The only thing that can be said with certainty is that junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing probably had no idea of the forces he and his henchmen would unleash when, nearly five months ago, they decided to launch a coup, a move that has thrown the country into turmoil, causing immense suffering and tearing the country apart.



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The horrifying news of the Surfside condo collapse has left the community of Key Biscayne in shock, as it has the rest of the state and nation. Nine deaths had been reported by Sunday evening, with more than 150 still unaccounted for.

Key Biscayne Police Chief Charles Press and Fire Chief Eric Lang have been at the condominium site assisting since the incident, said Pat Woodson, former KB Village Council member. They both have extraordinary hearts and personal, compassionate dedication to serving others, Woodson said.

Chief Lang said those who want to help need to Empty your pockets, not your closets. If a thousand people send clothing it just creates a huge task ...where money can be dispatched to areas of need immediately.

The KB Community Foundation is offering assistance to victims and their families. We have partnered with Coral Gables Community Center and the Miami Foundation to build an emergency hardship fund to support those impacted, said Melissa White, KBCF Executive Director. We are deeply saddened by the tragic event.

To donate to the fund, click here.

Fausto Gomez, condo president of the Lake Tower at the Ocean Club, and president of the Key Biscayne Condominium Presidents Council, said he is saddened by the tragedy. From the Presidents Council, we hope our prayers are answered so that families can be reunited, he said.

But as the sun was setting on Sunday, hope for recovering survivors was dwindling. More than 300 emergency personnel are working 24 hours a day, and the Army Corps of Engineers has been called in to help.

Michele Estevez, owner of Michele & Associates Property Management, remains shocked by the catastrophe. You see something like this and hold your breath and dont think its real, she said.

Like Estevez, Ileana Lopez, manager of the Mar Azul condos since 2005, feels deeply for the victims -- and what it can mean to communities with aging condominiums: This is just deeply concerning to all our communities.

Rabbi Avremel Caroline of the Chabad Key Biscayne Jewish Center said the Surfside Chabad has set up a collection to aid those impacted by the disaster. They have nothing, no clothes or food. At this point, all we can do is pray and hope for the best.

The multiple community foundation partnership Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced Thursday - supportsurfside.org - involving the Coral Gables Community Foundation, the Miami Community Foundation and the Key Biscayne Foundation has raised $1.2 million as of Sunday afternoon.

The County's has set up a family reunification hotline. Call (305) 614-1819.
Dogecoin is now a father to a son and his name is Baby Doge. A new crypto token was born, making its way into the market.

Now, Baby Doge is trying to "impress his father."

What Is Baby Doge?

According to the Baby Doge Coin website, the new coin was created by fans and members of the Dogecoin online community. It has learned a few tricks and lessons from the older meme coin and offers new and improved transaction speeds as it runs on the Binance Smart Chain.

The new meme coin is "hyper-deflationary" with an integrated smart staking system, allowing for more Baby Doge coins to be automatically added to your wallet after every transaction. Holders automatically receive a five percent fee for every transaction that happens in the Baby Doge network.

Unlike Dogecoin with no supply cap, Baby Doge is a deflationary coin, which means it is designed to become more scarce over time. And unlike Ethereum Max with no background information, Baby Doge has its white paper and independent audit attached to its official website.

It offers locked liquidity and it also has a designated charity wallet to support its charity partners.

We passed 155,000+ #BabyDoge holders!



Only 27 days old  pic.twitter.com/Xks5k2afdP  Baby Doge Coin (@BabyDogeCoin) June 27, 2021

Currently, it just passed over 155,000 holders, which means they are in Phase Three of their Roadmap of 100,000 holders and 100,000 telegram members, pushing for large influencer marketing. It has listings on major cryptocurrency exchange platforms, and offers credit card for crypto live on their website.

To illustrate the rate this new Baby Doge coin is growing, it is about 27 days old and reached 150,000 holders on the 26th day.

For the Baby Doge coin, "community is first and foremost." It looks like it works closely with Dogecoin, providing transparency and fairness to the community. It has also partnered with the charity Paws with Cause to help shelter animals across the USA.

The website also detailed a six-phase roadmap with the end goal to first and foremost donate to help build an animal sanctuary at a $50 billion market cap. At $100 billion, the community will gather to carve a baby doge into the face of a large mountain. When the coin reaches $500 billion, the community will form a baby doge meme "religion."

SO PROUD



To announce!



WE HAVE DONATED OUR FIRST $75,000 to @PawswithCause 



Read more on https://t.co/FGoK7PWZWx #BabyDoge  pic.twitter.com/iN9QspJwU6  Baby Doge Coin (@BabyDogeCoin) June 25, 2021

Social Media Hype around Baby Doge Token

As its father Dogecoin's offspring, the internet has received the baby token with open arms. It has been trending on Twitter and has opened many discussions on Reddit. It has now grown a steady following on its social media platforms and has also grown quite a community.

The official Twitter account of Baby Doge has amassed 61,400 followers as of writing. Although not yet a verified account, it just might very soon earn its blue check.

One notable celebrity currently following the Twitter account is rapper Soulja Boy. Dogecoin's champion and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been too busy tweeting about SpaceX's endeavors, and probably celebrating his birthday, to comment on his favorite meme coin's son.

Now that it is on Phase Three of its roadmap, expect more mainstream personalities to get on the Baby Doge hype in the upcoming weeks.

Read Also: Is Ethereum Max a Good Investment? Price, Supply, Expert Analysis and Why Kim Kardashian Is Promoting It

Baby Doge Price, Where to Buy It, and Investment Potential

As of writing, Baby Doge is worth $0.000000001491 (that's eight zeros) on CoinGecko. In May, it was worth $0.0000000000018 (with eleven zeros). Earlier this month, Benzinga reported that the baby meme coin was at $0.0000000003950 (with nine zeros) which meant it grew by 20,844 percent and had an average of about 1,213 percent of gain per day.

#Doge price is 24 cents.



1 #DogeCoin can



currently buy 200 million+ #BabyDogeCoins   Baby Doge Coin (@BabyDogeCoin) June 26, 2021

You can currently purchase Baby Doge through PancakeSwap, or on Binance and Coinmama. It is also listed on CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap as part of its Phase Two.

Seeing its novelty, the price of Baby Doge is expected to grow. Short-term rises are certainly possible, GameRevolution said and this could be an exciting time for traders and investors.

The 2021 price prediction for the baby meme coin looks optimistic overall. And with its incentive for its holders, it does sound enticing. But with little to no historical information to draw a sound analysis from, and with market volatility a norm, it is best to enter any new trade with caution.

We passed 102,000+ and we are surviving this crash! #BabyDoge Holders  pic.twitter.com/cUzRI7fJJR  BabyDogeCoinWarrior (@BabyDogeCoinW) June 22, 2021

Investing in cryptocurrencies, whether they are older and more established ones like Bitcoin or newer ones like Baby Doge, can be tricky, Deseret noted. Like any investment, it has its risks. Before investing your money in a cryptocurrency, invest time in doing your research.

Related Article: Tesla Expecting a Massive Loss as Bitcoin Price Plummets, What Happens Now?
The SpaceX Starship is launching its first orbital mission in the very near future. President Gwynne Shotwell said the company is "shooting for July" as it presses ahead with the orbital flight.

SpaceX Starship Orbital Test Flight

During the National Space Society's International Space Development Conference (ISDC) on June 25, Shotwell spoke about pushing on with its launch plans with the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage from the company's test site in Boca Chica, Texas, SpaceNews reported.

They are on the cusp of flying the system in the very near term, she said. Though still in development, the flight does look optimistic to follow through in the upcoming weeks.

The last Starship prototype was flown on May 5, flying to an altitude of 10 kilometers before making a successful landing. The four previous prototypes tested from December 2020 and March 2021 were unable to succeed in that feat.

Were almost done with first prototype booster. This will go to test stand A. Next one will fly to orbit. Team has been crushing it many days & nights in a row!  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 25, 2021

The Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation has to run a few environmental assessments in Boca Chica before it can issue a license for the Starship and Super Heavy, though.

If the assessment concludes that there is no significant impact, or mitigation measures are needed to allow for the launch, SpaceX could very well push through with the July date. However, if it concludes that a more detailed environmental impact statement would be required, a delay in the admission of the license will definitely push the launch schedule back.

The FAA has not provided an update on the status of the environmental assessment as of yet. SpaceNews also noted that the company's existing license only covers suborbital flights of the Starship.

Read Also: Space X Starlink Plans to Deploy 42,000 Satellites by Mid-2027, Aims to Provide Global Internet by September

Starship Super Heavy  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 25, 2021

Starship Mission Details

In a Federal Communications Commission on May 13, the private space flight company outlined the flight plan for the mission. This license application mentioned that the flight would take place during a six-month window beginning on June 20.

The Starship and Super Heavy mission will begin with liftoff from Boca Chica. The Super Heavy booster would land in the Gulf of Mexico, just a ways off the coast from Boca Chica at around minute three after the lift-off. The Starship would then go into orbit and then reenter after less than one orbit, and head down 100 kilometers northwest of the Kauai island in Hawaii after about 90 minutes, Yahoo! Finance says.

Cool, but an unnecessary complication for now. These are being removed to speed up time to orbital launch.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 24, 2021

The landing of the SN15 vehicle was successful last May made it viable for a second suborbital flight; however, it was moved from the launch pad. Prototype SN16 is still sitting on the production site.

This SN16 prototype might be the vehicle that will perform the first orbital flight for SpaceX's Starship.

Falcon 9's first stage returns to Earth and lands on the Just Read the Instructions droneship after launch of GPS III-5 pic.twitter.com/UtieBJMAYh  SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 21, 2021

SpaceX Starship Launch Date and Where to Watch

Specific dates for the launch have not yet been released. Although a flight plan and a window of six months has been applied for, the FAA has not yet gotten back to approve the application.

Announcements of the launch would be coursed through the company's social media platforms and websites as it does with all its launches.

SpaceX also offers a live stream of their launches on their YouTube and website. You can watch replays of past launches on both platforms as well.

Related Article: Starlink Stocks for Sale? Elon Musk Plans to Go Public But Not Soon, Tesla Investors to Get Preference
Leaks claim that the Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 might be coming out sometime this 2021. The smartphone will reportedly have exciting specs and features, including an insane battery charge--from 0 to 100 percent under 19 minutes!

The Xiaomi Mi Mix series features one of the best notch-less designs any smartphone could get. The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3, in particular, has a slider camera that users describe as "addicting" to snap open and close. Since most of the smartphones in this series has been sold with resounding success, it is exciting to see what Xiaomi plans to bring in their fourth installment.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 Wireless Charging Speed

Techradar reported that rumors about the Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 suggest the smartphone would offer impressively wired and wireless charging speeds. The smartphone might feature 120W wired charging and 80W wireless charging, one of the highest rates any consumer smartphone could offer.

At this speed, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 4500mAh battery would only take 19 minutes to complete charging time. However, being the first to offer ultra-fast, cable-free charging speeds, the smartphone would most likely be charged by Xiaomi-developed proprietary chargers.

Read Also: Xiaomi Mi Band 6: Leaks Spread Online, Including Features, Specs, and Capabilities of Upcoming Smartwatch

Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 Specs, Release Date, and Leaks

Similar to its predecessors, Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 would have notch-less and bezel-less designs. The phone is reportedly using a new under-display selfie camera technology. Generally, this type of camera produces average-quality photos. However, Xiaomi might have a few more surprises to overcome the problem.

Key specs for the smartphone are said to include a 1080p screen display, Snapdragon 888 SoC processor, and a 4,500 mAh battery.

Android Headline reported that the Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 might be preinstalled with Android 11 and MIUI 13 software. The smartphone is also predicted to be built with metal and glass or metal and ceramic, similar to the previous designs.

With all these high-end technologies installed, Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 might settle for a higher price than usual. The Notebook Check added that the smartphone might be priced at $930. Unfortunately, it is unclear if Xiaomi plans to release this new smartphone globally or confine it exclusively to China customers.

While many consumers are still hyped up with the Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold announced early this year, the smartphone manufacturer is working on other alternative devices for their customers to choose from.

Users who prefer to stick to the traditional smartphone design but features a notch-less screen should definitely check out the rumored Xiaomi Mi Mix 4!

However, this update remains as leaks and rumors for the Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 smartphone. Information like this should be taken in with some level of suspicion. Details and specs are subject to change until Xiaomi makes its official release.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 rumors all point out that the smartphone's release date is scheduled to happen sometime this year.



Related Article: Afraid Your Samsung Galaxy Phone Has Been Hacked? Check For Warning Signs, Perform Fixes


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Brands, publishers, and agencies based in Australia and New Zealand will now have access to digital advertising insights to study how their competitors spend ads. Pathmatics also revealed that the top ad spenders in the region are Proctor & Gamble, Hungry Jacks, SingTel, and Optus.

Pathmatics expands in Australia and New Zealand, the company announced. Brands and marketers using the digital marketing intelligence platform will be able to analyse how their competitors are spending on ads across digital, video, display, and mobile, and for the first time, have access to Facebook advertising intelligence.

Eugene Du Plessis will lead the Pathmatics ANZ presence as regional director. He joins from Nielsen Australia where he spent the last six years working in advertising. Pathmatics says Du Plessis will focus on growing the companys local presence.

Pathmatics co-founder and CEO Gabe Gottlieb says it is imperative that companies can quickly understand the strategies of their competitors, and the greater digital marketing companies.

Until now, there has been a lack of transparency into Australia and New Zealands digital and social ad landscape, so we are thrilled to be giving marketers and brands with a presence in each market the ability to make more informed decisions about how they invest their advertising dollars, he says.

Pathmatics regional director Eugene Du Plessis says the one of the demands he hears from brands is access to data insights.

Du Plessis claims: Pathmatics not only offers unmatched insights, including estimated ad spend, across industries, but it is simple enough that anyone in the team can use it. Within seconds, marketers can assess the strategies of their competitors, like spend, impression, creative, and messaging choices. Its really powerful insights that add immense value."

Im pleased to be a part of the team here and Im looking forward to helping customers harness the platforms full potential, he enthuses.

This will be the first time that Pathmatics, and its entire suite of features including Facebook advertising intelligence, will be available direct to brands in Australia following a previous collaboration with Nielsen.

Pathmatics recently merged with Sensor Tower, a mobile analytics company, last May to offer the largest footprint of digital advertising and mobile intelligence in the enterprise market.

Top advertisers in Australia

As part of the companys launch, Pathmatics has revealed the top advertisers in Australia over the past 12 months, with Procter & Gamble, Hungry Jacks and SingTel (and Optus) taking out the top spots, all spending an estimate of more than $24 million across Facebook and Google ads.

* Yum! Brands: Owner of fast-food restaurants and franchises, including KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, The Habit Burger Grill

* Mondelez International: Owner of brands including Cadbury, Oreo, Ritz, and more

* Procter & Gamble: owner of brands including Pantene, Oral B, Olay, Vicks, and more

Time period: June 1, 2020 - June 1, 2021

Ad spends are estimates across desktop and mobile display and video, and Facebook.

Marking this regional expansion is the launch of Pathmatics 2021 Digital Advertising report (available upon request), which unearths key changes to Facebook advertising between 2020 and 2021, including a look at the COVID-19 impacts to the travel and auto industries, and key shifts from CPG, retail and technology players.

With this announcement, Pathmatics social tracking now reports on Facebook advertising in 11 regions around the globe, including Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, and Germany. Additional datasets and social platforms are planned for the coming year.
The Australian Competitor and Consumer Commission (ACCC) raises concerns on the safety of Apple AirTags, which may cause serious injury if ingested or swallowed by children. It has urged parents to keep it away from children to prevent accidents and injuries.

The ACCC has raised concerns about the accessibility and security of Apple AirTags battery compartment, noting how it could be easily removed by children.

The government agency urges parents to keep an eye on the AirTags and ensure they are out of reach.

Apple AirTags are small bluetooth tracking devices that can be attached to and then used to locate items such as keys or wallets. They are powered by lithium coin cell button batteries.

The ACCC warns that AirTag battery compartments lid is not always secured when close, which may cause hazards for children. It makes a distinctive sound when it is being closed to suggest it is secure when it may not be.

ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard says the agency was concerned that the outer product packaging does not have warning about the dangers of button batteries.

However, ACCC notes that Apple has now added a warning label to AirTags packaging.

However, this alone does not address our fundamental concerns about children being able to access the button batteries in these devices, Rickard warns.

The ACCC has raised these safety concerns about the AirTag.

The ACCC notes that in its public statements, Apple has stated the AirTag is designed to meet international child safety standards,  by requiring a two-step push-and-turn mechanism to access the user-replaceable battery, and that it is working to ensure that [its] products will meet or exceed new standards, including those for package labelling, well ahead of the timeline required.

Rickard says they are continuing to investigate to determine what actions are necessary to address safety concerns.

The ACCC is also liaising with its international counterparts on the safety of Apple AirTags. An overseas public safety regular will also be examining the safety of this product at this stage.

As a safety precaution, we urge parents to keep AirTags away from their children. We know that small children can be fascinated by keys and love playing with them, so there is a risk that they could access this product, which is designed to be attached to a key ring, among other things, Rickard advises.

We are aware several large retailers, including Officeworks, are currently not offering the AirTag for sale because of concerns about button battery safety, she notes.

The ACCC is also assessing whether there are issues with button battery safety in similar Bluetooth tracking devices.

According to the ACCC, three children have died and 44 have been severely injured in Australia from incidents involving button batteries in other products.

More than one child per month is seriously injured as a result of ingesting the batteries which are packaged in millions of consumer goods worldwide.

The ACCC introduced mandatory safety and information standards in December 2020, and enforced it to all button batteries and consumer goods containing button batteries in Australia.

The mandatory standards will take effect on 22 June 2022.

From this date, fines and penalties may apply to retailers or manufacturers who do not comply with the mandatory standards.

Currently in Australia, suppliers are guided by an industry code which is voluntary. We urge all manufacturers and suppliers to be ready to comply with the new mandatory standards as soon as possible, Rickard notes.

Button batteries poses danger to children, five years of age and under. If swallowed, a button battery can get stuck in a childs throat and cause a chemical reaction that burns through tissue, causing death or serious injury within a short amount of time.

Insertion of a button battery into body orifices such as ears and noses can also lead to significant injuries.

The ACCC is coordinating with suppliers regarding concerns about the accessibility of button batteries in those products.

Background

Button batteries are flat, round batteries with diameters measuring up to 32mm and ranges 1-11mm in height. They are found in a large number of common household items such as toys, remote controls, watches, digital kitchen scales, thermometers, and hearing aids, the ACCC says.

When ingested or inserted, the batteries can cause serious injury within two hours or death within days. When lodged in the body and in contact with bodily fluid, button batteries can burn through tissue and cause bleeding.

According to the ACCC, in Australia and globally, there is a growing record of injuries and deaths from button batteries.

The ACCC has worked with industry and state and territory Australian Consumer Law regulators to improve the safety of button batteries and products that contain them for many years.

In October 2020, the ACCC produced a video (above) outlining the danger of button batteries, under the slogan Tiny batteries, big danger. This campaign is being promoted to increase consumer awareness on button battery hazard.

Mandatory safety standards specify minimum requirements such as performance, design, construction, finish, and packing or labelling that products must meet before they can be supplied in Australia.

Mandatory information standards help ensure consumers are provided with important information about a product to assist them in making a purchasing decision. Information standards do not necessarily relate to the safety aspects of a product.

While the standards are currently voluntary, after 22 June 2022, the standards will be mandatory. Manufacturers must implement any required manufacturing and design changes to products and packaging, undertake testing and remove non-compliant stock.

Information about button battery safety is available on the Product Safety Australia website.

Tips for parents and carers

The ACCC offers tips on how to ensure safety and what to do in cases of emergency:

If you think a child has swallowed or inserted a button battery, contact the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26 for 24/7 fast, expert advice. You will be directed to an appropriate medical facility that can manage the injury. Prompt action is critical. Do not wait for symptoms to develop.

Symptoms may include gagging or choking, drooling, chest pain (grunting), coughing or noisy breathing, food refusal, black or red bowel motions, nose bleeds, spitting blood or blood-stained saliva, unexplained vomiting, fever, abdominal pain or general discomfort.

Children are often unable to effectively communicate that they have swallowed or inserted a button battery and may have no symptoms. If you suspect a child has swallowed or inserted a button battery, you should ask for an x-ray from a hospital emergency department to make sure.

Keep new and used button batteries out of sight and out of reach of small children at all timeseven old or spent button batteries can retain enough charge to cause life-threatening injuries.

If buying a toy, household device or novelty item, look for products that do not use button batteries at all, such as products powered by other types of batteries or rechargeable products that do not need button batteries to be replaced.

Examine products and make sure the compartment that houses the button battery is child-resistant, such as being secured with a screw. Check if product does not release the battery and see to it that it is difficult for a child to access. If the battery compartment does not close securely, stop using the product and keep it away from children.

Dispose used button batteries immediately. As soon as you have finished using a button battery, put sticky tape around both sides of the battery and dispose of immediately in an outside bin, out of reach of children, or recycle safely.

Tell others about the risk associated with button batteries and how to keep their children safe.

Consumers are encouraged to report unsafe products through the Product Safety Australia website.
Linux creator Linus Torvalds has poured cold water on claims by the British tech news site The Register that the release of the 5.13 kernel was in any way unusual.

The site carried a story on Sunday implying that the 5.13 kernel had been put out after less release candidates than is normal. The heading read, "Linus Torvalds launches Linux 5.13 after just seven release candidates."

But Torvalds told iTWire that seven release candidates become the standard for several years.

"There's no specific reason for it, it just seems to be what works  enough to find problems, and not so many as to drag out the release," he said in response to a query asking whether seven release candidates was in any way unusual.

The Register did not provide any figures to show that the number of release candidates was in any way different for the 5.13 kernel.

Said Torvalds: "It [the number of release candidates] fluctuated a bit more a decade ago when the merge window model was fairly new. So back then we had a couple of releases that had just five or six release candidates.

A screenshot of the Register's story about the 5.13 release.

"But we also had a number of releases with eight or nine. Over time, as people got more used to the merge window cadence, things have just stabilised."

Torvalds handles the development of the kernel from his home in Portland. Oregon.

"So over the years the seven release candidates have become the 'expected number' when things go normally, and then occasionally we have an extra week and an extra release candidate if there's some question about late fixes," he added.

"The last time we had more than that was 4.15, which went to nine, but that's over three years ago, so it's rare.

"So 5.13 looks normal. Of course, there might be some surprises lurking that we just didn't catch, but on the whole it looks smooth, particularly considering how big the merge window was."

Update: The Register has now removed the word "just" from the headline of this article, with the following note at the end: "Editor's note: This article was revised after publication to put the number of release candidates for 5.13 into context." Indeed!
COMPANY NEWS by RICOH: RICOH a leading provider of workplace technology, today announced that the all-around production consistency of the colour sheetfed RICOH Pro C7200sx Series has been recognised with a Buyers Lab (BLI) 2021 PRO Award for Mid-Volume CMYK+ Production Device from Keypoint Intelligence. The independent seal of approval for document imaging hardware and software follows robust testing against a comprehensive set of technical criteria.

David Sweetnam, Director of EMEA/Asia Research & Lab Services, Keypoint Intelligence (parent company of BLI), said, We were especially impressed by its performance over our production length test suite, where, over a series of six challenging 1.5 hour workflows generating over 37,000 clicks, the device never suffered a colour drift across the 42 colours in the FOGRA39 media wedge of more than DeltaE00 3.8, neither did it exhibit a front-to-back or page-to-page registration shift of more than 0.4 mm, earning it our coveted 5 Star rating in this category.

The RICOH Pro C7210sx/x is designed from the bottom up as a production workhorse, added Martin Soane, European Lab Manager, Keypoint Intelligence. The devices fifth imaging station allows printshops to go beyond CMYK, including fluorescents, white, clear, and invisible red.

This latest accolade for Ricoh also coincides with the availability in July of new gold and silver toners for the Pro C7200x Series providing graphic artists and commercial printers with new opportunities to broaden their product range and create market differentiation through striking digital print enhancement capabilities.

Developed for the fifth colour station on the Ricoh Pro C7200x digital colour sheetfed press, the toners deliver great visual impact for high value added print. The additional colours can transform a broad range of applications from catalogues, posters, flyers, direct mail, and brochures to business cards, greetings cards, tickets, invitations, certificates, and packaging.

The addition of gold and silver toner adds to the most extensive array of additional colours available on any digital press today. The other colours available include a high-opacity white, clear, fluorescent neon yellow, fluorescent neon pink and invisible red. They enable print providers to deliver high-value applications with special effects, visual pop, gamut expansion and/or security features.

The new toners are retrofittable, enabling existing users to expand the capabilities of the Ricoh Pro C7200X presses they operate today.

Henryk Kraszewski, Senior Product Manager Commercial & Industrial Print, Ricoh Australia, said, We are thrilled that the C7200x Series has been recognised by Keypoint Intelligence with a Buyers Lab (BLI) 2021 PRO Award for Mid-Volume CMYK+ Production Device. This is the second time that the Pro C7200x Series has received a BLI Pro Award. This will provide Australian users with the additional level of confidence in the devices ability to deliver robust and reliable feature functionality as well as an amazing customer experience.

At the same time, we expect that the new innovation in our toners will open up exciting new business opportunities for highly creative jobs which can now incorporate gold or silver in material which requires that extra standout wow factor.

About Keypoint Intelligence

For 60 years, clients in the digital imaging industry have relied on Keypoint Intelligence for independent hands-on testing, lab data, and extensive market research to drive their product and sales success. Keypoint Intelligence has been recognised as the industrys most trusted resource for unbiased information, analysis, and awards due to decades of analyst experience. Customers have harnessed this mission-critical knowledge for strategic decision-making, daily sales enablement, and operational excellence to improve business goals and increase bottom lines. With a central focus on clients, Keypoint Intelligence continues to evolve as the industry changes by expanding offerings and updating methods, while intimately understanding and serving manufacturers, channels, and their customers transformation in the digital printing and imaging sector.

About Ricoh

Ricoh is empowering digital workplaces using innovative technologies and services that enable individuals to work smarter from anywhere.

With cultivated knowledge and organisational capabilities nurtured over its 85-years history, Ricoh is a leading provider of digital services and information management, and print and imaging solutions designed to support digital transformation and optimise business performance.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group has major operations throughout the world and its products and services now reach customers in approximately 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ended March 2021, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 1,682 billion yen (approx. 15.1 billion USD).

For further information, please visit www.ricoh.com.au
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This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
A funeral service for George Zickuhr, of Brownsboro formerly of Jacksonville, is scheduled at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 6, 2021 at Autry Funeral Home Chapel in Jacksonville. He will be laid to rest at Cathedral in the Pines in Tyler. George passed away on June 27, 2021. Arrangements by Autry 
Tom Hallberg covers a little bit of everything, from skiing to long-form feature stories. A Teton Valley, Idaho, transplant by way of Portland and Bend, Oregon, he spends his time outside work writing fiction, splitboarding and climbing.
Teton County Reporter

Previously the Scene editor, Billy Arnold made the switch to the county beat where he's interested in exploring Teton County as a model for the rest of the West. When he can, he still writes about art, music and whatever else suits his fancy.
Jennifer Dorsey is chief copy editor and Business section coordinator. She worked in Washington, D.C., and Chicago before moving to the Tetons.
A prayer garden was started for Summer Wells the day after she went missing on June 15 from her home in the Beech Creek area of Hawkins County.
Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a public charity. It can be found at missouriindependent.com.
Assistant superintendent of equity and inclusion Dr. Veronique Walker presented an end-of-year summary to the Berkeley County Board of Education on behalf of her department. Pictured above is a slide from that presentation that highlights the work of the department and its programs across the district.
AT A GLANCE

 MCC CEO Nicole Esposito was told on June 14 that her contract would not be renewed, without explanation, prompting her to hire attorneys to challenge the decision.

 According to her lawyers, the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system will hire a private firm to conduct an independent investigation into the decision.
Opinion Columnist

Chris Powell has worked for the Journal Inquirer since 1967, first as a reporter, then as an editor, and now as a columnist. He was managing editor from 1974 until retiring from that position in 2018.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a request by New Hampshire to file a bill of complaint against Massachusetts in a case involving Massachusettss taxation of remote workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Supreme Courts order indicated that Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito would have granted the motion.

New Hampshire filed its motion for leave to file a bill of complaint in October 2020, after Massachusetts issued a temporary emergency regulation (later adopted as a final rule) that said workers who normally work in Massachusetts but who, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, were working in other states would still be required to pay Massachusetts income tax. New Hampshire asked the Court to enjoin Massachusetts from enforcing the regulation and to require Massachusetts to refund the payments (plus interest) that it collected from nonresidents. In its complaint, New Hampshire said, Massachusetts has unilaterally imposed an income tax within New Hampshire that New Hampshire, in its sovereign discretion, has deliberately chosen not to impose (Motion for Leave to File Bill of Complaint, p. 2).

New Hampshire argued that this rule was unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause and the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The Supreme Court did not explain its decision not to take up the case, but, in its reply to New Hampshires motion, Massachusetts had argued that New Hampshire lacked standing to sue because it did not, as a state, suffer an injury, and that it did not state a viable Commerce Clause or due process claim. Massachusetts generally described its regulation as maintaining the status quo.

An amicus brief filed by the U.S. Justice Department in May also urged the Court to dismiss the case, and described it as not an appropriate case for the exercise of this Courts original jurisdiction (Brief for the United States as Amicus Curiae, p. 4), especially because the issue could be litigated by New Hampshire residents who were subject to the Massachusetts income tax.

 Alistair M. Nevius, J.D., (Alistair.Nevius@aicpa-cima.com) is the JofAs editor-in-chief, tax.
When Carwyn Jones talks of his relations with his Maori family, he talks about his grandmother. She left the Maori community and land of Wairao, on the east coast of New Zealands North Island, long before he was born, and no longer speaks the language of her ancestors, partly because it was banned in schools at the time. I did not spend a lot of time in my community. I did not hear the language. My mum, my siblings and are I were not part of Maori immersion schools. I am still on a journey to learn, says Jones, almost apologetically. His only point of reference with his Maori roots was his grandmothers many stories of how her familys lands were lost. This community land was seized by British settlers in the late 19th century, confiscated and sold off at low prices.

This story was fully recognized and written down at the end of a reparation process undertaken by Joness iwi (tribe) through the Waitangi Tribunal. Established in 1975, this legal mechanism is responsible for receiving complaints from Maori who feel they have been wronged by failure to comply with the Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840 between the British Crown and more than 500 Maori leaders. This treaty is atypical in our postcolonial world, says New Zealand novelist Witi Ihimaera, since it absolutely guaranteed our equal rights and privileges with regard to those of British subjects, and in particular rights to land. But the spirit of the text long remained a dead letter, as shown by the history of the Wairoa tribe and the account of Jones, where there is talk of summary executions, imprisonment of certain chiefs and forced exile.

In 1975, the tribunal limited itself to considering Maori complaints related to determining whether any current or future legislation or government policy were or would be inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. The tribunal was to assess the harm caused and make recommendations  a disappointment to the then Labour Minister for Maori Affairs, Matiu Rata. Yet its establishment was already a victory for Maori activism in the 1970s. A political and cultural renaissance was underway. At a march on Parliament House in Wellington, more than 5,000 people delivered a petition to the government  signed by 60,000 people  protesting the continued loss of Maori community land. The tribunal was an initial response, providing a mechanism for Maori tribes to air their grievances.

Reparation for harms caused since 1840

Ten years later, the courts scope was extended, retroactively. This was partly due to continuing Maori activism and growing claims of confiscated land. It could now hear claims for compensation for damage caused since the signing of the treaty in 1840, which was a real earthquake in New Zealand. The state was responding to a report, in which the tribunal found that governments had breached the treaty on countless occasions since 1840, and that Pakeha New Zealand had been built on many broken promises and bad deals. The Pandoras box had been opened. It was a question, no more and no less, of now redefining the relationship between the Maori, 16% of the population, and the Crown (the state). One of the first tasks of the tribunal, when it was established in 1975, was to interpret the treaty, which had different versions in English and Maori.

It provides both a truth and reconciliation function, says Jones, a qualified jurist specialized in the Treaty and the Waitangi Tribunal who has worked in several posts within it, and advised his tribe when they filed complaints. The mechanism, he explains, consists of three steps: a historical narrative outlining the breaches of the treaty, accompanied by an apology from the Crown; cultural redress in the form of place name changes, land transfers or agreements for joint management of rivers and lakes; and finally, financial redress, as well as economic. Ratified by Parliament, the agreements between the Crown and the tribes set out a historical narrative. This is a way of establishing a shared vision of the past. I am fascinated by the Tribunal, in which law and history are mixed, says Jones.

A process based on negotiation

Certainly compensation remains inadequate given the enormity of the losses. It is falling short of restoring the lost glory [for the Maoris], says Maria Bargh, a political science professor at the University of Wellington. The process is a matter of negotiation, unlike in Canada, where indigenous people litigate in common law courts, building enforceable jurisprudence. It depends on what the parties can negotiate, explains Jones, who works in Canada. He gives the example of his tribe, which tried to obtain for the river passing through its lands the same status as the Whanganui River. The latter was given legal personality in 2017, after negotiations between the Crown and the iwi linked to the river. This is a legal innovation that takes account in law of the Maori holistic vision of nature as a living person. The government refused to talk about that issue, says Jones. It is a highly negotiated process with strengths and weaknesses. Not enforceable rights, but it enables the party to focus on the issues with more flexibility. Ultimately, it is a political process.

In addition to historical reparations, the Waitangi Tribunal was responsible for the establishment of Maori language radio and television, recognition of Maori fishing rights and recognition of Maori universities. Over time, Maori values and culture have (re)become an integral part of the country. Atearoa, the Maori term for North Island, is attached to the official name of New Zealand even on government websites. The Maori language is one of the three official languages. Maori language courses are popular with non-Maori. This cultural and political integration, which is still partial but unique in the world, did not happen overnight, notes Bargh: Relations between the state and the Maori have progressed in fits and starts, depending on the government.

New steps planned

In the land of the All Blacks, the victory of the Labour Party last November and the reappointment of Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister undoubtedly marks a new stage. In her speech celebrating the anniversary of the Treaty on February 6, 2020, she encouraged the Pakehas [European settlers] to make the transition to the Maori world. She emphasized that for a long time, the opposite had been the rule. The idea of a so-called British superiority, a colonial legacy, has not completely disappeared, notes Bargh. The legacy from the British superiority, some of these ideas are lingering. Judicial institutions, social services, education and prison administration are regularly accused of systemic racism. The socio-economic problems of the Maori persist. Their life expectancy is shorter than that of the general population. They are over-represented in the prison system.

Jones thinks this is less true for the young, with a generation that went from early childhood in Maori school, he says. This is a positive development that he attributes to a kind of re-found pride in their identity. Lara Greaves, professor of politics at the University of Auckland, points out how difficult it nevertheless still is at the university to make the Pakehas understand the reasons for the socio-economic fragility of the Maoris. We lack a baseline knowledge, she says. To respond to this need, the government has introduced into the curriculum from the next school term teaching on the history of the 1860-1870 wars between the Maori and the British. Calling it Land wars changed the way we teach our own history. Education is the only way to understand and to get changes, says Bargh. It provides the context for some of the poor social and economic situation of Maori and why it is important that the Maoris are talking about it.

The tikanga, first and new source of law

Carwyn Jones thinks a turning point has been reached. So much so, that the words of the national party leader Judith Collins accusing the Maori of separatism seemed dissonant. Another example of positive movement, he said, is the process of civilising common law by introducing the fundamental principles of tikanga, a system of Maori cultural practices used in conflict resolution. Here Jones uses the words of Supreme Court Justice Joe Williams, the first Maori to hold that office. References to the tikanga are more and more frequent in judgments of cases involving Maori and non-Maori. Little by little, a sort of mesh has been created between the common law of British inspiration and the tikanga, considered to be the first law of the country. And assessing knowledge of Maori principles in terms of justice is, at the request of teachers, about to be integrated into law schools.

Actually claiming tikanga as a source of law can meet the needs of our society as a whole, says Jones. And, says Bargh, why not imagine the same thing in the political realm? We would have a political philosophy based on Maori principles. And Jones is hopeful. Reconciliation is an ongoing process, he comments. We are getting to the point where historical claims of the past are being fixed up and we are moving forward to what we can do.
Most of the jihadists who carried out a massacre in Burkina Faso earlier this month were children, the US ambassador to the United Nations said Monday, calling for action against the use of child soldiers in warfare.

Children will tell you stories that no child should be able to recount, US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a videoconference of heads of state on children and conflict.

Of being conscripted at gunpoint. Of being raped. Of being forced to murder their own siblings, their own parents.

These children are often no taller than the guns they actually carry. They are taught to commit war crimes before they even know how to count.

On June 5, an armed group killed at least 132 people in overnight attacks on Solhan, a village in the impoverished Sahel region near the border with Mali and Niger  the deadliest attack since Islamist violence reached the West African country in 2015.

Local sources put the tally at 160 dead, including 20 children.

That armed group? Mostly 12- to 14-year-olds, Thomas-Greenfield told the conference.

Children killing children, she added.

Burkina Faso government spokesman Ousseni Tamboura had said last week that children were involved in the attack, but did not say they were the majority of the group. He said his information was based on information from suspects arrested prior to the massacre.

Thomas-Greenfield said the revelation was just one horrifying example of the use of child soldiers in conflict.

Estonias President Kersti Kaljulaid, who is the current president of the Security Council and initiated Mondays session, also condemned the use of children in war.

She cited the example of a Central African child, Graciela, who was orphaned and abducted by an armed group in 2014.

Graciela had to cook for the group, but also train to fight, Kaljulaid said, adding that she had hated it  but nothing that she had eventually been able to start a new life.

In 2020, the situation of children in armed conflict was marked by a sustained high number of grave violations, she continued.

Children are an easier target  for example, to be recruited by armed groups, or to be married off, abducted, raped, she said.

The coronavirus pandemic has not helped.

According to the latest report by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, more than 26,000 grave violations against children were recorded in 2020, a sharp increase from 2019.

In a statement on Monday, the United Nations announced that Guterres had appointed Kaljulaid as a Global Advocate for Every Woman, Every Child for the next two years.

She is expected to mobilize the efforts of UN member countries in favor of women and children in the framework of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Surfside, Florida (Associated Press)-On Sunday, the family of the missing person visited the site where the Florida apartment building collapsed. Rescuers continued to dig in the rubble, hoping that someone could get under the broken concrete and twisted metal. Somewhere alive.

The death toll has only increased by 4, and a total of 9 deaths have been confirmed. On Sunday night, the police confirmed that the four latest victims were 74-year-old Christina Beatriz Elvira; Luis Bermudez, 26; Leon Oliwkowicz, 80 ; And Anna Ortiz, 46 years old.

After nearly four days of search and rescue work, more than 150 people are still missing in Surfside. Since Thursday, a few hours after the collapse, no one has been rescued from the pile.

Some families had hoped that their visit would allow them to yell at relatives who might be buried deep in the garbage.

The bus took several groups of relatives to a place where they could see the garbage dump and rescuers at work. When the relatives returned to a nearby hotel, several people stopped to hug as they got out of the car. The others walked slowly back to the hotel door arm in arm.

We are just waiting for the answer. This is what we want, said Dianne Ohayon, her parents Myriam and Arnie Notkin both in the building. Its hard to get through these long days. We havent got any answers yet.

The Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Nachman Shai, who visited with his family, led a humanitarian delegation to Surfside, which included several Israeli experts engaged in search and rescue operations. He said that experts told him in some cases that survivors were found after 100 hours or more.

So dont lose hope, thats what I want to say. But you make everyone understand that the longer the time, the less likely it is to find someone alive, he said.

If you watch the scene, you will know that it is almost impossible to find people alive, Shai added. But you never know. Sometimes miracles happen, do you know? We Jews believe in miracles.

Rescuers tried to reassure their families that they are doing their best to find missing relatives, but the staff said they need to work carefully to find the survivors with the best chance.

Some relatives are frustrated with the pace of rescue work.

My daughter is 26 years old and in good health. She can leave there, a mother told rescuers during a meeting with her family on the weekend. Instagram user Abigail Pereira (Abigail Pereira) posted a video of the meeting.

Its not enough, the mother continued, her relative being one of the relatives who urged the authorities to bring in experts from other countries to help. Imagine if your children were there.

On Sunday, dozens of rescuers stayed on the huge pile of rubble in search of survivors, but so far only corpses and human remains have been found.

In a meeting with his family on Saturday night, Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah explained why he could not answer their repeated questions about how many victims they had found. People groaned and cried.

We dont have to find victims, okay? We are looking for human remains, Jadala said according to a video posted on Instagram.

He noticed that the 12-story crepes had collapsed. It had broken into a pile of rubble that could be measured in feet. He said these conditions frustrated the crew looking for survivors.

Every time the staff found the remains, they would clean the area and remove the remains. Jadallah said that they worked with a rabbi to ensure that any religious ceremonies were performed correctly.

Officials said that if staff find any cultural relics, such as documents, pictures or money, they will hand them to the police.

Alan Kominsky, head of the Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue Department, said they have hope of finding people alive, but they must be slow and methodical.

The debris field is scattered everywhere, and its very compact, very compact, he said.

The debris must be stable and supported as it moves.

If there are spaces, we want to make sure to give all of us the possibility of survivors. Thats why we cant just enter and move things irregularly, because this can have the worst results, he said.

When meeting with the authorities, the family repeatedly urged rescuers to do more work. Someone asked them why they couldnt use crane surgery to remove the largest cement block in an attempt to find the larger gaps where survivors might be found.

Maggie Castro of the Fire and Rescue Agency replied: We cant easily remove the huge debris with surgery.

They are not big pieces. The fragments are shattered, and they are held together by the steel bars that are part of the building. Therefore, if we try to lift the fragment, even if we are careful, the crumbling fragments will fall off the sides and disturb the accumulation. Castro said.

She said that they tried to cut the rebar at key locations and remove large pieces of rebar, but they had to remove them in a way that nothing would fall onto the pile.

We are doing it layer by layer, Castro said. It wont stop. Its all day. All night.

Rescuers swept the mounds with dogs trained to sniff out humans.

Spec Ops Group CEO Adrian Garulay said they also used microwave radar equipment developed by NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Department of Homeland Security, which can see through solid concrete up to 8 inches (20 cm). This suitcase-sized device can detect human breathing and heartbeat, and was deployed by a seven-person search and rescue team from the Jewish community in Mexico on Sunday.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava (Daniella Levine Cava) said that six to eight teams are actively searching at any time, and hundreds of players are on standby at any time, ready to rotate. She said that since Thursday, the team has been working around the clock and has never lacked personnel.

The rescue team also cooperates with engineers and sonar to ensure the safety of rescuers.

On Saturday night, the crew dug a trench 125 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 40 feet deep (38 meters long, 6 meters wide, and 12 meters deep), which she said enabled them to find more dead bodies and humans. remains.

Earl Tilton, who runs a search and rescue consulting company in North Carolina, said that rushing into the rubble without careful planning and execution would harm or kill rescuers and the people they are trying to save. Tilton, who runs Lodestar Professional Services in North Carolina, said. Hendersonville, North Carolina.

I understand my familys concerns about this. If its my family, I hope everyone there will pull the rubble away as quickly as possible, Tilton said. But moving the wrong piece at the wrong time may cause it to fall on them and crush them.

Tilton said that in past urban rescues, rescuers found survivors a week after the initial disaster.

The mayor of Miami-Dade said on Sunday that rescuers had found four other bodies, which were found earlier, bringing the number of people unaccounted for to 152.

Authorities are collecting DNA samples from family members to help identification. Late Saturday, the four victims were identified as Stacie Dawn Fang, 54; Antonio Lozano, 83; Gladys Lozano, 79; and Manuel Lafon, 54 year old.
As Myanmars military struggle consolidated its control of a rebel country, it increasingly targeted a different type of resistance: lawyers defending political prisoners. In the past month, at least five lawyers across Myanmar have been arrested for defending politicians and activists. This is an escalation of military attacks on the justice system.

First, in late May, the police arrested Den Leighton, a lawyer for the deposed Nay Pyi Taw Council Chairman Miao Aung, who was a co-defendant of Aung San Suu Kyi. The former democratically elected leader of Myanmar was overthrown by Army Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Lai in a military coup on February 1 after her National Democratic Party won the November election by a landslide.

According to the Political Prisoners Aid Association, which has been monitoring the situation, the military government has killed approximately 883 civilian protesters and arrested, charged or sentenced more than 6,000 opponents since the coup.

Thein Hlaing Tun and five other lawyers were with their clients on May 24, when he was arrested and prosecuted under Section 505A, an incitement charge punishable by three years in prison and has become a favorite of generals tool. Aung San Suu Kyis defense team leader, Chin Maung Tso, said that Miao Ang would not meet with other lawyers until June 7, and he was not informed of his arrest.

Then he appointed a new lawyer among us, Khin Maung Zaw said in a text message. We are worried about other lawyers, he told Al Jazeera that the situation has become very difficult due to the danger of being harassed or arrested and internal disagreements on how to proceed in a distorted legal system.

Soon after, on May 28, a lawyer in Irrawaddy Province was arrested in a trial defending a dissident. According to local media reports, she received some well-known clients, including the director of a hospital. He did not work under the military government but went on strike. She was also charged under section 505A.

Khin Maung Zaw is a member of Aung San Suu Kyis defense team. Center Khin Maung Zaw said the situation has become very difficult for lawyers defending political prisoners and critics of generals. [File: AP Photo]

On June 2, lawyer Thet Tun Oo was arrested in Kachin State while trying to participate in the trial. According to reports, he represents more than 100 political prisoners, including detained members of the Kachin State government. Fearing reprisals, a colleague of his spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity and said that the arrest had increased the already existing atmosphere of fear.

After he was arrested, we went into hiding, but we are still working hard to continue to defend the case, she said. She said that when lawyers went to defend cases, uniformed police officers often took photos and videos of them in a threatening manner, and female lawyers had become too scared to appear in court alone.

The lawyer said that before she went into hiding, she felt that she had been under surveillance and often noticed that strangers were watching around my house. She also received a suspicious call from an unknown number, requesting to meet with her in person to seek legal advice immediately, but she did not dare to accept these requests.

We know we might be arrested, but I cant avoid it. Because if we stop doing this, who will defend these cases? she said.

There is no real justice

On June 12, two lawyers were arrested in Kayin State while trying to cross the border into Thailand because they found they were wanted by the military. Both Nilar and Phone Myat Thu were members of the legal team of the Chief Minister of Kayin State, who was removed from office in February and prosecuted along with most civilian leaders.

Some lawyers had to hide, but they said they would continue to defend political prisoners and arrested persons [File: Lynn Bo Bo/EPA]

A close friend of the two lawyers said that he received a call from another mutual friend around midnight to tell him about his arrest.

These two lawyers have been hiding in Myawaddy because they heard that they will be detained soonUntil today, we have not seen them or seen them, he said. Like others, they have been charged under section 505A.

We dont think there is any rule of law. If lawyers are arrested like this, we should have a chance to meet them. Now, no one can protect us, not even the law can protect our rights, he said.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watchs Asia Department, said that targeting lawyers could also cut off important sources of information about other detained prisoners.

[R]Restricting this relationship with clients by intimidating lawyers also means less information from prisons about what is happening to people inside, he said, adding that this information helped human rights organizations document torture and ill-treatment in prisons. .prison.

Just last week, the vice chairman of the Naypyidaw Committee revealed through his lawyer that he had a rib fracture during the interrogation. Lawyers are usually the only way for family and friends to communicate with relatives, and the only way for well-known detainees to convey information to the public.

Arresting lawyers and interrogating their activities and their clients will ensure that no one is willing to provide legal advice to activists-this may be the real intention of the military governments actions here, Robertson said, warning that there is no real justice. As long as the judicial system is under the control of the military, it will be discovered.

The military takeover and subsequent pressure on the judicial system are also a blow to the younger generation of Myanmar. They grew up during the countrys open period, and I believe things may be different.

A law student in Yangon said that the coup destroyed her hopes for her chosen career and made her question whether she should complete her degree.

Although I have hope for the future On February 1, everything was in vain, she said. Although she believes that the legal system before the coup had many flaws and flaws, the situation now has become even more terrifying.

This situation makes some student lawyers doubt whether to continue their chosen profession [AP Photo]

what is [the law] What if the military government arrests all those who disagree? She asked.

She said that she wanted to become a lawyer and give me the strength, voice and confidence to help the society in which I live, but she began to feel powerless.

But she did not give up.

She told Al Jazeera that the pressure faced by lawyers has also made people in the legal profession angry and motivated to fight this unfair and unjust system. Our generation should and must be the last to experience a coup.
El Paso, Texas (Border report)  As civil rights advocates advised local governments not to participate in Texas Governor Greg Abbotts border operations, the governor issued two requests on Friday to resolve what he called a border crisis .

The governors office has issued a statewide appeal for prison guards to assist border sheriffs because they anticipate an increase in the number of illegal immigrants arrested. Abbott also urged counties to submit a two-year projected budget for possible reimbursement of expenses related to the immigration wave, and required state legislators to approve it.

Abbott has repeatedly accused the Biden administration of failing to respond to the increase in illegal immigration at the Texas-Mexico border. In a press release issued on Friday, Abbott said: Texas will not tolerate criminal activity, which is why we must step up our response to this crisis in the absence of the Biden administration.

Due to the sharp increase in the number of undocumented immigrants encountered by US Border Patrol agents, Abbott made a request nearly a month after declaring 34 counties in Texas into a state of disaster on May 31.

Border Patrol agents and CBP officials encountered or arrested 180,034 migrants in May, a slight increase from 178,000 in April. In addition to the 172,000 encounters in March, federal immigration officials have now detained more than 530,000 foreigners who entered the country without authorization in the past three months.

The governors statement directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to use its resources to enforce all federal and state criminal laws to combat trespass, illegal entry, smuggling, and human trafficking.

Prior to this, Abbott launched Operation Lone Star, which sent 1,000 DPS soldiers to border communities in March to stop irregular border crossings.

When Abbott held the Border Security Summit in Del Rio on June 10, he announced that individuals who entered the country illegally would face up to one year in prison.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas warned county leaders on Thursday that participating in immigration enforcement violated the U.S. Constitution.

In a letter sent to all 34 counties, the Texas ACLU advised against involving local law enforcement agencies in Abbotts unilateral efforts to develop federal immigration policies, arrest and detain immigrants, and prevent people from seeking protection in the United States .

The ACLU noted that in the United States, non-citizens have the legal right to seek asylum and other protections, adding that it is unconstitutional to arrest and detain immigrants because of their immigration status.

In a statement, Texas ACLU agent Kate Huddleston stated that Abbott cannot seek to implement his own version of immigration policy.

If county officials implement the governors plan, they will violate the law, Huddleston said in a press release issued on Thursday. The federal government, not state or local governments, formulates immigration policies and enforces immigration laws. Once again, the governor targets immigrants and incites fear and xenophobia in our state. These measures cruelly distract the real problems facing the country, For example, repairing the grid in a faulty state.

Albert said on Friday that the state is looking for jailers with supervision and release experience, as well as current or former jailers who have been honorably released from prison in the past two years. The governor also called on well-trained booking personnel with experience in the Texas Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (TLETS) and Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).

Abbotts disaster statement instructed the Texas Prison Standards Board and the Texas Law Enforcement Commission to work with counties to ensure that prisons have enough beds for undocumented immigrants arrested for crimes such as trespass. It also provides substantial resources to border communities to carry out arrests and help establish and maintain additional prison space.

Part of our comprehensive effort to ensure border security includes the enforcement of all state and federal laws, which is why we call on jailers and sheriffs across the state to voluntarily support our border sheriffs. Working together, we will ensure border security and ensure our communities Security, Abbott said in a press conference.

Part of our comprehensive effort to ensure border security includes the enforcement of all state and federal laws, which is why we call on jailers and sheriffs across the state to voluntarily support our border sheriffs. By working together, we will ensure border security and ensure that we The safety of the community. Governor Greg Abbott, R-Texas

The American Civil Liberties Union informed local leaders in the letter that their powers to take action to enforce federal immigration laws are restricted.

The letter read: This is partly because the treatment of immigrants within the United States is one of the most important and delicate issues in diplomatic relations, and this is an area entrusted to the federal government by the Constitution. Who can be deported from the United States under what circumstances; provide avenues for those who flee violence and arrive in the country seeking protection; and authorize federal immigration law enforcement under certain circumstances.

The ACLU letter also formally requested information about the guidance that local officials received from the state, and the cooperation between the local and the state in their efforts to arrest immigrants to date, including any arrests or prosecutions they might make.

Read the letter from the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas to the 34 counties targeted by Abbott, click here.

At the same time, Abbott urged county judges in Texas to submit a two-year budget for costs related to the continued influx of immigrants. According to the press release, counties can submit budget forecasts through the online border budget forecast form, which Texas will use to apply to the legislature for additional border security funding during the upcoming special session.

As the Biden administration continues to ignore the border crisis, Texas is stepping in to ensure that our county has the resources and support needed to keep the community safe, Abbott said. I urge county judges to fill out the border budget forecast form by July 9th to ensure that Texas has the information needed to obtain additional funds to deal with the ongoing crisis on our southern border.

The 34 counties that received the ACLU letter are Brewster, Brooks, Cameron, Crockett, Culbertson, Dimit, Duval, Edwards, El Paso, Goliad, Gonzale S, Hidalgo, Hades Perth, Jeff Davis, Jim Hogg, Kennedy, Kinney, LaSalle, Lavaca, Maverick, McMullen, Pecos, Presidio, Real, Reeves, Starr, Sutton, Terrell, Uvalde , Val Verde, Webb, Willacy, Zapata and Zavala.

When providing advice to the locals, the Texas ACLU also requires agencies to adopt policies to train local law enforcement personnel to ensure that they do not violate the Constitution or federal laws when interacting with immigrants, including not based on perceived immigration status, Race, ethnicity, or language.
Opinion analysis

after Gregory Abrowski





9:41 p.m.

Supreme Court Friday rule Under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, the Alaska Native Corporation constitutes an Indian tribe that makes them eligible for $500 million in federal coronavirus relief. Although the courts almost only focus on statutory texts, the decision may have a wider impact on Alaska Natives.

case, Yellen v. Chehalis Reserve Alliance Tribe, Centered on the CARES Act 2020, which sets aside US$8 billion in COVID-19 relief for Indian tribes. The Act incorporates the definition of Indian tribes in the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, which defines tribes as:

Any Indian tribe, tribe, ethnic, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska Native village or area or country company defined or established under the Alaska Native Claim Settlement Act, these companies are considered eligible for special programs and services Provided to Indians by the United States because they are Indians.

When implementing the CARES Act, the Treasury Department determined that this definition includes Alaska Native companies, which are special indigenous companies established by ANCSA in 1971. Some federally recognized tribes objected that these companies were not eligible for funding. A consistent DC circuit team is on the side of these tribes.

However, the Supreme Court disagreed with and overturned its conclusion by a 6 to 3 vote, that is, the Alaska Native Corporation, commonly known as the ANC, Have done Form a tribe under ISDA. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote on behalf of the majority. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett joined all of Sotomayors opinions, and Justice Samuel Alito Most opinions were added.

Sotomayor believes that the ANC is a tribe under ISDA for two reasons. First, she concluded that recognized should be given its usual meaning, rather than being interpreted as an artistic term for formal government-to-government relations between the United States and federally recognized tribes (everyone admits that this does not include non- National University). To support this argument, she pointed out that some federal regulations, including Indian laws and regulations, use the term recognized in this broader sense. Sotomayor believes that under this ordinary meaning approach, the ANC can easily be recognized as recognized. After all, ANCSA itself is such a service that the federal government provides to Native Americans because of its Native American status.

However, even if the court does apply the interpretation of artistic terms to recognition, Sotomayor believes that the series of qualifier specifications-a statutory interpretation rule that applies to all items previously listed in the list-should not apply. Here, she gave an example of an equally clever sketch, one of the restaurants advertising is Any meat, vegetable or seafood dishes, including cooked ceviche, can enjoy a 50% discount. Sotomayor suggested that even if the dish is made with raw fish or shellfish, customers should correctly interpret this discount to include ceviche. Its like applying thecooked food requirement to ceviche, she continued, it is not credible to apply thefederal approval requirement to the ANC in this context. She pointed out that even in 1975, The federal government is also unlikely to think it will once The establishment of a government-to-government relationship with the ANC makes it meaningless to include them in the definition under the interpretation of the challenger.

Justice Neil Gossacki objected, as did Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Elena Kagan. In his view, the term recognition is a formal artistic term because he pointed out that the regulations before and after ISDA are promulgated use almost the same language to describe recognition. In addition, he pointed out that in most peoples tests, its not even clear what the simple meaning of recognition is: If ISDA really catches any group that is onlyeligible for federal benefits, he asked,  Why not just say it and avoid introducing terms with specific and accepted meanings in Indian federal law?

Gorsuch is equally skeptical about most peoples efforts to avoid the standards of the series qualifiers. In his view, the recognition of the application of ANCs is almost unbelievable, which shows that there is considerable uncertainty in the recognition of various Alaskan Native entities after ANCSA in Alaska history. He pointed out that Congress often includes illustrative examples in regulations, even if they seem superfluous. (In an interesting footnote, Gorsuch also quoted food writer Mark Bittman about the ambiguity about whether ceviche can actually be cooked.) But in the end, Gorsuch pointed out that he is with most people. The disagreement is relatively moderate: he observed that the entire court is adhering to textualism, even if it disagrees on the appropriate outcome.

In the textualist debate, the actual effect of this decision has been largely ignored. Most people specifically seek to limit these by making a narrow decision. Sotomayor said the ruling will not open the door to other Indian groups that have not yet been recognized by the federal government as Indian tribes under ISDA. In addition, even with regard to the ANC, Sotomayor emphasized the results. Did not make the ANC an Indian tribe other Regulations with different definitions. She said that the decision only confirmed the position that the federal government has been insisting on for nearly half a century.

However, given the large amount of conflicting evidence of previous practices collated by both parties, a more accurate version of the status quo seems ambiguous. Now, due to the courts ruling, the ANC is a clear Indian tribe under ISDA. In view of the importance of the contract between the Federation and the tribe, especially in Alaska, this result may also have an important impact. The Alaska Federation recognizes the tribe, the ANC, and the federal government must figure it out.
WASHINGTON-On Sunday, under the command of US President Joe Biden, the US military carried out air strikes on so-called installations used by Iran-backed militias near the border between Iraq and Syria.

John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said that militias are using these facilities to launch drone attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.

Kirby said that the US militarys goal is three combat and weapons storage facilities-two in Syria and one in Iraq.

He described the airstrikes as defensive, saying that they were launched against attacks by Iran-backed groups.

Kirby said: The United States has taken necessary, appropriate, and deliberate actions to limit the risk of escalation  and it has also sent a clear and unmistakable message of deterrence.

Sundays strike marked the second time that the Biden administration has taken military action in the area. In February of this year, the United States launched air strikes on Syrian facilities near the Iraqi border, which were allegedly used by Iranian-backed militia groups.

The Pentagon stated that the attacks were in retaliation for the February Iraqi rocket attack that killed a civilian contractor and injured a U.S. soldier and other coalition forces.

At the time, Biden stated that Iran should regard his decision to authorize the United States to conduct air strikes in Syria as a warning that Irans support for militias that threaten US interests or personnel may have consequences.

You cant get away with it. Be careful, Biden said when a reporter asked him what information he planned to send.

On Sunday, Kirby stated that Biden has made it clear that he will take action to protect American personnel. Given that Iran-backed groups are conducting a series of attacks on U.S. interests in Iraq, the president has directed further military actions to disrupt and prevent such attacks. Attack.

A Pentagon spokesperson added: As a matter of international law, the United States acts in accordance with its right to self-defense. Attacks are necessary to respond to threats and are appropriately limited in scope.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said in a statement on Sunday that the U.S. airstrike appears to be a targeted and proportionate response to serious and specific threats, adding that the military hero who protects and defends our freedom is a Divine priority.
The strike marked the second time US President Joe Biden has ordered retaliatory attacks against armed groups since he took office.

The United States said on Sunday that it carried out a round of air strikes against Iranian-backed armed groups in Iraq and Syria in response to drone attacks on American personnel and facilities in Iraq, and the militia threatened retaliation.

The US military said in a statement that its targets are combat and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq. It did not say whether it believed anyone was killed or injured, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in the United Kingdom, said at least five fighters were killed and several others were injured.

The attacks were carried out at the direction of President Joe Biden, and this is the second time he has ordered retaliatory attacks against Iranian-backed militias since he took office five months ago.Biden ordered limited bombing of a target in Syria for the last time FebruaryAt that time, it was in response to the rocket attack in Iraq.

The Pentagon said in a statement: As the strike tonight has shown, President Biden has made it clear that he will take action to protect American personnel.

Mahmoud Abdulwahid of Al Jazeera in Baghdad said the attack was significant and pointed out that the target group threatened to retaliate.

After this threat, we may see an escalation of military installations, he said.

Even if the Biden administration is seeking potential attacks Restart the 2015 nuclear agreement with IranCritics say that Iran is not credible and point out that the drone attack further proves that Iran and its proxies will never accept the US military presence in Iraq or Syria.

Biden and the White House declined to comment on Sundays attack.

Lawrence Kolb, the former Assistant Secretary of Defense, said that the attack was very certain to be seen as a notice to Iran by Biden.

The first time he used force was about a month after he took office, Kolb told Al Jazeera. I dont think he sent that signal to Iran by accident. In fact, when they were about to conduct the seventh round of negotiations on the JCPOA, the fact that he was doing it was that he said, Just because we are there, it doesnt mean So we will ignore it (other issues).

Since the beginning of this year, US interests in Iraq have been attacked more than 40 times. As part of the League of Nations, 2,500 US troops have been deployed to combat the remnants of the Islamic State (ISIS) organization.

The vast majority were bombs targeting logistics convoys, and 14 were rocket attacks, some of which were claimed by pro-Iran factions to force Washington to withdraw all troops.

The attack occurred one day after Iraqi Kurdish officials said that three drones carrying explosives attacked near the northern Iraqi city of Albil, where the United States has a consulate there.

It also happened when Hashed al-Shaabi, a pro-Iranian paramilitary coalition opposed to the US presence in Iraq, held a military parade near Baghdad. Senior officials participated in the military parade.

Two U.S. officials, who asked not to be named, told Reuters that since April, Iran-backed militias have carried out at least five drone attacks on facilities used by U.S. and coalition personnel in Iraq.

The Pentagon stated that the target facility was used by Iranian-backed militias, including Qataibu Hezbollah and Qataibu Said Shuhada.

A defense official said that one of the target facilities was used to launch and recover drones.

The US military used F-15 and F-16 jet fighters in the attack and stated that the pilots returned safely.
According to reports, after structural problems in 2018, residents of a collapsed apartment building in Miami were told that the tower was in very good condition.

An engineers report warned that the apartment needed extensive repairs before it collapsed, at least causing death 9 people, about 150 are missing.

9 Structural issues related to Champlain Tann were flagged in 2018 Photo Credit: Surfside Town

9 According to reports, residents were told that despite the cracks, the building was in good condition

9 The collapse of the apartment has left at least 150 people missing Credit: Environmental Protection Agency

9 A woman is crying in a community center, and the authorities are taking residents and relatives away from the collapse site Credit: Reuters

The minutes of the board meeting seemed to indicate that Ross Prieto, an officer of the Surfside Building, stated that the meeting with residents went very smoothly-according to reports, after receiving warnings from reports about structural issues, Miami Herald.

According to reports, Prieto wrote in an email: Everyone in the room responded very positively. All the major problems in their 40-year recertification process were resolved.

This particular building will not start their forty years until 2021, but they decided to start this process as soon as possible. I wholeheartedly support this process and hope this trend can keep up with other properties.

When approached, Prieto declined to comment-citing the advice of a lawyer.

He claimed that he dont remember the email showing the cost estimate of the maintenance project.

He said: I dont know anything about it. It was 2018.

9 There are obvious cracks in the concrete of this building Photo Credit: Surfside Town

9 The 2018 report shows extensive evidence of cracking Photo Credit: Surfside Town

9 As early as 2018, an engineering company studying the defects of the building discovered that there were inferior repair methods such as epoxy resin injection Photo Credit: Surfside Town

Engineering report It was revealed: Failed waterproofing is causing major structural damage to the concrete structural panels below these areas.

If the waterproof material is not replaced in the near future, it will cause the deterioration of concrete to expand exponentially.

The report cited severe structural defects in Champlain Tannen, which required extensive repairs to the damaged floor slab.

It warned that the underground parking lot was full of cracks.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told reporters that he will release all documents related to the apartment.

9 Miami-Dade Mayor Danielle Levine Cava (Danielle Levine Cava) said officials will track what happened, and search and rescue efforts continue Credit: Getty

Mayor of Miami-Dade Danielle Levin Kava Said that officials will track what happened.

Just 14 hours before the disaster, a construction official in Surfside stood on the roof of the apartment to check the replacement of roof anchors. Palm Beach Post Report.

Jim McGuinness said at an emergency meeting in the town that he hadnt seen any signs beforehand that the building would collapse.

He said: There is not too much equipment, materials or anything on that roof that caught the attention of my construction officials, which would make this place collapse shocking.

McGuinness also confirmed that the building is inspected every 40 years as required by the Miami-Dade law.

9 A construction official said at an emergency meeting that he did not think there was any sign that the apartment would collapse Credit: Getty Images-Getty

An environmental study showed that the building was sinking at a rate of approximately 2 millimeters per year in the 1990s.

However, Professor Shimon Wdowinski warned that these findings were not intended to suggest the cause of the crash.

This 12-story apartment is built on a wetland with sand and organic filler underneath the foundation. Washington post report.

It is located on a barrier island that has risen by about a foot in the last century due to climate change.

The apartment collapse prompted building audits across Florida, including Fort Lauterdale, Hollywood, and Palm Beach counties.

Naked awakening Topless women frolic in the fountain at the annual Dyke March in New York City Street justice Dog abuser was dragged by neck chain after doing the same thing to bleeding pets Every breath When rescuers dug a 125-foot tunnel in Miami rubble, family members screamed the womans name Mysterious disappearance Mexicos Road to Death has left at least 50 missing Shark attack 8-foot-long great white shark monster bites swimmer on San Francisco beach Newest Painful price The death toll from the collapse of a building in Miami reaches 9 people, and more than 150 people remain unaccounted for

foot. Lauterdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said: The tragedy in Surfside is undoubtedly a wake-up call for all communities with buildings built 40 and 50 years ago.

We have too many buildings, too many people, and too many lives in danger that we cant ignore the possibility of what might happen.

In Palm Beach County, Mayor Dave Kerner said that after the collapse of the Surfside high-rise building, a full review of the building will be conducted.
After a series of online hatred and personal attacks on her constituency office during her six years as a member of Congress, Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna announced on Monday that she will no longer participate in the next election.

McKenna-who led the controversial fight to impose a national price on carbon emissions as the environment minister-has long been the target of sexist attacks as she defended climate action in the face of entrenched opposition.

But she said that the hardship she experienced in politics was not the motivation for her to leave. Instead, she said, she wanted to spend more time with the children after spending many nights in the office. She said that the COVID-19 pandemic forced her to step back and reflect on the most important things.

McKenna also said that she hopes to focus on addressing climate change outside the government. In the COP26 climate negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland later this year, she offered to help Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Canadian delegation.

McKenna said her experience should not discourage young women from entering politics. She said that although there may be some abuse, elected positions are still the best place to bring about change.

Her office was destroyed, and her Twitter provided a lot of misogynistic information-but McKenna said that entering federal politics was her setting a Canadian carbon price and implementing the countrys first meaningful climate plan to achieve 2030 The only way to significantly reduce emissions before the year.

She said that after the Supreme Court maintained that the carbon tax was constitutional, all parties began to accept that pricing pollution is the best way to curb emissions-a sign that politicians can play a role.

As Minister of Infrastructure, she also signed a check worth tens of billions of dollars for the construction of public transportation and other green projects.

Watch: McKenna announces that she will not seek re-election in the next federal election

After eight years in politics, Catherine McKenna said she would not seek re-election in her electoral district. She said she wanted to spend more time with her children. 1:57

For many people who are politically cynical, it is understandable that I hope you will use these as possible conclusive evidence. Things will change, sometimes the most important thing, she was riding on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa. Said at a press conference along the coast.

I have also experienced attacks, but its just noise. People want you to stop what you are doing, and they want you to back down. We redouble our efforts.

Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna was interviewed by the media outside the Ottawa Constituency Office on Monday, August 10, 2020. The police launched an investigation after a man verbally attacked a staff member of the constituency office. (Adrian Wilder/Canada Press)

She vowed to take more measures to resolve the hatred issues faced by some women in parliament. When I leave, I will do everything I can to fight it, she said. We need good people politically. Politics is important.

McKennas decision not to run in the center of Ottawa created an opportunity for another Liberal party to easily vote in the 2015 and 2019 federal elections. The former leader of the New Democratic Party Ed Broadbent and Paul Dewar later represented the New Democratic Party for many years.

There is speculation that Mark Carney, the former central bank governor of Canada, may step into politics after supporting Trudeau and the Liberal Party at the party congress in April. Carney, who lives in the area, can fight to raise the flag of the Liberal Party on the seat of the city.

Watch: Catherine McKenna talks about her abuse in politics

Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna told reporters on Monday that she would not participate in the next election. McKenna said she wanted to spend more time with her three children and continue to fight climate change. 1:44

When asked about Carneys possible election, McKenna said she was a friend of the former banker and had long encouraged him to run. He is a good friend of mine. I think he can make a big difference. He has a lot to add. She insisted that she would not give way to star candidates now.

McKenna also denied her proposal to leave federal politics to participate in the 2022 municipal elections in Ottawa. I told you why I left, she said. I will be 100% concerned about climate change.

Her successor to the climate portfolio, Minister of Environment Jonathan Wilkinson (Jonathan Wilkinson) praised his cabinet colleagues for significant contributions that will help provide a healthier planet for our children and grandchildren.
Al Jazeeras digital department won the Best Print and Women Entrepreneur Report Award for interactive topics related to women and children in East and West Africa.

The oneworld media awards awarded Al Jazeeras digital team two top awards for their outstanding reporting on issues related to, in, or related to the Global South. These announcements were made in a live webcast in London on June 17.

The jury recognized the collaboration between Al Jazeeras digital feature and interactive team and field reporters to report on women and children in Senegal and Uganda.

The interactive feature-It takes a village to kill a child: Hidden Child in Uganda-won the top prize in the printing category. Journalist and writer Beau Donnelly and photographer Christopher Hopkins told important stories about disabled children in Uganda, who were stigmatized and abused, often hiding indoors and not getting enough care.

For many years, journalists have been working to obtain funding and permits by providing education and services to those in need to focus on community leaders who are working to change this situation. A functional team led by senior editor Carla Bower produced the story, and Mohammed Haddad, head of AJLabs, designed and developed its interactive components.

Another collaboration between Features and AJLabs, Leave Energy: Senegals Womens Village, became a winner in the category of women entrepreneurs reports.

Journalist and writer Carlotta Dotto, in collaboration with photographer and filmmaker Giulia Bassanese, tells the story of Senegalese women pooling resources to implement new farming methods to save the land from desertification.

As husbands and sons fled to other countries to find work, women discovered new ways to prevent their land from turning into a desert, while at the same time generating much-needed income for their families and communities.

Despite the tremendous challenges facing reporting during the pandemic, our reporters have demonstrated a great commitment to the highest journalistic standards, said Carlos Van Mick, director of digital innovation and programming. They continue to speak out for those whose stories may be overlooked.

In this years One World Media Awards, many industry competitors including BBC World News, Vice News, Sky News, Frontline PBS and Middle East Eye have also become winners and nominees in 15 categories.
Good morning, Arsenal fans

Lilles Portuguese star Renato Sanchez is the latest name related to the reorganization of Arsenals summer midfield.

According to reports, the French under-21 ace Matteo Guendouzi is keen to join Marseille, and the key Swiss player Granit Xhaka, who was recommended to join Rome, may be the first to be out Midfielder.

But the gunmen are believed to be at a distance from their claims of interest in the Wren prodigy Eduardo Kamavenga.

The 18-year-old Frenchman with three hats has closer ties with Manchester United, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.

At the same time, after a disappointing loan period in Swansea for the 2017-18 season, Sanchez will definitely like to prove himself again in England.

But Arsenal fans may be even more ecstatic about star left-back Kieran Tierney signing a new five-year contract worth 110,000 per week.

The Scottish hero said: I am happy to announce that I have signed a new long-term agreementCant wait to start next year.

Arsenal right-back Hector Bellerin may become the target of Paris Saint-Germain to succeed Ashraf Hakimi at Inter Milan.

Finally, Brightons England centre-back Ben White, who is usually considered Arsenals transfer priority, told talkSPORT: You dont know what is true and what is not.

So, it doesnt make any sense to talk about it.
On Friday, a helicopter carrying Colombian President Ivan Duque and other ministers was shot near the Venezuelan border.

After a helicopter carrying the President of Colombia and other government officials crashed, US President Joe Biden expressed support for Colombian President Ivan Duque. Was fired late last week Close to the Venezuelan border.

The White House said in a statement on Monday that Biden called Duke to express US support after the attack.

The helicopter was hit by multiple bullets while traveling through the Catatumbo region of the country to Cucuta, the capital of Northern Santander.

There were no reports of injuries, and the Colombian government later proposed Nearly $800,000 in rewards Any information that helps catch the perpetrator.

The attack happened on Increasing violence In Colombia, it is home to several armed groups. Colombian Watch Group Indepaz said over the weekend that 45 massacres have been recorded so far this year-killing three or more people in one incident.

Authorities often blame armed groups for violenceincluding dissidents who rejected the 2016 peace agreement between the government and the FARC rebels.

Colombian President Ivan Duque speaks during an interview in Bogota in March [File: Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters]

The country has also been hit Mass anti-government protests Since April, a tax reform proposal has been rejected for disproportionately harming the countrys middle and working classes.

Colombian police has Accused of serious abuse In their efforts to quell the demonstrations, they aroused criticism from rights groups and other observers. It is believed that dozens of people were killed in the protests.

The White House stated in a statement that Biden also expressed support for the rights of peaceful protesters, emphasized that law enforcement must comply with the highest standards of accountability, and condemned wanton violence and vandalism.

The statement said that the President of the United States reaffirmed the enduring partnership between the United States and Colombia and also pledged to donate 2.5 million coronavirus vaccines.

Like other countries in Latin America, Colombia is currently experiencing another wave of COVID-19 pandemic. According to statistics from Johns Hopkins University, so far, the United States has registered more than 4.15 million cases and more than 104,600 people have died of the virus.

A poll last month found that Duke was Least popular president In Colombias history, 76% of respondents said they disapprove of his record.
Binance has always been the worlds largest cryptocurrency exchange. However, despite not minding its reputation, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Prohibit It operates from in the country.

According to the regulator, from June 30, 2021, Binance will no longer be allowed to conduct regulated activities in the country.

Binance MARKETS LIMITED does not allow any regulated activities in the UK

British residents who wish to use the cryptocurrency trading platform to engage in derivatives transactions may no longer visit it. In an interview with CNBC, a Binance spokesperson stated:

FCA UKs notice has no direct impact on the services provided on Binance.com Our relationship with users has not changed. We take a collaborative approach when working with regulators, and we take our compliance obligations very seriously, the spokesperson added Tao. We are actively keeping up with the ever-changing policies, rules and laws in this new field.

However, since such activities are not regulated, crypto trading may still exist. However, financial regulators have warned Britons against unregulated participants and encouraged them to withdraw assets from these companies.

In addition to the recent British operations, Financial regulator The United States, Japan, and Canada have also been investigating exchanges for non-compliance with regulatory requirements. The US Securities and Exchange Commission took the same action against Binance in April 2021.

The background of the Binance ban

The Financial Conduct Authority requires every company that provides financial services in the UK to be registered with them. Cryptocurrency exchanges do not meet this requirement and therefore cannot operate in the country.

Binance and many other cryptocurrency exchanges submitted applications to the FCA to launch digital assets in the UK market. However, many exchanges, including Binance, withdrew these applications. The reason is that they cannot meet the FCAs anti-money laundering requirements.

Related Reading | Parabolic Bitcoin indicator points to dangerous crash below $20,000

Binance explicitly withdrew its application on May 17, 2021. However, according to an FCA spokesperson, Binance has been under the attention of regulators for some time.

Therefore, the decision to ban them from conducting regulated activities in the UK market was not spontaneous. They also stated that the ban does not cover all Binance activities in the market.

Cryptocurrency exchanges may still provide cryptocurrency trading services to British residents through their official exchanges not in London.

In any case, financial regulators prohibit cryptocurrency exchanges from establishing cryptocurrency exchanges in the UK. In addition, they also instructed the UK branch to close all advertisements in the country by June 30, 2021.

What does the ban mean for the encryption industry?

Judging from the recent actions taken by financial regulators against Binance, the crypto industry must be prepared to engage in more regulatory battles with the authorities. Prior to the British ban, the US Securities and Exchange Commission had been investigating allegations of exchange taxation and money laundering.

Binance even revealed that it is halting activities in Ontario, Canada. The Ontario Securities Commission accused Binance and other cryptocurrency exchanges of failing to comply with the regulations for operating in the country.

Related Reading | The Bitcoin bull market brought Thors hammer of reversal, but support must be maintained

In addition, the cryptocurrency exchange received another warning from the Financial Services Agency of Japan due to unauthorized operations in the country. All these pressures from regulators are shaking the foundation represented by cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.

The cryptocurrency industry aims to facilitate transactions without interference from third parties or intermediaries. Now, forcing operators to operate in accordance with financial regulations is becoming a concern for crypto enthusiasts.

Despite the ban, Binance coin (BNB) has shown resilience and seems to be recovering from the terrible situation of last week.

Featured image from Pixabay, Charts from TradingView.com
Newest:

As public health restrictions continue to be relaxed, all regions of Quebec are now at the lowest alert level under the provinces COVID-19 response plan.

As of Monday, 9 of Quebecs 17 regions, including the provinces largest city and its surrounding areas, have changed from yellow to green in the pandemic alert level system.

The rest of the province is already at a green level.

Some green zone restrictions have been further relaxed today, and up to 20 people are now allowed to share a table on the restaurant and bar terraces.

Outdoor gatherings on private properties can now also accommodate up to 20 people.

The capacity of weddings and funerals is also increasing, but wedding banquets will have stricter guidelines.

Quebec health officials no longer report daily COVID-19 data on weekends or holidays, and are expected to release the latest data later on Monday.

-From Canadian media and CBC News, the last update time is 7 am Eastern Time

Whats happening in canada

Watch | Toronto broke COVID-19 vaccination record: Toronto broke the record for the most COVID-19 vaccines in a single day in North America. Approximately 25,000 people went to the Scotiabank Arena to roll up their sleeves and push the city to the top. 1:46

As of early Monday morning, Canada had reported 1,413,303 confirmed cases of COVID-19, of which 8,726 were considered active. The death toll on CBC News is 26,227. To date, more than 35.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been vaccinated across the country. CBCs vaccine tracker.

In Atlantic Canada on Sunday, health officials reported a total of four new COVID-19 cases, three of which were Nova Scotia with one New Brunswick. Health officials did not update Prince Edward Island or Newfoundland and Labrador.

Ontario 12 other deaths were reported on Sunday and 287 new cases COVID-19.The update is in the province to move to Reopening plan for the next phase Later this week.

Meanwhile, in Toronto, at the Our Winning Shot event held on Sunday at the home courts of the Toronto Raptors and the Toronto Maple Leafs, staff from a mass vaccination clinic at the Scotiabank Arena gave 26,771 shots.

Manitoba Sunday report 97 new COVID-19 cases Another person died-a child under 10 years of age. Saskatchewan, While reporting 48 new COVID-19 cases And there are no new deaths.

Throughout the North, health officials are Yukon Territory On Sunday, 44 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported since Friday, most of which occurred in Whitehorse.

COVID-19 continues to spread widely in the Yukon, mainly among unvaccinated adults, adolescents and children, Dr. Brendan Hanley, Chief Medical Officer of Health Said in a statement, Calling the current situation the first real wave of COVID in the territory.

no update North-west region, in spite of Nunavut There are no new cases to report.

Health officials in Alberta with British Columbia The latest data covering the weekend is expected to be available later on Monday.

-From CBC News and Canadian media, the last update time is 7 am EST

What is happening around the world

Two weeks after the South African President re-imposed COVID-19 restrictions, a woman received a nasal swab from a health worker in Johannesburg on Monday. (Emanuel Crossett/AFP/Getty Images)

As of early Monday morning, Johns Hopkins Universitys COVID-19 case tracking tool showed that there were more than 181.1 million cases of COVID-19 worldwide.The reported global death toll is Over 3.9 million.

in Africa, South Africa has reintroduced strict restrictions, including a ban on alcohol sales and an extended night curfew, in response to the rapidly increasing COVID-19 case.

President Cyril Ramaphosa stated that the delta variant first discovered in India appears to be driving new growth in South Africa.

South Africa recorded more than 15,000 new cases on Sunday, including 122 deaths. This brings the total death toll to close to 60,000.

Gauteng, the countrys most populous province, bears the brunt, accounting for approximately 66% of new infections. The province includes Johannesburg and Pretoria.

Health authorities worry that the countrys other eight provinces may soon see a surge in cases to match the situation in Gauteng, where hospitals lack COVID-19 beds and patients are being sent to medical institutions in other provinces . Neighboring countries Zimbabwe, Namibia and Mozambique are also battling an increasing number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

inside middle East, The Oman News said on Sunday that Oman had reported a record number of COVID-19 infections and deaths in the past 72 hours, during which 119 people died from the disease.

The new Israeli prime minister urged young people in the country to get vaccinated because the number of coronavirus cases has soared in recent days due to the localized outbreak of the delta virus.

inside Asia Pacific In the region, Indonesia recorded the largest single-day increase in coronavirus infections on Sunday, at 21,342 cases.

On Monday, as the number of COVID-19 infections in Indonesia soared to a record high, residents lined up at a store on the outskirts of Jakarta to fill oxygen tanks for sick family members. (Dasril Roszandi/AFP/Getty Images)

The Australian COVID-19 Response Committee will hold an emergency meeting on Monday as the highly contagious delta variants that have broken out across the country have caused Sydney to lock down and re-impose restrictions elsewhere.

in EuropeThe head of the British governments scientific advisory body said on Sunday that the large-scale COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the UK has weakened the link between infection and death, but has not completely broken this link.

Spain and Portugal have imposed new restrictions on British travelers. Portugal stated that unless they have a certificate of complete vaccination against COVID-19 14 days ago, they must be isolated for two weeks. The policy went into effect on Monday. The government stated that people can be quarantined at home or in places prescribed by the Portuguese health authorities. Arrivals from Brazil, India and South Africa follow the same rules.

All other people entering Portugal must present an EU digital certificate for COVID or a negative PCR test.

In Spain, starting from Thursday, people arriving in the Balearic Islands from the UK must prove that they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have a negative PCR test.

inside AmericaIn Brazil, the number of cases rose to 18,420,598, and the recorded death toll was 513,474. Case tracking tool From Johns Hopkins University.

-News from the Associated Press, Reuters, and CBC News were last updated at 7:05 a.m. EDT
The ban came as tensions between Britain and China increased due to the semi-autonomous Hong Kong of the former British colony.

Hong Kong will ban all passenger flights from the UK starting Thursday to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.

The Hong Kong government listed the UK as very high risk in a statement on Monday because of the recent rebound in the UK epidemic and the widespread presence of delta mutant virus strains in the region.

According to this classification, people who stay in the UK for more than two hours will be restricted from boarding passenger flights to Hong Kong.

The city confirmed the first local COVID case involving the Delta variant last week, ending the record of zero local cases for 16 consecutive days.

This is the second time that the Hong Kong government has banned flights from the United Kingdom after the restrictions imposed in December last year.

At the time of the ban, there was growing tension between Britain and China over the issue of semi-autonomous Hong Kong, which was a British colony until it was handed over to China in 1997.

Britain criticized China for enforcing Hong Kongs national security laws and strengthening its media control, saying that Beijing is undermining Hong Kongs autonomy.

The flight ban was triggered by a government policy to prevent the spread of variants of the coronavirus in Hong Kong.

If five or more passengers arriving from one place test positive for a specific coronavirus variant or related virus mutation on arrival within 7 days, passenger flights will be suspended.

A ban will also be issued if any tests (including those conducted during isolation) confirm that 10 or more passengers from one place are infected with the coronavirus within 7 days.

The UK reported that 14,876 people tested positive for the coronavirus on Sunday due to the recent surge in infections. Since the beginning of the pandemic, it has confirmed more than 4 million cases.

For several months, Hong Kong has implemented a 21-day quarantine for immigrants from most countries and implemented strict social distancing regulations. Three new coronavirus cases were reported on Monday. Since the beginning of the pandemic, it has confirmed a total of 11,921 cases.

The British flight ban comes as Hong Kong is seeking to relax quarantine measures on most other countries, including the United States and Canada.

But several other countries, including the Philippines, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Indonesia, are also facing bans on flights to Hong Kong.
When Feng Weiguang was arrested, the pro-democracy media stance journalism stopped fundraising due to concerns about the National Security Law.

According to local media reports, Hong Kong police arrested a former senior journalist at the airport on Sunday evening. The media is now closed and suspected of violating national security.

The police usually do not disclose the name of the arrested person, but said in a statement that a 57-year-old man was arrested at the airport on charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign countries or foreign powers to endanger national security.

They added that he has been detained and the investigation is continuing.

The South China Morning Post and Citizen News referred to the detainee as Feng Weiguang, an editor and columnist for the now closed democracy tabloid.

They said he was believed to be heading to the UK when he was arrested.

Feng is the seventh staff member of the democratic Apple Daily who has been arrested on national security grounds in recent weeks. At the time of the arrest, the Hong Kong authorities suppressed dissidents in this semi-autonomous city, arrested most of the citys prominent democrats, and revised Hong Kongs election law to exclude opposition from the legislature.

Earlier this month, the authorities froze US$2.3 million worth of assets related to Apple Daily. force It ceased operations.Apple Daily print The final version was released last week, citing employee safety and inability to pay wages.

The Hong Kong authorities stated that dozens of articles in the newspaper may have violated Chinas national security laws. This is the first case reported by the authorities against the media under the legislation.

In response to reports of the arrest at the airport, the Hong Kong Journalists Association condemned the police for targeting reporters again and asked them to explain the incident.

The Hong Kong Association reaffirms that freedom of speech and freedom of the press are Hong Kongs core values, it said in a statement. If even the writing of literati cannot be tolerated, Hong Kong will hardly be regarded as an international city.

The suspension of the publication of Apple Daily and the arrest of its reporters caused a chill in the media industry in Hong Kong.

The pro-democracy online media Stance News said in a statement late Sunday that it would delete comments made on its website before June and stop fundraising activities due to concerns about comprehensive national security laws.

Position News said in a statement that these measures were taken to protect the news medias supporters, writers and editors in Hong Kongs literary interrogation.

Despite taking precautions, Stand News promised to continue to report the news.

For six and a half years, the news team in the station and the people of Hong Kong have been in the same boat, cherishing each other and weaving a common memory of Hong Kongs survival, it said in a statement.

In order to pass on these memories, we will stick to our posts and walk with the people of Hong Kong to write and record news and events in Hong Kong.
After a historic failure of plans for the real estate market a week ago, Lofven asked the Speaker to find a new Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister of Swedens Social Democratic Party, who resigned after seven years in power, lost a vote of confidence last week on a controversial plan to relax rent controls for new apartments.

Stefan Lofvens resignation on Monday means that the speakers task now is to find a new prime minister.

On June 21, Lowen became the first Swedish leader to lose a vote of confidence in Parliament after the Left Party withdrew its support for the housing market plan of the left-wing government.

The left-wing party believes that lifting the control of the rental market will lead to rapid price increases and deepen the divide between rich and poor.

This development triggered fierce negotiations as both the center-left and the center-right tried to get enough support to form a government.

Lofven did not find new support in Parliament until midnight on Monday, and did not require early elections as permitted by the Swedish Constitution. He is now expected to continue his role as a caretaker until a new government can be formed.

The Speaker of Parliament since 2018, Andreas Norlen, will ask about party leaders who might be able to form a government. He alone decides which party leaders can start these talks.

It is expected that Lofven, the leader of Swedens largest political party, who holds 100 of the 349 seats in the Swedish Parliament, will begin these talks.

As a 63-year-old former union boss and welder, Lofven has led a fragile minority alliance with the Green Party since 2018, relying on the support of two small center-right parties and the left-wing party.

The center-left and center-right groups are now balanced in parliament, and opinion polls show that the general election may not change the situation.

After the last general election in Sweden in 2018, Lowen spent four months forming a government, but the results are still inconclusive.

Real estate crisis

At the time of the political drama, Sweden is in the midst of a housing crisis, and real estate prices in the country are skyrocketing.

The Lofven government supports the deregulation plan because of price increases during the pandemic.

Although Sweden has strict rules on rents designed to maintain affordable prices in big cities, this prevents real estate developers from building new homes for the rental market.

People may find that they have to wait for years to sign a lease, and as prices rise, it becomes more and more difficult to buy a property.
COVID cases are still on the rise, and the Delta response is to blame.

Certain parts of England are more affected than others, with hundreds of cases every week.

? Read our Coronavirus Live Blog Get the latest update

3 According to the government, the fastest-growing Delta variant

The Delta variant-first discovered in India-accounted for at least 95% of infections and became the predominant type in circulation within a few weeks.

Its rapid growth undermined Englands original lock-down road map, which was supposed to end all restrictions on June 21.

However, after four weeks postponed to July 19, millions of vaccines can be vaccinated.

They said today that the Prime Minister and the new Minister of Health Sajid Javid are keen to end other measures as soon as possible.

Where is the fastest spread of Delta variants?

The Ministry of Health (DHSC) listed these places as the regions with the fastest spread of new COVID-19 variants on June 25:

Bedford

Leicester

North Tyneside

Blackburn and Darwin

Blackpool

Cheshire East

Cheshire West

Greater Manchester: Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan.

Lancashire: Burnley, Jolly, Falder, Hydeburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, Ribble Valley, Rosendale, South Ribble, Western Lancashire, Wyer.

Liverpool: Halton, Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, Liverpool City.

Warrington

Birmingham

DHSC is working hard to strengthen testing in these areas and promote the popularization of vaccines.

A surge of testing has been conducted in many other regions to prevent the Delta variant from spreading further after confirmed cases.

3 Surge testing is still being carried out in many areas to prevent further spread of the Delta variant.Pictured: June 20, a young woman taking an exam at Clapham Common Credit: Alami

Hot spot

Separate data from the Wellcome Sanger Institute shows that the most delta cases occur in Manchester every week.

The latest data set as of June 19 shows that nearly 550 cases are detected in the city every week.

Other hot spots include Blackburn and Darwin (316) and the surrounding Greater Manchester, Birmingham (300), Liverpool (208) and Leicester (174).

An unexpected hot spot appeared in Cornwall in the southwest, with 200 delta cases detected every week.

3 Delta cases confirmed every week.Darker areas have more case numbers Image source: Wellcome Sanger Institute

This is because the number of cases within the UK continues to increase.

Today, another 22,868 cases have been reported-this is the highest single-day increase since the UK emerged from the winter wave on January 30.

PM is scheduled for July 19

Although the situation regarding the infection is worrying, Boris Johnson Stick to his end point July 19 The current date.

After meeting with the new Minister of Health Sajid Javid (Sajid Javid), he today dismissed the possibility of ending the coronavirus restrictions early, saying it was wise to insist on July 19.

Mr. Johnson said today that the United Kingdom fairly lifted the blockade measures and returned to normal as much as possible.

Although there are some encouraging signs, the death toll is still very low, and the number of hospitalizations is still very low-although both are rising-but we are seeing an increase in cases, the prime minister told the radio during a by-election campaign visit The company is in Batley.

So we think its wise to stick to our plan to take a cautious but irreversible approach, and really complete as many vaccine launches as possible in the next three weeks or so  another 5 million times we can pass the July 19th .

Then as each day passes, all of our scientific advisers and I have become more aware that we are likely to say on July 19 that it is really the end, and we can resume our lives as before and be infected with the new crown virus as much as possible.

Former Prime Minister Javid, In a less cautious tone Compared with his predecessor Matt Hancock (Matt Hancock), in terms of locking restrictions.

During his visit to St Thomas Hospital in London, Mr. Javid told the broadcaster: I hope to see the restrictions lifted and life to return to normal as soon as possible.

This is my absolute priority here and now. I hope these restrictions will be lifted as soon as possible.

As far as the road map is concerned, you have to wait for my statement to Parliament later today.

This will be irreversible and there will be no turning back. Thats why we have to be careful in this process.

shrill Two jabs from Pfizer and Moderna can provide life-long protection against Covid Jab happy Oxford experts say that since the two jabs are very effective, there is no need to intensify injections Painful loss Mom died of a blood clot after an AstraZeneca injection-when her gums changed color Already seen Freedom Day may be postponed again due to the very contagious delta Shot in the arm Covid status certificates: what are they and can I get one? Data and date Experts say that the UK is in a good position to lift the blockade, and hope that it will be pinned on July 19

Mr. Javids comments distinguished him from Mr. Hancock After the Sun exposed his affair with his assistant, he resigned over the weekend.

Mr. Hancock has always been regarded as one of the doves in the cabinet that is more supportive of the blockade.

In an interview last year, Mr. Javid expressed his concerns about the prolonged blockade and how they will affect the economy.
The pilot of the ill-fated Canadian military helicopter that crashed in the Ionian Sea near Greece last year manually surpassed the aircrafts automatic flight controller system, which caused an unexpected deviation in the electronic system of the CH-148 Cyclone. This is the end of the Air Force flight safety investigation.

The Air Force reported that it is a routine procedure to try manual control while the automated system is still working. But in this case, it forced the aircraft to dive directly into the sea when landing on HMCS Fredericton.

On April 29, 2020, the accident caused the death of 6 soldiers, which was the largest loss of life in the Canadian Armed Forces in a single day since the war in Afghanistan.

The victims were: Captain Brendon MacDonald, Captain Kevin Hagen, Captain Maxim Miron-Morin, Captain Captain. Matthew Cousins, deputy lieutenant. Matthew Parker and deputy lieutenant. Abigail Kubler.

The final flight safety investigation report was released on Monday, and no one was accused.

On the contrary, the report contains a number of mitigating factors that indicate system deficiencies.

The pilot did not realize the problem

The report stated that it is usual for pilots to try to pilot the helicopter manually when the automatic flight controller is activated, and the flight manual that may solve this problem may be confusing or misleading.

In addition, the computer may not sufficiently draw the pilots attention to the flight instructor [the automatic flight control system] Participated during the exercise. 

Essentially, the pilot was not warned of the problem before the tragedy happened.

The software repair of the flight control system is one of the recommendations put forward by the combat safety investigation.

Brig.-Gen said: This accident was not caused by a single cause, but a combination of multiple factors, and could happen to any other crew member on any other day. Air Force Flight Safety Director John Alexander said in a statement.

He added, Before the accident, the manufacturer, airworthiness authority and crew were not aware of the failure.
The National Bureau of Statistics of the United Kingdom stated that since the financial crisis, the UKs productivity crisis has not been as severe as previously feared, and announced a major revision of its economic analysis driven by the growth of the telecommunications industry.

The National Bureau of Statistics of the United Kingdom raised its estimate of real GDP growth from 2010 to 2019 on Monday, but found that economic growth was lower than expected from 1998 to 2007.

therefore,Productivity conundrumAccording to Josh Martin, a statistician at the National Bureau of Statistics in the United Kingdom, Or the slowdown in hourly worker output growth is smaller than earlier estimates.

Previous data showed that productivity growth in all advanced economies has slowed after the financial crisis, with the UK being the worst affected, triggering concerns about the countrys long-term economic and public financial growth.

However, the growth of the telecommunications sector between 1997 and 2018 significantly exceeded earlier expectations, and the productivity growth rate was revised from 5.7% over the same period to 25% per year. The slowdown in growth before and after the financial crisis was revised downward.

According to Matthew Evans, head of marketing at TechUK, the Technology Trade Association, these figures prove the progress made by the British telecommunications industry.

He added: Ensuring the launch of all-fiber and 5G in the future is essential for the digital-led recovery from the pandemic and ensuring the future resilience of the UK economy.

The updated ONS calculation will be implemented in the official data in the fall. It is based on a better estimate of telecom prices, which reflects the rapid changes in quality improvement throughout the industry.

It said the data showed that the industry has advanced rapidly in the past two decades.

The revised calculation challenges the previous Learn The telecommunications industry is the main factor leading to the slowdown in UK productivity growth.

The performance of the management consulting industry has also been revised upwards. Tamzen Isacsson, CEO of the Management Consulting Association, said this reflects the trend of digital technology in the past decade.

Last year, the shift to remote work has further improved our work efficiency and reduced unnecessary travel, because clients recognize that consultants can deliver successful results virtually, she said.

The slowdown in the productivity of the financial services industry after 2009 is still a feature of the new data.

Respected

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of the United Kingdom, the average annual GDP growth rate from 1998 to 2007 was 2.7%, lower than the previous estimate of 2.9%. But between 2010 and 2019, it increased by 0.1 percentage point to 2.0%.

The new data is calculated using the double deflation method instead of the current single deflation method, which separately considers the different price and quantity changes of inputs and outputs in the production process of an industry.

Bart Van Acker, managing director of the research institute Productivity Institute, said that the change in calculation method is a good thing and it should have happened long ago.

The UK National Bureau of Statistics pointed out that although the UK productivity problem is not as serious as previously thought, it still exists in the revised data.
In the tension between Moscow and Kiev, large-scale exercises involving thousands of soldiers and dozens of ships will begin.

Despite Russias call for the cancellation of the exercise, Ukraine and the United States will start participating in military exercises in more than 30 countries in the Black Sea and southern Ukraine on Monday.

Haifeng 2021 comes after the tension between NATO and Moscow has increased, the latter said last week Fire a warning shot And dropped a bomb on the path of a British warship to drive it out of the Black Sea near the coast of Crimea.

Britain rejected Russias description of the incident.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and called it Russian territory, but the peninsula is considered part of Ukraine internationally.

The Russian Embassy in Washington called for the cancellation of the exercise last week, and the Russian Defense Ministry said it will respond when necessary to protect its national security.

Haifeng 2021 will last two weeks and will involve approximately 5,000 military personnel from NATO and other allied countries, as well as approximately 30 ships and 40 aircraft. The US guided-missile destroyer Ross and the US Marine Corps will participate.

Ukraine stated that the main goal is to gain experience in joint operations in multinational peacekeeping and security operations.

After Russia occupied Crimea and Russia supported the separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine, relations between Kiev and Moscow declined sharply.

This year, when Russia assembled its troops on the Ukrainian border, tensions increased again, and some of them stayed there with their equipment.
Jill Weinlein

Not only is Captain Kate McCue in charge of the luxurious Celebrity Edge cruise ship operated by Celebrity Cruises, she is also a social media celebrity on TikTok and Instagram(@captainkatemccue) with millions of followers around the world. She provides inspiration to all who follow her and meet her since she is the only female Captain sailing a luxury 'mega' ship.

Cat lovers also follow her hairless Elf Sphynx named "Lady" Bug Naked (IG 50.9K followers), to see how this lovable companion lives with Captain Kate in the Captain's Suite.

Jill Weinlein

Captain Kate McCue's love of the sea began in her teens after taking a cruise with her family. In the mid 90s, she enrolled in the California State University Maritime Academy and then the California Maritime Academy. Afterward, with a degree in business administration, she started working on cargo ships and sailed for nearly 15 years in different positions on ships, before becoming a Captain.

At a press conference the morning of June 26, Captain Kate shared a story about her last voyage on the Celebrity Edge from Fort Lauderdale that was on March 8, 2020. It was a history-making and barrier-breaking sailing for the cruise industry, as it was the first cruise ship ever to be 'wo-manned' by an all-female team of officers on the Bridge and across the ship.

When the sailing was completed on Sunday, March 15, and the final guests disembarked, the Celebrity Edge and her crew were told the cruise industry was being shut down. Little did she know that she wouldn't see any passengers for 15 months. As the Captain of the ship, she took care of her crew who had to stay isolated for weeks and masked onboard for months until they could fly back into their home country.

During the pandemic, Kate would blow the ships horn at sunset every evening for her crew and other ships anchored in the water in The Bahamas. She wanted to let everyone know that #HopeFloats and they were safe and well. With hope you can and will rise again, said Captain Kate.

Jill Weinlein

On June 26, 2021, she sailed another historic cruise, still the only female captain in the industry, she sailed with a 40% guest capacity level from Port Everglades on a 7-night cruise visiting Costa Maya, Mexico; Cozumel, Mexico and Nassau, Bahamas. With 100% of the crew vaccinated and 99% of the passengers, guests could remove their masks once onboard. One day the ship will sail with a 100% guest capacity of 2,918 passengers exploring 15 decks.

It was a momentous day as the Celebrity Edge departed with water boats creating rainbows, as Captain Kate backed the 1,004 feet long and 128 feet wide luxury ship out to sea. With pilot boats on all sides of the ship, Captain Kate sounded the horn multiple times to alert Port Everglades and the locals in Fort Lauderdale, that the Celebrity Edge was sailing once again. Residents in high rise buildings and waterfront homes near the port's channel out to the sea, lined up cheering, waving, holding up signs, blowing horns and trumpets.

It was an emotional experiece for all onboard to see the love being shared from those on land to those finally going out to sea from an American port. For Captain Kate, she teared up as she took a deep breath, and called out to the other officers joining her on the Bridge 'Let go all lines'.

By the end of July, Celebrity Cruises will have 8 ships in the water providing cruise vacations in the Caribbean, Alaska, Greece and Galapagos Islands. 'Someday is Here' for cruise travel.
The Franklin Police Department received several calls of shots fired in the area of Martin Luther King Blvd on June 26, 2021, at approximately 12:21 AM, including a call from the victim who stated that he was shot and believed that his mother was shot as well. Upon officers arrival, contact was made with the 42 year old male victim, and officers also located a deceased 65 year old female victim. The male victim was transported by Acadian Ambulance to a local hospital. The victims names are being withheld at this time.

Through investigation, it was learned that a vehicle drove past the area and shot several rounds toward the residence.

At this time, anyone with information regarding the vehicle is urged to call the Franklin Police Department Detective Division as soon as possible at (337) 828-1716.

The investigation is on-going.
LAFAYETTE, La.  The HomeCare Association of Louisiana (HCLA) is excited to announce the launch of its Young at Home campaign with this heartwarming, endearing video emphasizing home health care as a secret to staying young and independent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i9T-I9rZko.

Representing 180 skilled home health agencies across Louisiana, HCLA is offering a fresh take on care at home. The industry continues to transform with visits now by nurse practitioners and even physicians. Over 54 million provided care for a family member at home in 2020, and home health helps to provide families with the support they need to extend their loved ones independence and individuality at home when hospitalization isnt needed.

Our Young at Home campaign presents home health care in a positive way. Family life can be enriched when aging loved ones are able to stay at home. Our Young at Home campaign shows how home care can ease the strain on families providing care, offering people the opportunity to age with their freedom and individuality at home, shares Dr. Warren Hebert, RN, HCLAs Chief Executive Officer.

Family provides nearly 90% of all care for aging adults and people with disabilities, often with little or no outside support. From chronic illnesses of aging and loss of functional or cognitive abilities, to end-of-life care, there is a broad spectrum of care-at-home services available. Home health professionals assist families as liaisons and extensions of the care team.

In order to increase the reach of its messaging and raise awareness, HCLA is sharing the Young at Home campaign with home care agencies across Louisiana. State home care associations across the country will also be given the video for their members to brand and distribute themselves.

When HCLA shared the Young at Home campaign with us, two things happened, says Stacey Grow, Director of Marketing at LHC Group. We immediately fell in love with the two characters and at the same time recognized the critical messaging  that home health care provides vital services to individuals and families that enhance peoples lives, keeping them happier and young at heart.

Louisiana and states across the country are making positive strides to lessen the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Care at home is safe, effective and efficient. Were excited about the timing of this campaign. Older adults were significantly affected by isolation in congregate living settings and the inability to see loved ones, shares Hebert. This Young at Home campaign shines a light on the opportunity for vitality in older adults. Its a privilege to help them live to their fullest.
A MoDOT supervisor named Lloyd Crawford was struck and killed by a vehicle in the city's Northland on Monday morning. He was 61 years old and had been with MoDOT since 2003.
President Joe Bidens Fourth of July deadline to get 70 percent of the country vaccinated is approaching fast. There are many incentives now to get the vaccine, and Wyandotte County is offering new temptations.
KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- Kansas City police are investigating after three separate homicides on Sunday. Right now, they say theyre working to find possible suspects.

This now brings the citys homicide rate up to 74 for the year so far. The rate is a little lower than it was this time last year, but its still higher compared to this date between 2017 and 2019.

In 2020, Kansas City was at around 90 homicides near the end of June. In 2019, it was around 65. In 2018, it was around 58 and 2017 was around 69.

On Sunday, police say they received several calls about a disturbance at an apartment complex at 80th Street and Campbell Avenue. Just after midnight, officers say they found a man unresponsive outside one of the buildings.

KCPD investigating overnight homicide outside Waldo Heights Apartments The Kansas City Police Department is investigating a homicide that happened overnight outside the Waldo Heights Apartments in the area of E. 80th Street and Campbell Street.

According to police, his injuries were unknown. Police say the man was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police were then called about 2:30 a.m. Sunday to Independence and Lawn avenues for a shooting. When officers arrived, they found a man shot in a vehicle. According to police, he was also taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

KCPD investigating after man is fatally shot inside vehicle early Sunday The Kansas City Police Department is investigating after a man was shot inside a vehicle in the area of Independence Avenue and Lawn Avenue, and ultimately died.

Then, police say a woman was shot and killed at Ninth Street and Prospect Avenue just before 10 p.m. Sunday.

Police say theyre still gathering information in these incidents. No suspects have been named at this time. Anyone with information is asked to call 816-474-TIPS. A reward is being offered.
Boat captain Jennifer Dowker runs shipwreck tours all summer long, so she knows that there are all sorts of secrets hidden under the surface of Michigan's waterways, but she was still shocked to find a message in a bottle written in 1926.

Dowker is the owner of Nautical North Family Adventures and was scuba diving in the Cheboygan River on Friday to clean the windows on the bottom of her glass-bottomed boat, the Yankee Sunshine, when she made the discovery.

She has a small collection of bottles and other odds and ends she's collected while diving, so the old-fashioned green bottle caught her eye. It was sitting on the bottom of the river about 10 feet underwater, she told CNN.

"At first I thought it was just a cool bottle and then when I picked it up, when I was still under the water, I could read the word 'this' in the paper," Dowker said. "It was kind of like 'Holy Smokes! We've got a message in a bottle here. Cool!'"

When she got back to the surface, Dowker showed the bottle to her first mate and a potential diving client, who had been watching her from inside the boat.

She said the bottle was about 2/3 filled with water and still had part of a cork inside, but its seal had deteriorated over the years.

She was able to fish out the note with a small tool and gently unrolled it to read the message.

The note was dated November 1926 and read:

"Will the person who finds this bottle return this paper to George Morrow Cheboygan, Michigan and tell where it was found?"

Her first mate, Rob Hemmer, works at a local museum and his co-workers said to put the letter in the freezer to dry out, Dowker said.

Dowker said Cheboygan is a small town and she knew a few Morrows lived in the area, so she posted pictures on her company's Facebook page and hoped that a handful of people would see it.

"I figured we'd track it down pretty quickly and that'd be the end of it," she said. "So I kind of forgot about it because it was already late that night ... and went to bed."

When she woke up Saturday morning, her post had gone viral -- it has now been shared more than 100,000 times and has more than 6,000 comments from people offering tips, or who just wanted to know more about the story.

"What was going through my mind was where am I even going to find the time to do the research to find the person," Dowker said. "I'm a single mom running a small business with three teenage boys."

She needn't have worried because on Father's Day she heard from George Morrow's daughter, Michele Primeau.

Primeau told CNN that she's not on Facebook, but she got a call out of nowhere from a complete stranger, who had seen Dowker's post and decided to track her down.

"I don't do Facebook, and I'm just flabbergasted at how this has grown," Primeau said.

She recognized her dad's handwriting when she saw a picture of the note, even though it was written about 20 years before she was born.

Primeau said her dad's birthday was in November and would have been 17 or 18 when he wrote the note and braced the cold of Northern Michigan to throw the bottle in the river.

"I can just see him going out and doing that because it was his birthday," Primeau said. "I don't know for sure. But it just sounds like something he would have done."

She said her dad was always sentimental and she remembered her leaving a note in their wall while remodeling their basement and throwing another message in a bottle into Lake Huron on a family camping trip.

Her dad died in 1995 and Primeau said the discovery has brought back a lot of good memories.

"So he's been gone a long time, but it was kind of cool because all this happened on Father's Day weekend," she said.

Dowker wanted to return the message and the bottle, but Primeau decided she should keep it.

"I thought the right thing to do would be to give it to her," Primeau said. "She found it and that would keep my dad's name living on."

Dowker said that she's going to have them framed in a shadowbox and Primeau is going to send a photo of her father at that age for the display.

She's planning to put it up in the boat, or in the company's office and gift shop.

Primeau said she's planning to make the trip up to Cheboygan in September, to see it.

"I told her 'you have a lifetime pass on the Yankee Sunshine,'" Dowker said.

The-CNN-Wire

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GRANTS PASS, Ore.  The Grants Pass School District board will meet in mid-July to consider whether the employment of two North Middle School educators should be terminated after they launched a campaign proposing their own policy for responding to issues of student gender identity.

North Middle School assistant principal Rachel Damiano and science teacher Katie Medart posted a video on YouTube at the end of March, heralding the launch of their "I Resolve Movement" by outlining their responses to policies on gender identity in schools. Both educators were placed on paid leave by the District in April.

According to a statement from the District, a third-party investigator was previously hired by officials to examine complaints that Damiano and Medart violated District policies. The school board will hold two special meetings on Thursday, July 15, to consider if the employment of the educators should be terminated, which is the recommendation of Superintendent Kirk Kolb.

"At the request of the employees, the hearings will be open, public meetings, with the public permitted to observe via Zoom," the District said in a statement. "Because the record for this hearing will be limited to the documents and information considered as part of the Superintendents administrative recommendation, no public comment will be allowed."

Damiano and Medart will have an opportunity to respond to the Superintendent's recommendation for termination and to answer questions from the school board, either personally or through an attorney.

"The hearing and any board discussion will be regarding the alleged policy violations only. The purpose of these hearings is not to discuss or debate the merits of the I Resolve Movement," the District said.

Damiano and Medart have filed a federal lawsuit accusing the District of violating their rights under the First Amendment. They are represented by Ray Hacke of the Pacific Justice Institute.

In the original video produced by Damiano and Medart, the two express consternation about the apparent inconsistency of gender identity guidelines that started at the Oregon Department of Education and have been implemented in slightly different forms at local districts, and go on to make clear their own opinions of what those guidelines should be.

"We recognize that, excepting very rare scientifically-demonstrable medical conditions, there are two anatomical gender presentations, male and female," Damiano and Medart's resolution begins.

Under the resolution, public school restrooms and locker rooms should be changed from "boys" and "girls" to "anatomically-male or anatomically-female  and may "only be used by persons matching the anatomical designation of the spaces."

"What that then is referencing is what, in essence, what genitalia do you have? Because they're designed in form and function, both of those facilities, for anatomical anatomy," said Medart in the video.

Under the resolution, students uncomfortable with the anatomically-labeled spaces can request access to a private restroom or locker room, if available, although there is no stipulation that those requests be granted.

Transgender students wishing to go by a "a derivative of their legal name"  not a name of their choice  or preferred pronoun can do so with parent permission, and other students or staff are free to either accept or ignore the request.

"If a student's name was Jessica Smith . . . if Jessica was on the journey of their gender identity, and they wanted to identify as male, they could then change their name to Jess," Medart said.

"Jess, Jessie, Smith," agreed Damiano. "Anything that's a derivative, and again, that's to focus on the gender identity piece of it and that journey, not necessarily on name, because I think that can be . . . be a rabbit trail."
ASHLAND, Ore.  After a chase involving multiple law enforcement agencies, officers stopped and arrested an alleged reckless driver when on Saturday when he crashed through a fence and into a field east of Ashland.

Shortly before 11 a.m. on Saturday, Medford Police reported making contact with a driver who fled from officers in a vehicle. Around three hours later, dispatch received two calls about a vehicle with the same description "being driven recklessly," with the last call coming from Dead Indian Memorial Road near Ashland.

Ashland Police responded and spotted the vehicle, a white Toyota sedan with California plates. The driver again fled from officers, this time onto I-5 southbound, before getting off the freeway at Exit 6. Deputies from the Jackson County Sheriff's Office joined the chase, following the driver north on Old Highway 99 towards Highway 66.

Police managed to spike the Toyota's tires, but the driver continue onto Highway 66. JCSO said that officers repeatedly halted the chase for public safety reasons, but eventually caught up again.

On Highway 66 just east of Buckhorn Road, the suspect tried to again evade police  crashing through a fence and into a field, where he abandoned the vehicle and tried to run away on foot. He was chased and soon arrested by deputies.

JCSO identified the suspect as 38-year-old Arthur Nalbandian, address unknown. Nalbandian faces a laundry list of charges for reckless driving, attempting to elude police, and driving under the influence of a controlled substance.
UPDATE - 9:58 pm: WEED, Calif.  According to a United States Forest Service spokesperson, the Lava Fire is shown to be around 4,000 acres in size based on satellite imagery. The fire crossed Highway 97 earlier Monday, prompting officials to issue evacuation orders. Those can be viewed below. Officials say the fire has grown considerably, driven by wind, heat and drought.

WEED, Calif.  The threat of evacuations in Siskiyou County became a reality on Monday as the Lava Fire roiled and surged, sending a massive plume of brown and grey smoke high into the air.

As of 5:30 p.m. on Monday evening, fire officials had yet to provide an update on the fire's growth or latest movements. But the warnings that did emerge told a story.

The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office issued evacuation orders for a number of areas, starting with residents on the north side of Hoy Road, north along Highway 97 to County Road A-12, and the communities of Lake Shastina and Juniper Valley off Big Springs Road from Highway 97 to McDonald Lane on both east and west sides of Big Springs Road.

Within an hour, the agency issued a second round of mandatory evacuations covering the Mount Shasta Vista Subdivision, County Road A-12 north and south, Harry Cash Road, and 4 Corners to Hart Road.

Residents were told not to wait, and to evacuate immediately. A Temporary Evacuation Point (TEP) was established at Big Springs Elementary School, and people with any questions were asked to call 211.

Transportation officials say that Highway 97 has been closed from I-5 in Weed to the abandoned Juniper Lodge Motel just south of Macdoel. It's likely to remain closed overnight, at the very least.

The Lava Fire was originally one of four fires sparked by last week's thunderstorms. Though fire crews managed to quickly find and contain the other three, the Lava Fire continued to grow within the rough, rocky terrain about 3.5 miles northeast of Weed and southeast of Lake Shastina.

On Sunday morning the fire was mapped at 220 acres with 25 percent containment, but it continued to spread rapidly amid the record heat. As of Monday morning, officials said that the fire covered roughly 1,446 acres with 20 percent containment. Visible activity from the fire throughout the day suggests that it has continued to grow larger.

Officials remain concerned about the "near-critical" humidity levels, extreme heat, and strong breezes in the fire area, which all could provoke further rapid spread. Crews are working to pen the fire in east of the railroad tracks, south of the 42N15 trail which branches off from Highway 97, and north of a private road.

Fire officials planned to host a Lava Fire community meeting on Monday night at 7 p.m. in the Kenneth Ford Theater at the College of the Siskiyous. California Incident Management Team 14 will provide info on the current status of the Lava Fire and planned courses of action. Face coverings and other COVID-19 regulations are still required at the College.
The last person who asked me that is still missing.

If you need me, I'll be underwater.

It's a dry heat.

You call this hot? Bring it on.

Vote

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A one-time discount of up to $100 for a laptop, desktop computer or tablet purchased through a participating provider.

We know many of our friends, family, and neighbors experienced financial setbacks over the past year and have struggled to get by, which could qualify them for the program. Additionally, Wisconsin residents may be eligible for the EBB if they:

Qualify for the Lifeline program, as well as those who participate in certain federal assistance programs, such as Medicaid, SNAP, and SSI benefits.

Experienced a substantial loss of income since February 29, 2020, and the household had a total income in 2020 below $99,000 for single filers and $198,000 for joint filers.

Meet the criteria for a participating internet providers existing low-income or COVID-19 program.

Eligible households will enroll through participating broadband providers.

AARP fought hard for the EBB Program at the federal level and we want to make sure people are aware of this benefit that may be available for themselves and others. For more information about EBB, visit aarp.org/EBB, text INTERNET to 22777 or call 1-833-511-0311.
Both the National Guard and Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian assert that the Guard mobilized as fast it could have last summer.

It is troubling that Republicans are choosing to rewrite history on this unfortunate period for Kenosha and use it for a cheap political stunt, said Ohnstad, who represents the 65th Assembly District, which includes much the City of Kenosha south of Washington Road and east of 50th Avenue.

During the dinner, Steil praised former President Trumps response to the unrest, whom he credited for getting the National Guard to Kenosha  a claim both McGuire and the Evers administration took issue with.

Only through the most partisan lens could one believe that the same President who refused to mobilize National Guard to defend an assault on our U.S Capitol somehow held all the right answers to mobilizing them for Kenosha, said McGuire, whose 64th Assembly District includes northern Kenosha and eastern Somers and portions of southeast Racine County.

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The Evers administration noted that Trump neither publicly nor directly ordered any troops or resources to Kenosha, and according to an email from an Evers spokeswoman, the Trump Administration didnt speak with the governor until after the Guard had been deployed.
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FLORENCE, Ore. - With record breaking heat hitting Western Oregon, many headed to the coast to cool off.

People from across the state and Washington were seen around town Sunday.

Homegrown Public House co-owner, Elaine McMillan said that the heat has made it a little bit harder this weekend.

"The town has been busy, highway 126 has been busy, its just been busy," said McMillan.

McMillian said theyve seen a huge crowd all weekend, to the point where they had to stop taking new customers at 7pm Saturday night due to a backlog.

Currently, she is still down a few employees so they decided to close two days a week so that everyone can have some time off to recharge during the peak busy season.

While businesses is of course welcome, McMillian has a reminder for those visiting this place they call home year-round.

I just ask that you just respect when you come visit," said McMillan. "Everyones tired, everyones overworked. I think us as a community, everybody, the world, weve been through a lot in the last 18 months so just being kind. Smiling, being grateful, and thankful really goes a long way especially when youre working with the public.

While coming to the coast is a great resource to beat the heat, local leaders are reminding everyone to be mindful on the beach.

They ask that you "leave no trace" by picking up your trash no matter if you come to the beach, town, or to the dunes.
LANE COUNTY, Ore. --- The responses for local emergency medical services are skyrocketing as Western Oregon sees some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded.

RELATED: EUGENE BREAKS ALL-TIME RECORD HEAT

"We've already seen more calls for heat stroke or heat related injuries and so that's fairly common," said Chad Minter, the chief of Coburg Rural Fire District.

He also said there is an increase in water rescues during the heat wave. Mike Caven Battallion chief with Eugene Springfield fire said although they have plenty of units to cater to the area, citizens should do their due diligence before dialing 9-1-1.

RELATED: COOLING CENTERS OPEN IN WESTERN OREGON

"Sometimes people will drive by something and see somebody having a heat emergency, I would recommend before calling 9-1-1 checking on them," Caven said, "That will relieve a little bit of pressure on the system."

He said if you are experiencing a medical emergency, don't hesistate to call the authorities.

Dozens of Eugene residents were seen crowded around the Willamette River to escape the heat.

"If you don't have AC in your apartment or house or whatever, you kind of got to come to the river to cool off," Eugene resident Peter Logan said.

EMS officials said that entering cold waters in extremely hot temperatures could cause muscle shock and that community members should take precautions.
Eugene, ORE.-- These record-breaking temperatures didn't stop fans from packing Hayward Field on Sunday

KEZI 9 News spoke with some nearby spectators who said triple-digit weather is nothing new to them.

"We are actually from Colorado Springs, and as we've been posting, they've been saying 'the Pacific Northwest is not supposed to be this hot,' and so it is cooler there than it is in the summer, so what an anomaly," Anji Ro Wood said.

But here in Oregon, triple-digit heat over 110 degrees is unprecedented.

Fans said this heat is "insane," but it's not stopping them from enjoying the event.

"We wouldn't miss it for the world," Roe Wood said. "If the athletes can do it, we can certainly do it."

Andriana Kruger, another fan at the Olympic Trials, also weighed in.

"The excitement of the event overshadows the heat," said Kruger.

Michael Ratliff, a traffic director for the Olympic Trials, said if you do choose to be out in the heat-be preparedbring a water bottle and eat right.

"Don't eat a bunch before you get here," Ratliff said. I have strawberries and water. Light stuff like bananas and things like that."

Local businesses said they experienced an increase in profit as fans look for a bite to eat or a place to cool off after watching the trials.

Elijah Fields, an employee at Prince Puckler's, said that the heat isn't stopping fans from coming to his storeespecially since it's an ice cream shop.

"The Olympic Trials, obviously when that's over, everyone's going to want some ice cream," Fields said. Usually, it's always busy in this area. The Eugene natives and everyone new knows about Prince Puckler's and this area."

Other restaurants on the block said they would be turning on the air conditioner all day for their guests.
SWEET HOME, Ore.  A man accused of shooting at a vehicle near Foster Reservoir has been taken into custody.

Just after 10 p.m. on June 25, a caller reported that a shooter had driven away from the Calkins Boat Ramp area in a Ford pickup, the Linn County Sheriffs Office said.

A nearby deputy located the truck on Highway 20. The driver, who has been identified as 35-year-old Paul Kizer of Sweet Home, reportedly refused to stop for authorities.

Kizer then parked at a home on Ames Creek Road and was arrested after a verbal confrontation with deputies, the sheriffs office said.

Investigators say Kizer had a confrontation with a man at the boat ramp and threw a rock at the vehicle as it left. When the vehicle returned, Kizer reportedly fired shots at it, popping a tire before driving away.

Deputies say they found a semi-automatic pistol, magazine and ammunition when serving a search warrant on the pickup.

Kizer was taken to the Linn County Jail on charges of unlawful use of a weapon, four counts of reckless endangering, eluding in a vehicle, felon in possession of a firearm, second-degree criminal mischief and reckless driving.

If you have any information, contact deputies at 541-967-3950.
By Juliet Nalwooga

Operators of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises are asking security personnel to be more humane as they enforce Covid-19 Standard Operation Procedures during the current 42-day lockdown.

The call comes after videos made rounds on social media showing running battles between law enforcers and traders in downtown Kampala who had defied the presidential stay home directive and displayed their merchandise for sale.

John Walugembe, the Executive Director of the Federation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises is concerned that without a robust relief package for everyone affected by the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, traders dealing in perishable commodities may soon be pushed out of business.

Walugembe also appeals to the government to find a more reliable method of identifying beneficiaries for the covid relief cash, noting that the proposed mobile money transactions basis is subjective and open to abuse.

Uganda yesterday joined the world to mark the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Day under the theme; MSMEs, Key to an inclusive and sustainable recovery
By Damali Mukhaye

The release of the 2020 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) results hangs in balance as the Covid-19 pandemic bites hard.

The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) was planning to release the PLE exam results this week and those for the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) next month.

However, the 42-day lockdown imposed by president Museveni on June 18 has left the boards staff charged with the responsibility of final verification of the results stranded at home.

The UNEB spokesperson, Jenipher Kalule says the whole process has been disrupted by the lockdown and it is now not clear when the results will be released.

Over 700,000 pupils sat for Primary Leaving Examinations this year.
In the last year we've lost thousands of family members, friends and co-workers to COVID-19. We'd like to give you a chance to honor their memory.

Share a Memory
A motorist who disappeared from behind a garda who was giving her an emergency escort to hospital has been convicted of motoring and public order offences.



Jekaterina Zemtaute, 29 College Avenue, Kilkenny, was charged with a number of offences which occurred on several occasions.



On October 28, 2019, Garda McMenamin was on John Street, at 1.45am. He met Ms Zemtaute who was extremely intoxicated. She fell out onto the street and was acting in an unruly manner.

A fixed charge penalty was not paid.



On January 9, 2020, Garda Ryan stopped Ms Zemtaute while driving. She failed to display L plates.

On January 21, 2020, Garda OBrien was driving an unmarked garda vehicle at the Callan Road, Kilkenny, at approximately 6pm. She observed a red Audi A3 approaching from the rear, at speed. The car moved onto the wrong side of the road and overtook the garda vehicle and three other vehicles.

Garda OBrien told the court she was unable to see oncoming traffic so the driver of the Audi would have been in the same position.



The garda followed the Audi and activated the garda vehicles blue lights.

Ms Zemtaute, who was driving the Audi, pulled over and before the garda could even remove her own seat belt, exited her vehicle and ran to the garda shouting that a child was dying.

Ms Zemtaute got back in her car and took off again.

The garda followed her to College Park where she parked at her mothers house, ran in and took a child she said was her sister and needed to go to hospital.

Garda OBrien asked the child was she ok and she nodded.



Ms Zemtautes mother got into the car with her daughters and Garda OBrien said she would go in front of them to the hospital.

The garda said Ms Zemtaute followed her onto the Old Callan Road and then the Audi disappeared.

Garda OBrien checked with the ambulance service and there had been no emergency call in the previous hour. She went to the hospital and did not find the child. She also checked the hospital car park and did not see the red Audi.



Solicitor Chris Hogan said his clients driving was below par but she had no previous convictions for poor driving.

In relation to the public order offence his client had asked him to apologise, Mr Hogan said. She doesn't socialise now and spends time looking after her child. She is trying to set up a beauty business.

Judge Geraldine Carthy asked what the emergency was, in relation to Garda OBriens charge.

Mr Hogan said his client has a younger sister who is ill. On that day her mother rang her and they did go to the hospital that day.



Convicting Ms Zemtaute, the judge imposed a fine of 150 for not having L plates displayed on her car. She was fined 250 for the public order offence.

For driving without reasonable consideration, on January 21, 2020, Ms Zemtaute was fined 600.
The Kilkenny branch of Permanent TSB, a leading provider of retail and SME banking in the Irish market, has been awarded the Guaranteed Irish symbol.

Serving over one million customers nationwide, Permanent TSB has successfully achieved membership of Guaranteed Irish for its contribution to local communities across the country and commitment to Irish provenance and local employment.

Permanent TSB has a long banking history in Irish communities, with roots that stretch back over 200 years. Throughout this time, its focus has been on delivering exceptional customer service and connecting with local communities, providing mortgages and community banking services. The bank engages with the community through building strong community partnerships, providing financial support to local charities through the work of the Staff Charities Fund and Permanent TSB Community Fund, and through engaging employees in volunteering initiatives.

Guaranteed Irish champions a network of 1,600 member businesses, employing over 100,000 people across Ireland, and generating an annual combined Irish turnover of 10bn. The licenced symbol is awarded to successful businesses by the Guaranteed Irish Appraisals Committee represented by Jason Crawford Partner, Grant Thornton; Rob Lyons, Senior Sales & Marketing Manager Certification Europe Ltd. (CEL); Mark Keller, International Sales & Marketing Director;and Karen Deignan, Director & Co-Founder of Sustainability Works.

Commenting on the announcement, Patrick Farrell, Director of Retail Banking at Permanent TSB, said:

Permanent TSB is over 200 years in business, with a deep heritage in supporting communities across Ireland, originating from the Trustee Savings Banks and Irish Permanent Building Society. Although banking has evolved a lot in that period, the Permanent TSB customer and community first ethos has remained a core component of our culture. With over 2500 employees in Ireland, 76 branches nationwide and a commitment to maintain our branch network, we are very proud to become a member of Guaranteed Irish. We also look forward to working with the team at Guaranteed Irish in the months ahead to showcase some talented SMEs through a kick starting retail initiative, which will be run in partnership with Permanent TSB and Guaranteed Irish later this year.

Brid OConnell CEO Guaranteed Irish, commented: We are delighted to welcome Permanent TSB and its network of branches providing services to the people of Kilkenny and throughout Ireland as a member of Guaranteed Irish. The Guaranteed Irish symbol is only awarded to businesses that contribute to our communities, make a commitment to Irish provenance, and support local jobs. The national licenced symbol helps consumers identify businesses that operate locally in Ireland and contribute to the local economy. For every 1 spent on Irish goods 5 comes back to the Irish economy. When you support local businesses, our communities flourish and jobs are saved across the country. Local money circulates back into a local economy. Consumers have recognised the importance of supporting local businesses, start-ups, and entrepreneurs, particularly given the current climate. 95% of consumers believe that by purchasing from firms with the Guaranteed Irish brand they are helping the local economy (RedC). It is more important now than ever to support local and look out for the Guaranteed Irish symbol in stores. We are delighted to see Permanent TSB, an integral part of Irelands financial history, join the Guaranteed Irish movement which is growing in importance daily, as consumers are voting to support local and Irish. This national iconic symbol is powerful and makes Ireland and life for our citizens and our communities all together better. We need to look out for it.
A public zoom meeting, organised by People before Profit, to discuss Pride in Rural Ireland will take place this week.

The meeting will address how Pride in Rural Ireland and how it has changed and the fights which still remain ahead. The meeting will discuss the challenges which LGBT+ people face living in rural areas.

The meeting time is 7pm this Wednesday (June 30).



The meeting will be chaired by Cllr Adrianne Wallace.

Speakers are Daniel Brooks, Young Carlow LGBT+ activist, Ben Lacey, Waterford Pride and Eddie Mc Guinness, the speakers will speak on how things have changed and What fights lay ahead for the LGBT+ community.

Ben Lacey will be speaking from Waterford following the recent attacks on the Pride flag there.

Cllr Wallace added: "I am delighted to host this meeting with such a fantastic line up of speakers. Eddie McGuiness, or Mr. Pride as he is known locally, has been the face of Kilkenny Pride and championing the fight for inclusivity for years. To be joined by two young activists from the South East highlights how the community has more confidence than ever to call for their demands."

Speaking ahead of the meeting Carlow activist Daniel Brooks said: "Ireland has come a long way in terms of acceptance of the LGBT+ community but more can be done. Healthcare for the community needs to be given priority. There should be free access to HIV treatment drug Prep and Trans people should not have to wait for years to get gender realignment surgery. It's also important we start to see these services move outside of Dublin too so there is easier access for those in rural Ireland."

Details and access for zoom meeting can be found on the Facebook page of Cllr Adrienne Wallace People Before Profit. search on Facebook page @wallacePBP
The Immigrant Council of Ireland is calling on migrants and councillors from Kilkenny to take part in the Migrant Councillor Internship Scheme.

The scheme, which was officially launched today, is a mentoring programme that pairs local councillors with migrants who want to learn more about Irish politics and get involved in their local communities. Following a successful pilot of the scheme in 2018, the Immigrant Council will now run 15 local political internships across Ireland for migrants, between September and December 2021.

Successful applicants will be placed with local participating councillors for one day a week (or the equivalent of seven hours spread over a number of days) for a three-month period.

Commenting on the scheme, Teresa Buczkowska, Integration Manager at the Immigrant Council of Ireland said: For many migrants the lack of diversity and representation in key areas of Irish society is an ongoing visual reminder that we are still some distance away from being a fully inclusive society. The Immigrant Council is working to change this by promoting diversity and inclusion across all aspects of Irish life, especially politics.

With more migrant involvement in politics and in their local communities, we will see diversity in representation, and a truer reflection of the society we live in today. This is vital for young migrants who often tell us they dont see themselves represented in many leadership areas in Ireland.

Migrant Participation

Originally from Nigeria, Uruemu Adejinmi interned with Longford County Councillor, Joe Flaherty, in 2018. Following completion of the programme, Adejinmi was co-opted to the council, where she is still serving and was recently elected as Mayor. Commenting on the scheme, Cllr. Adejinmi said: Being part of the scheme really hammered home for me the importance of adequate representation in council meetings. Our presence at meetings is a reminder of the diversity of the population and helps ensure that our interests are considered in decision making.

Participating on the scheme gave me a great opportunity to meet lots of people in the local community and learn firsthand what the role of a councillor involves. I would encourage any migrants with an interest in politics to consider taking part.

Migrants living in Kilkenny who are interested in getting involved in the scheme must complete an online application form. As part of the process, applicants are also required to create a three-minute video answering the following questions: Why does representation in politics matter? Transport and lunch expenses, as well as childcare costs for single parents will be provided for successful applicants. Migrants must be non-European Economic Area (EEA) citizens. The deadline for applications is July 23.

Information for councillors

Councillors from Kilkenny who would like to host an intern of a migrant background should send an email indicating their interest to research_intern@ immigrantcouncil.ie . The deadline for councillors is July 23, 2021.

Information Sessions

Online information sessions for potential migrant applicants and interested councillors will talk place next week. The details and requirements for the scheme will be outlined during each event.

Information session for migrants: Wednesday, June 30, 6pm-7pm. Migrants interested in attending can register via the Immigrant Council website. www.immigrantcouncil.ie

Information session for councillors: Thursday, July 1 from 6pm-7pm. Councillors interested in attending should email the Immigrant Council for further information. research_intern@ immigrantcouncil.ie
Kilkenny LGBTI+ Young People from Identify, an LGBT+ youth group supported by The Foroige Drum Project, recently took part in the collaboration with SUBSET where they unveiled their 'Shine With Pride' mural in Dublin city.

LGBTI+ young people from across Ireland engaged in a series of virtual sessions with the artist KinMx to share their lived experiences of growing up LGBTI+ in Ireland and come up with the messages they wanted the mural to communicate.

The artwork tells the story of how the young people found deep solace in nature during their coming out journeys.

The central character in the mural embodies LGBTI+ young people as they come out and blossom with pride into who they truly are as boundless, hopeful citizens of the world.

The progress Pride flag colours; symbols for male, female and transgender people, as well as representations of the bonds of friendship, creativity and the arts are also evident throughout the piece.

Speaking about the collaboration and creation of the mural was CEO of Foroige Sean Campbell.

"Its vital that all young people be able to express their individuality," he said.

"To mark Pride month were delighted that LGBTI+ young people from Foroige got the opportunity to tell their stories and have their voices heard in such a creative and positive way.

"The striking and powerful artwork shows a real sense of positivity and progress in terms of how we as a nation support LGBTI+ young people. I admire all of the young people who bravely shared their personal experiences..."

Foroige submitted this artwork for inclusion in the Government of Irelands Live Out Loud campaign, which promotes how LGBTI+ young people are visible, valued and included in Irish society, culture and sport.

The Shine with Pride mural can be seen on Camden Row, Dublin 2.
ALBERT LEA, Minn. - An Austin man is facing two felony charges after a traffic stop that began with a vehicle driving through a front yard and ended with officers finding drugs and a stun gun.

Darron Miller, 37, is facing felony charges of prohibited possession of an incapacitation device and fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance.

Authorities said Miller drove through a yard Sunday at 621 11th St. E. before he was pulled over. An officer noticed a black box in the back seat that had the orange cap of a syringe sticking out in the vehicle.

The vehicle was then searched and a digital scale and more syringes were located. A pink stun gun was located in Miller's pocket and once activated it had the same buzzing sound a Taser makes.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - The Essential Worker Emergency Leave Act just recently passed in the Minnesota House, allocating $250 million for essential workers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The money will help frontline workers all across the state get some of the paychecks they missed because of COVID-19. The President of the Minnesota Nurses Association, Mary Turner, said this is the first step in supporting essential workers.

The $250 million will go back to employees who lost benefits and pay while sitting in quarantine or waiting for tests. Turner said this is not bonus money for them, it's just giving them back what they lost because of something out of their control. "While we appreciate being called heroes etc., you need to know just exactly what the heroes were doing and the risks that we were taking and the sacrificing we were making, gladly, and would do again for the people of Minnesota," she explained.

The Essential Worker Emergency Leave Act has yet to be signed by the Governor.
KIMT NEWS 3.- Minnesota lawmakers have reached a deal on a public safety spending package this weekend. It will focus on police accountability measures. If passed, agencies in Rochester and across the state will be impacted by a bill state lawmakers agreed on Saturday night.

The bill will limit no-knock search warrants, establish a state government office focused on missing and murdered indigenous women, and require 911 operators to refer calls involving mental health emergencies to crisis teams when appropriate.

Becca Mills is from the Twin Cities. She believes the legislation is important.

"I think it is good to address the mental health to a mental health crisis. They've got more knowledge and information on there but for those to respond as soon as possible is needed in certain situations."

Other people like Jacquie Armstrong who live in The Med City, agree with most of the bill's powers but think it can use some improvement.

"No-knock search warrants aren't necessarily a great idea. I think that's a step in a great direction but it needs a lot more discussion on both sides and support from the police and the community in both ways."

The bill will also change the way Minnesota levies fines and fees in the court system. Although the deal was made Saturday night, House Speaker Melissa Hortman and Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka are still trying to resolve some minor issues.

The legislature must approve all budget bills by Wednesday at midnight to fund state government and avoid a shutdown on Thursday.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - Two people are facing robbery charges and another was hospitalized after an alleged assault early Saturday morning.

Rochester police said it happened at 2:20 a.m. at 4th Ave. and 4th St. SW when officers located a male victim lying on the ground with blood coming from his face.

A female victim said she and the man were walking from Kathy's Pub when a silver vehicle with 5-6 Black males inside parked next to them.

The male victim thought the car belonged to a friend so he walked toward it. Police said he then realized it wasn't his friend's vehicle and walked back to the female.

That's when all the males assaulted the male while one of the men tried to steal the woman's purse.

A vehicle matching the description was found a short time later and it resulted in two men - Tabarie Gunsallus, 21, of Austin, and Ochonge Gilo, 18, of Rochester being arrested. They are each facing robbery and assault charges.

The suspects claimed the victim came at them with a knife before the altercation.

The male victim was taken to St. Marys Hospital for his injuries.
ROSEVILLE, Minn.  The Minnesota Board of School Administrators has issued a letter of censure to Rochester Public Schools Superintendent Michael Munoz.

The Board approved the letter at its meeting Monday and state it was being issued with Munoz agreement. It says that Munoz actions in plagiarizing others work for a 2019 graduation speech, a 2020 graduation speech, a 2020 letter to school families and students, and a 2020 letter to school staff were violations of the Code of Ethics for school administrators.

The Boards letter states that Munoz counsel acknowledged the severity of his behavior and described it as poor choices.

The letter will remain in Munoz file with the Board until June 28, 2022.
Jasper, TX (75951)

Today

Some passing clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Some passing clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable.
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
(KSL/CNN) -- An abduction caught on camera led people to criticize bystanders. But police say they called for help, which is the most important thing to do.
ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) -- St. Louis City's fire department is mourning one of their own lost to COVID-19.

The fire department said, "It is with deep sorrow and profound sadness that we announce the Line of Duty death of St. Louis Firefighter Rodney Heard."

Heard was infected with coronavirus while working and died from complications caused by the virus on June 15. He was 56-years-old and worked with the fire department for more than 25 years.

"During this difficult time, we ask that you keep the family and friends of Firefighter Heard uplifted in prayer and thoughts," the department said.

Flags to fly at half-staff to honor St. Louis firefighter JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)  Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has ordered that U.S. and Missouri flags at fire stations statewide will fly at half-staf

St. Louis firefighters held a procession as Heard's body was taken from St. Mary's Hospital to Granberry Mortuary on Jennings Station Road on June 17.

Monday, a visitation was held from 9-11 a.m. and funeral services were held afterwards at New Springs Church at 10229 Lewis & Clark Blvd. Mayor Tishaura Jones and Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed were in attendance. Immediately following the funeral, committal services were held at Memorial Park Cemetery at 5200 Lucas & Clark Blvd.

Flags across Missouri are being flown at half-staff Monday in honor of Heard.

A total of 528 St. Louis City residents have died from complications caused by the coronavirus so far.

BackStoppers is assisting Heard's family. You can donate at this link.
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COLUMBIA - The City of Columbia Solid Waste Utility will host a community involvement session in August, associated with the Citys proposed landfill expansion.

The meeting will be from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 4 at City Hall Rooms 1A and 1B.

The proposed landfill disposal area is located within the Columbia landfill property and lies south of the city's current disposal area, which is located at 5700 Peabody Road.

A geological investigation was performed, and the session will present and discuss those findings. The investigation was conducted to determine whether the proposed site has "suit able geological conditions" that will allow it to be utilized for future solid waste disposal purposes, in accordance with Missouri solid waste regulations.

Representatives from the City of Columbia will be in attendance. Weaver Consultants Group and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources will also be present at the session.

Public comments are encouraged and can also be submitted online.
The remains of 20 people have been discovered in a boat in the waters of the British overseas territory, the Turks and Caicos Islands.
South Korea's top nuclear negotiator stressed Tuesday the importance of resolving the North Korean nuclear issue through dialogue and diplomacy, casting it a great challenge to international security beyond the Korean Peninsula.





Noh Kyu-duk, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs
By Kwon Mee-yoo





Kim Gi-pyo, presidential secretary for anti-corruption / Korea Times file

Kim Gi-pyo, the presidential secretary for anti-corruption, resigned on Sunday following mounting criticism over allegations of his real estate speculation. Kim purchased billions of won worth of real estate mainly through loans  a practice that the Moon Jae-in government has criticized for contributing to property speculation and pledged to root out.



Park Soo-hyun, the senior presidential secretary for public communication, said that Kim offered his resignation because he did not want to burden the administration. The President accepted the resignation immediately.



Kim, who was named as the anti-corruption secretary in March, reported that he owns 9 billion won ($8 million) worth of real estate: an apartment in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province valued at 1.45 billion won, two commercial stores in Seoul worth 6.55 billion won and forest land in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, valued at 840 million won. He has 5.62 billion won worth of debt, suggesting that he purchased a large portion of this real estate through loans.



The forest land, in particular, which Kim purchased for 49 million won in 2017 when he was a lawyer, was not connected to a road and was available at a cheap price at that time. However, it was only about 1 kilometer away from a new development area that was approved in 2018. This connection has led to suspicions of land speculation.



Initially, Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee offered an explanation on behalf of Kim, Saturday, that he had purchased the land in Gwangju upon the request of his acquaintance, who had been cash-strapped, and that he knew the lot was not included in the development scheme.



"Kim is sorry for causing any misunderstanding, regardless of the reason. He is trying to sell some of his properties, including the Gwangju land," Park said.





Kim Gi-pyo, left, presidential secretary for anti-corruption, speaks with Prosecutor General Kim Oh-soo at Cheong Wa Dae, June 1. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-seok
These graphs show the moving averages of cases and deaths per 100,000 residents in Indiana since vaccine distribution started in December 2020. Almost all new cases and new deaths are occurring among Indianas unvaccinated population, showing high effectiveness of the vaccines.
Weather Alert

...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM MDT THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Hot conditions with highs of 92 to 98. * WHERE...Lower Snake River Plain and South Central Highlands including, but not limited to, Pocatello, Blackfoot, American Falls, and Preston. * WHEN...Until 9 PM MDT this evening. * IMPACTS...Hot temperatures, the long duration nature of the heat, and poor overnight relief may cumulatively increase heat stress for everyone especially for those working or recreating outdoors. Pay special attention to the homeless, elderly, children, pregnant, and those with health issues. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. &&
(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) A longtime Missouri Department of Transportation maintenance worker was killed in an accident in Platte County early Monday.

MoDOT said Lloyd Crawford, 61, died in the line of duty on northbound Route 273 at the intersection of Route 371 in Platte County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said Crawford was performing flooding emergency work in Tracy when he was struck by a vehicle.

Crawford worked as the Platte City Maintenance Supervisor. He had been with MoDOT for nearly 18 years.

"Our sympathy and prayers go out to Lloyd's family," said MoDOT Kansas City District Engineer Chris Redline. "Lloyd was a friend to many and will be missed by us all. He was a valuable employee and had a long history with MoDOT. Our hearts are heavy."
Man, woman, child found dead in a submerged car in New Orleans East canal, police say

Police reported the discovery around 7:45 p.m. It's unclear when the car went into the canal or how the three people died.
BOZEMAN, Mont. - Gov. Greg Gianforte will tour the Bozeman Municipal Watershed Project in the Custer Gallatin National Forest Friday at 11:30 a.m.

According to a release from the governor's office, the project is one of Montana's top illustrations of cross-boundary, landscape-scale forest management.

The tour will inform Gianforte on the projects advantages, such as, "reducing the potential severity of a wildfire to existing municipal development and infrastructure, increasing forest resilience, and promoting healthy ecosystem functions," the governor's release says.

The project's treatments include mechanical and nonmechanical thinning, commercial harvest, and prescribed fire on more than 800 acres.
MONTANA - Montana state health officials are reporting a concerning spike in fentanyl-related deaths in Montana that happened in 2020 and say there is no sign of a decrease in 2021.

A release from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) said the Montana Department of Justices State Crime Lab reported 41 deaths associated with fentanyl in 2020 and so far, there have been 22 fentanyl-associated deaths in 2021.

This latest trend is extremely concerning and adds to the already existing deadly and costly impact illegal drugs have in Montana communities, Gov. Greg Gianforte said in the release.

Fentanyl is a synthetic, short-acting opioid analgesic made to treat cancer patients. It is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine. DPHHS said the drug is abused and illegally made due to it's strong opioid traits.

According to DPHHS, Attorney General Austin Knudsen said the Montana Department of Justice (DOJ) is still investigating with local law enforcement and other states on the issue. DPHHS said DOJ officials think fentanyl is sold as a heroine-substitute intended to inject, or in the form of counterfeit pills. The counterfeit pills made to look like legal opioid prescribed pills but contain fentanyl have been found in the state, the DOJ reported.

This is an ongoing investigation, but we know that counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl are manufactured overseas and smuggled across the border before coming to Montana. The federal government must secure the border and stop the flow of drugs into our country, Attorney General Knudsen said in the release. Even a small amount of fentanyl is enough to be fatal. No one should take pills that were not prescribed to them and parents need to talk to their kids about the dangers of ingesting unknown substances.

Further DPHHS Director Adam Meier said in the release, Do not take pills that you cant prove came from a pharmacy and only take pills prescribed to you. Remember that street drugs may look like prescription pills, but may be counterfeit. Do not rely on markings, size, or lettering.

This is critically important, Bryan Lockerby of the DOJ Division of Criminal Investigation said in the release. Its crucial that Montanans  especially youth - understand how dangerous these pills can be, especially when you take into account the pills have likely been tampered with and can contain highly potent fentanyl.

Together, the DOJ and DPHHS recently pushed out a DPHHS Health Alert Network message, cooperated information-sharing effort involving DPHHS and DOJ, to medical providers. Additionally, DPHHS said Lockerby said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the DOJ-Division of Criminal Investigation, and local law enforcement have been teaming up on the criminal investigation.

DPHHS reports said there have been 11 total fentanyl-associated deaths in Missoula, Bozeman, Cascade, Yellowstone, Butte-Silver Bow and Flathead counties in April.

In addition to the spike in fentanyl-associated deaths in Montana, DPHHS is also reporting a spike in general opioid overdose reports to Emergency Medical Services (EMS) throughout the state.

Montana experienced an average of 45 opioid overdose reports per month in 2020, according to DPHHS, and so far in 2021, there have been 54 opioid calls per month. Sixty-eight reports happened in March, the largest amount of reports in one month in the past three years.

In contrast, Montana had 18 reports per month average in 2018, and 24 per month on average in 2019.

Clearly, overall opioid-related calls to EMS statewide are trending upward, and this continues in 2021, Meier said in the release. To have 68 opioid overdose calls one month this year is significant.

In Missoula County, we are seeing a tremendous increase in the application of naloxone and in some instances the use of higher doses used by law enforcement prior to EMS arriving to the scene is occurring, Don Whalen of Missoula Emergency Services said in the release.

DPHHS said Naloxone is an emergency medication given to people showing signs of an overdose. Signs of an overdose include loss of consciousness, extreme drowsiness, irregular or absent breathing, vomiting, snoring or gurgling noises, has pale/cold or clammy skin and slow or no heartbeat. DPHHS said overdoses involving counterfeit pills containing fentanyl may need more naloxone.

The 2017 Legislature approved House Bill 333, that allowed the state to provide a standing order to prescribe naloxone statewide. HB 333 grants Montanans access to naloxone at no charge from select community organizations and pharmacies. Further, the bill paved zero-cost naloxone access for first-responders, public health professionals and others if they take part in DPHHS-sponsored Master Trainer course and can train others to administer the drug.

If someone is experiencing the signs of an overdose but you are unsure if it is due to an opioid, it is recommended to administer naloxone, Meier said in the release. By saving lives, we are providing individuals with the opportunity to get the treatment they need.
Although shark attacks are thankfully fairly rare - the story of the most deadly shark attack in history is enough to have you vowing never to enter the ocean ever again.

The USS Indianapolis was out on the Pacific in July 1945, where it was tasked with taking vital components of the first ever operational atomic bomb to a naval base on the island of Tinian.

But while making its way to meet the USS Idaho on 30 July, the vessel was hit by two Japanese torpedoes.

The torpedoes split the ship in half and it was sunk within just 12 minutes - tragically, of the 1,196 men aboard, fewer than 900 made it into the water alive.

And this was just the beginning of their ordeal, because those survivors would go on to find themselves in the deadliest shark attack in history.

As the survivors huddled together in groups and searched for lifejackets and rafts to help ensure their survival, a group of sharks - alerted by the explosions and thrashing around of the crew - swarmed the area.

Oceanic whitetip sharks are known to be an aggressive species of the fish and are thought to be responsible for most of the attacks during the incident.

Although initially focussing on the floating dead, it wasn't long before the sharks began to go after the survivors, who were becoming tired after spending hours in the water.

Before the ship had sank, crew members had sent out several SOS messages to the US Navy, but help was not immediately sent out and no ship was sent to the scene to look for survivors.

Navy veterans James Jarvis, left, and Wilmer Jacoby. Jarvis survived the sinking and Jacoby was aboard one of the rescue ships. Credit: PA

With a rescue mission not forthcoming, the men attempted to stay together, but despite their best efforts men would get separated from their groups and float away where the others would 'hear their screams' as the sharks indulged in a feeding frenzy.

Related video:

Horrifically, this went on for days - with more and more men being picked off and eaten by the sharks.

Alongside the shark attacks, the men were struggling to survive without water and some died of thirst before they could be rescued.

It was four days before the men were spotted by chance when a pilot flew over the area and raised the alarm.

A nearby US Navy vessel was able to come to the rescue and with the help of a plane, the remaining survivors were taken from the water to safety.

Tragically, from a total of 1,196 men just 317 survived the incident, with an estimate from the Smithsonian suggesting between a 'few dozen to almost 150' men were killed by sharks.

The disaster went on to inspire one the most memorable scenes from Steven Spielberg's Jaws, where shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) gives a monologue about surviving the USS Indianapolis catastrophe, describing how 'the sharks came cruisin''.
The New South Wales Police Commissioner has called out two men who were fined over the weekend for breaking lockdown restrictions.

Sydney residents were told on Saturday (June 26) they had to stay at home unless they had to complete a necessary task like grocery shopping or exercise.

So you can imagine authorities being fairly annoyed with two blokes who ditched the health advice and went sun baking on a beach on the NSW South Coast.

But the circumstances of how they managed to be caught are purely outrageous.

"Unbelievably, we saw two men sunbaking naked on a beach on the South Coast," Police Commissioner Mick Fuller told reporters.

Credit: PA

"They were startled by a deer, ran into the national forest, national park, and got lost. Not only did they require assistance from SES and police to rescue them, they also both received a ticket for $1,000.

"Now, it's only a small percentage of the New South Wales people that are not following the health guidelines, but I can assure you, if you breach the health orders or the guidelines, you will be punished."

Excuse me?

Sadly neither Commissioner Fuller nor did anyone else present at the press conference go into detail about the multiple layers of that story, but they wanted to highlight just how people are breaking the rules when they shouldn't be.

Thankfully, more detail was later explained following the press conference.

Related video:

There's no word on what startled the men when the deer arrived, however it's clear it was enough to send them scurrying into the bushes.

Authorities found a 30-year-old naked man on the walking track near Lady Wakehurst Drive in the Royal National Park, which is about 40kms south of Sydney's centre. They also found a 49-year-old 'partially clothed' man later on.

Commissioner Fuller said this situation instance should act as a reason why people should just stay at home.

"It's difficult to legislate against idiots," he said. "But clearly putting people at risk by leaving home without a proper reason, and I think then not only on top of that but then getting lost in the national park and diverting important resources away from the health operation, I think they should be embarrassed.

"But, again, they both received a $1,000 fine."
ROME, JUN 28 - The whole of Italy is classed as a low-COVID-19-risk white zone as of Monday after the last remaining moderate-risk yellow zone, Val D'Aosta, was bumped down thanks to an improvement in the contagion data. Furthermore, the obligation for people to wear facemasks outdoors has been scrapped, although the Campania region that Naples belongs to and the central town of Norcia are keeping the obligation for now. People must still wear facemasks in enclosed public spaces, such as in shops and on public transport, and in open-air spaces where crowds of people can form, such as in a queue outside a post office. Walter Ricciardi, a health ministry consultant, told ANSA that people must continue to be careful and take precautions such as respecting physically distancing and frequently washing hands because of the spread of the more infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus. COVID-19 Emergency Commissioner Francesco Figliuolo told RAI television on Sunday that he is "convinced"Italy will achieve herd immunity by the end of September by vaccinating 80% of the population. (ANSA).
ROME, JUN 28 - Forza Italia (FI) Coordinator Antonio Tajani told an ANSA Forum on Monday that the problems with Italy's labour market cannot be resolved with a ban on dismissals. The nation's trade unions are pushing hard for a COVID-19-linked ban on dismissals, which expires at the end of the month, to be extended until October, warning there is the danger of a massive way of sackings. The government is looking at extending the ban only for some sectors considered vulnerable, such as textiles, sources said. "We are meeting (union confederations) GCIL, CISL and UIL and the independent unions," Tajani told the ANSA Forum. "The issue of jobs is fundamental but you cannot resolve it with the ban on dismissals. "It is necessary to help the companies hire and not fire and have a different, more flexible labour policy. "And it is necessary to invest a great deal in the training of qualified personnel, which is in short supply". (ANSA).
VATICAN CITY, JUN 28 - Pope Francis on Sunday said people shouldn't judge others and wrote to an American priest who ministers to the gay community saying God's heart is open to all. The pope did not directly remark that he was speaking on Gay Pride day or overtly refer to the Vatican's recent diplomatic protest against an Italian homophobia bill is says curbs Catholics' freedom of expression. But, speaking at Sunday Angelus, he said "let's stop judging others, Jesus asks of us a gaze not judging but welcoming, let us open our hearts to welcome others because only love renews life". Later Sunday Vatican News published a letter Francis wrote to Jesuit priest James Martin saying "(God) approaches with love each of his children, all of them, every one of them. His heart is open to all and everyone. He is the Father". New York-based Martin ministers to the LGBTI community and has written several books about gay Catholics. The Vatican last week took an unusual diplomatic step in sending a 'verbal note' saying the 'Zan' homophobia bill may flout the Concordat between Italy and the Holy See and could limit freedom of expression, a view shared by conservative Catholic politicians in Italy. The charge is denied by the bill's sponsor, gay activist and centre-left Democratic Party (PD) MP Alessandro Zan, who says priests and the faithful may still say they find homosexuality sinful without being punished. In its note, the Vatican asked parliament to "remodulate" the bill, a request quickly endorsed by the bill's biggest parliamentary opponent, rightwing nationalist League leader Matteo Salvini. In 2013 Pope Francis gained headlines by saying "who am I to judge?" when asked about gays. (ANSA).
NAPLES, JUN 28 - Italian police on Monday arrested 52 prison officers on suspicion of mistreating prisoners in quelling a riot sparked by a case of COVID-19 among inmates in the middle of the first virus lockdown last year. Naples police sent in special penitentiary police forces after the April 6 riot at the jail at Santa Maria Capua Vetere near Caserta north of Naples. The special forces are suspected of brutality and may also face charges of torture in the methods used to put down the riot and mistreat inmates after it, judicial sources said. Warder unions SPP and USPP called the arrests "disproportionate" and "incomprehensible". Inmates rights group Antigone said full light must be shed on the violence. A preliminary investigations judge (GIP) said prisoners were made to strip and kneel and beaten with guards wearing their helmets so as not to be identified in what he called "a horrible massacre". Some 15 men were also put in the slammer without any justification, the GIP said. (ANSA).
VENICE, JUN 28 - Advantage Green President Francesco Confuorti highlighted how Italian companies that focus on sustainability can make big gains in terms of competitiveness as he presented a forum on respect for the environment that the community held in Venice. "This is the 13th meeting for us and the second in Venice," Confuorti said. "The issues tackled here at the Monaco & Grand Canal hotel are about water and transparency, because this is the basis for solutions for the sustainable revolution". In addition to the forum, he also put great stress on the 'Advantage Green Venice international Sustainability Award'. "The scientific committee will be set up in Venice in September and in December. All firms of good will for a better, more competitive Made in Italy will be awarded prizes," he said. Advantage Green's number one also mentioned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). "We put together sustainability and financing data for SMEs too," he said. "We put them in a position to be able to understand, to have a compass showing where the market is moving to be able to compete in a more transparent way". The Venice International University (VIU) is the partner of the prize and its president, Umberto Vattani, spoke at the forum. "We think it is useful to promote the issues of sustainability and change with companies," Vattani said. "Indeed, we have a memorandum of understanding with Advantage Green. "Churchill said you either take change by the hand or it will take you by the throat. "So here we are in Venice, a place where sustainability and beauty highlight the need for change". Ambassador Vattani gave the example of the VIU to support this thesis. "We adopt an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together 20 universities from different parts of the world and designing the programmes to carry out together," he said. "We are the only country that has an institution of this type, one which does not weigh down the state budget in any way because we finance ourselves. "It is a pioneering institution that was among the first to address global challenges like sustainability". Then Columbia University's Pierre-Andre Chiappori explained the dangers and opportunities created by the COVID-19 crisis. "From the point of view of dangers, the enormous shock still continues, above all in terms of employment," he said. "And there are still people who are dying, so there is a great deal of attention on avoiding risks. "Observing the phenomenon from an optimistic point of view, on the other hand, it is a golden moment to invest, especially in long-term projects". So the academic thinks this is the best time to invest in the environment and sustainability. "The economy needs stimulus and, if we want to observe global warming and climate change up close, with a serious approach, today is the right time to do it, investing in our future in a big way," he concluded. (ANSA).
MESSINA, JUN 28 - A 57-year-old Sicilian man was arrested Monday for 'enslaving' his wife, sexually abusing her, beating her and forcing her to beg in the streets, police said. Prosecutors said "the investigations have shown an escalation of horrors and attacks marked by numerous episodes in which the woman was forced to submit to sexual acts or forced to beg". The man allegedly confiscated his wife's documents and locked her in the family home, "preventing any kind of movement", they said. (ANSA).
ROME, JUN 28 - A 16-year-old girl was found dead in a gulch near Bologna on Monday and police said they could not rule out anything. The girl's family had reported her missing and the mayor of Valsamoggia, Daniele Ruscigno, had launched an appeal on social media to find her. Police are examining her injuries. (ANSA).
At last, Fourth of July weekend is here and there is a lot going on starting with fireworks and parades.

Fontanas annual July 4 firework display is postponed until August, but there are fireworks at the Lake Geneva Country Club on July 3 that are viewable from the lake, although the event itself is for members only.

Also, there is no Lake Geneva Independence Day parade, but many surrounding communities have one.

Note: The following information is subject to change. Weather may cause events to be cancelled or rescheduled. Area fire departments are also reviewing conditions to determine whether it is safe to conduct fireworks displays.

Friday, July 2

City of Elkhorn concert and fireworks

The City of Elkhorns fireworks are scheduled for Friday, July 2. The Holton-Elkhorn Band will perform at 7:30 p.m. at Sunset Park, 200 Devendorf St, Elkhorn. That will be followed by fireworks at dusk.

Geneva National Resort fish boil & fireworks
Steven Kirkwood, 24, of the N3100 block of Hickory Road, in the Como area of the Town of Geneva, is being charged with felony bail jumping and possession of drug paraphernalia, as a party to a crime.

According to two criminal complaints filed against him:

Police conducted a traffic stop in Williams Bay after observing a pickup trucks muffler dragging on the ground and being noticeably louder than the traffic on June 8.

Officers made contact with the female driver and a male passenger who was identified as Kirkwood.

Police could reportedly smell marijuana coming from the vehicle. Both the woman and Kirkwood reportedly admitted to police that they had smoke marijuana earlier that day.

Officers searched the vehicle and found marijuana shake in the center console as well as a jar of marijuana shake in the backseat.

Kirkwood, who was previously convicted of a felony and misdemeanor offenses, was on bond which states that Kirkwood can not use illegal drugs, possess drug paraphernalia or commit a new crime.

He was on bond for a May 25 offense where he reportedly stuck a man in the forehead inside a store over some disagreement about a girl.
They synch together, so you have synchronization with the squad car camera and the body camera, Cates said. You can almost watch it as a picture-and-picture and see what Officer A was seeing and what Officer B was seeing in front of the squad car at the same time. Its all put in the same timeline.

Cates said the upgraded cameras also will make it easier for the department to share images and evidence with the district attorneys office and with defense attorneys.

He said, currently, the department has to burn videos onto a DVD, which can be a timely process. He said with the upgraded cameras the department will be able to save videos to a link and then email them to an attorney.

With this new system when we get a records request for squad or body camera footage, we can process it within half an hour versus several hours, Cates said. Its a cloud-based system that has cloud storage.

Kenny said it is important that the police department has the most updated camera technology as possible.

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You cant go out and buy the cheap ones, Kenny said. If they dont work, they can cost you a case thats very important. So you want to make sure you go out and get the best ones.
On Monday, the City of Lake Geneva Fire Chief John Peters lifted the citys burn ban that was put in effect because of dry conditions.

The release from the fire department said, Chief Peters expressed his appreciation to all who refrained from burning during these extremely dry conditions. Enjoy your summer and please be safe.

As part of the announcement, the department reminded the public that the burning of yard waste and garbage refuse is still not allowed.

But under the citys ordinance, camp fires are allowed in enclosed aboveground fire pits.

The ordinance states:

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(1) Portable fire pits shall not be used or kindled on any balcony or under any overhanging portion or within 10 feet of any structure.

(2) Portable fire pits must be placed on a noncombustible surface.

(3) Portable fire pits shall be listed by a nationally recognized testing organization or acceptance to AHJ.

(4) Burning of yard waste or garbage refuse is prohibited; only clean, dry, untreated wood can be used.

(5) Flammable or combustible liquids shall not be used to ignite the fire.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP)  The state of Alaska is trying to dispose of a 58-year-old ferry, and even has offered to give it free to the government of the Philippines.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy offered to give the Malaspina ferry away in a letter last month to the Philippines consul general in San Francisco, CoastAlaska reported.

This vessel is surplus to our fleet, is in need of some repairs, but does have some service life left, according to Dunleavys letter dated May 20 and obtained by the Alaska Public Media in a routine public records request for the governors correspondence.

We would be willing to provide the vessel to the Philippine government or to a private ferry company in the Philippines free of charge, the letter states.

The Malaspina, built in 1963, last sailed in 2019. Instead of paying at least $16 million in needed steel work, the state put the ferry into cold storage.

The state Department of Transportation has estimated it would cost up to $45 million to overhaul the ferry, including installing new engines.

The state is paying about $450,000 a year to keep it in storage, prompting the Dunleavy administration to dispose of it.
President Joe Biden is set to visit La Crosse Tuesday, according to the White House schedule.

The visit will put focus on the infrastructure bill, which has currently reached a bipartisan agreement and is awaiting its first votes next month.

The President will travel to La Crosse, Wisconsin, to highlight the benefits of the bipartisan infrastructure framework will deliver to communities across the country, said the schedule, which was sent to media Sunday night.

The White House announced last week that Biden would travel with U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to the area to discuss agriculture and rural economies.

More details about Bidens visit to La Crosse were not immediately available.
Founded a quarter-century ago, Farmers Against Hunger is finally moving to a permanent headquarters where it will be able to serve more needy people and expand its agricultural education programs.
Washington [US], June 27 (ANI): The findings of a new study suggest that a few males are enough to fertilise all the females. The number of males, therefore, has little bearing on a population's growth. However, they are important for purging bad mutations from the population.

This is shown by a new Uppsala University study providing in-depth knowledge of the possible long-term genetic consequences of sexual selection. The results are published in the scientific journal Evolution Letters.

The study supports the theory that in many animals' species selection acting on males can impose the fortuitous benefit to the population of causing offspring to inherit healthy genes. Stiff competition among males results in selective elimination of individuals with many deleterious mutations, preventing them from passing on said mutations. This may exert positive long-term effects on a sexually reproducing population's growth and persistence.

"When deleterious mutations are purged from a population through rigorous selection in males, resulting in fewer males reproducing, the process can take place with little or no effect on population growth. This is because relatively few males suffice to fertilise all the females in a population, hence, whether those females are fertilized by few males or many males makes little or no difference to the number of offspring those females can produce, especially in species where the male doesn't look after its own offspring. By contrast, such rigorous selection in females would result in fewer females reproducing, hence fewer offspring produced, which could lead to a massive population decline or even extinction," says Karl Grieshop, an evolutionary biologist at Canada's University of Toronto and the study's lead author.

The researchers used 16 genetic strains of seed beetle (Callosobruchus maculatus) to investigate how the inferred number of deleterious mutations in each affected the reproductive ability (fitness) of females and males. Through intensive inbreeding of strains followed by crosses among them, it was possible to quantify the cumulative effects of each strain's unique set of mutations.

By comparing the inbred strains to the crosses among them, the scientists were able to see that these mutations harmed both females and males nearly equally. However, when looking only at the crosses among strains, which is the more genetically variable setting that is more relevant to how selection would act in nature, these mutational effects were only manifest in male fitness.

In the females, the deleterious effects of the mutations they carried were not detectable in this more genetically variable background, and would therefore not be purged effectively via female-specific selection in nature.

"This indicates that although these mutations do have a detrimental effect on females' reproduction, they are more effectively removed from the population by selection acting on male carriers than female carriers. Previous research from our group and others has succeeded in showing this effect by artificially inducing mutations, but this is the first direct evidence that it ensues for naturally occurring variants of genes," Grieshop says.

In the researchers' view, their study sheds new light on the old question of why so many multicellular organisms use sexual reproduction.

"Production of males causes a decrease in the reproductive capacity of a species since males themselves contribute less than females to the production of offspring. The question, then, is why a species evolves to reproduce sexually, instead of just producing females through asexual reproduction. Our study shows that production of males, which may engage in intense competition for the chance to mate, enables faster purging of deleterious mutations from the population, which could thereby enable a healthier set of genes and higher reproductive capacity relative to asexual reproduction," says David Berger, researcher and team leader at Uppsala University's Department of Ecology and Genetics. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Singapore, Jun 27 (PTI) A group of doctors, including cardiologists, in Singapore have urged the nation's expert committee on COVID-19 vaccination to halt the vaccine exercise for some 200,000 school boys, following the death of a 13-year-old student in the US after he was jabbed, a media report said on Sunday.

In an open letter, which was posted on Facebook on Saturday by a cardiologist Dr Kho Kwang Po and addressed to chairman of the expert committee Professor Benjamin Ong, the doctors said that vaccination exercise needs to be delayed briefly until the CDC and other organisations worldwide have produced more robust and convincing data on the case, The Straits Times reported.

The US media on Thursday reported that a boy from Saginaw county in Michigan died three days after getting his second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, supposedly from heart failure.

It is unclear which vaccine he had received.

The Saginaw County Health Department said the US Centres For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was investigating if there was a link between the vaccination and the boy's death.

"This is very important as our mRNA (vaccination) programme for boys is massive... one of the most aggressive programmes in the world," Dr Kho wrote in his Facebook post.

In the letter, the doctors have urged for a short delay in Singapore's vaccination exercise until the CDC and other organisations worldwide have produced more robust and convincing data on the case, he said.

The letter by the doctors group comes amid parental concerns and worries about mRNA vaccines, which include the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, after data on myocarditis among healthy young males was published here, he noted.

As on June 11, four of the six cases of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (inflammation of the lining outside the heart) among people vaccinated here involved men between 18 and 30 years old, the report said.

All four had reported symptoms of heart inflammation within a few days of receiving their second dose of the vaccines, and have since recovered.

In the letter, the doctors have asked if the committee could take more sensible and prudent posture and do proper medical investigation in the matter.

"Could we take a more sensible and prudent posture? Can we give the CDC (and other organisations) more time to investigate and provide us with high-quality data on the possibly fatal effects of mRNA vaccines in youths?," the letter said.

The letter was co-signed by Dr Kho, Dr Wong Wui Min, a cardiologist and heart specialist at WM Wong Cardiac and Medical Clinic in Gleneagles Hospital, Dr AM Chia, Dr LW Ping, and Dr IW Yang, "on behalf of many concerned paediatricians, primary care physicians, specialists, surgeons and GPs (General Practioners)".

The Ministry of Health, when asked if it would consider the suggestions in the letter, declined to respond, the report said.

COVID-19 vaccination in Singapore is currently voluntary, though the Government has strongly urged people to get vaccinated if they are eligible.

The expert committee previously said that while further studies and investigations are ongoing, the currently available data suggests that there may be a very small risk of myocarditis and pericarditis after the second dose of an mRNA vaccine.

Most cases are mild, and the patients recover without the need for significant intervention and do not suffer any long-term effects, it noted.

Severe cases may result in damage to the heart muscles, although that is very rare, it added.

The assessment was that the benefits of mRNA vaccines - reduction in COVID-19 infections and less severe complications even if infected - continue to outweigh the risks.

The US Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System has confirmed 393 reports of myocarditis or pericarditis, with more than 318 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered in the US till last Monday.

Most of the cases were in male adolescents and young adults.

While some have required hospitalisation, the majority have recovered from the symptoms, the CDC was cited as saying.

Meanwhile, another online petition calling for the suspension of vaccinations in Singapore for those under 30, particularly children between the ages of 12 and 15, has also surfaced.

The petition, supposedly started by a number of concerned parents, had received more than 1,200 signatures as at Sunday afternoon.

Addressed to Health Minister Ong Ye Kung and the multi-ministry task force tackling COVID-19, the petition also references the death of the 13-year-old in the US, and asks for the vaccinations to be temporarily suspended until more data from the US is made available.

It notes that most of the young people have already received the first dose - which is able to give around 75 per cent protection against COVID-19.

Till Thursday, some 83 per cent of students aged 12 and above had received one jab or registered their interest in getting vaccinated.

The figure was 39 per cent for those aged 12 to 39, the report said.

"Wouldn't that be enough protection while we await the results of the investigation before we proceed with the second dose?" the petition asks.

Singapore till Thursday reported 62,544 cases of coronavirus with the total deaths standing at 36.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
In a major boost to harness the export potential of agricultural and processed food products from north-eastern states, a shipment of fresh Burmese grapes referred as Leteku in Assamese language has been exported to Dubai from Guwahati by air route.
#Israel's Health Ministry has issued a severe travel warning for Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, citing the increasing #Covid19 morbidity in the two countries.



Photo: IANS (Representational image) pic.twitter.com/I0s2chQlMs IANS Tweets (@ians_india) June 28, 2021

(SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
Kevin Apple, an Arkansas police officer for 23 years, was run over by a vehicle that showed two suspects. US officials have sharied their thoughts and condolences.

Two Suspects Apprehended

The two suspects were swiftly apprehended as they fatally ran over as well as dragged Officer Apple as he attempted to approach the vehicle. The suspects' names were Shawna Rhae Cash and Elijah Anadoloza Sr., age 22 and 18, respectively. The duo is now charged with capital murder and attempted capital murder. Their location is now in Benton County jail.

Cash and Anadoloza Sr. peeled out of a convenience store parking lot in White Oaks, Arkansas leaving Officer Apple as good as dead, says the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The two were apprehended 100 miles north of the border in Missouri in Bella Vista.

Pea Ridge Police Lt. Michael Lisenbee, public information officer, says that the entire department is still in shock, and since it's a hometown, everyone is considered family.





Read More: Donald Trump Rallies Targeting Ohio Republican | Future Plans and Problems





Officer Apple's Dedicated Service

Pea Ridge Police Officer Kevin Apple has dedicated two decades in law enforcement and is considered a veteran amongst peers. Officer Brian Stamps, his partner, attempted to speak to the driver, who was then inside a parked Jeep when one of them stepped on the gas and rammed the patrol vehicle in which Officer Apple was struck. He died on the scene.

Apple and Stamps' reason behind approaching the vehicle is that they believed that it was connected to a property crime, and the entire department was searching for the said vehicle. They received a call around 11:30 AM on Saturday to investigate a blue model Jeep by Rogers police officers.





US Officials Sympathize

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson went to Twitter, a popular social media platform, and tweeted the following.

"I am deeply saddened to hear of the loss of Pea Ridge police officer Kevin Apple. My prayers are with Officer Apple's family and the entire Pea Ridge community during this time. I have ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in tribute to Officer Apple."

Another US official from Arkansas, namely Leslie Rutledge, Arkansas Attorney General did the same with Gov. Hutchinson tweeted out a statement saying that Officer Apple's watch had ended and that he will forever be remembered for his dedication and commitment to taking care of the community. Rutledge also offers her deepest condolences to Apple's family.

Not to mention two U.S. Senators, Tom Cotton and John Boozman of Arkansas offer their regret and deepest condolences to Apple's family and send their prayers to everyone within the Pea Ridge community and are saddened by the loss of a fine police officer on the line of duty.

Read More: Amber Alert Issued for 13-Year-Old Antonette Rodriguez, Believed to Be a Victim of Texas Kidnapping





This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by Alec G.












An Immigrant congressman from the Republican party had lashed out on U.S. President Joe Biden for trying to use the "Latinx" term to identify the Latino community.

Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez said that Biden's remarks were an insult to Latino culture, according to a Daily Wire report.

Gimenez is a Latino Republican from Cuba, who immigrated to the United States. He was asked during a Fox News interview about Biden's remark and the president's use of the term "Latinx."

The Cuban congressman later took on Twitter, containing the video of the interview, responding to Biden's use of "Latinx."

He wrote that using the term "Latinx" is the stupidest thing he has ever heard, adding that it is insulting to their culture to try and restructure an entire language to fit their politics.

Gimenez then advised the president to keep his "wokeness" out of their language.

READ MORE: Pres. Joe Biden Unleashes Several Gaffes at G7 Summit

Biden's Use of the Term Latinx

Former speechwriter of George W. Bush, Marc Thiessen, also took a jab at Biden's use of the term.

Thiessen tweeted that only three percent of Hispanics use the term "Latinx" and 76 percent have never heard of it, according to a New York Post report.

He added that it is a racist term woke White people have imposed on the community against their will.

The introduction of the term Latinx coincides with a global movement to introduce gender neutral nouns and pronouns into many languages, whose grammar has traditionally use male or female constructions, according to a Pew Research poll.

However, the use of the term is not common practice. It has also spurred a debate about its appropriateness in a gendered language like Spanish.

The number of Hispanics who say they use the term Latinx to describe their own identity is significantly lower than those who have heard it.

Biden Urging Latino Communities to Get Vaccinated

The president spoke about equity in the coronavirus vaccination efforts, as well as the importance of getting vaccinated.

He particularly encouraged the Latino community to get vaccinated against COVID-19, saying that their fear of deportation is stopping them from getting their doses.

In his speech, Biden said that it is hard to get "Latinx" vaccinated as they are worried they will be vaccinated and deported, according to a Fox News report.

However, Gimenez also commented on Biden's vaccination speech, saying that the fear of being deported is not the case on people's hesitancy to get the vaccine.

He noted that he urges everyone to get vaccinated, but everyone has American rights to do as they want.

California Republican congressional candidate Buzz Patterson also criticized the president's use of the term "Latinx."

The president also noted that 73 percent of the shots administered at community health centers through the federal program, more than 58 percent of the shots administered have gone to people of color.

Biden also said that the more they close the racial gap in vaccination rates, the more lives they can save, according to a Newsweek report.

READ NEXT: Biden Administration Owes More Than $200,000 to a Texas Hospital Treating Migrant Children

WATCH: President Joe Biden warns people will die as Covid variant spreads - from CNBC Television
Colombia's government offered a reward in exchange for information, to capture those behind the recent attack of a helicopter carrying President Ivan Duque. The attack on the aircraft happened near the border of Venezuela, on Friday, according to an Al Jazeera Report.

At that time, President Duque was not alone in the aircraft. President Ivan Duque was also on board the aircraft with interior minister Daniel Palacios and Silvano Serrano, the governor of Norte de Santander, and Defense Minister Diego Molano Aponte.

READ NEXT: 5 El Salvador President's Allies Listed Corrupt by the U.S. States Department

Colombia's Government Offers Reward Over Information on Helicopter Attack

The announcement of reward was made by Colombia's defense minister, Diego Molano.

Ofrecemos una recompensa hasta de 3.000 millones de pesos por informacion que permita ubicar a los responsables del atentado contra el presidente @IvanDuque. Convocamos a la union de los colombianos con la #FuerzaPublica para derrotar juntos el terrorismo: @Diego_Molano pic.twitter.com/jU7C8p9RZQ  Mindefensa (@mindefensa) June 26, 2021

"We offer a reward of up to three million [Colombian Peso] for information that allows access to those responsible for the attack on the president," said Milano. The reward amounts to about $796,000. The announcement of the reward was also published in the official social media account of Colombia's Ministry of Defense.

Despite the reward offered by the Colombian government, to date, BBC reported that it is not yet known who carried the helicopter attack that happened on the border of Venezuela.

It can be remembered that Colombia accused Venezuela of sheltering rebel fighters in the past. However, Venezuela denied the allegations slammed by Colombia. It was also known that the two countries broke off their diplomatic relations after President Ivan Duque took office in 2018.

Colombia President Ivan Duque's Helicopter Attacked



President Ivan Duque and other officials attended an event in Catutumbo region of Colombia. As the helicopter of the Colombian president approached the Cucuta airport, several shots suddenly fired at their aircraft.

A spokesperson for Colombia's president confirmed with Al Jazeera that no one was injured in the incident, but the photos released by the Office of the President showed that the tail and main blade of the helicopter sustained damages.

"It is a cowardly attack, where you can see bullet holes in the presidential aircraft," Duque said in a statement.

Authorities believed that the shot came from rifles, as Colombia's national police chief, general Jorge Vargas confirmed that an AK-47 and a 7.62 caliber rifle were found in the Cucuta neighborhood. The police chief also confirmed that the said firearms bear the mark of Venezuelan armed forces.

BBC noted that the area that the president visited was one of the main regions in the country for growing "coca." Coca is known to be the essential ingredient in cocaine. The area was also known to be the area where fighters of the leftist National Liberation Army and armed criminal groups operate.

Despite the sudden attack on his helicopter, President Ivan Duque noted that as a government, they will not give up "in the fight against drug trafficking, terrorism, and organized crime that operate in the country." The president of Colombia also underscored that "violence or acts of terror" will not intimidate them because their country is strong enough to face such threats.

READ NEXT: Colombia's Finance Minister Quits After Tax Reform Plan Withdrawn

WATCH: Colombian President's Helicopter Struck by Bullets - From Reuters
The highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus is now the third-most common in California, posing a danger to people who have not received a dose of their COVID vaccines.

As of now, the Delta variant accounts for 14.5 percent of California COVID cases, which is a 4.7 percent increase in May when it was the fourth-most identified COVID strain in California, Los Angeles Times reported.

Health experts noted that the Delta variant shows a greater chance of infection for unvaccinated people if exposed to this virus strain. Vaccinated people are well protected against infection and illness from the Delta variant.

The full vaccine of Pfizer-BioNTech offers 88 percent effective protection against symptomatic disease caused by the variant. Pfizer-BioNTech is also 96 percent protective against hospitalization.

Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said that fully vaccinated people infected with the Delta variant experienced relatively mild illness. Ferrer further noted that the new virus strain is a pandemic of unvaccinated people.

READ NEXT: Ex-FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb Says Delta Variant Likely to Become Dominant COVID Strain in U.S.

The Delta Variant

The Delta variant has been first detected in India and has been identified in at least 92 countries. It is also considered the fittest variant yet of the coronavirus that caused COVID-19 with its enhanced ability to prey on areas with low vaccination rates, The Guardian reported.

According to research conducted in the United Kingdom, the variant accounts for 99 percent of new COVID cases. It also shows it is about 60 percent more transmissible than the Alpha variant, which was the first dominating strain.

Dr. Stephen Griffin, a virologist and associate professor at the University of Leeds school of medicine, said people need a much higher coverage to protect against a more transmissible variant.

Scientists have yet to explain why the Delta strain has a significant transmission advantage. But Professor Catherine Noakes, a UK's Scientific Advisory Group member for Emergencies, cited three possible reasons.

The cited reasons were that the people it infects have a higher viral load, which would allow them to emit more particles.

The second one was that people need to be exposed to less of the virus to become infected. Lastly, a relatively short exposure time to an infected person is enough to spread the disease.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged fully vaccinated people to continue wearing masks, maintain social distancing, and practice other safety measures.

The COVID Strain in California

The Los Angeles County's public health director urged the public to practice safety measures when attending events indoors or working.

Ferrer said that sensible public health precautions are recommended at all worksites and mega-events, NBC Los Angeles reported.

State regulations for work sites mandate unvaccinated workers to wear masks indoors, while employers are required to offer them N95-grade face masks. Employees are also required to keep a log of workers' vaccination status.

Ferrer noted the lagging rates among Latino and Black communities when compared to white and Asian counterparts. The Latino and Black communities still have the highest current rate of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths.

READ MORE: Moderna Scientists Warn Against New COVID Variants That Could Drive a New Wave of Transmission

WATCH: Delta Variant Spreads Rapidly Across U.S. Putting 'Strain' On Hospitals - From NBC News






U.S. military forces had launched airstrikes in Iraq and Syria on Sunday, June 27, targeting militia groups behind the drone attacks on American personnel.

A Pentagon official called the airstrikes a defensive one, NBC News reported. In a statement, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the airstrikes focused on operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one in Iraq.

The said facilities were utilized by at least two militias identified as Kata'ib Hezbollah and Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada. Kirby noted that President Joe Biden had authorized the airstrikes.

He also said that Joe Biden ordered further military action to disrupt and deter attacks on U.S. facilities and personnel in Iraq. Jessica McNulty, a Pentagon spokeswoman, added that these airstrikes are ongoing.

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Airstrikes in Iraq and Syria

According to Wall Street Journal (WSJ), there were no immediate reports of casualties from the action. The Pentagon noted that the U.S. has become increasingly concerned in recent months over militia groups using more sophisticated ways of attacking American forces by using remotely controlled drones.

Joe Biden did not address questions asked by reporters about the airstrikes upon his return to the White House from a weekend at Camp David.

A U.S. official said the airstrikes were done by Air Force F-15s and F-16s a little more than a week after Iran elected Ebrahim Raisi as its next president.

The Biden administration blocked access to a series of websites linked to Iran after the nation has voted to install Raisi as its leader. Raisi is a close ally of the clerical government's supreme leader, according to The New York Times.

Iran has been using its proxy militias in Iraq to amplify pressure on the United States and other world leaders to negotiate on easing sanctions as part of a possible revival of the 2015 nuclear deal.

Meanwhile, Sen. Tim Kaine said Congress must be informed on these airstrikes without delay. Kaine is known to be a frontrunner on the fight to limit presidential war powers for a decade from the Senate Relations Committee.

The Democrat of Virginia noted that if the strikes were against militias attacking American personnel, that would be a usual self-defense action. However, he added that they need to know more.

Iran-Backed Militia Groups

The WSJ reported that Kata'ib Hezbollah is an Iranian-backed group in Iraq. The U.S. claimed that it has long organized attacks against U.S. forces.

U.S. forces had also accused the other group, Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, of carrying out the February rocket in Ebril and targeted sites linked to the group in that month's airstrike.

Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said there is a strong consensus in the U.S. and Iraqi intelligence communities that Kata'ib Hezbollah is the leading operator of the drones.

Knights noted that there had been at least eight drone attacks targeting U.S. forces in Iraq from April 14 until today.

READ MORE: Pres. Joe Biden Administration To Restart Border Wall Construction After Scrapping Former Pres. Donald Trump's Border Wall Plans

WATCH: U.S. Conducts Airstrikes Against Iran Backed Militia Group - From NBC News






At his first rally since leaving the White House, former President Donald Trump has criticized President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris over the border crisis.

In front of thousands of supporters at a rally in Wellington, Ohio on Saturday, June 26, the former president blamed Joe Biden on the rising number of immigrants crossing over the U.S.-Mexico border.

"You have millions of people coming into our country. We have no idea who they are. Joe Biden is doing the exact opposite as we did," Trump said as CNBC reported.

Donald Trump noted that the Biden administration is putting American families "into a very very bad position" by letting "all these people coming into our country," Reuters reported.

The former president also criticized Kamala Harris' recent trip to the U.S.-Mexico border. He said the vice president made the trip because he announced that he was visiting the area, The Hill reported.

Donald Trump noted that if he had not announced his scheduled visit to the U.S.-Mexico border, he "don't know if she was ever going to go."

The White House has already denied that the trip of Kamala Harris at the border resulted from Republican criticism.

Top Harris aide Symone Sanders said the Biden administration does not take their cues from Republican criticism, particularly not from the former president.The White House has called the former president's immigration policies inhumane.

READ NEXT: Donald Trump Asks Joe Biden to Pass a Message to Old Friend Vladimir Putin Whom He Says He Trusts More Than U.S. Intelligence

Donald Trump Hinting Presidential Run

During his speech, Donald Trump also presented the possibility of running for office again in 2024. The former president said the Republicans won the election twice, and it's possible they could win it a third time, CNBC reported.

Donald Trump had won the 2016 election against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while he lost in the 2020 presidential election against Joe Biden.

The former president vowed that they would take back the House, the Senate, and America. He added that they would do it soon.

Ohio Rally Supporters

Many are still supporting Donald Trump, with one supporter saying that she thinks he is the true president. According to Buzzfeed News, many came to the Ohio rally with their red hats with the words "Make America Great Again" and pro-Trump shirts and some representation of the American flag.

More than half of Republicans think the election was rigged, while 53 percent think Donald Trump is the actual president, according to an Ipsos/Reuters poll in May.

Meanwhile, only 30 percent of Republicans feel confident that absentee or mail-in ballots were accurately counted compared to 86 percent of Democrats and 55 percent of Independents.

Eighty-seven percent of Republicans think it is vital that the government place new limits on voting to protect elections from fraud.

When they took the stage in the Ohio rally, some notable Republican lawmakers such as Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green chimed in false claims that Democrats stole the elections.

Greene said that Donald Trump should be the nation's president now, but the Democrats "stole the election."

READ MORE: Trump-Era VOICE Office That Highlighted Immigrant Crime Will Stay Under Biden's DHS: Report

WATCH: Former President Trump Visits Northeast Ohio For "Save America" Rally - From WBNS10 TV






A grandson of a couple missing following the Florida building collapse said they had received more than a dozen calls from the landline of his grandparents inside the building.

Jake Samuelson told local news outlet WBLG that he was bombarded with at least 16 calls from the number of his missing grandparents, Arnie and Myriam Notkin, who lived in an apartment of Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside near Miami.

Samuelson said that only static and cracking noises could be heard from his mother's house line, with no human voices, ABC 7 reported. He noted that they are trying to rationalize and get answers to what is happening, New York Post reported.

Samuelson said they received the first call on Thursday night, June 24, just hours after the Florida building collapsed.

"We were all sitting in the living room, my whole family, Diane, my mother... And were just shocked. We kind of thought nothing of it because we answered and it was static," Samuelson noted.

The missing grandparents, who remain missing from the Florida building collapse, were reported to be both in their 80s. Samuelson said his grandparents' landline phone rested right next to their bed.

He noted that the last call they received from the missing grandparents' landline phone was Friday night, June 25. At present, the grandson was still waiting an update from the authorities regarding the calls they received.

READ NEXT: Oceanside Condo Partially Collapses in Miami; At Least 1 Dead

Florida Building Collapse: Death Toll Rises to 9

The 12-story Miami building collapsed suddenly at around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, June 24, killing at least nine.

Rescuers continue to conduct search and rescue operations. Miami-Dade mayor Daniella Levine Cava said there are still 152 individuals unaccounted for as of Sunday, June 27, The Guardian reported.

"As of today (Sunday), one victim has passed away in the hospital and we've recovered eight more victims on-site," said Levine Cava.

Authorities identified the latest four victims as 80-year-old Leon Oliwkowickz, 74-year-old Christina Beatriz Elvira, 26-year-old Anna Ortiz, and 26-year-old Luis Bermudez.

Firefighters had already controlled the fire inside the wreckage that impeded the rescue efforts of the authorities. Because of this, officials said that there's still hope in finding more survivors after the Florida building collapsed.

Levine Cava further noted that they are continuing their efforts in finding survivors. The mayor said they are using canines, cameras, and sonars to locate people who might still be alive after the tragic incident.

Early reports noted that only one was recorded dead as the massive search and rescue operations started.

President Joe Biden on the Florida Building Collapse

President Joe Biden has already offered up federal help to assist in aftermath of the tragic Florida building collapse. He said he was just waiting for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency.

Joe Biden added that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was already instructed to "take a look at what is needed."

READ MORE: Florida Building Collapse: Death Toll Rises to 5 as Fire, Smoke Impede Search and Rescue Operations

WATCH: Grandson of Couple Missing in Florida Building Collapse Getting Calls - From Yours News
A woman who caused cyclists to crash in the recent Tour de France will face a lawsuit once she was taken under the custody of the authorities. An organizer of the said event confirmed the action, after a huge crash happened because of a woman who was watching the said event, according to a report from Insider.

Speaking to AFP, BBC reported that the deputy director of Tour de France, Pierre-Yves Thouault, said that they are suing the woman who behaved "badly" during the event. The deputy director furthered that the reason why they will file a lawsuit against the individual is so that people "will not spoil" the show for those who wanted to see the cyclists in action.

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The coordinators of Tour de France aim to charge the woman with "deliberately violating safety regulations and causing injuries that might prevent someone working for up to three months."

To date, authorities were still looking for the woman who caused the crash, as authorities confirmed that she fled the scene after the commotion. Other details about the woman were not furthered, but she was reported to be wearing a yellow coat.

Tour de France: Woman Causes Crash Among Cyclists

The woman will face a lawsuit after she caused havoc and crash among cyclists while she was in the event on Saturday. The woman allegedly held up a large sign that was sticking in the middle of the road. BBC noted that the sign held by the woman has the words "granny and granddad" written in German.

The woman was allegedly looking away from the peloton coming towards her. At that moment, a cyclist, identified as Tony Martin from the Jumbo-Visma Team, hit the sign, lost his balance, then caused a chain reaction of crashing cyclists onto the pavement.

Because of this, one rider pulled out from the tour completely while eight other cyclists were treated by an official doctor of the event.

Tour de France took to Twitter in expressing their disappointment on what happened.

 We're glad to have the public on the side of the road on the #TDF2021.



But for the Tour to be a success, respect the safety of the riders!



Don't risk everything for a photo or to get on television! pic.twitter.com/v8mat4UOtH  Tour de France (@LeTour) June 27, 2021

"We're glad to have the public on the side of the road on #TDF2021. But for the Tour to be a success, respect the safety of the riders," said Tour de France. Tour de France accompanied their reminder with a video of guidelines spectators need to abide by to ensure the safety of the cyclists.

Tour De France: Van der Poel Wins Stage 2

Despite the crash among riders in the race, the competition continued as Dutch cyclist Matthew Van der Poel won stage two of Tour de France 2021. Van der Poel's recent win placed him in the yellow leader's jersey for the first time in his career with a result of 4:18:30. The Dutch cyclist also placed first in the general classification of the tour after stage two with a result of 8:57:25.

In the stage two classification, Van der Poel was followed by Slovenian Tadej Pogacar and France's Julian Alaphilippe in the general classification of Tour de France.

Tour de France is scheduled to end on July 18 in Paris, France.

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WATCH: Police Hunt for Tour de France Spectator, who Faces up to a Year in Prison After Causing Crash - From The USA Reporter
The United States joint chiefs of staff chairman Gen. Mark Milley reportedly engaged in a shouting match with former U.S. President Donald Trump during a discussion on who would be in charge of the federal government's response to the racial justice protests.

Gen. Milley's outburst was also met by Trump's anger who cursed at the chiefs of staff chair, stating that Milley cannot talk back to him like that.

According to Axios via Yahoo News, the shouting match that happened in the White House situation room was mentioned by Michael Bender in his book 'Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost.' The Wall Street Journal reporter, Bender, will have his book published in August but it has been extensively checked.

Last week, Milley made headlines after he clashed with Republicans regarding teaching that concerns the history of racism in America. He was also called 'pig' and 'stupid' by the Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Based on a previous excerpt of Bender's book, it showed that Milley resisted Trump's urges to "crack skulls" and "just shoot" protesters marching for racial justice after the murder of George Floyd by then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

The exchange, which was reported by Axios, revolved around command authority. In his written book, Bender said that Milley told Trump that he was an adviser but could not command the response. Trump reportedly shouted, "I said you're in f*****g charge!"

Milley allegedly yelled back to Trump that he was not in charge. Trump reportedly shouted that Milley cannot talk to him like that.

Bender reported that Milley asked the advisers present in the situation room if they can inform Trump regarding Milley's legal responsibilities. Then attorney general, William Barr, allegedly is said to have backed Milley up.

ALSO READ: Pres. Joe Biden Backpedals on Veto Threat of Infrastructure Deal After Republican Pushback

Fake News Claim

However, Trump has denied the exchange in front of other top officials. Trump's spokesperson called the alleged exchange 'fake news.' He also stated that Bender, like scores of other authors, always interviewed the former president for his book. The spokesperson mentioned that Trump asked him not to mention it because it was totally fake news, The Guardian reported.

Trump also emphasized that if General Milley had yelled at him, he would have fired him. It has been widely reported that former president Trump wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act, which is a historic piece of legislation to deal with domestic unrest. It was used during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The New York Times reported that aides had drafted an order but the act was never invoked. The general reportedly opposed the use of the act.

Trump raged at the governors during a conference call on June 1, 2020. The former president told them to toughen up in response to protests that turned into violence. Trump stated that if the governors were not dominating their state and cities, people will go away. He also mentioned during that time that they will be doing something people have not seen before in Washington.

RELATED ARTICLE: Donald Trump Slams Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Over Border Crisis, Hints at 2024 Run in Ohio Rally

WATCH:General Mark Milley hits back at uproar over critical race theory - Reuters
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Kildare County Council had to buy picnic benches at Woodies because of a shortage of supply of street furniture due to outdoor dining across Ireland.

The Planning, Strategic Development and Public Realm section of the Council bought 30 of the products at 200 each and will be rolling them out across Celbridge, Leixlip, Maynooth, Naas and Newbridge in coming days.

Senior Executive Officer Mairead Hunt gave an update at the June meeting of Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District.

She said: What we found was that there was a problem with supply as all local authorities were looking for the same type of furniture.

We actually ended up buying the benches from Woodies.

They are wheelchair friendly. They were 200 each. We have bought 30 of them and were rolling them out around Celbridge, Leixlip, Maynooth, Naas and Newbridge.

Cllr Fiona McLoughlin Healy said she was being asked by people why the street furniture wasnt in place already - they cant understand the delays.

She also called for street furniture to be fully wheelchair accessible.

Cllr Peggy ODwyer said she was concerned that the summer would be over and there wouldnt be any street furniture in Newbridge.

She added: We just need to bite the bullet and do it.

Id like to see something there for this summer. Were very slow and behind the curve - I cant understand it.

Cllr Noel Heavey added: Its important to get street furniture into Newbridge for the summer during the public health restrictions.

Cllr Mark Stafford paid tribute to the staff in the Planning, Strategic Development and Public Realm team for adapting to circumstances created by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the meeting heard that there are nine sites in the Municipal District area that are on the Vacant Sites Register.

A Council spokesperson said: In 2020, the Council surveyed 223 sites throughout County Kildare in Leixlip (10); Kildare (32); Maynooth (21); Newbridge (29); Sallins (12); Celbridge (13); Monasterevin (16), Clane (17), Kilcock (8), Kilcullen (10); Naas (33) and Athy (22).

While no monies have yet been collected, the process of valuations for seven sites is underway. A further eight sites are the subject of appeals to An Bord Pleanala and an additional 14 sites have been identified for issuing of Section 7 notices in Q2 2021.
The following deaths have occurred in the wider Leitrim area:

Marie McGarry (nee Reynolds), Cloonboney, Mohill, Leitrim



The death has occurred of Marie McGarry (nee Reynolds), Cloonboney, Mohill, Co. Leitrim. Saturday June 26th at home, surrounded by her family. Pre-deceased by her beloved husband Malachy, her brother Tommy and sister Carmel. Marie will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered by her daughters Angela, Helen (Reynolds), Breda (Donnelly), Denise (Curtin) and Edel (Dunne), her sons in law Pascal, Paul, Al and Paul, her adored grandchildren and great-grandchildren, her sister Angela, her sister in law Margaret, nieces, nephews, relatives, neighbours, and many friends. Maries remains will repose at her residence on Monday from 4pm to 9pm for family, close friends and neighbours, due to Covid restrictions. Maries funeral cortege will leave her residence on Tuesday to arrive at St. Josephs church Cloonturk, for funeral mass at 12 noon followed by burial in Cloonmorris cemetery. In compliance with current Government Guidelines on public gatherings Maries funeral is restricted to 50 persons.

Phyllis (Brigid Philomena) Burns (nee Mundy), Portaliffe, Killeshandra, Cavan



Phyllis (Brigid Philomena) Burns, Portaliffe, Killeshandra, County Cavan, 26th June 2021, peacefully at home, surrounded by her family. Predeceased by her brothers Seamus, Joe and Charlie and very deeply regretted by her loving husband Pat, sons Ciaran, Declan, Raymond and Adrian, daughters Stella Maria, Frances, Mary and Lorraine, twin brother Cormac and sister Maureen, daughters-in-law, son-in-law, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, relatives and friends. Reposing at home until Removal on Monday 28th June at 11.40am to St. Brigid's Church, Killeshandra, for Funeral Mass at 12 noon, followed by burial in adjoining cemetery. House strictly private please. Family flowers only. Donations in lieu, if desired, to Cavan Monaghan Palliative Care. Due to current Government and HSE guidelines, numbers at Phyllis' Funeral Mass remain limited to 50 people and therefore restricted to family and close friends only. The Funeral Mass can be viewed online at churchtv.ie/killeshandra For those standing along the route, please adhere to social distancing guidelines.

Catherine Kennedy, 38 Assaroe View, Ballyshannon, Donegal



Catherine Kennedy, 38 Assaroe View, Ballyshannon. Co. Donegal. Suddenly at her residence. Funeral Arrangements Later

May they all Rest in Peace
The price of the average second-hand three-bed semi in County Leitrim has risen by 6.6% to 137,500 in the last three months, according to a national survey by Real Estate Alliance.

Across the county, the average time taken to sell fell by one week to three, the REA Average House Price Index shows.

Carrick-on-Shannon prices rose 7.4% to 175,000 this quarter, with time to sell remaining at three weeks.

We are currently seeing a very active market, said Joe Brady of REA Brady, Carrick-on-Shannon.

There is demand from both locals and buyers across Ireland as well as an increase in interest from UK buyers after being absent for two years.

Property prices are currently high in the UK and many are looking to move to Ireland.

In Carrigallen, prices rose 5.3% this quarter to 100,000, with time to sell falling from five weeks to four.

There is currently a good level of demand with limited supply, said James Spring of REA Peter Donohoe, Carrigallen.

Average house prices have risen by almost 1,000 per week nationwide since the end of March, the REA Average House Price Survey has found.

The survey concentrates on the actual sale price of Ireland's typical stock home, the three-bed semi, giving an accurate picture of the second-hand property market in towns and cities countrywide.

Fuelled by pent-up demand and the return of physical viewing, the marketplace is also seeing the lowest supply and the shortest time taken to sell in recent history.

And as multiple buyers bid for scarce supplies, the average three bed semi is now reaching sale agreed after just four weeks on the market across the country  less than half the ten-week average this time last year.

The price of a three-bedroomed semi-detached house across the country rose by 10,000 over the past three months to 253,685  representing an annual increase of 8%.

The biggest rises in Q2 came in commuter counties and the countrys large towns as buyers continue to move out further from the city in preparation for long-term hybrid working situations.

In Dublin city, house prices rose by 1,500 per week in Q2, increasing from 438,500 in March to a present rate of 456,667.

Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford cities shared a combined increase of 3.5% in the past 12 weeks with prices rising by 10,000 to an average of 275,000.

Three bed semis in commuter counties rose 4.33% by over 11,000 in the past three months to an average of 270,111  with the average home selling in just three weeks, down from a high of 11 weeks a year ago.

As the flight to rural locations continues, prices in the rest of the countrys towns rose by over 4.6% in Q2 to 176,690.
A LIMERICK man who almost caused a massive explosion that could have killed himself and others has lost his appeal against the severity of the five-year prison sentence imposed on him.

Evan Stubbins, aged 25, of Church Road, Croom was convicted, at Cork Circuit Criminal Court last November, of possession of explosives, after pleading guilty to possessing a blow torch and canisters containing oxygen and propane in an attempt to blow up an ATM at the Maxol garage at Carrs Hill, Carrigaline, County Cork on August 2, 2020.

Mr Stubbins, who is single and unemployed, also pleaded guilty to separate charges of criminal damage and attempted theft.

The court heard that Stubbins had used YouTube to research mixing chemicals to blow up the ATM in order to steal its contents.

Evidence was heard that the filling station had tanks containing 30,000 litres of fuel which could have destroyed houses 200 metres away if ignited.

Stubbins criminal plans were foiled when a passing Garda patrol spotted him using a screwdriver on the ATM. The explosive material was subsequently discovered in the appellants Volkswagen Passat.

At a sitting of the Court of Appeal, counsel for Stubbins, Ray Boland BL, argued that the sentencing judge, Judge Sean O Donnabhain, had not given the appellant a sufficient reduction off the headline sentence of seven years for his signed guilty plea.

Mr Boland claimed there was legal precedence that signed pleas should attract a reduction of around a third off the headline sentence.

Counsel said the judge has also erred by failing to further reduce the length of the sentence by taking into account various mitigating factors including Stubbins youth, his cooperation with gardai and the fact that the offence was committed under duress as part of his efforts to pay off a drug debt to unnamed individuals.

Mr Boland also argued Judge O Donnabhain had erred in principle by claiming the lack of sophistication in Stubbins crime was an aggravating factor when it should have been treated as a mitigating factor.

He claimed numerous judgements had consistently considered the sophistication of an offence to be an aggravating factor.

Mr Boland said Stubbins lack of sophistication arose from his use of the internet to prepare for the crime and the fact that he was the only one at risk of serious injury.

However, the president of the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice George Birmingham, questioned if the usual treatment regarding the sophistication of a crime applied to explosive offences. He noted the lack of sophistication by the appellant meant he posed an ever greater risk to himself and others.

Opposing the appeal, counsel for the DPP, Donal McCarthy, said the fact that Stubbins was caught red handed by gardai meant his guilty plea did not have the same mitigating value as one where the prosecution would have been required to prove various gaps in evidence the alleged offence.

Mr McCarthy said the five year jail sentence was appropriate given all the circumstances of the case.

In reply, Mr Boland said any mitigation allowed by Judge O Donnabhain was not transparent, while Stubbins guilty plea had spared the State from having to prove quite complex scientific matters as well as intent.

Delivering the Court of Appeals ruling, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said it was the view of the court that the headline sentence of seven years was entirely appropriate given the serious nature of the offence.

This was a serious offence with considerable planning required, she observed.

While the five year jail term was somewhat on the high side, Ms Justice Kennedy said it was within the margin allowed.

She said the court had not been persuaded there had been an error in principle as the risk that Stubbins placed himself and others in was exacerbated by the lack of sophistication of the offence.

The appeal was rejected.
LIMERICKs murdered mayors have been honoured by the countys current first citizen.

Mayor Michael Collins led a ceremony at the War of Independence memorial where he laid a bronze wreath in honour of George Clancy and Michael OCallaghan.

On a fateful night in March 1921, the then sitting mayor, Cllr Clancy and his immediate predecessor, Cllr OCallaghan were murdered within minutes of one another.

In addition to the two mayors, Cathaoirleach of Limerick County Council Sean Wall and volunteer Joseph ODonoghue were remembered.

Cllr Wall was killed in May 1921 in battle with the Black and Tans at Annacarty in Tipperary.

The murders shocked public opinion at home and abroad and played a major role in undermining British rule in Ireland.

As part of the Decade of Centenaries commemorations, its committee in Limerick agreed that on the centenary in 2021 a piece should be added to the memorial to commemorate the events.

It was left to Mayor Collins to unveil the bronze wreath, which was commissioned and designed by artists Jim Lavery and Eithne Ring.

These events serve to demonstrate the central role that Limerick played in the War of Independence, suffering 130 fatalities, the fifth highest death toll of any Irish county, after Cork, Dublin, Tipperary and Kerry, said Cllr Collins.

This unveiling of the new bronze wreath offers an opportunity for reflection and remembrance of all of those who lost their lives in the struggle. This period of our history, 100 years ago and more, has framed our lives since then and it is important that people understand and reflect on what happened.
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NEW DELHI : Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), Indias largest maker of packaged goods, is set to scale up the online reach of several premium brands through standalone branded sites as well as its multi-brand shopping platform UShop.

UShop, a store that allows shoppers to buy goods in the National Capital Region and Mumbai, is set to expand to eight cities soon, a top HUL executive said.

The digital infrastructure and the physical back-end of UShop will power all our digital-first and high socio-economic class brand such as Love Beauty and Planet, Simple, Horlicks, etc., to have a consumer experience like any other digital-first brands D2C (direct-to-consumer) site. We will also expand coverage from the current two to eight cities soon. For this, e-commerce-specialist warehousing partners and last-mile delivery partners carry out the fulfilment leg for us," said Aneesh Chaudhry, chief data officer, Unilever South Asia.

Chaudhry said the company is exploring both the options of launching mono-brand sites as well as listing more products and brands on its multi-brand site.

Given the diversity and range of our offering, we believe some brands will be better suited for standalone and others for the multi-brand site," he said.

To be sure, UShop as a shopping platform is also operational in other markets where Unilever sells its products. In India, it was launched in the second half of 2020, for which HUL has been working towards setting up the back-end infrastructure.

The move reflects how the pandemic has shifted shopper behaviour and how companies are responding.

HUL has been on this journey for a while and at the heart of this is to ensure we provide seamless engagement and shopping experience for our consumers," Chaudhry said.

While the overall share of e-commerce for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies is still sub-10%, most companies are betting that it could become a significant contributor over the next few years.

In the fiscal year 2021, the share of e-commerce sales for the maker of Lifebuoy soap, Rin detergent powder and Kissan jams was 5-6%.

The company already runs direct-to-consumer brand websites for Taj Mahal Tea and beauty brand Lakme.

Chaudhry said standalone brand sites such as Lakme have received a good response. But given that beauty products have significantly moved online, smaller, more niche brands in the companys portfolio too could build online capabilities.

UShop works as a multi-brand platform, enabling HUL to sell its range of products. Additionally, it provides back-end and fulfilment support for some of its standalone brands, such as Indulekha.

HUL will gradually add more brandsprestige brands to begin withvia UShop.

Earlier, we used to set up a lot of bespoke capabilities per brandLakme and Taj Mahal Tea House, for instance. Every time a new brand wanted to come online, we used to struggle. So, weve taken a more integrated approach," he said.

The back-end, from fulfilment to logistics, down to the factory, is now integrated into one common pipeline, giving it scale and efficiency.

Other companies have been building direct-to-consumer capabilities, too, especially those offering a range of household goods.

Rival ITC, for instance, offers its range of pulses, flour, soaps and home cleaning products via ITC Store; and Marico launched its own shopping site Saffola Store last year selling cooking oil, oats and immunity boosters.

Meanwhile, Tata Consumer Products Ltd has been scaling up its Tata Nutrikorner platform.

Analysts who track the online retail market said pre-pandemic e-commerce capabilities were largely dependent on their presence on marketplaces. But the pandemic has shifted that.

It helps companies collate data, see shopper behaviour, as well as extend their entire inventory on their own sites. Meanwhile, their brands are not competing with others as they do on marketplaces," said Saurav Chachan, engagement manager at consulting firm RedSeer.

He added that over the years, what has also helped companies is the availability of warehousing and delivery aggregators that make it easier for companies to get online directly.

Chaudhry said such initiatives could work for more premium brands, where it is not about just buying a product but building an experience around it.

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Dhaka: Bangladesh on Monday extended the closure of borders with India for 14 more days amidst a surge in the COVID-19 cases in the country.

On April 26, Bangladesh first shut down its border with India for two weeks to stem COVID-19 transmission. The government subsequently extended the closure several times.

The closure of the border with India has been extended for another 14 days, till July 14, amid the worsening COVID-19 situation in Bangladesh, the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.

"All other (previous) conditions remain the same," Mashfee Binte Shams, secretary (East) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was quoted as saying by the report.

The decision was taken at an inter-ministerial virtual meeting chaired by Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, the report said.

Although the border is closed, cargo transports are allowed to cross.

Bangladeshi citizens currently travelling to India for treatment with visas valid for less than 15 days can enter Bangladesh through only Benapole, Akhaura and Burimari borders after taking permission from Bangladesh missions in New Delhi, Kolkata, and Agartala, the report said.

COVID-19 negative certificates through PCR tests within 72 hours of entry to Bangladesh are mandatory.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh on Monday recorded its highest single-day caseload with the detection of 8,364 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours.

The previous highest tally of single-day caseload was reported on April 7, with 7,626 people testing positive for the deadly virus.

The nationwide coronavirus tally now stands at 896,770.

As many as 104 deaths from the viral infection were reported across the country in the 24-hour period, pushing the death toll to 14,276.

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Pulwama: Terrorists shot dead a former special police officer (SPO) of Jammu and Kashmir Police and his wife at their home at Hariparigam village in Pulwama district, as per the Kashmir Police on late Sunday evening.

A tweet by the Kashmir Zone Police read, "#Terrorists barged into the house of SPO Fayaz Ahmad of Hariparigam Awantipora and fired #indiscriminately. In this #terror incident, he along with his wife and daughter received #critical gunshot injuries. Fayaz Ahmad #succumbed to his injuries. Area cordoned off. Search going on."





"#AwantiporaTerrorIncidentUpdate: #Martyred Fayaz Ahmad's wife also #succumbed to her injuries at the hospital. Further details shall follow", tweeted the Kashmir Zone Police.

Further probe in the matter is underway.

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NEW DELHI : The central governments expenditure finance committee may shortly consider a proposal for developing eco-tourism projects at Kadmat and Suheli islands in Lakshadweep, the strategically sensitive archipelago that is in the midst of protests over new rules and proposals introduced by its administrator.

The Union territory of Lakshadweeps administration plans to develop the island on the lines of the Maldives in collaboration with the NITI Aayog even as protests grew.

These projects for water villas at Kadmat, Suheli and Minicoy will be developed on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer model, with the public-private-partnership appraisal committee already having approved the Minicoy project. The Kadmat and Suheli projects are estimated to cost around 240 and 247 crore, respectively.

View Full Image The Lakshadweep administrations plans to develop the island on the lines of the Maldives comes even as protests grow.

The projects have been planned for some time now. The initial request for qualification issued in October 2019 did not find too many takers, following which a revised request for qualification has been in the works. The ministry of environment, forest and climate change has given an in-principle coastal regulation zone clearance to Kadmat and Suheli.

However, according to an internal document reviewed by Mint, the revised draft concession agreement has dropped a clause related to the employment of locals.

According to the revised shortlisting criteria, an applicant should have owned at least a three-star hotel or above, having a minimum of 50 residential rooms, with an average daily room tariff of not less than 10,000 over the past five years. The applicants net worth should not be less than 60 crore.

In response to a Mint query about the benefits of the eco-tourism projects to the local population, Lakshadweep administrator Praful Khoda Patel said, When tourism develops, everyone benefits. Do you see any possibility of a loss happening here?"

You people should agree that after 73 years of the countrys Independence, something is happening there," Patel added over the phone and asked Mint to contact Lakshadweep collector S. Asker Ali for more information.

Ali did not respond to queries emailed on Saturday.

Based on the previous RFQ evaluation, the shortlisted bidders for both Kadmat and Suheli islands were Ceebros Hotels Pvt. Ltd, and a consortium of Oriental Hotels Ltd and Kaveri Retreats and Resorts Ltd.

Oriental Hotels is marketed as part of the Taj Group of hotels. A spokesperson for Indian Hotels Co. Ltd, which operates Taj hotels, declined to respond to a query.

Queries emailed to the spokespeople for finance and home ministries, NITI Aayog and Ceebros Hotels on Saturday afternoon remained unanswered till press time. Kaveri Retreats and Resorts could not be contacted.

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Albert Einstein was one of the one of the most brilliant minds the world has ever seen.

Albert Einstein was a German-American physicist and probably the most well-known scientist of the 20th century. He is famous for his theory of relativity , a pillar of modern physics that describes the dynamics of light and extremely massive entities, as well as his work in quantum mechanics , which focuses on the subatomic realm.

Albert Einstein's upbringing and education

Einstein was born in Ulm, in the German state of Wurttemberg, on March 14, 1879, according to a biography from the Nobel Prize organization . His family moved to Munich six weeks later, and in 1885, when he was 6 years old, he began attending Petersschule, a Catholic elementary school.

Contrary to popular belief, Einstein was a good student. "Yesterday Albert received his grades, he was again number one, and his report card was brilliant," his mother once wrote to her sister, according to a German website dedicated to Einstein's legacy. But when he later switched to the Luitpold grammar school, young Einstein was not able to cope with the school's authoritarian attitude, and his teacher once said of him, "never will he get anywhere."

In 1896, at age 17, Einstein entered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to be trained as a teacher in physics and mathematics. A few years later, he gained his diploma and acquired Swiss citizenship but was unable to find a teaching post. So he accepted a position as a technical assistant in the Swiss patent office.

Einstein married Mileva Maric, his longtime love and former student, in 1903. A year prior, they had a child out of wedlock, who was discovered by scholars only in the 1980s, when private letters revealed her existence. The daughter, called Lieserl in the letters, may have been mentally challenged and either died young or was adopted when she was a year old. Einstein had two other children with Maric, Hans Albert and Eduard, born in 1904 and 1910, respectively.

How Einstein changed physics

Einstein obtained his Ph.D. in physics in 1905  a year that's often known as his annus mirabilis ("year of miracles" in Latin), according to the Library of Congress . That year, he published four groundbreaking papers of significant importance in physics.

The first incorporated the newly conceived idea that light could come in discrete particles called photons. This theory describes the photoelectric effect , the concept that underpins modern solar power. The second explained Brownian motion  in which a small bit of dust is seen to move randomly on the surface of water  by pointing out that water is made up of tiny, vibrating molecules that kick the dust back and forth.

The final two outlined his theory of special relativity , which showed how observers moving at different speeds would disagree about many measurements, but would agree about the speed of light, which was a constant. These papers also introduced the equation E = mc^2, showing the equivalence between mass and energy. That finding is perhaps the most widely known aspect of Einstein's work. (In this infamous equation, E stands for energy, m represents mass and c is the constant speed of light).

In 1915, Einstein published four papers outlining his theory of general relativity, which updated Isaac Newton's laws of gravity by explaining that the force of gravity arose from warps in the fabric of space-time caused by massive objects. The theory was given a major validating boost in 1919, when British astronomer Arthur Eddington observed stars at the edge of the sun during a solar eclipse and was able to show that their light was bent by the sun's gravitational well, causing shifts in their perceived positions.

Related: 8 Ways you can see Einstein's theory of relativity in real life

Einstein divorced Maric in 1919 and soon married his cousin Elsa Lowenthal, with whom he had been in a relationship since 1912. In 1921, he won the Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the photoelectric effect, though the committee members also mentioned his "services to Theoretical Physics" when presenting their award. The decision to give Einstein the award was controversial because the brilliant physicist was a Jew and a pacifist. Anti-Semitism was on the rise and relativity was not yet seen as a proven theory, according to an article from The Guardian.

Einstein was a professor at the University of Berlin for a time but fled Germany with Lowenthal in 1933, during the rise of Adolf Hitler. He renounced his German citizenship and moved to the United States to become a professor of theoretical physics at Princeton, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1940.

During this era, other researchers were creating a revolution by reformulating the rules of the smallest known entities in existence. The laws of quantum mechanics had been worked out by a group led by the Danish physicist Niels Bohr, and Einstein was intimately involved with their efforts.

Bohr and Einstein famously clashed over the latter's qualms regarding quantum mechanics. Bohr and his cohorts proposed that quantum particles behaved according to probabilistic laws, which Einstein found unacceptable, quipping that "God does not play dice with the universe." Bohr's views eventually came to dominate much of contemporary thinking about quantum mechanics.

This autographed photo of Albert Einstein with his tongue out was sold at auction for $125,000. (Image credit: Arthur Sasse/Nate D. Sanders Auctions)

Einstein's later years and legacy

After he retired in 1945, Einstein spent most of his later years working on a method to unify gravity with electromagnetism in what's known as a unified field theory . The effort stumped the physicist, who died of a burst blood vessel near his heart on April 18, 1955.

Einstein's body was cremated and his ashes were spread in an undisclosed location, according to the American Museum of Natural History . But a doctor performed an unauthorized craniotomy before this and removed and saved Einstein's brain.

The brain has been the subject of many tests over the decades , which suggested that it had extra folding in the gray matter, the site of conscious thinking. In particular, there were more folds in the frontal lobes, which have been tied to abstract thought and planning. However, drawing any conclusions about intelligence based on a single specimen is problematic, according to Eric H. Chudler , a neuroscientist at the University of Washington.

In addition to his incredible legacy regarding relativity and quantum mechanics, Einstein conducted lesser-known research into a refrigeration method that required no motors, moving parts or coolant. He was also a tireless anti-war advocate, helping found the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists , an organization dedicated to warning the public about the dangers of nuclear weapons.

Einstein's theories concerning relativity have so far held up spectacularly as a predictive models. Astronomers have found that, as the legendary physicist anticipated, the light of distant objects is lensed by massive, closer entities, a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing , which has helped our understanding of the universe's evolution. In 2016, the Advanced LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) also announced the first-ever direct detection of gravitational waves , created when massive neutron stars and black holes merge and generate ripples in the fabric of space-time.

Additional resources

Find answers to frequently asked questions about Albert Einstein on the Nobel Prize website.

on the Nobel Prize website. Flip through digitized versions of Einstein's published and unpublished manuscripts at Einstein Archives Online.

at Einstein Archives Online. Learn about The Einstein Memorial at the National Academy of Sciences building in Washington, D.C.

This article was updated on June 25, 2021 by Live Science senior writer Brandon Specktor.
A CT scan showing chopstick fragments penetrating the woman's sinuses (A,B). A 3D reconstruction of the woman's skull showing the positions of the chopstick pieces (C).

A woman in Taiwan unknowingly had two chopstick fragments lodged in her sinuses for a week after a violent fight with her sister, according to a new report.

The 29-year-old woman went to the emergency room after she was "attacked by her sister with plastic-wood chopsticks while at the dinner table," according to the report, published June 24 in The Journal of Emergency Medicine . The woman said she had experienced a mild nosebleed and swelling in her left eye after the attack. Doctors saw that she had two small cuts under her eye and on her nose . But an X-ray did not show anything unusual.

After the woman was attacked by her sister, doctors observed two small wounds under her eye and on her nose. (Image credit: Reprinted with permission of Elsevier (2021).)

However, one week later, the woman began to suspect that her injury was more serious than it appeared. She noticed that "some parts of the chopsticks used in the attack were missing," according to the report authors, from Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital in Taiwan. And when she looked in the mirror, she thought she could see a gray object in her nose.

Related: 27 oddest medical cases

A doctor then examined the inside of her nose and saw pieces of chopstick penetrating her nasal septum, or the wall dividing the two nasal passages, the report said. A CT scan showed two chopstick pieces in her sinuses, with one embedded more deeply than the other.

The chopstick fragments after they were removed from the woman's sinuses. (Image credit: Reprinted with permission of Elsevier (2021).)

The route that the chopsticks followed to enter the woman's skull was the same as the route doctors use when performing surgery on the ethmoid sinuses  which are located between the corner of your eye and the bridge of your nose  to treat sinus infections.

The woman needed surgery to remove the fragments, which were about 1.4 inches (3.5 centimeters) and 2 inches (5 cm) long, respectively, according to the report. She experienced no surgical complications.

Emergency room doctors should be aware that foreign bodies entering the skull the way these chopsticks did "could present only as tiny laceration wounds and may be asymptomatic," the authors wrote. If doctors suspect a foreign body lodged near the nose, it's important they perform an examination of the ears, nose and throat, as well as a CT scan to identify it as soon as possible, they said.

Originally published on Live Science.
Early Thursday (June 24) morning, part of a condominium complex in Surfside, Florida, suddenly collapsed. In about 11 seconds, 55 of the building's 136 units crumbled into a pile of rubble, and now, as the search for survivors continues, experts are investigating why the catastrophe happened in the first place, according to news reports. So far, structural damage, poor building design and sinking land beneath the condo have all been flagged as possible triggers for the disaster.

Allyn Kilsheimer, a veteran engineer who investigated the 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bombing and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, will examine the foundation of the building and look for cracks, leaks and any intrusions of groundwater or saltwater, The Washington Post reported. He noted that building collapses are often caused by several factors that work together.

For instance, in October 2018, engineer Frank Morabito described various concerns about the Surfside condo, called the Champlain Towers South Condo, in a report that he'd prepared for the condo association, The Miami Herald reported. He noted that the building's pool deck and outdoor planters were not sloped to facilitate proper water drainage, which had led to "major structural damage" over time.

Related: Lessons From 10 of the worst engineering disasters in US history

Cranes are seen at the partially collapsed condo in Surfside, Florida, north of Miami Beach, on June 27, 2021. The image reveals how the condo, and Miami Beach, are sitting on top of a barrier island. (Image credit: Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

This design flaw could be traced back to the original contract documents drawn for the building 40 years ago, Morabito wrote in the report.

Standing water on the pool deck had damaged the underlying concrete, and in particular, the parking garage beneath the pool deck showed signs of structural stress, in the form of "sizable" cracks and exposed rebar that was corroding in various locations. "Though some of this damage is minor, most of the concrete deterioration needs to be repaired in a timely fashion," Morabito wrote. "Failure to replace waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially."

Given the building's age, however, the reported damage was "fairly typical," Kenneth Direktor, an attorney for the building's condominium association, told The Washington Post. "Something horrible happened," Direktor said. "This isn't the result of hairline cracks in the concrete."

The 2018 report didn't signal that the building could be in danger of collapse, and in general, experts aren't yet sure that concrete deterioration and corrosion were the sole triggers behind the structural failure, The New York Times reported.

However, videos of Thursday's disaster "would suggest a foundation-related matter  potentially corrosion or other damage at a lower level," Donald Dusenberry, a consulting engineer, told the Times. One resident also reported seeing some sort of hole open up near the pool just before the partial collapse, which supports the idea that the collapse began underground, the Times reported. On a call with her husband Michael, condo resident Cassie Stratton mentioned that she could see the hole from her fourth-floor unit before the call abruptly cut off.

"You certainly can't rule out a design or construction error that has survived for 40 years," although again, it is not yet certain whether the water-related corrosion caused the collapse, Dusenberry said.

Beyond corrosion, the building could have been compromised by poor design, substandard building materials or improperly installed pipes, the Times reported. Heavy construction also took place near the building in 2019, and a condo board member had reached out to the city citing "concerns regarding the structure of our building," due to the associated ground shaking; the city did not intervene in the matter.

Another explanation for the collapse is that a void or a sinkhole opened up under the reinforced concrete pilings that sit beneath the building, causing some pilings to shift downward while others remained in place, David Peraza, a structural engineer at Exponent, an engineering and scientific consulting firm, told the times. "Whether there's something geologically under the building that caused this, that's definitely something that's got to be investigated," he said.

In that vein, a 2020 study, published in the journal Ocean & Coastal Management , suggested that the land beneath Champlain Towers South has been gradually sinking since the 1990s through a process called "subsidence." Subsidence occurs when large amounts of groundwater get drawn out of the sediment and no longer help prop up the land above, according to the U.S. Geological Survey ; subsidence is usually caused by human activities, such as draining underground reservoirs to prepare land for development.

The town of Surfside sits on a barrier island in the Atlantic Ocean, separated from mainland Miami by Biscayne Bay; according to space-based radar data, the island experienced subsidence at the rate of about 0.04 to 0.1 inches (1 to 3 millimeters) per year between 1993 and 1999, although that sinking was not evenly distributed across the entire landmass, the researchers reported in the 2020 paper. Most pockets of subsidence appeared on the western side of the island, where buildings were constructed on reclaimed wetlands, but some pockets also appeared on the eastern side, where Surfside is located.

"This was unusual, the pocket we saw in Surfside," as that side of the island is known to be more stable than the western side, senior author Shimon Wdowinski, and Florida International University (FIU) professor, said in a statement .

"The western part of Miami Beach was built on reclaimed wetlands and has been subjected to more subsidence," Wdowinski told Live Science in an email. "The eastern side of the city is built on higher ground overlying limestone and is less likely to experience subsidence." The rate of subsidence under Surfside was about 0.08 inches (2 mm) per year, "which is relatively low, but still above the detection level," he said.

The observed rate of subsidence is fairly low compared with places like Mexico City, which is subsiding at a rate of roughly 15 inches (38 centimeters) per year, according to the FIU statement, although a 2021 study suggests an even faster rate of 20 inches (50 cm) per year, according to Eos Magazine .

That said, the small changes like those in Surfside accumulate over time and can amount to several inches of sinking over the course of decades, Wdowinski noted.

However, based on earlier studies by Wdowinski and his colleagues, "in most cases, these buildings just move  there's no catastrophic collapse like in the case here in Surfside, which was very unfortunate," he said. In other words, it's unlikely that the subsidence alone caused the structure to fail. In theory, the deep-set pilings beneath the condo would have provided stability despite the gradual sinking, so other factors are likely to blame, Peraza told the Times.

Originally published on Live Science.
1. Invisible frog

The glass frog's see-through skin displays its internal organs. (Image credit: Getty)

Most creatures hide their internal organs underneath multiple protective layers of skin , tissue and bone . But what if these layers were see-through?

Looking at a glass frog from above, you may not notice anything out of the ordinary. But if you were to flip it over, you would spy a tiny, fast-beating heart , a long, red vein, and a section of squirming intestines breaking down food. These amphibians have evolved to have extremely thin, translucent skin.

So why did these frogs evolve to be see-through? While these frogs' thin skin puts their entire internal anatomy on full display, when light shines on the frogs from above their silhouette becomes muddled to predators, according to a study published June 9 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .

These frogs live in the rainforests of Central and South America and spend much of their time perched on leaves. Because the frogs are surrounded by lush greenery, their vibrant-green topcoats are ideal for camouflage. Meanwhile, their more transparent legs blur the outlines of their bodies, making it tough for predators to recognize the frogs' shape, the study found.

Related: How many organs are in the human body?

2. Wasp-fig relationship

Some fig wasps have developed long extensions in order to lay eggs without entering the fig. (Image credit: Wikimedia Commons/Alandmanson)

Unlikely relationships are often formed in the wild. For instance, fig wasps have found an unusual home inside figs. The fig "fruit" is actually a bundle of tiny flowers, called an inflorescence, which relies on fig wasps for pollination. In turn, the fleshy inflorescence provides a comfy and safe home for the wasps during their very short lives.

When female fig wasps hatch into the world, they are primed to "sniff out" receptive fig trees, or those whose flowers are ready for pollination, according to The Netherlands Entomological Society . Instinctively, the wasps search out the particular aroma emitted by female fig flowers, according to the U.S. Forest Service . Once they find a fig-in-need, the wasps dig their way into the soft, sweet flower through an opening at the end of the fig "fruit." The hole is so small that many wasps lose their wings and parts of their antennas. Once inside the fig, the female wasps are protected and out of sight, and they are able to lay their eggs. According to the Journal of Nematology , the wasps will not see the outside world ever again. The females die just 24 hours after laying their eggs.

When the fig wasps hatch, the male hatchlings mate with the females, before digging escape routes out of the fig for the females. The male wasps spend their entire lives in the fig and die shortly after producing the tunnels.

This odd behavior has kept this wasp species alive for over 60 million years, according to an article published in 2005 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B . Figs have these insects to thank for their continued existence, as their movement from one fig to another spreads their pollen.

3. Walking fish

An axolotls gills are the long feathery extensions coming from its head. (Image credit: Getty)

Mexican walking fish (Ambystoma mexicanum), also called axolotls, are quirky creatures: Not only do these "fish" sport a protruding, spiky hairdo, they can also "walk." When they approach the bottom of a lake or canal, they pull out four legs from their sides to crawl around their swampy habitat in Mexico City.

Although they look like overdeveloped fish, they are actually amphibians . Often amphibians begin their lives equipped with gills so they can breathe underwater until they mature and lose their gills, ready for life on land. But axolotls keep their juvenile gills and remain in the water  a phenomenon called neoteny, according to an article in the journal Nature.

Never leaving the water, axolotls are found in the lakes of Xochimilco near Mexico City. Growing up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) long, they feed on small insects, worms, mollusks and crustaceans. Historically, these grinning creatures were at the top of the food chain, but invasive fish species  such as tilapia and carp fish, which eat baby axolotls  and pollution are now threatening their survival.

4. Pregnant males

Male seahorses are pregnant for between 10 and 25 days. (Image credit: Getty)

Females don't always have to bear the brunt of pregnancy. According to Scientific American , for seahorse s, pipefish and sea dragon s  members of the Syngnathidae fish family  it's the males that get pregnant. Seahorses and pipefish carry their young inside brood pouches, supplying nutrients such as energy-rich fats through the pouch tissue, while sea dragons' eggs simply stick to the outside of the males tail.

How It Works (Image credit: Future) This article is brought to you by How It Works. How It Works is the action-packed magazine that's bursting with exciting information about the latest advances in science and technology, featuring everything you need to know about how the world around you  and the universe  works.

Is there any benefit to this arrangement? Because the females can focus solely on egg-making (leaving other baby-rearing roles to the males), seahorses can give birth in the morning and be pregnant again by the evening, according to National Geographic . This helps the species' numbers increase for a higher chance of survival.

With the males carrying the babies, the females are also less likely to be drained of energy. Usually, the females expend more energy producing eggs than the males do producing sperm, according to Oxford Academic . By transferring egg-carrying duties to males, the energy demand is shared more evenly.

5. Parasitic mates

Female anglerfish shine light, made from bioluminescent bacteria, to attract a mate and prey. (Image credit: Science Photo Library)

Male and female anglerfish are so varied in appearance that you might think they were different species at first glance. The females are up to 60 times longer and half a million times heavier than their male partners; as such, when scientists first observed the males with the female anglerfish, they thought that they were looking at a mom and her young, according to an article published in a journal of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists .

The most common images of anglerfish show the females. Found lurking mostly in the darkest depths of the Atlantic and Antarctic oceans, female anglerfish look like the stuff of nightmares: Light rods hang from their faces and terrifyingly large fangs protrude from their mouths.

But the arrival of the males makes everything even more peculiar. When mating, a male anglerfish acts like a parasite , according to New Scientist . Biting into the side of his chosen female, the tiny male fuses his body with hers so he can steal her nutrients by sucking out her blood. Since the male has no need to swim or see, his eyes, fins and some major organs begin to deteriorate. He gets everything he requires for little effort, while his only responsibilities are to provide reproductive cells when the time is right. At that time, the male and female release their sperm and eggs, respectively, into the water for fertilization, Live Science previously reported .

6. Immortal jellies

The immortal jellyfish is found in warm waters around the world. (Image credit: Getty)

Do you ever wish you could jump back in time to when you were young and start life again? As time passes, our bodies are designed to grow, age and eventually die. However, not all species follow this cycle. Meet the immortal jellyfish , Turritopsis dohrnii.

When injured or in the face of starvation, this jellyfish can push the "reset" button, according to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). With that reset, the jellyfish adults reverts back to an earlier developmental stage, in this case a polyp. That new polyp then continues the life cycle and spawns lots of genetically identical medusas, or the tentacled creatures we call jellyfish. Scientists think the immortal jellyfish use a process called transdifferentiation to pull off this rejuvenating feat. In this process, an adult cell that has become specialized for a certain tissue can transform into a different kind of specialized cell, AMNH said.

At their largest, adults of this jellyfish are still less than 0.2 inches (5 millimeters) across. These jellyfish were first discovered in 1883 in the Mediterranean Sea, but they only gained the moniker of the immortal jellyfish in the mid-1990s. While a German student was studying them in a lab, he noticed the bizarre phenomenon. When the medusa stage of the jellyfish got stressed, it fell to the bottom of the holding jar and reverted straight into polyps, skipping any fertilization or larval stages, according to The Biologist, published by the Royal Society of Biology. The researchers liked it to "a butterfly transforming back into a caterpillar."

Next, researchers hope to figure out how the jellyfish accomplishes its everlasting life. "The genome of Turritopsis dohrnii is being investigated and decoding it will be the first step towards the search for an 'immortality switch,'" according to The Biologist.

The continuous cycle

Explore how these jellyfish reverse maturity to relive the cycle. Click the numbers below to learn more.
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Vice President Kamala Harris talks to the media, Friday, June 25, 2021, after her tour of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Central Processing Center in El Paso, Texas. Harris visited the U.S. southern border as part of her role leading the Biden administrations response to a steep increase in migration.
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Taraji P. Henson was the hostess with the most costume changes at the 2021 BET Awards, rocking multiple looks to pay homage to the Black women whove inspired her, ranging from Erykah Badu, Betty Boop, and performer/winner H.E.R.

The 2021 broadcast was all about The Year of the Black Woman, and Henson was particularly hyped to salute Queen Latifah with the Lifetime Achievement Award during the ceremony.

Im a huge Queen Latifah fan. She taught me to go for it all in Hollywood  not just to be an actress, but to produce and direct, Henson told Variety on the red carpet Sunday in Los Angeles. She led the way and Im so grateful for her getting being recognized. Its long overdue.

Latifah took the Microsoft Theater stage after a star-studded performance tribute featuring Lil Kim, Monie Love, Rapsody and MC Lyte. The multi-hyphenate entertainer got emotional accepting the award, with her father Lancelot Owens, Sr. at her side and a photo of her late mother Rita in her hands.

Im so extremely moved, I dont even know what to say, Latifah said, getting emotional thanking all those whove supported her, including her longtime business partner Shakim Compere.

Ive always celebrated the woman because I was raised by a strong Black woman, raised by a father who loves women, she continued. We cant live without each other. I wanted to celebrate us because I know, together, we stand stronger, than when we tear each other apart. Ive seen enough of that. So respect to all the females on the stage tonight.

As Latifah closed out her emotional speech with a Happy Pride shoutout after expressing love for her partner Eboni Nichols and their son Rebel, audiences took note that the event was about more than celebrating Black women, but the full spectrum of Black folks, making an effort to highlight the LGBTQ community as well.

One of the crowds loudest roars of excitement came at the end of Lil Nas Xs spicy performance of Montero (Call Me By Your Name), when the artist kissed one of his dancers. Ahead of the show, B. Scott spoke about BETs move to become more intentional about LGBTQ inclusion. Scott is set to become the first trans non-binary person to host a show for the network, with the upcoming Twenties the After Show, sharing that Lena Waithe and BET president Scott Mills really fought for them to host the series.

I think that is the new direction of [the network,] more inclusivity and also really showcasing the intersectionality that exists in our community, Scott said. The LGBTQI, we are the sweetest part of the Black community. So its nice to be in a space where we feel safe, and we can be celebrated.

With more than three decades of hits under her belt, Latifah was a major inspiration for many of the actors, artists and emcees  from established entertainers like Ashanti, Album of the Year winner Jazmine Sullivan, and Saweetie to breakthrough talents like Gabrielle Dennis, Coi Leray and Latto  who walked the blazing hot red carpet (both in terms of temperature and fashion).

Riding high off the release of her debut album, H.E.R. was also celebrating her 24th birthday and noted that the award show marked a full-circle moment.

Eleven years ago today, when I was 13 years old, I came to the BET awards, H.E.R. recalled. Me and Queen Latifah introduced Alicia [Keys] and I sang a minute of Fallin, and she brought me up on stage. Ill always cherish that moment.

Respect star Jennifer Hudson celebrated her own full circle-moment by presenting a tribute to her idol Aretha Franklin during the show. A lot of us wouldnt be here without Aretha Franklin. So we have to uphold our legends and our icons forever, Hudson said. I grew up on Queen Latifah, and Im wondering, why are we just now giving her her flowers? But Im so happy to see her receive her flowers.

Andra Day, who picked up the best actress award during the ceremony and performed a medley, shared a similar sentiment.

To me, its always the year of the Black woman, Day said. But I think some something as big as BET acknowledging that, is just a reminder that were not a monolith. There are micro communities within the community that all need to be paid attention and need to be represented.

Speaking of Latifah and Henson specifically, Day added that shes been inspired by their bravery. Especially with Queen, making music at a time when people said you cant do stuff like this, she explained. Its the same thing with Billie Holiday. It is the bravery of Black women, and we sometimes have to be more brave than we should, but we are.

The award show also marked the return of a live audience after COVID forced the 2020 edition of the BET Awards to go fan free. This year, the audience packed into the Microsoft Theater, cheering extra loudly for stars like Chloe Bailey, Issa Rae, Michaela Jae (aka Mj) Rodriguez, and Rep. Maxine Waters as they walked to and from their seats to present during the show. Waters carried a handful of flowers, from the heartfelt bit at the top of the show where Henson made sure to salute the women in the audience.

The Black lady love bled over into the commercial breaks too  as superstars like Rae, Waithe, Naomi Campbell, and Cynthia Erivo were spotted laughing and catching up. As far as Covid protocols went, the in-theater crowd was reminded by the announcers to wear their masks whenever cameras were off.

After the show ended, the audience filed outside to a post-event reception, where the red carpet had been transformed into an after-party, with DJ D-Nice keeping the vibe going.

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The surprisingly complex world of puppy politics becomes the unlikely breeding ground for a new satire produced by Hungarys Other Films and Romanian production powerhouse microFILM, the companies announced this week during the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.

Whose Dog Am I? is a docu-comedy essay about politics in a world where citizens are dogs, politicians are their breeders, and the highest international forum is the World Canine Organization. Its a film about Big Politics through the politics of the dog world.

Whose Dog Am I? is directed by Robert Lakatos and produced by Hungarys Rita Balogh, and Romanias Alecu and Ada Solomon, whose Bucharest-based microFILM has produced critically acclaimed films including Radu Judes Berlin Golden Bear winner Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn and Calin Peter Netzers Golden Bear winner Childs Pose.

Lakatos told Variety the film was inspired by his real-life efforts to breed a successor to his aging Hungarian shepherd dog, a process that was thwarted by the complex rules and regulations that govern the world of dog-breeding.

Step by step I found out that human politics are reflected in dog-breeding politics, said the director. Nearly all the problems of human society, like nationalism, racism, misogyny, exploitation, migration problems, problems of minorities, etc., you can find in dog society and dog breeding politics as well, but in a more brutal way.

Lakatos is a Romanian citizen who is also a member of that countrys ethnic Hungarian minority, a population of 1.5 million who chose neither to assimilate nor emigrate but preserve their unique cultural identity.

That fact, said Alecu and Ada Solomon, makes Whose Dog Am I? a natural born Hungarian-Romanian coproduction and a necessary one, in these parts of the world still so petrified in a chauvinistic mentality.

The film showsin a funny, surprising and self-ironical wayhow we project our identity problems and insecurities on our beloved pets, they said. Much of todays worldwide conflicts are driven by these fears of losing ones own identity and claims to retrieve it. The film shows the absurdity of this quest for purity and manages to make us reflectwhile laughing full-heartedlyon who we are, as a mixture of different breeds.

Balogh is the founder of Budapest-based Other Films and a co-founder of the Budapest International Documentary Festival. Of the collaboration with her Romanian co-producers, she said that it is fruitful to work together, even on such delicate and difficult topics as ours.

I believe in building bridges and looking at things from various perspectiveseven if nowadays this attitude alone means provocation, as many tend to be so wrapped up in ideologies that they forget there are people on the other side, too, she said.

How do we talk about these issues at a time when it is getting harder and harder for many to see the bigger picture? Telling a heartwarming story about dogs, with loads of humor, seemed to be just the right way. I think we desperately need accessible and enjoyable documentaries, also about serious topics.

Lakatos previous films have screened at festivals including Karlovy Vary, IDFA, DOK Leipzig, and Visions du Reel. With Whose Dog Am I?, he said he was searching for a unique and distinctive way to address the political issues of the day while side-stepping the destructive conflicts that have become a dominant part of the current discourse worldwide.

I prefer to avoid fights, he said. So I thought that speaking about them in this ironic and comic way, through the metaphor of dog politics, might be the right way of pointing out some problems, without harming anyone.

We thought Roberts special humor, his particular way of enacting and reenacting serious issues in a whimsical, fantasy style, will result in a satirical gem that can dynamite the current isolationist, nationalist discourse coming from both sides, added the Solomons.

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Production has wrapped on Miike Takashis latest film, Mogura no Uta Final (translation: Mole Song Final), the third and final part of his Mole Song action-comedy trilogy about a bumbling cop who goes undercover  and becomes a full-fledged yakuza.

The new film will open on November 19, 2021 with Toho distributing. Like the two previous films, The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji in 2013 and The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio in 2016, it is scripted by Kudo Kankuro, a scriptwriter-director who is almost as in-demand in his own sphere as the notoriously prolific Miike is in his.

The stories are based on a comic by Takahashi Noboru that has been running since 2005. As of May this year, it had sold 9.3 million copies in paperback editions.

In the film, which wrapped in mid-June, the cop-gangster hero, Reiji (Ikuta Toma), goes on a mission to stop a drug shipment with a $5.4 billion street value, with much of the action unfolding on a luxury cruise ship. Details about the story are sparse, but in the trailer just posted on YouTube the hero is shown stripped nearly naked and tied to a moving car like a hood ornament  a motif in previous franchise elements.

Miike has another new film, The Great Yokai War: Guardian, set for an August 13 release with Toho and Kadokawa co-distributing. A follow-up to his 2005 hit The Great Yokai War, it is another fantasy set in the world of yokai  Japans native variety of monsters and spirits  and is targeted at the family audience.

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The Supreme Court decided not to hear a Virginia school boards appeal of a lower court decision to allow transgender students to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity. In doing so, the court handed a victory to Gavin Grimm, a transgender student who sued his school when he was forced to use only private restrooms or gendered restrooms that matched his sex assigned at birth.

Both the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit had already ruled that the school board violated Title IX, a law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, and the Constitutions Equal Protection Clause by not allowing Grimm to use the same restrooms as other boys. Although the Supreme Court was supposed to hear Grimms case in 2017, they sent the case back to the lower courts because the Trump administration withdrew the governments support for Grimms claims.

The courts refusal to take the case does not mean that the Fourth Circuits decision establishes a national precedent, but it will apply to public school students in states covered by the 4th, 7th, and 11th Circuits, CNN reported.

The Gloucester County school boards appeal was rejected by the court, with only Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas voting in favor of hearing the case. The school board had argued in a petition that the bathroom issue was a pressing federal question of national importance.

Although Grimm graduated from high school during the six-year legal fight that began when he was a teen, he said he is happy it has ended with a victory. I am glad that my years-long fight to have my school see me for who I am is over, Grimm said in a statement. Being forced to use the nurses room, a private bathroom, and the girls room was humiliating for me, and having to go to out-of-the-way bathrooms severely interfered with my education. Trans youth deserve to use the bathroom in peace without being humiliated and stigmatized by their own school boards and elected officials.

In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Grimm echoed comments by trans activist and actress Laverne Cox about this fight. Its not about bathrooms, its about the trans peoples right to exist in public spaces, Grimm told Elisabeth Garber-Paul. I think thats something that needs to be reiterated, for sure.

Grimm added that he was glad his case was being taken seriously. It wasnt very long ago that this case wouldnt have made it anywhere, he said. But theres enough acceptance in the world now to where we can have a conversation about it and so I think thats a very positive thing no matter the outcome. So I think thats something that I need not discount.

Josh Block, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union LGBTQ & HIV Project, which represented Grimms case, said in a statement: This is the third time in recent years that the Supreme Court has allowed appeals court decisions in support of transgender students to stand. This is an incredible victory for Gavin and for transgender students around the country. Our work is not yet done, and the ACLU is continuing to fight against anti-trans laws targeting trans youth in states around the country.

The Biden administration has also affirmed that it interprets Title IX as protecting LGBTQ students from discrimination. The Supreme Court has upheld the right for LGBT+ people to live and work without fear of harassment, exclusion and discrimination, said Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a statement earlier this month. Our LGBT+ students have the same rights and deserve the same protections.
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In August 2017, Americans clashed in Charlottesville, Va., over the question of whether to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. It was, unofficially speaking, a reenactment of the Civil War that divided this country 150 years earlier, and comedian-cum-filmmaker CJ Hunt was there to witness the standoff.

We all know what Trump said of those on both sides of the issue, but Hunts alternately amusing and enraging essay film The Neutral Ground goes beyond the surface debates to examine why some Southerners are so attached to their Civil War heroes. The answer, complicated though it may be, is tied up in the pernicious propaganda campaign known as the Lost Cause, which has enabled subsequent generations to rationalize (rather than reconcile/repair) the racism of their not-so-distant past.

There are no Hitler statues in Germany today, Rev. Jesse Jackson observed after the confrontation in Charlottesville turned violent. That tragedy followed three months after New Orleans took down its own effigy to the Confederate commander. Lee had towered over the city on a giant pedestal, signifying  what? Our history, insist some of the (white) locals advocating for it to remain in place at a 2015 city council meeting, whereas their Black neighbors read the monument  and many others like it around town  as a symbol of oppression. Believe it or not, the words white supremacy are proudly chiseled into the base of one obelisk.

They want these to be publicly visible, and having it adjacent to a courthouse or a state house lets you know whos in charge here, history professor Karen L. Cox tells Hunt in one of the films informative interviews. Hunt started the project in 2015 when New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu started making rumblings about taking down the citys Confederate monuments, somewhat clumsily lifting the snarky man-on-the-street bits and irreverent interview style from The Daily Show (where Hunt now works as a field producer).

Though Hunt is respectful to Landrieu, Cox and American Civil War Museum CEO Christy Coleman, with more questionable subjects  like Louisiana Sons of Confederate Veterans commander Thomas Taylor  he pulls the trick of filming himself attempting to keep a straight face as he asks borderline-silly questions. Hes well within his rights to do so: Theres a misperception in journalism that fair and balanced reporting means giving equal time to all sides, even if one side has been skewing the facts for decades.

If anything, Hunts brand of satire gives Lost Causers too much opportunity to make their case, as what feels like dozens of white people repeat the idea that the Civil War was about states rights rather than slavery (he provides ample evidence to refute that), or the howler that slave owners were somehow benevolent masters  mistruths enforced by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, who shaped the textbooks and teaching curricula that now make the statues removal all the more contentious.

Hunt puts himself right in the middle of the movie, suiting up for both a degrading Civil War reenactment and an empowering parade organized by artist Dread Scott. While hardly a definitive take on the topic, The Neutral Ground plays like a more entertaining version of Clint Smiths much-publicized new book, How the Word Is Passed. The two men visited many of the same sites, including the Whitney Plantation, where Hunt discovers the 1811 Slave Revolt Memorial, a grisly yet impactful monument to an underrepresented uprising. If all of these [Confederate] statues are headstones to their men abandoned on the battlefield, as Taylor argues, then surely the South needs more monuments like the Whitney one, honoring the unsung victims of slavery as well.

Named for the grassy medians throughout New Orleans intended for everyones use, The Neutral Ground neatly balances wry bemusement with a more sobering history of Louisiana and the South than many locals get in school. While its clear that Hunt was still honing his comedic voice as he shot the film, his self-deprecating style masks just how sophisticated the films argument is. Hunt does the research and reveals how slavery was the reason that Southern states seceded, later demonstrating how the push for Confederate memorialization spiked anytime Black people demanded freedom, all of which reinforces his thesis that the monuments served as a reminder that the Confederacy still lives.

The South may have lost the Civil War, but under the wobbly project of Reconstruction, ex-Confederacy leaders and their kin were allowed to make the rules, leading to Jim Crow laws and community-sanctioned lynching. In one especially effective moment, editor (and co-writer) Jane Geisler dissolves from a white crowd gathered to witness a public hanging to a ceremony at the Lee memorial in Richmond, Va.  not the same location but in many ways, manifestations of the same agenda to remind free Black people of their place in a still-lopsided society.

The Neutral Ground  which opens in theaters July 2, before kicking off PBS latest season of POV  seems to have taken forever to reach the screen, considering how long Hunts been working on it. The pandemic was no doubt a factor, and the delay (in which the Black Lives Matter movement brought the monument debate into the mainstream) simply amplifies the films relevance.

In one scene, Hunt addresses New Orleans Battle of Liberty Place Monument, honoring an insurrection wherein the White League (exactly what it sounds like) refused to accept the results of the 1972 gubernatorial election, stormed the city and occupied several government buildings. The resulting monolith is the equivalent of erecting a statue on the National Mall commemorating that Viking dude who raided the Capitol last January.

For a while, it looked as if Landrieu would not succeed in removing New Orleans Confederate monuments, though The Neutral Ground spans enough time to be able to witness that victory come to pass. There remain plenty (perhaps even the majority) of people who wonder when this reckoning will end, fearing that activists will dynamite the faces of slaveholding ex-presidents off Mount Rushmore. What those who stonewall the removal of white supremacist statues dont realize is that progressives arent fighting to erase history; theyre fighting to remove the obstacles to a more complete representation of what happened.

Reviewed at Tribeca Festival (online), June 2021. Running time: 82 MIN.

Running Time: Running time: 82 MIN.

Production

(Documentary) A One Drop Pictures, POV, ITVS production, in association with Black Public Media, the Center for Asian American Media. Producer: Darcy McKinnon. Executive producers: Roy Wood Jr., Sally Jo Fifer. Co-producer: Jeremy Blum.

Crew

Director: CJ Hunt. Writers: CJ Hunt, Jane Geisler, James Hamilton. Camera: Paavo Hanninen. Editor: Jane Geisler. Music: Sultana Isham.

With

CJ Hunt, Mitch Landrieu, Jason Williams, Christy Coleman, Karen L. Cox, Malcolm Suber, Thomas Taylor, Michael Quess Moore.

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In the summer of 2016, members of the Turkish armed forces attempted to stage a coup detat against the government of strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The putsch failed, and in its aftermath came a sweeping purge that led to the suspension or dismissal of tens of thousands of soldiers, judges, teachers, police and civil servants, as well as a crackdown against those alleged to be connected to the opposition Gulen movement.

Since then, over one million Turkish nationals have been investigated for terrorism and possible support for the coup attempt. Over half of them have been arrested, while more than 75,000 Turks have fled to Europe to seek asylum. Those events form the backdrop to Invisible, Greek journalist Marianna Kakaounakis feature directorial debut, which follows three exiled Turks as they struggle to adapt to new lives in Greece. The film was supported by iMEdD (Incubator for Media Education and Development).

Kakaounaki is an award-winning print and TV journalist who has spent the past five years covering the story of Europes ongoing migration crisis. She works as a field producer for CBS News, has reported for the Wall Street Journal, and has been a part-time employee of the Olympic Broadcasting Services, working as their features reporter for eight Olympic Games. She spoke to Variety about Invisible, which world premiered in CPH:DOX, ahead of its screening in the Newcomers International Competition in Thessaloniki.

What inspired you to make this movie?

It all started in late 2016, when I was covering the case of eight Turkish soldiers who had fled to Greece the night of the attempted coup for a Greek newspaper. President Erdogan initially asked for and soon demanded their extradition. Therefore, it was a big story for us; the politics between the two countries have always been complicated. And as it happens when you are so involved in a story, I started getting this information about how hundreds of Turks were actually escaping to Greece. Academics, judges, businessmen, doctors, who were all accused of terrorism overnight. When I realized that there was an ongoing and massive persecution of an entire community, I wanted to do something more than a feature for the newspaper, and as I started meeting some of those people, I became convinced that this should be a film. However, it took years for them to agree to participate.

So they were reluctant to share their stories with you?

Very. For almost two years they were too afraid to talk to me, even off the record. It took a lot of time, not so much to gain their trustI feel they trusted me early onbut for them to feel safe enough to open up so publicly. So this was a real concern. And it still is a concern, actually; there are confirmed cases of kidnappings in other countries and members of the community have been forced back to Turkey and imprisoned. As a result, their choice for a long time had been to live as if they were invisible. But I think at one point they felt they had to tell their story despite the risks. And since they already knew me and trusted me, we started filming.

How did you meet the three protagonists?

Ahmet was actually one of the first people I met in the community. I still remember the day he took me to this underground place he had set up together with other Turks. I couldnt believe how all these families were living under the radar and at the same time were doing intensive Greek language courses, dreaming that one day they could really build a life in Greece. I wanted Ahmet to be one my protagonists because he is such an interesting character, and he could introduce the story of the wider community vividly.

I met the other two protagonists in September 2019. I got the news that a family who had suffered a terrible loss were on their way to Athens. So as soon as they arrived, I met with them and with the help of a mobile translation app we talked for hours about their life back in Turkey and the tragedy they had suffered. When I got back home, I couldnt stop thinking about them and their story. The next time we met I asked them to take part in this documentary I wanted to do. They said yes right away, even though I told them they could think it over and consider the risks. But they feared nothing, they had nothing left to lose. I spent the following months shadowing those three people as their stories were developing: Ahmet who wanted to put down roots in Greece and the Kara family whose grief wouldnt let them settle.

What was it like for the Kara family as they adjusted to life in Greece?

Gonca, a kindergarten teacher, and Ebubekir, the manager of a school associated with the Gulen movement, decided to hide. Their fear was not unfounded. Their property was soon confiscated, their bank accounts blocked, and they were both accused of terrorism. Horrified by the prospect of a trial that could take them away from their children and put them in prison for years, they decide to flee Turkey.

When they cross to Greece they are free, but that doesnt matter anymore. They have to come to terms with an unbearable trauma that is slowly being revealed. Now, they are trying to stay out of sight and obtain fake passports that can bring them to safety in Northern Europe.

And Ahmet? What was his life like in Greece?

Ahmet Polat, once a doctor, is spending his days in a secret location in Greece with others who were also forced into exile. Almost every week, they welcome a new arrival. To be able to help them, Ahmet puts his dreams of practicing medicine aside and dedicates himself to the space they have created.

Members of this growing community have trouble getting used to their newfound freedom. They fear they might be used as bargaining chips during ongoing and difficult negotiations between Turkey and Greecetwo countries with a long and complicated history of disputes.

What do you hope audiences will take away from Invisible?

I hope the audience will feel like they have walked alongside those families and that they form a better understanding of their lives. Their needs and aspirations are universal: to find a job, pay the bills, secure a better life for their children. They are not fleeing war. They were unjustly persecuted in a country that is supposed to be a democracy. If you look at the purge numbers, each number has a similar story like the ones told in the film. People are still crossing over, they are still afraid and hiding. This documentary aims to make these people more visible.

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Images went viral this week alleging that animals were in dire conditions at the Laredo Animal Care Services facility, causing the City of Laredo to quickly halt the intake of animals and announce an immediate investigation.

Results two days later stated the images were old while others were not of the facility.

While the investigation is now over, many continue to look into what this situation means for the shelter going forward as new animals are still not being allowed into the shelter.

Among those that are now speaking out is PETA, which is not focusing at all on the photos. Instead, the organization states that not allowing new animals in is cruel in itself to the very large pet population on the streets.

When an animal shelter closes its doors, it turns its back on vulnerable animals who end up neglected by people who cant or wont care for them, are dumped on the street to be hit by cars or die from disease, and produce more litters of homeless dogs and cats, PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch said.

Acknowledging that the shelters current leaders did not partake in any animal cruelty events recently according to the city, PETA did state that the shelter must continue providing care to all animals in a healthy and safe manner.

Animal shelters must do more than just adhere to local cruelty-to-animals laws, Nachminovitch said. PETA supports socially conscious animal shelters, which accept all animals, provides them with the individual care that they need and helps healthy and adoptable ones find loving homes.

Even though many people understand the importance of the animal shelter once again reopening back to serve the animals of the community, others believe that the shelter alone is not the solution. Instead, the community is being asked to step up and take care of animals all around the area.

We have a kill shelter, which means that if you dont move dogs out of the shelter then you can exactly guess what is going to happen to those dogs  they are going to die, said Angie Ancira, a volunteer at LAPS. Right now, my concern is that intakes are closed, so we have a lot of animals loose in our city and nobody wants to foster or volunteer to take them in.

Ancira states that the solution was not denouncing the animal shelter and causing them to be more careful about what they do. Rather it is for people to take care of their pets and provide them with the medication needed for them to be OK.

The reason why things happen like the poor dog in the photo is because the people of Laredo do not take them to the vet and get them the vaccines and check if they do not have worms, said Ancira of one of the images depicted a dog in rough shape with his ribcage showing through his skin, which has since been attributed to being an ill dog that was turned in with parvo. People must spray and neuter if they really want to save our animals.

Another individual involved with the animal shelter stated that the real problem is the community not being responsive to the crisis at hand, because not many people take in animals to their homes, and those that do have pets tend may not keep them as healthy as needed.

While Im glad to hear that the accusations concerning the conditions at the shelter have proved to be inaccurate, there is definitely still a need to address the animal crisis in Laredo, volunteer Veronica Garcia said. A lot of criticisms have been directed at the city for closing the shelter and generally not doing enough, but it is my personal opinion that the citizens of Laredo are not doing enough. There are over 250,000 people in the city, many of whom are pet owners who are not caring for their animals responsibly or compassionately.

Garcia states that the continued animal crisis will continue because the shelter will only become saturated with more animals once they are allowed to reopen. She states that this will make the conditions for the animals already there worse.

Until every citizen takes responsibility for their own part in the situation, the shelter will forever be filled beyond capacity, Garcia said. There is only so much city officials and private rescue groups can accomplish against such an overwhelming tide of apathy. So for those who are outraged with the status of the shelter, adopt an animal, or maybe just start properly caring for the ones you have.

PETA ultimately confirmed that anyone in the community can do their part to help the homeless animal population. However, they wish that the help is done by ultimately not buying from breeders and rather focusing on helping animal shelters with the populations they already have.

Everyone in the community can do their part to combat the homelessness crisis by adopting animals and never buying them from the breeders and pet stores that add fuel to the fire and having them spayed or neutered, Nachminovitch said.

jorge.vela@lmtonline.com
WASHINGTON (AP)  A closely watched voting rights dispute from Arizona is among five cases standing between the Supreme Court and its summer break. But even before the justices wrap up their work, likely later this week, they could say whether theyll add more high-profile issues to what already promises to be a consequential term, beginning in October.

This month, the court has already issued big decisions on health care and religious freedom. And next term, the high court has agreed to take on cases about abortion and guns. The court on Monday passed on two potentially big cases but was still considering others. Here are the issues the court declined and others the court has not yet acted on:

DECLINED: TRANSGENDER RIGHTS

The court on Monday declined to take an appeal by a Virginia school board asking the justices to uphold a policy that prohibits transgender students from using school bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity. Lower courts had struck down the policy. The case has been around for six years, since then-high school student Gavin Grimm filed a federal lawsuit over the Gloucester County board's refusal to allow him to use the boys' bathroom.

DECLINED: ABU GHRAIB

Seventeen years after shocking photographs of prisoners being abused at the U.S.-run prison in Abu Ghraib were first made public, Iraqis who claim they were victims of torture are still seeking their day in court against a U.S. defense contractor that supplied the military with interrogators. On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to take an appeal by the company, CACI Premier Technology of Arlington, Virginia. It was appealing to the court on a technical legal issue that could have delayed or even prevented a trial. The inmates say they were beaten and tortured by military police officers who were acting at the direction of civilian interrogators who wanted the inmates softened up for questioning. CACI says none of its interrogators is linked to the abuse suffered by the men who are suing.

STILL PENDING: RELIGION

The justices just wrapped up a case involving a church-affiliated foster care agency that declined to work with same-sex couples, ultimately siding with the agency. Now they'll have to decide whether to hear other cases involving religious freedom claims. Alternately, they could send the cases back to lower courts for review in light of their recent decision.

The pending cases include a dispute out of Washington state involving a florist who refused to provide arrangements for a same-sex wedding. The Supreme Court already sent that case back once to lower courts to be revisited after the court's 2018 ruling involving a Colorado baker who declined to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

Also waiting is a case involving a Catholic hospital in Maryland sued by a transgender man who sought to have a hysterectomy. The hospital canceled the procedure, saying it was contrary to its Catholic faith, after learning the reason for it.

STILL PENDING: PROPERTY RIGHTS

A chocolate companys expansion plans are at the heart of what could be the courts biggest case about property rights in years, if the justices take it. The case involves a property the city of Chicago took by eminent domain in order to allow the Blommer Chocolate Company to expand.

Agreeing to hear the case would give the court the opportunity to overturn a 2005 case that has been roundly criticized by conservatives. In that case, the court divided 5-4 to say that the city of New London, Connecticut, could use eminent domain to take private property and then sell it to private developers as part of an attempt to revitalize the city. The decision was written by Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who acknowledged it was the most unpopular opinion he ever wrote. Justice Antonin Scalia, who dissented, ranked it among the courts biggest mistakes. Only two justices who decided the case remain on the court: Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Stephen Breyer. Stevens died in 2019 and Scalia in 2016.

STILL PENDING: FREEDOM OF SPEECH

A book that became the Hollywood movie War Dogs is at the center of what could become a landmark First Amendment case. Shkelzen Berisha, the son of the former prime minister of Albania, says the book harmed him by falsely linking him to would-be arms dealers from Miami.

He sued for defamation and wants the justices to revisit the high bar the court has set for public figures to win defamation lawsuits. Berisha's complaint stems from a landmark civil rights-era case, New York Times v. Sullivan. As a result of Sullivan and cases that followed, public figures can win defamation lawsuits only if they can prove that the person publishing the falsehood knew the statement they made was false or made it with reckless disregard for the truth. Former President Donald Trump has complained about the high bar, and Thomas has said the court should consider overturning the case.
Mahurangi Matters questioned Waste Management after commissioners decided to grant their resource consent application for a landfill in the Dome Valley 

WM must be pleased with the decision of the commissioners. However, opposition to the landfill has been enormous with a demonstration (hikoi) down Queen Street, a rahui placed on the landfill site by local iwi, objections by political leaders of all persuasions (e.g. Chris Penk, Marja Lubeck, Greg Sayers, Dr Jason Smith). Does WM accept that the local community emphatically does not want a landfill? Do you have a message to those passionately opposed to the landfill?

We are respectful of differing opinions and peoples right to be heard.

The reality is a new landfill is required to safely manage the waste produced by the people who choose to live in Auckland, as well as the industries and commercial businesses that support their lifestyle.

Redvale Landfill & Energy Park, which takes much of Aucklands waste that cannot be recycled, is expected to stop receiving waste in 2028. It means action is needed now to ensure Aucklanders waste can continue to be disposed of safely. It is critical to the health and wellbeing of the whole community.

There are currently no viable alternatives to landfill available for disposal of large qualities of waste in the Auckland region or New Zealand.

We agree with opponents to the landfill that all New Zealanders need to do better to address the amount of waste that we generate each year. We are continuing to play an active role in developing and delivering solutions that will help achieve waste minimisation, but this will also require a significant change in New Zealanders behaviour.

Until we can move away from our current take, make, waste model to a circular economy, Waste Management is one of the few companies with the expertise and experience to safely manage waste on behalf of the millions of people who live here now (and the millions who will live here in the future). We consider it our responsibility to use that expertise to provide a suitable solution for Aucklands waste.

The RMA requires a process to be followed. It is disappointing that many of those who oppose the development of this landfill (including those who you have listed) have declined invitations to visit Redvale landfill and energy park to get an appreciation of the systems in place to totally contain the waste and manage environmental effects. Our message to those who remain opposed to the proposal is to accept that offer and allow us to put their concerns at ease.

Submissions opposing the landfill came from numerous respected sources including the Department of Conservation, many local iwi, Forest & Bird and the Kaipara District Council. They presented expert evidence in relation to adverse environmental and cultural impacts? Does WM say these experts simply got it wrong?

The site was chosen after years of searching for an ideal location that carefully considered and evaluated a range of technical, ecological, cultural and engineering requirements. We believe it is the most suitable site for a landfill to safely manage Aucklands waste into the future.

Our consent application included input from 24 independent technical experts, and this was reviewed and supported by a further 19 independent technical experts engaged by Auckland Council.

It is unfortunate that of the approximate 1,000 submissions in opposition from mana whenua and the local community, only around 30 people have visited Redvale to view a modern landfill operation and gain a better understanding of the potential cultural and environmental impacts.

Some, like the Mayor of Kaipara District Council, have openly declined to meet with Waste Management.

Those that have visited Redvale and Kate Valley, have been impressed with the level of protection offered by these facilities and have acknowledged their previous lack of appreciation that modern landfills in New Zealand are world class and bear no resemblance to those constructed before the 1990s.

For example, 95% of the landfill gas, generated by decomposing organic waste, is vacuum sucked into gas lines which is then burned to generate electricity to be fed back into the national grid. This prevents harmful greenhouse gases entering the environment.

Our landfills have the capacity to generate sufficient electricity to power 24,000 New Zealand homes. We also use the electricity to power our growing electric truck collections fleet  we are in the process of converting our diesel trucks to electric to massively cut Aotearoas carbon emissions.

Another use for the landfill gas that we extract from New Zealanders waste includes supplying heating to horticulture, for example New Zealands largest aubergine glasshouse  which is located directly next door to Redvale Landfill & Energy Park.

Waste Management continues to invite those that are interested to make contact and arrange a visit to Redvale.

Commissioner Tepania (the chair of the panel) did not support the decision to grant the resource consents. She was convinced of the environmental and adverse cultural impacts. Is WM bothered by the fact that the commissioners were not unanimous and that the chair of the commission had such concerns? Doesnt her stance legitimise the views of those who have objected to the landfill all along?

We respect the view of Commissioner Tepania, however, the Resource Management Act allows for a majority decision situation.

The majority decision (4 commissioners) found in favour of granting resource consent, noting the positive effects on Aucklands infrastructure and the efficient operation of the region. They also considered many technical, ecological, cultural and engineering requirements, which are covered in detail in the decision document.

The commissioners granted a consent subject to conditions. Could you highlight one or two of these conditions that you feel will go a long way to satisfying the cultural/ecological concerns raised. Can you say how they satisfy these concerns?

We are now reviewing the commissioners decision and conditions of consent in detail and do not consider it appropriate to comment on specifics until the appeals period is over. Of note is that of the 397 conditions, all bar one or two are as offered by Waste Management at the end of the hearing. We believe this demonstrates that we have listened and addressed the concerns raised to the satisfaction of the majority of commissioners.However, we are respectful of the community and mana whenuas position and want to work through concerns constructively. The conditions of consent require Waste Management to invite mana whenua to form and participate in a Mana Whenua Ropu which will facilitate ongoing engagement between Waste Management and mana whenua for the life of the landfill. This will enable mana whenua to:

(a) maintain and enhance their relationship with the land (whenua) and waterways(awa) within and adjacent to the site;

(b) provide recommendations as to how, through the implementation of the obligations in the consent conditions, mana whenua can exercise kaitiakitanga of affected whenua and awa;

(c) have involvement in the development, implementation and monitoring of cultural indicators;

(d) review and comment on the development of specified management plans and results of environmental monitoring; and

(e) provide recommendations to, and request responses from, the consent holder in respect of the matters listed above or other matters that the MWR may raise from time to time.

Technology used in modern, engineered landfills has evolved significantly to protect Papatuanuku. All waste is effectively wrapped, allowing the natural decomposition process to take place while stopping any contamination of groundwater. All landfill gas is captured and either destroyed or converted to electricity to minimise harmful greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere.

New Zealands landfill standards are among the best in the world and bear no resemblance to the dumps constructed before the 1990s (as recognised by Fight the Tips independent expert). Waste Management was involved in the development of the Technical Guidelines for Disposal to Land and our landfill proposal has adopted these guidelines to ensure that we manage the waste Kiwis produce in the safest and most environmentally responsible manner possible.

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Panel chair unconvinced

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Landfill timeline and community opposition

Landfill campaign takes heavy personal toll

Countering the critics: Waste Managements case


Work on the new-look Hill Street could start as early as next year.

A major upgrade to the troubled Hill Street intersection now looks certain after Auckland Councils Planning Committee confirmed funding for it last week.

The Planning Committee overwhelmingly voted for a revised Regional Land Transport Plan, which included $4.7 million to fix Hill Street.

The funding was due to be confirmed by the Auckland Transport (AT) board this week, but Rodney Councillor Greg Sayers said this was essentially a rubber-stamping exercise.

The $4.7 million represents only one quarter of the cost of fixing Hill Street, the remainder of the money will have to come from the Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (NZTA).

Cr Sayers said Auckland Transport has had strong indications from NZTA that it would approve the funding when the NZTA board meets in August.

Deputy mayor Bill Cashmore said the design and detailed business case for the Hill Street upgrade had also been approved and the build would start as soon as practicable following the opening of the Puhoi to Warkworth motorway, scheduled for May next year.

The re-designed Hill Street intersection will employ a dual roundabout, which the majority of residents approved when AT consulted on different design options in late 2018.

Warkworth Transport Forum co-chair Dave Stott says the progress on Hill Street reflects the efforts of many local people who have campaigned for improvements for years.

Ive been involved for eight to 10 years, but there are people long before me who have been campaigning for the intersection going back 30 years, he says. A lot of people who were involved originally are probably no longer here, sadly.

Mr Stott said people who had worked tirelessly behind the scenes included Transport Forum member Roger Williams and Rodney Local Board member Beth Houlbrooke. Also, local MPs Marja Lubeck and Chris Penk, and before them Mark Mitchell.

Mr Stott said prior to the Planning Committee meeting he had sent a letter to local community organisations asking them to sign a letter backing the Hill Street proposal to be sent to all Auckland councillors.

We got about 20 community organisations within the Mahurangi area who came out in support, from Mathesons Bay to Puhoi, he said. There are not many places in New Zealand where you would find so many organisations all on the same page.


Murray Picot presents the big cheque to Debbie Barber

House fire victim Debbie Barber was thrilled when Lions Warkworth treasurer Murray Picot handed over a check for $1910  proceeds from a joint Lions and Mahurangi Matters appeal.

The appeal was launched to assist Debbie after fire gutted her Warkworth home in May.

Debbie said she was gobsmacked by the amount raised by Mahurangi Matters readers and others.

I would like to thank the community and businesses for their kind and generous donations. You are the best community that anyone can live in. Thank you again, she said.

Debbie said she still does not know the cause of the fire and was awaiting a report from her insurance company to see what would happen next.

She said the house was so extensively damaged that she hoped it would be bulldozed and rebuilt from scratch rather than repaired.

Debbie has found temporary rental accommodation not far from her Palmer Street home.
The beginning of the school year when you got to show off your new duds, new cars, new looks!

Sports! Playing, cheering, watching high school athletics.

The arts: Dramatic arts, musical groups and shows, graphic arts groups, debate, etc.

The prom! No dancing the night away or punch bowl antics.

The daily interactions. Just being with the group, hanging with friends and classmates.

Access to college recruiters and advisors  its harder to line up higher education.

Walking onstage to get a diploma while all the family is watching with everyone elses family.

Vote

View Results
Approximately 100,000 farmers are set to receive Basic Payment Scheme Refunds.

The refunds will total more than 13.35 million and will commence today (Monday).

The money was deducted from their 2019 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments under the Financial Discipline rule and is now being reimbursed in line with the EU regulations.

Commenting on the refund, Minister McConalogue said: "I am pleased to confirm that these payments are now being reimbursed to eligible farmers."

"These payments will bring the total paid to Irish farmers under the 2019 Basic Payment Scheme to over 1.194 billion."

In the context of the annual budgetary procedure of the European Union, the financial discipline mechanism which is implemented by the Member States involves a monetary deduction (1.4% for the 2019 reduction) from some direct payments thereby creating a financial Crisis Reserve for the European Union.

The crisis reserve is intended to provide additional support for the agricultural sector in the case of major crises affecting agricultural production or distribution. In the event that the Crisis Reserve is not activated in the financial year, or it is not fully utilised, the unused balance is refunded to farmers in the subsequent financial year.
A chef has told a court how he was left seeing stars after being attacked in his own home in Longford town by by two intruders during the early hours of the morning.

The man, who lives alone, addressed a recent sitting of Longford District Court on foot of an alleged burglary in Farnagh, Longford town on May 7, 2021.

A teenager, who has been remanded in detention on two separate occasions in connection to the incident, appeared before Judge Seamus Hughes.

A co-accused, Charles Reilly, of 37 McKeon Park, Longford was last month sentenced to nine months in prison for his involvement in the alleged incident.

Judge Hughes appeared to question the validity of that term when the man went into detail about how he was allegedly set upon after falling asleep on his sofa whilst reading a book.

The man said he was awoken by the pair who proceeded to take money, six mobile phones and a watch which had been given to him by his late father.

I got a rap and a kick in the head, he said.

I could see stars in front of my face and I couldn't really defend myself.

He said he believed the duo had earlier scaled an eight foot high wall at the rear of his house before opening a back door which had been left unlocked.

One (suspect) lifted up the other and they came in through the back door, he told the court, revealing how the pair had allegedly clambered across an eight foot high wall. The victim said he was also missing a number of specialist kitchen knives made from Swiss steel that cost around 80 which, like the watch, were of particular importance to him.

In defence, solicitor Fiona Baxter, said details concerning the alleged stolen knives had not been disclosed in the case file presented to her.

Judge Hughes said in light of the revelations made known by the alleged victim, he would be seeking further clarity from the Gardai before handing down any sentence to the teenager.

The juvenile, who is two months from his 18th birthday, wore a grey tracksuit and stood hands folded throughout the hearing.

Neither of his parents or family members were in court to hear details of the case as Judge Hughes indicated he would be seeking to remand the youngster in detention for a further two weeks.

Asked by Judge Hughes if the incident had left any lasting mark on him, the victim replied: If I hear anything at all, I seem to jump up like a light.

The juvenile was remanded in detention and was due to appear back before Longford District Court yesterday (June 22).
Seasonal & Current Events

By Chris Boyle Published: June 28 2021

"This is a milestone moment for Long Island."

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced that the New York State Office of General Services and New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation are joining with partners again to celebrate Independence Day with fireworks and events at Jones Beach State Park beginning at 9:30pm.

"Last year many of our favorite annual events were canceled due to COVID, including the iconic Fourth of July fireworks displays at Jones Beach," Governor Cuomo said. "Thanks to the hard work and dedication of New Yorkers in beating back the virus, we are able to enjoy these summer traditions once again. I encourage all New Yorkers to gather with their loved ones this Independence Day for this spectacular show that celebrate our freedom as a nation, as well as the perseverance we have shown as a state throughout this pandemic."

At Jones Beach State Park, the Jovia Financial Credit Union Fireworks Spectacular will begin at 9:30 p.m. This year, WALK 97.5 FM and KJOY-98.3 FM will simulcast music during the fireworks presentation. The fireworks are included in the regular price of park admission. This year's program, with lead sponsorship by Jovia Financial Credit Union, is also made possible with support from the Natural Heritage Trust, Foundation for Long Island State Parks Inc., Captree Boatman's Association, Newsday, Connoisseur Media Long Island and J & B Restaurant Partners.

Chief Marketing Officier, Jovia Financial Credit Union, Renu Dalessandro, said, "The Fourth of July is the most decorated holiday in our country. This is a milestone moment for Long Island. Not only are we gathering to celebrate our independence, but with restrictions being lifted, it's also a celebration of gaining back some normalcy and freedom. The Jovia Financial Credit Union Fireworks Spectacular at Jones Beach is symbolic of our perseverance for all we went through during the height of the pandemic, and we are elated to celebrate our healthcare heroes and essential workers as the title sponsor of this explosive and patriotic event on Long Island at Jones Beach."

Market President and COO for Connoisseur Media Long Island, David Bevins, said, "Attending the Fireworks at Jones Beach is a Long Island rite of passage. Our stations feel a strong sense of pride every year we simulcast the soundtrack to America's birthday celebration. This year, working with NY State Parks and our partner Jovia Financial Credit Union, we knew this is the time for an event like this to come back to Long Island to help us heal after one of our hardest years. We look forward to the Jovia Financial Credit Union Fireworks Spectacular at Jones Beach on July 4th."
Ensure you get a print copy of the Loudoun Times-Mirror delivered weekly to your home or business!

Complete online access is included with all print subscriptions purchased online. Plus, up to four other members of your household can share online access through this subscription with their own, individual linked accounts at no additional charge.

(Are you a current advertiser? Ask your sales rep for our special advertiser rate code!)
(Alliance News) - UK regulators have launched an investigation into auditors for Wyelands Bank, owned by steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta and closely linked to Greensill Capital, which went bust earlier this year.

The accounting regulator, the Financial Reporting Council, will investigate the role of Big Four accounting giant PwC in relation to its audit of the bank for the year ending April 30 2019, it said.

Wyelands Bank was forced by the Bank of England to repay all depositors GBP210 million due to concerns over how it was funding Gupta's GFG Alliance.

The watchdog has also opened an investigation into Saffery Champness over its audit of Greensill Capital, which has faced scrutiny over the roles played by its advisers including former prime minister David Cameron in lobbying the government during the pandemic.

Wyelands is currently on the verge of collapse after Gupta said he was pulling funding from the bank having handed them a GBP75 million loan in a year earlier.

Chief Executive Stephen Rose has now been authorised to speak with potential new investors in an effort to preserve its future.

The board said that it expects the bank will be "wound up on a solvent basis" if it fails to secure a sale to new backers.

Wyelands' most recent accounts for the year to April 2020 revealed that it plunged to a GBP63 million pre-tax loss after being hit with more than GBP61 million in impairments on loans.

By Simon Neville, PA City Editor

source: PA

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Coca-Cola HBC AG said Monday it has agreed to buy 30% of Italian coffee company Casa Del Caffe Vergnano SpA.

The financial details of the deal, via whollyowned subsidiary CC Beverages Holdings II BV, were not disclosed. Completion of the acquisition is expected in the second half of 2021.

"Furthermore, Coca-Cola HBC and Caffe Vergnano will enter into an exclusive distribution agreement for Caffe Vergnano's products in Coca-Cola HBC's territories outside of Italy," the Coca-Cola bottler said.

Coca-Cola HBC has operations in 28 countries, including Greece, Ireland, Poland and Nigeria. It is a strategic partner of US brand owner Coca-Cola Co. HBC stands for Hellenic Bottling Co.

As part of the deal, CC Beverages Holdings gets a seat on Caffe Vergnano's board.

Coca-Cola HBC Chief Executive Zoran Bogdanovic said: "We are grateful for the trust being placed in us by the Vergnano family and are excited by the opportunities ahead with this terrific brand. With Caffe Vergnano, we are well positioned to build a total coffee portfolio that caters for a diverse range of consumer preferences.

"We are respectful of the company's 140-year history and the dedication and passion of the four generations that created such a rich and renowned coffee brand, synonymous with the authentic Italian coffee experience. Our investment in Caffe Vergnano is aligned with the Coca-Cola Co as we have worked together on this opportunity."

In 2020, Caffe Vergnano sold about 7,000 tonnes of coffee in more than 90 countries worldwide.

Shares in Coca-Cola HBC were down 0.6% in London on Monday morning at 2,668.00 pence each.

By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - A deal is likely in the coming days to resolve the post-Brexit "sausage war" between the UK and EU, European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic said on Monday.

London has angered Brussels by threatening to extend a grace period for conducting checks on chilled meat products to Northern Ireland, sparking threats of reprisals.

But temperatures have cooled in recent days, with indications of a compromise, after the UK government submitted a formal request for an extension.

Last week, EU member Ireland said it had stepped in to try to resolve the row amicably a and Sefcovic indicated to Northern Irish lawmakers that progress had been made.

"While I cannot today announce the EU's formal agreement to the UK government's request...I remain confident that we can find a solution within the next 48 hours that will address both sides' needs and concerns," he added.

"I hope that jointly we can solve the issue of chilled meat within 48 hours," he told the Northern Ireland Executive Office committee.A

"We will have three months to have another attempt to solve this issue."

Sefcovic argues that "80%" of the hold-ups caused by checks could be resolved if the UK signed up to a "Swiss-style" form of controls on animals and plants.

The UK formally left the European single market and customs union on January 1, nearly four years after the public voted to leave the bloc in a landmark referendum.

A last-gasp trade deal was signed on December 24, with a separate "protocol" governing trade from Great Britain a England, Scotland and Wales a to Northern Ireland.

The move, imposing customs controls on certain goods crossing the Irish Sea, was designed to prevent unchecked products entering the bloc by the back door via Ireland.

But pro-UK unionist communities in Northern Ireland have objected strongly, arguing it puts the province's place in the wider UK under threat, and has triggered unrest.

Potential EU reprisals on the transport of chilled meats to Northern Ireland blew up into a row at the recent G7 summit, where European leaders vowed no compromise and urged Boris Johnson to implement what he signed.

But the UK prime minister in turn called for Brussels to respect the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty, and not threaten Northern Ireland's fragile peace.

The protocol was designed as a compromise to uphold the terms of the 1998 peace deal that ended three decades of violence over British rule, and to keep the former flashpoint border with Ireland open.

source: AFP

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
IronRidge Resources Ltd - Australia-based minerals exploration company - Says Nicholas Mather resigns as non-executive director of the firm and its unlisted subsidiary companies. He has resigned to "concentrate his efforts" on his role as managing director of ASX-listed DGR Global Ltd, an international resource company generator.

Current stock price: 18.00 pence

Year-to-date change: up 44%

By Lucy Heming;A lucyheming@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
UK Oil & Gas PLC - London-headquartered exploration and production company - Says air drilling started at its Basur-3 well on Saturday. Notes that, after air drilling the first 18 inch hole section and a 14 inch casting, drilling is set to switch to a water-based mud system for the remainder of the well.

Last Monday, UK Oil & Gas noted that the Basur-3 well is designed to assess the extent and commercial viability of the Basur-Resan oil pool, around 1.2 kilometres north of the 1964 Basur-1 oil discovery well. UKOG Turkey Ltd holds a 50% interest in Basur-3 and the surrounding 305 kilometre square Resan M47-b1, b2 licence area.

Current stock price: 0.21 pence, up 3.5% on Monday afternoon

Year-to-date change: up 41%

By Scarlett Butler; scarlettbutler@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - John Wood Group PLC on Monday said it has reached several agreements with several regulatory authorities in the UK, US and Brazil to resolve their bribery and corruption investigations involving the group's legacy Amec Foster Wheeler business.

Specifically, the Aberdeen-based energy services provider has signed the agreements with the UK's Serious Fraud Office, the Department of Justice and Securities & Exchange Commission in the US, as well as the Ministerio Publico Federal, Comptroller General's Office and Solicitor General in Brazil.

Under the terms of the deal, John Wood will pay USD177 million in compensation, disgorgement & prejudgement interest, fines and penalties. The payment will be phased over a three-year period with USD62 million paid in the second half of 2021, and the remainder in instalments in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

The settlement is related to historical conduct which occurred before Amec acquired Foster Wheeler in 2014, and before John Wood itself bought the combined firm in 2017.

In addition, John Wood has agreed to a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with the SFO, in relation to the use of third parties in bribery and corruption in five countries. John Wood and the SFO will seek approval of the DPA from the Crown Court on Thursday.

A similar agreement has been signed with the US DoJ, alongside a cease & desist order with the SEC, and leniency agreements with 18-month terms with the Brazilian authorities.

"The investigations brought to light unacceptable, albeit historical, behaviour that I condemn in the strongest terms. Although we inherited these issues through acquisition, we took full responsibility in addressing them, as any responsible business would," said Chief Executive Robin Watson.

"Since our acquisition of Amec Foster Wheeler, we have cooperated fully with the authorities and have taken steps to further improve our ethics and compliance programme from an already strong foundation. I'm pleased that, subject to final court approval in the UK, we have been able to resolve these issues and can now look to the future," Watson added.

Shares in John Wood were down 0.4% at 216.30 pence on Monday in London.

By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Singapore and Britain have startedA negotiating a "digital economy" agreement, bothA trade ministries announcedA on Monday.

Describing the proposed deal as the first of its kind between an Asian country and a European counterpart, Singapore Trade Minister S Iswaran said itA "will build on the momentum of the UK-Singapore Free Trade Agreement," a broader arrangementA signed late last year.

Britain's Trade Secretary Liz Truss described the digital deal proposals as "cutting edge," saying theyA would "boost the UK's status as a global hub for services trade."

Iswaran said theA agreement could enable businesses to "use Singapore and the UK as digital gateways to access new opportunities in Asia and Europe."

Since voting to leave the EU five years ago, Britain has sought to negotiate several newA trade deals orA replacementsA forA those it was party to as an EU member, including agreements announcedA with Australia earlier this month andA with Japan last year.

Truss said the digital deals talksA with Singapore "shows what we can do as a sovereign trading nation."

"We are becoming more flexible, more nimble," she said.

Overall commerceA between Britain and its former imperial possession Singapore, a wealthy city-state where many Western companies locate their South-East Asian headquarters,A is worth around 22 billion dollars

source: dpa

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - The row over Matt Hancock's use of a private email account has led to questions for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson over his own communications.

Former health secretary Hancock has been accused of using a private Gmail account to conduct government business, something denied by Number 10.

But the prime minister was targeted by Labour after refusing to be drawn on whether he also used a personal email account for work purposes.

"I don't comment on how I conduct government business," Johnson said.

"But I can tell you that we in this government are getting on with focusing on the people's priorities."

Johnson's former aide Dominic Cummings suggested the prime minister and Hancock routinely used WhatsApp message instead of official communications channels.

And deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner warned that if Johnson was using a personal email account for government business it would be "rank incompetence" which could put national security at risk.

The Sunday Times reported that minutes of meetings revealed that Hancock had been using a private email address since March 2020, which meant that key decisions and their reasoning were not recorded or could be difficult to access for any future inquiry into the handling of coronavirus.

The minutes from a meeting between senior officials in the department in December reportedly showed that David Williams, who was then the department's second permanent secretary, warned that Hancock "only" dealt with his private office "via Gmail account".

The Sunday Times reported that Williams said "the SOS (secretary of state) does not have a DHSC inbox" and that health minister James Bethell also "routinely uses his private inbox", but that official accounts had been provided afterwards.

He said he "doesn't believe there was inappropriate acts on behalf of ministers but can clearly see the optics suggest otherwise".

The prime minister's official spokesman said: "Both the former health secretary and Lord Bethell understand the rules around personal email usage and only ever conducted Government business through their departmental email addresses."

The spokesman suggested Hancock's use of a Gmail account was "related to things like diary acceptances".

Cummings suggested government business was discussed on WhatsApp rather than government email accounts.

Responding to the claim that Hancock and Bethell "only ever" conducted departmental business on their official email accounts, Cummings said: "Except for all the WhatsApps between PM, MH and Tory donors which No 10 officials know exist cos they're copied in to some.

"So dozens of No 10 officials know No 10 press office openly lying again."

For Labour, Rayner seized on Johnson's response to questions about his own email use.

"If the prime minister is using a personal email account for government business his rank incompetence and disregard for the rules is putting sensitive information and national security at risk, leaving our country wide open to attack from hostile actors," she said.

The Labour frontbencher called for an independent inquiry into the working practices of ministers and the security risks created by the use of personal email accounts.

source: PA

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Portugal, Spain, Malta and Hong Kong have announced new restrictions on UK tourists amid growing concern over the Delta variant.

The Portuguese government imposed a mandatory 14-day quarantine requirement on arrivals from the UK who are not fully vaccinated.

This puts UK holidaymakers in the same risk category as those from South Africa, Brazil, India and Nepal.

Previously, UK visitors were exempt from quarantine if they had evidence of a recent negative coronavirus test.

The new rule, which came into effect on Monday, does not apply to Madeira.

The island will be added to the UK Government's green travel list on Wednesday, meaning UK holidaymakers visiting the island will no longer need to self-isolate on their return.

Mainland Portugal will remain on the amber list.

People arriving in the UK from locations in that tier must quarantine for 10 days.

The Times reported that German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants the EU (EU) to ban all UK travellers from entering the bloc.

The plan will be discussed by the EU's integrated political crisis response committee, according to the newspaper.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet Merkel at Chequers on Friday.

Meanwhile, Malta will be added to the UK's green list on Wednesday, but the central Mediterranean country announced that from that day it would only permit UK visitors who were fully vaccinated.

Children under 12 would be allowed to enter if they were accompanying parents or guardians who had had both doses.

Those aged between five and 11 would also have to show evidence of a negative PCR test taken within the previous 72 hours.

The Spanish authorities are introducing new restrictions on UK visitors to the Balearic Islands, which include Ibiza and Mallorca.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told radio network Cadena SER that travellers who were not fully vaccinated must have taken a recent negative PCR test.

The change would be enforced within 72 hours, he said on Monday morning.

This means it will be in place when the Balearic Islands are added to the UK's green list on Wednesday.

Hong Kong has put the UK on its "very high risk" list, meaning it has banned arrivals from the UK unless the person is a Hong Kong resident, or a spouse or child of a resident.

The territory has also announced a ban on direct flights from the UK from Thursday.

By Neil Lancefield, PA Transport Correspondent

source: PA

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
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Youth crime in Williamsport is not on the rise, according to Lycoming College criminal justice students from the spring semesters Crime Prevention and Policy course. Recent instances of gun violence in the city, however, inspired students to look closely at current trends of criminal activity and offer solutions to the issues that led to these instances of youth crime.

The class, led by Kerry Richmond, Ph.D., associate professor of criminal justice and department chair, met with various stakeholders in the community, including the mayor, police officers, judges and juvenile probation officers, and representatives from schools, alternative education programs and other agencies and community programs involved with youth. Their discussions were followed by extensive research on the issues addressed.

Former chief of police Damon Hagan, current chief Justin Snyder, and assistant chief Jason Bolt were influential in the project, as was Ed Robbins, lecturer in Lycomings criminal justice department and former chief of juvenile probation in the county, and Judge Joy McCoy, among others. This research, along with student recommendations, was compiled into a final report and presented to several members of the Lycoming campus and the greater Williamsport community.

The discoveries made by the class and presented to the community touch on several factors at the individual and community levels that influence youth crime today. Their report discussed topics such as dysfunction within the family structure, exacerbated by poverty and trauma, lack of awareness and support for mental health and limited resources and programs for youth, particularly in regards to mentoring. The report also highlighted mistrust between the community and the police and concern over gangs and gun violence.

Students then recommended possible solutions community leaders can use to address these negative influences. The recommendations put forth emphasized increasing support for youth, particularly in regards to mental health, through better screening and programming in the schools. In addition, it was suggested that more opportunities for mentoring with positive adult role models, specifically men of color, are developed. The report also provided recommendations for how to improve community and police relations by enhancing communication between the police and residents and revitalizing community policing strategies.

By taking a broad look at youth crime in the city, the students in the class gained a deeper understanding of the issue and saw how the research they learn about in the classroom can be implemented in a community, along with the challenges faced in doing so, said Richmond. It was our hope that this project will contribute to discussions on how to reduce violence and improve the lives of youth in the city.

Completing this research during the Covid-19 pandemic posed many challenges, and students were commended for the beneficial potential this research provided to the city of Williamsport. They hope that their work can be utilized in shaping community development programs in the future.

Senior Criminal Justice students who contributed to the project include Shane Casey, Najee Corbin, Alissa Matthews, Madison Losell, Sydney Purcell, Preston Gehring, Jacob Davis, Jalen Williams, Kearly Parra Ortiz, and Steve Longazel.
Mary Brown, Adjunct Faculty in Latin at Saint Josephs University, is executive director of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States and president of the Philadelphia Classical Society.
Despite more than 140 requests from the public and an apparent conflict of interest from its attorney, Davidson County election commissioners voted along party-appointed lines on Friday to appeal a judges ruling on the 4 Good Government tax referendum, while continuing to be represented by Vanderbilt law professor Jim Blumstein.

Commissioners received eight letters from Metro Council members and 140 emails from the public requesting the body not to appeal Chancellor Russell Perkins ruling last week. Three members of the public, including council member Tom Cash, made the same request in person during a two-hour meeting Friday afternoon. Commissioners received only six emails urging an appeal.

Commissioners ultimately voted 3-2 along party lines to appeal Perkins ruling to a more friendly state appeals court.

Questions arise on

conflict of interest

Blumstein will also continue to represent the commission, despite an apparent conflict of interest uncovered during the meeting.

Jim Roberts of 4 Good Government claimed to have asked some lawyers in town, including some from Vanderbilt, for feedback on his drafted petition, according to a report earlier this year by the Tennessee Star.

Commissioner Tricia Herzfeld questioned whether any attorneys on or representing the commission had provided any feedback to Roberts on the draft petition.

Blumstein admitted he had provided feedback to Roberts when he reached out for advice from Blumstein as a former teacher.

I basically told him that last years thing was a mess, and if he wanted to resubmit it he needed to clean it up, Blumstein said. I do remember saying something like If it were me, I would have done it differently. To the extent that I made any comments at all about how to clean it up  I probably shouldnt be saying this  but it was not in accordance with what my recommendation was.

Commission Chair Jim DeLanis and attorney Austin McMullen denied having seen the petition before Roberts circulated it for signatures.

Blumstein said he did not disclose his consultation with Roberts on the wording of the 4 Good Government petition to the commission before he was retained because he didnt see that it has any real relevance to this representation at all.

Earlier this year, DeLanis convinced the commission to dismiss former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Bill Koch  who represented the commission during legal proceedings on last years 4 Good Government lawsuit  because of a perceived conflict of interest created when Metros legal department retained Koch before the election commissions organizational meeting.

Herzfeld expressed concern that the commission would continue to be represented by Blumstein given his conflict of interest, after dismissing Koch for a conflict of interest.

As it turns out, the attorney that we hired had given an opinion to 4 Good Government, Herzfeld said. Continuing to move forward at this point not only concerns me as a commissioner, but it concerns me as a citizen.

DeLanis argued that Blumsteins perceived conflict of interest and Kochs perceived conflict of interest were entirely different situations.

(Koch) accepted representation from the Metropolitan government in order to write an opinion in the second case. He didnt ask our permission to do that. I dont think it was a perceived conflict; it was a conflict, DeLanis said. This was something much different than somebody casually asking Professor Blumstein, Hey, what do you think about this? and Professor Blumstein saying, Well, youd better do a better job next time. 

Legal fees

The commission has spent about $53,500 on legal fees in the matter so far, according to Administrator of Elections Jeff Roberts. That sum covers only opinions and advice rendered by attorneys before the commissions vote to hold a referendum election and subsequent lawsuits, Herzfeld clarified Friday.

Blumstein revealed Friday that he is being paid his usual hourly rate during ongoing proceedings: $800. Thats in addition to a flat rate of $25,000 for legal advice surrounding the referendum agreed by the commission when it retained Blumstein.

A referendum election would have cost taxpayers an estimated $800,000.

After significant comments from Herzfeld on taxpayer expense of an appeal, DeLanis noted that last year, when the commission spent more than $200,000 in legal fees over the matter, nobody ever raised the issue of expense.

Efficiency and certainty is in favor of an appeal, DeLanis said. There are greater efficiencies to an appeal than just kicking the can down the road.

Herzfeld, a Democrat, also expressed concerns about a lack of communication between the commissions legal counsel and all members of the commission. She requested that attorneys communicate with her as often as DeLanis.

Republican-appointed commissioners voted down Herzfelds request for equal access to the commissions attorneys. DeLanis noted that under the commissions agreement, attorneys are directed to communicate with the commission through him.

Commissioners will meet again at 8 a.m. July 6.
UT board OKs tuition increases, budget

MEMPHIS  The University of Tennessee board of trustees on Friday approved tuition increases at two campuses and finalized its operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

The board met in person for the first time since February 2020, the university said in a news release.

The new $2.7 billion budget for fiscal year 2021-22 will increase 8% from the year before. It includes a salary plan increase and funding for full campus operations following the COVID-19 outbreak.

Meanwhile, the board approved a 2% increase in tuition and mandatory fees at UT Chattanooga, or about $176 more for students enrolled before fall 2019. The board also approved a 1.7% increase in tuition and mandatory fees at UT Martin, or about $164 more for students.

The board then approved an annual evaluation of UT President Randy Boyd, who helped lead the university through the virus outbreak that suspended in-person instruction and moved learning to a virtual environment. Enrollment went up by 1.9%, a school record.

Throughout the pandemic, the critical work of the university continued, John Compton, chair of the trustee board, said in a statement. Under the leadership of President Boyd, the university demonstrated its resilience, revival and resurgence  students learned, research advanced and outreach expanded.

 Associated Press

Tennessee announces grants

for historic preservation

A state commission has announced 35 grants totaling more than $900,000 for historic preservation and archaeological projects in Tennessee.

The Tennessee Historical Commission said the Federal Historic Preservation Fund grants are awarded each year for projects that support the preservation of historic and archaeological resources.

Projects include an archaeological survey, design guidelines for historic districts and rehabilitation of historic buildings.

In Shelby County, a $20,000 grant will pay for restoration of windows at the historic Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church. In Sevier County, a grant of $42,120 will help fund interior restoration and fireproofing of the Sevier County Heritage Museum, a former U.S. post office that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In McMinn County, the town of Englewood received $30,000 to fund the first phase of restoration of its water tower, also listed on the register.

Patrick McIntyre, Tennessees historic preservation officer, said the grants contribute to the preservation of the states heritage.

 Associated Press

Tennessee Supreme Court

full case records now online

Tennesseans can now search the full records of many state Supreme Court cases through an online database thanks to the Tennessee State Library and Archives.

The opinions have long been available electronically, but the associated case files were stored in more than 10,000 boxes in the attic of the Capitol building, according to a news release from the Administrative Office of the Courts. For more than a decade, Library and Archives staff has been cleaning and indexing these records. Today, around 85% of the collection is available online.

Court of Appeals Judge Andy Bennett, through his leadership role in the Tennessee Supreme Court Historical Society, helped make the project happen.

You can open up a book and find the opinion, but you dont have the briefs. You dont see the arguments. You dont have the depositions, Bennett said. If you really want to go behind the opinion, these documents are great.

 Associated Press
Mankato, MN (56001)

Today

Mostly clear. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
Marietta, GA (30060)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 66F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 66F. Winds light and variable.
Atlanta, GA (30303)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable.
George Edward Logan, age 82 of Conneautville, PA passed away on June 27, 2021, at Hamot Hospital with family. He was born November 14, 1938, in Meadville, PA to the late Catherine (Ohl) Logan and Thomas P. Logan. He graduated in 1957 from Conneautville High School where he was a star athlete
Naagin actor Pearl V Puris life turned upside down when he was arrested by the Mumbai Police for allegedly assaulting a minor two years ago.



A case was registered against Puri by the victims father in 2019.

The victim identified the accused recently, and after recording her statement, the accused has been arrested. After the identification of the accused, we have taken him into custody for further investigation, said Sanjay Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Zone of Mira Bhayandar, Vasai.

Puri had been booked under Sections 376 AB (Punishment for rape on woman under 12 years of age) of the Indian Penal Code, and Sections 4, 8, 12, 19, and 21 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

People stood divided in his case, but his friends from the industry supported the actor and said he is the most gentle human being they have met and that he was not capable of committing such a heinous act.

Now, the actor has been granted bail and he has made his comeback on social media.

The actor took to Instagram and shared a note thanking his well-wishers and also requested to keep sending him their blessings.

Pearl said, "Life has its own way of testing people! I lost my Nani ma a few months back, then on her 17th day, I lost my dad, post that my mother got diagnosed with cancer and then this ghastly accusation. The last couple of weeks were gruelling for me like a nightmare. I was, overnight, made to feel like a criminal. All of this in the midst of my mother's cancer treatment, shattered my sense of security, making me feel helpless."

Puri added, "I am still numb... but I felt it's time to reach out to my friends, fans, and well-wishers who've showered me with their love, support and concern. Thank you for keeping faith in me and I am a firm believer in 'Satyamev Jayate'. I trust in the Law, judiciary of my country, and God up there. Please keep your duas coming!"

What do you have to say about it? Let us know in the comments section below.
We all know that believing in ourselves can make us reach placea that we never expected even in our wildest dreams.

Anie Siva, who as an 18-year-old woman used to sell lemonade and ice cream to tourists in Varkala, is now a police inspector of the same town.

Congratulating her for the success, Kerala police took to Twitter saying, "A true model of willpower and confidence. An 18-year-old girl who was left on the streets with her 6-month-old baby after being abandoned by her husband and family has become Sub Inspector at Varkala police station."

31-year-old Anie Siva joined as a probationary sub-inspector at Varkala police station.

Anie Siva told ANI, "I got to know that my posting is at Varkala police station only a few days back. This is a place where I have shed many tears with my small child, with no one to support me.

Congrats Anie Siva, SI of police! Estranged at 18yrs, Anie beat the odds alone to build life for herself & her son.

In a dismally male dominated society where atrocities against vulnerable women are occurring everyday, her life and achievements are truly inspirational. pic.twitter.com/f3FLiqng6H  V D Satheesan (@vdsatheesan) June 27, 2021

She added, At the stalls in Varkala Sivagiri ashram, I tried many small businesses like selling lemonade, ice-cream to handmade crafts. Everything flopped. It was then a man who suggested and helped me with money to study and write the exam for the sub-inspector post."

She said, I always wanted to be an Indian Police Service officer. But fate had other things in store. Now, I feel proud and also emotional with the kind of support I am getting after many shared my Facebook post in which I shared my joy in a brief note.

When Anie was a first-year student at KNM Government College in Kanjiramkulam, she married against the will of her family.

However, just after delivering a baby, her husband left her.

She tried to return home, but her family didnt accept her and how she made her dream come true of becoming a police inspector is a story that will inspire generations to come.
Twitters interim resident grievance officer for India has stepped away from his position. The micro-blogging site and other social media platforms have been mandated by the new IT rules to address complaints from Indian users which requires a grievance officer based in India.

Dharmendra Chatur, who was recently appointed as interim resident grievance officer for India by Twitter, has quit the position at a time when the company is facing a tussle with the Indian government. Twitter no longer displays his name as the grievance officer which is required under the new Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021.

Twitter And The Indian Government Tussle

The micro-blogging site has been engaged in a tussle with the Indian government for deliberately defying the new IT rules and failure to comply with the countrys new IT rules. The new rules came into effect on May 26th which mandates social media companies to establish a grievance redress system for resolving complaints from users or victims. The new Guidelines was issued in February 2021 and required all significant social media intermediaries to designate officers for these roles by May 26.

Social media platforms that have more than 50 lakh users are required to appoint a grievance officer to deal with raised complaints and are also required to share the contact details of the officer, as per the rules. The social media websites are also required to appoint a chief compliance officer and a Nodal Contact Person. All officers appointed by the social media companies need to be residents of India.

While Twitter resisted the new IT rules until the deadline date, the company responded to a final notice issued by the government on June 5th that it intends to comply with the new IT rules. The social media giant appointed Chatur as an interim resident grievance officer for India until a permanent replacement was found. Twitter now displays the companys name in place of Chaturs name on its website with a US address and an email ID.
A Celebration of Life Service for Mr. Fred W. Gray will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 6, 2021, at Faith Baptist Church. Robert Barham Family Funeral Home is honored to be entrusted with arrangements.
Lady Penny Lancaster Stewart had a "magical experience" when she climbed a mountain to honour fallen police officers.

The 'Loose Women' star - who is working with the City of London Police as a special constable - was honoured to take part in the Light the Lakes annual fundraising event, which saw her scale the 1,539ft peak of Lingmoor Fell in the Lake District and help light 2,000 flares before dawn broke.

She told the new issue of Britain's HELLO! magazine: "It was a magical experience. When we reached the top, it felt like we were on another planet, it was almost deafeningly silen.

"The climb was uplifting, heart-warming and touching and it was challenging on many levels, but so rewarding. It needed to be tough otherwise we wouldn't have felt that grit and determination.

"We could see the lights from the other peaks. There were streams of smoke where the flares had gone out, which looked like early morning mist. It was really special."

The climb wasn't easy but 50-year-old Penny - who is patron of COPS, a charity which helps the surviving families of police personnel who have died in the line of duty - is "so glad" she took part.

She said: "We were scrambling up the peak amongst sheep and heather and falling slate, and the rain started going horizontal. But on reflection, there was lots of laughter, camaraderie and sharing of stories. I'm so glad I could be part of it."

A particularly "special moment" for Penny - who has sons Alistair, 15, and Aiden, 10, with husband Sir Rod Stewart - was spent with Lissie Harper, whose husband PC Andrew Harper died in 2019 after attending a burglary call-out.

She said: "Lissie said to me that Andrew would have loved to have done this climb with her, and I said to her, 'He is, he's with you now. And when we're at the top of the mountain, you'll be closer to him still.' We held the flares and hugged and remembered Andrew and all the others. It was really special."
Although the country is the fourth-largest global steel exporter, its government has set a base duty rate of 15% or $115 per tonne on HRC exports for the period between August 1 and December 31. This is intended to restrict the rise in domestic steel prices.In July, mills will try to export as much as they can of upstream products - pig iron, semi-finished [steel] and HRC - because these take less time to produce, one international trader based in Russia said.Russia's major flat steel makers - Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), Severstal and Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) - may each export an additional 30,000-40,000 tonnes of HRC in July, he estimated. That would add about 90,000-120,000 tonnes to the market.

According to the latest available data from the International Steel Statistics Bureau (ISSB), Russia exported 920,887 tonnes of HRC in January-March 2021, so the monthly average was...
Story map highlights work taking place around the state to rehabilitate important fish spawning habitat

Story map highlights work taking place around the state to rehabilitate important fish spawning habitat

Aquatic Invasive Species Week is this week, June 26 to July 4, so this is a good time to learn about the impact invasives have on Great Lakes fish habitat.

In an article in the 2020 State of the Great Lakes Report, staff from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources discuss the importance of reefs in providing food and spawning areas for fish. Many of these reefs are under duress from invasive species, particularly zebra and quagga mussels.

This story map based on the DNR's article in the annual State of the Great Lakes Report looks at the stressors on Great Lakes reefs, including aquatic invasive species such as mussels and the round goby.

The full State of the Great Lakes report is posted to the Office of the Great Lakes website.

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), DNR and the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development are partners with local groups and stakeholders in identifying and controlling aquatic invasive species. For more information, consult the Michigan Invasive Species website.

Photo caption:A diver collects samples on a rock reef. Credit: Fauna Creative

Like this content? Follow us on Twitter at @MichiganEGLE or on Youtube.com/MichiganEGLE

Take a short survey and let us know what you think about MI Environment.
Electrical Safety: Residential Growing

Electrical Safety: Residential Growing

In Partnership with the Marijuana Regulatory Agency, Michigan's Electric Providers Offer Advice for Marijuana Home Grows

Michigan's Marijuana Regulatory Agency - in conjunction with the Michigan Public Service Commission, the Bureau of Fire Services, the Dept. of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, and electric providers in the state of Michigan - produced and distributed materials to inform Michigan residents growing marijuana in their homes about the best ways to keep themselves, their neighbors, and their community safe while continuing to protect Michigan's electric grid.

Michigan residents with medical marijuana patient and caregiver registration cards have been able to grow a limited number of marijuana plants in their homes since 2008. After Michigan voters legalized marijuana in 2018, Michigan residents over the age of 21 have also been able to grow up to 12 plants at their home. These developments have resulted in an influx of new residential marijuana grows that have a major impact on Michigan's electric grid.

Since the energy demand for growing marijuana plants is so intensive - often requiring nonstop grow lights, ventilation systems, and other high-demand equipment - it is essential residential marijuana growers understand the impact the increased energy usage in their homes may have on their safety, the safety of their communities, and the safety of electrical workers and first responders.

A Michigan resident growing 12 plants in a home can increase that home's energy demand by 2.75 times. Maximizing the 72-plant limit for a medical marijuana caregiver's residential grow operation could result in energy usage equivalent to the average use of 10.75 houses.

Residential marijuana growers should understand the proper steps to take while planning their grow operation to ensure their safety, as well as the protection of their home and utility equipment. Overloading electrical equipment can create fire hazards and damage electrical equipment, which can also lead to extended power outages in your community.

Growing marijuana in a home is a legal right and it must be done safely and responsibly. Before starting a home grow, individuals should:

become familiar with local rules and ordinances

hire a licensed electrical contractor

contact their local utility to ensure their electrical service is sized appropriately to serve the increased energy demand

When residential growers work together with their electric company, significant damage can be avoided, including:

Unanticipated significant overloading can lead to catastrophic failure of utility and customer-owned equipment. If a significant customer load is added before the energy provider has an opportunity to review and utility equipment is damaged as a result, the customer causing the issue may be held responsible for associated costs of repair. There could be lengthy delays in the restoration of service. The utility must determine what caused the issue, find out what the true load sizes are, and upgrade its equipment to serve it.

In addition to damaging the equipment of the customer that added the significant load, there could be possible damage to property of other customers receiving service from the same transformer. This damage can range from appliances to sensitive electronics, smart TVs, computers and more.

Structural fire dangers are by far the worst-case scenario for marijuana home grows. When circuits are overloaded beyond their rating, it becomes a hazard and the cost associated with this kind of incident is immeasurable as it has the potential to cause death in addition to widespread damage to the electrical system and people's property.

The Michigan Public Service Commission's website has important information available for Michigan residents, including:

The Electrical Safety: Residential Growing informational document can be found here.
Q&A: MSP Members Discuss Pride Month

Q&A: MSP Members Discuss Pride Month

June 28, 2021

The month of June, which is designated as Pride Month, is dedicated to the uplifting of LGBTQ+ voices, celebration of LGBTQ+ culture and the support of LGBTQ+ rights. This year, the Michigan State Police (MSP) is spotlighting two of our members in a candid Q&A.

Kyle Konkol has worked as a forensic scientist at the MSP Grand Rapids Forensic Science Laboratory for two years. He most confidently identifies with the label of bisexual, which means having the ability to be attracted to more than one gender.

Liz Lyons (non-binary: agender) is a forensic scientist in the Combined DNA Index System Section at the MSP Lansing Forensic Science Laboratory. Non-binary means that a person doesn't identify on the gender binary as either male or female. Agender means that a person doesn't identify with a gender. Liz was assigned female at birth, but does not identify as a female; Liz only identifies as a human.

Kyle and Liz are both members of the MSP P.R.I.D.E. (Professionals Respecting the Identities of Everyone) Employee Resource Group, which seeks to demonstrate how members who identify with the LGBTQ+ community are valued, supported, acknowledged and encouraged by the MSP to share their unique viewpoints, which will help to foster a more inclusive and safer working environment for all members.

1. What does Pride Month mean to you?

Konkol: Pride Month at-large is a time for members of the LGBTQ+ community to celebrate their battles, both past and present. Growing up in the Catholic church, I was told that people who were like me were destined for Hell. Extended family members said people like myself "should be taken down to the river and held under." The LGBTQ+ kids who were out in high school withstood a barrage of hate and slurs behind their backs. The culture in which I was raised conditioned me to hate myself from the moment I realized I was different. Whether it is bigotry, isolation, stigma, unaccepting friends and family members, laws that restrict us or our own personal demons, all of us in the community have fought, are fighting and will continue to fight through adversity. Pride Month to me, more than anything, is a time of reflection; a time to look back on everything I went through to finally be able to love the person I see in the mirror.

Lyons: I've only been out publicly for less than a year so I'm still trying to figure that out. I've personally identified as agender for about eight years, ever since I became aware there was a term to describe how I felt, but only a few very close friends have known about my gender affiliation for that long. Now that I am more publicly out, I hope Pride Month will enable me to educate others to be more open and accepting of their fellow humans and to connect with others who identify as I do.

2. Do you have any plans to celebrate Pride this month?

Konkol: I intend on celebrating Pride this month by taking time to lift up and check in with my friends who are also in the LGBTQ+ community. Additionally, I look forward to educating myself more by seeking out the stories and perspectives from the community subsets of which I have a limited knowledge.

3. In support of Pride Month, what can individuals do to raise awareness about important issues that impact the LGBTQ+ community?

Konkol: Listen to and amplify LGBTQ+ voices, especially those of people of color. Being an ally of the LGBTQ+ community is twofold: (1) what you do and say in front of us and (2) what you do and say behind our backs. Being kind, compassionate and empathetic to my face only holds up if your attitude remains unchanged when I'm not around. Don't be afraid to get to know people in the LGBTQ+ community; hear our stories and struggles, ask tough questions and accept us for who we are. We need allies who are willing to go to bat for us when we're not around to defend ourselves. Tolerance is not being an ally.

Lyons: Telling personal stories has always had the greatest impact on me because it humanizes the issues instead of being several degrees of separation removed. Cold hard facts are great to further substantiate claims, but it can be easy to disconnect that these numbers are actually people. Hearing or reading a firsthand story makes someone see the person that is affected and hopefully makes them realize how severe and damaging these issues can be on people's lives.

4. For members of the LGBTQ+ community who have an interest in pursuing a career with the MSP, what is something you want them to know?

Konkol: There are three things I would say to any LGBTQ+ individual interested in a career with the MSP: (1) No matter the division, rank or role, there is a place for you. (2) Your voice, perspective and talent matter. (3) You are never alone.

Lyons: There is a place for you in law enforcement. So far, the interactions I've had with my MSP coworkers and other MSP enlisted and civilian members have been supportive and accepting. Nevertheless, working on this perceived stigma of law enforcement and LGBTQ+ is one of my goals for the MSP-P.R.I.D.E (Professionals Respecting the Identities of Everyone) Employee Resource Group where I serve as the chairperson. From personal experience I know how ingrained that fear is. For about seven years I lived in that stigmatized fear that someone would find out about my gender identity and people would try to get me fired because of that. Those fears and anxieties still live in the back of my mind and I don't know if that is something that will ever completely go away. But by working on this stigma and making safer and more welcoming environments it can help silence those fears for myself and others.

5. In what ways can members of the MSP be more inclusive of our LGBTQ+ peers?

Konkol: Not making assumptions about our peers is something we can all work on. When it comes to gender, pronouns and significant others, making assumptions about your LGBTQ+ peers can be extremely damaging. Get comfortable having conversations that may seem uncomfortable (asking someone for their pronouns, using terms such as "significant other" or "partner" when inquiring about life outside of work, etc.). If you're comfortable discussing your personal life with your coworkers, you should make an effort to include your LGBTQ+ peers in those conversations. If you'd ask a heterosexual individual about their partner, strive to ask the same questions to your LGBTQ+ peers. We all have different stories and experiences we may be willing to share, but don't rely solely on any one person in the community to be your personal Google for all things LGBTQ+. It's important to try to educate yourself on the history and struggles of different subsets within the community to gain a better understanding of the challenges we face. Understand that while some members of the community may be willing to openly discuss their journey, ultimately, no one owes you an explanation of why they are who they are.

Lyons: From a gender standpoint, don't automatically call someone Sir/Ma'am based on your perceived gender of that individual. If you don't know someone, ask them if you can call them Sir/Ma'am or if they would prefer to be called by their name. Traditionally, calling someone Sir or Ma'am is a way to show respect to that person, but when this is done to someone who doesn't identify on the gender binary it is very damaging. After working at MSP for several years there was a time where I seriously contemplated quitting because of how often I was triggered by being called "Ma'am" and "Ms. Lyons" on a weekly, and sometimes daily, basis. Having those kinds of continual attacks on someone's mental health wears you down until you eventually break and no one should have to go through that. I'm not saying we have to remove gender from the workplace because that isn't fair to those who do identify with a gender. I'm simply asking that we become more cognizant of how we show respect to each other.

6. For someone who wants to learn more about LGBTQ+, is there a book or other resource you recommend they check out?

Konkol: Being relatively new to the community myself, there's still so much that I don't know and have the desire to learn. One book that has been highly recommended to me is A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski. If you are interested in learning about the transgender community specifically, Disclosure is an excellent documentary on Netflix about trans-visibility and representation in the media.

Lyons: There is a special on National Geographic (currently available on Disney+) called "Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric" that does a great job explaining the concepts of intersex and transgender identities from both a biological and sociological viewpoint. There is also a free course on Coursera called "Gender and Sexuality: Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace". This offers great explanations of different LGBTQ+ terminology and explains why gender and sexual identity is relevant to the workplace and how to enable safer working environments.

7. Does your identity as a member of the LGBTQ+ community impact the work you do?

Konkol: When I first started working for the MSP, I felt as though being open about my sexuality would hold me back when it came to career advancement. Fortunately, I now know this to be false. If anything, I feel my identity promotes me to work harder and be more critical of myself and my work. I sometimes find myself striving for an unrealistic level of perfection; people may have something negative to say about my identity, but at least they won't be able to say that I'm unreliable or a bad worker. There are still days where I feel like an imposter, or that I'm "deceiving" people when I hold back from talking about my personal life. I have been with the MSP for just under two years, but I didn't tell anyone at work about my sexuality until about 15 months into working here. I now serve as a co-chair of the Employee Resource Group MSP P.R.I.D.E. and a good portion of my co-workers still don't know about my sexual orientation, even though I'm confident that most wouldn't have a problem with it. Like many in my community, I'm still working through an ingrained fear of not being accepted.

Lyons: For many years my gender identity drove me to overperform in the workplace so my work ethic and productivity couldn't be called into question if someone found out I was non-binary and sought my termination. I'm still a hard-working employee now that I'm more public with my identity, but because those fears do still live in the back of my mind I don't know if that is something that will ever change.

8. What's a question you never get asked that you'd love to answer?

Lyons: Basically, that gender identity and gender expression are two different things. Gender identity is someone's inner sense of self that may or may not match their sex assigned at birth. Gender expression is how someone chooses to present themselves to society that may or may not match their gender identity. Someone may have a more feminine appearance or name, like myself, but that doesn't mean that person identifies as a female. In my case, I'm not interested in changing my name to something more gender neutral because I identify with the name Liz. As to my appearance, it isn't heavily feminine, but does lean to the feminine side of the spectrum because of my body anatomy, professional shirt patterns and make-up habits that are traditionally associated with femininity (flowers/bright colors and curled eye lashes). The bottom line is, how you perceive someone based on their gender expression doesn't always equate to their gender identity. If you don't know a person, please ask what pronouns you should use to address them.
Stop utility fraud: Don't give out personal information

Stop utility fraud: Don't give out personal information

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 28, 2021

Media Contact: Matt Helms 517-284-8300

Customer Assistance: 800-292-9555

Michigan.gov/MPSC

Twitter

The Michigan Public Service Commission is urging Michiganders to be cautious about giving out personal information or information about your utility account after four of the agency's staff received misleading phone calls on their home or personal phones in recent weeks.

One MPSC staff member received a phone call from a caller claiming to be from the State of Michigan and asked repeatedly for information about her gas bill. Another staff member received a call in which the caller implied he was from Consumers Energy Co. and asked repeatedly for her account information.

"Neither the State of Michigan nor energy utilities such as Consumers Energy or DTE Energy Co. make unsolicited phone calls or come to your door asking to see your utility bill or for your utility account number," said MPSC Chair Dan Scripps. "Utility customers should call the MPSC's Customer Assistance Division at 1-800-292-9555 if they receive high-pressure calls asking for personal utility account information, which can be used to switch utility service without permission."

The MPSC wants business and residential customers to make informed decisions about choosing a natural gas provider and evaluating their current rates under Michigan's Gas Customer Choice program. The MPSC's consumer tip sheet has helpful information to assist customers in making their decisions.

The MPSC's CompareMIGas website shows current rates offered by all alternative gas suppliers actively marketing or enrolling customers in Michigan, as well as the basic terms and conditions of offers. The site also has current MPSC-regulated gas cost recovery rates charged by the four natural gas utilities that offer natural gas choice in their service territories: DTE Gas Co., Consumers Energy Co., SEMCO Energy Gas Co. and Michigan Gas Utilities Corp.

Business or residential customers considering purchasing natural gas through an alternative gas supplier should be sure to shop around. In addition to checking the CompareMIGas website to compare rates, be sure to understand the terms and conditions before signing a contract, and always be mindful of who is supplying your natural gas and the rate you are paying. The MPSC encourages customers to regularly monitor their energy bills.

For information about the MPSC, visit www.Michigan.gov/MPSC, sign up for its monthly newsletter or other listservs, or follow the Commission on Twitter or LinkedIn.

# # #
Detroit Woman Charged with Embezzling from Vulnerable Adults

Detroit Woman Charged with Embezzling from Vulnerable Adults

Lynsey Mukomel 517-599-2746 Attorney General

June 28, 2021

LANSING - A Detroit woman will face embezzlement charges for allegedly stealing money from her mother and brother while they lived in nursing homes, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced today.

Kim Carter, 41, faces two counts of embezzlement from a vulnerable adult over $1,000 and under $20,000, felonies punishable by five years and/or $10,000 each.

Carter was guardian for her mother, who lived in Alpha Manor Nursing Home in Detroit. It is alleged that Carter used her position as guardian to spend more than $17,000 from her mother's bank accounts on items not related to her mother while also not paying for her mother's care at the nursing home.

Carter's brother lived in Boulevard Manor Nursing Home in Detroit and Carter was his social security representative payee. It is alleged she used her position as her mother's guardian to access her brother's bank accounts and spend more than $6,000 from his accounts on items not related to him or his care.

"Taking on the role of guardian for a family member is most often a noble and compassionate undertaking-but it comes with legal obligations," said Nessel. "Getting legal access as guardian to the finances of a family member doesn't make that account your personal slush fund. We stand ready to take action against anyone who tries to take advantage of those no longer in control of their own finances."

Carter was charged in the 36th District Court in Wayne County on Thursday. Arraignment and a probable cause conference are being scheduled by the court.

The Michigan Department of Attorney General, Health Care Fraud Division, receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $5,025,536 for Federal fiscal year 2021. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $1,675.177, is funded by the State of Michigan.

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House Bill 4434, Require unemployment bureau communications use plain language: Passed 19 to 16 in the Senate

To end further state participation in the $300 weekly "supplemental" unemployment benefits authorized by a federal "stimulus" spending bill. News reports indicate 25 other states have refused the benefits due to concerns they incentivize people not to work while jobs are plentiful. The bill would also require the state unemployment agency to use clear and concise plain language in its communications and determinations.

 33 Sen. Rick Outman R - Six Lakes Y

 35 Sen. Curt VanderWall R - Ludington Y

Senate Bill 379, Prohibit governor from unilaterally increasing states road debt: Passed 19 to 16 in the Senate

To prohibit a governor from adding to the states long term debt by borrowing money for road repairs (bonding) without consent from two-thirds of the House and Senate. The bill comes after the legislature refused to enact a 45 cent per gallon gas tax proposed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who then authorized $800 million in new road debt in 2020, and eventually up to $3.5 billion. Money to service these debts comes out of future gas taxes and other transportation tax revenue.

 33 Sen. Rick Outman R - Six Lakes Y

 35 Sen. Curt VanderWall R - Ludington Y

House Bill 4204, Authorize automated "photo cop" school bus passing citations: Passed 35 to 0 in the Senate

To permit school districts to install cameras on school buses the purpose of prosecuting motorists who illegally pass a stopped school bus.

 33 Sen. Rick Outman R - Six Lakes Y

 35 Sen. Curt VanderWall R - Ludington Y

House Bill 4603, Permanently allow "virtual only" commodity marketing board meetings: Passed 34 to 1 in the Senate

To permit members of the agricultural commodity marketing boards to meet electronically. The bill would permit this on a permanent basis, not just in epidemics. These entities allocate money collected through mandatory assessments levied on growers; examples include commissions for growers of apples, asparagus, potatoes, cherries, beans, beef and others.

 33 Sen. Rick Outman R - Six Lakes Y

 35 Sen. Curt VanderWall R - Ludington Y

House Bill 4980, Permit drag races in the sand at Silver Lake State Park: Passed 96 to 12 in the House

To make an exception to the state law banning drag racing for an activity at Silver Lake State Park authorized by the Department of Natural Resources. This would apply to a 450-acre section of sand dunes park managers have set aside as a "scramble area" for ORVs.

 97 Rep. Jason Wentworth R - Clare Y

 100 Rep. Scott VanSingel R - Grant Y

 102 Rep. Michele Hoitenga R - Manton Y

House Bill 4411, Authorize K-12 school budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year: Passed 105 to 3 in the House

To appropriate $16.742 billion for K-12 public schools in the 2021-22 fiscal year, of which $1.943 billion is federal money. The budget would raise the per-pupil state "foundation allowance" target to $8,700.

This would be the first year since voters authorized this complex distribution formula in the 1994 Proposal A school funding initiative that its goal was reached of equalizing this amount between all of Michigan's 537 conventional public school districts.

 97 Rep. Jason Wentworth R - Clare Y

 100 Rep. Scott VanSingel R - Grant Y

 102 Rep. Michele Hoitenga R - Manton Y

House Bill 4725, Mandate binding arbitration with jail unions: Passed 97 to 10 in the House

To impose a binding arbitration mandate on local governments in union labor negotiations with corrections officers (jail guards). A similar mandate has long applied to local police agencies, and more recently fire departments, and reportedly increases costs and complicates contract negotiations.

 97 Rep. Jason Wentworth R - Clare Y

 100 Rep. Scott VanSingel R - Grant Y

 102 Rep. Michele Hoitenga R - Manton N

 SOURCE: MichiganVotes.org, a free, nonpartisan website created by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, providing concise, nonpartisan, plain-English descriptions of every bill and vote in the Michigan House and Senate. Permission to reprint this legislative summary in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that MichiganVotes.org is properly cited.

Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
HONG KONG (AP)  Hong Kong says it will ban all passenger flights from the U.K. starting Thursday as it seeks to curb the spread of new variants of the coronavirus.

It said in a statement Monday that the U.K. has been classified as extremely high risk because of the recent rebound of the epidemic situation in the U.K. and the widespread delta variant virus strain there.

More than 95% of COVID-19 cases in the U.K. are of the delta variant, which was first identified in India. Cases have spiked in recent weeks as British authorities have relaxed coronavirus restrictions, allowing indoor gatherings and businesses including restaurants, cinemas and gyms to reopen. Scientists say the delta variant is much more transmissible than previous versions of the coronavirus, although it is uncertain if it is more deadly.

Under the classification, people who have stayed in the U.K. for more than two hours will be restricted from boarding passenger flights to Hong Kong.

It is the second time that the Hong Kong government has banned flights from the U.K., following a restriction imposed last December.

Although flights from the U.K. are banned from July 1, passengers can still book one-way flights from Hong Kong to London on airlines such as Cathay Pacific and British Airways.

Dr. Julian Tang, a virologist at the University of Leicester who previously worked in Hong Kong, said the ban makes sense from a scientific point of view.

The U.K. has never been good at controlling the virus and overconfidence in the vaccine is likely now spurring this (latest) wave," he said, adding it makes perfect sense for Hong Kong to ban travel from Britain.

He said previous surges of COVID-19 in Hong Kong have been tiny and that exported cases in a largely unvaccinated population would be worrying.

They want to keep that Chinese territory as pristine as possible until they can persuade people to get vaccinated, Tang said. And that's going to take a long time. He estimated that countries need to have at least 80% of their populations immunized to stop the spread of the delta variant.

The ban comes amid heightened tensions between the U.K. and China over semi-autonomous Hong Kong, which was a British colony until it was handed over to China in 1997.

The U.K. has criticized China for imposing a national security law on Hong Kong and tightening control over its media, saying Beijing is undermining the citys autonomy.

The flight ban was triggered by a policy put in place by the government to prevent coronavirus variants from spreading in Hong Kong.

A suspension of passenger flights is imposed if five or more passengers arriving from one place test positive on arrival for a particular coronavirus variant, or a relevant virus mutation within a seven-day period.

A ban is is also triggered if 10 or more passengers from one place are confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus via any tests, including tests conducted during quarantine, within a seven-day period.

The U.K. reported more than 22,000 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday, while more than 66% of the population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Hong Kong, which for months imposed a 21-day quarantine for arrivals from most countries and implemented strict social-distancing regulations, reported three new cases of the coronavirus on Monday. It has confirmed a total of 11,921 cases since the pandemic began.

The U.K. flight ban comes as Hong Kong is looking to relax quarantine measures for most other countries, including the U.S. and Canada.

Several other countries, including the Philippines and Indonesia, also face flight bans to Hong Kong.

Last week, the World Health Organization said the delta variant is the most transmissible variant identified to date and said it is spreading in at least 85 countries.
WASHINGTON (AP)  A federal judge on Monday dismissed antitrust lawsuits brought against Facebook by the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of state attorneys general, dealing a significant blow to attempts by regulators to rein in tech giants.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled Monday that the lawsuits were legally insufficient and didnt provide enough evidence to prove that Facebook was a monopoly. The ruling dismisses the complaint but not the case, meaning the FTC could refile another complaint.

These allegations  which do not even provide an estimated actual figure or range for Facebooks market share at any point over the past ten years  ultimately fall short of plausibly establishing that Facebook holds market power, he said.

The FTC said in a statement that it is closely reviewing the opinion and assessing the best option forward." The agency has 30 days in which to file a new complaint.

Boasberg closed that avenue for the states, however, in dismissing outright their separate complaint.

The U.S. government and 48 states and districts sued Facebook in December 2020, accusing the tech giant of abusing its market power in social networking to crush smaller competitors and seeking remedies that could include a forced spinoff of the social networks Instagram and WhatsApp messaging services.

The FTC had alleged Facebook engaged in a a systematic strategy to eliminate its competition, including by purchasing smaller up-and-coming rivals like Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. New York Attorney General Letitia James said when filing the suit that Facebook used its monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and snuff out competition, all at the expense of everyday users.

Facebook, in an e-mailed statement, said: We are pleased that todays decisions recognize the defects in the government complaints filed against Facebook. We compete fairly every day to earn peoples time and attention and will continue to deliver great products for the people and businesses that use our services.

Richard Hamilton Jr., a former prosecutor and Justice Department antitrust attorney, said the judge, while finding the FTC's arguments insufficient, gave the agency a sort of road map for how to bulk up its case in another round.

Whether government or private entity, you still need to sufficiently plead the case," Hamilton said. He noted that as Boasberg saw it, the FTC failed to demonstrate how it arrived at the claim that Facebook controls 60% of the market in social networking and how that market power is measured.

Alex Harman, competition policy advocate for Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, said: Courts really have a hard time with that market definition for some reason. It's Exhibit A for why we need the laws changed."

Rebecca Allensworth, a law professor at Vanderbilt University who specializes in antitrust, said the ruling illustrates the problems regulators face right now bringing antitrust suits in markets without prices, like Facebook's, but also Google's, and in markets where huge, dominant firms offer suites of products that don't neatly fit into the mold of well-defined markets like aluminum ingot or crude oil."

An ambitious package of legislation to overhaul the antitrust laws, which could point toward breaking up Facebook as well as Google, Amazon and Apple, was approved by the House Judiciary Committee last week and sent to the full U.S. House.

As the FTC and 48 state attorneys general have alleged, Facebook is a monopolist and it has abused its monopoly power to buy or bury its competitive threats," Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who heads the Judiciary panel, and Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., the legislation's lead sponsor, said Monday. In the weeks ahead, we will work to advance this legislation to restore choice, innovation and opportunity for American businesses and consumers.

Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, the chief Republican sponsor of the legislation, said the ruling shows that antitrust reform is urgently needed. Congress needs to provide additional tools and resources to our antitrust enforcers to go after Big Tech companies engaging in anticompetitive conduct.

Last October the Trump Justice Department, joined by about a dozen states, brought a landmark antitrust suit against Google, accusing the company of using its dominance in online search to stifle competition and innovation at the expense of consumers. As it stands, the case isn't scheduled to go to trial in federal court for nearly three years.

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AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay in Oakland, California, contributed to this report.
Gayle Thompson, a resident of Forest Creek Drive in Port Austin, was having dinner with her husband in their kitchen Saturday evening when she said "the sky turned black." There were no warnings, no emergency alerts on their cell phones, just a Tornado Watch issued earlier Saturday afternoon.

"We ran downstairs," Thompson said. "We didn't get down there. We saw it hit the backyard."

The National Weather Service confirmed that an EF-2 tornado bringing winds as high as 120 mph touched down in Port Austin early Saturday evening, leveling at least two homes, damaging scores of others and injuring at least six people.

According to the NWS, the tornado, which developed quickly, touched down southwest of Port Austin just north of the intersection of Port Crescent Road and Sand Road at 5:49 p.m. The tornado began as an EF-0, uprooting trees, snapping several tree limbs and damaging several barns and outbuildings.

It moved northeast and crossed M-53 just south of the intersection of M-25, traveling 4 miles and producing EF-2 damage to six houses. The roofs of three homes were completely detached, one house suffered major roof damage, and two garages and one barn were leveled.

The tornado continued to track northeast toward North Hellems Road and paralelled Point Aux Barques Road, snapping several trees consistent with EF-1 damage. From there, it tracked across the Eagle Bay public access point and into Lake Huron.

Huron County Emergency Services Director Randy Miller said a total of six people were injured with one still hospitalized on Monday with a severe laceration to the head. The others, who were all inside homes near the intersection of Independence and M-25, were treated for various injuries like broken bones and lacerations and released.

"We were fortunate no one was killed," Miller said.

Miller described a widespread path of destruction left in the tornado's wake. He said four homes at the intersection of Independence and Grindstone were destroyed and another two in the Point Aux Barques area. Another dozen homes were heavily damaged -- with a couple garages lifted off their foundations -- and it's possible they could be declared total losses. He said officials were working with homeowners to verify coverage, but it appeared all were insured. Another 20-25 homes suffered damage like broken windows and missing shingles.

"If there's a shed left standing in the path, I haven't seen it," Miller said.

He commended crews from DTE Energy, also working to restore power in Detroit after Saturday's storms, who were immediately dispatched to Port Austin and got to work on Saturday evening. He expected power would be restored for affected customers Monday night, Tuesday or Wednesday.

"There's been a nice effort on the part of many people," Miller said. "It looks like they're making significant progress."

A total of 10 Upper Thumb fire departments responded to the site of the worst damage on Saturday, including crews from Port Austin, Kinde, Caseville, Bad Axe, Harbor Beach and Segal and Sherman townships. There were a total 80 firefighters on scene, including members of a special technical rescue team made of members of area departments. Miller said heat and humidity made conditions difficult for firefighters, but they managed to get the fire -- sparked when a recreational vehicle was blown into home -- under control while checking on the safety on nearby residents. He credited Port Austin Assistant Fire Chief Jason Zimmerman with coordinating firefighting efforts and managing the initial response to the fire.

"They've done Huron County proud," Miller said. "Everybody chipped in."

Miller cautioned homeowners who were cleaning up storm debris to use proper safety equipment during cleanup and warned of the potential of falling branches. He urged homeowners to be careful with generators and be on guard against carbon monoxide buildup. He said anyone who needs assistance should call Huron County Central Dispatch at 989-269-6421.

Nick Hart, of Lansing, was in Port Austin for Porch Fest and watched from a home on the corner of M-53 and M-25 as the tornado moved across the sky to south.

"I was standing there and all of the sudden it was really dark off to the (southwest)," Hart said. "Winds picked up, and you see a big white explosion across the way. Then the roof (of a building on M-53) starts coming apart. You see the funnel start forming and roof pieces are flying all over the place. It came across (the road) and went to a field to the (east)."

Following the storm, the American Red Cross set up a shelter in Bad Axe for anyone displaced by the storm. Bad Axe business Huron's Finest also reportedly opened up one of the company's coolers for any Port Austin businesses that remained without power and needed cooler space.

1st Lt. Brian McComb of the Michigan State Police was in Port Austin for several hours working to secure the properties where the most damage had occurred. He said there's a chance that some people with ill intentions may want to take advantage of a situation like what happened on Saturday, but instead there were numerous members of the community offering to lend a hand to neighbors in their time of need.

"Most people who were out just wanted to help that night," Macomb said.

Huron County Sheriff Kelly Hanson said the department had two deputies assigned to secure the area on Saturday and will continue to watch over the area for the next several days.

Several community members turned to the "You must be from Port Austin, Michigan if ..." Facebook page expressing gratitude for the efforts of Huron County emergency crews following the storm.

"I just wanted to tell all of the fire departments that were here yesterday, all of the police officers, all of the ambulance personnel that showed up from all over the county both on duty and off duty ... good job," Port Austin resident Jennifer Upthegrove said. "To all of those who are still on duty out patrolling keeping everyone safe everyday, thank you. What you do is a thankless job and you all certainly don't hear it enough."

Those wishing to help with clean-up efforts can contact Zimmerman at 989-413-9379.

Monetary donations for those affected by the storm can be made to Port Austin Disaster Relief at the Port Austin State Bank, Port Austin Village Hall and Port Austin Township Hall.
MIDDLETOWN  The Rockfall Foundation has opened nominations for its 2021 Environmental Champion Awards.

Applications are being accepted until July 30, according to a press release. These recognize individuals, groups, organizations and businesses for environmental efforts that contribute to the quality of life in the Lower Connecticut River Valley, the news release said. Areas recognized include preservation, conservation, ecosystem restoration, and environmental and sustainability education.

The Tom ODell Distinguished Service Award will be awarded for outstanding ongoing or long-term accomplishments. Certificates of appreciation are awarded to recognize significant programs or projects. Awardees will be recognized at The Rockfall Foundations Annual Meeting, Grants and Awards celebration Oct. 7.

The nominees contributions must impact the Lower Connecticut River Valley, which includes Chester, Clinton, Cromwell, Deep River, Durham, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Killingworth, Lyme, Middlefield, Middletown, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Portland and Westbrook. Impacts to the Connecticut River corridor or Long Island Sound are also eligible as long as there is a benefit to at least one of the listed towns, according to the foundation.

Send nomination forms, which can be downloaded at rockfallfoundation.org, to liz@rockfallfoundation.org or at The Rockfall Foundation, deKoven House Community Center, 27 Washington St., Middletown, CT, 06457.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP)  New Jersey has spent $2.3 billion, about 5% of the state's overall budget, in expenses related to COVID-19, according to public documents obtained by The Associated Press. That's up from $222 million in expenses early this year.

The spending goes from the start of the outbreak in March 2020 through this month, with the biggest expenditures coming from the departments of health, law and public safety, and human services.

Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday he anticipates the spending will be covered by federal aid disbursed to the state.

I think you can pretty much assume that the $2.3 billion will be covered by federal funds," he said during a remote news conference.

The $46.4 billion budget on his desk, which Murphy is expected to sign, calls for letting the governor spend up to $200 million of federal funds at his discretion, though in increments up to $10 million. The remaining federal money is subject to oversight from a joint legislative budget committee, which Democrats control 4 to 2.

The expenditures cover vast ranges, and frequently for vague reasons. For example, the Legislature billed just $3.89 to the office supply vendor WB Mason last July, according to the documents. Then there are vastly higher costs, like $29.2 million to Xtend Healthcare LLC that the Health Department recorded this month for the coronavirus pandemic.

New York and New Jersey, early hotbeds of the virus, were the only two states last year not to provide detailed breakdowns of spending and suppliers in response to AP public records requests.

Murphy has said he's committed to transparency, and his administration released more detail in the latest batch of records. However, it was difficult in many cases to determine exactly what was purchased and in what quantity.

For instance, there was a transaction of $50.5 million dated November 2020 for a program called COVID-CRF State Police Salaries" with no detailed explanation. The state Education Department conducted a transaction of $24.2 million last July for COVID Education Medical." There's not further detail included.

Even so, the documents include more than similar public records requests yielded earlier during the outbreak. A similar request for public documents earlier this year resulted in records showing vendor names and costs, but lacking details like the transaction date.

The latest batch of documents includes the transaction date, for instance.

Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, a Democrat, said public finance should be transparent.

Every dollar we spent is taxpayer money, whether it comes from the federal government, state or local government," she said. The taxpayers have a right to know where every dollar goes."

New Jersey got more than $6 billion in federal aid under the latest bill Congress and President Joe Biden passed. Murphy and lawmakers must decide how to allocate those funds.
MADRID (AP)  Almost 5,000 people are in quarantine after vacationing high school students triggered a major COVID-19 outbreak on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, a senior official said Monday.

Authorities have confirmed almost 1,200 positive cases from the outbreak, Spains emergency health response coordinator, Fernando Simon said.

The partying teens celebrating the end of their university entrance exams last week created a perfect breeding ground for the virus as they mixed with others from around Spain and abroad, Simon told a news conference.

Mallorca health authorities carried out mass testing on hundreds of students after the outbreak became clear. It is believed to have spread as hundreds of partying students gathered at a concert and street parties.

Officials have so far traced 5,126 travelers to Mallorca. More than 900 COVID-19 cases in eight regions across mainland Spain have been traced back to the outbreak.

Scores of infected teens are still on the island. Some are being kept in their hotel rooms, while others have been moved to a hotel being used by local authorities for isolation of those with mild symptoms or suspected cases.

Simon noted that the parents of the teens are probably around 45 and 55 years old, and not all of that age group has received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, which could lead to community transmission.
Connecticut loves trains, as do our neighbors. We in the Northeast have the highest train ridership in the country. And yet as our railroads age, money for superfast new trains gets offered to states that dont need or want them as much as we do, like Florida.

Well take it.

President Amtrak Joe Biden loves trains too  so much so that he wants to spend $80 billion on them, including money to upgrade old tracks in the Northeast. We welcome every penny that goes toward our creaky rail lines. But we could also use truly high-speed ones. Where better to put bullet trains than here, in the heart of the nations busiest railroad corridor?

A group of transportation experts and civic leaders is pushing what they call North Atlantic Rail, a train that would glide from New York to Boston in 100 minutes, stopping at New Haven and Hartford. Its a tough sell, given the cost ($105 billion), the timeline (20 years)  and the bungling of high-speed train projects such as Californias.

But what a vision.

This super-high-speed train could link Connecticut to Manhattan and Boston almost as quickly as a plane but certainly more reliably (and comfortably) and with less pollution.

Instead of going the current route, this super-fast train would forge a few new one. It would go from New York City partway up Long Island and then over to New Haven through a tunnel to be dug under the Sound. From there, it would move north to Hartford, east to Providence and thence to Boston.

At this point, you might be asking: Arent Amtraks Acela trains high-speed? Yes, but not quite speedy enough. Its trains can reach 150 mph but average only 66 mph on the curvy tracks between New York and Boston. North Atlantic Rail, by going a different route, promises to save two hours on that travel time. New Haveners could be in New York in an hour.

Yes, a new high-speed rail line will be expensive to build. (Since when are highways cheap? And what about those airline subsidies?) High-speed rail is worth the investment when its in a population-dense area. The northeastern United States is the perfect spot. Thats one reason the Northeast Corridor is Amtraks most profitable line.

A rail tunnel wont cause the environmental risks that critics fear. New tunnel boring machines can drill far below a seabed, deep enough to cause no disturbance to the floor of Long Island Sound.

Neither will the proposed North Atlantic Rail route do harm to the charming communities that fiercely resisted  and rightly so  a nutty proposal five years ago to run high-speed rail through the center of Old Lyme and other historic neighborhoods. The North Atlantic Rail plan avoids those neighborhoods.

We also embrace Gov. Ned Lamonts more shovel-ready plan, released this week, to shave significant time off rail service by upgrading what we already have, straightening curves on the existing line, fixing old bridges and modernizing the signal system.

Can both be done? Gov. Lamonts plan would help dozens of communities along all of Connecticuts rail lines. North Atlantic Rail would serve the high-speed crowd that wants to get to New York in a hurry. It would be an enormous boon for Hartford and New Haven.

The United States has fallen far behind Europe and Asia in the superfast train race. North Atlantic Rail offers the Biden administration the best way to catch up.
PENN HILLS, Pa. (AP)  When throngs gathered to rededicate the oldest major Hindu temple in the United States, there was poignance -- prayers for continued recovery from the pandemic that struck many loved ones in India -- and the elation of coming together after more than a year of restrictions.

And there was joy.

Shouts of the divine name Govinda! rose Sunday from the crowd of worshippers at the Sri Venkateswara Temple, atop a steep hill just east of Pittsburgh. Dressed in festive saris and other traditional clothing, they gazed up toward a gopuram  an ornamented temple tower whose white, newly restored facade gleamed brilliantly in the mid-day sun.

High above, priests stood on scaffolding and lifted ceremonial urns, pouring holy waters onto golden spires atop the gopuram.

They repeated the ritual on three smaller towers at the center of the temple. There were drumbeats and the horn-like fanfares of a nathaswaram, a traditional Indian reed instrument, and floral petals soon came wafting down on the devotees from a helicopter overhead.

Known as Maha Kumbhabhishekam, a reference to the sprinkling of holy water from ceremonial urns, the festival is traditionally held at Hindu temples once every 12 years to reharmonize and boost the spiritual energies of the temple and its deities.

Several hundred devotees from surrounding states arrived throughout Sunday, culminating five days of prayers, chants and other rituals at outdoor fire altars. More than 20 priests took part, wearing yellow or saffron vestments around their waists; most were visiting from other North American temples.

The Sri Venkateswara Temple is much smaller than its massive prototype, a temple by the same name in the southern Indian city of Tirupati. Still, this Pittsburgh suburb has become a pilgrimage destination for Hindus throughout North America and a landmark in the growing landscape of Hinduism in America. There are now hundreds of temples across the country, and about 1 percent of American adults now identify as Hindu, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center report.

Kalathur Raghu, one of the temples founding members, recalled a much smaller ceremony on a chilly November day in 1976 to dedicate the new temple. I think none of us expected to get to this level when we started, he said.

The temple is dedicated to Venkateswara, considered an incarnation of Vishnu, a deity associated with protection and preservation who is also known by Govinda. The stone murti, or statue, of Venkateswara stands at the holiest spot in the temple. Images of other deities stand nearby, such as those of Lakshmi, goddess of prosperity, and Bhoodevi, goddess of the earth.

Devotees streamed into the temple Sunday afternoon to offer devotions to the deities at their newly rededicated shrines. There, priests chanted and bathed the statues in water, milk, honey and other traditional offerings, while devotees cupped their hands and received priests blessings.

A Maha Kumbhabhishekam has both practical and spiritual significance.

The ceremony is typically held every 12 years because it is believed that over time, the spiritual energies at a temple need to be ceremonially reharmonized. (In the earlier years of the Sri Venkateswara Temple, the intervals between ceremonies were longer than 12 years.)

On a practical level, the temple is temporarily deconsecrated in the weeks leading up to the ceremony, enabling repairs in areas normally off-limits to all but priests. At the Sri Venkateswara Temple, contractors renovated everything from ventilation to weather-worn ornamentation.

Volunteers also prepared for months. In days before the festival, women in saris wove garlands from thousands of mango leaves and carnations to decorate the tent and other festival areas.

For one and a half years we were miserable during the pandemic, said Nagamani Kasi, the temples joint treasurer. We didnt get to do anything.  This is like going back to normal and enjoying it. Its good timing.

The festival also included a large distribution of food to a nearby health center, which followed several other donations for pandemic relief locally and to India.

The ceremonies began officially last Wednesday in a tent in the temple parking lot.

Priests took turns chanting from the Vedas, four ancient scriptural texts, and tending to sacred fires at seven altars. Smaller idols of Venkateswara and other deities stood in front.

The scent of incense and woodsmoke mingled with the humid summer air as the amplified voices of the priests rang out for hours each day. The priests chanted at times in unison, at other times in a call-and-response led by the clarion voice of Sri Venkateswara Temple head priest Samudrala Venkatacharyulu.

At various points, priests led devotees in processions around the tent.

The prayers are not just on behalf of the devotees but that the whole universe be healthy and happy and that the coronavirus go away soon, said Venkatacharyulu. He arrived here in 1982 at age 21 from the mother temple in India for a two-year assignment, which has stretched to nearly 40 and counting, in what he calls the America Tirupati.

Hinduism historically had a tiny following in the United States, but its American profile grew following a 1965 congressional act that opened the doors to more immigrants from Asia and elsewhere.

Pittsburgh drew Indian immigrants to engineering, medical and educational careers, and the Hindu community began to coalesce by the early 1970s, when a small group of children met in a theater basement to study classical Indian dance. We would go and do a little prayer and then start the dance class, recalled the instructor, Mani Manoharan.

Community leaders concluded we have to have a temple and mobilized funds and other volunteer efforts, recalled Raghu. The Sri Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati contributed funds and sent craftsmen and priests to help.

The Pittsburgh regions Indian population was not a large community at that time, Raghu said, but we had the passion.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through The Conversation U.S. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
The U.S. carried out airstrikes Sunday on buildings on the Iraq-Syria border that are believed to be used by Iranian-backed militia groups to carry out drone attacks targeting American personnel and facilities in Iraq.

In a statement, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said that President Joe Biden ordered the airstrikes. The facilities, he said, were being used by groups such as Kata'ib Hezbollah and Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada.

Kirby said the targeted structures were operational weapons storage facilities, two in Syria and one in Iraq. All facilities were near the border between the two nations, he said.

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"As demonstrated by this evening's strikes, President Biden has been clear that he will act to protect U.S. personnel," Kirby said. "Given the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting U.S. interests in Iraq, the President directed further military action to disrupt and deter such attacks."

A U.S. defense official said that F-15 and F-16 fighter aircraft carried out the airstrikes, using a mixture of precision-guided munitions. The fighters took off from U.S. bases in the Middle East, and the pilots made it back safely, the official said, but it is too early to assess how many militia members or civilians may have been killed or wounded in the strikes.

Navy Cmdr. Jessica McNulty, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon, said the military believes each strike hit the targets that were intended. The Pentagon is now assessing the effects of the airstrike.

McNulty said the Iran-backed militias had carried out at least five one-way unmanned aerial vehicle attacks against facilities used by U.S. and coalition personnel in Iraq since April, as well as ongoing rocket attacks against U.S. and coalition forces.

"Through these and other means, we seek to make clear to Iran and Iran-backed militia groups that there will be serious consequences if they continue to attack, or to arm, fund and train militia groups that attack our people," McNulty said. "We will take necessary and appropriate measures to defend U.S. personnel, partners and allies in the region."

Kirby described the bombings as "defensive precision airstrikes," and said the facilities were selected because they were used by the militias carrying out UAV attacks. He said they were limited in scope, and necessary to address the threat.

"We are in Iraq at the invitation of the government of Iraq for the sole purpose of assisting the Iraqi Security Forces in their efforts to defeat ISIS," Kirby said. "The United States took necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation -- but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message."

Biden previously ordered airstrikes on several facilities at a border control point in eastern Syria on February 25. As with these strikes, the Pentagon said the facilities were used by groups including Kata'ib Hezbollah and Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada to carry out attacks against American and coalition personnel in Iraq. Those February strikes followed a series of rocket attacks in Iraq that heightened tensions in the region.

-- Stephen Losey can be reached at stephen.losey@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StephenLosey.

Related: Biden Orders Airstrikes on Iranian-Backed Militias in Syria After Rocket Attacks
The Marine Corps has relaxed some of its stringent tattoo policies, terminating a rule requiring troops to submit a 360-degree photo of themselves to extend their contracts or in applications for special duty assignments, according to a force-wide memo issued last week.

The old policy required Marines submit photos of themselves in their physical training uniform to prove they are in compliance with the Corps' tattoo rules when seeking special assignments such as being an instructor or hoping to stay in the service.

Marines who do not have visible tattoos when wearing a physical training, or PT, uniform no longer have to submit photographs or artistic sketches of non-visible tattoos, the guidance states.

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The Corps has the most strict tattoo policy of all the branches. Officers are restricted to four visible tattoos while wearing a PT uniform. Full sleeves are banned; size of visible tattoos is restricted; and the neck, elbows and knees are all a no-go for ink.

The rules have prompted concerns over recruiting prospects and retention over the years given the popularity of tattoos. A 2019 Ipsos study found that 40% of Americans ages 18-34 have at least one tattoo.

The Army, Air Force and Navy have relaxed their tattoo rules in recent years to varying extents. The Army doesn't limit tattoos and generally just draws the line on ink visible while wearing a dress uniform. In 2016, the Navy allowed sailors to have tattoos on their neck and behind their ears.

All branches have rules forbidding extremist tattoos or any ink that is racist or otherwise offensive. In 2016, an Arkansas man was prevented from joining the Corps due to his Confederate flag tattoo.

-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.

Related: Marine Commandant Opens Up About Controversial Tattoo Policy
Former President Donald Trump and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley's disagreements last summer over whether and how the military should respond to protests involving racial justice devolved into a profanity-laced shouting match, a new book reports.

In his upcoming book, "Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost," Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender wrote that, in a particularly tense Situation Room meeting with then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Attorney General Bill Barr, Trump declared that he had put Milley "in charge" of a military response to the protests.

According to Axios, which obtained excerpts of the book, Bender wrote that Milley privately sought to correct Trump's assertion that, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, he was an adviser to the President, not in command of troops. But, he wrote, Trump didn't want to hear it.

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"'I said you're in f---ing charge!' Trump shouted at him," Bender wrote.

"'Well, I'm not in charge!' Milley yelled back.

"'You can't f---ing talk to me like that!' Trump said.

"'Goddamnit,' Milley said to the others. 'There's a room full of lawyers here. Will someone inform him of my legal responsibilities?'

"'He's right, Mr. President,' Barr said. 'The general is right.'"

Trump, through a spokesman, denied to Axios that he ever had an argument with Milley, and added that, "If Gen. Milley had yelled at me, I would have fired him." Trump also said that Bender never asked him for comment on the alleged incident. Bender told Axios that "multiple senior administration officials" confirmed the exchange, and that he did ask Trump for his side of this incident, but that Trump never replied.

Milley's office did not immediately respond to a request from Military.com, and declined to comment to Axios.

Bender wrote that Trump's language became increasingly violent as the protests involving racial justice and policing in Seattle and Portland reached cable news, CNN reported last week. And, Bender wrote, Trump would show administration officials videos of law enforcement "getting physical" with protesters and tell them he wanted to see more of that.

"That's how you're supposed to handle these people," Bender reported Trump told top law enforcement and military officials. "Crack their skulls!"

Bender also wrote Trump wanted the military to "beat the f--- out" of the protesters -- and more.

"Just shoot them," Bender reported Trump said several times in the Oval Office.

According to CNN, Bender reported Milley and Barr pushed back, causing Trump to say "Well, shoot them in the leg -- or maybe the foot. But be hard on them!"

The New York Times reported Friday that Trump suggested several times he might use the Insurrection Act to allow active-duty troops to be deployed to put down protests, and White House aides drafted a proclamation to invoke the act. Trump never took that step.

Bender's book said Milley and Esper were strongly opposed to using the Insurrection Act, CNN reported. Milley reportedly told Trump the National Guard had enough troops to support law enforcement, and that invoking the Insurrection Act would move responsibility for the protests from local authorities to the White House.

Bender wrote that at one point, Milley pointed to a portrait of President Abraham Lincoln.

"That guy had an insurrection," Milley reportedly said. "What we have, Mr. President, is a protest."

-- Stephen Losey can be reached at stephen.losey@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StephenLosey.

Related: Army Ordered to Review National Guard Response to Protests
RAF AKROTIRI, Cyprus  British paratroopers have trained together with Jordanian soldiers in an airdrop over the Middle Eastern country to underscore the U.K.s support for Jordan and its commitment to regional stability, Britain's armed forces minister said.

Minister James Heappey said in a statement that Wednesdays joint exercise of 150 paratroopers from Britains 16 Air Assault Brigade and 84 Jordanian parachutists demonstrates that U.K. armed forces stand with Jordan against shared threats in the region.

Brigade Commander Brigadier James Martin said British forces will play a role in deepening strong, historic bilateral ties in the Middle East and North Africa region, which are vital to U.K. prosperity and security.

The jump by the paratroopers  the Brigades lead assault force  took place during Jordans 100th year of independence.

The brigade is a key element of the U.K.s Global Response Force, a versatile force that can quickly undertake assigned missions around the world.

They are the soldiers of the future, ready to tackle changing threats around the world, Heappey said.

The British paratroopers jumped from a C130 Hercules transport aircraft flying at 1,000 feet that took off from RAF Akrotiri, a British air base on the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Armed with SA80 and sniper rifles, light and heavy machine guns, an 81mm mortar and a light artillery gun, the British paratroopers were joined by Jordanian troops in assaulting a mock village.

The Brigade is also conducting other military exercises with Jordanian forces including infantry and artillery training.
U.S. troops in Syria came under attack by a barrage of rockets Monday, prompting the forces to return fire with artillery, the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve said in a tweet.

Col. Wayne Marotto, a spokesman for the coalition in Iraq to defeat the Islamic State, said in a tweet that nobody was injured, and the damage is being assessed. He did not say exactly where the attack took place, or who might be responsible.

Marotto said in a message that the U.S. forces, acting in self-defense, returned fire with artillery aimed at the positions from which the rockets were launched.

The rocket attack came about a day after U.S. F-15E Eagle and F-16C Fighting Falcon fighter jets carried out airstrikes on facilities on the Iraq-Syria border. The Pentagon said Iran-backed militias, including Kata'ib Hezbollah and Kata'ib Sayyid al Shuhada, were using the facilities to launch drone attacks on U.S. and coalition personnel and facilities in Iraq.

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On Sunday evening, after the airstrikes, Al Jazeera tweeted an Arabic message purportedly from al Shuhada that read, "From now on we will enter into an open war with the American occupation and target its planes in #Iraq."

Marotto said that the initial report indicated the attack took place at about 7:44 p.m. local time, and that multiple rockets were involved.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the structures targeted in Iraq and Syria were weapons storage facilities.

The Pentagon also said Iran-backed militias had carried out at least five one-way unmanned aerial vehicle attacks against U.S. and coalition facilities in Iraq since April, as well as ongoing rocket attacks.

The Pentagon also Monday morning released video of three of the airstrikes.

-- Stephen Losey can be reached at stephen.losey@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StephenLosey.

Related: WATCH: Pentagon Releases Video of Airstrikes on Militia Facilities in Syria
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan -- The USS Mustin is sailing back to the United States after an eventful 15 years of Western Pacific service that included multiple disaster-relief missions and frequent freedom-of-navigation operations in the South and East China seas.

The guided-missile destroyer, which departed its former homeport of Yokosuka last week, is bound for San Diego, where it's slated to join 3rd Fleet following a maintenance and modernization period early next year, according to Cmdr. Nicole Schwegman, a Pacific Fleet spokeswoman. The work, which will begin early next year, is expected to take two years to complete.

Schwegman said in an email Friday that the work will begin early next year and take two years to complete. However, she was unable to comment on the nature of the repairs and upgrades the ship will receive.

"Planned maintenance availabilities like these are critical to ensuring ships are maintained and equipped to perform combat ready tasking when called upon and achieve their expected service life," she said in an email Friday.

The Mustin will be replaced in Yokosuka by the USS Ralph Johnson, 7th Fleet spokesman Lt. Mark Langford said in an email Tuesday. The destroyer, commissioned in 2018, returned to Naval Station Everett, Wash., in January following its maiden deployment to the 5th Fleet and 7th Fleet operations areas.

It's unclear when the Ralph Johnson will arrive in Japan. The Navy typically does not announce ship movements in advance for security reasons.

In July, it sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Beijing has reclaimed land and built military infrastructure in the Spratlys since 2014, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

The Mustin, which arrived in Japan in July 2006, has conducted three of its own freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea. The most recent happened near the Paracels on Aug. 27.

The destroyer has also been active in the Taiwan Strait, sailing three times through the politically sensitive waters that separate the island from the Chinese mainland. Its most recent passage there happened on Dec. 19.

Other highlights of the Mustin's time with 7th Fleet include its involvement in 2011's Operation Tomodachi, the humanitarian relief following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan. It provided similar aid to the Philippines after 2013's Typhoon Haiyan.
Joseph V. Micallef is a best-selling military history and world affairs author, and keynote speaker. Follow him on Twitter @JosephVMicallef.

The expulsion of the Islamic State, or IS, from its "territorial caliphate" in Iraq and Syria did not end its ambition of establishing a worldwide caliphate; it merely shifted its locus elsewhere. Increasingly, the jihadist group is targeting Africa as the most likely area where it can reestablish a second "territorial caliphate."

Islamic State's concept of a caliphate has always extended beyond its territorial domain in Iraq and Syria. That's one reason why it organized "provinces," called wilayats, around the globe.

At last count, IS claimed around 50 wilayats. The Islamic State of Syria and the Levant, or ISIS, the original wilayat, is still considered a province, even if IS no longer controls any specific territory in the region or does so in a transitory fashion at best.

Many of the wilayats exist in name only. Libya, for example, is divided into three wilayats, but IS has a sustained presence in only the southern region of Fezzan (Wilayah al-Fizan). Elsewhere, existing jihadist groups like Boko Haram in Nigeria and al-Shabaab in Somalia briefly identified themselves with Islamic State, pledging support to then-IS head Abu Baker al-Baghdadi, before drifting away and reestablishing their autonomy.

In some areas, wilayats consist of little more than a handful of jihadists and a local leadership council that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State and to its current head, Amir Muhammad Sa'id Abd-al-Rahman al-Mawla.

The situation remains very fluid, with jihadist groups often changing allegiances or splintering into either IS or al-Qaida affiliated groups or maintaining a nominal independence.

Islamic State Post-Syria

The number of IS jihadists who escaped from Syria and Iraq is unknown. Estimates have ranged as high as 20,000. There are an additional 40,000 people, consisting of jihadists and their families, being held by Syrian Democratic Forces, the largely Kurdish-staffed, U.S.-backed militia that fought Islamic State in Syria.

There have also been numerous escapees from those detainees. Over the last year, the Iraqi Kurdish Provincial government in Erbil has proposed to set up courts to try those jihadists, both the ones that fought for IS in Iraq and Syria and those who fought elsewhere. The issue, however, is still under discussion between the Kurdish provincial government and the Iraqi national government in Baghdad.

Following the loss of its territories in Syria and Iraq, Islamic State's leadership sought to set up a new caliphate elsewhere. Libya was once considered a prime prospect amidst the collapse of governmental authority that accompanied the Libyan civil war after the overthrow of the Gadhafi regime.

Indeed, during 2018 and 2019, there were numerous reports that al-Baghdadi had already transferred his base of operations to Libya, accompanied by claims that he had been sighted there. Those reports turned out to be false. Despite initial success, including its takeover of the Libyan city of Sirte, Islamic State's power in Libya was short lived, leading one analyst to describe its trajectory there as "From Force to Farce."

IS tried to inject itself into existing regional conflicts in Afghanistan and Yemen. To a lesser extent, it also became active in the Philippine islands of Jolo and Basilian, supporting the Abu Sayyaf insurgency that has been active there for four decades. Abu Sayyaf is the largest of the half dozen or so jihadist groups active in the Philippines.

In Afghanistan and Yemen IS found a well-entrenched al-Qaida and affiliated jihadist groups, most notably the Taliban. While it was able to draw off some jihadist support, and remains active in both regions, it failed to become the preeminent jihadist group in either area. In the Philippines, despite some initial success, it was quickly crushed by Philippine military forces, although there, too, it retains an ongoing presence.

Islamic State in Africa

It is in sub-Saharan Africa that Islamic State has shown the most traction, and that region is emerging as the locus of its activities around the world.

Initially, besides Libya, the IS presence in Africa was based on its affiliation with al-Shabaab in Somalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria and Ansar Bait al-Maqdis in the Sinai. The latter group had started as an al-Qaida affiliate but pledged its allegiance to al-Baghdadi in November 2014.

Since then, both al-Shabaab and Boko Haram have reasserted their independence from Islamic State and now operate relatively independently.

Their initial pledges of allegiance were made when Islamic State was at the peak of its power and influence, and were motivated in part by the desire to avoid a split in those organizations between pro-IS factions and those factions wishing to remain independent.

IS has now organized splinter groups from both these jihadist organizations into new IS affiliates/wilayats, although those splinter groups are substantially smaller than when IS was at the peak of its influence.

In sub-Saharan Africa, Islamic State now operates through two principal groups. The Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP, covers present-day Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameron, Burkina Faso and Mali. The Islamic State Central Africa Province, or ISCAP, covers the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique.

There is also an Islamic State Somalia that operates primarily in the Horn of Africa. It is made up of defectors from al-Shabaab and is relatively small. IS has also organized the Islamic State Great Sahara, or ISGS, wilayat that overlaps with ISWAP, but operates separately.

Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, an al-Qaida affiliated group, operates in the same Central African area as Islamic State. Jihadist militants often move between IS and al-Qaida affiliated groups.

IS also tried to take control of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, an Algerian-centric organization affiliated with al-Qaida. Despite drawing off some jihadist support, it failed to establish a functioning jihadist group in the Islamic State Algeria Province.

The Islamic State Sinai group has been the most active of the African-centered IS jihadist groups. Beyond some sporadic attacks in Egypt's Nile Valley and the Red Sea coast, however, it has not operated successfully outside of Sinai on a sustained basis. Its most spectacular attack was when it downed a Russian commercial airliner, Metrojet flight 9268, on Oct. 31, 2015.

Wedged in between Israel and Egypt, it is highly unlikely that either government would permit an ISIS-like state to take root in the Sinai Peninsula.

In west and central Africa, however, Islamic State jihadist groups face generally weak governments with typically poorly trained and underequipped militaries -- the exception being the Nigerian military. Nigeria's armed forces have performed effectively against Boko Haram and other jihadist groups operating in the region.

ISWAP's main center of activity is in the tri-country area where Chad, Nigeria and Niger meet. Over the last two years, ISWAP jihadists have overrun more than a dozen military bases in that region. Some of those bases were little more than lightly defended outposts, but others were more substantial and supplied a treasure trove of weaponry and munitions.

ISGS, on the other hand, has largely operated in eastern Mali and the border area with Niger.

If a new "territorial caliphate" were to emerge, most likely it would be established in central Africa, somewhere in the region from Mali to Chad.

France has been actively engaged in countering jihadist activity in West Africa. Most of this region was once part of a French colonial African empire. French companies are actively involved in the resource sector in the region. The U.S. has also been actively engaged with various training missions in the area. It has deployed several Special Forces units in the region and provided logistical support to French forces operating there.

Both the U.S. and French governments, however, have signaled that they are reevaluating their ongoing role in countering jihadist groups in west and central Africa.

In Washington's case, this is part of a broader reorientation from fighting jihadist groups around the world to focusing on competition with near-peer rivals Russia and China.

In Paris' case, it simply reflects the frustration that the almost two decade-long effort has done little to stabilize the region.

While ISWAP has seen the bulk of sub-Saharan jihadist activity, it is in ISCAP that the most significant economic damage has occurred.

In 2012, a consortium led by Italy's ENI and Anadarko Petroleum (now a unit of Occidental Petroleum) discovered the equivalent of seven trillion cubic meters of natural gas just off the coast of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique's northernmost province.

The various gas projects, estimated to be worth some $60 billion, are a game-changer for Mozambique, the world's seventh poorest country. They could transform it into one of the top 10 liquefied natural gas, or LNG, producers in the world. More significantly, preliminary geologic data suggests that it could be part of a larger trend of gas deposits in East Africa's offshore sedimentary basins.

The town of Palma has become the main staging ground for the oil companies exploring the region and will host the LNG processing facilities.

Ansar al-Sunna, a local jihadist group that also goes by the name al-Shabaab (no relation to the Somali group with the same name), pledged its allegiance to Islamic State in April 2018 and now operates as ISIS-Mozambique.

Over the last 18 months, the group has staged dozens of attacks in northern Mozambique, including attacks on Palma and the port of Mocimboa da Paraia that involved hundreds of jihadist fighters. Depending on the estimate used, between 350,000 and 700,000 people in the province of Cabo Delgado have been displaced by the violence.

The Mozambique government and military have been unable to contain ISIS-Mozambique, leading several international oil companies to suspend their activity there. The Mozambique government has had discussions with the South African government on obtaining its military support to contain the violence, but has not yet reached an agreement.

The Islamic State is alive and well in sub-Saharan Africa, and is continuing to expand both its influence and the scope of its activity there.

If a new Islamic State "territorial caliphate" emerges, it is likely to do so in Africa. With Washington now focused on geopolitical, economic and military competition with China and Russia, and with little American or European appetite for continuing the "whack a mole" global fight against jihadists, the likelihood of a new ISIS-like state in sub-Saharan Africa is a very real possibility.

-- The opinions expressed in this op-ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Military.com. If you would like to submit your own commentary, please send your article to opinions@military.com for consideration.
The Tigers placed right-hander Michael Fulmer on the 10-day injured list due to a right cervical spine strain. Left-hander Miguel Del Pozo was called up from Triple-A Toledo to take Fulmers spot on the active roster. Despite the rather ominous-sounding official injury designation, the normal term is his neck is bothering him, manager A.J. Hinch told The Detroit News Chris McCosky and other reporters. Fulmer felt the injury following yesterdays outing against the Astros, which saw the righty allow three runs on two homers over an inning of work.

While the issue doesnt sound overly serious, it does represent at least 10 fewer days for opposing scouts and front offices to gauge Fulmers value as a trade candidate. The 2016 AL Rookie Of The Year has reinvented himself as a reliever coming off Tommy John surgery in 2019 and some tough results as a starter in 2020, and Fulmer has a 3.62 ERA, 29.66% strikeout rate, and 5.08% walk rate in 27 1/3 innings out of the bullpen this season. He has also shown some quality in high-leverage situations, racking up six saves as part of Detroits closer committee.

With Fulmer still under control through one final arbitration year in 2022, he makes for an interesting trade chip for the Tigers to shop prior to July 30, assuming that he is able to return from the IL in good condition. An enterprising team could acquire Fulmer as bullpen help for this season, and then perhaps consider stretching him out next spring for one last crack at starting pitching, with a return to the relief corps available as a fallback option.

The transaction also creates another opportunity for Del Pozo, who didnt get a chance to pitch when he was briefly called up to the Tigers earlier this month. Del Pozo signed a minor league deal with Detroit last winter, and over 13 innings with the Angels and Pirates in 2019-20, the southpaw issued 16 walks and posted a 12.46 ERA. At Triple-A Toledo this season, however, Del Pozo has a 1.02 ERA over 17 2/3 innings, with a 35.4% strikeout rate and (perhaps most importantly) a much more palatable 9.23% walk rate.
[June 28, 2021] Tencent, TiMi Call on SEA Students to Act on Climate Change SHENZHEN, China, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tencent, through TiMi Studio Group (TiMi) and Tencent Institute of Games, today announced that it is hosting Green Game Jam for Youth, a global online competition inspired by the broader Green Game Jam, organised by the United Nations (UN) -facilitated initiative, the Playing for the Planet Alliance. The Green Game Jam for Youth is aimed at university students, challenging them to create games with environment-focused elements or themes. The youth competition is also bringing together the biggest names in video games across mobile, console and PC to educate and empower millions of players to act for nature. "The Green Game Jam for Youth represents Tencent's corporate social responsibility, using games to achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of protecting our planet," said Krittee Manoleehagul, vice president of Tencent Cloud International for Southeast Asia. "We are committed to leveraging tech for good and creating sustainable innovations for social value for the community. This competition will both motivate the next generation of gaming developers in the Southeast Asia to be climate-conscious and offer the tools and knowledge to raise environmental awareness through technology." Games have the power to raise awareness among billions of people across the globe about environmental conservation and restoration. They can also educate about the actions and solutions needed to strengthen our response towards the threats of climate change. To that end, Tencent is partnering with several universities in Southeast Asia to encourage their studets to join Green Game Jam for Youth and promote environmental solutions needed to make the world a better place. Universities taking part include Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation in Malaysia, National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and DigiPen Institute of Technology in Singapore, Bangkok University, Dhurakij Pundit University and Mahidol University in Thailand, Universitas Indonesia and Bandung Institute of Technology also in Indonesia, with more to come. Speaking on the collaboration with Tencent, Assoc. Prof. Wong Bee Suan, head, School of Computing, Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) said, "We are honoured to be given this opportunity to partner with the leading global technology company Tencent in fighting for a cause that is bigger than ourselves. At Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation, our goal is to not only equip our students with the fundamental skills required by the booming gaming industry, but to also harness the power of gaming in fighting climate change." "At DigiPen (Singapore), we push our students to execute the kind of work that challenges their minds and excites the imagination. The Green Game Jam for Youth is an avenue for our students to apply their capabilities and skills in addressing one of the world's biggest challenges  climate change. We see this competition as a platform for our students to demonstrate that they do not just excel in their studies, but can go on to be responsible and eco-conscious members of our global society," said a DigiPen (Singapore) spokesperson. The youth competition aims to engage with students at over 300 universities across China, North America and Southeast Asia. Competitors in the youth challenge will get guidance on games development and adopting effective strategies to promote environmental responsibility via online webinars and courses from the Tencent Institute of Games and other mentors in the gaming industry. Winners will receive awards and cash prizes, including US$10,000 for "Gold," US$3,000 for "Silver," US$1,000 for "Bronze" and a US$500 prize for the "Honorary" fourth-place finisher. The result of the competition will be shared to the world in November during the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. The competition is now open for entry through TiMi's website at https://www.timistudios.com/green-game-jam-for-youth/ , until July 30. For media enquiries, please contact: Judy Wong

Tencent

judywong@tencent.com

+6012 622 4688 Vicky Wong

Lumos Hill+Knowlton Strategies

Vicky.Wong@hkstrategies.com

+6012 459 5818 SOURCE Tencent

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[June 28, 2021] Appnext Continues Global Expansion and Announces Opening Of Istanbul Office Already delivering growth results to advertisers in Turkey, Appnext will scale relationship with local app developers supporting their growth efforts by enabling continuous engagement with users throughout their mobile journey ISTANBUL, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Appnext , the leading independent discovery platform offering continuous engagement with users, has established a new office location in Istanbul, Turkey, as part of its global expansion to support local app developers in their growth efforts. Appnext is already delivering growth to advertising clients in Turkey, resulting from its end-to-end app discovery solutions that manage the entire mobile journey of a user: from the initial device setup and personalization to various mobile touchpoints throughout the day. Personalized app recommendations are suggested within a myriad of apps and directly on-device according to the user's needs during his day, powered by Appnext 'Timeline' patent technology that utilizes predictive analytics and behavior-driven AI to recommend relevant apps and services at the right time and on the right channel. Appnext also announced the appointment of Gozde Alemli as Country Manager for Turkey to accelerate the company's continued growth and expansion throughout the region. Gozde brings extensive business development experience in the digital marketing space with deep mobile and customer experience expertise. "Appnext is poised to capitalize on growth opportunities in Turkey and Gozde' expertise in the industry makes her the ideal choice to help us accomplish that and accelerate the adoption of our solutions by app developers in Turkey," said Elad Natanson, CEO & Co-Founder of Appnext. "We feel that providing discovery solutions that span the entire mobile journey of a user is the right approach not only for advertisers but also for device manufacturers and mobile operators as they seek ways to build stronger, more profitable relationships with their users. Appnext tech-powered solutions enable app developers and mobile operators to continually engage users repeatedly throughout their day, in various placements, with an average of 20 daily interactions with each user from our 8 million daily active users in Turkey." According to 42matters, Turkey's share in the global app market is growing rapidly, ranks in the global top ten in terms of mobile app downloads and usage. "Appnext has an impressive track record of achievements and a reputation for delivering innovative app discovery channels with proven ROI. That, together with its products and proprietary technologies, is the right combination for app developers who are always looking for new and intent users while providing them personalized discovery experiences," said Gozde Alemli. "I look forward to building on the company's initial success in Turkey and invite local app developers to become a part of Appnext's already established partner's ecosystem in the region, including top mobile device brands and leading advertisers such as Trendyol and Getir. Based on its current growth, Appnext estimates to power 15B monthly app recommendations and 100,000 new devices per day in 6 months to the region." About Appnext Appnext is the largest independent app discovery platform, offering the only recommendation engine on the market, encompassing both in-app and on-device discovery. Appnext discovery platform powers over 6B daily app recommendations via over 20 interactions along users' daily mobile journey. Through its direct partnerships with top OEMs, operators and app developers, Appnext creates a discovery experience in over 10,000 mobile touchpoints. Powered by proprietary AI technology, Appnext 'Timeline' predicts the type of apps users are likely to utilize next and recommends which ones to install. Appnext's recommendations are helping app marketers reach more engaged users and get their apps discovered, used and re-used. As of June 2020, Appnext is part of the Affle group. Affle (India) Limited trades on the Indian stock exchanges (BSE: 542752 & NSE: AFFLE). For more information, please contact Appnext online or via email . Media Contact

Gozde Alemli

Country Manager Turkey

e. gozde.a@appnext.com

m. +90 (542) 585 81 07

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UK's Cairn Energy is targeting assets abroad of more state-run companies in a bid to recover dues from the government on the backdrop of the arbitration victory of the company over the Indian government.

According to people in the know, the British energy major may file lawsuits across several countries to make government firms and banks liable to pay the dues.

Cairn Energy already moved courts in the US, UK, Canada, France, Singapore, the Netherlands and three other countries to register the December 2020 arbitration tribunal ruling that overturned the Indian government's Rs 10,247 crore demand in back taxes and ordered New Delhi to return $ 1.2 billion in value of shares it had sold, dividends seized and tax refunds withheld to recover the tax demand.

After reports of identification of Indian assets overseas worth $70 billion by Cairn for potential seizure came out, government sources said that the Centre is well aware of its legal rights and will defend its case in courts if such proceedings materialise.

Official sources said that the government is confident of winning its appeal in The Hague.

Sources further pointed out that Cairn did not pay a single rupee tax anywhere in the world in respect of the impugned transactions. Cairn had also lost its appeal before the income-tax tribunal.

Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.
The Chhattisgarh High Court has decided to prepare a plan for live streaming of the proceedings of all Courts under its supervisory jurisdiction as instructed by the e-committee, Supreme Court of India, says a report.

In the report, LiveLaw.in says, "This decision comes in the backdrop of the decision of various High Courts, who have expressed their willingness to live stream their court hearings."

Last week, the Madhya Pradesh High Court started live streaming of court proceedings for the bench led by its Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq, the report added.

Earlier this month, the e-committee of the Supreme Court published draft rules on live-streaming and recording of court proceedings to invite inputs and suggestions from stakeholders on or before 30 June 2021.

"The sub-committee has held extensive deliberations. It took into account the principles enunciated in the decision of the Supreme Court in Swapnil Tripathi v Supreme Court of India [(2018) 10 SCC 639] including the concerns of privacy and confidentiality of litigants and witnesses, matters relating to business confidentiality, prohibition or restriction of access to proceedings or trials stipulated by central or state legislation and in some cases to preserve the larger public interest owing to the sensitivity of the case," a release from the SC says.

Therefore, it says, in order to foster greater transparency, inclusivity and access to justice, the project of live streaming of court proceedings has been undertaken on priority, so that access to proceedings, including on matters of public interest to citizens, journalists, civil society, academicians, and law students, on a real-time basis is enabled.

Advocate Jamshed Mistry, who along with SC senior counsel Indira Jaising, has been urging for live streaming of court proceedings and legal transcriptions of court proceedings, expressed his happiness after the draft model rules were released.

Reacting to the news, he had said, A red letter day for transparency in Indian courts! Delighted to see the Supreme Court finally implement its decision (through these draft rules) in Swapnil Tripathis case - for all courts pan India!

He added that transcripts to be made available in regional languages is also a great feature.

The e-committee chairperson justice DY Chandrachud also wrote to chief justices of all high courts, requesting for their inputs and suggestions for better implementation of live streaming of court proceedings across India.

The model rules were framed by a sub-committee consisting of judges of the Bombay, Delhi, Madras and Karnataka High Courts.

As per the draft, subject to the exclusions contained within these rules, all proceedings will be live-streamed by the court. Matrimonial matters, cases related with sexual offences, gender-based violence against women, matters related with children, and in-camera hearings, would be excluded from live-streaming, the committee suggested.

Matters where the bench is of the view, for reasons to be recorded in writing that publication would be antithetical to the administration of justice as well as cases, which in the opinion of the bench, may provoke enmity amongst communities likely to result in a breach of law and order are also excluded from live streaming.

In addition, recording of evidence, including cross-examination also cannot be live streamed.

In cases where the proceedings are not live-streamed, the recording should be maintained for usage by the court and the appellate court(s). However, access to the recording of the testimony of witnesses will not be given until such time that the evidence is recorded in its entirety.

Transcription of the recordings would be made available to the advocate or litigant-in-person. In case of litigant-in-person, who is also a witness in the matter, the bench in its discretion will decide as to the stage at which the litigant-in-person should have access to the recordings of the testimonies concerning the other witnesses in the matter, the draft says.

The e-committee, along with the department of justice, government of India is working under the national policy and action plan for implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) in the Indian judiciary.
HDFC Life Insurance Company Chairman Deepak S. Parekh has suggested that the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) should allow India's life insurers to evolve further and widen their role.

In his statement to the shareholders in HDFC Life's Annual Report, Parekh cited examples in Asia and more developed markets where life insurers have created subsidiaries and orchestrated ecosystems to make insurance a more holistic offering for the customer.

"While we continue to invest to enhance our technological capabilities, I feel that the time is right for the regulator to allow life insurers in India to evolve further and be the 'disruptor' rather than the 'disrupted'," he said.

"For example, in Asia, one of the leading insurers has created a healthcare ecosystem that includes services like online medical consultation. Elsewhere, in Europe, a leading insurer has created a separate digital investment unit to evaluate and invest in fintech start-ups."

On the performance of the company in the last financial year, Parekh noted that during the year, its shares were included in the Nifty50 index, and with this, HDFC Life became the third company after HDFC Bank and HDFC Ltd from the HDFC Group to be featured in one of India's benchmark indices.

HDFC Life also raised Rs 600 crore funds through the issuance of non-convertible debentures on private placement basis. The issue was rated "AAA" with a stable outlook by both Crisil and ICRA, he added.

Despite operational challenges, the company insured close to 4 crore lives in FY 2020-21, and settled over 2.9 lakh death claims that resulted in the beneficiaries cumulatively being paid over Rs 3,000 crore.

"We see this as the most meaningful impact of our business on society and it drives us to keep growing and protecting the financial future of Indians," the Chairman said.

"I would also like to thank IRDAI for providing a very supporting regulatory environment, in the absence of which our industry might have struggled. We are continually rethinking and realigning the future of our work environment, and learning to adapt and excel in a volatile business environment."

Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.
Anup Pathak, a retail investor of Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL), has filed an appeal at National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against delisting of the lenders shares from the exchanges.

In his plea, the investor has alleged that the administrator of DHFL and lenders failed to adequately inform investors about the impending delisting, which was part of the Piramal groups approved resolution plan under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

The respondents either solely or collectively have failed to inform and obtain the consent of the appellant about the acquisition of the equity shares held by shareholders in company at Rs0 under the resolution plan, by way of reduction in paid up capital, the petition by Mr Pathak mentions.

The plea filed last week requests the NCLAT to set aside order passed by NCLT on 7th June and relist the shares of DHFL.

On 7th June, NCLT had approved the resolution plan of Piramal Capital and Housing Finance (PCHFL) which offered to pay Rs37,250 crore to DHFL lenders. In its order copy, which came out 12th June, the NCLT appointed an observer to the monitoring committee to ensure smooth functioning and transition to PCHFL.

In his plea, Mr Pathak has also added that the resolution of DHFL is contravention of Section 230 of Companies Act, 2013, which provides power to compromise or decide with creditor of a company, while stressing that minority shareholders have right to know even if they are not part of committee of creditors (CoC).

In January 2021, in a bitterly fought bidding war, PCHFL resolution plan for DHFL was endorsed by 94% votes from the CoC and had emerged the winner. However, many misled retail investors continued to buy DHFL shares (shrugging off warnings), while anticipating a higher value of the company in future.

The share price of DHFL rose more than 70% on BSE to Rs23.06 on 8th June from 19th April. The stock saw significant trading, even hitting upper circuits after the resolution plan was approved by NCLT, encouraging investors.

In DHFLs case, many retail investors were misled to believe that it would remain listed like Ruchi Soya, Alok Industries and Essar even after IBC. Many such retail investors who continued to invest in DHFL shares who have lost large sums of money now feel victimised because of DHFLs delisting. They claim that DHFL has assets worth over Rs1.05 trillion and a strong loan recovery process can fetch more money than what has been projected by the Piramal Group.

It is, therefore, important that investors heed the warnings and check out all details in the approved resolution plan in IBC cases before they fall for such bait rumours encouraging them to invest in dud shares.

Market experts had also sounded an early warning on DHFL.

Be careful if you hear tips asking you to buy DHFL. The nclt has approved the resolution plan, where I believe the plan is for the shares to be written off to zero. Piramal will then get new shares. Today's shares will have zero value, beware.  Deepak Shenoy (@deepakshenoy) June 7, 2021

Zerodha, the discount broker, even used its Nudge feature to forewarn its customers that the investment (in DHFL shares) may go to zero and over 50% of its customers were saved from investing in DHFL because of this feature.

This Nudge on DHFL warning customers that the investment may go to 0 discouraged over 50% of our users from taking a trade. Similarly, it was 70% for Lakshmi Vilas Bank when its price was spiralling down to 0 after a similar restructuring process. 2/3 pic.twitter.com/fNR5WHEnkl  Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) June 9, 2021

On 11th June, DHFL ended its trading session at Rs16.70, one day after having hit the 10% lower circuit. The BSE and NSE suspended trading in DHFL shares from 14th June morning.

Meanwhile, Kapil Wadhawan, former promoter of DHFL, plans to challenge the approval by the NCLT to the resolution plan of PCHFL. Mr Wadhawans counsel JP Sen informed NCLAT about this on 25th June. Sources indicate that a petition challenging the NCLT order is likely to filed this week.

On 1st June, Mr Wadhawan, who seems to be using every legal option possible to try to scuttle Piramals resolution plan, had moved the Supreme Court asking for a stay on the NCLAT order, which stayed an earlier order of the Mumbai bench of NCLT asking the CoC to consider the settlement offer Wadhawan put forward.

Petitions filed by DHFLs CoC, the RBI appointed administrator and PCHFL came up for hearing before the NCLAT on 25th June.

Last month, the NCLAT had stayed an order by the NCLT, which had directed the lenders to consider the offer made by Mr Wadhawan within a period of 10 days. The stay, which was an interim order, was based on a plea by the CoC of DHFL challenging the NCLT order.

Appearing for DHFL administrator, the senior counsel said that since Piramals resolution plan has already been approved, the direction by the NCLT to the CoC cannot survive.

The NCLAT has adjourned the matter for further hearing to 2nd August. If Mr Wadhawan files his appeal, the full resolution of DHFL could turn to be further delayed. The road ahead remains bumpy because of all these legal hurdles and Piramals resolution plan might well take another nine to 12 months to fructify.

Legal experts point out that NCLT had set a dangerous precedent by giving Mr Wadhawan an opportunity given that he stands accused of serious financial fraud and is currently in jail.

Meanwhile, even the fixed deposit (FD)-holders and NCD-holders, who are set to lose out significant portions of their investment in DHFL, are unhappy with the approved resolution plan.

Separately, small depositors of DHFL (including fixed deposit-holders and secured NCD-holders) and 63 moons technologies (which has an exposure of Rs 200 crore in NCDs), are also said to be filing appeals for full repayment of their claims. 63 moons technologies stands to lose 65% to 75% of the invested amount if the approved resolution plan takes effect.

This might turn out into a long-drawn legal battle and a long wait for justice for lenders and investors in DHFL.
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has granted interim relief to Franklin Templeton (FT) with respect to the orders passed by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) earlier this month. In a major breather for FT, the Tribunal has stayed the SEBI order restraining FT from launching any new debt scheme for the next two years.

The Tribunal has also asked FT to deposit Rs250 crore within three weeks in an interest-bearing escrow account. With that, the penalty of Rs5 crore would be stayed, SAT said orally. SEBI has been asked to file its reply in four weeks and then a rejoinder by FT in three weeks.

During the hearing on Monday, FT is said to have pointed out that they run 22 other debt schemes and SEBI has been unable to find anything wrong with those schemes. The counsel for FT contended that just the fact that six debt schemes were closed does not mean that the fund house should not go ahead with any new debt schemes for next two years.

FT also informed the Tribunal that majority of the investors in these six debt schemes were institutions and they had not objected to FT or filed any complaints against it.

While SAT has not waived off the other two monetary penalties, it has granted interim relief by cutting down the penalty amount of Rs512 crore to less than half to be deposited within three weeks in an escrow. Till the time the hearing is on, it will remain in the escrow account. Thus, FT has secured complete relief in one SEBI order and a partial relief in two other SEBI orders.

The Tribunal is now scheduled to hear the matter on 30th August.

Earlier this month, SEBI had come out with three main orders issued by whole-time member (WTM) G Mahalingam in the FT case.

The first one was that FT would not be able to roll out any new debt scheme for the next two years. The second one said that FT would have to refund the investment advisory and management fee it had collected during 22 months between 4 June 2018 and 23 April 2020 for the six debt schemes, which were abruptly closed last year along with interest, total of around Rs512 crore, while the third order levied a penalty of Rs5 crore on FT. In a 100-page order, SEBI had rapped FT for several irregularities in the running of its six debt schemes that were wound up in April 2020.

Franklin Templeton Asset Management had later filed an appeal against these orders and an application for stay before the SAT.

Franklin Templeton Trustees and eight employees, who have also been fined , have also approached SAT against the order on penalty.

In a series of separate orders in the first week of June, SEBI had also debarred Franklin Templeton AMC Asia Pacific director Vivek Kudva and his wife, Roopa Kudva , for one year from the securities market, following an investigation.

A penalty of Rs4 crore has been slapped on Vivek Kudva and Rs3 crore on his wife. They were also asked to return an amount of Rs22.64 crore in an escrow account to SEBI, which will be released to them along with the cash being disbursed to other investors. This is the amount they received on redemption before the six debt schemes of Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund were shut last year.

They had cumulatively redeemed units worth Rs30 crore in the six wound- up debt schemes while in possession of material non- public information.

The Kudvas have also moved the SAT to challenge the SEBI order and their petition is likely to come up for hearing in early July.

In April 2020, Franklin Templeton India announced that it was closing six of its credit schemes due to liquidity issues amid the coronavirus crisis.

The schemes which have been shut are Low Duration Fund, Ultra Short Bond Fund, Short Term Income Plan, Credit Risk Fund, Dynamic Accrual Fund, Income Opportunities Fund.

"There has been a dramatic and sustained fall in liquidity in certain segments of the corporate bonds market on account of the Covid-19 crisis and the resultant lock-down of the Indian economy which was necessary to address the same," FT had said.
In a major victory for the new management at Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), it has managed to receive Rs1,925 crore from the Gurgaon Metro Project.

IL&FS had to go head on with the Haryana government and the Union government via the high court and then Supreme Court to get the state government to honour contractual obligations. This throws up the peculiar challenges faced by the new board in the IL&FS resolution, where the other party to disputes in public-private contracts are always state entities.

As part of the interim termination payment, IL&FS has received Rs1,925 crore from Haryana Shehari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) in its escrow accounts. This is in compliance with a Supreme Court order of 26 March 2021 in the Gurgaon Metro Project, which was being developed by two special purpose vehicles (SPVs)Rapid Metro Rail Gurgaon Ltd (RMGL) and Rapid Metro Rail Gurgaon South Ltd (RMGSL).

The apex court had asked HSVP to deposit 80% of total debt of over Rs2,400 crorebased on an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) within three months into the escrow account of the two SPVs. This works out to Rs1,925 crore. As in all IL&FS projects a clutch of public sector banks were the lead banks for the SPVs.

The ruling is important because it indicates the challenge faced in the resolution process and is expected to set a precedent in several other cases that have been filed by the new board, which expects to recover over Rs60,000 crore of IL&FS total outstanding of nearly Rs1 lakh crore when the massive and shadowy conglomerate of 347 entities began to default and payment and had its credit rating slashed overnight from the AAA status it had dubiously enjoyed.

Before this, the high court had ruled in favour of IL&FS on 28 September 2019, giving HSVP the operations and maintenance contract (O&M) to the metro project. It also directed HSVP to pay 80% of debt due determined by CAG in the escrow account within 30 days of the report and other issues to be settled through arbitration.

HSVP had taken over the Metro Link Project operations in October 2019 following the court order, to keep the metro running. However, HSVP did not comply with the payment part forcing the IL&FS entities to move the Supreme Court in January 2021 for the money.

IL&FS had won the two-phased Gurgaon Metro Project that were developed through its subsidiary SPVsRMGL and RMGSLin 2009 and 2013, respectively, for the development of Metro rail link from Sikanderpur Station on M.G. Road to NH-8 and from Sikanderpur Station on M.G. Road to Sector 56, Gurugram.

Both the contracts were terminated by RMGL and RMGSL on 7 June 2019, to take effect from 8 September 2019, after the expiry of 90 days, whereas, HSVP terminated both the contracts on 26 August 2019.

In a release, IL&FS says, "Due to multiple unmet obligations by the HSVP - under the concession agreement IL&FS SPVs had terminated the concession agreements in September 2019 and demanded certain termination payments due to them under the concession agreement."

HSVP, however refuted the contention of IL&FS SPVs and challenged the matter in High Court (HC) of Punjab and Haryana.

After hearing both the parties, in September 2019 the HC ruled those operations and maintenance of the metro link be handed over to HSVP. It also directed CAG to carry out financial audit of total debt due after which HSVP would pay 80% of debt due (as determined by CAG) in the escrow account within 30 days of submission of CAG report and sought that all other disputes to be settled through arbitration.

IL&FS says, as per the orders from the HC, in October 2019, its SPVs handed over the project to the Haryana government unit.
Between January 2015 and May 2021, there were more than 3,100 attacks worldwide against community leaders, farmers, workers, unions, journalists, civil society groups and other defenders, who have raised the alarm about irresponsible business practices. More than 40% of these attacks were forms of judicial harassment. Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) are one of these tactics, shows an analysis conducted by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. One of the cases mentioned in the analysis is the 2015 defamation case filed by National Stock Exchange (NSE) against Moneylife and its founders, Debashis Basu and Sucheta Dalal. But more about it later.

The Resource Centre identified 355 cases that bear the hallmarks of SLAPPs brought or initiated by business actors since 2015 against individuals and groups related to their defence of human rights and/or the environment. The highest number of SLAPPs took place in Latin America (39%), followed by Asia and the Pacific (25%), Europe & Central Asia (18%), Africa (8.5%), and North America (9%). Nearly three-quarters (73%) of cases were brought in countries in the global south.

When human rights defenders are afraid to question reports about wrongdoing and deficits they observe, it affects the entire society," says Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. "SLAPPs have exactly that effect: they can impose sometimes significant fines and criminal sanctions, and thus intimidate human rights defenders and stop them from shedding light on critical issues. It is our shared responsibility to prevent SLAPPs from undermining everyones right to know."

SLAPPs are one tactic used by unscrupulous business actors to stop people raising concerns about their practices. SLAPPs can take the form of criminal or civil lawsuits brought to intimidate, bankrupt and silence critics. They are an abuse of the legal system by powerful actors. The tactic can intimidate defenders and drain the resources of community members, environmental advocates, and journalists, who speak out in support of human rights and the environment. The impact can have a broad chilling effect, deterring others from speaking out against abuse.

Although, the Resource Centre had identified 355 cases that bear the hallmarks SLAPPs brought or initiated by business actors since 2015 against individuals and groups, it says, this figure is likely to be the tip of the iceberg, recognising the time-specific nature of its research scope and the challenges of identifying SLAPPs and directly linking them to the companies involved.

Here are the key findings of the Resource Centre...

We identified 106 companies and businesspeople involved in bringing or initiating these cases. At least 11 of these companies were repeat offenders, having been involved in more than one judicial proceeding. These included: Thammakaset (Thailand), Inversiones Los Pinares (Honduras), MMG Ltd Las Bambas (Peru), and Lydian Armenia (Armenia).

The highest number of SLAPPs took place in Latin America (39%), followed by Asia and the Pacific (25%), Europe & Central Asia (18%), North America (9%), Africa (8.5%), and MENA (0.5%). Nearly three-quarters (73%) of cases were brought in countries in the Global South.

63% of cases involved criminal charges.

Most individuals and groups facing SLAPPs (65% of cases) raised concerns about projects in four sectors: mining (108), agriculture and livestock (76), logging and lumber (29), and palm oil (20).

The amount of damages sought by those filing SLAPPs in just 82 of the cases totalled to over $1.5 billion (information on damages sought was not available publicly for the remaining cases).

Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, feels it is extremely concerning how SLAPPs have become a staple in the manipulation of the judicial system by business actors to stop legitimate human rights work, restrict civic space, and repress dissenting voices. She says, "SLAPPs drain the resources of defenders, take time away from human rights defence, and can intimidate others from engaging in legitimate human rights work."

"States have a duty to protect defenders against SLAPPs and should pass anti-SLAPP legislation in order to facilitate a safe and enabling environment where criticism is part of a healthy debate. Business actors also have the responsibility to commit to a clear public policy of a zero-tolerance to attacks on defenders and refrain from using this tactic to stop public participation. Space for defenders to carry out their work must be free from any interference or attack," the UN Special Rapporteur says.

A few governments have also taken steps to stop the use of SLAPPs by enacting anti-SLAPP legislation, including the United States, Canada, Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. Such legislation is a vital tool for protecting defenders from SLAPPs and should be enacted by all governments as part of their duty to protect human rights.

The Resource Centre recommends investors and companies to commit to a clear public policy of non-retaliation against defenders and organisations that raise concerns about their practices, and adopt a zero-tolerance approach on reprisals and attacks on defenders in their operations, value chains, and business relationships.

"As part of this, investors should review potential investees for their history of SLAPPs and avoid investing in companies with a track record of SLAPPs. They should also urge portfolio companies to drop lawsuits that might be SLAPPs and provide an appropriate remedy in consultation with the defenders affected," it says.

Governments should also reform any laws that criminalise freedom of expression, assembly, and association, and facilitate an environment where criticism is part of the healthy debate on any issue of public concern, it says, adding, they should also hold businesses accountable for any acts of retaliation against defenders.

"Law firms and lawyers should refrain from representing companies in SLAPP suits. Bar associations should develop and update ethics codes to ensure that SLAPPs are a sanctionable offense for members," the Resource Centre says.

Coming back to the Rs100 crore defamation case filed by NSE, in September 2015, the Bombay High Court dismissed the case and ordered NSE to pay Rs1.50 lakh to Mr Basu and Ms Dalal, along with a penalty of Rs47 lakh to two hospitals from Mumbai. NSE initially filed an appeal against the order passed by justice Gautam Patel, but withdrew the case on 12 September 2017. ( Read: NSE withdraws its Rs100 crore defamation suit against Moneylife, pays Rs50 lakh as cost and penalty

After the lawsuit, both Mr Basu and Ms Dalal wrote and published another book, Absolute Power: Inside story of the National Stock Exchanges amazing success, leading to hubris, regulatory capture and algo scam. This book is being sold like a hot cake like their earlier book,  The Scam: from Harshad Mehta to Ketan Parekh  and includes JPC Fiasco and Global Trust Bank scams.
PERKASIE  A 29-year-old borough man is charged with rape by forcible compulsion, sexual assault and indecent assault after police say a woman reported she was raped after helping the man move into his new home last year.
June 28, 2021

Mentions

Thanks to Peter Lee, aka Chinahand, for pointing out that China's flagship English language media, the Global Times, recently quoted Moon of Alabama:

In an article published on the independent political blog site Moon of Alabama on May 27, the author pointed out that some Westerners' hyping of the Wuhan lab leak conspiracy is similar to the trick the US played in pushing the Iraq War in 2002 - the US claimed "Saddam Hussein will soon have nuclear weapon," which was "obvious nonsense," the author said. "The 'lab leak' theory is similar to the WMD claim - evidence-free speculation long promoted by a neoconservative leaning administration that was extremely hostile to the 'guilty' country in question," said the author. The lab-leak theory, therefore, "isn't just about an implausible, evidence free tale of a SARS-CoV-2 lab escape," the author noted. "It is a campaign launched to depict China as an enemy of humankind."

The Global Times quotes from our piece The 'Lab-Leak' Theory Is Not Of Equal Value - Promoting It Furthers The China Hawks are correct.

What is concerning though is that such mention in Chinese state controlled media, warranted or not, will surely entice the usual suspects, from Barfing Cat to Pro Porn OT, to again depict this lone blog as an instrument of entities they are told to defame and dislike.

For the record; Neither this blog nor its author have ever received any gratitude, donation or contribution from any state entity or derivative thereof.

The same thing can not be said of all the entities or persons which criticize it.

Posted by b on June 28, 2021 at 4:43 UTC | Permalink

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Moultrie, GA (31768)

Today

A few clouds with an isolated thunderstorm possible after midnight. Low 72F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

A few clouds with an isolated thunderstorm possible after midnight. Low 72F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
ROME (AP)  Hush-hush diplomacy. In-person visits. And a very public no-surprises agreement on Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid met in Rome on Sunday as their new governments look to turn the page on former President Donald Trump and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose close alliance aggravated partisan divisions within both countries.

Now, with Trump sidelined in Florida and Netanyahu leading the opposition, President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett are focused on pragmatic diplomacy rather than dramatic initiatives that risk fomenting opposition at home or distracting from other priorities.

In the past few years, mistakes were made, Lapid told Blinken as they sat down for talks in a Rome hotel. Israels bipartisan standing was hurt. We will fix those mistakes together.

Lapid said he had spoken with Democrats and Republicans since taking office and had reminded them all that we share Americas most basic, basic values  freedom, democracy, free markets and constant search for peace.

Blinken noted that even though the two governments are new, the foundation that were working on is one of an enduring partnership, a relationship, friendship between the United States and Israel.

The push means aiming for smaller achievements, such as shoring up the informal cease-fire that ended last month's war with Gaza's militant Hamas rulers and replenishing Israel's Iron Dome defense system. A major push to revive the long-dormant peace process between Israel and the Palestinians could unsettle the delicate balance.

Nobody thinks its a good idea to start charging through on a major new peace initiative, said Ilan Goldenberg, a Mideast security expert at the nonprofit Center for a New American Security. But there are things you can do quietly under the radar, on the ground, to improve the situation.

That approach  of managing the conflict rather than trying to solve it  may succeed in papering over domestic divisions. But it also maintains a status quo that the Palestinians find increasingly oppressive and hopeless, and which has fueled countless cycles of unrest.

The Americans and Israelis will try to work out differences away from the public, as in Biden's quiet" diplomacy, when he privately urged Netanyahu to wind down the Israel-Hamas war ahead of a truce that took effect May 21.

We believe the way to discuss those disagreements is through direct and professional conversation, not a press conference," Lapid said.

Both governments will try to preserve Israel's fragile governing coalition, in part by reducing provocations that played a part in sparking the 11-day war that claimed at least 254 Palestinian lives and killed 13 people in Israel.

The new coalition in Israel shares little beyond the conviction that Netanyahu had to go. It's composed of eight parties, each effectively with veto power on decisions. So if even one party bolts, Israel's government would be at serious risk of collapse, with Netanyahu waiting just offstage.

At least in the short term, Lapid, a centrist, will be Israel's point man on repairs to the tattered relationship with Biden and the Democrats. The party controls both houses of Congress but is increasingly divided on the Mideast conflict, with progressive members calling for the U.S. to exert more pressure on Israel.

What theyre building now is mutual trust, said Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the United States under Netanyahu. I expect a change of tone rather than of substance... but there's a possibility that it could produce something better for Israel.

Topping the agenda in both countries are talks in Vienna over reviving Iran's 2015 accord with world powers to limit Tehran's ability to develop nuclear weapons. Trump, with Netanyahu's backing, pulled the U.S. out of the deal in 2018 and imposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Biden promised to restore and expand the agreement.

Now, Israel's new government seems intent on staying engaged and trying to influence the talks, rather than scuttle them.

Israel has some serious reservations about the Iran nuclear deal that is being put together in Vienna, Lapid said, before pledging that Israel would make its objections privately. Netanyahu had loudly and publicly opposed the deal when the Obama administration was negotiating it.

We have the same objective," Blinken said. "Sometimes we differ on the tactics, and we, I think, are very clear and direct to each other when thats the case and thats exactly how its supposed to be.

Even the right-leaning Bennett, who is ideologically aligned with the hawkish Netanyahu, has toned down the rhetoric on Iran.

We will continue to consult with our friends, persuade, discuss, and share information and insights out of mutual respect, Bennett said Thursday. But at the end of the day, we will be responsible for our own fate, nobody else.

Tamping down tensions  or at least not inflaming them  is a key strategy, the officials said.

Blinken spoke of the need to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but did not offer any kind of timetable or any strategy to offer a more hopeful future for everyone: Palestinians and Israelis alike with equal measures of opportunity and dignity.

And, while the Biden administration supports and hopes to expand on the Trump-era Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab countries, Blinken said they are not a substitute for engaging on the issues between Israelis and Palestinians that need to be resolved.

On the U.S. side, the Biden administration has made clear it wants to extricate the country from intractable conflicts in the Middle East and focus on other challenges, such as climate change and competition with China.

On Monday, outgoing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin is to visit Washington at Biden's invitation. A group of House Democrats are planning an official trip to Israel as soon as Congress July 4th recess.

There's even talk of Lapid and Bennett traveling to Washington later in the summer, separately or together, the officials said. Bennett will serve as prime minister for the first two years, followed by Lapid, the architect of the coalition.

All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss administration plans and logistics, which have not been finalized.

So far, the reset seems to be functioning. But with the Israeli coalition barely two weeks old, significant challenges loom.

Biden has moved to reverse Netanyahu-backed Trump policies that alienated the Palestinians, and the administration has said Israelis and Palestinians should enjoy equal measures of security and prosperity.

But the U.S. has yet to explain how it intends to bring that about without ending Israel's half-century military occupation of the West Bank, its blockade on Hamas-ruled Gaza and discriminatory policies in Jerusalem that fueled a spring of unrest.

___

Kellman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Knickmeyer reported from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
VATICAN CITY (AP)  Pope Francis expressed his affection for the American people as he met at length Monday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Blinken declined to delve into domestic politics" when later asked if the two discussed a campaign by U.S. bishops to deny Holy Communion to Roman Catholic politicians like the U.S. president who support abortion rights.

The Vatican said the two spoke for about 40 minutes, a long time considering that Blinken isnt the top U.S. administration leader.

The closed-door meeting in the Apostolic Palace played out in a cordial atmosphere, a Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said. The meeting, "was, for the pope the occasion to recall his 2015 visit and to express his affection and his attention to the people of the United States of America."

Bruni was referring to the pontiff's U.S. pilgrimage, which included a meeting at the White House with then President Barack Obama. In recent years, the U.S. church hierarchy has been increasingly more polarized about U.S. politics and politicians.

Many of the more conservative U.S. bishops have been clamoring for a clear directive from their ranks against giving Communion to U.S. political figures who are Roman Catholics and support women's right to abortion. Vatican teaching forbids abortion as a grave sin. This campaign puts the heat on President Joe Biden, a Catholic who has said that while he personally opposes abortion, he supports abortion rights.

Earlier this month, the U.S. churchmen decided to go ahead and craft a document about Communion. Only a month earlier, Francis' top official on doctrinal orthodoxy had urged the bishops to think the matter through thoroughly and aim to keep divisions to the minimum.

Blinken declined to wade into the issue when he was asked at a news conference in Rome after his Vatican visit if he and Francis had discussed the divisive issue.

One of the luxuries of my job is that I don't do domestic politics,'' said Blinken, who described his talks with the pope as extremely warm and very wide-ranging."

Francis himself hasn't weighed in publicly on the latest squabble in the long-running wrangling over the Communion issue within the U.S. Conference of Bishops.

Blinken had high praise for Francis and the opportunity to be the highest level official in the fledgling Biden administration to have a sit-down session with the pontiff.

I was very gratified by the meeting and gratified as well by the strong leadership of His Holiness on the pandemic, on climate change" as well as on the challenge that we have to address on irregular migration and refugees,'' Blinken said.

The U.S. official said that speaking more broadly, maybe most important of all, his leadership on the basic proposition that we have to stand for human dignity in everything we do to the best of our ability."

Blinken's spokesman, Ned Price, said the secretary had assured the pontiff about the United States' commitment to working closely with the Holy See to address global challenges and the needs of the world's least fortunate and most vulnerable, including refugees and migrants.

That would generally synch with Francis' overarching agenda of putting those living on life's margin at the center of attention.

Blinken also thanked Francis for longstanding leadership on the need to tackle climate change. Early in his papacy, Francis issued an encyclical, or formal teaching document, stressing the need to treasure and protect the environment.

Last year, when Blinken's predecessor, Mike Pompeo, came to the Vatican, he wasn't granted any private time with Francis. At the time, Vatican officials explained that the Holy See didn't want to give any impression of favoritism only weeks before the U.S. presidential election.

Pompeo had blasted the Vatican for what he said was a lessening of its moral authority by signing an accord with Beijing over the nominations of Chinese bishops. Pompeo had insisted that the Holy See take a tougher stand against Chinese restrictions on religious freedom.

Biden, for his part, has criticized China for forced labor practices. Blinken's spokesperson said China was among the subjects discussed by Francis and the U.S. secretary.

Human rights and religious freedom in China were also discussed in Blinken's separate talks with the Holy See's No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, and with Archbishop Paul Gallagher, its foreign minister.

Blinken stressed U.S. support for a return to democracy in Venezuela and "our desire to help the Venezuelan people rebuild their country, Price said.

Blinken was also given a guided, private tour of the Sistine Chapel, with its ceiling frescoed by Michelangelo and other Renaissance masterpieces.

He had meetings with Italian officials before his scheduled evening flight to southern Italy for Tuesday's Group of 20 meeting of foreign ministers, which is focused on improving collaboration among nations on climate change, health issues and development.

___

AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP)  The remains of 11 people have been found after the collapse of a 12-story beachfront condominium building in Florida, authorities said Monday. The Associated Press has been reporting brief descriptions of the dead and the missing.

Miami-Dade police released late Monday the names and ages of three men who died in the collapse. They said the body of Marcus Joseph Guara, 52, was discovered on Saturday but only identified on Monday. Authorities say they found on Monday the remains of Michael David Altman, 50, and Frankie Kleiman, 55, who had recently gotten married.

Late on Sunday, police identified the remains of Leon and Christina Oliwkowicz, an elderly couple from Venezuela with ties to Jewish communities in Florida and Chicago. They also found the bodies of Luis Bermudez, a young man with muscular dystrophy, and his mother, Ana Ortiz, who were from Puerto Rico.

Authorities said 150 other people remain unaccounted for as rescuers search through the rubble of Champlain Towers South. Among them are Linda March, whose penthouse apartment was ripped apart, leaving her office chair and a set of bunkbeds next to the abyss.

____

CATTAROSSI FAMILY

Argentine Graciela Cattarossi is a beloved mother and friend who works as an independent photographer for hotels, magazines, banks and airlines from different parts of the world, said Kathryn Rooney Vera, a friend who has known Cattarossi since 2008.

The most important thing in her world, however, is her 7-year-old daughter Stella.

Cattarossi, 48, a single mother, lived in Champlain Towers South with Stella and her own parents, Graciela and Gino Cattarossi. All four were missing Monday, along with Cattarossi's sister, Andrea, an architect in Pilar, Argentina, who was visiting.

Vera said Cattarossi is a dedicated mother whose devotion to her child is unparalleled. She also described her as a "very hard worker, a beautiful person and beloved by everyone.

Cattarossi and Vera were exchanging text messages on Wednesday night, just hours before the building collapsed. The photographer took professional photos of Veras fourth pregnancy years ago and presented them as a gift to celebrate what they believed would be Veras last child.

She was happy to know that I was pregnant again, said Vera. We are devastated by what happened.

Vera said that Graciela Cattarossi has lived in Miami for decades.

____

ANA ORTIZ and LUIS BERMUDEZ

Luis Bermudez, of San Juan, Puerto Rico, had battled muscular dystrophy for years and used a wheelchair. The 26-year-old man lived with his mother, Ana Ortiz, on the seventh floor of the Champlain Towers South. They were identified among the 11 who died after the building collapsed Thursday.

His father, also named Luis Bermudez, texted the AP saying my son is a hero. He also wrote on Facebook that he could not believe hes gone.

Now rest in peace and without any obstacles in heaven, he wrote. I will see you soon my Luiyo.

In honor of Luis, family members on Monday laid flowers in the ocean at a beach near the site of the building collapse.

Ortiz, 46, had just gotten married to Frankie Kleiman. Alex Garcia, the couple's close friend, told The Miami Herald he had set them up on a blind date. Kleiman lived with his wife and stepson on the same floor as his brother Jay Kleiman, who was in town for a funeral, and their mother Nancy Kress Levin. The Kleimans and their mother are still missing.

Ortiz was described as a woman who was committed to giving her son the best possible life.

Shes a rock star, Garcia told the Herald. And on top of that a super mom.

-

LEON and CRISTINA OLIWKOWICZ

Leon Oliwkowicz, 80, and his wife Cristina Beatriz de Oliwkowicz, 74, lived on the 8th floor of the condo tower for several years, according to Venezuelan journalist Shirley Varnagy, a close friend of their family.

They had already sent their children to live in the U.S. from Venezuela, and then joined them as the economic and political crisis worsened in their native country, said Rabbi Moshe Perlstein, dean of the Yeshivas Ohr Eliyahu-Lubavitch Mesivta, an Orthodox Jewish School in Chicago where one of their daughters, Leah Fouhal, works as an office manager.

Perlstein flew to Florida to support Fouhal after the disaster as she waited anxiously to learn her parents' fate. Late Sunday, authorities announced that their bodies had been recovered.

On Friday, she was there and she was standing a few blocks away, and smoke was coming from the (collapsed building). And she tells me, I just hope Ill be able to bury my parents instead of their ashes... And then, thank God she was able to bury her parents, not the ashes, he said.

The Jewish people have unfortunately known too many cases where we have buried ashes. We dont want to bury people, but its better than burying ashes, he said as he prepared for their funeral on Monday.

Perlstein said the couple was known for their generosity: Three years ago, they donated a valuable Torah scroll to the school in memory of Leon Oliwkowiczs parents.

He was a person that enjoyed when he gave, he was happy. He loved giving, Perlstein said. With his wife, they were very dedicated to their children, helping the children, doing anything they could for their children, he said. It was their life -- giving to the family and giving charity to others.

Other Venezuelans who were caught in the collapse included Moises Rodan, 28; Andres Levine, 27; and Luis Sadovnik, 28, who remained missing along with his Argentine wife, Nicole Langesfeld, Varnagy said. The parents of Rodan, Levine and Sadovnik were able to travel to the U.S. from Venezuela after the disaster, she said.

Some did not have a visa, others had an expired passport, but with diplomatic collaboration they were able to arrive, Varnagy said.

___

LINDA MARCH

Among the missing was Linda March, who eagerly traded a cramped New York apartment for fresh air and ocean views after surviving a COVID-19 infection. She even bought a bright pink bicycle to cruise around Miami with, best friend Rochelle Laufer said.

March rented Penthouse 4, and was using the second bedroom of the furnished apartment as her office, Laufer told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Thursdays partial collapse of the condominium building left the penthouses interior exposed, with bunk beds and an office chair still intact just inside the broken edge where the rest of the 12-story structure crumbled into a pile of debris.

Another friend, Dawn Falco, said she had been talking on the phone with March until just two hours before the disaster. Falco said she immediately began searching for word on her friend, who she said never leaves the house without a smile.

My heart is breaking as I see the office chair that she just purchased next to the bunkbeds, Falco said.

Florida was a new start for the 58-year-old attorney. In the past decade, shed lost her sister and mother to cancer, her father died a few years later and she and her husband divorced. She had no children.

She would say to me, Im all alone. I dont have family, and I would say, Youre my sister, you dont have to be born sisters. And I said you always have me, Laufer recounted through tears.

Laufer said March loved the ocean views but hated the incessant noise from nearby construction and had decided to break her lease. She was looking for another apartment when this happened, Laufer said sadly.

Still, Laufer had been planning to visit her friend this fall.

I joked Im going to take the top bunk when I visit, she said.

-

This story has been corrected to remove a reference in the text and summary to Ana Otero. Her name was Ana Ortiz.

Associated Press writers Gisela Salomon in Miami, Fabiola Sanchez in Caracas, Venezuela, and Luis Andres Henao in Princeton, N.J. contributed to this report.
Billie Vanderbilt, 72, resident of Boley, left us on Thursday, July 1, 2021 from her home. Service arrangements are pending in the Hyde Park Chapel of the Keith D. Biglow Funeral Directors, Inc., in Boley. biglowfunerals.com
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Some Horry County Council members have been hesitant to support impact fees because state law severely limits how they can be used. For example, impact fees can help pay to construct a fire or police station, but they cannot be spent on the salaries of firefighters or officers. Thats because the levies are collected just once, while those salaries must be paid every year. With this in mind, do you think Horry County Council should raise impact fee? Choices are:

You voted:
Ron Smiljanich recently started his 21st year as the city of Jacksonvilles treasurer, a fulfilling and important job he deeply enjoys and for which he has a humble appreciation.

I like people trusting me, Smiljanich said. I think being treasurer boils down to do voters trust who is in there, is he telling the truth, is he not coming up with stupid stuff. Im very flattered by that, and I dont take that for granted.

Smiljanich was appointed in 2000 when then-Treasurer Sally Long resigned to take over Jacksonville Municipal Utilities. Smiljanich had grown a reputation in the community after helping to establish and operate the local Ponderosa restaurant, and that caught the eye of the mayor and the Morgan County Republican Party chairman, who got to appoint Longs replacement.

Mayor Ron Tendick and Rich Mitchell approached me and thought I would do a good job, they thought I was electable because I knew a lot of people from Ponderosa, Smiljanich said. I was clean so to speak, I didnt have any skeletons in the closet, and I also worked with budgets when I was with Ponderosa. The rest is history.

The 72-year-old Smiljanich grew up in Festus, Missouri, and graduated from the University of Missouri. He moved to St. Louis after college and became involved in the restaurant business  including 17 years with Ponderosa, where Smiljanich became the go-to guy for helping franchisees open new restaurants.

They asked me 30 years ago if I wanted to come to Jacksonville to open up a restaurant, and I said Florida! Yeah! But no, it was Illinois, Smiljanich said. So I moved up here and after a year they wanted me to go back to St. Louis. And I said, you know, I think Ill just stay here.

More Information If you have a suggestion about someone who should be profiled, send their name and any contact information available to communitynews@myjournalcourier.com. See More Collapse

At Ponderosa, I would see thousands of people each week and I loved that, Smiljanich said. Thats where I made my friends when I moved here. I also met a lot of people when I helped Barneys Pub to set up their bar food service.

Moving from the bustling restaurant business to the treasurers job was an adjustment, but one that Smiljanich was quickly able to accomplish. His quiet office in the Municipal Building, on the other hand, took some getting used to.

Being in the restaurant business for so long, I really miss people coming in, Smiljanich said. This is not a place where people just drop by.

Smiljanichs day in the treasurers office begins by checking the citys more than 30 bank accounts.

I receive deposits from the city clerks office and take them to the bank, so youve got two people touching the money, the clerks and me, and we verify each other, he said.

Smiljanich meticulously makes receipts for everything and keeps them in a ledger he uses to balance the accounts. One of his primary focuses is putting together a detailed monthly treasurers report for City Council. Smiljanich serves on the Mayors Economic Development Committee for the Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce, administers the citys Revolving Loan Program for local businesses, and oversees the local Tax Increment Financing fund.

Smiljanich is also the ex-officio treasurer of the Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Funds, a job that has gotten more complicated over the years.

That used to be easy, but boy, thats gotten difficult over the years from all of the regulations and requirements, Smiljanich said. The board even hired an attorney several years ago, which has really helped us. But on any given day, I could spend a couple of hours just sorting through stuff I get from the state about pensions.

The two-person treasurers office is also responsible for sending out the citys mail, which on some days might number more than 1,000 letters.

Still, Smiljanichs primary focus is on the taxpayer money the city administers.

I stay close to my banks. I get stuff done through tellers, but I stay really close to the presidents, Smiljanich said. I purchase CDs when we have excess money in the accounts. I try to squeeze every penny I can.

I cant move money, only the mayor and city clerk can do that by statute, Smiljanich said, but I am the check and balance on them.

The most difficult times in the treasurers office are the end of the month, when everything must balance, and the annual audit, when the citys finances are minutely scrutinized by an outside firm.

If theres a discrepancy in an account and you cant find it, thats frustrating. Three cents is harder to find than $100,000, I guarantee you, Smiljanich said. The annual audit is always stressful. You know everythings OK, but one year they ask for one thing and the next year theyll ask for something else. But weve always come through with flying colors.

Smiljanich likes to volunteer in his spare time and was once named the Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerces Volunteer of the Month. He is an avid St. Louis Cardinals fan. His long-time fiancee, Deanna Warbonnet, who also worked in the Municipal Building, died in September.

So City Hall is my family now, Smiljanich said. Its a fun job, I like working with the people here, and I look forward to coming to work.

Smiljanich has run for treasurer four times without opposition. He was reelected this spring and would like to run again in 2025 if my mind is still good.

I hope it means that people trust me and they think I do a good job, Smiljanich said.
GRAFTON  Its perhaps only fitting a museum dedicated to the history of this Jersey County city carries the name of a man who lived, breathed, ate and slept Grafton.

Edward Amburg died in November 2018, before he could see the museum open, but family members of the Grafton native were on hand this month to welcome the Edward Amburg History Museum to the community.

There is nobody here he didnt know, his widow and former Grafton mayor, Bobbie Amburg, said as she looked out over the opening-day crowd.

Grafton Mayor Mike Morrow said the museum is a tribute to one of the citys most vocal supporters, one who was a driving force behind the museums development. Edward Amburg was president of the Grafton Historical Society and also served as a city alderman.

The legacy of Ed Amburg is on graphic display here, Morrow said.

More Information The Edward Amburg History Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. See More Collapse

Nearly 100 people turned out for the opening ceremony and Amburgs name kept coming up as a driving force and inspiration for the museum that bears his name.

The grandkids called him Catfish Ed, said Amburgs son, Chuck Amburg.

Grafton meant everything to my dad. He lived in the same one block area all 83 years of his life. He never left Grafton for more than three days at a time. My dad loved Grafton and always wanted it to prosper.

The history museum was a long time in coming as organizers overcame uncertain funding delays and the pandemic to create a monument to Graftons past. The museum includes the citys great floods history, Native American artifacts, period furnishings and historic watercraft, as well as covers topics such as the Grafton Boat Works and duck hunting.

We are already receiving gifts and donations from the community and outside of the community, Morrow said. One recent donation was an original catalog from the boat works.

The Edward Amburg History Museum is housed in an addition to the Grafton Visitor Center at 950 E. Main St. A $600,000 grant awarded in 2018 by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources helped put the development effort over the top, and when the grant came in, former Mayor Rick Eberlin recalled telling Edward Amburg about it.

I saw Ed at his house a few days before he passed, to tell him the museum was going to happen, Eberlin said. Ed told me, Thats great, but I wont be around to see it. I am glad his family is here to see it today.

The Grafton Historical Society preserved many of the items on display inside the museum, and society historian Flo Rowling said the new facility will help preserve many more things.

We had a lot of delays, but now we have this beautiful building instead of just a room in the visitor center, Rowling said. Edward would be proud. We are getting so many things that could have been lost and we are looking forward to getting more.

Former Grafton Mayor Tom Thompson said the effort to create the Edward Amburg History Museum is typical of the citys community spirit.

The greatest contribution that Grafton made was the tenacity of its citizens, Thompson said, referring to ways in which the city has overcome past challenges. I can think of no other place that I would rather live.
MOSCOW (AP)  Restaurants and cafes in Moscow on Monday began requesting that patrons provide proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test as the Russian capital faces a surge of new infections.

According to a decision by city authorities last week, all Moscow restaurants, cafes and bars must only admit customers who have been vaccinated, have recovered from COVID-19 in the past six months or can provide a negative coronavirus test from the previous 72 hours.

As proof of vaccination for entering a restaurant, customers must visit a government website and get a QR code, a digital pattern designed to be read by a scanner.

Usually at this hour people come at lunch and there are no free tables," said Andrei Popov, a Moscow barkeeper. "Today we had just few visitors, around 10 people. I dont think well have more visitors in the evening as we dont have any reservations for tonight.

In one concession to desperate restaurant owners, the city officials agreed that the QR codes arent needed for the next two weeks at establishments with outdoor terraces. Underage customers wont have to provide documentation if accompanied by their parents.

The new restrictions come as Moscow has registered infection levels on par with last winter and recorded all-time high daily numbers of coronavirus deaths.

The coronavirus situation in Moscow remains extremely difficult, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin told reporters. Over the past week, we have registered new record highs of hospitalizations, ICU patients and coronavirus deaths.

Although Russia was the first country to announce a coronavirus vaccine, only about 14% of the population has received at least one shot of a vaccine.

Officials have blamed widespread skepticism about vaccines, lax attitudes toward taking necessary precautions and a quick spread of more infectious variants.

Amid the surge, 18 Russian regions  from Moscow and St. Petersburg to the remote far-eastern region of Sakhalin  have made vaccinations mandatory this month for employees in certain sectors, such as government offices, retail, health care, education, restaurants and other service industries.

In Moscow, authorities said companies should suspend without pay employees unwilling to get vaccinated, and they threatened to temporarily halt operations of businesses that dont meet the goal of having 60% of staff get at least one vaccine shot by July 15 and both shots by Aug. 15.

Russia's coronavirus task force on Monday reported 21,650 new infections and said 611 people died over the past day. Moscow, the region around the capital and the country's second-largest city of St. Petersburg account for the bulk of infections.

Since the pandemic started, Russia has recorded 5.47 million infection cases and 133,893 deaths.

Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said Monday that the country's health care system has spent more than 1 trillion rubles (about $14 billion) to counter the pandemic.

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Associated Press journalist Kostya Manenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

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Follow APs pandemic coverage at:

https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
LOS ANGELES  Health officials in Los Angeles County are recommending, but not making mandatory that people wear masks indoors in public places regardless of their vaccination status.

The recommendation in the nations most populous county is aimed at preventing the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus.

The county public health department suggests that people wear masks when inside grocery or retail stores as well as at theaters and family entertainment centers and in workplaces when peoples vaccination statuses are not known.

The county experienced a surge in cases and deaths over the winter. To date, the county has recorded a total of 1.2 million coronavirus cases and more than 24,000 deaths from COVID-19.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC

 Australia battles variant clusters; Sydney and Darwin are in lockdown

 Portugal, Spain and Hong Kong announce new restrictions on travelers from Britain

 Post-COVID offices to feature wider hallways, fewer desks

 As variant rises, U.S. vaccine plan targets movable middle

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Follow more of APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

CANBERRA, Australia  Australia has removed age restrictions for adults who want the AstraZeneca vaccine as the delta variant of the coronavirus spreads.

Australian health authorities had initially advised against using AstraZeneca for adults under age 50 and then younger than 60 because of the greater risk of rare blood clots in younger people.

The general leading the Australian militarys pandemic response told Nine Network on Tuesday that increasing the availability of AstraZeneca is a risk-based judgment. Lt. Gen. John Frewen says supplies of Australian-manufactured AstraZeneca are adequate.

Only 5% of the Australian population is fully vaccinated. The only other vaccine available in Australia is Pfizer, but manufacturers cannot meet demand.

The cities of Sydney, Perth and Darwin are in lockdown.

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OKLAHOMA CITY  Oklahoma National Guard troops who have been assisting the states response to the coronavirus pandemic will begin ending their assignment this week.

The State Health Department said that the soldiers will begin transitioning out of the agency beginning Thursday.

Over a 15-month deployment, Guard troops helped sanitize long-term-care facilities, distribute personal protective gear and transport testing specimens and supplies around the state.

Data from Johns Hopkins University shows Oklahomas seven-day rolling average of newly confirmed coronavirus infections increased over the last two weeks, from 120.29 new cases per day on June 12 to 196.43 per day on June 26. The average for COVID-19 deaths increased from 1.29 per day to 4.29.

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MOSCOW  Restaurants and cafes in Moscow on Monday began requesting that patrons provide proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test as the Russian capital faces a surge of new infections.

According to a decision by city authorities last week, all Moscow restaurants, cafes and bars must only admit customers who have been vaccinated, have recovered from COVID-19 in the past six months or can provide a negative coronavirus test from the previous 72 hours.

As proof of vaccination for entering a restaurant, customers must visit a government website and get a QR code, a digital pattern designed to be read by a scanner.

In one concession to desperate restaurant owners, the city officials agreed that the QR codes arent needed for the next two weeks at establishments with outdoor terraces. Underage customers wont have to provide documentation if accompanied by their parents.

The new restrictions come as Moscow has registered infection levels on par with last winter and recorded all-time high daily numbers of coronavirus deaths.

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MADRID  Almost 5,000 people are in quarantine after vacationing high school students triggered a major COVID-19 outbreak on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, a senior official said Monday.

Authorities have confirmed almost 1,200 positive cases from the outbreak, Spains emergency health response coordinator, Fernando Simon said.

The partying teens celebrating the end of their university entrance exams last week created a perfect breeding ground for the virus as they mixed with others from around Spain and abroad, Simon told a news conference.

Mallorca health authorities carried out mass testing on hundreds of students after the outbreak became clear. It is believed to have spread as hundreds of partying students gathered at a concert and street parties.

Officials have so far traced 5,126 travelers to Mallorca. More than 900 COVID-19 cases in eight regions across mainland Spain have been traced back to the outbreak.

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CAPE CANAVERAL Fla.  Disney Cruise Line is postponing its first test cruise since the pandemic brought the cruise industry to a standstill after a handful of participants had inconsistent test results for COVID-19, the company said Monday.

The Disney Dream had been scheduled to set sail Tuesday from Port Canaveral, Florida, with 300 employees who had volunteered for the simulation cruise. But the trip was postponed until next month, pending approvals, because a small number of employees had inconsistent results for COVID-19, which is considered positive by the CDC, Disney said in a statement.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, had approved the cruise lines request to conduct a two-night test cruise.

The federal government is starting to allow cruises to sail again, but only if nearly all passengers and crew are vaccinated against the virus. Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill banning business from requiring proof of vaccination, so cruise lines must prove the effectiveness of their COVID-19 safety protocols on test cruises.

Last weekend, Celebrity Edge departed Fort Lauderdale, Florida, becoming the first cruise ship to leave a U.S. port in 15 months. Saturdays sailing kicked off the cruise lines return to business with Carnival vessels already scheduled to depart from other ports next month.

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Abu Dhabi, the oil-rich capital of the United Arab Emirates, has announced that a wide range of public places will soon be accessible only to those vaccinated against the coronavirus in a bid to encourage more people to get shots.

The Emirati government on Monday said that starting August 20, authorities will begin restricting access to shopping malls, restaurants, cafes, sporting activities, museums, gyms, schools and universities. The unvaccinated will effectively be barred from entering any business in the city except for supermarkets and pharmacies.

Abu Dhabi has already rolled out a green pass system that limits public access to those who have either received the shot or can show a negative virus test.

It comes as the country increasingly bets its economic reopening on its speedy vaccination campaign. The government says at least 93% of Abu Dhabis population has received at least one dose of the vaccine.

The neighboring travel hub of Dubai, home to long-haul carrier Emirates, also has introduced some vaccination restrictions on mass entertainment and sporting events. However, malls and other businesses remain open to the unvaccinated.

The UAE boasts one of the worlds fastest inoculation campaigns, with 15.1 million doses administered to its population of some 9 million. The country has relied heavily on the Chinese state-backed Sinopharm shot.

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JAKARTA, Indonesia  Indonesias President Joko Widodo announced Monday that his government will administer COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as 12 after the countrys Food and Drug Monitoring Agency green-lighted emergency use of the Sinovac vaccine for children.

Widodo said in a video statement that he was grateful that the agency has issued an emergency use of authorization for the Sinovac vaccine so that vaccination for children that age can start immediately.

He has asked authorities to boost the countrys vaccination rollout to two million shots a day by August from the current level of about 1 million a day, as a second wave of infections engulfs Southeast Asia country.

Mondays announcement came a day after health authorities announced the countrys largest one-day jump in new coronavirus infections, the second day in a row, as the Health Ministry reported 21,342 new cases and 409 deaths over the past 24 hours.

The latest tally on Monday showed the countrys total confirmed cases since the pandemic began at more than 2.1 million, the most in Southeast Asia, including confirmed fatalities to more than 57,100.

Authorities have so far only fully vaccinated 13.1 million of Indonesias 270 million people and partially vaccinated another 14.2 million.

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CHARLESTON, W.Va.  Active coronavirus cases in West Virginia have dipped to their lowest levels in 13 months, health officials said Monday.

There were 1,467 active COVID-19 cases statewide as of Sunday, dipping below 1,500 for the first time since May 18, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Resources said in a daily update.

According to the state COVID-19 dashboard, the number of confirmed daily cases has surpassed 100 once since May 29 and only once above 50 since June 16.

About 63% of residents ages 12 and up have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine and about 53% are fully vaccinated.

The virus has caused 2,878 deaths in West Virginia, including two reported on Monday.

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PORTLAND, Maine  Maines emergency order about the coronavirus pandemic is entering its final days.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills says she will end the state of civil emergency order she instituted in the pandemic's early days.

The ordered has allowed Mills to use state resources to try to control the spread of the virus in Maine. Republicans and Democrats have sparred for months about whether the emergency order has gone on for too long.

Republicans have also charged that the order gave Mills too much authority and future orders should be more limited. Mills and other Democrats have said it played a key role in reducing the states burden from coronavirus.

Mills said earlier in June that ending the emergency order is a key milestone and it reflects that Maine people have persevered, and, although challenges remain, we will get through them together just as we did this past year.

The states number of daily new cases of coronavirus has fallen below two dozen.

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark  Sweden will soon allow bars and restaurants to seat more people and stay open longer.

As of Thursday, life can start to go on a little more as it was before the pandemic, Social Affairs Minister Lena Hallengren said.

Starting July 1, eateries and cafes can seat up to 300 indoors and 3,000 outside and remain open after 10:30 p.m. The country has been gradually easing virus restrictions since June 1.

Johan Carlson, head of Swedens Public Health Agency said that together, we have succeeded in pushing back the spread of COVID-19 in our country.

The Scandinavian country has stood out among European nations for its comparatively hands-off response to the pandemic. It has not gone into lockdowns or closed businesses, relying instead on citizens sense of civic duty to control infections.

The country has seen more than a million cases and 14,619 deaths.

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ISLAMABAD  Pakistan on Monday says it will ease several COVID-19 related restrictions from next month for those people who have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus.

According to a government announcement, indoor dining will be allowed at restaurants starting Thursday for only vaccinated people.

It said shrines, cinemas and marriage halls, which were shut in November amid a surge in cases, will also be allowed to reopen for those who have been vaccinated against coronavirus.

The government has also allowed 100 percent attendance at government and private offices starting Thursday.

The latest development comes hours after Pakistan reported one of the lowest single-day deaths from coronavirus since earlier this year.

So far, Pakistan has partially or fully has vaccinated about 14 million of its 220 million residents. The country has reported 955,657 cases among 222,31 deaths from COVID-19 so far.

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HONG KONG  Hong Kong says it will ban all passenger flights from the U.K. starting Thursday as it seeks to curb the spread of new variants of the coronavirus.

It said in a statement Monday that the U.K. has been classified as extremely high risk because of the recent rebound of the epidemic situation in the U.K. and the widespread delta variant virus strain there.

Under the classification, people who have stayed in the U.K. for more than two hours will be restricted from boarding passenger flights to Hong Kong.

It is the second time that the Hong Kong government has banned flights from the U.K., following a restriction imposed last December.

The ban comes amid heightened tensions between the U.K. and China over semi-autonomous Hong Kong, which was a British colony until it was handed over to China in 1997.

Spain and Portugal also announced Monday that they are imposing a two week quarantine on U.K. travelers unless they can show they are fully vaccinated. Arrivals from Brazil, India and South Africa come under the same rule.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The U.S. military, under the direction of President Joe Biden, conducted airstrikes Sunday against what it said were facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups near the border between Iraq and Syria.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the militias were using the facilities to launch unmanned aerial vehicle attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq.

Kirby said the U.S. military targeted three operational and weapons storage facilities  two in Syria and one in Iraq.

He described the airstrikes as defensive, saying they were launched in response to the attacks by Iran-backed groups.

The United States took necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation  but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message, Kirby said.

Sunday's strikes mark the second time the Biden administration has taken military action in the region. In February, the U.S. launched airstrikes against facilities in Syria, near the Iraqi border, that it said were used by Iranian-backed militia groups.

The Pentagon said those strikes were retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq in February that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. service member and other coalition troops.

At that time, Biden said Iran should view his decision to authorize U.S. airstrikes in Syria as a warning that it can expect consequences for its support of militia groups that threaten U.S. interests or personnel.

You cant act with impunity. Be careful, Biden said when a reporter asked what message he had intended to send.

On Sunday, Kirby said Biden "has been clear that he will act to protect U.S. personnel. Given the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting U.S. interests in Iraq, the President directed further military action to disrupt and deter such attacks."

The Pentagon spokesman added: As a matter of international law, the United States acted pursuant to its right of self-defense. The strikes were both necessary to address the threat and appropriately limited in scope.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Sunday that the U.S. airstrikes appear to be a targeted and proportional response to a serious and specific threat, adding, Protecting the military heroes who defend our freedoms is a sacred priority."
In Zola, Janicza Bravos cinema of life at high volume View Photo

NEW YORK (AP)  Its not easy to put a finger on Janicza Bravos cinema. In describing her work, which now encompasses nine shorts and two feature films, including the new film Zola, you want to use words like surreal, disturbing, satirical, absurd, otherworldly.

These are all very good, sexy words to me, Bravo says, laughing.

Zola, which A24 will release in theaters Wednesday, is the most vivid look yet at the 40-year-old Bravo as an emergent filmmaker. The film, which first debuted back at Sundance in January 2020, is one of the most anticipated of the summer. Its very possibly the first feature film adapted from a Twitter thread  an infamous, mostly true 148-tweet tale from 2015 in which AZiah Zola King unloaded about a Florida road trip to a strip club that goes harrowingly south.

In Bravos hands, the viral tweet storm is a Wizard of Oz-like fairy tale that turns nightmare  a hallucinogenic but clear-eyed adventure through sex work, social media, race and violence thats both fantastical and darkly real. Comedy and horror intertwine. So do movies and the internet.

I think it very much still is a ride, says Bravo. I just dont know if its always a pleasant one.

For even some of Bravos closest collaborators, explaining the feeling and style of Bravos disorienting, dreamlike movies can be tricky. Midway through making Zola, her production designer, Katie Byron, turned to her and asked if Bravo had done a lot of ketamine.

Im unfortunately a little straight edge, says Bravo. Im just very attracted to creating work that feels a little larger than life. Its just next to it. Its something kind of familiar but we go to 11.

Bravos life at high volume filmmaking has drawn widespread admirers. Her second short, 2013s Gregory Goes Boom, starred Michael Cera as an embittered paraplegic. Jeremy O. Harris, the Slave Play playwright, happened to see it at Sundance and fell in love with it. At the time, he figured Bravo, from her name, was Polish. Bravo was, in fact, born in New York but raised in Panama before moving to Brooklyn when she was 12. Her parents were both tailors, a source of Bravos stylishness.

The thing that I loved about that film then and about all of her films since is that she has this very sly, chaotic way of dealing with the darkest truths of American history while making you laugh throughout it, Harris said while nursing a hangover and picking up smoothies after a celebratory Zola screening in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Harris became friends with Bravo about seven years ago. When the possibility of making Zola came up, Bravo asked him to write it with her. For Harris, Zola represents more than your average Hollywood breakthrough.

This is a moment of profound catching up, says Harris. The work that shes been doing has been so consist that I think people didnt have a Rosetta Stone for the language she was speaking in. Were not used to hearing a Black woman speak in languages this complex inside independent cinema.

Zola was originally set up with James Franco directing. That version of the film, the filmmakers say, was a more carefree romp. Bravo and Harris approached Kings Twitter thread  a colorfully told, often funny tale that brought phrases like vibing over our hoeism into the lexicon  with more reverence. To Bravo and Harris, the thread was a modern-day Homeric epic. They wanted to ground the film in Zolas perspective and capture the way Black women can be treated as disposable, and the traumatic fallout of white appropriation of Blackness.

When Janicza came on board, it became more about my voice, says King, whos an executive producer on the film. Her tweets have been published in a cloth-bound hardcover.

In the film, Zola (played by Taylour Paige) is a Detroit waitress whose newfound friend, a customer she waits on, Stefani (Riley Keough), urges her to come along on a weekend in Florida to party and make money stripping. Keough plays Stefani as mimicking Zola by immediately adopting her mannerisms and phrases. For Harris, its a kind of blackface without the makeup; one scene he compares to Spike Lees Bamboozled. We watch as Stefani drags Zola into a hellish situation.

Zola turns the camera around on whiteness. Its a theme found throughout Bravos work, including her previous feature Lemon (about an aggressively unappealing failed actor, made with ex-husband and frequent collaborator Brett Gelman); and a series shes currently developing with Jake Gyllenhaal as Dan Mallory, pen name A.J. Finn, the bestselling novelist who was found to have fabricated a brain tumor and a tragic past for himself. For Bravo, whiteness is often treated as invisible and neutral. Her experience is the opposite.

I wanted to be in conversation with whiteness and I wanted to talk to that because I hadnt really seen anyone doing that, especially in comedy, says Bravo. Usually when things were about race, they were explicitly about race. And I am interested about folding race into my everyday circumstance. That is how it for me. Its my own processing of feeling limited or feeling less than and what it is to wear this skin and wear this body.

But Zola  still a ride, remember  cloaks its thoughtful mediations. Throughout the movie, whenever a bit of dialogue matches Kings tweets, a Twitter ding sounds like slot-machine chimes. Its a touch King considers priceless.

When I watch the film, its kind of a time-traveling moment. Its like I suddenly forget where I am and Im back in 2015. She really paints that image, says King. The movie, it feels like Twitter. I dont know how to explain that, but it does. From the quotes to the chimes to the lighting, it feels like youre in the internet.

Whether because of her identity, international childhood or artistic instincts, Bravos knack for making the familiar seem foreign seems perfectly matched for Zola, a movie with one foot in real life and another in a strange, ethereal digital reality. The movie, she says, is a love letter to the storys birthplace: the internet.

Why it was being made was because the internet said it had to be, says Bravo. It was this kind of theater event in October of 2015. This audience showed up to it and they clamored and they catapulted it. And that day ended with the period of: This has to be made into a movie. And then it was.

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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

By JAKE COYLE

AP Film Writer
President Joe Biden View Photo

President Joe Biden was in Raleigh, North Carolina, delivering a message on the importance of getting vaccinated.

Biden was Mondays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Here are his words:

Let me remind everybody: We lost 600,000 dead in America in about a year. Thats more than every life lost in World War One, World War Two, the Vietnam War, Iraq, Iran, across the board  Afghanistan. More lives lost in a year than every major war in the 20th century and the 21st century. And guess what, folks? Thereve been lives lost all around the world.

And, America, I might say  this is not  I didnt plan on saying this, but Im going anyway: We have an obligation in the United States of America to live up to who we are. America is the only  is a unique nation. Were the only nation formed based on an idea  an idea, not an ethnicity, not an ideology, not a  idea: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men and women are created equal, et cetera.

Well, heres the deal. Heres the deal. There are over 100 countries in the world that have no capacity to help themselves right now. None.

And thats why  I got somewhat criticized, but thats why Ive worked so darn hard  after being able to nail down, in the first 100 days, over 60 [600] million doses of vaccine for Americans, I went to Europe to meet what they call the G7 and then with NATO and then with the EU. And I promised that the United States, in the remainder of this year and the first half of next year, is going to provide a billion doses to the rest of the world. (Applause.) A billion doses.

Half a billion of those will be done between now and January and the first half of next year.

The point being: I wanted the nation to reflect what you all reflect. Everyone in this room, theres everything  you  I want to thank you for all youre doing. But the rest of the world is in trouble as well. We have to look out for one another. We really do.

And what youre doing here  going back to the United States  nonprofits directing folks to where to go; houses of worship opening on-site vaccination for congregants; my friend Reverend Barber is here, as I said, and countless faith leaders who are truly doing Gods work; college students providing rides for seniors.

So, whats happening in America is what America is all about. Thats what the rest of world is looking at: Are we what we advertise ourselves to be? Its because of people like you, here in Raleigh and in communities across America, that were going to win this fight.

Look at the progress we made so far. Today, 66 percent of all American adults have gotten at least one shot. That includes 87 percent of all seniors of all colors; 75 percent of adults ages 40 and up have gotten a shot; and 70 percent of those age 30 and up.

Nationwide, were seeing the lowest number of daily cases and deaths since the first day of the pandemic. And weve built equity into the heart of the vaccination program. I put together a vaccination team, headed by a really bright guy, and we put together a group of 23 doctors. And what they did was we had one doc who does nothing but deal with equity  access for people.

Theres a reason why its been harder to get African Americans, initially, to get vaccinated: because theyre used to be experimented on  the Tuskegee Airmen and others. People have memories. People have long memories.

Its awful hard, as well, to get Latinx vaccinated as well. Why? Theyre worried that theyll be vaccinated and deported.

So, look, from day one, something that Governor Cooper has been totally focused on is making sure we get as many people vaccinated, particularly people who dont have access to healthcare usually; who dont have ordinary  dont have doctors or family physicians, et cetera.

Seventy three percent of the shots administered at community health centers through the federal program we have and more than 58 percent of the shots administered in federally-run vaccination sites have gone to people of color. It makes a gigantic difference.

And across the nation, people of color have accounted for more than half of all the vaccinations in the last month. The more we close the racial gap in vaccination rates, the more lives we can save. And if I can  (applause).

And if I can pause for one second: Thats why Ive called for spending billions of dollars at NIH focusing on new ways to deal with obesity, diabetes, Alzheimers, and cancer. Focused just on those diseases  money that private drug companies dont have the money to invest in or the inclination to. Because guess what? In most Black communities across America and Hispanic communities, how many stores have fresh vegetables? How many stores have a  Ill go down the list. It matters. The health condition a person enters this fight over makes a big difference as to what, in fact, is going to be able to be done.

Here in North Carolina, my administration provided $105 million from the emergency man-  Federal Emergency Management Agency  FEMA  to help get people vaccinated. Working with the governor and the mayors and county officials across the state, there are 240 personnel in the Tar Heel State just to put the needle in somebodys arm.

This has been a gigantic  a gigantic logistical challenge not just in North Carolina, but all across America. More than 660 National Guard members have supported the COVID-19 response here in North Carolina. Over in Greensboro, we stood up the federal vaccination site that alone has administered 135,000 shots.

The governor and I visited one of the mobile units youre deploying to meet people where they live. And as a result of these efforts statewide, case deaths are down over 90 percent in the last five months.

All of this is great news. But heres the deal: For all the progress weve made as a country, hospitalizations and deaths are down drastically in places where people are getting vaccinated. The data couldnt be clearer: If youre vaccinated  if youre vaccinated, youre safe. You are still at risk of getting seriously ill or dying if you, in fact, have not been vaccinated. Thats just a fact.

And this new, dangerous variant that continues to emerge  its now the most common variant in America and here. And unvaccinated people are incredibly vulnerable. This is a serious concern with what experts call the Delta variant. It is not only  according to the CDC, between 10 to 20 percent of all cases in the last two weeks have been the Delta variant.

Dr. Fauci has made it clear  he and my wife have been traveling the country to make this case  that its more easily transmittable, this Delta variant, potentially deadlier, and especially dangerous for young people  for young people. He says its the greatest threat to our fight to beat COVID-19.

But the good news is, we have a solution. The science is clear. The best way to protect yourself against the virus and its variants is to be fully vaccinated. It works. Its free. Its safe. Its easy. Its convenient.

Over 150 million Americans have gotten fully vaccinated and theyre safe and protected now, including against the Delta variant. Theyre getting back to living their lives and spending time with their loved ones. But we need more people to get fully vaccinated to finish the job. Thats why Im here.

I called for June to be the Month of Action to get folks vaccinated so we can all enjoy a Fourth of July with our independence from the virus  from the virus. (Applause.)

If youre already vaccinated, make sure your family and friends are vaccinated. Help them make a plan to get vaccinated.

If youve gotten your first shot, make sure you get your second one to be fully protected. (Applause.) Its a big deal.

And if youre not vaccinated, dont put it off any longer. Just do it. Just do it. (Applause.) And its never been easier. Its never been easier to do it.

Text your Zip Code to 438829  438829. And, immediately, it will pop to find the vaccination sites closest to you. And hardly anyone is beyond five miles from a potential site.

Get a free ride to and from your vaccination sites. I want to publicly thank  when I asked for help, both Lyft or Uber said between the time  this last month to July 4th, theyll provide a ride free to and from. Theyll wait and take you back home. (Applause.)

Thousands of pharmacies are offering no-appointment, walk-in vaccinations. More than 1,400 pharmacies are in North Carolina that do that. Theyve already administered over 2.2 million shots  these pharmacies. Many of them are open 24 hours on Fridays.

So, go tomorrow if youve not gotten it done. Or when youre going out, knocking on doors, tell them, Tomorrow, 24 hours, a majority of these drugstores are open. Get it done. Get it done. And they get it done at their convenience.

And if you still have questions, thats okay. Talk to people who you know who have gotten the shot. Thats what you guys are out there  going to be doing, knocking on doors. Talk to your doctor or your health provider. If you dont have one, physicians know its the right choice to get vaccinated to protect themselves, their patients, and their communities.

And listen to North Carolinas own Dr. Kizzy Corbett, you know, from Hurdle Mills, just about an hour north from here. Shes a scientist at NIH that I met several weeks ago who helped develop the COVID-19 vaccine  (applause)  a vaccine that was developed after decades of research under Republican and Democratic administrations.

As I said, I met her earlier this year during a tour of the NIH Vaccine Research Center where this all happened. Shes incredible.

Folks, there is no reason to leave yourself vulnerable to the deadly virus for one single day more. And as they say in my church, Im preaching to the choir, I know. (Laughter.) But the television is recording this. (Laughter.)

Make the case. Let people know getting vaccinated is not only maybe going to save their lives, but save their mother, their father, their child, their son, their daughter, their coworker.

So, please, please get vaccinated. And lets everyone do our part. Lets everyone do it.

This weekend, we will be hosting another nationwide canvassing event where volunteers like you are going to knock on doors and talk to their friends and neighbors and help finish the job of getting America vaccinated.

This weekend, well be hosting another nationwide canvassing event where volunteers like you are going to knock on doors and talk to friends and neighbors to help finish the job of getting America vaccinated.

To join that effort, I say to the people watching this because these people have already joined the effort: To join that effort, please visit WeCanDoThis.HHS.governor [sic]  .gov, excuse me  WeCanDoThis.HHS.gov. Sign up. Get involved.

We can do this. We really can do this.

Let me close where I began. To all of you here today who are about to head out and canvass your communities: Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I genuinely mean it.

But just listen, again, to Ive  graduated from Apex Friendship High, just finished her first year in school. Shes been spending her summer doing door-to-door  going door to help get people vaccinated to stay safe.

And Ill bet what she had to say, when asked, is what a lot of you think as well. She said, quote  I hope you dont mind my repeating this, Ive  but she said, quote, Reaching out and giving back to the community is everything. I like to sayI dont dream of having a dream job or a dream career, but I dream of truly helping people in the best way I canthats my life goal.

This can be among one of the most important things you do. I really mean it. And again, remember  I think youre probably the least ones that have to remember  remember: 600,000-plus Americans have died. Six hundred thousand-plus Americans have died.

This Delta variant  you know theres going to be others as well. You know whats going to happen. Weve got to get our young people vaccinated.

So, talk to those moms when you knock on the door. Tell them about  tell them about why its so important to get their children.

You may remember, I got widely criticized when I suggested we keep dropping the age of people eligible for vaccinations. Its been based on the science. I didnt do anything based on a whim. The science, the tests show that.

And whats going to happen here, I predict, as soon as we go from temporary approval to permanent approval  which just takes time; its not that its (inaudible) is there  its going to increase the number of people willing to move as well.

So, Ive, thank you for representing the best of us. Thank all of you for representing the best of us. Youve all got the whole world in front of you. And, you know, its because of  its because of people like Ive and all of you why I have so much faith in the future.

Im not being  you know, if you notice, Ive been unfairly criticized for being optimistic. Ive been fairly criticized because I think we can actually pull people together. I ran  when I ran for President, I ran for three reasons. I said, one, is restore the soul of America  just basic decency, looking out for one another. (Applause.)

And, two, because we had to rebuild the backbone of this country that had been so damaged, which is the middle class  (applause)  working-class folks and middle-class folks. It was about time to build the economy from the middle up and out and from the middle class up. Thats what we have to do.

Folks, lets really let this be the summer of joy and freedom. Let it really happen. Lets celebrate the Fourth of July with the independence from the virus. We can get this done. We  no, we really can get this done, and we really can do it.

But you know what? I said the third reason I was running was to unify the country. (Applause.) Well, folks, its never been as divided as it is today  never been as divided as it is today, since the Civil War.

And, folks, its such a waste of talent, such a waste of time. And the rest of the world is looking at us. The rest of the world is wondering whether or not can we really lead the world again. The last four years have been devastating to our leadership around the world. (Applause.) Im not making  but its true.

But heres the way we lead: Like you always lead  those who lead better than I and others  you lead by example, and the example is twofold. And Ill end with this. One is making sure we do everything in our power to walk that extra mile, to knock on that door, to pick up the phone, to actually pull up in your own vehicle and take someone who needs to get to a vaccination site. Convince them. Let them know why its so important. Let them know. Because people  people respond to individual relationships, even new ones. I got it. My brother got it. My sister got it. I took my daughter, and she got it, et cetera.

And secondly, let the world know that when it comes down to lifesaving initiatives, no matter where they are  but they come from us  we should share them with the world  the whole world. Were even giving some of these vaccines to nations that are not our friends because the people are not the ones who are not our friends  the leadership.

So, folks, theres a lot we can do. As I said, I have faith in your generation. The reason Im so optimistic is because youre the most incredible generation in American history. Im not being solicitous. Number one, youre the least prejudiced generation in history, number one. (Applause.)

Number two, you volunteer than most  any other generation, including my vaulted generation of the 60s. (Laughter.) You  no, I mean it. We are proud of what we did, but you volunteer.

Number three, youre the best-educated generation in the history of America. (Applause.)

And I believe our dealing with equity is only the beginning as it relates to vaccine. The first executive order I signed was insisting that every one of my Cabinet members focus on racial equity  (applause)  because we have a  we have a chance  we have a chance to make significant change in this country, and its going to come from what you guys do. I really mean it. I cant thank you enough.

Sorry to take so much of your time, but God bless you all. And may God protect our troops. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you.

The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML.
State Capitol In Sacramento View Photo

Sacramento, CA  The latest budget proposal being negotiated by Governor Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders includes $1,100 rebate checks for most taxpayers and money to allow kids as young as four to attend kindergarten.

It also includes $1-billion to fight wildfires and $3-billion to combat drought. Specific details regarding how the money would be spent on those intiatives are unclear, however. The budget includes $1.3 billion in funding for healthcare for low-income illegal immigrants over the age of 50. Currently, those under 26 are eligible for the healthcare program. Most state workers are anticipated to receive a raise, but details were also not yet released, as lawmakers have been negotiating with labor unions.

The Associated Press reports the broad spending agreement is for $262-billion. Governor Gavin Newsom has not yet commented on it.

The state Senate and Assembly passed a budget earlier this month in order to meet a Constitutional deadline to still get a paycheck. It did not have the approval of Newsom.

Bills related to the new state budget were filed in the state legislature late Friday, and a vote may take place later this week.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Ark. (AP)  A man wanted for shooting and wounding a North Texas police officer earlier this month was arrested Thursday at an Arkansas motel, authorities said.

Royce Wood, 43, is accused of opening fire June 13 on two police officers from the city of Rhome after they pulled his motorcycle over in nearby New Fairview, located about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Fort Worth. He was suspected in a home invasion that had occurred the day before.

Lane Akin, the sheriff of Wise County in Texas, said Wood and his girlfriend, Tiffany Caswell, 32, were arrested in Arkansas by local authorities and U.S. Marshals. The Stone County sheriff's office in Arkansas said Wood and Caswell were arrested in the city of Mountain View.

We are tremendously relieved to know that these two, especially Wood, is in custody, Akin said. Because we know that Wood had made several threats against law enforcement, and he had intent, according to statements that hes made, that he was planning to hurt more law enforcement officers.

He said Wood faces two charges of aggravated assault on a public servant for opening fire on the officers. Both Wood and Caswell face a charge of aggravated robbery for the home invasion.

Both Caswell and Wood entered the house with weapons, threatened the occupants, and then stole several items, televisions and other electronics, Akin said.

Akin said that the officer was shot in the lower leg and has since been released from the hospital.

Wood and Caswell are being held in the jail in Stone County, Arkansas, while they await extradition. Jail records did not list attorneys for either of them.

___

This story has been updated to correct that Royce Wood and Tiffany Caswell were were arrested in Mountain View, not Batesville.
STOCKHOLM (AP)  Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven is resigning after losing a confidence vote last week and he called on the countrys parliamentary speaker on Monday to try to form a new government instead of holding an early election.

Lofven, who has been premier since 2014 and heads the Social Democratic Party, became the first Swedish leader ever to lose a confidence vote in parliament. He didn't call for an early election as the Swedish Constitution allows him to. He is formally stepping down, but will continue in a caretaker role until a new government can be formed.

A snap election is not what is best for Sweden, Lofven said. The speaker will now begin work on proposing a prime minister who can be tolerated by the Riksdag (the assembly). The government will continue to govern the country for now but as the caretaking government.

The parliament speaker since 2018, Andreas Norlen, will ask party leaders who may be able to form a government. He alone decides which of the party leaders can begin these talks.

It is expected that Lofven, who heads Swedens largest party with 100 of Riksdagens 349 seats, will start these talks. His Cabinet, a Social Democratic-Green coalition, is a minority government that has relied on votes from the small Left Party to pass laws.

The no-confidence motion against Lofven was called by the nationalist Sweden Democrats party  which has been criticizing the Social Democratic Party for years  but it ultimately succeeded because the Left Party withdrew its support from the government over proposed legislation to tackle a housing shortage. Lawmakers voted 181-109 against Lofven, with 51 abstentions.

The political situation in Sweden now seems deadlocked.

Lofven has been able to get the Left Party back as an ally but the small Liberals, which earlier supported the Social Democratic-led government, now want a center-right government. The Conservatives, meanwhile, still want a Lofven at the helm but doesnt want to made deals with the Sweden Democrats or the left-leaning Left Party.

In the center-right bloc, the Moderates, Swedens second largest party, wants its leader Ulf Kristersson as prime minister.

The last time coalition talks took place in Sweden was following the 2018 election that created a deadlocked parliament. It took four months of negotiations to produce a government that Lofven presented in January 2019.

Norlen told Swedish broadcaster SVT that the different parties now know where the others stand" and promised that government formation talks would be faster this time.

Jenny Madestam, a political analyst with the Swedish Defense University, also believes it will be faster this time because we are in the pandemic crisis still and also because we have this experience now from the autumn in 2018, Madestam told The Associated Press. Nothing has changed in the parliament, actually."

In the present assembly, the left-leaning side and the center-right bloc have about 40% of the vote each.

None of the sides want to cooperate with the Sweden Democrats, a right-wing populist party that is considered extreme.

In Sweden, the next general election will be held on Sept. 11.

Lofven, 63, said he was ready to head a government if that is what the Riksdagen wants.

My party is ready to shoulder the responsibility to continue to lead our country forward together with other constructive forces, he said.
TEXARKANA, Ark. (AP)  A 37-year-old man was fatally shot by a Texarkana, Arkansas, police officer when he charged at officers with an object in his hand and threatened them, according to police.

One officer opened fire, shooting Don Crowson as Crowson approached the officers Saturday night with the object, yelling he was going to kill them, according to a statement by the police department.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP)  The first cruise ship to leave a U.S. port since the coronavirus pandemic brought the industry to a 15-month standstill sailed away on Saturday with nearly all vaccinated passengers on board.

Celebrity Edge departed Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at 6 p.m. with the number of passengers limited to about 40% capacity, and with nearly all 1,100 passengers vaccinated against COVID-19. Celebrity Cruises, one of Royal Caribbean Cruise's brands, says 99% of the passengers are vaccinated, well over the 95% requirement imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A giant greeting was projected on a wall of one of the port buildings: "Someday is here. Welcome back."

Passengers arrived with matching T-shirts that read phrases such as straight outta vaccination and vaccinated and ready to cruise."

Words cant describe how excited we are to be a part of this historic sailing today, said Elizabeth Rosner, 28, who moved from Michigan to Orlando, Florida, in December 2019 with her fiance just to be close to the cruise industrys hub.

To comply with both the CDCs requirement and a new Florida law banning businesses from requiring customers to show proof of vaccination, Celebrity Cruises asked guests if they would like to share their vaccination status. Those who did not show or say they are vaccinated face additional restrictions.

Saturdays sailing kicks off the cruise lines return to business with Carnival vessels already scheduled to depart from other ports next month.

This is an emotional day for me. When I stepped on board the ship, I was proud. Its a beautiful ship, said Royal Caribbean Cruises CEO Richard Fain, after expressing condolences to the victims of the Surfside building collapse, less than 15 miles (about 24 kilometers) south of the port.

Celebrity Cruises had unveiled the $1 billion boat in December 2018  betting on luxury cruising, offering a giant spa and multifloor suites. The seven-night cruise will sail for three days in the Western Caribbean waters before making stops in Costa Maya, Cozumel and Nassau.

The ship is led by Capt. Kate McCue, the first American woman to captain a cruise ship, who has more than 1 million followers on TikTok.

You can truly feel the palpable sense of excitement and energy amongst the group as we prepare for our welcoming of our first guests, McCue said. I've never honestly seen a group so excited to get back to work.

Industry officials are hoping all goes smooth to move past a chapter last year of deadly outbreaks on cruise ships that prompted ships to be rejected at ports and passengers to be forced into quarantine. Some passengers died of COVID-19 at sea while others fell so ill they had to be carried out of the vessels on stretchers.

The CDC extended no-sail orders repeatedly last year as the pandemic raged, and came up with strict requirements for the industry that have already been contested in court by the state of Florida. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says the industry generates billions for the state's economy.

On Saturday, officials at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale said only that port lost more than $30 million in revenue in fiscal year 2020 from the cruise shutdown.

During that hiatus, Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean, the three largest cruise companies, have had to raise more than $40 billion in financing just to stay afloat. Collectively they lost $20 billion last year and another $4.5 billion in the first quarter of 2021, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

The pandemic forced Kurt and Carol Budde to cancel their beach celebration wedding aboard the world's largest ship, Symphony of the Seas, in March 2020. COVID-19 halted cruising six days before they were scheduled to tie the knot in St. Maarten. Kurt Budde's part-time gig as a travel agent also dried up.

It's a honeymoon make-up cruise, said Kurt Budde, sporting matching shirts with the phrase On Cruise Control."

We are living our best lives post COVID today," he said.
San Antonio-based USAA is facing calls to stop advertising on Fox News after Tucker Carlson called the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff a "pig" and "stupid," among other insults.

In a June 25 segment discussing critical race theory, Carlson takes aim at Gen. Mark Milley, a Trump appointee, after the general appeared in front of Congress last week.

"I do think it's important for those of us in uniform to be open minded and be widely read," Milley told members of the House Armed Services Committee. "I want to understand white rage and I'm white. I want to understand it. So what is it that caused thousands of people to assault this [U.S. Capitol] and try to overturn the U.S. Constitution."

READ MORE: San Antonio-based USAA announces major expansion to North Carolina

After airing that clip, Carlson, who has never served in the military, added: "Hard to believe that man wears a uniform. He's that unimpressive."

During the 10-minute segment, Carlson also attacks Milley's bravery, intelligence, and respectability before adding: "[Milley's] not just a pig, he's stupid." Gen. Milley went to Princeton. Carlson went to Trinity College, a liberal arts college in Connecticut.

In the aftermath of Carlson's attack, USAA has faced increasing pressure from some customers to remove advertising from Fox News. As the Express-News points out, USAA's more than 13 million members are exclusively military personnel, veterans, and their families, which puts the insurance provider in a particularly precarious situation.

According to the Express-News, USAA was not immediately available to comment.
Last year, the Fourth of July in San Antonio was quite grim.

Due to the rise of the coronavirus pandemic, the city cancelled the official Fourth of July celebration at Woodlawn Lake Park and prohibited more than 10 people from congregating in any city park or plaza.
SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP)  Rescuers searching for a fifth day for survivors of a Florida condo building collapse used bucket brigades and heavy machinery Monday as they worked atop a precarious mound of pulverized concrete, twisted steel and the remnants of dozens of households.

Authorities said their efforts were still a search-and-rescue operation, but no one has been found alive since hours after the collapse on Thursday. Two more bodies were recovered Monday, bringing the confirmed death toll to 11. They were later identified as 50-year-old Frank Kleiman and 50-year-old Michael David Altman in a Miami-Dade Police news release that also named 52-year-old Marcus Joseph Guara as one of the bodies recovered on Saturday. More than 150 others are still missing in the community of Surfside, just outside Miami.

The pancake collapse of the building left layer upon layer of intertwined debris, frustrating efforts to reach anyone who may have survived in a pocket of space.

Every time theres an action, theres a reaction, Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah said during a news conference. Its not an issue of we could just attach a couple of cords to a concrete boulder and lift it and call it a day." Some of the concrete pieces are smaller, the size of basketballs or baseballs.

Underscoring the risks of the work, he noted that families who rode buses to visit the site on Sunday witnessed a rescuer tumble 25 feet down the pile. Workers and victims must both be considered, he said.

Its going to take time," he said. Its not going to happen overnight. Its a 12-story building.

Relatives continued their visits on Monday. From outside a neighboring building, more than two dozen family members watched teams of searchers excavate the building site. Some held onto each other for support. Others hugged and prayed. Some people took photos.

The intense effort includes firefighters, sniffer dogs and search experts using radar and sonar devices.

Early Monday, a crane lifted a large slab of concrete from the debris pile, enabling about 30 rescuers in hard hats to move in and carry smaller pieces of debris into red buckets, which are emptied into a larger bin for a crane to remove. The work has been complicated by intermittent rain showers, but the fires that hampered the initial search have been extinguished.

Jimmy Patronis, Floridas chief financial officer and state fire marshal, said it was the largest deployment of such resources in Florida history that was not due to a hurricane. He said the same number of people were on the ground in Surfside as during Hurricane Michael, a devastating Category 5 hurricane that hit 12 counties in 2018.

Theyre working around the clock, Patronis said. "Theyre working 12 hours at a time, midnight to noon to midnight.

Andy Alvarez, a deputy incident commander with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, told ABCs Good Morning America that rescuers have been able to find some voids, or spaces, inside the wreckage, mostly in the basement and the parking garage.

We have been able to tunnel through the building, Alvarez said. This is a frantic search to seek that hope, that miracle, to see who we can bring out of this building alive."

Others who have seen the wreckage up close were daunted by the task ahead. Alfredo Lopez, who lived with his wife in a sixth-floor corner apartment and narrowly escaped, said he finds it hard to believe anyone is alive in the rubble.

"If you saw what I saw: nothingness. And then, you go over there and you see, like, all the rubble. How can somebody survive that? Lopez told The Associated Press.

Authorities on Monday insisted they are not losing hope.

Were going to continue and work ceaselessly to exhaust every possible option in our search," Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Monday.

Deciding to transition from search-and-rescue work to a recovery operation is agonizing, said Dr. Joseph A. Barbera, a professor at George Washington University. That decision is fraught with considerations, he said, that only those on the ground can make.

Barbera coauthored a study examining disasters where some people survived under rubble for prolonged periods of time. He has also advised teams on where to look for potential survivors and when to conclude that the probability of continued survival is very, very small.

Its an incredibly difficult decision, and Ive never had to make that decision, Barbera said.

As time goes on, he said, teams will begin a process called "rapid delayering, where you take more risk by moving larger amounts of rubble, because you recognize youre running up against the time factor for survival.

How long a person can survive depends on a host of issues, including the availability of water, the severity of any injuries and the degree to which they are trapped, Barbera said.

The human dimension is huge -- the uncertainty that you could be leaving someone alive behind by ending too early, Barbera said. Families continue to have hope, as do rescuers, which is why you continue to see them pushing so hard within these difficult conditions.

The ultimate decision to move into the recovery phase, he said, will have to be made "with the involvement of the political authority because theyre the ultimate authority over this.

The building collapsed just days before a deadline for condo owners to start making steep payments toward more than $9 million in repairs that had been recommended nearly three years earlier, in a report that warned of major structural damage."

A federal team of scientists and engineers are conducting a preliminary investigation at the site and will determine whether to launch a full probe of what caused the building to come down. The National Institute of Standards and Technology also investigated disasters such as the collapse of the twin towers on 9/11, Hurricane Marias devastation in Puerto Rico and a Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed 100 people. Previous investigations have taken years to complete.

___

Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami, Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Bobby Caina Calvan in Tallahassee, Florida; Julie Walker in New York and others from around the United States contributed to this report.
Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

Toyota leads donations to Republican members of Congress who voted against the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election results in January, according to a new report from Axios.

The automotive company has given a total of 37 separate times for a total of $55,000 donated since January 6, 2021, the day of insurrection on the U.S Capitol. The company donated nearly twice as much (and to nearly five times more members of Congress) than the No. 2 top giver, Cubic Corp., a defense contractor based in San Diego.
In 1933, a group of workers were building a bridge over the Songhua River near Harbin, China, when they made an unexpected discovery: a fossilized human skull that appeared to be very, very old. One of the workers hid the skull in an abandoned well, worried that it might be taken away by invading Japanese forces. The man who hid it died in 2018, but not before telling his grandson the whole story. So writes Ian Sample at The Guardian, and what follows offers an even more compelling narrative.



Professor Qiang Ji led a group of scientists at the Hebei Geo University in China in investigating the skull and its origins. They concluded that it was at least 146,000 years old and possibly even older. And where, exactly, the skull fits in the span of human history has sparked a debate among scientists. As Sample notes, the Harbin skull and a handful of others from China formed a new branch closer to modern humans than Neanderthals.

Dragon Man: is he a new species of human, or the face of Denisovans discovered at last? Heres my @nytimes story on a gorgeous skull that was hidden in a well for 85 years. https://t.co/10ZAo07kXF pic.twitter.com/1khAgRdm8u  Carl Zimmer (@carlzimmer) June 25, 2021

In their report on the findings, the BBC notes that the skull has been nicknamed Dragon Man. And it also quotes one of the researchers who examined the skull to give a sense of what this means as far as our understanding of prehistory is concerned.



In terms of fossils in the last million years, this is one of the most important yet discovered, said Professor Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London. Given what it has to say about the evolution of humanity, its hard to disagree.
When 18-year-old Bryce Dershem stepped up to the lectern at his New Jersey high school's graduation ceremony last week, he wanted to share how his battle with mental health was made even more difficult in a senior year marred by the coronavirus pandemic.

The class valedictorian, wearing maroon robes and a pride flag draped around his shoulders, began with the customary "thank you" for the parents, teachers and friends in the audience. Then, he launched into his own story.

IN TEXAS: 'Queer Eye' star Karamo Brown shares discrimination experienced filming in Texas

"After I came out as queer freshman year, I felt so alone. I didn't know who to turn to," he said, before his microphone suddenly cut out.

Eastern Regional High School's principal walked up to the lectern to grab the microphone, grabbing a paper copy of Dershem's speech and directing him to read a new one that had been rewritten without any mention of the teenager's queer identity or mental health struggles, Dershem told The Washington Post. When the principal pointed Dershem to the new speech at the lectern, he "said I was to read that and nothing else," the teen told The Washington Post.

"I don't know why just a reference to who I was warranted being cut off," Dershem said. "I was on the verge of tears; I didn't know what to do."

He decided on the spot to finish his speech from memory.

Dershem told his classmates about how the pandemic, which forced him to take remote classes until May, had exacerbated his own mental health struggles. During senior year, Dershem said he spent six months getting treatment for anorexia and suicidal thoughts. The teen said he hoped sharing his story would inspire his classmates to believe in their ability to achieve, despite the challenge of working through a remote school year during a pandemic that has killed more than 600,000 Americans.

"Part of our identity, our year, our struggle is 2021," Dershem told his classmates from the stage. "We're still here though. We adapted to something we never thought possible."

He said he wanted to share a message of positivity, hope and inclusion, "letting every single person in that audience know that they are enough and that their identities don't deserve to be marginalized or criminalized or oppressed."

ICYMI: Texas valedictorian stood up for women everywhere with impromptu commencement speech

Dershem said he believes school administrators intentionally cut his microphone to try to force him to give the speech they had written for him. He said those efforts began in the week leading up to graduation when the principal asked Dershem to rewrite the speech multiple times.

"They start saying things like, 'This speech is not my therapy session,' " Dershem said.

He said the administrators ordered him to work with the head of the school's English department to rewrite the speech, which he did. Even after those edits, he said, the administration was not satisfied. But Dershem decided to give his own speech anyway.

"I thought, 'I have worked this hard and I deserve to be able to tell my story and give this message of inclusivity,' because I didn't think there was anything wrong with it," he said.

Robert Cloutier, the superintendent of Eastern Camden County Regional School District, told NBC Philadelphia that administrators always work with students to edit their graduation speeches.

TRAVELING: Ready to plan a trip this Pride Month? Here are 5 LGBTQ+ friendly destinations

"Every year, all student speakers are assisted in shaping the speech, and all student speeches - which are agreed upon and approved in advance - are kept in the binder on the lectern for the principal to conduct the graduation ceremony," Cloutier told the station.

He also denied that Dershem had been asked to remove references to his queer identity before the ceremony.

"No student was asked to remove their personal identity from any speech before or during graduation," Cloutier told NBC News.

Despite the dispute with the school's administrators, Dershem's classmates and friends have only offered support for his decision to give his own version of the graduation speech, he said.

After his speech, Dershem said he was approached by a teacher at his school who lost her son to suicide during the pandemic.

"She hugged me and she said that her son had passed away due to suicide over quarantine and my speech had just meant so much to her, and she really wished he had gotten to hear it, too," he said. "I thought, 'This is the one person - this is the one person that I made feel less alone in that audience.' That was everything for me."
And now we have Hawaii.

Vaccinated U.S. travelers will no longer be required to be tested or go through quarantine if they want to visit the island state, beginning on July 8. Its welcome news, considering last year at this time visitors had to quarantine for up to two weeks (and then the state pretty much went back to not allowing visitors).

As Hawaii Gov. David Ige noted on social media, Hawaii will accept vaccination records from other states and US territories to bypass quarantine/pre-travel testing. Social gatherings will increase to 25 indoors and 75 outdoors statewide. Restaurants can also increase to 75% capacity.

Hawaii is expected to reach a 60% fully vaccinated rate by July 8. Because of that, we will be able to safely relax some of the travel and social restrictions currently in place. Here's a breakdown:  Governor David Ige (@GovHawaii) June 24, 2021

So while there are still plenty of restrictions in place  like the number of people who can be inside or outside an establishment  its a bit easier to visit. The change is due to Hawaii being on track to hit a 60% fully vaccinated rate by July 8.

Still, even government officials are being cautiously optimistic. With news of the Delta variant spreading in our state it is clear that the threat of COVID is not over, but we now have the tools we need to protect ourselves and others, as Mayor Derek Kawakami of Kauai County said in a statement. Please continue to be responsible in wearing masks and keeping your distance while in crowded spaces and get vaccinated if you are able.

Travelers to Hawaii must upload their CDC issued vaccination record card to the states Safe Travels Program website and have that card with them upon arrival.

As The Points Guy travel site notes, all COVID-19 restrictions in Hawaii (masks indoors, capacity limits) will be lifted when that fully vaccinated number reaches 70%.

For more travel news, tips and inspo, sign up for InsideHook's weekly travel newsletter, The Journey.

The post Vaccinated Travelers Will Soon Be Able to Visit Hawaii Without COVID Testing appeared first on InsideHook.
Where the buffalo roam: worlds longest wildlife bridge could cross the Mississippi Guardian

Report: United States Ranks Last in Media Trust Jonathan Turley (flora) Hoisted from comments.

In a miniature of Humayun and Akbar, time crumples to depict an entire world of learning Scroll

Miami apartment building collapse death toll rises to nine, rescuers dig deep trench to find survivors ABC News (The Rev Kev)

Developers of doomed Fla. tower were once accused of paying off officials: report NY Post

Amazon hydropower plant contributes significant greenhouse emissions: study Phys.org (chuck l)

Google launches a new medical appoutside the United States Ars Technica

Dangerous Northwest Heat Wave Has Already Set New All-Time Records and Temperatures Will Soar Even Higher Into Monday Weather.com

Old, small and CO2-intense: why Canadas highest-carbon oil sites keep pumping Reuters

Site C dam, oilsands pushing Canadas largest national park closer to endangered list The Narwhal

UNESCO watching as Venice grapples with over-tourism AP

Regenerative Travel: What It Is and How Its Outperforming Sustainable Tourism TreeHugger

#COVID-19

More Younger People Without Comorbidities Died In Second Wave, Data Show India Spend

Mike Gravel RIP

Former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska, who read Pentagon Papers into Congressional Record, has died ABC News (Geo) Hoisted from comments.

Former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel dead at 91 Boing Boing (re Silc)

What Mike Gravel Meant Consortium News

Part Five: From Capitol Hill to Beacon Hill Consortium News. I believe linked to part 1 of this excellent series, but havent kept up. This is the latest instalment and includes links to the earlier ones.
By Ralph Nader, a consumer advocate and the author of The Seventeen Solutions: Bold Ideas for Our American Future (2012). His new book is, Wrecking America: How Trumps Lies and Lawbreaking Betray All (2020, co-authored with Mark Green).Originally published at Common Dreams

Readers of the Washington Post this past Sunday, many of whom work at least a 40-hour week with short vacations, were informed by reporter Paul Kane about the large number of recess days the Senate and the House are taking this summer. In the midst of a huge backlog of critical legislation  as with the multi-trillion-dollar public and human infrastructure bills and other responsibilities deferred under prior periods of Republican control  these recess periods constitute reckless abandon and endangerment to the country.

Here are Mr. Kanes words:

When the Senate finishes up Thursday [June 24th, 2021], the chamber will shut down until July 12 for an unusually long Independence Day recess. After returning for four weeks, the Senate is supposed to break by Aug. 6 for more than four weeks of the beloved August recess. Thats a nearly 75-day run from late June through Labor Day in which current planning would have senators here voting about 16 days.

The original House schedule is even more impractical. When members of the House leave town July 1, they are slated to be in session just two of the next 11 weeks.

Yes, you read that right. From July 2 through Sept. 19, the House is only in session for nine days.

It gets worse. As with other long absences throughout the year, all these recesses come with full pay and with bipartisan concurrence. But there is no agreement on Bidens big-ticket legislative initiatives that should be dealt with, with meticulous detail to assure that whatever passes comes with rigorous oversight by adequate overseers for preventing waste, fraud, and abuse in the Executive Branch departments and agencies. That takes Congressional work.

Even when Congress is in session, Senators and Representatives usually work a three-day week  Tuesdays to Thursdays  with time to rush to nearby campaign offices and dial for campaign dollars.

Committee Chairs could hold hearings during these long recesses. But there are few legislators today like the workhorse Democratic Senator from Wisconsin, William Proxmire, who logged day after day of oversight hearings while his colleagues were on junkets overseas or at rich watering holes, compliments of business lobbyists.

The recklessly limited work time explains, in part, why the Democratic leadership in the Senate doesnt force the Republicans to actually filibuster for all to see on national television their venomous, avaricious opposition to the pro-people, worker, consumer, patient, and children programs they have been blocking. All Senator NO Mitch McConnell, the Republicans self-styled Grim Reaper, does is communicate filibuster threats through the media to Schumer. The Democrats then cave into defeat because of few working days to push for an actual filibuster on the Senate floor.

These luxurious schedules are not set in stone. They were developed last December by the Democratic leadership; those same leaders can put all the 535 members of the Senate and the House to work. They also should deal with appropriations bills, and long-delayed nominees or forthcoming nominees by Biden to head agencies, and the lifting of the federal debt limit to avert a government shutdown, and more.

I think more of the 500 reporters covering Congress full time should do what Paul Kane has done and report these absurdly long AWOLs to the people back home. Editorials can urge people to collar their members of Congress and say:

Go back to work  five, six, or seven days if necessary to do your duties. Get serious lawmakers! You hold in trust the sovereign power of the American people. We have given you handsome pay, benefits, perks, services, staff, and a powerfully air-conditioned Capitol to perform your constitutional duties with due deliberation. You must not end up in frantic deadlines legislating with all the sloppy drafting, unintended consequences, and loopholes for greedy commercial interests.

There is a neglected aspect of all this absenteeism for the Democrats agenda. Staying on the job could let Democrats draw vivid kitchen-table distinctions between them and the corporatist Wall Street over Main Street Republicans with their penchant for grossly under-taxing the super-rich and giant corporations at the expense of (1) middle-class taxpayers, and (2) programs of public services and the private necessity for the impoverished and other families in need through no fault of their own.

So, lets get going Americans. Call your Senators and Representatives. The switchboard number (open 24/7) for Congress is 202-224-3121. The operators, who have to stay on the job, will steer you to your named Senators and Representatives. Tell your members of Congress to camp out on Capitol Hill. Tell them to earn their pay and respect the power given to them by the people.
(Natural News) Google and Amazon are going to be investigated by the United Kingdoms top antitrust regulator over concerns that the two American tech giants are not doing enough to crack down on fake reviews on their websites.

On Friday, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced the move to probe Google and Amazon. The CMA began looking into the issue of fake reviews on major platforms two years ago.

During the CMAs investigation, it will consider whether Amazon and Google broke consumer law by not doing enough to protect shoppers from fake reviews.

Sellers on Google and Amazon often use fake or misleading reviews to improve their star ratings. These sellers will sometimes offer financial rewards for people to leave good reviews of their products. The star ratings can in turn affect how prominently a company and its products are displayed when customers go into the online marketplaces.

Our worry is that millions of online shoppers could be misled by reading fake reviews and then spending their money based on those recommendations, said Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA.

Equally, its simply not fair if some businesses can fake five-star reviews to give their products or services the most prominence while law-abiding businesses lose out, he added. (Related: Massive fake reviews cam by Amazon vendors exposed.)

The CMA started its probe following an initial investigation in May 2020. During this investigation, the agency assessed the internal systems and processes several platforms had for spotting and deleting fake reviews.

The agency found that neither Google nor Amazon did enough to detect fake and misleading reviews and other suspicious behavior on their websites. They were also not doing enough to deter serial offenders.

The CMA added that Amazons systems were failing to stop or deter sellers from manipulating their product listings through various strategies, including co-opting genuine reviews from other products.

If the CMA finds that Google or Amazon did, in fact, break consumer law in the U.K., it could take enforcement action against them. This could include securing formal commitments from the tech giants to make serious efforts to crack down on the problem or pursuing court action against them if they fail to do so.

Amazon and Google deny any wrongdoing

Both Google and Amazon claim they have done more than enough to protect their online marketplaces against fake reviews.

A spokesman for Google said the company immediately takes action when it finds out somebody has violated its policies.

Our strict policies clearly state reviews must be based on real experiences, and when we find policy violations, we take action  from removing abusive content to disabling user accounts, said the spokesman. We look forward to continuing our work with the CMA to share more on how our industry-leading technology and review teams work to help users find relevant and useful information on Google.

Amazon said it has already devoted a significant amount of resources to preventing fake or paid reviews from appearing in its store. The company added that in 2020 it removed more than 200 million suspected fake reviews from its online marketplace before customers could see them.

We will continue to assist the CMA with its inquiries and we note its confirmation that no findings have been made against our business, said an Amazon spokesman. We are relentless in protecting our store and will take action to stop fake reviews regardless of the size or location of those who attempt this abuse.

Learn more about how tech giants like Google and Amazon regularly circumvent the law by reading the latest articles on TechGiants.news.

Sources include:

WSJ.com

TheGuardian.com
(Natural News) What most people dont yet understand is that theyre no longer living in America. What used to be America is now a nation under enemy occupation, ruled by authoritarian tyrants who were installed through election fraud and whose loyalty rests with the CCP (Chinese Communist Party). The Big Tech corporations all work for China, too, and the censorship they pursue in the USA mirrors the anti-freedom censorship of communist China.

CCP infiltration has compromised the Pentagon, Hollywood, universities, the mainstream media, big banks and consumer goods corporations. Nikes own CEO recently declared that Nike is a company of China and for China, turning a blind eye to Chinas deep human rights violations such as organ harvesting, torture of political dissidents and extreme surveillance of its own citizens.

As Rep. Devin Nunes said just today:

China is a malign influence on the world in general and on America in particular. They are targeting, among other things, corporate America, bribing and coercing U.S. businesses to do Beijings bidding, including handing over highly sensitive technologies and trade secrets. American businesses need to be aware of Chinas predatory actions, and those who aid and abet them need to be held to account.

When U.S. lawmakers attempt to criticize China over these actions, China correctly points out that the Biden regime supports censorship, too. And with the illegal arrest and detention of hundreds of peaceful protesters from January 6th, theres a new GITMO in Washington D.C. where innocent Americans are being held as political prisoners, completely outside any legitimate sense of due process or the rule of law. If all this smacks of communist China, thats because its patterned after communist China.

It should be no surprise that America is falling to totalitarianism, of course, since that course is being pushed by communist China which controls nearly every institution in the United States, including the CDC and a huge number of science journals. The WHO is run by the CCP, explaining why the WHO spent most of 2020 covering up the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origins of the coronavirus bioweapon.

Anyone pretending that the leaders and institutions in charge of America are working to defend America is living in a dream world. In nearly every case, the people in power are now deliberately trying to dismantle the nation and see it obliterated.

To understand what happens next, you need knowledge of Chinas plans for America

Since 1949, China has been on a hundred-year plan to establish its dominance in the world by eliminating its global competitors. For at least the last 50 years, Chinas communist party has meticulously infiltrated nearly every U.S. institution, seeding its spies across every industry to steal intellectual property secrets in medicine, weapons technology, physics, biotech, computing, software and much more.

At the same time, China bribed U.S. officials with joint venture deals to make them rich while they transferred technology and manufacturing know-how to China under lucrative business deals. In this process, U.S. officials  such as the Bidens  compromised themselves, selling out America for their own financial gain while empowering communist China with the wealth and technology it would one day need to destroy the United States in its entirety.

By stealing intellectual property and bribing officials, the CCP managed to take over nearly everything in America, including most of the Senate (Feinstein, anyone?), the majority of state governors (Newcom, Brown, Cuomo, etc.), most of the media and now even the White House thanks to the rigged 2020 elections. Now, in order to finalize its occupation and takeover of America, China needs the American people to give up their guns so that a long-planned Chinese invasion can meet relatively little resistance from armed Americans.

The long-term goal of China has always been the complete extermination of every living American, followed by the colonization of the continental United States and its food / agriculture infrastructure to produce food products for export to China. By itself, China cannot produce enough food to feed its 1.4 billion people, and its reliance on food imports creates a strategic vulnerability that can be exploited by its geopolitical enemies. Thus, China needs to occupy and control large food-producing areas of the world, and the United States is No. 1 on that list.

Everything youve seen so far  the selling out of U.S. state secrets under Bill Clinton, George Bush, Barack Obama, Bush Jr., and now Joe Biden  is just the run-up to the final solution which is the complete extermination of the American people. The coronavirus bioweapon was unleashed in 2019 with the help of U.S. funding (NIH / Fauci, etc.) and U.S. technology (Chapel Hill, DARPA, Pentagon, etc.) as the opening salvo in the world war to take down America. Nearly everyone at the top of the Pentagon and at the top of the current illegitimate regime in Washington is actively engaged in treason to destroy America, and they are working with the CCP to accomplish this, believing that they will somehow be spared from the takedown of America.

Americas economy has already been crushed by the covid plandemic. The national debt is exploding to dangerous new heights. The CCP-controlled U.S. media are pushing race wars, and the corrupt FBI and deep state operatives are about to roll out a major false flag operation to try to vilify White people, gun owners, Christians and conservatives.

China wants America to tear itself apart from the inside, to soften up the nation before the planned land invasion. This internal strife will be augmented by cyber attacks on U.S. power grid infrastructure and the release of a second bioweapon with a far higher fatality rate.

The final step is nationwide disarmament of the American people

The final step before launching the land invasion of America is the nationwide disarmament of the American people. China and the globalists know that if they invade the USA right now, with 400+ million guns in the hands of the citizenry, they would be facing a guerilla war nightmare, with a rifle behind every blade of grass.

Thus, the Biden regime is working with the corrupt FBI and lawless DOJ to put together an epic false flag theatrical production that will be followed by emotionally-charged demands for nationwide gun confiscation, Australia-style. Any who oppose the confiscation will be labeled domestic terrorists by the same DOJ that has already put that narrative into play.

Importantly, if Americans refuse to turn in their guns, they will dissuade China from attacking the homeland. But if Americans turn over their guns by surrendering to the criminal regime currently in power, it wont be long before those same Americans are executed by communist Chinese troops who are granted free reign in the USA by complicit governors like Newsom, and treasonous officials in the Pentagon, DOJ and White House.

Accordingly, protecting the Second Amendment isnt merely about defending the right to own firearms; its about defending America against a planned communist invasion and occupation attempt that has been in the planning for decades.

Understand that any person who pushes gun confiscation is effectively working for the communist Chinese. They are complicit in acts of treason against America by deliberately attempting to weaken the nation into a state of vulnerability to foreign invasion and occupation. The Second Amendment is Americas best defense against attempted foreign invasions, and thats precisely why the Second Amendment is under assault by the current regime.

Defend America or lose it forever

Very few people understand the reality of this threat. Dave Hodges at TheCommonsenseShow.com is one of those who gets it. Today, he writes:

Today, the Chinese threat has expanded to at least 250,000 CHICOM combat troops in British Columbia. We have the beginnings of CHICOM airfields being constructed in Texas for a high-ranking CHICOM officer. This is Red Dawn material which is also related to American concentration camps. Hold these numbers of CHICOMS in the back of your mind and I will refer to this real threat on a continual basis as it colors every fact and piece of evidence that I will be asserting this week. Yes, I have decided that it is critically important that I re-educate America on the topic of concentration camps (ie FEMA Camps).

Steve Quayle also understands the threat, as does JR Nyquist, whom I have interviewed several times. Our latest interview was posted just a few days ago:

Brighteon.com/bddd4234-7e51-4527-bc7d-a1fe2507378c

With traitors like Mitt Romney in the GOP, and Senate leaders like Mitch McConnell having deep family ties to communist Chinese business interests, it may already be too late to save America from being physically overrun and completely wiped off the map.

On the other hand, there are numerous signs that China is suffering its own potentially catastrophic weaknesses and vulnerabilities and may end up destroying itself before it can destroy the USA. President Trump was actually on the right track with a trade war being waged against China, which helps explain why China deployed SARS-CoV-2 to try to remove Trump from power and install their own CCP puppet in the White House.

Right now, China is facing the possibility of mass starvation and internal political strife, combined with a potential financial implosion due to its Ponzi-like internal accounting practices and widespread financial fraud. Yet the USA is also steeped in debt fraud, political corruption and treasonous actors in positions of power  black hat actors who openly want to destroy the United States  so its difficult to know which nation destroys itself first. Add Russia into the mix and youve got three scorpions in a jar, to cite game theory. The outcome is impossible to predict.

Yet the one thing we do know very well is that if the American people give up their guns for any reason, it wont be long before they are executed. We must learn from the Jews of World War II: Never surrender to an authoritarian, corrupt regime. After disarming you, they will come for you. And they are out for blood. They despise your very existence. Notice that here in America, CRT teaches that all White people are evil at birth and should be eliminated from society. CRT is racism / eugenics / genocide / Hitler, reanimated.

Bidens real goal is to finalize the complete destruction of America

The success of the Biden administration, measured by the globalist puppets who run Bidens handlers, will be the mass extermination of hundreds of millions of Americans, followed by the total collapse of the United States of America as a nation. That has been Barack Obamas goal from the very start of his own treasonous presidency  now in its third term  and as we see with Critical Race Theory, its also the goal of nearly the entire lunatic left-wing base in America, populated by traitors who are demanding communism and Marxism, alongside the mass extermination of Whites. Yet somehow, they claim to be tolerant and inclusive. Go figure.

For the record, we do not espouse violence of any kind. We are urging people to prepare for violence to come to you, and be ready to survive the attempted Final Solution to take down America. This will require a defense of our nation against its enemies.

Those enemies are planning wholesale genocide. And China is operating under so-called unrestricted warfare which means anything goes: Cyber war, biological warfare, economic warfare, culture wars, media propaganda wars, EMP weapons, power grid takedowns, nuclear weapons, stealth drones, etc. You name it, theyre deploying it against the USA right now.

Learn more in todays Situation Update podcast:

Brighteon.com/365153c7-3ea7-45e6-a968-5090dab6fe6c

Find a new Situation Update podcast each day at:

https://www.brighteon.com/channels/hrreport
(Natural News) Weve been hearing in recent weeks that members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are finally getting serious about busting up big tech monopolies and going after their constant law-breaking, but new information revealed in documents uncovered just recently prove thats a lot of hot air.

Not only isnt Congress going to regulate big tech, but its why they wont: Big tech is in cahoots with the federal government to spy on and censor American citizens.

The Montana Gazette has more:

Its not just a left-right issue. Whether Republicans or Democrats, there is an actual written agreement between Big Tech and at least one state government to censor people who are critical of politicians. The Deep State documents are now a matter of public court record, made available by Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai. And according to the court record, the judge presiding over the case has insisted on the documents being entered into the public record because they are absolutely revolutionary.

Around the United States in more than a dozen states, legislative efforts have been underway to stop the censorship of conservatives by companies known colloquially as Big Tech, the outlets report continues.

These companies, which act as communication utilities with monopolistic control over social media, have been censoring conservatives and Christians at breakneck speed  as almost everyone is aware. The argument set forth by freedom advocates is two-fold, it adds.

First off, advocates for enforcement of anti-trust laws (and the Constitution) have consistently argued that big tech, writ large, is a monopoly. Consider that Google, for instance, controls most all internet searches and the vast majority of internet advertising revenue. Facebook is the monolithic social media site, while Twitter, of course, dominates that spectrum of social media. And so on. Together, these companies coalesce together and share the same censorship policies, says the report, citing the documents.

As the world learned following their crackdown on conservatives in 2020, bans on various figures are well-coordinated and happen often times simultaneously, the outlet added.

Thats true; Natural News founder and editor Mike Adams, along with conservative media mogul Alex Jones and even President Donald Trump were all booted off the major social media platforms at nearly the same time.

However, it has been difficult for conservatives to hold Mark Zuckerberg and his Big Tech acolytes accountable for their viewpoint discrimination. In congressional testimony, Zuckerberg repeatedly denied acting prejudicially against conservatives, said the Gazette.

But lawmakers in Montana and elsewhere are taking a different approach; if they could prove, for instance, that the social media behemoths were censoring Americans on behalf of Uncle Sam, that would be actionable in courts of law.

And they appear to have found their proof, thanks to Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai.

An Indian-American engineer, entrepreneur, and inventor who is best known for his candidacy for U.S. Senate against Elizabeth Warren in 2017, Ayyadurai is a super-academic who managed to find a document online titled, Elections Interference Operations Playbook for State and Local Officials, the Gazette reported.

Specifically, the document reveals an agreement between Twitter and the federal government to censor speech that is critical of elected officials. Via an entity known as the Twitter Trusted Partnership and Twitter Partner Support (PSP) Portal, federal and state governments can request a censorship order whereby Twitter responds to downgrade critical content in exchange for being left alone by government.

When Americans complained about Big Tech censorship, Big Tech companies simply shrugged it off as their right as private companies to censor whomever they want; they did not explain that Big Tech is censoring Americans on behalf of the government, the Gazette reported, adding that changes the legal paradigm in a big way.

By outsourcing blatant First Amendment violations to social media, Twitter can hind behind the veil of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and the government can claim that it isnt censoring anyone, the outlet adds.

If Ayyadurais legal actions dont produce results, then literally the only alternative is to simply abandon the platforms.

Sources include:

MontanaDailyGazette.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Dozens of test samples from the earliest confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) patients in Wuhan, China were found to have been wiped from the National Institute of Health (NIH) database used to track the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease.

The files could have provided vital clues about how the virus originated and how long it had been spreading before the seafood market outbreak in December 2019.

Jesse Bloom, a virologist from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, spotted the deletion and managed to recover some of the data. He said he believed China had removed the files to obscure their existence.

Forty-five positive samples had originally been uploaded to the NIHs Sequence Read Archive of by the Wuhan University in March 2020.

The samples were published as part of a study into diagnosing COVID patients using PCR tests  just days before the Chinese government issued an order requiring approval of the publication of all coronavirus data.

Bloom noted all 45 samples have since been pulled from the database, with no plausible scientific reason for the deletion. He detailed the cover-up in the scientific paper titled Recovery of deleted deep sequencing data sheds more light on the early Wuhan SARS-CoV-2 epidemic.

The NIH confirmed the sequences had been removed in June 2020 at the request of the investigator who originally submitted them in March 2020, and said it was standard practice to allow this.

News of Chinas attempt to cover up the viruss tracks came amid mounting suspicion that SARS-CoV-2 might have accidentally leaked from a high-level biosecurity laboratory in Wuhan  the acknowledged ground zero of the pandemic.

Recovered samples show genetic differences from virus that spread around the world

Bloom was able to partially recover 13 of the deleted samples using Google Cloud and proceeded to sequence the viruses. He noted several genetic differences between the strains in the deleted samples and the virus that eventually spread around the world.

The virologist said most of the data recovered suggested that the virus was circulating long before Chinas official timeline.

He found that the early samples of the virus were more evolved than would be expected of a pathogen that had recently jumped from animals to humans  but did not say it gave more weight to the lab-leak theory. (Related: Experts provide key pieces of evidence supporting coronavirus lab-leak theory.)

This study does not provide any additional strong evidence favoring either natural zoonosis or lab accident, Bloom said in an email to CNN.

Rather, it shows that there are additional sequences from relatively early in the outbreak that are still unknown, and in some cases have mutations that suggest they are probably evolutionarily older than the viruses from the Huanan Seafood Market.

Bloom found that those market viruses have three extra mutations that are missing from SARS-CoV-2 samples collected weeks later. Those later viruses look more like coronaviruses found in bats. Theyre three steps more similar to the bat coronaviruses than the viruses from the Huanan fish market, Bloom said.

Blooms findings suggest COVID was spreading before December 2019

In a Twitter thread detailing his findings, Bloom wrote: Although events that led to emergence of #SARSCoV2 in Wuhan are unclear (zoonosis vs lab accident), everyone agrees deep ancestors are coronaviruses from bats.

Therefore, wed expect the first #SARSCoV2 sequences would be more similar to bat coronaviruses, and as #SARSCoV2 continued to evolve it would become more divergent from these ancestors. But that is *not* the case!

Instead, early Huanan Seafood Market #SARSCoV2 viruses are more different from bat coronaviruses than #SARSCoV2 viruses collected later in China and even other countries. (Related: WHO team lead: Coronavirus already circulating and had mutated 13 times within China before being reported.)

British experts commenting on the study said it confirmed long-held suspicions that COVID was spreading before December 2019. They also warned that it highlighted the flaws in the World Health Organizations investigation into COVIDs origins, which is being carefully supervised by China.

The study further cements the fact the virus was circulating in Wuhan before the outbreak in December, Lawrence Young, a molecular biologist at the University of Warwick, told MailOnline.

This just shows how important it is to understand the early spread of the virus and any future investigation really does need to look seriously at the whole issue. Its particularly worrying that crucial data was uploaded and then deleted. Its odd behavior.

Follow Pandemic.news for more news and information related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

9News.com.au

NYTimes.com
(Natural News) The American government continues to push for vaccination among young adults and teenagers amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic despite studies proving that the vaccines available to the public are linked to many negative side effects like heart inflammation.

And when Dr. Robert Malone, the inventor of mRNA vaccines himself, spoke up against the use of these experimental vaccines, YouTube deleted the video where he said that the government is not being transparent about the risks of these vaccines.

Who is Dr. Robert Malone?

Malone is credited as the inventor of mRNA vaccines and DNA vaccines. He also discovered lipid-mediated and naked RNA transfection technologies.

In 1987 and 1988, Malone started his research at the Salk Institute where he pioneered in-vitro RNA transfection and also in-vivo RNA transfection in both frog embryos and mice. Malone filed patent and disclosures from the Salk included in-vivo RNA transfection and also methods for mRNA stabilization, yet others claim to have invented them.

Malone was scientifically trained at the University of California, Davis, the University of California San Diego and at the Salk Institute Molecular Biology and Virology laboratories.

Malone received his medical training at Northwestern University (MD), Harvard University Medical School (Clinical Research Post Graduate) and in Pathology at UC Davis. Malone has almost 100 peer-reviewed publications and he has been an invited speaker at about 50 conferences.

Dont force anyone to get vaccinated, says Malone

In an interview on Foxs Tucker Carlson Tonight, Malone warned that there isnt enough data about the risks for young adults and adolescents. He also told Carlson that these age groups shouldnt be forced to get vaccinated at the risk of their own health.

Malone also expressed his concern about the risks and a lack of access to the data about the vaccines side effects. He added that the public has the right to decide whether to accept vaccines or not, particularly since they are all experimental vaccines.

Coronavirus vaccines linked to heart inflammation in adolescents and young adults

Not surprisingly, an advisory group for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) soon reported that there was a potential link between cases of heart inflammation in adolescents and young adults and the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus vaccines.

Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use mRNA technology while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses the more traditional virus-based technology.

In the CDC presentation, the COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Technical (VaST) Work Group discussed a shocking 500 reports of heart inflammation or myocarditis in vaccinated adults younger than 30. The doctors said the risk of myocarditis or pericarditis following vaccination with the mRNA-based shots in adolescents and young adults is much higher after the second dose, especially in males.

Conventional vaccines are made with weakened forms of the virus but mRNAs use only the viruss genetic code. An mRNA vaccine is injected into the body where it enters cells and orders them to create antigens.

These antigens are recognized by the immune system and are then prepared to fight coronavirus. A virus isnt needed to create an mRNA vaccine, meaning the rate at which it can be produced is dramatically accelerated.

Because of this, mRNA vaccines are hailed as potentially offering a rapid solution to new outbreaks of infectious diseases.

The VaST findings were presented in a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the official journal of the US National Academy of Sciences.

Malone and other experts censored

Malone warned that the federal government is recommending coronavirus vaccines for everyone over 12 without the necessary research proving that its safe for these age groups. Carlson added that Malone has a right to speak given his expertise and medical background. (Related: San Francisco forcing 35,000 city employees to get COVID-19 vaccines.)

Malone was also a guest speaker on a podcast along with Bret Weinstein, an evolutionary biologist, and Steve Kirsh, an American serial entrepreneur who started seven companies.

The podcast was uploaded to YouTube but it was flagged as sharing misleading information about the coronavirus vaccine and deleted. YouTube also flagged statements about how the spike protein used in the COVID-19 vaccine, which is how mRNA vaccines work, is toxic.

In the podcast, Malone revealed that he sent manuscripts to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) months ago detailing how the spike protein used in the coronavirus vaccine was a potential health risk. He added that the FDA dismissed the data he sent because it was sufficient documentation of the risk that the spike was biologically active.

CDC study shows vaccines dont exactly prevent infection

To date, U.S. cases are at around 33.6 million and COVID-related deaths are at 602,836. According to real-world data from the largest CDC study to date, COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna reduce the risk of getting sick from the virus by 94 percent.

Results showed that only six percent of COVID-19 cases out of over 1,800 health care workers were in people fully vaccinated with one of the two mRNA shots. No one included in the study was given the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Additionally, the study was only designed to test if the vaccines prevented people from getting symptomatic coronavirus. Only a small fraction of the group who tested positive was fully vaccinated, implying that the vaccines likely prevent infection and transmission, not just illness.

The study involved a network of over 500,000 health care workers. The data was then narrowed down to 1,843 participating nurses, doctors and hospital staff who were likely exposed to coronavirus while working.

Out of the group, a total of 623 people had tested positive for coronavirus and had at least one symptom of the infection.

1,220 people tested negative.

Only 40 out of the 623 people who tested positive were fully vaccinated.

This suggests only three percent of people who tested positive were fully vaccinated, compared to 15 percent who tested negative. This also doesnt prove that being fully vaccinated means you are five times less at-risk of getting coronavirus and translates to vaccine effectiveness of 96 percent.

The study didnt include people who tested positive for coronavirus but never showed any symptoms, meaning it cant prove that vaccines prevent infections in the first place, proving that Malone was right. Young adults and teenagers have the right to refuse coronavirus vaccines, especially if it can harm their overall well-being.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

RWMaloneMD.com

FoxNews.com

Podcasts.Apple.com
(Natural News) This week, five Republican senators sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding his offices handling of January 6 protesters. The letter revealed the senators are aware that several Capitol defendants charged with mostly nonviolent crimes are being held in solitary confinement conditions in a D.C. jail used exclusively to house Capitol detainees.

(Article by Julie Kelly republished from AMGreatness.com)

Joe Bidens Justice Department routinely requestsand partisan Beltway federal judges routinely approvepre-trial detention for Americans arrested for their involvement in the January 6 protest. This includes everyone from an 18-year-old high school senior from Georgia to a 70-year-old Virginia farmer with no criminal record.

It is important to emphasize that the accused have languished for months in prison before their trials even have begun. Judges are keeping defendants behind bars largely based on clips selectively produced by the government from a trove of video footage under protective seal and unavailable to defense lawyers and the publicand for the thoughtcrime of doubting the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election.

The rule of law for anyone involved in the events of January 6 has been flipped on its head by the U.S. justice system; defendants are presumed guilty before proven innocent. The right to a speedy trial and the right to participate in ones own defense are ignored, as are other constitutional protections.

Prosecutors insist the alleged crimes committed by Capitol protestersunlike similar or more egregious crimes committed by leftist protesters last yearare exceptionally heinous because the acts resulted in an attack on our democracy and interrupted the official business of the U.S. Congress.

The Justice Department and federal judges also continue to lie in court about the number of fatalities from January 6 in order to make the event seem far worse than it actually was. A Senate report issued this week also repeated the falsehood that seven individuals, including three law enforcement officers, lost their lives.

But federal prosecutors and Beltway judgesmany of whom were involved in the nonstop criminal hunt against President Trump and his associates for four yearsare wasting no time doling out severe punishment for those who dared to challenge the incoming Biden regime.

Take, for example, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, the judge who refused to dismiss the case against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn even though both parties sought to do so. Sullivan is presiding over a handful of Capitol breach cases. Last month, he denied a request made by Jonathan Mellis, behind bars in the D.C. jail since February awaiting trial, to attend his fathers funeral in Virginia. Mellis faces several charges including allegations he attempted to strike a police officer with a stick. (Again, this is based only on evidence presented by the government. Nothing has been contested in court.)

Mellis 80-year-old father was a decorated Vietnam War veteran and longtime Defense Department employee. Bidens Justice Department immediately objected to Mellis request for a temporary release. [T]he defendants continued dangerousness to the community and flight risk is too great because, if convicted of some or all of the above-mentioned charges, the defendant will serve a significant amount of time of incarceration.

Judge Sullivan concurred. Although the Court is sensitive to the news of his fathers death and expresses its condolences, the Court hereby DENIES Motion for Temporary Release.

Mellis continues to suffer in what I call the D.C. Deplorable jail with no end in sight for him or his fellow detainees. I would like to voice my confusion as to why left-wing rioters are set free and shown mercy while being the source of hundreds of riots last year all over the country, causing billions of dollars in damage, dozens of deaths, yet the right-wing rioters from Jan. 6th are treated in the harshest terms, Mellis wrote to me in an email this week.

We are charged with every possible offense and held in the DC jail on solitary [sic] confinement and treated inhumanely. For example, a correctional officer from a different pod came to C2B screaming at us late at night on 6/1/21 because we had just sang God Bless America [sic] from behind our locked doors like we do every night. Being as we are on lockdown 22 hours a day its nice to keep morale up through patriotism. When [name omitted by American Greatness], my next door neighbor, informed the officer that we were just singing God Bless America the officer responded by yelling, Fuck America! After the officer left the pod for several minutes he came back in through the back door with another guard, walked upstairs, and opened [name omitted]s door to go inside with him. I believe 2 other guards came up the other stairs to stand near [his] door as well, although I could not see them. I live right next door so I listened through the vent to the officer threaten [him], Shut the fuck up or I will beat your ass! and, Fuck you! [He] sounded like he was explaining himself and pointing out how obviously inappropriate the officers behavior was. And acknowledging that the officers camera was clearly turned off. I am concerned for the safety of myself and my fellow Capitol rioters here in the DC jail. We are locked down all day and threatened with violence regularly. We all know that getting our hands tied together and being beaten is something the DC jail officers have already done to Capitol rioters in this pod. Solitary Confinement and beatings. That is our reality. When will the inhumane treatment end? I just want to let everyone know the reality of how we are treated in this place. Left wing rioters are not even held in jail. Much less subjected to the harsh and inhumane treatment my fellow Capitol rioters and I have survived under so far this year.

Every day, I hear from detainees and their family members about the conditions in the jail. Some predict prison staff are making life miserable in order to provoke an uprising that will be recorded and used as additional propaganda to show the violent tendencies of the so-called insurrectionists. Almost all are first-time offenders.

Here are just a few examples. (In order to protect the individuals safety, American Greatness is concealing identities unless specifically authorized to share.)

We have no fewer than 5 combat vets out of Rec at any one time. The problem is . . . if the other cell block breaks in and starts a massive brawl, WE would get blamed in the media. (Many are concerned guards will allow the general population of D.C. prison to mix with January 6 detainees.) We are white. They are not. We are conservative. They are not. They can do whatever they want. We can not. If they busted in here and caused problems, we would be accused of racism, continued violence, and rioting, and the usual lies and slander. (The author of that text is not charged with any violent crimes.)

My son has seen and experienced some very inhumane abuse in that Jail. He has also been denied bond at least twice. While others from that day are already home waiting trial. I dont know what to do or where to turn. As his Mother I am heartbroken. (The defendant, a former Marine, is accused of stealing a riot shield and using it to break a window.)

This kid has been in lockup for over 4 months, 23 hours per day. Rapists, murderers, actual criminals are treated better than the way these political prisoners are being treated. [He] has no access to medical, anything fitness-related, proper grooming, or reasonably edible food choices. He sleeps on a cot with a 1-inch-thick mattress. His rec time is limited to one hour per day unless the guards have a wild hair up their  then he gets NOTHING! (The defendant, an Army reservist, is not charged with any violent crime.)

When he first arrived he was put in a cell for 96 hours straight and not allowed out. Then they moved him to the pod [with all the Capitol defendants] and into a roughly five and ten cell for 23 hours a day. He is let out for one hour a day and shackled for that hour. The new guards are very racist and politically prejudiced. Now they dont let them have the phones too much and they dont know if theyll get the tablets. (Inmates share a few electronic tablets and use a common phone to communicate with family and defense counsel.) Some people dont have family to send them any money for commissary so they cant buy extra food or personal items. (The defendant is not charged with any violent crimes.)

All that Im saying is fact and truth . . . it can be verified by all of the Patriots . . . most of which are like me and committed no violence and ARE HERE WITH MISDEMEANOR OFFENSES. We are the object of ridicule all because of leftist media pushing a false narrative. Its ironic how we are in our Nations Capitol yet being treated as Un-American as one can be treated.

American Greatness will continue to update reports from the jail.

On Thursday, FBI Director Christopher Wray repeatedly assured the House Judiciary Committee his agency has one standard of justice for all political protesters.

Unless he can point to a prison in the nations capital specifically used to house Antifa and Black Lives Matters protesters, something tells me that testimony is not at all accurate.

Read more at: AMGreatness.com
(Natural News) On Thursday, the online integrated marketing company Mailchimp suspended The Babylon Bees account, claiming that the system detected harmful information in the Bees emails. After Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon shared the news on Twitter, Mailchimp apologized. It was too late, however.

(Article by Tyler ONeil republished from PJMedia.com)

Id email everyone to let them know [Mailchimp] just suspended our account but Mailchimp just suspended our account, Dillon announced on Twitter. Like many other companies, The Babylon Bee uses Mailchimp to send out emails to its broad email list. Without Mailchimp, the Bee could not tell its subscribers that Mailchimp had suspended the satire site.

Shortly after Dillon shared the news on Twitter, Mailchimp responded, saying that the company had reinstated the account.

Hey Seth. We got this in front of our Compliance team and theyve reinstated the account. Our team followed up in an email with more details. We apologize for the inconvenience, Mailchimp tweeted.

Hey Seth. We got this in front of our Compliance team and theyve reinstated the account. Our team followed up in an email with more details. We apologize for the inconvenience.  Mailchimp (@Mailchimp) June 24, 2021

Dillon thanked the company for reinstating the Bees account, but he announced that The Babylon Bee will no longer require the services of Mailchimp.

Thank you, but were moving to an email service provider that doesnt make these mistakes. Wed also prefer to be on a platform that doesnt censor conservatives for being hateful or misinformative, the CEO shot back.

Thank you, but we're moving to an email service provider that doesn't make these "mistakes." We'd also prefer to be on a platform that doesn't censor conservatives for being "hateful" or "misinformative." https://t.co/XSI9EUjOgc  Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) June 24, 2021

Dillon provided PJ Media with a screenshot of the email announcing the accounts reinstatement. In the email, Mailchimp provided an explanation for the suspension and its reversal.

For some clarification, our automated prevention system, Omnivore, detected content, keywords, or activity that can indicate the possibility of harmful information being sent through our service, the email reads. This was done out of caution, rather than for correction. It scans account and campaign content, and prompts human review so we can determine whether correction is needed, or, as is the case here, alls well.

As such, upon review, your account has been reinstated for continued sending and we have taken additional precautions to ensure that this triggering does not reoccur.

The Babylon Bee has faced many biased attacks before.

Back in 2018, Snopes fact-checked a Babylon Bee satire article claiming that CNN had bought a washing machine to spin the news. Yes, seriously. After Snopes declared the article false, Facebook warned The Babylon Bee that repeat offenders will see their distribution reduced. Recently, The New York Times insinuated that The Babylon Bee is a far-right misinformation site. The Times apologized after the Bee threatened a lawsuit, but the misinformation smear seems rather persistent.

Snopes has also played satire police in attacking the Bee. In one instance, the fact-checking site declared, Were not sure if fanning the flames of controversy and muddying the details of a news story classify an article as satire. It appears Snopes has been trying to deplatform the conservative satire site, in part by claiming that the Bees satire is somehow not satirical enough.

Facebook recently announced upcoming updates to its satire exception to its Hate Speech Community Standard, warning that true satire does not punch down. One week later, Slate published an article claiming that  you guessed it  The Babylon Bee has a nasty tendency to punch down. Facebook had previously demonetized the satire site, claiming that a satirical article that quoted Monty Python and the Holy Grail constituted an incitement to violence.

Big Tech companies  employees of which have a documented bias against conservatives  often censor conservative accounts, later claiming that the restrictions had been made in error.

It remains unclear whether or not Mailchimp singled out The Babylon Bee for adverse treatment, but Dillons suspicions make a great deal of sense. Perhaps other Big Tech companies will think twice about targeting the Bee.

Read more at: PJMedia.com
(Natural News) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Wednesday, June 23, that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will add a warning to the Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines about possible link to cases of myocarditis and pericarditis in teenagers and young adults.

Myocarditis is a condition that involves inflammation of the heart muscle. Symptoms can include fever and fatigue, as well as shortness of breath and a very specific type of chest pain. Patients tend to say their chest hurts more when they lean forward. The pain tends to subside when they lean back. Pericarditis, on the other hand, is the swelling and irritation of the thin, sac-like tissue surrounding the heart.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), CDCs vaccine advisory group, met Wednesday to discuss instances of myocarditis and pericarditis in people aged 30 and younger who have received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. Pfizer and Moderna use mRNA technology in their COVID-19 vaccines, while Johnson & Johnson uses the more traditional virus-based technology.

There have been 484 combined preliminary reports of myocarditis and pericarditis in young people under age 30 as of June 11.

So far, 323 cases have been confirmed by CDC. A total of 309 patients were hospitalized, of which 295 were discharged and 79 percent have since recovered. Nine patients are still in hospital, including two in intensive care units. Males were much more likely to report heart inflammation after receiving a second dose than women.

ACIP sees link between mRNA vaccines and heart inflammation

The COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Technical (VaST) Work Group, which is part of ACIP, assessed the reported cases and noted that the risk of myocarditis or pericarditis following vaccination with the mRNA-based vaccines in adolescents and young adults is notably higher after the second dose and in males.

According to VaST, the data suggests a likely association of myocarditis and pericarditis with mRNA vaccination in adolescents and young adults. The group will continue to review the data on myocarditis and pericarditis from available surveillance systems and ongoing safety evaluations.

The ACIP makes recommendations on how to use vaccines to control diseases in the U.S. The recommendations are nonbinding but the CDC often takes the recommended action. (Related: CDC to hold emergency meeting following reports linking mRNA vaccines to heart inflammation.)

Following the meeting, ACIPs recommendations were as follows:

Those with pericarditis prior to vaccination can receive any FDA authorized COVID-19 vaccine.

Those with pericarditis after the first dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine but prior to a second dose should proceed with a second dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine after resolution of symptoms.

Those with myocarditis prior to a COVID-19 vaccination can receive any FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccine if their heart has recovered.

Those with myocarditis after the first dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine but prior to a second dose should defer a second dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine until more information is known. However, if their heart has recovered, they should consider proceeding with a second dose under certain circumstances.

CDC alarmed by higher-than-expected cases of heart inflammation following COVID-19 vaccination

Earlier this month, the CDC said a higher-than-expected number of young men have experienced heart inflammation after their second dose of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, with more than half the cases reported in people between the ages of 12 and 24.

Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, deputy director of the CDCs Immunization Safety Office, said in a presentation that data from the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) suggests a rate of 12.6 cases per million in the three weeks after the second shot in people between the ages of 12 and 30.

The higher-than-expected rate of the myocarditis and pericarditis cases among Americans below 30 is consistent with the data from Israel.

Israels Ministry of Health identified over 200 cases in men between 16 and 30 years old, a vast majority of those happening at the younger end of that range. That equates to a risk of between 1 in 3,000 and 1 in 6,000 of suffering from heart inflammation.

Pfizer, whose vaccine has been authorized for use in Americans as young as 12, previously said it had not observed a higher rate of heart inflammation than would normally be expected in the general population.

Moderna had said it could not identify a causal association with the heart inflammation cases and its vaccine.

HHS releases statement downplaying link of mRNA vaccines to heart inflammation

Despite the ACIPs findings linking the mRNA vaccines to heart inflammation, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Wednesday issued a statement from some of the countrys leading doctors, nurses and public health leaders urging all Americans 12 and older to get vaccinated.

We strongly encourage everyone eligible to receive the vaccine under emergency use authorization to get vaccinated, they said. With the troubling Delta variant increasingly circulating, and more readily impacting younger people, the risks of being unvaccinated are far greater than any rare side effects from the vaccines.

They also downplayed the cases of heart inflammation linked to the mRNA vaccines.

The facts are clear. This is an extremely rare side effect, and only an exceedingly small number of people will experience it after vaccination. Importantly, for the young people who do, most cases are mild, and individuals recover often on their own or with minimal treatment, they said.

Without giving facts, they added: We know that myocarditis and pericarditis are much more common if you get COVID-19, and the risks to the heart from COVID-19 infection can be more severe.

Follow Immunization.news for more news and information related to coronavirus vaccines.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

ContagionLive.com

KeweenawReport.com

HHS.gov
(Natural News) Over the past couple of years we have become accustomed to expecting the unexpected, but soon we many have to start anticipating the unthinkable. In this article, I am going to be discussing a couple of potential scenarios that would have been unimaginable to the vast majority of Americans just a few short years ago. Unfortunately, our world is now changing at a pace that is absolutely breathtaking, and many things that were once unimaginable could soon become reality.

(Article by Michael Snyder republished from TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com)

Lets start by talking about the record-setting heat wave which is making the epic megadrought in the western half of the country even worse. Many western farmers planted crops this year hoping that weather conditions would eventually turn in their favor, but that has definitely not happened. In fact, at this point 88 percent of the West is experiencing at least some level of drought.

2021 has been the worst year of this multi-year megadrought so far, and last week was the worst week for this drought up to this point in 2021. Old temperature records were shattered all over the West, and some areas were already seeing triple digits by 8 o clock in the morning

The West is in the midst of a record-breaking heat wave this week, as all-time records were shattered and daily records broken in over a dozen states. Even by desert standards, the heat wave in the Southwest is atypical. On Thursday, the National Weather Service in Tucson tweeted that the city recorded a temperature of 100 degrees at 8:14 a.m., the second earliest time in the day recorded since 1948.

That is crazy.

Can you imagine hitting triple digits before you have even finished your morning coffee?

Summer had not even officially begun yet last week, and yet new all-time record highs were being established all over the place

Record-breaking temperatures spread from California to Montana this week. On thursday, the all-time high temperature was tied in Palm Springs, California at 123 degrees, breaking the previous June record of 122 degrees. Salt Lake City tied its all-time record high of 107 degrees. The old record was notably set in July  when temperatures are usually at their highest for the year in that region. This comes after daily record highs were broken Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in Salt Lake, each with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees.

We have never seen anything quite like this in the state of Utah.

More than half of the state is in the highest level of drought, and thanks to dramatic water restrictions farmers are being forced to choose which of their crops will die

With drastic limits placed on what little water he has, Tom Favero said he and many farmers along this west side of Weber County were forced to watch some crops die. Weve all made serious choices of what fields we can water and what we cant, Favero said.

Another Utah farmer that lost a lot of corn and an entire field of barley said that it really hurts to see his hard work go to waste

Farmer Dean Martini pointed at one of his fields. That corn there, where I cant water, I dont have the water. It makes me sick to see it go to heck like that. With limits on amount and time, he said there wasnt enough water flowing to make it across his fields. While some of the corn dried up, he had to let a whole field of barley go too. It hurts buddy. That hurts, Martini said.

Of course this is just the beginning.

If this summer is as hot and as dry as they are projecting, we could see catastrophic crop failures all across the West.

And that is really bad news, because the state of California alone produces more than a third of our vegetables and about two-thirds of our fruits and nuts.

A few years ago, hardly anyone would have imagined that we would be facing a crisis of this magnitude in 2021, but here we are. Paleoclimatologist Kathleen Johnson is quite worried about what will happen this summer, and she is warning that this drought is shaping up to be the worst the region has experienced in at least 1,200 years

Im worried about this summer  this doesnt bode well, in terms of what we can expect with wildfire and the worsening drought. This current drought is potentially on track to become the worst that weve seen in at least 1,200 years.

Now I would like to shift gears.

A few years ago, hardly anyone would have imagined that we would be facing a very serious computer chip shortage in 2021. In particular, the most sophisticated chips are really in short supply, and what most people dont realize is that almost all of them are made by a single company based in Taiwan

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. chips are everywhere, though most consumers dont know it. The company makes almost all of the worlds most sophisticated chips, and many of the simpler ones, too. Theyre in billions of products with built-in electronics, including iPhones, personal computers and carsall without any obvious sign they came from TSMC, which does the manufacturing for better-known companies that design them, like Apple Inc. and Qualcomm Inc.

Because manufacturing those chips is so exceedingly complicated, other companies cant just plop down new factories and start pumping out their own chips. Business leaders in the U.S. are now planning new factories, but it could take quite a few years before they are up and running.

So even under ideal conditions, the chip shortage will not be resolved for some time.

But what happens if China invades Taiwan within the next several years? This is something that U.S. officials were warning about earlier this month

Concerns are growing in Washington over the possibility that China could try to invade Taiwan in the next few years. Top U.S. military officers have warned in recent months that Beijing might try to make the explosive move this decade, and recent saber rattling, including a Chinese military amphibious landing exercise near the island, is further raising the alarm.

Can you imagine the chaos that it would cause for the global economy if the primary supply of advanced chips was suddenly cut off?

According to the Wall Street Journal, TSMC currently makes around 92% of the worlds most sophisticated chips

Its technology is so advanced, Capital Economics said, that it now makes around 92% of the worlds most sophisticated chips, which have transistors that are less than one-thousandth the width of a human hair. Samsung Electronics Co. makes the rest. Most of the roughly 1.4 billion smartphone processors world-wide are made by TSMC.

Without TSMC, the global economy as it is structured today would not be able to function.

So the fact that China is being more aggressive than ever with Taiwan should deeply alarm all of us. For example, check out what happened just last week

China has flown 28 warplanes into Taiwan-controlled airspace, the biggest sortie of its kind since the Taiwanese government began publishing information about the frequent incursions last year. The flights are widely seen as part of an effort by Beijing to dial up pressure on Taiwan, a self-governed democracy of about 24 million people off the Chinese coast that the Chinese government considers a part of China.

We should have never allowed ourselves to become so dependent on foreign chips, but we did.

And now experts are telling us that the chip shortage will last into next year under the best of conditions

Dimitris Dotis, the Audi brand specialist at Audi Tysons Corner dealership in Virginia, summed up the situation to customers. Almost all microchips that go into all new vehicles including Audi come from TSMC in Taiwan, he wrote. They expect bottlenecks in the supply chain to last through 2022.

Of course if China does decide to invade Taiwan, the U.S. military will respond, and that would mean no advanced chips for us for the foreseeable future.

In this article, I have shared just two potential scenarios which could soon plunge us into unthinkable nightmares.

Needless to say, there are many, many more crisis points that bear watching right now as well.

We have reached such a critical moment in our history, and I expect global events to accelerate even more as we head into the second half of 2021.

Read more at: TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
(Natural News) Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our childrens children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

That was Ronald Reagan, one of the greatest presidents of the modern era, along with Donald J. Trump. Their three combined terms produced two of the best economic periods in our history, the strongest military forces, fewest regulatory burdens, and restored more freedom than any other 10 presidents combined.

And the National Constitutional Law Union, or the NCLU, wants to ensure more Americans live under that kind of liberty and freedom for generations to come.

The polar opposite of the far-left American Civil Liberties Union, the NCLU is on a mission to build an army of attorneys who fight for all Americans against government oppression, according to its website, who will fight and win some of the most important litigations in American history involving the most pressing Constitutional and civil liberties issues of our time.

The National Constitutional Law Union is a non-profit social welfare organization. Its mission is to preserve and protect the United States Constitution and the American way of life by providing legal support and funding to individuals whose Constitutional rights, civil liberties and similar rights are being violated or are in jeopardy, the group says.

Nearly all of our fundamental constitutional rights are under assault today, and the NCLU knows it. Religious freedom; gun rights; freedom of speech; censorship; big tech surveillance; FBI and government spying; red flag laws that rob citizens of their due process rights; private property; a two-tiered justice system that favors the left-wing elite; open borders and mass illegal immigration  the NCLU is committed to fighting all of these injustices, which are going to be ramped up significantly by the Biden regime, even when the elderly, dementia-suffering president is sent packing under the 25th Amendment (you can bet thats coming.)

The organization was founded by the best and brightest attorneys who are currently litigating some of the most important of these cases in history, says an explainer posted online.

We have watched in the past several years the combination of government overreach, Big Tech tyranny and other developments put the Constitution and related rights at serious risk. If freedom-loving Americans do not unite to stand up for these rights, they will be lost forever, the group says  just like Reagan predicted.

We believe the most important thing that can be done to protect liberty is to fight in court for those who do not have the means or ability to fight for themselves, the NCLU added.

In fact, the strategy makes the most sense for the time being. Trump may have had his reelection stolen from him, but before he was driven from office, he and a GOP Senate managed to confirm hundreds of federal judges and three Supreme Court justices, all of whom were vetted by the Constitution-friendly Federalist Society, which ranks judges on their ability to use original intent expressed by our founders when deciding cases.

Thats what we need; thats how all federal judges and high court justices are supposed to rule. And the NCLUs attorneys will no doubt use this to their advantage.

And heres how the legal battles will play out:

The NCLU will provide funding directly to clients and their law firms who are waging these battles every day. Substantial funds will go to a firm owned by the Founder and CEO of the NCLU specifically for the legal fees and costs of clients whose cases fall within the full mission statement of the NCLU as set forth below and as determined in the sole discretion of the Board of Directors and approved by those clients. Also, the NCLU will fund other law firms and their litigants.

The NCLU will be building a legion of internal staff attorneys across the country who will directly engage in litigation in state and federal courts in all jurisdictions. The NCLU will also engage in public advocacy with respect to the issues set forth in the full mission statement.

Like their rivals, the ACLU, the NCLU survives largely on donations. If you can help the organization out, click here, to donate for the preservation of our Constitutional Republic.

Sources include:

NCLU.com

Liberty.news
(Natural News) Software pioneer John McAfees Instagram account on Wednesday, June 23, posted the letter Q just minutes after a news outlet shared the news that he was found dead in his jail cell from an apparent suicide.

McAfees body was found at a facility near Barcelona just hours after Spains National Court approved his extradition to the U.S., where he is wanted on tax-related criminal charges carrying a prison sentence of up to 30 years.

Local paper El Pais first reported the 75-year-old tech moguls death. Thirty minutes later, the black letter Q on top of a white background appeared on his social media account.

The letter appears to be a reference to QAnon, a conspiracy theory that was tied to former President Donald Trump. Also known as Q, QAnon is a discredited far-right conspiracy theory about pedophiles running a worldwide child sex trafficking ring and conspiring against Trump during his term in office.

Instagram users responded to the post by commenting: RIP, this man did not kill himself, Q and Epstein 2.0.

McAfee: If I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault of mine

According to reports, McAfee once shared a photo in 2019 of himself in an altered image of Jeffrey Epstein who was found dead in a prison cell that same year. (Related: Alt media was exposing Epstein corruption as ABC was covering it up  Whos the real fake news?)

I never said Jeffrey Epstein was murdered. I said he didnt commit suicide. Not the same, McAfee wrote alongside the image. Could be alive. Could have never existed. Maybe murdered. I dunno. I only know he didnt commit suicide.

McAfee had previously said on Twitter in 2019 that if authorities had ever determined he had committed suicide it meant that he had been killed. He appeared to show off a tattoo reading whackd in a tweet as he accused U.S. officials of targeting him.

Getting subtle messages from U.S. officials saying, in effect: Were coming for you McAfee! Were going to kill yourself,' he wrote. I got a tattoo today just in case. If I suicide myself, I didnt. I was whackd. Check my right arm.

And on October 15, 2020, once he was already in jail, McAfee tweeted: I am content in here. I have friends. The food is good. All is well. Know that if I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault of mine.

Local judicial delegation took McAfees body for autopsy

Spanish authorities have opened an investigation into McAfees death.

Everything indicates that it could be a death by suicide, a spokeswoman for the Catalan regional governments Department of Justice said on Thursday, June 24. The spokeswoman added that a local judicial delegation investigating the cause and circumstances of McAfees death took his body away from the jail to carry out an autopsy.

According to the spokeswoman, McAfees body was found in his cell at around 7 p.m. local time. Security personnel tried to resuscitate him, but the jails medical team later declared him dead. McAfee shared the cell with another man, but he was alone when he was found.

McAfees Spanish lawyer, Javier Villalba, said the director of the prison where his client was detained told him on Wednesday that his client was found hanging. He said that he wasnt given more information and that he was waiting for the results of the investigation being carried out by Spanish authorities.

McAfee: Taxation is illegal

McAfee, founder of antivirus software company McAfee Corp., was arrested by Spanish National Police at Barcelonas El Prat airport in October last year when he was about to board a plane to Turkey.

That same month, he was charged in Tennessee for failing to file tax returns for four years despite earning millions from consulting work, speaking engagements, cryptocurrencies and selling the rights to his life story. (Related: John McAfee accidentally just revealed why Bitcoin is a total fraud: Behold the logic of artificial work.)

The Department of Justice alleged that McAfee evaded tax liability by having his income paid into bank accounts and cryptocurrency exchange accounts in the names of nominees. He was also accused of concealing assets, including a yacht and real estate property, also in other peoples names.

Nishay Sanan, an attorney representing McAfee in U.S. criminal proceedings, said his client had intended to fight all the charges.

This is again the U.S. government trying to erase John McAfee, Sanan said. This man was a fighter. And in the minds of everyone who knew him, he will always be a fighter.

McAfee first fled the U.S. in January 2019 for what he described as a period of exile during which he would be free to exercise his libertarian beliefs. That same year, McAfee tweeted that he had not filed tax returns for eight years because taxation is illegal.

Visionary and key figure in technology scene

Born on a U.S. Army base in Gloucestershire, England in 1945, McAfee first came to prominence in the 1980s when he founded his tech company and released McAfee VirusScan. He sold his antivirus company to Intel for $7.7 billion in 2011.

Although a pioneer of computer security, he once admitted to the BBC that he never actually used any security software on his own computers.

I protect myself by constantly changing my IP [internet protocol] address, by not attaching my name to any device I use, and by not going on to sites where you might pick up a virus, he told the BBCs technology reporter Leo Kelion in 2013.

McAfee was a visionary that helped create a multi-billion computer security software industry. He will be remembered as a key figure in the development of the technology scene in the 1980s and 1990s.

Follow Conspiracy.news for more news and information related to conspiracies and conspiracy theories.

Sources include:

The-Sun.com

English.ElPais.com

WSJ.com

BBC.com
(Natural News) New research published in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science reveals that multinational corporations are rapidly destroying the worlds soils by contaminating them with deadly insecticides, herbicides and fungicides.

All the chemical garbage that gets sprayed on genetically modified (GMO) crops, making corporate executives filthy rich at the expense of our planet, is quite literally killing the soil.

If it continues on the current trajectory, eventually there will be no more healthy soil left to grow food, causing mass starvation and ecosystem collapse.

Authors Nathan Donley and Tari Gunstone warn that immediate changes are needed to put a stop to this chemical violence, which has only worsened thanks to the deliberate negligence of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which no longer assesses the safety of chemicals before they are approved.

Conducted by the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, and The University of Maryland, the research looked at nearly 400 published studies that involved more than 2,800 different experiments on pesticides and their impact on soil health.

The review encompassed some 275 unique species and types of soil organisms as well as 284 different pesticides or pesticide mixtures.

They found that in more than 70 percent of cases, pesticides damage soils, killing important organisms like earthworms, springtails, beetles and thousands of other subterranean species.

The EPAs safety reviews never take a look at any of this, the researchers warn, as it is designed to cover for the chemical industry. The EPA almost always finds that chemicals are safe and effective no matter how much harm they cause.

The EPA uses a single test species to estimate risk to all soil organisms, the European honeybee, which spends its entire life above ground in artificial boxes, reports The Burning Platform.

But 50-100 per cent of all pesticides end up in soil.

If corporations arent punished for their crimes against humanity, there will eventually be no more food

We, too, have been warning about EPA corruption for years, noting that the agency, like most other American governmental agencies, exists to protect the industry it is supposed to be regulating.

There is literally no rule of law in these corrupt United States anymore, at least not when it comes to evil corporations that do whatever they want without consequence. Rules only exist for the peons, in other words.

Meanwhile, the chemical industry continues to churn out increasingly more toxic poisons that are getting sprayed all over crops and dumped into rivers and lakes. This would explain the exponential growth of chronic disease, gender issues and other societal problems that exist all throughout the West.

In some areas of the world, there has been some headway made in stamping out the use of toxic glyphosate (Roundup), the infamous Monsanto herbicide that destroys every form of life that encounters it. But not in the West, where corporations make all the decisions for their own benefit.

Glyphosate and another widespread chemical known as AMPA, the study further notes, are so saturated in the worlds soils that biodiversity is rapidly disappearing. The only solution, of course, is to stop using them and diversify agriculture away from corporations and back into the hands of real people.

The chemical-intensive agriculture model that has been in place for many decades now has resulted in less-nutritious and increasingly more toxic food, and now we are witnessing the total collapse of soil, which is necessary to produce food in the first place.

These latest studies underscore the need to shift towards organic farming and agroecology and invest in indigenous models of agriculture  as has been consistently advocated by various high-level international agencies, not least the United Nations, and numerous official reports, says The Burning Platform.

More related news about the chemical industry and its destruction of the planet can be found at ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

TheBurningPlatform.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Twitter locked the account of conservative news website National File after it reported on a tweet about the death of a vaccinated 13-year-old. The social media platform locked the National Files Twitter account for a 12-hour period. Twitter later claimed that the move was done in error and the website was granted access to its account once more.

According to the National File, the temporary restriction stemmed from its report about tweets from a woman named Tami Burages. The woman claimed her 13-year-old nephew Jacob Clynick died after his second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine.

Burages tweeted that the initial autopsy results on Clynick showed an enlarged heart  [with] some fluid surrounding it. She added that her nephew had no known health problems and was not on any medication. Should any innocent child be a sacrificial lamb in this endeavor? There are moral, ethical and health questions that need to be answered. If Jacob had not received the second shot, we believe he would be alive today, Burages continued.

Later, a Twitter spokesperson confirmed that the National File lockout was done in error and the website had been allowed to access to its account again. According to the social media site, the temporary 12-hour ban stemmed from the website allegedly violating Twitter rules on spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.

While the National File regained access to its account, it noted that Twitter suspended its reporter Jack Hadfield. The news site added that Hadfield was blocked from the social media platform for celebrating Twitters decision to reverse the suspension.

In a statement, National File Editor-In-Chief Tom Pappert said: Twitters censorship here is as repugnant as it is ridiculous. We published a report containing direct quotes from a woman who  using Twitter  expressed concern about the death of her 13-year-old nephew  after he received the [Pfizer/BioNTech] COVID-19 vaccine.

He added that the social media site headed by Jack Dorsey is attempting to censor news outlets for the crime of reporting on the concerns of a recently bereaved family member. Pappert then concluded his statement: It is very unfortunate that Twitter would attempt to prevent this family from sharing its truth and its concerns about the [Pfizer/BioNTech] COVID-19 vaccine only days after [Clynicks] untimely and heartbreaking death.

Twitter in cahoots with Big Pharma with censorship of the truth about COVID-19 vaccines

Twitters lockout of the National File following its report of Clynicks death was not the first time it suppressed voices questioning the COVID-19 narrative. In early June 2021, the platform suspended the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) after the organization announced it will publish more emails from top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci. Emails from the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) were made public following a Freedom of Information Act request sent by mainstream media outlets Washington Post and BuzzFeed.

ICAN was suspended twice on June 3 after it tweeted that it would drop 3,000 new pages of  Fauci emails that provided further insight on the NIAID directors actions on COVID-19, vaccine safety and more. Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin posted a screenshot of a message ICAN received on her Twitter account. According to the message, ICANs Twitter account had been locked due to its June 3 tweet allegedly flouting the sites rules on spreading misleading and potentially harmful information about the pandemic.

The next day, Twitter walked back on its suspension of the informed consent advocacy group. National File reached out to the social media site for its comment on ICANs ban. Just like in the instance with Burages, a Twitter spokesperson claimed the enforcement action on ICAN was done in error. They added that the suspension has been reversed, with ICAN having their tweets and account functionality restored.

ICAN Founder Del Bigtree told National File: Im glad that theyve done what is correct, but when the kneejerk reaction is to censor simply a factual statement  which is emails are going to be forthcoming  it really makes you have to question what type of infrastructure [Twitter is] working with. How does that mistake get made, and how does it get made twice?

Twitters censorship also extended to progressive Democrats who dared to question COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine passports. Former Clinton administration adviser Dr. Naomi Wolf, who was critical of these two, saw herself being suspended on the social media platform. During an interview with LifeSiteNews, she claimed that Twitter did not provide a reason for her suspension.

Wolf said: Twitter did not inform me why I was suspended. [The] accounts in the news stories that make claims that I was suspended for conspiracy theories and anti-vaxx [information] are not correct. On the other hand, Twitter explained that the former campaign aide and lifelong progressive Democrat shared misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines that led to her suspension.

She nevertheless warned: [This] systematic de-platforming is very terrifying for democracy. [Its] extremely disturbing to see Twitter  systematically de-platforming conservative voices.

Visit Censorship.news to read more articles about Big Tech companies suppressing voices that go against the COVID-19 narrative.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

NationalFile.com 1

Breitbart.com

NationalFile.com 2

NationalFile.com 3

LifeSiteNews.com
(Natural News) Obama corrupted everything good within the U.S. government, finishing what the Clintons started. Joe Biden (essentially Obamas third term) is the coup de grace.

(Article by L Todd Wood republished from CreativeDestrustionMedia.com)

Axios released an article today detailing that half the unemployment aid issued over the past year was sent out of the country to foreign criminal organizations.

The free for all which was the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) shockingly sent millions to Chinese state-owned corporations overseas. This is in the public record.

You see, once you realize the current rendition of the U.S. government is an organized crime syndicate of massive proportion, in control of the national security apparatus, everything that is happening immediately makes sense.

CDMedia wrote weeks ago that our sources informed us the alleged ransomeware attack on the Colonial Pipeline was not a foreign operation, but likely executed by domestic entities for monetary, or political gain.

Some have entertained the thought of internal strife between U.S. government agencies, essential criminal gangs, reaping the benefits of organized money laundering on a massive scale.

Now we learn the FBI reportedly seized the millions of Bitcoin paid by Colonial pipeline for the alleged ransom.

Was the hack solved so quickly because theres a power struggle between the FBI and the CIA going on? In that story, did the CIA hack the pipeline and the FBI decide to punish them?

In Russia this is common. Different security agencies of the Russian secret services are in regular competition for illicit gains. The FSB regularly takes over businesses to reap ill-gotten profit. Corruption is what the Russian system is built upon.

This is what Obama and his minions have brought here.

Think about it, if parts of the U.S. government are in bed with the Chinese Communist Party, looking to rape the American people of trillions of dollars, agriculture, energy, and so on, then the entire Russia! Russia! Russia! hoax makes perfect sense.

Blame it all on the rival criminal gang!

And, the Deplorables pay for it all!

Isnt that special?

Read more at: CreativeDestrustionMedia.com
(Natural News) In order to help fake president Joe Biden reach his Fourth of July goal to vaccinate at least 70 percent of the country for the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19), Kamala Harris is urging Democrat activists to go door-to-door and harass their unvaccinated neighbors.

At an event in Atlanta, Harris told her audience of volunteers to go knock on doors and encourage people to get injected for the Chinese Virus so that we can all be safe and get back to a new normal as quickly as possible.

Harris even offered pointers on how to strong-arm the vaccine hesitant into lowering their guards and rolling up their sleeves for a warp speed injection, even if they were never planning on doing so.

For example, if you knock on the door and someone says they dont have time to get the vaccine  because people are busy and theyre just trying to make it through the day  or they say that pharmacies are never open when they do have time, well, lets address that, Harris squawked.

Because now, you can let them know that pharmacies across our country are keeping their doors open for 24 hours on Fridays in June, including today. Because we need to meet people where they are! Some folks are working two jobs, or three jobs.

Kamala admits vaccines were developed many, many years before pandemic; urges Americans to be good corporate citizens by getting injected

Harris went on with a fake southern accent to condescendingly and nervously speak to her small crowd about how the injections are safe and effective because they were developed many, many years ago, long before the plandemic.

Speaking to her puny audience as if they were first graders while sweating and shaking her arms like a tweaker, Harris went on to further, perhaps mistakenly, urge everyone to be good corporate citizens by encouraging their friends, family members and neighbors to get jabbed quickly.

Harris use of the word corporate, in this context, is revealing, showing who is really running the show: Big Pharma. No longer do we have citizens of the United States of America, but rather we have citizens of the United States corporation who are expected to obey their masters on command.

This is largely why many were forced to wear a mask, it turns out. Much like the slaves of old who were forced to cover their faces, the American slaves of today were told that they had to shield their breathing holes to flatten the curve.

Now, we are all being told that we need a needle, much like a cattle herd, to keep us all safe against Chinese Germs. And if Harris little door-to-door scheme is unsuccessful, then we can only imagine what this impostor regime has up its sleeve for the next phase.

Since there is zero chance that Biden will attain his 70 percent vaccination rate by July 4, will he resort to sending military tanks down the streets of America to stab people by force? Stay tuned.

This evil piece of garbage should be dragged out of the White House kicking and screaming, wrote one commenter at Newspunch. Televise the global Bastille Day.

Shes a fraud and she shouldnt even be there, wrote another. Shes a prop on a sideshow pretending to be the government. They all are and the smart ones know it. Their job is to deceive the world that they are the government and the dumb ones think its all real.

Others noted that none of the excuses made by Harris as to why people are resisting getting injected are even valid. The fact remains that most Americans, it would seem, do not want the injection under any circumstances.

To keep up with the latest news about the Wuhan Flu shot push, visit ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

Newspunch.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) There are rumors circulating that government lackeys are now roaming the streets of California looking for unvaccinated residents whom they are trying to bully into getting injected for the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19).

A woman on TikTok posted a video claiming that her husband received a knock at the door from brownshirts who pried for information about who lives at the house and if there are any young people there who have not yet been stabbed for the Chinese Virus.

The vaccine police came to our house last night  I am not joking, the woman told her TikTok followers.

They wanted to know if my husband was vaccinated and if we had somebody under the age of 12 in our house. They asked that two times.

Shocked by being approached, the womans husband allegedly denied that anyone else lived there and that he was all alone. He then asked how and why he was being targeted, and the response he received is nothing short of chilling.

My husband said he was the only one that lived there and he asked how they came to our house, the woman further explained.

They said  it was two women and they had lanyards and a clipboard  that our address came up as residents unvaccinated. I dont even know what to say. I live in California. Gavin Newsom is my governor  not by my choice  but this has got to stop.

Kamala Harris urging Democrats to harass their unvaccinated neighbors

This strange occurrence sounds a whole lot like what Kamala Harris told a roomful of her followers the other day.

At an appearance in Atlanta, Harris urged black students who attend historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to get out there and start recruiting more Branch Covidians into the jab cult so that fake president Joe Biden can reach his vaccination goals.

If you knock on the door and someone says they dont have the time to get the vaccine  let them know that pharmacies across our country are keeping their doors open for 24 hours on Fridays in June, Harris nervously bellowed before cackling maniacally.

We need to meet people where they are!

In the event that someone who is bullied by a Harris brownshirt into getting injected against their will only to become injured as a result, Harris recommends that her followers inform jab recipients that they might be able to get paid time off from work while they recover.

Other folks who need time to recover after they get the shot  may need a little moment where they need some help with their kids, Harris stated while strangely flapping her arms back and forth and sweating like some kind of junkie.

So, we have partnered with the YMCA, with KinderCare, and the Learning Care Group to provide free childcare for both vaccination and recovery. We need to meet people where they are.

Whatever it takes to convince someone to get injected, Harris wants Democrats to do it. No tactic is too invasive or cringeworthy, just so long as it gets more needles into arms at warp speed.

Was Harris call to action the reason why the TikTok womans husband received a personal visit at his home for harboring unvaccinated residents? Perhaps. And we expect a whole lot more of this type of thing in the coming days.

There is no legitimacy to the pandemic and there is no legitimacy to the vaccine, wrote one commenter at Newspunch. The Covid-19 vaccine is not even a real vaccine. It is a recombinant RNA genetic modifier.

More related news about Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine tyranny can be found at ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

RumorMillNews.com

Newspunch.com
Weather Alert

...HEAT ADVISORY WILL EXPIRE AT 8 PM PDT THIS EVENING... Temperatures will remain warm to hot as we head further into summer, and they are becoming more common for this time of year and less unusual. Therefore will let the Heat Advisory expire at 8 PM PDT this evening.
One new Democrat has entered the race for the seat in the 36th Senate District, but two prominent Greenwich Democrats say they are passing on a run.

State Rep. Stephen Meskers, D-150, and Selectperson Jill Oberlander said they will not seek to succeed Alex Kasser, who resigned unexpectedly on Tuesday.

A special election will be held to fill the open seat, which represents all of Greenwich, the northern part of Stamford and the western part of New Canaan.

Greenwich resident Alexis Gevanter said she plans to run for the spot as a Democrat, as does John Blankley, another Democrat who announced Thursday his plans to seek the seat.

3 1 of 3 File / Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 3 File / Bob Luckey Jr. / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 3





I have been advocating for others my entire life, Gevanter said Friday. Right now, I am laser-focused on continuing to make progress here in Connecticut. I am the candidate who will champion both the economy and our values. We cannot go back to a time when candidates would compromise one for the other.

Meskers, who in 2018 was the first Democrat to win a state representative seat in Greenwich in 100 years, sent a message to supporters Thursday that he will remain in his current position.

I love the job I have and the opportunity it gives me to serve, Meskers said in his statement. I am ever grateful for the trust you have placed in me. However, I have decided to hold fast to the commitments I made to the people of the 150th and therefore will not seek election to the 36th Senate District seat. I look forward to continuing to serve in my present capacity.

In 2020, Meskers was reelected by a larger margin than in 2018.

Oberlander, who is not running for reelection to the Board of Selectmen, confirmed Friday that she also will not be a candidate for the Senate seat because the timing is not right. In 2014, she narrowly lost the race for state representative in the 150th District to Republican Michael Bocchino..

I didnt seriously consider running, said Oberlander, who acknowledged receiving a number of inquiries about a possible run. There already are strong candidates ready to continue the important work Alex was doing. Im committed to finishing out my term on the Board of Selectmen and continuing my efforts to ensure Greenwich remains a town we all want to live in.

An attorney and mother of two, Gevanter has worked as a legislative aide for former U.S. Rep. Steven Rothman from New Jersey. She is a volunteer with the Junior League of Greenwich and serves as the Connecticut chapter leader of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

If elected, Gevanter said she pledged to work with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to fight for causes our communities care about and protecting what she called shared values in economic growth, voting rights, womens rights, keeping the community safe from gun violence and bringing civility back to politics.

Connecticut is on an incredible path, Gevanter said, noting recent company moves into Connecticut as well as federal dollars coming to invest in infrastructure and rail. This is incredibly exciting and I want to ensure we continue to make this kind of economic progress. I would keep taxes low and fight for our small businesses, homeowners and families, especially as we all recover from the pandemic. I have vast experience building coalitions by listening and finding common ground.

Meskers and Oberlander praised Kasser, who resigned Monday, citing her ongoing divorce. Oberlander wished all the best for Kasser and thanked her for her service.

She was a strong voice for women, smart government, investment in infrastructure, inclusion, the environment, gun violence prevention and many more really important issues, Oberlander said.

Republicans held the seat for more than 75 years before Kasser defeated incumbent Republican L. Scott Frantz in 2018.

Several GOP candidates could be in the running for the partys nomination. State Rep. Harry Arora, R-151; Ryan Fazio, who ran against Kasser last November; and Republican National Committee member Leora Levy have all expressed interest in running but have not made official announcements.

One Republican who had eyed a run said he will not be moving forward, though. Carl Higbie, a former official in the administration of former President Donald Trump, said Friday he will be supporting Fazio.

I have decided to throw 100 percent of my support behind Ryan Fazio, Higbie said. He has the infrastructure and means to win this seat. I will be working to make my MAGA crowd in Greenwich his army.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
Volant timeline A timeline of events in Volant over the last 10 months.

Volant's already shaky borough government appears headed for an overhaul, with the potential election in November of three new council members and a new mayor.

Volants current borough government appears to be on auto-pilot  the council hasn't formally met since April, with monthly meetings in May and June canceled due to a lack of quorum.

The election should be anything but boring. Council members and Mayor Ingrid Both-Hoesl, who was elected by two write-in votes in 2019, have butted heads in the last nine months over the boroughs popular festivals and an obligation to keep the public restroom open, the latter issue now the subject of a lawsuit. The restroom remains closed.

Borough meetings have, on occasion, degenerated into shouting matches, and council members have violated the spirit  if not the letter  of the states sunshine laws. The township may or may not be bankrupt, depending on which official you talk to. One council member wont be on the ballot because he didnt know his term was expiring, and even Lawrence County elections director Ed Allison doesnt know for certain when the terms of two council members expire. The borough didnt report their appointments to the county.

Councilman Donald Little didn't run for reelection and blamed the borough's secretary for not telling him his term was expiring. Allison disagreed with that assessment, saying it's "incumbent upon them (council members) to keep track."

Both-Hosel did not run a campaign during the primary because she mistakenly thought she was elected to a four-year term in 2019. When she won the mayor's race then it was only for a two-year term because the office had been vacant. All Pennsylvania boroughs will be electing mayors this year.

With 22 write-in votes, Charles Rice received enough write-in votes to secure the Republican  and only  nomination for borough mayor.

With two incumbent council members  council president Robert McGary and John Wayne Edwards  hoping to retain their seats, heres what we know:

Kristine Kelly Connor, Glenn Smith and Roxann Johnston attracted enough write-in votes in the May 18 primary election to appear on the Nov. 2 ballot, when voters will elect four candidates for council and one for mayor. Connor, Smith, and Johnston will compete for three seats on the seven-member council against McGary and Edwards.

Smith had previously spoken in favor of ordinances that merchants argued would limit their ability to hold festivals.

Story continues below video

"It's a very poorly run town," said Connor, a Pittsburgh-area native living in Volant for the last three-plus years. "We have everything missing here from crosswalks, the speed limit signs are fading. Nobody's taking care of the town.

Having enough candidates on the ballot makes, instead of numerous write-in candidates, makes the election clearer for voters.

Connor was the only one of the five council candidates to receive both the Democratic and Republican nominations  both as a write-in. An outspoken critic of the current council, Connor received the same amount of votes  10  as McGary, the president, on the Democratic ballot.

On the Republican ballot, Smith won with 26 votes while Edwards had 25. Johnston and Connor received 24 and 16 votes, respectively.

Candidates have until June 30 to withdraw their name from the ballot.

"These are tentative," Allison said. "The seats that are open in a public office generally don't get declined, especially if they were on one ballot or picked up the nomination on the other side."

Of Volant's current seven-person council, McGary and Shaw were elected in 2017; Deb Lakin and John Shaw won four year terms in 2019. According to Allison, it appears vice president Tony Bevilacqua and councilman Howard Moss were appointed to their positions by the borough 2017 and their terms expire this year.

"We received no formal documentation on these appointees from the borough," Allison said. "We have surmised they are the other two positions for this year. Their terms would therefore end in December 2021. Don Little was also an appointee for which we have no info."

In May, Edwards unlocked the borough building to let in members of the public, merchants Both-Hoesl and Little. The crowd waited about 10 minutes before Edwards announced there was no quorum and the meeting was off. A similar situation occurred June 8 when McGary unlocked the building and again he was joined by only Both-Hoesl and Little, meaning again no quorum was present.

Bevilacqua, Moss, Lakin, Shaw, borough secretary Carmen Ortiz Brown and solicitor John DeCaro were absent from both meetings.

psirianni@ncnewsonline.com
AP photo/Wilfredo LeeThree women pray Saturday during a vigil for the victims and families of the Champlain Towers collapsed building in Surfside, Fla. Many people were still unaccounted for after the fatal collapse.
Iffath Fathima By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: With the third wave expected to set in around October, BBMP is focusing on strengthening medical response and availability of hospital and COVID care beds for children. The idea is to be prepared, said Randeep D, Special Commissioner, Health, in an interview with The New Indian Express.

Randeep, who recently took charge as health commissioner, said BBMP would be prepared for a scenario where more children need medical attention. "A meeting was held with paediatricians of prominent hospitals in Mahadevapura zone, and inputs were taken. This will be undertaken in other zones too. The State Task Force would give us directions and its also proposed to have a committee of paediatricians in an advisory role," said Randeep.

Covid Care Centres (CCCs) will be reoriented to have childcare-specific beds, and there is a plan to upgrade some maternity homes with paediatric beds. "It is also decided to work on proper home isolation, and monitoring protocol for home-isolated children," he added.

Asked if more teams would be set up for containment, isolation and testing, Randeep pointed out that testing, contact tracing and containment teams have been functioning continuously, and there is no plan to downscale these operations.

"In fact, perimeter testing around the area where positive cases are detected will help in early identification of clusters. Epidemiologists in each zone have been tasked with predicting a surge, by analysing the present infection pattern or clusters," he added.

On vaccination being key to countering the third wave, BBMP plans to achieve a target of 1 lakh vaccinations per day. However, it is contingent on timely supply and delivery to vaccination sites. BBMP's present stock of Covishield vials is around 33,000, and Covaxin around 35,000.

Randeep disclosed that door-to-door survey was taken up to identify vaccinated households for planning future vaccination drives. "Four vaccine vans have been kept at BBMP head office to ensure timely delivery of vaccine stocks. We are involving NGOs and RWAs to mobilise the vulnerable population for vaccination. PHC-based vaccination for those aged above 45 years, and worksite-based vaccination for priority groups is being planned," he said.

With one Delta-Plus variant case found in Bengaluru, Randeep said that BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta has prioritised genome sequencing, and BBMP is taking it up with private labs on a pilot basis.

At present, around eight samples are being genome sequenced per day. Subsequently, this would be taken up in more labs with a target of 5 per cent of positive samples daily.

He said the focus is now on consolidating learnings from the second wave, and improving response time. "The Chief Commissioner has always emphasised getting the basics right - targeted testing and tracking, physical triage, regular home visits and effective containment measures. We are using the low caseload to improve systems," he added.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: The traffic snarl, which has been a daily affair, at Vyttila Junction will soon be a thing of the past. PWD minister Mohamed Riyas, at a meeting here on Sunday directed authorities to come up with a foolproof plan that will ensure the junction is free of bottlenecks for at least 20 years.

"The plan should be well-devised without any scope for complaint," Riyas said at the meeting attended by people's representatives and officials from departments concerned. The Public Works Department had constructed the Vyttila and Kundanoor flyovers as part of a comprehensive project to decongest the junctions. However, the snarl-up continues to pose a headache to commuters.

The PWD, NH, NHAI and traffic wing officials have been instructed to carry out a joint inspection of the area and hold a detailed traffic study to prepare a scientific plan. "Land acquisition will be carried out in areas, if necessary," said the minister.

However, the final decision will only be taken after taking into consideration the report submitted by the PWD and the National Highway Authority in 2019. Riyas also directed authorities to prepare a plan to provide temporary relief to commuters.

Meanwhile, the minister also instructed authorities to expedite the land acquisition procedure at the Thammanam-Pullepady road. According to the minister, a separate meeting of the stakeholders will be called to further look into the issues. "The authorities have been directed to begin the work on the stretch from Kathrikadavu junction to Karakkodam bridge where land acquisition process has been completed," said the minister.

After this, the instructions are to acquire land from Kathrikadavu Junction to the Padma and from NH to Thammanam. As soon as the land for the road project is completed, the construction work has to start, directed the minister. The district collector has been entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the project, he said.

The district administration has also been instructed to hold regular meetings every month to get an update of the land acquisition process to the minister.The development of the Thammanam-Pullepady road, which comes under the KIIFB and falls under the jurisdiction of Kochi Corporation, will bring reprieve to the traffic snarls in the city. At present, the road, which lies parallel to the Infopark road, doesnt have the width to accommodate two cars side-by-side.
Toby Antony By

Express News Service

KOCHI: After a brief lull, gold smugglers have swung into action with nine smuggling attempts thwarted at Kochi airport in a week. Gold has started flowing in as flight services became operational after the second wave of COVID.

Across Kerala, smuggling attempts have increased but the most number of smugglers were intercepted in Kozhikode and Kochi airports.

In Kochi airport, nine persons were intercepted and 10.5 kg of gold was seized in a weeks time. In the last three days, as many as six persons were intercepted both by Customs and DRI officials. "Only isolated incidents of gold smuggling were reported last month as only a few international flights were operating. However, with international flight services becoming fully operational last week, smuggling attempts have rapidly increased. Now, daily two to three attempts are being reported. On Thursday alone five passengers who arrived from Gulf countries were intercepted for smuggling gold," a Customs official at Kochi airport said.

Another Customs officer said that five gold smuggling attempts were detected in a single flight that arrived at Kozhikode airport on June 22. "From an Air India Express flight that landed at Kozhikode, gold weighing 7.8 kg was seized from three persons. Two of them were carrying gold weighing more than one kg each. It shows that smugglers are desperate to bring in gold after the lockdown. More cases are being reported from Kochi and Kozhikode airports. With checking intensified at these airports, smuggling activities will rise in Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur airports soon," a top official of Customs Preventive Headquarters in Kochi said.

Another officer said that smugglers have become active as gold price has stabilised in the market. "The price of gold has not seen a major crash in recent weeks. It has been stable between Rs 46,000-50,000 in the market which is relatively a good price. Similarly, with jewellery shops opening nearly after a month, sale of gold will increase especially as the government has granted permission for marriage functions with minimum participants. So smugglers want to make use of the opportunity and pump in maximum quantity," a Customs official in Kozhikode said.

DRI has intensified its operations as around six persons were booked in Kochi and Kozhikode airports recently. DRI has enhanced its intelligence gathering network abroad and is coordinating with Customs as agencies suspect that smuggling activities will increase in the coming days.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The City police on Sunday dealt a huge blow to the organised drug racket that pushes in contraband to the state capital as they seized 100kg of ganja and arrested a Tamil Nadu resident with Kerala connections, who had allegedly smuggled it from Coimbatore.

N Muhammed, a Coimbatore resident, who had family roots in Thrissur, was nabbed by Pettah police with the help of the police's District Anti-Narcotics Special Action Force (DANSAF).

The police team nabbed Muhammed from near Chackai flyover on Sunday morning. DCP Vaibhav Saxena, who heads the anti-narcotics drive in the city, said the 59-year-old TN native was waiting for another vehicle, which was supposed to ferry the consignment to retailers, when he was nabbed.

The place where the accused was waiting was a fallow land and the consignment was found hidden among the bushes so as to avoid easy detection. Vaibhav said they had inputs regarding the arrival of a large consignment from Andhra Pradesh through Coimbatore and planned the operations accordingly.

"We had information that the drugs will be delivered to the city on Friday, but it reached here on Saturday night. The consignment was ferried in a lorry ferrying vegetables," he said.

The ganja was procured by the racket from Naxal-infested districts of Andhra Pradesh and was transported to Coimbatore, where it was stocked, before being dispatched to Kerala. The police sources said Muhammed claimed that he had no idea about the consignment that he was carrying.

However, the police contested this saying that he could have been part of similar operations in the past. "Maybe, he was not fully aware of the finer details of the operation and the racket. That's how rackets operate. They dont reveal details or their identities to other members of the racket," a police source said.

Police said two city-based criminal gangs are into drug business and the consignment would have come for them. The ringleader is staying outside the state and he used to send the consignment in bulk and distributed among retail sellers.

The police suspect that the key members of the racket communicate with each other through darknet sites as it was found that they were not using mobile phones to contact others.

10 kg ganja seized

The DANSAF team also arrested 24-year-old Thirumala native Sreeram after seizing 10kg of ganja from his house, which he had stored it for retailers. The police said he had similar cases registered against him and was supplying drugs to the users in the city.
By Express News Service

Director R Chandru is getting ready to resume work for the much-anticipated Kabzaa. The production team is currently erecting huge sets for the shoot. The combo poster of the gangster period drama, which will have a pan Indian release, was revealed by the makers at 6 am on Sunday featuring the leading stars Upendra and Sudeep. It was followed by the release of a motion poster, and it has hit the internet.

The retro look of the stars is expected to get their fans excited. The film presented by MTB Nagaraj has director R Chandru bankrolling the project under his home banner, Sri Siddheshwara Enterprises.

The makers are planning to release the film in seven languages: Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali and Oriya. Chandru, who is leaving no stone unturned, reveals that the film is half complete, and those who have watched the rushes have compared the making to Hollywood standards.

Like Yash starrer KGF directed by Prashanth Neel and Rajamoulis RRR, our film Kabzaa too is equally doing the talk among well-known production houses across all regions and there is a huge demand for satellite and digital rights, he says.

Kabzaa is a gangster drama set between 1940 and 1980, and its plot revolves around the rise of the underworld in India. With Upendra essaying the role of underworld don and Sudeep playing a character named Bhargav Bakshi, Kabzaa consists of an ensemble cast of actors like Kamarajan of I fame, Jagapathi Babu, Rahul Dev, Anup Revanna, Kabir Duhan Singh, Danish Akhtar Saifi, Pradeep Rawat, Jayaprakash, and Kota Srinivas among others.

The makers are shooting the film in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Ravi Basrur, who is known for his composition in KGF will be scoring music for Kabzaa, and Shivakumar handling the art department. The films cinematography and editing are handled by AJ Shetty and Mahesh Reddy respectively. The stunts in the film are choreographed by Ravi Varma, Vikram Mor and Vijay.
Krishnachand K By

Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At a time when the people are finding it difficult to get slots for COVID vaccination, a young Malayali IT engineer, Limnesh Augustine, based in Bahrain has developed a Windows desktop application titled 'CowinSearchHelper' for searching and finding the slots easily.

Several people have been able to get slots using this app. He decided to develop this application after his parents in Kochi could not get slots due to the high traffic on the CoWIN portal.

The complete free source code can be downloaded from the GitHub repository or Google Drive link.It was really tough for my parents to get appointments for their second dose vaccination. Since they are old and not used to these booking systems, it was very difficult for them to search for the appointments. My wife Jincy Babu and I tried to help them out in getting the appointments but, unfortunately, whenever we searched on the website, there were no slots available.

There were too many limitations on the portal and our specific request for the second dose of Covishield for the 45-plus parents near our location was not possible. Instead, we had to search for general options and then go through each one to check if there was a slot of second dose available. There was also a limit of 20 maximum searches and the slot would be cached. It would be refreshed only every five minutes. By the time we found a slot, it might be already booked and closed, Limnesh said.

Fortunately, he found that the government has published the web APIs (Application Programming Interface, which is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other). There were two sets of APIs, one public and second protected.

"The public APIs will enable us to query with detailed parameters and there were no session limits and the query was dynamic and real time. So, the moment the slot is uploaded in the system by any hospital or vaccination centre, it can be queried through the API. I then developed the application in Dotnet/C# on June 10 to use these APIs for vaccination slot search," he said.

It is a desktop application and it has been designed in such a way that it will run throughout and alert the people via SMS whenever an appointment is available in any of the centres within five kilometres from their houses for getting Covishield and Covaxin doses.

As expected, it worked and Limnesh was able to get the appointments for his parents. He also found out that many of his friends had also faced the same problem in India. So, he decided to publish this application for public use. But since the SMS option uses his account, he disabled that feature.

Multiple record holders

Limnesh and Jincy are international 3D artists and have multiple Guinness World Records in their names. Limnesh is an electronics and communication engineer by profession, and is working as a project manager in GBM Bahrain, while Jincy is an art educator.

ALSO WATCH | Kerala's Covid-19 fight: A tale of two waves | TNIE Documentary
Iffath Fathima By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: While headache, pain in the injected region, fever, fatigue and nausea are the common side-effects after COVID-19 vaccination, some women are even experiencing changes in their menstrual cycle after getting the jab.

Although there is no study to link the two, experts say they are seeing cases of women reporting changes in their menstrual cycle like experiencing late or early periods and heavy bleeding, after vaccination. The New Indian Express spoke to a 35-year-old software engineer, who said she experienced "the most painful periods after getting the jab".

I got my first dose of Covishield in March and my second dose in May. My first dose was days after my periods but my second dose was during my periods. It was a horrifying experience. It was painful and I had bleeding for more than 10 days," the techie from Jayanagar added.

Thinking if it could be a side-effect of the vaccine, she consulted a gynaecologist, who said she had patients coming to her complaining of a similar problem after vaccination.

Doctors point out that there is no scientific evidence to show that vaccination can alter cycles and bleeding patterns. They, however, say it could be related to stress. Dr Divya L, obstetrician and gynaecologist, Prakriya Hospital, said, "We are increasingly seeing many women complaining of altered menstrual cycle and bleeding patterns following COVID vaccination."

"There is no scientific research yet to know if vaccines are directly affecting menstruation but one probable reason could be that vaccination affects the immune system of the body which causes the uterine lining to shed, resulting in spotting and early periods, or heavy bleeding. We had a case of a 29-year-old, who experienced spotting after vaccination, and another case of a 31-year-old who got her periods 40 days after vaccination. The patients were reassured and sent back treatment was not prescribed," Dr Divya added.

A senior doctor from Vani Vilas Hospital said, "The issue hasnt been spoken about and many people are unaware there is no research done to show that vaccination can alter the menstrual cycle. However, it is possible that stress or disrupted sleep or potentially disrupted body temperature could affected the menstrual cycle. Many are also experiencing stress and anxiety due to the pandemic."

However, experts added that all these could be temporary side-effects and the benefits of vaccination are more compared to such issues and women should take the jab without having any second thought.

ALSO WATCH | How Mumbai, India's most crowded city, beat the odds, and the coronavirus:
Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRINAGAR: The drone attack at the Indian Air Force station in Jammu is a serious breach of security as it was able to penetrate deep inside the air base, security and defence experts said. The IAF was caught off-guard even though the issue of drones carrying and delivering loads have been a matter of concern for some time, they said. Pakistani troops have been using drones to airdrop weapons for militants along the International Border and Line of Control in J&K since last year.

The attack has come as a challenge to the security agencies as it has once again exposed the vulnerability of government installations in J&K. The use of drones to drop explosives at Jammu airbase poses a serious challenge to the security forces, former Northern Command chief Lt-Gen (Retd) Deepender Singh Hooda said.

ALSO READ: In a first, terror attack by drone on Jammu IAF base

Several officers felt our security was caught off-guard and lacked intelligence about the enemys capacity. If the enemy has acquired this capability and is able to penetrate and scoot after delivering the payload, it is dangerous. It also means the enemy can execute such an attack anywhere, said an officer.

Brigadier (Retd) Anil Gupta said the drone attack has made it clear that all the security and government installations in J&K continue to remain vulnerable. If the drone was having GPS and if it was shot down, then security agencies can know where it came from. However, if it was a self-destructive one, then it would be difficult to find where it came from and if the drone has gone back, then it is a shame as it has infiltrated and exfiltrated both, he said.

Taking a dig at the security apparatus, Gupta said It was a moonlit nightIt is a high security zone and there are radars available. It is the failure of surveillance. Why didnt the BSF men at the border and the security men in the hinterlands detect it? Why didnt the IAF personnel manning the observation posts at IAF station detect and shoot it down?

According to Gupta, there is a possibility that militants infiltrating from Pakistan might have got these drones and used them on the IAF station. If it is so, then it is a dangerous trend, he said. Lt-Gen (Retd) Hooda said defending military installations from drone attacks is very difficult. Countering these tactics will require new counter measures, both in terms of strategy and technical equipment to detect and neutralise the drones. Former J&K DGP SP Vaid questioned what was the purpose of India-Pakistan ceasefire if such attacks take place.
Pranab Mondal By

Express News Service

KOLKATA: If you are a member of the West Bengal BJP and have contacts with fellow politicians across party lines, your loyalty henceforth will be suspect. For, the partys disciplinary action committee has just decreed that no BJP worker can have a party foe in his or her Facebook friends list. Also, liking anti-BJP social media post is a strict no-no. A show-cause notice will be slapped if you dare to violate the fiat.

The bizarre diktat comes as the party is at its wits end, trying to stem indiscipline in its ranks, with a section of leaders pouring out their anguish at the BJPs poor performance in the recent Assembly elections on social media.

Not just district functionaries, some state-level leaders, too, expressed displeasure with the partys central leadership and held it responsible for the electoral loss through their social media accounts, especially Facebook, said a senior BJP leader in Kolkata.

The disciplinary action committees latest fiat left party workers astounded. The diktat asking functionaries to remove anti-BJP people from their friends list is astounding. We have many friends whose political affiliation is different, said an unhappy BJP leader.

The committee warned that other than serving show-cause notice, strict action could be taken against those who defy discipline, he shared. A three-member disciplinary action committee was set up on June 8 to control growing discontent within the party. It is headed by Lok Sabha member Subhas Sarkar.

IT cell to keep watch

According to party sources, the job of keeping an eye on functionaries will fall on the shoulders of West Bengal BJPs IT unit. It will pick out party workers randomly and peer through their Facebook profiles for signs of disloyalty
By PTI

NEW DELHI: ICAI told the Supreme Court on Monday that it is the most conducive time to hold CA exams as the COVID-19 spread is now at a substantially low level, offering an opportune moment for chartered accountants to further their professional career.

The CA examinations which are conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) in May, were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are now scheduled to be held from July 5-20.

ICAI told the top court that as on date, the numbers of COVID-19 cases are comparatively low and thus it would be in the best interests of the candidates if the examinations are held as per the schedule and not cancelled or postponed.

A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Aniruddha Bose said that since it has not received the ICAI note, it will hear the matter on Tuesday.

The top court is hearing a batch of pleas seeking different reliefs including an opt-out option for the candidates, postponement of the exam, and increase in number of centres this year.

At the outset, senior advocate Ramji Srinivasan, appearing for ICAI, said that they have circulated a note which if taken into consideration deals with some of the issues raised in the petitions.

Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for one of the petitioners, said that they are not seeking deferment but want more centres to be given as many of them have been unilaterally closed by ICAI.

The bench said it will hear the matter on Tuesday and asked Srinivasan to take instruction on the contention raised by Arora.

In the note, ICAI has said the chartered accountant exams are professional examinations and ought not to be equated with CBSE or other State Board Examinations for Class 10 or 12", and it is in the interest of the candidates to start their "professional lives and earn livelihoods".

It said the ICAI has no vested interest in holding the exams but to safeguard the interest of the aspiring CAs, ensuring that the exams are held at the most appropriate and conducive time.

The ICAI further told the top court that whenever the risk has been minimum this court has allowed exams to be held, like Class 12 exams in Kerala and Bihar which were held in April, 2021 and February, 2021 respectively.

Further, the 3rd wave of COVID-19 cases is expected only by September-October. The Institute of Company Secretaries of India and the Institute of Cost Accountants of India are scheduled to hold examinations in August-September, 2021.

"Many candidates appear for 2 or more of these exams, hence the three Institutes hold the exams in a manner that the same do not overlap. Therefore, since COVID is dynamic in nature, the ICAI has got this very narrow window to hold the exam in July, 2021, it said.

The ICAI said the CA exams are normally scheduled to be held in May, but owing to the high number of cases at that time it postponed them, and after evaluating all factors, has now decided to hold the exams this month when the number of COVID-19 cases is comparatively low.

It said that the present COVID situation in the country is similar to when this court had allowed ICAI to hold examinations in November, 2020 and there is no reason to believe that it will not take adequate precautions.

About the arrangements, it said that the average number of examinees in an examination room will be 12 and in any case not more than 50 percent of the capacity of the room.

It said there will be 10,820 exam rooms in 847 centres and the total number of examinees will be 3,74,230.

It further added that of these 580 centres have less than 200 candidates, 208 centres have 201-250 candidates, 58 centres have 251-300 candidates and one centre has more than 500 candidates.

It said that candidates are eager to appear in the examination, as out of 3,74,230 candidates, as on June 27, more than 2, 82, 000 candidates have downloaded their admit cards.

It is understandable that some of the candidates would have inhibitions in appearing for the exams, but that cannot be allowed to jeopardize the aspirations of a majority of the candidates, it said.

PTI MNL ABA SJK SA 06281704 NNNN
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: A move by the European Union to deny a green pass to the recipients of Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India for travel to EU countries has been termed discriminatory by scientists and experts in India.

There is practically no difference between the Covid vaccines made by AstraZeneca, the original licence holder of the vaccine, and Covishield, they pointed out.

Europes new vaccine passport programme, which recognises a few vaccines whose recipients will be able to travel in and out of Europe with fewer roadblocks than others, includes the AstraZeneca vaccine, called Vaxzevria outside India but not Indias Covishield.

The Covid19 vaccine by Oxford University-AstraZeneca is produced mainly by three companies, SII, SK Biosciences in South Korea and AstraZenecas four manufacturing units.

This vaccine is made from a virus -- ChAdOx1 -- a weakened version of a common cold virus, adenovirus while the spike glycoprotein from SARS-CoV-2 has been added to it. The components, as well as the manufacturing process, are exactly the same in the case of both Covishield and Vaxzevria and it is for this reason that specialists in the country are finding EU decision unpalatable.

ALSO READ | Second Covid wave deadlier, fatalities higher in younger patients: Study

In my view, this decision is clearly discriminatory and without any plausible explanation on why the same vaccine produced in two different countries is being treated differently, said Chandrakant Lahariya, health systems and vaccine expert.

Senior virologist and vaccinologist Shahid Jameel, director with the Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University too said that the AstraZeneca shot and Covishield are the same vaccines, made using the same seed stock of virus and the same manufacturing process.

The only difference is that they are made at two different locations and I really dont know the basis for this decision, he told The New Indian Express.

He pointed out that the US FDA inspects factories and all processes for products exported to the US market and maybe it could be the same issue based on which the EU decision would have been taken.

Virologist Gagandeep Kang, associated with the Christian Medical College, Vellore said there seemed no reason for this denial to include Covishield in the green pass category, except that it is not approved for use in an EU country.

Lahariya meanwhile questioned the basis of the concept of vaccine passport saying that allowing travellers on the basis of their vaccination status and insistence on certain vaccines were not right, particularly as access to vaccines has emerged as a major challenge for the low- and middle-income countries.

Also, this issue is still being discussed at the international level therefore it is not appropriate to rush for a decision like this, he said.

ALSO WATCH | Kerala's Covid-19 fight: A tale of two waves | TNIE Documentary
By PTI

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Monday said BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis should cooperate with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to resolve the issue of OBC quota in local bodies in Maharashtra.

The Supreme Court had recently truck down such quota after observing that the seats earmarked for various communities must not exceed 50 per cent of the total strength of the local body.

The BJP has been accusing the MVA government of not presenting empirical data in the apex court to show that such quota was needed in local bodies.

Fadnavis had recently said he could get the OBC quota reinstated if he was given the reins of power in the state for four months, adding that he would quit politics if he failed to do so.

Speaking on Fadnavis' statement, Raut said the BJP must stop the former CM from taking such a decision as there was a a paucity of good leaders in the country and the latter's quitting would be unfair to Maharashtra.

"His colleagues must persuade him against taking such a decision. The state government is looking into the OBC quota issue and Fadnavis should cooperate with the chief minister in finding a solution. We will not let Fadnavis take political sanyas," Raut said.
Pranab Mondal By

Express News Service

KOLKATA: A fresh spell of war of words erupted between governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Monday after the latter branded the former a "corrupt man" and also accused him of being in the chargesheet of the Jain Hawala case.

Mamata also attacked the governor over his three-day north Bengal visit. She alleged that it was part of the BJP's game to split the northern part of the state from the rest. BJP MP in north Bengal John Barla recently demanded that the northern part of the state should be made a Union Territory.



In retaliation, Dhankhar termed the allegation as "far from the truth". The governor said the attack on him was a fallout of his letter asking Mamata to make changes in the draft of his Assembly speech scheduled on July 2.

"I have written three letters to the Centre requesting the removal of the governor. I am sorry to say that he is a corrupt man. His name was in the chargesheet of the Hawala Jain case. Why should he dictate us terms even after we came to power with a huge mandate?" Mamata asked.

Dhankhar said, "Her statement is unfortunate. It was not expected from a senior politician of her stature. Her allegation over the Hawala case is far from fact. My name was not mentioned in the chargesheet. Besides, all those whose names were mentioned in the chargesheet were acquitted."

Referring to Dhankhars comment on conducting an audit of north Bengals autonomous district council Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), the Bengal CM said the governors north-Bengal tour should be brought under the scanner. "Who accompanied him during the visit, how much is the expenditure for the visit and whom he met there -- all should be probed. He met BJP's MPs, MLAs, and block presidents. His visit was aimed to separate north Bengal from the rest of the state," Mamata hit out.

Shortly after Mamatas allegation, Dhankhar held a press conference at Raj Bhavan. "There was no audit in the GTA since 2017. The autonomous body GTA has been reduced to a government department and people say it has become a den of corruption and nepotism. The CAG should conduct GTAs audit. I shall not bow down. I am not wearing kids gloves. I will do all I can in my command," he retaliated.
By Online Desk

India has moved about 50,000 more troops to the China border amid a stalemate in the disengagement process in remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh, a Bloomberg report said.

The additional deployment is expected to give India more options to attack and seize territory in China if necessary in a strategy known as offensive defence, the report quoted a senior official as saying.

As of now, India has about 200,000 troops deployed on the northern border. Besides, the Narendra Modi govt squadrons of fighter jets to three different areas along the China border in recent months.

The redeployment of troops along the border includes more helicopters to transport soldiers from the Kashmir Valley to the high altitude zones along with artillery pieces like the M777 howitzer built by BAE Systems Inc.

Indias strategic focus has been primarily on Pakistan with which it fought three wars over the disputed Kashmir region. However, in the wake of the deadliest standoff between India and China in eastern Ladakh last year, the Modi government has taken several steps to ease tensions with Beijing but at the same time asking the armed forces to be ready for any eventuality, the report said.

ALSO READ | Situation at border with India generally stable, resolving issues through 'negotiations': China

Meanwhile, in a clear message to China amid a stalemate in the disengagement process in remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, while addressing soldiers in Ladakh on Monday, said India believes in resolving disputes with neighbours through dialogue but it will not tolerate if provoked or threatened.

Speaking at an event in a forward location on the second day of his visit to the region, Singh said India is a peace-loving nation that never resorts to any kind of aggression but its armed forces are always prepared to give a befitting reply to those who "show their eyes" to the country.

Asserting that the nation's safety and security will not be compromised at any cost, Singh said the solution to any dispute can be found if there is clear intent.

The defence minister also paid glowing tributes to the 20 soldiers killed in the Galwan Valley clashes in June last year and said the country will never forget their sacrifices.

"India is a peace-loving nation which does not believe in aggression, however, if provoked, we will give a befitting reply," he said.

Singh's three-day visit to the region comes in the midst of a stalemate in resolving over a year-long standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in several friction points in eastern Ladakh though they withdrew troops and weapons from Pangong lake areas in February.

ALSO WATCH | Demons and Genies: Yemen's mysterious 'Well of Hell'
By PTI

SRINAGAR: Mainstream political parties in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday condemned the killing of a special police officer (SPO), his wife and daughter in Pulwama district, calling it "dastardly and cowardly" and a "form of terrorism".

"I unreservedly condemn the dastardly and cowardly militant attack on the J&K police SPO Fayaz Ahmed, his wife and his young daughter at their home last night. I pray they receive their place in Jannat and their loved ones find strength during this terrible time," National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah wrote on Twitter.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said no words were strong enough to condemn the cowardly attack.

"No words are strong enough to condemn the cowardly attack in Awantipora that claimed the lives of a JKP officer Fayaz Ahmad, his wife and daughter. May Allah Ta'aala grant them maghfirat and their loved ones the fortitude to bear this loss (sic)," Mufti tweeted.

Peoples Conference (PC) chairman Sajad Lone said the news of the killing was "extremely distressing" and called the perpetrators "thugs of violence".

"Woke up to extremely distressing news of violence. An entire family fell to bullets. No respite from these thugs of violence. May they rest in peace. May the family muster courage to bear this loss," Lone said in a tweet.

BJP's J&K spokesman Altaf Thakur also condemned the attack as cowardly and barbaric, saying that barging into the house of a cop and killing him and his family members is nothing but a pure form of terrorism.

"The act deserves the strongest condemnation and that those behind the act will meet the same fate.

What was the fault of the innocent wife and daughter of policeman? Killing women is (in) no way bravery, but a pure cowardly attack which deserves the highest form of condemnation," Thakur said.

He expressed sympathies with the bereaved family and urged the police to bring the perpetrators of the crime to justice as soon as possible.
By Express News Service

GUWAHATI: A court in Arunachal has drawn flak over the manner in which it handled a case involving a minor rape survivor from Nepal. Not only it ordered the girl to be handed over to her local guardian, who incidentally is the sister-in-law of the alleged rapist, it also allegedly did not allow a member of the local Child Care Institute (CCI) to accompany her while recording her statement.

The girl worked as a domestic help at the house of the accused, Aka Kalung. She had arrived from Nepal when she was very young and ever since then, she had been staying at the house of the accused, the police said. Kalung, who is now out on bail, had allegedly raped the girl multiple times.

The Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Protection of Child Rights decided to send one of its members to Roing for an assessment of how the case was handled. It has already taken up the case with the NCPCR. Given that the girl is from another country, the police had suggested the APSCPCR to take up the case at the embassy level.
By PTI

MUMBAI: A Nagpur-based lawyer appeared before the Enforcement Directorate here on Monday in connection with a money laundering case in which the central agency had earlier summoned former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh, a police official said.

The ED summoned advocate Tarun Parmar last week after he complained to the agency against Deshmukh and some other politicians, claiming that he knew how these people were involved in money laundering and had documents to prove it.

On Monday, Parmar reached the ED's office around 11 am.

He was carrying some documents when he entered the central agency's office in south Mumbai.

Earlier, Deshmukh was asked to depose before the investigating officer at the ED's office on Saturday for questioning in the money laundering case related to an alleged multi-crore bribery-cum-extortion racket that led to his resignation from the post of state home minister in April this year.

The NCP leader, however, had sought a fresh date for appearance before the ED, following which the agency asked him to appear for questioning this week.

The central agency on Saturday arrested Deshmukh's personal secretary Sanjeev Palande (51) and personal assistant Kundan Shinde (45) after it carried out raids against them and the former home minister in Mumbai and Nagpur on Friday.

The ED's case against Deshmukh and others was made out after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) first carried out a preliminary enquiry followed by a regular case being filed on the orders of the Bombay High Court.

The court had asked the CBI to look into the allegations of bribery made against Deshmukh by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh.

Deshmukh, who resigned from his post in April following the allegations, has denied any wrongdoing.
By PTI

KOLKATA: Rejecting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's allegation that he was a "corrupt" man who was charge-sheeted in the Jain Hawala Case, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday accused her of spreading "lies and misinformation".

Dhankhar described Banerjee's accusations against him as a "knee-jerk reaction" to his raising questions over the contents of the speech he is supposed to read out at the start of the upcoming assembly session.

"The allegations levelled by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee don't have an iota of truth. It is unfortunate that she is spreading misinformation and misinterpreting facts. It doesn't suit a chief minister to make such allegations," he told reporters.

Earlier in the day, Banerjee alleged at a press conference that Dhankhar is a "corrupt" man and was named in a charge-sheet in the 1996 Jain Hawala case.

"She should name the chargesheet in which I was named. I was never named in any of the chargesheets in the Jain Hawala Case," he said while referring to Banerjee as her "younger sister".

Jain Hawala Case was a huge politial and financial scandal in the 1990s in which money routed through hawala channels was claimed to have been given to top politicians across various parties.

Those named included L K Advani, V C Shukla, Sharad Yadav, and many more.

However, the charges against them didn't stand legal scrutiny and the case fell through.

Dhankhar, who shares a strained relationship with the state government, said he was handed over in the afternoon the governor's speech to be read out in the assembly.

"Just 10 minutes before her press conference, I received a call from her. I put forward some questions regarding the governor's speech. She said she has nothing to do (with the speech) as the cabinet had passed it. It seems her comment at the press conference was a knee-jerk reaction," he said.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: In an apparent reference to Turkey and Pakistan, India and Greece said there can be no justification for terror in any form or manifestation.

Both countries recognised the threat posed by radicalisation, violent extremism, as well as terrorism, including cross-border terrorism. They emphasised that there can be no justification for these in any form or manifestation, a joint India-Greece statement stated.

The statement was issued after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar arrived in Greece and met its top leadership including his counterpart Nikos Dendias and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The minister also unveiled a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Athens.

As per the joint statement, both sides also shared views on regional and global issues of mutual interest in the context of new geo-political and geo-economic realities, including the Indo-Pacific. Greece also signed the agreement for entering the International Solar Alliance. It was also agreed that the next round of Foreign Office Consultations and Joint Trade Committee would be held soon.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: It will be unfair to put a date for any COVID wave as the behaviour of coronavirus is unpredictable and a disciplined and effective pandemic response can help the country get away from any significant outbreak, COVID Task Force chief V K Paul said on Monday.

Amid rising concerns over the Delta plus variant of the virus, Paul, who is also a Niti Aayog Member, asserted that there is no scientific data so far to establish that the new variant is highly transmissible or reduces vaccine efficacy.

In an interview to PTI, Paul said that another wave of any size would be dependent upon several factors, including overall discipline in terms of COVID-appropriate behaviour, testing and containment strategies, and vaccination rates.

"And in addition, the unpredictable behaviour of the virus can also change the pandemic dynamics. In such a scenario, their complex factor will determine the chain of transmission and outbreak.

"Occurrence or non-occurrence of any wave, is in our own hands. To my mind, it is not fair to put any date for any wave," he said.

ALSO READ | Maharashtra tightens curbs amid fear of 3rd wave, flags Delta plus as 'variant of concern'

Daily fresh cases of COVID have come down from four lakhs during the peak of the second COVID wave to around 50,000 in the past few days and the unlock process or lifting of restrictions is underway in many parts of the country.

"If we are determined and disciplined and marshal effective pandemic response, we should be in a position to get away from any significant outbreak," Paul said.

Currently, three COVID vaccines -- Covaxin by Bharat Biotech, Covishield by Serum Institute of India (SII) and Russia's Sputnik V -- are being used for inoculation in India.

When asked about the Delta plus variant, Paul said scientific knowledge about it is still in the early stage.

"The so-called Delta plus variant exhibits an additional mutation in the Delta variant and since this is a new variant, scientific knowledge is still in the early stage.

"Whether this additional mutation in the Delta variant is associated with increased transmissibility or excess severity of disease, or any adverse effect on vaccine efficacy is currently not established and we should wait for this information to emerge.

"And we should wait for these aspects to be studied systematically," he pointed out.

A new viral variant of the coronavirus, Delta Plus, was identified on June 11, and was recently classified as a variant of concern.

Regarding the effectiveness of Covaxin and Covishield against the Delta variant of the coronavirus, Paul said that based on the scientific evaluation by the ICMR, both vaccines are effective against the coronavirus, including the Delta variant, which is presently the predominant variant in the country.

ICMR is the Indian Council of Medical Research.

When asked if India is close to giving indemnity to foreign vaccine makers like Pfizer and Moderna, Paul said the issue has multiple dimensions and it is not wise to give a timeline for such issues.

"The discussion for paving the way for internationally developed vaccines to India, is going on.

The issue has multiple dimensions and we are trying to find an agreed way forward at the earliest.

"We are trying to expedite the progress in every possible way," he said.

However, he did not delve into the indemnity issues with respect to approving the vaccines made by foreign companies.

ALSO READ | Delta plus has more affinity for lung tissues in comparison to other COVID-19 strains: NTAGI chief

Indemnity is one of the issues that is still to be sorted out between the authorities and the companies -- Pfizer and Moderna -- with respect to approving their respective vaccines for use in India.

About the progress in Bharat Biotech's Covaxin application for getting Emergency Use Listing (EUL) certificate from the World Health Organisation (WHO), Paul said the process is proceeding very well.

"Additional documents were submitted by the company last week. We would like to see an expedited review of the data and hope that the decision will come very soon," he noted.

On whether the government was looking at reducing the gap between two Covishied doses, the Niti Aayog member pointed out that the country has taken the decision to increase the inter-dose interval for Covishield to three months after careful evaluation of the scientific data.

"The decisions such as this are taken by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), whose members include our top scientists.

It is for this group to look at the additional data, additional scientific information and to take a decision based on scientific principles," he noted.

Last month, the government extended the gap between two doses of Covishield from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks.

"As of now, their decision is to continue with the present dose schedule," Paul said.

To a query on how much did the Centre invest in expanding the production capacity of vaccine companies in India, he said financial grants to the tune of over Rs 670 crore have been assigned to various vaccine manufacturers.

"But in addition, and very importantly, our science organisations have extended huge technical support to the vaccine manufacturers by way of providing laboratory access and offering vaccine trial sites in various locations," Paul said.

For instance, he said the National Institute of Virology in Pune has provided support by way of highly complex animal studies for vaccine development.

WATCH DOCUMENTARY:
By ANI

NEW DELHI: Parliament Standing Committee on Information Technology is scheduled to hold a meeting on June 29 to hear the views of Facebook India and Google India on safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social online news media platforms.

The Committee has called the representatives of the two IT giants to register their views on the matter.

Earlier on June 18, the Committee had called Twitter to appear before the panel to give representation on how to prevent misuse of social media and online news.

On June 20, India's permanent mission at the United Nations had clarified that India's new IT rules are "designed to empower ordinary users of social media" and that they were finalised after the government held broad consultations with civil society and other stakeholders in 2018.

The Central government has framed the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 ('new IT Rules') and notified the same on February 25, 2021. The Rules have come into effect from May 26, 2021.
Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRINAGAR: Militants shot dead a special police officer, his wife and daughter in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, officials said on Monday.

A police spokesman said militants barged into the house of SPO Fayaz Ahmad at Hariparigam, Awantipora in Pulwama district on Sunday evening and fired indiscriminately.

"In the militant firing, the SPO, his wife and their daughter received critical injuries. The trio was shifted to a nearby hospital, where the SPO succumbed to injuries," he added.

In the night, the SPOs wife succumbed to injuries while in the early hours their daughter also died.

Security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to track down the assailants but no arrests have been made so far, the officials said on Monday.

The attack has received widespread condemnation.

"I unreservedly condemn the dastardly & cowardly militant attack on the J&K police SPO Fayaz Ahmed, his wife & his young daughter at their home last night. I pray they receive their place in Jannat & their loved ones find strength during this terrible time," tweeted National Conference vice president and former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

Another former J&K CM and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti tweeted, "No words are strong enough to condemn the cowardly attack in Awantipora that claimed the lives of a JKP officer Fayaz Ahmad, his wife & daughter. May Allah Taaala grant them maghfirat & their loved ones the fortitude to bear this loss."

Many other political parties have also condemned the killings.

Peoples Conference chairman and former minister Sajjad Gani Lone tweeted, "Woke up to extremely distressing news of violence. An entire family fell to bullets. No respite from these thugs of violence. May they rest in peace. May the family muster courage to bear this loss".

Militants have intensified attacks on cops and security forces.

While an inspector and a constable were killed in Nowgam and Eidgah areas of Srinagar last week, a civilian died in a grenade attack on security forces at Barbarshah in the heart of the city.

(Inputs from PTI)
By PTI

NEW DELHI: After drawing flak over displaying a distorted map of India that showed Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as a separate country, Twitter has now removed the wrong map.

The glaring distortion, which appeared on the career section of Twitter website under the header 'Tweep Life', had triggered a heavy backlash from netizens on Monday as they demanded strict action against the microblogging platform that has flouted various rules on multiple occasions in the past.

#TwitterBan was trending on Twitter with almost 17,000 tweets. This is not the first time that Twitter has misrepresented India's map. Earlier, it had shown Leh as part of China.

The global map, which grossly misrepresented India's boundaries, was removed on late Monday evening by Twitter following social media outrage.

Sources said the government is seriously looking into the matter.

In this case, since the wrong depiction is on Twitter's website, the case is not that of an 'intermediary' but of a publisher which is responsible for content.

ALSO READ | Twitter appoints US-based Jeremy Kessel as new grievance officer for India

When something is clearly wrong it has to be tackled, or consequential action will follow, they said.

Twitter -- which has an estimated 1.75 crore users in India -- has remained mum on the entire episode.

Emails sent to the company did not elicit any response.

The US digital giant has been at loggerheads with the Indian government over the new social media rules.

The government has confronted Twitter over deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the country's new IT rules, despite repeated reminders.

Notably, the microblogging platform has lost its legal shield as an intermediary in India, becoming liable for users posting any unlawful content.

In October last year, Twitter came under heavy criticism and faced backlash after its geotagging feature displayed "Jammu & Kashmir, People's Republic of China" in a live broadcast from Leh's Hall of Fame, a war memorial for fallen soldiers in the Union Territory of Ladakh.

India had issued a stern warning to Twitter that time, making it clear that any disrespect of the country's sovereignty and integrity is totally unacceptable.

In November, Twitter again showed Leh as part of Jammu and Kashmir instead of the Union Territory of Ladakh, following which the Centre issued a notice to the US-based company for disrespecting the territorial integrity of India by showing an incorrect map.

Twitter's apparent heavy-handedness has come under government scrutiny, given that the platform has not complied with the new IT rules, called intermediary guidelines, that mandate setting up a robust grievance redressal mechanism and appointing officers to coordinate with law enforcement.

The rules became effective from May 26 and Twitter, even after the expiry of the additional time, had not appointed the requisite officers, leading to it losing the 'safe harbour' immunity.

Even in the backdrop of heightened strained relations with the Indian government, Twitter on Friday briefly blocked IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from accessing his account over alleged violation of US copyright law -- a move that was immediately slammed by the minister as being arbitrary and in gross violation of IT rules.

Meanwhile, Twitter's interim grievance officer for India, Dharmendra Chatur, has quit within weeks of taking over the key role.

California-based Jeremy Kessel has now been named as India's grievance redressal officer on the platform's website -- although the appointment does not meet the requirements of new IT rules that clearly mandate key officers including the grievance officer, to be resident in India.

Twitter and the government have been on a collision course on multiple issues in the past months, including during the farmers' protest and later when the microblogging platform tagged political posts of several leaders of the ruling party BJP as "manipulated media", drawing a sharp rebuke from the Centre.

Other major flashpoints included rampant proliferation of fake and harmful content against India and the platform's 'discriminatory' practices in dealing with them, as well as no action being taken on a type of coronavirus being called the 'Indian variant'.

IT Minister had earlier said that it is "astounding" that Twitter, that portrays itself as the flag bearer of free speech, chooses the path of deliberate defiance when it comes to the intermediary guidelines.

The ministry has called out Twitter on a number of occasions for attempting to dictate terms to the world's largest democracy.

"Twitter needs to stop beating around the bush and comply with the laws of the land," IT Ministry has stated in the past.
By PTI

AHMEDABAD: Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan, locked in a bitter feud to retain the reins of the Bihar-based party, visited Ahmedabad in Gujarat on Monday.

When asked by reporters outside the airport in the night whether he had come to Ahmedabad to meet a senior BJP leader as the speculation is, Chirag evaded a direct reply saying he was on a "personal" visit to the city.

Chirag, son of late Union minister and LJP founder Ramvilas Paswan, was removed recently as the party chief by a faction of the LJP headed by his uncle and Hajipur MP Pashupati Kumar Paras, prompting Chirag's loyalists to respond by stripping five rebel parliamentarians of the LJP's primary membership.

The party, which has six MPs but no MLAs, plunged into a crisis after the five lawmakers, including Chirag's cousin, rebelled against his leadership and chose Paras as the new leader of the parliamentary party.

ALSO READ | Chirag Paswan can take forward father's legacy only by joining fight against Golwalkar thoughts: Tejashwi Yadav

Notably, Chirag said on Tuesday that he had expected the BJP to help sort things during the tussle between him and his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras to retain control of the outfit.

"Their silence definitely hurts. My father Ram Vilas Paswan and I stood by BJP like a rock, but they're not there when I expected them in such difficult times," Chirag Paswan had told PTI.

Chirag recently announced to undertake "Aashirvad Yatra" from Hajipur in Bihar from July 5 marking the birth anniversary of his father.
By PTI

SHILLONG: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Monday said his government would try work out a solution to the vexed boundary dispute with neighbouring Assam He said the state has a good relationship with the neighbouring state and that he was hopeful of resolving the boundary issue.

The move to address the dispute comes at the initiative of the central government according to sources.

With the new leadership in Assam, a leadership with a very positive mindset and (having) good relationship with Meghalaya leadership, we are hopeful we will move forward and find an amicable solution, Sangma told reporters on Monday.

Asserting the need to look into all boundary-related documentation with an open mind, Sangma said, we will start with a clean slate as the objective is really not to find faults but to find a solution.

The two states have 12 areas of disputes between them.

These are in Upper Tarabari, Gizang Reserve Forest, Hahim area, Langpih area, Bordwar area, Nongwah Mawtamur area, Pilangkata Khanapara area, Deshdemoria area, Khanduli area, Umkhyrni Psiar area, Areas of Block I and Block II and Ratacherra area.

Stating that the issue is very critical, Sangma said, I again stressed for an amicable solution which is acceptable to both parties.

We are open for discussion.

Let us have a fresh start to the entire process and in this fresh start we will think of all the options that are there, he added.

The Central government wants North Eastern states to resolve their boundary disputes by next year, according to sources.

The Chief Minister however said the timeline would depend on how the border talks move forward.

Yes, the union home minister had desired that before the 75th year of Indias Independence of the country all these issues not only between Meghalaya and Assam but Assam and other states should be resolved he confirmed.

He said it would be his endeavor to do so within the time frame given (by 2022) but it all depends on how the talks move forward.

The government of India has been sending us messages and asking us to move forward.

The union home minister has said when countries like India and Bangladesh can resolve their border issues, why states within the country cant resolve the issue, he added.

Last week, Senior BJP leader and Health minister A L Hek called on Assam chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma and requested him to re-start the chief minister level talk to resolve the boundary dispute between Meghalaya and Assam.

Sangma revealed discussion at an unofficial level has been going on with the Chief Minister of Assam even before he took over.

He also added that he had met Sarma over a friendly-dinner at Guwahati last week.

He also added that he had briefed his cabinet colleagues about the unofficial meeting with the Assam CM.

Stating that the issue is not easy to resolve, the Chief Minister said, It is a very complicated issue and therefore, there will not be a simple solution, it will require us to be able to figure out what would be amicably acceptable to both sides.

Asked about measures being taken by the government to stop alleged illegal encroachment by Assam, Sangma said he would hold direct talks with his Assam counterparts whenever he comes to know of such incidents.
T M Thomas Isaac By

GST has failed to deliver the promise. Even after four years, the IT backbone for its full implementation is not in place. The tax buoyancy has been far below expectations and with Covid, the shortfall has ballooned. The compensation payments are delayed and in arrears. And now, as the compensation guarantee period is drawing to an end, most states are drifting to the precipice of sudden fall in revenue and inevitable fiscal crisis. There is a lack of dialogue on these issuesthe GST Council failed to meet for more than six months at a stretch and when it finally did, some veterans of the Council openly complained of the undemocratic manner in which the business was transacted. The discussions have degenerated to party alignments. A former Union finance minister feared that the time might come to script an elegy for the GST.

It is time now to undertake a comprehensive review of the experience with the GST. I feel that minor tinkering will not do, some modifications will have to be brought in its structure itself so that the federal concerns are addressed, buoyancy of revenue assured, and the GST Council become truly an institution of federal cooperation.

Federal flexibility: Let me recall the initial discussions in the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers (EC) on the introduction of GST. The three left finance ministers in the committee shared concerns about the implication of the new tax regime for state rights. The introduction of the uniform state VAT, the overseeing of which was the mandate of the EC, had abridged individual autonomy but there continued to exist some leeway regarding the tax rates.

GST was seen as extension of the VAT principle to the national scale, with most of the other indirect taxes of the states and service and excise tax of the Centre subsumed in the new tax. Both Centre and states were to jointly administer the GST. In every invoice, both CGST and SGST had to be separately shown and the taxes so collected paid separately into the account of the Centre and states. The GST on inter-state trade (IGST) was to be separately collected. In this scheme of things, the SGST did not directly impact inter-state trade. Therefore, the basic architecture of the GST and its input credit chain is not affected by giving states the option to choose a particular SGST within a narrow band. Though the VAT had introduced uniform tax rates throughout India, in practice, there existed minor variations between states. It was the general understanding that this flexibility would be carried into the GST.

In the GST law adopted by Parliament, the only flexibility that was permitted was the right of the states to impose a special cess for a definite period in extraordinary circumstances like natural calamities, that too with the approval of the Council. On the basis of experience so far, the situation has to be revisited and some level of federal flexibility must be introduced.

The issue of rate split: Another key issue was the rate of apportionment of the GST rates between the Centre and states. Many states had adopted a consistent position during the discussions in the EC that the apportionment of rates of GST between the Centre and the states should be 60:40. The logic for this was recognised by the Government of India committee on Revenue Neutral Rates headed by the then chief economic advisor.

Yet, the final decision went against the states with the equal apportionment of GST rates (on a 50:50 basis) between the Centre and the states. Now, for most of the commodities that were taxed at 14.5% under the VAT regime, the states receive only 9%, which is 50% of the 18% GST. This too on a base which is devoid of CST and Union excise duty.

Revenue neutral rate?: The GST rates were fixed after elaborate discussions in the Council and its committees. Unfortunately, with elections on the horizon, ad hoc decisions were made, reducing the rates so that the present structure is not revenue neutral anymore. The major rates are 5, 12, 18 and 28. Besides there are zero rated commodities, 3% for gold and 0.25% for precious metals. Initially, the standard rate in GST was 18%.Presently, the rate under which more than 80% of goods and services are taxed are at 18 and 12% respectively.

This implies, as we have just seen, that the standard rate for states has come down sharply compared to the VAT regime. The Centre still has many other buoyant direct taxes and customs duty, which is not the case for the states. The tax on petroleum products can be subsumed in GST, if the Council decides to do so. So the states have been permanently handicapped by the reduction of the standard rate.The clamour for merging the present multi-rate GST into a single rated one, if attended to, would result in further deterioration of GST revenue collections.

Need for progressivity in the rates: If there is movement to a single rate, GST would lose even the semblance of progressivity in an otherwise regressive indirect tax. Rates on consumer durables and urban products are the ones that have seen the sharpest decline. It is these same products that would further gain if the demand for a maximum ceiling rate of 18% is accepted. The problem of the multiplicity of rates is exaggerated. One only needs to think of the rate structure that existed before GST to realise the extent to which the tax structure has been simplified. It is not multiple rates but the procedures and the frequent changes that is responsible for the complexity of the GST. Given the mass poverty and high level of income inequality in the country, it is preposterous to suggest a common rate of tax for grain flour and luxury vehicles. The ideal of equity should be considered at least as important as the ease of doing business.

Dr T M Thomas Isaac

Former finance minister of Kerala

(drthomasisaac@gmail.com)


By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh government on Monday extended the curfew relaxation from July 1 for three more hours in eight of the 13 districts where the Covid positivity rate has come down below five percent.

Curfew relaxation would be from 6 am to 9 pm in these eight districts while in the other five districts of East and West Godavari, Prakasam, Krishna and Chittoor districts, the curfew relaxation would be from 6 am to 6 pm only.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who held a high-level review meeting with officials on the Covid situation in the state, took the decision to extend the relaxation hours in the eight districts as the number of new infections has come down. The extended curfew relaxation would be in force till July 7. The curfew would be in force from 9 pm to 6 am the next day in these eight districts.

The state government would review the situation in the five districts where the positivity rate is higher than five percent in the coming days and take a decision on extending the relaxations.

ALSO WATCH | Kerala's Covid-19 fight: A tale of two waves | TNIE Documentary
By Express News Service

MYSURU: Alleging that Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had avoided visiting Chamarajanagar district as he was afraid of losing his seat, KPCC President DK Shivakumar said he preferred to skip meeting the families of 36 Covid patients who died in the recent oxygen shortage tragedy.

He called on the families during his day-long tour in the border district of Chamarajanagar. "I feel that Yediyurappa should have visited the district and consoled the families. Since no one from the government visited the families, the Congress has decided to go to people in grief," he said.

Yediyurappa, based on an intelligence report that people's outrage could lead to tension and revolt, had skipped visiting Chamarajanagar, he said. This is in keeping with the legendary jinx that whichever chief minister visits the district, loses power. Almost all chief ministers have avoided visiting Chamarajanagar.

Shivakumar claimed that people and public opinion are against the government for its handling of the pandemic. People have lost faith in the government as it has failed to act against any minister or officers for the oxygen tragedy, he said. He termed the 36 deaths as "murders committed by the government".

He thanked the High Court for constituting an inquiry committee which helped the kin of the deceased get Rs 2 lakh, but said that only 24 families got the relief amount, and the rest are still running from pillar to post for death certificates. The Congress will take up their case, he added.

According to him, 3,27,975 people have died due to COVID between January 1 and June 13 in Karnataka, and accused the government of manipulating the figure to 29,000.

Dalit CM chorus gets louder

The Karnataka Congress leadership woes seem to be far from over. While Opposition leader Siddaramaiah's supporters and Shivakumars supporters are vocal about their support, there is an equally strong counter-narrative being built from a third group.

Sources said that senior Congressmen former Union minister KH Muniyappa, former national general secretary BK Hariprasad and former deputy CM Dr G Parameshwara held a closed-door meeting to talk about the reality of a Dalit becoming Chief Minister in Karnataka for the first time in 2023, provided the Congress gets the required numbers.
Ashwini M Sripad By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: At a time when people are facing the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in cattle in Karnataka and this has caused concern among farmers. Experts say the Union Government not carrying out the previous round of FMD vaccination owing to COVID-19 has resulted in the outbreak.

Similar to COVID-19, an animal infected with FMD needs to be kept in isolation as the disease first identified in 1883 can spread through the cattle's saliva, urine, dung and even air and is highly contagious. Under the National Animal Disease Control Programme, vulnerable animals, mainly cows and buffaloes, are vaccinated once every six months. The protection period of vaccination is 180 days.

In Karnataka, FMD vaccination programme was conducted in April 2020 and then again in October/November 2020. But since then, FMD vaccination drive has not been carried out owing to the pandemic. Animal Husbandry Minister Prabhu Chauhan said FMD vaccination drive was purely a Government of India programme and it was not done because of the pandemic.

The disease, which was found in three districts till a couple of weeks ago, has now spread to nine districts, including Bengaluru Rural, Mandya, Ramanagara, Chikkaballapur, Chamarajanagar and Tumakuru.

"I have now ordered to resume the vaccination drive from the State Government. All cattle in 5 km radius of an infected cattle should be vaccinated. Our officials are trying to bring the situation under control," Chauhan said.

Prof Veeregowda BM of Karnataka Veterinary Animal and Fisheries Science University said that the prevalence of FMD was more in the southern districts of the state where there is high rate of crossbreeding of animals.

"In some districts, we see more of native breed and the impact is less. The government is adopting the ring-method of vaccination in which cattle in 5 km radius of an infected animal is vaccinated this is the right thing to do," he said.

KNOW THE DISEASE

FMD is a contagious viral disease that affects animals and is the most serious livestock disease. It affects animals with divided hoofs including cows, bulls, buffaloes, sheep, goats and even pigs. This could cause serious health complications and sometimes turn fatal. FMD, however, does not affect humans.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: What is in a name? A lot for political parties of Karnataka. As the Kerala government has decided to change Kannada names of villages in Kasargod district with Malayalam-meaning ones, politicians across spectrum in Karnataka kicked up a row, saying that the move smacks of anti-Kannada sentiment.

BJP MP for Mysuru and Kodagu Pratap Simha flagged the issue, appealing to CM BS Yediyurappa to intervene and hold talks with his Kerala counterpart Pinarayai Vijayan to stop the move. "Karnataka should immediately oppose Kerala government's decision and hold talks against this anti- Kannada move," he said.

Names of some 10 villages in Manjeshwar of Kasargod district are being considered to be changed to Malayalam with the same meaning. JDS leader and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy appealed to the Kerala government to retain the original Kannada names of these villages.

"Before Kerala takes up the process, I want to bring certain issues to its notice. Kasaragod is a place that has close ties with Karnataka. We have a cultural bond with the people of Kasaragod," he said.

JDS is an alliance partner in the LDF government in Kerala. "Though Kannada names of villages are being changed into Malayalam, their meaning appears to have been retained. I request the Kerala government to retain the original Kannada names too," he added.
Bansy Kalappa By

Express News Service

BENGALURU/ DHARWAD: There is much speculation about the proposed Union cabinet reshuffle, and who could make it from Karnataka. Names of several MPs are being tossed around, based on caste and power equations.

The names of Haveri-Gadag MP Shivakumar Udasi, Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Shobha Karandlaje and Mysore-Kodagu MP Prathap Simha, are doing the rounds. Karnataka has two ministers in the Union Cabinet -- DV Sadananda Gowda and Pralhad Joshi -- while technically, Nirmala Sitharaman is a Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka.

BJP circles are abuzz with talk that a Lingayat will be included to replace former minister Suresh Angadi, who passed away recently. There was also talk that there could be an outside chance that a Dalit will be accommodated.

It may be recalled that Angadi, a four-term MP, had served as Union Minister of State for Railways for about 16 months, and passed away due to Covid last September. His wife Mangala Angadi was elected Belagavi MP.

Union Minister DV Sadananda Gowda told The New Indian Express that it is the prerogative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and they can only "wait and see". Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi sought to end all speculation by pointing out that no one will know for sure, at this point. He said the Prime Minister will decide and there is no need to speculate unnecessarily.

Shivakumar Udasi, a Lingayat leader from North Karnataka, is among the hopefuls. Udasi's father, Hangal MLA CM Udasi, passed away recently. Shivamogga MP BY Raghavendra may not make it because his father BS Yediyurappa is Chief Minister, and this may work to his disadvantage in finding a spot in the Union cabinet.

Sources said it was entirely speculative because both are Vokkaligas and if they have to be accommodated, one minister has to be first dropped, and that looks unlikely.

With speculation that a Dalit may find place in the cabinet, the names of Chitradurga MP A Narayanswamy and Gulbarga MP Dr Umesh Jadhav, who defeated political giant Mallikarjun Kharge, doing the rounds.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The health department has issued an order directing to ensure Covid-19 vaccination for all above the age of 18 years. The order will help people in the 18-44 age group who were not included in any of the priority lists to get vaccines from public vaccination centres after booking their slots.

At present, people in this age group have to depend on private hospitals for vaccination. However, it is not immediately clear how soon the slots will be available for the category. The state which is providing 2-2.5 lakh jabs per day has been focusing on giving the first dose to priority groups in 18 plus category and second dose to 45 plus category.

Notwithstanding the new order issued, the above groups will have priority in vaccine distribution, said health minister Veena George. She cautioned the public against crowding at vaccine centres for spot booking instead of booking slots online. The vaccination numbers will be increased to the maximum limit when more doses are available, she said.

The department received 1,56,650 doses of Covishield on Monday. It has been distributed to Thiruvananthapuram (53,500 doses), Ernakulam (61,150 doses) and Kozhikode (42,000 doses). The state has received 1,30,38,940 doses so far. Five districts -- Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram and Kozhikode -- have given over 10 lakh doses each. As many as 1,05,37,705 (31.54 per cent) received the first dose while 29,93,856 (8.96 per cent) received the second dose also.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Radicalisation is a matter of concern in Kerala and the state police have been taking big efforts to address it by conducting de-radicalisation and counter-radicalisation programmes, outgoing state police chief Loknath Behera has said.

The DGP, who will retire on June 30, said in his interactions with television channels that the recruitment of people to the Islamic State (IS) posed concern, but it has come down recently. "According to the inputs, Kerala is a recruiting ground because the people here are educated and the IS requires engineers and doctors. But we have dealt with it in a systematic way and it has come down," he said.

The police, especially the anti-terrorist squad (ATS), identified vulnerable people and gave them counselling with the help of their parents, he said.

"After the exodus of 21 families to IS-controlled areas, we did lots of things. How many went after that? We have formed one of the best ATSs in the country and it is doing a great job behind the scene. Thats why there is not much concern. But we cannot be complacent," said Behera, adding that the police have mounted surveillance on the suspected sleeper cells of terrorist groups.

Behera said the surrender policy extended to the left-wing extremists have failed. "A new global tender has been floated to hire a modern helicopter that can be used against the naxals. If they try to create violence, we will reply strongly," he said.

Behera said he had no qualms about invoking of the stringent UAPA in the state and added that being a law enforcer, he used the act as it was passed by Parliament. He also mentioned his relationship with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as "professional" and ruled out allegation that he acted as a bridge between CPM and BJP.

ALSO WATCH | Kerala's Covid-19 fight: A tale of two waves | TNIE Documentary
By Express News Service

KOCHI: To protest Administrator Praful Patel's order to levy a fine if coconut palm leaves or waste are left on the plots, Lakshadweep islanders have decided to organise a dharna on Monday. As part of the strike, residents across the islands will sit for an hour from 9 am on top of a heap of coconut palm leaves holding placards against the controversial order.

"It is a strange order in every sense. We knew that Lakshadweep is a land of coconut trees. But the order says we cannot burn or bury the solid waste from coconut trees on our house premises. The Administrator want us to transport the waste to designated centres to burnt it," AI Muthokoya, a resident of Androth island.

"The order from the administrator If coconut leaves or other waste is seen lying in the plot, they are levying hefty fine between Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000," he said. He said that the strike is in protest against the strange rule. "Our demands include a solution for the treatment of solid waste. We also want the fine to be stopped," he added.
MS Vidyanandan By

Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Only a young mother and her 11-month-old baby, both sick and tired, stayed in that large hospital ward on the second floor of a building. The world outside felt alien and lost. There was no one around to help them, not even to take care of the baby when she had to go to the toilet.

Occasionally, a nurse in protective clothing would visit them, bringing medicines or food which she would leave on the table there.

Those nine days of isolation passed like years, Tintu Thomas, the mother, recalls a year later. This 27-year-old schoolteacher and her family hailing from Mananthavady in Wayanad district are among the many survivors who waged a tough battle against the dreaded disease of our times. Her son Adil was the first case of COVID among infants in the state.

The first patient in her family was Tintu's father, a truck driver who was tested positive upon returning from the Koyambedu market in Chennai. A few days later, Tintu's mother and grandmother turned positive and were admitted to the government hospital where her father was being treated.

"On May 8, what I dreaded most happened to us. The baby got sick. He was hospitalised in the evening and his temperature shot up to 102 degree Celsius. He was given a rectal paracetamol and throughout the night I wiped his body with a wet cloth. We were housed in an isolation room then. His temperature came down the next day but fatigue continued. On the fifth day, he tested positive and we were shifted to the large COVID ward where the other twenty one beds were lying vacant," Tintu says.

The family was scared since it was the first or second case of infection in infants in the state. "But, except for fever and fatigue, the boy didn't develop complications. The doctors were extremely helpful," she says.

By that time, Tintu too had developed fever and was experiencing chronic fatigue but the hospital could not allow her to have a bystander. "It was an unimaginable misery. Sometimes, I had to carry the baby along when I went to the toilet. Adding to the physical weakness was the mental torture when people started criticising my family on social media for 'bringing' the pandemic to our place," she recalls.

Kerala's total number of COVID cases was just above 500 then and her father was the fourth patient in Wayanad. After Tintu, her brother, husband and five-year old daughter too turned positive and got admitted to the same hospital.

The contact tracing of a truck driver and cleaner created great furore in the district. Her family was berated with taunts on social media.

On the tenth day, Tintu and her son tested negative and were shifted to the ward where her daughter, mother and grandmother stayed. Her father, brother and husband were admitted to another ward. The whole family returned home on May 31. She has some good memories too of the hospital days.

"My boy's first birthday was on May 18. We couldn't celebrate, but luckily, the female members of the family were staying together at the time. Also, my baby took his first steps in that hospital ward," she says.

She considers it god's grace that none of her family members had post-COVID complications. "Today people ask me for tips on easy recovery. I would tell them not to have physical or mental stress and drink plenty of water," she said.
By Express News Service

KOZHIKODE: The police on Monday took into custody two former CPM workers who allegedly raped a fellow-woman party worker at her house at Mudappilavu in Vadakara.

The Vadakara police will record the arrest of the accused identified as Baburaj, Pullullaparambath house - CPM Mulliyery branch secretary and DYFI Pathiyarakkara area secretary TP Lijeesh soon.

The duo were absconding ever since the police registered a case against them.

According to police sources, the accused are under going preliminary interrogation and their arrest will be recorded soon. Later, they will be produced before the court.

ALSO READ | Rape case: Police intensify search for former CPM leaders in Kerala's Vadakara

It was on Saturday, they booked the men based on a complaint lodged by a married woman who is also a CPM worker. According to the complainant, Babu Raj raped her three months ago by breaking into her house.

Subsequently, he sexually exploited her several times again by blackmailing that he would reveal the incident to her husband.

Later, Lijeesh raped her by threatening that he would make the incident public. Following whichthe woman approached the police and filed a complaint.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: Amid reports of senior Maoist leader Haribhushan succumbing to Covid-19 and several top cadres including Madvi Hidma active in Chhattisgarh down with the virus, Odisha Police has appealed the infected cadres in the State to undergo treatment and get vaccinated for safety of themselves and the villagers.

The SPs of Maoist-infected districts Malkangiri, Kandhamal, Kalahandi, Rayagada, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Rayagada, Bargarh and Balangir have been asking villagers to ask the Maoists to get vaccinated and come forward for treatment if any of them has been infected by Covid-19.

According to reports, less than five central committee and 10 State committee members are active in Odisha. There are about 250 Maoists operating in the State including about 20 from Odisha, over 180 from Chhattisgarh and the remaining from Telangana, West Bengal, among others. Police sources said if a senior Maoist leader gets infected by Covid-19, they depend on local villagers for treatment.

Maoists under Covid grab

SPs are cautioning the villagers that if they come in contact with an infected cadre, they might contract the disease. The infected cadres can surrender before Odisha Police as governments rehabilitation policy is very generous and avail treatment in Covid hospitals, the officer added.

Odisha Polices appeal comes after Maoists in Andhra Pradesh reportedly alleged that the government is not providing any medical facilities to tribals during the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, the Left ultras have also called for a bandh in the Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee operating region on July 1 over the exchange of fire in Teegalametta in which six rebels were neutralised.
By Express News Service

BHAWANIPATNA: Dana Majhi is in the news again but this time for the right reasons. His daughter Chandni has become the first girl from Melghara village under Kalahandis Thuamul Rampur block to have passed matriculation examinations.

A student of the tribal school run by Bhubaneswar-based Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), Chandni secured 280 marks out of 600 in the examination. Dana Majhi hogged the headlines in 2016 when he walked 10 km carrying the body of his wife Amanga Dei on his shoulder after failing to get a hearse. Amanga had died of tuberculosis at the district headquarters hospital (DHH) in Bhawanipatna.

With extensive media coverage about his plight and the condition of healthcare infra in the State, financial help poured in from all corners for Majhi, including Rs 8.75 lakh from the PM of Bahrain and Rs 4.10 lakh from Sulabh International. Along side, Majhi was also provided funds for construction of a pucca house under the Indira Awas Yojana.

Following the incident Lok Sabha member from Kandhamal and founder of KIIT and KISS Achyuta Samanta announced free education for Majhis minor daughters. Majhi now lives in Melghara with his third wife and is doing well. Tribals in the village and nearby areas expressed happiness over the success of Majhis girl Chandni.
By Express News Service

ANGUL: In a unique initiative, the Angul district administration in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recently organised a two-day stakeholder orientation workshop on resource efficiency and circular economy.

The events, held on June 24 and 25, were in alignment with Anguls Vision 2023 plan and national priorities for green economic growth. The consultation brought together various stakeholders from public line departments, private sector, research institutions, academia and others.

Collector Siddharth Shankar Swain said the event will help gain clarity to attain principles of circular and green economy across different sectors at district level. Country head of the UNEP, India office, Atul Bagai said the workshop will aid district-level action plan for green economic growth and establish a role model for other districts.


Sinduja Jane By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Triggering fresh concerns of a new COVID cluster, 40 persons, including 33 children, tested positive at a private orphanage at Uthiramerur in Kancheepuram on Sunday. According to Health Department officials, the home has 105 inmates and the source of infection was a caretaker, who tested positive a week ago.

Initially, four children tested positive on Saturday. After that, the officials carried out saturation test on the remaining children and other inmates. Among the tested, results of 33 children and seven adults returned positive on Sunday.

Speaking to The New Indian Express, Deputy Director of Health Services, Kancheepuram district, Dr VK Palani said, "They all are asymptomatic and have been shifted to Government Kancheepuram Headquarters Hospital. They are under isolation."

Other inmates who tested negative have been shifted to other places and the orphanage has been shut. The positive patients are in the age group of 9-18, Dr Palani said. Meanwhile, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said, "We have instructed the officials to collect random samples for genome sequencing analysis."

The new cluster emerged even as the State government has started work in developing infrastructure and treatment protocol for treating paediatric cases as the experts believe more children will be affected in the third wave.

The Health Department gave instructions to open a special COVID ward for children with ICU and ventilators as a precautionary measure in all government hospitals. The State is also sending samples to InSTEM, Bengaluru for genome sequencing to know the variant in circulation for better control and preventive measures.
T Muruganandham By

Express News Service

Pointing out that the current vaccine allocation ratio between government hospitals and private hospitals undermines the goal of vaccinating people at the maximum possible speed, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Monday urged Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to adopt a more rational distribution of available doses among government and private hospitals.

I request you to revise the allocation between the government and private institutions to 90:10 as against the current allocation of 75:25, the Chief Minister said in his letter to the Union Health Minister. He also renewed his request to the Union government to allocate one crore doses of vaccine to make good the inadequate allotment of vaccines to Tamil Nadu in the past.

The Chief Minister also requested the Union Health Minister to evaluate the vaccine doses allotted to various states so far, in terms of doses allotted per thousand population and ensure that necessary compensatory allocations are made to states who have been allotted lower number of doses per capita.

ALSO READ: Covid deaths in TN under-reported?

In Tamil Nadu, 1.43 crore doses have been used, out of which private hospitals have used only 6.5 lakh doses, which translates to just 4.5 percent. Even in the current month, out of 43.5 lakh doses administered in the state, private institutions have contributed only 4.5 lakh doses which is just 10 percent.

The above mismatch between demand and supply in government and private institutions has resulted in a situation where private hospitals in Tamil Nadu have around 7-8 lakh doses available with them, which is equivalent to one month's performance whereas government institutions are left with just two lakh doses which is less than their current single day usage. This can be rectified only

by a more rational and performance based distribution of available doses, he added.

The allotment of 25 percent of vaccines to private hospitals might have been done to incentivise manufacturers, by allowing them to sell a portion at comparatively better price. While this is acceptable, the need for a better blended pricing for vaccine manufacturers should not be allowed to undermine our immediate goal of vaccinating our people at the maximum possible speed. This can be achieved by increasing allocation of vaccines to performing government hospitals, he pointed out.

The Chief Minister further said that to ensure vaccine manufacturers are not affected by the reduction in share to private hospitals, the Union governments procurement price could be increased, so that the blended price under the new policy remains the same as the current one.

"The availability of vaccines has emerged as the principal constraint in the last few weeks, after the above pick-up in vaccination. This is particularly significant for us since our allotment so far has been one of the lowest among the states in the country in terms of doses per thousand population," the Chief Minister pointed out.

Stating that his earlier request for an allocation of one crore doses to correct the inadequate allotment in the past has not been accepted, Stalin said, The incremental increase in allocation for June-July is just in line with the increases made available to other states, who had got higher allotment in the past and therefore have already vaccinated more people. Hence, I reiterate that earlier request.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: To condemn the skyrocketing prices of petroleum products and to urge the Union Government to provide Rs 7,500 monetary assistance to poor families for six months, four political parties, including the CPM, CPI and VCK, have scheduled a three-day protest from Monday across the State.

In a joint press statement, State Secretaries of CPM, CPI and CPML, K Balakrishnan, R Mutharasan and NK Natarajan respectively, and VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan said that the Narendra Modi-led government has been increasing the prices of petroleum products instead of supporting the people who are suffering due to the pandemic situation.

The parties have scheduled a three-day protest across the State between June 28 and 30, demanding a rollback of the petroleum products' price hike, availability of life-saving drugs, controlling of essential commodities prices, provision of Rs 7,500 relief for the families that do not come under the income tax limit for the next six months, provision of 10 kgs food grain from Centre's share to the families, free vaccine dose supply for States and permission for the Tamil Nadu government to manufacture vaccines at the HLL plant in Chengalpattu.

The leaders have appealed to people from all sections of the society to extend support for the protest.
T Muruganandham By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: BJP state president L Murugan on Monday charged that ER Eswaran, the KMDK MLA representing Tiruchengode constituency, insulted the patriotic slogan Jai Hind while speaking in the state Assembly a few days ago. He said Chief Minister MK Stalin should tender an open apology on behalf of Eswaran who was elected on the DMK symbol. Murugan also said in the coming days, BJP MLAs would raise slogans like Jai Hind, Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata ki Jai in the state Assembly.

In a statement here, Murugan said in the Assembly, Eswaran pointed out that unlike last year, the Governor did not conclude his speech with Jai Hind and hailed that. This sparked a row on social media and BJP leaders started criticising the DMK government.

Murugan said the Chief Minister did not condemn Eswaran for his remark. He also recalled that the slogan Jai Hind reverberated in the minds of all Army personnel and played a key role during the Independence struggle.

ALSO READ: Revise vaccine allocation ratio for govt, private hospitals to 90:10, TN CM urges Centre

On June 23, participating in the discussion on the motion of thanks to the Governors address, Eswaran said: "Just after reading the Governor's address, I understood that Tamil Nadu has raised its head in esteem (Thamizhagam thalai nimirnthu vittadhu). Last year, the Governor concluded his speech with Jai Hind. This year, Jai Hind was not there. I would like to record this (development) here.

Clarifying his position, Eswaran, later speaking to reporters, denied the charge that he had insulted a patriotic slogan. "I just compared the Governor's addresses of the last two years. Though the previous AIADMK regime swore by the two language policy, the then address of the Governor ended with Jai Hind, a Hindi phrase. Jai Hind can be translated as Bharatham vaazhga (Hail Bharatham) in Tamil and it could have been added at the end. Further, in the past, the Governor's address did not conclude with Jai Hind. Only after the AIADMK came under the dominance of the BJP, Jai Hind was added to the Governor's address," he said.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The newly appointed Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president, A Revanth Reddy, will take charge on July 7. Speaking to the media here on Sunday, Revanth said that he would try his best to get everyone on board while taking any decision.

There will be no unilateral decisions, he said.

Contrary to general perception, the Congress party remains strong at the organisational level. The BJP, however, is weak and its influence in the State is limited, Revanth said.

He said Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao divided the citizenry to remain in power and vowed to join hands with anyone who wanted to end his regime.

Earlier, the TPCC chief received overwhelming support from some senior party leaders and others, who visited his residence in Jubilee Hills to congratulate him.

Among those who called on Revanth are former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir, former MPs Sircilla Rajaiah, Mallu Ravi and leaders Addanki Dayakar and T Bellaiah Naik.
Mouli Mareedu By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Days after the BC Welfare department initiated a programme to provide loans to Covid-19 victims, officials stopped accepting applications as hundreds of them poured in, to get financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh.The government had offered the loans to the kin of Covid-19 victims.

Following the initiative, BC Welfare officials had announced the scheme and directed the District Collectors to issue circulars to accept applications from eligible candidates. However, officials said they had now stalled the process of accepting applications.

We expected that only the needy would apply. However, we received hundreds of applications stating that one of their family members had died due to Covid-19, an official said.

Officials claimed that in some applications, fake details regarding the death of a person had been submitted. They said in some cases, though deaths had occurred due to other causes, the applicants had claimed that their kin had died of Covid-19.

We asked the local bodies to submit details of people who died from the virus. Based on the data, we will examine the applications and will consider providing loans, an official said.

The National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC) and the National Schedule Caste Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC), along with the State government, had announced to jointly provide the financial assistance.

Of the Rs 5 lakh loan, Rs 1 lakh is to be given as subsidy and the remaining amount is to be paid back to the government without any interest on it within a stipulated time.
By PTI

DHAKA: Bangladesh on Monday extended the closure of borders with India for 14 more days amidst a surge in the COVID-19 cases in the country.

On April 26, Bangladesh first shut down its border with India for two weeks to stem COVID-19 transmission.

The government subsequently extended the closure several times.

The closure of the border with India has been extended for another 14 days, till July 14, amid the worsening COVID-19 situation in Bangladesh, the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.

"All other (previous) conditions remain the same," Mashfee Binte Shams, secretary (East) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was quoted as saying by the report.

The decision was taken at an inter-ministerial virtual meeting chaired by Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, the report said.

Although the border is closed, cargo transports are allowed to cross.

Bangladeshi citizens currently travelling to India for treatment with visas valid for less than 15 days can enter Bangladesh through only Benapole, Akhaura and Burimari borders after taking permission from Bangladesh missions in New Delhi, Kolkata, and Agartala, the report said.

COVID-19 negative certificates through PCR tests within 72 hours of entry to Bangladesh are mandatory.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh on Monday recorded its highest single-day caseload with the detection of 8,364 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours.

The previous highest tally of single-day caseload was reported on April 7, with 7,626 people testing positive for the deadly virus.

The nationwide coronavirus tally now stands at 896,770.

As many as 104 deaths from the viral infection were reported across the country in the 24-hour period, pushing the death toll to 14,276.

ALSO WATCH:
By Associated Press

GENEVA: The UN human rights chief, in a landmark report launched after the killing of George Floyd in the United States, is urging countries worldwide to do more to help end discrimination, violence and systemic racism against people of African descent and "make amends" to them  including through reparations.

The report from Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, offers a sweeping look at the roots of centuries of mistreatment faced by Africans and people of African descent, notably from the transatlantic slave trade.

It seeks a "transformative" approach to address its continued impact today.

The report, a year in the making, hopes to build on momentum around the recent, intensified scrutiny worldwide about the blight of racism and its impact on people of African descent as epitomized by the high-profile killings of unarmed Black people in the United States and elsewhere.

"There is today a momentous opportunity to achieve a turning point for racial equality and justice," the report said.

The report aims to speed up action by countries to end racial injustice; end impunity for rights violations by police; ensure that people of African descent and those who speak out against racism are heard; and face up to past wrongs through accountability and redress.

"I am calling on all states to stop denying -- and start dismantling -- racism; to end impunity and build trust; to listen to the voices of people of African descent; and to confront past legacies and deliver redress," Bachelet said in a video statement.

While broaching the issue of reparation in her most explicit way yet, Bachelet suggested monetary compensation alone is not enough and would be part of an array of measures to help rectify or make up for the injustices.

"Reparations should not only be equated with financial compensation," she wrote, adding that it should include restitution, rehabilitation, acknowledgement of injustices, apologies, memorialization, educational reforms and "guarantees" that such injustices won't happen again.

The UN-backed Human Rights Council commissioned the report during a special session last year following the murder of Floyd, an African-American who was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota in May 2020.

The officer, Derek Chauvin, was sentenced to 22-1/2 years in prison last week.
By PTI

LONDON: UK-based director of Justice Abroad Michael Polak, who says he is acting for Mehul Choksi as part of his legal team, on Monday appealed for CARICOM (Carribbean Community) intervention for the wanted Indian businessman as a citizen of Antigua.

The lawyer claimed that Choksi, 62, was lured to a villa in Antigua, then attacked and beaten, bound and gagged, tied to a wheelchair, then transported out to sea and onwards to Dominica, in a "clear breach" of the rule of law and a "big test" for the political bodies of the Caribbean Community.

"The kidnapping and rendition of Mr Choksi from Antigua to Dominica has drawn the world's attention to the CARICOM region and we have yet to hear anything from this organisation on this tawdry affair and gross breach of an individual's human rights," said London-based barrister Polak.

ALSO READ | Mehul Choksi remanded to state prison in Dominica, but to remain in hospital: Lawyer

"The Secretary-General has been respectfully requested to speak out on this issue and a failure to do may reflect badly upon the CARICOM region as somewhere where the rule of law and due process applies," he said.

The lawyer said that a request for a meeting with Secretary-General of CARICOM, Irwin Larocque, and a public statement from the regional organisation has been made.

ALSO READ | Attached assets worth Rs 8442 crore of Mallya, Choksi and Nirav Modi transferred to PSU banks: ED

He noted that given that one of CARICOM's missions is to "create a community" where every citizen is secure and has the opportunity to realise his or her potential with guaranteed human rights and social justice", the organisation is being urged to speak out and take action in regard to these "very worrying events", which have drawn the world's attention to the region.

Meanwhile, Choksi faces illegal entry charges in Dominica and has been hospitalised since May 30.

He faces legal proceedings as India seeks his extradition to face charges of fraud and money laundering related to the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.
By PTI

LONDON: The University of Oxford in partnership with AstraZeneca said on Monday that it has begun vaccinations for a new phase in human trials to test a COVID-19 vaccine to combat the Beta variant, first identified in South Africa.

The AZD2816 booster shot will be administered to volunteers against the B.1.351 variant of concern (VOC), commonly known as the Beta variant.

The Phase II/III trial, sponsored and led by AstraZeneca, will recruit approximately 2,250 participants across the UK, South Africa, Brazil and Poland.

For the booster study, participants must have received two doses of an approved COVID-19 vaccine three to 12 weeks apart more than three months prior to the study.

"Testing booster doses of existing vaccines and new variant vaccines is important to ensure we are best prepared to stay ahead of the pandemic coronavirus, should their use be needed," said Professor Sir Andrew J. Pollard, chief investigator and director of the Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford.

AZD2816 will be administered to individuals who have previously been fully vaccinated with two doses of the original Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine or an mRNA vaccine such as Pfizer/BioNtech, at least three months after their last injection.

In non-vaccinated individuals, AZD2816 will be given as two doses, four or 12 weeks apart, or given as a second dose following a first dose of the original Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine four weeks apart.

"The UK vaccine roll out programme has been incredibly successful at preventing hospitalisations and deaths, but we don't know how long protection lasts. This study will provide vital evidence on whether further doses including 'tweaks' against new virus variants may be needed in the future," said Dr Maheshi Ramasamy, Principal Investigator at the Oxford Vaccine Group.

The new vaccine, known as AZD2816, has been designed using the same adenoviral vector platform developed by researchers at the University of Oxford using the ChAdOx platform technology, with minor genetic alterations to the spike protein based on the Beta variant.

Sir Mene Pangalos, Executive Vice President, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, said: "It is important we continue to stay ahead of genetically distinct variants of the coronavirus. AZD2816 should help broaden individuals' immune response against emerging variants of concern. Initiating the Phase II/III trial for AZD2816 means we can be prepared should a variant vaccine be required in the future."

The study aims to assess the immune response to the Beta VOC with the new vaccine, for use potentially in combination with the current Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, as well as to better understand the disease and associated health problems.

Initial data from the trial is expected later this year and, once available, will be submitted to regulators for assessment as a next-generation booster vaccine and through an expedited regulatory pathway.
By PTI

DUBAI: Dubai's flag carrier Emirates may resume its flights from India to Dubai from July 7, over two months after the UAE suspended its operations owing to the surge in coronavirus cases in India, according to a media report.

However, the airline is awaiting exact travel protocols and guidelines from the government regarding the resumption of the flight operations, the Khaleej Times reported on Sunday.

"We're expecting to resume our flights from India to Dubai from 7th of July 2021. We're waiting for the exact travel protocols and relevant permits from the government authorities. We hope to have more details soon," the report said, quoting the airline in response to a query from a passenger on its Twitter account.

The airline's website shows seats are available for booking from July 7, the report said. The airline's social media handles have been buzzing ever since authorities announced a few days ago that flights from India to Dubai would resume from June 23.

But on Thursday, Emirates informed passengers that flights from India to Dubai remained suspended. On April 24, the UAE's General Authority of Civil Aviation and the National Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) announced that entry from India will be suspended for all incoming flights on national and foreign carriers due to the surge in the cases of coronavirus.
By PTI

LAHORE: Pakistan's Punjab government on Monday claimed to have unearthed the network of all 10 suspects, including women, involved in the powerful bomb blast outside the house of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind and chief of the banned Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) Hafiz Saeed here.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Inam Ghani at a joint press conference here also said that an "anti-Pakistan intelligence agency" was involved in the Johar Town bombing, but were short of naming it despite reporters' repeated insistence.

"We have told the federal government about its (anti-Pakistan agency's) role in the incident," Buzdar said.

"The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab Police has unearthed the network of all Pakistani and international suspects involved in the blast within 16 hours of the incident. We have arrested (10) local suspects, including women," he said.

ALSO READ | Pakistan security agencies identify key person behind blast outside Hafiz Saeed's house, arrest 3 more persons

IGP Ghani said the hostile agencies had provided financial support to the locals to carry out the terror attack.

"The mastermind of the blast has been identified. A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has been formed to further probe this incident," he said.

Ghani said the terrorist who planted explosives in the car and parked it near Saeed's house belongs to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, but he speaks fluent Punjabi that helped him carry out the operation here.

"Hostile agencies can have the services of local (Pakistani) agents for terror acts easily against money. Money is given to local (Pakistani) agents in the Middle East," the IGP said, and claimed that the "basic target of the Lahore blast was the FATF conference."

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force, the global anti-money laundering and terror financing watchdog, at the end of its five-day virtual plenary meeting on Friday last retained Pakistan in its "grey list" for failing to adequately investigate and prosecute leaders of UN-designated terror groups.

Both the Chief Minister and IGP did not disclose the names of the arrested terrorists in the press conference.

However, a senior police official told PTI that the man who planted explosives in the car and left it outside Saeed's house has been identified as Eid Gul from the KPK province.

"Gul has been arrested from Rawalpindi and he belongs to Tahreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)," he said.

Earlier, the CTD had arrested a key person -- Peter Paul David -- from Lahore whose car was used in the blast.

Three persons were killed and 21 others injured when a powerful car bomb exploded outside Saeed's residence at the Board of Revenue (BOR) Housing Society in Johar Town on Wednesday last, resulting in serious injuries to some police officers guarding his house.

The windows and walls of Saeed's house were damaged from the impact of the blast.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast.

Saeed, a UN designated terrorist whom the US has placed a USD 10 million bounty on, has been convicted for 36 years imprisonment in five terror financing cases.

His punishment is running concurrently.

Saeed is serving a jail sentence at the Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore for his conviction in terror financing cases.

Saeed-led JuD is the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

He was listed under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.

FATF is instrumental in pushing Pakistan to take measures against terrorists roaming freely in Pakistan and using its territory to carry out attacks in India.
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CHICAGO (AP)  Two separate shootings left two people dead and at least 15 wounded in Chicago, police said Monday, as the city that this month recorded its 300th homicide for the year saw more violence.

A woman died, and four men and a teenager were wounded, when an SUV drove by as they stood outside in the South Shore area and shots were fired just before 9 p.m. Sunday, police said.

The woman was shot six times and taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said. The four men and a 15-year-old boy were taken to hospitals. Their conditions were said to be stable.

About two hours later, gunmen stepped from an alley in Marquette Park and opened fire, killing a woman and wounding at least 10 people, officials said. A vehicle collision was also reported nearby in which two people were injured.

It was not clear how the shooting and the crash may be related. Authorities also did not say what may have led up to the shooting.

No suspects or arrests were immediately announced in either shooting, which were part of a growing number of mass shootings in the city. By the end of the weekend, the total number of homicides stood at 326  three more than the total during the same period last year.

On one of those days, June 15, five people were fatally shot and at least three others were wounded inside a South Side house and five other people standing outside on the city's West Side were shot. No arrests have been made in either of those shootings, police said Monday.
MOSCOW (AP)  A Moscow court on Monday rejected an imprisoned American's appeal against his nine-year sentence for assaulting police officers.

The Moscow City Court upheld the sentence issued last year by a lower court, which convicted Trevor Reed for an altercation in August 2019 in Moscow, where he was studying Russian and visiting his girlfriend.

I regret that the appellate court has not corrected this gross injustice, but it does not in any way affect the seriousness with which I and the U.S. government will continue to pursue this matter for Trevor to get him released so that he can go home and be with his family," U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan told reporters outside the court after attending the hearing.

Reed was accused of assaulting police officers who were driving him to a police station after picking him up following a night of heavy drinking at a party. The United States has sought his release, saying the evidence against him was weak.

Asked about Reed in a recent interview with NBC News, Russian President Vladimir Putin called him a drunk and a troublemaker.

Reed was diagnosed with COVID-19 in May. Earlier this month, the U.S. Embassy protested the lack of consular access to him during his hospitalization and said he had been repeatedly denied phone calls to his family or embassy personnel.

My colleagues and I were able to speak with Trevor today," Sullivan said after the court hearing. "He is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstance. Hes a remarkable and resilient young man.

Reed is one of two Americans imprisoned in Russia under controversial circumstances. Paul Whelan, a former corporate security executive who also holds Canadian, Irish and British citizenship, was arrested in Moscow in 2018, convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years. His lawyer has said his client was handed a flash drive that had classified information on it that he didnt know about.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Whelan and Reed are being wrongfully imprisoned in Russia and raised their plight with Putin at their summit in Geneva earlier this month.

Putin had opened the door to possible discussions about a prisoner swap with the U.S. and said those conversations would continue. Biden said he would follow up too.

The U.S. is holding two prisoners whose release Russia has sought for more than a decade, including arms trader Viktor Bout. The other is Konstantin Yaroshenko, a pilot who was extradited from Liberia in 2010 and convicted the next year of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the U.S.

Sullivan returned to Moscow only last week. He flew out in April after Russian officials suggested that he should leave to mirror the departure of the Russian ambassador in Washington, whom Moscow recalled for consultations after Biden described Putin as a killer in March.

During the Geneva summit, Putin and Biden agreed to return the ambassadors to Washington and Moscow in a bid to improve badly deteriorated diplomatic relations between the countries.

___

Anna Frants in Moscow contributed to this report.
STRATFORD  Theyre back with a bang.

After last years Fourth of July fireworks were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they will return this year Thursday, July 1 at Short Beach, with a rain date of July 2.

The show is scheduled to start about 9 p.m.

Parking will be available for vehicles with Stratford resident stickers at Short Beach Park and the Stratford Army Engine Plant starting at 4 p.m.  but vehicles without stickers will not be permitted.

After the show, traffic exiting the Army Engine Plant will be directed north on Main Street.

Vehicles leaving Short Beach will be directed to use both lanes to exit.

Traffic from the right lane will be directed onto Stratford Road, then Prospect Drive, Oak Bluff and Lordship Boulevard.

Traffic from the left lane will be directed onto Short Beach Road, Lighthouse Avenue, Prospect Drive, Stratford Road, and Lordship Boulevard.

Residents will be allowed to enter Lordship until the start of the show, but Lordship Boulevard will be closed to eastbound traffic from Access Road to Oak Bluff Avenue until traffic flow returns to normal.

Town officials estimated it will take about 90 minutes for Short Beach Park to be emptied after the show, during which there will be no vehicular access into Lordship.

It is strongly advised that Lordship residents and anyone looking to come into Lordship plan accordingly, a statement announcing the fireworks on the town website says.

In a prepared statement announcing the show, Mayor Laura Hoydick said it will be good to see the fireworks again after last years cancellation.

We are excited to have this great Stratford tradition return, she said. I hope residents and their families will view the fireworks from their favorite spot as we come together to celebrate our nations birth.
WASHINGTON  The non-medical home care registry, Washington Home Care LLC at 1 Kirby Road, has expanded its recruitment services.

The newly-introduced estate management services will include recruitment for estate managers, household managers, household personal assistants, butlers, housekeepers, and private chefs. These will be in addition to the recruitment and registry of home health aides, certified nurse assistants, homemakers and companions, an announcement said.

Washington Home Care LLC was founded by Sara Guillemette, a 20-year Litchfield County resident, in December 2019.

Guillemette is expanding the registrys recruitment services to meet the growing demands of area residents, the registrys announcement said.

To learn more, visit WashingtonCTHomeCare.com, call 203-577-8979, or write to PO Box 1244, Washington, CT 06793-9991.
Columnist

Tom Kacich is a columnist and the author of Tom's Mailbag at The News-Gazette. His column appears Sundays. His email is tkacich@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@tkacich).
Food

Joint effort

Family running Ashtabulas Hil-Mak restaurant and market gets help from former longtime owners of Pieros Pasta

Family thats taken over Ashtabulas Hil-Mak restaurant and market getting help from former longtime owners of Geneva-on-the-Lake staple
Researchers have described the first reported infection with the C.37 (Lambda) lineage of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Southern Brazil.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus is the agent responsible for the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The Lambda lineage was classified as a variant of interest (VOI) by the World Health Organization on June 15th, 2021.

The C.37 variant, which lies within the B.1.1.1 lineage, has already been reported as highly prevalent in Peru and has also been identified in many countries across the Americas, Europe and Oceania, says Priscila Wink from the Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre in Rio Grande do Sul and colleagues.

However, C.37 has only been reported occasionally in Brazil despite its global spread, adds the team.

Now, Wink and colleagues have described the first case of C.37 infection in Southern Brazil. The researchers discovered eight defining mutations in the variant, in addition to the 19 mutations that have already been described for other members of this lineage.

Considering that this VOI has been associated with high rates of transmissibility, the possible spread in the Southern Brazilian community is a matter of concern, they write.

A pre-print version of the research paper is available on the medRxiv* server, while the article undergoes peer review.

Emerging variants threaten the efficacy of COVID-19 control strategies

Since SARS-CoV-2 was first identified in late December 2019, new VOIs and variants of concern (VOCs) have emerged with potentially increased transmissibility and reduced sensitivity to antibody neutralization following infection or vaccination.

The emergence of these lineages may impact the efficacy of strategies to control the COVID-19 pandemic.

The novel Lambda variant was detected in Peru in August 2020 and has been identified in 26 other countries, says Wink and colleagues.

However, despite global spread of the Lambda variant, in Brazil this lineage was reported only in Sao Paulo state in February 2021, they write.

What did the researchers do?

Now, the team has described the first reported case of the SARS-CoV-2 Lambda variant in Southern Brazil.

A young male who had visited Argentina developed respiratory symptoms while returning to his hometown in Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost Brazilian state.

He was admitted to a local hospital two days later but was then transferred to the intensive care unit of Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre a further two days later due to worsening symptoms.

Infection with SARS-CoV-2 was confirmed by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing of nasopharyngeal swabs and a specimen was submitted for whole-genome sequencing.

What did they find?

Sequencing of the resulting genomic libraries revealed that the C.37 variant is defined by a deletion (3675- 3677) in open reading frame 1a (ORF1a) of SARS-CoV-2. The ORF1a gene codes for a protein that undergoes proteolytic cleavage before it goes on to make nonstructural viral proteins.

The deletion has also been identified in the Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant that emerged in the UK, the Beta (B.1.351) variant that emerged in South African, and the Gamma (P.1) variant that emerged in Brazil.

The Lambda variant also contained a novel deletion (246-252) and multiple nonsynonymous mutations (G75V, T76I, L452Q, F490S, D614G, and T859N) in the gene that encodes the viral spike protein. The spike is the main surface structure the virus uses to bind to and infect host cells.

The mutations L452Q and F490S are present in the spike receptor-binding domain (RBD), which mediates the initial stage of infection by binding to the host cell receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).

The F490S mutation has previously been associated with reduced susceptibility to antibody neutralization, says Wink and colleagues.

The researchers say that in addition to these eight C.37-defining mutations, 19 mutations were also present that have already been described in other members of the lineage.

The team expects that C.37 will become a variant of concern

The team says the high prevalence of this new VOI has already been described in Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and Argentina, where it is associated with substantial rates of community transmission.

It is believed that the critical health care system situation and the recent report of increased deaths in these countries is associated with the rising prevalence of the Lambda variant, writes Wink and colleagues.

The researchers say that it is not yet known whether this variant is more transmissible or more pathogenic than other variants or whether it is able to escape vaccine-induced immunity.

The novel S: 246-252 deletion and additional mutations in the spike protein should be taken into account to understand their effects on viral fitness and host interaction, they say. Considering that this VOI has rapidly spread in Peru, Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina, we believe that it has considerable potential to become a variant of concern, concludes the team.

*Important Notice

medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
Thought Leaders Dr. Claire Bayntun Clinical Consultant Global Public Health

In this interview, News-Medical spoke to Dr. Claire Bayntun about her incredible career in global health, and how we can achieve gender equality within healthcare settings.

Please can you introduce yourself and tell us about your successful career in global health.

My name is Claire Bayntun and I am a Clinical Consultant in Global Public Health.

I have not followed a typical path. I have studied across a range of academic disciplines and have enjoyed the opportunity to work across the world in operational, academic, clinical, and educational settings, spanning the public and private sectors.

My values have always driven my career decisions, and thus there are common themes of health, rights, and support for others threading through my career, with a current focus on equity, sustainability, and planetary health priorities.

I enjoy social entrepreneurship, having led creative initiatives across the different phases of my career.

As an educator of global health leadership, where do you think the major problems are in global health and how can current and future generations work to change this?

The inequities in decision-making, influence, and financial flows are the crux of many issues in the arena of global health. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted social norms and global structures.

Nationalism was increasing in many countries before the pandemic and increased in some political arenas with the pandemic.

However, the science, medical and academic communities have demonstrated the power and importance of collaborative action. Populations have realized that their future health security and economies are interdependent on all others around the world. As a result, I am hopeful that the pandemic has disrupted the pendulum swing towards nationalism, and the need for global solidarity is gaining traction.

Current and future generations will be involved in developing and strengthening the global governance structures and mechanisms to address the past issues of inequity. If they progress with the insights gained from the past, they will want to ensure greater consideration for sustainability in their activities, and with concern for wider planetary health.

Global Health. Image Credit: Khongtham/Shutterstock.com

You have worked in health within many humanitarian settings and continue to teach others to do so. How has womens health changed in these settings over the years and what still needs to be done?

We have failed women and girls through and across humanitarian situations; this has gained more focus from researchers and humanitarian agencies over the last decades. Humanitarian settings around the world are so varied, and the particular context experienced by women and girls is determined by the circumstances of a conflict or catastrophe, and the specific protagonists.

I have worked in this arena where gender violence was used as a weapon of war, such as in the Rwandan genocide, and the conflict in Darfur. However, to understand what can be done going forward, I would direct readers to current reports from humanitarian agencies, who often work in collaboration with academic institutions. The LSHTM Gender Violence and Health Centre, as well as the Health in Humanitarian Crises Centre, offer excellent resources.

Maternal health is a key aspect of womens health that shows great inequality across the globe, resulting in huge numbers of preventable deaths. How can these deaths be eliminated and better equality achieved?

Penchansky and Thomas 1981 description of the 5 As is still as relevant now as a framework to recognize causes of maternal and other forms of health inequality, resonating across the decades and health systems 

affordability, availability, accessibility, accommodation, and acceptability.

The weakest of these will vary in time and place, and in some circumstances, all may apply as barriers for both males and females. However, patients will identify issues associated with these barriers, and for women, these barriers may be more significant than for their male counterparts due to socio-economic and other differential determinants.

Addressing these barriers, which result in inequalities in maternal and other health disparities, requires on-going work at local levels - understanding, listening, and learning by working on the ground, and from there those in academia and policy may also be involved to influence change for the factors that need upstream management. It is necessarily a dynamic, iterative process - all development and change creates other consequences.

You were a speaker at the second Women Leaders in Global Health Conference in 2018. How are events and movements like this helping to achieve gender equality within global health?

I joined a WhatsApp group COVID 50/50 at the start of the pandemic. I have been blown away by the energy, determination, and rich flow of information and support that is created through this group. It is just one example of what is emerging, building on the success of the Women Leaders in Global Health Conferences (Women Leaders in Global Health Conference - Wikipedia), WomenLift (Home - WomenLift Health), and other global-wide initiatives taking their place and confidently claiming their space to work to achieve gender equity in global health.

Those leading this have been a powerful and inspiring force for women around the world. It is making an impact, and the future will be better as a result of their work.

Gender Equality. Image Credit: Monster Ztudio/Shutterstock.com

Many people believe that fixing gender equality issues within the health industry will be a key factor in achieving better global health coverage. Do you agree with this and what steps do you think need to be taken to fix these issues?

Yes, this is critical. Women have particular insights and strengths to offer to this space, and a gender-balanced panel of decision-makers leads to better outcomes. The work of the movements described above, and others, are active on these issues. We must move forward together.

Climate change is predicted to exacerbate health inequalities across the world, with vulnerable communities being harder hit and more immediately by the plethora of health problems that climate change is linked to. How can this be alleviated?

I have been co-leading a series for the Royal Society of Medicine which addresses this, recognizing the challenges for different communities around the world, across the life course. We also provide a hub of resources to support the series and those motivated to learn and act to address and advocate on these issues.

I have learnt a huge amount through my work on the series. I aim to continue to develop my understanding through my commitment to the wider imperatives of sustainability and planetary health.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been hugely disruptive to the modern world. It has also demonstrated many important lessons such as using scientific collaboration to achieve goals, the importance of looking after our environment, and the necessity of wealthier countries helping others for the good of all. What do you think global health leaders need to take from this pandemic and these lessons be used to make the world a better place?

I am currently working on a future episode of the Royal Society of Medicine series which will consider planetary health through the lens of the pandemic.

If we are successful in securing funding, we will offer a series of workshops, aiming to provide health professionals with a deeper understanding of the health issues to be highlighted at COP 26 in Glasgow this November 2021. We will develop toolkits to enable health professionals to progress action amongst their communities, with their colleagues, and to influence decisions, behaviors, and policy-makers.

However, your questions specifically mentions global health leaders. Indeed, individuals with influence have a specific role to play. However, leadership is needed at every level of an organization, and leadership on planetary health, and how we develop our structures and mechanisms to make the world a better place emerging from this pandemic, will be best achieved by supporting fresh thinkers from the generation below those who may currently typically identify themselves as health leaders. We must invest in strengthening their capacities to make the world a better place.

How do public health institutions need to be improved and supported in order to prevent devastation like that caused by the COVID-19 from happening again?

Nigeria CDC is a national public health institute that has been developing rapidly since 2016 under the leadership of Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu. Nigeria is a complex, populous, and politically challenging environment, and yet Nigeria CDC offers an important example of what public health institutes can achieve on the African continent, in order to manage infectious diseases.

Africa CDC is also a young organization, established in 2016 and officially launched in 2017 with Dr. John Nkengasong as the Director-General. Africa CDC has enabled countries across the continent to collaborate for learning, information sharing, training, infrastructure development and combine as a united bloc to advocate for therapeutics, diagnostics, and vaccines in the pandemic. The importance and success of Africa CDC is clear, particularly when its achievements are compared to the nationalism and fractures in response seen in other regional blocs around the world.

Both of these institutions have succeeded through excellent leadership. However, this is also with the support of donors and many bilateral and multilateral organizations, public and private, getting behind these impressive health leaders and their vision. On a more general point, the global community needs to work more authentically in partnership with developing public health institutions, strengthening them according to the priorities and agendas determined by those institutions.

Too often the priorities of institutions in low and middle-income countries risk being derailed by funding tied to agendas determined by those with funding and influence in the global north. This has been the experience of many health leaders with whom I work, aiming to support their leadership as they manage the challenges of strengthening their health institutions.

COVID-19. Image Credit: CKA/Shutterstock.com

Are you hopeful for a future where universal health coverage could be achieved for all, and, more specifically, adequate care for womens health could be accessible to all women?

I am always hopeful. All of this can be achieved; we need the vision to be held and addressed by good people motivated to realize these values. Anything is possible if we put our mind to it, and together put our back to the wheels which are, after all, of our own design.

The Centre for Universal Health at Chatham House offers further resources and events to address these issues, making the economic case and clarifying the wider societal and cross-sector benefits.

Within your career, you have spent time in over 50 countries, contributed to numerous educational works and programs in global health, and have been designated as a Role Model for Women in Higher Education. What has been the highlight for you?

Supporting wonderful health leaders from around the world has been the most rewarding experience of my career. Their dedication to serve populations to the best of their ability is extraordinary.

With the pandemic, we are at an important juncture in health around the world, and we must use this focus to galvanize global solidarity to effect sustainable changes for the health and well-being of populations, as part of broader of planetary health and well-being re-alignment. With all this work ahead, I hope that further highlights of my career are yet to be achieved.

Have you got anything else you would like to raise awareness about?

In my work with health leaders, they have found it valuable to recognize the benefits of reflection, personally and professionally, to be sure of their values to support decision-making and resilience.

A second focus is to recognize the interdependence of everything in our world and to embrace that with curiosity and respect.

Where can readers find more information?

About Dr. Claire Bayntun

Claire is a medical doctor specializing in the field of Global Public Health while continuing to clinically practice in Health Protection. She participated in the Ebola crisis in West Africa, supporting the development of services on the ground, reporting for the UN High Level Panel on Global Response to Health Crises, and evaluating the response of Medecins sans Frontieres in Sierra Leone.

Previously, Claire worked as a regional NGO Manager in West Africa, as a Management Consultant for the third sector, and with WHO Collaborating Centres as an Academic Clinical Fellow, with a focus on health system strengthening and crises management.

Claire has qualifications in Psychology (BSc University of York), the Political Economy of Development, Conflict and Human Rights (MSc School of Oriental & African Studies, London), as an international photojournalist (PostGrad Diploma, University of London Arts), in addition to Public Health (MPH, Imperial College, and professional qualifications from the Faculty of Public Health), Medicine and Surgery (MBBS University of London).

Having completed the Chartered Institute of Management's training Certificate at Level 4, Claire has progressed to complete studies with the Institute of Leadership & Management, Executive Level 7. She is a trained mentor, accredited Executive Coach (ILM Level 7) and accredited Assessor and Facilitator for Emotional Intelligence (EQi 2.0).

Claire is an Examiner for the Diploma in the Medical Care of Catastrophes, and is Trustee and Vice President of the Royal Society of Medicine.
COVID-19 (coronavirus 2019), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is continuing to cause morbidity and mortality, despite ongoing mitigation strategies and vaccination efforts. Attempts by most countries to combat COVID-19 shave relied on social distancing, lockdowns, limited testing, contact tracing, and vaccine rollouts, all of which are now helping to fight the pandemic.

Aiming to reduce human suffering, economic costs, and restrictions on personal freedom caused by COVID-19 to a minimum, researchers from Germany and Austria proposed an alternative method - efficient population-based genome-based testing.

They demonstrated an affordable, scalable, and highly sensitive virus genome-based testing approach developed as part of the Human Genome Project.

This testing was used to genotype billions of samples over the last decade. Here, they achieved the same sensitivity and specificity, however, in a much more scalable fashion and at much lower costs per sample (~ 1 per PCR test for very high throughput). The researchers have also provided a link where they share the notes taken in the study, and the results are published on the medRxiv* preprint server prior to peer review.

Schematic of the high throughput genome-based testing pipeline for SARS-CoV-2. (a) Sample tubes (barcoded) are brought to testing centres in 96-well carriers from collection points (e.g. see Figure 2) and prepared for high-throughput testing for SARS-CoV-2 (or other viruses). Samples are heat inactivated before automated transfer in 384-well format (b) and preparation for (c) direct RT-PCR without a requirement for RNA extractions and (d) endpoint measurement showing results of test (positive, negative).

The procedure is EU-wide CE (European Conformity) approved in gargle- and smear-based versions and is already being used in Germany to test the employees of Unilever and other companies, the researchers said in the paper.

Discussing the results of the test, the researchers highlighted the key advantages. Infected individuals can be identified days earlier than with the antigen-based rapid tests currently used. Early detection is a crucial prerequisite to stop the spread of the virus. Another benefit of this test is scalability.

A single commercially available water bath PCR system with a capacity of 100x 384 PCR plates per run would be able to carry out >600,000 RT-PCR reactions per day, close to three times the entire PCR test capacity currently available in Germany.

This approach can also be easily used to test for the variants - with a second analysis cycle with a small number of additional tests on the SARS-CoV-2 positive samples.

In spite of these likely advantages, and an early successful test of the strategy in Vo, an Italian city with 3,300 inhabitants, few governments seem to have seriously considered this as an alternative and, with the exception of Austria (Alles gurgelt), none seem to have supported the establishment of the required infrastructure.

For proof-of-concept, on a population scale, Vienna, Austria, has approved a program aiming for the early interruption of infection chains, and then contact tracing to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Individuals self-collected mouthwash samples with the support of a dedicated Web App and verified them (www.lead-horizon.com). The researchers presented an outline (in 5 steps) of how the population-scale testing works in practice, as an example of the decentralized test strategy used in Vienna.

A reliable PCR test result was guaranteed for every inhabitant of the community within 24 hours of the sample collection. In this program, all residents were invited to participate twice a week, as regular testing ensures that people with COVID-19 can be quarantined promptly and chains of infection can be broken as soon as possible. Local drug stores provided validated self-collection kits for mouthwash samples, making PCR tests accessible to all residents within 5 minutes of walking distance. Samples were returned to the lab for transportation, after being packaged in biohazard safe, sealed transport bags and packaging.

Population-wide testing logistics. An example of the decentralized test strategy used in Vienna.

Vienna provides free sampling devices to all residents, tourists, and commuters. As a result of its success, the program is currently being expanded to more pilot regions of Austria to further evaluate a more comprehensive national coverage. As an alternative, Alacris Theranostics has developed a similar kit that utilizes nasal swabs for high throughput testing.

Using a model based on the established Kermack-McKendrick theory, adjusted to COVID-19, the researchers showed the effect of this population-wide testing approach on the development of the pandemic if it was adopted last autumn. Moreover, assuming certain conditions and removing a few errors, they demonstrated that the model convincingly calculated the effectiveness of mass tests - under only moderate contact restrictions like those in Germany in early October 2020.

They suggested that, Even the rise of the new UK virus variant in early 2021 could have been kept under control by mass testing using highly sensitive PCR based tests, suppressing the R factor from 1.5 before the onset of testing to very low levels for a high degree of participation.

Importantly, they emphasized this in comparison with modeling the effect of the currently used antigen rapid tests that detect only when an individual becomes positive after the onset of symptoms, which is fairly late in the infectious phase.

From the simulations conducted comparing PCR and antigen-based tests, this study indicated that the population-wide PCR-based tests - even at a fairly low level of participation during the second wave (October 2020), conducted at a mass scale could have resulted in a rapid drop in numbers of infections. It would have then been to manage contact tracing.

To summarize, the researchers have shown in this study that systematic population-wide screens could eliminate COVID-19. However, noting the failure to conduct urgent mass-testing, they recommended that complementing vaccinations, this mass-testing infrastructure could be enabled and tapped to respond to SARS-CoV-2 and also other new similar pathogens.

The overwhelming majority of this impact, including close to 90% of deaths, was caused by the second and third waves of the pandemic, and could therefore have been potentially avoided by PCR based mass testing.

Given the enormous impact this approach could have had on the course of the pandemic, this raises the question of the mechanisms governments use to evaluate potential solutions to problems of such enormous importance, should not be more open and science-driven, the researchers write.

*Important Notice

medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information
In addition to sickening and taking the lives of millions across the globe, COVID-19 complicated patient care in a range of less-direct ways, from increased incidence of heart attacks to decreased cancer screenings.

The virus also increased the risk of complications and death among trauma patients with injuries from car crashes, falls or other accidents, or who were victims of violent injuries such as gunshots and stabbings, according to new research conducted by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published recently in The Journal of Trauma and Acute Surgery.

The findings reveal that patients in trauma centers across the state of Pennsylvania who also tested positive for COVID-19 had six times higher risk of death than patients with similar injuries without COVID. COVID-positive patients also demonstrated double the likelihood of complications such as venous thromboembolism, renal failure, need for intubation, and unplanned ICU admission, as well as more than five times the odds of pulmonary complications. These risks were even greater in patients over age 65.

COVID-19 had the largest impact on patients whose injuries were relatively minor, and who we would have otherwise expected to do well. Our findings underscore how important it is for hospitals to consistently test admitted patients, so that providers can be aware of this additional risk and treat patients with extra care and vigilance." Elinore Kaufman, MD, MSHP, Study Lead Author and Assistant Professor, Division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Researchers conducted a retrospective study of 15,550 patients admitted to Pennsylvania trauma centers from March 21, 2020, (when Governor Tom Wolf ordered the closure of non-essential businesses statewide) to July 31, 2020. Of the 15,550 patients, 8,170 were tested for the virus, and 219 tested positive. During this period, the researchers evaluated length of stay, complications, and overall outcomes for patients who tested positive for COVID, compared to patients who did not have the virus. They found that rates of testing increased over time, from 34 percent in April 2020 to 56 percent in July. Rates of testing varied substantially across centers, however, with a median of 56.2 percent and a range of 0 percent to 96.4 percent.

"First, we need to investigate how to best care for these high-risk patients, and establish standard protocols to minimize risks," said senior author Niels D. Martin, MD, chief of Surgical Critical Care and an associate professor in the division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery. "Second, we need more data on the risks associated with patients who present symptoms of COVID, versus those who are asymptomatic, so we can administer proven treatments appropriately and increase the likelihood of survival with minimal complications."

This research was supported by the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation.

Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $8.9 billion enterprise.

The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top medical schools in the United States for more than 20 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $496 million awarded in the 2020 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center--which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report--Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Medicine Princeton Health; and Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
A gene variant that lowers white blood cell levels and is common in individuals with African ancestry contributes to unnecessary bone marrow biopsies, according to a study published June 28 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The findings from three institutions, led by investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, provide an example of how using genetic data could reduce a health disparity.

We've essentially created this racial health disparity by not fully considering how genetic variation affects white blood cell levels. Our study supports genotyping African Americans before performing a bone marrow biopsy for the indication of isolated low white blood cell counts." Jonathan Mosley, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Informatics at VUMC

It has long been observed that some healthy individuals of African ancestry have lower white blood cell counts -- because of low neutrophil levels -- compared to individuals of European ancestry. The condition, called Benign Ethnic Neutropenia, is associated with a variant in a chemokine receptor gene and does not increase risk for infection. About 63% of African Americans carry two copies of the gene variant that lowers neutrophil levels.

The problem, Mosley explained, is the definition of the "normal" range for white blood cell count, which is based largely on averages from individuals of European ancestry.

"Genetic variation has a large impact on the levels of biomarkers like white blood cell counts, but reference ranges are defined based on population averages without taking genotypes into account," Mosley said.

Mosley, Sara Van Driest, MD, PhD, and Scott Borinstein, MD, PhD, at VUMC set out to determine how the neutrophil-lowering genotype impacted the likelihood of bone marrow biopsies in African American patients.

Working with investigators at Mount Sinai Health System in New York and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, they examined electronic health records and biobank data to identify African American patients under age 90 who had bone marrow biopsies between 1998 and 2020. At VUMC, the researchers used BioVU, Vanderbilt's DNA biobank linked to de-identified electronic health records.

Among 399 individuals they identified across the three institutions, 35 (9%) had a bone marrow biopsy for the indication of isolated low white blood cell counts, and 97% of these patients (34 of 35) had the neutrophil-lowering genotype compared to 67% of patients who had bone marrow biopsies for other indications. The biopsies were normal for 97% of patients with the neutrophil-lowering genotype (33 of 34) compared to 55% for patients with other histories.

"The genotype that causes lower white blood cells was almost always present in African American individuals who had a bone marrow biopsy solely for a low white blood cell count," said Van Driest, associate professor of Pediatrics and Medicine. "We hope that in the future, we can do a better job of recognizing these individuals with a benign cause for their low white blood cells counts so that bone marrow biopsies can be avoided."

The research team hopes the new study will help educate clinicians about the impact of genetic variation on white blood cell count specifically -- and potentially on many biomarkers.

"It is well established that many healthy African Americans have lower white blood cell counts, and yet these patients are still having biopsies. Clearly, we don't identify Benign Ethnic Neutropenia as frequently as we should," said Borinstein, associate professor of Pediatrics. "Ultimately, we would like to define personalized reference ranges for biomarkers based on genotype. Sometimes there's nothing wrong with having somewhat lower or higher white cell counts, and you don't want to take action on that unless you know there's likely to be disease."

Other biomarkers the researchers are investigating include prostate specific antigen and height in children.
A new study by researchers at Penn State College of Medicine indicates that people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) -; approximately 38 million worldwide -; are more likely to have suicidal thoughts and die from suicide than members of the general population. The researchers said that despite significant medical advancements related to HIV treatment and patients' quality of life, risk of suicide in these patients is high and health care providers should prioritize mental health screenings in this population.

According to the World Health Organization, roughly 800,000 people worldwide die from suicide annually. Among members of the general population who have suicidal thoughts, one out of three will attempt suicide. Out of 286 suicide attempts, one will result in death. Results from a College of Medicine study suggest that for every two people living with HIV/AIDS who have suicidal thoughts, one person will attempt suicide. Among this population, out of 13 suicide attempts, one will result in death.

Analyzing data from more than 185,000 adults living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, the researchers examined risk factors and incidences of attempted and completed suicides among this population. They found that not only is suicidal ideation higher, but people living with HIV/AIDS were 100 times more likely to die by suicide compared to the general population.

There is an urgent need to prioritize mental health screening and care into all HIV testing and treatment settings. Suicide risk should be assessed in all HIV patients, especially in those who are newly-diagnosed and those with advanced disease." Dr. Paddy Ssentongo, researcher and epidemiology doctoral student

According to the findings, people living with HIV/AIDS in North America are 50 times more likely to commit suicide compared to those living in Europe. Similarly, North America, South America and Australia have the highest rates of suicide attempts in people living with HIV/AIDS. The researchers also found that the risk of suicide was high for both newly diagnosed individuals and those whose illness progressed to AIDS.

The researchers noted that several possible factors may contribute to the increased risk of suicide among people living with HIV/AIDS, including advanced disease, neurological changes and societal stigmas. On the other hand, data from the study showed that patients being treated with antiretroviral therapy were less likely to commit suicide. The researchers said the study reveals the importance of mental health screenings and interventions for people living with HIV/AIDS.
A few males are enough to fertilize all the females. The number of males therefore has little bearing on a population's growth. However, they are important for purging bad mutations from the population. This is shown by a new Uppsala University study providing in-depth knowledge of the possible long-term genetic consequences of sexual selection. The results are published in the scientific journal Evolution Letters.

The study supports the theory that in many animal species selection acting on males can impose the fortuitous benefit to the population of causing offspring to inherit healthy genes. Stiff competition among males results in selective elimination of individuals with many deleterious mutations, preventing them from passing on said mutations. This may exert positive long-term effects on a sexually reproducing population's growth and persistence.

When deleterious mutations are purged from a population through rigorous selection in males, resulting in fewer males reproducing, the process can take place with little or no effect on population growth. This is because relatively few males suffice to fertilise all the females in a population, hence, whether those females are fertilized by few males or many males makes little or no difference to the number of offspring those females can produce, especially in species where the male doesn't look after its own offspring. By contrast, such rigorous selection in females would result in fewer females reproducing, hence fewer offspring produced, which could lead to a massive population decline or even extinction," Karl Grieshop, Study Lead Author and Evolutionary Biologist, Canada's University of Toronto

The researchers used 16 genetic strains of seed beetle (Callosobruchus maculatus) to investigate how the inferred number of deleterious mutations in each affected the reproductive ability (fitness) of females and males.

Through intensive inbreeding of strains followed by crosses among them, it was possible to quantify the cumulative effects of each strain's unique set of mutations. By comparing the inbred strains to the crosses among them, the scientists were able to see that these mutations harmed both females and males nearly equally.

However, when looking only at the crosses among strains, which is the more genetically variable setting that is more relevant to how selection would act in nature, these mutational effects were only manifest in male fitness. In the females, the deleterious effects of the mutations they carried were not detectable in this more genetically variable background, and would therefore not be purged effectively via female-specific selection in nature.

"This indicates that although these mutations do have a detrimental effect on females' reproduction, they are more effectively removed from the population by selection acting on male carriers than female carriers. Previous research from our group and others has succeeded in showing this effect by artificially inducing mutations, but this is the first direct evidence that it ensues for naturally occurring variants of genes," Grieshop says.

In the researchers' view, their study sheds new light on the old question of why so many multicellular organisms use sexual reproduction.

"Production of males causes a decrease in the reproductive capacity of a species, since males themselves contribute less than females to the production of offspring. The question, then, is why a species evolves to reproduce sexually, instead of just producing females through asexual reproduction. Our study shows that production of males, which may engage in intense competition for the chance to mate, enables faster purging of deleterious mutations from the population, which could thereby enable a healthier set of genes and higher reproductive capacity relative to asexual reproduction," says David Berger, researcher and team leader at Uppsala University's Department of Ecology and Genetics.
Since the early phases of the global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), national and regional lockdowns have been instrumental in controlling the spread of the virus in many parts of the world. In most cases, those countries that were able to implement lockdowns early on in the pandemic were better able to manage the spread of SARS-CoV-2 among their populations.

New research by scientists in Brazil and the USA suggests that three primary factors have influenced the early macro-geographical dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil.

The studys findings suggest that if a lockdown had been imposed earlier on in superspreader cities like Sao Paulo, mandatory road traffic restrictions had been enforced, and intensive care unit (ICU) beds had been allocated more equitably across geographical regions, Brazils experience of the COVID-19 pandemic might have been mitigated.

The team has published their study in the Nature Scientific Reports journal.

Brazil's fight against COVID-19

Although international airports served as main entry points for SARS-CoV-2, the factors that drove COVID-19's uneven geographical spread and deaths in Brazil remain unclear.

On March 27, 2929, Brazil announced a temporary ban on foreign air travel, and state governments imposed quarantine orders to prevent viral spread. Though the first COVID-19 case was reported on January 28, 2020, it was not until May 2020 that the number of cases reached more than 100,000. From there, the case continued to rise.

To date, the number of confirmed cases in Brazil has topped 18.38 million, with over 512,000 deaths, making it the third country in the world with the highest number of cases.

During the first three months of the pandemic in Brazil, Sao Paulo initially accounted for more than 85% of the caseload. However, even though the main entry points of SARS-CoV-2 were monitored and the main coronavirus genotypes were immediately identified, the routes taken by the virus to reach the entire country are still unknown.

Factors for viral spread

Understanding the geographical spread of infectious diseases requires analyzing several factors, including environmental factors, pathogen population traits, and the flow of people in the transportation network.

The researchers examined human-mediated processes that turned capital cities into SARS-CoV-2 "superspreaders" at the geographical scale in the current study. The team also aimed to shed light on the critical processes that accounted for the macro-geographical patterns of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Brazil.

To arrive at the study findings, the researchers came up with a mathematical model of epidemics. They did not only consider population density but other factors like complex transportation networks.

The team believed that transportation patterns might have influenced the uneven geographical distribution of COVID-19 deaths in the country. Thus, they identified the spreading cities and Brazilian federal roads that contributed to the definition of the geographical patterns of COVID-19 cases. Further, the team also shed light on how the distribution of intensive care unit (ICU) beds across the country influenced the uneven spatial distribution of COVID-19 deaths during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study findings showed that three major factors influenced the spread of COVID-19 in Brazil. These include having a super-spreading city, federal highways, and the country's ICU beds and facilities.

Sao Paulo initially accounted for more than 85 percent of the case spread in the whole country. By adding 16 other spreading cities, the team accounted for 98 to 99 percent of the cases during the first three months of the pandemic.

The team also added that federal highways played an imperative role in the viral spread. These accounted for about 30 percent of the SARS-CoV-2 spread. Lastly, the distribution of COVID-19 deaths started to correlate with the allocation of intensive care units (ICU).

The team thus suggests that if the country has imposed a lockdown in superspreading cities like Sao Paulo, the cases and the impact of COVID-19 would be lower. The team also notes that if mandatory road traffic restrictions had been imposed, and more equitable distributions of ICU beds were in effect, there would have been fewer cases  and ultimately fewer deaths  in the country.
German experts recently explained why the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) delta variant is more infectious and pathogenic than its ancestor. By conducting a series of in vitro experiments, they have revealed that increased ability to induce cell-to-cell fusion (syncytia) and reduced susceptibility to vaccine and infection-induced antibodies make the delta variant more infectious than previously circulating variants. The study is currently available on the bioRxiv* preprint server.

Background

Since its emergence in late December 2019, SARS-CoV-2, the causative pathogen of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has undergone more than 12,000 mutations, the majority of which are neutral, and thus, do not contribute to viral evolution. However, the acquisition of specific mutations in structural and non-structural proteins has caused the emergence of novel, more virulent SARS-CoV-2 variants.

The mutations that appeared in the viral spike protein are particularly vital as they can significantly influence viral infectivity, virulence, and immune evasion ability.

A novel variant of SARS-CoV-2 belonging to the B.1.617 lineage has recently caused a massive surge in new COVID-19 cases in India. The lineage is further divided into three sub-lineages, namely B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2, and B.1.617.3. Although these emerged first in India, the B.1.617.2 variant soon became dominant in many countries, including the United Kingdom.

Because of significantly increased infectivity and pathogenicity, the World Health Organization (WHO) has designated the B.1.617.2 variant as Variant of Concern (VOC).

In the current study, the scientists have evaluated the susceptibility of B.1.617.2 variant to neutralization by vaccine or natural infection-induced antibodies.

Mutations in B.1.617.2 variant

The spike protein of B.1.617.2 variant contains nine mutations in the S1 subunit and one mutation in the S2 subunit. In the S1 subunit, five mutations are present in the N-terminal domain containing binding sites (epitopes) for neutralizing antibodies. In addition, two mutations are present in the receptor-binding domain of the S1 subunit, which is known to influence antibody-mediated neutralization and infectivity. Among the three remaining mutations, two are known to increase angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) binding, viral replication, and spike protein cleavage at the S1/S2 site.

Host cell entry of B.1.617.2 variant

To investigate whether B.1.617.2 has a higher ability to enter host cells, the scientists conducted a series of experiments on African green monkey kidney cells and human kidney, colon, and lung cells that express endogenous ACE2.

The findings revealed that B.1.617.2 can enter human and monkey kidney cells with similar efficacy as the wild-type SARS-CoV-2. However, for human colon and lung cells, B.1.617.2 showed 1.5-fold and 2-fold higher invading ability, respectively, compared to the wild-type virus.

These observations indicate that spike protein-mediated host cell entry may vary between cell types and that B.1.617.2 has higher efficacy in entering lung and colon cells.

Since the spike protein of B.1.617.2 did not exhibit increased ACE2 binding, the scientists suggest that increased entry of B.1.617.2 into colon and lung cells is not mediated by enhanced ACE2 binding.

Besides inducing viral envelop  host cell membrane fusion, the spike protein triggers the fusion of infected cells with nearby cells to form large multinucleated cells (syncytia). Given the fact that spike-induced syncytia formation contributes to COVID-19 pathogenesis, the scientists investigated whether B.1.617.2 infection is associated with increased syncytia formation.

By conducting in vitro experiments on human lung cells expressing high levels of ACE2, they revealed that expression of wild-type spike results in syncytia formation, whereas expression of B.1.617.2 spike leads to 2.5-fold higher and larger syncytia formation.

Cell entry and evasion of antibody-mediated neutralization by the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2. (A) Transduction data normalized against the assay background (related to Figure 1C). The experiment was performed as described in the legend of Figure 1C. Presented are the average (mean) data from the same six biological replicates (each conducted with technical quadruplicates) as presented in Figure 1C with the difference that transduction was normalized against signals obtained from cells inoculated with particles bearing no viral glycoprotein (background, set as 1). In addition, transduction data of particles bearing VSV-G are included. Error bars indicate the SEM. (B) Location of the receptor binding domain (gray) mutations L452R and T478K (both red) of SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.617.2 in the context of the interfaces for ACE2 binding (orange) and binding of monoclonal antibodies used for COVID-19 therapy. (C) An unrelated control antibody does not affect cell entry of pseudotype particles bearing SARS-CoV-2 WT, B.1.351 or B.1.617.2 S (D) Individual neutralization data for convalescent plasma (related to Figure 1F). Pseudotype particles bearing the indicated S proteins were incubated (30 min, 37 C) with different dilutions of convalescent plasma before being inoculated onto Vero cells. Transduction efficiency was quantified by measuring virus-encoded luciferase activity in cell lysates at 16-18 h posttransduction. Presented are the data from a single representative experiment conducted with technical quadruplicates. For normalization, inhibition of S protein-driven entry in samples without plasma was set as 0%. Error bars indicate the SD. The data were further used to calculated the plasma/serum dilution that leads to 50% reduction in S protein-driven cell entry. (E) Individual neutralization data for vaccinee serum (related to Figure 1G). Pseudotype particles bearing the indicated S proteins were incubated (30 min, 37 C) with different dilutions of serum from individuals vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine Comirnaty/BNT162b2 before being inoculated onto Vero cells. Transduction efficiency was quantified by measuring virus31 encoded luciferase activity in cell lysates at 16-18 h posttransduction. Presented are the data from a single representative experiment conducted with technical quadruplicates. For normalization, inhibition of S protein-driven entry in samples without plasma was set as 0%. Error bars indicate the SD. The data were further used to calculated the NT50 shown.

Immune evasion ability of B.1.617.2 variant

The scientists tested the efficacy of four therapeutic monoclonal antibodies in neutralizing the B.1.617.2 variant. Of tested antibodies, only Bamlanivimab failed to neutralize B.1.617.2. The other three antibodies exhibited similar efficacy in neutralizing both wild-type virus and B.1.617.2 variant. These observations indicate that Bamlanivimab monotherapy may not be effective in treating B.1.617.2 infection.

Significantly, antibodies derived from COVID-19 recovered patients, and BNT162b2-vaccinated individuals showed slightly reduced efficacy in neutralizing the B.1.617.2 variant as compared to the wild-type virus. In contrast, the B.1.315 variant, which was first detected in South Africa, showed a significantly higher ability to evade infection- and vaccination-induced immunity.

Study significance

The study reveals that the increased ability of the B.1.617.2 variant to invade lung cells may enhance infectivity and pathogenicity. Despite lower susceptibility to antibody-mediated neutralization, B.1.617.2 can be effectively controlled by immunity developed in response to natural infection or vaccination.

*Important Notice

bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
Gilbert J. Rake, 88, of Bonita Springs, FL passed away on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 with his loving wife by his side. He was born in Starlight, IN, son of Henry and Catherine Rake. Gil proudly served his country in the United States Army. Following the service, he worked as an accountant with
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(Newser)  The man who wore no shirt, a fur-lined hat with horns, face paint, and carried a spear with a flag on it into the US Capitol Building during the Jan. 6 attack has been ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation. You may know Jacob Anthony Chansley as Jake Angeli or possibly as the QAnon shaman. Hes the one who requested organic food in prison for hard to parse religious beliefs, and has been characterized as having a detachment from reality by a DC federal judge. Hes been detained since January, but the exam will take place in a facility in Colorado hes been housed at since June 10, the Hill reports.

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At issue is whether Chansley is competent to stand trial, a question raised by his own lawyer. Albert Watkins, Chansleys attorney, argued that months in prison have taken a mental health toll, the Washington Post reports. The cases prosecutors did not raise any objection to the evaluation. This isnt the first time that Chansleys lawyer has questioned his clients faculties. Watkins told Talking Points Memo that his client and some of the other Jan. 6 defendants are people with brain damage. (Read more QAnon stories.)
(Newser)  The US military, under the direction of President Biden, has conducted airstrikes against what it said were facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups near the border between Iraq and Syria. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the militias were using the facilities to launch unmanned aerial vehicle attacks against US troops in Iraq, the AP reports. Kirby said the US military targeted three operational and weapons storage facilities Sundaytwo in Syria and one in Iraq. He described the airstrikes as defensive, saying they were launched in response to the attacks by militias. The Pentagon said the facilities were used by Iran-backed militia factions, including Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada. Two Iraqi militia officials told the AP in Baghdad that four militiamen were killed in the airstrikes near the border with Syria.

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The United States took necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalationbut also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message, Kirby said. US military officials have grown increasingly alarmed over drone strikes targeting US military bases in Iraq, which became more common since a US-directed drone strike killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani near the Baghdad airport last year. Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was also killed in the attack. The strike drew the ire of mostly Shiite Iraqi lawmakers and prompted parliament to pass a nonbinding resolution to pressure the Iraqi government to oust foreign troops from the country. Sunday's strikes mark the second time the Biden administration has taken military action in the region. In February, the US launched airstrikes against facilities in Syria, near the Iraqi border, that it said were used by Iranian-backed militia groups.

(Read more Iraq stories.)
(Newser)  Florence Fang calls her house "the past and the future combined together in harmony." The town of Hillsborough, Calif., calls it a "highly visible eyesore." But it's an eyesore that's going to stay, per a settlement the two parties have reached over the residence built to resemble the Stone Age-era abode on the animated sitcom The Flintstones. The Palo Alto Daily Post reports that Fang, a former publisher of San Francisco's Examiner and Independent newspapers, will receive $125,000 from the town following its lawsuit claiming her Flintstones-themed house and landscapingincluding metal dinosaur sculptures, models of characters from the show, and a large "Yabba Dabba Doo" signviolated local code. The deal, which was approved by Hillsborough's City Council on April 12, also notes the town will give the green light to permits for changes to the 2,730-square-foot house and surrounding yard, all easily seen from Interstate 280.

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Meanwhile, Fang, who had countersued, accusing the town of racial discrimination due to her Chinese heritage, has agreed to drop those claims, as well as those against two city employees she alleged tried to stymie her permits. The Guardian notes the city's initial lawsuit was filed in 2019 when Fang refused to comply with stop-work orders on renovations and additions she was putting in place around the property. Architect William Nicholson built the orange-and-purple home in 1976, and Fang, who the Mercury News says is in her mid-80s, scooped it up in 2017 for $2.8 million, beginning modifications to the home soon after. In 2019, Fang's lawyer, Angela Alioto, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the home was her client's "fantasy" and "happy place." Now, it looks like it will remain so. "Fred and Wilma will stay," Alioto told the paper Sunday, saying she couldn't reveal much more due to the agreement's terms. (Read more The Flintstones stories.)
(Newser)  The village of Lytton in the interior of southern British Columbia sizzled under a new all-time high temperature for Canada on Sunday, reaching 46.1 degrees Celsius, or just under 115 degrees Fahrenheit. The reading by Environment Canada in Lytton surpassed the previous national high of 45 C (113 F), which was set in Saskatchewan in 1937, the AP reports. As the US Pacific Northwest sweltered to the south, a heat warning also was in effect for most of western Canada, and the weather agency said numerous daily temperature records had been broken across British Columbia. Environment Canada expects temperatures to begin cooling Tuesday.

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In the coastal city of Vancouver, where the temperature peaked at 31 C (88 F) at midafternoon Sunday, many people headed to the beach, though the crowds appeared smaller than usual in the sweltering heat. Meanwhile, in the US, the National Weather Service used words like "unprecedented" and "abnormal" to describe the historic heat wave hitting the Pacific Northwest, pushing daytime temperatures into the triple digits, disrupting Olympic qualifying events, and breaking all-time high temperature records in places unaccustomed to such extreme heat. Portland, Ore., and Seattle, Wash., both set heat records Sunday: 112 F at the former, 104 F at the latter, the AP reports.

(Read more Canada stories.)
(Newser)  Days before her sentencing in the NXIVM sex trafficking case, Smallville actress Allison Mack apologized for her role in the cult-like group. Mack, best known for playing Chloe Sullivan on the WB/CW series, wrote a nearly 800-word statement for the federal judge who will sentence her Wednesday describing the "overwhelming shame" she feels when she reflects on her actions. Framed as a letter to those harmed by her involvement with the group, Mack says she truly believed that the teachings of NXIVM leader Keith Raniere would lead her to be a better, more enlightened personbut that turned out to be the "biggest mistake and greatest regret" of her life.

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She apologized to those she brought into NXIVM, as well as her family and friends who tried to warn her about the group and Raniere. "I am dedicated to spending my life working to mend the hearts I broke and continuing to transform myself into a more loving and compassionate woman," she writes. NBC News has the letter in full. Mack, who pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges in 2019, has been on home confinement. In a memo to the judge, her attorneys asked for no jail time, per the Hollywood Reporter. They pointed out that she has cooperated with authorities, including turning over a crucial audio recording of Raniere, who was sentenced last year to 120 years behind bars. (Read more NXIVM stories.)
(Newser)  Colombia's president flew by helicopter to a region of his country crucial to the drug trade to give a talk with a high-minded title: Peace with Legality, the Sustainable Catatumbo chapter. The presidential helicopter of Ivan Duque now has bullet holes as a result, reports the AP. Colombia is offering a reward of $800,000 for information that leads to the capture of whoever shot at the helicopter last week as it flew into the southern Catatumbo region, near the border with Venezuela, per Al Jazeera. The helicopter, carrying Duque and several senior government officials, landed safely. No group has claimed responsibility, but plenty of potential culprits exist.

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Coca crops used in the production of cocaine are abundant in Catatumbo, as are armed groups in the drug trade, notes the New York Times. In those groups are members of the FARC military group who did not buy into the 2016 peace deal between the government and FARC leaders. Duque also accuses Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro of giving safe haven to Colombian dissidents just across the border. The president, for his part, called the shooting "cowardly" and promised to the fight against narcotrafficking, against terrorism and against the organized crime groups that operate in the country. (Read more Colombia stories.)
(Newser)  In the annals of COVID rule breaches, this one is tough to beat for weirdness. Police near Sydney, Australia, say two naked sunbathers on a beach were spooked by a deer and ran into the nearby bushland before calling for help, reports the BBC. Police rescued the men, then promptly fined them $750 for heading to the beach despite newly imposed lockdown orders. "It's difficult to legislate against idiots," says local police chief Mick Fuller. The goofy incident belies a serious problemAustralia is battling clusters of coronavirus cases in several cities, many of which are blamed on a limo driver in Sydney who tested positive for the particularly contagious delta variant, per the AP.

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As CNN notes, Australia has one of the lowest per-capita death rates in the developed world in regard to COVID, and it has won praise for its early handling of the outbreak. However, only about 4% of the nation is fully vaccinated, which is why health officials worried about variants just imposed a two-week lockdown in Sydney, a city of 5 million people, and in other municipalities. The frustration among residents and business owners is seen in a popular Twitter image of a Sydney shop owner's sign: "Dear Customers, We will be closed for the foreseeable future because Scott Morrison is a useless d---head who only ordered enough vaccine to vaccinate 4% of the population 18 months into a pandemic." Morrison is the prime minister. And, no, the shop owner didn't use hyphens. (Read more Sydney stories.)
(Newser)  A shooting over the weekend near Boston that left a retired Massachusetts State Police officer and an Air Force veteran dead is now being investigated as a hate crime, as the two Black victims were gunned down while other bystanders escaped without being targeted. Authorities say 28-year-old Nathan Allen stole a plumbing company's box truck and rammed into a home in Winthrop around 2:45pm Saturday, with Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins alleging that Allen was driving the truck at twice the legal speed limit before he smashed into the residence, reports NBC Boston. But that wasn't where the incident ended: The Winthrop Police Department said right after the crash, Allen jumped out of the truck and started running, and Rollins adds that's when he started shooting at people in his pathbut not at everyone, per the New York Times.

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While other people who weren't Black passed him by unharmed, Allen turned his firearm on 60-year-old Air Force veteran Ramona Cooper, who was shot three times in the back, and 53-year-old David Green, a 36-year police veteran who was shot four times in the head and three times in the torso, per Rollins. Both Green and Cooper were Black. An officer on the scene then fatally shot Allen. Rollins says investigators found "troubling white supremacist rhetoric" in the suspect's handwriting, including "antisemitic and racist statements against Black individuals." She notes Allen, who was married and had a job and PhD, also had a license to carry a firearm. Green, shot outside his home, was pronounced dead at the scene, while Cooper succumbed to her injuries at a nearby hospital, per authorities. "This is a sad day," Rollins said, per Boston 25 News. The victims "fought for us to be safe and ... they were executed yesterday, and we will find out why." (Read more fatal shooting stories.)
(Newser) 

Its blazing hot in the Pacific Northwest right nowwhich means its unusually warm at higher elevations, too. That could have been what saved a hiker lost in the wild for eight days. Andrew Devers, 25, left on June 18 for a hike near North Bend, Washington, about an hours drive from Seattle. When he didnt check in, search and rescue crews went looking for him near where his car was spotted at a local campground. He was gone long enough that the search was suspended a few days ago, the Seattle Times reports.
(Newser)  Ethiopias government on Monday declared an immediate, unilateral ceasefire in its Tigray region after nearly eight months of deadly conflict as Tigray forces occupied the regional capital, soldiers retreated, and hundreds of thousands of people continue to face the worlds worst famine crisis in a decade. The ceasefire could calm a war that has destabilized Africa's second most populous country and threatened to do the same in the wider Horn of Africa, where Ethiopia has been seen as a key security ally for the West. It comes as the country awaits the results of national elections that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed promoted as the centerpiece of reforms that won him the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, the AP reports.

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Abiy's transformation from making peace to waging war has appalled many observers since the fighting in Tigray erupted in November. Since then, the world has struggled to access much of the region and investigate growing allegations of atrocities including gang rapes and forced starvation. Thousands of people in the region of 6 million have been killed. Ethiopia's statement was carried by state media shortly after the Tigray interim administration, appointed by the federal government, fled the regional capital, Mekele, and called for a ceasefire on humanitarian grounds so that desperately needed aid can be delivered. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that he had spoken with the prime minister and is "hopeful that an effective cessation of hostilities will take place." Meanwhile, Mekele residents cheered the return of Tigray forces for the first time since Ethiopian forces took the city in late November and Abiy declared victory.

(Read more Ethiopia stories.)
(Newser)  Facebook has emerged victoriousfor nowin a Goliath vs. Goliath legal battle. A federal judge has struck down antitrust lawsuits brought against the social media giant by the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of 46 state attorneys general, NBC reports. US District Judge James E. Boasberg of the DC federal court said the FTC had failed to "plausibly establish" that Facebook is a monopoly with control of more than 60% of the social networking market. "These allegationswhich do not even provide an estimated actual figure or range for Facebooks market share at any point over the past ten yearsultimately fall short of plausibly establishing that Facebook holds market power," Boasberg said.

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In a separate ruling, Boasberg said the state attorneys general, who accused Facebook of using its power to crush rivals, had waited too long to file lawsuits in connection with the company's acquisition of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. The decisions are a major blow to government attempts to rein in tech giants, though the judge gave the FTC 30 days to amend its complaint to address his concerns, Politico reports. Facebook's defenders praised the rulings while opponents of Big Tech, including leading Republicans, called for a rewriting of antitrust laws to better deal with "anticompetitive conduct" from the companies, reports the Washington Post. (Facebook's stock price surged after the rulings.)
The CCP is known for wanting tight control over what is said about China and its history both inside and outside of the country.

Noakes said on one occasion someone took pictures in his lecture theatre.

"There was someone I did not recognise in the room and that person was pointing a phone around and taking pictures of the slides," he said. "It made me incredibly uncomfortable and I followed it up afterwards. I've not seen that person again."

Catherine Churchman, who teaches ancient Chinese history at Victoria University in Wellington, said she had received similar attention.

In 2017, while teaching a Chinese history class, a man she thought was a student upbraided her about her lecture content.

"I looked at him and I thought, 'What are you actually [doing] in my class anyway?' And he said, 'I'm, I'm a visiting scholar.' And I said, 'well, you're not supposed to be here'."

She told him to leave immediately, she said.

"I thought, 'Well, that's the end of it,' but I wondered why he was there in the first place and how he got the information the lecture was on at that time."

She later saw him getting off a bus near the Chinese embassy in Wellington.

"Maybe this was just completely coincidental. Maybe he lived there, I don't know," she said.

"But the fact that he was quite determined to try and engage me to find out things; that he came into my class without asking permission and tried to correct me with the  'official position' on Chinese history and their relationship with non-Chinese people - I found that rather suspicious."

Canterbury University lecturer Anne-Marie Brady said she often had people turn up to her class who should not be there.

"I was getting people turning up to my class who were not enrolled students and were there to either observe or disrupt. I just simply said, 'If you haven't enrolled in my class, you haven't paid the fees, you can't be here'."

She had to "force out" one woman from her 2019 course.

"She really wanted to stay and observe and not just observe - it was in a disruptive way, it was a somewhat intimidating way, for some of the other people in the class."

Noakes said it was also becoming harder to teach Chinese politics because of a new breed of Chinese nationalism.

"What we now often find is students enrolled in our courses from mainland China are far more nationalistic than was the case when I started teaching at universities 12 to 15 years ago," he said.

Noakes, a senior lecturer in politics and international relations who has previously also held posts at universities in China and Taiwan, believed this nationalism was "state-led" - or driven by the CCP.

"There is a renewed focus in China on national pride. It's an explicit pillar of Xi Jinping's leadership and that emphasis, that focus, trickles down from the state and party leadership to those who come up through Chinese education systems and then they arrive on our doorstep one day."

He said one common manifestation of this was Chinese students saying in class that media coverage of Chinese state troops' massacre of civilians at Tiananmen Square, in June 1989, was a fabrication by the West to make China look bad.

"It happens usually a few times per semester," Noakes said.

"Someone will come forward and say that the Tiananmen 'Tank Man' video or photo is fake news - that it's a doctored up version propagated by foreign journalists who hate China and want to destroy it."

RNZ contacted the Chinese Embassy but did not receive a response.

RNZ
In a city filled with tiny nook-and-cranny bars, level 2 can be a particular hassle.

Mark Davey, who is general manager of Waitoa beer, with venues in Hataitai and the CBD, said it was much quieter over the weekend than it would be normally.

"As soon as the level 2 announcement was made earlier last week probably we were expecting about 40 to 50 percent drop off in normal revenues which is basically what's happened."

He said table service slows everything down and can mean losing money over the course of the evening.

Davey said they would almost prefer level 3 over the more frustrating level 2.

"Stricter lockdown like with like guaranteed assistance from the Government rather than the level 2 sort of situation where you get tied at the knees and the Government's position is sort of like you can operate, you can trade, you can still make your money but actually it's just like a really slow death rather than like an actual action plan."

He said sometimes the restrictions make it hard, or near impossible, to make money.

Meanwhile, shops along Lampton Quay told RNZ it had been a very slow weekend - and it was a similar story down Cuba Street.

Aria from Slow Boat Records said it was quiet, leaving them with no chance of breaching social distancing rules.

"It's been quite slow but I'd say that's the rain and level 2 mixed all up together."

Jos Ruffell from Garage Project said level 2 was not only having an impact on their venues, there was a domino effect for the brewery too.

"Our tap room in Aro Valley is pretty small and intimate at the best of times so the capacity has really decreased when we go to a level 2 scenario but probably more importantly for us is the venues, the bars, the restaurants, that is the customers of our brewery in the city, will be feeling the pain right now."

He said he is pleased there is some government support, but ideally the vaccination roll-out would be further along to give people a bit more protection.

Mike Egan from Monsoon Poon said the restrictions are not too bad, and they can work within the maximum 100 people with social distancing.

"We'll get through it - it's quite good at the beginning of the week - so there's not as much pressure on us - so we should be able to have 100 in the restaurant - just fine again.

"So we got through the weekend and yep we'll get through this again - we were really busy on Saturday night - people and everyone were getting in and people were fine about not standing at the bar."

Egan suspects Monsoon Poon will not meet the threshold to get the resurgence support payment from the government.

But those who can prove they have had at least a 30 percent drop in revenue or a 30 percent decline in capital raising ability over a seven-day period, due to an increase in alert levels, will be eligible for some financial support.

Hospitality New Zealand chief executive Julie White yesterday described the extension of level 2 restrictions in Wellington as a 'kick in the guts' for the sector.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Morning Report business sites that have been affected by the situation as a location of interest were eligible for the COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme. The Resurgence Support Payment was also available for businesses who had experienced a 30 percent drop in revenue due to the restrictions.

COVID-19 testing centres around the region will remain open while alert level 2 restrictions are still in force.

Cabinet yesterday extended the level 2 restrictions until at least 11.59pm tomorrow.

RNZ
Last week, it was revealed that an Australian man had tested positive for the virus after spending the weekend in Wellington. He returned the positive result upon his return to Sydney, indicating he was likely ifnectious while in the capital. The man visited a number of public venues and attractions during his trip, with officials identifying 20 locations of interest connected to his travels - or sites where transmission may have occurred.

It was later confirmed that the man had contracted the highly infectious Delta variant, which is more transmissible than other strains and is believed to be more deadly than the original virus and its earlier mutations.

But so far, it appears New Zealand has dodged a bullet, Baker says. As of Monday, no one in New Zealand has tested positive for the virus outside of managed isolation facilities. As a precautionary measure, alert level 2 - the current setting for the Wellington region - was extended for an additional 48 hours on Sunday. After casting a wide net, officials identified around 2400 people who had come in close proximity to the man - however, all test results returned so far have been negative. Officials are still awaiting the test results for 377 contacts - crucial information that will determine whether or not Wellington is truly out of the woods.

"I think we may have escaped this time. This is just the nature of the virus - if you look at one episode, quite often you're lucky. But you have to look at the pattern of episodes now across this region - and obviously many places have not been so lucky - that could be New Zealand shortly unless we upgrade all our defences," Baker said.

"I think level 2 is okay at the moment, it's just that level 2 needs to be upgraded because it doesn't mean very much to most people. It could be upgraded in important ways, and one of the big ones is to recognise aerosol transmission. You just need fleeting contact with someone who is firing out this virus - they feel fine, they're pre-symptomatic - but they're firing out these respiratory droplets and aerosols that can cross several metres. We need to catch up with this virus."

He believes the pending results will be consistent with the "good news" for Wellington so far, but acknowledged it only takes one infectious person to cause an outbreak.

"We should expect good news, just because we've had no positives so far. But it only takes one person to have been infected, to still be incubating it, and that could start an outbreak."

Baker is now urging the Government to make use of the NZ COVID Tracer app - the country's official contact tracing technology - compulsory for all New Zealanders. It's understood less than 10 percent of the Sydney man's close contacts in Wellington had scanned in at the venues he had visited.

He says New Zealand should follow Australia's lead by making the app mandatory, which will allow contact tracers to rapidly identify those who may have been exposed to the virus in the event of a future outbreak.

"It's absolutely mandatory in [Australia's] big cities - you scan in," he said. "We've got by with some things being voluntary and people not doing them very much - like scanning in and using masks indoors. We have to move past that it's a legal requirement to scan in [in Sydney and Melbourne], they're used to it."

The professor is also calling on the Government to broaden the use of face masks to ensure people are not expelling viral matter while in indoor settings, where it can be difficult to maintain a physical distance. If there are any concerns around the virus, New Zealanders should be donning a face covering as social distancing by a metre or two will not provide adequate protection from aerosol transmission.

"People wear masks indoors because they know this virus spreads by an aerosol, it doesn't obey the 2m rule. We've got to upgrade those aspects in particular while we have the opportunity," he continued.

"The 1m/2m rule won't protect people in workplaces."

However, Baker is optimistic the quarantine-free travel arrangement with Australia can continue to work - despite scepticism from other experts in the field. On Saturday, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announced the trans-Tasman air bridge would be suspended for three days following a spate of outbreaks across the country, but particularly in New South Wales.

When asked if officials should consider restarting quarantine-free travel, Baker acknowledged it "works well" as long as potential risk to New Zealand is rapidly assessed.

"I think we do have to look at other precautions," he added.

And in regards to Wellington, it's likely the man's partial vaccination - having received one of his two doses - played a role in Wellington's good fortune.

"Some people are not infectious, it's just the nature of the immune system. He also had one dose of vaccine - that may be what saved us."
"We hope the relevant side could view this from an objective and rational perspective... instead of making groundless accusations to undermine the trust and mutual understanding between the peoples of our two countries."

The embassy said both countries had benefited from long-term co-operation in the education sector, including student exchanges.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins said the matter had not come across his desk before, but encouraged educational institutions to report any concerns to the NZ Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS).

"The university lecture hall should absolutely be a place that's free from foreign interference," Hipkins said. "This is something that we shouldn't have a tolerance for, but you obviously need to have evidence that it is taking place, rather than a general assertion."

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declined to say whether she had been briefed about such activities but said the Government worked closely with tertiary education providers.

"We've always been live to issues of foreign interference across a range of potential areas.

"And we've got good working relationships with those that we need to support to potentially address where the foreign interference may exist."

Security consultant Paul Buchanan told RNZ it was "not surprising" China might put intelligence collectors into classrooms in New Zealand universities.

"They do this all over the world. They monitor dissidents," he said. "They monitor what is said about China. And that gives them an idea of what China looks like to the educated classes abroad."

Buchanan said people photographing Chinese students in a lecture hall was highly problematic, but some of the other incidents could be more innocent.

"There is a big difference between spies... and nationalistic mainlanders who feel compelled to sit in and 'correct' - in their words - the mistaken opinions of foreigners when it comes to Chinese history."

Buchanan said some of the other activity sounded like intimidation campaigns, distinct from spying, but also concerning.

"These people want to be seen in the classes, not so much by the lecturer, but by other Chinese nationals.

"It's a very easy and effective way to get dissidents to hush up."

Buchanan said the Government should slowly tighten visa requirements from countries with a reputation for espionage.

But he acknowledged New Zealand authorities would find it difficult to act given the country's dependence on China for trade.

"New Zealand cannot afford at this juncture to displease the Chinese to the point that there could be economic retaliation against it. It would simply be too costly in the short term."

NZ Contemporary China Research Centre executive chair Tony Browne said the lecturers' accounts were deeply concerning.

"These types of stories have been run in other countries, suggestions of these sorts have been heard in Australia and elsewhere."

But Browne said, for now, there was no need for the Government to get involved.

"A lot of concern has been raised, but there's a long way to go... to it being established as being the actions of a foreign government.

"At this stage, it's best managed by the universities."

RNZ
Newshub political editor Tova O'Brien asked Faafoi if, for example, Millennials could be prosecuted for expressing hatred towards Baby Boomers over ballooning house prices, and Faafoi couldn't give a definitive answer.

"If it's an opinion on a particular group then it depends on what you say. If your intent is to incite hatred against them then, potentially," Faafoi responded.

The Prime Minister was played her Justice Minister's comments on The AM Show on Monday morning, and she argued otherwise.

"This is about extreme speech where you're inciting violence and hatred," Ardern said.

But that's wrong. The proposed threshold can be much lower than inciting violence. The Prime Minister has now been forced to concede there are other factors too - like insulting someone.

"There's a range of factors - incitement of violence is one of them," she later told reporters.

National leader Judith Collins says Ardern has "got it wrong".

The discussion document is clear: under the changes, a person would break the law if they intentionally stir up hatred by being threatening, abusive or even just insulting.

When asked if an insult is a high enough bar for hate speech, Ardern said: "Well of course, not on its own."

Collins says the work the Government has done is "ill-thought-out".

"She should pull the plug on it now," she told Newshub.

The Prime Minister insists she understands the hate speech proposals and that her Justice Minister does too, despite them appearing to be on different pages.

The proposal has been drawn up in response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch terror attacks.

"The reason we're having this debate is the Royal Commission said to the New Zealand Government, 'You need to include religion'," Ardern told The AM Show.

But the proposed changes go much further than religion. It could cover any groups protected in the Human Rights Act. That includes over 65s - Boomers, and also political opinion.

Ardern told The AM Show the latter wasn't the case.

"In the interview from the Nation they implied political opinion is included - it is not," she said.

That's not right either. The Prime Minister says Cabinet ruled out including political opinion, but it is still included in their discussion document for the public.

"We removed political opinion," she told reporters. "Our view was that if people recommended it be included, they could do so."

ACT leader David Seymour said it could take New Zealand down the wrong path.

"Outlawing insulting people based on political opinion belongs in North Korea, not New Zealand," he told Newshub.

Hypothetical and real examples are a great way to test policy, so instead of trying to shut them down, the Prime Minister should simply present the answers - and it helps if they're the same answers given by her Justice Minister.
Justice Minister Kris Faafoi was interviewed by Newshub Nation at the weekend about the proposals and appeared unsure about what kind of scenarios would lead to prosecution under the proposed changes.

Newshub political editor Tova O'Brien asked Faafoi if, for example, Millennials could be prosecuted for expressing hatred towards Baby Boomers over ballooning house prices, and Faafoi couldn't give a definitive answer.

"If it's an opinion on a particular group then it depends on what you say. If your intent is to incite hatred against them then, potentially," Faafoi responded.

Ardern defended Faafoi on Monday, telling the AM Show he was "pepper-potted with a bunch of examples and it's not for us to determine what a court may or may not do".

Ardern described the examples put forward by Newshub Nation as "trivialisation" of what happened on March 15, 2019.

"It's about inciting violence and abuse against a whole group of people. Some of the examples feel like a trivialisation of that," she told The AM Show.

Ardern's comments have since come under scrutiny, with O'Brien pointing out in a rebuttal that it is "insulting and irresponsible to pit journalists - or anyone who questions or debates the legislation - as somehow being in opposition to the needs of the victims of March 15".

Seymour, a staunch advocate for freedom of speech, has come out swinging against Ardern, saying she was "wrong" on several occasions in her interview on The AM Show.

Seymour said it was wrong for Ardern to state the "reason we're having this debate" is because the Royal Commission of Inquiry suggested it, because the Government was planning to change hate speech laws before it was recommended in November.

He also highlighted Ardern's statement that political opinion will not be included.

"In the interview from the Nation, they implied that political opinion was included - it is not," Ardern said, despite the discussion document implying it could be.

"A new provision would be added to the Crimes Act, which would create a new offence with four key elements," it says. "It would be a crime to: intentionally incite/stir up, maintain or normalise hatred against any group protected from discrimination by section 21 of the Human Rights Act."

Section 21 of the Human Rights Act includes political opinion.

Seymour also said it was wrong of Ardern to say it's just a discussion document, when she signalled plans during the election campaign to beef up hate speech laws.

"It's already made up its mind and is not acting in good faith," Seymour said of the Government. "If New Zealanders overwhelmingly reject her Government's hate speech laws, is she saying that she will shelve them?"

Free Speech Union spokesperson Dr David Cumin said Ardern's comments on The AM Show "do not match the proposals" issued by her Government.

"Something doesn't add up. Either the politicians don't understand what they are doing, or they are misleading Kiwis."

National leader Judith Collins has promised to scrap the changes if elected next term.

"I simply will not stand by while Jacinda Ardern puts her 'hate speech' laws through the spin cycle," she said on Monday.

"She knows very well that incitement to violence is already covered in law and to use it to create a feeling of necessity around the speech restrictions she is advocating for is pretty cynical.

"New Zealanders are entitled to a truthful accounting of the facts and that includes honesty around why Labour have chosen to enact speech restrictions when they wouldn't have stopped the Christchurch terrorist.

"I am calling on the Prime Minister to correct the record and clarify her comments on The AM Show this morning."

Ardern told The AM Show the alternative was to ignore the Royal Commission.

"What would you rather? That we say to those religious groups who had that experience, 'sorry, no, these laws won't apply for you'?"
Dozen of protesters have stood vigil outside of the New Zealand High Commision in London, voicing their objections to Kiwi transgender athlete Laurel Hubbard's Olympics selection.

Hubbard - who transitioned from man to woman in 2013 - is among five NZ weightlifters to compete at Tokyo next month, where she'll become the first ever transgender Olympian.

Her selection has caused widespread outrage across the world, with the likes of UK media commentator Piers Morgan calling Hubbard's inclusion a "disaster for women's sport".
He said Air NZ was still operating in the Cook Islands and he was confident that in time they would be flying back across the Tasman to Australia.



Air New Zealand's inaugural Cairns and Sunshine Coast flights had to be cancelled, but Foran said the next planned flights there would be reassessed when there was a better sense of what was happening in Australia.



He said there had been a lot of interest in getting flight credits after the trans-Tasman travel bubble was paused.



The call centre had 12,000 calls yesterday and consequently wait times increased, he said, thanking customers for their patience.



Foran said just under 80 percent of all Air New Zealand's frontline staff had now been vaccinated.



"As soon as we can get people vaccinated, then I think it gives us a sense of getting some of these borders open a bit wider than just Australia and Rarotonga."



Foran said he was pretty confident that all New Zealanders who wanted to be vaccinated would have been by the year of the year, as promised by the government.



He said the trans-Tasman bubble was definitely worth it.



"The important thing is it gave a chance for, you know, family and friends to reconnect, we were seeing increasing business traffic as people were getting confident."



Foran said there was always a risk that something like this would occur which is why procedures were put in place, but he was optimistic the bubble will be up and running soon, and he was not worried people would be put off travelling to Australia in the long term.



He said it was likely Air New Zealand headquarters would move out to premises at Auckland Airport, from its building at Wynyard Quarter.



"It's something that we're looking at, at this stage. As we do that assessment there's a good chance that could well occur."
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TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Police directorates and security departments in Bahrain yesterday urged the general public to assume their responsibility in Bahrains fight against the deadly pandemic. Maintaining public safety is the responsibility of everyone, and that the awareness of citizens and residents is an essential pillar for achieving the desired goals, said top police officials in a statement.

The statement said that it is necessary to continue adhering to the COVID-19 preventive measures suggested by the national task force combating the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The statement also affirmed that police and security officials in the Kingdom are taking actions to ensure strict adherence to preventive measures.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Under the patronage of the National Security Adviser and Commander of the Royal Guard, His Highness Major General Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, a ceremony was held to present the award of honours of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the Supreme Commander, to the Royal Guard team on accomplishing the historic mission by ascending to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal.

The Royal Guard Special Force Commander, Lieutenant-Colonel His Highness Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, was present. HH Shaikh Nasser awarded the team members with Bahrain Medal, 3rd and 4th Class, congratulating them on the historic achievement that was made by their great efforts, strength and determination that they showed in all stages of the task.

HH Shaikh Nasser also affirmed that this honourable feat would not have been achieved without the follow-up and directives of His Majesty the King and his constant care for the Bahrain Defense Force (BDF).
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The drug menace is directly related to individual, family and society as a whole, so it is important to raise awareness about community solidarity to solve this problem.

This was emphasised by Deputy Dr Masooma bint Hassan Abdel Rahim as the Kingdom of Bahrain joined the global observance of International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on Saturday. The event, which is also known as World Drug Day, is marked on the 26th of June of every year with the aim of boosting awareness and strengthening action and cooperation to eradicate drug abuse and trafficking. This year, the theme is Share Facts On Drugs, Save Lives.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the motive is to combat misinformation by sharing real facts on drugs  from health risks and solutions for the world drug problem to evidence-based prevention, treatment, and care.

MP Rahim said through community solidarity, the spread of drugs can be prevented and it will achieve many positive and health benefits for society, as well as protect the generation from the spread of this scourge. She stressed the importance of enlightening parents about the drugs problem and teaching them how to protect their children from it.

Dr Masooma pointed out that this scourge must be addressed, starting with family supervision of children and family counselling. She also underlined the complementary role of the Ministry of Education through its counselling programmes in schools and the importance of its continuation for the benefit of children and young people.

MP Rahim expressed her pride in the efforts made by the Ministry of Interior and its contributions under the leadership of Minister General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa and all the Ministrys employees in curbing the spread of drugs in the Kingdom. On the special occasion, she said that Bahrain has made many efforts and measures to confront and limit the spread of drugs in society, and has achieved many successes in addressing this problem by communicating with various responsible authorities.

She indicated that the Interior Ministry has sustained its awareness campaigns, sending text messages to all citizens and residents on the importance of International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. MP Rahim highlighted the Ministrys continuous work to solve the drug problem even during this time of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Concerted efforts are something we aspire for, while we look forward to continuous efforts to carry out awareness campaigns aimed at achieving the desired goals to show the dangers caused by drug abuse and the means to combat it through the available channels, said MP Rahim.

She supports more programmes to support those people who have recovered and returned to normal life after getting hooked on drugs. It is important to publish stories about their battle with this scourge and how they were able to overcome it, in addition to encouraging families to support their children and reintegrate them into society again, she added.

Dr Masooma praised the efforts made by the fellowship of addicts, which has made great efforts since its inception, and the great importance of their presence in psychotherapy and support.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The Dean of Student Affairs at the University of Bahrain, Dr Fatima Muhammad Al Malki, announced the launch of a national initiative to combat drugs and psychotropic substances during her participation in the celebration of the World Anti-Drug Day, organised by the General Department and Criminal Evidence of the Interior Ministry.

Dr Al Malki, who presented a paper entitled A Youth Society Without Drugs during the remote discussion, said: The University of Bahrain will start organising a national campaign at the beginning of the first semester, through which it aims to educate students about the harms of drugs and how to combat them. She explained that the initiative will be organised each academic year under the patronage of University of Bahrain President Prof. Dr Riyad Yousef Hamza.

It will be in coordination with the supporting bodies at the Interior and Health Ministries, as well as the concerned academic colleges at the university, and the Universitys Department of Information and University Relations Students from associations and clubs are expected to also help organise this campaign.

The campaign will run for a week, during which a move to reject the use of narcotic substances will be promoted. An awareness campaign among university students and youth will be carried out by organising workshops and specialised meetings in colleges. Part of the campaign is to promote the principle of a cohesive family, and raising awareness of the different stages of growth in childhood and adolescence, as well as explaining the media role in confronting the drug problem.

It will also encourage the participation of academic members of the university, educate students and pushing them to write research papers on the subject.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The High Criminal Court sentenced a young man to three years in prison after he was found guilty of promoting and selling narcotic substances. The defendant was also fined BD3,000.

According to court files, the Anti-Drug department at the Ministry of Interior received information indicating that the defendant was in possession of narcotics with intent to use and sell.

An undercover agent was assigned to purchase some from him. He called him and requested to purchase narcotics valued at BD30. As a result, the officer in plain clothes, accompanied by a policeman, moved to the Al Lawzi area, which was the agreed-upon place.

The pair met the accused who handed over the drugs to the undercover agent. The accused attempted to escape after noticing that he was transacting with an officer.

The police, however, arrested him. During questioning, the accused admitted that he possessed the seized substance with the intent to use it, in addition to selling it from time to time. He was charged with consuming and selling drugs.
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Terry Jarrett is an energy attorney and consultant who has served on both the board of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and the Missouri Public Service Commission.
ROXBURY  Patrick Roys involvement in the Roxbury community started when he attended Christ Church in town.

He had heard the church bells on his first weekend in Roxbury nine years ago and saw everyone walking to church through his window. The next Sunday, he decided to join them.

Hes since served on the Board of Finance and on the Roxbury Land Trust.

I love the town and I wanted to preserve what it is, as well as continue to maintain whats there, Roy said.

Now, he hopes to become the first Democratic first selectman in Roxbury since Ed Went vacated the position in 1997. Republican Barbara Henry has led the town for 24 years and decided not to run for reelection.

Thats why this is really an opportunity, Roy said. I was proud of what she accomplished, but now that shes stepping away...Im really positive this is a good time.

Roy is up against Republican Bruce Tuomala for the seat.

I have a pretty strong community service background, said Roy, who lived in neighboring Woodbury before moving to Roxbury. Thats always been my life. I guess it was kind of a hope and dream to do that for a living.

Elaine Curley, chairwoman of the Democratic Town Committee, said Roy always asks how he can help or what others need.

I know Patrick to always get his mission accomplished, modestly and without fanfare, she said in a statement. He is motivated to seek the best outcome for all. I believe Patrick is the best candidate to become Roxburys first selectman and holds Roxburys needs foremost.

Roy is a store manager for Lowes in Southington, where he grew up. He leads 180 employees and is used to managing teams and clearing through red tape to make things happen, he said.

I am one to be in the trenches, said Roy, adding he just got off a fork lift at work.

He lives alone in Roxbury and does not have children. His dad still lives in the house Roy grew up in.

If elected, he would want to keep taxes low, while handling the towns infrastructure struggles, he said. On the Board of Finance, he and the other members have been planning for how to cover the cost of bridge and culvert projects.

Thats one of the biggest expenses we have moving forward, said Roy, adding the town prides itself on never borrowing money.

Im very hands-on, he said. So Im going to be out in the community, looking at these projects, starting off working closely with the road crew to make sure were productive and continue to drive the standards in the town.

He said he wants to address problems hes noted with an increase in speeders and car break-ins in town.

We need more of a police presence in the town, Roy said.

Roxbury does not have its own police department. Connecticut State Police, a resident state trooper and part-time constable force are the law enforcement for the town, according to the towns website.

Roy received a land preservation award at the state capital in 2018 for his work chairing the Farms Committee for the Roxbury Land Trust, where he serves on the Board of Directors, a position he said he enjoys.

Thats a purposeful commitment because it does make Roxbury what it is  to preserve all that land and keep it the way it is, he said. I really do identify with the goals of what theyre trying to do and what we do there.

Curley described Roy as committed, trustworthy and reliable.

Patrick has the management and financial experience to care for our precious assets, she said.
REDDING  School board members blame the coronavirus pandemic and other challenges for Superintendent Rydell Harrisons departure after a year serving the Easton-Redding-Region 9 district.

Chris Parkin, the Redding Board of Education chairman, said he was disappointed at hearing Harrisons decision to resign, but that he wouldnt lay any blame at Dr. Harrisons feet.

This is and has always been an extremely difficult position, and the pandemic did not help, nor did the extremely vocal push back that he received from some corners of our community with respect to DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) work over the past several months, Parkin said.

Some residents had opposed the districts efforts to approve an equity statement and to survey students, parents and staff on issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion.

The school board announced Harrisons resignation late last week in a Facebook post, days after he had signed a contract with the district.

Throughout my leadership career, I have worked hard to approach my work as a student-centered educator first and an administrator second, he said in a statement to the community on Sunday. Unfortunately, ER9's structure made it more difficult than I anticipated for me to strike the right balance between advancing my aspirational goals for education and handling the administrative tasks of three separate school districts.

He will remain with the district through late September and then transition into his new position at the Connecticut Center for School Change  a non-profit organization working to promote equity and bridge achievement gaps within schools.

Harrison said this role will allow him to fully engage his passion for improving education without the heavy burdens of district administration.

I will be working with educators across our state to improve instructional practice and develop leadership at all levels, he said. With social justice and equity at the core of the Center's organizational mission, I will be able to maintain my commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

He became superintendent in the district in August 2020 after former school chief Thomas McMorran retired and had previously served as superintendent in Watertown. He couldnt be reached for further comment on Monday.

Jon Stinson, Easton Board of Education chairman, said he is glad Harrison is moving to a role where he can focus on student-centered education.

Dr. Harrison is a visionary, really forward-thinking and just on the right track about student-centered learning, about what needs to happen in education within our community or really any other, he said.

In his note, Harrison thanked board members and the community for their support and hard work in navigating the unique challenges schools faced.

He is at his best when he is in schools, hopping into classrooms, having one-on-one conversations with teachers and building those relationships, said Parkin, emphasizing it wasnt something Harrison was able to do with great volume this year as he had to tend to other pandemic-related and administrative responsibilities instead.

Stinson and Region 9 chairman Todd Johnston agreed. Both said Harrisons time was chock full of administrative duties from contact tracing to extra, lengthy board meetings and navigating an increase of staff vacancies.

Harrison will try to help the school board fill some of those vacancies, such as the Joel Barlow head of school, in his remaining time.

There was a lot that you normally wouldnt have in your first year as a superintendent, Johnston said, mentioning that the diversity, equity and inclusion controversy only compounded the pile of things making it a tough year for Harrison.

The vacancies, pandemic and diversity debate created an unfortunate situation that the community and boards need to do some self-reflecting on to move forward, Parkin said.

You can tell that hes not going on to another school district that would pay him more or a different superintendents job somewhere, he said. Hes stepping away from being a superintendent entirely and that takes a certain amount of courage too.

Parkin expects the tri-board will meet on Wednesday to discuss what next steps will look like. He anticipates search committees will be formed to gauge whether or not the boards will want to hire a new, permanent superintendent for the fall or appoint an interim leader and consider hiring in July 2022.

Chris Hocker, a Redding board member who has been through a number of these searches, said it will be a daunting and significant time commitment to go through again, granted the process was just done about a year ago.

The successful candidate should have a pretty clear idea of the amount of administrative work that is going to be required because of the three-district structure, he said.

Going into it, he wants candidates to understand the district functions as three different boards, which means dealing with three separate groups and the meetings that come with it.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  In some ways, the new spending plan approved by the California Legislature on Monday is about going backward: Back to a time before the pandemic, when California's roaring economy fueled budget surpluses.

The $262.6 billion proposal now on its way to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk would restore spending cuts to public schools, colleges and universities, the courts, child support services and state worker salaries  all things that were cut last year when state officials thought they were facing a record budget deficit because of the coronavirus.

Instead, state revenues soared by more than 27%, the biggest year-over-year increase in more than four decades. That includes roughly $100 billion in new money, both from a state surplus and coronavirus aid from the federal government. It's so much money that the state plans to give rebates of up to $1,100 to more than 15 million households while also pledging to pay for every 4-year-old to go to kindergarten for free and guaranteeing government-funded health coverage for low-income immigrants 50 and older living in the country illegally.

This budget does not get us back to normal, as that was not our intent, said state Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula, a Democrat from Fresno. Instead, it gets us to a better place by making transformative change for Californians.

Democrats in charge of the state Legislature would have spent even more money over time, but Gov. Gavin Newsom  who will face a recall election later this year  convinced them to adopt a more cautious approach that relies more on one-time spending instead of multi-year commitments.

That means the state won't spend $200 million this year to hire more people in local public health departments in the aftermath of the pandemic. Instead, the Newsom administration committed to spend $300 million next year. The Newsom administration said the money wasn't needed this year, in part, because the federal government is giving California $1.8 billion for public health, with most of that going for vaccines and coronavirus testing.

Still, there was some grumbling among Democrats about missing the chance to bolster local public health departments, many of which were overwhelmed by the pandemic. State Sen. Richard Pan, a pediatrician and Democrat from Sacramento, said he wanted the Newsom administration to do more than simply spend the whole year doing planning.

We already know from the pandemic some of our weaknesses, he said.

Republicans, meanwhile, grumbled about a tax increase on businesses with 500 or more employees. The hike would more than double an environmental fee that primarily goes into two funds to pay for cleaning up hazardous waste sites throughout the state.

The budget eliminates the fee for businesses with fewer than 100 employees and keeps it the same for those 100 to 499 workers.

State Sen. Shannon Grove, a Republican from Bakersfield, said the tax increase will discourage companies from hiring more people for fear of growing too large and having to pay a much bigger fee.

Why do we punish employers for hiring people? she said.

The tax increase required a two-thirds vote from the Legislature, a task made easier by Democrats controlling enough seats that they don't need Republican votes. Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, a Democrat from Bell Gardens, said large employers were part of the negotiations on the bill and agreed to pay the higher tax because they understand that for a long time they have not been paying their fair share.

Not paying their fair share means communities like mine get treated like were a wasteland and like were disposable and its OK to let us be sicker, said Garcia, who represents communities contaminated with lead from a nearby battery plant.

The budget also pledges more than $276 million to help the Employment Development Department more quickly work through its backlog of unemployment claims, currently effecting more than 230,000 people.

In the past year, California has paid $153 billion in unemployment benefits, including billions of fraudulent payments to prison inmates and others who were not eligible. The state quickly ran out of money to pay benefits and had to take out a loan form the federal government to pay the rest.

The state's debt is approaching $24 billion, all which must be paid back to the federal government with interest. But the budget does not include any money to begin paying off the debt.

The federal government has forgiven the state's interest payments through September, and the Newsom administration hopes they will forgive more in the future. But it took the state seven years to pay off a much smaller loan after the Great Recession more than a decade ago. The Legislative Analyst's Office estimates interest payments on this current debt could cost the state between $2.5 billion and $5 billion over the next decade.

I don't understand how $2.5 to $5 billion isn't a priority to this administration, said Assemblywoman Suzette Martinez Valladares, a Republican from Santa Clarita.

Erika Li, chief deputy for the California Department of Finance, said the debt is a priority for this administration.

It is something we are working on and will continue to work on," she said.

___

This story has been updated to correct that state Sen. Shannon Grove is from Bakersfield and is not the Senate Republican leader.
NEWTOWN - It took the Board of Education four tries to decide on an adult mask policy during an otherwise agreeable reception to plans to return to fulltime in-person class in the fall.

The short version of the mask debate is the board agreed to require masks for unvaccinated adults who work with students, and to ask unvaccinated volunteers to wear a mask when working with kids.

Newtown, like school districts across Connecticut, are required by the state to come up with post-pandemic plans for the 2021-2022 school year that meet the challenges of the new normal in a flexible way, allowing for public participation and regular review.

The staff and leadership at Newtown Public Schools have learned many lessons from the challenges faced throughout the pandemic, Superintendent Lorrie Rodrigue said in the introduction to the plan. While we are prepared to address learning gaps, we remain equally inspired to transform our practices so they continue to provide high-quality, innovative learning experiences for all our students.

The Return to School plan, which was unanimously adopted by the school board, goes to the state education department for review. Highlights of the plan include:

No more early dismissal for Newtown High School and Newtown Middle School.

No more early dismissal on Wednesdays for Reed Intermediate and elementary schools.

Desk shields will be taken down, social distancing will be encouraged according to health department directives.

Digital and blended learning will remain an integral part of instruction, when appropriate.

All lunches will be served in the cafeteria, subject to adjustments by the state; free cafeteria meals will be provided through June 2022.

One of the biggest unknowns as the board anticipates a new school year is the toll the coronavirus crisis has taken on students.

[W]e dont feel we have fully assessed the degree of learning loss yet, said Anne Uberti, assistant superintendent, during the June 21 meeting. We are working with principals about creative ways to provide support before and after school.

One strategy the district is employing is a new real-time assessment system called eduClimber that allows staff to track student achievement and make adjustments on the move.

The district is also counting on help from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Acts Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund to develop bold, high-impact plans to address substantial disruption to student learning, interpersonal interactions, and social and emotional well-being.

Students can look forward to a return of extracurriculars, according to the plan.

Music and art programs will be conducted according to guidelines, with sharing permitted of instruments and art supplies.

Sports in middle school and high school will follow CIAC guidelines.

Clubs and activities will resume.

Transportation will resume at full capacity, with an optional mask policy for kids.

The crux of the mask debate at the June 21 meeting was why volunteers working with students should be required to wear a mask when school staff had no such requirement.

Superintendent Lorrie Rodrigue explained [W]e typically do the same thing as we do with students and will make it optional with the staffWe felt it should be optional for all, but not for volunteers.

That set off three separate motions - all of which were voted down - to achieve consistency for people working with kids who are not vaccinated.

If we ask volunteers (to mask), its important enough to ask staff who work with students, said school board member Rebekah Harriman-Stites. If not, we shouldnt ask volunteers.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
The drone attack is linked with the recovery of a 6 kilogram IED (Improvised Explosive Device) by Jammu police from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative leading to detention of at least three terror suspects by J&K Police.

On early hours of Sunday, two blasts took place at the high security Air Force base in Jammu Airport located around 14 km from the border with Pakistan. It is believed to be the first use of drones in a terror attack on an Indian military facility. Two Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel suffered minor injuries in the explosions. One of the blasts caused damage to the roof of a building in the technical section while another bomb exploded in an open area.

The attack at the IAF station in Jammu is a terror attack, said Jammu and Kashmir police Chief Dilbag Singh. Also investigations conducted by teams from the IAF, the National Bomb Data Centre, forensic experts and the Jammu and Kashmir police has revealed the role of Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group in the drone strike at Jammu air base. The drone attack is linked with the recovery of a 6 kilogram IED (Improvised Explosive Device) by Jammu police from a LeT operative leading to detention of at least three terror suspects by J&K Police.

An FIR has been registered under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act that allows the arrest of suspects and their detention for up to six months without evidence. The National Investigation Agency has taken over the probe. An important observation made by sources is that the blasts took place hours before Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Army Chief General MM Naravane began a three-day visit to Ladakh to review Indias operational readiness and to interact with troops in the backdrop of a drawn-out standoff with China. Moreover, political context is importance as the blasts happened days after the possibility of resumption of political processes in the region made headlines.
California-based Jeremy Kessel has been appointed by Twitter as the new Grievance Officer for India. The move comes after Dharmendra Chatur quit from the post, just 4 weeks after his appointment.

Twitter on Sunday appointed California-based Jeremy Kessel as the new Grievance Officer for India, hours after Dharmendra Chatur quit from the post of interim Grievance Officer. The appointment of Grievance Officer is required under the new Information Technology Rules, 2021,

Jeremy Kessel is the Global Legal Policy Director of Twitter and operated out of San Fransisco, California. His appointment is not seen to be in line with new IT rules guidelines, which direct digital media platforms to appoint a resident grievance officer who should be based out of India. The guidelines state that the official should be part of a larger grievance redressal mechanism, active monitoring of content on the platform, responsiveness to grievances, expedited processes to take down certain content, monthly compliance reports for Indian users, self-regulation mechanisms and also an oversight mechanism created by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

This move of Twitter may open up another front in the face-off between Twitter and the Indian government. The development comes at a time when the micro-blogging platform has been engaged in a tussle with the Indian government over the new social media rules. The government has criticised Twitter for deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the countrys new IT rules. Due to delay in appointment of the officers, Twitter had already lost its safe harbour granted under the IT Act, making it liable for criminal and penal action for any unlawful content posted on its platform.

Twitter in response to the final notice issued by the government on June 5 had said that it intends to comply with the new IT rules and will share details of the chief compliance officer. In the meantime, the micro-blogging platform had appointed Chatur as interim resident grievance officer for India.
China has beaten India to bag the post of Deputy Director General (DDG) at the World Trade Organization, allegedly by using its good offices with the Director-General, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

China has beaten India to bag the post of Deputy Director General (DDG) at the World Trade Organization, allegedly by using its good offices with the Director-General, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. India had applied for WTO DDG post but Xi wrested power was once again successfully in bagging the coveted position for the next eight years. Interestingly, the outgoing WTO DDG from Asia was also a Chinese national.

Now the bigger question raises is W.T.O in the hands of CPP control. India had nominated Mohan Kumar, Fmr ambassador to France and Bahrain and multilateral specialist as its candidate. Sources are speculating that China allegedly used its good offices with the DG to edge past the Indian candidature and hold on to the post for another eight years.

What is more disturbing in the development is that China already heads four of the 15 principal agencies of the UN and has its deputies in nine other agencies. There is a flowing network of Chinese nationals at various positions of the UN system as career professionals or diplomats.

Also Read: EU backstabs India, wont recognise Covishield; Time for Quid Pro Quo Blockade?
Does Dragon Man represent a new human species?

More than 100,000 years ago, several human species coexisted in Asia, Europe and Africa, including Homo sapiens, Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) and Denisovans.

In China, some ancient fossils have been found with interesting combinations of features that have sparked fierce debate about whether they belong to different species of human, so far unrecognised by science.

Some researchers believe the fossils might represent transitional populations that bridge a gap between our ancient ancestor (Homo erectus) and our own species, Homo sapiens - or think they could even represent primitive forms of our own species.

This skull, known as the Harbin cranium, has added fuel to those discussions. It was reportedly discovered in 1933 when a bridge was built over the Songhua River in northeast China's Harbin City, having been buried in sediment for thousands of years. It was reanalysed by Chris, Ji and the team.

Instead of simply comparing the shape and size of various features on this skull, the team used phylogenetic analysis in this new research, using maths to represent the evolutionary history or relationship between different species or organisms.

It revealed three main groups of Late Pleistocene humans that all had a common ancestor. These were Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, and a group containing the new skull and other Chinese fossils. The team's study suggested that the Chinese fossils were more closely linked to our own species than to Neanderthals.
Museum collections and species' conservation

The genetic information for the study came from museum specimens stored in collections all over the world, including the Natural History Museum and Melbourne Museum. Some of the specimens examined were over 180 years old.

'There are only a few specimens of the Gould's field mouse kept in museums and it's fantastic that we can get meaningful genetic information from them given they are so old,' explains Roberto. 'One Gould's field mouse specimen in the Museum was collected in 1837.

'The type specimen in the Natural History Museum has a damaged skull so it is difficult to compare to other modern specimens. The only way to know if the specimen is the same species or a different one is to do a genetic analysis.

'This study reveals the potential of museum collections to enlighten us about ecosystems and understand the impact we have on them. Hopefully this work will help inform conservation and land management.'
As Connecticut emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic  its economy bolstered by a white-hot housing market  it only seems logical that a retailer known for targeting high-end consumers would want to expand in portions of the state where there are pockets of well-heeled shoppers.

But along a vast stretch of Connecticuts Shoreline, from West Haven to the Rhode Island border, one of the preeminent names among upscale supermarkets  Whole Foods Markets  doesnt have a presence.

Susie Beckman, Old Saybrooks economic development director, says she knows residents of that Shoreline community who will drive to either Glastonbury or Milford  the nearest Whole Foods locations  in order to get their fix.

We just dont get inquiries from Whole Foods or Trader Joes, and I regularly ask about them, Beckman said. And I dont think they realize that how much people travel long distances to do their grocery shopping. We just dont have enough (population) density to meet their criteria.

Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media

A Whole Foods spokeswoman confirmed the Austin, Texas-based specialty retailer has stores in development South Windsor and Avon, but said she could not provide any additional information about other possible new store locations in Connecticut. The Avon store is expected to open later this year, while the South Windsor store, which will be in the Evergreen Walk lifestyle center, isnt expected to open until next year.

Construction Dive, a trade publication for the building industry, reported last month that Whole Foods plans to expand across the country with 43 stores across 19 states, including the two Connecticut locations. Washington, D.C. and California will be home to 11 of the new locations, with the majority that are in some stage of development in urban areas where the grocer already has a presence.

There are 503 Whole Foods stores in the United States, including eight currently in Connecticut.

Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media

John Rosen, a University of New Haven economics professor, said that e-commerce giant Amazon  the corporate parent of Whole Foods  is still in early stages of figuring out how to best leverage the data it has on consumers who order online into a broader domination of the supermarket industry. Amazon acquired Whole Foods in 2017.

They didnt buy Whole Foods in order to keep it the way it is, Rosen said. They did it because they wanted to learn more about brick and mortar retail.

While Whole Foods has always a targeted well-heeled consumers, its business model has changed over the four decades it has been in business, he said.

Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media

Back then the strategy was to be in college towns, because that was where they got their start and they were selling organic food, which was still kind of a new thing and was something college kids were into, Rosen said. Then they began moving into prosperous suburbs.

Twenty years ago, Rosen and Wayne Pesce, president of the Connecticut Food Association, said Connecticut was over-stored, meaning it had more stores than its population could realistically support.

Now, Connecticut is one of the most under-stored states in the country, said Burt Flickinger, managing director of New York City-based Strategic Resource Group. That leave Whole Foods with a lot of potential expansion options in the state, according to Flickinger.

Angeli Gianchandani, a brand marketing specialist and practitioner-in-residence at the University of New Havens Pompea College of Business, said that what separates Whole Foods from other chains in the grocery business is how they use competitive intelligence to determine how they move forward.

They have such detailed competitive intelligence of their consumers and shopping habits, they have a treasure trove of shopping data, Gianchandani said. They see what customers are searching for and what they are purchasing and it has given them the predictive capability far beyond any of their competitors in the marketplace. They can predict where new pockets of affluent communities are going to be.

Photo M643MGGO ne062421wholefoods-01.1

But despite Amazons dominance in the online retailing realm, Gianchandani said the shopping experience that Whole Foods offers is still very important.

Their core consumers want fresh produce and having that experience online is not the same as it is in-person local, she said. Thats what shopping at Whole Foods is, an experience from the way they layout the floor, so they have you weaving through the entire store before you check out. Its designed for that sensory experience.

Flickinger said Amazon uses Whole Foods as entry point to everything the parent company has to offer.

They attract more new customers through Whole Foods (store) openings than just about anything else, Flickinger said. Amazon wants to sell a whole lot more than produce through Whole Foods.

Whole Foods stores yield some of the highest sales per square foot of any supermarket chains, he said. A Whole Foods store typically yields $970 per square foot, and Flickinger predicted that when the companys South Windsor store in Evergreen Walk opens next year, that number should be even higher.

Pesces trade group represents the states supermarket chains. Pesce said that while hes not aware of any long term expansion plans that Whole Foods has for the area between New Haven and the Rhode Island border, if anybody is going to make a move in that part of the state, it could very well be them.

I dont see them making a big move, maybe opening a store here or there, he said. But theyve got a lot of money behind them and some pretty sophisticated data.

If Whole Foods does further expansion along the Shoreline, it will likely be in standalone locations, according to John Clapp, a professor of real estate emeritus at the University of Connecticut.

They typically dont like going into strip malls, Clapp said.

Whole Foods executives have to weigh further expansion in Connecticut against how new stores would perform in other parts of the country that have faster growth.

They need to look at how they allocate their resources, Clapp said.

Rosen said one reason why he believes further Whole Foods expansion along Connecticuts central and eastern shoreline is likely is that one way grocery shopping has changed, beyond increase online sales, is that retail has become very occasion specific.

If people are looking to purchase dog foods or any supplies in bulk, they go to WalMart or Target, he said. But if they want something special special, something unique, theyre going to Whole Foods.

Rosen said two of the key factors that supermarket chains use in determining where to locate new stores are total populations and the buying power of that particular populations.

Rosen said WalMarts larger stores with full-service grocery operations have shown it is possible for areas with smaller populations to be profitable.

They ought to take a harder look at it, Rosen said of Whole Foods. They will still pursue nice location and nice neighborhoods, just those with smaller populations.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com
NEW HAVEN  The Court Appointed Special Advocates movement in the state will be unified into a single group, Connecticut CASA, according to a release.

The new entity, building on progress since a state CASA Association in 2018 and affiliates for Southern and Northern Connecticut in 2019, will take effect July 1, the release said.

Based in New Haven, Connecticut CASA will have an 18-member board, it said, and will recruit, prepare, and support CASA volunteers for children who have experienced abuse or neglect.

I am excited about the opportunities that come with a statewide CASA program in Connecticut, Tara Lisa Perry, CEO of the National CASA Association for Children, said in the release. The organization will oversee the recruitment, training and strong support of volunteers, manage judicial and other vital stakeholder partnerships, and advance the CASA mission. This will enable the CASA program in Connecticut to implement a highly effective best-interest advocacy program to serve children in the state who have experienced abuse or neglect.

The statewide group is part of the National CASA network, according to the release, with more than 96,000 volunteers across 49 states.

Those most vulnerable in our society  children  are best served by a team of caring adults, state Department of Children and Families Commissioner Vannessa Dorantes said in the release. We remain appreciative of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), and their partnership to ensure the best interests of children and families remain at the forefront of all our efforts within local communities.

David Bayne, president of the Connecticut CASA board of directors, said, I am delighted that a robust single statewide CASA organization is emerging in Connecticut. With our partners, Connecticut CASA is positioned to respond to needs of children in crisis. Our board could not be more pleased that Josiah Brown, who led a highly successful local program in New Haven, has agreed to become our new state Executive Director. His proven and dynamic leadership ensures that Connecticut CASA will expand and thrive.

Brown until now served as founding executive director of CASA of Southern Connecticut, the release said, and has been a member of the Governors Task Force on Justice for Abused Children since 2020.

We look forward to drawing upon our dedicated Volunteers, Advisors, and Ambassadors and this new, expanded Board of Directors to raise the profile of our nonprofit on behalf of childrens best interests, Brown said in the release. We encourage prospective volunteers of all backgrounds to join this movement. CASA volunteers help identify safe, permanent homes where children can thrive, along with resources for them and their families. Connecticut CASA will deliver high-quality advocacy even more efficiently, to make CASAs volunteer-based approach more widely available.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP)  The coronavirus already changed the way we work. Now its changing the physical space, too.

Many companies are making adjustments to their offices to help employees feel safer as they return to in-person work, like improving air circulation systems or moving desks further apart. Others are ditching desks and building more conference rooms to accommodate employees who still work remotely but come in for meetings.

Architects and designers say this is a time of experimentation and reflection for employers. Steelcase, an office furniture company based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, says its research indicates half of global companies plan major redesigns to their office space this year.

This year caused you to think, maybe even more fundamentally than you ever have before, Hey, why do we go to an office? said Natalie Engels, a San Jose, California-based design principal at Gensler, an architecture firm.

Not every company is making changes, and Engels stresses that they dont have to. She tells clients to remember what worked well  and what didn't  before the pandemic.

But designers say many companies are looking for new ways to make employees feel safe and invigorated at the office, especially as a labor crunch makes hiring more difficult.

That's what drove food and pharmaceutical company Ajinomoto to overhaul the design of its new North American headquarters outside Chicago last year.

Ajinomotos employees returned to in-person work in May to a building with wider hallways and glass panels between cubicles, to give them more space and try to make them feel more secure. To improve mental health, the company transformed a planned work area into a spa-like relaxation room with reclining chairs and soft music. A test kitchen is wired for virtual presentations in case clients dont want to travel. And a cleaning crew comes through twice a day, leaving Post-it notes to show whats been disinfected.

Maybe its over the top, but maybe it provides comfort to those that have sensitivities to returning to an in-person work environment, said Ryan Smith, the executive vice president of Ajinomoto North America. Smith estimates 40% of the new headquarters design changed due to COVID.

Shobha Surya, an associate manager of projects and sales at Ajinomoto, is energized by the space.

The office gives you a balance of work and home life, she said. You are more focused here and dont have any distractions.

Surya said she's also thrilled to be working alongside her co-workers again.

Shes not alone. Surveys show the thing employees miss most about office work is socializing and collaborating with colleagues, said Lise Newman, workplace practice director at architecture firm SmithGroup. Companies are trying to encourage that rapport by building more social hubs for employees. Some mimic coffee houses, with wood floors, booth seating and pendant lamps.

Companies are trying to create the sense that this is a cool club that people want to come into, Newman said.

Steelcase has divided one of its lobbies into cozy meeting spaces of varying sizes, separated by plant-filled partitions. Mobile video monitors can be wheeled in so that people working remotely can be included in discussions.

But after a year of working from home, some employees crave privacy, so Steelcase added more glassed-in booths for private calls and cocoon-like cubicles with small sliding doors.

Mark Bryan, a senior interior designer with Columbus, Ohio-based M+A Architects, expects a more fluid office culture in the future, with different places to work on any given day. Introverts might choose a small, private room; extroverts, a table in the office cafe.

Some office changes reflect a new commitment to hybrid work. Valiant Technologies, which provides tech support and other services to businesses, is letting its employees work primarily at home but has them reserve a desk for the days they want to come to the office. The New York company has removed rows of desks and put more space between the remaining ones. Employees leave their keyboard, mouse and headsets in lockers.

Megan Quick, a sales associate with Valiant, said she appreciated the company allowing her to ease back into office life this month.

It will take a lot of time for us to readjust, she said. Valiant letting us set our pace for returning makes me feel safe.

Not every design change will stick. Last summer, when Steelcase started bringing back some workers, they pushed tables in the cafeteria far apart from each other and only allowed one person per table. It made the space so depressing that no one wanted to sit there, Steelcase CEO Jim Keane said.

An important lesson is that, yes, it has to be safe, but also has to be inspiring, he said. People are actually going to expect more from offices in the future.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)  Ethiopias government declared an immediate, unilateral cease-fire Monday in its Tigray region after nearly eight months of deadly conflict as Tigray fighters occupied the regional capital and government soldiers retreated in a region where hundreds of thousands are suffering in the worlds worst famine crisis.

The cease-fire could calm a war that has destabilized Africa's second most populous country and threatened to do the same in the wider Horn of Africa, where Ethiopia has been seen as a key security ally for the West. It comes as the country awaits the results of national elections that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed promoted as the centerpiece of reforms that won him the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.

Abiy's transformation from making peace to waging war has appalled many observers since the fighting in Tigray erupted in November. Since then, the world has struggled to access much of the region and investigate growing allegations of atrocities including gang rapes and forced starvation. Thousands of people in the region of 6 million have been killed.

Ethiopia's statement was carried by state media shortly after the Tigray interim administration, appointed by the federal government, fled the regional capital, Mekele, and called for a cease-fire on humanitarian grounds so that desperately needed aid can be delivered.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that he had spoken with the prime minister and "I am hopeful that an effective cessation of hostilities will take place."

Meanwhile, Mekele residents cheered the return of Tigray forces for the first time since Ethiopian troops took the city in late November and Abiy declared victory. The Tigray fighters, loyal to the former regional ruling party that for years dominated Ethiopia's government before being sidelined by the new prime minister, undermined the declaration by waging a guerrilla war in the region's rough terrain.

As Tigray forces occupied the airport and other key positions in Mekele and broadcast a message telling residents to stop celebrating and go home, retreating Ethiopian soldiers shot at students at Mekele University, killing two and wounding three, said a nurse at Ayder hospital, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.

Ethnic Tigrayans, even those who didn't support the former ruling Tigray People's Liberation Front before the war, say they have been targeted harshly for suspected links with the Tigray fighters. Ethiopia has denied it.

But Abiy in an interview aired last week alarmed observers by recalling that aid to Tigray during Ethiopia's devastating 1980s famine had bolstered the Tigray fighters who eventually overthrew the ruling regime. Such a thing will never happen" now, he said.

Monday's cease-fire declaration signaled a new approach, at least for a while.

The cease-fire will enable farmers to till their land, aid groups to operate without any military movement around and engage with remnants (of Tigray's former ruling party) who seek peace, Ethiopia's statement said, adding that efforts to bring Tigray's former leaders to justice continue.

Ethiopia said the cease-fire will last until the end of the crucial planting season in Tigray. The seasons end comes in September. The government ordered all federal and regional authorities to respect the cease-fire  crucial as authorities and fighters from the neighboring Amhara region have been accused of atrocities in western Tigray.

The government has the responsibility to find a political solution to the problem, the head of the interim administration, Abraham Belay, said in calling for the cease-fire, adding that some elements within Tigrays former ruling party are willing to engage with the federal government.

There was no immediate comment from the Tigray fighters, with whom Ethiopia had rejected talks. And there was no immediate comment from neighboring Eritrea, whose soldiers have been accused by Tigray residents of some of the worst atrocities in the war.

If Abiy has a genuine desire to find a political solution, first he has to undo the terrorist label against the elected government of Tigray, said Desta Haileselassie Hagos, who leads efforts to compile a list of those killed in the war. Abiy also needs to order the Eritrean soldiers to leave, he said.

Tigray in recent days has seen some of the fiercest fighting of the conflict. International pressure on Ethiopia spiked again last week after a military airstrike on a busy market killed more than 60 people, and after Doctors Without Borders said three staffers had been murdered in a separate incident.

Amid the upheaval on Monday, the United Nations childrens agency said Ethiopian soldiers entered its office in Mekele and dismantled satellite communications equipment, an act it said violated the world bodys immunity. UNICEF last week warned that at least 33,000 severely malnourished children face imminent risk of death without more aid reaching Tigrays people.

At U.N. headquarters in New York, the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland called for an emergency open meeting of the Security Council. The U.N.'s most powerful body has discussed Tigray behind closed doors but not in an open session. They need support from nine of the 15 council members to hold an open meeting.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP)  The trustees of North Carolina's flagship public university are meeting behind closed doors later this week amid intense criticism of their decision not to offer tenure to investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones.

A news release from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill did not mention the subject to be discussed in Wednesday's meeting. However, NC Policy Watch, which first reported on the meeting, said trustees would vote on whether to grant tenure to Hannah-Jones, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her work on the 1619 Project examining the bitter legacy of slavery. The publication cited two unidentified people who it says are directly involved in the process.
BRISTOL, R.I. (AP)  The only law school in Rhode Island will begin to require that second year students take a course on race and law in the U.S. starting this fall as Republicans across the country have complained and sought to limit how race is taught in elementary and high schools.

The faculty of Roger Williams University School of Law voted in June last year to create the course in response to a request from the schools chapter of the Black Law Students Association and student interest, the Boston Globe reported on Monday.
NORTH HAVEN  A teacher suing the school district alleges she was fired in retaliation for raising concerns about resources in a special education classroom, according to a complaint filed in New Haven Superior Court.

The lawsuit filed by Michelle Mase contends the district violated state and federal law by failing to meet student needs. The Board of Education denied wrongdoing in its answer to the lawsuit; the brief by attorney Richard C. Buturla says the district did not break any regulations or deprive students of educational needs.

Buturlas answer to the suit alleges Mase was acting through her claims in self-interest rather than as a citizen concerned with a matter of public concern.

But Mases attorney John Williams alleged his client was fired for speaking up.

She was complaining instead of just going along and keeping her head down, he said.

Mase alleges in her suit that she worked in a classroom where far too many special needs students were being placed.  These children were being deprived intentionally of their right to a fair public education and the plaintiff advocated on their behalf, per her amended complaint.

Williams said the school was jamming too many special education students into one classroom with little or no paraprofessional support. He did not return a follow-up inquiry seeking information about how many paraprofessionals worked in Mases classroom.

Superintendent of Schools Patrick Stirk said in an email he could not comment on pending legal matters.

Williams said that over the years he often has had clients report problems with a lack of resources in special education services.

I know that this is pervasive. Theres certainly nothing unique to North Haven, Williams said.

In the North Haven case, Mase complained multiple times about challenges in the classroom, the lawsuit alleges, indicating that her complaints included reports of a student who threatened staff, repeatedly escaped from or tried to escape from the room and threw items at Mase and a colleague.

On at least two occasions, those disruptive behaviors prevented Mase from taking a lunch break, according to the lawsuit.

Throughout this, she was given no additional support and thus the needs of all ... students were not being met as required by statute, the complaint says.

In November, Mase was fired in retaliation for her aforesaid complaints of unlawful activity by the defendant and its agents, according to the complaint. It contends Mase was exercising rights protected by Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 31-51q, which holds employers liable if they fire employees for exercising certain constitutional rights that do not materially interfere with the employees job performance.

They claimed that she was not performing up to standards  to which the answer is, well, what am I supposed to do under the circumstances, said Williams.

The complaint cites Connecticuts Special Education Regulations, which

dictate special education services must comply with the federal Individual Disabilities Education Act, which aims to ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living, according to IDEAs provisions.

Mase notes IDEA in her lawsuit, citing it as a section of the United States Code and alleging the district failed to comply with the federal law. The lawsuit does not specify which provisions allegedly were violated.

This is essentially a whistleblower retaliation case so we dont necessarily need to get into the weeds of the technicalities, Williams said.

meghan.friedmann@hearstmediact.com
SAN DIEGO (AP)  The number of migrant children housed at the Biden administration's largest emergency shelter for those who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border alone has dropped by more than 40% since mid-June, a top U.S. official said Monday, touting progress at the facility that has been criticized by child welfare advocates.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told reporters that 790 boys were housed at Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas, and the last girl left Monday. All the girls were reunited either with relatives in the U.S. or a sponsor such as a family friend or sent to licensed facilities, which have a higher standard of care, according to the agency responsible for caring for migrant children.

In mid-June, the administration reported about 2,000 boys and girls were at the Fort Bliss facility amid child welfare advocates concerns about inadequate conditions. A high of 4,800 children were housed there in May.

Becerra said his agency was evaluating whether it can close some of the emergency shelters that the government opened in the spring as record numbers of unaccompanied children crossed the border. He declined to say whether Fort Bliss would be among them.

Because weve been successful in managing the flow, we are prepared to begin the demobilization of several of our emergency intake sites, Becerra said.

He made his second visit to Fort Bliss since it opened in March and said more services and staffing have been added, including case managers who have helped get children released to relatives in the U.S. or placed in licensed facilities more quickly.

In transcripts of interviews done by attorneys and filed in federal court in Los Angeles last week, migrant children described their desperation to get out of Fort Bliss and the other large shelters set up by the Biden administration.

The children were interviewed from March to June by attorneys monitoring a longstanding settlement governing custody conditions for migrant children.

Some of the children said they did not know if anyone was working to reunite them with their families, giving them anxiety. Others did not have enough access to a mental health counselor, had trouble sleeping because lights were kept on at night and were avoiding meals because the food smelled foul. Several said they spent their days sleeping and had been in the facilities, like Fort Bliss, for more than a month.

Vice President Kamala Harris visited El Paso on Friday, and her spokeswoman, Symone Sanders, told reporters that President Joe Biden has instructed Becerra to do a thorough investigation and report back about the conditions in the tent camp at Fort Bliss, which advocates have called particularly troubling.

The administration is taking this very seriously. Extremely seriously, Sanders said.

A White House official said later Friday that conditions have improved, adding that Biden did not order a formal investigation request and that the agency was already looking into the facility.

Shaw Drake, staff attorney and policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, applauded the reduction in the number of children housed at Fort Bliss but questioned why it has taken this long to see real progress in releasing kids from the government's unlicensed shelters.

Drake praised the Biden administration for helping get children out of overcrowded holding facilities for adult migrants by opening more than dozen emergency shelters quickly. But he said immediately after that, the focus should have been to reunify children with sponsors, and it seemed like that languished and left kids in places like Fort Bliss far too long."

A rise in the number of migrant children crossing the southwest border alone has challenged the Biden administration. The Department of Health and Human Services has more than 14,200 migrant children in its care, down from 22,000 two months ago.

Becerra said more children are in licensed shelters now than unlicensed facilities, a reversal from a government report in May. He said officials are working to get more beds made available at licensed facilities.

We have continued to expand our capacity, and as a result, we're able to discharge more of these children into the hands of a responsible, vetted custodian, which then frees up a bed for another child," he said.

Despite the improvements, Becerra said the shelters are not a solution and urged Congress to fix what he called a broken immigration system.

___

Taxin reported from Orange County, California.
Kristen H. Emes, 73, of Niagara Falls, NY, passed from this life on June 25, 2021. Born on May 8, 1948 in Niagara Falls, NY, she was the daughter of the late Harry and Helen Elizabeth "Betty" (nee Long) Emes. Kristen was a lifelong resident of Niagara Falls, NY, and graduated from Stella Nia
Actress Iyabo Ojo has reacted to the decision of the leadership of the Theater Arts and Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Niger...

Actress Iyabo Ojo has reacted to the decision of the leadership of the Theater Arts and Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria (TAMPAN) to bar movie producers and directors from working with her for having social media fights with some of her colleagues over the Baba Ijesha rape saga.

TAMPAN in its communique accused Iyabo Ojo, Nkechi Blessing of reckless accusations, abuses and embarrassment of our sector.

The communique noted that an offence against one is an offence against all, adding that the association will no longer tolerate infringements.

The TAMPAN BoT further declared that its action against Iyabo Ojo does not mean it supports acts of criminal behaviour in whatever guise.

Reacting, Iyabo Ojo in a post shared on her Instagram page said she cannot be silenced despite the verdict from TAMPAN.

According to her, keeping silent is the reason why most girls are abused and molested daily.

Her post read, Silence is golden is why a lot of girls or boy children get abused , raped and molested daily and yet they are afraid to speak up because they will be bullied into silence by the same society meant to protect them.

Silence aint golden in Nigeria

I can never be silenced, know that and know peace. Periodt!
Journalists in Oyo State have appealed to security agencies in the state to without further delay, reveal the identities of the killers of o...

Journalists in Oyo State have appealed to security agencies in the state to without further delay, reveal the identities of the killers of one of their colleagues.

The Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) made this disclosure in a communique issued at end of its congress.

Recall that a journalist, Titus Badejo was on Saturday, 19th June killed by yet to be identified gunmen.

But the police and other security agencies have reportedly not been able to arrest those who masterminded the killing.

But, the journalists in the communique signed by the trio of Oluseye Ojo (Chairman), Promise Inumisan (Member) and Nike Aderibigbe (Member), urged security agencies including the Police, Department of State Service (DSS) and other security agencies to unmask, without further delay, the killers of Titus Badejo.

They asked, security agencies in the state to unmask, without further delay, the killers of Titus Badejo, an On-Air Personality (OAP), who was gruesomely murdered by gunmen in Ibadan, the state capital on Saturday, June 19, 2021.

According to the congress, the killing of Badejo, was one too many, adding that the case of Badejos case was one of the many that have not been resolved, till date. It, therefore, reiterated its Chairman, Ademola Babalolas position that the government should fish out the killers and get justice for the late journalist, who left an aged mother, distraught wife and hapless kids.

The congress also observed that some security agencies in the state have been docile and advised them to wake up and do the jobs they are paid for from tax payers money.

The NUJ while raising alarm over the growing rate of armed robberies around the Bodija area, also condemned the recent crisis at Iwo Road area.

It advised journalists to be security conscious at all times.

The Congress further noted that not only has foreign mercenaries flooded the forests in the state, they also have the highest population among commercial motorcyclists at Mokola, Oluyole and some other areas of the state.

Journalists were also advised to always watch their movements because of the heightened insecurity in the land and be guided at all times by the ethics of the profession, adding that every pursuit of man should not be based on pecuniary gains. God, according to congress, is the only one that blesses.

The congress also urged the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) to improve on their services as many communities in Ibadan have been lamenting under the epileptic power supply.
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Editor's note: This story originally appeared as a post on The Historic New Orleans Collections First Draft blog.

In September 1812, French consul Louis Tousard penned a letter from New Orleans that described a devastating storm in alarming detail: During the night, a hurricane more horrible than any event, that even the oldest among us could remember, destroyed all the construction in the harbor; knocked down buildings; and took roofs from nearly all the houses in the city.

A circa 1821 print depicts New Orleanss Faubourg St. Marie, now known as the Central Business District. At the time of the 1812 hurricane, the city was a diverse mix of French- and English-speaking people of different races.

The letter, found in the holdings of The Historic New Orleans Collection, corroborates the research of University of South Carolina geographer and climatologist Cary Mock, who meticulously studied the track and intensity of the storm known as the Great Hurricane of August 1812. Hurricane Katrina may be the hurricane that many New Orleanians consider the most devastating, but the one Tousard chronicles seems to rival it in magnitude. Could this 200-year-old storm have been even worse?

An 1816 map, made four years after the hurricane, shows the city of New Orleans. A blue line indicates the extent of flooding that took place after an 1816 levee breach upriver. In his letter, Tousard noted that the waters of the river and lake converged.

The storm occurred during a busy period for the residents of the newly minted state of Louisiana. Earlier in the year, a number of earthquakes along the New Madrid Fault Line caused levee breaches along the Mississippi River, which required repairs. That summer, in three separate instances, people who were enslaved in the region rebelled against their condition, causing much concern among the local elite. Moreover, with the advent of the War of 1812 that June, British ships began to menace the Louisiana coastline.

Until recently, historians knew that a major storm had occurred that summer, but they knew nothing of its intensity nor the path that it took. Perhaps the hurricanes power, the devastation it caused, and the lives it took were overshadowed by the focus on the war with the British that threatened to seriously disrupt lives and livelihoods.

Because of the war, an unusually large number of ships plied the Gulf of Mexico and the nearby Caribbean. Many recorded hourly data regarding barometric pressure, wind strength, and wind direction that afforded Mock and his fellow researchers an extraordinary amount of information, which they used to recreate the storms course as well as to estimate its power. As part of a bigger National Science Foundation-funded project to research all tropical cyclones back to the late 1700s, they drew data and historical context from numerous newspapers, diaries, ship logbooks, and ship accident reports from the New Orleans Notarial Archives.

Fortuitously for Mocks later research, the USS Enterprise, blockaded at New Orleans, provided particularly detailed wind observations in the city. Mock states in his 2010 article for the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society that, A change in winds to the southwest round local midnight suggests that the storm center passed to the west of New Orleans.

Alas, that westerly track proved to be catastrophic.

Tousard provides an ominous description: Near the rivers banks, the water of Lake Pontchartrain competed with those of the Mississippi to cover residences in over 10 feet, destroying men, homes, and animals.

In 2010, Mock assessed the hurricane to be at least a Category 3. Today, with the addition of further data and the inclusion of Tousards account  which describes a clear overflowing of Lake Pontchartrain, foreshadowing Katrinas flooding  he now believes it was likely a Category 4. Further, he contends that the 1812 hurricane, though probably smaller than Katrina in size, had a stronger wind field, strong enough to create a 10-foot storm surge, thus producing harsher conditions than more recent hurricanes such as Betsy and Katrina.

Characterizing the 1812 hurricane as the worst-case scenario, Mocks analysis reminds us that we are vulnerable; he believes that it will eventually happen again.

His warning mirrors the dire final message in Tousards 200-year-old letter: And, do note, that without a word of exaggeration, I add that had this scourge endured just two hours longer, I assure you there would remain not a soul to tell the tale.
Before the king cake, the marketing materials and now the lawsuit theyve spawned, the Vietnamese bakery Dong Phuong achieved its own extraordinary grassroots success.

The foundation was built on humble loaves of bread, sold for a few coins apiece. They crackle and crunch under your bite, compress around whatever filling they carry and, starting many years ago, they helped open doors between different communities in New Orleans.

Dong Phuong made news last week for a legal fracas involving the New Orleans East bakery and an Austin, Texas, design company called the Gemini Society. The two parties are fighting over ownership of the design and business marks that the firm created for a rebrand of Dong Phuong in 2017 as DP Bakeshop. The upshot is, for now, the bakery has scrubbed the evocative logo, ditched the pretty boxes, done away with the interactive website and shelved other facets it had been using these last few years.

+12 Dong Phuong Bakery is in a bitter legal tiff, and its distinctive logo is at the center of it Dong Phuong Bakery Inc., purveyor of one of New Orleans' most sought-after king cakes, is locked in a bitter legal dispute that has meant the 

Much of that redesign centered on Dong Phuongs king cakes, which were first introduced in 2008 and have soared in popularity, with a following that verges on the manic. The next Carnival season is six months away; a court could decide the matter by the time king cakes return.

But I cant hear the Dong Phuong name, apparently under any circumstance, without thinking of what first led me to its doors.

It was bread, Vietnamese-style baguettes, the first ingredient for banh mi. These sandwiches have been standard fare on local Vietnamese restaurants for a long time. Dong Phuong stood out because it was the source  a place that made the bread, made the sandwiches and served as a hub and supplier.

When I was first beginning to learn about Vietnamese food, a trip to Dong Phuong felt like a master class because it was a restaurant, a bakeshop and a production bakery wrapped into one. Then, as now, youd see families gathered around tables filled with pho and rice plates at afternoon meals, regulars prowling the bake shop with lists and bundles of bags, and delivery vans sending bread out to many other restaurants and purveyors.

Dong Phuong has been in business since 1982. I started visiting in the early 2000s. This was before social media. Nothing was going viral in the overused sense of today. But word-of-mouth did the trick, and people were hearing the Dong Phuong name more and more. The reputation drew them from all around the area to the easternmost stretch of New Orleans East, to Village de Lest, the citys most concentrated enclave of Vietnamese culture.

If youd developed the craving, any business that brought you through the area called for a detour to the bake shop. If you left with a dozen loaves that you knew had one day of shelf life at best, you divvied them up to other people, explaining along the way what it was, why it was different and why you bought so many of them. You got creative with whatever you could fill them with at home (a Dong Phuong bread tuna melt is a thing of beauty).

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I had to make another visit to Dong Phuong after the branding news broke. Pulling in, I saw the blank wall where the bakery logo had been on display, now removed as part of the dispute. But I also smelled the aroma of fresh bread drifting out of the bakery.

The restaurant was busy working through another lunch. In the bake shop, I found the sandwich bar right where it has always been, a counter not much bigger than a shopping cart, where a lone employee manages to provide these prodigious sandwiches rapidly. One change I hadnt noticed before was the addition of plant-based meat substitutes, bringing more vegan options, like an impossible meatball version.

I dove back in, starting with the classic, banh mi dac biet, a mix of pork and fatty Vietnamese cold cuts, a layer of pate and then the standard dressing of shredded carrot and daikon radish, cucumber, sprigs of cilantro and fiercely hot jalapeno.

This interplay of meaty savor and tropical crunch, hearty and light, hot and cool was all cradled and completed by that bread, the same as it ever was. Thin-crusted and cracker-crisp, airy and chewy and light, it was the bread that first said Dong Phuong to me.

For all I care, Dong Phuong can keep its marketing generic or swing wildly the other way like the Babycakes of Vietnamese bakeries. As long as the bread keeps rolling, Ill always have a reason to remember the name.

Dong Phuong Bakery

14207 Chef Menteur Highway, (504) 254-0214

Wed.-Mon. (closed Tue.), 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

+26 One generation introduced New Orleans to Vietnamese food, the next is blurring the lines Peter Nguyen had a big idea for the little storefront next to his familys Texaco station in Metairie, but his mother, Mary, didnt think much of it.

+23 Now fewer than ever, New Orleans po-boy bread bakers have a lot riding on their loaves Theyre all bound to become po-boys, but as soon as the fresh loaves arrive at Mahony's in the French Quarter, they go straight to the vault.

+9 Pho plus barbecue equals Em Trai, a next-gen lens on Vietnamese flavor in New Orleans The tables at Em Trai Sandwich Co. are lined with ketchup and hoisin, Tabasco and Sriracha. Somewhere on its menu, theres a place for all of it.
Kevin Belton learned to cook at home while growing up in south Louisiana. He started a career in cooking and launched a cooking school. Hes released several cookbooks and hosted three cooking series on public television stations, as well as doing food and culture segments for WWL-TV. His new 26-episode series, Kevin Beltons Cookin Louisiana, premieres at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, July 3, on WYES-TV, and it will air on most PBS stations across the country. In July, he and his wife Monica will release a cookbook of the same name that features all the recipes.

Gambit: What will the new series cover?

Kevin Belton: We have done the other shows basically in New Orleans. This show is my take on recipes and traditions from all around the state  to show off all the areas that make up the state and make us who we are.

Besides all the in-studio cooking, the transitions between recipes are going to be meeting people in different areas. I sat down with the Tamale Queen from the Zwolle Tamale Fiesta. Its up near Toledo Bend. Theyre known for their tamales, so they have this huge festival. In the book, I give my take on a Zwolle hot tamale.

We actually start in Lafourche Parish in the first episode. My dads family came from Lafourche Crossing, which is just outside of Thibodaux. I wanted to do things that were like grandmother cooking  all the traditional dishes. I did a stuffed crab and an oyster stew.

I also did a seafood crepe. When we were growing up, seafood was so plentiful that we always had seafood, so I decided to put it in a crepe. Maybe six or seven months ago, I bought this crepe pan during Covid and started playing with it. Monica thought I was crazy. I was like, Lets do this in the show.

Gambit: What else did you find traveling around the state?

Belton: We have so many Native Americans here. They were such a big influence with our cooking. The Native Americans showed the Africans, the French, the Spanish and everyone coming in how to use what grew here naturally. They were using it first, like file powder. In the show, I went to visit Marksville and the Tunica-Biloxi, which is an amalgam of tribes from the area.

We were out in the Atchafalaya Basin where I was talking to Jody Meche, the president of the Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association West. We were out there talking about crawfish, but I couldnt help but bring my fishing pole. Its not recorded, but it was like, you cant be from Louisiana and be on the water and not cast at least one pole.

If you go up to Ruston and Monroe (in north Louisiana), its still a lot of the same ingredients, but theres Southern influences. You have folks who have come over from Texas and Mississippi or down from Arkansas. In Monroe, I decided to do a chicken-fried steak.

New Orleans' first Beard Papa's cream puff bakery is now open on Magazine Street Of all the Beard Papas locations across the globe  there are more than 400 in 15 countries, including more than 33 in the U.S.  the New Orl

Gambit: What are some of the less common recipes you do for the show?

Belton: It was interesting to search for those hidden gems around the state. Everyone is so familiar with the Cajun and Creole traditional dishes, and in New Orleans we have the Irish community, Italians, Germans, Vietnamese, Greek and so many different heritages. In other cities, we found more, like Hungarians and the Croatian oyster fishermen in south Louisiana. In Baton Rouge, we found (Czech) kolaches.

In Baton Rouge, we found Filipino dishes. We do tapsilog with sinangag. Tapsilog is a Filipino beef dish and sinangog is garlic fried rice. They usually are served together with an over-easy egg on top that busts and runs down with all that goodness mixed together.

For more information, visit his website.

Byron Bradley and David Hargrove, 2Brothers1Love co-chefs, open Del Sur at Selina Catahoula Southern soul comes in many flavors for Byron Bradley and David Hargrove, the chefs and business partners better known as 2Brothers1Love. The 
As Gambit Political Editor Clancy DuBos likes to put it, New Orleans is build on "coffee grounds." The very dirt underneath our city is just not all that solid  and it creates major problems for our roads.

Potholes may be inevitable in New Orleans, but how do they get so bad you could practically go spelunking? Why does it take so long to fix one? And is there anything that could be done to help the issue?

In this week's cover story, John Stanton looks for "The Hole Truth" to better understand our pothole problem, and he interviews the person cataloging potholes, sinkholes and general road chaos through the Look at this Fuckin' Street Instagram account. Read more in the digital edition below.

+7 The Hole Truth There are plenty of reasons to be angry about the state of New Orleans roads. They shred our tires, overturn our bikes, wreck the suspension o

Also in this week's Gambit: The NOLA Zydeco Fest debuts at the Jazz Museum on Saturday; Clancy DuBos looks at the possibility of Louisiana lawmakers calling for a veto session; Blake Pontchartrain tells readers about the brief moment when Canal Street had another name; Thu Le and Hung Cao recently opened New Orleans' first Beard Papa's cream puff bakery on Magazine Street; Chef Kevin Belton launches a new cooking show on WYES  plus news and more.

If pandemic restrictions make it harder to pickup a Gambit in your usual spot, we have you covered. Our e-edition is available to download at bestofneworleans.com/current and read at your leisure.

If you enjoy this weeks issue, please share this digital edition on social media.

And as always, New Orleans, thank you for your support.

 The Gambit staff

Cant see the e-editions below? Click here.
As we approach the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic taking hold in New Orleans, the endless lockdowns and disruptions to our daily lives have taken a significant toll on all of us. Even for adults who have found some amount of balance, it continues to be a struggle. For families, the stresses of everything from the constant close contact to parents adjusting to being teachers while also holding down a job, its been particularly tough.

There are some signs of normalcy on the horizon. The vaccine is slowly gaining speed, more and more schools are increasing in-person learning and summer camp programs are preparing to resume in a few months.

But despite those glimmers of hope, its important to remember the pandemic is continuing to also take a toll on children.

One of the biggest problems with Covid, of course, is the uncertainty of it all. Because its a newly discovered virus, we still dont really know how it works in the short-term, let alone what the long-term implications will be, particularly on kids mental health. Thats why its important for parents to redouble their efforts to help their kids cope.

Childrens Hospital New Orleans has put together a helpful guide for building resilience in kids. The guide, which can be found on the hospitals website chnola.org, lays out some easy, common-sense ways to help kids cope, including making them feel safe by keeping to routines, talking with them about the pandemic, being sensitive to their emotions and involving them in family decisions. They also suggest remaining positive and taking advantage of safe activities that are available to your family.

Similarly, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions tips for talking with kids about Covid stresses being open, honest and calm. That means being realistic in how we talk about not only the virus but also the vaccine, when normal may return and what that will even look like.

But while its easy to focus on the dark side of the pandemic, there can be an unexpected silver lining in it all. For instance, European researchers last year noted that in some cases the changes in routine caused by lockdowns "seem to actually reduce child and adolescent mental illness symptoms and even improve well-being. Some kids seem to experience alleviation of social and sensory pressure and enjoy the more intensive family life.

According to those researchers in the Netherlands, where a broad lockdown was put in place nearly overnight, there has been evidence to suggest Nuclear family life was forcefully reinvented in many homes in sharp paradox with their usual busy normal routines of balancing work and family. Many parents became homebound schoolteachers whilst trying to keep their own professional lives going through online interactions. In the clinic, this led to mixed reports of being tied up in their houses whilst also being able to pay unprecedented amount of time and attention to each other.

Closer to home, doctors at Childrens Hospital here in New Orleans have seen similar changes in some families. Dr. Amy Henke, a clinical psychologist at Childrens Hospital, noted last spring that without a tight timeline of endless after-school commitments and potentially loosened academic pressures, some families may be experiencing their first taste of unstructured leisure and relaxation.

That, in turn has in some cases resulted in a reshaping of family relationships. There have been reports in our clinics of families having their first meals together in years, parents and children engaging in slow and deliberate activities like putting together puzzles or baking, and hours of homework being replaced by pleasure reading and family walks or bike rides around the neighborhood, according to Henke.

Theres no one right way to talk to children about the pandemic. But here are some tips for helping kids cope with COVID-19 from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. The full list can be found at aacap.org/coronavirus.

 Create an open and supportive environment where children know they can ask questions.

 Answer questions honestly. Children will usually know, or eventually find out, if youre making things up.

 Acknowledge and validate the childs thoughts, feelings, and reactions. Let them know that you think their questions and concerns are important and appropriate.

 Remember children tend to personalize situations  they may worry about their own safety and the safety of immediate family members.

 Be reassuring, but dont make unrealistic promises.

 Let children know that there are lots of people helping the people affected by the coronavirus outbreak

 Children who are preoccupied with questions or concerns about the coronavirus outbreak should be evaluated by a trained and qualified mental health professional.

 Although parents and teachers may follow the news and the daily updates with interest and attention, most children just want to be children.

+5 New Orleans summer camps brace for a second Covid summer Last summer, COVID-19 was rapidly spreading across the world, and local summer camps  like everyone else  had to make adjustments from their
There are just a few vestiges of the free-standing republic that formed 211 years ago on a swath of land that included present-day St. Tammany Parish.

Theres a bronze historical marker at the parishs Tourist Information Center in Mandeville calling attention to it. And theres the puzzling reference to St. Tammany and seven neighboring political jurisdictions as the Florida parishes, despite being more than 150 miles from the Sunshine State.

By and large, the brief existence of what was known as the Republic of West Florida more than two centuries ago is far removed from the historical landscape of public awareness.

Nevertheless, the local republic that asserted its independence for 74 days in 1810 following a bloody insurrection is a significant piece of north shore history worth noting as we approach Independence Day and reflect on our countrys past.

It represented one of only three incidents in American history where local residents rose in rebellion and overthrew the existing government through armed insurrection, said Sam Hyde, a history professor and director of the Center for South Louisiana Studies at Southeastern Louisiana University.

The story of the short-lived Republic of West Florida can be traced back to 1803 when the United States acquired the Louisiana Territory from France under the Louisiana Purchase. The acquisition, part of President Thomas Jeffersons goal of gaining control of the Mississippi River port in New Orleans, has been described as the greatest real estate deal in history. But technically, it didnt include a chunk of the north side of Lake Pontchartrain.

The U.S. paid $15 million for 828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River, property that encompasses all or part of 14 current states and two Canadian provinces. But unbeknown to many, the land deal did not include what we now refer to as the Florida Parishes  East Baton Rouge, East and West Feliciana, St. Helena, Livingston, Tangipahoa, Washington and St. Tammany.

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This section of land had originally been claimed by the French, who established settlements from the Mississippi River east to Mobile Bay in the 1700s. Great Britain gained control of the area in 1763 under the terms of the treaty that ended the Seven Years War.

In 1783, Spain took over the area as a result of the diplomatic agreement that ended the American Revolution. So, the area that encompasses these Florida parishes, over which the flags of various European nations had flown, was under Spanish rule when the Louisiana Purchase was enacted in 1803. Since France didnt own it at the time, the eight parishes, including St. Tammany, remained under the auspices of the Spanish in the immediate wake of the massive land purchase.

Hyde said most people assume the entire state was made part of the U.S. under the Louisiana Purchase. The fact that it didnt set the stage for insurrection in the early 1800s.

Rebels from St. Tammany and seven neighboring parishes who resented Spanish rule decided to do something about it. Early in the morning of Sept. 23, 1810, a group of rebels that had been holding secret meetings for four months stormed Fort San Carlos in Baton Rouge and wrested control of the area from the Spanish. Two Spanish soldiers were killed in the attack and three were wounded.

The victors unfurled the flag of a new republic, a blue banner with a single white star that became known as the Bonnie Blue. The republic proclaimed St. Francisville its capital, and Fulworth Skipwith became its governor.

The United States annexed the republic in December 1810, rendering the Republic of West Florida a little know morsel of American history. But Hyde said the significance of the ephemeral republic perhaps outweighs the publics recognition of it.

The West Florida Revolt initiated the movement for hemispheric freedom from Spanish colonialism in the Americas, Hyde said. The resulting republic endured for 74 days before being forcibly annexed by the United States, which finally brought to a close the tumultuous cycle of changes in governance in the only region in America that experienced rule by every major European power that intruded into the North American wilderness.
Christian Brother Thomas Tom Ward celebrated turning 101 on June 17, making him the oldest brother in the San Francisco New Orleans Province. Although he was the second brother to reach 100, the New Orleans native is currently the eldest.

He attended Mater Dolorosa and then St. Pauls School in Covington. His career began before his graduation from high school when he entered the Brothers Juniorate, then in Lafayette, in 1936. Ward said his only regret is that he should have graduated from St. Paul's before beginning juniorate training. He entered the Novitiate in Lafayette in 1937, received his habit that same year and took final vows in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1945. He was awarded a bachelor's degree from De La Salle Normal in 1942, a master's in education from Loyola University in 1951, and an education specialist degree from Southeastern Louisiana University in 1978.

When he began his teaching career, Ward taught special ed kindergarten and first grade, and later, mathematics. Over time, he taught at St. Michaels High School in Santa Fe, Landry Memorial High School in Lafayette, De La Salle New Orleans, Mullen High School in Denver, the Academy of the Immaculate Conception in Opelousas and St. Pauls in Covington. He retired in 2007 at the age of 87 while teaching full-time as a member of the math department from Southern University in New Orleans.

Ward, who was one of five children  three of whom reached 100  said he has had "an interesting life. He studied at seven different universities, one of them in Paris, traveled the U.S. extensively, and traveled through Canada, Europe, the Philippines, South America and Japan. He was living at Christian Brothers School in City Park until COVID-19, when he opted to move to the Brothers retirement community at St. Pauls in Covington.
After the longest break since Hurricane Katrina, jury trials are set to return to Orleans Parish Criminal District Court on July 6.

The court slowed to a crawl to stop the spread of coronavirus, and its one of the last in the state to summon jurors back. When ordinary citizens return next month, they wont just be testing new health protocols.

They will also be testing new District Attorney Jason Williams, who has never prosecuted a case, a fresh crop of judges and a slew of recently-hired prosecutors. For Williams, July is a high-stakes chance to prove that progressive prosecutors have the chops to win convictions.

The entire system cant function without all of the elements, and one of the critical elements of the criminal legal system is the jury trial, Williams said in a recent interview. This is really where the rubber meets the road for us all, so it is a critical moment.

In recent times, the only time the courthouse closed for an extended period was after Hurricane Katrina, which swamped the building and led to a 10-month gap between jury trials in criminal court. By July 6, roughly 16 months will have passed since the last jury trial.

The pandemic had far-reaching effects on court operations, according to a June report from the non-profit group CourtWatch NOLA. Case continuances increased 20%, while the number of plea deals the group observed dropped from 474 in 2019 to 92 in 2020.

In recent weeks, foot traffic has visibly picked up. Judges are increasingly requiring defendants to appear in person for hearings, and theres a new tone inside the building, longtime defense lawyer Jay Daniels said.

Theres a new DA. There are new judges who are seeing things a lot differently than their predecessors, he said. I don't know if that's as much a function of the pandemic, as it is the new blood.

Despite his more lenient attitude toward drug crimes and minor charges, Williams says he wont hesitate to put the worst-of-the-worst in prison. At nearly every public appearance since his election, hes touted his laser focus on violent crime.

The DA says he's put his prosecutors through extensive trainings, hired trial assistants to handle courtroom administrative tasks and beefed up his victim-witness division.

For now, the office lacks a chief of trials. Veteran prosecutor Michael Morales left for a job in the Jefferson Parish District Attorneys Office. But Williams says hell be ready to announce a replacement soon. He also promises to make personal appearances at trials along with his first assistant, Bob White.

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I think its important that myself and Bob White are at the table with our young lawyers to help navigate the process, he said. Were committed to do it until were sure the system is firing on all cylinders.

During Williams election run in the fall, current and former public defenders took the unprecedented step of campaigning for him. Now the Orleans Public Defenders will square off against Williams in front of jurors. The agencys chief of trials believes that the same trends that swept the district attorney into power could complicate his job.

We havent seen juries since theres been that awakening and reckoning from a broader part of society, since the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, said Danny Engelberg. Everyone is just much more keenly aware of some of the root causes of the disparities in the criminal legal system.

As attorneys spar across the aisle, judges will have to keep them in line. Five were elected last year.

Karen Herman, the court's chief judge, says the courthouse is ready to follow new health protocols. Prospective jurors will be asked to wear a mask at all times and sit at a distance, in one of three jury lounges, while waiting to be called up to court sections. Meanwhile, judges have committed to deciding by 11 a.m. each day whether their services are needed.

In late June, a call-up of citizens for grand jury selection served as something of a dry run. Shannon Sims, the courts deputy judicial administrator, said the process went quickly and there werent any noticeable racial disparities -- a concern voiced by defense attorneys because of the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on the Black community.

As they work through their list of open cases, judges will face a backlog down significantly since Williams took office, but one tilted toward serious felonies.

The court had 2,393 open felony cases as of May 1, down from 3,631 on Feb. 8, according to its deputy judicial administrator. That compares to 1,847 open felonies in December 2019.

While Williams appears to have succeeded in trimming the caseload, Engelberg said whats left are more serious felonies. Murders, rapes and robberies often arent resolved until the day of trial, regardless of whether its through a plea deal or a verdict.

At one recent court hearing, Judge Camille Buras said she had 20 open homicide cases which included 27 defendants.

Herman said the judges are hashing out a plan to prioritize cases for trial. According to Engelberg, theres a consensus that the most pressing involve defendants in custody, who have been waiting since the pandemic for a chance to prove their innocence.

But there's no guarantee that the first trial will actually happen on the first day of jury service: attorneys note that timing is often unpredictable at the courthouse, so it could come later in the month.

Herman believes that the return of jury trials could lead to the resolution of trickier cases, even if only through plea deals.

Once you have a trial date set, and opposing parties start really drilling down to make a determination of the weight of the evidence and the quality of the witnesses and other matters, thats when plea bargains historically tend to take place, she said.
A wide-ranging complaint submitted by over a dozen civil rights groups to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security alleges that the Pine Prairie Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Facility in Evangeline Parish has been using solitary confinement and punitive segregation not only for disciplinary infractions at the facility, but also as a way to isolate detainees during the pandemic, a response to other mental and medical health emergencies and as retaliation for detainee protests and complaints.

According to the report, detainees with no disciplinary infractions  including those with COVID-19 symptoms  were kept in solitary confinement in conditions that were virtually identical to those in disciplinary segregation for 22 to 24 hours per day for weeks at a time, in some cases without access to medical care.

This pattern of implementing punitive solitary confinement is abusive, unlawful, and tantamount to torture, the report reads.

The complaint, signed by civil rights groups including the ACLU of Louisiana, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy, also alleges the facility has been denying detainees access to clean water and food, sanitary supplies, and that there is a lack of access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The complaint comes the same week as a separate ACLU report, obtained by BuzzFeed, detailing the force-feeding of ICE detainees who staged hunger strikes in protest of detention center conditions, including at Pine Prairie.

+7 Coronavirus cases explode in Louisiana's immigration lock-ups; What is ICE doing about it? Scores of immigration detainees in Louisianas rural lock-ups have contracted the coronavirus over the past month, and at least two guards hav

Pine Prairie is operated by the GEO Group, a major private prison company. In an email, a spokesperson for GEO Group denied the allegations in the reports, saying they were being advanced by radical special interest groups with a politically motivated agenda.

For more than three decades, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, we have been a trusted service provider to the federal government, providing consistent, high-quality services at all our facilities.

According to ICEs COVID-19 Pandemic Response Requirements, when detainees need to be isolated due to potential infection or exposure to the virus, they are required to be placed in housing that is operationally distinct from any form of punitive housing.

But at Pine Prairie, the complaint alleges that people who contracted COVID-19 were frequently placed in solitary confinement, where they were denied access to any recreational materials or activities. In addition, despite having COVID-19, they received little medical attention.

We had several clients who had things like asthma or kidney issues who were being placed in solitary while they had COVID-19  actively experiencing shortness of breath, blurry vision, migraine headaches, said Sarah Decker with RFK Human Rights, in an interview. Theyre locked in these cells where, you know, theres a little food slot. And thats the medical visit that they receive every day. Nobodys checking their pulse or their oxygen levels.

The report also alleges that solitary confinement is the default for detained immigrants who seek mental health counseling, and that it has been used to punish detainees for protesting their conditions of confinement  which has occurred several times in the past year.

+4 Inside ICE lockup in Louisiana: Face masks made of socks, no hand sanitizer, growing tensions From the moment officers woke him at 4 a.m. each day, Pedro Iglesias Tamayo s mind was consumed by the same question: Would the coronavirus a

One detainee who speaks fluent English, the report says, has been put in solitary confinement repeatedly for voicing concerns of other detainees at the facility.

When he translates the complaints of others or voices their concerns, the Pine Prairie personnel routinely punish him with solitary confinement, the report reads. He has been placed in solitary confinement over six separate times. Each time he was held for approximately 45 days  three times longer than the internationally recognized lawful limit.

Homero Lopez, with ISLA, said that detainees arent given any mechanism for challenging their confinement, and that there is no adjudication process for determining whether discipline is warranted.

Theres not even really much of a process in general  much less due process  as to how someone can challenge it, or how someone can even know why and how its being analyzed as to why theyre being punished the way they are, he said.

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In their statement, GEO Group said that under no circumstances is assignment in a special management unit used in a retaliatory manner or without careful adherence to ICEs Performance-Based National Detention Standards.

+17 As number of immigrants behind bars soars under Trump, Louisiana becomes detention hub The path that led Dixan Hernandez Naranjo to a small, drab courtroom in rural Allen Parish in August began months earlier in his native Cuba a

The report also says that immigrant detainees at the facility are not being given access to the COVID-19 vaccine.

In May, ICE Acting Director Tae Johnson testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security that around 20% of detainees being held nationwide had received their first shot. During that testimony, U.S. Representative Lauren Underwood, D-Illinois, said that she believed only about 7% of detainees were fully vaccinated at that point.

ICE did not respond to requests for comment or provide data on how many detainees had been vaccinated at Pine Prairie or nationwide.

While their complaint targets Pine Prairie, advocates say they don't believe the facility is necessarily an outlier.

Pine Prairie is absolutely not unique, Decker said. This is happening all over, in every detention center in Louisiana.

Left with no options

In recent years, Louisiana has seen a dramatic increase in its share of ICE detainees, trailing only Texas in the number housed.

The decision by ICE to focus on placing detainees in Louisiana is a mix of financial and legal calculation, legal scholars and advocates have suggested. A decline in the states prison population has opened up space in prison facilities that can be contracted out with ICE, often at a cheaper rate than in other parts of the country.

In addition, a combination of local and circuit judges who are friendly to ICE in the state, along with a lack of lawyers to represent immigrant detainees in rural communities, puts ICE at a legal advantage when seeking deportations and asylum denials.

A perfect storm of factors makes Louisiana a desirable location for ICE to house detainees, a recent article in the Louisiana Law Review explains.

For detainees themselves, Decker said, Louisiana is less desirable.

A lot of people that we interviewed called it a place of no return, she said. Because in Louisiana, the denial rates are so incredibly high, compared to other states, for both parole, bond, and asylum. So people get shipped off to Louisiana, and they know that theyre going to have a really hard time  the odds are just so against them. Theres fewer attorneys per person in these detention centers. And theyre far away from their families.

Thats kind of why we are focusing on Louisiana, she said. Because it has kind of become this place where folks are just left with no options.

Lopez said that previous complaints to DHS over similar issues have been given cursory investigation and deemed unwarranted. But he said he hopes that under the Biden administration, they will be taken more seriously.

Am I expecting that tomorrow, theyre going to come out and say, Were shutting down Pine Prairie? Not necessarily, he said. But you know, we keep on pushing. And thats what we can do.
A man was shot to death and three other were wounded in violent crimes in New Orleans during a 24-hour period beginning Sunday morning, police said.

Police said they also investigated robberies in Central City and the Seventh Ward during that time.

Here's what we know via preliminary information from the New Orleans Police Department.

Man fatally shot, another injured in Mid-City shooting

A man was killed and another injured in an overnight shooting in Mid-City, New Orleans police said Monday.

The shooting was reported to police around 4 a.m. at Ulloa Street and Carrollton Avenue (map), police said. A man was shot in the abdomen and taken via ambulance to the hospital, where police say he died.

His name and age have not been released.

Another man was wounded in the shooting, police said, and was found at South Carrollton and Tulane avenues (map). He was taken in an ambulance to the hospital, and police said his vitals were stable as of 9:45 a.m.

15-year-old boy shot in St. Claude

A 15-year-old boy was shot in St. Claude on Sunday about 5:40 p.m., police said.

The boy, who was shot in the 1600 block of Independence Street (map), was struck inside a car when people started shooting in his direction. The boy was brought to the hospital and the shooters drove away, police said.

Man stabbed in Treme

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Two men were arguing Sunday night in Treme when police say the argument escalated and he was stabbed with a knife, police said.

The stabbing was reported to police at 11:43 p.m. in the 1200 block of North Claiborne Avenue (map).

The 51-year-old man went in a personal vehicle to the hospital, and police obtained a warrant to arrest Malik Scott as a suspect in the case. No other details were immediately available Monday morning.

Man's house burglarized in 7th Ward

The home of a 59-year-old man was broken into Sunday, and he notified police of the burglary at about 10:15 a.m. A man forced his way into his house in the 1800 block of North Roman Street (map), physically assaulted him, stole his television set and rode away on a bike, the NOPD said.

Man carjacked in Central City

A 41-year-old man was robbed at gunpoint in Central City Sunday when a man pointed his gun at him, hopped in his car and drove away in the man's gold 2017 Jeep with the Louisiana license plate 909BOX, the NOPD said. The man reported the carjacking to police at about 4 p.m. in the 2800 block of South Claiborne Avenue (map)

One robbed, another robbery attempted in 7th Ward.

A 35-year-old man was robbed in the 7th Ward on Sunday at about 8:15 p.m. when two men got out of a car and tried to steal the man's watch in the 1400 block of Saint Bernard Avenue (map).

The man called his brother, who helped him fight the men to get his watch back, police said.

Another man was almost robbed in the 1600 block of Elysian Fields Avenue (map) in the 7th Ward when a man walked up behind him, said he had a gun and demanded his things, the NOPD said. The victim, 44, ran away when the man who tried robbing him chased after him before also fleeing, police said.

Anyone with information about these crimes is asked to Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.

Staff writer Carlie Kollath Wells contributed to this story.
Several employees in the city's Department of Public Works reported to a protest on the steps of City Hall on Monday instead of to their jobs, demanding higher pay and better working conditions days after a City Council committee approved pay raises for contractors but not most city employees.

About 10 workers in the 243-employee department gathered on Perdido Street in what they called a strike to protest broken equipment, a lack of training, meager salaries and a lack of uniforms. They came bearing a petition signed by 15 members of the department and said they planned to deliver a list of grievances to Mayor LaToya Cantrell.

"I'm not looking for anyone to lose their job, or anyone to be punished," said Vashon Watson, an operator in the department. "But just a change. Handle a person how you want be treated, and treat us fairly."

Joseph Green added that he didn't report to work Monday because he is tired of having barely enough income to make ends meet. Though he's spent five years in the department cleaning catch basins and drains, he said he earns only $11.60 an hour.

+2 New Orleans officials back living wage ordinance, raising contract pay to $15 per hour by 2023 New Orleans City Council members backed plans Thursday to force pay raises for city contract employees, citing largely flat wages that have be

The Department of Public Works repairs potholes, bridges and overpasses. Crews also clean the city's catch basins, enforce public parking rules, and maintain streetlights. The workers are not represented by a labor union, but fall under Civil Service Commission job protections. Many of the workers demonstrating on Monday said they had taken paid-time off.

The workers met with Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Ramsey Green and other city leaders Monday to share their concerns, according to a City Hall spokesperson, who said that there would be no repercussions for the workers for taking a sick day.

"Our DPW Maintenance men and women provide critical city services from filling potholes to clearing catch basins," said a statement from the city provided by spokesperson LaTonya Norton. "We want to ensure that they feel safe, valued and that they have the tools and resources necessary to do this important work. We will continue this open dialogue until there is a resolution and in the meantime, these employees were invited to return to work immediately."

It's not clear how long the workers planned to continue the work stoppage, and the city declined to answer questions about the potential repercussions if the workers remained off their jobs. Several members of the department staged a similar walkout in 2018 to protest pay and working conditions, WDSU television reported at the time.

Councilmember Cyndi Nguyen, who chairs the council committee that recently agreed to raise pay for city contractors, met with the group Monday. She said she plans to visit the department's headquarters to better understand the issues the employees have raised.

"We definitely want to work toward making sure that city employees are paid the right wage as well," Nguyen said.

The walkout comes four days after Nguyen's committee passed a "living wage" ordinance to gradually bring contractor pay up from a minimum of $11.19 to $15 an hour within two years. Though that law didn't address most employees directly paid by the city, council members said they planned to introduce a separate ordinance that would raise pay for those workers.

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Labor issues have arisen across multiple industries, private and public, in New Orleans in recent months as the economy has started to rebound. The city's trash contractors have said they've found it hard to hire workers, leading to delays in garbage pick-ups. Some restaurants and hotels have been unable to fully staff up, and last week the food-service contractors at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome said they were struggling to find enough food-service workers as events start to come back.

+4 Who Dat gonna serve dem beers? Worker shortage hits Superdome, Smoothie King Center There was a slight air of desperation at The Opening Act venue at Champions Square on Thursday afternoon, as staff manning recruitment tables 

Several city sanitation drivers have sought higher-paid opportunities elsewhere in recent months, leaders of the city's major garbage collection companies have said. That's meant that those left in that department must work overtime to process residential waste.

Workers and their advocates have said the problem is that employers are unwilling to raise wages. At the same time, business owners have argued that the $300-a-week federal boost to unemployment benefits has made it more lucrative for low-paid workers to stay home.

Louisiana lacks a state minimum wage and many employers have stayed at the $7.25 per hour federal rate, which hasn't risen in more than a decade.

New Orleans firefighters to refuse some overtime in spat with City Hall; move may impact events New Orleans firefighters said Monday they will no longer work voluntary overtime and other unscheduled hours beyond their regular shifts, esca

To lure people back to work, Cantrell's office has urged employers to "raise the floor" on wages for hospitality workers and other employees. The city's own base rate for its employees is at $11.21 per hour, above the federal minimum wage but below the $15 per hour one recent study found is needed to afford a home and other expenses in New Orleans.

DPW's drivers, who must have a commercial driver's license to perform their work, earn a base rate of $14 per hour, Watson said. That's less than is offered by other employers who need workers with that credential.

Watson and others want base pay for drivers and others to reach at least $15. They also want more respect from their supervisors and more uniforms, as some employees have been working for two years and have not received gear to wear to perform their jobs.

Eric Gardner, another DPW employee who didn't report to work Monday, said his uniform is whatever he puts on that morning. Pay is inadequate, he said: "I have to put three and a half checks together just to pay my bills."

There are currently 412 city employees, excluding workers at the Sewerage & Water Board, who earn less than $15 an hour and would be affected by a proposed pay raise, city officials have said. Of those, 99 employees are part-time.
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Harrisburg, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn and Deputy Secretary John Norbeck joined the Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy (NPC) and local supporters for a dedication ceremony at the Phelps Mills Canoe Launch on Pine Creek in the Tiadaghton State Forest in Clinton County.

The story of the Phelps Mills Canoe Launch is a testament to the power of collaboration and the impact it can have providing recreational opportunities in our communities, Dunn said. Thank you to NPC, its volunteers, George and Shirley Durrwachter, and everyone who helped make this project a reality.

The ceremony formally welcomed Phelps Mill Canoe Launch on Pine Creek under the Bureau of Forestry umbrella.

The canoe launch has been a managed as a part of Tiadaghton State Forest since late 2019 when DCNR purchased the property.

DCNR partnered with NPC and began working acquire the canoe launch, also known as the Avis Canoe Launch, in early 2019 after its previous owners development plans fell through.

The land purchase was made possible by a $15,000 donation from the Durrwachters.

Having this boat launch available to local residents will allow them to traverse the creek and the river to downtown Jersey Shore, George Durrwachter said. Creating recreational opportunities closer to where people live is important not only because of time constraints but it will also reduce congestion on the highways.

George grew up nearby in Cammal and spent time swimming, fishing, and floating on Pine Creek.

He and Shirley recognized the recreational value at the Phelps Mill site and made the donation to ensure the public would continue to have access to the creek at that launch point.

In addition to the donation from the Durrwachters to acquire the land, NPC secured grants and support from the Western Pennsylvania Canoe Access Fund and the Clinton County Tourism Fund to support improvements at the canoe launch.

The improvements were completed in August 2020 and helped stabilize the ground at the canoe launch, reduced its slope, improved the parking lot, and other critical upgrades.

NPC is thankful for the Durrwachters donation as well as the support from the Western Pennsylvania Canoe Access Fund and the Clinton County Tourism fund, NPC Executive Director Renee Carey said. These investments and DCNRs stewardship will ensure that the creek will remain open to the public for generations to come at this location.
Harrisburg, Pa. --Pennsylvania growers should see some more opportunities after the infusion of $460,000 into eight projects to increase competitiveness of Pennsylvania specialty crops.

Funded under the Pennsylvania Farm Bill, state Specialty Crop Block Grants fund high priority specialty crops that are not eligible under the federal specialty crop grant program.

High priority crops in the state include hemp, hops, hardwoods, honey; and barley, rye and wheat for distilling, brewing, and malting. Projects aim to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of specialty crops through research to increase conservation and environmental outcomes, enhance food safety, develop new and improved seed varieties, or improve pest and disease control.

Funded projects include:

Projects funded in Berks, Bradford, Centre, Indiana, Lancaster and McKean counties.

Allegheny Hardwood Utilization Group, Inc., McKean County, $49,250: Host National Hardwood Lumber Association Lumber Grading Course for Pennsylvania foresters.

Alvernia University, Berks County, $32,095: Complete an environmental assessment of industrial hemp, from seed to structure, by collecting growth and supply chain data.

Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster County, $35,588.00: Establish a comprehensive baseline assessment of oomycete pathogen pressure on hemp.

Indiana County Conservation District, Indiana County, $37,951.00: Collaborate with local farmers and brewers to create an educational program for hops and malt grains production.

Northern Tier Hardwood Association, Bradford County, $16,500: Increase student awareness of green jobs in the forest products industry through Project Learning Tree's Green Jobs: Exploring Forest Careers curriculum.

Penn State University, Centre County, $69,767: Mitigate impacts of spotted lanternfly in the hardwood ornamentals industry.

Penn State University, Centre County, $126,730: Optimize genotype selection and management practices for Pennsylvania hemp production.

Penn State University, Centre County, $72,049: Create a PA Specialty Crop Block Grant Brewing Program.

A percentage of the awarded funds are designated to projects in rural communities with at least 20 percent of the population below the federal poverty line.

The state Specialty Crop Block Grants are an element of the Pennsylvania Farm Bill, Governor Wolf's bold, aggressive, and necessary investments in Pennsylvania agriculture to grow opportunities and resources, remove barriers to entry, and inspire future generations of agriculture leaders.

For more about the state Specialty Crop Block program, visit agriculture.pa.gov.
Harrisburg, Pa. - Does your drivers license say you are an organ donor? If not, that is okay.

But a new bill in the state legislature will allow Pennsylvania residents, either renewing their drivers license or registration, the chance to donate to the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition as part of that process.

"Statistics show that 1 in 8 women in the United States will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. In 2020, it is estimated that there will be over 276,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer diagnosed in the United States, and over 48,000 cases on non-invasive breast cancer," according to State Sen. Bob Mensch, the bills main sponsor.

"Unfortunately, an estimated 2,000 women in Pennsylvania and 42,170 women nationwide will die from breast cancer this year," Mensch said.

According to a release by Mensch, the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition has been leading the fight against breast cancer since 1993.

Mensch said the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition has spent over 1,500 hours on patient advocacy and contributed over $4.3 million to breast cancer researchers in Pennsylvania and have also been champions in the push for legislative solutions to expanding insurance coverage for early detection of breast cancer in women.

This legislation will mirror similar processes set in statute which allow individuals renewing registrations or a drivers license to include an optional $5 donation to the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition.

This will create an opportunity for more funds to be distributed for breast cancer research through this inspiring organization is another step that can be taken towards the goal of finding a cure to cancer.

This bill has bipartisan support on both the Democratic and Republican sides of the state legislature.

S. B. 445 is co-sponsored by State Sens. Jake Corman, Ryan Aument, Patrick Browne, Mario Scavello, David Argall, Camera Bartolotta, John DiSanto, Chris Dush, John Gordner, Scott Hutchinson, Scott Martin, Kristin Phillips-Hill, Devlin Robinson, Patrick Stefano, Robert Tomlinson, Elder Vogel, Judy Ward, John Yudichak, Jay Costa, Vincent Hughes, Lisa Boscola, Maria Collett, Carolyn Comitta, Wayne Fontana, Art Haywood, John Kane, Timothy Kearney, Katie Muth, Steven Santarsiero, Judy Schwank, Sharif Street, Christine Tartaglione, and Anthony Hardy Williams.
Local

Rome to tackle ULDC, animal control ordinance amendments

Doug Walker Rome-Floyd County Planning Director Artagus Newell (standing) makes a point about minimum lot size issues during a meeting of the Special Committee on Housing Monday, June 7, 2021.

Amendments to the Unified Land Development Code that would eliminate some barriers to residential construction are on the agenda for action by the Rome City Commission Monday night.

Floyd County commissioners rejected the changes last week.

The Rome-Floyd Planning Commission unanimously recommended the amendments. The proposed package would eliminate minimum lot size requirements in the city, the prohibition on accessory dwellings for financial gain, and a requirement that parking for cluster home developments be no more than 50 feet from the front door of a unit.

City commissioners debated the amendments for nearly an hour when the matter was brought forward on first reading two weeks ago.

Several of the county leaders said they felt like they should wait for the consultants hired to rewrite the land development code to complete their work. City Commissioner Bill Collins made similar comments during the discussion two weeks ago.

Amendments to the animal control ordinance are also on the city agenda for a vote at the meeting, acheduled for 6:30 p.m. in City Hall, 601 Broad St. The session and 5 p.m. caucus are both public.

The proposed changes were adopted by the county last week. They would ban 24-7 outdoor tethering of animals, require owners of impounded animals to pay for their keep pending court proceedings and better define safe and sanitary conditions for pets.

City Manager Sammy Rich is expected to present a new contract with FSRE IMPACT Rome River District, LLC for the purchase of 2.14 acres adjacent to the Courtyard Rome Riverwalk Hotel. The proposed purchase price is $407,000.

The city is asking FSRE to submit its master development plan for the West Third Street corridor by Sept. 30, to include a commitment to commit construct between 280 and 300 residential units in the corridor. The company has already purchased several parcels there.

Commissioner Jamie Doss is expected to bring forward a series of nominations for the new city Landmarking Committee. The panel will be charged with determining the location for the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue, in addition to considering other local historical aspects to commemorate.

Commissioner Jim Bojo is slated to chair that committee. There will be four citizen appointments, including a representative each from the Rome Area History Center and Rome Area Heritage Foundation.
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Though fireworks retailers initially didn't know what to expect, the return of municipal fireworks shows hasn't dampened demand.

"We're riding that wave of record sales," he said. "A lot more people are wanting to do big backyard shows. Even with the festivals coming back people still want to put on shows for their neighborhoods and do block parties. We gained a lot of new customers from last year when everything was shut down. We've been busy since the beginning of May."

Galouzis estimates sales are up at least 35% this year, with customers coming in from as far as Southeast Wisconsin and Southwest Michigan.

"Northwest Indiana is one of the big hot spots in the country for fireworks," he said.

Aerial fireworks are particularly in demand, Kanavos said.

"It's like Black Friday on steroids in the days leading up to the Fourth of July," he said. "I really would encourage people to shop early to avoid the lines and make sure they get the products they want, especially if they want something specific."

Big Daddy K's has been posting products, prices and video demonstrations online, a practice that's been taking off with customers who want to know what to expect and to get the most bang for their buck.
VALPARAISO  Regal Beloit continues to lay off workers at the aerospace bearings plant it's in the process of shutting down.

Rex Walkup, Valparaiso chairman at International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers Local 2018, said the aerospace plant at 2300 Evans Ave. laid off more workers in May and June, with the next big round of layoffs slated for July 30.

Only a few dozen workers remain at the plant long run by McGill Manufacturing, which was founded in Valparaiso 116 years ago and was once the city's largest employer with 1,500 workers. Walkup said workers have been filling the last remaining orders for the Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter.

Over the years, the plant has made bearings for a number of aircraft, including Air Force One, the Apache Block III attack helicopter, the V-22 Osprey, the F-35 Lighting fighter jet, the AH-1 Cobra and the AH-1 Thunderbolt Warthog.

"We felt like we've done so much for this country," Walkup said. "Without being part of the military we were helping the country. When I graduated from high school, the Vietnam War was ending and I missed being drafted so I didn't have to go to Vietnam. But we've been supplying the military for years. We check everything multiple times and have very high standards. There are soldiers' lives in those helicopters."
Former Lake County Recorder Michael B. Brown was fined $500, plus court costs, after pleading no contest to misdemeanor possession of marijuana Monday in a northern Wisconsin courtroom.

According to court records, Wisconsin Assistant District Attorney Alexander Seifert and Brown's attorney, Robert A. Kennedy Jr., jointly recommended amending the charge against Brown from felony possession of marijuana with intent to deliver to misdemeanor marijuana possession as part of a plea deal.

Records show Forest County Judge Leon Stenz confirmed Brown was freely, voluntarily and intelligently entering his plea, and waiving his constitutional rights and right to trial, before agreeing there was a sufficient factual basis to convict Brown on the amended charge.

According to court records, Brown was remorseful about his conduct and does not plan to appeal the judge's guilty finding.

Brown's $2,000 cash bond then was applied to his fine and court costs, and Brown returned to his new home on the western side of Michigan's upper peninsula with $444.50 in his pocket, records show.

He was facing the possibility of spending up to 3 1/2 years in prison and a $10,000 fine under the original felony drug dealing charge.
"This was more than one event," the judge said, in the wake of defense claims that Stidham's behavior was an aberration. "This was a planned scheme."

Levco, in calling for the felony conviction at the time, said Stidham's actions violated the public's trust as a public official in a way that would not have been the same had he committed them while serving as say, a private accountant.

Stidham, just moments before sentencing in April, called on the judge to exercise his right to enter the felony conflict of interest charge as a misdemeanor, saying, in part, he has a family to support.

Stidham apologized to his fellow one-time city officials, some of whom were in attendance during the sentencing hearing, as well as to the residents of Portage. He voiced sorrow over the loss of friendships with those he worked in public office.

The plea agreement in the case called for formal probation rather than jail time, and Clymer sentenced Stidham to a one-year period.

Stidham also was required to pay back $56,565, which Levco said has been done.
VALPARAISO  Ivy Tech officials are throwing the book at the cost of attending prices. For the next school year, college textbooks will be free to students.

A federal grant through the higher education emergency relief fund is being used to pay the cost of textbooks for the 2021-2022 school year. After that, the texts will be $19 per credit hour.

The average cost of books is $59 per credit hour, or three times what Ivy Tech will charge after next year.

In addition, tuition has been frozen for two years. For students with 12 or more credit hours per semester, the tuition will be $2,243.25.

Aco Sikoski, chancellor for the Valparaiso and Michigan City campuses, said 60% of students delay or never buy textbooks, which puts them at an obvious disadvantage, especially now that courses are in eight-week increments. Even a one-week delay puts a student significantly behind in their studies.

This is the boldest thing we have done to show students were here to help them in Sikoskis 27 years at Ivy Tech, he said.
"An Afternoon with Steve Wozniak" with Steve "The Woz" Wozniak  Sunday, Feb. 6

Wozniak  who co-founded Apple Computer Inc. in 1976 with Steve Jobs  shaped the computing industry with his design of Apple's first line of products, the Apple I and II. The Apple II was a key part in launching the personal computer industry.

In 1985, the president of the United States awarded him the National Medal of Technology for his achievements at Apple. Recently, Wozniak launched his company Efforce in December 2020, which uses cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to make it cheaper and easier for companies to fund green projects.

Purchasing Tickets

All but one event will be held at the Purdue Northwest James B. Dworkin Student Services and Activities Complex on PNWs Westville Campus located at 1401 S. U.S. 421 in Westville. The Feb. 6 program, "An Afternoon with Steve Wozniak," will be held at at the Stardust Event Center at Blue Chip Casino, Hotel & Spa located at 777 Blue Chip Drive in Michigan City.
MICHIGAN CITY  Safety restrictions put in place over the last 15 months in response to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted as of Monday in the city, Mayor Duane Parry announced.

All businesses and restaurants are free to reopen with no restrictions, he said.

Capacity restrictions have been lifted on large events, such as festivals and conventions, and weddings, church services, parties and other large gatherings can resume, Parry said.

The city's lakefront and zoo are also fully open.

"Businesses can continue to implement their own mitigation strategies  including requiring social distancing and masks  if they choose," the city announced.

"Fully vaccinated individuals can resume activities without wearing a mask except in places where the federal government requires it  like nursing homes, public and health care facilities  or where a business or workplace requires it," Parry said.

"People who are not fully vaccinated should continue to wear a mask in crowded settings," he said. "It is also recommended that unvaccinated individuals wear masks when around youth, who are not yet eligible for the vaccines."
"We'll continue to support the health and well-being of Hoosiers, and our participants will receive much needed job training and career support to help them transition from Medicaid to full employment," Holcomb said. "With our growing economy, we need every able Hoosier to join the workforce."

The HIP work mandate has been on hold since November 2019, initially due to ongoing legal challenges and later because of the need for all Hoosiers to maintain health coverage amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brad Woodhouse, executive director of the Protect Our Care national health care advocacy organization, said he's grateful the HIP work requirement won't be coming back so long as Democratic President Joe Biden is in the White House.

"These burdensome paperwork requirements approved by the Trump administration were meant to boot people off the rolls, which was particularly heartless during the dual public health and economic crises facing Americans," Woodhouse said.

"Rather than find ways to rip health care away from Americans during a pandemic, the Biden administration is making health care more affordable and leading the effort to fight the virus."
Public health officials trying to combat the confusion and hesitancy have put up billboards where the Amish travel by horse and buggy, sent letters to bishops and offered to take the vaccines into their homes and workplaces, all without much success.

Its not due to lack of effort, said Michael Derr, the health commissioner in Holmes County, Ohio. But this thing is so politically charged."

Some health clinics that serve the Amish are hesitant to push the issue for fear of driving them away from getting blood pressure checks and routine exams.

One local business and the organizers of a community event told the health department in Holmes County that it would no longer be welcome if it brought the vaccine to them, Derr said.

Staff members at the Parochial Medical Center, which serves the Amish and Mennonites in Pennsylvanias Lancaster County, encourage patients to get the vaccine, but many have little fear of the virus, said Allen Hoover, the clinics administrator.

Most of them listen and are respectful, but you can tell before youre finished that theyve already made up their mind, he said.
Rising death toll at Miami building collapse site

Four days after a residential building north of Miami Beach partially collapsed, rescuers searching around the clock have found only a handful of bodies and scattered human remains amid the wreckage. The death toll has risen to nine, and more than 150 people are still missing.

The search has been painstakingly slow: A fire beneath the rubble has hampered efforts, and rescuers have had to balance their own safety with their search. More than 300 emergency personnel are working 24 hours a day, and the Army Corps of Engineers has been called in to help. Still, some families are beginning to lose hope.

Experts who have examined video footage of the disaster are focusing on a spot in the complexs lowest part  possibly in or below the underground parking garage  where an initial failure could have set off a structural avalanche.

Next door: Concern about the stability of other buildings has spread across South Florida, where salt air tends to eat away at steel and concrete structures. Building inspectors at the sister condo complex nearby determined that it was structurally sound, a condo board member said, though some wary residents nonetheless packed bags and found other places to stay.
In over a decade in which Ive covered Amazon, one conversation stands out as neatly summarizing the ethos of the e-commerce giant under Jeff Bezos, who will step aside as chief executive next month. An Amazon executive was confronting his new role as a buyer of large appliances, like dishwashers, after several years as a book buyer. We had beaten publishers into submission, the executive said, noting giddily that when Amazon asked for a nickel, publishers know to give a dime.

We arent there yet with the Whirlpools and the Samsungs, he added. Well get them under our thumb.

Mr. Bezos, 57, has a complicated legacy of towering ambition, extraordinary success, unimaginable personal wealth and a scorched-earth business approach that is the envy of nearly every tech entrepreneur and a lightning rod for criticism. He is retreating from the top role just as Amazon faces the most serious regulatory threats to its business in its 27-year history.

Under Mr. Bezos, who will remain as executive chairman, Amazons singular focus on speedy delivery forever altered the retail landscape and consumer expectations along with it, and left in its wake a mountain of businesses that failed to keep pace. The company didnt invent many of the things its known for  overnight delivery, mobile shopping, cloud computing and e-readers  but it did make them widely available and even expected.
Pressure has been building for weeks from Democrats and Republicans in Congress, and from some of Mr. Bidens top advisers and commanders, to retaliate against the threat posed by the drones to American diplomats and the 2,500 U.S. troops in Iraq who are training and advising Iraqi forces.

At least five times since April, the Iranian-backed militias have used small, explosive-laden drones that divebomb and crash into their targets in late-night attacks on Iraqi bases  including those used by the C.I.A. and U.S. Special Operations units, according to American officials. So far, no Americans have been hurt in the attacks, but officials worry about the precision of the drones, also called unmanned aerial vehicles, or U.A.V.s.

The drones are part of a rapidly evolving threat from Iranian proxies in Iraq, with militia forces specialized in operating more sophisticated weaponry hitting some of the most sensitive American targets in attacks that evaded U.S. defenses.

Iran  weakened by years of harsh economic sanctions  is using its proxy militias in Iraq to step up pressure on the United States and other world powers to negotiate an easing of those sanctions as part of a possible revival of the 2015 nuclear deal. Iraqi and American officials say Iran has devised the drone attacks to minimize casualties to avoid prompting U.S. retaliation.

American officials said the strikes  against two targets in eastern Syria and a third just across the border in Iraq  were carried out about 1 a.m. Monday local time by a mix of Air Force F-16s and F-15Es based in the region.

The fighter-bombers dropped multiple bombs  500-pound and 2,000-pound satellite-guided munitions  on each of the three structures. American officials said the militias used the sites targeted in Syria mainly for storage and logistics purposes; the site hit in Iraq was used to launch and recover the armed drones, which officials said were either made in Iran or used Iranian technology.

Mr. Kirby and other administration officials characterized the strikes as defensive, but leading lawmakers demanded more details on Sunday.
The victims were 53-year-old David Green, a retired Massachusetts State Police officer with 36 years of experience, and Ramona Cooper, a 60-year-old Air Force veteran who was still working with the military, Winthrop police officials said during a news conference on Sunday.

Ms. Cooper was shot three times in the back, Ms. Rollins said.

Mr. Green, who lived in the neighborhood, tried to stop Mr. Allen, but was shot four times in the head and three times in the torso, Ms. Rollins said.

An officer then shot and killed Mr. Allen after telling him to drop his weapon, the authorities said. The officer stopped a volatile and escalating situation, Ms. Rollins said.

Ms. Rollins said investigators were not sure why Mr. Allen was driving toward the neighborhood on Shirley and Cross Streets, but she said there are several synagogues in Winthrop.

We dont know where he was going; that is mere speculation, Ms. Rollins said. We do know he had anti-Semitic rhetoric written in his own hand.

Citizens of Winthrop offered help because they thought this individual, Nathan Allen, had just gotten in an accident, Ms. Rollins said. But they are alive and these two visible people of color are not.

Mr. Green was pronounced dead at the scene, and Ms. Cooper was taken to the hospital, where she later died from her injuries, the authorities said.
KATONAH, N.Y.  Before a concert by the Orchestra of St. Lukes on a steamy Sunday afternoon here at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, a jubilant James Roe, the ensembles executive director, told the audience that these musicians had not presented a live, in-person performance in 472 days.

This return meant more than a mere visit from a Caramoor fixture. In recent months Ive attended orchestral concerts around New York City. But these events played to very limited, mask-wearing audiences. At Caramoor the capacity wasnt restricted to a mere 150 or so people. Hardly any of the 400 people in attendance wore masks (only the unvaccinated were asked to do so).

It felt like a real return to normal for classical music.

With its bucolic grounds and open-air Venetian Theater, where most programs are being presented, Caramoor is an ideal venue for summer concerts, especially during this still-challenging time. And it has planned an adventurous summer season, running through Aug. 8. This Orchestra of St. Lukes program was conducted by Tito Munoz, the Queens-born music director of the Phoenix Symphony, and offered works that spoke to the larger social issues of the past year.
At the same time, something was very wrong within her own family. Lunch said that her father, a door-to-door salesman and grifter, sexually abused her, and her parents fought constantly and bitterly. At 16, she ran away to New York, making her way to the downtown clubs she had read about in rock magazines, where she saw the shock-tactic bands Suicide and Mars. They were so extreme and so perverse, Lunch said with awe. They directed what I was to do.

She hoped that would take the form of spoken word pieces but, at the time, music provided a far more welcoming audience. I am not, nor have I ever been, a musician, she said. Im a conceptualist. To me, a chord is something I put around somebodys neck if I want to throw them out the window.

Still, the sonic assault she devised altered the musical landscape. With Teenage Jesus, she subverted the common purpose of rhythm  to create a groove that moves the music forward  to instead favor a static series of hellacious thuds. The result made the music feel less performed than inflicted. To achieve her trademark beat she said, I had to imprison the drummer to make him play his instrument like a monkey would.

To up the ante, she made sure the guitar she used was only tuned once a month, so it would develop these harmonics that made it automatic art, she explained. Amazing guitar players could not play my parts.

Her next group, 8 Eyed Spy, mixed West Coast surf music with groundbreaking punk-jazz, but she broke the band up because we were becoming too popular. My ideal audience would be reduced to one, she said. Because that would be the right one.
Juilliard tried to distance itself from the matter, describing Zukerman as a guest instructor and saying his insensitive and offensive cultural stereotypes did not represent the schools values. Zukerman apologized Monday for what he called his culturally insensitive comments.

In Fridays master class, I was trying to communicate something to these two incredibly talented young musicians, but the words I used were culturally insensitive, he said in a statement. Im writing to the students personally to apologize. I am sorry that I made anyone uncomfortable. I cannot undo that, but I offer a sincere apology. I learned something valuable from this, and I will do better in the future.

Asian and Asian American performers have long dealt with racist tropes that their playing is too technical or unemotional. A wave of anti-Asian hate in the United States in recent months has heightened concerns about the treatment of Asian performers.

Zukerman is a celebrated violinist and conductor whose career has spanned five decades. He was the biggest name at the Juilliard event, known as the Starling-DeLay Violin Symposium, which is focused on violin teaching and attracts promising young musicians, many of them teenagers, to take part in master classes.

He made the remarks on Friday while offering feedback to a pair of sisters of Japanese descent.

After the sisters played a duet, Zukerman told them they should try bringing more of a singing quality to their playing, according to participants in the class. When he said that he knew Koreans did not sing, one of the sisters interrupted to say that they were not Korean, adding that they were partly of Japanese descent. Zukerman replied by saying that people in Japan did not sing either, according to participants.
There was a strange Covid-19 pattern in the U.S. for much of this spring. The virus was not spreading any faster in communities with low vaccination rates than in those with high vaccination rates.

How could this have been? There were probably a few reasons. Many less vaccinated areas were in the South, where warm spring weather allowed people to socialize in the relative safety of the outdoors. Natural immunity might also have played a role  because people who have already had this coronavirus have at least some degree of protection against it.

The pattern helped feed an impression among some Americans that Covid was in retreat, regardless of how much progress a community had made in getting shots into arms. In one poll of Tennessee residents last month, 51 percent agreed with the statement that the Covid-19 pandemic is largely over.

But the pandemic is not over. Covid remains a serious threat to unvaccinated adults, especially those middle-aged or older. And now the surprising trends from the spring may be coming to an end: Cases have begun to rise more rapidly in communities with lower vaccination rates.
Behind Chinas takeover of Hong Kong

A year ago, a national security law unleashed a stampede of actions to bring Hong Kong into political lock step with the Chinese Communist Party: arresting activists, seizing assets, firing government workers, detaining newspaper editors and rewriting school curriculums.

While the clampdown seemed to arrive with startling speed, it was the culmination of yearslong efforts by Beijing, The Times reports, a process that began with a single phrase in a dry policy paper: Beijing, the document declared, would wield comprehensive jurisdiction over the territory.

Interviews with insiders and advisers, as well as speeches and policy papers, show that Chinese officials took action because of growing alarm over protests in Hong Kong; impatience with wavering among the citys pro-Beijing ruling elite; and their growing conviction that Hong Kong had become a haven for Western-backed subversion.

Party anniversary: Beijing has shut down traffic, decorated streets with patriotic slogans and ramped up security this week in preparation for the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.
10. And finally, the largest comet ever found is making its move.

The nucleus of Comet C/2014 UN271, discovered this month, is estimated conservatively at 62 to 125 miles long  larger than the Island of Hawaii.

But dont stay up nights waiting for it. The colossal comet, also called Bernardinelli-Bernstein, is currently inside Neptunes orbit. Over the next decade, it will get almost  but not quite  to Saturn before journeying back to the galaxys fringe.

Mere mortals will barely get a glimpse of it when the comet is at its closest to Earth in 2031. But astronomers can train their telescopes on it and watch it flare, then fade, in staggering detail over the next 20 years.

Have a meteoric evening.

Jeremiah M. Bogert, Jr. Shelby Knowles compiled photos for this briefing.

Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern.

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What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes.com.

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A crypto superstar crashes hard

The Internet Computer is an ambitious crypto project by the Dfinity Foundation, a Swiss nonprofit organization with big Silicon Valley backers like Andreessen Horowitz. Last month, it was the darling of the crypto world when it held a bonanza of an initial coin offering, valuing its token, known as ICP, at tens of billions of dollars in market cap. Its a different story now, after ICP has lost more than 90 percent of its value.

Even in the famously volatile crypto market, ICP stands out. The stunning climb and crash has people asking what really happened  and who may have profited.

Something went wrong, said Miguel Morel of Arkham Intelligence, a crypto analysis firm that tracked ICP tokens through the blockchain. In a report shared with DealBook, Arkham noted that a token dropping over 90 percent in the first month after launch is highly unusual. Arkham said that it found 44 probable insider addresses that deposited 10 million ICP tokens worth over $2 billion at the time to exchanges, which coincided with significant drops in the price of ICP. Small investors were stuck with a complicated process and limited customer support, the report claimed.

Dfinity did not follow the playbook of other successful projects, Arkhams report said. Instead it appears they quietly allowed the treasury and insiders to send billions of dollars of ICP to exchanges, while making it extremely difficult for their longtime supporters to access the tokens they were promised.

Dfinity blamed bad actors on social media for undermining its project. Day traders with alternative agendas and unethical crypto projects have used Reddit and Twitter to confuse the public, it said in a statement. It denied that the token claim process was overly technical, and said the investors who had difficulties got the support they needed. A Dfinity spokesman, Michael Lee, said that the company was taking the high road and focusing on developing its Internet Computer project rather than rumors by potential saboteurs.

Dfinitys project, years in the works, uses the ICP token to help operate a decentralized layer of web infrastructure that believers say will liberate users from reliance on tech giants like Amazon and Google. (Its complicated.)

Some crypto industry players say that the price crash was just bad luck for a hyped project that happened to be listed just as extreme enthusiasm was waning. But Morel pointed out that ICPs fall was the most substantial of the top 100 cryptocurrencies, worse even than Shiba Inu Coin, a joke token based on the meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin. In other words, a postmodern comedy project with no technological proposition backing it experienced less distress than the token underlying Dfinitys grand goals.
Consider information technology, which offers some of the best-paid jobs in the country. African Americans earn around one in 10 bachelors degrees in computer science nationwide. By contrast, they account for only 2.6 of every 100 computer workers in the region around San Francisco, including Silicon Valley.

Even with the credentials that many African Americans have in the field, Dr. Spriggs said in an interview, Silicon Valley says, Yeah, but they are not skilled.

But for all the evidence of racial disparities, many economists say employers racial biases cannot fully explain whats going on in the workplace. The idea that discrimination alone has determined Black workers lot at work  their employment and their wages  does not mesh with how American society changed over the past half-century.

Simply put, if racism is the reason that Black workers have lagged in pay, said Erik Hurst, a professor of economics at the University of Chicagos Booth School of Business, how is it that they made such progress after World War II, significantly closing the wage gap with whites while segregation and other explicit barriers were still widespread? And why did this progress stop even though racial animus, by various measures, declined over the years?

The share of whites approving of interracial marriage, for example, rose to 87 percent in 2013, the last time Gallup asked the question, from 48 percent in 1965. The share of whites who said they would vote for a Black presidential candidate increased to 96 percent in 2020 from 77 percent in 1983 and 38 percent in 1958. Answers to many other questions asked by the General Social Survey, a long-running academic effort to understand the views of Americans, suggest that racial prejudice has declined over the last several decades.

Most of the gains made by African Americans in the workplace were made from the 1940s to the 1970s, when racial biases were much more prevalent across society. Then they got stuck.

There was convergence between Blacks and whites, but then it stopped, said Dr. Hurst, who is also deputy director of the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics, which sponsors a podcast I host. The question is why.
Marco Gobbetti, who was tasked with turning Burberry into more of an upmarket luxury brand when he was appointed chief executive in 2017, is quitting after five years in the role.

Shares in the British fashion house fell 8 percent on Monday after news broke that Mr. Gobbetti, who previously ran brands including Celine and Givenchy, would leave Burberry at the end of the year to become chief executive of Salvatore Ferragamo in Italy.

Burberry said Mr. Gobbetti had notified the board that he would be leaving to take up another opportunity that will enable him to return to Italy and be closer to his family. Burberrys chairman, Gerry Murphy, said he was naturally disappointed but fully respected Mr. Gobbettis decision to return to Italy after nearly 20 years abroad.

Mr. Gobbetti oversaw a broad overhaul at Burberry that included raising prices and cutting discounts as well as increasing the brands exposure in areas like handbags, where its offerings were seen as weak and where profit margins are higher.
ORDBEND, Calif.  In Americas fruit and nut basket, water is now the most precious crop of all.

It explains why, amid a historic drought parching much of the American West, a grower of premium sushi rice has concluded that it makes better business sense to sell the water he would have used to grow rice than to actually grow rice. Or why a melon farmer has left a third of his fields fallow. Or why a large landholder farther south is thinking of planting a solar array on his fields rather than the thirsty almonds that delivered steady profit for years.

You want to sit there and say, We want to monetize the water? No, we dont, said Seth Fiack, a rice grower here in Ordbend, on the banks of the Sacramento River, who this year sowed virtually no rice and instead sold his unused water for desperate farmers farther south. Its not what we prefer to do, but its what we kind of need to, have to.

These are among the signs of a huge transformation up and down Californias Central Valley, the countrys most lucrative agricultural belt, as it confronts both an exceptional drought and the consequences of years of pumping far too much water out of its aquifers. Across the state, reservoir levels are dropping and electric grids are at risk if hydroelectric dams dont get enough water to produce power.
The vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna set off a persistent immune reaction in the body that may protect against the coronavirus for years, scientists reported on Monday.

The findings add to growing evidence that most people immunized with the mRNA vaccines may not need boosters, so long as the virus and its variants do not evolve much beyond their current forms  which is not guaranteed. People who recovered from Covid-19 before being vaccinated may not need boosters even if the virus does make a significant transformation.

Its a good sign for how durable our immunity is from this vaccine, said Ali Ellebedy, an immunologist at Washington University in St. Louis who led the study, which was published in the journal Nature.

The study did not consider the coronavirus vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson, but Dr. Ellebedy said he expected the immune response to be less durable than that produced by mRNA vaccines.
Juul Labs has agreed to pay North Carolina $40 million to settle the first of a spate of lawsuits brought by states and localities claiming the e-cigarette companys marketing practices fueled widespread addiction to nicotine among young people and created a new public health problem.

The settlement, which was announced on Monday morning, allows the company to avoid a jury trial this summer as the Food and Drug Administration is deciding whether its vaping products can stay on the market.

The company had urgently sought the settlement, but the deal removes just one of numerous legal actions pending against it. Thirteen other states, including California, Massachusetts and New York, as well as the District of Columbia, have filed similar lawsuits. The central claim in each case is that Juul knew, or should have known, that it was hooking teenagers on pods that contained high levels of nicotine.

Nearly 2,000 other cases filed by cities, counties, school districts and other plaintiffs in federal courts have been combined into multi-district litigation overseen by a single federal judge, similar to whats been done with cases against prescription opioid makers, distributors and retailers.
Every week of the school year, we publish a 10-question interactive quiz to challenge students knowledge of the weeks biggest news stories. The quiz invites students to select the missing words or phrases from selections of recent New York Times stories. It also challenges students to discern between real and fake headlines, and to match a mystery photo with the news story it depicts. Practicing with our weekly news quizzes can help students keep up with the news and get in the habit of following current events.

Ready to test your knowledge of current events? Get started here.

Find all of our Learning Network tutorials in this video playlist.
The project was aimed at relieving overcrowding on trains going to and from Penn Station, the nations busiest transit hub. The station and the tunnel, both of which are owned by Amtrak, had been pushed far beyond their intended capacities more than a decade ago. Then Hurricane Sandy blew through the region in 2012 and pushed millions of gallons of salty water into the tunnel.

The insides of the tubes have been deteriorating faster since then, causing Amtrak officials to fear that the tubes would have to be taken out of service one at a time for an overhaul.

The loss of one of the tubes, even temporarily, would reduce the number of trains that could reach Penn Station during the morning rush by 75 percent, crippling the daily commute for the 150,000 passengers who rode every weekday between New Jersey and New York before the pandemic.

Even after the coronavirus pandemic kept most commuters home for more than a year, the number of trains that Amtrak and New Jersey Transit, a commuter railroad, run through the tunnel each day is not much lower, said Brian Fritsch, manager of the Build Gateway Now Campaign at the Regional Plan Association, a research and policy group.

Mr. Fritsch said train ridership in the region is rising and approaching 50 percent of prepandemic levels. Its returning a little bit faster than they had anticipated, he said, adding that he was pleased to see a renewed sense of urgency that this should be a top priority of the Biden administration.

Still, in the last several years, only modest progress has been made toward the completion of Gateway. The construction of one of its components, the replacement of a 110-year-old swing bridge that carries trains to and from the Hudson tunnel, is expected to begin within a year.
My colleague Derrick Bryson Taylor spoke with some of them. Here are two of their stories:

Lee Soulja: In the late 1970s and early 1980s, you could find Mr. Soulja working the dance floor in some of New York Citys exclusive clubs, including Studio 54 and Paradise Garage.

A Bronx native who now lives in Harlem, Mr. Soulja, 55, is a visual and performance artist who has performed off Broadway as well as at Lincoln Center and the Apollo Theater. After a close friend died from AIDS in the early 1990s, Mr. Soulja became an H.I.V. and AIDS activist, volunteering with community organizations to connect with struggling young L.G.B.T.Q. people. He later became a promoter and event creator.

In 2009, Mr. Soulja created the NYC Center for Black Pride, which took over Black Pride, an annual event scheduled to run this year from Aug. 19 to 23. He said he established it to give more visibility to L.G.B.T. people of color, saying we have a voice, we have contributed to history and to culture in this country.

[Read more trailblazers stories.]

Brenda Holder: Ms. Holder, whose stage name is Brenda Continental, got her start in New York Citys ballroom scene in the early 1980s when she was 15. She was mentored by Paris Dupree and other ballroom legends.

Ms. Holder, 54, who was born in Guyana, began her transition in 1989, after four years in the Army. When she was growing up, and during her transition, there werent any dedicated spaces or centers for Black and brown L.G.B.T.Q. people in New York, she said.

Now living in Brooklyn, Ms. Holder said she talks to anyone in need, particularly people who want to transition. The work I do, I dont do it for accolades, she said. I do it because I love my community. I believe in my community. So why not help my community put the best version of themselves out there, because nobody else is going to do it.

Its Monday  support your communities.
New Yorks Pride celebrations and protests came back with a vengeance over the weekend, after a muted celebration last year because of the pandemic.

Tens of thousands of people took over the streets of Greenwich Village on Sunday, starting impromptu dance parties and embracing the freedom of being together again.

Ahlasia Hunter, 23, who was attending her first Pride, danced and cheered from atop a traffic barricade on Sunday afternoon.
The victim, Samuel Poulin, 21, is a United States Marine and a recent graduate of the Citadel military college in South Carolina, according to a statement released by the college. He was shot once in the back and transported to the hospital in stable condition, the police said.

Nearly 800 people have been shot in the city through June 20, according to data from the Police Department  the highest number over the same period since 2002. The increase in gun violence this year has cast a shadow on the citys reopening after 15 months of lockdown. New Yorks yearlong state of emergency was finally lifted last week, and Times Square is once again a bustling cacophony; on Saturday night, a full-length Broadway show was put on for a paying audience for the first time in more than 400 days, when Bruce Springsteen revived his show at the St. James Theater.

We were up until the shooting very optimistic about our progress. We really are two steps forward and maybe a half step back, said Tom Harris, a former New York City police officer and the president of the Times Square Alliance, a group of businesses and stakeholders that works to promote the neighborhood.

In surveillance video recorded of the incident, three men can be seen arguing near a corner in Times Square when a fourth man approaches and opens fire, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. People across the block scattered.

Times Square was averaging around 185,000 visitors a day last week, Mr. Harris said, and 200,000 this past weekend. The numbers are a far cry from prepandemic levels, when the area averaged around 360,000 visitors a day.
The lawmakers suit asks a judge to declare tactics that they say the police used against them to be unlawful, including using bicycles to batter protesters and surrounding protesters so they cannot disperse and then pushing in from all sides to arrest them  a technique known as kettling. The suit by the state attorney general, Letitia James, had made similar requests. The lawmakers suit also seeks unspecified damages.

The N.Y.P.D. has a longstanding track record of successfully protecting the right of the public to protest while ensuring public safety, and is committed to strengthening those efforts, Nick Paolucci, a spokesman for the city Law Department, said Monday in response to the lawsuit. We will review these claims.

The police in New York have faced widespread criticism for responding to protests against police brutality with violence last May and June, during the nationwide demonstrations that followed the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. There were more than 2,000 arrests in New York; video after video shows officers, including white-shirted commanders, punching, beating and shoving protesters, often without apparent provocation.

Though the city Department of Investigation concluded that many officers violated protesters civil rights and Mr. de Blasio personally apologized for the polices conduct, only a handful of officers have faced significant discipline. The police have said that more than 400 officers were injured during the protests, including 260 who were hospitalized, and that protesters caused more than $800,000 in damage to police vehicles.

Mr. Myrie and Ms. Richardson, who both represent parts of Brooklyn, took part in a protest outside Barclays Center on May 29, the first evening of widespread demonstrations in Brooklyn.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

archived recording (SINGING) When you walk in the room, do you have sway?

kara swisher

Hi, Im Kara Swisher, and youre listening to Sway. On the average year, about 50,000 American restaurants shutter their doors. That number was almost doubled this past year, despite the help of food delivery apps during the pandemic. Or some would say, that number was exacerbated by their high fees. Since March 2020, the industry lost about $290 billion, and its still down 1.5 million jobs compared to pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, theres a nationwide labor shortage. So is the restaurant industry, as we know it, gone forever? If so, perhaps the first person who would know about this is a guy who spends most of his days in kitchens across America, a guy whos mayor of Flavortown, a guy named Guy Fieri. Welcome to Sway, Guy.

guy fieri

[CHUCKLES] Thanks for having me, Kara.

kara swisher

I had to do it. Anyway, so about 90,000 restaurants and bars temporarily or permanently closed last year. Drive-Ins probably did OK. But you probably wouldnt say the same about Diners and Dives, for example  by the way, one of my favorite shows on. So what do you think the category of restaurants was hit hardest? Because youve been all over the country, visiting especially small entrepreneurs who are trying to keep afloat.

guy fieri

I think that people want it to be an answer like high end or something really definitive. Theres no way to tell the make-up of a restaurant. You dont know who owns it. You dont know how much they owe on it. You dont know who really runs it. You dont know their profit margins. I mean, theres just so many different facets to the industry that its really not something that is very predictable. And even myself whos been in the restaurant industry my whole life, when there were restaurants that were closing, Im like, you have got to be kidding me. What happened? Or how did that place keep going, considering their reputation or their business model or whatever? I mean, theres just too many facets, all right? But I think that the restaurants that pivoted, I think the restaurants that maybe had some help, maybe had some support, landlords were giving them some love, who had deeper pockets. Maybe they had a little more savings. Who knows what these scenarios are? But I did think that the mom-and-pop joints, maybe because the labor pool was typically them, or they didnt have as much rigid structure to them as to what they could and could not do  I dont know. But it was definitely anybodys game of who made it and who didnt.

kara swisher

Mm-hmm. The margins are already so slim for restaurants before the pandemic. Most operate on something  what is it  like 3 percent to 5 percent margins. What is it about the industry that leads to those conditions?

guy fieri

Ive made this comparison parody comment forever. For some reason, attorneys all ramp their numbers up. They almost compete. Like, whos got a higher number? But in the restaurant business, unfortunately, that championing, that supporting doesnt get  I dont know. Its going to change now. I mean, were going to see that its changing because people are realizing they cant even hire people.

kara swisher

Yeah, I drove from Knoxville this weekend, and every single fast food restaurant said $10 an hour. This was deep in Virginia, deep in areas that were not paying those amounts.

guy fieri

Ever before. I hope the business works together, and we make the margins reasonable. But its, for some reason, always been that way. And the thing is, is we need support from legislation.

kara swisher

Yeah, talk about it. One way the government has tried to help is the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. Its a federal grant program that was authorized in the sixth Covid relief bill. It allocated $28.6 billion and was the first time restaurants were singled out for aid in a federal COVID relief bill. Meanwhile, the airline industry, for example, got direct aid very early on in March of last year. Why do you think it took longer to get direct aid to restaurants?

guy fieri

I mean, now I have to bite my tongue a little bit because Ill 

kara swisher

No, dont. Please, unbite it.

guy fieri

No, Im 

kara swisher

Its not delicious.

guy fieri

I mean, Im pissed. Its because theres not enough unification. We all love each other in the restaurant business. Were all chefs together and so forth. But airlines have big powerful money and attorneys and lobbyists. And weve got home-built restaurant companies that were passed down from a restaurant, that were passed down from generations, with not as much energy and power and unification. The only advocacies we really have working for us are our state associations, like California Restaurant Association and National Restaurant Association. And not everybody sees the benefit of saying, hey, I would like to pay my dues, and I would like to participate in this because I see what that can do to support my entire industry. And I think it has to do with anything we see in government and politics and so forth. Its loud voice, power, and money.

kara swisher

Yeah, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund received, though, 372,000 applications seeking $76 billion in total. It has already run out of money. What do they have to do next? And how do you think they were rolled out? Does there need to be more money for this? And its very hard to get anything through Congress. They cant agree on lunch, so to speak.

guy fieri

How about everybody thats in legislation that loves to go to restaurants? How about you just ask your local restaurant what you could do to help them stay afloat? Because if you dont, youre going to start to feel it. You think youre feeling it now? Its only going to get worse.

kara swisher

Right, exactly. So you realized the impact of the pandemic very early on and in March 2020, created the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund with the National Restaurant Association. And you got a lot of money from various corporations. And you didnt want to name names, but no thanks to Jeff Bezos, who didnt chip in. So you named a name. Hes a very wealthy name. Has he given you money since?

guy fieri

Well, we did raise $25 million. And thats whats so important, is the people that did step up. And I sent these videos out to these presidents and CEOs. Who knows if you had the right email address or the right contact, get to the right person? So thats why hes made  in the article, I said, Im not into shaming people because you dont know.

kara swisher

So why does it take you and others to do this? Do you think the government couldnt act, or did you start this because you thought it would take too long for the government to act?

guy fieri

Listen, Im a huge patriot. I love our country. Im so proud that we get to have what we have. I dont think everybody appreciates it to the level that we should appreciate it. But I sure wish we could react quicker. I dont know. Im not on that side of it. So Im not going to point fingers. As opposed to sitting here running my mouth about it, Im just going to go do something about it.

kara swisher

So one of the groups that actually did rather well during the pandemic were tech companies, especially those with food delivery apps  like UberEats, Grubhub and DoorDash  have been called lifelines for customers and restaurants during the pandemic. But the fees, which can be up to 30%, put additional strain on restaurant owners. Everybody knows this. I wonder if you have any ideas of what needs to be done in order for these apps to exist without running restaurants into the ground, or is that even possible?

guy fieri

I hate regulations. Im not a big fan of rules. I think that all of a sudden government jumps in and makes certain groups cant work together and all this kind of stuff. Boy, it sure would be nice if someone could come together and say, lets just put some parameters on this of what can and cant work. And you guys are already doing really good. And restaurants dont have a choice. I dont know. But now would be awesome if some gigantic philanthropist could said, hey, you know what? Heres what Ill do. Ill make it so were a nonprofit delivery company. And well make sure drivers make money and restaurants make money. And here you go. Ill put it together, and its going to cost me $50 million to make this thing work. But Im going to save the restaurant businesses that dont have the ability.

kara swisher

Have you reached out to any lawmakers or philanthropists about this?

guy fieri

[LAUGHS] Kara, this is just coming up because you started poking the bear. You started it.

kara swisher

Im poking the bear.

guy fieri

You started getting me  dont get me riled up on this shit.

kara swisher

Im going to get you riled up. They can charge you whatever they want and then give you some PR money. Im just telling you.

guy fieri

No, its true. Its true.

kara swisher

So what would you say to a lawmaker? What would you say? Thirty percent seems like a lot, and they have no choice. They have no choice. They dont have the technology.

guy fieri

Id say you put regulations on everybody for everything. And forever, its been impossible  especially in certain states, certain counties  impossible to get liquor delivered. When this all happened and things are blowing up and people are sinking, all of a sudden, people started figuring out, well, wait a second. Wait a second. We can lighten up. We can do this. How did that get done so quickly without anybody really having to go bang on doors about it? You know what it was  bunch of legislators, bunch of people that were in power, saying, wait a second. We do see that the restaurants are suffering. We do see that this need is there. We do see that wed like to have that delivery made to our own house. Who knows what it was? But if we have the ability to move that quickly, lets continue. Take a second, please, and look at this group of people that are far more important than just putting food in your mouth. Theyre part of the social engagement of your community. Theyre part of the training grounds for your kids. Theyre part of the retirement for older folks and single parents. I mean, this isnt just about food, you know?

kara swisher

All right, one trend that the pandemic certainly increased is ghost kitchens, those kitchens that only make food for delivery. They arent linked to a specific dine-in location, but they show up like a regular restaurant option on apps. You started a chain of ghost kitchens yourself. Why did you decide to do that?

guy fieri

I know the restaurant is still open. And I know the restaurant only has outdoor seating. They got rent. They got a family to feed. They have team members that want to work. And theyre serving a certain type of food. So if we could create a concept inside of that restaurant that doesnt compete with the restaurant, but allows them to make profit off of the food that were selling. And it could be through an app to a computer that prints out, makes it a thing, and it becomes seamless, just as if a server had punched it in on a computer inside of the restaurant. And then they can package it to go, and it can go out the back door with any one of the delivery services. At least, were putting some water through the pond. Were putting some money on the table. It may not be the best margins that it was back in the day, but as long as its not competing against. Now, and I did hear some people say, well, theres other restaurants that may be serving your type of food in that area, and that could be a case. Yes, but that goes back to the old philosophy in the restaurant business when people would say, well, you opened a restaurant, and were next door to each other, so were competition. No, were not competition. What we are is, were in the industry together. You do a great job, Im going to do a great job. At least, thats my perspective.

kara swisher

Do you think ghost kitchens are here to stay?

guy fieri

I think theyre here. Ghost kitchens, just so were clear, have been going on way before the pandemic, because theres types of food that people want that theyre not able to get a storefront for. I mean, you cant open a restaurant based off of one type of item to say, like, just Philly cheesesteaks. Dont get me wrong  I love Philly cheesesteaks. But if someone could do Philly cheesesteaks, and they can do it really well, and they can do it out of this part of the kitchen, and they can also have themselves a really great barbecue concept over here, then yeah. I think theres going to be that because I think that overheads a crusher. Fixed costs are a crusher. And I think that people have now become so accustomed to this idea that, hey, eating at home is cool, you know? I mean, here I am, a guy that youd think would have a pretty good insight on some of this stuff. Ive never done that, you know? Ive learned how to do it.

kara swisher

So I was mentioning, restaurants and bars are struggling to staff up to reopen fully. The industry has 1.5 million fewer jobs than before the pandemic, which is an astonishing number, despite the plenty of new opportunities. Convetional wisdom might lead me to believe that people would be excited to get back to these jobs after such a tough year. So whats going on? Why arent people taking those jobs? Why are there all those signs for every restaurant I go to, were short-staffed. Itll take longer. We dont have people.

guy fieri

Its really difficult to get your kids to eat a really healthy dinner and come to the dinner table hungry when theyve been having snacks during the day. So if you take that analogy  not even that analogy  you take that reality, and you say that were doing a lot of things to help people, which I think is awesome, and I so appreciate it. But at some point in time, weve got to pivot. And weve got to get people back to work.

kara swisher

Right, but why dont they want to get back to work? Why are they having 

guy fieri

Why would you go and eat broccoli if you just got to eat Doritos?

kara swisher

Right, I see, OK. Workers, you mean.

guy fieri

If youre not hungry, if you dont see the goal, if you dont see the real outcome of it  and dont get me wrong. The restaurant industry is not easy work, you know?

kara swisher

Well, thats my point. I mean, the Republicans are saying theyre relying on unemployment that theyre getting. I think theyre just shitty jobs. Hours and pay in the industry can sometimes be grueling. A lot of workers are in unsafe conditions 

guy fieri

But hang on a second. I want to back that up for a second. The restaurant business is awesome. A good friend of ours, their son works at In-N-Out. In-N-Out pays them good. They work hard. They have high values, high expectations. I tell this. You can make it in the restaurant business, you can make it in any business because youve got to learn to work with people. You got to learn communication skills. Youve got to be consistent. You have to present yourself. You have to deal with the public. Ba-pa-ba-pa-bappity, the list goes on and on. So for me, no, you cant sit on your ass and expect that its going to come to you because its not. And whats going to end up happening is were going to have this teeter totter. Were going to get real top-heavy over here, the people that dont know how to work and dont want to work, and then no more money to come. And then, heres the thing. Were not going to have the restaurants to get the job. If we dont get ahead of this and we dont fix this, were going to get into a situation where everybody wants a job, and you cant get a job.

kara swisher

Let me push back on you. Amazon gives $15 an hour, healthcare benefits, and everybody knows their schedule. They hired a half a million people. People want to work. Its just these conditions 

guy fieri

I think thats awesome. For somebody, for some people, I think thats probably an awesome job. Because its consistent. You go from this thing to this thing, and you do that. But I got to say that I think that the industry is got its good and its bad. Theres good places to work and bad places to work.

kara swisher

Sure, but why dont they push for increases in pay or unionization? So they can have rising wages in the restaurant industry. The restaurant industry associations have pushed back at these ideas  and naturally. Im not surprised.

guy fieri

Here is the thing weve been saying. You get bartenders, servers that are making their tips on top of their hourly, and thats awesome. And then you have people that are getting the same minimum wage that are working in the back of the house. And theres laws that say you cant make those tips split. You cant say everybodys going to get the tip because its a  again, different states  I dont know. But I do know that we need to get it straight because we have back of the house team members or untipped team members that deserve higher wage. Trust me, Im going to get some pissed people about my comment on this, but I got to be honest with you. Its got to change somewhere. So do all the prices go up? Do the taxes go down? Right now, its kind of the chicken and the egg.

kara swisher

So where do you stand on the minimum wage debate? You have some people think it should be $15. Its $7.25, and its risen to the incredible amount since it was $7.25 to $7.25  thats 10 years. Meanwhile, all these very wealthy people have gotten wealthy by a factor of a lot.

guy fieri

I think were behind. I think were behind on it by areas. I cant say that everyone  for instance, living in any major city.

kara swisher

What do you pay employees in your restaurants? Do you go with minimum wage or depend on the place? Youve got restaurants all over the world.

guy fieri

It depends on the region. It depends on the environment. It depends on the situation. And I dont think theres a restaurateur that would tell you that they dont think that that minimum wage should go up. But what they cant do is they cant get the money out of their pockets that they dont have.

kara swisher

Should workers be able to unionize, though? Because its not just the restaurants that are part. Its the workers in the restaurant.

guy fieri

Oh, youre up an alley. Youre up an alley from me that I dont have 

kara swisher

I just asked.

guy fieri

No, I cant 

kara swisher

You dont have an answer.

guy fieri

tell you because Ive heard that 

kara swisher

Because theres other things. Theres other things  high stress environment, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, lack of diversity at the top, et cetera.

guy fieri

Are we still talking about the restaurant business or the rest of the world?

kara swisher

Yeah, the restaurant business.

guy fieri

Because the restaurant  see, I love how all that comes down on the restaurant business because its a people-oriented business. But Im going to tell you what. Theres bad people everywhere. Theres bad people doing bad things to good people. I mean, that shit drives me nuts. And I dont think Im the one guy thats going to get that done. I think Im just going to be one of the army that gets together to make this move forward.

kara swisher

Im going to say youre more than one guy. But this is the industry youre in. I agree. It is pervasive across venture capital, banking, et cetera, et cetera. But this is the industry youre in, and these issues are pervasive in it. Do you think the shortage and pressure from workers is going to finally change things, that they dont have enough workers, that they have to face some of these issues that have been going on? You yourself have faced it at one of your restaurants, too. Employees at Guy Fieris American Kitchen and Bar Live Casino in Greensburg, Pennsylvania have recently alleged racial discrimination and harassment, including unequal pay for Black employees and a manager using a racial slur. This is across the entire industry that they have to face it.

guy fieri

Do I think that because of the lack of workers, its going to make restaurant  yes, to some degree. But Ill tell you what. At my restaurants, if a situation ever comes up, we get involved and address it, depending on where we are in that restaurant. And theres different levels of that.

kara swisher

So, Im curious, what did you do at your restaurant?

guy fieri

Thats a partnership that we had. And that was on a large level. That wasnt just to do with my restaurant. But of course, my name is exciting to put involved in it.

kara swisher

Yes, your name is on everything, yeah.

guy fieri

Yeah, so the situation has been resolved. And I think that, unfortunately, I dont have enough to tell you about it.

kara swisher

But its something you think workers should be able to organize to deal with things like this.

guy fieri

Listen, I dont think anybody should be held from doing anything. I think that if youve got a concern or youve got a problem and youve got a need, get it handled however best you need to do that. If that means you going directly to your supervisor, you going directly to that supervisor or supervisor, or you loading up five people to come with you to go to the next supervisor, do what you gotta do. Dont put up with shit. [MUSIC PLAYING]

kara swisher

Well be back in a minute. If you like this interview and want to hear others, follow us on your favorite podcast app. Youll be able to catch up on Sway episodes you may have missed, like my conversation with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. And youll get new ones delivered directly to you. More with Guy Fieri after the break. So youve been on TV for a while now. I hope this isnt a surprise to you, but you come across as a larger than life personality on screen. I dont know if youve noticed that. I think its probably part of the reasons why theres so many Guy Fieri and Flavortown memes and why your brand is so lasting. So how much of that is really you, and how much is performance?

guy fieri

You tell me. What you see on Triple D is that how much in the percentage of who Guy Fieri is do you think youre getting?

kara swisher

Probably a lot, unless youre an excellent actor.

guy fieri

Im not an actor. I dont have any idea about being an actor.

kara swisher

Johnny Carson was dark. Johnny Carson 

guy fieri

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Im such a  listen, this was a fluke. This whole thing was crazy. I didnt know about the show. I never even watched  I hadnt even watched TV. I still dont really watch TV. Im in the restaurant business. Thats all I do, is work. And then Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives came. And once I realized what we were going to do and how we were going to highlight my brothers and sisters in the business, not going to be a food critic. Im not coming in to say I dont like something. Thats not whats going to happen 

kara swisher

Yeah, I hear you dont like food critics.

guy fieri

Well, I mean, heres the thing. They all got to have a job, OK?

kara swisher

Im teasing.

guy fieri

They do their own thing.

kara swisher

Im referring to the Pete Wells review of your Times Square 

guy fieri

Oh, Jesus. Yeah. Hey, listen, at least it got him some props, right?

kara swisher

Yeah, it certainly did, yeah.

guy fieri

You got to find the sunshine in everything. And Im not happy-go-lucky about everything. Dont get me wrong. I can really have shitty days and be a jerk. I mean, anybody can. But my thing is, I get to go around and highlight mom-and-pop joints in different parts of the country and share with people what they do really well. But no, its no act. And if I dont like it, you wont see it.

kara swisher

Yeah. Tthats funny you had the reaction about the Pete Wells piece. Are you beyond that review, by the way?

guy fieri

I was beyond it after the day it came out, you know?

kara swisher

Were you?

guy fieri

What am I going to do, sit around? Listen, everybodys got an opinion. Everybodys got an ax to grind. Everybody wants to do something. Do I think that theres other motivations in peoples lives when they do things? Yeah, OK? All right, enough of that. Lets go to building a restaurant empire. Thats what my goal has been. So restaurants, 173 ghost kitchens on every Carnival Cruise ship, barbecue sauce, wine company, tequila company, blah, blah, blah, blah.

kara swisher

I dont think youre doing badly since that review. It doesnt seem to have affected you in any way. So you scored a three-year $80 million contract extension with Food Network, which makes you the highest paid chef on cable television. And people on the internet dont think youre getting paid enough, by the way. How did you land that deal?

guy fieri

I really wish it hadnt come out.

kara swisher

Really?

guy fieri

And why it came out, I dont know. But it is what it is. Im not embarrassed by it by any means. I mean 

kara swisher

Well, you shouldnt. You generate more than $230 million in 2020. Diners, Drive-Ins  so I think youre underpaid. You make a lot of content, Guy.

guy fieri

Well, I make content, but I make impact. To me, in context  listen, when I do five more shows, they would love to have five more shows. I wont do five more shows because Im only going to do the things that I can really make a difference about. So the money is great, thank you, and I know that the state of California is just thrilled. So anyhow.

kara swisher

Let me ask you, whats going to happen with now the Food Network, which is owned by Discovery. Its being run by David Zaslav. Theres this merger with WarnerMedia and Discovery, if it goes through. What does that mean for you and the Food Network? Are you going to be suddenly appearing on Anderson Cooper?

guy fieri

Hes a great guy, by the way. When Discovery took over Food Network, Zaslav comes to New York, and he holds up his phone. This is three years ago, right when they took over. He holds up his phone and goes, right here, you guys, this is where were going. Media. And everybodys sitting around, looking at this, going  some understood it, some didnt. But I look at where were going and how were going to do it on a worldwide level. And I think lets pour some more fuel on it. Lets get this thing going.

kara swisher

OK, well, theres a next generation of food stars on TikTok. BuzzFeed had Tasty, as you remember, which had become a great hit. Do you imagine sort of the future of food media on there?

guy fieri

I applaud it all. Bring it on. I mean, Im on TikTok. I was giving my son Ryder a hard time about TikTok. I dont have a channel, a TikTok channel, but Im subscribed.

kara swisher

Would you like to do TikTok foods? Would you see yourself moving into that area?

guy fieri

Youre very clairvoyant. There may be  you never know.

kara swisher

I dont think Im clairvoyant. It just make sense.

guy fieri

Well, Ill tell you what. You should not be surprised if you eventually see a Guy Fieri TikTok.

kara swisher

OK.

guy fieri

Maybe it wont be Guy Fieri. Maybe itll be Flavortown.

kara swisher

Flavortown, oh, interesting. So thats a yes. So last question, before you go, just so you know, I didnt tell you this, but my eldest son Louie is an excellent cook. Hes a butchers assistant this summer.

guy fieri

A lost art, by the way, Louie, and thank you. Thank you for doing that.

kara swisher

He works for Pam the Butcher in Washington, a very famous butcher here. He wants to be a chef, and he cooks beautifully. He cooks like an angel since he was eight years old, or seven years old. So what advice would you have for him in the cooking industry? Where would you imagine a young chef working, going forward?

guy fieri

Well, its kind of like you as an interviewer or as a writer or anybody that wants to aspire to an industry. Go work with somebody you admire. You may not have a fine-dining restaurant. You may not be able to get a fine-dining job. But there may be a pizza parlor that you go to where they keep the counters clean, and the owner doesnt yell at the employees. Or you had a problem with a pizza one time, and he gave you a new slice. Thats somebody who seems like they got their head on straight. And maybe thats a good starter job for you. And then interview the person thats interviewing you. Ask them questions. Dont just show up, and then all of a sudden, youre disappointed because you worked every Saturday night. Maybe you should have asked, when am I going to work?

kara swisher

He works every Saturday night. He loves it. He loves it.

guy fieri

Well, we do. Listen, youre not in the restaurant business and you dont work weekends or holidays.

kara swisher

My son travels to New Jersey to get one sandwich. Trust me.

guy fieri

Hes a good man. Dont talk because Im starving right now.

kara swisher

Yeah, its a deli there. It starts with an F. Its in Hackettstown, or I dont know where he went.

guy fieri

But see, hes got the bug.

kara swisher

In any case, do yourself a favor. Have you been to The Marshall Store for oysters?

guy fieri

No, wheres The Marshall Store?

kara swisher

Its right near you.

guy fieri

Well, its so funny because people ask me all the time about going to eat in San Francisco. And I say, Ive got to be really honest with you. When I come home, Im literally the biggest homebody youve ever met. I dont eat out. I dont go anywhere.

kara swisher

No, no, you want to go. You want to go.

guy fieri

All right, Im writing it down. [MUSIC PLAYING]

kara swisher
Astronomers spy rocky and icy wanderers of all shapes and sizes zipping past Earth all the time. But earlier this month, they were flabbergasted when they caught sight of the largest comet theyd ever seen.

One of its discoverers, Pedro Bernardinelli, an astrophysicist at the University of Pennsylvania, conservatively estimates the objects dusty, icy nucleus is between 62 and 125 miles long. That means this comet is as small as five Manhattan Islands, or its larger than the Island of Hawaii. Hale-Bopp, which lit up night skies in the late 1990s with its 25-mile-long nucleus, was long perceived to be a giant among comets. But the nucleus of this comet, Comet C/2014 UN271, is still two or three Hale-Bopps across, said Teddy Kareta, a planetary astronomy graduate student at the University of Arizona. Its just wild.

With a reasonable degree of certainty, its the biggest comet that weve ever seen, said Colin Snodgrass, an astronomer at the University of Edinburgh.
With Dr. Delaneys help, the Getty is buying a hyperspectral camera system, which is expected to arrive in the coming months, Dr. Trentelman said.

Back at the National Gallery of Art, hyperspectral reflectance and X-ray fluorescence scans of the Vermeer paintings helped identify pigments and provided insights into how Vermeer worked.

The multitude of hyperspectral data can be used to create false-color images, much like the ones that planetary scientists use to pick out subtle details in alien landscapes.

Vermeers paintings are renowned for their precise detail  so precise that some have proposed that he used an optical device called a camera obscura to delineate the correct perspectives  yet the infrared and X-ray imagery also shows rougher brush strokes in the lower layers.

In his preparatory phases, when hes kind of laying out the composition, its pretty quick, Dr. Dooley said. And its kind of sketchy. Its kind of brushy. And its more loosely handled than what I think the public often thinks about when they think of Vermeer.

As for questions about who really painted Girl With the Red Hat and Girl With a Flute, Marjorie E. Wieseman, the head of the National Gallerys department of northern European paintings, said cautiously that there were no conclusions yet.

There are some anomalies in the paintings in terms of how they relate to other works by Vermeer, she said. How many can you plausibly account for, and how many remain curiosities and just something from left field?
It took Wilkinson Schor years to realize that she wanted to design clothes rather than just edit or write stories about them. A native New Yorker with a masters in journalism, she began her career as a fashion and arts editor for The Daily Beast, and went on to work at New York Magazines The Cut and then T. Sartorially, she tended toward crisp shirtdresses for the office. I collected them fervently, she says. Yet even those chimerical pieces  half corporate polish, half billowy ease  didnt feel entirely true to her sense of style or self, and, she says, a nagging question set in: What would it look like to make clothes that I actually wanted to wear?

Around 2017, Wilkinson Schor started sneaking off during her lunch breaks and after work to visit a sample room in Manhattans garment district. Her goal was to engineer the perfect shirtdress, the standards for which  a clean, collarless silhouette; straight, easy-to-roll sleeves; a roomy but not oversized body  shed fine-tuned over her years as an avid shopper. For a long while, she thought of it as a personal project, a way to fill a gap in her wardrobe, but eventually it occurred to her that others, too, might enjoy her designs. In 2019, she left the magazine world to found Attersee.
The state suit was signed by attorneys general from 46 states and the District of Columbia and Guam. Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and South Dakota did not join the case.

Facebook asked the court to dismiss both suits in March. The company argued that it was continually challenged with competition, including from new rivals such as TikTok. It also argued that the regulators had failed to prove how the services, which are free, harmed consumers. The judges dismissal of both suits, so early in process, stunned regulators and Facebook executives.

The judge, James E. Boasberg of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, wondered why the states had waited so long to try to unwind Facebooks deals for Instagram and WhatsApp. Regulators had not tried to block them when they happened. He also rejected allegations that Facebook squashed rival apps by blocking their ability to easily interact with the social media platform.

Ultimately, this antitrust action is premised on public, high-profile conduct, nearly all of which occurred over six years ago, he wrote, before the launch of the Apple Watch or Alexa or Periscope, when Kevin Durant still played for the Oklahoma City Thunder and when Ebola was the virus dominating headlines.

Judge Boasberg, who was appointed to his current post by President Barack Obama, said the F.T.C. did not sufficiently prove that Facebook was a monopoly. He said the agencys definition for social media was too vague, and in a reference to an interpretation of antitrust law prevalent in courts that is anchored in consumer prices, he noted that the product was free.

It is almost as if the agency expects the court to simply nod to the conventional wisdom that Facebook is a monopolist, he wrote. After all, no one who hears the title of the 2010 film The Social Network wonders which company it is about.

But, he said, monopoly power is a term of art under federal law with a precise economic meaning.
Well suited to desert conditions, camels were used in medieval times as pack animals along the Silk Road. Theyre still used by nomadic tribes in much of Central and South Asia  in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. Occasionally theyre still used in Turkey.

With a legacy rooted in ancient Turkic tribes, the community of Turkish camel owners, trainers and dromedary lovers is still vibrant and competitive. But the festival has become something of a niche expression in modern Turkey. These days, it seems to be as much about socializing, gossiping and drinking as it is about the camels battling it out in the sand.
Good morning.

California renters teetering on the edge of homelessness may now be able to breathe a small sigh of relief as lawmakers move forward a last-minute deal extending eviction protections through Sept. 30.

Even though our state has reopened, hundreds of thousands of Californians are grappling with rental debt and the threat of eviction, said David Chiu, a State Assembly member who leads the housing and community development committee. Removing eviction protections now, while billions of rent relief dollars are still available, would be a disaster and exacerbate our homelessness crisis.

The states eviction moratorium was set to expire on Wednesday, meaning that landlords would have been able to start the process for kicking out renters who were behind on payments.

Although Gov. Gavin Newsom has promoted his plan to use billions of federal stimulus dollars to cover the entirety of low-income tenants back rent, advocates say that many of the states pandemic-hit renters still remain at risk of becoming homeless.
Young adults opt out

As the U.S. vaccination campaign loses steam, its increasingly clear that skeptical young adults are one of the biggest barriers to mass immunity.

In a federal report released last week, only about one-third of adults ages 18 to 39 reported being vaccinated, with especially low rates among those who are Black; among people 24 or younger; and among those who had lower incomes, less education and no health insurance.

The reasons are complex. Some young adults are staunchly opposed. Others are merely uninterested. Public health officials cite an overlapping mix of inertia, fear, busy schedules and misinformation. And the straightforward sales pitch for older people  a vaccine could save your life  does not always work on healthy 20-somethings.

Another huge obstacle, in some cases, are parents. Although children as young as 12 can get a shot, many guardians are worried about side effects or frightened by the newness of the shots  and have prevented their children from getting them.
Im nervous about whats in the vaccine, said Ms. Burke, a senior at Western Michigan University who is from Chicago. I think personally Ill put it off until I absolutely must get it.

Ms. Burke said that her family wanted her to get the shot but that she worried about the vaccines affecting womens reproductive systems, a concern that came up in multiple interviews with young women. Scientists have said there is no evidence that the vaccines affect fertility or pregnancy.

Still, rare but real side effects have emerged as a serious concern, especially for young people who feel they are at low risk from the virus itself. Johnson & Johnson vaccinations were paused briefly this spring after the discovery of rare blood clots in young women. And federal health officials said last week that the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines may have caused heart problems in about 1,200 Americans, many of them under age 30, though they said the benefits of vaccination continued to far outweigh the risks.

Not all that long ago, most people in their teens and 20s were not eligible for a vaccine. In the winter and early spring, as demand outpaced supply, states prioritized their oldest and sickest residents for shots. By late April, all adults were eligible. But by then, case numbers had fallen sharply from their winter peak, and demand in the youngest age groups never approached the levels seen among older adults. Many colleges, but far from all, will require students to be vaccinated before returning for fall classes.

I think that, for the younger generation, we now really have to build the case for them to be vaccinated, said Dr. Sarah Van Orman, the chief health officer for the University of Southern Californias student health system. I think we have a long ways to go for that.

Of course, millions of young adults have already been vaccinated and others still plan to get a shot. Pop-up vaccine clinics at workplaces, transit stops and Major League Soccer games, including one last week in Kansas City, Kan., have helped reach more people in that age group. Several states are trying lotteries and other incentives to drum up interest. Still, many young people said they did not see a pressing reason to get vaccinated.
Mr. Biden has said he plans to follow it with another bill, which would focus on care industry workers and other elements of human infrastructure, and would be more likely to pass with only Democratic votes. Climate activists are now pinning their hopes to that legislation.

We in the advocacy community are really focused on the second part of this, which we think is going to be more ambitious and bolder on the climate issues, Elizabeth Gore, the vice president for political affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund, said in an interview. We are looking at that as our primary focus for our advocacy.

But there is no guarantee that the future bill will include the kinds of provisions that advocates say are necessary to containing emissions in the power and transportation sectors. And ultimately, whats included in that legislation will largely be up to Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, the most conservative Democratic senator  who represents one of the states that are most heavily reliant on the carbon energy industry, and who himself has close ties to it.

It was Mr. Manchins insistence on finding bipartisan compromise that scuttled the White Houses hopes of passing the American Jobs Plan through the process of budgetary reconciliation, which would remove the need for Republican votes. Now that Mr. Manchin and a crew of moderate senators have hammered out a compromise on infrastructure, it remains to be seen whether he will support an ambitious, Democrats-only proposal to reel in fossil fuels.

If he did so, it would go against many of the patterns he has established as a legislator.

Mr. Manchin won election to the Senate in 2010, swimming against the tide of West Virginias Republican shift, partly thanks to a TV ad in which he shot a bullet into a copy of President Barack Obamas cap-and-trade proposal.
I am glad that my yearslong fight to have my school see me for who I am is over, he said. Being forced to use the nurses room, a private bathroom and the girls room was humiliating for me, and having to go to out-of-the-way bathrooms severely interfered with my education. Trans youth deserve to use the bathroom in peace without being humiliated and stigmatized by their own school boards and elected officials.

As is the Supreme Courts practice, it gave no reasons for declining to hear the school boards appeal.

In the excessive force case, Lombardo v. St. Louis, No. 20-391, the justices ordered an appeals court to take another look at a ruling in favor of police officers accused of suffocating a man by pressing on his back while he was facedown on the ground. In their petition seeking Supreme Court review, lawyers for the mans family said the incident was reminiscent of the murder of George Floyd, the Black man whose death in Minneapolis police custody helped set off last summers racial justice protests.

The case started when police officers in St. Louis arrested Nicholas Gilbert, a 27-year-old homeless man, for trespassing in a condemned building and failing to appear in court for a traffic ticket. They brought him to a holding cell in a police station. Later, responding to an apparent suicide attempt, officers handcuffed and shackled Mr. Gilbert.

Three officers held Gilberts limbs down at the shoulders, biceps and legs, the Supreme Courts unsigned opinion said. At least one other placed pressure on Gilberts back and torso. Gilbert tried to raise his chest, saying: It hurts. Stop.

After 15 minutes of struggling, Mr. Gilberts breathing became abnormal. The officers rolled Gilbert onto his side and then his back to check for a pulse, the opinion said. Finding none, they performed chest compressions and rescue breathing. An ambulance eventually transported Gilbert to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Mr. Gilberts parents sued, losing in the federal appeals court in St. Louis, which ruled that the officers had not used unconstitutionally excessive force.
OTTAWA  After the discovery of hundreds of bodies in unmarked graves at former schools for Indigenous children, communities across Canada are canceling or altering plans to celebrate a patriotic holiday on Thursday, increasing the pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call off national celebrations.

For decades, families were forced to send their children to boarding schools to assimilate them, in what a national Truth and Reconciliation Commission found in 2015 was an effort to wipe out their cultures. With the discovery of the bodies at two schools in Western Canada, most of them children, many members of Indigenous communities and their leaders say that its inappropriate at this moment to celebrate the country behind the system.

Celebrating Canada Day is being seen as inconsiderate to all the childrens lives that were lost and we encourage everyone to consider the price these children had to pay at the hands of the Canadian government, Chief Bobby Cameron of the Saskatchewan Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations said in a statement.

Canada Day marks the date, July 1, 1867, when three British colonies were joined together to create the Dominion of Canada. Many Indigenous people have never commemorated Canada Day and view their Canadian citizenship as something that was imposed on them. Others, however, have actively participated in celebrations in the past.
The morning mist was still thick between the banyan trees when the farmer appeared in the clearing, an ax slung over his shoulder as he led a water buffalo on a rope leash. In the slanting sunlight, unhurried and companionable, the two picked their way through the undergrowth, a vision of the rural idyll.

Then, when the farmer reached the other end of the clearing, he turned and began his trek again. And again. And again, in a constant loop.

Come over here a bit! called out one photographer on the edge of the glade in southeastern China.

Thats the way! said another photographer, shouting out directions and encouragement.

OK, no need to walk anymore!

With that, the visitors called it a wrap, satisfied they had gotten the perfect photographs of the bucolic scene.
SYDNEY, Australia  Australia faced a grim and anxiety-inducing challenge on Monday: simultaneous outbreaks of the coronavirus in several parts of the country, most notably in Sydney, fueled by the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant.

In Sydney, which has gone into at least a two-week lockdown, cases grew by 18 on Monday and now stand at 130. It is the worst outbreak Sydney has seen since last year.

Other states across Australia also reported a handful of new cases, threatening the nations successful control of a virus that has ravaged many countries far worse.

Restrictions have been toughened, with lockdowns in Perth and Darwin, along with Sydney.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison hosted a rare evening news conference Monday to announce an expansion of Australias lagging vaccination program after an emergency cabinet meeting.
LONDON  A huge fire broke out near a major train station in London on Monday, sending a fireball into the street and vast plumes of smoke over parts of the city. About 100 firefighters fought for two hours to bring the blaze under control.

The police said the explosion was not related to terrorism, calming nerves after onlookers posted dramatic images of the flames shooting out of a garage located in the archways beneath the Elephant and Castle station.

Five people were inside the garage, which housed an auto repair shop, when the fire broke out shortly before 2 p.m. One person was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, according to the London Fire Brigades station commander, James Ryan. The four others had already left when the firefighters arrived, he added.

The London Ambulance Service said six people were treated for injuries at the scene, and one was transported to the hospital.
WARSAW  Polands Catholic Church, assailed by accusations that it for years ignored the sexual abuse of minors by clergy members, on Monday acknowledged that from July 2018 through the end of last year, it had received complaints of abuse against 368 boys and girls.

Pleading for forgiveness from those wronged and all those shocked by the evil in the church, the head of the Polish church, Archbishop Wojciech Polak, said the figures do not express the full depth of the drama of sexual abuse of minors perpetrated by some clergymen.

Nearly half the latest cases reported related to accusations of abuse against victims under age 15.

The timing of the figures release  just days after the Vatican said it was investigating accusations against a retired Polish cardinal of negligence on sexual abuse  suggested an effort by the Catholic Church in Poland to show that it is serious about grappling with sex crimes by the clergy, an issue that has badly tarnished its reputation and antagonized Rome.

But the figures, compiled by the church in a voluntary survey of dioceses and monasteries across Poland, gave no clear indication of whether the problem had grown worse in recent years. More than three quarters of complaints reported on Monday related to incidents of alleged abuse that occurred before 2018, with some dating back to 1958.
Most but not all of the groups are Shiite Muslim, who are a majority in Iraq, and the most powerful ones are backed by Shiite Iran. In 2016, they were merged into the Iraqi governments security force.

Despite that, the most powerful militias on the Iraqi government payroll are only nominally under control of Baghdad. The Popular Mobilization Forces are made up of more than 50 different paramilitary groups with an estimated 160,000 fighters.

Iran over the last two years has decreased its financial support for proxy paramilitary groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon because of the effect of U.S. sanctions, lower oil prices and the pandemic. So the dozens of militia forces under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces have relied more on Iraqi government funding and moneymaking schemes that include oil smuggling and extortion at Iraqi borders and ports, according to security analysts and government officials.

American officials said they had not relied on Iraqi intelligence to identify and monitor the targets hit overnight, and had not consulted with the Iraqi government in advance. It was not known whether the United States notified Russia in advance of the airstrikes on the Syrian side of the border, but both countries operate in the same airspace in Syria.

The group Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada said four of its fighters stationed along the border had been killed in the strikes.

From now on, we will go to open war with the American occupation, the first action of which is targeting the enemy planes in beloved Iraqs sky, the group said in a statement.
GENEVA  The United Nations human rights chief urged nations to take action to root out systemic racism against people of African descent on Monday, as she released a report calling for measures to dismantle discrimination and for sweeping changes to policing, as well as reparations.

The status quo is untenable, Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement. Systemic racism needs a systemic response. There is today a momentous opportunity to achieve a turning point for racial equality and justice.

The 20-page report and an accompanying 95-page conference paper draw on evidence from 60 countries. Work on them started after the May 2020 death of George Floyd, a Black man killed in Minnesota by a white police officer. Its release comes days after the officer, Derek Chauvin, was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison.

We could not find a single example of a state that has fully reckoned with the past or comprehensively accounted for the impacts on the lives of people of African descent today, said Mona Rishmawi, who supervised the preparation of the report.
What is Netting Zero?

It is difficult right now to imagine a world after the Covid-19 crisis. As social distancing is lifted and the economy resumes, we will still be forced to face the great existential challenge of our time: the climate emergency. How can we rebuild our economies and societies in a way that recognizes the urgency of climate action? How can we face the climate emergency head-on, seeking transformative solutions for the sectors and industries that drive the bulk of our carbon emissions?

These questions underlie Netting Zero, a series of virtual events on climate, hosted by The New York Times. Many of these themes will also inform our programming at The New York Times Climate Hub, our first hybrid festival that will we will host alongside COP 26 this November in Glasgow.

Want to get caught up on past episodes of Netting Zero? You can now watch them all below.

Episode 9: Reimagining Our Built Environment for People and the Planet
An Indian man has filed a complaint against his wife, her family and their marriage mediator for allegedly tricking him into marrying a transgender person.

A resident of Kanpur City, in Indias Uttar Pradesh state, recently visited a local police station to file a First Information report (FIR) against his wife of nearly two months, her family and the marriage mediator, for failing to mention that the woman was transgender. He accused accused his in-laws of deceiving both him and his family by not revealing his wifes original gender at the time of the marriage, on April 28. The unnamed man claims that he only found out that his wife was transgender after taking her to a gynecologist for a checkup.

Photo: Vibhav Nagare/Unsplash

A resident of Shastri Nagar married a woman from the Panki area of the district, Police Inspector Kunj Bihari Mishra told India.com. After their marriage, the bride was found uncomfortable in making relationships with the groom and told him that she had health issues. As the days passed, the man began to suspect that something was amiss. He finally took his wife to a gynecologist for a check-up who confirmed that she was a transgender.

An FIR against eight persons, including mans in-laws, has been lodged under relevant sections of the IPC, and investigations are underway. Action will be taken based on the investigations, the inspector added.

In his complaint, the man claimed that his wifes genitals were not fully developed and she was unable to have intimate relations with him. Baffled after getting the medical results from the gynecologist, the man immediately visited a police station to go after the people he believes are responsible for deceiving him.

Believe it or not, weve heard this story before. Last year, we wrote about an Indonesian man who divorced his wife 2 days after their marriage, after finding out she was really a man.
28/06/2021 - The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs globally, but they are weathering the storm thanks to strong government support packages, according to a new OECD report.

The OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Outlook 2021 looks at measures taken to help SMEs survive, and in many cases thrive, during the pandemic. It also considers the longer-term effects of the crisis and how countries can create the conditions for a greener, more sustainable and inclusive recovery. The report finds that SMEs and entrepreneurs are fundamental in driving the recovery and confirms that government rescue packages are playing a crucial role.

And there are many encouraging signs. In Australia and France, for instance, business startup rates are now 20 per cent above pre-crisis levels. The crisis has also strengthened SME resilience. More than 50 per cent of SMEs in OECD countries have increased their use of digital tools, thus helping to narrow digital divides with their larger counterparts.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also created new opportunities for SMEs and entrepreneurs, through shifting global value chains, stronger local business ecosystems and the green transition.

But despite these positive developments, some challenges remain. Many support mechanisms for SMEs and entrepreneurs came in the form of debt which, if unwound too rapidly, could precipitate a wave of bankruptcies that jeopardise the recovery. Government support has also been less effective at reaching smaller and younger firms, the self-employed, as well as women and minority entrepreneurs, thereby widening pre-existing inequalities.

Micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises are important engines of growth, accounting for 99% of businesses in OECD countries and driving the creation and diffusion of innovations that boost productivity, drive stronger growth and create jobs, OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said, presenting the report by video on the occasion of the United Nations Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSME) Day. He also called on more SMEs to make the digital leap, as digital tools have become crucial for business continuity during the COVID19 crisis. (Watch the live UN event).

The report, the first in a series of publications launched during OECD MSME Week, also highlights how recent recovery packages have placed a high priority on digitalising, reskilling and greening SMEs to build back better. Looking ahead, governments ability to leverage the momentum in SME innovation and entrepreneurship will be key to converting them into a broader engine for the recovery.

See the 38 individual Country profiles, which provide insights on SME performance and entrepreneurial trends, and assess the factors of vulnerability and resilience of SMEs and entrepreneurs. The profiles also present national SME and entrepreneurship policy frameworks and recent policy initiatives to sustain SME liquidity and support the recovery.

See more information on OECD work with small and medium-size enterprises: http://www.oecd.org/cfe/smes/

For further information, journalists are invited to contact Sandrine Kergroach in the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, Pierre-Alain Pionnier in the Statistics and Data Directorate or Louise Fietz (Tel. +33 1 45 24 80 91) in the OECD Media Office.

Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to preserve individual liberty and improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.
OECD MSME Week Events

Monday 28 June - UN MSMEs Day

2021 SME and Entrepreneurship Outlook: Meet the Authors, 10:00  11:30 (CEST) - REGISTER HERE



SMEs, self-employed and entrepreneurs have been hard hit during the COVID-19 crisis. Despite the magnitude of the shock, available data point to vigorous business dynamism, sustained start-up creation, no major increase in bankruptcies. The crisis has also served as a catalyst for (some forms of) innovation and entrepreneurship in most countries. The 2021 OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Outlook provides new evidence on the critical role governments and their support packages have played in cushioning the blow. It also stresses that not all people, places and firms have been able to get support as needed, but those who did have performed better. In addition, the report explores through a forward-looking lens, how the crisis may have exacerbated vulnerabilities or revealed sources of resilience among SMEs and entrepreneurs, looking also at the structural policy responses to the crisis and efforts by governments to foster resilience for a more sustainable recovery

SEE THE AGENDA

Participation in UN MSMEs Day Event, Launch of the 2021 SME and Entrepreneurship Outlook by OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann, 14:00  16:30 (CEST)

REGISTER HERE. Watch the event live on UN Web TV

In partnership with the International Council for Small Businesses (ICSB)

The UN MSMEs Day 2021 will take place in a fully virtual format and focus on placing MSMEs at the centre of an inclusive and sustainable, resilient and inclusive recovery. Under the theme Achieving the SDGs requires resilient and flourishing MSMEs everywhere, the MSME Day aims to strengthen awareness on the contributions MSMEs make to economies, communities and societies, and foster a dialogue on the policies needed to empower MSMEs to drive the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann and H.E. Stuart Nash, Minister for Economic and Regional Development, Forestry, Small Business and Tourism, New Zealand, and Chair of the OECD Digital for SMEs, initiative participate in the high-level plenary session.

Tuesday 29 June - Gender

Launch of Entrepreneurship Policies through a Gender Lens, 15:00  16:30 (CEST) - REGISTER HERE

A joint initiative with the Global Women's Entrepreneurship Policy Network (Global WEP)



Women are less likely to be entrepreneurs than men and tend to operate smaller and less dynamic businesses. Is this an inevitable consequence of womens preferences, or does it reflect poorly adapted entrepreneurship support and institutional obstacles in society and economy? The report Entrepreneurship Policies through a Gender Lens, prepared by the OECD and the Global Womens Entrepreneurship Policy (GWEP) Network, highlights many longstanding issues related to the scope and effectiveness of womens entrepreneurship policies  many of which have been exacerbated by the COVID19 pandemic  and points the way to more effective policy. Based on an assessment of entrepreneurship trends and barriers and a collection of 27 policy insight notes by leading international experts, it examines a range of issues including fostering a gendersensitive entrepreneurship culture, building entrepreneurship skills for women, improving womens access to financial capital, supporting networks for women entrepreneurs and creating supportive regulatory environments

SEE THE AGENDA

Wednesday 30 June - Digital

Launch of Enhancing SMES' Resilience through Digitalisation: The Case of Korea, 9:00  10:30 (CEST) - REGISTER HERE

Co-hosted with the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Korea to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developement (OECD)

Digitalisation can help small businesses become resilient. For businesses, being resilient means having the flexibility to adapt to disruptions and continue their operations, and digital technologies can serve as a tool for businesses in building their resilient capacity. In general, the limited capacity of SMEs, such as financial and human resources, leave them with little room for manoeuvre in challenging circumstances. However, advancement of digital technologies and development of digital service models offer small businesses enhanced accessibility to business tools, which can allow SMEs to quickly adapt their activities during crisis without the need for a large upfront investment.

The report investigates the role of government programmes in strengthening SMEs resilience to external shocks, by focusing on SME digitalisation policies implemented in Korea during the COVID-19 outbreak. The report examines how digital tools and services have made SMEs more resilient during the pandemic, as well as the challenges that SMEs face in going digital. The analysis is complemented by additional evidence and insights coming from international policy experience.

SEE THE AGENDA

Frontiers of Digital Learning: Bridging the Digital Skills Gaps for SMEs and Entrepreneurs, 16:00  18:00 (CEST) - REGISTER HERE

A joint OECD webinar with the Digital for SMEs Global Initiative (D4SME) and Geography on Higher Education (GoHE)

Life-long learning systems are critical to improve availability and access of digital skills to SMEs, in all regions and cities. The OECD report on The Digital Transformation of SMEs highlights that the digital skills gap is one of the greatest barriers to SME digital adoption. Due to size and resource constrains, many small firms are more dependent on their ecosystem and networks to access the relevant skills to transform their business models to be digital, and accordingly more productive, sustainable and resilient. This means, that SMEs have to be aware about their needs in terms of digital skills and proactive in reaching out to their ecosystem and networks to up-skill, re-skill, or externalise digital functions.

Actions are needed to help SMEs access to digital skills within their ecosystems, and help them close the digital skills gap. Higher education institutions, for example, can improve availability and access to digital skills. Higher education institutions, governments, large firms and technology practitioners can work together to develop practical and innovative digital learning for SMEs. Proximity among these actors can facilitate collaboration. Impactful digital learning is achieved when stakeholders from private and public sectors come together with education institutions to implement an effective lifelong learning system.

This webinar will discuss the many innovative approaches that can improve availability and accessibility of digital skills for SMEs, in all regions and cities. The discussion will highlight the role HEIs, large firms and technology providers are increasingly playing to offer learning opportunities, which SMEs should take advantage of to close the digital skill gap.

SEE THE AGENDA

Thursday 1 July - Finance

Mobilising SME Finance for a Resilient, Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery, 14:00  16:00 (CEST) - REGISTER HERE

Joint event with the Bank of the Council of Europe (CEB)

SMEs were hard hit by the COVID-19 crisis, often relying on government support to survive the initial shock, prolonged restrictions and a drop in demand for their products and services. This has left many small businesses with a high debt burden. The degree to which this will lead to high levels of insolvencies in the coming months is still uncertain and a cause for concern.

As businesses and governments look to the recovery, SMEs will be front and centre in providing employment as well as innovative solutions to the worlds most pressing challenges, such as the climate crisis, while ensuring that no one is left behind. Sustained access to a diverse range of financing instruments will be crucial to continued contributions by SMEs and entrepreneurs to sustainable and inclusive growth.

This webinar, organised by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities and the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), will bring together experts, policy makers, financial institutions and SME representatives to discuss some of the key issues around SME financing today.

SEE THE AGENDA



Friday 2 June - Skills

Introducing EECOLE - Entrepreneurship Education, Collaboration, Engagement, 13:00  15:00 (CEST) - REGISTER HERE

EECOLE is an international network connecting higher education institutions (HEIs) with their partners, including public authorities, firms, banks, civil society, etc. By joining EECOLE these actors, all together, can create shared narratives and common goals, in a neutral environment, facilitated by the OECD Secretariat.

HEIs have the potential to help their communities and networks be more entrepreneurial, more innovative and sustainable, and more inclusive. They can provide individuals with entrepreneurial mind-sets and skills to improve their resilience and productivity vis-a-vis the future of work and society. HEIs can support regional development and post-pandemic recovery plans by providing information and intelligence about investment opportunities, in all regions and cities. HEIs can generate economic and societal value in many different areas. However, to achieve these results there is a need for policy synergies, specific institutions and professional figures to be created. Above all, there is a need for mutual understanding and support between HEIs and their partners. There is a need for EECOLE.

In this webinar, international experts will discuss how EECOLE can help strengthen the linkage between HEIs and their partners, in all regions.

SEE THE AGENDA
28/06/2021 - Indonesia could become a world leader in clean energy with further reforms to mobilise investment in renewables and energy efficiency, according to a new OECD report.

The OECD Clean Energy Finance and Investment Policy Review of Indonesia says Indonesia has abundant untapped potential for finance and investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency, areas that are key to accelerating the countrys green energy transition and supporting a sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. Reforms to create a clear and consistent regulatory environment for renewables, for example by using competitive tenders to foster competition and cost reductions, could help to address this investment shortfall. The recent introduction of the countrys first energy performance standards should drive further uptake of efficiency solutions.

The clean energy sector will play a crucial role in supporting Indonesias green recovery, OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said, presenting the report alongside Indonesias Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto at a virtual launch event. Creating a sound, transparent and predictable regulatory environment is key to attract the hundreds of billions of dollars of private investment needed to drive Indonesias clean energy transition, and the countrys green recovery more broadly.

With its sprawling volcanic geography, Indonesias potential to generate geothermal and hydropower ranks among the largest in the world. Opportunities for tidal and solar energy are also substantial. However, investment in renewable energy has so far fallen short of the level Indonesia needs to reach its 2025 clean energy targets, due in part to regulatory bottlenecks. As of 2019, Indonesia had utilised less than 2% of its total renewable energy potential.

Indonesias energy services market is largely limited to small engineering firms, the Review says, and fossil fuels continue to dominate power investment, where for every dollar invested in renewable electricity generation in 2019, three dollars were invested in coal power. This is despite the fact that the cost of renewable technologies is generally competitive, particularly compared to the diesel generators that are ubiquitous outside the Java region.

The Review recommends that Indonesia use the period of post-pandemic recovery as an opportunity to shift away from fossil fuels and embark on a low-carbon path. Widening corporate access to renewables would also help to make Indonesia a more competitive investment destination, as companies continue to pledge more climate action. Further incentives are needed, however, and public authorities can lead by example, for instance by building upon recent efforts to procure high-efficiency street lighting.

Assistance from the international community can also play a key role in helping Indonesia to accelerate its clean energy transition. International partners can help develop a robust pipeline of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, for example by providing technical assistance for training and capacity building aimed at certified investment-grade energy audits. Leveraging blended finance mechanisms such as the SDG Indonesia One Fund can also help to mobilise private capital for clean energy projects in Indonesia.

Note to Editors:

The Paris-based OECD is an international organisation that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people worldwide. Working with member and partner countries, it provides a forum where governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to economic, social and governance challenges.





The OECDs 38 members are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.





Indonesia is one of the OECDs five Key Partners, along with Brazil, China, India and South Africa. Key Partners contribute to the OECDs work in a sustained and comprehensive manner and are encouraged to participate in the work of the Organisations substantive bodies through partnerships, adherence to OECD instruments and integration into OECD statistical reporting and information systems. Indonesia was the first Key Partner to sign a Framework of Cooperation Agreement with the OECD, in 2012, taking the bilateral relationship to a more strategic, whole-of-government level whilst providing a mechanism to jointly decide on mutual priority areas of co-operation. Indonesia takes part as an Associate Member or Participant in nine OECD committees and their subsidiary bodies, is an Adherent to 15 OECD legal instruments and is included in a wide array of OECD publications and statistical databases.





The establishment of the OECD Jakarta office in 2015 has strengthened this cooperation still further, as has the implementation of biannual OECD-Indonesia Joint Work Programmes since 2015. (The work streams of the third JWP, for 2019-2021, have been adjusted to take into account the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and the governments ongoing response.) The OECD-Indonesia collaboration will be further expanded with a new, fourth Joint Work Programme and with Indonesia taking over the G20 Presidency at the end of 2021.





More information on OECD work with Indonesia is available at www.oecd.org/indonesia/.





For further information, journalists are invited to contact Catherine Bremer in the OECD Media Office (+33 1 45 24 80 97).

Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to to preserve individual liberty and improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.
The long-awaited Street enhancment works have begun on the Green in Birr.

In his final engagement as Cathaoirleach of Offaly County Council, Councillor John Carroll met with Council Engineer Joseph Dunican and Kevin Kennedy of Dunne Brothers Ltd (pictured above) on the street on Monday morning last.

Dunne Brothers are the appointed contractors for the works. Dunne Brothers Ltd is a well-respected civil engineering firm which is based in Mountmellick.

This is another major investment in Birr Town's infrastructure, said Cllr Carroll, which will involve the installation of new footpaths and Public lighting, the installation of new kerb alignments to modern design standards, the removal of existing overhead power lines; the installation of the necessary buried services to facilitate the work, and some planting to enhance biodiversity and visual amenity."

The councillor said he is assured every effort will be taken to minimise disruption to businesses, residents, pedestrians and traffic and Dunne Brothers have notified the immediate residents that as Project Supervisors for the works they will deal with all inquiries regarding on-going works.

Funding for the work is provided by the Dept of Rural and Community Development under the Town and Village Renewal scheme, with support from the Municipal roads Budget and Destination town funding.

Cllr Carroll believes it is a wonderful project, which is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022. He asked the public to please show patience with the necessary inconvenience.

We have a wonderful town and when this work is complete it will enhance it even more.

Peter Dunne, Managing Director of Dunnes Brothers this week sent a letter to every resident in the area advising them of the forthcoming works.

He said the location of the works will be, on the north side of the street, between the Masonic Hall on Rosse Row, and Murphy's Garage at Emmet Square.

On the south side of the street, the extent of the work lies between the Marian Hall on William Street and the Bank of Ireland at Emmet Square, including the entrance driveway to Marian Hall carpark / Cornmarket Street from The Green.

Mr Dunne said there are five purposes to the work: To install new footpaths and public lights in the interest of pedestrian safety; to install new kerb alignments to modern design standards in the interest of traffic calming; to remove the existing overhead power-lines in the interest of visual amenity; to install new trees in the interest of biodiversity and visual amenity; to install the necessary buried work to accommodate the works.

Funding for the work is being made available from the Department of Rural and Community Development to Offaly County Council under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme. The works will continue from now into the new year.

Mr Dunne said project completion is anticipated in the first quarter of 2022.

He said that in general the machinery used will include an excavator, a dumper or tractor and trailer, and delivery trucks.

He added that there will be a number of measures to minimise the impact on residents, including: working hours will be restricted from 7.30am to 6pm; the works will be completed on a phased basis in order to minimise disruption; for public safety, the works will adhere to a Traffic Management Plan catering for pedestrians and all other road users. This will entail the use of traffic management signage, barriers, etc; from time to time, car owners will be requested to temporarily park outside of the designated work areas; access and egress to residents and businesses will as far as reasonably practicable remain unaffected; the site foreman will liaise with property owners throughout the project, and deal with any particular matters or concerns that may arise.

He concluded by saying that all enquiries about the ongoing works should be directed to Dunne Brothers Ltd.
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WASHINGTON (TNS)  It was the image progressives most feared last year as Joe Biden clinched the long 2020 Democratic primary.

A President Biden standing at the White House alongside moderate Republicans like Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine, announcing a deal that garnered support from the middle, but failed to make meaningful change on issues they cared about.

That fear played out last week as the president announced a $1 trillion infrastructure plan with the support of a handful of centrist Republicans and Democrats, but which fell far short of progressives demands on climate change and additional tax credits and subsidies for families, home health workers and college students.

Biden has kept progressives mostly happy during the first six months of his presidency. But the infrastructure plan poses a significant test to that relationship.

We cannot afford a president and an administration that trades progress and policies that will make peoples lives better for the hope of bipartisanship when there is no track record, no history to suggest that is possible, said Mary Creasman, the CEO of the California League of Conservation Voters, who said the bipartisan bill doesnt do enough to address climate change.

Our biggest danger is we may not have the leadership that is willing to do the hard thing and say, Look, sometimes as a leader, I dont get to make everybody happy, Creasman said.

Biden initially appeased progressives by promising to link the bipartisan deal with a second Democrats-only bill that would address issues such as child and elder care, stating that he wouldnt sign one without the other.

But when moderate Republicans who had negotiated the deals framework with White House officials threatened to pull their support, Biden issued a lengthy statement walking it back.

That seemed sufficient to mollify at least the Republicans involved in negotiating the deal. Three of those GOP senators, Romney, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Rob Portman of Ohio, said Sunday they continued to support the package.

But on Monday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., whose backing is likely the key to unlocking broader Republican support for the package, indicated hes not yet satisfied.

Speaking in Louisville, Kentucky, McConnell pressured House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to agree that the House would vote on a bipartisan Senate bill, whether or not its accompanied by a second bill that Democrats will attempt to pass using the budget reconciliation process, which requires just 50 votes.

The presidents promise is nice, McConnell said. But isnt determinative unless the majority leader and the speaker agree.

Such a reversal from Pelosi, who emphatically told reporters last week there aint going to be a bipartisan bill up for a vote in the House without a companion reconciliation bill, appears unlikely because it could prompt an uprising from the more progressive members of her conference, who arent inclined to back a scaled-down bipartisan package without reassurances a second, larger package will follow.

Arguably the most prominent progressive in the House, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., signaled in an interview Sunday that her party, not Republicans, holds the White House and majorities  however slim  on Capitol Hill.

This is our one big shot, not just in terms of family, child care, Medicare, but on climate change, she said during an interview on NBCs Meet the Press. In those areas where there is agreement, Republicans are more than welcome to join so that we can get this work on infrastructure done. But that doesnt mean the president should be limited by Republicans, particularly when we have a House majority, we have 50 Democratic senators and we have the White House.

Certainly House progressives have the power to reject the scaled-back bipartisan bill if it is not paired with passage of a larger reconciliation package. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., another progressive lawmaker, vowed to do just that Monday.

Were not going to pass a bipartisan infrastructure package unless we are simultaneously passing a reconciliation package that includes our popular priorities and delivers on what the American people want, need and deserve, she said.

The problem is that Democrats, even with a 50-50 Senate split in which Vice President Kamala Harris could break a tie, dont appear to have the votes in the Senate to enact the sort of sweeping $5 trillion package proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and supported by progressives.

Several moderate Democratic senators, worried about next years midterm elections, have privately expressed concerns to administration officials and leadership about Bidens plan to pay for major investments in workers and families with a tax increase on corporations or wealthy people, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., the most conservative member of the Democratic conference who has emerged as a power broker in infrastructure talks, signaled an openness to a second reconciliation bill. But he said Sunday hes unlikely to support one laden with progressive priorities costing more than $2 trillion.

It probably will not be everything our most progressive members want, said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a close ally of the president. It will probably be more than what some of our moderate members want.

Biden last week pointed to the larger-than-expected $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package he enacted in March as proof of his progressive bonafides. And he predicted that his legislative high-wire act will ultimately succeed because Democrats will understand the procedural hurdles of legislating and, ultimately, accept the outcome.

My party is divided, but my party is also rational, he said. If they cant get every single thing they want, but all that they have in the bill ... before them is good, are they going to vote no? I dont think so.

The next several weeks will test that proposition. Biden is scheduled to travel to Wisconsin on Tuesday as he shifts his focus toward building support for the bipartisan infrastructure package, leaving the thorny questions about the legislative process to lawmakers.

Hell likely highlight the bipartisan plans climate change provisions, such as funding for a network of electric vehicle charging stations and major investments in public transit and Amtrak.

National economic adviser Brian Deese and presidential counselor Anita Dunn, in a memo shared with the press Monday, touted the bipartisan framework as the largest investment in clean transmission in American history (that) will create good-paying union jobs addressing legacy pollution and advancing environmental justice.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday refused to say if Biden would sign the bipartisan bill without the companion reconciliation bill, telling reporters that he is eager to sign both while deferring to Congress on the mechanics of getting the legislation to his desk. Its up to them to determine the sequencing of the legislation, she said.

But behind the scenes, aides say Biden will continue to work the phones, relying on his own relationships and personal instincts to keep two fragile coalitions  a bipartisan Senate majority and the House Democratic conference  from splintering.

I am a big believer in Joe Bidens ability to both bring people together and get done what has to get done in a bipartisan way while still advancing the values and priorities of what I think is the most progressive administration of my life, Coons said.
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The millions of tons of organic waste on the continent could become a valuable and viable source of green energy by turning it into biogas, and at the same time, reducing the carbon footprint and environmental and climate impacts of conventional coal-fired electricity.  Biogas is the mixture of gases produced by the breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen (anaerobically), primarily consisting of methane and carbon dioxide. Biogas can 
U.S. forces in Syria came under rocket attack Monday, with no reported casualties, one day after U.S. warplanes conducted airstrikes against what the Pentagon called facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups near the border between Iraq and Syria
Have a good story? Call or text Curt Swarm in Mt. Pleasant at 319-217-0526, find him on Facebook, email him at curtswarm@yahoo.com, or visit his website at www.empty-nest-words-photos-and-frames.com.
CELINA [mdash] Doyle Eugene Brittain Doyle Eugene Brittain was called to the lord on Wednesday, June 9th of 2021 in Mckinney, Texas. Doyle was born in Sigourney, Iowa and one of six children to the late Alfred and Bertha Brittain. His late siblings were Verle, Orbie, Eldon, Ruby, and Vera. H
This project is a collaboration of members of the Iowa Newspaper Association and includes reporting from 51 newspaper reporters from 30 newspapers across the state. Readers who have experienced difficulty obtaining police video in Iowa can contact reporters at PoliceVideoTips@inanews.com. Public records requests and data storage/visualization was supported by a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  A judge says a former home-care nursing agency operator in southwestern Minnesota must serve more than seven years in prison for allegedly scamming Medicaid out of more than $1.8 million.

Remona L. Brown, 55, of Lansing, Michigan, was convicted in May on several courts of aiding and abetting fraud that focused on the now defunct Caring & Compassionate Healthcare Agency in Worthington. Authorities say she submitted more than 6,000 false claims over three years.
BOSTON (AP)  One was a respected state trooper, the other a beloved Air Force vet.

Family and friends on Monday mourned David Green and Ramona Cooper, the two bystanders killed Saturday afternoon by a white gunman in a Boston suburb in an attack officials are treating as a hate crime.

Authorities, meanwhile, said they're investigating when and how the gunman -- a 28-year-old man whose wedding plans amid the coronavirus pandemic were glowingly profiled in the local paper last summer -- became radicalized.

Prosecutors say Nathan Allen drew swastikas and wrote messages about whites being superior in the weeks leading up to the shootings. He was killed by police moments after shooting the victims, who were African American.

We are learning more every day, but I am confident saying that there was hate in this mans heart, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said.

Green and Cooper were each shot multiple times by Allen after he crashed a stolen box truck into a residential building in Winthrop, an overwhelmingly white, coastal community located on a peninsula jutting into Boston Harbor.

Greens longtime friend, Nick Tsiotos, said the two had coffee together just hours before the attack. He said the 68-year-old retired Massachusetts State Police trooper had been sitting outside his home and tried to help after hearing the crash.

He went out and tried to do what he was doing for 36 years with the state police  trying to help save lives," Tsiotos, who attended high school with Green, told WCVB-TV.

Green retired from the state police in 2016 after nearly 40 years in law enforcement and also served in the Air Force.

Massachusetts State Police Col. Christopher Mason said in a statement over the weekend that he was widely respected by his colleagues, always courteous to the public and meticulous in his duties.

Cooper's son, Gary Cooper Jr., remembered his 60-year-old mother as caring and selfless and always ready to help anyone in need.

We are heartbroken and she will be missed, just a senseless thing to have happened, he said in a statement to WCVB-TV.

Cooper, who is survived by her son, two grandchildren, and her twin sister, most recently worked at a U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs facility on Boston's Jamaica Plan neighborhood.

She was a beloved colleague who will be greatly missed," Kyle Toto, a VA spokesperson, told The Boston Globe on Monday.

According to Rollins, Cooper was shot three times in the back about a half-block away from the crash; Green was shot four times in the head and three times in his torso in an alleyway further down the street.

A candlelight vigil will be held Thursday night in front of Town Hall to the victims, but a makeshift memorial of flowers and other remembrances quickly grew on the temporary fencing around the destroyed building over the weekend.

Gov. Charlie Baker and other state leaders also offered condolences.

The Green and Cooper families lost loved ones to a despicable act and we lost two cherished public servants who proved their mettle time and time again, he tweeted Monday.

Assistant U.S. House Speaker Katherine Clark, a Massachusetts Democrat whose district includes Winthrop, denounced the killings as an act of hate-fueled violence" in a statement Sunday.

Winthrop Police Chief Terence Delehanty said he hoped the town wouldnt be judged by the actions of one individual that had a very strange ideology that is not representative of this community."

Rollins stressed investigators believe Allen acted alone and that the threat has been neutralized.

She has said officials are investigating whether Allen specifically targeted the victims because they were Black.

Officials found a notebook with troubling white supremacist rhetoric in the gunmans handwriting that included antisemitic and racist statements against Blacks. Allen also walked by several other people who were not Black that day and didn't harm them.

Allen, who property records show owned a condominium a few blocks from the crash site, was legally licensed to carry a firearm, had a doctorate, was married, and employed, Rollins said.

To all external sources he likely appeared unassuming, she said.

Indeed, Nathan Allen's Facebook page mostly contains pictures of him with his wife, Audrey, as well as posts about adopting rabbits, as the couple had a pet rabbit of their own. The two met at the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth, where they graduated in 2014.

Their engagement was profiled by the Globe and they were married at the nursing home where the former Audrey Mazzolas grandfather lived, with some 200 people tuning in via Zoom.

Audrey Allen didnt respond to a phone call and email seeking comment Monday.

Nathan Allen's final post on Facebook appeared on June 22, when he wished his wife a happy birthday. He posted two pictures of the couple, including one of them kissing on their wedding day.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court on Monday refused to allow New Hampshire to sue neighboring Massachusetts over an income tax dispute involving people who have been working from home during the coronavirus pandemic.

The justices rejected New Hampshire's complaint without comment. The state objects to Massachusetts' collection of income tax from roughly 80,000 New Hampshire residents who are employed by Massachusetts companies, but who have been working remotely.

New Hampshire wanted the justices to declare Massachusetts' collections unconstitutional and order a refund to people who are paying taxes of just over 5%.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said Monday that the court was setting a costly precedent."

This decision will have lasting ramifications for thousands of Granite State residents, he said in a statement.

The issue is especially sensitive in New Hampshire, which lacks a state income tax. New Hampshire also drew support from New Jersey and Connecticut, among others.

Residents of those states who are employed by New York businesses also generally pay state income tax to New York.

The Biden administration recommended the justices stay out of the dispute. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said they would have allowed the lawsuit to go forward.

Members of New Hampshires Democratic Congressional delegation also criticized the decision. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, who last month introduced legislation to address the issue, said they would continue to pursue solutions to prevent workers for being penalized for putting the safety of their families and communities first.

This decision is particularly brutal for those who fought to keep their heads above water amid the financial fallout of the pandemic  every action should be taken to make things easier for our working families as we recover from COVID-19, not harder, said Shaheen.

Hassan said declining to hear the case was disappointing and short-sighted.

What is happening to New Hampshire residents goes beyond New England and has a far-reaching impact on citizens across this country who are being forced to pay taxes for a state where they dont even work or live, she said.
Park officials at the Petroglyph National Monument outside Albuquerque say rocks were illegally gathered by someone and placed in piles
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libyan Prime Minister of the Government of National Accord Abdelhamid Al-Dbaiba Monday discussed during talks with high-level Moroccan officials "Libyan-Moroccan relations and ways to strengthen fraternal ties between the two brotherly peoples"
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) on Monday started four-day meetings in Switzerland aimed at endorsing a draft proposal for a constitutional basis for elections in Libya after reaching consensual formulas during a preliminary meeting in Tunis
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Libyan Parliament, sitting in the eastern city of Tobruk, on Monday started a plenary session devoted to consideration of the draft state budget 2021 and the appointment to regal positions, after several postponements without reaching a consensus
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Jan Kubis, has called on members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) meeting in Geneva "to overcome their differences, and points of contention to reach a compromise
BLOOMINGTON  Cleanup efforts in Bloomington-Normal will take several weeks after more than 10 inches of rain fell throughout the weekend.

This is a very, very large loss for the community. We have crews all over trying to get to everyone as soon as possible, said Greg Cook, director of business development and marketing at Paul Davis Restoration.

Paul Davis is one of several companies fielding calls of reported water damage after homes, businesses and streets were flooded. Cook said Paul Davis has received more than 400 calls for service, both commercial and residential, since the storms moved in Friday evening.

Eric Davison, spokesman for the Bloomington Fire Department, said the agencys first storm-related call came about 9:45 p.m. Friday. About 178 calls later, the calls finally stopped at 1:50 p.m. Sunday.

The Normal Fire Department was busier than usual as well. Fire crews ran 47 calls for service between Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon when the second round of storms finished, but not all of those were weather related, spokesman Matt Swaney said.

More than 40 of Bloomingtons calls were for stranded vehicles, with Bloomington Fire performing at least 17 vehicle rescues. Swaney said about six calls were from stranded vehicles, but they didnt require intervention from fire crews.

Anytime you see water across the roadway, turn around, Swaney said. You can never tell how deep the water may be, and it doesnt take much water to flood out your engine or push your car off the roadway. Its not worth losing your car, or worse, your life, just to get down the road.

At least 30 road cave-ins cropped up throughout Bloomington over the weekend in the wake of the torrential rains and flash flooding, blocking off roads for what could take up to several weeks to assess and repair, said Kevin Kothe, Bloomington director of public works. Additionally, the department has fielded hundreds of calls for flooded basements due to sewer backups and overwhelmed sump pumps.

When we have this much rain this quickly, its hard for water to get away, he said. Truly, this was a very heavy rain that we dont normally experience.

Early reports indicate the hardest-hit areas appear to be concentrated in Bloomingtons older neighborhoods, where the city uses a combination sewer system. Citywide, people have begun putting out furniture and other items damaged from the floodwaters onto the curb for roadside cleanup.

Crews have also hit the streets to clear away mud, twigs, grass and other debris left behind in the flash flooding, especially around the downtown businesses. Not even the public works department seemed to be spared as flood waters breached its doors for the first time in over 20 years.

That intensity of rainfall in that short of time really caused a lot of runoff that just exceeded what the sewers can handle, Kothe said. Water wants to go somewhere and it just unfortunately headed through downtown and got into businesses and residences along the path.

Many homes and businesses that experienced flooding were faced with water coming through their drains. Normal public works crews have monitored sanitary sewer systems, particularly at the Ironwood pump station, which can be more prone to flooding due to lower elevation, said Wayne Aldrich, Normal public works director.

The flooding, Aldrich said, was unlike any other storm hes seen in his 24 years with the town.

It was just an extreme storm, said Aldrich. The intensity is something these storm sewers arent designed to handle.

Several streets were underwater over the weekend, especially those areas near creek crossings. Much of the water receded within hours of the storms passing through, but creek levels remained high.

Alan Hardman, assistant manager at Ace Hardware in Normal, said the store had a record number of customers coming in since Friday, wiping out their flood and water damage supplies by Sunday morning.

Shop vacuums, dehumidifiers, sump pumps, box fans, hoses, submersible sumps, hose fittings  we sold out yesterday morning of everything, he told The Pantagraph on Monday.

The store owners sent a truck from other Ace stores in the area to restock Normal because from Springfield to Dwight, Nobody else got hit like we got hit, Hardman said.

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Bloomington-Normal recorded the highest rainfall totals in McLean County, according to the National Weather Service in Lincoln.

Bloomingtons totals were about 8-11 inches, depending on where in the city the measurement was taken. About 10 inches were recorded in Heyworth and 9.5 in Shirley.

Hardman said for those handling flooding basements, the first step is to pump out the water and bring in fans to try to dry the area. If the source of the water is the drains, homeowners dont have much control, since this depends on the sewer system and storm drainage.

If people suspect basement flooding due to sanitary sewer issues, they should call the public works department to file a report, Aldrich said, noting homeowners can also extend gutters to ensure water flows away from the homes foundation to prevent flooding.

Given the demand from customers, Hardman said he extended the store hours on Sunday, because Were trying everything we can to help the community."

Cook estimated cleanup will take several weeks as Paul Davis and every other restoration company is swamped with calls and working around the clock to help their customers.

The damage and flooding is widespread, he said. When you encounter as much rain as we did, in such a short period of time, sump pumps and drainage systems cant keep up. So what were finding is sump pumps are working nonstop and they just give out.

Once a pump fails, there is not much a home or business owner can do. The water is going to come in; theres really no way to stop it at that point, Cook said.

The water made its way into Home Sweet Home Ministries, pouring into the basement Friday night at 303 E. Oakland Ave.

The impact of over 38 inches of accumulated rain that flooded our basement, caused damage to the emergency shelters freezers, air conditioning unit, laundry facilities, storage shelves and maintenance areas, according to a statement from Home Sweet Home.

Power companies were also kept busy as many customers lost power and others requested their power be disconnected because they were experiencing flooding in their homes, said Hillary Cherry, director of communications for Corn Belt Energy, which powers the outskirts of Bloomington-Normal and the majority of rural McLean County.

One of our key points is we want to remind everyone not to step into standing water when there is electrical equipment, such as in their basement where they may have a sump pump or other things. It could be deadly, Cherry said.

She added that Corn Belt Energy crews responded to many calls related to flooding and fallen trees, and they continue to watch the Corn Belt service area for additional flood-related issues.

We also had power poles impacted by the storms including one that lightning hit and blew the top out of, Cherry said. Our crews were able to safely restore power to everyone impacted.

Ameren Illinois spokeswoman Stacey Shangraw reinforced the concern about customers entering flooded areas that contain electrical equipment. She also gave other advice that Ameren recommends during and after flooding, which includes:

Never attempt to turn off power at main electrical panel boxes if you must stand in water or on a wet floor to do so

Never use electrical appliances or devices or touch electrical switches, outlets or cords if you are standing or are on a wet surface, or even if you are wet or the device is wet

Before touching or unplugging electrical appliances or devices that have been in contact with water, turn off the circuit that feeds the appliance or have the power to the building disconnected

If you have any doubts about the safety of your home or business electrical system, have it inspected by a professional electrician

As saturated as the ground already is, Central Illinois isnt in the clear yet. The forecast calls for possible thunderstorms across the region through Thursday.

The potential for widespread severe weather is low, but locally heavy rain is possible. The heaviest rain is expected to fall south of McLean County, more along Interstate 72, said Mike Albano, a meteorologist in Lincoln.

Temperatures are forecast to be in the 80s, with high humidity through midweek, he said.

The weather should dry out for the holiday weekend, with cooler temperatures and lower humidity expected.

Contact Kelsey Watznauer at (309) 820-3254. Follow her on Twitter: @kwatznauer.

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Emergency crews were busy late Friday and early Saturday rescuing people swept up or stranded by flash flooding across Central Illinois, including on Bloomington-Normal streets that were under 3 to 4 feet of water in places.
Six people standing outside a restaurant were shot, one of them fatally, Sunday night in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago, with the wounded including a boy as young as 15, according to Chicago police.

The shooting happened around 8:45 p.m. in the 2000 block of East 71st Street  a little more than two hours before another mass shooting that left 10 people wounded and a woman dead. Police did not say theres any reason to believe there is a link between the two shootings.

All six victims in South Shore had been at 24 Hour Gyros & Subs, 2058 W. 71st St., waiting for their orders to be prepared, according to a preliminary police report. A man with a concealed carry license was standing nearby and he later told police someone in a gray Dodge Durango began firing toward the group.

The man licensed to carry a gun was armed and once gunfire broke out, he pulled his own handgun and began firing back toward the Durango, according to the report. It wasnt clear whether any of the shots he fired hit anyone. He was taken in for additional questioning and his weapon was placed into evidence, officials said.

A woman suffered six gunshot wounds and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she initially was listed in critical condition and later was pronounced dead, police said.

Kristina Grimes, 23, was pronounced dead at 9:47 p.m., according to information released by the Cook County medical examiners office Monday morning.

At least two teenagers were among those injured, police said.

A 15-year-old boy was shot in the foot and the knee and he was taken to Comer Childrens Hospital where his condition was stabilized. A 19-year-old man was shot in the leg and he was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center where his condition was stabilized, police said.

Others wounded were:

A 20-year-old man was shot in the buttocks and he was taken to the University of Chicago where his condition was stabilized.

One 21-year-old man was shot in the arm and twice in the leg and was taken to the University of Chicago, where his condition was stabilized.

Another 21-year-old was shot in the left arm and he was taken to Jackson Park Hospital where his condition was stabilized.

Police initially said the six people had been standing outside when the SUV drove past and someone inside the vehicle began shooting at them. The SUV last was seen driving away, heading west on 71st Street, police said.

Several nearby vehicles were hit by bullets and damaged, as was the front door of a nearby nail salon, police said.

No arrests had been made and the shooting remained under investigation.

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CHICAGO  A Norwood Park East man stabbed an apparent acquaintance two dozen times in front of horrified onlookers outside a Northwest Side fast-food restaurant, prosecutors told a Cook County judge on Sunday.

Prosecutors did not say what they believe spurred package handler Michael Dabrowski, 25, to allegedly attack a man with a knife in the parking lot outside a Wendys in the 3900 block of North Harlem Avenue on Friday afternoon.

Describing the victim, Dabrowski allegedly told a bystander: He (expletive) me over, prosecutors said during a bail hearing broadcast on YouTube. Dabrowski is charged with first-degree murder.

Judge Susana Ortiz denied Dabrowski bail, calling him a danger to the community.

Both Dabrowski and the victim arrived in separate vehicles around 4:20 p.m., and the victim, Michael A. Majeski, 24, got into Dabrowskis vehicle, prosecutors said.

Moments later, Dabrowski began stabbing the victim, who got out and tried to run away, according to Assistant States Attorney Susie Bucaro. Dabrowski chased the victim down and continued stabbing him until Majeski collapsed in the restaurants drive-thru lane, she added.

The attack continued, though the victim didnt appear armed with a weapon and didnt fight off his attacker, prosecutors said.

The stabbing in broad daylight was captured on surveillance and witnessed by numerous people in the area, including three Wendys workers out for a cigarette break, Bucaro said.

After the stabbing, Dabrowski tossed the bloody knife into the bushes and walked away, authorities said. Several citizens found Dabrowski and held him until police arrived. Police body-worn camera footage captured Dabrowski covered in blood and dirt, Bucaro said.

Five witnesses identified Dabrowski as the attacker, and police recovered the knife from the bushes, authorities said.

Majeski, of the Belmont Terrace neighborhood, was taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where he was pronounced dead. He suffered 27 stab wounds, including 11 to the chest and abdomen and six to the back, Bucaro told the court.

Dabrowskis attorney, Brian Sexton, said his client and the victim knew each other but offered no explanation for what happened. He asked that the judge deny a petition denying bail due to his lack of a criminal background and unspecified mental health issues.

Judge if hes not granted bond, its our position that his mental health is going to severely deteriorate. Hes never been in trouble with the law before, Sexton said, saying his family wished to put him in a mental health facility.

The judge granted denial of bail, due to the strength of the evidence and the brutality of the attack. Dabrowski is expected to return to court Friday.

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SPRINGFIELD  State Rep. Thaddeus Jones, who was elected Calumet City mayor in April, is facing a challenge to his mayorship that is based on a municipal referendum that prohibits a Calumet City mayor from also serving as a state representative.

But Jones, a Calumet City Democrat, said a recently enacted state law ends any further challenges to his mayorship based on the referendum because a new law prevents local governments from requiring a member of the General Assembly to resign his or her office to seek elected office in that local government.

Calumet City Alderman James Patton and former Board of Police and Fire Commissioners member Mary Cox, in an open letter last week, asked Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Cook County States Attorney Kimberly Foxx to remove Jones as mayor, pursuant to the referendum.

The referendum, which voters in Calumet City passed Nov. 3, bans a person from seeking mayoral office if, at the time for filing nomination papers, that person also holds an elected, paid office created by the Constitution of the State of Illinois.

The referendum applies to all persons seeking nomination or election to, or who hold, the office of Mayor of the City of Calumet City at the February 23, 2021 Consolidated Primary Election and each election thereafter.

Jones defeated incumbent Mayor Michelle Markiewicz-Qualkinbush, who was seeking a fifth term, in the February primary.

He went on to win an April 6 election against write-in candidate Tony Quiroz and was sworn in, becoming the first Black mayor of Calumet City.

After the referendum was certified late last year, two residents in Calumet City filed objections with the citys Municipal Officers Electoral Board, seeking to have Jones name removed from the February ballot.

The residents argued the referendum was effective on Nov. 3, therefore Jones was not legally qualified for the office sought at the time nomination papers were filed.

On Dec. 21, a majority of the Board agreed with the objectors arguments and found Jones name should be taken off the primary ballot.

Jones sought judicial review of the decision in Cook County Circuit Court, and a Cook County judge affirmed the Boards ruling.

His case eventually reached the Illinois Supreme Court, which ruled in Jones favor.

In March, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that Jones name was legally placed on a February primary ballot seeking the Democratic nomination for Calumet City mayor because the referendum did not take effect until the election results were certified on Nov. 24.

The Illinois Supreme Court, however, did not rule on the validity of the referendum.

But Senate Bill 825, which Gov. JB Pritzker signed June 17, explicitly voids the mandate that was approved in the referendum.

The new law states a unit of local government may not adopt an ordinance, referendum, or resolution that requires a member of the General Assembly to resign his or her office in order to be eligible to seek elected office in the unit of local government. Any ordinance, referendum, or resolution that contains such a provision is void.

In a statement, Jones said the new elections law officially puts an end to a long history of divisive politics within the government of Calumet City.

As the first African American alderman elected to the Calumet City Council nearly twenty years ago, my family and I have been victimized by every form of harassment and intimidation by the previous administration. The move to prevent me from taking office as the first African American mayor was baseless and without merit, Jones said in the statement.

Spokespeople for the attorney generals office and Cook County states attorneys Office did not respond to requests for comment.

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When Illinois state Rep. La Shawn Ford requested a screening for prostate cancer, his primary care physician told him it was unnecessary. He had no symptoms. He was only 48, and the average age of onset is 66. He was healthy  he never smoked, ate well, exercised regularly, went to the doctor, got adequate sleep. There was no apparent cause for concern.

Still, Ford knew that prostate cancer disproportionately affects Black men, so he didnt let up. The second provider he saw gave him a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, which came back alarmingly high. That doctor sent the results to Fords PCP, who referred Ford to the oncology department at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. They performed blood work a few times and each time, PSA levels came back higher. An MRI was ordered, which showed complications with the prostate, leading to a biopsy and the discovery that Ford indeed had prostate cancer.

Fords cancer was swiftly operated on, leading to a full recovery. Prostate cancer is a generally slow-growing disease, according to Dr. Edward Schaeffer, chief of urology at Northwestern, who operated on Ford. But in the legislators case it was already in an aggressive stage. Had Ford not been so steadfast in advocating for himself, he might have had a very different outcome.

If I had not advocated for myself and said, Look, I need to get a PSA, even against my doctors recommendation  my cancer covered a lot of my prostate, it was aggressive. And it was soon to be leaking out of the prostate, which would have metastasized (spread) ... to the bones, the organs.  People would say, Wait a minute  La Shawn was healthy. How did he die of cancer? How does he have terminal cancer at this point in his life?

The truth is, its because I didnt get an exam.

The prostate specific antigen test is considered the gold standard for screening for prostate cancer. Its recommended at age 40 for African American men and men with a family history of cancer.

African American men are about 1.8 times more likely than white men to develop prostate cancer in their lives, according to Schaeffer, and are about 2.5 times more likely to die from it. However, the equation is not that simple, he warns.

If you never make it to a doctor because of (access problems) ... you could argue that if theres really such poor access to health care, there could be less prostate diagnosis but maybe more fatality, Schaeffer said. So its a complicated equation about whats going on in the prostate that no ones really figured out.

A PSA of 100 may mean that you have prostate cancer thats spread. A PSA of 4 may (also) mean you have prostate cancer, but it may not be a lethal kind. If youre 45 and your PSA is 4, thats 4  times normal. If youre 65 and your PSA is 4 that could be considered in the normal range.

Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men and its risk increases with age. Symptoms may include difficulty with urination or blood in the urine, erectile dysfunction and more, but in its early stages it is often symptomless.

Ford speaks out about his journey in hopes that it propels men to advocate for their own health. Asking for a PSA screening, a colonoscopy, cholesterol tests and more are all examples of preventative measures he thinks people should take when visiting their physicians for check-ups or other concerns. Not only can these preventative measures be life-saving, as Fords case demonstrates, but they are much less costly and invasive than surgeries and ongoing treatments and medications.

As a state representative, Ford has previously advocated for health-related legislation. He recounted a bill he worked on that called for the inclusion of HIV screening questions in routine checkups, so as to minimize the stigma of asking for HIV health care and avoiding the discomfort caused by doctors sometimes probing questions  such as are you gay, have you had sex with a male, or are you a drug addict  that can deter men from disclosing issues or seeking care.

Ford also wants his story to encourage more cultural competence training within the medical field. Teaching physicians and other health professionals critical race theory could go a long way in mitigating some racial health disparities, Ford says. Northwestern Medicine is currently conducting research to explore these disparities.

Schaeffer says the reasons for these inequities are not entirely known.

Ford thinks a reason is because there is not an understanding of Black culture and Black health the way it should be. It seems to me that the responsibility for life expectancy has been put on minorities and not on health care.

Ford does not fault his primary care physician. As soon as he received the results of the PSA test, he recognized his misstep and advocated for Ford, connecting him to a urologist.

But higher PSA levels do not always equal prostate cancer, and having these tests can lead to biopsies that can cause harm to male patients.

You dont need to go to a urologist to get a test for prostate (cancer), Ford said. Thats why its so important that you have access to a medical home or primary care doctor. So that you could talk about prostate health, so you could talk about colorectal cancer as well.

People think that Black people and minorities live a more unhealthy lifestyle. But the truth is, thats not always the case when you look at the life expectancies, Ford said, citing the 11-year life expectancy difference between those in suburban Oak Park and the nearby Austin neighborhood in Chicago.

Along with its ongoing research, Northwestern Medicine is also leading three programs aimed at educating communities about health disparities and reducing the gap in health outcomes.

One, Project HOPE (Health Outreach Promoting Equity), started as a COVID-19 outreach program and is expanding to continue connecting people to health resources surrounding issues like diabetes, routine health screening and other health education.

Another program is Clergy and Clinicians, which partners with religious organizations to deliver important health information.

We feel like (religious leaders) are authentic voices in many communities that really connect with individuals that trust what they say versus what a doctor or hospital says, said Posh Charles, vice president of community affairs at Northwestern Medicine, referencing the lack of trust that minority communities often have in the medical system.

The third program, the African American Transplant Access Program, aims to break down barriers in access to transplant care in the African American community.

Northwestern Medicine is also incorporating social determinants of health screenings into primary care asking questions about factors like food insecurity and housing insecurity to get to the root causes of health problems in order to partner with community organizations and resources to combat those causes.

Schaeffer wants people to know that there exists a wealth of free information on prostate cancer specifics and treatment on the internet through the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. He hopes Fords journey inspires others to take charge of their health.

People take their cars to get oil changes and check-ups more than they take their bodies for check-ups, Ford said. It just doesnt make sense.

Life is so fragile. Its really, really amazing how early detection can really, really prevent a lot of pain and anguish for yourself and family, he said. The moral of the story is get a doctor that understands and respects you and make sure that you advocate for yourself.

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Earlier this month Patently Apple posted a report titled "With LG pulling out of the Smartphone business, the company wants to sell iPhones, iPads & Apple Watch in 400 Korean LG Best Shops." Korean Analysts believe the move with LG could push Apple to take 30% of the S. Korean market which concerns Samsung.

A Korean tech report claims that LG's intension of promoting Apple's iPhones has faced a backlash from local phone distributors and a private consensus-based panel on shared growth on Thursday threw weight behind opponents, saying LG would be breaking its word if it pushes ahead with the plan.

The Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership cited the firms pact with the commission signed in 2018 in which LG pledged to strive for co-prosperity with small players in the industry.

The plan has also evoked criticism from the Korea Mobile Distributor Association, an organization representing interests of domestic phone distributors.

The association has sent a letter to the Korea Commission of Corporate Partnership, asking it to intervene.

In 2018, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics agreed to limit the sale of phones at its stores to the ones of their own respective brand, in order not to compete with smaller phone distributors.

Yet it was stipulated in the agreement, that the agreement could change on certain conditions under different circumstances.

Obviously LG pulling out of the smartphone market would mark such a condition and circumstance. While the "commission" wants to come up with a new agreement with LG, LG is not obliged to enter a new agreement and the iPhone sold in their 400 stores would make up for dropping their own smartphones.

Smartphone distributors that receive commissions or subsidies from phone vendors are concerned about losing their volumes from Apple.

Samsung Electronics, an archrival of Apple, is closely watching the issue to prepare measures to keep its share in the domestic smartphone market.

Lastly, while the commission began as a governmental agency, it has since become a private consensus-based organization.
Barely a month after its recommendation, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has removed Ghana from the list of high risk, third world countries with strategic deficiencies in anti-money laundering and countering of terrorism financing.



This follows a review by FATF in February.



The European Union (EU) had hinted of removing Ghana from the list after President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo met the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, in Brussels last month.



Ghana to be removed from EU money laundering list after Akufo-Addos intervention

The EU had commended Ghana for the efforts made in implementing the action plan of the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) in record time.



In its latest report on Friday, June 25, FATF noted that Ghana has strengthened the effectiveness of its regime of anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing and addressed related technical deficiencies to meet the commitments in its action plan regarding the strategic deficiencies that the FATF identified in October 2018.



Ghana is therefore no longer subject to the FATFs increased monitoring process. Ghana will continue to work with GIABA to improve further its AML/CFT regime.

Source: 3news.com









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Binance, the world's biggest crypto-currency exchange, has been banned by the UK. The UK's financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has ruled that the firm cannot conduct any "regulated activity" in the UK.



It also issued a consumer warning about Binance, advising people to be wary of adverts promising high returns on cryptoasset investments.



The regulator also stressed that no entity in the Binance Group holds any form of authorisation, registration or licence to conduct regulated activity in the UK. Binance, in response has said the FCA notice would have no "direct impact" on the services it provides from its website.



Binance's existing crypto exchange is not UK-based so despite the FCA ruling, there will be no impact on British residents who use the website to purchase and sell crypto-currencies.



The UK's FCA does not regulate crypto-currencies, but requires exchanges to register with them. So since Binance has not registered with the FCA it is therefore is not allowed to operate an exchange in the UK.



Binance is an online centralised exchange that offers users a range of financial products and services, including purchasing and trading a wide range of digital currencies, as well as digital wallets, futures, securities, savings accounts and even lending.



This is not the first time that Binance has come under scrutiny by regulators over its global operations.



In the US, one of the firm's entities - Binance Holdings - has been the subject of a probe by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), specifically by its officials dealing with money laundering and tax offences, according to Bloomberg.



The company is currently based in the Cayman Islands. It was previously based in Malta.













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The affixing of tax stamps on alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages has grown exponentially since its introduction about four years ago.



From an initial 28.5 million tax stams affixed in 2018, the number increased to 38.5 million the following year and 70.2 million in 2020, with managers of the project projecting to affix some 90 million stamps in 2021.



The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) said it was also engaging the Food and Beverages Association of Ghana (FABAG) and local manufacturers to pay for the affixing of the stamps on their beverage products at the stamping facilities.



The Ghanaian printing company, Buck Press, and its partner, DelaRue, a British security printing company, are responsible for printing the tax stamps on behalf of the GRA, while Streamline Resources, which is located at the Tema Port, assists companies without the technical capacity to fix the stamps on individual products.



Fraud reduction.



The Project Manager of Excise Tax Stamp at the GRA, Mr Kwabena Apau Awuah Anto, who disclosed this, said the move would reduce the incidence of product fraud and piracy, where importers and manufacturers applied for the stamps for specific products but affixed them on pirated products that had no approval and safety certification from the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA).



Speaking during a tour of the tax stamp facilities at the Tema Port by a team from the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) last Thursday, Mr Anto noted that the Commissioner General of the GRA had already granted authorisation to some 34 large importers and manufacturers, including Guinness Ghana Limited and the Coca-Cola Bottling Company, to undertake the affixing of the stamps at their factories at their own cost.



The GGCL team, which was led by the Managing Director, Mr Ato Afful, included the Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Kobby Asmah; the Director, Marketing, Mr Franklin Sowa, and the Editor of The Mirror, Ms Doreen Hammond.



The team was in Tema to have firsthand appreciation of progress of the excise tax stamp policy and also explore collaboration with the GRA on how to further advance the initiative.



Reducing fraud



Mr Anto said the excise stamp policy would reduce product fraud and ensure that only wholesome products were allowed into the market space to ensure public health and safety..



Similarly, he said, the policy would ensure revenue assurance and further level the playing field for importers and manufacturers to compete fairly on the market through the payment of appropriate taxes.



No cost



Mr Anto said: What we do here at the Tema facilities and 13 other stations across the country where we have affixing facilities is at no cost to importers.



Operating the facilities, he said, came with headline costs such as the procurement of the stamps, utility, labour, operational cost and materials such as shrink wraps.



He indicated that when the project took off in 2018, the government decided to give a six-month window to supply the stamps for free, but that had continued till date, hence the Commissioner General's directive for the stakeholders to be engaged and sensitised to the need for them to pay.



The engagements, Mr Anto said, would determine whether the GRA would charge the full cost or there would be cost sharing between it and the stakeholders.



In countries such as Kenya, importers pay for the stamps or they get the products stamped at the point of export. Ghana's policy on the tax stamp policy places the responsibility on the affected excise product on the importer or the manufacturer. In many countries where similar policies are implemented, manufacturers have affixing facilities at their production units, Mr Anto said.



Challenges



On the recent challenges that saw delays and congestion at the facility, which led to an outcry among importers, Mr Anto explained that the Tema facilities were not meant for large volume importers but for people who only imported occasionally.



However, he said, large volume importers, in their attempt to avoid associated costs that came with the affixing, often sent their products to the facilities for stamping, a situation which resulted in congestion and delays.



Similarly, challenges with the stamps after a change in the service provider also resulted in some delays, he noted.



However, engineers worked on the machines to be able to pick the new stamps.



Graphic to deepen collaboration



In his remarks, Mr Asmah called on the GRA to intensify education on policies that were periodically introduced into the trade space.



Tax education, he said, was important, since it would ensure compliance at all levels and also ensure that people did not short-change the system.



He commended officials of the GRA and the service provider, Streamline Resources, for taking steps to address the challenges.



The GCGL, he said, would collaborate with the GRA to scale up its sensitisation efforts, having had an insight into the operations of the excise tax stamp policy.

I believe this is the right time for the GCGL and the GRA to deepen collaboration for the purpose of public sensitisation, so that we can get a buy-in from the public, Mr Asmah said.





Source: graphiconline.com









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Hollard Ghana with subsidiaries, Hollard Insurance and Hollard Life Assurance has announced that June's edition of H.Insured: All About Insurance Webinar Series dubbed, Is Insuretech the future of insurance, will be moderated by Managing Director of Hollard Insurance, Daniel Boi Addo. The webinar is slated for Thursday, June 24 at 4 pm via Zoom.



On the panel speaking to the MD about how insuretech is disrupting the industry, are Alfred Kisseadu, Chief Strategist, RedPear Communications, developers of AI solutions; Fred Frimpong, Head of Financial Services, at ecommerce giant, Jumia Ghana, and Sheila Wristberg, Managing Director, of top insurancebrokers, iRisk Management Limited.



Speaking on Junes theme, the Group Head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs at Hollard Ghana, Cynthia Ofori-Dwumfuo, said the topic comes at the right time.



This months discussion is relevant to the times.The consumption of technology coupled with on-demand consumer trends is changing the practice of insurance. Its about time industry players sat back to look at things from a wider perspective, ultimately proposing a way forward for a typically conservative industry. With Hollard Insurance MD, Daniel Boi Addo moderating, weve brought together experts working in technology, e-commerce and insurance. Attendees are guaranteed an insightful discussion..



Our goal as an insurance group, is to help Ghanaians secure their future by making sound financial decisions. This aligns with our purpose to enable more people to create and secure a better future through financial literacy programs like our H.Insured webinar series. We welcome all to join in the session on Thursday., she added.



Interested participants should visit Hollard Insurance and Hollard Life pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and Hollard Ghana on LinkedIn for information on how to register or join directly via Zoom Webinar ID95097238012.



About Hollard Ghana



The countrys favourite insurance group is Hollard Ghana, with subsidiaries Hollard Insurance and Hollard Life Assurance. The group combines its deep local knowledge of the market having previously operated in Ghana for 25 years as Metropolitan Insurance with the world-class expertise of an international insurance brand in 18 countries across the world. With feet firmly planted on Ghanaian soil but headquartered in South Africa, Hollard delivers innovative insurance solutions customized to the unique risks Ghanaians face. Hollard offers various life and general insurance products including funeral, personal accident, motor, business, travel, home, and more; and can be reached via the following means: 0501603967 (Hollard Insurance) and 0501533698 (Hollard Life).



Beyond various nationwide office branches and Hollard 2U franchise shops, Ghanaians can find Hollard at Shell Fuel Station Welcome Shops, Melcom stores and online at www.hollard.com.gh and www.jumia.com.gh for all their insurance needs.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Members of the Mobile Money Agents Association of Ghana (MMAAG) have announced in increase in cash out services effective, Thursday July 1.

This means customers will now have to pay more for cash-out services than before.



A statement issued Monday June 28 by the association appealed to customers to bear with them and comply.



To the general public, please take note of these new changes of mobile money service charges taken effect from 1st july 2021. The same day the 10% tax imposition by the government on our cash out service charge begins. We are pleading with you to comply with our members in their various shops, the association said.



This is never our wish but we dont have a choice but the financial commitment are too much and absorbing this leave us with nothing at the end of the day, they added.



The charge increase follows an emergency meeting on Friday, June 25. The Association had complained about back-door increase in taxes imposed on telecommunication companies by government, thereby forcing them to pass on the charges to their customers.



According to them, government has ordered the telecommunication companies to deduct 10 percent extra from Cash-out service wallet.



In total, on each network, every agent will be paying 20% tax on monthly basis, they said in a press statement on Friday.

Initially, agents pay 5% on Cash-in service wallet but it was secretly increased to 10% without our knowledge.



We feel this is a gross disregard to procedures.



They counted the numerous operational costs aside the risks of armed robbery, acid baths, fraud and insecurity, which they say leads to death, deformity, maiming and loss of huge amounts of money.



The unfortunate aspect of it all is that the deceased, and/or victims are left to their families without any form of support from government.



They said since government has not heeded to their concerns, they will pass all the costs onto their customers.

Management is by this press informing all MoMo Agents to transfer the cost to the customer.



We are advising our members to transfer the cost to those who seek our services.







Source: 3news.com









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Mr. Kingsley Agyemang, Registrar of Ghanas Scholarship has launched a Hundred and Fifty Thousand Euros start-up fund for Ghanaian students on government scholarships in the United Kingdom.



The money, secured from a Spanish investor is available to the students to help them start their own Micro and Small enterprises, particularly in technology, sciences, and related businesses even before they complete their studies, and in line with that goal, Mr. Agyemang tasked a group of fifteen students from science, technology, finance, and law backgrounds to come up with five different business proposals to access the fund and build their own businesses.



The Fair, which is part of governments efforts to ensure that the human capital needs of Ghana are developed, was organized by the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat (SCHOLSEC) in collaboration with the Ghana High Commission, UK, under the theme Linking Academia to Industry  The role of the Ghanaian Scholar in the UK. It brought together several accomplished entrepreneurs and distinguished individuals to share with the students, practical experiences about work, as well as showcase career opportunities, particularly in the private sector.



The students were also taken through the rudiments of setting up and running their own small businesses once they complete their studies.



Welcoming participants to the Fair, Ghanas Deputy High Commissioner to the UK, H.E. Rita Tani Iddi advised students to take pieces of advice from the experienced speakers on board as they prepare to enter the world of work.



Other speakers at the event were Mr. Bernard Owusu, founder and CEO of BWF Solicitors, Mr. Jude Addo, an entrepreneur in the Wealth and Asset Management industry focused on African high net work clients and corporates, Mr. Stanley Vitoh, Country Manager for KEK Insurance, Liberia, Mr. Frederick Appoh, MD of RAMS Engineering & Asset Management Consultancy Limited, UK, Mr. Kobby Ofori, CEO and founder of More Cribs Property Services as well as Paa Kow Bartels, Head of Trade & Investment, Ghana High Commission, UK.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The US white ex-police officer convicted of murdering African-American man George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020 has been sentenced to 22 years and six months in jail.



The judge said Derek Chauvin's sentence was based "on your abuse of a position of trust and authority, and also the particular cruelty shown" to Mr Floyd.



Mr Floyd, 48, died after Chauvin knelt on his neck for nine minutes.



His murder caused global protests against racism and police brutality.



Chauvin, 45, was convicted of second-degree murder and other charges last month. During his trial, his lawyer described the killing as "an error made in good faith".



Chauvin was also told to register as a predatory offender and was barred from owning firearms for life.



He and three other former officers are separately charged with violating George Floyd's civil rights.



The Floyd family and their supporters welcomed the sentence.



"This historic sentence brings the Floyd family and our nation one step closer to healing by delivering closure and accountability," lawyer Ben Crump tweeted.

Source: BBC









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Togo has agreed to study a Provisional Maritime Boundary Line, proposed by Ghana, as part of efforts by the two neighbouring countries to delimitate their final maritime boundary.



This agreement was reached in a joint communique issued at the end of the Seventh Meeting of the Joint Technical Committee of the Ghana-Togo Maritime Boundary Delimitation Committee, held in Accra from June 22 to 25.



The Communique was signed by Brigadier General Emmanuel W. Kotia, the Co-ordinator of the Ghana Boundary Commission/Head of Ghanas Delegation, and Mr Dammipi Noupokou, the Principal Negotiator of the Togolese Delegation.



It said the Minutes of the Sixth Meeting, held from 23rd to 25th March 2021 in Lome, Togo, was adopted and signed.



It said the report on the Coordinates of Pillar 1, presented by the Joint Technical Sub-Committee, was adopted and signed.



Upon the presentation of the Provisional Maritime Boundary Line by Ghana, the delegation from Togo took notice of Ghanas proposed line and requested for time to examine it before the next Plenary Meeting, it said.



The Communique said based on Togos decision to study Ghanas proposed Provisional Maritime Boundary Line, the two Parties agreed to defer further discussions on the Provisional Arrangements to the next Plenary Meeting.



It reiterated the parties agreement to set up a Joint Sub-Technical Committee for the delimitation of the final Maritime Boundary; saying the Sub-Committee shall submit its report at the next Plenary Meeting in Lome.



It said the next Plenary Session would take place in Lome, Togo from July 27 to 30.



The three-day meeting aims at resolving, amicably, the outstanding issues on the delimitation of the maritime boundary between the two neighbouring countries.



Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, the Minister of National Security, in his closing remarks, said while the focus of the Accra Meeting had been primarily on the two nations common maritime boundary, it was worth highlighting that Ghana and Togo continued to cooperate on various issues, especially relating to land boundary issues.



He said efforts would, thus, be made to continue to collaborate with Togo on all land issues to get them resolved amicably.



At this stage, I wish to recommend the establishment of a Joint Technical Committee for Land Boundary between our two countries, Mr Kan-Dapaah said.



The Joint Committee shall jointly resolve all land boundary issues amicably for the peaceful co-existence of the two countries.

Source: GNA









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Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, has called on the Russian Ambassador-Designate to Ghana, Mr Sergey Berdnikov, to assist in ensuring the speedy delivery of the Sputnik V vaccines to Ghana to help fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.



She said Ghana had already placed an order for 15 million doses of the Sputnik V Vaccine, which was pending.



Madam Botchwey said this when she received Open Letters from Mr Berdnikov, who was born in 1966 and has been in active diplomatic service since 1991.



He served in the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations Offices in Vienna (UNOV) from 1994 to 1998, and from 2002 to 2006.



He further served in the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations in New York from 2008 to 2013. The Ambassador-Designate is a father of two.



During the meeting in Accra, Madam Ayorkor Botchwey congratulated Mr Berdnikov on his appointment as the Ambassador of Russia to Ghana.



She recalled the historic relations between Ghana and Russia dating back to 1958 when Ghana, as a young independent State, established diplomatic relations with the then Soviet Union.



The Minister acknowledged Russia's consistent contribution towards the socio-economic development of Ghana, particularly in the area of capacity building, through scholarships to Ghanaian students to study in Russia (over two thousand beneficiaries to date).



She said to further enhance the bilateral relations, technical teams of Ghana and Russia were earnestly preparing to host the Fourth Session of the Ghana-Russia Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation later this year.



Madam Botchwey said the exchange of high-level visits, included the visit of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to Sochi, in October 2019, to participate in the Russia-Africa Summit.



Also the visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to Moscow in August 2019, and the visit to Ghana by Mr Mikhail Bogdanov, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, in February 2021, had raised the level of the bilateral relations to a higher pedestal.



She briefed the Ambassador-designate on the economic agenda of the Government, which was predicated on the transformation of the structure of the economy from commodity-exporting to an industrialized economy.



Ghana's economy, even in the face of the global pandemic of COVID-19, continues to show resilience and a much faster rate of recovery than originally envisaged, she said, and urged the Russian envoy to encourage investors from his country to consider doing business in Ghana.



She said Ghana was among the most attractive destinations on the Continent for Foreign Direct Investment, and that the commencement of trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was expected to boost economic growth, with Ghana as the entry point.



Madam Botchwey bemoaned the activities of pirates along the Gulf of Guinea, saying it is a major security concern to countries located in the zone because it largely served as a trade route between that region and the rest of the world.



She called for Russian support in the areas of intelligence sharing and logistics.

Source: GNA









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Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, Volta Regional Minister, has said that the accelerated growth the Region is yearning for could be achieved through a collaborative effort, urging all to come onboard.



He said we are in this business together, but with different roles and responsibilities to contribute to push our development forward...we are in a chain and if one link breaks the entire system will grind to a halt.



Dr Letsa said each and everyone had a part to play in promoting the development of the Region and it was essential that the roles were not carried out in isolation but collectively to improve on the well-being of all.



The Minister was speaking at the first meeting of the Volta Regional Coordinating Council (VRCC) which was in line with Sections 191(1) and 191(2) of the Local Government Act 2016, Act 936.



He said his outfit was determined to create an enabling environment that would encourage people to strive to achieve their full potential, promote investments and growth, and build a healthy, prosperous and inclusive and united region and country for future generations.



Dr Letsa affirmed his pledge to provide a transparent, accountable, participatory and all-inclusive leadership that would make the average person in the Region have faith in the country's democratic dispensation.



He said his second term in office would be used to correct the shortfalls and build on initiatives, create unlimited opportunities to make the region an oasis of prosperity.



The Minister said the role of the Council in the next four years was clearly cut, and charged members to see through the implementation of government policies and programmes and encourage people to take advantage of them.



He urged Voltarians both home and abroad to be citizens and not spectators and participate in the progress of the region as the task ahead was not for one person or a group, saying we all have a contribution to make and no contribution is small.

Source: GNA









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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has encouraged everyone in Ghana to be counted in the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) that commenced last night.



He said the exercise was an all-important process that would "enable us to plan effectively for the development of the country", urging all persons who were in Ghana on the Census night, June 27, to ensure they got counted.



The President made the call when

a team from the Statistical Service, led by the Government Statistician, Prof. Samuel Kobina, called at his official residence at the Jubilee House to have the first family enumerated in the exercise.



"It is an extremely important that each and everyone of us, everybody who was here on census night, no matter where you come from, no matter your ethnic origin, no matter your religious persuasion, no matter your political affiliation, so long as you are a human being who was here, last night, on census night, you are entitled to be counted," he stressed.



The President officially became the first person to be enumerated on the first day of the 2021 PHC, after the celebration of the census night.



The national census was postponed in 2020 on account of the coronavirus pandemic. The execrise is the first to be fully digitalized in West African. It would employ the use of electronic gadgets and the internet to capture and transfer data for analysis.



President Akufo-Addo encouraged everyone in Ghana to cooperate with census officials and give all the information that the census was meant to provide.



"it is an extremely important exercise and I am appealing to each and everyone of you, cooperate with the enumerators, cooperate with the census officials, they are doing an exceptionally sensitive and important job and they need the cooperation of each and everyone of us.



"I am appealing to you to cooperate with them let us have a successful 2020/2021 census," he said.



The President assured that the information being collected would be treated in a confidential manner.



"I have no doubt of the integrity and credibility of those who are conducting this census, that they would keep to the provisions of the of the Act under which they are operating," he assured.



President urged the Government statistician to ensure that the head count unified all demographics in the country.



"It was extremely important that the process should be an exercise of unification and not disaggregation, not putting people apart," the President stressed, in reaction to queries by sections of the population that the census sought to marginalise their respective social grouping.



The President, who was in the company of his wife, Rebecca, were taken through the process for a period of almost 45 minutes, answering some 127 questions posed to them from enumerators.



Prof. Kobina, interacting with the President, said the data collected was strictly confidential and would not be used for targeting persons, or specific groups of people.



He said the information which would be used only at the aggregated levels, and put out for analytical work.



"It will de-identify all personal information and will be an anonymised data, not for tax purposes but only for statistical reasons," he assured.



Prof. Kobina further allayed the fears expressed by sections of the public who have expressed misgivings about the intent of the exercise, saying the census was a non-discriminatory and an all inclusive activity.



He said the data to be obtained from the PHC would help in analysis based on demographics and other social characteristics for the speedy socio-economic development of the country.



Ghana carried out its last census in 2010 and the final result pegged Ghana's population at 24.6 million.

Source: GNA









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The South African president has announced tough new restrictions to limit the impact of a third wave of the coronavirus. For the next two weeks alcohol sales are banned and all gatherings  including political and religious ones  are not allowed.



The South African government has also extended an overnight curfew and ordered schools to close next week. The Delta variant, first identified in India, is now dominating infections in South Africa  and has pushed the country right back to where it was in January  with more than 18,000 new cases on Saturday.



President Cyril Ramaphosa said the existing measures were not enough to cope with the speed and scale of infections.



We are in the grip of a devastating wave that by all indications seems like it will be worse than those that preceded it. The peak of this third wave looks set to be higher than the previous two, he said.

He said the country was facing a grave challenge with public health facilities stretched to the limit and private hospitals also buckling under the strain.



South Africas vaccination drive is progressing slowly. Only 2.5 million people have had a jab out of a population of 59 million.



Mr Ramaphosa said new arrivals of doses will allow the vaccination programme to speed up.



Meanwhile Ugandas President Yoweri Museveni has called out vaccine selfishness in the world but said it will wake up Africans to be self-sufficient. President Museveni said what Africa needs is raw materials to produce its own Covid vaccines and not donations from the developed nations.



Africans are a disgrace to ourselves. Why do we have to depend on the outside for everything. This is a big shame for Africa, he told delegates attending the World Health Summit on Sunday.

Ugandan President Museveni said countries across the continent need to stop waiting for vaccine donations and manufacture them locally.



This selfishness in the world is bad, but is good. I like it because it wakes up Africans. It a shame the whole of the African continent is just asleep, waiting to be saved by others like it happened during the slave trade, he said.



President Museveni said Uganda was in the process of making its own Covid vaccine and only needed help with some raw materials saying, Dont worry we shall buy them. We dont need donations.



The African Union has been calling for a Covid vaccine patent waiver to allow the continent to make its own vaccines as shortage continues in different countries.



The World Health Organization has been urging for equitable vaccine access with the African continent lagging behind at less than 2% vaccination.









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THE Police in Kyebi in the Abuakwa South Municipality of the Eastern Region have arrested four suspects believed to have been involved in the deadly bullion van attack at Adedekpon in Accra.



The suspects: Collins Addae aka Kekye from Akim-Swedru; Ebenezer Gyimah, aka Peace and Musa Kamara, 26; with his brother Suleman Ketah, 26 years old alias 69, both from Guinea, are said to be on Police wanted list.



The suspects, according to report, were fished from their hideouts at Kyebi by the Police at a mining site upon information gathered by the CID Headquarters in Accra.



The police have since the attack on the bullion van robbery incident declared the suspects wanted, and later had report that the suspects were hiding in the Kyebi enclave. The suspects with one currently at large have for some months been terrorizing residents in Kibi, Akyem Tafo, Osiem, Anyinasin, and its environs. However, last week, upon information the police arrested, suspect Ebenezer Gyimah alias Peace in Kyebi  Zongo but he managed to escape in handcuffs while leading the Police to the other suspects hideouts.



He was later picked up on Saturday afternoon, with the three others as Musah Kamara attempted to flee but was shot in the left knee and subsequently overpowered by the Police.



He was rushed to the Kyebi government hospital where he is on admission under police guard and will later be transferred with his accomplices to the Police headquarters.



Meanwhile, more police officers and CID operatives have been dispatched to Akyem Oda area over intelligence report that the suspects involved in the deadly bullion van attack at Adedekpon in Accra which led to the killing of a police officer, are hiding in the area.

However, the Police in a statement are urging the public to support their work by offering credible information to aid police investigations.



The Police continue to urge the public to support our work of ensuring the safety of communities with credible information. Informants are assured of the strictest confidentiality, the statement said.









Source: Daily Guide









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Deputy Minority Chief Whip, who is also the Member of Parliament for Banda Constituency, Hon. Ahmed Ibrahim believes the 2021 population census exercise is politically motivated to favour the ruling New Patriotic Party (NDC) in the 2024 general elections.



According to him, the exercise has been designed in such a way by the Akufo-Addo government to place certain communities in other juridictions considered to be the strongholds of the ruling NPP.



The reason why they are embarking on 2021 population census political is that they are doing it to create the 25 constituencies in the strongholds of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) before the 2024 general elections, Hon. Ahmed Ibrahim posited.



The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has scheduled the 2021 Population and Housing Census for Sunday, June 27, 2021. The census was expected to take place in 2020 but had to be rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.



The exercise, which will run till July 11, 2021, is meant to generate data that will be used in decision-making and planning for the development of the country and its citizens.



Currently, the Ghana Statistical Service is numbering various structures nationwide.



Speaking on Okay FMs "Ade Akye Abia" Morning Show, the NDC MP opined that the intended census exercise has created problems in some communities as some chiefs have expressed their dissatisfaction about the arrangement which they believe is politically tinted.



He added that the next President might not be able to embark on a correct development plan for the country due to the wrongful implementation of the 2021 population census.



Whiles accusing the ruling NPP government of sidelining perceived NDC activists as enumerators and replacing them with NPP sympathizers, Hon. Ahmed Ibrahim further asserted that the political connotation surrounding the 2021 population census has killed the zeal of Ghanaians to fully show interest and participate in the exercise.



There was a national engagement in the voter registration exercise but with the 2021 population census, on the quiet, we heard that the enumerators who were considered NDC members have been driven out and replaced with NPP membersthe publicity is down as compared to the voter registration exercise because with the voter registration we all knew how the exercise was going to pan out, but not with this exercise, he asserted.



Watch Video Below





Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com









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A Youth Organizer aspirant of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) Prince-Kamal has paid a courtesy call on former President Kufuor at his residence.



The visit was to formally introduce himself to the astute statesman and inform him of his intentions to lead the youth group of his party.



The former president in receiving him, recalled the immense contribution of both his father and grandfather in the fight to win political power for the NPP in the Northern part of Ghana.



He added that during that time the struggle was not easy giving the unfavourable political atmosphere at the time.



He was happy to meet the grandson of the longest-serving constituency chairman of the NPP in the Upper East Region who was offering himself for service of the NPP party.



He lauded his intention to follow the footsteps of his fathers to help build the party, especially at the youth level thus gave him his blessings and best wishes.



Prince Kamal Gumah was grateful for the warm reception given him by the former president and assured him of a clean and decent campaign. He further assured him of his unflinching dedication to the party just Iike his fathers.



Imoro Salifu, the grandfather of Prince Kamal Gumah was the regional Commissioner/minister for the upper regions in the Busia government in 1969



In the UGCC 1948 pre-independence, he was responsible for propagating the ideas and policies in the Protectorate of the British colonies in the North.



Mr Adam Amandi who is also one of the grandfathers of the aspiring National Youth Organiser was a key appointee in the Busia government. He was appointed Deputy Minister of Health and later move to Ministry for Trade.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Volta Region has appealed to Ghanaians to participate in the ongoing Population and Housing Census (PHC) 2021.



Mr. James Gunu, Regional Secretary of the Party underscored the importance of the exercise, which he said would help the Party better serve the people when it wins back power in 2024.



We strongly believe Ghanaians will derive the full benefits of the 2021 census only when the NDC wins election 2024, the Regional Secretary said in a communique issued by the NDC in Volta at the end of its post-election retreat in Ho and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA).



The Party, in the communique, said some entities were allegedly using the census exercise to fuel tribal and xenophobic agenda and must be checked.



We, however, caution that those allegedly moving from house to house inquiring as to the nationality of people (asking whether they are Togolese or not) to put a stop to the said uninformed act.



The retreat was organized under the auspices of the Volta NDC Parliamentary Caucus and the National Secretariat of the Party, to review the just concluded general elections.



The National Chairman and other top executives of the Party were at the retreat and all stakeholders including traditional leadership were commended for their roles in ensuring a successful election.



While commending its support base for helping secure almost all parliamentary seats in the Region, the Party continued to lament shortcomings observed during the elections.



The Party sympathized with individuals who lost their lives and those who were affected by border closures during the electioneering period.



The Partys MPs were commended for undertaking social intervention programs in their constituencies and were asked to expand them to cover more people.



The retreat called for an urgent revival of the welfare scheme of the Party at the constituency level towards the social-economic advancement of the people.

Source: GNA









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Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister, has urged the diaspora community to return home with their talents, capital, skills, and knowledge to facilitate Ghanas growth.



He implored them to return with honesty, open-mindedness, optimism, and moderate expectations, adding that there are opportunities for the diaspora community.



There will be challenges, but you need to exercise patience to tolerate the inefficiency in the system with the intention of helping it to be better. We will do all we can to help you settle in, he said.



Mr. Ofori-Atta, who was speaking at the maiden edition of the Diaspora Investment Summit that aims to create an avenue to foster partnerships between local and Diaspora investors, said returning home signified a sense of belonging and uniting with family.



The event, which was on the theme: The New Normal, leveraging Diaspora investments to build back better. showcased Ghana as a destination of choice for doing business to spur the inflow of foreign direct investments.



It was held under the auspices of the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ministry of Information, the Diaspora Affairs Office at the Office of the President, Diaspora Africa Forum, and Beyond the Return Secretariat under the Ghana Tourism Authority.



The Finance Minister said Ghana was not just about geographical location, but an idea of independence, unity, and freedom, which was started by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the First President.



He explained that 60 years on had been given the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which signifies economic emancipation.



Mr. Ofori-Atta said the government outlined 10-point pillars, which include One District One Factory, Industrial Parks and Special Economic Zones, Strategic Anchor Industries, Export Development Programme and others to spur an industrial transformational agenda.



Mr. Wamkele Mene, General Secretary, AfCFTA Secretariat, said diversified opportunities had been increased within the AfCFTA market to promote trade and foreign direct investment, create businesses, induce entrepreneurship and transfer new knowledge and skills.



He revealed that 69 per cent of countries that have signed the agreement had legally accepted the obligations to open markets, reduce trade barriers, reduce barriers to investments, and also adhere to a single set of rules for trade and investment on the African Continent.



Mr. Mene advised investors to undertake larger revenue projects regionally rather than nationally to provide large and attractive markets with reduced cross-border barriers.



He said phase one of the agreements is aimed at reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers to goods and advance in the liberalization of trade in services.



Mr. Mene said phase two involved agreements of investments, competition policy, and intellectual property rights which would have a fully developed Investment Protocol by December 2021 while the third phase entails the provisions of e-commerce.



He stated that the diaspora possessed positive developmental potential, which would help mitigate the development challenges of Africa and Ghana when well utilized.



The General Secretary indicated that the Ghanaian diaspora had a significant role to play in the governments developmental effort in building the country beyond aid.



Mr. Mene mentioned that Ghana would not have to reinvent the wheel in forging a meaningful link with its African diaspora due to the number of initiatives that had already been undertaken towards deepening cultural linkages and bridging the physical divide between Africa Diaspora and the country.



Initiatives such as the highly successful Ghana Year of Return in 2019, designed to symbolize 400 years since the first enslaved African arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619, resonated with the African American community in the United States and served to further inculcate linkages between Ghana and the diasporan counterparts, he said.



Mr. Mene recommended that such initiatives should be reviewed to extend beyond tourism and target foreign investment and business partnerships.

Source: GNA









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A Deputy Trade and Industry Minister, Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah-Adjei has assured that all the new deputy Ministers are willing to work tirelessly to help fix the country.



According to her, their appointment by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo doesnt make them the "wisest" among the over 30 million Ghanaians  after calling on Ghanaians to play their roles as responsible citizens to help build mother Ghana.



Amongst the approximately 30million Ghanaians, we here were the ones you appointed as Deputy Ministers. This doesn't necessarily mean that we are the wisest, nonetheless, you have reposed enormous confidence in us, and given us the opportunity to be part of the route to a Ghana Beyond Aid, she said.



Adding that, to our fellow Ghanaians, as we are sworn-in today, we take the challenge to work harder to continue fixing the country, noting that as we do our bit as dedicated political leaders, the 30 million others will have to play their roles as responsible citizens to make it a reality.



Thanking the President on behalf of the 38 deputy Ministers during their swearing-in ceremony at the seat of government, Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah-Adjei assured their support to their respective ministers.



We will engage, consult and collaborate with the various stakeholders as we assist our Ministers to deliver the mandate bestowed on our respective ministries, she noted.

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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PRESIDENT AKUFO-Addo on Friday swore in forty (40) new deputy ministers to serve in the second term of his administration.



They included the Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Charles Adu-Bohene; Abena Osei-Asare and John Ampontuah Kumah for Finance; Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah-Adjei, Michael Okyere Baafi and Herbert Krapa for Trade and Industry; as well as Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, William Owuraku Aidoo, and Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer for the Energy Ministry.



Augustine Collins Ntim, Osei Bonsu Amoah, and Martin Kwaku Adjei-Mensah Korsah go to Local Government, Decentralization & Rural Development; whilst Thomas Mbomba and Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong head to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.



Also on the bill were Alfred Tuah-Yeboah and Diana Asonaba Dapaah for the Office of Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice while Yaw Frimpong Addo and Mohammed Hardi Tufeiru go to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Reverend John Ntim Fordjour and Gifty Twum-Ampofo will be at the Ministry of Education.



Tina Gifty Naa Ayeley Mensah and Alhaji Mahama Asei Seini go to the Ministry of Health with Benito Owusu-Bio and George Mireku Duker joining the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources. Mavis Nkansah-Boadu and Stephen Pambiin Jalulah also head for the Ministry for Roads and Highways.



Alhassan Tampuli Sulemana and Frederick Obeng Adom are billed for the Ministry of Transport whilst Kofi Amankwah-Manu and Naana Eyiah go to the Defense and Interior Ministries respectively with Ama Pomaa Boateng joining the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization.



To the Works and Housing Ministry goes Abdulai Abanga whilst Moses Anim has been assigned to the Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Ministry with Kwaku Asante-Boateng works at the Ministry of Railway Development.



The rest are Amidu Issahaku Chinnia  Sanitation and Water Resources; Mark Okraku-Mantey  Tourism, Arts and Culture; Lariba Zuweira Abudu  Gender, Children and Social Protection Ministry; Bright Wireko-Brobbey  Employment and Labour Relations Ministry; Fatimatu Abubakar  Information and Evans Opoku Bobie  Youth and Sports.



That, was however not without a charge for them to justify their inclusion in the government with good performance.



Addressing the newly sworn in Deputy Ministers at the Jubilee House Friday evening after administering the Oaths of Office, Allegiance and Secrecy, President Akufo-Addo said the Deputy Ministers had to justify their selection because there were many of their peers in Parliament who had not been selected even though they had similar claims of competence.



We have launched the GH100 billion Ghana Cares Obaatanpa project to respond to it (the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic), to revitalize and develop our economy, President Akufo-Addo said.



Your success in this endeavour will be a consequence of three things  first, it is the spirit of loyalty you exhibit to your Ministers. Article 79, clause 1 of the Constitution of the Republic provides that a Deputy Minister is appointed by the President in consultation with the Minister and with the prior approval of Parliament to assist the Minister in the performance of his or her functions, he emphasised.



He therefore told them Your basic responsibility is thus to assist your Minister in the performance of his or her functions.



That, he said, was because loyalty to the Minister is a fundamental premise for the success of your work, with a warning I will not countenance any acts of disloyalty or subversion of your Minister, for I will take such acts as disloyalty to me personally and by inference, disloyalty to the state and party.



You have to remember at all times, the solemn commitment we, in the NPP, have made collectively and individually, jointly and severally, to serve the Ghanaian people honestly and competently. We are called to these public appointments to provide public service, not to promote our person gains, President Akufo-Addo said.



On behalf of her colleagues, the Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah-Adjei, in acceptance, assured the President they would engage, consult and collaborate with all stakeholders to assist their Ministers to deliver the mandate bestowed on the respective ministries.



We are privileged and grateful to be given these valuable opportunities to serve the country in this capacity, and we will give it our utmost best to justify these appointments, she said.















Source: Daily Guide









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Formula 1 Driver Daniel Ricciardo in partypoker Responsible Gambling Video

June 28, 2021 Will Shillibier

Australian Formula 1 star Daniel Ricciardo has appeared in a new video from partypoker, promoting responsible gambling.

"Only when we're in control are we in charge of our own race," Ricciardo in the video. "It's sometimes important to hold back, take a break and take stock. It's important to know when it's time to pit."

partypoker partnered with McLaren last month, in a multiyear deal that would see the two brands appear on McLaren Racing's Formula 1 cars.

just setting up my twttr  jack (@jack)

Ricciardo: "We Race at the Limit"

Ricciardo made his Formula 1 debut in 2011. After starting out with HRT, he moved to Toro Rosso before being promoted to Red Bull where he raced for five seasons. He spent two seasons with Renault, before moving to McLaren in 2021.

"I always remember my limits are my limits."

"In Formula 1, we race at the limit," Ricciardo says in the video. "We get the best out of ourselves. We get the best out of the car. Only then can we know we've done our best.

"Having the skill is important, but so is the ability to stay in control. That's why it's important to have the right skills and the right team around you. I always remember my limits are my limits. You push above them and you're out of control, and keeping in control is what it's all about."

partypoker and McLaren Partnership

McLaren's partnership with partypoker started ahead of last month's Monaco Grand Prix. As part of the partnership, a new activation platform called Access has been set up to provide a range of dedicated content and exclusive experiences.

Ricciardo is also set to feature in a special poker tournament, details of which are yet to be released.

Related: McLaren Racing partners With partypoker and PartyCasino

Originally from Perth, Western Australia, Ricciardo will no doubt know the rich history of poker in Australia. As of June 2021, 30 World Series of Poker bracelets have been won by Australians. Australian poker legend Jeff Lisandro has won six in total, with Australia's Robert Campbell crowned WSOP Player of the Year in 2019.

just setting up my twttr  jack (@jack)

Ricciardo isn't the only Formula 1 driver with an interest in poker and gambling, with seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton previously spotted playing online.

Racing driver Dani Juncadella also plays poker, attending EPT Prague in 2017, having been a test driver for former Formula 1 racing team Force India.

Related: What Are The Best Features of the partypoker Mobile App?

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There isnt too much that regular readers of The Post and Courier have left to learn about Chasing Sage, since theyve been monitoring its progress weekly since last summer. But in the days leading up the restaurants June 23 opening, the quartet behind the operation took time to brief their new employees on what they had in mind.

They explained why there was avocado in one of their signature cocktails and why a small macaron would be presented with every check. They reviewed their service philosophy and described why they let ingredients guide their cooking.

Charleston-area diners who werent privy to that staff training can get a sense of Chasing Sage from its opening menu, which consists entirely of plates meant for mixing, matching and sharing.

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Among the choices are a sourdough loaf, built with starter brought from Seattle and baked in a cast iron Dutch oven; peaches glanced with house-made ham; sweet corn-and-crab cavatelli and English pea dumplings finished with bacon and chili oil.

Chasing Sage, 267 Rutledge Ave., is open 5:30-9:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and 5:30-10:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday. For more information, call 854-444-3402 or visit chasingsagerestaurant.com.
Glancing down at Columbus Street Terminal this past weekend, motorists crossing the Ravenel Bridge might have thought the Holy City was in the midst of a German invasion.

Turns out, the World War II-era Panzer tank sitting along Charleston's waterfront was just a life-size replica of the feared Axis Powers fighting machine nicknamed the Tiger 1.

The tank left Charleston on June 28 for its new home in Knoxville, Tenn., where military enthusiast and collector Benton Bryan will display and use it in Normandy Invasion re-enactments with Panzer Group South.

The State Ports Authority referred questions about the tank to Bryan, who declined to give details about his purchase.

But an internet search shows the Tiger 1 was built by United Kingdom-based HCM Associated Enterprises, which specializes in military vehicle restorations and replicas. It took HCM three years to build the vehicle.

"It has been difficult having to keep this big cat under wraps," the company said on its Facebook page, which also features several photos of the Tiger 1, which is powered by a Cummins V8 engine. "It has been a journey ... many trials and tribulations and problems to solve but the team has worked tirelessly to get her here."

Built from the ground up, the tank carries a price tag without shipping starting at roughly $350,000, according to the company.

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While Bryan declined an interview with The Post and Courier  "I am very media shy and maintain a very low digital footprint," he said  Bryan told the Knoxville News-Sentinel in 2005 that he's been fascinated with tanks since he was a child. That article detailed his first tank purchase  a British Chieftan Mark 11.

"Humvees are for women," Bryan told the newspaper at the time. "Real men drive tanks."

The Tigers  there were versions I and II  went into production in August 1942 and were the largest and last tanks used by the Germans in World War II. The 55-ton Tiger 1 featured nearly four-inch-thick frontal armor while packing a long-barreled, high-velocity 88-millimeter gun. About 1,350 of the tanks were built, with only a half-dozen surviving today.

"The Tiger emphasized to an extreme the German preference for firepower and survivability at the expense of speed, agility, range and reliability," according to Encyclopethe dia Britannica. The Tiger 1 had a top road speed of 24 mph and had to be refueled within 70 miles of travel, making it best suited for "a defensive role, where speed and agility were not decisive factors."
GREENVILLE  After breaking ground in early 2019, construction on the Grand Bohemian Hotel Greenville next to the Reedy River Falls is nearing an end.

The hotel is expected to open sometime in the coming winter, said Peter Werner, the project manager and owner's representative with the Kessler Collection. The Grand Bohemian is one of the Kessler Collection's 12 such hotels, including in Charleston and Asheville, and among several high-profile projects changing the look and feel of the East Camperdown Way side of Falls Park.

Two decades ago, a four-lane concrete bridge spanned the falls before the city tore it down to make way for the park and Liberty Bridge. Now, the Grand Bohemian will open next to what is likely to be Greenville's new City Hall.

The city is currently negotiating a property swap and sale for the Bowater building next door at 55 E. Camperdown Way. A deal could emerge by the end of this month, City Manager John McDonough said, that would see the city move out of its current Main Street tower.

New development along the river won't end there. United Community Bank announced earlier this year it will move its headquarters to 200 E. Camperdown Way, adjacent to the east side of the Grand Bohemian. Construction of the bank's planned seven-story tower is expected to begin in early 2022.

The Grand Bohemian Hotel Greenville has the architectural style of a western lodge, with the lower half covered in a stone veneer and the upper half in cedar shingles. The eight-story hotel will have 187 guest rooms. A restaurant, bar, spa and art gallery will be open to the public, with a ballroom and meeting rooms available for events.

The hotel's restaurant, Falls Point Grill, has yet to finalize a menu. Falls Point Bar will be a bourbon bar, with a staircase leading from a lower terrace to the river. Both the restaurant and the bar include outdoor seating overlooking the falls.

Some guest rooms have balconies overlooking the river and others have private workout rooms with ballet bars or Peloton bikes. The hotel will have a separate fitness center for all guests.

The pandemic, Werner said, did not impact the project's timetable. While there were some material slowdowns, construction never stopped.

"I haven't missed a single day from work," Werner said. "I haven't worked from home because none of us can."

A grand opening date will be announced later.
Lexington Medical Center and the city of Columbia are partnering this week to get COVID-19 vaccines into the arms of Palmetto State residents.

They will sponsor a vaccination clinic from 1 to 4 p.m. June 30 at the Charles R. Drew Wellness Center in Columbia. The two-dose Pfizer vaccine will be offered to anyone 12 and older and single-dose Johnson & Johnson shots will be available to those 18 and up.

Appointments are not required to receive a vaccine.

Those who are unable to attend this week's clinic can go to vaxlocator.dhec.sc.gov to find another nearby vaccine location.

Statewide numbers

New cases reported: 136 confirmed, 51 probable.

Total cases in S.C.: 493,015 confirmed, 103,601 probable.

Percent positive: 3 percent.

New deaths reported: 1 confirmed, 0 probable.

Total deaths in S.C.: 8,634 confirmed, 1,180 probable.

Percent of ICU beds filled: 65.1 percent.

S.C. residents vaccinated

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DHEC's vaccine dashboard shows that 48.3 percent of the state's residents have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Hardest-hit areas

In the total number of newly confirmed cases, Berkeley County (9), Greenville County (14), Richland County (37) and York County (9) saw the highest totals.

What about tri-county?

Charleston County had eight new cases on June 28, while Berkeley County had nine and Dorchester County had six.

Deaths

The COVID-19 death confirmed June 28 was a person age 65 or older.

Hospitalizations

Of the 122 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of June 28, 35 were in the ICU and 17 were using ventilators.

What do experts say?

Before children head off to summer camp or other programs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends they get caught up on all routine childhood vaccines.

A list of routinely recommended vaccines for children and adolescents can be found on the agency's website.
Students at West Ashleys newest school wont be stuck to a desk all day.

They wont spend much time at desks at all. While their courses will incorporate elements of science, technology and math, the students wont often be listening to teachers lecture in front of a white board.

Instead, theyll be building, welding, coding and tinkering their way through the West Ashley Center for Advanced Studies curriculum.

The new school, which is located off of West Wildcat Boulevard next to West Ashley High School, opens in August and will serve around 1,000 students.

It is the third Center for Advanced Studies built by the Charleston County School District and will be open to students from West Ashley and St. Johns high schools as well as Baptist Hill Middle-High School in Hollywood.

East Cooper Center for Advanced Studies in Mount Pleasant opened in 2014 and serves students from Wando and Lucy Beckham high schools. Last year, the district opened Cooper River Center for Advanced Studies in North Charleston, serving students from Burke, Military Magnet, Stall and North Charleston high schools.

The addition of the West Ashley center means high school students from across the district have access to a school that offers career and technology education classes.

West Ashley CAS is that final step so we can include those thousands of students from West Ashley, St. Johns and Baptist Hill high schools, said Richard Gordon, executive director of career and technology education at the district.

Preparation for the real world

The idea behind the Center for Advanced Studies schools is to give students a leg up in future career field.

When it opens, the West Ashley school will provide a variety of courses that prepare students for careers in health, construction, computer science and more.

Students will be able to choose from a list of courses in arts, audio visual production and communications; health science; information technology; science, technology, engineering and math; manufacturing; and transportation, distribution and logistics.

Students can take the skills they learn in the courses and get a head start on their careers or use them to help inform areas of study in college.

Gordon said the district requires the programs to teach students skills in career areas where they will have access to a livable wage.

The programs also offer a certification, which will help students enter the workforce immediately after graduation.

All of these programs align with local industry and business partners so that students can seamlessly transition from the school site ... and be gainfully employed immediately upon graduation, Gordon said.

So far, the programs have been met with relatively high interest from students. The East Cooper center in Mount Pleasant serves over 1,500 students.

In the past year, the school added around 50 to 60 students from Lucy Beckham High School, which opened in fall 2020. Jeff Blankenship, principal of the East Cooper center, said he expects for the number of Lucy Beckham students to quadruple in the upcoming school year.

(Were) just really excited about forging some new relationships with these students and bringing on some new business and community partnerships, Blankenship said.

In its first year of operation, the Cooper River center struggled to bring on as many students as East Cooper or the new West Ashley school.

Principal Vanessa Brown said the school ended the year with about 225 students. Brown attributes those lower numbers to the COVID-19 pandemic, when a lot of the schools programs had to have limited in-person instruction.

Even in spite of COVID-19 we still brought students in, we did student tours, Brown said. So we think we now have created a buzz with students being able to see all that we have to offer here.

Brown said she's already seeing a jump in enrollment for the next school year.

Access and opportunity

With labs designed to teach students to work on cars and manufacture large materials, the centers cant be located in just any building.

The new West Ashley building cost $42.7 million and is part of the districts Phase IV Capital Projects fund, which was funded through a 1-cent tax increase approved by voters in 2014.

At 100,000 square feet, the building is just smaller than the East Cooper school, which makes up 125,000 square feet. The Cooper River school, which is located on East Montague Avenue in North Charleston, is 84,000 square feet.

The three schools are outfitted to serve the project-based learning model. Students at the high schools that feed into the three centers are able to choose their courses as electives.

The staff and administration at the schools are all well-versed in career technology education as well as the different job opportunities it brings.

Dale Metzger, the principal of the West Ashley school, didnt go to college directly after high school. He instead worked at the Charleston Shipyard as a pipe fitter.

At that time, I learned to appreciate working for a living and how having a skilled trade, theres honor in that, he said. Theres honor in being able to provide for your family.

The educators at the three centers hope to use the curriculum to help students achieve their goals, whether it's to go on to college or earn a certificate and start working immediately after high school.

As an educator, I hate the phrase all kids are not going to college, Brown said. Thats not why were here as career technology educators. Were here to provide all students access and opportunity so they can make a decision.
NEW YORK  A recent graduate of The Citadel was wounded by what appears to be a stray bullet in New York City's Times Square over the weekend, authorities said.

The 21-year-old victim, identified by The Citadel as Samuel Poulin, was shot in the back about 5:15 p.m. June 27, police said. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan for treatment of what were described as non-life-threatening injuries.

A family member plucked the bullet out of the victim's back and gave it to an officer, police said. No one else was hurt in the shooting.

Surveillance video of the shooting showed the gunman with a weapon in hand. Bystander video also showed the victim being taken away on a stretcher.

Officials with The Citadel said Poulin graduated in the college's class of 2021. He has been commissioned by the U.S. Marine Corps.

"We are encouraged that he is reported to be in stable condition (and) are sending our prayers and our love to his new wife and his family," according to a statement by Citadel President Gen. Glenn M. Walters.

Poulin graduated with a bachelor's degree in physics and was a President's List cadet, according to the statement. He and his family live in upstate New York, the New York Daily News reported.

Neither he nor his family could be reached by The Post and Courier.

The shooting took place near the site of a May 8 shooting that wounded two women and a 4-year-old girl. A man was later arrested in Florida following that shooting and charged with attempted murder.

Police said Sunday's shooting followed a dispute outside the Minskoff Theatre, where performances of "The Lion King" will start back in September after the coronavirus pandemic shut Broadway down. Published reports said the dispute may have involved street peddlers.

Hot dog vendor Salma Elkordy told the Daily News that bystanders bolted in terror after the shooting.

"I started to see people running. At first I didn't think anything of it," Elkordy said. "Shortly after, I saw the caution tape. They blocked off the area, and shortly after, the ambulance responded. I saw a big crowd of people and I knew somebody got shot."

Police have made no arrests.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
COLUMBIA  South Carolina's prisons agency has reached a $6 million settlement resolving dozens of lawsuits stemming from America's deadliest prison riot in a generation that left seven dead and many more wounded.

Agency officials will seek approval of the deal June 29 from a state fiscal oversight board, according to an agenda posted online.

The settlement would wrap up 81 lawsuits filed on behalf of inmates in state and federal court, according to the brief explanation in paperwork submitted for the State Fiscal Accountability Authority.

The Corrections Department provided no further information ahead of the meeting.

The agency is "asking permission to move forward with a settlement in the Lee riot cases," said spokeswoman Chrysti Shain.

The deal comes more than three years after the riot at Lee Correctional Institution in rural Bishopville left seven inmates dead and dozens injured. Many of the lawsuits argued prison officials failed to keep prisoners safe.

"Were excited about the possibility of moving further toward a settlement," said attorney Bakari Sellers, who represents several families. "The state has worked diligently to put this matter behind them." As for the details, he responded: "At the end of the day, we still have to dot some 'i's and cross some 't's, but we feel like a dark chapter in the Department of Corrections history will finally be closed."

The April 2018 violence erupted after 24-year-old Damonte Rivera went into the unlocked cell of Michael Milledge, a well-liked 44-year-old prisoner, and stabbed him to death. Blood gang members then retaliated against Rivera, killing him and attacking members of his gang, authorities said.

The violence then spread through their dorm and into two neighboring housing units as gang members exacted retribution. Authorities blamed cellphones for allowing inmates in those dorms to communicate with one another and spread the violence.

The seven inmates slain ranged in age from 24 to 44. Some were new to the prison; others had been housed there for years. Their crimes included domestic violence, drug possession and murder.

The other inmates who died were Eddie Gaskins, 32; Joshua Jenkins, 33; Cornelius McClary, 33; Raymond Scott, 28; and Corey Scott, 38.

Twenty-nine men were indicted last December on 79 charges ranging from assault by mob to murder. None of those cases has gone to trial.

Three men are accused of murder in connection with Rivera's death. That charge carries penalties of 30 years to life or potentially the death penalty.

Murder charges were not filed in the other killings. However, 18 inmates were charged with first-degree assault and battery by a mob resulting in death, which carries a minimum 30-year sentence.

In 2019, The Post and Courier detailed how the brutality at Lee exploded between gangs after Milledge's killing. Reporters collected thousands of pages of records, interviewed experts and prison staff, and communicated with more than 100 inmates who either witnessed the violence or were touched by it. The coverage won several national awards.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace is backing legislation aimed at investigating the role of Antifa during riots in numerous American cities last year, but said she still doesn't believe Congress should probe the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot.

Mace, R-Charleston, cosponsored the effort last week alongside six other Republican members of Congress.

Antifa is a left-wing political movement that many Republicans say is the cause of recent civil unrest in American cities. The lawmakers' bill seeking a probe comes amid Republican outrage that many charges are being dropped against rioters in places such as Portland, Minneapolis and New York following last year's protests relating to social justice.

"I'm heartbroken over what I see going on in our country," Mace told The Post and Courier on June 28. "But we do have a responsibility to hold people accountable when they commit crimes. And I ran as someone who wanted to stem the tide of violence."

The bill, H.R. 4117, would establish the "National Commission on Domestic Terrorist Attacks on the United States."

As envisioned, the body would be structured like the 9/11 commission and is similar in nature to the proposed Jan. 6 commission formed in H.R. 3233, which was passed by the House on May 19. Republican opposition stonewalled it in the Senate.

Among South Carolina's GOP House delegation, only Rep. Tom Rice of Myrtle Beach, voted for H.R. 3233, while Mace joined other S.C. GOP members against the measure.

Mace said she believes the Jan. 6 commission was redundant because the incident is already being examined by numerous federal law enforcement agencies.

"There has been more investigation and more resources invested into investigating Jan. 6 than 9/11," Mace said. "There are already criminal charges."

She said she would support a commission on Jan. 6 if the federal agencies don't reach a "reasonable outcome."

Mace criticized former President Donald J. Trump's rhetoric leading up to the Capitol Hill riots and said his accomplishments were wiped out in just a few short hours." Some of her comments surrounding the riot were cited by House Democrats in impeachment proceedings against him.

Last year as a candidate, Mace spoke out against the property damage to businesses on King Street following a peaceful protest tied to the death of George Floyd in in Minnesota.

Some activists believe that politicians are labeling acts of violence as being connected to Antifa, when that isn't the case.

"There's no particular group that is Antifa," said Justin Hunt, the leader of Stand As One  a Charleston-based collective that fights for workers rights, racial equity and social change. "It stands for anti-fascists; it's a belief, not really a group. I think they're trying to tie the violence to the group instead of leading substantial change for their constituents."

He said he believes Mace's effort is misplaced and his organization has been mislabeled as being connected to Antifa by numerous politicians.

Last month, Mace's home on Daniel Island was vandalized with spray painted political symbols and profanity. Although she pointed out one as being an Antifa symbol, Charleston police identified one marking as a capital letter A within a circle  a symbol most commonly associated with anarchism.

Mace said she was not sure if Antifa was involved in the 2020 King Street riots in Charleston, but added that she thinks it's a matter of fairness to investigate all criminals.

"I don't care what your political affiliation is," Mace said. "I've got the same standard for every criminal, regardless of your political beliefs."

Other sponsors of the bill include GOP Reps. Don Bacon, Neb.; Rodney Davis, Ill.; Tony Gonzales, Texas; David Joyce, Ohio; Maria Elvira Salazar, Fla.; and Van Taylor, Texas.
The author of a Wednesday letter to the editor complained that people should not be enticed into getting a vaccine.

The letter stated that the writers and other peoples individual rights were being jeopardized by such action.

When Vice President Kamala Harris recently visited Greenville to encourage more South Carolinians to get vaccinated, she was told by Gov. Henry McMaster and Rep. Nancy Mace that she was not welcome here and that South Carolina does not have a problem.

The fact is that we do have a problem, but many of our elected leaders refuse to recognize the fact.

South Carolina ranks near the bottom of states whose population is fully vaccinated. This means that COVID-19 remains a threat.

In a recent commentary, New York Times conservative columnist David Brooks states that were not asking you to storm the beaches of Iwo Jima; were asking you to walk into a (expletive) CVS.

He further states that given our current divisive politics and our refusal to sacrifice for the common good, that we could probably not win World War II.

That is a true tragedy in as much as those men and women who were willing to sacrifice for the common good some 75 years ago did so that future generations of Americans could live responsibly in a free country.

JOHN WOODS

Pine Island View

Mount Pleasant

McConnell off base

When asked recently about the issue of reparations for the descendants of enslaved African Americans, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, I dont think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago for whom none of us currently living are responsible is a good idea.

First of all, it was more than 240 years ago when our country was established and accepted slavery in our Constitution. And, it was more than 400 years ago when enslaved Africans were brought to America.

As a result of slavery, economic advances were made by the country as well as individual citizens. While those of us currently living were not enslavers, the white citizens of our country have benefited from our original sin of slavery, to the detriment of our fellow black citizens.

Mr. McConnell went on to say that it would be difficult to determine who should be compensated because, Weve had waves of immigrants as well come to the country and experience dramatic discrimination of one kind or another.

His attempt to compare people who were forcibly brought here against their will to work for the benefit of others to immigrants who came voluntarily and lived freely under our system of government is specious and insulting to those who were enslaved.

Whether you agree with the idea of reparations or not, these are not arguments that should be used to support a decision to reject it.

WILLIAM KOPIS

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Seven Farms Drive

Charleston

Research facts

When a news source publishes an article exposing a law or action that hurts not just the countrys economy but goes against constitutional rights, the people you think would be the most disturbed are instead the ones rejecting the source.

They immediately attack it as left-wing propaganda, progressive and unpatriotic.

Instead, why dont they check the facts before reacting so harshly against their own self-interest and ours?

Are not the most treacherous of anti-patriotic people the ones who support laws that allow corporations to pay zero federal income tax while spending millions of dollars in lobbying and hiding profits offshore?

Instead of shooting the messenger, why not look into the facts from reliable, independent sources.

BEVERLY WATROUS

Cornerstone Lane

Myrtle Beach

Cunningham wrong

I cannot agree with the Thursday letter writer touting former Rep. Joe Cunningham for South Carolina governor.

He has shown a penchant for wanting my government to own my constitutionally guaranteed rights.

He supports Rep. Jim Clyburns bill that purports to close the Charleston loophole by changing the approval time to purchase a firearm from three days to 10 days.

This will prohibit the exercise of my Second Amendment right to bear arms until my government says that I may.

FORREST BONNER

Madison Court

Mount Pleasant
NORTH CHARLESTON  U.S. Sen. Tim Scott kicked off his 2022 reelection campaign June 28, launching what the South Carolina Republican has said is his final bid for the office he has held for the past eight years.

In remarks to several hundred supporters in his hometown of North Charleston, Scott cheered the administration of former President Donald Trump and said he is hopeful Republicans can build on "the good old days" of Trump's conservative policies if they reclaim the Senate majority in 2022.

"Sometimes you've got to go back to the future, and that's a future I want to go back to," Scott said.

During a later rally in Columbia, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster called Scott "compassionate, conservative and a man of great courage" and said nobody could beat Scott in either a GOP primary or general election.

Scott said he decided to run for reelection because he believes "the next few years will determine the fate of our nation for the next 50 years."

"If we do what we're supposed to do, we will have another American century that we can celebrate, even flourish in, and freedom in a way that we haven't seen in a long time," Scott said.

In a solidly Republican state where Scott's senior colleague, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, won reelection by 10 percentage points in 2020 despite his Democratic opponent breaking fundraising records, Scott enters the 2022 race as the heavy favorite.

Two Democrats have announced their intention to challenge him: state Rep. Krystle Matthews of Ladson and Spartanburg County Democratic Party Chairwoman Angela Geter. No Republicans have indicated plans to run against Scott in the GOP primary.

Scott, 55, has long said the 2022 race would be his last run for the U.S. Senate, a commitment he reiterated June 28.

He was first appointed to the office by then-Gov. Nikki Haley after Jim DeMint retired in 2012 and then won the seat in a 2014 special election. He cruised to reelection in 2016. But he said early in his tenure he favors term limits and would impose one on himself.

A launch video for Scott's campaign featured an array of top GOP politicians offering support, including former Vice President Mike Pence, Graham and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Haley, much of the South Carolina congressional delegation and Statehouse leaders.

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Scott also has locked down the crucial backing of Trump, who gave him his "complete and total endorsement" in a statement earlier this year.

As the only Black Republican in the Senate, Scott has established himself as one of the party's main voices on racial issues and has risen to national prominence in recent years.

Last year, Scott delivered a keynote speech at the Republican National Convention, and then months later was tapped to give the party's response to President Joe Biden's first address to Congress.

That platform has prompted speculation that Scott could end up running for president in 2024 or at some point in the future.

Asked if that was something he could consider, Scott said he's focused for now on running for Senate. Pressed on whether he would commit to serving out the full six-year term if he wins reelection, Scott said, "I commit to serving the people of South Carolina without any question."

While Scott largely aligned himself with Trump, he also chastised him at times for what he described as racial insensitivity. Over the past few months, Scott has taken the lead on working with Democrats to reach a compromise on police reform. He said June 28 that he is "cautiously optimistic" they will reach an agreement.

Supporters at Scott's rallies were mostly enthusiastic about his reelection bid, but some said they would wait to see if any other Republicans choose to run before deciding whether to vote for him.

"We like him because of his conservative values and we like him because he's fighting for our country, but I wish he would fight a little bit harder," said Tammy Heinold of Mount Pleasant.

Scott said it was important that Republicans remain united in order to block the Biden administration's agenda.

"The road to socialism leads right through a divided Republican Party," Scott said. "We are the firewall. We must be unified to take this administration back to their home in Delaware and California."

After his North Charleston and Columbia rallies, Scott was slated to head to Greenville for fundraisers and private meetings.
Convicted drug dealer Eder J. Cortez-Zelaya will not have to spend another day in federal prison or under watch by U.S. Probation officers. He was sentenced to time served during a hearing Monday before District Court of Guam Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood.

Cortez-Zelaya, who appeared virtually, had already served nearly seven years in prison for his part in attempting to smuggle 616 grams of methamphetamine from Nevada to Guam through the U.S. Postal Service. The drugs had an estimated street value of more than $300,000.

He appealed and won after initially being sentenced to 24 years.

In March, Cortez-Zelaya pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute meth after prosecutors retried the case.

"I would like to extend an apology to the community of your beautiful island. I have to say I am sorry. I have learned my lesson and I am so, so sorry," said Cortez-Zelaya with the assistance of a Spanish interpreter. "During my time in jail, I had a lot of time to reflect on what I am doing. In fact, I have spent a lot of time learning the value of life more than I have before and when I came out, I took that to spend more time with my sons and daughters, and to help my family especially during these times of the pandemic when I knew they would need my help more than ever."

He said among the difficulties he faced while locked up was losing his mother and not getting the chance to say goodbye.

"I thought that if I was given another opportunity that I would come out into the community and be the best of myself to show society that I am not a bad person and be an example for others who are inside," he said. "I am asking for the opportunity to show the community and the government that I am a different person ... and I can show that working with dignity is a much better thing than doing bad things."

Chief Judge Tydingco-Gatewood said, "It's not often that I have someone like yourself who has spent close to seven years in prison on a lengthy sentence that I imposed initially. The court recognizes that the 9th Circuit had reversed some of those convictions after a jury trial, and they found you were a part of this one particular conspiracy, which you pled guilty to. The court appreciates the remorsefulness that you have expressed and your apology to Guam."

Defense attorney Phillip Torres asked that his client be given no additional jail time or supervised release.

"I think he is what the court is looking for when someone gets out of prison and resumes life on the outside," said Torres.

It was said in court Monday that Cortez-Zelaya was released from prison nearly a year ago on bond and after he contracted COVID-19.

"Based on the record, there appears to be no instances of any violations. Mr. Cortez-Zaraya has reported as directed," said Angela Loveless, a pretrial officer in the District of Nevada.

The U.S. Probation Office in Guam recommended three years of supervised release.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Sambataro recommended 67 months with credit for time served and three years of supervised release.

"I think sometimes you can have a deterrent effect by showing if someone takes action themselves to better than themselves, they can do better. If they come into court and have taken these steps, and we still bat them down, then what was the point of it all?" said Sambataro. "So sometimes you can do more harm than good when punishing just to punish. I think looking at all of that, the U.S. attorney's job is to do the right thing."

The chief judge said it was the first time she ever handed down a sentence that completely clears a defendant from their case.

"Very few persons come along in my courtroom and have an exemplary record of rehabilitation," Tydingco-Gatewood said. "One of the main goals of punishment is that of rehabilitation. The court recognizes that this defendant is one of the few in my lifetime and my career that has met that goal. The court has to look at whether or not this defendant is capable of returning to society and functioning as a law-abiding member of this community, and he has proven that. There will be no supervised release for this case. I have never done that, ever. But I am going to do that, Mr. Cortez-Zelaya, because you have proven that you have been rehabilitated. I don't think you will disappoint me and commit a crime. I think you are devoted to your daughters and your family. You are now a free man."

She called Cortez-Zelaya a "rising star in the world of rehabilitation."

"Thank you for the opportunity," Cortez-Zelaya said. "I am going to show you and the community that I can do good."

2014 drug case

The case was first brought before the court in 2014.

According to Post files, Cortez-Zelaya and several others were indicted on charges of conspiracy to distribute meth, money laundering and unlawful use of the mail to distribute more than 50 grams of meth from 2010 to March 1, 2014. The list of defendants included David Quinata, Richard Borja, Francisco Arias, Lawrence and Corinna Concepcion, Joseph Moye, Joseph Mansapit, Brian Quinata, Ken Nangauta, Florentina Depamaylo and Johnny Quenga.

The majority of the co-defendants took plea offers from federal authorities.

Court documents state local and federal authorities managed to intercept multiple packages arriving from Nevada to Guam containing 616 grams of meth. Law enforcement authorities also tracked multiple bank and wire transfers between Arias and Cortez-Zelaya's Guam co-defendants and themselves, amounting to roughly $310,000.

Arias, the kingpin and an undocumented alien and citizen from Mexico, also won his appeal after initially getting a life sentence. He too pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute meth and was resentenced to 14 years in federal prison, Post files state.
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"As always, I denounce racism and I would ask us, as a board, to make a stand against it."

 Melody McWherter, Boyertown School Board Vice President

Pull Quote
Many in Berks County were surprised by the flooding 15 years ago
The New York Times reports that crime is starting to worry progressives  not the phenomenon, but the politics of it. I dont know whether progressives in general are worried, but the ones at the Times sure are.

This Times article focuses on the success of Eric Adams in the Democratic mayoral primary. The Times frets that the winner of the race (at least in terms of the popular vote) focused much of his message on exposing progressive slogans and policies that he said threatened the lives of Black and brown babies and were pushed by many young, white and rich people. Thats hitting awfully close home for the New York Times.

The Times acknowledges that Adams message resonated with Black and Latino voters, constituencies upon which Democrats depend. It quotes Hakeem Jefferson, a Stanford political science professor. In Jeffersons view, theres a disconnect between these voters and the Democratic left. Says Jefferson, the middle black voter is not AOC and is actually closer to Eric Adams.

Bernie Sanders, who unsuccessfully courted black voters in two separate campaigns, would probably agree, at least privately.

The Times goes so far as to say that the success of Adams, coupled with polls showing the disconnect between the views of Blacks and the Democratic left on matters of crime and policing, threatens to undermine a central tenet of [Democratic] political thought for decades. It seems to agree with Adams that if the Democratic Party does not recognize what we have done here in New York, [its] going to have a problem in the midterm elections and. . .in the presidential elections.

But are Democrat politicians willing to suck it up, abandon a central tenet of their political thought, and get behind the police? Maybe, at least in terms of rhetoric.

But if they do, they will face plenty of pushback from the hard left. The Times quotes a member of the leftist Working Families Party who seems to accuse Adams of using a racist dog-whistle on crime. This, despite the fact that Adams is black.

Because Adams is black, and an ex-cop to boot, he can take this kind of inane criticism. But can Joe Biden? Can most liberals? Possibly, but they would much rather not.
A Somali immigrant murdered three women and wounded six more in Wurzburg, Germany on Friday. Initial news accounts expressed puzzlement over the murderers motivation, but most now acknowledge that Allahu Akbar provides a clue. This is from the Telegraph:

A Somali immigrant accused of killing three women during a knife attack in Bavaria told police that he was carrying out a personal jihad.

Abdirahman J, 24, who has a history of mental illness, began his attack, targeting women, in Wurzburgs Woolworth store on Friday afternoon. He asked Where are the knives? in the shops household department.

As the saleswoman, 49, showed him knives he grabbed the one with the longest blade, just over 5in, and stabbed her repeatedly in the neck, killing her. He then turned on other female customers, killing a pensioner, 82, and another woman, 24, who died protecting her daughter from the attacker. As the mother fought back, covered in blood, he followed her into the street, killing her before carrying out more attacks.

***

Witnesses said the attacker shouted Allahu akbar (God is greatest). Passers-by cornered him with a broomstick, broken-off branches and shopping bags.

When police arrived, at roughly 5pm after an attack that lasted for about seven minutes, the attacker waved the knife at officers before being shot in his thigh and arrested. Allahu akbar. I realised my personal jihad, he said after his arrest, according to police sources.

***

Police found Islamist literature in his room, and anti-terrorist officers are investigating whether he had links with extremist groups.
Ive written briefly about Irans newly elected president  the mass murderer Ebrahim Raisi  in Meet Irans new prez,, Biden sleepers will not awake, and Hope springs supreme (more here). Raisi brings a bracing clarity to Irans public face. Even John Kerry might have a problem prettifying it. He probably wont be bragging that the guy is his friend, anyway.

Spectator deputy editor Dominic Green takes up Raisis election in the context of American national security politics in Raisis election confirms the futility of returning to the Iran Deal. Dominic is a trained historian who writes with wit and bite. The Spectator has made his column accessible for the time being at our request. It opens this way:

The president is a placeholder for the people who really run the country. The elections were rigged. And most of the American media cheers along. No, not the United States: Iran. The peace-loving, centrifuge-spinning, flag-burning regime has a new president, Ebrahim Raisi. The Biden administration did promise us a new era in US-Iranian relations, and here it is: Raisi will be the first Iranian president to take office while under sanctions for mass murder.

Over the weekend the Washington Post published a long backgrounder on Raisi by Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the Council on Foreign Relations, respctively. Their essay is published in the Post under the headline In Ebrahim Raisi, Irans clerics have groomed and promoted their ruthless enforcer. The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies has posted the opening of their essay in accessible form under the same heading here.

I urge interested readers not to miss either of these valuable contributions to understanding the regime, the problem, the threat.
We have written many times about the sad decline of the City of Minneapolis. Perhaps the number one villain of the story is City Council President Lisa Bender, who famously said on television that calling 911 when someone breaks into your house comes from a place of privilege. It is remarkable that such goofballs can be elected to public office.

Minneapoliss Uptown district has been devastated by riots and general lawlessness since career criminal Winston Boogie Smith was apprehended by law enforcement and fired at officers from his Maserati. They fired back and killed him. He is now being canonized as a hero and a victim of police brutality. A second no-go zone in Minneapolis has been established as a tribute to Boogie.

Last week, city employees tried to clean up graffiti on Lake Street, where the Boogie memorial is located. This apparently outraged Lisa Bender, who blamed the effort to clean up Uptown on the business association. God forbid that any business be conducted in her city!

Update from Public Works: According to PW leadership crews went out to do cleaning & repair in the public right of way and mistook the drive aisle for a public space. There wasnt a request from the owner or business association as I was previously told.  Lisa Bender (@lisabendermpls) June 24, 2021



Well, thats a relief! Minneapolis city officials may be setting a record for fecklessness. Nero might have fiddled while Rome burned, but at least he didnt cheer on the flames.

Via Alpha News.

UPDATE: Also, the Star Tribune headlines: In time of greatest need, Minneapolis struggles to recruit new police officers. Its a puzzle.
Yes, no matter what

Yes, but it depends on variety

No, for medical reasons, uncertainty

No, principle

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has ruled that Binance, the worlds largest cryptocurrency exchange, cannot conduct any regulated activity in the United Kingdom.

According to a notice issued on June 25, the FCA said: Binance Markets Ltd, which is Binances only regulated UK entity, must not, without the prior written consent of the FCA, carry out any regulated activities  with immediate effect.

The regulator also issued a consumer warning about Binance.com, urging investors and traders to be wary of adverts promising high returns on crypto asset investments.

It stressed that no entity in the Binance Group holds any form of authorisation, registration or licence to conduct regulated activity in the UK.

The move by the FCA is coming amid arrays of pushback from countries financial regulators around the world against the adoption of the digital currencies as a legal tender, as well as cryptocurrency platforms operations.

The FCA does not regulate cryptocurrencies, but it requires exchange platforms to register with them.

However, Binance has not registered with the FCA and therefore is not allowed to operate exchange activities in the UK.

Binance reacts

Binance in its response said; the FCA notice would have no direct impact on the services it provides from its website  Binance.com.

Our relationship with our users has not changed, it added.

The cryptocurrency trading firm said; We take a collaborative approach in working with regulators and we take our compliance obligations very seriously. We are actively keeping abreast of changing policies, rules and laws in this new space.

Binance.com is an online centralised exchange that offers users a range of financial products and services, including purchasing and trading a wide range of digital currencies, as well as digital wallets, futures, securities, savings accounts and even lending.

Binance Group is currently based in the Cayman Islands, while Binance Markets Limited is an affiliate firm based in London. The firm has multiple entities dotted around the world and Binance Group was previously based in Malta.
A Yoruba movie star, Jide Kosoko has threatened to work against and frustrate his colleague, Nkechi Blessing, out of their industry.

Mr Kosoko, who is the secretary of TAMPAN, the umbrella body of Yoruba actors and filmmakers, said this at a press conference which was held on Saturday in Lagos.

TAMPAN convened the media briefing to address pressing issues in their industry namely Baba Ijeshas alleged rape scandal.

Also addressed at the meeting were the unending social media spats between Iyabo Ojo, Ms Blessing, Mr Miami, Yomi Fabiyi, and others.

Mr Kosoko, who was visibly angered by the turn of events in his industry since the alleged rape case came to the fore, threatened to deal with Ms Blessing because of her unprofessional conduct and spat with Mr Miami because he appeared sympathetic to Baba Ijeshas plight.

I am not joking, even if the law says you are free to practice anything you like, we can frustrate you (Ms Blessing) out of that industry if you like. You can quote me, these are my personal words. If you think youre above the law, we can get you out of the industry in our own way. I am bold to say that we will work against her in this industry, Mr Kosoko said.

Ever since the rape case scandal came to the fore, the Yoruba movie industry has been broken into factions.

While some actors appear sympathetic to the actors plight, others are drumming support justice for the defiled minor.

This has led to some sort of social media war between the opposing factions, one led by Ms Ojo with support from Ms Blessing and Baba Ijeshas friends, led by Mr Fabiyi.

Meanwhile, against all odds, Mr Fabiyi and his supporters have stood strong ensuring that Baba Ijesha is granted bail.

Baba Ijesha was accused of sexually assaulting the 14-year old adopted daughter of comedienne, Princess.

Directive

The associations president, Mr Latin disclosed that Ms Blessing and Ms Ojo are not TAMPAN members so the associations laws are not binding on them.

He, however, said movie directors have been barred from working with them on movie-related matters pending the conclusion of their internal investigations.

Mr Kosoko also assured his colleagues and the media that derogatory statements will no longer be allowed to damage the associations reputation.

He said, Our local chapters are disciplined. If you look at the number of practitioners that are misbehaving now, you cannot count ten. Were about to have some black sheep. As soon as we detect them, we will know what to do, he said.

Mr Kosoko said the disciplinary measure by the association to erring members is to make them behave better tomorrow.

Mr Latin also said Ms Blessing had been cautioned previously over a social media spat with Mr Miami and she tendered a public apology.

He then said,  this time around, were not saying were sanctioning her. Were simply saying no director within TAMPAN should work with Nkechi Blessing and Iyabo Ojo, he said.

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Also in attendance were the associations Board of Trustees chairman, Adebayo Salami (Oga Bello) and Lagos chapters governor, Yinka Quadri, and other elders of the association.

Funsho Adeolu, Ms Blessings soulmate react

Meanwhile, Yoruba actor, Funsho Adeolu and Ms Blessings soulmate, David Falegan have reacted to the development.

In an Instagram post, on Monday, Mr Adeolu described TAMPAN as a group of leaders who do not have the interest of members at heart.

The actor who has been silent since the rape scandal and social media spats began wrote: My face is covered in shame on behalf of those who call themselves leaders of the local association and do not have the interest of people at heart- God is watching o.

Although Ms Blessing is yet to react to the latest development, her lover, Mr Falegan, who described her as his soulmate has threatened to interfere in the matter and deal with the TAMPAN leadership.

He wrote, Before you attempt to silence her or frustrate her, kindly be very ready for me. What your association has shown is pure misplaced priorities and dereliction of duties.

I respect all elders without fear because no human being is God. Its a pain to the heart knowing wisdom is required but folly prevails. She is my soulmate and the moment you are breaking her then be ready to break me.

Since April 22, when PREMIUM TIMES reported the alleged rape incident, Baba Ijesha has faced some serious backlash and lost all goodwill.
Nigeria on Sunday recorded just two coronavirus cases, exactly one week after it recorded no infection in a single day since February, 2020.

The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said in an update on its official Facebook page Monday morning that the two new cases were reported in the countrys capital, Abuja.

The new infection tally, which was a sharp drop from the 35 cases recorded a day earlier, increased the countrys total tally to 167,467.

There was no new death from the disease on Sunday, keeping the total fatality toll at 2,119.

Specifics

Nigeria has tested 2,266,591 samples from its roughly 200 million population.

According to the NCDC data, 163,949 people have recovered after treatment. The data showed that the countrys active COVID-19 cases are now 1, 399.

Resurgence of infections in Africa

Nigeria has seen a sharp drop in infections and deaths since March, adding to signs that Africas most populous country may be out of the woods.

But this is not the case in many other African countries that are currently at risk of a third wave of the pandemic with the resurgence of infections.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) in a statement on Thursday said infections are rising at a fast pace in 12 African countries, with eight reporting a surge of over 30 per cent in new cases.

The global health agency attributed the spike to a combination of factors including weak observance of public health measures, increased social interaction and movements, among others.

With rapidly rising case numbers and increasing reports of serious illness, the latest surge threatens to be Africas worst yet, said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

Mr Moeti added that, Africa can still blunt the impact of these fast-rising infections, but the window of opportunity is closing. Everyone everywhere can do their bit by taking precautions to prevent transmission.

Health experts in Nigeria have, therefore, cautioned against letting the guard down on safety, warning that poor testing in many states could be masking the severity of the disease.

Poor vaccination drive

The COVID-19 upsurge comes as many African countries face acute shortages in vaccine supply, resulting in a slow vaccination drive.

At least, 18 African countries have used over 80 per cent of their COVAX vaccine supplies, with eight having exhausted their stocks, according to WHO.

The global health institution noted that 29 countries have administered over 50 per cent of their supplies.

Despite the progress, just over 1 per cent of Africas population has been fully vaccinated.

Globally, around 2.7 billion doses have so far been administered out of which just less than 1.5 per cent has been administered on the continent.

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To achieve herd immunity against COVID-19, Nigeria had set an ambitious goal of vaccinating 40 per cent of its population before the end of 2021, and 70 per cent by the end of 2022.

The data may represent about 109 million out of the countrys roughly 200 million people.

Meanwhile, only about 3.2 million Nigerians have received their first doses of the COVID-19 infections as of June 28.
Ahead of the 2023 General Elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), will on 28 June resume the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) nationwide.

PREMIUM TIMES brings to you 15 important things to know about the exercise.

1. The CVR is for Nigerians who clocked 18 years after the last time exercise was conducted in 2018 and those who never registered but are above the constitutionally allowed age grade. This means that as long as one is 18 years old or more and has not registered before, he/she is eligible for this CVR.

2. At least 5,346 INEC staff are expected to be deployed in the 2,673 centres nationwide for this exercise. According to the INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, this arrangement is to buy enough time for the Commission to reach all the nooks and crannies of the country. He assured that no eligible Nigerian will be disenfranchised.

3. The exercise will go on continuously over a period of at least one year and last till the third quarter of 2022, both online and across the commissions provided centres.

4. INEC said it is targeting at least 20 million new voters to its existing voters.

5. INEC launched a dedicated portal for online registration last week for the exercise. This is unlike the previous years where prospective voters queued in various centres to register and obtain their voters cards.

6. The newly launched portal will enable Nigerians to commence the registration process online by filling the forms, other documents, then make an appointment on the web portal for a date and time to visit an INEC State or Local Government Area (LGA) office to give their fingerprints and complete the registration.

7. To allay the fear of those who are not digitally inclined, physically disable in a way or more, or people residing in urban and suburban areas without access to the internet, the commission also has made provision for 2,673 centres where citizens can register physically without any form of payment, nationwide.

8. Against the former laptop-based old Direct Data Capture Machine (DDCM), the 2021 CVR exercise will be conducted using a new registration machine called the INEC Voter Enrolment Device (IVED).

The device, according to the INEC chairman, was designed and built by the commissions engineers before it was fabricated abroad. It could be deployed for other activities such as accreditation of voters during elections. It is more mobile and accessible than the previous device.

9. In addition, those who are already registered as voters can carry out all the other activities such as transfers of voting location from one place to another, correction of personal details and replacement of damaged or defaced Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) online.

10. Registered voters, who have had any issue during accreditation for any past election with their Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) and their fingerprints can use this window (2021 CVR) to make those corrections.

11. Initially slated for the first quarter of 2020, the CVR exercise could not hold due to the scary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

12. The last exercise was conducted in 2018, just before the 2019 General Elections. At the close of that exercise, Mr Yakubu confirmed in January 2019 that officially, 84,004,084 Nigerians had been duly registered for the 2019 General Elections.

13. In 2018, the commission registered over 12 million new voters, a leap from the almost 70 million voters were accounted for ahead of the 2011 General Elections.

14. The commission, for the first time, began the implementation of the registration of voters on a continuous basis as provided in the Electoral Act, in April 2017.

15. If INEC attains its projected 20 million new voters in addition to the 2019 existing 84 million voters, Nigeria, Africas most populous nation, will have not less than 124 million voting population for the 2023 General Elections.

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The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said social media must be regulated to prevent its evil from taking root in the country.

He said the National Assembly had been considering regulating social media for a long time, but that it was reluctant due to outcries by Nigerians.

While acknowledging the good of the platforms, he noted that social media is the most potent weapon for good and evil.

Mr Gbajabimaila disclosed this on Sunday at the Mr Speaker Chat with young Nigerians, a programme on Channels TV.

Mr Gbajabiamilas position puts a question mark on the investigation by the House into the Twitter ban.

On the 4th of June, the federal government announced the suspension of the operation of Twitter in Nigeria. The move by the government came some few days after the microblogging site pulled down a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Consequently, the lower legislative chamber had set up a joint committee to look into the ban.

The joint committee of the House, last Tuesday, held a public hearing into the matter.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how some members of the committee openly endorsed the ban.

Fatuhu Mahammad, the lawmaker representing Daura Federal Constituency of Katsina State where Mr Buhari hails from, openly canvassed the regulation of social media at the hearing.

The Minister of information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, appeared before the joint committee, during which he gave the laws backing the action of the government to suspend Twitter.

The joint committee is expected to present its report on Tuesday.

Weapon for good and evil

Social media is the most potent weapon for good and for evil. While we welcome the good, we must prepare over the evil. You cannot use the idea of free speech to destroy me, Mr Gbajabiamila said.

Most democracies in the world today are making efforts to regulate social media and the National Assembly has been considering regulating social media for a long time. But each time the issue comes up, Nigerians kick against it.

It is something we need to do because we have a responsibility to protect every single citizen in this country and that is what we must do.

The Speaker said though the lawmakers were elected by the people and should be on their side, the House must listen to all sides on the matter.

He said, We are elected by the people to represent them and ordinarily, we should be on their side. But this is not a beauty contest. You must listen to all sides. Government says Twitter poses a threat to national security. What is the information available to them that we are not privy to?

They have also said that it is not about the Presidents tweet which was taken down but a mere coincidence. We are listening to the government because we have heard from the people.

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We agree that there is freedom of speech but the government is saying that freedom is not absolute. Even at that, the freedom can be protected but not at the instance of the country.

Mr Gbajabiamila expressed happiness that the federal government and Twitter have commenced talks, adding In the end, I hope that the issue will be resolved in the best way possible.

Past attempts to regulate social media

In the 8th Assembly, Prohibit Frivolous Petitions and Other Matters Connected Therewith Bill was sponsored by Bala NaAllah, a senator from Kebbi State.

The bill, however, was challenged by Nigerians with the hashtag #NotoSocialmediabill.

The bill scales second reading but did not make it beyond that.

In 2019, another one Internet Falsehood and Manipulation Bill 2019 was introduced to the Senate by Sani Musa, a senator from Niger State.

Although it caused outrage, the bill has neither been passed nor rejected by the lawmakers.

FG to meet Twitter

The microblogging site has already expressed willingness to meet with the government to resolve the issue.

Last week, the government announced a team led by the information and culture minister to meet the Twitter team.
A student of the Kaduna State College of Education in Jemaa Local Government Area of the state was on Monday killed by security operatives and two others injured during a protest against school fees hike.

The police, in a statement late Monday evening, confirmed the incident.

Hundreds of the students had gathered at the school gate to protest the hike by the state government but met resistance from the security agents drafted to foil the protest.

A student who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES anonymously for fear of sanction said the school authorities had suspended academic activities till July 5 to prevent the students from protesting against the new fees.

One of the protesting students identified the deceased as Umar Buta. He said one other student, Emmanuel Nathaniel, sustained injuries from a stray bullet but was responding to treatment.

The student said the security agents, including soldiers, police and civil defence officers, shot into the air to disperse the protesters.

The student said most of his colleagues are from poor homes and cannot pay the new fees following the devastating effects of the coronavirus.

Mudi Tahir, the Sarkin Matasan (youth leader ) in Jamaa local government area, confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that one person was killed in the protest.

He said the incident was unacceptable and called on the authorities to act.

Mr Tahir, a former aide to Governor Nasir El-rufai, said the state government had earlier banned protest in the southern part of the state due to the volatile nature of the area.

He said this was because protest in the area usually escalated to violence.

Youth in the area too must devise other means to address their grievances instead of participating in street protests that usually lead to religious conflicts, Mr Tahir said.

However, the state government must look into the complaints and reduce the school fees as demanded by the protesting students, the governors former aide said.

The Provost of the College, Alexander Kure, confirmed the incident to reporters. He, however, said the protest was conducted on the highway and not in the school.

The incident happened on the highway and not inside the school. I was told by the security that one student was killed and another injured, the provost said.

The provost said the school was on mid-semester break and the students are expected to resume next Monday

The police spokesperson in Kaduna, Muhammed Jalige, later Monday evening issued a statement confirming the casualty.

Read the police statement below..

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KADUNA POLICE PRESS RELEASE

CONFIRMATION OF INCIDENT AT COLLEGE OF EDUCATION GIDAN WAYA KAFANCHAN

NORMALCY HAS SINCE BEEN RESTORED AS CP CALL FOR CALM AND ASSURED THE STUDENTS AND SCHOOL MANAGEMENT OF DILIGENT INVESTIGATION INTO THE INCIDENT.

Today Monday 28th June, 2021 at about 0800hrs the Command was informed of the protest and road blockade by the students of College of Education Gidan waya Kafanchan over the recent increase in tuition fee by the Kaduna state Government.

On receipt of the information, the Command immediately dispatched Operatives to restore normalcy. The contingent professionally and successfully dispersed the protesters and warned them not to embark on further protest and road blockade considering the existing warning against such action, issued by the Kaduna state Police Command a fortnight ago.

However, at about 0930hrs, information has it that the students re-converged again and blocked the Gidan Waya  Kafanchan Federal Highway and were becoming unruly and riotous.

At a point the protesters blocked the convoy of a military sector Commander injuring him and one other. The situation resulted in a fracas where three (3) protesters were injured in attempt to use minimal force to disperse the riotous students. The victims were taken to the Hospital for medical attention but unfortunately one person died while receiving medical attention.

The Commissioner of Police Kaduna Command CP UM Muri urged the students to embrace dialogue as it is the best alternative way to express their grievances while assuring them of diligent investigation into the immediate and remote causes of the fracas that resulted in injuries to the students and the unfortunate loss of life.

ASP MUHAMMED JALIGE

POLICE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER

FOR COMMISSIONER OF POLICE

KADUNA STATE COMMAND
Insurgency-related conflicts claimed the lives of almost 350,000 lives in the North-eastern part of Nigeria up till the end 2020, a new report of the United Nations Develop Programme (UNDP) has said.

The report said insurgency directly resulted to the death of 35,000 people in three states in the region, while an estimated 314,000 people died from indirect causes in the entire North-east region.

Since 2009, the North-east has been the theatre of the violent campaigns of the Islamic extremist group, Boko Haram, its breakaway group, the Islamic States West Africa Province (ISWAP), and counter-insurgency forces.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported that the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in an August 2019 report, said insurgency activities of extremist Islamic groups had led to the death of an estimated 35,000 persons in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states.

The UNDP confirmed, in its latest report released on June 24, 2021, that national data showed that conflict has directly resulted in the deaths of 35,000 people in the states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe as a result of battle or one-sided violence since 2009.

The report estimates that through the end of 2020, the conflict in the north-east will have resulted in nearly 350,000 deaths, with 314,000 of those from indirect causes, the UNDP Resident Representative, Mohamed Yahya, said in a statement.

The statement gave the major highlights in the report entitled, Assessing the Impact of Conflict on Development in North-east Nigeria.

According to Mr Yahaya, the findings in the report showed that for each casualty caused directly by insurgency, an additional nine people, primarily children, have lost their lives due to a lack of food and resources  and more than 90 per cent of conflict-attributable deaths are of children under the age of five.

He said critical aspect of progress and development, including Gross Domestic Product (GDP), poverty, malnutrition, infant mortality, education, water availability and sanitation, might not return to pre-conflict levels in the region even by 2030.

The report further noted that the economic destruction brought by the insurgency has dismantled already fragile health and food systems with less than 60 per cent of health facilities in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states are fully functional, while a quarter is either destroyed or non-functional.

Without continued investment in development as a long-term solution, the protracted conflict in North-east Nigeria will continue to impact other parts of the country and the entire Sahel region, Mr Yahya said.

More highlights

The report added that for every year that conflict continues, infants and children are the most impacted  with about 170 children under five years die daily  and by 2030, it is estimated to grow by 240.

It said women and children make up 80 per cent of the displaced population in the North-east and have limited options for work and survival, including difficulties accessing resources.

In 2020, findings from the report estimates that 1.8 million students were out of school who would have been enrolled if not for conflict.

It said by 2030, in the Conflict scenario, the average Nigerian in the BAY (Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe) states will have had a full year (20 per cent) of education less than expected in the No-Conflict scenario.

As of 2019, 81 per cent of people living in Yobe, 64 per cent in Borno, and 60 per cent in Adamawa suffer from multidimensional poverty, a measure that accounts for deprivation with respect to standards of living, health, and education, the report says.

Recommendations

The report findings suggest that to overcome the conflict, development efforts need to be focused on the stabilisation of affected areas through a community-level approach that enhances physical security and access to justice, rehabilitation of essential infrastructure and basic service delivery as well as the revitalisation of the local economy such as market stalls, schools and police stations.

It added, There is a need for international partners and national stakeholders to ensure that funds are invested not only on life-saving and humanitarian needs but also mid-and long-term development priorities in order to enable Nigeria to achieve the SDGs and attain the AU 2063.

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Conflicts in the region has led to massive internal displacement with more than 1.8 million Nigerians displaced in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states, with the vast majority (nearly 1.5 million) located in Borno, according to data from the UN.

Recently, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) said in a report in June, that it had collated an estimated 1,366 incidents involving explosive hazards from January 2016 to April 2021, in the North-east region.
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The Ghanaian Government, through its Ministry of Education, has been awarded a $3 million education infrastructure support grant from the Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa).

This grant will be drawn from ASR Africas annual $100 million Africa Fund for Social Development and Renewal and was announced during the presentation of the letter of award to the Ghanaian Government at the Jubilee House in Accra, recently.

Speaking at the event in Accra, Ghanas capital, Udoh Ubon, the Managing Director of ASR Africa commended the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, for his sincere commitment to developing the educational system at all levels in Ghana.

According to Ubon, this award was significant because Ghana is also the first African country beneficiary of an ASR Africa grant after Nigeria.

ASR Africa is an initiative of industrialist and philanthropist, Abdul Samad Rabiu, who has decided to give back to the African continent to promote sustainable health care, education and social development. Whilst reviewing potential national beneficiaries for the African aspect of the grant, we were encouraged by the strides made by the Ghanaian government in Education.

We believe this $3 million ASR Africa education infrastructure grant will go a long way in supporting the eradication of schools under trees across the country whilst developing primary education infrastructure across the country.

Receiving the ASR Africa delegation on behalf of the Government, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, Chief of Staff in the Office of the President, thanked ASR Africa for the grant.

According to her, the President Nana Akufo-Addo administration is committed to improving the quality of education and educational infrastructure across the country and this grant is a welcome development which would accelerate the work already being done.

She further added that the government will work together with ASR Africa based on the agreed Mutual Accountability Framework to come up with a programme to build several primary schools across Ghana under the grant.

She further praised the Chairman of BUA Group and ASR Africa for his commitment to the African continent in business and philanthropy.

In his response, Mr Ubon said Abdul Samad Rabiu and ASR Africa will remain an active partner in solving developmental issues across the continent. Ghana is just the start and more African countries are set to benefit this year.

The brainchild of African Industrialist, Philanthropist and Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, the Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa) was established in 2021 to provide sustainable, impact-based homegrown solutions to developmental issues affecting Health, Education and Social Development within Africa.

For more information visit asrafrica.org or email asrafrica[at]buagroup[dot]com
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) is neither planning to go on strike nor planning to shut fuel stations nationwide, its National President, Sanusi Fari, said on Monday.

In a statement issued in Awka and signed by the associations National Secretary, Chidi Nnubia, he said that the public should dismiss any information regarding the planned strike.

The associations National Public Relation Officer, Yakubu Suleiman, had threatened in Abuja on Monday that IPMAN would go on strike and shut fuel stations nationwide beginning from Tuesday because the police laid siege on its secretariat.

Mr Suleiman alleged that some police officers laid siege on IPMANs National Secretariat last Friday for undisclosed reasons.

He said that aggrieved IPMAN members and officials at states, zonal and depots levels, held series of meetings and threatened to shut filling stations if the issue was not properly addressed.

Mr Suleiman also advised government and security agencies to halt impunity in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.

IPMANs National President, Mr Fari, however, urged petroleum dealers and the public to ignore Mr Suleimans position.

He also advised the public not to engage in panic buying of petroleum products.

We wish to inform the general public that our members have no plans to shut down any petrol station in the country as there is no reason to take such action.

Our members are directed to disregard a publication by some persons whose stock in trade is to sabotage the efforts of the Federal Government and the PPMC to provide uninterrupted supply of petroleum products nationwide.

We ask the general public to ignore any information emanating from any unscrupulous individuals attempting to hijack the association for their selfish and profiteering adventure.

Those individuals lack the capacity to call off our services as they are illegally parading themselves as officers of the association in total disregard and disobedience of a Supreme Court judgment of Dec. 14, 2018.

We enjoin the public to go about their normal activities as we continue to support the Federal Government through the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and NNPC to ensure availability of petroleum products across the country, Mr Fari said in the statement.

The IPMAN president condemned attempts by some groups within the association to blackmail the government by calling out marketers for a nationwide protest.

Mr Fari said IPMAN was working harmoniously with sister organisations including the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) workers and the National Association of Road Transport Owners.

He added that IPMAN was also working in harmony with the Petroleum Tankers Drivers unit of NUPENG to ensure adequate supply of petroleum products nationwide.

Mr Fari stressed that any aggrieved member not satisfied with the Supreme Court order should return to court and not resort to an empty threat that might make the motoring public to engage in panic buying of petroleum products.

(NAN)

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In 2017, the government of Ekiti State budgeted N30 million for termite control in Osi Community High School, in Osi Ekiti area of the state.

However, an UDEME investigation has discovered that the government made any attempt to control the destructive insects as classrooms and other buildings in the school are either in ruins or about to completely collapse.

The decrepit condition of the school is now a major concern to pupils and staff members of the school who told UDEME that the dilapidated condition of the buildings poses a serious health and safety risk.

When this reporter visited the school, the devastation caused by the insect was visible from its main entrance.

The termites had eaten almost all the trees one encounters as one walks into the school to their roots. They had built huge mud nests everywhere the eyes could see  the infestation starts from the gatehouse, to the principals office  no standing structure in the school had been spared.

Several classrooms in the school had been abandoned as termites had not only eaten their doors and frames, the roofs had not been spared their attacks. The school management decided it was best to evacuate pupils from them as they feared the roof of the classrooms may cave in any time.

This is a learning environment where we keep books and other very important materials. The termites are in our staff rooms and classes. See the traces of them on the wall. If there is plenty on the wall that is cement, we dont know what is going on in the roof that is wood. Termites mainly eat wood. The thing (roofs) can fall down anytime soon, Lawrence Ogunleye, who teaches Biology, told UDEME.

Destructive

According to Orkin, a pest control firm, termites do better in hot climates like Nigeria than colder climates.

Termites of the Formosan species can cause extensive damage to a home in less than six months in a location with the ideal climate and other conditions, the firm stated on its website.

Termites are responsible for serious damage to infrastructure due to their feeding activities.

Termites feed on the cellulose found in wood which can be found in the roofs, wooden door frames and window frames of buildings. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reports that Africa has the highest number of termite species.

Though there is no credible data of the loss caused by termite attacks in Nigeria, reported cases of termite attacks are on the rise in the country.

Disaster waiting to happen

Mr Ogunleye said despite efforts by the school authorities to eliminate the pests, they have breached the structural integrity of the buildings in the school and that he feared that some of them might collapse soon.

True to Mr Ogunleye concern, this reporter observed that the roofs of some of rooms at Osi Community High School were sagging and grains of sands intermittently cascade from them.

The school had no choice but to abandon some of the classrooms, laboratories and common rooms for fear that their roof would collapse suddenly.

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The principal of the school, Abiodun Aladelesi, said the termites have defied the schools best efforts at eliminating them.

There was a time when we fumigated the place and the rooms, but the termites are still doing their work, he said.

N30 million termite-control budget

In 2017, the Ekiti State government budgeted N30 million for the renovation of termite infested buildings in Osi Community High School. Four years after, staff of the school say nothing has been done to eradicate the termites.

It is not clear if all the funds were disbursed.

I was not the principal till around 2018 so I dont know about that. There is no proof that the government helped us. We need assistance to eradicate the termites because as time goes on, it will cover all the rooms in this building. The school has a lot of certificates in the cabinets and other places. We dont want termites to destroy it, said Mr Aladelesi.

Gbenga Okinni, the registrar, who said he has been in the school for seven years, also claimed there has been no government intervention to solve the infestation.

There is no single classroom here without termites and even the staff rooms are infested by termites. Our lives are at risk. What if the roof falls one day? You must have seen the dilapidated classrooms over there. So, the students cannot stay there. There are only very few classes that are still available that we manage for the students, he said.

During a tour of the school, this reporter saw an abandoned building whose roof had caved in. The devastation caused by the termite-infestation was so severe that only a few classrooms where pupils are cramped into are available for use.

At the edge of the school stood an uncompleted building which appears to be the main habitation of the termites.

Although termites cannot destroy concrete, the pillars of the building were chipped and some broken. Termite molds could be found on these broken pillars and on the roof of the building.

Next to the uncompleted building was another deserted building which, this reporter learnt, used to serve as a block of four classrooms. Like most of the buildings in the school this building has also been ravaged by termites from its roof to its foundation.

Cosmetic solution

Rather than find a lasting solution to the termite-infestation, the state government seemed to be interested in a cosmetic solution to the problem.

A newly-painted cream and brown coloured building stood out in the school premises. But upon a close observation by this reporter, it immediately became obvious that the building has also not been spared by termites.

The furniture in the building, which houses some abandoned laboratories, have all been eaten by termites and already crumbling.

They only painted it. It is one of our old buildings. They did not treat the termites issue at all. They did not renovate the labs and stores that have been destroyed. They just painted the building and it was commissioned in 2018 by Olusola Eleka, the immediate past deputy governor, said a female teacher who declined to say her name because she feared she will be victimised.

Mr Ogunleye said pupils are no longer taught the practices of science subjects.

Expert proffers solution

Meanwhile, Aina Kehinde, a principal research fellow at the Forestry Research institute of Nigeria (FRIN) noted that greed, nonchalance and lack of adequate consultation are the reasons for termite infestations especially in Nigeria.

He said contractors usually execute projects with sub quality materials and minimalist efforts. This comes back to haunt home owners later in the future.

The first is actually to test the soil. When you test your soil, then, you will be able to know the kind of termites found in a specific area, he said.

The wood depends on the kind of termite. There are some wood species that termites cannot touch. Naturally, they have an extractive that makes them resistant to termites. But because people want to build houses and the contractor wants to finish the job and make his own gain, they will use wood that is not very good, that termites can eat very fast, he added.

Mr Kehinde then proffers a solution to termite infestations similar to the one at Osi Community High School. He said the solution was for the woods in the building to be removed.

What we need to do first is to remove it. The solution is to remove the wood. Then, we will treat the entire environment. We will treat the buildings with some anti-termite chemicals. They will either use high density wood or chemically modify wood to construct all the roofs. We need to remove the roofs entirely because if you are just replacing some, the termites will still eat it, he said.

Governments reaction

The Ekiti State government did not respond to a letter for comments.

The states Ministry of Education, Science and Technology did not even acknowledge the letter.

UDEME This report was written as part of theproject.
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The former Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, on Monday welcomed his successor, Bello Matawalles planned defection to the All Progressive Congress (APC)

Mr Matawalle is expected to formally announce the defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday.

Mr Yari, at a meeting at Arewa House in Kaduna with party leaders from Zamfara, said Mr Matawalles defection is a welcome development.

He said it will grow the wings of the party and give it an edge in the future.

We agreed that the governor is coming with authority while we have the population in the state. So we hope and pray that his coming to the party will be beneficial and will add value to the party in the state. So, he is welcome, the former governor said.

After the meeting he told reporters the APC members had agreed to accept the governor into the party together with his supporters.

Also, Mr Yari, hitherto a fierce critic of Mr Matawalle, said there is high hope that the defection will further galvanise the party and create a better working relationship amongst party members in the state.

However, the former governor said the meeting with the APC stakeholders agreed to see how every member of the party will be treated fairly under Mr Matawalles administration.

The stakeholders and party loyalists have accepted the decision and are willing to work with the Governor after the formal defection ceremony.

We will not take any position without our peoples consent. That is why we invited all the stakeholders to make a stand. We will not decide on anything that will not be of benefit to the party as well as the state, Mr Yari said after the Kaduna meeting.
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United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, has charged the Nigerian youths to stop condemning their country despite its many flaws.

A statement by a UN National Information Officer, Oluseyi Soremekun, said Mrs Mohammed made the call while addressing students at the Baze University, Abuja, last Thursday.

You have got education, you have the tools, and you have a huge future ahead of you, and you are condemning yourself before you start on that journey. Do not do that! Be proud of Nigeria, your country; do not condemn her and do not lose hope, Mrs Mohammed said.

Mrs Mohammed who was recently reappointed for a second five-year term also urged those who perceive there was more bad than good in Nigeria to have a rethink because, according to her, If you will your country that way, thats the direction it will go. Even if it is not so good, you need to will it to succeed, because the success of this country is yours. If you fail, we will have conflict after conflict.

If you think Nigeria is worse than better, then how are you going to turn it around? Mrs Mohammed asked, stating further, If you do not want to build this nation, I do not know where you want to go. I can assure you the world is not ready to take 240 million Nigerians. Therefore, lets think about how to salvage it together.

On young men and women who are quick to compare Nigeria with other countries, the Deputy Secretary-General urged them to compare Nigeria with other countries with equal population and that had independence at the same time.

Do not compare apples with oranges, she added.
Ibrahim Baba, special adviser to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and former member of the House, recently spoke to PREMIUM TIMES Samson Adenekan and Nasir Ayitogo on his plan to contest the position of the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Excerpts:

PT: We learnt that you are vying for the seat of APC National Chairman; what is your mission? Considering the calibre of people that have shown interest in that same seat; we have former governors, serving senators, among others, do you think you can match them or fit for this seat?

Baba: My mission is to reposition the party from a ruling party to a governing party to achieve the manifesto we presented to the people in 2015.

I think if you use the word matching, you are not even fair to them. We are all in a political arena and everybody will come out to explore and explain himself to reach where he wants to reach. The most important thing is how youre able to convince the party faithful to believe in you and your mission.

As I said earlier, I want to reposition the party. We have a manifesto of 2015 and the president has tried to achieve so many things in the area of security and infrastructure and we want the party leaders coming into executive and legislative positions to key 100 per cent into the mission and promises we made to Nigerian people before they elected us in 2015.

PT: You made mention of shifting the party from ruling to governing as your mission. Are you saying the previous APC leadership has not done well?

Answer: Well, everybody can be a ruler but to have good governance is another thing. What I mean by governing instead of ruling is to govern people the way they want and the best way to define this is in results not by just sitting on the seat doing nothing.

Like they say, democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people. A government that is not people-centred is not really a government.

PT: If you are given the opportunity to sit on that seat, what are the things you will do differently?

Answer: You see, selecting candidates for party primaries is the key and the most important aspect of any political party. So, I will give equal opportunity to all members to vie for all vacant political offices.

PT: Almost every aspirant vying for that seat has always assured members that there will be a level playing ground for all. Dont you think this statement has been over flogged?

Answer: Sometimes people will say it without meaning it, that is why I said we want to be a governing party, not ruling. We have laid down rules and procedures and we are going to follow it to the letter. In every situation, we have crops of procedures to be able to achieve or reach where we want to reach. So, we will follow that process.

PT: Your name was penned down in 2020 as the National Secretary of the party but you did not eventually get the seat. What went wrong?

Answer: Well, I cannot divulge what went wrong but you know that it was a decision of the party and the presidency that time to give me that opportunity but something happened along the line.

For me, I cant tell you exactly what happened but the position was taken.

PT: The party has concluded its registration and there are complaints from some corners about the exercise. Was it fair on your members in Bauchi?

Answer: In my state, it was fair enough. Everyone was given the opportunity to register but there were issues in some states like Kano, Kwara and some other states, although the National Headquarters has made some moves to calm nerves in those states.

PT: Party administration is new to you and could be quite overwhelming. How do you intend to overcome this?

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Answer: I cant say it is new to me because I have been a partisan politician since 2003 and I have passed through a lot of processes as a party member. In 2008, I contested for the chairmanship of my local government in ANPP and in 2011 I contested for the House of Representatives in the CPC and I have gone through a lot of other processes to get to this level of public service.

PT: Which bloc in your party are you banking on to win this race? Do you have the backing of your state chapter?

Answer: I am banking on all the delegates, I dont want to say this particular bloc and you know I am coming from a particular constituency.

I am not only banking on my state chapter I have also met with almost two-third of all the state executives in Nigeria. So far so good.

PT: Do you think your former colleagues in the National Assembly will play a significant role in your emergence, knowing well that at least two of the Senate Presidents colleagues are in this race?

Answer: Yes of course. Not only my former colleagues, even the current National Assembly, the Senate president, speakers. We have met, we have discussed.

I am not saying the Senate President will abandon two of his colleagues in the race. All I am saying is that I am also a member of that constituency and you are being treated equally. I am hoping I will have the backing of all members of the Assembly.

PT: For you to be vying for the national seat of the party and you are from the north, do you believe in the zoning of the presidential ticket to the southern part? Is there any written arrangement to that effect?

Answer: As a democrat, you give equal opportunity to all but once you have some internal arrangements, you should abide by those arrangements.

Though there is no written arrangement to that effect to the best of my knowledge, but you know once you have an association, even your body language should tell you the right thing to do.

I am not saying zoning it to the southern part is right or wrong. All I am saying is that we are giving equal opportunity to all. Once we reach there, we are going to cross that bridge.

PT: You just spoke about body language, unwritten arrangement of zoning, but from the look of things, it seems the race for the APC national chairmanship seat is all a northern affair. Why are there no southern aspirants?

Answer: I think there is a fellow from Edo (referring to Sunny Moniedafe). I also think this race is a matter of interest and it is open to everybody. As I told you, the party is going to be fair to all.

PT: How would you rate the leadership of former chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, and the Mala Buni-led interim leadership?

Answer: You know that leadership comes with its own challenges. The time when Oshiomhole was there, it was a critical time. It was a time for selecting candidates to fill different political offices. And the current period is a governance period, not a period for selecting candidates per say. But as you can see there are so many changes coming up, so many new people coming into the party because reconciliation is going on seriously.

We are going to continue with that.

In the last two years, the party has made a lot of progress considering the recent influx of former members who defected and are now coming back, even governors from the PDP.

PT: Aside from that, can you rate the performance of your party in government?

Answer: As I said earlier, when you have an association, it has its rules and if anybody violates the rules, the person should be punished. If anybody supports the party to reach where it is today, the person should be compensated adequately.

We have so many positions in governance that are idle and we have party faithful that are sitting home idle, people who contested and lost elections but have helped the party to attain its current status. By the grace of God, if we come on board, we are going to convince the president to fill those vacancies.

PT: Back to your home state, Bauchi, what is the atmosphere like between the APC and PDP considering the fact that an incumbent governor from your party was defeated by the main opposition?

Answer: We have so many issues in Bauchi. There were so many anti-party activities by our members which led to the emergence of the current government but at the end of it all most of the former members, like the former speaker of the House of Representatives (Yakubu Dogara), have seen the light and have come back home. We have hope that we are going to reclaim that seat in the coming election.

PT: Bauchi State has one of the most enlightened voters in the country, do you think the current state administration is doing well to get re-elected?

Answer: They will vote the governor out. Last week, the president approved the site of another federal university in the state and in the last three months, he approved the location of a federal college of education in the same state.

These are enough grounds to reclaim our seat and the governor is not doing much in terms of social responsibility. He has not been paying salaries, pension and gratuities as at and when due. In infrastructure, only roads are being built and abandoning critical infrastructure in healthcare and education, water, sanitation etc.

PT: In other words, you are giving the governor a pass mark in road construction?

Answer: Well, you cant take that from him but when you talk about health, water and sanitation, you can write zero for him there.
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The head of Kano State Anti-Corruption and Public Complaints Commission, Muhuyi Magaji, has said he is facing interference and intimidation from government officials in his work.

Mr Magaji, who did not give names, however, said that will not deter him from bringing corrupt government officials to justice.

Mr Magaji stated this in a statement posted on the commissions Facebook page.

The challenges from government officials are enormous. Some of the officials see the agency as government-owned, thus, there are certain areas that need to be overlooked. But that cannot happen because I am not afraid to lose the job, Mr Magaji said.

I was arrested and charged for contempt because I am investigating a particular case. But that did not deter me from performing my duties because I am doing the job with passion.

I want those in the government to understand that I am not doing the job for myself or for any material gain. Anyone that thinks that is deceiving himself.

Even if I leave the states anti corruption agency, Nigerian law allows for private detective (work). I can work in any capacity to serve Nigerians as a certified lawyer. The struggle will, forever continue, the furious anti-corruption agency boss said.

Starved of funds?

He added that the government did not cater for the needs of the agency.

He said this made him launch an appeal fund for hundred thousand dollars for the commission.

He said anybody willing to donate to the fund can do so but vowed that the agency cannot be compromised under his watch.

PREMIUM TIMES reached out to the states Commissioner for Information, Muhammad Garba, to verify the claims made by the official.

However, Mr Garba didnt respond to calls and text message seeking the governments response to the allegations.

The anti corruption agency was established in 2008 by a former governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, with the mandate to check bribery and corruption in government and private institutions operating in Kano State.
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The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has announced plans to commence payment of liquidation dividends to uninsured depositors, creditors and shareholders of additional 14 banks in-liquidation.

The corporation announced this on Monday in Abuja in a statement by its Director of Communication and Public Affairs Department, Bashir Nuhu.

It said stakeholders of eight closed banks were to receive their first round of liquidation dividend payments, while six others were to be paid additional sums as part of their liquidation dividends.

The NDIC listed the banks to include, City Express, All States Trust, Allied Bank, Commerce Bank, North South Bank, Cooperative and Commerce Bank and Nigeria Merchant Bank.

Others are Hilltop Micro-Finance Bank (MFB), Olomoyoyo MFB, Evo MFB, Ngwegwe MFB, Bekwarra MFB, Argungu MFB and Edet MFB.

The corporation advised eligible stakeholders of the banks to visit its offices nationwide for the verification of their claims or do so on its website.

ALSO READ: NDIC to liquidate 42 microfinance banks

It said it had also commenced verification for depositors of 22 Micro-Finance Banks (MFBs) whose operating licences were recently revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The exercise, according to NDIC is geared toward the payment of insured sums to eligible depositors.

It explained that depositors of the affected MFBs had been advised to visit the closed banks addresses where their claims would be verified by its officials.

The corporation said the depositors should also visit its website for the list of the banks.

(NAN)
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A delegation of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) led by its president, Sunday Asefon, has met with controversial Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi, to discuss matters of insecurity and incessant abduction of students.

Mr Asefon, in a statement on Monday, said the students body met Mr Gumi on efforts to secure the release of Nigerian students in captivity.

I led the leadership of NANS to meet with Sheik Ahmed Gumi in Kaduna yesterday (Sunday). Our discussion centred on actions and efforts to ensure the safety and security of Nigerian students on all campuses and the release of innocent students in the captivity of their abductors.

We extracted commitment on continuous dialogue for the release of students in captivity and all-round efforts to ensure schools become safer so that our students can be free from the fear and trauma of kidnapping.

We must leave no stone unturned until our schools are free again. We will continue to engage and dialogue with stakeholders to ensure school safety, he stated.

At least three groups of students are currently being held by bandits with blurry hopes of release.

These include the 136 pupils of Saliu Tanko Islamic school in Tegina in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, eight students of Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria, Kaduna State and scores of students of the Federal Government College (FGC), Yauri in Kebbi State.

Mr Gumi has been at the forefront of negotiating with bandits involved in the kidnapping of students.

However, his demand for blanket amnesty for the bandits has been criticised by Nigerians who feel they (bandits) deserve no mercy for such heinous crimes.

The cleric recently recommended the establishment of special courts to try bandits and kidnappers, insisting that the criminal gangs are fighting an ethnic war and that some of them have genuine concerns.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Muhammad, said on Monday that the appointment of record 18 Justices of the Court of Appeal in one batch is an indication of a surge in the emergence of new forms of crimes in the country.

He said with more novel crimes being recorded, the number of court cases has been on the rise, hence the need for more judges to be appointed to handle them.

Mr Muhammad, who spoke at the inauguration of the 18 new judges of the court in Abuja on Monday,said the trend places Nigeria among the most litigious country in the world.

The ceremony, which held at the Main Courtroom of the Supreme Court in Abuja , pushed the number of Justices of the Court of Appeal from 70 to 88, which is just two judges short of the full complement of 90.

The number of justices that we have just sworn in today is quite unprecedented in the recent history of the Court of Appeal. The last time we swore in a large number of 12 justices was on November 5, 2012, the CJN said in his speech delivered after administering the oath office to the new Appeal Court judges.

He added, Todays ceremony is an indication of the times that we are currently in. Several novel crimes are being committed in the country that have now made litigation to go on a steady rise.

We are constantly on our toes and the dockets are ever rising in response to the challenges of the time.

This underscores the undisputed fact that Nigeria ranks among the most litigious countries in the world.

Flee from corruption, CJN advises new Appeal Court justices

The CJN advised the newly sworn-in Justices of the Court of Appeal to shun all forms of gratifications in the discharge of their duties.

Mr Muhammad, who reminded the judicial officers of their divine mandate on earth, urged them to perform their tasks with honesty.

In life, gifts and wealth that are not worked for, which are by extension, undeserving, are always wrapped in calamity and destruction. Flee from them and keep your heads high above the murky waters of corruption, so that you can be conveniently counted among the very best in the Nigerian judiciary.

You must, against all odds, conduct your affairs within the ambit of the law and the oath that has just been administered on you, Mr Muhammad said.

He admonished judges to roll up their sleeves to face the challenges head-on.

Governors of Plateau, Ondo and Yobe states, Simon Lalong, Rotimi Akeredolu, and Mai Mala Buni, respectively, are among the dignitaries present at the inauguration ceremony.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the inauguration was earlier scheduled to take place in April but had to be postponed due to the nationwide strike of the members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN).

The strike embarked upon by judiciary workers to press for the financial autonomy of the judiciary started on April 6 and went on to ground Nigerian courts and relevant institutions for over two months.

President Muhammadu Buhari approved the appointment of the judges following their recommendation by the National Judicial Council (NJC).

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PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Friday, struck out a suit demanding three slots for the South-east region in the process of appointing the 18 judges.

Judge who jailed two ex-governors among new justices

One of the newly sworn-in justices, Adebukola Banjoko, had in 2018, jailed two former Nigerian governors for corruption while she was a judge of the FCT High Court.

Jolly Nyame, former governor of Taraba State as well as Joshua Dariye of Plateau State, were convicted by Ms Banjoko for misappropriation of state funds.

Mr Dariye was convicted of N1.2 billion while he served as governor of the North-central state.

The two former governors are currently serving their jail term at the Kuje prison in Abuja.

Below are the names of the new appointees with their states of origin.

1. Mohammed Danjuma (Niger State)

2. Muhammad Ibrahim Sirajo (Plateau)

3. Abdul-Azeez Waziri (Adamawa)

4. Yusuf A. Bashir (Taraba)

5. Usman A. Musale (Yobe)

6. Ibrahim Wakili Jauro (Yobe)

7. Abba Bello Mohammed (Kano State)

8. Bature Isah Gafai (Katsina)

9. Danlami Zama Senchi (Kebbi)

10. Mohammed Lawal Abubakar (Sokoto)

11. Hassan Muslim Sule (Zamfara)

12. Kenneth Ikechukwu Amadi (Imo)

13. Peter Oyinkenimiemi Affen (Bayelsa)

14. Sybil Onyeji Gbagi (Delta)

15. Olasunbo Goodluck (Lagos)

16. Adebukola Banjoko (Ogun)

17. Olabode Adegbehingbe (Ondo)

18. Bola Samuel Ademola (Ondo).
The Federal High Court in Lagos, on Monday, fixed October 7 for hearing in the forfeiture proceedings concerning $5.78million and N2.4billion seized from some firms linked to a former First Lady, Patience Jonathan.

The judge, T. G Ringim, adjourned the case to hear an application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the final forfeiture of the funds, the agencys spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said in a statement on Monday.

A non-conviction-based forfeiture proceedings are targeted at funds or assets strongly suspected to be proceeds of crime with the person or entity from whom they are seized having no legitimate explanation for their acquisition.

Mr Wilson said the funds warehoused in Skye Bank Plc and Ecobank Plc had earlier been placed under an interim forfeiture order issued by a now retired judge of the court, Mojisola Olatoregun.

Following an ex-parte application by the EFCC, Justice Olatoregun had, on April 26, 2017, ordered the temporary forfeiture of the money.

Dissatisfied with the order of the trial court, Mrs Jonathan alongside other respondents, LA Wari Furniture and Bathes, had first approached the Court of Appeal and subsequently the Supreme Court to set aside the order of the lower court.

However, both the appellate court and the apex court affirmed the order of Justice Olatoregun, the statement read in part.

It added that before the conclusion of hearing on the EFCCs motion for the final forfeiture regarding the funds, Ms Olatoregun retired from the bench in 2019.

As a result of her retirement, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court re-assigned the matter to a new judge, Chuka Obiozor, for hearing.

Mr Obiozor, however, could not hear the case before his transfer to the Benin Division of the Federal High Court.

The case is now before Mr Ringim.

EFCCs lawyer speaks

At the resumed hearing before Mr Ringim on Monday, EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, gave a brief background of the case.

This matter is a non-conviction suit instituted before your learned brother, Justice Olatoregun now retired, where we prayed for the final forfeiture of the sum of $5,781,173.55, warehoused in Skye Bank Plc and N2,421,953,502.78, property of LA Wari Furniture and Bathes in Ecobank Plc.

It was instituted and an interim order was granted on April 24, 2017, upon which it went up to Supreme Court and an application for its final forfeiture was moved. But the trial judge didnt deliver the judgment before retiring.

It was upon that fact that the file was transferred to the registry, where it was re-assigned to the former judge and subsequently your Lordship, Mr Oyedepo said.

Defence team speaks

Mrs Jonathans lawyers, Ifedayo Adedipe, and Gboyega Oyewole, both Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), said the case was scheduled for a mention because it was its first time of coming up before the new judge.

The firms lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, a SAN, who urged the court to adjourn the case, said he intended to file an application challenging the constitutionality of the entire proceedings.

He prayed the court for a long adjournment to enable him to file the said application.

In his response, Mr Oyedepo, EFCCs lawyer, opposed the request.

He said by virtue of the provision of section 17 of the Advanced Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, the only step remaining in the proceedings is the hearing of the motion for final forfeiture.

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He urged the judge to look at the record of the proceedings of February 17, 2021, to show that the former judge had already adjourned the hearing of the motion for final forfeiture till April 13.

He added that the February 13 proceedings could not hold because of the strike embarked upon by the members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN).

He added that should the court be willing to grant the request for an adjournment, it should be for the motion of final forfeiture.

Judges ruling

In his ruling, Mr Ringim adjourned the case till October 7, saying whatever application parties filed would be heard along with the motion for final forfeiture.

He gave Mr Ozekhome, who said he planned to file an application, to do so within 14 days.

He said, In my humble opinion, there is a procedure to follow in this type of application, which cannot be truncated.

The court cannot adjourn the matter because of an application, which is yet to be filed.

However, due to the nature of the application, as hinted by the second respondent, the court will not shut the application out.

This court will adjourn for the hearing of the motion for final forfeiture that is pending.

Consequently, the second respondent is hereby ordered to file the application, if any, within 14 days from today, and the plaintiff will have one week to respond.

It will be heard alongside the motion for final forfeiture.

Mr Ringim further adjourned the proceedings to October 7, 2021.

Another $15.5 million linked to Mrs Jonathan

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Court of Appeal in Lagos, in May, upturned the conviction of four companies with bank accounts holding $15.5 million that was linked to Mrs Jonathan.

A panel of the Court of Appeal had set aside the conviction of the defendants on the grounds that they were denied fair hearing.

With the decision of the Court of Appeal, the trial of defendants in the case will start afresh at the trial court, lawyers involved in the case had told this newspaper.
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A former Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, has advised lawmakers from the north to ensure they do not leave the House broke.

Mr Ogbeh, who is the Chairman of the Arewa Conservative Forum (ACF), asked the lawmakers to save some money before they will leave office.

He gave the advice on Monday at the retreat of the Nothern Caucus of the House of Representatives.

The retreat is holding at Zuma Resort in Niger State.

The two-day retreat on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and other legislations before the lower chamber, was attended by the Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, and others.

Mr Ogbeh said the money should be invested in the industrialisation of the north to help the region to achieve industrialisation as soon as possible.

I want to advise you, a piece of advice I gave myself which has worked very well. Let none of you leave the House broke. Make an effort and save some money, he said.

It may sound funny, but I am talking from experience. There is nothing more terrible later in life than to be a well-known nobody. I know that you are under terrible pressure. I can count how many text messages you get daily asking for financial support and there is no way you can run away from it.

However, try and save some money. Try and think of a small industrial project to invest in. If every one of you were to make such an effort, there will be industries everywhere. No matter how small, when you leave here, you can go home and expand it.

Mr Ogbeh also advised the lawmakers to develop a second address they can hand over to their children.

He said, Make no mistakes. What I am telling you now is what I have told people before. Some listened and are happier for it, and those who did not listen are more miserable for it. Develop a second address, a more permanent address, which you can hand over to your children. The one that will give you an identity, dignity and protect you from laughter even from those you have helped.

Speaking on the call for restructuring, the former national chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said those calling for the adoption of the 1963 Constitution are not familiar with it.

He noted that mining, including oil, are under the control of the federal government.

Many of the people who are clamouring for restructuring are referring to the 1963 constitution, somehow, they believe that constitution gives to every part of Nigeria whatever resources there are. We are trying to get copies to send to all of you legislators to see. Item 25, part one of section 69 of the first schedule says that mines, minerals, including oil fields, oil mining, geological surveys and natural gas are on the exclusive list.

The problem of the north is absolute lack of industrialisation and sluggishness in education. Now, we have people who go around capturing children and taking them to the forest. We are not doing well in human management,  Mr Ogbeh said.

The Sultan, in his presentation, solicited the passage of the bill, that has been around since 2008.
The Nigerian government on Monday added South Africa to the existing list of countries where inbound non-Nigerian passengers are temporarily banned from entering the country.

Nigerian passengers from there are also expected to fulfill some stringent conditions before they are allowed into the country.

The announcement, which was made by the chairman of the presidential steering committee (PSC) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, was said to be in response to the spike in COVID-19 cases in the African country.

Mr Mustapha, who doubles as the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF) noted that the prevalence of variants of concern in South Africa and the dangers associated with importation of such virulent strains to Nigeria made the decision inevitable.

Earlier restrictions

The Nigerian government, on May 2, 2021 announced a temporary ban on non-Nigerian passengers who have been in Brazil, India or Turkey within 14 days of intended arrival into Nigeria.

South Africa, has however, been added to this category once more, Mr Mustapha said.

He said his committee has been reviewing these restrictions and agrees they should remain for another four weeks before it is further reviewed.

A few weeks ago, we announced additional measures to be met by passengers arriving from Brazil, Turkey and India.

This action was due to the prevalence of variants of concern and the dangers associated with importation of such virulent strain.

The PSC has been reviewing these restrictions and is of the opinion that they should remain for another four (4) weeks before it is further reviewed, he said.

South Africa

Mr Mustapha said South Africa was added to the list due to the increase in COVID-19 cases and also the presence of delta variants causing havoc around the world.

He said the delta variant is not in Nigeria hence the need to tighten the countrys borders and be more vigilant.

According to the PSC chairman, South Africa has recorded over 100,000 cases in the last one week, and 20,000 cases in the last 24 hours.

Other African countries on watch list

He said the PSC has also shifted its focus on other Africa countries like Zambia, Rwanda, Namibia and Uganda.

In South Africas Gauteng province, the most populous part of the country, COVID-19 patients are waiting for hours, even days, on stretchers in accident and emergency wards before being found a bed, a report on the Guardian shows.

This has led authorities in South Africa to impose new restrictions to stem the sharp rise in COVID-19 cases.

South Africas rising cases are part of a resurgence across Africa, with a peak expected to exceed that of earlier waves as the continents 54 countries struggle to vaccinate even a small percentage of their populations.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has repeatedly appealed for vaccines for Africa, saying a fast-surging COVID-19 third wave is outpacing efforts to protect populations, leaving more and more dangerously exposed.

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Africa is facing a fast-surging third wave of COVID-19 pandemic, with cases spreading more rapidly and projected to soon overtake the peak of the second wave the continent witnessed at the start of 2021, Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said recently.

Ms Moeti said the third wave is picking up speed, spreading faster, hitting harder.

As of 20 June, which is 48 days into the new wave, Africa had recorded around 474,000 new cases- a figure 21 per cent higher than the increase for the same period in the second wave.

At the current rate of infections, the WHO estimates that the case numbers will surpass the peak of the second wave by early July.

African countries have recorded over 5.4 million cases and almost 145,000 deaths, according to data from worldometers.com, a platform providing statistics on the situation of COVID-19 around the world.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned the Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, against defecting from the party to the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying he risks losing his seat.

The spokesperson of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, who stated this at a press conference in Abuja on Monday, said no law allows the governor to cross to the APC or any other party as the governorship mandate was statutorily given to the party through the ballot box as established by the 1999 constitution and the judgement of the Supreme Court.

It also cautioned members of the National Assembly as well as members of the Zamfara State House of Assembly, not to allow themselves to be pushed into losing their seats as the provisions of the the constitution is very clear in barring lawmakers from cross carpeting, except in a situation of a division in the political party upon which platform they were elected.

The PDP was reacting to a reported plan by Mr Matawalle to defect to the APC.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that a presidential aide had suggested that the governor had joined the APC.

The personal assistant to the president on digital and new media, Bashir Ahmad, in a Facebook post, suggested that Mr Matawalle had left the PDP for the party.

The PDP categorically cautions Bello Matawalle to know that his plans amounts to a decision to vacate office as no law allows him to cross over to any other party with the governorship mandate statutorily given to the PDP through the ballot box, as already established by the provision of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the standing

judgment of the Supreme Court, the PDP said in the statement sent to this newspaper after the press conference.

Should Mr Matawalle finally join the APC, he would be the third PDP governor to join the APC in the past seven months. The other two are the governors of Ebonyi and Cross River.

The defection of governors and other elected officials from one party to the other is commonplace in Nigerian politics and no governor has previously lost his seat because he changed parties.

Read the full text of the PDPs statement below.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is watching developments in Zamfara state as they concern reports of plans by the state governor, Bello Matawalle, to cross over to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The PDP categorically cautions Bello Matawalle to know that his plans amounts to a decision to vacate office as no law allows him to cross over to any other party with the governorship mandate statutorily given to the PDP through the ballot box, as already established by the provision of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the standing judgment of the Supreme Court.

A combined reading of Section 221 of the 1999 Constitution as the pronouncements of the Supreme Court in Faleke v. INEC (2016) is clear in holding that it is the political party that stands for election, that votes scored in election belong to the political party and that the candidate nominated to contest at an election by his party, acts only as the agent of his party.

The PDP also cautions members of the National Assembly as well as members of the Zamfara State House of Assembly, not to allow themselves to be pushed into losing their seats as the provisions of the constitution is very clear in barring lawmakers from cross carpeting, except in a situation of a division in the political party upon which platform they were elected.

There is no division in the PDP to warrant the defection of any of our lawmakers.

The PDP hopes that Bello Matawalle as well as members of the National and State Assembly from Zamfara state will take caution.

Meanwhile, the National Working Committee (NWC) has approved the dissolution of the Zamfara State Executive of the party. The decision is in line with the provision of Section 29 (2)(b) of the PDP Constitution 2017 (as amended).

All party leaders, critical stakeholders and teeming members of our party in Zamfara state should, by this, be guided accordingly.

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Signed:

Kola Ologbondiyan

National Publicity Secretary
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The National Assembly must act now. Nigeria is at the brink of a monumental collapse. The time of hiding behind the Buhari baggage to absolve blame is over. Forget about past experiences. Let one courageous patriot move a motion for impeachment. Let the world know where each lawmaker stands. Let their constituencies know where they stand.

Nigerian youths should be applauded for calling off the nationwide protest previously planned on June 12 to demand the removal of President Muhammadu Buhari from office. The bloodthirsty dictator could have exploited the protest to murder more citizens. These helpless youths have suffered enough for the sins of their heartless leaders. Yet, the goal of the protest lives. But the plan must assume a new and broader dimension.

It begins by acknowledging the fact that Muhammadu Buhari is no longer Nigerias real problem. The year 2021 does not belong in the past, where a clique could assume power and dictate as it pleases. Recent events have hinted that Buharis ongoing war against Nigeria would not be decided at the Dodan Barracks nor at the Aso Rock. The country now has a multitude of Biblical Josephs of sort that have become strategically entrenched in all nooks and corners of the world but who are determined to pay the ruthless leader in his own coin.

The gist is that Muhammadu Buhari is a spent force. He is already boxed in a corner and bound to be bundled to the International Criminal Court at the Hague once out of office. In short, Buharis case is a settled matter.

The true problem, therefore, is the legislature, which has failed to abide by the Constitution to remove the president for gross misconduct in the performance of the functions of his office.

Enumerating Buharis gross misconduct in office is akin to counting the sand at the seashore. How and where does one begin or how and where does one end? This man is a stone-cold bigot who has sustained power through demagoguery. He is by far the most vengeful, divisive, tribalistic, nepotic, toxic, and terrorist leader in recent memory. The Nigerian president commits mass murder. He commits politicide. He dreams and relishes genocide. The sadist is a blight to the human race and currently the worlds worst leader.

The false consensus seems to be that the legislators from Northern Nigeria will not be quick to impeach Buhari since his deputy, a Southerner, would automatically assume the presidency. The proponents argue that it is more plausible to allow him to serve out his two terms so that the process of power rotation can be preserved.

Accordingly, many ethnic groups, as well as prominent Nigerians  from the East, North, South, and West  have continued to call for Buharis impeachment. The gross misconduct under his regime is so glaring that even his wife, Aisha Buhari, had to damn the consequences to alert fellow citizens that her husband had since lost the control of the government. She admonished the Nigerian men for doing nothing.

The delay to impeach the president prompted several youth groups and activists to embark on various protests, demanding good governance. But the protesters are always met with brute force, with many innocent youths losing their lives. Buharis unacceptable activities, as well as the gory images, are daily news.

So, what is the National Assembly waiting for before removing this president from office? Could the delay be attributed to the fact that the president is indifferent to the massive corruption in the legislative arm of the government, including jumbo salaries? Could it be because the Nigerian legislators, their families, and estates are fully guarded by detachments of officers from the Nigerian Armed Forces?

The false consensus seems to be that the legislators from Northern Nigeria will not be quick to impeach Buhari since his deputy, a Southerner, would automatically assume the presidency. The proponents argue that it is more plausible to allow him to serve out his two terms so that the process of power rotation can be preserved.

Failure to act is to risk a mass revolution of global consequence. But such revolution should be targeted squarely to where it belongs. It does not have to be the typical youth affair. The Nigerians in the Diaspora  some of whom were forced to embrace the harsh conditions at foreign immigration jails as more hopeful than the situation in their native country  are definitely more aggrieved.

But such a reason is not tenable. Anyone thinking that Muhammadu Buhari will hand over power at the end of his tenure is daydreaming. The incorrigible dictator cannot and must not be trusted. This is a man who assumed power, preaching integrity, virtue, and righteousness, only to gain the power to embrace the worst form of corruption, utter disregard for the rule of law, and gross abuse of office as a way of governance. There is no way Buhari can be entertaining the thoughts of a peaceful transition of power, while at the same time waging war against some sections of the country.

Moreover, a vast majority of the Nigerian people no longer cares about the ethnic origin of their president insofar as Buhari is gone. After all, the people of his region are the worst victims of his evil policies. Even at that, nothing stops the legislators from impeaching both the president and his deputy. But Buhari must go.

The National Assembly must act now. Nigeria is at the brink of a monumental collapse. The time of hiding behind the Buhari baggage to absolve blame is over. Forget about past experiences. Let one courageous patriot move a motion for impeachment. Let the world know where each lawmaker stands. Let their constituencies know where they stand. Let the youths know their true enemy.

Failure to act is to risk a mass revolution of global consequence. But such revolution should be targeted squarely to where it belongs. It does not have to be the typical youth affair. The Nigerians in the Diaspora  some of whom were forced to embrace the harsh conditions at foreign immigration jails as more hopeful than the situation in their native country  are definitely more aggrieved. The international community, of course, is tired of the never-ending mess. Needless to remind that the Arab Spring revolution, which Buhari once craved for Nigeria, was masterminded outside the Arab States.

SKC Ogbonnia, a 2019 APC presidential aspirant, writes from Houston, Texas, USA.
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While I agree with Ms. Ojis observation on scant youth participation, I disagree that this lack of participation will lead to the loss of relevance and eventual extinction of the Nigerian stock market. Instead, I am led to believe that the country may lose out on dividends and control of Nigerias largest companies if the current patterns of shareholder demographics are maintained.

An article published recently by the Guardian newspapers Helen Oji expressed concern about the future of the Nigerian stock market in the face of waning interest from millennials, who are increasingly turning to alternative investment options in micro-finance, fintech, and cryptocurrencies. Stakeholders are reportedly worried about losing market patronage on the exit of the older generation, who thus far form the largest segment of investors. This article piqued my interest and mirrored the outlook of millennial investors I had interacted with in the past, who laughed and sighed when I suggested the Nigerian Stock Exchange as a viable investment option. What I found most concerning was the stark contrast between young Nigerian investors and my colleagues from business school in the U.K., who have constantly badgered me to scout investment opportunities for them in Nigeria. This article examines the long-term potential of Nigerian equities and aims to predict patterns of growth by analysing policy, social trends and economic data.

A 2008 study investigated the connection between stock market performance and economic growth in Malaysia by using annual data on real GDP growth and the Kuala Lumpur composite index. Findings revealed that causality runs from the stock market to economic activity and not the other way around. Therefore, policymakers have a significant role in ensuring the smooth operations and growth of financial markets. In recent times, a large portion of global stock trading volumes has been driven by retail trade due to the democratisation of access to the markets by fintech applications. For example, Robin Hood, a fee-less trading app, recorded $350 billion worth of transactions in 2020 alone. Several mobile trading applications have been launched in Nigeria over the past few years, leading to an uptick in retail trading volumes on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

One of the most significant events within the fintech space in recent times was the first issuance of a sub-broker license for digital platforms to Chaka (a retail trading application). In December 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a statement banning Chaka for operating outside the regulatory purview of the Commission and without requisite registration, as stipulated by the Investment and Securities Act 2007. This came on the heels of a draft publication released by the SEC in July 2020 containing proposed rules for collaboration between fintech operators and brokers. Chaka understandably did not realise the need to obtain the license, leading to its temporary ban. Subsequently, a successful dialogue between Chaka and the SEC led to a resolution, and Chaka became the first company to obtain a sub-broker license for digital platforms. According to TechCabal, Chakas CEO noted upon obtaining the license that, Weve built a great relationship with SEC that we think will be beneficial for the whole ecosystem moving forward. This was a major victory for the fintech space, as there now exists a clear regulatory framework for innovators and investors to work within. The SEC has a major role in promoting the stock markets development and expansion over the next few years; ensuring fluid communication with stakeholders will be a significant factor in the growth of investor confidence and the market as a whole.

It could be argued that if foreign companies increase their dominance in the NSE, Nigeria will miss out on a large portion of dividends from major companies, as they would be repatriated to investors outside the country. A number of Nigerian companies such as GTBank and Seplat Petroleum Development Company have been able to secure dual listings on the NSE and the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

The Nigerian Stock Exchange was founded in 1961 and has 161 listed companies across a number of sectors. Many of the companies are market leaders within the continent and they have expanded their operations significantly with Nigeria as a base. For example, Access Bank started in Nigeria and now has subsidiaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Zambia, and the United Kingdom. Many other companies on the NSE, such as Dangote cement, United Bank for Africa, and Oando have experienced similar growth and expansion. If this trend continues, it is fair to assume that Nigerian companies will possess a significant market share of the continents major industries. While many young Nigerians have shied away from the NSE, several foreign investors have realised Nigerias potential and placed a bet on its growth. Zenith Banks second, third, and fourth largest shareholders are Invesco Limited, Russel Invest Management Limited, and Mirae Global Asset Investments. These three companies are based in New York and London. Most of the blue-chip companies on the NSE have similar patterns in shareholding and in my opinion, this poses a large risk to countrys future growth. It could be argued that if foreign companies increase their dominance in the NSE, Nigeria will miss out on a large portion of dividends from major companies, as they would be repatriated to investors outside the country. A number of Nigerian companies such as GTBank and Seplat Petroleum Development Company have been able to secure dual listings on the NSE and the London Stock Exchange (LSE). These have enabled access to a far wider pool of investors who have acquired shares in large amounts and driven prices higher over the past few years. Seplats share price has risen from N200 per share in January 2016 to N700 as at June.

The global market crash of 2008 led to the Dow losing $1.2 trillion of value in a single day. At that point, investors sold their stocks in panic and left the market in droves. While this was the point of maximum loss, it was also the point of maximum opportunity, and the few who recognised this were able to capitalise and multiply their wealth over the following years. Warren Buffet was one of such investors; during the financial crisis he bought large amounts of shares in American companies, and these investments were primarily responsible for making him one of the wealthiest people in the world.

In 1979, India faced its worst recession to date due to drought, falling oil prices, and political instability. The BSE SENSEX is an index comprising of 30 major companies on the Bombay stock exchange. SENSEX has been one of the best performing indexes in the world, providing a compounded annual growth rate of 16.1 per cent from 1979 to 2019. While economic shocks at different points in this time period led to temporary weakness, an investment of 10,000 in 1979 would have provided a return of over 45,0000,000 by 2019. Macro-economic similarities and Nigerias current economic challenges lead me to believe that we stand at a similar crossroad as India was in 1979. While many of the companies on the NSE provide value and are growing rapidly, they are significantly undervalued. Investors who capitalise on low stock prices and accumulate shares in market-leading companies may face a similar fate as those who invested in India after its largest recession and in global equities, in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

A stock with a price to book ratio of three or under is generally considered a good buy. However, the retail frenzy surrounding global stocks has driven companies to high price to book ratios in recent times On the other side of the coin lies Nigerian companies. The average P/B ratio for Nigerian banks currently stands at 0.4. As such, the average Nigerian bank is valued at 60 per cent less than its assets, minus liabilities.

One of my favorite indicators for analysing stocks is the price to book ratio. According to Investopedia, Companies use the price-to-book ratio (P/B ratio) to compare a firms market capitalization to its book value. Its calculated by dividing the companys stock price per share by its book value per share (BVPS). Book value per share is derived by subtracting a companys total liabilities from its total assets. If a companys

price to book ratio is one, its share capital is equal to its assets minus liabilities, and the company is reasonably valued. A stock with a price to book ratio of three or under is generally considered a good buy. However, the retail frenzy surrounding global stocks has driven companies to high price to book ratios in recent times. For instance, Teslas P/B ratio is currently at 26; this means that Teslas share capital is valued at 26 times its assets, minus liabilities. This leads me to believe that Tesla and many other similar companies are overvalued. On the other side of the coin lies Nigerian companies. The average P/B ratio for Nigerian banks currently stands at 0.4. As such, the average Nigerian bank is valued at 60 per cent less than its assets, minus liabilities.

While I agree with Ms. Ojis observation on scant youth participation, I disagree that this lack of participation will lead to the loss of relevance and eventual extinction of the Nigerian stock market. Instead, I am led to believe that the country may lose out on dividends and control of Nigerias largest companies if the current patterns of shareholder demographics are maintained.

Fiyin Osinbajo is a technology entrepreneur, who graduated with an MSc in Management of Information Systems and Digital Innovation from the London School of Economics and a BA/QLD in Law and Business Studies from the University of Warwick, UK.
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Polaris Bank has announced the launch of a new reward: Refer & Win exercise in which existing and new users of the Banks digital banking platform, VULTe, stand a chance to win up to N1,300 instant cash reward each time they refer someone who opens an account and enrolls on the newly-launched innovative digital solution.

To benefit from the reward initiative, all a referrer (who could be an existing customer or non-customer of the Bank) needs do, is to refer a new user to open a Polaris Bank account by enrolling on the VULTe digital bank platform, while for every referral completed, both the referrer and referreds account will be credited with N300 and N200 respectively, instantly.

Speaking on the new reward initiative, Polaris Banks Managing Director/CEO, Innocent Ike, said the Referral Campaign is aimed at positioning VULTe as a unique digital solution to reward both the existing and new customers of the Bank.

VULTe stands out as a very unique innovative digital bank platform in many respects. It not only provides users unique offerings as a self-service solution, it also offers convenience, speed and reliability on the go. The Referral Campaign aligns with our Banks commitment to provide new experience and easier accessibility to banking services for all customers, and to reward them for their continued loyalty, he said.

While encouraging existing and new customers to take advantage of the Refer & Win exercise to increase their savings and earn extra money, the Polaris CEO added that the campaign is a season of reward for staff, customers and non-customers of the Bank once their referrers successfully enroll on the Polaris Banks VULTe platform.

Polaris Banks Chief Digital Officer, Dele Adeyinka, while explaining the mechanics for participating in the reward exercise, disclosed that participants are required to enroll, fetch their referral code from VULTe and share with prospects.

The referral code is the indicator to the individual that introduced the Application to the new user. This, will also be used, in aggregating the total payout due to the referrer, he said.

Mr Adeyinka added that the participants will only qualify for rewards, after the referred have successfully set up an account on VULTe.

The campaign, he explained further, is split into two reward categories, and a referrer will be paid for referring users based on the account level/referred customer category.

Category one is where the customer opens and completes an account on VULTe using Bank Verification Number (BVN).

According to the CDO, for a new user that is successfully enrolled under category one, the referrer will earn a maximum of N300 per referral; while the referred earns N200.

ALSO READ: Polaris Democratising Banking with VULTe

For category two, a customer is required to open an account with Know-Your-Customer (KYC) information supplied on VULTe, plus obtaining a debit card through the platform. A referrer earns N1,300 per referral and N200 for the referred; that is additional N1,000 from the N300 base amount from category one.

The referral figures will automatically display on VULTe as the enrolment process is complete and the participants can log on VULTe app to check performance. So, for each successfully completed referred enrollment, winnings will be credited into the participants account immediately, Mr Adeyinka explained.

He assured participants that the reward programme is transparent, and promised that Polaris Bank would continue to delight its customers and non-customers with innovative services that can make life, lot better.

Polaris Bank is a future-determining Bank committed to the delivery of industry-defining products, and services, across all the sectors of the Nigerian economy.
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A pregnant woman was killed on Saturday and her husband abducted in the outskirts of Offa in Kwara State.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the deceased who was simply identified as Hawawu was shot by unidentified gunmen inside a car driven by her husband.

Her husband, Lukman Ibrahim, who sells and repairs phones and accessories at Owode Market in the town, was abducted by the assailants.

According to sources familiar with the incident, the gunmen attacked the couple along Ojoku road near the divisional police headquarters in Offa.

As of the time of filing this report, Mr Ibrahims car, a grey-coloured Toyota Camry, had been taken to the police station on Ojoku Road, Offa, while his wifes corpse deposited in the morgue of the General Hospital, Offa.

The incident led to a protest by some residents, who stormed the palace of the Olofa of Offa, Muftau Gbadamosi, on Sunday, demanding the release of the victim.

The protesters also decried the incessant attacks perpetrated by suspected herders in the community.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the Kwara State police command, Ajayi Okasanmi, confirmed the incident to journalists on Sunday.

The command is working hard to get the victim rescued, he added.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai has disclosed that he has provided a comprehensive briefing to President Muhammadu Buhari on the rightsizing policy of the Kaduna State Government and the steps taken so far to implement it.

The governor said his administration would seek accountability for the Nigerian Labour Congress actions in the state by setting up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the events of May 2021.

He explained that the government is hiring over 10,000 staff because rightsizing obliges the government to continuous recruitment of teachers, doctors, nurses and other qualified staff to provide vital services.

A statement issued by Special Adviser on Media and Communication to the Kaduna Government, Muyiwa Adekeye, on Sunday, quoted Governor El-Rufai as having assured President Buhari that KDSG is determined not to allow a repeat of the pains, economic losses and the restraints of freedom that the NLC inflicted on the people of Kaduna State.

Alluding to the NLCs renewed threat of strike action, the statement accused the NLC of demonstrating a lack of belief in equality among its own members by describing the transfer of one Kaduna employee to a place where other civil servants are serving as victimisation.

Mr Adekeye said the Kaduna government has jettisoned the MOU reached with labour in a meeting facilitated by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige.

He said the states representatives at the May 20 conciliation meeting had indicated clearly that whatever they signed required the approval of the Kaduna State Executive Council.

Mr Adekeye said the Kaduna State Government has since informed the federal Minister of Labour that the State Executive Council is unable to approve the MoU.

It is trite that an MoU is not a legally binding document. The content of the MoU shows that there is no congruence between the progressive aspirations of the Kaduna State Government and the misguided sense of entitlement of the NLC which does not even believe in equality amongst its own members.

KDSG employees are serving with dedication in Birnin-Gwari Local Government Area, amidst all the challenges. Yet, the NLC describes the transfer of one KDSG employee to Birnin-Gwari LGA as victimisation, as if other staff who have been loyally serving in the same area are lesser humans or permanent victims. KDSG rejects this unfair denigration of the very people that the transferred employee claims to lead.

The statement added that it is improper to describe the routine application of public service rules and labour regulations by a government as victimisation and asked the Federal Ministry of Labour to reconsider permitting such slurs in documents prepared under its auspices.

Union membership or accession to a leadership position in a union does not grant immunity to an employee for his/her actions and conduct or exempt them from compliance with the laws that govern everyone else.

There are procedures that need to be followed to make a strike action legal, and the kind of conduct permissible during legitimate strike action is also bound by law. Lawful strike action still subjects strikers to the no-work, no-pay rule. How then can unlawful strike action be expected to be without consequences, as spelt out in the relevant laws and regulations?

The statement said that the dominant theme in the KDSG statement at the conciliation meeting was the state governments rejection of the criminal actions that defined the NLCs actions. It was notable that the NLC delegation was eager for the discourse not to dwell on their violations of laws prohibiting the disruption of essential services and their recourse to coercion and restraints to the freedom of citizens. But these are matters that cannot be ignored or swept under the carpet since unlawful actions that have come to be accepted as part and parcel of strike action remain unlawful.

The Special Adviser reiterated that Kaduna State Government has not yet disengaged any state civil servant but has dispensed with the services of 99 political appointees so far. Only the 23 local government councils and the agencies associated with the local government system such as SUBEB and the Primary Health Care Board have released staff.

Noting that rightsizing is about getting the optimal number of persons with the requisite skills to staff the public service, the statement added that as it is releasing lesser skilled staff, the KDSG is engaged in continuous recruitment of teachers, doctors, nurses and other health workers to provide vital services for citizens. More than 10,000 such workers, including 7,600 secondary school teachers are being injected into the public service.

The statement explained that its commitment to a fair assessment of the credentials of all officers shows in the painstaking approach to the rightsizing exercise for state civil servants. It said that it is only after the completion of the verification process that KDSG will release any civil servant that is confirmed not to possess the minimum qualifications prescribed in 2017 as one of the outcomes of the states Public Service Revitalization and Renewal Programme.

The statement appealed for the continued patience and understanding of all citizens as steps are being taken for the fair conclusion of this exercise.

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The police in Ogun State have arrested two suspected cultists during a supremacy battle at Orelope area of Ilogbo-Ota of the state on Sunday.

This was contained in a statement released on Monday by Abimbola Oyeyemi, the police spokesperson.

Mr Oyeyemi said the arrested suspects are notorious cultists that have been making life difficult for residents of the area.

The suspects, Jamiu Okanlawon, 20, and Oluwaseun Owoeye, 30, alongside other cult members engaged a rival cult group in a supremacy battle on Sunday, which led to their arrest.

The suspects were arrested, following a distress call received by the DPO Onipanu Division, CSP Bamidele Job, that the cultists are on rampage, thereby making life difficult for innocent members of the public.

Upon the distress call, the DPO mobilised his men, in collaboration with local vigilante and stormed the scene.

On sighting the policemen, the hoodlums, who had already inflicted varying degrees of injuries on the duo of 45 years old Modinat Lawal and one Ope Saheed took to flight, but two amongst them were apprehended, while others escaped, Mr Oyeyemi said.

The police spokesperson said one locally fabricated single barrel pistol, three live cartridges, one dagger casing, and assorted charms were recovered from the suspects.

He added that the injured persons were taken to the hospital by the police for urgent medical treatment.

The statement quoted the commissioner of police in the state, Edward Awolowo, to have directed the transfer of the suspects to the state criminal investigation and intelligence department for investigation.
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The Osun Police Command on Monday confirmed the death of one person during a clash between a masquerade and his followers and Muslim worshipers in Osogbo on Sunday.

According to Osun Police Spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola, many were also injured when Muslim worshipers , that were having their prayer in their mosque, got into a fight with the masquerades who took their procession past their mosque.

Ms Opalola said though the cause of the fight could not be ascertained yet, she said the state Commissioner of Police, Olawale Olokode, has, however, invited the two fighting groups for a dialogue.

She also stated that some persons have been arrested in connection to the incident and that investigation was also ongoing on the development.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that about nine persons (including some underage children) were injured , as it was reported that many were shot during the fracas.

A masquerade and his followers were said to be passing through the Oluode Aranyins compound, Osogbo, where a mosque is located.

The Muslim worshippers, who were having prayers under a canopy near their mosque, were alleged to have been attacked by the masqurade followers which led to a fight.

(NAN)
The Lagos House of Assembly on Monday ordered local government councils and local council development areas (LCDAs) in the state to desist from extorting and harrassing operators of courier and logistics services in the state.

Mudashiru Obasa, the House speaker, said the local councils do not have the power to tax logistics and courier services. He said the power of the councils was limited to the registration of bicycles as dictated by the Constitution.

Mr Obasa said it was important to act against the action of the councils because it affects the ease of doing business in the state.

We have to make them understand that going out to disturb well-planned and organised businesses that stand to create employment for our youth especially with the rate at which students graduate with nothing much to do is not good at all, said Mr Obasa (Agege 1).

The services of courier services reduce poverty in the state and how much do they even charge?

Local governments have nothing to do with the registration of motorcycles and tricycles. Operators of courier and logistics services should not be made to pay in all the local governments considering what they charge for their services.

The House resolved that local government councils should be aware of their limitations in this regard as well as stop using alleged touts and street urchins to collect revenues in other areas where they are legally empowered.

The House debate

The decision of the House followed a motion moved earlier by Ganiu Okanlawon (Kosofe 1). The lawmakers further resolved to call on the Lagos State Government to direct the Commissioner for Transportation and other relevant agencies to ensure that operators of courier services and logistics are not harrassed by the local governments.

The House also directed the state Commissioner of Police to ensure that all extortionists in the state are apprehended.

The House calls on Local Governments and LCDAs to desist from harrasing and extorting operators of courier and logistics services and restrain their traffic department from doing so.

The Ministry of Information and Strategy should educate operators of Courier and Logistics Services and informed them about what is expected of them, Mr Okanlawon said.

Mr Okanlawon stated that the laws and restriction orders on the ban of motorcycles in some areas in the state exempted the movement of motorcycles of courier and logistics services.

In his contribution, Bisi Yusuff (Alimosho, 1) said the motion was timely and that the use of local government taskforce to deal with operators of courier services was an embarrassment to the state government.

According to Mr Yusuff, some operators took some local governments to the court on the issue in the past and won.

Leader of the House, Sanai Agunbiade (Ikorodu, 1), said courier and logistics services help people in different areas to interact with their customers.

Mr Agunbiade added that the operation had a way of boosting the economy of the state and empowering the people through employment.

The motion did not say they should not be regulated. A courier service should not pay from one local government to the other or else it would defeat the purpose of their business.

The revenue should be centralised among the local governments. The House once passed a law to regulate collection of fees by local governments. The law stated that whoever is collecting levies for the local governments must be identified, he said.

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Lukman Olumoh (Ajeromi/Ifelodun 1) accused some of the local government officials of issuing fake documents. He suggested that consultants should be employed for such activities.

Fatai Mojeed (Ibeju Lekki 1) stated that some of the riders of the bikes are graduates who have no other jobs, and that there have been many cries concerning the harrasment of courier and logistics operators by local government officials.

On his part, Abiodun Tobun (Epe 1) lamented that some of the courier services organisations do not live up to expectations.

Some local governments use consultants and we cannot stop them because of their excesses. We must not throw the local governments out totally as they have a role to play as an arm of government, he said.

Also speaking, Lanre Afinni (Lagos Island 2) suggested that the collection of revenue for the local governments could be centralised and shared among them, adding that multiple taxation affects the profit of courier services companies.

In his view, Moshood Oshun (Lagos Mainland 2) said most of the local governments and LCDAs have traffic sections and that they charge exorbitant fines.

He urged the traffic sections of these councils be looked into because they sometimes go to the extreme of arresting and harrassing people.

Jude Idimogu (Oshodi/Isolo 2), who said he had personally experienced the harrasment of the touts, supported the motion.

Also supporting the motion, Setonji David (Badagry 2) said courier operators play major roles in the state but that the local governments do not see it from this angle.

Most of the receipts issued by the local governments are fake. We must ensure that the local governments limit themselves to what they ought to do.

We have to find a way to stop the local governments from bothering the courier services since they are recognised by law. They also help transportation in the state as they help in distributing items, he said.
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The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, on Monday directed officers to start impounding vehicles with tinted glass that have no police permits in the state.

Mr Odumosu gave the order while addressing senior officers, Divisional Police Officers, and Heads of Departments at the POWA Hall, Ikeja, on Monday.

The police chief addressed the officers on the general security of the state and the need to be proactive rather than being reactive to security issues in Lagos State.

He directed the officers to impound vehicles without tint permits and arrest their owners, except those with factory-fitted tints.

In a statement released by Muyiwa Adejobi, the police spokesperson, the police commissioner also directed the police to go hard on unauthorised persons using siren and police spy numbers.

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Hakeem Odumosu, ordered the Area Commanders and Divisional Police Officers to henceforth enforce the orders on the use of tint permits, siren and Police SPY Number plates as reiterated by the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, NPM, fdc in order to reduce crimes to barest minimum in the state.

He reiterated that existing tint permits remain valid while only new vehicles with factory-fitted tints are exempted and vehicles with other forms of tints, other than factory-fitted, be impounded while the owners are apprehended and charged to court accordingly.

Equally, the police boss ordered the officers in the command to enforce the orders on the use of siren and police SPY Number plates as unauthorised individuals must be arrested and their vehicles impounded for prosecution, the statement reads.

Mr Odumosu clarified that approved police SPY number plates must be fixed and used on registered trucks/pickups, not on private SUVs or cars.

Anyone who violates this order and does not enjoy constitutional immunity and will be arrested and prosecuted in accordance with the relevant laws, Mr Odumosu said.

Similarly, Mr Odumosu directed the police tactical units to deploy resources to curb crimes in the state.

Mr Odumosu told the units to sniff criminals out of their hideouts within the states. He also directed them to embark on massive raids of criminals at their identified black spots across the state.

The police boss urged the public to avail the police with the necessary information that will help curb crimes and criminality in the state.

He also warned police officers to carry out their duties diligently and devoid of corruption and extortion as any professional misconducts will be meted with severe disciplinary sanction.
A Celebration of Life Service for David J. Tallman, NK2Y, will be held at the Plattsburgh United Methodist Church, 127 Beekman Street, Plattsburgh, NY on Saturday, July 10, 2021, at 3 P.M. on the front lawn of the church, weather permitting. It will be moved to the sanctuary for inclement we
The Prince William Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike.

We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve.
LONDON, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Chubb has today announced senior leadership appointments in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

Sara Mitchell is appointed Division President of Continental Europe, Middle East and North Africa. Sara will be responsible for Chubb's property and casualty, accident and health and consumer lines operations across 26 countries in Continental Europe, Middle East and North Africa. In her most recent role, Sara was Division President for United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa.

Mark Roberts is appointed Division President for the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa and succeeds Sara. Mark will be responsible for Chubb's property and casualty, accident and health and consumer lines operations across the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa. Mark's most recent role was Chief Underwriting Officer for Property and Casualty, United Kingdom and Ireland.

Robert Wilson is appointed Chief Underwriting Officer for Chubb Global Markets and Active Underwriter of Chubb's Lloyd's Syndicate 2488. Robert will be responsible for all underwriting activity in Chubb Global Markets and Syndicate 2488. In his most recent role, Robert was Deputy Chief Underwriting Officer and Head of Underwriting Operations at Chubb Global Markets.

Sara, Mark and Robert will all report to David Furby, Regional President, Europe, Middle East and Africa. In addition to his current responsibilities, David is assuming the role of President of Chubb Global Markets.

All appointments are with immediate effect subject to regulatory approvals.

David Furby said: "I'm truly excited to have Sara, Mark and Robert on the leadership team in the EMEA region. They all have a proven track record and will with their solid leadership experience bring the best of Chubb to our clients and brokers across the region."

Juan Luis Ortega, Executive Vice President, Chubb Group and President of Overseas General Insurance, said: "With their decades of industry experience and accomplishment, and under the overall leadership of David Furby, these three executives  Sara, Mark and Robert  represent an exceptionally strong and talented team leading our region in Europe, Middle East and Africa. We are delighted to make these senior appointments, which further demonstrate the significant bench strength of talent within Chubb."

Sara Mitchell has more than 18 years of insurance industry experience. Sara joined Chubb in 2011 and has served in a number of senior management roles in both the consumer and commercial property and casualty business in the UK and Europe. Prior to joining Chubb, Sara held a variety of roles at RSA and Allianz. She has a degree in Chemistry from the University of Manchester and is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute.

Mark Roberts has 28 years of insurance industry experience, including 22 years with Chubb. Mark joined the company in 1999 and has held over the years increasingly senior underwriting and management roles. Mark started his career as a broker at SBJ and prior to joining Chubb, worked as an underwriter at ITT London & Edinburgh. Mark has a degree in Ancient History from Durham University.

Robert Wilson has 35 years of insurance industry experience. Robert joined Chubb in 2009 and has held various senior roles in Chubb Global Markets. Prior to joining Chubb, Robert worked as a reinsurance treaty broker with Marsh, JLT and Aon.

About Chubb



Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. With operations in 54 countries and territories, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London, Paris and other locations, and employs approximately 31,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at: www.chubb.com.

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OSLO, Norway, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Norwegian Energy Company ASA ("Noreco" or the "Company") has today announced a trading and operations update to the market for the two months ending 31 May 2021. A Capital Markets Update is attached and will be made available on the Company's website, www.noreco.com. In addition, the Company will seek to engage in bondholder discussions regarding the addition of further covenant headroom under its NOR14 Senior Unsecured Bond agreement.

The Company's second quarter financial statements will, as planned, be released to the market on 13 July 2021. The Company has not completed its second quarter 2021 financial reporting. The estimates provided in this release are therefore subject to change and the second quarter financials may deviate from the information provided herein.

Financial

Strong liquidity position of USD 272 million at 31 May 2021 , consisting of undrawn RBL capacity of USD 178 million based on the Company's current Borrowing Base and cash on balance sheet of USD 94 million

Successful closing of new USD 1.1 billion RBL facility with existing and new lenders. This new facility, which has a seven-year term and amortizations from the second half of 2024, replaced the Company's prior USD 900 million facility. This provides additional liquidity while also loosening the pre-Tyra leverage covenant and is a strong testimony to Noreco's underlying assets and business. The semi-annual redetermination of the RBL Borrowing Base is currently ongoing and is expected to be announced end of June 2021, with the Company anticipating the facility's cash drawing capacity to remain above USD 1 billion

Due to favorable gas market conditions and to further safeguard pre-Tyra cash flow, during Q2 2021 to date the Company entered into additional price hedging agreements of 1.2mm MWh at EUR 29 /MWh for Winter 2021 / 2022

The information provided above includes certain alternative performance measures ("APMs"). These APMs are consistent with those used in the Company's annual and quarterly financial statements and reference is made to the Company's first quarter 2021 financial statements.

Operational

Net production of approximately 27.3 mboepd during the first two months of the second quarter, in the upper range of the Company's annual guidance of 25.5  27.5 mboepd

Operational efficiency of 83.5 percent during second quarter

The Noble Sam Turner rig program for planned well workovers and well maintenance continues to have a positive impact on operating performance Tyra Redevelopment

High activity levels ongoing during 2021 are progressing the project significantly towards first gas

Fabrication of the two wellhead and riser platforms (WHRP) and the processing and accommodation modules takes place on three yards

Sembcorp Marine ( Singapore ): WHRP for Tyra East and Tyra West . Fabrication of the Tyra East WHRP is close to complete and the transport vessel arrived at the yard 20 June. The Tyra West WHRP is progressing towards sail away and installation during 2022. The temporary shutdown of the yard in May this year due to COVID-19 only had a limited impact on the Tyra project. As such the current progress at Sembcorp is not expected to create a risk to the first gas date

McDermott (Batam, Indonesia ): Processing module. Due to high frequency of COVID-19 cases in the area, enhanced precautionary measures have been implemented to minimize exposure and new cases. As a result, parts of the fabrication of the process module have progressed slower than expected. However, built-in contingency still allows the process module to sail away during 2022

Rosetti Marine (Ravenna, Italy ): Accommodation module. Due to COVID-19 impacts, fabrication is progressing slower than originally planned. Several strategic alternatives related to sail-away timing are currently being assessed, with no scenarios under current estimates that are expected to create a risk to first gas date

Tyra budget: The official budget of gross DKK 21 billion has not been revised since FID in 2017. However, and mainly driven by COVID-19, the Company is seeing upward pressure on costs. While the Danish Underground Consortium partnership (the "DUC") has not yet revised the official Tyra budget, Noreco as a non-operated partner internally assumes an estimated project cost of DKK 22 billion based on the Company's independent assessment of information provided by the operator

While the global COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a challenge, including at fabrication yards, Noreco expects the ongoing proactive mitigation and preparedness strategies being exercised will safeguard the Tyra first gas date in Q2 2023 NOR14 Covenant Headroom Noreco has significantly strengthened its capital structure during 2021 through the refinancing of its RBL facility, providing additional liquidity and deferring amortization payments into the second half of 2024. Using current forecasts, the Company does not expect to breach NOR14's maximum leverage ratio during the Tyra Redevelopment period based on forward curve pricing assumptions. However, Noreco would like to add additional headroom under this financial covenant to reduce exposure to future market volatility and further secure delivery of Tyra. The Company believes refocusing the covenants on liquidity enhances the NOR14 bondholders' position as this measure more closely corresponds to the core of Noreco's underlying credit story in the period prior to Tyra recommencing production. It will also better reflect the revised RBL facility, where the pre-Tyra leverage covenant was relaxed with no impact on margin. Additionally, Noreco intends to address the leverage covenant impact of the shift in Tyra first gas to Q2 2023 that was announced in November 2020. The Company is seeking to engage in a dialogue with bondholders and has appointed Arctic Securities and Pareto Securities to assist with this process. *** Contact: Euan Shirlaw, Chief Financial Officer Phone: +44 7979 690622 Email: Noreco has significantly strengthened its capital structure during 2021 through the refinancing of its RBL facility, providing additional liquidity and deferring amortization payments into the second half of 2024. Using current forecasts, the Company does not expect to breach NOR14's maximum leverage ratio during the Tyra Redevelopment period based on forward curve pricing assumptions. However, Noreco would like to add additional headroom under this financial covenant to reduce exposure to future market volatility and further secure delivery of Tyra. The Company believes refocusing the covenants on liquidity enhances the NOR14 bondholders' position as this measure more closely corresponds to the core of Noreco's underlying credit story in the period prior to Tyra recommencing production. It will also better reflect the revised RBL facility, where the pre-Tyra leverage covenant was relaxed with no impact on margin. Additionally, Noreco intends to address the leverage covenant impact of the shift in Tyra first gas to Q2 2023 that was announced in November 2020. The Company is seeking to engage in a dialogue with bondholders and has appointed Arctic Securities and Pareto Securities to assist with this process. ***Euan Shirlaw, Chief Financial Officer Phone: +44 7979 690622 Email: es@noreco.com Cathrine Torgersen, EVP Investor Relations & Communications Phone: +47 91 52 85 01 Email: ct@noreco.com

About Norwegian Energy Company ASA

Noreco is a publicly owned company with focus on the oil, gas and offshore industry. The Company's shares are listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ticker NOR). For further information, please visit: www.noreco.com.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

This announcement is not and does not form a part of any offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase, any securities of Norwegian Energy Company ASA. The distribution of this announcement and other information may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions. Copies of this announcement are not being made and may not be distributed or sent into any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful or would require registration or other measures. Persons into whose possession this announcement or such other information should come are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such restrictions.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS. Matters discussed in this announcement include forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by words such as "believe," "expect,", "plans", "anticipate," "intends," "estimate," "will," "may," "continue," "should" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding: objectives, goals, strategies, outlook and growth prospects; future plans, events or performance and potential for future growth; liquidity, capital resources and capital expenditures; economic outlook and industry trends; commodity prices and developments in the Company's markets. The forward-looking statements in this announcement are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in the Company's records and other data available from third parties. Although the Company believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond its control. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors could cause the actual results of the Company or the industry to differ materially from those results expressed or implied in this announcement by such forward-looking statements. No representation is made that any of these forward-looking statements will come to pass or that any forecast result will be achieved and you are cautioned not to place any undue influence on any forward-looking statement.

The information, opinions and forward-looking statements contained in this announcement speak only as at its date and are subject to change without notice. The Company does not undertake any obligation to review, update, confirm, or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that arise in relation to the content of this announcement.

No representation is made as to the accuracy or completeness of this announcement and none of them accepts any responsibility for the contents of this announcement or any matters referred to herein.

This announcement is for information purposes only and is not to be relied upon in substitution for the exercise of independent judgment. It is not intended as investment advice and under no circumstances is it to be used or considered as an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities in the Company. No liability arising from the use of this announcement is accepted.

This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation, and is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

This stock exchange announcement was published by the contact persons above in Norwegian Energy Company ASA on 28 June 2021 at 16:30 (CEST).

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/noreco/r/norwegian-energy-company-asa-announces-trading-and-operations-update-in-connection-with-request-for-,c3375677

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/4225/3375677/1437755.pdf Noreco - Capital Markets Update 20210628

SOURCE NORECO
Next-Generation Medical Device Designer, NewPace Ltd., to Embed and Commercialize Powermat's Wireless Charging Solution for Advanced Healthcare Devices

TEL AVIV, Israel, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Powermat Technologies, a leading global provider of wireless power solutions for medical devices & IoT (IoMT), today announced that NewPace Ltd., the developer of advanced cardiac rhythm management technology, will leverage the company's patented wireless charging technology which will be embedded in their newest devices.

NewPace will license Powermat's technology platform for medical devices to wirelessly power the company's life-saving cardiac rhythm product, providing seamless, sterile, and safe access to power.

Powermat's wireless chargers for medical devices are now available to support a wide variety of devices, including neurostimulators, insulin pumps, sensors, and remote healthcare monitoring devices, providing safe, efficient, and easy-to-use power solutions. The company's sophisticated yet straightforward approach to providing wireless power for patients' healthcare devices was designed to simplify patient care and reduce the need for hospital and clinic visits. By integrating wireless charging technology, battery size in existing devices may be reduced, decreasing weight and offering a more comfortable charging experience for patients.

"Medical devices and IoMT are a great fit for Powermat's technology. Patients need a non-invasive charging solution for their critical care medical devices and emergency equipment that keeps their good health at bay," said Elad Dubzinski, CEO of Powermat. "Powermat's technology will now enable the users of NewPace's medical devices a safe, fast, and convenient wireless charging solution. We can't wait to continue working with our partners to make wireless power a standard feature for medical devices and implantables."

About Powermat Technologies

Powermat Technologies provides advanced Qi-certified and proprietary wireless charging platforms for IoT, telecom (5G), automotive, robotics, consumer electronics, medical devices, and industrial applications. The company's wireless power platforms and IP licensing program enables global businesses to incorporate advanced wireless power technology into their products and customize solutions for unique use cases. The company's wireless power technology can already be found in over 800 million smartphones, 40 million embedded accessories, and 8 million cars and is embedded by global market leaders such as Samsung, LG, General Motors, Flex, Harman International, Kyocera, and more.

Media Contact:

Ofir Gattenyo

[email protected]

Related Links

https://powermat.com/



SOURCE Powermat
Acquisition expected to close on July 2, 2021

Will position CAE as the leading global, pure play, platform-agnostic training and simulation company in defence and security market

Will approximately double CAE's core military training business in the United States

Will broaden CAE's position in training and operational support across multi-domain operations

MONTREAL, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - (NYSE: CAE) (TSX: CAE)  CAE today announced that it has received all the required regulatory approvals for the previously announced acquisition of L3Harris Technologies' Military Training business for US$1.05 billion subject to customary adjustments (the "Acquisition") and expects closing to be complete on July 2, 2021.

The acquisition of L3Harris' Military Training business will expand CAE's position as a platform-agnostic training and simulation company serving the global defence and security market. The L3Harris Military Training business, which includes Link Simulation & Training, Doss Aviation and AMI, will be integrated with CAE USA. This will approximately double CAE's core military training business in the United States. The Acquisition will also serve to broaden CAE's ability to provide training and operational support solutions across multi-domain operations by diversifying CAE's training and simulation leadership in the air domain, complementing land and naval training solutions, and enhancing CAE's capabilities in space and cyber.

"Following the closing, we are pleased to welcome L3Harris Military Training customers and employees to CAE," said Marc Parent, CAE's President and Chief Executive Officer. "This represents the largest acquisition in our history and clearly demonstrates our strategy to strengthen and expand our position in all the markets CAE serves. We will be emerging from the pandemic much stronger and more ready to meet the growing demands of our customers."

With this Acquisition, CAE will add significant experience in the development and delivery of training systems for fighter and bomber aircraft, US Army rotary-wing platforms, submarines and remotely piloted aircraft. CAE USA will become the prime contractor or key subcontractor on a range of programs, including the United States Air Force (USAF) Simulators Common Architecture Requirements and Standards (SCARS) program, USAF F-16 Simulators Training Program (STP), US Navy/Marine Corps F/A-18 aircrew training systems, USAF initial flight training, USAF Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) training and USAF B-2 training system.

"This Acquisition will bring scale, experience and capabilities that support our strategy to align closely with the National Defense Strategy in the United States," said Daniel Gelston, Group President, Defence & Security, CAE. "As the United States and its allies train for a near-peer threat, we expect increasing demand for simulation-based training and the use of synthetic environments across all battlespace domains. This Acquisition will significantly strengthen our ability to provide the digitally immersive solutions for training and operational support that are needed for multi-domain operations."

The Acquisition, which was first announced on March 1, 2021, is expected to provide low teens percentage EPS accretion for CAE within its first full year post-close and to be immediately accretive to operating income.

About CAE

CAE is a high-technology company, at the leading edge of digital immersion, providing solutions to make the world a safer place. Backed by a record of more than 70 years of industry firsts, we continue to reimagine the customer experience and revolutionize training and operational support solutions in civil aviation, defence and security, and healthcare. We are the partner of choice to customers worldwide who operate in complex, high stakes and largely regulated environments, where successful outcomes are critical. Testament to our customers' ongoing needs for our solutions, over 60 percent of CAE's revenue is recurring in nature. We have the broadest global presence in our industry, with approximately 10,000 employees, 160 sites and training locations in over 35 countries. www.cae.com

Follow us on Twitter @CAE_Inc and @CAE_Defence

Facebook: www.facebook.com/cae.inc

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/cae

Caution regarding forward-looking statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements, which include, without limitation, statements relating to the expected timing of completion of the Acquisition, the expected impact of the Acquisition on CAE's strategic and operational plans and financial results; and other statements that are not historical facts. Although CAE believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements since no assurance can be given that they will prove to be correct.

Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "plan", "intend", "continue", "estimate", "may", "will", "should", "strategy", "future" and similar expressions. All such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the 'safe harbour' provisions of applicable Canadian securities laws and of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

By their nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties associated with our business which may cause actual results in future periods to differ materially from results indicated in forward-looking statements. While these statements are based on management's expectations and assumptions regarding historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that we believe are reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as there is a risk that they may not be accurate. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release describe our expectations as of June 28, 2021 and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. Except as required by law, we disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The forward-looking information and statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Forward-looking statements are presented in this press release for the purpose of assisting investors and others in understanding certain key elements of the Acquisition. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes.

Material assumptions

The forward-looking statements set out in this press release are based on certain assumptions including, without limitation: the satisfaction of all outstanding closing conditions of the L3H MT acquisition prior to the expected closing date, our ability to retain and attract new business, achieve synergies and maintain market position arising from successful integration plans relating to the Acquisition, our ability to otherwise complete the integration of the acquired L3Harris Military Training business within anticipated time periods and at expected cost levels, our ability to attract and retain key employees in connection with the Acquisition, management's estimates and expectations in relation to future economic and business conditions and other factors in relation to the Acquisition and resulting impact on growth and accretion in various financial metrics, the realization of the expected strategic, financial and other benefits of the Acquisition in the timeframe anticipated, economic and political environments and industry conditions, the accuracy and completeness of public and other disclosure, including financial disclosure, by L3Harris Technologies, absence of significant undisclosed costs or liabilities associated with the Acquisition, the ability of CAE to opportunistically access the capital markets after the closing of the Acquisition and absence of material change in market conditions. For additional information, including with respect to other assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements made in the press release, refer to the applicable reportable segment in CAE's MD&A for the year ended March 31, 2021. Given the impact of the changing circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and the related response from CAE, governments, regulatory authorities, businesses and customers, there is inherently more uncertainty associated with CAE's assumptions. Accordingly, the assumptions outlined in this press release and, consequently, the forward-looking statements based on such assumptions, may turn out to be inaccurate.

Other material risks

Other important risk factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by our forward-looking statements are set out in CAE's MD&A for the year ended March 31, 2021 filed by CAE with the Canadian Securities Administrators (available at www.sedar.com) and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (available at www.sec.gov). The fiscal year 2021 MD&A is also available at www.cae.com. Any one or more of the factors set out in CAE's MD&A may be exacerbated by the growing COVID-19 outbreak and may have a significantly more severe impact on CAE's business, results of operations and financial condition than in the absence of such outbreak. Accordingly, readers are cautioned that any of the disclosed risks could have a material adverse effect on our forward-looking statements. We caution that the disclosed list of risk factors is not exhaustive and other factors could also adversely affect our results.

SOURCE CAE INC.

Related Links

http://www.cae.com/


NEW YORK, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The surging disposable income of people, increasing population of geriatric people, who are highly vulnerable to vision impairment, and rising incidence of vision disorders and eye injuries are driving the sales of contact lenses. Due to these factors, the global contact lenses market revenue is predicted to rise to $16 billion by 2030, according to P&S Intelligence.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the governments of many countries announced lockdowns, which massively contributed to the booming popularity of online virtual platforms. With the increasing screen time and computer use, the prevalence of lower blink rate, insufficient blinking, and mask-associated dry eyes (MADE) increased massively, thereby propelling the demand for contact lenses. However, the pandemic also caused huge financial losses and thus, caused a sharp fall in the spending power of people, which, in turn, affected the contact lenses market.

Get the Sample Copy of this Report at @ https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/contact-lenses-market-outlook/report-sample

The contact lenses market is classified into extended wear, traditional wear, and daily wear, depending on usage. Out of these, the daily wear category dominated the market in 2020, due to the ability of these masks to mitigate the prevalence of eye infections, which has increased considerably because of the extensive usage of masks, on account of the COVID-19 protocols. Additionally, these masks are easier to dispose of and provide better convenience than the other variants.

The contact lenses market is also divided into toric, monovision, cosmetic, multifocal, and spherical categories, based on design. Out of these, the spherical category dominated the market during the historical period (20152020), because of the preference of patients and optometrists for spherical lenses, owing to their ability to address various kinds of visual disorders. Furthermore, due to the increasing screen time, the prevalence of vision-related diseases is growing rapidly, which is also driving the growth of the category.

Browse detailed report with COVID-19 impact analysis on Contact Lenses Market Research Report: By Usage (Daily Wear, Extended Wear, Traditional Wear), Design (Spherical, Toric, Multifocal, Monovision, Cosmetic), Material (Silicone Hydrogel, Hydrogel, Glass Permeable, Hybrid, Polymethyl Methacrylate), Type (Opaque Contact Lenses, Enhanced Contact Lenses, Tinted Contact Lenses) Application (Conventional, Orthokeratology, Decorative) Distribution Channel (Retail Stores, Hospitals & Clinics, E-Commerce) - Global Industry Revenue Estimation and Demand Forecast to 2030 @ https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/contact-lenses-market-outlook

Globally, North America dominated the contact lenses market in 2020. This was because of the presence of a large geriatric population and the high prevalence of visual ailments in the region. Furthermore, the increasing adoption of sedentary lifestyles massively increased the incidence of vision problems in the region, thereby driving the expansion of the North American market.

Make enquiry about this report at @ https://www.psmarketresearch.com/send-enquiry?enquiry-url=contact-lenses-market-outlook

The players in the contact lenses market have received numerous product approvals over the last few years. For example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of MiSight, which is a single-use, soft, and disposable contact lens developed by CooperVision Inc., for treating visual disorders in children in November 2019. This lens slows down the progression of myopia in children, which, in turn, reduces the risk of developing other visual problems as well.

Johnson & Johnson, CooperVision Inc., Alcon Vision LLC, and Bausch Health Companies Inc. are some of the major contact lenses market players.

Browse Other Related Reports

Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration Market - During the forecast period, the Asia-Pacific wet age-related macular degeneration market will register the fastest growth due to a boom in the geriatric population and high reimbursements offered by the government for treatment. APAC accounts for more than one-third of the macular generation cases in the world due to its large geriatric population.

Active Implantable Medical Devices Market - Across the world, North America held the largest share in the active implantable medical devices market during the last few years, with the U.S. contributing higher revenue to the market than Canada.

About P&S Intelligence

P&S Intelligence is a provider of market research and consulting services catering to the market information needs of burgeoning industries across the world. Providing the plinth of market intelligence, P&S as an enterprising research and consulting company, believes in providing thorough landscape analyses on the ever-changing market scenario, to empower companies to make informed decisions and base their business strategies with astuteness.

Contact:

Prajneesh Kumar

P&S Intelligence

Contact: +1-347-960-6455

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.psmarketresearch.com

SOURCE P&S Intelligence
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Contact

BizVibe

Jesse Maida

Email: [email protected]

+1 855-897-5880

Website: https://www.bizvibe.com/

SOURCE BizVibe

Related Links

http://www.bizvibe.com/


IRVING, Texas, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Exeter Finance LLC, a leading indirect auto finance company, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an investor group led by Warburg Pincus from funds managed by Blackstone (NYSE:BX). Terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.

Exeter is a rapidly growing tech-enabled indirect auto lender, with a managed loan portfolio of more than $7 billion. The company underwrites, purchases, services and securitizes retail installment contracts from more than 11,000 auto dealers and 475,000 customers nationwide. Exeter has leveraged its extensive automobile finance industry knowledge to deliver leading-edge technology and financial solutions to more than one million customers.

"We are thrilled to partner with the Warburg Pincus-led investor group as we enter this next phase of growth for Exeter. We have made tremendous progress under Blackstone's ownership establishing Exeter as an industry leader, and I'm proud of the team's solid execution," said Jason Grubb, Exeter's Chief Executive Officer.

Warburg Pincus is a long-time, active investor in the auto industry across a variety of verticals including auto lenders, rental car providers, e-commerce distribution, and software platforms. Notable investments in the auto value chain include: Santander Consumer USA (SCUSA), China Auto Rental, Au Financiers, Uxin, defi SOLUTIONS, Cango, and Car Trade.

"Exeter Finance is a pioneer in offering innovative financial solutions at scale across the credit spectrum. We have over a decade-long close and successful working relationship with this best-in-class management team and are looking forward to partnering with them again in Exeter Finance," said Dan Zilberman, Managing Director and Head of Special Situations, Warburg Pincus. "We are excited to partner with Jason and the Exeter Finance team to further build on the company's leading market position and accelerate future growth," added Eric Friedman, Managing Director, Warburg Pincus.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2021 and is subject to customary closing conditions. Jason Grubb will remain as CEO and a meaningful investor in the company, alongside the current Exeter management team.

Citi served as the lead financial advisor for Exeter Finance and Blackstone, along with Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP served as legal advisor to Exeter Finance and Blackstone. J.P. Morgan served as financial advisor and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz served as legal advisor to the acquirers.

About Exeter Finance

Exeter Finance LLC is an indirect auto finance company headquartered in Irving, Texas. Founded in 2006, the company underwrites, purchases, services, and securitizes retail installment contracts from U.S. automobile dealers. Exeter works with more than 11,000 dealers and 475,000 customers nationwide providing indirect financing for both new and used vehicles. The company has a serviced finance portfolio of more than $7 billion. For more information, visit www.exeterfinance.com.

About Warburg Pincus

Warburg Pincus LLC is a leading global growth investor. The firm has more than $60 billion in private equity assets under management. The firm's active portfolio of more than 200 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector, and geography. Warburg Pincus is an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Founded in 1966, Warburg Pincus has raised 19 private equity funds, which have invested more than $90 billion in over 930 companies in more than 40 countries. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Mauritius, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, and Singapore. For more information please visit www.warburgpincus.com.

Contacts

Exeter Finance

John Hoffmann

469-754-4443

[email protected]

Warburg Pincus

Sarah McGrath Bloom, Warburg Pincus

212-878-6378

[email protected]

SOURCE Exeter Finance

Related Links

http://www.exeterfinance.com/


Final drill targeting at Kjli will be undertaken using a combination of geochemical (Ionic Leach) and geophysical (ground gravity and drone magnetic survey) techniques with demonstrated effectiveness in the discovery of copper-rich massive sulfide ("VMS") deposits. The initial focus will be on the 4 largest CARDS AI targets, each measuring 2+km in length, located immediately adjacent to, and to the NE of, the former Kjli mine.





A systematic Ionic Leach soil sampling program will be undertaken over the main CARDS AI targets with the objective of detecting geochemical anomalies associated with buried high-grade base metal mineralization.





In parallel, a systematic ground gravity survey will be completed with the objective of differentiating higher density units (such as copper-rich massive sulfide deposits) from their host rocks. This will be the first time that the ground gravity geophysical technique has been employed at Kjli.





A high-resolution drone magnetic survey will also be completed over the 20km-long "prospective horizon" with the highest potential for copper-rich VMS discoveries. The survey has been designed to highlight the sulfide mineral pyrrhotite, which is intimately associated with the high-grade copper-zinc mineralization at Kjli.





Formal drill permitting for priority drill locations will be initiated as soon as results from the current work program have been received and evaluated.

Eric Roth, Capella's President and CEO, commented today: "Whilst the Kjli project already has some clear "walk-up" drill targets - such as the impressive, undrilled massive sulfide outcrops with 2.2% copper (Figure 2) - this current program will allow us to complete our systematic evaluation of the property and ensure that we have an extensive pipeline of quality targets ready for drill testing. I am very much looking forward to completing this final phase of the drill targeting work and then moving as quickly as possible into the discovery drilling phase."

Figure 1. Recently expanded Kjli mineral claim block together with CARDS AI copper-zinc VMS anomalies (red/magenta colours represent targets with >98% probability of +1% Cu).

1 Historic production figures are from Birkeland, A. (1986) Mineralogisk og geokjemisk undersokelseav Killingdal gruver, Sor-Trondelag. M. Scient. Thesis, University of Oslo in Geological Survey of Finland, Special Paper 53 pg. 86.

Figure 2. Oxidized massive sulfide outcrop at the Kjli project in which channel sampling returned 2.2% Cu.

About the Kjli Copper Project

The Company's Kjli copper-rich VMS project lies in the northern part of the Rros mining district, which saw copper production from a number of high-grade VMS deposits from the mid-1600's through until the mid-1980's. Kjli represents a district-scale brownfields/greenfields exploration project covering the former Kjli and Killingdal mining operations, together with approximately 20 km strike of underexplored but highly prospective stratigraphy for the discovery of new copper-rich VMS deposits. Access to the property is excellent, with the main Trondheim-Rros paved highway and railway line passing by the SW corner of the property. Hydroelectric power is also readily available within the broader Kjli district.

The Company acquired its 100% interest in the Kjli Project from EMX Royalty Corp (NYSE:EMX; TSXV:EMX) in late-2020.

Qualified Persons and Disclosure Statement

The technical information in this news release relating to the Kjli project has been prepared in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements set out in NI 43-101, and approved by Eric Roth, the Company's President & CEO, a Director, and a Qualified Person under NI 43-101. Mr. Roth holds a Ph.D. in Economic Geology from the University of Western Australia, is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and is a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG). Mr. Roth has 30 years of experience in international minerals exploration and mining project evaluation.

On Behalf of the Board of Capella Minerals Ltd.

"Eric Roth"

___________________________

Eric Roth, Ph.D., FAusIMM

President & CEO

About Capella Minerals Ltd

Capella is engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of quality mineral resource properties in favourable jurisdictions with a focus on high-grade gold and copper deposits. The Company's copper focus is currently on the discovery of high-grade VMS-type deposits within 100%-owned, district-scale land positions around the past-producing Lkken and Kjli copper mines in central Norway. The Company's precious metals focus is on the discovery of high-grade gold deposits on its 100%-owned Southern Gold Line Project in Sweden, in addition to its active Canadian Joint Ventures with Ethos Gold Corp. at Savant Lake (Ontario) and Yamana Gold Inc. at Domain (Manitoba). The Company also retains a residual interest (subject to an option to purchase agreement with Austral Gold Ltd) in the Sierra Blanca gold-silver project in Santa Cruz, Argentina.

Field activities are ongoing on all projects, with the primary focus being to advance priority targets through the permitting process and onwards to drilling and discovery.

The Company also holds marketable securities in Cerrado Gold Inc. (TSXV:CERT; 833,334 common shares) and Ethos Gold Corp. (TSXV:ECC; 2 million common shares), providing Capella shareholders with indirect exposure to both exploration and operational success by these Companies.

Cautionary Notes and Forward-looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Such statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the future results of operations, performance and achievements of Capella, including the timing, completion of and results from the exploration and drill programs described in this release. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that such expectations will prove to be correct. All such forward-looking information is based on certain assumptions and analyses made by Capella in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believes are appropriate in the circumstances. This information, however, is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from this forward-looking information include those described under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in Capella's most recently filed MD&A. Capella does not intend, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or revise the forward-looking information contained in this news release, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

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

SOURCE Capella Minerals Limited

Related Links

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BERKELEY, Calif., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On Friday, June 4th, the City of Berkeley Environmental Health Division approved its inspection of the first Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation (MEHKO) in the San Francisco Bay Area, authorizing home chef Akshay Prabhu to sell hot meals from his home restaurant, "Bao House."

In 2014, while studying Neuroscience at UC Davis, Akshay Prabhu tried to start a mobile steam bun cart on campus, but was prevented from doing so by local food laws. He began cooking for his neighbors from home, until a feature in the local newspaper brought the Yolo County Health Department to his door, shutting him down in an undercover Sting operation.

Frustrated and out of options, Akshay realized that there were thousands of home cooks across the US who shared his struggles. He founded Foodnome , the first legal marketplace for homemade food, to advocate for more inclusive food laws, provide resources for home-based food entrepreneurs, and connect chefs with their neighbors. Akshay organized hundreds of home cooks and community members, marching and lobbying at California's Capitol to fight for the Home Restaurant Bill, AB 626. Thanks to leadership from the C.O.O.K. Alliance and a network of food justice advocates, the bill passed unanimously in the Legislature and was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown in September 2018.

COVID-19 has battered the US restaurant and food service industries, leaving strings of restaurants shuttered and an estimated 7-9 million food workers unemployed. Supporters say these home kitchen permits offer a path forward for economic revitalization, creating income opportunities for low-income people of color, immigrants, stay-at-home moms, and others excluded from traditional food business ownership due to high capital costs.

Chef Bilal Ali is one of these food workers, losing his job at the Starline Social Club in Oakland before going on to co-create the highly publicized pandemic pop-up, Broke Ass Cooks, which was also shut down by Alameda County's Department of Environmental Health. "I think home restaurant permits make opening a restaurant more accessible. The barrier for entry has always hung over usI have to go into a massive amount of debt for something that is statistically likely to fail," says Bilal. "These permits give people the opportunity to try things out without ruining their lives. The more restaurants and the more types of food there is, the better the world is." Bilal and his housemate Keone went on to form the legal pop-up M.I.C.H.O.Z. , and are in the process of securing their MEHKO permit with Foodnome this summer.

California's AB626 has thus far been implemented in six California counties, including Alameda, Solano, and Riverside, and is in the process of being enacted in a number of additional counties. The home cook movement is also quickly spreading across the US, with Utah successfully passing its MEHKO bill this past Spring, and pending legislation in New York and Washington.

In Riverside County, the first place to opt-in to AB 626 and permit MEHKOs, Foodnome has since supported more than 150 chefs through the planning, permitting, and marketing of their home restaurant businesses. Home chefs can secure their MEHKO permit by submitting their Standard Operating Procedures for Health Department review, passing an accredited Food Manager's Certification Exam, paying a permit fee, and passing an in-person home kitchen inspection. Foodnome offers free permitting support for qualifying chefs at Foodnome.com/cook .

Inspired by the growth of the MEHKO program, Akshay Prabhu can't wait to get back in the kitchen: "Bao House is an homage to the humble beginnings of Foodnome and my activism in the home restaurant movement a full circle redemption of my early dream of a steam bun cart, to the first legally permitted home restaurant in the Bay Area."

Bao House's Grand Opening will take place on Thursday July 1st and Friday July 9th, from 2:00pm8:00pm and is open to the public for limited backyard dine-in seating and takeout. Plates will be available for pre-order only on a first come, first served basis, exclusively at Foodnome.com/Baohouse/order .

About Foodnome: Foodnome is the first legal marketplace for home cooked food in the US. We have advocated and organized for years to create a more equitable, inclusive, and human-centered food economy. We support home cooks through every step of creating a successful home restaurant business, and connect them with their hungry neighbors through our web platform Foodnome.com . Join us as we work to empower food entrepreneurship, build community, and redefine our relationship to our food!

Contact: Isaac O'Leary

Vice President of Operations, Foodome

[email protected]

(323) 605-1760

SOURCE Foodnome

Related Links

https://www.foodnome.com/


Additional attendees included GALT's newest member of the Board of Directors, Vice Admiral Mat Winter (Ret), as well as the team from Cypress International, which GALT recently engaged to facilitate GALT's support of Department of Defense (DoD) programs. The meeting yielded very helpful information to continue adding value to current GALT DoD programs and grow meaningful future business. GALT will continue to focus on maturing USMC Communication Enhancements; implementing innovative ways to improve USAF Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS); as well as continue to grow our relationships across the US Navy and US Army portfolios of operations. The GSAB's candor and insight provided a very clear way forward that focused on the importance of robust and secure data exchange to the right user at the right time, on the most effective network and communications path available.

GALT is a non-traditional, veteran-owned small business that delivers premier command, control and communications (C3) solutions in support of the DoD. GALT's combination of technical innovation and fast-paced execution unleashes new capabilities, bolsters security, and transforms information flow. GALT specializes in open, scalable, and tailorable communications architectures, rapid prototyping, and user experience design.

SOURCE Global Air Logistics and Training, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.galt.aero/


SINGAPORE, June 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hodlnaut announced a partnership with Fireblocks, a leading enterprise-grade platform providing a secure infrastructure for storing, issuing, and moving digital assets. The Singapore-based crypto lending platform strives to deliver the most secure user experience and is confident Fireblocks will help it provide that experience.

Fireblocks uses next-generation private key security (MPC-CMP) and hardware isolation technology (SGX) to create multi-layer security, eliminate single points of failure, and protect digital assets from internal collusion, cyber-attacks, and human error.

Hodlnaut currently has an AUM of $250 million with a 20% month-on-month growth rate and thus needs an agile custody assets management platform that will enable secure transactions at scale and save on fees simultaneously. With the Fireblocks integration, users can access their digital assets securely 24/7 and hassle-free. Moreover, Fireblocks' protocol-agnostic MPC-CMP enables seamless blockchain integration and quickly adds support for new tokens.

Fireblock's CEO, Michael Shaulov, conferred about prioritizing the safeguarding of users' funds sustainably.

"We are excited to support Hodlnaut by delivering the digital asset infrastructure needed to secure their growing user base," said Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks. "Moving Hodlnaut to a multi-layer security infrastructure is another step closer to ensuring all digital assets in the ecosystem are protected."

In light of its commitment to provide a secure and impeccable service Hodlnaut has also performed a penetration test. "We have concluded our periodic extensive Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Test (VAPT) on our web platform, and that has greatly enhanced our security posture. We look forward to performing another VAPT for our upcoming mobile application," said Simon Lee, CTO & co-founder of Hodlnaut.

To further improve the customer experience, Hodlnaut is also planning to launch its iOS application in the third quarter of the year. The application will help customers deposit and withdraw their crypto assets and manage their crypto holdings from their iPhones. The release will support identity verification and seamless withdrawals, among other exciting features.

For more information about Hodlnaut, please visit www.hodlnaut.com

For more information about Fireblocks, please visit www.fireblocks.com

SOURCE Hodlnaut
The knowledge and experience of our advisors will help advance our vision of translating novel gene editing medicines. Tweet this

"Incisive Genetics' platform technology represents a very promising avenue for gene therapy," said Dr. Hayden. "I look forward to leading the Scientific Advisory Board and working with the greater team at Incisive as they continue to expand upon their delivery platform and pipeline."

The Incisive Genetics SAB is comprised of:

Dr. Michael R. Hayden, CM OBC MB ChB PhD FRCP(C) FRSC

Dr. Michael Hayden is a Killam professor at the University of British Columbia and the founder of the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics. He is also a Canada Research Chair in Human Genetics and Molecular Medicine. Dr. Hayden previously served as CSO and President of Global R&D at Teva and has co-founded numerous biotechnology companies, including 89Bio, Prilenia Therapeutics, Xenon Pharmaceuticals, and Aspreva Pharmaceuticals. He is a world-renowned scientist who has sat on many boards of private and public companies across the globe. Dr. Hayden is the recipient of numerous awards and is a pioneer in multiple fields, including genetic medicine. Dr. Hayden is the recipient of the Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012) and is a Member of the Order of Canada (2011), and a Member of the Order of British Columbia (2010).

Dr. Leslie Thompson

Dr. Leslie Thompson is a Donald Bren and Chancellor's Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Human Behavior and Neurobiology and Behavior at the University of California Irvine (UCI). Dr. Thompson has studied Huntington's disease (HD) for most of her scientific career and was a member of the international consortium that identified the causative gene for HD in 1993. Dr. Thompson is a member of the Hereditary Disease Foundation SAB, HD CARE SAB, Packard Center SAB, Chair of the Huntington's Disease Society of America SAB and is founding Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Huntington's Disease. She is also the PI of the OMICS core of the Answer ALS program, which is a precision medicine approach to understand sporadic ALS in over 1000 ALS subjects.

Dr. David Weiner

Dr. David Weiner is a neurologist and neuropharmacologist with over 20 years of experience in the discovery and development of novel therapeutics for neurological disease. He started his career at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, where, over a ten-year period, he held a series of discovery research and clinical development roles working on multiple therapeutics, most notably Pimavanserin. He subsequently joined EMD Serono in a late clinical development role, ultimately leading early clinical development activities in neurology globally. Dave has extensive experience in neurological and rare disease drug development, serving as CMO and Interim CEO for Proteostasis Therapeutics Inc., CMO at aTYR Pharma and Lumos Pharmaceuticals, and as CEO at Amathus Therapeutics. He has authored numerous scientific publications, multiple patents, and serves on a number of clinical and scientific advisory boards, including the scientific advisory board of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson Research.

About Incisive Genetics Inc.

Incisive Genetics, a privately-held biotechnology company based in Vancouver, Canada, was established in 2018. IG is focused on developing its cutting-edge non-viral delivery platform for genetic therapies. This disruptive and transformational delivery platform enables a one-step encapsulation of the active CRISPR components within lipid nanoparticles. The Company's pre-clinical pipeline includes programs addressing neurologic and ocular genetic diseases. IG is actively seeking partnerships with pharmaceutical companies developing gene therapies to be enabled by its novel delivery platform.

For more information, please visit www.incisivegenetics.com

FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES:

Austin Hill

[email protected]

604-409-0660

SOURCE Incisive Genetics
The Bakersfield store is centrally located at 5520 Stockdale Highway, and store hours are 9AM  11PM, seven days a week. While indoor dining will not be offered at this location, Jollibee customers can enjoy their favorite menu items through a variety of ordering options, including drive-thru service, to-go, or through the following online ordering channels: Jollibee's new seamless ordering app (now available for download at the App Store and Google Play), the jollibeeusa.com website and the DoorDash delivery platform.

The store will offer Jollibee's signature menu items, including:

Chickenjoy (Original or Spicy) : Jollibee's signature fried chicken is available in original or spicy and is delicately hand-breaded to create a crispy exterior, pressure fried for maximum juiciness and marinated to the bone to provide next level flavor. Complement each and every bite with a side of silky, savory gravy.

: Jollibee's signature fried chicken is available in original or spicy and is delicately hand-breaded to create a crispy exterior, pressure fried for maximum juiciness and marinated to the bone to provide next level flavor. Complement each and every bite with a side of silky, savory gravy. Jolly Spaghetti : This dish, beloved by adults and kids alike, features a signature sweet-style sauce loaded with chunky slices of savory ham and hotdog and is topped with a generous sprinkle of cheese.

: This dish, beloved by adults and kids alike, features a signature sweet-style sauce loaded with chunky slices of savory ham and hotdog and is topped with a generous sprinkle of cheese. Peach Mango Pie: No meal is complete without this dessert made with peaches, real Philippine mangoes and an irresistibly light and crispy crust.

"We are excited to bring our delicious menu offerings to our loyal fans and curious new customers who live, work and play in this beautiful city," said Maribeth Dela Cruz, President of Jollibee Group North America, Philippine Brands. "California is where we first opened our doors in America more than two decades ago, and we look forward to continue building our presence here, especially within the Central California region."

Primely located two miles away from California State University at Bakersfield, the new location marks the brand's 25th store in California, and its 51st store in the U.S. California is home to more Jollibee locations than any other state, but there is still a huge opportunity to bring a taste of home to its Filipino residents while offering a fresh and flavorful experience to a new audience. Since the start of 2021, Jollibee has opened six new locations, putting the brand on track to achieve its goal of opening 300 store locations throughout North America by 2024.

In California, Jollibee fans can look forward to more locations popping up in several cities over the coming months, including a new Torrance store that is officially opening tomorrow, June 29, 2021, at 20100 Hawthorne Boulevard, Torrance, CA 90503. Additional California store locations that are slated to open in 2021 include Los Angeles (Downtown), Ontario, and Alhambra.

Brand fans and curious first-time consumers can welcome Jollibee to Bakersfield by utilizing the available ordering channels to take home the taste of joy.

For more information on these and Jollibee's other upcoming 2021 store openings, stay tuned to Jollibee USA Facebook and Instagram pages.

About Jollibee

Jollibee is the largest fast food chain brand in the Philippines, operating a Philippine network close to 1,200 stores. A dominant market leader in the Philippines, Jollibee has embarked on an aggressive international expansion plan.

Jollibee has more than 300 international branches including in the United States, Canada, the People's Republic of China (specifically in Hong Kong and Macau), Brunei, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Italy, and in the United Kingdom.

In North America, Jollibee opened its first store in 1998 in Daly City, California. It now operates 66 stores across the region, with 49 stores in the states of Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Virginia, and Washington of the United States, and 17 stores across Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Saskatchewan, Canada.

Technomic has consistently cited Jollibee among its Top 500 ranking restaurants in the United States. It was also awarded as Multinational Corporation of the Year by the Asian Business League of Southern California in 2017 and Corporation of the Year by the Asian Business Association in 2019.

About Jollibee Group

Jollibee Group is one of the fastest-growing Asian restaurant companies in the world. It operates in 33 countries, with over 5,800 stores globally with branches in the Philippines, United States, Canada, the People's Republic of China, United Kingdom, Italy, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Panama, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, and India. It has eight wholly-owned brands (Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal, Yonghe King, Hong Zhuang Yuan, Smashburger), five franchised brands (Burger King, Panda Express, and PHO24 in the Philippines, Dunkin' Donuts and Tim Ho Wan in certain territories in China), 80% ownership of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, and 60% ownership in the SuperFoods Group that owns Highlands Coffee and PHO24 brands.

Jollibee Group is a significant investor in Titan Dining LP, a private equity fund and the ultimate holding entity of the Tim Ho Wan (THW) Brand and has a joint venture with the THW Group to open THW restaurants in Mainland China. It also has a business venture with award-winning Chef Rick Bayless for Tortazo, a Mexican fast-casual restaurant business in the United States. The Group will also establish a 50/50 joint venture to operate and expand Yoshinoya in the Philippines. Yoshinoya is one of the largest and most recognized Japanese restaurant brands globally.

Jollibee Group was named the Philippines' most admired company by the Asian Wall Street Journal for ten years. It was also honored as one of Asia's Fab 50 Companies and among the World's Best Employers by Forbes. In 2020, Gallup awarded the Jollibee Group with the Exceptional Workplace Award, making it the first Philippine-based company to receive the distinction.

Jollibee Group has grown brands that bring delightful dining experiences to its customers worldwide, in line with its mission of serving great tasting food and spreading the joy of eating to everyone.

SOURCE Jollibee
With a population close to 130 million people, Mexico is among the top 15 economies worldwide and second largest in Latin America . Approximately 11.7 million people have conditions treatable with medical cannabis (Source: IMS Quintiles)

is among the top 15 economies worldwide and second largest in . Approximately 11.7 million people have conditions treatable with medical cannabis (Source: IMS Quintiles) Leveraging its Project of National Strategic Interest (PINES) designation, Khiron receives THC extract export quota for Mexico from Colombia , for up to 700 Kg of extract and finished medical product

from , for up to 700 Kg of extract and finished medical product Khiron has finalized agreements for the manufacture and distribution of finished medical cannabis products in Mexico , establishing a key component of its Mexican supply chain

, establishing a key component of its Mexican supply chain Company plans to launch Zerenia clinics across major cities in Mexico in 2021, building on the success of its vertically integrated model in Colombia and Peru and leveraging its education partnership with Tecnologico de Monterrey

in 2021, building on the success of its vertically integrated model in and and leveraging its education partnership with Tecnologico de With over 24,000 prescriptions sold in Colombia and Peru , Khiron is the leading medical cannabis companies in Latin America

TORONTO, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Khiron Life Sciences Corp. ("Khiron" or the "Company") (TSXV: KHRN)(OTCQX: KHRNF)(Frankfurt: A2JMZC), a vertically integrated medical cannabis leader with core operations in Latin America and Europe, today announces regulatory and supply chain advances that accelerate Khiron's entry into the Mexican market by several months. Leveraging the Company's designation in Colombia as a National Strategic Project, Khiron Colombia SAS has received authorization to include Mexico as a destination country within its international export quota, with over 700 kg of high-THC extract now available for export to Mexico. In addition, the Company has finalized agreements for the manufacture of finished medical cannabis products in Mexico.

"Our goal is to improve the lives of 1 million patients by 2024, and Mexico remains a very important part of that plan. Thanks to our status as a National Strategic Project, Mexico is now a destination country within our international THC quota, which is expected to accelerate first sales by several months. In addition, we have secured a world class partner that will not only manufacture finished products on our behalf, but also assist with the import and export process. As we continue to advance our proven Zerenia clinic strategy in Mexico, we look forward to delivering our first products to patients in the coming months," comments Alvaro Torres, CEO and Director.

Mexico represents a significant market for the Company, as a top 15 global economy with a population of nearly 130 million. To date, close to 550 LatAm physicians have obtained their diploma accrediting completion of Khiron's medical education program, in partnership with Tecnologico de Monterrey, the leading university in Mexico.

About Khiron Life Sciences Corp.

Khiron is a leading vertically integrated medical cannabis company with core operations in Latin America and Europe. Leveraging wholly-owned medical health centres and proprietary telemedicine platforms, Khiron combines a patient-oriented approach, physician education programs, scientific expertise, product innovation, and agricultural infrastructure to drive prescriptions and brand loyalty with patients worldwide. The Company has a sales presence in Colombia, Peru, Germany and the UK, and is positioned to commence sales in Mexico and Brazil in 2021. The Company is led by Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Alvaro Torres, together with an experienced and diverse executive team and Board of Directors.

Visit Khiron online at investors.khiron.ca and on Instagram @khironlife.

Cautionary Notes

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All information contained herein that is not historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. Khiron undertakes no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third-parties in respect of Khiron, its securities, or financial or operating results (as applicable). Although Khiron believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements in this press release are reasonable, such forward-looking statement has been based on expectations, factors and assumptions concerning future events which may prove to be inaccurate and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond Khiron's control, including the risk factors discussed in Khiron's Annual Information Form which is available on Khiron's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and is made as of the date hereof. Khiron disclaims any intention and has no obligation or responsibility, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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

SOURCE Khiron Life Sciences Corp.

Related Links

https://khiron.ca/


"Health outcomes for people living in vulnerable communities are significantly impacted as a result of factors like COVID-19 and an individual's social determinants of health, the economic and social conditions that influence a person's health status. Through collaboration with community experts, we can provide essential resources to help improve the well-being of people," said Karen Frey, senior philanthropy manager at Medline. "This is, and always will be, our ongoing commitment to the community."

Now through August 27, non-profit organizations can visit the Community Impact Grant Program page to learn more about past grant recipients, or to submit an application. To qualify, applications must address one of the following healthcare challenges: chronic disease, breast cancer, or population health.

Four years of providing grants to support the well-being of communities

2021 marks the fourth year of the Community Impact Grant Program to provide financial support to non-profit organizations committed to improving the well-being of communities across the countries. In 2020, Medline and the Medline Foundation provided grants to organizations focused on food insecurity in vulnerable communities, support for virtual learning and their families struggling with lost wages, and increased early detection, prevention and/or treatment of breast cancer in low-income communities. One of the organizations is CASA Lake County, whose mission is to advocate for the best interests of abused and neglected children within the juvenile court system in Lake County, Illinois.

"The pandemic significantly impacted our organization, with more children needing protective services during the shelter in place. The Medline Community Impact Grant program made it possible for our organization to recruit, train and swear in 64 new volunteers to help serve more than 660 children," said Terri Greenberg, executive director of CASA Lake County.

To learn more about the organizations that received grants in 2020 or start the application process visit https://www.medline.com/pages/community-impact-grant/.

About Medline

Medline is a healthcare company: a manufacturer, distributor and solutions provider focused on improving the overall operating performance of healthcare. Medline works with both the country's largest healthcare systems and independent facilities across the continuum of care to provide the clinical and supply chain resources required for long-term financial viability in delivering high quality care. With the size of one of the country's largest companies and the agility of a family-owned business, Medline is able to invest in its customers for the long-term and rapidly respond with customized solutions. Headquartered in Northfield, Ill., Medline has 27,000+ employees worldwide, a fleet of more than 1,200 trucks and does business in more than 125 countries. Learn more about Medline at www.medline.com.

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SOURCE Medline

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LONDON , June 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Modulaire Group ("Modulaire" or "the Group"), Europe and Asia Pacific's leading infrastructure services company specialising in modular services, is pleased to announce that its shareholders have entered into an agreement to sell the Group to investment funds managed by Brookfield Business Partners L.P. ("Brookfield").

Brookfield is acquiring Modulaire from its shareholders which include investment funds managed by TDR Capital LLP ("TDR"), a leading UK-based private equity firm. The transaction, which is subject to customary regulatory and competition clearances, is expected to close in Q4 2021.

Brookfield Business Partners is the flagship listed business services and industrials company of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager with over $600 billion of assets under management.

Under TDR's ownership, Modulaire has grown to become the leading provider of modular services and infrastructure in Europe and Asia Pacific. The Group's experienced management team has strengthened the business through a focus on four strategic objectives of granular management of branch-level performance, continuous efficiency improvement, disciplined capital deployment and a targeted acquisition strategy.

Modulaire is expected to deliver strong continued growth, supported by significant market and secular trends including post-COVID government stimulus programmes, aging building stock across Europe and a structural shift towards modular space. The business is also benefitting from strong ESG tailwinds as customers look to secure buildings with a smaller carbon footprint and reduced waste and energy consumption through construction.

Following the Group's acquisition by Brookfield, Modulaire's current management team will remain with the Group and continue to focus on driving the Group's strategic growth agenda.

Mike Smith, Chairman of Modulaire Group, said: "Modulaire has made huge strides as a business over recent years and Brookfield's investment is testament to the progress that has been made. I would like to thank TDR for the huge support they have given the management team and the business more broadly, helping set Modulaire up for continued growth in the future."

Mark Higson, CEO of Modulaire Group said: "I am delighted to welcome Brookfield as a new investor in the business and look forward to benefitting from their sector experience as we continue to drive Modulaire's growth. The significant transformation of our business in recent years is down to the hard work of my colleagues. We are all hugely excited about driving Modulaire's continued growth in the future and we look forward to the opportunities ahead."

Gary Lindsay, Partner at TDR Capital LLP, said: "We are delighted that Modulaire will have a strong and experienced partner in Brookfield that will continue to support and invest in the business. We believe Brookfield will be a very positive shareholder for Modulaire and look forward to witnessing its continued success in the future."

Modulaire Group was advised by Goldman Sachs International, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and STJ Advisors, with legal advice from Linklaters LLP.

About Modulaire Group

Modulaire Group is the leader in European modular services and infrastructure. We create smart spaces for people to live, work and learn. Our business is designed to help customers find the right space solution, no matter what their requirements. Modulaire Group has operations in 25 countries with approximately 259,000 modular space and portable storage units and 3,400 remote accommodations rooms. The company operates as Algeco in Europe and Scandinavia, Elliott, Advante and Carter in the United Kingdom, BUKO Huisvesting, BUKO Bouw & Winkels and BUKO Bouwsystemen in The Netherlands, Ausco in Australia, Portacom in New Zealand, and Algeco Chengdong in China.

For further information

Investor relations:

[email protected]

07841 563541

Media enquiries:

Tulchan Communications

[email protected]

0207 353 4200

SOURCE Modulaire Group
ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Anna King, a dedicated and passionate child advocate from Oklahoma City, Okla., has been installed as the 57th president of National PTA, the nation's preeminent volunteer child advocacy association. King's installation took place at the conclusion of the 2021 National PTA Virtual Convention & Expo.

A mother of three and a proud grandmother of 10, King firmly believes everything is possible for all children and is committed to making sure the mission of PTA becomes a reality for every child in the United States.

King has over 20 years of leadership experience at all levels of PTA. For the past two years, she served as president-elect of National PTA. She also served as vice president of membership for National PTA from 2017-2019. At the state level, she served as president of Oklahoma PTA from 2011-2013. At the local level, she currently serves as a secretary for Douglass High School PTSA.

"Anna's passion for PTA is rooted in her love for children and her desire to make sure our mission works for every single child in our country," said Nathan R. Monell, CAE, National PTA executive director. "Her passion and dedication will be tremendous assets in guiding our association's work to make every child's potential a reality, which is more important than ever as our country continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and in the fight for racial justice and equity. We are pleased to welcome Anna as our president."

Under King's leadership, National PTA will focus its work in three key areas: (1) growth in mission and membership, (2) leadership development and (3) organizational effectiveness. The association will also focus on diversity, equity and inclusion for justice; the PTA brandwhich includes culture and communications for a new eraand advocacy for impact at all levels.

"The pandemic brought much needed attention to the inequities in our schools and communities that have existed for far too long. PTA will continue to tackle toughbut necessaryconversations in the coming years to create a better future for our children," said King. "At PTA, we loudly use our voices to demand more for our kids and ensure they can become all that they can be. I look forward to leading National PTA and working with our members nationwide as we continue to be that one voice for every child."

King is also involved in many other community activities. She is the OK-Moms Demand Action School Safety co-lead, a member of the WestEd Advisory Board and the Douglass Law and Public Safety Academy Board, and an Equity Advisory member for the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

King will serve as president of National PTA until June 2023.

About National PTA

National PTA comprises millions of families, students, teachers, administrators, and business and community leaders devoted to the educational success of children and the promotion of family engagement in schools. PTA is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit association that prides itself on being a powerful voice for all children, a relevant resource for families and communities, and a strong advocate for public education. Membership in PTA is open to anyone who wants to be involved and make a difference for the education, health, and welfare of children and youth. For more information, visit PTA.org.

SOURCE National PTA

Related Links

http://www.pta.org


Confiant observed that one in every 150 impressions was dangerous or highly disruptive. The overall industry security violation rate increased 26.5% over Q4 2020, hitting the highest increase level since Q2 2020 . Quality violations (driven in large part by increased heavy ads and video arbitrage) increased 45 percent over the Q4 2020 data, escalating for the third quarter in a row.

European markets have historically higher rates of security violations than the U.S., but in Q1 2021, the gap closed somewhat. While the UK and Italy experienced violation rates well above that of the U.S., Germany, France and Spain experienced a lower incidence of security violations in Q1 2021. Quality violations remained more prevalent in the U.S. than elsewhere during this period, a trend that has held through past reports. Further, malvertisers tend to favor certain browsers over others: Edge for Windows had a violation rate 76 percent higher than Google Chrome in Q1 2021.

Analysis of the blocking of malicious and disruptive ads by category revealed somewhat unsurprisingly that pharmaceutical and drug products were the most frequently blocked, with health-related topics representing nearly one-third of all category blocks  the likely result of sensitivities related to COVID-19 messaging. The first quarter of 2021 saw political advertising blocks cut in half from 12 percent in Q4 2020 to a mere six percent following the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

The MAQ Index also analyzed the performance of over 100 SSPs. More than 75 percent of impressions originated from just 12 SSPs commonly used by all publishers. Only one SSP had better than average performance in both security and quality, with the rest either performing poorly in one area and well in the other or poorly in both. The SSP with the highest security violation rate was a staggering 213 times that of the best performing SSP.

When under attack, no SSPs contained incidents in one day or less and some remained at elevated risk for as long as 84 days following an attack. Major threat groups DCC Boost, Yosec and Zirconium were all analyzed in detail in the report, which concluded that malicious clickbait has emerged as the favored means of attack over forced redirects.

SSPs continue to struggle to meet publisher's expectations, with one in every 30 impressions flagged by Confiant as representing a missed brand or category exclusion. "Our Q1 MAQ Index reveals much concerning data for the AdTech industry," said Louis-David Mangin, CEO and Co-Founder of Confiant Inc. "Malvertisers remain exceptionally stealthy and nimble in their capability to permeate the industry. The situation underscores the importance of platforms adopting protocols to know their customers and reduce the prevalence of bad actors accessing the programmatic advertising ecosystem."

The Q1 2021 report analyzed more than 180 billion impressions from January 1 to March 31, 2021 across 29,000 premium websites and apps, using the Confiant real-time creative verification solution to measure ad security and quality across the programmatic advertising ecosphere. Confiant first introduced this quarterly report, originally known as the Demand Quality Report, in September 2018, as the industry's first benchmark report. The Q1 2021 MAQ Index is the twelfth report in the series.

The report's violation rate was calculated by dividing the number of impressions exhibiting a particular issue by the total number of impressions monitored by Confiant. Quality violations include heavy ads (those that consume an inordinate amount of system resources, slowing website speed), misleading claims, video arbitrage (previously called in-banner video) with undesired audio or video and expansions. Security violations are attempts to compromise the user through malicious code, trickery, forceful redirects, scams, fake software updates, fake ad servers, and High-Risk Ad Platforms (HRAPS) -- ad platforms that consistently serve abnormal levels of malicious ads and are the preferred vector for malicious actors. Such malicious and disruptive elements delivered via digital advertising pose substantive risks to security and privacy, degrading the user experience and threatening platform revenue and reputations by elevating adoption of ad blockers.

The Q1 2021 MAQ Index is available at https://www.confiant.com/maq-index

Confiant's security research leads the adtech industry's investigations into the prevalence and tactics of malvertisers. Confiant uncovers the platform vulnerabilities that malvertisers exploit and the damage they wield. A year and a half after introducing the AdTech industry's only solution for blocking bad ads in real-time, Confiant published its first Demand Quality Report, now known as the Malvertising and Ad Quality Index. Prior to Confiant's innovation, there was no data-driven process to assess quality and security across the AdTech ecosphere. With a daily pulse on the state of the industry, Confiant's groundbreaking research has been cited across trade and mainstream media, including a May 2021 Washington Post article assessing the Biden administration's stance on cybersecurity.

About Confiant, Inc.

Confiant's mission is to make the digital world safe for everyone. We defend the digital ad industry by helping publishers and ad platforms take back control of the ad experience from rogue actors to protect users. Our solutions protect reputation, revenue, and resources by providing real-time verification of digital advertisements.

Confiant's technology actively blocks and detects malicious activity, privacy infringements, and low-quality ads. By providing industry-leading protection against malvertising, disruptive ads, and privacy risks Confiant empowers premium ad platforms and publishers with actionable data to ensure the digital ad ecosystem is safe and secure for everyone. We detect and protect hundreds of billions of impressions per month for our clients, which include CBSinteractive, Magnite, Cafe Media, Gannett, and Politico.

CONTACT: Kathleen McMorrow

The Communications Optic, LLC

Telephone: (973) 665-8167

SOURCE Confiant

Related Links

https://www.confiant.com


The Company agrees to pay Alan J. Morris (the "Vendor") the following consideration for the 38 mineral claims in Nevada:

(a) making a cash payment to the Vendor in the amount of USD$12,000 immediately upon signing of the Agreement; and

(b) issuing to the Vendor 250,000 paid and non-assessable common shares in the capital of Surge Battery Metals Inc. upon acceptance of the Agreement by the TSX Venture Exchange.

All securities in connection with the transaction are subject to a four month and a day hold period in accordance with applicable securities laws.

The Northern Nevada Lithium Project is located in the Granite Range about 34 line- km southeast of Jackpot, Nevada, about 73 line-km north-northeast of Wells, Nevada. The target is a Thacker Pass or Clayton Valley type lithium clay deposit in volcanic tuff and tuffaceous sediments of the Jarbidge Rhyolite package. The project area was first identified in public domain stream sediment geochemical data with follow up sediment sampling and geologic reconnaissance.

Momentum for this new program stems from Albemarle's recent announcement that it will commence exploration of clay and evaluate technology that could accelerate the viability of lithium production from clay resources in the region surrounding its Silver Peak lithium producing mine. As reported by Albemarle on January 7, 2021

"Beginning in 2021, the company (Albemale) plans to invest $30 million to $50 million to double the current production at the Nevada site by 2025, making full use of its brine water rights. Additionally, in 2021 the company plans to commence exploration of clay and evaluate technology that could accelerate the viability of lithium production from clay resources in the region. As a leader in the lithium industry, our priority is to optimize our world-class resources and production. This includes Silver Peak, a site uniquely positioned as the only lithium-producing resource in the United States," said Eric Norris, Albemarle President, Lithium. "This investment in domestic capacity shows that we are committed to looking at the many ways in which Silver Peak can provide domestic support for the growing EV market."

Greg Reimer, President & CEO comments "Nevada is well known for its lithium projects and lithium potential in both brine and clay-based mineral deposits. We are very excited to have found some prospective ground in Nevada that shows some geological promise and strong initial lithium readings. Nevada is an area of focus for several mineral exploration companies including lithium producer Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB), and several prolific lithium explorers like Pure Energy Minerals (TSXV: PE) and Cypress Development Corp. (TSXV: CYP). Over time, the Company is planning an additional staking program in the region to strategically add to our land position. This new staking program will target known sedimentary horizons with potential for lithium bearing clay deposits."

Alan Morris, Lithium Claim Vendor and Lithium Project QP comments "Stream gravel in the anomalous samples consists of devitrified rhyolite tuff with occasional clasts of pumice. In outcrop, air fall tuffs and tuffaceous lake beds are capped by strongly welded ash flow tuffs in a typical caldera related volcanic package. Regional mapping has identified these rocks as being part of the Jarbidge Rhyolite is of a similar age and composition as the McDermitt Tuff that hosts the Thacker Pass deposit. While the McDermitt Caldera is relatively intact structurally, basin and range faulting has offset and obscured the likely extent of the Jarbidge Caldera feature. The immediate project area has not been the subject of modern detailed geologic mapping or age dating, so this interpretation is based on older 1:250,000 scale mapping and may be subject to revision as more data is collected."

Alan Morris, continues "The anomalous tuffs are preserved within a graben feature between a ridge of Paleozoic age sediments to the east with Paleozoic sediments intruded by the Contact Granite to the west. Younger felsic volcanic rocks related to the Bruneau-Jarbidge caldera fill the shallow valleys to the east and north. The younger tuff has similar chemical characteristics to the McDermitt and Jarbidge tuffs and, based on regional public-domain geochemistry, is permissive for lithium mineralization."

The Serge Battery Metals Northern Nevada Lithium Project is a very early stage project with only limited stream sediment and rock chip sampling accomplished to date. Results include two sediment samples with 1,980 and 1,540 ppm lithium. Limited rock chip samples run up to 367 ppm Li but were not collected in the anomalous drainages. Significant geologic and exploration work remains ahead to identify the source beds of the anomalous sediments. Plans are to initiate a grid soil survey and general geologic mapping to identify the favorable horizons for drill testing.

About Surge Battery Metals Inc. surgebatterymetals.com

The Company is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company which has been active in the resource sector in British Columbia, Canada and Nevada, USA.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

"Greg Reimer"

Greg Reimer, President & CEO

604-428-5690

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forwardlooking statements which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical facts, comments that address resource potential, upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and others are forwardlooking. Forwardlooking statements are not guaranteeing future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forwardlooking statements.

Surge Battery Metals Inc.

1220  789 West Pender Street

Vancouver, BC, Canada V6C 1H2

604- 428-5690

www.surgebatterymetals.com

[email protected]

SOURCE Surge Battery Minerals Inc.
NEW YORK, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Join us for a forward-looking discussion into the Caribbean's recovery and the region's economic outlook post-Covid-19. This forum features a panel of high-profile government officials and investors on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 starting at 11:00 AM EDT.

Panel 1 - "The Path to Recovery in the Caribbean" will focus on the region's economic future, highlighting investment opportunities, how the region is addressing climate change and renewable energy, as well as the revival of the tourism industry.

Hector Manuel Valdez Albizu , Governor of the Central Bank, Dominican Republic

, Governor of the Central Bank, John Rolle , Governor of the Central Bank, The Bahamas

, Governor of the Central Bank, The Therese Turner-Jones , IDB General Manager, Country Department Caribbean Group

Moderated by: Shery Ahn, Senior Anchor for Bloomberg TV

Panel 2 - "The Path to Recovery in the Caribbean: the investors view" will gather leaders in the asset management and research industry to discuss the road to recovery of the region, as part of their emerging markets strategy.

Charles Seville , Senior Director, Co-head Americas Sovereign Ratings, Fitch Rating

, Senior Director, Co-head Americas Sovereign Ratings, Fitch Rating Claudia Castro , Director, Fixed Income Research, Invesco

, Director, Fixed Income Research, Invesco Gabriel Lozano , Chief Economist for Mexico and Central America , J. P. Morgan

, Chief Economist for and , J. P. Morgan Sean Newman , Executive Vice President, and Chief Investment Officer, Sagicor Group Jamaica

Moderated by: Juan Pablo Spinetto, Managing Editor for Economics & Government in Latin America, Bloomberg L.P.

This discussion is one of Bloomberg's Emerging + Frontier Forum series held by the Bloomberg Professional Service team.

Media RSVPs are required and can be made by contacting:

Pam Snook - [email protected]

Burson Cohn & Wolfe for Bloomberg  [email protected]

About Bloomberg

Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, gives influential decision makers a critical edge by connecting them to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas. The company's strength  delivering data, news and analytics through innovative technology, quickly and accurately  is at the core of the Bloomberg Terminal. Bloomberg's enterprise solutions build on the company's core strength: leveraging technology to allow customers to access, integrate, distribute and manage data and information across organizations more efficiently and effectively. For more information, visit Bloomberg.com/company or request a demo.

SOURCE Bloomberg

Related Links

http://www.bloomberg.com


We hope to unearth a new writing talent who can elevate the conversation around intrinsic motivation -- CEO, Casey Wahl Tweet this

Joining Attuned founder and CEO Casey Wahl on the competition's judging panel are former Head of Editorial at Snapchat and two-time British Society of Magazine Editors 'Editor of the Year' winner Rachel Richardson; International / Newsletter Editor at The Hollywood Reporter Abid Rahman; and Lenny Rachitsky, author of one of Substack's most popular newsletters, the 65,000-subscriber Lenny's Newsletter.

"The transformative power of harnessing intrinsic motivation is at the very heart of our mission to make work more meaningful, so we wanted to do something fresh and innovative to increase understanding of this important topic," says Wahl. "With this competition, we hope to unearth an exciting new writing talent who can elevate the conversation around intrinsic motivation, while at the same time providing a pathway for them to become self-supporting once the sponsorship ends."

Hamish McKenzie, co-founder of Substack, says: "I love that Attuned recognizes that what a writer needs to succeed is so much more than a software tool. This program offers the kind of support that frees writers to focus on nothing but the thing that matters most: the writing itself. This is the first program of its kind organized outside of Substack, and I hope to see many more like it in the future."

To be in with a chance of winning, applicants must complete a series of writing tasks, including a sample blog post, creating an editorial lineup, and taking Attuned's Intrinsic Motivator Assessment. The deadline for entries is July 31st, 2021, and the winner is expected to be announced in September.

For more information, visit attuned.ai/blog/the-attuned-writer-fellowship .

About Attuned

A psychology-powered platform with a sprinkling of AI, Attuned helps companies understand what really motivates their employees, making unseen values visible and giving managers at-a-glance insights into their teams' motivators, blindspots and motivational gaps. Using a 55-question motivator assessment to get to the heart of what drives each individual, Attuned makes it easy to manage teams more effectivelyand empatheticallyhelping businesses to personalize the work experience, retain top talent, create a psychologically safe environment, and boost performance, resulting in happier organizations and making work more meaningful.

SOURCE Attuned

Related Links

http://attuned.ai/


With the theme of "Intelligent Interconnection Brings New Opportunities," the Tuya Smart exhibit aims to attract thousands of IoT enterprises from all over the world and features new products and connectivity solutions such as cellular connectivity solutions, Tuya Galaxy Link, Bluetooth connectivity solutions and more. This year thousands of IoT enterprises from all over the world will visit the MWC, including communication operators and electronic equipment manufacturers to gather and discuss the latest development trends of the global mobile communication industry.

This year Tuya Smart will showcase the Company's wide range of connectivity solutions at the MWC. Tuya Smart offers one-stop solutions for developers building IoT-enabled personal transporter and tracking devices that are compatible with various protocols including Bluetooth, NB-IoT, GPRS and LTE Cat 1. Tuya Smart provides powerful platform capabilities, including an OEM app, globally deployed cloud services and various network modules. Robust cloud services assist in precise device positioning, geofencing and tracking movement routes, to help deliver safe and easy travel experiences to users.

At present, outdoor IoT devices mainly rely on cellular connectivity to function. Tuya Smart's ecosystem currently enables outdoor products in categories such as smart mobility, smart positioning, smart energy, professional lighting, industry and agriculture, and security monitoring. Tuya Smart has also developed a mobility App to provide consumers with a better use experience.

To further strengthen the cellular connectivity offering, in June of this year Tuya smart announced a cooperation with 1NCE, a major European IoT cellular network carrier to allow Tuya Smart to scale up its cellular IoT connection service. By utilizing 1NCE's global cellular coverage, Tuya Smart is able to further support developers with outdoor device solutions and provide them with more efficient IoT solutions at lower costs.

"Cellular communication for the Internet of things enables a vast range of use cases and therefore allows for the development of much more flexible and independent indoor to outdoor application scenarios." said Alexander P. Sator, CEO and Founder of 1NCE on the partnership.

In Bluetooth connectivity, Tuya Smart has already launched Bluetooth finders, Bluetooth earphones and a wide range of other devices that demonstrate strong capability in Bluetooth connectivity support. Tuya Smart supports point-to-point, Bluetooth mesh, broadcast Bluetooth and other connection modes of Bluetooth protocols. Tuya Smart also has access to major mainstream chip platforms and provides a variety of Bluetooth modules. The Company also offers SDK development, MCU universal access, and development-free SoC solutions, supporting the diverse range of Bluetooth developers to quickly achieve low-cost and high-efficiency development.

In addition to cellular and Bluetooth capabilities, Tuya Smart has further iterated its Galaxy Link capability. Devices integrated with Tuya Galaxy Link have strong connectivity, high-end performance, and low power consumption. Tuya Galaxy Link also features dynamic role transition, enabling dynamic switching of two "roles" between a standalone product and gateway to ensure stability of the network.

Tuya Smart also teamed up with SETIC (Sino-European Technology & Innovation Cooperation), ENRICH (European Network of Research and Innovations Centers and Hubs), University of Leeds, and SPI to establish the European AI Business Alliance (EIBA), a non-profit organization for information exchange and sharing among industry players. EIBA supports the growth of the IoT industry and facilitates the matrix building and promotion of IoT technologies. So far hundreds of companies and organizations such as TCP, Calex, OTTO, Schneider and CATA have joined the alliance.

"Congratulations on the founding of the European Artificial Intelligence Alliance (EIBA). The EIBA will for sure help foster the entire IoT ecosystem and speed up the application of the state-of-the-art IoT technology through our concerted efforts." said Eva Na, CMO from Tuya Smart.

Sara Medina of Board of SPI said, "I would like to congrats on the launching of EIBA and am very happy to be the joint-launching partner. We will help European enterprises, academic institutes, alliance to connect together and cooperate better and faster in IoT related industries."

Athena Wang, founding partner and VP Operations of SETIC and ENRICH in China said "Congratulations on the launch of EIBA. SETIC is honored to be one of the joint-launching partners. We will carry on our work to support European and Chinese enterprises, academic institutes, in alliance to connect and cooperate deeply in IoT related industries."

About Tuya Smart (Tuya Inc.)

Tuya Smart (NYSE: TUYA) is a global leading IoT cloud platform with a mission to build an IoT developer ecosystem and enable everything to be smart. Tuya is the largest IoT PaaS business in the global market of IoT PaaS in terms of the volume of smart devices powered in 2020, according to CIC. Tuya has pioneered a purpose-built IoT cloud platform that delivers a full suite of offerings, including Platform-as-a-Service, or PaaS, and Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS, to businesses and developers. Through its IoT cloud platform, Tuya has enabled developers to activate a vibrant IoT ecosystem of brands, OEMs, partners and end users to engage and communicate through a broad range of smart devices.

For more information, please visit:

Tuya's website, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

SOURCE Tuya Smart
ANKENY, Iowa, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- WebCareHealth, a leading remote patient monitoring platform for Home INR Management, heart failure and other chronic conditions, is proud to provide timely solutions to those affected by the current national shortage of blue top collection tubes containing sodium citrate, which is used primarily for coagulation testing.

As pathologists and laboratories across the country continue to report critical sodium citrate shortages, the FDA has recommended implementing conservation strategies to deal with continued supply challenges, which are expected to last until mid-Summer 2021.

"Coagulation testing is critical to help patients avoid the risk of stroke, major bleeds, and even death. The national shortage of testing supplies poses a serious threat to hospitals, health systems, and physician practices who are the point of care for patients on anticoagulation therapy for atrial fibrillation, mechanical heart valves, previous deep vein thrombosis, and more," said Dr. Teresa Sieck, CEO and President, WebCareHealth.

CoagMgr from the WebCareHealth platform is a unique streamlined, web-based model for managing at-home INR (International Normalized Ratio) patients. INR testing is required for patients on certain anticoagulation medication. It is designed so health care providers can work directly with patients to more easily monitor and adjust dosages in real time.

After self-testing, patients submit their INR results directly via mobile app, web or via phone. CoagMgr offers real time results to physicians so they are able to take appropriate clinical action.

"WebCareHealth recognizes the current need for urgent solutions and is committed to relieving this crisis by offering our safe in-home INR testing approach, CoagMgr. We will continue to monitor this critical situation and remain available to help health care providers deliver the best possible care for their patients," said Dr. Sieck.

About WebCareHealth

Founded in 2014 WCH develops innovative cloud-based software solutions that enable healthcare providers to remotely monitor the health of patients managing chronic illnesses. Patients with Afib, heart failure, hypertension, diabetes, chronic pain and who are taking warfarin for anticoagulation management receive close monitoring and care through WCH's partnership with 20 healthcare systems representing over 100 facilities across the U.S. For more information, visit www.webcarehealth.com

Media Contact:

John Gonda

[email protected]

616-309-4888

SOURCE WebCareHealth

Related Links

https://www.webcarehealth.com


TAMPA, Fla., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Three trial lawyers of Tampa-based law firm Robert Sparks Attorneys have earned selection to either 2021 Super Lawyers or Rising Stars, marking yet another year of acclaim.

Attorney Robert Sparks was selected for 2021 Super Lawyers for his work in Tampa, Florida in the categories of "Personal Injury - General: Plaintiff" and "Family Law." This is the sixth consecutive edition in which he has been listed.

Similarly, Attorney Ellen Ostman was also named to 2021 Super Lawyers for demonstrating her premier legal skills in the area of "Family Law" in Tampa. She has been selected to Super Lawyers time and again, in 2006, 2008, and every year since 2014.

The 2021 Rising Stars recognition goes to Attorney Garrett Riley who was honored for his skilled advocacy in Tampa in the categories of "Family Law" and "Personal Injury - General: Plaintiff." Rising Stars previously recognized him in the 2013 edition, as well as in every edition since 2016.

Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters subsidiary, develops both the Super Lawyers guide and the Rising Stars guide each year. The purpose of these guides is to help individuals in need of legal guidance connect with vetted attorneys. As such, the selection process is rigorous, involving a 12-category independent review by Super Lawyers and a Blue Ribbon Review by a panel of top-rated attorneys. The only differences between the guides are:

Super Lawyers lists mid- to late-career attorneys, while Rising Stars lists early career attorneys either in their first decade of practice or no older than 40 years of age; and

No more than 5% of all practicing attorneys are selected to Super Lawyers, while Rising Stars lists no more than 2.5% of all practicing attorneys.

Therefore, selection to either list is certainly an achievement worth celebrating. It denotes that an attorney is highly regarded by their peers and highly accomplished in their area of legal practice.

Attorneys Sparks, Ostman, and Riley have each contributed to the success of Robert Sparks Attorneys, which has garnered national attention for its groundbreaking legal work. Favorable resolutions to contentious legal matters and many multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements constitute the firm's proven track record of success.

Based in Tampa, Robert Sparks Attorneys is a full-service law firm that assists clients in a variety of legal practice areas, including personal injury law, divorce and family law, criminal defense law, business disputes, and insurance bad faith. Visit the firm at getserious.com to learn more about how its award-winning attorneys can help you. For inquiries and information about Super Lawyers and Rising Stars, kindly go to superlawyers.com.

SOURCE Robert Sparks Attorneys

Related Links

https://www.getserious.com/


The partnership brings together a fully integrated approach to field integrity and logistical operations for maintenance and asset health monitoring. The initial focus will be the increasing market for Offshore Wind and Oil and Gas. The operational know-how to execute disruptive technology successfully has been demonstrated by both companies independently over the last eight years bringing cost reduction and high-value services with integrity data to offshore energy companies internationally.

Neil Manning, Chief Operating Officer, 3D at Depth, stated "3D at Depth from its conception is a disruptive technology business which focuses on leveraging its in-house product line with integrated project execution and efficiencies. We believe this starts with the sensing technology followed by supervised autonomous in-water vehicles providing fully integrated platforms." Manning continues, "This approach is baked into both companies DNA making an obvious alignment with SEA O.G Offshore and its disruptive technology applications. I'm excited to see what this partnership can do and look forward to announcements set to release over the coming months. A prime example of thinking out of the box and a disruptive approach is the SEA O.G Offshore adaptable barge concept and our integrated Sabertooth vehicle platform, which shows how mobile we are, and the deployment solutions offered by Sea O.G Offshore make this partnership exciting across all marine market verticals."

Mike Arnold, Director, SEA O.G Offshore stated, "We are extremely excited to be collaborating with 3D at Depth and focusing on niche markets with smart, professional, cost-effective solutions; always with a primary focus on health, safety, and the environment. Our novel solutions, soon to be released, will be aimed at reducing carbon emissions dramatically for day-to-day subsea operations. Moving away from less effective traditional methodologies and taking a more focused, left-field approach, will reduce carbon emissions, reduce task timings, and will ultimately be more cost-effective. From our regions, we can actively support the offshore renewables and legacy Oil and Gas Markets."

The Range of Services includes: Rig and Platform Site Surveys; Geohazard Surveys; Wind Farm Site Surveys; Pre-Engineering Surveys; Clearance Surveys including UXO; Ice Gouge Surveys; Multibeam Echosounder Surveys in shallow and deep water; Pre-and Post-Lay Pipeline Route Surveys; Deepwater Site Developments; LNG and FPSO Offloading Facilities; Intercoastal Waterway Air Gap Surveys; Intercoastal Waterway Feedering; SMART ADAPT Barge Technology; Marine and Offshore Transportation Support; Heavy Load Marshalling and Loadout; Subsea Technical Solutions; Project Management and Consultancy.

About 3D at Depth:

3D at Depth, Inc. is the world's leading expert in commercial Subsea LiDAR laser technology. Our advanced Subsea LiDAR laser (SL) systems and subsea survey services help customers transform the value of underwater 3D data. From data collection and processing, through visualization and analysis, 3D at Depth delivers precise, accurate, repeatable, millimetric 3D point clouds to measure, map, and evaluate underwater assets and environments. The Company's locations in Australia, Europe, and the United States support customer survey operations around the world. For more information and a broader listing of services visit us at www.3datdepth.com and LinkedIn, or follow us on Twitter @3DatDepth.

About SEA O. G. Offshore:

SEA.O.G Offshore is a field-tested integrated service provider to the offshore energy industry. With a dedicated team of more than 50 professionals, they have extensive industry experience in Wind Turbine Generator transport, trusted by the biggest names in wind. Nearly 5% of the entire installed capacity for 2020 were large rotor diameter turbines transported under their supervision. The team has supported technical marine operations of over 35,000 lifts for wind OEMs in more than 35 North American ports. Services for the offshore industry include subsea support, turnkey receiving, marshalling, and offshore delivery of WTGs and Foundation. Through the novel approach to offshore feedering they can offer more uptime than any other operator while improving safety, cost, and performance efficiencies through the application of advanced technology, marshalling methods, and a robust newbuild strategy.

We aim to advance the offshore energy industry with our technical expertise by providing environmentally conscious, fully integrated project management solutions while prioritizing the health, safety, and development of our workforce. www.seaofgravity.com

Media at 3D at Depth

Media Contact:

3D at Depth:

Jenna Pearson

[email protected]

SOURCE 3D at Depth, Inc.

Related Links

3datDepth.com


EIGHTY FOUR, Pa., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 84 Lumber, the nation's largest privately held building materials supplier, is launching a recruitment effort to fill immediate openings at their locations in greater Nashville. The company will host a Hiring Event on July 1st from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. at its La Vergne retail location (136 Wheeler St., La Vergne, TN). At the event, job seekers will learn more about the company culture and get the opportunity to be interviewed for open positions in the area that include truck driver, door manufacturer, and production associate. Qualified applicants may receive an offer of employment during the event.

"84 Lumber is seeking to fill more than 20 open positions in the greater Nashville area, including our locations in Lavergne, Murfreesboro, and Hendersonville," said Rob Woodrow, divisional vice president at 84 Lumber. "We're growing along with the growth in the construction industry  here in the region, and across the nation. We're looking for people seeking a fresh start."

Woodrow went on to detail the openings in the region:

Non-CDL truck drivers and helps load trucks and deliver materials to customer job sites. Drivers are responsible for building loads for deliveries; maintaining a safe, clean, and well-organized lumber yard; and loading and unloading lumber and building supplies. The job pays $14 per hour depending on experience.

Door manufacturers need no prior experience and are involved in the manufacturing of doors. These associates can expect a starting pay between $13 and $15 per hour based on experience.

Production associates need no prior experience and perform essential behind-the-scenes functions in the manufacturing processes related to engineered wood products, trusses, and components. These associates can expect a starting pay between $12 and $17 per hour based on experience.

"We are a family-owned company, which means we are committed to helping our employees build and cultivate a career with us. In fact, 95% of our store managers started in our manager trainee program," Woodrow said. "As we see it, 84 Lumber recruits individuals with a can-do attitude, a willingness to work hard, and a desire to learn. Once we find these people and they join the company, we teach and train them and find ways for them to grow with us."

Woodrow added that 84 Lumber expects it might find the right fit from all types of candidates  an individual with no construction experience, military veterans ready to embark on their next career challenge, or people with some previous work experience who seek to redirect their career.

Candidates interested in participating in the Hiring Event are asked to pre-register. To sign up, go to 84 Lumber's Hiring Page and complete the form. Once you are registered, you will receive an email from 84 Lumber with the link to apply for the desired position. To save time, candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for positions online before they attend the event.

NOTE: 84 Lumber continues to follow CDC safety guidelines with regard to COVID-19. We ask that those attendees who are not yet fully vaccinated wear a mask and maintain social distancing.

To learn more about 84 Lumber, follow the company on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

ABOUT 84 LUMBER

Founded in 1956 and headquartered in Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, 84 Lumber Company is the nation's largest privately held supplier of building materials, manufactured components and industry-leading services for single- and multi-family residences and commercial buildings. The company operates nearly 250 stores, component manufacturing plants, custom door shops, custom millwork shops and engineered wood product centers in more than 30 states. 84 Lumber also offers turnkey installation services for a variety of products, including framing, insulation, siding, windows, roofing, decking and drywall. A certified national women's business enterprise owned by Maggie Hardy Knox, 84 Lumber was named by Forbes as one of America's Largest Private Companies in 2018 and one of America's Best Large Employers in 2019. For more information, visit 84lumber.com or join us at Facebook.com/84lumber and linkedin.com/company/84-lumber .

SOURCE 84 Lumber
WESTBURY, N.Y., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ACRES Commercial Realty Corp. (NYSE: ACR) (the "Company") announced today the pricing of a follow-on public offering of 2,000,000 shares of its 7.875% Series D Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock (the "Preferred Stock") at a public offering price of $25.00 per share. The Company also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 300,000 shares of the Preferred Stock. The Preferred Stock has a $25.00 per share liquidation preference. The Company will receive gross proceeds of $50.0 million from the sale of the Preferred Stock before deducting the underwriting discount and other estimated offering expenses. The offering is expected to close on June 30, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to make loan originations consistent with its investment policies and for general corporate purposes.

The Preferred Stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "ACR PrD."

Raymond James & Associates, Inc. is acting as sole book-running manager for the offering.

A shelf registration statement on Form S-3, including a prospectus, related to the Preferred Stock has been filed with and declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The offering was made only by means of a preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus filed by the Company with the SEC.

Copies of the final prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, when available, may be obtained from Raymond James & Associates, Inc., Attn: Syndicate, 880 Carillon Parkway, St. Petersburg, FL 33716, by telephone at (800) 248-8863, or by visiting the SEC's website at www.sec.gov under the Company's name.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About ACRES Commercial Realty Corp.

ACRES Commercial Realty Corp. is a real estate investment trust that is primarily focused on originating, holding and managing commercial real estate ("CRE") mortgage loans and other commercial real estate-related debt investments. The Company is externally managed by ACRES Capital, LLC, a subsidiary of ACRES Capital Corp., a private commercial real estate lender exclusively dedicated to nationwide middle market CRE lending with a focus on multifamily, student housing, hospitality, industrial and office property in top U.S. markets. For more information, please contact investor relations at [email protected].

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements can generally be identified by our use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "trend," "will," "continue," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "look forward" or other similar words or terms. These "forward-looking" statements include statements relating to, among other things, the offering of the Preferred Stock, the expected use of the net proceeds from the offering, and the Company's expectations concerning closing the offering. Because such statements include risks, uncertainties and contingencies, actual results may differ materially from the expectations, intentions, beliefs, plans or predictions of the future expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Investors should consider the Company's investment objectives, risks, and expenses carefully before investing. The prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus contains this and other information about the Company and should be read carefully before investing.

Factors that can affect future results are discussed in the documents filed by the Company from time to time with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect new or changing information or events after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required by law.

SOURCE ACRES Commercial Realty Corp.

Related Links

https://www.acresreit.com


DENVER, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AdCellerant announced today that The Globee Awards, organizers of the world's premier business awards programs and business ranking lists, has named AdCellerant's Account Management team a winner in the 8th Annual 2021 Sales and Customer Service Excellence Awards. These prestigious global awards recognize achievements in sales, service, support, and business development from all over the world.

The annual Sales and Customer Service Excellence Awards are an industry and peer international competition honoring achievements in disciplines that create the best customer experience for business successes everywhere.

AdCellerant was recognized as a gold winner for Best Sales Enablement Program of the Year. AdCellerant deployed tactics ranging from helping more traditional businesses set up virtual methods of doing business to creating entire e-commerce solutions to keep brick and mortar stores selling during this unprecedented time. In March 2020, the team started a biweekly webinar series focused on where channel resellers should focus, what industries they should prospect, and what messaging would resonate with the public during the unprecedented shutdown of nearly all 150+ markets where AdCellerant's 300+ partners operate.

AdCellerant created more cost-effective pricing models to allow businesses to keep advertising and generate revenue at a lower cost. The AdCellerant team created and distributed hours of video content and 100s of pages of written content designed to help partners and their advertisers with advertising strategies, creative messaging, and best practices. By focusing on customers and their customers, AdCellerant was able to create a forecast that flattened the negative 'business curve' created by COVID-19. This intense focus and support helped one partner return to pre-COVID revenue by June, after a 30% revenue drop in April.

Judges from a broad spectrum of industry voices from around the world participated and their average scores determined the 2021 award winners.

"It's an honor to be recognized as an industry player by Globee Awards for this esteemed industry and peer recognition," said CRO Melissa Sheehan. "This further validates our position as a company poised to successfully set partners up to thrive during the economic downturn by leveraging the power of digital advertising, technology, and education."

Sales and Customer Service Excellence Awards is the world's premier recognitions program created to honor industry-wide and peer achievements of individuals, teams, departments, most valuable professionals, milestones, and champions in Sales & Customer Success, Customer Service & Contact Centers, Sales and Service Enablement, which includes Training, Consulting, and Outsourcing.

"Continuing to raise the bar higher for standards in sales and customer service are key to customer success," said San Madan, co-President at Globee Awards. "Effective customer success strategy can lead to higher business growth."

See the complete list of 2021 winners here: https://globeeawards.com/sales-and-customer-service-awards/winners/

ABOUT ADCELLERANT

AdCellerant is a technology and digital advertising company focused on making quality digital marketing accessible to every business. AdCellerant achieves this goal by partnering with local marketers, media companies, agencies, and channel sales organizations, helping them leverage AdCellerant's proprietary advertising software platform, UI.Marketing.

Website: https://www.adcellerant.com/

Contacts:

Meghan Brito - VP of Marketing, [email protected] , 720.837.6804

SOURCE AdCellerant LLC

Related Links

www.adcellerant.com


TORONTO, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE: AEM) (TSX: AEM) ("Agnico Eagle" or the "Company") today announced that it will release its second quarter 2021 results on Wednesday, July 28, 2021, after normal trading hours.

Second Quarter 2021 Results Conference Call Webcast

Agnico Eagle's senior management will host a conference call on Thursday, July 29, 2021 at 11:00 AM (E.D.T.) to discuss the Company's financial and operating results.

Via Webcast:

A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available on the Company's website at www.agnicoeagle.com.

Via Telephone:

For those preferring to listen by telephone, please dial 416-764-8659 or toll-free 1-888-664-6392. To ensure your participation, please call approximately five minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call.

Replay archive:

Please dial 416-764-8677 or toll-free 1-888-390-0541, access code 754213#. The conference call replay will expire on August 29, 2021.

The webcast, along with presentation slides, will be archived for 180 days on the Company's website.

About Agnico Eagle

Agnico Eagle is a senior Canadian gold mining company, producing precious metals from operations in Canada, Finland, and Mexico. It has a pipeline of high-quality exploration and development projects in these countries as well as in the United States and Colombia. Agnico Eagle is a partner of choice within the mining industry, recognized globally for its leading environmental, social and governance practices. The Company was founded in 1957 and has consistently created value for its shareholders, declaring a cash dividend every year since 1983.

SOURCE Agnico Eagle Mines Limited

Related Links

http://www.agnicoeagle.com


VIENNA, Va., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Alpha Omega Integration, LLC, (Alpha Omega) is excited to welcome Jean Lewis as Vice President of Strategic Growth. Jean brings over 30 years of government business development strategy and experience helping agencies identify requirements and integrate advanced IT solutions. A recognized thought leader in digital business transformation, agile methodologies and risk management, Jean joins the team at an ideal time, as Alpha Omega continues its rapid expansion.

"We are thrilled to have a leader of Jean's caliber join our team," said Gautam Ijoor, Alpha Omega's CEO and President. "Our customers continue to trust Alpha Omega with larger, higher impact systems. Jean's background and experience with large IT infrastructure procurements across the federal landscape brings us exactly the level of capability needed to understand our customers growing needs, and help them accomplish their mission."

Jean joins Alpha Omega on the heels of several large contract wins, and the recent announcement of the company being named one of the Washington areas' top workplaces by the Washington Post. She will have an immediate impact on the team's strategic approach to the market by extending and cross-selling Alpha Omega IT services and solutions.

Prior to joining Alpha Omega, Jean was a Business Development Executive at General Dynamics IT, and Sapient government, and had a distinguished career with Booze Allen Hamilton where she lead a 60-person delivery team focused on providing Mission Assurance-Enterprise Resiliency solutions to Civil Agencies.

Alpha Omega Integration is an 8(a) SB created in 2014 that provides high quality, collaborative IT and business consulting services, with the expertise and capabilities to serve customers in the commercial and public sectors. At Alpha Omega, we are committed to quality and continuous process improvement, demonstrated by our CMMI-DEV ML 5 appraisal, as well as ISO/IEC registration for 20000-1:2018, 27001:2013, and 9001:2015. Our clients include HHS, DoD, USDA, Department of Homeland Security, HUD, Department of State, NASA, Department of Commerce to include NOAA and Census Bureau, and the Small Business Administration. Alpha Omega is a mission-focused, client-centric, results-driven organization. For more information, visit www.alphaomegaintegration.com

www.alphaomegaintegration.com

8(a) | CMMI ML5 | ISO 9001:2015 | ISO 20000-1:2018 | ISO 27001:2013

CIO-SP3 | 8(a) STARS II | SPARC | GSA IT Schedule 70

SOURCE Alpha Omega Integration

Related Links

http://www.alphaomegaintegration.com/


GLASGOW, Scotland, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Amphista Therapeutics, a Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD) biopharmaceutical company creating first-in-class cancer therapeutics that harness the body's natural processes to remove disease-causing proteins selectively and efficiently, today announced the addition to their world class team of Martin O'Rourke as Head of Drug Discovery and James Osborne as Director of Chemistry.

Amphista's Chief Scientific Officer and TPD pioneer Dr Ian Churcher said, "I am delighted to welcome Martin and James to the team. They both bring a wealth of expertise in drug discovery that will be invaluable to further strengthen our team as we progress our TPD pipeline to the clinic following our successful $53M Series B financing round. The funding is also helping us open whole new areas for exploration beyond Amphista's cancer focus into areas largely inaccessible to the TPD field, such as CNS, with our approach that provides the best of both worlds: great drug like properties and a broad target and tissue scope."

Amphista's Head of Drug Discovery, Martin O'Rourke, commented on his appointment, "I've always been interested in progressing drug discovery projects in the oncology space. Working at Amphista excites me particularly due to the company's unique, proprietary approach which builds on the huge promise of TPD while addressing the limitations with current methods. I am looking forward to exploring the opportunities Amphista's platform provides, working alongside a world class team."

Most recently, Martin has been a Director in the Oncology Bioscience group at AstraZeneca. As a member of the leadership team there he contributed to oncology strategy, new target selection and project leadership on early-stage projects. Prior to this Martin worked in a global position at Charles River contributing to a wide range of drug discovery projects. Additionally, whilst working in Professor Tracy Robson's lab at Queen University Belfast, Martin co-invented a peptide therapeutic and, via his role at Almac Discovery, led the biology team to produce data enabling Phase 1 clinical trials. Martin holds a BSc in Applied Biochemical Science and a PhD from the University of Ulster.

James has significant experience in leading projects to delivery of development candidates for both oncology and CNS disorders. In James's most recent position he led the Discovery function at GW Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for the delivery of several novel development candidates in the CNS space. James started his career at the Institute of Cancer Research where he was a key contributor to the delivery of the CHK1 clinical candidate SRA737. Since then he has successfully taken project and medicinal chemistry leadership roles at Astex Pharmaceuticals and Charles River Labs, where he worked across several different target classes and therapeutic areas. James holds an MSci in Chemistry and a PhD in organic synthesis, from Nottingham University and completed his postdoctoral studies at the University of Oxford.

Amphista has developed a proprietary broad technology platform with the potential to generate first-in-class small molecules (called 'Amphistas') that harness the body's own protein degradation mechanisms to deliver highly potent pharmacology. Amphista's unique approach offers the potential to overcome many of the limitations seen with current TPD technologies, providing greater opportunity to treat a wider range of diseases. Amphista is focused on biological targets in oncology and other therapy areas, focusing on the translation of their novel TPD approach for clinical benefit in areas of high unmet need.

Media contacts:

Amphista Therapeutics

CEO

NicolaThompson

[email protected]

Scius Communications

Katja Stout

[email protected]

About Amphista Therapeutics

Amphista Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company creating first-in-class therapeutics that harness the body's natural processes to selectively and efficiently degrade and remove disease-causing proteins. The company's pipeline of novel targeted protein degradation (TPD)-based medicines is focused on challenging diseases including cancer. Founded by Advent Life Sciences, Amphista is a spin-out of TPD expert Professor Alessio Ciulli's labs at the University of Dundee. The company has raised approximately 45M to date and is funded by leading life science investors including Forbion, Gilde Healthcare, Novartis Venture Fund, Advent Life Sciences, BioMotiv and Eli Lilly & Company.

For more information, please visit: http://www.amphista.com/

SOURCE Amphista Therapeutics
EATONTOWN, N.J., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Angel Medical Systems, Inc., (dba AngelMed) a proactive diagnostics company focused on the advancement of long-term management of high-risk coronary disease, announced today the FDA approval of the second-generation AngelMed Guardian device. The AngelMed Guardian System is the world's first implantable cardiac detection monitor and patient-warning system for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) events, including silent heart attacks. The new, second- generation device is enhanced with ease-of-use adaptations and an updated, long life battery that could potentially double the life of the implanted device.

The AngelMed Guardian device is implanted subcutaneously by a cardiologist during a low-risk, outpatient surgical procedure. Using a patented algorithm, the AngelMed Guardian continuously records the heart's electrical activity, 24 hours a day, monitoring for electrical changes that can indicate an impending ACS event. The AngelMed Guardian device provides a more effective diagnosis of a life-threatening condition when compared to patient symptoms alone.1

"Patients who have had a prior ACS event often remain at high-risk of a recurrent event. Even those patients who are on alert for another potential cardiac event may delay seeking treatment," said Dr. C. Michael Gibson M.D., Boston Clinical Research Institute. "The AngelMed Guardian System has demonstrated the ability to identify the earliest signs of an ACS event, including heart attacks, more effectively than patients' symptoms alone, and in patients who do not experience symptoms at all."

"The improved AngelMed Guardian device will have a meaningful effect on the current standard of patient cardiology care for ACS events. Our dedicated team and supporting physicians have worked tirelessly to bring this disruptive technology to market," said AngelMed Chief Executive Officer, Brad Snow. "As the first real-time detection device for high-risk heart attack patients, the AngelMed Guardian System provides critical data at the point of care, along with peace of mind for physicians and patients alike."

"Our key learnings based on hundreds of thousands of hours of clinical monitoring data for many ambulatory patients with cardiovascular disease provides a technology platform for future offerings. Our patient-centric approach will drive our research and development," said Dave Keenan, AngelMed chief operating officer.

Every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. suffers a myocardial infarction or heart attack.2 The most important risk factors for another cardiovascular event in post-heart attack patients are age, medical history, comorbidities, and the severity of their first ACS event.3 Despite proactive ongoing efforts over the last decade from the medical community to better educate the public on signs and symptoms of a heart attack, the time from symptom onset to arrival at a hospital remains static at eight hours.4

For more important safety information, please visit: http://www.angel-med.com/.

About Angel Medical Systems, Inc.

Angel Medical Systems, Inc., is a proactive diagnostics company committed to advancing life-sustaining, personalized patient care, including the long-term management of high-risk coronary disease. Angel Medical Systems maintains a robust portfolio of U.S. patents relating to detecting cardiac events, including silent heart attacks.

1 Food and Drug Administration Website. Summary of Safety and Effectiveness Data. https://www.fda.gov/media/96475/download . Accessed May 6, 2021

2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012, August). NCHS data brief: Prevalence of Uncontrolled Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease: United States, 19992010 (No. 109). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db103.pdf.

3 Amsterdam EA, Wenger NK, Brindis RG, et al. 2014 AHA/ACC guideline for the management of patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes: executive summary: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines. Circulation. 2014;130(25):2354-2394. doi: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000133.

4 Holmes DR, Krucoff MW, Mullin C, et al. Implanted monitor alerting to reduce treatment delay in patients with acute coronary syndrome events. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2019;22:2047-2055. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2019.07.084.

Media Contact:

Cassy Dump

Pascale Communications

[email protected]

(619) 971-1887

Company Contact:

Sean Pisani, Marketing Manager

[email protected]

(973)459-9437

SOURCE Angel Medical Systems

Related Links

www.angel-med.com


RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Asklepios BioPharmaceutical, Inc. (AskBio), a wholly owned and independently operated subsidiary of Bayer AG, announced that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track Designation for the LION-101 gene therapy program. LION-101 is a novel recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) based vector being developed as a one-time intravenous infusion for the treatment of patients with Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy Type 2I/R9 (LGMD2I/R9).

The FDA recently cleared an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for LION-101, to authorize the start of a Phase 1/2 multicenter study which will evaluate the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of a single intravenous (IV) infusion of gene therapy, in adult and adolescent subjects with genotypically confirmed LGMD2I/R9. AskBio plans to initiate dosing for the LION-101 Phase 1/2 clinical study in the first half of 2022.

"The FDA Fast Track Designation for LION-101 is an important step for the development of this program and is a clear recognition of the profound burden faced by LGMD2i/R9 patients," said Sheila Mikhail, Co-Founder & CEO, AskBio. "We look forward to initiating clinical trials with this novel therapy, and we hope to bring a new therapeutic option to patients and families in the LGMD2I/R9 community who live with this devastating disease."

The FDA Fast Track Program is designed to facilitate the development and expedite the review of new therapeutics that are intended to treat serious conditions and fill an unmet medical need. The purpose of the Program is to get important new therapeutics to the patient earlier. Therapeutics that receive this designation receive a number of benefits that include more frequent meetings with the FDA to discuss development of the gene therapy and, if relevant criteria are met, eligibility for Accelerated Approval and Priority Review.

About Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy (LGMD) and Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy Type 2I (LGMD2I/R9)

Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) is a term for a group of diseases that cause progressive weakness and wasting of the muscles in the arms and legs.1 The muscles most affected are those closest to the body (proximal muscles), specifically the muscles of the shoulders, upper arms, pelvic area and thighs.1 The severity, age of onset, and features of LGMD vary among the many subtypes of the condition and are often inconsistent, even within the same family.1 Signs and symptoms may first appear at any age and generally worsen with time, although in some cases they remain mild.1

Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy Type 2I (LGMD2I/R9) is a form of LGMD and is caused by mutations in the FKRP gene.2 In LGMD2I/R9, signs and symptoms often develop in late childhood and may include difficulty running and walking.2 The symptoms gradually worsen over time towards significant disability, and affected people generally rely on a wheelchair for mobility approximately 23-26 years after onset.2 Currently, there is no treatment that modifies the disease progression, and treatment is based on the signs and symptoms present in each individual.2 Visit the National Institutes of Health Medline Plus website to learn more about Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy and Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy Type 2I.

About AskBio

Asklepios BioPharmaceutical, Inc. (AskBio), a wholly owned and independently operated subsidiary of Bayer AG acquired in 2020, is a fully integrated AAV gene therapy company dedicated to developing life-saving medicines that have the potential to cure genetic diseases. The company maintains a portfolio of clinical programs across a range of neuromuscular, central nervous system, cardiovascular and metabolic disease indications with a clinical-stage pipeline that includes therapeutics for Pompe disease, Parkinson's disease and congestive heart failure, as well as out-licensed clinical indications for hemophilia and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. AskBio's gene therapy platform includes Pro10, an industry-leading proprietary cell line manufacturing process, and an extensive AAV capsid and promoter library. With global headquarters in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and European headquarters in Edinburgh, UK, the company has generated hundreds of proprietary third-generation AAV capsids and promoters, several of which have entered clinical testing. Founded in 2001 and an early innovator in the gene therapy field, the company holds more than 800 patents in areas such as AAV production and chimeric and self-complementary capsids. Learn more at www.askbio.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

About Bayer

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to help people and the planet thrive by supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to driving sustainable development and generating a positive impact with its businesses. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2020, the Group employed around 100,000 people and had sales of 41.4 billion euros. R&D expenses, before special items, amounted to 4.9 billion euros. For more information, go to www.bayer.com.

Find more information at https://pharma.bayer.com/

Follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pharma.bayer

Follow us on Twitter: @BayerPharma

AskBio Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the AskBio's LION-101 program. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will," "intends," "potential," "possible" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding AskBio's pipeline of development candidates. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond AskBio's control. Known risks include, among others: AskBio may not successfully bring a new therapeutic option to patients and families in the LGMD2I/R9 community, advance LION-101 as or when expected, be able to execute on its business plans and goals, including meeting its expected or planned regulatory milestones and timelines, its reliance on third-parties, clinical development plans, manufacturing processes and plans, and bringing its product candidates to market, due to a variety of reasons, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, possible limitations of company financial and other resources, manufacturing limitations that may not be anticipated or resolved in a timely manner, potential disagreements or other issues with our third-party collaborators and partners, and regulatory, court or agency feedback or decisions, such as feedback and decisions from the United States Food and Drug Administration or the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Any of the foregoing risks could materially and adversely affect AskBio's business and results of operations. You should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. AskBio does not undertake any obligation to publicly update its forward-looking statements based on events or circumstances after the date hereof.

1 National Institutes of Health  Medline Plus: Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy - Description. Accessed May 7, 2021. Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy: MedlinePlus Genetics

2 National Institutes of Health -- National Center of Advancing Translational Sciences: Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center. Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy Type 2I  Summary. Accessed May 7, 2021. Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2I | Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center (GARD)  an NCATS Program (nih.gov)

SOURCE Asklepios BioPharmaceutical, Inc.

Related Links

www.askbio.com


WASHINGTON, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program Enhancement Act (VMLRPEA), which would enable more food animal and public health veterinarians to receive up to $25,000 a year for student loan repayment in exchange for service in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-designated veterinarian shortage areas, has been reintroduced in the Senate.

Endorsed by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), the bill would enhance the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program by ending the federal withholding tax on awards, thus freeing up funding and allowing the program to reach more communities that need veterinary services. In exchange for the award, veterinarians are required to serve for at least three years in one of the USDA-designated veterinarian shortage areas. The USDA designated 221 shortage areas in 48 different states for 2021.

Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) reintroduced the VMLRPEA in the Senate. Earlier this year, Representatives Ron Kind (D-Wis.) and Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) reintroduced the legislation in the House of Representatives.

"Expanding the VMLRP means more veterinarians will receive student loan relief and there will be more access to veterinary care in rural areas across the country  a win-win for the profession," said Dr. Douglas Kratt, AVMA President. "The AVMA is grateful our leaders in Congress are supporting legislation that removes the tax on service awards and maximizes the effectiveness of the VMLRP. We will use this momentum to build broad support for the bill and send it to the President's desk."

The average student loan debt for graduates of veterinary college who borrowed rose to $188,000 in 2020. As a result, many new graduates are unable to practice in the underserved areas that need their services the most, since veterinary salaries in rural areas are often lower than those in urban or suburban areas. If the VMLRPEA is passed, one additional veterinarian could participate in the program for every three veterinarians currently accepted. Since 2010, 1,632 veterinarians have applied to the VMLRP but only 552 have received service awards.

"Veterinarians provide essential support for the agricultural economy in so many rural areas and small towns in Michigan and nationwide," said Senator Stabenow. "But too many places lack the veterinary services they need. This bipartisan bill will provide incentives for veterinarians to practice in underserved areas, where quality veterinary care is needed to ensure healthy livestock and a safe food supply."

"Qualified veterinarians in agricultural communities across the nation are a key part of maintaining animal health and welfare, and ensuring ranchers and farmers have access to care for their livestock," said Senator Crapo. "Overly burdensome federal taxes on the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program limit the reach of the program's benefits, and addressing those limitations would allow more veterinarians to have the opportunity to practice in small, rural communities where their services are in critical need."

During the AVMA's first-ever virtual legislative fly-in, veterinarians and veterinary students met with 218 different congressional offices to advocate on behalf of the profession. Participants identified the VMLRPEA as a top priority for the AVMA throughout the event.

More than 100 agriculture-related organizations support the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program Enhancement Act. The AVMA is encouraging the veterinary community to contact their members of Congress on this issue.

About the AVMA:

The AVMA is the nation's leading representative of the veterinary profession, speaking for more than 97,000 member veterinarians who care passionately about protecting animal health, animal welfare and human health. Informed by its members' unique scientific training and knowledge, the AVMA advocates for policies that advance the practice of veterinary medicine and support the crucial work of veterinarians nationwide.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Colin MacCarthy

Media Relations Specialist

American Veterinary Medical Association

Cell/Text: 202-641-2533

[email protected]

SOURCE American Veterinary Medical Association

Related Links

www.avma.org


SUGAR LAND, Texas, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Starting in the 2021-2022 school year, Sugar Land-based Montessori Reggio Academy (MRA) offers their new Lower Elementary Program, serving grades one through three. Parents interested in the program can get their children on the waiting list for the upcoming school year.

The focus of the Lower Elementary Program is to challenge students to advance beyond their potential academically, educate them with a firm foundation to become confident individuals with higher self-esteem, and create a fun learning experience.

Montessori Reggio Academy

Montessori Reggio Academy has won the "Best of Sugar Land Award" five years in a row. The school's selection for the 2021 Best of Sugar Land Award in the Montessori School category by the Sugar Land Award Program is an honor for the school and its extensive history. The award recognizes local businesses that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implement programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value in the community.

Montessori Reggio Academy has now demonstrated success two years running, qualifying the school for the Business Hall of Fame. MRA takes pride in such recognition, striving to create an atmosphere of learning, acceptance, and growth for its students, educators, and parents.

MRA follows the traditional Montessori Method, believing that cognitive development results from an interaction between the individual and the environment. Their goal is to spark a child's interest in learning, helping them to become lifelong learners.

MRA accepts students from infants to lower elementary, creating an encouraging environment for children to share thoughts and exchange ideas with both peers and teachers.

Through its private lower elementary program, MRA hopes to address the pain points that parents face with the many unknowns involved with public school education by creating a quality, consistent educational environment for students.

Montessori Reggio Academy is an icon in the community, as seen from parents of current students. Parents know the academy's staff and faculty as friends because of the efforts to genuinely connect with students and parents. Education and care at the school are provided by Montessori-certified or trained teachers who are CPR certified, have classroom experience, and receive continuous training.

"My wife and I have been very happy with this school, particularly under the new direction and leadership of Ms. Martina," said parent Andrew Lee. "She is super professional and yet enthusiastic, fun, and approachable. The culture and administration of MRA are strong."

Head of School Martina Murphy is both a respected leader and longtime educator within the Sugar Land community with over 14 years in education. Her attention to detail, childhood understanding, and enthusiasm have been noted by parents and colleagues. Under her leadership, MRA achieved Best in Sugar Land for a 4th consecutive year.

Lower Elementary Program curriculum expectations include:

Math - Master all operations abstractly and apply them throughout the curriculum

Language - Identify, construct, and analyze nine parts of speech and sentence elements. Write creative stories.

Cultural - Able to select a topic, use various resources, analyze data, write a paragraph on that topic, and present it.

Social/Emotional - Functioning member of a class meeting, able to identify problems, contribute solutions, and negotiate a resolution that is practical, respectful, reasonable, responsible, and relevant.

Reading - On level or above, with comprehension and understanding of sequencing and predicting

Problem Solving - Ignore it. Talk it over respectfully with the other person. Work together on a win/win solution. Write it in the concern book.

Parents interested in signing up their children for a Montessori Reggio Academy education, particularly for the Lower Education Program, can reach out to the school via phone (832-939-8898), email ([email protected]), or by filling out the MRA Contact Form.

About Montessori Reggio Academy

A Montessori Reggio Academy education is an investment in your child's future. We take great pride in offering an authentic Montessori education enriched with a Reggio Emilia arts and science program in Sugar Land, Texas - a unique combination of proven learning methods. As educators, our goal is to set a strong foundation of life-long emotional and mental well-being in each of our students. For more information, visit montessorireggioacademy.com or follow us on Facebook (@mrasugarland) or LinkedIn (@montessori-reggio-academy-of-sugar-land).

Related Images

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Voted Best Montessori School in Sugar Land 5 years in a row

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City's Best

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The acquisition of Mobilitie is a significant step in BAI Communications' growth strategy, supporting its move towards becoming one of the leading connected infrastructure 5G players in North America, as well as globally.

The deal brings together a highly complementary offering between the two organisations, enabling BAI to immediately extend and diversify its solution and service offering beyond its current global markets. It marries Mobilitie's assets and operations across 5G outdoor and indoor wireless infrastructure, worldwide credibility in small cell deployment, and its work with transit operators across major US cities with BAI's long-standing proven expertise in delivering communications infrastructure in dense urban and transit environments.

Combining the expertise, scale, and infrastructure portfolios of both businesses positions BAI to support telecommunications operators and municipalities in the US and its other markets internationally to realise the smart city opportunities that 5G services are offering worldwide.

Igor Leprince, Group CEO of BAI Communications, said: "BAI's acquisition of Mobilitie establishes us as a leading telecommunications infrastructure provider in the United States and the most relevant provider of public transit wireless connectivity solutions in North America. This reflects our ambitions for the US as well as the other markets in which we operate globally and puts us in the perfect position to capitalise on the growing prioritisation of connected infrastructure in regions such as the UK and Europe. The scale and strong relationships with large venue operators and mobile network operators that Mobilitie brings fits perfectly with BAI's existing leadership in connected transit and infrastructure.

"Mobilitie, like BAI, places a high priority on offering technical expertise and impeccable delivery to its customers, alongside its deep commitment to exceptional customer service. This alignment and the complementary fit of our offerings make this an exciting move for BAI and our customers around the world. It strongly positions us to scale and extend the work we are already delivering," he added.

Backed by Mobilitie's Founder and Chairman, Gary Jabara, and Shamrock Capital, Mobilitie's portfolio includes existing agreements to provide wireless communications to the public transit systems in Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area. The acquisition will also add Mobilitie's broader portfolio of 220 venues across 39 states, 10,000 small cells across 45 states, and 300 tower sites across 14 states to BAI's operations. This builds on BAI's existing success providing neutral host infrastructure in the major subways of New York, Toronto, and Hong Kong, and in Australia with one of the most extensive broadcast networks in the world. It will also support BAI's expansion in the UK and Europe as it pursues, and wins, significant opportunities.

Gary Jabara, Founder and Chairman of Mobilitie said: "We're very excited about this transaction, which augments Mobilitie's market impact worldwide. BAI's significance as a 5G player, together with Mobilitie, will enable unprecedented support of US wireless carriers. It puts us on a clear, long-term path to greatly accelerate business and help our customers, especially the mobile network operators." He concluded, "Combining BAI's connectivity solutions and international presence with Mobilitie's North American assets, including our nationwide footprint of tier one venues, public transit systems in the San Francisco Bay

Area and Seattle, along with 10,000 small cells and thousands of New York small cells that are in and around BAI's existing assets, makes us better positioned for 5G growth than anyone else in North America."

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), BAI's majority shareholder, welcomed this announcement. Commenting on the acquisition, CPP Investments' Head of Portfolio Value Creation and non-executive director on the BAI Communications Board of Directors, Max Biagosch said: "This acquisition is an exciting and dynamic move for the BAI business and represents an attractive opportunity for CPP Investments to increase its financial commitments and generate long-term sustainable returns for our contributors and beneficiaries. It is a true enhancement of our broader portfolio, extending our investment in digital infrastructure which is critical to people and communities around the world as our lives become increasingly dependent on connectivity."

Ben Hawkins, Senior Vice President, Infrastructure & Renewable Resources, at Alberta Investment Management Corporation, a minority shareholder in BAI, said: "As a long-term investor, on behalf of our clients, we are proud to support the management team of BAI in its successful acquisition of Mobilitie. BAI has a demonstrated track record of successfully integrating companies as part of its growth strategy and realising the full value of the combined entities for all stakeholders."

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to BAI Communications and Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal advisor.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to Mobilitie and Goodwin Procter LLP served as legal advisor to Mobilitie LLC.

Cooley LLP served as legal advisor to Shamrock Capital.

About BAI Communications

BAI Communications designs, builds, and operates cellular, Wi-Fi, broadcast, radio, and IP networks around the world. We are engineering experts and technology innovators with proven experience in delivering the next wave of connectivity solutions through long-term partnerships with broadcasters, transit operators, governments, and MNOs. As a leading communications infrastructure provider, BAI's neutral host solutions connect people, enrich communities and advance economies. Our global operations span Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Hong Kong and the US, where we have a majority stake in Transit Wireless.

SOURCE BAI Communications
DALLAS, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The groundbreaking immigration law firm BAL is again ranked #1 for female attorney representation according to the National Law Journal's 2021 Women in Law Scorecard .

For the third year in a row, BAL tops the Scorecard, which ranks firms by adding their percentage of female attorneys and their percentage of female partners. At BAL, women make up 62% of the attorneys, nearly two-thirds (65%) of the firm's partners, and 42% of its owners.

"It's an honor to remain the industry leader in this category. Women not only make up the majority of attorneys at BALthey hold decision-making positions across the firm," says Managing Partner Jeremy Fudge, noting that women make up 73% of the firm's employees and 50% of its C-Suite leaders. "We hire the best legal talent in the industry, and we have been forward-thinking in creating policies and instilling a culture that make this a great place to work for women at every stage of their careers."

BAL has intentionally built a culture that values individuality while rewarding teamwork throughout its 40-year history. Though the firm has tripled its size since 2014 and grown 50% since 2018, it has maintained an inclusive culture, known as "oneBAL," that elevates female voices and enables collaborative problem-solving without the divisiveness that plagues many large law firms. The firm's leadership has adopted policies such as flexible schedules, remote work, expanded mental health support and unlimited vacation time that encourage work/life balance and resonate especially for female attorneys who are disproportionately impacted by parenting and caregiving responsibilities. In 2020, BAL formally established a DE&I Action and Advisory Board that launched firmwide focus groups seeking employee input and led to more than 40 employee-inspired initiatives that further promote diversity within the firm.

"I knew BAL was different from other law firms when I joined as an associate," says Senior Partner Frieda Garcia. "I've seen the firm flourish and change over the past two decades, but one thing has remained constantour culture that values every employee's unique talents, ideas and contributions." Garcia will be speaking at the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) annual conference in September with BAL Partner Kortney Gibson and Sr. Director of HR, Julie Dalton, about "Women, Diversity and Inclusion" and how organizations can achieve a collaborative workplace culture.

BAL has dominated industry gender and diversity rankings for the past several years, earning the top spot in multiple publications, including The American Lawyer's #1 Most Diverse Law Firm in the country (2020 and 2021), Law360's #1 Best Law Firm for Female Attorneys (2019 and 2020), #1 on Law360's Diversity Snapshot (2019 and 2020), and Law360's "Ceiling Smasher" list for highest percentage of female equity partners, five years in a row (2016-2020).

"I've been thrilled to step into the culture at BAL," says COO and Partner Leslie Rohrbacker, who joined the firm this month. "I've spent years of my career mentoring women through my work as a practicing lawyer and operational executive in various organizations and industries. While many firms struggle with representation and inclusion, that is clearly not the case at BALit's a special place where women thrive and are truly empowered to lead and making a positive difference in the lives of people all over the world."

About Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP (BAL)

BAL, one of the world's most recognized corporate immigration law firms, is the Best Lawyers " Law Firm of the Year " in U.S. Immigration Law for 2019, the Most Diverse Law Firm in America (2020 and 2021) and the Best Law Firm for Women (2019 and 2020). BAL's Cobalt digital immigration services platform won the 2020 CODiE Award for Best Legal Tech Product and the prestigious CIO100 award for Innovative Use of Intelligent Automation in Immigration Services. BAL is singularly focused on meeting the immigration challenges of corporate clients around the world in ways that make immigration more strategic and enable clients to be more successful. Established in 1980, BAL has consistently provided immigration expertise, top-notch information security and leading technology innovation. The firm entered into a strategic alliance with Deloitte UK to create the world's first global immigration service delivery model. BAL and its leaders are highly ranked in every major legal publication, including Best Lawyers, Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500, and Who's Who Legal. See website for details: https://www.balglobal.com/ .

SOURCE Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP

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CHICAGO, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Berlin Packaging, the world's largest hybrid packaging supplier, announced today the acquisition of Cannasupplies, one of Canada's largest suppliers of packaging solutions for the cannabis industry. The transaction expands Berlin Packaging's product offering for cannabis packaging and adds significant expertise in the Canadian cannabis end-market.

Formerly a division of PharmaSystems Inc., a leading supplier of hospital and pharmacy supplies, Cannasupplies has been at the forefront of cannabis packaging since 2014, with innovative packaging solutions for all categories of cannabis products and a deep understanding of the Canadian regulatory framework.

Cannasupplies will operate as a division of Consolidated Bottle Corporation, the Canadian packaging supplier Berlin Packaging acquired in November 2020. Consolidated Bottle provides packaging solutions across multiple end-markets, including personal care, pharmaceutical, food, beverage, and industrial, in addition to cannabis.

"Acquiring Cannasupplies positions Berlin Packaging to capitalize on the incredible opportunities in this rapidly growing industry, not only in Canada, but across the United States, as more states permit medical and recreational cannabis use," said Bill Hayes, CEO and President of Berlin Packaging. "Cannasupplies shares our entrepreneurial mindset, our drive for constant growth, and our commitment to compliant packaging solutions for our valued customers."

"Partnering with Cannasupplies will help us better serve our customers and will advance our business in the Canadian cannabis market," said Jonathan Rutman, CEO of Consolidated Bottle. "We are uniquely positioned in the Canadian market and this partnership will benefit our customers, our suppliers, and our employees."

"Cannasupplies has experienced meteoric growth, and our partnership with Berlin Packaging and Consolidated Bottle will accelerate this trajectory as we expand our cannabis packaging footprint across North America," said Mark Finkelstein, President of Cannasupplies.

Following the acquisition, the company will be known as Cannasupplies, a division of Consolidated Bottle Corporation. All Cannasupplies employees and locations will be retained.

About Berlin Packaging

Berlin Packaging is the world's largest Hybrid Packaging Supplier of glass, plastic, and metal containers and closures. The company supplies billions of items annually along with package design, financing, consulting, warehousing, and logistics services for customers across all industries. Berlin Packaging brings together the best of manufacturing, distribution, and income-adding service providers. Its mission is to increase the net income of its customers through packaging products and services.

See BerlinPackaging.com for more information.

About Consolidated Bottle, a Berlin Packaging Company

Established in 1910, Consolidated Bottle supplies innovative plastic, glass and metal containers and closures across various industries, including personal care, pharmaceutical, cannabis, food, beverage and industrial. With sales and warehouse operations in Toronto and Montreal, the company brings a unique service-oriented approach to their broad customer base including innovation & design, global sourcing, quality assurance, inventory control, and logistics management.

See ConsolidatedBottle.com for more information

Contact: Julie Saltzman, [email protected]

SOURCE Berlin Packaging
The first of its kind program allows retailers to have a store presence on Snapchat to engage with a unique and important audience base. Now, retail locations will have a means of connecting with customers in any of their preferred social habitats, thereby increasing brand awareness, positive sentiment, and consumer experience.

Brand Networks launched the pilot program with national retailer Walmart, with a goal of optimizing a cross-platform social media mix that allows for localized social to increase both overall audience size and impressions totals. Moving forward, the provider will seek additional qualified partners with which to scale the functionality.

"Our retail partners are seeking ways to meet consumers where they are," says Mike Garsin, Co-Founder & CEO at Brand Networks. "With this new technology solution, local stores can now engage their customers and drive sales with content that leverages Snapchat's unique creative capabilities and can't be replicated on any other social platform."

Initial results from the pilot confirm that customers are open to engaging with stores on the local level, with CPMs of local targeted ads outperforming retail benchmarks by nearly 50%.

For more details, reach out to [email protected]

About Brand Networks

Brand Networks enables the world's best brands to monetize their assets through our innovative products, technology, and services. Since 2006, the company has created marketing and advertising solutions that blend engineering and expertise to drive results across all social channels. More than 1,500 businesses have trusted Brand Networks to solve their newest and toughest challenges. Brand Networks has offices in Boston, Bentonville, Hyderabad, New York, Rochester, and Sydney. For more information, visit bn.co .

SOURCE Brand Networks

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LONDON, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The comprehensive report by TMF Group, a leading professional services firm, analyses rules, regulations, tax rates, penalties and compliance issues across 77 jurisdictions, accounting for 92% of the world's total GDP and 95% of net global FDI flows.

292 indicators are tracked annually, offering data on key aspects of doing business, including incorporation timelines, payroll and benefits, and staying compliant.

Brazil ranks as the most complex jurisdiction this year, leading a list of six Latin America countries in the top ten, with Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia and Costa Rica close behind. Brazil's ranking owes a lot to bureaucracy: businesses register with three different levels of authorities (federal, state and city) when incorporating. Furthermore, tax rates differ from city to city and state to state.



France and Poland top the European rankings as the 2nd and 10th most complex. Indonesia, at number six, is the only jurisdiction in APAC in the top ten.

Denmark and Hong Kong are the simplest jurisdictions, followed by the Cayman Islands, Ireland and Curacao. Denmark's success is driven by a straightforward incorporation process, acceptance of English documentation, and digitalisation.

The UK has moved down to 58th, meaning it is simpler to do business. The conclusion of Brexit, along with new international trade agreements, brings increased clarity and stability. Familiarity with digital tax processes has increased and the legislative environment stabilised  law changes resulting in greater economic substance requirements are unlikely to be approved within the next five years.

The United States continues to be an attractive destination, ranking 7th least complex. Factors driving ease of doing business include the three-week turnaround to incorporate via a single body, the ability to pay taxes from a foreign bank account, and that company directors need not be US residents.

TMF Group CEO Mark Weil said: "Our 2021 report is written in the shadow of Covid-19 and the disruptions to travel, trade and health that it has brought. Within that difficult backdrop, attracting and encouraging business investment remains a critical driver of the world economy and local prosperity, and we at TMF Group are pleased to play our part in encouraging simplification by regulators and governments.

"A continuing observation, from our eight years of reporting on complexity, is that some of the most attractive markets to operate in are both the most complex and the most punitive for getting things wrong. Firms typically have a small number of large bases, often in relatively simple locations to operate in. They then have a long tail of offices at lower scale in more complex locations. That exposure caused by their 'complex tail' is where risk concentrates."

In addition to analysing 77 locations, the report identifies key themes shaping the global business landscape and regulatory environment.

Stricter penalties

There has been a global increase in penalties for non-compliance. Fines are the most common penalty for accounting and tax misdemeanours, imposed for doing business without being tax registered in 93% of jurisdictions in 2021 compared to 84% last year.

Penalties are more stringent in complex jurisdictions. While 45% of jurisdictions globally can suspend an operating licence for doing business without being tax registered, this jumps to 70% in more complex jurisdictions. Since 2020, there has also been an increase in fines for errors in tax reporting and payment.

Rise of responsible governance

There is renewed focus on ensuring companies behave responsibly across all business activities, from employing workers to paying taxes and ensuring transparent structures.

Requirements such as UBO and PSC have remained steady since 2020, as has the percentage of jurisdictions adopting ownership records, demonstrating that transparency processes are consistent year-on-year. The report shows the requirement to provide UBO and/or PSC information to a central register is highest in EMEA at 82% of jurisdictions compared to 43% in APAC.

The mandated involvement of a third party in business operations has increased. In 2020, 17% of jurisdictions required that an entity appoint and register a certified accountant, compared to 27% in 2021.

Impact of Covid-19 on digitalisation, HR and payroll

Covid-19 has accelerated the trends toward process digitalisation and simplification of interactions between businesses and government authorities. In 2021 the automatic notification of all relevant state authorities when a company incorporates rose to 14% of jurisdictions globally, up from 6% in 2020.

Some jurisdictions are temporarily permitting digital signatures, a step which is predicted by our experts to become a long-term change. Conversely, there have been significant delays in jurisdictions such as Colombia and Argentina where in-person appointments are required to process incorporation documentation.

The report highlights how the pandemic has changed how companies manage employees. In 2021, 20% of jurisdictions allowed businesses to dismiss an employee without reason, falling from 29% in 2020. North America's 14 jurisdictions contributed most to this fall, with 64% permitting such dismissals in 2020 versus 23% in 2021.

Remote working and a globalised workforce bring challenges in hiring and payroll, across and within jurisdictions. In the US, Covid-19 has led to companies hiring remote workers in different states, bringing payroll challenges because income taxes are set and reported at state level.

Top and bottom ten 1. Brazil

2. France

3. Mexico

4. Colombia

5. Turkey

6. Indonesia

7. Argentina

8. Bolivia

9. Costa Rica

10. Poland 68. Mauritius

69. El Salvador

70. The Netherlands

71. United States

72. British Virgin Islands

73. Curacao

74. Ireland

75. Cayman Islands

76. Hong Kong

77. Denmark

For further information, please contact:

Giampaolo Arghittu, Global External Communications Manager

[email protected]

T: +44 7983314989

Daniel Resendes, External Communication Executive

[email protected]

T: +55 11 9 7477 5453

About TMF Group

TMF Group is a leading provider of critical administrative services, helping clients invest and operate safely around the world, with 9,100 experts and 120 offices in 85 jurisdictions.

www.tmf-group.com

SOURCE TMF Group

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VENTURA, Calif., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The 18-month pause on federal student debt due to the Covid-19 pandemic is ending soon. Many student-loan borrowers will soon have to start making payments again. With $1.7 trillion dollars in student debt nationally, the issue of unaffordable college and high unemployment in California needs to be addressed: 7.5% of Californians are unemployed with a disproportionate effect on Blacks and Hispanics.

Meet Kevin Paffrath For Governor

California Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate, Meet Kevin Paffrath, is proposing that students of Future Schools be given $2,000 per month. His Future School plan involves combining high school, college, financial education, and vocational schools for 70% of students. This would provide an optional career path for students in high school and adults over 18 who want to go back to school to get trained for a high-paying, in-demand career while being paid $2,000 per month. The focus is simple: Providing an educated workforce, focused on building individual wealth, and providing workers with careers where starting salaries are five to seven times higher than the poverty line.

Meet Kevin Paffrath will also be holding 10 rallies with giveaways starting July 2 and all Californians are invited:

July 2-4 Locations:

Fresno, CA : July 2 at 6 pm . San Jose, CA : July 3 at 10 am . Santa Rosa, CA : July 3 at 6 pm . Sacramento, CA : July 4 at 10 am . Chico, CA : July 4 at 6 pm .

July 9-11 Locations:

San Diego, CA : July 9 at 6 pm . Newport, CA: July 10 at 10 am . San Bernardino, CA : July 10 at 6 pm . Santa Monica, CA : July 11 at 10 am . Ventura, CA : July 11 at 6 pm .

Meet Kevin Paffrath's Full 20-Part Plan is available on his campaign website: MeetKevin.com. The plan now features a one-year, five-part Emergency Plan as part of his overall five-year, 20-part plan.

Media Inquiries: [email protected]

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TEL AVIV, Israel and BETHESDA, Md., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OTCQB: CNBX), a global leader in the development of cancer related cannabinoid-based medicine, released today the interim results of its second in-vivo POC study evaluating the efficacy of company's proprietary drug candidate RCC-33 for the treatment of colorectal cancer on mice. The study objective was to evaluate the potential efficacy of the RCC-33 drug candidate as a systemic treatment for colorectal cancer when administered orally. Interim study results confirmed the potential efficacy of RCC-33 as a systemic treatment for colorectal cancer when administered orally, showing a 30% reduction in tumor volume in comparison with sham control mice, after 24 days of treatment. The results indicated statistical significance with a p-value less than 0.05.

Inhibitory Effect of Cannabics RCC-33 (Oral Administration) on Tumor Growth in Mice Inoculated with Human Colorectal Cancer Cells (PRNewsfoto/Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc.)

The announcement comes following previously released in-vivo study results demonstrating a 33% reduction in tumor volume in mice treated with RCC-33 using intraperitoneal (IP) injection.

Gabriel Yariv, Cannabics Pharmaceuticals President & COO said: "Our first POC study in mice demonstrated that RCC-33 has potential anti-tumor effect on colorectal cancer. During the first POC study we used intraperitoneal (IP) administration, via injection to the abdomen, and while we were very pleased to see a 33% reduction in tumor volume, we did not know how RCC-33 would work when administered orally for systemic treatment. The leap between IP to oral administration is not a straightforward process, and it necessitated a great deal of attention. Today, after having seen the interim results, this second POC study is immensely important to us, as it reconfirms the potential of RCC-33 as a treatment candidate for colorectal cancer, as well as being efficacious via oral administration. This is another important step for us in the right direction".

Eyal Ballan Cannabics Pharmaceuticals CTO said "These positive results move us one step closer to in-human studies. After seeing the antitumor effect reconfirmed in this POC study, our next goal is to improve the bioavailability of the drug to be administered in our upcoming clinical studies".

About Cannabics Pharmaceuticals:

Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OTCQB: CNBX) is a U.S. public company and a global leader in the development of cancer related cannabinoid-based medicine. The Company's R&D is based in Israel, where it is licensed by the Ministry of Health to conduct scientific and clinical research on cannabinoid formulations and cancer. For more information, please visit www.cannabics.com. For the latest updates on Cannabics Pharmaceuticals follow the Company on Twitter @Cannabics, Facebook @CannabicsPharmaceuticals, LinkedIn, and on Instagram @Cannabics_Pharmaceuticals.

Disclaimer:

Certain statements contained in this release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other U.S. Federal securities laws. Such statements include but are not limited to statements identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "intends," "plans," "targets," "projects" and similar expressions. The statements in this release are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our Company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those outlined in the forward-looking statements. Numerous factors could cause or contribute to such differences, including, but not limited to, results of clinical trials and other studies, the challenges inherent in new product development initiatives, the effect of any competitive products, our ability to license and protect our intellectual property, our ability to raise additional capital in the future that is necessary to maintain our business, changes in government policy and regulation, potential litigation by or against us, any governmental review of our products or practices, as well as other risks discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including, without limitation, our latest 10-Q Report filed April 14th, 2021. We undertake no duty to update any forward-looking statement or any information contained in this press release or other public disclosures at any time. Finally, the investing public is reminded that the only announcements or information about Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc., which are condoned by the Company, must emanate from the Company itself and bear our name as its source.

For more information about Cannabics:

Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Phone: +1-(877)-424-2429

[email protected]

http://www.Cannabics.com

SOURCE Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc.

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MCLEAN, Va., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) today announced the company's Stress Capital Buffer Requirement ("SCB"), as calculated by the Federal Reserve 2021 Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review process ("CCAR"), is 2.5 percent, effective October 1, 2021. The company's previously disclosed SCB of 5.6%, as calculated by the Federal Reserve 2020 "CCAR" process, will remain in effect for the third quarter of 2021.



Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Capital One cautions readers that any forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and that actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information due to a number of factors, including those listed from time to time in reports that Capital One files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

About Capital One

Capital One Financial Corporation (www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries, which include Capital One, N.A., and Capital One Bank (USA), N.A., had $310.3 billion in deposits and $425.2 billion in total assets as of March 31, 2021. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One offers a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients through a variety of channels. Capital One, N.A. has branches located primarily in New York, Louisiana, Texas, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and the District of Columbia. A Fortune 500 company, Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF" and is included in the S&P 100 index.

For more investor news, visit Capital One Investor Relations .

SOURCE Capital One
WASHINGTON, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Chambers USA has recognized HaystackID, a specialized eDiscovery services firm supporting law firms and corporate legal departments, as one of the nation's premier eDiscovery litigation support providers.

In its analysis in the 2021 Chambers Litigation Support Guide, Chambers notes that "HaystackID is one of the companies that are really the development and engineering groups of the industry" and "they are homing in on finding more targeted and non-traditional ways of dealing with data." The company received a strong Band 3 rating and is among only 20 U.S. eDiscovery litigation support providers recognized and ranked in the guide.

"This industry recognition from Chambers USA continues to differentiate us from our peers," HaystackID CEO Hal Brooks said. "We are proud to be recognized as a top eDiscovery consulting and services company for law firms and legal departments as we continue broadening our cyber and legal discovery offerings in areas ranging from analytics to artificial intelligence."

Chambers USA also again recognized HaystackID Vice President and General Counsel Ashish Prasad as a top (Band 2) eDiscovery litigation support lawyer. HaystackID clients have said that Prasad is "widely recognized as one of the top experts in the field." He is one of only nine U.S. lawyers ranked as a leading eDiscovery lawyer.

"It is an honor to once again be recognized as a leading eDiscovery litigation support lawyer by this distinguished publication," said Ashish Prasad. "I'm grateful for our clients, partners and peers, who, like Chambers, continue to acknowledge our quality work and reputation year after year."

The Chambers Litigation Support Guide is a comprehensive guide to the leading professional services providers in key markets worldwide. Compiled by researchers and supported by hundreds of in-depth interviews with senior market leaders, the guide rates organizations and lawyers in key areas, including:

+ Technical Legal Ability

+ Professional Conduct

+ Client Service

+ Commercial Astuteness

+ Diligence

+ Commitment

+ Additional Qualities as Highlighted by Clients

The rating system for the litigation support guide consists of banded rankings for organizations and lawyers. These banded rankings are based on surveys and significant achievements, with an aggregate rating band assigned by Chambers to those recognized as worthy of inclusion in the guide. The bands range from Band 1 (highest) through Band 6 (lowest). However, being ranked in any band is considered a significant achievement.

About HaystackID

HaystackID is a specialized eDiscovery services firm that helps corporations and law firms securely find, understand, and learn from data when facing complex, data-intensive investigations and litigation. HaystackID mobilizes industry-leading cyber discovery services, enterprise managed solutions, and legal discovery offerings to serve more than 500 of the world's leading corporations and law firms in North America and Europe. Serving nearly half of the Fortune 100, HaystackID is an alternative cyber and legal services provider that combines expertise and technical excellence with a culture of white-glove customer service. In addition to consistently being ranked by Chambers, the company was recently named a worldwide leader in eDiscovery services by IDC MarketScape and a representative vendor in the 2021 Gartner Market Guide for E-Discovery Solutions. For more information about its suite of services, including programs and solutions for unique legal enterprise needs, go to HaystackID.com.

HaystackID Media Contact:

Leora Goldfarb

[email protected]

858-603-5123

Rob Robinson

[email protected]

512-934-7531

HaystackID on Social Media

+ Twitter (@HaystackID)

+ LinkedIn

SOURCE HaystackID

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THUNDER BAY, ON, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Clean Air Metals Inc. ("Clean Air Metals" or the "Company") (TSXV: AIR) (FRA: CKU) (OTCQB: CLRMF) announces that it has filed its condensed consolidated interim financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for the three-month period ended April 30, 2021, available for viewing on www.sedar.com.

Q1 Financial Highlights

Total assets as at April 30, 2021 of $37,914,067

of Total cash as at April 30, 2021 of $14,153,852

of Working capital as at April 30, 2021 of $10,929,432

of Shareholder's equity as at April 30, 2021 of $31,307,884

During the quarter ended April 30, 2021 as previously reported, the Company,

closed a bought deal private placement for total proceeds of approximately $11.5-million , consisting of: (i) 11,904,800 flow-through shares at a price of $0.42 per flow-through share; and (ii) 12,745,100 flow-through units at a price of $0.51 per flow-through unit, including the exercise of the underwriters' option.

, consisting of: (i) 11,904,800 flow-through shares at a price of per flow-through share; and (ii) 12,745,100 flow-through units at a price of per flow-through unit, including the exercise of the underwriters' option. Commenced a 30,000 meter diamond drill program with 2 drills at the Thunder Bay North project, with a focus on systematic step-outs between resource centers within the Escape Lake Deposit to add to the 505,369 oz palladium equivalent (PdEq) indicated mineral resource at 3.67g/t PdEq in 4,286,220 tonnes, published on January 20, 2021 .

. Mobilized a third drill and is budgeting 15,000m of drilling to focus on six high-priority massive sulphide targets at the base of the Escape and Current deposit magma conduits and possible additional accretive resource delineation drilling at the adjacent Current Lake deposit, building on the indicated mineral resource of 1,328,789 oz PdEq at an average grade of 3.44 g/t PdEq in 11,999,177 tonnes, defined in the mineral resource update dated January 20, 2020 .

of drilling to focus on six high-priority massive sulphide targets at the base of the Escape and Current deposit magma conduits and possible additional accretive resource delineation drilling at the adjacent Current Lake deposit, building on the indicated mineral resource of 1,328,789 oz PdEq at an average grade of 3.44 g/t PdEq in 11,999,177 tonnes, defined in the mineral resource update dated . Mineral resource estimates for both deposits are reported pursuant to the January 20, 2021 NI 43-101 Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate for the Thunder Bay North Project, Thunder Bay, Ontario , prepared by Nordmin Engineering Ltd. with QP Glen Kuntz, P.Geo, as posted to SEDAR on March 4, 2021 .

Financial Summary









For the three months ended

April 30, 2021 April 30, 2020





Operating Expenses $ 747,134 $ 637,242





Net Loss and Comprehensive

Loss (47,741) (640,324)





Loss per share 



Basic and Diluted $ (0.00) $ (0.03)













April 30, 2021 January 31, 2021





Total Assets $ 37,914,067 $ 27,146,884





Total Liabilities 6,606,183 3,923,352





Total Shareholders' Equity $ 31,307,884 $ 23,223,532

Full details of the financial reports and operating results for the three-month period ended April 30, 2021 are described in the Company's condensed consolidated interim financial statements with accompanying notes and related Management's Discussion and Analysis, available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

CEO of Clean Air Metals, Abraham Drost, MSc, P.Geo. stated that " Clean Air Metals presents its quarterly financial statements for the first quarter ending April 30, 2021 in the normal course in keeping with the highest standards of corporate disclosure. Exploration and development work continues apace at Thunder Bay North, with three drills turning 24/7. The drilling is consistently hitting new mineralization and the Company is advancing and optimizing an internal engineering and metallurgical testing process looking to publish benchmark results later in the year."

COVID Policy

Clean Air Metals continued to apply COVID-19 avoidance and personal protection measures for its geological staff, drilling contractor and service suppliers during the third quarter. Personnel are required to maintain physical distance, use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), self-monitor and self-isolate or elect to work from home. Management had previously eliminated plans for a camp setup to service a planned diamond drill campaign on the Escape Lake Project. The Company is aware of Thunder Bay Health Unit guidelines that provide for "mandatory" self-isolation for returning overseas and inter-provincial travel. The guidelines also "strongly recommended" self-isolation after travel into the Northwest region from other areas of the Province. Mineral Exploration and Development has been deemed an essential service in the Province of Ontario (http://www.netnewsledger.com/2020/03/23/ontario-covid-19-business-allowed-to-remain-open-list-march-23-2020/). The Company has procured the services of a locally staffed and serviced diamond drilling contractor to complete the diamond drilling programs.

Qualified Person

Mr. Allan MacTavish, P.Geo. a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 and VP, Project Manager of the Company, has reviewed and approved all technical information in this press release.

Social Engagement

Clean Air Metals Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary Panoramic PGMs (Canada) Ltd. acknowledge that the Thunder Bay North Project is on the traditional territories of the Fort William First Nation, Red Rock First Nation and Biinjitiwabik Zaaging Anishinabek. The parties together are the Cooperating Participants in a Memorandum of Agreement dated January 9, 2021 and the issue of Warrants, reported January 28, 2021.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Abraham Drost"

Abraham Drost, Chief Executive Officer of Clean Air Metals Inc.

Website: www.cleanairmetals.ca

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

Cautionary Note

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of technical studies, benchmark reports, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections.

SOURCE Clean Air Metals Inc.

Related Links

https://www.cleanairmetals.ca/


TEL AVIV, Israel, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

Solution built on open-source stack, leveraging Cloudify's version 6 service orchestration for multi-Kubernetes clusters and Capgemini Engineering's Open RAN DU and CU software powered by Intel FlexRAN L1 to deliver end-to-end network slicing on top of the Amazon Web Services (AWS), CloudNative and DevOps stack.

Multi Vendor, layered and modular : Solution created and designed to support multi 5G vendors to save cost and effort often associated with handling complex integration work - as well as minimizing any potential vendor lock-in.

Cloudify now provides support for on-premises environments based on VMware, OpenStack - allowing smooth transformation to cloud native and public cloud from existing networks.

Proven Agility: Cloudify, AWS, Intel and Capgemini Engineering were able to deliver full 5G network slicing including a vRAN stack within a few weeks, handling new updates within a few hours.

Solution will be demonstrated at MWC - within AWS Virtual Village: sign up here.

Project serves as an entry point to features arriving in Cloudify's version 6 (Q3 2021) which will include service orchestration for multiple Kubernetes clusters, support for Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) and AWS Outposts discovery, and batch updates to simplify deployment and continuous update to a distributed cluster.

Cloudify, a leading multi cloud and edge service orchestration and automation platform, recently announced a collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS),Intel and Capgemini Engineering dedicated to streamlining transformation process of telcos and enterprises to public cloud based infrastructure using open source cloud native and DevOps based architecture - also known as an agile first approach.

This project saw this collaboration deliver complex industry automation challenges in a real carrier environment within a few weeks - adding new updates within a few hours, and replacing an entire 5G core between two different vendors within 3 weeks.

Aimed at both vendors and carriers that are looking to accelerate their transformation into cloud native and public cloud by adding a multi-Kubernetes cluster service orchestration, the results of this project led to a faster time to market, a significant drop in transformation costs, and future proofing offerings for the next generation cloud era.

This project serves as an entry point to features arriving in Cloudify's version 6 (Q3 2021) which will include service orchestration for multiple Kubernetes clusters, support for Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) and AWS Outposts discovery, and batch updates to simplify deployment and continuous update to a distributed cluster.

"Cloudify's management and orchestration solution with its full integration to AWS services such as AWS CloudFormation, AWS CodePipeline, Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon EKS  alongside its support to provision workloads and clusters on-premises such as AWS Outposts, or on Amazon EKS anywhere  make it a great solution to support 5G network slicing use cases."'Implementing 5G Network Slicing with Cloudify on AWS.'

"We are excited to see the network transformation momentum extend to the RAN in a Cloud environment. The industry is rapidly moving towards virtualization of the RAN leveraging Intel's investments in our FlexRAN software for the last decade, with the successful completion of various proofs of concepts, trials and global deployments on hardware based on Intel processors, accelerators, FPGAs, and ethernet adapters," said Cristina Rodriguez, VP and GM Wireless Access Network Division at Intel. "This collaboration with Cloudify, Altran, and AWS, demonstrates a cloud native vRAN based on the latest Intel technology and software, and showcases the performance and agility that will unleash the full potential of 5G."

"This incredible collaboration really does demonstrate a total rewrite on how network automation and 5G can operate in a post public cloud world." says Ariel Dan, CEO of Cloudify. "AWS allows us to create a successful and open multi-vendor solution without integration complexity, allowing us to focus on the next challenge - changing management across the entire stack using an agile first approach."

The solution will be demonstrated in the upcoming MWC Barcelona virtual event in June 2021, sign up here.

In addition, Cloudify can now be found on the AWS Marketplace.

To learn more about this specific project and to learn how it can translate to your use case, please join our webinar which will feature the key players behind this project: https://cloudify.co/aws-5g-cloudify/

Press Contact:

Jonny Rosen, Cloudify

[email protected]

SOURCE Cloudify
AI engineering is an emerging field of research and practice that combines the principles of systems engineering, software engineering, computer science, and human-centered design to create AI systems in accordance with human needs for mission outcomes. This discipline will help the Department of Defense and other government agencies meet mission goals by developing and deploying AI systems that are scalable, robust and secure, and human centered.

The new SEI AI Division will focus on research in applied artificial intelligence and the engineering questions related to the practical design and implementation of AI technologies and systems. The division will draw on work done by the SEI Emerging Technology Center (ETC), which has initiated and nurtured AI engineering at the SEI.

Gaston, who joined the SEI in 2011, is currently director of the ETC, which is focused on applying new software technologies to gain leap-ahead mission capabilities for the DoD and other government agencies. Under his leadership, the ETC research portfolio has grown to include work in advanced computing, applied artificial intelligence and machine learning, and human-machine interaction. Gaston also holds an appointment as adjunct associate professor in the CMU Institute for Software Research.

"Carnegie Mellon University recognized early on the promise of AI to enable better, faster decisions at scale," said CMU Vice President for Research J. Michael McQuade. "Researchers at CMU created the first AI computer program in 1956 and since then have conducted pioneering work in self-driving vehicles, facial recognition, and natural language processing. CMU was also the first U.S. university to offer an undergraduate degree in AI. It is critical for the U.S. government to bring engineering discipline to AI as a key enabler for national security, and it is particularly fitting for the Software Engineering Institute to contribute to this discipline because of the university's long history of leadership in this area."

Before joining the SEI, Gaston was research director at Viz, a business area of General Dynamics C4 Systems, where he led research activities for the Battle Management System Division. Prior to Viz, he served as the technical director of the Advanced Analysis Laboratory at the U.S. National Security Agency.

"The Department of Defense sponsored the SEI in 1984 to bring engineering discipline to the creation and acquisition of software. Our goal in forming and growing the SEI AI Division is similarto transform the creation of AI systems from one-time, custom-crafted solutions into repeatable, scalable, and reliable programs and services that can help the DoD achieve mission success," said Paul Nielsen, SEI director and CEO. "Matt's real-world knowledge and experience from industry, the DoD, and the intelligence community will help the DoD and other government agencies assure that AI capabilities meet mission needs now and in the future."

Gaston has published in the fields of complex networks, machine learning, multi-agent systems, and operations research. He earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Notre Dame and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

"I am very excited to lead the new SEI AI Division and to scale the SEI's AI engineering capabilities in support of defense and national security," said Gaston. "Using our initial work in the Emerging Technology Center and across the SEI as a foundation, we plan to build on the strong legacy of software engineering research at the SEI, initiate exciting new projects, work closely with world-class AI researchers across CMU, and build a community of collaborators throughout government, industry, and academia."

For more information about AI engineering at the SEI, see https://sei.cmu.edu/our-work/artificial-intelligence-engineering/index.cfm.

About the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute

The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense and operated by Carnegie Mellon University. The SEI works with organizations to make measurable improvements in their software engineering capabilities by providing technical leadership to advance the practice of software engineering. The CERT Division of the SEI is the world's leading trusted authority dedicated to improving the security and resilience of computer systems and networks and a national asset in the field of cybersecurity. For more information, visit the SEI website at http://www.sei.cmu.edu.

SOURCE Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute (SEI)
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This all-in-one platform was designed to equip users with all necessary tools needed to complete the entire buying/sales cycle in a single workspace.

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BizVibe has been conceptualized and built by a team based out of Toronto, Bangalore, and London. We are a branch of Infiniti Research and have dedicated units in all three locations. BizVibe helps buyers find the most relevant suppliers from around the world and help sellers target prospects who need their products and/or services. For more information, please visit www.bizvibe.com and start for free today.

Contact

BizVibe

Jesse Maida

Email: [email protected]

+1 855-897-5880

Website: https://www.bizvibe.com/

SOURCE BizVibe
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Convey Holding Parent, Inc. (NYSE: CNVY) ("Convey"), a leading healthcare technology and services company, today announced that Arjun Aggarwal is moving into an advisory role for Convey and joining Rubicon Founders ("Rubicon") as an Operating Partner. Arjun was previously the co-head of Convey's Advisory Services segment alongside Kyle Stern, who will become sole head of the Advisory Services segment and lead over 130 full time advisors for Medicare Advantage plans.

Stephen Farrell, CEO of Convey, commented, "I am excited to continue our relationship with Arjun as an advisor, investor and industry partner to Convey." We are grateful for his contributions and look forward to working closely with him and Rubicon going forward."

Rubicon was founded by Adam Boehler, former Director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Adam Boehler commented, "Rubicon is focused on building and growing transformational healthcare companies and wants entrepreneurial partners like Convey to provide technology and advice. I am looking forward to partnering with Arjun and to continue to develop our relationship with Convey."

Arjun Aggarwal said, "I look forward to driving future success as I continue my partnership with Convey in both my advisory and Rubicon roles."

Mr. Farrell continued, "We are focused on driving shareholder returns by increasing revenue, earnings, and cash flow from operations. We achieved $59.6 million of Adjusted EBITDA and $0.5 million net loss from continuing operations in the twelve months ended March 31, 2021, and are targeting long-term revenue growth in excess of 15% annually and long-term Adjusted EBITDA growth in excess of 20% annually. As a sign of senior management's commitment and confidence, we purchased over $1.9 million in stock on June 18, 2021."

About Convey

Convey is a specialized healthcare technology and services company that is committed to providing clients with healthcare-specific, compliant member support solutions utilizing technology, engagement, and analytics. Convey's administrative solutions for government-sponsored health plans help to optimize member interactions, ensure compliance, and support end-to-end Medicare processes. By combining its purpose-built technology platforms with dedicated and flexible business process solutions, Convey creates better business results and better healthcare consumer experiences on behalf of business customers and partners. Convey's clients include some of the nation's leading health insurance plans and pharmacy benefit management firms. Convey's healthcare-focused teams help millions of Americans navigate the complex Medicare Advantage and Part D landscape.

Non-GAAP Financial Measure

The non-GAAP financial measure shown in this press release excludes various items detailed further below.

We define EBITDA as net loss from continuing operations adjusted for depreciation and amortization, net interest expense and income tax provision. We define Adjusted EBITDA as EBITDA further adjusted for certain items of a significant or unusual nature, including change in fair value of contingent consideration, cost of COVID-19, non-cash stock compensation expense, transaction related costs and certain other costs.

A reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to the most directly comparable GAAP measure is included below. Adjusted EBITDA is not calculated in accordance with, and is not an alternative for, comparable financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP, and our calculation of Adjusted EBITDA may differ from similar non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. Management believes that the presentation of non-GAAP results, when shown in conjunction with corresponding GAAP measures, provides useful information to management and investors regarding financial and business trends related to Convey's operating results.

Reconciliation to Adjusted EBITDA



For the twelve

months ended March

31, 2021

(In Millions) Net loss from continuing operations (0.5) Depreciation and amortization 28.6 Interest expense, net 20.1 Income tax provision (1.6) EBITDA, excluding discontinuing operations $ 46.6



Other Adjustments

Change in fair value of contingent consideration (10.8) Cost of COVID-19 10.5 Non-cash stock compensation expense 4.4 Transaction related costs 4.9 HealthScape and Pareto acquisition bonus 1.7 Other* 2.3 Adjusted EBITDA $ 59.6

* Other includes other individual immaterial adjustments related to legal fees associated with obtaining the incremental loans, contract termination costs assessed upon the early termination of a facility lease, severance costs incurred as a result of eliminating certain positions, management fees, and professional fees for assistance in the implementation of ASC 606.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Certain matters discussed in this press release, including, but not limited to, the statements regarding our intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, our financial performance; financial condition; operations and services; prospects; growth and strategies, are "forward-looking statements" intended to qualify for the safe harbors from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "predict," "project," "target," "potential," "seek," "will," "would," "could," "should," "continue," "contemplate," "plan" and other words and terms of similar meaning. Any such statements, other than statements of historical fact, are based on management's current expectations, estimates, projections, beliefs and assumptions about Convey, and its industry. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond Convey's control, difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. Such statements speak only as of the time when made, and Convey undertakes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law.

Media Contact



Tom Pelegrin

Senior Vice President & Chief Revenue Officer

[email protected]

SOURCE Convey Health Solutions

Related Links

http://www.conveyhealthsolutions.com


SHERMAN OAKS, Calif., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Freshstart Lending, a division of LendingUSA, offers a new way to scale and increase cash flow for debt settlement companies through an early graduation loan. In addition to benefiting the debt settlement companies, this provides a fast track to financial recovery for clients.

LendingUSA

After making six months of consecutive on-time payments towards their debt settlement program, clients may be eligible to move to Freshstart's loan program to begin their financial recovery. In traditional debt settlement programs, this process may take years. Only after that time has elapsed will all their enrolled debt be settled.

By taking on clients for six rather than 36 months, debt settlement companies can transform their cashflow and accelerate fee payment. When costs per client decrease with a solution such as the Freshstart early graduation loan, it becomes easier to scale business as it grows.

Early graduation loans allow debt settlement companies to potentially save thousands of dollars on overhead by reducing the servicing time required for each eligible client. Overhead expenses can lower as debt settlement companies move along their clients faster.

With Freshstart Lending, debt settlement companies are paid up-front and in full when they utilize their clients' early graduation loans to pay off enrolled debts. The only cost to the debt settlement company is a fee per funded loan. "Freshstart Lending offers both a flat fee and a percentage, so debt settlement companies can decide what works best," explains David Rueda, Executive Vice President at LendingUSA.

"For most debt settlement companies the [flat fee] is an easier way to manage it internally," says Teresa Dodson, CEO & Founder of Greenbacks Consulting, Inc. Additionally, a flat fee can be more beneficial as debt settlement companies scale their business. While some may wonder why they must pay a fee, Teresa explains that it's important to look at the larger scope of the debt settlement business.

Freshstart Lending offers a solution for both debt settlement companies and their clients. Clients may start their financial recovery faster, and debt settlement companies can enjoy improved cashflow, scalability, and customer satisfaction.

About LendingUSA

LendingUSA is an award-winning point-of-sale fintech company that offers merchants a seamless financing solution with access to loan decisions in seconds, promotional financing terms, and low monthly payment options for its customers across various niche markets. Founded in 2015, LendingUSA has enrolled over 10,000 merchants nationwide and has processed over $2 billion in borrower loan requests. LendingUSA is committed to creating the best financing experience available through its proprietary point-of-sale lending solution. The company boasts a consumer rating of 4.8 out of five stars on BirdEye. All loans are made by Cross River Bank, a New Jersey state-chartered bank, Member FDIC.

Press Contact

Alex Lancaster, Content Marketing Manager

[email protected]

Related Images

image1.jpg

SOURCE LendingUSA
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Detraxi LLC Announced today that it has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the US Space Force. Detraxi has the opportunity to participate in Customer Discovery with key U.S. Space Force stakeholders and compete for a United States Space Force Pitch Day SBIR Phase II on-the-spot contract award at the upcoming inaugural SFPD event from Aug 18-19.

Detraxi has developed intellectual property and partnerships to virtualize satellite networking, move network management to the cloud and make SatComs more flexible, efficient and agile. The Detraxi team has been part of the U.S. Space Force initiative to identify and demonstrate a faster and smarter strategy in technology investments and partnerships with small and non-traditional businesses.

"We are honored to be among this esteemed group," said Michael Spytek, President and Co-Founder of Detraxi. "The Department of Defense has recognized the importance of Commercial SatComs aligned with small business innovation to their strategy. They also recognize that the satellite industry has largely missed the bus on adopting cloud technology to enable greater capability, resiliency and security while lowering the cost. We are very excited to be working with Space Force to help bring the next generation of satellite capability to the war fighter."

Detraxi LLC is an innovative technology company developing disruptive cloud based solutions for the next generation satellite network. This architecture, known as Apparition, is powered via a virtualized ecosystem and managed through a cloud computing infrastructure. The result is a truly digital platform that is highly flexible and scalable, easily adaptable, incrementally upgradeable, futureproofed, delivers an ideal environment for DevSecOps development, and enables operational digital twins allowing seamless transition from simulation to reality. For more information visit us at www.detraxi.io

Contact: [email protected]

Phone: 727-560-0216

SOURCE Detraxi LLC

Related Links

www.detraxi.io


NEW YORK, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Zinnov, a global management and strategy consulting firm, announced that Prasamit Kalita, an expert in Digital Transformation, with more than 15 years of experience in the Banking & Financial Services and Insurance sector, has joined the firm's Digital Practice as an Emerging Tech leader. Prasamit is based out of New York and will be advising clients on their modern tech strategy, with a special focus on BFSI companies.

Adoption of emerging technologies such as Cloud, Quantum Computing, 5G, Cybersecurity, NLP, Blockchain, Big Data, etc., across nearly every vertical has increased in recent years as companies begin to understand the strategic business value of this emerging technology stack. To unsheathe true value, enterprises are channelizing investments to fully leverage Cloud, investing in 5G, as well as modern technologies such as Quantum Computing and Qubits. The decision on how much to invest, how to prioritize investments, leveraging technology and building relevant capabilities to create a defensible moat, are still aspects that enterprises are grappling with.

"As enterprises strengthen their positioning and ride the wave of disruptions, they are increasingly leveraging modern technologies such as Cloud, AI, IoT, Big Data, Security, etc., to truly become autonomous. This has further been catalyzed by COVID shining a spotlight on the criticality of future-proofing businesses to withstand external shocks to become truly antifragile. Prasamit's experience in the emerging tech space will be a critical asset as we empower our enterprise customers in their own technology evolution. We're thrilled to have him on the team."  Praveen Bhadada, Managing Partner, Zinnov

"We are excited to have Prasamit join our expanding Digital Practice in the US. His exemplary track record in orchestrating Digital Transformation initiatives across Operations, Business Effectiveness, Intelligence, Corporate Risk Management, Legal, Compliance, and Governance disciplines, coupled with his expertise in partnering with business leaders, defining corporate strategy, building intelligence networks, and standardizing risk appetite strategy, will be key assets in helping our enterprise customers achieve their long-term scaling goals."  Sean Bouani, Partner, Zinnov

Prasamit's expansive experience spans across verticals  at global financial giant, Deutsche Bank; financial technology and media conglomerate, Thomson Reuters; global consulting firm, EY; and his latest stint as a sociopreneur at TPI. He has worked with CXOs and digital transformation leaders to implement various applications in his stint at Deutsche Bank and Thomson Reuters. Prasamit has collaborated and led both technical and business teams to design end-to-end digital solutions, delivering high value ROI to all stakeholders involved.

"I'm delighted to be joining Zinnov, given their rich insights, knowledge, and experience in the Emerging Tech space. Zinnov's remarkable reputation for being a customer-centric consulting firm that prides itself on delivering deep insights focused on business and technology ROI for its clients, was one of the biggest draws for me to join the company. I hope to continue that tradition as I work closely with Fortune 500 and enterprise customers to accelerate and optimize their portfolios in the emerging tech space to deliver long-term value in the United States."  Prasamit Kalita, Principal, Zinnov

For an interview with Prasamit Kalita, please drop a note to [email protected].

About Zinnov

Founded in 2002, Zinnov is a global management consulting firm, with a presence across 4 continents. Zinnov has successfully delivered high value business transformation to 250+ Fortune 500 enterprises enabling them to accelerate their Digital Transformation outcomes by leveraging technologies such as Hyper Intelligent Automation (HIA), AI/ML, Cloud, IoT, etc.

Media Contact

Nitika Goel

Chief Marketing Officer

Zinnov

[email protected]



SOURCE Zinnov
NEW YORK, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bernstein Liebhard, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf to investors who purchased or acquired the securities of Danimer Scientific, Inc. ("Danimer Scientific" or the "Company") (NYSE: DNMR) from October 5, 2020 through May 3, 2021 (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

If you purchased Danimer Scientific securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Danimer Scientific Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Joseph R. Seidman toll free at (877) 779-1414 or [email protected]

The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, defendants made false and misleading statements and failed to disclose that: (i) Danimer Scientific had deficient internal controls; (ii) as a result, Danimer Scientific had misrepresented, among other things, its operations' size and regulatory compliance; (iii) defendants had overstated Nodax's biodegradability, particularlyn in oceans and landfills; and (iv) as a result, Danimer Scientific's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On March 20, 2021, the Wall Street Journal published an article stating, among other things, that Danimer Scientific's "many claims about Nodax are exaggerated and misleading." On this news, the Company's stock price fell $6.43 per share, or almost 13%, to close at $43.55 per share on March 22, 2021, thereby injuring investors.

On April 22, 2021, Spruce Point Capital Management ("Spruce Point") published a report noting various inconsistencies with Danimer's historical and present claims regarding the size of its operations, Nodax's degradability, and the Company's expected profitability. On this news, Danimer's stock price fell $2.01 per share, or 8.04%, to close at $22.99 per share on April 22, 2021, further injuring investors.

Finally, on May 4, 2021, Spruce Point published an additional report alleging that Danimer Scientific had "wildly overstated" its production figures, pricing, and financial projections based on documents obtained through the Commonwealth of Kentucky's Department of Environmental Protection, casting serious doubt on the integrity of the Company's internal controls. On this news, Danimer's stock price fell $1.49 per share, or 6.31%, to close at $22.14 per share on May 4, 2021, further injuring investors.

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than July 13, 2021. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.

If you purchased Danimer Scientific securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit https://www.bernlieb.com/cases/danimerscientificinc-dnmr-shareholder-class-action-lawsuit-fraud-stock-402/apply/ or contact Joseph R. Seidman toll free at (877) 779-1414 or [email protected]

Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for ten consecutive years.

ATTORNEY ADVERTISING.  2021 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. The lawyer responsible for this advertisement in the State of Connecticut is Michael S. Bigin. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.

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Bernstein Liebhard LLP

https://www.bernlieb.com

(877) 779-1414

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DALLAS, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In the U.S., low-income children are more likely to suffer from undiagnosed vision problems and have a higher rate of unmet vision care needs. IT solutions company iSteer is helping to bridge the vision care gap through its support of Essilor Vision Foundation (EVF).

iSteer provides its customers with technology solutions and products derived from decades of cross-industry experience and expertise. The company is one of EVF's newer donors and has contributed $50,000 to the foundation since 2019. Sanjay Kommera, iSteer Senior Vice President of Technology says, "iSteer is privileged to donate to EVF. We are honored to be a part of the noble cause of giving children the ability to see clearly and empowering them to reach their full potential."

Untreated vision problems can negatively affect kids' educational achievement. iSteer's contributions support EVF's initiatives to help all children have vision such as Kids Vision for Life (KVFL). KVFL brings vision services to low-income children at no cost to the family through mobile clinics at schools and community events. Each mobile clinic provides on-site vision exams and glasses. To maintain safety protocols during COVID-19, glasses are cut and edged after the clinics and are distributed within a week of the event.

iSteer's donations also enable EVF to educate parents and kids about the importance of clear vision through the school-based Champions for Sight program. Teachers and school nurses are often the first adults to recognize that a child may have a vision problem, and EVF supports their commitment by providing free educational resources to use in the classroom and at home.

"Essilor Vision Foundation refers to vision impairment as an invisible problem because , unlike hunger or tooth decay, children often don't know they can't see clearly. To them, blurry eyesight is normal," says Becky Palm, President and Executive Director of EVF. "The good news is 80% of all vision impairment can be treated or cured, often with a pair of eyeglasses, and with iSteer's support, we can continue to ensure that kids across the U.S. get the vision care they need to succeed in school and in life."

Visit www.evfusa.org to learn more about how EVF and its donors are working to bring vision services to those who need them the most.

We strive to give children a brighter future by helping them see the world more clearly. Since 2007, Essilor Vision Foundation has provided more than 1.5 million pairs of eyeglasses to individuals in need. Essilor Vision Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public, nonprofit organization committed to eliminating poor vision and its lifelong consequences. To learn more visit www.evfusa.org.

Contact:

Meredith Marmurek

[email protected]

214-850-3642

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Essilor Vision Foundation logo

SOURCE Essilor Vision Foundation
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Contact

BizVibe

Jesse Maida

Email: [email protected]

+1 855-897-5880

Website: https://www.bizvibe.com/

SOURCE BizVibe
OKLAHOMA CITY, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Express Employment Professionals, the leading global staffing provider franchise, announced today its first place accolade in Franchise Update's third annual Franchise Innovation Awards for the Most Innovative Employee Hiring in honor of its drive-thru job fairs. The events, which Express launched at the onset of the pandemic, placed more than 5,000 unemployed workers into new careers.

"Today we are reminded of our system's incredible ability to adapt during a time when the global workforce was hit hardest," said Bill Stoller, CEO of Express Employment Professionals. "In spite of the difficulties in the job market, our network of franchisees and their teams pushed through, allowing innovation to shine, all while helping businesses and community members create relationships to further career development. Today, we look forward to continuing this success and developing meaningful initiatives all while helping the market recover from a strenuous year."

Express Employment Professionals Awarded First Place In Most Innovative Employee Hiring Category Tweet this

While unemployment rates rose in all 50 states, and the nationwide average peaked at an unprecedented 14.8% in April 2020, Express' drive-thru job fairs provided job seekers with the opportunity to drop off their resume, apply for open positions, and learn more about employment opportunities, all in a mobile setting that allowed for social distancing. A majority of fairs took place in high-visibility locations such as parking lots or business complexes. For each fair, Express staff created two traffic lanes where they captured job seekers' information and collect their resumes and, after analyzing the information submitted, employers instructed the job seekers to complete an application either online or in-person at a later date.

The 2021 Franchise Innovation Awards had more than 100 entrants competing in four categories: Marketing & Branding, Products & Services, Operations, and Human Resources. A jury of seven judges evaluated each nominee's innovation, objectives, and results to identify and recognize the franchisors creating and implementing the most original and successful innovative strategies and tactics to build their brand.

Express Employment Professionals is the number-one flexible staffing franchise for people, communities and businesses. The company works with job seekers to help them find the right job for their skills and experience, and annually employs over 552,000 people across 830+ franchise locations worldwide. Express has been recognized as the staffing category leader on Entrepreneur magazine's prestigious and highly competitive Franchise 500 ranking of the top franchise opportunities for 11 consecutive years and its franchisees have average annual sales per territory of over $5.4 million in the U.S.

Express's long-term goal of putting a million people to work annually is at the heart of its company's vision: to help as many people as possible find good jobs by helping as many clients as possible find good people. The brand is actively seeking qualified candidates to help grow its footprint throughout the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. To learn more about franchise opportunities with Express Employment Professionals, contact Vinny Provenzano, Vice President of Franchising, at [email protected] or visit www.expressfranchising.com.

ABOUT EXPRESS EMPLOYMENT PROFESSIONALS

At Express Employment Professionals, we're in the business of people. From job seekers to client companies, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Our international network of franchises offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve across the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, employing 526,000 people globally in 2020. For more information, visit www.ExpressPros.com.

Contact:

Paige Alonso

Fish Consulting

954-893-9150

[email protected]

SOURCE Express Employment Professionals

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STATE COLLEGE, Pa., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- First National Bank, the largest subsidiary of F.N.B. Corporation (NYSE: FNB), announced that it has appointed Anthony M. Marfisi as Regional Market Executive and President of its Central Mountain Region. Marfisi is moving into the role from his position as Regional Manager of Commercial Banking in the Bank's Pittsburgh Region.

Marfisi is responsible for markets including State College, PA, where he is based, as well as Altoona, Bedford, Hollidaysburg, Johnstown, Selinsgrove and Williamsport. He oversees the Commercial Banking function in these markets, as well as the deployment of FNB's cross-functional business model, which leverages collaboration between business units to develop client solutions and ultimately deliver a seamless customer experience.

"FNB's approach to banking is rooted in our commitment to the local communities that we serve," said Vincent J. Delie, Jr., Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of F.N.B. Corporation and First National Bank. "Tony has achieved impressive results in his time with FNB, and combined with our experienced Central Mountain team, his leadership will be additive to our success and the value we provide to commercial and consumer banking clients in the region."

Marfisi joins FNB's experienced local management team, which includes Nicholas Gates and William Joseph, Regional Managers of Commercial Banking, who he directly oversees, as well as Aaron Whysong, Regional Banking Executive, and Gregory Winger, Regional Credit Officer. This entire team is based in the market.

With a background including nearly 40 years in financial services, Marfisi was hired by FNB in 2005. Previously, he held roles in Commercial Banking, Retail Banking and Credit with National City Bank and its predecessor banks. He earned his bachelor's degree in business administration and finance from La Roche University and is a graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Georgetown University. Marfisi is committed to community involvement, currently serving as the Chair of the Resource Development Committee and as a member of the Executive Committee for the Sarah Heinz House, and looks forward to becoming actively engaged in his new markets.

FNB's Central Mountain Region spans 14 counties in Central Pennsylvania and includes a network of more than 40 convenient branch locations.

About F.N.B. Corporation

F.N.B. Corporation (NYSE: FNB), headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a diversified financial services company operating in seven states and the District of Columbia. FNB's market coverage spans several major metropolitan areas including: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; Cleveland, Ohio; Washington, D.C.; and Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham and the Piedmont Triad (Winston-Salem, Greensboro and High Point) in North Carolina. The Company has total assets of more than $38 billion and nearly 340 banking offices throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, D.C. and Virginia.

FNB provides a full range of commercial banking, consumer banking and wealth management solutions through its subsidiary network which is led by its largest affiliate, First National Bank of Pennsylvania, founded in 1864. Commercial banking solutions include corporate banking, small business banking, investment real estate financing, government banking, business credit, capital markets and lease financing. The consumer banking segment provides a full line of consumer banking products and services, including deposit products, mortgage lending, consumer lending and a complete suite of mobile and online banking services. FNB's wealth management services include asset management, private banking and insurance.

The common stock of F.N.B. Corporation trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "FNB" and is included in Standard & Poor's MidCap 400 Index with the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) Regional Banks Sub-Industry Index. Customers, shareholders and investors can learn more about this regional financial institution by visiting the F.N.B. Corporation website at www.fnbcorporation.com .

SOURCE F.N.B. Corporation

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CARRBORO, N.C., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fleet Feet today announced the promotion of Jason Jabaut to chief operating officer, effective immediately. The move comes as the brand realigns the organization and formalizes its strategic plan for future growth around business development, brand awareness and customer retention.

Jabaut joined Fleet Feet as an operations analyst in 2006. During his tenure with the company, he has supported nearly every area of the business, including franchise development, vendor management and operations. Most recently, Jabaut served as vice president of e-commerce, overseeing all digital operations for Fleet Feet's e-commerce platform, which grew 200% in 2020.

"This past year has confirmed the importance of having the right people in the right positions at Fleet Feet," said Joey Pointer, CEO and president of Fleet Feet. "I am excited about Jason's evolution with the brand. He has been with Fleet Feet for 15 years, and deeply understands and cares about our culture. I am incredibly confident in his ability to take on this new role and continue to ensure that as we grow, we do so with the same conviction and thoughtfulness that we have done during his tenure."

In his new role, Jabaut will oversee three business units for the brand, with each unit's leader reporting directly into him, including retail operations for franchise and company-owned stores, led by Matt Werder; purchasing and vendor management, led by Catherine Moloznik; and, digital and distribution center operations, led by Jon Davis, who has been promoted to senior director of digital operations and distribution. Pointer will continue to oversee business development, led by Ben Cooke; finance, led by Brian Breedlove, who has been promoted to vice president of finance; human resources, led by Dani Tiltgen; and marketing, led by Ellen Donahue.

"I've had the privilege to learn almost every aspect of Fleet Feet's business these past 15 years, and am honored and excited to take on this new role," said Jabaut. "We're in a strong position within our industry, and I look forward to identifying and implementing new opportunities to continue to drive our strategic, long-term initiatives forward."

In addition to formalizing a new leadership and organizational structure, several new hires, and internal promotions and moves have been made to support Fleet Feet's future growth.

Robust Brick-and-Mortar & E-Commerce Sales

Fleet Feet's sales have seen their strongest months in the company's 45-year history. March 2021 was the company's all-time highest sales month with system-wide sales up 24% compared to its previous highest sales month in June 2020. This strong performance trend continued in April and May, as the combined brick-and-mortar sales were up 34%, and digital sales were up more than 300% compared to April and May 2019.

To support retail operations, Fleet Feet hired Jessica Dailey as retail operations coordinator and promoted Sara Wickman to national field marketing manager, a new role to spearhead local retail activation.

To support the continued growth with the digital customer experience, Fleet Feet hired Melissa Harward as email marketing specialist. Harward is responsible for maintaining and supporting Fleet Feet's email marketing campaigns, a new role for the brand. Additionally, Fleet Feet promoted Kate Schwartz to senior content marketing specialist, Carrie Taylor to customer care manager and Shelby Gardner to digital product specialist.

Quickly Approaching 200 Stores

This year, Fleet Feet has opened five new storesmost recently opening its fourth location in Cincinnati, Ohiobringing the total store count to 186. The brand expects to open an additional eight stores by the end of the year in markets across the country, including expanding its presence in Austin, Texas and Charleston, S.C.

"We're exploring new markets with franchisee and operating partners, and looking to double-down in markets we believe are poised for continued growth," said Pointer.

To support store and market expansion, Fleet Feet promoted Wisam Ali to franchise sales and development coordinator.

Talent Acquisition, Retention & DEI Remain Top Priorities

Fleet Feet has a continued focus on talent acquisition and recruitment, especially at the store level, and has hired Jamal Shipp as talent acquisition manager. Shipp is responsible for attracting top candidates to the organization, identifying internal talent for growth opportunities, and building comprehensive strategies around employment branding, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives.

"Our employees are the lifeblood of Fleet Feet, which means finding the best talent is critical for success," said Pointer. "Building a People First culture, and providing opportunities for personal growth and development are at the core of our strategy, so every current and future employee from the store level to Store Support Team and Distribution Center knows Fleet Feet is invested in them and their long-term future with the brand."

Fleet Feet continues to invest in its supply chain infrastructure further building out its roster of full-time employees. The company promoted Anthony Pendola to senior manager of distribution and Ashley Vorshak to operations manager. Stacy Stover has been hired as data coordinator to manage vendor product catalogs, SKU maintenance, and monthly markdowns, as well as assisting with maintaining the distribution center's databases. Additionally, Fleet Feet hired 13 new fulfillment associates.

Further supporting its centralized buying and distribution system for footwear, ensuring the right product assortment is in each market and flowing from distribution centers to stores, Fleet Feet promoted Nick Krouse to senior manager of the footwear category, and hired Kim AuBuchon as footwear buyer to assist with sales analysis, product performance reporting, forecasting and assortment creation.

Jennifer Weidenburner has been promoted to assistant controller, and Ashley Arnold and Coleman Conley received title changes to better reflect their roles within the company; Arnold is now head of content and Conley is manager of business intelligence.

Additionally, five operating partners have been promoted to manage stores in new markets. Chris Braker now oversees the Fleet Feet stores in Syracuse, N.Y., Hannah Schwab oversees the store in Delray Beach, Fla., Scout Judd oversees the store in Mishawaka, Ind., Lisa Stanford oversees the store in Pleasanton, Calif., and Nick Stump oversees Fleet Feet's flagship store in Sacramento, Calif.

In 2020, Fleet Feet prioritized a transparent and focused approach in tackling the underrepresentation of the Black community within its system, from customers to employees to franchise owners. Outlined on its DEI page on FleetFeet.com, Fleet Feet prioritized two key pillarspeople and partnershipand listed its 2021 commitments. Accountability and progress in both areas are available on FleetFeet.com.

For more information about Fleet Feet and to learn about open positions, visit www.fleetfeet.com, and follow Fleet Feet on Facebook , Instagram and YouTube .

About Fleet Feet

Founded in 1976, Fleet Feet is the largest franchisor of locally owned and operated running stores with 186 locations in 37 states and a national headquarters in Carrboro, N.C. Committed to offering personalized outfitting, robust running programs and rewards, community support and outreach, and 24 / 7 brand access at fleetfeet.com, each Fleet Feet location serves runners based on the belief that RUNNING CHANGES EVERYTHING. Stay inspired, motivated, and connected @fleetfeet.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Alexya Williams

Fish Consulting

[email protected]

SOURCE Fleet Feet
DORDRECHT, Netherlands, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fluitec is pleased to announce that Solvancer, a patent-pending deposit control technology, has been registered as a trademark by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Solvancer technology eliminates lubricant deposits such as varnish and sludge quickly, affordably and with no risk. Solvancer is the key ingredient in a number of Fluitec's products including DECON, DECON AO, DECON AW, Boost VR+ and Infinity TO (Turbine Oil).

Solvancer technology eliminates lubricant deposits such as varnish and sludge quickly, affordably and with no risk. Solvancer is the key ingredient in a number of Fluitec's products including DECON, DECON AO, DECON AW, Boost VR+ and Infinity TO

The combination of our in-depth expertise and industry-leading technology enables plant managers, maintenance managers and reliability engineers to easily reduce maintenance costs, increase reliability and efficiency while having a positive impact to their sustainability efforts. The use of these products which include Solvancer technology means solving bearing temperate issues, sticking servos, filter blockages and minimizing unexpected shutdowns without having to stop output or production.

Solvancer technology has proven very successful, with widespread adoption in petrochemical, power generation, mining, marine and manufacturing such as plastic mold injection equipment.

"We believe the registration of the Solvancer trademark with the USPTO helps strengthen the solutions branding in the markets we serve," said Josh Wagner, Fluitec's Director of Marketing and IT. "By further establishing and validating the Solvancer brand, we believe we can address the costly and persistent challenges lubricated and hydraulic equipment face today."

About Fluitec:

Fluitec is the innovator to measure, monitor, decontaminate and extend the life of industrial fluids. Fluitec uses key technologies to transform lubricants into assets while reducing the impact on the environment. Fluitec has a team of internationally recognized experts that centers around increasing the reliability and profitability of manufacturing plants, rotating equipment and transportation industries. Fluitec's technologies also reduce waste streams and lower CO2 output. Fluitec provides rapid return investments that allow our customers to merge economics with sustainability.

Press Contact: Josh Wagner | Director of Marketing & IT | [email protected] | +1 201-946-4584

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Solvancer receives trademark registration

Solvancer technology eliminates lubricant deposits such as varnish and sludge quickly, affordably and with no risk. Solvancer is the key ingredient in a number of Fluitec's products including DECON, DECON AO, DECON AW, Boost VR+ and Infinity TO

SOURCE Fluitec
LONDON, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- GSMA today declares commercial readiness of the "GSMA eBusiness Network", a new private-permissioned industry-wide blockchain network. The first suite of GSMA applications hosted on the network aims to transform the wholesale roaming clearing and settlement process. The network has the potential to support a wide range of operator business requirements.

The move follows almost four years of collaborative research between GSMA and six global mobile operator groups who were the founding members of the Blockchain for Wholesale Roaming (BWR) initiative convened by the GSMA. Together with GSMA, the six operators  Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier, CK Hutchison, Orange, Telefonica, Verizon, and Vodafone  consolidated several successful proof of concept trials using blockchain technology into a minimum viable product (MVP). The effort successfully delivered an open-source blockchain solution that automates the operations of the wholesale roaming settlement process.

This solution informs the GSMA eBusiness Network and its suite of wholesale roaming service applications. These new GSMA roaming services have the potential to ensure faster, more transparent, accurate and secure roaming operations for global mobile operators. They will also safeguard underlying processes, including clearing, rating, charging, and settlement for improved revenue assurance. These GSMA services were developed independently of the BWR effort. Characterised by openness and transparency, GSMA roaming services are aligned with BWR's open-source principles and specifications, particularly realising a multi-party, multi-vendor, and ledger-agnostic environment on the GSMA eBusiness Network.

"The combination of increasing international data flows and momentum around 5G and IoT create a natural impetus to overhaul existing wholesale roaming practices. Harnessing the potential of blockchain to automate processes and mitigate inefficiencies is a crucial step towards strengthening the global mobile ecosystem and enhancing inter-operator connectivity," said Alex Sinclair, CTO, GSMA.

Innovating Together

Collaboration has been central to the development of the BWR MVP solution, concluded in May 2021. During this process, the BWR participants and GSMA focused on technical, governance and functional aspects of the blockchain solution, along with detailed requirements and architecture definitions, software development and testing.

"The work during the BWR initiative is a testament to the power of industry-wide collaboration despite the challenges of the pandemic. It's an exciting opportunity to create distributed trust between operators and enable the automation of complex business processes. The benefits we identified during development were encouraging: swifter exchanging of information, securing roaming wholesale discount agreements, agreeing transactions and settlement fees built on the immutable features of blockchain was impressive," said the operators who took part in the BWR initiative.

The Bigger Business Picture

The GSMA eBusiness Network is built on Hyperledger Fabric, a distributed ledger technology. It has the potential to support secure and transparent inter-operator settlements through decentralised applications and facilitate the digital transformation of wholesale roaming by improving operational efficiency, cutting costs, and mitigating errors and disputes.

Anticipating the success of the BWR MVP development effort, in December 2020, GSMA selected Mobileum, a leading provider of analytics-driven technology solutions, as the technology partner to develop a commercial-grade industrywide blockchain network. Now GSMA is working with the operator community and their ecosystem partners to onboard them to the network.

Mr Sinclair continued, "Legacy wholesale roaming clearing and settlement exchange technology is complex, which is why blockchain technology is ideally suited to this application. Longer-term, the solution will allow operators to focus all their efforts on improving value and service for subscribers, rather than losing time managing disputes and rectifying errors. Through the GSMA eBusiness Network, operators will have access to a system capable of automating business processes that will become ever more complex as we enter an era of connectivity defined by 5G and IoT."

Looking to the Future

The GSMA eBusiness Network and the new blockchain-enabled roaming services are just the start of a digital transformation journey that will expand to other industry use cases. They lay the groundwork for delivering applications that leverage the full-integrated potential of technologies such as cloud computing, edge computing, quantum computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning. In an effort to ensure the GSMA eBusiness Network continues to evolve, GSMA will work with the participants of the BWR initiative to innovate further.

About GSMA

The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting more than 750 operators with almost 400 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces the industry-leading MWC events held annually in Barcelona, Africa, Los Angeles and Shanghai, as well as the Thrive Series of regional conferences. For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter: @GSMA.

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SOURCE GSMA

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DUBLIN, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Solar Water Pump Market 2020-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global solar water pump market is expected to grow at a considerable CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period (2021-2027).

Solar water pumps are gaining prominence as they run on electricity generated by solar panels which results in relatively lower emissions. The major factors that are augmenting the growth of the solar water pump market include cohesive government policies, increasing the need for alternative energy sources, and increasing renewable energy generation.

The support by the government authorities is witnessed majorly in the emerging economies such as India and China, to shift trend towards solar PV by replacing diesel pumps. For instance, Under the Madhya Pradesh Mukhyamantri Solar Pump Subsidy Scheme, in India (2021), free solar pumps will be provided to the farmers by replacing the diesel pumps.

Furthermore, increasing urbanization, the need for clean and potable water, shortage of electricity and fuel, and rising demand for solar pumps in domestic applications are some of the other factors that are estimated to fuel the market growth, during the forecast period.



However, certain factors are affecting the growth of the market. Higher initial investment costs could be a barrier to market growth. Although despite the initial investment costs, once installed, the solar water pumps can be used as an affordable source of electricity to reduce energy bills.



Segmental Outlook



The market is segmented based on type, end-user, and application. By type, the market is segmented into surface water pumps and submersible water pumps. Submersible water pumps hold a significant market share in 2020. The market growth is driven by increasing investments in the construction industry for rapid growth in urbanization and high demand for the submersible pump in the agriculture field for deep well pumping and irrigation system.

Some of the submersible water pump providers include Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd., Grundfos Pumps Corporation, KIRLOSKAR BROTHERS LIMITED, and Topsun Energy Ltd.



Global Solar Water Pump Market Share by Type, 2020 (%)



Regional Outlooks



The global solar water pump market is analyzed based on the geographical regions that are contributing significantly towards the growth of the market. Based on the geography, the market is fragmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World. Asia-Pacific is estimated to be one of the major markets for the solar water pump.

China and India are the two leading countries in the region owing to favorable government initiatives and policies. For instance, under the PM Kusum scheme, the Central Government of India is giving a 30% subsidy.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme was initiated by the Government of India to increase the income of farmers and provide sources for irrigation and de-dieselize the farm sector.



In addition to this, growth in industrialization and increasing electricity demand in several industries including agriculture are also some of the driving factors contributing towards the growth of the market in the Asia-Pacific. An increase in the need for irrigation systems in countries including Morocco, Nigeria, Namibia, and Kenya, in the African region with favorable weather conditions will contribute to the growth of the market.

Market Players Outlook



Key players of the solar water pumps market include Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd., Grundfos Pumps Corp., Bright Solar Ltd., LORENTZ, Shakti Pumps Ltd., C.R.I. Pumps Private Ltd. and SunEdison, Inc.

To survive in the market these players adopt different marketing strategies such as mergers, acquisitions, product launches, and geographical expansion, among more.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Report Summary

1.1. Research Methods and Tools

1.2. Market Breakdown



2. Market Overview and Insights

2.1. Scope of the Report

2.2. Impact of COVID-19 on the Market

2.3. Analyst Insight & Current Market Trends

2.3.1. Key Findings

2.3.2. Recommendations

2.3.3. Conclusion



3. Competitive Landscape

3.1. Key Strategy Analysis

3.1.1. Overview

3.1.2. Financial Analysis

3.1.3. SWOT Analysis

3.1.4. Recent Developments

3.2. Key Strategy Analysis



4. Market Determinants

4.1. Motivators

4.2. Restraints

4.3. Opportunities



5. Market Segmentation

5.1. Global Solar Water Pump Market by Type

5.1.1. Surface Water Pumps

5.1.2. Submersible Water Pumps

5.2. Global Solar Water Pump Market by Application

5.2.1. Agriculture

5.2.2. Water Supply

5.2.3. Others

5.3. Global Solar Water Pump Market by End-User

5.3.1. Small-Scale Based

5.3.2. Large-Scale based



6. Regional Analysis

6.1. North America

6.1.1. United States

6.1.2. Canada

6.2. Europe

6.2.1. UK

6.2.2. Germany

6.2.3. Italy

6.2.4. Spain

6.2.5. France

6.2.6. Rest of Europe

6.3. Asia-Pacific

6.3.1. China

6.3.2. India

6.3.3. Japan

6.3.4. South Korea

6.3.5. Rest of Asia-Pacific

6.4. Rest of the World



7. Company Profiles

Alpex Solar Pvt. Ltd.

Bright Solar Ltd.

C.R.I. Pumps Private Ltd.

Grundfos Pumps Corp.

Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd.

JJ PV Solar

Kirloskar Brothers Ltd.

LORENTZ

Lubi Electronics

. Rainbow Power Company Ltd.

Shakti Pumps ( India ) Ltd.

) Ltd. Span Pumps Pvt Ltd.

SunEdison, Inc.

Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd.

Topsun Energy Ltd.

Udhaya Semiconductors Ltd.

Waaree Energies Ltd.

Symtech Solar Group.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/kzgtuu

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

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"As we embark on our next generation of growth to serve more seniors, the community and each other, we know our seniors and employees continue to deserve the best," said Eric Gurley, Immanuel president and CEO. "Part of these efforts is ensuring all Immanuel employees are paid a wage that offers the opportunity to grow and develop at work and at home."

The pay increases are only part of Immanuel's efforts to transform their work environment to further meet the needs of both senior residents, participants and employees. Over the next year, the organization will be introducing career pathing opportunities, a robust leadership competency program, hospitality training and more ways for employees to grow personally and professionally. This is in addition to Immanuel's existing employee benefit program that includes continuing education assistance, paid volunteer time off, and their Helping Hands Assistance Fund, a unique program that lends a financial hand to employees experiencing an unforeseen hardship or challenge.

"Our frontline and behind-the-scenes teams have gone above and beyond over the last year to protect the health and wellbeing of those we serve. That dedication has not gone unnoticed. We expect the best of our employees and are encouraging them to hold us to the same standard. When we're all working at our best, that means incredible experiences for the seniors we serve," said Gurley.

The Immanuel team will significantly expand in the coming months. The organization recently announced the acquisition of two additional communities, Grand Lodge at The Preserve of Lincoln, Neb., and Deerfield of Des Moines, Iowa. Immanuel will assume ownership of these communities, and further expand their reach in Nebraska and Iowa on Aug. 1, 2021.

"At Immanuel, we're proud to be here for people, not for profit. We're here to provide exceptional experiences to the seniors we serve and we're here to provide an extraordinary work environment for health professionals to thrive," said Gurley.

Since 1887 Immanuel has been providing Christ-Centered Service to Seniors, Each Other and the Community. As a not-for-profit, serving arm of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) Immanuel's house of brands includes: Immanuel Classic Courtyards, Lifestyle Villages, Signature and Care Communities, Lakeside Lofts, Immanuel Pathways, Immanuel Community Foundation and The Immanuel Vision Foundation.

Immanuel owns and operates 14, 55+ active living, independent living, assisted living and long-term care retirement communities on nine campuses; Immanuel Pathways operates three PACE Centers in Iowa and Neb.; the Immanuel Community Foundation, a Resident Assistance Fund provides financial assistance to independent living residents; and the Immanuel Vision Foundation extends financial support to non-profit, charitable 501(c)(3) organizations that share purposes in alignment with Immanuel's service centered mission.

Learn more at Immanuel.com

MEDIA CONTACT:

Jennifer Knecht

Vice President Marketing, Sales and Communications

Immanuel

1044 N 115th Street, Suite 500, Omaha, NE 68154

Telephone: (402) 829-2929

[email protected]

SOURCE Immanuel

Related Links

immanuel.com


SALT LAKE CITY, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at ISTE Live 2021, Instructure launched the Canvas for Elementary user experience, a combination of features that make Canvas more user-friendly for elementary students. The new features were developed using feedback collected during the pandemic and thoughtfully designed to more closely mimic an elementary school classroom, supporting both in-person and hybrid learning environments. Among the updates are a new dashboard, subject cards, and schedule to orient the student when logging in and help them focus on what needs to be accomplished.

Visit the Canvas booth at #ISTELive, and check out the " Canvas for the Littles " presentation today, June 28, at 11:00 am PDT / 2:00 pm EDT.

Instructure intros new Canvas for Elementary at #ISTELive2021 to make Canvas more user-friendly for elementary students Tweet this

"The most important factor in any educational setting is high-quality teaching," said Trenton Goble, VP of K-12 Strategy at Instructure. "Since hybrid learning will continue to impact schools, our job is to develop resources that enable that amazing teaching and engagement to shine through in a variety of environments. We know that younger learners have different needs and priorities, and this new bundle of features makes it even easier for elementary age students to use Canvas."

Last week Instructure released new research that explores how the pandemic has impacted K-12 education. The report found that hybrid teaching and learning will continue. 81% of educators say that technology will become increasingly important in teaching and learning moving forward, and 67% believe remote learning will impact classroom practices in the future. At the same time fostering and maintaining student engagement is critical, with 92% of teachers ranking it as the number one priority.

"Canvas for Elementary will provide our students and teachers with a simplified interface that allows students to get where they need to be quickly, focus on the learning, and lessen the possibility of getting lost along the way," said Adam Wiseman, Digital Learning and Innovation Coordinator for McDowell High School in Marion, North Carolina. "Additionally, it aids the teacher in streamlining the learning experience for students, while still giving the teacher access to all the Canvas features and customization they are used to. As a result of the success of Canvas for Elementary, our future goal is to push Canvas district-wide."

Canvas for Elementary is now available to all Canvas users at no additional cost, and includes:

Homeroom Dashboard

The new visual dashboard creates a digital classroom that more closely reflects the physical classroom experience for elementary students, giving them confidence to use the online tools in Canvas LMS.

Improved Accessibility & Visual Navigation

Updated fonts make letters and numbers more distinguishable, while meeting accessibility guidelines. All tabs include an icon that makes it easier for young readers to navigate with visual cues. Easy-to-access tabs provide overviews of schedules and grades for all subjects.

Personalization & Welcome Features

To make learning more personal for the student, the new homeroom dashboard will welcome the student with their name when they log in. For further personalization, teachers are able to add text and video announcements to help orient their students to priorities for the day or week.

Subject Cards

The Homeroom Dashboard is organized in subjects (instead of courses) to reflect the typical elementary classroom experience where students are in one class, with one teacher, learning multiple subjects each day. Subject cards can easily be renamed and may include valuable information for students, like which assignments are due, any missing assignments, and announcement teasers specific to the subject.

Schedule

Similar to an agenda students would see every day on a whiteboard, the student schedule is a student overview of their schedule by day. For remote learning and video calls, there will be an easy link to class conferences so students can quickly know where and when to attend.

Comment Library

The new Comment Library saves teachers time by allowing them to choose from common feedback to submitted student work, so students know how they did and how they can improve.

Student Annotations

Teachers can upload a file as a student annotation assignment giving students the ability to annotate the assignment within the LMS using Canvas.

ABOUT INSTRUCTURE

Instructure is an education technology company dedicated to elevating student success, amplifying the power of teaching, and inspiring everyone to learn together. Today the Instructure Learning Platform supports more than 30 million educators and learners around the world. Learn more at www.instructure.com .

CONTACT:

Maggie Quale

Corporate Communications

Instructure

831.325.7943

[email protected]

SOURCE Instructure Canvas

Related Links

http://www.instructure.com


PHOENIX, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CopperPoint Insurance Companies, a western-based super regional commercial insurance company, announced today that Mr. Ken Kirk and Mr. Steve Tully have been re-elected to the Board of Directors of CopperPoint Mutual Insurance Holding Company. Mr. Kirk was also re-elected by the Board to remain Chairman of the Board while Mr. Tully continues to serve as Vice-Chair of the Board and Chair of the Nomination & Corporate Governance Committee.

The results of this election were announced at the board meeting held on June 22, 2021. Mr. Kirk and Mr. Tully will each serve three-year terms. Survey & Ballot Systems, an independent election administrator, conducted the voting process.

"Our Board of Directors contribute significantly to our corporate vision and success," said Marc Schmittlein, President and Chief Executive Officer, CopperPoint Insurance Companies. "We thank Ken and Steve, along with our entire Board, for their leadership, guidance and support as we continue to expand and grow our western-based super regional commercial insurance company."

About CopperPoint Insurance Companies

Founded in 1925, CopperPoint Insurance Companies, www.copperpoint.com, is a leading provider of workers' compensation and commercial property and casualty insurance solutions. With an expanded line of insurance products and a growing 10 state footprint in the western United States, CopperPoint is in a strong position to meet the evolving needs of our brokers, agents and customers. It has $4.97 billion in total assets and an enterprise surplus of over $1.4 billion.

CopperPoint Mutual Insurance Holding Company is the corporate parent of CopperPoint Insurance Companies, Pacific Compensation Insurance Company and Alaska National Insurance Company. All companies are rated A (Excellent) by AM Best.

SOURCE CopperPoint Insurance Companies

Related Links

www.copperpoint.com


MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kinecta Federal Credit Union has announced the winners of its highly anticipated 2021 "Youth Scholarships and Teaching Grants for Growth" program. After receiving 128 scholarship and 30 teaching grant applications, eight students and six teachers were selected to receive $2,000 each.

Additionally, the Board of Directors for Innovision Society, an affiliate of Kinecta dedicated to financial empowerment, awarded five more Kinecta student applicants a $2,000 scholarship each.

This was also the first year Kinecta Executives provided a $5,000 scholarship to help the child of a Kinecta employee with tuition expenses. The company's inaugural REDCAP scholarship was created to reflect Kinecta's core values (Resourceful, Ethical, Dependable, Caring, Accountable, Passionate).

Kinecta leaders honored all of the winners during a recent virtual awards reception.

"Kinecta is committed to helping students reach their full potential and teachers enhance their classroom offerings," said Latrice McGlothin, Executive Director, Kinecta Community Foundation. "We are proud to offer over $40,000 in total to these deserving individuals especially during a time their achievements may have been overshadowed by the pandemic."

Over the past 15 years, Kinecta has awarded nearly $265,000 to help 109 students towards a higher education and 30 teachers fund classroom projects through its "Youth Scholarships and Teaching Grants for Growth" program.

Winners were chosen by the Scholarship Program Selection Committee composed of 20 Kinecta employees. Eligible students submitted a written essay on one positive outcome they received that came from the pandemic. Applications were scored based on the essay, community involvement, GPA, awards and achievements, and extracurricular activities.

The teachers' grants were awarded based on educational program vision, the creativity of the project, and the number of students impacted.

A list of scholarship and grant winners can be found at https://www.kinecta.org/community/scholarships.

About Kinecta Federal Credit Union

Kinecta Federal Credit Union is the country's 35th largest credit union, with assets of $6.4 billion and 285,000 member-owners. Our 800+ employees serve members from 31 branches, a variety of specialty offices, and highly responsive call centers on both coasts. Banking the Southern California area for more than 80 years, with recent expansion to Northern California, New York, and New Jersey, Kinecta offers its members a full range of financial products through the Credit Union and its subsidiaries, Kinecta Wealth Management and Kinecta Insurance Services. Daily Breeze readers have named Kinecta a top South Bay credit union for the past 10 years, and Kinecta was voted Easy Reader's 2020 "Best of the Beach" Credit Union.

SOURCE Kinecta Federal Credit Union

Related Links

www.kinecta.org


Kornbluh, who served as a history professor at UK, is a nationally respected educator, author and administrator whose extensive research spans U.S. history, oral history and academics in the age of the internet. Prior to his roles at UK, Kornbluh taught at Michigan State University from 1994 to 2009, rising from assistant professor to professor and department chair. He has also held positions at Washington University, Rice University and Oklahoma State University.

"We could not have hoped for a better-qualified candidate for the provost's position, and are delighted that Mark Kornbluh will be joining the university," said Wayne State President M. Roy Wilson. "I have tremendous confidence in his ability to help us advance our mission and look forward to his guidance and leadership in all academic matters at Wayne State University."

Kornbluh has published numerous articles and reviews on subjects including oral histories in a digital age, civics and civil rights, digital humanities, and the preservation of African American history. He is the author of the book Why Americans Stopped Voting: The Decline of Participatory Democracy and the Emergence of Modern American Politics.

Kornbluh previously served as the executive director of H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online, an independent, nonprofit association that offers an open academic space for scholars. Kornbluh's research has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the U.S. Department of Education, the National Historic Publications and Records Administration, the National Science Foundation, the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, and the Ford and Mellon Foundations, among many others.

He replaces Laurie Lauzon Clabo, who has served as interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs since August 2020. Clabo will resume her responsibilities as dean of the College of Nursing.

As Wayne State's chief academic officer, Kornbluh will be Wayne State's second-ranking executive officer, responsible for all matters related to the instructional mission of the university, student performance and retention, and academic personnel policies and decisions, among other duties.

"I am honored to have been selected to serve as the next provost of Wayne State," said Kornbluh. "It is clear that the university is committed to excellence in education and impact, and I look forward to collaborating with the community."

Kornbluh holds a B.A. in history and political science from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in history from Johns Hopkins University.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering approximately 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 26,000 students.

SOURCE Wayne State University

Related Links

http://www.wayne.edu


Olunloyo will be responsible for leading and coordinating all aspects of the LGA business associated with digital transformation and business development to achieve the growth opportunities in the US market. He will be a key member of the executive leadership team and lead the strategic direction and management of the business with emphasis on Information Technology, Marketing, Operations, and Underwriting & Actuarial.

Commenting on his new role, Olunloyo stated, "It's an exciting time to be joining our LGA business, which has a great opportunity for tech-driven growth in the US life market. I am looking forward to the challenge of working in a new market, serving customers directly and building strong relationships with my new team."

Mark Holweger, President and CEO of LGA said, "We are thrilled to be welcoming Mr. Olunloyo to our team, bringing his leadership skills and proven track record of embracing new technologies to drive business performance."

Olunloyo has been Chief Executive Officer of Legal & General Reinsurance (L&G Re) since 2017. Prior to becoming Chief Executive Officer, he had served as Chief Actuary and Chief Investment Officer since 2014. During his tenure, Olunloyo has led L&G Re's development into new markets and new technologies, including spearheading the L&G Group's first Pension Risk Transfer (PRT) transaction in Canada and embracing the use of blockchain and automation for the PRT business. Prior to joining Legal & General Reinsurance, Olunloyo served as a Pricing and Product Development Actuary at MetLife in the UK. Olunloyo has an MA from the University of Oxford and is a Fellow of the UK Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

Olunloyo plans to reside in Bethesda, MD.

Notes to editors

About Legal & General America

Legal & General America is part of the worldwide Legal & General Group. For over 70 years, the Legal & General America companies have been in the business of providing financial protection through life insurance for American families. The Legal & General America companies are Banner Life Insurance Company and William Penn Life Insurance Company of New York. With more than $57 billion in new coverage issued in 2020, LGA is ranked in the top ten of U.S. life insurers and ended 2020 with in excess of $782 billion of coverage in force with 1.5 million U.S. customers. LGA shares Legal & General's independent financial strength ratings: A+ Superior from A. M. Best and AA- Very Strong from Standard and Poor's and Fitch. For more information, please visit https://www.lgamerica.com.

SOURCE Legal & General America (LGA)

Related Links

https://www.lgamerica.com


ORLANDO, Fla., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Legion Capital Corporation (OTCQX:LGCP), a FinTech enabled, specialized business lender, today announced that Chairman James Byrd will present live at VirtualInvestorConferences.com on July 8th, 2021. Mr. Byrd will discuss current trends in the specialized lending industry, as well as growth and other opportunities for Legion Capital.

DATE: Thursday, July 8th

TIME: 12:00PM-12:30PM

REGISTRATION LINK: https://bit.ly/3uitlI1

This will be a live, interactive online event where investors are invited to ask James Byrd and the company questions in real-time. If attendees are not able to join the event live on the day of the conference, an archived webcast will also be made available after the event.

It is recommended that investors pre-register and run the online system check to expedite participation and receive event updates.

Learn more about the event at www.virtualinvestorconferences.com.

Recent Company Highlights

Forged a leadership position in specialized lending to early-stage real estate and housing developers in the rapidly growing Central Florida Real Estate Market

Reached profitability in Q1 2021

Qualified $40mm Reg A offering through the Broker-Dealer Network

Enhanced and expanded GoLegion Investor Portal for Direct Investors and Broker Dealers

About Legion Capital:

Legion Capital (Ticker Symbol: LGCP) is a FinTech enabled, publicly traded specialized business lender providing growth capital to small and medium sized companies. Legion provides bridge funding, acquisition finance, development, and growth capital in a highly customized and expeditious manner, addressing a large and growing segment of small business lending that is under-served by banks and institutions.

Legion Capital serves our Investors and Financial Advisors through a suite of diversified equity and debt investment products, many of which offer attractive yields, non-correlation to traditional financial markets, and defined liquidity dates. For more information, please visit www.LegionCapital.com.

About Virtual Investor Conferences

Virtual Investor Conferences (VIC) is the leading proprietary investor conference series that provides an interactive forum for publicly-traded companies to meet and present directly with investors.



A real-time solution for investor engagement, Virtual Investor Conferences is part of OTC Market Group's suite of investor relations services specifically designed for more efficient Investor Access. Replicating the look and feel of on-site investor conferences, Virtual Investor Conferences combine leading-edge conferencing and investor communications capabilities with a comprehensive global investor audience network.

SOURCE VirtualInvestorConferences.com
ATLANTA, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LexisNexis Risk Solutions has announced the availability of LexisNexis Owner Check, a groundbreaking ownership management solution that provides automakers a more timely and complete method of identifying vehicle ownership changes and providing updated contact owner information, helping to unlock new customer engagement and retention opportunities.

More than 40 million previously owned vehicles are sold every year in the United States. Of the millions of vehicles that change ownership every year, only about a third are sold through a franchise dealer network, and the other two-thirds, 25 million, are transferred through private sales and independent auto dealers, which can make it difficult for automakers to quickly, accurately and securely identify the current vehicle owner. This knowledge gap or "blind spot" in detecting the current owner of a vehicle only increases over time. The gap is compounded further by traditional sources of owner change information that can often be latent, restrictive, and can ultimately hinder owner conversion rates for connected services, until now.

Owner Check Benefits

LexisNexis Owner Check enables automakers to facilitate the delivery of connected services and other vehicle benefits to prior and subsequent owners, which may include:

Reactivation and transfer of connected services

Transfer of aftersales benefits, including prepaid maintenance, roadside assistance, vehicle diagnostics and warranty

Effective management and migration of connected services from prior owners, helping protect privacy and security

"Whether it's the second owner or the tenth, Owner Check is designed to support automakers in closing that knowledge gap and help otherwise unidentified owners take advantage of connected services by migrating consumers into the automaker's network," said Dave Nemtuda, head of OEM Product Development, U.S. Connected Car, LexisNexis Risk Solutions. "Having a more accurate and clearer line of sight into vehicle ownership allows automakers to establish a relationship with the new vehicle owner and upon registration can transfer connected services and other aftersales benefits."

"We see that while connectivity is enabling a 2-way connection with the consumer, automakers still struggle to execute a successful connected car journey because of sheer complexity," added Jeffrey Hannah, Chief Commercial Officer for the analyst research firm SBD Automotive. "Automotive OEMs need to have a lifetime picture of their customers and the connected vehicles they are driving at scale. This allows them to drive secondary owner awareness of features and services, enable remote updates to keep the vehicle updated, and ensure stronger identity management  everybody wins."

Consumer awareness of the benefits of connected features, such as knowing about the ability for a car to be located, unlocked and even started through a connected service with a smartphone or taking advantage of telematics, continues to increase along with usage of these services. With more vehicles equipped with connected services, awareness and activation of these services can add urgency to ensuring the right owner is tied to the vehicle. At the same time, knowing the owner means OEMs can build relationships and educate these new owners on the advantages of transferable benefits such as prepaid maintenance, roadside assistance and service diagnostics.

LexisNexis Risk Solutions is working with multiple automakers to further expand their line of sight into vehicle ownership and provide an array of benefits to current owners while helping protect the safety and privacy of those prior.

How Owner Check Works

LexisNexis Owner Check combines proprietary linking technology with a unique LexID identifier to leverage more reliable vehicle owner information from billions of public records. Being able to trace owner changes means automakers can more easily connect with new owners. Vehicle owners mutually benefit by gaining access and full control of connected services to realize their car's features and benefits.

Owner Check allows automakers to identify owners throughout the ownership lifecycle after initial purchase through subsequent transfers, enabling automakers to better support their existing customers and build new customer relationships. It can provide actionable, more accurate intelligence in as little as a few weeks, compared to months without this fully customizable and scalable solution.

LexisNexis Owner Check gives automakers a clearer view into vehicle ownership changes on a scale never seen before. By incorporating the latest data analytics and innovation from a global leader in advanced data and analytics, Owner Check can lead to better overall customer relationship strategies and help improve business workflows through timelier, more complete, change of vehicle ownership information.

For more information on LexisNexis Owner Check and our other Automotive industry offerings, visit Solutions for Automakers.

About LexisNexis Risk Solutions

LexisNexis Risk Solutions harnesses the power of data and advanced analytics to provide insights that help businesses and governmental entities reduce risk and improve decisions to benefit people around the globe. We provide data and technology solutions for a wide range of industries including insurance, financial services, healthcare and government. Headquartered in metro Atlanta, Georgia, we have offices throughout the world and are part of RELX (LSE: REL/NYSE: RELX), a global provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers. For more information, please visit www.risk.lexisnexis.com and www.relx.com .

Media Contacts:

Regina Haas

LexisNexis Risk Solutions

Phone: +1.678.694.3569

[email protected]

Dean Carney

Brodeur Partners for LexisNexis Risk Solutions

Phone: +1.646.746.5607

[email protected]

SOURCE LexisNexis Risk Solutions

Related Links

http://www.risk.lexisnexis.com


GREENACRES CITY, Fla., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LFB Plasma (www.lfbplasma.com ) announced today the acquisition of the ImmunoTek Bio Center located at 4560 Lake Worth Road, Greenacres, FL 33463. LFB Plasma is part of the LFB Group, a global bio-pharmaceutical company that develops and provides plasma-derived and recombinant products through its innovative technologies to patients with chronic and serious diseases. The acquisition of the plasma collection center in Greenacres is the first step in establishing a reliable and consistent supply of U.S. plasma.

Jose Antonio Moreno Toscano, LFB USA's CEO, said today, "We are excited about our expansion into South Florida, and we look forward to a successful transition of the ImmunoTek center in Greenacres. We are thankful for the staff who has participated in the build-up of this center and are keeping all 23 employees there, providing each staff member the benefits of being part of our global bio-pharmaceutical company. Our extended plans include not only additional Florida plasma donation center locations but expansion of centers into other states. We are particularly happy to be part of community growth and development and hope to make a long-term and sustainable economic impact at the local level. Ultimately, each donation of plasma has the potential to provide a lifesaving treatment to those in need, and we are forever grateful for each donation."

ImmunoTek Bio Centers was responsible for constructing and operating the Greenacres center since it opened in 2017. "We are pleased to reach this first milestone in our cooperative partnership with LFB and are looking forward to a strong business alliance that increases access to life-saving plasma," said Jerome Parnell III, CEO & President of ImmunoTek.

About LFB Group

LFB is a bio-pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and markets medicines indicated in the treatment of serious and often rare diseases in major therapeutic areas such as hemostasis, immunology, and intensive care. LFB is a leading company in the field of plasma-derived medicines. Founded in 1994 in France, the LFB group is also one of the top European companies involved in developing innovative biotech medicines and treatments. Today the LFB Group includes LFB USA, rEVO Biologics and now LFB Plasma, and markets 15 biological products in more than 30 countries around the world - www.groupe-lfb.com.

LFB plasma donors are compensated for each donation, and they make and receive basic health monitoring as part of that experience.

About ImmunoTek

ImmunoTek Bio Centers LLC is the fastest growing independent plasma collection center operator in the United States and is a global leader in developing a reliable plasma supply chain for bio-pharmaceutical companies. ImmunoTek and its predecessor company have built and operated more than 150 FDA-licensed and EU-certified plasma collection centers, with nearly 60 additional centers currently in progress. For more information - www.immunotek.com.

LFB USA's CEO Jose Antonio Moreno Toscano is available for interviews.

Please contact:

Kim Morgan

Fahrenheit Agency

[email protected]

954-261-2149

Related Images

lfb-plasma.png

LFB Plasma

logo

SOURCE LFB Plasma
BANGALORE, India, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Maleic Anhydride Market is Segmented by Type (Solid Maleic Anhydride, Molten Maleic Anhydride), by Application (Unsaturated Polyester Resin, 1,4-butanediol (BDO), Other). The report covers global opportunity analysis and industry forecasts from 2021 to 2027. It is published on Valuates Reports in the Chemicals Industry Category.

The global Maleic Anhydride market size is projected to reach USD 4963.6 Million by 2027, from USD 3145.3 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 7.9% during the forecast period 2021-2027.

Major factors driving the growth of the maleic anhydride market are:

Increasing demand for Unsaturated Polyester Resins (UPR) and 1,4-Butanediol (BDO)

The growing use of maleic anhydride for the production of several industrial chemicals, such as malic or maleic acid, lubricating oil additives, alkenyl succinic anhydrides, and fumaric acid.

During the forecast period, the maleic anhydride market is likely to be driven by the increasing application in the automotive industry, as well as strong growth in the construction and wind energy industries.

Browse the Table of Contents and List of figures at: https://reports.valuates.com/market-reports/QYRE-Auto-33R424/global-maleic-anhydride

TRENDS INFLUENCING THE GROWTH OF THE MALEIC ANHYDRIDE MARKET

In the automotive and marine industries, the demand for lighter and more fuel-efficient materials is driving the need for lighter and stronger fiberglass composites. Thus the increase in demand for lighter and stronger fiberglass is expected to drive the Maleic anhydride market. This is because lighter and stronger fiberglass are produced using unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) as the primary raw material and Maleic anhydride is a key raw material for producing UPR.

Furthermore, demand for 1,4 BDO and UPR is increasing as the coatings and polymer industries grow. These two components are needed on a large scale for the production of coatings and polymers and are consequently driving the maleic anhydride market.

The growth of the global market for unsaturated polyester resins may also be aided by the expansion of the building and construction industry as a result of the rising global population and lifestyle changes brought about by urbanization. This in turn is expected to drive the growth of which may pull maleic anhydride demand.

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MALEIC ANHYDRIDE MARKET SHARE ANALYSIS

Based on application, the Unsaturated polymer resins segment is expected to be the most lucrative during the forecast period. Because of their cost-effectiveness, high performance, and eco-friendliness, these resins are utilized in a variety of industries, including electrical, automotive, marine, and construction.

During the projected period, APAC will hold the highest share of the worldwide maleic anhydride market. This is related to the region's expanding domestic demand, rising income levels, fast industrialization, and urbanization. During the forecast period, APAC is expected to grow at the fastest rate.

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Major Players in the Maleic Anhydride Market

Huntsman Corporation

Sasol-Huntsman

Ashland

Polynt

LANXESS

Thirumalai Chemicals Ltd.

Flint Hills Resources

BASF

YONGSAN CHEMICALS,INC

DSM

Mitsubishi Chemical

NIPPON SHOKUBAI

Elekeiroz SA

Bartek Ingredients

Korea PTG

CEPSA

MOL Group

Mitsui Chemicals

Changzhou Yabang Chemical

Tianjin Bohua Zhonghe Chemical

Qiaoyou Chemical

Zibo Qixing Tengda Chemical

Zhejiang Jiangshan Chemical

Hongxin Chemical

Shengyuan Group

Jiangyin Shunfei Fine chemical

Jiangsu Zhongteng Chemical

Huanghua Hongcheng Business

Shanxi Hengqiang Chemical

Changzhou Shuguang Chemical

Others.

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SIMILAR REPORTS

- The global Unsaturated Polyester Resins (UPR) market size was valued at USD 9945.6 Million in 2019 and it is expected to reach USD 17720 Million by the end of 2026, growing at a CAGR of 8.5% during 2021-2026. Due to abundant raw material resource and mature technology, there are many suppliers all over the world. The market is fragmented on a global level with the top four companies accounting for less than 25% of the market in 2017. Key global participants in the market include Ashland, DSM, Polynt-Reichhold and Yabang. During them, Polynt-Reichhold is the global leader.

- The global 1, 4 Butanediol market size is projected to reach USD 9559.7 Million by 2027, from USD 5523.2 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 7.7% during 2021-2027. In application, 1,4 Butanediol downstream is wide and recently 1,4 Butanediol has acquired increasing significance in various fields of THF, PBT, GBL, PU and others. Globally, the 1,4 Butanediol market is mainly driven by growing demand for THF which accounts for 52.38% global downstream consumption of 1,4 Butanediol in 2017.

- The Styrene Maleic Anhydride (SMA) Copolymer market size was valued at USD 133 Million in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 173.9 Million by 2027, at a CAGR of 3.9% during the 2021-2027

- Styrene Maleic Anhydride (SMA) Market contains segmentation By Type (Alternate Styrene-Maleic Anhydride Copolyme, Random Styrene-Maleic Anhydride Copolymer), By Application (Automobile Instrument, Phase Solvent, Building Materials, Others) and Regional Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecasts 2026.

- Maleic Anhydride Grafted Polyethylene Market contains segmentation By Type (Maleic Anhydride Grafted High Density Polyethylene, Maleic Anhydride Grafted Low Density Polyethylene), By Application (Coupling Agent, Compatibilizer, Adhesive, Others) and Regional Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecasts 2026.

- Maleic Anhydride Adhesion Promoters Market contains segmentation By Type (Benzene Oxidation Method, C4 Olefins, Phthalic Anhydride By production, N-Butane Oxidation, Other), By Application (Medicine, Pesticide, Chemical, Other) and Regional Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecasts 2026.

To see the full list of related reports on the Maleic Anhydride

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BOSTON, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Manulife Investment Management announced today it has acquired TriVista on Speer, a multifamily property in Denver, Colorado for $144.5 million on behalf of a third-party managed account.

TriVista on Speer is a recently completed class A, 322-unit, seven story, multifamily property located at 1350 Speer Boulevard in the premier Golden Triangle neighborhood of Denver. The building features large floorplans with average unit sizes of 985 square feet, which includes an attractive mix of one studio unit, 179 one-bedroom units, 94 two-bedroom units, and 4 three-bedroom units. The 317,015 square foot property also offers high-end amenities catering to the demands of the young working professional such as a rooftop lounge, pool deck, conference rooms, and multi-floor fitness center. It is currently over 90% occupied.

The property is strategically positioned within the Golden Triangle, one of downtown Denver's most vibrant neighborhoods that is an ideal live-work-play environment. Residents of the area benefit from being conveniently located near restaurants, bars, sporting arenas, theaters, galleries, parks, and high-end shopping. The property is also walking distance to 150,000 jobs within the Denver Central Business District, and the University of Colorado Denver Campus.

"The City of Denver is home to a growing economy where corporations have expanded or relocated adding to the city's robust labor force," said Pritesh Patel, Head of U.S. Real Estate Investments, Manulife Investment Management. "The favorable job market and high quality of life that residents seek have all contributed to the city's economic advancement, and ultimately, is a region where Manulife Investment Management is looking to further expand its real estate footprint."

Manulife Investment Management develops and manages commercial real estate for thousands of customers around the globe as part of its comprehensive private markets' capabilities. As of March 31, 2021, the real estate portfolio totals 63 million square feet of office, industrial, and retail space strategically located in markets across Canada, the U.S., and Asia. The group leverages its global platform and local expertise to provide market-leading solutions for its tenants and deliver results for its partners.

About Manulife Investment Management

Manulife Investment Management is the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 17 countries and territories. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement.

As of March 31, 2021, Manulife Investment Management had CAD $764.1 billion (US $607.6 billion) in assets under management and administration. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulifeim.com.

SOURCE Manulife Investment Management

Related Links

https://www.manulifeim.com/


NORTHAMPTON, Mass., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Marketing Doctor, one of Adweek's fastest growing agencies in the world, is holding a contest to give back to the Western Massachusetts business community. The winner will receive a custom advertising campaign from Marketing Doctor, which provides nationally recognized media planning and media buying services.

"As industry leaders, Marketing Doctor is proud to be recognized by Inc. 5000 and Adweek as one of the Fastest Growing Private Companies in America, as well as our most treasured national award, Ad Age Best Place to Work," stated Janet Casey, President and Founder of Marketing Doctor. "This year, to celebrate these national awards, we want to share our knowledge and talent with a deserving local business. As a women-owned company, we believe it's important to help another diverse organization navigate the ever-changing advertising landscape. We're excited to help them achieve success and shine."

The contest runs from June 28, 2021 at 12 pm EST until July 16, 2021 at 5 pm EST. The winning business will receive a custom advertising campaign, executed by the Marketing Doctor team, worth $30,000. The campaign will promote the winning business to help drive sales and growth.

To be eligible to enter and win the contest, entrants must be small- to mid-sized diverse businesses as classified by the Massachusetts Supplier Diversity Office and located in Western MA (413 area code). In addition, the business must have a minimum annual revenue of $200,000 and have been in business for at least 3 years. Open to all industries.

Interested business owners can enter the contest by visiting mymarketingdoctor.com/contest and submitting an application. Contest finalists will be asked to join Marketing Doctor for a virtual meet-and-greet. A panel of judges will select the contest winner.

For questions or more information regarding the contest, contact [email protected] or visit mymarketingdoctor.com/contest for terms, conditions, and the entry process.

About Marketing Doctor: Marketing Doctor, Inc. is a data-driven media planning and buying agency in Northampton, MA known for industry-leading cost efficiencies including value-adds and granular targeting. Using their clients' goals and budgets, they develop and execute omnichannel media plans that exceed expectations and achieve record-breaking results on a national scale. For more information, please visit mymarketingdoctor.com .

SOURCE Marketing Doctor
DENVER, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MDC), one of the nation's leading homebuilders, will release its 2021 second quarter earnings before the market opens on Thursday, July 29, 2021. MDC will host a teleconference the same day at 12:30 pm ET. The live teleconference will be available by calling 844-757-5733 and requesting to join the M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. conference call. A replay of the teleconference will be available through August 5, 2021 by calling 877-344-7529 and entering Access Code # 10157974.

A webcast of the teleconference will be available live at www.mdcholdings.com, and beginning two hours after the call, a replay of the webcast will be available on the website.

About MDC

M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1972. MDC's homebuilding subsidiaries, which operate under the name Richmond American Homes, have built and financed the American Dream for more than 210,000 homebuyers since 1977. MDC's commitment to customer satisfaction, quality and value is reflected in each home its subsidiaries build. MDC is one of the largest homebuilders in the United States. Its subsidiaries have homebuilding operations across the country, including the metropolitan areas of Denver, Colorado Springs, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, Riverside-San Bernardino, Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Orlando, Jacksonville, Seattle, Portland and Boise. MDC's subsidiaries also provide mortgage financing, insurance and title services, primarily for Richmond American homebuyers, through HomeAmerican Mortgage Corporation, American Home Insurance Agency, Inc. and American Home Title and Escrow Company, respectively. M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "MDC." For more information, visit www.mdcholdings.com .

SOURCE M.D.C. Holdings, Inc.

Related Links

www.richmondamerican.com


SPRINGFIELD, Mass., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Registered nurses at Mercy Medical Center, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, will deliver a petition signed by more than 800 community members to Paul Mancinone, the chair of the Trinity Health of New England Board of Directors and the Mercy Medical Center trustees, on Wednesday, June 30.

The petition, created by Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, reads in part, "These frontline workers deserve to have their voices heard and have a fair contract settled, and the community deserves high-quality and safe care. It is time to settle a fair contract with the nurses of Mercy Medical Center and invest in the future of our community."

Petition Delivery Details

When: Wednesday, June 30 at 11 a.m.

Where: 1441 Main Street, downtown Springfield, MA

How: Mercy nurses and supporters will gather to address Trinity Health's refusal to agree to a contract that respects nurses and provides them the conditions they need to safely care for patients. They will attempt to deliver the petition to Mancinone at his office.

The approximately 400 MNA nurses of Mercy Medical Center are negotiating a contract to succeed their contract that expired on December 31, 2020. Nurses held an informational picket in April and are planning a series of public actions following the petition delivery aimed at encouraging the hospital's trustees to perform their oversight duties and ensure Mercy and Trinity Health properly support nurses in their mission to provide safe, high-quality care to the community.

"Despite our work to keep the community safe and healthy during the pandemic and beyond, Trinity executives continue to understaff the hospital, leading to unsafe working conditions," the nurses of the MNA Bargaining Committee at Mercy Medical Center wrote in a recent letter to the hospital's trustees. "Trinity's bare bones staffing model leads to burnout among nurses and hurts Mercy's mostly Black and Latinx patient population. Trinity has not worked with the nurses to address the root problems that cause or contribute to chronic understaffing and Mercy's inability to hire and retain both nurses and other staff." For a copy of the letter email [email protected].

Trinity Health's failure to properly support and protect Mercy nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic and the corporation's unilateral changes to nurses' working conditions prompted nurses to hold informational pickets in May 2020 and August 2020. Trinity took over Mercy Medical Center in 2013 when it acquired Sisters of Providence through a merger with Catholic Health East. Based in Michigan, Trinity owns 92 hospitals nationwide and has nearly $20 billion in annual revenue. In the second half of 2020 its net income reached $2.7 billion, up from $805 million during the same period the year before.

Highlighted Issues

Mercy nurses know their patients' needs and are calling for safer staffing levels to ensure high-quality care at all times. Trinity increasingly floats nurses around the hospital even when they may be unfamiliar with the specific patient conditions, equipment, or procedures.

Mercy nurses are fighting to restore time off benefits that they and their families deserve. Nurses need to be able to rest and re-charge so they can provide the best possible care for members of their community.

Mercy nurses are seeking improved health insurance costs and a fair wage increase that will help retain and recruit nurses.

MassNurses.org  Facebook.com/MassNurses  Twitter.com/MassNurses  Instagram.com/MassNurses

Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association

Related Links

http://www.massnurses.org


"I am honored and humbled to be selected as the next Chairperson of Murphy & McGonigle," said Ms. Davis. "I am thrilled to help lead this all-star team of lawyers into its next phase and build on the strong foundation that James Murphy has achieved in growing from scratch a law firm that is unlike any other in the financial services sector in helping clients navigate a rapidly evolving marketplace."

Murphy & McGonigle has experienced significant momentum in the past year. The firm was named 2021 "Law Firm of the Year" for Securities Regulation, one of its core practices, by U.S. News  Best Lawyers, the first boutique law firm to ever receive this recognition. The firm also expanded its geographic footprint beyond the East Coast by opening new offices in Chicago and San Francisco.

"I couldn't be more delighted that Liz has agreed to assume leadership of our firm," said Mr. Murphy. "Her legal skills and judgment are universally respected among our clients and our partners. Everyone here recognized Liz as the ideal person to lead the firm to even greater heights through her collaborative and team-oriented approach."

Ms. Davis is a member of the Commodities, Futures & Derivatives; White Collar Defense, Investigations & Compliance Counseling; and FinTech & Blockchain practices at Murphy & McGonigle. She joined the firm in 2018 after serving at the CFTC for nine years, most recently as a Chief Trial Attorney in the Division of Enforcement. At the CFTC, she had primary responsibility over all aspects of federal court litigation and regulatory investigations, along with management and supervisory responsibility. Prior to the CFTC, Ms. Davis spent nine years at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she earned the DOJ's Tax Division "Outstanding Attorney Award" in 2004, 2006, and 2007.

James Murphy and Co-Founder Thomas McGonigle, veterans of large law firms, founded Murphy & McGonigle in 2010 with 14 lawyers. Their goal of creating an all-star team of legal talent in the financial services sector was realized almost immediately. The firm has been named a National Tier One law firm in both Securities Regulation and Litigation  Securities for nine consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers. Chambers USA 2021 said the firm "showcases broad expertise in cutting-edge matters such as use of blockchain, digital currencies and artificial intelligence in the fintech space."

The firm has assembled a deep lineup of financial services talent in the legal sector. There are currently 15 lawyers at Murphy & McGonigle who previously served at the SEC, many in senior roles. The firm also includes three former lawyers from the CFTC, a former Deputy Director of FINRA, the former Chief Regulatory Officer at NYSE Liffe US, a former lawyer from the OCC and five former federal prosecutors. Many others served in senior roles on Wall Street.

"Because of the rapid evolution taking place in financial services, both traditional clients and disruptors have been increasingly seeking out our firm," said Ms. Davis. "We are well-positioned to assist these clients with our insights into government regulatory agencies, experience within traditional financial institutions, and our established track record of guiding entrepreneurial digital asset and fintech entities. It is a very exciting time to practice law at Murphy & McGonigle, and I am looking forward to growing the firm further to meet our many emerging client needs."

Ms. Davis is a member of the Women's White Collar Defense Association; a former Fellow in the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD); and a former Diversity Co-Chair of the Women's Bar Association of Washington, DC.

About Murphy & McGonigle

Murphy & McGonigle serves the regulatory counseling, enforcement defense and high-stakes litigation needs of clients across the full spectrum of the financial services industry  from national banks, broker-dealers, investment advisers, and hedge funds, to national and international securities markets and exchanges. Many of the firm's partners formerly served in senior positions at the U.S. Department of Justice, SEC, FINRA, and the CFTC, and several served in senior executive positions in major financial institutions on Wall Street.

The firm was named 2021 "Law Firm of the Year" for Securities Regulation by U.S. News  Best Lawyers. It has been rated a National Tier One law firm in Securities Regulation and Litigation - Securities for nine consecutive years by in the same survey. Chambers USA recently ranked Murphy & McGonigle among the top six law firms in the United States in Financial Services  Regulation (Broker-Dealer) and has commented, "They are highly respected by U.S. regulators."

Contacts

Mark S. Curran

Email: [email protected]

Direct: 212.880.3989

Facsimile: 212.880.3998

Jesse Dungan, Infinite Global

Email: [email protected]

Cell: 415.795.0635

Yvonnie Phan, Infinite Global

Email: [email protected]

Cell: 347.580.0084

SOURCE Murphy & McGonigle, P.C.

Related Links

www.murphymcgonigle.com


TEL AVIV, Israel, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In good news for parents and healthcare providers, an innovative platform will be rolled out to clinics across the US in the coming months.

The 'NURTURE Precision Infant Care' platform was devised by MedTech startup, MYOR, and has been launched with Horizon Pediatrics & Primary Care, Denver, Colorado. The groundbreaking solution accurately identifies high-allergy risk infants and provides guidelines for prevention and care.

Predictive Analytics Gives Caregivers and Medical Professionals the Upper Hand Over Childhood Allergies

Food allergies affect approximately 8% of children who, together with their families, struggle not only with uncomfortable disease symptoms but often with social and lifestyle difficulties as well.

Scientists have long understood the strong link between atopic dermatitis (also known as eczema) and a host of childhood allergies - including food allergies, asthma, and hayfever. Now NURTURE has found a groundbreaking way to harness newborns' data and use it as the basis of a highly accurate allergy-prediction tool. Couple this with NURTURE's comprehensive preventive care plan, delivered via a user-friendly web platform, and you have a workable tool that empowers caregivers and health professionals in their battle to alleviate the burdens imposed by childhood allergies - including a $30 billion annual financial burden on the US government.

An Accessible and User-friendly Way to Manage Childhood Allergy Risk

Highlighting NURTURE's ability to empower both caregivers and health professionals to better manage childhood allergies, Idan Katz, MYOR's CEO, said, "Caregivers across the country will be able to take control of the future of their children's allergies and sleep better at night." He added, "MYOR is proud to help bring together families, healthcare providers, and technology in order to achieve this."

A growing number of participating clinics across the US will soon be rolling out the solution at infants' first well-baby visits. Caregivers wishing to participate fill out a short questionnaire while their baby undergoes a painless, fast non-invasive skin test. Together, this gives NURTURE all it needs to accurately identify newborns at risk of developing food allergies.

Caregivers of children identified as 'at-risk' will then be invited to join The NURTURE Program. The AI-powered system takes each child's individual risk profile and uses it to generate a personalized plan. Caregivers then gain access to the platform where they can receive customized advice on managing their newborn's risk as well as tailored recipes and guidelines. As part of their NURTURE membership, they also receive specifically formulated nutritional and dermatological products.

Delighted at the collaboration with NURTURE, Dr. Isaac Melamed, Allergy Specialist and the Medical Director of the Horizon Pediatrics clinics said, "NURTURE is an ideal offering for our patients and complements our vision to provide the best healthcare service available today." "We have long understood that allergic conditions should be addressed before they emerge. Finally, we have a product that helps us to do so," he added.

Contact us: [email protected]

SOURCE MYOR
BANGALORE, India, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Network Security Market By Component (Solution and Services), Solution (Firewall, Antivirus, Network Access Control, Data Loss Prevention, IDS/IPS, Secure Web Gateways, DDoS Mitigation, Unified Threat Management and Others), Services (Professional Services and Managed Services), Deployment (On-Premise and Cloud), Organization Size (Small & Medium Enterprise and Large Enterprise) and Industry Vertical (Aerospace And Defense, Government, Banking, Financial Services, And Insurance (BFSI) ,Information Technology (IT) And Telecommunication ,Healthcare, Retail, Manufacturing, Energy & Utilities and Others). This report is published on Valuates Reports in the Computers & Electronics Category.

The global Network Security Market size was valued at USD 18,480 Million in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 63,398 Million by 2027, registering a CAGR of 16.7% from 2020 to 2027.

The word "network security" refers to a wide range of technology, devices, and processes. In the simplest terms, it is a set of rules and configurations that use both software and hardware technologies to safeguard the integrity, confidentiality, and accessibility of computer networks and data.

Every business, regardless of size, industry, or infrastructure, needs network security solutions to protect itself from the ever-increasing array of cyber threats.

Major factors driving the growth of the Network Security Market are:

Increasing focus on data safety and privacy has emerged as one of the striking factors driving the Network security market.

Growing incidences of cybercrimes coupled with huge losses also have mandated the need for effective network security solutions.

The growth of digitalization is also expected to propel the Network Security market growth.

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TRENDS INFLUENCING THE GROWTH OF THE NETWORK SECURITY MARKET

With the advent of wireless technologies, telecommunications, the internet, and technologies such as organizational networks and BYOD have all become vulnerable to data theft attacks. This in turn is expected to drive the growth of the network security market. Various vendors have established several network security offerings, such as IPS/IDS, firewall, on-appliance reporting, content filtering, data leak prevention, load balancing, gateway antivirus, network intrusion prevention, and anti-spam detection, in order to protect the wireless network.

The surge in the number of cyber-attacks on businesses has resulted in massive losses in both social and economic terms. As a result, firms have been forced to boost their security investment, resulting in lucrative growth for the Network Security Market.

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IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON NETWORK SECURITY MARKET:

Post COVID-19, the size of the network security market is estimated to grow from USD 21,530 million in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 63,398 million by 2027, at a CAGR of 16.7%.

Cybercriminals are using the pandemic as an excuse to ramp up their criminal activity by exploiting the vulnerability of remote employees and capitalizing on the public's interest in coronavirus. These factors are prompting businesses to boost their security investment and strengthen their network security architecture in order to accommodate remote working. This indicates that the global network security industry will continue to grow steadily.

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NETWORK SECURITY MARKET SHARE ANALYSIS

Based on components, in 2019 the solution segment dominated the network security market size. However, the services segment is expected to exhibit significant growth during the forecast period.

Based on deployment type, the cloud segment accounted for the highest revenue in 2019 and is expected to witness the highest growth rate during the forecast period. This is due to heavy reliance on cloud and online systems, owing to work from home policy, which has increased the risk of cyber threats.

North America dominated the network security market share in terms of region. This dominance of North America is attributed to the favorable government initiatives in the technology domain. However, during the forecast years, Asia-Pacific is predicted to rise significantly.

Key Market Segments

By Component

Solution

Services

By Solution

Firewall

Antivirus/Antimalware

Network Access Control (NAC)

Data Loss Prevention

IDS/IPS

Secure Web Gateways

DDoS Mitigation

Unified Threat Management

Others

By Service

Professional Services

Managed Services

By Deployment

On-premise

Cloud

By Organization Size

Large Enterprise

Small and Medium Enterprise

By Industry Vertical

Aerospace and Defense

Government

Banking, Financial Services, And Insurance (BFSI)

Information Technology (IT) and Telecommunication

Healthcare

Retail

Manufacturing

Energy and Utilities

Others

BY REGION

North America

U.S.



Canada

Europe

UK



Germany



France



Spain



Italy



Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific

China



India



Japan



India



Australi



South Korea



Rest of Asia-Pacific

LAMEA

Latin America



Middle East



Africa

Key Market Players

Cisco Systems

Solarwinds

IBM

Trend Micro

FireMon

Symantec

FireEye

GFI Software

Avast Software

Juniper Networks

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SIMILAR REPORTS :

The global Network Security Firewall market size is projected to reach USD 5513.2 Million by 2026, from USD 3263.1 Million in 2019, at a CAGR of 7.3% during 2021-2026.

The global Cloud Network Security Software market size is projected to reach USD 15200 Million by 2026, from USD 3601.6 Million in 2019, at a CAGR of 22.3% during 2021-2026.

The global Deep Packet Inspection and Processing market size is projected to reach USD 18310 Million by 2026, from USD 8717.5 Million in 2019, at a CAGR of 11.1% during 2021-2026.

The global Network Packet Broker market size is projected to reach USD 1075.5 Million by 2026, from USD 679.8 Million in 2019, at a CAGR of 6.8% during 2021-2026.

The global Deep Packet Inspection market size is projected to reach USD 18310 Million by 2026, from USD 8717.5 Million in 2019, at a CAGR of 11.1% during 2021-2026.

Click Here To See Related Reports On Network Security Market

ABOUT US:

Valuates offers in-depth market insights into various industries. Our extensive report repository is constantly updated to meet your changing industry analysis needs.

Our team of market analysts can help you select the best report covering your industry. We understand your niche region-specific requirements and that's why we offer customization of reports. With our customization in place, you can request for any particular information from a report that meets your market analysis needs.

To achieve a consistent view of the market, data is gathered from various primary and secondary sources, at each step, data triangulation methodologies are applied to reduce deviance and find a consistent view of the market. Each sample we share contains a detailed research methodology employed to generate the report. Please also reach our sales team to get the complete list of our data sources.

CONTACT US:

Valuates Reports

[email protected]

For U.S. Toll-Free Call 1-(315)-215-3225

For IST Call +91-8040957137

WhatsApp : +91 9945648335

Website: https://reports.valuates.com

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SOURCE Valuates Reports
In addition to the Honda Prologue, the company will introduce an all-electric Acura SUV in the 2024 calendar year. Both will utilize the highly flexible global EV platform powered by Ultium batteries based on the company's strategic partnership with General Motors. Honda also plans to launch a new series of EV models in the second half of the decade based on a new e:Architecture, with development led by Honda.

"Our first volume Honda BEV will begin our transition to electrification and the name Honda Prologue signals the role it will play in leading to our zero-emission future," said Dave Gardner, executive vice president of American Honda. "The Prologue will provide our customers with a battery-electric SUV with the excellent functionality and packaging they've come to expect from Honda."

In April 2021, Honda global CEO, Toshihiro Mibe, announced a vision to achieve carbon-neutrality for its products and corporate activities by 2050, including key targets for sales of electrified vehicles. This vision calls for the sales ratio of battery-electric and fuel cell electric vehicles in North America to progress from 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2035 to 100% by 2040. More details about that announcement, are available here.

Honda Electrified Vehicle History

Honda has a long history of leadership in bringing electrified vehicles to market in the U.S., beginning almost a quarter century ago with the EV Plus electric vehicle (1997); to America's first hybrid, the Honda Insight (1999); the Honda FCX (2002), the industry's first fuel cell vehicle in the hands of individual customers, and the Clarity series (2017). As Honda prepares for the launch of Prologue, the company will introduce hybrid-electric systems to more core models to continue to reduce CO2 emissions and bridge customers to the volume battery-electric vehicles now in development.

"We know customers who have a good experience with a hybrid vehicle are more likely to buy a battery electric vehicle in the future," said Gardner. "Our strategy is focused on introducing a higher percentage of hybrids in core models in the near term, making a committed effort to achieve higher volume leading to the introduction of our Honda Prologue."

Honda achieved record sales of electrified vehicles in each of the past three years, with that sales momentum continuing in 2021. Led by CR-V Hybrid and Accord Hybrid, Honda has just recorded its best-ever first-half year of electrified vehicle sales.

About Honda

Honda offers a full line of clean, safe, fun and connected vehicles sold through more than 1,000 independent U.S. Honda dealers. Honda has the highest fleet average fuel economy and lowest CO 2 emissions of any major full-line automaker in America, according to the latest data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Honda lineup includes the Civic, Insight, Accord and Clarity series passenger cars, along with the HR-V, CR-V, Passport and Pilot sport utility vehicles, the Ridgeline pickup and the Odyssey minivan.

Honda has been producing automobiles in America for 38 years and currently operates 18 major manufacturing facilities in North America. In 2020, more than 95 percent of all Honda vehicles sold in the U.S. were made in North America, using domestic and globally sourced parts.

More information about Honda is available in the Digital Fact Book.

SOURCE American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
RALEIGH, N.C. and SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Precision Diabetes, Inc. and Patia announced today results from a study showing that the GlycoMark blood test may be an effective marker of stress hyperglycemia and severity in COVID-19 patients, particularly in patients without diabetes. This data was presented as a prestigious Late Breaking Abstract at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) 81st Scientific Sessions conference.

The study, "Association of Serum 1,5-Anhydroglucitol with Severity in COVID-19 Patients," was designed to assess the impact of glycemic control on COVID-19 severity. The study was conducted at Hospital Universitario Cruces in Bilbao, Spain, and evaluated 563 patients with and without diabetes.

In a cross-sectional analysis of all patients, the 1,5-anhydroglucitol test (GlycoMark) significantly differentiated mild from severe COVID-19 patients. Major differences were shown in patients without diabetes, who showed abnormal 1,5-anhydroglucitol levels in 23.3% of severe COVID-19 cases versus 10.6% of mild COVID-19 cases. Consistent with some recent studies, hyperglycemia as measured by HbA1c, fasting glucose, or 1,5-anhydroglucitol showed no association with COVID-19 severity in patients with diabetes.

"These findings have important clinical implications," said Dr. Mirella Zulueta, Medical Director at Patia. "The 1,5-anhydroglucitol test might be most useful in identifying stress-induced hyperglycemia and severity in COVID-19 patients without a diabetes diagnosis. This is critically relevant as hyperglycemia may not be apparent in non-diabetic patients and is associated with poor outcomes, including mortality, in COVID-19 patients. These patients may benefit from more intensive care and treatment."

Clinical studies comparing the mortality predictive value of 1,5-anhydroglucitol, HbA1c, and fasting glucose in COVID-19 patients were recently completed in the U.S. and Europe with results to be reported in Q3 2021.

About Precision Diabetes, Inc.

Precision Diabetes, Inc. (Raleigh, North Carolina) is an emerging leader in enabling precision medicine for diabetes by using novel diabetes biomarkers and algorithms. The company's mission is to revolutionize the diagnostic assessment of diabetes by providing a spectrum of unique diabetes tests, spanning the risk of developing diabetes to developing diabetes complications. Precision Diabetes is the exclusive supplier of the GlycoMark test in the U.S., Europe, Australia, the Asia-Pacific Region, the Middle East, and Mexico. GlycoMark is manufactured by Nippon Kayaku Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan. More information is available at www.precisiondiabetesinc.com.

About Patia

Patia (San Sebastian, Spain) has developed a platform of solutions to assess risk, prevent and manage type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes. Patia uniquely and cost-effectively integrates a set of high-performance genotyping tests with predictive algorithms, digital applications and lifestyle intervention. Patia's activity started by translating the knowledge of large genetic studies on diabetes performed at the Broad Institute of Harvard University and MIT (Cambridge, MA, USA). More information is available at www.patiadiabetes.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Jacqueline Madejczyk

Precision Diabetes, Inc.

919-480-0754

[email protected]

Eva Saez

Patia Europe, SL

34 943 32 46 73

[email protected]

SOURCE Precision Diabetes, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.precisiondiabetesinc.com


Carefully selected and curated from hundreds of applicants, the 2021 Frontliners, aged 16  29 years-old, are fighting racial and systemic injustice by addressing gaps in: immigration laws and policy advocacy; storytelling through digital media content and production; de-biasing technology; campaigning for gender equity, and building indigenous language, culture and education awareness. Using their creativity, brilliance and infusing arts and social justice into their overall project design and implementation, these Frontliners are collectively reimagining new possibilities and finding solutions that positively impact and shape future generations.

"As a 16-year-old former Black Panther, activism to fight racism, inequality and injustice is in my blood. The Youth To The Front Fund Frontliners are very close to my heart and give me great hope that this generation of activists will continue to create necessary change, locally and globally, to truly become an equal society. Welcome to the family, Frontliners!"  Nile Rodgers, Chairman & Co-founder, WAFF

"Only 9% of the world's leading young social entrepreneurs are able to compensate themselves for the work they are doing to improve people's lives. With limited access to funding and investment, it is important to ensure innovators like the Frontliners have access to unrestricted funding and the support of a strong multi-sector ecosystem, to accelerate their global impact. The Youth To The Front Fund is a leading example of eliminating these barriers. We're proud to support this program and the Frontliners who are fighting systemic racism and injustices globally every day."  Alexandra van der Ploeg, Global Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, SAP

The 2021 Youth To The Front Fund Frontliners are: Adia Ivey (24, USA); Anya Shukla (18, USA); Crystal Aneke (22, USA); Dillon Bernard (21, USA); Eduardo Esquivel (26, USA); Elly Savatia (20, Kenya); Farai Mubaiwa (26, South Africa); Grace Williams (24, Australia); Jimcale Faarah (21, Somalia); Kaitlyn Tran (17, USA); Laura Jenny (22, USA); Nana Chinara (24, USA); Nicole (Wei-Tung) Ling (17, Taiwan); Nicole Li (20, USA); Oscar Adrian Gomez Avella (29, Colombia); Perseida Tenorio (28, Mexico); Scott Tilton (29, USA); Sneha Revanur (16, USA); Yasmin Morais (21, Brazil).

Applications for Youth To The Front Fund will open in Fall 2021.

About We Are Family Foundation

Co-founded by legendary musician Nile Rodgers and inspired by the power and true meaning of his song, "We Are Family", We Are Family Foundation is a not-for profit organization whose mission is focused on bringing people together from different ethnicities, cultures and backgrounds. For more than a decade WAFF has been a leader in amplifying and supporting the actions and voices of diverse youth leaders across the globe who are actively and positively addressing issues surrounding our basic human needs - food, water, shelter, health, safety, education and the environment.

For more information, please visit wearefamilyfoundation.org.

Contact: Fran DeFeo

Phone: +1 (917) 767-5255

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE We Are Family Foundation

Related Links

www.wearefamilyfoundation.org


The campaign utilizes arresting copy lines such as "One Third of All Food is Wasted," "Put Us Out of Business," and "The Solution is Right in Front of You" to shock audiences into action. OUTFRONT STUDIOS and Farmlink's creative team produced the campaign, designing the bold, eye-catching artwork which appears on prominent assets in Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, and New York.

According to The Brookings Institution, one in every six children is affected by Food Insecurity. The Farmlink Project provides over 30 million pounds of healthy, fresh food that would otherwise be wasted and is distributed to people in need through food banks across the country.

"With help from OUTFRONT, we're able to expand our mission and raise awareness around our simple solution to combating hunger, food waste, and climate change," said Jake Nelson, Farmlink's Marketing Director. "We're eager to present ourselves, our name and brand, as we step into the Out Of Home field. We're excited to see what happens when our message is amplified because we're just getting started."

OUTFRONT is committed to donating media assets to important causes. Farmlink and the issue of food insecurity is the second important cause initiative that OUTFRONT is focusing on in 2021 and beyond. The Farmlink organization is aligned with OUTFRONT's purpose of helping people, places and business grow stronger.

"OUTFRONT continues to show up with purpose as we deepen our connection with the communities in which our canvases exist," said Liz Rave, Senior Director, Marketing at OUTFRONT. "We asked our employees what causes meant the most to them and Racial & Social Justice and Food Insecurity rose to the top. We were impressed with the important work that The Farmlink Project has accomplished in such a short span of time and confident that our media will amplify future success."

About OUTFRONT Media Inc.

OUTFRONT leverages the power of technology, location and creativity to connect brands with consumers outside of their homes through one of the largest and most diverse sets of billboard, transit, and mobile assets in North America. Through its technology platform, OUTFRONT will fundamentally change the ways advertisers engage audiences on-the-go.

Contact:

Investors: Media: Gregory Lundberg Courtney Richards Senior Vice President, Investor Relations Senior PR & Events Specialist (212) 297-6441 (646) 876-9404 [email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE OUTFRONT Media Inc.
One in three pets will go missing in their lifetime, and more pets go missing July 4-6 than any other time of the year. July 5 th will be one of the busiest days of the year for animal shelters. Yet, a recent survey* of pet parents found that more than half are unsure of the steps to take or the resources available to find their pet.

"At Petco Love, we believe nothing is more important than keeping people and pets together for a lifetime of love. That is why we launched Petco Love Lost, a single national platform that connects shelters, pet parents, and good neighbors together," said Petco Love President, Susanne Kogut. "Our goal is to reunite more pets with their families with this free, simple-to-use tool accessible to all pet parents, or anyone who finds a lost dog or cat, should the unthinkable happen."

Petco Love Lost which launched last April, with the support of more than 1,000 industry partners, received positive initial user feedback with 96% of those surveyed recommending the tool1. This new national database powered by pet facial recognition search technology scans through thousands of found pets with a single photo in less than a minute. Pet parents can receive real-time notifications of new possible matches should the initial search not locate their pet. Additionally, Petco Love recommends conducting a physical search of your immediate area, as data collected from Petco Love Lost users found 66% of pets are found within one mile of their home2, and nearly 13% of users reported it took more than a week to locate their lost pet.3

Simple preventative steps can be critical to keeping pets home where they belong. Petco Love and Kat Albrecht-Thiessen share five ways to keep pets safe this 4th of July:

Protect your pet before and after the holiday: When panicked by fireworks and other loud noises, dogs run, and cats hide. Early fireworks celebrations and leftover fireworks catch many pet parents off guard, so be prepared to protect your pet a week before and after the holiday.

When panicked by fireworks and other loud noises, dogs run, and cats hide. Early fireworks celebrations and leftover fireworks catch many pet parents off guard, so be prepared to protect your pet a week before and after the holiday. Keep your pet secure: Think about your pet's behavior as you decide to attend holiday celebrations or leave them safe at home. To keep your pet safe indoors, crate them or place them somewhere comfortable and turn on a TV or stereo to drown out loud noises. If you're outdoors, properly leash your dog. Loop the leash around your shoulder so that your dog is still attached to you if you trip or fall.

Think about your pet's behavior as you decide to attend holiday celebrations or leave them safe at home. To keep your pet safe indoors, crate them or place them somewhere comfortable and turn on a TV or stereo to drown out loud noises. If you're outdoors, properly leash your dog. Loop the leash around your shoulder so that your dog is still attached to you if you trip or fall. Check your yard and home: Ensure your yard and home are secure and your pet cannot escape when panicked. If you've recently brought a new pet home and have not yet experienced fireworks together, be cautious that they may react negatively. Make sure your yard's fence is sturdy with no loose boards, nothing your dog could climb and jump over, or dig and crawl under, and that window screens and exterior doors to your home are securely in place.

Ensure your yard and home are secure and your pet cannot escape when panicked. If you've recently brought a new pet home and have not yet experienced fireworks together, be cautious that they may react negatively. Make sure your yard's fence is sturdy with no loose boards, nothing your dog could climb and jump over, or dig and crawl under, and that window screens and exterior doors to your home are securely in place. Keep your pet's ID tag and microchip up to date: Microchip your pet and ensure your contact information is registered and up to date. Make sure your pet has a properly fitted collar with a current ID tag. This goes for cats too! If your cat does not wear a collar and tag, try a temporary paper tag.

Microchip your pet and ensure your contact information is registered and up to date. Make sure your pet has a properly fitted collar with a current ID tag. This goes for cats too! If your cat does not wear a collar and tag, try a temporary paper tag. Register your pet on Petco Love Lost: Upload your pet's photo to Petco Love Lost, a free national lost and found database. If they go missing, one click will allow you to quickly search thousands of found pets from animal shelters and individuals using patented pet facial recognition technology, and it's also available in Spanish.

Petco Love Lost is here to help if you've lost or found a pet. Visit petcolovelost.org or join the conversation @PetcoLoveLost on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via hashtags #PetcoLoveLost and #LoveandFound.

* An online survey of 1,005 past and current dog and cat owners was conducted by Petco Love on March 16, 2021.

All other data was cited from a Petco Love Lost user survey completed by 694 users from April to June 2021 :

1 According to 96% of 619 Question Respondents

2 According to 66% of 596 Question Respondents

3 According to 13% of 664 Question Respondents

About Petco Love (Formerly Petco Foundation)

Petco Love is a nonprofit changing lives by making communities and pet families closer, stronger, and healthier. Since our founding in 1999 as the Petco Foundation, we've empowered animal welfare organizations by investing $300 million in adoption and other lifesaving efforts. We've helped find loving homes for more than 6.5 million pets in partnership with Petco and organizations nationwide. Today, our love for pets drives us to lead with innovation, creating tools animal lovers need to reunite lost pets, and lead with passion, inspiring and mobilizing communities and our more than 4,000 animal welfare partners to drive lifesaving change alongside us. Is love calling you? Visit petcolove.org or follow at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn to be part of the lifesaving work we're leading every day.

About Kat Albrecht-Thiessen

Kat Albrecht is a former police bloodhound handler, crime scene investigator, search-and-rescue manager, and police-officer-turned-investigative pet detective. Since 1997, Kat has solved lost pet investigations by using law enforcement-based techniques and strategies that are normally used to solve lost person investigations. Kat was the first person to pioneer the proper application of search dogs for lost pet investigations. She is the founder of Missing Animal Response Network, an international organization that offers Missing Animal Response training for Field workers, K9 handlers, shelter staff, Animal Control Officers, and volunteers, and also works to conduct research into lost pet behaviors. Kat's memoir Pet Tracker has received incredible reviews and was a 2017 Silver Medalist for the e-Lit book awards. Learn more at www.missinganimalresponse.com. Over 200 dogs and humans have tracked down thousands of lost pets!

Contact:

Jennifer Perez

Petco Love

[email protected]

SOURCE Petco Love

Related Links

http://www.petcolove.org


MIAMI BEACH, Fla., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Physicians Dialysis has learned of a data security incident that involved personal information and protected health information belonging to certain current and former patients and employees.

On March 21, 2021, Physicians Dialysis discovered unusual activity within its digital environment. Upon discovering this activity, Physicians Dialysis commenced an investigation and engaged independent cybersecurity experts for assistance. The cybersecurity experts engaged by Physicians Dialysis to investigate ultimately discovered evidence of unauthorized access to a Physicians Dialysis database. In coordination with its team of cybersecurity experts, Physicians Dialysis reviewed the contents of the affected database to determine if it contained protected health information. Physicians Dialysis subsequently learned that protected health information belonging to some current and former patients was contained in the affected database and potentially accessed. This information included names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, medical information, and/or health insurance or claims information. Physicians Dialysis diligently worked to identify the affected individuals and verify their contact information, which was completed on June 22, 2021.

Physicians Dialysis takes the security of all information very seriously. Physicians Dialysis has implemented additional security features to help prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future. Physicians Dialysis has also reported this matter to the FBI and will cooperate as necessary to hold the perpetrator accountable.

Notification letters were sent to potentially-affected individuals on June 25, 2021. The letters include information about this incident and about steps that potentially-affected individuals can take to monitor and help protect their personal information. Physician Dialysis has established a toll-free call center to answer questions about the incident and to address related concerns. The call center can be reached at 1-833-903-3648, Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm Eastern Time. As a precaution, Physicians Dialysis is offering complimentary credit monitoring services through IDX to those individuals whose Social Security numbers were potentially impacted in connection with this incident. To determine if you qualify for this service, you must obtain verification through the call center. If your Social Security number has been impacted, enrollment information will be made available to you.

The privacy and protection of private information is a top priority for Physicians Dialysis. Physicians Dialysis deeply regrets any inconvenience or concern this incident may cause.

SOURCE Physicians Dialysis
Founded 63 years ago by Jim Haslam, a Korean War veteran, Pilot Company is proud to extend its longstanding support of service members by offering this year-round discount to eligible guests and team members. The discount can be redeemed at participating owned and operated locations, including over 700 Pilot Flying J and One9 Fuel Network travel centers and 680 fast food restaurants in the U.S.

"It is our honor to provide this discount program in appreciation of the military community and all they do for our country," said Haslam. "We are forever grateful to them for their service and this is one way we are able to give back to those who have given so much. This July 4th, let's all take a moment to reflect and thank those who have sacrificed so that we may continue to celebrate our independence."

Pilot Company is using ID.me, an identity verification solution, to make it easy and simple for service members to verify their eligibility in the myRewards Plus app. Through the ID.me solution, guests and team members will validate their military status in just a few minutes and once completed, automatically receive the discount when using myRewards TM at checkout.

"We're proud to be supporting this effort by Pilot Company to provide discounts to military community members," said Blake Hall, Founder and CEO of ID.me and Iraq War veteran. "It is incredibly important to give back to the individuals that sacrifice to preserve our way of life."

Once users are verified through ID.me in the myRewards Plus app, a green military badge will appear on the user's profile page and a permanent saved offer tile will be on the Rewards page of the app indicating the discount is active. The 10% military discount applies to food and beverage purchases, including Pilot coffee, fountain drinks, non-alcoholic cooler beverages, hot and cold food items, candy, and snacks.* For more information on the military discount and to download** the myRewards Plus app, visit pilotflyingj.com/rewards.

In addition to the new military discount program, Pilot Company gives back to military and veteran organizations that provide education and employment programs to support service members and their families. The company recently donated $100,000 to the Call of Duty Endowment in honor of Military Appreciation Month which will help place nearly 200 veterans into high-quality careers. To learn more about Pilot Company's giving back initiatives, visit pilotcompany.com/about.

*Terms, conditions, and exclusions apply. Visit pilotflyingj.com/terms-and-conditions for details.

**Data rates may apply. Participating locations only. Other terms and conditions may apply.

About Pilot Company

Pilot Company keeps North America's drivers moving as one of the leading suppliers of fuel and the largest operator of travel centers. Founded in 1958 and headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, Pilot Company has grown its network to more than 1,000 retail and fueling locations and as the third largest tanker fleet in North America, supplies more than 11 billion gallons of fuel per year to the market. Its energy division also supplies DEF, bio and renewables and provides hauling and disposal services. Through the company's vast network of fueling locations, Pilot Company serves 1.5 million guests per day and provides over 30,000 direct fleet customers with bundled solutions for fuel, credit, factoring, services and rewards. Its Pilot Flying J Travel Center network includes over 750 locations in 44 states and five Canadian provinces with more than 680 restaurants, 74,000 truck parking spaces, 5,300 deluxe showers, 6,200 diesel lanes and offers truck maintenance and tire service through Southern Tire Mart at Pilot Flying J. The One9 Fuel Network connects a variety of fuel stops to provide value, convenience and perks to fleets and professional drivers at more than 240 locations across the United States. More information on locations and rewards are available in the myRewards Plus app.

Pilot Company is currently ranked No. 10 on Forbes' list of America's Largest Private Companies. For additional information about Pilot Company, its 28,000 team members and commitment to giving back, visit www.pilotcompany.com.

About ID.me

ID.me simplifies how individuals prove and share their identity online. The ID.me secure digital identity network has more than 46 million members with over 80,000 new subscribers joining daily, as well as partnerships with 26 states, multiple federal agencies, and over 400 name brand retailers. The company provides identity proofing, authentication and group affiliation verification for organizations across sectors. The company's technology meets the highest federal standards and is approved as a NIST 800-63-3 IAL2 / AAL2 conformant credential service provider by the Kantara Initiative. ID.me is the only provider with video chat and is committed to "No Identity Left Behind" to enable all people to have a secure digital identity. To learn more, visit https://www.ID.me/.

SOURCE Pilot Company

Related Links

http://www.pilotcompany.com


GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today PM360 introduced CLIR Financials, its invoice automation software that provides a new way forward for TV media financial operations. CLIR Financials is specifically designed to resolve invoice header problemsone of the most persistent source of challenges that media finance and buying groups have faced for years.

When stations bill agencies for completed campaigns, agency buying and finance teams must approve or challenge every invoice they receive. This requires analyzing each invoice detail  starting with the most basic information like the brand and product being advertised, and the specific campaign the invoice applies to. These and similar basic data are typically captured in the invoice's first field: the invoice header.

Due to inevitable human error, agencies often receive invoice headers with inaccurate or missing information. It's left to the agencies  which have more background in-house on each invoice than sellers do  to find the accurate information and correct the header problems. In practice, this means agency teams must constantly sort through and cross-reference countless station files to find the right data and complete each header. The process is bogged down further by the challenges of shuttling these details between teams and departmentsand wastes agency media and finance groups myriad hours each year.

Until now, truly efficient solutions to the problem have not emerged. While EDI has automated away similar invoice problems in the past, EDI is built around shared standardsand header information has never been included in TV industry invoicing standard guidelines. Instead, agencies need to bring in high-priced invoice processing companies to help manage the ensuing workload.

Today, PM360's CLIR Financials provides the long-overdue automation needed to solve these invoicing issues. To do this, CLIR Financials builds on another PM360 CLIR product already in use across agencies: CLIR Flight, which agencies use to manage airings data  the same information they cross-reference against wrong or empty invoice headers. CLIR Financials scans agencies' airing logs recorded in CLIR Flight, pinpoints the correct information, and ports that data into the invoices themselves. As a result, agencies can immediately have the complete, accurate header information they requireeven if they receive inaccurate or incomplete invoice headers from station partners.

Meanwhile, because PM360 CLIR products are compatible with all leading industry data transmission formats, agencies can use CLIR Financials to port station invoices into agency media management systems directly. This frees agency teams from the extensive busywork they normally face inputting the invoices they receive in-system.

These invoicing benefits are in addition to those CLIR Flight already provides. CLIR Flight identifies and alerts buyers and sellers to inflight campaign discrepancies, and equips them with auditable chat tools they use to amend what needs to be fixed, well before the corresponding invoices are issued. This helps drive the number of discrepant invoices way downoften to zero.

Larry Shiels, SVP, Buy-Side Solutions, PM360, explained why CLIR Financials is a solution whose time has come. "Handling invoices is amongst the most fundamental tasks involved in running a businessand yet for too long, it's been a tangle of complication for media agencies buying TV," Shiels observed. "CLIR Financials simplifies the process dramaticallybringing efficiency to media invoice payments, and helping agencies recoup the wasted time and resources they've lost to header errors, incomplete or incorrect data all these years."

About PremiumMedia360

PremiumMedia360 helps media agencies and sellers buy, sell, and partner more effectivelyby letting them take control of the data that guides their interactions. Its reporting and collaboration tools dramatically reduce the time and resources it takes to understand 6where campaigns standfrom order to invoiceand readies media companies to conduct business across new formats and standards such as TIP. The result: airings records stop being bottlenecks, and start being the source of business insight they should be. Learn more at www.PremiumMedia360.com.

Contact:

Abe Mezrich

[email protected]

SOURCE PremiumMedia360

Related Links

www.premiummedia360.com


FREMONT, Calif., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Privacera , a cloud data governance and security leader founded by the creators of Apache Ranger, today announced massive growth and demand for its SaaS-based data security and governance platform. With a 3x increase in revenue over the past year, Privacera enables analytics teams to maximize the usability of data without compromising compliance with regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, and HIPAA. Used by multiple Fortune 100 companies to govern and secure their most sensitive data assets, Privacera signed 10 new customers in Q1 alone, including numerous multi-national name brand companies in industries such as federal/government, finance, insurance, retail, media, and consumer. To learn how Privacera helps organizations deliver unmatched scalability, flexibility, and performance, click here .

Recently President Biden issued an Executive Order (EO) on Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity, setting the stage for shifting standards for data security and data access control. Privacera enables some of the United States' largest federal and government agencies to leverage their data more effectively by managing their complex and mission critical data access control challenges. The Company was selected by the following agencies to ensure sensitive data is available to approved teams so they can enhance decision making and maximize data assets:

Federal Transportation Agency: Orchestrated fine-grained access controls for AWS applications to achieve seamless cloud migration.

Federal Healthcare Agency: Created self-service data lake where thousands of analytics users can access and query data on-demand at high concurrency & performance.

Executive Department/Branch of the Federal Government  Finance: Achieved faster time to cloud by onboarding policies and new analytics users rapidly with seamless Ranger compatibility in AWS.

Independent Federal Government Regulatory Agency: Democratized data securely to enable self-service analytics that accelerates advanced analytics projects and improves cost efficiency.

Executive Department/Branch of the Federal Government  Security: Overcame the migration complexity for diverse ecosystems and large analytics community with a centralized security layer

"The EO is a much-needed push for securing our national cyberinfrastructure, establishing standards-setting & procurement rules for the Federal Government," said Balaji Ganesan, CEO and co-founder, Privacera. "Our exceptional growth trajectory, which is evidenced by strong revenue and an expanding list of name-brand customer accounts, is a testament to how we help organizations and government agencies securely, ethically, and responsibly leverage their data to meet objectives and remain competitive."

As the industry's only data governance and security solution that integrates privacy and compliance across multiple cloud services, PrivaceraCloud is a fully-managed SaaS data access governance platform that provides IT and data teams with complete visibility of data and its usage across all cloud services from a single location. PrivaceraCloud's automated, centralized sensitive data discovery, fine-grained access control, and encryption/decryption capabilities removes the burden of governance, compliance from IT teams-ensuring data is securely accessible for analysis, protected against data breaches, and compliant with industry regulations. To try PrivaceraCloud free for 30 days visit .

Please Tweet: #cloud #datasecurity and #datagovernance leader @privacera triples revenue and expands customer base among fortune 500 companies - credited for helping #federal and #government agencies leverage data effectively by enabling robust data access

About Privacera

Privacera's SaaS-based data security and governance platform enables analytics teams to access data without compromising compliance with regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, and HIPAA. Privacera provides a single pane of glass for securing sensitive data across multiple cloud services such as AWS, Azure, Databricks, GCP and Snowflake. Privacera's platform is utilized by Fortune 500 customers across finance, insurance, life sciences, retail, media, consumer industries and federal/government to automate sensitive data discovery and easily manage high-fidelity policy management at petabyte scale on-prem and in the cloud. Headquartered in Fremont, California, Privacera was founded in 2016 by the creators of Apache Ranger and Apache Atlas. Visit www.privacera.com or follow @Privacera on LinkedIn and Twitter.

SOURCE Privacera

Related Links

https://www.privacera.com


CARMIEL, Israel, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NYSE American:PLX) (TASE:PLX), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development, production and commercialization of recombinant therapeutic proteins produced by its proprietary ProCellEx plant cell-based protein expression system, today announced that Dror Bashan, the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer along with Eyal Rubin, the Company's Chief Financial Officer, will participate in a fireside chat discussion hosted by Zacks Investment Research's John Vandermosten.

The event will be held virtually on the Zoom platform, and management invites investors to participate via the webcast and conference details below:

Webcast Details:

Wednesday, June 30, 2021, 9:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)

Company Link: https://protalixbiotherapeutics.gcs-web.com/events0

Webcast Link: https://bit.ly/2T5C6sp

Conference ID: 861 1349 0096

Conference Call Details:

New York: +1 646 558 8656

Israel: +972 55 330 1762 or +972 3 978 6688

Conference ID: 861 1349 0096

Local dial-in numbers for other locations: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdf9JTByF4

Please access the websites at least 15 minutes ahead of the call to register and download and install any necessary audio software.

A replay will be available for two weeks on the Events Calendar of the Investors section of the Company's website, at the above link.

About Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc.

Protalix is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of recombinant therapeutic proteins expressed through its proprietary plant cell-based expression system, ProCellEx. Protalix was the first company to gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a protein produced through plant cell-based in suspension expression system. Protalix's unique expression system represents a new method for developing recombinant proteins in an industrial-scale manner.

Protalix's first product manufactured by ProCellEx, taliglucerase alfa, was approved by the FDA in May 2012 and, subsequently, by the regulatory authorities of other countries. Protalix has licensed to Pfizer Inc. the worldwide development and commercialization rights for taliglucerase alfa, excluding Brazil, where Protalix retains full rights.

Protalix's development pipeline consists of proprietary versions of recombinant therapeutic proteins that target established pharmaceutical markets, including the following product candidates: pegunigalsidase alfa, a modified stabilized version of the recombinant human a-GalactosidaseA protein for the treatment of Fabry disease; alidornase alfa or PRX110, for the treatment of various human respiratory diseases or conditions; PRX115, a plant cell-expressed recombinant PEGylated uricase for the treatment of refractory gout; PRX119, a plant cell-expressed long action DNase I for the treatment of NETs-related diseases; and others. Protalix has partnered with Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A., both in the United States and outside the United States, for the development and commercialization of pegunigalsidase alfa, and with SarcoMed USA, Inc. for the worldwide development and commercialization of PRX110 for use in the treatment of any human respiratory disease or condition including, but not limited to, sarcoidosis, pulmonary fibrosis, and other related diseases via inhaled delivery.

Investor Contact

Chuck Padala, Managing Director

LifeSci Advisors

646-627-8390

[email protected]

SOURCE Protalix Biotherapeutics Inc.
MENLO PARK, Calif., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global consulting firm Protiviti is excited to announce it will launch its new Americas Delivery Center (ADC) in Ohio. After an exhaustive national search, Protiviti is proud to be partnering with JobsOhio, REDI Cincinnati and the Ohio Development Services Agency on establishing the delivery center, which is planned to create 450 new jobs over five years.

Protiviti is currently finalizing its evaluation of locations in the Cincinnati region for its delivery center and plans to announce the site by the end of summer. The firm expects to move into its newly established facility in either late 2021 or early 2022.

Protiviti's delivery center is being established to provide additional service options for the firm's consulting services with standardized, technology-enabled and highly cost-effective services for its global client base.

"We're thrilled to confirm Ohio and specifically the Cincinnati region as the best location for Protiviti to invest and expand in establishing our Americas Delivery Center," said Cory Gunderson, an executive vice president and leader of global solutions for Protiviti. "The region's business-friendly environment and access to talent were strong factors in our decision to establish our delivery center in the Cincinnati market. We also appreciate the collaborative orientation exhibited by the teams at JobsOhio, REDI Cincinnati and the Ohio Development Services Agency, which has reinforced our decision to select Ohio."

"More than anything, we see the establishment of Protiviti's Americas Delivery Center as a tremendous opportunity for our clients, our firm and our people, and for our ability to make a significant, multi-dimensional impact in the community in which we'll be located," said Bart Bradley, Protiviti Americas Delivery Center site leader.

Protiviti has had offices in Cleveland and Cincinnati providing consulting services since the firm's founding in 2002 and recently added an office location in Columbus. Protiviti was recognized as one of the 'Best Employers in Ohio' in 2020 and 2021 (Crain's Cleveland Business).

About Protiviti

Protiviti (www.protiviti.com) is a global consulting firm that delivers deep expertise, objective insights, a tailored approach and unparalleled collaboration to help leaders confidently face the future. Protiviti and our independent and locally owned Member Firms provide clients with consulting and managed solutions in finance, technology, operations, data, analytics, governance, risk and internal audit through our network of more than 85 offices in over 25 countries.

Named to the 2021 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list, Protiviti has served more than 60 percent of Fortune 1000 and 35 percent of Fortune Global 500 companies. The firm also works with smaller, growing companies, including those looking to go public, as well as with government agencies. Protiviti is a wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Half (NYSE: RHI). Founded in 1948, Robert Half is a member of the S&P 500 index.

Protiviti is not licensed or registered as a public accounting firm and does not issue opinions on financial statements or offer attestation services.

Editor's note: Protiviti photos are available upon request.

SOURCE Protiviti

Related Links

http://www.protiviti.com


"We couldn't be more pleased with the decision. The reviewers were impressed with extensive infrastructure that has been created to support this program," said Dan Oseran, M.D., executive medical director of Providence Heart Institute. "This is a reflection of the team's commitment to deliver safe and reliable care for these vulnerable patients."

Heart transplant programs must perform 10 transplants before they can apply for CMS certification  which is critical for reimbursement as many patients are government insured.

Providence Heart Institute announced its intent to start a transplant program in March of 2019 after nearly 400 heart failure patients who previously received care at OHSU transferred their care to Providence. Providence Heart Institute performed its first transplant in July 2020.

"We are honored to be able to offer safe and reliable life-saving services to our community's heart failure patients and their families," said Dr. Oseran.

Providence Heart Institute

Providence Heart Institute has more than 100 clinicians who provide world-class care that includes the latest advances in diagnosis, treatment and cardiac surgery. Through clinical research trials, patients also have access to many new therapies before they become widely available. And our wellness and prevention programs help prevent heart disease and empower patients to become their healthiest selves. Visit providenceoregon.org/heart.

SOURCE Providence St. Joseph Health
ROCKVILLE, Md., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCQB: RGRX) ("RegeneRx"), a clinical-stage drug development company focused on tissue protection, repair and regeneration), today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with certain institutional and accredited investors, including certain directors and officers of the Company, in connection with a private placement of up to $2,000,000 of shares of its common stock and warrants at a purchase price of $0.20 per share and accompanying warrants. RegeneRx will be issuing to each purchaser Series A Warrants to purchase up to approximately 7.5 million shares of common stock with an exercise price of $0.24 per share, exercisable immediately and have a term of two years following issuance and Series B Warrants to purchase up to approximately 7.5 million shares of common stock with an exercise price of $0.28 per share, exercisable immediately and have a term of five years following issuance. The offering is expected to close on or about June 30, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

The net proceeds to RegeneRx, after deducting placement agent fees and other offering expenses, are expected to be approximately $1.8 million. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of this offering to fund its on-going operations.

Roth Capital Partners is acting as the sole placement agent in this offering.

The securities offered in the private placement have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or applicable under state securities laws. Accordingly, the securities may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an effective registration statement or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and such applicable state securities laws. As part of the transaction, the Company has agreed to file a resale registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 45 days of the closing to register the resale of the shares of common stock and shares of common stock underlying the warrants issued in the private placement.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

About RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.

RegeneRx is focused on the development of novel therapeutic peptides, including Thymosin beta 4 (T4) and its constituent fragments, for tissue and organ protection, repair, and regeneration. RegeneRx currently has three drug candidates in clinical development for ophthalmic, cardiac/neuro and dermal indications, four active strategic licensing agreements in the U.S., China, and Pan Asia (Korea, Japan, and Australia, among others), and the EU, and has patents and patent applications covering its products in many countries throughout the world.

Forward-Looking Statements

Any statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements made under the provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are expectations and estimates based upon information obtained and/or calculated by the Company. Please view these and other risks described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including those identified in the "Risk Factors" section of the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and subsequent quarterly reports filed on Form 10-Q, as well as other filings it makes with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements in this press release represent the Company's views only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update this information, as a result of future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

SOURCE RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.regenerx.com


GREENVILLE, S.C., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SDV Solutions, Inc . a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business delivering IT support for Federal Agencies, announced today it has entered into an agreement with SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE: SNX), a leading provider of distribution, systems design, and integration services for the technology industry. Under this agreement, SYNNEX will provide its resellers with SDV Solutions' third party multi-vendor (TPM) support and hardware maintenance tailored to fit any Federal Government agency's requirements.

Since 2004, SDV Solutions has provided client-centric solutions to Federal Government agencies. With a team of highly trained professionals across the globe, SDV Solutions has proven past performance working on top government contracts.

"We have a longstanding relationship with SDV, beginning when they were a VAR, and know first-hand their dedication to the Federal Government and commitment to providing reliable maintenance and support," said Ed Somers, Vice President, Public Sector and Vertical Markets, SYNNEX. "SDV's skilled customer service technicians and clearance capabilities are a great complement to GOVSolv's expansive suite of technology solutions and services, and we look forward to offering their services to our partners."

"SDV provides best-in-industry third party maintenance support with certified, security-cleared employees," said Mike McMahan, President and CEO at SDV Solutions. "Our Help Desk Call Center, and our technicians are some of the most highly experienced in the industry. SDV Solutions also has the capability to provide CONUS and OCONUS support and services with cleared technicians strategically positioned in the U.S. and around the world. With SYNNEX, we'll achieve broader penetration of our cost-saving services within the Federal Government. This partnership just makes sense."

About SDV Solutions

SDV Solutions, Inc., a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, has provided client-centric solutions to Federal Government agencies since 2004. They are a multi-OEM, independent third-party services provider and the only Certified SDVOSB company in the nation that maintains the highest certification from CompTia.

About SYNNEX Corporation

SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE: SNX) is a Fortune 200 corporation and a leading provider of a comprehensive range of distribution, systems design and integration services for the technology industry to a wide range of enterprises. Founded in 1980, SYNNEX Corporation operates in numerous countries throughout North and South America, AsiaPacific and Europe. Additional information about SYNNEX may be found online at synnex.com.

SYNNEX, the SYNNEX Logo, GOVSolv, and all other SYNNEX company, product and services names and slogans are trademarks or registered trademarks of SYNNEX Corporation. SYNNEX, the SYNNEX Logo, Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. Other names and marks are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: SDV Solutions, SDV Sales team, 757-903-2068, [email protected]; SYNNEX GOVSolv solutions, 800-456-4822, [email protected].

SOURCE SDV Solutions, Inc.

Related Links

https://sdvsolutions.us/


SHANGHAI, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Shanghai Electric Guoxuan New Energy Technology Co., Ltd ("Shanghai Electric Guoxuan"), a subsidiary of Shanghai Electric (601727.SS and 02727.HK), showcased its energy solutions designed to empower the carbon-neutral future at the 15th International Photovoltaic Power Generation and Smart Energy Conference & Exhibition (SNEC 2021) held recently in Shanghai. Focused on six major areas in the new energy sector, the theme of Shanghai Electric's solutions unveiled at the Expo is to create a new green power ecosystem, which covers zero-carbon energy, green hydrogen production, industrial energy conservation, environmentally-friendly transportation, green buildings and smart energy storage.

At the event, Shanghai Electric Guoxuan's battery management system (BMS) for electrochemical energy storage clinched the "Megawatt Jadeite Award" for its innovative design that addresses one of the inherent defects in traditional battery management system architecture. With its hierarchical design and process management of functional modules, the system can track and control the operating status of all equipment inside the energy storage system with high precision and speed. The optimized system architecture allows the system to capture fault dynamics in real-time through the cloud system and achieve millisecond-level fault recording.

Energy storage is a key component to deliver clean energy transition for its potential to overcome the intermittent, unmanageable and remote characteristics of renewable energy sources. The massive deployment and rapid growth of renewable energy infrastructure across the globe mean that storage technologies that enhance the flexibility of new energy supply are sorely needed.

After years of development, the global energy storage market has begun to take shape and is projected to witness significant growth in the coming years. In 2021, the United States has become the world's leader in adopting batteries for the grid and for renewables with its market accounting for 41% of global energy storage deployment. Driven by climate change policies embraced by an increasing number of countries, Europe is projected to take second place in the world's energy storage market by 2023. In 2020, China's installed capacity of energy storage reached 35.6GW, making up 18.6% of the total global amount.

Given its pivotal role in accelerating the next wave of the energy revolution, energy storage is critical to the transformation and advancement of the power sector for China and the world. Against this backdrop, Shanghai Electric is pioneering a new frontier for renewables powered by efficient and stable energy storage equipment. Built on its intelligent technologies and world-leading digital tools, the company has framed a roadmap and a strategy for energy storage products and solutions that are set to empower the entire new energy value chain on its path towards a more sustainable and green future.

2021 marked a new milestone for Shanghai Electric in its effort to explore energy storage solutions, when Shanghai Electric Guoxuan signed a memorandum with Pacific Green Technologies, Inc. (PGTK) to jointly develop a new generation of lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS) projects.

Building a one-stop smart energy storage solution powered by "one cell and three systems"

On the R&D front, Shanghai Electric Guoxuan is committed to developing and refining a series of standardized products with the aim of increasing the capacity and improving the overall efficiency of energy storage systems. The company also plans to build a one-stop smart energy solution with its technological focus resting on the development of Battery Cells, Battery Management System (BMS), Station-level Monitoring System (SCS) and Smart Operation and Maintenance System (OPS).

All Shanghai Electric Guoxuan's battery products have passed national and world-class third-party safety tests including GB/T36276-2018, IEC62619, UL1973. Its BMS can provide multi-level systematic battery monitoring, management and protection covering cell, module, battery cluster, battery stack. The SCS offers comprehensive system-level control protection and safety management, while the OPS takes full advantage of the power of SEunicloud, Shanghai Electric's Industrial Internet platform, to achieve full life-cycle monitoring and management of the energy storage system.

Exploring a diversified business model to enhance the value of energy storage

Over the years, Shanghai Electric energy storage solutions have been powering a slew of demonstration projects in China, which enables the company to create a diversified business model. Those projects include energy storage microgrids, industrial and commercial energy storage, grid-side energy storage, new energy + energy storage, photovoltaic shared energy storage, energy storage + charging solutions. One of the prime examples is the Golmud Energy Storage Power Station, the first independent shared energy storage power station in China. The project links up the supply chain to create an energy storage ecosystem that covers project development, operation, equipment supply, construction, and operation and maintenance.

Related Links:

www.shanghai-electric.com

SOURCE Shanghai Electric

Related Links

www.shanghai-electric.com


CLEVELAND, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE: SHW) will issue a press release announcing its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2021 prior to the opening of the market on Tuesday, July 27, 2021. At that time, a copy of the press release and information regarding Sherwin-Williams' financial condition, operating segment results and other information will be available by clicking on this link Sherwin-Williams Press Releases, then clicking on the reference to the July 27 release.

The Company will conduct a conference call to discuss its financial results for the second quarter, and its outlook for the third quarter and full year 2021, at 11:00 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, July 27, 2021. Participating on the call will be Sherwin-Williams Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, John Morikis, along with other senior executives.

The conference call will be webcast simultaneously in the listen only mode by Issuer Direct. To listen to the webcast on the Sherwin-Williams website, click on https://investors.sherwin-williams.com/financials/quarterly-results/, then click on the webcast icon following the reference to the Q2 Webcast. The webcast will also be available at Issuer Direct's Investor Calendar website, www.investorcalendar.com. An archived replay of the webcast will be available at this link https://investors.sherwin-williams.com/financials/quarterly-results/ beginning approximately two hours after the call ends.

Investor Relations Contacts:

Jim Jaye

Senior Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications

Sherwin-Williams

Direct: 216.515.8682

[email protected]

Eric Swanson

Vice President, Investor Relations

Sherwin-Williams

Direct: 216.566.2766

[email protected]

Media Contact:

Julie Young

Vice President, Global Corporate Communications

Sherwin-Williams

Direct: 216.515.8849

[email protected]

SOURCE The Sherwin-Williams Company

Related Links

http://www.sherwin.com


IRVINE, Calif., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Shopoff Realty Investments ("Shopoff"), a national manager of opportunistic and value-add real estate investments, announced today that the company has successfully sold Mead Valley Quarry, comprising 577 acres of vacant land located in unincorporated Riverside County, for $23 million to San Diego-based developer Lansing Companies.

The property was historically used for surface mining of granite rock, but had not been actively mined for several decades. After purchasing the land, Shopoff completed surveying and testing to determine potential uses for the property. With the land rich in valuable, high-grade aggregate materials, Shopoff began crafting a strategy to secure vested mining rights for the property so it could be later developed into an modern operational aggregate rock quarry.

"Mead Valley Quarry was a unique opportunity for our team to focus on what was in the ground, rather than what we could build on top of it," explained Shopoff Realty Investments President and Chief Executive Officer William Shopoff. "Over the last few years, we had worked closely with our team to secure vested mining rights and determine how this land could be elevated to its highest and best use. After receiving the unsolicited offer, resulting in the mutually beneficial sale, we are thrilled to be able to refocus our efforts to our next project, and look forward to seeing what the future holds for this unique property."

The property is located northwest of the City of Perris, California, at the intersection of Rider Street and Seaton Avenue, providing easy access via Interstate 215.

About Shopoff Realty Investments

Shopoff Realty Investments is an Irvine, California-based real estate firm with a 29-year history of value-add and opportunistic investing across the United States. The company primarily focuses on proactively generating appreciation through the repositioning of commercial income-producing properties and the entitlement of land assets. The 29-year history includes operating as Asset Recovery Fund, Eastbridge Partners and Shopoff Realty Investments (formerly known as The Shopoff Group). Performance has varied in this time frame, with certain offerings generating losses. For additional information, please visit www.shopoff.com or call (844) 4-SHOPOFF.

Disclosures

This is not an offering to buy or sell any securities. Such offer may only be made through the offerings memorandum to qualified purchasers. Any investment in Shopoff Realty Investments programs involves substantial risks and is suitable only for investors who have no need for liquidity and who can bear the loss of their entire investment. There is no assurance that any strategy will succeed to meet its investment objectives. The performance of this asset is not indicative of future results of other assets. Securities offered through Shopoff Securities, Inc. member FINRA/SIPC, 2 Park Plaza, Suite 770, Irvine, CA 92614, (844) 4-SHOPOFF.

Contact:

Julie Leber

Spotlight Marketing Communications

949.427.1391

[email protected]

SOURCE Shopoff Realty Investments

Related Links

https://www.shopoff.com


LOS ANGELES, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced the 2021 SoCalGas Scholarship recipients. This year, 56 students from Central and Southern California will receive a share of the more than $235,000 in college scholarships. Students who plan to attend a community college or trade school were awarded $1,000 scholarships and those who plan to attend a four-year college or university were awarded $5,000 scholarships. Recipients were evaluated on their academic achievements, community involvement and a personal statement regarding California's clean energy future.

Since the program's inception in 2001, the utility has awarded over $2.9 million in scholarships to more than 2,270 students. Students majoring in science, technology, engineering, math (STEM), accounting and finance are given priority. This year, 86% of the scholarship recipients were students of color.

"The SoCalGas Scholarship Program has helped bridge the educational gaps within our community and offer our younger generations with the opportunity to learn and develop," said Los Angeles Councilmember Joe Buscaino. "These scholarships will help create systematic change for equality and inclusion within our communities."

"The future of our communities is tied to a highly skilled and educated workforce. It's important that we provide students with the support to build a strong foundation that will prepare them for higher education and opportunities," said Andy Carrasco, vice president of communications, local government and community affairs at SoCalGas. "Our communities are a vital part of our organization, and we believe strongly in nurturing the younger generation for a brighter future."

Melea Earley, a graduate from La Serna High School, who will be attending Howard University with a major in Environmental Studies and a minor in African American studies said, "I am excited to address how social justice issues can relate, and impact environmental issues in society today. Thankfully with the opportunities and scholarship given to me by SoCalGas, I will be able to use it to further my research as I plan on tackling the injustices of environmental racism in the future."

Briana Mercado, a graduate from Warren High School in Downey who will be pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology said, "I am very honored to have received the SoCalGas scholarship. I cannot wait to participate in research that will lead to creating more sustainable spacecraft and technology!"

Sharina Batista, a graduate of Mt. San Jacinto College, who will be pursuing a degree in computer science and cybersecurity at California State University, Fullerton, said, "I am grateful for this opportunity. This scholarship means a lot to me. It will help me pay for college while pursuing my dreams."

Kennedy Polk, a graduate of St. Mary's Academy, who will be pursuing a degree in computer science or computer programming at Seattle Pacific University said, "I am so thankful for this scholarship as it will help me buy the necessary requirements to compete with other computer science majors in my field of study. This scholarship will help alleviate some of the financial stress on my mother who has been pushing me to be the best I can be."

In additional to providing academic scholarships, SoCalGas supports technology-based learning in STEM programs for kids in K-12 across the company's service territory. Last year, the company provided nearly $1.8 million in grants to hundreds of educational organizations in Central and Southern California.

About SoCalGas

Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, clean, and increasingly renewable gas service to 21.8 million consumers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California. Gas delivered through the company's pipelines will continue to play a key role in California's clean energy transitionproviding electric grid reliability and supporting wind and solar energy deployment.

SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest and most innovative energy company in America. In support of that mission, SoCalGas is committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and delivery of energy by 2045 and to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by dairy farms, landfills, and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for customers. Over the past five years, the company invested nearly $7.5 billion to upgrade and modernize its pipeline system to enhance safety and reliability. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), an energy services holding company based in San Diego. For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas), and Facebook.

SOURCE Southern California Gas Company

Related Links

http://www.socalgas.com


CHICAGO, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Stella , the MSO connecting PTSD patients with cutting edge treatment, announced today its partnership with Acadiana Veteran Alliance , the organization formed to build new economic development and industry with veterans, and fund PTSD healthcare treatments for veterans.

"We couldn't be more excited to partner with Acadiana Veteran Alliance and their mission to support veterans in job creation, economic development, and healing from PTS," said Michael Gershenzon, Chief Strategy Officer of Stella. "At Stella, we are committed to supporting organizations helping veterans heal from trauma, and the ongoing alignment with Acadiana Veteran Alliance is another step towards that mission."

In addition to providing ongoing support to shine a light on the work being done by Acadiana Veteran Alliance, Stella will create even greater access for the organization's veterans to receive the Stellate Ganglion Block procedure for PTSD.

"This is a tremendous step forward for AVA," added Andrew Ward, Founder and President of Acadiana Veteran Alliance. "We believe that we can increase the visibility and opportunity to effectively assist our veteran community with Stella. Together, we can reduce the challenges veterans face with PTS, continue to lower the suicide rate, and ultimately give them hope for a better tomorrow."

To provide financial support for Acadiana Veteran Alliance, visit their GIVE page at https://www.supportava.org/ava-give , and you will support veterans, reservists, and active-duty US military who meet diagnostic criteria of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

About Stella:

Stella aims to provide relief to the millions of people affected by trauma-related symptoms. Through a modification of a procedure called the Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB), Stella's treatment targets the brain's fight or flight response. Dr. Eugene Lipov, Stella's Chief Medical Officer, is a world-renowned board-certified anesthesiologist and widely accepted as the pioneer of SGB for the treatment of trauma-related symptoms, having performed the procedure on thousands of patients worldwide over the past fifteen years.

About Acadiana Veteran Alliance:

The mission of Acadiana Veteran Alliance is to unite veterans, veteran-owned businesses, and all companies for a common purpose; supporting veterans in job creation and work placement, assisting veterans in mental health solutions, creating a new, fully-developed support system for brothers-in-arms through financial/legal/housing assistance, and funding existing veteran-focused philanthropies through focused efforts.

Media Contact:

Matthew Erley, CMO, Stella

303-960-9850

[email protected]

SOURCE Stella
PHOENIX, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- To help contribute to a more just and equitable world, business and government must be proactive and provide opportunities for all people, regardless of background or circumstance. By upskilling and reskilling and eliminating barriers that have prevented the full participation of some groups in the global labor force, countries can reduce racial, ethnic, health, and socioeconomic disparities and build an inclusive world economy.

Televerde , the preferred global revenue creation partner supporting marketing, sales, and customer success for B2B businesses around the world, today announced its partnership with the UK Ministry of Justice (MOJ) with the expansion of its prison to workforce development program to Her Majesty's Prison Styal (HMP Styal) in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England. This expansion is an extension of Televerde's European Headquarters in Glasgow, Scotland, which was opened in 2016. HMP Styal is Televerde's first European engagement center that is staffed entirely by female prisoners and its ninth prison-run center globally.

With this new European-based engagement center, Televerde will expand its outbound and inbound sales and marketing solutions across Europe. The women employed by Televerde at HMP Styal will partner with and directly support some of the most recognizable global names in business today, building both experience and a professional network that will increase their marketability and provide a clear advantage over others in the hiring process when they are released from prison.

The MOJ is a major government department at the heart of the United Kingdom justice system. The organization works to protect and advance the principles of justice and to deliver a world-class justice system that works for everyone in society. There are 121 prisons across England and Wales. HMP Styal in Wilmslow, Cheshire is a prison and young offender institution (YOI) for women aged 18 and over. Currently, there are about 400 women living in the facility. The Televerde engagement center at Styal will employ 20 women at that facility with the goal of expanding the Televerde brand into other locations within the HMP system in the near future so more women have opportunity to build meaningful careers and successfully reenter their communities.

The New Futures Network (NFN) is the specialist part of the UK prison service that brokers partnerships between prisons and employers. The NFN team of Regional Employment Brokers work across English and Welsh prisons to support businesses including Televerde and to establish job opportunities for serving prisoners and prison leavers.

As a pioneer in second-chance employment, Televerde has employed more than 3,000 female prisoners in the United States, with 94 percent advancing into professional career positions in sales, marketing and technology fields. The women employed as part of Televerde's prison workforce development program are compensated fairly and receive on-the-job training in the art of sales and marketing, business acumen, in-demand marketing technologies (Salesforce, Eloqua, Marketo, et al), IT, and all other areas in business. They also have full access to a complete suite of services necessary for successful reentry and career development offered through the nonprofit organization, Televerde Foundation.

Televerde has experienced the overwhelming business, social and economic benefits of employing individuals with a criminal background. The success of their model was recently documented in a study by the Arizona State University Seidman Research Institute. The results reveal that participants of Televerde's program go on to attain employment, earnings, and education at higher rates and reoffend at significantly lower rates than other females released from prison in the United States. The full study can be accessed here .

QUOTES

"Many of the women arriving at HMP Styal have never had a job, and therefore, do not have the work ethic employment provides. By providing them with these work opportunities, such as the Televerde business centre, it allows them to gain skills employers are looking for on release. We know from experience that this reduces the chances of a woman re-offending, which benefits the woman and her family, as well as society as a whole." -- Michelle Quirke, HMP Styal governor

"We are pleased to have been involved in partnering Televerde and HMP Styal and look forward to celebrating the future successes of the women selected for the placements." -- Zeki Bekir, national sector lead, New Futures Network

"At Xactly, we select partners that align with our core values and support innovative diversity and inclusion principles and practices. Televerde is a leader in this space, which is one of the reasons why we chose the company to help us transform the customer experience. I am delighted to see the international expansion of Televerde's prison-run operations in the United Kingdom. Providing skills training and opportunity to females while in prison  a community of talent too often discarded -- is so important. Businesses must do a much better job of giving individuals with a criminal background a second chance and supporting their reentry into our global workforce, communities, and local economies. I look forward to visiting HM Prison Styal in Cheshire to get to know the talented women who will be working on our campaign and to learn how we can further support their journey of transformation." -- Jamie Anderson, chief sales officer, Xactly Corporation.

"As a long-time Televerde client, the quality and depth of knowledge and deliverables that the team provides has grown over time and enables them to perform at far higher levels, validating the benefits of outsourcing sales and marketing programs to the right partner to help achieve revenue goals. As a technology leader I understand the importance and need for companies to create value for society. One way we can do this is by building partnerships with purpose to achieve business goals, whilst also helping to create a more just, fair and equitable world. I believe so strongly in the mission of Televerde that I've also made a personal commitment of time and resource to Televerde's non-profit arm, Televerde Foundation, to help ensure the women have access to a full suite of personal and professional services so they can successfully reenter society. I am excited that Televerde is taking its proven business model to the United Kingdom so that more women can reclaim their independence and rebuild their lives. I look forward to being a part of this work and to visiting the engagement center and seeing in person how the women in HMP Styal transform and grow in their careers and personal lives."  Genefa Murphy, Chief Marketing Officer, Five9

"In an era of much-needed social change, business and government must be willing to come together to bridge the economic divide and create a new world economy that builds prosperity for all, including individuals with a criminal background. With HMP Styal, we have found a partner with whom we very closely align in thinking and approach and will work with them to ensure that women get the skills they need in order to rebuild their lives and successfully transition back into society. With Televerde's business expanding, we are delighted to open the center so we can provide stronger experiences, deliver more value, and accelerate success for our clients in the United Kingdom and beyond." -- Morag Lucey, chief executive officer, Televerde

About Televerde

Televerde is the preferred global revenue creation partner driving marketing, sales and customer success excellence for B2B businesses around the world. Powered by a cutting-edge customer journey platform and the delivery of a highly personalized experience, we deliver full end to end life-cycle revenue generation from Marketing, through Sales to Customer Success with scalability, repeatability and predictability. From audience identification to advocacy, we drive bottom line results. Our uniquely evolved approach, business model, and best practices have enabled us to deliver over $65B in pipeline and to close over $12B+ in revenue for our customers. Working across industries and with leaders across sectors, we are powered by a mission to transform 10,000 lives.

For more information on Televerde, visit http://www.televerde.com.

About New Futures Network

New Futures Network is a specialist part of HMPPS, brokering and managing relationships between prisons and employers. New Futures Network has three key objectives:

Increasing employment opportunities for prison leavers on release.

Increasing employment opportunities through Release on Temporary Licence.

Increasing workplace opportunities within prisons.

Find out more about New Futures Network at www.newfuturesnetwork.gov.uk.

Televerde is a registered trademark of Televerde, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective companies.

Televerde Media Contact:

Kellie Walenciak

+1 908 377 9969

[email protected]

SOURCE Televerde

Related Links

www.televerde.com


LEXINGTON, Ky, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tempur Sealy International, Inc. (NYSE: TPX, "Company" or "Tempur Sealy"), the company synonymous with innovation in the mattress industry, today announced that its Sealy and Tempur-Pedic brands were ranked as the #1 and #2 best-selling mattress brands in the U.S., according to Furniture Today's list of the Top 20 U.S. Bedding Producers.* Furniture Today, one of the most-respected trade publications in the bedding industry, estimated that Sealy's sales increased 14.6%, to over $1.6 billion, and that Tempur-Pedic's sales increased 23.5%, to nearly $1.4 billion, in 2020. This marks the second-consecutive year in which the Sealy brand has been recognized as the #1 best-selling mattress brand in the U.S.

Based on the sales strength of both brands as outlined in 2020 industry data, Tempur Sealy is the largest U.S. bedding company.**

"Tempur Sealy is committed to improving the sleep of more people, every night, across the U.S. and all around the world. This recognition is a testament to our commitment, and to the trust consumers have in our brands and products. Our continued growth and leadership would not have happened without the hard work and passion of Tempur Sealy employees and licensees, and without the strong support of our valued retail partners. I would like to thank all of them for helping make Sealy and Tempur-Pedic the top-selling mattress brands in the U.S.," said Scott Thompson, Tempur Sealy Chairman and CEO.

The Furniture Today recognition builds upon other notable recognitions that the Sealy and Tempur-Pedic brands have recently received. Sealy was recognized as America's Most Trusted Mattress Brand, according to the 2021 BrandSpark  American Trust Study***, further underscoring the confidence consumers have in the brand. Tempur-Pedic was ranked #1 in Customer Satisfaction with retail mattresses by J.D Power.**** The J.D. Power award for Tempur-Pedic marked the second consecutive year Tempur-Pedic has achieved this distinction, and the third time overall.

About the Company

Tempur Sealy is committed to improving the sleep of more people, every night, all around the world. As a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of bedding products, we know how crucial a good night of sleep is to overall health and wellness. Utilizing over a century of knowledge and industry-leading innovation, we deliver award-winning products that provide breakthrough sleep solutions to consumers in over 100 countries.

Our highly recognized brands include Tempur-Pedic, Sealy and Stearns & Foster and our non-branded offerings include value-focused private label and OEM products. Our distinct brands allow for complementary merchandising strategies and are sold through third-party retailers, our Company-owned stores and e-commerce channels. This omni-channel strategy ensures our products are offered where ever and however customers want to shop.

Lastly, we accept our global responsibility to serve all stakeholders, our community and environment. We have and are implementing programs consistent with our responsibilities.

*See Furniture Today's Top 20 U.S. Bedding Producers methodology that includes SEALY and STEARNS & FOSTER products in Sealy ranking. https://www.furnituretoday.com/research-and-analysis/top-bedding-producers-tsi-brand-duo-takes-top-two-spots/

**Market share calculation based on Furniture Today estimated wholesale shipments for Sealy and Tempur-Pedic, and the International Sleep Association 2020 Mattress Industry Trends Report of market wholesale shipments.

***Voted Most Trusted Mattress Brand by American shoppers based on the 2021 BrandSpark American Trust Study. Visit BrandsparkMostTrusted.com

****Tempur-Pedic received the highest score among retail mattresses in the J.D. Power 2017 & 2019-2020 Mattress Satisfaction Studies of customers' satisfaction with their mattress purchase. Visit jdpower.com/awards

Public Relations Contact

Erin Maratea

Brand Public Relations

Tempur Sealy International, Inc.

800-805-3635

[email protected]

Investor Relations Contact

Aubrey Moore

Investor Relations

Tempur Sealy International, Inc.

800-805-3635

[email protected]

SOURCE Tempur Sealy International, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.tempursealy.com


CHICAGO, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumers have developed a penchant for home cooking, spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. Combine that with an increasing focus on health and wellness and broader demand for flavorful cuisine, and you have the drivers supporting continued growth within the Spices and Seasonings sector, according to an industry report released by the Food & Beverage investment banking team from Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL). Investors are also spicing up their buying activity and feeding a robust M&A market.

Consumers have developed a penchant for home cooking, spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. Combine that with an increasing focus on health and wellness and broader demand for flavorful cuisine, and you have the drivers supporting continued growth within the Spices and Seasonings sector, according to an industry report released by the Food & Beverage investment banking team from Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL). Investors are also spicing up their buying activity and feeding a robust M&A market.

Access the BGL Food & Beverage Insider  Cooking Up M&A in Spices and Seasonings: https://bit.ly/BGLfbinsider

The global Spices and Seasonings market is large and growing, with revenue projected to reach $23 billion in 2026. Sales are rising as consumers dial up use of spices in meal preparation, with several key drivers expected to sustain demand:

The rejuvenated interest in at-home cooking is here to stay.

Expansion of the ever-changing consumer palate towards bold and exotic flavor profiles continues to drive sales of unique botanical, herb, and spice products.

Health-conscious consumers are consuming more spices and botanicals aimed at disease prevention and improved well-being, while healthy-eating trends in natural, clean-label, and plant-based alternatives are increasing demand.

Value-oriented consumers are exploring options in private label seasonings, a category that is underpenetrated in retail and seeing strong growth in the U.S.

Industry players are leveraging acquisitions to gain additional scale, capabilities, and market access. Recent activity underscores an active M&A market driven by healthy investor appetite and valuations. Headlining M&A activity in 2021 is the acquisition of Olde Thompson by Olam International, a $950 million transaction that valued the business at a pre-synergy Adjusted EBITDA multiple of 11.5x. Financial buyers have been very active with a number of private equity sponsors announcing acquisitions in the last twelve months, including Incline Equity Partners (Starwest Botanicals), Audax Group (Urban Accents), Frontenac Company (Monterey Bay Spice Company), and Norwest Equity Partners (Red Monkey Foods).

About Brown Gibbons Lang & Company

Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL) is a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm focused on the global middle market. The firm advises private and public corporations and private equity groups on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, capital markets, financial restructurings, valuations and opinions, and other strategic matters. BGL has investment banking offices in Chicago, Cleveland, and Philadelphia, and real estate offices in Chicago, Cleveland, and San Antonio. The firm is also a founding member of Global M&A Partners, enabling BGL to service clients in more than 30 countries around the world. Securities transactions are conducted through Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Company Securities, Inc., an affiliate of Brown Gibbons Lang & Company LLC and a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. For more information, please visit www.bglco.com.

SOURCE Brown Gibbons Lang & Company

Related Links

www.bglco.com


Launching just in time for Fourth of July, these gummy bears will add a pop of color and flavor to any backyard barbecue, beach day, or gathering with friends. Garnish your favorite cocktail with a few bears, soak them in their corresponding Truly beverage, or add them to your bar cart as a showstopping snack.

Sugarfina is well-known for innovative collaborations and fan favorites like the Hampton Water Rose collaboration, their famed Rose All Day Bears and Champagne Bears but this marks the first partnership with the #1 hard seltzer brand. Scott LaPorta, CEO and Co-Investor of Sugarfina, shares, "It was a fun and exciting challenge for our product innovation team! We were eager to figure out the best way to infuse candy with a spiked seltzer beverage in a way that really allows the flavors of the hard seltzer to come to life in gummy form."

Truly Hard Seltzer is always looking for new and unexpected ways for drinkers to enjoy hard seltzer, whether it's launching a new mix pack like the recent release of Truly Punch or crossing over into new food and beverage categories. Last year, Truly released hard seltzer-infused ice creams and sorbets in partnership with Tipsy Scoop and earlier this month, launched its own line of Freeze Pops. Drinkers are looking and asking for what's next from Truly, and a partnership with a renowned candy brand like Sugarfina was a natural fit.

"Both Truly and Sugarfina are known for bringing new flavors and innovation to consumers," said Casey O'Neill, Director of Product Development. "There's something so fun about dreaming up different ways that drinkers can experience Truly, and the fruitiness and sweetness of gummy bears made this collaboration a perfect fit for Truly."

While the gummies are infused with Truly Tropical flavors, the alcohol itself is cooked off in the production process, making the gummies themselves nonalcoholic. The collection is available on Sugarfina.com starting June 28th and includes a Candy Bento Box for $30.00, plus individual Candy Cubes for $8.95.

About Truly Hard Seltzer

Since its inception in 2016, Truly has been the most innovative brand in the category, breaking the boundaries of what consumers expect from hard seltzer. Truly believes no one is just one flavor, which is why it is available in 27 total flavors: 12 delicious original flavors, plus five flavors of Truly Lemonade, four flavors of Truly Iced Tea, four flavors of Truly Punch, and two flavors of Truly Extra. At just 100 calories and 5% ABV, Truly is perfect for any occasion from beach days to backyard barbecues and beyond. To learn more about Truly, visit www.trulyhardseltzer.com .

About Sugarfina USA LLC

Sugarfina USA is a luxury candy brand with stores in gateway locations in the United States, Canada, and Hong Kong. The company also sells directly to consumers through its e-commerce business, in specialty retailers, department store shop-in-shops, and corporate gifting. Sugarfina's exclusive and innovative line of products is offered in distinctive and iconic packaging. To learn more about Sugarfina, visit www.sugarfina.com or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter @sugarfina.

CONTACT:

Meaghan Quinn

774-573-2361

[email protected]

SOURCE Truly Hard Seltzer

Related Links

http://www.trulyhardseltzer.com


Anonymous Bitcoin Blogger "Cbra" Stays in the Shadows and Fails to Defend itself in the Face of Dr Wright's High Court Claim

LONDON, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- London's High Court today granted ONTIER LLP client and Bitcoin creator, Dr Craig Wright, default judgment in his copyright infringement action against 'Cbra', the pseudonymous operator and publisher of the bitcoin.org website.

The bitcoin.org website, which promotes the digital asset referred to as 'Bitcoin Core', is hosting and publishing a copy of Dr Wright's academic White Paper "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System", without Dr Wright's consent. Dr Wright owns the copyright to the White Paper, which he authored and first released in October 2008 under the now-famous moniker 'Satoshi Nakamoto'.

ONTIER, on Dr Wright's behalf, had previously written to 'Cbra', informing them that they were infringing Dr Wright's copyright and requesting that they remove the White Paper from the website. 'Cbra', whose real name remains unknown, refused to comply with this request.

Proceedings were issued on 24 February 2021 in the Intellectual Property List of the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales. On 21 April 2021, Dr Wright was granted permission to serve 'Cbra' out of the jurisdiction by email. Following deemed service of process on 26 April 2021, 'Cbra' had until 18 May 2021 to file any acknowledgment of service or defence to the proceedings. The Defendant failed to do so and, on 25 May 2021, Dr Wright applied to the High Court for judgment in default of an acknowledgment of service or defence, pursuant to r.12(3)(1) of the Civil Procedure Rules.

His Honour Judge Hodge QC, sitting as a Judge of the Chancery Division, heard Dr Wright's application today 28 June 2021, following which the Court granted Dr Wright's request: (1) for an injunction prohibiting the Defendant from infringing Dr Wright's copyright in the United Kingdom whether by making the White Paper available for download from the bitcoin.org website or in any other way; and (2) for an order requiring the Defendant to publish a copy of the Court's order on the bitcoin.org website for 6 months. The Court also ordered that there be an inquiry as to damages caused by the Defendant's infringement of Dr Wright's copyright in the UK and that 'Cbra' makes an interim payment on account of Dr Wright's cost of the proceedings.

The hearing was conducted remotely and in accordance with the Court's COVID-19 guidelines. Although the Defendant (or their representative) attended the hearing, they informed the Court that they did not wish to make oral submissions, preferring instead to maintain their anonymity.

Simon Cohen, Senior Associate at ONTIER LLP and a member of the legal team which advised Dr Wright on this action, comments:

"This is an important development in Dr Wright's quest to obtain judicial vindication of his copyright in his White Paper. Although he has secured victory today by default because no defence was forthcoming, it is notable that the English court has nevertheless injuncted 'Cbra' from making the White Paper accessible in the UK."

He continues: "Dr Wright does not wish to restrict access to his White Paper (which is freely accessible on his blog, https://craigwright.net/bitcoin-white-paper.pdf). However, he does not agree that it should be used by supporters and developers of alternative assets, such as Bitcoin Core, to promote or otherwise misrepresent those assets as being Bitcoin given that they do not support or align with the vision for Bitcoin as he set out in his White Paper."

Dr Wright is being advised by ONTIER's Head of Litigation, Paul Ferguson, with Partner, Derek Stinson, and Senior Associate, Simon Cohen. Alastair Wilson QC and Michael Hicks of Hogarth Chambers are instructed as Counsel.

SOURCE ONTIER

Related Links

https://uk.ontier.net


DUBLIN, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "The Corporate Reputation of Pharma in 2020 during the Covid Pandemic - the US Patient Perspective" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Patient groups responding to 2020's 'Corporate Reputation of Pharma' survey are uniquely positioned to comment on the pharma industry's performance during the pandemic, as these patient organisations not only understand the perceptions of patients but are also the only stakeholder to network with ALL other stakeholders in the healthcare system.

For this reason, the analyst collected (November 2020-February 2021) the opinions of 207 US-based patient groups on the performance of the pharmaceutical industry during the Covid pandemic of 2020.

Profile of 2020's 207 Respondent US Patient Groups

Covering 64 main medical specialties.

53% national patient groups.

28% international patient groups.

83% worked/partnered with at least one pharmaceutical company.

US Patient-Group Perspectives of Pharma During the COVID Pandemic: Top-Line Findings

1. The pharma industry's effectiveness at tackling the Covid pandemic in the US: An overwhelming 82% of the 2020s 207 respondent US patient groups judged the industry's response to Covid to be"Effective" or "Very effective" - the second-highest approval rating from patient groups in any country worldwide (and only below the Figure of 86%, assessed by respondent patient groups from Spain). The equivalent global rating was 62%.

2. The pharma industry's corporate reputation in the US in 2020: 2020's respondent US patient groups rated the corporate reputation of the pharma industry as a whole far more favourably than in previous years. 57% of 2020's respondent US patient groups stated that the industry had an "Excellent" or "Good" corporate reputation in the US, against 48% of 2019's US respondent patient groups (and above 2020's global average of 50%). Only the biotechnology sector outranked the pharma industry for corporate reputation in the US in 2020, according to respondent US patient groups.

3. Rankings of individual companies

Response to COVID:

All 38 companies: The top-three pharma companies voted "Best" for their response to Covid in the US in 2020 (as assessed by respondent US patient groups familiar with the company): 1st, ViiV Healthcare, 2nd, Horizon Therapeutics, and, 3rd, Lundbeck.

Among the 14 big pharma: The top-three pharma companies voted "Best" for their response to Covid in the US in 2020 (as assessed by respondent US patient groups familiar with the company): 1st, Pfizer, 2nd, Roche/Genentech, and, 3rd, Janssen.

Overall Corporate Reputation:

All 38 companies: The top-three pharma companies voted "Best" for their overall corporate reputation in the US in 2020 (as assessed by respondent US patient groups familiar with the company): 1st, ViiV Healthcare, 2nd, Horizon Therapeutics, and, 3rd, Lundbeck.

Among the 14 big pharma: The top-three pharma companies voted "Best" for their overall corporate reputation in the US in 2020 (as assessed by respondent US patient groups familiar with the company 1st, Roche/Genentech, 2nd, Pfizer, and, 3rd, Janssen.

ABOUT THE 2020 'CORPORATE-REPUTATION' SURVEY

A survey of 207 US patient groups

When? The survey was conducted in November 2020-February 2021, when key events of the pandemic will have influenced the opinions of respondent patient groups.

The questionnaire? Pharma was assessed across a wide range of its activities important to patients and patient groups, including a new indicator for 2020 - pharma's effectiveness at tackling Covid.

Companies assessed?

38 companies were included in the 2020 USA analyses:

AbbVie

Acorda Therapeutics

Amgen

Astellas Pharma

AstraZeneca

Bayer

Biogen

Boehringer Ingelheim

Bristol Myers Squibb

CSL Behring

Daiichi Sankyo

Eisai

Eli Lilly

Ferring

Gilead Sciences/Kite Pharma

Grifols

GSK

Horizon Therapeutics

Ipsen

Janssen (Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson)

Lundbeck

Merck & Co

Merck KGaA/EMD Serono

Mylan

Novartis

Novo Nordisk

Otsuka

Pfizer

Roche/Genentech

Sandoz

Sanofi

Servier

Sun Pharma

Takeda/Shire

Teva

UCB

Vertex Pharmaceuticals

ViiV Healthcare

How were the companies assessed?

1. Covid response [new for 2020]

2. Patient centricity

3. Patient information

4. Patient safety

5. High-quality products

6.i. Transparency: pricing

6.ii. Transparency: clinical-trial data

6.iii. Transparency: funding of external stakeholders

7. Integrity

8. Quality of relationships with patient groups

9. Providing services 'beyond the pill'

10.i. Engaging patients in research

10.ii. Engaging patients in development.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/em3aa2

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

http://www.researchandmarkets.com


LOS ANGELES, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Viking (www.viking.com) celebrated today the latest milestone in its return to service as guests were welcomed on board in Iceland. Over the weekend, guests boarded the award-winning Viking Sky in Reykjavik, where the ship will homeport this summer along with sister ship Viking Jupiter. Both ships will sail the new Iceland's Natural Beauty itinerary through early September 2021. Offered as part of Viking's Welcome Back collection, exclusively available for vaccinated guests, the voyage currently underway is the first of 19 sailings roundtrip from Reykjavik. The eight-day circumnavigation of Iceland calls upon coastal towns of Akureyri, Seydisfjordur, Heimaey and more before returning to the capital city.

"On behalf of the entire Viking family of guests and crew, we are delighted to be back in Icelandand we thank the government for its support as we continue restarting operations," said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking. "This stunning island of fire and ice inspired the original Vikings when they charted new territory, so it especially fitting as a key destination in our 'Welcome Back' collection. We look forward to introducing even more guests to this beautiful Nordic country over the summer."

Viking restarted operations in May and has been sailing in England with British guests since May 22. Nearly 100 percent of guests on these sailings provided exceptionally high ratings. On June 15, the company welcomed American guests back on board in Bermuda. In July 2021, Viking will also launch Welcome Back sailings in the Mediterranean with three ocean ships homeported in Valletta, Malta  and will restart its European river operations with select itineraries in Portugal, France and along the Rhine.

Viking Health & Safety Program

Those who sail Welcome Back voyages will also experience Viking's industry-leading health and safety program. Grounded in scientific research, the Viking Health & Safety Program was developed in partnership with an international team of medical advisors, including Raquel C. Bono, M.D., Viking's Chief Health Officer. Dr. Bono is a board-certified trauma surgeon and retired Vice Admiral of the United States Navy Medical Corpsand most recently led Washington State's medical and healthcare systems response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizing a full-scale laboratory installed on every Viking ocean shipand a strong network of dedicated shoreside labs for Viking river ships in Europeall guests and crew will receive frequent quick and easy non-invasive saliva PCR tests. New air purification technology has also been installed on all Viking ships, which have always featured independent air handling units for all guest staterooms. And additional health checks, sanitization and physical distancing measures will provide further protection for Viking guests and crew at all points of the journey. A complete overview of the Viking Health & Safety Program can be found at: www.viking.com/health-safety.

Booking Details

Limited space is still available on 2021 summer sailings. Call Viking toll free at 1-855-8-VIKING (1-855-884-5464) or contact a travel agent.

About Viking

Viking was founded in 1997 and provides destination-focused journeys on rivers, oceans and lakes around the world. Designed for experienced travelers with interests in science, history, culture and cuisine, Chairman Torstein Hagen often says Viking offers guests The Thinking Person's Cruise in contrast to mainstream cruises. In its first five years of operation, Viking has been rated the #1 ocean cruise line in Travel + Leisure's 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 "World's Best" Awards. In addition to the Travel + Leisure honors, Viking has also been honored multiple times on Conde Nast Traveler's "Gold List" as well as recognized by Cruise Critic as "Best Overall" Small-Mid size ship in the 2018 Cruisers' Choice Awards, "Best River Cruise Line" and "Best River Itineraries," with the entire Viking Longships fleet being named "Best New River Ships" in the website's Editors' Picks Awards. For additional information, contact Viking at 1-800-2-VIKING (1-800-284-5464) or visit www.viking.com. For Viking's award-winning enrichment channel, visit www.viking.tv.

SOURCE Viking

Related Links

www.viking.com


Virginia Green also partners with SPCAs and local animal shelters across Virginia for their yearly 'Buster's Buddies' campaign. The campaign begins in May and runs through June every year, sharing photos of local pets enjoying their outdoor spaces. This year, over $8,000 was raised and donated to the following organizations: Richmond SPCA, Fredericksburg SPCA, Charlottesville Albemarle SPCA, Heritage Humane Society, and FOHA Friends of Homeless Animals. Over $20,000 has been raised over the last five years through 'Buster's Buddies'.

"We want to give back by working closely with all of the SPCAs. Every time a customer sends in a picture of their pet out on the lawn, we make a donation. Our associates love to contribute to the community, and since so many are pet lovers, we thought this was a great way to help out. Virginia Green will continue to support local community efforts such as the SPCA, Humane Society and other animal groups," said Gil Grattan, President of Virginia Green.

Virginia Green plans to extend their partnership with these organizations for a year-round campaign. Continuation of support of our community through green spaces and supporting local animal shelters is a high priority for Virginia Green.

Gray Miller, the Manager of Donor Engagement at the Richmond SPCA, expressed her appreciation by saying, "At the Richmond SPCA, we look forward to the #BustersBuddies social media campaign every year. We love getting to see the adorable fuzzy faces of our supporters' pets, and we're so grateful to Virginia Green for creatively and generously making it possible for even more dogs and cats in need to enjoy the love of a forever family through this lifesaving campaign."

Kimberly Laska, Executive Director at the Heritage Humane Society, also extended her gratitude by stating, "Heritage Humane Society is thrilled to be a partner with Virginia Green for three consecutive years raising money for homeless pets in our community. The Buster's Buddies community support has tripled in that time, and the entire team and all the pets at Heritage are grateful! In times like we are in now; these types of campaigns really make an impact on our local community."

About Virginia Green

Virginia Green is a locally owned and operated company providing comprehensive commercial and residential lawn care services in the Richmond, Williamsburg, Charlottesville, Fredericksburg and Northern Virginia areas. Virginia Green opened for business in 2004 and has grown rapidly to employ over 200 associates, including an in-house agronomy team and dedicated customer service representatives focused on delivering 100% client satisfaction. Virginia Green was ranked as #1 in "Best Lawn Service/Landscaping" in a Richmond Times-Dispatch poll three times.

SOURCE Virginia Green Lawn Care

Related Links

https://www.virginiagreenlawncare.com/


"We are thrilled to have Shanelle as part of the foundation's investments team," says Rangel. "She comes to us with significant expertise and a demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in our field. Shanelle will be instrumental in our pursuit of excess returns on behalf of the foundation."

Prior to joining the foundation, Brown spent six years at Exelon Corporation in Illinois where she most recently served as the chief of staff to the chief financial officer. Prior to this role, she oversaw $18 billion in public equity investments as a senior portfolio manager with the Exelon Investment Office. During her tenure, Brown was the lead for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, including the Exelon Women and Minority Manager Program to increase diverse manager representation within the company's investment portfolio. Before joining Exelon, Brown worked for more than 8 years at U.S. Trust where she held several positions including portfolio manager for high net worth-individuals and families. She also worked for Citibank as a client financial analyst in San Francisco from 2004 to 2006.





Brown holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and is a chartered financial analyst and certified financial planner.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal innovator and entrepreneur Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work, and life.

The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special attention is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org.

SOURCE W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Related Links

http://www.wkkf.org


WOODSTOCK, Ill., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Woodstock Sterile Solutions, a leading blow-fill-seal (BFS) contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has named Courtney Sanen as its first Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

"Woodstock Sterile Solutions is poised for growth over the coming years, and experience among our leadership team is critical to our future success," says Woodstock Sterile Solutions CEO Paul Josephs. "Courtney has an impressive track record in finance and contract manufacturing, and we are confident she will build on the success she has had throughout her career in her CFO role at Woodstock Sterile Solutions."

Prior to joining Woodstock Sterile Solutions, Sanen served as the CFO for Elevation Labs, an Idaho-based contract manufacturer in the personal care and beauty space. She brings more than 20 years of financial and operations management experience and has also served in leading financial roles at Liquid Technologies, Inc., Meggitt, PLC, and Circor Aerospace and Defense.

"It is exciting to join Woodstock Sterile Solutions during this pivotal time, as they start out as an independent organization. I look forward to bringing value to the company and helping it reach its strategic goals through my years of financial and operational experience in contract manufacturing," says Sanen.

For more information on Woodstock Sterile Solutions, visit https://woodstocksterilesolutions.com.

About Woodstock Sterile Solutions

For 50 years, Woodstock Sterile Solutions has been recognized as a leading Blow-Fill-Seal (BFS) Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO). We develop and supply BFS products for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, providing best-in-class sterile development manufacturing solutions across a broad  and growing  range of applications, including respiratory, ophthalmic, topical, otic and oral. As a highly focused organization, our expertise and commitment to innovation allow us to reduce development times and efficiently support our customers' ability to deliver products to market. At Woodstock Sterile Solutions, we see a patient, family member or friend in every product we make and our goal is to be the best development and commercial partner in the industry, delivering life-enhancing molecules from the benchtop to the patient.

Media Contact

Resource Advantage

Dan Green

[email protected]

SOURCE Woodstock Sterile Solutions

Related Links

http://www.woodstocksterilesolutions.com


TomCo (LON:TOM) is an oil & gas exploration and production company that operates in the Uinta Basin in Utah. In June 2020 the company announced the formation of a joint venture (JV) called Greenfield Energy LLC to unlock the potential for oil sands development within the area using an innovative new production technology. In this report, we examine the progress of this project. The Uinta Basin and adjacent formations hold some of North Americas largest deposits of oils sands with the potential to yield some 10 billion barrels of oil. The Greenfield JV was formed to examine a scalable modular production plant that could be used to extract oil from the sands with cost efficiency and low environmental impact. The proposed technology offers the following benefits among others: Limited environmental impact, with a modest water requirement, and no dirty sand to remediate at the end of the process

A scalable modular system with limited capital expenditure (capex ) requirement

An output product that needs no further refining. The output product is an important part of the business case. We base our financial modelling (p8-10) on an output product of bitumen and diesel oil, both of which can be sold directly into the marketplace. The processing system can also be potentially modified to offer other different end products.
The company empowers businesses to better manage their performance and enables developers to harness data, information, and knowledge sets to build great apps to support businesses  small, local and large.

9Spokes is an open data platform providing robust infrastructure on which to build business experiences - transforming permissioned data into information.

9Spokes International Ltd ( ) has appointed Kevin Phalen to its board of directors as an independent non-executive director, effective June 27.

Phalen will also sit on the board's Audit & Risk Committee and Remuneration & Nomination Committee.

He brings more than 30 years of global banking and financial services experience to the board.

The company believes Phalen has unequivocal expertise and a proven track record across business development, payables automation, operations, and risk management in global financial services, banking, and technology.

Most recently, Phalen worked as senior vice president and head of global business solutions at International.

Newly appointed independent non-executive director Kevin Phalen.

Unparalleled level of industry experience

Speaking to the appointment, chairman Paul Reynolds said: We are delighted to welcome Kevin to the 9Spokes board.

Kevin is hugely respected and has maintained, fostered and grown indispensable relationships in banking, financial services and technology for more than 30 years in the US, Europe, and Asia.

Kevin now brings this unparalleled level of industry experience and governance to the board at a crucial time as we seek to accelerate expansion of our global footprint.

Exciting time

Newly appointed director Kevin Phalen said: It is truly an exciting time to join the board of 9Spokes, a company doing great things in the areas of open data and business insights.

9Spokes is centred on the business and financial services sectors, focused on building digital solutions that meet evolving needs, and has established global, strategic partners to forward its vision.

I look forward to bringing my experience to the board, driving positive innovation, and continuing 9Spokes growth.

Previous positions

Phalen served nine years at as managing director, where he led the commercial card, prepaid card and comprehensive payables business for Merrill Lynch.

He also led the Public Sector Banking GTS coverage team and previously oversaw the Merchant business along with the trade and Supply Chain business.

Phalen holds a BA double major in Theology and Philosophy from the University of Saint Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.

He is based in Chicago, US.
An upcoming diamond drill campaign is aimed at advancing a lucrative South Australian gold discovery towards shovel-ready status.

Marmotas July campaign will follow-up a series of high-grade gold hits intersected during reverse circulation drilling in September 2020.

Ltd ( ) (FRA:43M) executive chairman Colin Rose has demonstrated his faith in the companys gold-copper-uranium strategy with the purchase of shares in an on-market transaction.

Rose acquired almost 1.817 million shares in a direct interest between June 21 and June 23 with a total value of $72,466.

He now owns more than 95.9 million shares in that interest with a further 851,316 shares in another interest.

Aurora Tank diamond drilling

The company is readying to kick off diamond drilling at the Aurora Tank gold asset in South Australia's Gawler Craton near the Challenger gold mine.

The ASX-listed explorer expects to embark on a production-focused diamond campaign from the start of July after the discovery returned hits of up to 1-metre at 165 g/t gold in February.

Marmota intends to drill 14 diamond holes covering 1,000 metres in order to determine the best way to prepare Aurora Tank for production.

The upcoming diamond campaign is fully funded and will take roughly a month to complete
Prospecting at Ochique has identified high-grade mineralization, with one boulder assaying 1.4% copper and 21 grams per ton silver

In all, Hannan Metals holds 2,172 square kilometres of ground in the South American country, which includes the Previsto project

Hannan Metals Limited ( ) (OTCPINK:HANNF) (FRA:C8MQ) has updated on exploration results at its huge land package in Peru, which includes a copper-silver discovery at its San Martin project called the Ochique prospect.

The company said that prospecting ay Ochique has identified high-grade mineralization, with one boulder assaying 1.4% copper and 21 grams per ton (g/t) silver.

In all, Hannan Metals holds 2,172 square kilometres (km) of ground in the South American country, which includes the Previsto project - which lies 250km from San Martin. The company is exploring 62% of its land package itself, while 38% is in a joint venture with Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC).

"Hannan have defined three incredibly prospective and large-scale targets in previously poorly explored areas in Peru," said Mike Hudson, CEO of Hannan in a statement. "The first discovery of sediment-hosted copper-silver mineralization in 100%-controlled Hannan tenure, located 20 kilometres from exciting results flowing from our JOGMEC-Hannan JV project, is a significant discovery, that demonstrates the regional scale and potential across the foreland basins of Peru, where Hannan holds a significant land position."

Hudson noted that the group recently defined seven intrusive porphyry copper-gold targets in a previously unknown mineralized belt within a 140km by 50km area at Previsto.

This includes three so-called "intrusive centres" at the Previsto Norte Target with associated copper-gold-moly mineralization in boulders and outcrops. It is estimated that over 1% of the bedrock outcrops in the area, noted Hannan.

The Ochique prospect lies 20km north west of the Tabalosos JOGMEC joint venture project and a field team is currently active in the area conducting stream sediment sampling, said Hannan.

At Previsto, two field teams have been mobilized to undertake basin-wide stream sediment sampling and geological prospecting and mapping, the company added.

In late 2020, Hannan struck a milestone deal with JOGMEC, which sees the latter able to earn up to a 75% stake in San Martin, by spending up to US$35 million to deliver a feasibility study to the joint venture.

JOGMEC is a Japanese government independent administrative agency which among other things seeks to secure stable resource supply for Japan. JOGMEC has a strong reputation as a long-term, strategic partner in mineral projects globally.

Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com
District Metals Corp (CVE: DMX) CEO Garrett Ainsworth joined Steve Darling from Proactive to share results from their maiden drill program their flagship Tomtebo Project in Sweden. Ainsworth telling Proactive these results come from the Steffenburgs and Oscarsgruvan zones. The results include 8.65 m at 2.92% Cu and 0.43 g/t Au at 7.05 m at 3.47% Cu and 0.52 g/t Au and 5.15 m at 1.56% Cu and 0.32 g/t Au.

Ainsworth telling Proactive they have results pending from the rest of the spring drilling program and plan to be back drilling with their Phase II drill program in September/October.
Kabul, June 28 : At least 100 shops and 20 houses were set ablaze by Taliban militants in Andkhoy district of Afghanistan's northern Faryab province, officials said.

Fighting between government forces and the Taliban erupted in the restive district on June 23 and the militants seized it the next day, reports Xinhua news agency.

However, the militants evacuated the district on June 25 after heavy fighting where 25 insurgents were killed, provincial police spokesman Mohammad Karim Yurash said on Sunday.

"The Taliban militants fled leaving 25 bodies behind. But before escaping they torched up to 100 shops including those selling carpets, grocery and vegetables. The militants also set ablaze 20 houses in the district," Yurash told Xinhua.

Confirming the incident, another provincial official Nasir Ahmad Azimi asserted that the ongoing war and the recent clashes have hugely damaged the local economy as many shops and houses had been destroyed.

Another member of the provincial council, Abdul Ahad Elbik told Xinhua that the fighting had inflicted heavy property losses on the people and fighting is still continue in parts of the restive district.

Andkhoy is a port district of Faryab province, which connects the war-torn Afghanistan to Turkmenistan.

Taliban militants have captured more than 70 districts since the start of the withdrawal of the US-led forces from Afghanistan on May 1.
Tel Aviv, June 28 : Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has urged teenagers in the country to get vaccinated against Covid-19 amid rising numbers of new cases due to a local outbreak of the Delta variant.

"Go out today and get vaccinated," Bennett said at the beginning of his weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, referring to children older than 12 year.

The vaccination rate has tripled over the past week from about 3,000 people a day to about 10,000, Xinhua news agency quoted the Prime Minister as saying.

However, he said it was not enough.

"We now want to triple once more and reach 30,000 a day, and that is possible," he said.

Bennett also said that the government has appointed Roni Numa, a former army general, to manage the country's border crossing and prevent the entry of infected individuals.

Many of the new infection cases over the past week have been associated with people arriving from abroad.

On June 21, the Health Ministry issued a recommendation for children aged 12-15 to get the vaccine.

The country has so far administered a total 10,583,275 vaccine doses since the beginning of its mass inoculation drive, according to the World Health Organization.

Meanwhile, Israel reimposed the requirement to wear masks indoors in view of the recent resurgence.

As of Monday morning, a total of 840,522 confirmed Covid-19 cases have been reported in the country, with 6,429 deaths.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Lucknow, June 28 : Lucknow police officials have drawn up an elaborate plan to ensure passage to critical patients and ambulances, during VIP visits.

Taking lessons from the unfortunate incident in Kanpur where an ailing woman died after being caught in a traffic jam during the visit of President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday, Lucknow police commissioner, D.K. Thakur, said that the policemen on duty and control room have been put on alert to ensure that citizens having medical conditions and emergencies are attended to and allowed safe passage.

"We have distributed emergency helpline numbers and have also deployed additional police force at two-three spots which are critical," he said.

The police commissioner said the policemen on duty had been directed to ensure that no ambulance is stopped and arrange for its passage if it gets stuck in any of the diversion routes.

The control room has also been asked to remain alert. Besides district police, at least 2,500 personnel of central paramilitary forces and PAC will also be deployed during the President's visit to the state capital.

The President will arrive in Lucknow on Monday and return to Delhi on Tuesday.

He will be meeting dignitaries and members of the judiciary at Raj Bhawan on Monday evening.
New Delhi, June 28 : Many people are complaining of fungal and bacterial ear infections, and the number has seen an uptrend during the rainy season. To avoid ear infections, keep your ears clean and manage red flags like reduced hearing, pain, and watery discharge, say experts.

Monsoon is pleasing, but it also brings a plethora of health problems with it. Ear infections are a common occurrence in monsoon. They can impact any part of the ear that is the inner, middle, or even the external ear. During monsoon, rain and contaminated water entering the ear invites fungal infections.

Likewise, increased humidity is the perfect condition for bacteria and fungus to grow. Moreover, debris in the ear and minor bruises from earbuds can also raise your risk of ear infections. Cotton buds, sticks may contain fungus, and once you put it in your ear, it starts growing there.

Dr. Purva Lunavat ENT Specialist, Apollo Spectra Pune says, "Those with ear infections may have symptoms like choked ears, inability to concentrate that affects productivity, irritation, and disorientation, itchiness, earache, decreased hearing, watery discharge, dizziness, severe headaches, and even fever. Compared to previous years, patients with ear infections are coming to the hospital for treatment even before the onset of rains this year. Generally, 7 to 8 new patients come to the outpatient department every day for treatment. The treatment for ear infections is cleaning of the wax buildup in which leads to infection, go to a doctor who will clean the ear. You will be asked to use ear drops to dissolve the ear wax and clean out the infection." Dr. Lunavat added, "Do not put anything in your ears to clean them, as this may cause infections and injuries. Try to wipe your outer ears with a clean cloth to avoid fungal infection while swimming. Clean earphones when you get drenched in the rain. Don't put cotton swabs in the ear as they may trap bacteria in the ear. After a shower, dry your ears with a clean dry cloth. If you use headphones to listen to the music, use a disinfectant to clean it regularly. Get your ears checked by an ENT specialist after you notice ear pain. It may take around a week to clear out an ear infection, but if it still doesn't get better then consult a medical practitioner who may also advise surgery." According to Dr Devyani Shinde, ENT specialist, Apollo Clinic, Pune, "Every year during the monsoons, there is an increase in the number of patients with ear fungus and infection. A fungal infection of the ear is called otomycosis, and this disease mainly affects the ear. Moisture in the ears during the rainy season increases the risk of fungal infections. Patients with the ear pain are currently coming for treatment in large numbers due to the fungal infection in the ears during the monsoon. About 100 patients come to me every month for treatment of ear problems, and around 50 of these patients have a fungus ear infection." Dr Shinde adds, "Fungus is not so serious, but, it should not be ignored. Consult a doctor immediately, and who will prescribe medication and eardrops, and after five days, the ear is cleaned and the fungus is removed. In order to prevent ear fungus in the rainy season, keep the ears clean and dry after bathing. Avoid using earbuds to remove earwax. In addition, due to the humidity in the rain, excess consumption of cold drinks can affect the ears causing throat infection as the eustachian tube that connects the throat and the ear gets blocked. Therefore, the chances of getting ear infections are high. Cold and sour foods should not be eaten during the rainy season. In addition, if you have a throat infection, drinking tea, coffee or soup reduces the risk of ear infections. Many suffer from ear pain and ear blockages. However, ear infections can be different in each patient." (Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in)
Thiruvananthapuram, June 28 : The ruling CPI-M in Kerala suffered a jolt when two of its local leaders at Vadakara in Kozhikode district were arrested in the wee hours of Monday by the police team probing the case of an alleged rape of a female party worker.

The police took into custody Baburaj and Lijeesh based on a complaint from the victim, a fellow party female worker who said she was badly harassed by the two.

The police have begun the questioning of the two and they will be produced before a local court later in the day, according to the police.

This issue has been simmering in the party unit at Vadakara for a while and finding that things are not moving, the victim approached the local police.

Here too things did not move at the desired pace and only after the opposition parties -- Congress and the BJP took up the issue, things started to move. It gathered pace after the women's wing of the CPI-M also stepped in.

On Sunday, a medical examination of the victim was conducted and in the wee hours of Monday, the police arrested the two.

When the issue gathered momentum, the CPI-M stepped in and dismissed both the leaders.

Local legislator K.K. Rema had alleged that the police failed to act on time because of the pressure from the party leadership.
June 28 : Yami Gautam gave a good surprise to her fans on June 4 when she shared a picture of her wedding day with director Aditya Dhar. It was a closed intimate wedding ceremony. Recently, the actress came back to Mumbai with her husband, and now she has shared a picture of hers with her sister calling her 'One Man Army.

Sharing an appreciation post for her sister Surilie, she wrote," My one man army From rushing to shop whatever we could (and I mean SHAADI shopping) in a span of an hour (since the city was in strict lockdown), to styling my hair & helping me create all these beautiful traditional looks that I always wanted and most importantly keeping me so entertained with your endless jokes & banter with Ojas that I never for a minute felt nervous or anxious. From our endless list-making, chai drinking sessions, to your yummy cooking (including homemade milk cakes) and so many other things. Having a family where there is only unconditional love, strong middle-class values and traditions make me feel very lucky & I will always choose these virtues over anything in the world.Thank you all for this love & respect

P.S love for 90s & Govinda sirforever"

In the video shared, we can see Surilie getting Yami ready for her big day. In the background, we can hear the famous Govinda song 'Chalo Ishq Ladaaye'. Instead of a big fancy bollywood wedding, Yami and Aditya chose to have a simple traditional wedding.

She has been getting praises and appreciation from one and all for her simple wedding and extremely simple and elegant look for the big day.

On the workfront, she will next be seen in 'Bhoot Police' starring Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Kapoor and Jacqueline Fernandes along with her. The film is being helmed by Pavan Kirpalani and produced by Ramesh Taurani and Akshai Puri.

She will also be seen in a thriller titled 'A Thursday' where she will be playing the role of a play school teacher who, on a Thursday, takes hostages 16 toddlers in a school. The film is being helmed by Behzad Khambata and will be released digitally.

She will also be seen in 'Dasvi' which is a social comedy film directed by Tushar Jalota. The film also stars Abhishek Bachchan and Nimrat Kaur.
Madrid, June 28 : Madrid and Barcelona, the two largest cities in Spain, have launched promotion campaigns to lure back international tourists as the Covid-19 restrictions in the country were now being relaxed.

"If life were a city, it'd be Madrid" and "Barcelona like never before" are the slogans of the two campaigns aimed at reactivating tourism after over a year of mobility restrictions due to the pandemic, Xinhua news agency.

The campaigns come with lively promotional videos running in Spanish and English that highlight some of the unique attractions of each city.

The Barcelona video is a montage showing visitors enjoying different aspects of the city, while the Madrid video proposes 10 activities to do in the capital city.

"We are making an effort to communicate all of the advantages offered by Madrid, which is one of the best cities to enjoy in the world and which has an incredible quality of life," Ana Alemany, head of the Madrid Promotion and Brand Service, told Xinhua on Sunday.

With restrictions on international visitors coming to Spain removed on June 7 and the face mask mandate in outdoor spaces scrapped on June 26, the campaigns focus on some of the cities' strongest selling points for international visitors.

"Barcelona is one of the most important and relevant destinations in the world," Marian Muro, director of the Barcelona Tourism Consortium, told Xinhua.

"Barcelona is a 'cool' city and so people want to visit it. It is also a clear exponent of a Mediterranean city with a rich culture and gastronomy." Before the pandemic, tourism accounted for 7 per cent of Madrid's annual gross domestic product (GDP), according to the regional authority, while the Barcelona City Council estimated that tourism made up 12 per cent of the city's GDP.

Exceltur, the Alliance for Excellency in Tourism which represents many of Spain's largest tourism companies, had recently forecast that this summer the country will recover over 70 per cent of the activity registered in 2019, which was a record year for the sector.

Starting from June 7, international travellers who have undergone the vaccination process using one of the jabs approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), or those with a negative certificate of a Diagnostic Test of Active Infection or a certificate of Recovery after having passed this disease, are allowed entry to Spain.
Chennai, June 28 : The CB-CID of the Tamil Nadu police registered a case against 10 police officers, including an assistant commissioner and a sub-inspector for having intimidated a businessman, forcing him to transfer his property to another businessperson.

The case was registered on Sunday on the direction of the Tamil Nadu police headquarters where the complaint was received.

A Chennai based businessman in his complaint said that 10 policemen including an assistant commissioner had forced him to transfer his properties to another businessman after holding him in illegal detention in a farmhouse along with his mother, fiancee, and his brother.

The complainant said that he had entered into a business venture with some of his associates, but had later wound up the operations a few years ago. He said that he had made all the settlements through bank transfers. However, he complained that the police officers led by the assistant commissioner took him to the police station in September 2019 and threatened him with dire consequences.

He said that later he and his family were forcibly taken to a farmhouse on the outskirts of Chennai and were forced to transfer his property to another businessman.

The Tamil Nadu state police headquarters confirmed that the case has been transferred to the CB-CID of police and that the investigation is on with the department registering a case against 10 police officers including the assistant commissioner for threatening and forcible detention of the businessman.
St George's : , June 28 (IANS) West Indies batsmen couldn't replicate the batting heroics of the opening T20I on June 26 and lost the second game of the five-match series against South Africa by 16 runs at the Grenada National Stadium here.

Chasing a score of 166/7 in 20 overs, West Indies came up short with opener Andre Fletcher (35) and Fabian Allen (34) being the leading scorers.

The home team could finally manage 150/9 as the Proteas clawed back from a demoralising eight-wicket loss in the first match to level the series 1-1.

Fletcher, playing on his home ground, batted deep and was the sixth batsman to be dismissed after he faced 36 balls and hit two fours and a six.

Allen made his career-best score which came off just 12 balls and included five towering sixes. With 36 needed off the last over, he blasted the first two balls over the rope on the leg side to give the West Indies a glimmer of hope.

Two balls later he smashed another maximum -- flat and hard at head-height over long-on -- but perished the next delivery which sealed the victory for the visitors.

South African left-arm spinner George Linde ended with figures of 2/19.

Earlier, West Indies left-arm pacer Obed McCoy claimed three wickets to restrict South Africa's scoring after a fast start. Playing just his seventh match at this level, the 24-year-old had a career-best 3/25 off his four overs.

The two teams return to the same venue on June 29 for the third match.

Brief scores: South Africa 166/7 in 20 overs (R. Hendricks 42, T. Bavum 46; K. Sinclair 2/23, O. McCoy 3/25) beat West Indies 150/9 in 20 overs (E. Lewis 21, A. Fletcher 35, F. Allen 34; K. Rabada 3/37, G. Linde 2/19) by 16 runs.
London, June 28 : Public anger remained in the UK as British Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who had been steering the country's battle against Covid-19, resigned for breaking a social distancing rule he had imposed on England.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson acted promptly on Saturday evening to appoint former Chancellor Sajid Javid as Hancock's successor, reports Xinhua news agency.

Hancock's key job in Johnson's top team of ministers was thrown into doubt after The Sun newspaper on June 25 published photographs of the Health Secretary kissing Gina Coladangelo, one of his key aides, at the Department of Health's London HQ reportedly during office hours in May.

According to the Guardian newspaper, the incident took place on May 6 when the public were still being advised not to hug people outside their household.

But what doomed Hancock's cabinet career was outrage from politicians and the public that the incident broke a legally-enforceable social distancing rule he had imposed across the country to contain the pandemic.

During the pandemic, Hancock regularly appeared on Downing Street virtual briefings, detailing restrictions that must be followed in the fight against the virus.

Political expert Iain Begg from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) told Xinhua that despite that Hancock "being the minister most able to claim credit for the vaccine successes, he was undone by the charge of hypocrisy".

"UK voters would have been tolerant of the news of his relationship, but resent the idea of leaders breaking rules. One rule for us and another for them plays very badly with citizens." Ruling Conservative Party lawmakers said they had been bombarded with furious complaints about Hancock's behavior from voters in their constituencies.

Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, said on Saturday night that Hancock was right to resign, adding that Johnson should have fired him.

Ed Davey, leader of the minority opposition party Liberal Democrats, said on his social media site: "Matt Hancock's legacy as Health Secretary will be one of cronyism and failure." British media engaged in a frenzy of coverage about his relationship with Coladangelo, a mother of three, who has also resigned from her government job.

For the second day in succession, the front pages of Britain's national newspapers were dominated by the Hancock story.

The Observer newspaper said on Sunday that Hancock's resignation was a heavy blow to the authority of the Prime Minister, who had stood by the 42-year-old Health Secretary following his apology.

The Sunday Telegraph said: "Hancock made the right decision to resign on Saturday... The most damaging accusation levelled against him was one of hypocrisy and it made his position untenable.

"As health secretary, he had taken it upon himself to intervene in the personal lives of the public while breaking lockdown rules himself." In a poll of its readers, the Telegraph said 93 per cent had wanted Hancock to resign or be fired.

Meanwhile, anger from citizens around the country, especially the affected families, is far from over.

A campaign group, 'Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice', said in a statement on Sunda: "Up and down the country, bereaved families have been doing everything they can to follow the rules and prevent further loss of life. But it's clear Matt Hancock thought that 'hands, face, space' was a rule for everyone else." "For bereaved families to know that the man responsible for public health in this country, was ignoring the rules whilst we were unable to hug friends and family at our loved ones funerals, is heartbreaking." Care worker Janet Haycock from Cheshire in northern England told Xinhua: "Everyone I know has carefully been following the rules that Hancock insisted we must follow. For him to ignore his own rules is a big slap in the face for all of us. He just had to go."

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Tel Aviv, June 28 : Israel's Foreign Ministry has summoned Poland's Ambassador Marek Magierowski over a legislation in Warsaw that might prevent Jewish Holocaust victims' restitution claims.

On Sunday, Alon Bar, head of the Ministry's strategic-political department, told the Polish envoy that he was "deeply disappointed" by the controversial draft bill that would make it harder for Jewish Holocaust survivors to restitute property seized by the Nazis during the World War II, Xinhua news agency reported.

Bar said that according to experts, the bill, approved by the Polish lower house last week, will affect about 90 per cent of the requests by Holocaust survivors or their descendants to recover stolen properties, according to the Ministry.

In addition, new appeals of administrative decisions made over 30 years ago will also be forbidden.

Bar told Magierowski that "there will be an impact on the relations between the countries and stressed it was not too late for Poland to halt processes that mean a shirking of its obligations, and to return to dialogue on the matter of restoration of property", it added.

"This is not a historic argument over responsibility for the Holocaust but rather the moral obligation of Poland." The Polish Parliament passed the draft bill on June 23.

It is yet to be approved by the Senate before becoming a law.

On June 25, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid slammed the legislation, calling it a "direct and painful blow to the rights of Holocaust survivors and their descendants", "immoral", and "a disgrace", reports Haaretz newspaper.
Tehran, June 28 : Abbas Araqchi, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, has said that it is time for the parties involved in the negotiations aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal to take "tough" decisions after "enough" discussions.

"There are a number of pending issues that have been sufficiently negotiated, and it is time for countries to decide," the senior diplomat told the official Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency on Sunday, after a meeting with MPs earlier in the day.

Tehran, he added, has already taken its "tough decision" when it decided to stay in the nuclear agreement after the US under former President Donald Trump unilaterally quit it in May 2018, and then reimposed sanctions on Iran, reports Xinhua news agency.

It was Iran's "big and difficult" decision that has allowed so far to preserve the deal, formally known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Araqchi said.

Now it is time for Iran's counterparts to take their "tough decisions" after six rounds of meetings of the JCPOA Joint Commission, he added.

On Saturday, the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry Saeed Khatibzadeh said the country will not negotiate endlessly, and urged the US to abandon the "failed legacy" of Trump.

The US government under Trump withdrew from the international deal in May 2018 and unilaterally reimposed sanctions on Iran.

In response, Iran gradually stopped implementing parts of its commitments to the agreement from May 2019.

Since April 6, the Joint Commission of the nuclear agreement have continued discussions about a possible return of the US to the deal and how to ensure the full and its effective implementation.
Jaipur, June 28 : Religious places and city parks opened in Rajasthan on Monday under the state government's 'Unlock-3 guidelines'.

As per the fresh guidelines, the religious places in the state will remain open from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The city buses have also been allowed to ply from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m.

According to the new guidelines, the government offices will now remain open till 6 p.m. as the earlier working hours were from 9.30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The parks will remain open for all from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. However, in the evening, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., only the vaccinated persons are permitted.

All those shops and commercial centres where at least 60 per cent staff are vaccinated have been allowed to open shops till 7 p.m.

However, 'Covid protocol needs to be followed by one and all and those flouting norms shall be penalised', said the new guidelines.

Earlier on Saturday, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that children under 18 should be prevented from visiting crowded areas as vaccination is not available for children.

He also asked people to stay extra careful in the wake of new Covid variant and urged all to get vaccinated to check the spread of infection.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Washington, June 28 : The Pentagon announced that the US military has conducted airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the border region between Iraq and Syria.

"The US strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those countries," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a statement on Sunday.

The targets were selected because these facilities are utilised by Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against US personnel and facilities in Iraq, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

US media reported that the airstrikes, carried out by F-15 and F-16 fighters, were in response to five militia drone attacks against American forces in Iraq in recent months.

The operation was President Joe Biden's second use of force in the region.

He ordered airstrikes against Iranian-backed militia targets in eastern Syria this February.

The airstrikes came at a delicate time between the US and Iran.

A senior State Department official said on June 23 that the two sides still have serious differences over how to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, after six rounds of indirect negotiations in Austria's capital Vienna since April.
London, June 28 : British-Swedish biopharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca has in partnership with the University of Oxford rolled out human trials for booster shots against Beta Covid variant.

The booster shot, named AZD2816, will be administered to individuals who have previously been fully vaccinated with two doses of AstraZeneca vaccine/Vaxzervia or an mRNA vaccine, at least three months after their last injection.

In non-vaccinated individuals, AZD2816 will be given as two doses, four or twelve weeks apart, or given as a second dose following a first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine/Vaxzervia --four weeks apart, the company said in a statement on Sunday.

AZD2816 has been designed using the same adenoviral vector platform as AstraZeneca vaccine/ Vaxzervia, with minor genetic alterations to the spike protein based on the Beta (B1351) variant, first identified in South Africa.

The study aims to enroll 2,250 participants from the UK, South Africa, Brazil and Poland to build immunity against the Beta Covid variant.

"Testing booster doses of existing vaccines and new variant vaccines is important to ensure we are best prepared to stay ahead of the pandemic coronavirus, should their use be needed," said Professor Sir Andrew J. Pollard, chief investigator and director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, in the statement.

Initial data from the trial is expected later this year and, once available, will be submitted to regulators for assessment as a next-generation booster vaccine and through an expedited regulatory pathway, the company said.

"The Beta variant vaccine contains 10 changes across the spike protein, many of which are also seen in other variants of concern, and which lead to effects such as, reduced ability of antibodies induced against the original virus to block cell entry (K417N, E484K, N501Y), increased infectivity compared to the original virus (D614G); reduced sensitivity of neutralising antibodies to the original virus (L452R)," the company said.

Besides these minor modifications, the two AZD2816 and AstraZeneca vaccine/ Vaxzervia vaccines are the same, it noted.

In May, the UK launched a clinical trial that aimed to assess the efficacy of a third 'booster' dose of seven different Covid-19 vaccines -- Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Novavax, Valneva, Janssen and Curevac -- on patients immune responses.

It costs 19.3 million pound and is being funded by the UK government and led by the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.

Meanwhile, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has noted that there is currently no data to support that a Covid-19 vaccine booster shot is needed for the general population. But, an extra dose may be needed for more-vulnerable groups, such as older adults or organ transplant patients.

Both Pfizer and Moderna are investigating a third dose of Covid vaccine, while Johnson & Johnson is studying the need for a second dose to raise protection against the virus, the report said.

The US NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, or NIAID, is also conducting a clinical trial to understand whether a third shot of a Moderna vaccine could be given after a person initially received two shots of Pfizer, or one shot of Johnson & Johnson, the report added.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Kolkata, June 28 : U Zaw Htay, who served as the spokesman of the Aung San Suu Kyi-led ousted government of Myanmar, has been freed from military custody in capital Nay Pyi Taw after more than four months in detention, family sources told IANS.

U Zaw Htay was the Director-General at Suu Kyi's Office and also doubled up as spokesman for the President until the November 2020 parliament polls.

The former military officer had also served as spokesman for the U Thein Sein government (2010-15) that preceded the Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy (NLD) government, which was ousted following the February 1 military coup.

As the military takeover unfolded , government residences in Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon, as well as in the states and regions, were ringed in by military vehicles, leading to the detention of a majority of senior NLD figures and senior civil servants.

Military vehicles surrounded U Zaw Htay's house in the capital city on the night of February 1 and he was not been seen ever since.

Some reports suggested that the military junta wanted him to retain his position following the coup. But U Zaw Htay resigned in protest a day after his detention.

A military source, requested anonymity, told the Irrawaddy Online that U Zaw Htay was released around 10 days ago from military custody and discharged from his position.

"It seemed he was told to stay out of view and keep quiet," the source added Now a family member confirmed U Zaw Htay's release on a Facebook message to IANS.

She told IANS that U Zaw Htay is staying at a location she could not disclose, but added: "He is definitely out of military custody and in reasonable health. Looks like he has to play it cautiously." NLD sources were not yet willing to read too much into U Zaw Htay's release but at least one top leader of the party did not rule out 'backroom parleys' between the military junta and the NLD.

"U Zaw Htay could be useful in such parleys because he knows the army as a former soldier but he is also close to our leaders." At his last press briefing in Nay Pyi Taw on January 8, U Zaw Htay dismissed accusations of voting fraud made by the military and its allied political parties as a refusal to accept electoral defeat.

"These are the acts of those who can't accept defeat. The voters know best about the election and whom they voted for and supported," U Zaw Htay had said at the press briefing.

"Those who are making false accusations are committing political suicide," he added.

Military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing was believed to be furious at U Zaw Htay's statement, all the more because he was a soldier brought into administration by former general U Thein Sein after he took charge of government after the 2010 polls.

General Hlaing is said to be have personally asked for U Zaw Htay's detention, after he furiously denied that former President U Win Myint or Suu Kyi had breached the 2008 Constitution or Union Election Commission rules while campaigning ahead of the November 8, 2020, general election.

Hours before the newly-elected Parliament was to convene, the military seized power.

The military claimed mass fraud and voting irregularities to justify its coup and says it will hold a new election.

Western diplomats in Yangon told IANS that U Zaw Htay's release indicated the military junta was under huge pressure.

"We can't say they are buckling under pressure but surely they are trying to display some backing down from hard repression. May be it is cosmetic , just window dressing but surely indicative that pressure was felt," said one European diplomat on the condition of anonymity.

"We can't rule out some result from ASEAN counselling. Some gestures are expected," said another American diplomat.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
June 28 : Akshaye Khanna starrer the State of Siege: Temple Attack will premiere on ZEE5 from July 9. With the first teaser, the makers announced its release date.

The film marks Akshaye Khannas digital debut, in which he plays a National Security Guard (NSG) commando. The film is based on the 2002 terror attack at Akshardham Temple in Gujarat when two terrorists were gunned down by NSG commandos. The film has been directed by Ken Ghosh.

In the teaser, Akshaye was seen in charge of the operation to eliminate the terrorists and secure the Akshardham Temple in Gujarat. The teaser gave a glimpse of how the NSG team conducted the rescue operation for people who were in the temple at the time of the siege. The teaser showed four terrorists reaching Gandhinagar, Gujarat, in train to execute the plan. They were shown opening fire at the people inside the temple, creating chaos. Akshaye Khanna was shown in action to save the people held hostage.

When terrorists strike and innocent lives are at stake, its time to call upon our NSG commandos again. Phir hogi #SahasKiVijay#StateOfSiege:Temple Attack premieres 9th July.#AZEE5OriginalFilm pic.twitter.com/a9aa945Qt9  ZEE5 (@ZEE5India) June 26, 2021

The teaser starts with a voice-over of a terrorist who is ready to kill everyone inside the temple. It showed how people were trapped by the terrorists and kept hostage while the NSG commandos took charge of the situation and saved their lives. The teaser showcased a lot of thrill, action, drama, and suspense.

Sharing the teaser on ZEE5, the makers wrote, When terrorists strike and innocent lives are at stake, its time to call upon our NSG commandos again. Phir hogi #SahasKiVijay #StateOfSiege:Temple Attack premieres 9th July. #AZEE5OriginalFilm

Get ready to meet the brave hearts who make us believe ki phir se hogi #SahasKiVijay!

State Of Siege: Temple Attack, premieres 9th July only on #ZEE5 pic.twitter.com/3DvwGuIwy1  ZEE5 (@ZEE5India) June 27, 2021

According to director Ken Ghosh, State of Siege: Temple Attack is a tribute to the NSG commandos of India who are always ready to risk their lives to protect the citizens. In State of Siege: Temple Attack, we have tried our best to give a fitting tribute to our heroes and I cannot wait for the release of the film on ZEE5. The film also stars Vivek Dahiya and Gautam Rode. Earlier, the web series State of Siege: 26/11, which was also released on ZEE5, was about the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Chennai, June 28 : After restarting power generation for some time on Sunday, the Unit 2 at Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) belonging to Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) stopped operation due to steam leak.

According to Power System Operation Corporation Ltd (POSOCO), the 220 MW Unit 2 of MAPS stopped generation at 4.35 p.m. on Sunday due to "H/T to attend steam leak".

The unit which was shut down on April 7, 2021 for annual maintenance was revived on Sunday at 00.52 hours and had generated 78 MW and later stopped generation.

The 220 MW Unit 1 at MAPS was shut down on Januar 30, 2018 for maintenance work.

The MAPS Station Director disconnected the landline call without answering when contacted by IANS for clarifications.

Assuming a technical glitch for the disconnection, IANS again contacted his office and was told, "the Station Director was busy and it is not possible to call back and tell the reason." He also added: "I had addressed you as 'Sir' four times. You didn't call me even once as 'Sir'. Henceforth I will not attend your call." Meanwhile, the 220 MW Unit 4 at Kaiga Atomic Power Station (KAPS) in Karnataka restarted power generation on June 24, 2021 after it stopped generation on June 22, 2021 for 'Reactor Protection Operated'.

The KAPS has four 220 MW units and on Sunday the total generation was 844 MW out of total capacity of 880 MW.

India's southern atomic power company NPCIL has a total of 3,320 MW capacity -- 2,440 MW in Tamil Nadu and 880 MW in Karnataka. A total of 1,440 MW (1,000 MW in Kudankulam and 440 MW in MAPS) in Tamil Nadu are shutdown for maintenance.

(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in)
New Delhi, June 28: Facing an identical and serious challenge from their respective neighbouring countries, India and Greece have agreed to work towards the establishment of a Strategic Partnership, opening up new perspectives for the consolidation and upgrading of relations between both the countries in a number of areas of common interest.

Recognising the threat posed by radicalization, violent extremism, as well as terrorism, including cross border terrorism, New Delhi and Athens focused on promoting dialogue and enhancing cooperation between the two countries at all levels during the visit of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the first by an Indian foreign minister to the Greek capital in 18 years.

Jaishankar met Greece Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis Saturday morning, conveying felicitations of the President and the Prime Minister of India to the Government and the people of Greece on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Greek independence.

"Welcome his commitment to a deeper bilateral engagement. Greece has been an important advocate of our growing EU partnership. Our larger convergence on global issues and challenges permeated the discussion," Jaishankar tweeted after the meeting with Mitsotakis However, it was the private and then expanded bilateral talks he held with his counterpart, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias in the evening, which marked the beginning of a long-term commitment to building a strong partnership between the two countries.

A special emphasis was placed on the economic sector, including energy cooperation, and in particular on renewable sources such as solar energy as Greece joined the International Solar Alliance (ISA), an Indian initiative, Saturday evening. Dendias signed the framework agreement as Jaishankar welcomed the country to the ISA family, an initiative by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, in which more than 120 countries participate. Both sides agreed that this will assist the two countries in realisation of the energy goals set by the respective governments to make renewable energy a significant part of the energy supply.

On the multilateral level, both countries supported enhanced cooperation within international organizations - including the United Nations, where India is a non-permanent member of the Security Council for the 2021-2022 term and Greece is a candidate for non-permanent membership for the 2025-2026 term. Greek side reiterated its support for permanent membership of India in a "reformed" UNSC.

While discussing international and regional developments, both in the wider region of the Indian Ocean and in the Eastern Mediterranean, Dendias said that relationship between the two countries - one which Greece "looks forward to becoming a strategic one" - is based on shared principles and values such as respect for International Law, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the peaceful settlement of disputes.

"The status of India as the honoured country at the Thessaloniki International Fair in 2019 is practical proof of the importance that Greece attaches to India," he said.

While briefing Jaishankar on developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, especially on the Cyprus and Libya issue, and thanking India for the special and constructive role it has undertaken over time, Dendias emphasized that both Greece and India, each in its own region, face similar opportunities and similar challenges.

"Both Greece and India each face a serious challenge from a neighbouring country or countries. These countries refuse to resolve bilateral issues on the basis of International Law. They threaten to use force against their neighbours, they interfere in internal affairs," said the Greek Foreign Minister.

Greece said that the two foreign ministers also discussed the European Union-India relations extensively, as well as their relations with "other friendly countries" such as the United Arab Emirates with which both enjoy close relations.

Being a shipping power which attaches particular importance to freedom of navigation and to full respect for the international Law of the Sea, Greece said it also welcomes the statement made by Quad - in which India participates along with the USA, Japan and Australia - that explicitly refers to these principles.

In the joint statement released after the bilateral meeting between the two ministers, both sides reaffirmed their shared views on regional and global issues of mutual interest in the context of new geo-political and geo-economic realities, including the Indo-Pacific.

Noting with satisfaction the convergence of each-others' vision for a free, open, inclusive and cooperative Indo-Pacific ensuring connectivity and growth for all in the region, they agreed that the rule of law and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity are fundamental principles of international relations that must be observed by all.

"Just concluded official talks with FM @NikosDendias. Was productive bilaterally and insightful on many regional & global issues. Agreed to step up the pace of engagement and work towards a strategic partnership," tweeted Jaishankar after the talks.

The two Foreign Ministers also attended the unveiling of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi near the Embassy of India in Athens on Saturday evening along with Mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis, and the President of the Greece-India Parliamentary Friendship Group, former Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou.

The statue, said both the countries, will act as a strong symbol of friendship.

(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative/

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Srinagar, June 28 : Two foreign militants of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist outfit carried out the attack in which three persons, including a special police officer (SPO), his wife and daughter were killed, J&K Police said on Monday.

Vijay Kumar, Inspector General of Police (Kashmir) told reporters that two JeM militants carried out the terror attack in the Hariparigam village of Awantipora area. Special Police Officer (SPO) Fayaz Ahmad, his wife Raja Begum and daughter Rafiqa, 23, were killed in the attack.

"Targeting family members is a barbaric act and only cowards can do it ", IGP said.

He visited the home of the slain SPO on Monday to express condolences.
Mogadishu, June 28 : Somali National Army (SNA) said that 41 al-Shabab militants were killed and several others injured in a suicide attack in the country's Galmudug state.

An SNA commander told state-media that three SNA soldiers and five from Galmudug's regional paramilitary forces (Darwish) were also killed during the attack on Sunday near a security camp in Wisil, which is one of the safest towns in Galmudug, reports Xinhua news agency.

The military said some of the civilians and soldiers wounded in the fighting were taken to the country's capital Mogadishu for medical treatment.

The Somali government strongly condemned Sunday's terrorist attack by al-Shabab and sent its condolences to the families of those killed by the terrorists.

Deputy Information Minister, Abdirahman Yusuf Al-Adala said the government had taken immediate action to help the people of Wisil, who showed courage and resisted attempts by the terrorists to attack their town.

The al-Shabab militant group which is fighting the government has been driven out of major strongholds in Somalia in recent years in a joint offensive by AMISOM and local forces but the group still stages attacks across the country.
Ghaziabad: Four people of the same family were fired upon, three killed, woman injured. Image Source: IANS News

Ghaziabad: Four people of the same family were fired upon, three killed, woman injured. Image Source: IANS News

Ghaziabad: Four people of the same family were fired upon, three killed, woman injured. Image Source: IANS News

Ghaziabad: Four people of the same family were fired upon, three killed, woman injured. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, June 28 : Four members of a cloth merchant were shot at in their house in Ghaziabad's Loni area, in which three people died while the condition of one remains critical. The incident took place in main bazar located in Loni area.

Top officials of the district have launched an investigation into the matter.

Police said, unidentified miscreants shot and killed 70-year-old Raisuddin, his 30-year-old son Azhar and 28-year-old son Imran, late at night on Sunday in the house. Raisuddin's 65-year-old wife Fatima was also shot at and her condition is said to be critical.

However, a pregnant woman member of the family was saved in the incident. There were 5 members in the house when the incident took place.

A forensic team and dog squad have also been called in to the spot to assist the police in investigation.

Ghaziabad SSP Amit Pathak said, "Information was received that four people of a family have been shot at, out of which three have died. The injured woman is undergoing treatment. The site of the incident has been inspected. The cause of the incident is being ascertained." "We have formed three teams to investigate the case from different angles. We can say something only after all the facts of the case come to light," he said.

Police are not yet sure as to how many attackers entered the house.
New Delhi, June 28 : Parliament Standing Committee on Information Technology (I&T) has issued summons to Facebook India and Google India asking them to send their representatives to appear before it on Tuesday to hear their views on safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social online news media platforms.

The meeting will be held at 4 p.m. onwards at Main Committee Room, Parliament House Annexe in presence of committee members, officials of Ministry of I&T and the representatives of Facebook and Google. Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor is the Chairman of the committee, which includes 31 members -- 21 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha.

The meeting schedule mentions that the committee is "to hear the views of representatives of Facebook India and Google India on the subject Safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space".

In its next sitting on July 6, representatives of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will submit evidence related to the subject before the committee.

There have been more than two similar meetings between the committee and the representatives of social media sites, including Facebook, Google and Twitter.

In a recent one, the committee had called Twitter to appear before it on June 18 to give representation on how to prevent misuse of social media and online news. On June 20, India's permanent mission at the United Nations had clarified that India's new IT rules are "designed to empower ordinary users of social media" and that they were finalised after the government held broad consultations with civil society and other stakeholders in 2018.

The Central government has framed the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 ('new IT Rules') and notified the same on February 25 this year. The Rules came into effect from May 26.

In January this year, the committee had issued summons to officials of Facebook and Twitter to question them over misuse of the social media or online news platforms. The committee has also questioned Facebook's India head Ajit Mohan over the issue of political bias on the social media platform.

The allegations of a Facebook bias towards the BJP were reported in The Wall Street Journal in August 2020 and had claimed that Ankhi Das, the platform's then India Policy Head had opposed the idea of removing hate posts by BJP leaders, warning that this could hamper their "commercial interests".

Das has now quit Facebook.

Taking cognizance of misuse of social networking sites, the National Commission For Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on June 14 sought a report from Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Telegram regarding posts on these social networking sites offering illegal adoption of children orphaned amid ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The apex child rights body has also directed these four social media entities to submit their report within 10 days, and also warned them to take strict action against them if they fail to report such posts.

In a letter written to these social networking sites, the NCPCR suggested if any person posts any such content, an immediate report should be sent to the commission or law enforcement authorities or state commission with a detailed IP address of the user.
Kinshasa, June 28 : A curfew has been declared in Beni city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after two consecutive bomb blasts on the same day, causing at least one death and several injuries.

Narcissus Muteba Kashale, the city's police chief, declared a general curfew after the explosion of the second bomb blast on Saturday night in the city, reports Xinhua news agency.

The curfew will allow security forces to continue to conduct investigations and secure the city of Beni and its surrounding areas.

On Sunday morning, a bomb exploded in a local church, injuring at least two people and causing considerable damage.

The authorities have not identified the perpetrators.

A suicide bomber blew himself up later on Sunday on the outskirts of Beni, killing himself and injuring at least two other people, according to police sources deployed in the area after the incident.

The carrier of the bomb has not yet been identified.

Police have secured the site for further investigation.

Last month, at least two Muslim imams were shot dead in two mosques in the middle of worship in Beni by unknown people.

Faced with the growing insecurity in the region, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi decided at the end of April to declare a state of siege in North Kivu and the neighbouring Ituri province.
Patna, June 28 : The Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Bihar Police is likely to re-investigate the parcel blast at Darbhanga railway station, a police source said here on Monday.

The ATS has sent samples to Kolkata for forensic test. A Bihar police official said that the experts from FSL, Pune will also join in the investigation in Kolkata.

At present, ATS Bihar, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh police are jointly investigating the case. Besides, National Investigating Agency (NIA) is also doing parallel investigation.

The explosion at Darbhanga railway station took place on June 17 when a packet containing chemicals exploded soon after it was taken away from parcel compartment of a train which arrived from Secunderabad, Telangana.

As the matter was very serious, GRP transferred this case to Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Bihar police. As the matter was related to Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, the ATS of these two states are also investigating the case.

"Preliminary investigation has revealed that it has some connection with Pakistan's ISI. We have arrested four suspects in this case and it has appeared that ISI had done the funding. The scanning of bank accounts of suspects are underway," an officer of Bihar ATS said.

"We have arrested them from different states and their identities and places from where they were nabbed, are not revealed due to security reasons," he said.
New Delhi, June 28 : Taking the statement of Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal as magisterial articulation of Indias e-commerce policy and his candour against arrogance and shameless illegalities of US ecommerce godzillas at a virtual talk held with Stanford India Policy & Economics Group on Saturday, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has termed Goyal's candid statement as a warning bell to all e-commerce entities who are indulging in e-commerce business activities in India.

CAIT National President B.C.Bhartia & Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal while complimenting Goyal said that his statement was quite unambiguous and defined the intentions of the Government in very clear terms that there will be no compromise on complying with the law and rules of the Indian Government by one and all whether a foreign or indigenous e-commerce entities. CAIT has been spearheading a national movement against illegitimate business practices of foreign funded e-commerce entities for more than two years.

Bhartia and Khandelwal further said that the business community of the Country is delighted to note the characteristic clarity and candour of Piyush Goyal in his detailed reply given to Stanford Policy & Economics Group, puncturing the cry-wolf strategies of U.S. e-commerce godzillas Amazon and Walmart owned Flipkart.

Goyal's averment leaves no room anymore for any single transgression of Indian law by these two modern-day avatars of East India Company and a clear cut lesson to other big-wigs of e-commerce companies those having a dream of controlling and dominating not only the e-commerce but even the retail trade of India.

Bhartia and Khandelwal also said that it will be a litmus test for all those entities who usually advocate for bringing reforms in policies of the Government. It will be interesting to note which side of the table they are standing at this critical time when e-commerce in India is poised for robust growth.

"Will they take the side of the entities which are habitual law offenders and violate the law or the other side which signifies the importance of complying with the law of the land? Both trade leaders have expressed hope that nothing will deter the Government in notifying the rules once the process of suggestion is completed", they said.

CAIT has also sent a letter to industry chambers, FICCCI, CII, ASSOCHAM, PHD Chamber of Commerce, NASSCOM, COAI, IMAIM, ICEA, Laghu Udyog Bharti, FISME and RAI urging them to ensure that draft e commerce rules should be notified asap after due process as it will purify e commerce business of India to a great extent.
New Delhi, June 28 : The Supreme Court on Monday declined to stay the Delhi High Court order allowing private unaided schools to collect annual fee and development charges from the students for the period after the lockdown ended in the national capital last year.

A bench headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar said: "We are not inclined (to stay the order)." Senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing the Action Committee Unaided Recognized Private Schools, contended before the top court that the High Court reached an independent conclusion and the division bench is slated to hear the matter on July 12.

Divan argued that the single judge decided the case on merits and held executive decision as ultra vires. The High Court order allowed schools to collect annual fee and development charges from students with a 15 per cent deduction on total fee due to unutilized facilities during the lockdown amid the ongoing Covid pandemic.

Senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing the Directorate of Education Government of NCT Delhi, insisted on staying the High Court order. He added that the Delhi government has not opened the schools since March last year. Singh said payment of annual fee and development charges, when schools are closed, would lead to harassment of lakhs of parents. "We have permitted full tuition fee. High Court says pay annual fee and development charges", he added.

The bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Aniruddha Bose, reiterated that it is not inclined to stay the High Court order and asked Singh to raise these contentions before the bench scheduled to hear the matter on July 12. "You argue before the division bench. State is not concerned here," the bench noted.

The bench in its order said that considering that the division bench is hearing the matter on July 12, all contentions remain open and be raised before the division bench, and the dismissal of the petition does not reflect upon the merits of the case.

On June 7, the Delhi High Court had refused to stay its single-judge order allowing private unaided to collect annual and development charges from students for the period after the lockdown. The High Court had noted that if the government was so populist, it could help schools with some funds.

A vacation bench of Justices Rekha Palli and Amit Bansal issued notice and sought response of the Action Committee - Unaided Recognised, which represents over 450 schools, on the appeals of the AAP government, students and an NGO challenging the May 31, single judge order. The single judge bench said that schools shall collect annual fees with a deduction of 15 percent, as allowed by the top court in Indian School case, and the amount payable by students has to be paid in six monthly instalments from June 10.
Johannesburg, June 28 : Starting from Monday, South Africa will move to lockdown Level 4 for 14 days with stringent measures to curb the spread of Covid-19, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a televised speech.

Until July 11, "all gatherings whether indoors or outdoors are prohibited. These include religious, political, cultural and social gatherings", Xinhua news agency quoted the President as saying.

"A curfew will be in place from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., and all non-essential establishments will need to close by 8 p.m.," he added.

Ramaphosa said restaurants will only be allowed serve takeaways and not permit people to eat in their premises.

To ease the pressure that is placed on hospital services by alcohol-related emergency incidents, the sale of alcohol is prohibited for both on-site and off-site consumption.

Schools will start closing from June 30.

Due to the high number of Covid-19 infections in Gauteng, travel in and out of the province for leisure purposes is prohibited.

"Our priority is to break the chain of transmission by reducing person-to-person contact and thereby help flatten the curve," said the President, "The measures that we are putting in place now are designed to allow as much economic activity to continue as possible, while containing the spread of the virus." He said that the government is continuing with vaccination program.

Till date, nearly 2.7 million people have received Johnson & Johnson or Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine which is effective against the Delta variant that is circulating in the country.

As of Monday morning, South Africa has reported 1,928,897 Covid cases and 59,900 deaths.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Thiruvananthapuram, June 28 : The infamous ISRO spy case which first surfaced in the mid nineties, that recently took a different turn, when the then probe team of Kerala Police and Intelligence Bureau now turning accused and the then 'villain', country's premier ISRO scientist, now watching from the sidelines the new proceedings initiated by the CBI.

On Monday the new team of the CBI (Delhi Special Unit) arrived in the state capital and for a while from now on, they would be here to go forward to unravel the ISRO spy case and will look from a different angle if there was any conspiracy on the part of the probe teams of the Kerala Police and the IB.

It was last week, the CBI put pedal on the probe and registered an FIR with the Thiruvananthapuram Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court against 18 people, including top former Kerala police and IB officials, who have been charged for conspiracy and fabrication of documents.

Soon came the news the next day a Thiruvananthapuram court granted anticipatory bail to former Kerala Director General of Police Siby Mathews, named in a fresh FIR registered by the CBI in the ISRO spy case.

Sources in the know of things revealed that the new CBI team has already started their probe and will very soon call the witnesses and those named in the FIR and speculations are that they might even arrest some.

Things changed for the victim S. Nambi Narayanan, a former ISRO scientist, after numerous long-drawn court battles when the Supreme Court in 2020 appointed a three-member committee headed by retired judge Justice D.K. Jain to probe if there was a conspiracy among the then police officials to falsely implicate Narayanan.

The list of accused in the FIR includes former Gujarat DGP and then IB Deputy Director, R.B. Sreekumar, besides other police officials which include S. Vijayan, Thampi S. Durgadutt, K.K. Joshua, who were all from the local police, which first registered the ISRO spy case.

Apart from Mathews, by now another official whose name figures in the FIR has also secured anticipatory bail and the news is that, many others are also approaching the court for anticipatory bail, as they fear they might be arrested.

The ISRO spy case surfaced in 1994 when Nambi Narayanan was arrested on charges of espionage along with another senior ISRO official, two Maldivian women and a businessman.

The CBI freed Narayanan in 1995 and since then he has been fighting a legal battle against Mathews, Vijayan and Joshua who probed the case and falsely implicated him.

Narayanan has now received a compensation of Rs 1.9 crore from various agencies, including the Kerala government which in 2020 paid him Rs 1.3 crore and later awarded Rs 50 lakh as directed by the Supreme Court in 2018 and another Rs 10 lakh as directed by the National Human Rights Commission.

The compensation was because the former ISRO scientist had to suffer wrongful imprisonment, malicious prosecution and humiliation.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New York, June 28 : Covid-19 positive patients with traumatic injuries, such as from car crashes, falls or other accidents, or those who were victims of violent injuries such as gunshots and stabbings, are six times more at risk of death and complication than such patients without the deadly infectious disease, research shows.

The study, by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania in the US, showed that Covid positive patients also demonstrated double the likelihood of complications such as venous thromboembolism, renal failure, need for intubation, and unplanned ICU admission, as well as more than five times the odds of pulmonary complications. These risks were even greater in patients over age 65.

"Covid-19 had the largest impact on patients whose injuries were relatively minor, and who we would have otherwise expected to do well," said lead author Elinore Kaufman, Assistant Professor at the varsity's Perelman School of Medicine.

"Our findings underscore how important it is for hospitals to consistently test admitted patients, so that providers can be aware of this additional risk and treat patients with extra care and vigilance," Kaufman added.

For the study, published in The Journal of Trauma and Acute Surgery, the team conducted a retrospective study of 15,550 patients admitted to Pennsylvania trauma centers from March 21 to July 31, 2020.

Of the 15,550 patients, 8,170 were tested for the virus, and 219 tested positive. During this period, the researchers found that rates of testing increased over time, from 34 per cent in April 2020 to 56 per cent in July.

"First, we need to investigate how to best care for these high-risk patients, and establish standard protocols to minimise risks," said senior author Niels D. Martin, chief of Surgical Critical Care and an associate professor in the division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery.

"Second, we need more data on the risks associated with patients who present symptoms of Covid, versus those who are asymptomatic, so we can administer proven treatments appropriately and increase the likelihood of survival with minimal complications," Martin said.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Ballia : , June 28 (IANS) Ram Iqbal Singh, former MLA and member of the UP BJP working committee, has criticised the handling of the Covid crisis in Uttar Pradesh.

Singh said that, at least, 10 people died in every village during the second wave because no lessons were learnt from the first one.

Ram Iqbal Singh is the latest among the party's own leaders who have questioned the management of the coronavirus pandemic in the state.

Talking to reporters here, Singh said that the health department did not learn any lessons from the first wave of Covid which led to a large number of deaths due to the disease in the second wave.

The BJP leader also demanded that Rs 10 lakh be given to the kin of those who have succumbed to the infection.

He further regretted that even after 75 years of freedom, Ballia that has a population of 34 lakh, has no doctors or medicines.

When asked that chief minister Yogi Adityanath, during his visit to Ballia, had expressed satisfaction with the arrangements made by the health department, Singh said the officials had misled the chief minister.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Washington, June 28 : Temperatures are expected to increase across the US Pacific Northwest through Tuesday following a weekend of record-breaking heat in the region, according to the weather service.

Portland, the largest city in Oregon, and Seattle in Washington were both forecast to break all-time record highs, reports Xinhua news agency.

On Sunday afternoon, the airport in Portland recorded a temperature of 43.3 degrees Celsius, the hottest ever logged there since record-keeping began in 1940, according to the National Weather Service.

Temperatures were expected to rise a bit more later.

Seattle saw its hottest June day in recorded history on Saturday as the temperature hit 38.3 degrees.

It was only the fourth time on the books that Seattle had ever topped 38 degrees, according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Many parts of Washington and Oregon states are forecast to reach highs up to more than 30 degrees above seasonal averages, according to meteorologists.
June 28 : Abhay Deol starrer film Spin, an English-language teen drama, will release on the Disney channel from August 13, and will be available only to the US audiences.

Announcing the film on his Instagram handle, Abhay said that the film is a departure from his own status quo. I am aware that most of my audience love me for making edgy, alternative narratives, that challenge the status quo. Which is why this film is all the more special as it is a departure from my own status quo, and catering to a much younger audience, Abhay wrote.

The actor further wrote, Spin is a Disney film which will go live on their platform for the U.S audiences on the 13th of August. It is a gem of a movie, that will leave you smiling and feeling good. Blessed to be a part of it! @disneychannel.

Spin is Disney Channels first original TV movie with an Indian American lead and based on Indian culture. Indian American actress Avantika Vandanapu plays the role of Rhea Kumar, an Indian American teen, who has the passion to create DJ mixes and blend it with her Indian heritage and the world around her. The film showcases her life revolving around her friends, her afterschool coding club, her familys Indian restaurant and her tight-knit family. However, everything changes when she falls for an aspiring DJ Max, Michael Bishop and her passion for music is reignited. On realising that she has natural gift for creating beats and producing music, Rhea makes efforts to master courage to follow her inner talent.

The film is directed by Manjari Makijany, an Indian writer-director based in the US. The cast includes Abhay Deol as Rheas father Arvind, UK comedian/actor Meera Syal, who plays Rheas grandmother Asha, and Indian American actor Aryan Simhadri, who essays Rheas younger brother Rohan.

Meanwhile, Abhay is developing two scripts and has three films in the post-production stage. He will be seen in Jungle Cry, directed by Sagar Ballary, and Junction, helmed by Atul Sabharwal.
Mumbai, June 28 : Actor Adnan Khan, who was last seen playing the protagonist Mawlawi Kabeer Ahmed in the TV drama Ishq "Subhan Allah", says he would love to play a negative role in his next show.

"After playing a romantic character, now I don't mind taking up negative roles. I would love to come out as a bad boy on the TV screen. Negative characters are fun and interesting. It would bring new challenges. The audience may take time to accept me in grey shades, but I'm sure to impress them with my acting skills," he tells IANS.

He feels that while, after playing negative characters, actors often lose out on positive roles, he is not worried about it.

"I know the fact that mostly on TV, if you play negative roles, makers don't consider you back for the role of a protagonist. But I'm not worried about being typecast. I wish to be versatile. I'm looking for some challenging roles, be it positive or negative, to return to work," says the actor.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Mumbai, June 28 : Actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas went all-white to celebrate Pride Month in New York.

Priyanka posted a set of pictures on Instagram. In the images, Priyanka is seen sporting an all white coordinate blouse with a thigh high skirt. She completed her look with nude pumps and gold accessories.

"Sunday's OOTD. Feeling the love in NYC... Happy Pride! @anjula_acharia," Priyanka wrote as the caption.

Priyanka was last seen on screen in the digital film "The White Tiger". The Ramin Bahrani directorial stars Adarsh Gourav and also features Rajkummar Rao in a pivotal role.

Image Source: IANS News

She is currently busy with "Citadel". Helmed by "Avengers" makers Joe and Anthony Russo, "Citadel" is a spy thriller series co-starring Richard Madden, and is billed as a global event for OTT.

Image Source: IANS News

-- Syndicated from IANS
Damscus/Washington, June 28 : At least five members of paramilitary group were killed in US airstrikes on the border region between Iraq and Syria, a war monitor said on Monday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the fighters were killed and several others wounded during the strikes on the Syrian side of the frontier, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Pentagon said on Sunday that it conducted airstrikes against facilities used by "Iran-backed militia groups" in the region.

"The US strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those countries," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a statement.

According to Kirby, resident Joe Biden directed the airstrikes against Iran-backed militia targets.

It was Biden's second use of force in the region since taking office five months ago, a retaliatory response to what Washington claimed a series of "attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting US interests in Iraq." In February, at least 17 members of paramilitary group were killed in the US strikes in Syria at the Iraq border, according to the SOHR.

Mary Ellen O'Connell, a professor at Notre Dame Law School, has criticized the US attacks as a violation of international law.

"The UN Charter makes absolutely clear that the use of military force on the territory of a foreign sovereign state is lawful only in response to an armed attack on the defending state for which the target state is responsible," she said.

"None of those elements is met in the Syria strike," she was quoted by media reports as saying.

The airstrikes came at a delicate time between the US and Iran.

Talks on restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in Austria's capital Vienna have shown a positive signal of finalising the landmark eal and finding solutions to the Iranian nuclear issue.

During the JCPOA Joint Commission meeting earlier in June, representatives from China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and Iran agreed on many important issues concerning the revival.

However, the US and Iran remain divided over how to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the nuclear deal.
Seoul, June 28 : South Korean President Moon Jae-in's approval rating remained steady at 39.6 per cent last week compared to the previous week, a new poll revealed on Monday.

The negative assessment on Moon's conduct of state affairs inched down 0.1 percentage point to 56.6 per cent last week, according to the Realmeter survey.

Support for Moon's ruling Democratic Party added 0.3 percentage points to 29.7 per cent, reports Xinhua news agency.

The main conservative opposition People Power Party garnered 38.0 per cent of approval score last week, down 1.7 percentage points from the previous week.

The minor centre-right People's Party won 7.1 per cent of support, trailed by the minor centre-left Open Democratic Party with 6.6 per cent and the minor progressive Justice Party with 4.3 per cent each.

The result was based on a survey of 2,153 voters conducted from June 21-25.

It had plus and minus 2.0 percentage points in margin of error with a 95 per cent confidence level.
Wellington, June 28 : New Zealand on Monday reported 10 new coronavirus cases in managed isolation, while there were no infections in the community, according to the Ministry of Health.

The 10 infected persons came from Russia, the Maldives, the Philippines, the Netherlands, Oman, South Africa, India, Malaysia, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry as saying.

They have all remained in managed isolation and quarantine facilities in Auckland, it added.

The total number of cases in New Zealand has no increased to 2,738, while the death toll stood at 26.

The seven-day average of new cases detected at the border is three, it said.

The quarantine-free travel from all Australian states and territories has been paused until Tuesday night, said Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins.

There are now multiple cases and outbreaks in Australia in differing stages of containment and the health risk for New Zealand in response to these cases is increasing, Hipkins said.

As a result, the New Zealand government has taken the precautionary step of temporarily widening the current pause with Australia's New South Wales to include all of the country, he said.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Lucknow, June 28 : The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh will issue appointment letters to around 6,000 primary teachers on Wednesday.

The selection and district allotment list has already been issued through the online software of NIC.

The verification and scrutiny of documents of the selected candidates for the post of Assistant teachers in government schools is underway.

In order to meet the shortage of teachers in primary schools of the state, examination for the post of Assistant teacher was held in January 2019.

During the process of recruitment of 69,000 Assistant teachers, the posts of general category and scheduled caste remained vacant.

"The recruitment process has been started for the vacant posts of Assistant teachers in the council schools of UP. In the recruitment of 69,000 teachers, the posts reserved for the general category and Scheduled Tribes (ST) were left vacant, on which the recruitment process is being done," said a government spokesperson.

He said on the directions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the allotment list on the vacant posts of assistant teachers has been published.

The candidates will have to reach the designated counselling centre for verification along with all their necessary documents.
Hyderabad, June 28 : The Telangana government will launch a special programme for empowerment of Dalits under which financial assistance of Rs.10 lakh will be provided to each beneficiary Dalit family living below poverty line.

Under the first phase of CM Dalit Empowerment Programme, 100 families will be identified from each of the 119 Assembly constituencies. Thus the assistance will be provided to a total of 11,900 families.

The state government will earmark Rs.1,200 crore for the programme and financial assistance will be credited directly to the bank accounts of the selected Dalit beneficiaries as being done in the case of Rythu Bandhu, the investment support scheme for farmers.

The decisions were taken at an all-party meeting convened by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao on Sunday. The meeting attended by leaders of all political parties, Dalit representatives, intellectuals and officials lasted for 11 hours and the decisions were announced late Sunday night.

Under the programme, eligible poor Dalit beneficiaries would be given assistance without any bank guarantees.

This is claimed to be the first-of-its-kind initiative in the country which is aimed at making Dalits financially self-sufficient.

The all-party meeting felt that the proposed CM Dalit Empowerment Programme would bring in a qualitative change in the lives of Dalits and the chief minister's ideas for Dalit empowerment have become a role model for the country.

KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, said that the all-party meeting was convened to make Dalits stakeholders, stand unitedly by them, remove their inferiority and to bring in qualitative change in their thought process and attitude.

"It is a blot on Indian society that Dalits are subjected to social and economic discrimination. This is deeply bothering all of us. The Telangana state government has introduced several schemes and programmes for the development and welfare of Dalits. It has attained qualitative change in agriculture and education sectors. But yet with an aim to set the Dalit families who are below the poverty line move towards development, CM Dalit Empowerment Programme is being introduced at a cost of Rs 1,200 crores," KCR said.

The CM said it is the responsibility of the government to move the society forward and any laxity would lead to a great loss to the future generations and the rulers would be held responsible for this. He said from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, Dalits are socially and economically exploited classes. He said this trend should be done away with.

KCR directed the officials to identify the social and economic problems of Dalits and find out solutions for them. CM Dalit Empowerment programme would be implemented along with other welfare and envelopment schemes of Dalits.

He wanted a regular monitoring of the beneficiaries of all the schemes and appointment an officer for this at the Mandal level.

He assured that he would appoint an officer in the CMO for the Dalit empowerment matters.

He asked the SC Welfare Minister Koppula Eswar to prepare profiles of Scheduled Caste families. He also directed officials to find out how many study circles can be set up for Dalit students with centre of excellence.

He accepted the suggestion at the all-party meeting that police personnel accused of attacking Dalits should be suspended from the service.
New Delhi, June 28 : FMCG company Emami Ltd has increased its existing strategic stake of 33.09 per cent to 45.96 per cent in Helios Lifestyle Pvt Ltd.

In a regulatory filing, Emami said that the nature of consideration was cash. However, it did not disclose the investment amount due to "reasons of confidentiality".

This investment is in line with the company's strategy of leveraging emerging online opportunities brought about by rapid digitisation, said a regulatory filing. With this investment, Emami has further strengthened its position as the largest shareholder of TMC.

Helios owns the fast-growing male grooming brand "The Man Company" (TMC) which offers a head-to-toe range of premium men's grooming products in bath & body, beard management, shaving & perfumes category.

Emami had previously acquired 33.09 per cnet equity stake in Helios, in two tranches, with one in December 2017 and the latter in February 2019.

Harsha V. Agarwal, Director, Emami Ltd said: "The investment helps to accelerate our journey towards having a future ready male grooming portfolio and building an omni-channel premium brand particularly in the online space and lifestyle stores." Hitesh Dhingra, Co-founder & MD, Helios Lifestyle said: "We have always been very excited about our strategic partnership. We are delighted to receive the much needed support from our strategic partner, Emami. Our strength of brand building through digital marketing, online selling and distribution coupled with Emami's resource and knowledge will help us further scale new heights in near future."
Amaravati, June 28 : Opposition leader and Andhra Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary V. Vishnu Vardhan Reddy on Monday alleged that atrocities by the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) leaders are rising by the day.

He alleged that the ruling party leaders stormed into a police station and took away a person by the name Hasan in the presence of police officials.

"In public sight and in the presence of police, YSRCP leaders took away Hasan and tried to murder him, " he claimed.

Reddy alleged that the events which took place in Kurnool district after Allagadda police summoned him for investigation allegedly indicate the horrendous state of affairs in Andhra.

"If police are like this, who will protect law and order? The Home Minister has to say if there are human rights in the state?" he demanded.

The BJP general secretary called for the immediate arrest of the people who allegedly kidnapped Hasan and suspending those police officials who reportedly colluded with them.
Chennai, June 28 : Patriotic slogans 'Jai Hind', 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and `Vande Mataram' will be heard in Tamil Nadu Assembly from the BJP lawmaker, said the party's Tamil Nadu Unit President L.Murugan.

With the NDA government formed in neighbouring Puducherry, the slogans may also be voiced in the Assembly there.

In a statement issued here on Monday, Murugan demanded an apology from Chief Minister M.K.Stalin for his party's lawmaker defaming the 'Jai Hind' slogan added that BJP lawmakers will utter the patriotic slogans inside the House in the coming days.

Elected on DMK ticket, lawmaker E.R.Eswaran had said in the Assembly that Tamil Nadu held its head high as Governor Banwarilal Purohit's customary address to the newly constituted legislature did not contain the words 'Jai Hind'.

In the presence of Stalin, the DMK MLA Eswaran said in the last Governor's address at the end had the words 'Nandri' 'Vanakkam' and 'Jai Hind'.

According to Murugan, the Chief Minister and DMK President Stalin who was present in the Assembly then felt happy in his heart and has not condemned Eswaran even once till now.

The Tamil Nadu BJP chief Murugan said the DMK is helping anti-national forces, to demean Hindu Gods and Hindu religious customs and to defame the freedom fighters.

Murugan said the DMK started calling the central government as 'Ondriya Arasu' sowing the separatist seed and now comes the 'Jai Hind' episode.

Murugan said the two word patriotic slogan 'Jai Hind' was actually given to the nation by a Tamilian freedom fighter Chempakaraman.

The slogan was adopted by Indian National Army (INA) founded by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and later became India's national slogan.
Kabul, June 28 : Afghan civilians have started taking up arms in an effort to defend their towns and villages falling to the Taliban as violence has intensified in the war-torn country in recent weeks, according to a media report.

So far, hundreds of locals have taken up arms in support of the government forces across the provinces of Takhar, Balkh, Badghis, Baghlan, Nangarhar, Laghman, Jawzjan, Samangan and Kapisa, Herat, Patkia, Ghor and Kunduz, the TOLO News report said.

Sources said that since Saturday evening, five districts fell to the Taliban -- Sayed Abad and Chak-e-Wardak in Maidan Wardak, Rustaq in Takhar, Arghistan in Kandahar and Shortepa in Balkh.

During this period, the government forces have had some progress but could not recapture any of the fallen districts, TOLO News reported.

"Paktia residents pledge to the government and the security agencies that we are with you," said Abdul Mallik Zazai, head of the provincial council.

Some residents of Enjil district in Herat who have taken up arms warned the Taliban to quit violence or they will face resistance from the people.

"We pledge to the people that we will defend the country until the last drop of our blood," Farid Ahmad, a public uprising force member.

In Ghor and Kunduz as well, people say they have been left with no option but to take up arms to fight the Taliban.

"We will suppress the Taliban wherever they are. We will always support our security forces," said Abdul Rahman, a Ghor resident.

Some politicians said that arming the people is a serious need given the current situation and they welcome this move.

"Those who lead these forces should be responsible so that when the fighting is over they will not create any problems for Afghanistan," said Asadullah Saadati, the deputy head of the High Council for National Reconciliation.

The Presidential Palace said recent moves in the last few weeks were in favor of the Republic, reports TOLO News.

The Ministry of Defence assured that the activities of the public forces will be well managed.

"The mobilisation of the people in support of the security and defence forces has had a considerable role in retaking territories, especially in the north, and has prevented the fall of some areas," Ministry spokesman Fawad Aman said.

Meanwhile, the Taliban warned that those who have taken up arms against them will not be forgiven.

The militants have so far captured more than 70 districts since the start of the withdrawal of the US-led forces from Afghanistan on May 1.
New Delhi, June 28 : The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has informed the Supreme Court that Covid spread now is substantially low and the Chartered Accountant (CA) exam scheduled in July should not be cancelled or postponed.

According to ICAI, the Covid-19 spread is now at a substantially low level, therefore it is opportune moment to offer the aspiring CAs to further their professional careers. "As on date, the number of Covid-19 cases are comparatively low and thus it would be in the best interest of the candidates if the examination is held as per schedule and not cancelled or postponed", said a note by ICAI.

It further emphasized that CA exams are professional examinations ought not to be equated with CBSE or other state board examinations for Class 10 or 12. "The ICAI has nor vested interest in holding or not holding the examinations. The only interest for ICAI is to safeguard the interest of the aspiring CAs, ensuring that the exams are held at the most appropriate and conducive time", added the note.

A bench headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar on Monday adjourned the hearing on the petitions connected with upcoming CA exam, 2021. The bench also comprising Dinesh Maheshwari and Aniruddha Bose asked ICAI to respond by Tuesday on suggestions made by petitioners in three separate writ petitions seeking moderation in the Standard Operation Procedure issued for the July 5 examination.

The counsel for ICAI informed the bench that a note has been circulated expressing its stand on the separate petitions filed by Satya Narain Perumal, Anubha Shrivastava Sahai and third by a group of CA aspirants. Senior Advocate Ramji Srinivasan, representing ICAI, submitted that the body is aware of the urgency in the matter. "We will have it tomorrow then. Please email us the note," said the bench.

A batch of petitions are pending before the top court in connection with the CA exams scheduled in July. One of the pleas, filed by Anubha Srivastava Sahai assailed a June 5 notification issued by the ICAI on the ground that it does not give students the choice to opt out before and during the exams and to carry forward all the benefits. The plea sought postponement of CA exams from July 5 to any later period till the time COVID-19 situation normalizes, or after teachers, students and invigilators are vaccinated.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Dubai, June 28 : UAE flag carrier Emirates has announced that it expects to resume its Dubai-India flights from July 7 after operations have remained suspended in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic situation in the South Asian country.

"We're expecting to resume our flights from India to Dubai as from July 7... We're waiting for the exact travel protocols and relevant permits from the government authorities. We hope to have more details soon," the airline said in response to query from a passenger on its Twitter account on Sunday.

The airline's social media handles have been buzzing ever since authorities announced a few days ago that flights from India to Dubai would resume starting June 23, the Khaleej Times reported.

Later that day however, Emirates informed that flights from India to Dubai would remain suspended until further notice.

The Dubai-based airline had announced the suspension first on April 24 as a devastating second wave of the pandemic hit India, leading to record high number of daily cases and deaths.

In May, it had extended the suspension till at least June 14.

The UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority, meanwhile, has clarified that passengers from India to the Gulf nation may have to wait longer as inbound travel has been suspended until further notice.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, June 28 : Inching closer to privatisation of two public sector banks, a high-level panel of secretaries headed by Cabinet secretary is believed to have zeroed in on Central Bank and Indian Overseas Bank as possible candidates for sell off this year.

Sources said that the high level panel of secretaries met in the middle of last week to thrash out the regulatory and administrative issues concerning the PSU bank privatisation and have identified banks that would be put up disinvestment. The panel will now send the names of the shortlisted PSU banks to the group of ministers on disinvestment or Alternative Mechanism (AM) for approval.

Earlier, NITI Aayog has submitted the names of a few public sector banks (PSB) and one public sector general insurer which can be sold off under the government's new privatisation policy to the Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment.

People in the know also said that Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and Central Bank are the top two candidates that have been favoured for privatisation, though Bank of Maharashtra has also found favour for the exercise either this year or possibly later.

Further, according to sources, United India Insurance may be suggested to the ministers panel for privatisation among the three general insurers, given its relative better solvency ratio. However, financial sector experts also contend that Oriental Insurance, with the least solvency ratio among the three, may be favoured as it does not have overseas operations and inviting a private investor may be easier for it.

Government had earlier indicated that banks under prompt corrective action (PCA) framework or weaker banks would be kept out of privatisation as it would be difficult to find buyers for them. This would have left three PSBs - Indian Overseas Bank, Central Bank and UCO Bank out of the government's disinvestment plan. But they could be bought out of PCA as there are visible signs of improvement in some of the key parameters such as profitability and asset quality (in net NPA terms as they have stepped up provisioning) in the last 3-4 quarters. This could allow them to be considered for privatisation.

In this year's budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that two state-run banks along with IDBI Bank would be privatised in FY22. She also said that one general insurance company would be sold off in the current fiscal.

Going ahead with the privatisation process of IDBI Bank on May 5, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its in-principle approval for strategic disinvestment along with transfer of management control in the PSB.

The extent of respective shareholding to be divested by the GoI and LIC, shall be decided at the time of structuring of transaction in consultation with the RBI.

The Finance Minister while delivering the budget speech on February 1 announced a capital infusion of Rs 20,000 crore in state-owned banks for the financial year 2021-2022.

Prior to the privatisation process, the government also undertook merger of the state-run banks, amalgamating weaker banks with the stronger and larger ones. A total of 10 public sector banks were merged with effect from April 1, 2020.

With the merger coming into effect, India currently has 12 public sector banks, down from 27 in 2017.

The government has budgeted Rs 1.75 lakh crore from stake sale in public sector companies and financial institutions. The target, however, may turn out to be ambitious given the global and domestic economic scenario amid the second wave of Covid-19.
New Delhi, June 28 : The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a plea seeking directions to frame a policy to protect the rights of the dead and controlling the overcharging for cremations, burials for Covid-affected bodies and also ambulance services.

Granting the liberty to the petitioner's counsel to move the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), a bench comprising Justices Nageswara Rao and Hemant Gupta said, "The problem you are raising is serious problem we agree, but luckily the situation is not that now. Go to National Human Rights Commission...NHRC will take care of issues." During the hearing, advocate appearing for the petitioner, contended that directions are being sought for a policy to protect rights of the dead, in the backdrop of incidents of bodies being found in the river Ganga. The counsel argued that petitioner's organisation took up the issue before the High Court but the needful has not been done so far.

The bench responded, "NHRC was asked to respond. You go to the NHRC. How many forums will you approach? You have already approached High Court. The High Court gave a direction. NHRC has interfered". The bench emphasized that the issues raised in the plea are serious and the NHRC is the appropriate forum to examine the matter.

NGO Trust Distress Management Collective filed a plea stressing enactment of a specific legislation, which protects the rights of the dead. The plea also urged the top court to issue guidelines to all the states and UTs to prescribe rates for cremations and ambulance services along with penal actions for non-compliance at the earliest.

The plea also cited the NHRC advisory issued on May 14, for upholding the dignity and protecting the rights of the dead, whereby 11 recommendations have been given to the Centre and all the states and UTs.

The plea also highlighted the overcharging being practiced by crematoriums and ambulance service providers, and argued it was directly connected with the news of bodies being dumped in the River Ganga.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Wellington, June 28 : New Zealand will use a new natural disaster insurance model which is set to come into effect on June 30 and was hailed as "world first" by Minister Responsible for the Earthquake Commission (EQC) David Clark on Monday.

The collaboration between eight private insurers, EQC and the Insurance Council of New Zealand, means each New Zealander now has a single point of contact for natural disaster insurance claims, Clark said in a statement.

"The partnership is a good example of government and industry coming together in a coordinated way to deliver what is arguably one of the most responsive disaster response platforms in the world. It puts claimants at the center of the insurance process," Xinhua news agency quoted Clark as saying.

The fault with the previous system was claims over the EQC cap were first assessed by EQC, then a private insurer. This resulted in delays, conflicting scopes of work and added stress for homeowners, he said.

The report of the public inquiry into the earthquake commission made a number of recommendations for EQC and private insurers to facilitate a better insurance experience for people following a natural disaster. This model directly responds to 24 of the inquiry's 69 recommendations, the Minister said.

Building on the model used after the Kaikoura earthquake in 2016, people will make just one claim to their private insurer for all aspects of their private and EQC cover.

However, EQC retains its role coordinating the government's insurance response and recovery following a future natural disaster, he said.

The Minister expects to introduce legislation to modernize the EQC Act at the end of this year.
Panaji, June 28 : The Bombay High Court bench in Goa on Monday questioned the Goa government over alleged harassment of a whistle-blowing bureaucrat, after he accused the State Sewage and Infrastructure Development Corporation of releasing untreated sewage water into a waterbody.

The petitioner Uday Chari, who is employed as a nurse at the state government's Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour, had moved the High Court to quash a First Information Report filed by the state government against him, accusing the petitioner of sourcing copies of field water quality test reports in an unauthorised manner. The FIR was filed against Chari in 2012.

"You are pursuing this from 2012 and 2021. Are you trying to say that if somebody goes against the government that you will file complaints against them? Do the Government departments have no other work?" a division bench comprising of Justices M.S. Sonak and M.S. Jawalikar said on Monday.

The Bench further observed, that instead of filing FIRs against public-spirited government servants, the government should instead welcome such initiatives.

"You should welcome such government servants. Instead of hounding the messenger you should take the message. Go against this person. This is not the way. You should (instead) reward him. Are these some documents under the Official Secrets Act?" the Bench said.

Earlier, public prosecutor AG. Nagvenkar said that an offence was clearly made out and that there was no question of quashing the case filed against Chari.
New Delhi, June 28 : Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday thanked President Ram Nath Kovind for his encouraging words for the railway employees and assured him that the national transporter will keep on working to make rail travel pleasant for crores of passengers.

In a tweet Goyal said, "The message of President Kovindji is encouraging for entire railway family. I am glad that your rail journey was a pleasant one and I assure you that in the same way we will keep on serving crore of passengers and will always keep your trust." The Union Minister also shared the note written by the President in the visitors book.

In his note, Kovind, who took a train journey from Delhi to Kanpur, his ancestral village and then to Lucknow, wrote, "From the Himalayas in north to the sea coast in Kanyakumari, from green valleys of northeast to the deserts of the Gujarat in west, I thank Railways for providing simple and best travel experience. After a long time, me and my family are very delighted with the rail journey from Delhi to Kanpur and then to Lucknow. During this memorable journey I was able to meet my old friends and relatives." He said that I am fully confident that in the daily commuter of crores of Indians, the Indian Railways will have the best services among Railways across the world. "My best wishes to the entire railway men," the President added.

Kovind on Friday undertook a train journey to visit his native place in Kanpur.

According to Northern Railway spokesperson Deepak Kumar, President Kovind boarded the special Presidential train from the Safdarjung railway station in New Delhi along with his wife to visit his native place in Paraunkh in Kanpur Dehat.

This is the first time that Kovind visited his birthplace after becoming President.

It is after 15 years that an Indian President has travelled in the Indian Railways. Before Kovind, former President APJ Abdul Kalam had undertaken a train journey.
Islamabad, June 28 : Pakistan has for long completely rejected assertions of having Taliban footprints on its soil. However, incumbent Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has admitted that Islamabad not only hosts families of the Taliban, but it also is aware of fighters getting medical treatment in the country.

Ahmed, well known for his outspoken attitude, has admitted that families of Taliban fighters reside in the country and many of the group's members receive medical treatment in local hospitals.

In an interview to a local television network, the Minister said many of those familiesreside in the surrounding areas Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

"Taliban families live here, in Pakistan, in Rawat, Loi Ber, Bara Kahu and Tarnol areas. Sometimes their (fighters) dead bodies arrive and sometimes they come here in hospital to get medical treatment," he added.

Ahmed's admission bcompletely negates Islamabad's outright rejection of allegations leveled by Kabul and Washington that Taliban terrorists use Pakistani soil to direct and sustain their activities in Afghanistan.

On the other hand, Pakistan has counter-blamed Afghanistan for facilitating militants and other illegal movements from its 2,600 km-long open border into Pakistan.

Pakistan has also maintained that it facilitates about three million Afghan refugees for decades, which at times does serve as a hiding place for the Taliban insurgents.

Recently, the Pakistan Foreign Office had categorically rejected the remarks of the Press Office of the Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs, regarding activities of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan.

"The assertion of the Afghan side are contrary to facts on ground and various reports of the UN, which also corroborate the presence and activities of over 5000-strong TTP in Afghanistan"" said the Pakistan Foreign Office.

"Over the last many years, TTP has launched several gruesome terrorist attacks inside Pakistan using Afghan soil without any retribution from its hosts. The 12th Report of the UN Monitoring Team issued in June 2021, acknowledges TTP's distinctive anti-Pakistan objectives and notes its location within Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan.

"The TTP following its orchestrated reunification with its splinter groups with the help of Hostile Intelligence Agencies (HIAs), its continued presence in Afghanistan with impunity and its cross-border attacks against Pakistan pose persistent threat to our security and stability," the Office added.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has stated that Pakistan's gains against terrorism, could be undermined severely if the security situation worsens in Afghanistan, and lead towards a civil war.

"We are already hosting and looking after almost three million Afghan refugees and we cannot take more because we are not in a position to shoulder the burden," said Qureshi, insisting that the worsening security situation in Afghanistan could also trigger another exodus of refugees into Pakistan.

However, the statement by the Interior Minister certainly has raised many eyebrows, who are now questioning the Imran Khan-led government and reminding it of its claims of now allowing terrorists to operate from its soil.
Addis Ababa, June 28 : The anti-terror and constitutional affairs bench of the Ethiopian Federal High Court on Monday sentenced the killer of the east African country's late army chief to life imprisonment.

Seare Mekonen was killed by his bodyguard Mesfin Tigabu on June 22, 2019, as part of what Ethiopian authorities described as a coordinated effort to destabilise the government, reports Xinhua news agency.

The government at the time accused Amhara region security chief, Asaminew Tsige, of masterminding a failed coup to destabilise the country.

The coup attempt also left several other senior government officials dead, including Amhara region president Ambachew Mekonen and Attorney General of the Amhara region Migbaru Kebede.

Tsige, who went into hiding soon after the assassinations, was killed several days later in a "shootout".

The coup attempt also triggered a 10-day internet blackout throughout Ethiopia as the government launched a nationwide crackdown, mainly in the Amhara region and the capital, Addis Ababa.
Patna, June 28 : A youth in Bihar's Araria district was brutally beaten to death by villagers on Monday morning.

The district police have arrested two of the alleged attackers. The deceased's father has levelled allegations against 18 persons for this brutal act.

The incident took place at Chakai village under Jokihat police station when a group of villagers caught the victim named Ismyle Khan, a native of adjoining Tapra village, accusing him of theft. They tied Ismyle to an electric pole and beat him to death.

Ismyle's father Soyab Khan claimed that his son went to Chakai village to buy milk.

"We have a lane (Gali) dispute with a person named Domar Yadav. They levelled false allegations against my son. They killed my son in a pre-planned manner to take revenge for the lane dispute," Khan said.

Pushkar Kumar, the DSP of Araria Sadar said: "We are investigating the case from all angles. The deceased was killed by a violent mob in the village." "Ismyle had a criminal history and served a jail term in the past. On Monday, he was escaping after a theft bid in the house of one Domar Yadav. The local villagers spotted him and managed to overpower him," the DSP said.
Los Angeles, June 28 : Hollywood actress Megan Fox asserted that she has been bisexual for over two decades, in a new social media post. Although she came out over a decades ago, she doesn't often openly address her sexuality.

Fox, who is part of the LGBTQIA community, celebrated her "over two decades" of bisexuality by sharing a number of sultry selfies flaunting rainbow-tip manicure in honour of Pride Month.

"Putting the B in #LGBTQIA for over two decades @moveon @intoactionus #pride," she wrote as the caption with rainbow emojis.

In the comment section of the post, her followers wrote how much they love her for putting herself out there and reminding everyone that she is a member of the LGBTQIA community.

"Honey you made us realise the B in a lot of us," a fan wrote.

Another wrote: "My fellow bi queen." Some were shocked as they did not know that the actress is bisexual.

The first time she opened up publicly about her sexual identity was in a 2008 interview.

Fox, who shares three kids with estranged husband Brian Austin Green, also used her social media to speak publicly about LGBTQ+ rights.
New Delhi, June 28 : Although, Covid situation in the national capital is very much under control with daily new cases reduced to below 100 paving the way to continue the unlock process, the controversy on alleged exaggerated demand of oxygen is not likely to die down soon.

The controversy erupted after the Supreme Court appointed oxygen audit committee in an interim report stated that Delhi's oxygen needs were exaggerated four times during the second Covid wave, than its requirement.

AIIMS director Randeep Guleria, who is heading a five-member sub group (oxygen audit committee), on Saturday, clarified that, it is an interim report. "The oxygen needs are dynamic and change on day-to-day basis," he had said.

The matter is still subjudice as the committee has submitted its report to the Apex Court, however, Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems not to miss this opportunity to attack the Arvind Kejriwal government.

On Monday, leaders of the Delhi BJP held a protest at Jantar Mantar under the leadership of state party chief Adesh Gupta and blamed Kejriwal for causing deaths in other states due to alleged exaggeration of oxygen demand in Delhi.

Delhi BJP, which was in defensive mode during the peak of the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic due to the shortage of oxygen, drugs and vaccines, has turned aggressive now. While, the AAP that was attacking the Centre every now and then, now seems in defensive mode on the issue.

Demanding action against Kejriwal, Gupta said, "Kejriwal exaggerated oxygen requirement in Delhi which resulted in shortage of oxygen in other states. Many patients have died due to oxygen shortage and therefore Kejriwal should be held responsible for those deaths." The sub-group constituted by the Supreme Court to audit oxygen consumption in hospitals in the national capital during the second Covid wave, said the Delhi government 'exaggerated' the consumption of oxygen and made a claim of 1,140 MT, four times higher than the formula for bed capacity requirement of 289 MT.

The five-member panel said, the Delhi government had made the claims for allocation of 700 MT medical grade oxygen on April 30 by using a 'wrong formula.' The AAP, adopting defensive strategy so far on this issue, has denied the allegation. Kejriwal had on Saturday said, "May we work now if your fight over oxygen is finished? Let us together make a system so no one faces shortage of oxygen in the third wave."

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, June 28 : Centre on Monday announced eight economic relief measures for India Inc, state governments as well as micro finance credit users.

Accordingly, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced these measures here.

The schemes entail enhancement of existing relief measure such as ECGLS and support for state governments.

Besides, a total four new measures were announced to provide loans to micro finance credit users as well as tourism industry.

Further, FM announced a Rs 50,000 cr guaranteed loan for creation of medical infrastructure.

She said that ECLGS scheme will be enhanced by Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

Furthermore, the FM announced a Rs 1.1 lakh crore loan gurantee for scheme for Covid effected sectors.

She said that first 5 lakh tourist visa will be issued free of charge. This step will be taken once the visa issuance start.

Apart from these the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana has been extended till March 31, 2022 entailing government nearing PF liability of employees and employers depending on the size of the organisation.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Bengaluru, June 28 : Karnataka on Monday announced the dates for the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) or Class 10 board examination 2021 that has been scheduled to be conducted from July 19-22 at various centres spread across the state.

After a meeting with bureaucrats' concerned and academic experts here, Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar said that as decided earlier the Class 10 board examinations will be conducted only for two days.

"On July 19, the examination will be held for the core subjects Maths, Science and Social Science, while on July 22, the examination will be held for languages. The hall tickets will be released on June 30," he said.

He added that the Class 10 examination is scheduled to be held from 10.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m.

Kumar said that students who have migrated with their parents due to the pandemic will be allowed to write their examination from a centre closer to their location. "The government already has data on students who migrated and the Deputy Director of Public Instruction in respective areas have been alerted who'll further ensure that these students appear for the examination," Kumar said.

He added that last year, the examinations were held over six days. "However, keeping in mind the current situation, this year, the exams will be held for two days. This year 8.76 lakh students will appear for SSLC examinations, whereas, last year, 8.46 lakh students appeared for the examinations. For this year's preparations, 73,066 examination rooms have been set up for the exam as compared to last year of 48,000," the minister said.

Kumar added those in-charge of the examination centres will have to abide by the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) released by the state last week.

According to the SOPs released by Karnataka, sanitising the examination halls, furniture and toilets daily by spraying disinfectant solution before and after the exam have been mandated.

"Only 12 students per classroom of the examination centre and one student at each desk to maintain physical distancing. While in the rural areas, arrangements will be made to ensure that no students need to go to any other place where travelling is required to appear for these examinations," the SOP stated.

The SOP added that additionally, every examination centre will have a small health centre, where paramedical staff or ASHA workers will be stationed to monitor the health of the students. Subsequently, he added that Scouts and Guides in the state have offered to assist in ensuring Covid-19 appropriate behaviour is followed by students in the centres.

Apart from this, the minister exhorted speeding up of anti-Covid vaccination drive to inoculate teachers, staff and officials involved in conducting the examination.

He also said that students would be provided masks at the entrance of the health counters in the examination halls besides ambulances will be kept reserved in each taluk for those involved in the SSLC examination.

"There would also be a Covid care centre for those Covid- positive students to write the examination. If anyone in the family is infected and the candidate is in isolation and is found to be healthy, he or she would be allowed to write the test at the nearby Covid Care Centre after testing the student," the SOP explained.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Mumbai, June 28 : Debutant Bollywood actor and late Irrfan Khan's son Babil Khan on Monday announced he was dropping out of University of Westminster to pursue acting.

"I will miss you so much. My beautiful friends. I have a very tight circle here in Mumbai, literally 2-3 friends in total. You all gave me a home in a strange cold place and made me feel like I belonged. Thank you, I love you. Film BA, dropping out today, with over 120 credits cause I'm giving it all to acting as of now. Goodbye university of Westminster. I love you my truest friends." Along with a long thoughtful note, he tagged 47 of his college friends in the post," he wrote in an Instagram note.

He also shared pictures of his college days, shooting with a film camera.

Babil announced the news a day after signing Shoojit Sircar's next film. He will soon make his debut with the film "Qala", co-starring Triptii Dimri and directed by Anvitaa Dutt.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Hyderabad, June 28 : Rich tributes were paid to former Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao on his centenary birth anniversary on Monday.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao and Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan recalled the services rendered by PV, as the late leader was popularly known, to the nation.

Addressing the closing ceremony of birth centenary celebrations at PV Gyan Bhoomi, the Samadhi of the late leader, the governor and the chief minister spoke about the achievements of PV and described him the architect of India's economic reforms.

PV, who was born on June 28, 1921 in Vangara village in Karimnagar district of Telangana, served as the Prime Minister from 1991 to 1996.

He was India's first and only Telugu Prime Minister. He also had the distinction of being the first Prime Minister outside the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to complete a full five-year term.

KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, said PV was a statesman who steered a minority government to complete the full term.

Describing PV was an intellectual and a polyglot, the chief minister said he left an indelible mark in every field he was associated with both state and central level.

KCR said the late leader was known as a reformist. He recalled that the financial reforms introduced by him bailed out the country from a financial crisis and ensured investments into the country. "Time is dynamic and politicians and administrators need to be dynamic for ensuring welfare and development," said the CM He also pointed out that the land reforms introduced by PV in the combined Andhra Pradesh set an example to other States. "He led from the front by donating 800 acres of land owned by his family while introducing land reforms," he said.

The chief minister recalled that while serving as education minister, PV set up Gurukuls and Navodaya schools.

He announced that Vidhya Peetham in the name of PV will be set up in Kakatiya University.

The CM thanked voters of the Mahabubnagar Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy Graduates' Constituency for electing Vani Devi to Legsialtive Council as a true tribute to the former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao.

Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan released eight books about the life and success of Narasimha Rao. She said the state government paid befitting tributes o the son of the soil by organizing centenary celebrations.

She said PV respected the country more than the politics of the country. She said PV gave all due respect to the opposition leaders.

PV Narasimha Rao Centenary Celebrations Committee Chairman K. Keshava Rao said some programmes could not be organised due to Covid-19 pandemic. He said these programmes would be held soon.
Srinagar, June 28 : An encounter broke out between the terrorists and security forces in the Parimpora area of Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar district on Monday, officials said here.

"Encounter started at Malhoora, Parimpora area of Srinagar. Police and security forces are on the job," police said.

The gunfight took place after a joint team of the police and the army cordoned off the area and launched a search operation. The security forces had got a specific information about the presence of terrorists hiding in the area.

As the security forces zeroed in on the spot where terrorists were hiding they came under a heavy volume of fire that triggered the encounter.
Geneva, June 28 : Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds great promise for improving the delivery of healthcare and medicine worldwide, but only if ethics and human rights are put at the heart of its design, deployment, and use, according to a new World Health Organization (WHO) report published on Monday.

The report Ethics and governance of artificial intelligence for health, cautions against overestimating the benefits of AI for health, especially when this occurs at the expense of core investments and strategies required to achieve universal health coverage.

"Like all new technology, artificial intelligence holds enormous potential for improving the health of millions of people around the world, but like all technology it can also be misused and cause harm," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, in a statement.

"This important new report provides a valuable guide for countries on how to maximize the benefits of AI, while minimizing its risks and avoiding its pitfalls," he added.

In many countries, AI is already being used to improve the speed and accuracy of diagnosis and screening for diseases; to assist with clinical care; strengthen health research and drug development, and support diverse public health interventions, such as disease surveillance, outbreak response, and health systems management.

But, WHO's new report points out that opportunities are linked to challenges and risks, including unethical collection and use of health data; biases encoded in algorithms, and risks of AI to patient safety, cybersecurity, and the environment.

The report,developed in consultations by a panel of international experts appointed by WHO, also emphasises that systems trained primarily on data collected from individuals in high-income countries may not perform well for individuals in low- and middle-income settings.

Governments, providers, and designers must work together to address ethics and human rights concerns at every stage of an AI technology's design, development, and deployment, the WHO said.

To limit the risks and maximise the opportunities intrinsic to the use of AI for health, the WHO also listed six principles for regulation and governance of the technology. The principles are: protecting human autonomy; promoting human well-being and safety and the public interest; ensuring transparency, explainability and intelligibility; fostering responsibility and accountability; ensuring inclusiveness and equity; and promoting AI that is responsive and sustainable.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Kolkata, June 28 : West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and state law minister Moloy Ghatak along with the state government have filed fresh applications in the Calcutta High Court for their Narada case affidavits on Monday. The application came after the Supreme Court asked the Calcutta High Court to accept the affidavits in regard to the ongoing Narada case probe.

The Calcutta High Court on June 9 had refused to accept the reply-affidavits of Mamata Banerjee and Moloy Ghatak. The court was urged by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the affidavits cannot be accepted on the ground of delay as they were filed after the completion of his arguments. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for June 29.

Mamata Banerjee and Moloy Ghatak moved the Supreme Court against the verdict and the vacation bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari, while setting aside the Calcutta High Court order refusing to accept the affidavits, asked the duo to file a fresh application in the High Court stating the reason for not filing it earlier, even as hearing in the Narada case had started on May 27 itself.

The Supreme Court also asked the High Court to decide on affidavits filed by the ministers first before deciding on the CBI plea seeking transfer of the case.

The CBI has made a plea to transfer the case to any other state, anticipating that in Bengal the high-profile leaders involved in the Narada sting tape case might influence the case. The five-member bench will hear the case on June 29.

The CBI had made Mamata Banerjee and Moloy Ghatak parties to the Narada case, claiming they had influenced the agency's operation and the CBI court's verdict by visiting the Nizam Palace office in Kolkata when three TMC leaders were arrested.

On May 17, ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra and former mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee were arrested by the CBI, which is investigating the Narada sting tape case.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Tirupati, June 28 : A woman software engineer employed in a leading tech company in Hyderabad was found murdered and burnt on Monday in Tirupati.

"One Srikanth Reddy is strongly suspected to be behind this incident," Tirupati superintendent of police Avula Ramesh Reddy told IANS, confirming the murder.

Ramesh Reddy said police is currently gathering evidence and exuded confidence about nabbing Srikanth Reddy in 2-3 days.

Police identified the victim as Bhuvaneshwari (26). Srikanth Reddy is her husband.

According to the SP, Bhuvaneshwari was working in Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

The IPS officer said 2-3 stories are circulating about why Bhuvaneshwari could have been killed and asserted that he cannot say anything at this stage until the culprit is caught and all evidence is unearthed.

"After reconstruction of everything we can give you full details," he added.

Meanwhile police registered two cases in this regard under IPC section 174 at one police station and a missing case in another.

The Tirupati SP said both the cases will be clubbed, adding that IPC sections 302 and 201 will also be invoked, pertaining to murder.
Bengaluru, June 28 : Karnataka Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar on Monday said that the Class 12 board exam results will be announced in the second week of July.

After a meeting with officials and academic experts here, Kumar said that the apex court had ordered the results of the Class 12 board exams to be announced by July 30, so, in adherence to this, the state government will declare the results in the second week of July.

He assured that the results will not be unfair to anyone and will be based on the marks obtained by students in the PUC-I (Class 11) and SSLC (Class 10) examinations.

"This is the criteria specified by the experts. If any student is not satisfied with the results, then he or she will be entitled to contest these results by taking the examination again," Kumar said.

The PUC examination (Class 12) in the state was cancelled this year due to the second Covid wave.

He also observed that from July 1, Karnataka will commence broadcasting lessons for the current academic year through DD Chandana.

The Minister added that lessons for Classes 8, 9 and 10 will be rolled out on a priority basis from July 1.

These lessons will be available on the Diksha portal.

Kumar said that a task force, comprising members of the Technical Advisory Committee, paediatric and subject experts, will study how the government can approach the reopening and once this committee submits its report, the state will be able to decide the future course of action.
New Delhi, June 28 : The Congress on Monday demanded Rs 10 lakh compensation to the family of those who died due to Covid as it said the government has profited from petroleum products.

He said the excessive excise duty on petrol and diesel that the government collects is the public money. If the government can't spend 10 per cent (Rs 40,000 crore) of it on the families of the deceased, what is the use of this money? Addressing a press conference Congress spokesperson Gaurav Vallabh said, "The Congress party demands that the government include Covid-19 as disaster like other natural disasters and provide compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the families of the deceased." "It is our debt of gratitude to the families of the deceased. It is an insult to the frontline workers who have laid down their lives in fighting at the forefront. A government that can't provide Rs 10 lakh to the families of the deceased has no right to rule," he added.

The Congress said that the Modi government has failed the people, has no moral right to rule, has insulted the deceased and weakened our fight against Covid.

So far, close to 4 lakh people have lost their lives and more than 3 crore people have been infected with this deadly virus. India's middle class shrunk by 3.2 cr & 7.5 cr people were pushed into poverty in 2020.

As per CMIE, close to 97 per cent of Indians became poorer during the last year. It is clear that both life and livelihood have suffered badly. But the big issue is that the BJP government has left the people alone in this fight and doesn't seem to be bothered at all.

"Covid-19 checks all boxes of a disaster. The government however seems to be hell bent in proving that this is not a disaster," he said.

Vallabh said, in March 2020, the ministry of home affairs decided to treat Covid as a "notified disaster". However, when the demand for compensation was made in public domain, the Modi government took a u-turn in the honourable Supreme Court by saying that it cannot be called a disaster and is at best a pandemic.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, June 28 : A collection of "rare and undocumented books printed in India between the 1920's to 1960's", including Mahatma Gandhi's 'Young India' and titles written by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, will go under the hammer at the Prinseps Nationalism Book Auction closing July 15, the auction house said on Monday.

According to the auction house, most of these titles "have not been offered for sale before" and are "first editions", with few copies having survived. The auction offers a rare glimpse into pre-independence India, the period which gave rise to freedom fighters, ideologies, revolutionaries and renowned leaders.

Highlights from the auction, says the auctioneer, include the carefully collated writings of Gandhi, documenting his opinions and thoughts while organising the non-violence movement during the British Raj ('Young India' by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, 1922); and comprehensive documentation of Gandhi's speeches during his struggle for independence ('Speeches and Writings - Fourth Series' by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, 1933).

It says in a statement: The catalogue comprises 63 lots collectively ranging from the pre-independence to the post-independence period, bringing alive a plethora of stories and narratives of distinctive political leaders, authors and philosophers. These literary assets will not merely guide Indians but the wider diaspora of people in the world to observe the greater picture of India's struggle towards independence and freedom.

Also on auction will be 'The Constitution of India' ('The Constitution of India' by Rajkamal publications, 1950); a collection of Nehru's letters written to his 10-year-old daughter Indira whilst he was behind bars in 1928 ('Letters from a Father to his Daughter by Jawaharlal Nehru', 1929); and Jawaharlal Nehru's celebration and tribute to India's soul - its incomparable rich culture ('The Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru', 1946), says Prinseps.

According to Prinseps founder and this auction's curator Indrajit Chatterjee, the 'Nationalism Book Auction' brings "a collection of important texts to the market for the first time. As an auction house with research as our foundation, I am proud to offer a rare glimpse into pre-independent India through fine texts penned by the well-renowned personalities of the Indian freedom struggle".

Alongside this, the auction house is hosting a series of auctions including a Modern Art Auction and an NFT auction of artworks by the radical 1950s artist Gobardhan Ash, from his 'Avatars' series. Prinseps' will also be hosting a rare auction of Bhanu Athaiya's sarees alongside a selection of NFTs based on her drawings and sketches.

(Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in)
Guwahati, June 28 : A forest guard has been suspended for "unwarranted firing" leading to the death of an approximately 10-year-old male Royal Bengal Tiger in the world famous Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNP & TR) in Assam on June 18, officials said on Monday.

A senior KNP & TR official refusing to name the suspended forest guard said that the guard was instructed to give protection to households of the nearby Kaziranga National Park areas only. "But the forest guard initiated the operation without the required arrangement. He couldn't run away when the tiger tried to attack him. Instead of firing in the air he fired at the animal killing the tiger on the spot," the official told IANS requesting not to be named.

An official statement of KNP & TR said that the carcass of a Royal Bengal Tiger was detected by staff of Bheroni camp under Kohoral Range of Kaziranga Tiger Reserve on the morning of June 18 in Japoripathar village.

"As per preliminary information, the tiger died due to a gunshot injury during a conflict event, fired by forest personnel of the Bheroni camp. Post mortem was conducted as per NTCA (National Tiger Conservation Authority) protocols.The postmortem report revealed a bullet injury through the lungs and the heart. An inquiry conducted by the Assistant Conservator of Forests into the incident revealed that the firing was unwarranted based on which the staff concerned was suspended," the statement said.

It said the tiger had killed a cow in a nearby village the previous afternoon (June 17) probably because it had three worn out canines while one was missing and could not catch its normal prey. "The old age of the tiger was corroborated by the annual tiger monitoring data available with Kaziranga as well as the NTCA Tiger Cell at Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun which showed that it was photo captured during the 2014 All India Tiger Estimation cycle," the statement said.

This is the third instance since February this year in which a tiger carcass was recovered from KNP & TR. On June 5, the carcass of a four-year-old male tiger was found in Sidha Kathoni area of the national park. Forest officials had said that the four-year-old male tiger was killed in a fight.

Set up in 1908, the KNP & TR, is one of India's seven UNESCO world heritage sites and extends across Assam's Golaghat, Nagaon, Sonitpur, Biswanath and Karbi Anglong districts along the Arunachal Pradesh border. It is home to more than 2,400 one-horned Indian rhinos, approximately two thirds of the total world population. Besides rhinos, it has 121 tigers, 1,089 elephants and huge numbers of Asiatic buffalo, swamp deer, wild boar, hog deer, porcupine and other endangered animals and snakes.
New Delhi, June 28 : Warning that the second wave of Covid-19 "still not over", central government's 29th meet of the Group of Ministers (GoM), on Monday, advised people to follow Covid appropriate behaviour to keep themselves safe. The GoM clarified that all anti-Covid vaccines, currently available in the country, are found effective against alpha, beta, gamma and delta variants of the coronavirus.

The GoM strongly reiterated the importance of Covid appropriate behaviour at a time when restrictions are being lifted across the country. Besides, higher level of continued awareness building through sustained Information, Education and Communication (IEC) campaigns was highlighted.

Dr V.K. Paul emphasized on the benefits of mask wearing and hand hygiene while ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava also cautioned that the "second wave of Covid-19 has still not subsided", noting that 80 districts in the country still have high positivity rate.

Bhargava, who also holds charge of secretary (health research), advised against any laxity at this stage.

Keeping aside rumours that Covid vaccines available in India will fail in protecting people from new variants, Bhargava clarified that all vaccines being administered in the country have been found effective against the alpha, beta, gamma and delta variants of the virus.

The announcement, which really would help people getting relief from fear of being infected with the new variants of the virus, comes during the 29th meeting of the high-level GoM being chaired by union health and family welfare minister Harsh Vardhan through video conferencing.

In the meeting, Dr Sujeet K. Singh, Director (NCDC) presented a detailed report on the trajectory of Covid in the states and union territories (UTs) and a granular analysis based on epidemiological findings of the trajectory of the pandemic in each state pointing out critical parameters like growth of cases, concentration of cases in particular districts and other trends like fatality and the variants of Covid driving the infection in the affected states.

Active cases continue to be concentrated mainly in Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Odisha, which are reporting growth rate more than the national average. While 19 states are reporting fatality figures in single digit (less than 10), four states of Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are reporting more than hundred deaths daily.

The health minister apprised the GoM members on the trajectory of Mucormycosis infections that have occurred in this second phase of Covid-19. Total of 40,845 cases have been reported of which 31,344 cases are rhinocerebral in nature. Fatality from the infections stands at 3,129. Of the total numbers, 34,940 patients had Covid, about 26,187 were co-morbid for diabetes while 21,523 of those infected were on steroids. As many as 13,083 patients were in the age group 18-45 (32 per cent), 17,464 were in the age group 45-60 (42 per cent) while 10,082 (24 per cent) patients were above 60 years of age.

Harsh Vardhan was joined by civil aviation minister Hardeep S. Puri, minister of state for home Nityanand Rai and minister of state for health and family welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey. Vinod K. Paul, member (Health), NITI Aayog was also present virtually.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, June 28 : As part of plan to provide relief to the tourism industry, among the worst affected sectors by the pandemic, and to encourage travel activities, the government on Monday said that it would offer tourist visa free of charge till March 31, 2022.

As part of the financial relief package for the travel industry, finance minister Sitharaman announced that once visa issuance is restarted, the first 5 lakh tourists' visas will be issued free of charge.

She said that this has been one of the demands of the travel industry which the government has accepted. The financial implication of the move is expected in the range of Rs 100 crore.

The scheme will be applicable till March 31, 2022 or till 5,00,000 visas are issued, whichever is earlier. The benefit will also be available only once per tourist.

About 10.93 million foreign tourists visited India in 2019, spent $30.098 billion on leisure and business. Average daily stay for a foreign tourist in India is 21 days. Average daily spending of a tourist in India is around $34 (Rs 2,400).
Washington, June 28 : The US is set to witness an explosive outbreak of the Delta Covid variant in a month's time, if people are not fully vaccinated, warned Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and a public health scientist.

"The US has just one month to act before it becomes full blown Delta variant dominant. One month to slow it down. One month to fully vaccinate," Feigl-Ding said in a series of tweets.

He urged the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to take urgent steps to vaccinate people in the US.

"But we likely have even less time than that if CDC doesn't act soon," Feigl-Ding said.

"If the CDC doesn't issue new guidelines to stem the growth of #DeltaVariant, which can transmit via merely 5-10 seconds of passive breathing exposure, it will be extremely derelict," he said.

"The Delta variant is leaps and bounds faster than any other variant known to date. It represents a clear and present danger to the world. This Delta variant surge will not end well for low vaccination areas," he noted.

Feigl-Ding emphasised on the need for two doses of vaccines and said "1 dose is definitely not enough".

Concerns are rising about the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19 in the US as President Joe Biden falls short of his July 4 vaccine rollout goal and cases explode in the UK. The highly contagious Delta variant, first identified in India, has spread to at least 92 countries.

According to the CDC, the variant now represents at least 20 per cent of Covid cases in the US, and is expected to become dominant in a matter of weeks.

Besides vaccinations, it is imperative to wear masks.

Feigl-Ding has urged the CDC for reversing its mask rule as nations like Australia and Israel are reimposing masks due to the threat of the Delta variant.

He cited a Queensland health official, who early last week had warned that "5-10 seconds" is all one needs to transmit the Delta variant. It can be a "fleeting moment" of seconds.

Meanwhile, the WHO has also said that being vaccinated may not be enough, and people must continue wearing masks, maintain social distancing and other Covid-appropriate behaviours.

"Israel and now the WHO are both coming out strongly for masks even if fully vaccinated. Israel has 60 per cent people who have received both doses of Pfizer vaccine, yet it knows it needs to reinstate masks because of the new Delta Variant outbreak. The WHO is on the right side of the science this time, better than CDC," Feigl-Ding said.

"Don't act slowly against the Delta Variant. Speed matters. You must move quickly or else once Delta hits a critical mass, you will be in trouble and lose control," he said.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, June 28 : The Delhi High Court on Monday declined to stay the new Information Technology rules which seek to regulate digital news media, saying it was prima facie not inclined to grant any interim relief to the petitioners.

The Foundation for Independent Journalism, The Wire, Quint Digital Media Ltd and Pravda Media Foundation, parent company of Alt News, had moved the Delhi High Court seeking a stay on the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The petitioners contended that a fresh notice had been issued to them to comply with the rules or else coercive action would be taken.

A vacation bench of Justices C Hari Shankar and Subramonium Prasad said the matter is pending before a regular division bench and added that notice was issued to them only for implementation of notification on which there was no stay.

Justice Shankar added, "All they are doing is implementing the notification. You have only made out the case that they should not have taken coercive action. It is not your case that the implementation is against the Rules." The bench told the petitioners' counsel, "We are not in agreement with you. If you want, we will pass a reasoned detailed order or if you want, we can re-notify it before the roster bench". The bench asked the counsel to take instructions in the matter and inform it.

Senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, appearing for the news portals, after taking instructions urged the court to list the matter on reopening of courts after vacations. According to the amended IT rules, streaming companies and social media are mandated to pull down contentious content, appoint grievance redressal officers and assist in investigations. The High Court has listed the applications before the roster bench on July 7.
Drought is a hidden global crisis that risks becoming "the next pandemic" if countries do not take urgent action on their water and land management.

A recent UN report, says that at least 1.5 billion people have been directly affected by drought during the current century, and its economic cost has been estimated at $124bn (A89bn). The true cost is likely to be many times higher as estimates do not include much of the impact in developing countries.

The report entitled Global Assesment Report on Disaster Risk reduction: Special Report on Drought 2021 published earlier this month will be part of discussions at the next climate talks known as COP26, which are scheduled to take place in Glasgow, UK in November.

Mami Mizutori, the UN secretary general's special representative for disaster risk reduction in the foreword of the report says that drought is on the verge of becoming the next pandemic and there is no vaccine to cure it. Most of the world will be living with water stress in the next few years. Demand will outstrip supply during certain periods. Drought is a major factor in land degradation and the decline of yields for major crops.

She says many people had an image of drought as affecting desert regions in Africa, but that this was not the case. Drought is now widespread, and by the end of the century all but a handful of countries will experience it in some form.

She further says that people have been living with drought for 5,000 years, but what we are seeing now is very different. Human activities are exacerbating drought and increasing the impact, threatening to derail progress on lifting people from poverty.

Developed countries too have not been immune to drought. The US, Australia and southern Europe have experienced drought in recent years. Drought costs more than $6bn a year in direct impacts in the US, and about a9bn (A7.7bn) in the EU.

A senior scientist at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and a co-author of the report, Roger Pulwarty has been quoted as saying that drought also goes beyond agriculture. He gives the example of River Danube in Europe, where recurring drought has affected transport, tourism, industry and energy generation. He further opines that we need to have a look at how to manage resources such as rivers and large water basins.

A common scientific theory opines that changing rainfall patterns as a result of climate breakdown is a key driver of drought, but the report also identifies the inefficient use of water resources and the degradation of land under intensive agriculture and poor farming practices as playing a major role. Deforestation, overuse of fertilisers and pesticides, overgrazing and over-extraction of water for farming are also major problems, identified in the report.

Mizutori has called for governments to take action to help prevent drought by reforming and regulating how water is extracted, stored and used, and how land is managed. She says early warning systems could do much to help people in danger. She stressed on working with local people and techniques, as local and indigenous knowledge could help to inform where and how to store water and how to predict the impact of dry periods.

Energy Imbalance Meanwhile, in another related alarm scientists from NASA and NOAA say that earth's 'energy imbalance' roughly doubled from 2005 to 2019 in an 'alarming' manner. According to a new research, details of which were released earlier this month, the earth is trapping nearly twice as much heat as it did in 2005, described as an 'unprecedented' increase amid the climate crisis.

'Energy imbalance' refers to the difference between how much of the Sun's 'radiative energy' is absorbed by Earth's atmosphere and surface, compared to how much 'thermal infrared radiation' bounces back into space. In a statement about this study NASA said that, "A positive energy imbalance means the Earth system is gaining energy, causing the planet to heat up, and the trends we found were quite alarming in a sense".

Any increase in greenhouse gas emissions keeps heat in earth's atmosphere, trapping radiation that would otherwise move into space. This warming spurs other changes, including ice and snow melt. Any increase in water vapour, and changes to clouds, could further exacerbate this warming, NASA says.

The study found that this doubling is the result, in part, by an increase in greenhouse gases and water vapour, as well as decreases in clouds and ice. Researchers also said that a 'naturally occurring' shift in the Pacific Ocean from a cool phase to a warm one probably had a significant role in amplifying this energy imbalance.

The study also determined that unless the rate of heat uptake slows, greater shifts in climate patterns should be expected.

Some cheer for activists On the other hand, in an historical judgement, a Belgian court has ruled that Belgium's climate failures violate human rights. In the latest legal victory against public authorities that have broken promises to tackle the climate emergency, Belgian Judges said state's failure to meet climate targets breaches civil law and human rights convention.

The Brussels court of first instance declared the Belgian state had committed an offence under Belgian's civil law and breached the European convention on human rights.

By not taking all "necessary measures" to prevent the "detrimental" effects of climate change, the court said, Belgian authorities had breached the right to life (Article 2) and the right to respect for private and family life (Article 8).

The NGO, Klimaatzaak - which means climate case in Dutch, and which brought the case hailed the judgment as historic, both in the nature of the decision and the court's recognition of 58,000 citizens as co-plaintiffs.

The legal victory in Belgium follows similar rulings in the Netherlands, Germany and France, where judges have condemned governments for inadequate responses to the climate crisis or failing to keep their promises.

According to the European Commission, Belgium the first continental European country to undergo the industrial revolution is on track to miss its emission reduction targets for 2030.

What all these three news put together means is that the Climate Change threat is really more dangerous and omnipresent. Until and unless the world's leaders act in unison and honour their commitment to raise and spend $100 billion, to tackle the threat as per the Paris Agreement and take some coordinated and concerted measures at Glasgow, we may face a dire threat to the human race.

(Asad Mirza is a political commentator based in New Delhi. He writes on Muslims, educational, international affairs, interfaith and current affairs. The views expressed are personal)
New Delhi, June 28 : Vedanta Limited, Indias leading producer of metals and oil & gas, has rolled out an attractive promotional scheme for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the manufacturing industry in celebration of the World MSME Week.

Under the company's Vedanta Saathi programme, MSMEs can avail a discount of Rs 500 per tonne on the first 500 tonnes of purchase in Aluminium, Zinc, Lead, Silver, Steel and Pig Iron, on first come first served basis. The scheme will be live for this week, ending on July 3, 2021.

For eligibility, MSMEs must have manufacturing operations in the metals business, with an actual manufacturing setup and must possess Udyog Aadhaar Number (UAN) and Registration Certificate. To avail the scheme and get full details, interested MSMEs can register on the Vedanta Saathi website and send an enquiry to saathi@vedanta.co.in, following which Vedanta's sales teams will reach out to them.

With a significant MSME customer and supplier base, Vedanta has been fostering the MSME ecosystem for over two decades through its expansive value-chain, supply-chain, and social-developmental programmes. Under Vedanta Saathi programme, the company offers various schemes, incentives, and opportunities for MSMEs, such as: Channel financing at attractive rates and fast disbursement, in partnership with a host of leading banks, NBFCs and FinTech firms; soon to be launched e-commerce solutions for an agile, easy, and transparent way of buying from Vedanta's entire bouquet of high-quality value-added products, with doorstep delivery through micro-logistics partners.

Besides, avenues for technical upskilling with access to the company's wide community of research institutes, industry associations, in house and external global expert; opportunities for MSMEs to set up d downstream/ancillary manufacturing units near Vedanta's plants, with benefits like just-in-time delivery of raw material (hot metal supplies), low working capital and capex involvement and single window for MSMEs to interact with Vedanta's Quality, Product Application, Engineering, and Innovation teams through a dedicated web portal Speaking about Vedanta Saathi, Ajay Kapur, CEO - Aluminium & Power and MD - Commercial, Vedanta Ltd., said, "Post pandemic, we have been seeing significant restructuring in the global supply chain, as companies look to diversify their supply and service networks. This offers our MSMEs a huge opportunity to tap into the new markets with access to new-age technologies, opportunities to upskill, and quality raw materials.

Besides getting integrated into these global supply chains, it will also improve MSME's share of contribution to GDP which stands at only 7% now. Under Vedanta Saathi we have developed various initiatives that can help MSMEs accelerate this growth journey." Till date, more than 150 MSMEs customers have availed channel financing to access a credit limit of Rs 1,000 crore by leading banks and NBFCs. Vedanta is committed to grow this limit by 5x for MSME customers, adding more banks and NBFCs to its fold.

The company's upcoming e-commerce offerings shall offer significant advantages for MSMEs like live pricing options, direct buy access to a diverse product portfolio with no bar on quantity, as well as easy delivery tracking and micro-logistics.

Vedanta also offers a ready community of industry associations, technical experts, and research institutes for collaboration with MSMEs to engineer new products, product applications and new markets for those applications, helping upskill MSMEs to match global standards.

The company has dedicated teams to cater to customers' requirements in quality, product application and engineering.

With the aim to bolster India's vision of becoming a global manufacturing hub, Vedanta also offers opportunities for MSMEs to set up their ancillaries and downstream manufacturing facilities near its plants.

Besides immensely benefiting MSMEs in terms of just-in-time access to raw materials, low working capital and capex involvement, and proximity to Vedanta's Quality teams and expert network, it will also aid in significant employment generation locally and bring about a positive transformation in the quality of life of local communities.
London, June 28 : Indian fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi's lawyers have requested for the Caricom (Caribbean Community) grouping to intervene in his alleged kidnapping from Antigua and Barbuda to Dominica.

A request for a meeting with Secretary-General of Caricom, Irwin Larocque, has been made by Justice Abroad, who are the legal representatives of the diamantaire in the UK.

Justice Abroad's Director and London-based international barrister Michael Polak who is acting for Choksi as part of his legal team, said, "The secretary-general has been respectfully requested to speak out on this issue and a failure to do may reflect badly upon the Caricom region as somewhere where the rule of law and due process applies." In a statement, Justice Abroad said that "given that one of CARICOM's missions is to create a community a where every citizen is secure and has the opportunity to realise his or her potential with guaranteed human rights and social justice the organisation has respectfully been called upon to speak out and take action in regard to these very worrying events which have drawn the world's attention to the region".

Polak said, "The kidnapping and rendition of Choksi from Antigua to Dominica has drawn the world's attention to the Caricom region, and we have yet to hear anything from this organisation on this tawdry affair and gross breach of an individual's human rights." Choksi's legal team has urged Caricom to look into the "breach" of the rule of law and has also said that this is "a big test for the political bodies of the Caribbean Community." Choksi had gone missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda. He was captured in Dominica, where he is facing charges of illegal entry.

His lawyers have alleged that he was abducted forcibly from Antigua.

On June 25, during the hearing at the Magistrate's Court, Choksi was denied a 'doctor of his choice' as was requested by his legal team in Dominica.

Choksi is wanted in India by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.

He had fled India in January 2018, days before the CBI registered a case against him and Nirav Modi for defrauding PNB.

He had taken citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in 2017.
Chennai, June 28 : A special court here has rejected the bail plea of jailed former IL&FS Chairman Ravi Parthasarthy in the IL&FS Transportation Network Ltd (ITNL) case related to the Rs 1 lakh crore IL&FS scam, which surfaced in 2018 after several group entities defaulted on repayments due to severe liquidity problems.

Justice M. Jothiraman of the special court under the Tamil Nadu Protection of Interest of Depositors (TNPID) Act has refused to grant bail to Parthasarathy, who is the chief accused and presently under judicial custody for the Rs 1 lakh crore IL&FS scam.

The court rejected the accused's varied contentions that included "ill-health", "non-applicability of TNPID Act in the case" and "lack of Chennai special court's territorial jurisdiction" to hear the case.

Rejecting the bail plea last week, the special court noted, "At this juncture, the contention of the petitioner that the TNPID Act is not applicable and no territorial jurisdiction cannot be entertained by this court. Where medical facilities can be made available to the accused by the jail authorities, the accused is not entitled to get bail on health ground." "As pointed out by the special public prosecutor, the investigation is in preliminary stage. In view of the above circumstances, this court is not inclined to allow the bail petition," Jothiraman added.

IANS had first reported that Parthasaraty was arrested on June 9 by the Economic Offences Wing of Chennai Police (EOW-Chennai) from Mumbai and produced before the special TNPID court on June 10, which remanded him to judicial custody till June 24. Subsequently, on the plea of EOW-Chennai, the special court granted three-day police custody of the accused.

The EOW-Chennai, which is probing the scam under the Tamil Nadu Protection of Interest of Depositors (TNPID) (in Financial Establishment) Act, 1997, under Sections 420, 409, 120B r/w 109 of the IPC, termed the case as "one of the biggest economic frauds in the history of our country".

The total default caused to the entire creditors is approximately to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore.

Seeking the remand of Parthasarathy, the EOW-Chennai said that his custodial interrogation may reveal various crucial facts which are in his exclusive domain, as he was the key managerial personnel directly involved and in-charge of the affairs of IL&FS scam and active conspirator in this entire case.

"This is a mammoth scam involving huge sum of monies which have been siphoned off/diverted by the accused in connivance with other persons. His personal remand is the need of the hour and in the interest of investigation under the offence of Tamil Nadu Protection of Interest of Depositors, 1997 and other IPC offences, to secure the ends of justice," EOW-Chennai had said.

The EOW-Chennai remand note observed that the Union of India had to intervene since the activities of the IL&FS group affected the interests of the economy of the country.

The companies were set up as a vehicle of fraud and innocent depositors were cheated and their livelihoods were taken away by virtue of the fraud committed by Parthasarathy, who controlled the arm and mind of the IL&FS group and was responsible for managing its day-to-day affairs and played a major role in the scam.

Notably, Parthasarthy served as the President and CEO of IL&FS group since 1989 and became the Chairman of the board of directors of IL&FS group in 2004. He was at the helm of affairs of the IL&FS Group for over 30 years since its inception.

The FIR filed by 63 moons technologies limited to recover its Rs 200 crore investment in the NCDs of ITNL, a subsidiary of IL&FS, stated that in or around 2018, IL&FS Group had defaulted in their financial debt/obligations and has been defaulting since then, which busted the entire scandalous activities of the IL&FS Group and its key managerial persons, including Parthasarathy.

The company itself had admitted the massive liability of Rs 91,000 crore towards various investors and creditors.

The Serious Fraud Investigating Officer (SFIO) in its report to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs observed that the coterie of individuals, led by Parthasarthy, were controlling the affairs of the IL&FS Group.

In its petition, the Government of India mentioned, "IL&FS had created a trust known as the Employee Welfare Trust which was used as an instrument to enrich its directors at the cost of the company. The said trust was used to perpetrate fraud on IL&FS ad its group companies. The said trust owned 12 per cent of IL&FS Limited. Ravi Parthasarathy and certain other senior IL&FS personnel were major beneficiaries of the Trust." An RBI report on March 22, 2019 also underlined that the major role in perpetrating the fraud and financial irregularity was played by Parthasarathy during his tenure as group chairman.

The report pointed out that the indiscriminate sanctioning of loans, diverting of funds, flouting of RBI norms, fraudulent transactions to certain accounts, showing inflated numbers of subsidiaries, conflict of interest and concentration of power in the hands of few, which included Ravi Parthasarathy and his coterie.

The NCLT, Mumbai, has observed that the Committee of Directors (COD) from among the now suspended board of directors of IL&FS Group abused their powers through various acts, including circuitous transactions, and increased the debt burden across the IL&FS Group.

The Union of India had filed a company petition No. 3638 of 2018 under Sections 241 and 242 of the Companies Act seeking suspension of the board of directors of IL&FS under Section 242(2)(k) of the Companies Act.

The petition stated that Parthasarthy and his team were responsible for the negligence, incompetency and misleading the public by presenting rosy financial statements.

IL&FS was camouflaging its financial statements by hiding severe mismatch between its cash flows and payment obligations. It was also hiding total lack of liquidity and glaring adverse financial ratios.
In stateless societies, the rule of law is usually suppressed. In such societies, people turn into unfree pawns as a result of worsening political conditions.

The arrival of anarchy to the island nation of Sri Lanka is due to a series of factors. It is mainly driven by the worsening domestic political environment, curtailment of democracy, weaponising and the exertion of undue influence on courts and Judiciary.

The recent political victimisation of neutral agencies is an attempt to rewrite rules by its politicians. In this backdrop the growing human rights conditions and arbitrary pardoning of criminals will weaken the rule of law. Such a dangerous tilt, away from democratic forms of governance will drag the nation towards an autocratic footing.

Democracies 'can be dissolved in spectacular fashion like from a coup detat or a less dramatic but equally destructive manner', argues Steven Levitz and Daniel Ziblatt in their book 'How Democracies Die'. The slow and equally destructive death of democracy has arrived in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankans were confined to their homes during the lockdown following the government's 'disciplinary project', while the government was engaged in releasing a convict using a prison side door.

"The pardoning of Duminda Silva, whose conviction the Supreme Court had upheld in 2018, undermines rule of law," explains US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina B Teplitz, referring to the Presidential pardon given to the former Member of Parliament and ally of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The former Justice Minister Thalatha Athukorala questions, "Today, those found guilty of the most serious crimes in our law enjoy presidential protection while the judges and police officers who brought them to justice have targets on their backs." The Presidential pardon comes when the Sri Lankan government faces multiple challenges, especially weeks before the European Union (EU) has pinpointed the abuses of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and growing human rights concerns in the country.

A warning to withdraw its GSP+ concession is already on the table. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) condemning the decision expressed concern that "Presidential pardon of Duminda Silva, a former MP convicted of the murder of a fellow politician, is another example of selective, arbitrary granting of pardons that weakens rule of law and undermines accountability." Sri Lanka's Bar association (BASL) questioned President Rajapaksa on the decision of the selection method and raised severe concerns on the administration's position towards rule of law. The decision from the government was not an ad hoc decision. The release was carried out along with the release of several other PTA detainees. Why was such a decision taken especially at a time of significant external pressure? Human Rights Concerns

In a lengthy televised address on June 25, days after the release of the former MP, Rajapaksa stated his progress in his development plan and continuous commitment to rule of law, not referring to the PTA nor the pardoning act. The new European Union Parliament adopting a resolution to withdraw the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP+) is a clear warning to the Sri Lankan regime.

European Parliament adopted a resolution on June 10 calling for the repeal of Sri Lanka's draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Further, the resolution highlights Sri Lanka's 'alarming path towards the recurrence of grave human rights violations...accelerating militarisation of civilian governmental functions, the reversal of important constitutional safeguards, political obstruction of accountability, exclusionary rhetoric, intimidation of civil society, and the use of anti-terrorism laws'.

The regime has failed to address the human rights concerns adequately highlighted multiple times, and procrastination in its process is the reason for this action by EU Parliament. Earlier in March, the government rejected the UNHRC resolution, giving a clear signal of the government's position of 'no external interference' towards the reconciliation process.

Ironically the real concern of many in the country is the absence of a reconciliation process.The departure from the internationally accepted process and continuous denial by the state on minority concerns is evident. The government has already lost its direction from a progressive path towards a more autocratic posture.

Jehan Perera correctly observes this ground reality, explaining that "The reality on the ground is that wounds of the country's 30 year war have not healed. The attempts to promote healing have lacked commitment. Thousands of acres of land in the North and East still continue to be under military control. This is land that was once lived on and cultivated by Tamil people. Today it is being used by the military, some of it being cultivated, some it used for recreation purposes including hotels, and some of it for security purposes. Thousands of families still await news of the whereabouts of their loved ones despite an Office on Missing Persons which has yet to give a ruling on even a single missing person although four years have elapsed since it was set up. There are also still a few hundred persons in detention for a large number of years, some exceeding a decade in prison without trial".

The government's denial and non-commitment will worsen the relationship with the EU and other western democracies.

GSP Benefits Nearly 60 per cent of Sri Lankan exports benefit from preferential terms of trade from the EU's GSP+ and US GSP schemes. The EU is Sri Lanka's largest export market with 30 per cent of the total, while the US is the largest single export market at 27% of the total merchandise exports.

Sri Lanka's exports, including apparel, fisheries, ceramic, and rubber that uses the GSP concession, will be directly impacted. Sri Lanka has duty free access to 7, 200 products with the EU GSP+ Concession. It is estimated that the withdrawal of this concession would wipe out a significant chunk of foreign exchange earned through exports.

"We are concerned with the EU Parliament's resolution," says the Sri Lanka's Export Development Board Chairman.

The present state of the economy with the pandemic has been a challenge to Sri Lankan exports 'especially to the apparel industry' admitted even by President Gotabaya in his recent address, and GSP withdrawal will add significant pressure to the Sri Lankan economy.

The government's senior Ministers have ignored the GSP+ withdrawal warning saying that they are ready to move forward without the concession.

However, K.D. Vimanga, a policy analyst at Advocata, an economic think-tank, explains that the government needs to understand the merits of GSP+, and it is vital to retain the concession, when at present the country is facing a severe economic crisis, especially with serious issues in debt repayments, lack of foreign exchange and a balance of payment crisis.

"Understand the merits of it," warns the analyst.

Democratic Stability President Gotabaya's regime has developed a norm towards weaponizing unfavourable outcomes towards their favour catering to the majoritarian Sinhalese Buddhist voter base. The outcome at the UNHRC resolution in Geneva in March, the EU GSP+ saying we can do without it or releasing a convicted parliamentary member for murder in the name of justice, is a move in the same direction.

The political strategy of this administration is to cater to the majoritarian voter base by making claims of protecting the nation's sovereignty from foreign interference. This narrow minded political strategy does not fit all cases when certain decisions have no relevance. The very act of convicting one regime and arbitrary pardoning from another regime is a sign of weakness, not a strength in the process.

According to a senior political scientist in Sri Lanka, "in the coming months, Sri Lanka's judicial sector will undergo significant reforms along with continuous interference despite a promise to amend the constitution".

When assessing Yale Professor Juan Linz's work on 'The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes' and 'How regimes paint a rather bleak picture of their ability to survive', the Sri Lankan case provides ample evidence of the regimes domestic political behaviour to survive.

The public's loss of trust in its democratic institutions is a visible characteristic that can have a long-term impact on the country's stability. An essential ingredient according to Linz is 'the belief in the legitimacy of democratic institutions as a factor increasing the likelihood of stability in a democracy'. The coming anarchy to the entire nation is in the breakdown of its democracy. This for sure will worsen economic conditions.

(Asanga Abeyagoonasekera is a geopolitical analyst and author of 'Conundrum of an Island [2021]'. The views expressed are personal)
Chandigarh, June 28 : Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday favoured the need to start breeding crocodiles in the state's rivers, especially the Beas and the Sutlej, as they were found in abundance six decades ago.

He, however, appreciated the efforts of the Forests and Wildlife Preservation Department for re-introduction of gharials, an important component of the riverine ecosystem. He also lauded the efforts for conservation of Indus dolphins that were declared as the state aquatic animal in 2019.

Reviewing the functioning of the Forests and Wildlife Preservation Department virtually, the Chief Minister asked the department to revive the original flora and fauna keeping in view the state's natural climate and habitat.

He said as an avid nature lover he has always evinced keen interest in forestry and wildlife. He emphasized the need to undertake massive plantation of traditional trees including 'ber', 'kikar', 'saal', 'shisham' and 'katha amb', an indigenous variety of mango commonly prevalent in the Kandi region and southern Punjab, which has now dwindled.

Amarinder Singh complimented the department for undertaking the plantation of 'chandan' and high-yielding bamboo, which gives double the yield of traditional bamboo.

The Chief Minister asked the department to fully explore the potential of eco-tourism. He said concerted efforts should be made to develop Siswan and Harike as preferred eco-tourism destinations in northern India.

Taking a serious view of the growing population of wild boars and blue bulls in the Kandi area and cotton belt of southern Punjab, the Chief Minister asked the department to immediately take effective measures to save human lives, which are often lost due to attacks by these wild animals besides damage to crops.

Additional Chief Secretary Anirudh Tiwari said the department has fixed a target to achieve 7.5 per cent area under forest and tree cover by 2023 in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He said the government of India has identified 100 wetlands to be developed on priority and five wetlands are in Punjab. They are Harike, Ropar, Kanjli, Keshopur and Nangal.

He said Moga district has been selected as part of the one billion plantation project of the country in five years and 90 lakh plants would be planted in five years in the district.
London, June 28 : Belarusian No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka began her Wimbledon title quest with a 6-1, 6-4 triumph over Romanian qualifier Monica Niculescu in the first match that got completed under the No.1 Court roof here on Monday.

Aryna, who is the second seed in the absence of Japan's Naomi Osaka and Romania's Simona Halep, took one hour and 15 minutes to demolish her Romanian rival and make it to the second round.

The result was Aryna's only second main-draw win at Wimbledon, and first since defeating Irina Khromacheva of Russia on her 2017 debut. On her last visit in 2019, the Belarusian crashed out in the first round to the grass-court exponent Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia.

On Monday, the 23-year-old Aryna was in imperious form, slamming 47 winners.

The Romanian's serve, which averaged just 129 kmph, became target practice for Aryna. The Belarusian hit 15 clean return winners off it, and the third game of the second set saw a desperate Monica send down an underarm serve.

Monica, 33, had last beaten a top-10 player in 2017 (Britain's Johanna Konta in Beijing), and had lost her first eight matches of 2021. But the grass season has seen her excel with six victories, including qualifying for Wimbledon without dropping a set.
New Delhi, June 28 : The Chennai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has grilled IDBI Bank again over one-time settlement (OTS) deal reached between the IDBI Bank-led bank consortium and Siva Industries and Holdings Ltd (SIHL), Zee Biz reported.

The bench last week questioned the alacrity being shown by the lead lender IDBI Bank as CBI has charged C Sivsasankaran in a loan fraud case of IDBI Bank.

The bench also asked the bank consortium in what capacity did the proposer give the settlement plan and the "real intent" behind the one-time settlement offer.

The tribunal also sought explanation if the proposal could be admitted under the law.

Some serious allegations and questions have been raised with respect to the Siva Industries and Holdings case that has grabbed the limelight because public sector banks have agreed to settle with the promoter of Siva Industries a huge loan of Rs 4,863 crore at just Rs 323 crore with a recovery of only 6.5 per cent, Zee Biz reported earlier.

As per the report, interestingly the CoC member and biggest bank of the country SBI dissented against the settlement proposal.

Moreover, the case becomes even more important when the lenders are withdrawing the bankruptcy process of Siva Industries and Holdings.

Further, the important to note here is the settlement amount accepted by banks is said to be even lower than the liquidation value of Siva Industries and Holdings and it will result in a loss of approximately Rs 4,700 crore public money, the report added.

Additionally, the public sector bank Canara Bank privately sold its exposure of Rs. 1,148 crore to an ARC - International Asset Reconstruction Company Private Limited (IARC).

It is feared that this case will set a bad precedent and defeat the purpose of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. As if things are to be settled outside court with such a meager sum, then IBC may lose its relevance.

Interestingly IDBI Bank as the lead banker is settling the case with the same promoter who was earlier charged by CBI for defrauding the same lender to the tune of Rs 600 crore along with the other then posted senior officials of the bank, the report said.
Mumbai, June 28 : Over 200 female commercial sex workers were administered the first dose of Covid vaccine here on Monday as part of the efforts to include the vulnerable and marginalised communities in the inoculation drive.

The Wadia Hospital, along with Aarya, GAURAV and Aastha Parivar, organised the unique drive covering more than 200 female CSWs from different parts of the city.

The campaign was witnessed by Mayor Kishori Pednekar, MLA from Sewri Ajay Chaudhary, Wadia Hospital CEO Minnie Bodhanwala, rights activist Zainab Patel and Mumbai District AIDS Control Society Additional Project Director Shrikala Acharya.

"Many vaccination drives have been conducted for various vulnerable and marginalised communities of the society, but the CSWs were left behind. As sex work is still considered a 'taboo', it is even tougher for them to tackle the problems they encounter on a daily basis," Pednekar said.

Bodhanwala said that coronavirus doesn't discriminate on the basis of gender and anybody can be infected, adding that the initiative is aimed to safeguard the most vulnerable sections from its harmful effects.

"We always wanted to help this section of the population and we counselled them as there was lot of misinformation about vaccination. But even after vaccination, they must adhere to the Covid appropriate protocols," said Bodhanwala.

Founder of the NGO 'WithAarya', Shital Bhatkar, took the initiative to erase the taboos associated with sex work and resolve the problems of the CSWs, especially since the pandemic hit them hard and many lost their livelihoods.

Along with the vaccination drive, the CSWs were given a ration kit, personal hygiene and sanitation kit besides a saree from 'Aarsa', an initiative supporting the cause of artisans.

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London, June 28 : The UK is "very likely" to ease Covid measures and people will be able to go back to life "as it was before Covid" on July 19, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday.

The easing of lockdown measures in the UK was pushed back by four weeks from June 21 amid concerns over the spread of the Delta variant.

"Although there are some encouraging signs and the number of deaths and hospitalisations remains low -- though both are going up a bit -- we are seeing an increase in cases," Johnson was quoted as saying by the BBC.

"So we think it's sensible to stick to our plan to have a cautious but irreversible approach, use the next three weeks or so really to complete as much as we can of the vaccine rollout.

"And then with every day that goes by, it's clearer to me and all our scientific advisers that we're very likely to be in a position on July 19 to say that we can go back to life as it was before Covid as far as possible," he noted.

Britain has reported another 18,270 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, the highest since early February, and 23 coronavirus-related deaths, according to official figures released on Saturday.

The government's decision on lifting measures is based on the progress of the UK's vaccine rollout.

According to latest figures, across the UK, 44 million people -- or 84.1 per cent of adults -- have had their first jab and more than 32 million people -- 61.6 per cent of the adult population -- have had their second dose, the BBC said.

"I want to see the restrictions lifted and life going back to normal as quickly as possible. That is my absolute priority. I want to see those restrictions lifted as soon as we can," New Health Secretary Sajid Javid was quoted as saying.

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New Delhi, June 28 : Last week's Financial Action Task Force (FATF) verdict retaining Pakistan on the 'grey list' and asking it to do more to curb money laundering and funds flow to proscribed militant outfits has come at the worst time possible. This explains why its leadership has fulminated at the UN's terror funds watchdog, calling it "a political weapon".

The "wrong" timing for Islamabad is because it seriously hampers its role, by now well-known, in supporting the Afghan Taliban's campaign to fight the government in Kabul before the United States withdraws.

International media, among them the US' Voice of America and Deutsche Welle (DW), the German radio and TV, have reported furtive and furious activity along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, at madrassahs and mosques, gathering funds and recruiting fighters among the seminary students to support the Taliban military campaign.

These two provinces are also homes to the Taliban's Quetta Shoora and Peshawar Shoora that Pakistan has nurtured on its soil for the last two decades. Proscribed Pakistani militant outfits that are affiliates or have links with Al Qaida and Islamic State (IS) are operating from there.

The VOA reported in its June 19 broadcast: "Donations to the Afghan Taliban are on the upswing in Pakistan border regions as the militant group intensifies attacks against Afghan forces ahead of the U.S. troop withdrawal." "Multiple sources and eyewitnesses on the ground with knowledge of these donations have confirmed to VOA that fundraising for the Taliban has continued in various parts of Pakistan." There have been pitched battles in many provinces of Afghanistan between the government's Afghan National Security Forces and the Taliban and the latter are in need of men and material.

Security experts note the FATF was aware of these activities when it asked Pakistan to fulfil all the 27 directives originally issued, and adding six more, for complete compliance.

Pakistan claims to have fulfilled 26 of the 27 directives and its leaders are livid that the FATF has retained it on the 'grey list', which is the proverbial Damocles Sword hanging over it that could strike in the shape of serious economic sanctions.

The News International newspaper reported on the day of the FATF verdict last week that the Karachi Stock Exchange was 'nervous' and the market suffered several notches down in anticipation.

The newspaper in its editorial (June 27, 2021) observed: "Though the FATF has tried to sound positive by encouraging Pakistan to continue making progress to address as early as possible the one remaining Countering Finance of Terrorism (CTF) item, the ultimate outcome for Pakistan has not at all been positive. According to the evaluation of the FATF, Pakistan still has to demonstrate that terror financing investigations and prosecutions have targeted senior commanders and leaders of the UN-designated terrorist groups." Significantly, while much of the Pakistani media has concealed it or glossed over it, The News International says: "But the most devastating outcome of the session for Pakistan was that it has received another six-point list that mainly deals with money laundering. Now, Pakistan also has to comply with the new list irrespective of whether the government of Pakistan disagrees with or dislikes it." Led by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the Pakistani leadership has accused FATF of acting as "a political weapon", when it is only "a technical body" and singling out Pakistan, while ignoring the alleged wrong-doings of many countries, including some in Europe.

Besides the stock exchange 'nervousness', Pakistan also showed some political unease the way it got several journalists, politicians and academics to condemn the FATF. This is unprecedented.

However, realising the delicate nature of the verdict that it cannot ignore or reject directly, the government leaders, media editorials and the commentators have engaged in self-criticism as well. The FATF, it is emphasised, has sought action that are "in our national interest", goes the conciliatory line. Beyond a point, the ire is reserved for "some people" as Qureshi put it, who desired that Pakistan remains on the grey list, and in trouble.

"After all, the primary beneficiary of the exercise to stop money laundering and combat terrorism financing would be the national economy and the Pakistani people," Dawn newspaper consoled its readers in its editorial of June 27.

It noted that although the FATF "has consistently been emphasising the complete execution of its action plan for Pakistan to get off the list. Yet some of us have failed to properly read the message of the watchdog after its review meetings, hoping that we still have enough geopolitical weight to get off the list, without having to fully comply with the FATF's demands." The FATF was determined to get Pakistan to fulfil the directive completely, requiring it to "ensure that its law-enforcement agencies cooperate internationally to trace, freeze and confiscate the assets of the designated individuals and entities"

That being the case, the newspaper said: "More political will is needed to fully comply with the two action plans as the lack of it is imposing heavy costs on the country. The government must swing into action to fulfil the remaining conditions in order to avoid the serious consequences of delay and inaction."
New Delhi, June 28 : To ensure unhindered movement of heavy weapon systems, including guns, tanks and other specialised equipment, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has constructed 63 critical bridges in the bordering areas extending to six states and two Union Territories.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday reaffirmed the government's resolve to bolster border infrastructure for the security and development of the nation.

Singh, who is on a visit to Leh for three days, virtually inaugurated the 63 bridges at an event held at Kyungam, 88 km from Leh.

From Kyungam, Singh inaugurated a 50-metre long bridge constructed on the Leh-Loma Road in Ladakh.

"This single span steel super structure bridge, which replaces an existing bailey bridge, will ensure unhindered movement of heavy weapon systems, including guns, tanks and other specialised equipment," the Defence Ministry said.

The Leh-Loma Road, which connects Leh with places such as Chumathang, Hanley and Tso Morori Lake, is vital for access to the forward areas in Eastern Ladakh.

In addition, Rajnath Singh virtually inaugurated 62 more bridges -- 11 in Ladakh, four in Jammu and Kashmir, three in Himachal Pradesh, six in Uttarakhand, eight in Sikkim, one each in Nagaland and Manipur and 29 in Arunachal Pradesh.

The combined cost of the projects is Rs 240 crore. The bridges will provide tremendous boost to connectivity in the border areas, the Defence Ministry said.

At the event, Singh lauded BRO's commitment towards establishing connectivity to the far-flung areas, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, saying that some of these bridges will become a lifeline for many villages located in the remote, inaccessible areas.

Underlining the importance of connectivity, especially in the border areas, for the development of a nation, he reaffirmed the government's resolve to ensure infrastructure development in the far-flung border areas, adding that the inauguration of 63 bridges is an important step in that direction.

He expressed confidence that the bridges will play a crucial role in strengthening the security as well as promoting the economic development of the respective states through improved connectivity.

On the government's decision to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as two separate Union Territories, Singh said the strong and visionary step has bolstered national unity, led to major reduction in terrorist activities sponsored from outside and opened new avenues for the socio-economic development of the people.

On the development of Ladakh, the minister said a number of welfare schemes are being implemented which shows the government's resolve towards the welfare of the region.

He also reaffirmed the government's commitment to start the democratic process in the region.

Lauding the Indian Army for displaying exemplary courage during the Galwan Valley incident in 2020, Singh paid tributes to the bravehearts who laid down their lives in the line of duty.

He also called for dialogue with the neighbouring countries to resolve disputes, maintaining that "India is a peace-loving nation which does not believe in aggression. However, if provoked, we will give a befitting reply".

He assured the nation that the armed forces are fully prepared to deal with any situation.

Singh also highlighted the reforms being undertaken by the government to strengthen the security at the borders, increase jointness among the armed forces and make them self-reliant.

"We are moving fast towards building a safe, strong and prosperous nation in every way," he said.
Chandigarh, June 28 : With Haryana DGP Manoj Yadava seeking premature repatriation to the Intelligence Bureau (IB), state Home Minister Anil Vij on Monday asked the Home Department to send a panel of names to the UPSC for appointment as his replacement.

Amid an ongoing tussle with Vij, the Director General of Police has sought repatriation citing 'career considerations and family requirements'.

Vij told the media that Yadava's application to relieve him has been accepted and he has been asked to continue till a new appointment is made.

Vij asked the Home Secretary to send a panel of Indian Police Service officers who had completed 30 years of service to the Union Public Service Commission for the selection of a new DGP.

Despite the reservations of the Home Minister, DGP Yadava, who was due to return to central deputation, in March got a one-year extension to continue in the state.

The state had sought a one-year extension of his tenure.

On deputation from the IB to his parent cadre, Yadava was appointed for a two-year term beginning February 2019.
New Delhi, June 28 : The Centre on Monday extended liquidity support to various stressed sectors of India Inc as well as micro credit borrowers and export oriented industries.

Accordingly, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced eight relief measures worth Rs 6,28,993 crore.

These measures entail enhancement of existing relief schemes such as ECGLS and support for state governments.

Besides, a total of four new measures were announced to provide loans to micro credit borrowers as well as tourism industry.

Further, Sitharaman announced Rs 50,000 crore guaranteed loan for creation of medical infrastructure.

She said that ECLGS scheme will be enhanced by Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Furthermore, she announced a Rs 1.1 lakh crore loan guarantee scheme for Covid-affected sectors.

She said that first 5 lakh tourist visas will be issued free of charge. This step will be taken once the visa issuance start.

Apart from these the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana has been extended till March 31, 2022 entailing government PF liability of employees and employers depending on the size of the organisation.

On exports, the minister announced support extended to National Export Insurance Account (NEIA) worth Rs 33,000 crore for project exports from India.

Similarly, support has been extended to ECGC (Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India) worth Rs 88,000 crore for merchandise exports.

Additional funds worth Rs 19,041 crore was announced for Digital India scheme. Also, the tenure of large scale electronics manufacturing PLI scheme has been extended.

In addition, the Centre will come out with a new streamline policy for PPP and asset monetisation.

"Today's announcement contained a mix of new schemes focussed on relief for the pandemic-affected sectors, extension of earlier schemes, as well a reiteration of recent announcements such as free food grains up to November 2021," said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, ICRA.

"The new schemes announced for the pandemic-affected sectors include the extension of guarantees of around Rs 2.6 trillion, which will have a limited fiscal cost upfront, even as their success will hinge on offtake." According to Madhavi Arora, Lead Economist, Emkay Global Financial Services: "While the measures are welcome and target Covid-sensitive sectors , most of the fiscal support is still below the line and in the form of loan guarantees, and not direct stimulus." "Overall, amid various push and pull, there is a likelihood of fiscal slippage to the tune of around 0.5 per cent from the initially budgeted 6.8 per cent." Further, Suman Chowdhury, Chief Analytical Officer, Acuite Ratings & Research said: "The other significant measure from the government is a credit guarantee scheme for the MFI sector which has also been particularly impacted by the second wave of Covid." "Since the MFI sector has exposure to the informal sector whose businesses have been substantially affected by the pandemic, its collections have taken a hit in the current quarter." In addition, Aloke Bajpai, CEO & Director, ixigo said: "The announcement of free tourist visa to first 5 lakh tourists coming to India by 31st March 2022 is a welcome step. This move will surely boost the morale of travel and tourism sector and aid in faster recovery of inbound tourism. With vaccination drives gathering pace and resumption of activities we are optimistic normal international flights will resume operations soon." "We expect to see similar moves from other countries to attract foreign tourists once borders open."

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Yadgiri : , June 28 (IANS) Shockwave spread across Shahapur taluka of Yadgir district where six members belonging to a family committed suicide by jumping into an open farm pond on Monday afternoon, said the police.

Shahapur taluka is around 550 kms from Bengaluru, and is part of one of the most backward districts of the state, where migration of labourers is quite often reported.

According to the police the deceased were identified as Bhimaraya Surapura, 45 and Shantamma, 36, while their children were - Sumitra, 13, Sridevi 12, Shivaraj, 9 and Lakshmi, 8.

The police suspect that the family was dependent on agriculture and prima facie investigations reveal that they were debt-ridden and private money lenders were harassing them.

"This incident appears to be a suicide pact between family as the couple seem to have pushed their kids into this pond and then jumped into it. We have fished out their bodies with the help of the district fire department's team of divers," explained the police.

"We are still ascertaining the veracity of allegations levelled by residents of Doranahalli village, who had accused that private financiers were harassing this family," said the police.

The police has registered a case and is investigating.
Bengaluru, June 28 : Amid the pandemic's second wave, the Karnataka government has recruited an additional 2,050 doctors to treat Covid patients in rural areas, said state Health Minister K. Sudhakar on Monday.

"We have appointed 2,050 doctors, who are in addition to 1,750 doctors recruited in May to treat Covid patients in government hospitals in rural areas across the state," Sudhakar told reporters here.

As serving in rural areas for the first two years of service is compulsory for all new doctors, Sudhakar said the new recruits would also be deployed in district hospitals and primary health centres (PHCs) in all villages to contain the virus spread and prepare them for battling the possible Covid third wave.

"Of the 2,050 doctors hired, 1,001 will work in 18 state-run hospitals, 666 at taluk hospitals and PHCs in villages across the state," said Sudhakar, a medical doctor by profession.

Of the remaining doctors, 348 will be deputed for the National Health Mission, 90 at community health centres (CHCs) and 3 in nepro-urology units.

"As part of ramping up the state's healthcare infrastructure, nearly 4,000 doctors have been directly recruited in a month, which is a record in terms of numbers and time taken to appoint them," asserted Sudhakar.

With the Covid second wave flattening, the minister said the state's recovery rate was 95 per cent and positivity rate 2.62 per cent except in 5 districts (Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, Kodagu and Mysuru) where it is above 5 per cent.

"With 1.75 lakh tests daily, Karnataka ranks third in testing after Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, as around 3.4 crore people, which is 50 per cent of the state's population, have been tested since mid-March 2020 when the pandemic broke out in the country," reiterated Sudhakar.

Case fatality rate has also reduced to below 2.5 per cent, with no deaths reported in 11 of the 30 districts across the state since a week.

"Of 3,332 cases of mucormycosis (black fungus) reported in the state since May, 1,600 of them were operated so far, 387 recovered and 262 died and the rest are under treatment in state-run and private hospitals," added Sudhakar.

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Guwahati/Shillong, June 28 : Over 12 per cent of the total of 2,80,504 Covid cses reported in Assam between April 1 and June 26 were children up to the age of 18 years, officials said on Monday.

The officials of the National Health Mission's (NHM) Assam chapter said that from April 1 to June 26, in all 34 children succumbed to Covid-19.

"Out of the total of 2,80,504 Covid positive people, 34,606 (12.33 per cent) were children in the age group of 0 to 18 years. Further analysis showed that out of the total of 34,606 children, 5,755 were less than 5 years of age, while 28,851 were in 6 to 18 years age group," a senior NHM official said.

Out of the 34 districts in Assam, maximum -- 14.38 per cent -- children tested positive in Nagaon district between April 1 and June 26, followed by Sonitpur (13.89 per cent), Dibrugarh (12.19 per cent), Kamrup Rural (11.75 per cent) and Kamrup Metro (10.04 per cent), which houses the state's two main cities -- Guwahati and Dispur.

A statement from the NHM said that many of the 34 children died due to comorbidities like congenital diseases (heart, kidney, rare malformations), especially among those less than 5 years.

During the ongoing Assam Community Surveillance Programme Phase 3 (ACSP 3), it has been found that many children staying with Covid positive parents and guardians, who have opted for home isolation, have subsequently tested positive for the virus, the statement said.

It said that it is being advised that parents and guardians who have tested Covid positive should preferably opt for institutional quarantine instead of home isolation, so that the spread of the virus among children can be prevented.

The health department is strictly following the guidelines issued by the Government of India with regard to paediatric Covid management and has already initiated a slew of steps to address and manage the infection among the vulnerable age groups.

Establishment of Covid paediatric ICUs in all medical colleges and district hospitals are at an advanced stage, the statement said.

More than 5,000 healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses and paramedical staff, have already been trained and are dealing with the patients so that maximum lives can be saved, it said.

Meanwhile, health officials in Shillong said that since the beginning of the pandemic last year, 5,101 children up to the age of 14 have tested positive in Meghalaya, of which 4,344 have recovered while 17 have fallen prey to the virus. The remaining are under treatment at various hospitals.

Majority of the children in the mountainous state were infected during the past one month.

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New Delhi, June 28 : After the sudden demise of former minister Indira Hridyesh, Congress MLAs met in New Delhi on Monday and unanimously decided to authorise party chief Sonia Gandhi to appoint the Uttarakhand Legislative Party leader.

Devendra Yadav, Congress State Incharge, said in a tweet, "Held a meeting of @INCUttarakhand Legislative Party to decide the new CLP leader for the state after the sudden demise of #IndiraHridyesh ji. It was unanimously decided to request Hon'ble @INCIndia President #SmtSoniaGandhi Ji to decide the same." Congress deputy leader Karan Mahara is said to be the frontrunner in the race as the state goes for polls early next year and Congress is trying to balance caste equations in the state. Hridyesh was a Brahmin and a very senior leader while the party wants to appoint a new PCC president - either a Brahmin or a Dalit.
Kolkata, June 28 : Hours after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar of being 'corrupt', the Governor on Monday hit back at the Trinamool Congress government in the state, alleging that it is involved in several corrupt practices.

Addressing a press conference, Dhankhar said, "I would like to ask the government what happened to the report of the Rs 2,000 crore pandemic purchase scam? The Chief Minister herself had admitted that there were irregularities and she even ordered an inquiry which was supposed to be conducted by the then Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay. What happened to that report? "I had asked Bandyopadhyay several times when he came to me, but there was no report. I have written to her (Banerjee) several times, but she didn't respond. I would like to ask what happened to the inquiry which she herself had ordered? To order an inquiry is the end of everything. The people need to know who were the people who took undue benefits," Dhankhar said.

Dhankhar also said that there has been neither any election nor any audit in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

"Thousands of crores have been sanctioned but there has been no audit. Why? It is people's money and the people should know what happened to their money. I shall conduct a CAG audit as it falls under my constitutional ambit," the Governor said.

"There was no election (to GTA) after 2017. Democracy has been stiffened; it has been decimated in the GTA. The GTA has been reduced to a government department. It is a den of nepotism, den of corruption, den of inefficiency. Everyone asked why there was no audit? Thousands of cores have come, but why is there no audit? I sought a report, but there was no report," Dhankhar alleged.

The Governor even questioned the government's policy to give loans for the Andal airport.

"I have asked her (Banerjee) why the government is increasing its equity in Andal airport? Why are they giving loans to people when they are not repaying? Why have loans been given when they are not paying the interest? I had asked the same question to Alapan Bandyopadhyay, but there was no answer," Dhankhar alleged.

The Governor also made serious allegations against the state government over the post-poll violence in Bengal.

"Five states went to the polls, but no other state witnessed such violence as was seen in Bengal. The whole world is a witness to this. They (Trinamool Congress) have come with such a huge mandate but they are throttling the democratic rights of the people," he said.

The Governor, however, vowed that he won't give in.

"I will not be caved in, be what it may. I will only bow down in front of the Constitution of India. The Constitution has empowered me and I shall do everything possible for the people of West Bengal," Dhankhar said.

"The Chief Minister says whatever she feels like, but I have held my patience. Have you seen what happened last year during the Governor's address? It was a total black out. It happened only during Emergency," he said.
Kohima, June 29 : The Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM), the dominant Naga outfit, on Monday demanded to push forward the Framework Agreement signed in 2015 to take the Naga political issue to a conclusive settlement.

The NSCN-IM in a statement said that accepting the economic package as a part of the Naga solution is something the outfit abhorred.

"We are not gullible enough to take the bait. The government of India could hoodwink others, but not NSCN-IM. It is worth recalling the famous words of A.Z. Phizo: 'The Nagas would never surrender in the battlefield but many Nagas would fall when Indian money is shot through the gun barrel'.

"Unfortunately, this is the state of affairs with other Naga political groups who professed to be fighting for the Naga political freedom," the strongly-worded statement said.

It said that NSCN-IM has learnt the bitter way not to be flattered by post solution formulae as propagated by the government.

"What are not included in the present scheme of solution will never see the light in the future. Once cheated, we are being cautious not to be cheated and flattered again," the statement said.

Slamming Nagaland Governor and the Central government's interlocutor for the Naga peace talks, R.N. Ravi, the NSCN-IM said that it is exasperating to see how Ravi shows himself as a crafty schemer desperate to destroy the Naga political issue, as he focused his attention to promote his blue eyed boys (NNPGs -- Naga Political Groups) to counterweigh the NSCN-IM and settle the Naga political issue under the Indian Constitution.

"But the fact remains that the Indian constitutional process to solve the Naga political issue under the nine points agreement, 16 points agreement and Shillong Accord has ended in disaster.

"The irony is that what has failed in the past would not stand the test of time as NSCN-IM's political stand for honourable solution has withstood the test of time. NSCN-IM shall stand the ground come what may," it said.

The NSCN-IM statement said that the Indian military generals have acknowledged that military solution is not possible, as the Naga issue is a political one requiring a political solution.

This prompted the then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao to approach the NSCN-IM collective leadership abroad in 1995 for the peace talks to start.

The NSCN leaders had prodded Rao to talk to the other Naga groups. The then Prime Minister replied that "the people are not with them and they are in my hands", indicating who matters in the Naga political scenario, the statement said.

It further said that the suffering of the Naga people is deeply rooted in the stubborn approach of then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as he denied the Nagas' legitimate political right to satisfy his 'whims' and 'hatred' towards the Naga people.

"For more than six decades, the Nagas were compelled to resist Indian suppression through military means. No wonder the NSCN-IM robustly stand up to defend the political rights of the Naga people against all odds, much to the discomfort of the government as it involves thousands of crores of rupees in terms of expenses and loss of human lives (both Nagas and Indians)," it said.

The NSCN-IM said that it is widespread all over Nagalim and the solution would also encompass all the Naga areas.

"This geographical coverage of Naga political solutions is being seriously discussed in the Indo-Naga political talks pending final decision," it added.

The NSCN-IM, which had entered into a ceasefire agreement with the Central government in August 1997 and since then had held around 80 rounds of negotiations with the Centre, was recently engaged in a war of words with the Governor over the collection of "tax" from the public.

The NSCN-IM had said that taxation is the legitimate right of every government of a nation state. "The Nagas declared their independent status as a sovereign nation one day ahead of India, and has defended its sovereign right thus far," it said.

The officer-on-special duty (OSD) to the government of India and interlocutor for Naga peace talks, Gurmeet Singh, in a statement without naming NSCN-IM had said last week that a Naga armed organisation engaged in the peace process has issued a statement recently, carried through the media, that they have the right to collect "tax" from the people and further added that their right has been recognised by the representative of the Government of India after having dialogue with them.

"Such an erroneous statement is likely to cause confusion among the people. Taxation is a sovereign function which can be exercised only either by the government of India or the state government. The government of India does not recognise any such right by any other entity. Forcible collection of money by any entity is extortion which is a criminal offence punishable under the laws," Singh had said in his statement.

The NSCN-IM and the intelligence sources said that while many of the 31 demands of the Nagas have been almost resolved during the talks with the Centre, differences remain over a separate flag and a separate constitution.

Ravi had recently rejected the demand for a separate flag and a constitution for the state as demanded by the NSCN-IM.
Bengaluru, June 29 : Taking serious note over media reports about neighbouring Kerala state renaming some of its villages on bordering areas, Karnataka Chief Minister, B.S. Yediyurappa on Monday said that he would write to his counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan, appealing him not to rename villages situated on bordering areas.

The Karnataka Border Area Development Authority (KBADA) chairperson, C. Somashekhara met Yediyurappa and petitioned him to take steps to prevent Kerala from renaming villages situated on bordering areas.

A section of media reports stated that Kerala was mulling over renaming villages situated in one of its districts, Kasaragod, which shares a border with Magaluru and Udupi twin coastal districts of Karnataka.

A statement released by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) here said that he would write to Vijayan that it was not right to rename villages whose Kannada names bear cultural and historic significance.

The statement also added that Kannadigas and Malayalis live in harmony in the Kasargod and Manjeshwara regions.

Meanwhile, opposing Kerala's decision, Kannada and Culture minister, Aravinda Limbavali said that Kannada speaking people live in large numbers in Kasaragod and Manjeshwara talukas of Kerala. "They speak Kannada and also follow Kannada culture for several centuries. Kannada names of every village reflects this cultural ethos of these residents. The people too are emotionally attached to these names. Therefore, Kerala should not rename any village of these talukas," Limbaval told reporters while reacting to the controversy.

This controversy kicked off when a section news reports suggested that Madhuru will be known as Madhuram, Malla - Mallam, Karadka - Kadagam, Bedadka - Bedagam, Kumble - Kumbla, Pilikunje - Pilikunnu, Anebagilu - Anavadukkal, Hosadurga - Pudiyakota, Sasihitlu - Thaivalappu and Mahasatigundi - Mastikundu. These villages are part of Kerala's Kasaragod district.

After this news broke, Janata Dal (S) strongman H.D. Kumaraswamy appealed to Kerala to reconsider its decision to rename villages and retain the original Kannada names.

"Kasaragod has remained as a symbol of linguistic harmony and coexistence. Kannada and Malayalam-speaking people are in equal numbers in Kasaragod, they are living in a harmonious manner. They have never quarrelled over language issues. There is a dire need for us to protect such a harmony in future also. In today's times marked by politics being played on emotions, it is inevitable to protect linguistic harmony," Kumaraswamy said in a series of tweets.

He also wrote a letter to Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday asking him to not rename the villages.
New Delhi, June 29 : Ghaziabad's daughter has geared up to prevent cybercrime. If someone now does things like online fraud, or harassing girls, then be careful because Kamakshi Sharma can find you and send you behind the bars.

Kamakshi Sharma, 25, a resident of Ghaziabad, has registered her name in the "World Book of Records" for making people aware of cybercrime prevention and training 50,000 police personnel.

During college days, she converted the hobby of hacking friends' IDs into her profession and now she is training people in cybercrime. At the same time, after registering her name in the "World Book of Records", the daughter of Ghaziabad has become a worldwide phenomenon.

Actually, during the Corona epidemic, most people are working from their homes. In such a situation, cyberbullying increased very fast. Pictures of girls being misused and lakhs of rupees are being defrauded from people's accounts.

Kamakshi completed a 35-day mission from Jammu to Kanyakumari in 2019 in which police personnel were tested on how to deal with cybercrime. IPS officers also participated in this test.

Kamakshi believes that when hackers can cheat by hacking, why can't the police catch them? Keeping this in mind, I converted my hacking into investigation and started working with police officers.

Kamakshi told IANS that, "While doing B.Tech in 2017, she became fond of hacking, her friends used to give her contract to hack their own friends' IDs. Everyone in college started recognising her that she does hacking, while slowly she started strengthening her hacking skills.

"In 2017 itself, I was contacted by some police officers, the police department started taking help from me in tracing the phone, locating the IP address, from there the contacts gradually developed. Looking at the help of all the officers and my work, I completed the world's first cyber mission in 2019.

"Given training to police personnel from Jammu to Kanyakumari in this mission. It was a 35-day mission, in which about 50,000 police personnel were trained on crime investigation by going to more than 30 cities." The mission begun in September 2019, while traveling from Jammu to Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, and it culminated at Kanyakumari on October 13.

She told IANS that, "Apart from this, I work with various investigative agencies, while I am also associated with the army and as a freelancer. They use to contact me whenever such cases come to them." Although Kamakshi's name has been recorded in the "India Book of Records" and "Asia Book of Records" earlier. Being an expert in cybercrime, she is also undergoing training with police personnel.

Kamakshi's dream in the future is to create a platform where police not only from across the country but also from abroad are connected and everything is available on that platform to prevent cybercrime, apart from keeping a track record of everyone's crime.

According to her, if the government cooperates with her, she would like to work on it, while she believes that by doing so, we will be able to reduce online fraud and deception with girls. At the same time, you can stay one step ahead of online thieves.

Delhi Police ACP Rajpal Dabas, who assisted Kamakshi in this mission, told IANS that, "We had come in contact with Vinod Pandey, who has been a sub-inspector in Ghaziabad and looks after the cyber cell." "Last year I was a sub-inspector at that time we talked to her family and then we realised that the girl is strong. We made a route for her mission, made a plan and started this mission from Jammu. Apart from training policemen in this mission, school children were also imparted with the knowledge of cybercrime.

Pandey, posted as Inspector in Cyber Cell Department of Noida Police, told IANS that, "In 2017, Kamakshi was posted in a police station in Ghaziabad district, I met Kamakshi during that time, she told me her vision. Kamakshi wanted to save girls of her age from cybercrime." "We initially started this campaign for school students, which influenced a lot of girls. After this, Kamakshi expressed her desire to take an active role in cybercrime. Then we trained her by associating her with our team." "Having the skill and passion, Kamakshi started helping the police department by completing the training soon. Not only this, she began tracing IP addresses immediately that earlier took months of time to be traced." He hoped that, like Kamakshi, if other girls who want to work for the prevention of cybercrime, go ahead and illuminate the country. Pandey believes that children like her will be needed in the future, with the help of them, the police department will solve the cases immediately and will take their help in stopping the crime.

(Mohammad Suaib can be contacted at mohammad.k@ians.in)
London, June 29 : Britain has reported another 22,868 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, the highest since January 30 this year, according to official figures released on Monday.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the country now stands at 4,755,078, according to the latest official figures.

The country also recorded another three coronavirus-related deaths, bringing the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain to 128,103. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test, the Xinhua news agency reported.

More than 44.4 million people in Britain have received the first jab of Covid-19 vaccine and more than 32.5 million people have received two doses, the latest figures also showed.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggested Monday that there will be no early easing of the remaining Covid restrictions before the planned date of July 19.

Johnson has announced a four-week delay to the final step of England's roadmap out of Covid-19 restrictions until July 19, amid a surge in cases of the Delta variant first identified in India.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia, the United States as well as the European Union have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Acadian Capital Ventures is the Acadiana region's first-of-its-kind venture capital firm. YellowBird is quickly gaining traction in the fast-growing talent marketplace space and is filling a unique role for its customers. We're thrilled to be a part of YellowBird's future."

Acadian Capital Ventures, the Acadiana regions first seed-stage venture capital firm, is pleased to announce it is investing in YellowBird, a nationwide gig economy marketplace that matches vetted risk and environmental, health, and safety (EHS) professionals with businesses on demand.

Acadian Capital Ventures investment in YellowBird is the firms first investment since launching in early 2021. Led by Kyle Skip Boudreaux, Acadian Capital Ventures seeks out startup companies in communities often overlooked by venture capital and provides access to seed funding and mentorship. Acadian Capital Ventures joined Arizona Tech Investors, Ridge Peak Partners, and Revelry Venture Partners as investors in YellowBirds seed funding round.

YellowBird quickly and easily connects skilled EHS professionals with companies to help maintain OSHA compliance, further reduce accidents and risk, and save money. YellowBirds platform simplifies the process for companies seeking EHS professionals by connecting individuals and organizations to fill short- and long-term roles while also streamlining scheduling, communication, billing, and payment.

Acadian Capital Ventures investment in YellowBird will support the companys growth, including further developing its fully automated matching platform, hiring additional developer talent, and increasing the total number of companies and EHS professionals on the platform.

YellowBird is quickly gaining traction in the fast-growing talent marketplace space and is filling a unique role for its customers, said Acadian Capital Ventures Boudreaux. CEO Michael Zalle, COO Michelle Tinsley, and the whole YellowBird team are doing an incredible job bringing innovation to a sector that has fallen behind in adopting new technology. Were thrilled to be a part of YellowBirds future.

Were happy to announce that we over-subscribed, raising $1.7 million in seed financing from top-tier investors who are equally passionate about our ambitious mission, said Michael Zalle, CEO of YellowBird. Acadian Capital leadership, staff, and support team are thoughtful, diligent, and seek to understand the opportunity and market dynamics. YellowBird has been able to help thousands in risk and safety to date  and were only getting started!

About YellowBird

YellowBird is a gig economy marketplace that quickly and easily connects risk and environmental, health, and safety professionals with businesses on demand. By providing a fast and efficient method for business leaders and skilled professionals to connect, YellowBird facilitates the right people, in the right location, with the right experience for the job to make safety simple. For more information, visit http://www.goYellowBird.com.

About Acadian Capital Ventures

Acadian Capital Ventures is the Acadiana regions first-of-its-kind seed-stage venture capital firm based in Lafayette, La. Acadian Capital Ventures aims to find overlooked opportunities and hidden gems of the entrepreneurial world and connect them to funding. Acadian Capital Ventures utilizes its deep network and partnerships with local angel investor networks and other venture capital firms across the country, along with viewing hundreds of pitches every year at local and regional startup events, business accelerators, and business incubators. For more information about Acadian Capital Ventures, visit acadian.vc.

Contact

Elizabeth Rose-Arcuri

press@acadian.vc
"...rhubarb is an often-underestimated fruit to achieve those coveted tart notes that are so popular in craft beverages right now, -- Chris Hodge, Director of Sales.

Oregon Fruit Products LLC launched new Rhubarb Puree, a summertime seasonal for the fermentation market. Featuring rosy blush color and delicate acidity, Rhubarb Puree brings fresh deliciousness to a variety of beer styles such as IPA, wheat beer, fruited sour and slushie, as well as non-alcoholic kombuchas and seltzers.

Rhubarb Puree boasts a fresh and bright aroma with underlying sweet and mildly tropical essences. Its tasting profile features light sweetness, soft acidity and underlying vegetal notes. Oregon Fruit Rhubarb Puree pairs perfectly with richer fruits such as apricot, blackberry or blueberry.

We tend to default to citrus when thinking about bright summer flavors, but rhubarb is an often-underestimated fruit to achieve those coveted tart notes that are so popular in craft beverages right now, says Chris Hodge, Director of Sales.

Oregon Fruit Rhubarb Puree is now available while supplies last in 42 lb. bag-in-box. Tips for brewing with Oregon Fruit Products Fruit for Fermentation are available here.

About Oregon Fruit Puree

Oregon Fruit Purees are 100 percent real fruit, pasteurized for shelf-stability and to ensure the best fresh fruit flavor and color. They contain no added sugar, colors, thickeners or preservatives. Oregon Fruit Puree requires no cold storage and is sealed in ready-to-use aseptic bags for a shelf life of up to 18 months in ambient temperature. The purees are kosher certified, made in the U.S.A., non-GMO, gluten-free and vegetarian. Oregon Fruit Products does not use, nor does it allow, any of the eight major allergens (milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat) in the products or processing areas.

Oregon Fruit Products LLC

Founded in 1935, Oregon Fruit Products offers a complete line of canned, frozen and shelf-stable premium fruit for consumers, foodservice operators and ingredient sales. The company is located in Salem, Oregon and can be found on the web at http://www.oregonfruit.com/fermentation.
We are excited by the prospect of continuing our joint work with PAHO and honored to have worked with the countries we have, said ASHA President A. Lynn Williams, PhD, CCC-SLP.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has renewed its status as a Non-State Actor (NSA) in Official Relations with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The granting of this special status is the result of an exhaustive analysis undertaken within the Framework of Engagement with Non-State Actors. The status, which applies for 3 years, will allow ASHA to continue its work with PAHO, strengthening the knowledge and building the capacity of Latin American and Caribbean professionals and institutions addressing communication disorders in the areas of speech, language, swallowing, and hearing.

PAHO first conferred this status on ASHA 7 years ago, although the term then was "Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)." Subsequently, PAHO replaced "NGO" with "Non-State Actor (NSA)," a change only in terminology. It did not impact the nature of ASHAPAHOs collaborative work, and ASHA continued to have the opportunity to participate in high-level PAHO and WHO meetings.

We are excited by the prospect of continuing our joint work with PAHO and honored to have worked with the countries we have, helping to provide them with solid foundations for delivering comprehensive services for treating communication disorders, said ASHA President A. Lynn Williams, PhD, CCC-SLP.

As of today, the ASHAPAHO collaboration has conducted support in six countries: Honduras, El Salvador, Guyana, Paraguay, Belize, and Ecuador. In each collaboration, the ASHA members of an ASHAPAHO ad hoc committee have collaborated with key stakeholders to develop a sustainable project that supports individuals who have communication disorders.

Over the years, the collaboration has yielded impressive results:



In Honduras, ASHAPAHO ad hoc committee members helped the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Honduras create the curriculum for its new phonoaudiology program (a combination of audiology and speech-language pathology). Twenty-seven students will graduate from the program in 2022. They will be the first graduates to hold a degree of this kind in Honduras. A second cohort of 20 students started in 2019 and will graduate in 2023.

In El Salvador, ASHAPAHO ad hoc committee members helped develop a comprehensive educational resource package, in Spanish, for different levels of professionals at the Instituto Salvadoreno de Rehabilitacion Integral who treat children and adults with hearing loss.

Guyanas Ministry of Health worked with ASHAPAHO ad hoc committee members to strengthen the country's approach to early detection and intervention in communication disorders. The result was the development of a new speech-language/audiology program at the University of Guyana. Five students graduated in 2018. All of them have governmental jobs. A second cohort of 11 students will graduate at the end of 2022. ASHA recruited 27 faculty members for the program.

In Paraguay, an ad hoc committee conducted three train-the-trainer workshops for clinical services. The committee trained 35 service providers and 15 parents of children with disabilities. This is the countrys very first network of professionals in the area of communication disorders.

Created in 2017, Belizes ad hoc committee implemented two train-the-trainer workshops. The committee trained 34 service providers from governmental agencies and schools throughout the country.

In Ecuador, the ASHAPAHO collaboration is still ongoing. In 2020, the ad hoc committee conducted five train-the-trainer workshops virtually on different topics. Participants included 50 phonoaudiologists from the Ministry of Public Health and 20 faculty members from two universities (Cuenca and Central). A second round of train-the trainer virtual workshops will take place in other regions of Ecuador in 2021.

Looking ahead through the end of 2023, the overall objective of the ASHAPAHO collaboration will be to carry out its original mission with these specific objectives:

ASHAPAHO will continue providing technical assistance to selected countries by appointing ASHA content experts to serve on ASHAPAHO ad hoc committees.

Through analysis of country data on communication disorders, ASHA will improve awareness of gaps between needs and service availability in the areas of audiology and speech-language pathology in the PAHO region.

We foresee expanding, doing ASHAPAHO collaborative work in more countries and contributing to data collection on communication disorders in the PAHO region, ASHA President Williams said.

Visit this link for further information about the ASHAPAHO collaboration: https://www.asha.org/members/international/paho/.

About the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)

ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 218,000 members and affiliates who are audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language, and hearing scientists; audiology and speech-language pathology support personnel; and students. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing and balance disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment, including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) identify, assess, and treat speech, language, and swallowing disorders.

View all ASHA press releases at https://www.asha.org/about/press-room/.
Ashland Pacific has selected CORT Furniture Rental to provide on-demand furnishing options to residents of its growing portfolio of student housing including around the University of Southern California (USC) campus. The West Coast-based real estate investment firm will offer add-on furniture rental packages at all its student housing locations beginning Fall 2021 as part of the firms environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives.

CORT will provide pre-configured furniture packages that are built with the modern student in mind. All packages include the necessities for the school year and allow students to scale to their needs. Handpicked by CORTs professional design team, CORTs quality furniture works well together and makes living spaces comfortable and stylish without the effort of shopping. At the end of a lease, students dont need to sell, move, or throw out unwanted furniture.

Fran Garfinkel Greenstein, business development executive at CORT said, "CORT Furniture Rental in Southern California is looking forward to a strategic relationship with Ashland Pacific across their student housing portfolio. CORT offers a flexible furniture program that supports Ashland's ESG initiatives and reduces waste. As a leading rental company nationwide, we will provide Ashland Pacific and their residents world-class service."

In 2020, Ashland Pacific formed a joint venture with Integrated Capital Management, acquiring an $18 million portfolio of student housing assets located less than a mile from the University of Southern California campus, bringing its owned/managed portfolio to 40 properties valued at nearly $80 million. The joint venture established a $150 million fund to acquire and manage additional student housing properties on the West Coast.

One of the major challenges of student housing is furniture, said Troy Dodgion, executive vice president and COO of Ashland Pacific. Students are a transient renter group and may have to move, discard and replace furniture multiple times in their academic career with items often left behind in rental units or discarded on the street. Our new agreement with CORT will provide quality furnishings that are turnkey and scalable to a students needs at an affordable price while minimizing the use of resources and reducing the environmental impact.

About Ashland Pacific

Founded by industry veterans, Ashland Pacific is a vertically integrated real estate firm focused on investing in and managing student housing with historical market resiliency. Ashland Pacifics team has collectively managed close to $20 billion in assets combining a fiduciary mindset and entrepreneurial culture to produce a strong track record that has weathered multiple market cycles over the last 30 years. From investments and acquisitions to property management, the firm focuses mainly on undervalued assets, properties and urban developments with an opportunity for large return on investment over the long term in the West and Southwest U.S. Ashlands team studies macro-economic and demographic trends for a thorough investment strategy and maintains a full service, hands-on management approach to ensure quality and accountability. For more information, please visit http://www.ashlandpacific.com.

About CORT

CORT, a part of Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway, is the nations leading provider of transition services, including furniture rental for home and office, event furnishings, destination services, apartment locating, touring, and other services. With more than 100 offices, rental showrooms, and retail furniture outlets across the United States, operations in the United Kingdom, and partners in more than 80 countries around the world, no other furniture rental company can match CORTs breadth of services and companywide commitment to making a house a home, an office a great place to work and an event a memorable celebration. For more information, please visit http://www.cort.com.
BoConcept, a global leader of the furniture franchise industry with more than 300 locations in 65 countries, is adding a new location in Dedham, Massachusetts this week. The store will feature a refreshed, evolved store concept that offers customers an elevated take on the shopping experience, including consultations with expert interior designers, the ability to view and customize items from a vast collection of items, and the ability to create a 3D rendering of the space the customer would like to design.

The Dedham BoConcept will be the first of its kind on the East Coast. It will also be the second BoConcept owned and operated by the same owner, who also owns the store in Newbury and is set to open a third location in November.

According to the Dedham locations franchise owner, the store is in a location that receives high foot traffic. The Dedham store will be at the Legacy Place Shopping Center, a very popular outdoor shopping center, said the owner. It will also have lululemon, West Elm and Apple as neighbors, which will attract our type of customer  design-oriented, modern and innovative.

Although the Dedham store will introduce a new model to the East Coast, its owner believes the store will ultimately be successful because of its emphasis on attentive, personalized service.

The new concept has a much less rigid experience, the owner said. Theres no real separation between the customer and the sales team. We adapt to our customers needs and not the other way around. As soon as you walk in, you get immediate assistance and establish a relationship with your design consultant.

We also offer a customized approach to making a customers space fit their specific needs, the owner continued. The options can be overwhelming, but thats why we offer a level of service that you cant get at any other big-box store. At our BoConcept stores, you start a relationship with a design consultant, and they will work with you to make your space exactly what you want it to be.

The brand is dedicated to providing customers the best shopping experience possible, and this innovative new concept represents just one step toward that goal.

We have been evolving rapidly over the past year to meet consumer demand, said Steen Knigge, BoConcepts director of U.S. marketing. We look forward to bringing new and evolved experiences to all of our stores across the globe.

BoConcept was originally founded in Denmark in 1952 and began franchising in Paris in 1993. Today, the brand continues to expand the business and aims to reach 600 stores globally.

The Dedham store will be located at 238 Legacy Place Dedham, MA 02026 and can be reached via phone at (617) 588-7777 or email at info@boconcept-legacy.com.

BoConcept is currently looking to expand with franchise partners in major markets across the U.S. To learn more about franchising with BoConcept, visit https://www.boconcept.com/en-us/franchise.

About BoConcept

Since opening its first franchise in Paris in 1993, BoConcept has become a global leader in the design of bold, stylish furniture, boasting nearly 300 locations in 65 countries around the world. Founded in Denmark in 1952, BoConcept differentiates itself by offering premium quality, modern designs that elevate interior spaces to achieve their full potential. The company remains focused on creating functional furniture for the urban consumer through partnerships with the worlds leading interior designers. Backed by a proven global concept and strong franchise support system, BoConcepts 15 U.S. locations include a flagship store, which opened in December 2017 on New York Citys famed Madison Avenue. For more information please visit http://www.boconcept.com. To inquire about franchise opportunities, please visit https://www.boconcept.com/en-us/franchise
Getting Prepared: a heartfelt discussion birthed from the authors years of studying the Holy Word. This definitive publication offers an in-depth discourse on important topics found in the Bible that will play a significant role in the betterment of a persons soul. Getting Prepared is the creation of published author Brinlee Woodall, a loving wife and mother who teaches children ministry with her husband at NoLimits Church in Oklahoma. She rededicated her life to Jesus at the age of sixteen and has been basking in His glory ever since.

Woodall shares, Weve all been taught something about the end times. No matter what you believe, you know that eventually, the end is coming soon. So what do you do? In Getting Prepared, you will find encouragement and fair analysis of scripture to help you be prepared for what is to come. You may even be introduced to different interpretations that you may have never heard before. Youll also find answers to questions including: Are we in the end times? Will the church be here for tribulation? Why does the world seem to be in complete chaos? Who is the Antichrist and the false prophet? and more.

Ultimately, Getting Prepared was written to help you be better prepared mentally, physically, and spiritually for what it to come while encouraging you to grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Brinlee Woodalls new book is a recommended opus meant to strengthen the faith a person has towards the Creator. The authors main purpose of this book is to draw the reader closer to Jesus Christ.

View a synopsis of Getting Prepared on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase Getting Prepared at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Getting Prepared, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Residents of Roswell and the surrounding area can get a head start on researching the 2022 GMC Acadia before it arrives in the Carl Black showroom!

Residents of Roswell, Georgia, and the surrounding area that might be in the market for a new midsize crossover can get some assistance in figuring out which one might be the right one for them. This assistance comes in the form of a pair informative model research pages recently added to the Carl Black Buick GMC of Roswell website.

The local dealerships website is packed full of information designed to alleviate some of the stress of the car-buying process, including dozens of these research pages dedicated to the many different Buick and GMC models available in the dealers showroom. With the 2022 Buick Enclave and 2022 GMC Acadia on the horizon, the dealerships staff jumped at the opportunity to provide the pertinent details car shoppers need to them right away.

Each of these pages gives a bit of background on the models in question, which are both midsize crossovers from their respective brands. The pages cover any new features that the vehicles have to offer before highlighting some of the most exciting or important aspects of the vehicle. Each page grants quick access to the dealerships inventory for those models as well as an easy form for them to reach out to the Carl Black Roswell staff with any questions or to register their interest in the model.

Any residents of Roswell or the surrounding area that might be interested in one of these midsize crossovers are encouraged to head over to the dealerships website at CarlBlackRoswell.com. Specific questions can be directed to the sales team at 888-491-7859. Carl Black Buick GMC of Roswell is located at 11225 Alpharetta Hwy. in Roswell.
Valdo has announced that Colangelo & Partners, a fine wine, spirits, and food-focused integrated communications agency, will be its agency of record to develop and execute a comprehensive communications strategy targeted to key media, trade and consumer stakeholders. The partnership will engage new and current consumers through strategic media relations and events. The campaign will grow and leverage Valdos brand awareness in the US market that continues to present new opportunities.

Valdo is one of the most historic and leading Prosecco producers, starting as the Societa Anonima Vini Superiori in the 1920s and later purchased by the Bolla Family in the 1940s. Since its inception, the family-owned brand carries a story of history, culture, and an ongoing quest for quality to propel Prosecco to greater levels of excellence. Valdo focuses on producing unique and unrivaled products with refined aroma and a balance of technology, passion, innovation, and tradition.

While Valdo is known for its Prosecco DOC, the Marca Oro line, and its Valdobbiadene Prosecco DOCG Cuvee 1926, created to honor the founding year of the winery, the company also produces a range of sparkling wines, including the Valdo Numero 1 and Floral Rose, a mix of Glera and Nerello Mascalese.

Pierluigi Bolla, the current Chairman, has been focusing on expanding sales both in Italy and abroad, setting new commercial and production targets to increase awareness of Valdo wine throughout the world.

Matteo Bolla, Business Development Manager of Valdo USA, states, We are thrilled to announce our partnership with Colangelo & Partners to strengthen our presence in the United States. He continues, The US is an extremely important market for Prosecco, and we are excited to amplify the Valdo name among the overarching Prosecco brand and institution already present in America.

Were honored to be adding this historic company with its high-quality lineup of wines to our Italian portfolio, comments Colangelo & Partners President Gino Colangelo. We look forward to helping build the Valdo brand and supporting the Bolla family with their US business.

For more information about Valdo, please contact Michelle Erland merland@colangelopr.com or Daniela Porro dporro@colangelopr.com.

About Valdo

Founded in 1926 and owned by the Bolla family since 1938, Valdo has deep ties with the Valdobbiadene Prosecco territory in the upper Veneto region, starting from its name. Since its inception, Valdo has given precedence to a culture of excellence, taste, and know-how, earned by hard work and tireless passion. Present on the US market since 2008, imported by Taub Family Selections, the brand provides a range of labels for different consumption occasions, from Prosecco DOC and Prosecco DOCG, special cuvees of Valdobbiadene DOCG and varietals sparkling wines.

About Colangelo & Partners

Colangelo & Partners specializes in premium food, wine, and spirits brands, and has long established relationships with the key press that drive these business categories and help determine the industry leaders. Agency principals have years of experience in retail and distribution as well as communications, a rare combination that gives Colangelo & Partners invaluable insights into consumer purchasing behavior. The agency focuses on 'closing the loop' between creative communications programs, distribution, promotion, publicity, and the consumer in order to maximize the efficiency of its communications programs and deliver measurable results. http://www.colangelopr.com/
Greg Ubert "Relationships are so important to us. We show our coffee farmers, a lot of them, how to make better coffee, and then we can pay them more for it. - Greg Ubert

Columbus Business First Reporter Dan Eaton recently interviewed Greg Ubert, Founder and President of Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea, for the paper's Newsmakers podcast.

They talked about the evolutions of the specialty coffee business over the past 30 years, how the Covid-19 pandemic affected Crimson Cup and its customers, and Uberts hopes for the future of coffee and his company.

It all started in 1991, when the lure of emerging cafe culture inspired Ubert, a recent Harvard University graduate, to leave a promising career in computer software.

Instead, he fell in love with specialty coffee and struck out as a solo coffee roaster, with a tiny roasting machine in a one-room office in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.

He named his company Crimson Cup for the ripe red cherry of the coffee tree and Harvards official color, crimson.

Over the past 30 years, he has:



Grown Crimson Cup into one of the country's top coffee roasters, winning national awards and accolades.

Helped hundreds of entrepreneurs prosper as the owners of profitable independent coffee shops.

Opened several company-owned coffee houses, with more on the way.

Built relationships with smallholder coffee farmers around the globe.

And made meaningful impacts in coffee farming communities through the companys Friend2Farmer initiatives.

Even after 30 years, Ubert said he sees plenty of growth potential for specialty coffee. People enjoy having a great drink. And I don't think that they're going to stop.

He highlighted the importance of farmer relationships, sustainability, and Crimson Cups core value of giving back.

Relationships are so important to us, he said. What I didn't realize was that we could make a difference. I think the industry's been around for so long. What are we going to be able to do?

Well, it turns out we could do a lot. We show our coffee farmers, a lot of them, how to make better coffee, and then we can pay them more for it.

To hear the full story of Crimson Cups history and work toward a sustainable future for coffee and the farmers who grow it, listen to the podcast.

About Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea

Columbus, Ohio coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea is celebrating 30 years of Coffee + Community. Since May 1991, Crimson Cup has roasted sustainably sourced craft coffee for consumers and wholesale coffee customers. It is a 2020 Good Food Award winner, 2019 Golden Bean Champion for Small Franchise/Chain Roaster and Roast magazines 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year.

Through its 7 Steps to Success coffee franchise alternative program, the company teaches entrepreneurs to run independent coffee houses in their local communities. By developing a coffee shop business plan, entrepreneurs gain insight into how much it costs to open a coffee shop.

Crimson Cup also supports life-enriching projects through its Friend2Farmer initiatives, promoting the education, health, sustainability and economic growth of small-plot coffee farmers and their communities.

Crimson Cup coffee is available through over 350 independent coffee houses, grocers, college and universities, restaurants and food service operations across 30 states, Guam and Bangladesh. The company also operates several Crimson Cup Coffee Houses and a new Crimson retail flagship store. To learn more, visit crimsoncup.com, or follow the company on Facebook and Instagram.
Daewoo Starlake City Startups with innovative technologies have played a prominent role in the creation of representative smart cities such as Singapore, Dubai, New York, and London, said Eugene Kim, General Partner at SparkLabs Korea.

SparkLabs Korea signed a strategic partnership with Daewoo E&C Vina and Bespin Global to collectively build a smart city platform in Vietnam. Daewoo E&C is a leading construction company in South Korea and Bespin Global is the first East Asian company to be positioned in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Public Cloud Infrastructure Professional and Managed Services for four consecutive years. The company supports all major public cloud platforms and offers cloud managed service globally through its proprietary platform, OpsNow.

The three companies plan to build and operate a smart city-integrated management platform to utilize data generated from Daewoo E&Cs Vietnam smart city and smart construction effort. Additionally, they plan to introduce and implement open innovation to discover, invest, and nurture technology startups to be introduced into ASEAN countries with a primary focus on Vietnam.

Daewoo E&C's smart city initiative is seeking to solve urban problems caused by rapid urbanization following Vietnams economic growth, and to improve the efficiency of urban infrastructure operations and management. Through this partnership, Daewoo E&C plans to build a core smart city data-management system for a new city project in Vietnam and build an integrated city platform to accelerate the development and commercialization of smart city element technologies.

Bespin Global supports Daewoo E&Cs Vietnam smart city platform and strategies. Specifically, it plans to attract R&D and innovation centers, which are essential elements of a smart city platform, and build and support a smart city development platform and cloud infrastructure.

Startups with innovative technologies have played a prominent role in the creation of representative smart cities such as Singapore, Dubai, New York, and London, said Eugene Kim, General Partner at SparkLabs Korea and SparkLabs Group. He continued, Based on the know-how of SparkLabs Group, which has fostered leading startups in major cities across the globe, we will discover high-capacity startups that will build successful smart cities in ASEAN countries.

Daewoo Starlake City, which is being developed by Daewoo E&C, is Vietnams first smart city demonstrative city that is applying smart technologies such as a drone control system, BIM-based construction and operation management, and air quality measurement system. It has contributed to the improvement of Hanois city environment, said Sung-Jin Cho, Executive Vice President of Daewoo E&C.

Min-Sik Cho, CEO of Bespin Global, said, In order for a smart city to succeed, it is essential to build a smart city platform that can collect and analyze various data created by facilities and services in the process of urban development and operation, as well as demonstration projects of element technologies." He added, I have high expectations because Bespin Globals technology can contribute to the construction of Daewoo E&Cs smart city development platform and cloud infrastructure.

SparkLabs will operate and foster the Vietnam Smart Tech Fund, which specializes in smart city solution startup investment and acceleration. Since SparkLabs Group is a leader in early-stage venture capital in Asia, it is ideally suited to partner with Daewoo E&C Vina and lead this new venture capital fund. In addition, it will pilot cloud smart city solutions such as autonomous driving, big data, AI, and machine learning with Bespin Global and other select partners.

ABOUT SPARKLABS GROUP

SparkLabs Group is a network of startup accelerators and venture capital funds that has invested in over 300 startups across 6 continents since 2013. SparkLabs Korea is the leading accelerator in South Korea along with SparkLabs Taipei in Taiwan and SparkLabs Cultiv8 in Australia respectively. SparkLabs Global Ventures is an early-stage fund that primarily invests in the U.S., SparkLabs Ventures is an early-stage for South Korea and SE Asia, and SparkLabs Global Capital is a late-stage vehicle. For more information, please visit http://www.sparklabsgroup.com
Uncle Jacks Talking Farm: a sweet farm tale. Uncle Jacks Talking Farm is the creation of published author Danny Huddleston, who was born and raised in Roanoke, Virginia, where he lived until his death in July 2020. He was married for thirty-five years and had five children and several grandchildren. His hobbies were writing stories for children and putting together model planes and cars.

Huddleston shares, Twins Andy and Alice go to visit Uncle Jack and Aunt Eva on their farm. While there, they see and talk with the farm animals who talk back to them.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Danny Huddlestons new book is an enjoyable and imaginative narrative of two siblings and the adventure they find on Uncle Jack and Aunt Evas farm.

With a creative storyline and colorful illustrations, Huddleston welcomes children to an amusing adventure on a unique farm.

View a synopsis of Uncle Jacks Talking Farm on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase Uncle Jacks Talking Farm at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Uncle Jacks Talking Farm, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Law Office of Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP For more information about the class action lawsuit against Interstate Management, L.L.C., call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

The San Diego employment law attorneys, at Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP, filed a class action lawsuit against Interstate Management, L.L.C., alleging the company violated California Labor Code. The lawsuit against Interstate Management, L.L.C., is currently pending in the San Diego County Superior Court, Case No. 37-2021-00023508-CU-OE-CTL. To read a copy of the Complaint, please click here.

According to the lawsuit filed, Interstate Management, L.L.C. allegedly (a) failed to pay minimum wages, (b) failed to pay overtime wages, (c) failed to provide legally required meal and rest periods, (d) failed to provide accurate itemized wage statements, and (e) failed to reimburse employees for required expenses, all in violation of the applicable Labor Code sections listed in Labor Code Sections  226, 226.7, 510, 512, 1194, 1197, 1197.1, 2802, and the applicable Wage Order(s), and thereby gives rise to civil penalties as a result of such alleged conduct.

California Labor Code  2802 expressly states that "an employer shall indemnify his or her employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee in direct consequence of the discharge of his or her duties..." During employment, PLAINTIFFS and other CALIFORNIA CLASS Members were allegedly required to use their personal cellular phones and personal vehicles in order to complete their job duties. As a result, they allegedly incurred unreimbursed business expenses.

For more information about the class action lawsuit against Interstate Management, L.L.C., call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP is a labor law firm with law offices located in San Diego County, Riverside County, Los Angeles County, Sacramento County, Santa Clara County, Orange County and San Francisco County. The firm has a statewide practice of representing employees on a contingency basis for violations involving unpaid wages, overtime pay, discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination and other types of illegal workplace conduct.

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HashCash has carved a niche for itself early on and is now a popular name in the blockchain and crypto space. This project, with its unique set of challenges, will enhance our portfolio further,

Initial Coin Offering (ICO) has grown to be a convenient, hence, preferred mode of fund-raising given the surge in price and popularity of cryptocurrency. However, there is the business logic to be engineered into the infrastructure prior to the launch. This requires substantial expertise in the blockchain and crypto space.

Global blockchain development company, HashCash Consultants is to support a reputed UAE-based Food and Beverage company by providing complete ICO solutions. The fund from the ICO would be used to expand the already established business by affording cheap acquisition of previously flourishing food companies, failing under the pandemic situation. This attempt should revive the failing businesses and reinstate the employees.

The utility coin, so formed, would be backed by the value of the expanding enterprise. The coins would be offered in various schemes so as to meet the religion-centric needs of Middle-Eastern investors.

The marketing team on this project, headed by CEO, Raj Chowdhury, is already running meticulous market research, the results of which should translate into a white paper.

Founder and CEO, Chowdhury, remarks, HashCash has carved a niche for itself early on and is now a popular name in the blockchain and crypto space. This project, with its unique set of challenges, will enhance our portfolio further.

Recently, HashCash has partnered with an Egypt-based fintech to provide the crypto solution behind a domestic fund transfer project. HashCash has made significant progress in the CBDC development and NFT spaces.

Crypto is evolving at an inscrutable pace. A wide range of industries have benefitted from the technology, and new innovations are striking us every day. This venture is a product of similar brainstorming and we look forward to partner more of such projects, adds Chowdhury.

As an organization that advocates the utilization of blockchain technology and concepts such as tokenization, projects such as this make for benchmark in progress.



About HashCash:

HashCash is a global software company. HashCash Blockchain products enable enterprises to move assets and settle payments across borders in real-time for Remittances, Trade Finance, Payment Processing, and more. HashCash runs a US-based digital asset exchange, PayBito & digital asset payment processor, BillBitcoins. HashCash offers crypto exchange and payment processor software solutions, ICO services, and customized use cases. HashCash propels advancement in technology through Blockchain1o1 programs and its investment arm, Satoshi Angels. HashCash offers solutions in AI, Big Data, and IoT through its platforms, products & services. HashCash solves the toughest challenges by executing innovative digital transformation strategies for clients around the world.
Havis docking stations, DS-GTC-220 Series, for Getac F110 tablet. The F110 tablet has a global presence, and we introduced content that works for everyone, said Willie McGregor, Haviss EMEA Sales Manager. If youre an IT or Fleet Manager, it works with old and new tablets, so you can seamlessly transition without worrying about the dock.

Havis is pleased to introduce a new series of docking stations for the Getac F110 tablet. The DS-GTC-220 builds on Havis's history of performance while offering a versatile & innovative product. This docking station provides a reliable solution for new or legacy Getac F110 tablets.

Getac and Havis have a shared history of success with the F110 tablet, said Sam Barall, Haviss National Sales Manager for Enterprise. We wanted to incorporate the feedback from years of deployment in Material Handling, Work Truck, Public Safety, and other demanding customer bases, and the new DS-GTC-220 series docking stations reflect that. Were thrilled to say this dock can support existing users or brand new F110 customers while offering an improved feature set and user experience.

The advanced alignment of the DS-GTC-220 series allows for easy one-handed docking and undocking capabilities. Its lightweight and compact design with rounded edges offer end users increased comfort and safety. These rugged solutions offer reliability for industries such as Utility Applications, Public Safety, and Material Handling.

An assortment of base models, bundles, and packages are available to meet the needs of any application. Lastly, customizable options offer a wide array of versatility with optional triple-pass through an antenna, Getac power supply, screen support, and accessory brackets.

The F110 tablet has a global presence, and we introduced content that works for everyone, said Willie McGregor, Haviss EMEA Sales Manager. With this dock, its easier to align the tablet, and now theres the convenience of one-handed operation. If youre an IT or Fleet Manager, it works with old and new tablets, so you can seamlessly transition without worrying about the dock.

ABOUT HAVIS

Havis, Inc., is a privately held, ISO 9001:2015 certified company that manufactures in-vehicle mobile office solutions for public safety, public works, government agencies, and mobile professionals. For more than 80 years, the Havis mission has been to increase mobile worker productivity with industry-leading products that are built to the highest safety and quality standards and are designed with comfort in mind. Havis is dedicated to responsible intellectual property management and fosters ongoing innovation. Its patent and trademark portfolio demonstrates a commitment to consistently researching and developing unique products and solutions for mobile industries around the world. Havis currently employs more than 300 people, with headquarters in Warminster, PA, and additional locations in Plymouth, MI, and globally. For more information on Havis, please call 1-800-524-9900 or visit http://www.havis.com.


The new Jaguar Land Rover dealership in San Diego is absolutely stunning and is an impressive showcase for these two iconic luxury brands, said Brian Bates, CEO, Holman Automotive.

Holman Automotive, one of the largest privately-owned dealership groups in the United States, today announced the opening of an all-new, state-of-the-art facility that will be home to Jaguar San Diego and Land Rover San Diego. Located at 9320 Miramar Road in San Diego, California, the remarkable dealership features world-class showrooms and an extensive service center that will deliver an extraordinary experience to customers throughout the region.

The new Jaguar Land Rover dealership in San Diego is absolutely stunning and is an impressive showcase for these two iconic luxury brands, said Brian Bates, CEO, Holman Automotive. Customers can expect the same personalized attention and expertise that Holman is known for, in a spectacular retail environment that embodies the DNA of these distinguished vehicles.

The entirely new 214,000-square-foot facility includes five floors of new and pre-owned vehicles from Jaguar and Land Rover as well as an innovative service center with an indoor service drive, two first-class customer lounges, and ample parking. The dealership features Jaguar Land Rovers sophisticated ARCH design stylings, highlighted by simple elegance, contemporary colors, and rich wood tones.

Jaguar offers an exciting lineup of modern luxury vehicles that blend responsive performance with dramatic designs including the award-winning F-PACE SUV and cutting-edge I-PACE, the brands first all-electric performance SUV. Built to handle any terrain, the Land Rover brand features the iconic Range Rover along with the all-new modern Defender which returned to the Land Rover lineup earlier this year.

The dealership is one of 16 locations in the country to earn the prestigious 2019/2020 Pinnacle Retailer Excellence Award. For additional information, please visit JaguarSanDiego.com or LandRoverSanDiego.com. To learn more about the entire Holman Automotive family of dealerships, visit HolmanAuto.com.

About Holman Automotive

Holman Automotive is one of the largest privately-owned dealership groups in the United States, with 40 dealership franchises representing 20 brands from the East Coast to the Pacific Northwest. Since opening in 1924 as a single Ford dealership, the Holman family has been dedicated to providing customers with exceptional experiences by focusing on building relationships and investing in people, a tradition that continues to this day. Holman Automotive is a part of the Holman Enterprises family of businesses.

Holman Enterprises is a global automotive leader that serves both commercial and consumer clients The Holman Way by always doing the right thing for our people, our customers, and the community since 1924. Headquartered in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, our automotive-centric businesses include Holman Automotive; Holman Insurance Services, a commercial and consumer insurance services company; Holman Parts Distribution, a national distributor of OEM powertrain solutions and logistics leader; Auto Truck Group, a vehicle fabrication and upfitting business; Kargo Master, a manufacturer of truck and van productivity solutions; ARI, the largest privately-owned fleet leasing and management company in North America; and Holman Strategic Ventures, Holmans corporate venture capital and innovation team. For additional information, please visit HolmanEnterprises.com.

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Online wine auctions hosted by IronGateAuctions.com have raised $860,000 for Canadian charitable and cultural organizations since the platform launched in November 2020. The level of participation in our first virtual charitable auction season has proven our long-held belief that online auctions have the potential to attract a broader audience and help charities raise funds more efficiently, says Warren Porter, President and Founder of IronGateAuctions.com.

Online wine auctions hosted by IronGateAuctions.com have raised $860,000 for Canadian charitable and cultural organizations since the platform launched in November 2020 amidst ongoing COVID-19 restrictions to in-person events. Designed to give charities more flexibility to fundraise, Iron Gates virtual auction platform hosted five auctions for Canadian organizations in its first season, generating 9,199 online bids across 1,095 lots.

The level of participation in our first virtual charitable auction season has proven our long-held belief that online auctions have the potential to attract a broader audience and help charities raise funds more efficiently, says Warren Porter, President and Founder of IronGateAuctions.com. And we believe the fundraising benefits of online auctions will endure in a post-COVID landscape.

In the past six months, Iron Gate has hosted online wine auctions for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Opera Company, Cystic Fibrosis Canada, Bard on the Beach/Vancouver International Wine Festival and JAZZ.FM91. Another five charitable fundraising auctions are already confirmed for the fall of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022.

Iron Gate Wines has been instrumental in helping Cystic Fibrosis Canada raise funds during this most difficult year, says Patricia McLaughlin, Regional Executive Director, Ontario, Cystic Fibrosis Canada. By hosting our Decant Gala Fine Wine Auction on Iron Gates platform, we were able to raise more than $34,000 from the online wine auction alone. Iron Gate Wines has been the key to our wine auctions for years, and without their support administering the online auction this year, we would not have been able to achieve the results we did which has enabled us to go further in gaining access to life saving drugs for the 4,300 Canadians living with CF.

"During a year when face to face fundraising events and concerts came to a halt, IronGateAuctions.com presented us with a new experience that was turnkey, engaging and fun! The expert team at Iron Gate walked us through the process step by step and truly partnered with us to make the experience a huge success that exceeded our expectations, said Dana Wigle, General Manager JAZZ.FM91. We look forward to working with Warren and his exceptional team again. Wine and jazz pair beautifully and we're grateful to have Iron Gate Auctions in our jazz community. A huge thanks from the staff and board of directors at JAZZ.FM91 for all of IronGates help in raising money to support our organization."

IronGateAuctions.coms Fall 2021 charitable auction season kicks off on September 3 with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Calgary. Online bids can be placed from anywhere across Canada. Additionally, purchases made at charitable auctions are not subject to buyer premiums or sales tax applied to commercial auctions, equivalent to up to 35 per cent savings for buyers.

Interested wine buyers can register at IronGateAuctions.com for regular updates and early access to information about upcoming auctions.

IRONGATEAUCTIONS.COM - HOW IT WORKS:



Auction catalogues are posted online for preview one week prior to opening bids

Bidding is anonymous, simple and secure

Register at IronGateAuctions.com with name, phone number and email address

Registrants can create their own auction item wish list and make anonymous bids throughout the duration of an auction

Bidders will receive email and/or text notifications for bids, outbids and won

Bids can be placed from anywhere across Canada

Online auction catalogues can be searched by producer, region and sub-region, vintage and appraisal value

The platform features a real-time countdown clock that will track the time remaining in auction down to the second

No cost to register and place bids

About Iron Gate - Private Wine Management

Founded in 2004, Iron Gate Private Wine Management offers fine wine collection management, off-site wine storage, cellar and wine appraisals, traditional and virtual wine auction services both commercially and for registered charities via IronGateAuctions.com, an Alberta corporation. In 2017, Iron Gate launched IronGate.Wine, a U.S.-based online wine retailer offering Canadian wine collectors access to sell on the secondary wine retail market in the U.S.

Websites & Social Channels:

irongatewine.com | IronGate.Wine | IronGateAuctions.com

Twitter: @irongatewine

Instagram: @irongatewine
If you would like to know more about the Anning-Johnson Company lawsuit, please contact Attorney Jackland K. Hom today by calling (619) 255-9047.

The Los Angeles labor law attorneys, at Zakay Law Group, APLC and JCL Law Firm, APC, filed a class action complaint against Anning-Johnson Company for allegedly failing to accurately pay employees' wages for all their time worked. The Anning-Johnson Company class action lawsuit, Case No. 21STCV22570, is currently pending in the Los Angeles County Superior Court of the State of California. A copy of the Complaint can be read here.

According to the lawsuit, Anning-Johnson Company allegedly violated California Labor Code Sections  201, 202, 203, 204, 206.5, 226, 226.7, 510, 512, 558, 1194, 1197, 1197.1, 1198, and 2802 by failing to: (1) pay minimum wages; (2) pay overtime wages; (3) provide required meal and rest periods; (4) provide accurate itemized wage statements; (5) reimburse employees for required business expenses; and (6) provide wages when due.

As a result of their rigorous work schedules, Anning-Johnson Company's employees were allegedly unable to take off duty meal breaks and were not fully relieved of duty for meal periods. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges employees were from time to time interrupted during their off-duty meal breaks to complete tasks for Anning-Johnson Company. Employees were allegedly required to perform work as ordered by Anning-Johnson Company for more than five (5) hours during a shift without receiving an off-duty meal break. Further, the lawsuit alleges Anning-Johnson Company failed to provide employees with a second off-duty meal period each workday in which these employees were required by Anning-Johnson Company to work ten (10) hours of work. Anning Johnson Companys policy allegedly caused employees to remain on-call and on-duty during what was supposed to be their off-duty meal periods. Employees therefore allegedly forfeited meal breaks without additional compensation and in accordance with Anning-Johnson Company's strict corporate policy and practice.

If you would like to know more about the Anning-Johnson Company lawsuit, please contact Attorney Jackland K. Hom today by calling (619) 255-9047.

Zakay Law Group, APLC and JCL Law Firm, APC are labor and employment law firms with offices located in California that dedicate their practices to fighting for employees who have been wronged by their employers due to unfair employment practices. Contact one of their attorneys today if you need help with workplace issues regarding wage and hour, wrongful termination, retaliation, discrimination, and harassment.

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The 2022 Jeep Wagoneer will soon be available at Stony Plain Chrysler in Alberta, but residents of the area can get a jump start on researching the vehicle by visiting the dealership's website.

An iconic name from the annals of Jeep history is returning for the 2022 model year. The name will be applied to a pair of new full-size, premium sport utility vehicles joining the lineup that will quickly take their places as the flagship SUVs of the brand. The name in question is Wagoneer, which will be returning to the brand in the form of the 2022 Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer.

The former will represent the best the Jeep brand has to offer, while the latter will take things a step even further as a luxury variant of the full-size SUV. At Stony Plain Chrysler in Stony Plain, Alberta, shoppers can already get a head start on figuring out whether or not one of these two vehicles is going to be the right choice for them. The staff at the dealership has added a pair of model research pages to the dealers website, StonyPlainChrysler.ca.

Each of these pages highlights the rich history of the nameplate before highlighting some of the standard specs and features of each model. For example, the page focusing on the 2022 Jeep Grand Wagoneer provides a table that lists some of the most interesting features of various aspects, including the interior, exterior and safety.

Residents of the area that might be interested in learning more about either of these full-size SUVs are encouraged to head to the dealerships website. Any specific questions that arise about the Wagoneer family of Jeep vehicles can be directed to the sales desk at 587-760-1500. Stony Plain Chrysler is located at 4004 51 St. in Stony Plain.
Mercy College President Tim Hall and Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Essen Health Care Dr. Sumir Sahgal sign official agreement

Essen Health Care and Mercy College today announced the Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Jumpstart Program to provide a pathway for students and employees to becoming Primary Care Providers. The FNP Jumpstart Program is a collaborative agreement where Essen Health Care will recommend qualified employees, including International Medical Graduates, to enroll in Mercy Colleges Family Nurse Practitioner Master of Science Program.

Essen Health Care and Mercy College have a mutual mission: to improve the livelihood of the Bronx community, says Dr. Sumir Sahgal, Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Essen Health Care. Mercy College has a fantastic program and were so excited to offer this to our staff so they can not only further themselves in their own career paths but give back to our community by providing vital care to some of the most vulnerable members of the population.

Mercy College and Essen Health Care believe educating FNP students in the Bronx will provide a pipeline of qualified nurses to provide much needed primary care services to the Bronx community. The FNP Master of Science Program offered by Mercy College is a one-year program designed for professional nurses who hold a Bachelor of Science in Nursing or a Master of Science in Nursing. This advanced degree will provide the training and skills necessary to provide lifelong, comprehensive care through disease management, health education and primary care health services to patients. The program will be offered both online and in-person at the Mercy College Bronx Campus which includes state-of-the-art facilities and is nationally accredited by CCNE, AANP and ANCC.

Mercy College is excited to partner with Essen Health Care to expand our Family Nurse Practitioner Program in the Bronx to their staff, said Mercy College President Tim Hall. We are looking forward to welcoming these students and helping them to continue their path to serving our community.

The FNP Jumpstart Program is scheduled to begin in the Fall 2021 semester. Essen Health Care will nominate 15 of the most qualified candidates, including International Medical Graduates, to apply for admission. Once accepted, Mercy College will offer a pathway through the program including discounted tuition for Essen Health Care employees enrolled into the FNP program.

About Essen Health Care

Essen Health Care is the largest privately held multi-specialty medical group based in the Bronx with six integrated clinical divisions offering primary care, urgent care, and specialty services, as well as house call services, care management, and leads care for over 60+ nursing homes. Founded in 1999 by Dr. Sumir Sahgal and guided by a population health model of care, Essen Health Care is a growing community healthcare network and group practice with over 150 Primary Care and Specialty Care Physicians and over 100 advanced clinicians providing high quality, compassionate, and accessible medical care to over 100,000 of the most vulnerable and under-served residents of New York State. Essen Health Care is dedicated to ensuring the quality of care for all patients and has been designated a Level 3 Patient Centered Medical Home by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

About Mercy College

Founded in 1950 by the Sisters of Mercy, Mercy College is an independent, coeducational college that offers more than 90 undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs within five schools: Business, Education, Health and Natural Sciences, Liberal Arts and Social and Behavioral Sciences. The vibrancy of the College culture is sustained by a diverse student body from around the region. The College offers campuses in Dobbs Ferry, Bronx and Manhattan as well as online offerings.
MobileMind, the modern professional learning hub for schools, has launched MobileMind Community, the industrys first competency-based, crowd-sourced PD platform. MobileMind customers can now create and share quality-assured micro-courses across all topics, methodologies, and technology with other MobileMind districts.

MobileMind Community allows districts to save valuable time creating district-scaled PD for common training topics like learning acceleration, project-based learning, interactive whiteboards, LMS, and even subject-focused PD. Districts can quickly add micro-courses to their districts learning paths with one-click cloning and edit content to fit their districts needs.

To learn more about MobileMind Community and how MobileMind can maximize the impact of ESSER funding, visit the company's website and schedule a call.

About MobileMind

Founded in 2015, MobileMind is a privately held, Atlanta-based educational technology company. MobileMind is a Google professional development partner offering a cloud-based, asynchronous professional learning platform designed to help teachers integrate technology into the classroom to improve student outcomes. MobileMind is the only platform that allows districts to consolidate all of their PD initiatives, from new technology to curriculum to compliance. MobileMind delivers anytime, anywhere access to personalized micro-courses, activity-based learning, digital badging, and reporting to K-12 school districts.


Gigi Rowe Wishes By Gigi Rowe I created Gigi Rowe Wishes to recognize that magic is real, that you can glitter and sparkle and live every day and not be afraid of greatness, said Rowe.

A childs individualism can be seen through their dreams and imagination. In Gigi Rowe Wishes, the authors goal is to inspire children to pursue their passions and goals. The picture book follows the vivacious young girl named Gigi as she embarks on a journey where she follows her aspirations. Rowe perfectly embodies the sparkling character in the fictional universe through her musical career success and her attitude towards life. The book is told through beautiful illustrations that show Gigi following her dreams of becoming a pop star and living in cotton candy clouds in a charming place called the Stardust Motel.

When Rowe first created the popstar persona of Gigi Rowe for her budding music career, she imagined that Gigi was a character from her own universe, a shimmering and inviting world. This childrens book allowed the author to bring this character and universe to life. Rowe celebrates moments of her life that she has been lucky enough to experience throughout the colorful pages of Gigi Rowe Wishes. Readers will travel with Gigi as she wishes she was in Paris, Rome and flying through the sky in a magical pink car.

I created Gigi Rowe Wishes to recognize that magic is real, that you can glitter and sparkle and live every day and not be afraid of greatness, said Rowe. It illustrates a vivid land of spectacular escapism for my readers to dive into, and a reminder of the importance of believing in their passions.

Rowes debut book has been on multiple Amazon charts and has received over 80 5-star reviews. One review praises the book saying, With lyrical, rhyming text and bright, beautiful illustrations, Gigi Rowe Wishes will certainly capture the hearts and imaginations of young readers. Taking children on a magical, fantasy adventure, Gigi Rowe Wishes encourages children to believe in their dreams and reach for the stars.

Ultimately, Gigi Rowe Wishes will spark the imagination of many readers and invite them to fantasize along with young Gigi. This sweet tale will bring smiles to many faces and helps children to believe that anything is possible. While Rowe paints this charming land, she reminds readers of the importance of all of lifes possibilities.

Gigi Rowe Wishes

By Gigi Rowe

ISBN: 978-1-4808-9808-0 (softcover); 978-1-4808-9806-6 (hardcover)

Available through Archway Publishing, Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the author

Gigi Rowe is an award-winning songwriter, pop star and sorcerer of sweets who Jay-Z famously called fantastically talented. She has been featured on the number 1 global dance video game franchise Just Dance and her performances have electrified Lollapalooza to Rock In Rio. The enchanted world Gigi creates is inspired by her vivid imaginationfull of colorful escapism, adventure and possibilities. The whimsical Gigi persona embraces her forever inner child, a fairy of sorts whos the keeper of all that glitters and all who dare to dream. A wanderlust at heart, Gigi has lived in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville and London, seeking out wishes and delighted by cupcakes on a journey beyond anyones imagination. Ever since she checked into the Stardust Motel in the cotton candy clouds, Gigi has found her magical place and she has never looked back. To learn more, please visit HelloGigiRowe.com.

Review Copies & Interview Requests:

LAVIDGE  Phoenix

Grace Connor

480-998-2600 x 534

gconnor@lavidge.com


Over the past two years, Mr. Mishra's efforts have been instrumental in helping us manage our rapid trajectory from small-scale manufacturer to preferred supplier for the worlds largest technology companies, said Ramakanth Alapati, CEO of YES.

YES (Yield Engineering Systems, Inc.), a leading manufacturer of process equipment for semiconductor advanced packaging, life sciences, and More-than-Moore applications, today announced that Prabhat Mishra will be the companys new Vice President of Finance.

Prabhat joined the company in August of 2019 as our Head of Finance, said Ramakanth Alapati, CEO of YES. Over the past two years, his efforts have been instrumental in helping us manage our rapid trajectory from small-scale manufacturer to preferred supplier for the worlds largest technology companies.

Prior to joining YES, Mr. Mishra was Senior Director of Finance at Macom and Applied Micro, managing the Financial Planning and Analysis function of the company. Before that, he spent 10 years as a finance leader at Intel Corporation, supporting the Mobile Products Group, the Software & Services Group and the Technology & Manufacturing Group. He started his career as an engineer and was an engineering manager at STMicroelectronics, Sun Microsystems and Intel.

Mr. Mishra holds a bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, an MBA from Arizona State University, and Certification in Accounting from University of California, Berkeley.

About YES

YES (Yield Engineering Systems, Inc.) is a preferred provider of high-tech, cost-effective equipment for transforming surfaces, materials and interfaces. The companys product lines include vacuum cure systems, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) systems, and plasma etching tools used for precise surface modification and thin-film coating of semiconductor wafers, semiconductor and MEMS devices, biosensors and medical substrates. With YES, customers ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies can create and volume-produce products in a wide range of markets, including Advanced Packaging, MEMS, Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality and Life Sciences. YES is headquartered in Fremont, California, with a growing presence globally. For more information, please visit http://www.yieldengineering.com.
At Principle Auto, our customers and their vehicles are an extension of our family, and we will treat you as a member of our family, says CEO Abigail Kampmann.

Principle Auto is proud to announce the opening of their newest automotive dealership, Principle Hyundai Boerne, in Boerne, Texas. Located at 32275 B W-Interstate 10 and adjacent to Principle INFINITI of Boerne, this convenient location is only ten minutes north of The Rim Shopping Center serving the Boerne, Fair Oaks, Helotes, and San Antonio areas. Principle Hyundai Boerne is the most recent addition to Principle Auto and will help further the groups growth plans as it continues to expand across Texas and the United States.

Principle Auto was founded with the desire to change the automotive industry through exceptional customer care, community involvement and sustainability. The privately held automotive group is pleased to offer Hyundai, a brand that shares our passion to improve peoples lives, and provide them with a truly exceptional dealership experience. Principle Hyundai Boerne will have a welcoming atmosphere and staff focused on top-notch customer service with over 360 cars for sale on site, a number that will increase as the business grows.

Service Director Christina Thomas contributes, Aside from the great deals our sales team will offer, our Service Department is well equipped to provide timely repairs and quality service with fully trained and certified technicians. Principle Hyundai Boerne has a multilingual staff that is determined to provide a comfortable purchasing experience.

Principle Autos COO, Mark Smith, spent 25 years in the luxury automotive industry before teaming up with co-owner and CEO, Abigail Kampmann, to create Principle Auto. The name Principle was chosen to reflect the values the company vows to uphold.

Our mission statement at Principle Auto is We live to provide exceptional care, says Smith. As a member of our community, we want you to be comfortable with choosing Principle Hyundai Boerne and Principle Auto. Our online purchasing and online service scheduling tools are available to accommodate your schedule, and we will strive to make your sales or service experience as convenient as possible.

At Principle Auto, our customers and their vehicles are an extension of our family, and we will treat you as a member of our family, says Kampmann. Through a combination of exceptional value and our dedication to providing world-class service, we always aim to provide our customers with a great experience. We are thrilled to add Principle Hyundai Boerne to our family, and we cannot wait to serve you.

Principle Hyundai Boerne sales will office out of a temporary portable building until their brand new facility is completed. For more information, visit https://www.principlehyundaiboerne.com or call 210-635-1000.

ABOUT PRINCIPLE AUTO

Principle Auto is an independent auto group headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, that operates a number of automotive dealerships in Texas, Tennessee, and Mississippi. While the group has been in business for over 50 years, a management restructure took place in 2014, which led to the formation of Principle Auto. Principle Auto strives to provide an environment for its associates and customers that is welcoming, transparent, and forward thinking. Principle Auto is the home of the Principle Promise: We respect you and the opportunity to serve you. We deliver exceptional value. We value your time. We take the risknever you. For more information visit: https://www.principleauto.com/
Over the past year these curious inventors have shown us that anything is possible if you just dream big, said Patricia Mooradian, president and CEO, The Henry Ford.

On June 24, 2021, more than 60 students from across the nation were honored for their problem-solving inventions inspired by current global issues or difficulties found in their everyday lives, during the Raytheon Technologies Invention Convention U.S. Nationals, powered by The Henry Ford. Raytheon Technologies has been a partner and presenting sponsor of Invention Convention U.S. Nationals since 2016. The sixth annual event marks the first time Raytheon Technologies has joined as the title sponsor. More than 400 award-winning K-12 inventors participated in this years virtual event hosted by The Henry Fords Innovation Nation correspondent Albert Lawrence.

Over the past year these curious inventors have shown us that anything is possible if you just dream big, said Patricia Mooradian, president and CEO, The Henry Ford. Their approach to solving the problems they face, both big and small, is both inspiring and reassuring that the future is in great hands.

In an effort to ensure that students who worked year-round on their inventions received the proper recognition they deserved in a safe way, The Henry Ford once again held the competition virtually. Prior to advancing to the US national event, students competed at local and regional levels. To participate in Invention Convention, students had to submit a video presentation of their invention, a prototype, an inventors logbook showing the journey of their invention process, and a display board highlighting key points of the invention process.

The inventions this year, like every year, make us hopeful for our shared future these young inventors will define, said Randy Bumps, Executive Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Raytheon Technologies. We believe the experience each student gains through the Raytheon Technologies U.S Nationals Invention Convention today is the foundation that will allow them to lift communities, solve big problems, and change industries with their inventions tomorrow.

This year's inventors taking home top honors include:



11th-graders Soham Joshi and Raaghav Malik from Ohio, received multiple awards, including Raytheon Technologies Most Innovative Award for their invention, S.E.N.S.E  a multipurpose robotic glove designed to teach sign language through guided manual motions. Video

10th-graders Christopher and Nicholas Kwok of San Carlo California, received multiple awards, including Peoples Choice, for their invention, Chaeto Biofilters: Chemically Modified Chaetomorpha to Mitigate Ocean Acidification. Video

10th-graders Barnabas Li, Michelle Li and TJ Lu of Watkinsville Georgia, for their invention, LitPad. Video

Seventh-grader Katie Russel from Wallingford Connecticut, for her invention, Power Purifier. Video

Fifth-grader Lily Zezula from Ridgefield Connecticut for her invention, The Turtle Tent. Video

Third-grader David Morales of Bedford New Hampshire for his invention, The Waterballer. Video

Invention Convention Worldwide is a global K-12 invention education curricular program mapped to national and state educational standards that teaches students problem-identification, problem-solving, entrepreneurship and creativity skills and builds confidence in invention, innovation and entrepreneurship for life. To participate, students are required to submit a video presentation of their invention, a prototype, an inventors logbook showing the journey of their invention process and a display board highlighting key points of the invention process.

Prizes and opportunities this year included pro bono patent awards from law firms WilmerHale, Cantor Colburn, Cooley and Clark Hill, gift cards and scholarships from the events sponsors, including title sponsor Raytheon Technologies. The winner of the events top accolade, the Raytheon Technologies Most Innovative Award, will receive a $2,500 scholarship.

A recording of the awards ceremony can be viewed here https://youtu.be/BE8WANcArEU

The mission of Invention Convention Worldwide is to bring invention education to every student everywhere. Organizations interested in bringing the year-long program to their region can get more information at inventionconvention.org.

About The Henry Ford

Located in Dearborn, Michigan, The Henry Ford, a globally recognized destination, fosters inspiration and learning from hands-on encounters with artifacts that represent the most comprehensive collection anywhere focusing on innovation, ingenuity and resourcefulness in America. Its unique venues include Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, Greenfield Village, Ford Rouge Factory Tour, Benson Ford Research Center and Henry Ford Academy, a public charter high school. Together with its online presence at thf.org, its national television series, The Henry Fords Innovation Nation, and Invention Convention Worldwide, the growing affiliation of organizations fostering innovation, invention and entrepreneurship in K-12 students, The Henry Ford inspires individuals to unlock their potential and help shape a better future.

About Raytheon Technologies

Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services for commercial, military and government customers worldwide. With four industry-leading businesses  Collins Aerospace Systems, Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon Intelligence & Space and Raytheon Missiles & Defense  the company delivers solutions that push the boundaries in avionics, cybersecurity, directed energy, electric propulsion, hypersonics, and quantum physics. The company, formed in 2020 through the combination of Raytheon Company and the United Technologies Corporation aerospace businesses, is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Sacramento Business Journal selects Allison Otto as one of its Women Who Mean Business. In this family business, [our employees] represent the definition of family, and I couldnt have received this honor without their hard work and dedication.

Allison Otto, the newly named president of family-owned Otto Construction, has been selected as a recipient in the 26th annual Women Who Mean Business Awards from the Sacramento Business Journal. With 14 honorees this year, the awards are presented to influential women business leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators who are making a difference in the region through their business-focused initiatives.

The dedication, loyalty and commitment of our employees inspire me every day, said Otto. They hold true to the values of Ottohonesty, integrity and compassion for othersin every decision thats made and every building thats built. In this family business, they represent the definition of family, and I couldnt have received this honor without their hard work and dedication.

TWEET THIS: Allison Otto of @OttoCons selected by @Sacbiz as one of its 2021 Women Who Mean Business. #OttoConstruction is one of the largest #womanowned commercial general contractors in Northern and Central California. https://ctt.ec/3eeZS+

ABOUT ALLISON OTTO



Under her leadership, Otto Construction is one of the largest woman-owned commercial general contractors in Northern and Central California.

Otto graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in business administration and earned a construction management certificate from UC Davis.

She also has earned a LEED advanced professional credential and is an associate design-build professional.

Otto serves on the board for the Society of the Blind in Sacramento, for which the company built the Carl R. Otto Annex, a 5,000-square-foot multi-purpose training space dedicated in 2020.

She was a member of the American Leadership Forum Class XVIII, a graduate of the 2012 Leadership Sacramento Class, and recognized by the Sacramento Business Journal as a 40 Under 40 recipient in 2014.

For more information, visit ottoconstruction.com.

ABOUT OTTO CONSTRUCTION

Otto Construction was founded in 1947 by John F. Otto and has remained a family-owned business for three generations, with Allison Otto becoming President and CEO in 2021. For more than seven decades, Otto has upheld their standards of building relationships and delivering quality projects with trust, teamwork, and dedication. With offices in Sacramento and Monterey, Otto Construction builds high-caliber projects including senior living complexes, historical renovations, educational facilities, healthcare buildings and parking structures throughout Northern and Central California. For more information about Otto Construction and its services and project portfolio, visit OttoConstruction.com.
People shouldn't have to accept being tracked across the web in order to get the benefits of relevant advertising

Terry Cane, COO of SEOHost.net (https://www.seohost.net), believes Google's decision to phase out support for third-party cookies isn't as bad as some have made it out to be.

Last January, the search giant announced its intent to remove support for cookies in its Chrome browser within the coming two years. Earlier this month, the company further clarified its plans in a blog post from Director of Product Management for Ads, Privacy, and Trust David Temkin. It will no longer rely on any identifiers to target its advertisements, nor will it support brands that do.

"We realize this means other providers may offer a level of user identity for ad tracking across the web that we will not," Temkin wrote. "We dont believe these solutions will meet rising consumer expectations for privacy, nor will they stand up to rapidly evolving regulatory restrictions, and therefore arent a sustainable long-term investment. Instead, our web products will be powered by privacy-preserving APIs which prevent individual tracking while still delivering results for advertisers and publishers."

"People shouldn't have to accept being tracked across the web in order to get the benefits of relevant advertising," he added.

Some have predicted that Google's decision to become more privacy focused could, when taken in tandem with Apple's changes to ad blocking, destroy the advertising industry. But, according to Cane, this is hyperbole. Although it has been painted as catastrophic in some camps, she feels that it is likely to change very little.

"Targeted marketing and advertising were already on life support," says Cane. "Between regulations like the GDPR and a general lack of trust towards paid advertisements, the format has been stagnant for years. Today's users don't want advertisements targeted at them based on demographic data or the limited understanding of algorithms."

"What they want," she continues, "is experiential marketing in which a brand connects with and relates to them on their terms. They want to be treated like people, not prospects. That's something old-school advertising has consistently struggled with, and which traditional marketing cannot adequately fulfill."

"For anyone who's been paying attention to the privacy sector for the past several years, Google's decision should not come as a surprise," Cane concludes. "We've all seen the writing on the wall. Some of us simply chose to ignore it."

About SEOHost.net:

Located in Orlando, Florida with locations all around the world, SEOHost.Net provides a wide range of services in both the U.S. and the E.U., including domain registration, SSL Hosting for SEO, as well as VPS, dedicated, and A Class IP hosting. The company offers exceptional service with a strong service level agreement, multiple geographic locations, and free migration. For more information, visit https://www.seohost.net.
Teledentix was exactly the fit we were looking for to help us accomplish the objectives we created for the HRSA grant.

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) recently implemented Teledentix, by Virtual Dental Care, Inc (VDC) to manage the School of Dentistry's Virtual Dental Home project which is part of a recently awarded Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant to help support improved access to oral health services for children. The grant includes key objectives including addressing clinical needs of underserved communities, facilitating medical-dental integration, and to implement a virtual dental home for rural health departments.

Teledentix software will help UCSF accomplish the grant objectives by providing solutions specifically designed for mobile dental delivery with a hybrid telehealth program. USCF providers will use Teledentix to manage patient flow, including multi-location scheduling, digital consent forms, dental screenings, and referral management.

Teledentix HIPAA-compliant electronic dental records help facilitate the virtual dental home model by making it easier than ever to gather diagnostic records, including x-ray images, intraoral photos, charting, and progress notes that can be sent to be reviewed by a dentist via asynchronous teledentistry.

USCF will also use Teledentix to offer hybrid in-person and virtual oral health visits for vulnerable populations of children with special healthcare needs such as autism spectrum disorder and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

To help address medical-dental integration, Teledentix not only makes it easy to securely share records, it also increases continuity of care. Dentists, patients, caregivers, and other healthcare professionals can communicate in multiple modalities using Teledentix, including synchronous video conferences, recorded videos, patient education resources, and consolidated messaging tools including text, chat, and email.

Dr. Ray Stewart, UCSFs Division Chair of Pediatric Dentistry noted, Teledentix was exactly the fit we were looking for to help us accomplish the objectives we created for the HRSA grant. Its rare for any dental software to support the virtual dental home model but Teledentix was built for it and were very excited to improve the oral health of children in these underserved populations.

Dr. Bill Jackson, Co-Founder and COO of VDC added, UCSF is a perfect example of a forward-thinking organization that sees the profound impact of telehealth and teledentistry in helping address the overwhelming gap in oral healthcare. Part of our mission here at VDC is to help drive dental-medical integration and UCSFs objectives are such a great testament to Teledentix unique capabilities in pushing the needle forward.

About Virtual Dental Care, Inc. and Teledentix

Teledentix is an extensive telehealth communication solution utilized in various ways by different industry players. At its core, Teledentix incorporates telecommunication tools (live video, recorded video, chat, text, email, image and document uploads, etc.) into a secure environment (HIPAA-complaint, HIGHTRUST, SOC2, penetration tested). Its integrated modular design allows for multiple use-case options. Modules include consultation network management, patient engagement tools, peer-to-peer record collaboration, and much more. For more information about Teledentix, visit https://get.teledentix.com/.

About UCSF School of Dentistry

The UCSF School of Dentistry provides a unique balance of clinical excellence, research opportunity and community service as part of one of the leading health science centers in the nation. Established in 1881, the school has a tradition of service, beginning with the provision of care following the 1906 earthquake and fire, strong clinical programs that prepare dentists for the future, and research activities at the vanguard of contemporary science. For more information visit https://dentistry.ucsf.edu/
DelCor has been named one of The Washington Posts 2021 Top Workplaces in the Washington, D.C. area. Selection was based solely on employee feedback gathered through an anonymous third-party survey administered by research partner Energage, LLC, which measured several aspects of workplace culture, including alignment, execution, and connection. This years honorees include government contractors, real estate firms, professional and business services, law firms and tech companies.

Now in its eighth year, The Posts Top Workplaces list continues to highlight the companies in the Washington-area that are leaders in company satisfaction and engagement, said Washington Post Top Workplaces editor, Dion Haynes. Throughout the past 15 months, these companies have had to make quick decisions in order to keep their employees safe while also balancing productivity and efficiency, and their employees have taken note of this great work.

We are always working on ensuring that DelCor is a very positive environment and that our employees, the DelCorians, genuinely feel that way, said DelCor founder and CEO, Loretta DeLuca. In the end, the biggest reward is that our team is happy here, and they are the ones who create DelCors great culture. To be recognized for it is really icing on the cake.

The Washington Post hosted a virtual awards ceremony on Thursday, June 17 to recognize the top-ranked companies. For more about The Washington Posts Top Workplaces and to see the full list of this years honorees, visit Top Workplaces 2021 (https://topworkplaces.com/).

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About DelCor

DelCor Technology Solutions, Inc., is an award-winning, independent technology consulting firm headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland. Authors of the IT Maturity Model for Associations & Nonprofits (https://www.delcor.com/resources/it-maturity-model) and informed by a collective 200 years of experience as association executives themselves, DelCorians are driven to help organizations fulfill their missions, visions, and business goals. Since its founding in 1984, DelCor has helped hundreds of organizations around the world achieve progress through technology strategic consulting, hosting, and managed services.

About The Washington Post

The Washington Post is an award-winning news leader whose mission is to connect, inform, and enlighten local, national and global readers with trustworthy reporting, in-depth analysis and engaging opinions. It combines world-class journalism with the latest technology and tools so readers can interact with The Post anytime, anywhere.

About Energage, LLC

Headquartered in Exton, Pa., Energage (formerly known as WorkplaceDynamics) is a leading provider of technology-based employee engagement tools that help leaders to unlock potential, inspire performance, and achieve amazing results within their organizations. The research partner behind the Top Workplaces program, Energage has surveyed more than 47,000 organizations representing well over 16 million employees in the United States.
TimeForge, a leading provider of sales-driven employee scheduling software and integrated labor management solutions, announced today that it has partnered with WorkTrend, a leading provider of payroll and HCM services. More than a payroll service, WorkTrend implements, deploys, trains, and fully services iSolveds HCM platform while aiming to deliver uncompromising human capital management technology with world-class customer service. By selecting TimeForge as an integrated partner, WorkTrend will be able to better meet the needs of its retail and hospitality customers who are seeking a powerful yet flexible scheduling and timekeeping solution.

More than ever, employers today must meet or exceed the challenges of workforce management to attract and retain vital talent that will help them succeed, said Dean Lucente, CEO and Co-Founder of WorkTrend. With its built-in team communication features, online timecards, and easy-to-use mobile apps, TimeForge is an excellent choice for retail and hospitality businesses looking to do that and more.

TimeForges free mobile apps allow managers to monitor the business from anywhere, while keeping employees engaged and satisfied with the features they expect, including shift swaps, time off requests, and the ability to check their time cards and schedules from their smartphones. Furthermore, TimeForges sales-driven employee scheduling empowers businesses of all sizes to easily monitor and control their labor expenses from a centralized dashboard.

What really sets TimeForge apart from other scheduling and timekeeping solutions is how easily it integrates with the point of sale, said Dean Lucente. TimeForge allows you to bring your payroll, sales, and labor management platforms in sync and to make the best possible use of your resources.

Were absolutely thrilled about our partnership with WorkTrend, said Audrey Hogan, COO at TimeForge. WorkTrend takes customer service as seriously as we do, and they understand the value-add that our timekeeping and scheduling solutions bring to the table, especially for retailers and restaurants struggling to find and retain employees. We look forward to working alongside WorkTrend to help customers navigate these labor challenges while making the most of their current workforce.

TimeForge and WorkTrend are currently working to develop seamless integration between their two platforms. When complete, the new integration will facilitate the real-time synchronization of employee hours and data to ensure accurate, pain-free payroll cycles, easy reporting, and end-to-end visibility.

About TimeForge

TimeForge is a labor management software suite designed to meet the challenging demands of the retail and restaurant industries. The feature-rich yet user-friendly suite offers scheduling, communication, time clock, human resources, automated compliance, and sales forecasting capabilities. TimeForge is affordable, easy-to-use, and serves both independent and chain operations in grocery, retail, restaurant, hospitality, and other industries. For more information, visit https://timeforge.com or follow @timeforge on Twitter.

About WorkTrend

WorkTrend provides employers with the ultimate HCM experience by bringing together iSolved HCMs leading-edge technology along with WorkTrends world-class service. WorkTrend is a Certified Network Partner for the iSolved platform that currently serves over 100,000 employers and about 5 Million employees. Visit WorkTrend at worktrend.com.
SR22 insurance is more expensive, however, drivers shouldnt pay more on their policy if they are not required to do so, said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company.

Compare-autoinsurance.org has launched a new blog post that presents the costs of SR22 car insurance and some tips that can help drivers save care insurance money.

For more info and free car insurance quotes online, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/what-are-the-costs-of-the-sr22-insurance/

Some drivers are likely to experience car accidents more often than other drivers. For this reason, they will likely need SR22 insurance. SR22 insurance is not actually insurance, but a form that the insurer files to certify that its insuree has the required insurance coverage. If the state deems a driver to be high-risk, he will be required to purchase car insurance that meets a certain minimum threshold of coverage.

Regarding SR22 car insurance, drivers should know the following information:



What types of infractions can necessitate a driver to get SR22 insurance? The most common types of infractions that can determine a state to consider a driver to be high-risk are the following: repeated traffic offenses, driving under influence (DUI), driving while intoxicated (DWI), license suspension, serious moving violations, license revocation, hardship license, failure to pay court-ordered child support, multiple at-fault violations, failure to maintain required insurance coverage.

Which states dont require SR22 forms? The states that don't require SR22 are Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, West Virginia.

Types of SR22 insurance. Usually, there are only three types of SR22 insurance. The Owner's Certificate is the type of SR22 insurance that will cover the vehicles that the driver owns. Operators Certificate, also known as non-owner SR22 certificate, will cover the driver when he rents or burrows a car. Owner-Operator Certificate will cover any vehicle used by the policy owner, regardless if he is the owner of the car or not.

The hidden costs. The costs of SR22 insurance differ by state and by insurance companies. Usually, there are two primary costs. First, the filing fee is the only technical cost of an SR22 form and it costs between $15 to $25. Secondly is the higher insurance premium. The premium can increase to as much as 25 percent or even more. The increase can also be affected by other factors such as zip code, vehicle, driving record, insurance history.

How to save on SR22 insurance? Don't over insure. SR22 insurance will require a minimum level of insurance imposed by the state. However, drivers are not required to exceed that threshold. Drivers should also examine their SR22 options. Usually, the operators certificate will often be the cheapest option. To make sure they have the best deal on the market, drivers are encouraged to compare insurance prices at least once per year.

For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/

Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.
Members of the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) are among those leading presentations during in the upcoming 61st annual meeting of the Aquatic Plant Management Society (APMS), an event that will include both face-to-face and online sessions.

The face-to-face portion will be held July 12-14 in New Orleans, Louisiana, followed by a one-day virtual session on July 29. All in-person talks will be recorded and will be made available on demand. In addition, those registering for the face-to-face session will have access to presentations delivered online during the virtual meeting.

Several WSSA members are among those scheduled to make presentations on the latest research and best practices in aquatic weed management. Examples of those presenting during the face-to-face general sessions include:



Mark A. Heilman, Ph.D., of SePRO Corporation will make a presentation on Management strategies utilizing florpyrauxifen-benzyl for control of yellow floating heart in an Oklahoma drinking water reservoir.

James Leary, Ph.D., of the University of Florida will make a presentation on Evaluating subsurface field applications of florpyrauxifen-benzyl for suppressing hydrilla.

Christopher Mudge, Ph.D., of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will make a presentation on Herbicide Spray Loss and Retention: Influence of Floating Plant Density, Carrier Volume and Adjuvants.

Benjamin P. Sperry, Ph.D., of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will make a presentation on Herbicide activity dynamics of foliar applications to waterhyacinth.

Ryan A. Thum, Ph.D., of Montana State University will make two presentations  one on Genetic diversity and geographic origins of invasive yellow floating heart in the United States and another on Building a centralized database of watermilfoil strain geographic distribution and herbicide response for use in management decision making.

Ryan M. Wersal, Ph.D., of Minnesota State University will make a presentation on Lab to field: developing chemical control recommendations for starry stonewort.

WSSA member Erika Haug, Ph.D., of North Carolina State University is among those presenting during the virtual session. She will speak on Small-scale efficacy screenings of florpyrauxifen-benzyl in combination with either chelated copper or endothall for the control Monoecious Hydrilla.

Further information on both the face-to-face and virtual meetings are available online.

About the Aquatic Plant Management Society

The Aquatic Plant Management Society is an international organization of scientists, educators, students, commercial pesticide applicators, administrators and concerned individuals interested in the management and study of aquatic plants. The objectives of the Society are to assist in promoting the management of nuisance aquatic plants, to provide for the scientific advancement of members of the society, to encourage scientific research, to promote university scholarship, and to extend and develop public interest in the aquatic plant science discipline. For more information, visit http://www.apms.org.

About the Weed Science Society of America

The Weed Science Society of America, a nonprofit scientific society, was founded in 1956 to encourage and promote the development of knowledge concerning weeds and their impact on the environment. The Society promotes research, education and extension outreach activities related to weeds, provides science-based information to the public and policy makers, fosters awareness of weeds and their impact on managed and natural ecosystems, and promotes cooperation among weed science organizations across the nation and around the world. For more information, visit http://www.wssa.net.
Tammi Sauer is the prolific author of both sweet and silly picture books, including Cowboy Camp, Mostly Monsterly, Mary Had a Little Glam, Chicken Dance, and her latest, Not Now, Cow. She has also been known to wear other hats, including school library media specialist, preschool teacher, mother, and popular school speaker. PW spoke with Sauer about the influence that her library and classroom experience has had on her writing, the publication of her 30th picture book, and how she cannot wait to head back to school to celebrate reading and writing with young readers.

I understand from your bio that you initially wanted to be a third grade teacher. How did you make the switch to school library media specialist?

I was fortunate that after completing my undergraduate degree in elementary education from Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kans., I got a job opportunity to work as a school library media specialist while earning my library sciences certification (from Emporia State University in Emporia, Kans.) at the same time. While I was doing my student teaching, I got to know the school library media specialist, Kay Weigel, at Ogden Elementary in Ogden, Kans., spending time before and after school learning about the internetit was all so new back then!paying attention to her book selection process, and watching the ways in which she engaged with her students. And I fell in love with what she was doing.

When my student teaching cooperating teacher at Ogden Elementary became the principal at Riley County Elementary School, she was in need of a school library media specialist, and thought that I would be a good fit. I was open to becoming either a teacher or a school library media specialist, but when I was offered the opportunity to be in the school library, my heart started pounding, and I knew this was the position for me.

What sorts of things did you do as a SLMS?

I soon found out I was going to be more than a SLMS at this pre-K to eighth grade school. At the interview, they said, Oh! By the way, youll also be a seventh grade homeroom teacher. Oh! And youll be teaching middle school electives. The position ended up being such a good fit for me. Not only did I enjoy working with the various grade levels, but I also completely fell in love with picture books. Plus, theres truly nothing like working in the school library with the connections you can make with kids and teachers.

How did you spend your time working with teachers and kids?

For my teachers, I would put a note in their mailboxes each month to inquire about the themes, topics, and activities they were planning to cover. Then Id gather books and other resources for them, and I would try to tie what I was doing in the library with what they were doing in the classroom.

For my students, I worked very hard to ensure that the library was a welcoming space for all of themespecially those children who had some struggles and needed opportunities to escape the demands of the regular classroom at times.

I continuously asked students what interested them. I even created a place in the library where students took turns designing displays about their particular interests. One student, for example, regularly participated in rodeos. He brought in his big belt buckles, photos, trophies, and a rope. In addition to having his things on display, I invited him to speak to some classes about his experience with rodeos, and he did an amazing job. Providing kids with opportunities like this gave them valuable experience in presenting in front of others in a way that was low on stress and high on fun.

How did you transition from teaching with childrens books to writing them?

The seeds were actually planted in my senior year of college. I had a language arts professor, Dr. Marjorie Hancock, who noticed that I had a gift for writingespecially writing for kids. One day after class, she pulled me aside, and said, Tammi, you should pursue publication. Knowing she believed in me helped me to believe in myself. I later thanked her the best way I knew how. I named a chicken after her in my book Chicken Dance.

Then, when I was working as a SLMS, we would have storytellers and authors visit our schools. And, when I had a chance, I would ask them if they had any advice about writing childrens books. One suggested that I check out the Childrens Writers and Illustrators Market guide, and I did. I also started dabbling in writing in my free time while I was a SLMS, when I taught pre-K, and then when I stayed home to raise my children.

But, I didnt make a commitment to writing books for children until my daughter, Julia, was in pre-K, and an illustrator visited her school. Just seeing someone who actually created books for kids got my heart racing, again! From this point on, I used my kids naptime to figure out how to be a childrens author. I spent most of that time devouring and analyzing childrens books, and trying to write my own. On top of working with kids, theres really nothing that I have loved more than coming up with picture books that resonate with them.

How did you get your first picture book published?

Once I got serious, I researched, practiced, and worked on writing stories for kids. I started sending them out, and I started to collect rejection letters. Some of those rejections were form rejections, the others I called my nice rejections. The nice letters said things like: I liked this story, please send more, or asked for a revision. I put the nice ones in a binder and looked at them when I was feeling low to give myself a little boost. That binder of letters made me feel hopeful that I was getting close.

I eventually wrote a manuscript called Cowboy Camp that I thought had potential. This manuscript went to acquisitions meetings at three publishing houses but ended up getting three nos. Then, I sent it to a publishing house that was new at doing picture books, Sterling Publishing, and they gave me a yes!

The book came out very quickly. I had sent it to Sterling in 2003, and it was published in less than two years. And, 16 years later, the book is still doing well and connecting with readers. In fact, I just received a letter from a school librarian who had a reader who loved the story so much that he was writing down all of the words and drawing his own pictures so he could have the book at home over the summer.

How do you think your experience in the library and the classroom has influenced your writing and allowed you to connect with readers?

To start, Ive always tried to be super approachable with kids, to bring a lot of energy to my teaching, and to share my love of books whether it is in the library, classroom, home, or at an author visit. And I try to do those things in my books, too!

Plus, my time in the library and the classroom gave me the opportunity to share countless books with kids and to really get to know my audience. The rhythm, structure, voice, and energy of those books stuck with me as I went on to create books of my own. I wouldnt be nearly as good a writer if I hadnt been in the library and the classroom.

How has being a parent informed your childrens books?

When my son, Mason, was little, he was very picky about the books that he liked. With every book we read, hed either give it two thumbs up, or say, Wow, thats a dud!

Even after all these years, I still have Masons words in my head because I never want some kid to say, Well, thats a dud about one of my books! Mason always gravitated towards funny books. And it turns out they are my favorite books to write. Thanks, Mason!

How has your SLMS and teaching experience helped you as a presenter?

Being a SLMS and teacher has helped me immensely with writing for and presenting to kids. Both have taught me what works in terms of the length of a program to suit my audiences attention span, as well as incorporating the importance of audience participation, energy, and humor into my presentations.

I also love that being an author gets me back into the schools and lets me talk about what Im most passionate about: reading and writing. I especially love getting the students fired up about these things, too, seeing them light up, and hearing them say, Theres TAMMISAUER!usually its all one word when they see me in the hallways.

With 30 picture books under your belt, and more on the way, can you tell us what your sweet spots are in terms of picture book readers? Youve recently gone younger, right?

Most of my picture books are geared toward the four to eight-year-old crowd, but some of them have been written especially for the very young picture book audience. These include Truck Truck Goose, Go Fish, Not, Now, Cow, and the soon-to-be-released One Sheep, Two Sheep. These books are easy to memorize and give kids who are just about ready to read the excitement of feeling like a real deal reader.

Can you tell us about your newest title, and those on the horizon?

Not Now, Cow, illustrated by Troy Cummings, involves one cow, four seasons, and a whole lot of silliness. Its so much fun to share as a read aloud. It has a great refrain that kids can join in with:-Oh, Cow. Not now!

Troy and I also have a companion book to Not Now, Cow, called One Sheep, Two Sheep, coming in October 2021. It stars the same cast of characters, but it's about ties in the concept of counting. It starts with the rooster who is trying to fall asleep by counting sheep. Then, much to his dismay, the rest of the barnyard animals want to get involved, too.

Another is Lovebird Lou, which is illustrated by Stephanie Laberis and debuts in December. Its about a lovebird that is trying to find his place in the world. Right after that, in January, I have a a book with Ross Burach called No Bunnies Here!, and it is a book that is filled with bunnies.

What are your greatest hopes and desired takeaways for your readers of your picture books?

One of my goals as a writer is to create books with humor and heart. I want kids to be delighted by my books, and to feel something when they read them. I also hope that my books help foster a lifelong love of reading, and that after reading a book of mine, readers are eager to reach for the next book. And the next!

How have you pivoted your in-person visits to virtual visits during the pandemic?

Because of the pandemic, I have not been able to do any in-person visits since early March 2020. Its been hard not being in schools all this time. Once the 20202021 school year began, I felt as if I had lost a small part of my identity since so much of my time had previously been spent traveling to and presenting at schools.

I had been asked to do virtual visits prior to the pandemic, but I had always passed. I didnt think a virtual visit could compare to the fun, energy, and conversations that can be found in an in-person visit. Since in-person visits were not an option, I took a webinar on how to create and give virtual visits. And I discovered that I love doing them!

Even though I dont hear or often even see the students Im virtually presenting to, I go into each program as if I am speaking to the most engaged kid in the world. I still include lots of audience participation and strive to make my presentations both entertaining and educational. The feedback that Ive received from teachers and librarians has been great.

Do you have any advice for teachers/librarians who might fancy writing for young people?

The best way for anyone to get good at writing picture books is to readand analyze!hundreds of picture books. In addition, teachers and librarians are in a position to see which books really resonate with kids. Plus, theres no denying that teachers and librarians are surrounded by so much material! Kids are always saying and doing the best/silliest/most heartfelt things. So, write it down! Another tip for teachers and librarians who are interested in writing books is to join the Society of Childrens Book Writers & Illustrators. The SCBWI provides its members with valuable information as well as offers a warm, welcoming community of book creators who share a passion for making great books for kids.
Lucia M. Gonzalez, director of the North Miami (Fla.) Public Library and award-winning author, will begin her term as president of the Association for Library Service to Children at the close of the ALA annual conference, after a very nontraditional, pandemic-clouded year. In addition to her many years of activity within ALSC, Gonzalez is also past-president of the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking (REFORMA), the affiliate that partners with ALSC to co-sponsor the Pura Belpre Award, which marks its 25th anniversary this year. We asked Gonzalez to reflect on how childrens librarians are faring in a new normal and to share her vision for the future of the profession.

How have childrens librarians and ALSC weathered the pandemic?

Its a unique time to come into this position because, prior to the pandemic, we were already talking about changing the way we do things as an organization and in the practice of the profession. Then the pandemic hit and suddenly we have to rush through stages that would have taken perhaps a few years.

As childrens librarians come together under the ALSC umbrella, we have to reconnect with the base of our professional identity. We have to question ourselves. We know how we used to do things, but so many things have changed. Now we know that we have to get from here to there. But how can we rush it? We have to jump the river without a bridge. Virtual programming, access to learning resources, remote learning resourcesthat has to be the dream of all childrens librarians, to be able to provide these services to their families and their communities. We were moving slowly towards that and suddenly, we just had to be there. And we did it.

ALSC played a very important role in providing a platform for childrens librarians who were looking for guidance, for that collective knowledge that weve always shared. All the committees came together and they created resources and developed initiatives like #Look ToLibraries. I immediately pointed the childrens staff at our library there to see what others were doing so we could all learn quickly from each other. And we made it through. I think as we re-emerge from 2020, its not business as usual. We have reinvented ourselves, and are stronger than what we were prior to the pandemic.

What are some of the biggest challenges that childrens librarians are facing right now?

The challenges for childrens librarians are always rooted in budgetary support. Prioritizing budget assignments that are going to allow you to gain new resources, grow your collection digitally, get remote resourcesthat takes money. You want to keep providing those families with the same services that you were providing them before, but now you need more money to do that. As a childrens librarian, you are not the decision maker when it comes to your library budget, so thats a big challenge.

How are you going to advocate for childrens services so that the people who are making the decisions about your budget are going to get it and are going to include you as a priority in the distribution of funding for the year? We know what we need, and we know how we can serve the community, but the challenge is how we can get the funds for these new services that are expensive.

 I want to unearth the passion that is within the identity of childrens librarianship. 

Another issue is the identity of the childrens practitioner. It is always a struggle for us to identify our competencies and to advocate for them. If you work for a large library system, the trend is to bring in generalists. But how are you going to advocate for your practice, for those competencies that you know are needed to serve the children and the community, that body of knowledge that is childrens librarianship? You have to defend it every single day so as not to be overtaken by the generalist approach: Everybody can be working childrens. No. It takes a body of knowledge. And thats a big challenge to continuously be advocating for acknowledgment, even more so in the year of the pandemic. When you have budget cuts, whos going to go? Who is essential? You have to be continuously making a case for that body of knowledge that is essential to the library services to families, to children, and to the community at large.

Were all competingwithin a library or within a library systemfor the same pot of gold. You have to have the best skills as childrens librarians. You have to develop those skills that are going to make you a tough competitor to get more funding for your department, for your section, for your practice. So, we have to be very well trained. Also, for a lot of childrens librarians, budgeting is a weakness. We are often so focused on learning new technologies and practices that many of us never really learn how to develop a budget until later on, until were out of the position, and then we learn it.

How can you and ALSC help librarians meet these challenges?

ALSC is continuously working on helping librarians in the field develop the skills they need. One of the things that surprised me the most when I was elected and I started learning the ropes, was the complexity of the work of all ALSCs committees, task forces, and groups, and how they all come together.

Over the years I had been doing the work, participating by being a member of certain committees; I had even chaired an awards committee. But when you are in the heart of ALSC, and you see how incredibly diverse and complex it is, its like a web. Its all these expert professionalsvolunteers from everywhereworking together to support us in the field. I was really amazed.

And the work goes on. These committees and task forces, they are meeting monthly. Theyre moving the organization forward every day.

What are some of the things you would like to accomplish as president of the organization?

My number one priority is to continue moving the ALSC strategic plan forward in all its points. Thats part of what I need to do. But I would like to concentrate on growing the reach of ALSC so that we can bring new members in. I want to increase our member diversity by not just being inclusive, but by working with the affiliates, reaching out and making that one-on-one connection so that their members discover the effectiveness of joining ALSC. Because of my background with REFORMA I know they have a lot of members who are doing wonders in childrens services. Theyre members of REFORMA, but many of them are not members of ALSC. We need to engage those librarians and bring them all together under the ALSC umbrella. Thats how were really going to be inclusive, by listening to how we can do it from those are doing itthe childrens librarians from all the diverse communities who belong to REFORMA, or to other affiliates like the Asia Pacific American Librarians Association. Come in. We want you in, we want you working with us.

And one of my biggest goals is to reconnect with our identity as childrens professionals. That identity has suffered, as I mentioned, with the trends of creating generalists, with budget cuts, and with the influx of all the new technology.

In order to get some grant funding as childrens librarians we often need to be able to measure what kids are going to learn. We are forgetting that as librarians, we dont want to measure a childs learning ability. We have to go back to focusing on the independent learner, the joyful learner. Were not educators. If we lose track of that, our identity is watered down. We have to have a strong perception of who we are as practitioners of childrens librarianship. Were here to encourage learning. Were here to engage our young audiences and their parents. Were here to equalize the field. Were here to provide you with all the tools that you need, and were here to provide the one-on-one service that will allow you to learn how to use those tools to help you learn. But Im not here to be a teacher. After weve had that wonderful conversation that used to be called a reference interview, I know what book youre going to enjoy and Im going to give it to you. You may struggle through it, or you may breeze through it. But Im not going to teach you how to read it. Im not going to ask you what you learned from it. No, just enjoy it.

Childhood is so short. We have such little time to give children the best of the best. Im not going to waste my time moralizing or teaching. Im here to give you that unforgettable book thats going to change your life. I want to unearth the passion that is within the identity of childrens librarianship.

Has current ALSC president Kirby McCurtis offered you any advice on what to expect when you become president?

Kirby has been very helpful. It was a bit awkward in the beginning because we had not met before and we didnt have the luxury of going to an in-person conference and establishing that bond that comes with sitting together in conversation. Part of the transition process is a training session for the incoming president and board members. We were in a virtual meeting, which involved three days of three-hour trainings. She used an exercise about personality type and that was a true ice breaker. After that I became very comfortable communicating with Kirby. I feel like my job is to shadow her, see how she does things, so that when its my time, Im prepared. Shes great at providing guidance and being there for whatever questions I have. And so are the ALSC staff members.

What makes you hopeful about the year ahead?

Im looking forward to a blend of in-person and virtual meetingswhere you have an option. Before, we didnt have a virtual option for conferences or trainings. If you were lucky enough to receive funding from your institution, you could go to ALSC Institute or to the Annual or Midwinter conferences and you would be able to network. So, what makes me hopeful for the years to come is that the options have expanded. As we move forward, future conferences will be more inclusive, a hybrid, mixing the virtual attendance with in-person attendance, making it easier for people to attend. I think its one of the ways to achieve inclusiveness because librarians of color from all types of communities, now, whether theyre funded to go or not, theyll be able to have a choice. They can join in the national dialogue. They can join in their conferences because the virtual option is going to remain. I dont think its going to go away. Were not going to go back to 100% in-person; I think that's a thing of the past, and offering virtual attendance would be a great way to really grow our membership.
Summer is upon us, with exciting new books hitting shelves this month. Young readers can find out what happens when a girls grandmother runs out of a needed ingredient while cooking dumplings; join a determined boy in making a superhero movie; follow a transgender witch on the run; and much more.

Picture Books and Early Readers

Bodies Are Cool

Tyler Feder. Dial, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-593-11262-5. Ages 35.

This is a celebration of all the different human bodies that exist in the world, from the way a body jiggles to the scars a it bears. The book received a starred review from PW.

A Boy Named Isamu: A Story of Isamu Noguchi

James Yang. Viking, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-593-20344-6. Ages 37.

Yang imagines a day in the boyhood of Japanese American artist Isamu Noguchi. Wandering through an outdoor market, through the forest, and then by the ocean, Isamu sees things through the eyes of a young artist but also in a way that many children will relate to. The book received a starred review from PW.

Dr. Fauci: How a Boy from Brooklyn Became Americas Doctor

Kate Messner, illus. by Alexandra Bye. Simon & Schuster, $17.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-66590-243-4. Ages 48.

This narrative, drawing from interviews the author did with Dr. Fauci himself, follows Anthony from his Brooklyn beginnings through medical school and his challenging role working with seven U.S. presidents to tackle some of the biggest public health challenges of the past 50 years, including the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dumplings for Lili

Melissa Iwai. Norton Young Readers, $17.95 (48p) ISBN 978-1-324-00342-7. Ages 68.

Lili loves to cook baos, and Nai Nai has taught her all the secrets to making them, but when Nai Nai realizes that they are out of cabbage she sends Lili up to Babcias apartment to get some. Babcia is happy to share, but she needs some potatoes for her pierogi. What follows is a race up and down stairs as Lili helps the grandmothers in her building borrow ingredients. The book received a starred review from PW.

Faraway Things

Dave Eggers, illus. by Kelly Murphy. Little, Brown, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-316-49219-5. Ages 48.

Lucians father called them faraway things: those mysterious objects orphaned upon the windswept shore. When Lucian discovers a cutlass, he faces a choice: cling to the sword he loves or accept a gift that shines farther, wider, and deeper than he could have dreamed. The book received a starred review from PW.

Fish and Sun

Sergio Ruzzier. HarperAlley, $16.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-06-307663-1. Ages 48.

One day, bored little Fish journeys up to the surface of the ocean where it meets Sun, and a wonderful friendship blooms. But right in the middle of their fun, Sun starts to set. The book received a starred review from PW.

Harry Versus the First 100 Days of School

Emily Jenkins, illus. by Pete Oswald. Random/Schwartz & Wade, $16.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-525-64471-2. Ages 58.

In just 100 days, Harry will learn how to overcome first-day jitters, why guinea pigs arent scary, what a silent e is about, how to count to 100 in lots of different ways, how to make great friends, and much more. In other words, he will become an expert first grader. The book received a starred review from PW.

I Am the Subway

Kim Hyo-eun, trans. from the Korean by Deborah Smith. Scribble, $18.99 (52p) ISBN 978-1-950354-65-8. Ages 47.

A translation by Smith brings Kims sensitive, closely observed portraits of Seouls subway passengers to English-speaking readers. The subway itself narrates (On my travels I meet so many people and things), its words punctuated with the rails constant ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum and passengers autobiographical thoughts. The book received a starred review from PW.

Jenny Mei Is Sad

Tracy Subisak. Little, Brown, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-316-53771-1. Ages 48.

Jenny Mei is sad but still smiles a lot. She makes everyone laugh. And she still likes blue Popsicles the best. But her friend knows that Jenny Mei is sad, and does her best to be there to support her. The book received a starred review from PW.

Monster Friends

Kaeti Vandorn. Random House Graphic, $12.99 (272p) ISBN 978-1-9848-9682-7. Ages 58.

Reggies plan is to spend the whole summer brooding over his latest adventure gone wrong. But his friendly and curious neighbor wont let him sit alone and unhappy in his house forever. Despite their differences, these two monsters make the perfect pair of explorers. The book received a starred review from PW.

Noahs Seal

Layn Marlow. Candlewick, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-5362-1851-0. Ages 37.

Noah waits on shore while Nana fixes their sailboat, which will take them out to sea where the seals live. In the meantime, he sculpts his own seal out of sand. After a storm blows in and Noah must take cover, he wonders: did his seal swim away? The book received a starred review from PW.

On the Day the Horse Got Out

Audrey Helen Weber. Little, Brown, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-316-45984-6. Ages 48.

Drawing on the influence of nursery rhymes, fables, and mythology, Weber blends suspense, cause-and-effect, and connectedness in this picture book about an escaped horse. The book received a starred review from PW.

Paletero Man

Lucky Diaz, illus. by Micah Player. HarperCollins, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-06-301444-2. Ages 48.

Inspired by the Lucky Bands song of the same name, Latin Grammy Awardwinning musician Diaz pens a bouncy rhyming narrative from the first-person perspective of a dark-haired, light brownskinned Los Angeles resident. Intent on securing an icy paleta on the hottest day of the year, the child races down the street, greeting various members of his community along the way. The book received a starred review from PW.

The Rescuer of Tiny Creatures

Curtis Manley, illus. by Lucy Ruth Cummins. Roaring Brook, $18.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-250-24671-4. Ages 48.

Covered in earthworm slime and assisted only by her cat and her little brother, Roberta rescues tiny creatures. When a swarm of baby spiders finds its way into the classroom, Roberta saves the day with her knowledge and creativity, showing everybody that tiny creatures arent so scary after all. The book received a starred review from PW.

The True Story of a Mouse Who Never Asked for It

Ana Cristina Herreros, illus. by Violeta Lopiz, trans. from the Spanish by Chloe Garcia Roberts. Unruly, $22.95 (108p) ISBN 978-1-59270-320-3. Ages 13 and up.

In this contemporary retelling of a Spanish folktale, a mouse is approached by many suitors, rejecting all but one: a cat, whose gentle meow assures her that he wont bring her harm. But one must remember that a kitten always grows up to be a cat, and a danger for the mouse. The book received a starred review from PW.

Unbound: The Life and Art of Judith Scott

Joyce Scott with Brie Spangler, illus. by Melissa Sweet. Knopf, $17.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-525-64811-6. Ages 48.

Scott and Spangler begin this powerful picture book biography of Scotts twin sister Judith (19432005) with a description of their early childhood. Joyce and Judy did everything together. But when Joyce is ready to attend school, Judy, who has what will come to be known as Down syndrome, stays home. Told in an order that allows readers to appreciate Judy the way Joyce does, this books creators render a personal story of love, nurture, and individual gifts. The book received a starred review from PW.

Middle Grade

The Islanders

Mary Alice Monroe with Angela May. Aladdin, $17.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-5344-2727-3. Ages 812.

Jakes life has just turned upside-down. His father was wounded in Afghanistan, and his mother is leaving to care for him. That means Jake is spending the summer on a tiny island nature sanctuary with his grandmother. To make matters worse, Jakes grandmother doesnt believe in using cable or the internet, which means Jake has no cell phone and no friends. See our q&a with Monroe.

Marcus Makes a Movie

Kevin Hart, with Geoff Rodkey, illus. by David Cooper. Crown, $16.99 (208p) ISBN 978-0-593-17914-7. Ages 812.

In this middle-grade debut from comedian Hart, Marcus is not happy to be stuck in after-school film class, until he realizes he can turn the story of the cartoon superhero hes been drawing for years into an actual movie. Theres just one problem: he has no idea what hes doing.

The Most Perfect Thing in the Universe

Tricia Springstubb. Holiday House/Ferguson, $17.99 (192p) ISBN 978-0-8234-4757-2. Ages 812.

Loah is definitely a homebody. While her mother works to save the endangered birds of the shrinking Arctic tundra, Loah anxiously counts the days till her return. But to Loahs dismay, her mom decides to go on a solo quest to find an extinct bird. Does her mother care more about the bird than her daughter? The book received a starred review from PW.

Rez Dogs

Joseph Bruchac. Dial, $16.99 (192p) ISBN 978-0-59-332621-3. Ages 812.

Malian loves visiting her grandparents at their home on a Wabanaki reservation. Then, suddenly, all travel shuts down because of a virus making people sick. Everyone is worried about the pandemic, but Malian knows how to keep her family and community safe. And when Malsum, one of the dogs living on the rez, shows up at their door, Malians family knows that hell protect them too. The book received a starred review from PW.

Sisters of the Neversea

Cynthia Leitich Smith. Heartdrum, $16.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-286997-5. Ages 812.

This modern take on Peter Pan focuses on Native American Lily and English Wendystepsisters who must find their way back to the family they love. When their feuding parents plan to spend the summer apart, they dont know what the future holds. Little do they know that a boy who calls himself Peter Pan has been watching, intending to take them to an island of Fairies and kidnapped children. The book received a starred review from PW.

To Tell You the Truth

Beth Vrabel. Atheneum, $17.99 (272p) ISBN 978-1-5344-7859-6. Ages 812.

Trixy needs a story, fast, or shes going to fail the fourth grade. But every time she sits down to write, her mind is a blank. The only stories she can think of are Grans, the ones no one else ever believed. Gran is gone, buried under the lilac bush in the family plot, so its not like Trixys hurting anybody to claim one of those stories as her own, is she? The book received a starred review from PW.

Young Adult

Ace of Spades

Faridah Abike-Iyimide. Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends, $18.99 (432p) ISBN 978-1-250-80081-7. Ages 14 and up.

When two Niveus Private Academy students are selected to be part of the elite schools senior class prefects, it looks like their year is off to an amazing start. But soon after the announcement is made, someone who goes by Aces begins sending school-wide anonymous text messages revealing secrets that threaten every aspect of their carefully planned futures. The debut novel received a starred review and a Flying Start from PW.

All Our Hidden Gifts

Caroline ODonoghue. Walker US, $19.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-53621-394-2. Ages 14 and up.

After Maeve finds a pack of tarot cards, she quickly becomes the most sought-after diviner at school. But when Maeves exbest friend, Lily, draws an unsettling card Maeve has never seen before, the session ends with Maeve wishing that Lily would disappear. When Lily isnt at school the next Monday, Maeve learns her ex-friend has vanished without a trace. The book received a starred review from PW.

Blackout

Dhonielle Clayton et al. Quill Tree, $19.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-06-308809-2. Ages 14 and up.

Young Black love glows throughout this collaboration by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon, which follows six couples through a summer blackout in New York City. The book received a starred review from PW. See our q&a with the co-authors.

Blood Like Magic

Liselle Sambury. S&S/McElderry, $19.99 (496p) ISBN 978-1-5344-6528-2. Ages 14 and up.

After years of waiting for her Calling, Voya Thomas didnt expect to fail. When Voyas ancestor gives her a second chance, she agreesand then is horrified when her task is to kill her first love. And this time, failure means every Thomas witch will be stripped of their magic. The book received a starred review from PW.

The Girl from the Sea

Molly Knox Ostertag. Graphix, $24.99 (256p) ISBN 978-1-338-54057-4. Ages 12 and up.

Morgan has a secret: she wants to kiss another girl. One night, Morgan is saved from drowning by a mysterious girl named Keltie. The two become friends and suddenly life doesnt seem so stifling, but Keltie has secrets of her own. The book received a starred review from PW.

Instructions for Dancing

Nicola Yoon. Delacorte, $19.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-5247-1896-1. Ages 12 and up.

Evie Thomas doesnt believe in love anymore, especially after she is overcome with visions of how romances will end. As Evie tries to understand what is happening, she finds herself at La Brea Dance Studio, learning to dance with a boy named X. Falling for X was not what Evie had in mind. See our In Conversation with Yoon and her editor Wendy Loggia. The book received a starred review from PW.

The Lucky List

Rachael Lippincott. Simon & Schuster, $18.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-5344-6853-5. Ages 12 and up.

Emily and her mother were always lucky. But Emilys moms luck ran out three years ago when she succumbed to cancer, and nothing has felt right for Emily since. When Emily finds her moms bucket list, she and her new friend take it on as a challenge for Emily to feel closer to her mother. See our q&a with Lippincott.

One Great Lie

Deb Caletti. Atheneum, $19.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-5344-6317-2. Ages 14 and up.

When Charlotte wins a scholarship in Venice with the charismatic and brilliant Luca Bruni, its a dream come true. Venice is beautiful, charming, and seductive, but so is Luca. As his behavior becomes increasingly unnerving, and as Charlotte begins to unearth the long-lost work of Isabella with the help of sweet Dante, other things begin to rise, toosecrets about the past, and secrets about the present. See Calettis essay on The Practical Magic of Research here. The book received a starred review from PW.

We Are Inevitable

Gayle Forman. Viking, $18.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-425-29080-4. Ages 14 and up.

Aaron Stein used to think books were miracles. But not anymore, even though he spends his days working in his familys secondhand bookstore. When Aaron sees the opportunity to sell the store, he jumps at it. But he doesnt account for Chad, a best life bro with a wheelchair and too much optimism. Or Hannah, a beautiful musician who might be the kind of inevitable hes been waiting for. The book received a starred review from PW.

The Witch King

H.E. Edgmon. Inkyard, $18.99 (432p) ISBN 978-1-33521-279-5. Ages 13 and up.

In Asalin, fae rule and witches dont. Wyatts betrothal to his best friend, fae prince Emyr, was supposed to change that. But when Wyatt lost control of his magic, he fled to the human world. Now Emyr has found him and despite transgender Wyatts newfound identity, Emyr has no intention of dissolving their engagement. In fact, he claims they must marry now or risk losing the throne. The book received a starred review from PW.
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Coronavirus

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Is it finally the end of the COVID pandemic?
Either way, following the F-35 which emphasized strike capability over air-to-air characteristics, U.S. sixth-generation fighters will likely reemphasize air superiority.

Here's What You Need to Remember: As stealth becomes less of a trump card against savvy opponents, laser or even kinetic hard-kill active-protection systems may, in coming decades, provide a new layer of defense to warplanes that otherwise seemed to be at the mercy of increasingly long-range sensor and anti-aircraft weapons.

While the United States moves towards full-scale of the fifth-generation F-35 Lightning stealth fighters, countries like France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom are looking to skip ahead to an even more advanced sixth-generation.

Its too soon to identify for sure what the sixth-generation jets will look like, as none exist yet, and they are only planned to enter service starting in the late 2030s and 2040s. However, there are many technologies likely to feature in the sixth generation of aircraft.

Of course, it is the nature of arms races and military industrial complexes to already looking ahead to the next game in town. Thus the Navy and Air Force are already courting concepts from the defense industry on separate sixth-generation successors to the F-35, called the FA-XX and Penetrating Counter Air respectively.

After the frustrations experienced in reconciling the Air Forces and Navys differing demands for the F-35and the mere 20 percent parts commonality that resulted between the twothe two services have little desire to jointly develop the Lightnings successors. The PCA is intended to be a long-range escort fighter that can accompany forthcoming B-21 Raider stealth bombers into enemy airspace and protect them from enemy fighters. The FA-XX will likely be an interceptor that can better protect Navy carriers from enemy bombers and missiles.

Either way, following the F-35 which emphasized strike capability over air-to-air characteristics, U.S. sixth-generation fighters will likely reemphasize air superiority. Whether that means renewed emphasis on maneuverability or a return to sustained supersonic flight (supercruise) remains up for debate.

But the following four technologies will likely be shared both the air forces and Navys otherwise dissimilar future jets.

Stealth Radar Cross Section: Necessary, But not Sufficient

Critics of stealth aircraft have long claimed that stealth technology is always on the verge of obsolescence thanks to the power new sensors and clever tactical ploys.

But in reality, stealth has never been a game of absolutes. Stealth aircraft were never completely undetectable to radar nor infrared, and no existing sensor technology promises to completely nullify the benefits of reduced radar and infrared signatures.

But the naysayers have pointed out that the more stealth aircraft proliferate, the more technologies and tactics tailored to defeat themlow-bandwidth radars, cooperative engagement technology networking multiple radars together, and long-rage infrared-search and track systemswill become normalized as well.

These technologies wont render stealth useless, but like a bachelors degree in a developed economy, it will become an increasingly basic requirement to participate in many scenarios, not an automatic ticket to success.

In short, aircraft will need at least some degree to survive at all in contested environmentsbut they wont be able to count on reduced radar cross-sections to keep them alive by themselves. And the exorbitant price necessary to obtain the very highest degrees of stealth may have to be judiciously sacrificed in favor of cost and kinematic performance.

Range, Range, Range

Most of the fourth and fifth-generation fighters serving in the U.S. military have fairly short effective combat radiuses when flying on internal fuel. Non-stealth jets can at least compensate by lugging external fuel tanks and topping up with in-flight refueling from airliner-sized tanker aircraft. But both those solutions will compromise the radar signature of a stealth aircraft.

This is an acute problem, as highly precise cruise, ballistic and hypersonic missiles are rapidly proliferating across the planetand these could blast parked jets, and the extensive support infrastructure they depend upon, extremely rapidly. An untouchable sixth-generation stealth jet on a tarmac in Okinawa or the deck of a carrier in South China Sea might face long odds of surviving a massed missile strike that could fall from the sky with only a few minutes warning.

For these reasons, larger internal fuel capacity allowing safer and more flexible basing will be priorities in future sixth-generation jets. This will likely result in larger aircraft with coincidentally greater payload.

Large internal fuel volume is not the only possible solution. Other approaches might involve development of stealthy in-flight refueling tankers, or stealthy conformal fuel tanks. And of course, proliferation of standoff-range cruise and hypersonic missiles promise to allow strike planes to attack defended bubbles of airspace from further afield as well.

Manned-Unmanned Teaming (As In, Teeming with Drones)

As it becomes harder and harder to conceal stealth aircraft from the prying eyes of advanced sensors, the cleverer and potentially cheaper solution might be simply to throw in the towel and show them everythingas in hundreds of potential targets, making it difficult for foes to figure out which target amongst a hundred decoys is the real one.

You can see how such a tactic could be implemented in footage of this terrifying test in which U.S. Navy Super Hornet deployed 103 gnat-like Perdix drones. At the one-minute mark, you can see their radar returns rapidly multiplying like a swarm of locusts.

Of course, drones used as decoys need to be modified to appear fighter-like on radar, as has been done somewhat expensively with the Air Forces MALD-X drone decoys. The Australian Air Force, meanwhile, has led the way by ordering Loyal Wingman type drones designed to back up pilots with additional sensors and weaponsand presumably, catch a missile for them if necessary.

However, unlocking the full potential of future loyal wingmen requires a number of integrated technologies, including advanced artificial intelligence so the drones dont require too much direction from already over-tasked combat pilots, and resilient networks that can maintain secure command links with friendly forces even in the face of enemy electronic warfare.

Of course, future jets might also be using their own electronic warfare tech driven by artificial intelligence to try to disrupt their adversaries as well.

Electrical Generation (as in, Jet Fighters that Could Light Up your Christmas Tree)

As jet fighters grow more complex and accumulate diverse arrays of sophisticated avionics, the demands on their electrical generating systems are growing as wellto the point that the latest F-35 update is looking to manage the stealth jets power more efficiently.

But beyond the efficiency improvements that can be implemented with engine controls and software, engine manufacturers will need to develop next-generation fighter engines that generate far higher power outputs using turbos turned by their turbofan engines.

That added electrical output could also be used to power directed energy weapons, such as lasers or microwaves. The Air Force already plans to test a laser turret on an F-15 jet fighter on 2021 designed to scramble the guidance system of an incoming anti-aircraft missile. However, more powerful lasers could travel greater distances and inflict destructive thermal effects, turning them into offensive weapons with virtually unlimited ammunition.

As stealth becomes less of a trump card against savvy opponents, laser or even kinetic hard-kill active-protection systems may, in coming decades, provide a new layer of defense to warplanes that otherwise seemed to be at the mercy of increasingly long-range sensor and anti-aircraft weapons.

Sebastien Roblin holds a masters degree in conflict resolution from Georgetown University and served as a university instructor for the Peace Corps in China. He has also worked in education, editing, and refugee resettlement in France and the United States. He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring. This article is being republished due to reader interest.
As sure as there is going to be a hurricane season, mandatory climate-change disclosures of public companies, and perhaps private ones as well, are on their way. In March, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requested public input on what these new disclosures should be. In May, SEC Commissioner Allison Lee presented in a speech a legal analysis of the SECs authority to require such disclosures, even if the disclosures are not material to a reasonable investor. She based this analysis on wording found in the federal securities law that repeatedly states that the SEC has authority to require disclosures that are in the public interest or for the protection of investors. Such language implies broad powers in requiring disclosures. If Commissioner Lee is correctand I believe that she isthe issue becomes: What, if any, limitations should the SEC impose on itself in terms of requiring climate-change disclosures?

It is easy to argue that the SEC should require disclosures that allow investors to evaluate how climate change affects the investment risk of the disclosing company, i.e., a public companys climate risk. Moreover, even though it is probably not statutorily required, it is only common sense that some sort of materiality standard be applied. If not, company reporting and liability burdens may become onerous, and, most important, the costs to investors and the public of identifying the information that is truly important will be excessive.

Current SEC guidance already recommends a fair amount of such climate-risk disclosure. The following topics and how they affect the reporting company may require disclosure: the impact of climate-change legislation and regulation; international accords on climate change, such as the Paris Accord; indirect consequences of climate-change regulation, such as a reduction of demand for goods that create high levels of greenhouse gas emissions; and the physical impacts of climate change, such as severe weather, on the companys operations.

In addition, I propose that the SEC require a company to disclose low-probability high-impact climate-change events as risk factors under Item 503(c) of Regulation S-Kfor example, the possibility that a company may be significantly impacted by multiple freak winter storms that take down an entire states power grid for days. There are a lot of reasons that such risks are not already included in the price of a companys stock, and Madison Condon provides those reasons in her recent law review article Market Myopias Climate Bubble. Once these risk factors are disclosed, investors can gauge just how well the company can adapt if such an event occurs. This is the key investor protection point in having such disclosures.

Beyond these investor protection disclosures, it is not at all clear what the parameters should be for general climate-change disclosures. That is, what climate-change mandatory disclosures would be in the public interest? My current thinking is that climate-change disclosures should be mandatory if they are proved to actually reduce the worlds climate riskor, at least, have a good expectation of doing so. If they do not, what would be the public interest in having such disclosures?

For example, many have argued that the SEC should require standardized climate-change reporting data in order to facilitate the providing of ESG ratings and the setting up of ESG funds. Large investment advisers, rating agencies, and those lawyers and auditors in the compliance field will love this, but does requiring such mandatory one-size-fits-all information really do anything to mitigate climate change?

Not according to Tariq Fancy, BlackRocks former chief investment officer for sustainable investing. In a recent op-ed, he states: But doesnt investing in sustainable mutual funds or ETFs increase funding to environmental and social causes? No, it doesnt. While the investor may indirectly own more shares in companies with slightly higher ESG scores, those companies dont receive the new funding. Instead, the money goes to the seller of the shares in the public market. In sum, he thought it was unlikely that the creation of ESG funds was going to have any real-world impact on reducing carbon emissions.

Mr. Fancy also observed that one lesson COVID-19 has hammered home is that systemic problemssuch as a global pandemic or climate changerequire systemic solutions. Only governments have the wide-ranging powers, resources and responsibilities that need to be brought to bear on the problem. Moreover, he concluded that a focus on ESG investing harmed mitigation efforts by creating a societal placebo that delayed overdue government reforms. That is, this focus has reduced our sense of urgency to advocate for strong governmental actions that will have a real impact on mitigating climate change. Mr. Fancy refers to this as a deadly distraction.

Finally, it needs to be noted that the compliance bill for mandatory disclosures may be huge. For example, it has been reported that PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is planning on hiring 100,000 new employees and investing $12 billion over the next five years in order to help meet its clients ESG reporting requirements. We can assume that this represents only the tip of the iceberg and probably does not even represent what public companies will actually pay to have the compliance work done.

Therefore, before the SEC tries to save the world from climate change and expose our companies to tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars per year in compliance costs, it needs to be very careful about the unintended consequences of the climate-change disclosures that it may require. We do not want mandatory disclosures to have the effect of making investors believe that they are helping mitigate climate change when, in reality, they are doing very little, creating another deadly distraction.

Bernard Sharfman is a Senior Corporate Governance Fellow at RealClearFoundation.
Let me be as provocative as I can. I want to talk about the power of narratives to shape racial politics in this country. As we all know George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis by police officer Derek Chauvin, who has been duly convicted of murder by a jury of his peers. The cop was white and his victim black. But I have a question: Was it a racial incident?
Josh Hawley was just explaining how much he agreed with Barack Obama when Kamala Harris arrived. For weeks, the junior senator from Missouri had raised hell over who should head the federal agency that is the equivalent of the federal governments human resources department. Hawley gave speeches and made procedural motions that deadlocked the Senate, ultimately resulting in the arrival of the vice presidents motorcade on Capitol Hill. Thats when Hawley lost the fight.

And Hawley knew he had lost the moment his chief of staff leaned over to interrupt an interview with RealClearPolitics. She is here, he announced.

The veeps trip down Pennsylvania Avenue was unscheduled but necessary. Harris had to travel to the Senate last Tuesday to rescue the nomination of Kiran Arjandas Ahuja, President Bidens pick to head the Office of Personnel Management. It was Hawley, in large part, who had convinced his Republican colleagues to oppose the nomination. Until Harris motorcade rolled to a stop, the Senate was split 50-50. She cast the deciding vote.

But the fact that the vice president was even in the building was evidence, that same aide decided, that Hawley had also won: I think Republicans, at least in this case, have started to listen to what Josh is saying.

How could, of all things, the nomination of a glorified human resources manager become so controversial? Because of previous opinions Ahuja had expressed in support of critical race theory. More specifically, because the debates over those kinds of beliefs, as former President Obama recently explained, get at what story we tell about ourselves.

He is absolutely right, Hawley told RCP around the time Harris was making her way to the upper chamber. This is about the story we tell about ourselves, he insisted. It is about what you think about America. Where Hawley and Obama disagree, he added, is that I take my stand on the goodness of the American people.

The dust-up over the OPM nominee was the latest skirmish in the larger ideological battle over the soul of the nation. Progressives who espouse critical race theory argue that white people should own up to the benefits afforded to them by the systemic racism woven into the fabric of this countrys past and present. Conservatives such as Hawley reject that characterization. They say that such an approach, when sanctioned by government, amounts to little more than state-sanctioned racism. Welcome to Joe Bidens culture war.

Hawley says he doesnt want this fight. The conservative populist with an undeniable soft spot for big government, a la Teddy Roosevelt, would rather be off hunting down monopolies or slaying tech giants. In this culture war, the president is the aggressor. Or so says the 41-year-old senator rumored to have his eyes on Bidens job.

Its not Republicans, and certainly not the American people, who are putting critical race theory front and center in this country. Hawley argues. It is Joe Biden. He is the one who's nominating these people. Joe Biden is the one who's forcing this controversy on America. Joe Biden is the one who's trying to divide America.

Kiran Ahuja at her confirmation hearing to be Office of Personnel Management director.

But Kiran Ahuja, the soft-spoken attorney who last week became the first ever Indian American to lead OPM, does not seem particularly divisive. Her back-and-forth with senators was anything but confrontational during her confirmation hearing, and the former civil rights attorney pledged in committee to uphold merit-based principles in government hiring. Ahuja did not, however, deny that she thought systemic racism remains a problem.

Formerly the CEO of Philanthropy Northwest, a nonprofit focused on diversity and equity programing, Ahuja has previously written that her goal is to free minorities from the daily trials of white supremacy. Also alarming to Republicans: Her connection to Ibram X. Kendi. Her organization hosted the Boston University professor who has pioneered the term anti-racist, argued that the history of the country is one of American tyranny, and advocated for an extra-constitutional Department of Anti-Racism to discipline policymakers and public officials who do not voluntarily change their racist policy and ideas.

Conservatives are suspicious of any Kendi connection due to his prescription for addressing systemic racism. Specifically, his rigid binary approach: The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination, he has written. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.

Adherence to those kinds of ideas ought to be disqualifying for anyone who wants to lead a nonpartisan government agency, Hawley says. Hes hardly alone, but that is how the latest episode in identity politics began. White House officials, for their part, seemingly wants no part in the controversy. Asked about Republican criticism of Ahuja, White House press secretary Jen Psaki demurred and would only tell RCP that Congress should move forward expeditiously." But this wasnt the first time critical race theory, a decades-old concept that rejects traditional ideas of liberalism and meritocracy as insufficient, was dragged out of the academy and into the public square. Donald Trump made that introduction.

Last September, as RCP first reported, the former president directed all federal agencies to cease and desist any government programs that referenced critical race theory or advanced the concept of white privilege. Later that same month, Trump created the 1776 Commission to identify the core principles of the American founding  as opposed to CRT, which he condemned as ideological poison threatening to dissolve the civic bonds that tie us together.

Hawley and other social conservatives cheered. Democrats countered that Republicans were, at best, overreacting to diversity and equality training or, more likely and much worse, catering to white rage. They were teaching people that our country is a horrible place  its a racist place. And they were teaching people to hate our country, Trump said in defending the moves during the first 2020 presidential debate. Nobodys doing that, Biden shot back on stage. Hes the racist.

Trump is gone now. Biden is back in the White House, this time as president. Five months into the new administration, Hawley claims that critical race theory is the White Houses animating ideology. Is the president, who brands himself as just another blue-collar Joe from Scranton, really familiar with the ins and outs of academias proclamations on racism? Hawley wont say. I don't know what Joe Biden knows or doesn't know, he told RCP. I don't know how involved he is in these nominations or not. I attribute to him knowledge and control because he's the president. But he is drawing conclusions from how the top Democrat staffs his administration.

His objections to critical race theory, as well as the constellation of ideological thought that flows from it, Hawley says, is a protest against the falsification of our history and the castigation of America as an inherently racist and evil nation. Some may counter that Hawleys definition of CRT is too broad. But the senator isnt chasing phantoms. There's a huge literature on critical race theory. It has existed for decades, says the graduate of Yale Law School who later taught at the University of Missouri Law School. You can go and read it. I've read it. I've written about it as a scholar.

Maybe this kind of abstract talk sounds a little out of place, especially at a moment when Congress is debating an infrastructure package to build very real roads and bridges that people can someday actually walk and drive along (if a bill ever gets passed). But to Hawley, the conversation is elemental. Debates over first principles matter because, as Obama explained, they get at what story we tell about ourselves. Start with different ideas, Hawley says, and radically different conceptions of the nation emerge.

Ibram X. Kendi's insistence that "the only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination" has drawn the ire of Hawley and others.

My view of this country is defined by hope. It's not defined by despair. It's not defined by oppression. It is not defined by the view that we've got to level the whole country's social institutions and start over again, Hawley counters. I don't believe any of that, because I believe that the American people are fundamentally good and decent, and that they want to see the best for their fellow citizens.

Others have doubts, and critics detect a whiff of political opportunism. Chuck Todd of NBCs Meet the Press recently called the outrage over CRT manufactured, while Jane Mayer of the New Yorker penned an essay dismissing the backlash as having all the red flags of a dark money AstroTurf campaign. Asked about that criticism, Hawley likened it to those who doubt climate change. Theyre the deniers, he deadpanned. Then he suggested they go and visit with some voters in Missouri.

Parents who have filed into recent school board meetings in Missouri likely arent familiar with the scholarship of Derrick Bell, the late New York University law professor credited with originating CRT. Most likely, they havent read the writings of Kimberle Crenshaw either, the law professor from Columbia Law School who pioneered the study of intersectional feminism. Many are furious all the same.

A forum on race hosted by Springfield Public School employees, details of which were later leaked to conservative journalist Chris Rufo, encouraged middle school teachers to use their gender and ethnicity to locate themselves on an oppression matrix. An accompanying handout compared covert forms of racism, such as saying all lives matter or claiming reverse-racism, to overt forms of racism like lynching and burning crosses. It is not enough to simply oppose racism, one of the trainers explained in audio leaked to Fox News. When one attendee wondered when it was appropriate to speak about these issues, the trainer responded, What might an underrepresented or under-resourced student say in regards to our fear of speaking up? Another voice chimed in, Silence is violence. An incredulous teacher interrupted, Is the district saying that we should be Marxists?"

Springfield Public Schools later released a statement saying it was pleased to provide robust professional development. Controversy has followed in Missouri and around the country with many state legislatures seeking to ban the teaching of critical race theory.

Becky Pringle, a close ally to the Biden White House and president of the National Education Association, has publicly opposed those GOP bills, saying instead that lessons about race should be added to school curriculum. We have made many mistakes in this country, she said in an interview with NBC. But our kids  deserve to learn all of that truth."

The debate has spilled out into popular culture as well. Journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates and Hollywood actress/screenwriter Lena Waithe penned a recent open-letter in The Root supporting Nikole Hannah-Jones and the teaching of her New York Times 1619 Project curriculum, which is influenced by CRT and described by Coates and Waithe as a landmark exploration of Americas deep roots in enslavement.

Former Trump administration OMB director Russ Vought counters that critical race theory, even under the banner of diversity training and branded as antiracism instruction, has no place in public schools. He has founded a new group called Citizens for Renewing America and released an A-to-Z guide for parents who want to stop Critical Race Theory and reclaim your local school board.

At the end of the day, parents are seeing it with their own eyes and are hearing it with their own ears, and no amount of obfuscation by the left is going to hide the fact these frameworks and concepts are race-based identity politics indoctrinating their kids, Vought told RCP. No matter what the left calls it  parents around the country are calling it racism.

The New York Times' 1619 Project" has spurred offshoot publications and school teaching materials.

Those debates, many of them between school boards and outraged parents, have reverberated in Washington. Back in his Senate office, Hawley says it was the New York Times 1619 Project that started the chatter over critical race theory, a term he hadnt heard much about since law school. That was a huge catalyst for people saying, Whoa, whoa, woah. Wait a minute. You're telling me the United States was actually founded in slavery, founded in racism, founded to be oppressive and racist? he says. Voters in his district saw that, rejected that, and said, I dont believe that defines our country.

But to some, even that kind of response is problematic. Writing in The Atlantic the day Harris voted to break the tie to confirm Ahuja, Ibram X. Kendi argued that to deny that the country still struggles with racism is to assume that the work of reconciliation is over, that America is a post-racial nation. He continued: To say that there is widespread racial inequity caused by widespread racism, which makes the United States racist, isnt an opinion, isnt a partisan position, isnt a doctrine, isnt a left-wing construct, isnt anti-white, and isnt anti-American. It is a fact."

Hawley does not believe that racism has been vanquished. He talks about it in past and present tense.

It is absolutely a fact of our history that we had slavery in this country. We had to fight a civil war in order to eradicate slavery. After slavery we had a century of Jim Crow, he says before declaring that the civil rights movement that followed was one of the highest points of our history. And he said of Dr. King's example  what he said about America, that this was a nation that was founded in liberty, and that it was founded with these great ideals that we haven't fully lived up to them, but we have to  I believe every word of that.

And then, in a move perhaps odd for someone railing against CRT, Hawley does not even reject the idea of structural inequality. A modern sort of Bull Moose populist, he just points the finger at industry.

You want to talk about something that is a systemic problem, the senator says, returning to form when asked about how Republicans and conservatives ought to address lingering inequality. Look at what corporate America has done to our inner cities, to our rural areas, and then look at their systematic policy of hollowing out our industrial base and sending jobs overseas, seeking labor arbitrage and tax arbitrage, to destroy jobs in this country.

The corporations that caused this American carnage, the companies that unbolted factories and shipped industry overseas, in his telling, well, they are the least responsible people in America, and they should be on the hook. Inequality isnt a made-up concept, he concludes. Are there structures that need to be taken on? Yeah, there are. Id start with corporate America.

Most Republicans arent inclined to make that distinction. More likely, they will try to make CRT a Democratic millstone, and new polling from the National Republican Senatorial Committee shows that the majority of Americans oppose the idea that white people benefit from the American culture of systemic racism and white privilege. An NRSC spokesman confirmed the polling, first reported by the Washington Post, and told RCP that we absolutely plan to make this part of the campaign.

Like Hawley, Jessica Anderson, executive director of the Heritage Action, sees Biden and the left as the aggressors. The debate over CRT is just the latest salvo in a larger culture war. For the last year, Americans have seen their basic institutions under assault from the left, including our schools, churches, police, and elections, she said. The left forced critical race theory into our schools, indoctrinating children from K-12. And this wont end well for Democrats, Anderson added. Critical race theory is electrifying the movement, and concerned parents across the country are fighting back against the lefts radical teachings with the same energy that carried the Tea Party a decade ago.

Hawley doesnt doubt that there are parallels between his current fight and the one that delivered Republicans a House majority in 2010. He says he hasnt thought much about it that way. He declines, twice, to say whether fellow Republicans should follow his example or how. Floor speeches arent that hard to deliver and press releases are easy to issue. But again, he wont say what his colleague should or shouldnt do beyond those simple steps.

Americas central idea is the equality of all, and our politics and history  however imperfect and incomplete  radiate out from that. The modern left does not hold to that idea, but believes inequality defines America and everything about it, Matt Spalding, executive director of the 1776 Commission, which Trump established and Biden dismissed, told RCP.

By pressing that point, Hawley may have won a larger victory while losing the fight over confirmation of the federal governments human resources manager. At least for Republicans, the junior senator from Missouri has managed to frame the national debate.

While Hawley wont say if Biden actually knows all the ins and outs of CRT, he thinks that by nominating candidates who endorse the essential elements of that theory, the president  who launched his campaign promising to bind up the wounds of the national soul  is making clear his opinion.

His view of the soul of the nation is that it's suffering from major maladies  deformed in many ways. Again, that this is a systemically racist and unjust place. I just don't share that vision at all, he said before concluding, I think the soul of this nation is fundamentally good.
Good morning, its Monday, June 28, 2021. Nine years ago today, in a 5-4 decision that surprised many observers, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the four members of the Supreme Courts liberal voting bloc to uphold the Affordable Care Act.

In a moment, Ill reprise some of the contemporaneous reaction to this controversial ruling, and offer my own thoughts about that decision. First, though, Id point you to our front page, which aggregates, as it does each day, an array of columns and stories spanning the political spectrum. We also offer a complement of original material from RCP reporters and contributors, including the following:

* * *

Supreme Court Bingo, 2021 Edition. Sean Trende offers educated guesses as to which justices have written opinions for the terms remaining cases, possibly indicating how those rulings will play out.

Josh Hawley Takes On CRT in a Fight for the Nations Soul. Phil Wegmann explores the Missouri senators efforts to counter critical race theory and other progressive efforts to define what we think about America.

RCP Takeaway. In this weeks podcast, we discuss infrastructure funding and the teaching of critical race theory in schools.

Gallup Abortion Poll Fails to Reflect Americans' Nuanced Views. Jeanne Mancini calls the new surveys results on late-term abortion out of step with longstanding sentiments among the U.S. public.

Democrats Are Using FEC as Partisan Weapon. Former commissioner Bradley Smith assails departures from past precedent in handling complaints before the elections panel.

Dershowitz's Lesson in Cultivating Respect for Free Speech. Peter Berkowitz considers the legal eagles latest book, The Case Against the New Censorship.

GOP and Dems Want to Break Up Big Tech. Both Are Wrong. Bob Zeidman explains his rationale at RealClearMarkets.

High Court Protects Religious Foster Care. At RealClearReligion, Mark Rienzi writes that the unanimous ruling in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia proves protecting religious liberty in a same-sex rights case does not have to be controversial.

Challenges of Indias Vaccination Drive. At RealClearWorld, Shubha Nagash and Neha Raykar propose a four-part plan to overcome obstacles posed by COVID in the populous nation.

Looking for Balance on Campus? Head South. At RealClearEducation, Samuel Abrams points to where students can find an environment of politically open-minded peers.

How to Fix Student Aid. Also at RCEd, Michael Brickman touts the benefits of income share agreements.

* * *

On June 28, 2012, when the U.S. Supreme Court narrowly upheld the Democrat sweeping 2010 health care reform widely known as Obamacare, Republican Party leaders immediately vowed to repeal it. Mitt Romney said that while the court may have found the act constitutional, it didn't say that Obamacare is good law and good policy."

Obamacare was bad policy yesterday, it's bad policy today, Romney added. Obamacare was bad law yesterday, its bad law today.

These days, liberals tend to admire Mitt Romney; certainly, the media fawns all over him. This wasnt the case nine years ago. At that time, his official residence wasnt in Utah, he didnt serve in the U.S. Senate, and he had friendly relations with Donald Trump -- who had endorsed him for president five months earlier in Las Vegas. (Mitt is tough, hes sharp, hes smart, Trump said at the time. Donald Trump has shown an extraordinary ability to understand how the economy works, Romney reciprocated. It means a great deal to me to have the endorsement of Mr. Trump.)

Today is another story entirely. Romneys estimation in the eyes of Democrats and the press corps has increased in direct proportion to his antagonism toward Trump. Back in 2012, Romneys opponent wasnt Trump, it was Barack Obama, the incumbent U.S. president Romney was trying to unseat. When it came to the Affordable Care Act, however, Romney was in a delicate spot. Obamacare was modeled after Romneycare, the Massachusetts state law signed by Romney when he was governor of the Bay State.

Chief Justice Roberts had a dilemma, too. When it came to the question of whether it was constitutional, the Affordable Care Act had an Achilles heel that was glaring to strict constructionists -- conservative jurists who tend to take the Founders at their word: Obamacares individual mandate seemed to run squarely afoul of the U.S. Constitutions commerce clause.

Using creative legal reasoning, Roberts sidestepped this problem by declaring ACAs individual mandate a tax, instead of an unconstitutional encroachment upon individual liberty. Roberts conceded in the body of his ruling that this wasnt the most obvious way to look at the mandate, but that court precedent suggested an out: The question is not whether that is the most natural interpretation of the mandate, Roberts wrote, but only whether it is a 'fairly possible' one.

Conservative legal scholars were furious and felt, as they had previously with high court appointments ranging from Earl Warren to David Souter, as though theyd been duped yet again during the nominating process.

But others were impressed:

Hes a guy trying to find the right constitutional arguments, Notre Dame University law school professor Richard Garnett told NPRs Liz Halloran. He's able to confirm his commitment to federalism, and to look really closely at a piece of federal legislation, regardless of the party that produced it, and see if it is constitutional. Thats to be admired, no matter what you think of the decision.

Yet while defending Roberts, there was a context to this litigation that liberal scholars did their best to ignore. In the run-up to the decision, Democrats had overtly politicized the legal challenge to the ACA. President Obama had shamelessly assailed the Supreme Court and served notice that an adverse ruling would engender further attacks.

So Roberts, at least in my view, was put in the position of trying to save an institution he cares about -- his own institution -- from being delegitimized. Writing on SCOTUSblog, UCLA constitutional law professor Adam Winkler gave the chief a tip of his cap for his efforts.

With this deft ruling, Roberts avoided what was certain to be a cascade of criticism of the high court. No Supreme Court has struck down a president's signature piece of legislation in over 75 years. Had Obamacare been voided, it would have inevitably led to charges of aggressive judicial activism. Roberts peered over the abyss and decided he didnt want to go there.

On a final point, if conservative scholars care about the doctrine of separation of powers -- and most of them do -- there was always an easier way to get rid of Obamacare: Elect Republican majorities in both houses of Congress and repeal it.

Carl M. Cannon

Washington Bureau chief, RealClearPolitics

@CarlCannon (Twitter)

ccannon@realclearpolitics.com
All My Children icon Susan Lucci is grieving the death of her 104-year-old mother Jeanette, a registered nurse.

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"Three weeks ago I received a call saying that my mother had suddenly taken a turn towards end of life -- I only hoped and prayed I would get to her in time -- I am eternally grateful to God and her wonderful hospice nurses, that I did. I was there with her, I was able to tell her all the good things about her, how much I love her, how proud I have always been of her -- and hopefully bring her peace," the 74-year-old actress wrote on Instagram this weekend.

Lucci said her mother was born in 1917 and lived through the Spanish flu, World Wars I and II, the Great Depression, the Korean War, Vietnam, the proliferation of the Internet and the coronavirus pandemic.

"My mom was a survivor and thriver -- and I am so thankful to God that she was my mom. I just want to share something that a good friend, who knew my mom since our college days, wrote to me: 'Our mothers live on in us, with buoyant spirit!' Oh YES!!!" Lucci said.
Traverse City, MI (49684)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 75F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 75F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
Traverse City, MI (49684)

Today

Considerable clouds this evening. Some decrease in clouds late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 75F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Considerable clouds this evening. Some decrease in clouds late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 75F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
As the Young Democrats of the University of Georgia prepare for the next school year, the new executive board looks ahead with fresh aspirations and ideas as club activities transition back to an in-person format.
Members of the Brattleboro Fire Department visit the St. Michaels Preschool and Youth Summer Camp during the Community Heroes week on Wednesday, June 30, 2021. The members of the fire department went through fire safety with the children and then showed them the equipment that is stored on
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable.
Ben Gordesky is the Renewable Energy Manager at DC Energy Innovations and has been involved in the clean energy and environmental justice movements for decades. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of the Brattleboro Reformer.
MIDDLETOWN  Police say a routine traffic stop last week led to the discovery of a stash of fentanyl worth $16,000 hidden in the pants of the drivers father.

An officer attempted to pull over a Nissan Maxima after seeing the driver, who was identified as Nahkyn Durazzo, of Omo Street, talking on his cellphone around 4:30 a.m. June 21, police said.

However, police said Durazzo sped up and pulled into Wharfside Commons apartments. The officer called out several times for Durazzo to stop as he ran toward the apartments, police said.

Durazzo ran toward his father, Rudolph Durazzo, who pulled his son into one of the units and closed the door, police said.

As officers detained both men, police said Rudolph Durazzo was found in possession of $727 in cash, packaged in small denominations, which is indicative of street-level illicit drug sales, the police report said. They also identified a digital scale with remnants of fentanyl on it, the report said.

Inside the car, police said they found baggies containing 3.35 grams of marijuana, and 3.1 grams of crack cocaine.

Police said Nahkyn Durazzo is a self-proclaimed Campanella Park Piru Bloods gang member who was released from prison in March and is suspected of several shootings in Middletown.

Police said a search inside Rudolph Durazzos pants turned up 15.88 grams of fentanyl worth $16,000.

Nahkyn Durazzo faces numerous charges, including conspiracy to commit the sale of a controlled substance, conspiracy to commit possession of less than a half-ounce of marijuana, conspiracy to commit the operation of a drug factory, conspiracy to commit the sale of a controlled substance, and conspiracy to commit the sale of a controlled substance within 1,500 feet of a day care.

Hes being held in lieu of a $75,000 surety bond and is expected to appear Tuesday in state Superior Court in Middletown.

Rudolph Durazzo, of Burgundy Hill Lane, was charged with operation of a drug factory, sale of hallucinogens, sale of a hallucinogenic substance, use of drug paraphernalia, possession of drug paraphernalia in a school zone, use of drug paraphernalia, counts of possession of drugs near a school, possession of drugs near a day care, resisting arrest, and possession of less than a half-ounce of cannabis.

He was released on a $20,000 surety and given an Aug. 2 court date.
Frackville

For information about trips the Frackville Area Senior Citizens group is sponsoring for Shake, Rattle & Roll at the Waterfront at Silver Beaches on July 14, and to New Port, Rhode Island, Sept. 27-30, call Kathy Kraft at 570-874-3531.

Schuylkill Haven

First United Church of Christ, 110 Route 61, will have meals featuring chicken barbecue over an open pit from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 11 with proceeds benefitting Army military families and Cressona Fire Company No. 1. For tickets, or more information, call 484-926-1420 or 570-527-2349.

Summit Station

Premium books for the Schuylkill County Fair can be picked up at Moyers Exxon 443/183, 2270 Fair Road. Premium books will not be mailed to exhibitors. The premium book also can be found and downloaded online at www.schuylkillfair.com, where exhibitor entry forms also are available. People may request a hard copy of the premium book from Denise Mullin by mailing $3 to 5051/2 Ridge Road, Pottsville, PA 17901. For more information about the fair, go to the aforementioned website or follow on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SCHUYLKILLFAIR.

Tamaqua

The American Cancer Society is seeking solo performers, duos and small groups to participate in the Aug. 14-15 ACS telethon. The 2021 event will return to an all-live setup airing from noon to midnight both days at Penns Peak, Jim Thorpe. Performers interested should contact George Taylor at 570-668-4451 or via email to gtay200@verizon.net by Wednesday.

Tamaqua

Diaper Depot, the free diaper ministry at Zion Lutheran Church, is accepting new clients for its July 17 distribution. The deadline is Friday. To be eligible, people must be residents of the Tamaqua Area School District and make a request at www.ziontamaqua.com. People picking up diapers for the first time must present a birth certificate for the child or children and proof of residence. Diaper Depot is a community pantry of the Greater Philadelphia Diaper Bank.
SAINT CLAIR  While some are still cautious, many people in Schuylkill County, including its leaders, believe they are ready for the COVID-19 mask mandate to end today as scheduled by state officials.

I think (people are ready), commissioners Chairman Barron L. Hetherington said Sunday. I think its time.

Fellow Commissioner Gary J. Hess agreed with him.

I think its best to start moving on, with almost 70% of Pennsylvania citizens vaccinated against the disease, he said.

Dr. Luther Rhodes, an infectious disease specialist with Lehigh Valley Health Network, said the step is an important one, although it does not mean dropping all precautions and wariness against the pandemic.

Im encouraged. Its an important step for the state and the nation, he said. It doesnt mean success. Were still going to have ongoing COVID.

As of 12:01 a.m. today, Pennsylvania has lifted its mask mandate, which has been in effect since April 15, 2020, for its citizens. The state Department of Health still urges Pennsylvanians to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regulations and individual business requirements for wearing masks in certain places.

Rhodes also thinks that is a good idea.

(People should) keep their masks in their back pockets. Theres not a state law saying, Take off your mask, he said.

Hetherington also has no problem with some people continuing to wear masks.

Its a personal choice, he said. If youre not comfortable, I respect that persons choice.

As of noon Sunday, the department reported that there have been 1,211,603 COVID-19 cases in Pennsylvania and 27,654 COVID-related deaths.

In Schuylkill County, those numbers are 14,801 and 412, respectively.

Department vaccination totals for the state are 6,253,132 full and 5,354,823partial, for a total of 11,607,955 vaccines administered.

Department totals for the county are 63,205 full, 12,395 partial and 75,600 total.

As of Thursday, 59.2% of Pennsylvanians have been fully vaccinated and 74.7% have received their first dose, according to the CDC.

Hess said that while the county is ready to abandon the mask mandate, it will remain vigilant. He said the county task force, which includes the commissioners and hospital representatives, among others, will continue its weekly telephone meetings.

It will keep us alert, he said. Were still on the defense. Were ... keeping our guard in place.

Have ... fun again

Most people in the county appear to be content with the end of the mask mandate.

I think its great, said Irma Johnson, of Orwigsburg. It means a lot of people are being vaccinated.

She also said she likes being without a mask because she can read better without one.

Kathy Wilson, of Fleetwood, who was visiting her granddaughter, Lucy Katy, of New Ringgold, also likes the new policy.

Considering I have both shots, I agree, she said. It means more freedom to have a lot of fun again, get outdoors like Im doing today.

Gail Jones, of Ashland, also is happy she will be able to enjoy life without being behind a mask all the time.

I think its a good idea. I think its time to nix the masks, she said. I think enough people are immunized now.

Jones said she works in a school and has had to wear masks since the first days of the pandemic. She said she did not like them because they were too uncomfortable.

Just not yet

Not everyone agrees that it is time for masks to go.

Ashley Martin and Gloria Lisowski, both of Pottsville, said they will not get rid of them.

We will continue to wear ours, just to be on the safe side, especially in gatherings ... with lots of people, Martin said.

However, Martin does not like the masks.

Its a necessity, she said. I dont think anybody likes having a piece of cloth when its 90 degrees.

Lisowski has her own reason for disliking her mask.

I hate that it gets harder to breathe, she said.
SAINT CLAIR  The Avenues Duck Race returned Sunday for its 33rd event, as dozens of people gathered at Coal Creek Commerce Center to watch the rubber ducks sail down Mill Creek to raise money to make life better for some of Schuylkill Countys special citizens.

We heard about it and decided to give it a shot, Lois Buhl, of Frackville, said as the ducks tumbled into the creek and made their way about a quarter of a mile to the bridge at the Centers entrance.

Hundreds of the bright, yellow ducks made their way to the bridge, while others could not make their way past eddies and rocks in the narrow and shallow creek.

The luckiest duck belonged to Janet Miller, of Mifflinburg, whose $5 purchase rewarded her with the $1,000 grand prize. Thirty-three other people won prizes, although the big winner was Avenues, which received the proceeds from the duck purchases.

Were very happy, said Executive Director Peter Keitsock, who added that the exact amount raised would not be totaled until later today. He said the organization was glad to stage the event after it was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Avenues provides services to people with disabilities and their families across the county. The duck race is the best-known fundraising event for the group, which also is a Schuylkill United Way member agency.

Avenues is a great program, said Commissioner Gary J. Hess, a board member and past president of the agency. It brings up the quality of life for people who have disabilities. It gives (them) the best quality of life they can possibly have.

Hess said he knows a lot about the agency from his own life. He said his mother worked for it for 27 years and his sister received services from it.

Carol Homa, of Pottsville, cheered on the ducks from the bank of the creek, just like she does every year. She said her son, Michael Homa, works in the agencys greenhouse in Mechanicsville

(This is) to benefit them, she said of the race. It helps anybody with disabilities.

Keitsock also thanked Womers Garage, Pottsville, which returned with its dump truck to pour the ducks into the creek to start the race, and the Schuylkill Hose Company No. 2s Dive Rescue and Recovery Team, Schuylkill Haven, for helping with the event. He also said bringing back the race marked a big step for the agency.

Absolutely, it was a success, he said.
American comedy series Succession will soon be coming to an end. After releasing only two seasons, executive producer Georgia Pritchett has already confirmed that the show will not be running any further than 5 seasons. She revealed this in her latest interview with a British outlet, The Times.

According to the report by The Times, the Primetime Emmy-winning show will have a maximum of four or five seasons. After wrapping up the second season on October 13, 2021, the show is now gearing up for the launch of the third season. She further mentioned that Succession Season 3 will release around the end of this year. Additionally, the producer has assured fans that the finale episode will not be abrupt. Rather, they have "a good end in sight" for the show. She said that initially the creator of the show, Jesse Armstrong, had planned to finish off the series with season four but hinted that he could change his mind.

Succession episodes so far...

In Succession finale of season 2, the audience saw Kendall Roy, portrayed by Jeremy Strong, pushing his family's business under the bus to save himself. He reveals the company and his father's major secrets. This included covering up sexual misconduct in the workplace.

Season 3 will show Kendall's father Logan, played by Brian Cox, facing the brunt of his son's actions. Not only this, fans expect more drama to unravel as two new actors, Adrien Brody and Alexander Skarsgard, join the Succession cast. Only the upcoming season of the show will clarify whether the series will have two more seasons.

Succession has managed to not just earn the audience's attention but has also received critical acclaim. The show has received an overall rating of 8.6 on IMDb and a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Jeremy Strong even won a Critics' Choice Television Award as "Best Actor" for the series while Sarah Snook was nominated at the award ceremony for the "Best Actress Award". Brian Cox, too, received the title of "Best Actor" at the Golden Globes Award in 2020.

Image: Still from Succession

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Chile, located on the west coast of South America, has been hit by the Sealion plague. Since earlier this year, the country is witnessing an overwhelming influx of marine mammals, who have arrived on the Chilean beaches fearing whales and orcas. Now, one of 300 herd members has stirred the internet after it crashed a fishermans live interview in the city of Tome.

The clip starts by showing the Chilean angler describing the condition in the city. This is a plague, a plague of sea lions, he says. He then goes on to blame the country's administration for not keeping their numbers down for the past 28 years. As he continues to speak to the reporter, a fully grown sea lion opens the door at the back and enters the premises. The fisherman spots the sea lion just in time and moves away.

'Problem is shark finning'

The clip has been re-shared on various social media website including Twitter where it has got massive traction. Commenting on a post shared, a user wrote, LOL the problem is shark finning and overfishing. Remove their natural predators and the pop will be guaranteed to explode. Happens every time. Rewild the oceans and end overfishing, problem solved." Meanwhile, another suggested, "You need to elevate your sea lions with skills. Go to You tube and see the video on the Russian seal (sea lions) and how endearing they are now that they have art, music, anti-bomb capability with little caps on and holding a rifle. Yet another comment read, "The sea lion was like say it to my face, don't keep me behind this fence and talk about my family."

I bet that sea lion thinks theres a plague of HUMANS. And that sea lion would be RIGHT.  me&angus (@meandangus) June 25, 2021

LESS HUMANS, MORE NATURE NOW ! ANIMALS HAVE OUR SAME RIGHT TO LIVE PEACEFULLY IN THIS PLANET   (@FlorYArteFlor) June 25, 2021

This is really hilarious. Theyre taking over alright.  patricia m rosenberg (@mountainofroses) June 25, 2021

Theyre so cute. Leave them alone.  Clarity, PsyD  (@clarityforusa) June 25, 2021

This is really hilarious. Theyre taking over alright.  patricia m rosenberg (@mountainofroses) June 25, 2021

This comes as a behind-the-scenes video of the President of Irelands dog interrupting his address to demand attention took the internet by storm. President Michael D Higgins was delivering a tribute to actor Tom Hickey when his Bernese mountain dog Misneach walked up and sat by his side, begging for attention. The Irish Presidents seven-month-old puppy stole the limelight as Higgins spoke to broadcaster RTE. In the clip, Misneach is seen playfully biting the presidents hand and pawing his legs in a bid to get attention. Despite the dogs persistence, President Higgins continued with his address.

The President of Ireland's Bernese would like pats now, Good Boi is unconcerned about the cameras @PresidentIRL pic.twitter.com/UP3zVh3ase  WholesomeMemes (@WholesomeMeme) May 3, 2021

IMAGE: KIZZCHASE/Twitter

Get the latest entertainment news from India & around the world. Now follow your favourite television celebs and telly updates. Republic World is your one-stop destination for trending Bollywood news. Tune in today to stay updated with all the latest news and headlines from the world of entertainment.
In a major development in the ISRO spy case, a CBI team has arrived in Thiruvananthapuram to probe the conspiracy. According to reports, officials from the Delhi Special Unit have arrived for the probe in the espionage case and will also be joined by DIG Santosh Chalke who is overseeing the investigation. Moreover, former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan will arrive in the same office to talk to the CBI officials.

CBI team arrives in Thiruvananthapuram

Reports further added that all accused in the case will be called for questioning in the case at the CBI office in Thiruvananthapuram. Earlier in April, the Supreme Court had ordered an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the 1994 espionage case against Nambi Narayanan. Earlier on Thursday, the CBI had named 18 persons in the conspiracy. All accused will therefore be questioned by the CBI officials who have been given a time of six months to complete their investigation. As per reports, Narayanan will be arriving at the CBI office on Monday.

ISRO Spy Case

The ISRO Spy Case surfaced after the Kerala police had registered two cases in October 1994, after Maldivian national Rasheeda was arrested in Thiruvananthapuram for allegedly obtaining secret drawings of ISRO rocket engines to sell to Pakistan. Following that, three individuals were arrested in connection with the case - then ISRO director Nambi Narayanan, then ISRO deputy director D Sasikumaran and Fousiya Hasan, a Maldivian friend of Rasheeda. Three months later in 1995, when Narayanan was released on bail, he had approached the National Human Rights Commission seeking compensation from the Kerala government, for the mental agony that he had suffered in the process. The CBI later dismissed the allegations against him as false.

The Supreme Court termed the police action against the former ISRO scientist as "psycho-pathological treatment". It further said that his "liberty and dignity", basic to his human rights, were jeopardised as he was taken into custody and, eventually, despite all the glory of the past, he was compelled to face "cynical abhorrence". The SC appointed a three-member panel headed by former judge D K Jain, while the Kerala government was directed to give Narayanan a compensation of Rs 50 lakh, as he underwent "immense humiliation.
In a major achievement for India's security forces, top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Nadeem Abrar was arrested on Monday from the Parampora area of Budgam district in Jammu and Kashmir along with his close associate. Ammunitions including pistols and hand-grenades were also recovered from their possession.

The key conspirator was involved in several killings and terrorist activities along the Srinagar-Baramulla Border and was also involved in attacks on security forces. Abrar is affiliated with the LeT, which is a Pakistan-based terror outfit that often targets Indian civilians and security forces. He was also one of the recruiters of Lashkar-e-Taiba in the Kashmir Valley.

The resident of Narbal is believed to be a close aide of Yousuf Kantroo, another LeT commander. IGP, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar hailed Abrar's arrest as a big success" for the J&K police.

Initial probe and interrogation revealed a larger conspiracy involving Nadeem Abrar, sources said on Monday. The LeT terrorist had reportedly planned an attack in Srinagar before he was nabbed by the Jammu and Kashmir Police. He was joined by another Pakistani terrorist in the purported attack, added sources.

Top LeT commander Nadeem Abrar #arrested. He was involved in several #killings. Big success for us: IGP Kashmir @JmuKmrPolice  Kashmir Zone Police (@KashmirPolice) June 28, 2021

Top LeT terrorist arrested

In a similar achievement, one of the most wanted militants Mudasir Pandit was among three terrorists killed in an overnight encounter with security forces in the Sopore area of Baramulla district in Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Monday, June 21ss.

Kashmir Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said the encounter took place in the Gund Brath area of Sopore in the north Kashmir district.

The encounter had started late on Sunday night as the security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the area following information about the presence of at least three militants, including Pandit, in the area. Pandit was wanted by security forces in many cases, including the killing of two BJP councilors and a policeman during a meeting in Sopore in March this year.

Asserting that the number of terrorists active in Jammu and Kashmir has "decreased", DGP Dilbag Singh on Friday said measures will be intensified to strengthen the battle against terrorism and curb heinous activities of militants.

(With inputs from agency)
Pathankot district has been placed on high alert after two explosive-laden drones crashed into the Air Force station in Jammu on the intervening night of June 26-27. Vigil was being maintained near key installations in Pathankot. Police personnel have also been deployed at all exit and entry points of the city. Multiple search operations are currently being carried out in different parts of the city.

Anti-riot vehicles have been deployed across the city and checking of vehicles on the streets has intensified. They are also checking the identity of every person in search of the suspects.

Pathankot SSP Surendra Lamba told PTI, "Whenever there is an incident of this kind, a maximum alert is sounded in neighbouring areas." He also said that additional forces have been deployed and they are vigorously checking inter-state border movement. Specialised commandos and SWAT teams of Punjab Police have also been deployed, he added.

Search operations are also being carried out in rural areas as it is being anticipated that some suspects could hide in the nearby villages.

Earlier, in 2016, the Pathankot air base had come under terror attack from four Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists. Later, all four insurgents were killed by NSG commandos who were specially flown in from New Delhi on the intervening night of January 1 and 2, 2016.

Jammu Air Force station blasts

On Sunday, two blasts occurred in the premises of the technical area of the Jammu airbase, which were later confirmed to be drone attacks. The blasts were heard within a gap of 5 minutes, the first blast sound is captured in the CCTV at 1.37 am while the second at 1.43 AM. NIA reported that the IED-fitted drone came from across the International border. Two Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel have suffered minor injuries in the drone explosions. IAF stations in Pathankot, Punjab, and Awantipur, Srinagar have been put on high alert as sources state that the possible target of the drones was the aircraft parked in the dispersal area, ten meters away.

J&K L-G briefs Rajnath Singh on UT's vital security installations

The Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha spoke to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and reviewed the vital security installations with senior police officers. He biiefed Rajnath Singh about the vital security installations in J&K and about the steps being taken to counter terrorists in the valley. In addition, Sinha had also chaired a meeting of top officials of the Jammu and Kashmir administration, police and other officials. The L-G has directed them to thwart any similar attempts by the terrorists.
AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria on Monday has stated that the public health system needs to be strengthened as India stares at the possibility of the third wave of COVID-19. Speaking at the virtual CII Public Health Summit, Randeep Guleria stressed that we should focus on lessons learnt from the past in order to further strengthen the public health system. In addition, he also said that India should be prepared for the ongoing outbreaks and future pandemics.

AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria on third wave of COVID-19 and public health system

As we now prepare for the possibility of the third wave & new variants like Delta Plus, it's important to see what we can do. We need to look ahead & see how we can strengthen our public health system, focusing on lessons we've learnt from past: AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria pic.twitter.com/zGPBRVdtJA  ANI (@ANI) June 28, 2021

This is important not because of the current pandemic situation but because of what last 15 years have shown us that for the future, we will have to be prepared for ongoing outbreaks & pandemics: AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria during CII Public health summit virtually pic.twitter.com/yZBf0LuDLR  ANI (@ANI) June 28, 2021

Speaking on India's Public health policy, Guleria added that it is designed to provide a standard of care as a package to the population up to the primary health level. He further remarked that the system's basic aim is to ensure equitable access to healthcare in rural and remote areas of India. However, he stressed on the need to change the public health system in order to be on par with the changing times. Hailing the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), the AIIMS Director has affirmed that it has made a huge difference pertaining to health care.

India's Public health policy has been designed to provide a standard of care as a package to population up to the primary health level. The basic aim is to have equitable access to healthcare even in rural/remote areas of the country for everyone who needs it: Dr Randeep Guleria  ANI (@ANI) June 28, 2021

With changing times, we have to change our public health system. One of the steps was Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY which has made a huge difference as far as health care is concerned: AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria pic.twitter.com/RXt6mTMtSG  ANI (@ANI) June 28, 2021

'Delta plus' variant

According to scientific records and research, the Delta plus variant is a mutation of the Delta or B.1.617.2 variant that was first discovered in India. It is also believed that the Delta has been one of the variants behind the deadly second wave. The WHO had also raised alarm earlier and cautioned that this variant is likely to cause more severe symptoms. In addition, the WHO is also tracking the recently emerged delta plus variant that has been detected in India. The Centre had also sent a warning to the states where most cases due to the variant have been found. These states include Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The government has further added that the states where the new variant is sprouting have been directed and advised for strengthening surveillance and public health measures. It however also stated that the new variant, which is a mutation of the Delta strain or the B.1.617.2 was first detected in India is not confined to the mentioned states. It also added that there is 'no significant increase in prevalence'. The government document also added that the variant has also been found in nine other countries of the world - US, UK, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, Poland, Russia and China.
Just a day after a first-of-its-kind attack on the Indian Air Force (IAF) station in Jammu, two more drones were spotted hours apart over the Kaluchak military station in the wee hours on Monday. A high alert was sounded as soon as the two drones were spotted and were fired upon immediately by the Quick Reactio Teams. The drones hovering in the Jammu airspace were thwarted and were forced to fly back without causing any damage.

As per the Defence Wing, the first drone was sighted around 11:45 pm and the second one at 2:40 am, just after midnight. The Quick Reaction Teams at the Kaluchak military station in Jammu's Samba district had opened fire on the drones on sighting them but could not bring them down. A defence official has affirmed that the security forces have been placed on high alert and search operations are in progress.

Drone blasts at IAF Jammu station

The drone sightings came shortly after the attack on IAF's Jammu airbase on Sunday morning. Multiple blasts had occurred in the premises of the technical area of the Jammu airbase, which were later confirmed to be drone attacks. A first of its kind, the attack led to two IAF personnel sustaining minor injuries. Two blasts were heard within a gap of 5 minutes, the first blast is captured in the CCTV at 1.37 am while the second has been captured at 1.43 am. A team of Jammu and Kashmir police along with other security agencies and forensic experts rushed to the incident spot to further investigate the cause of the blast.

Sounding a high alert across security installations and the bordering region with Pakistan, a high-level investigation team of the IAF was dispatched to Jammu after the explosions. The possible target of the drones is said to be the aircraft parked in the dispersal area just meters away. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Vice Air Chief Air Marshal HS Arora regarding the blasts and Western Air Commander Air Marshal VR Chaudhary and Air Marshal Vikram Singh reached the spot to investigate the matter.

NIA reported that the IED-fitted drone came from across the International border and an FIR has been registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the incident. IAF stations in Pathankot, Punjab and Awantipur, Srinagar have been put on high alert as sources state that the possible target of the drones was the aircraft parked in the dispersal area, ten meters away.
Former Kerala DGP Sibey Mathews, who is arraigned as the fourth accused by the CBI in the ISRO spy case was granted interim bail by the Thiruvananthapuram Sessions Court on Friday, but was asked to not leave the country without permission. The FIR has named 18 ex-Kerala cops and former Intelligence officers accusing them of forging documents to endanger central government officials, including ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan.

The court in its order had directed Investigation Officer (IO) to release Siby Mathews on interim bail 'in the event of his arrest during the course of hearing of the main petition'. However, the Sessions Court in its order added that Siby Mathews will not leave India without permission of the court and he will have to fully co-operate with the investigation.

On Thursday, CBI filed an FIR at the Thiruvananthapuram Chief Magistrate Court, naming 18 persons in the conspiracy including former deputy director of IB RB Sreekumar and SP KK Joshua. The CBI has named several former Kerala police officers namely- S Vijayan (Pettah Circle inspector), Thampi S Durgadath Pettah Sub-Inspector), V R Rajeevan (Trivandrum CP), and Siby Mathews (ex-DGP) as prime accused.

On April 15, the Supreme Court of India had ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the 1994 espionage case against former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist Nambi Narayanan and to file a report in 3 months. This transpired after an inquiry panel formed by the Supreme Court in 2018 submitted its report and the Centre pushed hard for action to be taken against those who framed Nambi. Narayanan, who had been acquitted in the case, was eventually awarded Rs 50 lakh as compensation by the Supreme Court in 2018.

What is the ISRO spy case?

The Kerala police had registered two cases in October 1994, after Maldivian national Rasheeda was arrested in Thiruvananthapuram for allegedly obtaining secret drawings of ISRO rocket engines to sell to Pakistan. Three individuals were arrested in connection with the case - then ISRO director Nambi Narayanan, then ISRO deputy director D Sasikumaran and Fousiya Hasan, a Maldivian friend of Rasheeda. Three months later i.e. in 1995, when Narayanan was released on bail, he had approached the National Human Rights Commission seeking compensation from the Kerala government, for the mental agony that he had suffered in the process. The CBI later dismissed the allegations against him as false.

However, the Supreme Court in 2018 termed the police action against the former ISRO scientist 'psycho-pathological treatment', and said his 'liberty and dignity', basic to his human rights, were jeopardised as he was taken into custody and, eventually, despite all the glory of the past, he was compelled to face 'cynical abhorrence'. The SC appointed a three-member panel headed by former judge D K Jain, while the Kerala government was directed to give Narayanan a compensation of Rs 50 lakh, as he underwent "immense humiliation.

Over a period of almost two-and-a-half years, the panel headed by Justice (retd) D K Jain examined the circumstances leading to the arrest. The 79-year-old former scientist, who was given a clean chit by the CBI, had earlier said that the Kerala police had 'fabricated' the case and the technology he was charged with having stolen and sold in the 1994 case did not even exist at that time.

Narayanan had approached the apex court against a Kerala High Court judgement that said no action needed to be taken against Mathews and two retired Superintendents of Police K K Joshua and S Vijayan, who were later held responsible by the CBI for the scientist's illegal arrest.

(Image Credits: PTI)
After links were established between accused Umar Gautam and Zakir Naik's aide Bilal Philip in the Uttar Pradesh forced conversion racket, Republic TVconfronted Philip's aide Shajiuddin, a representative of Islamic Online University (IOU) in Hyderabad. Shajiuddin confirmed that an MoU was signed between Umar Gautam's organization Islamic Dawah Centre and IOU. He said, 'Yes, it happened long ago. I guess it took place in the year 2011 or 2012'.

On being asked about the terms and conditions of the MoU, Shajiuddin said, "It's been very long. To be honest, the MoU is not effective anymore and I don't even remember properly what were the terms and conditions. I'll have to look into it again. In the beginning, I was in contact with him and then we are not in contact. He visited Hyderabad some time back and called me but after that, we have not been in touch till now."

Regarding Bilal Philip and Umar Guatam's recent meet in Qatar, the IOU representative claimed that he is not aware of it and he only looks after the University in India. Three people have been arrested so far in Uttar Pradesh' forced conversion racket.

'International Mastermind' Under ATS Scanner in UP Conversion Racket

In Uttar Pradesh's conversion racket probe, investigators have speculated that the syndicate may have been funded by foreign entities and is allegedly linked to fugitive preacher Zakir Naik. The UP Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) has reportedly established links between accused Umar Gautam and Zakir Naik's aide Bilal Philip, who is believed to be the international mastermind behind the conversion racket. The UP police disclosed on Monday that accused Gautam, who has been running the Islamic Nawaz Centre, has a wide range of connections with various organizations that are linked to radical Islamic groups and individuals.

Sources informed Republic TV that Umar Gautam's and his family's bank accounts were used to receive funds from foreign entities. Approximately Rs 1.83 crore were deposited in their accounts between January 2010 and June 2021, they added. The police also established that Gautam has a very close association with Bilal Philip who is the founder of the Islamic Online University for Qatar. It may be noted that Philip's entry has been restricted in many countries, including India. He is said to have motivated almost half a dozen Indians to join the Pakistani ISIS.

Forced conversion racket busted in Uttar Pradesh

The alleged conversion racket was busted by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad following the registration of an FIR in the case at Lucknows ATS police station. As per reports, two men of Delhis Jamia Nagar were allegedly running an outfit involved in converting deaf and dumb students and other poor people to Islam in Uttar Pradesh with funding from Pakistans ISI. Moreover, children and women were also lured in with false promises of cash, job, and marriage, and later, converted. Gautam, who is himself a convert to Islam from Hinduism, boasted to the police of having converted at least 1,000 people to Islam. I converted at least 1,000 non-Muslims to Islam, marrying them all to Muslims, Kumar quoted Gautam as boasting.

On June 24, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took cognizance of the case and directed the agencies to strictly deal with those arrested in the case as he is personally monitoring it.

(Image Credits: ANI/REPUBLICWORLD)
In the latest development in the conversion racket probe in Uttar Pradesh, investigators have speculated that the syndicate may have been funded by foreign entities and is allegedly linked to fugitive preacher Zakir Naik.

The UP Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) has reportedly established links between accused Umar Gautam and Zakir Naik's aide Bilal Philip, who is believed to be the international mastermind behind the conversion racket. The UP police disclosed on Monday that accused Gautam, who has been running the Islamic Nawaz Centre, has a wide range of connections with various organisations that are linked to radical Islamic groups and individuals.

Sources informed Republic TV that Umar Gautam's and his family's bank accounts were used to receive funds from foreign entities. Approximately Rs 1.83 crore were deposited in their accounts between January 2010 and June 2021, they added.

The police also established that Gautam has a very close association with Bilal Philip who is the founder of the Islamic Online University for Qatar. It may be noted that Philip's entry has been restricted in many countries, including India. He is said to have motivated almost half a dozen Indians to join the Pakistani ISIS.

Earlier this week, the Yogi Adityanath government ordered the National Security Act (NSA) against those involved in the alleged conversion of speech-impaired and physically challenged children in Uttar Pradesh. The CM also asked the investigating agencies to dig deeper into the racket.

ATS nabs 3 more racketeers

Meanwhile, the ATS nabbed three more individuals in connection with the conversion racket. Rahul Bhola, Mannu Yadav (Abdul Manan) and Irfan Khayaza after the interrogation of Umar Gautam. Addressing a press briefing on Monday, the UP ADG Law & Order Prashant Kumar informed that Irfan Khayaza is an Interpreter in the Ministry of Children's Welfare in Delhi.

Using his influence, Khayaza used to manipulate the dumb and deaf people and speak ill about other religions, the police said. He used to provide gifts and other inducements to attract the people and get them converted. Khayaza was accompanied by Rahul Bhola, who is also deaf. Both of them would force people get converted and distribute conversion certificates with the help of Umar Gautam. Mannu Yadav and another accused Aditya Gupta were also converted by them.

Forced conversion racket busted in Uttar Pradesh

The alleged conversion racket was busted by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad following the registration of an FIR in the case at Lucknows ATS police station. As per reports, two men of Delhis Jamia Nagar were allegedly running an outfit involved in converting deaf and dumb students and other poor people to Islam in Uttar Pradesh with funding from Pakistans ISI. Moreover, children and women were also lured in with false promises of cash, job, and marriage, and later, converted.

Gautam, who is himself a convert to Islam from Hinduism, boasted to the police of having converted at least 1,000 people to Islam. I converted at least 1,000 non-Muslims to Islam, marrying them all to Muslims, Kumar quoted Gautam as boasting.
A recent study revealed that coronavirus positive patients with traumatic injuries have a six times higher risk of death and complication than patients without COVID. The research, published in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Surgery, showed that the virus increased the risk of complications and death among trauma patients with injuries from car crashes, falls or other accidents, or who were victims of violent injuries such as gunshots and stabbings. The researchers at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania revealed that the patients in trauma centres across the state, who also tested positive for COVID-19, had a six times higher risk of death than patients with similar injuries without COVID.

The study further even showed that COVID positive patients also demonstrated double the likelihood of complications such as venous thromboembolism, renal failure, need for intubation, and unplanned ICU admission, as well as more than five times the odds of pulmonary complications. The researchers informed that these risks were even greater in patients over the age of 65.

Lead author Elinore Kaufman, MD, MSHP, an assistant professor in the Division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery at Penn Medicine, said, COVID-19 had the largest impact on patients whose injuries were relatively minor, and who we would have otherwise expected to do well.

Elinore added, Our findings underscore how important it is for hospitals to consistently test admitted patients so that providers can be aware of this additional risk and treat patients with extra care and vigilance.

'Need more data' to administer proven treatments

As per the study, the researchers conducted a retrospective study of 15,550 patients admitted to Pennsylvania trauma centres from March 21, 2020, to July 31, 2020. They said that of the total number of patients, 8,170 were tested for the virus, and 219 tested positive. The researcher added that during this period, they evaluated length of stay, complications, and overall outcomes for patients who tested positive for COVID, compared to patients who did not have the virus. The research found that the rates of testing increased over time, from 34 per cent in April 2020 to 56 per cent in July. It said that the rates of testing varied substantially across centres, however, with a median of 56.2 per cent and a range of 0 per cent to 96.4 per cent.

Senior author Niels D. Martin, MD, chief of Surgical Critical Care and an associate professor in the division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery, said, First, we need to investigate how to best care for these high-risk patients, and establish standard protocols to minimize risks.

Niels added, Second, we need more data on the risks associated with patients who present symptoms of COVID, versus those who are asymptomatic, so we can administer proven treatments appropriately and increase the likelihood of survival with minimal complications.

(With inputs from ANI)
As India aim to vaccinate the entire country by December, Dr RS Sharma, CEO, National Health Authority & Co-WIN platform chief on Monday, June 28, said that in about 5 months, Co-WIN has grown to 300 million-plus registrations & vaccinations.

He said, "Co-WIN keeps an account of each individual. We've learned to create these kinds of platforms from our experience of Aadhaar & UPI".

In about 5 months, it(Co-WIN) has grown to 300 million-plus registrations & vaccinations. It keeps account of each individual. We've learned to create these kinds of platforms from our experience of Aadhaar& UPI: Dr RS Sharma,CEO, National Health Authority & Co-WIN platform chief pic.twitter.com/Nn80wEFYix  ANI (@ANI) June 28, 2021

Co-WIN report

On June 23, RS Sharma, the chief of the Co-WIN platform, shared that as many as 1,08,949 vaccinators logged into Co-WIN portal on June 21 to facilitate this huge number of inoculation in one day, after achieving a historic milestone of vaccinating more than 88.09 lakh people. The achieved number was equivalent to Switzerland's population and more than that of any of the Nordic countries.

CO-WIN updates

On June 26, the central government allowed the users to link their COVID-19 vaccination certificate to passports on the Co-WIN portal. This decision came as a big relief to all the people who were planning to travel abroad. the official handle Aarogya Setu App tweeted, giving all the details on how to link the passport details to the vaccine certificate.

To avoid errors, the Aarogya Setu app allows for a one-time name change option to ensure that the name on the vaccine certificate and the passport is the same.

People travelling abroad for education, jobs, or as part of the Indian contingent for the Tokyo Olympic Games, will have to get their vaccination certificates linked to passports, as per the Central government new guidelines for COVID-19 vaccination.

A successful vaccination portal

On June 22, Amit Malviya, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya claimed that India's COVID-19 vaccination portal- Co-WIN had received interest from 20 nations wanting to adopt it.

The BJP leader said, "While Rahul Gandhi and assorted lobby of professional critics kept attacking Cowin, the universal Covid vaccination app, more than 20 nations want to adapt it It must be a terrible feeling for these India haters to see their venom not find any takers"

COVID situation in India

To date, India has reported a total of 3.03 Crores COVID cases with 2.93 Crores recoveries and 3.97 lakh deaths.

The country has administered a total of 32,14,23,578 COVID vaccines across 48,025 vaccination centres.

In a recent update, according to the Union Health Ministry, India has overtaken the United States in terms of vaccination numbers.

(Image credit: PTI/COWIN.GOV.IN)
Authorities in New South Wales have warned that case numbers will increase "considerably" after the Australian state recorded 18 new locally transmitted virus cases on Monday.

State Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters authorities were expecting the case numbers of the highly contagious delta variant to fluctuate in coming days.

A two-week lockdown was imposed last weekend on Australia's largest city of Sydney of more than 5 million people, and its surrounding area.

People could leave their homes only for essential purposes.

Berejiklian said vaccine supplies will increase in coming weeks and she urged residents to get vaccinated.

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Amid concerns over the environmental and economic effects, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently inaugurated the most ambitious megaproject called the Canal Istanbul project. According to ANI, the project involves the digging of an artificial 45-kilometre canal, parallel to the Bosporus, linking the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara. The canal is expected to be used by 160 vessels a day, supposedly to ease congestion and diminish the risk of accidents in the Bosporus strait, bridges, businesses, housing districts, a marina and an artificial lake.

While speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony at Sazlidere dam, Erdogan said that the government is opening a new page in the history of the Turkish Republic with the canal project. The country aims to complete the project at an estimated cost of 15 billion dollars in six years time. The Turkish President informed the canal will ensure the safety of life and property of Istanbuls Bosphorus.

Erdogan said, We regard Canal Istanbul as a project to save the future of Istanbul... to ensure the safety of life and property of Istanbul's Bosphorus and the citizens around it.

He added that projections show that "the number ships passing through Bosporus will rise from the current yearly average of 45,000 ships to 78,000 in 2050... The passage of each large ship poses a danger to the city. In the Bosporus, there is heavy traffic of ships of all classes and capacities, both in North-South and East-West directions.

Earlier, in an interview with Hurriyet newspaper, Minister of Transport Adil Karaismailoglu also boasted that the Canal Istanbul Project will increase Turkey's effectiveness in world's trade and bring Turkey to a leading position in world economic corridors. Adil said that the project will leave its mark in history as a guarantee of the independence and sovereignty of the Republic of Turkey. He added that 500 people will be employed and an economic contribution of 28 billion dollars will be made.

Turkey will become a playmaker in global maritime trade, the minister said.

Critics of Canal Istanbul project

However, critics of the project say that the canal will cause profound ecological damage in Istanbul, exacerbate the dangers posed by earthquakes, and put the already ailing Turkish economy under the burden of even greater debt. Pinar Giritloglu, vice president of the Chamber of Urban planners, said that through this new canal, the Black Sea and the Marmara waters will get mixed, which will have ecological consequences and imperil an already tenuous water supply and marine life. Some experts have even warned that the Canal poses a grave danger to soil and groundwater salinisation and contamination as it would carry salty water from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara.

Cemal Saydam, professor of environmental engineering, said, "Canal Istanbul is not a project that you can say: "We made a mistake, let's go back. Even if you regret it, there is never any going back. Therefore, this project should not happen.

Moreover, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition CHP party, has also vowed to abandon the $15 billion plan if Erdogan is defeated in elections due to be held in 2023. Both he and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who is regarded as a potential presidential candidate, have also threatened to blacklist international finance and construction firms involved in the project. Imamoglu even called it a cement project and said that he gets nightmares about it.

(With inputs from ANI)
The chief of Irans Revolutionary Guard on Sunday warned that the Islamic republic has developed unmanned explosive-laden aerial drones with a range of 7,000 km (4,375 miles). In a televised statement to the state news agency IRNA, Irans Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) chief Hossein Salami said, We have unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) with a long-range of 7,000 kilometers. They can fly, return home, and land wherever they are planned to.

Salamis remarks come just two months after the Iran-backed Iraqi militias carried out the drone attacks at an alleged secret CIA hangar in the Iraqi Kurdistans capital city Erbils airport alarming the United States. Iran has been supplying its proxies in the Middle East such as the Houthis in Yemen with UCAV drones such as the Qasef-1 loitering munitions with a striking resemblance to Iranian Ababil-II.

Separately last week, bomb-laden drones attacked US military forces at what the Iranian-backed group term as Victory Base near Baghdad International Airport, which the officials suspected was carried out by the as pro-Iranian factions. Even as the base had shut down after the US-led coalition militarys Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, hundreds of US and coalition troops are deployed at the US Department of State-operated Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center (BDSC).

The Iranian telegram channel Sabereen News flashed reports that at least two fixed-wing combat drones laden with explosives targeted the US forces at Ain al-Asad Airbase in Iraq, adding that the C-RAM, as well as AN/TWQ-1 Avenger missile systems deployed at the base, were not able to intercept the drones.

[Gaza drone is displayed in an undisclosed location in Iran. Sepahnews via AP]

The United States and Israel, earlier last month held talks on the unmanned Iranian drones and precision-guided missiles supplied by Iran to the Shiite militias and terrorist organizations in the region. Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and Israels ambassador Gilad Erdan met with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and other top officials in Washington to express strong concerns about Iran, and to convince Washington to draft a new improved deal rather than negotiate on the P5+1+EU and Iran 2015 drafted Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)to deter Iran from nuclear stockpiling.

The high profile meeting was convened by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, Bidens national security adviser Jake Sullivan, members of the White House National Security Council (NSC), Brett McGurk, and Counsellor of the United States Department of State Derek Chollet, as well as the Israeli diplomats Gilad Menashe Erdan. Israels intelligence minister, Eli Cohen, sounded an alarm about Irans show military strength as he stated in the press that the Israeli fighter jets can reach everywhere in the Middle East  and certainly Iran, adding that Iran neither has immunity anywhere.

[Gen. Hossein Salami and Iranian Guards aerospace division commander Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh. Credit: AP]

US retaliates Iran backed militia's 'drone attacks' with airstrikes

Meanwhile, in retaliation to the Iranian drone attacks by Iran-backed militia on the US armed forces and facilities in Iraq, the United States conducted air raids against Iranian-backed factions in Iraq and Syria on June 27. In a statement released Sunday, the US military said that it targeted operational and weapons storage facilities in at least two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq. Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a release that as many as five Iran-backed Iraqi militia fighters were among the casualties, and several others were wounded. Syrias state-run SANA news agency meanwhile reported a child injured. Condemning the increasing drone attacks by the Iran-backed militia on US forces in Iraq, Pentagon said in a statement, As demonstrated by this evenings strikes, President Biden has been clear that he will act to protect US personnel.
Iraq, Egypt and Jordan took a step toward deepening a regional alliance by holding tripartite talks in Baghdad on Sunday, in a first visit by an Egyptian head of state to the country in 30 years. Talks ranged from trade to Mideast crises.

Abdel Fattah el-Sissi was greeted by Iraq's President Barham Salih upon arriving Sunday morning.

It marked the first time an Egyptian president paid an official visit to Iraq since the 1990s when ties between both countries were severed after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.

Jordan's King Abdullah II arrived shortly afterwards, he and el-Sissi then met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi for a third round of tripartite talks.

The meetings are seen largely as an attempt to neutralize Iran's influence across the region and have been welcomed by the U.S.

Al-Kadhimi also aims to shore up regional alliances and bolster Iraq's standing in the Middle East as a mediator capable of bringing even the staunchest of foes to the negotiating table.

Baghdad recently hosted talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia focusing on the war in Yemen.

IMAGE: AP

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Israel's newly re-established coronavirus cabinet met in Jerusalem on Sunday evening, chaired for the first time by newly elected Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

Earlier on the day, Bennett urged the country's youth to get vaccinated as case numbers have crept up in recent days due to a localized outbreak of the delta variant.

Israel reinstated a mask mandate indoors amid a rise in new infections in the past week.

Israel's Health Ministry recorded 113 new coronavirus cases on Saturday.

Bennett also said the government had appointed a special director in charge of managing the country's border crossings, with particular emphasis on Israel's main international airport, and preventing the spread of the coronavirus and other diseases.

Many of the new cases reported in the past week were traced to individuals who had arrived from abroad.

IMAGE: AP

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A Russian business delegation met Lebanese officials on Monday over possible plans to rebuild the grain silos that were destroyed last year by a massive explosion at Beirut's port, a Lebanese Cabinet minister said.

The visit by the delegation, which included officials from Russia's Hydro Engineering and Construction company, comes as the nation deals with its worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history.

Nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate  a highly explosive material used in fertilisers  had been improperly stored in the port for years.

The catastrophic blast on August 4 killed 211 people and injured more than 6,000, devastating nearby neighbourhoods.

A government-commissioned study in the wake of the blast said the 50-year-old silos could collapse at any moment and should be demolished.

Lebanon's caretaker Public Works and Transpiration Minister Michel Najjar told reporters after the meeting that the Russian delegation expressed their willingness to provide technical support on how to manage ports in Beirut and Tripoli.

He added that the team would spend three days at each facility and "study the possibility of building new grain silos" in the two cities.

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After approval of the Food and Drug Authority, Saudi Arabias Ministry of Health on June 28 announced that the kingdom will start inoculating young people aged 12 to 18 against COVID-19 with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. According to Arab News, the Saudi MoH said that the step comes as a continuation of its efforts to expand the inoculation process. The kingdom also informed that currently 70 per cent of the adult population has been vaccinated against the virus, according to progress in community coverage, priority categories and availability of vaccine supplies.

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia confirmed 15 new COVID-19 related deaths, raising the total number of fatalities to 7,775. The Saudi MoH also reported 1,128 new confirmed cases in the kingdom in the previous 24 hours, taking the toll to 483,221. Of the total number of cases, 11,190 remain active and 1,440 in critical condition.

According to the ministry, the highest number of cases were recorded in Makkah with 369, followed by the capital Riyadh with 255, the Eastern Province with 206, Asir recorded 140, and Jazan confirmed 67 cases. The officials also announced that 1,252 patients had recovered from COVID-19, bringing the total number of recoveries in the Kingdom to 464,256. They even renewed their call on the public to register to receive the vaccine and adhere to the measures and abide by instructions.

Haj safety guidelines

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia had decided to restrict the annual Haj pilgrimage to its own citizens and residents for the second year running in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Only people aged between 18 to 65 who have been vaccinated or immunised against the Coronavirus, and are free of chronic diseases, will be allowed to take part. It also set a maximum of 60,000 participants. Only approved COVID vaccines from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson will be valid for the Haj.

According to official data, before the pandemic enforced social distancing globally, nearly 2.5 million pilgrims used to visit the holiest sites of Islam in Mecca and Medina for the week-long haj, and the lesser, year-round umrah pilgrimage, which altogether earned the kingdom about $12 billion a year. Moreover, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs reopened 12 mosques in three regions after temporarily evacuating and sterilizing them after some people tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of mosques closed and reopened after being sterilized to 1,684 within 141 days.

(Image: Twitter/AP)


Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, on June 27, met Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and Jordans King Abdullah in Baghdad, marking the first-ever visit of an Egyptian leader to Iraq since Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. The three leaders were scheduled to hold the aforementioned summit back in April, but a train crash in Sohag led to its rescheduling. However, on Sunday, the three Middle Eastern statesmen deliberated upon a range of issues including the recent Palestinian crisis, combating regional territories and economic cooperation. Additionally, the Grand Renaissance Dam project and crisis in Syria was also discussed.

This visit is an important message to our people that we are mutually supportive and unified to serve our people and the people of the region, al-Kadhimi said, according to a statement from his office.

During the meet, the leaders stressed the need to intensify consultation and coordination between the three countries on the most important regional issues, according to a statement by the Egyptian presidency. A statement issued after the meeting said the three sides also agreed on the importance of security and intelligence coordination to combat terrorism, drug trafficking and cybercrime.

PM @MAKadhimi hosts in Baghdad a tripartite summit meeting with @KingAbdullahII of Jordan and President @AlsisiOfficial of Egypt.

Click here for more details: https://t.co/6emayFuiSq  Government of Iraq -   (@IraqiGovt) June 28, 2021

Last February, Egypt signed 15 deals and memoranda of understanding in sectors including oil, roads, housing, construction and trade with Iraq after the latter approved the renewal of a contract to supply crude oil to EGPC in 2021. Meanwhile, Iraq had also signed cooperation deals in the energy, health and education sectors with both countries.

Al-Sisi's trip and 'Arab alliance'

The tripartite summit is a part of a tripartite cooperation framework launched in March 2019 by Cairo to enhance ties with Amman and Baghdad. Experts say that the potential Arab alliance could lead to several benefits, including in the field of energy diplomacy. It could also aid Iraq in reeling out of Iran's orbit of influence, which has been long encouraged by Washington, an arch-enemy of the Hassan Rouhani led Islamic Republic. Diplomacy between Cairo and Baghdad ruptured following the First Gulf War, which saw the US-led alliance (including Egypt) wage a war against Iraq in 1991. However, with al-Sisi landing in Baghdad, observers saw revitalized cooperation between the two states.

Image: AP
Islamabad, Jun 27 (PTI) One year after Prime Minister Imran Khan described slain Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as a "shaheed" (martyr), Pakistan's information minister on Sunday clarified that it was a "slip of the tongue" by his boss.

Speaking in Parliament on June 25 last year, Khan said the American forces entered Pakistan and killed bin Laden without informing the government after which everyone started abusing his country.

"I don't think there's a country which supported the war on terror and had to face embarrassment for it. Pakistan was also openly blamed for US' failure in Afghanistan," Khan had said.

"For Pakistanis across the globe, it was an embarrassing moment when the Americans came and killed Osama bin Laden at Abottabad...martyred him. The whole world started abusing us after that. Our ally came inside our country and killed someone without informing us. And, 70,000 Pakistanis died because of US' war on terror," he told lawmakers, drawing criticism from the Opposition as well as from the media.

Bin Laden, then the world's most wanted terrorist, was killed by US Navy Seals in a covert military operation in the Pakistani garrison city of Abbottabad in May, 2011.

Speaking on Geo News programme Jirga, aired on Sunday, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said, "It was a slip of the tongue. He had clarified it," the minister said while referring to Khan's controversial remarks.

The controversy surfaced again last week when Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi refrained from calling Osama bin Laden a terrorist in an interview with Afghanistans Tolo News.

When the interviewer quoted Prime Minister Imran as calling bin Laden a martyr, Qureshi said: Well, again. Out of context. He (the PM) was quoted out of context. And, a particular section of the media pair it up. Asked if he would disagree, the foreign minister paused for a while and then said: I will let it pass, the Dawn newspaper reported.

The leading Pakistani in an editorial noted that Qureshi's refusal to call bin Laden a terrorist in an interview with an Afghan media outlet is perplexing and defies logic.

"There are times to be diplomatic and parry sticky questions. However, this certainly didnt appear to be one of those instances," the Dawn said.

"Mr Qureshi could have used this opportunity to clearly state that Pakistan considers the late Al Qaeda mastermind a terrorist. However, his non-committal comments sent the wrong message to a global audience," it pointed out.

"Pakistans top leadership needs to be absolutely clear when it comes to describing fighters like bin Laden," the editorial stressed.

When asked about Qureshi's remarks by Tolo News anchor, Information Minister Chaudhry said the foreign minister's refusal to call bin Laden a terrorist might have had to do with his desire to "move forwards, instead of looking at the past".

The information minister said a clarification had been issued last year by Prime Minister Imran's spokesperson after his remarks. He emphasised that Pakistan had rendered the most sacrifices in the war against terrorism.

"Our position is entirely clear," the senior leader of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said, adding that "when our own media exaggerate things then, of course, the foreign [media] will pick them up from local sources." PTI AKJ AKJ

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In a key development, a High Court in Pakistan temporarily suspended TikTok. While hearing a petition against the Chinese video-sharing app, the Sindh High Court directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to suspend the Chinese app till the next hearing, which is slated to take place on July 8. The temporary suspension is put on the app on the grounds that it is 'spreading immorality' in the country.

It is pertinent to mention here that this is the second time that the app has been banned in the country this year. In March, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) had taken a similar action on a petition filed by several citizens. However, the PHC, after a few weeks, had lifted the ban by asking the PTA to take measures so that no ''immoral content'' was uploaded. In October, the PTA for the first time banned TikTok after receiving complaints about the indecent and immoral content, but lifted the ban after 10 days.

It may be noted here that Pakistan has long-standing ties with China since 1951. Not only have the two countries time and again showed military co-operation, but also cooperation in economic-social spheres.

TikTok and its contentious policies

TikTok, known in China as Douyin, is a Chinese video-sharing social networking service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. The social media platform is used to make a variety of short-form videos, from genres like dance, comedy, and education, that have a duration from 15 seconds to one minute. Now, that's where the problem comes in, in the name of dance, comedy, and education, people across the world have been sharing anything and everything- which includes ever-teasing, domestic violence, or just violence in general, all to get a large number of views and likes. In this respect, the ground of spreading 'immorality' holds true. There are also accusations of censorship, external influence from China, and the misuse of data against the app.

So far, a number of countries have either banned or threatened to ban the platform. In June 2019, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India banned TikTok saying they were "prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of the state and public order", and the ban was made permanent in January 2020. Besides India, countries like the USA, Japan, Bangladesh, Indonesia among others have intermittently banned the video-sharing app and have threatened to make the ban permanent. Russia, on the other hand, fined the app in April 2021 over protest posts.

(Credit-AP/Unsplash)
Following a massive explosion, a commercial building collapsed in Bangladesh's national capital Dhaka on Sunday, killing at least seven people and leaving 50 others injured. Although the authorities initially suspected it to have been caused by gas cylinder blasts, the exact cause of the blast is still not known, the local media reported. A five-member committee has been formed to investigate the explosion.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Shafiqul Islam visited the spot at 10.30 pm and said, "Seven people were killed in the explosion. We have come to know that at least 50 people were injured in the incident." The DMP added that they did not find any evidence of an act of sabotage that could cause the explosion in the building.

'Investigations have been launched': Fire Brigade chief Brigadier General

Fire Brigade chief Brigadier General Sajjad Hossain said primary evidence suggested gas cylinder blasts caused the explosion but we are yet to know how it actually occurred. There were gas cylinders at a restaurant at the ground floor of a nearby building and air-conditioners at a showroom upstairs while there were gas cylinders as well at the road construction site at the scene... investigations have been launched, Hossain added.

As per reports, 29 people among the injured have been admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and 10 to Sheikh Hasina National Burn and Plastic Institute whereas, the other injured were taken to several hospitals in the Maghbazar area.

"Broken glass walls of several nearby buildings and shopping malls littered the road outside the three-story building. Two buses were also heavily damaged due to the explosion," informed an eye witness.

Another witness said he saw a fireball go over his head and the explosion turned everything dark and smoky in his vicinity while pieces of glass started to shower from above.

Soon after the explosion the buses and cars crashed into one another while panic-gripped passengers struggled to come out of the vehicles, as per several other witnesses.

Deputy director (Dhaka zone) of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, Debashish Bardhan said the search-and-rescue operation is still on to be sure if there is anyone trapped in the building.

(With Agency Inputs)
Cambodian authorities on Sunday confiscated an 18-month-old male defanged and declawed pet lion that made an appearance on the TikTok videos shot at a Phnom Penh villa. The underfed lion weighing just 70 kilograms [154 pounds] was imported from overseas by a Chinese national, in violation of the law in Cambodia that prohibits petting exotic animals or wildlife breeds at home.

Ministry of Environment calls on citizens to take care of and preserve wildlife and not try to catch wild animals, which is an illegal activity, Camobidas minister of environment wrote in a post on Sunday, sharing the photos of the lions rescue. It further warned that the wild animals must be  left alive in nature to increase breedings

Secretary-General of Phnom Penh along with the first Ambassador launched a rescue mission with the Phnom Penh coalition authorities, along with NGO Wildlife Alliance to confiscate the male lion from a high-end district of the most populous city of Phnom Penh. A joint operation involved the Cambodian Forestry Administration, participation of the Deputy Prosecutor of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, the Police, the Military Police, and the NGO Wildlife Alliance who safely captured the lion in an enclosure and moved it to a rescue center.

[Credit: NGO Wildlife Alliance]

[Credit: NGO Wildlife Alliance]

The wild cat was first spotted in a TikTok video uploaded by a Chinese man who had held the carnivore in captivity at his Boeung Keng Kang residence. At the time the animal was rescued by the Cambodian authorities, it had its canines plucked out, and its claws were clipped. He was found with a black collar around his neck. The Chinese man was seen bathing the lion in footages accessed by the Cambodian police, as well as a separate video showed the lion seated next to a pet dog. Footages also depicted the man cuddling the wild species.

[Credit: NGO Wildlife Alliance]

[Credit: NGO Wildlife Alliance]

Probe was ordered

A probe was ordered into the matter in the month of April. It was found that the Chinese nationals smuggled the lion into the country illegally from abroad. The lion was ultimately rescued on Sunday and transported to the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre where it will be housed in a wilderness-like enclosure and will be provided with professional care. Animal rescue NGO Wildlife Alliance wrote in a release that such bodily modifications as made by the Chinese man can dramatically reduce wild cats quality of life.

Cambodian police and the Forestry Administration warned the Chinese owners that it was illegal to pet lions as per the countrys laws. Director of Phnom Penh Forestry Cantonment, Koam Seiha, said that the Chinese owners have been called in by the authorities to stop raising such wildlife. It, however, remains unclear if the authorities have taken legal action against the owners.
Indonesian health authorities announced a further increase in new coronavirus infections on Monday, with the number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began already over 2 million.

The Health Ministry reported 20,694 new COVID-19 cases with 423 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Indonesia's coronavirus death toll stands at over 57,000, the highest in Southeast Asia.

According to Johns Hopkins University, just 4.81 % of the population have been fully vaccinated.

At least 40 people were being buried under COVID-19 protocols at the Pedurenan cemetery in Bekasi on Monday, among them the brother of Sri Dewi.

She said they were sent away from hospital due to a lack of beds and that the family bought an oxygen cylinder for him to be treated by a doctor at a local clinic.

But it was not enough to help him and he died on Sunday night.

The sharp rise in cases is putting pressure on hospitals and has added urgency to the government's plan to innoculate 1 million people each day by next month.

At the RSUD hospital in Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta, 90% of beds are occupied and five tents have been put up at the parking lot to support the Emergency Care Unit.

Patients with COVID-19 symptoms are waiting in line to receive treatment.

The surge of cases in Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, has been blamed on travel during last month's Eid al-Fitr holiday as well as the arrival of new virus variants, such as the the delta version first found in India.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven on June 28 announced his resignation days after he lost a confidence vote in parliament and became the first Swedish leader to ever lose such a motion. Now that he will step down from the position he acquired in 2014, talks will take place in Sweden between different political parties to find a new government in order to prevent a snap election. Lofven had the deadline until Monday night to announce the decision after he lost the parliamentary vote on June 21. The Social Democrat governments had previously survived at least six no-confidence motion until losing for the first time this month.

At the press conference announcing his resignation, Lofven said, This is the most difficult political decision I have taken. However, he added, that the priority was to make the decision that lies in Swedens best interest which meant avoiding a snap election during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The best argument I could see for a snap election was a democratic test of a new parliamentary landscape, he further explained while referring to the right-wing blocs increasing willingness to collaborate with the far-right Sweden Democrats.

Lofvens resignation triggers speaker round

As per reports, the Monday decision of Swedens PM since 2014 had triggered what is called talmansrunda which literally means speaker round.It refers to the series of talks between the speaker of the Swedish parliament and the leaders of the countrys political parties with an aim to find a new government that can command a parliamentary majority. Notably, this step could lead Lofven to return to the Prime Ministers office or the post could transfer to a member of the opposition if they are successful in finding their own majority. If these talks fail, the country would be pushed to fresh polls.

Lofven expressed his confidence that a snap election can be possibly avoided. He said on June 28, I cannot guarantee it but that is the picture I have in front of me, that its possible. We all still need to contribute. The no-confidence motion in Lofvens minority government was called by the nationalist Sweden Democrats party. Since the Social Democratic-Green coalition mainly relied on votes from the small Left Party, it lost the confidence vote as Left Part withdrew its support.

IMAGE: AP
A man accused of crashing into an Oklahoma high school cross-country team, killing three and injuring several others, has been found guilty of murder.

Cleveland County jurors on Friday found Max Townsend, 58, guilty of three counts of second-degree murder. He was also found guilty of three counts of leaving the scene of a fatality accident and four counts of leaving the scene of an injury accident.

Prosecutors said Townsend accelerated his pickup truck to 77 mph (124 kph) before crashing into the runners from Moore High School in suburban Oklahoma City in February 2020.

Authorities have said the truck crossed two lanes of traffic, veered onto a sidewalk and crashed into the runners.

Jurors chose a life sentence as the punishment on each count of second degree murder, 10 years for each count related to leaving the scene of a fatality accident and two years for each injury hit and run offense.

Formal sentencing is set for Aug. 19.

Townsend's attorney said he lost consciousness before the crash after choking on an energy drink . His 29-year-old son had been killed the day before in an auto accident.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Austin said Townsend was angry with his life after the death of his son.

He didnt care. He did not care, Austin said. Thats obvious from his actions.

Rachel Freeman, 17, Yuridia Martinez, 16, and Kolby Crum, 18, were killed in the crash.

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The US has carried out airstrikes against Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria, in response to drone attacks against US personnel and facilities in Iraq, the US Department of Defense said on Sunday.

In a statement, the Pentagon said, "At President Biden's direction, US military forces earlier this evening conducted defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region. The targets were selected because these facilities are utilized by Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq."

"Specifically, the US strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those countries. Several Iran-backed militia groups, including Kata'ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS), used these facilities," the statement read.

'Efforts to defeat ISIS': Pentagon Press Secretary

In another statement, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby stated that US President Joe Biden will act to protect US personnel.

He said, "Given the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting U.S. interests in Iraq, the President directed further military action to disrupt and deter such attacks. We are in Iraq at the invitation of the Government of Iraq for the sole purpose of assisting the Iraqi Security Forces in their efforts to defeat ISIS.The strikes were both necessary to address the threat and appropriately limited in scope." Kirby also informed that the US military targeted three operational and weapons storage facilities, two in Syria and one in Iraq.

The United States took necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation  but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message, Kirby added.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement on Sunday that the U.S. airstrikes appear to be a targeted and proportional response to a serious and specific threat." She added, Protecting the military heroes who defend our freedoms is a sacred priority.

Sundays strikes mark the second time the Biden administration has taken military action in the region. In February, the U.S. launched airstrikes against facilities in Syria, near the Iraqi border, that it said were used by Iranian-backed militia groups.

(With Agency Inputs)
The US military, under the direction of President Joe Biden, conducted airstrikes against what it said were "facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups" near the border between Iraq and Syria.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the militias were using the facilities to launch unmanned aerial vehicle attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq.

Kirby said the US military targeted three operational and weapons storage facilities Sunday  two in Syria and one in Iraq.

He described the airstrikes as "defensive," saying they were launched in response to the attacks by militias.

The Pentagon said the facilities were used by Iran-backed militia factions, including Kata'ib Hezbollah and Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada.

Two Iraqi militia officials told The Associated Press in Baghdad that four militiamen were killed in the airstrikes near the border with Syria.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give official statements.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that closely monitors the Syrian conflict through activists on the ground, reported that at least five Iraqi militiamen were killed in the airstrikes.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Prum Chantha (L) and her son sit at a Buddhist temple near Prey Sar Prison in Phnom Penh, Oct. 6, 2020.

Cambodian authorities have sent the teenaged autistic son of a jailed member of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) to Prey Sar Prison after being charged with incitement and insulting public officials, his mother said.

Kak Sovannchhay, the 16-year-old son of former senior CNRP member Kak Komphear, was arrested at his house on June 24 by about 20 Phnom Penh police, said his mother, Prum Chantha, who suggested the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen was trying to silence her protests over her jailed husband.

The Hun Sen regime arrested my husband and is arresting my son. It is very cruel, she said.

They shouldnt arrest my son who does not know anything. He is a minor and does not have a good memory, added Prum Chantha.

Why did the authorities arrest my son? He was orphaned by his father in prison, and I go out to protest every Friday, said the boys mother.

Prum Chantha joined fellow members of the Friday Wives group of women who hold weekly protests demanding the release of their husbands jailed on incitement charges for expressing views critical of Prime Minister Hun Sens leadership in staging a protest Friday and submitting a petition to the British Embassy that was blocked by city authorities.

While British embassy officials came out to receive the petition and promised to send it to the British ambassador, Phnom Penh authorities cracked down on the group of women, grabbing banners of photos of their detained husbands, pushing them and spraying alcohol in their faces, witnesses said.

"Let the government rethink this, stop arresting your own people, drop the charges against my husband and son and release all of them, said a sobbing Prum Chantha.

Phnom Penh Municipal Police spokesman San Sokseiha told RFAs Khmer Service that these women were disturbing other citizens and did not seek permission from city authorities.

"I told you many times that if they have permission from Phnom Penh City Hall, it does not matter, but the important thing is they dont have any permission from us, he said.

In April Kak Sovannchhay was assaulted by two men on a motorbike while traveling with his mother to a hospital in the Phnom Penh for treatment. The men immediately fled the scene of the attack, which left the teen in need of 20 stitches, Prum Chantha told RFA at the time.

In October, the boy told RFA that he was beaten by police while in custody after being arrested for entering the CNRPs abandoned headquarters to collect flags.

He was arrested by local police after entering the partys old headquarters in Phnom Penhs Chak Angre Leu district by climbing over a fence, according to the authorities, who later released him without charge after being forced to sign a letter confessing that he had been wrong to illegally enter a prohibited place and vowing to refrain from doing so in the future.

In the past, Sovannchhay was assaulted by an unknown person and seriously injured, and the authorities have not yet found justice for him. Now, the authorities came to arrest him at night without a warrant. This is an illegal action, said Ny Sokha, human rights monitoring director for the domestic NGO Adhoc.

Cambodias Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP in November 2017, two months after leader Kem Sokhas arrest, for its role in opposition leaders alleged scheme. The ban, along with a wider crackdown on NGOs and the independent media, paved the way for Prime Minister Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) to win all 125 seats in parliament in the countrys July 2018 general election.

Since then, the partys members have fled into self-imposed exile to avoid what they say are politically motivated charges, or faced intimidation, arrest, and unprovoked attacks.

Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Tin Zakaria. Written in English by
Fung Wai-kong is accused of "collusion with a foreign power" under the city's national security law.

Hong Kong police have arrested a journalist with the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper at the airport as he tried to leave for the United Kingdom, local media reported.

Fung Wai-kong, 57, a former editor and columnist at the paper, was arrested at Hong Kong International Airport on Sunday on suspicion of "conspiring to collude with foreign powers to endanger national security" under a draconian law imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), local media reported.

Police declined to name Fung, but confirmed that a 57-year-old man had been arrested on the same charge, that he remains in police custody, and that investigations are under way.

The paper's closure came after a national security police raid, an asset freeze, and the arrests of six other staff members on the same charges, with police citing dozens of articles published by the paper as early as 2019 in evidence.

Police arrested an op-ed writer widely known by his penname Li Ping and charged chief editor Ryan Law and Next Digital CEO Cheung Kim-hung with "collusion with foreign powers," while releasing three other executives on bail without charge.

As Fung was arrested, the online news site Stand News said it had deleted all commentary and op-ed articles, including blog posts and syndicated copy, from its site.

"Stand News will continue to operate," the free, not-for-profit website said in a statement. "Previous guidelines and editorial practices will remain unchanged, but donations will be suspended, including monthly contributions and direct debits."

A Stand News reporter who asked to remain anonymous said the company is concerned over the risks to its staff and supporters.

The reporter told RFA that they hadn't received any warnings or threats from unnamed individuals, as was common among Apple Daily journalists, but said it was hard to predict how long the operation could last in the current climate.

Ronson Chan, deputy assignment editor at the website, said the new measures were "defensive," as the authorities seemed to keep moving the goalposts when it came to what kind of reporting was considered a breach of the national security law.

A widening crackdown

King-wa Fu, associate professor at the Journalism and Media Research Center of the University of Hong Kong, said the suppression of Apple Daily was "just the beginning" of a widening crackdown on public dissent and criticism of the authorities.

"When the National Security Law was implemented last year, it stated that the Hong Kong government would 'strengthen supervision of the media and the internet'," Fu told RFA. "They have been putting that into practice for a year now, and there has been a significant impact."

"The folding of the Apple Daily has sparked concerns among other media outlets," he said. "This isn't the end; it's just the beginning."

Bruce Lui, convenor of the Independent Commentator Association, said commentary in Hong Kong is getting increasingly risky.

"There are more and more risks attached to working in Hong Kong," Lui said. "There have been no constraints on the authorities' enforcement of the national security law."

"It is entirely possible to commit a crime in Hong Kong now, through words alone."

'But still they lie'

The Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA) said that if there was no room for people who ply their trade with words, then Hong Kong could no longer be regarded as an international city.

"The police have repeatedly ignored the voices of the public and the media industry," the HKJA said in a statement on Monday.

"They are arresting journalists at will in the name of national security, and yet they still claim this has nothing to do with press freedom, even though journalists now have to ask themselves if they are ready to bear the consequences of their writing," it said.

"We know that they are lying; they know that they are lying, they know we know they are lying, and we know they know we know, but still they lie," the statement said, paraphrasing Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Police have also refused permission for a once-annual protest march on July 1, the anniversary of the 1997 handover to Chinese rule, for the second year in a row, citing coronavirus restrictions on public gatherings.

Rights groups the League of Social Democrats, the Tin Shui Wai Connection, and the Save Lantau Alliance had applied to march from Victoria Park to government headquarters on the anniversary, which will also mark the ruling CCP's centenary.

"The police have reasons to believe that holding the activities would not just increase the risk of participants and other citizens getting infected, it would also pose grave threats to the lives and health of all citizens, endangering public safety and affecting the rights of others," according to the letter sent to the groups in response to their applications.

Former organizers the Civil Human Rights Front didn't apply to stage the protest this year, with many of its key members already behind bars or awaiting trial.



Reported by Gigi Lee and Emily Chan for RFA's Cantonese and Mandarin Services. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Authorities in some parts of China are banning primary school students from reading "unauthorized" books in their spare time, according to social media posts and a local resident.



The Chengde primary school in Qingyun county in the eastern province of Shandong recently wrote to parents calling them to check that their children didn't possess any banned books.



"Please conduct a thorough search for religious books, reactionary books, homegrown reprints or photocopies of books published overseas, and for any books or audio and video content not officially printed and distributed by Xinhua Bookstore," the school said in a recent circular letter to parents, according to screenshots posted to social media.



The notice said grade teachers were to be responsible for the responses of class teachers to the order, while class captains were responsible for students' responses.



"Nothing and nobody should be missed in our search," the notice said. "Relevant staff will in future pay close attention to book corners and library ... [to root out] non-Xinhua books and audiovisual materials."



"Please pay special attention to this political work," the notice read.



A former high-school teacher surnamed Wang from the central city of Zhengzhou in Henan province said the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) doesn't want children to come into contact with any materials not previously approved by the authorities.



"They are afraid that the students may learn certain truths, given that overseas publications aren't subject to the control fo the central propaganda department," Wang said. "All teaching materials must be reviewed by the ministry of education, and they will delete even one or two words if they have an issue with them."



"You are only allowed to read what the government wants you to read," she said. "It's about monitoring and control."



"Some of the names of high-ranking CCP leaders are now sensitive words, which means that the students can't contact them," Wang said.



Retired Shanghai teacher Gu Guoping said the government is keen to instil a love of the CCP in students.



"They had never asked this before at my daughter's school, but lates they asked her what she was reading at home, and whether she had any foreign publications," Gu said. "I think this is definitely a new development."



"The controls are much tighter now; far more so than under [the leadership of former president] Hu [Jintao] and [former premier] Wen [Jiabao]," he said. "This is definitely a retrograde step."



"It's like the Cultural Revolution all over again," Gu said, in a reference to the Mao-era movement that saw denunciatory "struggle sessions," kangaroo courts, beatings and summary executions, factional armed conflict and the replacement of doctors and teachers with unqualified "revolutionaries" between 1966 and 1976.



The CCP has stepped up security measures and clamped down on any form of public dissent ahead of its centenary celebration on .



Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Services. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Primary school children wearing face masks as a protective measure against the COVID-19 novel coronavirus arrive for a class at Hasin Primary School in Sosong District in Pyongyang following the re-opening of schools on June 3, 2020

North Korea has ordered universities and schools nationwide to renovate old, crumbling buildings and modernize their classrooms, but the funding, labor, and materials for each school is the responsibility of the students and their families, sources in the country told RFA.

Forcing citizens to volunteer to work on government projects or donate money and materials to finance and supply them is common practice in North Korea, but sources said that the school modernization project not only disrupts learning patterns, it is an undue burden on families with school age children.

The plan is the product of the Eighth Party Congress of the ruling Korean Workers Party in January, when the countrys leader Kim Jong Un ordered the state to take necessary steps to become self-sufficient. For the education sector, this meant schools were due for renovations and updating.

Educational authorities have begun refurbishing buildings at high schools and universities nationwide, but the expenses and labor responsibilities have been transferred to parents and students, a resident of North Hamgyong province in the countrys northeast told RFAs Korean Service June 24.

The project is intended to implement the decisions of the Eighth Party Congress and the Provincial Party Committee is overseeing it. The committee is saying that the old buildings will be renovated, but most of them are so old that they need to be demolished and rebuilt, said the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons.

Schools have begun holding classes only in the morning, so that students afternoons can be spent hauling gravel and sand to make concrete, according to the source.

Each person has a daily quota of 130 gallons of gravel and sand they have to secure, and theres a review session for the days work at the end of each day, the source said.

To get gravel and sand, they have to go to the river, but since the river isnt close by, they cannot carry it all back themselves. So, they have to pool their money so they can rent a car and haul it back to the school. Essentially this means the complete burden of preparation of construction materials, funding and labor is on the students and their parents, said the source.

The students and their families must also provide lunch for construction workers, according to the source.

They take turns by designating a date for each class, the source said.

When each classs turn comes up, all the students need to prepare a boxed lunch at home and bring it to the school, and this is further increasing the burden on the parents, said the source.

Another source, a resident of the northern province of Ryanggang confirmed to RFA the same day that the project was underway there as well.

School authorities are demanding that each student donate 50,000 won (U.S. $9) so that each classroom can have a computer and TV, said the second source, who requested anonymity to speak freely.

The Korea Joongang Daily reported in 2018 that each citizen earns a monthly government salary of about 4,000 won per month, less than 10 percent of the amount that the Ryanggang students are expected to contribute.

Additionally, the countrys economy is under severe stress because of international nuclear sanctions and the suspension of trade with China since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in January 2020.

Students are hounded to donate to their schools even as the UN warns that a major food crisis may be looming, and the North Korean government has told its people to prepare for the worst.

There are only a few students who are willing to donate such a large amount of money in the midst of this food crisis, so schools are nagging them every day to pay, and those who cant afford it are reluctant to even come to school, said the second source.

There is a growing resentment among the residents over the authorities passing the buck to the people. Some of the residents say things like They proudly boast about the strength of North Korean socialism and our free education system whenever they get a chance, but what is there to brag about when they put the cost of renovating school buildings on the students and their parents? said the second source.

According to both sources, the renovation projects in North Hamgyong and Ryannggang will also include elementary and middle schools, but there is no clear date set for when the project will be complete.

According to UNESCO statistics, North Korea has 5.8 million students in primary, secondary or tertiary education, slightly more than a fifth of its total population.

Reported by Myungchul Lee for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Jinha Shin and Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Nearly two weeks of multinational naval exercises are set to begin in the Black Sea amid warnings from Russia that it will respond to challenges in contested waters off Ukraine after an incident with a British warship last week.



The annual Sea Breeze exercise runs from June 28 through July 10 with the participation of 32 countries.



Most Black Sea nations, NATO allies, and partners are joining the exercise, providing 5,000 troops, 32 ships, 40 aircraft, and 18 special operations and dive teams .



This year, Ukraine and United States are co-hosting the exercise involving sea, land, and air components.



The drills across the Black Sea region come after Russia claimed on June 23 that it fired warning shots and dropped bombs in the path of the British destroyer HMS Defender to force it to change course from the area near the Crimean city of Sevastopol.

Britain's Defense Ministry denied that the HMS Defender had been fired upon, saying that Russia was carrying out a previously announced "gunnery exercise" in the area. Britain said it was practicing freedom of navigation in Ukrainian and international waters.



In response to the incident, Moscow warned it was prepared to fire on warships entering territorial waters it claims around Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in March 2014 in a move not recognized by most of the international community.



The Russian Embassy in Washington has called on the United States and its allies to avoid military exercises in the Black Sea, saying such maneuvers "increase the risk of unintentional incidents" and embolden Ukraine.



Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said last week that the incident with the British destroyer showed that Russia's "aggressive and provocative policies" in the Black Sea and nearby Azov Sea constituted a "continuous threat to Ukraine and its allies."



Kuleba called for more cooperation in the Black Sea between NATO and Ukraine, which aspires to join the alliance.

With reporting by Reuters
June 27 marked the 24th anniversary of the signing of the UN-brokered Tajik Peace Accord that ended a five-year civil war between Tajikistan's secular government and a coalition of opposition groups led by Islamic forces.

This year, the Tajik government did not hold any public events to celebrate National Unity Day, which commemorates the signing of the peace accord. The five-year civil war that ended in 1997 led to the deaths of more than 150,000 people and saw over one-tenth of the Tajik population flee the country.

The peace accord included a political settlement that would give 30 percent of government positions to representatives of the United Tajik Opposition. However, Tajikistan has since banned the Islamic Renaissance Party that was officially registered during the peace process.

In 2015, Tajikistans Supreme Court declared the party to be a terrorist organization and jailed several high-ranking party officials on terrorism-related charges. Tajikistan's economy has never really recovered from the civil war, and poverty is widespread. Almost half of the country's GDP is earned by migrants working abroad, especially in Russia.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has been ruling the Central Asian nation since 1992 and is widely criticized for suppressing dissent and for widespread corruption in government agencies.



This gallery shows the rise of political tensions, the victims of the conflict, and the push for peace.
MINSK -- It's been a common sight in recent weeks: People line up patiently outside a medical clinic in the Belarusian capital, waiting to get their COVID-19 vaccines. So far, not many have: As of June 25, fewer than 4 percent of the people in this nation of more than 9 million had been fully vaccinated.



Belarus has been hit hard by the pandemic, which Alyaksandr Lukashenka dismissed as a "mass psychosis" that could be treated with a shot of vodka, a ride on a tractor, or a visit to a sauna, among other false information dispensed by the authoritarian ruler who has been in power since 1994.



With no lockdown measures, Belarus witnessed high coronavirus infection rates as the pandemic took hold, and now it has vaccinated fewer of its citizens than most other countries on the European continent.

And as doctors scramble to contain the virus at often ill-equipped hospitals, many have found themselves in the crosshairs of Lukashenka's political clampdown.



Belarus was thrown into turmoil in August 2020 when Lukashenka, 66, was declared victor of a presidential election that millions believe was fixed in his favor. Since then, more than 33,000 people have been detained, thousands beaten on the streets and in detention, some alleging torture, while several have been killed and opposition leaders have been locked up or forced to flee.



Belarusian health workers who have participated in the anti-government demonstrations that erupted after the election or have spoken out against official accounts of protesters' deaths and injuries, are facing brutal reprisals from the authorities, rights watchdog Amnesty International said on June 17.

According to data collated by Johns Hopkins University in the United States, Belarus had more than 413,000 confirmed coronavirus cases as of June 25, with 3,082 deaths, although experts fear the figures could be even higher amid suspicions that the government is downplaying the scope of the pandemic.



While infection numbers are high, inoculation rates are low. Belarus has fully vaccinated only 3.9 percent of the population. according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins.



Playing Catch-Up



By comparison, in Russia, which is suffering a surge of infections as the government struggles to persuade citizens to get vaccinated almost a year after it approved a Russian-made vaccine, Sputnik V, about 11 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. In the United States, it is over 46 percent, and in France, over 27 percent.



In Belarus, Sputnik Light, a single-dose version of Sputnik V that was approved by Russian regulators on May 6, is now one of two available vaccines.

The other is Vero Cell, developed by China's state-owned drug maker Sinopharm, which was approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 7, the first non-Western vaccine to win WHO backing.



Sputnik Light, which is also produced in Belarus, is much more widespread than Vero Cell.



With the vaccine campaign only really kicking off in April, doctors say they are scrambling to even catch up with Russia, a doctor told RFE/RL's Belarus Service.



"In Russia, doctors, people at risk, began being vaccinated at the beginning of December 2020, and mass vaccinations in Russia officially began on January 18, 2021," said the doctor, who requested anonymity for fear of official reprisals. "And in Belarus, the first batch of doctors was vaccinated only on January 19. Things went slowly."

The doctor said that the downplaying of the COVID-19 pandemic by Lukashenka and state-run media, as well as scaremongering involving unfounded claims of risks linked to Western vaccines, have led to public apathy and suspicion.



"A lot of damage was done here by official propaganda," he said. "They did not recognize the danger of the disease, did not see the virus, then deliberately underestimated the statistics, then the state channels inflated the rage around foreign vaccines, told the horrors of the consequences of Moderna and AstraZeneca."



In the early days of the pandemic last year, Lukashenka refused to acknowledge even one victim in the country of some 9.5 million. He demanded Belarus hold a military parade to mark 75 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, while Russia and other countries scrapped or scaled down such plans in order to safeguard against spreading the virus.

With the government doing little, Belarusians themselves came forward to assemble plastic shields, or sew protective masks and gowns.



By July, Lukashenka said he had tested positive for the coronavirus but had suffered no symptoms and had overcome it without being hospitalized, which he falsely claimed was the outcome for "97 percent" of Belarusians who became infected.



'People Are Dying'



Now, doctors in Belarus find themselves contending with the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccination drive amid the Lukashenka government's ongoing clampdown.



"Belarusian health workers have been on the front line of the country's human rights crisis, treating protesters with injuries and exposing the government's attempts to downplay the bloodshed. Many have paid a heavy price for their integrity, losing their livelihoods, and in some cases their human rights," said Bruce Millar, Amnesty International's deputy director of the watchdog's Campaigns for Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Office, upon the release of its most recent report.



'The health-care situation in Belarus, especially in provincial areas, is catastrophic. People are dying because they do not receive even the most basic care," a doctor identified only as Kanstantsin told Amnesty International. "During the worst times of the COVID-19 pandemic doctors worked nonstop and received no recognition. Instead, the government fires dissenting doctors and nurses and threatens many others."

At a clinic in Minsk, a doctor said medical personnel have struggled to assure people the vaccines are safe.



"We even thought up little sayings to convince them like: 'It's not some beer or gasoline that's sold everywhere by unscrupulous sellers, but a vaccine, which is produced with oversight after being tested,'" said the doctor, who also requested anonymity.



Outside, in the line of people waiting for shots, a young woman lamented that people in Belarus aren't being given a wider range of vaccines, especially those approved by the European Union.



"We were promised that there would be vaccines from different manufacturers and that we could choose," she told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity, also fearing reprisals.
The European Union says it regrets Belaruss decision to cut ties with the bloc, saying it will only further isolate the country and have a negative impact on the Belarusian people.

In a statement on Facebook on June 28, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry announced Minsk had recalled its permanent representative to the EU for consultations after Brussels imposed economic sanctions in response to the forced diversion of a passenger flight to Minsk last month that allowed for the arrest of a dissident journalist and his girlfriend.

The ministry suggested the EU representative in Minsk also leave for consultations, and said those responsible for the sanctions, which target key sectors of the Belarusian economy and major revenue sources for the regime of authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka, would be banned from entering Belarus.

Accusing the EU of using sanctions as a tool to impose pressure on a sovereign and independent state," the ministry said that Minsk is also suspending its participation in the Eastern Partnership program, which seeks closer cooperation between the EU and six former Soviet republics -- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

European Council President Charles Michel decried the decision, saying in a tweet that it will escalate tensions further and have a clear negative impact on the people of Belarus by depriving them of opportunities provided by our cooperation.

In a separate tweet, Michel wrote that the people of Belarus "can count on the EU.

We stand by you in solidarity and with practical support. We recall your right to elect your president through new, free, and fair elections.

Separately, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Minsks decision to suspend its participation in the Eastern Partnership framework serves only to further isolate Belarus and is yet another demonstration of the regimes disregard for the Belarusian people.

The EU remains open to continue working with Belarusian people within this framework and will continue to support the Belarusian people and civil society, as well as their democratic aspirations, said the spokeswoman, Nabila Massrali.

Regarding the Belarusian authorities move to request that the EU envoy to Minsk is recalled to Brussels for consultations, Massrali said that keeping channels of communication open is crucial in times of crisis. This has always been our intention."

Minsk has also started a procedure to suspend the readmission agreement between the EU and Belarus, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said, adding that such a move would negatively affect the cooperation with the European Union in terms of [the] fight against illegal migration and organized crimes.

But Massrali refuted the ministry's claim, saying the suspension would not automatically affect the visa regime between Minsk and Brussels, which she said was crucial for preserving personal links between EU and Belarusian citizens.

"The decision to suspend the Readmission Agreement does not imply the automatic suspension of the Visa Facilitation Agreement (VFA) between the EU and Belarus according to a suspension article in the VFA," Massrali said on June 29.

"It should be reminded that the Visa Facilitation Agreement is one of the most important tools that we have to maintain strong people-to-people links between the EU and the Belarusian people. This remains a core objective for the EU," she said. "The actions of the Lukashenka regime are isolating the country, but we are doing everything we can for the Belarusian people not to be isolated too."

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry said the head of the EU delegation to Belarus, Dirk Schuebel, was summoned at the ministry to inform him of the moves.

The previous day, Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite said Belarusian officials were behind the surge in migrants this year into the Baltic country, calling it a plan well-organized by the Belarusian authorities.

The Belarusian Foreign Ministrys announcement comes four days after the EU imposed sanctions on Minsks main export industries and access to finance in response to the escalation of serious human rights violations in Belarus and the violent repression of civil society, democratic opposition and journalists, as well as to the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk on 23 May 2021 and the related detention of journalist Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega."

Lukashenkas regime has been under international pressure since it launched a brutal crackdown on the political opposition and the independent media in the wake of a disputed election in August 2020.

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.

The protesters have said that election was rigged, while the EU, the United States, and other countries have refused to recognize the official results of the vote and do not consider Lukashenka to be the country's legitimate leader.

The crisis hit a new level on May 23 when Belarusian authorities scrambled a military jet to escort an Athens-Vilnius Ryanair flight to land in Minsk in what many countries regarded as a "state hijacking." After the plane, which was diverted just before it left Belarusian airspace, landed, law enforcement immediately arrested opposition blogger Pratasevich and Sapega, his Russian girlfriend.

The European Union, the United States, Britain, and Canada have previously slapped sanctions on Belarus over the diversion of the Ryanair flight, including asset freezes and visa bans imposed against dozens of officials, lawmakers, and ministers from Lukashenka's administration and his family members, as well as Belarusian entities.

The EU has also denied permission to any aircraft operated by Belarusian air carriers to land in, take off from, or overfly EU territories.

Previous rounds of Western sanctions also hit individual institutions and Lukashenka's inner circle over the brutal crackdown on the opposition by the Belarusian authorities in the wake of last years disputed presidential election.
MINSK -- Tut.by, a leading independent news site in Belarus, says it has removed its social media archive for the last 18 months to shield its staff and readers from persecution amid an ongoing crackdown on the country's pro-democracy movement.



The site's editors explained the move on June 28 as an effort to avoid possible criminal probes against employees and readers after an investigation was launched against the news site for allegedly fomenting "extremism."



They added that the archives were not deleted, just temporarily "hidden," with its Telegram channel being operated by administrators located outside the country.



Tut.by also said that it had removed the log-in verification option from its Telegram channel in order to allow it to rename the channel as soon as possible in case the news site is officially labeled as "extremist" by Belarusian authorities.



Last month, 15 journalists working for Tut.by were detained, the news site was blocked, and the company's bank accounts were frozen after a criminal case on tax evasion charges was launched against the news site's editors.

In mid-June, the Interior Ministry officially requested that a Minsk court recognize the news site and its accounts on social networks as "extremist."



A decision on the issue was expected on June 24, but the hearing was postponed to a later, unspecified date.



Tut.by and online resources related to it comprise the largest Internet holding in Belarus. In December, Belarusian authorities deprived Tut.by of its media license, citing warnings the website had received for extended coverage of the crackdown on protests that erupted after a disputed presidential election last August.



Electoral officials say the country's authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka, in power since 1994, won the vote, but opposition figures say the election was rigged and that their candidate, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, was the victor.



Security officials have cracked down hard on the demonstrators, arresting thousands and pushing most leading opposition figures out of the country.



Several protesters have been killed in the violence and rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used against some of those detained.



Lukashenka denies voter fraud and has refused to negotiate with the opposition.



The European Union, the United States, Canada, and other countries have refused to recognize Lukashenka, 66, as the legitimate leader of Belarus and have imposed sanctions on him and senior Belarusian officials in response to the falsification of the vote and postelection crackdown.
The Czech Republic has demanded that Russia pay compensation for the 2014 explosion at an arms depot that Prague has blamed on Russian intelligence agents.

The Czech announcement in April accusing Moscow of involvement in the blast sent bilateral relations into a tailspin, with Prague expelling many of Russias numerous diplomatic personnel.

Moscow, which denied involvement, responded similarly.

The blasts, which killed two people, had remained a mystery until this year.

The Czech Foreign Ministry said on June 28 it had summoned Ambassador Aleksandr Zmeyevsky to request full compensation

Deputy Foreign Minister Martin Smolek handed Zmeyevsky a diplomatic note invoking the responsibility of the Russian Federation under international law for its involvement in the explosions of the ammunition depot in Vrbetice in 2014.

The Czech demand drew a swift response from Moscow.

Those who act like that, demanding payments using threats and insults without an investigation or trial, are called extortionists, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a post on her Telegram channel.

The Czechs specifically named two Russians who have also been accused by Britain for involvement in the 2018 poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England.

In its statement, the Czech Foreign Ministry also said Smolek had requested that Russia revoke its decision to designate the Czech Republic as an unfriendly state.

That label, which was also applied to the United States, severely limits the hiring of local staff for positions at embassies and consulates.

With reporting by AP
Tehran has not made a decision yet on prolonging a deal with the UN atomic watchdog over access to surveillance footage at its nuclear sites, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on June 28.



A three-month agreement between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to preserve video footage at the country's nuclear installations expired last week, following a one-month extension.



"No decision, either negative or positive has been made," Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters. "Neither the continuation of the deal nor the erasure (of data). We are in the previous position for the time being.



Khatibzadeh's statement appears to contradict the position of parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who on June 27 said Tehran will never hand over the images.



"The agreement has expired ... any of the information recorded will never be given to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the data and images will remain in the possession of Iran," Qalibaf was quoted as saying by the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.



The IAEA and Tehran struck the three-month monitoring agreement in February to cushion the blow of Iran reducing its cooperation with the UN nuclear agency, and it allowed monitoring of some activities that would otherwise have been axed to continue.

The agreement, which allowed the IAEA to collect and analyze images from surveillance cameras installed at Iran's nuclear sites, was later extended for a month until June 24.

The French Foreign Ministry said on June 28 it regretted Iran's lack of response, and called on Iran to resume cooperation with the IAEA and "immediately restore its full access."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on June 15 that any failure by Tehran to extend the monitoring agreement would be a "serious concern" for broader negotiations.

Iran and the United States have been holding indirect talks on reviving the 2015 agreement between Tehran and six powers that imposed restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for lifting international sanctions.



Former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the accord in 2018 and reimposed tough sanctions on Iran's economy. Tehran reacted by gradually reducing its commitments under the deal.



President Joe Biden has signaled that the U.S. is willing to reenter the agreement if Tehran goes back to strict compliance.



Mahmud Vaezi, chief of staff to Iranian President Hassan Rohani, said last week that the country's Supreme National Security Council would take a decision on whether to extend the arrangement with the IAEA at its first meeting after the expiration date.



With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters
NUR-SULTAN -- Dozens of protesters from different parts of Kazakhstan have staged a protest in front of the Prosecutor-General's Office in Nur-Sultan saying court decisions regarding cases launched against them or their relatives were unjust.

The protesters on June 28 formed a chain in front of the Prosecutor-Generals Office, observing social-distancing rules and holding posters, saying "President, Help!"

The demonstrators say they are victims of erroneous court decisions and are demanding new investigations into their cases and retrials.

One of the demonstrators, Dauytbek Moldabekov, told RFE/RL that the protest was staged after a similar protest earlier this month in front of the Supreme Court and meetings with lawmakers failed to bring any results.

There have been similar protests in Nur-Sultan and Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty in recent years over various cases where protesters said the courts erred in their decisions.

The prosecutor-general's aide, Darkhan Duisenbai, told RFE/RL by phone on June 28 that he had no information about the protest.

International and local rights activists have said for decades that corruption is a major problem in Kazakhstan.

In February, a similar protest was held in front of the presidential office, where demonstrators said that they will turn to international organizations if their demands are not met in the country.
Amnesty International is urging a company operating hydropower plants in a protected natural area in western Kosovo to withdraw baseless defamation lawsuits against two local environmental activists.

Shpresa Loshaj and Adriatik Gacaferi have campaigned tirelessly to raise concerns about the environmental impact of hydropower plants in the protected Decan region, Jelena Sesar, Western Balkans researcher at the London-based human rights watchdog, said in a statement on June 28.

These activists are bravely standing up for their communities and their environment, and Kelkos Energys lawsuits appear to be a cynical attempt to silence them.

Kelkos Energy is a subsidiary of the Austria-based public energy provider Kelag International.

Loshaj and Gacaferi have used social media and television appearances to raise concerns about the environmental impact of the companys hydropower plants, according to Amnesty International. The activists also questioned the legality of the operating licenses that were issued by the Kosovar authorities to Kelkos Energy and other companies.

Last year, Kelkos Energy filed a defamation lawsuit against Loshaj and asked for 100,000 euros ($119,331) for reputational damages caused by her public campaigning against the companys operations in the Decan region, Amnesty International said. The company also demanded that the activist publicly retract and apologize for her statement and refrain from stating untrue facts about the company in the future.

In a similar lawsuit, Kelkos Energy demanded 10,000 euros in reputational damages from Gacaferi over a Facebook post that criticized the companys hydropower plant operations. Kelkos Energy demanded that the activist remove the contested post and publish a retraction.

Kelkos Energy told Amnesty International that the lawsuits are means to protect the company against factual statements that are demonstrably wrong. It said it operates within the law and disputed claims that its hydropower plants have caused environmental degradation.

Both cases are pending in Kosovo's courts.

Sesar said that Kelkos Energy should withdraw the lawsuits, while Kosovar authorities must ensure that environmental defenders can express their concerns without fear of reprisal.

These lawsuits illustrate the growing trend of powerful corporations and public officials misusing the justice system to intimidate human rights defenders, and shield themselves from public scrutiny, Sesar said.
The leaders of Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan agreed on new financial and energy deals, as the two met for talks in the Turkmen capital.

The June 28 meeting was the first stop of Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarovs travels to his countrys Central Asian neighbors.

According to the Kyrgyz presidential administration, Japarov and his Turkmen counterpart, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, agreed to set up a $100 million Kyrgyz-Turkmen Fund to support joint business projects.

There was no immediate public statement from the Turkmen government.

The two also agreed that Turkmenistan would supply Kyrgyzstan with electricity and natural gas during winter months.

With some of the worlds largest proven reserves, Turkmenistan is a major exporter of natural gas, sending supplies as far away as China.

Kyrgyzstan, meanwhile, is heavily dependent on electricity generated from mountain hydroelectric dams, some of which are endangered by climate change.

The Kyrgyz delegation also said it signed more than a dozen other agreements between the two countries government ministries, state agencies, and universities.

Later on June 28, Japarov was scheduled to travel to another Central Asian nation, Tajikistan, where he is expected to discuss with his counterpart, Emomali Rahmon, the complicated situation along disputed sectors of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.

In late April, clashes along one segment of the border killed dozens of people on both sides, raising fears of a wider conflict between the two impoverished former Soviet republics.

Like Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan is also closely watching the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, where U.S. forces are withdrawing and Taliban fighters have seized a growing number of settlements
YEREVAN -- Armenias Central Election Commission says official results from snap parliamentary elections confirm a landslide victory for acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians Civil Contract party while rejecting opposition demands to annul the results.

According to the final results, Pashinians party received 53.91 percent of the vote in the June 20 elections, while the Hayastan Alliance of former President Robert Kocharian and the Pativ Unem Alliance affiliated with former President Serzh Sarkisian got 21.90 percent and 5.22 percent of the vote respectively.

Even though Pativ Unem failed to clear the 7 percent threshold set for alliances to enter parliament, it has been allowed representation since by law, there must be at least three parties present in the legislature.

According to the Central Election Commission, the results translate into 71 seats for Civil Contract -- a constitutional majority -- while Hayastan and Pativ Unem will control 29 and seven mandates in the 107-seat National Assembly.

The alliances of the two former presidents, as well as the Zartonk National-Christian Party, which also failed to clear the 5 percent threshold for political parties, had applied to the Central Election Commission for the election results to be ruled invalid due to alleged irregularities.

They have claimed that Pashinian violated the constitution by continuing to act as prime minister after May 10 when parliament was dissolved, as well as alleging the use of administrative resources by the ruling party, as well as other alleged violations on election day that they claimed had an impact on the outcome of the vote.

The Central Election Commission rejected the demands by opposition groups to annul the results, instead reaffirming them.

The Kocharian-led Hayastan Alliance has said it will challenge the election results via the Constitutional Court.

In an interview with RFE/RLs Armenian Service late last week, Eoghan Murphy, head of the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission in Armenia, said that violations and incidents witnessed during the elections did not impact the validity of their results.

It was a competitive election. People could campaign freely, candidates were able to go and organize events and they organized events. But also the voters had choice in the number of parties running and voters were able to attend events if they wanted to attend events. And when it came to election day, people were able to go out and vote in a well-managed process where they could cast their vote, and that vote would be both respected and reflected in the overall results, Murphy said.
Russia and China extended a 20-year-old friendship treaty, the latest in a series of moves that have drawn Moscow and Beijing closer together.

The Kremlin on June 28 published a joint statement from Russia and China to mark two decades since the treaty was signed, as Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping held a televised meeting by video link.

Once communist adversaries, the two countries have deepened ties and cooperation, in large part due to distrust of the United States.

Since the treaty was initially signed, Moscow and Beijing have expanded military, energy, and other economic ties while also supporting each other diplomatically on a number of issues.

"In the context of increasing geopolitical turbulence, the dismantlement of arms-control agreements and increased potential for conflict in different corners of the world, Russian-Chinese coordination plays a stabilizing role in world affairs, Putin told Xi, according to a Kremlin readout of their conversation.

Xi said, meanwhile, relations between Russia and China "set an example for the formation of a new type of international relations, according to the Kremlin.

Moscow relations with the United States and its Western allies are at post-Cold War lows, strained by issues including Russia's meddling in elections, the conflicts in Ukraine, and cyberattacks allegedly from Russian hackers. Beijing is facing growing international criticism over its human rights abuses in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

Both Russia and China have been accused by human rights groups and the West of abusing their veto power at the United Nations Security Council.
KYIV -- Whatever his subject -- a tycoon living large while many go hungry, a goon hired to break up protests, an impoverished Ukrainian driven abroad to seek work -- artist Serhiy Kolyada puts it down on paper with a simple tool: a ballpoint pen.



A 49-year-old whose life and art span the late Soviet era and the three often tumultuous decades that have followed since independence in 1991, Kolyada draws inspiration from "everywhere" -- and then, putting the tip of a Bic to plain construction paper, draws images he says depict Ukraine's underbelly.



They portray the ills of society, the depredations of the state, and the aspects of life that hurt Ukraine's image abroad, such as greed, corruption, sex tourism, poverty-associated labor migration, alcoholism, and, as he sees it, criminals in parliament.

He calls it "zhlob" art. The term is tough to translate deftly, with meanings ranging from 'parasite' to a rude, narrow-minded goon. But Kolyada's works are full of such "anti-heroes," whether it's a venal oligarch or a thug the oligarch uses as paid muscle to execute the forcible takeover of a company.



"It's a person who is uncouth and behaves belligerently in society," he said. "Like they don't pick up trash after themselvesin the criminal world they roll drunks for moneyand later these people enter politics and while in power they foster corruption by continuing the practice of stealing" from the state budget.



It's a societal symptom that "starts from the bottom and goes all the way to the top," Kolyada added.

Kolyada's works can be off-putting, and that may be his aim: Speaking to RFE/RL in his makeshift home studio in Kyiv, he said that his target is the viewer's brain, not their eyes.



"We already have a lot of art that performs a decorative function, that is pleasing to the eye. What we need is art that will make a person think," Kolyada said.



Over time, an ominous figure in a series of his drawings has become Kateryna, a barefoot, frowning woman from an 1842 painting by Taras Shevchenko, a multitalented poet and artist who is a towering figure in Ukrainian culture, which depicts her parting ways with a tsarist Russian officer.

He has inserted an identical image of her in numerous settings such as Capitol Hill in Washington, Moscow's Red Square, and in Kyiv on the barricades of the Maidan  the massive protests that were ignited in part by anger over corruption and pushed Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych from power in 2014.

Through Kateryna, Kolyada said, he tries "to show what Ukraine is and meansin the former Soviet Union, we were all Russianshere I want to show that we are a distinct country."



By placing her in various foreign settings, the artist said he is highlighting the "plight of Ukrainian women who have had to go abroad to make money as labor migrants."



He chose her, he said, "because nothing has changed in the 200-odd years since Shevchenko's lifetime."



The "government still has the same attitude toward its peoplethe same social problems exist. We still have a feudal system with barons," Kolyada said, referring to tycoons widely seen as wielding political influence.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was democratically elected but behaves like a "monarch" and "has oligarchs for princes," he said, without providing details to back up his remarks.



Kolyada also turns to other figures from the past, from Kyiv-born Soviet-era writer Mikhail Bulgakov back to the Bible and much in between. He has mixed elements of pop culture with images from the Renaissance -- Michelangelo's David on a nude beach  and the works of Nikolai Gogol, another major figure in Ukraine.



Since the Maidan  after which Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula and backed anti-Kyiv forces in a war that still continues in eastern Ukraine -- Kolyada has added scenes from the protest movement to his drawings "to show there are people ready to sacrifice their lives for freedom, their country, and to protect their fellow countrymen."



'In My Dreams'



Kolyada's disaffection with state and society is firmly rooted in the Soviet era, which ended when he was about 20 years old.



He attributes his acute sense of justice from listening to broadcasts of the Voice of America (VOA), RFE/RL, and the BBC on a shortwave radio.



As it was for many people in Ukraine and elsewhere, the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was the origin of his distrust toward the Soviet system, Kolyada said. He began to listen to the Western broadcasters in the evening and write letters to the editors.

"I think this is when the KGB started homing in on me, especially when a priest who ran a program on VOA wrote me back and the envelope had been opened," he said.



As he grew older, Kolyada started taking part in anti-government protests and drawing images that skewered the Soviet authorities and pointed up the empty shop shelves, as well as taking art classes.



Later, his application to an art institute in Kharkiv was rejected. He spent a month in Sweden around the time of the abortive August 1991 coup that accelerated the Soviet breakup. He was denied political asylum and was met by KGB officers when he flew to Moscow.



He then returned to the university in Zaporizhzhya where he had been enrolled, but was soon kicked out for his "anti-Soviet stance" and ended up completing training to be a Ukrainian-language teacher at a university in Berdyansk, the Azov Sea port city where he grew up after being born in Odesa.

Eventually graduating in 1997, Kolyada headed for Kyiv and continued drawing with a ballpoint pen, living in part off the money he had made selling his sketches during his university days.



Kolyada draws his inspiration from "everywhere," he said -- on the street, in the news, in books and advertisements, and "in my dreams." When an idea for an artwork germinates, it "takes a long a long time for the subject to come to a boil in my brain."



Once they're on paper, his works can fetch up to $3,000, depending in part on the size, but on average they sell for $500 to $600. That's a far cry from what can be earned by more famous Ukrainian artists: A work by Lviv-based painter Ivan Turetskiy sold $21,250 at an April auction at Sotheby's in New York.



Galleries and the art establishment in Ukraine have mostly shunned his works, which often feature eroticism and nudity along with their in-your-face imagery.



"Gallery owners 'like' my works on Facebook but never offer to exhibit them," he said. "It's a confusing situation and they don't provide a specific reason."
A Russian court has upheld the nine-year prison sentence of U.S. Marine Trevor Reed after being convicted in July 2020 for assaulting two police officer, in what the U.S. ambassador to Moscow called another absurd miscarriage of justice."

"The verdict of the Golovinsky District Court of Moscow has been left without change, the appeal is without satisfaction," the Moscow City Court said on June 28 in a statement.

The U.S. government and Reed deny the allegations and have questioned the fairness of the judicial proceedings.

Reed and his family have insisted that the case is politically motivated, and have urged the U.S. government to intervene.

U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan, who returned to Moscow last week after leaving in April amid a diplomatic crisis, said the court's decision marks another sad milestone.

Another absurd miscarriage of justice in Russia as the world watches. We will not cease to advocate for Trevor & for US citizens denied an open & fair judicial process, a universal human right, a U.S. Embassy spokesman quoted Sullivan as saying.

The 29-year-old Reed, who is from Texas, traveled to Moscow in May 2019 to study Russian and spend time with his Russian girlfriend, Alina Tsybulnik.

On August 15, 2019, several days before his trip back to Texas, Reed and his girlfriend attended a party organized by her colleagues. He claims to have no memory of what happened following the party, where he says he was encouraged to drink large quantities of vodka.

In a car going home afterward, Reed said he felt unwell, asked the driver to stop, and got out. His girlfriend's co-worker called police and left the site with another colleague, leaving Tsybulnik alone with Reed.

Two police officers arrived at the scene and took Reed in to sober up, reportedly telling Tsybulnik to come back in a few hours and pick him up.

Tsybulnik told RFE/RL that when she arrived at the police station later, Reed was being questioned, without a lawyer or interpreter present, by two men who introduced themselves as employees of the Federal Security Service (FSB).

Tsybulnik was told that her boyfriend was accused of endangering the lives of the policemen who brought him in by yanking the driver's arm and elbowing another officer who tried to intervene.

The case against Reed has been marred by inconsistencies. Video evidence reviewed in court appeared to show no evidence that the police vehicle swerved as a result of Reed's actions, as alleged by the police officers.

U.S. Ambassador Sullivan condemned the conviction and sentencing at the time, calling it "theater of the absurd."

Reed is one of several American citizens to face trial in Russia in recent years on charges that their families, supporters, and in some cases the U.S. government, have said appear trumped up.

Another former U.S. Marine, 50-year-old Paul Whelan, was sentenced by a court in Moscow to 16 years in prison in May 2020 on espionage charges condemned by the United States as a "mockery of justice.

The United States has been pushing Russia to release Whelan and Reed.

Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS
Construction contracts for two major COVID-19 medical facilities near Tashkent went to companies linked to the Uzbek presidents inner circle and the capital citys mayor, according to an RFE/RL investigation.

The findings concern contracts for a 20,000-bed quarantine center on Tashkents southeastern outskirts, and a special hospital with 10,000 beds in a southwestern suburban district.

The projects were initially projected to total about $100 million, according to documents reviewed by RFE/RL.

The findings highlight Uzbekistans continued problem of entrenched corruption -- including no-bid contracts, monopolistic price gouging, violations of public transparency law, and insider trading.

Since taking office in 2016, President Shavkhat Mirziyoev has pledged to clean up the countrys reputation as a haven for corruption and attract new foreign investment for Central Asias most-populous country.

But Uzbek and foreign watchdog groups have documented major issues of graft, particularly in Tashkent and surrounding regions, where there is an increasing demand for real estate.

Mirziyoev last year initially announced $1 billion for the fight against the coronavirus. However, in a speech earlier this month, he stated that a total of $8 billion in public funds had been spent in the fight against the disease, much of which was financed by government-issued bonds.

The two medical facilities in question are both operational.

However, both are far smaller than the initial contracts envisioned; public records show that the one supposed to have 10,000 beds currently has only 4,128.

According to the contract and other public records obtained by RFE/RL, three limited-liability companies received contracts to oversee and build the facilities under decrees issued in March 2020.

The lead beneficiary, according to public records and government decrees, was Jahongir Ortiqhojaev, the powerful Tashkent mayor who has been linked to other secretive real-estate developments.

A federal unitary enterprise -- basically a government-owned corporation -- that is controlled by Ortiqhojaevs office signed two identical contracts for building a 10,000-bed hospital on March 26, 2020, just one day after the government issued a decree ordering the construction.

Two of the companies are linked to Achilbay Ramatov and Bakhtiyor Fazylov, Uzbek businessmen and developers known for close ties to Mirziyoevs inner circle. Ramatov is also a first deputy prime minister and head of the state railway company.

Companies controlled by the two men split the construction of the Zangiota facility, located on a 130-hectare plot just outside of Tashkent.

Neither companies owned by Ramatov and Fazylov nor their representatives responded to RFE/RL requests for comment.

Ramatov and Fazylov have been linked to another secretive government project: an exclusive mountain compound -- including a new reservoir -- that was built for Mirziyoevs use last year.

A company named Brigenergo, which is based in the Russian city of Kazan, has also been identified by RFE/RL as a subcontractor on the secretive compound.

A list of projects the company said it had completed in 2020 or participated in includes the mountain compound and the 10,000-bed hospital in the Tashkent region.

RFE/RL was unable to find further details about Brigenergos ownership structure. A person who answered the phone listed as the companys general director hung up immediately when RFE/RL called him.

Meanwhile, the general director of the contract to build the 20,000-bed facility in Yukorichirchik, located southeast of the city, is the same federal unitary company that is controlled by Ortiqhojaev.

The main contractor is Prime Tower Group, according to records reviewed by RFE/RL. The subcontractor is Obod Shakar Kurish.

Documents show that the ultimate beneficiary owner of these two other entities is Ortiqhojaev himself, through a series of shell companies, some of which share identical offices.

Contacted by RFE/RL, the Tashkent Mayors Office declined to comment.

The Construction Ministry said it was not involved in either project and knows nothing about them.

The contracts for the two projects included several clauses that shift the financial burden largely onto the governments shoulders.

The Prosecutor-Generals Office has said publicly that it had been investigating misuse of public funds in the fight against COVID-19.

The findings the office has publicized to date have mainly targeted low-level bureaucrats in several regions.

Uzbekistans death toll from the disease stands at 731, with nearly 110,000 cases recorded, according to official data provided to John Hopkins University.

Those numbers are widely believed to be a major undercount of the actual figures.
MINSK -- Viktar Babaryka, a former Belarusian banker whose bid to challenge authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka in last years disputed election was halted by his arrest, has told a court during his trial that the corruption charges against him were fabricated as he reiterated his innocence.

"I cannot admit guilt for a crime I didn't commit.... I'm not ashamed of anything, because I didn't do anything illegal, not anything even close to something illegal.... I'm confident that I was always fair and never conducted any activities that violated the laws of Belarus," Babaryka told the court during his final statement on June 28, which unlike previous sessions allowed the public to attend the trial.

He added that his children said "the most important words" to him before the session: "We do not feel ashamed of our dad."

People in the courtroom burst into applause after Babaryka's statement.

The seven other defendants in the high-profile case also gave their final statements.

On June 22, Prosecutor Syarhey Hirhel asked the court to convict Babaryka on charges of bribe taking and money laundering and sentence him to 15 years in prison.

Hirhel also asked Judge Ihar Lyubavitski to sentence the other co-defendants in the case to prison terms between three years and six years.

The judge said on June 28 that the verdicts and sentences in the case will be pronounced on July 6.

Babaryka, a former senior manager at the Russian-owned Belgazprombank, was arrested in June last year after he announced his intention to run for president.

Three days before the arrest, Belarusian authorities took control of the bank and detained several top executives on charges of tax evasion and money laundering.

Babaryka has rejected the charges saying they were invented by authorities because of his political activities.

The Minsk trial is being overseen by judges from the country's Supreme Court, a move that has been criticized by Babaryka and his defense team, who said that would deny them any chance of appeal in case of a guilty verdict.

Lukashenka was declared the victor of the August 2020 election, triggering protests by tens of thousands of Belarusians who say the vote was rigged. The demonstrations lasted for months as Belarusians demanded Lukashenka, in power since 1994, to step down and hold fresh elections.

Security officials have cracked down hard on the demonstrators, arresting thousands and pushing most leading opposition figures out of the country.

Several protesters have been killed in the violence and rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used against some of those detained.

Lukashenka denies voter fraud and has refused to negotiate with the opposition led by Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya who supporters say actually won the August election.

The European Union, United States, Canada, and other countries have refused to recognize Lukashenka, 66, as the legitimate leader of Belarus and have slapped him and senior Belarusian officials with sanctions in response to the falsification of the vote and postelection crackdown.
Amid a persistent Kremlin crackdown on civil society and a surge of COVID-19 cases driven in part by failures on the vaccination front, Russian President Vladimir Putin holds what is likely to be an hours-long televised Q&A session on June 30. Irina Lagunina, director of special projects at RFE/RLs Russian Service, joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss.
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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Recently, there has been published the latest issue of the London Geological Societys journal GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY - SPECIAL PUBLICATION (vol. 506, 2021). It is about the women who have played an outstanding role in the history of geological science, and contains a feature titled Women at the dawn of diamond discovery in Siberia or how two women discovered the Siberian diamond province. The full text of the publication is available at

https://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/specpubgsl/506/1/261.full.pdf.

The article has two authors - Ekaterina S. Kiseeva and Rishat N. Yuzmukhametov. The first author is positioned as an employee of the Oxford University, the second one represents the West-Yakutian branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). I have never seen the works of Ms. E. Kiseeva on diamond history, and R. Yuzmukhametov is undoubtedly a leading Russian historian in this field and the author of many publications, including several monographs. Moreover, Yuzmukhametov is familiar with diamonds not only as an academic researcher, but he used to be an ALROSA official in the past, and now he is the head of the diamond mining Mirny District of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) elected to this post from the United Russia Party.

This work is about the lives of two discoverers of the Yakutian diamonds - L. Popugayeva and N. Sarsadskikh and is basically a compilation of facts from dozens of publications about the life and work of these outstanding Soviet geologists and diamond exploration pioneers. It does not contain any new information, and at first glance, it is a good-quality commemorative text intended for solving purely educational tasks: Despite being well publicized in Russian literature, to the authors knowledge, there are no articles dedicated to the discovery of Siberian kimberlite field in English. One of the goals of this study is to uncover this story to English-speaking readers. Another goal is to commemorate and acknowledge the great input of women into such a difficult profession as geology in the Soviet Union.

However, the authors put the well-known Popugayevas and Sarsadskikhs story (to a large extent, thanks to Yuzmukhametovs efforts) in a very peculiar context that deserves close attention and analysis in view of clearly erroneous basic premises.

Lets start with a very strange statement: Diamonds had been extensively used in Russian Empire industry since the nineteenth century. Of course, Faberge and Bolin fascinated customers with their diamond jewellery, but this can hardly be regarded as a widespread use of diamonds in the Russian industry. In general, wide use of industrial diamonds in the countrys industry began in the 1930s - in the machine-building industry, and first of all, in engine building, which simply did not exist in Russia in the 19th century.

But paying a very backhanded compliment to the Russian Empires achievements, the authors resort to direct manipulation writing that Before 1938, the USSR imported diamonds at a cost of more than two million rubles a year, and that only covered about 50% of the countrys needs. Before World War II, the USSR consumed roughly 23 000 carats a year.

The actual consumption of industrial diamonds in the USSR in the pre-war period was as follows1:

One should agree that this is a strange way to increase English-speaking readers awareness decreasing the numbers by an order of magnitude. The numbers in the above table are taken from the report by V. Malyshev, Peoples Commissar of Heavy Engineering to A. Mikoyan, Chairman of the Economic Council under the Council of Peoples Commissars of the USSR. In his report, Malyshev emphasized that the diamonds are imported mainly from Britain (South African diamonds) and partly from Holland and the main consumers were the Peoples Commissariats of the aviation industry and the medium machine-building industry. The factories belonging to these Peoples Commissariats manufactured internal combustion engines for aircraft, tanks, and automobiles, and their production targets were strictly observed. So, to meet these targets diamonds were imported in needed quantities. Therefore, Kiseevas and Yuzmukhametovs statement that diamond imports at that time covered only 50% of the requirements just runs counter to common sense. How can it be? In what way were the rest of the requirements satisfied? If 50% of engine cylinders were machined with diamond tools, how were the other 50% honed? Using ones own bare hands? Of course, there was a popular poem in the USSR saying, Nails could be made of these people... and there were other myths extolling the strong character of communism builders. But the artistic image has little to do with technology.

Further on, the narrative of Kiseeva and Yuzmukhametov smoothly turns into a good old fairy tale, If, during World War II, Great Britain sold approximately 2800 carats of technical diamonds (charging 1 per 2 carats) to the USSR in the form of military aid, with the beginning of the Cold War this aid was no longer available. The only remaining way of obtaining diamonds was to pay the market price, which was too financially grueling for a country devastated by World War II. As a result, in 1946, the former head of the Urals Diamond Expedition, M. F. Shestopalov, wrote a letter to Stalin, outlining three key goals for the diamond industry:

(1) To cease the import of diamonds into the USSR in the short term.

(2) To create a Diamond Trust and expand exploration to multiple areas within the USSR.

(3) To target every area of the country where diamonds were found previously.

Less than one month later, Stalin invited Shestopalov to the Kremlin and approved his proposal.

Everything looks miraculous here! The fact is that the supply of industrial diamonds under the Lend-Lease Act amounted to 1,206,000, or 2,412,000 carats (the Pravda newspaper dated 11.06.1944). While in the previous example our educators of English-speaking readers made a mistake just by an order of magnitude, here they did it by three orders of magnitude! Against this background, mentioning the adventures of the legendary diamond daredevil Shestopalov seems quite natural. To make this good story sound convincing, there is a reference to the article Expansion of work for the search of diamonds in the USSR in the post-war years. 1946 - 1950 written by Yuzmukhametov and published in the journal Historical and socio-educational thought. 2013. No. 1 (17).

Lets follow this reference and read the next lines: As you know, having received this letter, I. V. Stalin invited M. F. Shestopalov to the Kremlin for a special meeting at the Council of Ministers of the USSR where he supported the proposals of the former head of the Ural Diamond Expedition. So, the trusted source here is named As You Know. Who knows? From whom is it known? What documents is this known from? No answer

What we know is that on July 16, 1946, L. Mekhlis, Minister of State Control of the USSR, signed order No. 620, on the basis of which Shestopalov was removed from all posts on charges of abuse of office, theft, and sabotage, and was brought to justice. And Comrade P. Lomako (Minister of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy), the immediate supervisor of Shestopalov, demanded to shoot him as quickly as possible2. And Shestopalov did not take part in the special meeting at the Kremlin. Mikoyan was at that meeting, as well as Kruglov (Ministry of Internal Affairs), Arkhipov (Ministry of Non-ferrous Metallurgy), and Malyshev (Ministry of geology)... . Shestopalov was not there, he was under investigation in the Urals. And none of the proposals from Shestopalovs letter were included in the resolution of the Council of Ministers On the development of National diamond industry dated 07.09.1946 and signed by Stalin. This is what is known and based on the archival documents that we have been publishing since 2018! But in 2021, in a prestigious British magazine, two Russian historians offer an old joke told by a reliable source named as you know in an attempt to increase English-speaking readers awareness.

And further on, it becomes even more funny! For the British, of course. By the beginning of the 1950s, alluvial diamonds were found within a large area in Siberia between the rivers Yenisey and Lena, and a range of Moscow and Leningrad research institutes were given the task of expanding the diamond exploration in that region. This coincided with the new embargo that, in 1950, the USA put on diamond trading with all countries of the Socialist Bloc, leaving the USSR no option other than to push the exploration forward at the fastest rate.

Thats how it was! As it turned out, it was the damned Yankees who imposed an embargo! Was this valuable information again provided by the source named as you know!? Lets look again at the already mentioned article by Yuzmukhametov, Indeed, in 1950, the United States placed an embargo on the industrial diamond supply to the USSR and all socialist-oriented countries. And here, the reference was given to a quite respectable source - John Tichotsky, and the study by the Pacific University of Alaska entitled Russias diamond colony: the Republic of Sakha, Yakutsk, 2001, p. 114. The source is very influential, so it is necessary to admit the fact of the embargo, isnt it? But let's not be too lazy to open this very page 114 and see that John Tichotsky claims that in 1950 the United States declared an embargo on industrial diamonds to the Soviet bloc, and this event allegedly accelerated the creation of the Soviet diamond industry. And to "prove" this thesis, Tichotsky cites the opinion of a Soviet expert who bitterly complains about... Britain's monopoly in the world diamond market. This is it, the source of Yuzmukhametov's confidence in the notorious embargo!

How do you like the reasoning of the American colleague? If the world diamond production and sales were Britains monopoly, then how did it come about that the embargo was introduced by the United States!? The United States did not recover a single carat and was just an importer of industrial diamonds, so what the hell of an embargo could the US place if it was impossible in principle!? But the formal logic and the luminaries of the diamond history appear to be wide apart...

In fact, there was no diamond embargo during the Cold War. In 1951-1953, the USSR purchased huge consignments of industrial diamonds from Britain, and these supplies were an order of magnitude higher than the pre-war ones by value and by carats. As a result, the State Precious Metals and Gems Repository (Gokhran) created reserves of various categories of diamonds for the industry for the next 6 to 15 years3. By the way, this completely excluded the motive of intensifying geological exploration for diamonds in the interests of the industry. And these facts are confirmed by the archival documents, which we have also published several times since 2018.

You can find many more convincing examples to show that the authors of the work in question ignored new data revealing the true motives for establishing and developing the diamond industry in the USSR, but the data already cited are quite enough to understand the false historical context in which the heroes of the publication are placed. Instead of a true story, an old industry legend was offered adorned with myths created by Soviet censorship back in the middle of the 20th century. As a result, groaning about the difficult life of diamond discoverers in Yakutia, the authors did their best to make English-speaking readers get a completely distorted, and obviously deliberately distorted, idea of the Soviet diamond industry history, including the significant aspects of the Soviet-British interaction in this area. What for? I do not know the answer to this question, but I would like to note that the United Russia Party, whose nominee is Yuzmukhametov, invariably declares the need to fight against the falsification of history. If this fight against the falsification of history resembles the work in question, then we can only express our condolences to history.





Sergey Goryainov, Rough&Polished



1 The State Archive of the RF. F. 5446. O.24a. D.965. L.2.3.

2 The State Archive of the RF. F. 5446. O. 48a. D.825. L.74.

3 The State Archive of the RF. F. 5446. O.86a. D.1113. L.2-3.
MMWEC renderingThe proposed natural gas-fired "peaker" plant, referred to as Project 2015A in public documents, has been in the works since 2015. Approval has been given to build it at Peabody Municipal Light Plants Waters River Substation, behind the Pulaski Street Industrial Park.
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GROTON, Conn.

Clifton Park native serves as a member of US Navys 'Silent Service'
American Independence is always a cause for celebration. Thats why the 4th of July is one of the most important and busiest holidays each year. Everyone looks forward to fireworks and family barbecues. However, the excitement is even greater this year since we have missed out on so many celebrations and gatherings this past year. Whether you are spending it with your family or arranging virtual get-togethers, you need to make sure you have all your patriotic paraphernalia. For many of us, this means a holiday shopping trip to Walmart for all things red, white, and blue. While it is a federal holiday, it also falls on a Sunday this year. Although many other stores will be closed, people want to know is Walmart open on the 4th of July 2021?

Walmart is Your One-Stop-Shop this 4th of July

For many consumers, Walmart offers a convenient solution for all their shopping needs. It is a one-stop-shop for clothing, school supplies, groceries, outdoor gear, and of course, holiday decorations. However, shopping on holidays can be difficult if they are operating during special hours. While many other stores close for federal holidays, everyone wants to know, is Walmart open on the 4th of July 2021?

In short, yes. As usual, Walmart has you covered, even during your holiday emergencies. If you happen to run out of hamburger buns, condiments, sunscreen, bug spray, adult beverages, or even fireworks, Walmart will be open. So, you can pick up everything you need even during the height of celebrations.

They have announced that stores across the country will be maintaining regular store hours. However, hours can vary between locations. If you want to double-check before venturing out, you can use the Store Finder to find one near year and verify their hours of operation.

Walmart Policies during COVID-19

Although most stores allow vaccinated customers to enter without a mask, you may want to grab one before entering. State laws vary, so stores are still following local guidelines regarding public safety measures during COVID-19.

If you havent gotten your vaccination yet and would like to, they can even assist you with that. You can schedule an appointment online or visit the pharmacy in person. Their staff will be happy to help and answer any questions you have.

Other Options for the 4th of July

If you dont live near a Walmart, theres no need to fret. There are other stores that will remain open on the 4th of July 2021. Several other retailers including Target and Kroger are also open on the holiday. For food needs, a few chain restaurants will also be available as well.

Keep in mind that with limited options during the 4th of July, the few stores remaining open will have heavier traffic. So, it is best to plan accordingly and shop ahead of time. But, you can rest assured that if you do find yourself in a pinch, Walmart is open 4th of July 2021.

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Love them or loathe them, Amazon's growth is intrinsically tied to Seattle.

Founded in 1994, the company humbly began from a garage in Bellevue as an online marketplace for books, capitalizing on the new age of the internet. And by 2001, the company had moved beyond just selling books to sell items like electronics and cookware, steadily growing into the e-commerce entity it is today. Amazon's CEO and founder Jeff Bezos was already a billionaire and becoming a household name.

READ ALSO: Amazon won't test jobseekers for cannabis

At the time, online shopping was gaining traction for its ease and convenience with total e-commerce sales estimated to be $32.6 billion in the U.S., up 19% from the previous year.

It can be hard to put into perspective just how much Amazon has and hasn't changed, but there are a few metrics we can use. Keep reading for a look back on Amazon in 2001 compared to what it is today.

Barry Sweet/Associated Press

Yearly sales in 2001:

According to their annual report, sales grew to $3.12 billion in 2001, up 13% from $2.76 billion in 2000. International sales took off in 2001, with 25% of all sales coming from outside the U.S. The largest international markets were in the U.K. and Germany.

The company served over 25 million customer accounts at the time, up from 20 million the previous year.

Jane Barlow - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images

Yearly sales now:

While the 2001 numbers seem like a lot, they are pennies compared to what Amazon earned in a single quarter of this year alone. For the quarter ending March 31, net sales were $108.5 billion according to Forbes, the company's best first quarter and up 44% year over year.

Getty Images

Profits in 2001:

With the dot-com bubble burst in the early part of the new century, the year 2001 actually saw Amazon go negative in profits. According to the New York Times, the company had a negative operating cash flow of $120 million. At the year's end, the company had $997 million in cash, down from $1.1 billion a year earlier.

Andia/Universal Images Group via

Profits now:

With online shopping skyrocketing amid the pandemic, Amazon had a record year in 2020 with revenue up 38% to $386 billion according to Forbes.

Matthew Rutledge, Flickr

Seattle offices in 2001:

South Lake Union was the tech-centric neighborhood back them. The online retailer moved into the Pacific Medical Center building on Beacon Hill in 1999 and occupied 13 floors for $1.5 million a year. Although it was damaged by the Nisqually Earthquake in 2001, the e-commerce company continued to occupy the building during its rehabilitation.

The company left the building in 2010 and began to move to its new headquarters in South Lake Union.

GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM

Seattle offices now:

The steel and glass spheres on Lenora Street are as much of a tourist site today as they are Amazon's Seattle headquarters. Sometimes called "Bezos' Balls" by disgruntled locals, the Spheres officially opened in 2018 and feature over 40,000 plants from around the world.

The company currently operates out of 40 buildings in South Lake Union in a sprawling urban campus and is also expanding its footprint on the Eastside, with construction on its new Bellevue 600 office building beginning in spring.

Barry Sweet/Associated Press

Workforce in 2001:

Amazon employed a total of 7,800 employees in 2001 after laying off 15% of its staffers. The shrinking was due to warehouse and customer service center closures after the dot-com bubble burst.

In a message to shareholders in 2001, Bezos wrote "Its not easy to work here. When I interview people I tell them, 'You can work long, hard, or smart, but at Amazon.com you cant choose two out of three.'"

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag

Workforce now:

According to the last annual report, the company directly employed 1.3 million people around the world in 2020. Over 75,000 people are employed by Amazon in the Seattle area, according to Geekwire.

Ted Soqui/Corbis via Getty Images

Jeff Bezos in 2001:

Known as the geeky founder and CEO of Amazon.com, Inc., Bezos was becoming a household name and face of e-commerce after being named Time Magazine's "Person of the Year" in 1999.

"There were two great themes of the year, online shopping and dot-com mania, and the minute we thought of Bezos it was obvious that he embodied both," the magazine wrote.

GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM

Jeff Bezos now:

While he has been the face of the brand for nearly three decades, Bezos won't be CEO of the company he founded for much longer. He announced plans to step down in July and will pass the baton to Andy Jassy, who currently runs Amazon Web Services.

Web Design Museum

Web design in 2001:

You can almost hear the screechy dial-up internet tone looking at this image. Advertising books and electronics, the website design was certainly much simpler. While the design may be an eyesore now, it was similar to many other catalogue websites back in the day.

Amazon

Web design now:

The streamlined website is now advertising Prime Day Sales, a promotion that didn't exist until 2005.
LONDON (AP)  U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who has led the country's response to the coronavirus, resigned Saturday, a day after apologizing for breaching social distancing rules with an aide with whom he was allegedly having an affair.

Hancock had been under growing pressure since the tabloid Sun newspaper published images showing him and senior aide Gina Coladangelo kissing in an office at the Department of Health. The Sun said the closed circuit television images were taken May 6  11 days before lockdown rules were eased to allow hugs and other physical contact with people outside ones own household.

In a resignation letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Hancock said the government owed it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down.

And those of us who make these rules have got to stick by them and thats why Ive got to resign," he wrote.

Sajid Javid, who was the U.K. Treasury chief earlier in Johnson's government before resigning in February 2020, will replace Hancock as health secretary. Javid was also home secretary in then Prime Minister Theresa May's government.

Johnson said he was sorry to receive Hancocks resignation and that he should leave office very proud of what you have achieved  not just in tackling the pandemic, but even before COVID-19 struck us."

Johnson had earlier expressed confidence in Hancock despite widespread calls to fire him.

Jonathan Ashworth, health spokesman for the opposition Labour Party, said it is right that Matt Hancock has resigned. But why didnt Boris Johnson have the guts to sack him and why did he say the matter was closed?

Some lawmakers from the governing Conservatives had also called on Hancock to quit because he wasnt practicing what he has been preaching during the pandemic.

The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis, Hancock, who is married, said in his letter of resignation.

I want to reiterate my apology for breaking the guidance, and apologize to my family and loved ones for putting them through this, he said. I also need (to) be with my children at this time.

Hancock, 42, is the latest in a string of British officials to be accused of breaching restrictions they imposed on the rest of the population to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The government is also facing questions about the circumstances in which Hancock hired Coladangelo, a university friend who was appointed to his department last year. She was initially employed as an unpaid adviser and this year became a non-executive director at the Department of Health, a role that pays about 15,000 pounds ($21,000) a year.

Johnsons Conservative government has been branded a chumocracy by critics for hiring special advisers and contractors from outside the civil service without long-customary levels of scrutiny.

Hancocks department has been accused of waiving procurement rules to award lucrative contracts for protective equipment and other medical essentials, often to personal contacts. Hancock has said he was driven by the need to secure essential supplies quickly at the height of the outbreak.

Hancock has faced weeks of pressure since the prime ministers former top aide, Dominic Cummings, accused him of botching the governments response to the pandemic. Cummings, now a bitter critic of the government he once served, told lawmakers last month that Hancock should have been fired for alleged lies and errors. He also published a WhatsApp message in which Johnson branded Hancock totally (expletive) hopeless.

Cummings himself was accused of breaking the rules and undermining the governments stay home message when he drove 250 miles (400 kilometers) across England to his parents home during the spring 2020 lockdown. Johnson resisted pressure to fire him, but Cummings left his job in November amid a power struggle in the prime ministers office.
For Seattle fried chicken fans, the story of why Ezell Stephens no longer plays any part in the restaurants that bear his name seems like a classic story of family feud writ large and public.

Ezells Famous Chicken and Heaven Sent Fried Chicken, on the surface, show the same dynamics as New Yorks Rays and Original Rays pizza shops, Detroits Coney Island sibling rivalry, and Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud (known as Trader Joes and Aldi, respectively, in the U.S.): close connections split over business deals gone sour.

With Ezells on the brink of its 18th location, coming to West Seattle later this year, plus Heaven Sent locations in Lake City and Everett, the story of Seattles chicken wars should end on a happy note  the more, the better. But the true battle behind the citys  and, famously, Oprah Winfreys  favorite crisp birds, fluffy rolls, and creamy mashed potatoes happened well before the split and went on much longer. The break-up registers as a mere blip in the shadow of what should be a blaring alarm about how the racist policies in banking and zoning consistently blocked Lewis Rudd, his sister Faye Stephens, and Fayes husband Ezell from spreading their beloved birds yet farther.

Since opening in 1984, they used only fresh chicken, battering it by hand, and frying it in vegetable oil to put out a product with all the crunch of other shops, but a less greasy feel. The ethereally light muffin-shaped rolls that accompanied the fried chicken account for nearly as much of Ezells reputation as the meat. Each location makes the same bread, says Rudd. You can go in the store and the breads coming out the oven like it did when I was at Browns Fried Chicken in Marshall, Texas. Then and now, they peel, boil, and mash the potatoes daily at every shop  the type of commitment to quality that has kept them in business for 37 years, despite the challenges they faced as Black business owners.

Big dreams at Browns Fried Chicken

Even the original idea for what became Ezells stemmed from discrimination: as teenagers, Stephens and Rudd worked together at Browns in Marshall  where the population was mostly Black, but the business owners all white.

With a KFC to the east and a Churchs to the west, everyone passing through still made sure to stop in between at Browns for the best fried chicken around. When Browns expanded to a second location an hour away in Atlanta, Texas, the owner asked Stephens to go run the restaurant  but hired someone else as the manager, telling her if anything came up, Stephens knew what to do.

If I know everything, whys she going to be in charge? Stephens asked Rudd. Someday, he told his friend, Well have our own business, our own chicken place. The two men talked about the Chicken Place for years, even as Stephens joined the Coast Guard and Rudd the Army. Stephens came back to Texas, married Faye  his childhood sweetheart and Rudds sister  and the couple moved to Seattle. When Rudd followed them there in 1977, Stephens immediately drove him around to look at potential locations for the Chicken Place.

Ezell's Famous Chicken

Failure to launch

Faye and Stephens scraped together $4,500 for a down payment to buy the building at the corner of 23rd and Jefferson in 1979. They had the knowledge, the experience, and the space to start frying. What they didnt have  and couldnt get for five more years  was the financing to remodel the kitchen and buy equipment. While the space sat boarded up, no bank would loan them money, and they battled the Small Business Association for half a decade before securing any.

The topic of red-lining is in the open now, Rudd says, but even so, he sees that a lot of people dont understand the impact it had on Black people and communities, like the Central District. We experienced it first-hand.

In 1984, Faye, Stephens and his brother Samuel, and Rudd and his brother Darnell finally opened the Chicken Place they had dreamed of for so long. The day they opened, Garfield High School, across the street, hosted the Bubblin Brown Sugar dance competition, bringing in huge crowds  and a whopping $1300 of chicken sales.

seattlepi.com file photo

Early attempts at expansion

Within a few blocks sat the same fast-food chains Browns battled in Texas, Churchs and KFC. The assistant manager of a nearby Churchs got off the bus in front of Ezells and stopped by as they mended a fence before opening to let them know theyd only be there a short time, because the school kids would keep them open for a little while, he explained. But after that, we'd be history, like the other places that came and went in that building, Rudd remembers. Take it from me, the man said, The number one assistant manager of Churchs Fried Chicken.

While the guy from Churchs was right about the support from Garfield students, he was wrong about them being history. Beyond the original store, Ezells started a convenience store program and by 1987, supplied 28 stores around the city, including a Downtown 7-Eleven that sold 300 pieces each day. They stocked the Seahawks plane with 110 three-piece box lunches before it left for every away game. In total, they sold 5,500 pounds of chicken each week from the single kitchen. If Harland Sanders is a Kentucky colonel, everybody at Ezell's is at least a major general, wrote the Seattle Times in 1988.

We had a great plan in place, so we decided to move out to the U District, says Rudd. The loan officer told them it would be no problem  they had great credit and a bank account with money in it  so they signed a lease. They were grossing $750,000 annually (equal to about $1.7 million today). But when the time came for the check to be signed, the red-line policies struck again. It took a call to Olympia, and the state representative to call the vice-president of the bank to get the loan approved, says Rudd. By then, the annual May street fair was over and school was out. Ezells had to pay the $5,000 a month rent multiple times before they could even open and more before they could build an audience. It set us back about 10 years, Rudd says of the financial catastrophe.

Ezell's Famous Chicken

Enter Oprah

Their accountants and lawyers recommended they throw in the towel. But we were determined not to stay back, says Rudd, and soon their Angel of hope, arrived. In 1989, Oprah Winfrey came to town to film a childrens program and a production assistant suggested Ezells for dinner. She stayed in the car in the parking lot while he ran in to grab the food.

The next night, manager David Jones answered the phone and informed the caller that they dont deliver on Saturdays. Then he heard a voice in the background, What do you mean, you dont deliver on Saturdays, this is Oprah Winfrey! I want some of that chicken and I want it now! He asked how he could know it was really Oprah, and she said, Bring the chicken and youll see. He did  and it was. It was also the beginning of an ongoing relationship. Rudd and Stephens flew to Chicago to cater the stars birthday party, and during a conversation on her show about foods people absolutely cannot resist, Oprah announced to her audience, Its the best fried chicken Ive ever had.

Flush with fame, they shuttered the convenience store business to focus on the expansion they had always planned for. Ezells opened concession stands inside the Kingdome, feeding the hungry hordes there and at their two stores, where people waited up to three hours to get Oprahs favorite chicken. But the debt burden of the U District store meant they still struggled to stay financially solvent, even after it closed in 1994.

Ezell's Famous Chicken

Fire and frustration

In the summer of 1999, just after they opened a store in Lynnwood, the dream went up in flames, literally, when an electric fire charred the original location. It took time to get the building back into code, and the delay brought to a head another relic of the red-lining in the neighborhood.

We were operating on what was called a conditional permit by the city, Rudd explains. But since the business stayed closed for more than a year after the fire, the permit expired, reverting the zoning back to residential. The city rejected their applications for new permits, and Rudd had to get back on the phone with Olympia and appeal to his city councilmembers to get it reinstated, further delaying the reopening. Over the next decade, Ezells dabbled in franchising with a former employee in Tacoma, then opened in Woodinville and Renton as they pressed for growth. But as is so often the case, with growth came growing pains: Stephens, now divorced from Faye, differed from Rudd in his vision of how the company should expand and split off on his own.

We reached a fork in the road, Rudd says diplomatically, despite the undiplomatic break up that tore open lifelong friendships, families, and the beloved business. Stephens opened two Ezells locations of his own, in Everett and Lake City, without getting proper permission to use the company's recipes and the name, per a King 5 News report. Stephens claimed that all that intellectual property is his to begin with, that he had founded the company, and the others were always his employees. The feud resulted in a prolonged court case.

After nearly two years, Rudd, as CEO of Ezells, paid an undisclosed settlement to Stephens and got to keep the rights to the Ezells name, while both parties retained the right to use the recipes. Stephens Lake City and Everett locations had to change their name, becoming Heaven Sent Fried Chicken, The Home of Ezell Stephenss original fried chicken. Stephens dabbled in expansion, opening in the Rainier Valley and Renton before scaling back to the original two. Heaven Sent and Ezells cook the same food, the recipes nearly indistinguishable, and both lay claim to the same history. Making the best fried chicken since 1984, says Heaven Sents marketing, while the website tells the Oprah story  but crediting Ezell, rather than Ezells.

Grace Elaine Thomas

Ezells without Ezell

Rudd and Faye still run Ezells without the namesake. Its still a family operation, with his wife doing the catering, his brother Wayne running the original location, a daughter and niece running the food truck, and extended family peppered throughout the 350 employees. They also brought on a co-owner and president, Dennis Waldron, who previously worked at large chains, including as CEO of Cinnabon  a Northwest chain that reached the kinds of national growth Rudd still dreams of.

It all builds up to the obvious question: who makes better fried chicken? In a 2018 Wall Street Journal story, Oprah sidesteps the question, redirecting the conversation to the chicken her partners cousin makes, a move Seattleites would be smart to imitate. The Renton location of Heaven Sent closed not long after Ezells moved in nearby, so the two chains share no territory, making the easy answer that the better chicken is whichever is closest  and that we should celebrate all fried chicken with the enthusiasm of Oprah flying a chef across the country to make it for her birthday party.

The harder answer comes in the form of a question: How much more great fried chicken could Rudd and Stephens have set up across the city if racism and red-lining policies hadnt stymied them at every turn? What other businesses did the city deprive itself of?

Overcoming the legacy of discrimination

A lot of the business owners that were mentors for me when I started out, that were displaced because of the gentrification, says Rudd. They couldnt get the financing to keep their business going, or to pay the rapidly rising property taxes on their homes. Its personal to him when he sees the long lines outside neon-signed cannabis shops in the same place he watched young Black men arrested and taken away for conducting the same business. The sadness and anger he expresses in discussing this seems to fuel his desire to expand, not as revenge but to show what should have been and maybe pave the way for others to follow.

Former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice once described the company as the best of what you want a small businessman to be, in the Seattle Times, and an integral part of the lifeblood of the Central Area." Both Ezells and Heaven Sent pride themselves on community involvement, hiring folks in need of a second chance in life, sticking by neighborhoods, people, and even their own businesses in times when anyone else might have given up.

In 1988, even as the company worked toward opening the U District shop, the Timess food critic, John Hinterberger wrote, Ezell's is one of those local institutions that do what they do so well, that each visit I am afraid I'm going to see some stretch limos out front and a team of investment bankers huddled inside. If I have a prayer, it is that Rudd and the Stephens get wildly rich  and refuse to franchise. Unfortunately, he didnt ask Rudd his opinion. From the beginning, he says, the plan was to build nationwide.

Now that he has found the resources and partner to make it happen, he is seizing the opportunity, growing aggressively and still aiming for the that chicken place to become a national brand. Despite recently crossing into retirement age, Rudd has no plans to step down or slow down. Hes ready to take advantage of all the opportunities once denied him.

When people ask Rudd how many stores he wants to open, how big his plans are, he always answers with a joke  which, in his retelling, clearly holds more truth than he admits  We're gonna have a spicy chicken breast available anywhere you can get a Big Mac. Thats the goal.
BERLIN (AP)  German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday defended the idea of holding a European Union meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing that it would offer an opportunity to confront Putin with European concerns.

The idea was rejected last week by eastern EU members.

At a summit on Friday, EU leaders agreed only to "explore formats and conditionalities of dialogue with Russia. There was no mention of any high-level meetings or plans for a summit with Putin, an idea that Germany and France had pushed. The outcome reflected deep divisions in the 27-nation EU's approach to Moscow.

The EU is concerned that Putin is turning increasingly authoritarian and wants to distance himself from the West. Both it and the NATO military alliance are struggling to bring Russia back to the table. U.S. President Joe Bidens meeting with Putin this month was a rare exception.

The concern was that we perhaps wouldn't be able to put up a united front, (and) such a summit of course requires very intensive preparation, Merkel said at a question-and-answer session with German and French lawmakers. She said it would allow Europeans to address all the questions that weigh on us and also those on which we want to cooperate.

Pointing to worries such as hybrid attacks that Germany, France, Italy and the Baltic nations have faced, Merkel added: It's better not just always to talk about this among ourselves, but to confront the Russian president with these things and to say that beneficial cooperation can't take place on such a basis.

This was made very clear by President Biden regarding cyberattacks, and why should Europe not be able to do exactly that? Merkel said.

But the Baltic states are among those deeply concerned about reaching out to Moscow when the Minsk agreements meant to bring peace to Ukraine are still not being respected. On the other hand, Russia is the EUs biggest natural gas supplier, and plays a key role in a series of international conflicts and issues linked to Europes strategic interests, including the Iran nuclear deal and conflicts in Syria and Libya.

The relationship between Russia and the European Union is really not good at the moment, but even in the Cold War we talked to each other, Merkel said. So I think not speaking isn't suited to solving the problems.

She added we have moved one step forward but are not there yet.
LONDON (AP)  Britains new health secretary said Monday he is confident that England is on track to remove the country's remaining coronavirus restrictions on July 19, stressing that the rapid vaccination rollout is breaking the link between soaring infection numbers and serious illnesses and deaths.

Sajid Javid told Parliament that all the figures he's seen suggested that the country is heading in the right direction," and said that the restrictions on our freedoms must come to an end.

His confident tone came despite widespread concerns about a third surge in infections in the U.K. driven by the spread of the more contagious delta variant. Government figures on Monday showed another big spike in infections, with 22,868 confirmed cases.

That's the highest daily figure since late January, though the number was likely inflated by the fact that the previous days figure of 14,876 was artificially low because of incomplete data for England.

"No date we choose comes with zero risk for COVID  we know we cannot simply eliminate it, we have to learn to live with it, Javid said. People and businesses need certainty, so we want every step to be irreversible."

Javid was named health secretary Saturday after his predecessor, Matt Hancock, stepped down following revelations that he was having an affair with an old friend he had hired as an adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care. Hancock was forced to step down amid outrage that he had broken social distancing rules by kissing his adviser in his office.

Critics saw Hancock's exit as the latest example of cronyism and hypocrisy at the heart of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative government, which has been accused multiple times of not practising what it preaches throughout the pandemic.

Though the number of people in hospitals and dying have been edging up over the past couple of weeks, they havent risen at the same rate as infections. A large proportion of infections were reported among younger people.

On Monday, another three virus-related deaths were reported, taking the U.K.'s total to 128,103. Throughout the pandemic, death figures on Monday have traditionally been lower because of weekend reporting lags.

Still, many virus experts and National Health Service officials urged the government not to speed up the timetable, saying they need time to vaccinate as many people as possible amid the rapid spread of the highly infectious delta variant, first discovered in India.

Its so important that we get the vaccination rates as high as we can before theres any consideration of easing the current restrictions, which are not really holding the outbreak, Peter Openshaw, a professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, told Sky News.

The speed of the U.K.'s vaccination rollout has been widely praised. As of Monday, around two-thirds of the British population had received one dose of vaccine, while nearly 50% has had two.

Johnson disappointed some members of his Conservative Party earlier this month when he extended the COVID-19 restrictions until July 19, saying it was sensible to provide more time for people to be vaccinated.

The Hancock scandal fueled anger over the continued restrictions after the Sun published photos of the health secretary kissing his adviser, Gina Coladangelo, on May 6. At the time, people were barred from meeting indoors with people from outside their household, except when it was necessary for work, and were supposed to stay apart.

Coladangelo, a friend of Hancocks since university days, was appointed to the Health Department's board of directors in September, a role that pays 15,000 pounds ($20,800) a year.

As the chief enforcer of the governments coronavirus measures, Hancocks position became untenable when he was seen to have violated the rules.

Those of us who make these rules have got to stick by them, and thats why Ive got to resign, Hancock said in a video posted on Twitter.

Public trust in Johnson's government has also been eroded after allegations that officials handed contracts for personal protective equipment and other supplies to friends and party donors during the early days of the pandemic.

In November, Johnson said he had full confidence in Home Secretary Priti Patel, even after his own ethics adviser found that she had violated the rules governing ministerial conduct.

Johnson was caught up in his own ethics scandal in April, when newspapers reported that he had failed to disclose that wealthy supporters had donated 58,000 pounds to cover the cost of redecorating his official residence. An ethics adviser cleared Johnson of breaking the law, but said he should have been more rigorous in finding out who was funding the project.

Ian Murray of the Labour Party said Hancocks affair was just the tip of the iceberg.

There are huge problems in this government in terms of its secrecy and in terms of the way operates, Murray told the BBC.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland defended Johnsons handling of the Hancock situation and said due process had been followed in Coladangelos appointment as an adviser.

The truth is a lot of people just dont like the PM, he told the BBC. They cant get over the fact hes popular.

___

Follow more AP stories on the global pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
JERUSALEM (AP)  Shipments of Qatari-funded fuel into the Gaza Strip will resume for the first time since last month's 11-day war between Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers, the U.N. envoy to the Mideast said Sunday.

The move indicates a return to the informal understandings between Israel and Hamas in recent years, in which the Islamic militant group has traded calm for much-needed aid and development projects in the blockaded territory.

The fuel will be delivered to Gaza's sole power plant starting Monday, U.N. envoy Tor Wennesland said in a statement.

The Israeli military body that oversees civilian affairs in Gaza confirmed the deliveries without saying who was paying for the fuel. The military said permission for the deliveries was conditional on the continued maintenance of security stability.

Last month's war was halted by an informal truce brokered by Egypt. Hamas has demanded a significant easing of the blockade, while Israel has vowed to respond militarily to even minor attacks from the territory.

The delivery of Qatari aid is controversial in Israel, where critics say it rewards militancy. When he was education minister, current Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in a 2018 interview with Israeli media compared it to protection money.

Qatar has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years to pay for electricity, help Hamas cover the salaries of its civil servants and provide monthly stipends to poor families. Qatar has also funded the construction of new roads and hospitals in Gaza.

Israel and Egypt imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza in 2007 after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces. Israel says the restrictions are needed to keep Hamas from importing military resources, while critics of the blockade view it as collective punishment of the territory's more than 2 million Palestinian residents.
3 1 of 3 Kevin Schafer/Getty Images Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Genna Martin/SEATTLEPI Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Temperatures in Western Washingtons record-breaking heat wave will peak today with potential highs ranging from 100 to 117 degrees throughout the area, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle (NWS).



Dangerously hot conditions are expected again today as temperatures peak and climb back into the triple digits, the NWS said in its Monday forecast discussion. Anomalously strong ridging combined with east winds in the lower levels will continue to work in tandem to provide historically hot temperatures over [Western Washington] before marine air begins to bring some relief to the area.



Temperatures in the Seattle area will hover around 107 degrees through most of the day but could reach as high as 115 degrees. To the north, temperatures will remain near the 100-degree mark with potential highs of 107 degrees in Everett and Bellingham. To the south, the average temperature will be 109 degrees in the Olympia area with a potential high of 117 degrees.





National Weather Service

Such temperatures can result in an increase of heat-related illness, power outages and cases of drownings or cold-water shock as residents seek respite from the heat, the weather service says.



Monday marks the climax of a record-breaking heat wave in this part of the state.
Local

top story

Students, community members protest 'divisive concepts' law Sunday in Keene

Mia Summerson / Sentinel Staff Keene High School students and community leaders gathered on Central Square Sunday to protest the divisive concepts law. Mia Summerson / Sentinel Staff Keene High School students and community leaders gathered Sunday in Central Square to protest the divisive concepts law. At right is Tom White, coordinator of educational outreach for the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College.

After a group of Keene High School students heard about a bill that would prohibit the teaching of divisive concepts in school, they decided to take a stand against it.

On Sunday, more than a dozen students and community leaders gathered in Keenes Central Square to protest House Bill 544, a piece of legislation that has since been rolled into the states budget proposal, which was signed into law by Gov. Chris Sununu Friday.

I heard about this issue from my history teacher about a week ago, and I decided I needed to do something about it, said Kiera McLaughlin, the Keene High senior who organized the protest.

The legislation, introduced by a trio of House Republicans, bans the propagation of ideas including that the state of New Hampshire or the U.S. is fundamentally racist or sexist, that meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist and that anyone should feel guilt or any other type of psychological distress due to their race or sex.

The bill would restrict spreading these divisive concepts in public schools and any businesses or organizations that get money from the state.

This puts guidelines on what are the limits, especially under the auspices of the state apparatus, what are the limits in presuming that someone was born to be an oppressor or someone was born to be oppressed because of their sex, Rep. Keith Ammon, a Republican from New Boston who introduced the bill, told the Concord Monitor in February. If thats the assumption we are going to make as a society, then we are never going to get to unity.

But the student protesters worry that the law will prevent important conversations from happening in the classroom and that it will infringe on the First Amendment.

The freedom of speech, its like one of the most important amendments, in my opinion, in our constitution, and this completely ignores it, said Keene High senior Madelyn Goldberg. And for a party thats generally all for exactly what the Constitution says, I think its ridiculous that theyre just ignoring that.

Other participants in Sundays protest said theyre concerned the law will prevent students from learning important things about both past and current events. Senior Jessica Aug said she couldnt imagine future students not learning the history she has, so historys darkest moments dont repeat themselves.

Kanan Kalke, also a senior, said communities cant start solving their problems without being able to identify what those problems are. Another senior, Eliza Shepherd, said she didnt know who would be served by disregarding certain parts of Americas history.

I dont really think it benefits anyone to pretend that that stuff didnt happen, she said. I think its important to talk about so that we can move forward.

There were several speakers during Sundays event, including Tom White, coordinator of educational outreach for the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College. White said the law could prevent schools from talking about things like slavery or misogyny, and the language found in the divisive concepts legislation should be raising red flags.

He said its up to the communitys young people to continue speaking out against concepts like this. He encouraged those in attendance to believe in the idea of the American republic as a place to share ideas and the importance of the First Amendment.

Youre doing exactly what the republic calls you to do, he told the student protesters, which is stand up for the other.

State Sen. Jay Kahn, who has vocally opposed the bill and voted against the budget last week, also spoke during Sundays event. He said that during a hearing on the state budget, HB 544 was one of the top concerns mentioned by members of the public.

He said teachers should be free to engage students in discussions about their nations history and how that history has led America to where it is today.

Kahn, D-Keene, also noted that critical race theory  an academic approach to U.S. history using the lens of race and power and the belief that systemic racism is a part of American culture  isnt part of the curriculum in New Hampshire schools.

He urged the young people who were participating in the protest to stay involved and voice support for any future efforts to repeal the legislation.

When those repeals come up, use your voice, he told them.

George Downing, chairman of the Keene Board of Education, which passed a resolution opposing HB 544 last month, called it straight-up censorship. At the protest, he said that while the law may not have been written to prevent discussion, it will have the effect of stifling conversation.

He said the law will give teachers pause  particularly when discussing history  and make them question whether what they want to teach their students will get them in trouble with the state. He urged students to continue holding protests and making their voices heard.

Asked whether she planned to do that, McLaughlin said she believes the best way is to stand up with our voices, do walk-outs, do protests, especially when the school year starts up again. McLaughlins mother, Tina McLaughlin, a Keene High English teacher, was also on hand to voice her opposition to HB 544.

I really think that its important for me and my peers to stand up against this, and the teachers, too, Kiera McLaughlin said, because were the ones mainly affected by this.
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Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

Google is reopening its California offices on a voluntary basis starting July 12, a key step as it prepares to require most workers back in September for at least three days a week.

The tech giant wont require that workers be vaccinated, but those who provide proof can remove their masks in the office. Unvaccinated employees or those who dont provide verification will be subject to a mask mandate and weekly coronavirus testing, a spokesperson said. Tech companies have generally declined to have vaccination mandates.
Richard Vogel/Associated Press

Hours after warning consumers that they may be asked to voluntarily conserve energy due to scorching temperatures, Californias power grid officials called off issuing a flex alert for Monday.

On Sunday, a heat bulletin from the California Independent System Operator said officials might issue a flex alert Monday and ask consumers to reduce electricity use during critical times of stress on the [power] grid.
The Chronicle began covering the coronavirus crisis before the first cases were reported in the Bay Area and a pandemic was declared in 2020. We reorganized the newsroom to dedicate nearly every resource to stories focused on the health and economic disasters. Each day, into the second year of the pandemic, we have published live updates to reflect the most critical local, national and global updates on COVID-19. This news is free of charge to help keep our community safe and informed.

Read the previous updates from June 10-15, 2021

See the full timeline

Friday, June 25:

Global death toll tops 3.9 million: The world reached another tragic milestone on Friday, as the toll reached 3,905,890 people dead from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to tracking by Johns Hopkins University. Experts say the actual number is likely higher. A recent analysis of blood samples from 24,000 Americans taken early last year suggests that the coronavirus popped up in the U.S. in December 2019  weeks before health officials recognized cases. The first known coronavirus death in the nation occurred on Feb. 6, 2020, in Santa Clara County. Since then, more than 603,000 U.S. residents have died from COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins.

Genentech receives emergency use authorization for COVID treatment: TheFDA has issued the South San Francisco biotech company Genentech an emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 treatment for hospitalized adults and pediatric patients. In a study of more than 5,500 hospitalized patients, researchers found the drug, Actemra, may improve outcomes in patients receiving corticosteroids and supplemental oxygen or breathing support. Even with the availability of vaccines ... we continue to see new hospitalizations from severe forms of the disease, Levi Garraway, chief medical officer with Genetech, said in a statement. We are pleased that Actemra is now authorized as an option that may help improve outcomes for adults and children hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States.

Fully vaccinated people should continue wearing masks due to delta variant, WHO says: Punctuating its warnings about rapid spread of the highly transmissible coronavirus variant delta, first discovered in India, the World Health Organization cautioned on Friday that fully vaccinated people should continue wearing masks. People cannot feel safe just because they had the two doses. They still need to protect themselves, Dr. Mariangela Simao, WHO assistant director-general, said at a news briefing. Vaccine alone wont stop community transmission. People need to continue to use masks consistently, be in ventilated spaces, hand hygiene... the physical distance, avoid crowding. The announcement comes as many U.S. states pull back pandemic restrictions, including mask mandates. Delta, now becoming the dominant global strain of the virus, could be more lethal because it transmits easily and it will eventually find those vulnerable individuals who will become severely ill, have to be hospitalized and potentially die, Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHOs health emergencies program, said this week.

Lambda variant  another mutation spreads globally: The United Kingdom has identified six cases of a coronavirus variant known as lambda, which was first identified in Peru, officials said Friday. Also known as the C.37, the World Health Organization classified lambda as a variant of interest on June 14. It is rapidly spreading in South American countries, accounting for 81% of sequenced coronavirus cases in Peru since April, and overtaking the alpha strain in Chile and Argentina. Public Health England said all the domestic cases under investigation were linked to international travel. The lambda variant has been sequenced in 26 countries to date. There is currently no evidence that this variant causes more severe disease or renders the vaccines currently deployed any less effective, U.K. health officials said.

Millennials and Gen Z severely lagging in vaccinations: Vaccine uptake among adults between 1839 years old has remained alarmingly low since all persons over the age of 16 years have been eligible for COVID-19 vaccination. Overall, 34% in that age group have received a vaccine since April 19, 2021, according to a report published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats compared to 65.7% of the general population over the age of 18, and 62.8% of all those eligible for shots over the age of 12. The lowest reported vaccination coverage and intent to get vaccinated was among adults aged 1824 years, as well as Black adults and those with less education, no insurance, and lower household incomes, the researchers found. Addressing concerns about COVID-19 vaccine safety and efficacy and emphasizing the role of vaccination in protecting family and friends and resuming social activities might help increase coverage, the authors said.

Infections among vaccinated Californians make up less than 0.04% of state cases: Out of the approximately 19 million people vaccinated against COVID-19 in California between Jan. 1 to June 17, there were 6,903 confirmed post-vaccinated infections, according to health department data published this week. These breakthrough cases account for about 0.036% of all infections in the state. Out of those cases, 527 people (7.6%) were hospitalized and 54 individuals (0.8%) died. but the California Department of Health said it is unclear if hospitalizations or deaths can be attributed to COVID-19.

53% of public health workers suffered mental health issues during pandemic: Among a sampling of 26,174 state and local public health workers, more than half experienced depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number is significantly higher than previously reported incidences in the general population, which is approximately 41%. The highest prevalences among health care workers were reported among younger respondents, as well as transgender or nonbinary respondents.

Public health workers who reported certain workplace practices, such as long work hours and the inability to take time off, were more likely to have experienced symptoms of a mental health condition. Implementing prevention and control practices that eliminate, reduce, and manage workplace factors that cause or contribute to public health workers adverse mental health status might improve mental health outcomes during this and other public health emergencies, the researchers note.

Delta variant can spread within 5 to 10 seconds: It takes seconds, not minutes to transmit the delta variant of the coronavirus, according to Australian health officials combating an outbreak in New South Wales. They warn that the variant first identified in India appears to be more transmissible across all age groups, including children. Health department investigators have found at least one case, caught on CCTV cameras, where a person was infected with COVID-19 as a stranger walked past them while shopping, according to ABC Australia. Top health officials said it looks like its five to 10 seconds, for transmission to occur.

New York state ends to-go cocktail program: With the lifting of its coronavirus state of emergency on Thursday, the New York State Liquor Authority also announced that the temporary pandemic-related privileges for to-go and delivery of alcoholic beverages are ended. Casual drinkers and industry officials are not happy. A statement from the New York City Hospitality Alliance said the move will hurt many businesses that have come to rely on this critical revenue stream. New York State Restaurant Association CEO Melissa Fleischut, added, A permanent extension of alcohol to go is supported by 78% of New Yorkers ... Only in New York would elected officials ignore an overwhelming majority of the public. Restaurants are struggling to find staff, keep up with rising costs and manage a limited supply of goods, and nearly two-thirds of the applicants will not receive Restaurant Relief Funds.

Delta variant can upend pandemic progress, WHO warns : WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday that the delta variant is the most transmissible coronavirus variants identified so far and has been identified in least 85 countries, and is spreading rapidly among unvaccinated populations. Delata is tied to surges in infections in Israel, Russia and Portugal. The U.K., where it is responsible for 96% of new cases, reported 90,511 infections over the past seven days  an increase of 48% over the previous week  and 110 new deaths, a 53% jump. Delta variant cases in New York City have quadrupled over the past week, accounting for 22.7% of all infections, up from only 5.6% the week prior. Smaller delta outbreaks also have been reported in Marin County.

More than 45% of S.F. small businesses remain closed: Over 45% of San Franciscos small businesses remain closed despite an improving economy and Californias reopening, according to a new city report. The rate has been flat from March to early June, even as coronavirus cases fell sharply and business restrictions were completely lifted. The city lags California, which had 40.8% of small businesses closed. Read the full story here.

Levi Strauss renews lease for entire S.F. HQ, the citys biggest deal during the pandemic: Levi Strauss & Co. has renewed its lease for its San Francisco headquarters at its longtime North Beach home Levis Plaza, a boost for the citys beleaguered office market. Read the full story here.

S.F. schools could follow citys mandatory vaccination policy, require teachers, staff to get shots: San Francisco schools could require teachers and other staff to get a coronavirus vaccine, following the citys lead in mandating its 35,000 government workers are eventually vaccinated. Read the full story here.

Advocates for Black employees call S.F. vaccine mandate harsh and insensitive to nonwhites: A group advocating for Black city employees issued a scathing response to San Franciscos order that its workers be vaccinated against the coronavirus, calling the mandate harsh and insensitive and threatening legal action on grounds that Black people could be disciplined more often than others. Read the full story here.

Thursday, June 24:

Biden stumps for vaccination: President Biden said Thursday that eventually the U.S. may give 1 billion doses of COVID vaccine to countries that need it. Hes announced half that amount will ship out this year or next. During a visit to Raleigh, N.C., he said its important to let the world know when it comes down to lifesaving initiatives ... if they come from us, we should share them with the world. Biden also called on Americans to reach out personally to others to ensure they get vaccinated, as his administration steels itself to miss his goal of getting 70% of adults at least one dose by July 4. He uurged people to do everything in our power to walk that extra mile, to knock on that door, to pick up the phone, and give friends and neighbors rides to vaccination sites.

More than 603,000 Americans now dead of COVID: The nations COVID-19 death toll on Thursday crossed the 603,000 mark, the worlds most fatalities, according to tracking by Johns Hopkins University. As of early afternoon, 603,068 Americans had lost their lives to the persistent killer, even as new infections wane with more people getting vaccinated. In California 63,124 people have died, and the Bay Area has lost 6,273 lives.

Opioid deaths during pandemic hit Black neighborhoods hardest: As the COVID-19 pandemic intensified Americas opioid addiction crisis across the country, many Black neighborhoods suffered most acutely, the Associated Press reports. The opioid epidemic has long been painted as a rural white affliction, but the demographics have been shifting for years as deaths surged among Black Americans. The pandemic further flooded the streets with fentanyl in communities with scant resources to deal with addiction. UCLA researchers analyzed emergency medical calls nationwide and found an overall increase of 42% in overdose deaths in 2020. For Black people, the spike was more than 50%.

S.F. schools discussing possible employee vax mandate: San Francisco schools could require teachers and other staff to get COVID shots, following the citys lead in mandating that its 35,000 government workers are eventually vaccinated. District officials confirmed to The Chronicle on Thursday that they are discussing the possibility of requiring all 9,700 staff members  including administrators  to get the shots.

Israel to reinstate indoor mask rule next week amid spike in cases: Despite Israels successful vaccination effort, an indoor mask mandate will be reinstated next week over concerns about spread of the highly contagious coronavirus delta variant, coronavirus czar Nachman Ash announced Thursday. Government data show 169 new cases recorded Thursday, the highest daily tally in months, the Times of Israel reported. With 54% of people fully vaccinated, Israel ranks fourth globally for vaccination progress. I call on the public to consider whether traveling abroad is essential, Ash said, adding, This is not the right time to fly with children who are not vaccinated. Israel was set to reopen its borders to vaccinated visitors on July 1, but the government has now postponed that plan.

Advocacy group attacks new S.F. vax mandate as unfair to non-white employees: An advocacy organization said it has received a barrage of concerns from Black and non-white San Francisco employees following Thursdays disturbing announcement that all city workers will have to undergo COVID vaccination or face firing. The Black Employees Alliance and Coalition Against Anti-Blackness wrote to the mayor and Board of Supervisors that, given historical examples including the Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, Eugenics and the compulsory sterilizations of Black females and males through the 1960, 70s, and 80s, etc., you can understand that many Black people and families are against, and do not want to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The new mandate is quite harsh, insensitive, and is anticipated to have disproportionate impacts to the Citys Black employees, the group wrote. It predicted some Black employees will be non-compliant due to their personal and religious beliefs (understanding there are exceptions for religion), and potentially be subjected to a higher rate of discipline. Read more here.

Fauci, Jill Biden campaign for vax uptake in Florida: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations leading infectious disease expert, joined first lady Jill Biden in Florida on Thursday in a bid to boost coronavirus vaccination rates there. They visited a vaccination clinic in Kissimmee before heading to an event in Tampa where people could get their shots on the ice at Amalie Arena. In Florida, about 64% of adults have gotten at least one shot, the Orlando Sentinel reports. week of April 9, more than 1.3 million doses were administered statewide, but thats dropped to about 373,000 shots the week of June 11.

Nearly all COVID deaths in US are now among unvaccinated: An Associated Press analysis of government data from May shows that breakthrough infections in fully vaccinated people accounted for fewer than 1,200 of more than 853,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations. Thats about 0.1%. And only about 150 vaccinated people were among the more than than 18,000 COVID-19 deaths in May  about five deaths per day on average. Daily deaths  now down to under 300, from a peak of more than 3,400 in mid-January  could be near zero if everyone eligible got the shots, the report indicates. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said this week that nearly every death, especially among adults, due to COVID-19, is, at this point, entirely preventable by vaccination.

WHO said to anticipate annual boosters for the vulnerable: The World Health Organization predicts annual COVID-19 booster shots will be needed for those most vulnerable to the coronavirus, like the elderly and immunocompromised, according to documents obtained by Reuters. The documents suggest that booster shots may be needed for the general population every two years as new variants of the virus emerge.

Man tests positive for nearly a year: A 72-year-old British man who tested positive for coronavirus for 305 days straight is thought to be the worlds longest ever COVID patient, news accounts say. Dave Smith, from Bristol, said he had been ready to give up on life, but recently celebrated his COVID negative test with champagne. He told The Guardian: Whenever I went bad, I went really bad  down to deaths door. My wife started to arrange a funeral five times. He joked, I called all the family in to make my peace with them. I wish Id kept my mouth shut now.

Loss of smell returns within a year for most COVID patients: Anosmia, or loss of the sense of smell, has been a tell-tale sign of coronavirus infection. A study of patients in France with COVID-19related anosmia finds that most cases resolve within a year. Out of 97 people assessed, 45% recovered their sense of smell in four months and 96% at 12 months, according to the study published Thursday by JAMA Network. Persistent COVID-19related anosmia has an excellent prognosis with nearly complete recovery at 1 year, the researchers write.

NYC to spend $30 million to lure tourists back: New York City is bent on letting tourists  a key economic driver for the city  know that the Big Apple is back and open for business. Armed with $30 million in federal aid, the citys tourism promotion agency is developing an aggressive campaign to overcome New Yorks image as the original epicenter of the U.S. pandemic, and plead for visitors to rush back, the New York Times reports. They hope to lure 10 million visitors between Memorial Day and Labor Day. The biggest foreign sources of visitors, including China and Brazil, still are mostly barring trips to the U.S.

San Jose night clinic offers shots: Working all day shouldnt deter people from getting their COVID shots, at least in Santa Clara County. The county announced a night clinic on Thursday 7 p.m.-11 p.m. at San Pedro Square Market in San Jose for drop ins. Details are at http://sccFreeVax.org.

Rare statement from Japans emperor with concern over Olympics: Japanese Emperor Naruhito is concerned the Olympics in Tokyo could cause a coronavirus spike, the head of the Imperial Household Agency said Thursday. His majesty is very worried about the current infection situation of the COVID-19 disease, Yasuhiko Nishimura told a press conference, Kyodo News reports. I suppose that he is concerned that while there are voices of anxiety among the public, the event may lead to the expansion of infections. It is rare for the 61-year-old emperor to comment on controversial topics. His words will not likely change plans for the Games. A Kyodo News survey shows about 86% of residents concerned about the risk of another COVID surge.

S.F. tallies vax success: In San Francisco, 81% of eligible residents now have received at least one dose of COVID vaccine, and nearly 72% are fully vaccinated, city data shows. Among those 65 and older, 91% have received at least one shot. The citys 7-day average number of new coronavirus cases was 10 as of June 15. Hospitalization numbers in the past month have been the lowest since the pandemic began, city officials said.

Mass vax sites in S.F. to close with shift in focus: Mass vaccination sites at City College of San Francisco and Moscone Center will close on Saturday and July 14, respectively, the city announced Thursday. Other neighborhood and mobile sites, clinics and pharmacies will continue to provide shots in a pattern better fitting needs in the highly vaccinated city. Mass vaccination sites were an important part of the distribution network, as vaccines initially rolled out, said Mayor London Breed, but the city now is focusing on getting to residents who are harder to reach or may have challenges getting to one of our many vaccination sites.

Teens pot and drinking patterns held steady during pandemic: Marijuana use and binge drinking among teens didnt change much during the pandemic, despite record decreases in the substances perceived availability, a University of Michigan survey of U.S. 12th graders found. The findings, released Thursday in Drug and Alcohol Dependence online, challenge the idea that limiting supply can curtail teen usage. With teens at home full time during the pandemic, said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse which funded the study, It is striking that ... usage rates held steady for these substances. This indicates that teens were able to obtain them despite barriers caused by the pandemic and despite not being of age to legally purchase them.

Deta variant comprises half of new infections in some states: The delta variant is now accounting for more than 20% of new coronavirus variants in the United States and half of new infections in the regions that include Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. The highly transmissable variant is vulnerable to vaccines, however, which is intensifying calls by health officials at all levels for everyone to get vaccinated.

U.S. sending 3 million vax doses to Brazil: The United States was sending 3 million doses of Johnson & Johnsons COVID vaccine to Brazil on Thursday as part of President Bidens promise of 80 million doses for hard-hit nations by the end of the month, a White House official said, according to the New York Times. The country is fighting a renewed virus surge, its death toll second only to that in the U.S.. Less than a third of the countrys population has had at least one shot.

Biden team extends ban on evicting tenants: The Biden administration has extended the nationwide ban on evictions for a month to help tenants who are unable to make rent payments during the coronavirus pandemic. The administration said Thursday, however, that this extension, until July 31, is the last. The moratorisum had been scheduled to end June 30. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the eviction bans were always intended to be temporary.

Brazil passes 500,000 deaths: Brazil has recorded more than 500,000 deaths from COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Across the world, only the United States has recorded more COVID-19 deaths, which are now nearing 603,000.

COVID cluster in Sydney prompts travel ban: An outbreak of 49 new COVID-19 cases in Sydney, Australia, prompted officials to issue a travel ban and a return to compulsory mask-wearing, The New York Times reported. The outbreak reportedly began after an unvaccinated Sydney airport limo driver tested positive for the delta variant.

S.F. will require all city workers to be vaccinated: San Francisco will require all 35,000 city employees be vaccinated against the coronavirus once a vaccine receives full approval from the Food and Drug Administration, city officials said Wednesday. Read the full story here.

High-profile S.F. parent advocate abandons public schools over sons pandemic learning loss: San Francisco mom Naomi Laguana has spent the better part of 11 years dedicated to the citys public schools. Laguana was all in when it came to supporting the school district. Now, she is out. After her son fell behind during distance learning, and his school appeared to have no specific plan to address learning loss in the fall, she and her husband decided to make the move to private school. Read the full story here.

FDA poised to add vaccine heart warnings for young people: Federal health regulators anticipate adding warnings for the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines in light of reports of heart inflammation in a small number of adolescents and young adults after vaccination. Read the full story here.

Wednesday, June 23:

Californias Vax for the Win incentives drove vaccinations in low-income areas: Gov. Gavin Newsoms cash prizes of up to $1.5 million and other prize incentives helped slow the drop in COVID-19 vaccinations in the lowest income areas of the state, according to Erica Pan, the state epidemiologist. She told a briefing Wednesday that in the week ending June 14, those living in communities classified with the least healthy conditions received 29% of all vaccine doses administered, representing an increase of 1% in each of the previous four weeks. Weekly vaccination rates in those areas have now outpaced all others for four weeks in a row. We are continuing to assess the effectiveness of this program, and early evidence suggests that incentives are a contributing factor for some individuals to get vaccinated, Pan said.

Lisbon surge blamed on delta variant: A COVID-19 surge in Lisbon has pushed Portugals daily new cases to a four-month high. The nations 14-day cumulative COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people has risen to 130  over double what it was three weeks ago. The government has already banned travel into and out of the Lisbon region on weekends. Experts blame the delta variant, estimating it accounts for more than 70% of cases. The government is widely expected to announce new restrictions for Lisbon after a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.

High-profile S.F. school mom turns to private education after sons pandemic learning loss: A mom who has spent the better part of 11 years volunteering in San Francisco school classrooms and the front office, serving as PTA president and leading the Parent Advisory Committee is abandoning the public schools to enroll her son in private school. The move comes after she and her husbanc saw their son fall behind during distance learning, and his school appeared to have no specific plan to address learning loss in the fall. Read the full story from Jill Tucker here.

Vast undercount of U.S. cases last year, new study says: Nearly 17 million coronavirus cases went undiagnosed in the United States by mid-July 2020, suggesting the virus was much more prevalent  nearly five times more so  than was believed, according to a new study from the National Institutes of Health. Researchers estimated that for every diagnosed case during spring and summer of 2020, there were 4.8 undiagnosed cases. A statement from Bruce Tromberg, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, said Tuesday that the study helps account for how quickly the virus spread to all corners of the country and the globe.

We will be the canary: Missouri is becoming a cautionary tale for the rest of the U.S. as the pandemic eases: It is seeing an alarming rise in cases due to the fast-spreading delta variant and stubborn resistance among many people to getting vaccinated. Intensive care beds are filling up with surprisingly young, unvaccinated patients. If people elsewhere in the country are looking to us and saying, No thanks and they are getting vaccinated, that is good, said Erik Frederick, chief administrative officer at Mercy Hospital Springfield, inundated with patients as the delta variant rips through the largely non-immunized community. We will be the canary.

Delta variant spurs delay in Israel reopening to tourists: Israel has postponed the planned reopening of the country to vaccinated tourists over concerns about the spread of the infectious delta variant of the coronavirus, the Associated Press reports. Israel was set to reopen its borders to vaccinated visitors on July 1. It had already started allowing groups of vaccinated tourists to enter in May. But after a rise in infections in the past week, the government said Wednesday that it would be pushing the reopening date until Aug. 1.

Wall Streeters told to vax up and show up: Wall Streets big investment banks, known for prizing in-person meetings, are sending a message to their employees this summer: Get back into the office and bring your vaccination card. Morgan Stanley said this week that all employees must attest to their vaccination status. The unvaccinated will have to work remotely, though the banks top executives say they want everyone back in the office by September. It is among several big banks requiring employees to return to the office and also provide documentation or make a formal declaration confirming vaccination.

Government begins study on pregnancy and vaccination: A government-funded study is evaluating immune responses from COVID-19 vaccines in pregnant or postpartum people, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced Wednesday. Researchers will measure the development and durability of antibodies against the coronavirus in those vaccinated during pregnancy or the first two postpartum months. The study will assess vaccine safety and look into antibody transfer to infants across the placenta and through breast milk. The study by the Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium will fill gaps in our knowledge and inform personal and policy decisions, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIAID. CDC research shows vaccination rates have lagged among pregnant women.

Vaccination benefits outweigh risks of rare heart condition, CDC researchers say: The Food and Drug Administration will likely add a warning about a risk of myocarditis and pericarditis to information sheets for COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, an agency official said Wednesday. But cases of the heart inflammation are so rare that the benefits of COVID vaccination far outweigh risks linking it to the vaccines, CDC researchers told the agencys advisory committee on immunization Wednesday. The cases linked to vaccines are milder and easier to resolve than typical cases, they said. CDC says 323 cases have been confirmed among vaccinated those under 30, a tiny percentage among the millions of shots administered  for instance, 79 myocarditis or pericarditis cases were reported among 16- and 17-year-olds receiving nearly 2.3 million doses. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the CDC, said Wednesday at Milken Foundation event that data will overwhelmingly demonstrate that the benefits of vaccination far outweigh the risks. Read more here.

Its root, root, root for the vax shots: Starting Friday people who get vaccinated at one of San Franciscos designated COVID vaccination sites will receive two free tickets for a Giants game between July and September, the city and the Giants organization announced Wednesday. The tickets will be first come, first served, while supplies last. The promotion is part of Major League Baseballs Vaccinate at the Plate national effort to increase vaccination rates. While were proud to have been the first major city in the country to administer at least one dose to 80% of our eligible residents, were not going to slow down our efforts to reach each and every San Franciscan, said Mayor London Breed.

They rejected vax rule and were fired or resigned: More than 150 health-care workers who did not comply with a Houston-based hospital systems vaccine mandate have been fired or resigned, more than a week after a federal judge upheld the policy, the Washington Post reports. Houston Methodist  one of the first health systems to require the coronavirus shots  terminated or accepted the resignations of 153 workers Tuesday, spokeswoman Gale Smith said.

Would you like fries with that shot? McDonalds gives free food with vaccinations: Pop-up clinics at McDonalds restaurants in California started offering free COVID-19 vaccines this week at some locations, giving a coupon for one free menu item to those who get shots at the fast-food spots. No appointment or health insurance is required and walk-ups are welcome at all locations, McDonalds said in a post. The promotion, a partnership with Californias health department, will be available at restaurants in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Sacramento, Solano, Yolo and Monterey counties.

Delta making inroads in unvaccinated regions: The rapid spread of the coronavirus delta variant is poised to divide the United States again, with highly vaccinated areas continuing toward post-pandemic freedom and poorly vaccinated regions threatened by greater caseloads and hospitalizations, the Washington Post reports. Delta cases are taxing hospitals in a rural, lightly vaccinated part of Missouri and hospitalizations are on the rise in states such as Arkansas, Nevada and Utah, where fewer than half of those eligible have received at least one dose of vaccine, according to data compiled by the Post.

Trust in news industry in U.S. is lowest of 46 countries: Trust in the news has grown globally during the pandemic  by an average six percentage points, with 44% of people saying they trust most news most of the time, a report published Wednesday finds. The United States is far below that, however, with the lowest levels of trust, 29%, among 46 countries surveyed by the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2021. Finland has the highest levels of trust, 65%. Political divides fuel much of this mistrust in the United States, with those who self-identify on the right being more than twice as likely to distrust the news compared with those on the left, the report said.

New York to sunset state of emergency Thursday: New Yorks state of emergency will end Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo told a news conference Wednesday. Fighting COVID and vaccinating New Yorkers are still top priorities, but the emergency chapter of this fight is over, the governor tweeted. CDC guidance will remain in effect, requiring masking on public transportation and for unvaccinated individuals in public places, among other guidelines. Local jurisdictionscan enforce stricter restrictions. Get out of the house! Cuomo said in a briefing. Go experience New York. Go to a movie. Go to Radio City Music Hall!

Pandemic alters plans of nearly 8 in 10 high school juniors, seniors: Nearly 80% of American high school juniors and seniors say the pandemic has affected their post-graduation plans, and 72 percent of those age 13-19 have had mental health struggles, a nationally representative survey of 2,400 youths by the nonprofit Americas Promise Alliance shows. Among those changing plans, one-third said they would attend college closer to home; one-quarter said they would attend a two-year instead of four-year institution; 17% said they would attend college remotely; and 16% were postponing college, the New York Times reports.

Nearly every new COVID-19 death is preventable, CDC chief says: Most recent COVID-19 deaths have been in unvaccinated people, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Tuesday. Vaccines are nearly 100% effective against severe disease and death  meaning nearly every death due to COVID-19 is particularly tragic, because nearly every death, especially among adults, due to COVID-19 is at this point entirely preventable, Walensky said at a White House briefing. She urged holdouts to get their shots, especially with the increasing threat of the highly transmissible delta variant.

Virus continues hammering South America: Colombia reached 100,000 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 this week, the tenth country in the world to do so. The nation of 50 million it had the worlds third-highest per capita death rate from COVID-19 over the past seven days, according to Oxford University data. The countrys president blamed anti-government protests. More contagious virus variants are also seen as contributing. Fatigue with safety steps like face masks, and crowded living conditions and fewer restrictions on gatherings have also fueled contagion in South America, where 5% of the worlds population has seen almost a quarter of all COVID-19 deaths.

Steepest drop in U.S. births in nearly 50 years: Births in America declined 4% last year over 2019, a pandemic baby-bust that exacerbated a trend already occurring, a new report from the CDCs National Center for Health Statistics found. It was the steepest annual decline since 1973. Birth rates dropped in every month of 2020, compared to 2019, with most of the largest declines in December, November and October, a sign that the pandemic may have delayed some parents decisions to have children. The largest declines for the second half of 2020 were seen in New Mexico (11%), New York (9%), and California, Hawaii, and West Virginia (8% each), the report said.

Pandemic job loss worst for older men: Men 55 and older showed some of the steepest declines in labor force participation during the pandemic as rates dropped among all demographics, AARP reports. In May, labor force participation among men ages 25-54 was down 1.3 percentage points from February 2020, just before the pandemic began. Men 55 and older experienced a 2.3 percentage point decrease. Labor force participation is the percentage of the population that is working or actively seeking work. Age discrimination played a role along with other factors, AARP said.

Olympics not looking too fun: The pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics are not looking like much fun for athletes, fans, or the Japanese public, the Associated Press reports. They are caught between coronavirus concerns, with few people vaccinated on one side  and on the other, politicians hoping to save face by holding the games and the International Olympic Committee with billions of dollars on the line. The decision to proceed with the Olympics has shredded Japans famous consensus culture.

Pandemic real estate twists: Home values increased in most of the Bay Area during the pandemic, while dipping slightly in San Francisco as working from home negated the need to endure city expenses. But both San Francisco and San Jose have ended up among the top U.S. large cities with the most houses valued at over $1 million, according to a new study. San Jose was No. 1 among the 50 largest cities, with almost half of its owner-occupied, single family homes valued at $1 million or more. Read the story here.

Why did some Bay Area businesses get PPP loans, but not others?: A Chronicle analysis of data compiled by Reveal shows that, in the Bay Area, businesses in higher-income or predominantly white census tracts were far more likely to have received a PPP loan than businesses in areas that are lower-income or have a higher share of Black and Hispanic residents. Read the full story here.

COVID cases jump in Arkansas: Arkansas saw the highest one-day increase in reported coronavirus infections since March on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported, with 485 new cases. Vaccines in the state are open to anyone at least 16 years old. So far, about 41% of the state has received one vaccine dose, and 33% are fully vaccinated.

CDC head says adult deaths entirely preventable with vaccines: Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a White House briefing that adult deaths from COVID-19 were entirely preventable at this point thanks to the efficacy of vaccines, Axios reported.

S.F. to extend eviction moratorium as negotiations over state rent protection continue: San Franciscans struggling to pay rent in the pandemic will have another six-month reprieve after the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to extend a city eviction moratorium that mirrors the states protections. Read the full story here.

CDC panel to examine heart inflammation cases in young people after COVID vaccinations: Advisers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are set to meet Wednesday to consider possible changes to COVID-19 vaccinations of adolescents and young adults as a result of reports of heart inflammation among a small number of younger vaccine recipients. Read the full story here.

Tuesday, June 22:

Jill Biden pushes vax in Mississippi: First lady Jill Biden visited one of the states least vaccinated against COVID-19 on Tuesday, encouraging Mississippians to get their shots and telling them, The White House, our administration  we care about you, the Associated Press reports. Im here today to ask all of the people who can hear my voice, who can see my face, to get their shot, Biden said after visiting a clinic at Jackson State University, one of the largest historically Black universities in the country. She was visiting another vaccination clinic in Nashville with country singer Brad Paisley later Tuesday.

Delta variant touches down in Hawaii: Health officials in Hawaii have found community spread of the coronavirus delta variant, which was first detected in India. Two cases on Oahu and one on the Big Island involve travel from the U.S. mainland, the Associated Press reports. One case involves an Oahu resident with no travel history. Acting State Epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Kemble said of the four cases, only one person was vaccinated. About 57% of the state's population is fully vaccinated.

China vaccines appear to leave countries vulnerable to transmission: Vaccines made in China appear to be not very effective at preventing spread of the coronavirus in several countries that are using them, especially in the case of variant strains, the New York Times reports. In the Seychelles, Chile, Bahrain and Mongolia, 50 to 68% of people have been fully vaccinated, using mostly shots from two Chinese vaccine makers. That outpaced the U.S., according to Our World in Data, but all four ranked among the top 10 countries with the worst COVID outbreaks as recently as last week, the Times found.

Latinx population doing best on vax rates in Marin County: Marin County officials touted their vaccine equity efforts on Tuesday, with county data showing that more LatinX residents, 90%, have received either full or partial vaccination than other racial groups. With more vaccine on hand than it needs now, Marin County is calling on California to redistribute unused supply to needy areas before it expires, including Mexico and Central America. Its time to consider global equity at this point, said county Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis.

Marin County hits big vax milestone: Ninety percent of eligible residents in Marin County now are at least partially vaccianted with COVID-19 vaccine, county health officials announced Tuesday. Nearly 201,000 of the countys approximately 223,000 eligible residents have received at least one shot, and nearly 82% have received the full vaccine dosage  which is two shots in the case of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Reaching the 90% mark is very well timed, coinciding with the emergency of concerning variant strains in the area, said Dr. Matt Willis, county public health officer.

Delta variant spreading faster in counties with less than 30% of residents fully vaccinated: Health officials say the coronavirus delta variant could become dominant in the U.S. by mid-July. Regions with low vaccination rates are particularly at risk, said a study published Tuesday in the journal Nature. Its very likely it will take over altogether on a worldwide basis, said evolutionary biologist Tom Wenseleers of Belgiums Catholic University of Leuven. Delta cases have doubled roughly every 10 days in the U.K. Data from genomics company Helix in San Mateo suggest it is spreading faster in U.S. counties with less than 30% of residents fully vaccinated. Delta, first identified in India, is estimated to be around 60% more transmissible than the already highly infectious alpha variant that emerged first in the U.K.

Fauci says young adults and recalcitrant states are impeding overall vax goals: The U.S. is missing President Bidens goal to see 70% of adults at least partly vaccinated by July 4 due largely to two factors: younger people lagging on getting shots, and several states and regions that are significantly below where they should be on vaccination rates, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday. He said in a CNN interview that he anticipates the target will likely be met by the second or third week of July. It was a goal but we want to go beyond the goal. If you dont exactly meet it on July 4 you dont stop. You just keep going, he said. To get solid vaccine information to younger people, Fauci said hes resorting to something I never thought Id be doing in my wildest dreams  turning to TikTok. New cases and deaths, he said, are entirely avoidable if people get vaccinated.

Contra Costa County vax clinics this week: People 12 and older can get vaccinated against COVID-19 Tuesday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Acalanes High, Dallas Ranch Middle, Kennedy High, Mt. Diablo High, San Ramon Valley High & Freedom High, county health officials said. No appointment is required but people can reserve a time at 844-829-2626 or http://bit.ly/cc-vax

Pressure builds to reopen northern border: Restrictions on nonessential travel across the U.S.-Canada land border are in their 16th month, and pressure is rising for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Biden to crack it open or to provide some notion of a reopening plan, the Washington Post reports. Ottawa on Monday did announce some changes, starting July 5, to allow fully vaccinated Canadians who test negative for the coronavirus before and after arrival, to bypass some quarantine requirements. But that leaves out fully vaccinated Americans who hope to enter Canada for nonessential purposes.

Fauci declares delta variant greatest threat to U.S. fight against COVID: The delta variant of the coronavirus, first identified in India, now is the greatest threat in the U.S. to our attempt to eliminate COVID-19, Dr. Anthony Fauci, senior White House medical adviser, said during a Tuesday press call. The transmissibility is unquestionably greater than for the original COVID-19 strain, and it is associated with an increased disease severity, Fauci said. Delta is becoming the globally dominant strain, according to the WHO. Facui noted that vaccines are effective against it and urged everyone to get vaccinated and crush the outbreak.

New S.F. law would waive fees for small businesses: A proposed new law in San Francisco could ease the path for new businesses trying to get off the ground as the city starts emerging from pandemic times. First Year Free, proposed Tuesday by Supervisors Hillary Ronen and Matt Haney, would waive for one year the myriad fees that small, new storefront businesses must pay the city for permits, licenses, business registration, inspections and more. Read the full story.

Increased traffic deaths hit Black people hardest in pandemic: The number of Black people killed in roadway crashes grew 23% in 2020 over the previous year, increasing a existing traffic fatality disparity, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports. Traffic deaths overall rose 7% as pandemic rules kept many people home, and thus driving fewer miles, but speeding then escalated on traffic-free roads. People of color were more often essential workers who didnt have the option to stay home. Research also has shown that Black communities tend to have more dangerous roads.

Study links COVID-19 to significant brain changes: A pre-print study has linked COVID-19 infections to detrimental effects on brain function, including seizures, depression, loss of sense of smell, taste and hearing, as well as permanent neurologic deficits due to strokes. The findings published last week by researchers at the University of Oxford and Imperial College in London somewhat paralelled what investigators at Stanford and Saarland University in Germany found in their study published this week in Nature that said about one-third of the patients hospitalized with COVID-19 report neurological problems. They reported the brains of people who died of COVID-19 looked like those who died from Alzheimers and Parkinsons.

Over 70% of Californians 12 and over are at least partially vaccinated: The state hit another vaccination milestone on Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced: Over 70% of Californians 12 and older have now received at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. About 57% statewide are fully vaccinated, according to the latest health department data.

Bumble gives entire staff week off to recover from COVID burnout: The CEO of dating app Bumble temporarily closed all of its offices this week and told its 700 worldwide worldwide employees to focus on self-care. Founder Whitney Wolfe Herd said in a memo that she decided to block the week out as a way to thank our team for their hard work and resilience. Bumble, with its model of women making the first dating move, has seen rapid growth coming out of the pandemic, with a reported 30% January to March subscribers compared to the same period last year.

White House confirms U.S. will not make July 4 vax goal: The United States will likely fall short of getting 70% of American adults at least partially vaccinated by Independence Day, White House officials conceded on Tuesday. The administration is now shifting its focus to getting at least one shot to 70% of those over 30. President Bidens coronavirus adviser Jeff Zients said it may take several weeks to reach the initial goal, and for any new goals, Biden is our goal-setter. Despite falling short, Biden tweeted, Our vaccination program is an American success story. When we took office, 3,000 Americans were dying every day. Now, hospitalizations have dropped by more than 90%. Im urging young people to carry us across the finish line by getting vaccinated today.

Deadly virus still claiming Californians, in much smaller numbers: The COVID-19 death rate has slowed dramatically with the rise in vaccinations  the latest one-day tally added just 4 deaths on Monday  but 63,053 Californians in all now have lost their lives to the coronavirus. The Bay Area has lost 6,261 lives as of Tuesday. The death toll nationally is more than 602,000, and globally the virus has claimed nearly 3.9 million lives.

Record day of vaccination in India: India administered 8.6 million COVID vaccine shots on Monday, a national record, as a new policy extended free vaccines to those under 45 to energize lackluster inoculation efforts. It was the most single-day COVID shots in any country besides China, the New York Times reports. Despite a slow start, with supply shortages and government squabbles, officials say vaccine production and procurement are being accelerated to ensure Indias roughly 950 million adults are fully vaccinated this year.

Door-stop vax delivery: Yolo County is pushing to get all of its residents vaccinated by including a free call-in option that people can use to order COVID vaccination at home through July 2. Anyone 12 or older can call (530) 666-8665 to schedule an appointment for a shot at home or work. Because we dont want access to vaccines to stand in the way of Yolo County residents getting vaccinated, we are offering this unique opportunity for residents to get vaccinated at a time and place that work for them, said Dr. Aimee Sisson, county public officer.

Almost 900 in Secret Service were infected: Secret Service records show that 881 employees were diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 1, 2020 and March 9, 2021, according to documents obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The records received through a Freedom of Information Act request showed more than half  477  worked in the special agent division, responsible for protecting the president and vice president, their families and other government officials, the Associated Press reports. President Trumps actions that risked exposure of Secret Service workers included multiple large rallies, despite restrictions on public gatherings, and taking a drive outside the hospital with agents when he had COVID-19, CREW noted.

At least 70% of U.S. adults over 30 have received one shot: More than 70% of Americans age 30 or older have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, the White House says, even as President Biden is set to fall short of his goal to at least partially vaccinate 70% of all adults by July 4. New administration data coming out Tuesday shows 70% of Americans 27 and older will have at least one shot by Jully 4, the Associated Press reports. The White House is increasing efforts to get to Americans age 18-26, who have proved to be least likely to get a vaccine. There is a big gap between individuals 25 and over, and 18 to 25, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. That means thats an area we need to continue to work on.

Pandemic pricing sends real estate offers over asking: Nearly every city in the Bay Area saw the majority of its homes sell for more than list price, according to recent data from Zillows listing website. Experts say the reason is a combination of factors  but the pandemic has a lot to do with it. About 62% of Bay Area homes sold for above list price in the first quarter of 2021, up from 47% over the same period in 2020. Thats roughly twice the national rate, according to a Zillow manager. Read the story here.

Santa Clara County hits milestone on vax: Santa Clara County now has surpassed the 80% mark for eligible residents with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, officials said. The county offers free vaccination and urges everyone to get their shots. Raffle prize drawings are available for those getting vaccinated, and for friends with proof of vaccination who transport them to shot clinics at Overfelt High School, the county fairgrounds Expo Hall, Emmanuel Baptist Church, Valley Specialty Center, Levis Stadium (through June 24), Mountain View Community Center or Gilroy High School.

DMV offers free Real ID upgrade for pandemic license renewals: Californians who received drivers licenses or ID cards during the pandemic, through July 21 this year, but did not get a Real ID, now can upgrade their cards free, the Department of Motor Vehicles announced this week. DMV temporarily expanded online and mail renewals during the pandemic, and that meant those renewing drivers could not get a Real ID. The Real ID is not required unless you use your drivers license as identification to board domestic flights or enter secure federal facilities. The offer is set to expire at the end of the year, and people have to show up in person at a DMV to get a Real ID.

Nursing home deaths up by a third: Deaths among Medicare patients in nursing homes shot up 32% last year, with two devastating spikes eight months apart, a government watchdog reported Tuesday in the most comprehensive look yet at the ravages of COVID-19 among the most vulnerable. The Health and Human Services inspector general found that about 4 in 10 nursing home Medicare recipients had or likely had COVID-19 in 2020. We knew this was going to be bad, but I dont think even those of us who work in this area thought it was going to be this bad, Harvard health policy professor David Grabowski told the Associated Press.

Olympics welcoming only 50% capacity and no cheering: A sharply limited number of fans will be allowed to attend the Tokyo Olympics, organizers announced as they tried to save some of the spirit of the Games where even cheering has been banned. Organizers set a limit of 50% capacity  up to a maximum of 10,000 fans, all of whom must be Japanese residents  for each Olympic venue, and if coronavirus cases rise again fans could still be barred all together.

Delta variant looms as growing threat: The highly infectious delta coronavirus variant is rising fast in California, with cases more than doubling in the past month and tripling in one Bay Area county, according to genomic sequencing results reported by state and local public health departments. The variant, first identified in India, showed up in California in May. It made up about 5% of all coronavirus California cases seen in genomic sequencing last week. But delta is more infectious than the alpha variant that dominates the state and may be twice as transmissible as the original strain of the coronavirus from Wuhan, China, Read the story here.

San Francisco and Los Angeles have never been closer on COVID metrics: As California reopened from COVID-19 restrictions this month, the states two major coastal metropolitan areas found themselves in a remarkably similar place by all coronavirus measures. Throughout most of the pandemic, San Francisco and the Bay Area managed to contain the spread of the virus to a far greater degree than Los Angeles County  especially during the winter surge, when Southern California became the nations hot spot. Read the full story here.

Defense Department training dogs to sniff out COVID-19: It can sniff out the location of a buried landmine. Get a whiff of a human armpit and find its owner a quarter mile away. It can even direct conservation researchers toward fresh killer whale poop floating in the ocean. Now the super nose of Canis lupus familiaris  your basic dog  is also detecting COVID-19 in people who may not know they have it. Read the full story here.

Surviving COVID and contraction, minor league baseball makes a comeback in San Jose: When Major League Baseball subsequently detailed a plan last winter to eliminate 42 affiliates, the surviving 120 farm teams wondered: Could they be next to go? It was clear they had no leverage. Without fans in the stands, minor league teams faced staggering financial losses that raised questions about how theyd settle debts and pay employees. For the San Jose Giants, the Bay Areas only minor league team, their May 4 season opener was a signpost in American lifes return to normalcy. Read the full story here.

Monday, June 21

Japanese companies go big on vaxxing workers: Thousands of Japanese companies began distributing COVID-19 vaccines to workers and their families Monday in an employer-led drive reaching more than 13 million people that aims to rev up the nations slow vaccine rollout. About 3,500 companies have signed up for the free vaccines, and that number is growing. The companies must present a plan to inoculate at least 1,000 people per site.

WHO to create tech-transfer hub for vax: The World Health Organization is in talks to create the first-ever technology transfer hub for coronavirus vaccines in South Africa. The move aims to boost supply to Africa which is in dire need of shots, the head of the U.N. agency announced Monday. The new consortium will include drugmakers Biovac and Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, a network of universities and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. They will develop training facilities for other vaccine makers to make shots that use a genetic code of mRNA vaccines.

U.S. wont reach goal to send 80 million doses abroad by end of month: President Biden is expected to fall short of his commitment to ship 80 million COVID-19 vaccine doses abroad by the end of June because of regulatory and other hurdles, officials said Monday. The White House announced the final allocations, with 60 million shots going to the global COVAX vaccine-sharing alliance and 20 million to specific partners. But fewer than 10 million doses have already been shipped around the world, to Taiwan, Mexico, Canada and South Korea.

More than 2.1 million people traveled through airports Sunday: In the latest pandemic recovery milestone, 2,100,761 people passed through airport checkpoints on Sunday -- the highest number on record since March 7, 2020. The data published by the Transportation Security Administration on Monday shows a steady increase in air travelers as more people become vaccinated and resume summer travel.

In 11 states, 1 in 5 older adults are not vaccinated: At least 20% of older adults in 11 states still havent received a COVID shot, potentially putting the recovery there at risk, the New York Times reports. People 65 and older had top priority for vaccinations because they are far more vulnerable to serious illness and death from the coronavirus. Nationwide, people 65 and older have the highest vaccination rate of all age groups, with 87% having received at least one dose, compared with 60% in ages 18-64, and 31% for those 12-17.

Philippines president threatens to jail vax refusers: President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday threatened to jail people who refuse to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as the Philippines battles one of Asias worst outbreaks, Reuters reports. The nation has seen more than 1.3 million cases and more than 23,000 deaths. You choose, vaccine or I will have you jailed, Duterte said in a televised address following reports of low turnouts at Manila vaccination sites. The countrys health officials have not required vaccination against COVID-19. Some 2.1 million of the 110 million population have been vaccinated. Saying the country is in crisis, Duterte said, Im just exasperated by Filipinos not heeding the government.

Younger adults falling behind on vaccinations: Hesitance to COVID-19 vaccination is critically high among younger adults in the U.S., according to a CDC report published Monday. As of May 22, vaccination coverage was highestin the 65-and-older group (80%) and lowest among those 18-29 (38%), the survey of 57% of American adults who received at least one shot found. It also found men had lower vaccination coverage than women in nearly all age groups. Those who are uninsured, living in poverty, and lacking access to the Internet were less likely to be vaccinated. Nearly one in four adults under 40 said they would probably or definitely not get vaccinated.

COVID-19 deaths have dropped below 300 a day in U.S. for 1st time since March 2020: Average deaths per day are down to about 293, according to Johns Hopkins University, after topping out at over 3,400 in mid-January. Monday marked the first time deaths were below 300 since early in the pandemic. The drive for vaccinations also hit an encouraging benchmark as 150 million Americans are now fully vaccinated, the Associated Press reports. New cases are running at about 11,400 a day on average, down from over a quarter-million per day in early January. About 45% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Over 53% of Americans have received at least one dose of vaccine.

Bay Area is one of the safest places in the US, says local health officer: Dr. Sara Cody, the Santa Clara County health officer known for her cautious approach in pandemic rules, declared the region one of the safest places in the US on Monday. Wearing a mask during a briefing, she credited the generally high uptake of vaccinations and adherence to public health orders for the progress. I feel very grateful and hopeful for our region, Cody said. Not everywhere is as safe as we are. She cautioned that the pandemic isnt over and the threat of more transmissible variants and pockets of unvaccinated people are keeping her department on high alert. We need to stay on top of it, Cody said. Not everyone who is still susceptible is susceptible by choice.

Santa Clara County rescinds local mandate on tracking employee vaccinations: Santa Clara County has rescinded a rule from last month that required all employers in the county to determine the vaccination status of their employees and some contractors. We are phasing out the last local health order we have had here in Santa Clara County, said Dr. Sara Cody, the countys health officer. She said the local rule is not needed now that Cal/OSHA last week said employers have to document which employees are vaccinated, although how that has to be done still isnt entirely clear. Employees can self attest that they have been vaccinated. Read the story here.

S.F. to reopen more libraries for in-person services: The San Francisco Public Library announced Monday that more neighborhood branches are open for limited indoor and front door pick-up service, including the Ortega, Richmond and Visitacion Valley libraries. Our public library stepped up in more ways than one to help this city during this unprecedented time of need, but now its time to start getting back to regular business, said Mayor London Breed. Since last year, many library employees have been deployed as disaster service workers in coronavirus-related roles. In July, the library hopes to reopen the Bayview, Bernal Heights, Eureka Valley, Glen Park, Oceanview and Western Addition branches for limited services, and the Presidio, Parkside and Noe Valley branches for pick-up options.

Inflammation found in brains of people who died of COVID-19: Stanford researchers say a comprehensive molecular study of brains of people who died of COVID-19 turned up unmistakable signs of inflammation and impaired brain circuits. Researchers from Stanford School of Medicine and Saarland University in Germany reported it looks like what they those who died from brain disease like Alzheimers and Parkinsons. The findings may help explain why many COVID-19 patients report neurological problems. A paper on the study was published June 21 in Nature.

Trump wanted to send COVID patients to Guantanamo Bay: In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Donald Trump pushed the idea of sending Americans who were infected with the coronavirus abroad to Guantanamo Bay rather than letting them re-enter the country, according to a new book by Washington Post journalists. Authors Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta interviewed with more than 180 people with knowledge of the former administrations response to COVID-19 for, Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administrations Response to the Pandemic That Changed History. An excerpt published in the Post on Monday, says Trump told a White House Situation Room meeting in February 2020: Dont we have an island that we own? What about Guantanamo? He added, We import goods. We are not going to import a virus. He was dissuaded by aides who surggested it would look bad sending US citizens to a facility associated with holding terrorism suspects.

Vaccinated Canadians wont have to quarantine: Fully vaccinated Canadians who test negative for the coronavirus will be exempt from two weeks of quarantine when returning home as of July 5, the Associated Press reports. Canadians and permanent residents who return to Canada will have to be fully vaccinated, with a Canada-approved vaccine, 14 days or more prior to arrival. They also must have a negative coronavirus test from 72 hours before arrival, take a second test upon arrival, and have a quarantine plan in the event the arrival test comes back positive.

Tokyo Olympics to allow thousands of local spectators to attend Games: Organizers for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics said Monday that they would allow up to 10,000 local spectators to attend games at each Olympic venue, ESPN reported. That number, however, does not include representatives of Olympic sponsors or sporting officials, who will not count against the 10,000-attendee limit.

Biden to travel to North Carolina to boost vaccination effort: President Joe Biden will travel to North Carolina on Thursday to encourage more Americans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Bloomberg reports the presidents trip to Raleigh comes 10 days before July 4, which is his goal date to see 70% of adult Americans at least partially vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that slightly more than 65% of adults in the U.S. have received at least one dose. In his visit to North Carolinas capital, Biden will highlight the ease of getting vaccinated, encourage vaccinations, and mobilize grassroots vaccine education and outreach efforts, the White House said in a statement Sunday.

Reopening a conundrum for Bay Area parents with unvaccinated children: Families with small children are entering what could feel to them like the riskiest time in the pandemic: California is now opened up and has dropped almost all coronavirus-related restrictions, months before children younger than 12 will be cleared to get vaccinated. Experts have some advice but not many clear answers. Read the full story.

Thursday, June 17:

Is the pandemic over? No, says UCSF infectious expert: Dr. George Rutherford said even though things are beginning to feel like they are back to normal in the Bay Area, we have not yet seen the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. No, its not over, he said Thursday during a Grand Rounds discussion by UCSF Department of Medicine. Rutherford said that lower vaccination coverage in some areas of the U.S.  and even in California  coupled with more transmissible variants such as delta means small clusters of disease will persist. He said schools should reopen for in-person instruction in the fall, but concern remains that school-age children could be infected by adults. Teachers, eligible students and family members should be vaccinated to prevent home and school transmission to younger children.

Study: Black patients had worse COVID outcomes due to quality of hospitals: Black patients with COVID-19 infections are more likely to die in hospitals than those who are white, according to a study published Thursday by JAMA Network. A study on Medicare patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at 1,188 U.S. hospitals from Jan. 1, 2020, through Sept. 21, 2020, found that Black patients had worse outcomes because of excess individual risk or because Black patients are disproportionately cared for in hospitals with worse outcomes for all. The differences came down to the quality of care at the hospitals to which Black and white patients were admitted. Addressing hospital segregation and the uneven resourcing and quality of hospitals that provide care to a disproportionate number of Black patients may help address racial differences in the mortality rate, the researchers write.

California administers 40 million vaccine doses: The state hit another milestone this week, as health department data showed that 40,098,803 doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered as of Thursday afternoon. About 57% of Californians have now received at least one vaccine dose, and approximately 48% of state residents are fully vaccinated.

Virus outbreak causes lockdown of U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan: The embassy in Kabul is ordering staffers into virtual isolation after a COVID outbreak there killed at least one person and sent 114 into quarantine. Officials have banned most group activities, including work meetings and recreational gatherings. Military hospital I.C.U. resources are at full capacity, forcing our health units to create temporary on-compound COVID-19 wards to care for oxygen-dependent patients, embassy officials said in a statement Thursday. The restrictions will remain in place until the chain of transmission is broken, the Associated Press reports. The notice warned, Failure to abide by the Missions COVID policies will result in consequences up to and including removal from the post on the next available flight.

WHO: Delta variant is 97% more transmissible than original virus: World Health Organization tracking has confirmed that delta, the variant first identified in India, is 97% more infectious than non-variant. The study published Thursday used data from 64 countries and found that the alpha variant is 29% more transmissible, beta 25%, and gamma up to 38%. Despite differences between countries, our analysis showed a statistically significant increase in the pooled mean effective reproduction number relative to non-VOC/VOI (variants of concern/variants of interest), the researchers said. The study also found that the original virus variant that emerged from Wuhan, China has faded from most countries.

Vaccinated workers in California can ditch the masks: Workplaces can finally let vaccinated employees do away with masks and many other coronavirus restrictions, after a vote Thursday brought rules for employees in line with the states reopening earlier this week. The standards board for Californias Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, voted 5-1 Thursday to replace stricter rules in effect since November to stop the spread of the virus in work settings. Those rules included masking and physical distancing among other requirements. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Thursday that allows the rules to be implemented immediately. Read more here.

U.S. inches closer to Bidens vaccination goal: Illinois became the latest state on Thursday to reach President Bidens goal of giving 70% of American adults at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by July 4. More than 2 million doses were administered in the U.S. on Wednesday  more than double the 934,000 reported on the same day last week  including 814,000 first doses, according to Cyrus Shahpar, who oversees COVID data for the White House. About 65% of adults now have one dose, he said.

Delta variant is like COVID on steroids, says former White House adviser: Andy Slavitt described the delta variant as COVID on steroids. The variant, first identified in India, now accounts for about 10% of cases in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is a more virulent strain, the former White House senior adviser for COVID-19 response said Wednesday on CNN. You can be around people for less time and still get exposed. The CDC has labeled the delta variant a variant of concern, and Slavitt said it should motivate more people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. If you have been vaccinated, you have very little to worry about, he said.

White House elusive about hitting Bidens 70% vaccination goal: Jeff Zients did not answer directly when asked Thursday whether the Biden administration expects to meet its goal of having 70% of adults in the U.S. receive at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine by July 4. Ill start by saying getting vaccinated is as important as its ever been, the White House senior adviser said during a briefing. Those who are vaccinated are protected. Those who are not, are not protected. And the delta variant just reminds us all that we need to not only get the first dose but for those who only have one dose and theyre on a two-dose regimen to complete their vaccination, as soon as possible. About 167 million American adults  64.7%  have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to data published Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but that number has started to slow down. We are going to get to 70%, and were going to continue across the summer months to push beyond 70%, Zients said.

U.K. records highest rate of new cases since February: With more than 80% of adults in the United Kingdom receiving at least one dose of vaccine and about 58% fully inoculated, the country recorded 11,007 new coronavirus cases overnight  the highest daily total since Feb. 19, according to data published Thursday on the governments coronavirus dashboard. The number of new cases has jumped nearly 34% since last week, with officials blaming the more virulent delta variant, which was first identified in India, for the rapid spread. Hospital admissions are also up 43% week-over-week.

U.S. to spend $3.2 billion for antiviral pills for COVID-19, Fauci says: The United States is devoting $3.2 billion for development of antiviral pills for COVID-19 and other dangerous viruses that could become pandemics, the Associated Press reports. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, announced the investment during a White House briefing as part of a new antiviral program for pandemics to develop drugs to address symptoms caused by potentially dangerous viruses like the coronavirus. The pills for COVID-19, which would be used to minimize symptoms after infection, are in development and could begin arriving by years end, pending the completion of clinical trials.

Are COVID experts still wearing masks? Four in the Bay Area explain their plans: Californians fully vaccinated against COVID-19 got the go-ahead this week to drop their masks, but many Bay Area residents so far dont appear ready to do so  some out of habit, some out of caution. Given the apparent reluctance by some to abandon face coverings, we reached out to Bay Area infectious disease experts who have received vaccinations and asked how their own mask-wearing habits have changed, and where and when they still mask up. Heres what they had to say.

Many Bay Area residents have skipped their second vaccine shot. The delta variant makes that risky: Hundreds of thousands of Bay Area residents have skipped their second dose of coronavirus vaccine, and health experts are urging them to get it  especially with evidence emerging that just one dose of the Pfizer vaccine is less effective against the worrisome delta variant that could become widespread in the U.S. by winter. Read the full story here.

Uber requires masks on rides, even for those who are vaccinated: The ride-sharing company detailed its no mask, no ride policy to app users on Wednesday, saying it will continue to require all customers to wear masks in its vehicles. To help keep each other safe, all riders and drivers are required to wear a mask when using Uber, it said in an email, adding if you have received the COVID-19 vaccine, you are still required to wear a mask when using Uber. The app will require customers to complete a safety checklist before using its service.

Influenza symptoms spike for children under 4: While doctors office visits associated with influenza-like illness have remained stable for nearly all age groups, the percentage of visits for one group shows a sharp rise, according to weekly data published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 10% of hospital visits for children under the age of 4 were linked to flu-like symptoms for the week ending May 29 (the most recent date with available data), while less than 2% were linked to those between the age of 5 and 24, and less than 1% for individuals over the age of 25. With widespread mask usage and social distancing measures in place, confirmed cases of influenza plummeted during the 2020-2021 flu season, according to the CDC. Those numbers may now be reversing as pandemic measures are lifted.

City College of SF will offer 30% of fall classes partly in-person: Although most City College classes will remain remote, nearly a third will include some face-to-face instruction, the college announced Wednesday. City Colleges searchable class schedule provides details. The college will not require vaccinations, so students and employees will need to wear masks and maintain social distancing. On Friday, City College will launch a Return to Campus web page with more information.

Delta variant apparently mutated into more virulent strain: Public health experts in India believe the highly infectious delta variant of the coronavirus has mutated into a more infectious variant: delta plus. The new mutation appears resistant to monoclonal antibodies, Times of India reports.

Californias mask mandate is over. Are you still wearing one? Fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks in California, except in particularly risky spaces. Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to issue an executive order that will allow vaccinated workers in California to go mask-free starting Thursday. What will you do now that masks rules have largely one away? Vote in our reader poll here.

Newsom previews strike teams that will activate in case of spikes: With Californias pandemic metrics overall now going in the right direction, albeit with wide regional disparity in vaccination rates, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that the state is prepared to launch strike teams locally where progress may reverse down the road. They will assess community spread, and conduct contract tracing, with aggressive vaccination efforts and pushing in a more targeted way.

Wednesday, June 16:

Uber requires masks on rides, even for those who are vaccinated: The ride-sharing company detailed its no mask, no ride policy to app users on Wednesday, saying it will continue to require all customers to wear masks in its vehicles. To help keep each other safe, all riders and drivers are required to wear a mask when using Uber, it said in an email, adding if you have received the COVID-19 vaccine, you are still required to wear a mask when using Uber. The app will require customers to complete a safety checklist before using its service.

Influenza symptoms spike for children under 4: While doctors office visits associated with influenza-like illness have remained stable for nearly all age groups, the percentage of visits for one group shows a sharp rise, according to weekly data published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 10% of hospital visits for children under the age of 4 were linked to flu-like symptoms for the week ending May 29 (the most recent date with available data), while less than 2% were linked to those between the age of 5 and 24, and less than 1% for individuals over the age of 25. With widespread mask usage and social distancing measures in place, confirmed cases of influenza plummeted during the 2020-2021 flu season, according to the CDC. Those numbers may now be reversing as pandemic measures are lifted.

City College of SF will offer 30% of fall classes partly in-person: Although most City College classes will remain remote, nearly a third will include some face-to-face instruction, the college announced Wednesday. City Colleges searchable class schedule provides details. The college will not require vaccinations, so students and employees will need to wear masks and maintain social distancing. On Friday, City College will launch a Return to Campus web page with more information.

Millionaire Canadian couple fined after jumping Indigenous people vax line: A Vancouver couple were fined $2,300 aftger chartering a plane to fly to a remote Yukon Territory Indigenous community to get COVID vaccinations in January. They pleaded guilty to failing to adhere to an entry declaration form and failing to self-isolate. Rodney Baker, the former CEO of Great Canadian Gaming Corp., and his wife, actress Ekaterina Baker, posed as local motel workers to get shots, flouting a 14-day quarantine requirement. They were fined the maximum $500 plus a $75 surcharge on each count, totaling $2,300, according to CBC. Fortunately, nothing physical happened in this case, no one got COVID as a result, said Judge Michael Cozens, delivering the sentences. He said the harm was psychological.

Last pandemic stretch is a slog: As cases tumble, the potential final stage in the U.S. campaign to vanquish COVID-19 is turning into a slog, with the worrisome delta variant gaining a bigger foothold and lotteries and other prizes failing to persuade some Americans to get vaccinated, the Associated Press reports. The last half, the last mile, the last quarter-mile always requires more effort, Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday. California and New York both celebrated their reopenings this week evan as hospitalizations in parts of Missouri are surging and cases are rising sharply in Texas, illustrating the challenges the country faces this summer.

Common cold viruses help combat COVID-19, study shows: Exposure to the rhinovirus, the most frequent cause of the common cold, can protect against infection by the virus that causes COVID-19, Yale researchers have found. When a that cold virus triggers immune defenses early in the course of COVID-19 infection, it can halt the replication of the coronavirus within airway tissues infected with the cold, said Ellen Foxman, Yale assistant professor of laboratory medicine and immunobiology and senior author of the study published Tuesday in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. But it all depends upon the timing, Foxman said. There appears to be a viral sweet spot at the beginning of COVID-19, during which the virus replicates exponentially before it triggers a strong defense response.

2:55 p.m. Newsom previews strike teams that will activate in case of spikes: With Californias pandemic metrics overall now going in the right direction, albeit with wide regional disparity in vaccination rates, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that the state is prepared to launch strike teams locally where progress may reverse down the road. They will assess community spread, and conduct contract tracing, with aggressive vaccination efforts and pushing in a more targeted way, he said on a visit to a Bakersfield fitness center. Newsom also said the delta variant remains concerning: its now is responsible for 1 in 10 infections nationally, and an estimated 4% in California. I assure you we are going to maintain our vigilance, he said.

2:26 p.m. Newsom announces health and fitness council: Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced hes forming a new Governors Advisory Council on Physical Fitness and Mental Well-Being, headed by his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Visiting a Bakersfield fitness center, Newsom emphasized the importance of exercise in physical and mental health in emerging from the stress of the pandemic and reengaging socially. We want to bring in the wellness factor, he said. The council will include mindfulness and have a special emphasis on child physical and mental health to support kids and make sure young athletes are not burning out, Siebel Newsom said. We need to work on ourselves, Newsom said in Bakersfield. If you want to take care of your family youve got to take care of yourself. He urged people also to renew memberships in health clubs now that pandemic restrictions are lifted.

Pandemic times busy for the gun-sales business: The pandemic year of 2020 saw Californians on a gun-buying spree, with 1.26 million guns purchased in the state. That was a 56% increase from the previous year, and the most since at least 2000. Sales data through May of 2021 show gun purchases in California remain well above pre-pandemic levels. The most significant sales spikes were early in the pandemic, after the police murder of George Floyd, and around the November presidential election, according to data from journalism non-profit The Trace. Read the full story.

Royal Caribbean postpones cruise due to virus outbreaks among crew: One of the highly anticipated first sailings from the U.S. since the pandemic began has been postponed for nearly a month because eight crew members tested positive for COVID-19, the Associated Press reports. The new Odyssey of the Seas was to set sail from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on July 3 but is now postponed to July 31. Royal Caribbean Internationals CEO Michael Bayley posted on Facebook late Tuesday that the decision was out of an abundance of caution. He said the company is also rescheduling a simulation cruise scheduled for late June. Royal Caribbean passengers are strongly recommended to get vaccinated. Unvaccinated passengers must undergo virus testing and follow other measures.

Even more goodies for the vaccinated: People who get COVID-19 shots in Santa Clara County have a chance at more than 100 event tickets and prizes, Santa Clara County officials announced Wednesday in the latest Bay Area effort to get everyone vaccinated. Prizes and tickets to the Golden State Warriors, Harry Styles, the Weeknd, Bad Bunny, Justin Bieber and other artists will be raffled off each Wednesday for 8 to 10 winners. The county is collaborating with the city of San Jose, the SAP Center and the Golden State Warriors on the giveaways, with people who get vaccinated at select county-run sites eligible: Overfelt High School, the County Fairgrounds Expo Hall, Emmanuel Baptist church, Valley Specialty Center, Levis Stadium (through June 24), Mountain View Community Center and Gilroy High School.

Delta variant apparently mutated into more virulent strain: Public health experts in India believe the highly infectious delta variant of the coronavirus has mutated into a more infectious variant: delta plus. The new mutation appears resistant to monoclonal antibodies, Times of India reports. Cases of the variant have been identified in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Russia, Japan, Nepal, Switzerland, Portugal, and a handful of other countries. The delta variant was first identified in India and is faulted in a devastaing spike of COVID there.

Anti-vaxxers and former child star protest Foo Fighters concert for vaccinated: Ricky Schroder, who starred in the 80s sitcom Silver Spoons, was among a dozen protesters outside a Foo Fighters concert in Agoura Hills for a vaccinated audience of 600, Variety reports. Objecting to the shows vaccine policy, they held signs that read, Foo Fighters fight to bring segregation back and Vaccines cause injury and death. In a Facebook post, the former child star called out the bands singer, a former member of Nirvana. Dave Grohl is an ignorant punk who needs slapped for supporting Discrimination. Ignorance comes in all shapes & sizes. Kurt Cobain is laughing at you Dave along with Millions of Patriots.Fool. Schroder went viral earlier this year in a video that showed him harassing an employee over Costcos mask policy. Foo Fighters are scheduled for a June 20 concert for a fully vaccinated crowd at Madison Square Garden.

S.F. Performances is back to full live schedule: San Francisco Performances is marking a full return to live performances, announcing that pianist Isata Kenneh-Mason, soprano Golda Schultz and the Catalyst Quartet are among the performers slated to debut as part of the 2021-22 season. The three-concert Sanctuary series, with solo appearances by bass-baritone Dashon Burton, violinist Johnny Gandelsman and cellist Matt Haimovitz, will feature intimate programs originally conceived for online presentation during the pandemic. Read the story here.

Cases in California prisons down to a few dozen: In California prisons, 68 inmates currently have coronavirus infections, state data showed Wednesday. In all, the state prison system has seen 49,380 cases, and 224 deaths, including San Quentins 28 fatalities, the most of any prison. The transfer of infected inmates into San Quentin spurred a horrific outbreak, highlighted by The Chronicles reporting, that led to a scathing inspector generals report faulting the prison system. Earlier this year, regulators fined the California prison system more than $400,000 for health violations  many of them coronavirus-related  at San Quentin.

Newsom says recovery work lies ahead: Californias reopening this week, with nearly all pandemic restrictions dropped, does not mean the work of getting the state back to normal is complete, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. Were here for all Californians that have struggled and suffered. We want to let you know that we didnt just end those efforts yesterday, and we are continuing them today, tomorrow, for weeks and months until everygody is thriving, he said during a visit to Six Flags Magic Mountain in Southern California. He vowed to work to make sure we are wise and thoughtful about use of the states budget surplus of nearly $76 billion. The surplus is enabling the states historic tax rebate, with checks and bank deposits of up to $1,200 expected in the coming weeks for about two thirds of the states residents, he noted. Newsom also is pushing in the Legislature for rent relief for those hurt by the pandemic.

Latinas experienced the highest unemployment rate during the pandemic: A new UCLA study finds that Latinas and Black women at the end of 2020 had nearly double the pandemic unemployment rate of their white counterparts, the Associated Press reports. Latinas experienced the highest jobless rate  20%  of any demographic in April 2020, right after coronavirus stay-at-home orders were issued, the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative found. That could spell trouble not just for pandemic economic recovery but for longer term U.S. stability as baby boomers retire. Latinas were projected to increase their workforce numbers by nearly 26% from 2019-29  a higher rate than any other group. Sylvia Allegretto, a UC Berkeley labor economist, says higher pay and better benefits are needed for those re-entering the workforce. The long-term trend is we dont have enough workers, she said.

10:10 a.m. More vax lures from Newsom: Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced yet another lure to entice Californians to get vaccinated: Free tickets to any Six Flags theme park for the next 50,000 Californians to get vaccinated at one of 65 participating clinics in 13 counties. The governor made the announcement at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia in Southern California. He said the tickets, at a total value of $4.5 million, are not transferrable. Were fully reopening Californias economy, but were not letting up on our efforts to get more Californians vaccinated  especially in our hardest hit communities  so we can all safely get back to the activities and places we love, including our states iconic landmarks, Newsom said.

Dangerous delta variant rapidly increasing in U.S.: The delta variant, which the CDC this week labeled as a variant of concern, now accounts for 10% of coronavirus infections in the United States. Experts are worried the variant, first identified in India, could become dominant in the U.S. Saying that delta is rapidly increasing here in the United States, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy told CNN Tuesday, Im worried about those who are unvaccinated. The CDC cites evidence of increased transmissibility, more severe disease and reduced effectiveness of treatments or vaccines linked to the variant. Experts fault delta in Indias devastating coronavirus surge over recent months and also the outbreaks that caused the U.K. to delay its reopening plans this week.

Vaccinations lag among pregnant women: Pregnant women are receiving COVID-19 vaccinations at a lower rate than the general population in the U.S., according to a pre-print study from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only 16% of pregnant women had received at least one shot as of May 8. Black and Hispanic women, in particular, are falling behind, as well as women ages 18 to 24. The researched released Tuesday involved nearly 136,000 pregnant women who visited health care centers between December and May. About 11% were fully vaccinated by May 8, compared with nearly 25% of their non-pregnant peers. Improving outreach to and engagement with health care providers and pregnant women, especially those who are younger and from racial and ethnic minority groups, could increase vaccine confidence and thus coverage of COVID-19 vaccination in this population, the researchers conclude.

Glad-handing and grins are back in Congress: Virtual caucus meetings, mask requirements and long, socially distanced votes are officially a thing of the past as Congress, the Hill reports, as the nation starts to turn the page on the COVID-19 pandemic. Lawmakers also returned to Washington this week without the universal mask requirement in the House chamber. Masks are now sparse throughout the Capitol complex, among both parties, aside from a few who choose to wear them. House Democrats on Tuesday held their first in-person caucus meeting in more than a year.

Portugal reopens to US tourists: Ahead of an anticipated decision Friday by the European Union to reopen the continent for non-essential travel to visitors from the United States, Reuters reports that Portugal announced Wednesday that it is now open to American tourists who can show a negative coronavirus test result on arrival.

Oman sees fatal fungal infection in COVID patients: Doctors in Oman have detected a potentially fatal fungal infection afflicting some coronavirus patients, the first such known cases on the Arabian Peninsula as the sultanate faces a surge in COVID-19 infections that has swamped its hospitals. The countrys Health Ministry reported that three COVID-19 patients in Oman have become infected with mucormycosis, a life-threatening condition commonly known as black fungus, which has spread quickly among virus patients in hard-hit India. The disease is relatively rare, but its sudden increase has stirred fears among doctors and health officials fighting COVID around the world.

No more masks outdoors in France: France on Wednesday said it will no longer require people to wear face masks outside beginning Thursday and will lift its nightly coronavirus curfew stating Sunday, media accounts report. Prime Minister Jean Castex announced the very good news. He noted that curfew would be lifted ten days earlier than the government had initially planned.

Study shows Regeneron can reduce hospital deaths: New clinical trial data offers the strongest evidence yet that the antibody treatment Regeneron can reduce deaths in a subset of hospitalized patients: those whose immune systems are unable to mount a natural response to the virus, according to the New York Times. The results came from a large study in Britain. Regeneron has emergency authorization for high-risk patients who are not yet sick enough to be hospitalized, It plans to seek FDA approval to allow the drug to be given to appropriate hospitalized patients.

California has lost more than 62,000 lives to pandemic: As the state embarks on its new era without pandemic restrictions, 15 months of COVID-19 leaves a trail of tragedy for countless friends and family of the 62,913 Californians who lost their lives to the insidious virus. The Bay Area toll is 6,241 dead thus far, and nationwide more than 600,000 lives have been lost. The rate of new coronavirus cases in California has slowed dramatically, but only after 3,778,207 Californians were infected, as of Wednesday morning.

Investigating the pandemic: The lawyer who led the inquiry into the 9-11 terrorism attacks, has quietly laid a foundation for a commission to investigate the coronavirus pandemic, the New York Times reports. The Covid Commission Planning Group has financial backing from four foundations, including one affiliated with conservative philanthropist Charles Koch. A paid staff already interviewed more than 200 public health experts, business and elected officials, victims and their families. The effort, little noticed by the public, grew from a call from former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt to the 9-11 commission lawyer, Philip Zelikow, the Times reported.

NBA point guard Chris Paul sidelined by COVID protocols: Phoenix Suns point guard Chris Paul has been sidelined by the NBAs COVID-19 safety protocols, sports-news outlet The Athletic reported Wednesday. Paul, who led the suns to the Western Conference Finals, is out for an indefinite period of time.

Europe vacations on the horizon for Americans: European Union regulators are expected to lift a ban on non-essential travel for U.S. tourists this week, The New York Times reported. A bloc of E.U. nations are expected to confirm the relaxed rules Friday and they would take effect immediately.

Many Bay Area restaurants setting their own masking rules despite states reopening: June 15s reopening is bringing a host of changes to Bay Area restaurants this week  but masks are likely to remain a common sight. Some restaurant owners say theyll continue requiring masks for employees to make diners feel more comfortable. At others, workers will soon get to decide whether to mask up. Read the full story here.

Arizona governor bans vaccine requirements, masks for s
Two more Bay Area cities took sides in the regions long-running crusade against gasoline-powered leaf blowers in recent weeks, with officials in Novato and Hayward moving toward banning the contraptions, increasingly derided as noise, smoke-belching nuisances.

Oakland, too, has vowed to get serious about enforcing its rules against their use.

And the entire war may swiftly come to a head if a state Assembly bill seeking to ban new leaf blower sales statewide wins approval.

Im happy to see them banned, said Al Mendall, a member of the Hayward Planning Commission, which voted 4-3 recently to outlaw their use in residential areas beginning in 2023. Theyre incredibly loud and obnoxious.

Mendall called the devices a convenience for one person that inconveniences 100 others  thats not a good trade-off.

The proposed ban in Hayward goes before the City Council next month. A proposed ban in Novato comes up for a final vote before the City Council at its next meeting. Novato officials tentatively approved a nighttime leaf blower ban and a ban against blowing leaves onto a neighbors property.

The Novato ban was softened, however, by a persuasive undertaker who came to the defense of the noisy contraptions. He pointed out to the council that banning the devices before 10 a.m. on Saturdays would prevent his staff from preparing the grounds for morning funerals.

All it takes is a little pebble or a stick for someone attending a funeral to fall down, said Lauren Elkin, the owner of Valley Memorial Park.

The council agreed with Elkin, and said leaf blowers could be fired up in Novato on Saturdays beginning at 8 a.m., two hours earlier than originally proposed.

In Oakland, a six-month gasoline leaf blower grace period has expired, making the citys new ban in full effect. Leaf blower users can now be fined $100 a pop.

The Novato compromise, and the closeness of the Hayward vote, show that minds are far from made up on what to do about the more than 400,000 gasoline-powered leaf blowers in California.

Each one of them, according to the state Air Resources Board, is uncomfortably loud for the person using it and moderately loud for anyone standing nearby. It also spews the same amount of pollutants into the air in an hour, the board said, as would be emitted by driving a car from the Bay Area to Denver.

In the Bay Area, gasoline-powered leaf blowers have been banned in Berkeley, Belvedere, Mill Valley, Sonoma, Los Gatos and Los Altos and their use restricted in Tiburon, Palo Alto and Orinda.

The gasoline-powered leaf blower was invented in the 1970s and almost immediately banned by the tony towns of Carmel and Beverly Hills. Twenty other cities in California have outlawed their use outright and 80 have enacted restrictions.

Around the state, the anti-leaf blower movement is revving up. Los Angeles bans them within 500 feet of residences. Davis bans their use by homeowners for more than 10 minutes. Newport Beach and San Diego ban them if theyre louder than a vacuum cleaner at a distance of 20 paces.

Currently being debated in Sacramento is a bill by Assemblyman Marc Berman (D-Palo Alto) that would ban the sale of new gasoline-powered leaf blowers beginning in 2024  but would allow current users to keep firing them up, in accordance with local regulations. That bill passed the Assembly in June and is under discussion in the state Senate.

Smog-forming emissions from small engines will surpass those from passenger vehicles this year, Berman said. We must look beyond transportation if we are to achieve the emissions reductions needed to fight climate change and improve air quality.

But leaf blower users and their manufacturers continue to maintain that the devices are essential tools of the trade, that battery-powered models dont pack the same punch and that banning their use is unreasonable and too severe.

The California Landscape Contractors Association called leaf blowers an essential, time-saving device that can clear leaves four to five times faster than a rake. Manually cleaning a site results in higher labor costs (that) are ultimately passed on to the homeowner or municipal government.

A ban is unnecessary, the association said in a statement. A more reasonable course of action is to follow best practices for safe and courteous use.

In its analysis of leaf blower use, the Air Resources Board did not disagree about the need for common courtesy on the leaf blower battleground.

Some have suggested that part of the problem lies in how leaf blower operators use the tool, the board concluded, at the end of a 68-page analysis of the devices noise and pollution. Some have suggested that leaf blower operators need to show more courtesy, shutting off the blower when people are walking by.

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF
WASHINGTON (AP)  The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Virginia school board's appeal to reinstate its transgender bathroom ban, handing a victory to transgender rights groups and a former high school student who fought in court for six years to overturn the ban.

After learning that the high court refused to hear the board's appeal, Gavin Grimm, now 22, said that his long battle is over. We won, he tweeted. Honored to have been part of this victory, he added.

Grimm was a 15-year-old student at Gloucester High School when he was banned from using the boys bathroom. The Gloucester County School Board's policy required Grimm to use restrooms that corresponded with his biological sex  female  or private bathrooms. Grimm filed a federal lawsuit that wound its way through the courts for six years.

Grimm said that being forced to use the nurses room, a private bathroom and the girls restroom was humiliating and severely interfered with his education. He said he is heartened by his victory in court because a win in Virginia is a win everywhere.

This is a national conversation because trans people are everywhere and because we have to fight for our rights in like most of the states in our nation still who have not passed affirming policies," he told The Associated Press.

The Supreme Court left in place lower court rulings that found the policy unconstitutional. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas voted to hear the boards appeal.

The American Civil Liberties Union said the high court's decision to let stand the lower court rulings supporting transgender rights is a significant victory for Grimm and transgender students across the country.

"This is is the third time in recent years that the Supreme Court has allowed appeals of court decisions in support of transgender students to stand, said Josh Block, senior staff attorney with the ACLUs LGBTQ & HIV Project.

Our work is not yet done, and the ACLU is continuing to fight against anti-trans laws targeting trans youth in states around the country, Block added.

David Corrigan, an attorney for the school board, declined to comment on the decision.

In its petition asking the Supreme Court to hear the case, the school board argued that its bathroom policy poses a pressing federal question of national importance.

The board argued previously that federal laws protect against discrimination based on sex, not gender identity. Because Grimm had not undergone sex-reassignment surgery and still had female genitalia, the boards position has been that he remained anatomically a female.

The ACLU, which represented Grimm in the lawsuit, argued that federal law makes it clear transgender students are protected from discrimination. A U.S. District Court judge and the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals both ruled that the board's policy violated Title IX, a federal civil rights law barring sex-based discrimination in any school that receives federal money. They also found it violated the U.S. Constitution's Equal Protection Clause by prohibiting Grimm from using the same restrooms as other boys and forcing him to use separate restrooms.

The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear Grimms case in 2017, but it was sent back to the lower courts after the Trump administration withdrew the governments support for Grimms claims.

GLAAD, the world's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, hailed the decision to leave in place lower court rulings that found the bathroom ban was unconstitutional.

This is a victory for transgender students, who simply want to be themselves without worrying about being rejected or refused access to basic dignities, GLAAD President and Chief Executive Officer Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement.

Paul D. Castillo, an attorney for the LGBT rights group Lambda Legal, said Monday that five states are technically bound by the 4th Circuit decision: Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

But he said that it would be hard to imagine a court that would not take this victory into account.

Importantly, decisions of federal appellate courts, particularly when denied review by the U.S. Supreme Court, are often cited in subsequent decisions for their persuasive value in analyzing the legal issues, Castillo wrote in an email.

___

Lavoie reported from Richmond, Virginia. AP writer Ben Finley contributed from Norfolk, Virginia.
In an annual poll commissioned by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, 70% of respondents said the quality of life in the city has declined.

The so-called City Beat Poll was conducted from May 25 to 31, at a time when city residents had faced the economic and social impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic for more than a year.

The poll was based on comments from 520 San Francisco residents who are all registered to vote and was conducted via hybrid telephone, internet and text in both English and Chinese, according to the chamber.

The responses also revealed that crime and homelessness are the top concerns among those who responded, with 80% of people saying they think crime has increased and 88% saying homelessness has worsened in recent years.

The Chamber of Commerce launched a new online dashboard pulling data from SF311, the city's customer service center, which fields thousands of requests from reports of graffiti to complaints of trash on sidewalks.

The dashboard is designed to capture information on eight key issues issues: graffiti, overflowing trash cans, human and animal waste, vandalism, street and sidewalk cleaning, homeless tent complaints, broken storefront windows and theft. The chamber noted that the number of reports of broken storefront windows is up 41% in 2021 compared with 2019.

"This is a particularly concerning statistic, as broken windows are cited by small businesses as a major financial burden," the chamber said.

A few other results in the poll, according to the chamber:

- 80% saw addressing the homelessness crisis as a high priority.

- 82% said they wanted to see more caseworkers on the streets to help individuals with mental illness and substance use problems.

- 74% supported providing more temporary shelter for homeless people.

- 80% supported expanding conservatorship for individuals experiencing severe mental illness.

- 76% said increasing the number of police officers in high-crime neighborhoods should be a priority.
HONG KONG (AP)  An editorial writer of the now-defunct Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily was arrested at the airport on Sunday night while attempting to leave the city, local media reported.

Local newspaper South China Morning Post and online news outlet Citizen News cited unidentified sources saying that editorial writer Fung Wai-kong was arrested on suspicion of foreign collusion to endanger national security.

Fung was believed to be leaving for Britain when he was arrested, local media reported. Police said they arrested a 57-year-old man at the airport Sunday night under the national security law, but did not identify him.

He is the second editorial writer at Apple Daily to be arrested, and the seventh person to be arrested at the paper in two weeks. So far, the seven arrested are either journalists or executives of Apple Daily, as Hong Kong authorities crack down on dissent in the semi-autonomous city, arresting most of the citys prominent pro-democracy figures and revamping Hong Kongs election laws to keep opposition voices out of the legislature.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association condemned the police for targeting journalists.

The HKJA reiterates that freedom of speech and freedom of the press are core values of Hong Kong," it said in a statement. "If even the writing of the literati cannot be tolerated, it will be difficult for Hong Kong to be regarded as an international city.

Fung's arrest also comes as pro-democracy online news outlet Stand News said in a statement that it would remove commentaries published on its site before June and halt its fundraising efforts because of concerns over the sweeping national security law.

The measures were taken to protect the news outlet's supporters, writers and editorial staffers in the literary inquisition of Hong Kong, Stand News said in a statement.

Despite the precautionary measures taken, Stand News pledged to keep reporting the news.

In the past six and a half years, the Stand News team has been through trials and hardships with the people of Hong Kong, cherishing each other and weaving the common memory of Hong Kongs survival, it said in a statement. To pass on these memories, we will stick to our posts, walk with the people of Hong Kong  and write and record the news and happenings in Hong Kong.

The online news platform also said it would stop taking money from subscribers and donors and stop accepting new subscriptions to prevent the risk of money going to waste. Under the national security law, assets can be frozen if authorities believe the money is linked to a related crime.

Earlier this month, authorities froze $2.3 million worth of assets linked to the Apple Daily newspaper. Last week, Apple Daily printed its final edition and ceased operations, citing employee safety and an inability to pay wages.
A look at some of the key business events and economic indicators upcoming this week:

HOT HOT HOT

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index for April is released on Tuesday.

Economists aren't expecting home prices to come down any time soon, projecting a 14.4% increase over the same period last year. That follows March's big 13.3% year-over-year jump. Americas housing market has grown so overheated as demand outpaces supply that prices keep hitting record highs. Roughly half of all U.S. houses are now selling above their list price.

Home prices, percentage increase, year-over-year:

Nov. 9.2

Dec. 10.2

Jan. 11.1

Feb. 12

Mar. 13.3

Apr. (est.) 14.4

Source: FactSet

THESE BOOTS

Walgreens Boots Alliance releases its latest quarterly financial results on Thursday.

Analysts expect Deerfield, Illinois-based Walgreens to post earnings per share of $1.15 for the third quarter. That's far ahead of the same period last year when the coronavirus pandemic was peaking, but less than the $1.47 in the same period of 2019. Walgreens surprised Wall Street last quarter, easily topping profit forecasts but falling short of sales projections.

JOBS APLENTY

The Labor Department on Friday will release employment data for the month of June.

Economists are projecting that 650,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were added in the U.S. in June, which, in more normal times, would be a blockbuster number. But in the wake of an overnight recession that paralyzed the economy and triggered tens of millions of layoffs, the nation still remains 7.6 million jobs short of the number it had in February 2020, just before viral pandemic erupted.

Nonfarm payrolls, monthly change, seasonally adjusted:

Jan. 233,000

Feb. 536,000

Mar. 785,000

Apr. 278,000

May 559, 000

June (est.) 650,000

Source: FactSet
This article was first published on NerdWallet.com.

For 42.9 million student loan borrowers, it's been 18 months without a payment. That ends in October  ready or not.

The interest-free federal student loan payment pause, known as a forbearance, was extended three times after it initially went into effect in March 2020 as a way to help reduce the financial blow many borrowers experienced as a result of the pandemic.

But with payments set to resume in a few months, servicers  the companies that manage student loan payments  are already fielding thousands of calls a day from borrowers seeking student loan help, according to Scott Buchanan, executive director of the Student Loan Servicing Alliance, a nonprofit trade organization for student loan servicers.

Time is running out for both servicers and loan borrowers to prepare for repayment.

While Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has indicated its not out of the question to extend the loan forbearance beyond Sept. 30, for now borrowers should be prepared for bills to come due sometime in October (theyre supposed to be notified at least 21 days prior to their exact billing date).

Talk with your servicer now

Servicers are expecting borrower demand for help to increase and may have trouble keeping up. The repayment system has never been turned off before, so no one is sure what restarting it simultaneously for 42.9 million people will look like.

We dont have any guidance from the department [of Education] about what a resumption strategy would look like, says Buchanan. We are in the time frame where those plans need to be communicated; it cannot wait.

Richard Cordray, the newly appointed head of the Education Departments federal student aid office, told The Washington Post for a story on June 11 that restarting payments was a very complex situation and said the office planned to provide more information to servicers soon. He also said the department planned to hold the servicers accountable by setting rigorous performance benchmarks.

Despite the uncertainty, if youre worried about your ability to make payments, theres no downside to contacting your servicer now to beat the rush, says Buchanan. Ask about your best options to manage payments, depending on your situation.

If youre not sure who your servicer is, log in to your My Federal Student Aid account to find out. To ensure you dont miss any notifications, check that your contact information is up to date on your loan servicers website and in your StudentAid.gov profile.

Know your repayment options

Your options are not pay or default, says Megan Coval, vice president of policy and federal relations at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. There are options in between for lowering payments. Nobody, including the federal government, wants to see you go into default.

Default happens after roughly nine months of late federal loan payments. It can result in a damaged credit score, wage garnishment, withheld tax refunds and other financial burdens.

If payments will be a hardship: Enrolling in an income-driven repayment plan sets payments at a portion of your income, which could be $0 if youre out of work or underemployed. Or you could opt to pause payments (with interest collecting) using an unemployment deferment or forbearance.

If you were delinquent before the pause: Your loans will be reset into good standing. Making monthly payments on time will help you retain that status. But if you think you might miss a payment or you dont think you can afford payments altogether, contact your servicer about enrolling in an income-driven plan.

If you were in default before the pause: Contact your loan holder or the education departments default resolution group to find out how to enter into loan rehabilitation and get back into good standing.

Find a legit resource

Servicers may be your first point of contact, but they dont have to be your last. You may have other needs your servicer isnt providing, such as financial difficulty beyond your student loans or legal advice.

Cash-strapped borrowers can find legitimate student loan help for free with organizations such as The Institute of Student Loan Advisors. Other student loan help, such as a credit counselor or a lawyer, will charge fees. You can find reputable credit counselors through organizations such as the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.

Financial planners can also help, but its best to look for one with student loan expertise, such as a certified student loan professional.

You can find legal assistance, including advice on debt settlement and pursuing bankruptcy, with lawyers who specialize in student loans or with legal services in your state as listed by the National Consumer Law Center.

If your issue is with your servicer, contact the Federal Student Loan Ombudsman Group, which resolves federal student aid disputes. You can also file a complaint with the Federal Student Aid Feedback Center or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Avoid scammers

Legitimate student loan help organizations wont seek you out with offers of debt resolution through unsolicited texts, emails or phone calls. Most importantly, you dont have to pay anyone to apply to consolidate your debt, enter into an income-driven repayment plan or apply for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

The hard and fast rule is that applying for [consolidation and repayment] programs is free, says Kyra Taylor, staff attorney focusing on student loans at the National Consumer Law Center. I think when people realize what they can do for free, it makes it easier for them to spot scams.

And dont fall for any company that promises to forgive your student loans or wait for the government to do so  thus far, no executive action from President Joe Biden or legislation from Congress has come to pass.

Anna Helhoski writes for NerdWallet. Email: anna@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @AnnaHelhoski.

The article With Student Loan Payments Set to Return, Heres How to Get Help originally appeared on NerdWallet.
During the bulk of my childhood, most of the food found inside the fridge and kitchen cabinets came from the local Mexican market just two blocks away. It was the early 1990s and about once a week, Id lace up my blue Skechers block heel sneakers and trek to the Mexico Tortilla Factory in Newark to help my mom sort through a range of dried chile peppers, pan dulce and, of course, the fresh tortillas made and packaged in house.

My parents, who are Mexican immigrants, kept my siblings and me well fed with traditional meals made with spices and produce found within the tiny grocery store. Sometimes wed walk a few extra blocks to the much larger La Esperanza, another Latino grocery market located on Thornton Avenue, and buy the items we couldnt find at the Mexico Tortilla Factory, like cuts of meat, before lugging our loot back home, which seemed like miles away. (My Skechers could only keep up so much.)

Mostly though, wed stick to the Mexico Tortilla Factory. In many ways, my childhood was different compared to my peers, in that American dishes were rarely featured on the dinner table, save for the school lunches Id buy throughout the week. Sure, youd find plenty of American products within the Mexico Tortilla Factory, but due to its size, space was limited and its core focus was Latino goods.

So for everything else, there was Safeway. It became my entry point to American food culture.

Photo from (L to R): Theresa G. and Fran R. on Yelp

That didnt happen until a few years later, when I first stepped foot inside a Safeway store at the age of nine. I recall being taken aback by the sheer size of it and how the aisles were stocked with many brands I had only seen on TV. There was the Betty Crocker boxed cake mix that my sister (also nicknamed Betty) would later buy to celebrate family birthdays with. There were the immaculate French baguettes that were always perfectly plush and crunchy all at once. And the first time I caught sight of the artificial thunderstorms that misted bushels of broccoli, I nearly passed out.

Some of my best childhood memories revolved around my trips to Safeway, when my dad revved up his turquoise Dodge Ram 1500 pickup, loaded my sisters and me into the truck and drove to the store for monthly grocery trips. He must have had trouble keeping up with our excitement as four uncontrollable children ran up and down the snack aisle to grab Gushers, Kool-Aid Bursts and Lucky Charms cereal. Being the softy he is, my dad would indulge in our frenzy, and by the end of it, the grocery cart would be topped to the brim with a mix of not-so-healthy eats.

Once home, wed take turns leaping onto the truck bed to unload the plastic grocery bags. Like clockwork, Id scrounge through the bags to find the fixings for a sandwich made with cold deli cuts, iceberg lettuce and a large slab of Safeways Signature Select bread. Needless to say, I was a happy camper. And the next day Id be sure to prepare a lunch jam-packed with the coveted American snacks Id see on TV commercials, hoping to catch the attention of any classmate.

Thats right, today Im having Lunchables and a Go-Gurt, Id think with a smirk on my face.

Its funny thinking back on those memories now. Over the years, Safeway lost some of its initial luster as other chains like Trader Joes and Whole Foods became my go-to grocery stores during college and after. But for all the things that I came to love about them, there was still something to be said about Safeway. Trader Joes and Whole Foods dont carry many of the products found inside Safeway, which I dont fault them for. Still, Ive had many moments where I just wanted to find standard brands with household names that I just couldnt find at those markets. And dont get me started on the cereal aisle. I dont care what anyone says  Safeways cereal aisle is unbeatable. Sometimes you just need a box of sugary cereal to feel that alls right with the world.

Not long ago, I came across an article in TASTE magazine by Tina Vasquez about a boom in Mexican supermarkets in California during the 1990s, and it got me thinking about my own childhood. Of her own experience visiting the Pico Rivera Northgate Gonzalez market in Los Angeles, Vasquez writes, For a long time, I didnt know we were poor because we ate so well, and I couldnt agree more with that. I dont want to paint the picture that my family lived under the poverty line as Vasquez describes with her childhood because we lived relatively comfortably, but money was tight for several years.

The affordability that Mexican grocery stores offered then still rings true today, Vasquez argues. For about $20 or less, we could buy enough goods to feed my family of six for a week or more. Even when I was getting dropped off at USC for graduate school, my parents wouldnt take off without an obligatory stop to Numero Uno Market to make sure their adult child wouldnt go hungry. The groceries would last me a month and cost just a fraction of what I would later spend at different grocery stores. Thats one thing Ill always love about the Mexico Tortilla Factory, as well as other grocery institutions like Chavez Supermarket in the Bay Area.

I look back on my childhood now with an increased sense of gratitude that Mexican dishes were at the forefront of my upbringing, and Im likewise grateful that the Mexico Tortilla Factory made it that much easier for my parents to make it a reality. And as a first-generation Mexican American, Safeway helped solidify my two identities through food. I still make my way through the bakery to squeeze the French baguettes. Part of me will always be that excited kid running around Safeways snack aisle in search of my next American treat.

Some things never change.
Ryan P. via Yelp

In March 2020, the circular red restaurant at the southeastern end of the Golden Gate Bridge known as the Round House Cafe shuttered. The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, which operated the cafe, announced the closure just before the pandemic shutdowns, citing "significant challenges in food preparation services."

But now, another business will breathe new life into the historic building that first opened in 1938 as a roadside diner. According to the San Francisco Business Times, Equator Coffees will move into the Round House space, once again giving people an opportunity to grab a drink and a snack before walking or biking across the Golden Gate Bridge. This will be the Marin County-based coffee roaster and retail operator's seventh location, all of which are located in the Bay Area.
Blair Heagerty/SFGATE

It feels like only yesterday that we bid a collective farewell to the Bay Areas foremost kitsch-meets-tech supermarket chain, the Rainforest Cafe of all retail: Frys Electronics.

The company, founded in Sunnyvale by brothers John, Randy, and David Fry in 1985, announced in late February that all 30 locations would permanently close. At the time, just four Frys were still in business: in Concord, Fremont, San Jose and Sunnyvale.
PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos (AP)  A boat was found drifting about a mile off Grand Turk island with 20 dead people on board, including two children, authorities in the Turks and Caicos Islands said Sunday.

Officials said investigators had ruled out foul play but were still trying to determine what happened. The identities and origin of the dead were also under investigation.

Fishermen spotted the small boat Thursday morning and alerted the marine branch of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force, who towed the vessel ashore.

The police communications officer, Takara Bain, said in a news release that investigators had discounted foul play and were looking at other possibilities, without giving any specifics.

Police Commissioner Trevor Botting said the boat appeared to have come from outside the Caribbean and authorities did not think it had the Turks and Caicos as its destination.

My investigators are working to establish their identities and how they met their death, Botting said.

The Turks and Caicos are often a magnet for desperate Haitians seeking to flee that poverty-stricken nation and the territory also has been used as a transshipment point by human traffickers.

In June 2020, Sri Lanka-born Canadian citizen Srikajamukam Chelliah pleaded guilty to human trafficking charges before a Turks and Caicos judge and was sentenced to 14 months in prison. He was extradited to Florida and sentenced Feb. 24 to 32 months in prison for conspiring to smuggle people into the United States.

Chelliah had been caught in August 2019 skippering a boat carrying 158 people, including 28 Sri Lankans. They told investigators they were bound for the United States.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP)  An Alabama man who spent 24 years in prison for rape is in jail again in connection with another rape that happened months after his release.

AL.com reports that 71-year-old Willard Smith, of Brent, was jailed on June 22 on two charges with bonds totaling $90,000. Smith is accused of rape and sodomy at knifepoint.

The crime was reported in Birmingham on Oct. 27, 2020, according to court records. Smith had been released from state prison on May 29, 2020 after serving 24 years on a 1996 first-degree rape conviction.

Smith was arrested in 1995 on charges of burglary and rape.

The following year, he pleaded guilty to the rape charge and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Court records show Smith did not conform with requirements under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act because when he moved from his Bibb County residence he failed to provide the state with a new address.

The alleged assault in Birmingham happened four months after he left Bibb County.

Two days after that reported crime, he was arrested by Homewood police for not having the required identification noting that he is a sex offender. During that arrest, police recovered an 8-inch piece of plastic that had been fashioned into a makeshift knife.

Online jail records did not indicate whether he had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  A key trade that sealed a budget deal between Gov. Tom Wolf and Republicans who control the Legislature was a $100 million injection of cash into Pennsylvanias poorest public schools in exchange for the governor backing off a regulatory expansion of eligibility for overtime pay.

Wolf, a Democrat, had sought more than $1 billion in new, higher funding for public schools, but met Republican resistance.

He settled for $300 million extra for school district operations and instruction, including the unique idea of setting aside $100 million of that strictly for school districts historically disadvantaged by how Pennsylvania distributes aid to schools.

In exchange, Wolf agreed to a provision repealing a regulation he won approval for in 2020 to expand the ranks of lower-wage salaried workers who must receive time-and-a-half pay for any time they work over 40 hours in a week, said York County state Rep. Stan Saylor, the House Appropriations Committee chairman.

Asked about the exchange, Wolf's administration said the provision is just one part of a budget package that provides critical support for underfunded school districts.

It emerged in the hours before lawmakers voted on a package of budget legislation that passed Friday and Wolf was expected to sign this week.

The first step of the regulation was scheduled to take effect in October.

It would have boosted the overtime threshold by $5,000 from the federal threshold to about $40,600 a year, and then again in October 2022 to $45,500 a year.

When Wolf won regulatory approval for it last year, he called it an important victory for thousands of workers and absolutely the right thing to do.

Only a few states have overtime eligibility thresholds higher than the federal minimum.

Labor unions had backed the expansion of overtime eligibility, even though it typically applies to salaried managers at non-union businesses. But Wolf's agreeing to repeal the expansion stunned officials at the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO.

Rick Bloomingdale, the labor federation's president in Pennsylvania, said he told Wolf when they met Monday that 190,000 people just got screwed out of overtime pay."

Wolf, Bloomingdale said, told him that House Democrats had insisted on the $100 million in so-called level-up school funding in the budget deal, and that House Republicans, in exchange, had insisted on the repeal of the overtime expansion regulation.

In writing the overtime regulation, the Wolf administration had pointed to third-party estimates that it would expand overtime pay eligibility to 82,000 of the very lowest-paid salaried workers, giving them between $20 million to $23 million a year in increased earnings.

There were about 2.2 million total full-time salaried employees in Pennsylvania, Wolfs administration estimated in 2019.

The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry had made repealing the overtime regulation a top priority.

Ending it is a big deal, said Gene Barr, the chamber's president and CEO.

Stymied by Republicans in his efforts to raise the minimum wage, Wolf in 2018 began pursuing the expansion of overtime eligibility as an alternative, but also to get Republicans to raise the minimum wage.

Republicans held out.

Even the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry saw a minimum wage increase as a cheaper alternative and, in 2019, fruitlessly asked Republicans to endorse it to get Wolf to drop the overtime regulation.

On Friday, every Democrat voted against the bill repealing the overtime regulation.

The $100 million in level-up school funding will go to 100 school districts, including $39.5 million to Philadelphia and about $6.5 million for Reading and Allentown apiece.

Initially, budget negotiators had agreed to distribute the $100 million through Pennsylvania's six-year-old funding formula.

Changing it to the level up distribution scheme brought Philadelphia an extra $26 million  up from $13 million  while Reading and Allentown also received more.

The 11th-hour change secured House Democrats votes to pass the budget package.

Rep. Peter Schweyer, D-Lehigh, said he had no knowledge of an exchange for the overtime regulation.

But Schweyer had planned to vote no on budget bills before he learned that the "level-up" provision would bring more money to his hometown of Allentown, he said.

Thats a staggering amount of money for my school district, Schweyer said. "'Level-up' absolutely changed my mind.

___

Follow Marc Levy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/timelywriter.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  The Department of Defense says a member of the New Mexico Air National Guard has died at a military base in Qatar.

The department said Sunday in a news release that Lt. Col. James C. Willis of Albuquerque died the previous day in events unrelated to combat that are under investigation.
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HELENA, Mont. (AP)  Another legal challenge has been filed over a new law that eliminates the Judicial Nomination Commission and allows Montana's governor to directly fill judicial vacancies between elections.

Two former Democratic state representatives  Tom Winter of Missoula and Barbara Bessette of Great Falls  filed a complaint Friday asking District Court Judge Mike Menahan of Helena to temporarily block the law and to declare it unconstitutional.

It also asks the court to prevent Gov. Greg Gianforte from appointing a replacement District Court judge in Cascade County under the terms of the new law.

Gianforte did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the complaint.

The complaint argues the new law violates a provision of the Montana Constitution, which states that anyone charged with the exercise of power properly belonging to one branch of government may not exercise any power properly belonging to either of the others," unless the Constitution directly permits it.

The state constitution also directs the governor to appoint someone to fill a judicial vacancy between elections from nominees selected in the manner provided by law.

After the 1972 Constitution was passed, the 1973 Legislature created the Judicial Nomination Commission to accept applications for judicial vacancies, interview candidates and forward a list of three to five nominees to the governor. The governor would select a judge from among those nominees.

The 2021 Legislature eliminated the Judicial Nomination Commission and gave the governor direct authority to make judicial appointments.

The complaint argues the new law violates the state constitution by giving the governor, rather than the Legislature, the power to determine the process by which someone becomes a nominee.

Since the law took effect, Gianforte has set up an application process and created an advisory council to assist him in choosing a new judge for the opening created when the Republican-controlled Legislature declined to confirm Michele Levine. Levine was appointed by former Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat.

The Montana Supreme Court recently ruled the new law met the requirements of the provision of the state constitution that says in the case of judicial vacancies, the governor shall appoint a replacement from nominees selected in the manner provided by law. The justices found that lawmakers, in fact, created a new law to govern judicial appointments.

Justice Laurie McKinnon dissented, saying delegates to the 1972 Constitution intended to prevent the direct gubernatorial appointment of judges, as had been previously allowed, and to create a merit-based nomination process.

The complaint by Winter and Bessette is one of several challenging nearly a dozen bills passed by the 2021 Legislature.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden will look to sell voters on the economic benefits of the $973 billion infrastructure package while in Wisconsin on Tuesday, hoping to boost the bipartisan agreement that is held together in large part by the promise of millions of new jobs.

Biden will travel to La Crosse, population 52,000, and tour its public transit center, followed by a speech about the infrastructure package announced last week.

The president presented his message to Democratic donors on Monday that the agreement was a way for the United States to assert the principles of democracy and the economic might that can come from dramatic investments in the country's economic future.

This infrastructure bill signals to the world that we can function, we can deliver," Biden said. "We can do significant things, show that America is back.

White House officials issued an internal memo that highlights how the largest investment in transportation, water systems and services in nearly a century would boost growth. The memo notes that the total package is four times the size of the infrastructure investment made a dozen years ago in response to the Great Recession and the biggest since Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s.

It also emphasizes an analysis suggesting that 90% of the jobs generated by the spending could go to workers without college degrees, a key shift as a majority of net job gains before the pandemic went to college graduates.

This is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America, the memo says.

Potential economic gains were a shared incentive for the group of Democratic and Republican senators who agreed to the deal on Thursday. But the process briefly fell into disarray late last week as Biden suggested the deal would be held up until he also received a separate package for infrastructure, jobs and education that would be determined solely by Democrats through the budget reconciliation process.

Biden said Saturday that this was not a veto threat, and by Sunday the package appeared back on track.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that Biden is eager for both bills to be approved by Congress and that the president is going to work his heart out to make it happen.

The president intends to sign both pieces of legislation into law, Psaki said at her daily briefing.

Approval of both bills by Congress remains a long haul with this summer's initial votes expected in July. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell questioned the legislative process ahead and mounted fresh obstacles while speaking Monday in Kentucky.

McConnell said he has not yet decided whether he will support the bipartisan package, but he wants Biden to pressure House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer to say they will allow the bipartisan arrangement to pass without mandating that the much larger and broader follow-up bill be in place.

I appreciate the president saying that hes willing to deal with infrastructure separately, But he doesnt control the Congress, McConnell said at a press conference in Louisville.

The two bills had always been expected to move in tandem, and that is likely to continue as Biden drops his veto threat but reaches across the aisle for the nearly $1 trillion bipartisan package as well as his own broader package. The Democratic leaders are pressing ahead on the broader bill, which includes Biden's families and climate change proposals, as well as their own investments in Medicare, swelling to some $6 trillion.

The prospect of additional economic gains might be a way to garner public support and soothe partisan tensions. Biden also faces pressure from Democrats such as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who told NBC's Meet the Press that the spending isn't as huge as it might seem because the sums are spread out over multiple years.

The eight-page White House memo comes from Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, and senior adviser Anita Dunn. It indicates that the $110 billion for roads and bridges would help relieve traffic and congestion that costs the economy over $160 billion annually. The memo justifies the $48.5 billion planned for public transit by citing studies that link light rail and buses to increased earnings and employment for workers. It defends the $66 billion for repairs and upgrades for rail lines by saying that current delays and disruptions weigh on growth.

The bipartisan agreement also would help nurture the market for electric vehicles, improve broadband access, repair water lines and create resilience against damage from extreme weather events.

Meanwhile, the White House and Congress are pushing ahead on separate infrastructure legislation, a top priority of the administration that is shared by many lawmakers interested in securing federal funds for long-sought road, highway, bridge and other construction projects back home.

This week, the House is scheduled to vote on a highway, transit and water infrastructure bill that would invest up to $715 billion over five years. It overlaps parts of the bipartisan agreement and could become a building block toward the Democrats' broader package coming later this summer or fall.

The bill contains many of the priorities that Biden has set, including $45 billion to replace lead water service lines throughout the nation and $4 billion for electric vehicle charging stations, as well as a big boost in spending for transportation programs focusing on repairing existing roads and bridges.

It also opens the door to nearly 1,500 requests from lawmakers that would fund specific projects back in their congressional districts, moving Congress a step closer toward a return to earmarked spending.

___

Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Kevin Freking in Washington and Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Ky., contributed to this report.
LONDON (AP)  Around 100 firefighters appeared to have brought under control a big fire near the central London train station of Elephant and Castle that sent huge plumes of black smoke over the capital on Monday afternoon.

The London Fire Brigade said 15 fire engines and their crews battled the blaze at railway arches near the station, which is just south of the River Thames and near some major London landmarks, including the London Eye.
LONDON (AP)  Luxury fashion brand Burberry is on the lookout for a new boss after revealing Monday that chief executive Marco Gobbetti is quitting his job at the end of the year.

Gobbetti, who replaced Christopher Bailey in 2017, will leave the U.K.-based retailer after five years at the helm to take up a new, unspecified role in Italy to be closer to his family, the company said.
NEW YORK (AP)  Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg toured the century-old rail tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey Monday and offered his support for an $11 billion project to build a new tunnel that has endured years of political squabbling and funding disputes.

Buttigieg accompanied members of the two states' Congressional delegations including New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and fellow Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey on a ride through the 111-year-old span, the site of regular delays that ripple up and down the rail corridor between New York and Washington, D.C.

What we saw were building techniques and transportation technology representing the absolute state of the art ... of 1910, Buttigieg said from Amtrak's concourse in Penn Station. It was the best construction you could possibly get 110 years ago. Now, it's time to upgrade and secure this infrastructure for the 21st century.

The federal government gave the tunnel project key environmental approvals last month. That had been a sticking point during the Trump administration, as Schumer, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and others had accused Trump of purposely delaying the environmental approval for political reasons, a charge administration officials denied.

The approval will smooth the process for the project to secure federal funding as part of a 50-50 split between the federal government and the two states. The project has languished for so long  it began in earnest 10 years ago  that plans announced in late 2017 by Cuomo and then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to fund the states' share need overhauling.

Assuming a funding deal is worked out, primary construction wouldn't begin until 2023, Schumer said, though he added that he hopes to push that up to sometime next year. Once that begins, it will take about six or seven years to complete.

Schumer sounded a positive tone.

Today we can announce that the hostage that was the Gateway tunnel under the previous administration has been set free, he said.

The project will benefit in part from $49 billion set aside for transit and $66 billion set aside specifically for rail projects contained in the bipartisan infrastructure plan being considered in Washington, he added.

The existing tunnel is prone to problems and delays due to aging infrastructure. Saltwater intrusion from Superstorm Sandy in 2012 accelerated the tunnels deterioration and forced Amtrak, which owns the tunnel, to embark on costly repairs to keep it functioning reliably.

Hundreds of trains and hundreds of thousands of passengers pass through the tunnel per day during normal times.

A new tunnel would allow the old tunnel to be overhauled, a process that would take roughly two years, and then returned to use.

That could significantly increase rail capacity into and out of New York, though it likely would require additional tracks at Penn Station. Cuomo and transit officials announced plans to redo Penn Station in April, but those are expected to take years to be implemented.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  The Community College of Rhode Island is hosting two COVID-19 vaccination clinics this week in conjunction with enrollment events.

The first is scheduled for Tuesday at the Warwick campus, while the second is scheduled for Wednesday at the Providence campus.
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP)  A utility that provides electricity to a large portion of southwestern Indiana wants to convert a coal-fired power plant to natural gas.

CenterPoint is asking Indiana regulators to approve a $323 million plan to close the A.B. Brown coal units and install natural gas turbines that would generate 460 megawatts of power.
CHICAGO (AP)  A Chicago police officer who fatally shot an armed man in the back during a foot pursuit in March has been stripped of his police powers, the department confirmed on Monday.

Chicago Police Department spokesman Tom Ahern said Officer Evan Solano has been stripped of his powers pending an investigation into the March 31 shooting of Anthony Alvarez.

Superintendent David Brown did not explain why he waited until Monday to announce the move that was recommended by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability at least two months ago. Ahern said Brown told reporters that he made the decision after COPA provided him with more information.

In an email, John Catanzara, president of the Chicago police officers' union, declined to comment.

Solano fatally shot the 22-year-old Alvarez two days after another Chicago officer shot and killed 13-year-old Adam Toledo during another foot pursuit. Video footage of that pursuit shows the teen was carrying a handgun that he either dropped or tossed aside less than a second before he was shot in the chest.

Video footage from Solano's body camera shows a foot pursuit in which the officer can be heard shouting, Drop the gun! Drop the gun, before he opens fire. Alvarez appears to drop the gun after five shots ring out and he falls to the ground.

The shootings of the teen and Alvarez, both Hispanic, put the department under intense scrutiny and raised further questions about a force that has long been dogged by a reputation for brutality and racism. While COPA did not recommend that the officer who shot Adam Toledo, Eric Stillman, be relieved of his police powers, it did recommend that Solano be stripped of his.

Shortly after the the teenager was killed, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she had ordered the departmen t to draft an interim foot pursuit policy. Last month, the department announced a policy that, among other things, prohibits foot pursuits for minor traffic violations, and bars officers from separating from partners if they can't see the person they're chasing or if the officer or the person is injured.

Though the police department has not said why the officers were chasing Alvarez in the first place, Lightfoot suggested that it was related to a minor traffic offense, saying, We can't live in a world where a minor traffic offense results in someone being shot and killed.

A key difference between the two shootings is that Stillman was chasing the teen after gunshots were fired nearby, allegedly by a man who authorities say was with Adam the night he died.
SURFSIDE, Fla. - Four more bodies were identified Sunday as rescuers continued their grim search for survivors of the Florida condominium collapse, while town officials brought on a new engineer to investigate the cause of the disaster and called for more stringent inspections to ease fears of a future disaster.

Even after the death toll rose to nine and the number of missing residents held around 150, some rescuers said it was possible that residents were still alive under the wreckage of Champlain Towers South. "Hope - that's what I'm focusing on," Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said at a morning news conference.

But as the day wore on, public officials promised to give loved ones a place to grieve and pray near the wreckage.

"We are working with the families, and there will be an opportunity for visitation," Miami-Dade County Democratic Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.

Surfside officials also launched an aggressive push to understand why Champlain Towers South collapsed, bringing in a veteran engineer to conduct an autopsy of the tower.

Allyn Kilsheimer said he will examine the foundation, concrete, leaks, groundwater and possible intrusion of saltwater to arrive at a conclusion.

"The water penetration can be groundwater, it can be tidal water, and it can be rainwater. We don't know the answer to any of those yet," said Kilsheimer, who investigated other disasters such as the Oklahoma City federal building bombing in 1995 and the World Trade Center bombing in 1993. His firm also helped examine and rebuild the damaged sections of the Pentagon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"An answer is always possible; it might not be what people want to hear," he said. "Probably 90% of the collapses we've dealt with, other than things caused by bombs and planes, have been multiple things all going wrong at the same time. The perfect storm."

Referring to the theory that sea level rise contributed to the collapse, he added, "the chances that that is a problem is minimal at best."

Kilsheimer's team is already doing computer models and an analysis of the building's design. On Saturday, he conducted a walk-through of the downed condominium's sister buildings - Champlain Towers North and Champlain Towers East - to study various support columns as well as the slab under the first floor.

"I didn't see anything . . . that, in my mind, was a concern for a structural collapse mechanism," he said. "Right now, we need to let these special rescue guys do what they're doing. And only when they finish that and the debris is cleaned up can I have access to the site to do stuff I need to do on-site."

Surfside Town Manager Andy Hyatt said independent engineers from around the country have been hired to help the town's own engineer, Jim McGuinness, inspect nearby buildings and the collapsed condo once the search and rescue work is over.

An engineer warned in October 2018 that he had discovered "major structural damage" to a concrete slab below the pool deck in the section of the building that collapsed, records show. The engineer, Frank P. Morabito, said in a structural survey report that waterproofing below the pool deck and entrance drive had failed, allowing damaging leaks.

Kilsheimer said he didn't believe the damage highlighted in the 2018 report could have led to the collapse of the building. "Nothing in it raised a red flag," he said.

A month after the 2018 report was issued, a Surfside building official told condominium association leaders that the building "is in very good shape," according to minutes of a Nov. 15, 2018, meeting obtained by The Washington Post. The minutes were first reported by NPR.

The building official at the 2018 meeting, Rosendo Prieto, could not be reached by The Post on Sunday.

Donna DiMaggio Berger, whose law firm represents the association said: "We are not looking to point fingers. Right now our focus remains solely on finding the survivors of the tragedy. There will be a more appropriate time to unravel what happened and why later."

Town officials will also examine whether the construction in the past decade of a building less than 30 yards south of the collapsed condo may have had an adverse effect on the older Champlain towers. The newer building, Eighty Seven Park, is in the town of Miami Beach, separated from the Surfside town limits and Champlain South by only a strip of vegetation and a low concrete wall.

"We've called to get the plans for that building, so we can see what happened there," Hyatt said. "We'll find out why, because this just doesn't happen. We all know that buildings just don't all of a sudden fall. Something extraordinary had to have happened."

In 2019, a resident emailed town building officials to complain that the construction of Eighty Seven Park was occurring too close to Champlain Towers South. "We have concerns regarding the structure of our building," Mara Chouela wrote in an email to Prieto and Margarita Brito, which was released by the town Sunday.

"There is nothing for me to check," Prieto replied. "The best course of action is to have someone monitor the fence, pool and adjacent areas for damage or hire a consultant to monitor these areas as they are the closest to the construction."

Since the collapse, concerned residents of Champlain Towers North - the "sister building" 1,000 feet away and built the same year by the same designer - have wondered whether their building was safe.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said Sunday that officials would help residents voluntarily relocate if they felt unsafe.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said the federal government will help with paying for the relocation.

"If they would like to relocate, FEMA will help them with those arrangements," Rubio said Sunday in an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation."

Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives met with Surfside officials Sunday afternoon to iron out the details.

As the search and investigations play out, a morose feeling has descended on what is ordinarily a summer beach playground.

At St. Joseph's Catholic Church, less than a half-mile from the disaster, a priest said a prayer for Lucia Guara, an 11-year-old girl who received her First Communion there.

Lucia, who lived in the tower, is among the missing, along with her father, Marcus, 52, her mother, Ana, 41, and her sister, Emma, 4.

The church was quiet and somber as early-morning Mass was held amid the noise of the rescue outside its windows.

Even people who knew their relatives were alive were on edge.

For three hours, Chiquita Williams tried to reach her 82-year-old mother's building - about three blocks from the site but inside the law enforcement perimeter. Williams said her mom was running out of food after being confined to her condo for three days, worried that her own six-story building might collapse.

Come get me, she said.

Police guarded every entrance and waved her away.

"It's been a nightmare," Williams said after a Miami-Dade police officer suggested that she walk another two blocks to an unmarked squad car and ask that officer to be let in.

"Everyone keeps telling me: 'You got to talk to that sergeant. You got to talk to this other person,' " she said. "It's just so frustrating. I understand it's a tragic situation. My mom can't walk 10 blocks to get out of the perimeter. She's 82 years old. She's had it. She wants to get out of here, and I can't reach her."

Williams approached a police officer from Coral Gables, Fla., who was sitting in his squad car at the end of the alley. He started to tell her to try the next car. "I'm not from around here," he told her, apologetically. The officer then realized she was about to cry and hit on an idea. "Why don't you bring your car this way, and I'll drive in front to get to your mom's building?" he said.

Hyatt said he can relate to worried residents living in and around Surfside.

"I hear creaks and things that I always heard. I happen to be by the elevator, and so I'm used to hearing that, and I always hear the trash chute. But now when I hear those noises, I'm like, 'What's that?' " he said.

"Every night when I go home, and I live on the 10th floor of a building just a few blocks from here, I usually open the shutters and look out at the ocean and admire the beauty. But it's like I don't have the right to do that right now. They lost their right to do that, so I can't do that. I'm not there yet."

- - -

The Washington Post's Meryl Kornfield, Brittany Shammas and Antonio Olivo in Surfside, Fla., and Beth Reinhard contributed to this report.
Marta Lavandier/AP

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP)  Disney Cruise Line is postponing its first test cruise since the pandemic brought the cruise industry to a standstill after a handful of participants had inconsistent test results for COVID-19, the company said Monday.

The Disney Dream had been scheduled to set sail Tuesday from Port Canaveral, Florida, with 300 employees who had volunteered for the simulation cruise. But the trip was postponed until next month, pending approvals, because a small number of employees had inconsistent results for COVID-19, which is considered positive by the CDC," Disney said in a statement.
KATHMANDU, Nepal  In April at Mount Everest base camp, where climbers acclimatize to the extreme altitude before heading to the summit of the worlds highest peak, Jangbu Sherpa fell ill with a cough and fever.

At 17,590 feet, his symptoms quickly worsened. The expedition company that had hired Sherpa to help a Bahraini prince climb Everest had him airlifted to a hospital in the capital, Kathmandu, where he tested positive for COVID-19.

He spent a week at the hospital and six days at home, and then was back at base camp. Experienced guides like him from Nepals high-mountain-dwelling Sherpa community were in short supply because of the pandemic, and the expedition company stood to lose thousands of dollars if the princes climb were canceled.

So, with his body still fighting the vestiges of the virus, Sherpa, 38, most likely became the first person with COVID-19 to stand on Everests pinnacle when he led the prince and 15 others there at dawn on May 11. By the end of the climbing season early this month, at least 59 infected people had been on the mountain, including five others who reached the top, according to interviews with climbers and expedition companies and the personal accounts of social media users.

Were Sherpas and climbers supermen? said Ang Tshering Sherpa, a former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association. This issue deserves in-depth research.

But according to the Nepal government, there was never any COVID-19 on Everest. Tourism officials dismissed the accounts of climbers, calling one a pneumonia patient. Coughing, they added, is nothing new in the dry mountain air.

Nepals tourism department, which oversees Everest expeditions, maintained this position even as people were being airlifted off the mountain and expeditions were being canceled  a rare event because of the great expense and effort made to train, travel to Nepal and try to summit Everest.

In April, a Norwegian climber, Erlend Ness; a British climber, Steve Davis; and others wrote on social media about having COVID-19 during their Everest expeditions.

From 2 hospitals last 3 days. Today I will have a PCR test. Hope to leave the hospital soon, Ness wrote on Facebook, posting a photo of himself in a mask in a hospital bed.

Nepal, one of the worlds poorest countries, has been struggling with a dire coronavirus outbreak and a shortage of vaccines. Few Sherpas or other Nepalis had access to vaccines while the climbing season was underway; even now, as the government pleads with wealthy nations for doses, less than 3% of the population has been fully inoculated.

Officials had strong incentives to play down the COVID situation on Everest. Nepal closed its peaks in 2020 because of the pandemic, after bringing in more than $2 billion from climbing and trekking in 2019. If the COVID-19 cases were publicized, it could tarnish Nepals image as a tourist destination, and invite climbers whose expeditions were canceled to demand extensions of their climbing permits.

Still, with this years climbing season now over, more expedition agencies are acknowledging that COVID-19 infections were rampant in the crowded base camp, which drew a record 408 foreign climbers this year. The true number of cases could be far higher than 59, since expedition organizers, doctors and climbers themselves said they were pressured to hide infections.

The Nepal government had made some preparation to avoid infections on the mountain. It instituted testing, mask and social-distancing requirements, stationed medical personnel at the Everest base camp and had helicopters ready to swoop in and pick up infected climbers.

Expedition companies, which often bring their own medical personnel, also packed antigen kits, testing members of their groups regularly and isolating anyone who tested positive.

Given that all climbers had to test negative before starting the trek to base camp, it is likely that most of those with COVID-19 became infected while on the mountain, though it is possible that some arrived with infections that were not initially detected.

There were compelling reasons for expedition companies to proceed with climbs, even as the first coronavirus cases were reported at base camp from the last week of April to the first week of May.

They had laid out more than 60% of their budgets. The government of Nepal had received $4.6 million in royalties. Sherpas and support staff were deployed. Ropes were soon to be fixed in place. Food, cooking gas and other supplies had been hauled up by workers and yaks to the makeshift city of colorful tents where climbers stay for 40 days, allowing their lungs to adjust to the altitude and waiting for a window of clear weather to make the ascent.

Multiple Sherpas and expedition companies interviewed by The New York Times said that at least three or four people from each expedition group were eventually infected during their stay at base camp.

Lukas Furtenbach of Furtenbach Adventures, which canceled its expedition, sending climbers back to Kathmandu before they could attempt to summit Everest, estimated that the tally was far higher than The Times count.

His companys expedition ended after an American climber and three Sherpa guides were evacuated from base camp to the capital, where they were hospitalized for COVID-19. Furtenbach has written to Nepals tourism department requesting that the government extend his climbers permits by two years.

Rudra Singh Tamang, director-general of the tourism department, said he had no information about Furtenbachs appeal or those of other expedition agencies sent to his office to extend climbing permits.

We cant just extend climbing permits on basis of COVID rumors, Tamang said. Whether their expeditions were canceled because of COVID-19 or not, that should be examined.

With very few Sherpas having been vaccinated when they arrived at base camp, dozens contracted COVID-19. Some were airlifted out. Others isolated in their pup tents and climbed to higher camps after recovering.

Phunuru Sherpa of International Mountain Guides said 10 Sherpa guides on his team fell sick with COVID-19.

Of the more than 400 foreign climbers attempting to scale Everest, almost half abandoned their expeditions, either because of COVID-19 infections or because of a cyclone that caused snowstorms in the Himalayas.

Scott Simper, a climber from Utah who lives in New Zealand, reached Everests peak on May 11, according to his wife, Anna Keeling, a mountain guide.

He didnt know he had COVID on the mountain, she said. Simper learned of his infection only after testing positive days later in Kathmandu, where his expedition company quarantined him at a hotel for 12 days. His wife said he was still recovering from the disease.

Ness, the Norwegian climber who described his bout with COVID-19 on social media, was airlifted from base camp to a hospital in Kathmandu. Doctors advised him not to return to the mountain, so he flew home to Norway. The Everest expedition had taken three years to plan and cost him $40,000, plus hospital fees in Nepal. He does not expect to get any money back.

Mario Celinic of Croatia said he tested positive at Everest base camp. He had trained for Everest for four years, climbing some of the worlds other highest peaks. Suffering no symptoms, he decided to proceed to the top.

You have COVID and you must be careful, this came into my mind, because COVID affects the lungs and that would be difficult to breathe above 8,000 meters altitude, he said.

That mountain is like a beautiful flower that will kill you anytime. It attracts you. You must come, you are admired. And when you go up to 8,000 meters, you are completely helpless. Whatever the mountain decides, that will be your fate, Celinic said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
RIGBY, Idaho (AP)  The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office says a woman drowned in eastern Idaho Sunday after she became trapped in a log jam.

The 50-year-old woman and her husband were kayaking on the Snake River near Rigby when the accident happened about 5 p.m., EastIdahoNews.com reported. The sheriff's office said in a prepared statement that the woman's kayak overturned in the log jam, causing her to be pinned underwater against the logs and current.
NEWPORT, Tenn. (AP)  A former corrections officer has been charged with conspiring to harm an inmate, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations said.

The TBI alleges that Joseph Tyree, 24, conspired to have a male inmate assaulted while Tyree was serving as a Cocke County Sheriffs Office corrections officer. The request was carried out on Dec. 3, 2020, by several inmates, causing bodily harm to the victim, the TBI said in a news release.
DENVER (AP)  A federal judge ruled last week that Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert does not have to unblock a former Democratic Colorado state lawmaker from her personal Twitter account.

U.S. District Court Judge Daniel D. Domenico said in his decision Thursday that Boebert, who represents the state's 3rd Congressional District, did not violate the free speech rights of former state Rep. Bri Buentello because Boebert blocked Buentello from her personal Twitter account  and did not block Buentello from Boebert's official government account, The Colorado Sun reported.

Blocking a Twitter user on an account created before she was elected to office is something Ms. Boebert could do before she was in office and could do after she leaves office, said Domenico, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump.

Buentello filed her lawsuit in January after she was blocked by Boebert after calling for Boebert's recall following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Buentellos lawyers argued that since Boebert uses her personal Twitter account to share official policy positions, it is unlawful for her to block constituents from seeing the account.

Although Domenico denied in his ruling a preliminary injunction for Boebert to unblock Buentello from the Twitter account, its not the final ruling on the case.

David Lane, an attorney representing Buentello, said they will make a decision on whether to continue litigating the case this week.

It is a blow to our freedom of speech when a politician using a platform such as Twitter can block voices of dissent which she disagrees with and the courts wont intervene to stop this First Amendment violation, Lane said.

Boebert has links to the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory and has sought to overturn President-elect Joe Bidens victory. She gained attention for pledging to carry a gun in the Capitol.

Buentello lives in Boeberts district and served a single term in the state House of Representatives before losing a reelection bid last November.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  John Cox, a Republican candidate for California governor, said Monday that he would force homeless people into mental health or addiction treatment before providing them with housing as part of his effort to cut homelessness in half in five years.

In his second bid for governor, Cox also said he would step up enforcement against people living on the streets and work to speed housing construction. If elected, he would likely face resistance to many of his proposals in the Democratic-controlled state Legislature.

If someone is just insisting that they can live on the street, they either have to be arrested and put in jail or they have to be arrested and put into a place where they can get the treatment they need," he said in an interview. If they don't want either of those, they can certainly leave California."

Cox is running in the expected recall election of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. He ran against Newsom in 2018 and lost badly. He's never won political office despite numerous attempts and built a career in business, including housing development in Indiana. This time, he's one of several Republicans running, including former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who will release a homelessness plan Tuesday.

California is home to about 12% of the nation's population but more than a quarter of its homeless people, according to the most recent federal data. On the day of a federal count in January 2020, California had roughly 161,000 people experiencing homelessness. In 2019, about 23% of the state's homeless people were experiencing severe mental illness, according to a report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office.

Newsom has made tackling homelessness one of his top priorities, dedicating his 2020 State of the State address to the topic and pledging to appoint a homelessness czar, which he has not done. While the pandemic changed the state's focus, Newsom has launched a program to convert hotel and motel rooms into permanent housing for the homeless.

Cox would take an opposite tack, requiring people who need it to get treatment for addiction or mental illness before they can get housing. He said if pop star Britney Spears can be placed under a conservatorship, it should be possible to place people living on the streets who need help into such an arrangement, which is generally done when a person is deemed unable to control their life.

In 2018, former Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation allowing San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles counties to place chronically homeless people into such arrangements if they have a serious mental health or substance use disorder. San Francisco moved ahead with a narrowly tailored pilot program in 2019, though it's barely been used.

Cox, who is prone to campaigning with props, is bringing an 8-foot ball of trash on his statewide bus tour to tout his homelessness plan. In a news release, he said it's supposed to symbolize the blight the homeless  and current homeless policies  have inflicted on California neighborhoods." He said in an interview that he blames the problem on government failures, not people who are homeless.

Barbara DiPietro, senior director of policy for the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, called Cox's plan terrible" and said his use of a ball of trash specifically conveys that he believes that these people are trash."

Broadly, she said Cox's plan reflects a candidate for public office who does not understand the fundamental structural issues that produce homelessness faster than we can end it."

Research shows putting people in treatment without housing does not work and that counties do not have enough beds in the behavioral health system to treat everyone anyway, DiPietro said. The plan also has an overreliance on law enforcement, she said. She supports efforts to lower the cost of housing construction, which is part of Cox's plan.

Cox also said he would challenge a court decision that blocks Los Angeles from enforcing a sidewalk camping ban until enough housing is available and that he would seek to roll back parts of a voter-backed initiative that reduced some criminal penalties.

A date has not yet been set for the recall election.
HOUSTON (AP)  Houston's police chief has publicly apologized to the family of a man killed by six officers more than four decades ago, calling it a straight-up murder.

Joe Campos Torres was a Mexican-American Vietnam War veteran who was beaten to death by Houston police officers in 1977.

At a ceremony Sunday, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner gave a formal apology to Torres' relatives and promised to work with the family to build a monument in Torres' name.

I am the chief of police, but I am a son of Houston, and what people need to understand is if you cannot see and feel 44 years of pain and suffering of this family, you are not human, Finner said.

The apology to Torres' family came amid calls for police reform following the 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Torres, 23, had been arrested on a disorderly conduct charge. The officers beat Torres for hours, then took him to the Buffalo Bayou where they beat him again and dumped his body in the water, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Two of the six officers were later convicted of misdemeanor negligent homicide and fined $1 and sentenced to probation.

Torres' nephew, Richard Molina, said the family is in communication with the city to find a proper way to memorialize his uncle.

Our ultimate goal is humanizing our uncle at this point. We want to let the people know what kind of person he was and what he meant to my family, Molina said.
WASHINGTON  A fragile bipartisan infrastructure deal appeared to be moving forward once again Sunday, as moderate Republicans said they had been reassured that President Joe Biden would not hold it hostage while Democrats simultaneously work on a larger, partisan economic package.

After 48 hours of chaos, the statements by leading Republicans prompted a sigh of relief for the White House, where Biden and top aides had worked through the weekend to keep the eight-year, $1.2 trillion investment to rebuild the nations infrastructure from falling apart. GOP negotiators even suggested that they could now begin drafting the bill and said they believed it would win enough Republican votes to pass the Senate next month.

The waters have been calmed, said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.

Still, the whole episode underscored just how precarious a path the president and his allies face in the months ahead, as they try to steer the two separate and costly spending plans into law. They have laid out a complex strategy in which the success of each bill hinges on the other and the balancing of priorities between not only Republicans and Democrats, but within the Democratic Party itself.

While the bipartisan bill can be passed through regular order if it retains enough Republican support, Democrats plan to use a fast-track budget process known as reconciliation to bypass the 60-vote filibuster threshold and unilaterally enact the rest of Bidens proposal, which includes tax increases, sweeping climate plans, health care provisions and investments in child care. If they can pull off both, Biden could burnish his reputation as a bipartisan deal-maker and ensure that much of his economic agenda is locked in place.

The immediate cause for Republican concern came Thursday, just hours after the president and lawmakers from both parties unveiled with great fanfare their plan to invest in crumbling roads, bridges, high-speed internet and green projects. Speaking with reporters later that day, Biden said he would not sign the bipartisan deal without Congress passing a much more expensive set of tax increases and spending programs that conservatives loathe.

Republicans, who doubt Democrats can secure the votes needed to pass the second partisan package, balked. They said that they never would have signed onto a deal strictly conditioned on the success of policies they oppose, and Bidens team was forced to clean up the comments. After a series of private phone calls, the president issued a lengthy statement Saturday clarifying that he never meant to threaten a veto and conceding that Republicans were understandably upset.

I was very glad to see the president clarify his remarks because it was inconsistent with everything we had been told along the way, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said on ABCs This Week. Im glad theyve now been de-linked and we can move forward with a bipartisan bill that is broadly popular not just among members of Congress but the American people.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., concurred on NBCs Meet the Press, calling the framework agreed to by the two parties a great deal.

It is actually going to provide the infrastructure that American people want, that they need, that will make our country more prosperous for all Americans, so I hope its enough, he said of Bidens clarification. But Ill continue to work for the bill.

For now, the bipartisan deal seems to be having the effect on Democrats that Biden and party leaders on Capitol Hill were also hoping for. Democratic leaders are trying to hold together the narrowest of majorities in the House and Senate, and some of their most moderate members insisted on trying to find bipartisan common ground on the presidents vast domestic agenda wherever they could.

Pleased that a bipartisan package he helped craft would be moving forward, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a key Democratic swing vote, said Sunday that he was prepared to back a larger bill using the fast-track process to get around Republicans. He said he was all for using it to address human infrastructure and was willing to raise corporate tax rates to 25% from 21%, and capital gains taxes to 28% for top earners to finance it.

Weve worked on the one track. Were going to work on the second track. Theres an awful lot of need, Manchin said on ABC.

But Manchin dismissed financing the spending with more debt, as prominent liberals like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have argued. And citing concerns about the nations debt, he said the kind of overall price tag Sanders was pushing was simply too high for him.

If Republicans dont want to make adjustments to a tax code which I think is weighted and unfair, then Im willing to go reconciliation, Manchin said. But if they think in reconciliation Im going to throw caution to the wind and go to $5 trillion or $6 trillion when we can only afford $1 trillion or $1.5 trillion or maybe $2 trillion and what we can pay for, then I cant be there.

That position foreshadows a bumpy road still ahead for Democrats. With their partys hold on Washington potentially fleeting, progressives are adamant that this might represent their best and only chance to enact key policy planks like expanded health care access, aggressive climate policy and durable new social programs to support working Americans.

Frankly, we really need to understand that this is our one big shot, not just in terms of family, child care, Medicare, but on climate change, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said on Meet the Press.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader, has said he hopes to pass the bipartisan agreement through the Senate before the chamber departs for its annual August recess, as well as a budget framework that would lay the groundwork for the reconciliation process.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last week that the House would then use its leverage to ensure that one bill was not passed without the other. Both chambers would aim to send the bills to Biden by the end of September.

The White House has agreed to that plan, and on Sunday, Cedric L. Richmond, a senior adviser to Biden, said the administration was comfortable leaving the sequencing and legislative haggling to the two congressional leaders.

The speaker is very capable. The speaker is great, Richmond said on CNNs State of the Union. And we expect to get two bills to the presidents desk so that he can sign both of them.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
SWEA CITY, Iowa (AP)  A north-central Iowa man has been charged with voluntary manslaughter, accused of causing the death of another man during a fight last spring.

Robert Laverty, 51, of Swea City, was charged last week in the April death of Casey Tobin, 41, also of Swea City, the Kossuth County Sheriffs Office said.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  Iran has not made a decision yet about whether to extend an agreement with the U.N. atomic watchdog over access to surveillance footage at its nuclear sites, the countrys foreign ministry said Monday.

The remarks by Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh come after a three-month deal between Tehran and international nuclear inspectors to preserve video data at the country's atomic installations expired last week, following a one-month extension.

No decision, either negative or positive has been made, Khatibzadeh told reporters. Neither the continuation of the deal nor the erasure (of data). We are in the previous position for the time being.

Iran began limiting the access of U.N. atomic watchdog inspectors to its nuclear sites earlier this year, part of a pressure campaign on the West over its tattered 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Tehran was trying to push European powers to provide relief from oil and banking sanctions imposed three years ago when then-President Donald Trump withdrew America from the landmark accord. As part of that effort, Iran abandoned the accord's enrichment limits and is now enriching uranium to 60% purity, its highest ever levels, although still short of weapons grade 90%.

In order to limit diplomatic damage amid ongoing negotiations in Vienna to resurrect the nuclear deal, Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency reached a last-minute February agreement over Tehrans newly imposed limits on inspections. Iran promised to save the video data for later access  but only for three months, after which authorities threatened to delete the tapes.

The IAEA did not immediately respond to request for comment on Monday.

The move to erase the surveillance footage would steeply escalate tensions, complicating diplomatic efforts to find a path for America to lift sanctions and Iran to reimpose curbs on its nuclear program.

Nuclear deal negotiations have gathered urgency amid the presidential election victory of Irans hard-line judiciary chief, Ebrahim Raisi. Although known for his hostility to the West, Raisi has committed to securing sanctions relief through a return to the nuclear deal.

Khatibzadeh repeated that the arrival of a new administration would not affect negotiations in Vienna, since final authority rests with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Basically, it does not matter under which administration the agreement happens, he said.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  New England started off the week with heat advisories as the hottest weather of the year enveloped the region.

While the Pacific Northwest is experiencing record heat, the other side of the country  the Northeast  was also dealing with heat on Monday as temperatures climbed into the mid-90s.

Its a good day to hide in the basement, at a beach or under a sprinkler, said Margaret Curtis, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Maine.

Some New England electric utilities are asking customers to cut back on consumption to ensure there is enough power to satisfy demand during the hot weather.

The temperature hit 95 degrees on Monday in Portland, Maine, approaching a record high. But it felt hotter because of humidity thats high enough that you feel like you can swim through the air, she said.

While hot, the temperature in Portland, Maine, pales in comparison to Portland, Oregon, where the mercury climbed to 112 degrees on Sunday.

On Monday, the temperature reached a record high of 94 degrees in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The old record, 93, was set in 1941.

Boston tied its record high for the day at 97.

The National Weather Service says record high minimum temperatures were set Monday in the Vermont cities of Montpelier and Burlington. The low temperature of 72 degrees in Montpelier beat the old record of 69 set in 2006. In Burlington, the low was 75, beating the old record of 74 set in 1901.

On Monday the Vermont Electric Cooperative asked its members to conserve electricity Tuesday and Wednesday evening because demand for electricity across the region is expected to increase in response to the hot weather.

And Vermont's Burlington Electric Department said Monday it expected to issue a peak alert as part of its Defeat the Peak to encourage customers to save power between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Tuesday and possibly on Wednesday.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  Louisiana has restarted its bid process for multibillion dollar Medicaid contracts managing the health care of nearly 1.6 million people, trying to end its patchwork of emergency contracts after a legal dispute scuttled the last attempt at new deals.

The Department of Health has released its request for proposals from contractors interested in handling the taxpayer-financed Medicaid managed care work, with a Sept. 3 deadline for submissions. The agency hopes to choose the new contractors in November, though it would take months longer for the companies to take over the work.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Republican lawmakers in the minority of the New Mexico Legislature are objecting to private negotiations with the Democratic governor regarding $1.75 billion in federal pandemic relief and how it will be spent.

On Monday the spending was discussed during a closed meeting of a panel of leading legislators, disappointing Republicans. They called for an additional session of the Legislature to debate the funding and the veto.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP)  A startup spirits producer is reviving an old name as it plans to open a distillery at the same Kentucky site where whiskey was made starting in the late 1860s.

The new E.J. Curley distillery will be located at Camp Nelson in Jessamine County. It's at the same site as the original E.J. Curley & Co. operation.
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP)  It was around 10:30 p.m. on a Sunday night when journalist Veronica Chavez heard a loud noise as she put her son to bed. She looked out to see her husband Miguel Mora frantically trying to open the door to their home as members of Nicaraguas police tried to kick it in.

Mora, a presidential hopeful and the former director of the news outlet 100% Noticias, shouted for the police to stop kicking so he could open the door for them.

They were shouting, kicking and Miguel was trying to open the door and was saying Here I am, Chavez said through tears. They said come out, but as he was going to open they didnt stop kicking the door.

Mora was arrested in 2018 as well, and jailed for nearly six months as Ortegas government violently put down street protests that he says were an attempted coup.

During the past month, President Daniel Ortegas police have rounded up some 20 opposition figures, including five presidential hopefuls like Mora, and raided the homes of others. Often the police would arrive at night with overwhelming force  in Moras case 7 to 10 patrol vehicles  insult their targets and their families, break windows and doors. They grab electronics: cell phones, computers, external memory drives, cameras.

Families are not told where the detainees are taken. They are not given access to lawyers. Most of the charges concern vague allegations of crimes against the state, usually involving the acceptance of foreign funding. In most cases, the police put out public statements about the latest arrest and the intimidation and fear spread.

A week before police grabbed Mora, Victor Hugo Tinoco had gone out to dinner with two of his children at the Galerias mall in Managua. Around 9 p.m. he was getting into his car when police descended on them.

Ten masked men grabbed him, put him in a truck and took him, his daughter Arlen Tinoco said. Police snatched her cell phone away and threatened to hit her as she tried to film the arrest.

Three days later, police came to Tinocos home. They wanted to jump the gates, they shouted and threatened to break them down, said Deyanira Parrales, Tinocos wife. She asked them to be respectful and not be violent.

Two of their daughters received police in the house praying and holding up a crucifix. San Miguel archangel, drive away evil demons, Parrales said her daughters chanted. The police did not damage their home. Still, Parrales said, Those were the worst hours of my life.

When the police came for Dora Maria Tellez and Ana Margarita Vijil, two leaders of the opposition party, Unamos, there were more than 60 riot police securing the perimeter, according to a statement from relatives. Police broke down doors and roughly handled the women. Tellez had been a Sandinista guerrilla with Ortega before splitting with him years ago.

The logic in democratic countries is that first they investigate and then they arrest, but were getting closer and closer to Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea, said lawyer and opposition figure Jose Pallais, after the initial arrests early this month. On June 9, police arrested Pallais at his home in Leon.

The police did not find former Education Minister Humberto Belli when they broke through his homes front gate and disabled the homes security cameras, according to an account he published Monday in La Prensa. His wife told them he was out of the country and prayed while police searched the house for the next four hours.

The next day, Bellis wife and daughter were sleeping when the dog barked. His daughter opened a door to let it out and at that moment at least six men dressed in black and wearing masks forced their way inside. One carried a rifle, the others knives, according to Belli.

Again, they asked for Belli. Then they asked where he had his guns. His wife told them the police had already searched the house and one of the men said this was a second operation.

The men forced the women to hand over all of their jewelry and cell phones. They ransacked the house. At one point, one man tried to rape Bellis daughter, but was stopped by another.

After an hour and a half, as Bellis wife began to tremble, the men left. Belli's sister, the writer Gioconda Belli said via Twitter: I don't know how to describe this horror.

I am aware that what my family suffered pales beside what many others have suffered, but I think it is important to document the tribulations that so many families in todays Nicaragua continue suffering, Humberto Belli wrote. To remain silent could be a way to lie and cover up the abuses.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP)  Wildlife officials say North Dakotas spring pheasant population estimate is up 3% from last year, but worry that an extended drought could cut into hunting prospects in the fall.

The statewide number might be a bit misleading since we are notably down in the southwest, while most of the state benefited from good reproduction in 2020 and a mild winter, said R.J. Gross, upland game management biologist with the state Game and Fish Department.
LIHUE, Hawaii (AP)  Officials want to study parking lots at crowded beach parks on the Hawaiian island of Kauai and explore the possibility of imposing fees on tourists' vehicles.

Kauai has allocated $30,000 of the county's federal coronavirus relief money to study parking at Poipu, Lydgate and Hanalei's Black Pot beach parks, The Garden Island reported Monday.

We all know the impacts our parks are facing with the surge of tourism, Kauai Managing Director Michael Dahilig said. This study will look at ways to better manage the parking situation of tourist vehicles while making it easier for residents to find parking at more popular destinations.

The measure that directs the Department of Parks and Recreation to conduct the study was in the works before the COVID-19 pandemic, when Kauai was feeling the strain of too many tourists, Councilmember Luke Evslin said.

When officials imposed travel restrictions to try to protect Hawaii against the spread of the virus, there were days when fewer than 100 people entered Kauai County.

Now that restrictions are easing, more than 32,000 people flew into the state one day last week, with over 2,500 going to Kauai, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

As we can see with the rapid return to basically pre-COVID visitor numbers, the pandemic did not change the fundamental fact that we need to better manage our tourism industry," Evslin said.

The ordinance allows the parks department to impose parking fees on visitors and directs it to conduct a study to determine those rates. The department will be facilitating the study but would need council approval to enact such a program.

Violating the parking fees would come with a $100 fine for the first offense. More than two offenses would mean a fine of up to $500.

The county has very few direct mechanisms to capture tourist revenue or reduce the industrys impact on our infrastructure and natural resources, and parking fees at beach parks can be one of our tools, Evslin said. The intent is both to raise revenue for the park and help reduce overall visitor numbers at some of our most-crowded beach parks.
DETROIT (AP)  A weekend storm in the Detroit area kept flooded sections of Interstate 94 closed for a third day Monday while disgusted homeowners trudged to the curb with possessions ruined by a gross stew of water and sewage that backed up into basements.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said old infrastructure combined with climate change and power outages created the misery. Thousands of people were affected in Detroit, Dearborn and the Grosse Pointe communities.

Lend a hand to your neighbors and loved ones who are struggling. This is a devastating moment, Whitmer told reporters, standing next to a small lake on I-94. She renewed her call for increased spending to upgrade infrastructure.

The National Weather Service said more than 6 inches (15.2 centimeters) of rain fell Friday night and Saturday morning in some areas. Grosse Pointe Park said it measured 8.1 inches (20.5 centimeters) over 24 hours.

Rain for the entire month of June typically is 3 inches (7.6 centimeters), the governor said, so we had double that in a period of hours.

In Grosse Pointe Farms, piles of spoiled exercise bikes, sleeper sofas, luggage, hockey equipment, toys and family keepsakes were dumped along the curb. The city sent a trash truck out on Sunday to try to make a dent in the mess.

Marcos Bonafede of Grosse Pointe Park said water reached the ceiling of his basement and killed his cat, Pancho.

"This loss paralyzed me," Bonafede said in a Facebook plea for help to clear out the basement.

Flooded homes were linked to a pump station failure in Detroit at 1 a.m. Saturday, Grosse Pointe Park told residents.

It's just too early to tell right now exactly what happened, said Gary Brown, director of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, who promised an investigation while saying the system was not designed to handle so much water.

Mayor Mike Duggan said Detroit had the most rain in one day in 80 years and that the stormwater system was built for the climate of the 20th century and not the climate of the 21st century. ... Here in the Midwest, it looks like these huge rain events are going to be our biggest risk. And that means that the system that served us so well the last century is going to be fundamentally changed if we are going to prevent this from happening over and over again.

The 2018 National Climate Assessment, the latest in a series of scientific reports required by Congress, predicted more humidity and rainfall in the Midwest and noted that increasing precipitation, especially heavy rain events, has increased the overall flood risk, causing disruption to transportation and damage to property and infrastructure. However, climate scientists generally avoid attributing individual storms to global warming without a detailed analysis.

Pumps were removing water from I-94, but much of it is below ground level in Detroit, which amplifies water accumulation, Whitmer said. Power outages hindered the effort over the weekend, according to the state Department of Transportation.

Water on I-94 will recede as swollen rivers and creeks are able to swallow more of it from the pump stations, spokeswoman Diane Cross said.

Police, meanwhile, were still trying to tow abandoned vehicles from I-94.

Nicole Connaire of Grosse Pointe Park said she was looking for a garden statue of a little boy and girl that apparently was swept away during the storm.

They floated away somewhere and we cannot for the life of us locate them anywhere. ... It might bring some joy to this otherwise crazy time, she said on Facebook.

The Democratic governor, who campaigned on a promise to fix the roads, urged legislative passage of a water infrastructure package. A plan she proposed last fall would allocate $238 million to upgrade stormwater systems. Republicans who control the Senate last week unveiled a $2.5 billion water infrastructure plan that would be funded primarily with federal COVID-19 relief aid. At least $300 million would be earmarked for stormwater and wastewater grants.

A Detroit-area congresswoman, meanwhile, asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study endless flooding events in Wayne and western Washtenaw counties and to recommend specific improvements.

"We need a full understanding and recommendations by experts at the federal level on why this continues to happen so our southeast Michigan communities can implement the proper long-term solutions to protect lives and property in the future," Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell wrote.

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Eggert reported from Lansing, Michigan. AP Environmental Writer John Flesher contributed from Traverse City, Michigan.
WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Poland and Israel have summoned each other's diplomats in a growing dispute over Polands planned changes to property restitution rules that Israel and Jewish organizations say would prevent Jewish claims for compensation or property seized during the Holocaust and communist times.

On Monday, Israeli charge d affaires Tal Ben-Ari Yaalon met with Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski, who insisted the new regulations do not bar any property claims, which should be made through courts. Poland also says it mustn't be made responsible for property seizures by Nazi Germany during its World War II occupation of Poland.

These regulations are not directed against anyone, Jablonski said, adding that there is a lot of misunderstanding of their aim as they give the law a steady framework.

Jablonski later said Ben-Ari Yaalon repeated the embassy's statement from last week, which called the new regulations immoral" and said they will have a serious impact on bilateral relations.

Polands ambassador to Israel, Marek Magierowski, was at the Israeli Foreign Ministry on Sunday, explaining the new regulations made to align with a 2015 ruling by the top constitutional court.

Polands parliament is processing the changes to prevent ownership and other administrative decisions from being declared void after 30 years. It says this is a response to fraud and irregularities that have emerged in the restitution process. The changes still require approval from the Senate and the president.

The World Jewish Restitution Organization said it was deeply disappointed by Poland's response to the concerns.

"The house or shop or factory in a town in Poland affected by this legislation was not taken by Germany, it was taken by Poland. It sits today in Poland and its use has benefited Poland for over 70 years. It is time to recognize this fact and for Poland to do justice for those who suffered so much, said the group's chief, Gideon Taylor.

Last week, the U.S. State Department weighed in, with spokesperson Ned Price tweeting that the changes were a step in the wrong direction and urged Poland not to move this legislation forward.

Before World War II, Poland was home to Europes largest Jewish community of some 3.5 million people. Most were killed in the Holocaust under Nazi Germanys occupation and their property was confiscated. Poland's post-war communist authorities seized those properties, along with the property of non-Jewish owners in Warsaw and other cities. The end of communism in 1989 opened the door to restitution claims, most of which would be coming from Poles.

The still unresolved matter has been a constant source of bitterness and political tension between Poland and Israel.

In 2001, a draft law foreseeing compensation for seized private property was approved in parliament but vetoed by President Aleksander Kwasniewski. He claimed it violated social equality principles and would hurt Polands economic development, implying that compensation claims would result in large payouts. He also said individual claims should be made through the courts.

Poland is the only European country that has not offered any compensation for private property seized by the state in its recent history. Only the remaining communal Jewish property, like some synagogues, prayer houses and cemeteries, mostly in disrepair, have been returned where possible or compensated for.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP)  A man who tried to set a police vehicle on fire last year during a protest against racial injustice in Trenton after the killing of George Floyd was sentenced Monday to more than two years in prison.

Killian Melecio, 20, of Columbus, had pleaded guilty to attempting to obstruct, impede, or interfere with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder, according to federal prosecutors. He received a 28-month sentence and will have to serve three years of supervised release once he's freed from prison.
MAYWOOD, Ill. (AP)  A long-vacant suburban Chicago retirement home is being renovated for use as senior housing as part of an effort to create more affordable housing for vulnerable residents statewide.

Deputy Gov. Sol Flores and other officials broke ground last week on the project in Maywood, about 10 miles west of Chicago. The building housed the Baptist Retirement Home but has been vacant since 2005. It will be converted into 100 living units for seniors.
UNITED NATIONS (AP)  U.N. experts are accusing Russian military instructors and the Central African Republic forces they are supporting of excessive use of force, indiscriminate killings, the occupation of schools and looting on a large scale -- allegations Moscow strongly rejected Monday.

The panel of experts monitoring sanctions on the conflict-torn African nation said in a 40-page report obtained Monday by The Associated Press that it collected testimonies" from a large number of local officials, government military and internal security forces, and community-level sources in multiple locations in the country who reported the active participation of Russian instructors in combat operations on the ground.

The panel said many of the officials and other sources reported that Russian instructors often led rather than followed Central African Republic troops as they advanced on different towns and villages in a counter-offensive against rebels linked to former President Francois Bozize. Bozize tried to prevent elections in December and then attempted to seize power from President Faustin Archange Touadera.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov categorically denied the allegations, first reported in The New York Times, that Russian instructors were involved in killing civilians and looting homes.

Russian military advisers couldnt take part and didnt take part in any killings or lootings, Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. This is yet another lie.

The mineral-rich Central African Republic has faced deadly inter-religious and inter-communal fighting since 2013. A peace deal between the government and 14 rebel groups was signed in February 2019, but violence blamed on Bozize and his allies threatens to nullify the agreement.

It erupted after the constitutional court rejected Bozizes candidacy to run for president in December and has continued since Touadera won a second term later that month with 53% of the vote.

The experts said Russia informed the U.N. Security Council committee monitoring sanctions on the Central African Republic in December that it would send 300 unarmed instructors to support the training of the countrys infantry and motorized forces and that those deployed did not take part in military operations carried out by the security forces.

The coordinator of the Russian instructors told the panel they were all Russians, recruited from an association of primarily former military officers, and had not been hired by a private company, contrary to reports by a U.N. human rights commission working group and a number of media outlets, the report said.

Last week, the U.S., Britain and France accused Russian personnel in Central African Republic of committing abuses against civilians and obstructing U.N. peacekeeping  accusations Russia angrily denied.

The Western powers linked the Russian personnel to the notorious Wagner Group, a private security company allegedly tied to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman who has been indicted in the United States on charges of meddling in the 2016 presidential election and whose companies have reportedly secured lucrative mining contracts in Central African Republic.

According to the experts findings, Russia confirmed on April 18 that it had 532 instructors in the African country, and had never exceeded 550. But the panel noted multiple sources estimated the number of Russian instructors at between 800 and 2,100, and said multiple sources reported the instructors included individuals who identified themselves as nationals of Libya, Syria and other countries.

Although the sanctions committee was informed that the instructors would be unarmed, the panel said it directly observed and received testimonies that Russian instructors supporting government military operations and providing close protection to Central African Republic officials were armed.

It said Russian officials confirmed that instructors were armed, saying that it was for their own protection and that weapons were only used when fired upon. It said the arms and ammunition came from stocks Russia provided to the Ministry of Defense, a breach of end-user commitments to the sanctions committee by Central African Republic's president in 2018 and 2019.

The panel said that in several areas it visited its experts received confidential information and found evidence of excessive use of force by Central African Republic's military and Russian instructors.

As one example, it said a commercial truck driving to the capital, Bangui, was arriving at a temporary checkpoint on Dec. 28, 2020, in Grimari in south-central Ouaka Prefecture when soldiers appeared and ordered the driver to stop. According to eyewitnesses, as he was trying to stop, the soldiers started shooting from both sides and Russian instructors opened fire from the front, it said.

The panel said three civilians were killed and 15 were injured, including six women and a minor, many with multiple bullet wounds. Local officials found no evidence of a connection in the truck to armed groups, it said, and the Russian coordinator denied any involvement.

The panel said that during an operation against rebels backing Bozize in Bambari, the capital of Ouaka Prefecture, on Feb. 15, government troops and Russian instructors entered Al-Takwa mosque, shooting without respect to its religious nature or making any effort to distinguish between fighters and civilians. According to local sources there were 17 victims, including some fighters, but the panel said it was able to confirm that at least six people who died were civilians.

The experts said they received numerous reports of indiscriminate killings against unarmed civilians by Russian instructors. They said they were able to confirm with local officials or eyewitnesses a number of such incidents, including the shooting of an unarmed man Feb. 21, the killings of two disabled civilians, and the shooting of two civilians from the Fulani tribe March 8.

In many locations where government soldiers and Russian instructors passed through or deployed, the panel said, it received accounts of looting of houses and buildings with items ranging from livestock to mattresses as well as money and motorbikes.

It said humanitarian groups were also targeted, citing as an example statements about the March 18 looting of an unnamed humanitarian organization in the capital of northwest Ouham prefecture, where goods taken included kits for victims of sexual violence worth about $1,850.

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Associated Press writer Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
BEIRUT (AP)  A Russian business delegation met Lebanese officials on Monday to discuss plans to rebuild the grain silos destroyed last year in a massive explosion at Beiruts port, a Lebanese Cabinet minister said.

The visit by the Russian team  including officials from Russias Hydro Engineering and Construction company  comes as Lebanon is going though the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history.

Nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate  a highly explosive material used in fertilizers  had been improperly stored in the port for years. The nitrate ignited on Aug. 4, causing a catastrophic blast that killed 211 people and injured more than 6,000, devastating nearby neighborhoods.

A government-commissioned study in the wake of the explosion said the 50-year-old silos could collapse at any moment and should be demolished. Several countries are said to be interested in rebuilding the port and the surrounding areas, including Turkey, Germany and China.

Lebanon's Caretaker Public Works and Transpiration Minister Michel Najjar told reporters after meeting with the Russians that they expressed a desire to cooperate and would offer technical support for the silos repair at the port of Beirut. Najjar said the Russians were also interested in building a silos in the port of the northern city of Tripoli.

The Russian team will spend three days at each facility and they will study the possibility of building new grain silos, he said.

In April, representatives of several German companies outlined a multi-billion-dollar plan to rebuild the port of Beirut and surrounding neighborhoods. Germanys consortium, led by Hamburg Port Consulting and Colliers, was the first to visit Lebanon with a plan in hand that they presented to Lebanese officials.

In 2019, Lebanon signed a deal with Russias largest oil company, Rosneft, to upgrade and operate storage installations in Tripoli. The deal made Rosneft manage storage operations.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  Authorities were searching Monday for a man suspected of shooting and wounding an FBI special agent in Jackson, Mississippi, over the weekend. The agent is expected to survive, authorities said.

Jackson police spokesperson Sam Brown told The Clarion Ledger that a 38-year-old man is wanted in the shooting, and that he was driving a dark-colored GMC Yukon. WAPT-TV reported that police later found that vehicle.
GALIVANTS FERRY, S.C. (AP)  U.S. Sen. Tim Scott launched his reelection campaign Monday, arguing in a series of stops across South Carolina that he and other Republicans represent progress and stability for voters in this deeply conservative state.

Sometimes youve got to go back to the future, and thats a future I want to go back to, Scott said in North Charleston, referencing the accomplishments of the Trump administration, as well as his hope that Republicans can recapture the U.S. Senate majority in next year's midterm elections.

Scott, 55, has said the 2022 Senate run would be his last. The chamber's only Black Republican, he has become one of the GOP's go-to standouts, particularly on issues of race and policing.

Scott has also begun to be mentioned as a potential 2024 GOP presidential candidate, with his name appearing in a straw poll conducted at this years Conservative Political Action Conference. He also gave the partys response to President Joe Bidens maiden address to Congress this year, accusing Democrats of dividing the country and suggesting theyre wielding race as a political weapon.

Scott also had a primetime speaking spot during the 2020 Republican National Convention.

Scotts time in the spotlight has not been all partisan, however. This year, he has led a bipartisan effort on policing reforms, with negotiators saying last week they had agreed to a basic framework.

Scott previously served one U.S. House term and had just been elected to his second when then-Gov. Nikki Haley appointed him in late 2012 to succeed Jim DeMint.

Elected to a full Senate term in 2016, Scott already has the backing of former President Donald Trump, who gave him his complete and total endorsement earlier this year, in a statement issued through his Save America PAC. In the Senate, he often aligned with Trump, voting with him nearly 91% of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight.

In a launch video released Monday, Scott portrayed America as a country at a crossroads, potentially hurtling toward uncertainty and discord with the Biden administration at the helm, while he and Republicans represent stability.

The video features endorsements from a slew of notable Republicans, including every GOP member of South Carolina's congressional delegation except U.S. Rep. Tom Rice. The 7th District congressman  who is facing a crowded primary fight of his own after voting to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6 insurrection  told The Associated Press he was not asked to be in the video but supports Scott's reelection.

If I had heard about it, I would have done it," Rice said Monday. He's a great senator and a credit to South Carolina and the country.

The video also includes plaudits from former Trump administration officials who could potentially be part of a GOP presidential field with Scott, including Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Drew McKissick, South Carolina's Republican Party chairman, said Scott remains popular in the state, which he has represented well.

Hes committed to our conservative values and explains them in a real, personal way that few others can, McKissick said in a statement to the AP. Were lucky to have him as our junior senator and look forward to beating Democrats in 2022.

Several Democrats have announced their bids to vie for the chance to challenge Scott, including Spartanburg County Democratic Party Chairwoman Angela Geter and state Sen. Krystle Matthews. No Democrat has won a statewide race in South Carolina since 2006.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  A bipartisan school-funding plan in the works for years is back in Ohio's upcoming state budget, under a compromise approved Monday by a joint legislative committee working out final details of the $75 billion spending plan.

The Republican-controlled House had included the education proposal known as the Fair School Funding Plan in its version of the budget passed in April. The plan, supported by multiple education advocacy groups, is meant to bring more reliability to annual school funding payments to districts.

The GOP-controlled Senate stripped the plan from its budget version approved earlier this month, saying its own proposal provided more money than the House plan over the next two years.

The budget approved by the House and Senate Monday night and sent to GOP Gov. Mike DeWine would provide about $10.9 billion for districts for the next two years, with an estimated per pupil cost of $7,202, according to an analysis by the Legislative Service Commission. Under the deal reached with the Senate, new per student calculations will be made in future budgets, and won't be arrived at through an automatic funding formula.

DeWine must sign the budget by July 1 and could veto some items, though he hasn't indicated if anything is on the chopping block.

Restoration of the Fair School Funding Plan brought praise from school organizations.

Enacting this funding model represents a generational investment that will thrust Ohio forward into an era of stable and predictable education budgets to help schools meet the needs of all students," said Rick Lewis, CEO of the Ohio School Boards Association.

The Senate also included a plan that for the first time would require the state, not individual districts, to pay charter schools directly.

The budget compromise announced Monday keeps the direct payment to charter schools. Senate President Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, suggested that keeping such direct payments in the budget helped the two sides come together on the school funding plan. Those things really cleared the picture, he said.

The budget also increases the maximum amount for vouchers to attend private schools from $4,650 to $5,500 for children in grades K-8 and from $6,000 to $7,500 for high school students.

The final version of the budget also includes $250 million for a broadband access grant program meant to boost connections to high-speed internet in underserved areas. The state estimates 300,000 households and at least 1 million residents across Ohio lack broadband.

The Senate had removed the broadband funding after Huffman said there werent enough details on how the money would be spent for the Senate to support it.

Among other details in the final version of the budget, the plan:

 Provides a 3% personal income tax cut for Ohioans, a compromise between the House plan, which proposed a 2% cut, and the Senate, which wanted a 5% personal income tax cut. Democrats oppose the cut, saying it will benefit the wealthiest Ohioans. The budget also eliminates income tax payments for anyone earning $25,000 or less, up from a previous maximum of $22,150.

 Restores a requirement that publicly funded day cares must achieve a quality of care rating to be listed in the state system. The Senate removed the mandate, leading to an outcry of advocates for low-income families.

 Removes a Senate-added requirement that food stamp recipients must undergo an asset test that would have measured recipients' total worth, including the value of cars owned by anyone in a household.

 Allots $170 million over two years for the state's H2Ohio clean water initiative.

 Declares Juneteenth a state holiday in Ohio. The day commemorating June 19, 1865, when slaves in Galveston, Texas, were told they were free, was declared a national holiday earlier this month.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court on Monday revived claims of excessive force against St. Louis police officers in a case in which a homeless man died after being restrained in handcuffs and leg shackles.

In an unsigned opinion, a majority of the court agreed to send the case back to a lower court for further review. Amid an ongoing national conversation on police practices, however, three justices said their colleagues were taking the easy out by not hearing arguments in the case.

The unsigned opinion recounted how officers put the man in a prone position, face down on the floor with three officers holding his limbs down at the shoulders, biceps, and legs and at least one placing pressure on his back and torso.

Attorneys for the homeless man's parents had argued that the facts of the case mirror the circumstances of the killing of George Floyd, who died after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes on a city street. Filmed by a teenage bystander, Floyd's death launched nationwide protests, and Chauvin was sentenced Friday to 22 1/2 years in prison.

St. Louis officials, however, told the justices that the only similarities between the two cases are drug use and heart disease," saying that their case involved a man under the influence of methamphetamine and that  little or no force was applied on his back. An autopsy showed Floyd, who was Black, had drugs in his system and heart disease. The St. Louis case involved a white man, happened inside a jail and was not recorded on video.

The justices do not typically take cases only to review the specific facts of an individual case. Instead, the limited number of cases they take each year are intended to resolve broader questions and guide lower courts nationwide. But Justice Samuel Alito wrote that in his view the court is not above occasionally digging into the type of factbound questions that make up much of the work of the lower courts, and a decision by this Court on the question presented here could be instructive.

We have two respectable options: deny review of the factbound question that the case presents or grant the petition, have the case briefed and argued, roll up our sleeves, and decide the real issue. I favor the latter course, but what we should not do is take the easy out that the Court has chosen, Alito wrote for himself and two other conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.

The case the justices sent back to a lower court involves Nicholas Gilbert, a 27-year-old homeless man. In 2015, he was arrested by St. Louis City police for misdemeanors including trespassing and occupying a condemned building. Officials say that at the jail, officers observed Gilbert tying clothing around his neck and attaching it to cell bars in an apparent effort to kill himself.

Officers ultimately entered the cell and struggled with Gilbert, putting him in handcuffs and leg shackles. He died as a result of the 15-minute struggle, during which his head hit a concrete bench. Gilberts parents sued both the city and the officers, alleging the officers had used excessive force, but lower courts said the case should be dismissed.

Alito wrote that the appeals court said dismissing the case was appropriate after concluding a reasonable jury would necessarily find that the police officers used reasonable force. The court applied the correct legal standard and made a judgment call on a sensitive question," he said. But a majority of the justices disagreed, saying that it was unclear whether the correct legal standard was used in concluding that the officers' actions did not amount to excessive force and that the appeals court should be given an opportunity to clarify its opinion.

We express no view as to whether the officers used unconstitutionally excessive force," the unsigned opinion said in sending the case back to the appeals court.

In a statement, attorney Jonathan Taylor, who represents Gilbert's parents, said it was a huge victory not only for our clients, but for police-reform advocates across the country and for the rule of law to have the case sent back for further review.

The court's action sends a powerful message to lower courts and law enforcement to follow the well-known police guidance recommending that officers get a subject off his stomach as soon as he is handcuffed, Taylor said.

Nick Dunne, a spokesperson for St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones, said in an emailed statement that the case has been ongoing for many years, and as party to the suit, the City has no comment.

The case is Lombardo v. St. Louis, 20-391.
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a legal battle over the rights of transgender students, handing a victory to Gavin Grimm over the Virginia school board that denied him the right to use the boys' restroom.

As is its custom, the court did not say why it was rejecting the appeal of the Gloucester County school district. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito said they would have accepted the case.

The court's decision not to take up the case does not establish a national precedent, nor does it necessarily signal agreement with the lower court that sided with Grimm.

But gay- and transgender-rights activists cheered the high court's decision to stay out of the long-running dispute. It let stand a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that was a resounding victory for Grimm, who has become a well-known figure in the transgender-rights movement.

"I am glad that my years-long fight to have my school see me for who I am is over," Grimm said in a statement, adding, "Trans youth deserve to use the bathroom in peace without being humiliated and stigmatized by their own school boards and elected officials."

The school district declined to comment.

In a 2-1 decision last August, a panel of the appeals court said the school board had discriminated on the basis of sex and violated the 14th Amendment by prohibiting Grimm from using the bathroom that aligned with his gender identity. His high school offered a single-stall restroom as an alternative.

Judge Henry Floyd wrote that the 4th Circuit, which covers Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and the Carolinas, was joining "a growing consensus of courts" finding that the Constitution and federal law protects transgender students "from school bathroom policies that prohibit them from affirming their gender."

Floyd framed the case in historical terms.

"The proudest moments of the federal judiciary have been when we affirm the burgeoning values of our bright youth, rather than preserve the prejudices of the past," Floyd wrote. "How shallow a promise of equal protection that would not protect Grimm from the fantastical fears and unfounded prejudices of his adult community. It is time to move forward."

Floyd's ruling relied in part on the Supreme Court's landmark victory for gay and transgender workers last June, which said a federal law forbidding discrimination protects sexual orientation and gender identity.

In the majority opinion in Bostock v. Clayton County, Justice Neil Gorsuch was careful to say it did not "purport to address bathrooms, locker rooms, or anything else of the kind."

But the reasoning in the decision has been applied by lower courts affirming transgender students' access to restrooms that match their gender identity.

The Supreme Court often lets such issues percolate in lower courts before weighing in, and a direct split among the regional appeals courts is often what prompts the justices to enter the debate.

But a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit decided a similar case in favor of a Florida student suing a school district there. The school district has a pending request that the entire circuit review that ruling.

And there are related legal battles around the country that might reach the Supreme Court, involving state laws restricting transgender students' participation in sports, and laws involving medical treatments for younger transgender individuals.

Grimm's lawyer, Joshua Block of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the Supreme Court's decision not to review the 4th Circuit was "an incredible victory for Gavin and transgender students around the country."

Although the Supreme Court was not affirming the decision, Block noted that the justices in 2016 had granted a stay so that the school board did not have to comply with a lower court's ruling in favor of Grimm.

He said in the time since then, transgender rights have become more accepted and restroom access has become less of an issue. "They saw the sky didn't fall," Block said.

Grimm, now a 22-year-old living in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, said in an interview that he was tending to a sick cat when Block texted him with the news from the Supreme Court.

"Wow!" Grimm texted back. He said he felt a mixture of "pride and love and joy."

"It brought a feeling of jubilation, a feeling of togetherness immediately within my community," Grimm said. "I didn't just feel the win for me, I felt the win for all of the transgender students and transgender people across the nation."

The controversy began in 2014, when Grimm was a high school sophomore and the school allowed him to use the boys' restroom.

But parent backlash prompted the school board to reverse course and require Grimm to use a restroom reserved just for him.

"Being forced to use the nurse's room, a private bathroom, and the girl's room was humiliating for me, and having to go to out-of-the-way bathrooms severely interfered with my education," Grimm said Monday in his prepared statement, which was provided by the ACLU.

Grimm, supported by the Obama administration, sued and won at the district court and the 4th Circuit. The Supreme Court agreed then to take the case.

But when Donald Trump won the presidency, his administration changed the federal government's position on the issue. The justices sent Grimm's case back to lower courts in light of the change.

After the 4th Circuit's most recent decision, President Joe Biden was elected, and that signaled another change.

Whatever happens next, Grimm's battle appears to have ended.

While transgender legal battles are being waged across the country, Virginia has become central to some LGBTQ issues.

There was a string of victories in 2020.

Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam signed into law a bill banning conversion therapy. Days later, he signed into law another measure requiring the state's Education Department to publish rules regulating the treatment of transgender students in public elementary, middle and high schools. The new rules, which took effect March 6, require that school officials let children use facilities and join gender-specific programs that match their gender identities, as well as requiring teachers to address transgender children by their names and pronouns.

But backlash is building: In late March, two conservative groups sued the Virginia Department of Education to block implementation of the transgender guidelines. And a teacher in Loudoun County Public Schools is suing the northern Virginia district after he was placed on paid administrative leave for refusing to use transgender children's pronouns, citing his Christian faith.

A judge recently ordered the school system to reinstate the teacher as his suit continues through the courts.

- - -

The Washington Post's Ann E. Marimow contributed to this report.
ERIE, Pa. (AP)  Trial has opened for a man charged in the shooting death of an employee during an attempted robbery of a fast-food restaurant in northwestern Pennsylvania last year.

Markese Lampley, 21, is charged with first- and second-degree murder in the January 2020 death of 22-year-old Alexander Cavanah at the Wendys restaurant in Washington Township near Edinboro. Authorities said the victim, the shift manager, was shot during a struggle and died at a hospital. Authorities said the suspect was wearing a ski mask and a motorcycle helmet, but the helmet fell off during the struggle and he fled on a motorcycle.
Prosecutors in New York have given former president Donald Trump's attorneys a deadline of Monday afternoon to make any final arguments as to why the Trump Organization should not face criminal charges over its financial dealings, according to two people familiar with the matter.

That deadline is a strong signal that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats - now working together, after each has spent more than two years investigating Trump's business - are considering criminal charges against the company as an entity.

Earlier this year, Vance convened a grand jury in Manhattan to consider indictments in the investigation. No entity or individual has been charged in the investigations thus far, and it remains possible that no charges will be filed.

Prosecutors have shown interest in whether Trump's company used misleading valuations of its properties to deceive lenders and taxing authorities, and in whether taxes were paid on fringe benefits for company executives, according to court documents and people familiar with the investigations.

The two people familiar with the deadline set for Trump's attorneys spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose private conversations. Under New York law, prosecutors may file charges against corporations in addition to individuals.

Last Thursday, lawyers working for Trump personally and for the Trump Organization met virtually with prosecutors to make the case that charges were not warranted. Meetings like these are common in financial investigations, allowing defense attorneys a chance to present evidence before prosecutors make a decision on whether to seek charges.

Thursday's meeting was first reported by the New York Times.

Spokespeople for Vance and James declined to comment on Sunday, as did an attorney for Trump, Ronald Fischetti, and an attorney for the Trump Organization, Alan Futerfas.

People familiar with the probe confirmed to The Washington Post that prosecutors were looking at charging the Trump Organization as an entity, as well as Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, following Weisselberg's refusal to assist in the investigation.

Fischetti, who took part in the Thursday meeting, said Friday that prosecutors are going forward with a case against the company because Weisselberg wasn't "cooperating and saying what they want him to say" with respect to whether Trump had personal knowledge about his CFO's alleged use of cars, apartments and other compensation that prosecutors think may not have been reported properly to tax authorities, according to people with knowledge of the case.

Trump, who on Saturday night kicked off a planned series of rallies to boost his and favored Republicans' future election prospects, still owns his businesses through a trust managed by his adult sons and Weisselberg. He gave up day-to-day management of the company while in the White House, but it is unclear what role he plays in the company's operations now.

Last month, Trump called the investigations a "witch hunt" run by Democrats seeking to damage his future political prospects.

"It began the day I came down the escalator in Trump Tower, and it's never stopped," Trump said in a news release, referring to the start of his presidential campaign in 2015.

In recent months, according to people familiar with the investigation, prosecutors began investigating Weisselberg's personal finances, in the hopes that Weisselberg might be persuaded to offer testimony against his boss. But prosecutors have grown frustrated with what they see as a lack of cooperation from Weisselberg, according to a person familiar with the case. This month, Post reporters observed Weisselberg driving into work at Trump Tower - home to both Trump's Manhattan apartment and his company's headquarters office - on a day when Trump was staying at the tower.

An attorney for Weisselberg, Mary Mulligan, declined to comment Sunday.

Trump's business uses a web of hundreds of individual limited liability corporations, most of which are ultimately controlled by a trust whose beneficiary is Trump himself.
BENI, Congo (AP)  Congo on Monday banned public gatherings for two days in Beni, after the eastern city was hit by two explosions.

A suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a busy intersection in Beni on Sunday, the same day another explosion rocked a Catholic church, authorities said. Neither bomb killed any civilians, but the government closed major gathering spaces for two days and imposed restrictions on public meetings as a precaution against further explosions.

The suicide bomber has been identified as a Ugandan who was a member of the Allied Democratic Forces rebels, according to Congolese army spokesman Lt. Anthony Mwalushay.

The suicide bombing was the first such attack in Beni, worrying authorities who noted the longtime ADF rebel group has in the past few years pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

We arrested two suspects and intercepted their communications, Mwalushay said Monday. I call on the population to be calm and to be very vigilant.

Schools, markets and churches are closed for 48 hours in Beni, he said. We do not want a crowd of more than 10 people for security reasons to avoid falling into the trap of the new modus operandi of the Ugandan ADF rebels in Beni, he said.

A bomb had also exploded early Sunday at a Catholic church in Beni's Butsili district in Beni. No one was killed, but two people were seriously injured.

We were about to open the doors of the church to allow the faithful to participate in mass. We heard a bomb inside the church. Two people were already there for morning prayer, said Mathe Kombi Victoire who works at the church.

This is the third attack in 2021 on a religious target, according to military and government authorities who noted that two imams were killed by ADF rebels earlier in the year.

Many Beni residents stayed at home in fear on Monday.

We would like the Congolese government to strengthen the military presence in certain places of the city of Beni so that these kinds of explosions do not appear again, said resident Mumbere Mafuta. It is serious because these kinds of explosions resemble that of a terrorist and here in Beni we have never seen such things. Today it is a bar, church and market. We dont know if tomorrow it will be a school. May God help us.

The ADF originated in neighboring Uganda and has been a threat in eastern Congo for more than 20 years. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for some attacks carried out by ADF rebels, but the exact relationship between the groups is not clear.

A Congolese military campaign was launched against the rebels last year and fighters have since dispersed and fled into various parts of eastern Congo, where dozens of armed groups fight over control of the mineral-rich territory.

The rebels have responded to the military offensive with increased attacks, especially in Beni and the surrounding area.

___

Kamale reported from Kinshasa, Congo.
LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP)  A volunteer organization that mobilizes veterans for disaster recovery efforts has helped a southwest Louisiana woman return to her hurricane-damaged home.

Team Rubicon renovated the home of Susan Stewart of Lake Charles. The American Press reports that Stewart returned to the house late last week  months after hurricanes Laura and Delta struck the area.

My house was shuffled during Laura, but rain came in during Delta and fell through the cracks, Stewart said.

She met Team Rubicon members when they were cutting trees down in the neighborhood. Volunteers initially signed her up for gutting and mold treatment but wound up completely restoring the home, including heating and air conditioning, plumbing, electrical work, flooring, roof and windows.

A Team Rubicon press release says the organization was founded following the Haiti earthquake of 2010. The volunteer veterans use skills and experience gained from their time in the military to help people prepare, respond and recover from disasters.
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP)  A woman who barricaded herself in a northern New Jersey apartment has been charged with concealing her dead mother's remains after the older woman's body was found in the unit, authorities said.

Cheryl Gatling, 53, refused to allow Jersey City police inside the apartment when they arrived there around 8:15 p.m. Saturday to conduct a welfare check, according to the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office. The standoff lasted about three hours before Gatling eventually opened the door and police found a body believed to be that of 78-year-old Dorothy Gatling.
BOSTON (AP)  A Massachusetts woman who embezzled about $1.4 million from two nonprofits where she worked has been sentenced to six years in federal prison, prosecutors said.

In addition, Nicole Lescarbeau was also sentenced last week to five years of probation and ordered to pay restitution, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Boston.
Yelp / Adrienne H.

A popular spot for dumplings in San Francisco will soon make its Berkeley debut, as first reported by Berkleyside.

Dumpling Time is set to open its first East Bay location at 1795 Fourth St., making this the fourth U.S. location of the casual spot from the Michelin-pedigreed Omakase Restaurant Group.
Film director Francis Ford Coppola is selling off his namesake wine brand.

The sale was announced Thursday, and Delicato Family Wines is taking over the helm of the wine brand, which includes Coppola's wine portfolio, along with the Francis Ford Coppola Winery and Virginia Dare Winery facilities, and the Archimedes Vineyard, all in Sonoma County, Delicato stated in an announcement.

The sale is expected to be finalized in July, pending regulatory approval, and details of the transaction and purchase price were not made available in Thursday's announcement. Delicato CEO Chris Indelicato called the two wine companies a "strong cultural fit," saying the combination of the companies will lead to a "more diversified winery."

Coppola also praised the sale to Delicato and its family-owned business in the press release, stating, "Over my lifetime, Coppola has become a household name across America. What started as a dream to buy a family cottage in Napa Valley turned into a million+ case business producing iconic award-winning wines. I am proud to announce that I have found the perfect fit to take our Family winery to even greater heights."

This is not the end of Coppola's involvement with the winery, however. As part of the sale, Coppola will have an equity stake in Delicato Family Wines and will join the company's board of directors, the release said. He will also continue to run Inglenook in Napa and Domaine de Broglie Winery in the Willamette Valley in Oregon, both of which will not be part of the sale, according to the release. Coppola has been involved in the wine industry since 1975, as Wine Spectator pointed out, starting with the purchase of Inglenook by Coppola and his wife, filmmaker Eleanor Coppola.
You are now listening to the sounds of the New Generation. A podcast created for those who desire a new way of gaining information rather than reading a traditional newspaper. In our show we will discuss everything from sports, pop culture, politics, and local news. To stay up to date on our latest episodes every week be sure to follow us on your favorite podcast service. And dont worry, we keep it short.
DURHAM N.C. (AP)  Electronic cigarette giant Juul Labs Inc. will pay $40 million to North Carolina and take more action to prevent underage use and sales, according to a landmark legal settlement announced Monday after years of accusations that the company had fueled an explosion in teen vaping.

A state judge accepted the first-of-its-kind agreement with a state. North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein had sued Juul, accusing it of employing unfair and deceptive practices that targeted young people to use its vaping products, which deliver addictive nicotine. The lawsuit had been scheduled for trial next month.

As part of the agreement, Juul will not advertise to anyone under 21 in North Carolina, including through social media, and will limit sales amounts of Juul products online to any state residents. It will also sell its products only behind counters at retailers that have ID scanners to ensure customers are of age.

Teen use of e-cigarettes skyrocketed more than 70% after Juuls launch in 2015, leading the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to declare an "epidemic" of underage vaping among teenagers. Health experts said the unprecedented increase risked hooking a generation of young people on nicotine, an addictive chemical that is harmful to the developing brain.

Juul sparked and spread a disease  the disease of nicotine addiction. They did it to teenagers across North Carolina and this country simply to make money, Stein, a Democrat, said after a brief court hearing. Todays court order will go a long way towards ensuring that their e-cigarettes product is not in kids hands, its chemical vapor is out of their lungs, and that the nicotine does not poison or addict their brains.

Juul, which is partially owned by Altria Group Inc., has seen sales fall after already halting all advertising and social media promotion and pulling most of its flavors except for menthol.

This settlement is consistent with our ongoing effort to reset our company and its relationship with our stakeholders, as we continue to combat underage usage and advance the opportunity for harm reduction for adult smokers," Juul said in a statement after the court hearing. We seek to continue to earn trust through action."

Several states have filed their own lawsuits against Juul. A group of 39 state attorneys general have been cooperatively investigating the companys marketing and products since February 2020.

Juul also faces hundreds of personal injury lawsuits from customers and families of young people who said they were hurt or addicted by the companys products. Those have been consolidated in a California federal case.

Juul already had taken a legal beating this spring in the North Carolina case. Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson declared in May that the company had destroyed documents and ignored court orders, leading to possible massive monetary sanctions.

Teen vaping dropped significantly last year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a national survey, just under 20% of high school students said they were recent users of electronic cigarettes and other vaping products, down from about 28% in 2019.

Experts point to restrictions on flavors along with a new federal law that raised the age limit for all tobacco and vaping sales to 21.

Anti-vaping advocates welcomed the decision. But they said more restrictions are needed to curb teen use, including banning menthol from Juul and all other e-cigarettes.

The evidence is clear that Juuls high-dose nicotine products caused the youth e-cigarette epidemic, said a statement from Matthew Myers of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. The evidence is also clear that menthol flavor appeals to kids and kids shifted to menthol products. Stein wrote the FDA on Monday asking it to ban menthol e-cigarettes and to limit their nicotine levels.

Monday's settlement, which Hudson signed, also directs secret shopper visits to stores by young people to ensure the restrictions are being carried out. The $40 million, to be paid over six years, will be earmarked by the state for vaping cessation and prevention programs, and for e-cigarette research.

Stein filed the lawsuit in state court in Durham, a central North Carolina city that is home to Duke University. Both the city and the school grew substantially in the 20th century thanks to tobacco production. North Carolina still remains the No. 1 producer of flue-cured tobacco in the country.

The connection to Durham wasn't lost on Stein, who said he recalls traveling to the city to tour the now-shuttered Liggett & Myers cigarette manufacturing facility when he was in elementary school.

The whole town smelled of tobacco, Stein told reporters after the hearing. When we thought about bringing this case, we thought that there was some symbolism to bring it here.

___

AP health writer Matthew Perrone in Washington contributed to this report.
Contributed / Getty

VERNON  Police said they had one suspect in custody on Sunday following a deadly shooting at a Motel 6 on Hartford Turnpike.

In a press release, Vernon police said the shooting was reported Sunday afternoon.
SEATTLE (AP)  The hottest day of an unprecedented and dangerous heat wave scorched the Pacific Northwest on Monday, with temperatures obliterating records that had been set just the day before.

Seattle hit 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 Celsius) by evening  well above Sundays all-time high of 104 F (40 C). Portland, Oregon, reached 116 F (46.6 C) after hitting records of 108 F (42 C) on Saturday and 112 F (44 C) on Sunday.

The temperatures were unheard of in a region better known for rain, and where June has historically been referred to as Juneuary for its cool drizzle. Seattle's average high temperature in June is around 70 F (21.1 C), and fewer than half of the city's residents have air conditioning, according to U.S. Census data.

The heat forced schools and businesses to close to protect workers and guests, including some places like outdoor pools and ice cream shops where people seek relief from the heat. COVID-19 testing sites and mobile vaccination units were out of service as well.

The Seattle Parks Department closed one indoor community pool after the air inside became too hot  leaving Stanlie James, who relocated from Arizona three weeks ago, to search for somewhere else to cool off. She doesn't have AC at her condo, she said.

Part of the reason I moved here was not only to be near my daughter, but also to come in the summer to have relief from Arizona heat," James said. And I seem to have brought it with me. So Im not real thrilled.

The heat wave was caused by what meteorologists described as a dome of high pressure over the Northwest and worsened by human-caused climate change, which is making such extreme weather events more likely and more intense.

Zeke Hausfather, a scientist at the climate-data nonprofit Berkeley Earth, said Monday that the Pacific Northwest has warmed by about 3 degrees F (1.7 degrees C) in the past half-century. That means a heat wave now is about 3 degrees warmer than it would have been before  and the difference between 111 degrees and 114 is significant, especially for vulnerable populations, he noted.

In a world without climate change, this still would have been a really extreme heat wave, Hausfather said. This is worse than the same event would have been 50 years ago, and notably so."

The blistering heat exposed a region with infrastructure not designed for it, hinting at the greater costs of climate change to come. Blackouts were reported throughout the region as people trying to keep cool with fans and air conditioners strained the power grid.

We are not meant for this, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said of the Pacific Northwest in an interview Monday on MSNBC. This is the beginning of a permanent emergency ... we have to tackle the source of this problem, which is climate change.

In Portland, light rail and street car service was suspended as power cables melted and electricity demand spiked.

Heat-related expansion caused road pavement to buckle or pop loose in many areas, including on Interstate 5 in Seattle. Workers in tanker trucks in Seattle were hosing down drawbridges with water at least twice a day to prevent the steel from expanding in the heat and interfering with their opening and closing mechanisms.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell said in a statement Monday that the heat illustrated an urgent need for the upcoming federal infrastructure package to promote clean energy, cut greenhouse gas emissions and protect people from extreme heat.

Washington state was not built for triple digit temperatures, she said.

In many cities in the region, officials opened cooling centers, including one in an Amazon meeting space in Seattle capable of holding 1,000 people. Officials also reminded residents where pools, splash pads and cooling centers were available and urged people to stay hydrated, check on their neighbors and avoid strenuous activities.

The closure of school buildings halted programs such as meal services for the needy, child care and summer enrichment activities. In eastern Washington state, the Richland and Kennewick school districts paused bus service for summer school because the vehicles arent air-conditioned, making it unsafe for students to travel in them.

Orchardists in central Washington tried to save their cherry crops from the heat, using canopies, deploying sprinklers and sending out workers in the night to pick.

Alaska Airlines said it was providing cool down vans for its workers at Seattle-Tacoma and Portland international airports, where temperatures on the ramp can be 20 degrees higher than elsewhere.

The heat wave stretched into the Canadian province of British Columbia, with the temperature in the village of Lytton reaching 115 F (46 C) Sunday afternoon, marking an all-time high recorded in Canada.

In Multnomah County, Oregon, which includes Portland, nearly 60 outreach teams have worked since Friday to reach homeless people with water, electrolytes and information on keeping cool, said county spokeswoman Julie Sullivan-Springhetti.

The county had 43 emergency department and urgent care clinic visits for heat illness from Friday to Sunday. Typically, there would be just one or two, Sullivan-Springhetti said.

Dr. Jennifer Vines, the Multnomah County health officer, said she believed there would be deaths from the heat wave, though how many remained to be seen.

We are worried about elderly and we are certainly worried about people with frail health, but kids can also overheat easily," Vines said. "Even adults who are fit and healthy  in temperatures like these  have ended up in the emergency department.

The heat was heading east, where temperatures in Boise, Idaho, were expected to top 100 F (38 C) for at least seven days starting Monday.

___

Cline is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. She reported from Portland, Oregon. AP video journalist Manuel Valdes contributed.
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Amendments to Nevada's noncompete statute, NRS 613.195, will ban noncompete agreements with hourly workers and limit employers' ability to sue to enforce certain customer servicing restrictions. The new law also will extend the required judicial "blue pencil" process to actions brought by employees challenging noncompete covenants.

AB 47, signed by Gov. Steve Sisolak, does not specify an effective date. Therefore, it will go into effect on Oct. 1, pursuant to Nevada law.

Hourly Employees

AB 47 bans noncompete covenants for employees who are "paid solely on an hourly wage basis, exclusive of any tips or gratuities." The law does not appear to affect covenants for hourly employees who also receive bonuses, profit sharing, or commissions from the employer.

If the employer or employee files a lawsuit to enforce or challenge the noncompete covenant and the court finds the covenant is unlawful because it "applies to [an employee paid solely on an hourly wage basis]," the court is required to award the employee their reasonable attorneys' fees and costs.

Ban on Actions to Enforce

NRS 613.195 prohibited covenants that restricted a former employee from providing services to a former customer or client if:

"[T]he former employee did not solicit the former customer or client."

"[T]he customer or client voluntarily chose to leave and seek services from the former employee."

"[T]he former employee is otherwise complying with the limitations in the [noncompete] covenant as to time, geographical area and scope of activity to be restrained[.]"

The new law makes clear that an employer may not bring an action seeking to restrict any of these activities, even if the agreement itself does not explicitly do so.

If the employer or employee files a lawsuit regarding covenants with the former employee and the court finds the employer has wrongfully restricted or attempted to restrict the former employee from providing services to customers or clients in the manner described above, the court is once again required to award the employee their reasonable attorneys' fees and costs.

'Blue Pencil'

NRS 608.195 required Nevada judges to revise, or "blue pencil," unreasonable noncompete agreements. If the agreement was supported by valuable consideration but was unreasonable as to time, geography or activity restricted, the judge must revise the agreement such that the restraint was no greater than necessary for the protection of the employer. However, such judicial revision was required only in actions brought by employers to enforce such agreements. In actions brought by employees to invalidate noncompete agreements, judges were not required to engage in the "blue pencil" process.

The new law extends the required judicial reformation process to actions brought by employees challenging noncompete covenants, giving employers fairer opportunity.

The exact parameters of Nevada's new requirements for restrictive covenant agreements will be fleshed out through future litigation and court decisions. Now, the significance of these amendments requires employers to give careful consideration in the drafting of noncompete covenants at the outset. Further, while AB 47 does not state whether its provisions are applicable retroactively to agreements that have been executed, employers should review their existing noncompete agreements with the new law in mind.

Joshua A. Sliker is an attorney with Jackson Lewis in Las Vegas.  2021 Jackson Lewis. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission.
In the pool before me on Spearfish Creek sat so many trout I could hardly contain myself. Ha
Addressing the 29th meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 situation in the country, which he chaired, Dr Vadhan on Monday gave a snapshot of India's efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic at the outset."In the last 24 hours we have had only 46,148 cases making the active caseload decline significantly to 5,72,994 in the country. The recovery rate has been steadily increasing and stands at 96.80 per cent today. 58,578 recoveries were registered in the last 24 hours," Vardhan said.The Union minister pointed out that "Today is the 46th day in succession where our daily recoveries outnumbered new cases. Our case fatality rate has been 1.30 per cent, daily positivity rate at 2.94 per cent and weekly positivity rate also stands at 2.94 per cent which has been consistently below 5 per cent for 21 days now."The GOM also highlighted higher level of continued awareness building through sustained IEC campaigns. Dr Vinod K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog who attended the meeting virtually emphasized on the benefits of mask wearing and hand hygiene.The Group of Ministers placed on record its appreciation for all those who have worked tirelessly for COVID management, and for ramping up the coverage and speed of COVID vaccination across the country.Speaking on COVID19 Vaccination drive, the union health minister said: "India has achieved another milestone in COVID-19 vaccination and has overtaken USA in total number of Covid Vaccine doses administered so far. USA started vaccinating against COVID from 14 December 2020 whereas the drive was launched in India on 16th Jan 2021. Under the new policy of COVID Vaccination, the Union Government is procuring and supplying (free of cost) 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to States and UTs. Till today morning (8am), we have administered 32,36,63,297 vaccine doses to our countrymen in various categories.""These include 1,01,98,257 Healthcare Workers (HCWs) who have taken the 1st dose and 72,07,617 HCWs who have taken the 2nd dose, 1,74,42,767 Frontline Workers (FLWs) (1st dose), 93,99,319 FLWs (2nd dose), and 8,46,51,696 for 18-44 years of age group (1st dose) and 19,01,190 for 2nd dose. 8,71,11,445 for over 45 years old to 60 years old (1st Dose), 1,48,12,349 for over 45 years old to 60 years old (2nd dose), 6,75,29,713 for above 60 years (1st Dose) and 2,34,08,944 for above 60 years (2nd Dose)," he added.He also apprised the GOM members on the trajectory of Mucormycosis infections that have occurred in this phase of COVID-19. Total of 40,845 cases has been reported of which 31,344 cases are rhinocerebral in nature.Fatality from the infections stands at 3,129. Of the total numbers, 34,940 patients had COVID (85.5 per cent), 26,187 (about 64.11 per cent) were co-morbid for diabetes while 21,523 (52.69 per cent) of those infected were on steroids. 13,083 patients were in the age group 18-45 (32 per cent), 17,464 were in the age group 45-60 (42 per cent) while 10,082 (24 per cent) patients were 60+ years of age.Dr. Balram Bhargava, Secretary (Health Research) & DG (ICMR) also cautioned that the second wave of COVID-19 has still not subsided as 80 districts in the country still have high positivity. He advised against any laxity at this stage. He also explained that vaccines have been found effective against the alpha, beta, gamma and delta variants of COVID-19.Dr. Sujeet K Singh, Director (NCDC) presented a detailed report on the trajectory of COVID in the States and UTs. He presented a granular analysis based on epidemiological findings of the trajectory of the pandemic in each state pointing out critical parameters like growth of cases, concentration of cases in particular districts and other trends like fatality and the variants of COVID-19 driving the infection in the affected states.Active cases continue to be concentrated mainly in Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Odisha which are reporting growth rate more than the national COVID Growth Rate. While 19 states are reporting fatality figures in single digit (less than 10), four states of Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are reporting more than hundred deaths daily.Neerja Sekhar, Additional Secretary, Information and Broadcasting apprised the GoM on how issues like vaccine hesitancy are being addressed through different mediums.The meeting was held via video-conference, here today and Hardeep S Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation; Nityanand Rai, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State, Health and Family Welfare were present.Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary (Health); Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Foreign Secretary; S. Aparna, Secretary (Pharma), Dr. Blram Bhargava, Secretary (Health Research) and DG (ICMR); Ajay Seth, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs; Apurva Chandra, Secretary (Labour); Vikash Sheel, Addl. Secretary (Health); Rakesh Sanwal, Addl. Secretary, NITI Aayog; Neerja Sekhar, Addl. Secretary, Information and Broadcasting; Dr Sunil Kumar, DGHS (MoHFW); Dr Sujeeet K. Singh, Director, NCDC; representatives of Armed Forces (Armed Forces Medical Service), ITBP and other senior government officials participated through video conference. (ANI)
In an interview to a local television network, the Minister said many of those familiesreside in the surrounding areas Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

Ahmed, well known for his outspoken attitude, has admitted that families of Taliban fighters reside in the country and many of the group's members receive medical treatment in local hospitals.

"Taliban families live here, in Pakistan, in Rawat, Loi Ber, Bara Kahu and Tarnol areas. Sometimes their (fighters) dead bodies arrive and sometimes they come here in hospital to get medical treatment," he added.

Ahmed's admission bcompletely negates Islamabad's outright rejection of allegations leveled by Kabul and Washington that Taliban terrorists use Pakistani soil to direct and sustain their activities in Afghanistan.

On the other hand, Pakistan has counter-blamed Afghanistan for facilitating militants and other illegal movements from its 2,600 km-long open border into Pakistan.

Pakistan has also maintained that it facilitates about three million Afghan refugees for decades, which at times does serve as a hiding place for the Taliban insurgents.

Recently, the Pakistan Foreign Office had categorically rejected the remarks of the Press Office of the Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs, regarding activities of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan.

"The assertion of the Afghan side are contrary to facts on ground and various reports of the UN, which also corroborate the presence and activities of over 5000-strong TTP in Afghanistan"" said the Pakistan Foreign Office.

"Over the last many years, TTP has launched several gruesome terrorist attacks inside Pakistan using Afghan soil without any retribution from its hosts. The 12th Report of the UN Monitoring Team issued in June 2021, acknowledges TTP's distinctive anti-Pakistan objectives and notes its location within Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan.

"The TTP following its orchestrated reunification with its splinter groups with the help of Hostile Intelligence Agencies (HIAs), its continued presence in Afghanistan with impunity and its cross-border attacks against Pakistan pose persistent threat to our security and stability," the Office added.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has stated that Pakistan's gains against terrorism, could be undermined severely if the security situation worsens in Afghanistan, and lead towards a civil war.

"We are already hosting and looking after almost three million Afghan refugees and we cannot take more because we are not in a position to shoulder the burden," said Qureshi, insisting that the worsening security situation in Afghanistan could also trigger another exodus of refugees into Pakistan.

However, the statement by the Interior Minister certainly has raised many eyebrows, who are now questioning the Imran Khan-led government and reminding it of its claims of now allowing terrorists to operate from its soil.

--IANS

hamza/ksk/


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Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews former right-hand man pushed Crown Resorts regulatory boss into intimidating the states gambling regulator into silence over its concerns about the casinos money laundering controls.

Crowns regulatory and compliance boss Michelle Fielding told the Crown royal commission on Monday that Mr Andrews former senior adviser, Chris Reilly, who was then Crowns head of corporate affairs, was in the room and prompted her to relay the threat of calling in the gaming minister.

Crown Resorts compliance chief Michelle Fielding (pictured giving evidence to the Victorian royal commission on Monday) agreed her comments to the gambling regulator were inappropriate.

The May 2019 phone call was an attempt to intimidate a Victorian Commission for Gaming and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) officer who had raised concerns about Crown failing to act on a key recommendation from its 2018 licence review, which was to consult with the financial crimes watchdog AUSTRAC to ensure it had suitable anti-money laundering controls in place.

Ms Fielding told the commission on Monday she didnt choose to respond aggressively, I was asked to by Crowns then chief legal officer Joshua Preston and Mr Reilly.
Biotechnology giant CSL says its Australian-made AstraZeneca vaccines will not go to waste with other countries eager to take its finished doses after the government restricted the jab to people over 60.

The $130 billion biotech will finish its 50 million dose run of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the first months of 2022 and then plans to turn its focus to big investments that will help support the nation through future pandemics.

CSL Behrings new domestic plasma fractionation facility in Broadmeadows. $900 million has been invested in the project, which will ultimately process more than 9 million litres of plasma a year. Credit:Eddie Jim

Senior vice president of operations at CSLs vaccine arm Seqirus, Chris Larkins, said even though the governments latest advice to restrict the vaccine to those over 60 had reduced demand in Australia, he expected the doses would be used overseas.

He said governments of other nations had been calling to say well take it.
Melbourne-based businessmen Scott Didier and Scott Emery have snapped up the Great Northern pub and adjacent 51 room Lateen Lane Hotel for a price understood to be around $70 million.

The duo are the latest to join the congo line of pub investors in the popular NSW beach haven Byron Bay, which includes hotel baron Justin Hemmes.

Scott Didier is the founder and CEO of ASX listed Johns Lyng Group and Scott Emery is the founder of online lender MoneyMe and they bought the well-known pub from the Mooney family who have owned and operated The Northern for close to three decades.

Melbourne- based businessmen Scott Didier and Scott Emery have snapped up the Great Northern pub and adjacent 51 room Lateen Lane Hotel for a price understood to be around $70 million.

The duo are no strangers to the area with a 30-year association running existing hospitality operations Beach Suites, Byron Bay as well as other commercial investments in the area.

The agents on the deal JLL hotels & hospitality groups John Musca and Ben McDonald and Andrew Langsford, said the sale by the family was prompted by countless and unsolicited approaches from a wide range of pub and hotel investors and operators.

It was understood the pub component at 34-43 Jonson Street, sold for $30 million and the adjacent accommodation was $40 million.

The highest sale in the area remains The Beach Hotel - affectionately known to locals as the Beachie which sold for $100 million in November 2019 to the Moelis Australia Hotel Management, run by Dan Brady.

Mr Musca, who advised on Hemmess Merivale Groups $13.5 million purchase of the site of the former Cheeky Monkeys Bar, said the latest deal is the largest in the sector this year. He said 12 bids came in from buyer profiles extending from family offices to some of the countries most respected hoteliers and international lifestyle hotel operating groups.

Mr McDonald said the high price highlighted the undeniable strength of the Byron Bay investment narrative, the current strength of the hotel market and clear opportunity to enhance and optimise the trading footprint.

Whilst this sale represents the biggest pub transaction of 2021, we believe that the Byron Bay story has a long way to run with the new owners set to take a measured view on improving the exiting offering for the benefit of local residents and the circa four million visitors set to enjoy the pristine location each year, Mr McDonald said.
It would almost be like sharing her research experience: the audience could follow the regal threads that excited them the most, deciding whom to listen to and take an immersive dive into the history books. That formed the basis of The Regina Monologues.

What if she could summon 13 queens, plucked from history and mythology, put them in North Melbournes Meat Market Stables, give them a voice, and let the audience wander freely about as if a Madame Tussauds had come to life?

The two that immediately caught my attention were Eleanor of Aquitaine, and her mother-in-law Empress Matilda, who may or may not have been a queen in her own right, Kumar says. Matildas elevation sparked 15 years of civil war in England, dubbed The Anarchy.

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There will be a touch of anarchy in the production: as the audience finds its own way, no two shows in the three-night run will be the same. Eleanor and Matilda are the only queens who have a dialogue. The rest, including Persephone, queen of the ancient Greek underworld, and Mary, Queen of Scots, will address listeners with monologues.

Some of the women depicted are less well known, though should certainly be household names too. People such as Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, daughter of a deposed Sikh Maharajah and goddaughter of Queen Victoria. She joined the suffragette movement, refusing to pay taxes until women were granted the vote. Or 16th century Queen Njinga, who ruled over what is now known as Angola, an anti-colonial hero who resisted Portuguese invasion.

There are certain commonalities, and there are differences in terms of privilege, Kumar says of her selections. While shes a huge fan of Caryl Churchills seminal play Top Girls, which depicted historical figures including Pope Joan and Lady Nijo attending a 1980s dinner party, Kumar chose not to field her queens together in an ensemble. I experimented with throwing them all together, but it just wasnt working, she says. I wanted to do different things for each character and give them each a moment to shine, to tell their own stories.
A man who helped to arrange the daylight execution of a Sydney solicitor has been found guilty of murder, after a jury was told he communicated with the gunman, gave him items before the killing, and arranged for him to be driven away afterwards.

Abraham Sinai faced trial in the NSW Supreme Court accused of collaborating with the killer who ran up to Ho Ledinh, 65, and shot him three times at close range as he sat outside the Happy Cup Cafe at Bankstown on the afternoon of January 23, 2018.

Ho Ledinh was shot dead at a Bankstown cafe in 2018. Credit:Facebook

Bystanders came to Mr Ledinhs aid, but the father-of-five died at the scene. The gunman, Arthur Kelekolio, pleaded guilty to murder in April.

On Monday afternoon, a jury found Sinai guilty of murder for his role in the killing.
The massive Carrara marble carving was knocked down in three minutes in a noisy, turbulent auction at the restaurant.

A marble bust of Napoleon which for nearly 30 years dominated the entrance to Romanos restaurant in Sydney was sold yesterday to an unnamed buyer for $560.

First published in The Sydney Sydney Morning Herald on June 30, 1966

Actress Deborah Kerr drinks a beer at lunch at Romanos in Sydney on October 13, 1959. She was in Australia for the filming of The Sundowners. Credit:Noel Stubbs

And when it had been sold Romanos - once the smartest dining-out spot in Sydney  finally died.

It was a sad and rather tawdry farewell to an establishment which for so long has given so much pleasure to so many of Sydneys top people.

Now the building which houses it in Castlereagh Street is to be demolished.

With the pale, brooding bust of Napoleon an astonishing variety of chattels were offered for sale.
Lecture on anti-vaccination

There was a large attendance last night at the Protestant Hall for the purpose of listening to a lecture upon the subject of vaccination as a preventive of small-pox. In introducing the lecturer, Dr Le Gay Brereton said that compulsory vaccination could never be possible in this free country. At the conclusion of the evening it was resolved that an Anti-vaccination League should be established in Sydney.

Like a pack of hounds

A most daring attack was recently made by a swarm of large rats on a man named John Alling, Cape Egmont, New Zealand. About two oclock in the morning he was awakened from a sound sleep by a dreadful sensation, and to his horror found several monstrous rats disfiguring his face. He did all in his power to frighten them away, but they clung to his bedding until a light was secured, when they made away like a pack of hounds.

Personal notices

If Elphinstone Job, gasfitter, of Sydney, or his wife, or any child of his, are living, and will communicate with Mrs Miller, Dresser of the Alhambra Theatre, Leicester Square, London, they will hear of something to their very great advantage; or a reward will be paid to any one giving information that will lead to finding the name ... Ellen OGrady, call for BOX, will be sold for expences, Mrs Galvin, Mary-Street, Surry Hills
Aviation staff working on international flights will have to be vaccinated under a NSW public health order that sent the industry scrambling ahead of its Monday deadline amid fears it would apply to domestic flights too.

After authorities identified a limousine driver transporting international aircrew as the most likely source of the outbreak that has locked down Sydney, Health Minister Brad Hazzard signed a public health order on Friday requiring people who work at airports to be vaccinated, despite not all airport workers being eligible for the vaccine yet.

Baggage handlers working on international flights will have to be vaccinated under a NSW government order. Credit:

It came into effect on Monday and requires people working at airports to have at least had their first coronavirus vaccination dose, backed by fines of up to $11,000 for individuals and $55,000 for companies, which have to check their staff have been vaccinated.

A document published by NSW Health says almost all airport workers are included, naming airport staff, engineers, ramp workers and baggage handlers among others, prompting concerns not enough staff had been vaccinated to keep flights functioning. However, another provision appears to restrict that requirement to those servicing flights from overseas.
The peak body for real estate agents in NSW has quit an expert panel advising the government on the industry as a stoush between the minister and agents escalates.

Real Estate Institute of NSW chief executive Tim McKibbin says the Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation, Kevin Anderson, has created a panel for pointless engagement as a ruse for consumer protection.

The yet to be filled new commissioner for property services will have no capacity to deliver meaningful change as long as the Department of Fair Trading remains the regulator, Mr McKibbin said, after resigning from the panel set to guide the new role this week.

Tim McKibbin Chief Executive Officer, Real Estate Institute of NSW. Credit:Photo: Supplied

The industry was up in arms after the Herald reported agents had not been told how new prohibition orders issued by the Building Commissioner work or where to find them.
Victoria announced its most recent lockdown once 26 cases were detected in the community while NSW waited until it had recorded more than 80 cases, including many that had been infectious for days while in the community. Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, the Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour were locked down on Saturday. If NSW is going to try a different approach, thats up to them. But we do have to protect states like Victoria that have just gone through a two-week period of elimination, Associate Professor Trauer said. A traffic light system no longer works for Delta because the virus can move too fast and you risk missing cases. Professor Mary-Louise McLaws He said there had been a lot of exposure sites identified in Greater Sydney and regional NSW and considering that travel had been allowed between Sydney and regional NSW, Victorian authorities should consider declaring the whole of NSW a red zone. Red zones mean that non-Victorian residents are not allowed to enter Victoria without an exception. As it stands, much of regional NSW remains an orange zone, meaning permit holders must isolate, get a COVID test within 72 hours and remain in self-quarantine until they receive a negative test result.

University of South Australia epidemiologist Adrian Esterman warned that this test could still miss people who become positive days after testing. The test isnt foolproof for a start, and they could be incubating and positive a week later, Professor Esterman said. Victoria has managed to eliminate COVID yet again, so why would it like to import cases from NSW? He said while NSWs contact tracing system had made it successful in the past containing outbreaks, its authorities had failed to recognise that this would not be enough to resist the Delta variant. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has previously praised NSW for not rushing into lockdowns, but Professor Esterman said the praise was undeserved and Saturdays stay-at-home orders should have been announced three or four days earlier. Professor McLaws, an adviser to the World Health Organisation, backed calls for Victoria to enforce a hard border to NSW which would declare the entire state a red zone.

A traffic light system no longer works for Delta because the virus can move too fast and you risk missing cases, said Professor McLaws, who also backs a national response. However, Professor Bennett said given the outbreak had already proven it could spread much further than regional NSW, testing was the key rather than additional measures for regional areas that are yet to see confirmed community cases. A pigeon is the only passenger on a deserted tram in Sydneys locked-down CBD. Credit:Janie Barrett The Sydney outbreak, which has been linked back to an unvaccinated flight crew driver, spread to Melbourne last week, when a Sandringham dry cleaner was exposed at a party. His boss at the dry cleaner later also tested positive. Meanwhile, a woman in Perth recently tested positive for COVID after returning from Sydney where she visited an exposure site in Bondi. On Monday the Victorian government announced it was tightening its border controls to protect Victoria from NSWs worsening outbreak, but stopped short of declaring the entire state a red zone, despite 130 locally acquired cases being reported there in less than two weeks.

Police patrols will be set up around Swan Hill, Echuca, Yarrawonga, Wodonga and Cann River, while helicopters would monitor the Hume Highway. Victorias COVID-19 response commander, Jeroen Weimar, said the Delta cases scattered across Australia highlighted the risk of people moving freely around the country during a pandemic. He described the situation in NSW as fluid and unpredictable and told reporters border controls were being assessed daily and urged Victorians to avoid interstate travel. Jeroen Weimar provides an update on Monday. Credit:Nine Wed certainly encourage any Victorian, please do not travel to NSW at this time. It is an unpredictable situation, he said. Another outbreak linked to a leak from Queenslands hotel quarantine has sent Northern Territory into lockdown. A miner in the Northern Territory tested positive for COVID-19 after he travelled on June 18 from Bendigo to Brisbane, where he was directed to quarantine under Queensland Health orders regarding Victoria at the time.

That outbreak sent several state and territory health authorities scrambling to trace 900 contacts who have departed the mine site after coming into contact with the infectious worker. Loading Kirby Institute virologist Professor Stuart Turville, who is studying coronavirus variants, said Delta was twice as infectious as earlier variants of COVID-19, and that more infectious variants would likely emerge in the coming months. Professor Turville said while he believed Australia had the processes to crush this thing again we were likely to see repeated outbreaks again and again until vaccine uptake increased. He wants Australia to ditch the 1890s dynamic of each state and territory responding to outbreaks separately. Back in the era of HIV they had a collection of national centres and Im really wondering if the government should consider that in respect to the COVID response, he said.

This might help with issues around borders and melt the rivalries between states and get us back to really working together on a national approach. Loading Burnet Institute epidemiologist Professor Mike Toole said in retrospect NSW should have locked down sooner because an earlier lockdown would have prevented a birthday party in western Sydney that turned into super-spreading event, and a hair salon in Double Bay from potentially exposing 900 clients to the virus. Professor Toole said most concerningly, emerging research was suggesting the Delta variant increases the risk of hospitalisation across all ages. One recent study in Scotland, undertaken by the University of Edinburgh, estimated the risk of being hospitalised with the Delta variant for an unvaccinated person was 85 per cent higher than it was for the highly infectious Alpha variant.
Every time terrorism survivor Rod Patterson closes his eyes, the memory of the 2018 Bourke Street attack is still vivid.

Mr Patterson was stabbed to the head as he ran to help someone he thought was the victim of a car crash, but as he reached the scene, Islamic extremist Hassan Khalif Shire Ali, 30, lunged at him with a knife before attacking a security guard and killing cafe owner Sisto Malaspina, 74, in front of horrified shoppers.

It has affected our lives forever, Mr Patterson said.

Hassan Khalif Shire Alis ute on fire in Bourke Street in 2018. Credit:Stuart Gaut

On Monday, State Coroner John Cain found the fatal knife attack on November 9, 2018, was a premeditated act of terror and called for major changes to the sharing of information between crime and intelligence agencies.
Western Australias peak doctors body has urged the government to lock Perth down, saying the current outbreak could lead to the second COVID-19 wave Australia never had.

Australian Medical Association WA president Mark Duncan-Smith said a three-day lockdown would prevent the virus from outrunning contact tracers and infecting the community.

Perth people wait to be tested for COVID-19 in Joondalup. Credit:Marta Pascual Juanola

Dr Duncan-Smith said the situation was worse than it had been with other outbreaks as it involved the highly contagious Delta variant, and questioned the governments reluctance to roll out further restrictions.

The government has previously gone into lockdown with one case in the community and it wasnt the Delta strain, he said.
A 32-year-old woman who attended the Mobius Health and Performance gym in Joondalup has tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the number of community cases in WA to two.

WA Premier Mark McGowan said it was concerning that it appeared the woman had only minimal or fleeting contact with another woman who returned a positive test on Sunday after recently travelling to Sydney.

Understandably, this is a concerning development, WA Health are currently collecting and getting in touch with the cases contacts, he said.

Weve seen what can happen when this variant is left to spread unchecked in the community.
A new indemnity scheme will allow GPs to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine to any adult who wants it regardless of their age, while national cabinet has also agreed to make it mandatory for all aged care workers to have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by September.

After an emergency meeting with the state and territory leaders on Monday evening, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Commonwealth will introduce a new no-fault vaccine injury indemnity scheme for GPs, allowing those who want an AstraZeneca vaccine to have that conversation with their doctor, including those under-40 not yet eligible for Pfizer.

Aged care workers across the country will have to be vaccinated in a new agreement from national cabinet. Credit:Jason South

If you wish to get the AstraZeneca vaccine, then we would encourage you to go and have that discussion with your GP, Mr Morrison said, noting the expert medical advice was that Pfizer was the preferred vaccine for people aged under 60.

The AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved by Australias medical regulator for use in people aged 18 and over. The indemnity scheme applies for the duration of the pandemic and will be applied retrospectively to February 22 this year to cover the start of the vaccine program.
Doctors warn a national vaccination advertising campaign is needed now, not when more doses are available, so the Commonwealth can combat misinformation being spread across the country.

There is no confirmed start date for the new communications campaign aimed at encouraging more people to come forward for vaccinations, but the federal government has allocated $41 million to educating Australians on the vaccines.

Former Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth features in the current vaccinations advertising. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners President Dr Karen Price said the vaccine rollout has now been reset twice, with two changes to the AstraZeneca advice, and it was crucial to give people up-to-date, evidence-based information about the program.

There are certainly people who are having questions about their second dose, and weve got questions from the older cohorts, or refusals, which is a real concern, she said.
Maine: Ghislaine Maxwells friendship with disgraced American paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein began years earlier than previously believed, a new documentary has claimed.

It had been thought that Maxwell, who is currently being held in a New York City jail awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, began her association with Epstein following the death of her father, newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell, in November 1991.

Epstein, who was found dead in his prison cell in 2019, was believed to have filled a chasm in Maxwells life as she mourned her father.

A US attorney points to a photo of millionaire Jeffrey Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell during a news conference last year. Credit:AP

However, researchers for the upcoming three-part documentary Ghislaine Maxwell: Epsteins Shadow found that her famous and wealthy friends, including Prince Andrew, were becoming part of Epsteins network in the late 1980s.
London: By now youve probably heard Scott Morrisons argument, which goes something like this: Australia cant yet talk about a post-pandemic future because we still dont know whether vaccines guarantee a return to normality.

To illustrate the point, the Prime Minister regularly notes COVID-19 cases are climbing in Britain even though 85 per cent of all adults have been given one dose of a vaccine and 62 per cent the full two.

It is true cases are rising: the 23,000 new infections reported on Monday make up the highest figure in four months. Nearly all new cases are the same highly transmissible Delta variant causing panic in Australia.

British authorities here are certainly wary of the trend. But they are not alarmed for two reasons: cases were always going to increase as the UK moved out of a strict four-month lockdown, and the contest between vaccine and virus is much more nuanced than Morrison and others make out.
Independent report finds every ?1 spent with UKCloud generates ?1.43 of social value

London ? 28th June 2021  UKCloud, the multi-cloud experts dedicated to making transformation happen across the UK public sector, has today announced it is the first UK tech firm to achieve SVQM Level 2 ? a mark that recognises the highest known standards in values-led business. UKCloud has released the independent report, ?Measuring what matters?, which has been independently published by Social Value Business.

New measures to deliver value to society through public procurement came into effect on 1st January 2021. Welcoming the new rules, the Cabinet Office?s Julia Lopez MP said, ?Value to the taxpayer should lie at the heart of our procurement decisions. Too often, however, ?value? has been narrowly defined by price without taking into account other important factors such local jobs or apprenticeships, the care that companies show the environment, or the number of SMEs involved in their supply chain. We want to see a greater variety of companies deliver government contracts, from every corner of our country  not just because that benefits local economies and communities but because it helps diversify our risk, create a more resilient supplier base and deliver some of our critical priorities.??

Throughout its history, UKCloud has remained focused on doing what?s right and became the first UK technology company to be awarded SVQM Level 1 earlier this year. Following a lengthy process of reviewing, measuring, and forecasting the social and local value generated, UKCloud has now become the first UK technology company to be awarded SVQM Level 2.

The award was presented by Leo Docherty MP and Richard Dickins, Managing Director of Social Value Business on Friday 25th June at UKCloud?s offices in Farnborough. On presenting UKCloud with its award, Leo Docherty said ??It has never been more important than now for local businesses that can, to put their shoulder to the wheel and help grow the economy, help communities recover from Covid and commit to environmental responsibility. The award of the Social Value Quality Mark to UKCloud is a very welcome commitment on UKCloud?s part to its local community?.

This award comes just one month after UKCloud announced its renewed support for ?build back better? with a significant investment in jobs, skills and infrastructure.

Julia Lopez MP, Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office said, ?I am delighted that UKCloud?s positive impact on the community and its commitment to ?doing the right thing? for its customers, partners, suppliers and staff has been independently recognised in this way.?

The ?Measuring What Matters? report contains the following below key findings 

 UKCloud generates ?1.43 of value for every ?1 of revenue.

 ?388k of grants allocated through the UKCloud Foundation, with a forecasted social value of ?2.35m for local charities and communities.

 UKCloud?s volunteering programme delivered 488 hours to the local community.

 It has spent almost ?100k on over 400 training and professional qualifications for employees.

 In 2019/20 UKCloud offset 214 tonnes of carbon on behalf of its customers.

 It supports the UK economy by spending ?24.5m with UK suppliers generating a total local economic benefit of ?43.2m.

 68.8% of its supply chain are UK based SMEs with a local economic benefit of ?13.3m.

 It employs and sustains 248 UK based jobs and stimulating local economic benefit through a minimum of ?5.2m employee salaries.

Richard Dickens, MD of Social Value Business said ?UKCloud have shown true leadership through both its commitment to develop and deliver lasting social value and by becoming the first within the IT sector in the UK to be awarded the Social Value Quality Mark Level Two.??

Earlier this month, the Cabinet Office published a new Procurement Policy Note which now requires suppliers bidding for major government contracts to commit to achieving Net Zero by 2050 and publish a ?Carbon Reduction Plan?.

The SVQM report verifies that UKCloud were already Carbon Neutral and have been since 2014. Through a recently announced project with Co-forest, UKCloud is now in fact Carbon Negative, thus putting this UK sovereign cloud company 36 years ahead of government targets and 26 years ahead of their hyperscaler competitors.

David Kelly, Trustee at Co-forest said, ?We?re delighted that UKCloud adopted Co-forest as one of its early supporters. Even from our initial conversation, we could tell that UKCloud wanted to go beyond sustainability as a box-ticking exercise and were more interested in how supporting projects which take a holistic view of carbon offset, environmental, and ecological challenges can genuinely effect change.

Co-forest is a UK first in bringing together likeminded organisations to protect land and plant new forestry locally to those partners, and our work is made easy by having organisations with the same forward-thinking mindset as we see in UKCloud.?

The independent report quantifies the value of UKCloud?s enduring commitment to its community of Industry Partners and how it has now further extended this by asking all of its partners to sign the Partner Charter which focuses on the following pledges:

1. Supporting COVID-19 recovery by helping local communities manage and recover from the impact of COVID, through the delivery of impact-driven innovative technology.

2. Tackling economic inequality by creating new digital jobs and skills, as well as increasing supply chain resilience.

3. Fighting climate change by reducing carbon emissions in support of the UK?s net-zero emissions pledge.

4. Minimising the amount of e-waste sent to landfill through the refurbishment and repurposing of technology.

5. Tackling workforce inequality and improving the health and wellbeing of the local community.

With 68.8% of its supply chain being UK based SMEs with a local economic benefit of ?13.3m. ? the charter gives a hint to how UKCloud help their SMEs generate such a huge benefit to the UK economy. Some of the SME organisations who have already signed up include Bellrock Technologies, Geoff Smith Associates, IMMJ Systems, Open Medical and Sundown Solutions.

If you would like to learn more about UKCloud and its commitment to social value, please download the report or visit the Social Value Page.

If you are a UKCloud Partner or would like to become one, please sign up to the Partner Charter or watch the on-demand Partner Charter Session.

For any other information, please contact: info@ukcloud.com
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New cast line up as filming gets under way on the second series of Sky Original and AMG Global hit Gangs of LondonComing to Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW in the UK, and returning to AMC and AMC+ in the US, in 2022Sky today announced that filming is underway on the second series of Sky Original drama, Gangs of London, with a new cast line up joining the multi-talented ensemble from series one. The global hit series, which began production over three weeks ago is produced by Pulse Films in association with SISTER, for Sky Studios and AMC Networks.Joining the cast of series one, which include Sope Dirisu, Michelle Fairley, Brian Vernel, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Lucian Msamati, Paapa Essiedu, Valene Kane, Orli Shuka and Asif Raza are Waleed Zuaiter (Baghdad Central, The Spy), French rapper Jasmine Armando in her first TV role, Salem Kali (Un Prophete, Dealer), Aymen Hamdouchi (SAS: Red Notice, Criminal: UK) and Fady El-Sayed (Baghdad Central, A Private War).Gangs of London is created by Gareth Evans and his creative partner Matt Flannery. The critically acclaimed first series became the biggest Sky Original drama launch on Sky Atlantic of the past five years. In the United States, the series debuted on AMC+, helping to launch the new streaming platform, quickly becoming one of its most watched series. The series premiered on AMCs linear channel in April. Internationally, Gangs of London launched successfully across Europe, Latin America, Australia, Japan and most recently in China.Set one year after the tumultuous events of series one, Gangs of London series two charts Londons map and soul being redrawn. Since the collapse of the Wallace Dumani empire, order is lacking, and the energy and chaos of a gold rush threatens the city with gangland anarchy.The Investors are viewing the city as a place of ruin and decide enough is enough. Licensing a new gang to restore stability, drama instead ensues. These brutal enforcers bring a new kind of authority, coldly designed to terrorise the other gangs into submission. Anyone doing business in the city must now go through them, and our gangs must decide where their loyalties lie if they are to survive. Who will win the battle for the soul of London?Gabriel Silver Director of Commissioning, Drama, Sky Studios, said: With such a stellar creative team at the helm, whove masterminded a brilliantly woven story for its incredible cast, Im delighted that Gangs of London has begun shooting on the second series. Delivering its trademark action and peerlessly visceral fight sequences it will definitely be worth the wait. Gangs of London is a record-breaking critical success and a great example of Sky's commitment to innovation and bring viewers the very best cinematic storytelling.Dan McDermott, President of Original Programming for AMC Networks and President of AMC Studios said: We welcome these incredible new cast members aboard the knuckle-gripping ride that is Gangs of London. Season one was an overwhelming success and now a critical darling in the US. We look forward to continuing this breathtaking adventure alongside our partners at Sky Studios, Pulse Films and SISTER.Thomas Benski CEO, Pulse Films said: One of the defining elements that propelled Gangs of Londons record-breaking success on series one was undeniably its magnificent cast. Made up of a dazzling, multicultural mix of new and award-winning established talent who captivated audiences around the world and brought to life characters that fans have become deeply passionate about. Collaborating once again with our brilliant casting director Kelly Hendry, and as production on series two officially kicks off, we are thrilled to introduce new and exciting additions to the world of Gangs of London, while welcoming back fan favourites from series one,Gangs of London series two was commissioned by Zai Bennett, Sky UKs Managing Director of Content with Gabriel Silver as the Executive Producer for Sky Studios. Executive Producers for the series are creators Gareth Evans and Matt Flannery. For Pulse films the Executive Producers are Thomas Benski, Hugh Warren, Helen Gregory and for SISTER Jane Featherstone. Tom Butterworth is the lead writer for the second series and is joined in writers room by Lauren Sequeira, Danusia Samal, Rowan Athale, Meg Salter and Elliot Warren. Corin Hardy takes on the role as lead director and will direct four episodes. Marcela Said and Nima Nourizadeh will join him to direct two episodes each. Tom Butterworth and Corin Hardy also serve as Executive Producers on the series.The second series of Gangs of London will air on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW in the UK and Ireland and will be available in all Sky markets. In the US, the series will return to AMC and AMC+, AMC Networks premium streaming bundle. NBCUniversal Global Distribution and Pulse Films will share further international licensing rights for the show.
The LGBT+ community is one of the minorities that has seen its rights hit the most in the world. However, in the 42 years of (official) struggle that the collective has had in Mexico, important steps have been taken to recognize the humanity inherent in people with other preferences and identities.

The first LGBTTTI + pride march in Mexico City was held on July 26, 1978, organized by the Homosexual Front for Revolutionary Action (FHAR) and the Lambda Group for Homosexual Liberation, and this June 27 will be held virtually as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic affecting the world.

According to the Mexican Federation of LGBT Entrepreneurs (FMELGBT), in Mexico, the LGBT community could contribute approximately 80 billion dollars to the national GDP. It's one of the reasons it's important to know the profile of this sector of the population.

Related: The Federation That Connects LGBT Entrepreneurs in Mexico

Here are some key terms to know, according to the NGO Lambda Legal.

Gender: Norms of behavior assigned to each sex; it can be male, female or intersex.

Sex: Biological part corresponding to the genitals, classified as male or female.

Sexual orientation: Emotional or physical attraction felt for a person regardless of sex or gender.

Gender identity: How a person identifies, may be different from the sex of birth.

Lesbian: A woman who has an emotional, romantic and sexual attraction to other women.

Gay: A man or woman who has an emotional, romantic and sexual attraction to another person of the same gender; some people only use the term in reference to gay men. The word "gay" is preferable to the word "homosexual," which can be associated with clinical nuances that some people find offensive.

The first LGBTTTI + pride march in Mexico City was held on July 26, 1978 / Image: Yoav Hornung via Unsplash

Bisexual: Man or woman who has an emotional, romantic and sexual attraction to people of both genders.

Cisgender: People whose birth sex and gender identity match.

Transgender: A general term that describes people whose mental sex or gender identity, the internal sense of being male or female, is different from the sex assigned by the doctor at birth.

Transsexual: A transgender person who has already undergone the gender reassignment process either with hormone therapy or surgery.

Transvestite: People who like to dress the opposite gender. This is not necessarily related to your sexual orientation or gender identity.

Related: 7 Useful Financing Options for LGBTQ + Entrepreneurs

The sign of +: It serves to abbreviate the range of identities and expressions that exist in the community.

Queer: Person who does not follow the norms of gender identity or sexual orientation.

Pansexual: Person who is attracted to others regardless of their gender.

Demisexual: People who can only be sexually attracted to others if there is an emotional connection.

Asexual: People who do not feel sexual attraction to others.

It is important to understand these definitions to recognize the humanity of the people around us and speak to them with the respect they deserve. We will continue to update this note to add more information.

Copyright 2021 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
NEW YORK (AP)  Cardi B's WAP had new meaning at the BET Awards: winning and pregnant.

The Grammy-winning star debuted her baby bump during a live performance Sunday alongside husband Offset as well as Quavo and Takeoff of Migos. She also won video of the year for her Megan Thee Stallion-assisted No. 1 hit WAP."

Cardi B didn't stay to accept the honor at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, but Megan Thee Stallion rushed to the stage to pick up the award, forgetting to thank Cardi during her speech.

But the Savage" rapper made up for it when she won best female hip-hop artist moments later.

I really forgot to say thank you Cardi' for even putting me on WAP' because it makes me feel so good to be acknowledged by one of my peers, who I think so highly of," said Megan Thee Stallion, who was the big winner of the night with four trophies. I think so highly of all the women who was nominated in this category."

Along with celebrating female artists, the BET Awards also highlighted gay pride with a seductive performance by Lil Nas X and Queen Latifah, who thanked her reported partner and son when she accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award.

As she rattled on thank you's, she said: Ebony, my love, Rebel, my love." The 51-year-old ended with: Peace! Happy pride!"

Queen Latifah was honored for her illustrious career as a Grammy-winning rapper, a Golden Globe-winning actor and an Emmy-winning TV producer. Rapsody and Monie Love kicked off the tribute with a performance of Ladies First, which was followed by Lil Kim and MC Lyte rapping the classic U.N.I.T.Y.

Lil Nas X won over the crowd with his No. 1 hit Montero (Call Me By Your Name), which ended with the rapper locking lips with a male background dancer, as the crowd roared loudly. Some audience members jumped out of their seats in praise.

His stage was set in Ancient Egypt, much like Michael Jacksons Remember the Time, which Lil Nas X paid tribute to with a skilled dance break during the performance.

Mothers were also saluted during the three-hour-plus show: Queen Latifah, who attended with her father, held a photo on her mother onstage; Megan Thee Stallion remembered her mother, who died in 2019, during her speech: She cant be here with me today but I still think about her everyday and she is the reason why I keep going." And Jazmine Sullivan  who won album of the year for her critically acclaimed EP Heaux Tales"  attended the show with her mother, who is battling cancer.

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago so we didnt see any of this happening, but God has been so faithful to us and my mom is in remission, she said. This is my prize. This is my gift. It means more to me than anything that shes here with me. She supported me all my life.

The ceremony was dedicated to the year of the Black woman," as actor and host Taraji P. Henson put at the top of the show. Rep. Maxine Waters said her signature phrase  reclaiming my time"  before Sullivan hit the stage for a sultry, top-notch performance featuring fellow R&B singer Ari Lennox. The first award of the night went to Andra Day, who won best actress, while Darnella Frazier  the teenager who pulled out her cellphone and began recording when she saw George Floyd being pinned to the ground by a police officer  was given the Shine a Light Award.

Frazier didnt attend the awards show but the honor came weeks after she was awarded a special citation by the Pulitzer Prizes for her video that helped to launch a global movement to protest racial injustice.

H.E.R., who also wowed the audience with her performance, won best female R&B/pop artist. The Grammy winner told the crowd that it is important for us to recognize each other and celebrate each other."

If we dont, who else will?" she added.

Rapper Lil Baby won best male hip-hop artist and joined forces with gospel artist Kirk Franklin to kick off the show with a performance that got Issa Rae, Queen Latifah, DJ Khaled and Zendaya bouncing in their seats.

Swizz Beatz curated the tribute to DMX, who died in April at age 50. Performers included Busta Rhymes, Method Man, The Lox, Michael K. Williams and Griselda.

Other winners Sunday included Chris Brown, who won best male R&B/pop artist; Giveon, named best new artist; and Silk Sonic  the duo of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak  took home the best group award. Chadwick Boseman posthumously won best actor.
STAMFORD  Stamford Government Centers lobby will be open as a cooling center this week now that a heat advisory is in effect across the state until at least Tuesday night.

The lobby will be open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, according to a city government release. It also will be available Saturday and Sunday, but the specific times were not immediately available.

The lobby of the Government Center, 888 Washington Blvd., appears to be the only cooling center in the city at this time.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many of the community partners that typically volunteer to serve as Cooling Centers, the citys release said.

The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for all of Connecticut and much of the coastal northeast with high temperatures expected in the mid- to high 90s Monday and Tuesday  and possibly Wednesday.

Outside could feel hotter because of humidity, which will make daylight temperatures feel like 100 degrees in some parts of Connecticut, the National Weather Service said. In some central inland parts of the state, the heat index could feel as high as 102 degrees, the NWS said.

Overnight lows were expected to be in the 70s.

There is a slight chance of thunderstorms in lower Fairfield County Tuesday night that wont affect the heat, according to NWS forecasts, although temperatures could dip to the high 80s after rain moves into the area Thursday.

Jody Bishop-Pullan, Stamfords interim director of health, recommended that residents increase their fluid intake, stay inside where there is air conditioning if possible, wear lightweight clothing and use sunscreen.

Bishop-Pullan also advised residents to call 911 or go to an emergency room if they experience symptoms of heat stroke such as confusion, loss of consciousness, convulsions or a temperature of 105 degrees or higher.

Young children, those 65 and older, those living with a mental illness and those with conditions like high blood pressure or heart disease are at an increased risk of being affected by heat exhaustion, Bishop-Pullan noted.
BRIDGEPORT  Four months after moving into his new apartment, David Reyes recalled the joy he felt when he first glimpsed the unit late last winter.

It was a bit emotional to see the apartment I was about to get blessed with, Reyes said in an interview Monday. Its been a blessing.

Reyes was the first tenant of West Liberty Commons, the latest housing development constructed by Building Neighborhoods Together, formerly Bridgeport Neighborhood Trust.

Located at 273 West Ave. on the edge of downtown, 14 of the brand new buildings 18 units are affordably priced, meaning individual tenants like Reyes pay no more than 30 percent of the areas median income of $68,600 for rent and utilities. And four of those lower-income apartments are for the formerly homeless, Reyes included.

Its like the car smell but instead its the new apartment smell, Reyes gushed Monday.

He was a guest at a formal ribbon cutting which included local and state officials, including Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz. But despite the celebratory atmosphere, Noah Gotbaum, who became BNTs executive director in 2019 shortly before ground was broken on West Liberty Commons, emphasized how desperate the affordable housing situation is in Connecticuts largest city.

It is a crisis, Gotbaum told Hearst Connecticut Media afterward. Theres a deficit of over 9,000 affordable units in Bridgeport.

Gotbaum recently shared similar sentiments at a June 15 public hearing hosted by the City Council seeking suggestions on how to spend $110 million worth of federal coronavirus relief. He would like some of that money to go to BNT and other nonprofits with similar missions to put roofs over the heads of the areas less fortunate residents.

Housing is the most important type of infrastructure you can find, Gotbaum said. Because its the basis for everything else. Its the basis for people being able to work and get a good job. Its the basis for good health care. And having a quality standard of living, especially in a pandemic. Its the basis for educational outcomes, for strong families, for public safety. We invest in it and so much else blooms from it.

While Bridgeport for years was considered one of the more affordably-priced sections of well-off Fairfield County, Gotbaum on Monday said that has changed. He said the COVID-19 pandemic left so many people jobless or with lessened incomes  you got a lot of folks who have been moved down the ladder  while at the same time boosting the local housing market.

As previously reported in mid-May, prices are soaring and homes are being snapped up. While a boon to the local economy and the tax base, one side effect of all that activity is increased rents or rentals being converted into owner-occupied housing.

And although crediting the state with funding $3.5 million of West Liberty Commons $5 million construction costs, Gotbaum said government subsidies are not keeping up with the demand.

We had almost a dozen different funders. Its crazy, Gotbaum said. Some people call it lasagna funding. You need so many different layers because you cant get full funding from the federal or state governments. ... So our projects take a real long time, because we have to find so many means.

BNT operates about 250 units citywide, spread out in over 20 buildings. Gotbaum said the organization, which normally focuses on rentals, is working on a new home ownership effort involving a handful of buildings, and hopes to soon partner with the Christophs, the father/son development team who are building up the East Side/East End sections of the harbor, to erect a 40-unit project on East Main Street just below Interstate 95.

Some members of the City Council were present at Mondays ribbon cutting. One of those, Scott Burns, co-chairs the budget committee, which hosted that June 15 teleconference on coronavirus aid.

Burns could not say afterward if BNT might be a beneficiary.

I dont know. I think its still a little early, Burns said, adding: Theres definitely some concerns about homelessness and whether those agencies or types of agencies can address that.

But Councilman Jorge Cruz, who represents the district where West Liberty Commons and BNTs nearby offices are located, said he will fight to get the agency some funds.

Even though Im very happy to see that building being opened and some of the homeless people being taken out, we still got a serious problem, Cruz said. We got a lady sleeping on John Street, (someone) behind the courthouse, behind the bus station, and on and on. ... Absolutely some of that money should go  whatever BNT needs to get another building or two more buildings going.

Back at West Liberty, Reyes said he has been calling himself and his new neighbors pioneers living there for the first time.

We should feel privileged and honored to be pioneers, he said. I got to thank BNT, thank the state and the assistance being used for individuals like myself. I pray in the future others can get help, too.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  Australia was battling to contain several COVID-19 clusters around the country on Monday in what some experts have described as the nations most dangerous stage of the pandemic since the earliest days.

Sydney in the east and Darwin in the north were locked down on Monday. Perth in the west made masks compulsory for three days and warned a lockdown could follow after a resident tested positive after visiting Sydney more than a week ago.

Brisbane and Canberra have or will soon make wearing masks compulsory. South Australia state announced new statewide restrictions from Tuesday.

Australia has been relatively successful in containing clusters throughout the pandemic, registering fewer than 31,000 cases since the pandemic began. But the new clusters have highlighted the nations slow vaccine rollout with only 5% of the population fully vaccinated.

Most of the new cases stem from a Sydney limousine driver who tested positive on June 16 to the delta variant, which is thought to be more contagious. He was not vaccinated, reportedly did not wear a mask and is suspected to have been infected while transporting a foreign air crew from Sydney Airport.

New South Wales state on Monday reported 18 new cases in the latest 24-hour period. The tally was fewer than 30 cases recorded on Sunday and 29 on Saturday.

Authorities warned that a two-week Sydney lockdown that began on Friday would not reduce infection rates for another five days.

We have to be prepared for the numbers to bounce around and we also have to be prepared for the numbers to go up considerably, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

Health policy adviser Bill Bowtell, who was the architect of Australias first AIDS response in the 1980s, said the government needed to consider hastening vaccinations by shortening the gap between AstraZeneca shots from 12 to 8 weeks.

We really face the most serious crisis in the COVID pandemic since the early days in February-March last year, Bowtell said.

The crisis has also highlighted the dangers posed by hotel quarantine, which is the source of most cases of community virus spread in Australia.

A mine worker is suspected to have become infected with the delta variant while in hotel quarantine in Brisbane in Queensland state before flying to a gold mine in the Northern Territory.

The miner infected at least six people at the mine. One of the infected miners had since traveled home to Queensland and another to New South Wales.

Authorities were attempting to track down 900 mine workers around the country who could have been infected by the initial case.

The Northern Territory capital Darwin, and neighboring Palmerston, on Sunday locked down for 48 hours after an infected miner returned home to Palmerston.

That lockdown would be extended to Friday after another miner tested positive after returning home to Darwin on Friday, officials said on Monday. The Northern Territory has never before experienced COVID-19 spreading in the community.

Queensland on Monday reported three new cases, including the miner. She is one of 170 potentially infected miners who live in the state and fly to an from work.

Masks will become compulsory from Tuesday for two weeks in Brisbane and several surrounding towns.

The next 24-to-48 hours are going to be very crucial in Queensland about whether or not we see any spread of this delta strain, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczu said.

The Queensland government has called on the federal government to tighten already tough border restrictions to reduce the number of travelers arriving in Australia.

Western Australia state reported one new case in Perth linked to the Sydney cluster. The state is home to 177 of the potentially infected miners.
Owners of units in a Florida oceanfront condo building that collapsed with deadly consequences were just days away from a deadline to start making steep payments toward more than $9 million in major repairs that had been recommended nearly three years earlier.

That cost estimate, from the Morabito Consultants engineering firm in 2018, meant owners at Champlain Towers South were facing payments of anywhere from $80,000 for a one-bedroom unit to $330,000 or so for a penthouse, to be paid all at once or in installments. Their first deadline was July 1.

One resident whose apartment was spared, Adalberto Aguero, had just taken out a loan to cover his $80,000 bill.

I figured I would pay it off after they fixed the building. I didnt want to pay it off before because you never know, said Aguero, adding that he pulled paperwork to make the installment payments a day after Thursdays collapse. I said cancel everything.

An itemized bill sent by the condo board in April to owners of the building's 136 units showed that much of the planned work was in the pool area and the facade. Installing new pavers and waterproofing the pool deck and building entrance would cost $1.8 million, with another $1 million going to structural repairs and planter landscaping, according to a condo board email obtained by The Associated Press. A line item of miscellaneous repairs that included work on the garage was estimated to cost $280,000.

Total costs assessed, including many items that appeared to be for aesthetic purpose: $15 million.

Engineers and construction experts say the Morabito documents that focused just on the structural work make clear there were several major repairs that needed to be done as soon as possible. Other than some roof repairs, that work had not begun, officials said.

The cost estimate emailed by Morabito Consultants to Surfside officials was among a series of documents released as rescue efforts continued at the site of the collapsed building, where more than 150 people remained unaccounted for. At least nine people were killed in the collapse, authorities said Sunday.

Another 2018 Morabito report submitted to the city said waterproofing under the pool deck had failed and had been improperly laid flat instead of sloped, preventing water from draining off.

The failed waterproofing is causing major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas. Failure to replace the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially, the report said.

The firm recommended that the damaged slabs be replaced in what would be a major repair.

That came as news to Susana Alvarez, who lived on the 10th floor of the doomed tower and said a Surfside official assured residents in a 2018 meeting that there was no danger. It wasn't clear who that official was.

The Town of Surfside told us the building was not in bad shape. That is what they said, Alvarez said on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition program. No one ever told us that building was in such bad shape.

A daughter of Claudio Bonnefoy, a resident from Chile who is missing, said it appears that someone ignored key signals the building was in danger.

This is starting to make me angry because reports from years ago reporting serious structural damage to the building are little by little being known, said the daughter, Pascale Bonnefoy. "It seems this was predictable because the technicians alerted (others about it) and nobody did anything.

The Morabito firm said in a statement that it was hired in June 2020 by Champlain Towers South to begin the 40-year recertification process required of all buildings in Miami-Dade County that reach that age. The Champlain building was constructed in 1981.

At the time of the building collapse, roof repairs were under way, but concrete restoration had not yet begun, the statement said.

An attorney for the Champlain Towers South condominium association, which was in charge of the repair work, did not immediately respond Sunday to an email seeking comment. Surfside officials also did not respond to an email seeking comment.

A new batch of emails from building officials and condo board members that were made public Sunday has added to the mystery.

In one email, a Surfside official praised the building's board for plans to start the 40-year recertification process early after attending a November 2018 meeting.

This particular building is not due to begin their forty year until 2021 but they have decided to start the process early which I wholeheartedly endorse and wish that this trend would catch on with other properties, said Surfside Building Official Ross Prieto.

A few months later, a board member wrote to Prieto that workers next door were digging too close to our property, and we have concerns regarding the structure of our building.

Prieto wrote back to monitor a nearby fence, the building's pool and adjacent areas for damage.

Surfside has hired Allyn Kilsheimer of KCE Structural Engineers to consult on the Champlain Towers disaster. Surfside officials say Kilsheimer has worked on numerous such cases, including the World Trade Center after the 9/11 attacks and the collapse of a pedestrian bridge at Florida International University.

Stephanie Walkup, an engineering professor at Villanova University, said it will take time to pinpoint the cause  or series of causes  that brought down Champlain Towers South.

The ultimate cause of the collapse may have been related to design error, construction error, deterioration or other event, Walkup said in an email.

We all want answers and engineers will want to learn from this collapse as we have others, but we want to make sure we have the right ones, she added.

_____

Anderson reported from St. Petersburg, Florida, and Condon reported from New York.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP)  John Warford realized the threat to his city when he saw it from the air.

Warford was mayor of Bismarck 10 years ago when the Missouri River overflowed its banks from Montana to Missouri.

Warford recalls taking a helicopter ride with Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, adjutant general of the North Dakota National Guard at the time, and seeing just how high the river was.

I always called the Missouri the crown jewel of North Dakota; its our best resource, he said. To look at this resource raging out of control from the air, your face pales. Your heart almost stops when you see the extent of the damage.

The Missouri experienced widespread record flooding from May through August 2011, impacting homes, businesses, crops and infrastructure including roads in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri, according to the National Weather Service. The Souris River also flooded that year, swamping a large part of Minot, North Dakotas fourth-largest city, The Bismarck Tribune reported.

The flooding caused by heavy rain and snowmelt on top of soils saturated from a wet 2010 fall resulted in more than $2 billion in damages, killed five people and led to federal disaster declarations in all seven states, according to the weather service. In the Bismarck-Mandan area, it impacted neighborhoods, a zoo and a state park.

Warford compared the flooding to the coronavirus pandemic -- a stressful time for a community that could do only so much. Area officials and residents in 2011 collaborated to fill more than 11 million sandbags and build 7 miles of levees. Deciding where to build the levees was the hardest decision he had to make, the mayor said.

When you build these levees, not every home in every neighborhood is going to be protected, he said. Thats very hard for a homeowner to accept, and its very hard for a mayor to do because you cant protect everybody.

There are not a lot of easy decisions when youre faced with a natural disaster, Warford said. I dont know if there are any easy decisions other than you just have to do something.

For the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the river system, doing something involved an unprecedented move.

With Lake Sakakawea swelling behind Garrison Dam on the river to the north of Bismarck, the agency opened the dams spillway gates for the first time in the dams history on June 1, 2011, sending a cascade of water down the concrete chute.

Using the spillway helped the Corps manage the flood, though it also necessitated repairs and prompted a study on how to make the dam safer.

The spillway has been used sparingly in the dams nearly 70-year history. After 2011, it wasnt used again until 2018 and 2019 when construction work elsewhere at the dam prevented the Corps from relying on tunnels meant to discharge water from Lake Sakakawea.

The Tribune reported in 2018 that the use of the spillway at the time was also meant to test the structures ability to help make incremental adjustments to the lake level.

The Corps has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on repairs at the dam since the 2011 flood, according to Tribune archives.

Millions have been spent in the Bismarck area, as well.

Bismarck didnt have it as bad as Minot, where about 11,000 residents were forced to flee the expanding Souris. But the Missouri flooding forced the evacuation of nearly 900 homes in Burleigh and Morton counties. Low-lying parts of south Bismarck were most affected, including the Fox Island area.

The Burleigh County Water Resource District launched a nearly $4 million levee project to protect that area from future flooding. The effort involved a 3,500-foot-long levee extending west from Gallatin Loop to the riverbank, then north to the Whispering Bay accessory channel. A portion of the road also was raised.

A group of about 20 homeowners took issue with the project because their homes would be outside of the levee. They eventually sued the county over the project in March 2018, claiming that unlike transportation, flood protection did not fall under public use of the roads. The suit went before the North Dakota Supreme Court, which ruled in 2019 that the county did have the right to create the levee.

The project was completed at the end of last year, aside from some grass seeding, according to Water Resource District Manager Dennis Reep. James Landenberger, who oversees the project for the water resource district, said its considered a success.

Hoge Island to the north of Bismarck also experienced flooding in 2011, and one house was swept away. The Water Resource District bought four properties after the flood for $1.3 million to make way for a possible levee, but area homeowners were not interested in paying for the project.

The water district later sold the properties for $121,300 but retained easements in case a flood protection project is approved in the future. No permanent structures are allowed on the properties.

Building and planning regulations with high water in mind were in place in Burleigh County and Bismarck before the 2011 flood. New construction rules were put in place in 2010, prompted by ice jams in 2009. The rules require the floor of a buildings lowest level be 2 feet above the base flood elevation established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The flood changed the mapping in 11 Burleigh County townships. Two of them -- Missouri and Tilfor -- hadnt been mapped for flooding before 2011, according to Mitch Flanagan, county director of building, planning and zoning.

People are much more aware of the construction requirements and where they can and cant build, he said.

FEMA also establishes 100-year and 500-year floodplains, which outline the risk of flooding in certain areas. The 100-year floodplain is used by the city of Bismarck when crafting construction guidelines. Builders need an elevation certificate before construction is started in a floodplain.

People are adapting and building according to regulations, said Brady Blaskowski, city building official.

FEMA before and since 2011 with assistance from the State Water Commission has been updating Flood Insurance Rate Maps using current engineer modeling and topography techniques, according to agency spokeswoman Diana Herrera. A flood event is not the main driver in map revisions, but depending on the severity it might be included in the model, she said.

The current flood insurance pricing system is based on flood zone, structure age and elevation. A new pricing methodology will go into effect Oct. 1 for new businesses and homes, and on April 1, 2022, for renewals.

People werent the only ones impacted by floodwaters a decade ago.

Nearly 100 animals at Bismarcks Dakota Zoo had to be evacuated to other facilities, according to Director Terry Lincoln. Some of the larger animals such as the tigers had to be tranquilized before being relocated. One of the most challenging parts of the evacuation was keeping track of where each animal was going, Lincoln said.

The zoo along the river was protected by a temporary dike and did not completely flood. But it was shut down for six weeks, resulting in an estimated $250,000 loss in revenue.

Hundreds of volunteers contributed to the evacuation and sandbagging efforts at the zoo.

Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park south of Mandan also borders the river. Its campground was submerged by floodwaters as much as 7 feet deep and was closed for a year. Cleanup began in September 2011 and lasted through the mild winter that followed.

Sitting on your hands all summer long while the campground was underwater was pretty tough, former park manager Dan Schelske said. We wanted to do something, and we just couldnt.

Buildings in the campground area were flooded; two cabins had to be replaced. Electrical pedestals and distribution panels were replaced after floodwater compromised the electrical system.

Campsite tables and buildings had to be cleaned and sanitized. The entire campground was reseeded. Its water lines and sewer lines were purged. Stressed and dead trees were cut down, even in years afterward. Workers hauled away trees, silt and mud from the saturated campground. Schelske said the work was hard on equipment and resulted in long days. Workers had to get tetanus shots.

After the flood, the park took elevation readings of the campgrounds high and low spots to be prepared should Bismarcks river gauge reach a critical level.

Thats when an action plan kicks in for sandbagging drainage areas, disconnecting power and prioritizing infrastructure, including a $14,000 lift station panel. Cabins now are built on axles, needing only to be lifted onto wheels to be hauled away.

Schelske, who ran the park from 2004-21, said the 2011 flood was right at the top of challenges in his career.

I do remember it was a tough time, he said.

There was a bright spot to the disaster despite the damage, according to Warford. No lives were lost, and the city is now much more prepared to handle significant flooding.

It really brought the community together, the former mayor said. I think Bismarck ended up being a friendlier place. We saw what a community could do when everybody was like-minded and wanting to fight a natural disaster such as this.

While numerous local and state agencies and officials were involved in the flood response, The No. 1 thanks goes to the citizens of Bismarck who are remarkably resilient and strong, Warford said. Theyre just so North Dakota tough. They have that can-do spirit where if were going to have a flood and need 11.2 million sandbags in our metro area, were going to fill them.

The people of North Dakota are extraordinary, and Bismarck people are at the top, he said.
Gov. Ned Lamont on Monday announced $5 million of federal coronavirus relief funding will go toward gun violence and crime prevention measures in the state.

The move comes as the state has seen a sharp uptick in shootings and other violent crime amid the pandemic, following a nationwide trend.

During a press conference outside St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, Lamont drew parallels between the pandemic and the states experience with violent crime and gun violence.

Everybody standing here today, I think our No. 1 responsibility to you is to keep you safe, keep you healthy and keep you out of harms way, said Lamont, speaking in front of a group of lawmakers and policymakers.

While Im proud that Connecticut is one of the safest states in the country, we are not immune, he said. I see whats happening in other cities and other states, and our violence is spiking up as well  in particular gun related violence.

The announcement from the Lamont administration comes a week after The White House unveiled a strategy to tackle gun crime.

The federal plan would increase enforcement of firearms dealers through the ATF, as well as provide federal law enforcement support for local police departments.

But the plan also calls for investing in community violence intervention programs and expanding summer job opportunities for teens, along with helping formerly incarcerated people get back into their communities.

He said the money will go toward creating regional data centers to enable forensic investigators to track and trace guns based on shell casings found at crime scenes, as well as tracking cars thefts  a growing concern in cities and towns.

Commissioner James Rovella, of the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, said the state will also open a rapid DNA kiosk in Meriden that will run around the clock.

During the pandemic, the state saw three main issues: violent crime, auto theft and drug overdoses, said Marc Pelka, under secretary for the Office of Policy and Management.

At the beginning of the pandemic, it seemed that perhaps there would be a slowdown in criminal activity and arrests, he said. But as the pandemic wore on criminal activity rebounded, and some more sharply, he added.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., described gun violence, car theft and drug overdoses as a pathogen, and said they are the tools of a trade  a vicious pernicious trade  that sends bodies to this hospital.

He admitted the $5 million would not accomplish everything the states policy makers aspired to do, but he said it would send a message. We need much more money from the federal government to accomplish those goals, he said.

Andrew Woods, who runs the Connecticut hospital-based violence intervention program, said that over the past 20 months the organization had responded to St. Francis Hospital over 300 times for victims of violent crimes.

Aside from trying to prevent retaliatory violence, the group also works to connect families with services they might need, including home health care, he said.

But he said the programs are underfunded and understaffed.

At the scale that were operating at now, in terms of the kind of violence that were seeing play out in our communities its like drinking from a fire hydrant, he said.

He called for long-term sustainable funding for the programs.

Last fall, the governor sent state police to Hartford to assist the citys police force as the capital saw a spike in shootings.

There have been more recent shootings in the city, including earlier this month when two people were killed 20 minutes apart in what police said were unrelated shootings. One of the victims was a 56-year-old woman police said was struck by a bullet and killed in her kitchen, after a gunman fired nine shots from a rifle in broad daylight, WFSB reported.

Police have arrested one man in that case, 21-year-old Omar Ryes, charging him with murder, possession of an assault weapon and large capacity magazine as well as conspiracy to commit murder. A second man, 24-year-old Edwin Roman, is also being sought on the same charges and is still at large.

The shootings follow two other back-to-back shootings in April that took the lives of a toddler and a teenager.
FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP)  A Massachusetts man is being charged with domestic assault and child neglect, alongside other charges, after police say he assaulted a woman and threw a baby in a car seat to the ground.

North Smithfield police said the 25-year-old Fall River man led police on a car chase throughout multiple Rhode Island cities on Sunday  a day after the alleged assault, WJAR reported.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP)  Alabama House Speaker Mac McCutcheon said Monday he will not seek reelection next year.

McCutcheon, 68, said in a statement that he is stepping away from politics to spend time with his family and to do some traveling with his wife during retirement.

Its been an honor and a privilege to represent the people of District 25 in the House and the citizens of the State of Alabama as speaker, but after four terms its time to go home, McCutcheon said.

McCutcheon, a Republican from Monrovia, is a former police officer and crisis negotiator. He was first elected to the House in 2006. He served as the chairman of the influential House Rules Committee, which decides what bills come up for debate, from 2012 to 2016.

McCutcheon came to the helm of the House at a time that the state was being battered by scandals.

McCutcheon was selected as speaker in 2016 to replace former House Speaker Mike Hubbard, who was removed from office after being convicted on ethics charges. McCutcheon, known for his affable demeanor, had promised to depart from the authoritative style of his predecessor.

The days of the imperial speakership are over, McCutcheon said at the time.

House Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, said McCutcheon had restored stability to the speakers office.

Combining a firm hand with a kind heart, he worked to ensure that the voices of all members -- regardless of rank or party affiliation -- were given the opportunity to be heard, Ledbetter said.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said people should be proud of McCutcheon.

Not only has he worked hard for Alabama, Mac is simply a good guy, Ivey said.

McCutcheons tenure still saw its own controversy.

In 2017, the House of Representatives began impeachment hearings against then-Gov. Robert Bentley. Bentley later resigned. McCutcheon said he had quietly warned Bentley in a friend-to-friend meeting that there were enough votes in the House to impeach him.

With McCutcheon as speaker the GOP-dominated House of Representatives continued to push a socially conservative and pro-business agenda. Lawmakers in 2019 passed legislation what was then the most stringent abortion legislation in the nation, making performing an abortion a felony including in cases of rape and incest. The law was blocked by a federal judge.

However, House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, who serves in the same local delegation as McCutcheon, said he thought the last legislative session was one of the most successful during his time in Montgomery.

McCutcheon said he is proudest of working with House members.

I have nothing but respect and admiration for every member of the House, McCutcheon said. Weve had our political disagreements, but it was never personal, and I will treasure my days in the House for the rest of my life, McCutcheon said.

A new speaker will be selected in the organizational session in 2023.
It was too hot for reindeer.

Thats according to Matt Eddy, who furnished the antique Santa sleighs for the movie set of The Noel Diary on the lawn of Town Hall.

Nearly 200 people stood on the sidewalk of Main Street Sunday to see the filming of the Netflix movie that stars Justin Hartley, of This Is Us, and is directed by Charles Shyer of Father of the Bride.

There would not be any reindeer to pull the antique sled as planned, Eddy said. He often works in tandem with Mike Jablonski, who furnishes the live reindeer for movies, but said the animals commonly associated with pulling Santas sleigh could not attend the shoot with temperatures topping 80 degrees even at 9 p.m, when the filming started.

Nevertheless, Christmas came to New Canaan in the heat of June with faux snow, a giant snowman, a sign saying You are now in Maple Falls, and the holiday classic Its a Wonderful Life playing on a screen. The words New Canaan Town Hall were covered up for the shoot, just above a wreath.

Many of the extras were actual New Canaan residents, including some of the children throwing snowballs for the Christmas festival scene, Administrative Officer Tucker Murphy told Hearst Connecticut Media.

The stand-in for Hartley, Cris Williams, is a New Canaan resident, according to his mother Leslie Williams, who was one of the onlookers.

She explained how her son paced through the scene, keeping lighting and other technical aspects in mind. Along with being a model, Williams, who attended Wilton schools, works as a stand-in.

His mother divulged that he had told her that Hartley, the star of the film, was a very great guy.

Leslie explained that film crews often work through the night.

It is always amazing how long things it takes, to film small segments, since scenes are filmed several times, she said.

The movie is based on the Noel Diary, a New York Times-bestselling novel by author Richard Paul Evans, who also wrote The Mistletoe Promise.

The movie is expected to be released in theaters for Christmas 2022.

Omitting the reindeer was not the only change needed to be made prior to filming. The crew always has to be ready to pivot, art director Anthony Bruno said. Decorator Megan Miller-McKeever said she loved the villages shops while she was setting up on Friday for the Sunday shoot.

The filmmakers asked to close down Forest Street for the shooting of the scenes. Murphy, who handles the filming permits, said she thought it would be too much to have all of those businesses closed. Though other business, such as Chase and Subway, were decorated for the project.

All this for just a few minutes of film, Murphy said.

The movies story revolves around a young man who finds a diary that may hold secrets to his past while he is settling his estranged mother's estate over the Christmas holiday, which called for flashbacks.

Jamie Kitman, of Octane Film Cars in Nyack, N.Y., often furnishes classic cars for movies. His services were required for the filming of the scene, as the movie depicts various points in the past.

The cars used for The Noel Dairy included a 1921 Dodge Tourer, a 1948 Plymouth Dodge that doubles as a police car, a 1946 red pickup truck and a 1952 American 700-series pumper fire truck, Kitman said.

His company owns 35 cars and Haggarty Insurance gives access to their database, so he can contact interested owners of classic cars, Kitman said.

Octane Film Cars has supplied cars for Netflix, Apple, Hulu and Showtime projects. Business had slowed because of the pandemic in 2020, but 2021 is busier than ever, Kitman said, as filming starts to ramp back up. Kitman said he believes Connecticut will be getting more movies because of new tax policies and a pool of talented production workers.

The crew worked through much of Sunday night and were just cleaning up the following morning around at 7 a.m. Murphy said they would be done cleaning by the end of the day Monday.

Netflix has also been filming The Noel Diary in Darien, Essex, Stamford, Westport and Fairfield.

It was a huge success, Murphy said. She said she was happy to hear the filmmakers were crediting New Canaan with being very cooperative to work with.

Other projects are expected to be filmed in New Canaan this year. I am getting calls all the time now, Murphy said.

Murphy has met with a representative from Discovery Channel regarding the filming of a movie in Waveny House about the evolution of Wall Street. The title, director or cast has not yet been confirmed.

The town has had several portions of other movies filmed in New Canaan, including the Revolutionary Road in 2008, Stepford Wives in 2004, Ice Storm in 1997, The Swimmer in 1968, The Object of my Affection in 1998 and Louder than Words in 2013, Murphy said.

The long-running soap opera All My Children also filmed in Waveny for years, Murphy said.
DEL RIO, Texas (AP)  Marianela Rojas huddles in prayer with her fellow migrants, a tearful respite after trudging across a slow-flowing stretch of the Rio Grande and nearly collapsing onto someone's backyard lawn, where, seconds before, she stepped on American soil for the first time.

I wont say it again, interrupts a U.S. Border Patrol agent, giving orders in Spanish for Rojas and a dozen others to get into an idling detention van. Only passports and money in your hands. Everything else  earrings, chains, rings, watches  in your backpacks. Hats and shoelaces too.

It's a frequent scene across the U.S.-Mexico border at a time of swelling migration. But these arent farmers and low-wage workers from Mexico or Central America, who make up the bulk of those crossing. Theyre bankers, doctors and engineers from Venezuela, and theyre arriving in record numbers as they flee turmoil in the country with the worlds largest oil reserves and pandemic-induced pain across South America.

Two days after Rojas crossed, she left detention and rushed to catch a bus out of the Texas town of Del Rio. Between phone calls to loved ones who didn't know where she was, the 54-year-old recounted fleeing hardship in Venezuela a few years ago, leaving a paid-off home and once-solid career as an elementary school teacher for a fresh start in Ecuador.

But when the little work she found cleaning houses dried up, she decided to uproot again  this time without her children.

Its over, its all over, she said into the phone recently, crying as her toddler grandson appeared shirtless on screen. Everything was perfect. I didnt stop moving for one second.

Last month, 7,484 Venezuelans were encountered by Border Patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico border  more than all 14 years for which records exist.

The surprise increase has drawn comparisons to the midcentury influx of Cubans fleeing Fidel Castros communist rule. Its also a harbinger of a new type of migration that has caught the Biden administration off guard: pandemic refugees.

Many of the nearly 17,306 Venezuelans who have crossed the southern border illegally since January had been living for years in other South American countries, part of an exodus of nearly 6 million Venezuelans since President Nicolas Maduro took power in 2013.

While some are government opponents fearing harassment and jailing, the vast majority are escaping long-running economic devastation marked by blackouts and shortages of food and medicine.

With the pandemic still raging in many parts of South America, they have had to relocate again. Increasingly, theyre being joined at the U.S. border by people from the countries they initially fled to  even larger numbers of Ecuadorians and Brazilians have arrived this year  as well as far-flung nations hit hard by the virus, like India and Uzbekistan.

U.S. government data shows that 42% of all families encountered along the border in May hailed from places other than Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras  the traditional drivers of migratory trends. That compares with just 8% during the last sharp increase in migration in 2019. The Border Patrol recorded more than 180,000 encounters in May, a two-decade high that includes migrants' repeated attempts to cross.

Compared with other migrants, Venezuelans garner certain privileges  a reflection of their firmer financial standing, higher education levels and U.S. policies that have failed to remove Maduro but nonetheless made deportation all but impossible.

The vast majority enter the U.S. near Del Rio, a town of 35,000 people, and they don't try to evade detention but rather turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents to seek asylum.

Like many of the dozens of Venezuelans The Associated Press spoke to this month in Del Rio, 27-year-old Lis Briceno had already migrated once before. After graduating with a degree in petroleum engineering, she couldnt get hired in the oil fields near her hometown of Maracaibo without declaring her loyalty to Venezuelas socialist leadership. So she moved to Chile a few years ago, finding work with a technology company.

But as anti-government unrest and the pandemic tanked Chile's economy, sales plunged and her company shuttered.

Briceno sold what she could  a refrigerator, a telephone, her bed  to raise the $4,000 needed for her journey to the U.S. She filled a backpack and set out with a heart lock amulet she got from a friend to ward off evil spirits.

I always thought Id come here on vacation, to visit the places you see in the movies, Briceno said. But doing this? Never.

While Central Americans and others can spend months trekking through the jungle, stowing away on freight trains and sleeping in makeshift camps run by cartels on their way north, most Venezuelans reach the U.S. in as little as four days.

This is a journey theyre definitely prepared for from a financial standpoint, said Tiffany Burrow, who runs the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalitions shelter in Del Rio, where migrants can eat, clean up and buy bus tickets to Miami, Houston and other cities with large Venezuelan communities.

They first fly to Mexico City or Cancun, where foreign visitors are down sharply but nearly 45,000 Venezuelans arrived in the first four months of 2021. Smugglers promoting themselves as travel agencies have cropped up on Facebook, claiming to offer hassle-free transport to the U.S. in exchange for about $3,000.

Were doing things the way they do things here  under the table, a smuggler said in a voice message a migrant shared with the AP. Youll never be alone. Someone will always be with you.

The steep price includes a guided sendoff from Ciudad Acuna, where the bulk of Venezuelans cross the Rio Grande. The hardscrabble town a few hundred wet steps from Del Rio is attractive to both smugglers and migrants with deeper pockets because it had been largely spared the violence seen elsewhere on the border.

If youre a smuggler in the business of moving a commodity  because thats how they view money, guns, people, drugs and everything they move, as a product  then you want to move it through the safest area possible charging the highest price, said Austin L. Skero II, chief of the U.S. Border Patrols Del Rio sector.

But the number of smugglers caught with weapons has recently increased in the area, and agents who normally hunt down criminals are tied up processing migrants.

The uptick in migrants crossing is purely a diversion tactic used by the cartels to carry out crime, Skero said as a group of Haitians carrying young children emerged from a thicket of tall carrizo cane on the riverbank.

Once in the U.S., Venezuelans tend to fare better than other groups. In March, Biden granted Temporary Protected Status to an estimated 320,000 Venezuelans. The designation allows people coming from countries ravaged by war or disaster to work legally in the U.S. and gives protection from deportation.

While new arrivals don't qualify, Venezuelans requesting asylum  as almost all do  tend to succeed, partly because the U.S. government corroborates reports of political repression. Only 26% of asylum requests from Venezuelans have been denied this year, compared with an 80% rejection rate for asylum-seekers from poorer, violence-plagued countries in Central America, according to Syracuse Universitys Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

I can write their asylum requests almost by heart, said Jodi Goodwin, an immigration attorney in Harlingen, Texas, who has represented over 100 Venezuelans. These are higher-educated people who can advocate for themselves and tell their story in a chronological, clean way that judges are accustomed to thinking.

Even Venezuelans facing deportation have hope. The Trump administration broke diplomatic relations with Maduro when it recognized Juan Guaido as Venezuelas rightful leader in 2019. Air travel is suspended, even charter flights, making removal next to impossible.

Meanwhile, as the migrants leave Del Rio to reconnect with loved ones in the U.S., they are confident that with sacrifice and hard work, theyll get an opportunity denied them back home.

Briceno said that if she had stayed in Venezuela, she would earn the equivalent of $50 a month  barely enough to scrape by.

The truth is, says Briceno, hustling to catch a bus to Houston where her boyfriend landed a well-paying oil industry job, its better to wash toilets here than being an engineer over there.

___

Follow Goodman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APjoshgoodman.
While Gov. Ned Lamont publicly rolled out an ambitious plan last week to cut commuter times on the states busiest rail corridor, lawmakers have taken less conspicuous steps toward studying a broad expansion of rail service in the shoreline and eastern Connecticut.

Legislation passed by lawmakers in the closing days of the session this year included a provision directing the state Department of Transportation to study the feasibility of extending the Shore Line East rail service from its current terminus in New London to Westerly, R.I.  a project long sought by regional rail advocates.

The department was also tasked with examining a proposed new rail route from New London to Norwich, with the potential to link up with routes in Massachusetts, as well as new passenger stations in Groton and Stonington.

The study comes less than a decade after former Gov. Dannel Malloy announced plans for expanded service on the Shore Line East route  including a future stop in Rhode Island  only to reverse course several years later amid stiff budget cuts.

Since then, commuter interest in the Shore Line East has been hampered by limited service and interruptions caused by maintenance, a number of swing bridges that must open for river traffic and priority for Amtrak trains on the rails east of New Haven, officials in the shoreline region said.

Like most transit services, the pandemic forced Shore Line East ridership to crater by more than 75 percent last year, according to DOT data. Ridership also declined in two of the three years prior to the pandemic.

Cant we use that for passengers?

State Rep. Christine Conley, D- Groton, one of the leaders of the effort to approve the study, said she hoped it would bring renewed interest for rail expansion at a time when federal dollars are likely to be made available for infrastructure projects and Electric Boat is adding thousands of workers to its submarine-building facility in Groton.

There is a freight line that goes on the western side of the [Thames] River, all the way up to Norwich, and it actually lets off right by Electric Boat and Pfizer, Conley said. Its used for freight, but we were thinking can't we use that for passengers and get more cars off the road?

The study is expected to cost $2.3 million, with the funding included in the state budget signed by the governor last week. The language establishing the study was included in a separate bill for the DOT.

Max Reiss, a spokesman for Lamont, said the governor is still reviewing the DOT bill, which calls for the study to be completed and sent to lawmakers by Jan. 1, 2023.

A third piece of legislation, the state bonding bill, includes possible funding for a long-delayed project to build a second platform and parking garage at the Shore Line East station in Madison, where trains can only stop on the southbound side of the track, limiting service. Even if that bill is signed by Lamont, the project must still wait to receive approval from the state Bond Commission, which could take years.

The project was first included in the states 2015 bonding package, according to DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick, though funding was never approved.

Its been a need that weve been advocating for a lot, especially when all the towns on the Shore Line East have that, Madison First Selectwoman Peggy Lyons said. Were reinvigorating it in hopes of getting some funding.

The state is expected to complete a similar $15 million expansion of the train station in Clinton later this year, after several years of delays due to budget cuts.

Sam Gold, executive director of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments, said the state has long given priority to Metro-North over other, less-traveled, rail lines. And while eastern Connecticut is unlikely to ever produce a similar number of commuters as communities in Fairfield and New Haven counties, Gold said a lack of investment had obscured the potential for growth on the Shore Line East and other routes.

Theres a lot of value there in potential new ridership, Gold said. How do you estimate ridership if you dont have the service?

Previous studies

When the state has spent money to study an expansion of service along the shoreline, the results have not always been promising.

In April, the DOT released its report on a $750,000 study into the feasibility of building a new passenger rail station along the Shore Line East route in Niantic. The report concluded the idea was unlikely to succeed due to low projected ridership, limited connections to other rail services as well as site constraints.

Mark Nickerson, the first selectman of East Lyme, which includes the village of Niantic, said the idea was ludicrous and pushed by state lawmakers who were seeking to boost ridership along the route.

The train tracks run through our little town, and I have no idea where youd put a commuter station, he said last week. [The DOT] found no place to put it.

Nickersons predecessor, state Sen. Paul Formica, R- East Lyme, said he was the instigator of the Niantic study and continues to support an expansion of rail service in eastern Connecticut, where he said tourism to beaches and museums could spur ridership in addition to commuters.

An expansion of the Shore Line East route into Rhode Island would also create a potential for a future link-up with extended commuter lines from Boston, creating a regional rail network extending from that city all the way to New York and beyond.

I think thats the vision, to have two rail lines meet at Westerly, said Gold, the RiverCOG director.

Other obstacles for development of Shore Line East include the infrastructure along the route, such as the Connecticut River Bridge in Old Saybrook. The bridge, which owner Amtrak plans to replace, occasionally fails to raise and lower properly, leading to cascading delays to rail and maritime traffic, according to Amtrak.

In remarks submitted to the legislatures Transportation Committee earlier this year, DOT Commissioner Joseph Giulietti reminded lawmakers that funding was needed just to begin studying the idea.

Information on market opportunities, infrastructure capabilities and operating alternatives would need to be obtained and analyzed, Giulietti said. The study would further require the department to work with Amtrak, owner of the Northeast Corridor in eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island, as well as Rhode Island and Massachusetts officials to identify the opportunities associated with expanded rail service.

Still, the plan received letters of support from dozens of local workers and residents, as well as from Groton Mayor Keith Hedrick and local employers Pfizer and Electric Boat. Save the Sound, a conservation group, also lent its support by touting the environmental benefits of increasing rail ridership over cars.

Conley, the lawmaker who helped shepherd the legislation into the larger DOT bill, said Metro North and the DOT could work administratively to make the Shore Line East route more attractive to riders by making schedules more regular and in sync with train service to and from New York. Those changes could be implemented prior to a costly study, she said.

Yes, we would like to see of course more tourists come seasonally, have seasonal transportation for them, but for the general commuters, the working commuters who do live in southeastern Connecticut, you do need a regular schedule for them, Conley said.

Under the most recent schedule published in April, three Shore Line East trains depart New London each morning toward New Havens Union Station, while two make the opposite trip back in the evening. A third evening train departing Union Station goes to Old Saybrook.

Nursick said Friday that the transit agency is working on a plan to increase rail service on the Shore Line East route. He also said the governors Time for CT plan, which focuses on Metro-North, would also benefit Shore Line East and Amtrak passengers who travel along those tracks beyond New Haven.
Terry Mattingly leads GetReligion.org and lives in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He is a senior fellow at the Overby Center at the University of Mississippi.
T he Leonardo Centre on Business for Society, created by Imperial College Business School, launched on 16 June as a global laboratory for experimentation and the innovation of sustainable and inclusive ways to do business.

It will bring together experts from environmental, social and medical science with management, finance and engineering scholars to develop and leverage data for real-world collaborative experimentation with businesses and institutions.

To achieve this ambitious goal, it will connect 15 research centres at Imperial College London and 150 global scholars in 60 universities around the world.

One of the unique aspects of the new centre is a machine learning-enabled dataset on corporate sustainability behaviour, with millions of initiatives across all sectors and 90 countries, categorised by the sustainable development goals (SDGs) promoted by the UN and by the types of action that companies undertake to execute these initiatives.

Commitment to environmental and social impact

This dataset represents a major breakthrough in our understanding of what works  and what does not work  in companies commitments to environmental and social impact.

It will allow us to study what bundles of sustainability initiatives can generate the best financial performance together with the best environmental and social outputs. This will be the holy grail in our quest for a sustainable business enterprise model.

Beyond the data, this centre will pioneer the involvement of companies in real-world experimentation of innovative approaches to the way a business works, with the view to identifying what are the most effective changes in different sectors and different countries to become sustainable enterprises.

This will see the launch of pilot projects to test the impact of stakeholder-oriented governance structures, leadership and cultural models, strategic decision processes, incentive and control systems, business models, and all the other core elements of a business.

Investors, banks and indeed society, will increasingly differentiate between companies that meet this gold standard and those that do not, warned Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England and current UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance, at the launch event of the Leonardo Centre. That means backing companies with credible plans with the necessary finance to turn plans into action; and divesting those who dont demonstrate credible intention to transition.

Imperial College

Zero carbon impact is taking centre stage

The fact that around 200 of the main financial institutions have committed a total of $75 trillion to accelerate the transition to net zero carbon impact by 2030 (the Glasgow Financial Alliance to Net Zero) means that these concerns are taking centre stage in the financial markets.

A large number of global thought leaders attended the event, including Sanda Ojiambo, CEO, UN Global Compact; Lord Callanan, Minister for Climate Change and Corporate Responsibility, UK Government; Dominic Waughray, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum; Peter Bakker, CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development; and Lise Kingo, chair of the Leonardo Centre and former CEO of the UN Global Compact, among many others in business, institutions and academia.

Dominic Waughray, MD of the World Economic Forum, considers the transition from principles and guidelines to real-world change interventions of paramount importance. It is not about whether, nor when, your company will join this historical trend.

Leaders must rethink the purpose of their business

It is about how fast and how effectively it will experiment, fail, learn and scale with the new integrative business models, in collaboration with customers, suppliers, employees, investors and local communities.

This shift in mindset will mean leaders will have to rethink the purpose of their business and how it creates value for their investors in financial, human, social and natural capital. This critical shift is already happening. Clarke Murphy, CEO of the global head-hunting firm Russell Reynolds Associates, shared the results of a study of 5,000 CEO search assignments. Those that included the sensitivity to social and environmental responsibility progressed in only two years (2018-20) from as little as 4% to 30%.

The development of a stakeholder-oriented mindset, with its implications for the regeneration of the natural and social environment, is no trivial feat, however.

Businesses must put biodiversity above profit

Sir Andrew Cahn, a non-executive director at Huawei and a speaker at the launch event on 16 June, insisted that in the context of climate change, the loss of nature, biodiversity, and other challenges, we need leaders who can persuade others against our evolutionary instincts and nature, putting these challenges before profit.

Here is where the labs created by the Leonardo Centre will serve a pivotal role in identifying the most effective leadership approaches that both companies and business schools will be able to adopt.

The centre plans to involve about 200 companies over the next 10 years in sustainability change interventions, and more than 100,000 managers in three types of labs: the Leadership, the Enterprise and the Systemic Change labs.

The Leonardo Centre wants to give its stakeholders and the wider business world the tools and the knowledge to align their business activities to a common good-oriented purpose. Business leaders will drive this agenda forward, with the engaged support of government, academia and civil society.
Ogden jazz icon Joe McQueen may be gone, but his memory and legacy live on. One physical reminder of his life, McQueen's lifelong home at 3158 Grant Ave., has now become available for sale. The house received extensive remodeling, but as investor Richard Casperson has said, "Joe's energy is 
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The Police has applied, during the first five months of the year, 3,826 civil sanctions for violations of the forestry norms, worth almost 6 million RON and have opened 5,300 criminal cases, for committing crimes laid down and penalized by Law nr. 46/2008 - Forestry Code.

"During the first 5 months of the year, public order police officers within the Romanian Police have continued actions, at a national level, for combating illegalities in the forestry area," inofrms a press release sent by the The General Inspectorate of Romanian Police (IGPR) on Monday.

There were 18,135 checks carried out, of which 2,775 at the forestry fund, 432 in the forest vegetation outside the forestry fund, 1,242 on the origin, processing, storing and capitalization of timber, 12,807 on the legality of timber transportation and 879 other checks, Agerpres informs.

There were 34,057 objectives verified, of which 574 checks at forestry exploitations, 363 at round wood cutting installations, 675 at timber warehouses, 536 in fairs, markets, stockyards, 305 at forestry services and 1,440 checks at other objectives.

"Police has confiscated 16,673 cubic meters of timber, worth 4,758,817 RON, of which 6,516,51 cubic meters of working wood, over 2,500 cubic meters of lumber and over 7,500 cubic meters of firewood," the quoted source shows.

Furthermore, 25 vehicles were confiscated, 37 wagons, 119 mechanical saws, 78 axes and 32 other goods.

Participating in the action were the police, gendarmes, border police officers, representatives of the Park Rangers, RNP (National Forestry Authority) - Romsilva, forestry service regime, as well as other forces.
Deputy Prime Minister Dan Barna, co-chair of the Save Romania Union - Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party (USR PLUS) ruling alliance, said on Monday, at the end of a convention of USR's National Bureau, that it is natural to wait for the opinion of the Venice Commission on dismantling the Judiciary Crime Investigation Section (SIIJ) and mentioned that the coalition agreed on the matter.

The clarifications come after national chairman of the National Liberal Party (PNL), major at rule, Ludovic Orban, said on Saturday in Iasi that Justice Minister Stelian Ion notified the Venice Commission regarding the disbandment bill without informing the prime minister and the ruling coalition partners, which delays the adoption of the initiative in Parliament.

"Yes, indeed, a point of view has been requested of the Venice Commission, which is natural because we have been trying to build Romania's judiciary in agreement with and as synchronous as possible with what modern European judiciaries mean. It is a decision, by the way, taken by the coalition last week, owned by it, wait for the opinion of the Venice Commission, which will come around July 2-3 and then, in two weeks' time, an extraordinary meeting will vote on discarding SIIJ," Barna told a news briefing at the Parliament House, quoted by Agerpres.
Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Monday that Romania sells anti-COVID-19 vaccine to several countries, with Denmark to receive one million doses.

He was asked about the doses of anti-COVID-19 vaccine that are about to expire.

"We have these statistics. Some of the doses were exported. Not of those that were going to expire now on the 30th, maybe and of those that were going to expire now on the 30th, but there is an analysis of all of them, we have contact with several countries to export or to donate. Every day we receive requests. You know very well that we will send more to Denmark. We sell to Denmark. We sell to more countries. I think a million doses in Denmark. The Ministry of Health has all the figures", said Citu.It is about the Pfizer vaccine, which will be sold at the purchase price."When the strategy was made for the EU, all the countries had the same strategy. More were contracted because we had to arrive at the same time as we were selling in other countries and the strategy is to sell at the purchase price," the prime minister said.The goal of vaccination, according to the head of Government, is to eliminate the pandemic."We have reached the most important target. You know very well that yesterday, in Bucharest, no one was infected in 24 hours. The goal of the vaccine is to eliminate the pandemic and the target is reached," the prime minister said.
The European Union Digital COVID Certificate will become available for download in Romania on July 1 on certificat-covid.gov.ro, senior official with Romania's Health Ministry Andrei Baciu told AGERPRES on Monday.

Baciu added that those who do not have access to the internet will be able to obtain the certificate with the aid of their family physicians or the public health directorates.

"These can also be downloaded in Romania on July 1 from certificat-covid.gov.ro. You visit the page, create an account; after we have created an account, we are sent a link to our email address, we click on that link and we will be able to download the certificate for one or any of the situations we find ourselves in. For those who do not have access to the internet, they can obtain the certificate with the aid of family physicians or public health directorates of their respective counties," Baciu explained.He said there would also be a dedicated call centre and a six-week transition period in which both the existing vaccination certificates could be used."There will also be a call centre for certain exceptions that will take over all the requests that will be solved by a technical working group, which will have this role to solve any kind of particular situations. We will have a transition period of six weeks in which the existing certificate, let's call it classic, can be used, just to give everyone time, to give everyone the opportunity to get their vaccination certificate, so that no problems are created," the senior official added.The certificate is a document that will facilitate safe free movement of citizens in the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic."Precisely because there is a great diversity of documents - whether we are talking about vaccination certificates or testing certificates - so as not to generate kilometre-long queues at the checkpoints, where all these documents should be checked, in all European languages, which would create a very long waiting time, this modern and very fast, very efficient digital formula has been found. You get a QR code that is generated when the digital COVID certificate is issued as proof for vaccination, negative test results in the last 72 hours, or for positive testing in the last 180 days, which is equivalent to going through the disease and recovering. For any of these instances you are issued a digital certificate that has a QR code. You can have it on your phone, if it's a smart phone, or in digital format. Basically, this QR code is scanned at the checkpoints and things go very quickly, no further verifications of the authenticity and veracity of these documents are necessary," said Baciu.
Firefighters intervened in the last 24 hours to evacuate water from 29 houses, 59 yards, five cellars and a public institution, following the heavy rains and storms that battered Romania in the respective interval.

More serious effects of the hydrometeorological phenomena were registered in 18 localities from eight counties and the municipality of Bucharest, shows the Facebook page of the Department for Emergency Situations (DSU), with firefighters taking action to clear eight fallen trees on roads/building roofs (two cars and three buildings affected), and a person from Corbu locality - Harghita County was evacuated to a shelter provided by the local authorities.

Road traffic was temporarily blocked on DN 2M/Vrancea due to the mud rolled down on the lane, while on DC 161/Buzau only pedestrian traffic is possible due to a water-damaged pipe bridge, Agerpres informs.

At the same time, in Cherasti locality, Valcea County, four people are still evacuated due to a landslide produced on June 23rd.

In the locality of Casin Monastery - Bacau County, a days-long search for a man who was swept away by the water on June 18 was resumed on Monday.
Romania's Defence Minister Nicolae Ciuca and Romania's Chief of Defence Daniel Petrescu on Monday welcomed Georgia's Chief of Staff Giorgi Matiashvili at the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence (MApN).

The Georgian military official is visiting Romania through Tuesday at the invitation Petrescu.

In their conversations, the three officials underscored the importance of the Romanian-Georgian military relationships and the progress made by Georgia with implementing security and defence reforms.According to MApN, Ciuca voiced openness to better co-operation for increasing security in the Black Sea region and reiterated his support for Georgia's Euro-Atlantic projects."Intensifying dialogue between NATO and Georgia is a key element in the Black Sea area, which is still characterised by complex developments," Ciuca is quoted as saying.Ciuca reassured the Georgian side that "Romania will continue to support the process of reforming Georgia's defence system, sharing its experince gained in the process of joining NATO."According to MApN, the discussions between the chiefs of defence focused on improving collaboration by continuing to participate in the annual exercises organised in Georgia (Agile Spirit) and Romania (Platinum Eagle), co-operation within the Integrated Multinational Logistics Unit (IEL-MLU) and the access of the Georgian military to the training programmes provided by the Armed Forces Training Centres and the university education units of the Romanian Army."Bilateral co-operation inside NATO remains a constant and solid milestone for strengthening the partnership between the two armies, as well as for improving the regional security climate," said Petrescu.Part of the Georgian Chief of Defence visit to Romania were calls on the Headquarters Multinational Division South East and the Directorate General of Armaments.
More than 59% of the respondents to an INSCOP poll would vote for a nationalist party that promotes religious values and supports the traditional family, however, about two-thirds would not support such a party if it promoted Romania's withdrawal from the European Union, the rapprochement with Russia or the restriction of the national minorities' rights.

The opinion poll "Public distrust: West vs. East, the rise of the nationalist current in the age of misinformation and fake news phenomenon" - Part II was conducted by INSCOP Research in partnership with Verifield upon the commission of the Strategic Thinking Group think tank, as part of a research project supported by The German Marshal Fund of the United States and funded by the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation through the True Story Project. The opinion poll conducted between June 1 and 15 is divided into three chapters, the second being dedicated to measuring the willingness of Romanians to vote for a nationalist party, as well as their adherence to a number of elements pertaining to the Eurosceptic and nationalist agenda.

Thus, when asked if they would vote for a nationalist party that promotes religious values and supports the traditional family, 59.5% said yes and 34.8% said no, Agerpres informs.

Furthermore, of those who responded that they would support a nationalist party that promotes religious values and the traditional family:

- 61% said that they would not vote for such a party if it proposed measures and policies that could trigger Romania's withdrawal from the European Union;

- 75% said that they would not vote for such a party, if it proposed Romania's rapprochement with Russia;

- 70% stated that they would no longer vote for such a party, if it proposed restricting the rights of national minorities.

"The percentage of those who believe that Romania must defend its national interests even if it risks losing its EU membership status remains similar to that resulting from the March research (64%). The interpretation of this massive population group as followers of nationalist options should be nuanced. Sociological research included a filter question through which we exclusively measured the opinion of this group, and the results show that two thirds of them, although supporters of the defense of national interests, believe that Romania's exit from the European Union would affect national interests. The apparent dissonance highlights the fact that the majority of Romanians consider that, if the rest of the European countries pursue their own national interests, it is legitimate for Romanians to want the same thing for their country. However, there is a clear rational awareness that leaving the EU would affect national interests and that the country's economic development has the best prospects within the Union," said Strategic Thinking Group president Remus Stefureac.

Other findings of the poll are as follows:

* 64.8% of respondents were of the opinion that Romania must defend its national interests when they disagree with the rules of the European Union, even if it risks losing its position as an EU member state. On the other hand, 28% were of the opinion that Romania, as a member state, must respect EU rules, even when national interests are affected.

* 64.5% were of the opinion that Romania's exit from the EU would affect the national interests of the country (the percentage represents approximately 42% of the total population). 29.4% appreciated that Romania's exit from the European Union would not affect the national interests of the country (the percentage represents approximately 19% of the total population).

* 62.9% appreciated that, in the future, Romania would develop better economically if it were inside the European Union, while 27% considered that Romania would develop better economically if it were outside the EU.

* As regards Romania's national interests: 32.6% indicated the development of the economy; 24% - strengthening Romania's role in the EU; 11.9% - the development of transport infrastructure; 7.7% - the protection of vulnerable population groups; 6.8% - the strengthening of military capacity; 6.6% - the preservation of Romanian national values; 6% - the development of economic relations with China/Russia; 4.4% - the nationalization of natural resources.

* 90.6% consider that Romania should protect the rights of ethnic minorities on its territory, while 7.7% disagree with this statement.

The data was collected between June 1 and 15 by computer-assisted telephone interviewing, the volume of the multistage layered sample being 1,100 people, representative by significant social-demographic categories for the uninstitutionalized population of Romania, aged 18 and over. The maximum acceptable data error is a 2.95%, for a confidence level of 95%.
Energy company OMV Petrom will invest approximately 70 million euros to replace the coke drums at the Petrobrazi refinery; the new drums will be manufactured in Romania and are designed for a lifespan of over 20 years, the company said in a release today.

The process of replacing the coke drums will take place between 2021 and 2023 and approximately 11 million euros will be invested this year.

"OMV Petrom, the largest energy company in South-Eastern Europe, will invest approximately 70 million euros at the Petrobrazi refinery, to replace certain facilities that are essential during the refining process. These are the four coke drums which, at very high temperatures, ensure the stage of upgrading heavy components to superior products," the release reads, Agerpres informs.

The four coke drums are designed for a lifespan of over 20 years and 5,000 operating cycles. The weight of one coke drum is almost 200 tons, with a diameter of approximately 6 meters and a length/height of around 30 meters. The crane that will be used to replace the hydrocarbon refining pressure vessels will be around 140 meters high and, depending on weather conditions, it will be visible from Bucharest.

"We are constantly investing in the modernization of the Petrobrazi refinery. The replacement of the coke drums is a project with a very high degree of technical and organizational complexity. The new units will have an important contribution to increasing the efficiency and safety of our operations," said Radu Caprau, member of the OMV Petrom Executive Board, responsible for Downstream Oil.

Petrobrazi has a total crude oil processing capacity of 4.5 million tons per year and, starting 2005, OMV Petrom has invested approximately 1.8 billion euros in the refinery, one third of this investment contributing to the reduction of the environmental impact.

OMV Petrom is the largest integrated energy company in South-Eastern Europe, with an annual Group hydrocarbon production of 53 million boe in 2020.

The Group has a refining capacity of 4.5 million tons annually and operates an 860 MW high efficiency power plant. The Group is present on the oil products retail market in Romania and neighboring countries through 790 filling stations, at the end of March 2021, under two brands - OMV and Petrom.

OMV Aktiengesellschaft, one of the largest listed industrial companies in Austria, holds a 51 percent stake in OMV Petrom. The Romanian state, through the Ministry of Energy, holds 20.6 percent of OMV Petrom shares, Fondul Proprietatea holds 7 percent, and 21.4 percent is the free float on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.

OMV Petrom is the largest contributor to the state budget, with contributions of approximately 32 billion euro in taxes and dividends paid between 2005 and 2020, the cited release states.

Since 2007, OMV Petrom has included corporate responsibility principles into its business strategy. Between 2007 and 2020, the company has allocated approximately 72 million euros to develop communities in Romania, focusing on environmental protection, education, health and local development.
More than 133,000 high school graduates are expected to sit in the national Baccalaureate exam, June-July 2021 session, which begins on Monday with the written examination in Romanian Language and Literature.

On Tuesday, June 29, the examination in the compulsory subject depending on the study programme followed in high school will take place, and on Wednesday, June 30, the examination in the subject of their choice from the fields considered as the central part of the academic programme followed in high school will take place. The last written test, the test in the mother tongue and literature, is scheduled for Thursday, July 1. The exam is being organized in 802 centers.

According to the Ministry of Education, 133,663 candidates registered for the written tests, of whom 114,137 candidates from the 2021 class (graduating yeargroup), and 19,526 candidates from the previous class, respectively. More than 15,300 candidates will take the written tests of the Baccalaureate exam in the Capital.

The final results will be made public on July 9.

In accordance with the legal provisions in force, the following prevention and protection measures must be ensured in the classrooms: each examination center will have medical assistance, equipment and protective materials (disinfectants, masks, etc.); the entrances/exits, as well as the direction of travel on the corridors, will be properly signaled and disinfected regularly; in the classrooms where the tests take place, the seats are established so that there is a distance of 1 meter from each other between the candidates, in rows and between rows; in case this cannot be done, the maximum possible spacing will be ensured; each person who has the right of access to the school will receive a mask on arrival and, if requested, on departure; classrooms will have hand sanitizers; the protective mask must be worn inside the examination center; the collection of worn masks will be done in specially arranged and signalized places. At the same time, the exchange of personal items is prohibited.

To be declared promoted, a high school graduate must meet the following conditions, cumulatively: recognition/equivalence/support of all samples for the assessment of language and digital skills; taking all written tests and obtaining a grade of 5 (at least) in each of them; obtaining an average of 6 (at least) in the written tests.
World Vision Romania will run a campaign to promote COVID-19 vaccination in Romania's rural areas, the organization said in a release on Monday.

For a fast access of the foundation's beneficiaries and of the communities to COVID vaccines, World Vision Romania will cooperate with the National COVID-19 Vaccination Coordination Committee (CNCAV), with other institutions and national and local authorities, campaigning for widespread vaccination as the quickest way to protection and safety. Also, intensified efforts to vaccinate the population mean safely reopening schools in vulnerable communities, the foundation said.

World Vision Romania's support to communities will consist in facilitating access to information on safe, free and voluntary COVID-19 vaccination. The foundation will also work with local and central authorities to find the most appropriate ways for specific communities to get access to vaccination centers, mobile vaccination teams or family physicians enrolled in the program, Agerpres informs.

Organization employees and volunteers will inform both the main community influencers (mayor's office representatives, doctors, teachers, priests etc.), as well as rural residents about the importance of getting the shot.

For the pro-vaccination messages to reach as many people from vulnerable communities as possible, World Vision Romania has designed a set of communication materials to clarify and debunk the many myths related to the COVID-19 vaccination. The leaflets will reach the recipients in an envelope, helping them distinguish between false and true information about vaccination. Posters and information on COVID-19 vaccination will be displayed both in the busiest community areas as well as in social media.

The promotional messages have already reached over 1,500 families in the counties of Cluj, Ialomita, Dolj and Valcea, with almost 4,000 people being exposed to the campaign. World Vision posters were seen by almost 80,000 people in these counties.
HURLEY, Va.  On a recent spring morning, coal mine operator Dale Murray stood atop a stretch of land in western Virginia that had been dozed flat by mountaintop strip mining, and he enjoyed the panoramic view it afforded of the surrounding Appalachian hills.

Murrays company CM Mining bought the thousands of acres of former mining land from Alpha Natural Resources in 2017, picking up a parcel that Murray said many in the region believed you cant do anything with. But he and his partner have zeroed in on an unlikely idea for this stretch of coal country: install a large-scale solar power project.

We believe its the future in this area, he said.

New solar and wind power installations are sprouting up and giving new purpose to idle degraded spaces across the country, from shuttered Appalachian coal mines to former phosphate projects in Florida and landfills in New England. The trend is likely to accelerate as President Joe Bidens administration looks to expand renewable energy to fight climate change.

A need as big as the Netherlands
Jenny Torres, a junior anthropology and history major at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, said this experience will help determine her next career step.

Im doing this because I study anthropology, and this will help me figure out if I want to excavate, she said.

Jeffrey Smith, a senior at SIUC, agreed. This will give me good, practical experience before I jump into graduate school, he said.

The students carefully dug and mapped thin layers of the roughly 4-foot-by-4-foot excavation units. They used sharp trowels to carve down 4 inches at a time, a painstaking task when the ground is dry and hard. On this day the ground was moist from recent thunderstorms, making the job easier.

This earth slices like cake, which is why I can dig this way, said Jane Neubauer, a junior anthropology major at SIUC, as she used a trowel to cut a cube of dirt from the bottom of the pit.

She added this dirt to a five-gallon bucket and passed it to Torres and two other students, who dumped the soil on a mesh screen to sift. This method allowed them to isolate small artifacts, like chunks of animal bone or cooking charcoal.

Untouched for 200 years
EAST ST. LOUIS  Six men from Missouri and Illinois have been caught in an online FBI sex sting targeting people seeking to have sex with underage girls, charging documents show.

Agents posted ads online or in dating apps in late June and set up a home in Collinsville where the men were told a 14-year-old girl lived, charging documents say. The men were arrested after showing up intending to have sex with the girl, with some bringing condoms, alcohol or a sex toy, the charges say.

Three made their first appearance in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis on Monday: James William Tiroch, 36, Godfrey "Charlie" Fletcher Hubbard, 52, and Justin Edward Schneier, 33.

All three were charged with attempted enticement of a minor.

Tiroch is from Florissant, Schneier is from Edwardsville and Hubbard is a resident of Sorento, a village in Bond County, Illinois.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Karelia Rajagopal said during Monday's hearings that the men could face 10 years to life in prison if convicted.

Three others have not yet appeared in court.

Eric E. Hamilton II, 22, of Maryland Heights, and Michael Joseph Smith, 39, of Barnhart, are facing charges of attempted enticement of a minor.
UPDATED with name of man who died and other details.

ST. LOUIS  One man was killed in a double shooting Sunday afternoon in St. Louis' Mark Twain neighborhood, police said.

Chris Brown, 20, was found dead about 3 p.m. inside a vehicle in the 4900 block of Rosalie Street. The residential block is near Bellefontaine Cemetery.

Another man, 21, was found nearby after being shot in the torso. He was taken to a hospital where police said he was stable.

Police said the men were shot while driving near the 4600 block of West Florissant Avenue. Occupants of another vehicle opened fire. Police had no suspects.

Brown lived in the 9800 block of Dennis Drive in unincorporated St. Louis County.

St. Louis has had 92 homicides this year, compared to 99 this time a year ago.

Police initially reported the incident on Rosalie was a triple shooting with one dead and two injured.

Detectives at the scene of the shooting were examining a dark red, four-door car in the middle of the street, which is a one-direction roadway that travels north.
The Senate version also includes a ban on Medicaid spending on any medications or devices used for the purpose of inducing an abortion after the group of female senators agreed that the language should not name specific drugs and devices, which are sometimes used for other medical purposes.

May said shes not sure the group will continue meeting on issues in the future, but said the agreement was refreshing at a time when partisanship is dominant.

It was a real discussion about avoiding unintended consequences, May said. The room was totally talking about women and young girls having access to birth control. We were respectful that we were on different sides of the issue.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, was tight-lipped Monday about the prospects of getting the Senate version of the bill to the governors desk. Although the House approved the tax without any birth control or abortion-related language three times during the Legislatures regular session, the speaker said the circumstances of the ongoing special session are now different.

The goal posts have moved and were trying to figure out where those posts are, Vescovo told the Post-Dispatch.
I dont need you to look at it from the lens of control and contain, I need help with de-escalation, she said. Thats the point. We need somebody with the training to do the work.

Instead of law enforcement being dispatched to the community, there would be medical doctors and nurses and social workers. And those folks who are skilled and trained to be able to work in those areas.

The funds would be administered by a new agency within HHS, the Division of Community Safety, which would support research into alternatives to incarceration and policing, as well as coordinate programs underway within HHS and other federal agencies.

The division would be overseen by a community advisory board made up of advocates for policing alternatives and people with experience in the criminal justice system, Bush said. Those include people who have been arrested or detained, people who have been directly impacted by police violence like police shootings, and people affected by other forms of violence, including gun crimes, domestic violence and sexual assault.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.  The Farmers Market of the Ozarks was packed Saturday with shoppers browsing through stalls of coffee beans, pottery, fresh vegetables, soy candles and birdhouses. At one end of the market, staff from the local health and fire departments offered doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

Ashley Seifert, 39, a pharmacist from Springfield, said she had wanted to get vaccinated for a while, but had been nervous about it. With the recent swell in COVID-19 cases in southwest Missouri, she decided it was time.

Stacy Gambill, of Battlefield, Missouri, was vaccinated earlier this year, but on Saturday she brought her 13-year-old  the only one of her four children who is old enough  to get vaccinated at the market. She said the family debated the issue, but their minds were made up by the anticipation of school resuming in the fall, and the recent upswing here in COVID-19 cases.

I saw that it was getting really bad, Gambill said.
I can't even imagine a time with more change than we're dealing with, said Kristin Dziczek, senior vice president at the Center for Automotive Research, an industry think tank in Ann Arbor, Michigan. If the union can't organize Southern battery factories, it won't be able to set wages in that business like it has done in auto manufacturing, she said.

Curry, 55, has only about a year to distance himself from the corruption and convince members he'll get the union on track. Sometime before November, members will vote to decide whether they want to directly elect their leaders instead of the current system in which leadership is chosen by delegates to a convention. If they agree to direct elections, those will have to happen before June 30 of next year.

This transition now gives Curry and this team a year basically before the convention to get a track record, to get some experience with the members about how they will lead, Dziczek said.

In his statement Monday, Curry acknowledged the challenges and said the union can handle them.

Industry is at a crossroads right now with massive changes in new innovative technologies, he said. It will be up to us to navigate through this monumental shift in mobility and manufacturing.
The steep price includes a guided sendoff from Ciudad Acuna, where the bulk of Venezuelans cross the Rio Grande. The hardscrabble town a few hundred wet steps from Del Rio is attractive to both smugglers and migrants with deeper pockets because it had been largely spared the violence seen elsewhere on the border.

If youre a smuggler in the business of moving a commodity  because thats how they view money, guns, people, drugs and everything they move, as a product  then you want to move it through the safest area possible charging the highest price, said Austin L. Skero II, chief of the U.S. Border Patrols Del Rio sector.

But the number of smugglers caught with weapons has recently increased in the area, and agents who normally hunt down criminals are tied up processing migrants.

The uptick in migrants crossing is purely a diversion tactic used by the cartels to carry out crime, Skero said as a group of Haitians carrying young children emerged from a thicket of tall carrizo cane on the riverbank.

Once in the U.S., Venezuelans tend to fare better than other groups. In March, Biden granted Temporary Protected Status to an estimated 320,000 Venezuelans. The designation allows people coming from countries ravaged by war or disaster to work legally in the U.S. and gives protection from deportation.
Graham said the museum, which closed in July 2019 for the renovations, was demolished down to the bare studs. People who remember the old building will recognize little except a Thomas Hart Benton mural, some artifacts and a recreation of Trumans Oval Office, he said.

After starting in the new 3,000-square-foot Grandview Hall entrance, visitors first see Truman giving a speech in 1945 when he was running as Franklin Delano Roosevelts vice president. FDR died only 82 days into that term, leaving the world wondering, who is this farmer from Missouri who is taking over the free world? Graham said.

The exhibits try to answer that question. The first gallery shows Trumans life in Missouri before he entered politics, from his childhood on a farm to his service in World War I to his failed haberdashery and his connection to Kansas City political machine boss Thomas Pendergast.

The previous museum had showcased Trumans political life and presidency and relegated his personal life in Missouri to the basement. Now, his story is told in a more linear way.

Now you can truly weave through his boyhood into the presidency and beyond," said Kelly Anders, deputy director of the museum.
Board President Lewis Reed and several aldermen have demanded that Jones reveal how she plans to fill the hole created by her decision to end the federal contract in her quest to close the citys medium security jail, also known as the workhouse. During her campaign, Jones pledged to close the jail in her first 100 days despite warnings from jail officials that that would create dangerous overcrowding at the maximum-security City Justice Center downtown. The medium security jail is not closed and will not likely close anytime soon. Instead, the mayor has adjusted her language and now celebrates the jail as being empty. That is, for now. As needed, jail officials will move inmates back to the jail. In the meantime, the facility continues to cost taxpayers, though that cost is also not currently in the July 1 budget.
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In June China revealed that a second squadron had been equipped with its J-20 stealth fighter and that they were satisfied with the performance of the Chinese made WS-10A engines, which replaced Russian AL-31F M2 engines used in J-20 development aircraft. China also revealed that it would soon equip its J-20s with a Chinese made engine that can enable more maneuverability with thrust vectoring engines. Currently only the American F-22 has that capability. Russia has engines with thrust vectoring for its most recent non-stealth fighters but has not been able to perfect a more powerful engine with that feature for the stealthy Su-57. If China gets there first with its new WS-15 engine it will definitely be ahead of Russia, but still behind the United States in terms of stealth fighters.

When it comes to fifth-generation (stealthy) fighters Russia was always behind the United States and now is very much in third place behind the United States and China. There is an element of the aspirational even with that third-place status. The U.S. and China already have fifth-generation aircraft in service. Well at least the Americans do and the Chinese J-20 is a lot more operational than the Su-57 by equipping two squadrons using J-20s with less efficient WS-10 engines. WS-10A was successful at replacing AL-31F M2 used for development aircraft. China could have put J-20 into service powered by AL-31F M2, but decided to delay putting J-20 into service until it had a locally made engine available. That happened in 2020 when the first J-20 equipped squadron was announced

One reason for all the optimism over the Su-57 becoming operational is that Russia needs export customers for their stealth aircraft to survive, while the Chinese dont. Finding Su-57 export customers has been difficult because the Su-57, as described on the spec sheet, wont be available until the mid-2020s at the earliest. The spec sheet Su-57 is a stealthy, single-seat, twin-engine multirole fifth-generation fighter aircraft developed for air superiority and attack operations. This is the first Russian aircraft in military service to use stealth technology. The Su-57 also has supercruise (going supersonic without the afterburner) capability and advanced avionics capable of dealing with older warplane electronics as well as ground and naval air defense systems. To achieve this performance the current Su-57 requires a more powerful and reliable engine. So far, the AL-41F1 is used in prototype aircraft and that engine it performed as designed, but was not reliable enough for regular use. China claims its equivalent of the AL-41F1, the WS-15 is closer to entering regular service and they are probably right. For several decades China has been playing catchup with Russian military tech and now China is moving ahead of Russia.

Russia developed the Su-57 as a successor to its Cold War era MiG-29 and Su-27/30 fighters. Stealth was seen as essential but the Su-57 is so expensive, and the Russian Air Force budget so small, and shrinking, that Russia cannot afford many of these stealth fighters. Moreover, it is essential to obtain export sales to make mass production possible at all, not to mention profitable. The recent Russian claim that the manufacturer cut the price 20 percent is also aspirational because a growing number of Russian defense firms are sliding towards bankruptcy. Orders for new equipment have been scaled back since 2014 because of a contracting economy. Russia likes to describe its economic growth as stalled, but the reality is that entire categories of proposed (before 2014) new weapons purchases are being slowly eliminated. Efforts to hide all this, especially the continued decline of the Russian ability to develop and manufacture new weapons, has become less successful as the missed production and in service goals increase.

The Su-57 is a prime example of how a system of constantly shifting goals and missed deadlines works. The Su-57 began development in 2002 and the first of ten flyable prototypes flew in 2010. Four non-flying prototypes were also built for ground tests and such. From the beginning, there were problems perfecting the high-performance engines. For example, the first two flight prototypes had to use a less capable variant of the AL-31 engine that was already used by the Su-27 aircraft. The other flyable prototypes used a more powerful AL-41F-1S engine, which was also used in the Su-35, the most advanced (so far) Su-27 variant. Flight testing soon made it clear that even the AL-41F-1S was not powerful enough for the spec sheet Su-57. This meant that the Izdeliye 30 variant of the Al-F41, originally designed for the Su-57, had to be perfected before the Su-57 could enter production as an exportable aircraft. The Izdeliye 30 possessed increased thrust and fuel efficiency as well as 3D thrust vectoring nozzles. At the end of 2017, the tenth flight prototype was equipped with Izdeliye 30 engines and demonstrated its superior performance, including supercruise. However, the Izdeliye 30 was still not reliable enough for sustained use, so mass production of this essential Su-57 engine was delayed. Russia proposed shipping production models of the Su-57 with an Al-F41 variant that enables the aircraft to get the most out of its stealth and high-performance electronics but without the promised supercruise and thrust vectoring maneuverability features. Potential customers, including the Russian Air Force, were not interested in purchasing a developmental aircraft because thats what the Su-57 was without the fully functional Izdeliye 30 engines.

China has been copying and improving Russia weapons since the 1990s. The most difficult Russian technology to copy, much less improve on, was high-performance jet engines. The Chinese had more resources than post-1991 Russia and slowly caught up with Russian fighter-engine tech and is now poised to surpass it.

While F-22 was designed to use a thrust-vectoring engine, the later F-35 does not and, in theory, would have problems in a dogfight with some aircraft, notably the Su-27/30/35/37 series. The F-35 was designed to spot the enemy first, get the first shot in, and stay out of range of an old-fashioned dogfight. The F-22 also had this long-range first shot capability but the F-35 is much better at it because it was designed to be.

The F-35 was designed to rely on BVR (Beyond Visual Range) weapons and tactics at the expense of traditional close range air combat. BVR tactics are untried in large scale combat, while traditional close range dogfight has been around since 1914. But everyone agrees that BVR, using superior sensors and long-range missiles, tactics are the future. Not everyone agrees that the future is here yet. The 27-ton F-35 is armed with an internal 25mm cannon and four internal air-to-air missiles (or two missiles and two smart bombs). The F-35 can also carry four external smart bombs and two missiles but this degrades stealth. All sensors are carried internally, and max weapon load is 6.8 tons.

The F-35 is based on the changes in air-to-air combat over the last few decades. The classic aerial dogfight has been on the way out and most journalists haven't really noticed. For the first half century of air-to-air combat, chasing enemy fighters, maneuvering to get a good shot with machine-guns or cannon was the most effective form of combat. This was the classic style of air warfare. But starting in the 1960s, missiles entered the picture. At first, most of the missiles were used much like the earlier weapons; get on the enemy's tail and put a missile up his butt. The first, and most successful, of these "tail chasing" missiles was the U.S. Sidewinder. After half a century of upgrades, the Sidewinder is still one of the most widely used and successful dogfight missiles. The modern Sidewinder is far more capable and is now capable of being very effective without the classic dogfight tactics.

The missile of the future, the AIM-9 Sparrow appeared at the same time as the AIM-7 Sidewinder. The Sparrow was a longer-range missile that was radar controlled. The pilot picked up a target on his radar and fired the Sparrow in the general direction of the target, guiding it most of the way. When within a few thousand meters of the target, a sensor in the Sparrow took over, closing in for the kill. One shortcoming of this was the need for the attacking aircraft to keep the enemy aircraft on his radar screen until the Sparrow finally connected with the target. The Sparrow worked, but not as well nor as often as expected, at least initially. The first aircraft brought down by the Sparrow was over Vietnam in 1965. For the next two decades, long range missiles were unable to overcome its one major problem; pilots didn't trust their ability to identify an enemy aircraft at BVR distances. Fear of hitting a friendly aircraft caused pilots to prefer going in close, confirming the identity of the target and using autocannon or Sidewinders to attack.

Pilot fears were finally addressed in the 1980s with the introduction of the AWACS aircraft. The large, four engine AWACS carried a radar that could keep an eye on all aircraft for several hundred kilometers around. While not perfect, it added enough clarity to the situation to make pilots confident that their BVR attacks were not going to bring down friendly aircraft. At this point Sparrow was much improved and there was a new generation of BVR missiles appearing.

During the 1991 Gulf War the change was clearly underway. There were 39 U.S. air-to-air kills. The Sidewinder got 25 of them, the Sparrow 11. The traditional air-to-air weapon, machine-gun or autocannon, got none. The A-10 ground attack aircraft nailed two helicopters with its 30mm anti-tank cannon, and one Iraqi aircraft was maneuvered into the ground, not an unusual method over the history of air warfare. While only 12.6 percent of the Sidewinders fired scored a hit, 28 percent of the Sparrows did.

After the Gulf War, the Sparrow was replaced by the AMRAAM, a missile that was essentially "fire and forget" as in during the final few kilometers the attacking aircraft did not have to keep a radar lock on the target. A new generation of pilots were flying who fully expected to do most of the air combat at BVR. This was becoming the U.S. Air Force doctrine. Despite that, the dogfight wasn't dead yet. Most modern fighters, including the new F-22 and F-35, still carry autocannon and Sidewinders. This is not the result of excessive caution, but knowledge of how hairy air combat can get. The Wild Blue Yonder is a big place and no radar is perfect. Enemy aircraft can sneak in from behind mountains, hills, forests or radar jamming. The chance of finding yourself within visual (and Sidewinder) range of enemy aircraft is still a very likely possibility. Moreover, short range missiles like the Sidewinder have acquired new abilities. Until the 1980s, you had to be in a narrow arc behind an enemy aircraft before the heat sensing seeker on the Sidewinder spotted the hot exhaust of the target aircraft. But that arc has gotten wider and wider as better heat sensors were developed. Now you can be flying past an enemy aircraft and your missile will pick up not just the jet exhaust, but the warmed-up surfaces on the aircraft. Launch your missile and it will do a 180 and take off after the target. New fire control equipment includes a helmet mounted sight that will let the missile know what you are looking at. Hit the fire button and your Sidewinder-on-Steroids goes wherever you were looking and chases after the target.

Naturally, it's not as simple as that. As missiles became smarter and more capable, devices were developed to give the target a better chance of survival. For the short-range heat seekers, flares have been a popular, and often effective, antidote. If you are being chased by a Sidewinder, pop a few flares and the missile will go after the hotter heat source (the flare.) Some missiles now have microcomputers in them and a library of various heat sources. This will cause the missile to ignore most flares and continue after the aircraft. This, in turn, has produced more types of flares. Bottom line is that there is no perfect weapon, there are always countermeasures. Even without flares, pilots can sometimes outmaneuver a heat seeker. Electronic countermeasures are effective against BVR missiles, as is violent maneuvering. As with the heat seekers, there's a constant tug of war between the seeker technology and countermeasures.

Victory will still go to the better trained, not the better armed pilots. Even BVR missiles require a pilot who knows how to best use his radar and get into a position to fire the most effective shot. This is even more the case with close range heat seekers. But well trained and well-equipped pilots have a tremendous edge. While not all air forces agree with the USAF on the dominance of BVR missiles, it takes skilled and lucky pilots to get close enough to American aircraft to dogfight. And the better trained American pilots still have an edge in that department. They simply spend more time in the air practicing, and this is an edge that can only be matched by equally diligent training.

Dogfighting isn't quite dead yet and it probably never will be. But more and more, victory goes to the side that can reach out BVR and touch the enemy first with an AMRAAM. The F-35 was optimized for BVR combat because that has been the future of air-to-air warfare for some time now. The Russians and Chinese disagree and the less stealthy Su-57 is now described as a superior dogfighting aircraft with some stealth.
Iran recently announced that its weapons developers have designed and built a pistol for use underwater. Foreign weapons experts, or history buffs, pointed out that the Iranian four-barrel underwater pistol looked like a copy of a 1960s Russian design, the SPP-1. Introduced in the 1970s for use by Russian frogmen, the SPP-1 was later upgraded as the SPP-1M and is still in use. Iran often copies older Russian weapons without mentioning that then they reveal their new weapon design. While that no longer fools foreigners, such deceptive announcements have some use as internal propaganda.

Russia and Western nations have been developing these underwater weapons since the 1960s and new models and technologies are regularly introduced. For example, in the last decade Russia introduced a new underwater bullet design and an underwater assault rifle. More recently (2019) a Norwegian firm introduced an even more effective underwater projectile design that can be fired by existing weapons used outside the water at targets in the water and travel farther and with more impact in the water than ordinary bullets. Russia was the first to introduce such a dual-use bullet and the Norwegian design was the first improvement on that Russian design.

In 2013 Russian scientists revealed their more effective underwater bullet design. There is not a huge market for such a bullet, but there is some demand from special operations troops, like U.S. Navy SEALs, who practice a lot for underwater operations. The problem with firing weapons underwater has always been that water creates a lot more resistance than air and the bullets are not effective for more than a few meters at most. Moreover, the gas operated recoil systems do not work underwater, which means you have to manually pull back the bolt to eject spent rounds and load another.

The new Russian ADS amphibious assault rifle is a Russian A-91M 5.45mm assault rifle modified to fire the special ammo or normal 5.45mm rounds. All the user has to do is flick a selector switch and use the special magazine carrying the longer underwater bullets. The ADS underwater bullets are designed to operate underwater. To do that they are longer and use a discarding sabot like anti-tank guns long used to obtain longer range and penetration. Using the new ADS bullets the ADS assault rifle can be fired on full-automatic (like a machine-gun) underwater. All this would be useful to amphibious commandos or those defending ships or coastal installations against underwater attackers.

In the air the ADS bullets still have the same range and accuracy of regular bullets, but not as much hitting power. Underwater, the effective range of these bullets depends on the water depth. The deeper you go the more water pressure, from all the water above you, which slows down rapidly moving objects like bullets. At a depth of 30 meters (nearly a hundred feet) an ADS bullet is dangerous out to 25 meters (nearly 80 feet). Regular bullets have much less range as the water slows down the bullet very quickly. A regular rifle bullet becomes harmless about 100 cm (1 meter or 3 feet) out and will stop after about 5 meters. A pistol bullet won't hurt anyone after 60-70cm (2 feet). However, if fired from just above the water, say from a dock or boat, bullets will hurt someone underwater to a depth of 2-4 meters. When fired outside the water, the bullet is able to get up some speed before hitting the water and starting to slow down.

Without special bullets there are still some weapons available to SEALs or other underwater combat troops. There's always the knife, but you have to get in close, too close, to use it. Think of the knife as a last-ditch weapon. During the Cold War, especially in the 1970s, The Soviet Union and the United States, with a lot of help from West Germany, came up with some more effective underwater weapons. These weapons fired heavier bullets that created an air bubble around them (cavitating) which enabled them to maintain higher speeds for longer distances. There was no spin on these bullets (they were fired from a smooth bore barrel). These projectiles could hurt you out to about 30 meters. Beyond that, most of the time, you can't make out a target.

Until they developed the ADS the Russians still used their underwater "nail gun" (as underwater warriors call this type of Cold War weapon), in both pistol and assault rifle, where it looked like a bulked-up AK-47. The U.S. still arms underwater troops with a similar pistol. And then there's also the spear gun. It's used for hunting fish, is a one-shot affair, and has a range of about 4-8 meters.

The nail gun, unlike the ADS, was really only useful under water. It was not as effective as a regular rifle or pistol when fired in the air. The ADS allows amphibious commandos to carry one type of weapon (but two types of ammo) for both above water or underwater combat. The new Norwegian SDG bullets enables existing weapons to fire special bullets that can hit and injure targets fourteen or more meters beneath the surface.

Its only a matter of time before Iran reinvents all this new underwater weapons tech.
IR-Med, Inc. (OTCPINK: IRME) announced today the appointment of Dr. Rom Eliaz as Chief Executive Officer.

Prior to his appointment as our CEO, Dr. Eliaz was Founder and Managing Director at Elrom Ventures, where he also served as a Managing Director at aMoon Fund. Previously, Dr. Eliaz was Head of Merck ventures Fund and Bio-Incubator in Israel where he co-founded several companies in the incubator, VP of Innovative Branded Products at Teva and CEO of NasVax a publicly traded company and Immcure Therapeutics.

We are pleased to have a seasoned life sciences and medical devices executive like Rom joining us as our CEO. His scientific and financial experience will be instrumental as we continue implementing our strategy to develop sensor based medical devices, developing point of care solutions for early identification and monitoring of chronic, preventable conditions explained Oded Bashan, Chairman of the Board at IR-Med.

Commenting on his appointment as CEO, Rom Eliaz added, I am incredibly excited and honored to be joining IR-Med. I believe IR-Med is one of the companies that are working to modernize care pathways through developing and integrating new-to-the-world sensor-based medical devices in truly unmet medical needs, and to actively contribute to becoming the leader in these fields. I am privileged to lead our mission-driven company into the next wave of growth. We have a tremendous opportunity here at IR-Med to leverage emerging technologies and data-driven insights to transform and sustainably mange patients healthcare for the long-term.

Dr. Eliaz served as Assistant Professor at University of California San Francisco, published over 40 scientific articles and holds more than 10 scientific patents in the fields of drug targeting and delivery, gene therapy and tissue engineering.

Dr. Eliaz received his PhD (cum-laude) in chemical engineering and Biotechnology from the Weizmann Institute and Ben-Gurion (BGU). His BSc and MSc degrees, with honors, in chemical engineering and Biotechnology are from BGU, and he holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and Boston University joint program at BGU.
Investigator, The Lundquist Institute

Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 28, 2021) - Lobe Sciences Ltd. ("Lobe" or the "Company") (CSE: LOBE) (OTC Pink: GTSIF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Charles Grob, MD Investigator, The Lundquist Institute, and Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, to its Advisory Board.

Philip Young, CEO and Director of Lobe stated, "We are honored to welcome Charles to our Scientific Advisory Board with his extensive background. Dr. Grob will add tremendous value to the team as we move forward with implementing our drug development platform."

Charles S. Grob, M.D. is Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine. He previously held faculty positions at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the University of California at Irvine. He has conducted approved clinical research with psychedelics since the early 1990s. From 2004-2008 he was the Principal Investigator of the first study in several decades to examine the use of a psilocybin treatment model for patients with advanced-cancer anxiety. He has also conducted research into the range of effects of MDMA, in both normal volunteers and in a selected subject population of adult autistics with severe social anxiety. And, he has conducted a series of ayahuasca research studies in Brazil. Over the last thirty years, Dr. Grob has published numerous articles on psychedelics in the medical and psychiatric literatures and he is the editor of Hallucinogens: A Reader (Putnam/Tarcher, 2002), co-editor (with Roger Walsh) of Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics (SUNY Press, 2005) and co-editor (with James Grigsby) of the recently published Handbook of Medical Hallucinogens (Guilford Press, 2021). He is a founding board member of the Heffter Research Institute.

Charles Grob, MD. stated, "I am pleased to join the established members of Lobe's Advisory Board and look forward to the opportunity to assist the team in bringing psychedelic medicine in to clinical practice."

About Lobe Sciences Ltd.

Lobe Sciences is a life sciences company focused on psychedelic medicines. The Company, through collaborations with industry leading partners, is engaged in drug research and development using psychedelic compounds and the development of innovative devices and delivery mechanisms to improve mental health and wellness.

For further information please contact:

Lobe Sciences Ltd.

Philip J Young, CEO

info@lobesciences.com

Tel: (949) 505-5623

THE CSE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THIS RELEASE.

Disclaimer for Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the future operations of the Company and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "will", "may", "should", "anticipate", "expects" and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including statements regarding the future plans and objectives of the Company, progression with nasal mist device engineering and commercialization, the pursuit of M&A initiatives, development of effective delivery methods and commercialization potential of the nasal mist device, research and development using NAC and psilocybin and growth of the business, are forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulations. Readers are cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of the forward-looking statements may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, including changes to the regulatory environment; and that the current Board and management may not be able to attain the Company's corporate goals and objectives. As a result, the Company cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will materialize and the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made only as of the date of this news release and the Company does not intend to update any of the included forward-looking statements except as expressly required by applicable Canadian securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/88841
Projects Expected to Drive Over US$1.5 million in Recurring Revenue

New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - June 28, 2021) - UGE International Ltd. (TSXV: UGE) (OTCQB: UGEIF) (the "Company" or "UGE"), a leader in commercial and community solar energy solutions, is pleased to announce that it has expanded its presence to Pennsylvania, securing its first two sites for community solar projects.

The two projects will be in western Pennsylvania, in the broader vicinity of Pittsburgh. Together, the two ground-mounted solar facilities are expected to have a rated capacity of approximately 11MW DC and generate over US$1.5 million of annual recurring revenue once constructed.

"Pennsylvania is one of several states now working to unlock the potential of community solar to lower energy costs for its ratepayers, provide income for landowners, and meet its aggressive renewable energy targets," said Tyler Adkins, UGE's Chief Revenue Officer. "UGE is excited to play a role in Pennsylvania's clean energy future."

UGE origination manager John Jeremko is leading UGE's expansion into Pennsylvania, bringing with him several years of experience in the oil and gas industry. His career transition to clean energy echoes the metamorphosis happening in Pennsylvania's energy sector, as many landowners, businesses, and companies make the transition to solar power.

"Renewable energy is still a controversial topic in a battleground state like Pennsylvania, but the economic benefits for landowners and ratepayers are simply undeniable," Mr. Jeremko said. "My experience in the oil and gas sectors has been integral to building relationships with regional businesses and landowners, highlighting how solar energy's potential can positively impact their bottom line."

Pennsylvania is the second state UGE has entered in 2021, following Maryland. UGE has a goal to enter at least three new states within the year, joining its traditional areas of strength in New York, New Jersey, and Maine.

About UGE

UGE develops, owns, and operates commercial and community solar projects in the US and strategic markets abroad. Our distributed energy solutions deliver cheaper, cleaner energy to businesses and consumers with no upfront cost. With over 400MW of global experience, we work daily to power a more sustainable world. Visit us at www.ugei.com.

For more information, contact UGE at:

+1 917 720 5685

investors@ugei.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

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

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/88709
A F-16 Fighting Falcon flies during a mission at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Feb. 14, 2019. (John Raven/U.S. Air Force)

(Tribune News Service)  Personnel at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base will oversee a possible $2.4 billion sale of F-16 fighters and other weapons to the Philippines, a sale whose approval by the U.S. State Department has just been announced.

The State Department approved the possible foreign military sale to the government of the Philippines of F-16 Block 70/72 aircraft and related equipment for an estimated $2.43 billion.

Also announced Friday: The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress that the State Department also approved a possible sale to the Philippines of AIM-9X Sidewinder Block II tactical missiles and related equipment for an additional estimated $42.4 million.

Congress still must approve the sales, and the United States and the Philippines can further negotiate terms.

This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a strategic partner that continues to be an important force for political stability, peace, and economic progress in South East Asia, the agency said Friday.

The government of the Philippines has requested to buy 10 F-16C Block 70/72 aircraft; 2 F-16D Block 70/72 aircraft; 15 F100-PW-229EEP engines or F110- GE-129D engines and more.

In nearly two years, even as a pandemic tore across the globe, foreign military sales overseen by the Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base grew nearly 12%, that directorates commander, Brig. Gen. Brian Bruckbauer, told the Dayton Daily News in March.

That growth can be expected to continue, he said.

I guarantee you, youll see a lot of announcements coming up in this year, said the one-star general and former Air Force military fellow to the Council on Foreign Relations.

The directorate has more than 700 people directly assigned to it, with most of them located at Wright-Patterson. The mission also has support offices across the country at Tinker, Hill and other Air Force bases.

(c)2021 the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio)

Visit the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) at www.daytondailynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Tattoos on a Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.-based Marine in 2008. While sleeve tattoos remain prohibited under current regulations, the Corps has ended a rule requiring its members to submit 360-degree photos of themselves when seeking enlisted retention, or special assignments such as embassy guard or drill instructor duty. (Jimmy Serena Jr./U.S. Marine Corps)

The Marine Corps has done away with a tattoo policy rule requiring its members to submit 360-degree photos of themselves when seeking enlisted retention, or special assignments like embassy guard or drill instructor.

In an administrative memo last week, the service ended the nearly 7-year-old requirement for the photos, which were used to validate compliance with the service's tattoo regulations, the strictest in the Defense Department.

Marines have complained for years that the tattoo policy hurts careers and retention and may prevent otherwise qualified recruits from joining the service. Other Marines have lamented all the body art they wont get  such as sleeves  so long as the rules remain in effect.

As the Corps drew down from 202,000 to 182,000 active-duty personnel and reduced its involvement in Afghanistan, officials in 2014 began to focus more on issues of appearance and grooming standards.

The services tattoo rules were relaxed somewhat in 2016 to balance the personal desires of Marines with high standards of professional military appearance and heritage, the Corps said at the time.

But after years at war, the still-rigid tattoo order was still seen as a career killer for some combat veterans who said they werent allowed to reenlist, Marine Corps Times reported in 2017.

Marines under current regulations aren't allowed to get sleeve tattoos, such as the ones pictured on this Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based Marine back in 2007. The Corps has ended a tattoo policy requiring its members to submit 360-degree photos of themselves when seeking enlisted retention, or special assignments like embassy guard or drill instructor duty. (Salju K. Thomas/U.S. Marine Corps)

Marines can have an unlimited number of tattoos that cant be seen when theyre wearing a physical training uniform. But they are prohibited from designs on the head, neck, mouth, wrist, knee, elbow or hand, and there are limits on the size and number of tattoos visible when in PT gear.

The new photo policy does not change those standards. And it requires Marines with visible tattoos to provide a close-up photo of each, aligned with a measuring device to show that each one isn't too close to a knee or elbow, as required by the tattoo regulation.

But Marines whose tattoos arent visible in the T-shirt and shorts of the PT uniform no longer have to submit photos or sketches of their hidden tattoos.

Marine officials over the years have justified the services stringent body art rules as just one of many ways the Corps sets itself apart.

Still, many Marines have bridled at the restrictions. Last year, an infantry corporal started a Change.org petition seeking a modification to allow sleeve tattoos. It received over 76,000 signatures.

The sleeve ban has also been a source of disagreement at the highest levels. Former Commandant Gen. Robert Neller, who implemented the 2016 policy, told Military.com two years later that his wife thought he was stupid for prohibiting the full-arm designs.

I just dont want them being Marines, Neller told her in response, he said.

The Marine Corps did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the reason for the change to the photo requirement.

garland.chad@stripes.com

Twitter: @chadgarland
The guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin steams away from Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, June 22, 2021. (Arthur Rosen/U.S. Navy)

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan  The USS Mustin is sailing back to the United States after an eventful 15 years of Western Pacific service that included multiple disaster-relief missions and frequent freedom-of-navigation operations in the South and East China seas.

The guided-missile destroyer, which departed its former homeport of Yokosuka last week, is bound for San Diego, where its slated to join 3rd Fleet following a maintenance and modernization period early next year, according to Cmdr. Nicole Schwegman, a Pacific Fleet spokeswoman. The work, which will begin early next year, is expected to take two years to complete.

The guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin prepares to depart Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, June 22, 2021. (Arthur Rosen/U.S. Navy)

Schwegman said in an email Friday that the work will begin early next year and take two years to complete. However, she was unable to comment on the nature of the repairs and upgrades the ship will receive.

Planned maintenance availabilities like these are critical to ensuring ships are maintained and equipped to perform combat ready tasking when called upon and achieve their expected service life, she said in an email Friday.

The Mustin will be replaced in Yokosuka by the USS Ralph Johnson, 7th Fleet spokesman Lt. Mark Langford said in an email Tuesday. The destroyer, commissioned in 2018, returned to Naval Station Everett, Wash., in January following its maiden deployment to the 5th Fleet and 7th Fleet operations areas.

Its unclear when the Ralph Johnson will arrive in Japan. The Navy typically does not announce ship movements in advance for security reasons.

In July, it sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Beijing has reclaimed land and built military infrastructure in the Spratlys since 2014, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

The Mustin, which arrived in Japan in July 2006, has conducted three of its own freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea. The most recent happened near the Paracels on Aug. 27.

The destroyer has also been active in the Taiwan Strait, sailing three times through the politically sensitive waters that separate the island from the Chinese mainland. Its most recent passage there happened on Dec. 19.

Other highlights of the Mustins time with 7th Fleet include its involvement in 2011s Operation Tomodachi, the humanitarian relief following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan. It provided similar aid to the Philippines after 2013s Typhoon Haiyan.

wilson.alex@stripes.com

Twitter: @AlexMNWilson
A Department of Defense Education Activity teacher receives a COVID-19 vaccine this spring at Osan Air Base, South Korea. (Noah Sudolcan/U.S. Air Force)

Two small COVID-19 clusters have emerged at U.S. bases in South Korea while cases of the coronavirus respiratory disease continue to decline in neighboring Japan.

U.S. Forces Korea had 13 people  11 service members and two family members  test positive between June 22 and Thursday, the command announced in a statement Friday evening.

Nine service members and one family member at Camp Humphreys became infected after coming into contact with a positive individual, the statement said. Meanwhile, two service members stationed at Camp Casey and a family member of a service member assigned to Humphreys tested positive after developing COVID-19 symptoms.

All 13 individuals are in isolation at Humphreys, the statement said.

We are currently experiencing two small COVID-19 clusters on Humphreys and Camp Casey, U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Robert Abrams said in the statement. Even though we are close to achieving an 80% vaccination of our community, now is not the time to become complacent. We must adhere to the USFK core tenets and remain vigilant as we stamp out these recent clusters.

South Korea added 501 new cases at midnight Sunday and two deaths, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agencys Central Disease Control Headquarters.

The government has counted over 150,000 COVID-19 cases during the pandemic and 2,000 deaths, the WHO said.

In Japan, Kadena Air Base had one person test positive for COVID-19, according to a base Facebook post Saturday morning. The individual was identified before traveling to the United States.

Kadena, on the southern island prefecture of Okinawa, has recorded 35 cases so far this month. It reported 17 in May.

Japan reported 958 new infections on Monday, 329 fewer than the same day last week, according to public broadcaster NHK and the World Health Organization. There were 35 deaths nationwide.

The government has counted more than 790,000 cases during the pandemic and 14,500 deaths, the WHO said.

Tokyo on Monday reported another 317 coronavirus infections and four deaths, according to NHK, which cited metropolitan government data. Thats 81 more than the same day last week.

Okinawa prefecture, home to most U.S. troops in Japan, reported another 25 infections Monday, the fewest number of daily cases the prefecture has reported since 18 on March 22, according to NHK. There were two deaths.

Okinawa remains in a state of emergency until July 11.

burke.matt@stripes.com

Twitter: @MatthewMBurke1
Crews work in the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo, Sunday, June 27, 2021, in Surfside, Fla. Many people were still unaccounted for after Thursday's fatal collapse. (Wilfredo Lee/AP)

SURFSIDE, Fla.  Rescuers searching for a fifth day for survivors of a Florida condo building collapse used bucket brigades and heavy machinery Monday as they worked atop a precarious mound of pulverized concrete, twisted steel and the remnants of dozens of households.

Authorities said their efforts were still a search-and-rescue operation, but no one has been found alive since hours after the collapse on Thursday. Two more bodies were recovered Monday, bringing the confirmed death toll to 11. They were later identified as 50-year-old Frank Kleiman and 50-year-old Michael David Altman in a Miami-Dade Police news release that also named 52-year-old Marcus Joseph Guara as one of the bodies recovered on Saturday. More than 150 others are still missing in the community of Surfside, just outside Miami.

The pancake collapse of the building left layer upon layer of intertwined debris, frustrating efforts to reach anyone who may have survived in a pocket of space.

"Every time there's an action, there's a reaction," Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah said during a news conference. "It's not an issue of we could just attach a couple of cords to a concrete boulder and lift it and call it a day." Some of the concrete pieces are smaller, the size of basketballs or baseballs.

Underscoring the risks of the work, he noted that families who rode buses to visit the site on Sunday witnessed a rescuer tumble 25 feet down the pile. Workers and victims must both be considered, he said.

"It's going to take time," he said. "It's not going to happen overnight. It's a 12-story building."

Relatives continued their visits on Monday. From outside a neighboring building, more than two dozen family members watched teams of searchers excavate the building site. Some held onto each other for support. Others hugged and prayed. Some people took photos.

The intense effort includes firefighters, sniffer dogs and search experts using radar and sonar devices.

Early Monday, a crane lifted a large slab of concrete from the debris pile, enabling about 30 rescuers in hard hats to move in and carry smaller pieces of debris into red buckets, which are emptied into a larger bin for a crane to remove. The work has been complicated by intermittent rain showers, but the fires that hampered the initial search have been extinguished.

Jimmy Patronis, Florida's chief financial officer and state fire marshal, said it was the largest deployment of such resources in Florida history that was not due to a hurricane. He said the same number of people were on the ground in Surfside as during Hurricane Michael, a devastating Category 5 hurricane that hit 12 counties in 2018.

"They're working around the clock," Patronis said. "They're working 12 hours at a time, midnight to noon to midnight."

Andy Alvarez, a deputy incident commander with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that rescuers have been able to find some voids, or spaces, inside the wreckage, mostly in the basement and the parking garage.

"We have been able to tunnel through the building," Alvarez said. "This is a frantic search to seek that hope, that miracle, to see who we can bring out of this building alive."

Others who have seen the wreckage up close were daunted by the task ahead. Alfredo Lopez, who lived with his wife in a sixth-floor corner apartment and narrowly escaped, said he finds it hard to believe anyone is alive in the rubble.

"If you saw what I saw: nothingness. And then, you go over there and you see, like, all the rubble. How can somebody survive that?" Lopez told The Associated Press.

Authorities on Monday insisted they are not losing hope.

"We're going to continue and work ceaselessly to exhaust every possible option in our search," Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Monday.

Deciding to transition from search-and-rescue work to a recovery operation is agonizing, said Dr. Joseph A. Barbera, a professor at George Washington University. That decision is fraught with considerations, he said, that only those on the ground can make.

Barbera coauthored a study examining disasters where some people survived under rubble for prolonged periods of time. He has also advised teams on where to look for potential survivors and when to conclude "that the probability of continued survival is very, very small."

"It's an incredibly difficult decision, and I've never had to make that decision," Barbera said.

As time goes on, he said, teams will begin a process called "rapid delayering, where you take more risk by moving larger amounts of rubble, because you recognize you're running up against the time factor for survival."

How long a person can survive depends on a host of issues, including the availability of water, the severity of any injuries and the degree to which they are trapped, Barbera said.

"The human dimension is huge -- the uncertainty that you could be leaving someone alive behind by ending too early," Barbera said. "Families continue to have hope, as do rescuers, which is why you continue to see them pushing so hard within these difficult conditions."

The ultimate decision to move into the recovery phase, he said, will have to be made "with the involvement of the political authority because they're the ultimate authority over this."

The building collapsed just days before a deadline for condo owners to start making steep payments toward more than $9 million in repairs that had been recommended nearly three years earlier, in a report that warned of "major structural damage."

A federal team of scientists and engineers are conducting a preliminary investigation at the site and will determine whether to launch a full probe of what caused the building to come down. The National Institute of Standards and Technology also investigated disasters such as the collapse of the twin towers on 9/11, Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico and a Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed 100 people. Previous investigations have taken years to complete.

___

Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami, Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Bobby Caina Calvan in Tallahassee, Florida; Julie Walker in New York and others from around the United States contributed to this report.
Russia's ambassador to Prague, Aleksandr Zmeyevsky, leaves the Foreign Ministry in Prague, Czech Republic, on April 21, 2021. The Czech Foreign Ministry has summoned Russias ambassador to Prague to request full compensation for damages caused by a huge ammunition depot explosion allegedly caused by Russian spies. (Petr David Josek/AP)

PRAGUE  The Czech Foreign Ministry summoned Russia's ambassador to Prague on Monday to request full compensation for damages from a huge ammunition depot explosion allegedly caused by Russian spies.

The ministry said deputy Foreign Minister Martin Smolek handed Ambassdor Aleksandr Zmeyevsky a diplomatic note "invoking the responsibility of the Russian Federation under international law for its involvement in the explosions of ammunition depot in Vrbetice in 2014."

Czech leaders said on April 17 that they had evidence pointing to the participation of two agents from Russia's military spy agency in the depot explosion that killed two people. Russia has denied any involvement.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova acerbically denounced the Czech compensation demand as an extortion attempt.

"Those who act like that, demanding payments using threats and insults without an investigation or trial, are called extortionists," she said on her messaging app channel.

The same two Russians were charged by British authorities in absentia in 2018 with trying to kill former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok in the English city of Salisbury.

The findings resulted in a serious diplomatic crisis between the Czech Republic and Russia, with dozens of diplomats ordered to leave their respective embassies.

At the same time, the Czech ministry requested that Russia revoke its decision from May that designated the Czech Republic, alongside the United States, as nations that engage in "unfriendly actions." The move limits the hiring of staff for their embassy operations.

The Russian ambassador was told that it constitutes a violation of international law, specifically of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the Treaty between the Czech Republic and Russian Federation on Friendly Relations and Cooperation.
Former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed, charged with attacking police, adjusts his face mask while standing inside a defendants cage during his verdict hearing at Moscows Golovinsky district court on July 30, 2020. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP)

MOSCOW  A Moscow court on Monday rejected an imprisoned American and former Marines appeal against his nine-year sentence for assaulting police officers.

The Moscow City Court upheld the sentence issued last year by a lower court, which convicted Trevor Reed for an altercation in August 2019 in Moscow, where he was studying Russian and visiting his girlfriend.

"I regret that the appellate court has not corrected this gross injustice, but it does not in any way affect the seriousness with which I and the U.S. government will continue to pursue this matter for Trevor to get him released so that he can go home and be with his family," U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan told reporters outside the court after attending the hearing.

Reed was accused of assaulting police officers who were driving him to a police station after picking him up following a night of heavy drinking at a party. The United States has sought his release, saying the evidence against him was weak.

Asked about Reed in a recent interview with NBC News, Russian President Vladimir Putin called him a "drunk and a troublemaker."

Reed was diagnosed with COVID-19 in May. Earlier this month, the U.S. Embassy protested the lack of consular access to him during his hospitalization and said he had been repeatedly denied phone calls to his family or embassy personnel.

"My colleagues and I were able to speak with Trevor today," Sullivan said after the court hearing. "He is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstance. He's a remarkable and resilient young man."

Reed is one of two Americans imprisoned in Russia under controversial circumstances. Paul Whelan, a former corporate security executive who also holds Canadian, Irish and British citizenship, was arrested in Moscow in 2018, convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years. His lawyer has said his client was handed a flash drive that had classified information on it that he didn't know about.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Whelan and Reed are being "wrongfully imprisoned" in Russia and raised their plight with Putin at their summit in Geneva earlier this month.

Putin had opened the door to possible discussions about a prisoner swap with the U.S. and said those conversations would continue. Biden said he would follow up too.

The U.S. is holding two prisoners whose release Russia has sought for more than a decade, including arms trader Viktor Bout. The other is Konstantin Yaroshenko, a pilot who was extradited from Liberia in 2010 and convicted the next year of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the U.S.

Sullivan returned to Moscow only last week. He flew out in April after Russian officials suggested that he should leave to mirror the departure of the Russian ambassador in Washington, whom Moscow recalled for consultations after Biden described Putin as a "killer" in March.

During the Geneva summit, Putin and Biden agreed to return the ambassadors to Washington and Moscow in a bid to improve badly deteriorated diplomatic relations between the countries.

Anna Frants in Moscow contributed to this report.
Portugal and Spain imposed new restrictions on U.K. visitors amid concern about the coronavirus delta variant as Germany pushed for a more coordinated European Union response to try to limit the strain taking hold in the bloc.

The changes are a setback for Europes holiday destinations just as the summer tourism season should be kicking up a gear, and shares of airlines including Ryanair Holdings PLC fell on Monday.

The latest decisions add to the patchwork of confusing, and rapidly changing, rules in place for holiday makers. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has suggested the entire EU should coordinate closely and be more cautious about allowing entry to travelers from external countries. The country already has ban on most travel from the U.K., which it describes as a variant area of concern.

Within the EU itself, Merkel said the reintroduction of border closures among countries should be avoided.

During the first wave of the pandemic, closures were probably unavoidable, she said on Monday during a German-French parliamentary meeting. But I agree that something like that shouldnt repeat itself.

Portugals latest decision, which takes effect Monday, imposes a quarantine on unvaccinated arrivals from Britain. Other countries have also recently announced new rules:

- Spain said on Monday that U.K. tourists coming to Mallorca and Ibiza will have to show proof of full vaccination or a negative PCR test

- Starting Wednesday, U.K. holidaymakers heading to Malta will also have to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival if they havent had their second dose

- Earlier this month, Italy introduced a five-day quarantine and mandatory testing for travelers from the U.K.

- On Friday, Germany placed Portugal on its list of variant-concern areas, requiring tourists returning from the Iberian country to quarantine for 14 days

- Hong Kong said Monday it will ban all passenger flights from Britain starting Thursday, labeling the country extremely high risk

Irish discount carrier Ryanair and its U.K. rival easyJet PLC fell 2.9% and 3.8%, respectively, as of 1 p.m. local time on Monday. British Airways owner IAG SA, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Air France-KLM, the regions three large flag carriers, also slipped. Spains top holiday resort operator, Melia Hotels International SA, fell as much as 6.2%.

Trade group Airlines for Europe is also calling for better coordination among EU member states. It said Monday that while the variant is worrying, EU populations most vulnerable to COVID-19, such as the elderly, have now been protected.

With vaccination rates rising across Europe, what we need most now are consistent, established rules for travelers  not constantly changing national restrictions, A4E said in a statement.

The latest restrictions come days before the start of the EUs COVID-19 travel certificate program, intended to ease travel within the bloc for those vaccinated. The EU has administered one dose to about half the population, while almost 32% are fully vaccinated. In the U.K., 49% are fully vaccinated.

The EU certificate system is set to go live on July 1 as planned and 20 member states are already issuing certificates, a European Commission spokesman told journalists in Brussels. Talks with the U.K. on digital certificates are progressing well, another spokesman said.

Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have previously pushed for a more coordinated response on travel rules. Theyve also been critical about Greece and other southern European tourist destinations which allow in tourists from variant risk areas, or from countries using non-EU approved vaccines.

Since May 17, Portugal has been allowing U.K. tourists to enter with a negative coronavirus test. Earlier this month, the U.K. removed Portugal from its quarantine-free green list, reversing an earlier step to lighten travel restrictions.

Last week, the U.K. added Spains Balearic islands and Malta onto the green travel list. It plans to ease rules further later in the summer to allow people who are double-vaccinated to return from countries in its amber list without needing to self-isolate.
British destroyer HMS Defender arrives at the port of Batumi, Georgia, on June 26, 2021. (Georgian Interior Ministry via AP)

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraine and NATO on Monday launched Black Sea drills that will involve dozens of warships, an exercise that follows last week's incident with a British destroyer off Crimea.

Moscow said one of its warships fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs in the path of British destroyer Defender on Wednesday to force her out of an area near the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.

Britain denied that account, insisted its ship wasn't fired upon and said it was sailing in Ukrainian waters.

The Sea Breeze 2021 maneuvers that began Monday and will last for two weeks are set to involve about 30 warships and 40 aircraft from U.S. and its NATO allies and Ukraine. U.S. destroyer Ross has arrived in the Ukrainian port of Odessa for the drills.

U.S. Navy Capt. Kyle Gantt noted Monday that a large number of participants in the exercise reflects a shared commitment to ensuring free access to international waters.

Moscow has criticized the drills, and the Russian Defense Ministry said it would closely monitor them.

In Wednesday's incident, Britain insisted the Defender had been making a routine journey through an internationally recognized travel lane and remained in Ukrainian waters near Crimea. The U.K., like most of the world, recognizes Crimea as part of Ukraine despite the peninsula's annexation by Russia.

Russia denounced the Defender's move as a provocation and warned that next time it could fire to hit intruding warships if they again try to test Russian military resolve.
Guests leave the national assembly building following Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera's inaugural ceremony in Bangui, Tuesday March 30, 2021. (Adrienne Surprenant/AP)

UNITED NATIONS  U.N. experts are accusing Russian military instructors and the Central African Republic forces they are supporting of "excessive use of force, indiscriminate killings, the occupation of schools and looting on a large scale"  allegations Moscow strongly rejected Monday.

The panel of experts monitoring sanctions on the conflict-torn African nation said in a 40-page report obtained Monday by The Associated Press that it collected "testimonies" from a large number of local officials, government military and internal security forces, and community-level sources in multiple locations in the country who reported "the active participation of Russian instructors in combat operations on the ground."

The panel said many of the officials and other sources reported that Russian instructors "often led rather than followed" Central African Republic troops as they advanced on different towns and villages in a counter-offensive against rebels linked to former President Francois Bozize. Bozize tried to prevent elections in December and then attempted to seize power from President Faustin Archange Touadera.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov categorically denied the allegations, first reported in The New York Times, that Russian instructors were involved in killing civilians and looting homes.

"Russian military advisers couldn't take part and didn't take part in any killings or lootings," Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. "This is yet another lie."

The mineral-rich Central African Republic has faced deadly inter-religious and inter-communal fighting since 2013. A peace deal between the government and 14 rebel groups was signed in February 2019, but violence blamed on Bozize and his allies threatens to nullify the agreement.

It erupted after the constitutional court rejected Bozize's candidacy to run for president in December and has continued since Touadera won a second term later that month with 53% of the vote.

The experts said Russia informed the U.N. Security Council committee monitoring sanctions on the Central African Republic in December that it would send 300 unarmed instructors to support the training of the country's infantry and motorized forces and that those deployed did not take part in military operations carried out by the security forces.

The coordinator of the Russian instructors told the panel they were all Russians, recruited from an association of primarily former military officers, and had not been hired by "a private company," contrary to reports by a U.N. human rights commission working group and a number of media outlets, the report said.

Last week, the U.S., Britain and France accused Russian personnel in Central African Republic of committing abuses against civilians and obstructing U.N. peacekeeping  accusations Russia angrily denied.

The Western powers linked the Russian personnel to the notorious Wagner Group, a private security company allegedly tied to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman who has been indicted in the United States on charges of meddling in the 2016 presidential election and whose companies have reportedly secured lucrative mining contracts in Central African Republic.

According to the experts' findings, Russia confirmed on April 18 that it had 532 instructors in the African country, and had never exceeded 550. But the panel noted multiple sources estimated the number of Russian instructors at between 800 and 2,100, and said multiple sources reported the instructors included individuals who identified themselves as nationals of Libya, Syria and other countries.

Although the sanctions committee was informed that the instructors would be unarmed, the panel said it "directly observed and received testimonies that Russian instructors" supporting government military operations and providing close protection to Central African Republic officials "were armed."

It said Russian officials confirmed that instructors were armed, saying that it was for their own protection and that weapons were only used "when fired upon." It said the arms and ammunition came from stocks Russia provided to the Ministry of Defense, a breach of end-user commitments to the sanctions committee by Central African Republic's president in 2018 and 2019.

The panel said that in several areas it visited its experts received confidential information and found evidence of excessive use of force by Central African Republic's military and Russian instructors.

As one example, it said a commercial truck driving to the capital, Bangui, was arriving at a temporary checkpoint on Dec. 28, 2020, in Grimari in south-central Ouaka Prefecture when soldiers appeared and ordered the driver to stop. According to eyewitnesses, as he was trying to stop, the soldiers started shooting from both sides and Russian instructors opened fire from the front, it said.

The panel said three civilians were killed and 15 were injured, including six women and a minor, many with multiple bullet wounds. Local officials found no evidence of a connection in the truck to armed groups, it said, and the Russian coordinator denied any involvement.

The panel said that during an operation against rebels backing Bozize in Bambari, the capital of Ouaka Prefecture, on Feb. 15, government troops and Russian instructors entered Al-Takwa mosque, shooting without respect to its religious nature or making any effort to distinguish between fighters and civilians. According to local sources there were 17 victims, including some fighters, but the panel said it was able to confirm that at least six people who died were civilians.

The experts said they received "numerous reports of indiscriminate killings against unarmed civilians by Russian instructors. They said they were able to confirm with local officials or eyewitnesses a number of such incidents, including the shooting of an unarmed man Feb. 21, the killings of two disabled civilians, and the shooting of two civilians from the Fulani tribe March 8.

In many locations where government soldiers and Russian instructors passed through or deployed, the panel said, it received accounts of looting of houses and buildings with items ranging from livestock to mattresses as well as money and motorbikes.

It said humanitarian groups were also targeted, citing as an example statements about the March 18 looting of an unnamed humanitarian organization in the capital of northwest Ouham prefecture, where goods taken included kits for victims of sexual violence worth about $1,850.

Associated Press writer Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, speaks during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on Dec. 9, 2020. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

GENEVA  The U.N. human rights chief, in a landmark report launched after the killing of George Floyd in the United States, is urging countries worldwide to do more to help end discrimination, violence and systemic racism against people of African descent and "make amends" to them  including through reparations.

The report from Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, offers a sweeping look at the roots of centuries of mistreatment faced by Africans and people of African descent, notably from the transatlantic slave trade. It seeks a "transformative" approach to address its continued impact today.

The report, a year in the making, hopes to build on momentum around the recent, intensified scrutiny worldwide about the blight of racism and its impact on people of African descent as epitomized by the high-profile killings of unarmed Black people in the United States and elsewhere.

"There is today a momentous opportunity to achieve a turning point for racial equality and justice," the report said.

The report aims to speed up action by countries to end racial injustice; end impunity for rights violations by police; ensure that people of African descent and those who speak out against racism are heard; and face up to past wrongs through accountability and redress.

"I am calling on all states to stop denying  and start dismantling  racism; to end impunity and build trust; to listen to the voices of people of African descent; and to confront past legacies and deliver redress," Bachelet said in a video statement.

While broaching the issue of reparation in her most explicit way yet, Bachelet suggested that monetary compensation alone is not enough and would be part of an array of measures to help rectify or make up for the injustices.

"Reparations should not only be equated with financial compensation," she wrote, adding that it should include restitution, rehabilitation, acknowledgement of injustices, apologies, memorialization, educational reforms and "guarantees" that such injustices won't happen again.

Bachelet, a former president of Chile, hailed the efforts of advocacy groups like the Black Lives Matter movement, saying they helped provide "grassroots leadership through listening to communities" and that they should receive "funding, public recognition and support."

The U.N.-backed Human Rights Council commissioned the report during a special session last year following the murder of Floyd, a Black American who was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis in May 2020. The officer, Derek Chauvin, was sentenced to 22-1/2 years in prison last week.

Protests erupted after excruciating bystander video showed how Floyd gasped repeatedly, "I can't breathe!" as onlookers yelled at Chauvin to stop pressing his knee on Floyd's neck.

The protests against Floyd's killing and the "momentous" verdict against Chauvin are a "seminal point in the fight against racism," the report said.

The report was based on discussions with over 340 people  mostly of African descent  and experts; more than 100 contributions in writing, including from governments; and review of public material, the rights office said.

It analyzed 190 deaths, mostly in the U.S., to show how law enforcement officers are rarely held accountable for rights violations and crimes against people of African descent, and it noted similar patterns of mistreatment by police across many countries.

The report ultimately aims to transform those opportunities into a more systemic response by governments to address racism, and not just in the United States  although the injustices and legacy of slavery, racism and violence faced by African Americans was clearly a major theme.

The report also laid out cases, concerns and the situation in roughly 60 countries including Belgium, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Colombia and France, among others.

"We could not find a single example of a state that has fully reckoned with the past or comprehensively accounted for the impacts of the lives of people of African descent today," Mona Rishmawi, who heads a unit on non-discrimination in Bachelet's office. "Our message, therefore, is that this situation is untenable."

Compensation should be considered at the "collective and the individual level," Rishmawi said, while adding that any such process "starts with acknowledgment" of past wrongs and "it's not one-size-fits-all." She said countries must look at their own pasts and practices to assess how to proceed.

Rishmawi said Bachelet's team found "a main part of the problem is that many people believe the misconceptions that the abolition of slavery, the end of the transatlantic trade and colonialism have removed the racially discriminatory structures built by those practices.

"We found that this is not true," said Rishmawi, also denouncing an idea among some "associating blackness with criminality ... there is a need to address this."

The report called on countries to "make amends for centuries of violence and discrimination" such as through "formal acknowledgment and apologies, truth-telling processes and reparations in various forms."

It also decried the "dehumanization of people of African descent" that was "rooted in false social constructions of race" in the past to justify enslavement, racial stereotypes and harmful practices as well as tolerance for racial discrimination, inequality and violence.

People of African descent face inequalities and "stark socioeconomic and political marginalization" in many countries, the report said, including unfair access to education, health care, jobs, housing and clean water.

"We believe very strongly that we only touched the tip of the iceberg," Rishmawi said, referring to the report. "We really believe that there is a lot more work that needs to be done."
Ebrahim Raisi, Iran's president, holds his first news conference following his victory in the presidential election in Tehran, Iran, on June 21, 2021. (Ali Mohammadi/Bloomberg )

ISTANBUL  Irans parliament speaker said Sunday that Tehran would never share with the U.N. nuclear watchdog recorded footage of activity at some of its nuclear sites, in a sign of the hardening rhetoric by both Iran and the United States during the prolonged and increasingly tense negotiations aimed at reviving a 2015 nuclear accord.

The comments by the parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, came days after the expiration of a separate agreement between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, that allows the U.N. agency to temporarily monitor Irans nuclear activity. The deal was struck in February and renewed for a month in May.

Nothing has been extended, Ghalibaf said during a parliamentary session on Sunday. None of the items recorded inside will ever be handed to the agency and are in the possession of the Islamic Republic of Iran, he added, referring to the IAEA.

The lapse of the monitoring agreement has added to pressure on talks underway in Vienna to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, called the Joint Comprehensive Monitoring Agreement, or JCPOA. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the JCPOA three years ago, and in response Iran began increasing the quantity and quality of its uranium enrichment beyond the limits set by the accord.

Six rounds of negotiations in Vienna have yet to reach agreement on a deal both the Biden administration and Irans leadership are anxious to restore.

Iran is seeking the lifting of hundreds of U.S.-imposed sanctions that have throttled its economy. The Biden administration wants Iran to return to compliance with the terms of the nuclear deal and to hold talks aimed at curbing Tehrans support for proxy forces in the Middle East as well as its development of ballistic missiles.

The victory this month in Iran of Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line cleric who opposes negotiations with the United States, has added to the sense of urgency hovering over the talks. Raisi, who replaces President Hassan Rouhani, a political moderate, will assume office in August.

In recent days, both the United States and Iran have pointedly said the talks cannot continue indefinitely. There have been enough negotiations, Tehrans lead nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araghchi, said during a meeting of the parliaments national security committee Sunday. Its time for the countries to make a decision.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that Irans failure to allow an extension of the IAEA temporary agreement was a serious concern and that U.S. worries had been communicated to Iran.

The monitoring deal was agreed upon in February, at a time when Iran was dropping out of key parts of the JCPOA and said it would severely limit inspections by the IAEA. Iranian officials negotiated a temporary extension of some inspection measures for three months, allowing what IAEA head Rafael Grossi called necessary monitoring and verification. But the agency would no longer have immediate access to footage from cameras monitoring Irans nuclear sites, which would instead be provided later.

The monitoring agreement was extended for a month in late May, and it expired last week.

On Friday, Kazem Gharibabadi, Irans ambassador to the IAEA, wrote on Twitter that data recording at the nuclear sites shouldnt be considered an obligation and was not something that the IAEA was entitled to.

The impasse over the temporary agreement needs to be resolved, Blinken said at a Paris news conference with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Friday. At the same time, he said, Irans escalating uranium enrichment, far beyond the bounds of the original 2015 nuclear deal, was also a growing concern.

If Iran continues to spin evermore sophisticated centrifuges at higher degrees, if it pursues other aspects prohibited by the JCPOA, there will come a point, yes, where it will be very hard to return . . . to the standards set by the deal, Blinken said.

The goal of the original agreement was to extend Irans breakout time, the time it would take to produce enough fissile material to fuel a nuclear weapon. Increased to a year under the deal, it has now been reduced to two three months, about where it was when the JCPOA was signed.

Iran has repeatedly said its nuclear program is intended for peaceful energy-generating purposes.

Le Drian said the negotiations were now entering the most difficult times, requiring strong and courageous decision on behalf of the new Iranian authorities. But now is the time . . . it would be pointless to continue for too long.

Among the original parties to the nuclear agreement, France, Germany and Britain have been acting as go-betweens for the United States and Iran during the talks, as Tehran has refused to hold direct negotiations with Washington. Russia and China are also signatories.

The Biden administration began to toughen its language on the negotiations last week, when a senior State Department official briefing reporters said they could not continue indefinitely.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity about the sensitive talks, said: We still have serious differences. . . . Well see if we can bridge them, but theyre real. If they cannot be resolved in the foreseeable future, were going to have to regroup and figure out how we move ahead.

Its not like theres a scientific time at which point that threshold . . . will be crossed, the official said. But certainly time is not a positive factor. And this process wont be open indefinitely, so were trying to get back into the deal. We understand Iran is continuing to make progress, which is precisely why we believe withdrawing from the deal was a mistake and why were faced with this situation. Were going to try to get them back as soon as possible under the terms of the deal.

Speaking before the Iranian rejection of the IAEA monitoring, the official said, Iran should not be playing brinkmanship each time these agreements get extended. Id simply say that in the absence of such an understanding, in the absence of the IAEA being able to monitor what Iran is doing, it will be that much more complicated to get back into the JCPOA, because were going to have to know what the baseline of their nuclear program is.
This screenshot from a U.S. military video shows airstrikes conducted Sunday, June 27, 2021, near the border between Iraq and Syria. (U.S. Central Command)

Iraq condemned a U.S. airstrike against Iranian-linked militias on its soil Monday, describing the overnight attack as a "blatant" violation of national sovereignty that breached international conventions.

The unusually harsh condemnation from a military ally came after the Pentagon said Sunday that it had launched airstrikes on facilities on both sides of the Iraq-Syria border in response to recent drone attacks on U.S. troops.

Two militia locations in Syria were attacked, along with one in Iraq, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement, which described the strikes as defensive. He said the locations were used by the Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada groups, which are both linked to Iran.

In a statement Monday, the Iraqi military rejected the idea that Iraq should be an "arena for settling scores," describing the attack as a "blatant and unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty" as well as a breach of international conventions.

"We call for calm and avoiding escalation in all its forms," the statement said.

U.S. and other coalition officials have said militias' use of small, explosive-laden drones to attack regional U.S. personnel is one of the chief concerns for the U.S. military mission there.

Sunday's attacks followed a spate of drone strikes early Saturday in Iraq's Kurdish region. A person with knowledge of the Biden administration's decision-making said the attacks involved Iranian-manufactured drones similar to those that have prompted alarm in Washington as they evade detection systems and strike sensitive targets.

On Saturday, the person and the governor of Iraq's Irbil province said, two of the drones landed roughly a mile from where a new U.S. consulate is being built.

In the hours after Sunday's U.S. attacks, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada said in a statement that four of its militiamen were killed in the attack on the Iraqi side of the border. Photographs suggested that the youngest among them was in his early 20s.

Separately, Syrian state media said, without providing evidence, that U.S. strikes hit residential buildings near the border around 1 a.m. local time, killing one child and wounding three residents. TV channel al-Ikhbaria did not report the reason for the strikes that was offered by the Pentagon, but it added that the area has been struck by U.S. forces many times.

At least five drone attacks on U.S. personnel have occurred in the region this year, according to a U.S. defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. One of the sites hit Sunday was used in the launch and recovery of armed unmanned aircraft. Another was a logistics hub, the official added.

"President Biden has been clear that he will act to protect U.S. personnel," Kirby said. "Given the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting U.S. interests in Iraq, the president directed further military action to disrupt and deter such attacks."

Iraqi officials have lobbied their U.S. counterparts to avoid retaliatory strikes on Iraqi soil, arguing that they would complicate the already delicate politics surrounding the fate of the rest of the U.S.-led coalition force still stationed in Iraq.

That force has been cut in half to roughly 3,000 troops since the start of last year, when President Donald Trump's decision to assassinate leading Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and senior Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis outside Baghdad Airport sent shock waves through the region and prompted Iraq's parliament to urge the expulsion of all U.S. troops.

Despite significant pressure to produce a timetable for the U.S.-dominated force's final departure, Iraqi military officials argue that the force's intelligence and aerial support are still crucial elements in maintaining pressure on Islamic State remnants in Iraq.

Sunday's strikes came in response to increasingly brazen and sophisticated attacks by Iranian-backed militias on U.S.-linked forces  attacks that in recent years have relied more on rockets than drones. Officials in Washington say these are probably linked to Kataib Hezbollah, a group that U.S. forces have bombed on several occasions in Iraq.

Increasingly, militiamen are now turning to small, fixed-wing drones that fly too low to be picked up by defensive systems, military officials and diplomats have said. A common strategy is to attach explosives to the drones and crash them into targets, defense officials have said.

An April attack on a CIA hangar at the Irbil airport highlighted the uniquely frustrating problem of small unmanned aircraft sorties. A drone was detected within 10 miles of the site, officials have said, but it was lost after careening into a civilian flight path. Although no causalities were reported, the attack deeply concerned White House and Pentagon officials because of the covert nature of the facility and the sophistication of the strike.

A similar attack on an Iraqi air base in May raised worries that further attacks may trigger a cycle of retaliation among U.S. forces and Iranian-backed forces that operate in the region. The U.S. assassination of Soleimani and Muhandis prompted Iranian ballistic missile attacks on U.S. troops in the west of the country, which led to scores of injuries but no deaths.

A U.S. contractor died after a smaller attack on the same air base in March.

The Pentagon has monitored the escalation of small-drone warfare after the Islamic State flew terrifying sorties of hobbyist drone aircraft against Iraqi troops in the battle to retake territory from the group.

Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, told reporters on a Syria trip last month that the Pentagon is looking for ways to cut command-and-control links between a drone and its operator, improve radar sensors to quickly identify the threat as it approaches and find effective ways to bring down the aircraft.

"We're open to all kinds of things," he said, according to the Associated Press. "Still, I don't think we're where we want to be."

The Biden administration in February ordered airstrikes against Iranian proxies in Syria, killing an undisclosed number of militants.
This screenshot from a U.S. military video shows airstrikes conducted Sunday, June 27, 2021, near the border between Iraq and Syria. (U.S. Central Command)

WASHINGTON U.S. forces in eastern Syria were attacked by multiple rockets Monday and responded with artillery fire, a day after President Joe Biden ordered airstrikes on facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups, according to a U.S. military spokesman.

U.S. forces in Syria, while under multiple rocket attack[s], acted in self-defense and conducted counter-battery artillery fire at rocket-launching positions, said Army Col. Wayne Marotto, a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led anti-Islamic State mission in Iraq and Syria.

No U.S. injuries were reported and officials are assessing damages from the attack, which happened at about 7:44 p.m. local time, he said.

Nearly 1,000 U.S. troops remain in Syria to prevent a resurgence of ISIS as the countrys civil war continues, The Associated Press has reported. The American troops are stationed at several small encampments in eastern Syria alongside U.S.-backed anti-ISIS fighters known as Syrian Democratic Forces. However, the Biden administration is reviewing that number as part of its ongoing global military posture review.

Marotto did not say who is suspected of launching the attack on the U.S. forces. But the attack followed U.S. airstrikes Sunday that chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said targeted facilities near the Iraq-Syria border that were used by Iran-backed militia groups to conduct drone attacks on U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq.

Specifically, the U.S. strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, Kirby said Sunday. Several Iran-backed militia groups, including Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, used these facilities.

Four militiamen were killed in one of the U.S. airstrikes that hit a weapons storage facility inside Syrian territory, The Associated Press reported, citing two unnamed Iraqi militia officials.

In response, the Iran-backed Iraqi militias pledged to avenge the blood of our righteous martyrs against the perpetrators of this heinous crime, the AP reported. With Gods help we will make the enemy taste the bitterness of revenge.

Kirby said the U.S. airstrikes demonstrated Biden will act to protect U.S. personnel and American troops are in Iraq at the request of the Iraqi government for the sole purpose of assisting the Iraqi Security Forces in their efforts to defeat the [Islamic State].

Given the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting U.S. interests in Iraq, the president directed further military action to disrupt and deter such attacks, Kirby said.

The United States took necessary, appropriate and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation  but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message.

doornbos.caitlin@stripes.com

Twitter: @CaitlinDoornbos
June's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Pride month celebrations are relatively new to the Department of Defense and to the Air Commandos of Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., but the history of LGBT service members' fight to openly serve in the armed forces is a long and proud one. (Shelby Kay-Fant/U.S. Air Force)

GASTONIA, N.C.  Timothy Caudill's resume includes four years of active and four years inactive reserve time serving America as a Marine, including a seven-month deployment in the Middle East.

After leaving the Marine Corps in November 2011, he spent time as a staffer for California Democratic Congressman Scott Peters, working to help veterans like himself get the benefits they earned.

Now back in Gaston County, North Carolina, the 34-year-old Caudill will take on a new challenge as chairman of Gaston County Democrats for Equality, a group representing members of the LGBT community related to political, social and equality issues.

"We are here to support the community of Gaston County," said Caudill. "We want to help make it the best place possible and to heal the community from years of political polarization, not to further the divide."

LGBT ACTIVISM

Caudill jointed the Marines after high school and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001  attacks which saw the World Trade Center's twin towers destroyed and the Pentagon heavily damaged.

"After 9/11 shook all of our lives, I felt that serving my country was far more important than any personal desire," Caudill said, "so I leaned heavily into the more traditional sense of sexuality. However, part of my identity started to take a toll on my mental health."

Caudill began volunteering at a LGBT community center after leaving the Marines.

"As years went on, my identity crisis came to a head and surpassed and today I identify as a veteran and as a member of the LGBT community," he said.

He wants to help the LGBT community, he said, because he remembers the hateful speech he has had to endure, including people telling him to "go to hell" or that he would "die of AIDS."

MILITARY LIFE

Caudill had done little traveling and felt his life experiences could fit in a "small bubble" up until he joined the Marines.

"I joined the Marine Corps and I had a ship out date within a month," he said.

He would be far from his idea of a "small bubble" after being deployed to the Middle East.

"I really liked that I got to meet the King of Jordan (Abdullah II) and got invited to do a multi-country special forces competition," Caudill said. "It was a super unique experience since 99% of those deployed don't get to experience things like that."

But leaving the regimented military life and returning to the daily activities of a civilian proved difficult for Caudill. To him, it felt like being pushed.

"Going from active duty to being a civilian is one of the most challenging things anyone can go through," he says. "You're going from a highly socialized environment where everyone is well-behaved and well-trained on a daily basis and the civilian world is a bit psychotic with how people treat each other."

LIFE TRANSITION

Caudill was happy to land in a job helping veterans as part of Congressman Peters' constituent services staff after leaving the military.

"It was eye-opening because I was representing a congressman to Veterans Affairs," Caudill said. "I did a lot of work with constituents to help them get the benefits that they need."

Caudill's focus would change just before he would leave his position helping veterans.

"Two nights before my last day with the fellowship as a staffer, this man randomly tried to stab my friend, but I jumped in the way to protect him," Caudill said. "I was stabbed nine times. Four muscles were severely damaged or separated. I was on bed rest for three months."

Instead of becoming bitter about what had happened, Caudill learned something about his attacker. The man who had stabbed him was homeless and on drugs, Caudill said.

"I started speaking out about drug abuse and mental health in the gay community," he said. "We try to pretend like it isn't there, but it impacts every area of our community."

Caudill has degrees in exercise physiology and political science and government from San Diego City and Mesa colleges. He also has a bachelor's degree from National University in organizational leadership and organizational behavioral studies with an associate's of arts degree in education from Gaston College.

He now works at Cavendish Brewery.

"It is in my nature to be of service," Caudill said. "As a gay man and a USMC veteran, it is important to me now more than ever to bring people together.

"I want to participate in this amazing democracy that so many have fought and died for."
A neighbor on Sunday, June 27, 2021, places a bouquet of flowers on a fence outside of a building in Winthrop, Mass., where an armed man crashed a hijacked truck on Saturday, then fatally shot two bystanders before being killed by police. (Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via AP)

BOSTON  Family and friends are mourning the two bystanders killed Saturday afternoon by a white gunman in a Boston suburb in an attack officials are treating as a hate crime.

David Green, a 68-year-old retired Massachusetts State Police trooper, and Ramona Cooper, a 60-year-old Air Force veteran, were each shot multiple times by 28-year-old Nathan Allen after he crashed a stolen box truck into a residential building in Winthrop, an overwhelmingly white, coastal community located on a peninsula jutting into Boston Harbor, just north of Logan International Airport.

Allen, who prosecutors say drew swastikas and handwrote messages about whites being superior and "apex predators," was fatally shot by police moments later. Both victims were African American.

Green's longtime friend, Nick Tsiotos, said the two had coffee together just hours before the attack. He said the retired trooper had been sitting outside his home and tried to help after hearing the crash.

According to Rollins, Cooper was shot three times in the back and Green was shot four times in the head and three times in his torso.

"He went out and tried to do what he was doing for 36 years with the state police: trying to help save lives," Tsiotos, who attended high school with Green, told WCVB-TV. "Dave probably stopped him from going into homes and killing people."

Green retired from the state police in 2016 after nearly 40 years in law enforcement and also served in the Air Force.

"Trooper Green was widely respected and well-liked by his fellow Troopers, several of whom yesterday described him as a 'true gentleman' and always courteous to the public and meticulous in his duties," Massachusetts State Police Col. Christopher Mason said in a statement over the weekend.

Cooper's son, Gary Cooper Jr., remembered his mother as "caring and selfless" and always ready to help anyone in need.

"We are heartbroken and she will be missed, just a senseless thing to have happened," he said in a statement to WCVB-TV.

Cooper most recently worked with the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and is survived by her son, two grandchildren, and her twin sister, WBZ-TV reports.

A memorial of flower bouquets and other remembrances quickly grew on the temporary fencing around the destroyed building over the weekend.

"Praying you are dancing in the sunshine and singing with the angels," one note on the makeshift shrine read, The Boston Globe reported.

A candlelight vigil will be held Thursday night in front of Town Hall to the victims. Town officials also said Monday they'll offer trauma services and other community resources.

"We take actions that are rooted in hate very seriously," Town Council President Philip Boncore said in a statement. "We strive for unity within the community and will continue to work with our town partners to ensure Winthrop is an accepting and inclusive place for everyone."

Gov. Charlie Baker was among the state leaders who offered condolences.

"The Green and Cooper families lost loved ones to a despicable act and we lost two cherished public servants who proved their mettle time and time again," he tweeted Monday. "Awful, dreadful story. Rest in peace Trooper Green and USAF Veteran Cooper."

Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said Sunday that authorities are investigating whether Allen targeted the victims because they were Black.

She said officials found "troubling white supremacist rhetoric" in the gunman's handwriting that included "anti-Semitic and racist statements against Black individuals." She also noted that Allen walked by several other people that were not Black and didn't harm them.

Rollins said Cooper was shot about a half-block away from the crash; Green was shot in an alleyway further down the street.

Allen, who owned a condo in town, was also legally licensed to carry a firearm, had a doctorate, was married, and employed, added Rollins. "To all external sources he likely appeared unassuming," she said.

Indeed Nathan Allen's Facebook page is filled with pictures of him with his wife, Audrey, as well as posts about adopting rabbits, as the couple had a pet rabbit of their own.

The two met at the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth, where they graduated in 2014.

Their engagement was profiled by the Globe and they were married at the nursing home where the former Audrey Mazzola's grandfather lived, with some 200 people tuning in via Zoom.

Audrey Allen didn't respond to a phone call and email seeking comment Monday.

Nathan Allen's final post on Facebook appeared on June 22, when he wished his wife a happy birthday. He posted two pictures of the couple, including one of them kissing on their wedding day.

This story has been corrected to show that the name of one of the victims is Ramona Cooper.
President Joe Biden meets with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, June 28, 2021. (Susan Walsh/AP)

WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden sought to assure Israel that he would not tolerate a nuclear Iran as he met with outgoing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Monday amid a major shakeup in Israeli politics and growing angst in Tel Aviv over the U.S. administration's effort to reenter the Iran nuclear deal.

Biden noted that he had ordered airstrikes a day earlier targeting facilities the U.S. military says were used by Iran-backed militia groups near the border between Iraq and Syria. The rhetoric seemed to underscore that he would remain tough on malign Iran activity even as he seeks a diplomatic track to stem Tehran's nuclear program.

"What I can say to you is that Iran will never get a nuclear weapon on my watch," Biden said at the White House meeting.

The meeting with Rivlin, who is making his final foreign trip of his presidency, took place just weeks after Naftali Bennett became Israel's new prime minister, replacing Benjamin Netanyahu. The Biden administration, meanwhile, has intensified efforts to revive Iran's 2015 accord with world powers to limit Tehran's ability to develop nuclear weapons. Former President Donald Trump, with Netanyahu's backing, scrapped the accord in 2018.

Biden said he hoped to meet the new prime minister at the White House "very soon."

Rivlin is set to leave office on July 7 after a seven-year term. Isaac Herzog, a former parliament member who most recently headed a nonprofit that works closely with the government to promote immigration to Israel, will take over as Israeli president.

Rivlin was also scheduled to meet with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi later Monday.

Biden said the two would talk about Iran and the aftermath of the Gaza war. The president also underscored his support for continued normalization of relations between Israel and countries in the Arab and Muslim world and planned to reiterate the administration's promise to resupply Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system, which was depleted during the 11-day war with Hamas in Gaza.

The latest conflict claimed at least 254 Palestinian lives and killed 13 people in Israel.

Biden has low hopes, at least for the moment, of reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, according to an official familiar with Biden administration deliberations. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations, said Biden administration officials are starting at square one in building contacts with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, a relationship that eroded during the Trump administration.

The meeting with Rivlin comes one day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Rome with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, a centrist who along with Bennett and six other political allies built a fragile coalition government that put Netanyahu in the opposition.

Aviv Kochavi, chief of staff of Israel Defense Forces, met last week with Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and other senior national security officials. Kochavi reiterated Israel's opposition to efforts by the Biden administration to revive the 2015 accord.

Administration officials, however, have countered in talks with Kochavi and others in the new Israeli government that it's worth giving diplomacy a shot at stopping Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapons system, even if it's not guaranteed, the official said.

Brian McElhiney
Family members of those missing from Champlain Towers South Condo collapse arrive back at the reunification center after visiting the scene in Surfside, Fla., Sunday, June 27, 2021. Rescuers keep digging through the mound of rubble and clinging to hope that someone could be found alive. (Marta Lavandier/AP)

SURFSIDE, Fla.  Families of the missing visited the scene of the Florida condo building collapse Sunday as rescuers kept digging through the mound of rubble and clinging to hope that someone could yet be alive somewhere under the broken concrete and twisted metal.

The death toll rose by just four people, to a total of nine confirmed dead. The latest four victims were identified Sunday night by police as Christina Beatriz Elvira, 74; Luis Bermudez, 26; Leon Oliwkowicz, 80; and Anna Ortiz, 46.

After almost four full days of search-and-rescue efforts, more than 150 additional people were still missing in Surfside. No one has been pulled alive from the pile since Thursday, hours after the collapse.

Some families had hoped their visit would allow them to shout messages to loved ones possibly buried deep inside the pile.

Buses brought several groups of relatives to a place where they could view the pile and the rescuers at work. As relatives returned to a nearby hotel, several paused to embrace as they got off the bus. Others walked slowly with arms around each other back to the hotel entrance.

"We are just waiting for answers. That's what we want," said Dianne Ohayon, whose parents, Myriam and Arnie Notkin were in the building. "It's hard to go through these long days and we haven't gotten any answers yet."

Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai, who visited with family members, led a humanitarian delegation to Surfside that included several Israeli experts in search-and-rescue operations. He said the experts have told him of cases where survivors were found after 100 hours or more.

"So don't lose hope, that's what I would say. But you have everyone understanding the longer it takes, the prospects of finding someone alive goes down," he said.

"If you watch the scene, you know it's almost impossible to find someone alive," Shai added. "But you never know. Sometimes miracles happen, you know? We Jews believe in miracles."

Rescuers sought to reassure families that they were doing as much as possible to find missing loved ones, but the crews said they needed to work carefully for the best chance of uncovering survivors.

Some relatives have been frustrated with the pace of rescue efforts.

A woman on a WaveRunner passes by the Champlain Towers South Condo, Sunday, June 27, 2021, in Surfside, Fla. Many people are still unaccounted for after Thursday's fatal collapse. (Wilfredo Lee/AP) Crews work in the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo, Sunday, June 27, 2021, in Surfside, Fla. Many people were still unaccounted for after Thursday's fatal collapse. (Wilfredo Lee/AP) Family members of those missing from Champlain Towers South Condo collapse arrive back at the reunification center after visiting the scene in Surfside, Fla., Sunday, June 27, 2021. Rescuers keep digging through the mound of rubble and clinging to hope that someone could be found alive. (Marta Lavandier/AP)

"My daughter is 26 years old, in perfect health. She could make it out of there," one mother told rescuers during a weekend meeting with family members. A video of the meeting was posted by Instagram user Abigail Pereira.

"It's not enough," continued the mother, who was among relatives who pushed authorities to bring in experts from other countries to help. "Imagine if your children were in there."

Scores of rescue workers remained on the massive heap of rubble Sunday, searching for survivors but so far finding only bodies and human remains.

In a meeting with families Saturday evening, people moaned and wept as Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah explained why he could not answer their repeated questions about how many victims they had found.

"It's not necessarily that we're finding victims, OK? We're finding human remains," Jadallah said, according to the video posted on Instagram.

He noted the pancake collapse of the 12-story building, which had crumbled into a rubble pile that could be measured in feet. Those conditions have frustrated crews looking for survivors, he said.

Every time crews find remains, they clean the area and remove the remains. They work with a rabbi to ensure any religious rituals are done properly, Jadallah said.

If crews find any "artifacts," such as documents, pictures or money, they turn them over to police, officials said.

Alan Cominsky, chief of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department, said they are holding out hope of finding someone alive, but they must be slow and methodical.

"The debris field is scattered throughout, and it's compact, extremely compact," he said.

Debris must be stabilized and shored up as they go.

"If there is a void space, we want to make sure we're given every possibility of a survivor. That's why we can't just go in and move things erratically, because that's going to have the worst outcome possible," he said.

In meetings with authorities, family members repeatedly pushed rescuers to do more. One asked why they could not surgically remove the largest pieces of cement with cranes, to try to uncover bigger voids where survivors might be found.

"There's not giant pieces that we can easily surgically remove," replied Maggie Castro, of the fire rescue agency.

"They're not big pieces. Pieces are crumbled, and they're being held together by the rebar that's part of the construction. So if we try to lift that piece, even as carefully, those pieces that are crumbling can fall off the sides and disturb the pile," Castro said.

She said they try to cut rebar in strategic places and remove large pieces, but that they have to remove them in a way that nothing will fall onto the pile.

"We are doing layer by layer," Castro said. "It doesn't stop. It's all day. All night."

Rescuers swept the mound with dogs trained to sniff out humans.

They also used a microwave radar device developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab and the Department of Homeland Security that "sees" through up to 8 inches of solid concrete, according to Adrian Garulay, CEO of Spec Ops Group, which sells them. The suitcase-sized device can detect human respiration and heartbeats and was being deployed Sunday by a seven-member search-and-rescue team from Mexico's Jewish community.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said six to eight teams are actively searching the pile at any given time, with hundreds of team members on standby ready to rotate in. She said teams have worked around the clock since Thursday, and there was no lack of personnel.

Teams are also working with engineers and sonar to make sure the rescuers are safe.

Crews spent Saturday night digging a trench that stretches 125 feet long, 20 feet across and 40 feet deep, which, she said, allowed them to find more bodies and human remains.

Earl Tilton, who runs a search-and-rescue consulting firm in North Carolina, said rushing into the rubble without careful planning and execution would injure or kill rescuers and the people they are trying to save, said Tilton, who runs Lodestar Professional Services in Hendersonville, North Carolina.

"I understand the families' concerns on this. If it was my family member, I would want everyone in there pulling rubble away as fast as humanly possible," Tilton said. "But moving the wrong piece of debris at the wrong time could cause it to fall on them and crush them."

During past urban rescues, rescuers have found survivors as long as a week past the initial catastrophe, Tilton said.

Rescue workers identified an additional four bodies that had been recovered earlier, bringing the number of people unaccounted for to 152, the Miami-Dade mayor said Sunday.

Authorities are gathering DNA samples from family members to aid in identification. Late Saturday, four of the victims were identified as Stacie Dawn Fang, 54; Antonio Lozano, 83; Gladys Lozano, 79; and Manuel LaFont, 54.

___

Associated Press writers Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Bobby Caina Calvan in Tallahassee and others from around the United States contributed to this report.
World War II veteran Jack DeTour is piped aboard the Battleship Missouri Memorial for the 75th Anniversary of the End of WWII commemoration ceremony, Sept. 2, 2020, at Pearl Harbor. (Gilbert Bolibol/U.S. Navy)

HONOLULU (Tribune News Service)  Jack DeTour had a close-up and very personal view of the Pacific war and lasting peace that followed after Japan attacked Oahu nearly 80 years ago on Dec. 7, 1941.

Close-up in that the B-25 Mitchell bombers he piloted against Japanese shipping in the Southwest Pacific perfected the technique of attacking at 300 to 350 mph at very low altitude with multiple .50-caliber machine guns blazing.

The combination of bombs that skipped across the waves into the side of a ship and the heavy machine guns was used to devastating effect by the commerce destroyers.

We were flying mast-level attacks capable of cutting a destroyer in two, the Honolulu resident said in a Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum video interview. More than once our bombers returned with ship rigging wrapped around their wings.

It was also personal in that he saw the carnage that his and other bombers were causing. From a distance it looked like hay bales were being hit by the bombers deck-clearing machine guns.

Then when you got in there and went over the ship, (you could see) those were people, the retired Air Force colonel told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in August.

The deadliest conflict in human history eventually evolved into reconciliation and friendship, with DeTour and Japanese Zero pilot Shiro Wakita together pouring whiskey into Pearl Harbor in remembrance of two crashed U.S. B-29 bomber crews and the citizens of Shizuoka, Japan, who were targeted in the American night bombing raid. The event is known as the Blackened Canteen ceremony.

Shiro Wakita (left to right), former WWII Imperial Japanese Navy pilot; Dr. Hiroya Sugano, director general of the Zero Fighter Admirers Club; Jack Detour, former colonel and WWII Army Air Force B-25 pilot; Jerry Yellin, former captain and WWII Army Air Force P-51 pilot, pour bourbon whiskey at the sixth annual Blackened Canteen ceremony at the USS Arizona Memorial during the 75th Commemoration of the attacks on Pearl Harbor. (Somers Steelman/U.S. Navy) Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper presents World War II Veteran Jack DeTour with a coin at the luncheon during the 75th Anniversary of the End of World War II commemoration ceremony held aboard the Battleship Missouri Memorial, Sept. 2, 2020. (Melvin Gonzalvo/U.S. Navy)

In 2018 DeTour sat next to his friend Wakita while the ceremony was discussed in the theater at the USS Arizona Memorial visitor center.

DeTour died June 9 at age 97, the aviation museum said.

Executive Director Elissa Lines said DeTour was very instrumental in the annual ceremony in which a dented canteen from one of the two B-29s that crashed as a result of a midair collision, initially a symbol of the horror of war, became an instrument of peace and reconciliation at Pearl Harbor.

The annual ritual of jointly pouring whiskey into the harbor on Dec. 7 grew out of a humanitarian effort in 1945 by Shizuoka city councilman Fukumatsu Itoh, a devout Buddhist who buried the downed American flyers.

A private ceremony was held each year on June 20  the date of the crash  to honor the civilian casualties and American aviators, with Itoh using the recovered American canteen to pour whiskey on a makeshift cross.

I think one of the most important things that I learned from Jack DeTour was his commitment to sharing the experiences of war from the perspective of how we, together, find other ways of solving conflict, Lines said. He was passing onto young people the importance of understanding respect and responsibility and working together to find solutions.

DeTour enlisted in the Army Air Forces to be a pilot after graduating from high school in 1942. He completed flight training at La Junta Army Air Base in Colorado.

I looked at the board for assignments. It had my name and it said La Junta, Colo. Thats where I was, he recalled last year. I said, What the heck am I going to do here ? and the guy said, Well, you probably flunked a course, you have to take it over. So I asked my instructor, and he said, You are going to be an instructor.

So as soon as I graduated from cadets, as a 19-year-old kid or so, Im teaching people how to fly a B-25, he said with a laugh. It gave him that much more flying experience when he flew in combat.

DeTour flew the unique brand of low-level bomber missions in the Pacific from locations including New Guinea, the Philippines and Okinawa.

An enlisted pilot who at one time lived in Honolulu  Pappy Gunn  was instrumental in up-gunning the B-25s with way more machine guns than they had earlier, DeTour said. Some of the bombers were modified to have 10 or more forward-firing .50-caliber machine guns.

The B-25, I believe, was the best medium bomber that we had in the Pacific. The B-25 was great (flying low) on the deck (and) on the waves doing skip-bombing into the ships, he said.

Last year, in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, organizers arranged for DeTour to fly on the B-25 Old Glory brought in to be part of several aerial parades in commemoration of the event.

DeTour said after the flight from Daniel K. Inouye International Airport that he was probably a bit faster in his early 20s climbing up a skinny belly ladder to get into the cockpit area.

He sat behind the pilot and co-pilot in the narrow fuselage and joked that he was ready to take the controls.

Oh yeah, I could have gotten in there  but they were busy, he said.

Lines, the aviation museum executive director, was asked how many World War II veterans are left in Hawaii.

Thats a good question, as were getting ready to invite our veterans again for the 80th commemoration (of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack)  so that theyll be our guests to come for all the things that we have planned, she said. Its hard to say how many are left. Thats a challenge.

(c)2021 The Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Visit The Honolulu Star-Advertiser at www.staradvertiser.com

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(Tribune News Service) Passengers aboard an American Airlines flight from New Orleans to Dallas earlier this month had no idea what they were about to witness.

A veteran in need.

Another ready to help.

Burton Fire District Capt. Bobby Davidson was on a trip to celebrate his anniversary on June 15 with his wife when he noticed a woman in the terminal breathing heavily and looking anxious. Then, after boarding the plane, Davidson and his wife were seated in the same aisle as the woman. She yelled, I cant do this, I cant do this, Davidson recalled.

Turns out, she was a veteran, too. She had served in the Marine Corps and had been in a plane crash during her military career, Davidson said.

I can identify with that, Davidson said. I have my own battles.

Davidson served in the Air Force from 1983 until 1986 and graduated from the S.C. Fire Academy in 2003.

Recognizing her labored breathing and anxiety as signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, Davidson drew upon the crisis training he learned as a firefighter and switched seats with his wife so he could sit next to the woman and try to calm her down.

She had physical scars and, obviously, emotional scars, Davidson said. And a desperate fear of flying.

The flight attendant asked me if she was going to be OK, and I said, I dont know her, but Ill try to help her,  Davidson said.

For the next 90 minutes to their destination, he continued to talk to her. Struggling with PTSD is an unfortunate event that happens throughout the military service and fire service, Davidson said while holding back tears. Attention to, and treatment for, mental health problems  including PTSD and anxiety  are badly needed, especially for members of the military and first responders, Davidson said.

A lot of it, we do manage to put away, Davidson said. But some of it just wont ... It fills up. Everybody is different.
Weather Eye

with John Maunder

Building the cathedrals of Europe... the climate factor

Some of the answers to the complexities of the climate system are given in my recently published book Fifteen shades of climate... the fall of the weather dice and the butterfly effect. The following are extracts are from pages 203- 207.

When I was in Canada about 30 years ago, I listened to a lecture about Medieval Warming, the building of the Gothic Cathedrals and the freemasons. It appears that there was no theological reason why the cathedrals were built at that time but there is an interesting link between the warmth of Europe in the 11th to 15th centuries, the wine of England, and the freemasons and their lodges.

The Medieval Warm Period is an epoch of relatively warm climate which existed in the 10th-13th centuries, following the climatic pessimum of the Great Migration and preceding the so-called Little Ice Age of the 14th-18th centuries. Prior to current theories about human-induced global warming - a full 400700 years before humans began the Industrial revolution - the Medieval warm periods mild winters and relatively warm and even weather allowed for unprecedented crop growth, urban expansion, and the establishment of Scandinavian settlements in Greenland and North America.

Rather than the limiting the Medieval warm period to Europe and neighbouring regions or the North Atlantic, Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics found 112 studies containing information about the medieval warm period in Russia, the U.S. Corn Belt, Central Plains and Southwest; much of China and Japan; southern Africa; Argentina, Chile and Peru, America, Australia and Antarctica ... in the Indian Ocean, both central and southern; and in the Central and Western Pacific Ocean. In the Southern Hemisphere, twenty-one of twenty-two studies showed evidence of the Medieval Warming.

Climate became distinctly more benign

Thomas Gale Moore of the Hoover Institution wrote about the Medieval Warm Period: The three centuries beginning with the eleventh century, during which the climate became distinctly more benign, witnessed a profound revolution which, by the late 1200s had transformed the landscape into an economy filled with merchants, vibrant towns and great fairs. Crop failures became less frequent; new territories were brought under control. With a more clement climate and a more reliable food supply, the population mushroomed.

The historian Charles Van Doren claimed that: the ... three centuries, from about 1000 to about 1300, became one of the most optimistic, prosperous, and progressive periods in European history. All across Europe, the population went on an unparalleled building spree, erecting at huge cost spectacular cathedrals and public edifices. Ponderous Romanesque churches gave way to soaring Gothic cathedrals. Virtually all the magnificent religious shrines that we visit in awe today were started by the optimistic populations of the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries, although many remained unfinished for centuries.

Many of the Gothic cathedrals of Europe were built or were commenced during the period 1100-1400. This period was a time of warming (in some cases warmer than at present) when abundant crops were available to provide food for the builders of the cathedrals. There appears to be no theological reason why the cathedrals were built at that time, but the development of architectural techniques was a significant factor. Perhaps the main reason why the cathedrals were built was related in whole or in part by the warmer weather.

Masons in Medieval England

Masons in Medieval England were responsible for constructing some of Englands most famous buildings. Masons were highly skilled craftsmen and their trade was most frequently used in the building of castles, churches and cathedrals. Masons belonged to a guild. However, a masons guild was not linked to just one town as the members of the masons guild had to move to where building was required. The Masons Guild was an international one and even in Medieval England, the guild was sometimes referred to as the Free Masons. Free stone was the name of the stone commonly used by masons as it was soft and facilitated intricate carvings.

Masons tended to lead nomadic lives. They went where there was employment. Other tradesmen could effectively stay where they were as there was enough trade for their skill to allow them to settle. However, masons had to move on to their next source of employment once a building had been completed  and that could be many miles away.

A mason would have an apprentice working for him. When the mason moved on to a new job, the apprentice would move with him. When a mason felt that his apprentice had learned enough about the trade, he would be examined at a Masons Lodge. If he passed this examination of his skill, he would be admitted to that lodge as a master mason and given a masons mark that would be unique to him. Once given this mark, the new master mason would put it on any work that he did so that it could be identified as his work.

A mason at the top of his trade was a master mason. A Master Mason, by title, was the man who had overall charge of a building site and master masons would work under this person. A Master Mason also had charge over carpenters, glaziers etc. In fact, everybody who worked on a building site was under the supervision of the Master Mason. He would work in what was known as the Masons Lodge. All important building sites would have such a building that served as a workshop and a drawing office from which all the work on the building site was organised. Anyone who arrived at the building site and claimed that they were a master mason would be tested by the Master Mason and by master masons already working on the site. By doing this they ensured that quality was maintained  and that they would have a good chance of future building work.

Trademark carvings

When a Master Mason moved on, he took his lodge with him. That does not mean the physical building but the organisation and culture of the Master Mason and those who worked with him. Even the carving of sub-parapet friezes - a very localised phenomenon - suggests a building culture at work amongst the masons, and very certainly amongst one or more Master Masons. Beyond that, however, and most telling of all, is the plethora of trademark carvings- notably the mooning man - that are surely products of what we would today call a corporate identity. That identity was surely forged in the closed world of the Lodge.

The word freemason does not appear, according to Knoop and Jones, until 1376. That it does so quite late in the medieval period might have something to do with the advance of English at the expense of Latin (and French) in the world of commerce. In its origin, the word freemason would undoubtedly seem connected with freestone, which is the name given to any fine-grained sandstone or limestone that can be freely worked in any direction and sawn with a toothed saw.

So we can see that the freemason was not defined by his freedom as many assume (all masons were equally free or otherwise) but by his ability to work in the finest stone that was used for the most decorative purposes. Nor was he defined by membership of some mystical order of masons hierarchies, secrets and rituals such as characterise the modern (or, as they would prefer to see it, ancient) institution of Freemasonry. Knoop and Jones uncovered evidence that one of the first tasks of the Master was to prepare templates made of wood or sheet metal. If he needed a cross section of a pillar, for example, he would make a template for his men to copy. Similarly for window tracery. Some of these templates still exist in the roof of York Minster. There were writings and drawings available but they were scarce and expensive. Also the plans for a church would call for an impracticably large canvas. The masons, then, would draw in a box filled with sand or plaster. Again, at York Minster the drawing floor still exists.

There can be no doubt that masons in Medieval England were highly skilled craftsmen. Testimony to their work stands today in the numerous cathedrals and castles that still exist.

Economic activity in Europe

Throughout Europe economic activity blossomed during this period of warming. Banking, insurance, and finance developed; a money economy became well entrenched; manufacturing of textiles expanded to levels never seen before. Farmers in medieval England launched a thriving wine industry. Good wines demand warm springs free of frosts, substantial summer warmth and sunshine without too much rain, and sunny days in the autumn. The northern limit for grapes during the Middle Ages was about 500 km north of the current commercial wine areas in France and Germany.

The medieval warm period, which started a century earlier in Asia, benefited the rest of the globe as well. From the ninth through the thirteenth centuries, farming spread into northern portions of Russia. In the Far East, Chinese and Japanese farmers migrated north into Manchuria, the Amur Valley and northern Japan. The Vikings founded colonies in Iceland and Greenland, then actually green. Scandinavian seafarers discovered Vinland along the East Coast of North America.

The systematic investigation of a possible medieval climate anomaly - especially in Europe - was initially the field of historical climatology. Long before the beginning of instrumental measurements, a record of climate change could be drawn from historical documents and archaeological finds, leading to conclusions on climatic conditions and their consequences. Thus, for the period from about 1300, there are reasonably complete historical reports of summer and winter weather. It was through the pioneering work in this field, of the British climatologist Hubert Lamb and the French historian Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, that the first comprehensive overviews of higher temperatures and social contexts for the North Atlantic and Europe were delivered.

The term medieval warm period was then primarily influenced by the work of Hubert Lamb of the University of East Anglia in the 1960s, and later adopted by other fields of research. Lamb called this a global warming, which he stated regionally with an increase up to 1-2C and whose peak he suspected was between the years 1000 and 1300. Lamb found evidence of such warming, especially around the North Atlantic, while there were indications of relatively low temperatures for the North Pacific at about the same time. As a cause, he assumed displacements of the Arctic polar vortex.
Des has been in the bush since he was 15.

He is now 92 and still lends a hand each week with pest trapping and pest plant control for his local care group in Whakamarama.

Volunteers like Des make up the membership of care groups, which carry out vital work across the Bay of Plenty, benefitting both the community and the local environment.

Friends of the Blade  the group he gives his time to  is just one of the 50 care groups that help Bay of Plenty Regional Council extend their work programmes, while building community resilience.

In return the regional council gains invaluable local knowledge from the members' diverse skill-sets and experience.

It's a two way street with volunteers enjoying the opportunity to meet new people, develop their skills and help the region to thrive.

Volunteers contribute to coastal dune restoration, wetland and estuary protection, stream/lake margin management and control of pest plants and animals.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council chief executive Fiona McTavish says over the last year, despite Covid-19 interruptions, care groups and volunteers have generated amazing results.

In the Western Bay of Plenty, 29 land care and estuary care groups have contributed to more than 17,500 volunteer hours.

In that time they have set over 3,800 pest control devices, caught more than 800 pests, and planted countless native plants and trees.

In the Eastern Bay of Plenty, volunteers have been responsible for planting 2,800 natives, caught in excess of 700 pest animals, and contributed to 3,200 hours of volunteer labour.

There are five very active care groups in Rotorua, some of them operating since the 1990's, carrying out pest control work and native planting.

Across the region 4,300 CoastCare volunteers and another 2,700 school students spent 7,900 volunteer hours planting 70,000 sand dune plants between June and September.

Fiona says volunteer work is not only crucial for the environment but also helped to build communities.

Over the last year our volunteers have contributed more than 30,000 hours to our local environment - we are so thankful and grateful for our volunteers at Toi Moana.

Our strength is not as an individual but as a collective. We are strong and we serve our community because of the volunteers we have, she says.
The rivers of gold wont exactly dry up, but the spread of unlicensed SunGold kiwifruit vines in China is threatening a major export earner for kiwifruit growers.

Those growers are now set to decide on a contentious commercial trial between Zespri and a Chinese state-owned enterprise.

For the past year, Zespri has sought to strike a deal to capture a portion of the estimated 5400 hectares of unlicensed fruit being grown in China. The golden kiwifruit was stolen from Zespri, and it could take a bite out of the companys market share in China  worth more than $650 million in 2019/20.

But with attempts to get the Chinese authorities to crack down on its stolen intellectual property proving fruitless, Zespri wants to cut a deal whereby it will pay those very growers for their SunGold.

New Zealand growers on Friday cast their final votes on a proposed one-year trial that will see Zespri buy and brand 200,000 trays of SunGold from the unlicensed Chinese growers.

The outcome will be known late next week, and the company needs the support of 75 per cent of growers to proceed.

The trial  deemed high risk but high reward by a Chinese agriculture expert  has already been rejected once by the industry regulator Kiwifruit NZ. And while Government ministers have kept their distance, Stuff has obtained information showing government departments and former prime minister Sir John Key were involved in stacking up the deal.

High reward, high risk

Zespri signed a memorandum of intent with Sichuan State-owned Assets Operation and Investment Management at a splashy signing ceremony held in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, in November last year.

At the event, Zespri chief executive Dan Mathieson spoke of a three-year commercial trial that could be extended  potentially doubling Zespris production in China to 50,000 tonnes of kiwifruit.

New Zealand Ambassador to China, Clare Fearnley, beams into an event to celebrate the signing of a memorandum of intent between Zespri and a Chinese-state owned enterprise, in November 2020. Photo: Supplied/Stuff.

New Zealands ambassador to China Clare Fearnley says the New Zealand government will fully support the project, according to the Sichuan companys website. She has been quoted saying kiwifruit was returning from its sojourn overseas to its home province of Sichuan.

But this ambition has been scaled down since it was urgently pursued by Zespri in 2020.

Industry regulator Kiwifruit NZ in January rejected a proposal for a three-year trial deal to buy 1.95 million trays, saying it posed more than low risk to growers. There was a potential that further intellectual property would leak into China, and the companys relationship with its largest market could be damaged.

So Zespri instead sought permission from the countrys 2792 growers for the smaller one-year trial.

Dr Scott Waldron, a University of Queensland senior lecturer who has conducted agricultural field work and trials in China for nearly 30 years, says Zespri's strategy is potentially high-gain ... but the risks are very high.

The lower risk strategy would be that New Zealand just continues to export its SunGold variety to China, at least then it can protect the integrity of its brand, it's the best stuff in the world, says Scott.

Id take the latter option if I was a grower.

Initially the trial was small scale, and the company has said it would maintain tight contracts with select growers. But, Scott says, if Zespri reached its goal of 50,000 tonnes of fruit a year, that could mean making arrangements with almost 3000 small farmers.

The risks just escalate. Controlling all the inputs, the pesticides and the fungicides and the growth promoters ... Quality assurance gets much, much harder and that poses risks for the Zespri brand, he says.

Zespri official Carol Ward says if the deal isn't signed-off by growers, Zespri will continue to sell in China  the country makes up 20 per cent of its total exports  and monitor the spread of unlicensed SunGold.

Were continuing to develop other markets as fast as we can, she says. There's a realisation that in some ways were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The company estimates it could expand to 16,000 hectares by 2025. Securing a production foothold in the Chinese market would give Zespri the ability to produce SunGold for the market year-round.

Taking legal action against the growers had proven fruitless in Chinas legal system, though Ward says there was hope a commercial deal would give Zespri a voice within the Chinese industry to be able to talk about protection of our plant variety rights.

NZ Inc pitches for win-win

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor have been kept informed about the trial since last year, and were briefed as recently as March.

Asked last week if she had raised any concerns about the deal with Zespri, Ardern says it was not for her to dictate how the company conducts its policies or relationships.

Government entities work alongside our exporters. Part of our remit is to support our exporters in the export markets ... I see that as quite different from me giving instruction on the way they conduct their business.

Correspondence obtained under the Official Information Act show officials from Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Ministry of Primary Industries worked closely with Zespri for months  despite the trial not yet receiving approval from the industry regulator or the countrys kiwifruit growers.

Throughout the correspondence, officials spoke of giving full NZ Inc support to Zespri and ensuring alignment between the ministries and the company.

John Key, a member of Zespris China Advisory Board, provided a recorded message for the conference in he says: We can make sure this a win-win situation for everyone really, using a phrase  win-win  beloved by the Chinese Communist Party.

Key has also been involved in lobbying the Chinese Ambassador in Wellington, Wu Xi. Zespri met with the ambassador on two occasions, and board chairman Bruce Cameron and Key had a positive dinner with the ambassador in early November.

Zespri had informed KNZ it would be seeking permission for the trial on October 23. But the pressure to push on with the arrangement was being ratcheted up, as Zespri wanted to start the trial from the start of 2021.

The chairwoman of industry regulator KNZ, Kristy McDonald, QC, in November sent Bruce a letter about an allegedly offensive and threatening phone call. Kristy says, in the letter, that Bruce tried to browbeat KNZ into rubber-stamping the deal.

Kristy rejected this characterisation of the phone call.

Within a day of this, MPI chief executive Ray Smith was being briefed on what it would mean if there was a failure to comply with regulation 10A  the section of law which required Zespri to seek permission to go ahead with the deal.

There is no provision for the Minister or MPI intervene in the regulations, a official says, in a heavily redacted memo released under the OIA.

Ultimately, KNZ declined the trial. And now the growers will decide.

Thomas Manch/Stuff
A world-first natural disaster insurance model which comes into effect on June 30, is being welcomed by the Minister Responsible for the Earthquake Commission, David Clark.

The collaboration between eight private insurers, the Earthquake Commission and the Insurance Council of New Zealand, means each New Zealander now has a single point of contact for natural disaster insurance claims.

The partnership is a good example of Government and industry coming together in a coordinated way to deliver what is arguably one of the most responsive disaster response platforms in the world. It puts claimants at the centre of the insurance process, says Clark.

The fault with the previous system was claims over the EQC cap were first assessed by EQC, then a private insurer. This resulted in delays, conflicting scopes of work and added stress for homeowners.

The report of the Public Inquiry into the Earthquake Commission made a number of recommendations for EQC and private insurers to facilitate a better insurance experience for people following a natural disaster. This model directly responds to 24 of the Inquirys 69 recommendations.

The partnership model has a singular focus on improved customer outcomes and sees insurers managing claims for EQCs natural disaster insurance cover - called EQCover - on behalf of EQC.

"The improved model gives customers simplicity and clarity at a time they need it most," says Sid Miller, EQC chief executive.

"Instead of dealing with EQC as well as your insurer, customers will now just deal directly with their insurer for the lodgment, assessment and settlement of all future claims."

Building on the model used after the Kaikoura earthquake in 2016, people will make just one claim to their private insurer for all aspects of their private and EQC cover. However, EQC retains its role coordinating the Governments insurance response and recovery following a future natural disaster.

"We know that in the event of a natural disaster customers need the best support they can get during what can be a very stressful time, says Tim Grafton, CE Insurance Council New Zealand.

"The new collaborative partnership between EQC and insurers delivers a world-first scheme - putting the customer at the heart of one of the most unique and responsive natural disaster response platforms globally."

The eight private insurance companies, representing more than 20 insurance brands, are: AA Insurance, Chubb, FMG, Ando (Hollard), IAG, MAS, Vero and Tower.

Together, they have worked with EQC and the Insurance Council of New Zealand to deliver a partnership model that streamlines the claim settlement process and experience for customers through the effective exchange of information.
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The positivity rate for new cases of COVID-19 in Florida is continuing to increase. The state Department of Health reported a new case positivity rate statewide for COVID-19 of 5.2% for the week of June 25-July 1 compared to 3.8% for the week of June 18-24.
avinash_clt BHPian



Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: EU/KL-11 Posts: 374 Thanked: 1,181 Times

View My Garage





Re: Team-BHP meet in the Netherlands



Dear Jeroen,



Thank you for your meticulously curated trip, your choice of stops and a very beautiful driving route. Humbled to meet you in person and your attention to detail in everything.



Quote: govindremesh Originally Posted by The route planned by Jeroen, is best enjoyed in a cabriolet! Since avinash_clt had his partner in the car, I'm hoping he can share a few photos of the drive route.



Just so happened that my cabrio hard-top decided not to open yesterday. Symptoms suggest a confused window position sensor on one side, oh well, another thing to ponder on. A Mitsu built partially in NL, sharing platform with a German (Smart), with a JDM engine (4G15T) and roof system designed and built by Italians (Pininfarina). No surprise which of them fail first



Some pictures from our side, all taken by my partner. She is not happy with the roof not opening and therefore the quality of pictures she could manage



Your fellow river/canal user alongside





The company and the landscape





The company and the landscape, one more..





Wonderfully laid tarmac, makes our rattle bucket sound pristine





Often relatable to roads back home in KL/TN





It's a Jaaaaaaaaagg





Our humble little Colt CZC 1.5 Turbo





Quote: We reached E.R. classics 15 minutes before they closed. Since I was going ga-ga over the cars on display, most of which were built before I was born, I forgot to take photos.







Quote: SuperBee Originally Posted by

Maybe next time we can plan something during one of the track days at Zandvoort ?

Info about track days at



Alternatively, we can plan a drifting day(if people are into it) at one of the drifting schools. Ive been to one before in Lelystad and its quite fun.

Info at Maybe next time we can plan something during one of the track days at Zandvoort ?Info about track days at https://www.vrijrijden.nl/ Alternatively, we can plan a drifting day(if people are into it) at one of the drifting schools. Ive been to one before in Lelystad and its quite fun.Info at https://www.driftsport.nl/ Absolutely delighted to have met everyone yesterday and we enjoyed the drive/food/company and conversations. Amid the pandemic, it was by all means, a breath of fresh air.Thank you for your meticulously curated trip, your choice of stops and a very beautiful driving route. Humbled to meet you in person and your attention to detail in everything.Pictures dont do justice to the amazing choice of route Jeroen had drawn up, along some landscape that is unique to Netherlands. Someone should bring a drone next time.Just so happened that my cabrio hard-top decided not to open yesterday. Symptoms suggest a confused window position sensor on one side, oh well, another thing to ponder on. A Mitsu built partially in NL, sharing platform with a German (Smart), with a JDM engine (4G15T) and roof system designed and built by Italians (Pininfarina). No surprise which of them fail firstSome pictures from our side, all taken by my partner. She is not happy with the roof not opening and therefore the quality of pictures she could manageSame at our side, so many cars and just 15min, will visit the place once again for sure. Only adding this cute Fiat 500 that I have on my phone.That will be fun, have been to Zandvoort as a visitor for a DTM/Touring car round (cannot recall the event correctly). It was fun and would love to have the opportunity to drive there, as well as the drifting school. Last edited by avinash_clt : 27th June 2021 at 21:06 . Reason: Spelling
Lenovo is back with a new version of its Google Assistant-powered Smart Clock, this time with a new design, better sound, and a bundled wireless charging dock with an integrated night light.

Slated to arrive in September for $90$10 more than its two-year-old predecessorthe Smart Clock 2 still has a four-inch display, a fabric-covered shell, and built-in Google Assistant.

But while the first Smart Clock was short and squat, the new one (which we havent seen in person yet) has a taller, shallower design, with a short, integrated base below the screen.

Inside that base is a pair of 1.5-inch front-firing speakers that will deliver improved sound compared to the original, according to a Lenovo rep.

More interesting is the new wireless charging dock, which will come bundled with the Smart Clock 2.

Lenovo The Lenovo Smart Clocks wireless charging dock is both Qi- and MagSafe-compatible, and it has an integrated night light plus a rear USB-A charging port.

Roughly the same depth as the revamped Smart Clock but a few inches wider, the dock sits underneath the clock and attaches to it via a series of pogo pins.

When connected, the dock can wirelessly charge a Qi-compliant phone, and its compatible with Apples MagSafe standard. If you prefer wired charging, the dock has a rear USB-A charging port.

The dock also boasts a bonus feature: a thin, integrated night light that runs along the bottom edge of the clocks base. Lenovo says youll be able to turn on the light (which has a brightness of up to 31 lumens) by swiping down on the front of the screen.

Lenovos briefing materials say the dock will be sold (in some territories, at least) both separately and bundled with the Smart Clock 2. In the U.S., however, the dock will only be sold bundled with the clock for a combined $90 sticker price, a Lenovo rep told TechHive.

Besides the design changes and the dock, the Lenovo Smart Clock 2 will be available in two new colors: Abyss Blue and Shadow Black, along with a Heather Gray version that matches the color of the first Smart Clock.

Our reviewer gave the original Lenovo Smart Clock solid marks, praising it for its excellent design and its agility with alarms. We did complain that the Smart Clock couldnt display photos, but Lenovo plugged that hole with a post-launch update that allows users to connect the clock to their Google Photos albums.

Well have a full review of the Lenovo Smart Clock 2 once we test a sample unit.
Recap: Both Apple and the American Heart Association have warned consumers about the dangers of placing the iPhone 12 close to cardiac devices such as pacemakers, cardioverter-defibrillators, and other implants that might respond to magnets and radios. But it's not just Cupertino's latest handsets that can cause issues.

MacRumors discovered that an updated support document now lists all Apple products that should be kept more than 12 inches away from medical devices. It covers a range of items from Apple's stable, including iPads, MacBooks, Apple Watches, and more. Here's the full list:

AirPods and charging cases

AirPods and Charging Case

AirPods and Wireless Charging Case

AirPods Pro and Wireless Charging Case

AirPods Max and Smart Case

Apple Watch and accessories

Apple Watch

Apple Watch bands with magnets

Apple Watch magnetic charging accessories

HomePod

HomePod

HomePod mini

iPad and accessories

iPad

iPad mini

iPad Air

iPad Pro

iPad Smart Covers and Smart Folios

iPad Smart Keyboard and Smart Keyboard Folio

Magic Keyboard for iPad

iPhone and MagSafe accessories

iPhone 12 models

MagSafe accessories

Mac and accessories

Mac mini

Mac Pro

MacBook Air

MacBook Pro

iMac

Apple Pro Display XDR

Beats

Beats Flex

Beats X

PowerBeats Pro

UrBeats3

It's interesting to see that the only iPhones on the list is the iPhone 12 line. Apple did say the handsets should be kept six inches from the medical devices in question and more than twelve inches if wirelessly charging. It claims that the latest phones do not pose a greater risk of magnetic interference than its older handsets, but the American Heart Association's report disputes this.

"We have always known that magnets can interfere with cardiac implantable electronic devices, however, we were surprised by the strength of the magnets used in the iPhone 12 magnet technology," reads the study.

Apple writes that users should consult their physician if they suspect one of its devices is interfering with a medical implant.
Forward-looking: At MWC 2021 today, Qualcomm announced it's updating its flagship mobile SoC by increasing the CPU clock of the "biggest core" and using the company's 6th generation AI engine. Expected to release in the third quarter of 2021, the Snapdragon 888+ will be featured in high-end phones of Asus, Honor, Motorola, Vivo, and Xiaomi.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC only made it to phones earlier this year, but the company is already revealing a successor. Announced at this week's MWC 2021 in Barcelona, the new Snapdragon 888+ shares most of the specs with the 888, but a few improvements make it stand slightly above its predecessor.

For each new flagship SoC that Qualcomm releases, there's always some performance increase to expect although in this instance it's a fairly mild change. The Snapdragon 888+ bumps the CPU clock of the Cortex X1 core by 5.2%, from 2.84GHz to 2.995GHz. The frequency of the remaining Cortex A78 and A55 cores are unchanged.

Qualcomm is also debuting a new 6th generation AI engine with the release of the Snapdragon 888+. The new engine offer about 20% more performance due to the increase of TOPS AI units, from 26 to 32.

The rest of the specifications remain unchanged, which means the Snapdragon 888+ features the same X60 5G modem, Adreno 660 GPU, and the same camera sensors and LPDDR5 memory controller found on the 888 SoC.

The release of the Snapdragon 888+ falls within Qualcomm typical release cadence. Since the release of the 855 SoC, the company has been announcing the new numbered flagship at the end of the year, followed by a refresh in the summer. Considering the Snapdragon 888 was announced in December 2020, it seems reasonable to expect devices sporting the 888+ SoC in the third quarter of 2021.
Huawei looks like it's trying to foster a newfound friendship with the United States, despite their recent history with each other.

Founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei is urging the company to keep growing in international markets, remain open, and actually learn from the United States on the science and technology front, according to the South China Morning Post.

According to Ren, Huawei should focus on keeping itself open to the United States because China is a part of the global economy. An employee asked him during a company forum to focus on the domestic market instead of the West, given the recent U.S. government sanctions.

Ren further comments that just because the U.S. has been a little antagonistic to them lately, it doesn't mean that Huawei should stop learning from the Americans, given their strong footing in the science and tech industry.

In recent years, Huawei has been feeling the heat from US-China tensions due to certain security issues involving the company's hardware products. As a result, Ren also urged Huawei to shift to software sales to counter U.S. sanctions, as reported by Reuters.

It's worth noting that the Chinese telco provider has been making steady progress into the Western tech space, which has alarmed the American government. However, other developed countries (particularly the U.K.) don't consider Huawei as a "threat" even if the company is already establishing a beachhead in the European market--they already have plans to open manufacturing facilities in France by 2023.

Read also: Huawei HarmonyOS Phone List | Life Without Google

Huawei Vs. the U.S.: Brewing Tensions

For the uninitiated, Huawei and the U.S. government have had tense moments in the past, with the latter pointing to potential "national security threats" that the Chinese telco brings to the table.

The thing is, not a lot of Americans even know about Huawei in the first place. According to the L.A. Times, the Chinese telco has been relatively obsessed with secrecy since it was founded in 1987. Also, there's been a history of the U.S. banning the sale of Huawei products. As a result, the brand itself is more well-known in Asia than in the West.

U.S. sanctions have also been pretty tough on the telco, with them severely restricting the company's access to American-made chips. The Trump administration has also been known to pressure other countries to stop Huawei from building their 5G networks, as reported by the South China Morning Post. For now, Huawei is focusing its efforts on developing its HarmonyOS, which will replace Android on a handful of their own smartphones soon.

The Huawei founder and CEO have long tried to keep a low profile, but recent tensions between his company and the American government seem to have pushed him to come out and give his two cents. But judging from what he has said so far, his message is more or less encouraging cooperation and not isolation.

Related: HarmonyOS Will Be on Huawei Watch 3, Leak Reveals - What Phones Will Get the Newest Update?

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Written by RJ Pierce

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Volkswagen is planning to stop selling combustion engine vehicles in Europe by 2035, according to a company board member.

In an interview with a German newspaper, Meunchner Merkur, cited by a report by The Verge, sales board member Klaus Zellmer said that the company is looking to stop its selling between 2033 and 2035.

Other parts of the world are set to follow. Same plans are being made for the US and China, but Zellner says it will be "somewhat later" as far as when it will happen. For South America and Africa, he says that it will "take a good deal longer." The report makes no mention of any similar plans for the Asian market.

Volkswagen Goes Carbon Neutral

Volkswagen looks like it's fully set on being a more environment-friendly automotive business. In the same interview, Zellman has also said that the company is looking to have a fully carbon-neutral fleet by 2050.

Volkswagen has already started selling electric cars to the market, and with these new developments, the company seems ready to go full blast. Last year, Volkswagen CEO Hebert Deiss met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, sparking speculation that the two brands will collaborate on a project.

Mexico Unit to Resume Production After Chip Shortage

A global semiconductor chip shortage may have interrupted numerous tech production plans worldwide, but it seems like Volkswagen is ready to recover from the supply crunch.

According to Reuters, Volkswagen's Mexico unit is gearing up for the resumption of its production next week. Per the report, the German automobile brand sees that the supply for the semiconductor chip will get better in the remaining months of the year. It does not, however, rule out the possibility that plans will have to change once more.

The resumption of production will involve Volkswagen's Jetta, Taos, and Tiguan models.

Also Read: Volkswagen to Design Chips for Self-Driving Cars, Borrowing Tactic from Apple and Tesla Amidst 2021 Chip Shortage

Global Chip Shortage: When Will It End?

The same Reuters report attributes the global semiconductor chip shortage to various reasons, including the rise in demand for electronic devices.

Multiple tech industries have been hit by the global chip shortage, including the automobile industry. Brands such as General Motors (GM), Ford, and Toyota have cut their production.

There seems to be no clear end in sight as well for the chip supply crunch. Electronics company Acer predicts that the semiconductor chip shortage will last until next year. Some have even claimed that the short supply will last until 2023.

Fingers have already been pointed to blame as the global tech industry deals with the effects of the shortage. Back in April, Huawei blamed the US due to the sanctions the country imposed on the company. The company claimed the sanctions had caused panic buying of semiconductor chips among companies.

Related Article: Huawei: US to Blame for Global Chip Shortage That Could Trigger Economic Crisis

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Written by Isabella James

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Microsoft has confirmed that it has signed off on the recently discovered "rootkit malware" found on the Windows platform, which is believed to be a potential point of access for threat actors. The rootkit malware is known as "Netfilter," and it is a notorious third-party application popular in the gaming industry as potentially dangerous.

Instead of protecting against it, Microsoft had signed on it to be approved for its existence on Windows. That was an apparent fault of the company that may potentially endanger its users.

Microsoft Confirms Signing off on Rootkit Malware

In the recent release by Microsoft's Security Response Center (MSRC), the Netfilter rootkit malware has passed by its Windows Hardware Compatibility Program (WHCP) and other data centers in China. Moreover, it also penetrated that of the Windows Defender and other security measures which protect against malware.

However, being signed off means that it is certified as a trusted software or digital entity, giving it a free pass to go around the different systems of Microsoft Windows without triggering alerts and the like. Security researchers could also detect Netfilter on Windows before Microsoft acknowledged that it has indeed signed on it.

If the Netfilter malware were a progressive type of threat, it would have attacked many computers and took over Microsoft's Windows for the time being, but luckily, it remained dormant.

Read Also: Verizon, T-Mobile, Will Soon Be Unable To Send Robocalls, Thanks to Stir/Shaken Tech

Rootkit Malware: How Dangerous Are They?

Malware is still malware, and it is still intent on bringing potentially malicious threats against the user and their data, along with other elements which the threat is targetting. There is no way of knowing whether what it is that malware targets it, but surely, it is of utmost importance like identity, sensitive information, and money.

Rootkit malware may sometimes masquerade itself and appear as though it is an innocent service. It poses a massive security risk to be having on one's systems, let alone allowed by the software developer.

The good thing is that Microsoft said that the Netfilter had not done any profound damages to users yet, or else they would have a massive scandal to face for these recent revelations.

Is Netfilter Gone on Windows?

The Netfilter rootkit malware is currently being removed from the Windows interface, as spearheaded by Microsoft, together with several security research agencies. The detection of rootkit malware within Windows is potentially alarming, but Microsoft assures people they have it under control.

Related Article: Microsoft Reveals Latest SolarWinds Hacker Attack, SEC Probes Companies Victimized

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Written by Isaiah Richard

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk will be celebrating his 50th birthday on Monday, June 28. The business tycoon said that he wants to get indulged with the things that he loves. However, his main birthday wish could be hard to obtain. His recent tweet might hint that his desired gift could be a "big" thing on transit.

Starship Super Heavy Meaning

All over Twitter, Elon Musk's fans have been curious as to what could be the item on his wishlist at the moment. The SpaceX CEO replies to one of his fans on social media in three words: Starship Super Heavy. Now, the 57 million fans have been intrigued by the meaning of the short phrase that Musk mentioned.

Starship Super Heavy  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 25, 2021

At first, we could think of the Starship Super Heavy as an orbital flight that would initiate soon. Others thought that there's a chance that a huge rocket would be parked on Elon's driveway. Between the two, the first option is more feasible, but since it is Musk, no one knows about the surprise.

According to SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell, the next round of the orbital test flight will not be staged on Elon Musk's birthday on June 28. Instead, it would arrive in the following weeks as we approach July. Somehow, this project appears to be Shotwell's present to Musk.

Read Also: Elon Musk's Starlink Project to Begin Offering Global Internet Service Around September

SpaceX to Launch Maiden Test Flight on July

Last Friday, June 25, CNBC reported that the aerospace services and transportation company would be "shooting for July" for the first flight of the reusable space rocket.

During the virtual National Space Society's International Space Development Conference, Shotwell informed the attendees that the launch of the rocket system would house the Super Heavy booster. The Starship spacecraft would carry it throughout its journey in space.

Shotwell hoped that the team could manage to successfully pull the voyage although she knew that it would be difficult for all. She mentioned that the engineers in the company are "really on the cusp of flying that system."

In May, SpaceX released the Starship spacecraft during the high-altitude flight trial. Following the previous launches involving the unforeseen explosion of the spacecraft, the Boca Chica site of the company aims to be ready for the unexpected outcomes that could happen in the next flights.

The Space Flight's Long Term Goal

On top of that, the flight of the Super Heavy rocket together with the Starship will be the first time. It will begin its launch next month.

For the mission of the space flight, the team would be eyeing to transport up to 100 crew members to Mars, moon, and other destinations. Moreover, the cargo would be carried, as well, Digital Trends reported on Sunday, June 27.

The Super Heavy Booster will make use of 31 Raptor engines whereas the Starship will rely on six of them. The system of the spacecraft will guarantee that it would land correctly on the sites on Earth and outside of it.

Related Article: Elon Musk Tweets About Shiba Inu - How Will This Affect the Meme Coin?

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Written by Joseph Henry

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Google search has become one of our reliable sources on the internet when it comes to looking for information. The search site has been used for many years so people could gather details from a known source. In some cases, other outlets give you answers which are different from the other search engines.

Truly, we have been used to relying on Google to look for a word or an article that we need in our assignments and research. Without our knowledge sometimes, some results produce fake results which could lead to misinformation. In the long run, the ads are used to accompany the individual during the search. Specifically, some of them could be clicked since they are the "near" indicators of the search results that come out.

Through the new update for Google Search, a new notice would appear to correct you from seeing erroneous results from fake sources of data. Over the internet, the information might be endless, but its usage could change a story with a new set of details that are misleading.

Google Search Engine Changes

Many of us use Google Search as a dictionary or a staple book of facts and common terms. If we do not know the meaning of a certain word, we could simply utilize it to look for its synonyms. This time, the site would inform you if the website that you are searching yields fake results.

Sometimes, we do not perceive if the source of the information can be trusted. All we know is through a single click of the button, several matches would surface on the internet using artificial intelligence.

Most of the time, AI could not distinguish false from true information. What's bad about the mistakes in the search results is they are also included in the rankings. When this happens, the chance for the appearance of deceitful results will be higher than the usual rate.

Read Also: Google search algorithm changes demote piracy sites from page rankings

Google's Fact-Checking Algorithm

According to Channel News' report on Monday, June 28, Google poses its inability on its judgment over the correct or wrong search results. Usually, when a particular subject is trending, the content of the source would evolve as well. For instance, the details from the "breaking news" source could change from time to time since it is based on ongoing updates.

The accredited Google sources sometimes could not generate enough data for some sites. For that, Google posted a new notice about the "rapidly evolving results" on its blog.

This will make sure that those ranked sources published on the top will be subject to changes from time to time. In addition, this will ensure that the information will come from trusted sources. This year, the company attempted to test it before launching it to the public. The search results are used in the process to identify if there are lapses during the search.

Search Results Will Divert Us From Unreliable Outlets

The latest features that we saw on Google search would give us more breathing room when using the search engine. On Sunday, June 27, Slashgear reported that this would allow us to establish decisions over a web source.

Users should take time to peruse the notice. The update would also notify the users of the possible additional information about the search results.

Related Article: Google Allows COMPLETE Search History Deletion, Even Without Incognito-How to Erase Last 15 Minutes Activity?

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Written by Joseph Henry

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Photo : Getty Image)

Elon Musk is celebrating a pretty big milestone today, June 28. The Tesla CEO turns 50 years old today!

To say that the past year has been eventful for Musk is probably the understatement of the century. So in celebration of Elon Musk turning half a century old, here is a rundown of the 50 times the birthday boy has made headlines in the past year.

Elon Musk Turns 50

Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971, to parents Errol and Maye Musk in Pretoria, South Africa.

According to Biography, he first founded X.com 1999, which eventually turned into PayPal. He went on to establish other companies such as Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and The Boring Company.

Elon Musk's 50 Headlines: 2020

Elon Musk has had an eventful year since his last birthday. Here's a list of the related headlines published after his 49th birthday last year:

Elon Musk's 50 Headlines: 2021

The SpaceX's headline-making tendencies continued this year and has shown no signs of stopping.

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Written by Isabella James

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The old Highway 190 bridge spans over the Amite River near Baton Rouge, as seen Aug. 2, 2007. The 77-year-old bridge was blown up on Oct. 21, 2009, and demolished to make way for new wider and higher spans that carry Florida Boulevard from East Baton Rouge Parish to Livingston Parish.
A renewable fuels company is considering building a $70 million plant in Jeanerette that would turn sugarcane bagasse into fuel pellets.

The Delta Biofuel plant would be built on a 16 acre site off U.S. Highway 90, near the Enterprise Sugar Mill. It would create 126 direct jobs, with an average salary of $62,500, plus benefits. Louisiana Economic Development said the plant would also create 149 indirect jobs in Iberia Parish and 100 construction jobs at its peak.

Philip Keating, chief executive officer of Delta Biofuel, said the plant would provide a sustainable, long term solution for Acadiana sugar mills by utilizing the waste from sugar cane processing. This would eliminate methane emissions from discarded bagasse, reducing the cost and liability for mills. The company will harvest bagasse from Enterprise and three other nearby sugar mills.

We see Louisiana and its sugar industry as a terrific and reliable source of biomass for alternative fuel production, Keating said in a statement. We have been able to collaborate with our partner sugar mills to produce a solution for their needs, while establishing a viable project that can deliver long-term economic impact for the region and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in electricity production.

The fuel pellets would be used in European and Asian power and industrial heating plants that are transitioning away from fossil fuels. The plant would produce up to 300,000 metric tons of pellets annually.

If Delta decides to go ahead with the plant, construction would start in September and construction would take about a year. The company would start hiring in the spring.
When Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul got a call on Fathers Day inviting him to the White House, he thought it was a joke.

But the invitation was genuine, and Paul traveled to Washington last week to discuss anti-violence initiatives with President Joe Biden, members of his administration and local leaders from various other cities struggling to contain a tidal wave of gun violence that began during the pandemic last year.

Paul declined interview requests to discuss the meeting last week, but he spoke on a local radio show Monday morning, saying he was pleasantly surprised and humbled to receive the opportunity.

"I thought it was a joke when I got the call," Paul said in an interview with Brian Haldane of radio station WBRP. "I was honored to represent this police department and the community  and talk about the commitment of the men and women of the Baton Rouge Police Department."

+2 Baton Rouge is one of the smallest cities in Biden's crime plan. Its homicide rate is among the highest When President Joe Biden unveiled a new plan to combat violent crime in 15 American cities and counties, including Baton Rouge, he touted the 

Paul said the president was engaging and interested to hear from him and other local leaders.

"He is what I would consider an active listener. He really listens," Paul said. "He was listening for solutions  what's working, what's not working."

Paul was one of several elected officials and stakeholders from across the country who met with Biden on Wednesday, then attended an afternoon press conference where the president announced his new crime plan. The initiative focuses on bolstering local law enforcement, strengthening anti-violence efforts and cracking down on the "merchants of death" who sell illegal guns.

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Biden chose 15 cities and counties to participate in the program, including Baton Rouge  the second smallest jurisdiction, but among those with the highest murder rates. Other participating cities include Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and Baltimore.

Paul said he would like to think Baton Rouge was selected because its existing efforts to combat violent crime caught the attention of the Biden administration. Local leaders are in the process of deploying teams of "violence interrupters," residents of high-crime areas tasked with breaking the cycles of retaliation fueling an unprecedented murder rate.

As violent crime continues to spike in Baton Rouge, other cities, here is Biden's plan to fix it President Biden pledged Wednesday to crack down on rogue gun dealers and ramp up federal support for police in Baton Rouge and other major cit

During the radio interview, Haldane noted that Paul was the only law enforcement leader who attended the White House meeting. Other attendees included mayors, the New Jersey general and nonprofit leaders.

The meeting was the first of several planned over the next 18 months, when leaders of the 15 participating cities and counties will meet with Biden administration officials to continue the discussion about curbing violent crime.

Nationwide, homicides rose 30% last year  a massive uptick after a decades-long decline affecting cities big and small during the pandemic  and have shown no signs of slowing, according to a fact sheet outlining the Biden plan. The first quarter of 2021 saw a 24% increase over the previous year.

"This is not a time to turn our backs on law enforcement," Biden said during the Wednesday press conference, reiterating his opposition to the "defund police" movement that arose last year.

Biden also noted that Paul is working closely with federal law enforcement to root out violent criminal organizations in Baton Rouge.
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Advocate staff photo by BILL FEIG State Rep. Steve Carter, R-Baton Rouge, presents his House Bill 976 Thursday morning in the Louisiana House chamber at the State Capitol. The House of Representatives have set aside the entire day to debate and vote on the legislation that make up Gov. Bobby Jindal's education revamp. HB976 would extend to roughly half the public school population the ability to use taxpayer dollars to pay public school tuition. Supporters call the plan scholarships. Opponents call it vouchers. House Bill 974 would change the job protections and expectations of public school teachers. Thursday March 22, 2012, in Baton Rouge, La. MAGS OUT / INTERNET OUT/ONLINE OUT/NO SALES/TV OUT/FOREIGN OUT/ LOUISIANA BUSINESS INC./GREATER BATON ROUGE BUSINESS REPORT/225/10/12/IN REGISTER/LBI CUSTOM PUBLICATIONS OUT/
Some of the nations biggest fund managers including AMP Capital and Perpetual are backing a push to force Australias largest companies to annually disclose climate risks, amid warnings firms that fail to do so could be starved of capital.

Three investor groups representing more than $100 trillion in assets  the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC), Principles for Responsible Investment and Carbon Disclosure Project  have launched a plan to force ASX-300 companies to properly disclose climate risks within the next three years.

The IGCCs members include around 100 leading Australian investment managers including Blackrock Investment Management Australia, Westpacs BT Management, CBAs Colonial, Perpetual Investments, AMP Capital and a raft of super funds including AustralianSuper.

IGCC policy director Erwin Jackson said around half of ASX300 companies are already disclosing climate risks voluntarily, but the absence of standardised and enforceable reporting requirements had created a spaghetti soup of corporate information on climate that is unhelpful to investors.
It is his classic paintings and drawings of the 1940s that assure Drysdale a permanent place in the history of our art. He ventured into a largely unrecorded landscape the Heidelberg School did not want to know, and helped shape our image of our country.

Gallery staff hang paintings by Russell Drysdale (L-R The Cricketers, Picture of Donald Friend and Woman in a Landscape) for a major retrospective at the Art Gallery of NSW on March 25, 1998. Credit:Robert Pearce

Sir Russell Drysdale, who died yesterday aged 69, will be remembered as the artist who for more than two decades impressed into the Australian consciousness his own strong, idiosyncratic image of the Australian outback.

As Robert Hughes once wrote, Drysdales true success lies in constructing a coherent, self-enclosed world of bodily experience, so well laid out that 20 years of laymen and painters in Australia would have had a struggle not to think of their countrys shape in terms of his paintings.

He was the most hospitable and friendly of men, but had about him a certain reserve. His friend the novelist Murray Bail wrote of him earlier this year: He is a man of curiously little vanity. Also  and I suggest this warily  I dont think he is much given to introspection.

Other symptoms of this may be found in his reading habits. Most unusual for a painter, he is an omnivorous reader, but of Australian and European history, biographies, zoology, archaeology, ornithology, Scientific American, and some art. As for poetry, philosophy or fiction  never . . . He is happier with facts and intimacy is difficult.

For the past 17 years he lived in the hills outside Sydney, in a house designed by the Melbourne architect, Guildford Bell.

He was appointed in 1962 a member of the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board, and showed himself a skilled negotiator in buying works of art for the national collection in Canberra; skills reinforced by years at the boardroom table of his family sugar business in Queensland.
Former federal defence minister Brendan Nelson has described Ben Roberts-Smith as the most respected, admired and revered Australian soldier in more than half a century and accused the media outlets at the centre of the war veterans Federal Court defamation case of trying to tarnish his good reputation.

Giving reputation evidence, Dr Nelson, a former director of the Australian War Memorial, said he had become very concerned about Mr Roberts-Smiths mental health in the wake of a series of articles starting in June 2018. The newspapers seemed to be intent on bringing him down, and the former soldier had become despondent, anxious and introspective, Dr Nelson told the court in Sydney on Monday.

Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson and Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith in 2013. Credit: Katherine Griffiths

The former Liberal minister was giving evidence on the 15th day of Mr Roberts-Smiths defamation trial against The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald over articles that he says accuse him of war crimes, and an act of domestic violence against a woman with whom he had an extramarital affair. Mr Roberts-Smith, a former Special Air Service (SAS) soldier, denies all wrongdoing. The newspapers are seeking to rely chiefly on a defence of truth, but also say the soldier is not identified in some of the articles.

An at-times emotional Dr Nelson said, Ill try not to get angry about this as he recounted a media conference in 2018 about an exhibition on First Nations Australians military service at which there was not one single question on that topic but a string of questions about Mr Roberts-Smith. He was asked if he regretted his support for Mr Roberts-Smith and if the former soldier should have his Victoria Cross removed.
Brendan Nelson knew precisely what gravitas was required of him when called to give evidence for Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith. After all, as a former Defence Minister, former director of the Australian War Memorial, former ambassador to NATO and patron of several veterans charities, he knows a thing or two about military matters.

Ben Roberts-Smith and then director of the War Memorial, Dr Brendan Nelson. Credit:ADF

And, barrister Bruce McClintock, SC, asked, was he not also a member of the Order of Australia?

Privileged to be so and surprised to be so, Dr Nelson solemnly replied.

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times, along with three journalists, for defamation after they published stories that he says made him out to be a war criminal and murderer. The media organisations are defending the action on the basis the stories were true.
NSW recorded 18 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 on Monday, as Greater Sydney and surrounds remain in a fortnight-long lockdown and as Australia faces a potential national outbreak.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said of the 18 new cases, all but one have been confirmed as linked to existing cases. About a third were in isolation for the whole of their infectious period.

A number of the other new cases were in isolation for part of the time, but some, unfortunately, were active in the community, Ms Berejiklian said.

As it stands on day 12 of Sydneys latest outbreak, 130 locally acquired cases have been reported since June 16, when the first case of the Bondi cluster, a driver who transported international flight crew, was reported. Of these, 124 cases are now linked to the Bondi cluster.
The list of potential COVID-19 exposure sites has been expanded to include several venues in Perths north after Western Australia recorded a third community case on Monday evening.

The additional sites include Surge Fitness and Cellarbrations in Clarkson, Basils Fine Foods in Mindarie, Woolworths and Hocking News in Hocking, Paper Avenue Cafe in Joondalup, 7 Eleven in Wanneroo, and Withfords Brewing and iPay in Hillarys.

Le Shaggy Chic pet grooming centre in Perth. Credit:Facebook

People who visited Indian Ocean Brewing Co in Mindarie between 6pm and 8.30pm on June 22 and Year 5 students at Connolly Primary School have also been asked to get tested immediately for the virus and quarantine for 14 days.

The changes come after a man in his 30s who worked at the brewery tested positive for COVID-19 after dining at the venue on the same night as Perths initial case  a physiotherapist that recently returned to the state from Sydney.
Tokyos diplomat in Western Australia has trumpeted the shared values between Australia and Japan, saying they could be counted on for stable trade relations.

In the face of escalating trade and diplomatic tensions between Beijing and Australia, WAs Japanese consul general Toru Suzuki stressed his home nation was one of Australias earliest  and still one of WAs most important  trade partners, offering stability and certainty.

Japanese consul-general in Perth Toru Suzuki in his office at the consulate. Credit:Marta Pascual Juanola

Stability is a key word in terms of Japan and WA, he said.

You can count on us and we count on you.
Singapore: Indonesias drug authority has approved children aged 12 and older being vaccinated against COVID-19 as the south-east Asian nation confronts a frightening surge in cases, including one of the highest rates in the world of child infections.

The worlds fourth most populous country posted a record number of new cases on five days last week, peaking with 21,342 on Sunday to take its total past 2.1 million. The death toll rose to 57,138.

Children play in the middle of Sabang Street, a street food centre popular among locals and tourists in Jakarta. Credit:AP

The national COVID-19 taskforce this month reported 12.6 per cent of the national tally of infections were children, including more than 640 deaths. In Jakarta the figure has risen to as high as 16 per cent. That includes 282 toddlers on a single day last week, while a one-day-old baby was among four children in the capital to die of the virus in the past seven days, said Indonesia Paediatric Association Jakarta head Professor Rini Sekartini.

Neighbouring Singapore began vaccinating school students this month and Indonesian health authorities have also been weighing up that step following Chinas emergency use approval for children as young as three to be given Sinovac.
Washington: American forces in Syria have been attacked by multiple rockets, a day after the United States conducted air strikes on installations used by Iran-backed militias in the area.

Colonel Wayne Marotto, a spokesman for the coalition fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, said on Twitter that the attack occurred at 7.44pm on Monday, Syria time (2:44am Tuesday AEST), and damage was being assessed.

He did not say who was believed to be responsible for the rockets.

A US soldier looks out of a tank at an American base at undisclosed location in north-eastern Syria. Credit:AP

A US military spokesman said there had been no injures or damage according to initial reports.
The Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will return to the Lyric Theatre on November 16 in one part, instead of two.

Based on an original story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was written by Thorne and directed by Tiffany. The original two-part event has been "boldly restaged as one singular performance by the award-winning creative team for its return to North America." Further details, including cast, are forthcoming.

The single-evening edition of the show will be presented only in North America, with a premiere at the Curran in San Francisco set for January 11, 2022, and a Canadian premiere in May 2022 at the Ed Mirvish Theatre. Broadway tickets go on sale to the general public on Monday, July 12, 2021. San Francisco tickets go on sale Wednesday, July 21. Productions in Melbourne, London, and Hamburg will continue in the original two-part format.

In a statement, producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender said"Given the challenges of remounting and running a two-part show in the US on the scale of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and the commercial challenges faced by the theatre and tourism industries emerging from the global shutdowns, we are excited to be able to move forward with a new version of the play that allows audiences to enjoy the complete Cursed Child adventure in one sitting eight times a week."

The Tony-winning play's creative team includes Imogen Heap (composer), Steven Hoggett (movement director), Christine Jones (scenic designer), Katrina Lindsay (costume designer), Neil Austin (lighting designer), Gareth Fry (sound designer), Finn Ross and Ash Woodward (co-video designers), and Carole Hancock (hair, wig, and makeup designer).
June 30 marks the end of Pride Month 2021 and the culmination of A Place for Us, a series of panels, dance classes, Q&As with theater professionals, and vocal masterclasses, all aimed specifically at trans- and nonbinary students and young people.

The concluding event, also set for June 30, is a free virtual concert featuring 14 pieces written and performed by trans and nonbinary artists, including Cesar Alvarez, Truth Bachman, Ty Defoe, Bree Lowdermilk, Jessye DeSilva, and many more. The evening, a celebration of the breadth of talent in the trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming artistic communities, supports the Gender & Family Project, and features music direction by Anessa Marie and direction by Madsie Flynn.

A Place for Us is the brainchild of playwright, composer, and lyricist Preston Max Allen (We Are The Tigers). TheaterMania spoke with Allen about the impetus behind A Place for Us, the exciting artists involved, and the state of trans and nonbinary representation in the theater industry.

Preston Max Allen

(image provided by Preston Max Allen )

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

What was the initial impetus behind A Place for Us, and how did the series evolve?

Theater purports to be one of the most celebratory and accepting places for the LGBTQ community, but in reality we've seen a lot of behavior that has been very antithetical to that, specifically for the trans and nonbinary communities. The greater commercial industry often writes off our voices as either not worth hearing, or maybe even threatening to the audiences that need to be appealed to commerciallyrather than embracing us and challenging those audiences.

I was just kind of in an actionless rage about that, and as I looked at the programming that was coming up for Pride, I wasn't seeing any real attentiveness or focus on the trans community in the large-scale events. There's certainly trans artists who perform in them, and there are concerts like Trans Voices Cabaret. But there's never been a large scale event celebrating trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming artists in musical theater.

So I tweeted that: "This should exist." And I had friends respond and say, "We should make this happen."

A big goal of A Place for Us is reaching young people who may not have as much access to trans role models and communities in their area, or in their lives.

A lot of young people following harmful things that are happening in the Broadway community come to me and say: "It doesn't seem safe to be in theater." My response is always, absolutely we have to be alert and take care of ourselvesbut at the same time, there are so many incredible trans and nonbinary artists in theater doing really powerful work. It's just not as visible. So I wanted to amplify that art for those kids.

The series is also about providing resources and continuing education. We had a panel with RE:THEATRE on creating safe and inclusive educational spaces for trans and nonbinary students, and a Q&A on how to take care of yourself in the industry. So it's both the joyful "here we are" content, and some long-term work on how to take care of ourselves and the future of representation.

MiMi Scardulla, Jenny Rose Baker, Wonu Ogunfowora, Lauren Zakrin, and Kaitlyn Frank star in Preston Max Allen's We Are the Tigers, directed by Michael Bello, at Theatre 80 St. Marks.

( Mati Gelman)

Trans and nonbinary communities are under vicious attack in state houses across the country right now. How do you hold space in this series for positivity and looking to the future together as a community, while also acknowledging that offense which is taking place?

There's certainly a place for anger and for calling things out. I've seen positive responses to that. When I get angry and frustrated with the erasure that we see in Jagged Little Pill, or the dangerous themes in Tootsie, I'm able to know that I can reach some of these people, I can feel like I might be seen by them, and maybe we can discuss this. I can't go to the Texas state house and discuss this with them. I feel hopeless there. I shouldn't feel hopeless here.

All that to saythat is not the theme of A Place for Us. This series is about the incredible people making brilliant and fabulous art in our community. Instead of a list of demands, it's a bunch of artists contributing what they would like to see from the future.

In what ways can musical theater in particular be meaningful for the young people and students across the country A Place for Us is looking to reach?



Connecting on a musical level is an entirely different experience because it's so visceral, and so personal. For me, I hear these artists and go wow, to have heard this in my youth, artists who felt both the pain and the joy, had felt the struggle and had burst from that into happy adult lives and found family, would have made an incredible difference in terms of my queerness growing up. And I just know there are so many kids out there who are isolated, and just hearing one of these songseven a joyful song that's not about being trans, from a trans artistwould make a difference.

Any songs in particular you'd like to tease from the concert?

We just got our first video that is edited and ready from two incredible artists in the UK, Robin Simoes da Silva and Tabby Lamb. It is a song called "Peter." You know "Good Kid" from Lightning Thief, and "Michael in the Bathroom" from Be More Chill? Well "Peter" is that to me. It has that power.

It's about a trans guy who is supposed to do this Spider-Man couples costume, but his girlfriend broke up with him, so now he's in a Spider-Man costume having dysphoria and break-up feelings. To me it's so specifically trans but also so universal, and just so fun and angsty.

Register here for A Place for Us: A Celebration of Trans and Nonbinary Artists In Musical Theatre, streaming June 30 at 7pm.
In the lobby of Brooklyn Academy of Music's Fisher Theater, Aleshea Harris, playwright of What to Send Up When It Goes Down, briefly spoke with me. She said quietly, "I hope this play gives you something." Her eyes delivered a stern yet optimistic message, and her smile was hidden behind a medical face mask, since we are still in the middle of a global pandemic.

As a Black woman, I have witnessed the look Harris gave me many times before. It is part of a special coded language that only Black people can understand. I immediately translated Harris's "something" to mean healing or a subtle light at the end of the darkness. My friends are constantly searching for that light in a society that actively oppresses us and strategically makes us feel invisible. Harris has repeatedly mentioned that while everyone is welcome to experience her play, she wrote What To Send Up When It Goes Down specifically for Black people who have endured and struggled within a system of white supremacy, while making significant contributions to every segment of American society.

What to Send Up When it Goes Down is a brilliant expedition that doesn't just begin with this production of Harris's play, impeccably directed by Whitney White, or the many productions that came before. One might consider that the journey begins with the overall Black experience. After all, to truly benefit abundantly from this show you have to be Black. While not monolithic, the Black experience often includes pride and self-made riches, which are rarely discussed, alongside the overly produced depictions of pain, struggle, and premature death.

The facade of the Brooklyn Academy of Music space

( Ayanna Prescod)

All attendees are asked to begin by remembering those that have passed on. The voyage commences with Black Lives Lost, an installation scattered throughout BAM's front facade and into the theater's basement lobby. The many portraits of Black people who lost their lives to anti-Black violence are filtered with hues of reds, blues, and yellows, and leads to somber moments of grief and reflection. There are dozens of photos, yet not every Black body was included for the consideration of space. Including everyone would undoubtedly take over the entire theater and pour into neighboring buildings. However, among the faces prominently displayed are Elijah McClain, Daunte Wright, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and George Floydall of whom were murdered by the hands of police in just the past year.

After sitting with these images for a bit, a Black woman, who the program identifies as "Four" (Kalyne Coleman), addresses the audience with a prologue that reaffirms that "this ritual is first and foremost for Black peoplethis piece was created and is expressed with Black folks in mind" (While the Saturday evening audience was diverse in race, the majority of patrons appeared to be Black).

The show, framed as a healing ritual, begins with full audience participation. Four asks a series of questions like, "Have you been denied a promotion, or proper medical care because you are Black," and the collective yes response among Black patrons, served as constant reminders of the of the deep roots of systematic racism. When the audience is finally asked to find a seat, as every ticket is offered as general admission, I couldn't help but notice that white and other non-Black people of color, consciously or unconsciously, took up the majority of the first row. Even after being reminded of who this space was created for, Black people were not given the opportunity to sit unobstructed by a non-Black person that evening. Ironically, this became part of the evening's theatrical scenery, reflecting the societal privilege that often benefits non-Black people.

Yu-Hsuan Chen's set design offers a minimal, yet sufficient, immersive experience. Hand written notes, later discovered to be positive letters of affirmation for Black people, hang on white strings on the walls, and add light to the otherwise dark black box theater. In the center of the theater is a chalked circle, and inside the circle are gray and white pails in various sizes, holding pens, blanks sheets of paper, and other writing materials. Perfectly spaced, socially distanced seats, referred to as pods, are scattered in a semi-circle around the theater. The cast of seven accomplished Black artists  Alana Raquel Bowers (Three), Rachel Christopher (One/Made), Ugo Chukwu (Six/Miss), Denise Manning (Eight/Song Leader), Javon Q. Minter (Seven), Beau Thom (Five/Man/Driver), and Coleman  serve as both audience member and performer.

Through a series of masterful vignettes, precise movement, cultural dance, and glorious song lead by supreme vocalist Manning, Black participants are encouraged to reclaim their personal power by confronting and examining beliefs and practices associated with racism and racial bias. During the experience, there were sobs of agony, screams in anger, and later proclamations of victory and collective joy. What is meant to disrupt the pervasiveness of anti-Blackness and acknowledge the resilience of Black people hits the mark without sweeping the dirt under the rug. What to Send Up When It Goes Down gave me that "something," and my hope is that everyone else left with it too.

What to Send Up When It Goes Down is presented by BAM and Playwrights Horizons, in association with the Movement Theatre Company. The co-production will also have a staging at Playwrights Horizons in the fall.
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Staff Reporter

Tim Gruver is a politics and public policy reporter. He is a University of Washington alum and the recipient of the 2017 Pioneer News Award for Reporting. His work has appeared in Politico, the Kitsap Daily News, and the Northwest Asian Weekly.
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Regional Editor

Derek Draplin is a regional editor at The Center Square. He previously worked as an opinion producer at Forbes, and as a reporter at Michigan Capitol Confidential and The Detroit News. Hes also an editor at The Daily Caller.
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FRANKLIN - Justin Curtis Harper, 50, passed away peacefully at his beloved home, July 1, 2021, after a hard fought battle with pancreatic cancer. Justin was born on March 13, 1971, to George and Mary Harper in Annapolis, MD. He was predeceased by his father in 2013. He is survived by his wif
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This image from video, labeled GIMBAL and provided by the Department of Defense from 2015, shows an unexplained object (C) being tracked as it soars high along the clouds, traveling against the wind. (Department of Defense via AP)

11 Near Misses With UFOs Recorded By Military Pilots: DNI Report

Military pilots have recorded a total of 11 near misses with Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP), also known as UFOs, since 2004, according to a first-of-its-kind U.S. government report released on Friday.

The nine-page report (pdf), submitted to Congress and released to the public on June 25, studied 144 observations of what the government officially refers to as UAP, dating back to 2004, of which 11 caused near misses for military pilots.

The report was issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in conjunction with a U.S. Navy-led UAP task force, and cited the 11 documented instances in which pilots reported near misses with a UAP as examples of current ongoing airspace concerns. Aviators are required to report such concerns upon encountering safety hazards, it notes.

UAP pose a hazard to safety of flight and could pose a broader danger if some instances represent sophisticated collection against U.S. military activities by a foreign government or demonstrate a breakthrough aerospace technology by a potential adversary, the report reads.

It added, however, that defense and intelligence analysts lack sufficient data to determine the nature of UAP observed by military pilots, outlining that they could belong to explanatory categories such as foreign adversary systems, natural atmospheric phenomena, or other, amid the public speculations of extraterrestrial technology as a possible explanation in some cases.

UAP clearly pose a safety of flight issue and may pose a challenge to U.S. national security, the report stated, adding that the phenomena probably lack a single explanation.

In a limited number of incidents, UAP reportedly appeared to exhibit unusual flight characteristics. These observations could be the result of sensor errors, spoofing, or observer misperception and require additional rigorous analysis, it added.

The Pentagon said its UAP Task Force was established last year to improve its understanding of, and gain insight into, the nature and origins of UAPs.

In the run up to the release of the report, the Pentagon confirmed that recent images of UAP were taken by U.S. Navy personnel.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said last month that members of Congress and other officials need to seriously investigate UFOs and the potential threat they pose.

Speaking to CBS News 60 Minutes, the Florida Republican described a stigma on Capitol Hill, in which some lawmakers are very interested in this topic, but some kind of giggle when you bring it up. However, he cautioned, I dont think we can allow the stigma to keep us from having an answer to a very fundamental question.

The senator said he wants the Pentagon to come up with a process to take UAP seriously.

I want us to have a process to analyze the data every time it comes in, he said. That there be a place where this is cataloged and constantly analyzed, until we get some answers. Maybe it has a very simple answer. Maybe it doesnt.

The CBS News program also interviewed former Navy Lt. Ryan Graves, who said that he has witnessed UAP flying over restricted areas every day for several years. Graves added that hes worried they could pose a security threat, whatever they are.

Although the thought of UAP conjures images of aliens or saucer-shaped spacecraft, Graves suggested that these objects could be technology developed by Russia or the Chinese communist regime.

Jack Phillips and Reuters contributed to this report.
A Pan-American Journey | Mythical Roads

Alaska has become a major destination for travelers in search of adventure and freedom. From Vancouver to southeastern Alaska, the call of the wild and the wide-open spaces can be irresistible, and the voice of nature is loud and clear. Travelers come to breathe in the pioneer atmosphere, the spirit of adventure, and Americas history.

About Mythical Roads:

Whether remote or packed with tourists, recent or old, famous or forgotten, certain routes are paved with legends. This series explores itineraries that have made history across five continentssome roads and rivers that separated countries, and others that formed links, creating pathways for traders, fortune-seekers, evangelists, conquerors, and travelers. As historical symbols, these routes now ignite the imaginations of millions of people in search of adventure and freedom.

The original and poetic approach of this series casts a new light on these mythical roads. Throughout the journey, the routes unfold through the eyes of the men and women who live and work along them, and who continue to sustain the legends.

Personal adventures alternate with extraordinary explorations, unforgettable encounters, and surprising developments.

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Independent MP Derek Sloan rises during question period in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Feb. 5, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

Able to Accomplish Way More as an Independent MP Despite Challenges: Sloan

Derek Sloan says there are pluses and minuses to being an independent MP, but on the whole he has accomplished much more sitting as an independent than when he was part of a political party. And with a possible election on the horizon, he says he will run again and thinks he has a good chance of being elected as an independent.

Weve been able to vote against certain legislation that no one else was willing to. Weve been able to ask questions in the House of Commons on subjects that no one else was wishing to, Sloan told The Epoch Times. And when I say we, I just mean myself and my few staff.

Being independent, he said, has allowed him to be more vocal in his opposition to COVID-19 lockdowns, give voice to medical whistleblowers who hold divergent views on COVID treatments, sound the alarm on social media censorship, and question why Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was able to attend a Black Lives Matter protest last year while those who joined anti-lockdown protests got fined, among other issues.

This is the type of thing I would never have been able to do as a member of a party, he said.

Sloan was ousted from the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) on Jan. 20 on the grounds that he had accepted a small donation last year during his leadership campaign from a known white nationalistsomething Sloan insisted he was unaware of. Party leader Erin OToole said Sloan was also removed due to a pattern of destructive behaviour, while Sloan accused OToole of going on a warpath to have me expelled from the CPC caucus.

He decided to sit as an independent and continue to be a voice for conservative Canadians.

Sloan notes, however, that there are also challenges when not a member of a party.

You dont have the resources of a party, so you have to kind of become your own little party in the sense of researching bills, he says. You also are not generally privy to the discussions that are going on behind the scenes with the major parties.

In addition, having enough time for lengthy speeches in the House doesnt come easily. To get an actual 10-minute speaking slot on a bill is challenging, because theres only one slot for independents.

Anti-lockdown protesters gather at Dundas Square in Toronto on Jan. 2, 2020. (Freedom Forum Canada/Chuck Black)

Sloan says that among the many pressing issues confronting Canada, one of the most important right now is the federal governments lack of transparency around certain aspects of its response to the pandemic.

Were seeing a major censorship issue, a major government transparency issue, on many things in relation to COVID, he said. He noted that Bill C-10 and Bill C-36two controversial bills that aim to regulate internet streaming services and to combat online hate speech respectivelywill place more and more censorship powers in the hands of the government if they pass. Bill C-10 passed in the House on June 21 and is currently before the Senate, and Bill C-36 was introduced in the House on June 23.

Sloan says other notable bills having great impact on Canadians that should be watched are Bill C-6 (conversion therapy ban), Bill C-7 (medically assisted dying), Bill C-12 (net-zero emissions), Bill C-19 (mail-in ballots), Bill C-21 (banning of certain firearms), and Bill C-22, which would abolish mandatory minimum sentences for all drug crimes and certain gun crimes.

Its very bizarre, the logic thats being used on a lot of these bills, Sloan said, adding that Canadians need to wake up and use more discernment and demand better from your politicians.

This is a different kind of governmenta government that has been passing very freedom-impacting bills. Theyve been spending money hand over fist, theres probably all kinds of conflict of interest with this spending that were only beginning to discover, he said.

Two other top issues facing Canadians, he adds, are the spread of neo-Marxist ideology, which creates intersectionality, identity politics, and other things that create numerous different classes of people that are pitted against each other, and climate alarmism, which negatively impacts Canadas oil and manufacturing industries.

There are many ways to treat the environment well without destroying our major industries and giving other big polluters like China, India, and other places a free ride, he said.

As for the next election, which could happen this fall, Sloan said its yet to be determined whether he will join another party, but he will most likely run as an independent.

Its always challenging to get elected as an independent.  Its not a for-sure thing, but I think my chances are good. I have a lot of support in the riding.
Accountancy Watchdog Investigates Auditors for Greensill Capital and Gupta Lender

Investigations into the auditors of Greensill Capital and Wyelands Bank have been launched, the UKs accountancy regulator announced on Monday.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said its Enforcement Division had started an investigation into accounting firm Saffery Champness in relation to its audit of the financial statements of Greensill Capital (UK) Limited for the year ending Dec. 31, 2019, following a decision to investigate on June 15.

Greensill Capital, a supply chain finance company that filed for insolvency protection in March, has faced scrutiny over the roles played by its advisers including former Prime Minister David Cameron in lobbying the government during the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic.

David Cameron leaves his home ahead of giving evidence to the Commons Treasury Committee on Greensill Capital in London on May 13, 2021. (Victoria Jones/PA)

The lender also reportedly funnelled cash from the governments Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme to companies owned by steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta, according to the Financial Times.

In a separate announcement, the FRC said its investigating PwC in relation to its audit of the consolidated financial statements of Gupta-owned Wyelands Bank for the year ended April 30, 2019.

Wyelands is currently on the verge of collapse after Gupta said he was pulling funding from the bank having handed them a 75 million ($104 million) loan a year earlier.

Chief Executive Stephen Rose has now been authorised to speak with potential new investors in an effort to preserve its future.

The board said that it expects the bank will be wound up on a solvent basis if it fails to secure a sale to new backers.

Gupta Family Group Alliance (GFG Alliance) is also looking for a buyer for its Liberty Steel plant in Stockbridge.

An aerial view shows Liberty Steels Stocksbridge steel plant in Stocksbridge, northern England, on May 26, 2021. (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

The UKs fraud watchdog in May opened an investigation into GFG Alliance over suspected fraud, fraudulent trading, and money laundering, including its links to Greensill.

A spokesperson for Saffery Champness said: As professional accountants we owe a duty of confidentiality to present and former clients and, with this matter the subject of investigation, it would not be appropriate to comment at this time save to say that Saffery Champness will of course be cooperating fully with the FRC.

Audit quality is an absolute priority for Saffery Champness and we are committed to upholding the high professional standards our clients rightly expect.

A PwC spokesperson said: Its understandable that there is regulatory scrutiny in situations like this. We will cooperate fully with the FRC in its inquiries. We share the FRCs commitment to audit quality and are two years into a wide-ranging programme to enhance audit quality across the firm.

PA contributed to this report.
Students at Hillsborough High School wait in line to have temperature checked before entering the building in Tampa, Fla., on Aug. 31, 2020. (Octavio Jones/Getty Images)

Arizona House Passes Bill Requiring Schools Share Stories From People Who Fled Communism

The Republican-majority Arizona House on June 25 approved a bill that could mandate that school teachers share stories from people who fled communism as part of the curriculum.

The requirement is part of House Bill 2898 (pdf), which includes changes in laws governing K12 education in the state. The language was inserted by Republican state Rep. Judy Burges, and states that the measure will prepare students to be civically responsible and knowledgeable adults.

Public schools would be required to teach a comparative discussion of political ideologies, such as communism and totalitarianism, the conflict with the principles of freedom and democracy essential to the founding principles of the United States among other changes, the bills text states.

Arizonas Department of Education must also develop new civics education standards for school districts and charter schools to include, such as on the original intent of Americas Founding Documents and principles of the United States, including the expectation that U.S. citizens will be responsible for preserving and defending the blessings of liberty inherited from prior generations and secured by the United States Constitution.

The education board would also have to develop a list of oral history resources that provide patriotism based on first-person accounts of victims of other nations governing philosophies who can compare those philosophies with those of the United States.

The reality is [that] one of the greatest threats facing the globe today is communism and totalitarianism, Republican state Rep. Jake Hoffman said, Capitol Media Services reported. We have governments like the communist Chinese government, that their stated goal is to be the worlds sole and only superpower, and that they will achieve that goal through any means possible.

The legislation now heads to the state Senate for consideration.

The measure advanced days after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order on education that pushes back against critical race theory, and also creates an education program that will require students to be taught about the evils of communism.

In short, high schools must provide instruction on the evils of communism and totalitarian ideology, DeSantis said, noting that there are Florida residents who have escaped totalitarian regimes and communist dictatorships, such as from Cuba and Vietnam, to live in America.

We want all students to understand the difference, he said. Why would somebody flee across shark-infested waters  why would people leave these countries and risk their lives to be able to come here? Its important that students understand that.

DeSantis on June 22 also signed into law HB 5, which requires the Florida Department of Education to develop an integrated K12 civic education curriculum that includes teaching students about citizens shared rights under the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Mimi Nguyen Ly contributed to this report.
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs removes a mask as she speaks to members of Arizona's Electoral College prior to them casting their votes in Phoenix, Ariz., on Dec. 14, 2020. (Ross D. Franklin/AP Photo)

Arizona GOP Lawmakers Vote to Strip Election Lawsuit Power From Secretary of State Katie Hobbs

Arizonas Republican-controlled legislature has moved to strip power from Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in election-related lawsuits, handing that power instead to the attorney generals office.

The measure, which was contained within a budget reconciliation bill (pdf), seeks to stop Hobbs, a Democrat, from playing a role in lawsuits related to state election rules while giving the attorney generals office sole authority to defend Arizona election laws. The bill now heads to the desk of Gov. Doug Ducey, who hasnt signaled opposition to it.

The bills language regarding curtailing Hobbss power is necessary to ensure the faithful defense of the States election integrity laws and to eliminate confusion created by the Secretary of State about who speaks for Arizona in court, Katie Conner, spokeswoman for Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich, told the Arizona Mirror. His office also accused Hobbs of filing politically motivated bar complaints against his offices lawyers to target their professional standing and reputation.

The version of the measure that passed on the night of June 24 says the attorney general has sole authority in all election litigation to direct the defense of election laws, to appeal or petition any decision, and to intervene on behalf of this state at any stage until Jan. 2, 2023, which is when Hobbss term ends.

The bill would also bar the attorney generals office from providing legal advice or representing the secretary of state. Hobbs also cant use public funds to hire lawyers relating to election litigation, and additionally limits her to hiring one full-time legal adviser.

Hobbs, who has frequently criticized the ongoing audit of Maricopa Countys 2020 election results, decried the passage of the bill late last week and accused Republicans of retaliating against her because they did not like the outcome of the Presidential Election, according to a statement released by her office.

Meanwhile, Democrats in the legislature echoed her statement, with state Sen. Lisa Otondo calling the bill a power grab.

I really believe this is not about policy, but about politics, Otondo said during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing last week.

But Republicans last week said Hobbss move to file a bar complaint (pdf) against Brnovich and other top attorneys in his office had crossed the line. In the complaint filed last year, Hobbs alleged that Brnovich and his attorneys violated rules of ethical conduct relating to several election law cases in which the attorney general represented the secretary of states office.

I dont know whats more political than the secretary of state submitting bar charges against the entire upper echelon of the AGs Office, said state Sen. Vince Leach, a Republican, according to the Arizona Mirror. I would say the unprecedented attack on our attorney general, his chief deputy, and many high-level attorneys is uncalled for.

Hobbs is currently running for governor of Arizona, while Brnovich is running for Senate.

The Epoch Times has contacted Hobbss office and Brnovichs office for additional comment.
Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison arrives at the G7 summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall on Jun. 12, 2021. (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Aussie PM Calls for Emergency Cabinet Meeting as Concerns Grow Over Delta Strain Outbreak

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called an emergency meeting of the national security committee of the federal cabinet to discuss the outbreak of the highly infectious Indian Delta strain of the CCP virus.

A national cabinet meeting with state and territory leaders is also scheduled for June 28 evening.

This comes as four states and territories impose lockdowns or restrictions following an increase in new CCP virus cases.

While no details were provided of what the national security committee would do, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who sits on the national security committee, said it would feed into a national cabinet meeting to ensure consistency around state border closures and restrictions.

Bringing the leaders together and hearing the most up to date information is important to align the responses, Frydenberg told ABC radio.

The prime minister is also talking to state and territory leaders about the importance of ensuring workers in some of these facilities where the vulnerable cohorts are are vaccinated as well.

Frydenberg said that the latest developments would help inform decisions about vaccines and logistics.

The national cabinet will also discuss quarantine practices, including a ban on accommodating low-risk domestic travellers next door to high-risk international arrivals, which resulted in an outbreak in Queensland.

Cabinet will also discuss testing and vaccinating those who directly and indirectly work in the system and introducing post-quarantine testing on day 16 after people emerge from isolation.

Meanwhile, AMA president Omar Khorshid said on June 25 that vaccination uptake may not prevent the need for some form of quarantine in the medium term or the long term, depending on the virus.

We expect there will be some need for quarantine. But what that looks like is still uncertain, Khorshid said.

Restrictions Across Australia

In NSW, Greater Sydney, Blue Mountains, Central Coast, and Wollongong are in lockdown as the state records 18 new cases of the CCP virusdown from 30 on June 27.

While the numbers today are less than the numbers yesterday, we have to be prepared for the numbers to bounce around, and we have to be prepared for the numbers to go up considerably, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on June 28.

Given how contagious this strain of the virus is, we do anticipate that in the next few days, case numbers are likely to increase beyond what weve seen today (Sunday), she said on June 27.

Queensland is also reintroducing restrictions after recording two new local CCP virus cases. Masks will be mandatory across a large portion of the sunshine state, with home visits be capped at 30 guests and venues will need to adhere to a one person per square metre rule.

Canberra has also made the wearing of face masks mandatory but has introduced a 48-hour period where authorities will not be issuing on-the-spot fines.

There will be a 48-hour period where police and Access Canberra will be educating people, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said on June 27. There are a number of indoor settings that a face mask will be required. However, the simple message is if you have any doubt about whether a mask is required or not, put one on.

Cases in the Northern Territory has grown to six cases, while in Western Australia a positive case from a women who returned from Sydney prompted increased restrictions, including indoor mask use.

The outbreaks have prompted a multitude of border tightening measures, including South Australias closure to all jurisdictions except Victoria and Tasmania.

WA also tightened its border for residents of Queensland, the NT and ACT, while Victoria added Darwin to its red zone list.

Furthermore, all states have locked out Sydney residents.

Health authorities are continuing to track hundreds of passengers from five Virgin flights, which carried people between Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast over the weekend.

The alert was raised after a Sydney-based flight attendant tested positive for coronavirus.

AAP contributed to this report.
Shoppers are seen in the Pitt Street Mall in Sydney, Australia on Dec. 26, 2019.(Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

Australia Looking Towards an Older, Smaller, More Indebted Population

Australias projected population growth has taken a battering from COVID-19, which will see migration slow and future economic growth struggle.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg handed down the 2021 Intergenerational Report (IGR) on June 28 as the subject of his address to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA).

The IGR reports, which former Liberal Treasurer Peter Costello first introduced in 2002, provides a 40-year outlook on the countrys economy and its impact on the budget.

The report found that Australias population would reach 38.8 million by 2060-61, in contrast to earlier predictionsaccording to the last report in 2015that Australias population would reach 40 million by 2054-55.

It also found that the federal budget would remain in deficit for the next four decades, while net debt would continue to hover between 30 to 40 percent of GDP.

This is the first time there has been a downward revision of the long-term population projections in an intergenerational report, Frydenberg told CEDA.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg reacts during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House on March 16, 2021, in Canberra, Australia. (Sam Mooy/Getty Images)

This means the economy will be smaller, and Australias population will be older than it otherwise would have been, with flow-on implications for our economic and fiscal outcomes.

Australias economic growth is reliant on maintaining population numbers, generally via migration.

However, lower population numbers in the future suggest fewer workers and less national productivity support for future public expenditures, including health, education, welfare, and aged care.

In fact, the IGR report predicts that by 2060-61, there will only be 2.7 working individuals for every person over the age of 65. In contrast, there are now four working people for every person over 65, and back in 1981-82 there were 6.6 individuals.

Healthcare and aged care spending is projected to increase as well, while fertility rates are expected to remain steady.

The Australian Industry (AI) Group, the countrys peak industry body, said immigration was still the key to bolstering economic growth and addressing skill shortages.

Skills remains one of our biggest national challenges and the generational shortcomings exposed in the IGR emphasise once again that we have to get our approach to skills and training right, Innes Willox, CEO of the AI Group said in a statement.

Immigration is part of the solution to our skilling challenges. A reopening of our national borders which will enable a return to pre-COVID immigration levels and a return to recent levels and age-profile of net immigration can slow the pace of population ageing, he added.

Cian Hussey, research fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs said Australias reliance on mass migration had no noticeable improvement to the lifestyles of Australians.

Rather than relying on rapid population growth underpinned by mass migration, governments must boost productivity through cutting taxes, cutting regulation, and engaging in genuine reform of the industrial relations system, he told The Epoch Times.

This IGR demonstrates the extraordinary cost of Australian governments responses to COVID-19, he added. Lockdowns and the explosion in government debt incurred under the guise of an economic recovery mean that an Australian born today is unlikely to see a budget surplus in their lifetime.

Frydenberg sort to assure attendees that the IGR was not a fixed picture of our fate.

Instead, it provides us with guard rails to help guide for future government decisions. To set us up for tomorrow as we tackle the challenges of today, he said.

The treasurer expects economic growth to remain close to its historic performanceincreasing at an average annual pace of 1.5 percent per person compared to 1.6 percent over the past 40 years.

Frydenberg said the focus would be on reforming the economy to make it more investment-friendly.

Thats not to say Australia doesnt continue to make important reforms to grow our economy. Thats the key for our prosperity, and thats underlined in this report, he told the ABC.

We want to continue to pursue reforms that encourage more investment by business, improve the provision of skills across the country and also ensure a more flexible workplace.
Flowers and candles in front of a closed and cordoned off department store in the city centre of Wuerzburg, Germany, on June 26, 2021. (Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa via AP)

Authorities Puzzle Over Motive for German Knife Attack

BERLINThe German city of Wuerzburg on Sunday held a memorial service for the victims of a brutal knife attack that left three women dead, while questions about the possible motive of the assailant remained unanswered.

Fridays assault in and outside a store in the center of the Bavarian city left another five people seriously injured. The suspect, a 24-year-old Somali man, was shot in the leg by police and arrested after people surrounded him and tried to hold him at bay with chairs and sticks.

Investigators were still working Sunday to figure out what was behind the attack by what they believe was a lone assailant. They are assessing his mental health and trying to determine whether he was radicalized as an Islamic extremist. It was unclear whether he deliberately targeted women.

We are all affected, because it could have happened to anyone, Wuerzburgs Catholic bishop, Franz Jung, said at the service in the citys cathedral.

Flowers were piled up Sunday outside the nearby store where the attack started. Bavarias governor, Markus Soeder, laid a wreath and described the attack as simply incomprehensible, appalling, senseless.

Bavarias governor Markus Soeder (L) and the mayor of Wuerzburg, Christian Schuchardt, attend a memorial service in Wuerzburg, Germany, on June 27, 2021. (Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa via AP)

The suspect was sent to jail Saturday pending a possible indictment. The regional criminal police office said Sunday prison officials have been informed that he could be a danger to himself, news agency dpa reported.

The attack started late Friday afternoon when the suspect walked into a store in Wuerzburg, went to the household goods department and asked a saleswoman where the knives were, regional police chief Gerhard Kallert said. He then grabbed a knife and fatally stabbed three women in the store, before continuing to attack people outside. Six people, most of them women, were seriously injured, and one of them remained in a life-threatening condition on Saturday.

Videos posted on social media showed people surrounding the attacker and trying to hold him at bay with chairs and sticks. The 24-year-old Somali was then stopped with a shot to the leg by police and arrested.

On Saturday, he was brought before a judge, who ordered him held in jail pending a possible indictment on suspicion of three counts of murder, six of attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm; and another of bodily harm.

The man arrived in Germany in May 2015 and was granted subsidiary protection, a status that falls short of full asylum. He had been in Wuerzburg since 2019, and was living in a homeless shelter.

Officials said he didnt have a criminal record, but there were two incidents earlier this year that resulted in him being sent briefly to a psychiatric hospital. In January, he got into an argument with residents and staff at the shelter and brandished a kitchen knife, prosecutor Wolfgang Gruendler said.

A crime scene tape is fixed in front of a Woolworth store in central Wuerzburg, Germany, on June 26, 2021. (Michael Probst/AP Photo)

He didnt attack or hurt anyone, but an investigation was opened and he was temporarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital. That investigation is still ongoing and a psychiatric evaluation is still outstanding.

Earlier this month, there was an incident in which someone gave him a lift and he didnt get out of the car. That again resulted in his admission to a psychiatric unit, but he was released after a day, prosecutors said. They said there had been no pattern of increasing problems.

Authorities also were looking at the possibility of the man having been radicalized as an Islamic extremist. Kallert said a store detective and police officers reported hearing the suspect say Allahu akbar, Arabic for God is great. Bavarias top security official, Joachim Herrmann, said that further cautious indications in that direction emerged from his questioning, without elaborating. Material with hate messages also was found but has yet to be evaluated, police said.

As to whether the man was mentally ill or radicalized, we dont know either one thing or the other for sure at the moment, but I just want to note that they dont rule each other out, Herrmann said. Authorities were examining a mobile phone and other evidence.

The case was handed over to prosecutors in Munich, the state capital, but not to federal prosecutors, who in Germany deal with terror cases.

Flowers and candles are laid by young men at the crime scene in central Wuerzburg, Germany, on June 26, 2021. (Michael Probst/AP Photo)

A fellow resident of the shelter who said he was among 10-12 people who tried to stop the suspect stabbing anyone else until police arrived on Friday described the man as being always alone, not talking to the other people. He added that he was strange all the time.

Thank God we people managed to scare him a little bit, distract him, he got tired, and thank God it didnt turn out even worse, the man, whose name was given only as Kadir A., told RTL television.

Herrmann described using a shot to the leg to stop an assailant as a textbook move. Bavarias rules on use of police weapons state that firearms should only be used to make perpetrators unable to attack or flee, and that a shot which is near-certain to kill is only permitted if its the only way to prevent danger to the life of others.

The rules call for officers to aim at the legs where possible.

Flowers and candles in front of a closed and cordoned off department store in the city centre of Wuerzburg, Germany, on June 26, 2021. (Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa via AP)
A Palestinian worker unloads a shipment of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines donated by Beijing in the West Bank city of Nablus, on March 29, 2021. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP via Getty Images)

Beijing Weaponizes Health Care and Mobile Apps to Target Individuals: Expert

The communist regime in China uses health care and mobile apps as weapons against political dissent, according to an expert on China and the Indo-Pacific.

Cleo Paskal, an associate fellow at Chatham House, said that lessons could be learned from Chinas neighborsparticularly India and the Solomon Islandsin understanding the threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), in a recent interview on Epoch TVs American Thought Leaders program.

It is understanding how invasive and destructive and coercive the mentality of the Chinese Communist Party isin terms of an individuals right to think anything they want or believe anything they want, is imperative for understanding what were dealing with, she said.

In a Chinese-run world or Chinese-influenced world, health care is used as a weapon to punish political dissidents.

Paskal pointed to the example of Daniel Suidani, the premier of Malaita Province in the Solomon Islands and a prominent China critic. Since the South Pacific country ended its 36-year diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of China in September 2019, Suidani has continued to voice support for the self-ruled island and rejected Chinese investment in Malaita.

Suidanis continued support for Taiwana de facto independent nation that China claims as a part of its territoryhas put him at odds with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, who enjoys a close relationship with the regime in Beijing.

About six months ago, Suidani was diagnosed with a brain disease that required CT scans, but the Solomon Islands doesnt have the proper medical equipment to perform the scans. As a result, the premier began seeking foreign medical care, but was financially strapped to pay for it.

Suidani approached the Sogavare government for financial aid for his medical care, but he rejected the money after learning that there were strings attached to ithe had to shake Sogavares hand in public. Earlier this month, Suidanis senior adviser Celsus Talifilu told Al Jazeera that the premier refused the offer because it would be like shaking hands with China.

Taiwan offered Suidani medical assistance and the premier arrived in the country on May 26. His trip to Taiwan has angered both the Sogavare government and Beijingwith the former saying that it was an unauthorized trip that undermined the South Pacific countrys one China policy.

In a statement issued on May 30, the Chinese embassy in the Solomon Islands said it had registered concerns with the Sogavare government over Suidanis trip, and noted that it opposes any official contacts between Taiwan and other countries.

This is a situation where [Suidanis] personal position on China meant he was going to be declined health care. This is essentially an extraterritorial social credit system type control over the health care of an individual person, Paskal said.

If you dont accept China in your heart, youre going to be left to die. Thats fundamentally what was happening with Premier Suidani.

The Chinese regime enforces a social credit system, which assigns each citizen a score of social trustworthiness. People can have points taken away from their social credit score by committing behaviors that are deemed undesirable by the CCP, such as jaywalking. Those with low social credit scores are deemed untrustworthy, and thus are deprived of access to services and opportunities. They could be barred from traveling by plane or attending schools, among other things. Critics have slammed the system as a violation of human rights.

Apps

Beijing could also weaponize Chinese mobile apps in order to sow divisions within other countries, according to Paskal. She applauded the Indian government for banning Chinese apps, particularly popular video-sharing app TikTok and messaging app WeChat.

India has banned more than 200 Chinese apps, citing the apps collection of user data as a national security risk. Chinas national intelligence law requires all organizations and citizens to support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence efforts.

Beijing could use the data collected by different Chinese apps for coercion and blackmail, Paskal said.

Additionally, Paskal explained that since the Chinese apps also curated information, Beijing could try to manipulate the people who have the app into believing certain things or heading in certain directions politically.

If you can create social division or exacerbate social division in another country, and paralyze it socially, damage it socially, China wins. It doesnt mean countries dont have social problems. It just means that there is a vested interest from Beijing; making those situations worse. And you can do that through apps like TikTok, she said.

There have been media reports on how TikTok has censored certain topics, including the Tiananmen Square Massacre and Chinas treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim ministries.

On June 9, the Biden administration revoked former President Donald Trumps executive orders effectively banning TikTok and WeChat, and required the Commerce Department to conduct its own review of both apps.

Paskal warned that, ultimately, the CCP wants to influence the mind of every individual.

So, be very aware. You are targeted. The goal now of the Chinese Communist Party is political warfarewhich is the front line of its attempt to achieve that number one position in terms of comprehensive national power is your mind, she said.
Chinese police officers walk outside the newly built Museum of the Communist Party of China in Beijing on June 25, 2021. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Brutalizing Its Own Population Was Hardwired Into the CCPs Core DNA: Bipartisan Resolution Condemns 100 Years of CCPs Atrocities

As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary this week, bipartisan lawmakers introduced a resolution on June 25 condemning a century of gross human rights abuses perpetrated by the regime against its own citizens.

The resolution, led by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), lists more than 30 atrocities committed by the CCP from the 1930s to today, and vows that the United States will stand with the Chinese people in their struggle for liberty.

Among the atrocities highlighted in the resolution were a series of disastrous campaigns helmed by the CCPs first leader, Mao Zedong. They include a massive land reform movement in the 1940s that saw millions of landlords and others deemed to be bourgeoisie beaten and murdered; the Great Leap Foward industrial plan, which sought to rapidly develop Chinas steel production to British or American levels but resulted in modern historys worst man-made disaster, with tens of millions of people dying of starvation; and the Cultural Revolution that saw the arbitrary arrest, torture, and execution of up to tens of millions of citizens deemed to be counter-revolutionaries.

The CCPs bloody military suppression of unarmed student protesters during the Tiananmen Square massacre, as well as its ongoing clampdowns in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, were also referenced in the bill.

Gallagher noted that the regimes abuses in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and Tibet today are not a new development.

From the very start, brutalizing its own population was hard-wired into the CCPs core DNA. To understand where the Party is going, we must first understand its past, he wrote in a June 25 Twitter post.

Co-sponsor Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said that throughout its history, the Party has used brutal Marxist doctrine to suppress individual liberty and drive unspeakable human rights atrocities.

As they use the 100th anniversary to legitimize their malign actions, it is more important than ever to be clear-eyed about the true nature of the CCP, which is the greatest threat to the foundation of democracy of our generation, McCaul said in a statement.

The Chinese regime is currently preparing for major celebrations on July 1the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Party. Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City complex, and other sites around Beijing have been closed in the lead-up, and the event itself has been shrouded in secrecy.

This centenary is not a cause for celebrationit is a time to reflect upon the egregious acts the Party has committed and honor the tens of millions of victims who suffered under the Partys cruel regime, Gallagher said in a statement.

The resolution calls on the U.S. government and allies to support human rights in China, including through the use of technology to support and enable free expression. Chinese citizens lack access to uncensored information, as theyre sealed off from the global internet through the regimes Great Firewallthe worlds largest internet blockade and censorship apparatus.

The resolution concludes by stating that it looks forward to the day that that Chinese Communist Party no longer exists.
A supporter holds a poster of the Apple Daily newspaper logo outside the media company's office building in Hong Kong in the early hours of June 24, 2021, shortly after the 26 year old newspaper went to print for the last time. (Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images)

Canadas Foreign Affairs Minister Condemns Forced Closure of Hong Kongs Independent Media Apple Daily

Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marc Garneau issued a statement Wednesday condemning Chinas National Security Law following the closure announcement of Apple Daily, one of Hong Kongs few remaining independent media outlets.

The forced closure of the newspaper, Apple Daily, as a result of charges under the National Security Law for Hong Kong is a significant blow to freedom of the press and freedom of speech in Hong Kong, and makes it clear that the powers under the National Security Law are being used as a tool to suppress media freedom and punish dissidents, Garneau stated.

In recent years, the governments in Beijing and Hong Kong have continually tried to repudiate the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which drafted the Hong Kong Basic Law, a mini-constitution that guarantees the regions democratic system and capitalist economy for 50 yearsa principle often described as the One country, two systems policy.

Beijings adoption of the draconian national security law in June 2020 is widely interpreted as having effectively nullified the principle. Two of Apple Dailys directors are now facing collusion charges punishable by life imprisonment under the national security law, while the papers founder, Jimmy Lai, is currently detained and waiting for a separate national security trial.

Canada is a steadfast supporter of the One Country, Two Systems principle and Hong Kongs high degree of autonomy, Garneau stated. The ouster of a major media organization under the National Security Law significantly degrades these principles, guaranteed under the Sino-British Joint Declaration.

These freedoms are universal human rights guaranteed under Hong Kongs Basic Law, and are in line with international standards, Garneau said.

Apple Daily was founded in 1995two years before Britain handed over Hong Kong to the communist-led Peoples Republic of China. The media outlet started out as a tabloid known for reporting celebrity scandals, but had also upheld democratic values.

A statement from Apple Dailys parent company Next Media said the newspapers print and online edition cease operation at midnight June 23.

With reporting by Frank Fang
A view of the Confucius Institute building on the Troy University campus in Troy, Ala., on March 16, 2018. (Kreeder13 via Wikimedia Commons)

CCP Agents Had Access to Private Information of New Brunswick Students Through Confucius Institutes

Confucius Institutes operating in New Brunswick public schools had access to students private information and caused grave concerns among Chinese diaspora, the provinces education minister told a Commons Committee on June 21.

We had members of the Chinese Communist Party who were working for the Confucius Institutes who had access to the databases and student information of the Brunswick students, and I heard about that from members of the Chinese diaspora extremely concerned about that fact, Dominic Cardy told the House of Commons Special Committee on Canada-China Relations.

Cardy said his study of Confucius Institutes (CIs), Chinese foreign policy operations, and the correspondence and complaints he received over the years from Chinese and non-Chinese Canadians on how they operate, confirmed to him that CIs are a danger to the countries in which they are located.

His testimony was also consistent with those of Michel Juneau-Katsuya, an expert in national security and intelligence and former staff at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, who told the committee on April 19 that Confucius Institutes (CIs) are essentially spy satellites sent out by China to conduct espionage work for the CCP.

Besides that, students enrolled in CI programs are politically indoctrinated with messages such as Taiwan was just another part of China.

Programs supposedly focusing on culture and language in many cases included overt political propaganda, he said.

This included having elementary school students drawing maps of China that would erase the border with Taiwan, included the denial of the reality of Tiananmen Square [massacre], included the disciplining of students who raised questions around Chinas abysmal human rights record.

Chinese parents who wished to expose CIs agenda, however, were fearful of dealing with the repercussions of Beijings wrath.

They expressed real concerns about the potential impact on family back in China if they spoke out openly about the issues that they felt are definitely present with the Confucius institutes programming, Cardy said.

The minister cited examples of how in one case, parents arranged to meet him off-site in an open area as they were afraid of being surveilled by CCP agents. Another case had parents telling him they were using emails registered specifically for the purpose of communicating with him. A few chose to write to him directly.

They definitely felt censored, Cardy said. You would expect from any citizen of the country that again routinely tortures and murders a large number of its own citizens, and has shown no compunction about extending that ill-treatment towards citizens of other countries.

Cardy added he could certainly understand their concerns given Canadas not particularly strong record in standing up to that poor treatment.

All I could do was to promise them that I would protect their confidentiality, and do my very best to be a voice for the hundreds of millions of people in China who are desperate for change, and desperate for the sort of freedoms that we enjoy every day, he said.
The company logo of the Didi ride hailing app is seen on a car door at the IEEV New Energy Vehicles Exhibition in Beijing, China, on Oct. 18, 2018. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

CCPs State-Owned Companies Shadow Chinese Ride-Hailing Companys US IPO

Commentary

The Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing (Didi) filed an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States on June 10. At the same time, the Chinese Communist Partys (CCPs) antitrust investigation of Didi was also reported.

According to Didis prospectus (registration statement) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the regimes state-owned companies played an important role in the process of Didis monopoly in China.

Prior to the IPO, Didi had raised a total of $23.2 billion in funding over 24 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on April 9, 2021, from a debt financing round, according to a public report.

The prospectus showed Didis top three shareholders were SoftBank (21.5%), Uber (12.8%), and Tencent (6.8%). But, Didi listed risks related to doing business in China, especially in relation to the regimes recent anti-monopoly regulations. It completed the self-inspection and admitted that the results might not be satisfactory and the company may be subject to fines.

In order to comply with CCPs laws and regulations, Didi conducted its business primarily through variable interest entities (VIE) by contractual arrangements and through seeking overseas listings.

The State-Owned Investors

According to data from ChinaVenture Investment Consulting Group (CVSource), there have been 17 investors with state-owned backing involved in Didi businesses since 2015. Among them were sectors in Banking, insurance, brokerage, and industry.

A branch of the China Construction Bank in Shanghai, China, on Aug. 28, 2014. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)

For example, China Merchants Bank invested in Didi three times in a row, including its strategic investment of $200 million in January 2016, and two rounds of large-scale financing of $4.5 billion and $5.5 billion in June 2016 and April 2017, respectively. Bank of Communications and China Construction Bank also participate through subsidiaries to invest and support Didis businesses.

In terms of insurance capital, Ping An and China Life financed Didi with $3 billion in July 2015 and $4.5 billion in June 2016.

Among the financings in February 2016 were CICC (China International Capital Corporation) Alpha, China CITIC Bank, and China Investment; three local state-owned funds, BAIC Capital, Civil Aviation Investment Fund Management, and Sailing Capital; as well as two large private equity funds (PE) with state-owned companies, CDH Investments and Primavera Capital Group. This round of financing was therefore named the state capital round by the market.

There were also three industrial investments from state-owned enterprises in the second half of 2016, including Poly Developments and Holdings, Sinomach Automobile, and China Post Capital. Among them, Poly and Sinomach invested $400 million and $200 million, respectively.

Because Didi took over all of Uber China during the 2015 and 2016 period including all the financing and subsidies, Didi was once regarded as a state-owned enterprise.

According to information provided by qcc.com, a Chinese corporate database, Didi received a large amount of financing from Chinas state-owned companies during 2015-2016.

The Driving Force Behind Didis Victory Over Uber

Didi was launched in September 2012. Tencents CEO Pony Ma was the big benefactor for Didi. Meanwhile, Jack Mas Alibaba financed Didis main competitor, Kuaidi. At that time, Chinas carpooling industry was mainly engaged in competing for subsidies.

Alibabas co-founder Jack Ma (R) applauds with Tencent Holdings CEO Pony Ma during a meeting marking the 40th anniversary of Chinas reform and opening up policy at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on Dec. 18, 2018. (Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images)

For example, while bearing huge losses, Didi provided generous subsidies to drivers and passengers. Drivers would get basic order sharing income from the platform, as well as subsidies for remote dispatch, dynamic price adjustments, redemption awards, morning and evening peak awards, and holiday subsidies. Didis annual subsidy added up to more than $3 billion at its peak, and a large number of drivers were attracted to join the platform.

In February 2015, Didi and Kuaidi merged to become Chinas largest ridesharing company. However, at the same time, the Chinese market ushered in Uber China.

Ubers aggressive approach in this most important market suddenly stopped in August 2016, and it sold its China business to Didi. While the reason remains unknown, there was speculation that the regimes regulation was the driving force.

Regardless, Didi clearly defeated Uber China with the help of state-owned capital such as Poly, China Merchants Bank, CICC Alpha, and CITIC, as well as the successive joining of foreign investors such as Hillhouse Capital Group, Sequoia Capital, and Apple in the capital market.

Before the merger in 2016, it was reported that Didi secured $10 billion, while Uber Chinas cumulative financing amount was only $1 billion. Outside of the capital market, the regimes supervisory authorities played a key role in the ridesharing market competition.

To comply with the so-called regulations has always been a challenge to the emerging ridesharing business compared to the traditional car rentals. It relies on the attitude of regulators, and mostly the local authorities.

For instance, in April 2015, the Guangzhou Municipal Government cracked down on Ubers illegally operating unlicensed taxis.

In July 2016, the CCP issued the Guiding Opinions on Deepening Reform and Promoting the Healthy Development of the Taxi Industry and Interim Measures for the Management of Online Taxi Reservations.

Although these two regulations provide a basis for the legal operation of online car-hailing, they impose higher requirements on licenses, contracts, and other requirements for the transportation industry. In fact, they constitute a greater compliance challenge to the carpool industry, which has positioned itself as a network service provider instead of a transporter.

In this file photo, a taxi driver waits at a Didi Station, a roadside stop for taxis booked by the Chinese car-hailing app Didi Chuxing in Shanghai, China. (Chinatopix via AP)

Uber China, which had difficulty complying with local regulations, accepted Didis acquisition offer a few days after the introduction of the new regulations.

On Aug. 1, 2016, Didi acquired Uber China through a share swap. After the merger, Didi occupied more than 90 percent of the ride-sharing market in China.

The Belated Anti-Monopoly Guillotine and the Leaving of State-Owned Companies

Didis acquisition of Uber China established its leading position in Chinas online car-hailing market, but it also planted hidden dangers in antitrust investigations.

In September 2016, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce stated at a press conference that Didis acquisition of Uber China had not been reported to the Ministry of Commerce, and an investigation was pending in accordance with the Anti-Monopoly Law and other regulations.

In July 2017, the Ministry of Commerce once again stated that it had interviewed Didi several times. During that period, the Ministry of Commerce did not announce any progress in the investigation.

The regimes mouthpiece Xinhua reported that the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation was investigating Didis merger and acquisition case in 2018, but the bureau still has not disclosed any progress.

In September 2019, the CCPs Supreme Court conducted a live broadcast of the trial of Didi for abuse of market dominance, but so far it has not announced the results.

On Dec. 24 last year, the Ministry of Transportation announced that it would strengthen anti-monopoly measures in the transportation sector. Afterward, rumors of antitrust investigations against Didi recurred.

This June, the antitrust probe into Didi was once again reported but not confirmed.

From the States Assistance to the Anti-Monopoly Probe, Who Did Didi Offend?

From the rapid rise to the current anti-monopoly investigation, Didi is regarded by the outside world as the next target of the regime, after Jack Ma.

In fact, Didis listing may not only become the largest Chinese stock listing in the United States after Alibabas 2014 IPO, the anti-monopoly investigation may also be regarded as another heavy blow to Chinese internet companies following the suspension of Ants IPO last year.

In November last year, dozens of Chinese internet giants including Didi and Alibaba were interviewed by the authorities regarding the anti-monopoly regulations. On Dec. 14, Alibaba, Tencent, and SF Express received anti-monopoly penalties and were fined $77,500 each.

The largest telecom app in China, Tencents WeChat. (File photo/Richard A. Brooks/AFP/Getty Images)

The current affairs commentator Li Linyi believed that both Didi and Alibaba had inadvertently affected the core interest of the regime.

Like Alibaba, the reason why Didi was punished or investigated by the CCP for anti-monopoly is not because the CCP cares about anti-monopoly or the welfare of the people, it is because their products and services form the key information foundation. In particular, the big data they control is directly related to the CCPs so-called national security, that is, national surveillance.

Li said, The real purpose of the CCPs attack on these internet giants is to maintain and strengthen the CCPs control over the information infrastructure and big data.

This is indeed the case. Didi positioned itself as a one-stop transportation solution in the prospectus. Didi, similar to Alibaba, has extended its business from pure carpooling (or e-commerce) services to public transportation, online finance, and even all aspects of public services. In the process they collected big data from the Chinese people.

Bearing Losses for Eight Consecutive Years, Didi Is to Collect Capitals in the US

Didis IPO prospectus disclosed the net loss of $5.47 billion in the three-year period between 2018 and 2020, but a net income of $0.8 billion for the three months that ended March 31, 2021.

However, Chinese media Caixin.coms opinion article stated on June 21 that the disclosure was a game of whitewashing because there is room to justify its calculation method.

The Caixin article stated that Didis prospectus defined the first quarter of 2021 as the deadline to show its revenue growth of more than 100 percent year-on-year from the first quarter of 2020during the most severe epidemic in Chinaas the benchmark for comparison.

It said that since its establishment in 2012, Didi has burned money for eight years straight until 2020, with a cumulative loss of approximately $9.28 billion.

Li said, Didis business and capital operations are a bit like what Baidu did. Baidu monopolized the Chinese online search market by relying on the CCP to drive Google away. With its monopoly in China, it went to the United States to tell its story for money making.

Analysis: CCP Power Struggle Hides in Didis IPO

It is worth mentioning that just as Didi investors are about to enjoy dividends from the IPO, two most important domestic and overseas investors will quietly exit.

The prospectus showed that Didis largest shareholder SoftBank will withdraw from the companys board of directors when it goes public. At the same time, managing director of Boyu Capital (a fund company owned by Chinas former leader Jiang Zemins grandson, Alvin Jiang) will also step down from the board of directors of Didi.

After multiple rounds of financing, Didi has nearly 100 shareholders and a complex structure; but the companys management maintains control of the company through the AB share structure. Didis management team, such as CEO Will Wei Cheng, president Jean Qing Liu, and others have more than 50 percent of the voting rights.

Softbanks withdrawal has been interpreted by the industry as it may sell shares after Didi goes public, and cash out.

However, Li believes that the retreat of investors such as SoftBank and Boyu may be a sign. If SoftBank worried about the uncertain future and wanted to cash out, the Boyus retreat could signal that more companies will leave.

The Epoch Times previously reported on how CCP leader Xi Jinping suspended the IPO of Alibabas Ant Groupwhich Boyu Capital holds shares inin November 2020 with the purpose to defeat Jiangs faction.

Li believes that the withdrawal of Boyu from Didi could be a signal from Jiangs faction of its political concession.

Long Tengyun holds a masters degree in Management Science. He is based in North America and has been focusing on Chinese economy and politics for more than 10 years. In 2011, Long started to report news and write opinion pieces for NTD Television.
Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg returns from a recess as he testifies before the House Financial Services Committee on "An Examination of Facebook and Its Impact on the Financial Services and Housing Sectors" in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on Oct. 23, 2019. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Court Dismisses Federal Governments Antitrust Case Against Facebook

A federal court has dismissed two antitrust cases that were brought against Facebook, representing a significant setback for federal and state regulators in their attempts to rein in Big Tech.

The lawsuits were filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorneys general seeking to break up what theyve described as Facebooks monopoly on social networking.

Facebook shares rose more than 4 percent on June 28.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, an Obama appointee, said that FTC lawyers didnt provide enough evidence or explanation on how they determined that Facebook controls more than 60 percent of the social media networking market. The agency further alleged that Facebook violated antitrust laws by purchasing a would-be competitor.

The FTC has failed to plead enough facts to plausibly establish a necessary element of all of its Section 2 claimsnamely, that Facebook has monopoly power in the market for Personal Social Networking (PSN) Services, Boasberg wrote (pdf). The complaint contains nothing on that score save the naked allegation that the company has had and still has a dominant share of th[at] market (in excess of 60 percent).

Social networking websites and services are free to use, and the exact metes and bounds of what even constitutes a [social networking]i.e., which features of a companys mobile app or website are included in that definition and which are excludedare hardly crystal clear, he wrote in dismissing the case. The FTCs inability to offer any indication of the metric(s) or method(s) it used to calculate Facebooks market share renders its vague 60 percent-plus assertion too speculative and conclusory to go forward.

At the same time, the court struck down a separate lawsuit filed by several attorneys general, echoing arguments made in the FTC lawsuit against Facebook. Nearly every single state attorney general joined that lawsuit.

But Boasberg found (pdf) that the attorneys general waited too long to file a lawsuit, which challenged Facebooks 2012 purchase of Instagram, as well as the firms purchase of WhatsApp in 2014.

State and federal prosecutors now have 30 days to file new antitrust complaints against the Menlo Park, California-based company, the judge said.

An injunction under Section 13(b) is a theoretically available remedy in a Section 2 challenge to long-ago mergers, Boasberg said, regarding the FTC opinion, so long as the defendant still holds the purchased assets or stock, as is the case here.

Some lawmakers decried Boasbergs ruling, which they say may provoke Congress into pursuing more aggressive legislation against social media companies.

Todays development in the FTCs case against Facebook shows that antitrust reform is urgently needed, wrote Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committees antitrust subcommittee. Congress needs to provide additional tools and resources to our antitrust enforcers to go after Big Tech companies engaging in anticompetitive conduct.

The Epoch Times has contacted Facebook and the FTC for comment. Neither had an immediate public comment in statements or to media outlets after the court ruling.
People march in solidarity with protests in the United States in Melbourne, Australia on June 6, 2020. (Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Critical Race Theorys New World Vision Not Based in Fact

Commentary

The Australian Senate has just voted to keep Critical Race Theory (CRT) out of the national curriculum after the new proposed curriculum gave priority to teaching the culture, perspectives, and history of indigenous Australians across all subjects, including maths.

Not unexpectedly, those who voted against the motion accused the majority of embracing a far-right hatred agenda.

Proponents of CRT invariably use euphemisms to describe this theory.

They use terms like diversity, inclusion, and equity to promote its assumed salutary nature. But these apparently non-threatening words cannot mask the real objectives of the theorys proponents and its widespread use throughout academia.

Even a glance into the education and political circles today reveals the encroaching influence of Critical Race Theory (CRT).

CRT has been taught in universities since the 1990s. However, in the last couple of years, the theory has spread throughout the education system, seduced progressive politicians, and threatened to consume our institutions and way of life.

It also appeals to progressive academics, policymakers, and trendsetters because they believe that it has the capacity to reshape society.

A theory formulated from the Marxist idea that the world is divided into an entrenched set of classes that exploit the less fortunate groups and hinder an individual movement between them, CRT substitutes race for class and claims that all racism stems from European hegemony and white privilege that is endemic in the current society.

A review of CRT literature reveals the existence of scores of articles that describe and promote this theory.

A word that typifies the approach taken by promoters of CRT is decolonisation. An example can be found in a paper entitled The potential of critical race theory in decolonizing university curricula, published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Education.

Ideally, academic freedom and freedom of speech should be unrestricted, and, certainly, they should not be confined to an examination of mainstream ideas. However, here the word decolonisation refers to the assumption that Western knowledge and values are inherently discriminatory, hence the need to purge university curricula of these supposedly turgid Western influences.

The paper unapologetically states that CRT is transdisciplinary and can illuminate the hegemonic and appropriating capacities of Western disciplines and critique the dissonance that currently exists between indigenous and Western ways of knowing.

Then CRT as an academic approach seems to be in a different category because it ostensibly manipulates the concept of academic freedom to eliminate any scholarship that is incompatible with the theory.

Hence, the question must be asked whether the notion of academic freedom should encompass research that is intolerant of conservative views and ideas and seek to reshape a society that supports and possibly funds this research.

Further, the use of the word decolonisation in scholarly discourse is troubling because it conflates the notions of research and scholarship with activism and politics.

Academic research would thus no longer focus on the objective and unbiased dissemination of knowledge and discussion of ideas but would aim to provide the tools for the reshaping of society.

Those who teach and promote CRT assume that non-white people are entitled to compensation for past discrimination, slavery, and disenfranchisement. While it is true that, in the past, humanity routinely violated the principle of equal treatment, served the interests of advantaged members of society, and promoted flawed theories of racial superiority, CRT is not an appropriate tool to promote restorative justice.

Compensation should instead be limited to remedying identifiable instances of discrimination.

If not, disadvantages would be imposed on current members of society who themselves have not contributed to discrimination and may even have used their abilities or influence to promote harmonious relationships between different racial groups in society.

Indeed, if it were argued that living people should be held liable for discriminatory acts committed by their ancestors, then the point in time at which discriminatory acts occurred becomes irrelevant: it would no longer be necessary to make a causal connection between the act of discrimination and the transgressor.

The most important problem posed by CRT is that the theory rebuts the assumption that race is irrelevant in the distribution of benefits and the imposition of burdens.

Christopher F. Rufo provides an example. In a recently published paper, he states that In the name of equity, UCLA law professor and critical race theorist Cheryl Harris has proposed suspending private property rights, seizing land and wealth, and redistributing them along racial lines.

He also indicates that proponents of CRT in the United States have called for the creation of a permanent Federal Department of Antiracism, which would have the power to nullify, veto, or abolish any law at any level of government and curtail the speech of political leaders and others who are deemed insufficiently antiracist.

In the CRT world, society should embrace the idea that race is a distinguishing characteristic and entitles preferred races to benefits, which are not available to others.

But in Australia, surely, this restoration of the relevance of race, with its capacity to stereotype people, constitutes a violation of Australias Racial Discrimination Act 1975(Cth)?

If a persons race were to be considered in the distribution of benefits and the imposition of burdens, it would facilitate racial segregation and result in the abrogation of free speech.

Perhaps, it might be possible for ethnically European Australians to then rely on the contentious Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth)which makes it unlawful to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate someone because of their raceto seek relief?

CRT has the capacity to promote race hate in society. This may be one reason why former High Court Justice Ian Callinan confidently asserted that any attempt to justify the adoption of different law for different groups should be resisted.

CRT subverts the proper functioning of a cohesive society and undermines the function of universities, which according to the wise words of Cardinal John Henry Newman, should be the education of the intellect.I

Gabriel A. Moens is Emeritus Professor of Law, The University of Queensland. He served as Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Law at Murdoch University and has taught extensively across Europe, the United States, Asia, and Australia. He writes short stories and has published a novel about the origins of COVID-19, A Twisted Choice (Boolarong Press, 2020).

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Defence Ministers Face Grilling Over Classified Documents Found at Bus Stop

Ministers face a grilling by MPs today on how documents containing details of a sensitive navy ship deployment in the Black Sea were found at a bus stop.

The Ministry of Defence has acknowledged that the loss of the documents was reported by an employee last week, after an anonymous member of the public told the BBC they found 50 pages of classified information in Kent.

Shadow defence secretary John Healey has been granted an urgent question in the Commons on Monday on the issue. He called the incident as embarrassing as it is worrying for ministers.

The papers included a set of documents that discussed the potential reaction of Russia to HMS Defender travelling through Ukrainian waters off the Crimea coasta move that provoked a Russian military response.

Another document set out potential plans for a UK military footprint in Afghanistan.

HMS Defender is part of the carrier strike group bound for the Indo-Pacific on a mission touted by the government as symbolic of a long-awaited foreign policy pivot to the East, with a more wary eye on China.

The sign for the Ministry of Defence in London in an undated file photo. (Tim Ireland/PA)

The type 45 destroyer, however, temporarily peeled away from the carrier group to carry out its own mission in the Black Sea.

When the destroyer passed through international waters south of the Crimean Peninsulaannexed by Russia in 2014it sparked a response from the Russian military.

Several Russian military aircraft shadowed the vessel, one at a height of 500 feet that defence secretary Ben Wallace said was neither safe nor professional.

The Russian military said it had fired what it described as warning shots from their vessels at the destroyer. This characterisation was rejected by the Ministry of Defence, which said that only a routine gunnery exercise took place.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted the warship was entirely right to make the trip from Odessa in Ukraine to Georgia as an internationally recognised transit route.

The Ministry of Defence said that HMS Defender conducted innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law. It said that all potential factors are considered when making operational decisions.

Moscow has threatened to retaliate if the incident is repeated.

A spokesperson for the MoD said: The Ministry of Defence was informed last week of an incident in which sensitive defence papers were recovered by a member of the public. The department takes the security of information extremely seriously and an investigation has been launched. The employee concerned reported the loss at the time. It would be inappropriate to comment further.

PA contributed to this report.
Police seized music equipment including sound systems and speakers at an illegal rave in Steyning, England, on June 27, 2021. (PA)

Dozens Arrested as 2,000 Gather at Illegal Rave in Southeast England

Dozens of Britons have been arrested following an illegal rave attended by up to 2,000 people at a national park in southeast England.

Sussex Police were met with significant hostility when they shut down the unlicensed music event in Steyning, West Sussex, on Sunday.

More than 50 people have been arrested on suspicion of offences including drink and drug driving, possession of drugs, and theft, and have been taken into custody.

It is expected this figure will increase, making it one of the largest unplanned operations Sussex Police has experienced in recent years, the police said in a statement.

Under current COVID-19 restrictions in England, gatherings must not exceed 30 people unless covered by a legal exemption. Police can issue fines of up to 10,000 to those who breach this rule.

Footage posted to social media on Sunday shows large crowds dancing in a remote field in front of speakers pumping out music.

Police later seized a large volume of music equipment, including sound systems and speakers, and eight individuals were identified as the organisers of the unlicensed event and arrested.

A directive to leave the area was issued at 5:45 p.m., and the event reached a conclusion at 7:15 p.m., according to police.

An officer was assaulted while attempting to detain an individual resisting arrest, Sussex Police said.

A police community support officer was also being treated for a suspected broken arm after a motorist attempting to flee the scene collided with a police vehicle during the large-scale operation.

Sussex Police last night warned of disruption to the road network owing to a large number of badly parked vehicles, with locals urged to avoid the area.

Farmer James Wright, who is also a Horsham district councillor, yesterday said the illegal rave had led to terrified cattle with young calves, and that the unlicensed event had resulted in a lot of mess and heartache for those nearby.

Wright wrote on Twitter, Those who attended might think theyve had the best of times but genuine damage and distress has been caused to those that live and farm here.

Comedian John OSullivan, who lives in nearby Horsham, explained how everyone scattered from the illicit event when police arrived on Sunday.

He said: There were about 1,000 people when we [were] there. The music got turned off by police and they surrounded the sound system.

People were left confused at what to do. They were slumped in cars, in the grass. They did pick up the rubbish, though not all, but lots of people [were] making effort to pick it up.

Detective Superintendent Juliet Parker said in a statement: Due to the mindless actions of a large number of people, the majority of whom have travelled from out of county, the community of Steyning has experienced significant disruption.

With a situation of this size, our utmost priority must be the safety of the public as well as our officers and emergency services colleagues at the scene, she added.

These individuals have demonstrated a complete disregard for the local community, the heritage of the area and the existing COVID-19 regulations.

We will continue to robustly investigate this illegal activity, seeking to further arrest and prosecute wherever possible.

PA contributed to this report.
President Joe Biden, speaks about the infrastructure deal from the East Room of the White House on June 24, 2021. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Fact Checkers: Biden Claim That Second Amendment Bans Cannon Ownership Is False

Fact-checking websites ranked a claim made by President Joe Biden that the Second Amendment had banned citizens from owning cannons as false.

During remarks made last week about new gun-control measures, Biden said: And I might add: The Second Amendment, from the day it was passed, limited the type of people who could own a gun and what type of weapon you could own. You couldnt buy a cannon.

However, some experts said that the presidents assertion is categorically false.

Everything in that statement is wrong, David Kopel, research director and Second Amendment project director at the Independence Institute, told The Washington Post.

Kopel noted that when the Second Amendment was ratified, there were no gun control laws in place.

There were no federal laws about the type of gun you could own, and no states limited the kind of gun you could own, he said.

In the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden made a similar comment relating to the Second Amendment and who could own cannons during the Revolutionary War.

The Second Amendment, which makes no mention of cannons, reads: A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler noted that regarding Bidens recent comments on cannons, readers might think this is a relatively inconsequential flub. But he argued that all presidents have the responsibility to get American history correct, especially when hes using a supposed history lesson in service of a political objective.

The presidents push for more gun restrictions is an important part of his political platform, so he undercuts his cause when he cites faux facts, he said.

Other than The Washington Post, Politifact, in a rare rebuke of Biden, wrote that his comment wasnt accurate.

For its rating, the generally left-leaning fact-checking website cited University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds, who said, The Second Amendment places no limits on individual ownership of cannons, or any other arms.

Fordham University law professor Nicholas Johnson noted that the first federal gun-control law didnt appear until the 20th century.

The Second Amendment was ratified because American revolutionaries and Founding Fathers felt that force of arms was the only effective check on government, and standing armies threatened liberty, according to a 1994 paper (pdf) written by Valparaiso law professor David Vandercoy.

The Federalists and Anti-Federalists who helped frame the Constitution also both believed the greatest danger to the new republic was tyrannical government and that the ultimate check on tyranny was an armed population, the paper reads.

Representatives from the White House didnt respond to a request for comment by press time.
Facts Matter (June 28): FDA Adds Heart Inflammation Warning to mRNA Vaccines, New Data Results

On Monday, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that Facebook can be held liable if their platform is used by sex traffickers to prey on children.

Three days ago, the FDA added a warning to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccinesinforming consumers that there is a risk of developing heart inflammation.

In Arizona, the state House passed a new bill that will require schools to teach students about the evils of communism.

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John Ratcliffe (R-TX) is at a Senate Intelligence Committee nomination hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on May 5, 2020. (Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images)

Former Intelligence Chief Calls for Larger Discussion on UFOs, Warns They Display Technology US Doesnt Have

Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said that unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), also known as UFOs, appear to display technology that the United States doesnt have and cant defend against.

Ratcliffe made the remarks in an interview on Fox News that aired June 26, one day after the public release of a much-anticipated government report on UAP or UFOs (pdf), which found no clear indications that there is any non-terrestrial explanation for the aerial phenomena, although it left open the possibility of an alien origin.

Im actually glad that theres a report out there, Ratcliffe said in the interview. The bottom line is, unidentified aerial phenomenamany, many cases were able to explain it away for reasons like visual disturbances or weather phenomena, or foreign adversaries and their technologies, or even our own experimental technologies with certain aircraft and vehicles.

At the same time, he said there are a number of cases where no such explanations apply.

What this report really underscores  is that there are a number of instancesand the specific number remains classifiedbut a number of instances where weve ruled all of that out, he said.

And there are technologies that we dont have and frankly that we are not capable of defending againstbased on those things that weve seen, multiple sensors, in other words, where not just people visually see it but where its picked up on radar, where its seen on satellites, Ratcliffe said. Its an issue of national security.

This image from video, labeled GIMBAL and provided by the Department of Defense from 2015, shows an unexplained object (C) being tracked as it soars high along the clouds, traveling against the wind. (Department of Defense via AP)

Ratcliffe suggested that its unsettling that some of the aerial phenomena defy explanation.

Its not good to say, Gosh, we dont have good answers, and so we have to have a larger discussion to try and figure out specifically what this is all about, he said.

The report, which was issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in conjunction with a U.S. Navy-led UAP task force, studied 144 observations of unidentified aerial phenomena dating back to 2004, of which 11 caused near misses for military pilots.

UAP pose a hazard to safety of flight and could pose a broader danger if some instances represent sophisticated collection against U.S. military activities by a foreign government or demonstrate a breakthrough aerospace technology by a potential adversary, the report reads.

The report said that defense and intelligence analysts dont have enough data to determine the nature of UAP observed by military pilots, noting that they could fall into a number of categories, including foreign adversary systems, natural atmospheric phenomena, or other, a catch-all category that, theoretically, could include extraterrestrial technology.

UAP clearly pose a safety of flight issue and may pose a challenge to U.S. national security, the report stated, adding that the phenomena probably lack a single explanation.

The Pentagon established the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force last August to explore observations of aircraft of unknown origin. The task force aimed to detect, analyze and catalog such events, and to gain insight into the nature and origins of UFOs, the Pentagon said.

In the run-up to the release of the report, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said last month that members of Congress and other officials need to seriously investigate UFOs and the potential threat they pose.

Speaking to CBS News 60 Minutes, the Florida Republican described a stigma on Capitol Hill in which some lawmakers are very interested in this topic, but some kind of giggle when you bring it up. However, he cautioned, I dont think we can allow the stigma to keep us from having an answer to a very fundamental question.

The senator said he wants the Pentagon to come up with a process to take UAP seriously.

I want us to have a process to analyze the data every time it comes in, he said. That there be a place where this is cataloged and constantly analyzed until we get some answers. Maybe it has a very simple answer. Maybe it doesnt.

Jack Phillips, Isabel van Brugen, and Reuters contributed to this report.
A man walks past shops burned down by suspected members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) during an attack, in the village of Auno, Nigeria, on Feb. 9, 2020. (Audu Marte/AFP via Getty Images)

Former State Department Official: As Violence Pulls Nigeria Apart, US Focuses on Climate Change

Nigeria, a key U.S. ally, celebrated Democracy Day on June 12, the same day a former high-ranking U.S. official warned that the African nation is spiraling into chaos.

The country is falling apartif not already, former Assistant Secretary of State Robert Destro told the online conference Democracy in Peril, sponsored by the International Committee on Nigeria, about the massacres, kidnappings, and ISIS-linked insurgency that have taken more than 60,000 lives, according to multiple sources.

One of the most sobering things I heard last year in Abuja is that the civil war has already started, he said in an interview with The Epoch Times, which was his first public review of lessons learned since leaving the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

My contacts didnt say it was a civil war with two sides. They said it was a civil war with everyone against everyone. People will be presumed to be a threat even if they are not because the government is actively encouraging division and discrimination based on ethnic, religious, and regional origins.

Although the most populous nation in Africa, Nigeria may soon be Africas biggest failed state, according to Stephen Enada, co-founder of the International Committee on Nigeria.

By all accounts, Nigerian security forces are stretched thin battling an 11-year insurgency in the countrys northeastern states, a Biafra insurgency in the forests of its southeast, and rampant massacres of citizens in its so-called middle belt states. In addition, polls show that most Nigerians are terrified of being kidnapped for ransom by terrorists or bandits, Destro told the conference.

A friend told me that the only time he felt safe as a child growing up in Biafra was during the war, when the lines were clearly drawn up and you knew who the enemy was. Today there are many enemies. Nobody is safe, he told The Epoch Times.

Robert Destro (U.S. State Department)

After his confirmation in September 2019, Destro was at loggerheads with State Department experts, he told The Epoch Times.

As I pulled people together, I learned a lot about the bureaucracy and also about the importance of narrative. The operating narrative at State Department is that this is all about climate change. Do we really care about people being massacred? About getting kidnapped and held for ransom? No, what we really care about is climate changewhich is a little like saying, We love humanity, its just people we cant stand, Destro told the conference.

Climate change is the metanarrative that makes reliance on facts on the ground unnecessary, Destro told The Epoch Times. If herders are invading farmers lands, climate change is a convenient way to avoid looking at the economic, ethnic, and religious elements of these conflicts. Its an easy way to shut off debate, and to mask their unwillingness to address what those who live in constant fear of physical violence consider to be the root causes. Doing so would antagonize the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, whom they prefer to appease.

Security experts have warned that if Nigeria sinks into a caliphate quagmire, most of West Africa could follow suit. But Destro says he found it difficult to break the metanarrative of the career foreign service officers.

They dont want to talk about terrorism. Thats a broader issue involving more than Nigeria. Mozambique is a disaster. The Sahel is the new focus of al-Qaida terrorists. The American people are not being told why this should matter to us, he said.

Finding out what actually is happening in every region would be contrary to the farmer-herder narrative accepted in foreign policy circles, both here and abroad. The official position of DOS and USAID is that the whole conflict is between farmers and herders. Its not about corruption. Its not about attempts by some ethnic groups to dominate others, or about Muslim farmers taking land held by Christians. And, most importantly, we cannot speak frankly of corruption, which is the foundation of most human rights problems.

The threat of violence to Nigerian citizens is dire, Destro says.

The fact that USAID and state programs are fleeing from Nigerias Borno State and facing dangers in other places tells an objective observer that the Nigerian federal authorities are failing in their most basic of human rights obligations: to protect physical security. There is no physical security, there is no rule of law, and there is no concern for Nigerians, as people.

Some critics of U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Mary Beth Leonard have called for her to answer questions from congressional oversight committees.

The ambassador should have to testify, Destro said. But I think its pointless. She will parrot the narrative and bend over backwards to avoid tough questions. Far better would be hearings where recipients of non-health-related foreign assistance must justify, under the Foundations of Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, what the U.S. taxpayers are getting for the billions were spending in Nigeria and whether their programming is effective by any measures under the Evidence Act.
France, US Agree on China Threat but Devil Is in the Details

Commentary

France and the United States are finally on the same page in their determination to resist the possibility of a Chinese-led world order that would be profoundly illiberal in nature, according to a New York Times interview with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken published on June 25.

Blinken said that our purpose is not to contain China or try to hold China back. But when it comes to defending a free and open international order, we will stand up, according to the NY Times. The alternative is dire. Blinken said it was either no ordera world of chaos that inevitably leads to conflict and that almost inevitably brings us inor Chinese domination.

Those are tough words that require a tough response against China. The Democrats are learning.

It comes down to something pretty basic  we throw out a lot of words and we just kind of say them by rote, Blinken said. But at our best, our countries have worked to actually give meaning to liberty, equality, fraternity. Theyve tried to give meaning to freedom of speech. Theyve tried to give meaning to human rights. Theyve tried to give meaning to democracy.

According to the NY Times, Blinkens emotion was visible, which must mean he really meant it.

The NY Times was surprised at the convergence of French and American views given that French President Emmanuel Macron has supported a militarily stronger and more independent Europe. But it neednt have been surprised.

The trend of a stronger Europe has been building for decades and sped up as Vladimir Putins illiberality and territorial aggression increased, notably against Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014. China has done the same, or worse, in Asia.

In order to maintain the balance against China, the United States has had to withdraw attention from Russia and the Middle East, and pivot to Asia, starting in 2012. America is losing the capacity to fight two wars simultaneously against Russia and China, while at the same time holding down terrorism in the Middle East. This is the genesis of friendly American overtures to Putin and Kim Jong-un, even though Putin invaded Ukraine and Georgia, and Kim Jong-un keeps lobbing missiles over our Asian allies.

U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and French President Emmanuel Macron (R) shake hand at the end of a press conference following meetings at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on July 13, 2017. (Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images)

So, President Donald Trump got it right when he warned NATO countries that they would have to pay up and fund their agreed 2 percent of GDP on defense, or the United States would start to withdraw our protection. It was a tough love for Europe but Europe got the message, increased its defense spending, and started to think more seriously about a common European foreign and defense policy. The Europeans didnt like Trump but Biden isnt offering them much more, other than his big long-in-the-tooth smile.

So, a militarily strong and unified Europe is absolutely necessary and to be expected so that China and Russia cant utilize the divide-and-conquer tactics that they are using currently, for example, by having Hungary veto European Union statements against Chinas human rights abuse and territorial aggression. With an EU common foreign and defense policy, Hungary wont be able to pull that stunt any longer.

Bidens support, or at least silence-is-consent policy, when it comes to Frances call for more European strategic autonomy from the United States, will yield the same end result as Trumps call for greater European military spending or the United States withdraws its security. Both policies result in the same American goal: a stronger and more unified European ally that will be a real asset on the global battlefield of the future.

A strong and independent European Union, along with a strong and independent United States and Japan, is the best hope for defending a world of independent democracies against the attempts of a communist Chinese regime to control us all for its own ends. We can and must achieve peace through the strength of strong democratic allies. The Biden administration appears to understand this.

Unfortunately, Blinken apparently believes that he can beat China through Bidens Build Back Better for the World program (a.k.a. B3W), according to the interview. B3W is a fancy way of saying that the United States and allies will try to out-spend China globally in terms of foreign aid. Much of the cement and steel that is needed to produce infrastructure in the Global South, however, is currently being produced in China. If America wants to compete, it will have to buy its steel and concrete from American and allied manufacturers, and insist that beneficiary countries of B3W do the same.

Keeping the Global South honest in its development decision-making will require not only offering a better deal than Beijing, but ensuring that Beijing does not bribe global leaders to get them to accept Beijings worse deals. The United States and allies will have to get more creative, and tougher, about prosecuting corruption globally.

Finally, if the West and allies spend all our money on highways in Africa, for example, we may not have enough remaining for the military spending needed to defend against, or defeat, China. If China keeps building its military at its current rate, at some point, it will be able to defeat United States and European military forces, and at that point, B3W will be next to useless.

Apparently, Blinken did not volunteer his thoughts on these strategic pitfalls, and the NY Times did not ask. Lets hope that the United States and France had some better ideas behind closed doors. America, Europe, Japan, and our other allies are going to have to step up our game if we are going to leave the world a safer, freer, and more secure place for our children.

Anders Corr has a bachelors/masters in political science from Yale University (2001) and a doctorate in government from Harvard University (2008). Hes a principal at Corr Analytics Inc., publisher of the Journal of Political Risk, and has conducted extensive research in North America, Europe, and Asia. He authored The Concentration of Power (forthcoming in 2021) and No Trespassing, and edited Great Powers, Grand Strategies.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Voters stand in line to cast their ballots during the first day of early voting in the U.S. Senate runoff, in Atlanta, Ga., on Dec. 14, 2020. (Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)

Georgia AG Denounces DOJ Lawsuit Against Georgia Election Law as Blatantly Political

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr took aim at the Department of Justices (DOJ) recently announced lawsuit against the states election law, calling the move constitutionally wrong and politically motivated.

In a Monday interview on Fox News, Carr objected to Fridays decision by the DOJ to file a lawsuit against Georgia over the states recently passed Election Integrity Act, arguing that, this blatantly political action taken by the United States Department of Justice is factually, legally and constitutionally wrong, while alleging that the Justice Department was being weaponized.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the lawsuit at a press conference on Friday, alleging the Georgia elections law is a violation of the federal Voting Rights Acts protections for minority voters.

Our complaint alleges that recent changes to Georgias election laws were enacted with the purpose of denying or abridging the right of black Georgians to vote on account of their race or color, Garland said.

Where we believe the civil rights of Americans have been violated, we will not hesitate to act, he added.

The legal action takes aim at SB 202, or the Election Integrity Act of 2021 (pdf), which cleared both state legislative chambers with no Democratic backing, and was signed into law by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on March 25drawing praise from backers of elections integrity measures and protests from those who claim the bill amounts to voter suppression.

On Friday, in a statement to The Epoch Times, Kemp criticized the DOJs lawsuit as being a product of the lies and misinformation the Biden administration has pushed against Georgias Election Integrity Act from the start.

Now, his statement added, they are weaponizing the U.S. Department of Justice to carry out their far-left agenda that undermines election integrity and empowers federal government overreach in our democracy.

Asked about the lawsuit, Carr agreed with Kemps characterization that the DOJ was being weaponized, arguing that the Justice Department is simply playing politics and is not upholding the rule of law.

Carr added that anybody who will actually read the Georgia law sees it strengthens security, it expands access, and it improves transparency.

Republicans have argued the election reform measures are necessary improvements to shore up integrity and rebuild confidence in the states elections. The reforms include requiring photo or state-approved identification to vote absentee by mail. They also mandate that secure drop boxes be placed inside early voting locations, with constant surveillance, and the law expands early voting across the state to address a key Democrat concern. The bill also shortens the election cycle for runoffs from nine weeks to four and requires a minimum of one week of early voting before Election Day.

The new DOJ lawsuit is being handled by Kristen Clarke, the head of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela Karlan.

The provisions we are challenging reduce access to absentee voting at each step of the process pushing more Black voters to in person voting, where they will be more likely than white voters to confront long lines, Clarke said Friday in criticizing the Georgia law.

The federal lawsuit DOJs lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of Georgia. The suit is one of several others petitioning the courts for relief after the voting measure was signed into law.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
Going for a Jungle Swim

On the second night we were at the Tambopata Jungle Resort in Peru, our guide, Juan, took us for a boat ride to spot caimans. He used his big flashlight to spot the beady eyes watching us from just above the water level. Suddenly he reached over and pulled a four-foot young caiman into the boat with us. He laughed at his success, tossed the animal back into the water, and turned the boat toward the dock.

Morning dawned with beautiful weather for our hike to a lovely swimming lake. The lodge provided knee-high galoshes and a raincoat. Juan assured us the hike was short and he had everything wed need. We set off down the mud steps and into the boat that had had an unreliable motor the previous day.

We made it across the very wide river in about a half-hour, arriving at the University Research Station for Jungle Research. We expected a modern building but instead walked up the small trail to find a few grass huts. Just behind these was the dense jungle with a three-foot-wide trail cleared for people to pass through along the same pathway animals use to the lake.

A fallen tree and a vine help Bill Neely cross raging floodwaters near the Tambopata Research Center in Peru. (Courtesy of Bill Neely)

As we walked, Juan told us about the flora and fauna we were encountering. He described the plants along the way and told what they are used for, in medicines and for eating, and he also pointed out many lethal ones and warned us not to touch. His main fascination was birds, and many beautiful species live here or migrate here during Northern winters.

The enormous kapok trees formed a canopy so high above us that we could not see their tops. We knew this jungle was filled with such exotic animals as tapirs, anteaters, sloths, jaguars, ocelots, and capybaras. As Juan pointed out a tapir footprint on the trail, he explained, The jungle mammals only come out at night, but there are lots of snakes and insects Ill tell you about.

We have seven kinds of poisonous serpents and anacondas that can be more than 30 feet long. You must watch out for these because they are active all the time.

Just then, we came to a puddle so large we could not step over it, and the thick jungle prevented our going around it. I stepped into water up to my thighs, but there was nothing to do but go on through, both boots filling with water.

The Tambopata Research Center in Peru is one of the most remote in South America. (Courtesy of Bill Neely)

We walked on now with Juan walking backward and talking to us about the birds that make the lake where we were headed their home. We mostly watched the trail for snakes and puddles. Then suddenly he stepped into water he hadnt seen and disappeared below the surface. We stood in horror as he groped his way out laughing.

This isnt the lake where we are going swimming, he said. We are almost at the beautiful lake, where we will have a picnic and then return.

How? we asked, and he replied, Follow me.

He jumped into the water and began to swim across, and we forged ahead, too. The water was over my head in places where I had to swim. Bill held our cameras high above his head as he carefully stepped along in water up to his chin. After what seemed like hours but was perhaps 25 minutes, we stepped out on the other side and followed our happy guide onward to the swimming lake, but we had had enough of an Amazon jungle swim to last a lifetime. Our three-hour hike had now lasted four hours, and we had not yet arrived at our destination. And we still had the return trek to endure.

I was first in line behind Juan, trudging along through the deep woodsy jungle as our trail had ended with the watery lagoon. Suddenly I heard: Be careful, go around that tree. There is a colony web of hundreds of poisonous spiders right at your face!

And there was more. We came to a place where the water again was over our heads. According to Juan, all of this water had resulted overnight from rains upstream, but they had no radio, phone, or newspaper to find out about it. Ahead was the formerly small stream turned into a raging, muddy river.

Thankfully, a huge tree had fallen across it and made a bridge for us, and Juan found a long vine to hold on to. Just below our feet was the swirling raging death that one misstep would take us straight into. The gangplank seemed endless, but we made it across safely. A few minutes more and we were at our destination.

We were hungry and asked Juan to get out our picnic. From his bag he pulled one tiny can of tuna and some soggy saltines. We tried to eat a little tuna with our fingers but refused the saltines since there was nothing to drink. Then he reached into his pack again and pulled out a raw chicken leg, pieces of which he fed to the fish.

Watch closely, he said, and the water suddenly boiled with piranhas.

Back on shore, the trail through the thick jungle appeared again, and we followed it until finally the grass huts of the research station appeared. I ran inside to get something to eat and drink. All they had was bananas and beer, which we devoured rapidly. It sounds awful, but nothing ever tasted so good.

When You Go

For more information: Perunature.com/amazon_lodge/tambopata-research-center/lodge-overview

Bonnie and Bill Neely are freelance writers and photographers. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at Creators.com. Copyright 2021 Creators.com
Green Groups Redirect Efforts to Reconciliation Package: Report

Green groups are redirecting their efforts toward a reconciliation package after learning that a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package backed by President Joe Biden is unlikely to include many of their proposals.

Biden announced on June 24 that he, along with five Democratic and five Republican senators, had reached a deal on a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, after weeks of talks.

According to a fact sheet released by the White House on June 24, the bill would make investments in clean transportation infrastructure, as well as clean power infrastructure, and the remediation of legacy pollution.

Immediately following Bidens announcement, some Democrats criticized the measure as being too limited, as they sought a multi-trillion-dollar package that would include more funding for climate-related initiatives and childcare measures.

The pared-down version of the infrastructure deal, for example, would include just $15 billion of the presidents initial $174 billion goal for electric vehicles and transit.

Environmental advocates say they are hopeful that many of the provisions they say will fight climate change can be achieved through a measure that is set to advance alongside the bipartisan infrastructure package without Republican support.

Our eyes are on the prize, Ben Beachy, director of the Sierra Clubs living economy program, told The Hill on Thursday. Were fighting for a big bold infrastructure package, and the path for that, as confirmed today, is the reconciliation path, and that is certainly our focus.

Democrats had said they wanted to pass the American Families Plan, costing trillions of dollars, via the complex reconciliation process of budget legislation in a bid to bypass the filibuster. Reconciliation only requires 50 votes and Vice President Kamala Harriss tie-breaking vote.

Vice President Kamala Harris talks to reporters after arriving at El Paso International Airport, in El Paso, Texas, on June 25, 2021. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

The second reconciliation bill includes spending on climate change, Medicare expansion, and more of the Democratic Partys progressive priorities.

Last week, leaders of environmental groups urged the White House and Democratic congressional leaders to reject any bipartisan infrastructure deal that lacks strong provisions to fight climate change.

The BlueGreen Alliance, which includes some of the countrys biggest environmental groups and labor unions, said in a letter its members were troubled by recent proposals that are watered down.

We urge you to ensure that this investment is as bold and transformative as our current moment demands and reject short-sighted proposals that would delay or weaken economic recovery, and that may fracture the broad array of constituencies and organizations that are unified in support of more ambitious proposals, the letter said. Now is not the time for small-minded measures.

The letter said any package should include measures to expand clean energy, modernize the electric grid, prioritize investments in low-income and minority areas, and make it easier for unions to organize.

Republicans have argued that such climate change proposals do not count as infrastructure.

Tom Ozimek and Reuters contributed to this report.
Health Department to Investigate How CCTV Footage Exposing Hancock Was Leaked

The government will be launching an internal investigation into how CCTV footage of Matt Hancock was leaked, a Cabinet minister has said.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) will seek to find out how the footage became public, as former cabinet ministers have said they never had cameras in their offices.

The CCTV leak led to Hancocks resignation as health secretary on Saturday after it exposed him in an embrace with aide Gina Coladangelo last monthbreaking his own coronavirus rules.

Hancock had no idea that the camera in his office existed, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Asked on Sky Newss Trevor Phillips On Sunday programme about the leak, Lewis said: Its something we need to get to the bottom of. Quite rightly what happens in government departments can be sensitive and important. So, yes, I do know that is something the Department of Health will be taking forward as an internal investigation.

It comes despite Downing Street refusing to comment on Friday on whether a probe will be launched.

Lewis also told BBC Ones Andrew Marr Show that the investigatory team will be looking into the issue across government, adding, I have to say I always take the view its best to assume that everything youre saying or putting in writing is going to be reported somewhere.

Conservative MP Jeremy Hunt in an undated file photo. (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt told the programme it is completely unacceptable that ministers are being filmed inside their offices.

The chairman of the Commons Health Select Committee said: Its completely unacceptable from a security point of view that ministers are being filmed inside their own offices without their knowledge. And so therell be issues that our intelligence agencies will want to look at very, very carefully.

He added that there is an another issue over ministers ability to have private conversations that would enable them to make the right decisions without being spied on.

Former Cabinet ministers Alan Johnson and Rory Stewart both said there had never been cameras in their offices during their time in government.

Johnson told Trevor Phillips On Sunday: I could never understand why there was a camera in the secretary of states office. There was never a camera in my office when I was health secretary or in any of the other five Cabinet positions.

Stewart, who was international development secretary from May to July 2019, said in a Twitter post, I definitely did not know that there were cameras in any of my ministerial offices (in fact I was toldwhen I asked if there were any camerasthat there were not cameras in my office in DfiD).

He added: If it were a departmental cameraperhaps focused on the door for security reasonsthen it would be seen by the security officers. Someone else installing it would have some challengessecurity passes, doors, access to ministerial office etc.

Think tank the Henry Jackson Society has reported the disclosure of the footage as a breach of the Official Secrets Acts to the Metropolitan Police, but the force said it considered the leak a matter for the relevant government department rather than police.

Under the Data Protection Act 2018, business operators of CCTV must register their details with data and privacy protection regulator the Information Commissioners Office and be able to justify its usage.

Companies must tell people they may be recorded, usually through signage, control who sees recordings, and ensure the system is only used for its intended purpose.

Monitoring of staff without their knowledge is only allowed in exceptional circumstances, such as if they are suspected to be breaking the law, and can only be done as part of a specific investigation.

By Laura Parnaby
Members of the Sealed Knot, a society promoting interest in the English Civil War, fire muskets as they stage a reenactment of the Battle of Nantwich, a battle which took place near the town in 1644, in north west England on Jan. 25, 2020. The first modern re-enactment of the Battle of Nantwich took place in 1973 and has taken place every year since. In January 1643, Parliamentarians took the town of Namptwiche (Cheshires second town). By the end of December, the town was surrounded by Royalists and under siege. A Parliamentarian force marched south from Lancashire under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax and defeated the Royalists in the Battle of Namptwiche on Jan. 25, 1644. (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)

Here Come The New Cavaliers!

Commentary

Travis Perry holds an MA in history and answers questions on the website Quora. I have just read his short answer comparing Roundheads and Cavaliers during the English Civil War (16421651), a war that pit Puritans against Royalists, supporters of Parliament versus supporters of the King, Bible thumpers versus aristocrats, the emerging gentry and middle classes against the hereditary landowners, those who espoused high culture and those who saw the world through the egalitarian eyes of the recently translated Old Testament. Simply put, the people against the ruling class.

For most readers, the English Civil War is irrelevant history, perhaps relevant in the long scheme of things but not in the short. The Cavaliers dressed in fancy clothes, they drank, and they only socialized with one another. They looked down on the lower classes and the masses. They were entitled. Have they disappeared? Not at all.

Their lifestyle and world view seems to have re-emerged among our elected and selected officials in todays modern democracies. These are the New Cavaliers. But please note that these New Cavaliers get elected by saying they will help the poor, the middle classes, the struggling immigrant. Then they divert public resources to their private needs, their clients, and friends. We, the Roundheads, the people, have been duped and come up short-changed.

Perry reminds us that the Cavaliers represented English nobilitythey dressed well and supported the Anglican churchs non-Puritanical traditions. They certainly knew how to spend! Are our leaders really like them? Let us see what the evidence suggests.

The Guardian newspaper of Britain had this to say about the G-7 leaders at their most recent summit:

The security cost of hosting next weekends G7 summit in Cornwall will exceed 70m if the final bill of policing the meeting of world leaders is in line with the two previous events held in the UK. Around 6,500 police will secure the event at Carbis Bay, near St Ives, on 11-13 June, with more than 5,000 coming from around the country to help the Devon and Cornwall force run what it said is the largest security operation in its history.

Perry reminds us that:

The Puritans accused the Cavaliers of being heavy drinking, party-going men who did not care very much about Godor for them, anything important. In turn, the Cavaliers believed they were socially superior to the mostly lower-class Roundheads and maintained an aloof attitude towards them. Both of these realities have fed into what we mean today when we describe a Cavalier attitude.

The CBC reported that the G-7 summit held in Canada in 2018 cost a lot, too: Depending on your perspective, a $396 million security investment is either a lot, or a little.

Oh, may I point out that the average salary for a Canadian senator is more than CA$150,000 ($122,000) a year without perks or pensions or any other hidden costs? I guess its actually more than $200,000, for we will never really know about long-term, medium-term, and short-term perks and allowances (and perhaps untaxable allowances).

Now it seems that our modern New Cavaliers cant do things for themselves, just like the old ones. They dont get their hands dirty governing. They must say to themselves, Ruling is for the hoi polloiwe dont need to do that! And so, they must have clients, proteges, what used to be called courtiers, and what better way of expanding their entourage than by paying them as consultants.

On April 12, the National Post reported that the Canadian governments consulting fees are expected to have risen by CA$6 billion between 2015 and 2022:

Costs for professional and special services is expected to increase to $16.4 billion next year, up from $10.4 billion when the Liberal government took officethe highest level of spending since at least the 1990s, according to public data. At the same time, the cost of paying government worker salaries has also increased sharply, from $39.6 billion before 2015 to $47.5 billion in 2020.

Perry then reminds us how, way back when, the other half lived.

The Roundheads were English Puritans. They were called what they were because they took Biblical statements about men having short hair (I Corinthians 11:14) literally and many but not all of them cut their hair close at a time when long hair was the current fashion for men. They always found the term Roundhead offensive and preferred to be called Puritans or by other names.

I think this may well describe the average Canadian, give or take a few libertines here and there: hard-working, family-oriented men and women who live within their household budgets and dont like going into debt, even if they have to. Even if the media-soaked average Canadian wanted to live like a Cavalier and dreams of it while watching the Kardashians on TV, he or she just simply cant afford it.

BNN Bloomberg on May 12 reported the following troubling trend:

Canadian consumer insolvencies surged by nearly 23 per cent month-over-month in March, according to data released by the Office of Superintendent of Bankruptcy (OSB) Wednesday. That increase marked the largest one-month jump in new filing activity in more than a decade as some consumers simply hit a wall when it came to staving off a bankruptcy.

Now, if you think that theres evidence that the governing elites of the West are predatory and libertine, hear this! During the summer of 2017, U.S. News and World Report posted this wonderfully revealing piece:

Le Point, a French news magazine, revealed Thursday that French President Emmanuel Macron has spent 26,000 euros on makeup services since taking office in May. That is more than $30,000 on cosmetics during his first three months as president, or about $330 spent on makeup each day. And taxpayers are fronting the cost.

Look around you. Ask questions. Do research. Connect the dots. Look at budgets. Evaluate spending. Youll see that governments in the West are spending more and more of our taxpayers dollars, and on what? A convinced left-winger would say, If it benefits the people, then why not? Well, the New Cavaliers dont seem to care about the people. They spend the money on themselves and their hangers on. And most of it comes from Roundheads who pay the taxesus.

As Perry reminds us, The Cavaliers believed they were socially superior to the mostly lower-class Roundheads and maintained an aloof attitude towards them.

I think this describes our New Cavaliers rather well. And it only took 370 years to get us back to 1651. Arent they something to be admired?

Geoffrey Clarfield is an anthropologist-at-large who has spent 20 years travelling, living, and working in East Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Rail Worker Saved 29 People From Committing Suicide in 6 Years by Talking and Listening

A British rail worker, trained to help persons at risk of suicide on the line, has saved 29 lives since 2015, thanks to his aptitude for talking and listening.

In 2015, Rizwan Javed, 30a communications and stakeholder manager for the MTR Elizabeth Line at West Londons Ealing Broadway stationenrolled in Samaritans Managing Suicidal Contacts training. The course equips staff with the skills needed to deescalate potential suicide situations.

Despite his initial apprehensions of putting his knowledge into practice, Javed now knows the training has helped him help others.

The first time I was put in a situation where I was dealing with a vulnerable person it was nerve-wracking, he told MyLondon. Every aspect of the training was being implemented in real life, and I was concerned.

Am I going to say the right thing? he wondered. Am I going to do the right thing? Am I going to be able to engage with this person?

Receiving training so early in his career gave him the situational awareness to identify vulnerable persons and the confidence to approach them. He said distressed facial expressions and commuters removing their clothing are two major red flags when it comes to spotting someone in crisis.

Not only has Javed saved 29 people from taking their own lives in and around his West London station, his interactions with people in need have profoundly impacted him as well.

Javed recalls a young woman looking distressed during a night shift. The rail worker called the signalmen and had a line block put in place before he ran over to distract her.

It wasnt easy initially, it was hard to engage, Javed recalled. She had various thoughts in her head, but eventually I talked her into a place of safety.

After speaking to the woman for an hour, he called the British Transport Police for support. The womans family was called, and loved ones arrived to ensure her safety.

A week later, she returned to the station.

I noticed her from a distance and she ran over and said Thank you to me, just for being there that night, he recalled. It meant the world to me that she was okay and doing well for herself.

In 2018, Javed earned the Samaritans Lifesaver Award for his efforts. He said the award symbolized not only his own dedication but also that of his colleagues.

It reminds me I can do better, it doesnt stop here, the journey continues, he said.

The journey has indeed continuedfor Javed feels his own British Asian community is less open to discussing mental health matters than other groups. Hes educated and encouraged family and friends to reach out, particularly during the time of the pandemic.

It is okay not to be okay, he impresses.

Samaritans, in partnership with Network Rail, has trained 22,000 rail staff and British Transport Police officers to help prevent suicide on the rail line.

Its given me a positive mindset, he said. I want to continue to make a difference in my life, and spread awareness so others can do the same.

Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Epoch Inspired Newsletter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter
Supporters of Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily wave their cellphone lights outside of the papers headquarters in Hong Kong on June 23, 2021. (Sung Pi-lung/The Epoch Times)

Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Online News Outlet Prepares for Potential CCP Takedown

Hong Kong online news outlet Stand News has announced a series of moves to protect its employees, donors, readers, and board members in the event action is taken against the pro-democracy website by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The outlet vowed in a June 27 statement to continue its news reporting, and urged supporters to donate to other independent media, free reporters and commentators, and news organizations who support free speech and press.

Its the first Hong Kong pro-democracy news outlet to announce internal changes since the Chinese regime this month forced the closure of Apple Daily, a pro-democracy news outlet and one of the three top-selling Hong Kong newspapers.

Announcement

Stand News said it would take the actions to respond to the literary inquisition that has been applied in Hong Kong and in the event that the publication encounters a fatal disaster like the regimes shutdown of Apple Daily.

Hong Kong Stand News releases announcement to prepare for possible government suppression in Hong Kong on June 27, 2021. (thestandnews.com/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Among the actions would be deleting all opinion pieces and commentaries, and republishing them only after the writers confirm with the outlet that they accept the possibility of being arrested by the regime.

The website also plans to suspend the receipt of subscriptions and donations; the outlet says its current funds can support the websites operations for nine to 12 months.

The outlet is urging supporters to donate to other independent media, because Hong Kong media business needs every donors support in the current time of great change.

Contracts have been terminated with employees who had worked for the outlet for over six months as of May. The outlet signed new contracts with those who decided in favor of continued employment.

Six board membersYu Ka-fai, Chow Tat-chi, Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, Denise Ho Wan-si, Fong Man-sun, and Joseph Lian Yi-zhenghave resigned, while two others, Tony Tsoi Tung-ho and Chung Pui-kuen, will continue working with the news outlet.

Stand News vowed in the announcement that it would walk together with Hongkongers, be encouraged by the kindness from every donor and reader, report the news well, write down Hong Kongs history, and record Hong Kongs history.

Stand News was founded by Tony Tsoi Tung-ho in December 2014, when the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement was coming to a close. The outlet primarily reports on pro-democracy and anti-communist Hong Kong news.

Declare our position; stand, dont hide; dont avoid or evade; insist on reporting the truth is its stated purpose.

In 2019, Stand News was ranked No. 1 in credibility among online news media in Hong Kong in a survey by the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Police set up a cordon outside Apple Dailys headquarters in Hong Kong on June 17, 2021. (Kin Cheung,File/AP Photo)

Apple Daily

On June 30, 2020, the CCPs rubber-stamp legislature passed its controversial Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL). The next day, more than 350 people were reported to have been arrested by police for shouting the pro-democracy slogan liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times, or for having the flag of Hong Kong Independence in their possession.

Since then, the regime in Hong Kong has used the NSL to detain pro-democracy activists in the city. The Apple Daily incident is the first case of the regime using the law to take out an independent media outlet.

On June 17, the Hong Kong police raided Apple Dailys headquarters and arrested five directors, including its editor-in-chief. The police claimed that the tabloid had violated the NSL due to its publishing more than 30 articles since 2019 calling for foreign countries to impose sanctions on the Chinese regime and the Hong Kong government.

On the same day, the Hong Kong Security Bureau froze the assets of Apple Daily, worth around HK$18 million (US$2.32 million).

This series of actions directly led to the closure of the paper, which announced on June 23 that the June 24 edition would be its last.

According to the South China Morning Post, on June 27, Fung Wai-kong, 57, the editorial writer of the English version of Apple Daily, was arrested at Hong Kong airport before he could board a flight to leave the city. The regime claimed that Fung had violated the NSL.
The Theodore Roosevelt Equestrian Statue is seen in front of The American Museum of Natural History on the Central Park West entrance in New York City on June 22,2020. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)

How Things Change: Defacing George Floyd Statue a Crime, Removing Teddy Roosevelt Statue Progress

Commentary

Back in the olden days, the Swiss art historian Heinrich Wolfflin noted that not all things are possible at all times.

Wolfflin was talking about historical constraints in the realm of artistic style.

Mondrians abstractions, for example, wouldnt have been possible in the age of Rubens.

The point can be generalized.

Last summer, it was open season on statues and other monuments.

In June 2020, 1,000 people gathered at Byrd Park in Richmond, Virginia, to stand in solidarity with indigenous peoples. That day, the object of their wrath was an eight-foot statue of Christopher Columbus, which they toppled and dragged to a nearby lake for disposal.

Columbus represents genocide, explained one of the protestors.

That night, the iconoclasts got along without the expert advice of Sarah Parcak, an Egyptologist from the University of Alabama who, just the previous week, had taken to Twitter to provide tips on how best to topple obelisks.

Twitter cant abide criticism of Hunter Biden, support of Donald Trump, or heterodox opinions about the CCP virus. But it is happy to provide a platform for academic anarchists like professor Parcak or the English academic who was ready with instructions about how to permanently damage stone monuments with caustic household chemicals.

One of the monuments at hand was a statue of Winston Churchill, known the world over as an apostle of British imperialism.

But that was then, back in the halcyon days of summer 2020, when mostly peaceful protests torched police stations, smashed storefronts, and maimed policemen. Back then, the world was treated to treatises like In Defense of Looting by Vicky (formerly Willie) Osterweil.

Shortly after publication, Amazon listed In Defense of Looting as its #1 New Release, while the books publisher gushed that it provided a fresh argument for rioting and looting as our most powerful tools for dismantling white supremacy.

I dont doubt it.

For her part, Osterweil weighed in with the observation that the right to property is innately, structurally white supremacist: support for white supremacy involves a commitment to property and the commodity form.

Has anyone inquired about the status of her royalties, a form of private property especially dear to authors?

In any event, I am surprised that s/he wasnt tapped for a place in the Biden administration (though for all I know she has been).

But not all things are possible at all times. In the summer of 2020, it was all the rage to deface or topple statues, to destroy or expropriate private property.

A statue of George Floyd is unveiled at Flatbush Junction in New York City on June 19, 2021. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

But that was B.B., Before Biden. Recently, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio decided to drop charges against the hundreds of vandals who had been arrested in the riots of 2020.

The meme was its only property, smashing stuff is a legitimate form of protest, and so on.

But all that suddenly changed on June 24, when it was discovered that someone had defaced a statue of St. George Floyd, drug addict, violent felon, and martyr. Now, the mayor was singing a different song.

Last night, he wrote on Twitter, a far-right extremist group [how does he know that?] vandalized a statue of George Floyd in Brooklyn. A racist, loathsome, despicable act of hate.

Oh, dear. But fear not, the mayor is on it. The City Cleanup Corps is repairing the statue right now and a hate crime investigation is underway. We will bring these cowards to justice.

How quickly times change. Or maybe Cicero had it right when he was lambasting Catiline: O tempora, O mores! (Oh, the times! Oh, the customs!)

Over at Instapundit, Ed Driscoll had some fun with de Blasios newfound moral indignation. Among other things, he quotes from an insightful piece by Sahil Mahtani.

We used to think that the Talibans habit of destroying important cultural artifacts was a mark of barbarism.

Now, weve learned that it is an avant-garde gesture, and is, therefore, commendable.

Todays conversation about statues is not an argument about slavery or colonialism or even minorities more generally, Mahtani observes. It is an argument about historical objects, and what you do with them as values change.

Indeed they do. And where are we now?

Over the years, Mahtani concludes, weve learned that our commitment to liberalism and free speech was outmoded. We won the battle over ourselves, and learned to see that the Afghan dogmatism that we wrote off as medieval was, in fact, the future.

Not everything is possible at all times. But I guess we have come to the point where de Blasio, having embraced his inner Taliban, is emerging as a new censor.

The grinding noise of cognitive dissonance is patent.

Meanwhile, there is further progress.

The statue of Teddy Roosevelt that has stood in front of the American Museum of Natural History for decades is finally, at last, being carted away.

All those delicate denizens of the Upper West Side can untwist their knickers.

Teddy, flanked by an Indian and a black man, will soon be gone. That source of palpitations will be removed.

The universe will have taken more steps toward the sort of unanimity and historical vacuousness that the Taliban embraces and its American crybullies emulate.

Rejoice!

Roger Kimball is the editor and publisher of The New Criterion and the publisher of Encounter Books. His most recent book is Who Rules? Sovereignty, Nationalism, and the Fate of Freedom in the 21st Century.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Iranian conservative presidential candidate Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf delivers a speech during a campaign rally in the capital Tehran on May 2, 2017. (ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran Refuses to Give Nuclear Site Images to IAEA

DUBAIThe speaker of Irans parliament said on June 27 that Tehran will never hand over images from inside of some Iranian nuclear sites to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, as a monitoring agreement with the agency had expired, Iranian state media reported.

The agreement has expired.  Any of the information recorded will never be given to the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA], and the data and images will remain in the possession of Iran, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said.

The announcement could further complicate talks between Iran and six major powers on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.

A spokesman for Irans parliaments National Security and Foreign Affairs Committee warned that Iran will also turn off the IAEA cameras if the United States fails to remove all sanctions, the state-run Tehran Times newspapers website reported.

The IAEA and Tehran struck the three-month monitoring agreement in February to cushion the blow of Iran reducing its cooperation with the agency, and it allowed monitoring of some activities to continue that would otherwise have been axed.

Under that agreement, which on May 24 was extended by a month, data continues to be collected in a black-box-type arrangement, with the IAEA only able to access it at a later date.

On June 25, the IAEA demanded an immediate reply from Iran on whether it would extend the monitoring agreement, prompting an Iranian envoy to respond that Tehran was under no obligation to provide an answer.

Iran said on June 23 that the countrys Supreme National Security Council would decide whether to renew the monitoring agreement only after it expires.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on June 25 that any failure by Tehran to extend the monitoring agreement would be a serious concern for broader negotiations.

Parties involved in the talks on reviving the deal, which began in April in Vienna, have said there are major issues still to be resolved before the nuclear deal can be reinstated.

By Parisa Hafezi
In this photo illustration, a visual representation of Bitcoin cryptocurrency is pictured in London on May 30, 2021. (Edward Smith/Getty Images)

Is Chinas Bitcoin Mining Ban a Benefit in Disguise?

Commentary

Beijings broadening ban on cryptocurrency mining hasfor nowcrippled the industry and sent bitcoin prices tumbling.

But as bitcoin miners move to other regions and countries, Chinas recent action may usher in a period of greater stability for the cryptocurrency. More diverse distribution of mining power and higher usage of renewable energy might also be in store.

In late May, Chinas State Council vowed to crack down on bitcoin trading and mining. The notices came after Chinas central bank began implementing its own digital currency.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) deems cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin a nuisance, disrupting economic order and facilitating illegal transfers of wealth. In addition, Beijing has decried the massive power consumption of bitcoin miners.

Following the CCPs call, several provinces and territories, including Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Sichuan, have begun enforcement measures to shut down mining operations.

That sent bitcoin prices plunging below $30,000 the week of June 14, after hitting all-time highs above $60,000 in April.

Why the decline? The CCPs ban on mining has disrupted the computing power available to maintain and update the bitcoin blockchain.

China was estimated to hold more than half of bitcoins mining capacity, with the majority of bitcoin miners located in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region and Sichuan Province. Around 65 percent of the worlds bitcoin mining was located in China as of 2020, according to an analysis by the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index. While that market share has declined somewhat more recently, China still dominates bitcoin processing power.

Unlike mining operations of minerals such as gold and iron, bitcoin mining doesnt involve hulking equipment. Bitcoin miners utilize warehouses of computers to solve computational problems to verify transactions, update, and maintain the bitcoin blockchain. In effect, the miners keep the bitcoin blockchain updated and in turn, are compensated with new blocks of bitcoin.

Since Chinas ban took place, bitcoins hash ratethe computational power available to mine the cryptocurrency, which is a reflection of the efficiency of the bitcoin blockchain networkhas dropped by nearly 50 percent over the past month, according to data from cryptocurrency firm The Block. Xinjiang and Sichuan provinces alone are thought to have contributed to 30 percent of total mining power.

This is definitely a near-term headwind for the industry. But Chinas crackdown could be a long-term net positive development for the cryptocurrency industry.

For one, neither Chinas ban nor the subsequent collapse in hash rates should be surprising. In fact, its shocking that so much bitcoin mining power was concentrated in China to begin with.

The CCP has been battling cryptocurrencies for almost a decade. In 2013, Beijing barred all financial institutions from handling cryptocurrencies. China then banned all initial coin offerings in 2017. By mid-2019, the Peoples Bank of China blocked access to all domestic and foreign cryptocurrency exchanges to snuff out trading activity.

While the CCP stopped short of declaring ownership of cryptocurrencies illegal, it had in effect banned all forms of trading and exchange, including barring domestic financial institutions from exchanging digital currencies with the yuan. Those actions were mostly centered around limiting wealth transfer, but the CCPs intent has been clear since 2013.

So what does this mean for bitcoin and bitcoin mining? In the near term, with bitcoin mining capacity decreasing due to the CCPs crackdown, bitcoin mining becomes much more lucrative.

As more hashrate falls off the network, difficulty will adjust downwards, and the hashrate that remains active on the network will receive more for their proportional share of the mining rewards, Kevin Zhang, vice president of crypto mining equipment company The Foundry, said in a recent CNBC interview. In other words, the incremental reward for mining bitcoins is higher when there are fewer miners.

But there are other longer-term positives.

Less geographic concentration promises to make the bitcoin blockchain less vulnerable to the whims and regulations of a single country. Many Chinese mining operations have shipped their equipment abroad, with the United States and Kazakhstan as net beneficiaries.

For example, the Shenzhen-based and NYSE-listed BIT Mining has shipped most of its mining equipment outside China, according to a statement from the company. Approximately 320 mining machines were delivered to a facility in Kazakhstan, and the company said its operations should be back online by June 27.

A large portion of mining is expected to shift to the United States. CNBCs Eunice Yoon wrote on Twitter on June 21 that a Guangzhou-based logistics firm was transporting 6,600 pounds of bitcoin mining computers destined for Maryland.

#China logistics firm in Guangzhou confirms to @CNBC its airlifting 3,000kg (6,600lbs) #bitcoin mining machines to Maryland, USA. Fenghua International advertises products delivered to door, tax on both ends cleared. Price per kilo: as low as $9.37! #cryptocurrencies pic.twitter.com/8yUjZjhpkk  Eunice Yoon (@onlyyoontv) June 21, 2021

Another potential beneficiary is the state of Texas, which also happens to have some of the United States most pro-bitcoin politicians. Texas has some of the countrys lowest energy prices and a growing share of renewable energy sources.

Energy diversification is key. Relocating bitcoin hash rates from China to the United Stateswhich has a much more diversified energy supplywould improve bitcoin minings carbon footprint, a key criticism of the cryptocurrency.

Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk announced that Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin until its hash rates reached 50 percent from clean energy sources. Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren has also spoken out against bitcoin for its energy usage and resulting impact on the environment.

While longer-term viability of cryptocurrencies and bitcoin is still up in the air, moving mining capacity outside of China is at least a tangible first step in addressing those concerns and criticisms.

Fan Yu is an expert in finance and economics and has contributed analyses on Chinas economy since 2015.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid pose for a family picture during their meeting in Rome, on June 27, 2021. (Andrew Harnik/Pool/AP Photo)

Israel Tells US It Has Serious Reservations About Iran Nuclear Deal

ROMEIsrael has serious reservations about the revival of the Iran nuclear deal, new Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told his U.S. counterpart.

In their first face-to-face meeting since Israels new government was sworn in two weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Lapid had a very positive and warm discussion, according to U.S. officials.

The main topics of their conversation were the nuclear deal and Israels normalization accords with Gulf Arab states, as well as humanitarian aid to Gaza and the status of East Jerusalema topic that helped fuel the latest wave of violence between the Israelis and Palestinians in May.

Israel has some serious reservations about the Iran nuclear deal that is being put together in Vienna. We believe the way to discuss those disagreements is through direct and professional conversations, not in press conferences, Lapid said in brief remarks ahead of the meeting in Rome.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid in Rome, Italy, on June 27, 2021. (Andrew Harnik/Pool via Reuters)

Iran and the United States have been holding indirect talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and the major powers that had imposed restrictions on Tehrans nuclear activities in exchange for lifting international sanctions.

The United States, under then-President Donald Trump, abandoned the deal and reimposed harsh U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Blinken told Lapid that Washington would remain in close contact with Israel over the Iran negotiations, U.S. officials said.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has hewed to the opposition of his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, to the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, whose caps on projects with bomb-making potential Israel deemed too lax.

Blinken also reiterated Washingtons concerns to Lapid over Israeli attempts to evict several Palestinian families from East Jerusalem and the status of the citys Al-Aqsa Mosque, U.S. officials said.

Blinken conveyed to Lapid the necessity of getting humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

Israels normalization agreements with various Arab countries were also discussed. In his opening remarks, Blinken said he hoped that more participants would join.

The UAE and Bahrain established ties with Israel last year in U.S.-brokered deals called the Abraham Accords, becoming the first Arab states in more than a quarter of a century to break what had been a long-standing taboo in the region.

Lapid, who also met in Rome with Bahrains foreign minister, Abdullatif Al-Zayani, is due to visit the UAE on June 29 and June 30. Lapid described the accord as historic.

I hope it will be the first of many, he said.
Minnesota Lawmakers Reach Deal on Policing Measures

ST. PAUL, Minn.Minnesotas top Democratic and Republican lawmakers reached agreement on the highlights of a public safety bill that includes police accountability measures, a day after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison for the death of George Floyd.

While some details had yet to be finalized, leaders from both parties said the compromise reached late Saturday settles the major issues after months of negotiations. It has been the most contentious piece of budget negotiations among a divided Legislature thats up against a Wednesday deadline to avoid a government shutdown.

The Democratic-controlled state House included several policing provisions in its overall public safety budget bill this session in the hopes of building on a package the Legislature approved last summer in the aftermath of Floyds death.

The 223-page bill draft includes provisions regulating the use of no-knock warrants, a police misconduct database to create an early warning system to keep bad officers off the streets, and the creation of an office of missing and murdered indigenous relatives as well as a task force for missing and murdered black women.

Democrats had advocated for limits on pretextual traffic stops, where police pull over a driver for a minor violation, such as expired tabs or something hanging from the rearview mirror. That proposal is not part of the agreement.

Republicans who control the Senate resisted many of the Democrats proposals, calling some anti-police. The GOP negotiations at times focused those pushing to abolish the police, as well as violent protests following Floyds killing. The agreement includes $2 million for violent crime enforcement teams, a Republican-backed provision.

Senate Republican Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said hes confident we will finish the bill and keep Minnesotans safe.
A camera records the activities in a classroom at a university in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China, on Aug. 1, 2006. (Cancan Chu/Getty Images)

Netizens Outraged Over Chinese Universitys Cover Up of Female Students Murder

The recent murder of a female student at a Chinese university caused an uproar on Chinese social media. Netizens say the authorities are covering up the crime, which was allegedly committed by an American instructor at the school. A China expert pointed out that the preferential treatment given to international teachers and students at Chinese schools may have been a major factor in the tragic crime.

On the evening of June 14, the body of a young woman was found in the woods near Ningbo Institute of Technology, in eastern Chinas Zhejiang Province. The authorities said the victim was a 23-year-old student who attended the school. The next morning, local police arrested the suspect who allegedly confessed to the murder, stating emotional disputes as the motive, according to Chinese news portal Tencent QQ. Authorities confirmed that the suspect is a U.S. citizen whose first name is Shadeed, the report said. The police did not release the victims name and the suspects surname, nor provide additional information on the case.

Several students wrote anonymous posts on Chinese social media, saying that the victim wasnt the suspects girlfriend, and they believe that he killed her because she didnt want to be romantically involved with him.

The university blocked all news of the crime, and refused to meet with the victims family when they tried to reach out to the administrators, according to these posts.

The Chinese-language Epoch Times spoke to a student at the university who knew the victim. Using the pseudonym Wang Yuan, she said the suspect was an instructor at the school who had contacted a number of female students on June 14, and the victim was the only one who agreed to meet with him.

Wang described the victim as being quiet and shy, and she questioned the police report. Who would believe that the murder was caused by an emotional dispute? she said.

Wang also revealed that school authorities forbade students from talking to outsiders or discussing the case among themselves, and may be monitoring the students social media groups. She said that several social media groups on campus are now required to collect their members personal information such as their legal names, academic programs, and majors.

Some netizens said on social media that the suspect is a U.S. citizen named Shadeed, who had been teaching English at the university since 2016. However, none of the posts revealed his last name. The Epoch Times couldnt verify the information.

Other students have complained about the instructor and claimed that he had harassed other female students, but the school did nothing about it, according to social media posts.

One female student wrote, I took his class before and he asked me to go out with him. I then reported it to our class counselor. I knew such a tragedy would happen sooner or later. Why is that the school administrators attach little importance to our complaints until a life is lost?

The victims father tried to seek justice on social media and described the tragic scene when the family went to the police station to identify her body.

I almost fainted when I saw her. My daughter had dozens of cuts on her face, and there was a very deep cut in the aorta on her neck  it was too traumatic to see, he wrote.

The father also revealed that the school authorities refused to meet with him, using the excuse that the murder occurred outside the school and its none of the schools business, and they told him to go through a legal route, according to his post.

Netizens believe the school is responsible for the students death and were particularly outraged by the schools attitude because the administrators have ignored complaints about the instructors inappropriate behavior toward female students in the past.

Ningbo Institute of Technology did not respond to a request for comment.

A video has been circulating online showing three relatives of the victim holding a large photo of her outside the entrance of the university, demanding an explanation from the school. They are surrounded by more than ten policemen. Then a man is seen approaching from behind and he quickly grabs the photo and hands it over to a security guard. The guard then runs toward the school building, while the policemen continue to watch over the group.

Outrage Over Foreign Privileges

Many Chinese are aware that universities in the mainland provide favorable treatment to foreign students and teachers in order to attract and retain them.

U.S.-based current affairs commentator Xia Xiaoqiang said in a blog that the preferential treatment given to foreigners at Chinese schools is unfair and the double standards can lead to trouble because a foreigner can get away with committing a crime.

If within Chinas own territory, Chinese citizens are treated worse than foreigners, where is the national pride and national confidence the authorities have touted frequently? Xia asked.

In communist China, justice is not served according to the rule of law.

Female college students serving as escorts to male international students is not uncommon.

Two years ago, Chinas Shandong University was exposed for providing each of its male international students with three female study buddies. When photos were circulated online as evidence, netizens were outraged. The university offered an official apology.

Recently, a photo from Hebei Normal University circulated online showing a classroom where each Pakistani male student was surrounded by two Chinese female students.

A photo from one of the countrys top universities, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in Chengdu, was recently posted online showing male international students paired with female Chinese students and having fun together at a Dragon Boat Festival.
New York Mayor Bill De Blasio speaks in Brooklyn, New York on March 14, 2021. (Kevin Hagen/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

NYC Activates New Safety Action Plan as Police Continue Search for Times Square Shooter

New York City officials say detectives are seeking the suspect in the shooting of an innocent bystander who was visiting Times Square with his family over the weekend.

NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio addressed the June 27 incident at a press briefing on June 28, saying the shooting at the tourist hotspot was absolutely unacceptable.

This is a place that is so precious and so important to our city, it has to be safe, the mayor said as he announced new safety protocols.

The mayor announced a new safety plan, called the Times Square Safety Action Plan, which includes an additional 50 police officers, both uniformed and undercover, in the Times Square area, while also increasing the enforcement of illegal vending related to gun violence. The plan put in place will be active immediately.

After this shooting and the shooting that we had a couple of weeks ago, it is important that we put a lot more of a police presence over there, New York Police Department Chief of Department Rodney Harrison said during the briefing.

Chief of Patrol Services Rodney Harrison (left) and Chief of Counterterrorism James Waters address the press on security and safety measures for the 86th Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting at Police Plaza, in New York City on Nov. 27. (The Epoch Times)

Samuel Poulin, a 21-year-old man from upstate New York who was visiting Manhattan with his family, was struck in the back by a stray bullet and was rushed to Bellevue Hospital Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

Harrison noted at the briefing that the shooting occurred after a group of street vendors selling CDs got into an argument, adding that the information is preliminary and officials are still working to get to the bottom of what exactly happened.

He added they are making sure were not just having the omnipresence out there, but were going to make sure we engage the individuals that are part of this aggressive solicitation, aggressive panhandling.

The NYPD also released a surveillance photo of the suspect, who was seen in the video brandishing a weapon in the citys Times Square area. The department added there is a reward of $3,500 offered for information leading to the arrest of the suspect.

????WANTED for ASSAULT: Do you know this guy? On 6/27/21 at approx 5:15 PM, in the vicinity of 45th St and 7th Ave in Manhattan, the suspect discharged a firearm, striking a 21-year-old male bystander in the back. Any info? DM @NYPDTips, or anonymously call them at 800-577-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/VdJtVcwapA  NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) June 28, 2021

The incident occurred near the scene of a shooting last month that left two women and a child wounded. Police Commissioner Dermot Shea told a press conference at the time that the victimsa 4-year-old girl from Brooklyn, a 23-year-old woman from Rhode Island, and a 43-year-old woman from New Jerseywere innocent bystanders unrelated to one another.

NYPD Detectives Chief James Essig confirmed several days after the May 8 shooting that Farrakhan Muhammad was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in a McDonalds parking lot near Jacksonville, Florida.

According to the New York Post, Muhammad has a criminal record stretching back to 2007, including two felony robbery arrests and a 2012 weapons arrest.

From NTD News
OC Republican Defends Juneteenth Celebration From Some Conservative Firebrands

Asian American business leader and outspoken Orange County, California, Republican Marc Ang is disappointed with the flak hes taken from some conservatives who say he shouldnt have held an event celebrating Juneteenth.

The reaction from some voices on the right of the political spectrum opposing the Juneteenth celebration really kind of broke my heart, Ang said.

I got scathing emails from a lot of people  telling me what a wrong move Im making, he told The Epoch Times.

Heated conversations on social media over Juneteenth and its ties to controversial leftwing activist groups have left many in the United States divided and some conservatives in a quandary over whether they should celebrate the historic event.

Ang believes Republicans should choose their battles more wisely and that fighting against Juneteenth is picking the wrong hill to die on.

His event, held in Long Beach, California, on June 19, promoted unity between Asian, African American, and Hispanic communities to denounce violence and hatred.

Some of the speakers were mothers who lost their children to gang violence. One such speaker, Jessica Corde, talked about how her two sons were murdered. One was tortured and killed for showing up at a predominantly Latino party, and the other was killed in a separate incident.

Its amazing, because these people were unified by their tragedy  and theyre all black and Latino moms, Ang said.

Though gangs arent as prevalent in Orange County as they are in Los Angeles, Orange County isnt immune to the problem.

These gangs are there. Theres one in Santa Ana, and theres one in Anaheim, so we have smaller gangs, Ang said. In L.A., they own the streets. They tag the streets. Its really like domestic terrorism if you really think about it. A lot of these gang members are now moving to Orange County in places like Santa Ana, which has all these Hispanic people that dont speak English, so they terrorize them with fear.

Bidens Juneteenth Message

On June 17, President Joe Biden signed legislation proclaiming June 19 to be Juneteenth National Independence Day, a legal public holiday. The name Juneteenth is a mix of June and nineteenth.

It has been called Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, Liberation Day, and Emancipation Day and today a national holiday, Vice President Kamala Harris said in making the announcement preceding Bidens speech.

The speech focused heavily on the Democratic Partys platform surrounding equity and covered everything from denouncing hate crimes to promoting COVID-19 vaccinations, as well as taking jabs at Republicans over voter suppression.

He talked about his June 1 trip to Oklahoma to mark the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre and about other hate crimes.

Great nations dont ignore their most painful moments. They dont ignore those moments of the past. They embrace them. Great nations dont walk away. We come to terms with the mistakes we made. And in remembering those moments, we begin to heal and grow stronger, Biden said.

The truth is, its notsimply not enough just to commemorate Juneteenth. After all, the emancipation of enslaved black Americans didnt mark the end of Americas work to deliver on the promise of equality. It only marked the beginning.

Biden also decried the Republican Partys scrutiny of the 2020 general election and allegations of election fraud.

He said the promise of equality wont be fulfilled so long as the sacred right to vote remains under attack. We see this assault from restrictive laws, threats of intimidation, voter purges, and morean assault that offends  our very democracy.

Biden suggested that Juneteenth should be a day of action on many fronts, including his administrations push for COVID-19 vaccinations.

Weve built equity into the heart of the vaccination program from day one, but we still have more work to do to close the racial gap in vaccination rates, Biden said.

Juneteenth represents not only the commemoration of the end of slavery in America more than 150 years ago, but the ongoing work  to bring true equity and racial justice into American society, which we can do, he said.

House Homeland Security Committee member Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) speaks during a hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 17, 2020. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Conservatives React

That same day, conservative firebrands Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk, among others, were quick to denounce the idea of celebrating Juneteenth, though Republicans such as former President Donald Trump and U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) have supported doing so.

Owens stated in a June 17 Twitter post: Every single race has been enslaved at some point in human history, Africans are STILL enslaved today. This is not a holiday. This is more emotional training from Democrats to see ourselves as somehow separate from America. Independence Day is July 4th. The end.

Owens called President Joe Biden a segregationist and said that celebrating Juneteenth is more emotional programming for black people that choose to opt into the perpetual victim mentality.

The next day Crenshaw stated in a Twitter post: As Texans, weve long understood the importance of Juneteenth. When President Trump said it should be a holiday, many of us said it was long overdue. We should be proud and unified in celebrating this day as an important historical milestone for freedom and inalienable rights.

In a Wall Street Journal article published on June 19 last year, Trump said that he made Juneteenth famous when he scheduled a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that day. He later rescheduled the rally for the next day out of out of respect for this holiday, following criticism from his political detractors and the leftwing media.

I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous, Trump said at the time. Its actually an important event, an important time. But nobody had ever heard of it.

Kirk, the founder of Turning Point U.S.A., also urged conservatives to reject Juneteenth as a national holiday.

Making Juneteenth a federal holiday isnt about emancipation of slaves. If it was they would make September 22nd, Emancipation Proclamation Day, a federal holiday. This is about replacing July 4thjust like the 1619 Project is about replacing 1776. Conservative must reject this, he stated in a Twitter post.

Because of the divisive rhetoric and politicization of Juneteenth, many other conservatives are choosing to shun the new holiday completely, but Ang said thats a mistake.

Its very sad that the narrative is very, very divorced from reality, he said. We made Juneteenth beautiful.

A group photo at a Juneteenth celebration in Long Beach, Calif., on June 19, 2021. (Courtesy Christine Nunez)

Ending Slavery

Kirk was referring to the day Republican President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862, banning slavery in the states that had seceded from the Union. However, it wasnt enacted until Jan. 1, 1863.

Confederate leaders believed that they had founded their own nation and werent beholden to Lincolns foreign law. A lack of Union troops in the rebel state of Texas made the order difficult to enforce.

It wasnt until after the U.S. Senate on April 8, 1864, the House on Jan. 31, 1865, and Lincoln on Feb. 1, 1865, approved the Joint Resolution of Congress, that the proposed amendment went to the state legislatures to ratify. Although the Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, Georgia didnt ratify the 13th Amendment until Dec. 6, 1865, fulfilling the requirement that three-quarters of the states must approve a Constitutional amendment.

The 13th Amendment reads: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

In the days following the Civil War news traveled slowly by horseback or by telegram, Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, a rebel state, on June 19, 1865, and told a group of enslaved black Americans the war had ended and they had been freed, more than two years after Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

Some historians say that there werent enough Union troops in Texas to enforce Lincolns order, while others claim that the news traveled slowly or blamed poor communication for the delay. Still others say that the news of their freedom was deliberately withheld from the slaves.

On that day, more than 250,000 slaves embraced their freedom. While some chose to stay and work for their previous owners, others headed north and left the state.

A Beautiful Story

Ang said his event was planned with a local BLEXIT Foundation chapter before Owens weighed in on Juneteenth.

So, there [were] no issues with celebrating Juneteenth until it became politicized, he said.

Its a very beautiful story, but the left is choosing to twist it. They made it ugly.

The left likes to stoke the ethnic wars when really in the suburbs, we get along very well with each otherblacks and Asiansand also in the inner cities, in everyday life. Yeah, there are looters, rioters, and all of that, but those are isolated incidents. Really, in SoCal, we have those race relations down pretty well, said Ang.

Ang urged conservatives to learn more about Juneteenth, which doesnt necessarily mean hours of reading and research. Sometimes its just going beyond the headlines, which he said has become a lost art.

Its important to know the facts about Juneteenth and talk about them, he said. You cant just be shouting out wild generalities and not exploring the issues in greater detail.

Barbara George, California director for BLEXIT. (Courtesy Barbara George)

Celebrating Freedom

Barbara George, California state director for BLEXIT, who attended the event in Long Beach with several BLEXIT members, told The Epoch Times, though Candace Owens is a founder, she is also her own brand and she doesnt speak on the foundations stance on things at all times.

Juneteenth is something thats been around for over 100 years, she said.

The Trump administrations attempt to make Juneteenth a holiday received so much resistance and pushback that it ended up not going through because the administration ended, George said.

She questioned the Biden administrations motives for declaring June 19 a holiday, and why President Barack Obamas administration didnt do so.

My truth question is this: We had the first African American president who had an administration for eight years and never mentioned Juneteenth, that never thought to make it a holiday or found it important to be a holiday. Why is that? George asked. Why is it that now theres so much emphasis? I think those are the questions that we really need to ask ourselves; Why now and why not before, and why in the last administration was it not received as positively as it is now?

The Juneteenth event was a positive experience that brought people of different cultures and ethnicities together in the name of unity so local BLEXIT members supported it, according to George.

We support anything that has to do with bringing positive outreach and positive initiatives to the underserved and minority communities, George said.

BLEXIT began as the black exit from liberal ideology but has evolved into serving the underserved communities and minorities, she said.

The organization embraces a more conservative ideology and rejects the stereotype that black Americans are victims. The foundations motto is We, The Free.

The organization rejects stereotypes of racial minority groups.

People have the preconceived notion that people of color have to think a certain way, act a certain way, like certain things, and vote a certain way. Its pretty condescending to think that just because of your race or your identity, that you have to be some sort of stereotype or that youre in a box, George said.

George urged all Americans not to dwell on slavery and the past, but to focus on the achievements and contributions African Americans and other minority communities have made to the nation and look to the future.

It is a part of our history, but its not the only part of our history  and I wish we could celebrate more of the individual achievements of African Americans and not just the points of our history that just rile up peoples emotions in a negative way, she said.

We need to focus on things that unite and stop trying to cause division between us. And thats why Marc and I decided we needed to team up to show  people of different ethnicities and communities can come together.
Anti-extradition bill protesters point laser beams outside of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong on Aug. 18, 2019. (LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA/AFP via Getty Images)

Operation Yellowbird Continues, This Time Helping Hong Kong People Flee

An inflatable speedboat, iPhones, and a compass  five young men from Hong Kong, aged 18 to 26, risked their lives to escape to Taiwan by sea in July last year with simple equipment and more than 10 hours steering in fear. These are some of the scenes that three of them recently shared with The Wall Street Journal.

The three young men are Ray, a 25-year-old warehouse employee; Tommy, a 22-year-old art student; and Kenny, a 26-year-old civil engineer. They told The Wall Street Journal that at the time of their escape from Hong Kong, all three were in hiding, and two of them had been charged by Hong Kong authorities, likely to face years in prison.

For security reasons, only their English names were given, with their last names withheld.

Ray, Tommy, and Kenny all decided to flee Hong Kong after they felt they were unfairly persecuted for their involvement in pro-democracy protests in 2019. They spent about $1,300 each on an inflatable speedboat with twin engines. Previously, Tommy and Kenny had each spent thousands of dollars trying to escape from Hong Kong but to no avail.

To avoid reprisals from the Hong Kong government, they did not disclose who organized the escape.

One day in mid-July last year, after taking turns steering for more than five hours, and navigating into international waters with their iPhones and a compass, they slowed down and ate their stores of chips, candy, and canned corn.

Then, after more than 10 hours on the water, they shut down the engine. Kenny wrapped a rope around a propeller, causing one of the engines to overheat and get damaged. They figured that with only one engine and not enough fuel, people who found them would have to take them ashore.

In the darkness, they sent SOS signals with a flashlight, and about an hour later, the Taiwan Coast Guard took them to Dongsha and from there, to a secret location in Kaohsiung. The authorities there provided them with living supplies.

Some of the five had hoped to stay in Taiwan but were told they had to leave. Taiwans national security officials were concerned that assisting the Hong Kong fugitives might be used by the Chinese regime as pretext to invade Taiwan.

Samuel Chu, the Hong Kong-born Washington-based director of the Hong Kong Democratic Council, told The Wall Street Journal that the State Department contacted him after learning of the escape and asked him to help bring the five men to the United States through the humanitarian parole process. The State Department declined to comment on the matter.

It took six months but on Jan. 13 this year, the five men arrived in New York on a commercial flight via Zurich. Now, they are applying for political asylum in the United States.

However, not all of those who escaped the mainland have been as lucky. On Aug. 23 last year, another 12 Hong Kong residents fled by sea but were intercepted by the Guangdong Marine Police. They were arrested and detained.

Two months later, eight of them were sentenced to seven months in prison.

The Chinese police also spent two months intensively monitoring and intercepting information about their escape attempt.

Then, on Oct. 10 last year, nine Hong Kongers were arrested for assisting the 12 in their escape attemptfour men and five women, the youngest being 27-years-old and the oldest 72-years-old. Among them are Zhong Xueying, a member of local political group Hong Kong Indigenous, and Tang Yuen Ching Christina, wife of Hong Kong social activist Liu Shanqing.

On Jan. 14, Hong Kong police arrested another 11 people on charges of helping the 12 intercepted Hong Kong residents cross the border last year, including lawyer and District Councilor Daniel Wong Kwok-tung, and mother of Willis Ho, deputy secretary-general of the student organization Hong Kong Federation of Students. Wong had set up an Umbrella restaurant in Taiwan to provide help to Hong Kong activists living in exile in Taiwan, who have been involved in the anti-extradition bill protests in Hong Kong.

The risks associated with escape attempts are high. But for many Hong Kongers who are facing long sentences for participating in the anti-extradition bill protests, they still choose to flee.

In February, a group of pro-democracy activists in the United States launched New Operation Yellowbird to rescue Hong Kong people facing arrest and sentencing.

Zheng Cunzhu, vice chairman of the United Headquarters of the China Democratic Party, told The Epoch Times that New Operation Yellowbird was launched to help the Hong Kong people who have been forced to flee.

They have no place to go after they flee, so we help them come to the United States and seek protection here, Zheng said.

So far, four Hong Kong residents who participated in the anti-extradition bill protests have been granted asylum in the United States through New Operation Yellowbird, and many more are awaiting interviews or court appearances.

One of them, Vann (pseudonym), a 21-year-old Hong Kong exile, was granted asylum in immigration court in mid-June. Vann still bears scars left by the Hong Kong police.

On June 17, the United Headquarters of the China Democratic Party received a letter of commendation from California Congresswoman Linda Sanchez (D-CA), recognizing New Operation Yellowbirds efforts.

The name New Operation Yellowbird originates from Operation Yellowbird, a program that assisted Chinese people flee from China after the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989.

The name Operation Yellowbird comes from the poem The Yellow Bird in the Wild Field, by Cao Zhi, a prince of the state of Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China (from 220 to 280 AD), and an accomplished poet.

While the snare is glad to catch the yellow bird,

The young man feels sorry for it. When he draws the sword and cut the snare,

The yellow bird is set free to cut the air. 

At that time, Cao Zhi was unable to rescue his close friends, so he expressed his distress with this poem, which has been loved and spread widely in China ever since.

Kathleen Li contributed to this report.
Navy Honor Guard from the Navy Operational Support Center in Louisville, Ky., place the remains of Scott Magers in a hearse as a rainbow glows overhead at Nashville, Tenn., International Airport on May 26, 2021 (James Perry)

Pearl Harbor Hero, Missing in Action for Decades, Gets Patriotic Homecoming in Kentucky

MERRY OAKS, Ky.Nestled on the western edge of Barren County, Kentucky, is a small community named Merry Oaks, with a population of fewer than 300 people. In the 1900s, the community was mostly agricultural land with a few sawmills and general stores. The Great Depression hit every community hard and Merry Oaks didnt escape its wrath.

Perhaps seeking a better life and more opportunities, three young men from this area joined the U.S. Navy. One would return home to his family; the other two would perish on the USS Oklahoma on Dec. 7, 1941, and remain missing in action for almost 80 years. One of them was finally brought home on May 29 after his remains were identified through DNA analysis.

Howard Scott Magers, who went by Scott, was born on Nov. 3, 1923, and raised in the Merry Oaks and Railton Communities. He attended a two-room schoolhouse, completing the eighth grade. His family operated a general store, and the children were often at work with their parents.

Then in 1937, his life changed when both his parents died within months of each other. His oldest brother, Fred, and his wife took guardianship of Magers and his siblings. Magers helped on his brothers farm and worked a milk route before enlisting in the Navy in January 1941 at the age of 17.

The few people still alive who knew Magers remember his kindness to others, his loving heart, his smile, and his good looks.

Howard Scott Magers at age 17 in 1941. (Family Photo)

Lano Gilbert, 86, remembers that when Magers would deliver milk to her house, he would stop and push the children on a rope swing that was close to the road.

He was always so kind, she said.

Helen McCandless, 88, recalled how their families used to visit each other, and the children would play outside. She remembers playing on her dads two-wheel trailer, which functioned as a see-saw.

If the six of us walked down one side, it would come down with a loud bang. If we all stood in the middle, it would balance. Then some would try to off-balance the others. One day, I was tossed pretty hard. Scott noticed my fall and he took me by the hand and helped me back on, holding me so that I would not fall. He was a hero to me then and he always has been.

Evelyn Patterson Lyons, age 93, remembers when Magers asked to walk a friend home from the Merry Oaks United Methodist Church.

It was at least a mile each way, but thats what you did in those days, she remembers fondly. Now, hes coming back to where he used to walk and where his parents are buried.

After completing his training, Magers reported aboard the USS Oklahoma on May 8, 1941. The ship had been stationed in Pearl Harbor since Dec. 6, 1940, one year and one day prior to the fateful attack. It was stationed there, as part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, to provide a presence in hopes of discouraging Japanese aggression. The presence actually created an opportunity to destroy almost the entire fleet.

Howard Scott Magers at age 17 in 1941. (Family Photo)

The Japanese carriers launched formations of dive bombers, torpedo planes, and fighters against the vessels, lasting less than two hours, damaging 21 ships and 320 aircraft, killing 2,390 people, and wounding 1,178 others. The USS Oklahoma was hit by a number of torpedoes and capsized about 20 minutes after being struck, killing 429 of the battleships 1,354 crew members, including many whose bodies were impossible to identify. Magers was listed among the missing.

The deceased from the USS Oklahoma were buried in mass graves and moved three times, with the final resting place being at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu, Hawaii. They remained there until 2003, when a single casket was disinterred in an attempt to use anthropological and DNA evidence to identify the remains. After testing, it was determined that the casket held the remains of at least 95 individuals, according to Dr. Carrie Brown, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency forensic anthropologist and USS Oklahoma team leader. Of this group, only five were identified.

As science advanced and DNA identification processes improved, in 2015, as part of the USS Oklahoma Project, the DPAA, through a partnership with the Department of Veteran Affairs exhumed all of the remains and began the lengthy identification process. Remains were divided between a laboratory in Hawaii and Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

The remains of Magers were identified at Offutt Air Force Base in December 2020, although its probable that his remains were located at both labs due to the commingled state of the bodies.

The Defense Department is aiming to complete the identification process before the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. As of June 15, 341 were accounted for out of 392 USS Oklahoma unknowns. About 10 more should be announced soon. At that point, the project would be complete and the department will re-inter the remains of the ones they were unable to identify.

Magerss family has waited for nearly 80 years, yet they never lost hope that he would return home. As the years passed, his siblings and in-laws have died, leaving only a sister-in-law and her children to continue the quest to bring him home. At long last, they were notified in February that Magers was coming home.

The local community responded to the news with an outpouring of support, planning a celebration of his life while honoring the military, veterans, and first responders. The 18-mile procession route was lined with American flags, yellow ribbons, and patriotic displays. People of all ages stood in the misting rainsome standing at salute, hats held over their hearts, some waving flags and wiping away tears. Others were simply still. Young children and the elderly stood side by side, witnessing the return of a hero.

Police officers accompany the US Navy Honor Guard from the Navy Operational Support Center in Louisville, Ky., carrying Scott Magers to his final resting place in Merry Oaks United Methodist Church Cemetery on May 29, 2021. (James Perry)

Local fire departments displayed American flags. Firehouses organized displays along the procession.

As the hearse arrived at the cemetery, 500 people waited in silence. Magers was finally home.

The service focused on memories of Scott before the war and his long journey home. Family members provided songs and music, and a local minister delivered the eulogy.

Robert Overturf, a retired lieutenant commander of the U.S. Navy and a survivor of the USS Cole attack, didnt know many in attendance.

I secretly dreaded this. My heart has been ripped out from attending so many military funerals of sailors that were under my responsibility. I was genuinely worried as to how I would react during the service. As we arrived in the procession, things happened so quickly. I did not feel the overwhelming sense of sadness as I had become so accustomed to. It was more of a sense of pride and celebration that Scott was finally home. This was different, a very welcomed sense of pride.

Michael and Jessica Young from Dickson, Tennessee, came to be a part of the historic event.

My eyes filled with tears several times as I saw so many people came out to honor him with the flags and salutes. It did my heart good to know that so many people cared and remembered. It was just a tremendous response, unlike anything I have ever seen.

Dale Shawver, a former U.S. Marine, rode his motorcycle from Sparta, Kentucky, a three-hour ride each way. He was thankful for the patriotism displayed by the community.

It makes me feel honored as a veteran to see this amazing support.

Son and father Hunter Honeycutt and Billy Honeycutt render final salutes to Scott Magers during his funeral service, in Smiths Grove, Ky., on May 29, 2021. (James Perry)

His brother Chris and his son, Lucas, both former Marines, also attended.

It is so nice to see that regardless of the time a service member has been missing, America will not give up and we will honor our fallen. I am extremely proud of the respect and patriotism Kentucky displayed for this hero and his family, Chris said.

The homecoming provided hope for families who have loved ones still missing in action (MIA). Suzanne Hoff Ogawa, the daughter of Commander Michael George Hoff, who is MIA from the Vietnam War, said that the service gave her hope.

I do not know if there are adequate words for what attending Scotts service meant to me. It gave me hope that one day, my father will come home, and perhaps there are people out there who remember him, and someday I will learn his stories, she said. Her mother, Mary, came up with the idea to create the POW/MIA flag 50 years ago.

A lei from Hawaii was placed on Scott Magerss military marker at the Merry Oaks United Methodist Church Cemetery in Smiths Grove, Ky., on May 29, 2021. (Paula Ratliff)

After the burial, a lei from Hawaii was placed on Magerss tombstone, as is the tradition to honor fallen soldiers. He is buried next to his parents in a spot where he may have stood and grieved the loss of his mother and father. On his parents tombstone was an arrangement of yellow flowers with a single red rose to welcome him home.

Two days prior to the service, Magerss remains were flown into Nashville, Tennessee, and escorted back to Kentucky by motorcade composed of Kentucky State Police, a local Rolling Thunder chapter, Charging Forward for America, and the Patriot Guard Riders.

A rainbow shone as the flag-draped casket was loaded into the hearse for his journey home.

Correction: An earlier version of this article inaccurately described Robert Overturfs title. Overturf is a retired lieutenant commander of the U.S. Navy and a survivor of the USS Cole attack.
Physicians Question Departure of Top Medical Journal Editor

The announcement of the resignation of Howard Bauchner, MD, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in June following a podcast and tweet that was deemed racist, provoked angry reactions from medical professionals. Dr. Bauchner was put on administrative leave following a February JAMA podcast titled Structural Racism for Doctors: What Is It? hosted by JAMA Deputy Editor Edward Livingston, MD.

Dr. Livingston was excoriated for saying: Structural racism is an unfortunate term. Personally, I think taking racism out of the conversation will help. Many of us are offended by the concept that we are racist, in the podcast which was promoted by a JAMA tweet reading: No physician is racist, so how can there be structural racism in health care?

The reaction was swift. An Institute for Antiracism in Medicine petition with nearly 7,000 signatures called for a formal review of JAMA leadership and Aletha Maybank, MD, the AMAs chief health equity officer called the podcast and tweet a demonstration of structural & institutional racism, on Twitter. I am furious, she added. Dr. Livingston resigned in March.

Dr. Bauchner apologized in an audio message on the JAMA site calling the podcast offensive, hurtful and affirming that racism and structural racism exist in the U.S. and in health care. In a released statement Dr. Bauchner said he was profoundly disappointed in myself for the lapses that led to the publishing of the tweet and podcast. Although I did not write or even see the tweet, or create the podcast, as editor in chief, I am ultimately responsible for them. He added he has always supported the AMAs commitment to dismantling structural racism in the institutions of American medicine, as evident by numerous publications in JAMA on this issue and related subjects, and look forward to personally contributing to that work going forward.

US Physicians Weigh In

Physicians who spoke to The Epoch Times objected to the forced resignation of Dr. Bauchner and capitulation of JAMA to activists who have been increasingly successful in removing public figures from their posts. The failure of the AMAs leaders to stand up to the racist allegations of the woke mob is disgraceful. Evidently, principle and decency count for little if anything anymore, said Paul Leber, MD, Director at Neuro-Pharm Group, LLC.

Dr. Leber currently consults on strategic and technical matters related to clinical investigations that establish if a new drug is safe and effective for use. He formerly served as the FDA Director of the Division of Neuro-Pharmacological Drug Products where he was responsible for the monitoring of clinical research and the evaluation of new drug applications in neurology and psychiatry.

The Epoch Times also asked Chris Gonzalez, MD, a physician practicing in New Orleans, whether the swift termination of Bauchners decade-long career as JAMAs Editor-in-Chief was justified. Ousting a public figure is easy compared with tackling real social change like fixing our public schools and violent, dysfunctional cities, Dr. Gonzalez said. The current group of hypercritical people are more concerned with being morally right than factually rightthey are just posturing and playing to their constituencies. Because they lack a grand plan, when they encounter disagreement they end all dialogue and discussion as we saw with Dr. Bauchner.

There is also an undercurrent of paternalism to much white anti-racist activism said Dr. Gonzalez, as if, without white help, blacks would go nowhere or cant help themselves.

Referring to the message in the JAMA tweet, Dr. Gonzalez said, Stating that no physician is racist was a mistake of hyperbole but the reactions make a mountain out of a molehill. Dr. Bauchner should not have bent over and apologized. He should have simply said, I meant to say the vast amount of physicians are not racists.

Angry Posts on a Medical Web Page

Medical professionals posting on the website MedPage Today were less charitable than Drs. Leber and Gonzalez about the resignation. False accusations of racism are as destructive of reasonable discourse as is actual racism [and] create this absurd canyon of self-righteous,' posted James Carmine.

Another one falls to wokism on steroids, wrote Edwin Leschhorn If you say anything nowadays that could remotely offend anyone, you run the chance of getting crucified.

Another example of a system gone amok and eating its own children, wrote Edward Smith. Reminds me of the French Revolution, absent the guillotinea good man was forced out of a lifetime of good works, as [many] have been and will be under this new system.

This witch hunting garbage is one of the main reasons that I dropped AMA membership years ago, wrote Charles Christian MD.

Commentators did not immediately respond to requests for further comment by The Epoch Times.

AMA 2021 Special Meeting Resolutions May Cause More Controversy

Some resolutions drafted at the American Medical Associations (AMA) Special Meeting in June 2021 may also provoke controversy that triggered Dr. Bauchners exit. Delegates directed the AMA to advocate for the removal of sex as a legal designation on the public portion of the birth certificate, recognizing that information on an individuals sex designation at birth will still be submitted through the U.S. Standard Certificate of Live Birth for medical, public health and statistical use only.

The reason for such a seal is because gender information perpetuates a view that sex designation is permanent and fails to recognize the medical spectrum of gender identity, said AMA Board Chair-elect Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, MD.

Physicians who spoke to The Epoch Times said the resolution demonstrates how deeply the transgender movement, sometimes viewed as a fad, has infiltrated society and medicine; only a few years ago sex designation was considered permanent with the acknowledgment of a small percentage of outliers, they said.

Keeping gender information on birth certificates private represents some crazy, inherent bias by people who want to run their whole world on the basis of the exception,' said Dr. Gonzalez. If you knew the temperature were going to be below zero on one day, would you wear a jacket every day?

Dr. Leber said he takes exception to the concept behind gender affirmation itself. What, pray tell, is gender-affirming care? To whom should it be given, at what age, and for how long? he said. What qualifies someone to be a provider of such care? What objective evidence, if any, establishes that gender-affirming care, provides a substantive benefit? If there is, what is the source of that evidence? Has any of the evidence supporting its benefits been adduced in valid clinical experiments?

Dr. Leber also suggested that negative aspects of gender-affirming care are not given enough consideration. What evidence establishes that the benefits of gender-affirming care outweigh its risks? he said. It is self-evident that until the medical profession is in possession of the answers to these and related questions, it is, to be charitable, far too soon to claim the benefits of such care.

Sex reassignment surgery is now covered by U.S. government programs (pdf) and has become a booming medical practice. Globally, sex reassignment surgeries are projected to approach $1.5 billion globally in five years.

Another resolution drafted at this years AMA meeting is a call for the establishment of alternatives to the Department of Homeland Securitys illegal immigrant detention such as caseworker assignments, home check-ins, ICE check-ins or telephonic monitoring. In 2019, acting Homeland Security secretary Kevin McAleenan told a Senate panel that 90 percent of asylum seekers released into the United States, as the detention-alternatives would do, skip court hearingsa phenomenon some call Catch and Release.

Whether its Dr. Bauchners forced resignation or the new AMA resolutions, there is one thing on which most in the medical community agree: the way controversy is handled today is dramatically changed from more civil times.
A passenger arrives at Faro airport in Algarve, southern Portugal, on May 17, 2021. (Patririca De Melo Moreira/AFP via Getty Images)

Portugal Imposes 14-Day Quarantine on Unvaccinated Brits

Only fully-vaccinated Brits can now visit mainland Portugal without undergoing a 14-day quarantine.

Visitors from the UK could previously avoid the mandatory 14-day isolation if they had evidence of a recent negative test for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

The new rules come into effect today to try to stem any influx of the so-called Delta variant from the UK, where cases have risen rapidly, according to official figures. The variant now accounts for more than half of all infections in the country.

Tougher rules are also being announced for the Balearic Islands, another popular holiday destination for Brits.

The tough stance taken by Portugal puts UK holidaymakers in the same risk category as those from South Africa, Brazil, India, and Nepal.

Travellers from Portugal to the UK must quarantine for 10 days on arrival, after the government took the country off the green list.

Children under 12 will also be permitted if they are accompanying parents or guardians who have had both vaccine doses.

Those aged between five and 11 must also show evidence of a negative PCR test taken within the previous 72 hours.

Malta has also announced that only fully-vaccinated travellers will be allowed to enter the country from the UK, starting Wednesdaythe same day that the UK will drop the quarantine requirement for Malta.

The Balearic Islands, which include Ibiza and Mallorca, are also tightening restrictions.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told radio network Cadena SER that UK travellers who are not fully vaccinated must have taken a recent negative PCR test.

Those changes will also coincide with the UK lifting its restrictions on returning travellers from the Balearic Islands when they are added to the UKs green list on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, travel stocks this morning wobbled after a report in The Times of London suggested that German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants the EU to designate the UK a country of concern due to the presence of the Delta variant, which originated in India.

Such a designation would mean that all Britsincluding those who have had vaccineswould be blocked from holidaying in the European Union.

Cases of the CCP virus have been rising in recent weeks in the UK, prompting the government to backpedal on its promise to lift all restrictions on June 21. However, deaths and hospitalisations have not been rising at anything like the same rate as during previous upticks in the pandemic.

The UK has a traffic light system for arrivals from other countries.

Only 12 countries currently belong to the green list, which means arrivals are not required to quarantine, only to provide proof of a negative test before departure and two days after arrival. Passengers from amber list countries must quarantine for 10 days, unless they pay for a test on day five, which turns out negative.

Passengers from red list countries must be British nationals or residents.

PA contributed to this report.
Property Rights Versus Labor Unions in the Supreme Court

Commentary

As the Supreme Courts recent Obamacare case illustrates, the justices no longer enforce most of the Constitutions limits on the federal government. But a new property rights decision demonstrates how they are super-enforcing the Bill of Rights.

First some background:

The state and federal (pdf) governments inherited from Great Britain power to condemn (seize) private property for public use. This is called the power of eminent domain. In such cases, the British government typically granted financial compensation to the owner. The principle of compensation had been enshrined in the fourth (statutory) version of the Magna Carta (1225).

When James Madison proposed the Bill of Rights, he inserted the takings clause in the Fifth Amendment. The takings clause states, Nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. This rule applies both to real property (land and buildings) and to personal property (movables).

However, public use doesnt mean that the government must condemn the property for actual public occupation, as it does when it takes land for parks or highways. The word use has an older, specialized legal meaning. Public use means public benefit. Several years ago, the Supreme Court reached this conclusion, but without understanding the original meaning of use. That case (pdf) was widely criticized (pdf) by libertarians and others who also were unaware of the original meaning.

The original takings clause limited the right to compensation in other ways as well. First, compensation was due only if the property was literally seizedwhat we now call a physical taking. Reductions in property value due to government regulation gave no right to compensation. Further, the takings clause imposed the compensation requirement only on the federal government, not on state governments. Fortunately, almost all state constitutions require compensation, and some offer more protection than the takings clause.

The Supreme Court often departs from the Constitutions original meaning. Usually, this has the effect of reducing citizens protections against the government. But the Supreme Court interprets the takings clause to provide citizens more protection than the original meaning justifies.

For example, during the 20th century, the courton slender evidence, in my viewruled that the 14th Amendment applied the takings clause to state and local governments as well as to the federal government. Additionally, the court began to offer protection against regulatory takings. These are cases in which property values are devastated by intrusive government regulation. However, compensation for regulatory takings is very limited. Generally, a property owner has to show that the regulation has pretty much destroyed all the propertys value before he can get any money.

Sometimes, parties argue about whether a government action is a physical taking (requiring compensation) or a mere regulation (usually resulting in no compensation). One such case was Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid (pdf), which the Supreme Court decided on June 23.

The two plaintiffs were fruit growers in California. The state issued a rule requiring growers to let labor organizers enter their land. The rule limited the number of organizers and allowed them to enter up to 120 days of the yearone hour before work, one hour during lunch break, and one hour after work.

The growers claimed that the states rule condemned an easement in gross over their land. An easement in gross is usually a right of way in favor of someone who isnt a nearby property owner. A utility easement is a common example.

The state argued that its rule didnt create an easement. The state contended that the rule created only a temporary, sporadic right to enter, much as a public health officer may enter a restaurant for inspections or a police officer may enter a home during certain emergencies.

The court split 63. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion. The court decided that the California rule was a physical taking, and therefore, compensation was due. Roberts pointed out that the right to exclude others is central to owning property, and that California had compromised that right. He said it didnt matter whether the interest the state had seized was an easement or not.

Roberts further held that the labor organizers right to enter was different in various ways from the rights enjoyed by health inspectors or the police.

Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the three dissenters. He argued that the states rule was a mere regulation, not a physical taking.

The case is noteworthy for several reasons:

First: This is a rare case in which the liberal medias imaginary conservative Supreme Court majority really showed up. The majority consisted of Roberts and Justices Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, and Barrett. The dissenters were the three activist liberals: Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan.

Second: In a 2015 decision (pdf), Chief Justice Roberts showed himself to be a defender of property rights. The Cedar Point case confirms that.

Third: The dissenting opinion illustrates Justice Breyer at work. In many respects a brilliant justice, he does have a disquieting tendency to treat constitutional law cases like common law cases. Thats not good.

The Founders rejected the British evolving, common-law-style constitution. They adopted the clarity, stability, and certainty of a written document. Breyers opinions undermine the written Constitution by relying on balancing tests and other vagaries. In Cedar Point, for example, he claimed that California didnt intrude onto the growers property, but merely regulated the right to exclude!

Fourth: Cedar Point was strange in one respect: Usually, the victims of eminent domain ask for money. But the growers asked only for an injunction banning the labor organizers from their land. As Breyer pointed out, the lower court may avoid this injunction by giving the growers money instead. The facts of the case suggest the amount of money could be minimal.

Fifth: There was another factor at play that Robertss opinion didnt mention, but that Justice Kavanaugh noted in his concurrence: The labor organizers had plenty of ways to reach the workers without trespassing on the owners land.

Sixth: The Cedar Point case puts an important earlier decision in doubt. In 1980, when the court consisted largely of liberal activists, it issued Prune Yard Shopping Center v. Robbins. It ruled that California could force privately owned shopping centers to let people engage in First Amendment activities on the premises. The shopping center owners received no compensation.

The latest case suggests that the current majority may overrule Prune Yard. One reason is that the internet provides far more ways to contact and persuade people than existed in 1980.

Robert G. Natelson, who served as a law professor for 25 years, is senior fellow in constitutional jurisprudence at the Independence Institute in Denver. He has an extensive background in property law as well as constitutional law, and numerous courts have cited his articles on both subjects. He and the author of The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant (3rd ed., 2014) and of two treatises on property law.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk looks on at a press conference at Parliament house in Brisbane, Australia on April 1, 2021.(Jono Searle/Getty Images)

Queenslanders Told Masks Are Mandatory as Cases Grow in Sunshine State

The Australian state of Queensland has recorded two new local cases of COVID-19 and moved to mandate face masks for two weeks amid concerns about the Delta strain getting out of control.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says one new case is believed to the Alpha strain and linked to the cluster involving the Portuguese Family Centre in Brisbane.

The other is a case of the Delta strain, a close contact of a miner who was out in the Sunshine Coast town of Bli Bli after arriving from a mine in the Northern Territory.

Palaszczuk says the state is on the verge of a lockdown and has moved to mandate masks indoors and outdoors across 11 local government areas in the southeast.

Residents of Brisbane, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, Logan, Moreton Bay, Ipswich, the Lockyer Valley and the Scenic Rim will have to wear masks unless theyre exercising and eating for 14-days from 1am on Tuesday.

We are on the verge (of a lockdown), but we are monitoring, very, very closely over the next 24 to 48 hours, she told reporters.

Chief Health Office Jeannette Young urged people not to wait until the total mask mandate comes in on Tuesday.

She said any person who leaves those 11 local government areas will have to continue wearing masks while they do.

So weve got an enormous risk throughout our state, but Im very confident with all our strategies and our mitigating factors that we have in place, and everything that all of us have learned over the last 18 months, that we can manage this, she said.

So please, everyones getting really good at wearing masks please put them back on.

Other restrictions have also been tightened with a maximum of 30 people including children allowed to visit homes.

Wedding and funerals will be restricted to 100 people with only 20 people allowed to dance at the former.

There will be a one person per four square metre rule in venues and no dancing will be allowed at all.

Ticketed or fully seated venues with COVID-19 plans will be allowed to continue operating at full capacity.

Ms Palaszczuk also warned that Queensland could close the border with NSW if theres further community transmission.

If we start seeing any spread of community transmission in NSW, especially closer to our border, We will not hesitate to take strong action, she said.

Millions of people in NSW have endured the first day of a fortnight-long lockdown with residents of Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong ordered to stay at home until at least July 9.

The lockdown came after the number of COVID-19 cases in the harbour city swelled by 12 to 110 on Sunday.

Young said there is a lot happening in Queensland and urged anybody with symptoms to get tested as soon as possible.

Queensland will also revert to previous venue density requirements and a cap of 100 guests at private homes for the two-week duration of NSWs current restrictions.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab walks in Downing street in London on May 27, 2021. (Niklas Halle'n/AFP via Getty Images)

Raab to Pledge 12.6 Million To Tackle Growing ISIS Threat in Africa

The threat of the ISIS terrorist group continues to grow in Africa, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab warned, as he is expected to pledge 12.6 million ($17.5 million) on Monday to support efforts to counter ISIS in West Africa.

Raab is meeting with his counterparts from more than 45 countries in Rome, including co-hosts Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, at a meeting of the Global Coalition against Daesh, another name for ISIS.

The funds will be used for a new programme for the Lake Chad Basin region of West Africa, which covers northeast Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, and Chad.

ISIS affiliate Islamic State West Africa (ISWA) is responsible for significant violence in the region, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) said.

The FCDO said the new Conflict, Stability, and Security Fund programme will support a regionally-led military fight against ISIS, counter its propaganda, and encourage its fighters to leave the terrorist group.

Following a virtual meeting of the coalition in March, the FCDO said that the number of attacks ISIS claimed in Africa had grown by more than a third between 2019 and 2020.

Recent violence perpetrated by its affiliates has included attacks on aid workers in the Lake Chad Basin region, and the horrific beheading of civilians in Mozambique over recent months, the FCDO said in a statement.

Prior to Mondays meeting, Raab said countries must work together to tackle the threat.

Two years since Daeshs territorial defeat in Iraq and Syria, the threat of Daesh and its hateful ideology has not gone away. Worryingly it continues to grow in Africa which is why we must work with our coalition partners to fight its poisonous propaganda on all fronts, Raab said in a statement.

We stand shoulder to shoulder with our African partners to tackle the growing threat from Daesh-linked groups across Africa, particularly in the Lake Chad Basin, he added.

Raab is expected to ask the foreign ministers to work together to target the longer-term challenges that are exploited by those who extol violence and terrorism and ensure there are no safe havens for Daesh.

It will exploit any opportunity to reestablish itself, Raab will say.

Mondays meeting in Rome will mark the first time Global Coalition foreign ministers have met in person since November 2019.

PA contributed to this report.
Resort Doesnt Always Mean Luxury

After a week in Lima, Peru, we boarded a small jet to fly over the Andes. When we landed in the jungle town of Puerto Maldonado, our guide met us and threw our luggage into the back basket of a sort of motorcycle with places for two passengers behind him. We zoomed away toward what we thought would be a first-class ship for a four-hour cruise up the Tambopata River.

Five minutes later, the rivers swirling, muddy expanse came into view. It was wider than any we had ever crossed in the United States, lined on each side with dense jungle vegetation. The docks were a rough-hewn platform where we and 10 other travelers climbed into a large flat-bottomed canoe with 18 folding chairs lined up beneath a blue plastic tarp. This was our cruise ship.

The motor whirred reluctantly, and we were off upriver. Captain Juan explained that the river had risen 40 feet in the previous week because the rainy season had begun, and this would slow our progress.

We puttered along, staying far away from the shoreline despite having no life jackets aboard and stopping occasionally for passengers and supplies. We never passed any sign of human civilization, just a thick wall of verdant palms and other exotic vegetation on each side of the enormous river.

At one point, we were startled by the screechy microphone announcing above the motors noise that we would be stopping for a terrorist checkpoint. We had to give all of our names to the Army here, in case anyone went missing later.

There is terrorist activity everywhere up here, Juan told us matter-of-factly.

Two men took our names and said a few words to him before waving us on and releasing the rope that held our boat to the dock. Back downriver we went, swiftly carried by the raging current as he pulled the motors starter cord.

The cruise ship on the Tambopata River in Peru turns out to be a large canoe with folding chairs. (Courtesy of Bill Neely)

The engine coughed and nothing happened. He repeatedly yanked the cord as we regressed at about three times the speed we had been making upstream. By way of asking for help, he repeatedly whistled loudly into the impenetrable palm forest. Soon a man in a small motorboat came to rescue us. We sailed swiftly past him, but he finally caught us a few miles downstream.

With one sandaled foot in his boat and one in ours, he beat on our motor with a hammer and turned something with pliers repeatedly. After a few minutes, it began to sputter and burst into life. With a grin and a handshake the man was gone, and we were on our way upriver again, having lost many miles.

Eventually, we reached our destination. Two friendly men greeted us and held our hands as we disembarked precariously onto the mud bank. We climbed up a 40-foot-high bank into which mud steps had been cut with a machete. At the top, we discovered that our resort was the scientific research station of the Tambopata Jungle, where botanists come to study native plants and local remedies to make pharmaceuticals. One large, circular structure of canes and screen with a peaked, round roof of more canes formed the dining room and bar. Ten smaller huts just like it were lined up on either side of a torch-lit path.

Ours was the farthest from the dining area but the best because it sat at the back edge of the clearing, only about five feet from the dense jungle. It was a double, partitioned by a bamboo screen six feet high. Each side had its private bathroom with a small ceramic sink, a flush toilet (no paper allowed in it), and a tin-lined shower stall with a plastic curtain and cold running water. We didnt realize yet that the luxury price we had paid was because most of the money funded the work done at this research station.

Our bedroom consisted of bamboo walls with screens for windows at shoulder height, twin beds made of wood poles, and a mattress made up with clean sheets. Each bed was draped with a tent of thick mosquito netting. The small wood table held clay candlesticks for lighting. We felt like children at camp.

Later, we had a fresh, beautifully prepared dinner in the dining hut with the added attraction of the largest porcupine we had ever seen gnawing his way through the bamboo ceiling. Leftovers here were tossed out the door in back of the kitchen, where about 20 vultures stood in happy anticipation.

A porcupine chews through the ceiling of the dining room at the Tambopata Research Center in Peru. (Courtesy of Bill Neely)

By the time we all dispersed for our cabins, it was pitch dark, and we were grateful for the blazing torches that lit the path. We entered the hut and lit a candle, but since there was no place to set it down in the bathroom, we took turns showering while the other held the light. To top off the long day, we were awakened by animal noises in the night that turned out to be capybara, the worlds largest rats.

The trip there and the first night gave us pause, but by the last night, we mourned that we had to leave. The natural haven became to us the resort it truly is, and we return to it often in our favorite memories.

When You Go

For more information: PeruNature.com/amazon_lodge/tambopata-research-center/lodge-overview

Bonnie and Bill Neely are freelance writers and photographers. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at Creators.com. Copyright 2021 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
Rethinking Judicial Activism

Commentary

Its time for us as conservatives to rethink our judicial philosophy. For nearly 40 years, going back to the Robert Bork nomination in the 1980s, conservatives and Republicans have affirmed a philosophy of judicial restraint, in opposition to the liberal or progressive philosophy of judicial activism. But the latest Supreme Court decision in Fulton v. Philadelphia (pdf) should prompt us toward a fundamental reevaluation of both the philosophical and practical basis on which we nominate judges.

It might seem odd for me to be calling for such a rethinking in the wake of a decision that went 90 in the conservatives favor. The Fulton decision was, on its face, a victory for religious freedom. A united Supreme Court held that the city of Philadelphia couldnt deny contracts to a religious group, Catholic Social Services, on the basis of its religiously held conviction that foster children shouldnt be placed in the care of gay couples.

But Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court, decided the case on a narrow adjudication of the facts. He said that, although Philadelphia had a generally applicable anti-discrimination law, the law provided for exceptions, and consequently, the Catholic group shouldve been considered for an exception on religious freedom grounds. Roberts declined to do what Catholic Social Services had asked the Supreme Court to do: Overrule the infamous 1990 Smith case that basically guts religious freedom by compelling religious groups to abide by all generally applicable laws, regardless of whether they violate the right of conscience or religious teaching.

Incredibly, the 1990 decision in Employment Division v. Smith was written by Justice Antonin Scalia. Pause to consider: The greatest legal obstacle to religious freedom in the past three decades was erected by arguably the most conservative member of the Supreme Court. Moreover, Scalias decision wasnt due to egregious error or too much Italian wine. Rather, it was an expression of his conservative judicial philosophy. Heres where we get to the heart of the problem.

The Smith decision turned on whether the government could deny unemployment benefits to Native Americans who had lost their jobs for using peyote, an illegal drug that the Native Americans had insisted was used for religious and sacramental purposes in the Native American Church. Applying his trademark approach of judicial restraint or deference to the legislature, Scalia held that courts cant use the free exercise clause of the First Amendment to carve out exceptions to what he termed a neutral law of general applicability.

In other words, Scalias position was that, as long as the laws didnt single out Native Americansas long as they applied to everyonethen religious freedom couldnt be invoked as a justification for noncompliance. To do so, Scalia wrote, would be courting anarchy.

Here, Scalia was doing no more than applying the conservative legal doctrine that legislatures make rules, and the job of a judge isnt to rewrite or reconstruct those rules, but merely to apply them. The judge, in this context, is seen as an umpire who doesnt make rules, but merely calls plays in accordance with the rules that are given by the legislature. Quite likely, Scalia thought that for him to grant the Native Americans an exception in this case would amount to judicial activism, an unwarranted restriction of the scope of the law.

Judicial activism is the bugaboo here. But judicial activism has two separate meanings, and only one of them is bad. Judicial activism is bad when judges take it upon themselves to make laws, skirting both the Constitution and the laws that are on the books. Progressive judges do sometimes behave as if the Constitution and the laws are mere guidelines that judges are free to use or modify as the circumstances warrant. Judicial activism of this sort is inexcusablean abuse of the judicial role in a democratic society.

But theres a second type of judicial activism thats in a whole different category and, in fact, is both necessary and good. This is when judges act decisively to uphold constitutional principles against legislative usurpation. In other words, when judges use the supreme law of the land to strike down congressional and state laws that subvert constitutional principles.

Here, quite obviously, the judge is being activist in standing up against the legislature. But this can hardly be viewed as the judge going against the law. On the contrary, the judge is upholding the enduring law of the land, the underlying charter of our liberties, and the rights enshrined in the Constitution, against laws that threaten to diminish or undo these basic principles.

Remember that the basic rights of the Constitutionincluding the rights of free speech, due process, and religious freedomarent subject to curtailment, even by democratic majorities. The judges mission is to stand up for these enumerated rights against the majority, against the people themselves, in Justice Joseph Storys memorable phrase. For a judge, to exercise judicial restraint in protecting constitutional rights is to be restrained in properly doing his or her job.

My conclusion is that it makes no more sense to talk about judges being activist or restrained than it does to talk about America being activist or restrained in its dealings with the rest of the world. When our basic interests and liberties are threatened, of course we should be activist, which is to say, alert, vigilant, and fully engaged. In general, however, our posture toward other countries should be restrained, which is to say, we go by the principle of live and let live.

The same is true of judges: It makes no sense to talk about activism or restraint without reference to what judges are being activist or restrained about. Conservatives should embrace a new philosophy of jurisprudence, in which our judges are shamelessly activist in the defense of core constitutional principles, yet soberly restrained in preventing their own convictions from substituting for those of the law and the Constitution.

Dinesh DSouza is an author, filmmaker, and daily host of the Dinesh DSouza podcast.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli is seen inside the P4 laboratory in Wuhan, capital of China's Hubei Province, on Feb. 23, 2017. (Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images)

Scientists Obfuscated Source of COVID-19-Like Virus Stored at Wuhan Lab

Virus named RaTG13 was discovered in an abandoned mine in Mojiang, Yunnan, nearly 10 years ago

News Analysis

Shi Zhengli, the director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases of the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), is the common thread through which many key research projects and gain-of-function experiments on coronaviruses are connected.

Her work shows a curious pattern of deception, tracing through her publications from 2013 to 2020, in which a key source for the coronavirus most closely related to COVID-19 was concealed.

In 2002, an outbreak of the novel coronavirus known as SARS resulted in the deaths of 774 people worldwide. Investigations quickly established that the virus spread from bats to civets and then on to people.

The SARS outbreak would prove to shape Shis career, moving her from field research to work in level-2 biosafety labs before culminating in gain-of-function experiments in Chinas first and only level-4 lab, located in Wuhan.

Her search for the originating source of the SARS outbreak began in 2004, when she joined an international team of researchers to collect samples from bats in Southern China.

Shis early research was captured in a 2005 article, in which she reported that species of bats are a natural host of coronaviruses closely related to those responsible for the SARS outbreak.

Shi and her team would continue their search for the source of the 2002 outbreak for years, and the samples her team collected were sent to Wuhan for analysis and further experimentation.

On Dec. 12, 2007, Shi and her team published a paper in the Journal of Virology that showed how viruses could be manipulated to infect and attack human cells using an HIV-based pseudovirus. This experiment, funded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was the first indication that Shis Wuhan laboratory was acquiring the technologies and skills required to manipulate viruses collected in the wild.

In June 2010, Shi co-authored a paper showing that her team had built on the 2007 experiments by manipulating additional bat virus specimens and testing their interactions with human SARS-CoV spike proteins. They found that the alteration of several key residues either decreased or enhanced bat ACE2 receptor efficiency. The study was again funded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In 2011 and 2012, Shi and her team conducted a 12-month longitudinal survey of a colony of horseshoe bats at a single location in Kunming city, Yunnan province, China. This single location was Shitou Cave.

While Shi and her team were conducting their survey at Shitou Cave, an unrelated group of six workers began clearing bat excrement from a copper mine shaft in Mojiang, Yunnanapproximately 200 miles away from Shis groupaccording to The Sunday Times.

In April 2012, according to The Wall Street Journal, those six workers became seriously ill from a pneumonia-like disease that resulted in the deaths of three of the men. Notably, all of the public reports state that the mine shaft was abandoned, but none of those same reports explain why the six miners were there to clean the shaft out.

There was no media mention of this strange, isolated outbreak, and as the Sunday Times notes, there appears to have been a media blackout surrounding the entire incident.

Shi and her team, fortuitously already in the region during this new outbreak, abruptly shifted both their focus and location and spent the next two years collecting samples from bats located in the mine at the Mojiang location.

A virus allegedly found in one of these samples was later revealed to be the closest known match to the virus that causes COVID-19.

The finding of this particular viral sample appears to have been akin to finding a needle in a haystack. Although the Mojiang location turned up vast amounts of coronaviruses, only one of them resembled SARS and was reportedly found in a single fecal sample. Shis team named the virus RaBtCoV/4991.

Peter Daszak, the president of EcoHealth Alliance, confirmed the fortuitous finding to The Sunday Times.

It was just one of the 16,000 bats we sampled. It was a faecal sample, we put it in a tube, put it in liquid nitrogen, took it back to the lab. We sequenced a short fragment, he said.

It isnt known whether Daszak, who used funding from the National Institutes of Health to provide the WIV with grants to research bat coronaviruses, was present at the Mojiang mine site, but hes a co-author of a paper describing the groups findings.

Shis Conflicting Scientific Articles

The more complete tale unfolds in an examination of five articles in Western science journals that Shi and her research collaborators published between 2013 and 2020.

An Oct. 30, 2013, paper written by Shi and Daszak highlighted the first-ever isolation and characterization of a bat SARS-like coronavirus that uses the ACE2 receptor.

Their paper noted that their results provide the strongest evidence to date that Chinese horseshoe bats are natural reservoirs of SARS-CoV, and that intermediate hosts may not be necessary for direct human infection by some bat SL-CoVs.

In other words, their 2013 paper specifically noted the possibility of direct transmission from bats to humans.

The paper also referred to the first recorded isolation of a live SARS-like coronavirus known as WIV1apparently shorthand for Wuhan Institute of Virology 1. The virus was isolated from fecal samples taken from the horseshoe bats.

By this time, Shi had spent almost two years collecting bat samples from the Mojiang mine. Notably, her scientific papers make no mention of the mine, of the 2012 outbreak, or of the miners or their deaths.

As their 2013 paper notes, the group claimed that all of their results came from a single location in Kunming, Yunnan Province, Chinathe location of Shitou Cave.

More specifically, Shis 2013 paper, along with a follow-up paper in November 2015, appeared to intentionally conceal her years-long work at the Mojiang mine, as well as the crucial fact that the minenot the bat cave in Kunmingwas the true source for what would become known as the closest relative to the virus that causes COVID-19.

The 2015 article written by Shi, along with Ralph Baric of the University of North Carolina and others, revisited the presence of the virus in horseshoe bats. Notably, the article doesnt directly specify the location from which the virus was sourced, but instead uses a footnote to reference the 2013 article, which claimed that the source came from a single location in Kunmingthe location of Shitou Cave.

The paper notes that a SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human emergence. The researchers observed that some of the viruses that they found replicate efficiently in primary human airway cells.

The researchers stated that their work suggests a potential risk of SARS-CoV re-emergence from viruses currently circulating in bat populations.

But again, just like her 2013 article, no reference to the Mojiang mine as the actual source was made.

However, within less than three months, in a follow-up to the November 2015 paper, Shi and her team acknowledged in a February 2016 article that they had conducted a surveillance of coronaviruses in bats in an abandoned mineshaft in Mojiang County, Yunnan Province, China, from 20122013.

In this same article, Shi admitted that she obtained a virus called RaBtCoV/4991 from 276 bat fecal probes that were sampled in a mineshaft in Mojiang. As we now know, the RaBtCoV/4991 virus has been shown to be the closest known match to the virus that causes COVID-19.

Shi renamed this same virus as RaTG13 in early February 2020just as the COVID-19 pandemic had begun to emerge.

A database of bat viruses published by the Chinese Academy of Sciencesthe parent body of the WIVconfirms that the RaBtCoV/4991 virus was discovered on July 24, 2013, as part of a collection of coronaviruses that were described in the 2016 paper on the abandoned mine, The Times reported.

The Chinese database specifically references Shis Feb. 18, 2016, paper, which makes note of the mineshaft in Mojiang, along with the discovery of multiple coronavirusesincluding the new SARS-like strainbut makes no mention of the 2012 respiratory outbreak, nor of the resulting deaths of the miners.

In 2017, Shi and her team would once again shift focus away from the Mojiang mine and back to Shitou Cave, claiming: We have carried out a five-year longitudinal surveillance (April 2011 to October 2015) on SARSr-CoVs in bats from a single habitat in proximity to Kunming city, Yunnan Province, Chinathe region where Shitou Cave is located.

For reasons yet unknown, any mention of the Mojiang mine, where Shi and her team spent two years collecting bat samples culminating in the discovery of the closest known relative to COVID-19, was once again conspicuously omitted.

One of Shis co-authors on the 2013 and 2017 articles, Linfa Wang, has since come to prominence as a vocal proponent of the natural origins theory pertaining to the virus. Wang, a member of the World Health Organizations Emergency Response Team for the COVID-19 outbreak, discussed the issue of funding with National Geographic in June 2020, noting that when it comes to infectious diseases, people never realize theres a huge return.

When we have prevented small outbreaks, people dont care. It doesnt get media attention, he said.

Wang, who has been collaborating with Shi since at least 2005, finished by asking a question that called to mind the 2012 outbreak at the Mojiang mine:

In Wuhan, if three people died and it was controlled, would we know it? No. This is happening all the time. Its just in remote villages where people die. You bury them and end of the story, right?

Of the many articles written regarding their multiyear work, only the 2016 piece acknowledges the existence of the Mojiang mine. And, again, nowhere does Shi or her team make any mention of the actual outbreak and the deaths of three of the six infected miners.

Shis years-long possession of the virus found in the Mojiang mine was suddenly highlighted on Feb. 3, 2020, when Shi and her collaborators published a new article stating that scientists at the Wuhan lab had a close match to the virus that causes COVID-19.

Shi called this virus RaTG13, a name that hadnt previously appeared in any of her articles. The 2020 article was notably vague about the origins of this new virus, simply stating that it was previously detected in Rhinolophus affinis from Yunnan province. As independent researchers later found out by comparing genome sequences from archived Chinese databases, the virus that Shi referenced in 2020 was actually RaBtCoV/4991, the virus that was taken from the Mojiang mine back in 2012 and written about in 2016.

In November 2020, as more facts were uncovered in relation to the viruss origins, Shi suddenly added an addendum to her February 2020 article, finally admitting that COVID-19s closest known relative had come from the Mojiang mine. However, Shi referred to the Mojiang mine as a mine-cave and cave, once again blurring the lines between the Mojiang mine and the Shitou Cave, located 200 miles apart.

In this addendum, Shi acknowledged that she had renamed the virus from RaBtCoV/4991 to RaTG13, supposedly in order to reflect the bat species. However, both the previous designation and the new designation carry the letters RA, which stand for Rhinolophus affinis, the Latin term for intermediate horseshoe bats.

Notably, Shis 2020 article also alleged that the pandemic had started from a local seafood market. That false claim, which has been disproven, wasnt addressed in Shis addendum.

Although it isnt yet known precisely why Shi obscured the true origins of RaBtCov/4911 and obfuscated her 2013 discovery, its undeniable that Shi quietly kept the closest known relative to COVID-19 in her Wuhan lab for at least seven years and failed to address her discoverys true origins.

Jeff Carlson and Hans Mahncke are co-hosts of the program Truth Over News on EPOCH TV.
Supreme Court Refuses to Hear New Hampshires Challenge to Massachusetts Taxing Its Residents

The Supreme Court declined to hear New Hampshires challenge to Massachusettss pandemic-era policy of taxing out-of-state residents who used to work in Massachusetts but switched to telecommuting from their New Hampshire homes during the pandemic.

Billions of dollars in income taxes paid by people who worked from home during the pandemic were at stake in this case, and conceivably in other states such as New York that, even in the absence of a public health emergency, collect taxes on nonresident income.

According to New Hampshire, the Massachusetts tax rule goes against New Hampshires state sovereignty, its residents economic interests, and runs afoul of the U.S. Constitutions commerce clause and the 14th Amendments due process clause. New Hampshire had asked the court for an injunction preventing Massachusetts from enforcing the rule and requiring it to refund all funds collected under it.

Unlike its high-tax neighbor to the south, New Hampshire has no state income or sales tax as part of an intentional strategy to remain economically competitive with other states.

According to one estimate, 120,000 New Hampshire residents who used to commute to Massachusetts every workday worked from home because of the pandemic but still had to pay the 5 percent income tax in Massachusetts. Massachusetts issued an emergency order retroactively effective March 10, 2020, near the beginning of the pandemic, and continued to tax those individuals even when they stayed at home to work. New Hampshire said it was unfair for Massachusetts to do this because the taxpayers werent using Massachusetts services that are funded by the taxes.

Massachusetts cannot balance its budget on the backs of our citizens, punish our workers for making the decision to work from home and keep themselves and their families and those around them safe, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, said in October in initiating the lawsuit.

The Biden administration had urged the court not to consider the lawsuit.

In May, Acting U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar brushed aside New Hampshires concerns, saying in a friend-of-the-court brief that New Hampshires contention that it has suffered a serious violation of its sovereignty has no limiting principle and could lead to more states suing in the Supreme Court to defend their sovereignty.

Although New Hampshire might prefer that its residents not pay personal income taxes to any government, an independent tax obligation falling on a states residents generally is not an injury to that states own sovereign prerogatives, said Prelogar, the administrations top Supreme Court attorney.

Instead, New Hampshire should sue in the Massachusetts court system, she said, as The Epoch Times previously reported.

Sununu criticized the courts decision on June 28.

By siding with the Biden administration and allowing inappropriate taxation of NH citizens, the Supreme Court is setting a costly precedent, Sununu said in a statement.

This decision will have lasting ramifications for thousands of Granite State residents.

In an unsigned order on June 28, the court declined without explanation to grant leave to New Hampshire to proceed further in New Hampshire v. Massachusetts, court file No. 220154, which New Hampshire initiated by a bill of complaint on Oct. 19, 2020. New Hampshire had invoked the high courts original jurisdiction to adjudicate disputes between the states.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito voted to hear the case, as they have done in other legal proceedings between states that the Supreme Court has refused to take up. They have said they believe federal law provides states an unfettered right to bring suit against one another directly in the high court.

The Court chose to punt today, but telework is here to stay and remote work taxation issues are not going away, attorney Joe Bishop-Henchman, vice president of litigation at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF), told The Epoch Times.

This case will not be the last.

Massachusetts just a few days ago dropped its policy going forward, so the Court might have thought the whole issue to be moot. The Court takes only a fraction of the cases submitted to it, and everyone who works in tax knows the odds are even smaller for us.

In the months since we filed in this case, I heard from many taxpayers facing multistate tax incoherence how much they appreciate us trying to get solutions for them. We will press on toward that goal.

NTUF previously filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of itself and 16 other groups.
Supreme Court Revives Excessive-Force Suit Over Missouri Mans Police Custody Death

The Supreme Court on June 28 vacated a lower court ruling in favor of police in an excessive-force case, effectively reviving a lawsuit brought by the parents of a Missouri man who died after being restrained in a holding cell.

In an unsigned summary decision (pdf) in the case of Lombardo v. City of St. Louis, Missouri, the high court didnt express a view on whether excessive force was used, but vacated a judgment by the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to give the court the opportunity to employ an inquiry that clearly attends to the facts and circumstances around the death of Nicholas Gilbert, who died in 2015 after six officers restrained him when he acted violently.

Gilbert was arrested by police on several grounds, including failing to appear in court for a traffic violation. Police described Gilbert as suicidal and said they were trying to prevent him from taking his own life. Police said Gilbert continued to resist even after he was handcuffed and shackled, and at one point, six officers were in the cell trying to subdue him, according to lawyers for his family. The officers said they didnt exert pressure on Gilberts neck.

An autopsy concluded that Gilbert had methamphetamines in his system and suffered from heart disease. The autopsys cause of death listed forcible restraint as a factor.

After Gilberts parents sued in 2016, the officers asserted the qualified immunity defense. In 2019, a federal judge found that excessive force had been used but that the officers werent on notice that their conduct was unconstitutional. Therefore, the officers received qualified immunity.

But in weighing the case, the Supreme Court found that the lower court hadnt analyzed thoroughly enough whether the police use of a prone restraint was constitutional in the case of Gilbert, citing precedent that requires careful attention to the facts and circumstances of each particular case.

Gilbert was already handcuffed and leg shackled when officers move him to the prone position, the high court noted, adding that officers kept him in that position for 15 minutes.

Other details the high court cited include evidence that officers put pressure on Gilberts back, even though St. Louis instructs its officers that the technique can cause suffocation when applied to a prone detainee.

Such details could matter when deciding whether to grant summary judgment on an excessive force claim, the Supreme Court said.

Conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the decision, arguing that the appeals court applied the correct legal standard and made a judgment call on a sensitive question, adding that they would have preferred the Supreme Court to hear the case on its merits rather than kick it back to the lower court.

The Court, unfortunately, is unwilling to face up to the choice between denying the petition (and bearing the criticism that would inevitably elicit) and granting plenary review (and doing the work that would entail), the dissenting judges wrote.

Instead, it claims to be uncertain whether the Court of Appeals actually applied the correct legal standard, and for that reason, it vacates the judgment and remands the case.

This course of action may be convenient for this Court, but it is unfair to the Court of Appeals.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Swedish Prime Minister Lofven Resigns; Speaker to Look for New Leader

STOCKHOLMSwedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, leader of the countrys Social Democrat party, resigned on June 28, handing the speaker of its split parliament the task of finding a new government.

Lofven had faced a deadline of midnight on June 28 to either step down or call a snap election after losing a June 21 confidence vote when the Left Party withdrew its support for him.

I have requested to be dismissed as prime minister, Lofven told a news conference, admitting defeat in his efforts to find fresh support from lawmakers that might have secured his reappointment. It is the most difficult political decision I have ever taken.

Speaker Andreas Norlen will now have up to four attempts to find a new prime minister with enough backing from parliament. If he fails, a snap election must be called.

Any new administration will serve for just a short time, as a regular election must be held in September 2022.

With one year left until the election, and an ongoing pandemic, a snap election is not the best thing for Sweden, Lofven said on June 28. We cant use our time for political games.

Sweden hopes to lift mostly voluntary COVID-19 restrictions after the summer, as infections have been falling.

Nicholas Aylott, associate professor of political science at Sodertorn University, said Lofven could probably return as prime minister with support from the Left and Centre parties. But a government would only be viable if he can get them to agree on a budget.

Lofven is surely confident that hell cobble together the 175 votes that he needs, he said. Getting the Left and Centre parties behind the same budget will be tricky, but some fudge could be found.

By Simon Johnson & Johan Ahlander
The Complications of Criminalizing Speech That May Spread Hate

Commentary

Speech in Canada has long had reasonable limits placed upon it. It is illegal to incite violence against a person or group. One cant encourage others to commit a criminal act nor, as the old cliche goes, can a person shout fire in a crowded theatre with impunity. When the path from speech to direct harm can be clearly established, people can be held criminally responsible. When we try to criminalize speech that may spread hate, things become complicated.

As the spring parliamentary session was just about to come to a close, the Liberal government introduced Bill C-36. The intent of the bill is to amend both the Criminal Code and the Human Rights Act to include provisions for online hate speech. The Liberals have made it clear that they want to regulate online speech through C-10 and C-36, both of which are currently before the Senate.

It is looking likely that there will be a federal election this fall and if so these bills will die on the order paper, but that doesnt mean such legislative efforts to control speech will disappear. It means they will turn into campaign planks.

Defending free speech can be a dicey business, particularly in an election period. Proponents of unfettered speech are often unfairly accused of supporting the propagation of hate itself. Defending a persons right to say something offensive is not the same as supporting what was actually said, but that line is often blurred when political brinksmanship is involved. This puts supporters of free speech on the defensive and makes them reluctant to even go into the issue. That makes election periods the worst time to go into an issue as loaded and nuanced as the regulation of speech.

Bill C-36 is essentially a reincarnation of what was once Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. Section 13 used the term likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt when referring to hate speech. The ambiguity and subjectivity of that definition led to numerous actions against journalists and publications, including Macleans magazine, for having published content that some felt was hateful. While all of the charges against Macleans were dismissed eventually, it was costly for the magazine and the chilling effect upon journalists and publications was undeniable.

Section 13 of the Human Rights Act was repealed by the Harper government in 2008. It had become clear that the definition of hate was simply too subjective to apply to speech restrictions. Accusations were common but convictions were rare. The legislation was untenable. Bill C-36 uses the term likely to foment detestation or vilification of an individual or group of individuals on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination. If anything, C-36 is more ambiguous in its definition of hate than Section 13 had been. It would be no more enforceable in practice, though it certainly could have a chilling effect upon speech. The use of the term likely within the legislation blows a hole in it that no reasonable judge could ignore.

When a person has crossed the line from offensive content into harassment, we already have the legal means to deal with them. In May 2019, controversial former Calgary mayoral candidate Kevin Johnston was ordered to pay $2.5 million by a civil court for his hateful harassment campaign against a Muslim man in Ontario. Johnston has since been incarcerated for posting online threats against health services workers in Alberta. We didnt need new legislation in order to deal with Johnston, nor will we need it when others like him surface online.

Modern society is ever evolving, and for the better. Public expressions of hatred against people for their race, sexual orientation, or religion are not socially tolerated. Those who are insistent upon displaying bigotry toward identifiable groups will quickly find themselves ostracized among their peers. Social pressures are far more effective than legal threats in battling hatred. Yes, there are still some vocal and hateful people out there, and there likely always will be some. Those kinds of people are in a dwindling minority though, and that is not due to fears of legal repercussions.

Hateful, offensive speech is abundant on the internet. Never before has there been such an ability to anonymously publish vile content to a potentially large number of viewers. Many odious people are using online platforms with the intention of spreading hatred of groups and people. Should we try to regulate this, though, and even if we wanted to, can we?

Regulation of hateful speech will be up for discussion this fall, whether in Parliament or in an election campaign. Lets try to keep the discussion thoughtful and rational on this issue, as difficult as that may be. We cant let theatre and political posturing impact something as critically important as free speech.

Cory Morgan is a columnist and business owner based in Calgary.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Trump Responds to Former AG William Barrs Claims About 2020 Election

Former President Donald Trump responded to remarks from former Attorney General William Barr that criticized the former commander-in-chief over his claims following the 2020 general election.

Barr made the remarks in an upcoming book from ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl, who claimed the relationship between Trump and Barr deteriorated last year.

Bill Barr was a disappointment in every sense of the word, Trump wrote in a June 27 statement. Besides which, Barr, who was Attorney General (lawyer) shouldnt be speaking about the President.

Trump then characterized Barr as a weak attorney general who didnt act on key issues.

Instead of doing his job, he did the opposite and told people within the Justice Department not to investigate the election, Trump said. Just like he did with the Mueller report and  RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA, they dont want to investigate the real facts. Bill Barrs weakness helped facilitate the cover up of the Crime of the Century, the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!

Trump was referring to the unremitting allegationsstarting from when he was elected president in 2016that his campaign colluded with Russia. Former special counsel Robert Mueller found no link between his campaign and the Kremlin, although numerous Democrats and left-wing TV hosts continued to repeat the allegation that he was working for Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Barr used an expletive to describe Trumps allegations of voter fraud during the Nov. 3 contest.

If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it. But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there, the former attorney general said. It was all [expletive], he added.

According to Barr in the excerpts of the book, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had urged Barr to push back against Trumps remarks about fraud. Ultimately, in late December 2020, Barr resigned, although he touted his record under the administration.

In his June 27 statement, Trump called Barrwho had also been appointed attorney general under then-President George H.W. Busha RINO, or Republican in name only, who had really let down the American people.

Now it was revealed that Barr was being pushed to tell lies about the election by Mitch McConnell, another beauty, who was worried about damaging the Republicans chances in the Georgia runoff, the former commander-in-chief said. What really damaged the Senate Republicans was allowing their races to be rigged and stolen, and worse, the American people to no longer believe their vote matters because spineless RINOs like Bill Barr and Mitch McConnell did nothing.

The former president also made note of Barrs resignation letter, in which the former attorney general said he was greatly honored to serve in the administration. He also highlighted the many successes and unprecedented achievements you have delivered for the American people. Your record is all the more historic because you accomplished it in the face of relentless implacable resistance.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump points to the media while speaking at the North Carolina GOP convention dinner in Greenville, N.C., on June 5, 2021. (Jonathan Drake/Reuters)

Trump Wont Be Charged by Manhattan District Attorney: Lawyer

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance wont charge former President Donald Trump or the Trump Organization with a crime relating to allegations about hush money payments on manipulated real estate values, according to Trumps lawyer.

Trump attorney Ronald Fischetti told Politico on June 28 that he asked Vances team for details about the case, including the possibility of charges being filed.

We asked, Is there anything else? Fischetti told the political news website, referring to the conversation he had with Vances office. They said, No.

Its crazy that thats all they had.

Vances team, according to the lawyer, was considering bringing charges against the Trump Organization and individual employees over allegations that they didnt pay taxes on corporate benefits or perks.

It appears Vances office may hand down an indictment in the case, but its unclear when and who it would target. The Washington Post and several other news outlets reported that Vance, a Democrat, is considering criminal charges and informed Trumps lawyers that they would proceed with the charges unless persuaded otherwise on June 28.

Later in the interview with Politico, Fischetti also suggested that an indictment might be in the works, but he indicated that it would be minor.

Its like the Shakespeare play, Much Ado About Nothing, the lawyer said. This is so small that I cant believe Im going to have to try a case like this.

And if Vance pursues a criminal case, Trump himself wont be charged, he told Politico.

They just said, When this indictment comes down, [Trump] wont be charged. Our investigation is ongoing, Fischetti said.

Regarding the allegations made by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who has met with Vances office numerous times in recent months, and adult film actress Stormy Daniels, Vances team also made no mention of them, the lawyer said. Nothing. Not a word on that, Fischetti said.

Previously, Vances office stated it was investigating possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct within the Trump Organization, including alleged tax and insurance fraud and falsification of business records. Trump and the Trump Organization have denied the claims against them, describing them as a politically motivated witch hunt.

While we have tried to cooperate in good faith with the investigation at every turn, the NYAGs continued harassment of the company as we approach the election (and filing of this motion on the first day of the Republican National Convention) once again confirms that this investigation is all about politics, a Trump Organization lawyer told news outlets in 2020.

The Epoch Times has contacted Vances office for comment.
UK Defence Secretary Self-Isolating After Military Chief Tests Positive for COVID-19

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and a number of top military commanders are self-isolating after Chief of the Defense Staff Gen. Nick Carter tested positive for CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, the Ministry of Defense has confirmed.

In a statement, a spokesman from the ministry said: The chief of the defense staff has tested positive during routine COVID-19 checks. Colleagues who were in a senior meeting with him last week, including the secretary of state, are self-isolating in line with government guidelines.

Carter tested positive last week, after he was in a meeting on June 24 with Wallace, Vice Chief of the Defense Staff Adm. Tim Fraser, Chief of the General Staff Gen. Mark Carleton-Smith, First Sea Lord Adm. Tony Radakin, Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston, and Commander of Strategic Command Gen. Patrick Sanders.

Social distancing measures are said to have been adhered to during the meeting, but Radakin, Wigston, and Sanders still came into contact with Carter, who tested positive the day after the meeting, following an appearance at the Chalke Valley History Festival on Jue 25.

The Telegraph reported that Carleton-Smith and Carters deputy had remained at a physical distance from Carter during the June 24 meeting.

Those who are self-isolating are expected to conduct business remotely.

According to government guidelines for England, people must self-isolate after being advised to do so by the National Health Service (NHS) Test and Trace program.

The NHS advises people to self-isolate immediately when notified by its app that theyve come into contact with someone who has tested positive for the CCP virus.

Those who self-isolate are advised not to leave home for any reason other than essential care for 10 days, starting from the day on which the close contact has occurred.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, and Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer have previously self-isolated after being notified by the Test and Trace mobile app.

PA contributed to this report.
Sydneysiders queue outside a vaccination centre for their dose of vaccine in Sydney, Australia on June 24, 2021. (Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images)

Union Calls for Paid Vax Leave for All Australian Public Servants

The New South Wales (NSW) government should lead the nation by example and provide all public sector workers paid vaccination leave, the states peak union body said.

One of the barriers workers are facing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 is finding the time to do it while they are working, Unions NSW wrote in a post on Twitter. Thats why were calling on the NSW government to lead by example and provide a 1/2 day of paid leave to all workers so they can get vaccinated.

Unions NSW Secretary Mark Morey said the cost of missing work is one element that is preventing people, especially those who are insecurely employed, from getting their vaccination.

As things currently stand, employees have no right to get vaccinated on work time, Morey told NCA NewsWire. Workers cant even use their sick leave to get vaccinated under the national employment standards. This needs to be fixed immediately.

Every barrier and impediment to vaccination must be removed as soon as possible.

Morey said the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian could get the ball rolling by immediately instructing all departments to give all workers a half-day of paid vax leave, including casuals and contractors.

We know that contract and casual workers have often been overlooked in the COVID response, he said. The federal government must fund a half-day of pay for all those insecurely employed workers to get the jab.

The NSW government is the states largest employer, with over 450,000 workers in 2020, including ongoing, temporary, and casual employees.

Sydneysiders queue outside a vaccination centre in Sydney, Australia, on June 24, 2021. (Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images)

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has been calling for the implementation of four days of paid vax leave for workers in aged care and disability services across the nation.

Under the recommendation, workers would get two days off per doseone to get the shot and another to recover from the side effects.

Workers in aged and disability care are being asked to go without pay for multiple days to get the vaccine and deal with routine side effects, ACTU Secretary Sally McManus said. This is a huge financial disincentive for low-paid, insecure workers.

Some major employers in the private sector have also implemented paid vaccination leave programs.

Currently, three of the major four banks in Australia offer special COVID-19 vaccination leave, with the outlier being the National Australia Bank (NAB), which has been criticised by the Finance Sector Union (FSU) for being the only big four bank to reject giving workers special COVID-19 vaccination leave.

Unfortunately, NAB has rejected the leave proposal, making the bank an outlier among the largest corporation in the finance sector which have granted COVID-19 leave including CBA, Westpac, ANZ, Australian Super, HESTA, and Care Super, FSU National Secretary Julia Angrisano said.

In a letter to NAB, Angrisano said paid vaccination leave was becoming an industry standard and urged the bank to join the other companies in making a positive contribution to controlling the spread of COVID-19.

A nurse fills a syringe from a vial containing AstraZenecas COVID-19 vaccine during vaccination day for health workers at health centre Posto Central in Marica, Brazil, on April 27, 2021. (Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

Australias vaccination rollout has been plagued with setbacks, including supply issues, changing health advice for AstraZeneca, and increasing rates of vaccine hesitancy.

Several surveys and studies, including one by the Australian National University, reveal that many Aussies are not keen to receive the COVID-19 jabs.

In May, the university revealed that while nearly 60 percent of Australians would definitely get a safe vaccine, more than 80 percent are concerned about the side effects of currently available jabs.

On top of that, 50.4 percent of people who said they wouldnt take a vaccine said their decision was based on recent news about the AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clotting, study co-author Professor Nicholas Biddle said.
An outside view of Bascom Hall on the campus of the University of WisconsinMadison, Wis., on Oct. 12, 2013. (Mike McGinnis/Getty Images)

University of WisconsinMadison Wont Require COVID-19 Vaccination, Social Distancing in the Fall

Students, faculty, and staff at the University of WisconsinMadison wont be required to be vaccinated against the CCP virus before returning to the campus for the fall semester, the Big Ten school said.

In a June 24 email sent to all employees, UWMadison Chancellor Rebecca Blank said that an exceptionally strong participation in vaccination has driven the cases in Dane County, where the campus is located, down to the lowest level since May 2020. She estimated that at least 74 percent of the 24,186 employees had received at least their first dose of the vaccine, and about half of the 45,540 students were vaccinated.

Vaccination is strongly encouraged; however it is not required, Blank wrote. The university will not disclose an individuals vaccination status to others. It is up to individuals to decide whether to share their vaccination status with colleagues, supervisors, and employees.

The university is also encouraging those who are unvaccinated to wear face coverings. While masks are no longer required, thats consistent with local and national public health guidance.

Anyone, regardless of vaccination status, may choose to wear a mask, the message reads. Choosing to wear a mask does not indicate vaccination status.

In addition, the university will lift all the restrictions on building capacity and access in the fall, including the requirement to keep a physical distance in classrooms. Also retired is the Badger Badge smartphone app, which was implemented last spring as part of the campus health protocol. The app has been used by students and employees to schedule COVID-19 tests, and they could only enter campus buildings by showing their green Badge indicating a negative test result for that week.

The announcement comes as 6 out of the 14 universities in the Big Ten Conference have mandated vaccination for part of or the entire population. The University of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign, Indiana University, the University of Maryland, Northwestern University, and Rutgers University require COVID-19 vaccinations for all students returning to campus this fall, while the University of Michigan only requires the shot for students living in residence halls.

In Wisconsin, the Republican-led state legislature has approved and is considering a series of measures that would prohibit government health officials, university administrators, and business owners from mandating vaccination against the CCP virus, which causes COVID-19. Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, has said he would veto at least one of them if they were sent to his desk.

I think its a reasonable request of a business to make those requests, Evers said earlier this month. If youre a health care institution, you may want to ask those questions. Certainly, Lawrence University is already out in front of thisasking, requiring students and therefore asking them to show proof.
Iran-Backed Militia in Iraq, Syria Hit by US Air Strikes

U.S. President Joe Biden ordered airstrikes against Iran-backed militia groups embedded at the IraqSyria border region on June 27, marking the second military operation in the region since Biden took office.

The defensive precision airstrikes were carried out on facilities known to be used by Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq, the Pentagon said in a statement.

The Defense Department didnt disclose whether it believes anyone was killed or injured.

The U.S. strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those countries, the department stated, adding that several terrorist groups, including Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, use the facilities.

The Pentagon said the actions show that the U.S. president stands ready to act to protect U.S. personnel, who are in Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government. U.S. and coalition forces have been fighting side by side with the Iraqi Security Forces in an effort to defeat ISIS.

The United States took necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalationbut also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message. As a matter of international law, the United States acted pursuant to its right of self-defense. The strikes were both necessary to address the threat and appropriately limited in scope. As a matter of domestic law, the president took this action pursuant to his Article II authority to protect U.S. personnel in Iraq, the statement reads.

The strikes come amid tense times for the United States and the Iranian regime, which has been working to extend its influence into Iraqi politics and the Middle East more broadly. During the Trump administration, the United States killed the Iranian regimes top military general Qassem Soleimani following attacks that Soleimani approved, using Iran-backed militia, on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, as well as numerous rocket attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in the area.

Soleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more, the State Department stated at the time.

Iraqs parliament has for many years been fractured among those in support of U.S. presence in the region and those more supportive of Irans Islamist regime, which has been increasing its influence in Iraq through militia groups that it says are also there to fight ISIS. The militias have long been accused of rocket fire against U.S. forces and of involvement in killing peaceful pro-democracy activists.

Earlier in June, Iraq released Iran-aligned militia commander Qasim Muslihwho was arrested in May on terrorism-related chargesafter authorities found insufficient evidence against him.

Read More Iran Likely Launched Attack That Killed Americans in Iraq, Says General

The U.S. military carried out strikes with F-15 and F-16 aircraft, officials said, adding that the pilots made it back from the mission safely.

Biden ordered retaliatory strikes against Iran-backed militia in February after rocket attacks on U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq.

The strikes came even as Bidens administration is looking to potentially revive a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. His critics say Iran cant be trusted and point to the drone attacks as further evidence that Iran and its proxies will never accept a U.S. military presence in Iraq or Syria.

Biden and the White House declined to comment on the strikes on June 27.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews speaks to the media in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 18, 2020. (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews Returns to Work 3 Months After Sustaining Injury

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is returning to work after spending more than three months in recovery following a fall at a Mornington Peninsula holiday rental.

The premier held a press conference at 10:30 a.m. on June 28 to update Victorians on the Metro Tunnel project, one of his governments key infrastructure projects that have since blown out by nearly $3 billion, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

In a video posted on June 27, Andrews detailed how he fell when he was getting ready for work on March 9 and then taken to hospital where he learned of his injuryan acute compression fracture of the T7 vertebra as well as several broken ribs.

As I put my foot on to the first step. I knew I was in trouble. I didnt really connect with the step; it just slid straight off. I became airborne almost, Andrews said in a video, adding that all he could hear was an almighty crunch.

When I heard the crunch, I knew. I thought this is serious; were in trouble here.

The 48-year-old premier was then taken to the Peninsula Private Hospital by ambulance before he was transferred to the Alfred Trauma Centre.

In an interview with the Herald Sun, Andrews revealed he requested a transfer by road ambulance rather than a helicopter to avoid the appearance of special treatment.

By the time he got here he was in respiratory failure. It was more than just a simple injury, The Alfreds head of trauma Professor Mark Fitzgerald told the publication.

Andrews was placed on breathing machines for two days to provide oxygen, adding that he avoided permanent, life-changing spinal cord damage by 1mm.

The premier and his wife Catherine also mentioned the vile unfounded rumours circulating online since Andrews fall, including that the incident occurred at the home of businessman Lindsay Fox.

No credible evidence has been presented to support the claim, which has been denied.

Andrews thanked his healthcare team for his recovery, including his personal protective detail, paramedics, doctors, nurses and physiotherapists.

He also thanked his family and Victorians for their well wishes and confirmed his plans to run at the 2022 election, stating that he has unfinished business.

Family is important, but so too is delivering for every family, working hard for every single Victorian family. Thats the oath I swore. Thats the job Ive got, Andrews said.

Deputy Premier James Merlino has been acting premier during Andrews absence, taking the state through a fourth lockdown that cost the Victorian economy approximately $1.3 billion.

Opposition leader Michael OBrien has questioned the premiers return to work date given state parliaments six-week winter break, including the start of school holidays.

It would have been better for Victorians and better for democracy if the premier had been here this week to answer questions about our fourth lockdown and why Victoria alone has had four lockdowns, OBrien told reporters on June 24.

AAP contributed to this report.
Paul Davis, the vice president of VVA Chapter 850 and president of the VVA Delaware State Council, spoke at the Memorial Day event at Kent County Memorial Park, Del., on May 31, 2021. (Lily Sun/The Epoch Times)

Vietnam Veterans Patriotism: Still Proud to Serve Their Country

Although many have forgotten the reason, these two Vietnam veterans are still proud to have served in the Vietnam War to fight for their country. They spoke out in an effort to restore the true history of the Vietnam War and recall the past.

The Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), Chapter 850, hosted its annual Memorial Day event to remember those who gave their lives for their country during the Vietnam War, and to honor Vietnam veterans and their families for their service and sacrifice.

At the Kent County Veterans Memorial Park in Delaware on May 31, two Vietnam veterans, Paul Davis and Joseph G. Startt Jr. expressed their hope that people learn more about history. They want people to understand the values underlying their patriotism, and also the importance of resisting socialism.

The Vietnam War, between 1955 and 1975, was a war between South Vietnam, supported by anti-communist countries, and North Vietnam, supported by communist regimes such as the Chinese Communist Party and the former Soviet Union. It was a battle to stop communism ruling our world.

On Jan. 20, 1961, President John F. Kennedy in his Inaugural Address said: Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. This much we pledgeand more.

Vietnam Veterans Patriotism: Upholding Freedom

Paul Davis, the president of the Delaware State Council for VVA and vice president of Chapter 850, said that day, America is a country that embraces freedom: freedom of speech, freedom of religion. Thats why we survived.

Davis, who served twice in Vietnam, considers the United States one of the greatest countries in the world.

As evidence of that, he said, we lost millions of our soldiers who defend the Constitution, what we believe in. As we move on today, and we never want to forget about those, remember their families, the husband, brothers; they need our help and our support.

He mentioned that those veterans who engaged in combat have not had an easy life. They have had to deal with the ordeals of war.

When youre in a combat situation, you have to learn how to adapt to it. And you have to learn how to live with it, he said. Fighting for democracy, freedom of speech, sometimes you have to do that.

Fighting Again to Resist Socialism

Davis served his first tour in Vietnam just after turning 20, working in the field of communications with the U.S. Army. He spent two years and seven days in Vietnam and returned home at the end of 1965.

Im very proud of what Ive done. I did what my country asked me to do, he said, adding that he was very dedicated to the military.

At the end of his speech at the Memorial Day event, Davis expressed his big concern for the future of the country: This left-wing group wants to turn [the United States] into a socialist country. It is nonsense.

He believes that Americans who understand the preciousness of liberty will fight for their country, way of life, and values, adding, Were going to fight for it again, a great Constitution.

Davis said its of great important to preserve history by teaching history so that people can make the right decisions in the future, because sometimes, history may repeat itself.

If you understand history, you might be able to avoid a second historical event. Thats why I support education.

Severely Wounded Veteran: Willing To Serve My Country Again

Joseph G. Startt Jr, president of VVA Delaware Chapter 850, spoke at the Memorial Day event at Kent County Memorial Park on May 31, 2021. (May Lin/The Epoch Times)

Joseph G. Startt Jr., the president of the Delaware Chapter 850 of VVA, also spoke that day. He told The Epoch Times: Im proud of what Ive done. Im proud to wear my uniform  And Im happy that I served my country. And I would do it again.

Startt was drafted on July 3, 1969, to fight in Vietnam for 9 months and 27 days from Dec. 1969 to Sept. 26, 1970. He was in the Armys 25th Infantry and was seriously wounded in combat.

I had a collapsed lung, blew my knuckle off, hit my neck, hit my arm, got a big hole in my back, he said. Startt is now retired after working for the Air Force Base for 30 years.

The Vietnam War was the largest war in which the United States participated in after World War II, with nearly 3 million troops serving in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, over 58,000 U.S. service members were killed. VVA was founded in 1978. It was chartered by Congress and is exclusively dedicated to Vietnam-era veterans and their families. Delaware Chapter 850 of VVA established the Kent County Veterans Memorial Park with Kent County Levy Court in 2009.

Startt expressed great concern about current trends, saying that some people know nothing about the Vietnam War.

We went there to help. And I think we did a good job, he said. I think it should be taught in schools and have more memorials and stuff for the men and women that have died for us.

Startt was happy to conduct the Memorial Day event: I want to thank the men and women who gave their lives for us to be safe. We started this because it was nothing in Delaware at that time, and its just been a Godsend.
Virus Outbreak at Northern Territory Gold Mine Grows

The Northern Territory (NT) has recorded two new cases of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus in its second day of lockdown, raising its total to six after an infected man joined 900 staff at the Granites gold mine on June 18.

The outbreak comes amid nationwide lockdowns, with new cases in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia.

The man had travelled for work after it is believed he was infected following quarantine at a Brisbane hotel, with four confirmed cases on June 27 launching Darwin and Palmerston into a 48-hour lockdown effective 1 p.m. the same day.

Of the fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workers on-site, an estimated 400 travelled to Brisbane, and a further 250 travelled to Perth.

NT Health Minister Natasha Fyles told ABC radio that she expected the number of positive cases to rise as more individuals undergo testing.

Weve gone up to six cases, she told ABC radio.

Northern Territory Health Minister Natasha Fyles speaks to the media during a press conference outside Parliament in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, on Apr. 9, 2021. (AAP Image/Aaron Bunch)

It is moving quite quickly, and that number is likely to rise today. Weve said to Territorians to be prepared for that.

NT Chief Health Officer Dr Hugh Heggie had earlier said that a difficult contact tracing task was underway with many FIFO workers travelling to other states.

Due to the nature of the positive case being located at a fly-in, fly-out mine site, there are a large number of close contacts that have been identified, and a major contact tracing mission is underway, Heggie said in a media release.

Five of the cases have been traced; three remained in the Northern Territory, one had travelled to New South Wales, and one to Queensland. It is unknown how the sixth case is linked to the cluster.

Following lockdown measures, Chief Minister Michael Gunner announced a Territory Small Business Lockdown Payment for those impacted by the lockdown, offering $1,000 to small businesses that either ceased trading or suffered a revenue loss of at least 50 percent.

Gunner said the amelioration package would support businesses amid unavoidable lockdowns.

We will always do whatever it takes to keep Territorians safe. Thats why we need this lockdownto pause everything while we get on top of the outbreak, Gunner said in a media release.

This lockdown is necessary, but I know it hurts as well. It is going to be especially hard for our small business owners who have had to shut down to help keep the rest of us safe.

AAP contributed to this report.
Pedestrians wear protective masks after a new wave of COVID-19 occurred in New Taipei city on May 15, 2021. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images)

WHO Recommends Masks and Social Distancing for Vaccinated People Due to Delta COVID-19 Strain

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that fully vaccinated individuals should still wear masks and engage in social distancing because of the Delta COVID-19 variant.

People cannot feel safe just because they had the two doses. They still need to protect themselves, Dr. Mariangela Simao, WHO assistant director-general, told reporters late last week during a Geneva news conference.

COVID-19 vaccines alone wont stop community transmission, Simao said. People need to continue to use masks consistently, be in ventilated spaces, hand hygiene  the physical distance, avoid crowding. This still continues to be extremely important, even if youre vaccinated, when you have a community transmission ongoing.

Her remarks come as some countries, including the United States, have mostly done away with mask-wearing amid a campaign to get people vaccinated. The number of new infections in the United States has remained steady, with about 11,659 new cases per day, according to Johns Hopkins University.

There have been reports of breakthrough cases in recent days, including in the United States. An Israeli official, who also warned of new lockdowns, told The Wall Street Journal last week that about half the people who were infected during an outbreak of the Delta variant were fully vaccinated.

Yes, you can reduce some measures, and different countries have different recommendations in that regard. But theres still the need for caution, Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior adviser to the WHOs director-general, told reporters last week. As we are seeing, there are new variants emerging.

Following the announcement, some said that WHOs latest guidance is confusing.

Confusing to see @WHO tell otherwise healthy, fully vaccinated people that they must continue to mask in public, wrote Dr. Vin Gupta, of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. We have data that being fully vaccinated protects against severe outcomes from the Delta variant. New data contradicting has not emerged. The message shouldnt change.

We need consistency in messaging on masks and vaccines so we can all get vaccinated quickly, adding that changing the guidance without clear data on why will only confuse.

During their briefing, WHO officials didnt say how long people should continue to wear masks or engage in social distancing. A study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology earlier this year found that social distancing is far less important than having proper ventilation inside a room.

The WHO officials also didnt make mention of countries, including the United States, that have a relatively higher percentage of vaccinated people. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 53.9 percent of the U.S. population has had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Some countries have already implemented lockdowns due to the Delta variant. They include Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Portugal, and Israel.

COVID-19 is the illness caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
Winefluencers? Musings From a Skeptic

On the old Jack Benny radio show in the 1940s, a continuing character played by the actor Sheldon Leonard was a racetrack shill, who always spoke in a hushed tone.

The shady character would suggest to Benny that he bet on a horse in the third [race], usually starting his pitch with hey, bud and ending his sure thing tip with the last line: Trust me. Following the racetrack touts tip often ended badly for Benny.

This came to mind the other day when I read a social media post with comments from a young, attractive woman who had attended a winery event. In a photo of herself holding a glass of the winerys chardonnay, she suggested that it was one of the best she had ever tasted.

This woman was like the racetrack tipster, offering a suggestion on a great wine. What wasnt said was that she was paid by the winery to post that opinion. Nor did the social media post give any indication of her wine qualifications, if any.

(Other than being attractive and vivacious.)

I got the impression that this womans job was equivalent to a vegetarian reviewing a steak house.

This young woman calls herself a wine influencer (winefluencer?), and from what I gather, these people are compensated by wineries or marketers for doing advertorials for wines on social media sites. The aim is to get people to buy the wines.

Does it work? I dunno, but some wineries think it does. They are hiring these people. Its sort of like a chardonnay winemaker telling you that the best chardonnay youll ever taste is mine. Theres as much veracity here as there is with a South Florida land salesman.

But then, think about other wine advice you may be exposed to. I once knew a man who ran a successful wine shop in San Diego. One day, I heard him recommend a particularly mediocre chardonnay to a woman who asked for advice. After she left, I said, Hey, that was an odd choice.

He said, I got a ton of that stuff, and I need to move it.

The mere existence of winefluencers seems to validate that, in this information age we live in, some widely disseminated facts are little more than lies dressed up to sound valid. Think politics. Or TV-hawked miracle drugs.

But at least with the drugs, they usually come with warnings about side effects. Some even suggest that one side effect is death. Influencers are guided by no ethics principles, which you would think might backfire on wineries who hire these shills.

Clearly, Im a skeptic when it comes to the benefits of hiring such folks, but I understand how a handsome visage and an enthusiastic voice saying nice things about your latest pinot gris might be better on a social media page than nothing.

So, is there a better way for influencers to have a real-world impact than simply expressing enthusiasm for a sweet rose or a flavored cider? Perhaps.

To me, it might sound a little less artificial if the winefluencer were to state factual material, not just animated gushing.

Instead of saying, Youll love this, wouldnt it work more effectively if the comment was, This terrific XYZ Zinfandel just got a gold medal at the county fair wine competition, and I love it!

Yes, it still sounds a little like Sheldon Leonard offering Jack Benny his racetrack touts cant miss tip, but at least its based on something factual.

Wine of the Week

2020 Barnard Griffin Rose of Sangiovese, Columbia Valley ($11): One of the most reliable slightly sweet pink wines you can find, this tasty patio sipper has raspberry and strawberry aromas and good mid-palate flavors. Often seen under $10.

(Courtesy of Barnard Griffin)

To find out more about Dan Berger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at Creators.com. Copyright 2021 Creators.com
Bottles of Australian wine are displayed at a supermarket in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province on November 27, 2020. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Wolf Warriors Failed Trade War With Australia

Commentary

Recently Chinese authorities have been scrambling to figure out a way to reinvigorate Chinas failed trade war with Australia. Relations between China and Australia have been on a downward spiral over the last 12 to 18 months, triggered by the Australian governments call for an international probe into the origins of COVID-19.

On June 24, 2021, Chinese authorities fired another shot by filing an action at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against Australian tariffs on three Chinese imports, including railway wheels, wind towers, and stainless-steel sinks.

Days earlier, on June 21, Beijing announced a significant investigation into iron ore prices after being left red-faced following the rebound of the cost for the steelmaking ingredient in the last four weeks. This is despite continued attempts to bring it down.

Experts say that Chinas continued reliance on Australias iron ore market, where 80 percent of its imports come from, has left the CCP humiliated.

Chinas Wolf Warriors have barked and slapped a range of trade sanctions on Australian coal, wine, lobster, barley, cotton, beef, and timber in an attempt to hurt exporters.

They see these sectors as Australias soft underbelly and hoped that by turning the screws, they could force the government to back down on its insistence on a proper independent investigation into the virus.

However, instead of causing lasting damage, the CCPs trade war has had the opposite effect.

Australian thermal coal from the Hunter Valley, exported via the Port of Newcastle, maintains its popularity with Chinese power utility firms due to its quality. It currently costs US $55 per tonne (5500 Kcal/Kg) from Australia.

In placing pressure on Australian coal imports, Chinese utility firms have been forced to buy the same grade quality coal from Russia at the whopping price of US $115 per tonne (US $60 more).

But at the same time, there has been no significant decline in exports of Australian coal as producers diverted the bulk carrier ships that were deliberately held up for months by Chinese authorities and instead sent them to different markets, including India.

Indian power utilities used to buy their thermal coal from Indonesia, but with China now switching to Indonesia as a major supplier, the largest democracy in the world has begun buying from Australia (despite increased shipping costs).

Beijings trade war has cost Chinese utilities and power users more money, in fact, because they now must pay exorbitant prices for thermal coal from alternate suppliers.

Australian wine producers have also been negligibly affected by the trade war, with overall shipments down only four percent for the year ending March 2021 despite steep tariffs imposed by Chinas Ministry of Commerceranging between 107.1 to 212.1 percent for a five-year period.

According to wine industry group Wine Australia, exports to China tumbled 24 percent, but exports to Hong Kong increased 55 percent over the same period.

The same is occurring with the lobster industry.

Australian fishing companies have not sold a single lobster to Chinatheir biggest market since November 2020 after Chinese authorities introduced prolonged testing procedures, effectively killing off live cray exports waiting on airport tarmacs.

Figures from the Western Rock Lobster Council showed Hong Kong imported about 340 tonnes of lobster in March this year, following import volumes of around 240 to 250 tonnes in January and February.

Before November 2020, volumes to Hong Kong were negligible. However, the big rise indicates importers in Hong Kong are also more than likely using the grey trade market to sell the product into China via unofficial channels.

The Chinese elites hunger for West Australian rock lobster and wine is thus insatiable.

Further, despite Beijings introduction of 80.5 percent tariffs on Australian barley exports (comprising an anti-dumping duty of 73.6 percent, and a countervailing or anti-subsidy levy of 6.9 percent) following an 18-month investigation, Australian barley producers have also found new markets in the Middle East and Asia (mainly Thailand).

There was even an Australian-first trial to sell premium malting barley to brewers in Mexico. All of these markets have helped replace lost trade to China.

Lastly, Australian growers and shippers claimed Chinese spinning mills were told to stop buying Australian cotton in October.

Cotton growers now expect high returns for their produce in 2021 as the industry expands into markets across Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Bangladesh.

All of which should prove a lesson to the Chinese regimes Wolf Warriors, who have only operated within the confines of a closed-planned economy for many years, do not understand the adage of international trade, which is: The country that implements ineffective trade sanctions will be the loser in the long run.

Conversely, the target of trade sanctions (in this case, Australia) may be affected in the short term but will bounce back and prosper in the long run.

One also wonders if seeing the failure of their trade war with Australia will force Chinas Wolf Warriors to realise the error of their aggressive behaviour that is only damaging China itself.

Tshung Hui Chang is a company director and has deep experience in the financial services industry across the Asia-Pacific region. He is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, English, and Bahasa. Chang has written and spoken extensively about the interference and influence activities of the Chinese Communist Party in Australia.

Chang is a contributor to the upcoming book Trump, COVID and the World  Australia Edition (Unchain Australia)

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
NORWALK  The next step in the Norwalk Police Departments plan to overhaul the hiring process, following the controversial hiring and subsequent resignation of two former Bridgeport police officers, will involve teaming up with a California-based background check company.

The Common Councils Health and Public Safety Committee on Thursday unanimously approved the city partnering with Guardian Alliance Technology to upgrade the police departments social media and background checks for potential new hires.

Guardian Alliance uses cloud-based software to allow real-time updates to the folders for each background check, Norwalk Police Deputy Chief James Walsh said at the meeting.

It also provides for social media search engines to provide all their social media content and allows the whole background application to be put in a cloud base, so we can send it out to the police commission and they can view the process as we go along, Walsh said.

The intention in hiring the company is to increase transparency and develop a more thorough and streamlined background check process, as opposed to the current, non-electronic process, Walsh said.

From what we are using now, with binders and paper, we are stepping up to technology in our background investigations, Walsh said. If the police commission and mayor want to see something, we can send it electronically. It doesnt need to be in paper form.

While the city has not previously worked with Guardian Alliance Technology, the company specializes in background checks for public safety personnel and was founded by a former California police officer, according to the companys website. The company also uses artificial intelligence for social media screening.

Right now we have a paper method, and the whole background application process will be available in the cloud-based software for viewing and transparency, Walsh said.

Prices for these services are not listed on the companys website. Triage screenings are free for all agencies, and departments pay for investigations on an as-needed basis rather than an annual fee, according to the website.

Neither police spokesperson Lt. Joseph Dinho nor Sgt. Sofia Gulino responded to a request for comment Monday regarding how much the department will pay the company or when it plans to begin using its services.

The department discovered Guardian Alliance Technology about two weeks ago, Walsh said, after Mayor Harry Rillings call for changes to the hiring and vetting process.

The changes are aimed at preventing future hiring mishaps that led to the resignations of Mario Pecirep and Chealsey Ortiz in early June. The quick departure of the two officers came after community activists raised concerns about their tenure at the Bridgeport Police Department.

Pecirep was partnered with James Boulay on May 9, 2017, when Boulay fatally shot 15-year-old Jayson Negron after a brief vehicle pursuit. Pecirep, who was driving the police cruiser during the incident, did not fire his weapon, according to an investigative report.

Meanwhile, Ortiz  under the name Chealsey Lancia  was among four Bridgeport officers who were sued by Lisa Moragne, a former board member of Bridgeports Success Village co-op, who claimed the officers used excessive force and falsely arrested her during a board meeting nearly three years ago. Chealsey Lancia and Chealsey Ortiz are the same individual, city spokesperson Josh Morgan has said.

Chief Thomas Kulhawik has claimed the department was not aware of the lawsuit against Ortiz, which was recently filed in federal district court.

Rilling, a member of the citys Police Commission, said in early June that the allegations were not shared with department officials or the commission by Bridgeport police. Rilling, who voted to approve the officers hiring at a May 17 commission meeting, recommended that the chief rescind their offers of employment a day after they were sworn in.

In an effort to attract a larger pool of applicants, Kulhawik previously said the department will rely on a written test offered regularly by Connecticut Police Chiefs Association to screen applicants. The department currently offers its own test just once every two years, which has posed some recruitment challenges.

We have lost a few local candidates that went to other departments because we werent testing at the time, Kulhawik This will allow anyone interested in our agency to take the test in a month or so.

The new background check and interview processes will also establish maiden or alternate names to prevent a similar situation with the Lancia and Ortiz surnames from occurring again, Walsh said.

Going forward, each potential new hire will have a separate interview with the mayor and police commission, where they will be asked questions by those parties, he added.

We are revamping whole application and background check and we did have a meeting with the chief and all the parties involved and came up with a whole list of bullet points of added questions, Walsh said. A chiefs level interview, including maiden name, some points brought about current legal lawsuits, civil suits, anything that would bring a disparaging reputation. ... We are adding a whole other step in the process before we offer anybody a position.

Health and Public Safety Committee member George Tsiranidis approved the move to a digital format and hiring of the Guardian Alliance group, adding, Welcome to 2021.

Includes previous reporting by staff writer Richard Chumney; abigail.brone@hearstmediact.com
NORWALK  Following the cancellation of last years banquet, Chris and Helen Eidt knew the 25th annual Kevin Eidt Scholarship Fund dinner dance this year had to be special.

Held Friday night at the Norwalk Shore and Country Club, the annual event included 14 of the 24 previous recipients of the scholarship.

Founded in 1997 in honor of the couples late son, Kevin Eidt, the scholarship fund has donated nearly $2.4 million to students since its inception.

Kevin was the co-valedictorian of his Norwalk High School class and majored in computer science at Boston College before dying suddenly on Jan. 23, 1997, his father said.

At time when you thought nobody could think straight, we created something that lasted for 25 years, Chris said.

The scholarship fund was born of the tragedy.

The tragedy was there and a couple days later we were forced to go to a funeral parlor and pick out coffins and nobody this thinking straight at this point, he said. The funeral director mentioned, Do you want to do something in lieu of flowers? and my wife said, How about a scholarship fund?

With the donations collected after Kevins death, the Eidts were able to sustain the scholarship for the first three years, offering $3,750 and $5,000 in scholarships to the Norwalk High School classes of 1997 and 1998, respectively. Once the initial funds ran out, the couple created the annual scholarship presentation and benefit dinner dance in 2000.

Kevins fund has nine different scholarships, with the largest and most prestigious being the Norwalk High $100,000 scholarship. With Fridays scholarship presentation, the value of the 182 merit scholarships awarded by Kevins Fund amounts to almost $2.4 million, according to the event program.

The Norwalk High School Scholarship began in 1997 with a $2,500 scholarship to Gregory Calnon. Over the next decade, the scholarship grew steadily, peaking with $120,000 in 2008 and 2009, but plateaued at $100,000 following the 2008-09 recession, Chris said.

Both the 2020 and 2021 Norwalk High School Scholarship recipients, Libby Christinat and Alexandra Koletsos, were honored at Fridays event.

Koletsos, the 2021 recipient, will attend Columbia University in the fall and major, like Kevin, in computer science.

The sixth of seven children born to Greek immigrants, Koletsos is the first in her family to take the traditional route of a four-year college.

Her older brother attended Norwalk Community College and subsequently received a degree from the University of Connecticut, and an older sister is currently studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, Koletsos said.

I have five older siblings and I knew about it (the scholarship) through them. and I have family friends that taught me about it when I was little, Koletsos said. Because they all went to Norwalk High, I was aware of it since I was a young kid and knew how much it meant and how big of a deal it was to become part of Kevins legacy. I looked up to past recipients and Kevins story too. To receive it at this milestone, it is the greatest honor of my life.

Koletsos parents, Soterios and Chrysi Koletsos, said they always knew Alexandra was curious, eager to learn and likely to go far, but never dreamed of all she would accomplish.

I have seven kids, and Alex is something different because she works very hard all the years and she doesnt complain and she doesnt ask for anything, said Chrysi, who moved to the United States from Greece at age 25 in 1993. She wants to do her job perfect, every subject.

With a computer science degree, Alexandra said she would like to pursue coding, but isnt set on any major or career path yet.

In 2020, the dinner dance was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the fund had enough funds to sustain it through the crisis, Chris said.

We were scheduled for April in 2020 and we send the information out in January, he explained said. A lot of people deposited, not knowing where COVID was going to go. We offered refunds and most people said keep the money. Although we were down, we were not down very badly.

The larger concern was whether the dinner dance would need to be canceled in 2021, and what that would mean for the events future.

We dont know what that would do to the ability to maintain the scholarship, Chris said.

However, with the governor loosening the COVID-19 restrictions in May, the dinner dance was shifted to the backup date and went on as scheduled.

While the event is scheduled to continue for the foreseeable future, Chris and Helen Eidt have been in discussion with their two living children, Christian and Carolyn, on what will become of the fund when the couple decides they are too old to continue it.

Its a tremendous amount of work and time, Chris said. The family discussed it frequently and everybody fears theyre not capable of continuing the way it is. We have discussions every year, do we continue? Do we not? Every other year we lean toward maybe we should stop, and the event comes and the scholarship recipient feedback. You just dont want to stop it.

To exemplify what it means to continue Kevins legacy for a quarter of a century, his father played a song from the musical Hamilton. The song titled Its Quiet Uptown discusses what Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton and his wife Eliza went through after the death of their son Philip, saying it was going through the unimaginable.

We are going to try and keep it going as long as it can be kept going, he added.

abigail.brone@hearstmediact.com
EDWARDSVILLE  A Pontoon Beach man was charged Tuesday with stalking, after having two charges of violation of an order of protection filed against him last week.

Judiah D. Davis, 42, of Pontoon Beach, was charged June 22 with stalking, a Class 4 felony.

This comes after he was charged with felony violation of an order of protection on June 15 and again June 16.

All the cases were presented by the Pontoon Beach Police Department.

Court documents alleged that, between June 18-21, Davis knowingly engaged in a course of conduct directed at a woman knowing that said course of conduct would cause a reasonable person to suffer emotional distress.

Court documents state that, after being released for violation of an order of protection, Davis entered the property of the protected person, took mail out of the mailbox and drove a vehicle into the driveway on June 18. On June 19 he allegedly made repeated phone calls to the person. And on June 21 he allegedly went onto the property and attempted to enter the residence while the victim was inside.

Bail was set at $50,000.

Other felony charges filed June 22 by the Madison County States Attorneys Office include:

 Corey W. Compton, 24, of Granite City, was charged with domestic battery (second subsequent offense), a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On June 17 Compton allegedly struck a family or household member on the body with his fists. It was noted he has a prior conviction for aggravated domestic battery out of Madison County in 2020. Bail was set at $30,000.

 Bobbie J. Palmisano, 45, of Collinsville, was charged with unlawful violation of an order of protection (second subsequent offense), a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On June 21 Palmisano allegedly violated an order of protection by going to a protected residence while the victim was there, and had contact with that victim. Palmisano has a 2019 Madison County conviction for aggravated battery (involving a family or household member). Bail was set at $50,000.

 Cortez J. Cowan, 34, of St. Louis, was charged with unlawful possession of a stolen license plate, a Class 2 felony. The case was presented by the Pontoon Beach Police Department. On March 22 Cowan allegedly was found to be in possession of a stolen license plate to a Nissan Rogue. Bail was set at $50,000.

 Logan L. Gilmore, 24, of Collinsville, was charged with criminal damage to government supported property, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Collinsville Police Department. On June 10 Gilmore allegedly damaged the front entryway doors valued at more than $500, of the Collinsville Police Department at 200 West Clay. Bail was set at $15,000.

 James A. McNeil, 30, of Highland, was charged with aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Troy Police Department. On June 13 McNeil allegedly was driving a 2010 Nissan SUV when he fled from a Troy police officer, reaching speeds in excess of 21 miles above the posted speed limit. Bail was set at $15,000.

Felony charges filed June 21 include:

 Eric D. Pack, 33, listed as homeless out of Granite City, was charged with unlawful failure to register as a sex offender (second subsequent offense), a Class 2 felony. The case was presented by the Granite City Police Department. On May 2 Pack allegedly failed to register on a weekly basis as a homeless person. He has 2015 and 2017 Madison County convictions for unlawful failure to register as a sex offender. Bail was set at $30,000.

 Denice R.J. McQuaid, 29, of New Douglas, was charged with criminal damage to property over $500, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On June 21 McQuaid allegedly damaged a Honda motorcycle owned by another person, causing in excess of $500 damage. Bail was set at $20,000.

 Mark D. Morris, 22, of St. Louis, was charged with aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Pontoon Beach Police Department. On March 28 Morris allegedly was driving a 2020 Kia when he fled from a Pontoon Beach police officer, reaching speeds in excess of more than 21 miles above the posted speed limit. Bail was set at $50,000.

 Nathan P. Beasley, 44, of Granite City, was charged with attempted residential burglary, a Class 2 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On June 20 Beasley allegedly attempted to break into a home in the first block of Kelly Drive, Granite City, to commit theft. Bail was set at $50,000.
Two local fire departments have been awarded funding through the Illinois State Fire Marshalls Small Equipment Grant program, state Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, announced Monday.

New equipment and gear can get expensive and place a strain on smaller fire departments resources, said Stuart. The Small Equipment Grant program helps departments replace outdated equipment so theyre able to do their job safely and more effectively.

The Small Equipment Grant program provides Illinois fire departments up to $26,000 each to purchase a variety of firefighting and ambulance equipment. A total of $3.3 million was recently awarded to 149 applicants, two of which are located in Stuarts district. The Edwardsville Fire Department is set to receive more than $9,500, and the Collinsville Fire Department will receive $20,000 through the program.

A full list of recipients can be found at https://www2.illinois.gov/Pages/news-item.aspx?ReleaseID=23444

Congratulations to the local fire departments that received these grants, said Stuart. I know this funding will go a long way in making sure our local emergency providers have the right equipment to protect themselves and our communities.
The SITE Improvement Association has awarded a $2500 scholarship to Sydney Hartoin, a graduate of Triad High School planning to attend Austin Peay State University this fall to study accounting. Her scholarship is sponsored by SCI Engineering, Inc.

Hartoin is one of six St. Louis area students with a parent employed by one of the 220 SITE member companies to receive the scholarships this year. The scholarships are based on student academic achievements, involvement in the community and financial need.
Target announced today it is opening a store in the Essex Crossing project on the Lower East Side.

The 22,500 square foot, small format urban store will be located on the second floor of a building now under construction at 145 Clinton St. The mixed-use building will also include a 30,000 square foot Trader Joes grocery store.

A Target spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that the big box retailer sees tremendous potential in the New York City market. Full-size Target stores are often well over 100,000 square feet. The small format concept (ranging from 12,000-60,000 sf) had 32 locations at the end of 2016, the Journal reported. A rapid expansion of the smaller stores is planned during the next couple of years.

The Lower East Side Target store will be taking the place of Planet Fitness, which backed out of Essex Crossing after announcing in the fall of 2015 it would be coming to the 1.9 million square foot complex.

The first phase of Essex Crossing, on four sites, will be completed next year. In total, the project will bring more than 1,000 apartments, retail, office space and community facilities to the former Seward Park Urban Renewal Area. It is being built by Delancey Street Associates, a joint venture of L+M Development Partners, BFC Partners, Taconic Investment Partners and the Prusik Group.

UPDATE 5/1/2017 A few more details from a press release put out last night by Delancey Street Associates:

S. Andrew Katz of the Prusik Group said, Throughout the planning process, the community made clear that a quality, affordable apparel and home goods retailer was a top priority for the neighborhood; we made a commitment to deliver that With Target, Trader Joes, Splitsville Luxury Lanes, Regal Cinemas and NYU Langones medical center all slated to open next year, 2018 will be a banner year for Essex Crossings commercial spaces and really bring the site to life for the community.

The Lower East Side location will be Targets fourth store in Manhattan. The company already has stores in Harlem and Tribeca. A location in Herald Square is scheduled to open this coming fall. Target has announced plans for small format stores on East 14th Street and Hells Kitchen.

The LES store is expected to include: food and beverage items; health and beauty brands most relevant to the diverse guest; clothing and accessories for both young professionals and children; stationery and home items dedicated to refreshing small living spaces; and a CVS Pharmacy.

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The New York City Parks Department is taking the first tentative steps in possibly redeveloping the Baruch Bathhouse, a building that has been shuttered for more than four decades. At a public meeting last week, community members urged city officials to restore the historic structure, New Yorks first public bathhouse, as a community center.

During a presentation before Community Board 3s parks committee, the officials said theyd like to put out a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) for the bathhouse in the the next three weeks or so. An RFEI is less specific and less formal than a Request for Proposals (RFP), and often does not actually lead to a development plan.

Deputy Parks Commissioner Alyssa Konon said, We would like to start a conversation with you, the board, and anyone else you would like us to talk to, about the Baruch Bathhouse, which has been boarded up for 43 years. She cautioned that the project would be costly and complex. We would like to talk with you, said Konon, about what it might be in the future, which is a hard project, I just want to be upfront that this is a major initiative to undertake to make something happen here.

The Baruch Bathhouse, located at 326 Delancey St., dates back to 1901. The original portion of the building was called the Rivington Street Public Baths and included indoor and outdoor bathing pools, 45 showers and five soaking tubs for men, and 22 showers for women. It was dedicated to Dr. Simon Baruch in 1917, and an extension was added in 1940, giving the structure a foot print of around 7,000 square feet.The Baruch Houses, the citys largest public housing development, were built up around the bathhouse in the 1950s. In the depths of New York Citys financial crisis in 1975, the building was closed and sealed off with concrete.

In 2001, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) conducted an interior inspection of the building. It found evidence of serious structural problems, corroded beams and steel columns, mold, trees growing inside and even sticking through the roof, rats and flooding in the basement. The inspection determined that, the structural condition of the bathhouse building has deteriorated to an extent that it is not practical or economically feasible to undertake renovation. The report recommended demolition, with the land, reclaimed for future planning and use.

While the building is located on NYCHA property, it is mapped as parkland, and administered by the Parks Department. In the past, there have been many calls from the neighborhood to turn the building into a community center for kids and seniors. A community center, however, is not an approved parkland use, said Konon. If thats what it is decided the building should become, the Parks Department would likely team up with another city agency to develop the project.

During the meeting, Konon was asked whether the city wants to tear the building down. Based on the 2001 inspection, she responded, we believe thats probably what needs to be done. However, if somebody wants to respond with some ideas around either restoring the building, or building on the historical elements there, of course, were open to that. The city officials said the building, which likely contains lead paint, would probably cost around $2 million to demolish.

Konon said the city is receptive to different ideas, and welcomes concepts that would also lead to improvements of the Baruch Playground (the bathhouse sits on the southern end of the park). The playground was last renovated in 2001. The city is currently planning to renovate the parks public bathrooms at a cost of $1.2 million.

Quite a few local residents showed up to speak in favor of restoring the building (known as the White House), and establishing a community center inside. In their eyes, the city must right a wrong that occurred a generation ago when New York turned its back on the Lower East Side.

One local activist, Naomi Pena, had an especially strong reaction to photos in the presentation showing the interior devastation. Looking at those pictures made me incredibly sad, said Pena, because that building was clearly amazing, and the city allowed it to get into that condition. Whats more upsetting, in my opinion, the resources were purposely taken away from this neighborhood because we were poor and no one cared. Referring to the gentrification that has occurred in the past 25 years, she added, So now that this neighborhood has become trendy and everyone wants to move in, we want to look at these buildings and do something nice with them. Pena said the city should own up to what it did back in 1975 and finally restore the building for use by the existing community.

Another resident speaking her mind was Jasmin Sanchez, a former City Council candidate and lifelong resident of the Baruch Houses. For many years, she said, residents have been advocating to reactivate the building. Sanchez and others presented their ideas to CB3 a few years ago, and submitted a petition with nearly 7,000 signatures. This space, said Sanchez, has to be landmarked. Thats the only way were going to preserve what the building was intended for. It was a community space.

Baruch Houses resident Damaris Reyes, executive director of Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), said the community must be meaningfully involved in future planning for the Baruch Bathhouse. Would you be open, she asked Parks Department officials, to a stakeholders committee of sorts, probably designated by the community board, that would include residents and other leaders, who participate in the selection process?

They said it would not be possible due to city rules that protect the confidentiality of RFEI/RFP applicants. Reyes, however, pointed out that a committee, appointed by Community Board 3, was set up several years ago to represent local interests in the awarding of a contract to build in the former Seward Park Urban Renewal Area.

There is precedent, said Reyes. It has been done. It was done with Essex Crossing. Its being done with NYCHA. You could go a long way towards soothing some of the fears and making sure that the community is happy with the (outcome).

Konon said that the city would not award a contract based on the responses from the RFEI. After applications are received, officials will return to CB3 to go over the best options. If there are strong ideas, a formal Request for Proposals would then be issued.

Theres been talk in the past about using the site for new affordable housing construction. That could not occur, said Konon, without approval from the State Legislature. NYCHA is expected to build mixed-income housing on parcels around the Baruch Houses. Its already reviewing proposals for new senior housing on the current site of a Baruch parking lot.

Baruch Bathhouse RFEI Summary 3-15-2018 by The Lo-Down on Scribd
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That release could not be found.
Beach cleanup finds syringe, oil-smothered ropes

PHUKET: A beach cleanup at Mai Khao last Friday (June 25) uncovered a syringe hidden in the sand and tangle of ropes smothered in oil.

CommunityEnvironment

By The Phuket News

Monday 28 June 2021, 05:42PM

The beach cleanup was a community effort by local residents in Moo 4, Mai Khao, the Soi Dog Foundation (SDF) explained to The Phuket News today (June 28).

And there were a lot of small oil rocks, while you may know, oil rocks have been found on Phuket beaches for the past two weeks. As youll see in the photo, the tangle of ropes was drenched in thick, sticky oil and required 17 people to pull it up to the beach! the SDF staffer said.

We couldnt reach two more in the sea; we spent two hours there and collected up to ten trash bags. Lets cross our fingers that not just the beach will be ready for tourists on Thursday, the staffer added.

As noted above, oil drifting in the water off Phukets west coast has washed ashore Phuket beaches since June 13, and since then have been found as far north as Mai Khao Beach and as far south as Nai Harn Beach, some 37km away (in a straight line) at the southern end of the island.

Beach cleanups have continued since then, with a beach cleanup at Nai Yang Beach last weekend collecting more than 240kg of tar balls and oil-smothered marine debris cleared from the beach inside Sirinath National Park.
PM calls meeting to map out further aid

THAILAND: Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha called an urgent meeting of the governments economic team today (June 28) to map out relief measures for those affected by the latest measures to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic as Bangkok confirms the first case of the Beta variant, originally detected in South Africa.

CoronavirusCOVID-19deathhealth

By Bangkok Post

Monday 28 June 2021, 09:28AM

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will meet the governments economic team today (June 28) to help those affected by the latest measures to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: Bangkok Post

Government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said the meeting will discuss financial relief for businesses and individuals after construction camps were ordered closed and some businesses ordered to shut for 30 days over the weekend.

Some believe the government may postpone the rollout of Khon La Khrueng (Half-Half) co-payment scheme which is scheduled to start on Thursday.

A government source said it is possible the Finance Ministry may suggest a postponement due to construction worker camps in Greater Bangkok being shut down and dine-in services prohibited in the latest round of measures to curb viral outbreaks.

Given the latest clamps it might not be a good time to launch a scheme that taps into affected workers reduced incomes, as they will need to hang on to their money. But National Economic and Social Development Council secretary-general Danucha Pichayanan said he sees no reason to postpone since most local markets and trading areas are still open.

Dine-in services in other provinces are also allowed, he said.

The government may will also consider injecting more funds into the Rao Chana and Section 33 Rao Rak Kan relief schemes, which were due to end on Wednesday, to alleviate hardship, according to sources.

Beta variant confirmed

Meanwhile, the first case of Beta variant, originally detected in South Africa, has been found in Bangkok, a source said.

An initial investigation found that the infected patient is linked to an infection case in Narathiwat, according to the source.

Department of Medical Sciences director-general Supakit Sirilak will hold a press conference on the issue today.

The Beta variant found spreading in the deep South of Thailand is believed to have come from Malaysia.

More clusters

Eleven new COVID-19 clusters were found in eight provinces yesterday, with authorities keeping a close watch on factories, markets and construction camps in high-risk areas.

The 11 new clusters - four of which were reported in Bangkok - brought the countrys total number of active COVID-19 clusters to 111. These include a construction camp in Huai Kwang, a bakery factory in Lat Krabang, a construction camp and a hotel in Bang Phlat district.

The seven remaining clusters were reported at a garment factory in Samut Sakhons Krathum Baen district; a market in Nonthaburis Pak Kret district; a market in Chon Buris Muang disrict; an electronic devices factory in Ayutthayas Bang Pa-in district; a mechanical parts factory in Lop Buris Muang district; a natural resource office in Suphan Buris Muang district; and a police training centre in Surat Thanis Muang district.

Infections in Bangkok and its surrounding provinces are showing no sign of letting up and the situation in some southern provinces is worrisome, a Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) meeting was told.

The meeting, chaired by National Security Council chief Gen Natthapol Nakpanich, found that cases in the northern and southern regions were mostly linked to social gatherings, while most of the infections in the eastern and central regions were reported in factories and large-sized markets.

The country yesterday reported 42 more COVID-19 fatalities and 3,995 new cases, including 45 in prisons and 35 imported cases, which brought the accumulated toll to 1,912 deaths and the number of cases since the start of the pandemic to 244,447.

According to the Department of Corrections, the number of inmates infected with the virus stood at 35,980 and 4,377 were being treated.

Of the imported cases, 31 were from Cambodia and while travellers from Uganda, Kenya, Malaysia and Myanmar accounted for the rest.

Bangkok logged the highest number of both deaths and new transmissions yesterday, registering 137 new patients and 27 fatalities. Meanwhile, the surrounding provinces of Samut Sakhon saw 289 cases, Samut Prakan 231 cases and Nonthaburi 195 cases.

Chachoengsao, Nakhon Pathom and Pathum Thani logged two fatalities each yesterday, while one death were reported in Phetchaburi, Chon Buri, Nakhon Ratchasima, Nonthaburi, Prachin Buri, Pattani, Yala, Udon Thani and Uthai Thani.

Meanwhile, the number of white provinces with zero cases was down to six, namely Lamphun, Lampang, Phrae, Mae Hong Son, Bung Kan and Mukdahan.

The surge in COVID-19 infections in Greater Bangkok and the southernmost provinces prompted the government to enforce stricter measures in the provinces for one month starting today.

Meanwhile, 241 people were arrested for illegal entry yesterday, 122 from Cambodia, 56 from Myanmar and 14 from Laos.
LISBON, Portugal (AP)  Portugals battle to contain the surging COVID-19 delta variant has prompted it to put the United Kingdom on its red list for travel, speed up vaccinations in Lisbon and cancel school classes in the southern Algarve region, its main tourist destination.

Portugal has in recent days been reporting the highest number of daily new coronavirus cases since February. Though hospitals are comfortably coping with new virus admissions, officials say the increase of about 30% over the past week was a worrying trend.

On Monday, the number of coronavirus patients in hospital surpassed 500 for the first time since early April.

The country's 14-day cumulative COVID-19 case notification rate per 100,000 people, meanwhile, rose to 162  the highest officially recorded since early March.

Lisbon, the capital, is one of Portugal's hot spots, with a case rate of 438. The city council said Monday it will extend the opening hours of vaccine centers, with people over 50 allowed to walk in without an appointment. Already last week, Lisbon doubled the number of jabs being administered over seven days, with more than 46,000. The next goal is 65,000 a week.

Also, British travelers who arent vaccinated must quarantine for two weeks after arriving in Portugal, the Portuguese government announced Monday. The delta variant is believed to account for almost all of the United Kingdoms new COVID-19 cases.

British arrivals can quarantine at their home or in a place stipulated by Portuguese health authorities. Arrivals from Brazil, India and South Africa come under the same rule.

All those entering Portugal must show either the European Unions COVID Digital Certificate or a negative PCR test.

Health authorities in southern Portugals Algarve region, known for its numerous beaches and sunny weather, canceled in-person classes for children up to 16 years old in a bid to break transmission chains in five towns, including the well-known vacation spots Albufeira and Faro.

Thousands of British tourists visited the Algarve earlier this month when the British government briefly allowed easier travel to Portugal.

The Algarve Regional Health Authority said classes would stop Monday for at least 12 days. It didnt say how many students would be affected.

Albufeiras 14-day COVID-19 case notification rate per 100,000 people stands at 583, it said.

Portugal was the worst-hit country in the world, in terms of weekly infections, in January. But an extended lockdown contained the spread.

Since the pandemic began, Portugal has officially recorded around 870,000 cases of COVID-19 and about 17,000 deaths.

___

Follow all of APs pandemic coverage at:

https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
Today

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low near 60F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.

Tonight

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low near 60F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.

Tomorrow

Cloudy early with thunderstorms developing later in the day. High 81F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Media Content Creator

Ian Ostroff is a writer/reporter who resides in Montreal. He is passionate about getting to know the people and places that make his hometown so great. In his spare time, you can find him at the gym, eating ice cream, or working on his novel(s).
Please note The Sun Chronicle is providing this story and all of our local coronavirus coverage for free so that all readers have access to this important information about the pandemic. Please visit our dedicated coronavirus coverage page for more stories. If you'd like to support our mission, please subscribe.
ALTON  Alton Police and Alton Memorial Hospital are partnering in a fight against opioid addiction.

The effort focuses on two different programs: the Warm Hand-Off program and the Medical Stabilization program.

The Warm Hand-Off program is funded by a federal grant awarded to the Alton Memorial Hospital Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine. The Medical Stabilization program is one of many programs offered through Alton Memorial Hospital.

Each program is structured to provide services for all residents, whether insured or not, who would like treatment for their opioid addiction.

Officers often encounter individuals who need help with their addiction more than they need to go to jail, said Alton Police Chief Marcos Pulido. But the officers dont always have a lot of options in that moment.

It is my hope these programs will provide my officers with the necessary resources to better help the citizens who have fallen victim to these horrible drugs recover so they can return to a life of sobriety with their families and friends, he said.

The Medical Stabilization service is an inpatient level of care, designed for those individuals who are needing to safely detox under the medical supervision of a doctor and team of nurses for a 3- to 5-day stay in the hospital. People interested in participating in this program will need to contact the Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine to do a phone assessment with a staff member.

The Warm Hand-Off Program is created as an outpatient level of care, to help medically stabilize Illinois residents who are showing symptoms of withdrawal from an opioid use disorder and want to begin their road to recovery. The program is serviced through the Alton Memorial Hospital emergency department allowing individuals to get the help they need 24 hours a day / 7 days a week.

People interested in participating in this program will be connected to a Peer Recovery Specialist, suboxone induction, a follow up appointment with a provider, transportation assistance as needed, aftercare planning, and community resources designed for the achievement of long-term sobriety.

Anyone interested in participating in either program also may come to the Alton Police Department or speak with any Alton Police Officer and request assistance in being connected with these services to make their path to recovery more attainable.

After meeting with the staff of Alton Memorial Hospitals Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine, I knew we needed to partner with them in their incredible efforts to help transform lives, said Alton Police Deputy Chief Jarrett Ford said.

In law enforcement, we routinely encounter subjects struggling with drug addiction. But we as officers dont always know where to take them for services, he said. Now, having these services right in our own back yard, we can better serve those in our community in need. This is just one more vital piece in our efforts to take care of those in our community.

Alton Memorial Hospital is able to provide a safe medical stabilization setting for individuals dependent on any of the following substances: alcohol, benzodiazepines (Valium or Xanax), opioids (Heroin or OxyContin), cocaine, and other prescription medications. For more information about either of the programs listed, call the Alton Memorial Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine at 618-463-7780.

The services are supported fully or in part through a State Opioid Response grant to the Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Substance Use Prevention and Recovery from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
TUESDAY, JUNE 29

Jersey County Famers and Artisan Market: 4-7 p.m., Outrageous Outdoors parking lot, 902 S. State St., Jerseyville. Every Tuesday unitl Sept. 28

For information about Al-Anon Meetings, call 618-463-2429. To find more helpful meeting, visit SIAFG.org and District-18.org.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30

Coffee with Keener: 6-7 p.m., Maevas Coffee, 1320 Milton Rd, Alton. Ward 7 Alderman Nate Keener will host a meet and greet, allowing voters to express their concerns for Ward 7. The free event is open to all. There will be no formal presentation; residents can come and go as they please.

Al-Anon Meeting: 9:15 a.m., First Baptist Church Room 107 (ring buzzer), 201 S. Moreland Road, Bethalto.

Al-Anon Meeting: 7 p.m., Upper Alton Baptist Church and Preschool, 2726 College Ave., Alton. For more information, call 618-463-2429. To find more helpful meeting, visit SIAFG.org and District-18.org.

Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS): 9 a.m. weigh-in; 9:45 a.m., meeting immediately follows the weigh in until 10:30 a.m., First Christian Church, 160 E. Lorena Ave., Wood River. Complimentary first meeting. For more information or if you intend to attend call Virginia at 259-7343.

Al-Anon Meeting: 7 p.m., Holy Family Community Center (Basement), 2606 Washington Ave., Granite City. For more information, call 618-463-2429. To find more helpful meeting, visit SIAFG.org and District-18.org.

THURSDAY, JULY 1

VIP Cross Cuts Grand Opening: Noon, VIP Cross Cuts, 2809 Homer M Adams Pkwy., Alton.

Alton Municipal Band Free Concerts in the Park: 8-9 p.m., Riverview Park Gazebo, Park Avenue, Alton. Reminder there is no parking on Riverview Drive. Concerts occur weekly through Aug. 5.

Farmers Market at Grafton Market: 2-6 p.m., Grafton Market, 1415 W. Main St., Grafton. Every Thursday from June 10-Oct. 28.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness Southwestern Illinois Zoom Meetings: 7-8:30 p.m., NAMI SWI announces virtual support meetings via Zoom for family members and other caregivers of individuals with mental illness. Registration is required in order to receive the link to these meetings. Email Pat Rudloff, silverlining6@charter.net to register.

A Course in Miracles: 1 p.m., New Bethel UMC, 131 N. Main St., Glen Carbon. For more information, call Phill at 618-288-7910 or Nancy at 618-698-5088.

For information about Al-Anon Meetings, call 618-463-2429. To find more helpful meeting, visit SIAFG.org and District-18.org.
EDWARDSVILLE  A Granite City man charged with felony domestic battery was among charges filed Friday by the Madison County States Attorneys Office.

Eric D. Hurlbut, 25, of Granite City, was charged June 25 with aggravated domestic battery, a Class 2 felony.

The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department.

According to court documents, on June 24 Hurlbut allegedly used a pool cue to strike a family or household member in the face, causing them to require stitches.

Bail was set at $50,000.

Other felony charges filed June 25 include:

 Michael S. Evans, 63, of Hamel, was charged with unlawful failure to register as a sex offender, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On June 24 Evans allegedly failed to register with the Sheriffs Department in a timely manner. Bail was set at $30,000.

 Kay Sanders, 63, of Alton, was charged with retail theft under $300 (second subsequent offense), a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On June 24 Sanders allegedly took rugs, pillows, liquor and clothing from the Godfrey Walmart, 6660 Godfrey Road. She has a 2020 Madison County conviction for retail theft. Bail was set at $20,000.

 Ralph Smith II, 50, of Belleville, was charged with retail theft under $300 (second subsequent offense, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On June 25 Smith allegedly took a carton of Newport cigarettes valued at less than $300 from the Godfrey Motomart, 5311 Godfrey Road. He has a 2018 Madison County conviction for retail theft. Bail was set at $20,000.

 Todd A. Letson, 40, of Ellisville, Missouri, was charged with retail theft under $300 (second subsequent offense), a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On June 23 Letson allegedly took five video games valued at less than $300 from the Godfrey Walmart, 6660 Godfrey Road. Bail was set at $20,000.

 Bradley A. Norman, 41, of Collinsville, was charged with criminal damage to property over $500, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On June 24 Norman allegedly did in excess of $500 damage to a 2005 Chevrolet Impala owned by another person. Bail was set at $20,000.
WASHINGTON (AP)  U.S. troops in eastern Syria came under rocket attack Monday, with no reported casualties, one day after U.S. Air Force planes carried out airstrikes near the Iraq-Syria border against what the Pentagon said were facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups to support drone strikes inside Iraq.

Iraq's military condemned the U.S. airstrikes, and the militia groups called for revenge against the United States.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the militias were using the facilities to launch unmanned aerial vehicle attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq. It was the second time the administration has taken military action in the region since Biden took over earlier this year.

There was no indication that Sunday's attacks were meant as the start of a wider, sustained U.S. air campaign in the border region. But a spokesman for the U.S. military mission based in Baghdad, Col. Wayne Marotto, wrote on Twitter Monday that at 7:44 p.m. local time U.S. forces in Syria were attacked by multiple rockets. He said there were no injuries and that attack damage was being assessed.

Marotto later tweeted that while under rocket attack, U.S. forces in Syria responded in self-defense with artillery fire at the rocket-launching positions.

Kirby said the U.S. military targeted three operational and weapons storage facilities  two in Syria and one in Iraq. In its release of videos of the strikes by Air Force F-15 and F-16 aircraft, the Pentagon described one target as a coordination center for the shipment and transfer of advanced conventional weapons.

Kirby said the airstrikes were defensive, saying they were launched in response to the attacks by militias.

The United States took necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation  but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message, Kirby said.

The Pentagon said the facilities were used by Iran-backed militia factions, including Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada.

A Pentagon spokeswoman, Navy Cmdr. Jessica McNulty, said Monday that each strike hit its intended target and that the U.S. military was still assessing the results of the operation.

The targets selected were facilities utilized by the network of Iran-backed militia groups responsible for the series of recent attacks against facilities housing U.S. personnel in Iraq, McNulty said. She said those groups have conducted at least five such "one-way drone attacks since April.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking to reporters in Rome on Monday, said Biden has been clear that the U.S. will act to protect American personnel.

This action in self-defense to do whats necessary to do to prevent further attacks, I think sends a very important and strong message. And I hope very much that it is received, he said. I think weve demonstrated with the actions taken last night and actions taken previously, that the president is fully prepared to act and act appropriately and deliberately to protect us.

Two Iraqi militia officials told The Associated Press in Baghdad that four militiamen were killed in the airstrikes near the border with Syria. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give statements. They said the first strike hit a weapons storage facility inside Syrian territory, where the militiamen were killed. The second strike hit the border strip.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that closely monitors the Syrian conflict through activists on the ground, reported that at least seven Iraqi militiamen were killed in the airstrikes.

The Iran-backed Iraqi militia factions vowed revenge for the attack and said in a joint statement they would continue to target U.S. forces. We ... will avenge the blood of our righteous martyrs against the perpetrators of this heinous crime and with God's help we will make the enemy taste the bitterness of revenge, they said.

The Popular Mobilization Forces, an Iraqi state-sanctioned umbrella of mostly Shiite militias  including those targeted by the U.S. strikes  said their men were on missions to prevent infiltration by the Islamic State group and denied the presence of weapons warehouses.

Iraq's military condemned the strikes as a blatant and unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty and national security. It called for avoiding escalation, but also rejected that Iraq be an arena for settling accounts"  a reference to the U.S. and Iran. It represented rare condemnation by the Iraqi military of U.S. airstrikes.

In Iran, foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh accused the U.S. of creating instability in the region. Definitely, what the U.S. is doing is disrupting the security of the region," he said on Monday.

U.S. military officials have grown increasingly alarmed over drone strikes targeting U.S. military bases in Iraq, which became more common since a U.S.-directed drone killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani near the Baghdad airport last year. Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was also killed in the attack. The strike drew the ire of mostly Shiite Iraqi lawmakers and prompted parliament to pass a nonbinding resolution to pressure the Iraqi government to oust foreign troops from the country.

Sunday's strikes mark the second time the Biden administration launched airstrikes along the Iraq-Syria border region. In February, the U.S. launched airstrikes against facilities in Syria, near the Iraqi border, that it said were used by Iranian-backed militia groups.

The Pentagon said those strikes were retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq earlier that month that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. service member and other coalition troops.

At that time, Biden said Iran should view his decision to authorize U.S. airstrikes in Syria as a warning that it can expect consequences for its support of militia groups that threaten U.S. interests or personnel.

You cant act with impunity. Be careful, Biden said when a reporter asked what message he had intended to send.

___

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Rome and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed to this report.
From handmade quilting to Day of the Dead sugar skulls, there are some unique designs underway for a pack of bears set to adorn the streets of downtown Clarks Summit next month.

Ten local artists will use 2-foot 3D foam bears as their canvas for the Gathering Places Bears in the Summit project. The community center plans to display the finished bears in front of downtown locations to coincide with a week of bear-themed activities from July 24 to 30.

Earlier this year, the Gathering Place called on artists to submit design concepts for six downtown Bears. Since then, sponsorships have nearly doubled the amount.

We were really overwhelmed by the number of submissions we received, project Director Colleen Carter said. Were really thrilled about the breadth of the artists because they reflect the mission of the Gathering Place to be very inclusive.

The public can expect to see a bear with vibrant splashes of color from Scranton resident and Hazleton Area art teacher Amber Cipriani. She took inspiration from community canvases that many contributed to through her business, Electric City Art Studio.

Meanwhile, Audrey Ross of Ransom Twp. is working on a bear that pays homage to the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead with brightly colored sugar skulls and flowers. Ross, who sells artwork and crafts through her business, Dragonistic, said shes a huge fan of the holidays motif.

I love being able to put that on a bear and have it be a part of my hometown, she said.

Honesdale artist Janet Gaglione plans to cover her bear with handmade quilt squares. The executive director of the Wayne County Arts Alliance, Gaglione likes presenting quilts in unexpected places.

Artists can still make their mark on the project by contributing original bear-themed black and white drawings for coloring pages in a free program book. Drawings, as well as advertisements for the book, are due July 6.

Meanwhile, the project committee is finalizing the schedule for the week, which includes a meet-the-artists event, walking tours to see the bears, a downtown scavenger hunt, a coffee house night and guided walks on the Trolley Trail to learn about bear habitats. The committee is considering a performance of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, among other offerings.

Artist Earl Lehman and the Verve Vertu Art Studio in Dallas are each creating a bear for a silent auction. The proceeds will benefit the studio, which serves people with special needs, and the Gathering Place.

The Gathering Place is encouraging businesses to come up with their own activities and promotions.

Im excited to have a community project out there for everyone to enjoy this summer, Carter said. Its going to be a lot of fun, and weve missed that.

For information and updates, visit gatheringplacecs.org or the Gathering Place Facebook page.
PLYMOUTH  Two pre-teen siblings have made it their missions to help two very different groups  first responders and our feathered friends.

Evlyn Lyons, 9, fosters all sorts of birds  from the smallest finches to the largest macaws  in her familys Plymouth home for My House of Wings parrot rescue in Nanticoke.

Her brother, Brian Lyons Jr., 12, has raised more than $30,000 for first responders in the area by selling lemonade at his lemonade stand.

The two have appeared separately on billboards throughout the area promoting their causes on space donated by Lamar Advertising.

They just recently started to go to events as a team, said their mom, Linda Uren. She sets up her bird stand next to the lemonade stand and hands out flyers, just trying to get her name out, that she does foster care for birds.

They raised about $150 for Edwardsville police at the Edwardsville Pierogi Festival a few weeks ago.

Evlyn said there are 55 birds in their house now, from finches all the way to macaws. Cockatoos, cockatiels, parakeets, Amazons and conures (parrots), too.

Her favorite, she said, is her cockatiel, Paulie.

Hes a pearl-pied cinnamon, Evlyn said, with the affectionate bird perched on her shoulder, adding that hes her favorite because he likes to cuddle.

It all started when she was 6 and her mom and her dad, Brian Lyons Sr., let her adopt two budgies, or parakeets.

I cuddle them and work with them when its calm, Evlyn said of her technique.

They call her the Bird Whisperer because they just take to her, Linda said. Ill get bit all day long, but they kind of take to her.

Linda said Patricia Pipan, owner of My House of Wings, has been working with Evlyn to train her on taking care of birds and adoption procedures. Evlyn even visits potential forever homes to screen them and make sure theyre bird-friendly  no cats and no smokers are two requirements.

Evlyn said she would like to run her own bird rescue someday.

Pipan said shes always been looking for somebody to take the rescue over, but I needed somebody who has the passion.

A lot of people have given up after a month or two. They decided it just wasnt for them. Then I met Evlyn, and she just has this gleam in her eye. At first, I thought, how would this work? Shes only 9. But it did. Shes a sponge for knowledge. Shes shy sometimes, but shes only 9, and she just has this knack and passion, Pipan said.

And while she can be shy when shes asked a lot of questions, Evlyns not shy at all about asking questions of potential forever home candidates, nor about being bitten by the adoptees.

She has a thick skin, Pipan said, in more ways than one.

Some people, unhappy that a 9-year-old told them they could not adopt a bird, have left nasty comments on her Facebook page, Evlyns Hand Tamed Foster Birds and More, her mom said. But many others have praised her for making tough decisions in the best interest of the birds.

Evlyn and Brian Jr.s other siblings, Justin, 17, Courtney, 22, and Billy, 27, help out their siblings behind the scenes, especially with the lemonade stand and setup, Linda said.

Brian Jr., who has autism, also got started with his passion a few years ago after the local fire chief gave him a tour of a fire engine.

Brian found out our Fire Department didnt have a Jaws of Life. Brian was like, Im going to sell lemonade and buy a Jaws of Life. Everybody was like, no, youre not, its $10,000, youre not going to do it, Linda said.

But he sat outside the Fire Department with his lemonade stand. And I kid you not, a motorcycle gang came through, 40, 50 bikes, and they all bought lemonade, Linda said. People put it on Facebook, more people came, handing him checks and they didnt even want lemonade. It took him five weeks, and he raised $10,000.

Brian Sr. and Linda are, of course, proud of their childrens efforts.

They could be out getting in trouble or whatever, but theyre not, Brian Sr. said. Theyre doing something good.
Northeast Pennsylvanias largest industrial employer has two new leaders.

Col. John McDonald relinquished command to Col. Daniel Horn during a ceremony Monday morning in front of Tobyhanna Army Depot headquarters building in Monroe County.

Maj. Gen. Mitchell Kilgo, commanding general of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command headquartered in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, presided over the ceremony, which culminated with the passing of the depot flag to Horn.

Sgt. Major Shantae D. Gordon also relinquished responsibility as the depots senior enlisted officer to Sgt. Major Michael J. Wiles.

As the depots 34th commander, Horn will lead 3,700 employees responsible for supporting global readiness for command, control, communications, computer, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems across the Department of Defense.

When I learned that commanding Tobyhanna Army Depot was my next assignment, I was elated that Id be leading such a skilled and dedicated workforce, Horn said. As Army civilians, you have what many other people do not: a sacred purpose behind your work, he told employees. What you do matters. You matter. Like any job, there will be good days and frustrating days. But when you get home at night, I hope youll remember that your work helps our war fighters keep America safe. And I hope youll be as proud of that as I am.

McDonalds next assignment is with the Joint Staff Operations Directorate at the Pentagon. In his parting remarks, he promised to never forget his time at Tobyhanna Army Depot.

My assignment here at Tobyhanna has been, without a doubt, the best and most broadening I have experienced in my career, he said. I will take and share the Tobyhanna legacy with anyone who will listen.

Horn started his military career as a tanker with the 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Armor Corps with branch detail to the Quartermaster Corps after completing the Reserve Officer Training Corps Program.

He earned his bachelors degree in business from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, and his masters degrees in supply chain management from Kansas University and strategic studies from Army War College in Carlisle.

He held leadership positions at stateside and overseas locations and served as a logistics officer while deployed to Afghanistan.

Wiles is the depots 21st sergeant major. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in February 1996. He attended basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and advanced individual training as a utilities equipment repair specialist.

He has a bachelors degree in applied science from Campbell University, North Carolina, and a masters degree in leadership studies from the University of Texas at El Paso.

He has served in staff and leadership positions at stateside and overseas military installations including the Republic of South Korea; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Hood, Texas, and Fort Lee, Virginia.

Before assuming duties at the depot, the sergeant major served as the chief mechanical operations sergeant major for the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia.

He has served in staff and leadership positions at stateside and overseas military installations including the Republic of South Korea; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Hood, Texas and Fort Lee, Virginia.

As sergeant major, Wiles serves as the voice of the warfighters who use equipment repaired by the depot. He advises the commander on all matters relating to soldiers, the civilian workforce and their family members.
Flood-ravaged Dundaff Street wont reopen anytime soon in Dickson City.

Nearly two months after heavy rain caused a torrent of water and debris to clog a culvert beneath the busy, state-owned road, crews are still working to clear it out. Borough Manager Cesare Forconi said they are aiming to have the culvert cleaned out in the next three weeks.

Until that happens, the state Department of Transportation cannot determine the scope of work required to repair Dundaff Street, which means there is no price estimate or timeline, said PennDOT spokeswoman Jessica Kalinoski.

We are working collaboratively with Dickson City in order to get the road open in a timely and safe manner, she said.

The 5-foot-deep culvert carries water from Scott Creek to the Lackawanna River, running under multiple borough streets. On May 4, when the Midvalley received up to 4 inches of rain in the span of several hours, the culvert clogged with debris. The water pressure became so intense that it forced debris between layers of asphalt and launched a manhole cover onto Dundaff Street.

Dickson City mobilized its contractor for the project, Jermyn-based Rock Bottom Construction, on May 10 to begin removing debris. They began at the intersection of Grant Court and Jermyn Street and are now making their way onto Dundaff Street.

Forconi estimated theyve cleared out about 60% of the clog, and they are hopeful the remaining debris will be easier to remove as they move toward Scott Creek under Dundaff Street. Silt and small rocks packed the culvert beneath Grant Court, but the clog beneath Dundaff Street appears to be larger debris such as logs and stumps, which would be quicker to remove, he said.

Officials have yet to determine who will pay for Dundaff Streets repairs, Forconi said.

One potential factor is whether the culvert failed, leading to the damage, placing the responsibility on the borough.

Forconi said the borough is confident the culvert was not compromised, but rather the debris overwhelmed it.

Nothing could have handled the debris that came down the creek  the washouts of the stream banks and such, he said. So the culvert did what it was intended to do. ... The amount of debris and the amount of water that came down in such a short period of time was the root cause of all the damage.

Scott Creek is the bigger problem, council President Jeff Kovaleski said. The boroughs DPW inspects the culvert annually, although they did not last year due to the pandemic. In 2019, it had 2 to 3 inches of sediment. After the storm, it had 5 feet of it, he said.

If you keep having storms like were having, youre going to have continuous washdown, Kovaleski said.

Kovaleski believes the borough will ultimately need to seek help from the Army Corps of Engineers for something similar to Blakelys Wildcat Creek flood control project in the 1990s that involved building a concrete channel to contain the creek.

Borough council initially authorized $125,000 for emergency work to clean out the culvert and recently authorized an additional $100,000, Forconi said. They withdrew the money from their general fund and are still looking at how it will be replenished, he said, floating the ideas of receiving funding from the American Rescue Plan or taking out a loan if needed.

The most important thing now is to get the culvert clean so it doesnt happen again and to get Dundaff Street open, Forconi said.
The obstacles for a new contract for Carbondale Area teachers go beyond disputes over salary and benefits.

The contract between the union and district expired one year ago, and since then the sides have met regularly to negotiate. But the absence of fair funding from the state makes reaching an agreement difficult, both union and district officials say.

We all understand what is going on, said Gary Smedley, school board president. Fair funding is absolutely instrumental in moving the district forward.

In February, Gov. Tom Wolf proposed putting all state basic education funding through the fair funding formula, instead of only new funding. The formula, which takes into account student needs and the capacity to raise local revenue, would benefit underfunded districts, including Scranton and Carbondale.

Under the governors proposal, Carbondale Area would receive an additional $2.8 million in basic education funding each year, an increase of nearly 30%. The budget agreement reached by lawmakers Friday night did not include full fair funding, but how much the district will receive was not immediately clear.

The funding could go a long way in Carbondale, which recently began working with financial consulting firm PFM, which also provides assistance to Scranton.

Last week, the school board passed its 2021-22 budget, which included a tax increase of about 1.8 mills. A mill is a $1 tax for every $1,000 in assessed value. For example, a 1.8-mill tax increase would be an additional $18 for a property assessed at $10,000.

One mill generates $43,000 in new tax revenue  if all property owners paid their taxes. Currently, the district collection rate is about 70%, Smedley said.

Just offering step movement to teachers, or movement on the salary scale based on years of service or level of education, would cost about $160,000 to $170,000, he said.

If the state were to use the fair funding formula to distribute education funding to the schools of Pennsylvania, then Carbondale Area would not be facing the financial issues it now has, said Jim Maria, the unions representative from the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

With an average salary of $58,338, Carbondale teachers are the lowest paid of the 37 school districts in Northeast Pennsylvania.

Salaries and health insurance are issues that we are trying to solve at the bargaining table, Maria said. Those issues are compounded by the way that Pennsylvania funds its schools. Both sides are trying to find a way to make salaries more competitive to retain and recruit teachers.
WASHINGTON (AP)  A federal judge on Monday dismissed antitrust lawsuits brought against Facebook by the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of state attorneys general, dealing a significant blow to attempts by regulators to rein in tech giants.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled Monday that the lawsuits were legally insufficient and didnt provide enough evidence to prove that Facebook was a monopoly. The ruling dismisses the complaint but not the case, meaning the FTC could refile another complaint.

These allegations -- which do not even provide an estimated actual figure or range for Facebooks market share at any point over the past ten years -- ultimately fall short of plausibly establishing that Facebook holds market power, he said.

The U.S. government and 48 states and districts sued Facebook in December 2020, accusing the tech giant of abusing its market power in social networking to crush smaller competitors and seeking remedies that could include a forced spinoff of the social networks Instagram and WhatsApp messaging services.

The FTC had alleged Facebook engaged in a a systematic strategy to eliminate its competition, including by purchasing smaller up-and-coming rivals like Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. New York Attorney General Letitia James said when filing the suit that Facebook used its monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and snuff out competition, all at the expense of everyday users.

Boasberg dismissed the separate complaint made by the state attorneys general as well.

The FTC didn't immediately have a comment on the ruling and it wasn't known whether the agency planned to try again.

Facebook, in an e-mailed statement, said We are pleased that todays decisions recognize the defects in the government complaints filed against Facebook. We compete fairly every day to earn peoples time and attention and will continue to deliver great products for the people and businesses that use our services.

Alex Harman, competition policy advocate for Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, said the ruling wasn't surprising in that other courts had grappled with and thrown out cases in which consumers weren't charged directly for the services in question.

Courts really have a hard time with that market definition for some reason," Harman said. It's Exhibit A for why we need the laws changed."

An ambitious package of legislation to overhaul the antitrust laws, which could point toward breaking up Facebook as well as Google, Amazon and Apple, was approved by the House Judiciary Committee last week and sent to the full U.S. House.

Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, the chief Republican sponsor of the legislation, said in a statement that Monday's ruling shows that antitrust reform is urgently needed. Congress needs to provide additional tools and resources to our antitrust enforcers to go after Big Tech companies engaging in anticompetitive conduct.



AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay in Oakland, California, contributed to this report.
President Joe Biden might be the United States most visible Catholic. But is he Catholic enough for the bishops of the American church?

At its spring general assembly earlier this month, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to move ahead on the drafting of a statement on the Meaning of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church. The proposed document would discuss, among other topics, the question of Eucharistic worthiness  when to restrict public figures from receiving Communion due to their disagreements with church teachings.

Public figures such as the head of state. Because although the nations second Catholic president is a regular Mass attendee who by his own account once considered the priesthood himself, he also supports abortion rights  and its no mystery how the church feels about that.

The vote at the bishops conference on whether to move forward with the document has turned into a divisive and unfortunately public debate. Conservative bishops suggested that a pro-choice president deserved public chastisement; a smaller progressive wing suggested that conservatives sudden desire to issue a statement was more partisan than pastoral.

Conservative votes carried the day. Progressives lamented that targeting a political figure would force the bishops conference into the very heart of the toxic partisan strife.

Ostensibly, the yet-to-be-drafted statement on Eucharistic coherence would be meant solely to educate the faithful on the meaning of the churchs most holy sacrament. But in voting to move forward with its drafting at all  against the guidance of the Vatican  the bishops conference is sowing questions about the steadiness and moral focus of the U.S. Catholic Church.

After the USCCBs guidance is drafted, its approval would require unanimous consent of the conferences more than 200 members, or else two-thirds agreement plus the Vaticans (unlikely) blessing. And both Bishop W. Francis Malooly of Delaware and Archbishop Wilton Cardinal Gregory of D.C., who preside over the parishes where Biden regularly attends Mass, have said they have no plans to deny the president Communion.

Thus, the entire process will have been sound and fury, signifying ... well, not nothing, but certainly not a unified front that might be confidently relied on as a functioning authority. And while crises of credibility are occurring in institutions both secular and religious, theyre especially bad for a church that, as a result of its sexual abuse crisis, is already hemorrhaging legitimacy in the public eye.

So why go after Biden, and why now? And why isnt the church attending to other pro-life issues  the death penalty, unjust war, the climate crisis  with the same level of concern?

If Biden has acted against church teaching, so have many other figures whom the U.S. bishops have had seemingly few qualms about supporting, including his predecessor, Donald Trump. It would be misleading, the Vatican cautioned the USCCB before this vote, to give the impression that abortion and euthanasia alone constitute the only grave matters of Catholic moral and social teaching.

The lesson most observers have taken away is that the Catholic Church  in the United States, at least  is less a moral institution than a political one, and that its leadership is willing to use its authority to pursue partisan ends.

Religious membership has declined sharply in recent decades, and especially over the past 10 years. Today, fewer than 50% of U.S. adults are members of a church, synagogue or mosque, down 20 percentage points from the turn of the 21st century. And among religious groups, the decline in membership and church attendance is steeper for Catholics than Protestants.

When surveyed about their turn away from the church, many former Catholics cite the politicization of the American church, its alignment with the conservative movement and the Republican Party, and its embrace of culture-war issues such as abortion out of proportion to the rest of Catholic teaching. The U.S. churchs conservative leadership is alienating everyone including its own pope. (It is an honor if the Americans attack me, Pope Francis said in 2019, referring to the persistent criticism of his positions on the environment, immigration, poverty and capitalism.)

The internal workings of the church are frequently complex and often disillusioning; everyday Catholics such as myself are often better advised to tend to their own immortal souls rather than the hierarchys arcane debates. As a matter of principle and pragmatism, this tends to be the safest approach to maintaining ones faith; when the church so clearly engages in earthly politics, trust tends to shrink rather than grow.

The U.S. Catholic bishops describe their proposed Eucharistic guidance as a teaching document meant to strengthen the church. The lesson theyre actually teaching is a disappointing one.

CHRISTINE EMBA is a columnist for The Washington Post.
Agriculture is essential to Pennsylvania  to our economy, our rural and urban communities, our history, and our future. Farm work is tough, with long hours and extreme conditions. During the coronavirus pandemic, this work only picked up as farmers and ranchers were deemed essential to ensure the U.S. food supply chain wouldnt collapse. Even though going to work meant significant risks to their health, farmers and farmworkers showed up each day to support their families and sustain our food supply.

Its time for Congress to show up for our agricultural community. Farmers and farmworkers face overwhelming challenges of labor shortages and the threat of deportation. These challenges must be addressed through two steps to ensure that our agricultural industry and community are on solid ground: passing the Farm Workforce Modernization Act and the Dream Act.

Today, 73% of agricultural workers are immigrants. This includes many undocumented farmworkers and farmworkers with visas through H-2A, a program that allows farmers to employ skilled workers from other countries for a certain time frame.

Congress has failed to modernize the immigration system that supports these contributions, leaving us with an outdated system that doesnt meet our industrys labor demands and leaves a significant portion of our agricultural community at peril of being separated from their families and livelihoods.

Thats why the Senate must send the Farm Workforce Modernization Act to the Presidents desk as soon as possible  certainly before the fall harvest season. The U.S. House already has approved the legislation with bipartisan support, including from Pennsylvanias own Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Glenn Thompson and Lloyd Smucker. Now it is up to the Senate to bring it up for a vote and provide certainty for essential agriculture workers that is well-deserved.

The National Young Farmers Coalitions mission of building a brighter, more just future for agriculture is not possible unless immigrants, farmworkers, and food systems workers are supported to transition to farm ownership and other agricultural roles that will make our agricultural system resilient and diversified.

More farmworkers with citizenship mean more farmworkers that can become farm owners and can revitalize agriculture as a large population of farmers retire and transition their farms.

Therefore, while the Farm Workforce Modernization Act will help alleviate some of the inefficiencies of our current H-2A visa program, it cannot address farmer attrition and labor shortages alone.

Congress must pass the bipartisan Dream Act, which has a counterpart in the U.S. House that passed with bipartisan support to help recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

There are more than 17,000 DACA recipients living in Pennsylvania, who were brought here as kids and have the chance to work or go to school thanks to the DACA program. If DACA is eliminated, these young adults would lose their ability to work and our state stands to lose more than $320 million from our GDP. This outcome would be devastating for our states economy and communities.

Farmers and farmworkers are working long hours, in all weather, to put food on their tables and ours. The U.S. Senate must act to support them. The Dream Act and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act face Senate obstacles that require Republican leadership, including from Pennsylvanias own Sen. Pat Toomey, to progress onto the presidents desk.

Congressional inaction on immigration reform has gone on long enough. The time for action is now.
The Republican legislative majorities at the state Capitol have abandoned even the pretense of legislating. Now, their strategy is to conduct an end run around Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf by governing by constitutional amendment.

Wednesday, the Senate approved an amendment along party lines that would enshrine in the constitution the need for every Pennsylvanian to present a state-approved ID at every polling place every time they vote.

GOP leaders have concluded that they would have a better chance to enact the vote-suppression measure by amendment  eventually requiring voter approval, but probably in a low-turnout primary election  rather than by legislation, since Wolf correctly has vowed to veto vote-suppression laws.

By turning to amendments rather than legislation, the Republican leaders have raised the question of why the state even needs a legislature if it is not going to govern through a legislative process  much less the 253-member, $400 million-a-year behemoth that does, well, not much.

Beyond failing to legislate, the turn toward governing by amendment is supremely cynical. In 2019, lawmakers actually engaged in a democratic legislative process, reaching a compromise that established wide-scale mail-in balloting and other reforms to ease voting access. Republicans insisted on, and Democrats agreed to, eliminating straight-ticket voting in exchange for otherwise expanded access. That measure played a major role in the Republicans success in statewide down-ballot races in the 2020 general election.

Now, the Republicans want to move for draconian identification measures that, in effect, would limit the mail-in balloting to which they previously had agreed, while retaining the ban on party-line voting.

We should not go down the path of amending our constitution every time we may disagree on a particular issue of policy, and certainly theres disagreement on this particular issue, said Democratic Sen. Steve Santarsiero of Bucks County.

He is correct. The constitutions purpose is to protect Pennsylvanians rights and establish the governments structure. Legislators should not lard it with matters that should be matters of regular legislation.

Doing so only provides yet another incentive, like the gerrymandering under which they select their own like-minded voters, for lawmakers to reject compromise.

Legislative leaders should not go down this path, which is just another aspect of lousy governance in Pennsylvania.
At the Library: Passel of new books for all types are here
Britons with oil-fuelled properties are being urged to check their tanks following a nearly 50 per cent increase in insurance claims for leaks.

Aviva has revealed a 48 per cent rise in UK oil leak claims between 2019 and 2020, partly caused by oil-fired heating system materials used in the 1960s and 70s reaching the end of their lifespans.

An estimated 1.53 million UK properties are powered by oil-fired heating systems - the majority being in rural areas where there is little or no access to mains gas.

Keep an eye on how much oil is being used: If your consumption suddenly increases it could be a sign of a leak

Northern Ireland accounted for around a third of incidents since 2017, according to Aviva, with other hotspots including East Anglia, Swansea, Scotland and Oxfordshire.

More than half of reported oil leaks were due to failures in pipework, whilst around a fifth of claims were caused by tank failures.

Boiler failures, accidental damage such as drilling through pipes, and storm damage were collectively responsible for a further 14 per cent of all claims.

On top of the disruption caused by such leaks, homeowners are likely to face a costly repair bill.

According to Aviva, the average cost of repairing damage caused by oil leaks has almost doubled in just two years, from around 16,000 in 2018 to 30,000 in 2020.

This is because more issues occurred underground with concealed pipework bursting or leaking, requiring extensive clean-up operations.

There can also be a huge environmental impact.

When the oil seeps into the ground, it can pollute waterways, cause harm to wildlife and contaminate drinking water.

'As well as being harmful to the environment, escapes of oil can be very disruptive and distressing for homeowners,' said Dave Lovely, chief claims officer at Aviva.

'Depending on the size of the leak, the clean-up process can take several weeks or even months, so it's definitely a case of prevention being better than the cure.

'We have seen a notable increase in claims for escapes of oil since 2019, so we'd encourage all people with oil-fired systems to carry out regular checks to ensure leaks and potential damage are kept to a minimum.'

What can residents of oil-fuelled properties do?

1) Check for leaking pipes

One of the main causes of 'escape of oil' insurance claims is underground pipework failure, which can't be spotted by a visual inspection.

Regular pressure testing can help homeowners check pipes below the ground are in good working order and detect any potential problems before they fully materialise.

The fuel-supply pipework between the tank and the burner should be pressure tested every five years, according to the leading trade organisation for the heating industry in the UK, OFTEC.

Because this pipework is usually hidden or inaccessible, this is a specialist task that should always be carried out by a OFTEC-registered heating technician.

Keeping an eye on how much oil is being used can also help you spot leaks early. If you notice a sudden increase in consumption, this could indicate a leak.

By positioning your tank as far away from drains, ponds and waterways as possible you reduce the potential environmental impact were your tank to leak

2) Check the oil tank

Tanks should be visually checked by an OFTEC-registered heating technician as part of an annual appliance service visit.

OFTEC also recommends carrying out regular visual checks between the professional checks, particularly after periods of extreme weather which can put tanks under extra stress.

The maintenance checks should be carried out as part of an annual boiler service visit which usually costs around 60 - 150.

To avoid environmental damage it might be wise to consider installing a catchpit.

This is a secondary container either integral to the tank or built around it, which can provide an extra safeguard as it can help to contain any leakage or spillage of oil.

Catchpits are mandatory in some regions, whilst in other areas an OFTEC-registered technician will conduct a risk assessment to work out whether one is necessary.

Typically, oil tanks installed near a river, well or any controlled water will need to have a catchpit.

3) Check your home insurance

You need to ensure that your home insurance provides adequate cover in the event of an oil leak.

If you are uninsured you risk facing the entire cost of clearing up a large oil leak, alone.

What about LPG-fuelled homes?

There are almost 200,000 homes fuelled by LPG, most of which are located in rural areas.

LPG - Liquefied Petroleum Gas - is a hydrocarbon gas that exists in a liquefied form.

It is a colourless, low carbon and highly efficient fuel.

LPG tanks are owned and maintained by various LPG suppliers, and are often inspected each time a supplier delivers.

Suppliers take responsibility for the service and maintenance of the equipment, which will typically include a series of tests over time.

'Just like natural gas boilers, we encourage consumers to get their boiler serviced yearly by a gas safe registered engineer to ensure they are in the best condition,' said a spokesperson for Liquid Gas UK.

'Consumers should not tamper with tanks or pipes to look for leaks.

'If they suspect a gas leak, such as from the smell of gas or a carbon monoxide alarm alert, they should contact their gas supplier's emergency contact number, turn off the gas at the mains tap and wait outside for an engineer to arrive.'

'If they are feeling unwell, they should visit their GP or hospital immediately, explaining they could have been exposed to a gas leak or carbon monoxide poisoning.'
Car manufacturer Nissan is set to announce later this week plans to build a new battery gigafactory in the North East of England by 2024, according to new reports on Monday.

The plant would provide around 2,000 new jobs to supply batteries for the Japanese firm's electrified vehicles - such as the Leaf, which is built at the firm's Sunderland factory.

Both the BBC and Sky News have suggested the car maker will make an announcement later this week, after news broke earlier this month that the Government was in talks with six different firms - including Nissan - to build battery production facilities in the UK.

Battery boost for the North East: Nissan is set to announce later this week plans to build a new battery gigafactory by 2024 that could bring with it thousands of new UK jobs

The BBC suggests the Government will contribute towards the cost of setting up the battery plant on Wearside, though the manufacturer would not confirm or deny the reports on Monday.

A Nissan spokesman said: 'Having established EV and battery production in the UK in 2013 for the Nissan Leaf, our Sunderland plant has played a pioneering role in developing the electric vehicle market.

'As previously announced, we will continue to electrify our line-up as part of our global journey towards carbon neutrality, however we have no further plans to announce at this time.'

While it remains unclear how many new jobs could be created in the North East, the BBC says it will likely require 2,000 staff on site, and provide thousands more jobs indirectly in the wider supply chain.

The gigafactory is set to be built at Nissan's car plant in the North East, which is the nation's largest auto production facility.

Sky's City Editor Mark Kleinman said on Twitter: 'I understand Nissan will confirm as soon as this week details of its EV strategy for the UK, including the construction of a battery gigafactory in Sunderland - paving the way for thousands of the Japanese company's electric cars to be built in Britain every year.'

Nissan's Sunderland vehicle plant is the biggest car-making factory in the UK

The Sunderland factory produces around 350,000 vehicles a year when fully operational and not under pandemic restrictions

The news is set to be yet another post-Brexit boost from the Japanese brand, having been one of the pivotal overseas companies to commit to retaining its set-up in the UK once Britain's departure from the EU was rubber-stamped.

Its decision to build the all-new Qashqai SUV - the UK's best-selling crossover for over a decade - at the Sunderland factory was seen as a huge victory during negotiations to leave the European Union.

And just last month it was revealed that Nissan was again locked into advanced talks with MPs to create its own site to supply batteries for 200,000 electric models it wants to produce each year.

Japanese media firm Nikkei reported last month that Nissan would partner with China-based battery maker Envision AESC group to build new battery plants for electric vehicles in Japan and United Kingdom.

These previous reports suggest that the gigafactory will be built under a post-Brexit plan to make Britain Nissan's largest electric car production site outside of Tochigi, Japan.

It has been reported that Nissan is in advanced talks with the UK government to build a huge car battery factory that would bring thousands of jobs to Sunderland. Pictured: The current Nissan factory in Sunderland

The gigafactory could be created at the Sunderland site where cars are built. The battery plant will supply the production of 200,000 Nissan EVs per year in the UK

The Financial Times recently claimed the UK government is also in 'early-stage' talks with Ford for the creation of a gigafactory, with the US auto brand indicating it was exploring making batteries in the UK for its forthcoming electric Transit van due in 2022.

Ford intends to make parts of battery modules in Britain before shipping them to Turkey, where the electric Transit's assembly line will be located, according to the report.

Tech groups LG and Samsung, and start-ups Britishvolt and InoBat Auto, are the four other firms said to be locked in talks with government and local authorities, says the FT.

A UK business department spokesperson told This is Money earlier this month: 'We are committed to ensuring the UK continues to be one of the best locations in the world for automotive manufacturing through a major investment programme to electrify our supply chain, create jobs and secure a competitive future for the sector.

'To support the auto sectors transition to electric vehicles, we are dedicated to securing gigafactories, and continue to work closely with investors and vehicle manufacturers to progress plans to mass produce batteries in the UK.'

The UK's first gigafactory (plans pictured) is also set to be established in the North East. Based in Blyth, Northumberland, the Britishvolt plant will be operational by 2023 and fully completed at the end of 2026. It will likely provide 3,000 new UK jobs

Tesla founder Elon Musk is reportedly considering a UK gigaplant after an objection was filed against the development of the company's Gruenheide battery factory near Berlin, Germany (pictured on September 19, 2020)

The first UK gigafactory - one of 38 planned across Europe so far - is Britishvolt's Blyth factory in Northumberland, which is due to be operational by 2023 and completed fully by 2026.

It has openly expressed desires for future expansion opportunities, having previously considered a site in St Athan, Wales, close to Aston Martin's new state-of-the-art car production facility.

Reports also emerged last month that Tesla boss Elon Musk might be considering the UK for the US firm's next Gigaplant' following a secret visit to England.

The outspoken Tesla founder's plans for a first European battery production site close to Berlin in Germany, is being delayed by environmental groups, which have in the last week filed an official objection to a provisional permit from the Brandenburg environmental authority for the construction of a factory.

The objection is based on the claim that Tesla has not sufficiently clarified what precautions it will take to prevent highly poisonous gas from escaping from the factory, the objection document showed.

It said Tesla had also changed its application documents to produce battery cells on the premise, for which it has not yet obtained the necessary permit.
The FTSE 100 got off to a poor start to the week, closing down 0.9 per cent to 7,072, while the FTSE 250 ended the day down 0.5 per cent to 22,533.

Luxury fashion brand Burberry said its chief executive Marco Gobbetti would step down after nearly five years in his position to to be closer to his family and become the boss of Salvatore Ferragamo.

The Financial Conduct Authority has given leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance until Wednesday to agree to desist from all 'regulated activities' in the UK, including any advertising and financial promotions.

Bakery and fast-food chain Greggs said its sales recovery was stronger than anticipated as coronavirus restrictions were eased, and added that if the recovery continued it could positively impact profit for the year.

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The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange has been banned from operating in the UK and has until Wednesday to comply with the ruling by the financial watchdog.

Cayman Islands-based Binance, which allows customers around the globe to trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and derivates linked to them, such as futures, was told to stop 'any regulated activity' in the UK under its affiliate Binance Markets Limited.

The move by the Financial Conduct Authority is the latest crackdown on the crypto industry.

Various regulators are growing increasingly concerned about cryptoassets' potential role in illegal activities like money laundering, as well as poor protection for investors as they become more popular.

Crackdown: Binance Markets Ltd has been told to stop 'any regulated activity' in the UK

Due to the ban, Binance Markets 'is not currently permitted to undertake any regulated activities without the prior written consent of the FCA', the watchdog said.

The FCA does not regulate cryptocurrencies themselves, but it does regulate financial products linked to them, which is presumably the activity the FCA is clamping down on.

Laith Khalaf, financial analyst at AJ Bell, said: 'The Binance website offers derivative products with up to four times leverage on a range of extremely volatile cryptocurrencies, which means gains, and losses, are magnified by a factor of four.

'It's not surprising that such extremely risky products have drawn regulatory scrutiny.'

Since January, the FCA has introduced a ban on the sale of derivates and exchange-traded notes that track cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum to retail investors after it concluded that they are at risk of 'sudden and unexpected' losses.

The regulator also introduced the requirement for all firms offering cryptocurrency-related services to register with them and show they comply with anti-money laundering rules.

Binance had applied to become a registered company with the FCA - but it dropped its application last month. That means it cannot operate as a cryptocurrency exchange in the UK.

Earlier this month, the FCA said that just five firms had registered, and that the majority were not yet compliant.

What does the ban mean for UK customers with a Binance account?

It is not clear what that means for UK investors.

While Binance cannot offer a crypto exchange based in the UK, British investors can still access the group's services through its website Binance.com.

Binance said the FCA UK notice had 'no direct impact' on the services provided on Binance.com.

'BML is a separate legal entity and does not offer any products or services via the Binance.com website,' the group tweeted.

And added: 'We take a collaborative approach in working with regulators and we take our compliance obligations very seriously. We are actively keeping abreast of changing policies, rules and laws in this new space.'

Bitcoin today: The crypto rose despite news of the ban on Binance's UK and Japanese affiliates

But the FCA issued a warning about the Binance.com platform, advising people to be wary of online and social media adverts promising high returns on cryptoasset investments.

And it has told Binance that by Wednesday 30th of June, it must display a notice on its website and social media channels warning customers that it is not allowed to 'undertake any regulated activity in the UK'.

The company must also remove any advertising and financial promotions to UK consumers.

In addition, Binance must secure and preserve all records relating to UK consumers and inform the FCA this has been done by the 2nd of July.

David Henderson, senior associate at law firm Browne Jacobson, said the impact on UK customers with Binance accounts was not yet clear.

'We expect that the FCA will be scrutinising the Binance website and the products offered very closely and if it determines that any regulated products are being offered or promoted "in the UK" (which is subject to interpretation) then we expect the FCA might require that the Binance website prevent UK consumers from accessing those products,' he said.

Binance is based in the Cayman Islands and is led by founder and chief executive Changpeng Zhao. Binance Markets Ltd is its UK arm and is legally based in London.

Crackdown on cryptos set to accelerate

Binance was also banned by Japan's financial watchdog on Friday, when it said that company wasn't registered to do business in the country.

And last month, Bloomberg reported that US officials who probe money laundering and tax offences had sought information from individuals with insight into Binance's business.

Regulators are cracking down on cryptoassets amid fears they contribute to fraud and money laundering. They are also concerned that investors are at risk of big losses.

Bitcoin rose despite the latest crackdown, with the cryptocurrency rising by around 5 per cent to around $34,800 by 9:30am on Monday.

Last week, it fell below $29,000 for the first time since the start of the year. Since last October bitcoin has rallied from around $10,000 to more than $63,000 in April.

Khalaf said the latest crackdown on Binance isn't going to 'knock the crypto craze on the head', but it is part of a growing trend of regulatory intervention in crypto markets.

'The idea that policy makers are simply going to allow a decentralised shadow payments system to emerge without any regulatory oversight is fantastical, and if the use of cryptoassets becomes more widespread, we can expect beefed-up regulation to follow suit,' he said.
Takeover talk continues to grip the stock market  and all eyes will be on serviced office company IWG when trading resumes today.

Reports last night suggested the firm, which owns Regus and is valued at 3billion, is a potential target.

New York based private equity firm CC Capital has held talks with the London-listed group about a possible 4billion bid in the past month, according to Sky News.illio

Takeover rumours: New York based private equity firm CC Capital has reportedly held talks with London-listed serviced office company IWG about a possible 4bn bid

That would value the 28.5 per cent stake held by founder and chief executive Mark Dixon at more than 1billion.

The speculation came after the market closed yesterday, with IWG shares down 2.3 per cent, or 7.2p, at 300.2p. But it could be a different story when trading resumes this morning. IWG is just the latest firm to be targeted with private equity also circling Morrisons (up 0.8 per cent, or 1.8p, to 234.5p).

Ultra Electronics has also been in the spotlight. Its shares rose 7 per cent on Friday after private equity-owned Cobham said it was interested in a deal.

But they slammed into reverse yesterday as investors digested a strongly-worded rebuttal from Ultra that seemingly poured cold water on the approach.

Stock Watch - Zephyr Energy Oil and gas tiddler Zephyr Energy started the week on a high after it brought in a US-based company called Cyclone Drilling to work on a new exploration well. The two firms have worked together before and Cyclone will use the same rig it used to drill another of Zephyrs sites. AIM-listed Zephyr focuses on finding oil and gas in the USs Rocky Mountains  particularly Utah. Boss Colin Harrington said the rig was well known to our drilling team and was already in Utah, meaning it would save cash on transport expenses. Shares in the group rose 12.7 per cent, or 0.8p, to 7.1p.

Cobham  bought by Advent International for 4billion last year  had said it could buy Ultra, or even that, effectively, Ultra could buy Cobham.

It indicated the two were already in talks  though it was somewhat vague about the details.

But Ultra had a different narrative. It insisted that it had only been in discussions to buy CAES, a division of Cobham, and that it had decided to walk away from that proposition. Ultra shares fell 3 per cent, or 68p, to 2232p.

The wider FTSE 250 index closed lower, falling 0.5 per cent, or 112.59 points, to 22533.42, while the FTSE 100 slid 0.9 per cent, or 63.1 points, to 7072.97.

Both were weighed down by travel stocks again  as Spain, Malta and Portugal all introduced measures to restrict UK travellers who have not had both jabs. And Hong Kong said it would ban all passenger flights from the UK from Thursday.

The latest blow to summer holidays knocked the shares of travel stocks including British Airways-owner IAG (down 5.9 per cent, or 11.08p, to 176.4p), Easyjet (down 5.8 per cent, or 55.4p, to 899.6p) and Tui (down 5.3 per cent, or 21.5p, to 384.1p).

Closer to home, City Pub Group said it was encouraged by bumper sales after it reopened 42 of its sites after the third lockdown. T

he bar owner is trading profitably and at around 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. Shares rose 1.6 per cent, or 2p, to 129.5p.

A 1pc fall in oil prices to $75.15 a barrel ahead of an Opec+ meeting this week also weighed on Londons big energy firms, with BP (down 3.2 per cent, or 10.35p, to 315.15p), Shell (down 3.6 per cent, or 52p, to 1398p) and Cairn Energy (down 6 per cent, or 9.8p, to 153p) all suffering.

AIM-listed Hurricane Energy, however, shot up 29.3 per cent, or 0.64p, to 2.8p after a court rejected a debt restructuring proposal that would have virtually wiped out its shareholders.

Investors had been in uproar about the plans, which would have handed control of the company to Hurricanes bondholders in exchange for forgiving debt and extending the repayment date on more. A judge said there was no urgency for Hurricane to restructure the debt now.

Elsewhere in the natural resources world, Anglo American (down 2.2 per cent, or 65p, to 2901.5p) finalised the sale of its one-third stake in an open-pit coal mine in Colombia to fellow Footsie miner Glencore (down 1.8 per cent, or 5.65p, to 309.55p).

BHP (down 0.7 per cent, or 16p, to 2144p) also holds a third of the project  and is intending to sell this to Glencore too.

And speaking of Glencore, mining minnow Ferro-Alloy Resources rose 8.5 per cent, or 2.75p, to 35.25p after chairman Sir Mick Davis  former boss of Xstrata, which merged with Glencore in May 2013  pumped another 5million into the company earlier than expected.
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HAGERSTOWN  Lois E. Harpold, 75, of Hagerstown, died Thursday, June 24, 2021, at her daughter's house in Philadelphia. Lois was born Dec. 26, 1945, the youngest of eight children born to the Rev. William C. and Drewry E. Harpold. Besides her parents, Lois was preceded in death by sister, Fl
Barre, VT (05641)

Today

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Low 53F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Low 53F. Winds light and variable.


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COLONIE - Wojeski & Co., an accounting, tax, financial and business advisory firm based on Wolf Road, has become a member firm of Russell Bedford International, a global network of CPA firms.

Wojeski, which has nearly 50 employees, was founded in 1991 and has more than 4,000 clients across the technology, construction, banking and non-profit sectors.
Blue Apron sends all the ingredients needed to make weeknight meals, as do its myriad copycat meal kit services. UmamiCart ships hard-to-find Asian grocery staples. Peapod, Hannaford and Instacart deliver groceries to your door, sometimes within hours.

The online grocery and food box business has never been as saturated, or as successful. An industry report showed that online grocery sales were 3.5 times higher in May than they were pre-pandemic. The market for meal kit boxes are also expected to grow annually by 13 percent through 2028  a trend that the pandemic helped cement as more people ate at home and became more competent at cooking.

The movement is now really going local. For a select group of customers, a new food box service, Fresh Catskills, delivers an upstate farmers market assortment of food to your doorstep while eliminating much of the pesky packaging that comes with door-to-door groceries.

Its founder is George Billard, a film producer who relocated 13 years ago to Barryville in Sullivan County, and helped start the Barryville farmers market in 2019 when the original market moved to Narrowsburg. He launched Fresh Catskills in February with investor funding following a pandemic year in which Billard transitioned the in-person farmers market to an online market with contactless pickups, like many markets across the region. In the process of moving to online sales, the wheels began to spin on his new business idea.

I started to see the need for and the desire for what the farmers were selling, said Billard. At the same time, he noticed, Not everybody wants to come to a farmers market. So he decided to bring the market to everybody, within a certain range.

Drawing from a growing list of 45 farmers and makers, Fresh Catskills offers customers a choice between build-your-own grocery orders or a curated box of local produce, meat, and cheeses plus artisanal foods from the region and New York City. Think heirloom tomatoes from Neversink Farm, pasture-raised chickens and grass-fed beef from Autumns Harvest in the Finger Lakes, Sfoglini pasta from West Cocksackie.

The selection sounds a lot like what other high-end grocery stores can deliver, but Fresh Catskills leans into its branding. Fresh-picked vegetables and meat arrive by Wednesday mornings at the companys Monticello warehouse, and Billard and his lean team of four employees then box and chill orders for their Thursday and Friday refrigerated delivery van runs to customers in just four counties: Sullivan, Westchester, Manhattan and Kings (Brooklyn). Nothing is frozen nor spends longer than a few days in storage.

This makes for a very hands-on operation  Saturdays are when I come up for air, Billard said and a slow-food approach to online shopping. Orders must be placed by Wednesday to get into the delivery queue for the following week, so this is not an overnight solution for weeknight meals; its more of a fresh-foods treat to look forward to the next weekend.

Billard plans to shrink the lead time as business builds, but to stay true to its name, Fresh Catskills will never be an overnight or same-day delivery service. Then Im just carrying inventory, and thats when you start to get into food waste, said Billard. Theres so much food waste from farm to customer  but I dont have to be a part of that. For now, surplus food goes to A Single Bite, begun by the hospitality company Foster Supply, to help food insecure families in Sullivan County, or is used for product samples.

@randazzoblau

Business has been steadily growing since the February launch based upon word of mouth, and no marketing, aside from Billard sending quite a bit of samples to people in the New York food community to kind of get some buzz going. The tactic seems to be working  a recent New Yorker article gave Fresh Catskills high marks: The quality of the ingredients was so high that preparation was best kept simple, their food writer assessed.

He says he is seeing his customer base grow by roughly 10 percent a month, evenly split between each county, though he notes that he could see a drop off in his Sullivan County customer base if second homeowners return to the city.

The company plans to expand to select towns in the Hudson Valley, but it wont be offered throughout the region, given the inefficiencies involved.

The challenges of delivering in more rural areas are greater because there's just not as many people, said Billard. Rather than drive 45 minutes to get to one customer, it makes more economic sense to deliver to one building in Manhattan where he might have five.

Its not just the bottom line that Billard is concerned about. The environmental waste created by the food delivery business is something he is taking great pains to avoid. The company does not use plastic clamshells for any of its produce, nor gel packs to keep food cold or frozen, a staple in most food subscription boxes. Billard is equally wary of the reusable plastic totes or bins employed by grocery chains. Those are going to end up in a landfill, he said.

And what of the fossil fuel use that comes from delivering food 100 miles south? No matter what, food gets transported from a farm to the consumer, counters Billard. Given that, its taking the most direct route. Its coming locally  which is a major step  and theres no air miles involved in anything we sell.

For Fresh Catskills to stick to its mission of both delivering the freshest food possible with the least amount of waste, it means that scaling up can only happen piecemeal, not Amazon-style. Down the line, Billard envisions a system of regional hubs outside of metro areas that have agricultural regions with a similar quality and yield as the Catskills.

Underneath it all, my politics get injected into this, said Billard. We have to change food distribution. The current system is terrible for our health, the planet, local economies, [and] workers.

One of his goals is to connect downstate makers with upstate growers. Recently he introduced Bethel Creamery to the makers of Salvatore Bklyn ricotta with the thought that the Brooklyn cheesemaker could source its milk directly from the Catskills dairy, something he could facilitate since he is already driving his product to the city and bringing theirs back upstate. It remains to be seen if Billards matchmaking efforts will pan out in this instance, but over time, he hopes these introductions will strengthen the local food system.

For now, its providing another valuable revenue stream for participating farmers.

I think its really good for the local farmers, especially the smaller farmers, said Stan Bialecki, who works the Barryville and Callicoon farmers markets, and lives and farms just across the Delaware River in Pennsylvania. We often have supply overruns  not [because] the customers are limited but sometimes they dont come [to the market]. This could be a very nice consistent outlet for product, he said.

To me, this is for people that want and appreciate the real difference in freshness versus what you would get from like, a Whole Foods. [That food] travels hundreds and hundreds of miles on many different trucks and sat in coolers. But if you give a tomato to George, a customer gets it  two days later. Its like you went into your backyard and picked it. Thats the quality.
Courtesy of Franklin Community Center

SARATOGA SPRINGS  Cummins SOFC, a power systems company in Malta, has donated 60 bicycles with helmets and locks to the Franklin Community Center for students who participate in Project Lift.

The bicycles will go to children who take part in the free after-school program in Saratoga Springs City School District.



We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the team at Cummins Inc. who purchased the bicycle kits, assembled them and attached a bicycle helmet and cable lock to each bike, Mary Beth McGarrahan, development director at Franklin Community Center, said in a statement. Our Project Lifters will be able to start the summer off riding on the right path.
New York Army National Guard Col. Bob Epp of Halfmoon, an Iraq war veteran, has received a Legion of Merit Medal and a New York State Conspicuous Service Medal upon retirement after 37 years of military service.

Epp, New York Counter Drug Task Force coordinator, received the medals during his retirement ceremony at New York National Guard Headquarters in Latham. The Legion of Merit is presented to service members who make significant contributions during the course of their military service. He deployed to Iraq with the Troy-based 42nd Infantry Division Headquarters in 2005, serving as an intelligence planner.

Epp, has had "tremendous career with the (active) Army and the New York Army National Guard," said Maj. Gen. Ray Shields, the state adjutant general, during the ceremony. During Epps career, he "has been a great leader and a great mentor," Shields added.

The colonel began his military career as an enlisted soldier in 1983. He served in Korea and Fort Benning, Ga., as an artillery fire direction specialist. He advanced to sergeant before he joined the New York Army National Guard after being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, 108th Infantry.

Epp, a military intelligence officer, has served in a variety of positions, including as an intelligence officer for the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry; commander of the 227th Military Intelligence Company, strategic intelligence officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency, assistant military science professor at Syracuse University, plans officer for the 42nd Infantry Division, intelligence officer for the 42nd Infantry Division, domestic operations plans officer, executive officer to the adjutant general, Camp Smith Training Site garrison commander and deputy personnel officer for the New York National Guard.

He also served as the chief of legislative affairs for the New York National Guard.

Epp is a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College, the Joint Forces Staff College, and the Army War College. He earned a master degree in Kurdish studies from Empire State College, a bachelor degree from Utica College, and an associate's degree from Mohawk Valley Community College.

The colonel has also earned a Bronze Star Medal, a Meritorious Service Medal, an Army Commendation Medal, an Army Achievement Medal, an Army Good Conduct Medal, an Humanitarian Service Medal, and a Meritorious Unit Citation.

New commander

Major Dan Colomb, a former Niskayuna resident, a veteran of the n Iraq and Afghanistan wars, has assumed command of the New York National Guard's 24th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team, a unit specializing in detecting chemical, radiological and biological weapons, at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, on May 21.

The 24th CST is a 22-person unit comprised of Army and Air National Guard personnel who are trained to identify chemical, biological, and radiological agents in support of local law enforcement or other first responders. The unit is based at Fort Hamilton and focuses on missions in New York City. The 2nd CST is based at Stratton Air National Guard Base in Scotia and focuses on missions in upstate New York and surrounding areas.

He previously served as domestic operations plans chief for the New York National Guard. In that position he played a critical role in the New York National Guard response to the pandemic.

Colomb, who has recently relocated to Manhattan, is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 2003, and had served in the active Army as a combat engineer platoon leader and deployed to Iraq with the 70th Engineer Battalion in 2005.

In 2007, he deployed to Afghanistan as the 70th Engineer Battalion plans officer. During the deployment he was reassigned to head a company-sized anti-improvised explosive device unit that covered three provinces.

Colomb joined the New York Army National Guard in 2009. He has served as 42nd Infantry Division plans officer, commander of the 1156th Engineer Company, and personnel officer for the 204th Engineer Battalion and operations officer for the New York Army National Guard Recruiting and Retention Battalion. He went on to serve as operations office for the 204th Engineer Battalion and led a team of 40 Soldiers to Puerto Rico to help that territory recover from Hurricane Maria.

He earned a bachelor of science degree in American legal systems and systems engineering from West Point.

More Information News of your troops and units can be sent to Times Union, Duty Calls, Terry Brown, Box 15000, Albany, NY 12212 or brownt@timesunion.com See More Collapse

Colomb has earned a Meritorious Service Medal, an Army Commendation Medal, an Army Achievement Medal, a Parachutist Badge, and a Combat Action Badge.

Donations needed

Capital District Women Veterans is in need of donations of furniture, household goods and money to furnish its Christopher House, a supportive community resident for women veterans in need, including those with children, at 515 First St., Troy. Once fully furnished, the house will become a home for up to five veterans.

A complete list of needed household goods, furniture and other items can be found at www.CDWV.org

Make checks payable to Capital District Women Veterans Program and mail to: Capital District Women Veterans Program, 515 First St., Troy, NY 121801. For information, contact Christine Rem at 518 428-1612 or email crem13@nycap.rr.com.




SRINAGAR, India (AP)  Indian officials said Sunday they suspect explosives-laden drones were used to attack an air base in the disputed region of Kashmir, calling it the first such incident of its kind in India.

Dilbagh Singh, the region's police director-general, told the private news channel New Delhi Television that drones with payload were used in both the blasts." Singh called the attack an act of terrorism.

Two soldiers were lightly wounded in the explosions, according to a military officer who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with military regulations.

India's air force tweeted that the attack caused minor damage to a building on the base, located in the southern city of Jammu in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, while the second blast hit an open area. It said no military equipment was damaged.

The incident, if proven to have been carried out by anti-India rebels, would mark a major shift in strategy against New Delhi. Rebels have primarily used classic guerrilla tactics such as ambushes, hit-and-run attacks, remote-controlled explosions and car bombings.

Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, who was head of the Indian militarys Northern Command from 2014 to 2016 which covers Kashmir, said Sundays potential drone strike poses a "huge and serious challenge for the security apparatus. He said commercial drones are easily available on the market and dont need advanced technology to be used in attacks.

Drones have a small visual signature and traditional radars hardly pick them up, Hooda said. It will require a whole range of new modifications for the military to intercept and defuse these kinds of attacks.

Muslim-majority Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, and the Himalayan region is claimed by both in its entirety. Rebels have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989. Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebel goal that the territory be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

New Delhi deems Kashmir militancy to be Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and most Kashmiris call it a legitimate freedom struggle.

Both countries claim to have shot down spy drones in the parts of Kashmir under their respective control.

The air base in Jammu is also used as a civilian airport, and the Press Trust of India news agency quoted the airports director, Pravat Ranjan Beuria, as saying there was no disruption to civilian flights.

Indian authorities said forensic investigators were surveying the area, and were later joined by the country's premier anti-terrorism agency, the National Investigating Agency.

Last week, Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a crucial meeting with pro-India politicians from Kashmir for the first time since New Delhi stripped the regions semi-autonomy and imposed a slew of administrative changes, which many likened to the beginning of settler colonialism.

Indian authorities in recent years have raised the possibility of drone attacks by rebels in the region, especially after repeatedly accusing Pakistan of using China-made drones along the frontier to drop weapons packages for militant groups since last year.

Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP)  An Iowa man accused of hiding in the backseat a Nebraska womans car and using homemade chloroform, duct tape and zip ties to abduct a woman has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and other charges.

Zack Smith, 20, of Bronson, entered a written plea Monday in Woodbury County District Court to charges of third-degree kidnapping, assault while participating in a felony and assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, the Sioux City Journal reported.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Aiming to preserve a fragile bipartisan deal on infrastructure, President Joe Biden endorsed it without hesitation Saturday, walking back from a threat to veto it if Congress also didn't pass an even larger package to expand the social safety net.

Biden said he didnt mean to suggest in earlier remarks that he would veto the nearly $1 trillion infrastructure bill unless Congress also passed a broader package of investments that he and fellow Democrats aim to approve along party lines, the two together totaling some $4 trillion.

Speaking on Thursday moments after fulfilling his hopes of reaching a bipartisan accord, Biden appeared to put the deal in jeopardy with his comment that the infrastructure bill would have to move in tandem with the larger bill.

Though Biden had been clear he would pursue the massive new spending for child care, Medicare and other investments, Republicans balked at the president's notion that he would not sign one without the other. If this is the only thing that comes to me, Im not signing it, Biden said then of the infrastructure bill. Its in tandem."

By Saturday, Biden was seeking to clarify those comments, after his top negotiators Steve Ricchetti and Louisa Terrell worked to assure senators that Biden remained enthusiastic about the deal.

My comments also created the impression that I was issuing a veto threat on the very plan I had just agreed to, which was certainly not my intent," Biden said in a statement.

I intend to pursue the passage of that plan, which Democrats and Republicans agreed to on Thursday, with vigor, Biden added. It would be good for the economy, good for our country, good for our people. I fully stand behind it without reservation or hesitation.

Biden's earlier remarks had drawn sharp criticism from some Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who tweeted on Friday, "No deal by extortion! Others felt blindsided by what they said was a shift in their understanding of his position.

Tensions appeared to calm afterward, when senators from the group of negotiators convened a conference call, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting.

My hope is that well still get this done, said Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, the lead Republican negotiator, in an interview Friday with The Associated Press. Our infrastructure is in bad shape.

Biden was set to travel on Tuesday to Wisconsin for the first stop on a nationwide tour to promote the infrastructure package, the White House said.

The sudden swings point to the difficult path ahead for what promises to be a long process of turning Biden's nearly $4 trillion infrastructure proposals into law.

The two measures were always expected to move together through Congress: the bipartisan plan and a second bill that would advance under special rules allowing for passage solely with majority Democrats votes and is now swelling to $6 trillion. Biden reiterated that was his plan on Saturday, but said he was not conditioning one on the other.

So to be clear," his statement said, our bipartisan agreement does not preclude Republicans from attempting to defeat my Families Plan; likewise, they should have no objections to my devoted efforts to pass that Families Plan and other proposals in tandem.

Before his clarification Saturday, not all senators were swayed by the White House outreach, which came after a tumultuous month of on-again, off-again negotiations over Biden's top legislative priority.

The Democrats two-track strategy has been to consider both the bipartisan deal and their own more sweeping priorities side by side, as a way to assure liberals the smaller deal won't be the only one.

A bipartisan accord has been important for the White House as it tries to show centrist Democrats and others that it is working with Republicans before Biden tries to push the broader package through Congress.

Ten Republican senators would be needed to pass the bipartisan accord in the 50-50 Senate, where 60 votes are required to advance most bills.

While the senators in the bipartisan group are among some of the more independent-minded lawmakers, known for bucking their partys leadership, it appears criticism by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Bidens approach could peel away GOP support.

___

Associated Press writers Darlene Superville, Josh Boak, Kevin Freking and Dan Sewell contributed to this report.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  Minnesotas top Democratic and Republican lawmakers reached agreement on the highlights of a public safety bill that includes police accountability measures, a day after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison for the death of George Floyd.

While some details had yet to be finalized, leaders from both parties said the compromise reached late Saturday settles the major issues after months of negotiations. It has been the most contentious piece of budget negotiations among a divided Legislature that's up against a Wednesday deadline to avoid a government shutdown.
A 29-year-old Catskill woman who had been missing since late March was found safe and living in Maryland.

State Police told Times Union that Alicia Kenyon was identified after stopping in a homeless shelter. She told authorities in Maryland that she had been living in a tent in the woods.
A Marine from Northville, Fulton County, survived a shooting late Sunday afternoon in New York's busy Times Square, the New York Post reports.

Samuel Poulin, 21, was with his wife and other relatives when someone opened fire outside a Marriott Hotel at West 45th Street and Broadway.

A ricocheting bullet hit Poulin in the back, reports say. The Post reported a relative pulled the slug from Poulin's back and gave it to police. A relative told the newspaper Poulin was doing "fine."

Poulin, a recent graduate of the Citadel, was in town for a baptism.

New York police said the 5:15 p.m. shooting might have been the culmination of a dispute between two local vendors.

It is the second time in less than two months that people have been shot in Times Square.

Three bystanders, including a 4-year-old girl who was toy shopping in Times Square on May 8, were injured when someone opened fire during a dispute between several men, the Associated Press reported at the time.

That shooting happened near the intersection of West 44th Street and Seventh Avenue..
WILLSBORO  On a hot May day along the Boquet River, one United States and one Canadian flag fly outside the Willsboro Diner in Essex County. The Canadian border has been closed for more than a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, but a couple of out-of-towners and a few locals sit spread out in the eatery. One of those locals is former Gov. George Pataki, recognized and greeted by nearly everyone inside.

The 53rd governor of New York has been living with his wife Libby on their Champlain Valley farm in the Adirondack Park throughout the pandemic. Its his place of refuge though he has started traveling more to his law office in New York City now that restrictions are lifting. Pataki has been out of the political fray for a few years. He was the last Republican to be governor; his third term ended in 2006. He also took a stab at running for president in 2015, though the campaign was short-lived.

There are plenty of things Pataki is known for during his state service. Many, perhaps, would point to his leadership during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. But it was shortly after that American crisis that Pataki and his family sought a quiet place they could get away at times, and they found that in the Adirondack Park. It is a place Pataki has left his mark, too, through his governance.

During his time in office, Pataki was responsible for deals that conserved more than 1 million acres, mostly in the Blue Line. His administration was also responsible for closing the last landfills in the Adirondack Park. Protecting the environment for future generations meant a great deal to his administration.

Not everything went the way he had planned, however, including a constitutional amendment involving a forest preserve land swap with a mining company.

The amendment was under Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's administration, but Pataki lobbied for it. The amendment was intended to preserve jobs at NYCO Minerals, a company down the road from the Willsboro Diner where Pataki was sitting. The company would be allowed access to forest preserve lands to do exploratory drilling, while giving some of its land to the forest preserve. Once the drilling was finished, NYCO Minerals would return the rest of the property to forest preserve. But the company sold out to another buyer, many locals lost their jobs, and the land swap never went through.

Pataki sat down with Adirondack Explorer to talk about his views of the Adirondacks past and present.

Q: What are some things you like to do in the Adirondacks?

A: One of my favorite things is walking along streambeds, and this time of year its hard because you get all the brush and everything and if its wet, you can get stuck in the bog. But when its all frozen over you can just walk up the ice on the brooks and streams, walk over the land. Theres always a lot of interesting tracks in the snow. Its great fun. We have a farm. I just love it.

Q: Do you grow anything there?

A: We have beef cows. We have horses. We have chickens. And the main thing we do is hay. Hay for the cows, and we sell hay for the horses, too, and right now we just started to cut the hay for the first time this year.

Q: How did you end up in the Adirondacks?

A: I always lived on a farm, and down where I grew up, it just got so built up and overgrown. My wife Libby and I love the Hamptons. We met out there in the early 70s, but its been ruined, and thats one of the things we love about the Adirondacks. When we used to go to the Hamptons with all the little inlets and bays and things, there would actually be farms. Now theres 30,000 square-foot mcmansions. We saw that happening out there. That was one of the attractions of the Adirondack Park is that thats not going to happen here. We dont have to worry about the people who have the farm down the road building 300 condos or 40 giant mcmansions because its in the park.

Q: Did you drive through one and day and say, this is where I want to be?

A: Ill tell you exactly how it happened. We had a farm down in Washington County but my wife didnt want it because she wanted to be on the water. A friend of ours took us out on the boat. It was 2002. It was very busy. We were recovering from the attacks of Sept. 11 (2001), so I didnt have time to look. Im out on a boat (on Lake Champlain), and I said theres a farm, theres a farm, theres a farm, theres a farm. Went off to be governor again and told my wife to come look around and see. The place we found she hated because the place had been abandoned and the buildings had collapsed and you couldnt get in the farmhouse because it was overgrown with vines and broken glass, but I loved it. So we got it. Were still renovating it. Its a perpetual process, but its just great. We just love it here. Its one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Its one of the most undiscovered parts of the whole northeast, I think, certainly of upstate New York, the Champlain Valley and the Adirondack Park.

We always loved the Adirondacks. In fact, my last day as governor, the last night, I spent in Lake Placid. My last day I went to a Jets game because Im a Jets fan, and they probably lost, I dont remember. They hadnt been very good. Theyll get better. And then we came up to Lake Placid and we stayed at Mirror Lake, and had dinner with all of our friends for the last night as governor. I love the Adirondacks. I love Lake Placid. I love Whiteface. Learned how to ski to the extent I can at Gore, when I was in school. Its just been a unique, tremendous place that still has to fight to retain its incredible natural characteristics.

Q: You conserved a lot of land 

A: 1,020,000 acres.

Q: Was that easements, or purchases or both?

A: Both. It was enormous opposition initially, particularly up here. But I tried to stress the whole way through that were doing this not just to protect the space for future generations but also to create the appropriate balance where people would want to be here, and I think were seeing it now. Because of COVID, having all this protected space hasnt been a negative. In fact, in some ways, its attracting people that the park isnt ready to handle yet. Im proud of that, and it was something we worked very hard on.

Q: Do you feel like you got your and the states moneys worth?

A: In government, too often the thinking is short-term. Today were here because 140 years ago, some people thought long-term. And I dont know what people think about the 1,020,000 acres today, but hopefully theyll be people saying, thank God they preserved all this space for us.

Q: How did you get support for those purchases?

A: Its a matter of trust, and when I first became governor, they didnt trust me. They didnt trust the state at all because there had been this horrible, contentious relationship. We went out of our way to make it more of a partnership where you listen to the communities. I remember the last piece we got in St. Lawrence County, it wasnt in the Adirondack Park, but it was a fairly large chunk, and the head of the county says, well, weve got real reservations. We could use a couple of million dollars to upgrade the snowmobile trails in other parts of the county. Done. So that was the deal. There was a partnership where the residents got their upgraded snowmobile trails, and the state got to preserve this land for future generations.

Q: Do you think party lines had anything to do with it, too?

A: I dont think really. Maybe in the first year, but after that theyre not judging you by your party but whether you kept your word, and what your actions are, and what your approach is. Its funny, one of the first big statewide things I did was the environmental bond act shortly after I got elected. I remember going to Lake Placid and there were people protesting it. I went over and talked to the protesters. They said the state always screws us. Its nice to have such a beautiful place, but if you cant have a job, and you cant have a home, and you cant live here, what does it do? I said I understand. We got the bond act passed, and we did a lot in Lake Placid, including renovate the Olympic facilities, creating a larger convention center, all sorts of things consistent to making Lake Placid more viable economically.

But I remember right here, the first project we did, and I wanted the first project to be in the Adirondacks because they voted against it because they didnt trust me. There was a dam here across the Boquet and salmon, big salmon, are in Lake Champlain but they couldnt get up the river beyond the dam to breed and to spawn. And below the dam, youd have massive salmon and it was a great place to fish, but they couldnt reproduce, so we put a fish ladder right here in Willsboro so the landlocked salmon could get up and be spawning in the branches of the Boquet River. The supervisor a couple of years ago blew up the dam, took out the dam, and I wish I thought of it. Because you look at the river now, it flows freely. I think the salmon are going to be doing a lot better than they did with the fish ladder.

Q: How do you think the current administration is doing when it comes to the park?

A: Im trying my best not to comment on the current administration.

Q: Are you surprised with how the park has been since you were in office? Are you happy with the direction its going? That would be under a few administrations.

A: Yeah, three of them. The whole concept of the park is to create a vision for the entire 6 million-plus acres. I still think you have to think in terms of the big picture and not just protect here and protect there.

Q: When you preserved this land in your time as governor, was it also with climate change in mind? Did you consider the park as a carbon sink?

A: The answer is yes, but that was a secondary consideration. The primary consideration was to have the open space for future generations and for recreation and environmental reasons now. But I mean we made climate change a priority before anybody else did. Got rid of the sales tax on alternative fuels, passed the first green building tax credit in the world, created the regional greenhouse gas initiative. Its still something I think that has to be a priority.

Q: How do you think the Adirondack Park Agency is faring?

A: I saw that it was just like eight people appointed? Thats typical that there are vacancies or hold overs, and its hard to be able to develop an intelligent team and vision going forward.

Q: They havent had a chair in a few years.

A: Sadly, that is not uncommon in this administration. That is unfortunate.

Q: How involved do you think the governor should be with whats happening in the APA?

A: He should be involved. He should put really good people (on the board), and then you dont just walk away. You have to have a concept of what the park should be and consistently work with local governments and the park agency to try and make sure that youre moving towards that.

Q: Do you think it should be more independent as an agency?

A: Thats a tough question because sometimes people get appointed to a position and they become carried away with their own power and brilliance, and Ive seen it time and again. So you have to retain the ability to have some capability of monitoring authorities. You dont dictate day-to-day activities. You dont make a decision on a particular project, but to make sure the vision you have is being maintained, I do think that you have to follow the activities enough to be able to do that.

Q: The APA and DEC are starting to look at managing visitors, too, in the Adirondacks.

A: It is a concern, certainly of the High Peaks getting overrun. It is. COVID has created opportunities, and its created problems. Its created opportunities because people want to be here. Theyre rethinking, do they want to be in urban and suburban areas. Theyre thinking, can I work remotely? But the other side of it is people, if theyre not going to go to the city, they might decide to hike the High Peaks.

Q: What do you think about limiting access though? Theyre piloting that this summer.

A: I think you have to consider it. You just dont want it overrun. You want to be respectful of those who come here because they want that experience, but on the other hand, its not going to be a positive experience or sustainable if you have too many people.

Q: So youre in favor of trying out a permit?

A: I think they should take a look at alternative approaches to see and try them out on a pilot basis.

Q: How did you become a kind of environmentalist?

A: I grew up like this. I grew up outdoors on the farm, and just loved it. If it was nice out, you were out. You were in the woods. Politicians are too often short-term and the whole idea should be to leave things better for next generations. Once youve destroyed land, once youve gotten rid of its natural uniqueness, its very hard to get it back. Another thing, when I grew up, I grew up in a little town on the Hudson River. It would be hot in the summer, and you couldnt go in the river because it was so polluted. That was something that always struck me is, how did that happen? What I said as governor, we were struggling economically, really struggling economically, and people were saying, youre wasting all these resources on the environment. Economics and environment are not incompatible. Theyre synergistic.

Q: There are a few different constitutional amendments proposed for Article 14. There have been a handful of amendments in the last couple of decades. Do you think that shows how tough it is in the constitution to get anything done here? Should it keep getting amended?

A: I think you have to be very careful, truly, in looking at constitutional amendments. The constitution has worked for 140 years. Yes, there has to be an amendment from time to time. Theres one right here in Willsboro. Theres a mine that employs a couple of hundred people in the town. This is not a very high-income town, and every job means a great deal. They wanted to expand the mine, take some acres of parkland and give three times that. It wasnt protected or sensitive land. Some of the enviros opposed it, which I thought was outrageous because that showed a lack of respect for the balance, but it passed overwhelmingly. And it made sense because it expands state-owned lands, and it just allows a continuation of these 200-plus jobs that are so essential for a community like this.

Q: Are you still glad how that turned out though? The mine deal didnt work out the way it was planned.

A: It didnt?

Q: No. They havent exchanged any land. The company switched hands and many people lost their jobs.

A: Thats a shame. Thats very unfortunate for the town. But thats another thing. A lot of private equity firms, its important to make $1 a year more than to take decent care of your workers, and I think thats an unfortunate development thats happening too often. Plus, I understand people have doubts about the economic climate of the state because the state is the highest taxed state, which is awful, and its also over-regulated. Its really sad for people who need the work here.

Q: Are you looking at another run for governor?

A: No. I think we need to change the direction of the state dramatically. It really troubles me, honestly. Im going to work really hard to find the best candidate for the Republican Party to put up next year, and I think things are so bad that the Republicans have a chance to win, but it has to be a candidate that can appeal across party lines. You want someone who has the right vision for the future of the state, but you also want someone who can win, and too often Ive seen all these candidates with great ideas but they have not chance of winning the race. You cant be a rabid partisan Republican and hope to win.

Q: And thats not you running?

A: There are a lot of people out there running already, and there will be others. Its way too early. The one thing we know is things will change dramatically between now and next year. Things are changing every day, and I think well see next year, but Im going to try hard to help the party come up with a candidate with the right vision.

Q: You ran for president. Have you thought about doing that again? Any other office?

A: Ive often thought of running for mayor of Peekskill, but I dont live there now. Itd be kind of hard. But no.

Q: Whats your legacy here in the park?

A: Thats for others. Im proud, from rebuilding Lower Manhattan to getting through the human disaster and the economic disaster after that, to what weve done in the Adirondacks, to Albany with the whole semi-conductor industry that we brought here from nothing. Certainly, preserving a lot of space, but also just restoring the publics faith that there could be a partnership that was respectful between the residents of the local communities and state government. I think thats just so important. Preserving open space is tremendous and thats something that will be here 100 years from now. Having that trust between the residents and local governments and state government and APA is essential. We had that when I left. I dont know that it exists now. I hope it does.

A version of this story was first published in AdirondackExplorer.org.
ALBANY  The latest heat wave is breaking records for the warmest low temperatures ever seen at night across the state.

This means that while New York has seen days just as hot as this week, it has never seen nights as hot as they are this week  a trend that could signal the impact of climate change if seen repeatedly in the coming years, said Nick Bassill, a meteorologist at University at Albany Center of Excellence in Weather and Climate Analytics.

The National Weather Service in Albany is warning that heat index  the measure of how the heat and humidity feel on the body  will hit at least mid-90s in each of the next two afternoons. Monday's heat index climbed into the low 100s in a few locations in the Capital Region.

It is not uncommon to have warm spells like this in June, July and August in the Albany area, said meteorologist Brett Rathbun. Last summer, there were 13 days with a high temperature of 90 or above, according to the National Weather Service's climate data.

However, this heat wave is breaking some records: At 17 NYS Mesonet sites across the state the warmest low temperatures broke records, and at 12 sites the warmest heat indexes broke records, with low temperatures ranging from 68 to 76 degrees.

"If it is crazy hot during the day time but it gets really cold at night that is a lot better than if it is crazy hot in the daytime and it never lets up at night," Bassill said.

The weather service is urging people to drink plenty of fluids and stay in shaded or air-conditioned areas.

"Heat is one of the leading weather-related killers in the United States, resulting in hundreds of fatalities each year," the weather service said in an alert.

Staying inside isn't an option for many. Paving crews headed out on Monday after being briefed by supervisors about the need to stay hydrated and to look for signs of dehydration in co-workers. Though urged to take frequent breaks and seek shade when possible, highway workers are facing a triple whammy: The day's heat, hot pavement and the warmth given off by machinery.

Tempers can flare when the mercury spikes, a fact noted by state Department of Transportation spokesman Bryan Viggiani, who urged drivers to keep their cool if they end up caught in a slow-moving work zone.

"They're not out there to make your day worse. They're out there to make the roads better," he said.

Meteorologists urged people to be extra cautious about the possibility of leaving children or people with disabilities inside vehicles. They also urged people to be sure to keep empty vehicles locked to discourage toddlers from playing inside of them. The weather service notes 24 children died in hot cars in 2020. One toddler has already died in 2021.

At Albany Medical Hospital the emergency department staff is prepared to handle heat-related injuries through the use of active cooling devices like cooling blankets and ice, said Cassie Nelson, a spokesperson for the hospital.

A line of about 20 people waited outside Lincoln Park pool on Monday to escape the heat. There were 210 people on Sunday, said Justin Atlas, the deputy commissioner of recreation at the City of Albany. Atlas expects the numbers to remain high unless thunderstorms pop up.

The pool, which is 89 years old and listed on the New York and National Register of Historic Places, is currently leaking and has been since the day it was built, according to the city of Albany. The city is in the process of gathering community input about how to create a new aquatic facility to replace the pool.

On days when the temperature reaches such highs, people can suffer from cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

Young children and infants, older adults, those with chronic health conditions and pregnant women can be particularly susceptible to heat-related illnesses.

Signs of heat exhaustion include headache; cold, clammy skin; muscle cramps; dizziness, and vomiting. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a person should immediately move to a cool place and have cold, wet cloths applied  but to only sip water, not guzzle it. Call 911 if signs of illness are severe, which could mean a person has suffered heat stroke.

While heat and humidity will be the key words for the next three days, the forecast calls for a return to temperatures in the mid-70s on Thursday. But the decline in the heat will arrive with the threat of storms from Wednesday to Saturday. The Mohawk Valley and the Adirondack Mountains will see storms and cooling earlier on Wednesday than the Albany area.

The blistering potential heat wave hit the region on Sunday, with the temperature rising into the 90s for the first of an expected four straight days.

Still, for perspective and solace, one can look to the Pacific Northwest, which is facing an unprecedented heat wave.

Daytime temperatures rose above 100 degrees on Sunday. The Associated Press said the heat disrupted Olympic qualifying events and broke all-time high temperature records in a region that rarely experiences such heat.

The temperature reached 112 degrees in Portland, Ore.
DEL RIO, Texas (AP)  Marianela Rojas huddles in prayer with fellow migrants after trudging across a slow-flowing stretch of the Rio Grande and nearly collapsing when she stepped on American soil for the first time.

I wont say it again, interrupts a U.S. Border Patrol agent, giving orders in Spanish for Rojas and a group of 14 other Venezuelans to get into a detention van. Only passports and money in your hands. Everything else  earrings, chains, rings, watches  in your backpacks.

It's a frequent scene across the U.S.-Mexico border at a time of swelling migration. But these arent farmers and low-wage workers from Mexico or Central America, who make up the bulk of those crossing. Among them are bankers, doctors and engineers from Venezuela, and theyre arriving in record numbers as they flee turmoil in the country with the worlds largest oil reserves and pandemic-induced pain across South America.

Two days after Rojas crossed, she left detention and got a bus out of the Texas town of Del Rio. The 54-year-old fled hardship in Venezuela a few years ago, leaving a paid-off home and career as an elementary school teacher for a fresh start in Ecuador.

But when the housecleaning work she found dried up, she decided to uproot again.

Its over, its all over, she said on the phone to loved ones. Everything was perfect. I didnt stop moving for one second.

Last month, 7,484 Venezuelans were encountered by Border Patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico border  more than all 14 years for which records exist. The surprise increase is a harbinger of a new type of migration that has caught the Biden administration off guard: pandemic refugees.

Many of the nearly 17,306 Venezuelans who have crossed the southern border illegally since January had been living for years in other South American countries, part of an exodus of millions since President Nicolas Maduro took power in 2013.

While some are government opponents, the vast majority are escaping long-running economic devastation marked by blackouts and shortages of food and medicine.

With the pandemic still raging in parts of South America, they relocated again. Increasingly, theyre being joined at the U.S. border by people from the countries they initially fled to  like Ecuador and Brazil  as well as far-flung nations hit hard by the virus, like India and Uzbekistan.

Compared with other migrants, Venezuelans garner certain privileges  a reflection of their firmer financial standing, higher education levels and U.S. policies that have failed to remove Maduro but nonetheless made deportation all but impossible.

The vast majority enter the U.S. near Del Rio, a town of 35,000, and don't evade detention but turn themselves in to seek asylum.

Like many of the dozens of Venezuelans The Associated Press spoke to this month in Del Rio, 27-year-old Lis Briceno had already migrated once before. After graduating with a degree in petroleum engineering, she couldnt get hired in the oil fields near her hometown of Maracaibo without declaring her loyalty to Venezuelas socialist leadership. So she moved to Chile a few years ago, finding work with a technology company.

But as anti-government unrest and the pandemic tanked Chile's economy, her company shuttered. Briceno sold what she could to raise the $4,000 needed to get to the U.S.

I always thought Id come here on vacation, to visit the places you see in the movies, Briceno said. But doing this? Never.

While Central Americans and others can spend months getting north, most Venezuelans reach the U.S. in as little as four days.

This is a journey theyre definitely prepared for from a financial standpoint, said Tiffany Burrow, who runs the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Coalitions shelter in Del Rio, where migrants can eat, clean up and buy bus tickets to U.S. cities.

They first fly to Mexico City or Cancun. Smugglers promoting themselves as travel agencies on Facebook claim to offer hassle-free transport to the U.S. for about $3,000.

The steep price includes a guided sendoff from Ciudad Acuna, where the bulk of Venezuelans cross the Rio Grande and which had been largely spared the violence seen elsewhere on the border.

If youre a smuggler in the business of moving a commodity  because thats how they view money, guns, people, drugs and everything they move, as a product  then you want to move it through the safest area possible charging the highest price, said Austin L. Skero II, chief of the U.S. Border Patrols Del Rio sector.

Once in the U.S., Venezuelans tend to fare better than other groups. In March, Biden granted Temporary Protected Status to an estimated 320,000 Venezuelans, protecting them from deportation and allowing them to work legally.

Also, Venezuelans requesting asylum  as almost all do  tend to succeed, partly because the U.S. government corroborates reports of political repression. Only 26% of asylum requests from Venezuelans have been denied this year, compared with an 80% rejection rate for asylum-seekers from poorer, violence-plagued countries in Central America, according to Syracuse Universitys Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

I can write their asylum requests almost by heart, said Jodi Goodwin, an immigration attorney in Harlingen, Texas, who has represented over 100 Venezuelans. These are higher-educated people who can advocate for themselves and tell their story in a chronological, clean way that judges are accustomed to thinking.

Even Venezuelans facing deportation have hope. The Trump administration broke diplomatic relations with Maduro in 2019, so air travel is suspended, even charter flights, making removal next to impossible.

Briceno said that if she had stayed in Venezuela, she would earn the equivalent of $50 a month  barely enough to scrape by.

The truth is, Briceno said, its better to wash toilets here than being an engineer over there.

___

Follow Goodman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APjoshgoodman.
ALBANY  The U.S. Department of Justice expects to spend years investigating fraud cases involving billions of dollars in aid that was intended to help small businesses stay afloat and keep their workers employed, a top federal prosecutor in New York said.

"I would be surprised if we were not bringing these cases five, six, seven years from now," acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York Antoinette Bacon said in an interview at her office Friday.

Government watchdogs have estimated criminals netted about $80 billion worth of loans issued by the Small Business Administration across two pandemic initiatives funded through the CARES Act, as well as the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans. Millions of Americans took advantage of the popular relief programs  especially the forgivable PPP loans  to prop up their businesses during the pandemic. But the fountain of fast-flowing government aid also provided an avenue for people to attempt to cheat the system with lucrative schemes.

The Department of Justice says it has prosecuted more than 100 defendants in at least 70 criminal cases for PPP and EIDL fraud since the programs launched last spring through the federal CARES Act.

The U.S. attorney's office in Albany has filed two cases with charges against four individuals who allegedly fraudulently obtained loans from the programs.

In one case, they said three men conspired to obtain at least $5.6 million in fraudulent loans and worked on their scheme in part in Ulster County. One defendant from Brooklyn has plead guilty in that case.

In April, they charged another man with wire fraud and money laundering stemming from his alleged efforts to fraudulently obtain $150,000 in PPP and EIDL loans. He is awaiting trial.

The prosecutors are continuing to investigate additional potential fraud cases across the district, they said.

"Serial fraudsters look for opportunities like well-funded government programs, especially in times of crisis and disaster when people are desperate," Bacon said. "The CARES Act for most people meant caring for your neighbor ... but for others the CARES Act was caring for themselves. It was selfishness. It was an opportunity to live a lavish lifestyle to get rich quick. So we wanted to jump on that as quickly as possible."

Within a month or two of the launch of these SBA programs, the U.S. attorney's office in Albany started following fraud leads, prosecutors said.

In March, the inspector general for the Small Business Administration testified before Congress that within days of the launch of the programs last year, banks started calling his office to report alleged fraud. Complaints alleging fraud started pouring in by thousands. The office received 150 years worth of complaints in just one year and has yet to process tens of thousands of them.

Hannibal Ware, inspector general for the Small Business Administration, said the SBA ignored repeated warnings about fraud in the programs as it reduced or eliminated controls designed to root out abuses in an effort to move funds out the door as quickly as possible.

The SBA has taken "many steps" to increase fraud controls over the course of the pandemic, a senior administration official at the SBA said this month. He noted that the inspector general has not investigated the full $80 billion worth of potential fraud estimated in the program, but used algorithms to pinpoint loans with certain characteristics.

Bacon declined to comment on whether she thought the SBA's vetting of the loans was sufficient given the fraud cases she's seeing now.

She asked the public to report tips about suspected loan fraud to the FBI in Albany or by calling the FBI's hotline at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or submitting a tip online to FBI.gov.

"We hear a lot, people will say 'Well, everyone knew that so-and-so was committing fraud. Everyone knew that this was happening. Why isn't law enforcement doing something?'" Bacon said. "Not everyone knows. We know because good honest citizens provide tips and leads."

The SBA is no longer offering PPP loans. The agency is still offering EIDL loans and targeted grants through the EIDL program.
Support keeps growing for U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrands plan to change the way the military prosecutes sexual assault cases: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has gotten on board.

The plan, which Senator Gillibrand has championed for years, would put the prosecution of sexual assault and related crimes into the hands of independent prosecutors.

Secretary Austins support is welcome. The armed forces have long struggled to make headway against sexual assault in the military, and he recognizes fundamental change is necessary.

The secretary, however, has not backed Senator Gillibrands broader proposal: to take all felonies that call for more than a year in prison out of the chain of command  not just those that touch on sexual misconduct.

Its a significant change, but a worthy one. To have a separate system for crimes affecting women will marginalize female soldiers, who could be seen as receiving special treatment. Senator Gillibrand also contends the change will help address racial disparities in the military justice system, where Black service members are more likely to be investigated for misconduct.

Ensuring equality here means taking in the broader context of military justice. We hope Secretary Austin will get behind that.

Bravo, Cambridge

Up in Washington County, a few school board members voted their consciences earlier this month, though they knew they were going to take heat for it. Their courage reflects well upon their whole community.

In a 3-2 vote, the board of the Cambridge Central School District moved to retire the Indians mascot and name. It came after a muddled attempt at a compromise  getting rid of the mascot but keeping the name, for now at least. A majority of the school board decided that wasnt real progress.

This kind of change cant be made halfway. Both the mascot  a man in a feathered headdress  and the Indians name are caricatures and stereotypes. Thats true no matter how loud the assertions that its meant to honor them. Intent doesnt matter here; Native Americans are not symbols or props. Theyre people with a history of having so much of what was theirs appropriated.

Some residents see the drive to change the mascot as an attack by outsiders on their traditions. The people of Cambridge are proud of their school and community, as they should be. Retiring the mascot doesnt change that. In fact, they can add this to the list of things theyre proud about: Their leaders did what was right, even when it was difficult and unpopular.

A plea to the gypsy moth caterpillars

Ew.

Yes, all creatures great and small and all that. But we prefer larvae to exist quietly, unobtrusively, nibbling a leaf or two, part of natures great balance. Defoliating treetops? No. Clinging together in hairy, wriggling clumps? Heck no. Raining down your droppings on the deck that we just set up for dinner and drinks with the neighbors? Have mercy.

Summer is short. We humans need our outdoor time. We havent been able to hang out with the neighbors in more than a year.

The worst thing is, we dont have any way to fight you. The best we can hope for, apparently, is for parasitic wasps to inject their eggs into your cocoons. Or maybe youll be beset by a fungus. Thatll help.

Like we said: Ew.
Will Waldron/Albany Times Union

As a nearly life-long resident of Delmar, I am in support of the Delaware Avenue Complete Streets project. I moved away for college in 1998 yet, when I returned in 2010 with a young family, it was a priority to buy a home where we could walk and bike to local businesses.

While some have said that this is a costly project focused on bike lanes, that is simply not true. This project is about safety for all people: in cars, walking and running, in wheelchairs, on bikes, in buses, on motorcycles, the list goes on. The crash data for this stretch shows a higher than average crash rate compared to similar roads, which is the reason this project was explored.
Lori Van Buren/Albany Times Union

Gov. Andrew Cuomo must sign S.1836/A.3130 that creates the Office of the Advocate for People with Disabilities. The Office of the Advocate was originally established by Gov. Mario Cuomo. It was intended to represent the interests of people with disabilities in state government. This bill fulfills that vision. The reconstituted Office of the Advocate will center the experiences of New Yorkers with disabilities and ensure the disability communitys needs are considered when formulating policy.

An Office of the Advocate embodies all that makes New Yorkers with disabilities #NYTough. As Gov. Andrew Cuomo builds back a stronger New York, he can channel that resilience into a reinvigorated Office of the Advocate. Whoever leads the office can also serve as his chief disability officer with the requisite staff and resources.
LATEST June 29, 11 a.m. Once again, delays and cancellations are plaguing Southwest Airlines customers.

As of late Tuesday morning, Flight Aware shows Southwest has canceled 86 flights and delayed 623 more. That means 18% of all Southwest flights today are experiencing a delay.

In an effort to reduce flight problems induced by pandemic layoffs and post-pandemic demand, Southwest announced this week it is hiring workers en masse and increasing its minimum wage to $15.

June 27, 9 a.m. For the second time this month, Southwest Airlines again canceled and delayed thousands of flights this weekend. According to the aviation blog One Mile at a Time, 48% of Southwests schedule was either delayed or canceled on June 25. Flight Aware shows another another 307 flights canceled on Saturday, which amounts to 9% of all Southwest flights.

By Sunday morning, the situation appeared to be improving, with only 38 flights currently canceled (about 1% of the airline's schedule), though that number may rise through the day, as it did yesterday.

The airline, one of the countrys largest domestic carriers, is blaming weather for the widespread service disruption, according to ThePointsGuy.com. But while there are thunderstorms forecast for swaths of the country, including Denver, Orlando, Chicago and St. Louis, some aviation observers are skeptical that Southwests schedule issues are entirely the proactive cancellations the airline claims.

SOPA Images/SOPA Images LightRocket via Getty Images

One Mile at a Times Ben Schlappig notes that, When things go wrong in the airline industry there tends to be a domino effect. But this weekends air travel headaches are specific to Southwest. And (w)hile this is officially being blamed on weather, Schlappig goes on to note, it clearly also reflects the extent to which Southwests operation is being pushed to the limit right now.

Whatever factors are leading to the delays and cancelations, Southwest customers  many of whom are flying for the first time since the start of the pandemic  are angry.

Southwest, however, is not alone in struggling with labor and other challenges facing the airline industry in this late-pandemic era. American Airlines recently announced that they will cancel about 1% of their scheduled flights throughout the month of July.

SFGATE reporters Joshua Bote and Katie Dowd contributed to this report.
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[June 28, 2021] Air Liquide announces new investment to reinforce its position in the electronics hub of Wuhan, China

PARIS, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Air Liquide will invest around 70 million euros to build a state-of-the-art gases plant in Wuhan, Central China, to supply a major memory chipmaker. Air Liquide has been producing ultra-pure industrial gases for this leading Chinese high-tech company for more than 12 years. Air Liquide will build, own and operate this ultra-high purity industrial gas plant, which has been designed leveraging the Group's latest state-of-the-art technology. This facility will produce 52,000 Nm3 of nitrogen per hour, as well as oxygen and argon among other ultra-high purity gases, and is planned to be operational in 2022. Secured by a new long-term supply agreement with this major memory chipmaker, this contract will more generally allow Air Liquide to support the growth of the semiconductor sector in the Wuhan basin. In recent years the city of Wuhan has been actively supporting the development of a high-tech hub, particularly for the NAND flash memory chips industry. Francois Abrial, Member of the Air Liquide Group's Executive Committee supervising Asia Pacific, said: "Wuhan, where Air Liquide has been present since 2007, is a key electronics basin for the Group. We are pleased to strengthen our partnership with our client, a flash memory leader we have been successfully collaborating with for more than 12 years. This new production facility will strengthen Air Liquide's position in China and support the growth momentum of the Group's Electronics activities in the country."



Air Liquide China Air Liquide in China operates nearly 120 plants and employs close to 5,000 employees. With a strong presence in the key coastal industrial areas, Air Liquide is now expanding into the center, south and west. Its main business activities include industrial and medical gas operations, Engineering & Construction (designing, manufacturing and installing air separation units/hydrogen facilities), as well as Innovation activities.

Air Liquide Electronics Generating 2,001 million in revenue in 2020, the Electronics business line of Air Liquide is a world reference in designing, manufacturing and supplying ultra high purity gases and advanced materials for this industry. The Electronics business line of Air Liquide is a long-term partner providing innovative and sustainable solutions to the semiconductors, photovoltaics and flat-panel displays markets. Close to 4,300 employees worldwide are dedicated to providing the working agility and reliability our customers need. A world leader in gases, technologies and services for Industry and Health, Air Liquide is present in 78 countries with approximately 64,500 employees and serves more than 3.8 million customers and patients. Oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen are essential small molecules for life, matter and energy. They embody Air Liquide's scientific territory and have been at the core of the company's activities since its creation in 1902. Air Liquide's ambition is to be a leader in its industry, deliver long term performance and contribute to sustainability - with a strong commitment to climate change and energy transition at the heart of its strategy. The company's customer-centric transformation strategy aims at profitable, regular and responsible growth over the long term. It relies on operational excellence, selective investments, open innovation and a network organization implemented by the Group worldwide. Through the commitment and inventiveness of its people, Air Liquide leverages energy and environment transition, changes in healthcare and digitization, and delivers greater value to all its stakeholders. Air Liquide's revenue amounted to more than 20 billion euros in 2020. Air Liquide is listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange (compartment A) and belongs to the CAC 40, EURO STOXX 50 and FTSE4Good indexes. SOURCE Air Liquide

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[June 28, 2021] AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE COURSES MADE POSSIBLE WITH THE BRIGHTSPACE PLATFORM

Kitchener, Waterloo, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global learning leader D2L announced today that its long-time partner, VHS Learning, is celebrating tremendous success with their new American Sign Language (ASL) course.

At VHS Learning, were proud to add ASL 3 for the 21-22 school year with the help of technological innovations in D2L Brightspace, says Storie Walsh, VP of Technology, VHS Learning. Functionalities like the Video Note tool  which allows rich discussion asynchronously and instructor feedback  have a profound impact on our learners." VHS Learning, a nonprofit empowering schools with leading online learning programs, recently celebrated its 25th year helping schools expand curriculum and provide engaging learning experiences for students. The nonprofit, which serves middle and high school students in 66 countries and partners with more than 700 schools around the world, has a unique collaborative teacher-led program featuring high levels of student support, interaction, and engagement. VHS Learning used D2L's Brightspace platform and courseware to develop a new series of ASL courses, harnessing D2L's cutting-edge video tools to help students and teachers from the hearing and deaf communities interact and gain new cultural perspectives. When students in the U.S. pick a language to learn at school, ASL has become one of the most popular choices. VHS Learning decided to build an innovative set of online ASL courses, using the Video Note tool in the D2L Brightspace platform to let students and teachers create video recordings of themselves signing answers to questions and engaging in asynchronous, signed discussions. The first-year course (ASL 1) proved instantly popular with students, as enrollments filled multiple sections within a month of its launch. To date, 80 students have completed VHS Learnings online ASL 1 course. Now in its 3rd year, VHS Learning is offering 20 sections of the first-year course, and enrollments are climbing for ASL 2 and ASL 3 as well.



As we prepare for our annual Fusion conference this month, were celebrating our customers and the ways in which they are changing the world, says April Oman, Senior Vice President, Customer Engagement at D2L. Our goal at D2L is to reach every learner. Its what drives and motivates us and were thrilled to be working with VHS Learning to power the next level of ASL. We want to go one step further beyond reaching all learners and create the best learning experiences possible. Our work with VHS Learning is helping students master ASL to communicate with the Deaf community  and thats amazing.



Learn more about D2Ls work with VHS Learning, here.

ABOUT D2L BRIGHTSPACE D2L Brightspace is a cloud-based learning platform built for people who care deeply about student success.



It makes it easy to support exceptional student experiences in the classroom or fully online, to build meaningful connections with parents, and gives teachers tools theyre going to love. D2L Brightspace is worry-free with 99.99% reliability. Its highly accessible and looks beautiful on any mobile device, making it easier for teachers to reach every learner and for every learner to reach their full potential. D2L Brightspace has been built for every grade level and supports non-readers. D2L Brightspace has won multiple industry awards, including the best K-12 learning platform for the last two years in a row. To learn more, visit D2L for K-12. ABOUT D2L D2L is transforming the way the world learns  helping learners of all ages achieve more than they dreamed possible. Working closely with clients all over the world, D2L is supporting millions of people learning online and in person. Our more than 950 global employees are dedicated to making the best learning products to leave the world better than where they found it. Learn more about D2L for K-12, higher education and businesses at www.D2L.com. D2L MEDIA CONTACT Christine DAngela

Director, External Strategic Communications, D2L Corporation

pr@D2L.com Twitter: @D2L  2021 D2L Corporation. The D2L family of companies includes D2L Corporation, D2L Ltd, D2L Australia Pty Ltd, D2L Europe Ltd, D2L Asia Pte Ltd, and D2L Brasil Solucoes de Tecnologia para Educacao Ltda. All D2L marks are trademarks of D2L Corporation. Please visit D2L.com/trademarks for a list of D2L marks.



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[June 28, 2021] Atlas Real Estate Honored With Two Best Of Colorado Awards And As A Best Place To Work

DENVER, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Atlas Real Estate, a full-service real estate company specializing in investment brokerage, property management and institutional acquisitions, has been honored by ColoradoBiz Magazine as the Best of Colorado in the Property Management and Residential Real Estate categories. Atlas has also been named one of the Denver Business Journal's Best Places to Work. For the fifth consecutive year, Atlas was named the Best Property Management Company in ColoradoBiz Magazine's Best of Colorado Business Choice Awards. Atlas was also recognized as the Best Real Estate Company for the second consecutive year. Each year, readers of the magazine vote on their favorite Colorado businesses, and Atlas is proud to consistently be recognized by the Colorado community for their outstanding contributions to the booming Colorado real estate market. "One of our values is to cultivate community in both the workplace and the cities where we live and work," said Tony Julianelle, CEO of Atlas Real Estate. "It is humbling for our company to cotinue to be recognized by the communities we serve."



The Denver Business Journal named Atlas a Best Place to Work in the Denver metropolitan area. This recognition was determined by survey responses given to employees at each nominated company that measured key aspects of company culture including compensation and trust in leadership. Atlas ranked fifth on a list of 65 companies chosen as a top workplace and will be honored for this recognition at a virtual awards ceremony on June 24th. "Atlas is a heart and soul company," said Julianelle. "The Best Place to Work Award and the engagement survey that accompanies it are important benchmarks that our team uses to ensure we don't lose our soul as we experience rapid growth. This award means a great deal to our team and we are grateful for the continued recognition."

About Atlas Real Estate: Atlas Real Estate is a full-service real estate company specializing in investment services, property management and institutional acquisitions. A buy/sell brokerage, Atlas is also a Zillow Offers Partner Agent. Since its inception in 2013, Denver-based Atlas Real Estate has made a commitment to Uplift Humanity Through Real Estate. With offices in eight markets nationwide, Atlas transacts over $1 billion in real estate annually and manages more than 4,500 residential units. Atlas has been recognized by leading media outlets as a one of the Best Places to Work, the Best Property Management Company and a Top Company in Real Estate. To learn more about Atlas, visit www.realatlas.com. Victoria Evans

Flackable

(866) 225-0920 ext. 103

Victoria@flackable.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/atlas-real-estate-honored-with-two-best-of-colorado-awards-and-as-a-best-place-to-work-301320564.html SOURCE Atlas Real Estate

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[June 28, 2021] Ault Global Holdings Announces Agreement to Acquire up to 40% of Adtech Pharma, Inc.

Ault Global Holdings, Inc. (NYSE American: DPW) a diversified holding company (the "Company"), announced it has entered into a securities purchase agreement to acquire up to 40% of the current equity in Adtech Pharma, Inc. ("Adtech"), an innovative biotechnology company, for $3 million. Adtech is an innovative biotech firm that has developed a novel formulation of a sole-sourced synthetic cannabinoid therapeutic targeting glaucoma. Adtech believes that there is a worldwide marketplace of over $4 billion in annual sales for glaucoma eye drop therapeutics. Adtech features a seasoned management team: Robert Kupper, PhD, is Adtech's President and CEO, and was formerly with the National Institute of Health, WR Grace, Hercules, Rhodes Technologies, and Rhodes Pharmaceuticals;

Lex Adjei, PhD, is Adtech's Vice President of R&D and was formerly with AbbVie, Kos Pharmaceuticals and Rhodes Pharmaceuticals;

Ping Chang, PhD, is Adtech's Vice President of Operations and was formerly with Pfizer, Schering Plough, Merck, Rhodes Technologies, and Rhodes Pharmaceuticals; and

Iok-Hou Pang, PhD, is Adtech's Vice President of Product Development, and was formerly with Alcon, Novartis, and is the founding chair of the University of North Texas School of Pharmacy. The investment in Adtech is being made through Digital Power Lending, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. Highlights regarding Adtech and NB-110, a novel ophthalmic formulation with a unique breakthrough mechanism of action: NB-110 comprises of a synthetic cannabinoid Nabilone in the absence of any preservative and its formulation mimics a human tear to drive efficacious delivery through the cornea to the retina and optical nerves in the back of eye;

Adtech will own the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office registered intellectual property in composition, method of manufacturing and use;

Adtech notes that, to date, no company has demonstrated in clinical trials that natral cannabinoids are efficacious for glaucoma despite anecdotal evidence;

Synthetic Nabilone is a cannabinoid receptor agonist, a crystalline, and is stable under heat, light and oxygen, an advantage over natural occurring cannabinoids such as dronabinol and cannabidiol;

Based on Adtech's preclinical findings, NB-110 is targeted to lower interocular pressure and protect optical nerves for glaucoma patients;

Adtech believes its formulation makes this drug unique and differentiates it from today's marketed glaucoma medications; and

Adtech is pursuing a 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway for NB-110 to provide an alternate solution for those who find current treatments inadequate.



Dr. Robert Kupper, President and CEO of Adtech stated, "I am excited to partner with Ault Global Holdings to advance Adtech's science and technology with a goal to deliver medicines to patients in need."

For more information on Ault Global Holdings and its subsidiaries, the Company recommends that stockholders, investors and any other interested parties read the Company's public filings with the SEC (News - Alert) , available at www.sec.gov, and press releases available under the Investor Relations section at www.AultGlobal.com. About Ault Global Holdings, Inc. Ault Global Holdings, Inc. is a diversified holding company pursuing growth by acquiring undervalued businesses and disruptive technologies with a global impact. Through its wholly and majority-owned subsidiaries and strategic investments, the Company provides mission-critical products that support a diverse range of industries, including defense/aerospace, industrial, automotive, telecommunications, medical/biopharma, and textiles. In addition, the Company extends credit to select entrepreneurial businesses through a licensed lending subsidiary. Ault Global Holdings' headquarters are located at 11411 Southern Highlands Parkway, Suite 240, Las Vegas, NV 89141; www.AultGlobal.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements generally include statements that are predictive in nature and depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, and include words such as "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "projects," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "may," "will," "should," "could," "potential," or similar expressions. Statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any of them publicly in light of new information or future events. Actual results could differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement as a result of various factors. More information, including potential risk factors, that could affect the Company's business and financial results are included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the Company's Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. All filings are available at www.sec.gov and on the Company's website at www.AultGlobal.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005257/en/

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[June 28, 2021] AUTOCRYPT Brings V2X and In-Vehicle Security to Europe with New Munich Office

MUNICH, June 28, 2021 /CNW/ -- AUTOCRYPT Co., Ltd., a leading mobility security solutions provider, announced the opening of its first European office in Munich, Germany in June 2021. The new office, AUTOCRYPT Technologies GmbH, is expected to play a key role in the company's active work with European OEMs on building V2X, in-vehicle, and Plug&Charge security solutions, as well as its ongoing discussions to participate in the development of Europe's Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS). Currently in talks with several European OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers on establishing business development and joint R&D partnerships, AUTOCRYPT chose Munich as its first European hub for its strategic location on the continent. Sitting at the center of both an automotive powerhouse and a massive transcontinental road network, Munich is an ideal contact location for European-based C-ITS developments and Plug&Charge initiatives. "Europe will play a large role in the mobility revolution, which will require comprehensive security. Hence our goal is to introduce AUTOCRYPT's world-class technologies and solutions in V2X, in-vehicle, and Plug&Charge to European OEMs, supliers, and regulators," said Daniel ES Kim, AUTOCRYPT's CEO and co-Founder. "We expect the Munich office to bring us closer to our business partners in Europe, serving as a solid foundation for our long-term plans."



As the sole V2X security provider for South Korean C-ITS projects, AUTOCRYPT's V2X-PKI technology goes beyond the standards of the SCMS and the EU CCMS, with one platform issuing certificates for both. It has also built several in-vehicle security solutions for global OEMs in compliance with the UNECE's WP.29 regulations on cybersecurity. Along with its crucial role in constructing security architecture for autonomous driving, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is also essential for Plug&Charge in accordance with ISO 15118. As one of the fastest-growing EV markets with over 280,000 public charging points, Europe is at the center of Plug&Charge development. AUTOCRYPT plans to continue strengthening its partnerships with European EV manufacturers, EVSE manufacturers, and charge point operators to secure communication points between vehicles and charging infrastructure.

With rising demand for automotive cybersecurity solutions, AUTOCRYPT's end-to-end approach to security allows for companies to easily navigate the complexities of the new mobility landscape. AUTOCRYPT is the leading player in transportation security technologies. Recognized by TU-Automotive as the Best Auto Cybersecurity Product/Solution of 2019, AUTOCRYPT continues to pave the way in transportation and mobility security through a multi-layered, holistic approach. Through security solutions for V2X/C-V2X, V2G (including PnC security), in-vehicle security, and Fleet Management, AUTOCRYPT ensures that security is prioritized before vehicles hit the road. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/autocrypt-brings-v2x-and-in-vehicle-security-to-europe-with-new-munich-office-301320840.html SOURCE AUTOCRYPT

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[June 28, 2021] Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware Slams Ongoing Cronyism of Chancery Court Under New Chancellor McCormick

Recently, lawyers for TransPerfect Global requested an alteration on new Chancery Court Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick's swift decision to deny due process and grant Skadden Arps' motion approving of their past billing practices. For years, TransPerfect has asked for transparency in billing practices bythe Chancery Court-appointed Custodian of the company, Skadden Arps' Robert Pincus, after having been billed more than $44 million in "undocumented fees and costs" over the past several years.



The request also identified four different federal cases, which TransPerfect or its affiliates had to file to, and urged Chancellor McCormick, who replaced outgoing Chancellor Andre Bouchard, to bring transparency, efficiency and fairness to the proceedings. The letter to Chancellor McCormick wrote that "Pincus's gamesmanship and bill churning continues with these motions and refusal to engage in discussions towards compromise solutions to outstanding issues Encouraging and rewarding motion practice and scorched-earth tactics over compromise is the antithesis of judicial efficiency and has an antithetical result." Said Chris Coffey, Campaign Manager of Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware: "TransPerfect employees created Citizens so that other workers would not have to experience the fear of having their livelihoods in the hands of an opaque and out-of-touch Chancery Court. With the appointment of Chancellor McCormick, we have renewed hope that the Court will move away from the backdoor dealings that defined the Bouchard era, but this ruling does the opposite. Instead of more transparency, Chancellor McCormick is doubling down on the old way of doing business in Delaware. We need a change - we won't stop our fight until Chancellor McCormick, and all justices on the Chancery Court, commit to real transparency that will restore public trust in our courts."

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005494/en/

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[June 28, 2021] ClassWallet Selected by Six States to Manage Nearly $500 Million in Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools Program Funds

MIAMI, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ClassWallet has been selected by six states  Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts and South Carolina  to manage and distribute a combined $485 million in funds from the Federal Government's Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS) program to help non-public schools to address the educational disruptions caused by COVID-19. The EANS program, funded by Congress through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act, 2021, allocates a total of $2.75 billion to governors based on the state's relative share of children ages 5-17 who are from families at or below 185% of the poverty level and enrolled in non-public schools. Eligible schools will receive funds for services or assistance including cleaning and sanitation supplies, PPE, improvements to ventilation systems, training and professional development for staff on minimizing the spread of infectious diseases, physical barriers to facilitate social distancing, educational technology to assist with remote or hybrid learning and more. Eligible schools receiving EANS funds in these states will be provided access to SchoolWallet, a ClassWallet-managed spending management platform. The contracts between ClassWallet and the six states will go into effect at the beginning of the 2021-2022 academic year and will be available through September 30, 2023. SchoolWallet is a consolidated platform that allows state education agencies to manage program funding for public and non-public schools. School administrators receive an account with funds and utilize the platform to manage reimbursements and vendor payments. State administrators are able to centralize the distribution, tracking and reporting of the funds in one place without the cumbersome and time-consuming paperwork usually associated with such responsibilities. "Unlike public schools, private schools don't usually rely on the state and federal governments for funding. That creates a challenge for states in terms of establishing a mechanism for distributing or managing EANS funds," said JamieRosenberg, ClassWallet founder and CEO. "Our SchoolWallet platform solves this problem by ensuring prompt funding to schools without the need to hire extra staff or build new processes."



According to John R. Payne, deputy state superintendent overseeing federal programs at the South Carolina Department of Education, "EANS created a unique challenge for our department, which typically does not work with non-public schools in the manner required by the federal mandate. ClassWallet's SchoolWallet product was the right fit for this unique challenge. It enabled us to accomplish what we needed with expediency, and we have been very pleased with how well the program is going thus far." "ClassWallet enabled the Florida Department of Education to set up an end-to-end EANS management solution with minimal staff time and administrative resources," said Laura Mazyck, deputy executive director of School Choice, Florida Department of Education. "The implementation was very easy, and so far, the program has gone very smoothly."

ClassWallet has helped distribute federal education funding in New Hampshire, Texas, Oklahoma and Idaho. It also manages programs in Arizona and North Carolina and is under consideration in several other states. The company's original offering, TeacherWallet, is currently in use in more than 165,000 classrooms spread across 3,600 schools in 20 states. For more information about the EANS program, visit https://oese.ed.gov/offices/education-stabilization-fund/emergency-assistance-non-public-schools/. For more information about ClassWallet, contact info@classwallet.com or call 877-969-5536. About ClassWallet

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Miami, ClassWallet (www.classwallet.com) is a financial technology company providing a suite of integrated payment, purchasing and reimbursement solutions for the K-12 education market. State and local education agencies utilize ClassWallet to distribute funds to teachers, families, schools, and maintenance staff while providing finance officers with sophisticated oversight, reconciliation and reporting tools. ClassWallet is a System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2 Type II compliant service provider. Products include TeacherWallet, FamilyWallet, MaintenanceWallet and SchoolWallet. The company's mission is to empower education agencies to achieve the highest levels of accountability, productivity and efficiency while cultivating a culture of trust and flexibility for their staff and stakeholders. CONTACTS: Doug Wright / Henry Feintuch / Ashley Blas

Feintuch Communications

201-952-6033 / 914-548-6924 / 509-494-4053

classwallet@feintuchpr.com

Media room View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/classwallet-selected-by-six-states-to-manage-nearly-500-million-in-emergency-assistance-to-non-public-schools-program-funds-301320364.html SOURCE ClassWallet

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[June 28, 2021] Dell Technologies Drives Convergence of High Performance Computing, AI and Data Analytics with Omnia Open Source Software

ROUND ROCK, Texas, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- News summary Dell Technologies-developed open source Omnia software speeds and simplifies AI and compute-intensive workload deployment and management

HPC on demand services now offer pay-as-you-go resources for hybrid clouds with VMware infrastructure

Dell EMC PowerEdge servers add NVIDIA accelerator options for advanced computing Full story Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) is introducing new solutions to help customers better manage the convergence of high performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics. To help organizations tackle data-intensive workloads such as genome sequencing to product development simulations, Dell is also expanding HPC on demand services and Dell EMC PowerEdge server accelerator support. "As AI with HPC and data analytics converge, storage and networking configurations have remained in siloes, making it challenging for IT teams to provide required resources for shifting demands," said Peter Manca, senior vice president of Integrated Solutions at Dell Technologies. "With Dell's Omnia open source software, teams can dramatically simplify the management of advanced computing workloads, helping them speed research and innovation." Simplifying and accelerating the convergence of workloads with Omnia

Omnia was developed at the Dell Technologies HPC & AI Innovation Lab, in collaboration with Intel and with support from the HPC community. The open-source software is designed to automate the provisioning and management of HPC, AI and data analytics workloads to create a single pool of flexible resources to meet growing and diverse demands. The Omnia software stack is an open source set of Ansible playbooks that speed the deployment of converged workloads with Kubernetes and Slurm, along with library frameworks, services and applications. Omnia automatically imprints a software solution onto each server based on the use case  for example, HPC simulations, neural networks for AI, or inmemory graphics processing for data analytics  to reduce deployment time from weeks to minutes. Community involvement and contribution are important for Omnia's advancement. Arizona State University Research Computing has worked closely with the Dell Technologies HPC & AI Innovation Lab on Omnia development to better support mixed workloads including simulation, high throughput computing and machine learning. "Engineers from ASU and Dell Technologies worked together on Omnia's creation," said Douglas Jennewein, senior director of research computing, Arizona State University. "It's been a rewarding effort working on code that will simplify the deployment and management of these complex mixed workloads, at ASU and for the entire advanced computing industry." HPC on demand with VMware offers anytime infrastructure access

Dell Technologies is expanding its HPC on demand offering to now support VMware environments. With HPC on demand and R Systems, customers can use advanced infrastructure to meet their peak computing needs when they need it. With the addition of VMware Cloud Foundation, VMware Cloud Director and VMware vRealize Operatons, customers can use a hybrid cloud operating model for resource-intensive workloads and quickly access HPC resources and pay for what they need, when they need it.



For example, Mercury Marine, a leader in marine propulsion systems, uses computer-aided hydrodynamic simulations for new designs that often require HPC power surpassing their in-house capabilities. With access to Dell's high performance infrastructure, Mercury Marine's engineers can cut simulation time from 48 hours in-house to only two hours with HPC on demand. "We've got a base level of computational availability on hand that we own, and, now with HPC on demand, we're able to run simulations and workloads that just wouldn't be possible on our existing infrastructure," said Arden Anderson, engineer simulation specialist, Mercury Maritime. "With Dell Technologies and R Systems, we're able to handle more complex workloads and simulations in far less time."

New NVIDIA GPU options for advanced computing

Dell Technologies now offers NVIDIA A30 and A10 Tensor Core GPUs as options for Dell EMC PowerEdge R750, R750xa and R7525 servers. NVIDIA A30 GPUs support a broad range of AI inference and mainstream enterprise compute workloads, such as conversational AI and computer vision. With NVIDIA A10 GPUs, customers can support mixed AI and graphics workloads on a common infrastructure, ideal for deep learning inference and computer-aided design. NVIDIA virtual GPU software, virtual desktops used by designers, engineers, artists and scientists automatically run at peak performance. Availability Omnia software is globally available today.

HPC on demand with VMware will be available this quarter. Additional resources Omnia community

Omnia in action at the University of Pisa

HPC on demand with VMware

Dell Technologies HPC & AI Innovation Lab

Dell Technologies HPC & AI Centers of Excellence

European Technology Platform for High Performance Computing

Dell EMC PowerEdge servers with NVIDIA A30 and A10 GPUs

Connect with Dell via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn About Dell Technologies

Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) helps organizations and individuals build their digital future and transform how they work, live and play. The company provides customers with the industry's broadest and most innovative technology and services portfolio for the data era. Copyright  2021 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights. Dell Technologies, Dell, EMC and Dell EMC are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its Reserved subsidiaries. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners. VMware and vRealize Operations are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other jurisdictions. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dell-technologies-drives-convergence-of-high-performance-computing-ai-and-data-analytics-with-omnia-open-source-software-301320872.html SOURCE Dell Technologies

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[June 28, 2021] Esri Enters Memorandum of Understanding with Ibn Zohr University

Esri, the global leader in location intelligence, today announced it has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Ibn Zohr University in Agadir, Morocco. The agreement enables the university to use Esri solutions in the development of new technologies for monitoring desertification, climate change, sustainable development goal progress, oceanography, mining, architecture, and urbanization. "The goal of this new collaboration is to foster a good quality of education, research, and development in GIS and remote sensing through the integration of the most recent innovations in the field, in order to train highly qualified executives at the university," said Abdelaziz Bendou, president of Ibn Zohr University (IZU). "Students, researchers, and professors will all have access to training in the most advanced location intelligence technology, with applications in drones, AI , IoT, big data, and cloud computing." With 36 years of experience, Ibn Zohr University is now a national leader in training, research, and scientific innovation. Since opening, the university has been intended as a space for the expression of dialogue and open-mindedness with a framework of training and personal development. This agreement will bring IZU new GIS technologies, providing it with earth observation and spaial data to better fulfill its educational and training goals.



"We are excited about this new collaboration with Ibn Zohr University, which fosters an environment for deeper understanding of geospatial science and technology," said Sohail Elabd, general manager of Esri Middle East and Africa. "It continues to be Esri's mission to help education institutions secure academic licenses for using GIS." The MOU was announced on April 21, 2021, by Bendou, along with Hassan Moussaria, CEO of Geomatic Group, the Moroccan distributor that represented Esri in the agreement.

To learn more about how Esri is working with universities around the world to expand GIS training, research, and development opportunities, visit esri.com/en-us/industries/education/overview. About Esri Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, location intelligence, and mapping, helps customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Founded in 1969 in Redlands, California, USA, Esri software is deployed in more than 350,000 organizations globally and in over 200,000 institutions in the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, including Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, nonprofits, and universities. Esri has regional offices, international distributors, and partners providing local support in over 100 countries on six continents. With its pioneering commitment to geospatial information technology, Esri engineers the most innovative solutions for digital transformation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics. Visit us at esri.com. Copyright  2021 Esri. All rights reserved. Esri, the Esri globe logo, The Science of Where, esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of Esri in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products or services mentioned herein may be trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of their respective mark owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005664/en/

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[June 28, 2021] Forward Networks Unveils New Features To Verify And Validate Zero Trust Architectures

SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Forward Networks , the industry leader in network assurance and intent-based verification, today announced enhancements to the Forward Enterprise platform that will help security professionals identify, contain, and prevent security incidents with greater ease and efficiency than ever. The three new features enable security engineers to determine the blast radius of compromised devices immediately, create an always up-to-date zone-to-zone security matrix, and simplify efforts to remediate cybersecurity vulnerabilities (CVs). "Forward Enterprise enables network operations engineers to access and gain insights from network information that previously was painfully slow, or even impossible, to find. Fast, easy access to insights speeds up troubleshooting, reduces outages, and enables IT teams to deliver more applications without increasing staff," said Brandon Heller, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder at Forward Networks. "Security operations engineers can benefit from the same information, too! They're under constant pressure to identify and remediate issues immediately, but their efforts are slowed by a lack of network clarity, especially when firewalls, load balancers, and complex network paths are involved. By providing a single source of truth and "easy buttons" to complete common security tasks, we help enterprises to strengthen their network security posture and validate their zero-trust architecture, with a level of accuracy and efficiency that was previously impossible." Creating a single source of truth for NOC (Network Operations Center) and SOC (Security Operations Center) engineers helps both teams deliver business value faster by eliminating the need to request and share information via phone or email. Now, everyone can instantly access always current information on network behavior, security posture, and topology. Security engineers tasked with remediating or preventing events now have up-to-date information on traffic paths availability or isolation, devic connectivity, and the ability to track network configuration changes that may have created a vulnerability.



"Traditionally, security teams haven't had access to the detailed analysis of network behavior they need to diagnose issues or verify compliance without requesting it from the NOC," said Chiara Regale, vice president of product for Forward Networks. "Forward Enterprise collects information on configuration and network behavior from Layer 2 through Layer 4, which SOC and InfoSec teams need be effective. The features we are announcing today are designed to curate and present this information in a way that helps security teams accomplish their goals faster and more accurately." The three new features announced today simplify labor-intensive processes for security teams and enable them to resolve issues without conducting data calls.

Blast Radius Identification and Isolation using data already collected by the Forward Enterprise platform, security operations engineers can now identify the reach of a compromised host with a single mouse click. Once the exposure is identified, isolating the devices is a much simpler and faster process.

using data already collected by the Forward Enterprise platform, security operations engineers can now identify the reach of a compromised host with a single mouse click. Once the exposure is identified, isolating the devices is a much simpler and faster process. Zone-to-Zone Connectivity Matrix by continuously capturing firewall configuration information, Forward Enterprise is an always-current source of truth for zone-to-zone connectivity. The platform offers a graphical matrix that clearly delineates which zones have full connectivity, partial connectivity, or no connectivity. Using the platform's Path Analysis, Network Query Engine, and network-diff capabilities, engineers can easily determine the cause of unintended connectivity. Additionally, the engineer can build verification baselines from the Zone-to-Zone Connectivity Matrix using Forward Intent verification checks.

by continuously capturing firewall configuration information, Forward Enterprise is an always-current source of truth for zone-to-zone connectivity. The platform offers a graphical matrix that clearly delineates which zones have full connectivity, partial connectivity, or no connectivity. Using the platform's Path Analysis, Network Query Engine, and network-diff capabilities, engineers can easily determine the cause of unintended connectivity. Additionally, the engineer can build verification baselines from the Zone-to-Zone Connectivity Matrix using Forward Intent verification checks. Cybersecurity Vulnerability Reportingusing information from the NIST National Vulnerability Database and the specific device and configuration data collected from the network, Forward Enterprise automatically analyzes the network for vulnerabilities and presents information in an actionable format. Our API integration with ServiceNow can automatically generate tickets, expediting the entire process. Visit www.forwardnetworks.com/security to learn more about these features and security use cases for Forward Enterprise. "The NetOps and SecOps teams typically work with different toolsets and datasets to assure service integrity and mitigate problems and threats respectively. While the use of role-specific views and controls certainly add operational value, a single source of truth and shared management platform boost the efficiency and effectiveness of IT operations overall," said Mark Leary, Research Director, Network Analytics, IDC. "Here, IT organizations move forward by breaking down technology silos, promoting cross-functional teamwork, and increasing IT staff productivity and service levels." About Forward Networks

Forward Networks is revolutionizing the way large networks are managed. Forward's advanced software delivers a "digital twin" of the network, enabling network operators to verify intent, predict network behavior, and simplify network management. The platform supports devices from all major networking vendors and cloud operators, including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. Forward Networks was founded in 2013 by four Stanford Ph.D. graduates and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Investors include Goldman Sachs, Andreessen Horowitz, Threshold Ventures, and A. Capital. For more information, visit www.ForwardNetworks.com . View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/forward-networks-unveils-new-features-to-verify-and-validate-zero-trust-architectures-301320659.html SOURCE Forward Networks, Inc.

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[June 28, 2021] Harris Williams Advises Artera Services, LLC on its Acquisition of Feeney Utility Services Group

Harris Williams, a global investment bank specializing in M&A advisory services, announces it advised Artera Services, LLC (Artera), a portfolio company of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) and one of the nation's largest providers of integrated infrastructure services to natural gas and electric industries, on its acquisition of Feeney Utility Services Group (FUSG). The transaction was led by Drew Spitzer and Matt White of the Harris Williams Energy, Power & Infrastructure (EPI) Group. "We believe FUSG is a strategic fit with Artera, expanding Artera's strength as a leader in gas distribution services and extending the company's footprint in the attractive Northeast market," said Matt White, a managing director at Harris Williams. "We look forward to seeing what the combined company accomplishes." "We continue to see investor interest in companies providing services to all facets of the utility landscape given tremendous tailwinds in the sector, including aging infrastructure, incrasing regulatory requirements, energy transition and continued utility outsourcing," added Drew Spitzer, a managing director at Harris Williams. "It was a pleasure working with Artera and CD&R on this transaction."



Artera, headquartered in Atlanta, is a more than $2.6 billion in revenue industry-leading provider of integrated infrastructure services to the natural gas and electric industries across 39 states. Artera employs more than 10,800 people throughout the United States and focuses on maintenance, replacement, upgrade and integrity of existing infrastructure. Artera's business units are recognized market leaders, have long-standing operating histories in the industry, and are well respected for shared common core values of safety, quality, commitment and reputation. CD&R is a private investment firm with a strategy predicated on building stronger, more profitable businesses. Since inception, CD&R has managed the investment of more than $35 billion in 100 companies with an aggregate transaction value of more than $150 billion. The firm has offices in New York and London.

FUSG, headquartered in Boston, leverages the resources and strength of its business units, Feeney Brothers Utility Services and DDS Companies, to be a leading natural gas utility service provider in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Harris Williams, an investment bank specializing in M&A advisory services, advocates for sellers and buyers of companies worldwide through critical milestones and provides thoughtful advice during the lives of their businesses. By collaborating as one firm across Industry Groups and geographies, the firm helps its clients achieve outcomes that support their objectives and strategically create value. Harris Williams is committed to execution excellence and to building enduring, valued relationships that are based on mutual trust. Harris Williams is a subsidiary of the PNC (News - Alert) Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC). The Harris Williams EPI Group has significant experience advising market leading providers of technology, services and products across a broad range of sectors. These sectors include energy management; infrastructure services; utility services; testing, inspection, and certification services; environmental services; engineering and construction; power products and technology; and energy technology. For more information on the Group's experience, please visit the EPI Group's section of the Harris Williams website. Harris Williams LLC is a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. Harris Williams & Co. Ltd is a private limited company incorporated under English law with its registered office at 8th Floor, 20 Farringdon Street, London EC4A 4AB, UK, registered with the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales (registration number 07078852). Harris Williams & Co. Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Harris Williams & Co. Corporate Finance Advisors GmbH is registered in the commercial register of the local court of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, under HRB 107540. The registered address is Bockenheimer Landstrasse 33-35, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany (email address: hwgermany@harriswilliams.com). Geschaftsfuhrer/Directors: Jeffery H. Perkins, Paul Poggi. (VAT No. DE321666994). Harris Williams is a trade name under which Harris Williams LLC, Harris Williams & Co. Ltd and Harris Williams & Co. Corporate Finance Advisors GmbH conduct business. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005500/en/

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[June 28, 2021] Jewish Healthcare Foundation Supports Pennsylvania Teaching Nursing Home Pilot to Transform Care Model

The Pennsylvania Teaching Nursing Home project will test and validate a better model of care for the Commonwealth's frailest nursing home residents, with support from the Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF). The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the clinical, financial, social, emotional, and infection control vulnerabilities of our current facilities-for residents and workers. The urgency to learn from a pandemic that resulted in the deaths of over 184,000 residents and staff in long-term care became apparent. The project will reexamine a model of care that proved successful in the 1980s: a "teaching nursing home" environment where students, faculty, and healthcare workers collaborate to improve care for residents. The contemporary model provides opportunities for researchers to experiment and improve methods of care, and for students to foster careers in nursing homes and geriatrics. To launch the pilot in three teaching nursing home partnerships in Pennsylvania, Health Careers Futures, an operating arm of JHF, received three grants totaling $974,110 from JHF, The John A. Hartford Foundation, and the Henry L. Hillman Foundation. The partnerships will equip existing skilled nursing facility staff with clinical, training, research, and quality improvement support, creating a critical bridge between bedside care and academic innovation and clinical expertise. With increased opportunities to learn first-hand and in a real-life setting, students and staff will enhance their clinical skills while improving the functioning and health status of seniors. Project leaders anticipate the results of the pilot will inform a better model for ongoing clinical quality improvement and safety in long-term care. The pilot will engage key academic partners at the nursing schools of the Pennsylvania State University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Pittsburgh. "The pandemic has shown us the multiple ways we have failed to appropriately integrate nursing homes into the continuum of care and the continuum of nursing education," said Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, President, The John A. Hartford Foundation. "This program, which has previously shown positive results without the benefit of the Internet, can now be revisited with these world class nursing schools." The project will begin on July 1, 2021 and run through 2023 in three regions of Pennsylvania (Eastern, Central and Western). The three funding organizations share an interest in improving the care of nursing home residents and supporting the current and future workforce of skilled nursing homes. The project will draw on existing resources from The John A. artford Foundation's Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative and JHF's Full Court Press Senior Residential Living Team, while integrating lessons learned from the Teaching Nursing Home implementation of the 1980s (originally supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.)



"The preceding fifteen months, while extraordinarily difficult for long-term care, yielded a number of natural experiments demonstrating that there are creative, innovative ideas in the field worthy of further review and study. This effort will provide a research and pilot platform for what we believe will be helpful concepts to improve quality of life in long-term care." added David K. Roger, President of the Henry L. Hillman Foundation. "The pandemic tragedy in nursing homes brought attention to the serious challenges to our long-term care industry that have been building for decades. We are proud to bring together a coalition of funding, academic, and health system partners to test a new approach in our Commonwealth," said Karen Wolk Feinstein, PhD, President and CEO of JHF and Health Careers Futures. "Inspiring examples like Hebrew SeniorLife in Boston have demonstrated the positive impact on patients and staff in a teaching nursing home model. We believe this pilot could help pave the way for better long-term care across the country."

About the Jewish Healthcare Foundation

The Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) and its three operating arms - the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative (PRHI), Health Careers Futures (HCF), and the Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) - offer a unique brand of activist philanthropy to advance healthcare innovation, advocacy, collaboration, and education in the interest of better population health. For more information, visit jhf.org. About The John A. Hartford Foundation

The John A. Hartford Foundation, based in New York City, is a private, nonpartisan philanthropy dedicated to improving the care of older adults. Established in 1929, the Foundation has three priority areas: creating age-friendly health systems, supporting family caregiving, and improving serious illness and end-of-life care. For more information, visit www.johnahartford.org and follow @johnahartford. About the Henry L. Hillman Foundation

The Henry L. Hillman Foundation's mission is to inspire, invest in, and leverage great ideas and initiatives for outcomes that improve the quality of life in Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania. Supporting healthy aging is a new priority area of the Foundation. For more information, visit hillmanfamilyfoundations.org. About Health Careers Futures

Health Careers Futures (HCF) is a nonprofit operating arm of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation focused on regional supply and demand of healthcare workers. HCF collaborates with all stakeholders to attract, support and retain healthcare workers and contribute to long-term regional economic development of southwestern Pennsylvania. For more information, visit hcfutures.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005512/en/

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[June 28, 2021] KBR Awarded FCC Technology Contract by Raizen Argentina

HOUSTON, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- KBR (NYSE: KBR) announced today that it has been awarded a contract by Raizen Argentina for modernizing the Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit at its Buenos Aires Refinery. Under the terms of the contract, KBR will provide a basic engineering package for the FCC New Configuration Project. KBR will offer its industry-leading reaction and catalyst regeneration technologies that will enable Raizen to achieve higher unit profitability, enhanced on-stream availability and a lower carbon footprint. "We are proud to be a part of Raizen's FCC project to modernize the unit," said Doug Kelly, KBR President, Technology. "This project demonstrates KBR's commitment to deliver differentiated technologies that help our clients to meet their performance objectives." "We trust KBR will deliver a state-of-the-art and more environmentally friendly modernization of our FCC unit" said Julio Ramos, Projects Director, Raizen Argentina. As a pioneer in FCC technologies, KBR developed the world's first commercial FCC unit in 1942, licensed the world's first Resid FCC process in 1961 and has executed over 200 FCC grassroots and revamp projects globally since 1985. In addition to helping refiners achieve optimum product yields and environmental benefits, KBR's FCC-based processes and proprietary catalysts provide innovative solutions to integrate refineries and petrochemical plants to maximize operational flexibility and margins. About Raizen Argentina Raizen Argentina was created in October 2018 from the acquisition, by Raizen, of Shell Argentina's Downstream business. Its shareholders are 50/50 Shell and the Cosan Group from Brazil. Among its assets are the Buenos Aires Refinery, located in Dock Sud, the lubricants productive unit in Barracas neighborhood, more than 785 gas stations distributed throughout, the maritime fuel businesses, aviation fuels, asphalt, chemicals, aswell as the activities supply and distribution. Through a brand license agreement, Raizen uses the Shell brand, which allows customers to continue accessing to the highest quality products and services that have characterized the brand in more than 100 years of history in Argentina.



About KBR We deliver science, technology and engineering solutions to governments and companies around the world. KBR employs approximately 29,000 people worldwide with customers in more than 80 countries and operations in 40 countries.

KBR is proud to work with its customers across the globe to provide technology, value-added services, and long- term operations and maintenance services to ensure consistent delivery with predictable results. At KBR, We Deliver. Visit www.kbr.com Forward Looking Statement The statements in this press release that are not historical statements, including statements regarding future financial performance, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the significant adverse impacts on economic and market conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic; the company's ability to respond to the challenges and business disruption presented by the COVID-19 pandemic; the recent dislocation of the global energy market; the company's ability to realize cost savings and efficiencies relating to the streamlining of its Energy Solutions business; the company's ability to manage its liquidity; the company's ability to continue to generate anticipated levels of revenue, profits and cash flow from operations during the COVID-19 pandemic and any resulting economic downturn; the outcome of and the publicity surrounding audits and investigations by domestic and foreign government agencies and legislative bodies; potential adverse proceedings by such agencies and potential adverse results and consequences from such proceedings; the scope and enforceability of the company's indemnities from its former parent; changes in capital spending by the company's customers, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; the company's ability to obtain contracts from existing and new customers and perform under those contracts; structural changes in the industries in which the company operates; escalating costs associated with and the performance of fixed-fee projects and the company's ability to control its cost under its contracts; claims negotiations and contract disputes with the company's customers; changes in the demand for or price of oil and/or natural gas; protection of intellectual property rights; compliance with environmental laws; changes in government regulations and regulatory requirements; compliance with laws related to income taxes; unsettled political conditions, war and the effects of terrorism; foreign operations and foreign exchange rates and controls; the development and installation of financial systems; increased competition for employees; the ability to successfully complete and integrate acquisitions; and operations of joint ventures, including joint ventures that are not controlled by the company. KBR's most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, any subsequent Form 10-Qs and 8-Ks, and other U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss some of the important risk factors that KBR has identified that may affect the business, results of operations and financial condition. Except as required by law, KBR undertakes no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kbr-awarded-fcc-technology-contract-by-raizen-argentina-301320655.html SOURCE KBR, Inc.

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[June 28, 2021] Kinan to Enhance Customer Experience with Yardi Technology

JEDDAH, KSA, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kinan, a leading developer and manager of real estate in Saudi Arabia, has selected Yardi technology to streamline and digitise its commercial operations and provide a better customer experience. Kinan has chosen Yardi as its technology partner to manage 10 retail properties in six cities across Saudi Arabia, a portfolio that consists of approximately 350,000 SQM GLA. The company will be implementing Yardi Voyager for property management and accounting; Lease Manager CRM to help automate the full lead-to-lease cycle; Yardi Advanced Budgeting & Forecasting for accurate reporting and improved decision making; Yardi Inspection to gain real-time data and ehanced inspection management; CommercialCafe to improve tenant experience with a self-serve portal and mobile app; and Yardi Orion Business Intelligence, a mobile-enabled platform that provides a holistic view of assets.



"I am pleased to announce that Kinan will implement Yardi as the property and assets management system for our retail projects across Saudi Arabia," said Konrad Kolankiewicz, chief operating officer, malls & retail at Kinan. "We believe that the use of this innovative real estate platform will allow us to improve the quality of our work with a direct impact on business strategy and efficiency." "We are pleased to welcome Kinan as our latest client based in Saudi Arabia," said Neal Gemassmer, vice president of international for Yardi. "As the Middle East continues to further digitise real estate management, Yardi is committed to playing an important role in helping our clients meet their business objectives."

See how Yardi real estate solutions help digitise real estate operations through a single connected solution. About Kinan Kinan is a Saudi closed joint stock company with a capital of SR 1.7 billion and was established in 2003. Kinan is developing six residential projects in Riyadh and Jeddah on an area of over six million square meters. With more than 17,000 residential units and investments of more than six billion Saudi riyals, it also develops and operates 10 commercial centres in six Saudi cities with investments of more than 1.4 billion Saudi riyals. For more information, visit kinan.com. About Yardi Yardi develops and supports industry-leading investment and property management software for all types and sizes of real estate companies. Established in 1984, Yardi is based in Santa Barbara, Calif., and serves clients worldwide from offices in Australia, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America. For more information, visit yardi.ae.

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[June 28, 2021] KORE Enabled IoT Technology Powers Drones to Deliver Critical Medical Assets

ATLANTA and BARCELONA, Spain, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- KORE, a global leader in Internet of Things ("IoT") solutions and worldwide Connectivity-as-a-Service ("CaaS"), will showcase the innovative enablement of IoT connectivity that is making it possible for Australian drone-powered logistics company Swoop Aero to transport COVID-19 vaccines into isolated areas of the world. KORE representatives will be attending Mobile World Congress and showcasing the solution during a private presentation with the King of Spain and his senior dignitaries. Additionally, a public presentation on the innovation will take place at Mobile World Congress Barcelona on Tuesday, June 29, at 9 a.m. CET. Swoop Aero leverages KORE satellite connectivity and eSIM technology to deliver medical supplies in isolated locales. Swoop Aero's air logistics solution enables the reliable transport of medical commodities, including early pathology samples, diagnosis kits, antiretroviral therapy medication and vitamins across Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique as well as Australia, the United Kingdom and the Pacific. This effort supports the respective Ministries of Health in delivering medical supplies to hard-to-reach areas. "We're living in the most technologically advanced society of all time," said KORE President and CEO Romil Bahl. "I'm grateful every day that the IoT connectivity and solutions we provide are being used so that people in the remotest parts of the world are not forgotten or overlooked. Medical caregivers rely heavily on Swoop Aero's ability to consistently transport the medicine that doctors and nurses need to care for citizens living in remote locations. Failure is not an option." Drone technology, paired with robust connectivity solutions, is leveling the playing field for people who live in remote and rural regions of the world. Using medical drone logistics within the existing health supply chain enables better access to essential medical commodities with reduced human interaction. This is a primary reason why the use of drones within the health supply chain has exponentially increased in the wake of the pandemic and, as the world begins to reopen, represents the "new normal." Critical to the success of this novel edeavor are the satellite and cellular redundancy and failover systems KORE provides to ensure fleets of drones are consistently operational.



"The ability to communicate reliably anywhere in the world, anytime, allows Swoop Aero to deploy a reliable, sustainable and scalable drone logistics network bridging the last mile and enabling equitable health access to anyone anywhere," said Swoop Aero CEO Eric Peck. Mobile World Congress:

KORE is attending Mobile World Congress Barcelona highlighting its future-proof, multicarrier global connectivity offerings used by clients such as Swoop Aero and will have a 1:10 scale Swoop Aero drone model at the event. To learn more about the collaboration between KORE and Swoop Aero, check out the session titled: "Stepping Into A New IoT Generation: Sophistication In Strategy, Management, and Forward Thinking" presented by KORE on Tuesday, July 29 at 9:30 am CET at MWC Barcelona, Conference Theatre  Hall 3.

Additional Resources:

View the new Swoop Aero case study.

Watch the latest Fox 5 News clip of the story. About KORE

KORE is a pioneer, leader, and trusted advisor delivering mission-critical IoT solutions and services. We empower organizations of all sizes to improve operational and business results by simplifying the complexity of IoT. Our deep IoT knowledge and experience, global reach, purpose-built solutions, and deployment agility accelerate and materially impact our customers' business outcomes. For more information, visit korewireless.com. About Swoop Aero

Swoop Aero is an Australian drone-powered logistics company, founded to transform the way the world moves essential supplies. Swoop Aero is an impact-driven organisation bringing healthcare logistics into the 21st century by deploying bi-directional drone networks. The company is trusted to create value by sustainably transforming health supply chains to improve health outcomes in every community and country in which they operate. Since its founding in 2017, Swoop Aero has worked with some of the largest organisations in global health across three continents, including UNICEF, the Gates Foundation, UKAID, USAID and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Swoop Aero's forward-thinking approach to health and successful operations in three continents have led them to be recognised globally as one of the leading players in the med-tech industry. Learn more swoop.aero. Contacts KORE Media:

Jean Creech Avent

Vice President, Investor Relations and Public Relations

jcreechavent@korewireless.com

+1-843-986-8229 Investors:

investors@korewireless.com Or Investors:

Matt Glover and Cody Slach

Gateway Group, Inc.

KORE@gatewayir.com

+1-949-574-3860 Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain statements that are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as "believe," "may," "will," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "expect," "should," "would," "plan," "predict," "potential," "seem," "seek," "future," "outlook," and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding estimates and forecasts of revenue and other financial and performance metrics and projections of market opportunity and expectations. These statements are based on various assumptions and on the current expectations of CTAC or KORE's management. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as, and must not be relied on by any investor or other person as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions. Many actual events and circumstances are beyond the control of CTAC and/or KORE. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including general economic, financial, legal, political and business conditions and changes in domestic and foreign markets; the potential effects of COVID-19; risks related to the rollout of KORE's business and the timing of expected business milestones; changes in the assumptions underlying KORE's expectations regarding its future business; the effects of competition on KORE's future business; and the outcome of judicial proceedings to which KORE is, or may become a party. If the risks materialize or assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that KORE presently does not know or that KORE currently believes are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements reflect KORE's expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this press release. KORE and CTAC anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause these assessments to change. However, while KORE and/or CTAC may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, each of KORE and CTAC specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing KORE's assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kore-enabled-iot-technology-powers-drones-to-deliver-critical-medical-assets-301320695.html SOURCE KORE Wireless

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[June 28, 2021] Kyndryl Names Antoine Shagoury As Chief Technology Officer, Announces Kyndryl Customer Advisory Practice

ARMONK, N.Y., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kyndryl, the new, independent public company that will be created following the separation of IBM's (NYSE: IBM) Managed Infrastructure Services business, announced the appointment of Antoine Shagoury as the company's Chief Technology Officer. In addition, Kyndryl also is establishing an advisory practice of senior experts to assist customers with designing and deploying advanced technology environments to tackle the increasing demands of a digital world, and has named industry veteran Vic Bhagat as a Senior Partner of the advisory practice. "Kyndryl's goal is to apply the most modern and resilient IT systems and talent to help customers realize their business ambitions," said Elly Keinan, group president of Kyndryl. "Antoine Shagoury is an experienced global leader with significant expertise in mission critical systems and operations, who will direct our technology strategy and investments to advance the vital systems that power progress for our customers." Mr. Shagoury comes to Kyndryl as a venture partner at Ridge-Lane LP, a strategic advisory and venture development firm focused on solutions to grand challenges in education, sustainability, and information technology. Previously, Mr. Shagoury served as an executive vice president and global chief information officer at State Street Corporation, where he served on State Street's management committee and was responsible for managing enterprise-wide technology, transformation and modernization, directly supporting operations in 27 countries. Prior to joining State Street, Mr. Shagoury was group chief operating officer and CIO at the London Stock Exchange Group, responsible for global operations across capital markets, information and data services, post-trade and technology. Mr. Shagoury also served as CIO at the American Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange Alternext. He is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology with a BS in business administration and a concentration in managed infrastructure services. The founding member of Kyndryl's Advisory Practice will be Vic Bhagat, an IT industry veteran who is joining Kyndryl as a Senior Partner. Mr. Bhagat has been senior vice president and chief information officer of Verizon Enterprise Solutions, executive vice president and chief information officer of EMC, and as CIO for several divisions of General Electric, including GE Aviation Services, CNBC, GE Corporate, and GE India and Southeast Asia. Mr. Bhagat is currently president of Matrix CvC, advising enterprises on operational excellence and digital process transitions. He has been an active investor and advisor to many start-up organizations that are focused on AI and machine learning. A native of Wellesley, Massachusetts, Mr. Bhagat is a graduate of the University of Louisville with a BS in information systems and marketing. "Kyndryl has a deep reservoir of data and advanced IP, and we are adding experts with experience in managing the world largest and most demanding IT environments," Keinan said. "The Kyndryl Advisory Practice will be a unique capability combining deep expertise and insights for our customers. As Senior Partner, Vic's perspective and experience will be a great asset to Kyndryl customers as they modernize and manage their broad IT ecosystem." Kyndryl designs, runs and manages the most modern, efficient and reliable technology environments for the world's most important businesses and organizations, with the industry's most experienced services experts. Its previously announced separation is expected to occur by the end of 2021. For more information, visit www.kyndryl.com







Contacts: IBM

Edward Barbini, 914-494-7925

barbini@us.ibm.com





Teneo

Kathy Deveny, 917-439-3263

kathy.deveny@teneo.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kyndryl-names-antoine-shagoury-as-chief-technology-officer-announces-kyndryl-customer-advisory-practice-301320749.html SOURCE IBM

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[June 28, 2021] Leaf Home Receives Northeast Ohio Top Workplaces Award by The Plain Dealer

HUDSON, Ohio, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Leaf Home is honored to receive the Top Workplaces 2021 award once again by The Plain Dealer. The list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through an anonymous survey by Energage LLC, which uniquely measures 15 culture drivers critical to any organization's success including alignment, execution, and connection. This year marks Leaf Home's seventh time featured on the list. Headquartered in Hudson, Ohio, with over 130 offices across North America, the company is driven and inspired by its hard-working employees in every department and region. "It's always a great feeling when you've won an award based on employee feedback," said Jeff Beck, CEO and President at Leaf Home. "Making Leaf Home a top workplace is always a top priority for us. While this past year definitely threw us some curveballs, the resilience and tenacity of our team through the good times and the bad have been eye-opening. They will always be the key to our strength and success, and I can't thank them enough."



Sean Loboda , Chief Human Resources Officer at Leaf Home. "As we continue to grow, it has always been essential for us not to lose sight of what makes us great, which are our incredible employees and our culture. We know that with every year, there is an opportunity to learn from our team, and we're continuing to seek ways to constantly learn and improve to make ourselves that much better." To learn about job openings and how to join Leaf Home's ever-growing team, visit the careers page.

About Leaf Home

Leaf Home is North America's leading technology-enabled provider of home solutions on a mission to transform home hassles into personal peace of mind. Leaf Home's experienced, dependable specialists provide end-to-end services directly to consumers through its core brands; LeafFilter Gutter Protection, Leaf Home Safety Solutions, Leaf Home Water Solutions, and Leaf Home Enhancements. With its corporate headquarters in Hudson, Ohio, Leaf Home delivers seamless, transformative home solutions for safer, easier, and more comfortable living every day. Live Comfortable. Live Safe. Live Happy. For more information, visit www.leafhome.com. For more information, contact: media@leafhome.com. About Energage

Making the world a better place to work together.

Energage is a purpose-driven company that helps organizations turn employee feedback into useful business intelligence and credible employer recognition through Top Workplaces.?Built on 14 years of culture research and the results from 23 million employees surveyed across more than 70,000 organizations, ?Energage delivers the most accurate competitive benchmark available.?With access to a unique combination of?patented analytic tools and expert guidance, Energage customers lead the competition with an engaged workforce and an opportunity to gain recognition for their people-first approach to culture.?For more information or to nominate your organization,?visit energage.com or topworkplaces.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/leaf-home-receives-northeast-ohio-top-workplaces-award-by-the-plain-dealer-301320883.html SOURCE Leaf Home

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[June 28, 2021] Local Kitchens Raises $25M in Series A Funding Led by General Catalyst

Local Kitchens, the digital food hall that brings together a mix of award-winning local restaurant brands under one roof for takeout and delivery, has landed $25 million in Series A funding after a year of rapid growth, bringing the company's total funding to $28M. The round was led by General Catalyst, with support from existing investors, Human Capital and Pear VC. New investors to the company include Fifth Wall and Penny Jar Capital, an early-stage venture firm anchored by Stephen Curry. The investment will accelerate Local Kitchens' expansion plans into new markets throughout California and beyond.



This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005071/en/ Left to right: Jon Goldsmith (co-founder and CEO), Jordan Bramble (co-founder and CTO), Matthew Rudofker (Head of Culinary), Andrew Munday (co-founder and COO) (Photo: Business Wire)

Launched in the summer of 2020, Local Kitchens' digital food hall concept quickly gained a following from customers who fell in love with the ability to mix-and-match restaurants in one order. In less than nine months, the company has built a network of units throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, and partnered with award-winning local restaurant partners eager to increase their reach and connect to new customers. Local Kitchens was founded by former DoorDash employees Jon Goldsmith, Andrew Munday, and Jordan Bramble. "After an unprecedented 18 months, the restaurant industry is looking to expand business through a hybrid storefront + online model, while enabling a direct relationship with their customers via delivery platforms, pick-up or the restaurant location," said Kyle Doherty, Managing Director at General Catalyst. "Local Kitchens has developed a unique model that works for local restaurant owners, and we're excited to support Jon and the Local Kitchens' team as they scale and accelerate the industry's transformation." "Local Kitchens' mission is to ensure that local restaurants--not just national brands--can thrive in the 'new normal,'" said Jon Goldsmith, CEO and Co-founder of Local Kitchens. "In the six months since our seed round, we've helped more than a dozen local restaurants add millions in new sales and connect with customers in new markets. This funding will help us accelerate our impact and help our restaurant partners scale across the country." Each Local Kitchens store features 8-10 restaurants curated to reflect the diversity of the local community and cuisine, and is available through a storefront with a streamlined takeout experience in addition to delivery. All meals are cooked fresh to order with a unique licensing model, guaranteeing a consistent and high-quality experience for customers while enabling restaurant brands to expand in weeks with minimal capital investment. Customers can order takeout or delivery online through LocalKitchens.com, or in-store using ordering kiosks. About Local Kitchens: Local Kitchens is a digital food hall offering takeout and delivery from multiple restaurants, allowing customers to mix and match cuisines from different restaurants in a single order. Ideal for foodies, groups, and families, Local Kitchens brings the best local restaurants to the neighborhood under one roof. Local Kitchens currently operates in the San Francisco Bay Area (Cupertino, Lafayette, San Jose; Mountain View and Palo Alto (News - Alert) coming soon) and is rapidly expanding throughout California and beyond. Local Kitchens and its partners are committed to sustainable sourcing and hiring from local schools to support the communities where it operates. Each location uses recyclable and compostable materials for all of its food packaging in addition to employing a rigorous composting program. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005071/en/

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[June 28, 2021] Marshfield Clinic Health System Partners with NowPow to Launch One of Nation's Largest Rural Health Equity Initiatives

Marshfield Clinic Health System, one of the largest rural, integrated health systems in the country, is partnering with NowPow and a broad range of community organizations to connect patients with local resources to improve their health and quality of life. Marshfield Clinic Health System will leverage NowPow's personalized community referral platform to identify the social determinants of health (SDOH) needs of patients and community members and provide tools to connect individuals with resources to address these needs. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005103/en/ (Graphic: Business Wire) The Community Connections Team and Community Resources at Marshfield Clinic Health System will use NowPow's platform to screen patients for five core health-related social needs - housing, food, transportation, utilities and personal safety - along with additional needs such as employment, education, child care and financial strain. NowPow's platform will then generate a personalized list of highly matched community-based service organizations, such as food pantries, shelters and assistance programs, as well as tools to help connect patients with these resources. "The pandemic made more obvious than ever the pervasive inequities that still define life for far too manyAmericans," said Dr. Susan Turney, CEO of Marshfield Clinic Health System. "We are proud to be part of a paradigm shift that recognizes a person's health for the complex picture it is, and works to address the structural inequities and socioeconomic factors that affect it. It is a privilege to partner with NowPow on this work to connect patients and families with needed resources so they can attain their full health potential."



Marshfield Clinic Health System and NowPow are working together to build a comprehensive network of agencies and programs serving northern, central and western Wisconsin, ensuring that individuals have access to all the latest and most relevant community-based resources. This initiative supports the efforts of Marshfield Clinic and its affiliated health plan, Security Health Plan, to embrace an accountable care model that has been able to lower health system care costs thereby decreasing out-of-pocket care costs for patients and returning money to communities the Health System serves. The NowPow platform's ability to track referrals and encourage individuals to fulfill their self-care goals fosters engagement and provides insight into referral outcomes. This data will help efforts to map unmet needs in communities, inform future expansion of the referral network and provide a more comprehensive picture of an individual's health needs.

"Marshfield Clinic Health System, which is home to Wisconsin's largest private medical research institute, shares NowPow's commitment to research and applying a data-driven approach to population health grounded in science," said Rachel Kohler (News - Alert) , CEO, NowPow. "Americans living in rural areas face a number of risk factors for health disparities, including geographic isolation, limited access to health care specialists and limited job opportunities. We are excited to partner with Marshfield Clinic Health System to address these issues and improve more lives in rural Wisconsin, while also deepening our impact across the state." NowPow is a tech company based in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, where the idea to build community referral networks was born. Today, NowPow's platform supports community referral networks across the nation. Community-based organizations interested in joining the Health System's efforts to address health equity in rural Wisconsin can contact the Center for Community Health Advancement at 715-221-8400. About Marshfield Clinic Health System Marshfield Clinic Health System is an integrated health system whose mission is to enrich lives through accessible, affordable compassionate health care. The Health System serves Wisconsin with more than 1,400 providers comprising 170 specialties, health plan, and research and education programs. Primary operations include Marshfield Clinic, nine Marshfield Medical Center hospitals, Marshfield Children's Hospital, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, Security Health Plan and Marshfield Clinic Health System Foundation. Learn more at marshfieldclinic.org. About NowPow NowPow's personalized community referral platform supports whole person care across whole communities. NowPow's referrals are highly matched and filtered, making it easy to connect people to the right community resources so everyone can stay well, meet basic needs, manage with illness and care for others. NowPow's population health solution provides deep community resource and referral insights to support process improvement, network health and quality, and care access and experience. Learn more at NowPow.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005103/en/

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[June 28, 2021] Mid-Market Distribution Technology Provider SalesPad Rebrands to Cavallo, Introduces New Cloud-Based Software Solutions

Cavallo, the only technology provider delivering on-premises and cloud solutions specifically for mid-market distributors, announced it has rebranded from SalesPad. The new brand name supports the company's aggressive product expansion and strategic move into distribution business intelligence. Alongside the brand launch, the company will introduce its Distribution Cloud platform to arm distributors with the tools necessary to reach their full potential in the midst of intense competition and market demands. Built on the success of nearly 20 years serving distributors, Cavallo's new platform is tailor-made to help distributors win in today's economy. "The distribution industry has changed more in the past five years than it had in the previous 20 and the pace of change is accelerating. Since our founding we have helped our customers achieve dramatic operational and financial gains by providing tools that just work for distribution," said Mike Biwer, chief executive officer of Cavallo. "As we listened to our customers considering a move to the cloud, it was clear that today's leading ERP and CRM providers were not meeting distributor-specific needs." Cavallo's Distribution Cloud platform provides the capabilities distributors need to reach their full potential, delivered through three product families: Execution : New cloud-baed products designed to increase efficiency, improve customer satisfaction and grow revenues by providing sales and customer service teams with user-friendly tools to manage customers, generate quotes, create orders and generate approvals.

: New cloud-baed products designed to increase efficiency, improve customer satisfaction and grow revenues by providing sales and customer service teams with user-friendly tools to manage customers, generate quotes, create orders and generate approvals. Control : Workflow management solutions made to accelerate the customer-to-cash cycle and expand gross margin. With Control, distributors can tame business complexity with configurable, distribution-specific processes and approval paths, supported by smart automation.

: Workflow management solutions made to accelerate the customer-to-cash cycle and expand gross margin. With Control, distributors can tame business complexity with configurable, distribution-specific processes and approval paths, supported by smart automation. Intelligence: Distribution analytics capabilities, built to support proactive, data-driven decisions to optimize distribution operations. Enabled by real-time visibility and bolstered by historical context, distributors will be alerted to bottlenecks as they are initially forming, allowing managers to address issues before they become problems.



Cavallo Distribution Cloud will be released in early Q4 2021 with an initial focus on distributors running or considering the Microsoft (News - Alert) Dynamics 365 Business Central ERP. Leveraging the company's new unified ERP framework, Cavallo will quickly expand Distribution Cloud into other ERP ecosystems.

About Cavallo Founded in 2003 as SalesPad, Cavallo is the only technology provider built by distributors to exclusively serve mid-market distributors with a suite of on-premises and cloud-based software solutions. Headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Cavallo delivers technology and services that help mid-market distributors gain unprecedented insight into their distribution operations, optimize and accelerate the customer-to-cash lifecycle, improve customer relationships and enhance profitability. Its mission is to help every distributor on the planet harness the power of a solution tailored to their precise processing and operational needs, engineered to surface critical data to guide strategy and company growth, no matter where they are in their digital transformation. For more information, visit www.cavallo.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005075/en/

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[June 28, 2021] Minister Champagne marks the launch of the Canadian Data Governance Standardization Collaborative Roadmap

The roadmap for standardization in good data governance is an important milestone for Canada's Digital Charter OTTAWA, ON, June 28, 2021 /CNW/ - Digital technology is changing our economy and our societythe way we work, access information and connect with each otherand the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated these trends. To build a safer and more secure digital infrastructure, the Government of Canada is committed to developing and promoting standards to address how data is structured, governed and secured. Today, the Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, celebrated the launch of the Canadian Data Governance Standardization Roadmap. Over the last two years, the Canadian Data Governance Standardization Collaborative brought together 220 experts to develop a standardization roadmap that examines ways to coordinate the development and compatibility of data governance standards in Canada and create a level playing field in the digital economy. The roadmap, published by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC), describes the current and desired Canadian standardization landscape and makes 35 recommendations to address gaps and explore new areas where standards and conformity assessment are needed. The solutions identified in the roadmap will help ensure that Canada's digital infrastructure is founded on quality, trust and ethics to fuel a competitive data-driven economy while protecting Canadians. Quotes "Standardization is an increasingly important tool for ensuring Canadians can access the best and safest products, systems and technological solutions in our increasingly digital world. The roadmap launched today will help position Canada as a standard setter and leader internationally when it comes to data governance. I would like to thank the Standards Council of Canada and the Collaborative for creating this roadmap, and I look forward to their future guidance."

 The Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry "The Canadian Data Governance Standardization Roadmap tackles the challenging questions we face when we talk about data governance. Canada has the opportunity to take a leadership role in establihing clear and cohesive data governance standards that build a safer and more secure digital infrastructure founded on quality, trust and ethics. SCC is facilitating this work by doing what we do best: helping to solve complex issues by convening experts, stakeholders and the standardization network to collaborate and develop innovative, consensus-based solutions."





Canada Quick facts

Standards are key in helping to solve complex challenges to fuel a competitive and fair data-driven economy. For example, standards are what enabled the unprecedented level of data sharing around the world that led scientists to develop vaccines against COVID-19 in record time.

Shortly after the launch of the Digital Charter in 2019, the SCC convened the Canadian Data Governance Standardization Collaborative to accelerate the development of industry-wide data governance standards, specifications and conformity assessment.

The Collaborative has created four working groups that are looking at issues based on a life-cycle assessment of data governance, from data collection to access and sharing to data analytics and commercialization.

As announced in Budget 2021, SCC will receive $8.4 million over five years, and $2.3 million ongoing, to continue its work to advance industry-wide data governance standards. The money will also be used to implement some of the recommendations that are in the roadmap. Related product Canadian Data Governance Standardization Roadmap Associated links First SCC Collaborative on data governance brings participation on key issues to the next level

Leading experts join SCC effort to transform data governance landscape Stay connected Follow Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada on social media.

Twitter: @ISED_CA , Facebook: Canadian Innovation , Instagram: @cdninnovation and LinkedIn SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

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[June 28, 2021] New Research Finds the SolarWinds Cyber Attack Cost Affected Companies in Key Sectors 11% of Total Annual Revenue on Average

IronNet Cybersecurity, in its mission to transform cybersecurity through Collective Defense, released today its 2021 Cybersecurity Impact Report assessing timely topics such as the estimated cost per enterprise of the SolarWinds (News - Alert) cyber attack, executive-level engagement in attack responses, and the effect of information sharing on an organization's overall security posture. IronNet commissioned independent research firm Sapio to survey 473 IT security decision makers in the technology, public services, financial, and utilities sectors across the United States, United Kingdom, and Singapore. The report revealed a complex relationship between the reported level of confidence organizations have in their cybersecurity posture and their ongoing attack volume and impact: that is, despite rising confidence, incidents are increasing, too. While 92 percent of respondents express confidence in their current security technology stack, adversaries are still evading traditional defensive technologies. Nearly half of respondents cited a rise in cyber incidents in the past 12 months, in part due to the increasing sophistication of attacks; and the SolarWinds attack cost, on average, 11 percent of affected respondents' annual revenue. What is helping, however, is information sharing: Responses revealed positive effects of cyber-related information sharing on an organization's overall cybersecurity posture. 90 percent of respondents indicated that the security posture of their company has improved over the past two years.

72 percent of companies who have increased information sharing with industry peers report their overall security posture has improved over the past two years. Despite the reported benefits of information sharing for improving cybersecurity, respondents indicated that there are still obstacles that limit collaboration among industry peers: concerns about data privacy and liability (53 percent), the lack of an automated or standard mechanism to share information with peers (34 percent), and the fact that shared information is not timely or relevant by the time companies receive it (33 percent). General (Ret.) Keith Alexander, Founder and Co-CEO of IronNet, said, "Organizations are clearly struggling to keep up with the volume and impact of cyber attacks coming from well-funded and well-organized nation states. We believe that the main reason for this is that every organization is still trying to battle these attacks individually, when they should be working together to create an exponentially stronger defense. Sharing and operationalizing attack intelligence through a Collective Defense model provides that automated, real-time solution that is missing in the market, and can be done securely, using anonymized data. This is the only way to ultimately shift the balance of power away from the attackers. Fortunately, our survey data shows that organizations are starting to increase their information sharing and are seeing benefits from doing so. This is a positive signal towards the adoption of Collective Defense." Through the Collective Defense model, IronNet is taking information sharing and collaboration to a new level by enabling anonymized, real-time threat sharing to maximize visibility into the attack landscape and minimize impact on an organization's operations. Answering Calls to Action Calls for faster, more relevant threat information sharing continue to come from industry- and national-level cybersecurity initiatives. Former President Barack Obama initiated momentum on this concept with his 2015 Executive Order on Cybersecurity, which promoted private sector cybersecurity information sharing. In March 2020, the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission report emphasized this same call to action, as did President Biden's U.S. Presidential Executive Order on Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity in May 2021, emphasizing threat information sharing as a primary theme and signaling to the public and private sectors that still more of this type of collaboration is needed in a timely, immediate, and relevant way. The report's findings related to the SolarWinds/SUNBURST attack revealed that organizations are urgently turning toward a threat-sharing model. The report provided an inside look into the financial damage stemming from this widespread supply chain attack that struck 18,000 companies and nine U.S. government agencies: Among the 85 percent of respondents affected by SolarWinds, nearly one third said their organization felt a significant /i>financial impact from the attack. In fact, the attack cost affected companies, on average, 11 percent of their annual revenue.



These findings demonstrate the pressing need for a transformative approach to cybersecurity - an approach that operationalizes timely, relevant, and actionable threat sharing among industry peers and with the government. IronNet's Collective Defense platform includes network detection and response (NDR) capabilities for advanced behavioral detection of unknown cyber threats via its IronDefense solution, and real-time threat intelligence sharing with its IronDome solution. The Collective Defense platform provides a radar-like view of potential incoming attacks; this real-time picture empowers organizations to more proactively defend against cyber attacks - both on-premise and in the cloud. Visit ironnet.com/collective-defense for more information and view the full 2021 Cybersecurity Impact Report at ironnet.com/cyber-impact-report. The reference to IronNet's website address does not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained at or available through IronNet's website, and you should not consider it to be a part of this press release.

About IronNet Founded in 2014 by GEN (Ret.) Keith Alexander, IronNet Cybersecurity is a global cybersecurity leader that is transforming how organizations secure their networks by delivering the first-ever Collective Defense platform operating at scale. Employing a high number of former NSA cybersecurity operators with offensive and defensive cyber experience, IronNet integrates deep tradecraft knowledge into its industry-leading products to solve the most challenging cyber problems facing the world today. In March of 2021, IronNet and LGL Systems Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: DFNS) ("LGL") announced that they entered into a definitive business combination agreement that will result in IronNet becoming a public company. Upon the closing of the transaction, the combined company will be named "IronNet, Inc." and is expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and trade under the ticker symbol "IRNT."IronNet Important Information and Where to Find It This press release relates to a proposed transaction between LGL Systems Acquisition Corp. ("LGL") and IronNet Cybersecurity, Inc. ("IronNet"). LGL has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (" SEC (News - Alert) ") a registration statement on Form S-4 (the "Registration Statement") that includes a proxy statement to be distributed to LGL's stockholders in connection with LGL's solicitation of proxies for the vote by LGL's stockholders in connection with the proposed business combination and other transactions described in the Registration Statement, as well as a preliminary prospectus relating to the offer of LGL's securities to be issued to IronNet's stockholders in connection with the completion of the proposed business combination described in the Registration Statement. After the Registration Statement is declared effective, LGL will mail the definitive proxy statement/prospectus to stockholders of LGL as of a record date to be established for voting on the proposed business combination. LGL also will file other relevant documents from time to time regarding the proposed transaction with the SEC. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF LGL ARE URGED TO READ THE PRELIMINARY PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND, ONCE AVAILABLE, THE DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS THAT HAVE BEEN OR WILL BE FILED BY LGL FROM TIME TO TIME WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN OR WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors and security holders will be able to obtain free copies of the proxy statement/prospectus and other documents containing important information about LGL and IronNet once such documents are filed with the SEC, through the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. Copies of the documents filed with the SEC by LGL when and if available, can be obtained free of charge on LGL's website at https://www.dfns.ai or by directing a written request to LGL Systems Acquisition Corp., 165 Liberty St., Suite 220, Reno, NV 89501 or to info@dfnsi.ai. Participants in the Solicitation LGL and IronNet and their respective directors and executive officers, under SEC rules, may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies of LGL's stockholders in connection with the proposed transactions. Information regarding the persons who may, under SEC rules, be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from LGL's stockholders in connection with the proposed transactions described in the Registration Statement and the interests that such persons have in the proposed business combination are set forth in the proxy statement/prospectus included in the Registration Statement. No Offer or Solicitation This communication shall neither constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which the offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. Forward Looking Statements This press release includes "forward looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, without limitation, statements regarding IronNet's business combination with LGL. When used in this Report, the words "estimates," "projected," "expects," "anticipates," "forecasts," "plans," "intends," "believes," "seeks," "may," "will," "should," "future," "propose" and variations of these words or similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify forward-looking statements, including statements relating to IronNet's future financial performance. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, conditions or results, and involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside LGL's or IronNet's management's control, that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Important factors, among others, that may affect actual results or outcomes include: the inability to complete the transactions contemplated by the proposed business combination; the inability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the proposed business combination, which may be affected by, among other things, the amount of cash available following any redemptions by LGL stockholders; the ability to meet the NYSE's listing standards following the consummation of the transactions contemplated by the proposed business combination; costs related to the proposed business combination; IronNet's ability to execute on its plans to develop and market new products and the timing of these development programs; IronNet's estimates of the size of the markets for its products; the rate and degree of market acceptance of IronNet's products; the success of other competing technologies that may become available; IronNet's ability to identify and integrate acquisitions; the performance of IronNet's products; potential litigation involving LGL or IronNet; and general economic and market conditions impacting demand for IronNet's products. Other factors include the possibility that the proposed transaction does not close, including due to the failure to receive required security holder approvals, or the failure of other closing conditions. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the proxy statement/prospectus included in the Registration Statement, LGL's Annual Report on Form 10-K (as amended), Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents filed by LGL from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and neither LGL nor IronNet undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005429/en/

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[June 28, 2021] OnShift Ranked As A Top Workplace In Northeast Ohio

OnShift, a leader in human capital management software for post-acute care and senior living, today announced that the company has been awarded a Top Workplaces 2021 honor by Plain Dealer Top Workplaces. The list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by employee engagement technology partner Energage LLC. The anonymous survey measures fifteen culture drivers that are critical to the success of any organization, including alignment, execution and connection. Only 175 companies made the list. "OnShift strives to give all team members a world-class employee experience," said Mark Woodka, CEO of OnShift. "Our team has worked diligently to build a healthy, welcoming, diverse and empowering culture where employees can bring their most authentic selves to work. From amplifying diversity, inclusion and belonging initiatives to career development and business execution, OnShift is focused on building an environment where each person's strengths are valued, accepted and embraced." OnShift's core values are the foundation to the company's workplace culture: give respect, demonstrate integrity, embrace change, drive results and be customer obsessed. In addition, OnShift places a high priority on work-life balance, flexibility and mental health for both employees and their families. "OnShift's culture is filled with empathy and compassion not only for or employees, but also for those we serve in the long-term care and senior living industry," said Jenna Berris, a marketing employee and founding member of OnShift's Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging committee. "It's truly a special place to work."



"During this very challenging time, Top Workplaces has proven to be a beacon of light for organizations, as well as a sign of resiliency and strong business performance," said Eric Rubino, Energage CEO. "When you give your employees a voice, you come together to navigate the challenges and shape your path forward. Top Workplaces draw on real-time insights into what works best for their organization, so they can make informed decisions that have a positive impact on their people and their business." About OnShift, Inc.

OnShift's next-generation human capital management platform fundamentally transforms the relationship between healthcare organizations and their employees. Our innovative approach to recruitment, hiring, workforce management and engagement fosters a culture where people want to work. That's why thousands of healthcare organizations rely on OnShift's integrated suite of software and services to dramatically reduce turnover rates, decrease costs and improve the quality and continuity of care. For more information, visit www.onshift.com. About Energage Making the world a better place to work together.TM Energage is a purpose-driven company that helps organizations turn employee feedback into useful business intelligence and credible employer recognition through Top Workplaces. Built on 14 years of culture research and the results from 23 million employees surveyed across more than 70,000 organizations, Energage delivers the most accurate competitive benchmark available. With access to a unique combination of patented analytic tools and expert guidance, Energage customers lead the competition with an engaged workforce and an opportunity to gain recognition for their people-first approach to culture. For more information or to nominate your organization, visit energage.com or topworkplaces.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005470/en/

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[June 28, 2021] Outreach Grows U.S. Presence - Adds New Atlanta Office and Expands Leadership Team

SEATTLE, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Outreach , the largest and fastest-growing sales intelligence and engagement platform provider, announced today a new office location coming to Atlanta. The company expects to hire a significant number of employees in the greater Atlanta Metro area over the next 18 months, with an initial focus in customer success and technical support organizations. The company also added three new leaders to help scale its rapidly growing customer base across the country. "We are incredibly excited to be coming to Atlanta. This region has an amazing and diverse talent pool and there is an incredible opportunity for us to engage with the local community," said Manny Medina, cofounder and chief executive officer of Outreach. "Atlanta is a natural area for us to invest in - we have more than 400 customers in the Southeast, and nearly 100 in Georgia alone, half of which are based in Atlanta. We are also dedicated to building the most diverse company we can and are committed to building teams that reflect the populations of the locations in which we operate." As with other global Outreach offices, the company will open a physical space in Atlanta when it is safe to do so, and will follow state and local guidelines as it pertains to COVID-19 restrictions. Outreach is currently sourcing space in desirable, tech-centric areas of Atlanta. The company is already actively hiring in the region. Outreach also announced three key leadership hires: Mohan Achar, vice president of customer support, is developing a support strategy to provide an effortless experience for customers and evolve customer support as a valued differentiator for Outreach, further strengthening the company's position as the leading sales technology platform. Prior to Outreach, Mohan ws at cloud communication company 8x8, where he was responsible for the global customer support and engagement teams. He also worked at Marketo prior to and during its acquisition by Adobe. During this time, he expanded the support organization to a wider global presence over seven locations while maintaining a high bar for customer experience.



Neil Amrhein, vice president of value consulting, is leading Outreach's value consulting practice and will help us foster true customers for life and ensure best partner fit, in close partnership with sales, services and success leaders to obsessively focus on our customers ability to achieve maximum value over time. He joins Outreach from the Intelligent Spend Management practice at SAP, where he and his team focused on the delivery of highly personalized value propositions for large enterprise accounts across multiple industries. Prior to SAP, he worked at Ariba and was a founding member of their global Value Engineering practice. Vlad Melnik, vice president of global business development and partnerships, is designing, executing and scaling Outreach's global partner and alliances strategy. He also leads key technology, GSI and GTM alliances. Vlad joins Outreach from Reltio, where he was vice president of global alliances, leading a global team whose portfolio included key cloud providers, GSI and reseller/OEM partners, and whose work led to expansion into EMEA and Asia-Pacific. Prior to Reltio, he was an early founding member of the partner ecosystem programs at Splunk, and built AWS and GCP strategies to deliver significant channel revenue.

"I'm excited to welcome Mohan, Neil, and Vlad to our team," said Medina. "Our customers and partners have always been at the center of everything we do. With these new hires, our best-in-class customer service and partner engagement will be brought up a notch as we continue to expand and identify new possibilities for delivering for our customers." Over the past year, Outreach has grown to more than 800 employees worldwide and added two new global offices in London and Prague to its existing North American locations in Seattle, San Francisco, and New York City. For product demos, images, and videos, or to speak with an Outreach spokesperson, email pr@outreach.io . About Outreach

Outreach is the largest and fastest-growing sales engagement and intelligence platform provider that helps companies dramatically increase productivity and drive smarter, more insightful engagement with their customers. Outreach is the only solution provider to integrate sales engagement, conversation intelligence and revenue intelligence into one platform. The only sales engagement and intelligence platform to make the Forbes Cloud 100, Outreach was also the fastest-growing vendor in the category on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500. More than 4,800 companies such as Adobe, Tableau, Okta, Splunk, DocuSign, and SAP depend on Outreach's enterprise-scale, unparalleled customer adoption, and robust AI-powered innovation. Outreach is a privately held company based in Seattle, Washington. To learn more, please visit www.outreach.io . PR Contact:

Amanda Woolley

pr@outreach.io View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/outreach-grows-us-presence---adds-new-atlanta-office-and-expands-leadership-team-301320753.html SOURCE Outreach

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[June 28, 2021] Prodigy's IDVerifact and Fintainium partner to strengthen open banking with digital payment verification solutions

TORONTO, June 28, 2021 /CNW/ - Prodigy Ventures Inc. (TSXV: PGV) ("Prodigy" or the "Company") today announced an agreement entered in between its wholly-owned subsidiary, IDVerifact Inc. and Fintainium, an industry leader in real-time payment verification and workflow automation. As part of the agreement, IDVerifact will integrate Fintainium's robust suite of payment and workflow automation solutions. Fintainium also joins Prodigy's FinConecta Alliance Open Banking Platform, which will include AP and AR workflow automation, real-time payments, and on-platform lending. Fintainium provides a new way to process invoices by removing payment friction, legacy paper, and manual processes while increasing productivity and working capital. Fintanium enables billers and payers to control the way they make and receive payments by providing the most innovative and wide-reaching selection of payment methods. Convert legacy paper-based invoicing and payment processes to real-time electronic systems that provide the rapid exchange of data, increase overall productivity, and optimize cash flow. When asked about the new partnership, Fintainium CEO Richard Jackman remarked, "We are very happy to be part of the Prodigy ecosystem as they bring highly secure solutions to the Financial Services market. As the market continues to demand more digital payments, it's critical that these are secure. By combining the strength of Prodigy's IDVeritfact with the Fintainium platform, banks and credit unions can be confident that they can offer the newest of payment types to their customers in a secure environment." To learn more, visit our websites, https://prodigy.ventures/ and https://idverifact.com/.

To learn more about Fintainium and the services it provides, visit: https://www.fintainium.com/



About Prodigy Ventures Inc. Prodigy delivers Fintech innovation. The Company provides leading edge platforms, including IDVerifact for digital identity, and new Fintech platforms for open banking and payments. Our services business, Prodigy Labs, integrates and customizes our platforms for unique enterprise customer requirements, and provides technology services for digital identity, payments, open banking and digital transformation. Digital transformation services include strategy, architecture, design, project management, agile development, quality engineering and staff augmentation. Prodigy has been recognized as one of Canada's fastest growing companies with multiple awards: Deloitte's Fast 50 Canada and Fast 500 North America (2016, 2017, 2018), Branham 300 (2017, 2018), Growth List (2018, 2019 and 2020) and Canada's Top Growing Companies (2019 and 2020).

About IDVerifact Inc. A Prodigy venture, IDVerifact provides the ability to combine and access a complete suite of leading digital identity providers to meet any business use case. With IDVerifact, organizations stay ahead of fraud, quickly identify risk, and ensure compliance while optimizing their ability to grow revenues and improve client experiences with digital transactions. Providing solutions for identity proofing, KYC, AML, zero proofing and risk proof management. About Fintainium With headquarters in Florida and Toronto, Fintainium facilitates the relationship between financial institutions, businesses, and other technology companies in North America. Fintainium combines world class domestic and international money movement products with workflow, accounting, and reconciliation automation. Fintainium enhances back-office operations for institutions and streamlines accounting processes for end-users. Fintainium is an API-driven and modular platform that was designed to work seamlessly with other platforms. Fintainium's technology enables features such as three minute on-platform loan adjudication, integrated CFO toolkit with business intelligence, real-time payments, credit risk analysis, cash flow optimization, and back-office automation. Fintainium is the only platform that combines all these features into a simple, easy-to-navigate user interface and can also integrate into the background of a partner's larger solution. Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements Certain information set out in this news release constitutes forward-looking information. Forward looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "intend", "could", "might", "should", "believe" and similar expressions. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, and that information obtained from third party sources is reliable, they can give no assurance that those expectations will prove to have been correct. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements included in this document, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which the forward-looking statements are based will occur. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not occur, which may cause actual results in future periods to differ materially from any estimates or projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, risk factors set forth in the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2021, a copy of which is filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com . Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive. These statements are made as at the date hereof and unless otherwise required by law, the Company does not intend, or assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE Prodigy Ventures Inc.

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[June 28, 2021] QOMPLX Continues Global Expansion with Australian Catastrophe Risk Modeling Partnership

TYSONS, Va., June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- QOMPLX, a global leader in cybersecurity & risk analytics, is proud to announce a partnership with Australian industry leader COMBUS to offer its models on the Q:HELM marketplace. The addition of COMBUS adds further geographically diverse options to improve risk management around environmental disasters, as QOMPLX continues to broadly unify data, models and services offerings for the insurance industry.

COMBUS is delighted to be able to bring our suite of Australian models to the Q:HELM platform to provide greater access within this open-source and transparent marketplace, said Dr. Will Gardner, Managing Director at COMBUS. These robust COMBUS models provide insight into natural and man-made disasters across Australia, ranging from bushfires to earthquakes. COMBUS built its simulation models to examine the magnitude of large events and the frequency of smaller events, providing greater understanding in estimating and predicting risk. The need for more rigorous and data-driven insights around environmental disasters around the world continues to grow. The COMBUS models allow our customers to increase their geographic coverage for trusted risk analytics, said Steve Smith, Director of Product and Modeling at QOMPLX. This robust offering for insurers is emblematic of QOMPLXs unique role in risk analytics. We provide solutions to mitigate major long-term risks to capital and climate that are foundational to our modern global economy. The underlying capabilities of the QOMPLX core data factory fuel our cloud insurance risk analytics offering with the ability to rapidly ingest, transform and contextualize data at scale, much faster than traditionally seen across the industry.



Our growing partnership with international innovators like COMBUS further expands QOMPLXs offering of cutting-edge insurance data, services, and models. COMBUS choice to partner with QOMPLX is continued evidence of the pioneering work QOMPLX is pursuing to knit together disparate pieces of the insurance data analytics ecosystem, said Jason Crabtree, CEO of QOMPLX. About COMBUS

COMBUS Pty Limited is an actuarial and catastrophe modelling consulting firm specializing in helping insurance companies quantify and manage their large-scale risk to natural and man-made disasters. Clients consist of insurers, reinsurers, corporations, government agencies, catastrophe modelling firms, reinsurance brokers and consultants. COMBUS builds catastrophe models for Australia including simulation tools for the more frequent but less modelled perils such as bushfire, severe convective storm and low-pressure winter storm as well as tropical cyclone and earthquake. We provide consultative advice in the areas of catastrophe model development, model evaluation and reinsurance and risk management communications.

About QOMPLX

QOMPLX helps organizations make intelligent business decisions and better manage risk through our advanced, proprietary risk cloud. We are the leaders at rapidly ingesting, transforming, and contextualizing large, complex, and disparate data sources through our cloud-native data factory in order to help organizations better quantify, model, and predict risk. Our specialized experts and technology solutions in cybersecurity, insurance, and finance power leading global corporations and mission critical public sector agencies. For more information, visit qomplx.com and follow us @QOMPLX on Twitter. CONTACT:

James Faeh, Director of Corporate Communications

james.faeh@qomplx.com



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[June 28, 2021] RLDatix Acquires Allocate Software, Extending its Global Healthcare GRC Platform While Broadening its Footprint Around the World

RLDatix, the international leader in governance, risk and compliance (GRC) solutions for healthcare, announced today the acquisition of UK-based Allocate Software ("Allocate"), a leading provider of human capital management solutions that help healthcare organisations deliver safe and effective care. With this acquisition, RLDatix will combine its industry leading patient safety, risk, compliance and provider management capabilities with Allocate's leading workforce management solutions to further accelerate Applied Safety IntelligenceTM, the company's framework to shift healthcare from reactive risk management to proactive prevention. It will also cement RLDatix's position as the global innovator in healthcare GRC. COVID-19 has further highlighted the critical role that workforce management plays in healthcare, as physician burnout, staff shortages and complex staffing requirements significantly impact the delivery of care. Having the ability to rapidly deploy doctors, nurses, care staff, therapists, administrators and other front-line workers to areas where additional resourcing is required is critical to ensuring positive and life-saving patient outcomes. By bringing together Allocate's workforce management solutions and RLDatix's Best in KLAS GRC capabilities, healthcare delivery organisations will be better able to analyse staffing related issues and take corrective actions to mitigate future preventable harm. "With the acquisition of Allocate, RLDatix becomes the only organisation to combine workforce management with credentialing, peer review, patient safety and provider management to create a holistic view of how human capital factors directly impact patient care," said Jeff Surges, CEO, RLDatix. "In a time when ensuring the well-being of healthcare workers is more critical than ever, having the ability to identify, address and act upon workforce-related issues will help drive a culture of safety and high reliability across the continuum of care. We're thrilled to have Allocate join the RLDatix family and look forward to writing this new and exciting chapter in healthcare GRC." "We are very excited to join forces with RLDatix," said Nick Wilson, CEO, Allocate Software. "The link between patient safety, the welfare of staff and workforce technology is absolute. Over the coming years, providers of healthcare face ongoing workforce shortages alongside increasing demand for care. Together, we will positively impact how the workforce is planned, supported and deployed in a way that for the first time means it will be truly underpinned by patient safety and quality." Combined, RLDatix and Allocate have more than 5,000 customers in 26 countries. Each month, 1.2 million staff utilise Allocate solutions to manage their working lives, over 1.4 million temporary staff shifts are filled and ovr 8 million hours of nursing care is redeployed for safety-related purposes.



Worldwide, millions of people are protected by RLDatix software as they navigate the healthcare system, and as organisations shift towards high reliability, the company's expanding solution set will provide the data and analytics that drive actionable insights and overall improvement. This acquisition enables both organisations to better serve clients operationally and to support strategic initiatives across human capital management, patient & health worker safety, caring for caregivers, procurement and more.

RLDatix and Allocate have over 1,400 staff across the United Kingdom, the United States, the Republic of Ireland, Canada, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Sweden and North Macedonia. With people and patients at the core of each company's missions, they will transform how healthcare organisations drive safer, better care for all. "It has been our privilege to support the RLDatix team on this transformational transaction," said Vivek Kumar, Partner at Five Arrows Principal Investments. "Our journey of helping RLDatix evolve from a UK-based risk management software business to become the leading global player in the healthcare GRC space has been inspiring." "The RLDatix / Allocate combination will lead to a global healthcare GRC platform which will enable Jeff and his team to play a meaningful role in transforming the industry for the benefit of all customers," added Reid Perper, CIO, Five Arrows Capital Partners. "We are honoured to have supported the impressive growth of RLDatix over the past three years in partnership with Jeff and the RLDatix management team," said Naveen Wadhera, Managing Director at TA. "The acquisition of Allocate creates a market leading GRC platform serving the global healthcare provider market, and we are excited to continue our partnership as the combined companies enter this exciting next phase of their evolution," added Ethan Liebermann, Managing Director at TA. The transaction is pending final approvals which will be completed in the coming weeks. About RLDatix RLDatix is on a mission to change healthcare. We help organisations drive safer, more efficient care by providing governance, risk and compliance tools that drive overall improvement and safety. Our suite of cloud-based software helps organisations report on adverse events, reduce healthcare-acquired infections and ensure patient safety learnings are implemented across the continuum of care. With over 4,500 customers in 19 countries, RLDatix software protects hundreds of millions of patients around the world. RLDatix is controlled by Five Arrows and TA Associates as major shareholders. For more information, visit www.rldatix.com. About Allocate Software Allocate Software is a leading international provider of Human Capital Management solutions, supporting the operational and administrative needs of health, care, defence and commercial sectors. In the health and care sector, Allocate is enabling the delivery of safe and effective care at optimal cost, by helping organisations to have the right people in the right place at the right time. With over 800 clients and over two million staff rostered daily, Allocate serves the largest public and private sector institutions around the world. Allocate Software is headquartered in the United Kingdom, with nearly 700 employees, including over 200 in research, development, and product management functions. It provides services and support to its international customer base through regional offices in the UK, Sweden, Germany and Australia. For more information, visit www.allocatesoftware.com. About Five Arrows Five Arrows Principal Investments (FAPI) and Five Arrows Capital Partners (FACP), together "Five Arrows", are part of the corporate private equity arm of Rothschild & Co's Merchant Banking business which manages over 16bn. Five Arrows is focused on investing in middle-market companies with highly defensible market positions; strong management teams; business models with high visibility of organic unit volume growth and strong free cash flow conversion; and multiple operational levers that can be used to unlock latent value. Sectors are limited to data and software, technology-enabled business services and healthcare. For more information visit: www.rothschildandco.com/en/merchant-banking/corporate-private-equity. About TA Associates TA is a leading global growth private equity firm. Focused on targeted sectors within five industries - technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer, and business services - the firm invests in profitable, growing companies with opportunities for sustained growth, and has invested in more than 535 companies around the world. Investing as either a majority or minority investor, TA employs a long-term approach, utilizing its strategic resources to help management teams build lasting value in high-quality growth companies. TA has raised $47.5 billion in capital since its founding in 1968 and is committing to new investments at the pace of over $3 billion per year. The firm's more than 100 investment professionals are based in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai, and Hong Kong. More information about TA can be found at www.ta.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005742/en/

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[June 28, 2021] Rockwell Automation Names Cyril Perducat as New Chief Technology Officer

Rockwell Automation (News - Alert) , Inc. (NYSE:ROK), the world's largest company dedicated to industrial automation and digital transformation, announced today that Cyril Perducat has joined the company and will be named senior vice president and Chief Technology Officer on July 1. He will report to Rockwell Chairman and CEO Blake Moret. Perducat joins Rockwell following a 25-year career with Schneider Electric (News - Alert) , where he most recently served as executive vice president, Internet of Things and Digital Offers. Perducat has had an extensive career as a technology strategist, particularly for systems, software, networks, and solutions businesses. "Cyril brings to Rockwell a passion for innovating and building teams, and a drive for implementing successful outcomes based on effective change management," Moret said. "His career has focused on developing innovative solutions to enhance manufacturing technologies, and we are confident his leadership will help Rockwell reach new levels of value for our customers and partners." "Rockwell has been an industry leader and innovator for decades," said Perducat. "The company's innovative team of technologists are focused on growing its already broad technology offering and expanding what is possible in the industrial automation space." Prducat succeeds Sujeet Chand, who recently announced his retirement. Chand has served as Rockwell's Chief Technology Officer since 2005 and has held various leadership positions during his more than 35 years at the company. Chand was most recently responsible for leading Rockwell's technical innovation, common architecture development, company-wide technical talent management, and global business development with its ecosystem of strategic alliances and partnerships. He will work closely with Perducat until he retires at the end of the calendar year.



"Sujeet's distinguished career with the company has positioned Rockwell Automation as a leader in industrial automation and digital transformation," said Moret. "Sujeet's contributions to our product and technology evolution, intellectual property portfolio, and strategic partnerships cannot be overstated. The board and I wish him and his family the very best in his retirement." About Rockwell Automation

Rockwell Automation Inc. (NYSE: ROK) is a global leader in industrial automation and digital transformation. We connect the imaginations of people with the potential of technology to expand what is humanly possible, making the world more productive and more sustainable. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Rockwell Automation employs approximately 24,000 problem solvers dedicated to our customers in more than 100 countries. To learn more about how we are bringing the Connected Enterprise to life across industrial enterprises, visit www.rockwellautomation.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005001/en/

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[June 28, 2021] Schneider Electric completes investment in Operation Technology, Inc. ("ETAP") to spearhead smart and green electrification

- Takes a controlling stake in the business - Delivers a combined digital offering that: - Streamlines increasingly complex mission-critical power systems

- Accelerates and improves integration of renewables, microgrids, fuel cells and battery storage technologies into the power grid

- Paves the way for green data centers, resilient power grids, decarbonized transport and energy generation

- Reduces electricity grid CapEx by up to 20% through improved design and performance

- Assures ETAP operations as an independent software-agnostic vendor RUEIL-MALMAISON, France, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Further to the announcement made on 16th November 2020, Schneider Electric, the global leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, announces that it has successfully completed the transaction to purchase a controlling stake in Operation Technology Inc. ("ETAP"). ETAP will be consolidated within the Energy Management business. ETAP is an energy management & engineering solutions company specializing in modelling, simulation, design, planning, monitoring, control, operator training, optimization, and automation of power systems. ETAP's integrated digital-twin platform offers the best comprehensive suite of enterprise solutions. As the only high-impact software in its class, ETAP has been a market and technology leader for over 35 years, providing the most comprehensive and widely-used enterprise solutions trusted by 10,000+ companies ranging from, generation, transmission, distribution, industrial, transportation, data centers to low-voltage power systems. The ETAP investment completes Schneider's existing software portfolio for electricity power systems. Its technology will be integrated in Schneider's unique cloud-based platform for the design and operation of mission-critical power systems using vendor-agnostic software-driven modelling, design, real-time predictive simulation and operation solutions. This will help deliver end-to-end lifecycle digitalization and bring enhanced efficiency, sustainability and resiliency to a broader audience and customer base. Global customers and partners across critical process and hybrid industries, power plants and grids, data centers, railways and airports will benefit from enhanced modelling, design and predictive maintenance capabilities, supporting better integration of renewables, microgrids, fuel cells and battery storage technology. A more efficient and low carbo future starts with smart design



By 2040, the world of electricity will be profoundly different: the share of electricity in everything we do will double, reaching at least 40 percent of final energy consumption; and six times more electricity will be generated from solar and wind (Source: IEA). Electrical distribution systems must digitize to support the energy transition. The combined solution will help improve power system performance from modelling, to design, to operations to drive improved grid asset performance, saving up to 20 percent in Total Capital Expenditure (CapEx). Driving end-to-end lifecycle digitalization in its end markets

By digitally streamlining complex mission-critical systems, the joint Schneider Electric and ETAP offering will: Maximize the power system production process through standardized vendor-agnostic and application-specific design templates, digital twin-enabled data models and product libraries

Protect operational staff and equipment from arc flash, overvoltage and overheating

Improve system uptime, anticipate failures and protect critical loads through preventative and predictive maintenance

Facilitate the addition of renewables, microgrids, fuel cells and battery storage technologies The integration of Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure Power Design platform and ETAP's electrical software design solutions will extend their reach across multi-vendor operating platforms to millions of connected assets across energy-intensive and mission critical power systems applications. Following the Group's recent strategic investment in IGE+XAO and ALPI, this further enhances Schneider Electric's unique digital twin and software capabilities in Power, Grid, and mission-critical sectors, driving sustainability, efficiency, and resiliency across the lifecycle from CapEx to OpEx. ETAP will continue to operate as an agnostic, independent software vendor, while its solutions will strengthen Schneider Electric's position as a major player in electrical design, operations & maintenance. Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Chairman & CEO Schneider Electric, said: "We are delighted to welcome the ETAP team on board. We share a passion for the digitalization of electrical design and the streamlining of every stage in the electrical installation life cycle, from design and build, to operate and maintain. Both of our companies are preparing for a world that will be smart and green, by becoming increasingly digital and electric. By joining forces with ETAP, we are entering a new chapter of advanced electrical distribution, with more digitalization on a global scale, and new tools to empower our customers and partners to make informed decisions and reach new levels of efficiency and sustainability.'' Dr. Farrokh Shokooh, Founder and CEO at ETAP, commented: "We are extremely pleased to join Schneider Electric, a trusted and respected global company. We are energized by the synergies that will bring the technologies and expertise of ETAP and Schneider together to serve our customers. Now, ETAP is even better positioned to offer an intelligent electrical digital twin platform with integrated solutions to support our customers across multiple industries in accelerating productivity and increasing efficiency for planning, automation, operation, optimization, and management of their power systems." About Schneider Electric Schneider's purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On. Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency. We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries. We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values. Discover Life Is On Follow us on: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Blog Hashtags: #SmartGrids #ResilientPowerSystems #AllElectricWorld Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1552392/Schneider_Electric.jpg

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[June 28, 2021] Senseonics Announces Presentation of PROMISE Data at the American Diabetes Association 81st Scientific Sessions

Senseonics Holdings, Inc. (NYSE American: SENS), a medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of the first and only long-term, implantable continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system for people with diabetes, today announced further presentation of PROMISE Study data evaluating the next generation Eversense CGM System at the American Diabetes Association Virtual 81st Annual Scientific Sessions. The data evaluating the safety and accuracy of the next generation Eversense system was presented by Satish Garg, MD, Professor of Medicine at the Barbara Davis Center of the University of Colorado, Denver, and the PROMISE study group Principal Investigator (PI). The Company presented previously released information demonstrating performance matching that of the current 90-day sensor available in the United States, with reduced calibration, down to one per day, with duration extended to 180 days. Accuracy measurements discussed in the oral presentation include a mean absolute relative difference (MARD) of 9.1% for the primary sensor and confirmed hypoglycemia alert detection rates at 60 mg/dL of 87% and at 70 mg/dL of 93%. For the subset of 43 modified sensors (referred to as the SBA sensor), the MARD was 8.5% and the confirmed hypo alert detection rates at 60 mg/dL and 70 mg/dL were 90% and 94%, respectively. The Eversense CGM System consists of a fluorescence-based sensor, a smart transmitter worn over the sensor to facilitate data communication, and a mobile app for displaying glucosevalues, trends and alerts. In addition to featuring the first long-term and first implantable CGM sensor, the system is also first to feature a smart transmitter that provides wearers with discreet on-body vibratory alerts for high and low glucose and can be removed, recharged and re-attached to the skin without discarding the sensor.



More information on the Eversense system is available at www.eversensediabetes.com and physicians, nurse practitioners or physician assistants interested in learning more about the Eversense CGM System for their patients can contact 844-SENSE4U (844-736-7348). About Eversense

The Eversense Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) System is indicated for continually measuring glucose levels in persons age 18 and older with diabetes for up to 90 days. The system is indicated for use to replace fingerstick blood glucose (BG) measurements for diabetes treatment decisions in the US. Fingerstick BG measurements are still required for calibration twice per day, and when symptoms do not match CGM information or when taking medications of the tetracycline class. The sensor insertion and removal procedures are performed by a health care provider. The Eversense CGM System is a prescription device; patients should talk to their health care provider to learn more. For important safety information, see https://eversensediabetes.com/safety-info/. About Senseonics Senseonics Holdings, Inc. is a medical technology company focused on the design, development and commercialization of transformational glucose monitoring products designed to help people with diabetes confidently live their lives with ease. Senseonics' CGM systems, Eversense and Eversense XL, include a small sensor inserted completely under the skin that communicates with a smart transmitter worn over the sensor. The glucose data are automatically sent every 5 minutes to a mobile app on the user's smartphone. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005140/en/

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[June 28, 2021] SimpleLegal Introduces SimpleReview, Its New AI-Enabled Invoice Review Technology

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SimpleLegal , a modern legal operations software provider, today announced the availability of SimpleReview. The AI technology supports streamlined invoice review by analyzing, identifying, and highlighting billing errors. A hyper-focused invoice review process enables corporate legal teams to reinvest bandwidth into higher-impact work.

SimpleLegals AI models apply machine learning and natural language processing to understand the context of invoices and line items. The technology powering SimpleReview continuously learns with each data point it processes to reliably capture outside counsel billing guideline violations. The scope of law firm work for corporate legal departments often results in outside counsel invoices that can span hundreds of pages and thousands of line items. Billing guidelines and human review help catch charges that lie outside of outside counsel guidelines. However, the volume of work and different descriptions of similar services can prove challenging, giving AI an opportunity to locate additional non-compliant charges. SimpleReview is an easy-to-use tool thats been seamlessly integrated into our invoicing process. The AI-powered functionality accelerates review and frees up bandwidth for our busy counsel. We've quickly identified outside counsel billing violations that have yielded a significant amount of savings," said Eric Ortman, Senior Director of Legal Operations at BeiGene, a global biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing innovative medicines worldwide. SimpleReview supports SimpleLegals long-standing approach to keeping things simple. Our goal is to give attorneys the ability to conduct focused invoice review with a high degree of rior, said Mark Weidick, General Manager of SimpleLegal. SimpleReview streamlines the tedious task of reviewing invoices and allows attorneys to be diligent without burning out.



A Fundamental Data Advantage for SimpleReview Founded in 2013, SimpleLegal is the recognized leader in e-Billing and matter management, which positions the company with millions of data points that encompass a wide range of different legal billing scenarios.

Not all AI is created  or trained  the same. Insufficient training data results in less accuracy, more work, and lost savings for corporate legal departments. Thats not the case with SimpleReview. With more than $16 billion of historical invoice data, our AI model can experience the many intricacies of legal billing scenarios in the real world, said Shri Iyer, Vice President of Products and Design for SimpleLegal. A Commitment to Innovation The year has been one of recognition and innovation for SimpleLegal. Weve added some fantastic talent to our product team in the past six months, said Iyer, who was recently named to The Software Reports list of Top 25 Software Product Executives of 2021. The growth is part of our promise to drive continued value to our users and allows us to support new innovations like SimpleReview while enhancing our core product. In addition to launching its first AI-based legal invoice review feature, the company has won several awards. CIO Review named SimpleLegal one of the 20 Most Promising Legal Tech Solution Providers of 2021, and Mirror Reviews included SimpleLegal in its Top 10 Innovative Companies list. How to Learn More SimpleReview is now available for all SimpleLegal customers. For more information, contact sales@simplelegal.com or sign up for a demonstration . About SimpleLegal SimpleLegal provides a modern legal operations management platform that streamlines the way corporate legal departments manage their matters, track and interpret spend, and collaborate with vendors and law firms. SimpleLegal combines e-Billing and spend management, matter management, vendor management, and reporting and analytics into one comprehensive application to optimize legal operations and the management of the entire legal department. The company, founded in 2013, is privately held and located in Mountain View, California. For more information, visit www.simplelegal.com . SimpleLegal Media inquiries:

Melanie Brenneman

SimpleLegal PR

(713) 294-7857

Melanie.brenneman@simplelegal.com



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Tim Nisbet Joins The Vomela Companies as EVP Leading Network Sales and Marketing

The Vomela Companies, which designs and produces impactful visual communications, today announced that Tim Nisbet has joined Vomela as Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing & Business Development.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005084/en/





Tim Nisbet, Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing & Business Development at The Vomela Companies (Photo: Business Wire)

"We are excited to have Tim join our company," said Vomela President & CEO Mark Auth. "His experience in the industry paired with his sales and marketing leadership skills make him a great addition to Vomela as we continue our growth moving forward."

A veteran of graphic production, imaging technologies and branded environments, Tim Nisbet brings a global strategic perspective, process and supply chain acumen, along with a strong record of building shareholder value. His past senior sales leadership experience evolved from labelling solutions to the electronics markets, to digital workflow solutions in print-on-demand and book printing automation systems. "I am passionate about developing teams and building on the customer experience across all Vomela divisions," stated Nisbet.

Nisbet holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Iowa, is a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity and a resident of Barrington, IL.

The Vomela Companies

The Vomela Companies are a full-service specialty graphics provider capable of producing a wide variety of promotional, store decor, event, fleet, OEM, commercial, and transportation graphics. The company employs more than 1,100 people in 23 cities across the U.S. and Canada.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005084/en/
[June 28, 2021] Totogi launches world's most advanced charging system and BSS

- Charging engine achieves world's best performance benchmark of one million transactions per second - Usage-based pricing with free tier option for CSPs - Totogi will showcase at Mobile World Congress in CLOUD CITY AUSTIN, Texas, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Totogi , the company focused on building telco software for the public cloud, is today announcing the launch of Totogi Charging System, the first webscale real-time charging and plan design engines for telcos. Totogi is marking this launch by announcing it has achieved an industry-leading performance benchmark of handling one million transactions per second (TPS), with a commitment to doubling this figure every six months. Totogi is also announcing its new webscale BSS platform, which has achieved gold status with TM Forum as it supports 12 of the TM Forum Open Digital Architecture APIs, with plans to support the full set by the end of 2021. Operating in stealth mode until today, Totogi has purpose-built its charging and BSS systems specifically for the public cloud, meaning they can be accessed via the web without the need to install anything on-premise. With the public cloud, capacity and disaster recovery planning is eliminated as the system scales and fails over automatically. Being built on the public cloud also means Totogi offers all the cost benefits of the hyperscalers and expects the systems to be 80% lower TCO as compared to private cloud and on-premise systems. In an industry first, Totogi will offer usage-based pricing, starting with a free tier option for CSPs. There is no cost to use Totogi Charging System for up to five hundred million transactions er month and no cost to use Totogi BSS for up to five hundred million API calls per month. This tier level typically aligns with CSPs that have 250k or fewer subscribers.



Danielle Royston, CEO and Founder of TelcoDR , announced a $100 million investment in Totogi in May 2021. Royston will serve as acting CEO of Totogi to accelerate the next phase of the company's growth. Commenting on the launch of Totogi, Royston said: "Totogi represents everything I've been talking about over the past few years about the public cloud. Totogi is entering the market with a webscale platform that can do for telcos what Salesforce did for CRM in the early 2000s. The $100 million investment illustrates that this new startup has the capital and resources needed to build the most innovative telco software solution on the market, offering usage-based pricing our industry has been clamoring for."

"Totogi will enable telco executives to use their valuable network data to drive meaningful customer engagement to deliver customer love. I'm thrilled to act as CEO and help this great team to drive big change in the telco industry." Totogi is attending Mobile World Congress (MWC21) in Barcelona June 28-July 1, where the company will be an exhibitor within CLOUD CITY by TelcoDR . The 6,000 square meter space in Hall 2 (formerly occupied by Ericsson) will feature the most forward-looking, innovative providers of software built on the public cloud as well as those pioneering in Open RAN. Telecom executives can experience the future of telco by attending CLOUD CITY at MWC21 in-person and virtually, and can also book meetings directly with the Totogi team to learn more. About Totogi

Totogi is focused on building telco software for the public cloud and is completely redefining how carriers engage with their subscribers to drive customer love! Totogi's current offering provides CSPs with two solutions  Totogi Charging System and Totogi BSS. Totogi Charging System harnesses the power of the public cloud to deliver real-time, webscale charging with unmatched performance; intelligent plan design with nearly instantaneous deployment; and AI/ML-driven hyper-personalization at scale. Totogi BSS is the world's first pure cloud, webscale BSS that leverages TM Forum's Open APIs (all of them by the end of 2021!) to give carriers the agility and flexibility needed to drive more valuable subscriber engagement. The Totogi suite of products empower carriers to acquire new customers, boost NPS, reduce churn, and grow ARPU. Because Totogi products are 100% purpose-built for the public cloud, they deliver unparalleled value at an unbeatable, usage-based price (there's even a FREE TIER!). Learn more at totogi.com .

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[June 28, 2021] umlaut builds cutting edge 5G Open RAN campus network using C-Band Spectrum

AACHEN, Germany, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- umlaut, a global, cross-industry full-service company providing technology and organizational consulting and implementation services to customers around the world, is installing its first 5G campus network at its headquarters location in Aachen, Germany. This 5G standalone network uses 100 MHz of C-Band spectrum and leverages virtualized architecture to deliver flexibility and scalability. As announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the project is being done in collaboration with Airspan, a US-based provider of ground-breaking, disruptive software and hardware for 5G networks and a pioneer in end-to-end Open RAN solutions, Druid Software, a global leader in 4G/5G private cellular technology. The 5G campus network is to be a foundation for engineering studies and collaborative testing of a variety of pioneering applications in areas including logistics, manufacturing, health & life, utilities and many other industries arising from umlaut's and its customers' fields of activity. The advantage: teaming with umlaut, customers will have a well-defined, flexible set-up for realizing their application scenarios in conjunction with umlaut's end-to-end domain knowledge  and without the hassle or requirement to apply for a license and building their own network. For companies that do have the assets to build their own private network, they can still benefit from umlaut's services to help design, deploy, optimize and operate their network. They can train and familiarize themselves in private network management techniques and processes. Hakan Ekmen, Global CEO Telecommunication at umlaut, says: "We are proud that when it comes to 5G we are once again pioneers. With our 5G campus network, we can test a wide variety of industrial applications and scenarios which provide real value for our customers. e will provide them with tangible, reliable results to help them develop their 5G strategies and proof of concepts, in the perfect test environment, saving the cost of building and operating their own 5G test beds. umlaut will also support our customers in creating their own tailor-made environment from planning license application for network rollout, launch and optimization and managed operation of our clients' private networks."



Liam Kenny, CEO of Druid Software, commented on the announcement: "We are delighted to support umlaut as they pioneer 5G standalone capability for enterprise innovation in the German market. umlaut is ideally positioned with the enterprise slicing capabilities of the Druid RaemisTM 5G NGC and Airspan's ORAN solution to address the business-critical needs of Industry." "As a leader in 5G and Open RAN solutions, Airspan is well-positioned to take advantage of the expanded adoption of Open RAN technology and open architecture, and is working closely with other industry leaders, including umlaut, to enhance the ecosystem," said Airspan President and CEO Eric Stonestrom. "This private network solution leveraging our 5G and Open RAN expertise, software and hardware will help many enterprises develop and validate 5G use cases that will drive innovation."

Airspan will provide its end-to-end Open RAN suite of indoor and outdoor solutions, including software and hardware, as part of umlaut's disruptive network to validate multiple 5G use cases and applications related to private networks. Airspan was recognized last month with an award for excellence and innovation for the fourth consecutive year by the Small Cell Forum, for its groundbreaking work partnering with Rakuten Mobile and Qualcomm to power Rakuten's mobile network, which was recognized as the world's first fully-virtualized, software-driven mobile network leveraging millimeter wave (mmWave) Open RAN small cell architecture. umlaut has been awarded with a private 5G spectrum license with a bandwidth of 100 MHz in the so-called C-Band block. This largest possible spectrum assignment is meeting or even exceeding the requirements of all the test scenarios described and clearly paves the way into a digital era. umlaut recently published a white paper on C-Band Spectrum, available here: [https://www.umlaut.com/en/stories/umlaut-c-band-report-predicts-wireless-industry-enterprise-customer-revenue-to-surpass-consumer-revenue-on-5g-networks] Please find here the full press release. Media Contacts



Press Contact umlaut

Olaf Gerwig

Cell: +49 151 571 33 248

E-Mail: olaf.gerwig@umlaut.com



Press Office umlaut

CREAM COMMUNICATION

Bettina Leutner

T +49 40 40 113 10 10

press@umlaut.com



Airspan Investor Relations and Media Relations Contact

Howie Waterman

917-359-5505

hwaterman@airspan.com



Press Contact Druid Software

Tadhg Kenny

T +353 87 684 5146

Email: tkenny@druidsoftware.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/umlaut-builds-cutting-edge-5g-open-ran-campus-network-using-c-band-spectrum-301321198.html SOURCE umlaut

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[June 28, 2021] Vexus Fiber Announces Plans to Build New $200 Million Fiber Optic Broadband Network for the Rio Grande Valley Area of Texas.

LUBBOCK, Texas, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vexus Fiber, a leading fiber service provider in Texas, announced that it is bringing its 100% fiber-to-the-home network to the Rio Grande Valley area of Texas. Vexus Fiber will fully fund the network through capital investment, providing residents and businesses with multi-gigabit symmetrical speed Internet service and more. "Residents of the Rio Grande Valley will now have a new, competitive choice for internet, TV and phone services. Our network will be built with future-proof technology that will not only provide homes and businesses with multi-gigabit speeds but will also foster growth and economic development for the Rio Grande Valley region," said Jim Gleason, CEO of Vexus. "Demands on bandwidth are high in homes today. Activities such as working from home, online learning and multiple video streams mean residents need a network that delivers lightning-fast upload and download speeds. Vexus plans to bring both multi-gigabit speeds and great Texas-based customer service to the region." Vexus Fiber plans to begin construction by the end of the year and connect nearly 175,000 homes and businesses to its 100% fiber network. Completion of the network to the region is estimated to take about 36 months. Vexus service areas in the Rio Grande Valley will include Mission, McAllen, Edinburg, Harlingen, and surrounding areas with total investment in the region estimated to be around $200 million. Employment will include close to 200 construction jobs and 150 permanent jobs for the region. "We believe economic growth and prosperity are directly tied to a community's ability to reach gigacity status," adds Gleason. "Vexus is proud to bring 100% fiber internet with a superior infrastructure to the Rio Grande Valey."



This investment will help property values, increase employment opportunities and make the region more attractive for business investments, including startups and remote workers. This new infrastructure also increases opportunities for education, agriculture and healthcare while offering a critical service to residents. While the Rio Grande Valley is already an attractive location for businesses, gigabit broadband infrastructure should help make the area even more attractive for industry relocations. The Rio Grande Valley expansion is financed through existing Vexus Fiber investors, Pamlico Capital and Oak Hill Capital, who have agreed to invest additional equity as part of their ongoing commitment to Vexus' growth and the communities they serve. "Vexus Fiber continues to execute on the macro theme of providing alternatives to cities in Texas for high-speed internet," said Scott Baker of Oak Hill Capital. "With Vexus, residents can now enjoy high-tech internet with the same reliability and speed enjoyed by those in large metro areas."

Vexus Fiber currently operates fiber-to-the-home networks in Lubbock, Amarillo, Wichita Falls, Abilene, and surrounding areas in Texas, as well as Hammond, Covington and Mandeville areas in Louisiana. The company is also building new networks in Tyler and San Angelo, Texas. Residents and businesses that are interested in Vexus Fiber services can visit connect.vexusfiber.com to express interest and receive updates on construction. Typically, residents will receive communication via email and mail about activity in their neighborhood 30 days prior to construction. Additionally, Vexus plans to hire local management, sales, technical, and customer service professionals to support the area. For those interested in joining the Vexus Fiber team, visit vexusfiber.com/jobs . About Vexus

Vexus is a leading provider of fiber-based communications solutions for both residential and business customers across Texas and Louisiana. As a technology leader in the industry, Vexus Fiber offers an extensive range of internet connectivity over a true fiber-to-the-premises network. Services also include a robust HD Video platform, voice, TeleCloud services, and more. For more information, please visit vexusfiber.com. Vexus Fiber Contact: Kyle Alcorn 573-481-2732

Pamlico Capital Contact: Stuart Christhilf 704-404-7150

Oak Hill Capital Contact: Dawn Dover 917-349-5621

For inquiries email: media@vexusfiber.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vexus-fiber-announces-plans-to-build-new-200-million-fiber-optic-broadband-network-for-the-rio-grande-valley-area-of-texas-301320461.html SOURCE Vexus Fiber

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[June 27, 2021] Nium and Pelikin Partnership Enables Seamless Digital Financial Services to Millions of Global Travellers

MELBOURNE, Australia, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With the travel industry poised for a big recovery post COVID-19, airlines, and online travel agencies (OTAs) are actively transforming their technologies and processes in anticipation. For new partners Pelikin and Nium, FinTech plays a central role in this recovery, and it starts with the ability to issue travel cards that can be used around the world. Integrating Pelikin's industry-first 'travel super app' with Nium's next-generation financial services platform, the partners are committed to enabling access to a network of financial services for millions, to achieve a common vision of seamless and digital travel experiences for the future. Through the Nium platform, Pelikin can quickly deploy new financial services from card issuance to cross-border payments, and it is this level of scalability that has allowed Pelikin to go-to-market and expand global reach quickly and cost-effectively. Frederick Crosby, Chief Revenue Officer at Nium, said, "The travel industry is swiftly moving away from slow-moving payment platforms to next-generation solutions that empower end consumers to take control over their finances, wherever they are in the world. Through this partnership with Pelikin, we are proud to bring this vision to life." The partnership has already borne frui for Pelikin who chose to work with Nium, in part, because their advanced platform facilitates Pelikin's plans to scale into new markets. By leveraging Nium's technology, Pelikin are now able to issue virtual and physical travel cards to Australian travelers. Cards are available for use immediately and can be used in over 100 global markets, wherever you see the Visa acceptance mark. The cards are managed through Pelikin's travel super app and facilitated by Nium's transformative financial technology.



Anthony Jones, Head of Innovation and Partnerships for Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, Visa, said: "As travel corridors begin to open up, seamless digital payment experiences will be more important than ever. At Visa, we're excited to see these two local fintechs join forces to drive innovation in the travel sector and deliver new solutions to support its recovery." Pelikin has proven to be a disruptor in the travel industry. Adding a partner like Nium, who can improve cash flow economics throughout the global economy, cements Pelikin's status as a go-to super app, ultimately making it easier and more convenient for travelers to manage travel money, multi-currency, and multi-spend wallets.

Describing what the partnership means to them, Pelikin CEO Sam Brown has said, "Working alongside Nium helps us here at Pelikin in our guiding mission to change the way Aussie travelers manage their money overseas. We're thrilled that together we can take the lead towards industry recovery." About Pelikin: The Pelikin app includes a multi-currency mobile wallet and Prepaid Pelikin Visa Card that can be used by solo or group travellers to manage shared expenses, transfer money instantly and spend in 150+ currencies at more than 40 million Visa merchants worldwide. Pelikin helps travellers plan, book and manage every aspect of their overseas adventures. Based in Melbourne, Victoria, the company's goal is to become the 'Amazon' of travel to bring millions of travellers a full travel discovery platform that adds value to them beyond a single trip. For more, visit: www.pelikin.co or email hello@pelikinmoney.com About Nium: Nium is a next-generation financial services platform that enables companies around the world to unlock new revenue opportunities and improve cash flow economics. Nium is a leader in its geographical and payment service breadth, owning licenses in the world's largest and fastest-growing economies. Our modular platform allows banks, payment providers, travel companies, and other businesses to collect and disburse funds in local currencies to over 100 countries, plus issue physical and virtual cards globally. Our proprietary set of APIs embeds financial services and can bring to life multiple B2B and B2C use cases in a matter of weeks. Nium is part of CB Insights Fintech 250, which highlights the most promising Fintech companies globally. Today, Nium serves over 130 million customers and enables platforms to provide access to financial services to over 3 billion people across the world. For more about Nium, visit nium.com SOURCE Nium

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[June 27, 2021] GreenCo Launches New Tools in Response to the Megatrend of Making Fund Sustainable

HONG KONG, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- GreenCo has introduced new digital assessment and management tools to respond to the megatrend of sustainable funds. In the wake of burgeoning developments in green finance, more and more global business leaders, investors and regulators are requesting for greater actions on sustainability. While there are many rating services in the market, GreenCo's new solutions focus on providing tailored-made models for fund managers who face challenges in integrating ESG into decision-making. GreenCo's solutions enable fund managers to keep up with the shift by building a strategic framework and climate risk management policy. Taking further steps to establish evaluation tools and adopt proactive approach to integrate ESG factors can also be a tactical strategy for fund managers to expand business network and be socially friendly. GreenCo, as an ESG solution provider in Hong Kong focusing on developing fund manager friendly solutions, assists fund managers to develop a firm-level ESG policy and disclose climate related risks. Since having a basic or comprehensive ESG policy alone is not enough to satisfy prevailing market expectations, in addition to policy development, GreenCo also provides concrete solutions for ongoing ESG evaluation and integration. Max Tsang, Director of GreenCo, aims to provide customised ESG support to fund managers. He says, "We all know and support Sustainalytics, Robeco, MSCI ESG Rating, Refinitiv, FactSet, Bloomberg etc. in promoting ESG intelligence. All of them are reputable rating and scoring solution providers. Nevertheless, their coverage still focuses on sizable public companies. Fund managers and analysts still face the challenges of limited rating and score benchmark for small and medium sized public companies and private company or projects. On the other hand, many fund managers want to involve in setting scoring algorithm and criteria included in the evaluation process. Through GreenCo, fund managers can have full control on the evaluation mechanism tailor-made for their funds. This allows them to balance and consider opinion from their stakeholders." The first tool, ESG Performance Evaluaion Tool, captures the principal sustainability impacts of investment decisions on ESG factors, as well as developing policies of integrating sustainability risks into decision-making processes. Fund managers can quantify the environmental, social and corporate governance characteristics of products, while performing accurate and timely benchmarking against self-selected comparable companies from various sustainability dimensions. Through our ESG evaluation tool, it is possible for fund managers to build up their own in-house scoring and rating tool.



The second tool, Corporate Carbon Management Tool, is a digital platform where fund managers can easily calculate and evaluate carbon footprint in a scientific manner. Fund managers who assess the carbon performance of investee companies for active engagement, analyse its portfolio's exposure to carbon-intensive companies through Weighted Average Carbon Intensity (WACI), or build plans and goals for addressing climate-related risks as part of governance processes, can automatically obtain an overview of the GHG profile. Moving forward, fund managers can positively influence the emission targets of the investee companies. Tom Liu, Principal Consultant of GreenCo, has been dedicated to modelling a customised system that can effectively address the ESG risks in fund management and disclosure. He said, "The world is increasingly faced with the catastrophic and unpredictable consequences of climate change, resource depletion and a range of sustainability-related issues, which are posing short-, medium- and often long-term threats to businesses. While sustainable finance is widely advocated by international organisations and business initiatives nowadays, the most urgent action should start from mobilising the capital to facilitate the change towards sustainable development and shift global financial flows away from nature-negative outcomes towards nature-positive outcomes. This, however, requires asset managers to set up and implement a robust ESG policy framework and professional tools for sustainability impact quantification."

Latest Global Development in Green Finance On 29 October 2020, Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published its Consultation Paper on the Management and Disclosure of Climate-related Risks by Fund Managers, in which SFC proposed new mandatory requirements for Hong Kong fund managers of collective investment schemes (CIS) around climate-related risks, as an action to address the implications of climate change and in response to the strategic framework announced in 2018 to support the development of green finance in Hong Kong. The proposed requirements and transition periods will be subject to the outcome of the Consultation conclusions. In Europe, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) imposed mandatory ESG disclosure obligations for all financial market participants and financial advisors in the European Union with substantive provisions of the regulation effective from 10 March 2021 for entity level disclosure on Level 1. Product level disclosure (Level 2) will be required from 1 January 2022. For more information, please please refer to the link of the pdf document: https://greenco-esg.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/GreenCo-Business-Brochure_ESG-Advisory-Support-for-Fund.pdf More About GreenCo: GreenCo is a boutique ESG advisory firm providing ESG reporting, policy advisory, digital ESG evaluation solution and other strategic ESG integration solutions to public companies and enterprises looking for ESG integration. GreenCo has served over 60 public companies across different sectors. GreenCo has established international alliance with security firms, NGOs, accounting firms and asset managers for ongoing research and development in ESG solutions. www.greenco-esg.com SOURCE GreenCo ESG Advisory Limited

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[June 28, 2021] Philippines' Voyager Innovations Secures US$167 M for PayMaya Expansion Into Financial Services, Digital Banking

Voyager Innovations ("Voyager" or the "Company"), the leading technology company in the Philippines, announced that it raised US$167 million to fast-track financial inclusion in the Philippines through its financial technology arm, PayMaya Philippines ("PayMaya"). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210627005080/en/ Participating in the funding were existing shareholders PLDT (News - Alert) Inc. ("PLDT") (NYSE: PHI) (PSE: TEL), the Philippines' largest integrated telecommunications company and leading digital services provider; KKR, a global investment firm; and Tencent, a leading technology company in China. Voyager welcomed IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund, a fund managed by the IFC Asset Management Company ("IFC AMC"), as a new investor. IFC AMC is a division of the International Finance Corporation ("IFC"), a member of the World Bank Group, and an existing investor in Voyager. The fundraising marks another milestone for Voyager after having successfully grown PayMaya's mobile wallet, payments processing, and digital remittance businesses. Voyager is now leveraging this unique ecosystem to expand into digital banking for the next phase of its mission to improve financial inclusion in the Philippines. Towards this end, it applied for a digital bank license with the country's central bank, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ("BSP"). Voyager will use the new funds to expand its PayMaya services and to continue enabling more unbanked and underserved individuals and MSMEs with new and inclusive products, such as credit, insurance, savings, and investments, through a soon-to-be-established digital bank. Once granted a digital bank license by the BSP, the new entity will provide mobile-first, low-cost, round-the-clock, frictionless, branchless, ubiquitous, paperless, secure, and smart neo-banking services on the back of PayMaya's proven technology platforms. Orlando B. Vea, Voyager and PayMaya CEO-Founder, said: "We have seen a quantum leap for digital payments adoption in the Philippines over the past year, and PayMaya has served as the nexus connecting consumers and enterprises with enriching digital finance experiences. This investment supports the unique value we bring and gives us a natural head start with the target market for the digital banking service." Shailesh Baidwan, Voyager and PayMaya President, said: "As we did with payments and remittances, we will enable the large masses of Filipinos to leapfrog into a new stage of financial inclusion through integrated digital financial services. Our goal is to continue making lives better for millions of underserved people and small businesses, with cutting edge solutions that are affordable and relevant." PayMaya has continually led the charge in fostering deeper adoption of digital payments across consumers, enterprises, and government, hitting crucial milestones despite COVID-19 quarantine measures imposed starting March 2020. These milestones include the strong consumer adoption of its PayMaya mobile wallet and Smart Padala by PayMaya remittance services. Total registered users for these consumer platforms doubled in just 18 months as of June 2021 to 38 million, or more than half of the adult population in the Philippines. PayMaya has also made it easier for Filipinos - whether banked or unbanked - to add money, cash out, make payments, and remit funds through more than 250,000 digital-finance access touchpoints, seven times the number of the ATMs and bank branches in the country. This expanded access is significant for an archipelagic nation where 33% of cities and municipalities do not have any banking presence. Combining the power of its enterprise and consumer businesses, PayMaya is spurring digital commerce in the Philippines through its PayMaya Mall, an in-app feature directly connecting over 350 enabled merchants to retail consumers. Its enterprise business saw exceptional growth, posting a four-fold increase in merchant acceptance points equipped with innovative payment solutions that accept credit, debit, and prepaid cards, as well as e-wallets, for both face-to-face and online transactions. Fueling this jump is the micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises ("MSMEs") segment, the focus of PayMaya's rollout for innovative payment and financial services. Aside from enabling the payment acceptance for the largest e-Commerce, food, retail, and gas merchants in the Philippines, PayMaya equips over 70 national and social services agencies and local government units with digital payments and disbursement services. It i also the first financial technology company to adopt QR Ph, the national standard for merchant payments.



In January this year, PayMaya began expanding its digital financial services offerings with "sachet" loans for MSMEs through its lending arm, PayMaya Lending Corp., and health and device protection products with insurance partners. PayMaya introduced its first lending product called Negosyo Advance last January among its 40,000-strong Smart Padala agent network--the most extensive network for domestic remittance and adjacent financial services in the country. Smart Padala agents are typically micro-entrepreneurs in communities who need short-term working capital loans for their day-to-day businesses.

With insurance partners, PayMaya offers PayMaya Protect for health coverage, starting with COVID-19 and personal accidents. It also offers protection for mobile devices, with premiums that can cost less than Php1 (US$0.02)1 daily for cracked screens, water damage, and other incidents. PayMaya built this digital financial services expansion on the back of its strong consumer and enterprise payments businesses. It vastly deepens PayMaya's ecosystem with innovative digital- and mobile-first financial services that are accessible, affordable, and relevant to Filipino consumers and enterprises today. PayMaya will introduce other innovative services catering to underserved segments this year. In the Philippines, only one in three Filipino adults has a formal bank account and has loans. Of those who have loans, only 3% have borrowed from banks, and more than 77% and 75% of the population do not have insurance and investments, respectively.2 The country's central bank aims to digitalize 50% of the total volume of retail payments and expand the financially included to 70% of Filipino adults by 2023. Voyager's latest fundraising underscores its leadership and its ability to continue growing an inclusive, sustainable, and diversified business that addresses the entire Philippines' digital financial services market. This investment includes US$121 million in fresh funding and US$46 million from previously committed funds. KKR makes its investment from its Asia private equity fund. IFC Emerging Asia Fund, a fund managed by IFC AMC, is also an investor in Voyager. 1USD 1 = Php 48.8 2Based on the BSP 2019 Financial Inclusion Survey ABOUT VOYAGER INNOVATIONS AND PAYMAYA PHILIPPINES Voyager Innovations, Inc. is the leading technology company in the Philippines, focused on customer-centric emerging market platforms for digital and financial inclusion. Its financial technology arm, PayMaya Philippines (PayMaya), uniquely provides integrated digital financial services platforms that cuts across consumers, merchants, communities, and government. PayMaya provides more than 38 million Filipinos with access to financial services through its consumer platforms. Customers can conveniently pay, add money, cash out or remit through its over 250,000 digital touchpoints nationwide. Its Smart Padala by PayMaya network of over 40,000 partner agent touchpoints nationwide serves as last-mile digital financial hubs in communities, providing the unbanked and underserved access to digital services. Through its enterprise business, it is the largest digital payments processor for key industries in the country, including "every day" merchants such as the largest retail, food, gas, and eCommerce merchants, as well as government agencies and units. To know more about PayMaya's products and services, visit www.PayMaya.com or follow @PayMayaOfficial on Facebook (News - Alert) , Twitter, and Instagram. ABOUT PLDT PLDT is the Philippines' largest integrated telco company. Through its principal business groups--fixed line and wireless--PLDT offers a wide range of telecommunications and digital services across the Philippines' most extensive fiber optic backbone and fixed line, and mobile network. PLDT is listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE: TEL) and its American Depositary Shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:PHI). PLDT has one of the largest market capitalizations among Philippine listed companies. Further information can be obtained by visiting the web at www.pldt.com. ABOUT KKR KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management and capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR's insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of The Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKR's investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR's website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter (News - Alert) @KKR_Co. ABOUT TENCENT Tencent uses technology to enrich the lives of Internet users. Our communication and social services, Weixin and QQ, connect users with each other and with digital content and services, both online and offline, making their lives more convenient. Our targeted advertising service helps advertisers reach out to hundreds of millions of consumers in China. Our FinTech and business services support our partners' business growth and assist their digital upgrade. Tencent invests heavily in talent and technological innovation, actively promoting the development of the Internet industry. Tencent was founded in Shenzhen, China, in 1998. Shares of Tencent (00700.HK) are listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. For more information about Tencent, please visit www.tencent.com. ABOUT IFC IFC-a member of the World Bank Group-is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In fiscal year 2020, we invested $22 billion in private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit www.ifc.org. ABOUT IFC ASSET MANAGEMENT COMPANY IFC Asset Management Company (AMC), a division of IFC, mobilizes and manages capital to invest in businesses in developing and frontier markets. Created in 2009, AMC provides leading institutional investors with unique access to IFC's emerging markets investment pipeline and investment expertise, while providing positive development impact in the countries in which it invests. AMC funds' investors include sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and development-finance institutions. It has raised approximately $10 billion across 13 investment funds covering equity, debt, and fund-of-fund products. For more information, visit www.ifcamc.org View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210627005080/en/

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[June 28, 2021] ESSS 2021 Virtual Conference Brings Embedded Community to the Forefront

Over 1500 People Joined Online for a Day of Talks, Technology Demonstrations, and Networking BENGALURU, India, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 1500 embedded community members joined the sixth edition of the Embedded Safety & Security Summit held virtually this month. That is a significant increase compared to the attendance of previous ESSS in-person events, demonstrating the expanding need to employ the latest technologies and methodologies to ensure the safety and security of future-ready embedded systems. With a theme of "empowering the development of safe & secure embedded systems," the first virtual ESSS featured a keynote roundtable discussion, "Next-Gen Technologies: Safety and Security Implications." This was followed by 20 sessions divided into four industry tracks: Aerospace & Defence, Automotive, Industrial and Medical. The sessions featured 29 speakers from leading organizations and committees across the globe. ESSS 2021 session presentation videos will be available on the Embedded Safety & Security (ESSS) YouTube channel in the coming weeks. Ian Hennell, Operations Director, LDRA, welcomed the attendees, which included representatives from multiple industries, regulatorary agencies, and government bodies: "We chose to launch the virtual edition of the ESSS conference because we need to be resilient in these unprecedented times. Due to the paradigm shift in how we live and work, using technologies thatenable remote collaboration, safety and security has become paramount."



The highly interactive virtual platform gave the attendees a unique online event experience. The platform included discussion halls for each industry track, a partner lobby, and a dedicated networking zone. In addition, a gamification feature encouraged attendees to earn points by exploring all areas of the event. The partner lobby included the latest product and technical information from leaders in safe and secure future-ready embedded systems. Attendees were able to initiate a chat, call, and even do a video call with booth managers, ensuring that the networking opportunities were on par with an in-person event. "Our goal this year was to design a platform that enables embedded enthusiasts worldwide to participate and access information from the safety of their homes," said Shinto Joseph, Director - Southeast Operations, LDRA and ESSS moderator. "It was such a pleasure to interact and listen to industry experts from different domains who made the event possible. Each session echoed the theme of developing safe and secure embedded systems."

The sixth edition of the Embedded Safety & Security Summit (ESSS) 2021 was supported by Green Hills Software as platinum partner, ETAS as automotive track partner; TASKING and Ansys as gold partners and Kovair as a silver partner. Major industry bodies and association such as IEEE SA, IESA, SIATI, ASDC, ISA Pune, SEA and MedTech participated as supporting partners. Visit https://www.embedded-safety-security.com/ for more information. Follow @ESSSUMMIT on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook to stay tuned about the next edition. About ESSS Focusing on the safety and security aspects of critical embedded systems, the Embedded Safety & Security Summit (ESSS) is an event designed for the embedded community to learn, share, and collaborate on next-generation technologies and the latest methodologies for ensuring the safety & security of future-ready embedded systems. LDRA drives this successful initiative with support from partners, clients, industrial & professional bodies, and government agencies. Learn more at www.embedded-safety-security.com.

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[June 28, 2021]

Volante Technologies Continues Winning Streak by Coming First in the 2021 IBS Intelligence Sales League Table (SLT) for Wholesale Banking Payments

NEW YORK and LONDON and DUBAI, UAE and MEXICO CITY, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Volante Technologies , the global leader in cloud payments and financial messaging, today announced it has topped the IBS Intelligence Sales League Table (SLT) in wholesale banking payments.

The IBS Intelligence Sales League Table (SLT) is a widely accepted annual benchmarking exercise conducted by IBS Intelligence that ranks global banking technology supplier-systems based on the number of new customer contracts signed in a given calendar year. The ranking is used by banks to help validate performance on a global scale.

The results show that in 2020, more financial institutions trusted their payments modernisation to Volante than to any other provider. Volante accounted for 47% of all new wholesale banking payments solution implementations for the year, more than the three nearest competitors combined, across all geographic regions and customer types. Organisations like Goldman Sachs , Poste Italiane , PostePay , First American Trust , and Banorte selected Volante as their payments modernisation partner for real-time/instant payments , cross-border payments , ISO 20022 migration , and cloud Payments as a Service .







Vijay Oddiraju, CEO of Volante Technologies, said, "Last year we were ranked as a global leader in wholesale payments, so we are truly delighted to win the category this year outright. Coming first in the IBSI SLT is a great way to continue our winning streak, having recently won recognition from Banking Technology's MEA Finance as the Most Innovative Payment Solutions Provider, and CFI.CO's 2021 Award for Best Payments and Financial Messaging Solution ."

Oddiraju continued, "I would like to take this opportunity to thank our incredibly talented teams across the world and our customers and partners for trusting us and choosing Volante for their strategic initiatives and long term partnerships."

Robin Amlot, Managing Editor, IBS Intelligence, said, "We congratulate Volante Technologies for the achievement in ranking #1 for its VolPay payments ecosystem in the closely fought category of Payment Systems | Wholesale in the annual IBSI Sales League Table 2021. The company also performed strongly in the InsurTech category. In a year like no other, Volante Technologies has again demonstrated the high quality of its services and solutions."

To access a copy of the IBSI Sales League Table, please download it here.

About Volante Technologies

Volante Technologies is the leading global provider of cloud payments and financial messaging solutions to accelerate digital transformation. We serve as a trusted partner to over 100 banks, financial institutions, market infrastructures, clearing houses, and corporate treasuries in 35 countries. Our solutions and services process millions of transactions and trillions in value every day, powering four of the top five corporate banks, 40 percent of all U.S. commercial bank deposits, and 70 percent of worldwide card traffic. As a result, our customers can stay ahead of emerging trends, become more competitive, deliver superior client experiences, and grow their businesses through rapid innovation. To learn more, visit www.volantetech.com . Follow us at linkedin.com/company/volante-technologies and twitter.com/volantetech .

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[June 28, 2021] Tula Reveals Technology to Reduce CO2 by 11% in Mild Hybrid Diesel Vehicles

Tula Technology, Inc., a leader in propulsion efficiency, has released the findings of a recent simulation study to evaluate the efficacy of its newest technology. The study validated that Tula's Dynamic Skip Fire (DSF) developed for mild hybrid diesel vehicles reduced CO 2 emissions in a 2.3 liter 4-cylinder 48-volt light commercial vehicle in challenging real-world conditions. When Tula's software strategies were implemented, an additional 11% of CO 2 was eliminated compared to industry-leading hybrid powertrains. The CO 2 reduction can be achieved at a cost of only 200 ($235 USD) per vehicle. For manufacturers of light duty commercial vehicles, this technology offers a compelling and cost-effective solution to achieve challenging Euro 7 emission standards expected to go into effect by 2026 for all new vehicles in Europe. "We created a synergistic technology by combining mild hybrid powertrain controls with our diesel Dynamic Skip Fire, which has proven to be very effective at reducing NO X (nitrogen oxides) and CO 2 (carbon dioxide) emissions in heavy duty trucks," said R. Scott Bailey, president and CEO of Tula Technologies. "We call it electrified diesel Dynamic Skip Fire, or edDSF, and it will help manufacturers of light commercial vehicles meet challengin NO X standards in a cost-effective manner. Equally significant, our product performs even better in tougher real-world conditions than under test cycles."



FEV, an international engineering partner to the auto industry, joined forces with Tula to develop this study. Tula will present the results at the virtual Diesel Powertrains 3.0 Conference (https://fev-live.com/diesel/conference-program/) Wednesday, June 30, at 10:35 Paris (CEST) / 16:35 Beijing. The findings show that electrified diesel Dynamic Skip Fire (edDSF) can significantly reduce CO 2 output through the synergies created by pairing a hybrid system with DSF while also providing a means to achieve upcoming low-NO X targets aimed at decreasing the pollution created by internal combustion engines. Fuel savings are an additional benefit of edDSF compared to other emissions management technologies that typically require burning additional fuel to produce the heat required to decrease tailpipe emissions. The economics of edDSF are compelling-over a six-month period, an urban delivery vehicle equipped with edDSF will save enough in fuel expenses to recoup the costs associated with Tula's technology.

Bailey concluded, "We are excited to present our findings at this global conference. With edDSF, we are offering a leading-edge solution to help meet the tight deadline the EU has set to reduce emissions, and for vehicle powertrain development, 2026 is just around the corner. edDSF is one of the many patented technologies in Tula's portfolio that help improve the environment by increasing the efficiency of engines and motors while reducing harmful emissions. I am very proud of our outstanding engineering team for continuing to develop new applications for our state-of-the art control technologies." About Tula Technology, Inc. Silicon Valley-based Tula Technology provides innovative award-winning software controls to optimize propulsion efficiency and emissions across the mobility spectrum, including gasoline-powered, diesel, alternative fuel, hybrid, and electric vehicles. Tula's culture of innovation has resulted in breakthrough technology and a robust global patent portfolio of more than 340 patents issued and pending. Tula Technology is a privately held company backed by Sequoia Capital (News - Alert) , Sigma Partners, Khosla Ventures, GM Ventures, BorgWarner and Franklin Templeton. More information is available at www.tulatech.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005183/en/

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[June 28, 2021] Charles Taylor Appoints John Pickersgill as Group Chief Commercial Officer

Charles Taylor, the leading provider of services and technology solutions to the global insurance market, has announced the appointment of John Pickersgill as Group Chief Commercial Officer, effective June 28. John joins Charles Taylor from AXA XL where he served as Head of Global Client Management, and previously as Chief Commercial Officer for AXA Corporate Solutions. In his new role at Charles Taylor and as a member of its Executive Committee, John will be responsible for leading the firm's commercial activity globally, including client engagement, business development and marketing. Rob Brown (News - Alert) , Charles Taylor Group Chief Executive Officer, noted, "I am delighted that John will be joining our team as Chief Commercial Officer. At Charles Taylor, we build long-term client relationships spanning multiple solutions, each creating mutual value; and we delight our clients with the quality and responsiveness of our people and delivery. John's appointment will enhance the client dialogue and build the industy-leading commercial capabilities required to do more for our clients."



John Pickersgill said, "I'm thrilled to be joining Charles Taylor and look forward to working with the team, driving the group's growth and commercial capabilities. Charles Taylor has a deserved reputation for exceeding client expectations, from which we will further develop our client relationships with the support of a unified global commercial function." About John Pickersgill

Pickersgill is an insurance industry veteran, with over 25 years of experience in senior and international roles, previously leading global sales/distribution and marketing functions; commercial underwriting, claims and client service teams. About Charles Taylor Charles Taylor provides insurance services, claims solutions and technology platforms to all parties across the global insurance market. Its technical expertise, technological tools and breadth of solutions enable its clients to outperform, by addressing complexities and challenges across every stage and aspect of the insurance lifecycle and operating model. Charles Taylor employs approximately 3,100 staff in more than 120 locations spread across 30 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. It has earned the trust of a diversified, blue-chip international customer base that includes national and international insurance companies, mutuals, captives, MGAs, Lloyd's syndicates and reinsurers, along with brokers, distributors and corporate insureds. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005119/en/

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[June 28, 2021] Biohacking Market Size To Reach $63.7 Billion By 2028 | CAGR 19.4%: Grand View Research, Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The global biohacking market size is anticipated to reach USD 63.7 billion by 2028, registering a CAGR of 19.4% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Various initiatives by market players and rising funds for biohacking are the major factors fueling the market growth. The adoption of biohacking practices is growing due to their potential applications in decreasing the risk of developing a disease, especially genetically associated diseases, helping an individual to achieve mental, physical, or emotional changes, such as weight loss or reducing depression symptoms; and optimize general functions of the body, such as blood pressure. Key Insights & Findings: The wearables segment held the largest revenue share in 2020 owing to the high demand for wearables across the globe

The monitoring application segment led the market with a revenue share of more than 28.17% in 2020 owing to high product adoption for monitoring patient health conditions

The forensic laboratories segment is expected to register the second-fastest CAGR from 2021 to 2028 owing to the rising application of biohacking practices in forensic laboratories

In 2020, North America held the dominant share of the overall revenue owing to the presence of several key market players in the region, especially in the U.S.

Europe held the second-largest revenue share in 2020 and will expand at a steady CAGR from 2021 to 2028

Asia Pacific is expected to record the fastest CAGR over the forecast period owing to the presence of technologically advanced healthcare infrastructure along with favorable government initiatives Read 163 page market research report, "Biohacking Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Wearables, Smart Drugs), By Application (Monitoring, Treatment), By End-user (Hospitals & Clinics, Pharma & Biotech Companies), And Segment Forecasts, 2021 - 2028", By Grand View Research. The global market has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the major impacts of COVID-19 on the market include supply chain disruptions, a decline in sales, and low demand. However, biohackers in the industry are investing in some research activities for the development of COVID-19 vaccines as well as test kits. This neutralized the market growth in 2020. For the purchase of equipment and materials, biohackers require basic funding. Other than crowdfunding, most o the activities at these labs are self-funded through membership and workshop fees. Furthermore, private donations are also used for raising money.



Oura Health, manufacturer of the Oura ring, a sleep-improvement and sleep tracking platform, raised USD 20 million in Series B funding led by MSD Capital in December 2018. The global market is fairly competitive. Most of the market players have undertaken strategies, such as new product launches, acquisitions, and partnerships, to gain a competitive edge over each other. For instance, in September 2020, Apple Inc. partnered with the government of Singapore for launching a national health initiative using Apple Watch. With this, the country made an effort to leverage technology for delivering advanced health benefits to its citizens. Grand View Research has segmented the global biohacking market on the basis of the product, application, end user, and region:

Biohacking Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Wearables



Implants (Chips)



Gene Modification Kits



Smart Drugs



Supplements



Mobile Apps



Others

Biohacking Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Monitoring



Treatment



Research



Others

Biohacking End-user Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies



Hospitals & Clinics



Forensic Laboratories



Research & Academic Institutes



Others

Biohacking Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

North America



U.S.





Canada



Europe



U.K.





Germany





France





Spain





Italy





Russia



Asia Pacific



Japan





South Korea





China





India





Australia



Latin America



Brazil





Mexico





Argentina



Middle East & Africa

&

South Africa





Saudi Arabia





UAE List of Key Players of Biohacking Market Apple, Inc.

The ODIN

Thync Global, Inc.

Fitbit, Inc.

Moodmetric

HVMN, Inc.

Muse (Interaxon, Inc.)

Thriveport, LLC

TrackMyStack

OsteoStrong Find more research reports on Global Healthcare IT Industry, by Grand View Research: AI-based Surgical Robots Market  Global AI-based surgical robots market size was valued at USD 5.0 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.2% from 2021 to 2028.

 Global AI-based surgical robots market size was valued at in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.2% from 2021 to 2028. Smart Card In Healthcare Market  Global smart card in healthcare market size was valued at USD 1.01 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.4% from 2021 to 2028.

 Global smart card in healthcare market size was valued at in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.4% from 2021 to 2028. AI-based Clinical Trials Solution Provider Market  Global AI-based clinical trials solution provider market size was valued at USD 1.1 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.7% from 2021 to 2028. Gain access to Grand View Compass, our BI enabled intuitive market research database of 10,000+ reports About Grand View Research Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead. Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc.

Phone: 1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com

Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.com

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[June 28, 2021] Tokyo-based AI Startup Attuned Launches Writer Fellowship on Substack

Global Competition Themed Around Intrinsic Motivation Offers Emerging Writers the Chance to Go Pro with Support from Top Journalists TOKYO, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Attuned, a Tokyo-based tech startup that uses psychology and AI to track intrinsic motivation and boost employee engagement, is announcing the launch of a global writing competition on digital newsletter-publishing platform Substack with a top prize of $50,000. The first program of its kind on Substack, The Attuned Writer Fellowship is offering one talented emerging writer a $50,000 one-year contract to launch and run a newsletter dedicated to exploring the subject of intrinsic motivation. The winner, who can be based anywhere in the world, will also receive mentorship from Attuned and a hand-picked judging panel of industry experts to launch and grow their newsletter over a 12-month period. Joining Attuned founder and CEO Casey Wahl on the competition's judging panel are former Head of Editorial at Snapchat and two-time British Society of Magazine Editors 'Editor of the Year' winner Rachel Richardson; International / Newsletter Editor at The Hollywood Rporter Abid Rahman; and Lenny Rachitsky, author of one of Substack's most popular newsletters, the 65,000-subscriber Lenny's Newsletter.



"The transformative power of harnessing intrinsic motivation is at the very heart of our mission to make work more meaningful, so we wanted to do something fresh and innovative to increase understanding of this important topic," says Wahl. "With this competition, we hope to unearth an exciting new writing talent who can elevate the conversation around intrinsic motivation, while at the same time providing a pathway for them to become self-supporting once the sponsorship ends." Hamish McKenzie, co-founder of Substack, says: "I love that Attuned recognizes that what a writer needs to succeed is so much more than a software tool. This program offers the kind of support that frees writers to focus on nothing but the thing that matters most: the writing itself. This is the first program of its kind organized outside of Substack, and I hope to see many more like it in the future."

To be in with a chance of winning, applicants must complete a series of writing tasks, including a sample blog post, creating an editorial lineup, and taking Attuned's Intrinsic Motivator Assessment. The deadline for entries is July 31st, 2021, and the winner is expected to be announced in September. For more information, visit attuned.ai/blog/the-attuned-writer-fellowship . About Attuned

A psychology-powered platform with a sprinkling of AI, Attuned helps companies understand what really motivates their employees, making unseen values visible and giving managers at-a-glance insights into their teams' motivators, blindspots and motivational gaps. Using a 55-question motivator assessment to get to the heart of what drives each individual, Attuned makes it easy to manage teams more effectivelyand empatheticallyhelping businesses to personalize the work experience, retain top talent, create a psychologically safe environment, and boost performance, resulting in happier organizations and making work more meaningful.

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[June 28, 2021] BAI Communications accelerates its growth trajectory by agreeing to acquire US telecommunications infrastructure leader Mobilitie

NEW YORK, June 28, 2021 /CNW/ -- BAI Communications (BAI), a global communications infrastructure provider, has today agreed to acquire Mobilitie, the largest privately held telecommunications infrastructure company in the United States. This acquisition represents a major expansion of BAI's business in North America where it provides cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity across large infrastructure projects, including the New York City subway system, under its majority owned business Transit Wireless. It significantly extends BAI's footprint coast-to-coast across one of the world's fastest growing connected infrastructure markets. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory clearances and is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. The acquisition of Mobilitie is a significant step in BAI Communications' growth strategy, supporting its move towards becoming one of the leading connected infrastructure 5G players in North America, as well as globally. The deal brings together a highly complementary offering between the two organisations, enabling BAI to immediately extend and diversify its solution and service offering beyond its current global markets. It marries Mobilitie's assets and operations across 5G outdoor and indoor wireless infrastructure, worldwide credibility in small cell deployment, and its work with transit operators across major US cities with BAI's long-standing proven expertise in delivering communications infrastructure in dense urban and transit environments. Combining the expertise, scale, and infrastructure portfolios of both businesses positions BAI to support telecommunications operators and municipalities in the US and its other markets internationally to realise the smart city opportunities that 5G services are offering worldwide. Igor Leprince, Group CEO of BAI Communications, said: "BAI's acquisition of Mobilitie establishes us as a leading telecommunications infrastructure provider in the United States and the most relevant provider of public transit wireless connectivity solutions in North America. This reflects our ambitions for the US as well as the other markets in which we operate globally and puts us in the perfect position to capitalise on the growing prioritisation of connected infrastructure in regions such as the UK and Europe. The scale and strong relationships with large venue operators andmobile network operators that Mobilitie brings fits perfectly with BAI's existing leadership in connected transit and infrastructure.



"Mobilitie, like BAI, places a high priority on offering technical expertise and impeccable delivery to its customers, alongside its deep commitment to exceptional customer service. This alignment and the complementary fit of our offerings make this an exciting move for BAI and our customers around the world. It strongly positions us to scale and extend the work we are already delivering," he added. Backed by Mobilitie's Founder and Chairman, Gary Jabara, and Shamrock Capital, Mobilitie's portfolio includes existing agreements to provide wireless communications to the public transit systems in Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area. The acquisition will also add Mobilitie's broader portfolio of 220 venues across 39 states, 10,000 small cells across 45 states, and 300 tower sites across 14 states to BAI's operations. This builds on BAI's existing success providing neutral host infrastructure in the major subways of New York, Toronto, and Hong Kong, and in Australia with one of the most extensive broadcast networks in the world. It will also support BAI's expansion in the UK and Europe as it pursues, and wins, significant opportunities.

Gary Jabara, Founder and Chairman of Mobilitie said: "We're very excited about this transaction, which augments Mobilitie's market impact worldwide. BAI's significance as a 5G player, together with Mobilitie, will enable unprecedented support of US wireless carriers. It puts us on a clear, long-term path to greatly accelerate business and help our customers, especially the mobile network operators." He concluded, "Combining BAI's connectivity solutions and international presence with Mobilitie's North American assets, including our nationwide footprint of tier one venues, public transit systems in the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle, along with 10,000 small cells and thousands of New York small cells that are in and around BAI's existing assets, makes us better positioned for 5G growth than anyone else in North America." Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), BAI's majority shareholder, welcomed this announcement. Commenting on the acquisition, CPP Investments' Head of Portfolio Value Creation and non-executive director on the BAI Communications Board of Directors, Max Biagosch said: "This acquisition is an exciting and dynamic move for the BAI business and represents an attractive opportunity for CPP Investments to increase its financial commitments and generate long-term sustainable returns for our contributors and beneficiaries. It is a true enhancement of our broader portfolio, extending our investment in digital infrastructure which is critical to people and communities around the world as our lives become increasingly dependent on connectivity." Ben Hawkins, Senior Vice President, Infrastructure & Renewable Resources, at Alberta Investment Management Corporation, a minority shareholder in BAI, said: "As a long-term investor, on behalf of our clients, we are proud to support the management team of BAI in its successful acquisition of Mobilitie. BAI has a demonstrated track record of successfully integrating companies as part of its growth strategy and realising the full value of the combined entities for all stakeholders." J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to BAI Communications and Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal advisor. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to Mobilitie and Goodwin Procter LLP served as legal advisor to Mobilitie LLC. Cooley LLP served as legal advisor to Shamrock Capital. About BAI Communications BAI Communications designs, builds, and operates cellular, Wi-Fi, broadcast, radio, and IP networks around the world. We are engineering experts and technology innovators with proven experience in delivering the next wave of connectivity solutions through long-term partnerships with broadcasters, transit operators, governments, and MNOs. As a leading communications infrastructure provider, BAI's neutral host solutions connect people, enrich communities and advance economies. Our global operations span Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Hong Kong and the US, where we have a majority stake in Transit Wireless. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bai-communications-accelerates-its-growth-trajectory-by-agreeing-to-acquire-us-telecommunications-infrastructure-leader-mobilitie-301320790.html SOURCE BAI Communications

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[June 28, 2021] EQT accelerates its commitment to sustainability with senior hires

STOCKHOLM, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Decades of future-proofing companies, by ensuring growth and digital transformation, has given EQT a prominent position within the industry. EQT is now strengthening its team with additional sustainability expertise, accelerating sustainability into EQT's business practice and investments. EQT is today pleased to announce the appointments of two newly created strategic roles. Bahare Haghshenas joins as Global Head of Sustainable Transformation and Sophie Walker joins as Head of Sustainability for the EQT Private Capital business line. Together with the existing sustainability expertise within EQT, they will drive further integration of purpose and sustainability into the way EQT works, invests and transforms companies. Bahare will assume the overall responsibility for sustainability and lead the efforts at EQT. She comes most recently from a position as Deloitte Partner and Executive Director of Acacia, Deloitte's Sustainable Innovation Hub, and will lead the next wave of transformation and business integration of EQT's purpose across the entire organization. She will join EQT in September and reports to CEO Christian Sinding. Sophie will work with the teams and portfolio companies across the business lines within Private Capital. She has had sustainability-focused roles since 2007, and prior to that in a range of environmental, human rights and political roles. She most recently sat on the JLL UK Board as Head of Sustainability. Sophie will partner with the investment advisory teams and work throughout the lifecycle of an investment - from due diligence to engaging in the value creation work within the portfolio companies. Sophie joined EQT in June and reports to Per Franzen, Head of Private Capital. Christian Sinding, CEO said, "I am happy to welcome both Bahare and Sophie to EQT. We have come a long way on our journey but now we are sharpening both our sustainability approach and skills, this is one of the key components in which EQT creates value for investors and for society. EQT has always had a purpose-driven approach to investments, but we aim to play a far more active role in driving impactful transformation within both businesses and industries at large. It is quite simple, a fully integrated mindset on sustainability will lead to stronger and more resilient performance." Contact EQT Press Office,

press@eqtpartners.com,

+46 8 506 55 334 This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/eqt/r/eqt-accelerates-its-commitment-to-sustainability-with-senior-hires,c3375507 The following files are available for download:







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[June 28, 2021] Elastic Announces Proposed Private Offering of $500 Million of Senior Unsecured Notes

Elastic N.V. ("Elastic") (NYSE: ESTC) announced today that it intends to offer, subject to market and other conditions, $500 million in aggregate principal amount of its senior notes due 2029 (the "notes") in a private offering (the "offering") that is exempt from the registration requirements of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). Elastic intends to use the net proceeds of the offering for general corporate purposes, which may include capital expenditures, investments and working capital. In addition, from time to time in the past Elastic has considered, and continues to consider, acquisitions and strategic transactions, and also may use the net proceeds of the offering for such purposes. The notes have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act, or the securities laws of any other jurisdiction. Unless they are registered, the notes may be offered only in transactions that are exempt from registration under the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. The notes are being offered and sold only to persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers under Rule 144A and to non-U.S. persons outside the United States in reliance on Regulation S under the Securities Act. This press release is for informational purposes only ad does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of the notes in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale is unlawful. Any offers of the notes will be made only by means of a private offering memorandum. This notice is being issued pursuant to and in accordance with Rule 135(c) under the Securities Act.



Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on Elastic management's current expectations. Such statements include plans, projections and estimates regarding the offering and the receipt and use of the net proceeds from the offering. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including investor demand, market conditions, customary closing conditions and other factors. In particular, there can be no assurance that Elastic will complete the offering. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected. More information about potential risk factors that could affect Elastic and its results is included in Elastic's filings with the SEC (News - Alert) , including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended April 30, 2021. Elastic does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.

About Elastic Elastic is a search company built on a free and open heritage. Anyone can use Elastic products and solutions to get started quickly and frictionlessly. Elastic offers three solutions for enterprise search, observability, and security, built on one technology stack that can be deployed anywhere. From finding documents to monitoring infrastructure to hunting for threats, Elastic makes data usable in real time and at scale. Founded in 2012, Elastic is a distributed company with Elasticians around the globe. Elastic and associated marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Elastic N.V. and its subsidiaries. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005397/en/

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[June 28, 2021] Operation Homefront and Dollar Tree, Inc. Join Forces Again to Help Military Children Start Strong and Stay Strong for Back-to-school

The annual Back-to-School Brigade program from Operation Homefront returns to serve military families across the nation. The national nonprofit has partnered with Dollar Tree for more than a dozen years to collect school supplies and distribute them to military children. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005014/en/ From mid-July through August, customer-purchased supplies at more than 7,600 participating Dollar Tree stores nationwide will be donated to Operation Homefront. The school supplies will be collected by Operation Homefront volunteers and distributed to military families at more than 130 Back-to-School Brigade events and through local community partnerships across the U.S. this summer. "Dollar Tree is thrilled to join our generous customers to partner with Operation Homefront for the 13th year to ease the back-to-school transition for military families," said Chelle Davis, Dollar Tree spokesperson. "We look forward to the opportunity to work alongside Operation Homefront to provide support for military families who selflessly serve our country, so that they can start strong and stay strong this back-to-school season and beyond." This year, Operation Homefront will hit a major milestone by providing its 450,000th backpack to a military child, saving military families more than $50 million in back-to-school expenses since the program launched in 2008. Like in 2020, this year's Back-to-School Brigade events will continue to adhere with federal, state, and local COVID-19 guidelines. Most of the events will be delivered in a drive-through format, with volunteers following CDC guidelines. "We are incredibly grateful for all Dollar Tree and heir supportive customers have done and continue to do to bring our important work to improve the lives of our military families to life," said Brig. Gen. (ret.) John I. Pray Jr., President and CEO of Operation Homefront. "As the pandemic continues to create significant and often overwhelming financial hardships on our military families, the entire Dollar Tree family shares our unwavering commitment to helping this very special and deserving group in their time of need for all they have done for all of us in our nation's time of need."



Dollar Tree is a longtime supporter of our nation's military families. Since the partnership began in 2006, Dollar Tree and its generous customers have provided millions of dollars and in-kind support to recurring programs. Moreover, Dollar Tree has supported Operation Homefront's Critical Financial Assistance program for military families in need. For more information about how to support the Back-to-School Brigade, visit operationhomefront.org/back-to-school-brigade. About Operation Homefront

Founded in 2002, Operation Homefront is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to build strong, stable, and secure military families so that they can thrive - not simply struggle to get by - in the communities they have worked so hard to protect. Recognized for superior performance by leading independent charity oversight groups, 90 percent of Operation Homefront expenditures go directly to programs that support tens of thousands of military families each year. Operation Homefront provides critical financial assistance, transitional and permanent housing and family support services to prevent short-term needs from turning into chronic, long-term struggles. Thanks to the generosity of our donors and the support from thousands of volunteers, Operation Homefront proudly serves America's military families. For more information, visit OperationHomefront.org.

About Start Strong, Stay Strong:

Operation Homefront launched 'Start Strong, Stay Strong,' a national brand campaign in March 2021. The initiative brings much-needed attention to the dedicated service of our military families and the support that Americans can provide to build the stability, connections and comfort these families deserve to start strong in their communities and stay strong throughout their journeys. #StartStrongStayStrong. Find out more at operationhomefront.org/startstrongstaystrong. About Dollar Tree

Dollar Tree, a Fortune 200 Company, operates more than 15,700 stores across 48 states and five Canadian provinces. Its stores operate under the brands of Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree Canada. To learn more about the Company, visit www.DollarTree.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005014/en/

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[June 28, 2021] Blackstone Announces Significant Investment in Simpli.fi, a Leading Programmatic Advertising Platform, at $1.5 Billion Valuation

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) announced today that private equity funds managed by Blackstone ("Blackstone") have entered into a definitive agreement to make a significant equity investment in Simpli.fi ("Simpli.fi" or the "Company"), a leader in programmatic advertising and agency management software. Blackstone will join existing investor GTCR, a leading private equity firm, as majority shareholders in the Company. The investment, which would be made through Blackstone's flagship private equity vehicle, values the company at approximately $1.5 billion. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, Simpli.fi is dedicated to helping media buying organizations perform more effectively and efficiently. Simpli.fi's full suite of mission critical workflow and ad buying software enables agencies and media groups to manage their core operations and execute high ROI media spend through digital ad campaigns. Each month, the Company's innovative CTV and mobile programmatic advertising platform powers over 120,000 campaigns for 30,000 active advertisers. GTCR acquired a majority interest in the Company in 2017 and, alongside co-founders Frost Prioleau and Paul Harrison, has helped build Simpli.fi into a scaled and rapidly growing platform that uniquely serves the needs of independent advertising agencies and local advertisers. Blackstone's investment will enable the Company to further accelerate innovation and organic growth initiatives as well as to continue executing on its targeted acquisition strategy. The investment from Blackstone is a continuation of its thematic focus on high quality digital advertising technology platforms and follows its recent investments in Liftoff and Vungle. "We are thrilled to partner with Blackstone as we pursue the next stage of growth for Simpli.fi," said Mr. Prioleau, who has served as Simpli.fi's CEO since its inception. "Blackstone's depth of capabilities and expertise are a great complement to those of GTCR, and their investment is a validation of the fantastic work done by our team members to get us to this point." Mr. Harrison said: "When our team created Simpli.fi's core technology, we understood the influence and impact it would have on our industry. We're ecstatic that Blackstone shares that vision and is a welcomed addition to our great partnership with GTCR." Sachin Bavishi, a Managing Director at Blackstone, said: "Simpli.fi's highly differentiated technology platform and superior customer service have mad it a clear leader in its space. Digital advertising is a high-conviction investment theme at Blackstone and Simpli.fi sits at the intersection of multiple attractive tailwinds, including the continued shift in local media spend to programmatic digital and CTV. We are very excited to partner with the management team and GTCR to further accelerate the Company's growth." Martin Brand, Head of North American Private Equity at Blackstone and Global Co-Head of Technology Investing, added: "Simpli.fi has a long runway for future growth led by its talented founders and we look forward to contributing Blackstone's resources to support the Company's rapid growth trajectory."



Craig Bondy, a Managing Director at GTCR, said: "We want to congratulate the entire Simpli.fi team on their accomplishments over the last three and a half years. Since we partnered with Frost and Paul, Simpli.fi has achieved impressive growth through new product investment and strategic acquisitions. We believe strongly in Simpli.fi's future and look forward to continued growth." Stephen Master, a Principal at GTCR added: "We are delighted to partner with Blackstone in the next phase of growth and innovation for Simpli.fi. Their domain expertise, shared vision for success and fresh perspectives will help accelerate management's goal of becoming the leading software platform for independent advertising agencies and media buying organizations." Blackstone and GTCR will have equal representation on the Simpli.fi Board of Directors.

Evercore and LUMA Partners served as financial advisors, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to Simpli.fi and GTCR. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as legal advisor to Blackstone. About Simpli.fi Simpli.fi is a leading provider of workflow software and programmatic advertising solutions, serving over 1400 agencies, advertisers, and media buying organizations. Our solutions enable our customers to perform more effectively and efficiently, and to maximize ROI on their advertising spend across CTV, mobile, display, and other media types. Our platform delivers performance on budgets of all sizes, executing over 120,000 campaigns for 30,000 advertisers in a typical month. For more information please visit our website at www.simpli.fi About Blackstone Blackstone is one of the world's leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $649 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets, and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter (News - Alert) @Blackstone About GTCR Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm focused on investing in growth companies in the Growth Business Services, Technology, Media & Telecommunications, Healthcare and Financial Services & Technology industries. The Chicago-based firm pioneered The Leaders Strategy - finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $20 billion in over 250 companies. For more information, please visit www.gtcr.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005405/en/

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[June 28, 2021] Liberated Syndication Named to "Best of" Lists

Liberated Syndication Inc. (OTCQB:LSYN) ("Libsyn" or "the Company"), the industry's leading podcast hosting platform, today announced that the Company was recognized as a podcast industry leader by two "Best of" lists compiled by tech industry publications. Libsyn was named to Techradar's Best Podcast Hosting Providers of 2021 list, which can be found here Best Podcast Hosting Providers of 2021. Libsyn was also noted as the Best Podcast Publisher as part of the Quill Podcast Awards of 2021, which can be accessed via Quill Podcast Awards 2021. Techradar evaluated hosting providers on a number of criteria, including content uploading and rss feed generation/dissemination, specified as "essential" functions, along with "add-on" elements including tools and other conveniences. According to Techradar, Libsyn's unlimited bandwith, monetization add-ons, and mobile app were key, positive elements o the Company's offering. The Quill Awards include a range of awards for both podcasters and podcast service providers. Awards are judged by notable podcast industry entities such as Simplecast, Podchaser, and Heil Sound, among others.



"We are constantly working to make sure our platform at Libsyn offers users the best podcast hosting experience possible. Recognition by independent entities such as Techradar and Quill validates our belief that we are building the best user experience possible," said Libsyn President and Chief Operating Officer, Laurie Sims. "In particular, we were very pleased to see Techradar note that the Libsyn is 'a wonderful option for those who are just breaking into podcasting'. We have recently added features with the novice podcaster in mind, so we are certainly gratified to get this feedback." About Liberated Syndication

Liberated Syndication Inc. ("Libsyn") is a world leading podcast hosting network and has been providing publishers with distribution and monetization services since 2004. In 2020, Libsyn delivered over 6 billion downloads and hosted over 5.8 million media files from more than 75,000 podcasts. Podcast producers choose Libsyn to measure their audience via IAB V2 certified stats, deliver popular audio and video episodes, distribute their content through smartphone apps (iOS and Android (News - Alert) ), and monetize via premium subscription services and advertising. Libsyn also owns Pair Networks, founded in 1996, one of the oldest and most experienced Internet hosting companies, providing a full range of fast, powerful and reliable Web hosting services. Visit Libsyn on the web at www.libsyn.com and visit Pair Networks at www.pair.com. Investors can visit the Company at the "Investor Relations" section of Libsyn's website at https://investor.libsyn.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005233/en/

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[June 28, 2021] Beam Mobile and Datamation Systems Inc. Partner to Charge, Synch and Store Mobile Phones in Hospitals

Datamation Systems, Inc. and Beam Mobile are pleased to announce a partnership that combines the flagship offerings of both companies to serve the clinical workflows of leading hospitals. Combining the most durable Beam cases and charge docks for iPhones, with Datamation's Mobile Device Management Trays, hospitals now have a best-in-class solution for charging and storing mobile phones critical for patient care. The Beam platform offers an all-in-one solution combing externally swappable batteries, a highly protective case, and multiple charging units to suit your needs. Beam supports iPhone (News - Alert) SE, XR/11, 8, and 7 and is MFI-approved. Beam cases are used with mobile EHR systems, secure texting, and soft scan applications. Beam also has a micro-USB port for mobile provisioning. And Beam's ergonomic design provides unimpeded call quality. Beam Mobile is designed with healthcare-grade plastics t meet IP54 ratings for dust and water resistance and to be used with leading cleaners and disinfectants. "Combining Beam and Datamation charging, synch and storage devices is a win-win solution for keeping hospital workflows moving efficiently," said Dean Shortland, Chief Technology Officer, Beam Mobile.



The Datamation MDM is offered in five configurations to support Beam devices. The mobile phone and battery charging solution holds a combination of Beam cases, dock trays, and external batteries to ensure the clinical staff is always enabled to provide the best care possible. The MDM cabinets are equipped with foam interiors and can be table-mounted or on our mobile base units to hold up to 50 batteries and 24 phones. "As mobile devices are deployed in healthcare settings, finding the right device management, storage, and security tools becomes more important. Whether in clinical, communication or patient engagement applications, finding the right tools that accommodate the evolving devices is critical," said Gerald Tozin, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Datamation Systems, Inc.

About Datamation Systems, Inc. Datamation Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells solutions that encompass secure storage, intelligent and fast charging, and software sync enablement for the management of large quantities of mobile devices. Please contact Kevin Horey at khorey@datamationsystemsinc.com About Beam Mobile Beam Mobile is based in Nashville, Tennessee, and has led the effort to provide smartphone protection in demanding environments. Hospitals rely on Beam as their case of choice for iPhone clinical workflow. Please contact Jeff Pack at jeff@beam-mobile.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005077/en/

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[June 28, 2021] Novelion Provides Update on Final Distribution to Registered Shareholders

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Novelion Therapeutics Inc. (Novelion or the Company) by Alvarez & Marsal Canada Inc., Novelions liquidator (the Liquidator) today provides an update in respect of its final distribution to its registered shareholders (the Final Distribution). The Company has determined that due to the interim distribution on March 11, 2021 of approximately 87.5% of the American depository receipts (ADRs) of Amryt Pharma plc (Amryt) held by the Company, the remaining ADRs will be monetized by the Company. It is expected that the Final Distribution will therefore be one distribution comprised of the cash remaining in Novelion, in addition to the proceeds from the sale of the remaining ADRs, less any expenses through the end of the Companys statutory liquidation.

Given the relatively small number of ADRs that would be remaining to distribute to a relatively large number of registered shareholders after the interim distribution, it was determined by the Liquidator to monetize the ADRs instead of attempting to distribute ADRs pro rata. Those shareholders who were registered shareholders as of January 16, 2020, being the effective date of the Liquidation (the Effective Date), will be entitled to all distributions made in connection with Novelions ongoing statutory liquidation and dissolution. Those shareholders who were registered shareholders as of the Effective Date and whose interim distributions of ADRs were withheld in accordance with the Order of the Supreme Court of British Columbia (the B.C. Court) approving the interim distribution, will also receive the cash value of such withheld distribution amounts as part of their Final Distribution. The steps necessary to monetize the remaining ADRs and complete the Final Distribution to registered shareholders will be subject to approval by the B.C. Court on a motion by the Liquidator. The Liquidator currently expects this motion to be scheduled in July 2021. If the B.C. Court grants the requested Order approving the Final Distribution, the Liquidator will also seek an Order of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the US Court) confirming that the Order of the B.C. Court with respect to the Final Distribution is enforceable in the United States, and directing all entities in the United States to take any and all lawful action necessary to give effect to the B.C. Courts Order and the transactions contemplated thereunder. The Liquidator also expects to seek, as part of the motion to the B.C. Court, approval to proceed with the dissolution of the Company after the Final Distribution and certain releases and approvals of the Liquidators fees and disbursements. Shareholders and other interested parties should visit www.alvarezandmarsal.com/novelion for continuing information about Novelion, the Liquidation and related matters.



Cautionary Information Regarding the Companys Securities As of the Effective Date, the Companys transfer agent closed the Companys stock transfer books and discontinued recording transfers, and registered shareholders are no longer able to transfer record ownership of their shares. Any distributions made in the Liquidation will be made only to registered shareholders as of the Effective Date, and beneficial holders of common shares will be entitled to receive any distributions only through and from the applicable registered holder of their shares. Shareholders whose shares in Novelion are held in a brokerage firm or with a securities dealer, trust company, bank or another similar organization, are encouraged to reach out to their broker, dealer, trust, bank or other agent with any questions relating to the processes or requirements for receiving any such distributions if and when they are made.

The Company believes, but cannot assure, that trading in the Companys common shares was suspended or otherwise ceased as of the Effective Date or shortly thereafter. The Company cautions that investors who seek to trade in Novelion common shares or other securities after the Effective Date (to the extent such trading is available), including on any secondary markets, do so at substantial risk to their investment. The Company continues to caution that trading in the Companys securities (to the extent such trading is available) remains highly speculative and poses substantial risks. Trading prices for the Companys securities may bear little or no relationship to the actual value realized, if any, by holders of the Companys securities. Accordingly, the Company urges extreme caution with respect to existing and future investments in its securities. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this press release constitute forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable laws and regulations, including U.S. and Canadian securities laws. Any statements contained herein which do not describe historical facts, including, but not limited to, steps anticipated to be required by the Company or the Liquidator to effect the Final Distribution, including any processes before the US Court and the timing related to same, the Liquidators actions with respect to the Liquidation and any orders of the B.C. Court or the US Court related to same, the amount, timing and nature of any distributions as part of the Liquidation, including the Final Distribution, the sale of any ADRs by Novelion, the ultimate outcome of the Liquidation process, expectations and beliefs related to trading in and the market and record of holders of Novelion common shares after the Effective Date, are forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the impact of any determinations of the B.C. Court and the actions of the Liquidator undertaken as part of the Liquidation, the possibility that actual expenses and claims that result from the Liquidation will be greater than anticipated, and the potential impact of any volatility in the market price of the ADRs held by the Company, any or all of which could materially reduce the availability of assets available for distribution to shareholders, the possibility of any resale restrictions applicable to the ADRs in the future to either Novelion or Novelions registered shareholders, as well as those risks identified in Novelions filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) and Canadian securities regulators, including the definitive proxy statement filed on October 3, 2019, which are available on the SECs website at www.sec.gov and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The impact from any such risks and uncertainties could materially reduce or eliminate the availability of assets available for distribution to shareholders, or delay the timing of any such distributions. Novelion cautions investors and others not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Except as required by law, Novelion undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise. Contact: Nishant Virmani

Alvarez & Marsal Canada Inc.

nvirmani@alvarezandmarsal.com

www.alvarezandmarsal.com/novelion



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[June 28, 2021] New Career Programs Will Help Ensure Your Student Becomes the Office "MVP"

Miami Virtual Program, Arizona (MVPAZ), a full-time, online public district program, is adding career-focused courses so that high school students can get a leg up on their competition, earning valuable career experience while still in school, and potentially saving thousands of dollars in college tuition costs. Beginning this fall, students at MVPAZ will be able to explore career classes in IT, Health & Human Services, Business & Marketing, and Art, Audio/Visual Technology & Communications. "There is a huge skills gap in this country. Recruiters need employees with certain skills and traditional education is having trouble getting the job done," said MVPAZ Head of School Bouchra Bouanani. "Our hope here is to give future job-seekers a chance to explore a career path while still in high school. Check it out. Try. Fail. If you don't like it, move on to something else, but gain some experience in the process." According to some statistics, U.S. students are over $1.7 trillion dollars in student loan debt, spread out over 44 million borrowers. Students at MVPAZ can take college-credit courses in certain fields saving them time and money if they decide to go on to the next level of education.



These services will be available for all interested MVPAZ students in grades 8-11, starting with careers exploration in 8th grade. This is the first year MVPAZ will offer 11th grade. Overall, MVPAZ is available to students in grades K-11 who are residents of Arizona. By combining personalized online instruction, hands-on curriculum, and the support of highly qualified Arizona certified teachers, MVPAZ helps students discover and reach their full potential.

For any questions about the Career Prep classes, please contact Ms. Bouchra Bouanani at bbouanani@k12.com. About Miami Virtual Program, Arizona Miami Virtual Program, Arizona (MVPAZ) is an online public-school program of the Miami, AZ Unified School District that serves students in grades K-11. MVPAZ is tuition-free and provides families the choice to access the curriculum and tools provided by K12, a Stride Company (NYSE: LRN). MVPAZ's individualized approach gives Arizona students the chance to learn in the ways that are right for them. Stride offers learners of all ages a more effective way to learn and build skills for their future. For more about MVPAZ, visit https://mvpaz.k12.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005169/en/

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[June 28, 2021] IJJ Corporation News on the Corporate Reporting Status and eCommerce Exchange Trading Platform (eCETP) progress.

SILVER SPRING, Md., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IJJP (OTC: IJJP) News Headliners: Stop Sign Removal: Pink Current Information status is waiting on OTCIQ's final review. We anticipate by the 30th of June 2021, for a decision to be rendered. All required documents have been submitted for OCTIQ to post IJJ Corp has Pink Current Information. eCETP Scope Of Work (SOW): The SOW encompasses a Donation Management Business Platform as a Funding and Payment Service for backers to make donations to fund campaigns for programs and projects. The user experience is a cloud-based dashboard application providing Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and customizable analytical stats. Includes a downloadable client interface, with offsite storage and retrievals independent of eCETP. eCETP also includes strategic analysis of KPI analytical stats with multiple data variances for planning objective responses. As reported on June 17, 2021: The MonTech Corporation was hired March 28, 2021, to provide DevOps software development services for eECTP. Website Https://Montech.io eCETP Progress Status Report: The Montech Team Deliverables: Third Party Review & Edit of IJJ whitepaper

a. The White Paper anticipated review scheduled is June 30, 2021 . The development of the business process for the eCETP platform:

a. Includes the Development of the UI (User Interface) and UX (User experience) for a Non-functional prototype. UI/UX deliverable are scheduled for review late July 2021 .

b. Once the UI/UX acceptance is met the Non-functional mockup will be developed.

c. The Non-functionl Prototype is expected to take up to 2 months.



The Next Priorities:

The Mandatory Training program: Provides certifications for the Alliance Partner Membership. a. By Mid-July, the scope of work for the Mandatory training is schedule for completion with UI/UX inclusions. The Steering Committee structure from onboarding members to drive the technical, market making, and business relationships to launch eCETP will occur, as the business formation takes place over the next three months. The plan to redesign the IJJ Corporation website will be announced on social media late August 2021 once the eCETP mockup is accepted. The above information is for IJJ Corp Stockholders, IJJP Shareholders, and Market Makers. I will continue to post on twitter, LinkedIn posts, provide news Releases on material events, when a task is completed, and/or on any discoveries, as they occur. About IJJ Corp.: IJJ Corporation (IJJC) is an ambitious innovative company offering a B4B private network designed to give access to investors, projects, and networking business services.

The Company's aim is to continue to develop and integrate services and products to bring the most comprehensive, innovative, turnkey solutions and management services to its clients.

The Company will issue additional Press Releases on the status of the items referred to above within the next few weeks.

Follow IJJCorp on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/IJJCorp

Safe Harbor Statement: The information posted in this release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by use of the words "may," "will," "should," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "project," "intend," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic and business conditions, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, delays in completing various engineering and manufacturing programs, changes in customer order patterns, changes in product mix, continued success in technological advances and delivering technological innovations, shortages in components, production delays due to performance quality issues with outsourced components, and various other factors beyond the Company's control. Source: IJJ Corporation



CONTACT:

info@ijjc.com,

+1-(301)-202-7762

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ijj-corporation-news-on-the-corporate-reporting-status-and-ecommerce-exchange-trading-platform-ecetp-progress-301321060.html SOURCE IJJ Corp.

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[June 28, 2021] Scoular hires its first Director of Sustainability

OMAHA, Neb., June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Scoular on Monday announced that Joshua Mellinger has been appointed the company's first Director of Sustainability. Mellinger will lead Scoular's corporate sustainability program, as well as partner with and support Scoular's business units in their work to create customized sustainability solutions for and with the company's grain, feed and food customers worldwide, as well as its farmer-producer partners. "Josh possesses deep experience creating and executing sustainability programs in the agriculture and food industries," said Megan Belcher, Scoular Senior Vice President and General Counsel, who leads Scoular's overall corporate sustainability and ESG efforts. "I am thrilled he is leading Scoular's efforts to innovatively grow sustainability practices that will create a positive impact on our planet." In December, Scoular announced its five-year sustainability strategy built on five pillars: reducing its carbon footprint; fostering responsible marine sourcing; engaging in its communities; promoting diversity and inclusion; and upholding workplace health and safety. Mellinger, who is based at Scoular's global headquarters in Omaha, has more than 15 years of sustainability and supply chain experience working with large corporations. He joins Scoular after 10 years at Deloitte Consulting in Houston, where he most recently served as Head of Sustainability, Climate Change, and Fresh Supply Chain. He graduated from Louisiana State University with a bachelor's degree in Information Systems and Decision Sciences and earned his MBA from the University of Michigan. For more information on Scoular's sustainability strategy, go to Scoular's sustainability web page at scoular.com/sustainability. A 128-year-old company with $6 billion in sales, Scoular creates safe and reliable supply chain solutions for end-users and suppliers of grain, feed ingredients, and food ingredients. From its more than 100 offices and facilities in North America and Asia, Scoular's 1,000-plus employees lead the way by buying, selling, storing, handling and processing grain and ingredients as well as managing transportation and logistics for customers around the world.







Contact: Melissa Matczak, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications





Phone: 402-344-1325 Email: mmatczak@scoular.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/scoular-hires-its-first-director-of-sustainability-301321057.html SOURCE Scoular

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[June 28, 2021] Algorithmia Selected for Use by Raytheon Technologies

SEATTLE, June 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Algorithmia , the leading provider of enterprise machine learning operations (MLOps) software, has been selected by Raytheon Intelligence & Space, a Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX) business to support the teams development of the U.S. Armys Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN) program. TITAN is a tactical ground station that finds and tracks threats to support long-range precision targeting.

Algorithmia, along with other leaders in artificial intelligence and machine learning, will enable Raytheon Technologies TITAN team to deliver easily digestible data to Army operators. TITAN will ingest data from space and high-altitude, aerial and terrestrial sensors to provide targetable data to defense systems. It also provides multi-source intelligence support to targeting, and situational awareness and understanding for commanders. Algorithmias MLOps platform has been used by over 130,000 data scientists in a wide range of organizations. Its customers include large and midsize enterprises, Fortune 500 companies, the United Nations and multiple government intelligence agencies. The companys momentm is a product of growing interest in AI-based applications and the need organizations have to efficiently manage cost and security for machine learning models.



Machine learning significantly accelerates the process by which organizations can uncover important data points and respond to critical issues, said Diego Oppenheimer, CEO of Algorithmia. Our platform streamlines the deployment of machine learning models into production while providing important oversight, including review for ethical standards, to ensure models operate when and how they should, which makes Algorithmia a natural fit for sensitive applications. We are excited to join Raytheon in supporting its work with the U.S. Army. About Algorithmia

For machine learning leaders that need to put ML models into production faster, more securely and cost-effectively within their existing operational processes, Algorithmia is MLOps software that manages all stages of the ML lifecycle within existing operational processes. Unlike inefficient, expensive and insecure do-it-yourself MLOps management solutions that lock users into specific technology stacks, Algorithmia automates ML deployment, optimizes collaboration between operations and development, leverages existing SDLC and CI/CD processes and provides advanced security and governance. Over 130,000 engineers and data scientists have used Algorithmias platform to date, including non-governmental organizations, government intelligence agencies and Fortune 500 companies. For more information, visit www.algorithmia.com . Effort sponsored by the U.S. Government under Other Transaction number W15QKN-17-9-5555 between the Consortium Management Group, Inc., and the Government. The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation thereon. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government. Media contact:

Kevin Wolf

TGPR

kevin@tgprllc.com



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[June 28, 2021] Maryland Tech Council's Life Sciences Division Announces 2021 Bio Innovation Conference, Region's First In-Person Life Sciences Conference Since 2019

The Maryland Tech Council (MTC), Maryland's largest technology and life sciences trade association, announced today that registration is open for the 2021 Bio Innovation Conference, the first fully integrated event featuring in-person and virtual experiences for the region's life sciences community. Held Monday, October 4, 2021 through Tuesday, October 5, 2021, the Bio Innovation Conference is the region's premiere forum for professionals from industry, academia, and government to make new professional connections and explore trends in this burgeoning industry. Topics on the conference agenda include vaccines, cell and gene therapy, biomanufacturing, regulatory trends and workforce and talent challenges. To register for the conference, visit the 2021 Bio Innovation Conference Registration page. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Interested parties should contact Wendy Worm, Vice President of Marketing and Programs of the Maryland Tech Council, via the event registration page.



The Bio Innovation Conference is the only biotechnology conference in Maryland to feature the BIO One-on-One Partnering system, a virtual platform that simplifies the process of searching for, identifying, and meeting with potential partners and business development executives. The BIO One-on-One Partnering system will allow you to pre-schedule private, virtual, 30-minute meetings in meeting spaces at the conference, source potential partnerships with a senior-level audience, and communicate directly with management in life sciences fields. "As the region's premiere collaborative community for the life sciences industry, we are deeply committed to safely bringing our community back together again," said Marty Rosendale, CEO of the Maryland Tech Council. "The 2021 Bio Innovation Conference will be a valuable forum for anyone seeking to deepen their professional relationships and explore the future of life sciences in a post-pandemic world."

ABOUT THE MARYLAND TECH COUNCIL The Maryland Tech Council (MTC) is a collaborative community that is actively engaged in building strong technology and life science industries by supporting the efforts of our individual members. We are the largest technology and life sciences trade association in the state of Maryland, and we provide value by giving members a forum to learn, share, and connect. MTC brings the region's community together into a single, united organization that empowers our members to achieve their business goals through advocacy, networking and education. The vision for the Maryland Tech Council is to propel Maryland to become the number one innovation economy for life sciences and technology in the country. For more information: mdtechcouncil.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005716/en/

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[June 28, 2021] GALT Hosts Annual GSAB Meeting

SAN DIEGO, June 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 8, 2021, Global Air Logistics and Training, Inc. (GALT) hosted its annual GALT Strategic Advisory Board (GSAB) meeting in Alexandria, Virginia. The GSAB is comprised of the following members: Gen. Tom Hobbins  USAF, Retired

 USAF, Retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula  USAF, Retired

 USAF, Retired Mr. Gary Kessler  SES, USN, Retired

 SES, USN, Retired Mr. Bobby Smart  SES, USAF, Retired

 SES, USAF, Retired Mr. Terry Collins  Boeing/ArgonST, Retired

 Boeing/ArgonST, Retired Mr. Scott O'Neil  SES, USN, Retired

 SES, USN, Retired Dr. Marv Langston  SES, Former DD/CIO, Retired

 SES, Former DD/CIO, Retired Mr. Wayne Willhite  SES, USN, Retired



GALT's newest member of the Board of Directors, Vice Admiral Mat Winter (Ret), as well as the team from Cypress International, which GALT recently engaged to facilitate GALT's support of Department of Defense (DoD) programs. The meeting yielded very helpful information to continue adding value to current GALT DoD programs and grow meaningful future business. GALT will continue to focus on maturing USMC Communication Enhancements; implementing innovative ways to improve USAF Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS); as well as continue to grow our relationships across the US Navy and US Army portfolios of operations. The GSAB's candor and insight provided a very clear way forward that focused on the importance of robust and secure data exchange to the right user at the right time, on the most effective network and communications path available. GALT is a non-traditional, veteran-owned small business that delivers premier command, control and communications (C3) solutions in support of the DoD. GALT's combination of technical innovation and fast-paced execution unleashes new capabilities, bolsters security, and transforms information flow. GALT specializes in open, scalable, and tailorable communications architectures, rapid prototyping, and user experience design.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/galt-hosts-annual-gsab-meeting-301321264.html SOURCE Global Air Logistics and Training, Inc.

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[June 28, 2021] Intermap Technologies Annual General Meeting

Providing business and strategic update Virtual format allows investors to attend remotely DENVER, June 28, 2021 /CNW/ - Intermap Technologies (TSX: IMP) (OTCQX: ITMSF) ("Intermap" or the "Company"), a global leader in geospatial content development and intelligence solutions, today announced its Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held virtually on June 29, 2021 at 12:00 pm MT. Intermap Chairman and CEO Patrick A. Blott will provide on update on the Company's business and strategic position. In light of the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency and to protect the Corporation's employees, shareholders and other stakeholders, as well as the broader community, the Meeting will be held in a virtual-only format, which will be conducted via live audio-only webcast. All shareholders and prospective shareholders of the Corporation will have an equal opportunity to participate at the Meeting regardless of their geographic location or the particular constraints, circumstances or risks they may be facing as a result of COVID-19. At the Meeting, shareholders and guests will have the opportunity to ask questions. All shareholders and interested investors can access the virtual AGM at

https://web.lumiagm.com/260300083. Intermap Reader Advisory

Certain information provided in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate", "expect", "project", "estimate", "forecast", "will be", "will consider", "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Although Intermapbelieves that these statements are based on information and assumptions which are current, reasonable and complete, these statements are necessarily subject to a variety of known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Intermap's forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties pertaining to, among other things, cash available to fund operations, availability of capital, revenue fluctuations, nature of government contracts, economic conditions, loss of key customers, retention and availability of executive talent, competing technologies, common share price volatility, loss of proprietary information, software functionality, internet and system infrastructure functionality, information technology security, breakdown of strategic alliances, and international and political considerations, as well as those risks and uncertainties discussed Intermap's Annual Information Form and other securities filings. While the Company makes these forward-looking statements in good faith, should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary significantly from those expected. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits that the Company will derive therefrom. All subsequent forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, attributable to Intermap or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as at the date of this news release and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the forward-looking statements made herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities law.



About Intermap Technologies

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Intermap (TSX: IMP; OTCQX: ITMSF) is a global leader in geospatial intelligence solutions. The Company's proprietary 3D NEXTMap elevation datasets and value-added geospatial collection, processing, analytics, fusion and orthorectification software and solutions are utilized across a range of industries that rely on accurate, high-resolution elevation data. Intermap helps governments build authoritative geospatial datasets and provides solutions for base mapping, transportation, environmental monitoring, topographic mapping, disaster mitigation, smart city integration, public safety and defense. The Company's commercial applications include aviation and UAV flight planning, flood and wildfire insurance, environmental and renewable energy planning, telecommunications, engineering, critical infrastructure monitoring, hydrology, land management, oil and gas and transportation. For more information, please visit www.intermap.com. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/intermap-technologies-annual-general-meeting-301321291.html

SOURCE Intermap Technologies Corporation

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[June 28, 2021] Jefferies Financial Group Announces Two New Members of Its Board of Directors

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) today announced the appointment of Matrice Ellis Kirk and Melissa Weiler to its Board of Directors effective July 1, 2021. The appointments of Ms. Ellis Kirk and Ms. Weiler expand Jefferies' Board of Directors to twelve directors, nine of whom are independent. Jefferies' CEO, Rich Handler, and President, Brian Friedman, stated: "We are pleased to welcome Matrice and Mel as new independent directors to Jefferies' board and we are confident their perspective and insight will be invaluable as we continue to grow Jefferies' business globally. Their significant experience further complements our existing directors' skills, and we look forward to partnering with them." Matrice Ellis Kirk Ms. Ellis Kirk is the CEO of Ellis Kirk Group, a full-service executive search firm, focusing on governance, succession and leadership team development. Ms. Ellis Kirk was a Managing Director and a member of the Executive Committee at RSR Partners executive search firm from 2014 to 2021. Previously she was with the international executive search firm, Heidrick & Struggles, from 1999 to 2014. From 1996 to 1999, Ms. Ellis Kirk was a director of Spencer Stuart, an executive search firm. Prior to her career in executive recruiting, Ms. Ellis Kirk was a Vice President of Apex (News - Alert) Securities, an investment banking firm, from 1992 to 1996. From 1986 to 1992, she was Director of the Office of Management and Budget for Dallas Area Rapid Transit, a regional transit agency and, prior to that, from 1982 to 1986 she held several positions with MBank Dallas, the predecessor of the Dallas office of JPMorganChase Bank. Ms. Ellis Kirk served as a director of ACE Cash Express from December 2005 until October 2006 when ACE Cash Express was acquired by JLL Partners. Ms. Ellis Kirk also served as a director of Chancellor Media, which later became AMFM, Inc., from 1996 until October 1999 when it was acquired by Clear Channel (News - Alert) . Ms. Ellis Kirk graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Economics.



Ms. Ellis Kirk is the Chair Emeritus of the AT&T (News - Alert) Performing Arts Center and is a Dallas City Council appointed board Chair of the DFW Airport Authority. Melissa Weiler

Ms. Weiler was a Managing Director and a member of the Management Committee of Crescent Capital Group, a Los Angeles-based asset management firm ("Crescent"), where she served from January 2011 until she retired in December 2020. During that time, Ms. Weiler oversaw Crescent's CLO management business from July 2017 through December 2020 and managed several multi-strategy credit funds from January 2011 through June 2017. From October 1995 to December 2010, Ms. Weiler was a Managing Director at Trust Company of the West, a Los Angeles-based asset management firm ("TCW"), where she managed several multi-strategy credit funds from July 2006 to December 2010 and served as lead portfolio manager for TCW's high-yield bond strategy from October 1995 to June 2006. Ms. Weiler serves as a Class II director of the Board of Owl Rock Capital Corporation (NYSE:ORCC), and concurrently serves on the boards of several Owl Rock funds. Owl Rock Capital Corporation is a specialty finance company focused on providing direct lending solutions to middle market companies. Ms. Weiler is also a member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance and Audit Committees for certain Owl Rock boards as well as a member of the Compensation Committee for ORCC. Ms. Weiler holds a degree in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Ms. Weiler is a member of the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors and is actively involved in 100 Women in Finance. About Jefferies Jefferies Financial Group Inc. is a diversified financial services company engaged in investment banking and capital markets, asset management and direct investing. Jefferies Group LLC, our wholly owned subsidiary, is the largest independent, global, full-service investment banking firm headquartered in the U.S. Focused on serving clients for nearly 60 years, Jefferies is a leader in providing insight, expertise and execution to investors, companies and governments. Our firm provides a full range of investment banking, advisory, sales and trading, research and wealth management services across all products in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Jefferies' Leucadia Asset Management division is a growing alternative asset management platform. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005792/en/

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[June 28, 2021] Institutional Property Advisors Closes $90 Million Grocery-Anchored Shopping Center Sale in Pennsylvania

Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI), announced the sale of Camp Hill Shopping Center, a 430,198-square-foot shopping center located at 3301 Trindle Road in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. The sales price is approximately $90 million. "Camp Hill Shopping Center is one of the many outstanding grocery-anchored shopping centers within the Cedar Realty Trust portfolio," said Brad Nathanson, IPA senior managing director. "Currently 96% occupied, the property is anchored by one of the top-performing Giant Food Markets in the entire chain, operating out of 92,939 square feet, which makes it one of the tenant's largest locations." Nathanson represented the seller, Cedar Realty Trust, and identified the buyer, GSD CampHill Pradsavi Group LLC. Marcus & Millichap Capital Corporation arranged the debt on behalf of the buyer. "Anchor sales for Camp Hill are some of the best within their respective chains, which lead to the historical high retention of tenancy," Nathanson said. "Camp Hill Shopping Center is arguably the best-located and tenanted shopping center within all of Central Pennsylvania, le by market-share leading Giant Food Markets in their flagship store." Additional tenants include Boscov's Department Store, Staples (News - Alert) , Five Below, Barnes & Noble, and LA Fitness.



The Camp Hill Shopping Center is located at the pinnacle hub of Route 15 and Route 11 on the Western Shores of Harrisburg in a high-growth market where substantial industrial development over the past 10 years has made it one of the top corridors in the United States. Once an enclosed mall, the center was redeveloped by Cedar Realty Trust in 2005. "There is tremendous demand for dominant grocery-anchored shopping centers nationally, given the rebound in the markets post-COVID and the attractive debt markets," Nathanson concluded. "In fact, demand is outpacing the supply of first-class, high-performing assets like Camp Hill Shopping Center." Bruce Schanzer, CEO of Cedar Realty Trust, commented: "We are very pleased with this transaction. Thank you to Brad Nathanson and his IPA colleagues for their professionalism and dedication in seeing this to a satisfactory conclusion." Cedar will be retaining property management of the asset. Sean Beuche, license no. RM424190, is Marcus & Millichap's broker of record in Pennsylvania.

About Institutional Property Advisors (IPA) Institutional Property Advisors (IPA) is a division of Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI), a leading commercial real estate services firm in North America. IPA's combination of real estate investment and capital markets expertise, industry-leading technology, and acclaimed research offer customized solutions for the acquisition, disposition and financing of institutional properties and portfolios. For more information, please visit www.institutionalpropertyadvisors.com About Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI) With over 2,000 investment sales and financing professionals located throughout the United States and Canada, Marcus & Millichap is a leading specialist in commercial real estate investment sales, financing, research and advisory services. Founded in 1971, the firm closed 8,954 transactions in 2020 with a value of approximately $43 billion. Marcus & Millichap has perfected a powerful system for marketing properties that combines investment specialization, local market expertise, the industry's most comprehensive research, state-of-the-art technology, and relationships with the largest pool of qualified investors. To learn more, please visit: www.MarcusMillichap.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005843/en/

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Right now we pay tribute to hottie Candice because shes the very best of newsworthy fashion moguls and right now she inspires us to take a peek at pop culture, community news and top headlines.

Check-it . . .

Kansas City Crash, Nobody Injuries Reported Yet

School bus strikes Kansas City police motorcycle KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- A school bus struck a Kansas City, Missouri police motorcycle Monday morning on Interstate 29 near Tiffany Springs Parkway in the city's Northland. The officer was standing on the passenger side of a car while conducting a traffic stop on I-29.

Hype Inside The Loop

Downtown KC in the news + Local responses to national COVID survey Cordish's Benjamin talks strength of KC multifamily Entrepreneurs select site for first Black-owned brewery KC Museum renovation earns preservation award Mississippi group to build Berkley Riverfront hotel KC's Parade of Hearts aims to top the Cow Parade Library exhibit charts KC's aviation history - Downtown KC participates in national COVID analysis As the nation begins to emerge from COVID, it is critical for community leaders to ask some tough questions and assess priorities and plans of residents, customers, and employees.

Local Tragedy Midday Report

MoDOT supervisor hit, killed while working flooded highway north of Kansas City metro The crash happened around 9 a.m. on Highway 273 in Tracy, Missouri, as the worker put out warning signs because of a flooded road. Investigators said the worker died at the scene.

Sign Of The Times

KC Scout to activate new colored-icon message boards KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The KC Scout Traffic Management Center will activate new colored digital message boards starting Monday. Unlike the current message boards, which display messages in orange-colored text, the new boards will use full color to depict interstate and highway icons.

War Crime Celebration Or Hero Tribute?!?

Sneak Peek: Extensive Truman Library remodel features new displays, artifacts Tickets are now on sale for the return to the Harry S.

Candice Style Stays Winning

Why Candice Swanepoel's black blazer has enduring appeal Supermodel Candice Swanepoel stepped out in New York City this week, and demonstrated why the classic black blazer is an enduring wardrobe hero that every woman could use in her day-to-day life.

Former Prez Trump Deets Resonate

"I said you're in f---ing charge!": Trump and Gen. Milley's Situation Room shouting match Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, repeatedly blew up at President Trump over how to handle last summer's racial-justice protests, The Wall Street Journal's Michael Bender writes in his forthcoming book, " Frankly, We Did Win This Election."

Minority Leader Double Cross?!?

Mitch McConnell could blow up the bipartisan infrastructure deal after Biden reassured Senate Republicans Mitch McConnell jeopardized Joe Biden's bipartisan infrastructure deal on Monday. Biden said last Thursday that the deal was tied to another, Democratic-only reconciliation bill. After Biden walked those comments back, McConnell insisted Pelosi and Schumer have to follow suit. See more stories on Insider's business page.

Toilet Training Day Delayed

Supreme Court refuses to hear transgender bathroom case, a victory for LGBT rights and student Gavin Grimm The Supreme Court on Monday handed the LGBT rights movement another victory, declining to hear an appeal that challenged the rights of transgender students to use the bathroom of their choosing. The high court said it would not take a case involving Gavin Grimm and the school board of Gloucester County, Virginia.

Bienvenidos, Amigos!!!

Ilhan Omar says every illegal immigrant in US should have 'pathway to citizenship' Rep. , D-Minn., has called for every illegal in the U.S. to have a pathway to citizenship. The Minnesota Democrat, a member of the far-left "Squad," published a tweet on Monday commemorating her meeting with activists from the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA).

New Strain Advances

How the UK - where the Covid delta variant 'exploded' - is a blueprint for the U.S. The first thing to note is how quickly the delta variant spread across the U.K. In a relatively short amount of time, the strain supplanted the alpha variant to become dominant in the country ( in mid-June delta was responsible for 90% of all infections, a government study showed) - and this happened despite the U.K.'s advanced vaccination rate.

Vaxx Hope Endures

Study suggests Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 vaccines could provide 'years' of protection A new study reportedly suggests the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna could provide protection for "years." As The New York Times reports, scientists in a new study sought to determine whether "vaccination alone" will provide long-lasting protection against COVID-19 after research suggested the vaccines may offer years of protection for those who were previously infected with the coronavirus.

Rocket Man Chunky Love Alleged

North Korea: Citizens 'worried' by Kim Jong-un weight loss We still don't know why the video of the concerned citizen was shown. But Kwak Gil Seob, who heads One Korea Center, a website specializing in North Korea affairs, told the BBC that the Pyongyang regime "would never allow negative news around Kim Jong-un to be published" - meaning that the footage was aired "to show that Kim Jong-un is losing weight by himself".

Royal Snub From Beyond The Grave

Kate Middleton's absence from Diana statue unveiling is 'telling' Kate Middleton's absence from Princess Diana's memorial launch Thursday will be "telling on so many levels," according to family sources. Prince William's wife is missing out on the unveiling of a statue to mark what would have been Diana's 60th birthday after the guest list was slashed.

Youtuber Talks Diva

Chris Crocker, 'Leave Britney Alone' Video Creator, Reflects On What's Changed Over the last few days, it's been said a lot on Twitter: "Chris Crocker was right." But as Crocker explained during a recent interview with NPR, they don't want to be right - and it's not about them at all.

Diverse Kansas City Safe Spaces Needed

Kansas City Nonprofit Opening Safe Space For Black LGBTQ Community The Kansas City nonprofit BlaqOut is planning to open a physical "safe space" in Midtown dedicated to serving the city's Black LGBTQ community. "It will be very much FUBU," said D. Rashaan Gilmore, BlaqOut president and CEO, on KCUR's Up To Date. "For us by us, but open to all.

Local Racial Merch Rewarded

Brian Roberts builds community support for Black-owned businesses with his shop Black Pantry Last November, Brian Roberts quietly launched a pop-up retail business called Black Pantry, where he sold sundry home goods and foodstuffs-everything from soaps and candles to artisan hot sauce and jam-out of a small trailer at locations around Kansas City. His core mission: Give Black brands a spotlight.

Kansas City Family Help Offered

Ribbon cutting held for Family Transformations rapid reunification home KANSAS CITY, Mo. - There was a big step on Saturday in efforts to reconnect parents with their children in Kansas City, Missouri. A ribbon cutting was held for a rapid family reunification home. It allows parents working to regain custody of their children to have a safe and comfortable place for supervised visitations.

Even Fanbois Frustrated With Dayton

Dayton Moore's success and failures tell the same story Recently, Dayton Moore celebrated his 15th anniversary as general manager of the Kansas City Royals. If it sounds like a long time, it is. Put it this way: Moore was hired three presidential administrations ago, a year before Apple released a little device called an iPhone for the first time.

Todays Forecast

More off-and-on rain and storms Monday Hide Transcript Show Transcript LOVES SALVI. YEAH EVERY NIGHT. COME ON FIRST ALERT RADAR THIS MORNING. WE GOT MORE RAIN A FEW THUNDERSTORMS HERE TO THE EAST OF KANSAS CITY.

Rare Earth - I Just Want To Celebrate is the song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now.
The causes are getting confused . . . Realists know that it's all the same protest demanding more cash.

Meanwhile . . . A weekend protest continues to resonate on the local news.



Hipsters tragically buried the money line and a call to action . . .



This is ground zero for the tenant struggle against gentrifiers, slumlords, and the police, says KC Tenants leader Jenay Manley.

Read more as, after winning $1.6 MILLION out of the KCMO budget . . . This group clearly has a great deal of influence . . . Check-it:

KC Tenants' rally demands a seat at the table post-federal eviction protections Today KC Tenants held a "Tenant Reckoning" rally at Gabriel Tower Apartments on Kansas City's east side. For months the apartment's disabled and elderly tenants have struggled to have basic human needs met, and have lived with mold, water damage, and little-to-no information regarding improvements.

Developing . . .
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Anderson reported from St. Petersburg, Florida, and Condon reported from New York.
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Pre-pandemic, I was a frequent cruiser and my mobility is impaired, off and on, by rheumatoid arthritis. I'm aging toward that senior threshold.

Let me tell you about what I've seen and done, and you can draw conclusions of how they apply to you.

Cruise lines want to move lots of people very quickly when you first board and disembark at cruise end. They provide temporary free wheelchairs then - and ONLY then. These wheelchairs don't come aboard for the cruise. They stay at the ship's home terminal.

When you book, have your travel agent note on your booking you want assistance for both getting on and off the ship.

Even if you consider your mobility issue "slight", the crise line may not. I cruised with a friend with a deformed foot who REPEATEDLY waved off assistance. Eventually an officer approached her, told her she was holding others up and impeding traffic flow, and all but forced her into a wheelchair. She was devastated, but IMO the officer was correct. Her right to independence was trumped by the need to clear the ship.

On the other hand, you are on your own once you board. If you need assistance with your daily routine? Look to you travel companion. The crew can't and won't help you put your socks on. Yes, this happened - on one cruise, a gentleman travelling solo was outraged by this fact.

Contact ship's services if you need a bath seat in your shower or tub. Many lines have toll free numbers for North Americans, or your travel agent may do this. Free.

One barrier on many ships is the swimming pool. NO DIVING. Most have ladders - a very few have steps. Spa therapy tubs tend to be easier to get in and out of via better steps. Look online for ship pictures, or come back here and ask once you settle on a ship.

If you visit any port where you do not dock? You may find yourself confined to the ship if you can't manage to board a tender. In rough weather, only the nimble can leap from the platform onto the heaving tender deck. In truly nasty sea conditions? No tendering for anyone. A sea day, no port.

If you have good days and bad days? Arrange to rent a mobility device as soon as you book. I *strongly* suggest you rent from

On my most recent cruise (December 2019) I rented a scooter from a landside provider. It promptly died upon boarding. You don't need to hear details of the disaster, just learn from my mistake.

If there's something I failed to cover? Please post again with more details because I'm unsure what you mean by "activities".

If you mean shore excursions? You will need to be able to get on and off a bus on your own.

It's embarrassing to share personal details on a public forum, but I'm in the dark about what you're getting at. Shipboard games? Tend to things which can be done sitting in a lounge, like team trivia.

I think Carnival is a budget friendly line which does a good jobif you're new to cruising - and I recommend you forget about a balcony to spare your pocket. Some board regulars will say Royal Caribbean is a better choice for a first cruise, but all those "free" extras come with a hidden price, in my opinion.
Has anyone actually gone to Cyprus from UK since Cyprus announced they arent requiring proof of test if double vaccinated?

Cant for the life of me from the unclear information figure out if I need any test to fly this week. PCR or lat flow, or none...

Will the airport ask for this as some sort of UK imposed requirement before I leave to fly from the UK?

All other tests etc Im clear on. Just this that isnt clear.

Ryanair are useless to get in touch with as well.

Help appreciates only if you have done this trip or know the answer for sure.

Thanks

James
I don't think anyone can tell you if the Governments of Uganda or Egypt might apply travel bans or quarantines, not least on a general travel forum. I think you have to be aware that it could happen, especially somewhere like Egypt that wants European tourists and doesn't want to be on a red list because it is acting as a transit hub (the reasoning Turkey, UAE and Qatar are on the UK red list). But having said that, the wave in South Africa is being dominated by the Delta variant, which is the same as in the UK. Uganda already has a pretty strict lockdown in place and extra measures for arrivals from SA.

As I understand it, the National Parks outside places can open, but museums can't, so in Cape Town you can visit the penguin colonies on the Peninsula and towards Hermanus, walk the Hermanus prom looking for whales, visit Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point and Kirstenbosch botanical gardens, walk around Bo Kaap etc.

I think you need to call Airlink to discuss your options. I presume you have travel insurance to cover covid-related Government imposed restrictions, but obviously you are legally allowed to visit SA, stay in hotels / self catering and so I don't know if insurance would pay out in these circumstances.
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The government plans to eventually liberalise the cost of fuel at the pumps, which has been on the cards for some-time now.

It has stated that a zero-tolerance approach to market monopolisation would be taken.
CONFIRMED: It is MUSEVENIs son who is in ICU at a Nairobi hospital  See his latest condition





HABARI HIZI ZINAPATIKANA KWENYE APP YA UDAKU SPECIAL, BONYEZA HAPA KUIDOWNLOAD KWENYE SIMU YAKO BURE

Uganda President Yoweri Kaguta Musevenis son Muhoozi Kainerubaga is battling COVID-19 at a Nairobi hospital after he tested positive a few days ago.

According to revered blogger, Robert Alai, Kainerubaga, who was last week promoted to Lieutenant General, which is the second-highest rank in the countrys army, was airlifted on Saturday to a Nairobi hospital where he is in a life support machine.





CONFIRMED: Musevenis son @mkainerugaba has been at Nairobi Hospital in a critical state for the past 3 days.

His current state is not known. Sources within Uganda have indicated to me that he was promoted this week while not so ill but state deteriorated, Alai wrote on his social media page on Sunday.

Uganda has in the last few weeks been experiencing a coronavirus storm after the lethal Indian variant was detected in the country.

The country is currently in total lockdown for 42 days to stop the further spread of the pandemic that has ravaged the economies of many countries in the world.
Hi, my name is Scott C. Waring and I wrote a few books and am currently a ESL School Owner in Taiwan. I have had my own UFO sighting up close and personal, but that's how it works right? A non believer becomes a believer when they experience their first sighting. You witnessed it, your perceptual field changes, so now you need to share it.





I created this site to help the UFO community get a little bit organized. I noticed that there was a lot of chaos when searching for UFO sighting reports, so I hope this site helps. I wanted to support those eyewitnesses who have tried to tell others about what they have seen, yet were laughed at by even closest of friends.





More and more each day the governments of the world leak bits and pieces of UFO information to the public. They have a trickle down theory in hopes of slowly getting citizens use to the idea that we are not alone in universe and never have been. The truth is being leaked drop by drop until one day we look around and find ourselves neck high in it.





The discovery of alien species in existence is the most monumental scientific event in human history, suppression of that information is a crime against humanity.





About me:

I live in Taiwan. I OWN MY OWN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AND ONCE HAD 5 SCHOOLS.

Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line).

Age: 42

Educ: BA in Elem ed. Masters in Counseling ed.





I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it).
Last week, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) recorded about 2,000 ceasefire violations, which is 265% more than a week earlier.

Ambassador Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna, said this at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting on June 24, Ukrinform reports.

"We call on the Russian side to abandon its aggressive behavior and begin to improve the security situation on the ground. Last week, the SMM recorded almost 2,000 ceasefire violations  a 265% increase compared to the previous week," Tsymbaliuk said.

According to him, the Mission regarded about half of these violations as exercises with the use of weapons in the occupied territories of Luhansk region.

During the meeting, the EU delegation also announced that the OSCE SMM had recorded almost 2,000 ceasefire violations last week. At the same time, it clarified that 994 ceasefire violations were recorded on June 17.

The number of violations shows that the overall security situation in the conflict zone remains unstable. In addition, since the beginning of 2021, the SMM has confirmed 37 civilian casualties, of which 73% were due to mines, unexploded ordnance, and other explosives. There is also an increase in casualties among the Ukrainian military," the EU said in a statement.

ish
Over the past day, June 27, four ceasefire violations by the Russian-occupation troops were recorded in the Joint Forces Operation area in eastern Ukraine.

"In particular, the enemy opened fire from 120mm and 82mm mortars near Shumy (41km north of Donetsk); automatic easel grenade launchers  outside Starohnativka (51km south of Donetsk); hand-held antitank grenade launchers and small arms  in the suburbs of Vodiane in the Sea of Azov area  In the north of Luhansk region, the flight of an enemy Orlan-10-class UAV was recorded. The drone was timely suppressed with radio-electronic warfare equipment," the press center of the JFO Headquarters reports.

As a result of the enemy shelling, one Ukrainian serviceman received a shrapnel wound. He was promptly taken to a medical institution and provided with appropriate medical care. His health is satisfactory.

The Ukrainian side of the Joint Control and Coordination Center (JCCC) informed the OSCE SMM about the violations committed by the armed formations of the Russian Federation.

As of 7 a.m. on June 28, no ceasefire violations were recorded.

ish
The Sea Breeze 2021 multinational maritime exercise, organized by the Ukrainian Navy and the U.S. Sixth Fleet, began in the Black Sea region on Monday, June 28.

Exercise Sea Breeze in its 21st iteration, is a U.S. and Ukraine co-hosted multinational maritime exercise held in the Black Sea designed to enhance interoperability of participating nations and strengthen maritime security within the region. The routine, annual training exercise aims to strengthen maritime security and stability, information-sharing, and building teamwork and mutual cooperation.

The exercise is taking place from June 28 to July 10 in the Black Sea region and focuses on multiple warfare areas including amphibious warfare, land maneuver warfare, diving operations, maritime interdiction operations, air defense, special operations integration, anti-submarine warfare, and search and rescue operations.

This years iteration involves the largest number of participating nations in the exercises history, including 32 countries from six continents, 5,000 troops, 32 ships, 40 aircraft, and 18 special operation and dive teams.

Ukraine and U.S. are cohosting the exercise in the Black Sea with participation and support coming from 32 countries in total: Albania, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, France, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Morocco, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Senegal, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States.

As previously reported, on June 26, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) entered the Black Sea to participate in the 21st iteration of Exercise Sea Breeze 2021 (SB21).
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said that security and economic issues will be discussed at a meeting with President of the United States Joe Biden.

Zelensky said this on the VIP with Natalia Moseichuk program, Ukrinform reports.

We have several sets [of issues] to discuss. In particular, it is the security bloc. I reaffirm that this is not just the issue of MAP - this is the issue of our bilateral relations, a defense memorandum between our countries. The issue of Nord Stream 2 - I consider it to be the security bloc, I unite this. The issue of Donbas. The issue of Crimea and security on the Black Sea and Azov coasts. The issue of the Ukrainian fleet," Zelensky said.

In addition, according to the President, the economic issues will be also raised.

"For us, the support of the IMF is very important. However, I want to shift [the talk] from politics specifically to the economy and reforms. And there are some structural beacons, and if we agree on them, then we are partners with the IMF," Zelensky said.

Zelensky also added that before his travel to Washington, he would meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, where he would also discuss all these pressing issues.

iy
President Volodymyr Zelensky has delivered a speech at a solemn meeting of the Verkhovna Rada on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Constitution of Ukraine.

Fellow Ukrainians!

A quarter of a century ago, on this very day, in this very hall, a very important symbol of our history, our independence and our state was born!

And I sincerely congratulate all of us on this great, special, double holiday - the Day of the Constitution of Ukraine and the 25th anniversary of its adoption!

You know, on such an iconic, unique date, I would like not only to say something, but also to do something important. Make something more than typical anniversary stamps and coins with the inscription "25 years of Ukrainian Constitution!"

Before coming here, I traditionally, as every year, laid flowers at the monument to Pylyp Orlyk - Hetman of the Zaporozhian Army and author of the famous Constitution of 1710, which is called the first written Constitution of Europe.

The vast majority of us know, heard or read about it.

At the same time, the vast majority of us have never seen it. Have not seen fragments of our history and our heritage. Moreover, in 311 years, the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk has never been at home in its homeland.

This is wrong. This is not fair. And this needs to be fixed.

This way I can briefly describe the dialogue Ive been holding for several months with the Swedish authorities, whose National Archives contain the original Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk. And today we can finally share the good news.

First, the National Archives of Sweden handed over three copies of Pylyp Orlyk's Constitution to Ukraine. One was exhibited in the lobby of the Verkhovna Rada in the morning. The second will be located in the President's Office. The third will be located in the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. After updating and rebooting the Court.

And the second news. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of our Independence, for the first time in 311 years, the original Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk will arrive in Ukraine. Together with the mace of Hetman Pylyp Orlyk and Hetman Ivan Mazepa, everyone will be able to see it in St. Sophia Cathedral. The canvas of our history has a thousand years and as many missing puzzle pieces. We return these pieces to Ukrainians. We return Ukraine to Ukraine.

Glory to Ukraine!

From this high rostrum, I would like to thank our Swedish partners once again. In the last month, taking into account EURO 2020, Sweden has shown for the second time that it is our great friend. We believe tomorrow it will show how much it loves Ukraine for the third time.

Actually, I'm kidding. I wish everyone success tomorrow and let the stronger one win! And we know who is stronger.

Ladies and Gentlemen!

A truly historic event took place 25 years ago. Its significance is so large that even a slight pathos in the assessments seems appropriate and organic. The adoption of the Constitution is called the last chord in the symphony of state formation. The Bible of legal commandments for all Ukrainians. The legal shield and armor for human and civil rights and freedoms. The business card of the state and the nation, which at the highest legislative level answers the question: who are we? Where are we from? What do we strive for? How do we want to live? And what do we want to reach?

But I think that the Constitution itself gives the best assessment of the Constitution.

The first word with which its first article begins is "Ukraine". And that says it all. Its second article begins with the word "sovereignty". And the third - with the word "man". And this says even more.

Yes, compared to the age-old Constitutions of many states, our basic law is very young or even adolescent. But the things I mentioned above, as well as the assessment of the international community, which called our Constitution one of the most democratic, its human-centeredness (a third of the articles is dedicated to human and civil rights and freedoms) - all this shows that our young Constitution is at the same time mature and wise.

And this is absolutely logical, because 25 years is only its latest period, which is preceded by centuries-old traditions of the constitutional process of Ukraine.

More than 1,000 years of the Ruska Pravda. 367 years of the Articles of March by Bohdan Khmelnytsky. More than a century of the Constitution of the Ukrainian People's Republic. And the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk has already been mentioned today. It is our duty to multiply these important traditions, preserving the modern Constitution, knowing how difficult it was to adopt it.

Today I would like to thank the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the 2nd convocation who, despite political confrontations, 15 different drafts of the Constitution, 6,000 amendments before the 2nd reading and a continuous sitting for over 24 hours, found strength and unity to adopt the long-awaited Constitution of Ukraine. Thank you!

To finally understand its significance, just imagine for a moment that this did not happen in 1996. And we still live by the Soviet constitution. We are called the Ukrainian USSR, we have simulated freedom of speech, thought, movement, religion, political choice, private property rights, opportunities to do business and much more.

Fellow citizens!

On June 28, 1996, the emergence of the Constitution of Ukraine marked a number of other important things. The Ukrainian language received the status of the only state language, and the hryvnia received the status of the national currency. The state symbols were fixed at the highest legislative level: the blue-yellow flag, the trident and the anthem.

And all these years there is only one open question. The only state symbol, which is directly envisaged by the Constitution and which still does not exist.

This is the Great Emblem of Ukraine. Over the years, there have been many different competitions, disputes, quarrels, opinions and different visions. This is normal, this is democracy. I think that in the year of the 30th anniversary of independence and the 25th anniversary of the Constitution, we need to finally put an end to this issue.

Therefore, in accordance with Article 93 of the Constitution of Ukraine, I submit to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine a draft law on the Great State Emblem of Ukraine and define it as urgent for extraordinary consideration by the Verkhovna Rada. The first President of Ukraine Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk will report on the bill during its consideration at the plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

I want to thank all the deputies. I know that representatives of many factions are involved in this process. It is very important.

Finally, I would like to appeal to MPs, government officials and all other respected civil servants, regardless of rank and status.

After the first words of the three articles of our Constitution that you have already heard about, the following articles of the Basic Law begin with such words as "state", "land", "public life", "rights and freedoms", "citizens", "children", "environmental security", "legal order", "defense of the homeland", "state language and symbols", "right to vote", "people's will".

And long after them, almost at the end, the words "President of Ukraine", "people's deputies" and "Cabinet of Ministers" are mentioned for the first time. The Constitution has clearly set priorities. Everything that is much higher than us, our interests and ambitions. Everything we have to protect and provide. Everything we should serve. I have mentioned most of it today. Maybe you don't remember everything. And most importantly, remember three words. Ukraine. Sovereignty. Man.

Congratulations to all of us! Congratulations on the Constitution Day of Ukraine!

Glory to Ukraine!
The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine says Beijing has not pressured Kyiv into withdrawing its support for a call for more scrutiny of human rights in Chinas western region of Xinjiang by threatening to halt vaccine supplies to the country.

"China does not provide vaccines or other anti-epidemic drugs to other countries in exchange for certain benefits, does not have any geopolitical goals, and does not put forward any political conditions ... China will continue to supply vaccines to Ukraine," the press service of the embassy reported.

The embassy also called a statement at the UN Human Rights Council that criticized Beijing's actions against the Uyghurs as "interference of a small number of Western countries in China's internal affairs" - and Ukraine's withdrawal of its signature "just testifies to non-interference."

The decision of the Ukrainian side demonstrated its independent and fact-based position, which corresponds to the essence of the UN Charter and the basic principles of international relations, which we also welcome, the embassy noted.

On Friday, June 25, the Associated Press reported, citing its diplomatic sources, that Ukraine had pulled its name off the list of states supporting a document of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, urging China to allow immediate access for independent observers to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. This allegedly happened after China had threatened to block the supply of at least 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has not yet commented on the situation.

ish
The U.S. Embassy has congratulated Ukrainians on the 25th anniversary of the Constitution of Ukraine.

"On the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of Ukraine, we celebrate Ukraines long, hard-fought road to building a democratic and independent state. The United States will continue to work with Ukraine to achieve its Euro-Atlantic aspirations and build a prosperous and bright future for all Ukrainians," the embassy posted on Facebook.

U.S. Charge d'Affaires in Ukraine Kristina Kvien has noted in her video address that the United States stands as a steadfast partner in supporting Ukraine against Russias aggression and enacting its reform agenda.

Ukraine marks Constitution Day on June 28.

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E. J. Humbert, 13, scanned the bottom of the Walla Walla River near the Old Milton Highway while Matthew Humbert, 11, and Mason Stallings, 12, waited in the cool water last week. The trio was trading off with a dive mask, searching for crawdads.
Several people die in lakes, rivers during heat wave

Three people have died in Washington lakes and rivers as residents flocked to beaches in search of a respite from a record heat wave
IN THE aftermath of the New Hampshire budget debate, there will be a lot of energy spent tallying the winners and losers of the process, with a lot of focus on how this two-year spending blueprint reflects on political leaders and on the political parties. The time spent on the most contro
Union Springs, AL (36089)

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Mainly clear. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable..

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For University of Nebraska at Omaha Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., a journey that began in 2017 as an opportunity to lead campus will end this week as a life-changing experience.

In a video message shared with campus today, as his final day as UNOs chancellor on June 30 draws closer, Chancellor Gold reflected upon four years of achievement that he credited to a passionate students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community partners.

All that we had to do to accelerate this university campus on its path forward, a path towards becoming the nation's premier metropolitan university, was to polish, align, and follow your passions, your goals, and to continue to believe in UNO's ability to achieve our goals, to truly live our mission, Gold said. All that we had to do was to have the courage to continually stretch the envelope, to redefine and create, to build our own future.

Effective July 1, in addition to resuming his duties as the chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, he will assume a new and expanded set of duties as executive vice president and provost of the University of Nebraska System. Also on July 1, UNO Chancellor-Elect Joanne Li, Ph.D., CFA, will assume the role of chancellor of UNO.

During his video message, Chancellor Gold said the Maverick Spirit will follow him into his next role.

As our more than 100,000 alumni across the world would agree, the Maverick identity is not something that disappears or fades away when you leave the campus, he said. It is forever embodied within you. I can confidently say that as I continue my life's journey as UNMC's chancellor and begin a new chapter as the Executive Vice President and Provost of the University of Nebraska System, that embodied identity, this Maverick Spirit, will be my inspiration and truly my North Star.

In his remarks, Chancellor Gold reassured campus that he will continue to be part of the UNO community.

I don't consider this a farewell, Chancellor Gold said. As I said during my most recent State of the University address, this is a university campus that is inexorably linked with this amazing community. I won't be far away physically and even more so in spirit. So when we cross paths in the future on or off campus, please be sure to stop by and say hello. The door will always be open and the light will be on. I thank you for welcoming me into your lives and I thank you for forever changing mine. And as always, go Mavericks.
DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 28th Jun, 2021) Maktoum bin Butti Al Maktoum, Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation's (MoFAIC) Dubai Office, has met with lldephonse Ntawunkun, Consul-General of the Republic of Burundi in Dubai, and received his credentials.

Al Maktoum welcomed the Consul-General and hailed the political, economic, commercial and investment relations that bind the two friendly countries, wishing him success in his duties.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Rome, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Jun, 2021 ) :Israel's foreign minister on Sunday voiced concern over US diplomacy with Iran but promised a less confrontational approach in the new government's first high-level talks with the Jewish state's closest ally.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, a centrist who masterminded a coalition that this month unseated veteran right-wing leader Benjamin Netanyahu, flew to Rome to meet Secretary of State Antony Blinken who is on a European tour.

Lapid said that the new administrations in both Israel and the United States had a chance for a new start -- but made clear his worries about President Joe Biden's push to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal.

"Israel has some serious reservations about the Iran nuclear deal that is being put together in Vienna," Lapid said as he opened talks with Blinken at a hotel in the Italian capital.

"We believe the way to discuss those disagreements is though direct and professional conversations, not in press conferences," he said.

Lapid did not mention Netanyahu by name but was drawing a clear contrast with the former Israeli leader, who openly rallied the US Republican Party against the Iran deal as former president Barack Obama negotiated it in 2015.

"In the past few years mistakes were made," Lapid said, regretting that once-robust bipartisan support for Israel in the United States had dissipated.

"We will fix those mistakes together," he said.

The United States has been holding indirect talks with Iran led by European allies in Vienna in the hope of rejoining the deal that was trashed by former president Donald Trump.

Biden and Blinken argue that the agreement was working, as Iran had drastically scaled back its sensitive nuclear work, until Trump withdrew and imposed sweeping sanctions in 2018.

Israel has pressed for a more hawkish approach, seeing the clerical state in Tehran as its Primary enemy, including through its support of militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

- New mood of cooperation - Blinken hailed the remarks by Lapid, saying that the United States was committed to "working closely" with the new government led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a hardliner who leads a motley coalition united in the desire to oust Netanyahu.

"As the closest of friends do, we will have occasional differences," Blinken said.

"We have the same objectives. Sometimes we differ on the tactics," Blinken said.

Blinken said he would speak to Lapid about the need for reconstruction aid in the Gaza Strip, which was already impoverished and again ravaged in a conflict with Israel last month.

Biden and Blinken are also eager to preserve a fragile ceasefire that took effect on May 21 between Israel and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, after the worst fighting since 2014.

The bloodshed triggered some of the strongest criticism of Israel in memory in the US Congress, with some members of Biden's Democratic Party accusing Netanyahu of excessive force and of triggering the crisis by backing far-right Jewish groups that want to change the delicate status quo in the holy city of Jerusalem.

Netanyahu has already pounced on Lapid's interactions with Blinken, recently posting a video in English on social media calling the new government "so dangerous" and speaking of how he as premier would sometimes not inform the United States of pending Israeli actions.

- Modest goals - With tensions still high after last month's violence, a coalition getting its bearings in Israel and political uncertainties lingering within the Palestinian Authority, the Biden administration has made clear it is not rushing to make any grand middle East peace initiatives.

Blinken, speaking in Paris on Friday at a forum on the youth-oriented Brut network, said it was critical to "avoid provocations and incidents over the coming days, weeks and months that could reignite the violence and then to work to create a bit more confidence between the Israelis and Palestinians." The hope is that "there can be conditions, which do not currently exist, to allow perhaps a relaunch of the peace process and the establishment of two states, Israel and Palestine," Blinken said.

"I don't think the conditions are there yet. We have to work on them and we will."The Biden administration has hoped to be less involved in Middle East hotspots and to repair rifts created under Trump with European allies as part of a strategy to focus long-term attention on managing the rise of China.
Pretoria, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Jun, 2021 ) :South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday reimposed restrictions for two weeks to combat a surge in the highly contagious coronavirus Delta variant.

The worst hit country on the continent "is facing a massive resurgence of infection," the president said in a televised address to the nation.

"Our health facilities are stretched to the limit... ICU beds are in short supply," he said as he placed the country on alert level four, just one level below a full lockdown.

He banned all gatherings, expect for funerals where numbers will be capped at 50, and also ordered a ban on the sale of alcohol.

Eateries and restaurants can no longer serve sit-down meals, and will only be allowed to sell food for take-away or delivery.

A nighttime curfew has been lengthened by an hour.

Authorities say the peak of the third wave -- fuelled by the Delta variant first identified in India -- will surpass that of earlier waves as the country struggles to quickly roll out vaccinations.

"We are in the grip of a devastating wave that by all indications seems like it will be worse than those that preceded it.

"The peak of this third wave looks set to be higher than the previous two," he said.

South Africa now counts 1,928,897 cases after recording 15,036 cases on Sunday, a drop from the previous day when 18,762 new infections were diagnosedAt least 59,900 of those cases have been fatal.
LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Jun, 2021 ) :An anti-dengue drive initiated by the district administration is in full swing as surveillance of various points is being carried out in the provincial capital.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Shahid Abbas Kathia on Sunday visited Union Council (UC) 41 Aziz Bhatti zone, islam Park and Harpanspura, where he checked staff working in streets for indoor surveillance. He observed the attendance and performance of the dengue squad deputed on field duty in the area.

For making better arrangements to prevent dengue, it was necessary for the public to cooperate with the administration and field staff, he said and added that citizens should keep their houses clean and leave no place wet or with stagnant water.

He directed the teams to gear up the pace of anti-dengue spray process.

Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner Shalimar Mansoor Ahmed Qazi inspected arrangements at Wahga zone.

AC Model Town Ibrahim Arbab reviewed anti-dengue measures at UC-127 Model Townand AC City Fizan Ahmed visited UC-79 and 80 to monitor anti-dengue measures.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th June, 2021) The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will provide Tajikistan with all the necessary assistance if required in connection with the situation on the border with Afghanistan, CSTO spokesman Vladimir Zainetdinov told Sputnik on Monday.

"Tajikistan will be provided with all the necessary assistance from the CSTO which will be requested, as envisioned by the Collective Security Treaty and the CSTO Charter: it can be political and military assistance," Zainetdinov said.

The spokesman also said that CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas plans to visit Tajikistan in the near future to discuss the situation.

In addition, Zainetdinov mentioned that Dushanbe informed the CSTO on Monday about the situation in Afghanistan near its border.

"The Tajik side informed the CSTO leadership in detail about the current situation today," the spokesman said.
NEW DELHI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th June, 2021) India's Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) successfully test-fired a new-generation nuclear capable ballistic missile on Monday, government sources told Sputnik.

The "Agni P" missile was launched from the Dr.

Abdul Kalam island on Monday at 10:55 a.m. (5:25 GMT), off the Bay of Bengal.

The missile is a canisterised advanced variant of Agni with a 1,000-2,000 km (620-1,243 miles) range.

The missile is said to have hit all targets with high level of accuracy.
(@FahadShabbir)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th June, 2021) Myanmar's military leader Min Aung Hlaing discussed air defense with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a recent meeting in Moscow, the commander-in-chief has said in an interview with Sputnik.

Last week, Min Aung Hlaing attended an international military conference in the Russian capital and met with Shoigu.

"During the meeting, we mostly discussed the issues of air defense, there is a bilateral interest in expanding our cooperation in this area," Min Aung Hlaing said, adding that due to the major powers' interest in Myanmar, the country needs to enhance its air defense capabilities.

The military in Myanmar seized control of the nation in a coup d'etat on February 1, 2021. There have been mass protests since the coup was staged. On the other hand, the military authorities assert that it was justified and vow to transfer power after a new election, the date for which however is yet to be given.
The 2021 USA Cycling Professional Road National Championships came to Knoxville on Father's Day weekend. This is the fourth year for Knoxville to host the U.S. Pro Road and Individual Time Trial Championships and the third year to host the U.S. Pro Criterium Championships.
Valdosta, GA (31601)

Today

Scattered clouds with the possibility of an isolated thunderstorm developing late. Low 72F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

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Scattered clouds with the possibility of an isolated thunderstorm developing late. Low 72F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
Peacekeeping forces stand guard outside the Butsili Catholic Church in Beni following the bomb explosion on Sunday (AFP or licensors)

At least two people were injured on Sunday morning after an explosion rocked a Catholic Church in Beni town of the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). A strict curfew has been imposed on residents of the town as authorities continue to investigate the tragic incident.

By Vatican News staff writer

A bomb exploded inside of a Catholic Church in the city of Beni, in the Eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, damaging Church property and injuring at least two people, authorities said.

Reports say that the explosion occurred around 6:00 am local time on Sunday - the result of a makeshift homemade bomb, according to experts.

Benis vicar general Fr. Laurent Sondirya confirmed that two people were injured in the blast that went off just before a childrens confirmation ceremony which was scheduled for Sunday morning. He suspected that the bomb was targeting the large crowd that would have gathered for the occasion.

Condemnation of the attack

The government of the DRC condemns with the utmost energy the explosion of a homemade bomb this morning at the Catholic Church of Butsili in the town of Beni (North Kivu) causing injuries and material damage, said the Ministry of Communication in a series of tweets on Sunday.

In the face of the attack, the ministry added that the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) remain more than determined to end the activism of armed groups in this part of the country.

Concerned about the increasing instances of violence especially in the Eastern region of the country, the Bishops Conference of the DRC (CENCO) had issued a message in April in which they called for an end to the violence. "Stop killing your brothers!" the Bishops implored, "Their blood cries out from the earth."

In their message, the Bishops expressed hope for a structural reform of the government, better management of the army and the disarmament and social reintegration of demobilized soldiers to prevent them from swelling the ranks of the militiamen.

The Bishops also called for the development of spaces for dialogue in conflict zones based on the promotion of citizenship values, together with the development of a "bilateral and multilateral partnership" with international partners.

Curfew

Following the explosions, residents of the city of Beni have been placed under curfew from 9: 00 pm to 5: 00 am with checkpoints put in place to monitor the movement of people and goods. Authorities also warned about the possibility of further attacks.

I dont want to see anyone in the street, said Beni Mayor, Narcisse Muteba on Sunday as he announced the curfew. Everyone should go inside because we have information that something else is being planned.

The authorities' concern stemmed from another bomb explosion, the day prior, at a petrol station on the outskirts of Beni which did not cause any significant damage.

The Ministry of communication also announced the explosion of another makeshift bomb in a suicide bomb attack at a bar in Beni on Sunday evening in a separate Twitter post. The ministry explained that the bomb went off early, killing the suicide bomber as he approached the bar. Another suspect was apprehended and is undergoing interrogation as authorities continue their investigations.

Insecurity

The City of Beni is in the North Kivu Province of the DRCs conflict-plagued east. It is also one of the two regions President Felix Tshisekedi placed under a state of siege in early May in a bid to clamp down on militia violence in the region.

Sundays explosion is notable as bomb attacks targeting Churches are not common in the DRC. In fact, the latest explosion was the first time a building belonging to the Catholic Church- the countrys largest religion- had been directly targeted in Beni territory.

However, several armed groups operate in the Eastern region of the DRC, including the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist militant group that originated from Uganda and has been holed up in the DRC since 1995.

The ADF has been implicated in multiple attacks in the region in past months, including the killings of two imams in Beni in May. The Imams had reportedly been vocal against the activities of the ADF.

So far, no group has claimed direct responsibility for the attack on the Church on Sunday.
Anthony Blinken, US Secretary of State is received in private audience by Pope Francis.

By Vatican News staff writer

Pope Francis on Monday morning received US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, in the Vatican.

Responding to questions put to him by journalists, the Director of the Holy See Press Office said the audience took place in a cordial atmosphere.

Matteo Bruni explained that it lasted about 40 minutes and that it offered the Pope the occasion to recall his apostolic visit to the United States in 2015 and to express his affection for the the people of America.

European tour

Blinkens audience with Pope Francis came during a diplomatic tour of European States, the first by a US Secretary of State under the Biden administration. It comes on the heels of US President Joe Bidens first presidential trip abroad on the occasion of the G7 meeting in Cornwall.

Blinken left Washington last Tuesday for Berlin, and continued on to Paris and Rome, meeting leading European Union figures including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Before meeting with the Pope and Vatican authorities, Blinken took part in talks aimed at bringing peace to war-scarred Libya.
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Melbourne, FL (32940)

Today

A few passing clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 74F. Winds light and variable..

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Vietnam has created an armed maritime militia unit in a province bordering Kampot, according to a Vietnamese military mouthpiece, which analysts say is a counteract Chinas potential military presence at Ream Naval Base.

Vietnamese military newspaper Quan Doi Nhan Dan reported on June 9 that a new Standing Maritime Militia Unit had been created in Kien Giang province, which borders Kampot, and was controlled by Vietnams Ninth Military Region.

Analysts said this new unit is a likely response to allegations that China will host military assets at Ream Naval Base in Preah Sihanouk province and to existing tensions in the South China Sea.

The new unit would coordinate with existing forces to protect sovereignty over seas and islands, said the newspaper, and to collect information about maritime activity, and be used to implement broader national defense and security policies.

The Quan Doi Nhan Dan did not provide details about the size and hardware capacity of this new unit of armed civilians. Nikkei Asia reported that the unit will have nine ships and platoons equipped with light weapons trained to carry out paramilitary work with support from the country's Naval Academy and Naval Technical College.

The new units creation is consistent with Vietnams efforts to upgrade its naval assets because of the South China Sea dispute, a strategic maritime area also claimed by three other Southeast Asian states  Malaysia, the Philippines, and Brunei.

Vietnams decision to create the new unit was a direct response to Chinas increasing influence over Cambodia and development of Chinese-linked infrastructure along the Cambodian coast, said Kosal Path, a political scientist with the City University of New York.

Chinese-funded seaports and an international airport in Sihanoukville and Koh Kong have evidently alarmed Hanois foreign policy strategists about Beijings military use of this physical infrastructure in a future Sino-Vietnamese armed conflict in the South China Sea, he said.

Most controversial of the coastal developments is the Ream Naval Base. The U.S. has consistently alleged that China would place military assets at the base and has pointed to the demolition of existing infrastructure, some of which is U.S. funded, to support its claim.

While Cambodia has routinely rejected these allegations, Defense Minister Tea Banh admitted for the first time this month that China was providing monetary support to upgrade the naval base but continued to deny U.S. allegations that the Chinese would have military assets there.

Concerns have also been raised about Union Development Groups Dara Sakor tourism project, which spans a fifth of Cambodias coastline. The company was sanctioned by the U.S. for alleged rights violations and for accusations that it could be used for dual military purposes.

[Vietnamese leaders] do not want a Chinese military presence on the southwest border. Historically minded leaders in Hanoi are always concerned about China's ability to pin Vietnam down in a two-front war, Kosal Path said.

Collin Koh, a maritime security expert at Singapores Nanyang Technological University, said Chinas increasing presence in Cambodia likely gave Vietnam greater urgency to deploy its new maritime militia unit.

I postulate this newly established standing maritime militia to have the following purposes: to better assert Vietnams sovereignty and rights over the seas and islands overseen by the province, as part of broader economics-security dual-tracked approach in promoting marine socioeconomic development, Koh told VOA Khmer.

Koh said the new maritime unit would also serve as eyes and ears for Vietnams security apparatus.

The establishment of the new unit coincides with apparent tensions between Cambodia and Vietnam.

In an interview with VOA Khmer this month, Rear Admiral Mey Dina, chief of staff at the Ream Naval Base, said that Vietnam was skeptical of Cambodias plans to accept Chinese assistance to upgrade Ream, and was instigating the U.S. to raise the issue. He did not support his claim with evidence.

"Politically speaking, both Vietnam and the U.S. are lobbying each other to ensure that Cambodia gets nothing or that we cannot grow our naval forces. With our naval capabilities currently underdeveloped, we feel vulnerable too, said Mey Dina.

Thats why [Vietnam] keeps inciting the U.S. to go after us because they know that the U.S. and China are rivals, he said. He was reacting to a U.S. statement that its defense attache was not given full access to Ream during a visit that was expected to allay concerns about Chinese military presence at the base.

Last year, the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative, a Chinese think-tank based at the Peking University in Beijing, released a report alleging that at least 257 Vietnamese fishing boats were spotted in Cambodian maritime territory, according to satellite imagery, between June and July 2020 in the form of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities.

There has been a shift in Cambodian rhetoric vis-a-vis Vietnam, said Sovinda Po, a doctoral candidate at Australias Griffith University, and Cambodian officials were growing more outspoken on what they didnt like in relations with Vietnam.

I think this is a new confidence Cambodia is obtaining from getting close to China. If you look at all the Chinese military and economic aid flowing to Cambodia, you see a more confident Cambodia  with Chinese backing  and often uses unprecedented language for Vietnam, Sovinda told VOA Khmer by phone.

The Cambodian government also went ahead this month to evict communities using floating houses around Phnom Penh  most ethnic minorities, including the ethnic Vietnamese  and protests from Vietnamese Ambassador Vu Quang Minh proved futile.

City Universitys Kosal Path said with mutual interests at stake, and in the backdrop of China influence on Cambodia, Hanois political elites were applying measured pressure to keep growing Chinese influence in the country in check, while also working to maintain good ties with the Cambodian elite.

The leadership of the ruling party under Prime Minister Hun Sen has made concerted efforts to maintain traditional ties with the Communist Party of Vietnam while embracing China's rise. Over the past few years, Hun Sen has evidently realized that this relationship is on shaky ground, Kosal told VOA Khmer in an email.

In its National Defense White Paper published in 2019, Vietnam warned against acts of interference and division of the bilateral relationship in a thinly-veiled reference, analysts said, to both China and the outlawed Cambodia National Rescue Party.

The Vietnamese navy has placed the headquarters of its Fifth Naval Region at An Thoi naval base on the southern tip of Phu Quoc Island, which is 30 kilometers from Ream as the crow flies.

Sovinda Po, from Griffith University, said Vietnams naval upgrades in the area, including the establishment of the new unit, could increase its leverage when maritime border demarcation negotiations start in the future.

I am not sure what Cambodia has leverage to negotiate maritime demarcations with Vietnam  whether it is the UNCLOS, international laws, or the backing from the Chinese or to effectively negotiate with Vietnam in the future, he said, referring to United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

If Vietnam keeps pushing forward with increased military presence near Cambodian maritime territories, tensions will rise in that particular region.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Phnom Penh did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Parts of the western United States are seeing record high temperatures in the midst of drought  signaling, experts say, longterm changes in the weather. With dozens of fires now burning in Western states, President Joe Biden will convene a meeting of western governors, emergency officials
Zimbabwe's ruling party says all supporters of the party, who are expected to attend this year's Annual People's Conference, should get COVID-19 jabs.

According to a letter dated 25 June 2021, seen by VOA, Zanu PF Secretary for Health, Child Welfare and the Elderly, Dr. David Parirenyatwa, instructed all ten provincial chairpesons and provincial secretaries for health to ensure that conference delegates are vaccinated by end of August 2021.

Zanu Pf is yet to come up with a date for the conference.

"In view of the upcoming People's Conference in October 2021, Bindura,

all party members who will be attending this conference will need to

have been vaccinated against Covid-19 before they can attend the

conference," wrote Dr Parirenyatwa

Dr. Parirenyatwa was unreachable to confirm the contents of the letter but Mashonaland West acting chairperson, Abia Mujeri, confirmed receiving the letter.

'Yes we received the letter and we are in the process of making sure

that all those going to the conference in Bindura are vaccinated," said Mujeri.

Opposition political parties have always complained that Zanu PF disregards COVID-19 health regulations by hold political gatherings.

MDC Alliance deputy spokesperson, Clifford Hlatswayo, said Zanu PF wants only its members to access COVID-19 vaccines.

"Now they want to prioritize themselves on the vaccinations leaving out

the needy," said Hlatswayo

About 4,000 people usually attend Zanu PF yearly conferences.
Funeral Announcements A daily list of current funeral annoucements as heard on KXRA 1490 AM/100.3 FM

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User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale

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1427 william street, Baltimore, MD 21230 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Shaking/vibration- like a car had run into our row of townhomes. | 9 users found this interesting.

catonsville / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / very short : hear a rumblings and house shake | 9 users found this interesting. Thats what I heard and felt too in Catonsville MD / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / very short

Catonsville, Md 21228 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : Sitting at work and felt a jolt... I'm from California so my first thought was this was a quake. | 7 users found this interesting.

3.4 km ESE of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / complex motion difficult to describe / 2-5 s Loud bump, followed by a sharp rattling noise. I grew up in California and am used to earthquakes and recognized it right away. Very strong bump. | 3 users found this interesting. (reported through (reported through our app I live in Glen Burnie/Pasadena area. I heard a loud noise like a large low flying plane and then felt a low rumble underneath me. I was sitting in my basement. / Weak shaking (MMI III) / complex motion difficult to describe / 2-5 s

Baltimore Maryland 21229 at home / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex motion difficult to describe / 5-10 s : Felt and heard a very loud sound like an explosion and vibration was felt deeply in the 2nd floor of my home. Everyone came out of their homes frightened. We thought it was a gas explosion. | 4 users found this interesting. Same here, felt a car was crash through next door house, went to investigate there was nothing. / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex motion difficult to describe / 5-10 s

Ellicott City / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : Heard a rumbling noise with the slightest of rumbling motion for maybe a second. | 3 users found this interesting.

Catonsville, MD / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Yes i felt my whole house shake | 3 users found this interesting.

Halethorpe, MD / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / very short : In basement level, felt like deep bass vibration below concrete floor. | 3 users found this interesting.

Baltimore, Maryland / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s : It felt like a very low flying plane passing over you at a high speed. It was very quick and a lot of people in my neighborhood felt it too. There was no damage or at least I don't think there was and it wasn't like a shake where things would fall off shelves or anything like that. There was a rumbling and then a sort of shake/vibration that felt like it rolled under you, almost wave like. | One user found this interesting.

21211 (7.8 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : I was on the third floor sitting at my desk and rumbling started coming from the basement, I could hear it and it shook the floor up and down a little bit under my feet like it was jumping, then there was a loud sound (I thought the furnace or water heater had exploded or a car had hit our house), then windows started vibrating (sounded like when you bend plexi glass back and forth) and it sounded like someone was pounding on the window/ storm door to get in the house. | 2 users found this interesting.

Gwynn Oak, MD 21207 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : There was a loud boom like an explosion, then rattling/shaking for about 5-7 seconds. | 2 users found this interesting.

1118 Light Street, Baltimore MD 21230 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Felt like someone dropped the building or something on the building. I thought it was an explosion | 2 users found this interesting.

21207 (1.7 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / very short : Felt like an explosion or sonic boom. | 2 users found this interesting.

Baltimore / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 5-10 s : I live not far from where it happened. My whole house shook very quickly and hard. It sounded and felt like a big explosion. I was laying on my bed and it made me leap up when I felt it. | One user found this interesting.

Baltimore 21211 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : I thought it was an Earthquake, but then I second guessed it might be a huge semi truck that was in bad shape causing vibrations and shaking the house. | One user found this interesting.

Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s : In garage standing on concrete. Strong vibration similar to a large truck passing but without any discernible direction. | One user found this interesting.

Pikesville, MD 21207, at home / not felt : I did not feel anything, at all. I read on the Ring Neighbors app that some people close to me and some not so close felt it. I felt envious of them! | One user found this interesting.

Charlestown retirement campus / Light shaking (MMI IV) : We were moving today and in the apartment. We looked at each other. What was that?! Some thought it was banging from movers. I thought earthquake and thought about the building collapse in miami want to string, only lasted maybe 4 seconds | One user found this interesting.

Woodlawn, Maryland, USA / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : I thought something had hit the house, like a heavy tree limb. No breakage or apparent damage,so I assumed it was an aerial shockwave, until I heard news of the earthquake. | One user found this interesting.

4 Blythewood Road Baltimore MD 21210 (9 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : I was on second floor of home. Heard a low rumble and felt a small vibration. | One user found this interesting.

Catonsville, MD / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / very short : Felt some minor shaking. Our neighbors are having some trees removed so I thought it was that, to be honest. | One user found this interesting.

Catonsville, MD / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / very short : It was a loud boom and then some shaking. Very brief. | One user found this interesting.

St. Agnes Hospital / Light shaking (MMI IV) / very short : There was a bang and a shake. i was on 1st floor, solid building. i thought a heavy piece of equipment dropped | One user found this interesting.

Woodlawn, Maryland (2.3 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : A loud boom and a intense wobble. Felt like an explosion or something collapsed. | One user found this interesting.

Pikesville / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : Thought something hit my house. | One user found this interesting.

Coleraine Rd., Baltimore 21229 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / very short : 2 heavy thumps-I was on the 2nd floor of our house & thought my husband fell down the stairs. He was in the basement & ran up to see what happened as I ran down to check on him. (Nothing broken, fell over or off the walls.). Went outside to see if car accident & our neighbors on either side reported feeling it as well. | One user found this interesting.

Windsor Mill (4.2 km WNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt : I didnt feel it personally. However, my rabbit and puppy did become upset around that time. The puppy barked profusely with his hair standing. The bunny thumped for about 2-3 minutes. | One user found this interesting.

Cherry hill / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake : Shaking waking me up out my sleep | One user found this interesting.

21229 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / very short : It was just a loud noise. The house shook a little bit - many of my neighbors left their houses right after wondering what happened. | One user found this interesting.

Lansdowne, Maryland / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : A single boom and shake | One user found this interesting.

Baltimore MD / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / very short : The dog started freaking out felt like a possible explosion | One user found this interesting.

Catonsville, MD / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : House shook | One user found this interesting.

417 Grindall Street, Baltimore 21230 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Noise and vibration. Felt more like an explosion than an earthquake. | One user found this interesting.

Baltimore / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Heard a loud sound like when a train dumps coal, but louder. Then house shook and then walls and bed began to sway. | One user found this interesting.

1425 light street Baltimore md / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / very short : Building shook for a very short time | One user found this interesting.

Reservoir Hill, Baltimore / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : Low rumble and house shook for about 2 seconds | One user found this interesting.

Catonsville, MD / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s : The house shook. It felt like an intense nearby explosion. | One user found this interesting.

Lansdowne, MD 21227 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : Felt like a loud bang, as if a large object struck the house. | One user found this interesting.

Linthicum Heights, MD (13.2 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Decent rumbling | One user found this interesting.

In my house Lansdowne md 21227 (10 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : My whole house shook and vibrated me and both my children felt and heard it

Rambo ct Lansdowne md (10.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s

Lansdowne / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : House shook. The report is only letting me say light shaking but it felt like something big hit the house or right outside the house. Heard a loud boom.. | One user found this interesting.

Baltimore / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : A rumble or vibration.

3.8 km SE of epicenter [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 15-20 s : It felt like a bomb. I thought a truck had run into the side of my house. It was very scary

Baltimore / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

89.6 km E of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / very short

Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) : It was a little shake and my house shook but it wasnt bad it was short and not big and bad. No damage was done !!

Arbutus, md / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Small floor shake that lasted longer than what I would have thought caused it.

Baltimore / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Baltimore / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Catonsville / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / very short

Chestertown / not felt

11.7 km ESE of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt : Did not feel. But HEARD vibration/rattling sound, maybe 20-30 seconds!

3.4 km S of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Rumbling as if LG pkg had fallen and rolled over a few times

15.5 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt

Hyattsville MD / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : I felt a slight bump. Like someone touch my bed.

37.4 km SSE of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt

46.8 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt

1029 E Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21202 / not felt

WINDSOR MILL / not felt

Hanover / not felt : I did not feel it.

8.9 km E of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump : Heard loud boom then the house shook for maybe 2 seconds.

Baltimore / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : A rumble or vibration.

Mount Washington / not felt

Catonsville / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / very short : Very loud noise followed by building shaking. I was on top floor of 7 story building that is built on top of a hill. Felt like something very heavy had fallen on a lower floor and shook the building.

Canton Baltimore (12.6 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : I was on the second floor of my row home, felt what I thought was a massive truck rumble by, but saw no one on the street

Baltimore / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : Single loud boom and brief tremor like someone dropped a large boulder on our roof.

Parksley Ave Baltimore Md 21223 (18.3 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Felt like hard thump boom as if something so heavy just drop and the noise cause it to feel it. I felt one before but it was more of a shake then. This was a jolt slight move where I was and that was inside house

South baltimore, Md inside Baltimore city (10.8 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling / 15-20 s

21045 / not felt : Didnt feel it

Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Felt like a truck hit the dock very hard

Baltimore / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s

Baltimore / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : Single loud boom and brief tremor like someone dropped a large boulder on our roof.

Columbia / not felt

Pikesville Maryland / not felt : Felt nothing

Reisterstown / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s

Linthicum / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Very sharp boom that shook my house.

Gwynn Oak, Maryland, USA (1.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : I had just gotten home from work and was heading up my interior stairs. It felt and sounded like a truck drove into my front door! I thought my cats knocked over a lamp or something else large, but they were just staring at me with their ears and tails alert.

Ellicott City MD / not felt : I was totally unaware of this and felt nothing inside my house!

Baltimore, MD 21229 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex motion difficult to describe / 15-20 s : Did not last long.Maybe 15-20 seconds Loud rumbling from underground. Very loud.

21244 (3.6 km W of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s

Baltimore / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling / very short

Catonsville, MD / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : House shook

Catonsville / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : It felt like something huge fell and we felt the vibration.

Gwynn Oak / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Sitting in the chair in the dining room it felt like my chair jumped my husband was in the living room sitting in a recliner same feeling.

3500 granite Road Woodstock md 21163 / not felt

Hamden Maryland / not felt : Someone else said they felt it in their house, but I was walking from the store didnt feel a thing

halethorpe, maryland / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : sounded like a big tree fell and shook the ground for a spilt second

Baltimore City (8.8 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Two of us on the back screen porch. Heard a deep rumbling like thunder, but clearly from the ground. At the same moment, we felt like a heavy thump, and my laptop screen shuddered. Immediately we realized it was an earthquake; went to the web to check it out & make a report.

80.3 km SW of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Dorchester rd 21207 / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Charlestown retirement campus / Light shaking (MMI IV) : We were moving today and in the apartment. We looked at each other. What was that?! Some thought it was banging from movers. I thought earthquake and thought about the building collapse in miami want to string, only lasted maybe 4 seconds

Baltimore, MD 21211 / Weak shaking (MMI III) : A low momentary shaking of the house from the floor, an up and down motion

Baltimore City / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Pikesville Maryland (7 km N of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt : I was told that it had just occurred.

Baltimore (12.3 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / very short

Woodlawn Maryland / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Shaking and vibrating

Baltimore MD Southwest. / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : I knew something wasn't right something fell in my bedroom like a person fell off a bed and I'm in the basement by myself

Columbia, md / not felt

21228 (5.2 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Baltimore City (14.2 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s : been feelings these sporadically for months

Gwynn Oak / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / very short : Felt like an underground collision, loud and quick shake and vibration

Baltimore, MS / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s : Felt like the building dropped

Ellicott City MD / not felt : I was totally unaware of this and felt nothing inside my house!

21230 (10.2 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / very short : Heard loud noise and felt shaking

Columbia / not felt : Felt nothing

1702 Webster st, Baltimore Md (11.2 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Shaking for about 3 seconds.

Baltimore,MD / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s : I thought the building was going to collapse.

Baltimore / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump : It was a big boom I thought someone fell. Everyone was scared in my building.I pray for us all. I believe it was a bomb

Halethorpe / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Catonsville, Maryland / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : I was laying in my bed and I felt my bed move

1503 W Lafayette Ave / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Sounded like an explosion and the building rattled.

10.4 km ESE of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Heard a loud boom and felt shaking

Baltimore / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex motion difficult to describe : It was like a rumbling like heavy machinery running and moving my house . I live in west Baltimore city 4 miles From Woodlawn .

Catonsville / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Very minimal, thought someone had closed a door in my apartment building too hard but heard about the earthquake at a later time.

Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s : It was a shake but nothing harmful. It shook the whole house but no damage is done to anything .

Catonsville Maryland (5.9 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Heard rattling

1801 Chelsea Road, Baltimore, MD 21216 / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / 1-2 s : Seemed like an underground explosion.

Brooklyn park / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Arbutus md (6.4 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short : Sounded like an explosion with one shake immediately following

21211 (7.4 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Lutherville, MD / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s

Fells Point, Baltimore, MD (11.5 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt

Reisterstown / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s

Montgomery Run Road (12.7 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt

1111 cooks lane (2.2 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short

Catonsville MD (5.9 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Columbia Maryland. I was at the supermarket. I did (8.4 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt : When I came home I noticed pictures had fallen on the floor from my fireplace mantle. I am wondering if it happened because of the earthquake. Before hearing of the earthquake I could not come up with the cause.

21227 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s : I was in bed and I felt the house shake.

Towson MD 21286 / not felt

Monastery Ave / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : 1The porch shook and there was a loud boom like something explode we d

Catonsville, md 21228 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Vibration type of feeling about 1540 eastern standard time. Loud enough to hear through my noise canceling headset. Whole house vibration similar to train passing by nearby if there was a train near

Baltimore / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Heard a loud bang and felt the house shake like an explosion right outside my home. First thought was someone's kitchen or water heater just blew up or a car accident right outside that led to a car explosion.

Havre de Grace / not felt : Nothing

Pedro at home Lansdowne Maryland / Light shaking (MMI IV) : The whole house was shaking

21227 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling / 1-2 s

7 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

halethorpe md / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : we thought it from an explosion

BALTIMORE / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s

Baltimore (10.5 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : None

Columbia md / not felt

20759 / not felt

2500 block of West Lombard Street 21223 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : I felt the house move

700 s Luzerne Ave, Baltimore md 21224 (12.7 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / very short : Rumble, felt like someone pushing furniture upstairs

Towson (12 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt : did not feel anything in 21204 zip code

1702 Webster st, Baltimore Md (11.2 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Shaking for about 3 seconds.

Pasadena / not felt

Baltimore City / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Catonsville 21228 Woodbridge valley / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / 10-15 s : Sounded like low airplane or heavy truck and obviously not thunder. Reminded us of the feeling of the one in 2011

West Baltimore, Maryland 21229 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / very short

Catonsville, md / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating

Glen Burnie, Md / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s

Catonsville / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : We felt a sudden vibration and shaking. Lots of rattling for a few seconds.

Temple Hills (57.7 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt

13.1 km ESE of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s

Middle river, md (25.4 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt

catonsville / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : A very short sudden vibration felt like a explosion

Baltimore md / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s : A loud noise building shake and vibration

Westminster / not felt

11.6 km NE of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Laurel (24.1 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Catonsville, MD / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : Short duration but distinct sound and vibration.

3304 Chestnut Avenue Baltimore, MD 21211 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Catonsville, MD / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / very short : It was a loud boom and then some shaking. Very brief.

15 s Hilton st, Baltimore, MD (5.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : there was a loud noise, and i felt my house shift a bit

Prince Frederick / not felt

21227 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling / 1-2 s

67.6 km NW of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt : I didn't feel anything

21216 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 2-5 s : It felt like someone had driven a car into the side of my apartment building. Was worried that some kind of accident had happened.

21227 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Baltimore city / not felt

BALTIMIRE CITY / not felt

9.2 km SE of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : Loud bang followed by short, sharp, shake, initially assumed large truck had backed into building.

Hanover, MD / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Rosedale (Northeast Baltimore county), Maryland / not felt : Nothing at all

Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s : I was in bed and I felt the house shake.

home / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating : ian feel shit i dont know what yall talking about

Baltimore City / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / very short : There was a loud thump that sounded like an explosion. No shaking.

Westminster / not felt

Making tea (5.1 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short : Loud bang followed by momentary shaking of house, initially assumed to be explosion or major car accident nearby

Catonsville Maryland / Very weak shaking (MMI II)

715 Maiden Choice Lane / Weak shaking (MMI III)

Woodstock, Baltimore County / not felt

Elkridge, md / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : Loud thud and house shook briefly like something had hit it

Mount Vernon, Baltimore / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

21229 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s

21046 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) : Just a second of shaking

My husband and I are in the 21217 area code. / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : The whole house shook! It kinda sounded like a big heavy duty truck that was dropped and my husband said that he felt our room and bed shake!!

pikesville, md / not felt

Catonsville / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 1-2 s

21230 (10.2 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / very short : Heard loud noise and felt shaking

Baltimore / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : The whole house shook from the bottom to the top! It was loud I did t k is if something was wrong with someone in my house downstairs or what is was u til I heard someone say it was an earthquake.

Catonsville, MD / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

7.1 km ESE of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt

Gaithersburg / not felt

Baltimore, md / not felt : I didnt feel anything but a friend of mine whol lives in Catonsville did.

54.4 km SSW of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt

Pikesville, MD / not felt

21012 / not felt

Owings Mills / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : N/A

Essex, MD / not felt

21211 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Catonsville / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : It felt like something huge fell and we felt the vibration.

40.1 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt

Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Baltimore Maryland 21229 at home / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex motion difficult to describe / 5-10 s : Felt and heard a very loud sound like an explosion and vibration was felt deeply in the 2nd floor of my home. Everyone came out of their homes frightened. We thought it was a gas explosion.

11.6 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : sounded like an explosion far away

BALTIMORE / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 5-10 s

Halethorpe Maryland 21227 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / very short : 1 large boom and small shake

Woodlawn Maryland / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Shaking and vibrating

Baltimore (7.1 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / very short : I heard what can only be described as a "distant explosion" or like VERY loud thunder, but not in the immediate area. The frame of our house creaked and cracked once. My dog was sleeping and never woke up.

Gwynn Oak MD / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

4400 Maple Wood Dr (3.9 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : I was sitting at the back deck and felt a loud bang

900 S Caton Ave, Baltimore, MD 21229 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Like a loud truck moving and a light shake side to side

Parsonsburg / not felt

Pikesville, Maryland 21208 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s : heard a boom and felt a slight jolt

Halethorpe Md 21227 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / very short : Thought my house had been struck by a truck

Forest Park Community in Baltimore City (48.4 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Felt a jolt and very a light shake of my bedroom. I thought that something fell in the attic or on the roof.

Catonsville / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / very short : Thump

Linthicum / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : While sitting on couch felt the house shake and heard rumbling.

Baltimore City Maryland (Edmondson Village) / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex motion difficult to describe / 1-2 s : There was a loud boom.

Abingdon / not felt : I didn't feel a thing.

Catonsville / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : I thought someone dropped something heavy on my porch, heard a thud and felt a shaking..I looked but of course no one was there..Ring doorbell did not record any movement...

Catonsville, MD (4.2 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / very short : A single loud THUMP! as if a large object had struck the house, enough to bounce me in my seat. Felt like it came from behind and below me, but not from inside the house. I thought maybe the neighbors hot water heater had blown. It was loud enough that my sister heard it over FaceTime on my laptop!

Catonsville, Md 21228 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s

Baltimore / not felt : I know of someone that did in the Edmondson village area.

21228 (6.7 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 5-10 s

Woodlawn, MD / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Linthicum Heights Maryland / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s

Bethesda (47.5 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt

Baltimore / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Very brief shudder through house, thought it was from slam of garbage truck, but no truck in area.

Baltimore MD / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : just a small shake i wasnt even sure it was an earthquake at first, i heard something that sounded like a boom too

Catonsville 4 wade Ave 21228 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Woodstock / not felt : Felt nothing, heard nothing.

Baltimore Maryland 21211 / not felt

3900 block Beech Ave Baltimore, MD 21211 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s : Mostly low frequency noise like a truck was maybe offloading something nearby. My neighbor heard it also we both went to the front yards to see what caused it. My dog who is scared of thunder and fireworks was distressed by it too.

Halethorpe, MD / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Towson / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Just felt like a large truck shaking the ground

Baltimore City, MD (North East - Loch Raven & Cold / not felt : Did not feel it but heard what sounded like a loud long rumble of thunder. It was definitely out of the ordinary and my daughter was asking what is that noise, where is coming from? Then we saw the notification about the quake.

Baltimore, MD 21218 (9.2 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / very short

21229 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s

Gwynn oak, md / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

21230 (10.2 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / very short : Heard loud noise and felt shaking

21228 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex motion difficult to describe : Sounded like an explosion followed by the entire house shaking. Neighbors felt it as well.

10 hills near Catonsville / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 5-10 s

21207 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s

Woodlawn / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

TRC - UMBC / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : Yes. I felt it. There was a loud noise as if something rattled. Impact could be felt on walls. Laster for only a few seconds though. I felt extremely giddy for a good 10-15 minutes after.

CATONSVILLE / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Whole house shook for approximately 2-3 seconds.

21120 (32.1 km N of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt : Didnt feel anything.

Normount ave / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / very short : It felt like one big boom. Like something exploded for 1 or 2 seconds.

Sitting / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Thought someone had tripped and feel in my home. It was very quick and mild.

4.5 km SSW of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) : Felt like a truck hit the house. One big bump and nothing else. It did wake the cat.

Catonsville / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Baltimore Federal Hill / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

21228 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Almost as if a big truck drove by!

Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : My boyfriends apartment building lightly shook back and forth for just a second or two. It wasnt intense at all.

Hanover / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : Pets went crazy most noticeable to them. It was very light shaking feeling.

EDGEWOOD / not felt

Pasadena, md (24.9 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : I felt a light shake and heard a rumble

Owings Mills / not felt

8432 Bay Drive , pasadena md 21122 (29.6 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / very short

Leonardtown was sitting on my couch and thought Is / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / very short : Light shaking

21244 / not felt

Ferndale / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : Thought my deck collapsed.

Windsor Mill / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s : In the moment I thought it could be a passing truck but I wondered why it was making the house shake.

PIKESVILLE, md / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Woodlawn MD 21207 / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / very short : Shaking , rattling, chandelier swinging, rumbling noise

Owings Mills / not felt : felt nothing

21218 (8.8 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling / very short : very minimal shake, accompanied with a loud boom

Baltimore / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Thought it was a heavy truck riding over street graits.

7.3 km S of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

9 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / complex motion difficult to describe / very short

Glen Burnie, MD 21061 (16 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / very short

1702 Webster st, Baltimore Md (11.2 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Shaking for about 3 seconds.

Baltimore,Maryland 21223 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : I was upstairs in my townhouse and felt a quick rumble I thought there was a car accident outside.

elkridge MD (13.8 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt : nothing here

WINDSOR MILL, MD 21244 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Thought it was a heavy truck passing by so just continued with our work

Baltimore Highlands 21227 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / very short : felt like something hit the house or my teenage boys were play fighting

Glenarden, MD (43.6 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt

Baltimore, Md. 21216 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : I thought it was a huge object that fell in the house next door or maybe an explosion happened next door.

Halethorpe (8 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / very short

1751 Covington Street, Baltimore, MD 21230 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : Heard a very loud boom, felt some vibration

Owings Mills / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / complex motion difficult to describe

Canton MD in Baltimore, in my apartment / not felt / very short : Sounded like a large explosion or something dropping. I thought my neighbor dropped something really large and heavy.

Linthicum Heights, Maryland / not felt

Millersville, MD (24.4 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt

Bladensburg, MD / not felt

Catonsville / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Felt like a tree fell down nearby

Edgewood / not felt

21229 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / very short

Baltimore / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : Single loud boom and brief tremor like someone dropped a large boulder on our roof.

Cooking At home / not felt

On couch / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

oella maryland (7.5 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt : friends across town of catonsville felt it but i did not

maryland / not felt

Catonsville / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Southwest Baltimore city / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s : I thought something very heavy fell in my basement

21231 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Catonsville, MD 21228 / not felt : I heard what sounded like a fairly large explosion in the distance. I have experienced a number of earthquakes both here and in California including the 2011 5.8 in Catonsville.

Penn-North / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : It felt like someone slamming there door

Catonsville, MD / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

55.7 km SSW of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt : didn't feel anything

21211 Baltimore Maryland Hoe's Heights (7.6 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : It was a loud sound like someone slamming a door but it was different than that. Hard to describe.

Baltimore, MD (7.1 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : A very large boom. Shook the house. I thought there was a gas explosion.

Woodlawn MD (0.2 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s : Light shaking. House rattled.

BALTIMORE / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : Thought it was construction nearby.

625 Southmont Rd, Catonsville, MD (4.6 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Terence Parrish Springdale Avenue NW Baltimore I w / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Sounded like a car hit the house

University of maryland hospital / not felt

21111 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s

Halethorpe, MD / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Felt like something very heavy dropped, and very strong bang/boom/bump on the 2nd story floor. No shaking movement.

Pikesville, MD / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

elkridge, md / not felt : Was driving South on I-95. Sorry I missed it.

Catonsville, MD / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s

Catonsville / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Felt like an explosion happened in the distance. Rumbling and a vibration for about 3 seconds.

11.1 km NE of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : On second floor of my house, felt vibration like heavy truck passing. Heard creaking/rattling from the house structure.

Baltimore / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 5-10 s : Sounded like someone was banging on the door at first. But I noticed there was several bottles of liquid (soda, water) that was shaking while in the container long after the earthquake.

Catonsville Maryland (7.9 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / very short : It felt like a car hit the house, a brief boon and house shook Or like a big tree suddenly fell nearby with a boom

Germantown, Maryland / not felt

Baltimore (2.7 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / complex motion difficult to describe / 2-5 s : Loud boom

Nottingham / not felt

Baltimore maryland / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : It didnt feel like a quake it felt like something blew up underground

Idlewylde, md / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Windows rattled, felt a rumble.

7.9 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

200 East Wells St Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Loud bang, like someone dropped something from upstairs. Coworker was outside and said she saw our building shake right after I heard the loud bang

Catonsville / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating : Rumbling, vibrating, shaking. Loud thud noises were heard but nothing collapsed.

Reisterstown / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s

Catonsville / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Baltimore md 21230 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake

Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / very short

2200 Kernan Drive, Baltimore, MD 21207 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Large boom, just a few seconds, sounded more like an explosion than earthquake. Felt in basement of the building

Baltimore city md (4.6 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 5-10 s : Felt like an explosion rather than a shaking.

Forest Park / not felt : Honestly it sounded like an explosion, we didnt feel anything we just heard what sounded like an explosion or a really long thunder rumble.

West Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Made me jump out of my chair

Working / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s

Rockdale / not felt : I didnt feel it.

Halethorpe / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s

Halethorpe (9.3 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Felt shaking for about 5-10 seconds

Baltimore, MD / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s

Catonsville, MD / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : House shook

Catonsville / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Baltimore, MD / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : This was very fast and felt like a shockwave from an explosion. It shook my whole house for a second or two.

Catonsville Md / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : I was upstairs in my room and felt a shake at first I didn't think much of it until then it kept going

15 s Hilton st, Baltimore, MD (5.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : there was a loud noise, and i felt my house shift a bit

Roland Park / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : It felt like a wave traveling from East to West. I heard the building creak.

5109 Brook Green Rd Baltimore, MD 21229 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : The whole house shook, neighbors for blocks felt it.

21231 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Baltimore Forest Park Area / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 10-15 s : Sound like an explosion or trees falling. I ran outside to see if a tree fell on the house.

Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s : Felt ground moving while outside. Not very aggressive but can still be felt.

Brooklyn Md. / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / very short

809 Mangold (8.9 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s

Halethorpe / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short

Baltimore / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : It was like one big shudder - like a huge truck or plane went by making my house shutter.

Catonsville MD (5.9 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Catonsville 21228 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : 2 seconds, house shook

Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

3800 Frederick Ave Baltimore (4.9 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 1-2 s

4.8 km S of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : There was damage in the front lawn where a huge hole had just been dug and filled in. Theres a bunch of cracks right over the hole now, Im nervous about it

Catonsville Manor, MD 21207 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s : No shaking. Just large boom that shook the house and made the dogs go crazy.

Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Felt it in my body, house, and seemed like it was happening mostly outside. Did not know it was an earthquake. Was unsettling, for sure.

Catonsville, MD / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : This didn't feel like a quake. It felt like some sort of explosion. It was only a second or two long and I heard a pound boom along with it.

126 e Clement st / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Baltimore, MD / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Yes. A slight rumble.

Catonsville 4 wade Ave 21228 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Catonsville / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : It felt like something huge fell and we felt the vibration.

Baltimore City, Edmondson Village / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / very short : I felt 2 big booms

Woodlawn md / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Columbia Maryland (20.1 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt

Columbia / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s

GWYNN OAK, MD 21207 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : felt like a speeding garbage truck hitting a gnarly pothole. would not have known it was a quake.

Gwynn oak / not felt

Baltimore, MD - Cherry Hill / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : We thought someone hit our apartment building.

Arbutus. MD / Weak shaking (MMI III) / very short : A loud boom and I felt the tremor.

Bethesda (48.1 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt

Baltimore / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / very short : Sounded and felt like something very heavy fell over or crashed into my house.

Mt. Winans Community / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / very short : like something big fell causing me to feel a shake, I thought my neighbor had fell or something big fell down next door

In my house / Weak shaking (MMI III) / very short : I heard a loud boom ( not sure what caused it) and felt my entire house shake.

CATONSVILLE / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Halethorpe / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s

1331 Glendale Rd. Baltimore 21239 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : I heard more than felt the walls of the house shaking; the biggest noise was generated by our wooden fence outside. It sounded like a strong animal got caught in it and was trying to get free.

Pasadena, MD / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s

Catonsville / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump

Baltimore 21216 (6.3 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / complex motion difficult to describe / very short

Germantown, Maryland / not felt

Alexandria, VA (79.1 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s

Baltimore / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : The ground Shaked and the building nearby trembled for 1 second

21229 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

311 N Edgewood St Baltimore Maryland 21229 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : I was in my basement when it happened, it sounded like a big explosion and my whole freaking house shook

Baltimore Maryland / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / very short

21230 (10.3 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s

11.3 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt : Heard about it in Ring Neighbor

Hampden, North Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / very short : Felt like a huge truck, and heard a quick deep rumbling sound too

Glen burnie maryland / not felt

New Market, MD (50.4 km WNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / very short

Dundalk / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / very short

21 ridge rd. catonsville md 21228 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Catonsville, Maryland USA : Sharp rumbling noise and vibration lasting a couple of seconds

Halethorpe / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s

Baltimore, MD 21210 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Shook the house - cat was sleeping and it woke her up, lol.

Timonium, MD / not felt : Didnt feel anything

GWYNN OAK / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / very short : I actually thought a tree had fallen in my neighborhood.

Arbutus, md / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Small floor shake that lasted longer than what I would have thought caused it.

21230 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / very short

7 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Huntingtown (77.1 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt

Lansdowne / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s : Felt more like an explosion of great magnitude lasting for a few seconds.

Baltimore 21229 westhills community (11.8 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating : My whole house shook. The sound and vibration woke me up out of my sleep and my family members in the basement felt it and heard it as well.

Perry Hall / not felt

Cockeysville Maryland / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 1-2 s

Catonsville / Weak shaking (MMI III) / very short : sounded like an explosion followed by light shaking

Brooklyn Park, Maryland (15.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : I was sitting on the edge of a bed on the second floor of a two story house. The rumble was like multiple large Mac trucks were passing by feet away.

6.6 km SSE of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / very short : Shaking

Catonsville / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling

5720 Executive Drive Catonsville MD 21228 / not felt : Very loud boom

Arbutus, MD / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Shaking to the point that it was audible.

Columbia / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

8.5 km ESE of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt

Augusta Avenue 21229 / very short : Very loud boom and the whole house shook, items fell from the shelf. Though it was an explosion.

Baltimore City (11.6 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : I felt loud rumblings, wasn't sure if someone hit multiple houses with a bus. The intensity was a 4 out of 10.

Catonsville / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex motion difficult to describe / very short : Just felt the house shake while sitting outside

baltimore / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / very short

Ellicott city / not felt

Linthicum heights / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Halethorpe / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s

Baltimore-winsorhills area / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s

Home 21228 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s : I was walking down the stairs. I was thrown off balance. I thought it was an explosion.

Baltimore,Maryland 21217 / Light shaking (MMI IV) : I though it was a truck driving pass

Linthicum Heights 21090 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s

40.1 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt

12.5 km ESE of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : slight shake and noise like a large truck

Glen burnie md (20 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt

Catonsville, MD / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

Ridgely street / not felt

Morrell Park - Baltimore City / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / very short : Sounded like an explosion but felt like something big fell or hit a house. Never seen my dogs startled.

Ashburton 21215 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : I jumped out of my chair. Scared me. Kept thinking about the condo in Florida that collapsed.

Catonsville / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s : I thought someone upstairs dropped something really heavy.

116 Clyde Ave Halethorpe MD 21227 (9.2 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

21202 (10.1 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt

21211 (8.4 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s

4 Blythewood Road Baltimore MD 21210 (9 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : I was on second floor of home. Heard a low rumble and felt a small vibration.

Baltimore (9.6 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Na

Catonsville / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Linthicum, Maryland (13.8 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Glen Burnie, MD / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : I heard a boom and felt my apartment building shake, it felt like a truck hit the building

21228 (5.2 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Baltimore / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

21224

21228 / not felt : it was like an explosion

West Baltimore / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s : Loud boom and shaking fir 1-2 seconds

Baltimore, MD / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s

Woodlawn / not felt

Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) / very short : I heard a loud boom and quickly jumped up to see what it was, I thought my air conditioner fell out the window but it is secure. Many neibors went outside because they heard it also

In my house / not felt : The house shook

West Baltimore / 10-15 s : Felt like an underground explosion and I was on the 3rd floor.

Catonsville md / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Felt loud and hard. One big bolt with building shake.

Home / not felt

Owings mills / not felt : I didnt feel anything.

Baltimore / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s

1300 birch ave 21227 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / very short : A single loud rumble and vibration like something huge fell or distant explosion

Towson / not felt

6.1 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / very short : I heard a boom and felt my house shake.

Baltimore MD / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Ellicott City (9.5 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt

BALTIMORE / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s

21093 / not felt

Lying down on bed (32.9 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt : Nothing felt.

Arbutus, MD (6.8 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

21223 / Weak shaking (MMI III)

Brooklyn, Maryland 21230 / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / very short

Baltimore city, Forest Park area. / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 1-2 s : The house shook and there was a loud boom. Thought it was a bump truck but it wasnt.

Baltimore (8.1 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : There was a large bang and I felt a sharp thud.

306 Farwind Dr. Apt 3C Baltimore , Maryland 21220 / not felt : Felt nothing where I live.

91229 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump

1233 Circle Drive Arbutus MD 21227 (7.2 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : A short sudden loud rattling thud that sounded and felt as if deep in the ground from first and second floor of which one person was woken from sleep, it did not last long at all but was definately unusual and alarming.

21224 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : The

Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Baltimore, MD / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : Felt like a large boom followed by a quick shake.

baltimore md / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Baltimore / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : i heard a loud boom (like if someone dropped something really heavy) and it shook my house...also my neighbors homes... we all came outside to see what had happened...

Lidl Brooklyn Park MD 21225 / not felt

Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Baltimore Maryland / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single vertical bump / 5-10 s : Fast

Glen Burnie near quarterfield elementary school / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Baltimore MD / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s : Felt like a car ran into the house . Loud noise and felt it in my feet

Columbia, MD / not felt

21230 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s

Lansdowne, Md 21227 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / very short : I was napping. It woke me! Sudden loud noise and vibration felt like extremely large truck driving up my street and hitting a wall. I was startled awake and went to the window thinking Id see an accident or collision. I saw nothing and started to doubt my sanity or that I dreamt it. A neighbor texted me and asked me if I felt/heard that. She said it was an earthquake.

Catonsville / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : Felt and sounded more like a distance explosion. Been through many earthquakes (Guam, Alaska) and this did not feel like an earthquake.

47.1 km E of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt

Catonsville , Maryland / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Felt like someone fell hard on the floor upstairs. We outside and neighbors reported the same experience.

Baltimore / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : House shook then rumbled.

Baltimore, MD 21229 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump

3.6 km SSE of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Baltimore maryland / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s

Baltimore / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s : It was a shake but nothing harmful. It shook the whole house but no damage is done to anything .

BALTIMORE / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / complex motion difficult to describe / 1-2 s

Baltimore - South West of city, Violetville, Arbut / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Felt like a heavy truck going by or a tractor trailer stop. The boom sounded like steel being dropped. Went outside to check...didn't see or smell anything.
On Friday, the Daytime Emmy Awards presented Alex Trebek with a posthumous Emmy for Outstanding Game Show Host, marking his eighth time winning the category since his first in 1989. Two of Trebeks children, Matt Trebek and Emily Trebek, stood in front of the shows familiar blue backdrop to accept the award on their late fathers behalf. Matt said, For as long as we could remember, he was always so proud to be a part of Jeopardy! To work on a show based on knowledge, risk, and that challenged people how to think. He loved every bit of it. Emily continues, Over the past 37 years, the show became his second family. He was always excited to go to work, even during his battle with cancer. He was so fortunate that he was able to do what he loved, and we know he not once took it for granted.

The awards-show broadcast also had a special tribute for Trebek and two other recently deceased titans of Daytime TV, Regis Philbin and Larry King. During this segment, prime minister of Canada Justin Trudeau paid tribute to his fellow countryman Trebek, as did Robin Roberts, Ken Jeong, and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, who said, Thank you for teaching us, inspiring us, and bringing us together, Alex. We miss you.
Free 2 Teach is a relative "new kid on the block" when it comes to North Alabama non-profits.

It was started in 2011 by Eula Battle with the simple premise that teachers shouldn't have to pay out of their own pockets for the school supplies they need.

We're connecting north alabama with stories about the good works of the region's non-profit organizations.

In just a few years, Free 2 Teach has grown to become a vital resource for hundreds of teachers helping thousands of students.

"My first couple years, I spent over a thou... I mean I easily have over a thousand dollars every year," Riverton Intermediate School teacher, Melissa Mann told me. She remembers what it was like before Free 2 Teach. "That was spending a whole lot of money out of pocket."

Mann started teaching in the Madison County Schools system five years before Free2Teach opened its doors, spending, you read right, a thousand dollars a year on basic school supplies for her students. Teachers know some families struggle. Providing supplies for their classroom is a cost they are willing to bear. But having that burden lifted?

"It was amazing" she said, "Because you came the first few times, I was kinda like, okay, this is kinda like christmas. Because you're leaving with a grocery cart almost full of everything. And you're like, 'I didn't have to pay for any of this.'"

Executive Director, Alison Kling, says Free 2 Teach has given out 8-miilion dollars worth of free supplies so far to teachers in the three public school districts in Madison County. "Crayons, paper, glue  all these things that kids need fresh and new  teachers can get here for free. And so, they can come here throughout the year. And they've been leaving with an average of 545-dollars worth. And we've seen that increase."

Even after an incredibly difficult year  dealing with the pandemic and the loss of their beloved founder, Eula Battle - Kling says the non-profit has emerged stronger than ever to meet the growing needs local teachers. "I taught in New York City public schools. I get it. I get what that looks like for a teacher to need to pay rent or meet the mortgage requirements and get their own kids supplied. Teachers shouldn't have to pay out of pocket. When you go to work at a job, you don't bring your own stapler and your own office chair."

In the month of June, Free 2 Teach is in the process of re-stocking, gearing up for what will be a very busy 2021-2022 school year. COVID-19 obviously threw a major curve to administrators, teachers, and students. But with everyone back in school this fall, Free 2 Teach is already signing up teachers to come here and 'shop.'

"We've got new schools opening. We've got a lot of families moving here," said Kling, "And we're expecting about a thousand teachers in July."

And Melissa Mann will be one of them, looking forward to her 'Christmas in July' shopping spree for the upcoming school year. "Hopefully next year we'll be able to get back to somewhat normal and we can get into some crafts and things like that. And we are able to get some of the art supplies and stuff here, too," Mann said.

One decade down, and many more to come for this organization  this mission - started by teachers for teachers.

"That's what I love about Free 2 Teach," said Kling. "Teachers know how to get these supplies into the hands of our kids. And it's a joy to be able to provide them. It really is."

You can help support Free 2 Teach in their next ten years. They just kicked off their "Ten for Ten" challenge  asking for a ten dollar donation to mark their 10-year anniversary. Here is a link to do that.
The Decatur Police Department says it has charged a Moulton man with second-degree assault after he bit an officer on the finger.

Decatur police met with Lawrence County Sheriffs Office deputies on June 23 to serve a misdemeanor warrant on Zackrey Dakota Lott, 30, according to a news release.

While Lott was being taken to the Morgan County Correctional Facility, Decatur police said he became combative and bit an officer on the finger.

The officer was treated and released from the hospital.

Lott was booked in the jail on a $2,500 bond.
I am an Exeter University student looking to tutor students studying the IB in English and Spanish or those who need help preparing their Extended Essay. I also would like to work with students who want to improve their English language skills. Please feel free to contact me on charlie.smerdon@gmail.com.
A brief histroy of the Pitti Immagine Uomo fashion show.

From the late 19th century until the current day, prestigious luxury Italian fashion brands have allowed Italy to consistently dominate the fashion industry.

In the 1960s, celebrities such as Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Kennedy were adorned in Gucci, while in the latter part of the century, Beyonce, Madonna, and Lady Gaga could be seen sporting designs by Versace, Armani, and Dolce & Gabbana.

Prior to these celebrity endorsements, a Florentine businessman named Giovanni Battista Giorgini held a fashion show in Florence in 1951 with determination to establish Italy amongst the world of design.

Originally called the First Italian High Fashion Show, Giorgini set up the show at his house in Florence, called Villa Torrigiani. Designers were invited from around the world to view the latest Italian fashions. The name was eventually changed to Pitti Uomo and the location of the event was changed twice. The first time in 1972 to Florences Grand Hotel and finally in 1982 to the Fortezza da Basso (Fortress of Saint John the Baptist), where it continues to be held to this day.

The shift of Italian fashion in the 1970s and 1980s to ready-to-wear clothes allowed for significant changes in Italian fashion. Brands such as Miu Miu (created by Miuccia Prada) and Geox hit the market and allowed for more inclusivity as they were more economical for the average consumer. If you look at the Pitti Uomo website, this is exactly what youll see.

Simple yet stylish button-ups are shown from brands such as Alley Docks 963, a brand from Piemonte. 070 STUDIO, also from Piemonte, self-describes as a frantically elegant spirit, with rustic photos of a scruffy yet chic man adorned in double-breasted coats and leather jackets.

The brand Pantofola DOro 1886 was created back in 1886, but it wasnt until 1950 that the son of the creator, Emidio Lazzarini, patented the incredibly soft shoe for added comfort during sports. The secret was the calf leather used in the insole to create the plush interior. It was later on when Juventus player John Charles called it the golden slipper that it got its name and worldwide recognition.

Their Instagram has the modern day eclectic aesthetic nailed. The feed utilizes warm tones and raw collages to display some of the featured designers and trends with in depth descriptions of the different brands ideals. As previously mentioned, the website also features these things, but with different subsections such as billboards, galleries, shows, and Pitti Through the Ages which breaks down the different styles of the time periods.

One of the most impressive sections is Walk Through: Dynamic Attitude, which is a series that chooses key pieces from the global designers. Some of the features include Museum the Original, which features designs that are completely biodegradable in 3 years. Another brand is Ben Sherman, which is modeled after American Ivy league designs and has an individualised look for each shirt. The current exhibitions and designers accentuate the added soft edges to the rugged masculine look.

At the focal point of global fashion innovation is an event that redefined male fashion. Steering away from heteronormative wear, Pitti Uomo spotlights different designers that place emphasis on creative liberation. Some of the styles even have undertones of androgyny, such as having a boxy style or using dark colors.

Main Ph: Elena.Katkova / Shutterstock.com
Move comes amid concern about rising cases of the Delta coronavirus variant in Italy.

Wearing masks outdoors in Italy is longer required from Monday 28 June with the entire country now in the lowest-risk 'white zone' category under the national system of coronavirus restrictions.

People in Italy are no longer obliged to wear masks outdoors, provided they are not in a crowded area, however the requirement to carry a mask remains in place.

The wearing of masks is still required in public indoors spaces and on public transport, and is "strongly recommended" in the company of frail, "at risk" people, according to guidelines from the government's technical scientific committee (CTS).

The move to an entirely 'white' Italy comes as the last remaining region - Valle D'Aosta on the Italian border with France and Switzerland - became a 'zona bianca' on 28 June.

To be classified as a white zone, a region must have recorded fewer than 50 covid-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants for three consecutive weeks.

In an interview with La Repubblica yesterday, the national health institute (ISS) president Silvio Brusaferro said: "We have only 11 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days at a national level," but cautioned that "if infections go up we will be forced to put the masks back on."

The move to relax mask-wearing coincides with growing concerns in Italy about the Delta and Kappa coronavirus strains, which accounted for almost 17 per cent of total covid-19 cases in the past month, according to figures released this weekend by the ISS.

Italy's health minister Roberto Speranza welcomed the nationwide 'white zone' status, describing it on Twitter as "an encouraging result" but warned that "caution and prudence are still needed, especially in light of the new variants. The battle is not yet won."

On Sunday Italy registered 14 coronavirus-related deaths over the previous 24 hours - down from 40 fatalities recorded the day before - and 782 new covid infections, down from 838 on Saturday, according to the latest data released by the health ministry.

For official information relating to the covid-19 situation in Italy - in English - see the health ministry website.

Photo credit: Antonello Marangi / Shutterstock.com.
The news comes as Italy eases outdoor mask-wearing rule.

Italy is set to pass the milestone of 50 million covid vaccinations administered on Monday 28 June, the same day as the whole country becomes a low-risk 'white zone' and relaxes its mask-wearing rules outdoors.

The news was announced today by health minister Roberto Speranza who said Italy's goal is to "vaccinate all Italians who want it with the first dose by the end of the summer."

The minister, speaking in Florence, said that the country's vaccination campaign is its "real weapon" against covid, particularly in light of the threat posed by more aggressive variants of the virus, reports Italian news agency ANSA.

"Today is a beautiful day because the whole of our country is now in the white zone and we can afford some more freedoms" - said Speranza - "but we must continue on the path of prudence and caution because the battle is not yet won, the virus still circulates significantly."

The minister also said that masks, which no longer need to be worn in non-crowded outdoor areas, remain "an essential element" in the fight against covid-19.

"We had almost 30,000 people in hospital, today we have 1,700 in all of Italy" - said Speranza - "we had 3,800 people in intensive care, today we have just under 300."

The minster also underlined the "very positive fact" that 13.7 million people have already downloaded the 'Green Pass' as of this morning.

The Delta variant currently accounts for almost 20 per cent of new covid cases in Italy, reports ANSA.

On Sunday Italy registered 14 coronavirus-related deaths and 782 new covid infections, according to the latest data from the health ministry.

For official information relating to the covid-19 situation in Italy - in English - see the health ministry website.

Image: Trastevere district of Rome. Photo credit: Boris-B / Shutterstock.com.
Rome marks Festa di SS. Pietro e Paolo on 29 June.

Rome celebrates its patron saints, Peter and Paul, with a public holiday in the Italian capital on Tuesday 29 June, with many Romans taking Monday off to make a four-day 'ponte' weekend.

Last year, due to the covid-19 crisis, the traditional celebratory events associated with the annual event were cancelled to avoid attracting large crowds of people.

These events, which are set to be skipped again this year, include the infiorata - the multi-coloured carpet of flower petals normally held in front of St Peter's - and the Girandola fireworks display that lights up the sky over Piazza del Popolo.

The idea of Michelangelo, perfected later by Bernini, the 16-minute firework display was first introduced in 1481. Over the centuries the historic spectacle has inspired writers and artists such as Dickens, Belli and Piranesi.

The annual holiday on 29 June is to mark the liturgical feast in honour of the martyrdom in Rome of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in a celebration that dates back to ancient Christian times.

The date commemorates the death of the two saints, both of whom are said to be buried at the two basilicas that bear their names: St Peter's and St Paul's Outside the Walls.

Image: Girandola fireworks at Pincio on 29 June 2019. Photo credit: Vatican News
Cruise operator Carnival on Monday reported a loss of $2.07 billion in its fiscal second quarter. The Miami-based company said it had a loss of $1.83 per share. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of $1.68 per share. The cruise operator posted revenue of $50 million in the period, which also did not meet Wall Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $128.9 million.
I absolutely love the Hamilton. Rare Essence plays there twice a year. They take care of us very well, as well as City Winery. We love going to that place, and Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club, too, because all those spots there are usually over by 11 p.m. or midnight. And when we go to those places, we always end up connecting with some of the audience that started with us. Some of the people who used to come out in the 80s and early 90s come to those types of shows because they dont want to be out until 3 a.m. no more.
Which explains why, when I talk to other toddler parents about their experiences, they often describe children who fully acclimated to life in the liminal place weve all inhabited for so long. Several parents tell me how their children grew so accustomed to seeing others wear masks that they were deeply unsettled when  in accordance with the most recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  vaccinated adults started taking them off. Brittany Brady, a 31-year-old nonprofit executive in Dallas, says her 2-year-old son was astonished when they traveled in early June to visit her family in the D.C. suburbs and he realized that his grandparents live in a house and not inside his mothers cellphone screen. When Jason Thomas, a 44-year-old pastor in Houston, recently took his 4-year-old son to a grocery store for the first time in over a year, the boy clung to him: I havent gone to the store in a really long time, the child told his dad emphatically.
At So Other Might Eat, David McCorvey, the groups communications and marketing associate, said: Working with The Post on Helping Hand was a phenomenal experience. Our clients got a platform to tell their story, and more people were made aware of the wonderful mission of SOME. Because of the Helping Hand team, the District community was able to hear from people who were experiencing homelessness and how they were able to transform their lives for the better.
It was not until The Post began asking questions about the invoices and contracts that Weaver said she realized her offices record-keeping had not kept up with the mounting costs of the lawsuit. When the county initially fulfilled its records request to The Post, it mistakenly included multiple invoices from unrelated litigation and confirmed spending for the lawsuit based on those numbers. After The Post reviewed and asked about the invoices, the county acknowledged the error.
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Williams approached a police officer from Coral Gables, Fla., who was sitting in his squad car at the end of the alley. He started to tell her to try the next car. Im not from around here, he told her, apologetically. The officer then realized she was about to cry and hit on an idea. Why dont you bring your car this way, and Ill drive in front to get to your moms building? he said.
CRT is open to interpretation. My goal is to reveal a more complete picture of American history, especially African American history. Asking why it has been hidden is the essential question and is at the center of my understanding of CRT. Most important, finding, telling and writing lost Black histories gives voice to the Black actors themselves. In my book, I questioned why the Shenandoah Valley, in its public histories, denied and continues to deny the presence of African Americans in its past, especially the history of the interstate trade of enslaved individuals. Why is the history of the valley and nearly every other region of this country whitewashed to hide a horrible past?
Gilbert, arrested on charges of trespassing in a condemned building and failing to appear in court for a traffic ticket, had appeared to try to hang himself in his cell and then kicked and struggled with officers who rushed in. At least one of the officers applied force to the back and torso of Gilbert, who was 5 feet, 3 inches and weighed 160 pounds. He stopped breathing and was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Two senior U.S. officials said Blinken told the Syria conference that the U.S. believes the corridor must be reauthorized and expanded to prevent more deaths. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to publicly discuss the private diplomatic conversations, said Blinken made clear that any U.S.-Russia cooperation on Syria would be dependent on Moscow agreeing to the extension. Russia, however, wasnt present at the meeting.
In 2019, the Executive Committee of the SBC declined an inquiry into seven of 10 churches suspected of employing sex abusers or allowing them to volunteer with children. One of the seven was Trinity Baptist Church, where the same minister who abused children at Troy Bushs Rehoboth Baptist Church back in the 1980s was now working. That minister has since been fired but has never been criminally charged. Many of his victims, now grown men, can no longer press charges because the statute of limitations in Georgia has expired.
My own take on these kinds of things is usually shaped by the input of many godly men and women, he said in the statement. Ed and I have been friends for many years and we have talked often about these matters, and I was honored that he found my presentation helpful.
Blinken and Francis discussed the possibility of working together to address global challenges and the needs of the worlds least fortunate and most vulnerable, including refugees and migrants, according to a statement by Ned Price, spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State. The two also addressed the need to tackle the climate crisis, as Francis and President Biden prepare for the COP26 summit on the environment that will take place in Glasgow in November.
Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devils schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ... (T)ake up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
A perennial critique of those who show a softer side of Israelis is that we are ______-washing. The trend started with the infamous lie about pinkwashing: the myth that friends of Israel promote its inclusive policies for LGBTQ people only to distract people from their oppression of the Palestinians. In a similar vein, discussion about Israelis who work on protecting the environment is ridiculed as greenwashing. The list goes on. Those who celebrate Israeli cuisine are accused of dishwashing. (Really).
Many of the more conservative U.S. bishops have been clamoring for a clear directive from their ranks against giving Communion to U.S. political figures who are Roman Catholics and support womens right to abortion. Vatican teaching forbids abortion as a grave sin. This campaign puts the heat on President Joe Biden, a Catholic who has said that while he personally opposes abortion, he supports abortion rights.
During a visit to Rome on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he hoped the U.S. airstrikes would deter future attacks by Iraqi militias. I think weve demonstrated both with the actions taken last night and actions taken previously that the president is fully prepared to act and act appropriately and deliberately to protect U.S. interests, to protect our people, to protect our personnel, he said, referring to an earlier set of strikes on the Syrian side of the border.
Doctors say the number of infections is probably much higher than tests show, given that many people who have some protection from the disease  including vaccinated people and possibly more than a million who recovered from earlier infections  are fighting off the virus without ever showing symptoms. Tests on sewage samples in the coastal city of Ashkelon suggest that far more residents have the delta variant in their bodies than have tested positive.
Charles L. Riney, 86, of Washington, went home to be with our Lord and Savior on Sunday, June 27, 2021, at 7:25 a.m. He was born in Washington on Nov. 3, 1934, to Thomas and Ann Marie (Smith) Riney. He loved gardening and spending time with his beloved dog. He is survived by one sister, Paul
Trusted local news has never been more important, but providing the information you need, information that can change sometimes minute-by-minute, requires a partnership with you, our readers. Please consider making a contribution today to support this vital resource that you and countless others depend on.
The worlds inexorable shift toward intelligent cars that are better for the environment is impossible to miss. If governments havent already declared plans to be carbon neutral by, in some cases, the end of this decade, theres plenty of research that shows combustion-engine cars are going the way of the dinosaurs. BloombergNEFs annual Electric Vehicle Outlook, published earlier this month, sees global oil demand from all road transport peaking in just six years, assuming no new policy measures are introduced. By 2025, EVs hit 10 per cent of global passenger vehicle sales, rising to 28 per cent in 2030 and 58 per cent in 2040. Eventually, autonomous vehicles will reshape automotive and freight markets entirely. Whats at stake, essentially, is something even more valuable than profitability: the last unclaimed corner of consumers attention during their waking hours. Against that backdrop, its unsurprising that after years of chipping away at self-driving cars, tech companies have been stepping up their activities and investments in earnest. Autonomous cars are only as good as the human drivers they learn from - so the people who teach these systems need to be excellent drivers themselves.

Over the past several months, Apple has prioritised plans for the Apple Car after previously focusing on making an autonomous driving system, Bloomberg has reported. Thats fuelled intense speculation over which automakers and suppliers the company behind the iPhone may partner with to realise its vision. While Apple has recently lost multiple top managers on the project, it still has hundreds of engineers in its larger car group. Theres also Waymo, which is in talks to raise as much as $US4 billion to accelerate its efforts. Founded in 2009, the business that was formerly Googles self-driving car project was the first to have a fully autonomous ride on public roads. It became an independent company in 2017 under Google parent Alphabet, launched an autonomous ride-hailing service in Phoenix in 2018 and last year began testing self-driving trucks in New Mexico and Texas. Microsoft, too, is backing several autonomous initiatives, partnering with Volkswagen on self-driving car software, possibly with a view to creating offices-on-the-go. Amazon.com, meanwhile, has thrown its weight behind Rivian Automotive, which is making electric trucks, and last year bought driverless startup Zoox. It may look to include autonomous rides as part of its Prime membership program. Each of these companies, including Facebook, want to be a part of or even control and dominate, every part of citizens lives, said Professor Raj Rajkumar, who leads the robotics institute at Carnegie Mellon University. From their business point of view, if you dont, somebody else can and probably will, and eventually your current domain of influence fades away.

Although Apple has dominated phones, tablets and smartwatches and put up a decent fight over computers for the past few decades, its been a laggard in the artificial intelligence, voice and smart-speaker spaces, areas now led by Google and Amazon. The company would benefit from the release of a breakthrough new product. While its had successes with the watch, released in 2015, and services, such as Apple TV, Apple Arcade and Apple Music, which are now a major new source of revenue, nothing has come close to the success of the iPhone, which has redefined entire industries and become Apples most lucrative product since its 2007 release. At Google, executives have long framed investments in autonomous cars, along with moonshots in biotech and drones, as risks that venture capital and less deep-pocketed firms dont, or wont, take. Waymo has discussed potential business models around taxi services and long-haul logistics. One motivating force for tech giants investing in driverless cars it that it will inevitably increase our screen time. Credit:Bloomberg The onslaught has automotive incumbents girding for battle. Industry titans such as Ford, General Motors and Toyota have stepped up their own rival efforts in self-driving. The Japanese automaker is building an entire city around autonomous driving at the base of Mount Fuji while South Koreas Hyundai is committing $US7.4 billion to make EVs in the US and develop unmanned flying taxis.

In China, its the biggest tech companies throwing their hats in the ring. Giants from Huawei to Baidu have pledged to plow almost $US19 billion into electric and self-driving vehicle ventures this year alone. Smartphone giant Xiaomi and even Apples Taiwanese manufacturing partner Foxconn have joined the fray, forging tie-ups and unveiling their own car-making plans. Automakers defending their turf is understandable but Takehito Sumikawa, a partner at McKinsey & Co.s Tokyo office who advises on future mobility, says its a natural extension for tech providers to enter the autonomous driving space. Theyre betting they can do a better job at disrupting the industry. The existing businesses of Amazon, Apple and Google already require them to become proficient at AI, handling massive amounts of data and designing complex systems. Essentially, theyve made the upfront investment in core technologies needed to design and build driverless cars, and they now have legions of engineers eager to solve more complex problems, not to mention an appetite for disruption. But perhaps one of the clearest examples of a tech company with the ability to change up its own stomping ground is Amazon. The web retailer would benefit hugely from the lower costs of delivering packages to homes using cars that drive themselves. Amazon also has a habit of transforming its own tools into businesses that can be sold to a wider swath of customers, much like it did with cloud computing, which was originally created to support the companys online retail operations. Having morphed it into a computing and data-storage platform used by Netflix, the US government and others, Amazon Web Services is now a $US45.4 billion enterprise.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Alice Pung was almost 40, not 16, and pregnant with her third child, not her first, when she moved in with her parents in Melbourne during lockdown last year, accompanied by her husband Nick and their two boys, aged six and two. But as with her new novels adolescent narrator, Karuna, Alice found herself at times stifled by her mothers practical kind of love. It was so weird. I went back into the book when I was editing it and I thought, Oh, these lines were authentic because thats what I said to my mum three days ago and I feel guilty about it,  Alice says, laughing. Mother-and-daughter relationships  and the questions they raise about the intersection of love, control and freedom  are at the heart of One Hundred Days. Karuna, a Chinese-Filipino Australian, is 16 when she falls pregnant after a brief affair with an older homework tutor named Ray. Her single mother runs an impossibly strict regime during her pregnancy, fuelled by cultural superstitions (pineapples cause miscarriages and boiled watermelon is safe for the spleen) rather than science. When I ask why, she tells me that two thousand years of history cannot be wrong. And its for my own good, Karuna writes. After the baby is born, her mother locks Karuna inside their flat on the 14th floor of a housing commission building in Melbournes western suburbs for 100 days as part of a postpartum confinement tradition. Karuna is frustrated, torn between her desire to take control of her life and her recognition that she is reliant on her mother. As her mothers employer at a beauty salon aptly tells her: Your mother may not know how to love you the best. But she love you the most. The problem is never a lack of love, its too much love, in a love story complicated by culture and class. Alice knows the too much love feeling. Her mother, Kien, expected her to enter confinement after she gave birth to her third child in lockdown eight months ago. In its strict iteration, the confinement would mean not leaving the house or showering during the postpartum period.

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She was really angry at me when I went for a walk, so livid, Alice says. She told all my aunties, Look how bad she is, but I just needed some fresh air. She goes, If you need to walk, just walk in circles in the lounge room.  There were other differences that emerged during their co-habitation, too, including her mothers belief that babies shouldnt eat vegetables and her reliance on YouTube educational videos to put the children to bed.

I can understand her. I feel great compassion towards her, but in the heat of the moment youre just filled with rage because youre 16 again, says Alice. It wouldve been hard for them as well to have their daughter back with all these ideas about parenting that are completely different from their own. Youre 40 but youre also 16 again in that deeply embedded part of your emotions. You revert back to being sulky and sarcastic. I thought, Oh, I dont like this person Im reverting back to. The rational part of your brain switches off when you talk to your parents and they push the wrong buttons. Its a horrible thing. It wouldve been hard for them as well to have their daughter back with all these ideas about parenting that are completely different from their own. But there were also big benefits. Delicious food  everything with ginger, ginger and more ginger  and the relief of having grandparents who will look after your kids. Alice is funny and frank when she talks about her family. Her mother cant read or write, so perhaps theres some freedom in knowing that she wont trigger round two of the should babies eat vegetables? debate.

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Loading Her parents are ethnic Chinese refugees who arrived in Australia from Cambodia after fleeing the Khmer Rouge. Her father, Kuan, spent four years in the killing fields before he and Kien made their way to a refugee camp in Thailand. Kien was pregnant with Alice when they came to Australia, and she was named after Lewis Carrolls story because her father thought of Australia as a wonderland. Her mother was an outworker who made jewellery in the garage, while her father opened an electrical store. Alice grew up in Footscray and Braybrook in Melbournes west, the oldest of four siblings whom she was responsible for looking after from a young age. Writing was my way of venting. I was such an anxious and unhappy and depressed child because I was scared something bad would happen to these babies all the time, Alice says. And then, when I became an adult and felt completely in control, I thought, I can do this. This is a piece of cake compared to looking after a two-year-old and an 11-year-old at home by yourself.  Alice wears Nevenka dress and slip. Credit:Michelle Tran Alice captured her family story and experiences in two acclaimed memoirs: Unpolished Gem, published in 2006, and Her Fathers Daughter in 2010.

When Alice moved back in with her parents last year, it was the first time she had lived with them since she moved to Janet Clarke Hall, at the University of Melbourne, when she was 23 to work as a residential tutor. (She is now artist-in-residence at the college, as well as a qualified lawyer.)

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I couldnt move out of home unless I got married  it just was not the done thing, she says. So I decided to apply for this job as a residential tutor, and I got it. My dad was so understanding, he said, This might be really good for you. Loading So he let me move out at 23, but because I lived at the college and I was tutoring, he could tell his friends that I was living at my workplace, so he didnt have this unmarried daughter moving out to have premarital sex or anything  I was just working. And I never left. She met her husband, Nick, a project manager, at the university and they now live in a flat converted from three student rooms with a bathroom and kitchen attached. When they returned to Alices parents home in the early days of the pandemic (they stayed for about a year), Alice slept in her old room alongside her old diaries, which she wrote prolifically from when she was eight until she moved out. Not that she could bring herself to look at them. The reason theyre embarrassing is that I was just so angry. Writing was my way of venting. My mum said you should never shake a baby because it will give them brain damage. I knew not to do that but I had no outlet. I had no Facebook to tell friends how frustrated I was stuck at home. So I wrote in my diary. Alice wears Scanlan Theodore jacket, Nevenka dress, Skull & Pearl bracelets, Essen shoes. Credit:Michelle Tran Its Alices insight into a teenagers sense of powerlessness about their own life that has made her two novels, Laurinda and now One Hundred Days, so poignant. I mean, most of us were lucky enough to have loving parents, she says. Like, cerebrally, in our brains, we know they love us because of all

the things they do for us. But there are moments where you absolutely hate your parents, in all honesty. And I had to write One Hundred Days from the 16-year-olds perspective, and not that of an older person looking back with more compassion.

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Those moments are real, when you dislike your parents, and your parents dont like you  and there have been moments in my life when I know my parents have disliked me immensely. They didnt have to say anything. And all kids know that, even kids whose parents speak very nicely to them. There are moments where you absolutely hate your parents, in all honesty. And I had to write One Hundred Days from the 16-year-olds perspective, and not that of an older person looking back with more compassion. Alice wrote One Hundred Days over the course of four years, in between having three children, inspired by an article shed written about the cultural aspects of postpartum confinement, followed by a short story featuring

a pregnant teenager. Sex was taboo when Alice was growing up; she had a friend who fell pregnant and disappeared off the face of the earth. She later discovered that her friends mother had given her an ultimatum, one that Karuna shares in her novel: she could have the child, but it would be raised as her sister, rather than as her daughter. Loading Alice set the novel in 1987, which means Karuna has no access to a smartphone to research her mothers long list of warnings and advice for pregnancy and motherhood. But even if she had, theyd still be hard to shake. Alice grew up with many such cultural beliefs, including an edict to not wear white in her hair because it signifies death. And even though she regards it as a superstition, she avoids doing so anyway. That might not be the only thing to be passed down and embedded. Alices first childrens book, out next year, is about a six-year-old boy called Xiao Xin, which translates from Mandarin as be careful.

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Obviously I would love to have won again, but it did clear the air a bit, because of the weight of expectation. I felt like I could settle, and get on with new projects. Last year she was made a Companion of Literature (the highest award bestowed by the Royal Society of Literature, which is only held by up to 12 writers at any one time). It is the accolade that means most to her; and it also meant a lot that she was given the medal by Prince Charles. In 2006 she was awarded a CBE, and in 2014 she became a Dame. How does that sit with her? Well, Im very amused by it. You know  because of where I come from and the kind of expectations I grew up with. Im amused and amazed as well. She is constantly asked what she thinks about the royal family, especially, she says, by Americans.

But the truth is she doesnt think much about it at all. And as far as the future of the monarchy goes? She pauses. I think its the end game. I dont know how much longer the institution will go on. Im not sure if it will outlast William. So I think it will be their last big era.

Mantel receiving her Companion of Literature medal from Prince Charles last year. Credit:Alamy I wish the Queen had felt able to abdicate, because Charles has had to wait such a long time. I understand that she thinks of this as a sacred task, from which you simply cannot abdicate, whereas the rest of us think of it as a job, from which you should be able to retire. I wonder if shes the only person who really believes in the monarchy now, and Im sure she believes with all her heart. She believes that she cannot cease to be a monarch  she made those promises to God. Its such a cliche to say, but what a lonely position to be in. Its a conflict, because most of the world sees the royal family as a branch of show business. And Im sure that is very far from the Queens own thinking. Hilary Mantel is a woman of quite extraordinary drive. She grew up in Derbyshire, the oldest of three children of an Irish Catholic family. Her father, Henry Thompson, was a clerk; her mother, Margaret, had worked in the local mill. She was, she has said, unsuited to being a child. She had an avid appetite for literature and went to school with a head full of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, which she badgered her family to read to her and then memorised by heart. She was given the Complete Works of Shakespeare, aged 10, to keep her quiet. She has two younger brothers, Brian and Ian. When she was six, her mothers lover, Jack Mantel, moved in and her father shifted to the spare room. Inevitably this engendered malevolent gossip and the disapproval of her maternal grandparents as well as the rest of the community, and her father left when she was 11. She never saw him again.

The family moved to Cheshire, and her mother later married Jack, who Hilary did not get on with. Years later, following her fathers death, she got a letter from a woman who became his stepdaughter. The children of the family into which he married were relatively grown up when he came along. He was their mothers husband, rather than a substitute father. They were able to give me his birth certificate and army papers. They also gave her his precious chess set, which she used to play with him. He had spotted Hilary on television, it turned out, at a Booker Prize dinner (in 1990, the year that A.S. Byatt won with Possession). He had said, I think that is my daughter. At 18, Hilary went to study law, but she had no money and knew she would never be able to afford to train as a barrister, as she had hoped. And she wanted to be near Gerald, who was studying geology at Sheffield University, so she transferred there. They were married in 1972. Hilary had always been sickly  the family doctor used to call her Miss Neverwell. But in her early 20s, the pain started in earnest. It moved about her body in a manner that, combined with nausea and agonising menstrual cramps, should certainly have indicated endometriosis. Instead, a series of doctors diagnosed depression; one even suggested it was stress caused by her being too ambitious, another recommended that she give up writing. She was prescribed antipsychotic drugs, one of which had a side effect of causing psychosis in the form of a disorder called akathisia, which she has described as the worst thing she has ever experienced. When she left university, she came off the drugs and the symptoms they induced dissipated, but the pain and nausea did not. Several years later, by which time Hilary was living in Botswana and had started writing (Gerald was working as a geologist, she was teaching), she went to the university library and diagnosed herself with endometriosis. She returned to the UK on leave at Christmas 1979, where she had surgery to remove her womb, her ovaries and part of her bowel. The result was an early menopause.

But too much active endometriosis had been left behind, and it continued to damage my body, she says. Prescribed drugs had nasty side effects and didnt work very well. I had to find ways of living with the condition, but it meant that my body was unreliable and life was quite narrow and effortful. There would never be any children. In her memoir, Giving Up the Ghost, Hilary writes extremely movingly about this  not so much about not having a child, but not having the choice. Four months later, she returned to Botswana but soon came back again; her illness had contributed to the breakdown of her marriage. She was put on a reckless-sounding trial-and-error hormone treatment. By the end of nine months, the pain was no better, but my body weight had increased by over 50 per cent, she wrote. She went from a size 8 to an 18 in what seemed like no time. She was living in Norfolk, and when Gerald came back from Africa, they remarried. Hilary was put on new drugs. A few weeks on, I had developed a steroid moon face. My hair had come out in handfuls. I was deaf, my eyesight was blurred by constant headaches, and my legs were swollen like bolsters. For once, a doctor helped  he cut the dose of drugs. Bald, odd-shaped, deaf, but not defeated, I sat down and wrote another book.

Hilary has survived and flourished by writing. She writes her way through life. She did not, as some people think, begin her literary career with Wolf Hall (although, she says, as soon as she started it, I felt I had got my seven-league boots on. It was a feeling of great power). She started writing her first book, a novel about the French Revolution, when she was 23 (it came out 17 years later, as A Place of Greater Safety). Since 1985, when her first book was published, she has written 12 novels, two collections of short stories, a memoir and plenty of journalism, some of which is collected in last years Mantel Pieces. She writes a prolific daily journal and her brain is constantly roiling with ideas. She had to come to terms with the effects on her health, and her new shape. When you get fat, you get a new personality. You cant help it, she wrote. One of my favourite grim sports, since I became a published writer and had people to interview me, has been to wait and see how the profiler will turn me out in print. With what adjective will they characterise the startlingly round woman on whose sofa they are lolling. I have often shown up in a very poor state, and realised I shouldnt have made that commitment  but its hard to know in advance, and I am always optimistic. Ten years ago she had further surgery. I had masses of internal scar tissue removed, she says. This in itself was necessary and very helpful, but unfortunately my large wound became infected and took several months to heal, and there were other complications that sent me back to hospital. But I am very grateful to that surgeons heroic efforts, because eventually I got back on the right track.

It took a couple of years for me to feel different, but from then on I had some pain-free days, which hadnt happened for a long time. And a little while after that, I was able to get involved in the theatre adaptations of the books. That is still not an easy thing for me, so I have to live very quietly when Im not involved in public events. I have often shown up in a very poor state, and realised I shouldnt have made that commitment  but its hard to know in advance, and I am always optimistic. How is she now? Well, as far as endometriosis is concerned, Im a burnt-out case. What Im suffering from now is the cures - the knock-on effects. It wasnt as simple as losing my fertility at 27; there is a consequence for the body as a whole, and no one  least of all me  knew what that was going to be. Over the years, things go wrong. And so in some ways I dont even know what age I am. When you have a menopause at 27, you dont have the ordinary markers of a womans life. Im not strong. And I probably am older than I should be. If I compare myself to my mother, who was vigorous into her late 80s, I see that Im not doing terribly well. Id say its a challenge. In some ways I dont even know what age I am. When you have a menopause at 27, you dont have the ordinary markers of a womans life. Her mother died in 2017, aged 91. She was a very talented woman who had absolutely no education and no opportunities in her life. And she definitely wanted me to do better. But I felt I could never please her; I felt that nothing I did would be good enough.
I suspect Craig McLachlan would like to have whatever it is Barnaby family values Joyce is having.

The Lazarus-like resurrection of the rebooted Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leaders political career certainly rates as one of the more spectacular of recent times.

Barnaby Joyce poses for photos with partner Vikki Campion and children Sebastian and Thomas during the swearing-in ceremony as Deputy Prime Minister. Credit:SMH

However Barnaby 2.0 also poses one of the great questions about modern day redemption of public figures: why are we more forgiving of our politicians when scandalous episodes - even if relatively trivial - can spell career and social death for others in the spotlight?

The likes of one-time jailbird Harry M. Miller, disgraced businessman Rodney Adler, political powerbroker Graham Richardson, iron-woman Candice Falzon, and for a while crooked cop Roger Rogerson have all faced seemingly insurmountable social hurdles - from prison sentences and extramarital affairs to toilet trysts.
Australias population growth will become increasingly reliant on overseas migration over the next 40 years but the federal government has warned the number of new migrants settling in big cities must be kept at or below their capacity to absorb them.

For the past decade net overseas migration has accounted for around 60 per cent of the annual increase in Australias population but that will rise to about 74 per cent by 2060-61, the federal governments 2021 intergenerational report (IGR) says.

High rates of migration have been blamed for worsening traffic congestion and other urban challenges Credit:Nick Moir

The report, which examines long-term economic and budget trends, is the first of five published since 2002 to downwardly revise Australias long-term population growth projection. The previous IGR, released in 2015, predicted a national population of 37.8 million by 2050 but that has now been scaled back to 35.3 million.

The most significant trend causing the lower population forecast is a slump in the fertility rate. The 2015 IGR assumed a rate of 1.9 babies per woman but that has been cut to 1.6 babies per woman. Fertility in Australia has been below the replacement rate  of 2.1 - the level required to keep the population size steady - since the late 1970s.
But it claimed the workers had voluntarily signed contracts that complied with Chinas labour laws. KTK has employed one dedicated cook in order to respect and satisfy the tradition of Muslim food and provided new decorated dormitories to them free of charge, the supplier said. The number of workers from Xinjiang currently employed by KTK is unclear and the company did not respond to requests for comment from this masthead. Researchers estimate about 80,000 members of persecuted minorities have been moved out of their homes or detention camps in Xinjiang to work at factories under the program, which has been marketed as a poverty alleviation initiative for re-educated Uighurs.

In March last year, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think tank published a world-leading study that found Alstom, along with 82 companies including Nike and BMW, was benefiting from the forced labour of Uighur people. The report found KTK employed about 40 Uighur workers in 2019. Loading According to the study, the workers often lived in segregated dormitories, underwent Mandarin and ideological training, were constantly under surveillance and barred from practicing their religion. Chinese state media claims participation in the program is voluntary, but workers who have fled the country described living in fear of being sent back to detention while working at the factories. The Chinese constitution does not explicitly ban slavery, forced labour, and human trafficking but it recognises a citizens right to freedom, work, and rest. However, workers exploitation often goes unreported due to the governments role in programs like Xinjiang Aid.

The documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws show Alstom carried out an investigation into the matter and determined KTK had not used forced labour. But China experts are questioning whether Australian companies are able to appropriately determine the veracity of KTKs claims given the lack of transparency in Xinjiang. The issue was recently highlighted by UN-appointed human rights experts in a letter to KTK chairman Jinkun Yu, where they claimed multinational companies were not allowed to freely access Chinese factories to check no human rights abuses were being committed. WA Premier Mark McGowan and Transport Minister Rita Saffioti on a Transperth train. Credit:Hamish Hastie We are concerned these workers who are allegedly forcefully relocated across the country are subjected to forced labour as part of what the government describes as development and poverty alleviation policy, it read.

Alstom, which has updated its contract with suppliers to include specific modern slavery clauses, directed all queries to the WA Public Transport Authority. A PTA spokeswoman said the agency had received assurances from Alstom they are confident in the integrity of their supply chain and the conduct of their suppliers. Under its contract with the state government, Alstom is obligated to comply with the Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act 2018, she said. The Act requires companies with a turnover of $100 million or more to publish annual statements outlining the risk of forced labour in their supply chains but does not impose financial penalties. But human rights and trade advocates say the current legislation doesnt go far enough and argue Australia should appoint an anti-slavery commissioner in line with other jurisdictions like the UK, which recently rolled out additional requirements on companies buying goods from Xinjiang.

A review of the Act is set to take place later this year but it is unclear whether any significant changes will be made, and a bill by Senator Rex Patrick to ban goods produced in the Uighur-majority region has since fallen through. WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said she was aware of Alstoms plans to use KTK components to manufacture Metronet railcars but an independent audit commissioned by the company last year had identified no forced labour issues that necessitate a change in supplier. Loading We have learnt from the approach of other states and the Public Transport Authority has been proactive in seeking assurances from Alstom on the integrity of their supply chain, she said. I have asked the Public Transport Authority to closely monitor the situation and continue to work with Alstom to ensure all suppliers uphold the high standards expected by the WA community.
On Saturday, when the Sydney lockdown was announced, Morrison  so proud of his Sydneysider status  was largely absent. As a friend pointed out to me, what better day for the Prime Minister to remind people of the importance of vaccinations? But Morrison was stuck, because that might have carried the implication that a better vaccination program could have helped avoid situations like this. (We got a YouTube message from him eventually  but vaccinations werent mentioned.) I asked Raina MacIntyre, head of the Biosecurity Research Program at the Kirby Institute, if this lockdown might have been avoided if our vaccination rates were higher. I suspected the answer would be no, but in fact MacIntyre told me it was possible, if we had reached 80 per cent of adults vaccinated. With our current pitiful rates, that number might sound high, but MacIntyre pointed out that we get more than 90 per cent of infants vaccinated, and more than 70 per cent of over-65s get their flu vaccinations. MacIntyre went on to make another point. We began this pandemic with very low rates of vaccine hesitancy, as well as a civic-minded population: the perfect setting for a determined and rapid vaccination campaign that could have started in December 2020, as it did elsewhere. Instead, we are now seeing quite a lot of hesitancy. Not all of this is the governments fault  the blood clotting issue would have arisen whatever it did. But we will never know how the public might have reacted had the government made the case for vaccinations earlier and more determinedly.

We do know why the government has still not moved into the rallying phase of its program (that is, an ad campaign). If the rallying worked, there would not, currently, be sufficient vaccines to meet demand. We know this because we were told, last week, by Lieutenant General John Frewen, who Morrison appointed to run the vaccination effort. At first I worried that involving military figures might presage a similar level of secrecy to Operation Sovereign Borders. Instead, Frewen has committed to transparency. So far, he has been refreshingly direct. Loading And so it is interesting that both the Chief Medical Officer and Morrison last week spoke about the planning being done for post-vaccination life. The premiers and the Prime Ministers Department are apparently working with modelling to decide what additional freedoms vaccinated people might be given. The government has been cagey about releasing modelling in the past. We should hope Frewen convinces the Prime Minister otherwise. But first we have to get through the current outbreak. The NSW numbers are rising. And now the strain in NSW has crossed state borders. Whether or not this lockdown could have been avoided through vaccinations, it will put more pressure on Morrison. Just how much will be determined by five factors. One is how far the virus spreads. The second is how long the lockdown lasts. The third is whether further problems arise with vaccinations during this period. The fourth is how much the premiers decide to attack. The fifth is Anthony Albanese.
The Victorian Health Department said passengers on flights scheduled to depart before the cut-off time could enter Victoria under green zone permit conditions. South Australia closed its border to Queensland, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory, and requires everyone who has been in Victoria to get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result. Western Australia reinstated masks and crowd limits in the Perth and Peel areas and upgraded border controls with the Northern Territory, Queensland and the ACT, after a woman in her 50s returned from Sydney to Perth last Sunday before testing positive to COVID-19 almost a week later on Saturday night. Victoria recorded no new local cases in the 24 hours, but three were detected in hotel quarantine, after 20,700 test results were processed. Loading

Acting Premier James Merlino said the states public health team was on high alert and more than 200 police officers were patrolling the border to prevent people from illegally entering Victoria. Victorias public health teams are constantly monitoring the situation across the country and will make changes if theyre needed, Mr Merlino said on Sunday afternoon. Its a rapidly changing situation. Keeping Victorians safe is our top priority, and we wont hesitate to strengthen our borders if that is the advice from the public health team. Victorias COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar earlier in the day said he was concerned about more coronavirus cases seeping into Victoria and flagged there could be further changes to border restrictions. If youre a Victorian in NSW and you need to be back in our state, then we would encourage you to do so promptly, Mr Weimar said.

And we would certainly encourage any Victorian, please do not travel to NSW at this time. It is an unpredictable situation and we want to ensure we protect our state and the wider Australian east coast. Australias big four banks have pledged to offer support including loan deferrals or waiving fees for customers under financial strain as a result of NSWs COVID-19 lockdown, amid warnings the cost to the economy could top $1 billion a week. AMP Capitals chief economist Shane Oliver estimated the toll of a two-week lockdown across Greater Sydney and surrounds would cost the economy about $2 billion. New South Wales recorded 30 new cases of COVID-19, all linked to the Bondi cluster. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned the outbreak was likely to increase. Australian Medical Association vice-president Chris Moy said the virulence of the Delta strain was a major factor in the national outbreak. Were basically having a cross-country seeding event, he said.

Dr Moy said states and territories had to go hard on restrictions early to minimise the spread after two separate coronavirus outbreaks have sparked cases in NSW, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland. Its beaten the NSW contact tracers, and the reliance on contact tracers and holding out [on introducing a lockdown] for a few days has led to seeding across the country. This is a different beast. Youve got to go hard at this. Really, thats your best chance. Queensland recorded two new cases  a Brisbane couple who has the Alpha strain. The Northern Territory recorded four new cases of COVID-19 linked to a gold mine worker who acquired the virus in a Queensland quarantine hotel.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said everything possible would be done to protect vulnerable remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. The Commonwealth has offered various supports to the NT, Mr Hunt said, including more than 4000 testing kits, and asymptomatic testing has been activated. The Royal Flying Doctors services is on standby for rapid deployment and there will be a briefing with the Aboriginal Health sector, Mr Hunt said. We have set up a national incident management team to support the Northern Territory response and that is hosted in the National Incident Centre and includes representatives from the National Indigenous Australians agency, he said. As of Sunday morning, Victorian health authorities had identified three miners in the state who worked at the Granites gold mine. They were isolating on Sunday.

We expect that number to grow as we work with other jurisdictions to identify where those other 900 mine workers have travelled to, Mr Weimar said. We understand they may have travelled fairly widely across Australia. If you were at the Granites gold mine between [June 18 and 25], please, stay where you are, isolate, get tested and contact us so we can support you during this isolation period. Victorian authorities were also racing to contact 128 passengers who were on a Virgin flight to Melbourne on Friday with a potentially infectious flight attendant. Loading AFL North Melbourne staff and players were sent into home isolation and told to get tested on Sunday after being at the airport on Saturday on the way to Hobart for their match against Gold Coast.

The Roos were at Melbourne Airport between 7am and 8am on Saturday, and now must await a negative result. AFL industry sources confirmed Brisbane Lions players who had planned to attend Sunday nights rugby league state of origin game in Brisbane have been told by the club not to attend as a risk mitigation strategy given the unfolding COVID-19 situation. The cabin crew member who tested positive to COVID-19 on Saturday evening flew into Melbourne on Friday on flight VA334 from Brisbane. She is Sydney-based and a close contact of a positive COVID-19 case from a known cluster in Sydney, according to Virgin. The woman stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn Express in Southbank. Mr Weimar stressed the woman, who was potentially very early in her infectious period, abided by strict coronavirus protocols during her time at the hotel. Authorities have identified 43 aircrew staff as primary close contacts of the woman, and listed all public areas of Melbourne Airport Terminal 2 as exposure sites between 6.30am and 7.30am on Saturday.

Terminal 3 is listed as being an exposure site between 5.20pm and 6.50pm on Friday, and between 8am and 9am on Saturday. Friday, June 25: VA939 Departed Sydney at 11.51am; arrived Brisbane at 1.25pm

VA334 Departed Brisbane at 2.59pm; arrived Melbourne at 5.16pm Saturday, June 26: VA827 Departed Melbourne at 9am; arrived Sydney at 10.14am

VA517 Departed Sydney at 11.14am; arrived Gold Coast at 12.40pm

VA524 Departed Gold Coast at 1.26pm; arrived Sydney 2.47pm
London: Sensitive defence documents containing details about the British military have been found at a bus stop in England, the BBC has reported.

The papers included plans for a possible UK military presence in Afghanistan, as well as discussion about the potential Russian reaction to the British warship HMS Defenders travel through waters off the Crimean coast last week, the BBC said.

British destroyer HMS Defender, which was included in sensitive defence documents reportedly found at a bus stop in Kent, England. Credit:AP

The broadcaster said a member of the public who wanted to remain unnamed contacted it when they found the pile of documents  about 50 pages in all  in a soggy heap on Tuesday behind a bus stop in Kent, south-east of London.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova mocked the British government on social media channel Telegram, saying: London has used a number of lies to cover up the latest provocation. 007 [James Bond] is no longer the same.
Trimarc view of June 28, 2021 fatal crash on I-64 in downtown Louisville that resulted in the death of 42-year-old Rachelle Hinkle.
From elections to police use of force, more than 20 new Kentucky laws go into effect Tuesday
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I cover a range of stories for WDRB, but really enjoy tracking what's going on at our State Capitol. I grew up on military bases all over the world, but am a Kentuckian at heart. I'm an EKU alum, and have lived in Louisville for 30 years.
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The leaders of Russia and China on Monday hailed increasingly close ties between their countries and announced the extension of a 20-year-old friendship treaty, a show of unity amid their tensions with the West.
Sydney McLaughlin looked to her left and saw the numbers 51.90. Her first thought: Oh my gosh!
HELENA, Mont. (AP)  More than $30 million of federal funding could be directed toward expanding child care capacity in Montana under recommendations approved by a state health advisory commission.

The commission approved up to $31 million for the state health department to administer grants to expand child care in the state, the Montana State News Bureau reported Thursday. The commission, which is made up of three members of the executive branch and seven lawmakers, is tasked with directing coronavirus relief dollars.

The grants will be used to increase worker pay and benefits and help with the cost of rent for facilities, among other uses.

The commission also approved $6.8 million in administrative spending to help people apply for grants and learn how to better run their businesses.

The recommendations next go to Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte for final approval.

A lack of access to child care in Montana was already hurting parents in the workforce before the pandemic, according to a 2019 report by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry. The report found licensed child care providers in the state met less than half the estimated demand.

The health department estimated that 171 child care programs closed in Montana at the height of the pandemic. In a survey conducted by the department, about 42% of parents said they could not afford child care services.

Child care providers attributed demand challenges to high staff turnover because of low compensation.

Providers said increasing pay for child care workers would begin to address some of the issues. The health department reported that child care workers earn an annual median income of $22,860.

All federal coronavirus relief funding must be spent by September 2023.

Theres a lot of opportunity to utilize this funding for the best in terms of trying to build capacity so that when this funding goes away, weve left an infrastructure much better than weve found it, health department Director Adam Meier said during Thursdays commission meeting.

Montana is set to receive a total of more than $68 million in coronavirus relief funds for child care stabilization. Future grants could go toward establishing new child care facilities.
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HARTFORD, CT (WFSB)  Help is on the way to fight crime in Connecticut communities.

The governor addressed a rise in gun violence during a news conference on Monday morning.

It has been a difficult year for many cities in Connecticut and around the country. Violence has spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During a news conference in Hartford, Gov. Ned Lamont said $5 million in federal money from the CARES Act will go towards community outreach, critical task forces and data sharing.

The sharing would quickly trace guns and bullets.

Meanwhile, St. Francis Hospital in Hartford said it is all too familiar with violent crime. Police have responded to 300 victims at the hospital in less than two years.

Officials blame the pandemic for the uptick in shootings, stabbings, drug overdoses and car thefts.

Communities have been looking for all the help they can get.

"We are saddened that everyday that Americans, including our neighbors including here in Hartford, are needlessly killed due to gun violence. Firearms are associated with a high mortality and morbidity with almost 115,000 Americans shot every year," said Dr. Stephanie Montgomery, St. Francis Hospital.

The mayors of Hartford and New Haven spoke to Channel 3 about the violence spike on CT 21. They touched on the toll gun violence has taken in their cities.

CT' 21: Ending the gun violence in New Haven Cities around the country have seen a surge in violence. New Haven is no exception.

Both agreed that there is a lot of work to be done, but progress can be made.

This is an incredible challenge that many cities across the nation are experiencing on right now, said New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker.

In New Haven, the city had 20 homicides in 2020. Just the first 6 months of 2021 were violent as well.

Elicker said police have been working to respond to the uptick for months by expanding their shooting task force to collaborate with partnering towns and federal law enforcement. They also increased walking and bicycle beats and provided more support for those as they reenter society from prison.

We are not going to solve these challenges through law enforcement, Elicker noted. We are going to solve it by confronting poverty head on. Investment in schools in education and reforming the criminal justice system.

In Hartford, Mayor Luke Bronin said they are committing money from the American Rescue Plan to violence intervention strategies.

He said police have had a lot of success solving crimes and being proactive.

They have taken well over 100 guns off the street this year, they have made arrests in homicides and nonfatal shootings at a rate this city has never seen before, and most cities around the country dont see, Bronin said. And I really am grateful for that work.

Car thefts are also surging, more happening during the day, and with weapons.

Despite proposals for tougher penalties, no action has been taken.

Glastonburys town manager sent a letter to the governor warning things will get worse, saying it seems that every attempt to remedy this problem at the legislative level is met with resistance.

Its an issue we have to address. Now do we have to pass legislation, I am not sure, but I realize this when we talk violence, its not a large population doing this, we can identify these people at a very young age, said Democratic State Senator Doug McCrory.

One proposal would have included GPS monitoring devices for juveniles.

Some of the federal money will also be used for summer youth programs and jobs.
(WFSB) -- A group of parents and students are rallying together, calling on the University of Connecticut to withdraw its policy mandating the COVID-19 vaccine for students.

On behalf of hundreds of UConn college students and parents, the Family Freedom Endeavor, Inc., said it is ordering the university to withdraw the policy by July 2, or face a lawsuit.

The Family Freedom Endeavor, Inc. (FFE) is a nonprofit organization providing representation and litigation involving the defense and promotion of civil rights, primarily for families and children.

It says the new vaccination policy is unlawful and goes against a person's constitutional rights.

This demand comes after the states college and universities said it is requiring students to get a COVID vaccine. It joins Yale, Wesleyan, UHart, and UConn in the vaccine mandate.

CSCU system requiring all students to get COVID-19 vaccinations Students attending any Connecticut State Colleges and Universities must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Federal law states COVID-19 vaccines cannot be mandated under emergency use authorization (EUA), stated The Family Freedom Endeavor, Inc.s attorney, Ryan McLane said in a press release. FFE asserts the mandates are unlawful as a matter of federal law and go against individual Constitutional rights to bodily autonomy. The organization highlights Connecticuts already high vaccination rates and has submitted FOIA requests for documentation regarding COVID-19 vaccine funding  sources and how funds have and will be spent. Furthermore, FFE demands the withdrawal of mandate policies by July 2, 2021 or states it will take legal action.

One parent in the letter called the mandate reckless.

The group said it is concerned about the long-term effects in young adults and the cases of heart issues linked to the vaccine.

"The age group we are dealing with the COVID virus really doesn't affect them as it does let's say 80 and above," said Vincent Delaney, of The Family Freedom Endeavor, Inc.

The letter refers to a link between the vaccine and a risk for myocarditis and pericarditis within the adolescent and young adult age group.

Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration added a warning about the risk of myocarditis and pericarditis, inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart, to fact sheets for the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.

Students have until July 31 to upload their vaccine status before the fall semester.

The students don't have a lot of time to make this decision, so you know, the ultimate goal is to have the mandate removed, Ryan McClane said.

On UConns website, the university said, in part, The goal of this policy is to help safeguard health and wellness on our campuses and in our communities.

In response to the letter, UConn said UConn's polling of students found the vast majority said they are willing and want to receive the vaccine, and would support such a policy."

A spokesperson for UConn also said "the policy also recognizes that there are many reasons why a student might not be able to get the vaccine or would not wish to do so, and provides latitude for them to seek exemptions."

The group said UConn hasnt responded to their letter yet.

Read more about UConn's vaccine policy by clicking here.
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Max Rosenthal, a Holocaust survivor and father of Everybody Loves Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal who became a character in many of his sons TV projects, died June 26 at the age of 95, his son confirmed.

Max Rosenthal was known for his appearances on his sons food-focused unscripted series, Ill Have What Phils Having for PBS and Somebody Feed Phil for Netflix. He had a recurring role on Raymond during its 1996-2005 run on CBS as Max, a lodge buddy of Peter Boyles Frank Barone.

As heartbroken as we are, we are so grateful that he was our dad, our grandpa, our friend, our favorite and funniest TV star and the role model for how to live 95 years while being the sweet, gentle, kind, compassionate and really, really funny, Phil Rosenthal wrote Sunday on Instagram. He called him the biggest influence in my life.

Max Rosenthals wife of more than 60 years and mother of Phil, Helen Rosenthal, died in 2019 at the age of 86.

According to a July 2018 report from New York Jewish Week, Max Rosenthal was a German immigrant who escaped Berlin just after the November 1938 Kristallnacht massacre that signaled an escalation of the Nazi genocide campaign against Jews. Helen Rosenthal and her family were held in a concentration camp in France before relocating to Cuba and later the U.S.

Max and Helen Rosenthal were key inspirations for the parental figures played by Boyle and Doris Roberts in Raymond, the enduring domestic comedy that was a cornerstone of CBS primetime revitalization in the late 1990s.

From his varied TV appearances, Max Rosenthal was known for his wry sense of humor, his natural frugality, warmth and curiosity. In January 2015, when Phil Rosenthal traveled to Miami to interview Norman Lear for an industry conference, Max and Helen accompanied him. Max was spotted during the day attending conference sessions with a yellow legal pad in hand, taking notes and cheering his son on from the sidelines during his Q&A with the famed producer and philanthropist.

In addition to his son, Max Rosenthals survivors include daughter-in-law Monica Horan, an actor and also a Raymond regular; a granddaughter, Lily; and grandson, Ben; as well as son Richard (who produces Somebody Feed Phil) and his wife, Karen and their children (Maxs grandchildren) Jack and Tess.

(Pictured: Phil Rosenthal and Max Rosenthal)

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It's been more than one month since Tina Proulx received a second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. But while other fully vaccinated Canadians venture out from their pandemic cocoons, the double-lung transplant recipient mostly stays put.

It's been more than one month since Tina Proulx received a second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. But while other fully vaccinated Canadians venture out from their pandemic cocoons, the double-lung transplant recipient mostly stays put.

Proulx, who takes medication that keeps her body from rejecting her new lungs while suppressing her immune system, isn't sure how much protection she gets from two jabs of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Tina Proulx, an Ottawa resident and double-lung transplant recipient, and her husband Joel are shown in this undated handout image. Proulx isn't sure how much protection she has after two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, but if a third dose can boost her protection, she would take it. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO

But she hopes there'll be a way to boost that immunity in the future.

Recent small studies from the United States and France suggest that while regular, two-dose series of mRNA vaccines don't produce many COVID-19 antibodies in organ transplant recipients, a third dose can elevate antibody levels in some, potentially offering higher levels of protection. Toronto's University Health Network is conducting its own randomized trial study, with results expected next month.

Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization currently recommends a two-dosed series, preferably of an mRNA vaccine, for immunosuppressed individuals. But the agency said in a recent statement it "continues to closely monitor emerging evidence."

Proulx said just knowing scientists are evaluating how vaccines work in immunocompromised people gives her hope. And she wouldn't hesitate to get an extra dose if Health Canada authorized it.

"I'll take a third, a fourth, a fifth, I'll take as many doses as they need me to," the Ottawa resident said. "Anything to get that same confidence everybody else has."

Proulx, now 38, was diagnosed at 19 with pulmonary hypertension, a condition in which blood vessels in the lungs are narrowed, causing the heart to work harder to circulate blood. She lived with the condition for years before receiving a new set of lungs in 2015.

When COVID-19 first started circulating last year, Proulx's doctor told her there was a 30 to 50 per cent chance she wouldn't survive if she caught the virus. And while vaccines have helped slow transmission, Proulx said knowing she's likely not as protected as others gives her "a lot of concerns."

Dr. Deepali Kumar, a transplant infectious disease physician at UHN, said that's a worry facing many of her patients, who need to be more cautious until scientists get a clearer understanding of vaccine effectiveness among the immunocompromised.

The U.S. study, which involved just 30 participants who received different vaccines at varying intervals, showed eight had no antibodies after two doses, but they developed some following a third shot. Six others who had some antibody activity after a two-dose series, saw those levels amplified by an extra jab.

The French study, which doled out Pfizer-BioNTech on a set schedule, saw boosts in antibody prevalence among 67 of 99 transplant recipients one month after their third dose.

While the studies show promise, Kumar said more research is needed.

UHN's trial involves 120 participants, 60 of which received a third Moderna vaccine two months after dose 2, while the other half got a placebo. Kumar hopes the systematic approach to UHN's study will offer additional insight.

But, she added, antibody levels don't necessarily reflect how protected a person is.

"That's the big gap," Kumar said.

"It would make sense that if antibodies are lower, protection is also lower. But one of the problems is ... we don't have an antibody level to say, 'OK this level will protect you.' We don't have that number."

COVID-19 vaccines also seem to generate T-cell responses, Kumar said, and those, like antibodies, help stave off the virus.

T-cell levels are harder to measure, said Steven Kerfoot, an immunologist with Western University, and most studies won't include them.

"A real immune response is large and complex," he said. "Your T-cells are different than my T-cells. So it's not a simple test."

Kerfoot said that while the third-dose studies showed boosted antibodies among some participants, it didn't work for everyone. That means many will likely still be susceptible even after a potential third dose.

Proulx said organ transplant recipients have always had to rely on those around them to protect themselves, noting that COVID-19 community transmission drops as more people are vaccinated.

While Proulx's life hasn't changed much since she got her second dose last month  she and husband Joel still rely on curbside pick-up rather than venturing into stores or restaurants  she's looking forward to being able to see friends and hug her mom, which she hasn't done in 16 months.

As provinces start to reopen, Proulx said she's not as concerned as she was when previous lockdowns were lifted.

"It has been very, very difficult watching other people move on when we've basically been in Phase 1 (of restrictions) this entire time," she said. "But there are a lot of people vaccinated now and if we can control the spread amongst everybody else, that puts transplant patients in a better place."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 28, 2021.
BEIJING (AP)  The first two generating units of the worlds second-biggest hydroelectric dam were officially turned on Monday in southwestern China, the government announced.

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, water is released from the dam of Baihetan hydropower station in Ningnan county, in southwestern China's Sichuan province on June 27, 2021. The Chinese government says it has turned on the first two generating units of the world's second-biggest hydroelectric dam. (Jiang Wenyao/Xinhua via AP)

BEIJING (AP)  The first two generating units of the worlds second-biggest hydroelectric dam were officially turned on Monday in southwestern China, the government announced.

The Baihetan Dam on the Jinsha River, a tributary of the Yangtze, is part of Chinese efforts to curb surging fossil fuel demand by building more hydropower capacity at a time when dams have fallen out of favor in other countries due to environmental complaints.

The announcement comes ahead of the ruling Communist Partys celebration this week of the official 100th anniversary of its 1921 founding.

Plans call for the 289-meter-tall (954-foot-tall) Baihetan Dam to have 16 generating units with a capacity of 1 million kilowatts each. That will make it second in size after the Three Gorges Dam, opened in 2003 on the Yangtze, with 22.5 million kilowatts of generating capacity.

Both were built by the state-owned Three Gorges Group Corp., the worlds biggest investor in hydro, solar and wind generation.

Hydropower is losing support in other countries due to complaints dams flood communities and farmland and disrupt the ecology of rivers, threatening fish and other species.

Despite criticism by environmentalists, Chinese leaders are building more dams in an effort to reduce reliance on coal and to curb surging demand for imported oil and gas.

China is a leader in developing ultra-high-voltage, or UHV, transmission technology to move power from dams in the southwest to Shanghai and other eastern cities.

Once fully operational, the Baihetan Hydropower Station should eliminate the need to burn 20 million tons of coal annually, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing Three Gorges Group.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  The estranged brother of Robert Durst, the real estate heir on trial in his best friend's slaying, reluctantly testified Monday that the two never got along and he feared his oldest sibling would kill him.

In this still image taken from the Law&Crime Network court video, shows Douglas Durst, testifies at his brother's murder trial in Los Angeles Superior Court in Inglewood, Calif. on Monday, June 28, 2021. The estranged brother of murder suspect Robert Durst has reluctantly testified that the two never got along and he feared his brother would kill him. Douglas Durst bluntly told jurors Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court that his older brother would "like to murder me." (Law&Crime Network via AP, Pool)

LOS ANGELES (AP)  The estranged brother of Robert Durst, the real estate heir on trial in his best friend's slaying, reluctantly testified Monday that the two never got along and he feared his oldest sibling would kill him.

Hed like to murder me, Douglas Durst bluntly told jurors in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Douglas Durst, head of one of New Yorks largest commercial real estate firms, said his brother was angry and bitter over an acrimonious inheritance settlement for tens of millions of dollars. He had not seen his brother in 20 years but worries because of threats he has made.

The chairman of the Durst Organization, which owns some of Manhattan's premier skyscrapers and 2,500 apartments, said he and his brother have fought since childhood.

He treated me miserably, Douglas Durst said. He would fight with me at every chance. He would embarrass me.

Despite the bad blood, Douglas Durst said he did not want to testify against his brother, who is on trial on charges of fatally shooting Susan Berman in 2000 at her Los Angeles home. He said he cooperated with prosecutors under threat of subpoena.

There are other places Id much rather be, he said.

Prosecutors say Berman provided an alibi for Robert Durst after he killed his first wife, Kathie, in 1982 and that he silenced his friend after she decided to tell police what she knew about the disappearance. Robert Durst has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Kathie Durst had told Douglas Durst she planned to seek a divorce from his brother, he testified.

Douglas Durst said his brother told him Kathie Durst vanished three days after he put her on a train to New York City from their lakeside house in Westchester County. Robert Durst said that was the last time he saw his wife.

His tone was very neutral, Douglas Durst said. "There was no great anxiety in his tone. It seemed a little strange.

On cross-examination, he said his brother seemed distraught but added he would have been more upset if his wife was missing.

"There is almost no emotion that Bob shows that is genuine, he said.

He said his brother told him the disappearance might be related to a drug dealer who had come by the couple's apartment. The defense has suggested Kathie Durst, who was on the brink of graduating from medical school, had a cocaine problem.

Kathie Durst has never been found but wasalso declared dead. Robert Durst has long been considered a suspect in her death but has denied any involvement and has never been charged with a crime related to her disappearance.

Douglas Durst, tan and wearing a crisp white shirt with French cuffs and a gray mask to comply with COVID-19 court rules, cut a much different figure than his ailing brother.

A pale, thin Robert Durst, 78, with a shaved head that revealed a massive scar where fluid was drained from his skull, was seated in a wheelchair and dressed in baggy brown jail scrubs.

Durst, who has bladder cancer and several other maladies, stood and addressed the judge to counter a suggestion by Deputy District Attorney John Lewin that he was seeking sympathy by displaying his urine bag and shaving his head.

Durst said it was the only haircut he could get in jail. He said he wants a doctor to remove his catheter.

I am not seeking sympathy from the jury, Durst said in a throaty voice.

Douglas Durst showed no emotion while testifying. He recounted how their mother's death in a fall from the roof of their estate when he was 5 had been traumatic for the whole family, not just for Robert, who was 7 at the time.

He also disputed that $50,000 in checks that Robert Durst gave to Berman were out of generosity, saying his brother was stingy and everything had an ulterior motive.

His brothers trials have tarnished the reputation of his family, he said.

Its the most embarrassing thing that Ive ever encountered, he said. Its very painful to have our names associated with these incidents.

Durst said the last time he spoke with his brother was in 1999 and he had last seen him in Texas at a nephews wedding in 2001.

About two weeks after the wedding, Robert Durst fatally shot neighbor Morris Black in Galveston, where he had gone to hide out from New York authorities after they reopened the investigation into Kathie Dursts disappearance.

Robert Durst was acquitted of murder after testifying that he killed Black in self-defense. He served jail time for chopping up Black's body and tossing it out to sea and for jumping bail.

While he was on the lam in that case, he showed up outside his brothers Westchester home, Douglas Durst said he learned.

Robert Durst was later recorded in a jail phone call in essence plotting to kill his brother, Douglas, Lewin said in arguing that jurors should hear about him showing up at his brother's home.

He has compared the way he feels about Douglas to the way he felt about Kathie, Lewin said. Our argument and position is that is what he did, he killed her.

Robert Durst twice showed up outside his brother's house in 2008, including once when he was wearing a ski mask and fled after a security guard drew his weapon, Lewin said.

Douglas Durst said that although his brother is jailed without bail, he still is concerned about his safety and had flown to California with a security detail.

I have a fear that my brother has threatened to kill me, and I fear that he may have the means to do so, he said.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Included in the bipartisan infrastructure deal reached with President Joe Biden last week is a plan to eliminate the country's remaining lead pipes and service lines, which for decades have posed a risk for contaminated water in millions of homes and schools.

A Denver Water crew works to replace a lead water service line installed in 1927 with a new copper one at a private home on Thursday, June 17, 2021, in Denver. While President Joe Biden's infrastructure bill proposes $45 million for eliminating lead pipes and service lines, some utility companies and municipalities have already started replacing them. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)

WASHINGTON (AP)  Included in the bipartisan infrastructure deal reached with President Joe Biden last week is a plan to eliminate the country's remaining lead pipes and service lines, which for decades have posed a risk for contaminated water in millions of homes and schools.

Lead can enter drinking water when water utility pipes or the service lines that connect to homes corrode. It is considered harmful at any level, and children are particularly vulnerable because it can slow growth, cause anemia and result in learning and behavior problems.

Federal regulations over the years have banned the use of lead in plumbing systems, but some pipes and service lines that were built before the rules were enacted have yet to be replaced. The White House says lead pipes continue to serve an estimated 400,000 schools and child care centers and 6 million to 10 million homes.

A look at how lead pipes are being addressed.

WHO CHECKS FOR LEAD IN MY WATER?

The Environmental Protection Agency requires public water systems to conduct annual water quality tests and alert residents if lead contamination is found.

If lead is detected, water utilities have to replace pipes within 15 years and provide filters to households during the process.

But then there are the service lines that connect the utilities' pipes to homes, and are often on private property. Checking for lead in those lines is generally the homeowners responsibility, though some cities and states provide funding to help replace them. Residents can hire a certified plumber to test service lines.

Some homes also have privately supplied water, such as from wells. In those cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says residents should test water annually and contact their local public health departments if lead is detected.

Local health departments or nearby water utilities that use ground water also keep information about local contaminants.

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE SO FAR ABOUT LEAD PIPES?

States and cities have worked for years to replace pipes and service lines, but efforts have lagged in many places in part because of the steep price tag.

The EPA estimates the average cost of replacing a lead service line ranges from $1,200 to $12,300 for a homeowner, and has made grants available for local governments to disperse.

Chicago, Denver and Newark, New Jersey are among the cities that have provided individual homeowners with full or partial financial aid in recent years to get rid of lead service lines.

WHAT ABOUT THE REMAINING PIPES?

To lessen the risk posed by lead pipes, cities treat drinking water with additives that help prevent their corrosion. Experts say such measures have helped reduce overall levels of exposure, but do not eliminate risk.

WHO IS AFFECTED BY LEAD PIPES?

Black and Hispanic Americans have long been at disproportionate risk of lead exposure in drinking water and lead-based paint, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, environmental advocates and medical researchers.

Children who live in housing built before 1978 or in households with incomes at or below the federal poverty line are thought to face the greatest risk of exposure.

The lead-tainted water crisis of Flint, Michigan, disproportionately hurt Black residents, who make up a majority of the city. When the city switched its water source in 2014 to the Flint River, state regulators advised local officials not to treat the river water with anti-corrosion chemicals. That resulted in river water scraping lead off the city's aging pipes and plumbing fixtures.

A report later issued by the Michigan Civil Rights Commission found systemic racism at the core of problems that caused the water crisis.

WHAT IS CHANGING?

Under the Trump administration, the EPA modified a regulation to require water utilities to test fountains and faucets for lead at schools and child care centers. The Biden administration suspended and is reviewing that rule, which also would have nearly doubled the time utilities have to replace pipes when lead is found in them.

Some experts say lead tests for water pipes are unreliable, since results can vary based on factors such as how recently the pipe was flushed or whether construction shook lead particles loose at the time of testing.

Those variables can make concentrations of lead in water "fluctuate quite a bit, said John Rumpler, clean water program director for Environment America, which advocates for environmental protections.

WOULD THE PROPOSED FUNDING GET RID OF ALL LEAD PIPES?

Biden's proposed plan had set aside money for mapping out the extent of lead piping in the U.S., which remains difficult to assess in many older cities and towns. But experts say the $45 billion included in the proposal is a realistic ballpark figure for eliminating whats estimated to remain.

Money for replacing pipes would be distributed through water programs and grants administered by the EPA to state and local governments and public water systems.

WOULD THIS END THE RISK OF LEAD EXPOSURE?

No. Water isn't the only potential source of lead. Other sources include lead-based paint, which can be found in homes built before 1978 and soil contaminated from industrial sources including leaded gasoline.

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of APs environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/environment.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court on Monday refused to allow New Hampshire to sue neighboring Massachusetts over an income tax dispute involving people who have been working from home during the coronavirus pandemic.

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court on Monday refused to allow New Hampshire to sue neighboring Massachusetts over an income tax dispute involving people who have been working from home during the coronavirus pandemic.

The justices rejected New Hampshire's complaint without comment. The state objects to Massachusetts' collection of income tax from roughly 80,000 New Hampshire residents who are employed by Massachusetts companies, but who have been working remotely.

New Hampshire wanted the justices to declare Massachusetts' collections unconstitutional and order a refund to people who are paying taxes of just over 5%.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said Monday that the court was setting a costly precedent."

This decision will have lasting ramifications for thousands of Granite State residents, he said in a statement.

The issue is especially sensitive in New Hampshire, which lacks a state income tax. New Hampshire also drew support from New Jersey and Connecticut, among others.

Residents of those states who are employed by New York businesses also generally pay state income tax to New York.

The Biden administration recommended the justices stay out of the dispute. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said they would have allowed the lawsuit to go forward.

Members of New Hampshires Democratic Congressional delegation also criticized the decision. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, who last month introduced legislation to address the issue, said they would continue to pursue solutions to prevent workers for being penalized for putting the safety of their families and communities first.

This decision is particularly brutal for those who fought to keep their heads above water amid the financial fallout of the pandemic  every action should be taken to make things easier for our working families as we recover from COVID-19, not harder, said Shaheen.

Hassan said declining to hear the case was disappointing and short-sighted.

What is happening to New Hampshire residents goes beyond New England and has a far-reaching impact on citizens across this country who are being forced to pay taxes for a state where they dont even work or live, she said.
HONG KONG (AP)  Hong Kong says it will ban all passenger flights from the U.K. starting Thursday as it seeks to curb the spread of new variants of the coronavirus.

FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2019, file photo, a group of Hong Kong residents waving U.K. flags demonstrate requesting right to British residency outside the British embassy in Hong Kong. Hong Kongs government says it will ban all passenger flights from the U.K. starting Thursday, July 1, 2021, as it seeks to curb the spread of new variants of the coronavirus. The ban comes amid heightened tensions between the U.K. and China over semi-autonomous Hong Kong, which was a British colony until it was handed over to China in 1997. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)

HONG KONG (AP)  Hong Kong says it will ban all passenger flights from the U.K. starting Thursday as it seeks to curb the spread of new variants of the coronavirus.

It said in a statement Monday that the U.K. has been classified as extremely high risk because of the recent rebound of the epidemic situation in the U.K. and the widespread delta variant virus strain there.

More than 95% of COVID-19 cases in the U.K. are of the delta variant, which was first identified in India. Cases have spiked in recent weeks as British authorities have relaxed coronavirus restrictions, allowing indoor gatherings and businesses including restaurants, cinemas and gyms to reopen. Scientists say the delta variant is much more transmissible than previous versions of the coronavirus, although it is uncertain if it is more deadly.

Under the classification, people who have stayed in the U.K. for more than two hours will be restricted from boarding passenger flights to Hong Kong.

It is the second time that the Hong Kong government has banned flights from the U.K., following a restriction imposed last December.

FILE - In this Jan. 29, 2021, file photo, a British National Overseas passports (BNO) and a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China passport are pictured in Hong Kong. Hong Kongs government says it will ban all passenger flights from the U.K. starting Thursday, July 1, 2021, as it seeks to curb the spread of new variants of the coronavirus. The ban comes amid heightened tensions between the U.K. and China over semi-autonomous Hong Kong, which was a British colony until it was handed over to China in 1997. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

Although flights from the U.K. are banned from July 1, passengers can still book one-way flights from Hong Kong to London on airlines such as Cathay Pacific and British Airways.

Dr. Julian Tang, a virologist at the University of Leicester who previously worked in Hong Kong, said the ban makes sense from a scientific point of view.

The U.K. has never been good at controlling the virus and overconfidence in the vaccine is likely now spurring this (latest) wave," he said, adding it makes perfect sense for Hong Kong to ban travel from Britain.

He said previous surges of COVID-19 in Hong Kong have been tiny and that exported cases in a largely unvaccinated population would be worrying.

They want to keep that Chinese territory as pristine as possible until they can persuade people to get vaccinated, Tang said. And that's going to take a long time. He estimated that countries need to have at least 80% of their populations immunized to stop the spread of the delta variant.

The ban comes amid heightened tensions between the U.K. and China over semi-autonomous Hong Kong, which was a British colony until it was handed over to China in 1997.

The U.K. has criticized China for imposing a national security law on Hong Kong and tightening control over its media, saying Beijing is undermining the citys autonomy.

The flight ban was triggered by a policy put in place by the government to prevent coronavirus variants from spreading in Hong Kong.

A suspension of passenger flights is imposed if five or more passengers arriving from one place test positive on arrival for a particular coronavirus variant, or a relevant virus mutation within a seven-day period.

A ban is is also triggered if 10 or more passengers from one place are confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus via any tests, including tests conducted during quarantine, within a seven-day period.

The U.K. reported more than 22,000 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday, while more than 66% of the population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Hong Kong, which for months imposed a 21-day quarantine for arrivals from most countries and implemented strict social-distancing regulations, reported three new cases of the coronavirus on Monday. It has confirmed a total of 11,921 cases since the pandemic began.

The U.K. flight ban comes as Hong Kong is looking to relax quarantine measures for most other countries, including the U.S. and Canada.

Several other countries, including the Philippines and Indonesia, also face flight bans to Hong Kong.

Last week, the World Health Organization said the delta variant is the most transmissible variant identified to date and said it is spreading in at least 85 countries.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP)  The U.S. Supreme Court decided Monday that it won't allow Wyoming and Montana to sue Washington state for denying a key permit to build a coal export dock that would have sent coal to Asia.

FILE - In this Oct. 17, 2013, file photo, a protester rides in a mock coal train as other protesters demonstrate against trains carrying coal for export moving through Washington state in Tacoma, Wash. The U.S. Supreme Court won't allow Wyoming and Montana to sue Washington for denying a key permit to build a coal export dock. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito were in the minority in the ruling Monday, June 28, 2012, against letting the two states sue the third in a case that would have gone directly before the high court. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP)  The U.S. Supreme Court decided Monday that it won't allow Wyoming and Montana to sue Washington state for denying a key permit to build a coal export dock that would have sent coal to Asia.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito voted in the minority in the ruling against letting the two states sue the third in a case that would have gone directly before the high court.

The two major coal mining states have sought to boost exports to prop up an industry in decline for a decade as U.S. utilities switch to gas-fired power and renewable energy.

The Washington state Department of Ecology in 2017 denied a permit for the export dock, saying the facility on the Columbia River would cause irreparable and unavoidable environmental harm.

Denying the permit violated the U.S. Constitutions prohibition against trade protectionism between states, the coal states argued in 2020.

Washington state officials were not trying to block Wyoming and Montana coal but acted because of valid environmental concerns about the dock, attorneys for the state argued in a court filing later that year.

In any event, the developer of the Millennium Bulk Terminal project went bankrupt and the project wouldn't proceed, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued in May.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, welcomed the Supreme Court decision, spokeswoman Tara Lee said Monday.

We are glad to today mark the end of a long chapter in the debate over coal export in Washington state, Lee said by email.

Republican Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon in a statement Monday called the ruling extremely frustrating."

This case was never about a single permit or product. It was about the ability of one state to engage in lawful interstate commerce without the interference of another state, Gordon said.

Wyoming this year set aside $1 million to help Gordon's office pursue the lawsuit and potentially file others against states with policies leading to the early shutdown of Wyoming coal-fired power plants.

Follow Mead Gruver at https://twitter.com/meadgruver
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is disputing what it calls a misinformation campaign about whether children who aren't vaccinated against COVID-19 will be eligible to have their wishes granted.

FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019 photo, a girl holds a sign while waiting for her cousin to arrive for a surprise Make-A-Wish announcement in Rogers, Ark. In June 2021, the Make-a-Wish Foundation is disputing what it calls a misinformation campaign about whether children who aren't vaccinated against COVID-19 will be eligible to have their wishes granted. (Ben Goff/The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)

The Make-A-Wish Foundation is disputing what it calls a misinformation campaign about whether children who aren't vaccinated against COVID-19 will be eligible to have their wishes granted.

The foundation says these children are in fact still eligible.

An edited video of Make-A-Wish Foundation CEO Richard Davis that went viral on social media over the weekend caused a stir by seeming to suggest that only vaccinated children would be eligible to have wishes granted. Stars like actor Rob Schneider and numerous donors declared that if the foundation had decided not to grant wishes to unvaccinated children, they would no longer support it.

The confusion arose from the fact that the video clip that went viral cuts off before Davis had finished his explanation in the two-minute, 22-second video about which children would be eligible. The outbreak of COVID-19 led Make-A-Wish to postpone granting some wishes  for all children, whether vaccinated for not  that might put them at risk.

The video, emailed on June 9, was meant to inform families of Make-A-Wish children and foundation volunteers that certain types of wishes, including those involving air travel or large crowds, would resume being granted again in September and that planning to fulfill them could begin. But certain wishes for unvaccinated children that are currently deemed to be risky will continue to be on hold until medical guidance changes.

We respect everyones freedom of choice, Davis says in the full video, in which he also acknowledges that some children may be too young or too ill to be vaccinated. We cant wait until Sept. 15, when we can expand the types of life-changing wishes we can grant.

To clarify the misinformation and falsehoods on social media and in some media outlets, the foundation issued a simpler statement:

Make-A-Wish has not, does not and will not deny wishes to children who are not vaccinated Make-A-Wish will continue to grant wishes to children who are not vaccinated.

The foundation said it had expected some backlash about its decision to delay granting wishes for some Make-A-Wish children. But it made that choice because it focused on listening to medical experts and doing what was right and in the best interest of the health and safety of all our wish families.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the foundation has granted over 6,500 wishes to children and their families, regardless of vaccination status.

The foundation also said it continues to work with Make-A-Wish kids to reimagine their wishes, stressing that any child fighting a critical illness is eligible for a wish.

Nor will a child's vaccination status be taken into account in time-sensitive situations involving an end-of-life diagnosis, where a special process will be used to fulfill the child's wish.

The Associated Press receives support from the Lilly Endowment for coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of APs philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP)  The coronavirus already changed the way we work. Now its changing the physical space, too.

An employee of Ajinomoto, a global food and pharmaceutical company, walks past the company motto in Itasca, Ill., Monday, June 7, 2021. In May, Ajinomoto's employees returned to in-person work in a space designed for a post-COVID world. Hallways are wider. Glass panels separate cubicles. A work space has been transformed into a spa-like relaxation area. The culinary center is wired for virtual presentations. And a cleaning crew comes through twice a day, leaving Post-it notes to show what's been disinfected. (AP Photo/Shafkat Anowar)

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP)  The coronavirus already changed the way we work. Now its changing the physical space, too.

Many companies are making adjustments to their offices to help employees feel safer as they return to in-person work, like improving air circulation systems or moving desks further apart. Others are ditching desks and building more conference rooms to accommodate employees who still work remotely but come in for meetings.

Architects and designers say this is a time of experimentation and reflection for employers. Steelcase, an office furniture company based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, says its research indicates half of global companies plan major redesigns to their office space this year.

This year caused you to think, maybe even more fundamentally than you ever have before, Hey, why do we go to an office? said Natalie Engels, a San Jose, California-based design principal at Gensler, an architecture firm.

Not every company is making changes, and Engels stresses that they dont have to. She tells clients to remember what worked well  and what didn't  before the pandemic.

But designers say many companies are looking for new ways to make employees feel safe and invigorated at the office, especially as a labor crunch makes hiring more difficult.

That's what drove food and pharmaceutical company Ajinomoto to overhaul the design of its new North American headquarters outside Chicago last year.

Ajinomotos employees returned to in-person work in May to a building with wider hallways and glass panels between cubicles, to give them more space and try to make them feel more secure. To improve mental health, the company transformed a planned work area into a spa-like relaxation room with reclining chairs and soft music. A test kitchen is wired for virtual presentations in case clients dont want to travel. And a cleaning crew comes through twice a day, leaving Post-it notes to show whats been disinfected.

Maybe its over the top, but maybe it provides comfort to those that have sensitivities to returning to an in-person work environment, said Ryan Smith, the executive vice president of Ajinomoto North America. Smith estimates 40% of the new headquarters design changed due to COVID.

Shobha Surya, an associate manager of projects and sales at Ajinomoto, is energized by the space.

The office gives you a balance of work and home life, she said. You are more focused here and dont have any distractions.

Surya said she's also thrilled to be working alongside her co-workers again.

Shes not alone. Surveys show the thing employees miss most about office work is socializing and collaborating with colleagues, said Lise Newman, workplace practice director at architecture firm SmithGroup. Companies are trying to encourage that rapport by building more social hubs for employees. Some mimic coffee houses, with wood floors, booth seating and pendant lamps.

Companies are trying to create the sense that this is a cool club that people want to come into, Newman said.

Steelcase has divided one of its lobbies into cozy meeting spaces of varying sizes, separated by plant-filled partitions. Mobile video monitors can be wheeled in so that people working remotely can be included in discussions.

But after a year of working from home, some employees crave privacy, so Steelcase added more glassed-in booths for private calls and cocoon-like cubicles with small sliding doors.

Mark Bryan, a senior interior designer with Columbus, Ohio-based M+A Architects, expects a more fluid office culture in the future, with different places to work on any given day. Introverts might choose a small, private room; extroverts, a table in the office cafe.

Some office changes reflect a new commitment to hybrid work. Valiant Technologies, which provides tech support and other services to businesses, is letting its employees work primarily at home but has them reserve a desk for the days they want to come to the office. The New York company has removed rows of desks and put more space between the remaining ones. Employees leave their keyboard, mouse and headsets in lockers.

Megan Quick, a sales associate with Valiant, said she appreciated the company allowing her to ease back into office life this month.

It will take a lot of time for us to readjust, she said. Valiant letting us set our pace for returning makes me feel safe.

Not every design change will stick. Last summer, when Steelcase started bringing back some workers, they pushed tables in the cafeteria far apart from each other and only allowed one person per table. It made the space so depressing that no one wanted to sit there, Steelcase CEO Jim Keane said.

An important lesson is that, yes, it has to be safe, but also has to be inspiring, he said. People are actually going to expect more from offices in the future.
An Air Canada Airbus A220-300 airliner from Toronto arrives at Halifax Stanfield International Airport in Enfield, N.S., on Monday, June 28, 2021. Airports in Atlantic Canada are gearing up after the pandemic grounded many flights to the region. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

FREDERICTON - Airlines are resuming flights across Atlantic Canada to meet pent-up demand as COVID-19 infections drop and travel restrictions ease.

"There are people who have not seen their family in over a year and people who haven't taken their vacation," Johanne Gallant, president of the Fredericton International Airport Authority, said Monday as she welcomed the inaugural flight by PAL Airlines from St. John's, N.L.

"It's so great to see carriers such as PAL Airlines coming into our airport," she told reporters. "WestJet started this weekend and we've got Air Canada coming back."

Activity is also picking up at the largest airport in the region, Halifax Stanfield International Airport, which had hosted 17 airlines serving 46 destinations prior to the pandemic, but that fell to two airlines serving four destinations because of COVID-19.

Marie Manning, the airport's vice-president of business development, said the drop in business has had a dramatic impact on the airport's finances. "We continue to operate on borrowed funds," she said in an interview Monday. "It required us to go out and get new financing to continue to support our operations throughout the duration of the pandemic."

But Manning said the number of domestic flights to and from Halifax is starting to increase. "In July, we will double the number of daily flights in the schedule," she said. "We will go from an average of nine in June to 18 in July, and then a significant increase in August to 55 daily flights, on average."

Manning said she's anxious to get some direction from the federal government on international routes. Currently, only four airports in Canada can accept international flights; they are located in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal.

The Charlottetown Airport was down to just one flight per day over the last nine months, flying between Charlottetown and Montreal. But Doug Newson, CEO of the Charlottetown Airport, said Air Canada has resumed flights to Toronto and last week, WestJet returned.

"Both Air Canada and WestJet will gradually ramp up their frequency to Toronto and Montreal as travel restrictions become more favourable for more travel to Prince Edward Island," he said in an interview Monday.

"WestJet announced late last week they will be adding two weekly flights to Calgary at the end of July," he added. PAL Airlines and Flair will also begin flying into Charlottetown later this summer.

Peter Avery, CEO of the airport in St. John's, N.L., said passenger levels at his airport were down 75 per cent last year over 2019 levels, but have begun to rebound with the announcement of the province's reopening plan and the resumption of the Atlantic travel bubble.

Avery, however, said he expects the recovery to take years. "We still predict it will be 2024 or 2025, and it will come down to people's willingness to travel based on vaccination rates and how comfortable they feel travelling," he said in an interview Monday.

In Fredericton, Gallant said that while she knows some people will be hesitant to travel, there is pent-up demand from others who need to see family and friends. "We are seeing some flights that are booking up very quickly," she said. "And we saw that in other countries that started opening a bit earlier. There is a demand for travel."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 28, 2021.
WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Poland and Israel have summoned each other's diplomats in a growing dispute over Polands planned changes to property restitution rules that Israel and Jewish organizations say would prevent Jewish claims for compensation or property seized during the Holocaust and communist times.

WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Poland and Israel have summoned each other's diplomats in a growing dispute over Polands planned changes to property restitution rules that Israel and Jewish organizations say would prevent Jewish claims for compensation or property seized during the Holocaust and communist times.

On Monday, Israeli charge d affaires Tal Ben-Ari Yaalon met with Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski, who insisted the new regulations do not bar any property claims, which should be made through courts. Poland also says it mustn't be made responsible for property seizures by Nazi Germany during its World War II occupation of Poland.

These regulations are not directed against anyone, Jablonski said, adding that there is a lot of misunderstanding of their aim as they give the law a steady framework.

Jablonski later said Ben-Ari Yaalon repeated the embassy's statement from last week, which called the new regulations immoral" and said they will have a serious impact on bilateral relations.

Polands ambassador to Israel, Marek Magierowski, was at the Israeli Foreign Ministry on Sunday, explaining the new regulations made to align with a 2015 ruling by the top constitutional court.

Polands parliament is processing the changes to prevent ownership and other administrative decisions from being declared void after 30 years. It says this is a response to fraud and irregularities that have emerged in the restitution process. The changes still require approval from the Senate and the president.

The World Jewish Restitution Organization said it was deeply disappointed by Poland's response to the concerns.

"The house or shop or factory in a town in Poland affected by this legislation was not taken by Germany, it was taken by Poland. It sits today in Poland and its use has benefited Poland for over 70 years. It is time to recognize this fact and for Poland to do justice for those who suffered so much, said the group's chief, Gideon Taylor.

Last week, the U.S. State Department weighed in, with spokesperson Ned Price tweeting that the changes were a step in the wrong direction and urged Poland not to move this legislation forward.

Before World War II, Poland was home to Europes largest Jewish community of some 3.5 million people. Most were killed in the Holocaust under Nazi Germanys occupation and their property was confiscated. Poland's post-war communist authorities seized those properties, along with the property of non-Jewish owners in Warsaw and other cities. The end of communism in 1989 opened the door to restitution claims, most of which would be coming from Poles.

The still unresolved matter has been a constant source of bitterness and political tension between Poland and Israel.

In 2001, a draft law foreseeing compensation for seized private property was approved in parliament but vetoed by President Aleksander Kwasniewski. He claimed it violated social equality principles and would hurt Polands economic development, implying that compensation claims would result in large payouts. He also said individual claims should be made through the courts.

Poland is the only European country that has not offered any compensation for private property seized by the state in its recent history. Only the remaining communal Jewish property, like some synagogues, prayer houses and cemeteries, mostly in disrepair, have been returned where possible or compensated for.
LISBON, Portugal (AP)  Portugals battle to contain the surging COVID-19 delta variant has prompted it to put the United Kingdom on its red list for travel, speed up vaccinations in Lisbon and cancel school classes in the southern Algarve region, its main tourist destination.

A man walks along a street in Lisbon, Thursday, June 24, 2021. Two months after the Portuguese government gradually began easing a prolonged pandemic lockdown, the Lisbon region is going into reverse due to a surge in cases linked to the COVID-19 delta variant. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

LISBON, Portugal (AP)  Portugals battle to contain the surging COVID-19 delta variant has prompted it to put the United Kingdom on its red list for travel, speed up vaccinations in Lisbon and cancel school classes in the southern Algarve region, its main tourist destination.

Portugal has in recent days been reporting the highest number of daily new coronavirus cases since February. Though hospitals are comfortably coping with new virus admissions, officials say the increase of about 30% over the past week was a worrying trend.

On Monday, the number of coronavirus patients in hospital surpassed 500 for the first time since early April.

The country's 14-day cumulative COVID-19 case notification rate per 100,000 people, meanwhile, rose to 162  the highest officially recorded since early March.

Lisbon, the capital, is one of Portugal's hot spots, with a case rate of 438. The city council said Monday it will extend the opening hours of vaccine centers, with people over 50 allowed to walk in without an appointment. Already last week, Lisbon doubled the number of jabs being administered over seven days, with more than 46,000. The next goal is 65,000 a week.

Also, British travelers who arent vaccinated must quarantine for two weeks after arriving in Portugal, the Portuguese government announced Monday. The delta variant is believed to account for almost all of the United Kingdoms new COVID-19 cases.

British arrivals can quarantine at their home or in a place stipulated by Portuguese health authorities. Arrivals from Brazil, India and South Africa come under the same rule.

All those entering Portugal must show either the European Unions COVID Digital Certificate or a negative PCR test.

Health authorities in southern Portugals Algarve region, known for its numerous beaches and sunny weather, canceled in-person classes for children up to 16 years old in a bid to break transmission chains in five towns, including the well-known vacation spots Albufeira and Faro.

Thousands of British tourists visited the Algarve earlier this month when the British government briefly allowed easier travel to Portugal.

The Algarve Regional Health Authority said classes would stop Monday for at least 12 days. It didnt say how many students would be affected.

Albufeiras 14-day COVID-19 case notification rate per 100,000 people stands at 583, it said.

Portugal was the worst-hit country in the world, in terms of weekly infections, in January. But an extended lockdown contained the spread.

Since the pandemic began, Portugal has officially recorded around 870,000 cases of COVID-19 and about 17,000 deaths.

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DENVER (AP)  A federal judge ruled last week that Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert does not have to unblock a former Democratic Colorado state lawmaker from her personal Twitter account.

DENVER (AP)  A federal judge ruled last week that Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert does not have to unblock a former Democratic Colorado state lawmaker from her personal Twitter account.

U.S. District Court Judge Daniel D. Domenico said in his decision Thursday that Boebert, who represents the state's 3rd Congressional District, did not violate the free speech rights of former state Rep. Bri Buentello because Boebert blocked Buentello from her personal Twitter account  and did not block Buentello from Boebert's official government account, The Colorado Sun reported.

Blocking a Twitter user on an account created before she was elected to office is something Ms. Boebert could do before she was in office and could do after she leaves office, said Domenico, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump.

Buentello filed her lawsuit in January after she was blocked by Boebert after calling for Boebert's recall following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Buentellos lawyers argued that since Boebert uses her personal Twitter account to share official policy positions, it is unlawful for her to block constituents from seeing the account.

Although Domenico denied in his ruling a preliminary injunction for Boebert to unblock Buentello from the Twitter account, its not the final ruling on the case.

David Lane, an attorney representing Buentello, said they will make a decision on whether to continue litigating the case this week.

It is a blow to our freedom of speech when a politician using a platform such as Twitter can block voices of dissent which she disagrees with and the courts wont intervene to stop this First Amendment violation, Lane said.

Boebert has links to the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory and has sought to overturn President-elect Joe Bidens victory. She gained attention for pledging to carry a gun in the Capitol.

Buentello lives in Boeberts district and served a single term in the state House of Representatives before losing a reelection bid last November.
For months, Canada has been a leader in an international movement to investigate China for its treatment of Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang province.

Opinion

For months, Canada has been a leader in an international movement to investigate China for its treatment of Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang province.

Human rights groups Amnesty and Human Rights Watch have for years accused China of crimes against humanity, citing evidence that more than one million Uyghurs have been detained in what officials call "re-education camps."

In these camps, there is evidence of forced sterilization of women, sexual exploitation, and torture. Slave labour is openly practised. Uyghur children are indoctrinated into schools meant to destroy their culture.

Anyone who tries to advocate for Uyghur people is arrested and jailed alongside hundreds of thousands of Uyghur imprisoned due to their identity.

The official line from Chinese officials is that the camps are for "security" against terrorism and the governments policies have been misrepresented.

Undeterred, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and other countries have called for investigations in China, with most officially declaring that a genocide is taking place.

In fact, Canada was only the second country to call Chinas actions a genocide, passing a unanimous motion in Parliament on Feb. 23, 2021.

Explaining why he was supporting the Liberal-led motion, Opposition Leader Erin OToole said that Canada must send a "clear and unequivocal signal that we will stand up for human rights and the dignity of human rights, even if it means sacrificing some economic opportunity."

For months, Canada has led calls for an international investigation but this week China responded by making a statement at a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

"We are deeply concerned about the serious human rights violations against the Indigenous people in Canada," said Jiang Duan, an official for the Chinese government. "Historically, Canada robbed the Indigenous people of the land, killed them and eradicated their culture."

China then joined with the governments of Iran, Russia, Belarus, Syria and Venezuela in demanding the international community investigate Canada for human rights abuses.

Unquestionably, this was a political move intended to deflect pressure, but its also sign of how impactful the discovery in May and June of nearly one thousand Indigenous children in unmarked graves at residential school sites across the country has become.

Canadas global reputation on human rights is now in closer to China than most would care to admit; with the polices of both countries eerily similar.

The fact is that Canada, as much as China, forced First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities out of their homes and onto little plots of land, arrested individuals due to their beliefs, and had institutions that practised slave labour, forced sterilization, sexual exploitation, and programs intended to eliminate culture and identity.

I havent even spoken about all of the deaths yet  which in the coming weeks will undoubtedly be more, as searches increase at residential school sites across the country.

Detractors may argue that the genocide in China is current and Canadas is past, but then one would have to ignore the vastly disproportionate amount of Indigenous children in child welfare systems, Indigenous inmates in prisons, and lack of Indigenous language and culture programs in virtually every single institution across this country.

Want proof that Canada doesnt treat Indigenous Peoples as human beings and human rights abuses are happening now?

Try 51 long-term drinking water advisories in 32 First Nations communities. No one in the country has to boil water, but apparently Indigenous Peoples do.

In response to Chinas call for an investigation into Canadas abuses of Indigenous people, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: "The journey of reconciliation is a long one, but it is a journey we are on. China is not recognizing even that there is a problem. That is a pretty fundamental difference."

Perhaps, but China certainly seems to recognize Canada has a problem.

Trudeau then asked: "In Canada, we had a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Where is Chinas truth and reconciliation commission? Where is their truth? Where is the openness that Canada has always shown and the responsibility that Canada has taken for the terrible mistakes of the past, and indeed, many of which continue into the present?"

This might be true if not for the events of the past month, which illustrate that multiple, consecutive Canadian governments knew about children dying at residential schools and either didnt care to check or, worse, refused to do anything.

These crimes didnt end with the closure of residential schools in the 1990s but their legacies continued on through the governments of Mulroney, Chretien, Martin, Harper and Trudeau  all of whom refused or resisted searching for Indigenous children until communities did it for the most part themselves.

So much for the "responsibility," Trudeau says, "Canada has taken."

This month the federal government promised almost $30 million to help the search  an important step, but an admission of how little has been done.

The problem is that Canadas guilty record on human rights is now undeniable, and has consequences.

The main one: its going to be hard to point a finger, when there are three pointed back.

niigaan.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca
A coalition of Manitoba Hydro customers is urging the public utilities watchdog to order a hearing on power rates after the Crown utility refused to provide financial forecast information.

A coalition of Manitoba Hydro customers is urging the public utilities watchdog to order a hearing on power rates after the Crown utility refused to provide financial forecast information.

"Manitoba Hydro must share up-to-date financial information with customers to ensure that electricity rate increases are fair and based in evidence," the coalition that includes Harvest Manitoba, the Consumers Association of Canada (Manitoba) and the Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg, said in a statement Thursday.

Gloria Desorcy: Its just surprising to us that those documents are not in existence according to the response of Manitoba Hydro. (Mike Deal / WInnipeg Free Press files)

On March 26 it asked Manitobas independent regulator, the Public Utilities Board, to order a review of Manitoba Hydros current rates, arguing substantial changes at Hydro, including major new export sales to Saskatchewan and the operation of the $8-billion Keeyask generating station, warrant public scrutiny.

The board agreed, and on May 10 ordered Hydro to provide versions of the 20-year integrated financial forecast, capital expenditure forecast and the prospective cost of service study currently in use in the operations and management of the utility. It also asked for this years and next fiscal years forecast of net export revenue and net income for a number of possible water flow conditions.

Manitoba Hydro claimed it did not have a current forecast and did not provide the prospective cost of service study or next years forecast of net export revenue and net income for a number of water flow scenarios.

"In all the years weve been participating in Manitoba Hydro proceedings, there has almost always been an integrated financial forecast," said Gloria Desorcy, executive director of the Consumers Association of Canada (Manitoba).

"Its just surprising to us that those documents are not in existence according to the response of Manitoba Hydro," she said Friday.

The provincially-owned power companys failure to provide the information requested by the regulator "should be considered an implicit admission that there has been a substantial change in circumstances," the Consumers Coalition statement said. There has not been a full hearing into the rates it charges customers for three years, leaving consumers in the dark about its financial health, it noted.

In fall 2020, the provincial government introduced legislation that raised electricity rates by 2.9 per cent, bypassing the usual practice of PUB hearings and approval. The coalition said Manitoba Hydro rates for First Nation residential customers on reserve have risen by more than nine per cent since Sept. 1, raising concerns of rate shock.

It urged the PUB, "in the interests of transparency and accountability," to arrange a hearing to determine whether Manitoba Hydros current rates are just and reasonable.

There are a number of actions that the Public Utilities Board could take regarding Hydro. It could rule that Hydros response is adequate, that there is no substantial change in circumstances or it could deem it inadequate and order a hearing.

The board could also issue a subpoena to compel Hydro to produce certain documents or initiate proceedings to determine whether Hydro is in contempt of the PUB order.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Museums and art galleries in Manitoba are calling on the province to let them operate at 25 per cent capacity, questioning why they can't reopen like other businesses.

SUPPLIED / JERRY GRAJEWSKI / MENNONITE HERITAGE VILLAGE The Mennonite Heritage Village, a museum in Steinbach, said it's disappointed the province is not allowing it to reopen this summer when a majority of its revenue is dependent on admissions. (Jerry Grajewski/Mennonite Heritage Village)

Museums and art galleries in Manitoba are calling on the province to let them operate at 25 per cent capacity, questioning why they can't reopen like other businesses.

"Most of these spaces offer ample physical space for social distancing and often they're quite quiet and more subdued, so these are places where there's not going to be crowds of people," said Susie Fisher, curator for Gallery in the Park in Altona.

To read more of this story first reported by CBC News, click here.

This content is made available to Free Press readers as part of an agreement with CBC that sees our two trusted news brands collaborate to better cover Manitoba. Questions about CBC content can be directed to talkback@cbc.ca.
They travelled many miles in the blazing heat of a Manitoba summer in 1871. More than a thousand people strong  on foot, on horseback and by cart. Chiefs, tribe leaders and their families came from all directions. Their destination: the stone fort we now know as Lower Fort Garry.

They travelled many miles in the blazing heat of a Manitoba summer in 1871. More than a thousand people strong  on foot, on horseback and by cart. Chiefs, tribe leaders and their families came from all directions. Their destination: the stone fort we now know as Lower Fort Garry.

Their mission was serious  to avoid further bloodshed by negotiating a friendship treaty with the British Crown, in the hope of a peaceful co-existence between the Queen and the people who had lived on these lands since time immemorial, the Anishinaabe and Swampy Cree Peoples.

The legion of First Nations set up camp outside the walls of Lower Fort Garry in the traditional style of tipis and prepared for what would become eight tense and gruelling days of negotiations, ceremonies, disagreements and the kinds of struggles we might expect even today  language barriers, significant differences in culture and customs, and above all, very different intentions and motivations.

This was not a chance meeting. Tensions had been building for years, with violent skirmishes and the Red River Rebellion ending in executions and a reign of terror, as newcomers aggressively pushed their way into Manitoba in pursuit of farmland, laying claim to land they did not own and to which the colonial government was not entitled.

The matter of Aboriginal land title had been established more than 100 years earlier by the issuance of the Royal Proclamation of 1763, by King George III. This agreement not only proclaimed First Nations ownership of the land in North America but laid out legal rules for Crown access to the land that included public negotiations, annuities, and the signing of treaties.

For thousands of years, First Nations have negotiated treaties throughout North America  treaties regarding rights of passage through territory, forging of military alliances, access to hunting or gathering areas, of trade and commerce, as well as neutrality agreements to prevent war and unnecessary conflict.

When it came to the making of Treaty No. 1 as the first of the numbered treaties, First Nations leadership used their negotiating acumen, customary trade practices and significant experience to ensure not only the continuation but the strengthening of their land title, as well as familial and collective benefits, and the long-term protection of their sovereignty and right to self-determination.

"First Nations people had what historians refer to as a full backpack of legal traditions surrounding treaty negotiations," said former treaty commissioner Dennis Whitebird. "Canada, on the other hand, had its own backpack with its own legal traditions and showed up to the table a motivated negotiator."

Colonial forces had a lot at stake if prime minister John A. Macdonald was to realize his vision of building a coast-to-coast country complete with an "iron link" to create profitable trade. But he could not achieve the unachievable unless he got "legal" access to the land.

The four-page Treaty No. 1 document that emerged tells only part of this complex and terribly misunderstood story. Over the months of dialogue that led up to Aug. 3, there were many promises, commitments and deals made, some of which were included in an annex that was "lost" as it made its way through the Privy Council approval process. Whether this was an oversight or not, it sent a clear signal to the First Nations that they had rapidly moved into a period when promises made quickly became promises broken.

In the coming weeks, as the Treaty One Nation counts down to the 150th anniversary of the making of Treaty No. 1, this special series of columns will share the unvarnished truth, from the First Nations perspective, and the very real stories of the human beings who worked relentlessly to try to forge an agreement and treaty relationship intended to last "as long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the rivers flow."

To First Nations peoples, Aug. 3, 1871, is a date far more significant than July 1, 1867, when colonial Canada became a Confederation. In the coming weeks, lets take the opportunity to increase our understanding of Treaty No. 1, because the more we learn, the better we can chart a path forward toward reconciliation that offers prosperity and harmony for all, as was intended 150 years ago.

Long Plain Chief Dennis Meeches is the chair and spokesman of the Treaty One Nation Governing Council, which comprises the seven Treaty One First Nations including Brokenhead Ojibway, Fisher River, Long Plain, Sagkeeng, Peguis, Roseau River Anishinaabe, Sandy Bay and Swan Lake First Nations.
Legal action must be taken against anyone found responsible for crimes against children at Canadas residential schools, says Minister of Northern Affairs Dan Vandal.

Legal action must be taken against anyone found responsible for crimes against children at Canadas residential schools, says Minister of Northern Affairs Dan Vandal.

"Of course they need to be charged," Vandal said in an interview Sunday with CTVs Question Period.

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Arlen Dumas commends Vandals strong words. (Mike Deal / WinnipegFree Press files)

"This is the sort of thing you read about in another country, you dont read about this in Canada, but if people are still alive, then we need to do all things necessary to achieve justice, of course we need to bring charges forward," Vandal said.

Vandals comments come days after ground-penetrating radar confirmed the presence of 751 unmarked graves at the Marieval Indian residential School in Saskatchewan and one month after 215 unmarked graves were found at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Vandal was not made available for a follow up interview with the Free Press but provided a statement by email.

"There must be truth and reconciliation associated with these burial sites across the country and many people are looking for truth and for closure," Vandal said, echoing comments he posted on Twitter following news of the Marieval discovery.

"We recognize there must be accountability and responsibility and must follow the lead of Indigenous communities in how they wish to move forward."

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Arlen Dumas welcomed Vandals comments, as heard on CTV, calling them unexpected.

"I want to commend Minister Vandal and his strong words and his honest words," Dumas said. "I think his sentiments are fully supported. I think you can see by the shock that every other person in Manitoba and Winnipeg, if not the country, is reeling."

Residential schools and the abuse committed in them were topics once swept under the carpet, Dumas said, recalling a time in the 1990s when, as a university student working for the federal government, a director told his department "if residential schools come up, you change the subject, you dont engage in it."

"And here we are a little over 20 years later and you have a federal MP and the rest of the country reacting," he said.

While many responsible for crimes committed at residential schools are long dead, there are many who are still alive who must be held to account, Dumas said.

"This thought that residential schools happened hundreds of years ago, the last one closed in 1996," Dumas said. "I have family members who attended those schools. People who were gainfully employed at those institutions are still around," he said.

"People need to be held accountable, people need to be brought forward. Id love to see those nuns and those people in those schools that hurt my mom, Id like them to come forward and explain why they did those things to my mom."

Dumas, meanwhile, has come out in support of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and their demand for the resignation of Crown-Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett after a one-word text to Independent MP Jody Wilson Raybould was called out as racist.

Last week, Bennett messaged the word "Pension?" in response to a tweet from Wilson-Raybould urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to quit his "selfish jockeying" for an election and focus on his promise of reconciliation with Indigenous people.

Bennetts message was taken to suggest Wilson-Raybould was worried she wont be eligible for a pension if she doesnt win her seat in an early election. Members of Parliament must serve six years before they become eligible for a pension. Wilson-Raybould was elected in October 2015.

"That statement about pensions is telling I think its tremendously irresponsible," Dumas said.

"We are having to focus, at a time when we have literally found 751 of our relatives in Saskatchewan, on two senior MPs bickering," he said. "It detracts from what we should be focused on and what we should be discussing."

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
In schoolyards across Canada, little pairs of shoes are neatly lined up, along with an occasional teddy bear. Balloons, stuffed animals, flowers and pint-sized flip-flops adorn the site of the former Brandon Indian Residential School. The heartbreaking discovery earlier this month of 215 children, as young as three years old, buried in unmarked graves outside an Indian Residential School in Kamloops has galvanized Canadians.

Opinion

In schoolyards across Canada, little pairs of shoes are neatly lined up, along with an occasional teddy bear. Balloons, stuffed animals, flowers and pint-sized flip-flops adorn the site of the former Brandon Indian Residential School. The heartbreaking discovery earlier this month of 215 children, as young as three years old, buried in unmarked graves outside an Indian Residential School in Kamloops has galvanized Canadians.

This tragedy continues, with Cowessess First Nation declaring as many as 751 unmarked graves on the grounds of the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan, which also housed children from southern Manitoba.

Indigenous families have carried the knowledge of these deaths with deep pain and sorrow for generations. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report, released in 2015, identified more than 4,100 children who never returned home to their families, and there are many more still to be found. This atrocious fact is unfathomable.

The TRC identified that many of the children died of disease or accident while attending a residential school, and some died of overwork or abuse. Six years later, the discovery in Kamloops was a "woke" moment for many Canadians  an undeniable stab of consciousness, a grappling with our tarnished and often brutalizing collective history.

On the outskirts of Brandon, 54 children are buried in an old cemetery at what is now the Turtle Crossing Campground, an RV park along the Assiniboine River, southwest of the former Brandon Indian Residential School. Many more children died at this school, which was funded by the government and operated by the Mission Board of the Methodist Church from 1895 to 1972.

These are real children, stolen from parents, extended families and communities who loved them. The ones who never came home were "lost," their deaths unexplained. Today the families have no peace, no gravesites to honour their short lives.

There is a scramble of efforts now to do something. A petition is currently circulating, initiated by well-meaning and signed by thousands, about Brandons RV Campground. It says, in part: "We want the site excavated and these bodies laid to rest properly. The City of Brandon needs to address their history and rectify a memorial for families affected."

While Canadians are issuing these calls in good faith, we urge Canadians to remember that all actions must be led by families first. The TRCs calls to action explicitly state: "We call upon the parties engaged in the work of documenting, maintaining, commemorating and protecting residential school cemeteries to adopt strategies in accordance with the following principles: i. The Aboriginal community most affected shall lead the development of such strategies; ii. Information shall be sought from residential school survivors and other knowledge keepers in the development of such strategies; iii. Aboriginal protocols shall be respected before any potentially invasive technical inspection and investigation of a cemetery site."

Last week, the government of Manitoba joined other provinces and the federal government in committing millions of dollars to search burial sites. Forensic and archival research is underway to identify the children buried at the former Brandon Indian Residential School. On June 4, Simon Fraser University issued a news release outlining its plans to exhume the remains of the Indigenous children and conduct DNA testing.

While the petition, government funding and forensic research may be well intended, the gravesite and final resting place of children must be protected. Years of painstaking archival research has provided us with the names of many of the children who are buried in the old and new cemeteries near the former Brandon school. Most of the children were from northern First Nations in Manitoba. It is of utmost importance that efforts are made to identify and contact the families of these children before any decisions are made, and certainly before excavating and exhuming takes place.

As this careful process unfolds, the city of Brandon should immediately buy back or expropriate the land it sold in 2001 that contains the RV park, and protect the area. This is not a vacation spot. It is a sacred burial site.

Canadians, and especially children, were moved to tears when the reality of those unmarked graves seared our hearts. Now it is the families and communities of those lost children who must lead the healing, and remembering.

A 24-hour national Indian Residential School Crisis Line can be reached at 1-866-925-4419.

Jennifer Moore Rattrays great aunt and uncle are buried in the old cemetery near the former Brandon Indian Residential School, and a great uncle is buried in the new cemetery. Joelle Pastora Sala is an attorney with the Public Interest Law Centre of Legal Aid Manitoba who works on law relating to Indigenous people and rights.
MEAT processing giant JBS recently paid out a US$11 million ransom following a cyber attack, according to reports. Most of its meatpacking facilities, including the one in Alberta, remained idle for a few days.

Opinion

MEAT processing giant JBS recently paid out a US$11 million ransom following a cyber attack, according to reports. Most of its meatpacking facilities, including the one in Alberta, remained idle for a few days.

Most of us link the concept of cyber attacks with information-technology companies, governments and media. But experts have warned the food industry for years about the threat of becoming an active target for hackers. What was once purely academic has become a reality.

Efforts to counter cyber attacks in the industry have been timid, at best. At the very least, it wasnt an openly discussed topic among industry leaders.

The fact the worlds largest beef and pork processor was targeted by hackers earlier this month is certainly a cause for concern, and can serve as a major wake-up call. We can easily imagine such companies as Cargill, Olymel, Maple Ridge Farms, McCain, Maple Leaf, Lassonde, Sysco, Loblaw, Sobeys, Metro and other major players could also become targets.

Managing systemic risks is not new to the food industry  far from it. Threats related to food safety, food fraud and, of course, pandemics have been considered critical issues for years.

The focus has always been on the integrity and quality of ingredients and products coming in and out of facilities. The pandemic made companies focus more on worker safety and the human role in manufacturing the food we consume every day. It has always been about keeping everyone safe, starting with consumers.

Cybersecurity goes to the core of a companys operational nature, since it goes beyond the food we eat. Ransoms arent intuitively compatible with how food companies manage risks.

The food industry is a critical piece of our economy and changes in the industry make it a more likely target. Operations are adopting high-tech innovations such as drones, GPS mapping, soil sensors, autonomous tractors, artificial intelligence and more. These changes are needed, but they can make the industry a primary target.

Efforts to counter cyber attacks in the industry have been timid, at best. At the very least, it wasnt an openly discussed topic amongst industry leaders.

As the industry becomes more data-driven, it will also become more vulnerable to cyber attacks.

On the other side of the digital spectrum, many food producers still use outdated operating systems. One can only hope that most management teams in the food industry are reviewing their IT systems and figuring out how vulnerable they are to cyber attacks.

For consumers, the potential consequences of these attacks arent trivial. Disruptions can lead to food shortages and higher prices at retail. Or worse, cybersecurity breaches could lead to procurement issues and inadvertent alterations to ingredients put into the food sold at retail.

Ransom requests are just the beginning. Evil has no shame, no limits and it can harm a great number of consumers within days, perhaps even hours. The fact JBS paid a ransom signalled to perpetrators that it can work. We should expect more attacks.

Virtually no mandatory cybersecurity rules govern the agri-food businesses that account for close to 20 per cent of the Canadian economy. Some trade groups may have voluntary guidelines, but thats the extent of it.

The federal Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has no material on cybersecurity  not a single mention  on its website. Its world is often exclusively about pathogens and allergens, but its focus requires a broader view, now more than ever. More information-sharing mechanisms would be required for the industry to protect itself, and the CFIA should be playing a more active role.

With the attack on JBS, the food industry has just experienced its own Tylenol moment. In 1982, someone tampered with bottles of Tylenol in Chicago-area retail stores and poisoned several people, killing at least seven. Many bottles were laced with potassium cyanide.

The murderers took the industry completely by surprise, but the incident led to significant changes in how bottles are sealed and secured. Hopefully, the JBS incident will also lead to increased security and protection.

Sylvain Charlebois is senior director of the agri-food analytics lab and a professor in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University.

 Troy Media
Opinion

I AM a Roman Catholic.

I was baptized and confirmed in the Roman Catholic church. I have prayed the rosary, confessed my sins and received the Eucharist. As a child, I even served as an altar boy. For better or worse, my familys cultural/religious background is steeped in Irish-Catholicism.

Am I a believer? Not exactly.

Im open to the idea of God  depending on how you define it  but since my teenage years, Ive largely considered myself an atheist. Admittedly, thats softened as Ive gotten older.

I still know the prayers. I still own a rosary. I have a copy of the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church on my bookshelf, alongside titles from Thomas Merton and G.K. Chesterton and Saint Augustine.

Im certainly far from being devout.

Nevertheless, as far as the Pope and the church are concerned, Im a Catholic for life. Lapsed as I may be, if I were to participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation prior to death  as per Catholic theology  Id go to heaven.

Since the discovery of 215 unmarked graves at a former Catholic-run residential school in Kamloops, B.C., Ive had many discussions with family members about the churchs role in the deeply racist and colonizing institutions. Those conversations are likely to continue after Thursdays announcement of up to 751 unmarked graves at the Catholic-run Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan, which is located close to where my great-grandfather grew up.

When the Kamloops news broke, my grandfather, a devout Catholic, texted me: "As the home of the most detailed record-keeping ever, I dont buy any silence or we dont know. They have the best historical records of births, baptisms and deaths."

Hes right. The Roman Catholic church is an institution that has stood for 2,000 years. It has, without hyperbole, the greatest record-keeping system the world has ever seen. And yet, the church refused to turn over many of those records to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It continues to refuse to turn over requested records to this day.

When I spoke with Tom McMahon, the former legal counsel for the TRC, he said all of the churches involved in running residential schools were difficult to deal with, but the Roman Catholic church was the worst. This is a scandal. It is disgraceful. It is an insult to the memory of the children who were stripped of their identities. It is a spit in the face of those who never made it home.

There is another dubious distinction that pocks the church when it comes to the history of residential schools in Canada: it is the only institution involved that hasnt issued a formal apology. The Anglican, Presbyterian and United churches, which ran a minority of the schools, have issued formal apologies. The Catholic church, which ran the majority of them, has not.

Have there been expressions of remorse? Sure. The year 1991 saw many apologies: from Canadian bishops, from the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the Jesuits, from individual archbishops and Church representatives. There have been more in recent days, since the grisly discovery in Kamloops.

But among all those apologies, one person has been suspiciously absent: the Pope.

The Roman Catholic church is a deeply hierarchical institution. An apology from a specific religious order or archbishop is not the same thing as a formal papal apology. The closest the Pope came was in 2009, during a meeting with Phil Fontaine, a residential school survivor and then-national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, where he expressed "great sorrow" for the churchs role in running the schools.

What he didnt say was: Were sorry.

Its not as if there havent been requests for a formal apology. Among its 94 calls to action, the TRC requested an apology from the Pope. And in 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked the Pope to apologize  he flatly refused.

After the discovery in Kamloops, Pope Francis issued a statement in which he called on Canadian politicians and Catholic religious leaders to "cooperate with determination" to reveal the truth about the history of residential schools.

What it wasnt was an apology.

Heres a lesson I remember from catechism school. Its what the Catholic priests and nuns taught me as a child. Were all hopeless sinners  each and every one of us, from the lowest of the low, to the highest of the high.

Gods capacity for mercy is limitless. He loves us despite our faults. It doesnt matter what we do, Hes willing to forgive any transgression we commit, no matter how terrible it may be. But heres the catch: you have to confess. You have to go to a priest, admit what youve done, express genuine remorse, promise to do better and take your penance.

If the church is going to claim me as a member for life, then I claim the right to weigh in on matters of church controversy. So I say to the Pope what I was taught by Catholic priests and nuns years ago:

Repent.

Repent.

Repent.

Ryan Thorpe is a Winnipeg Free Press reporter.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca
At his swearing-in ceremony six years ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked why having a cabinet with an equal number of men and women was important to him.

Editorial

At his swearing-in ceremony six years ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked why having a cabinet with an equal number of men and women was important to him.

"Because its 2015," Trudeau declared in a famously pointed response that made headlines around the world and lit up social media.

In 2021, the prime minister might want to keep that endorsement of equality in mind as he and his government grapple with mounting accusations of high-level sexual misconduct in Canadas military.

It was ongoing investigations into sexual misconduct  a scandal that has engulfed Canadas last two chiefs of defence staff  that prompted the countrys military ombudsman to publicly release a damning report last Tuesday.

In a scathing indictment, Gregory Lick demanded the ombudsmans office be made truly independent  reporting directly to Parliament instead of the defence minister  so it can act effectively against misconduct of all kinds, including the allegations of sexual wrongdoing that have rocked the Canadian Forces.

Mr. Lick accused the office of National Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and the Department of National Defence of trying to "exert control" over investigations and ignoring recommendations for change.

The blunt language of Mr. Licks position paper  which he presented to the public before discussing it with Mr. Sajjan because "reporting through the minister on various issues like this has not resulted in any positive outcomes for our constituents in the past"  is proof the ombudsman is fed up.

"When leaders turn a blind eye to our recommendations and concerns in order to advance political interests and their own self-preservation or career advancement, it is the members of the defence community that suffer the consequences," he said during in a virtual media briefing.

"It is clear that inaction is rewarded far more than action. In the four months since the most recent outbreak of multiple accusations of sexual misconduct, the actions of the minister of national defence, senior government and military officials have bitterly proved this point."

Mr. Sajjan has been under almost constant fire since it was revealed he refused to look into an allegation of misconduct against retired general Jonathan Vance when the latter was Canadas top soldier in 2018.

The defence minister has said he accepts the need for an independent body to handle sexual misconduct complaints, but has done little to implement that change other than order another review.

Mr. Sajjan was censured by the House of Commons earlier this month over his handling of the sexual misconduct file, among other issues. His inaction has led to repeated calls from the defence community and the political opposition for him to either resign or be fired.

The defence ministers credibility took another blow last week following the revelation one of his military assistants was ordered suspended from the Vancouver Police Department three years ago for an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate. The prime minister has repeatedly defended Mr. Sajjan in the face of calls for his resignation, but that position is becoming difficult to defend.

In the face of a national reckoning over misconduct in the highest ranks of the military, action is needed to ensure the ombudsmans investigations are fair and free from political interference. Public trust in the militarys commanders and the defence minister have been eroded by a lack of action in dealing with a crisis that seems to grow worse by the day.

The prime minister should grant Mr. Licks request by making the military ombudsmans office fully independent. If he wants to know why, the answer is obvious: "Because its 2021."
Covid-19 Update 68: Implications of level 4 regulations on Witsies

What the new regulations mean for Wits staff and students.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last night that South Africa has moved to Lockdown Level 4, due to the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus spreading quickly across the country, particularly in Gauteng. In his speech, he indicated that new curfews are in place (9pm to 4am), that there are further restrictions on movement, both within and beyond the province, and that there are implications for students and employees, amongst other matters.

The regulations have been released and the implications for Wits students and employees are detailed below.

Teaching and learning (Undergraduates)

All faculties have completed teaching and learning for the second term, and the University is now in the assessment period until the 9th of July 2021.

The vacation period commences from the 10th of July until the 1st of August 2021 and the third term begins on the 2nd of August 2021.

The implications for the teaching and learning programme, and assessments in particular, at the undergraduate level are as follows:

All online assessments will continue as scheduled.

All in-person examinations will either transition to online or will be postponed to August 2021, as communicated by faculties.

Faculties may be allowed to adjust the teaching and learning timetable to ensure that the 2021 academic programme is optimised, that valuable learning time is not lost, and that we endeavour to complete the 2021 academic year timeously.

Students living in Wits residences

We are waiting for the announcement from the Minister of Higher Education and Training in respect of the impact of the amended lockdown status on university residences. In the meantime, the normal mid-year policies and processes for residences will apply. The rules for those living in residences are also being amended in line with the lockdown level 4 status of the country. Students who may have specific concerns are encouraged to contact their cluster managers or the Director of Campus Housing and Residence Life.

Students who require permits to travel home and to return before the third term commences, can request permits from their respective faculties.

Researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and postgraduate students

Postgraduate students, postdoctoral fellows and researchers can continue with research, if they adhere to all Wits COVID-19 protocols. Postgraduate students with 12-month residence agreements are allowed to remain in residences. The same applies to students serving on our various clinical training platforms. Libraries will closed as we have to abide by the regulations issued by government in this regard.

Employees

Senior Executives will work with their respective Heads of School and Department Managers to determine the level of staffing required on campus to ensure that the University remains operational while the risk of infection in the workplace is minimised. Managers need to ensure that all relevant COVID-19 health and safety protocols are implemented in the workplace.

Where feasible, staff members may work from home, with the permission of their line managers, and with the approval of the relevant Senior Executive.

All meetings will take place online, as far as possible.

Conclusion

We are doing our best to ensure that everyone remains safe, whilst the University remains operational. We thank you for your resilience during this difficult period and urge you to abide by all COVID-19 protocols.
With more than 81.4% of all eligible people in Vermont having had at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose, no one would blame health officials if they wanted to take it easy, but the easy path is not a part of Dr. Mark Levine's pandemic plans.

The Vermont health commissioner says he's proud of the Green Mountain state ranks first in the US for Covid-19 vaccinations, but with the variant threat, Levine wants even more people protected. To do that, he's going to have to figure out how to reach the one demographic that's holding out, not just on him, but on public health leaders throughout the country -- Gen Z.

"They're a tough nut to crack," Levine said.

President Joe Biden's administration acknowledged Tuesday that it would fall just short of its goal of getting 70% of adults in the US at least partially vaccinated by July 4. Wide swaths of the South have been slow to vaccinate. Three Southern and one Western state still have fewer than half of their adult population protected with one dose. But across the country, the one demographic that's dogged health officials are people in that 18-to-29 age range.

"The trouble is they feel like they are invincible and that makes them a tough group to reach," said Lori Tremmel Freeman, the CEO of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO).

The Biden administration said it will beef up its efforts to get this group vaccinated. Freeman said it will take a variety of efforts from federal, state, and local governments to do it.

She's seen the challenge in her own household. Her own twins who just graduated from college haven't gotten the Covid-19 vaccine.

"I'm still working on them and I shame them every day," she jokes.

Young adult vaccinations by the numbers

Generally, vaccine coverage among young adults has been lower and increasing more slowly over time, compared to other age groups, according to a report published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday. Their intent to get vaccinated is also lower. If the weekly pace of vaccinations continues at the rate from the week of May 22, only 57.5% of people under the age of 30 will have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine by the end of August.

States are trying a wide variety of tactics to reach this population. In many states like Hawaii there are cash incentives. California is vaccinating people at McDonald's and offering food coupons. In New Jersey, there's Rock the Shot a vaccination event at a balloon and rib festivals. West Virginia offered $100 savings bonds for residents 16 to 35 who get vaccinated.

The more traditional approach

States are also trying techniques straight out of the classic public health handbook. In Colorado, the health department is calling all residents 18 and older who haven't received the vaccine yet, providing them information and scheduling an appointment.

In Arkansas, where 51% of adults have had just one dose, the health department is tackling vaccine misinformation common on social media where many young adults get their information.

"We do not go head to head with the misinformation. We try to make messages available for people to provide accurate messages that are easily understood," said Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, the department's medical director for immunizations.

Flood the zone

Even with Vermont's success, the public health commissioner says there has to be this extra effort to vaccinate the 18 to 29 year olds who've been tricky to get, but not impossible.

"Most of them are not a truly vaccine resistant group," Levine said. "They don't have that strong polarized view. They're mostly in the category where it's just not at the top of their list right now."

The vaccine is available at nearly all pharmacies in the state without an appointment and Levine said Vermont plans to put the vaccine "everywhere it can be."

"So that literally they could stumble over it," Levine said, "And then they'll say, 'oh, well, sure, I'm here, why not.' "

North Dakota, where little more than 55% of adults have had one vaccine, is taking a similar approach. Vaccinators are everywhere this younger demographic may be, Molly Howell, the department of health immunization program manager, said. She's sent vaccinators to concerts, college campus events, a food truck festival, and to the LGBTQ Pride event on the Capitol lawn.

"I think bringing vaccine to the people can work," Howell said.

Awareness about the vaccine and the disease

To raise vaccine awareness, they've recruited local influencers like college athletes. Howell thinks it's also important to raising awareness about the disease itself. Even a year into the pandemic, she thinks some young people don't take Covid-19 seriously. Since they typically experience milder symptoms, they may not be as motivated to get protection.

"I think there is a bit of denial there," Howell said. North Dakota is creating a memorial wall and a campaign about long Covid.

For people with vaccine safety concerns, North Dakota has worked with colleges to help educate younger people. They've also sent more vaccines to local doctors, so people can get questions answered from providers they trust.

In Louisiana, where less than half the adult population has had one dose of the vaccine, Dr. Joseph Kanter, the state health officer, said the state has grown its presence on social media. He expects its Shot at a Million lottery initiative with $2.3 million cash prizes and scholarships will increase young adult interest. Louisiana also paired up with 25 community organizations to go door-to-door to answer questions and sign people up for vaccine appointments.

"This is a more deliberate process, this is a slower process, but it's every bit as important," Kanter said.

Making it mandatory

What ultimately may speed efforts with this age group is college. More than 500 universities and colleges are requiring students to get the Covid-19 vaccine before they come back to class, according to a tally kept by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

"My feeling is that the requirement is going to be a positive piece of this puzzle," said Gerri Taylor, co-chair of the Covid-19 task force of the American College Health Association. In April, her association recommended all colleges and universities require the vaccine for all faculty, staff, and students, except for those with medical or religious exemptions. With in-person school starting in back in the fall, more students will need to start the vaccination process in July, if they haven't already.

For colleges that don't require the vaccine, students will see more campaigns that encourage them to protect their friends on campus.

"Messages that emphasize that they may not be doing it for themselves, because maybe they feel invincible, but if they can do it for their families, their grandparents, their friends," Taylor said.

Unfortunately, the experts say, there's no one magic formula to reach this population.

"I don't think there is just that one grand thing that we have, because everyone has their own reason for not getting vaccinated and some of this is out of our control," Howell said. "I think it's just for some people going to take some time, but I also think that's where the struggle is, since a lot of us feel like there isn't time."

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It's time now to welcome the newest members of our Morning Mug Club -- brought to you by Holland Farms Bakery & Deli.

Job Corps Scholars is a grant-funded cohort opportunity for young people to earn an MVCC certificate for free in tech and trades programs in one year. Scholars also receive intense, individualized personal and employment counseling.

Students Courses:

Mechatronics - Prepares students for work in automated manufacturing settings (e.g. CREE).

Welding - Prepares students for structural and metal fabrication welding work (e.g. Briggs & Stratton).

Carpentry/Masonry - Prepares students for work as skilled laborers in the residential and commercial construction trades industries.

Eligibility Requirements:

Be 16-24 years old

Be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or citizen of a U.S. territory

Be a first-time college enrollee or dropout

Qualify as low-income

Register:

Online through MVCC.

4 p.m. Wednesday, June 30. Register at https://bit.ly/3h0uj77.

6 p.m. Tuesday, July 13. Register at https://bit.ly/3d9ZFr3.

6 p.m. Wednesday, July 28. Register at https://bit.ly/2T2WM4h.

Students who complete their program will receive SUNY-recognized certificates* and be guaranteed job interviews with Briggs & Stratton in Sherrill, N.Y., and Cree Wolfspeed in Marcy, N.Y. Welding and Carpentry/Masonry students also are guaranteed job interviews with the Carpenters Union, and students who complete the CNC Machinist Technology pathway will be guaranteed job interviews with CTM.

*Students must have a high school diploma or its equivalent to receive an MVCC certificate.

For More Information:

Monalisa Htun

Job Corps Scholars Program Coordinator

mhtun@mvcc.edu

315-792-5365

PH315A

Jewel Smith-Rudolph

Job Corps Scholars Counselor

jsmith-rudolph@mvcc.edu

315-792-5366

PH381

Job Corps Scholars Program is funded through a grant by the United States Department of Labor.

Job Corps Scholars Program is an equal opportunity program.

They are committed to treating all applicants and team members fairly regardless of their race, national origin, sex, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other classification protected by law.

This workforce product was funded by a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Labors Employment and Training Administration. The product was created by the recipient and does not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Labor. The Department of Labor makes no guarantees, warranties, or assurances of any kind, express or implied, with respect to such information, including any information on linked sites and including, but not limited to, accuracy of the information or its completeness, timeliness, usefulness, adequacy, continued availability, or ownership. This product is copyrighted by the institution that created it.
After the longest, hardest school year in recent memory, Rome Free Academy and New Hartford seniors celebrated their graduation Saturday in largely restriction-less ceremonies.

New Hartford's graduation at the Stanley Theatre saw spectators show vaccination cards at the door. Unvaccinated attendees were required to wear a mask. RFA's outdoor ceremony at its stadium saw no restrictions.
Washington, D.C. - President Biden directed U.S. military forces to carryout airstrikes against Iran-backed militia groups on Sunday.

The U.S. says the militias are behind recent drone attacks against the U.S. military personnel in Iraq.

A statement from the Pentagon said the strikes took place Sunday along the Iraq-Syria border and were directed at facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups and meant to deter and disrupt any future attacks against u.s. personnel.

The statement goes on to say U.S. troops are in Iraq at the invitation of the government of Iraq for the sole purpose of assisting security forces in their efforts to defeat Isis and the President's direction makes clear he will protect U.S. personnel.

These airstrikes mark the second time the Biden administration has taken military action in the region.

In February, the U.S. launched airstrikes against facilities in Syria, near the Iraqi border, that were also used by Iranian-backed militia groups after another attack on U.S. personnel.
COLUMBUS, Ind. (AP)  Unearthed bones recently discovered at a construction site in south central Indiana are believed to be thousands of years old, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

Construction workers found the human remains in May while digging at the site of a new Bartholomew County judicial building in Columbus, The Republic reported. Archaeologists from the University of Indianapolis analyzed the bones, determining them to be between 2,000 and 3,000 years old.

The bones belong to an adult male, a preteen and an infant, according to the DNR. The bones are thought to be the bones of Native American people of the Adena culture, which existed in the Ohio River Valley as far back as 1000 B.C.

The human bones were found roughly six feet deep and mixed with animal bones. A different settlement was also found around two feet from the surface, consisting of glass, nails and other artifacts dating to the late 1800s or early 1900s.

After archaeologists conclude their analysis, the remains will be turned over to Native American tribes for reburial, the DNR said.

The county building is still set to open in April 2022, but a monitor will be onsite to oversee further construction to ensure any additional human remains discovered are handled properly.
BUNKER HILL Ind. (AP)  The Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled against an inmate who sued after money was withdrawn from his prison account to pay for the medical bills of a correctional officer he injured 30 years ago.

Aaron Isbys complaint last year against the Indiana Department of Correction argued the agency didn't have the constitutional authority to impose a restitution sanction without obtaining a civil judgment against him. A Miami County judge dismissed the case, citing an Indiana Supreme Court ruling IDOC's actions weren't subject to judicial review.

The appeals court, in a filing last month, upheld the dismissal.

We are bound to follow the authority of the Indiana Supreme Court, the appeals court noted.

Isby, in custody at Miami Correctional Facility in Bunker Hill, was first sentenced in 1988 for robbery, according to IDOC records. Court documents say that while in custody at another facility, Isby stabbed a guard in an altercation in 1990.

The IDOC imposed a sanction requiring him to pay over $8,000 in restitution for the guards medical expenses, according to the Kokomo Tribune.

The agency then started taking deposits made to Isbys prison account and using they money toward restitution. The withdrawals continued after Isby was transferred to Miami Correctional.

The appeals court argued the IDOC may impose restitution as a disciplinary action. The court also said while state law governs and provides means for reviewing administrative agency actions, it exempts actions related to an offender within the agency's jurisdiction.

Isby, who is 50 and also goes by Aaron Israel, represented himself in the case. In his May 2020 filing, he argued he had no adequate remedy as prison officials continued to deduct money from the fund comprised of gifts from friends and family.

His case has previously been in the spotlight because he spent more than a decade in solitary confinement and waged a lengthy legal battle alleging inhumane conditions. A federal court ruled in his favor in 2018.

Previous court records say during the October 1990 altercation, Isby struck a prison counselor, prompting correctional officers to enter his cell with dogs and tear gas in an attempt to transfer him elsewhere. Authorities alleged Isby wouldn't comply and stabbed two guards, including one in the neck. Isby was convicted of attempted murder in 1992.

Isby has characterized it as a staged attack against him, according to a statement posted by advocacy group IDOC Watch.

A message left Sunday for an IDOC spokesman wasn't immediately returned.
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)  A special prosecutor cleared three Lafayette police officers after a K-9 mauled a man last year. That's according to the findings of an investigation into allegations of excessive force.

Special prosecutor Mary Hutchison says their actions "were not criminal in nature." But the former Madison County deputy prosecutor left her post in the middle of the investigation, so Judge Sean Persin last week threw out the report, saying she "no longer had authority to act as special prosecuting attorney in this case."

Now a new special prosecutor, David Thomas, is investigating the K9 mauling from May 2020, which left Richard Bailey Jr. in a coma for six days.

Bailey was a suspect in a fight at a Lafayette home. Lafayette Police Department says Bailey resisted arrest but the man's attorneys say he was targeted because of his race.

State Representative Chris Campbell is a critic of LPD's response in this case.

She's co-authored several bills this year she says could have changed the outcome, including one mandating de-escalation training for police officers.

"When you watch the video, it does not appear there was any de-escalation," she says.

But LPD cleared the officers in its own internal investigation.

In a statement last year to News 18, the agency said Bailey was resisting arrest and his "non-compliance created a physical altercation that did not need to occur."

LPD Chief Patrick Flannelly also posted a Youtube video debriefing the body camera footage, saying it exonerates the officers.

"To rush to judgment without a thorough and comprehensive understanding of all the facts and circumstances is an injustice to all," he says in the video.

But Campbell says officers could have prevented the situation from escalating to violence.

"We kind of expect maybe more respect of the per son that they're stopping and maybe trying to do that de-escalation first before using a life-threatening fatal dog bite," she says.

Bailey's attorney declined to comment. News 18 reached out to LPD for comment but didn't hear back.
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)  A West Lafayette man was charged Monday with attempted murder and battery from an incident in a parking lot last week.

According to court documents, Gilmore attacked Matthew Ryker in a bar parking lot on Kossuth Street early in the morning on June 22. Police received a call at 2:30 a.m. of a report of a battery. Police arrived and found Ryker lying on the ground, unconscious, bleeding from the face.

Witnesses said Brody Gilmore approached Ryker, shoved Ryker to the ground, and kicked Ryker numerous times before leaving the area on foot. Police obtained a copy of the surveillance video from the bar which confirmed the witnesses' story.

Officers later located Gilmore at his residence in West Lafayette, Indiana wearing the same clothing observed in the video. He was taken into custody.

Court documents said Ryker sustained multiple facial fractures including an orbital fracture, a nasal bone fracture, and a broken jaw. Ryker also sustained a clavicle fracture, a sternal fracture, and multiple rib fractures.
Introducing New Dean & Director of VIMS

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Provost Peggy Agouris sent the following message to the campus community on June 28, 2021. - Ed.

Dear William & Mary faculty, staff and students,

Today, I write with exciting news regarding our search for a new dean and director for Virginia Institute of Marine Science. Starting on Sept. 1, 2021, William & Mary will welcome Dr. Derek Aday as the new dean of VIMS.

Dr. Aday is a well-known ecologist currently leading the applied ecology department at North Carolina State University. He is also director of the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center, a fellow of the American Fisheries Society and editor-in-chief of the societys flagship journal. More information on Dereks impressive background can be found in our press release.

Derek Aday promises to advance VIMS most critical mission objectives and to offer us even more. He understands deeply the field of marine sciences, its people and funding landscape; has held multiple leadership positions; has strategic planning experience and has directed academic programs. He has advanced under-represented researchers in the field of marine sciences, through HBCU partnerships and other efforts. As a department chair at NCSU, he helped develop training programs for more effective mentoring of under-represented students, and a new peer-to-peer network for incoming graduate students.

Dr. Aday was previously the assistant dean for academic programs at NCSUs College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (2013-2017), associate professor of applied ecology (2010-2015) and assistant professor of biology (2005-2010) at NCSU, and assistant professor of evolution, ecology and organismal biology (2002-2005) at Ohio State. He completed his Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology in 2002 at the University of Illinois.

As many of you know, the dean and director of VIMS manages the operations of more than 400 students, faculty and staff members in four academic departments across three campuses (in addition to work across the globe), with a budget of more than $52 million. VIMS is also unusual in its legislated role of providing advisory services to the Commonwealth, its citizens and industries.

For the better part of a year, a team of 15 individuals, led by Glucksman Professor of Marine Science Carl Friedrichs and assisted by executive search firm Isaacson Miller, collaborated to find the best candidate for this position. I extend sincere thanks to everyone involved in this extensive, nationwide search process.

I also express gratitude for the outstanding leadership of Dean John T. Wells, who has been pivotal in securing VIMS enviable and important position. Dean Wellss 17 years at William & Mary have resulted in major progress for our Chesapeake Bay, VIMS financial future and the overall education provided at VIMS. We look forward to building on the invaluable progress Dean Wells has made.

Dr. Aday will be joined in Williamsburg by his wife, Erica, and his daughter, Caitlyn. His son, Conor, is attending college. Derek Adays father, David Aday Jr., is professor emeritus of sociology and a distinguished member of the W&M community.

I am extremely excited to welcome Derek Aday and his family to ours at William & Mary.

Sincerely,

Peggy Agouris

Provost, William & Mary
Derek Aday chosen to lead W&Ms Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Dean and director: Derek Aday is head of the Department of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University, university director of the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center, a fellow of the American Fisheries Society, and editor-in-chief of the societys flagship journal. Courtesy photo Photo - of - Hide Caption

William & Mary has named nationally renowned ecologist Derek Aday as its next dean of the School of Marine Science and director of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS).

Aday, who will begin in this role at VIMS Sept. 1, is head of the Department of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University, university director of the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center, a fellow of the American Fisheries Society, and editor-in-chief of the societys flagship journal. His selection follows a national search to succeed John Wells, who is retiring after 17 years at the VIMS helm.

William & Mary welcomes warmly Dr. Aday to the university community, said President Katherine A. Rowe. Following the exceptional leadership of Dr. Wells, VIMS and the School of Marine Science are positioned to expand the university's reach globally in the coming decades. And for Virginia, VIMS is vital to ensuring the continued prosperity of the Commonwealths ecology, economy and coastal communities. Derek Adays talents and experiences perfectly match these challenges and opportunities.

For his part, Aday said he embraces leading VIMS into the future and the continued interdisciplinary work required to solve complex problems facing the waters of the Commonwealth, the nation and the world.

VIMS and William & Mary have incredible histories and traditions and Im very much looking forward to becoming a part of the future of both organizations, Aday said. Ive followed the great science and scientists at VIMS from afar for many years, and Im humbled by the opportunity to join a community of talented scholars and educators that is making a real difference in the world.

Provost Peggy Agouris said hes been equally followed by VIMS scholars and students. Aday has written numerous articles in peer-reviewed publications on topics ranging from the ecology of fresh- and saltwater fishes to the impacts of mercury pollution on aquatic ecosystems.

Dr. Aday is a remarkable scientist in marine science and ecology, said Agouris, and we are fortunate to have him lead VIMS and our School of Marine Science. He impresses on the academic and the leadership fronts, both of which are necessary to lead one of the most important and impactful marine science schools in the world. Under his leadership, I am confident that VIMSs advisory, educational, and research arms will flourish.

Adays 16-year career in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at NCSU has provided leadership experience in all three facets of VIMS mission of research, education and advisory service. He said he looks forward to the opportunity to lead a cutting-edge marine research institute with a strong tradition of student education and a vibrant connection to an outstanding university. He also relishes the challenge of guiding VIMS in its role as a technical advisor to the Commonwealth of Virginia for coastal and marine issues, across what he called an impressive scale and breadth of disciplines.

Carl Friedrichs, Glucksman Professor of Marine Science at VIMS and chair of the Dean & Director Search Committee, noted that Aday articulated an inspiring vision for an innovative future for VIMS.

The search committee was struck by Dereks proven leadership across a broad range of relevant roles, Friedrichs said. He cited ideas that built on, but also went beyond, our current strengths to enhance more ambitious, interdisciplinary research, advisory service and educational initiatives on issues such as climate change and coastal resilience.

An interdisciplinary worldview has been central to Adays success, both in research and administration. He currently chairs an academic department he described as interdisciplinary at its core, with researchers exploring many of the same topics studied at VIMS, including aquatic ecology, biodiversity, conservation biology, fishery science and aquaculture, applied toxicology, and global change.

Under his leadership, the department earned approximately $9 million in annual grant funding, created a unique outreach and engagement program and doubled the number of women and historically under-represented, tenure-track faculty members. He also played a leading role in strategic plans recently developed by both his department and college, an experience that will serve him well as VIMS initiated its latest strategic planning process just last year.

Aday also brings experience in managing the type of multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional partnerships that have long animated and strengthened the VIMS mission. As university director of the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center, he led a consortium that included five academic institutions of higher education; federal collaborators from the U.S. Geological Survey; state climatologists and tribal partners from four nations. Adays leadership portfolio at VIMS will likewise include a wealth of institutional, state and federal partners.

Prior to his current position, Aday served as assistant dean of academic programs in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at NCSU, where he helped develop an innovative curriculum that combines rigorous coursework, independent research and study abroad.

At VIMS, he said he is excited to further strengthen connections between the School of Marine Science and W&M. Students are at the core of all aspects of university life, he said. The shared traditions of educational excellence at VIMS and William & Mary provide a unique foundation, and Im eager to explore collaborations with Arts & Sciences, the law school and the business school to integrate student training in marine and coastal studies with aspects of social science, policy, economics and other relevant disciplines.

The Dean & Director Search Committee was particularly impressed by Adays track record in advancing under-represented researchers in the field of marine sciences, through HBCU partnerships and other efforts. As a department chair at NCSU, he helped develop training programs for more effective mentoring of under-represented students, and a new peer-to-peer network for incoming graduate students. My commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion is sincere, and I will be a tireless champion for diversity, in all its many forms, at VIMS and W&M, Aday said.

Aday is excited to take the helm at VIMS later this summer. Im enthusiastic about working with a team of such impactful leaders, he said. Through the search process I was able to interact with President Rowe, Provost Agouris and members of her team, other deans at William & Mary and the associate deans and leadership team at VIMS. Ive come away impressed and inspired by their dedication to enhancing the excellence of both institutions and their eagerness to forge an even stronger partnership through innovative new programs and initiatives.

He also realizes he has big shoes to fill in succeeding current Dean and Director John Wells. For nearly two decades, John has done an incredible job of ensuring VIMS meets the educational, advisory and research needs of the state, region and nation, while also positioning VIMS as one of the best marine science institutes in the country. I look forward to working with outstanding faculty, staff and students to build on that tradition of excellence, and to ensuring that VIMS remains a recognized leader in terms of solving the challenges of tomorrow.

For his part, Wells said he thinks Aday will bring new energy and vision to VIMS, creating a path of excellence for the future.

Dereks understanding of our history, culture and mission, together with his depth of administrative experience, provide a strong foundation for success, said Wells, and I take this opportunity to enthusiastically welcome him into the VIMS community as our next dean and director.

Aday will be joined in Williamsburg by his wife, Erica, and his daughter, Caitlyn. His son, Conor, is attending college. Adays father, David Aday Jr., is professor emeritus of sociology and a distinguished member of the W&M community.
Woodward, OK (73801)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
Measures to protect businesses in Wales from eviction extended until end of September

Businesses affected by the Coronavirus pandemic will now be protected from eviction until the end of September 2021, Economy Minister Vaughan Gething has announced.

The moratorium against forfeiture for the non-payment of rent was due to end on June 30.

This measure will ensure businesses will not forfeit their business tenancies for non-payment of rent until 30 September this year.

However the Welsh Government say businesses should continue to pay rent wherever possible, and it is in the interests of both landlords and tenants to reach negotiated agreements on any arrears.

The move aims to help a range of sectors including retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism at what continues to be an incredibly challenging trading period, whilst Coronavirus restrictions ease.

Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething said: The coronavirus pandemic has been a harrowing experience for us all, not least for businesses and their employees across Wales. Weve pulled every lever possible to support them during this incredibly challenging time.

Were committed to doing all we can do secure jobs and livelihoods. Thats why Im today announcing a further extension of measures to prevent forfeiture for the non-payment of rent, which will protect businesses from eviction.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, weve committed more than 2.5bn to businesses across Wales, in addition to our business as usual support through Business Wales. Businesses in the hardest hit sectors also continue to benefit from a full 12 month business rates holiday package.

Combined, these measures have helped protect thousands of firms and safeguard many more jobs. Its a key part of our plans to kick-start a strong Welsh recovery post-pandemic.

We remain committed to backing Welsh firms.

The UK Government recently announced how it intends deal with the issue of commercial rent arrears built up during the pandemic. The Welsh Government will consider the matter further for Wales in the months ahead.
Plans for decisions over coronavirus safety measures in schools to be made locally

Wales new education minister has outlined plans to bring coronavirus safety measures in schools under local control.

Currently all education settings in Wales follow national guidance in terms of face masks, social distancing, hygiene measures, the use of lateral flow tests and self isolation for bubbles.

Speaking at todays Welsh Government press briefing the newly appointed Education Minister, Jeremy Miles, said there will be a need to move to a more localised approach rather than a blanket approach as Wales moves into the next stage of the pandemic.

The minister noted that whilst education settings will not be back to normal by September, the Welsh Government will look to gradually ease the extraordinary measures weve had to put in place.

As part of this a new framework will be published which will allow an escalation or de-escalation of measures, such as testing the use of face coverings, and social distancing.

These decisions would be made by local incident management teams and do not mean that safety measures can be scraped altogether.

Mr Miles explained the framework will also look at best practice across Wales to ensure that we do not have a disproportionate number of learners self isolating.

Last week Wrexham.com reported that more than 1,300 students across the county borough are currently isolating due to positive tests in schools  and also queried the local Incident Management Team setup  more here.

Mr Miles said: While we will not simply be back to normal by September we will look to gradually ease the extraordinary measures weve had to put in place.

Our guiding principle has to be a move towards education being enabled to operate as normally as possible in the autumn.

The framework will set out a range of safety measures depending on the risk category based on low, moderate, high and very high risk categories.

In the spirit of social partnership we are sharing draft frameworks with partners this week to be further developed between now and the end of term.

The framework will allow escalation or de-escalation of measures such as testing, the use of face coverings and social distancing. It will apply to schools, colleges and universities and follows the approach already modelled in care homes.

Clearly as part of our discussions with partners, we need to be looking at the key challenges which schools colleges and universities currently face. That includes looking at best practice across Wales to ensure that we do not have a disproportionate number of learners self isolating.

While class or year bubbles have played an important role over the last year, we need to ensure that settings distinguish between bubbles on the one hand and personal contact with cases on the other.

Linked to this we want to discuss how settings can return to the usual session times as opposed to having staggered start and finish times as currently in place.

These changes do not mean a wholesale removal of mitigating measures but they are about our schools, colleges and universities being able to make decisions based on the balance of harms and minimising disruption to learning all within the wider context of our successful vaccine program and relatively low case numbers.

You can view the full briefing on the below video:
At least six people were shot over a matter of hours in Clarksville over the weekend, one of which involved a Clarksville Police officer.
A bloodhound with the Rutherford County Sheriffs Office is being credited with helping locate a missing 6-year-old girl.

Kinzleigh Reeder was reported missing in DeKalb County. Rutherford County Sheriff Mike Fitzhugh said Nicholas Reeder allegedly abducted his daughter Kinzleigh Reeder on May 26. Law enforcement believed that they were camping in the Pea Ridge community.

While in the Pea Ridge community, Fitzhugh said Nicholas and Kinzleigh Reeder were behind a home, and they needed help from Rutherford County Sheriffs bloodhound Fred.

After smelling an item belonging to the father, Fred was released and eventually sat down near the door of an outbuilding. This action indicates he found the father.

When deputies went to the door, it was reinforcing and thus confirming their suspicions that Nicholas and Kinzleigh Reeder were inside the building.

We made entry into the building and discovered the suspect and child in the back of the shed behind blankets that were hanging from a makeshift clothesline, Rutherford County Sheriffs Sgt. James Holloway said in a statement on Monday.

Nicholas Reeder was taken into custody. He was charged with child abuse or neglect of his daughter as well as failure to appear and custodial interference. He is being held on a $175,000 bond.

"The door to the outbuilding was barricaded, and the windows had been covered up with metal. There was no ventilation and air conditioning inside the small outbuilding. There was barely any food or water for the child. The outbuilding had a strong ammonia smell where the two had been urinating and defecating in a five-gallon bucket," Sheriff Patrick Ray said in a statement on Monday.

Kinzleigh Reeder was turned over to the DeKalb County deputies and released to the custody of the Tennessee Department of Children's Services.

"The little girl's asking to meet the dog that saved her. He gave her licks. She gave him a big old hug," K9 Deputy Richard Tidwell said." His reward for a successful find is his chicken. He loves chicken. If you say chicken hes going to perk right up."

The Rutherford County Sheriffs Office, Rutherford County Fire & Rescue, StormPoint drones, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad, DeKalb EMS, the FBI, and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation worked together on the search.

Everyone was prepared to stay on scene until the little girl was safely located and out of harms way, Holloway said. It is an honor to serve alongside some of the most dedicated and highly trained first responders in the country.

Fred also received a feast of chicken and pizza crusts for his successful find.

I praised him and loved on him, Tidwell said. I pulled the chicken reward out of my pocket. He ate the chicken and wanted to meet other people as if to say, Look what Ive done.

Tidwell said he spends more time with K-9 Fred than even his family.

"I consider him my partner because we live together we work together we ride around together, Tidwell said. "We do everything together."
After more than a week of refusing to introduce lockdown measures in response to a worsening COVID-19 outbreak, the Liberal-National government in New South Wales (NSW), Australias most populous state, on Saturday imposed limited two-week stay at home orders covering the Sydney metropolitan area and surrounding regions.

The days of delay, in defiance of warnings by medical experts, allowed the highly infectious and dangerous Delta variant, first detected in India, to spread from a cluster in Sydneys eastern suburbs throughout much of the city and across the continent, as well as to New Zealand.

This developing disaster is another indictment of the corporate profit-driven response of Australian governments, like their counterparts internationally, which have failed to implement effective lockdown, quarantine and vaccination measures, permitting new mutant strains to emerge, such as Delta, which has spread to more than 80 countries.

Technicians prepare Pfizer vaccines at the newly opened COVID-19 Vaccination Centre in Sydney, Australia, Monday, May 10, 2021. (James Gourley/Pool Photo via AP)

Over the past year, Liberal-National and Labor Party governments alike in Australia have only instituted coronavirus safety measures when compelled to do so by health staff and other workers. These measures have largely led to much lower infections than in comparable countries, but epidemiologists warned for weeks that outbreaks were inevitable because of the Delta surge.

Since the current outbreak began on June 16, NSW state Premier Gladys Berejiklian, backed by Prime Minister Scott Morrisons federal government, had dismissed appeals from public health experts and doctors for lockdown measures, despite Berejiklian herself describing the situation in Sydney as the scariest the city had faced during the pandemic.

As recently as Friday, Morrison declared in a Sky News interview that Berejiklians government had gold standard contact tracing and people should feel very confident that if anyones going to get on top of this with their tracing and not have to shut the city down, its the New South Wales government.

Saturdays belated stay-at-home order, giving the citys residents only four hours notice, was made after Sydney recorded the largest number of daily infections thus far since June 16. The 30 cases in 24 hours took the total to 112. Today, that figure rose by another 18 to 130.

The long list of exposure sites across Sydney has now exceeded 300, including busy shopping centres in working class suburbs and the state governments own vaccination hub at Westmead hospital, the largest public hospital in the western suburbs. Of particular concern also is an outbreak linked to Great Ocean Foods, a seafood wholesaler in inner-west Marrickville, where delivery drivers linked to the business tested positive.

By yesterday too, the infections had spread to five of Australias eight states and territories, forcing a snap two-day lockdown in the Northern Territory capital of Darwin and mask mandates, reinforced restrictions and border closures elsewhere.

Even on Saturday, Berejiklian defended her governments decision to wait for days to lockdown greater Sydney. I do not regret a single decision we have taken because it has been based on health advice, she said.

In reality, at every step of the outbreak, the NSW and federal Liberal-National governments, with the full support of the Labor Party, have subordinated public health to corporate interests, resisting necessary measures because they would impinge on profit-making activities.

This policy has been demanded by the financial elite, whose mouthpieces are complaining bitterly about the lockdown. Saturdays editorial in the Australian accused Berejiklian of blinking in the face of supposedly small numbers of infections. The Australian Financial Review, citing estimates provided by AMP Capital, claimed the Sydney lockdown would wipe more than $2 billion from the national gross domestic product.

Even the origin of the Sydney outbreak demonstrates the priority given to corporate interests over public safety. Most of the Sydney cases have been linked to a limousine driver who transferred FedEx aircrew to a quarantine hotel. Despite corporate media efforts to demonise the driver, he was following the Berejiklian governments guidelines, which did not require such drivers to be vaccinated despite the known dangers of infection from commercial aircrew. Reports are that he had been advised by his doctor to wait for the Pfizer vaccine due to widespread concerns regarding the Astra Zeneca vaccine.

Another case from the Great Ocean Foods outbreak was linked to a Sydney-based Virgin Australia flight attendant who tested positive after flying on five flights between Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Gold Coast while potentially infectious.

The months-long corporate drive to reopen domestic and trans-Tasman Sea air travel, regardless of the resurging global pandemic, also led to a Sydney man unknowingly infected with the Delta variant flying on a crowded plane to Wellington, New Zealand and back. Other passengers have likewise unwittingly carried the mutant strain to Melbourne and Perth.

Another failure of the quarantine system led to the infection being taken by a mine worker from a Brisbane hotel to a central Australian mine in the Northern Territory. Up to 900 fly-in-fly-out miners may potentially have been infected, some of whom travelled to Darwin, triggering that citys shutdown.

Some affected mine workers are indigenous, posing a threat to remote Aboriginal communities, where vaccination rates are reportedly only around 10 percent, despite the Morrison government claiming to have placed indigenous people in vaccination priority categories many months ago.

Today, the Queensland state Labor government also introduced compulsory mask-wearing and other limited restrictions in regions around Brisbane after it reported two new local cases linked to a previous leak in the hotel quarantine program, unrelated to the mine site cases.

The Delta variant is up to twice as contagious as the original version of the virus. Cases have been detected resulting from fleeting contact between strangers. A growing number of infections are of unknown origin, indicating broader transmission than is yet known or officially recorded.

Confronting an intensifying political crisis, Prime Minister Morrison called an urgent meeting of the National Security Committee of cabinet this morning to put on a show of responding to the emergency for which his own government is directly responsible.

Anxious for continuing political protection from the Labor Party, which has given him constructive support throughout the pandemic, Morrison also convened an emergency meeting of the bipartisan National Cabinet, which consists of the federal, state and territory government leaders, the majority from the Labor Party.

For months, until last Friday, the federal government rejected calls for dedicated quarantine facilities, falsely claiming that the hotel quarantines were overwhelmingly effective, despite nearly 30 known infection leaks.

The governments vaccination program has been even more disastrous, with less than 5 percent of the adult population fully vaccinated. There is no relief in sight over the winter months until substantial Pfizer shipments arrive, promised from October. Two-thirds of aged-care staff are not vaccinated, along with other frontline health workers.

Worried Sydney residents report having to wait two months or more for appointments for vaccine jabs. In his Sky News interview last Friday, Morrison ludicrously insisted that the vaccination rollout had been really ramping up since he placed military commanders in charge months ago, dubbing it Operation COVID Shield.

Numbers of public health specialists condemned the delay in the Sydney lockdown. On Friday, Australian Medical Association President Dr Omar Khorshid said earlier localised restrictions were confusing and just not enough. He warned of an approach dictated by the economic consequences of a lockdown, saying it could result in a situation similar to that in Victoria last year, when more than 800 people died.

Workers and small business owners being impacted by the restrictions are being denied adequate financial support. The federal government has said that it will make measly $500 (full-time) or $350 (part-time) disaster recovery payments available to Sydney workers affected by the lockdown from July 1. Anyone with savings of more than $10,000 is ineligible, as are welfare recipients.

As a result of the pro-business policies of the entire political establishment, millions of ordinary people face the prospect of financial crisis, on top of the risks posed to their health.
Protesters gathered outside the Lonoke County Sheriffs Office last Wednesday in Lonoke, Arkansas, consisting of friends and family of 17-year-old Hunter Brittain, who was gunned down by police during a traffic stop early that morning.

According to members of Brittains family, he was working on his truck at around 3 am local time, trying to repair it so that he could make it to his job at Hundley Construction by 6 am. Scott Hundley, owner of Hundley Construction, said Brittain had worked for him on and off over the past few years.

Brittain was dealing with vehicle problems but kept in frequent contact with Hundley regarding the issue. Hundley said he spoke with Hunter at about 7 pm the night before his death. I was checking with him on his truck, Hundley said. [He was] sending me pictures of his truck at the shop. He says hes been working on this truck but hes trying to make it.

17-year-old Hunter Brittain (Left) was shot and killed after a Lonoke County Sheriff's Office deputy stopped him last week.(Image Credit: Family of Hunter Brittain)

Brittains grandmother, Rebecca Payne, was present at the protest. He was my grandson, she said. Im his grandmother. Ive had him for the last five years of his life. Were ready to find out something. Its time they start letting us know something.

On Thursday, protesters in pick-up trucks did burnouts in the parking lot of the sheriffs office. One protester spray-painted the words Justice for Hunter on the building.

Harley Brittain, Hunters uncle, pointed out, This is happening all across the country, and this is happening too close to home for us. If he [the sheriffs deputy] felt like he was in danger, hes got a taser on his hip. He didnt reach for that. He reached for his gun and shot a 17-year-old boy in cold blood, in his throat.

Jordan King, Brittains 16-year-old friend and an eye-witness, said he and Brittain had worked through the night to change the transmission on Brittains truck after having driven approximately one mile down the road to Mahoneys Body Shop to make the repairs.

After the repairs had been made, the two boys drove out of the auto shop, whereupon Sergeant Michael Davis pulled them over on Arkansas 89. King said Brittains truck would not go into park, prompting Brittain to exit the vehicle and reach for a blue oil jug in the truck bed to put behind the vehicle so as to prevent the truck from rolling into Davis squad car.

According to King, Davis, without issuing any commands, immediately drew his weapon and fatally shot Brittain. They didnt say one word that I know of, King said. I didnt hear it and it happened so fast.

King explained that a second police officer arrived at the scene and detained him. [The officer] told me get out with my hands up and pull my shirt up and stuff, and then [forced] me to the ground, put me in handcuffs and was dragging me around and stuff. I sat in the back of the cop car for about three hours.

King was later interviewed by the Arkansas State Police regarding what had occurred. He mentioned his confusion as to why the deputy would shoot Brittain when he brandished no weapon and did not appear threatening. He said that when he saw the lifeless body of his friend lying face down on the ground, it did not appear real to him.

Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley released a video on Facebook Wednesday in which he states that he had provided state police with body camera footage of the shooting. Claiming that he handed over the video without having viewed it, he adds that while everyone wants the truth, he isn t sure how much of the incident was captured on camera. [emphasis added.]

In the video, Staley went on to say, Sadly, on social media, some people are demanding I take action without waiting for evidence. Thats irresponsible, and I wont do it. Theres a lot of misinformation on social media. Dont believe it. Lets all wait until the facts are confirmed.

This admonishment angered those protesting Brittains murder.

This tragedy has gone unreported in the New York Times, the principal media voice of the Democratic Party, Jacobin magazine, which is linked to the Democratic Socialists of America, and Liberation News, the online newspaper of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Deaths of white people as a result of police violence, such as Brittain, are largely swept under the rug because they cut across the racialist narrative promoted by the Democratic Party and the pseudo-left.

From 2017 to the present, according to Statista.com, victims of fatal police shootings in the US total 4379, of whom 1,805 are identified as white, 989 as black, 692 as Hispanic, 150 as other, and 753 as unidentified. So far this year, police have killed a total of 371 people, including 122 whites, 71 blacks, 38 Hispanics, 3 listed as other, and 137 unidentified.

The overwhelming majority of these victims are working class. This conforms to the pattern of police killings worldwide. The vast majority of those who are brutalized, disappeared or killed by the armed and uniformed enforcers of the capitalist state are from the working class.

The police cannot be reformed within the framework of capitalism. They are generally recruited from among the more backward social elements in keeping the function they perform on behalf of the ruling corporate-financial elite. This is what determines the prevalence of right-wing and racist views within police departments, as well as the fact that minorities, disproportionately among the most impoverished sections of the working class, are disproportionately among their victims.

Biden and the Democrats, including their pseudo-left appendages, portray police violence entirely as an expression of white racism, in order to foment divisions within the working class and undermine the growth of working class resistance and class consciousness. Meanwhile, they reject any policies in response to the pandemic, based on science, that impinge on the profit interests of the corporate-financial oligarchy, sacrificing the lives mainly of workers to the economic interests of Wall Street. This is what drives the deadly campaign to eliminate all pandemic restrictions and force workers back into unsafe workplaces and schools.

With working class resistance growing, the Democrats and Biden are now diverting hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic relief funds into the hiring of more police.
India Walton, a candidate backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), is on track to be the next mayor of the western New York city of Buffalo following her defeat of longstanding incumbent Byron Brown in last weeks Democratic Party primaries.

Brown, who ran an almost nonexistent political campaign and refused to debate Walton, was defeated by a margin of approximately 1,500 votes. While most local Democratic politicians had backed Brown, the countys Democratic Party leadership has pledged to support Walton moving forward.

With no Republican opponent and barring an unlikely to succeed write-in campaign proposed by Browns campaign following his loss, Walton will likely assume her position as mayor following the November elections.

India Walton. (Image Credit: India Walton Campaign website)

Much has been made in the national press of Waltons supposedly improbable win against an entrenched Democrat due to both her working class background and identification as a democratic socialist. However, Walton was backed by forces within and around the Democratic Party as a means of containing social anger and keeping it confined to the capitalist system.

Walton, who is black, grew up in Buffalos impoverished East Side. She later lived just south of the city of Buffalo in Lackawanna, the former site of a sprawling Bethlehem Steel factory that once employed thousands of steel workers.

While working as a registered nurse, Walton became a member of SEIU Local 1199 and later a union representative. It appears it is from this point that Walton came into the orbit of the Democratic Party, transitioning into a community organizer who spoke at a 2014 womens rights rally in Washington D.C. and later led or co-founded several non-profit organizations.

The defeat of Brown no doubt reflects growing social anger in Buffalo. As with other major rust belt cities, such as Baltimore, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Rochester and Minneapolis, Buffalo has long been run by the Democratic Party, which has overseen the unending police violence and the impoverishment of workers and youth.

Last year, Buffalo saw a brutal police crackdown on protests that followed the murder of George Floyd, epitomized in the widely shared video of police pushing 75-year-old protestor Martin Gugino to the ground. Gugino suffered a fractured skull and was unable to walk for several weeks afterwards. Neither officer involved in assaulting Gugino was ever charged.

In addition, Brown has overseen a rapid rise in the Buffalo regions housing prices and the gentrification of city neighborhoods, with the building of luxury apartments backed by large tax breaks for capitalist real estate developers. In contrast, Buffalo is one of the poorest cities in the US, with an official poverty rate of 28.8 percent, compared to a national average of 12.3 percent.

According to the 2019 American Community Survey, 43.4 percent of Buffalos children live in poverty, a child poverty rate that is exceeded only by the cities of Detroit and Cleveland.

In addition to the national DSA, Waltons campaign was also supported by the Buffalo Teachers Federation, SEIU Local 1199 and the Working Families Party (WFP). Due to the ability of candidates in New York state to run on multiple party lines, the WFP essentially exists as a vehicle for the states unions to back Democratic Party candidates.

While the WFP regularly supports incumbent Democrats, the organization from time-to-time backs insurgent Democrats, such as gubernatorial candidate and actor Cynthia Nixon in 2018, to prevent workers and youth from breaking with the Democratic Party. Made up of union organizers with no real principles, the party has even previously supported Republicans that are friendly with the union bureaucracy.

In the days since her win, Walton has been hailed as the first socialist mayor of a large American city since Milwaukees Frank Zeidler left office in 1960. Following her win, she received congratulations from Congress members Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and has been covered positively in the New York Times as an example of how progressives can win in working class cities.

In reality, the DSA has counted a number of mayors of major cities as members of its socialist-in-name-only organization, including Ron Dellums of Oakland and the right-wing Democrat Mayor David Dinkins of New York City. Apparently, the DSA is hoping no one remembers its history of slapping the socialist label on candidates who are later exposed to be thoroughly conventional capitalist politicians.

In Waltons own political program posted on her website, there is no mention of capitalism or socialism. If one were to read her program, one would have no idea that the problems of Buffaloextreme poverty, low wages, a poor education system, police violence and political corruptionare endemic across capitalist America and the entire world.

Instead, her program is filled with typical left-liberal capitalist reform policies such as prioritizing small and minority-owned local businesses and targeting infrastructure investments to create safe streets, calming traffic and increasing accessibility for people of all ages and abilities.

The promotion of India Walton by the DSA, the WFP, the union bureaucracy, the New York Times and factions of the Democratic Party is in essence an attempt to rebrand an increasingly discredited capitalist political party.
Last weekend, Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) expressed her fundamental confidence in Germanys Special Forces Command (KSK). She announced that the secretive fighting unit would not be disbanded despite a long string of far-right scandals and serious weapons offences.

In an organization like the Bundeswehr [Armed Forces], she said, right-wing extremists can never be ruled out in absolutely every instance, even more so in the special forces. She has arranged for the command to be sent back to Afghanistan to secure the redeployment of German troops there.

KSK unit at the Bundeswehr Day 2017 (Image: Tim Rademacher / CC BY-SA 4.0)

By deciding to leave the KSK largely untouched, the defence minister is protecting the fascist networks that have developed within the force. Extensive stockpiles of ammunition and explosives, which are said to have been funneled toward a nationwide fascist network that recruits members from across the state and security apparatus and is preparing for a violent coup on a Day X, disappeared from the KSK and other special units.

Given detailed witness statements and press research that painted a picture of a shadow army in May 2020, the Defence Ministry felt compelled to convene a KSK task force, which was officially charged with investigating right-wing extremist ties within the elite unit. The task force is comprised of KSK Commander Markus Kreitmayr, Germanys most senior military brass; Inspector General Eberhard Zorn, as well as Defence Commissioner Eva Hogl (Social Democratic Party, SPD). In reality, it served to shield the unit, along with its armed parallel structures, from the critical gaze of the public.

For example, Kreitmayr, who was supposed to take action against those in possession of the units lost war materiel, instead ordered an illegal ammunition amnesty under which KSK soldiers could hand over privately stashed Bundeswehr stocks without fearing any consequences. The public only learned of this by chance during the trial of one of the soldiers involved, who maintained an underground weapons cache. In March, his two-year sentence was suspended.

Although criminal and military investigations are underway against the KSK commander because of the amnesty measure, Kreitmayr will not be suspended but will assume a new leadership position in rotation. His successor as KSK head will be Brigadier General Ansgar Meyer, who currently commands the German contingent of NATOs Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan.

That Kreitmayrs blatant attempt to obstruct justice was only the tip of the iceberg is borne out by other details that have come to light recently. According to a report by Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, the possibility of returning the stolen ammunition without punishment was evidently known in the Defence Ministry (BMVg) at least since last summer.

The Bundestag (federal parliament), however, was not informed of this. The Inspector-General personally deleted the relevant passage in the report to the parliamentarians, according to TV news show Tagesschau.

The working groups final report, signed by Inspector General Zorn and published early last week, now claims that more than 90 percent of the defence ministers 60 measures announced last summer have already been implemented and that comprehensive structural changes have been implemented that are effectively tantamount to a reorganization of this unit.

The World Socialist Web Site commented on the alleged reform measures at the time. It stated: The defence ministers move is primarily a damage control operation. The discredited right-wing extremist force is not to be disbanded but rather organised more effectively and given more influence within the Bundeswehr as a whole.

This assessment has since been fully confirmed. For example, the Bundeswehr website states that exchanges of the KSK with special forces of other branches of the armed forces and the police as well as international exchange in training should be specifically promoted in the future. However, research by broadcaster ZDF suggests that it was precisely such regular exchanges with other special forces, which, under the auspices of politicians, benefited the development of the nationwide terrorist networks.

As for the grandiloquent announcement of the disbanding of a KSK company in which the right-wing extremist activities were particularly comprehensively documented, this turns out to be a mere regrouping. On its website, the Bundeswehr explains that the formal dissolution of the company was not connected with the suspension and disarmament of its members but was the prelude to personnel decisions that could include transfers out of the unit or to another area of the KSK.

In parallel with these manoeuvres, the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD), which reports directly to the Defence Ministry, also established a working focus on the KSK and was given broad powers to monitor telecommunications. The ministry thus strengthened the authority under whose eyes the armed command structures had developed: both Robert P. alias Petrus (a KSK soldier and administrator of the far-right Nord chat group), and Andre S. alias Hannibal (a former KSK instructor and alleged head of the group) were, at least temporarily, informants of the military intelligence service.

In 2018, MAD agent and former KSK soldier Peter W. had to stand trial on suspicion of having warned his informant, Hannibal, about the ongoing investigations against the latters network. At the time, Peter W. was also acting as an official contact person for the investigating Federal Prosecutor General and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA).

In June 2020, various media outlets finally reported that eight KSK soldiers were regularly provided with information about the trial of their comrade by at least one MAD agent. The head of evaluation at MAD had passed on internal documents from ongoing investigations to a KSK soldier, who had subsequently forwarded them, Tagesschau reported.

Such an approach is standard practice for a secret service whose annual report unapologetically describes its task as protecting Bundeswehr soldiers in contact with suspected right-wing extremists from unjustified suspicion.

That the KSK, riddled with right-wing extremists and intelligence operatives, is again being deployed to Afghanistan, the country where it was used to torture and murder people, speaks volumes.

The unit was the first German force to set foot on Afghan soil in 2001 as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Just weeks later, KSK soldiers allegedly physically abused Murat Kurnaz, who was born and raised in Bremen, Germany, at a US airbase in Kandahar province before transferring him to the torture chambers at Guantanamo, where he was subsequently detained without charge for five years with the knowledge of the German government.

American special forces who then collaborated with the KSK in processing so-called capture-or-kill lists later reported hearing music from World War II at the German troops debauched drinking parties.

Significantly, on 1 September, outgoing KSK Commander Kreitmayr will take over the post of head of training at the Armed Forces Base, previously held by Brigadier General Georg Klein. Klein, who in turn was promoted within the Armed Forces Base Command, is responsible for the Bundeswehrs bloodiest war crime to date.

In 2009, the then Bundeswehr colonel, working closely with members of the KSK, ordered the bombing of two tanker trucks in Afghanistans Kunduz province, resulting in the deaths of between 100 and 140 people, including many children of primary school age. As documents obtained by Wikileaks later showed, the operational command knew in advance that the bombing would result in numerous deaths and injuries without adequate action being taken immediately before and after the incident.

Kramp-Karrenbauers rehabilitation of the KSK sends an alarm. In the face of growing social tensions, the ruling layers need such forces and methods to enforce their interests abroad and at the same time to suppress growing resistance at home.

As early as 2017, former KSK Commander and Brigadier General Dag Baehr publicly described a KSK deployment at home as a scenario that urgently needed to be rehearsed. In June 2020, a whistleblower reported that soldiers in the unit were ordered by superiors to write essays about a KSK deployment inside the country. Last month, a former Bundeswehr colonel who helped build the KSK, according to a report by broadcaster ZDF, appeared at an anti-lockdown demonstration in the capital and declared that the KSK should be sent to Berlin for a change to clean things up properly.
The rate of new confirmed coronavirus cases globally, which has declined steadily since the end of April, largely as a result of the global vaccination drive against COVID-19, is again beginning to rise as the Delta variant continues to spread internationally.

Daily cases reached their most recent nadir on June 21, which had a 7-day average of 359,833 reported new infections of the coronavirus, according to Worldometer. Since then, cases have been rising, reaching 368,854 on June 26. Daily confirmed deaths worldwide caused by COVID-19 currently stand at just over 8,000, a figure which is expected to rise in the coming weeks following the rise in infections.

In total, there have been nearly 182 million known cases and more than 3.9 million recorded deaths caused by the pandemic.

A worker in protective suits takes a break amid graves at a newly opened cemetery for the victims of COVID-19 in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Monday, Nov. 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)

The dangers of the spread of the Delta variant were made clear on Friday by World Health Organization official Dr. Mariangela Simao who warned that, according to CNBC, People cannot feel safe just because they had the two doses. They still need to protect themselves.

Dr. Simao continued, Vaccine alone won't stop community transmission. People need to continue to use masks consistently, be in ventilated spaces, hand hygiene... the physical distance, avoid crowding. This still continues to be extremely important, even if you're vaccinated when you have a community transmission ongoing.

The World Health Organizations warning about the continued need for vaccinated people to wear masks constituted an unstated rebuke of the US Centers for Disease control, which last month encouraged vaccinated people to stop masking, leading to the abandonment of mask mandates throughout the country.

The current uptick in cases has been caused, from an epidemiological standpoint, by the fact that the Delta variant is 2.5 times as transmissible as the original variant of the disease, a result of the virus mutating and optimizing itself for human infection over the course of the past 18 months and hundreds of millions of cases. It was this variant that was responsible for the cataclysmic surge in cases and deaths in India this past March, April and May, when cases in that country soared to nearly 400,000 a day, at the time about half of the worlds cases.

The Delta variant also causes four times as many serious cases and hospitalizations, a major factor in the surge in daily deaths in India in April and May, which peaked at more than 4,600, a third of daily deaths globally. And even that horrific figure is widely regarded as a vast undercount, especially in Indias rural regions.

Similar instances of skyrocketed case counts are now underway in countries across the world. New cases in the United Kingdom have increased six-fold in the past two-and-a-half months to 13,900 a day, with the Delta variant now accounting for at least 90 percent of all new cases in the country. In Russia, new cases have more than doubled since the beginning of June to more than 18,700, while new cases in Indonesia have more than tripled to 16,800 over that same period.

Cases in South Africa have increased 15-fold in April, standing at 14,800 cases per day. Equally dramatic spikes have occurred in Zambia, Namibia and, to a lesser extent, Tunisia. Numerous countries in Latin America have also seen their case counts double or triple over the past few months thanks to the Delta variant, including Colombia, Paraguay and Venezuela. This list also includes Trinidad and Tobago, a country which has had its number of total cases triple since April, and which was recently gifted a derisory 80 vials of coronavirus vaccine from the countrys United States embassy.

That the virus has been allowed to mutate to become so dangerous, however, is the direct result of the homicidal policies of herd immunity promoted by the worlds capitalist governments. In the United States, for example, where the Delta variant is on track to become the dominant variant by the end of June (July at the latest) and which has already suffered more than 619,000 deaths, states across the country are letting even the most basic protections, such as mask mandates, fall by the wayside.

Moreover, schools are slated to fully reopen in a the fall, a measure championed by President Joe Biden and his administration and which will inevitably lead to an increase of community transmission across the country. Even now, outbreaks of the Delta variant, especially among the unvaccinated, have emerged in Missouri, a state with one of the nations lowest vaccination rates.

The dangers of such policies was underscored on Friday by a Wall Street Journal report revealing that half of the adults infected in a recent outbreak of the Delta variant in Israel had been fully vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The outbreak raises the danger of both the fact that vaccines are not infallible when community transmission is allowed to continue, and the fact that the Delta variant is capable of, at least in some cases, breaching the protections provided by the vaccines.

In response to the resurgence of the pandemic, World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at a press conference on Friday, Delta is the most transmissible of the variants identified so far, has been identified in at least 85 countries, and is spreading rapidly among unvaccinated populations.

He continued, condemning the reduction of public health measures around the world, noting Its quite simple: more transmission, more variants. Less transmission, less variants. That makes it even more urgent that we use all the tools at our disposal to prevent transmission: the tailored and consistent use of public health and social measures, in combination with equitable vaccination.
The current California brush and wildfire season is off to an early start and threatens to surpass last years record-setting wildfire season. In 2020, more than 4.3 million acres of vegetation burned, and more than 10,000 homes and buildings were destroyed.

Meteorological reports indicate that year-round wildfires have become common across the state and in the Pacific Northwest. A May 2021 article in the San Jose Mercury News confirmed that the California fire season now lasts 12 months.

Ominously, Red Flag fire danger warnings were issued in early May, nearly two months before the traditional start of the states fire season. The Red Flag warnings issued May 4 included the region on both sides of Californias Central Valley, a large area from Redding in the North to Modesto, east of the San Francisco Bay Area. The area includes Sacramento, the state capital.

A fire truck drives along Highway 168 while battling the Creek Fire in the Shaver Lake community of Fresno County, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

As of this writing, there are eight active fires, including the Willow Fire (2,877 acres burned, 26 percent contained), the Mohave Fire (2,490 acres burned, 95 percent contained), the Cow Fire (761 acres burned, 85 percent contained), the Inyo Creek Fire (586 acres burned, 30 percent contained), the Overland Fire, near the Mexican border (515 acres burned, 95 percent contained) and the Mesa Fire, north of San Diego (350 acres burned, 40 percent contained).

The largest of those fires, the Willow Fire in Los Padres National Forest, has an estimated containment date of July 11, due to the very difficult terrain that fire crews have to confront.

The blaze has threatened homes and businesses, leading the Monterrey County Sheriffs Department to issue evacuation orders for the region northwest of Sacramento.

Seventeen major fires have been fully contained after consuming over 17,000 acres, including the Southern Fire (5,366 acres burned), also near the Mexican border. If one adds to that figure the number of fires of 500 acres or less, 29,195 acres have already burned in 3,794 incidents.

The combination of a serious drought with a terrible heat wave affecting California and the western US has led to perfect conditions for such conflagrations. Besides drying out fire-prone vegetation, the hot conditions have led to sharp losses in available water needed not only to produce electricity, but irrigate water-thirsty crops, such as almonds and cotton, and to fight the fires themselves.

Ahead of the official summer fire season this year, between January 1 and June 20, in California alone, there have been 3,270 wildfires that have burned 16,451 acres, compared to 2,625 fires and 19,116 acres for the same period last year.

The early onslaught of fires is the result of the spring heat wave that has brought record temperatures to the west, a heat dome that is worsening drought conditions in the entire region, from the Great Plains to the Pacific Coast, including the Pacific Northwest.

In some areas, June temperatures have broken records going back 150 years. On June 19, the National Public Radio website reported temperatures of 54 degrees Celsius (130 Fahrenheit) in Californias Death Valley, 48 in Phoenix, Arizona (118 Fahrenheit), 43 in Sacramento (109 Fahrenheit), and nearly 40 in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington (98 Fahrenheit.) Some forecasts were predicting temperatures of 41 (106 Fahrenheit) and higher in Washington State on Monday.

Thunder and lightning storms are predicted for early this week in southern Oregon, possibly sparking more fires. Fires are also breaking out in eastern Washington, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Montana and New Mexico.

As in California, there are serious concerns about the potential collapse of an antiquated power grid that was never designed to withstand extreme temperatures.

Observers predict that hundreds of thousands of acres will burn this summer, perhaps establishing a new record (over 4 million acres were destroyed in 2020 in California). At heart is the lack of preparation by governments at every level as the weather across the western part of the country becomes hotter and dryer.

In January 2019, in the wake of the extreme wildfire year of 2018, newly elected Governor Gavin Newsom announced the signing of an executive order declaring war on wildfires, promising new measures to fundamentally change the states response.

Like the state governments cynical and premature declaration that the coronavirus pandemic was over, at the beginning of 2020, Newsom declared mission accomplished, claiming the state had put in place sufficient measures to address the wildfire catastrophe.

However, very little was actually accomplished. A recent investigation by Sacramentos CapRadio and National Public Radios California Newsroom found that Newsom has overstated by 690 percent the number of acres treated with fuel brakes and prescribed burns. According to the investigation, Newsom assured the public that the 35 priority projectsanticipated by the 2019 executive ordersubjected 90,000 acres to prevention measures. The actual figure was 11,399.

In fact, the CapRadio-NPR investigation found that in 2020, Cal Fires fuel reduction measures had dropped by half, to levels below the administration of his predecessor, Jerry Brown.

Newsom is now proposing a $1.2 billion wildfire resiliency fund. That, according to Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford Universitys Woods Institute for the Environment, is a fraction of what is needed. We are in a deep hole, declared Wara, and it is going to take us many years of sustained effort to get out. Wara has called for treating one million acres annually for wildfire prevention, while the state is currently only addressing a tiny fraction of that amount.
On Saturday, June 26, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for Wayne County following widespread flooding in the region after overnight storms knocked out power throughout southeastern Michigan.

Power outages impacted over 30,000 DTE Energy customers Saturday, just five days after another storm had caused 60,000 outages in the region.

Map of power outages in southeastern Michigan on Saturday night. Source: DTE Energy

Freeway pump failure cited as cause of flood

According to the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), at least 28 freeway pump stations either had communications problems as a direct result of the power outages or experienced mechanical issues due to the heavy downpour Friday night. The pump failures caused massive flooding on major freeways in the metro Detroit area, including busy commuter routes like the John C. Lodge and Southfield freeways, as well as Interstate 94, which connects Detroit to Chicago.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan requested assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency as the extent of the flood damage to residences and local businesses became clearer throughout the day.

Map of failed pump stations in metro Detroit. Source: Michigan Department of Transportation/WXYZ Detroit

Drivers stuck in vehicles on the flooded freeways apparently overwhelmed the Michigan State Polices emergency response system as callers waited hours for assistance. If you are stranded and called 911, we will get to you, MSP posted to Twitter, noting that requests for ETAs were overloading their response capabilities.

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) hosted a press conference at 2:00 p.m. Saturday from Detroit Public Safety Headquarters. Gary Brownformer cop and current head of DWSDwarned that just another inch of rain would likely result in even further backups. He said, We are aware that hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of Detroit households have experienced water in their basements and sewer backups.

The flooding has severely damaged the historic Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood on the citys east side at the border of Grosse Point. Other surrounding suburbs have seen similar water backups as a result of infrastructure failure.

One of the other worst-hit areas is Dearborn, a working-class suburb on the west side of Detroit, home to Fords historic Dearborn Truck Plant. The Rotunda and I-94 intersection was entirely underwater by Saturday morning, trapping drivers and causing major traffic backups on one of the most used freeways in the area. The city of Dearborn was forced to open an emergency cooling center and shelter for displaced residents. Many reported several feet of water seeping into basements, causing unlivable housing situations.

Video taken by onlookers from freeway overpasses shows chaos as drivers attempt to navigate around or through feet of flood water. Many flooded areas were still impassable through Sunday afternoon.

Abandoned vehicles sit on flooded Detroit freeway. Source: Twitter

Impact on auto industry

In Sterling Heights, a northeastern Detroit suburb, at least 3,000 homes were without power after Friday, according to DTE. Sources at the Stellantis Sterling Heights Assembly Plant reported extreme worker shortages the same day due to flooding on commuter routes. Outside of this, however, the worker reported that the plant was running business as usual.

Submerged vehicles on Interstate 94 in the metro Detroit area. (Image credit: Michigan State Police)

At Jefferson North Assembly Plant (JNAP), a Stellantis factory located on Detroits east side, the Friday night shift was sent home early due to flooding inside the parking lot and the plant. Sources told the Autoworker Newsletter that the Saturday shift was also sent home approximately an hour early from flooding and that the company call-in system was experiencing problems, likely due to the high volume of calls.

First shift did not run as employees were not able to get to the plant due to local road closures. Water in the plant has been removed and second shift is expected to begin at 4:30 p.m., Stellantis told media in a prepared statement.

Ford Motor Company reported that Dearborn Truck was also shut down Saturday as a result of flooded workspaces and parking lots. Kelli Felker, Ford global manufacturing and labor communications manager, told the Detroit Free Press, They are still shipping but employees had trouble getting in due to the flooded area.

In addition to limited production, a large number of brand-new vehicles were ruined by flooding in the JNAP shipping yards. It is unclear how this product destruction will impact production in the near future. It was crazy they still wanted to get our production, a JNAP worker told the WSWS. With all those cars being water damaged they are going to have to try to make up production. I heard that they were going to try to sell [the damaged vehicles], but how can they do that?

Brand new vehicles sitting in stagnant flood water near the Stellantis Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit. Source: Facebook

Increased floods in recent years

The flooding in Detroit, coming off the heels of the collapse of a condominium near Miami, is a further demonstration of the disastrous state of infrastructure in the United States. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave Americas stormwater drainage infrastructure a D rating in this years quadrennial Report Card for Americas infrastructure, with the age of the countrys drainage systems cited as a particular concern. A separate study by the ASCE found a funding gap of $434 billion for water, sewerage and drainage systems combined over the space of ten years.

By comparison, the bipartisan infrastructure proposal reached last week includes a paltry $55 billion for water infrastructure, according to the New York Times .

In 2019, the Detroit News reported that approximately half of the state of Michigans 140 pumping stations were rated in poor condition by MDOT. Most of these pumping stations are located in the metro Detroit area, and are responsible for preventing the type of flooding that occurred this weekend.

Similar flooding took place in August 2014, when record rainfall peaked in a day at 6.25 inches. At least two people were killed and thousands more experienced severe property damage from the flooding, which then-Governor Rick Snyder chalked up to simply a record event of rain, ignoring the infrastructure failures. Residents in northern Detroit suburbs filed an ongoing class action lawsuit against local governments for failure to maintain infrastructure in order to prevent such damage and flooding.

MDOT has announced in recent years plans to get the states infrastructure up to par by 2035 while simultaneously maintaining that any upgrades and maintenance are tied to allotments from the state legislature.

Meanwhile, DTE Energy reported first-quarter earnings of $397 million, up from $340 million in 2020. CEO Jerry Norcia received $7,420,207 in pay in 2019. CMS Energy, Consumers Energys parent company, posted $1.271 billion in quarterly profits for 2021. President and CEO Patricia Poppe received $8,986,702 in pay in 2019.
Conservative government Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock resigned Saturday evening after admitting to breaking coronavirus rules over social distancing and close contact indoors.

He was replaced by former chancellor Sajid Javid, who left government in February 2020 following a conflict with Prime Minister Boris Johnsons then adviser Dominic Cummings.

Hancock exited after the tabloid Sun published images Friday taken from CCTV footage showing Hancock kissing Gina Coladangelo in his Whitehall office on May 6 this year. Hancock had been having an extramarital affair with Coladangelothe pair first met as students at Oxford university two decades ago. He had authorised guidance banning intimate contact with people outside their household until May 17.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock speaking at a government Covid-19 press conference inside No10 Downing Street (credit: picture by Andrew Parsons/No 10 Downing Street--Flickr)

Johnson didnt immediately dismiss Hancock, with a spokesperson stating Friday that the prime minister had accepted Hancocks apology and considers the matter closed. But by Saturday Hancocks position had become untenable, with leading Tory newspapers and MPs demanding his resignation and calling for Johnson to take control.

Previously an economist at the Bank of England, in 2005 Hancock became a senior economic adviser and later Chief of Staff to Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. In 2010, he became an MP and in 2018 was appointed by then Tory Prime Minister Theresa May as health secretary. In 2019, following the resignation of May during the Brexit crisis, he challenged for the leadership of the party. After failing to win enough votes in a first ballot he stood down and endorsed Johnson for party leader.

The vultures have been circling Hancock for a while. Last November, the Sunday Times revealed that Coladangelo, a former director and shareholder at lobbying firm Luther Pendragon and communications director at the Oliver Bonas retail chain (founded by her multi-millionaire husband) was made an unpaid adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) before being handed a paid position. In September 2020, she was appointed a DHSC non-executive director, a part-time role paying 15,000 per year for 15 to 20 days of work.

Hancock faced a barrage of hostile headlines and commentary on Saturday, epitomised by the pro-Tory Daily Mails front page, How can he cling on? with the Telegraph, the Tories house organ, reporting, Tory MPs urged Boris Johnson to pull the plug on Mr Hancock and expressed their frustration to party whips over the Health Secretarys hypocritical behaviour.

The first Tory MP to call on him to resign was Duncan Baker. He was followed by former Cabinet minister Esther McVey who said, If it would have been me, I would have resigned myself and Im hoping that Matt Hancock is thinking the same thing, that he doesnt have to have it pushed upon him.

Hancock was integral as health minister to the governments herd immunity strategy, which has led to the deaths of over 152,000 people during the pandemic. Yet he has not been forced to resign over his role in a policy of social murder, including his recent lying comments, under conditions in which at least 1,500 health and social care staff have died from Covid, that there is no evidence that a shortage of PPE led to anybody dying of Covid.

Nothing is being said about Hancocks role in handing out tens of billions of pounds in Covid contracts to Tory cronies and companies connected to the government. One of these was a landlord at Hancocks local pub, who received contracts worth at least 30 million for supplying vials for coronavirus tests.

The Labour Party has confirmed yet again its craven defence of the government, with party leader Sir Keir Starmer tweeting politely on Saturday afternoon, Matt Hancock is right to resign. But Boris Johnson should have sacked him. Starmer repeatedly backed Hancock to remain as health secretary over this past year, defying mass outrage in the working class over the governments homicidal policies, including his role in turning nursing homes into killing fields.

Not for the first time, a sex scandal is being used by sections of the ruling class to engineer a shift in policy. The exclusive focus on Hancocks affair with Coladangelo has served to divert public attention from the beneficiaries of Hancocks downfall.

The focus on Hancocks hypocrisy, and the accusations of small-scale cronyism in relation to his lover, are a happy narrative for anti-lockdown forces who are demanding the lifting of all restrictions on fighting the virus so that the corporations and banks can reap greater profits.

One of Hancocks critics, Sir Christopher Chope MP, a leading member of the Tories anti-lockdown Covid Recovery Group faction, said his party association had voted unanimously to call on Matt Hancock to resign immediately. He tweeted, Covid regulations have created a dystopian world of denunciation, finger-wagging & hypocrisy. Let us be freed from this tyranny of diktat and arbitrary rule.

On June 10, before Johnson was forced by a surge of the Delta variant to push back the planned ending of lockdown restrictions on June 21, Baker had demanded the date be honoured, It is futile to think we will end up with zero Covid, we dont with the flu, so as such I will be calling for us moving forward on June 21, employing a dose of common sense and learning to manage with Covid as it will not be eradicated for some time yet, if ever.

The Sunday Telegraph, which has itself insisted on an end to the tyranny of lockdown, editorialised Sunday, Matt Hancock had to go. He should have done so soonerThere was a serious risk, given the charge of hypocrisy, of lockdown becoming a matter of us v them.

That Hancocks departure sees the return to government of Sajid Javid is the clearest indication that events are being seized on to shift the political agenda further to the right, requiring an upscaling in the offensive against the working class.

The first words out of Javids mouth as health secretary were those making plain his fervent wish to end lockdown for good: We are still in a pandemic and I want to see that come to an end as soon as possible, and that will be my most immediate priority to see that we can return to normal as soon and as quickly as possible.

Javid, an avowed Thatcherite and multi-millionaire former city banker, insisted as Johnsons chancellor on continuing the mass austerity cutbacks that had pauperised millions of people over the previous decade. He demanded that ministers be required to go through every line of departmental budgets assessing value for money and present radical options to cut spending.

He favours slashing corporation tax from 19 percent (the lowest rate in the G20) to 12.5 percent and has mooted abolishing altogether the 45 percent rate of income tax paid by the richest.

As home secretary, Javid stripped Shamima Begum of British citizenship to stop her returning from Syria. Begum had been groomed and made the trip to Syria as a 15-year-old girl. Javids action made her stateless, which is illegal under international law.

The Tory right is being given their head under conditions in which the government has declared July 19 Terminus day when all public health restrictions will be lifted. This is being imposed as a resurgence of the pandemic is underway driven by the Delta variant. Yesterday, Britain reported another 14,876 cases of Covid and 11 deaths, on top of 18,270 infections and 23 fatalities announced Saturday.
Just weeks after the devastating second wave of COVID-19 peaked, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis government and state governments are easing the already limited restrictions, paving the way for another disaster. These moves are a continuation of the Indian ruling elites decision, from the outset of the pandemic, to place big business profits above human lives.

Indias total COVID-19 cases are now over 30 million with the death toll nearing 400,000. Despite a relative decline, the number of daily cases and deaths is still very high at around 50,000 and just over 1,000 respectivelydown from 400,000 and 4,000 at the height of the second wave. Coronavirus infections, however, are expected to surge again with the spread of new Delta and Delta Plus variants. The ministry of health figures are widely regarded as gross underestimates.

The lowering of daily cases and deaths is largely the result of the limited restrictions imposed by the various state governments. The central government and other state governments, however, are rapidly moving to ease restrictions and fully reopen the economy despite warnings from experts that the situation could rapidly worsen.

People wait to receive COVID-19 vaccine in Mumbai, India, Thursday, April 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

Dr. A Fathahudeen, who, according to BBC, has treated thousands of Covid patients, told the news agency that another wave was inevitable. It was possible, he said, that we can delay and contain it with appropriate measures like sequencingto keep an eye on mutationsand strictly enforcing safety protocols. If we dont do all this, then the third wave could sneak up on us faster than we can imagine.

Confirming this warning, Maharashtra state reported last week that there had been 10,000 daily infections for four consecutive days, with the state accounting for one fifth of Indias COVID-19 cases. The state capital, Mumbai, is Indias financial centre.

The worsening situation led Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to declare that there should be no hurry in relaxing the coronavirus-induced restrictions. However, Thackerays government, like many other state administrations, has already allowed businesses to reopen.

India Today reported that a health official had told a meeting with Thackeray last week that The Delta Plus variant could stoke a third wave in Maharashtra. It could spread at double the rate.

Local and international media have published videos and photos revealing massive crowds at railway stations, markets and shopping malls failing to observe social distancing, a situation encouraged by the lifting of limited lockdown measures.

This is occurring as the Delta variant of COVID-19, first detected in India, and which created the devastating second wave in the worlds second most populous nation, is surging around the world. The Delta variant is reported to be 60 percent more transmissible than the previously dominant variant and shown to be partially resistant to some vaccines.

A June 22 statement by the Indian ministry of health declared that another coronavirus variantlocally named as Delta Plus, which is a mutation of the Delta or B1617 variantwas now a variant of concern.

The ministry of health said that nearly two dozen cases had been detected in three Indian states, including the worst-impacted Maharashtra. It warned that its characteristics included, increased transmissibility, stronger binding to receptors of lung cells and potential reduction in monoclonal antibody response.

According to medical experts, the variant is resistant to the recently authorised monoclonal antibody cocktail treatment (a potent intravenous infusion of antibodies to neutralise the virus) for COVID-19. On June 24, local media reported that Madhya Pradesh state recorded the first death from the Delta Plus variant.

Although the first Delta variant emerged in India last October, the Modi government failed to invest the necessary resources to investigate and attempt to deal with it.

This criminal negligence, along with its ongoing refusal to enact a national lockdown and other basic measures like properly-funded mass testing, contract tracing and other urgently needed resources to upgrade the rundown public healthcare, led to the second wave of the pandemic, and the latest, even more dangerous variant.

The Modi government is attempting to justify its refusal to establish a national lockdown by claiming that the only way to control the pandemic is through a national vaccination program. But the vaccination program is chaotic and moving at a snails pace, leaving the overwhelming majority of the countrys more than 1.3 billion people vulnerable.

According to a June 22 Reuters report, India had fully vaccinated only 5.5 percent of the 950 million people eligible with about 18 percent having received just one dose.

Since May vaccinations have averaged fewer than 3 million doses a day, far less than the 10 million health officials say are crucial to protect the millions vulnerable to new surges. Despite India being the worlds largest vaccine producer, the maximum daily achievable vaccine supply rate is 4 to 5 million doses, Chandrakant Lahariya, an expert in public policy and health systems, told Reuters.

The news agency report cited other experts who pointed out that vaccinations in rural areas, where two-thirds of Indias population live, have faltered. Maintaining the pace will prove challenging when it comes to injecting younger people in such areas, Delhi-based epidemiologist Rajab Dasgupta said.

Even in the national capital New Delhi, which was devastated by the second wave, more than 8 million residents had yet to receive a first dose, and inoculating all adults there would take more than a year at the current pace, health authorities told Reuters.

Indian news reports also point to huge disparities across districts in the countrys COVID-19 vaccination coverage. The Scroll.in web portal revealed on June 7 that areas such as the western Assam district, bordering Bangladesh, had only administered 3.2 doses per 100 people. Mahe districts, in the union state of Puducherry in southern India, had the best coverage with 63 doses per 100 people.

Of the 10 districts with the lowest vaccination coverage, six (ranging between 4.86 doses per 100 people and 5.37 doses per 100 people) were in Uttar Pradesh, Indias most populous state with over 200 million population.

Scroll.in reported that, Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu, had the highest vaccine coverage of Indias largest cities, with over 40 doses per 100 people. Mumbai had 34.14 doses per 100 people, Bengaluru Urban was marginally lower at 32.30 doses and the national capital, New Delhi, had 23 doses per 100 people.

Despite Chennai being the best performer among all of Indias bigger metros, coverage in 34 of Tamil Nadus 37 districts is less than the national average, Scroll said. Northeastern India, as a whole, is reported to have large disparities with coverage in 72 of the regions 115 districts less than the national average.

An article published on June 24 by the Print cited warnings by Priyanka Kishore, head of India and South East Asia Economics at Oxford Economics. States are easing lockdowns based on lower test positivity rates rather than vaccination progress. This risky strategy increases the chances of renewed outbreaks that would further delay the recovery.
Classified UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) documents supposedly left accidentally at a bus stop in Kent confirm that the incursion by HMS Defender into Russian territorial waters of Crimea was a calculated provocation, planned at the highest levels of the government and the armed forces.

Two sets of documents were found sodden by a member of the public on last Tuesday morning. One set details discussion held Monday evening on the possible reaction by Russia to HMS Defenders passage through disputed waters off the Crimea coast that took place on Wednesday. The other leaks outline plans for a possible UK military presence in Afghanistan after the US-led NATO operation ends.

The member of the public, who wishes to remain anonymous, handed the documents to the BBC, allowing for them to be made known prior to the military incursion Wednesday, possibly making it impossible to carry out had the state broadcaster not sat on them.

A screen grab taken from a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, show a view of the British destroyer HMS Defender as it sails near Crimea in the Black Sea. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

The almost 50 pages of documents include emails and PowerPoint presentations of alternative routes that might have been taken by the Defender, a Type 45 destroyer that is part of the UK Carrier Strike Group led by the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, now heading to the Indo-Pacific region. They originated in the office of a senior official at the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

It was already announced earlier this month that the Defender was to break away from the larger strike group and conduct what the MoD insists was an innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters, with guns covered and the ship's helicopter stowed in its hangar. But the documents confirm that the UK was aware of a possible hostile response by Russia and decided to proceed anyway.

The UKs pose of innocent intent is premised on the assertion that the waters concerned are Ukrainian. The 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea determines that the passage of a foreign ship is regarded as innocent when it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order, or security of the coastal state. But Russia has claimed sovereignty over the waters off Crimea since it was annexed in 2014, amid rising tensions with the rightist government installed by a coup in Ukraine that was backed by the United States and the European imperialist powers.

An official at the Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ), which encompasses the UK Army, Navy and the Air Force, asks, What do we understand about the possible 'welcome party'?

Potential Russian responses were outlined ranging from safe and professional to neither safe nor professional. The documents concluded that neither safe nor professional was a distinct and growing possibility.

It was noted that recent interactions in the eastern Mediterranean between Russian forces and the Carrier Strike Group had been unremarkable, in line with expectations. However, Following the transition from defence engagement activity to operational activity, it is highly likely that RFN (Russian navy) and VKS (Russian air force) interactions will become more frequent and assertive.

Two routes were considered, including passing through a short stretch through a Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) close to the south-west tip of Crimea, or one that kept HMS Defender out of contested waters. This was rejected because it would be portrayed as the UK being scared/running away, when the UKs intent was to reinforce Ukraines claim to the disputed waters.

We have a strong, legitimate narrative, the documents stated, with the presence of embedded journalists, Jonathan Beale from the BBC and Marc Nicol of the Daily Mail, providing an option for independent verification of HMS Defender's action.

The Defender sailed about 12 miles off the coast of Crimea, where it was first shadowed by 20 Russian aircraft and two coastguard ships before warning shots were fired and bombs dropped in its path by Russian jets.

Most of these papers are marked official sensitive, to be distributed on a need to know basis. But the papers also include a document marked Secret UK Eyes Only, addressed to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace's private secretary, which outlines the recommendations for the UK to possibly stay in Afghanistan, following the end of NATOs Operation Resolute Support.

It notes an American request for British assistance, warning that Any UK footprint in Afghanistan that persists... is assessed to be vulnerable to targeting by a complex network of actors.

The deliberations are bound up with discussions over Britains post-Brexit foreign policy, including over where arms export campaigns put the UK in competition with European powers. But the main concern is over the intentions of President Joe Biden's new administration, including the fact that there is still much continuity from the previous administration regarding its focus on China and the Indo-Pacific.

The leak was a major political embarrassment, with the MoD initially stressing that the employee concerned with the loss of documents had reported it promptly last week and that It would be inappropriate to comment further.

This satisfied no one, given that the leak clearly came from the office of a senior official at the MoD and could indicate something more than carelessness. A police investigation has been announced, reportedly involving a top official, who may even face prosecution under the Official Secrets Actgiven that the documents should never have been removed from the building and the strange place they were then discovered before being passed to the BBC.

A source told the Daily Telegraph, The Ministry of Defence Police were immediately informed and have launched an urgent investigation. Nothing is being ruled out at this stage and it is entirely possible that this could result in a prosecution for the person responsible.

An incensed Rear Admiral Chris Parry, a former naval commander, told the Telegraph, In future if people find sensitive documents, they should take them to the police. You might as well take it to the Russian embassy as the BBC.

The person responsible should be severely dealt with. They should lose their security classification. This person has proven themselves untrustworthy with secrets at the highest level.

Amid a potential government crisis, Labour has said nothing about the reckless provocation carried out by the Royal Navy that ramped up tensions with Russia and could have sparked military conflict. Afterwards Moscow summoned British Ambassador Deborah Bronnert to the Foreign Ministry, with Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warning that should such an event occur again, we can bomb on target.

Labours sole concern is to support a swift investigation by Wallace and the Conservative government to reassure the House of Commons and the public that no military operations had been put at risk. Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey said, Ultimately ministers must be able to confirm to the public that national security has not been undermined, that no military or security operations have been affected and that the appropriate procedures are in place to ensure nothing like this happens again.
US health experts warn that the Delta variant of the coronavirus is driving up new infections and deaths nationwide, particularly in states with below-average vaccination rates. The increased COVID-19 rate is attributed to the Delta variant initially discovered in India, also known by the alpha-numerical designation B.1.617.2.

President Joe Bidens original target of 70 percent vaccination of US adults by July 4 will not be met, as the vaccination campaign has come to a near halt. As of June 27, only 46 percent of the US population had been fully vaccinated, and 54 percent had received at least one dose. The seven-day average of vaccinations nationally had declined to 715,000 per day.

The low national vaccination rate, coupled with the insistence of federal and state authorities that everything reopen without restrictions, is causing efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 to start to unravel. Cases are rising primarily in the states with the lowest vaccination levels.

A sign warning of COVID-19 dangers remains in place Tuesday, June 15, 2021, outside the entryway of a state office building in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb)

Since most of the worlds population will not receive vaccines due to lack of supply, new virus strains will inevitably evolve. There is a possibility that in time a variant will emerge that renders the current vaccines essentially ineffective and ends the progress made in the United States towards lowering cases and deaths. Already the decline in the number of new cases of COVID-19 across the country has plateaued at just above 12,000 infections per day.

Missouri was recently declared to have the nation's highest rate of new COVID-19 cases. Only 38 percent of Missouri's population is fully vaccinated.

During the week of June 19 to 26, the state saw 5,428 new infections. The Delta strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is particularly entrenched in southwestern Missouri. Webster County Health Unit Administrator Scott Allen told the local media, That variant is dominant in 96 percent in our sewer shed.

Testing of wastewater (also referred to as sewage) from households and buildings for RNA from SARS-CoV-2 virus helps public health officials in tracking the extent of infections across a community. In a story published by the Columbia Daily Tribune, Marc Johnson, professor of molecular biology and immunology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, said, The Delta variant started in Branson, a city in far southwestern Missouri. From there, it spread to the rural areas of the state. The variant reportedly penetrated the entire state within three weeks.

Dr. Dennis Robinson of the Marshfield Family Clinic confirmed to KY3, Its six times as bad as far as being able to spread. He said that patients present more severe symptoms when they contract the Delta variant.

When one person gets it, it spreads to more people. It seems to affect them a little differently, more with GI complaints. They feel worse than they did with the original COVID. They stay sicker longer. Ive had several patients run a fever seven or eight days.

Local trauma physician Dr. Sam Alexander said, Im seeing them back in the emergency department months later. Theyre having all kinds of complications and problems related to the disease.

In the extreme northwest of the state, the Atchison County Health Department warned on its Facebook page that though as of June 21 no local cases were reported, there was a spike in COVID-19 cases in the immediate region. The department expected the peak in infections to reach Atchison County within the next several weeks. As a result, the county set up a pop-up vaccination clinic, and the vaccines are regularly available at the department.

The northern and southwestern counties are mainly responsible for the spike. In the state's northwest, Livingston County went from 240 cases per 100,000 people in January to 280 in May. In the countys largest city, Chillicothe (population 9,700), dozens of people have been admitted to Hendrick Medical Center since the fall.

Steve Schieber reported to Kansas Citys KCTV 5: We had a sudden increase in cases significantly, particularly in Livingston County. That had a dramatic effect on the community. Livingston County Health Department said its surge peaked after Memorial Day, but is slowing now as local vaccination rates have increased. As of June 22, 31.5 percent of Livingston County residents were fully vaccinated. Most northern and southern Missouri counties have vaccination rates below 40 percent, with a few southern counties having rates below 20 percent.

Hospitalization rates for southern Missouri rose 72 percent, from 154 on June 1 to 265 on June 18. Statewide hospitalization rates for the same period increased by 11 percent, to 747. In Missouri's third-largest city, Springfield, area hospitals are overloaded and are on the cusp of sending patients to other cities.

In an article written by Sam Clancy of the Associated Press, Springfield-Greene County Health Department Assistant Director Katie Towns reported: It has come to that. There will probably be more people that are sent to alternative cities because were in the middle of the surge, and Im not sure when it will end.

In the states center, Boone County has the highest vaccination rate of 44 percent, while south-central Pulaski County has the lowest at 11 percent. The largest metro area, St. Louis, has managed to keep daily hospitalization rates below 100 people, but there are worries that the surge in southern Missouri will increase cases there.

The CEO of CoxHealth, Steve Edwards, warned, We think that with the Delta variant here, those that arent vaccinated are just sitting ducks. CoxHealth operates several hospitals in southern Missouri.

The average patient age in the region is dropping. ABC News ran a story in which Leanne Handle, who works at CoxHealth in Springfield as an assistant nurse manager for a COVID-19 unit, sounded the alarm that young, unvaccinated people were being admitted severely ill.

Right now, she said, our average patient population is anywhere from 30 to 55. We have seen patients as young as 18. She explained that these patients dont expect to have to make medical decisions such as whether to be intubated or whether to have a Do Not Resuscitate order in place if their condition is dire.

Handle went on, We have very few patients who have been admitted that have been vaccinated. So, it has been proven to keep you at least out of the hospital and from severe disease.

On June 22, Mercy Springfield hospital reported one admitted infant that tested positive.

Despite these concerning developments, the Missouri state government has made it clear that the health of the states population is not the primary consideration. On June 23, Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem struck down a citizen-led ballot initiative to provide access to Medicaid, the federal program for low-income people needing health insurance, for an additional 275,000 residents.

The judge claimed that the ballot initiative, passed by the public in August 2020, was unconstitutional because the wording of the ballot didnt include a way to pay for it. The parties that put the ballot initiative to the public for a vote will appeal Judge Beetem's decision, and it is expected that the case will go to the Missouri Supreme Court.

The ballot initiators will argue that the states refusal to fund the expansion does not abrogate its responsibility to do so. If the bid to expand Missouri Medicaid fails, rural hospitals risk closure. They need the funding that the expansion would provide due to rural residents steadily moving to the larger cities. Residents would have started signing up for the program on July 1, but the ruling has put that on hold.

As Governor Mike Parson encourages the full reopening of schools and businesses, he is threatening to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for state health programs beginning July 1. As with the federal government, state governments will willfully sacrifice the lives of their constituents to keep schools and businesses open.
For the nurses of Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, Monday, June 28 marks the beginning of their 17th week on strike, 112 days since they walked out in demand of safer staffing ratios.

Roughly 700 nurses, the vast majority Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) bargaining unit remain on the picket line in the most significant healthcare workers struggle in the United States.

On Sunday, hospital management Tenet Healthcare released its latest proposal, following two others since the strike began and summoning the nurses bargaining committee to present a counterproposal early this week. The proposal on the table includes the same staffing rubrics as the previous contract which expired in November 2019, as well as provisions that would free up resource nurses to assist other nurses when called upon. However, it reneges on a previous agreement on the elimination of flexing, a profit-maximizing staffing practice abused by the hospital industry across the country, and scuttles token improvements to pay and benefits.

Health Care Workers Newsletter supporters speaking to nurses in San Diego

In a press release from the MNA, bargaining committee co-chair Marlena Pellegrino is quoted as saying Simply put, this is one step forward and two steps back. It is not a serious proposal that will allow nurses to provide patients with the care and dignity they deserve from our community hospital.

However, the bargaining committee will still present the proposed contract to a rank-and-file meeting on Monday before responding to Tenet on Tuesday with its counterproposal.

For rank-and file-nurses, sixteen weeks on strike represents nearly four months of forfeited pay. While this demonstrates the nurses resolve and professional integrity, it is also an indictment of their union and the Democrats who provide it with political cover.

Later in its press release, the MNA states that the strike is receiving national attention after Tenets announcement that they were hiring permanent replacement nurses. They cite as proof of this the so-called solidarity rally held Saturday, June 12, which attracted an audience of hundreds. At least a quarter of the crowd, which in actuality numbered less than 200, was a whos who of the Democratic party, its hangers-on and the labor bureaucracy.

While feigning support for the nurses, including a call-and-response led by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, which rung of nationalistic fervor, the main purpose of the rally was to promote the PRO Act put forward by Democrats on the House Education and Labor Committee to bolster union bureaucracies that facilitate the suppression of working-class struggles. Neither the MNA nor the AFL-CIO have called for solidarity strike action behind the Saint Vincent nurses.

Tenet is only able to put forward empty proposals because the MNA has refused to call out any of its several other bargaining units currently working on expired contracts. And despite collecting roughly a thousand dollars in yearly dues, it sees nothing wrong with nurses having to find second jobs to meet their essential needs, even as they are expected to maintain a picket.

While the MNA, which has 23,000 members, and the Massachusetts AFL-CIO which has 400,000 members, have refused to mobilize the working class, the Socialist Equality Party and the World Socialist Web Site are campaigning to break the isolation of the Saint Vincent nurses and build a broad and politically independent movement for safer patient ratios and a healthcare system that places social welfare above profits.

Chris on left (WSWS media)

WSWS reporters collected statements from nurses in California, New York and Texas. They spoke of the rapacity of for-profit healthcare, the risk they take as healthcare professionals, the universality of healthcare workers demands against that system, the potential power of workers in united action, and the inadequacy of labor bureaucracies to defend their interests.

In San Diego, reporters spoke with nurses Chris, Mary, Rachel, Carla and Matt.

Chris, who is originally from Massachusetts said, "I can't believe I didn't know they have been on strikeI am from there! I know how bad it is, I actually left Massachusetts because of the conditions and ratios. Its so wrong what they are doingtrying to replace, [referring to Tenets move to find permanent replacements for striking nurses] but they are basically firing them. I know what this is like. I used to be a travel nurse and hospitals will look to fill these positions. I support the nurses and will be telling everyone I know back home about their strike."

Mary, a float pool nurse said she supports the nurses. It means something if all of them are out on strike. Patients are in (an) unsafe situation. I worked in a bad facility before. We do everything we can but at the end its your license on the line. The strike is not about them. Its about their patients' safety."

Rachel is a new nurse who welcomed the stand taken by the Saint Vincent nurses. "Nurses should continue to stand strong together. If they stand strong together theres nothing that they can't do. I support them because they are fighting for safe patient ratios and patients' lives are at risk."

Carla said she had previously worked in New York where they do not have staff-to-patient ratios. I support the nurses, of course. I came from New York to San Diego since there are no ratios in New York. Conditions were unsafe over there and everyone was miserable. (Its) so important to fight for safe ratios."

Matt told WSWS reports, "I support them, theyre fighting for safer conditions."

In New York, Shirley, who is a nurse at Bellevue Hospital in New York and a member of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), said of Saint Vincent strike I think its extremely important, and that they need everyone's support. And if we could, we should make it a national strike, not just at one hospital.

Of the Saint Vincent Hospital nurses demands, Shirley said, They're the same as ours, but we see things getting worse. We've complained about ratios, but we keep getting more patients. We're burnt out. During the pandemic we risked our lives, we were getting sick.

Asked about the NYSNAs handling of workplace issues she said, They don't get us anything. They do update us but that doesn't mean they're actually doing anything.

The WSWS also spoke with a nurse in central Texas. Maggie Ortiz, who chose to allow her full name in publication, has been a nurse for 21 years and currently works as a critical care float pool nurse in central Texas. She is also an activist, helping nurses walk through litigation and defend themselves when under investigation and founded an organization called Advocates for Nurses, in order to better help nurses defend their licenses.

In discussing the struggle for healthcare workers, she described conditions all too familiar to nurses everywhere: sicker patients on regular nursing floors in need of procedures beyond the training level of floor nurses already overburdened by heavy patient loads.

Barely more than a year into the pandemic, she describes the conditions in which healthcare workers had to survive, battle an unknown virus, and provide what care they could, and the Orwellian language broadcast throughout the world in the midst of a public health crisis of criminal making.

I ended up taking time off during the pandemic. I have preexisting conditions and I wasn't able to get a mask at work. I was getting N95's from my ex, who was getting five a week at his job while we nurses got nothing. I remember sobbing. I have dedicated my life to this. I have a masters degree. This is a global pandemic. And you're telling me I can't get a mask? It's airborne. You want to use this enhanced droplet buzzword which I've never heard of to get away with not giving us the right PPE.

To the nurses of Saint Vincent, Ortiz made a powerful statement:

I applaud and support the Saint Vincent nurses. If they aren't safe, it is their duty to speak out against it. It's a violation of the Board of Nursing. Safe patient care is what we want for everyone. I applaud them. It's hard. The retaliation is real. I fear for them afterward. I wish I could stand there with them. Thank you for protecting your community, for protecting all of us. Thank you for standing up. I hope it is an example for other nurses out there.

When asked about the role of the MNA and the fact that Tenet health care is replacing the striking nurses, Maggie stated, All of these [health care] organizations made billions during the pandemic. It's disgusting that they are replacing nurses. Who do you think they will replace them with? There's a global nurse shortage.

The MNA should be calling all their members out. What about reaching out to the [American] Hospital Association? Why haven't they been involved? No [strike] pay? We are talking about months of no pay. I am so tired of the abuses against nurses.

The average age of a nurse is 50 [years of age] and there aren't enough nurses going into the profession. Now they are fleeing the profession because they werent taken care of during the pandemic. We were left out to dry. You dont ask firefighters to go into fires without fire-retardant gear. 2020 was supposed to be the year of the nurse, and they didn't give us PPE. Call yourself Republican or Democrat, I don't give a sh*t.

The clear support among nurses and other workers for the Saint Vincent strike must be mobilized if their critical demands are to be met. According to the MNA press release, there will be a meeting of nurses with members of the bargaining committee Monday to prepare a counterproposal to present to Tenet management in person on Tuesday. At a previous meeting, the MNA gave nurses a preview of an offer made in May via a Zoom call where nurses lashed out at the insulting offer, shouting expletives and No, no! From what has been reported, it appears the current offer is, if anything, worse than the previous one. To break the isolation of the strike, nurses should initiate a rank-and-file committee to reach out directly to health care workers across the US and internationally.
The Labour Party-led government is racing to shut down the underground investigation of Pike River coal mine. It aims to prevent the recovery of evidence that could lead to prosecutions of those responsible for the disaster which killed 29 workers in November 2010.

The Pike River Recovery Agency (PRRA), which has only explored the mines drift or entry tunnel, intends to pull workers and equipment out and start sealing the mine this week.

Nobody from Pike River Coal Ltd. has been prosecuted for the companys egregious violations of workplace safety legislation, including grossly inadequate ventilation, which allowed methane gas to reach explosive levels. A 2012 royal commission of inquiry established that the company placed production ahead of workers safety and ignored numerous warnings of a catastrophe.

A placard from the 2016 blockade of the road to Pike River mine (Source: Uncensored Pike Facebook group)

Pike Rivers executives, board members and senior managers have been protected by successive National Party and Labour Party governments, and by the police and judicial system. No officials have been held accountable from the Department of Labour, or the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), which allowed workers to go underground despite knowing about Pike Rivers lack of an emergency exit and several other dangers.

Prime Minister Jacinda Arderns government promised in 2017 to re-enter the mine to recover evidence, look for human remains, and carry out a proper criminal investigation. These promises are now being reneged on. Minister for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little last month rejected a plan by mining experts, submitted on behalf of 23 of the 29 victims families, for the recovery of crucial evidence in the mine workings.

On June 9 the New Zealand Herald reported that the plan to seal the mine was put on hold after the Pike River Families Group (PRFG), representing 22 of the families, applied for a judicial review of Littles decision.

Last week, however, families discovered that the government has decided to proceed with the sealing, before the case comes before a judge. The PRRA, whose website falsely states that it is working in partnership with the Pike River families, did not consult the majority of the families on this decision.

The PRRA did not publicly announce its plan, and it was not reported in the Herald or other media outlets. The PRFG only found out after Alan Monk, whose brother Michael died in the mine, emailed PRRA chief executive Dave Gawn on June 23 to ask whether there were plans to seal the mine soon. Gawn replied the following day:

We begin the initial process of withdrawing from PBIS [the area of the drift known as Pit Bottom in Stone] back to the 170m mark today. We will commence the erection of the 170m seal some time next week. We anticipate that work on the 30-metre seal will begin around the middle of August. We expect to hand the Mine site back to DOC [the Department of Conservation] at the end of November.

Carol Rose, whose son Stuart died in the mine, told the World Socialist Web Site she thought the 170-metre seal would be a temporary one, and the 30-metre seal would be a more permanent barrier, but I dont know that for sure. Bernie Monk and Dean Dunbar, whose sons Michael and Joseph were killed, also said they did not know whether the 170-metre seal could be easily removed.

he Pike River Recovery Agency's website states falsely that it is "working in partnership with the Pike River families". (Screenshot from 27 June 2021)

Rose said the PRRA was withholding information from the families that dont want the sealing to go ahead. Only six families support sealing the mine and one is neutral. So far 48 people from the majority group of families have signed up to support the ongoing legal action against the sealing. Even if a judge eventually rules against the government, however, Rose did not know if it would unseal the mine. This is why we have to stop it, she said.

Dunbar called on workers underground to stop work and refuse to install the seal: I would like to appeal to the workers of the Pike River Recovery Agencynot the management, not the CEO Dave GawnI want to appeal to the workers, because what you guys are doing goes against everything the majority of the families want. You are about to entomb our children, entomb the evidence before this investigation is over. Do you want to be a part of that?

He said the government was sending the message that if you come to New Zealand you run a high risk of losing your life in the workplace, and no one will be held accountable. He urged workers to stop sitting on the fence and staying silent and take a stand in support of justice and accountability.

Dunbar said the government was moving quickly and stealthily because were gaining traction. People are starting to be told the truth. The evidence is starting to be compelling, were starting to release footage of bodies. Theyre running out of time. We dont have a campaign manager, we havent got unlimited resources, but we have the truth on our side.

A petition started by the PRFG, titled Help stop critical evidence in Pike River Mine from being locked away forever! now has more than 6,150 signatures and hundreds of comments supporting their fight for truth and justice. The WSWS has published dozens of letters from readers in NZ and internationally supporting the families and expressing outrage at the Ardern governments actions.

Some of the families have released an image of a body, taken by a camera lowered into the mine in early 2011, to counter the false claimspromoted for years by the media and the previous National Party governmentthat all human remains had been destroyed by fires. They have also shared an image of a self-rescue device photographed underground on November 23, 2010which suggests there were survivors of the first explosion four days earlier. The images are among thousands that have been leaked to the families.

The only reason the government has given for refusing to investigate the mine workings is the cost involved. The families technical advisors, led by former chief inspector of mines Tony Forster, estimate it would take less than $8 million to proceed past two roof-falls into the mine workings. This would allow investigators to examine the main fan, which is thought to have been the ignition source for the first explosion (see: What is the New Zealand government trying to bury in Pike River mine ?).

Monk told the WSWS that the government go on about the money, but its not the families fault that its come to this. The people that invested in the mine, I dont see them coming to the table and giving us any help. Pike River Coals shareholders and major creditors, including NZ Oil & Gas and the Bank of New Zealand, received tens of millions of dollars in insurance payouts.

The state-owned mining company Solid Energy purchased the mine in 2012 and sold off expensive machinery, which could have been used in the re-entry. The then-National Party government intended to permanently seal and abandon the mine, but was forced to back down after families protests in 2016-2017 gained widespread support in the working class. Now the Labour government is seeking to do what National was unable to.

The state cover-up is being assisted by the corporate media, which is reporting as little as possible, and the trade unions, which have maintained a conspiracy of silence on the families fight for truth. Little, who is overseeing the shutdown of the investigation, was the leader of the EPMU when the mine blew up. His immediate response was to claim that Pike River had a good safety record and there was nothing unusual about the mine. By supporting the sealing of the mine, the unions are continuing to protect corporate criminals whose actions caused 29 deaths.

The WSWS calls on working people, in New Zealand and internationally, to support the families demand that the government reverse its decision to seal the mine. The underground investigation must continue in order to uncover the full truth about what caused the explosions, and to hold those responsible to account. We urge readers to share this article widely, to break through the medias blackout, and to send statements supporting the fight for truth and justice for the 29 men who died at Pike River.
The official death toll climbed to nine Sunday as the search for bodies and possible survivors continued amid the rubble of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida, located on the Atlantic coast just north of Miami Beach.

Eight bodies have been recovered and one person has died in hospital. Over 150 residents remain unaccounted for more than four days after a significant portion of the 40-year-old, 12-story oceanfront residential tower suddenly collapsed in the early hours of Thursday.

Among the identified victims are retirees Antonio and Gladys Lozano, married for 59 years, who died together, asleep in their ninth-floor apartment. The body of Manuel LaFont, 54, was recovered on Friday. LaFont, originally from Houston, Texas, was a businessman who worked with companies in Latin America. Stacie Dawn Fang, 54, the first victim identified on Thursday, died of blunt force trauma as her apartment crumbled around her. Fangs teenage son, Jonah Handler, is among the handful of residents rescued from the rubble by first responders.

Workers search in the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo, Saturday, June 26, 2021, in Surfside, Fla. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The search effort was slowed by a smoldering fire beneath the rubble, which was finally suppressed on Saturday. A 40-foot-deep, 20-foot-wide, 125-foot-long ditch is being dug into the heap of concrete, steel, furniture, clothing and other personal effects to facilitate the recovery effort.

Reports continue to emerge indicating that the building was known for several years to be structurally unsound, pointing to criminal neglect in connection with the beachfront catastrophe. However, any official investigation is certain to be a whitewash, with no one facing serious consequences for their role in the deaths of potentially more than 150 people.

Structural engineer Frank Morabito delivered a report to the treasurer of the Champlain Towers South Condominium Association, the buildings owner and operator, in October 2018 that warned of major structural damage to the concrete slab underneath the pool deck and entrance drive caused by the failure of waterproofing. Failure to replace the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially, he explained.

The report, released by the city of Surfside Friday night, also found that concrete columns and walls in the parking garage levels under the building were cracking and had lost entire chunks, with some areas so eroded that they showed corroded steel rebar reinforcements.

Morabito noted that repairs were needed to maintain the structural integrity of the building but gave no indication that there was any concern of a collapse. The reports main conclusion was that the roof needed to be replaced before hurricane season to prevent rain and wind damage.

At the time of the collapse, the building was undergoing roof repairs as part of the recertification process required by Miami-Dade County for buildings that are 40 years old, but nothing had yet been done about the deteriorating concrete. The building needed approximately $15 million in repairs and upgrades in order to achieve recertification.

Donna DiMaggio Berger, an attorney for the condo association, told the Daily Mail on Friday that Morabito had not looked at the foundation or the ground underneath the building, as this is not required in the recertification process. A 2020 study of satellite data from the 1990s by an engineer at Florida International University found that the building had been sinking at a rate of two millimeters per year. It is possible that the building had subsided more than three inches in the last four decades, undermining its structural integrity. Despite these concerning findings, no official warnings were issued.

The Champlain Towers South Condominium was built on reclaimed wetlands on one of the many barrier islands that bear the brunt of wind and storm surge from hurricanes and other tropical storm systems. Starting in the late 1920s, speculators divided up the sandbar between the Atlantic Ocean and North Biscayne Bay, developing it into the city of Surfside.

Two Champlain Towers, South and North, were the first new buildings built in Surfside after a moratorium on new construction implemented by Miami-Dade County in 1979 due to concerns about the citys degraded water and sewage system. The developers, led by Polish-born Canadian attorney Nathan Reiber, paid $200,000 to the city, half the cost of a new sewage system on the property, in order to get the project off the ground.

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that Reiber had been charged by Canada with tax evasion during the 1970s and was fined $60,000. Reiber and a partner ran an apartment operation in Canada where they were accused of skimming tens of thousands of dollars from coin-operated laundries and pocketing $120,000 in a fraudulent construction scheme.

A year after the approval of the project, the developers of the Champlain Towers were compelled to ask two members of the City Council to return campaign contributions the former had made after Reiber and his associates were accused of trying to buy off the local government.

The construction of the Champlain Towers came at the beginning of the deregulation of the savings-and-loan industry. President Ronald Reagans 1981 tax cuts further encouraged the development of real estate as a tax shelter. Accordingly, money was flooded into commercial real estate development, resulting in an explosion of construction in Florida and throughout the US, with buildings often being quickly and cheaply constructed.

Both US political parties share responsibility for the Champlain Towers disaster. Between 1971 and 1999, the Democratic Party controlled the governors office for all but four years, overseeing an explosion of residential and commercial construction in Florida with little effective oversight. Most recently, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has been pushing to cut regulations further, seeking to remove any obstacles to the extraction of profit from the working class while funneling tens of millions of dollars in state funds to private developers.

Just hours after the collapse of the Surfside condo, President Joe Biden announced a bipartisan infrastructure deal providing a fraction of his original proposal, omitting any funding for childcare, health care, or tax credits for families, and leaving out his promised increase in corporate taxes. The entire $579 billion in new investments in physical infrastructure will be handed out to private companies under the guise of public-private partnerships.

Exactly how many other residential towers on the Florida coast and throughout the United States are at risk of collapsing like Champlain Towers South is unknown, but it is known that thousands of others were built under similar conditions and on unstable ground and are now being subjected to increased flooding and inclement weather thanks to human-induced global warming. A thorough survey of every housing development is needed to determine the risks posed to their residents.

As one engineer noted, the disaster in Surfside is a canary in the coal mine. It is indicative of the abysmal state of basic social infrastructure across the country, under conditions where every aspect of life is subordinated to the drive for ever greater profit. This is on display most monstrously in the COVID-19 pandemic, in which a herd immunity policy pursued by the ruling class has allowed the disease to spread, resulting in the deaths of at least 600,000 Americans and 4 million people globally.

With increasing frequency in the United States bridges collapse, factories explode and dams fail, killing workers and destroying their homes and livelihoods, yet nothing is done to address these life-and-death problems. In Detroit, Michigan last weekend, 2-6 inches of rain in a matter of a few hours flooded the freeway system as critical pumps failed, stranding thousands of people in their cars. Hundreds of homes were flooded, destroying the belongings of families.

In every case, capitalism is unable to address and resolve these basic issues. The need for rational planning in the organization of society is clear. However, it is impossible under the anarchy of the capitalist system. A solution to these basic problems will be found only through the expropriation of the corporate-financial oligarchy and democratic reorganization of society under the control of the working class so as to marshal the worlds resources to meet the needs of humanity. Guaranteeing safe housing, safe workplaces, high quality education and health care requires the establishment of socialism.
Lima was the scene again Saturday of dueling demonstrations between supporters of Pedro Castillo, the former teachers strike leader who won Perus June 6 second-round election, and those of his right-wing rival Keiko Fujimori, who is trying to overturn the results with baseless allegations of fraud in what has been described as a slow-motion coup.

At Fujimoris rally, right-wing supporters chanted Peruvians want a new election. Castillo used his rally to issue pledges of loyalty to Perus existing capitalist order, including a call for the chief of the countrys central bank to remain in the position that he has held for the past 15 years. There the crowd chanted the people united will never be defeated.

Three weeks have passed since Peruvians went to the polls, and election authorities have yet to officially declare the winner. This is despite all of the ballots having been counted, leaving Castillo with 50.125 percent to Keiko Fujimoris 49.875 percent, a slim margin of 44,058 votes.

Pedro Castillo addresses June. 26 rally in Lima (Credit: Andina)

The protracted delay in recognizing Castillos victory has provoked protests in Perus mining corridor, where he won overwhelmingly among the impoverished population. Workers erected barricades across roads, halting truck traffic and threatening to paralyze mining operations, the most crucial sector of the Peruvian economy.

Fujimori is the daughter of the former dictator Alberto Fujimori, now imprisoned for crimes against humanity and corruption during his decade-long rule that ended in 2000. If she fails to secure the presidency, she herself faces the prospect of imprisonment on corruption charges relating to the massive bribery and kickback scandal surrounding the activities of the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, in which every living Peruvian ex-president and virtually every political party are implicated.

The Fujimori camp, backed by powerful sections of the Peruvian ruling class and the bulk of the media, has promoted the lie that Castillos election victory was the result of fraud. With the aim of nullifying 200,000 votes, it mobilized an army of lawyers to file a series of challenges alleging irregularities in election districts in Perus impoverished Andean and southern region, where Castillo won overwhelmingly.

While the National Electoral Tribunal (JNE) has dismissed the challenges submitted by Fujimoris lawyers as baseless, they are moving ahead with appeals. In a further bid to paralyze the bodys deliberation, Luis Arce Cordova, a Fujimori supporter, resigned from the tribunal last Wednesday claiming that he did not want to validate false constitutional deliberations.

This attempt to deny the JNE a quorum was remedied at the end of last week with Arces replacement by Victor Raul Rodriguez Monteza, a fellow prosecutor who, like Arce, is implicated in a corruption scandal involving the bribing of judges in the port city of Callao.

Among the latest attempts to have the election overturned has been an appeal by the fujimoristas to the Organization of American States (OAS) to intervene by conducting an audit of the results. They have specifically cited the 2019 Bolivian election, in which the OAS intervened with baseless claims of fraud. This paved the way for a coup against President Evo Morales, who was forced to resign by the military and was replaced by a right-wing regime.

In all of this there is an element of playing for time by the Fujimori camp with the aim of organizing sufficient forces within the state apparatus to execute an extra-constitutional coup.

This threat was made explicit in a June 14 letter to the high command of the Peruvian armed forces signed by retired senior commanders, including 23 Army generals, 22 Navy admirals and 18 Air Force lieutenant generals (the list was slightly padded with the signatures of dead officers). The communique called upon the military to act rigorously in order to remedy the demonstrated irregularities in the handling of the election results in order prevent the coming to power of an illegal and illegitimate commander-in-chief.

Among the most revealing episodes in the electoral coup plot is the revelation that Vladimiro Montesinos, Alberto Fujimoris powerful chief adviser and intelligence chief and longtime asset of the US Central Intelligence Agency, has played an active role in the attempt to overturn the election results, including by bribing members of the National Electoral Tribunal (JNE).

Montesinos is imprisoned in the maximum security naval prison in Callao, serving sentences for bribery, embezzlement and illegal gun-running, and facing trial on other charges related to massacres, extra-judicial executions and torture carried out on his orders. Nonetheless, it has emerged that he was able to make 17 calls, apparently from the office of the prisons director, to a right-wing former commando and senior fujimorista operative, over the past month.

The substance of these conversations was made public with the release of audiotapes by Fernando Olivera, a center-right politician who first came to prominence in 2000 with his release of the so-called vladi-videos, videotapes showing Montesinos handing millions in bribes to political and media figures. The intelligence chief had made the tapes himself to blackmail anyone failing to sufficiently support the Fujimori regime. The release of those tapes played a significant role in the collapse of Fujimoris decade-long dictatorship, with the ex-dictator fleeing to Japan and Montesinos to Venezuela.

In the audiotapes released last week Montesinos is heard telling the retired commando colonel Pedro Rejas Tataje to contact Guillermo Sendon, a political operative sympathetic to Fujimori, indicating that he could facilitate the bribing of three members of the electoral tribunal. In another audiotape, Sendon tells Rejas Tataje that the three JNE members would vote in favor of Fujimori in exchange tres palos (three sticks) meaning a million dollars each. Sendon said he had already been in contact with Luis Arce Cordova, the prosecutor who abruptly resigned from the tribunal.

The ability of Montesinos to play an active role in the attempt to overturn the election is incontrovertible evidence of support by elements of the military in the coup plotting.

Also revealing was Montesinos advice to the fujimorista operative that he could seek assistance from the US Embassy. The US State Department last week issued a statement praising Perus election as a model of democracy in the region, but never naming Castillo as its victor, clearly leaving Washingtons options open. For his part, Montesinos, one of the most sinister figures in recent Latin American history, enjoyed an intimate relationship with the embassy and the CIA dating back to the 1970s, when he supplied Washington confidential intelligence on the bourgeois nationalist military regime of Gen. Juan Velasco Alvarado.

In the face of the coup threats and an increasingly hysterical campaign denouncing him as a communist, Pedro Castillo has moved ever further to the right in a bid to win the confidence of the Peruvian ruling class.

This shift was at the heart of the speech he delivered to the mass rally in his support on Saturday. He made the most news by stating he intended to maintain Julio Velarde as president of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCRP). Velarde, a favorite of the International Monetary Fund, is affiliated with the right-wing Christian Peoples Party, whose ex-president Lourdes Flores is among the most prominent supporters of Fujimoris bid to overturn the election.

We are not communists, we are democrats, we respect Peruvian governance and institutionalism, Castillo told the crowd. We are respectful of this Constitution and, in this context, I ask doctor Julio Velarde that his work in the Central Reserve Bank remain permanent. This is necessary not only for economic tranquility, but to open the doors for the big investments that have to be made democratically, with rules. He went on to declare himself respectful of the dignity and loyalty to the homeland of the Peruvian military.

The authoritative big business mouthpiece Bloomberg News declared Castillos announcement regarding the central bank the most favorable move for the markets that he has taken since his election.

International finance capital is taking the measure of Castillo and determining that just like another former union leader turned president, Lula of Brazil, he is a man with whom they can do business.

The hysterical and increasingly dangerous anti-communist campaign within the Peruvian ruling class to overturn the election and revive the Fujimori dictatorship is driven by fear not of Castillo, but of the impoverished layers of the working class, peasantry and urban poor who voted for him. Perus stark levels of social inequality have been greatly exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the country posting the worst per capita death toll in the world and millions driven into unemployment and poverty. Combined with unending corruption scandals that have discredited every political party and state institution, these conditions threaten to ignite a revolutionary explosion.

The Peruvian working class can place no confidence in Castillo and the coterie of right-wing advisers, politicians and corporatist union officials surrounding him to defeat the threat of a coup. Workers must mobilize their political strength independently and on the basis of a socialist and internationalist perspective of revolutionary struggle. This requires the building of a new revolutionary leadership, a Peruvian section of the International Committee of the Fourth International.
Over 65 percent of voters abstained yesterday in the second round of the French regional elections, as each of the 12 incumbent regional presidents were re-elected. Neither Marine Le Pens far-right National Rally (RN) nor President Emmanuel Macrons Republic on the March (LRM) carried a single one of Frances 12 regions.

Thanks to this repetition of the massive abstention in the first round (66.5 percent), the traditional Gaullist and social-democratic parties held on to office. The right-wing The Republicans (LR) won six regions, the Socialist Party (PS) or the Greens five; the pro-autonomy Fa populu inseme party of Gilles Simeoni won Corsica. Notwithstanding this appearance of stability, mass abstention points to the deep discrediting of the political establishment by its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and violent police repression of strikes and protests.

Die rechtsextreme Parteichefin Marine Le Pen bei einer Pressekonferenz im sudfranzosischen Toulon am 17. Juni (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

As of yesterday evening, polling and media projections were giving the following results, with the candidate taking the most votes winning the regional executive and a bonus of one quarter of the seats in the regional council:

* Auvergne-Rhone-Alps (regional capital Lyons): Laurent Wauquiez (LR) 55.3 percent; Fabienne Grebert (Greens) 33.4 percent; Andrea Kotarac (RN) 11.3 percent.

* Brittany (Rennes): Loig Chesnais-Girard (PS) 30; Isabelle Le Callennec (LR) 20; Thierry Burlot (LRM) 17; Gilles Pennelle (RN) 12.

* Burgundy-Franche-Comte (Dijon): Marie-Guite Dufay (PS) 43; Julien Odoul (RN) 24.95; Gilles Platret (LR) 24.28; Denis Thuriot (LRM) 9.66.

* Center-Loire Valley (Orleans): Francois Bonneau (PS) 38.6; Nicolas Forissier (LR) 22.9; Aleksandar Nikolic (RN) 22.4; Marc Fesneau (LRM) 16.1.

* Corsica (Ajaccio): Gilles Simeoni (Fa populu inseme) 40.6; Laurent Marcangeli (LR) 32; Jean-Christophe Angelini (Avanzemu Pe a Corsica) 15.07; Paul-Felix Benedetti (regionalists) 12.26.

* East (Strasbourg): Jean Rottner (LR) 39; Laurent Jacobelli (RN) 27.1; Eliane Romani (Greens) 21.1; Brigitte Klinkert (LRM) 12.8.

* North (Lille): Xavier Bertrand (LR) 53; Sebastien Chenu (RN) 25.6; Karima Delli (Greens) 21.4.

* Ile-de-France (Paris): Valerie Pecresse (LR) 45.5; Julien Bayou (Greens) 32.5; Jordan Bardella (RN) 11.5; Laurent Saint-Martin (LRM) 10.5.

* Normandy (Rouen): Herve Morin (LR) 44.2; Melanie Boulanger (PS) 25.9; Nicolas Bay (RN) 20.1; Laurent Bonnaterre (LRM) 9.8.

* New Aquitaine (Bordeaux): Alain Rousset (PS) 39.3; Edwige Diaz (RN) 18.9; Nicolas Thierry (Greens) and Nicolas Florian (LR) both 14.3; Genevieve Darrieussecq (LRM) 13.2.

* Occitania (Toulouse): Carole Delga (PS) 57.8; Jean-Paul Garraud (RN) 23.9; Aurelien Pradie (LR) 18.3.

* Provence-Alps-Riviera (Marseilles): Renaud Muselier (LR) 57.3; Thierry Mariani (RN) 42.7.

Amid mass popular disaffection, the ruling class clearly intends to use this election, the last before the April-May 2022 presidential elections, to decide whom to run as president. Macron is deeply unpopular, as is his opponent in the second round of the 2017 elections, neo-fascist Marine Le Pen, who had only a 34 percent approval rating in an April poll. A February poll found that 80 percent of French people would oppose a Macron-Le Pen rematch in 2022, but polls also show that this is what would emerge if elections were held today.

Moreover, with Macron only leading Le Pen 52 to 48 percent in a hypothetical match-up, there is a discernible possibility that a neo-fascist could become president of France next year.

Significant sections of the French ruling class are clearly concerned about finding a more palatable frontman for the reactionary policies advocated by both Macron and the far right. And so, barely two minutes after the first projected were published last night, LR candidate Xavier Bertrand gave a victory speech preparing a presidential bid.

Bertrand, a health and then labor minister under right-wing presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, is a reactionary candidate of the financial aristocracy. Yet his motley speech mixed rhetoric of the Gaullist movement, yellow vest protests against social inequality, and the law-and-order appeals of Macron in order to demagogically posture as a candidate of the people.

History will record that twice here, on the soil of northern France, which is faithful to a certain idea of France, the National Rally was stopped, he said. He addressed you, the silent ones, the invisible ones, the workers, pledging to make sure that labor will live again, that it will be possible to live decently from work. My priorities are the middle classes and popular social layers.

At the same time, adopting the rhetoric Macron has used to to justify violent police repression of protests and measures targeting Muslims democratic rights, Bertrand pledged to re-establish order and respect for authority and to fight hatred of France.

Le Pen said the election reflected a deep crisis of local democracy and thanked electors who went to vote while everything pushed them to abstain. She proposed to adopt Citizen-Initiated Referendums (RIC), a legislative initiative championed by the yellow vests, as everything must be debated in order to win our fellow citizens back to interest in politics. She concluded by declaring that her party is the change in government that France needs.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, a former PS minister and leader of the left populist Unsubmissive France (LFI) party, also spoke on the electionshailing his voters in Marseilles who voted for the reactionary Muselier against the neo-fascist, Mariani.

He noted the abyss of abstention separating the mass of French people from institutions supposed to represent them, pointing especially to abstention among youth and workers who, more than others, are turning their backs on what they see as political theater. He proposed recognizing blank votes, the right to citizen-initiated referendums and referendums to recall officials as legal initiatives that could rekindle popular support for the state machine.

Melenchon cynically applauded the extremely painful political effort of his voters in Marseilles who, faced as in the 2017 presidential elections with a poisoned choice between two reactionary candidates, nevertheless voted to defeat the National Rally.

There is nothing more superficial and reactionary than the invocations by capitalist politicians and pundits of a crisis of democracy, followed by calls for legislative tinkering and the type of lesser-evil voting that put Macron in power. Totally absent from official analyses of the elections is any account of the political roots of mass abstention and disillusionment with official politics.

Signfiicantly, an Odoxa poll for Le Figaro found that 60 percent of the electorate blamed political parties and candidates who were unable to interest voters in the elections for the abstention. Some 37 percent blame Macron, and 20 percent blame the government, which did not give the French people enough information about the elections.

In the final analysis, mass abstention flows not from national conditions that can be addressed with one or another legal reform inside France, but by an international crisis of the capitalist system.

The brief regional election campaign was deafeningly silent on the fact that over 110,000 people in France and 1.1 million in Europe have died of COVID-19, due to the ruling elites opposition to medical personnels calls for a scientific fight against the virus. The European Union (EU) instead gave over 2 trillion in bank and corporate bailouts that raised the net worth of EU billionaires by over 1 trillion. Macron is now debating whether to immediately proceed to further cuts to pensions and unemployment insurance to help finance these massive handouts to the rich.

Objectively, this record reveals an unbridgeable class gulf separating the workers from the financial aristocracy and its state machine. Fearing working class anger driven by decades of EU austerity, moreover, reserve and active-duty officers in both France and Spain have threatened to launch military coups.

The fact that a neo-fascist descendant of Frances Nazi-collaborationist Vichy regime currently stands a credible chance of ruling France next year is a warning of the authoritarian course pursued by the bourgeoisie. However, Macrons presidency is an unanswerable refutation to those who would claim that a lesser-evil vote to halt the far right will preserve French democracy. Macron personally hailed Vichy leader Marshal Philippe Petain, a war criminal and convicted traitor, as a great soldier as he unleashed his riot police on social protests and mass strikes.

Yesterdays election is yet another warning that the political establishment is impervious to reform and to popular sentiment. Elections will resolve none of the burning questions facing workers. The struggle against the pandemic, war, and social inequality, and for democratic rights can only take the form of the independent and international mobilization of the working class in a struggle for state power and for socialism.
Swedens Social Democrat-led minority government became the first administration in the countrys history to be toppled by a no-confidence vote initiated by opposition parties last Monday.

Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who led a coalition with the Greens that was tolerated by the ex-Stalinist Left Party and the centre-right Liberal and Centre parties, has until today to resign, reach a new deal to keep his government afloat, or call a snap election.

Lofvens government is deeply unpopular. It has presided over a criminal herd immunity policy during the pandemic, allowing the virus to run rampant with virtually no public health measures. As a result, in a country of just 10 million people, over 1 million have been infected and more than 14,200 have died, at a per capita rate far higher than its Nordic neighbours.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven (Credit: Estonian Presidency-Wikimedia Commons)

The Social Democrat/Green coalition has also continued the steady march to the right in social spending, tax policy, and privatisations that has proceeded uninterrupted since the 1990s. The issue over which his government finally fell was a proposal to lift rent controls on newly built apartments to enrich multi-millionaire and billionaire property speculatorsa proposal that the Left Party felt it could not support without committing political suicide.

The housing crisis in Sweden is a major social issue, with over two-thirds of municipalities reporting a housing shortage. The lack of affordable housing reflects the rapid growth in social inequality over recent years, regardless of whether a government of the left or right has been in power.

The initiative for the no confidence vote was taken by the far-right Sweden Democrats, whose roots are in the neo-Nazi milieu of the 1980s. Sweden Democrat leader Jimmy Akesson was joined by the Christian Democrats and by the Moderates, traditionally the largest conservative party, in voting against the government. The motion succeeded because the votes of the Left Partys 27 deputies secured a majority of 181 to 168 in the 349-seat Riksdag (parliament).

The fact that the far-right is the beneficiary of widespread popular opposition to the Social Democrat/Green coalitions right-wing, big business policies is the responsibility of the ex-Stalinist Left Party, which has for decades worked to subordinate the working class to the Social Democrats and their trade union allies.

Over recent years, this policy has been justified by the need to prevent the rise of the far-right. The events of the past week have made clear that this disastrous course has only handed the political initiative to the far-right and paved the way for the fascists to come to power. Akesson, jubilant at the success of his no confidence vote this week, was able to denounce the Lofven government as historically weak, adding that it should never have come to power.

The Left Party sought to cover its tracks by presenting itself as the voice of workers and the oppressed. In a speech to the Riksdag, party leader Nooshi Dadgostar claimed to be defending the Folkhemmet (Peoples Home), a term used to describe the relatively generous social services and welfare programmes introduced by successive Social Democrat-led governments in the post-war period.

The political situation remains difficult, but Im proud of having contributed to making sure that the voice of Swedish tenants were heard, commented Dadgostar on Twitter.

The Left Partys attempt to portray itself as a defender of the Swedish social model, which no longer exists for the majority of the population, is a political fraud. It has played a critical role in propping up every Social Democrat government over the past three decades, helping to dismantle the social model and turn Sweden into a paradise for private investors. It backed the Social Democrats as they carried out sweeping privatisations, business deregulation, the gutting of workers rights, and attacks on social programmes. This is the product of the Left Partys acceptance of Swedens official political setup, identifying the establishment parties as two opposed blocs: the left", which includes the Social Democrats, Greens, and Left Party; and the right-wing Alliance, composed of the Moderates, Centre, Liberal, and Christian Democrat parties.

Under the Social Democrat-led government of Goran Persson (1996-2006), which relied on Left Party backing for a majority between 1998 and 2006, a wave of privatisations and public spending cuts was initiated. This laid the basis for the right-wing Alliance government under Prime Minister Frederick Reinfeldt to launch the largest privatisation drive in Swedish history between 2006 and 2014.

When Lofven first came to power after Reinfeldts defeat in the 2014 election, he failed to secure a majority within the traditional framework of the left bloc. This was a reflection of growing disillusionment with the Social Democrats, whose support fell from well over 40 percent during the 1970s and 1980s to 31 percent in 2014. Due to the lack of any genuine alternative to the right-wing programmes offered by all the major parties, the Sweden Democrats more than doubled their vote to over 13 percent.

Lofven struck a deal with the right-wing parties to ensure his minority government remained in power, including the adoption of the Alliances budgetary framework and the imposition of one of the most aggressive anti-refugee policies in Europe. The Left Party voted in favour of this government, which it touted as a bulwark against the far-right. Instead, after four years of a right-wing Social Democrat-led government, the Sweden Democrats were able to grow their support further to 17.6 percent in the 2018 election. In contrast, support for the parties in the left bloc dropped from over 43 percent in 2014 to 40.6 percent in 2018.

Lofven responded by deepening his collusion with the right. Instead of relying on an informal understanding, he secured a formal deal with the Centre and Liberal parties not to topple his government while still being guaranteed the informal backing of the Left Party.

Lofven agreed to major tax cuts for the wealthy and big business, and the undermining of workplace seniority rights. The Centre and Liberal parties, for their part, justified the January Agreement by saying that the alternative would have been to prop up a government led by Moderate leader Ulf Kristersson, which would have been reliant on the support of the right-wing extremists. The Left Party backed this arrangement for over two years, until this week.

In March, the Liberal Party passed a formal motion announcing that it would return to campaigning for an Alliance government at the 2022 election and did not rule out working with the Sweden Democrats. Liberal leader Nyamko Sabuni told the daily Dagens Nyheter, My analysis is that no government can be formed without having to at least have a relationship with one of the outer fringe parties (the Left Party and Sweden Democrats). We will from now on negotiate with all parties in parliament and look for a majority where we can find it.

The prospect of a government including the Sweden Democrats has taken a major step forward. On Thursday, Sabuni told the TT news agency that she would not enter talks to keep Lofven in power, a reversal of her partys position in March pledging to continue backing the government until it had passed the 2022 budget. A day earlier, Centre Party leader Annie Loof offered Lofven a compromise that included the implementation of further tax cuts. Even assuming Lofven can persuade the Centre and Left parties to back a new edition of his Social Democrat/Green coalition, the opposition of the Liberals would prevent him from achieving a parliamentary majority.

The Moderates Kristersson is openly pushing for a change of government without an election, based on an agreement among the Alliance members to join a government backed by the Sweden Democrats. He demanded in an interview with Sveriges Radio that the Centre Party should choose sides and back a bourgeois government, an alternative description for the Alliance.

A sharp warning must be made to workers in Sweden. The policies of the Social Democrats and Left Party have facilitated a dramatic shift to the right in official politics. To oppose this the working class must repudiate the Left Partys reactionary claim that workers' interests can be protected and advanced by lending support to the Social Democrats and seeking to revive the Folkhemmet.

The problems faced by Swedish workersrising social inequality, the destruction of public services and social programmes, and the threat of the fascist rightare confronted by workers across Europe and around the world. What is required above all is a new political orientation and programme based on a socialist and internationalist perspective. This poses as an urgent task the construction of a Swedish section of the International Committee of the Fourth International.
On June 25, the Ohio House passed a bill that designates the failure to follow a lawful order from a law enforcement officer as an obstruction of justice that would result in jail time and a fine. The bill has already come under criticism from civil rights advocates and legislators for its vague language, which could further empower police to suppress protests.

House Bill 22 (HB22) was passed by the state House of Representatives on the same day that Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis, Minnesota cop who killed George Floyd, was sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in prison for murder and manslaughter. While the Republican-backed bill passed 61-32 on largely partisan lines, both Democrats and Republicans on the federal and local level have responded to the protests over Floyds murder by further empowering the police with increased funding.

HB22 will still need to pass the Ohio Senate and be signed by Republican Governor Mike DeWine before coming into effect.

Cleveland Police Dodge Charger (Raymond Wambsgans/Flickr)

In its current form HB22 is an egregious attack on democratic rights, which would in effect criminalize intervening against police brutality or being near an officer or suspect during an arrest. Besides making it illegal to disregard a lawful order, the bill would designate throwing objects and substances to distract a cop and coming close enough to touch a cop without their consent as obstruction of justice. Some aspects of the bill, such as throwing objects at police or stopping an officer from arresting a suspect, are already illegal under Ohio laws.

HB22 includes a minor addendum from previous versions of the bill, which stipulates that it is okay to make videos or audio recordings of police. Sections from a previous version of the bill that would have overtly made it illegal to verbally taunt police were also removed.

If passed the bill would make the listed actions a second-degree misdemeanor, which could result in a sentence of 90 days in jail and a fine of $750. If it is determined that a violators actions risked physical injury to anyone, the charge would be bumped up to a fifth-degree felony and could carry up to a year in jail time and a fine of $2,500.

Gary Daniels, the chief lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Ohio, submitted testimony in March to the House Criminal Justice Committee calling for HB22 to be rejected. The ACLUs criticisms include that there is no clear explanation of what a lawful order from an officer is, that the bill designates actions that would not help a suspect as obstructing justice and that the bill opens the possibility for the mass arrest of protesters.

Daniels provided a completely plausible scenario of a large protest that police order to disperse because a small minority is breaking the law. He elaborated that even if the majority of protesters did not hear the order, Under HB 22, hundreds or thousands of people are now subject to arrest, detention, and imprisonment because they failed to follow a lawful order.

David Leland, the Democratic state representative for the 22nd District which covers portions of northern Columbus, has stated that if the bill had been in effect in Minnesota last year bystanders that yelled at Chauvin as he choked George Floyd would have been breaking the law. Leland, however, has couched his criticism with the claim that it would further discredit the police, stating that the bill will only deepen division and mistrust between police and the broader population.

Shane Wilkin, the Republican state representative co-sponsor of HB22, has responded to criticism of the bill in a completely dishonest manner, claiming that provisions like the mandatory distance between an officer making an arrest and a civilian is for the protection of both parties.

The debate between Democrats and Republicans over HB22 is an expression of the differences between the two parties over how best to handle growing mass anger within the population. While the Republicans clearly favor a codification of naked police repression, Democrats like Leland have expressed concern that too rapid an escalation of police state powers could further act to discredit the police and by extension the capitalist system they defend.

In a similar manner, the Democratic Party has attempted to divert anger from the police and instead blame police brutality on the racism of white workers.

However, many of the policy distinctions between the two parties fall to the wayside when it came to calling on militarized police and National Guard troops to suppress the protests sparked by Floyds death last summer.

Clearly still concerned that another wave of multiracial demonstrations could emerge, which could rapidly get out of their control, both Democrats and Republicans have responded by continuing to heavily arm and fund the police.

In the most recent example on a national level, President Joe Biden last week declared that it was not a time to turn our backs on law enforcement and announced that states and localities could allocate a portion of the $350 billion in federal pandemic relief funds to their police departments.

In other cases, Democratic city council members voiced support for defunding the police during the George Floyd protests, only to later reverse their position. The Columbus City Council in Ohio, which is largely dominated by the Democratic Party, announced in March that the 2021 budget would include $2.5 million for police recruitment. Council members opted to vote on the budget with the police funding as part of an emergency legislative process.

In an even more duplicitous example, numerous Minneapolis city council members pledged last year to disband the police in response to the protests and demands to defund the police. The city council then voted to provide $500,000 to add staff to the citys police department.

The Republican-supported HB22, despite its lack of support from Democratic legislators, is an expression of bipartisan concern that the police need to be further emboldened to suppress growing opposition among workers to inequality, poverty and police killings.
For four days, tens of thousands of Palestinians have taken to the streets across the West Bank demanding an end to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the presidency of Mahmoud Abbas. The mass anti-PA protests followed the death of Nazar Banat, an activist and critic of the PA, who died after being arrested and beaten by security forces on Thursday morning.

Protesters marched through the streets accusing the PA of killing Banat and chanting slogans that included Go away, go away, Abbas, Abu Mazen [Abbas] is a traitor, The people say, Down with the Authority! and The people want to overthrow the regime!

Some 15,000 people took part in Banats funeral procession in the southern city of Hebron on Friday, chanting, Your blood wont be in vain, while several hundred Palestinians gathered for Friday prayers at the al-Aqsa mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, chanting anti-Abbas slogans and accusing the PA of acting as Israels spies.

Angry demonstrators carry pictures of Palestinian Authority outspoken critic Nizar Banat and chant anti PA slogans during a rally protesting his death before clashing with riot police, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Saturday, June 26, 2021.

More demonstrations are planned, while protests in support have taken place internationally, in Boston, Beirut, London and Amman.

The protests highlight the growing anger on the part of the Palestinians over terrible economic and social conditions amid the systemic corruption of the PA, which serves as Israels subcontractor in the decades-long Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, while enriching a handful of Palestinian families. The PA is dominated by the Fatah movement within the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) that was led by Yasser Arafat, the international symbol of Palestinian resistance, until his death in 2004.

In a pre-dawn raid Thursday morning, at least 20 Palestinian security force officers arrested the 44-year-old father of five Nazar Banat, who had long been a vocal critic of Abbas and the PA on social media, excoriating the PA for its corruption, close security cooperation with Israels military forces and handling of the pandemic. One of his last Facebook posts attacked Abbas for his botched effort to secure vaccines from Israel that turned out to be too close to their expiry date to be used in time.

A former member of Fatah, Banat had campaigned on the Freedom and Dignity List in the election that Abbas called off in April after it became clear his Fatah faction would lose. The PA cited as a pretext Israels refusal to guarantee that Palestinians in East Jerusalem would be able to vote. Suha Arafat, Arafats widow, called for PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh to resign after Banats murder.

Banat had been arrested and detained eight times in the last 14 years, most recently seven weeks ago, and survived several assassination attempts. He was, according to Al-Jazeera, in hiding and sleeping at the home of one of his uncles in the H2 area of Hebron that is under the direct control of Israels security forces, suggesting that the Israeli security forces had given the PA permission to enter the neighbourhood and arrest him.

The Hebron governorate claimed that Banats health deteriorated after his arrest and he was taken to hospital semi-conscious where he was later pronounced dead. A Palestinian coroner, however, stated that Banat had died within one hour of his arrest due to blows to the body including to the head, chest, and lower and upper parts of his body, with evidence of bruises and fractures across his body. This prompted an angry demonstration later that day in Ramallah, the seat of the PA administration, that was broken up with great force by the PAs security forces.

Palestinian security forces launched tear gas and stun grenades against protesters in Ramallah on Saturday, attacking the crowd, hitting at least four journalists, including a reporter for the Middle East Eye, all of whom were clearly identifiable as reporters, and confiscating their mobile phones. They blocked demonstrators from approaching the presidential offices in the city centre, closing off the area and forcing shops to close. Video clips have circulated of plainclothes security forces beating and dragging a protester across the road. Other protests took place in Al-Bireh and Hebron.

While Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has promised an investigation, no one believes it will reveal the truth or that anyone will be held accountable or punished.

The United States, Canada and the European Union issued the usual pro forma expressions of concern over Banats death, condemning the security services actions. Such statements are utterly hypocritical given that the imperialist powers play a major role in funding, training and politically justifying the PAs security services in Israels interest.

The PAs security services were set up under the 1993 Oslo Accords that criminalized the armed struggle while supposedly promising a mini-Palestinian state through negotiations with Israel. The various branches employ 83,000 people or one security officer for every 50 Palestinians in the occupied territories, one of the highest ratios in the world. They account for nearly half of all the PAs employees at a cost of almost $1 billion, a sum equal to around 30 percent of total international aid to Palestinians.

Far from securing their safety from Israels military oppression and settlement expansion, the PAs multiple security services serve to suppress the Palestinian people in the interests of the Israeli and Palestinian bourgeoisie, without even the fig leaf of democratic control, accountability or elections. The recently cancelled vote was the fifth abortive attempt to hold elections since the last in January 2006, when the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated group Hamas, much to everyones surprise, defeated Fatah.

Abbas suspended the PAs security coordination with Israel in May 2020 in protest over President Donald Trumps deal of the century that purported to bring peace based on Israels annexation of the settlements, but he resumed relations with Israel in November when it became clear Democrat Joe Biden had won the presidency. This was despite the PAs rejection of the Abraham Accords under which the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrainwith the green light from its puppet master Saudi Arabia--Morocco and Sudan established formal diplomatic relations with Israel.

Israels withholding of the tax transfers due to the PA during the suspension of relations, amounting to some $1 billion, brought the PA to the point of bankruptcy, forcing it to declare a state of emergency amid the COVID pandemic.

The resumption of security coordination with Israel signified Abbass recognition that the PA cannot exert authority and its leaders secure access to privileges or wealth without the security services, as well as the tacit acceptance of the Abraham Accords.

This decision portended ever greater concessions to Israel, including the ending of payments to the families of the 4,500 Palestinian political prisoners held in Israel jails, to avoid Israels punitive sanctions on the Palestinian banks transferring the funds. At the same time, the decision to resume relations with Israel intensified the divisions within Fatah and antagonised Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the secular Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 has increasingly orientated towards Iran.

The 11-day assault on Gaza in May further discredited Abbas. The PA stood back as Israel violently suppressed protests in support of the Palestinians facing eviction in Sheikh Jarrah and other neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem, stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound during Ramadan and bombed Gaza, bolstering Hamass popularity.

Washington and the major powers have insisted that any aid for reconstruction in Gaza must be channelled through the PA in order to shore it up at the expense of Hamas, with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visiting Ramallah in May in a show of support for Abbas, whose approval rating has sunk to an all-time low.

The PA has stepped up its political arrests and the detention of people without trial in the West Bank as the Palestinians in the West Bank and Israel protested against the actions of the Israeli authorities in East Jerusalem, the vigilante gangs of Jewish extremists that incited violence in mixed towns and cities and the bombardment of Gaza. This comes amid Israels arrest of more than 2,150, of whom 90 percent were Palestinian Israelis, up until June 10.

The situation has exacerbated the internal divisions within the PA, with Nasri Abu Jaish, the PAs minister of labour, resigning on Monday and pulling his Palestinian People's Party out of the PA due to its lack of respect for laws and public freedoms.

The Palestinians bitter experience has demonstrated the impossibility of combating imperialist machinations and capitalist exploitation without the political unification and independent mobilisation of the working class throughout the region against all sections of the bourgeoisie on a program of socialist internationalism.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Health experts are warning we could see a spike in PTSD among healthcare workers. PTSD is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It can develop after traumatic or life-threatening events.

Many people commonly think of military service members experiencing PTSD, but health experts said this can happen to anyone.

Jill Bailey is a Social Worker at Greene County General Hospital. She told News 10 throughout her entire journey of working through the pandemic shes seen an increase in employees having more anxiety, symptoms of depression, and difficulty sleeping.

Because of COVID-19, Bailey said many healthcare workers are also getting out of the industry.

She said, Having to address patient mortality more than at any other time. Theres also been so much isolation. 

She told News 10 healthcare workers have had to navigate several difficult months, often dealing with unimaginable situations.

Natasha Newcomb is the Executive Director of Addictions and Substance Abuse at the Hamilton Center.

She said right now Locally they arent seeing excessive cases of PTSD among healthcare workers, but its possible that will change.

Newcomb said, I think in years to come, months years to come well start to see you know that impact as far as trauma-related disorders on those folks who were exposed on the front lines of covid and what that looked like. 

Bailey said shes been working hard to offer support for the employees at Greene County General Hospital.

She said she has regular meetings with staff to talk about how they are feeling.

Bailey told us shes been working double shifts for months all to make sure these caregivers are receiving some care of their own.

Bailey said, We want our employees to feel comfortable and feel safe while theyre working here but also to be able to go home and to have a healthy lifestyle there.

Bailey said Greene County General Hospital has resources for staff dealing with PTSD.

If you need mental health support in Indiana you can call 211 and follow the prompt.

For more information on where you can get help in Illinois, you can here.
WABASH VALLEY (WTHI) - Pollinators come in many different shapes and sizes. There are butterflies, bees, birds, and even flies! News 10 spoke to one expert who said pollinators help keep food on our tables.

A pollinator is a species that helps in a plant's reproductive process of pollination. It's common to know they pollinate flowers, but many don't know they pollinate crops. According to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR), pollinators are responsible for up to 35% of global crop production.

Megan Abraham, the DNR State Entomologist, said the department has seen a decline in pollinators for decades.

"Human beings are becoming so advanced, and the technology we create is so great that we get just what we asked for, but we might be getting a little more than we bargained for because we're also managing to wipe out species," Abrahams explained.

Although it's not intentional, the pesticides, fertilizers, and non-native plants we incorporate into our yards play a role in that decline. When we use those chemicals, we take away a source of food for pollinators as they move through the country. According to Abraham, one way we can create pollinator-friendly environments is to allow native species to thrive.

"If you plant native, typically you see a lot fewer pest issues. Anything you can do to reduce how much you're introducing as far as chemicals go to your surrounding areas, that's going to help," she explained.

If we all make small changes, we can make a big difference down the line.
A new and slightly changed version of the Delta coronavirus variant is spreading in a number of countries including the United Kingdom, United States and India, health officials say.

This strain, which has generated a significant amount of global media attention, is called B.1.617.2.1 or AY.1 -- Delta Plus for short, and is a version of the Delta variant first detected in India in February.

It was first reported by Public Health England, a government health agency, on June 11. But the UK's first few cases had been sequenced on April 26 -- suggesting the variant may have been present and spreading by the spring.

The Indian government said it has submitted the variant to the Global Data System, and sent samples for genomic testing.

About 200 cases have been spotted in 11 countries. Only one death has been reported so far, in India.

Health experts are investigating whether Delta Plus may be more transmissible than other strains like the Alpha or Delta variants -- but it's too early to say for sure what its effects may be.

Here's what we know so far, and what questions are still unanswered.

How is Delta Plus different from the Delta variant?

All variants carry clusters of mutations. Delta Plus has an extra mutation called K417N, which distinguishes it from the regular Delta variant. This mutation affects the spike protein, the part of the virus that attaches to the cells it infects.

The K417N mutation isn't entirely new -- it has "arisen independently in several viral lineages," said Francois Balloux, director of the University College London (UCL) Genetics Institute.

The mutation was seen in a strain found in Qatar in March 2020, and is also found in the Beta variant, which was first detected in South Africa last fall, he told the Science Media Centre on Wednesday.

"The mutation may contribute to immune escape, though its impact on transmissibility is not clear-cut," he added.

All viruses mutate constantly. Some of those changes make viruses better at infecting cells, or better at replicating, while others have little effect or are even harmful to the virus.

To date, there have been about 160 strains of the coronavirus sequenced globally, said Balloux.

There are also "other Delta plus variants with other mutations," said the Indian government on Wednesday, adding that AY.1 was just the most well known.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization's technical lead on Covid-19, added that the team was "looking at these specific mutations and what these mean in terms of transmission, in terms of severity, and really importantly what these means in terms of our medical countermeasures."

Meanwhile, the regular Delta variant, also known as the B.1.617.2 strain, has spread rapidly. It has been reported in dozens of countries, and is 40% to 60% more transmissible than the Alpha variant first identified in England, said the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

"I know that globally there is currently a lot of concern about the Delta variant, and the WHO is concerned about it too," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, on Friday. "Delta is the most transmissible of the variants identified so far."

Is it more infectious, deadly or vaccine-resistant?

According to the Indian government's Covid-19 genome sequencing body, the Delta Plus variant exhibits several worrying traits such as increased transmissibility, stronger binding to receptors of lung cells, and a potential reduction in antibody response.

It's not yet clear what effect the mutation may have on vaccine efficacy -- but Julian Tang, professor of respiratory sciences at the University of Leicester, warned it could potentially give the variant "significant vaccine escape properties."

Most of the coronavirus vaccines are designed to train the body to recognize the spike protein, or parts of it -- the place where Delta Plus' extra mutation is.

However, there isn't enough evidence to determine anything conclusively yet and other experts have expressed caution. On Wednesday, the Indian government said the mutation's role in "immune escape, disease severity or increased transmissibility etc. is under continued surveillance."

"This virus has also been isolated and cultured," said Balram Bhargava, Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, on Friday. "We should have the results in seven to ten days on whether the vaccines are working against Delta Plus."

For now, experts are largely cautioning the public and governments to remain watchful but calm.

Besides the Beta variant, none of the other strains carrying the K417N mutation "have been particularly successful so far," said Balloux. "It has been found in several countries but has remained at extremely low frequency ... There is no evidence the strain is currently expanding in any country."

Van Kerkhove from WHO said the organization was tracking Delta Plus to determine its transmissibility and severity.

Where has it been found? How fast is it spreading?

So far, Delta Plus has been reported in 11 countries -- but the number of cases per country only reflects samples that have been sequenced, and more data is needed to determine the actual rate of spread.

"As far as I am aware, the speed of spread of a variant cannot be measured by the early spread frequency," said T. Jacob John, head of clinical virology at India's Christian Medical College. "There is no information that Delta Plus is infecting people who were infected in the first wave, immunized people or those infected in the second wave. The spread has to be watched to know more."

The US has sequenced and confirmed the highest number of cases so far, with 83 cases as of June 16, according to Public Health England.

India follows with 48 cases, the government said on Friday. One patient, an 80-year-old female with pre-existing conditions, has died, said Rajesh Tope, health minister of Maharashtra state, on Friday.

The cases began in three states -- which were all placed on alert -- but have since spread to a total of eight states. The central government is urging states with cases to "enhance their public health response" by stepping up testing, tracing, and priority vaccination.

India is still recovering from its devastating second wave, which has infected millions and killed hundreds of thousands in the past few months. It's not clear whether Delta Plus will deliver another blow -- John said it was unlikely, as the country's vaccination rate picks up -- but the trauma of the second wave has authorities on high alert.

"Once bitten, twice shy," John said. "Those who did not predict the second wave do not want to be caught a second time, so they are alerting everyone of a possible third wave."

The UK has reported 41 cases as of June 16. Enhanced contact tracing, testing, and isolation has been deployed in areas where Delta Plus has been reported, Downing Street confirmed on Thursday.

The first few cases sequenced in the UK were contacts of individuals who had traveled from or transited through Nepal and Turkey, according to Public Health England.

The rest of the cases are spread out between Canada, India, Japan, Nepal, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland, and Turkey.

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JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  Authorities say an FBI special agent has been shot and wounded in Jackson, Mississippi, and is expected to survive the injury.

A Jackson police spokesman says the agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Jackson field office was shot Saturday night.

Police spokesman Sam Brown tells The Clarion Ledger that more information about the shooting will be released later.

FBI spokesman Brett Carr says the agent's condition is not life-threatening."

He said Sunday that the agent has been released from a hospital.

Carr says the agent was assisting Jackson police when the gunfire happened.

Few other details were available Sunday.
ALICEVILLE, Ala. (WTVA) - A Columbus, Mississippi, man is accused of abusing 911 calls.

According to Aliceville Police Chief Tonnie Jones, 30-year-old Quante Crowell called 911 10 times in a 15-minute period and tied up the emergency call center's phone line.

As a result, investigators charged him with harassing communications.

He was booked into the Pickens County jail on Sunday, June 27.
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The Defense Department says the U.S. military conducted airstrikes Sunday against what it says were facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups near the border between Iraq and Syria
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Staff Writer JoAnn Snoderly can be reached at 304-626-1445, by email at jsnoderly@theet.com or on Twitter at @JoAnnSnoderly.
Kelly Moise hugs her son Kieran after cutting the last braid from his hair during a live donation fundraiser, Kierans Curls for Cancer, for the nonprofit Children with Hair Loss in Huntsville, Alabama, on May 29. So far, theyve raised $35,000.
Max Rosenthal, the father of Everybody Loves Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal and a guest on the hit sitcom, has died. He was 95.

The producer confirmed his father's death on social media Sunday. No further details about the actor's cause of death have been disclosed.

"Max Rosenthal 1926-2021 We love you, Dad," Phil tweeted, sharing a smiling shot of the actor.

The documentary host also honored his father with a touching Instagram post that featured a series of photos throughout Max's life.

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RELATED: The Cast of Everybody Loves Raymond, Then and Now

"Max Rosenthal passed away last night," Phil captioned a carousel of nine images, featuring a photo of Max at a restaurant, a naptime snap from Phil's childhood days and a few photos of Max's late wife, Helen Rosenthal, who died in 2019 at the age of 86, Variety reported.

Phil Rosenthal Twitter

"As heartbroken as we are, we are so grateful that he was our dad, our grandpa, our friend, our favorite and funniest TV star, and the role model for how to live 95 years while being sweet, gentle, kind, compassionate and really really funny," Phil continued in his Sunday post. "Will have more to say, later. Lost the biggest influence in my life. I know you loved him too and I'm sad for all of us today. I love you Dad. You live on forever in us, your family, and the friends you've made around the world. "

Gary Gershoff/WireImage

The Rosenthal patriarch lit the small screen on Everybody Loves Raymond in the recurring role of Max during its run from 1996 to 2005. He also appeared in his son's PBS series, I'll Have What Phil's Having, and his Netflix show, Somebody Feed Phil.

Max was married to wife Helen for over 60 years - sharing sons Phil and Richard. Variety called the couple "key inspirations" for parents Boyle and Doris Roberts in Raymond, amusing America with their family antics.

A Holocaust survivor, Max escaped Berlin, Germany, following the Kristallnacht massacre in November 1938, according to New York Jewish Week. Helen was held in a French concentration camp before fleeing to Cuba and then the United States.

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On Father's Day, Phil celebrated his dad with a touching tribute.

"Richard and I are the luckiest dads in the world. Not just because of our kids, but because we had the world's best example of how to be a dad in this man right here. At 95, he's still our hero," he wrote, sharing a shot with his brother and their father. "Sweet, kind, generous, and the funniest guy we ever met. Love you, Dad. Happy Father's Day. And Happy Father's Day to all of you and your dads. "
Photo credit: Mecum

Since it first arrived on American shores in 1995, the Toyota Tacoma has remained one of the most popular small trucks on offer. Designed to better fit the tastes of North American buyers than the Toyota Pickup that it replaced, the Taco has managed to capture a truly dedicated fan base over the years. The truck is so well-loved that on October 4, 2019, the one-millionth Toyota Tacoma rolled off the assembly line in San Antonio, Texas. Thanks to a little help from Mecum Auctions, one lucky truck fan will have the chance to take this historically significant pickup home with them.

The one-millionth Tacoma is slated to cross the auction block during Mecum's Monterey 2021 event, which takes place between August 12-14. Carrying lot #R285, this Army Green TRD Pro model will come with a letter from Toyota itself verifying its production number. That should help to solidify its value, as will the fact that this thing is nearly factory fresh.

Only 158 miles have been put on the truck's 3.5-liter V-6 engine, which produces 278 hp and 265 lb-ft of torque. Unfortunately for the purists, however, that engine does come mated to a six-speed automatic in this case. Regardless of the gearbox, this TRD Pro model does come equipped with a ton of off-road-ready hardware. The TRD Pro package includes TRD-tuned Fox internal bypass shocks, 16-inch TRD alloy wheels, underbody skid plates, a more aggressive front facia, and a set of Rigid Industries LED fog lights. That all should help to ensure this Toyota Tacoma is ready for some off-pavement action, although this particular example will likely never find its way onto the trails.

If you are a Toyota truck enthusiast, this is your opportunity to own a piece of the automaker's American history. Expect to have to pay up for that opportunity, as we wouldn't be surprised to see Toyota want in on the action. Mecum appears to believe the interest in this truck will be quite strong as well, as it has been given star status for the Monterey auction. Whether or not that makes this a six-figure Tacoma will have to be seen.

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Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks outside of the US Capitol. (AFP via Getty Images)

Major progressive groups are hosting a pair of rallies in Washington DC as pressure builds on the left for the White House and congressional Democrats to take bolder action on the climate crisis in two infrastructure bills up for debate in the coming weeks.

The youth-led Sunrise Movement brought its supporters outside the White House on Monday as the presidents team touted a bipartisan infrastructure agreement with several GOP senators, calling the deal a step back from what President Joe Biden promised during his 2020 campaign.

Chants of shut it down were heard as activists formed a blockade in front of an entrance to the White House, with the organization vowing on social media that their activists would remain until Mr Biden vowed to include funding for a civilian climate corps. in the infrastructure packages being considered by Congress.

We made it clear the first time @POTUS, youre going to hear our demands, whether were inside or outside of the White House. You havent responded. Now were back to make sure you understand us clearly: Its #NoClimateNoDeal and No Compromises, No Excuses, the organization said on Twitter.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded to questions about the Sunrise Movements demonstrations at Mondays press briefing, disputing the notion that the bipartisan infrastructure framework did not adequately address climate change: I would dispute the notion that it doesnt do anything for climate, which some are arguing.

Evan Weber, Sunrise Movements co-founder, responded: Unacceptable comment from [Ms Psaki] that demands immediate clarification. Climate measures in [the bipartisan] deal nowhere close to what [Mr Biden] ran on, let alone what is scientifically necessary.

The prominence of Mondays protests were only amplified by the attendance of several progressive members of Congress including congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as well as her new freshman allies, Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush.

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They occupy our streets. They mass incarcerate us, but they leave us food insecure, in transportation deserts, and our buildings and schools falling apart. Fuck that! Mr Bowman exclaimed, addressing demonstrators.

More members of the Democratic Partys left wing are expected to attend a second demonstration on the National Mall on Tuesday, when the Bernie Sanders-created Our Revolution hosts an event alongside Greenpeace, Food and Water Watch, and other groups demanding that the infrastructure plan deliver on a major progressive ask: An end to federal fossil fuel subsidies.

Among the congressional Democrats expected to attend Tuesdays event include Ilhan Omar, Ro Khanna, Nanette Barragan and Earl Blumenauer, according to a press advisory.

In a statement to The Independent, Our Revolutions executive director indicated that climate could be the first issue on which the left truly flexes its political muscle to demand concessions from the White House and congressional moderates.

"As discussions around infrastructure and budget reconciliation heat up, we are going to make our voice heard -- one red line for progressives is making sure we end fossil fuel subsidies, period, said Joseph Geevarghese.

For far too long, the federal government has provided subsidies to oil and gas companies that no other industry gets while polluting our air and water and damaging the health of our children. We must stop taxpayer dollars from contributing to the destruction of our health and our planet, that is what tomorrows demonstration is all about."

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Maximize cooling, minimize bills

Pacific Power experiences heat waves every year and doesn't anticipate heat-related service interruptions during this one. But the continuing extreme temperatures have air conditioners working extra hard, which brings concern about high power bills.

Those concerned about their Pacific Power bill should call 1-888-221-7070. The company can set up a payment plan or refer customers to local agencies for bill assistance.

Here are some tips from Pacific Power to stay cool, use less energy and save money:

 Set your thermostat at 78 degrees. Cooling your house below that could increase air conditioning bills as much as 8%, according to a company news release.

 Dont turn off the air conditioner when you aren't home. Instead, set it at 85 degrees. Doing so allows the air conditioner to use less electricity to cool the house than if the air conditioning has been off all day.

 Use a smart or programmable thermostat to automatically adjust the temperature around your schedule. Set it to start bringing the temperature down from 85 degrees to 78 degrees no more than 30 minutes before you get home.

 Close blinds and drapes, especially in south-facing windows, as they allow in the most heat.

 Once it starts cooling off overnight again, open windows in the evening and early morning to let that air in. Use fans to bring in and circulate cool air. Ceiling and window fans use much less electricity than air conditioning. Running an air conditioner in fan-only mode can also be effective as outside temperatures drop.

 Use heat-producing appliances such as ovens, dishwashers and dryers in the early morning or late evening when temperatures are cooler. And use a microwave, slow cooker or toaster oven instead of a regular oven. A toaster oven uses one-third to one-half as much energy as a regular oven and releases less heat into the home.

 Turn off heat-generating devices when not in use such as lamps, televisions and computers.
Former State Senate Candidate Sebastian King calls for North Carolina to Contribute $1 Million Dollars to Finishing the Border Wall to Keep North Carolinians Safe
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Dallas, Texas - Texas attorney and former member of the Idaho legislature, John O. Green, and his client, Texas inventor Thomas Selgas, were sentenced Tuesday for conspiracy to defraud the United States and tax evasion. Selgas was sentenced to 18 months in prison and Green to six months.

Selgas and Green were convicted by a jury in Federal District Court in Dallas on January 15, 2020. According to the evidence presented at trial, Selgas conspired with Green, an attorney licensed to practice in Texas, to defraud the United States by obstructing the IRSs efforts to assess and collect Selgass taxes. Selgas and his wife owed approximately $1.1 million in taxes that Selgas refused to pay. When the IRS sought to collect those taxes, Selgas concealed, with the assistance of Green, substantial funds by using Greens Interest on Lawyers Trust Account (IOLTA) rather than using financial accounts in Selgass own name. An IOLTA is an escrow bank account used by a lawyer to hold money in trust for clients. From 2007 to 2017, Selgas deposited proceeds from the sale of gold coins and other income into Greens IOLTA. At the direction of Selgas, Green would then use that escrow account to pay the personal expenses of Selgas and his wife, including their credit card bills. This use of the IOLTA concealed Selgass income from the IRS and thwarted its ability to identify funds he possessed, which could be used to offset the taxes owed. Selgas and Green also filed a false tax return on behalf of MyMail Ltd., an intellectual property development and licensing partnership Selgas co-founded, omitting a substantial portion of the partnerships actual income.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Karen Gren Scholer ordered Selgas to serve thee years of supervised release and to pay approximately $1,323,776.92 in restitution to the United States. Judge Scholer ordered Green to serve three years of supervised release and to pay approximately $679,501.50 in restitution to the United States.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Departments Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah of the Northern District of Texas made the announcement.

Trial Attorneys Robert Kemins and Mitchell Galloway of the Justice Departments Tax Division prosecuted the case.
Today

Mostly clear. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 83F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.

Tonight

Mostly clear. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 83F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.

Tomorrow

A few clouds from time to time. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 109F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  The U.S. military, under the direction of President Joe Biden, conducted airstrikes Sunday against what it said were facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups near the border between Iraq and Syria.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the militias were using the facilities to launch unmanned aerial vehicle attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq.

Kirby said the U.S. military targeted three operational and weapons storage facilities  two in Syria and one in Iraq.

He described the airstrikes as defensive, saying they were launched in response to the attacks by Iran-backed groups.

The United States took necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation  but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message, Kirby said.

Sunday's strikes mark the second time the Biden administration has taken military action in the region. In February, the U.S. launched airstrikes against facilities in Syria, near the Iraqi border, that it said were used by Iranian-backed militia groups.
YORK  Gregory Meyers, III, 42, of York, has been charged with two felony counts of being in violation of the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry Act.

According to court documents, he was allegedly found by local law enforcement to be in non-compliance, as a registered sex offender. One of the cases involves him not reporting ownership of a vehicle, as is required.

It is noted in the affidavit filed with the court that he has had multiple prior charges for failing to register required information.

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A review of his criminal history, according to the affidavit, shows a prior conviction for sex offender registry violations in Cuming County in 2002 and in Fillmore County in 2020 (for which he remains on probation).

It is also noted that he is on supervised release status through the federal court system/U.S. probation for activities relating to material constituting or containing child pornography.

According to the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry, Meyers was convicted of sexual assault of a child in Dodge County in 1995 and of possession of child pornography in U.S. Federal Court in 2007.
Skoda Kushaq, the mid-sized SUV was unveiled in India on June 28. This car is going to take on the likes of Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos. Kushaq sounds very unique and this name has been derived from a Sanskrit word 'Kushak' which is often referred to as an emperor or ruler.

In terms of specifications, Kushaq comes with a 1.0-litre TSI engine with both a 6-speed manual and an automatic transmission.

The 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol motor brings out 115 PS of power and 178 Nm torque output and it will have the same 6-speed manual gearbox and a 7-speed DST automatic transmission as well.

Skoda Kushaq will come in five colour options - Torando Red Metallic, Candy White, Carbon Steel Metallic, Honey Orange Metallic.

Skoda Kushaq has a contemporary design language that has taken inspiration from Bohemian crystals and shows sharp contours across the exterior, from nose to toe.

The SUV also has LED projector headlamps with LED daytime running lights integrated.

The side profile of the Skoda Kushaq comes with a black lower body cladding, 17-inch alloy wheels, crisp character lines, roof rails. The rear profile comes with inverted L shaped LED taillights, roof spoiler, a sculpted tailgate, skid plate.

In terms of other features, Skoda Kushaq comes with a two-spoke steering wheel, cruise control, six-speaker premium audio system, ventilated front seats, paddle shifters, wireless charging, ambient lighting among others.

For safety features, the car has six airbags, auto wipers and headlamps, tyre pressure monitoring system, hill start assist, ESC etc.

Skoda Kushaq will take on the likes of Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Nissan Kicks, MG Hector and Volkswagen Taigun.

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The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Monday confirmed that the postponed tournaments including India Open 2021 have been cancelled. India Open was one of the qualifying events for the Tokyo Olympics and was postponed in April due to the COVID-19 situation in Delhi.

The Hyderabad Open Super 100 tournament has also been cancelled by the BFW as it revealed an updated Tournament Calendar for the remainder of 2021.

According to BWF, the changes represent the best and most feasible opportunity for badminton tournaments to resume with regularity over the next six months.

"The next ranking cycle will start immediately following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games," BWF said in a statement.

"The new calendar offers players a safe and consistent platform to earn important world ranking points and prize money in this crucial post-Olympic Games period for the sport," it added.

Updated Calendar Announced TotalEnergies BWF Sudirman Cup Finals 2021 to

HSBC BWF World Tour Finals to Much more #BWF #badminton https://t.co/QXWrl2WQhS  BWF (@bwfmedia) June 28, 2021

BWF also said alternative host cities have been identified for Sudirman Cup Finals 2021 and the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2021.

"Vantaa, Finland is the new host of the BWF Sudirman Cup Finals 2021 in Week 39 (26 September - 3 October 2021)," BFW said.

"COVID-19 restrictions have meant it is not feasible to conduct tournaments in China this year," it added.

There will be a one-week gap between the BWF Sudirman Cup Finals 2021 in Finland before a shift to Denmark for back-to-back tournaments.

Indonesia will host a three-tournament Asian Leg in Bali to close out the BWF World Tour 2021 season.
New Delhi: Senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and MLA Atishi said on Sunday that more than 25% of the youth in Delhi have been vaccinated. 50% of the population in the above 45 years age category is already vaccinated. A record 2,07,559 people were administered vaccines in Delhi on Saturday, out of which more than 1.5 lakh doses were administered to the youth. So far 73, 29,652 people have been given vaccine doses in Delhi.

Out of which more than 56 lakh people have got the first and more than 17 lakh people have received both doses. She said that a total of 7.06 lakh vaccine doses are currently available in Delhi. Out of this 5.40 lakh Covishield and more than 1.6 lakh Covaxin doses are available. Now 3 days stock is available in Delhi at the speed of 2 lakh vaccinations per day. The Central government should provide at least 45 lakh vaccine doses in July at the rate of 1.5 lakh vaccinations per day, said AAP MLA Atishi.

Atishi further said, Delhis vaccination speed is increasing on an everyday basis, for 2 days continuously Delhi has administered more than 1.5 lakh doses per day, and yesterday we broke our previous records and administered 2 lakh doses in a day, adding On 26th June, 2,07,559 doses were administered out of which more than 1.5 lakh doses were administered to the people in the 18-44 age group. We are happy that the youth is stepping out in large numbers to get themselves vaccinated.

The Delhi government has been asking the Central government to increase the vaccine supply repeatedly, as the youth of Delhi want to get themselves vaccinated. Vaccinating the youth would also help in reducing the vaccine hesitancy that can still be seen in some people of the other age groups, as whenever a young member of any family steps out to get themselves vaccinated, they also take along their other family members with them to get them vaccinated as well, she said.

As of 26th June, the total vaccine doses administered in Delhi are 73,29,652, out of which more than 56 lakh people have received the first dose while more than 17 lakh people have received both doses. She also informed that, We were able to vaccinate more than 50% of the 45 and above age group population a long time ago, but since the vaccination of the youth started at a later stage and the vaccine availability was also an issue. Therefore, the vaccination speed of the youth was increasing at a slower pace. But with the availability of the vaccine stock and the increase in the vaccination speed we have been able to vaccinate 25% of the youth population in Delhi.

The vaccine stock available in Delhi as on Sunday is 7,06,000, out of which there are 5,43,000 Covishield doses and 1,63,000 Covaxin doses available. If we look at the vaccine stock available with us, at the present speed of vaccinating 2 lakh people in a day, we have 3 days of vaccine stock available with us. Even if we add the 50,000 Covishield doses that we received yesterday, then also we only have 3 days of vaccine stock available, Atishi informed while giving the vaccination bulletin.," the AAP MLA added.

She further said that The Delhi government has already written a letter to the Central government stating that, according to 1.5 lakh vaccination in a day, Delhi would require 45 lakh vaccine doses in the month of July, and if the vaccination speed keeps increasing, then Delhi would need more than 45 lakh doses per month. The increase in vaccine supply would help us in vaccinating about 70% of our population and achieving herd immunity in Delhi, making Delhi safe for everyone.
New Delhi: In a big breakthrough, the Delhi Police Special Cell on Monday said that it has arrested Gurjot Singh, an absconding accused in the January 26 Red Fort violence and flag hoisting case.

Singh carried a reward of Rs one lakh on his head. A Special Cell official said that the police arrested Gurjot Singh from Amritsar in Punjab.

The official said that Singh was wanted in connection with the Red Fort Flag hoisting case. Police had declared a reward of Rs one lakh on his head.

Singh is the 17th person who has been arrested in the case, so far. At least six key suspects against whom rewards were announced are still absconding.

A resident of Tarn Taran in Punjab, Singh was reportedly present at the Red Fort when the violence broke out. The police were looking for him his alleged involvement in the conspiracy and in instigating the crowd through provocative speeches that he delivered from the monument itself.

On January 26, during the farmers' protest, several people had clashed with the police while many entered the Red fort and had also hoisted a flag there.

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Surat/New Delhi: Inspired by the Good Governance Model of Arvind Kejriwal, many citizens are now joining the Aam Aadmi Party. Senior AAP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia welcomed Mahesh Savani to the Aam Aadmi Party and welcomed him with the party cap and stole, and congratulated him on his joining.

Manish Sisodia said, I welcome Shri Mahesh Savani to AAP. It gives me happiness that AAP in Gujarat is growing with such immense speed. Within a matter of 4 months, AAP has made a team of young and educated youth that has emerged on ground and is doing great work. It is not only AAPs work in Delhi which has gained popularity, now the work in Gujarat is also gaining popularity because of the efforts of the leaders and volunteers."

"The politics of work and restoring development in the nation is synonymous with AAP and that is why young leaders across the nation are joining the party. This is why leading businessman and philanthropist Mahesh Savani ji has joined AAP. It is a matter of pride and honour that after spending years in social service and philanthropy, Mahesh Savani has joined the Aam Aadmi Party to bring change in the society through good governance.

Sisodia said, We can all see the change that Shri Arvind Kejriwal ji has brought in Delhi in the last 5 years, the kind of development that Congress couldnt bring in all the years they were elected in the capital. The way AAP has brought change in the last 5 years, neither BJP or Congress have been able to make that kind of progress in the last 25 years. I want the people of Gujarat to put their faith and trust in the work of the Aam Aadmi Party. We are changing the nation, bringing good governance and development for the people.

Speaking on the need to bring change in Gujarat, Sisodia said, Mahesh ji joining AAP is a sign that the aam businessmen and the people of Gujarat want and believe in change. They believe that AAP can bring this change to the state. Today Mahesh ji has joined us, tomorrow many more people will join AAP because people want good governance, they want progress. The way Mahesh ji spoke about bringing change in the society through AAP, it is clear that every person in Gujarat has the hope that AAP will bring the required change and good governance needed in Gujarat, hope that people had previously from Congress and the BJP. "

"The trust and faith of people are growing in AAP. There are two kinds of political parties in Gujarat, one that has been ruling the state for more than 20 years and another one which has now emerged from the people and by the people. People of Gujarat have to decide which party they want to choose, one that has been in power but not brought change or one that has emerged from the people and is synonymous with good governance, he added.

It is noteworthy that Mahesh Savani is a renowned businessman and philanthropist who is known for his social service not only in Surat but all over Gujarat.

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New Delhi: A total of 40,845 cases of black fungus or mucormycosis have been reported in the country so far, of which 31,344 are rhinocerebral in nature, and the death toll from the infections stands at 3,129, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday.

Vardhan, who chaired the 29th meeting of the high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19, apprised the members that of the total numbers, 34,940 patients had Covid (85.5 per cent), 26,187 (about 64.11 per cent) were co-morbid for diabetes, while 21,523 (52.69 per vent) of those infected were on steroids.

A total of 13,083 patients were in the age group of 18-45 years (32 per cent), 17,464 were in the age group of 45-60 years (42 per cent), while 10,082 (24 per cent) patients were 60-plus years of age, a health ministry statement said.

Speaking on the COVID-19 vaccination drive, Vardhan said, "India has achieved another milestone in COVID-19 vaccination and has overtaken the US in the total number of Covid vaccine doses administered so far. The US started vaccinating against Covid from December 14, 2020, whereas the drive was launched in India on January 16."

Under the new policy of Covid vaccination, the Union government is procuring and supplying (free of cost) 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to states and union territories, he was quoted as saying in the statement.

Till Monday morning (8 am), 32,36,63,297 vaccine doses have been administered in various categories. Vardhan also presented a snapshot of India's efforts to contain COVID-19. In the last 24 hours, India had only 46,148 Covid cases, while the active cases significantly declined to 5,72,994, he said.

The recovery rate has been steadily increasing and stands at 96.80 per cent as on date and 58,578 recoveries were registered in the last 24 hours.

Today is the 46th day in succession where our daily recoveries outnumbered new cases. Our case fatality rate has been 1.30 per cent, daily positivity rate at 2.94 per cent and weekly positivity rate also stands at 2.94 per cent, which has been consistently below 5 per cent for 21 days now, Vardhan said.

The GoM strongly reiterated the importance of Covid-appropriate behaviour, the statement said. A higher level of continued awareness building through sustained IEC campaigns was highlighted. NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul emphasised on the benefits of mask-wearing and hand hygiene.

Dr Balram Bhargava, Secretary (Health Research) and Director General (ICMR), also cautioned that the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has still not subsided as 80 districts in the country still have high positivity, the statement said.

He advised against any laxity at this stage and also explained that vaccines have been found effective against the alpha, beta, gamma and delta variants of COVID-19. Dr Sujeet K Singh, Director (National Centre for Disease Control), presented a detailed report on the trajectory of Covid in states and UTs.

He presented a granular analysis based on epidemiological findings of the trajectory of the pandemic in each state pointing out critical parameters like the growth of cases, concentration of cases in particular districts and other trends like fatality and the variants of COVID-19 driving the infection in the affected states, the statement said.

Active Covid cases continue to be concentrated mainly in Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Odisha, which are reporting growth rate more than the national COVID-19 growth rate, it said.

While 19 states are reporting fatality figures in single-digit (less than 10), four states of Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are reporting more than 100 deaths daily. Neerja Sekhar, Additional Secretary, Information and Broadcasting, apprised the GoM on how issues like vaccine hesitancy are being addressed through different mediums, the statement said.

Vardhan was joined by Hardeep S Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation, Shri Nityanand Rai, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs and Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State, Health.

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Kolkata: The Bar Council of West Bengal has written to Chief Justice of India NV Ramana seeking the removal of Justice Rajesh Bindal as the Acting Chief Justice of the High Court of Calcutta, alleging that Justice Bindal does not have any regard for Judicial propriety and has committed a mockery of judicial conscience.

The Bar Council also claimed that Justice Bindal is biased, highlighting the listing and manner of hearing of the recent Narada sting tape case.

According to the Council letter, "Soon after being transferred to the Calcutta High Court, Justice Bindal was appointed as the Acting Chief Justice. On and from his date of appointment as the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, there have been numerous instances that have forced us to issue the instant letter praying for the removal of his Lordship as a Judge from the Calcutta High Court."

"We would like to set out some of the instances which have given rise to a perception that Justice Bindal is an unfair, partial and biased judge and whose continuance at the High Court interferes with the fair and impartial dispensation of justice," said the letter.

The letter further alleged, "The way Justice Bindal has dealt with W.P.A. 10504 of 2021 (CBI, ACB, Kolkata - Versus -Sri Firhad Hakim@ Bobby Hakim & Ors. also known as the "Narada Bail Matter") casts serious doubts over the conduct and character of Justice Bindal. Justice Bindal by an order dated 17.05.2021 had stayed an interim order of bail passed by the Special CBI Court in favour of members of a certain political dispensation without giving the aggrieved parties an opportunity of being heard."

"If that was not all, the manner in which the Central Bureau of Investigation had approached the Calcutta High Court by way of an application/letter, based on which an interim order of bail stayed and the liberty/relief granted to the accused persons were snatched away, indicate that Justice Bindal does not have any regard for judicial propriety and has committed a mockery of the judicial conscience," said the letter.

It said that the conduct of Justice Bindal prescribed hereinabove was denounced and condemned by the sitting judges of the Calcutta High Court, adding "In this regard, we may refer to a letter dated 24.05.2021 written by Justice Arindam Sinha wherein he took serious exception to the manner in which the Narada Bail matter was handled by the Division Bench headed by Hon`ble Justice Bindal. His Lordship did not mince his words while observing that the conduct of the Hon`ble Justice Bindal was unbecoming of the majesty of the Calcutta High Court."

"His Lordship even went to the extent of admitting that the conduct of Hon`ble Justice Bindal had reduced the judiciary to a mockery. It is not surprising that despite such harsh criticism, the said matter is still unconcluded and is presently being heard by a bench comprising 5 judges headed by Justice Bindal," read the letter.

The letter further alleged that the Bench headed by Justice Bindal has allowed repeated requests by CBI to file its affidavits, but has declined the request made by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Moloy Ghatak to file affidavits and contest the matter where serious allegations have been made against them is a clear sign of Justice Bindal`s apparent bias.

The letter stated that through various social media posts an impression is sought to be given that Justice Bindal is BJP`s man, adding "There are pictures of Hon`ble Justice Bindal visiting Governor Jagdeep Dhankar`s house which are widely published on social media. These pictures coupled with the conduct of Hon`ble Justice Bindal mentioned above seem to suggest that he is doing the bidding of the Governor at the Calcutta High Court."

It has requested CJI Ramana to take immediate steps for the removal of Justice Rajesh Bindal as a Judge of Calcutta High Court so that the majesty and sanctity of the Calcutta High Court are upheld.

(With ANI Inputs)
Srinagar: The incidents of violence across the valley have increased since the all-party meet of Jammu and Kashmir politicians with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi last week.

The meeting mostly stressed on restoring the democratic setup in the union territory.

Three major attacks and killings have taken place in the last few days after the meet. Yesterday, a cop along with his wife and daughter were killed in cold blood by Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists after entering their house in the Tral area of Pulwama district in south Kashmir. The Jammu and Kashmir police SPO was identified as Fayaz Ahmad.

Police said that two Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists involved in the incident have been identified. One is a local while the other one is said to be a foreigner.

''Two terrorists came late evening and knocked on the door of Fayaz Ahmad and started indiscriminate firing on them. Two terrorists are behind the attack, one is a foreigner. We are in search of attackers,'' said IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar.

Earlier, a grenade was lobbed by terrorists in Srinagar's Barbarshah area on Saturday afternoon. A civilian was killed in the attack while three others were injured in the same incident.

Meanwhile, In south Kashmir's Shopian district, one terrorist was killed while another one surrendered during an encounter on Friday. Both the terrorists belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba. One AK-56 rifle was recovered from the surrendered militant.

''One terrorist was killed and his body was retrieved from the site of the encounter. Meanwhile, the family members of the other trapped terrorist were called to the encounter site to persuade the other one to surrender. It was due to the great efforts and utmost patience of Police, security forces and repeated surrender appeals with the help of his family members, the trapped terrorist identified as Sahil Ramzan Dar son of Mohammad Ramzan Dar resident of Beminipora linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT ultimately surrendered and laid down his arms before the joint security forces. As per Police records, Sahil Ahmad was active since March 2021, said JK Police in a release.

A top LeT commander Nadeem Abrar was arrested in Srinagar's Parimpora area on Monday. He was travelling in a car. Nadeem was involved in many incidents related to the killings of security forces.

Jammu and Kashmir has been put on high alert after these incidents. The security has been beefed up across the valley. The IG Kashmir took a high-level emergency security meeting in Srinagar to discuss the security of airports and security installations.

An encounter is underway in Srinagar's Maloora area at the time this report is being filed. Two militants were trapped and firing on from both sides.

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Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Congress, which is in an alliance with the ruling DMK has come out in support of the patriotic slogan Jai Hind after a row over it erupted in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

The issue came to light after the new Assemblys first session that was held in the previous week. An MLA from an ally of the DMK had proudly pointed out the absence of the phrase Jai Hind in the Governors Address.

After Governors address, it became evident that Tamil Nadu has regained its stature of holding its head high. In the Governors address during the previous (AIADMK) regime, he signed off with Nandri (Thanks), Vanakkam (Greetings) and Jai Hind (Victory to India). But this time, there was no mention of Jai Hind in the address, MLA ER Eswaran was seen saying in the Assembly.

It was BJP State Vice President Annamalai who had first brought the issue to notice on social media. Referring to this incident, he said that the level of political discourse in Tamil Nadu has stooped so low. He also condemned the DMK's usage of the term "ondriya arasu" (union government) rather than central government. He questioned why the DMK chose to use the term now, rather than when they were in an alliance with the UPA and also in power in Tamil Nadu between 2006 and 2011.

Many netizens followed suit to point out the conspicuous absence of Jai Hind. They condemned the statement by the MLA and also the behavior of the ruling DMK that did not pay heed to these actions.

The level to which our political discourse in Tamil Nadu has stooped down & the present atmosphere of you scratch my back & I scratch yours. A politician feeling happy in the assembly that Jai Hind is not used after Governors address! - Jai Hind pic.twitter.com/fGk3MzjWiD  K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) June 24, 2021

Many social media users had also stated that Jai Hind was a patriotic slogan and had nothing political in it, thus conveying that it ought to be applicable to all parties irrespective of ideology. They also added that no political party could claim ownership of it.

On Sunday, the Tamil Nadu Congress also shared an old clip of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi enthusiastically saying Jai Hind, while a huge crowd of supporters repeated after her. Despite being an ally of the ruling DMK, the Congress Twitter handle shared it with the hashtag #PorudToSayJaiHind.

On Monday, Tamil Nadu State BJP President Dr L Murugan issued a statement condemning the DMK and the MLAs actions in the Assembly. He added that, henceforth, BJP MLAs in the Tamil Nadu Assembly would raise patriotic and nationalistic slogans such as Bharat Mata ki Jai, Vande Mataram and Jai Hind among others.

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Jammu: Days after the all party meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir BJP on Monday (June 28) held its Working Committee meeting and passed a political resolution, requesting for early completion of delimitation process and holding of assembly elections in the union territory.

The meeting also requested Lt Governor Manoj Sinha to ensure an end to illegal mining and fix prices of minor minerals including sand and address the long pending demands of daily wagers, village defence committees, home guards, Special Police Officers and other sections of the society, J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina said.

Talking to reporters after the meeting at the party headquarters here, Raina said the meeting unanimously passed a political resolution requesting the delimitation commission to complete the assigned task early to pave the way for the holding of assembly elections and a popular government.

Addressing the party leaders, Raina said the party has a big mission before it to form the next government in Jammu and Kashmir.

We have to prepare for the elections from today itself and move together for the success of our mission, which is to form the next government with the BJP chief minister in chair with full majority... I am sure that with your efforts, we will cross all hurdles and will emerge victorious whenever the elections are held, the BJP leader said.

He briefed the workers about the all party meeting chaired by the Prime Minister on June 24 and said it ended the political deadlock in J&K as all the 14 invited leaders from eight prominent parties attended it.

Raina said the Working Committee expressed concern over illegal mining activities and skyrocketing rates of minor minerals and sand.

We request the intervention of the Lt Governor to put an end to illegal mining and bring down the escalating prices. We will not hesitate in launching an agitation in the interest of the public, he said.

He said the committee also appealed to the Lt Governor to address the long pending demands of over one lakh daily wagers, casual and need based workers who are working in 28 different government departments and waiting for their regularization over the past three decades.

The meeting also called for addressing the issues of Village Defence Committee and Special Police Officers who fought alongside security agencies to wipe out terrorism from difficult and mountainous districts of Jammu province and the home guards.

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Srinagar: A case of alleged conversion and inter-religious marriage is snowballing into a big controversy in the Kashmir valley. Three girls from the Sikh community had gone missing after they eloped with Muslim men. One of the girls has been traced by the police and handed over to the family.

The Sikh community took out many protests in Srinagar demanding the other two girls to be traced and handed over to the families. They also demanded for a change in conversion laws. The issue is also in the notice of the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu Kashmir and the home ministry.

The family of a Sikh girl in Srinagar's Rainawari area of downtown filed a report with the police saying their daughter was abducted. The police later arrested both the daughter and her husband.

When produced in the court, the judge said that the girl is an adult and has the right to go wherever she wishes to. However, the man was taken into custody and the girl was taken by her parents.

Soon after the judge's direction, the Sikh community took out protests in Srinagar alleging that the decision was biased. They also alleged that the parents of the girl were not allowed inside the courtroom while the man's family was. The police have said that the matter is being investigated.

The father of the girl said that they are under a lot of stress and there is no one to listen to their problems. He said the government should provide them security.

''This girl is a minor, she just turned 18 two months ago. Last year, she had brain surgery after she developed a clot. We had repair work going on, and he was working as a laborer here renovating my house. He knocked on my door, pushed and kicked me and took my girl away. He said if you shout I will kill you with my pistol. There was a car waiting outside and he took my girl away. We went to the police in the early morning. And later police said we have traced the girl from the jungle and took her to the women police station. They didn't allow us to meet until they took us to court. They didn't even allow us to enter the courtroom. They gave us the girl at 11:30 pm. We don't feel safe and no one listens to us, said Rajinder Singh Bali, father of the girl.

However Akali Dal leader and Delhi Gurdwara committee president, M S Sirsa flew down to Srinagar to take stock of the situation. While speaking to the media, he said, Four girls have been forcefully converted, an 18-year-old girl was married to a middle-aged man and we were told that she married of her own choice. The district judiciary also did not give any justice, he didn't even allow the parents of the girls to come inside the courtroom. The middle-aged man's whole relatives were inside the courtroom so that the girl under pressure could give her statement against the parents. Leaders of our community worldwide have condemned this act. We have written to the Governor also, not only asking the government to hand over these girls back to their families but also bring in changes in the law. We are sad that the majority community is not standing with us right now.

While the Sikh community leaders and members said that if the government doesn't take action in these cases, the youth of the community will tackle the situation themselves.

''Two girls were taken to court after their statement, they were converted. One is an 18-year-old girl who was taken by a 45-year-old man, who had twice married before. We want this to stop. We have a very small population of around 60 thousand. The brotherhood between the majority committee has always been there and we want them to intervene and return our daughters. We want conversion laws to be made here too. We appeal to the leaders here also to come forward to stop these things. If the government doesn't do anything our youth are ready to tackle the situation, said Baldev Singh, President Sikh Committee, Srinagar.

The members of the majority community also came forward and were seen protesting and asking the government to hand over the girls to their parents as soon as possible.

''We are protesting here even if I am alone with my daughter here. We will protest even if there are not many people. We want that Sikh girl back at any cost. Sikh Brothers have stayed with us through thick and thin and we will too. I am a common citizen and I couldn't see my Sikh brothers and sisters protesting alone. We all should protest against this. These Sikhs are the same who came to our rescue during floods, said a local citizen.

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New Delhi: As part of evaluating the students in class 12th, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had asked its schools to conduct the pending practicals and internal assessments in online mode and submit marks by Monday (June 28, 2021).

In a letter sent to schools on June 7, the CBSE Examination Controller Sanyam Bhardwaj had said that it has been observed that some schools have not been able to complete the school-based assessments in various subjects due to COVID-19.

Bhardwaj had also said that 'no extension' of the last date of uploading marks will be done.

Notably, the CBSE had in February asked affiliated schools to conduct Class 10 and Class 12 practical exams, internal assessments and projects between March 1 and June 11. The board had also directed schools to reconduct the practical exams for students who were not able to appear due to the student or family member being infected with COVID-19. While some of the schools had already completed the assessment, some could not as they had to be closed in view of the second wave of coronavirus.

This is to be noted that the CBSE Class 12th board exams were cancelled on June 1 due to the COVID-19 situation in the country. Subsequently, the Board formed a panel that decided to evaluate students based on their results in class 10, 11 and 12. While 40% of the marks will be based on the Class 12 unit test/mid-term/pre-board, 30% marks will be based on Class 11 final exam and 30% marks will be based on best-of-three Class 10 marks.

While the above is for theory, for practicals, students will be marked out of 100.
New Delhi: Central Delhi has recorded just 8.5 mm rainfall so far this monsoon and is the second-most rain-deficient district in the country, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data.

In India, June 1 to September 30 is officially considered the monsoon season.

Central Delhi has received only 8.5 mm rainfall against the normal of 55.2 mm since June 1 -- a deficiency of 85 per cent.

The rain deficit in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir is the largest in the country. It has recorded 5 mm precipitation against the normal of 70.6 mm -- a shortfall of 93 per cent.

East Delhi has received 19.2 mm rainfall against the normal of 55.2 mm -- a 65 per cent shortfall. Northeast Delhi has gauged 20.7 mm rainfall, 63 per cent less than normal, and South Delhi got 22.2 mm, 60 per cent less than normal, the data showed.

Southwest Delhi and New Delhi have recorded 29.6 mm and 27.7 mm rainfall so far -- 52 per cent less than normal.

North Delhi has received 37.7 mm rainfall, 34 per cent less than normal, and Northwest Delhi 29.8 mm rainfall, a 30 per cent shortfall.

So far, only West Delhi has received normal rainfall -- 53.5 mm against the average of 55.5 mm.

The weather department on Monday said Delhi and nearby areas in northwest India will have to wait for another week for their first monsoonal showers.

"Prevailing meteorological conditions, large scale atmospheric features and the forecast wind pattern by dynamical models suggest that no favourable conditions are likely to develop for further advance of southwest monsoon into remaining parts of Rajasthan, west Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Punjab during the next six to seven days," the IMD said in a statement.

The northern limit of southwest monsoon continues to pass through Barmer, Bhilwara, Dholpur, Aligarh, Meerut, Ambala and Amritsar, it said.

After arriving two days late in Kerala, the monsoon had raced across the country, covering eastern, central and adjoining northwest India seven to 10 days ahead of schedule.

Earlier, the meteorological office had said the wind system may reach Delhi by June 15, which would have been 12 days early. However, westerly winds have been blocking its advancement into Delhi, parts of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana.

Normally, monsoon reaches Delhi by June 27 and covers the entire country by July 8.

Last year, the wind system had reached Delhi on June 25 and covered the entire country by June 29.

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Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has denied that she staged a protest at the CBI office in Kolkata when four of the TMC leaders were arrested in connection with the Narada scam case last month.

In a 226-page affidavit filed before the Calcutta High Court which Zee News has accessed, the TMC supremo noted that she went to the Nizam Palace that houses CBIs anti-corruption cell only to be with the families of the arrested leaders.

The CBI had arrested West Bengal cabinet ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee along with TMC MLA Madan Mitra and ex-West Bengal minister Sovan Chatterjee.

She further said that the CBIs claims that she staged a protest which resulted in violence outside the office and other areas in the city were unfounded.

She questioned why the CBI hasn't filed any police complaint against her if she had violated the law. She also claimed that she arrived at the CBI office without any crowd.

She also denied having made any specific demands or any derogatory remarks against anyone.

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New Delhi: Former prime minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh is often dubbed as the accidental prime minister of the country but you might not know that the first accidental prime minister is not Singh but PV Narasimha Rao, whose 100th birth anniversary is today. Narasimha Rao was born on June 28, 1921, in Andhra Pradeshs Warangal, which is now in Telangana.

Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary on Monday (June 28) remembered former PV Narasimha Rao on his 100th birth anniversary and discussed why the Congress party neglected the stalwart who was the precursor to the economic reforms.

When Rao became the 9th prime minister of India in 1991, he not only took over the Congress but also took historical and revolutionary steps to strengthen the weakening country.

Rao became the first prime minister of the country, who despite not being from the Gandhi-Nehru family, ran the government for 5 years and never let the dignity of the prime minister's post diminish.

But despite this, Rao never got the respect he deserved. Congress never gave the status to him, which was given to Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Had he been from the Nehru-Gandhi family, today the Congress party would be celebrating his 100th birth anniversary with great enthusiasm, Congress state governments would advertise full-page in newspapers and Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi would go to pay homage to his samadhi and also issue public statements. But neither the Gandhi family paid any tribute to him nor wrote anything for him on social media.

Heres the story of Narasimha Rao and the reason behind Gandhi familys uneasiness over him.

India faced many challenges in the 1990s. But Narasimha Rao had decided that he would now retire from politics. He had won the Lok Sabha elections for 8 consecutive times, had been the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, held the responsibility of the Home Minister in Indira Gandhi's government and in Rajiv Gandhi's government worked as External Affairs Minister and Defense Minister.

With these achievements, by the year 1991, his age was also 70 years old and this is the reason why he had decided that he would retire from politics and in view of this he had also decided not to contest the 1991 Lok Sabha elections. . However, during the elections, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991, during a rally in Tamil Nadu after the first phase of voting.

After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in the middle of the elections, some leaders of the Congress party wanted to make Sonia Gandhi the party president, but the then Maharashtra Chief Minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Sitaram Kesari opposed it. After this, Sonia Gandhi also refused to become the party president.

At that time Rajiv Gandhi's cabinet secretary PN Haksar suggested to Sonia Gandhi that she should make Shankar Dayal Sharma the party president. But Sharma did not accept the offer due to his ill health.

Narasimha Rao's name came up only after Shankar Dayal Sharma's refusal and the reason behind this was that his humble and mild-mannered personality.

Rao had heart surgery in 1990, due to which the leaders close to Sonia Gandhi felt that he would not remain the prime minister for long and she would also get a chance to prepare herself for this post.

Thus, Rao was elected the Congress President and after that, he became the 9th prime minister of the country. That's why he is called the first accidental prime minister of India.

Five major achievements of PV Narasimha Rao as Prime Minister:

1. Despite not being from the Nehru-Gandhi family, Narasimha Rao ran a minority government successfully for a full term of five years.

2. Rao brought revolutionary changes in the economic field. The rupee was devalued in 1991 for the first time since 1966.

In July 1991, Rao also introduced the New Industrial Policy in the Parliament and this policy was considered as one of the biggest economic reforms in the history of independent India.

3. He started the tradition of appointing a bureaucrat as a minister. When Narasimha Rao became the prime minister, Pranab Mukherjee hoped that he would be made the finance minister in his government, but Rao chose Dr Manmohan Singh, who was then the Chairman of the University Grants Commission and also the Governor of RBI.

4. The fourth achievement was a major change in foreign policy. After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Rao took India's relations with the western countries to new heights. India's relations with America strengthened and the country established diplomatic relations with Israel for the first time.

5. He maintained the dignity of the office of the prime minister. Being the prime minister of the Congress government, Narasimha Rao never bowed his head at 10 Janpath.

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Chennai: Fishermen in the Rameswaram region of Tamil Nadus Ramanathapuram district have reported foul-smelling foam and what appears to be polluted water along the coast. Foam and thick polluted mixtures on the surface of the water were seen in images and videos. Fishermen in the region suspect that it could be something to do with the X-Press Pearl shipping disaster that happened off the Sri Lanka coast in February.

According to Cinnathambi, coordinator of the traditional fishermen federation, the unusual foam and suspected pollutants are being washed along the shore over the last two days, in the Pamban-Gulf of Mannar region. He added that such foam is spread almost 50-100 meters in the sea water and it spans a length of several kilometers along the coast.

When asked if this was the usual foaming that occurs during the rough seas and monsoon, he told Zee Media that there were what appeared to be bits of plastic washing ashore. He said that the fishing community was in a state of fear over these suspected pollutants, which did not appear to be weather-related foaming.

The preliminary suspicion among the fishermen community points towards the MV X-Press Pearl, which sunk off the Sri Lankan Coast (between Colombo and Negombo), despite successful firefighting efforts by the Indian Coast Guard and Sri Lankan authorities. Fears remain over the contents of its containers and the environmental impact that it could pose for the region.

There were several reports of tons of plastic pellets having washed onto Sri Lankan shores, besides the long-term impact o the chemicals being carried hundreds of kilometers way owing to the wind, ocean currents etc,

When it caught fire, the container ship was carrying 1486 containers containing chemical cargo, classified under International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG). The ship caught fire around the last week of May and sunk in the first week of June. Among other chemicals, the IMDG cargo consisted of highly inflammable Nitric Acid, Methanol, Methyl Acetate, Sodium Hydroxide and Polystyrene beads. It must be noted that the distance between Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu and the location of sunken ship (off Sri Lanka) is barely 240 km.

It is understood that researchers from the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Mandapam collected samples from the adjoining region that showed this suspicious foam. Zee Media has attempted to reach the institute but has received a response yet.

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NEW DELHI: In a significant development in the Loni assault case, the Ghaziabad Police has decided to challenge the Karnataka High Court's order granting interim protection to Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari before the Supreme Court, sources said on Monday.

SSP Ghaziabad Amit Pathak told reporters that the police will approach the top court against the Karnataka high court order.

Karnataka High court had earlier given interim protection to Twitter MD Manish Maheshwari. He was served notice twice to join the investigation, but he didn't join. Now, the Ghaziabad Police are saying that they are left with no other option except to approach the Supreme Court.

The Karnataka High Court had directed the Ghaziabad Police not to take any coercive steps against him. In its order, the High Court also said that if Ghaziabad Police wants to examine the Twitter MD then it can do so through virtual mode.

The Karnataka High Court was hearing Twitter MD's petition against the notice issued by Ghaziabad, UP Police under Sec 41A CrPC. The Ghaziabad Police had filed FIR against nine entities, including Twitter India, in connection with the Loni incident.

The Ghaziabad Police had issued notice to Maheshwari in connection with the case where a man was thrashed & his beard chopped off in Loni.

Twitter Managing Director Manish Maheshwari's counsel informed Karnataka High Court that his client is living in Bengaluru. The counsel said that Supreme Court and High Court have said that statement can be recorded through video-conferencing but Ghaziabad Police wants his personal presence.

In the FIR, the Police had said, "There is no communal angle to the incident in Loni where a man was thrashed and his beard was chopped off. The following entities - The Wire, Rana Ayyub, Mohammad Zubair, Dr Shama Mohammed, Saba Naqvi, Maskoor Usmani, Salman Nizami - without checking the fact, started giving communal colour to the incident on Twitter and suddenly they started spreading messages to disrupt the peace and bring differences between the religious communities."

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New Delhi: In a major catch, heroin worth Rs 126 crore has been seized from two South African men at the international airport here as they were trying to smuggle it into the country, according to an official statement on Monday. The two accused were intercepted on Saturday upon their arrival from Johannesburg via Doha.

"On detailed personal and baggage search of the passengers, off-white colour powder/granules, found to be heroin, weighing 8 kg was recovered from one passenger and 10 kg was recovered from another," said the statement issued by the customs department. Both of the accused were found to be part of a syndicate, it said.

It stated that the off-white colour powder/granules, weighing 18 in total and estimated to be valued at Rs 126 crore, were ingeniously concealed inside their checked-in trolley bags.

Both the men have been arrested and a case of smuggling has been registered against them, a customs officer said.

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A group of 6000 students about to appear in the upcoming Chartered Accountancy (CA) examinations, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to take Suo-moto cognizance of multiple issues including the postponement of examination due to the adverse effects of the coronavirus pandemic, extension of old course attempt amid other reliefs. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is all set to hold the CA foundation, inter and final exams from July 05, 2021, until July 20, 2021, in offline mode on a pan India basis. The letter comes nearly a week after a plea seeking to highlight similar concerns was filed in the Supreme Court and it will be heard by the top court on Monday (June 28).

The CA candidates in their plea letter wrote, We students want to request our countrys most popular and students friendly Prime Minister sir to kindly take suo moto cognizance in this matter and allow us postponement for some days so that we students can appear in exams without any fear of chances of losing lives on our near and dear ones.

We dont want any cancellation of exams but vaccination is something you yourself emphasize. CA Students who are going to appear in these exams fall in the age group of 18-23 and it will be injustice with these students as well as their family members also if they are pressurized to appear in these 15 days long physical exams without giving them the opportunity to vaccinate themselves, they added.

Apart from major concerns of vaccination, the CA candidates also raised certain other concerns in the letter that were raised by the students before the ICAI, but the Institute had allegedly failed to address them. On behalf of the 3,00,000 students who are appearing for the exams, the group of CA students requested PM Modi to provide an unconditional opt-out facility along with an additional alternate attempt for such students. Moreover, they also made a request to extend the last attempt for Old Course students by 1 year and to direct ICAI to provide transportation and accommodation facilities to students whose exam centres have been shifted by ICAI.

The students pointed out all of their requests to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, following are the requests:

1. Consider our request to postpone exams by some days so that we 3,00,000 students can get ourselves vaccinated as we believe this number is very small.

2. Direct ICAI to provide an Opt-Out option to an Alternative Attempt to the students who are unable to appear for the exams due to COVID-19 Or COVID-19 Symptoms or just Self Declaration Basis

3. Direct ICAI to extend attempts for Old Course Students for 1 more year (i.e. 2 more attempts).

4. Direct ICAI to take permission from states for the usage of Admit Card as E-pass for travelling.

5. For those students whose centres are altogether shifted to different states provide transportation and accommodation facility.

Here is the complete text of the letter written by CA students tO Prime Minister Narendra Modi:

Respected Sir,

We, a group of 6000 students, pursuing professional course of Chartered Accountancy, but also, we are ordinary citizens of India and in this capacity, have Fundamental Right to Life which our Constitution has conferred to each and every citizen of India in Article 21.

We, would like to bring this to your kind notice, this is going to be first all India Level exam after the deadly 2nd Wave which is not yet over in southern states and 3 states including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala are on high alert amid Delta Plus Variant. We would also like to submit that over 3 lakh students will be appearing in these exams from all over India and majority of them are not even vaccinated with at least single dose of vaccine.

With reference to your Address to Nation dated 7th June, 2021, you yourself appealed t the nation to get vaccinated and announced wide vaccination programs for 18+ age ground and Niti Aayogs Chief Dr VK Paul in his various statements also said- Vaccination is the only key to go back to normal and to save ourself from the emerging mutants of Delta Variant.

With reference to your statement Dt 2nd June, 2021, while cancelling board exams, For us students health and safety is of topmost importance, we humbly want to ask you sir whether we CA Students doesnt fall in category of Students in our own Prime Minister? We want to submit sir we dont want any cancellation of exams but vaccination is something you yourself emphasizes on. CA Students who are going to appear in these exams fall in age group of 18-23 and it will be injustice with these students as well as their family members also if they are pressurized to appear in these 15 Days long physical exams without giving them opportunity to vaccinate themselves. On Monday, 22nd June, 2021, over 8.27 million doses were administered and it is such a huge number. We students want to request our countrys most popular and students friendly Prime Minister sir to kindly take suo moto cognizance in this matter and allow us postponement for some days so that we students can appear in exams without any fear of chances of losing lives on our near and dear ones.

As you are aware, that the prevailing 2nd wave of COVID-19 virus has made a drastic impact on the lives of Citizens of India and it has impacted each and every one in some or the other way. With over 3 lakh 85 thousand lives lost until now, many of the CA students lost their family members during these past few months.

Apart from major concerns of vaccination, we are writing this letter to you to raise a few concerns which have been raised by the students before the Institute Of Chartered Accountants Of India (Hereinafter referred to as the institute) but the Institute has failed to address these concerns in totality. The concerns have been reproduced below in alphabetical manner:

A. No Opt-Out Option to Alternate Attempt has been provided to the students

The Institute conducts its examination in 2 cycles in May and November. The students have approached the ICAI to provide an Opt-Out Option(shifting his candidature and exam fees without getting attempt counted) to Alternate Attempt for the upcoming exams, wherein a student who is not able to appear for the upcoming exams either because he contracts COVID-19 virus or having COVID-19 virus symptoms during the exam period or because any of his family member contracts the COVID-19 virus or COVID-19 virus symptoms or for any other medical emergency in family or for some other reason due to pandemic, then he can Opt-Out for this exam cycle and appear in the next exam before November cycle.

It is pertinent to note that, during this whole pandemic situation since past 1.5 Years, it has been a standard practice of the institute to provide the students with an Opt-Out option but to our utter surprise the institute has Opt-out to next attempt which is ultimately provides no benefit to students.

Further, at the time of May 2020 exam cycle, a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court of India by Advocate Anubha Shrivastava Sahai being W.P.(C) No. 000601/2020 wherein during the course of arguments on 29th June 2020, the court strongly objected for not providing opt out till the last paper and suggested the institute to provide the same till last paper of the examination cycle and when the Advocate appearing for the institute tried to argue against it, the honble court directed the institute to be flexible and not rigid, as it would be very unjustified for the students who are unable to appear for these upcoming exams due to the effects of COVID-19.

Further, majority of the students that will be appearing for these exams belong to the age group of 18-45 and have not been fully vaccinated yet, this puts the students at a high risk of getting sick during the conduct of the exams. Also, if we have a look at the effects of 2nd wave of COVID-19, it has been more drastic than the 1st Wave of COVID-19 especially on the young population of the country, yet the relief of Opt-Out Option that was provided to the students who appeared for the exams during the 1st Wave of COVID-19 has not been extended to the students who will be appearing for the exams during this wave, making the institute very biased and unjust towards the students.

Institute has issued notification on 21st June 2021 regarding opt-out only when students have filed PIL. And Opt-out is only for students himself / herself or his / her grandparents, parents, spouse, children & siblings (residing in the same premises) are infected with Covid  19, not to other relative of family when India has rich culture of living in Joint Families and they asked mandatory RTPCR Report with condition that it should be on or after 21st June 2021. Institute has not even considered students having post covid-19 symptoms or even that student who got Covid-Positive say on June 20. Thousands of students have requested them till date on twitter but they are just neglecting genuine hardships of students amid this pandemic.

If institute wants mandatory documentary evidence of COVID-19 symptoms, then Institute should also accept doctors letter for the same.

Institute is requested to provide Opt-Out of Alternative attempt before November 2021 to Students who themselves or their relative is having COVID-19 or COVID-19 Symptoms on the basis of declaration upto anytime upon conclusion of exams like same provided for November 2020 by notification dated 7th November 2020.

B. No Extension Of Old Course Attempts

The Institute has been currently running two courses simultaneously namely Old Course and New Course, both the courses have a vast difference if we compare the syllabus. Further, this examination attempt of July 2021 is the last attempt for the students of Old Course to clear their exams and if they are unable to appear for the exams or unable to pass in this pandemic, they will be forcefully shifted to the new course and will have to study the syllabus all over again.

Sir, you will understand that Many students are not able to focus on studies due to Covid/Covid symptoms to family members/Financial Problems due to lockdown during the last 1.5 years. They are studying the same syllabus for many years, will be difficult to shift to a new syllabus. and all the efforts and years they have put in to study the old course syllabus will be wasted and it would be very harsh and rigid to do so, especially when the whole nation is suffering from a pandemic.

Please provide 1 year more for all old course students irrespective of having covid symptoms or not (i.e. 2 more attempts apart from July 2021).

C. CHANGE OF ZONES AND CENTERS BEFORE AND DURING EXAMS

They has already changed zones of students for July 2021 exams by notification dated 21st June 2021, institute has said that Due to paucity of accommodation in certain Zones opted by the candidates in the cities of Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Chennai and Pune some of the candidates have been allotted examinations centres in the zone other than the zone opted by them in the said cities. In view of this, it is not possible to accede to the request of the candidates for transfer to an examination center in a particular zone of the city opted by them. Similarly, students who had opted Dimapur (Kohima) City have been shifted to Guwahati City.

Institute is requested to please arrange Accommodations / Transportation Facilities for students whose zones are changed by notification dated 21st June 2021 because these students come from middle class background and they cannot afford to stay for 16 days in hotel etc. and ground reality is PGs are not working at normal capacity.

If not possible to arrange the above facilities please postpone exams and if they are that firm for taking exams please arrange centers in same zones, so that students should not face accommodations and transportation problems.

We also want to bring to your kind consideration that the Institute last year, in November 2020 examinations which were scheduled from November 21, 2020 they have changed a lot of centers just a day before examinations by notification dated 20th November 2020 & notification dated 29th November 2020.

D. Permission from states for the usage of Admit Card as E-pass for Travelling

In states of West Bengal, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra etc. lockdowns are still not lifted by the respective state governments, then, how the students are going to travel to their centres which are allotted at far distances from their accommodation as we all are aware public transportation is not yet available for the general public.

Institute is requested to please take permission from all required states to use Admit card as E-pass for travelling during exam days, if the institute already got permissions please issue notification for the same. In many states still, lockdown is there, so it is difficult for students to travel to examination centres.

E. No Additional attempt for the students who are unable to appear

Sir, the institute has a standard practice to conduct the exams twice a year, one in the month of May and the other in the month of November. It is pertinent to note that, against its standard practice of conducting the exams twice a year and in the interest of the students at large, the institute while conducting the November 2020 exams not only provided the students with an Opt-Out option which was exercisable until the last exam of the cycle but it also provided the students with an additional attempt in January 21 i.e. the students suffering from the effects of COVID-19 were provided with an option to Opt-Out and appear for exams in January 21, but no such additional attempt has been provided to the students of July 2021 attempt which is unfair when we compare it to the benefits that were extended to the students that appeared for the exam in November 2020.

As you are aware, sir, recently while deciding the case of cancellation of CBSE exams, during the course of arguments, when CBSE wanted to conduct the exams for its students, the Honble Supreme Court asked for a proper justification from CBSE to depart from its decision to cancel the exams during the previous year since the conditions have worsened now as compared to the last year. Applying the same principle in this case it is most humbly requested that an additional attempt should also be provided to the CA students of July 2021 as it was provided to the CA students who appeared for the exams in November 2020 attempt.

At last we just like say that we wholly and firmly believe in your leadership and your aptitude towards the youth which are the future of the country. It is our humble and sincere request to please take suo-moto cognizance of the issues raised above on an urgent & priority basis since not much time is left for the examination and we students are facing immense mental trauma.

We request you to consider the above matter and pass appropriate directions.

Thanking You

Your Faithfully,

CA Students

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New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday (June 27, 2021) issued a new weather prediction for the Sub-Himalayan region and many Northeastern states. According to the latest prediction issued by the Met department, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and other Northeastern states will receive heavy rainfall and thunderstorms in the next five days till July 1 under the influence of strong moist southwesterly winds.

The Met department has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall over West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya during the next 5 days; Arunachal Pradesh on June 27 and 28; Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura on June 30 and July 1.

"Isolated extremely falls also likely over Assam and Meghalaya during 28th-30th and Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim on 30th June and 1st July, 2021," the IMD said in a series of tweets.

The IMD also predicted that Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai and adjoining areas are likely to witness mild rains in the last 24 hours.

Head of SID at the Climate Research and Services Pune, K. S. Hosalikar, on Monday (June 28, 2021) tweeted, Mumbai Thane Navi Mumbai and adjoining areas recd mid rains in last 24 hrs at 8.30 am in the morning. Max range of rain was between 20-40 mm of rain mostly towards Thane NM side and NW Suburbs. It didn't rain much tonight. Forecast by IMD is light to mod rains with occasional showers.

The weather department also revealed that moist easterly winds are expected to pick up in strength, causing enhanced rain all along the Himalayan foothills regions of north Bihar, north UP and Uttarakhand July 1 and 2.

The trough at mean sea level from East Uttar Pradesh to northwest Bay of Bengal now runs from north-west Uttar Pradesh to northwest Bay of Bengal across East Uttar Pradesh, south Jharkhand and north Odisha, said IMD.

Additionally, Haryana and West Uttar Pradesh are also likely to face strong surface winds on June 30 and July 1.

The weather department also issued a warning which revealed that moderate thunderstorms accompanied by frequent cloud to ground lightning is likely over parts of UP, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

Moderate thunderstorms accompanied by frequent cloud to ground lightning very likely over East Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, north Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh during next 24 hours. This may cause injuries leading to casualties to people and animals staying outdoors.  India Meteorological Department (@Indiametdept) June 27, 2021

"This may cause injuries leading to casualties to people and animals staying outdoors," it said.

Lastly, IMD said that no favourable conditions are likely to develop for further advance of monsoon over west Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Punjab for the next week.

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NEW DELHI: India on Monday successfully test-fired the new generation Agni-Prime missile off the coast of Odisha. It can hit targets up to a range of 2000 km and is very short and light in comparison with other missiles in this class.

The new nuclear-capable missile is fully made up of composite material, according to news agency ANI. A lot of new technologies have been incorporated in the new missile, the DRDO officials said.

India successfully test-fired the Agni-Prime missile today, off the coast of Odisha. It can hit targets up to a range of 2000 kms, & is very short & light in comparison with other missiles in this class. A lot of new technologies incorporated in the new missile: DRDO officials pic.twitter.com/zq7ffypqFM  ANI (@ANI) June 28, 2021

"Various telemetry and radar stations positioned along the eastern coast tracked and monitored the missile. The missile has followed textbook trajectory, meeting all mission objectives with high level of accuracy," the DRDO said in a statement.

The first test of the new generation nuclear-capable ballistic missile Agni Prime was conducted from the launching complex IV of the Abdul Kalam Island at about 10.55 am.

The Agni-Prime missile is part of India's most ambitious Agni series developed by the DRDO. The new Agni missile has been developed with the cutting-edge technologies used in 4000-km range Agni-IV and 5000-km Agni-V missiles.

The two-stage and solid-fuelled weapon system is guided by inertial navigation systems based on advanced ring-laser gyroscopes. Both stages have composite rocket motors and guidance systems are equipped with electromechanical actuators, the defence sources said.

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New Delhi: The Indian Air Force officials on Sunday (June 27, 2021) evening informed that the two IAF personnel injured in the two low-intensity explosions at the Jammu Air Force Station are under observation and doing fine.

Both had sustained minor injuries after two drones carried out an attack inside Jammu's Air Force base in the early hours of Sunday.

The IAF officials also said that Indian Air Force chief, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria, currently on a visit to Bangladesh, also spoke to the personnel over a phone call.

"Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria spoke to the two IAF personnel who suffered minor injuries in the drone explosions earlier today in Jammu over the telephone from Bangladesh. The two soldiers are under observation of the Air Force medical authorities and are doing fine," said IAF officials.

Meanwhile, sources from Intelligence agencies have claimed that the Air Traffic Control (ATC) building and MI 17 helicopters were the targets of the bombings at the Indian Air Force base, but both drones missed their targets.

The sources added that one of the two drones had a 5 kg TNT bomb while the other had a slightly lower payload.

As per reports, the amount of the explosive that the basic quadcopters carried, it is possible that the drone may have been launched by the terrorists from a nearby location that could be a few kilometres or less from the airbase.

The bomb unit of the National Security Guard (NSG) and experts from other agencies are currently investigating the explosives used.

The first blast ripped off the roof of a single-storey building at the high-security technical area of the airport while the second one took place at a distance of 100 meters from ATC.

There was no damage to any equipment. Investigation is in progress along with civil agencies.  Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) June 27, 2021

The explosions took place on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday at around 1.40 am six minutes apart.

(With inputs from ANI)



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Lucknow Education update: Lucknow varsity to conduct entrance exam for admission to Undergraduate (UG) courses.

Lucknow University has decided to conduct an entrance exam for admission to Undergraduate courses. This decision was taken after the Centre cancelled CBSE class 12 board exams 2021, followed by CISCE and UP board to scrap the board exams.

The entrance exam will give a fair chance to students to get admission in their preferred course, said an official.

Lucknow University has said that it will conduct an entrance exam for undergraduate courses in August 2021.

The PhD entrance exam will be held in July 2021.

University will release the examination date soon on its official website lkouniv.ac.in.

The university has 3800 seats in undergraduate and 4400 in postgraduate.

Students are advised to keep checking the Lucknow University website or Zee news website for the latest updates on the Lucknow University UG Admission 2021.

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Moradabad: Many people are feared dead in a road accident near Moradabad on the Delhi-Lucknow highway after a private bus rammed into a truck from behind on Monday (June 28, 2021) morning. The bus was plying between Punjab and Pilbhit. According to local reports, many passengers were killed on the spot, however, the exact casualty count is yet to ascertain.

The incident took place around 6 am in the morning and the injured passengers were rushed to Moradabad District Hospital.

As per the eyewitnesses, over 50-60 passengers were on board when the mishap took place. The locals also added that 20-25 people were present in the truck as well. The police officials from the Pakbada police station of Moradabad reached the place of the incident and revealed that the matter is under investigation.

While a passenger from the truck revealed that three of his acquaintances have been killed in the accident, over 20 were critically injured. The police officials also told local media that five lives have been lost owing to the mishap.

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Kolkata: Veteran actor and BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty was questioned virtually for an hour by Kolkata Police on Monday (June 28) in connection with controversial remarks he made during the assembly election campaign.

The actor had reportedly made a controversial statement maarbo ekhane lash porbe soshane and ek chobole chobi during an election rally at the Brigade Parade Grounds on March 7 in presence of PM Narendra Modi.

This is the third time he was questioned in the matter.

An FIR was registered against the actor in Maniktala for his speech. The complainant claimed in his FIR that the actor had used dialogues like "marbo ekhane lash porbe shoshane (I will hit you here and the body will fall in the crematorium)" and "ek chobole chabi (just one snakebite and you will become a photograph) during a BJP campaign rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata for the West Bengal assembly elections.

It was also alleged that the actor's utterances were a cause for post-poll violence in the state. The 71-year-old actor, who was among the BJP's star campaigners in the April-May election, was questioned virtually in connection with the case filed against him.

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New Delhi: Parliament Standing Committee on Information Technology is scheduled to hold a meeting on Tuesday (June 29, 2021) to hear the views of Facebook India and Google India on safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social online news media platforms. The Committee, headed by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, has called the representatives of the two IT giants to register their views on the matter.

Parliament Standing Committee on Information Technology call representatives of Facebook India and Google India for a meeting on 29th June, to hear their views on safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social online news media platforms  ANI (@ANI) June 28, 2021

Earlier on June 18, the Committee had called Twitter to appear before the panel to give representation on how to prevent misuse of social media and online news. On June 20, India's permanent mission at the United Nations had clarified that India's new IT rules are "designed to empower ordinary users of social media" and that they were finalised after the government held broad consultations with civil society and other stakeholders in 2018.

The Central government has framed the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 and notified the same on February 25, 2021. The Rules have come into effect from May 26, 2021.

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New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind, who is currently on Uttar Pradesh visit, will arrive in Lucknow by the presidential train on Monday (June 28, 2021) morning. The President will arrive in the state capital for a two-day visit and will return to Delhi on a plane from Lucknow airport the next day.

President Kovind is scheduled to board the presidential train from Kanpur railway station at 10 am on Monday. After an estimated 90-minutes journey, President Kovind will reach Lucknows Charbagh railway station, the President will head straight to Raj Bhavan where he will stay overnight.

During his stay at Raj Bhavan, President Kovind is scheduled to meet some dignitaries and attend a high-tea with the Chief Justice of Allahabad high court Justice Sanjay Yadav and senior judges in the evening.

Later, the next day, President Kovind will be laying the foundation stone of the Bharat Ratna Dr Ambedkar Cultural Centre at an event at Lok Bhavan on Tuesday.

The President had boarded the special train from New Delhis Safdarjung railway station on June 25 for his visit to Kanpur and Kanpur Dehat. Earlier, on Sunday, President Kovind visited his native village Paraunkh and in a heart-warming and emotional gesture, bowed and touched the ground to pay obeisance to the land of his birth.

"I had never imagined even in my dreams that an ordinary boy like me from the village would get the privilege of discharging the responsibilities of the highest office of the country. But our democratic system has shown this by doing it," he had said during his visit to Paraunkh village.

Meanwhile, ahead of President Ram Nath Kovind's two-day visit to the state capital, the Lucknow Police has launched helpline numbers for traffic movement. The decision was taken after an incident from Kanpur came to light, where a woman lost her life after her car got stuck in traffic owing to security arrangements ahead of President Kovind's visit to the city.

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TS Inter 2nd Year Result 2021: The Telangana State Board of Intermediate Examination, TS BIE, is likely to release the result of TS Inter second year 2021 anytime this month. The official website of TSBIE mentions that the official update is likely to be available on the portal, tsbie.cgg.gov.in. Telangana Inter result 2021 will also be released at unofficial websites including examresults.net and third party like manabadi.com. According to reports, Manabadi had stated that the result would be released on June 28, 2021. Once declared, the results would be available on tsbie.cgg.gov.in.

Students should note that the Education Minister had confirmed that TSBIE may declare the Telangana Inter Results 2021 may be released in the month of June. However, an official confirmation on the release of the result date has not been declared so far. Sources have now confirmed that it is likely that the result may not be released today but anytime this week.

TSBIE Result 2021: Direct Links

The TS Inter results 2021 will be released online on the following direct links:

tsbie.cgg.gov.in

results.cgg.gov.in

examresults.ts.nic.in

manabadi.co.in

Click here for the Direct Link to official website for TS Inter 2nd Year Result 2021

TS Inter 2nd year result 2021: How to check

Step 1: Visit the official website tsbie.cgg.gov.in or bie.telanagan.gov.in

Step 2: The link for TS Inter Results 2021 would be activated on the home page once released

Step 3: Select TSBIE course (General/Vocational)

Step 4: Enter your TS Inter Hall Ticket number to view your result on the screen

TS Inter 2nd Year Result 2021: Passing criteria

This year, the ISBIE cancelledthe Telangana Inter exams due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. In view of the same, the board decided to promote all the students to next grade. The board would also be giving the marks to the students based on their performance in TS Inter 1st Year Examinations 2020. As per the criteria decided, the students would be given marks by computing the marks scored in practical as well as 1st year.

The TS Inter exams were earlier set to be held between May 1 and May 19. The TS Inter practical exams for second-year students were scheduled to be held from May 29 to June 7.

Meanwhile, students are again advised to keep a check on the official website for latest updates regarding the same.
New Delhi: During his three-day visit to Ladakh, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday (June 28, 2021) said that terrorism has reduced in the region after it became a Union territory.

After becoming a Union Territory, terrorism has reduced in Ladakh. There is mutual coordination among the Army, paramilitary forces and local police. We have data and figures that terrorism has reduced here," said the Defence Minister.

"After Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were made Union Territories, many doubted the intention of Prime Minister as political vested interest. But he wants the political process to start in both regions. He spoke to political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir and will speak to leaders in Ladakh soon," he added.

The Defence Minister on his second day of the visit also gave a clear message to China from eastern Ladakh by saying that India will never forget the sacrifice of the 'Galwan bravehearts' and asserted that the country's armed forces are capable of giving a befitting reply to every challenge.

"India will never forget the sacrifice of soldiers who laid down their lives in Galwan Valley for the country," Singh said adding that the Indian Army has the capability to give a befitting reply to every challenge.

While addressing an event, Rajnath Singh said efforts should be made to find a solution to issues through dialogue with neighbouring countries but at the same time noted that India will not tolerate it if someone tries to threaten the country.

Meanwhile, Singh also inaugurated 63 infrastructure projects implemented by the Border Roads Organisation in the Union Territory. The Defence Minister on Monday also inaugurated three bridges on way to the Indo-China border in Dharchula sub-division of Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district.

Later today, the Defence Minister is also scheduled to attend a program organised by the local administration in Leh and will later interact with Army troops in Leh at 7 pm. On Sunday, Singh met elected representatives of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDC), Kargil and was also briefed about the security situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China in Eastern Ladakh by the senior officials of Armys Northern Command.

(With ANI inputs)

Live TV
New Delhi: The recipients of the Covishield vaccine may not be eligible for Europes new vaccine passport programme, which recognises a few COVID-19 vaccines whose recipients will be able to travel in and out of Europe with fewer roadblocks than others. The European Union has come up with the concept of Green Pass, which is an immunity document that is meant to ease travel within and to the bloc. Currently, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved only four COVID-19 vaccines for the programme and Covishield vaccine, developed by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), is not on the list.

Even though Covishield has the WHOs approval, the Green Pass program only accommodates EMA-approved vaccines. The four COVID-19 vaccines approved by EMA are Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNTech), Moderna, Vaxzervria (AstraZeneca-Oxford), Janssen (Johnson & Johnson).

This latest development comes as a shock to the people because while the India-made COVID-19 vaccine, Covishield, has not been recognised by the EMA for the programme yet, the Vaxzevria, which is a version of the AstraZeneca shot and is produced and manufactured in the UK or other sites around Europe, has been approved.

Additionally, the development is worrying as the majority of people in India have received Covishield jabs. Meanwhile, the CEO of Serum Institute of India, Adar Poonawalla assured the people that this issue is being addressed at the top level.

Poonawalla wrote on his Twitter handle, I realise that a lot of Indians who have taken COVISHIELD are facing issues with travel to the E.U., I assure everyone, I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries.

I realise that a lot of Indians who have taken COVISHIELD are facing issues with travel to the E.U., I assure everyone, I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries.  Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) June 28, 2021

However, it is still unknown how much of an impact these certificates can have on Indian citizens who wish to travel.

According to the reports, the certificate is primarily for European Union citizens and people from other countries can also seek the certificate after convincing the authorities in an EU country that they qualify for one.

These EU certificates, on which the authorities have been working for months, will be free and will contain a QR code with advanced security features. Several EU countries, including Spain, Germany, Greece, and Poland, have already begun using the system. The rest are expected to start using it from July 1.

Live TV
New Delhi: Amid a stand-off with the Centre over compliance with new IT rules, the Twitter website is displaying a wrong map of India, showing Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as a separate country. The glaring distortion appears on the career section of Twitter website under the header 'Tweep Life'. This is not the first time that Twitter has misrepresented India's map. Earlier, it had shown Leh as part of China.

The US digital giant has been engaged in a tussle with the Indian government over the new social media rules. The government has slammed Twitter for deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the country's new IT rules, which has led to the microblogging platform losing its legal shield as an intermediary in India, and becoming liable for users posting any unlawful content.

The US digital giant has been engaged in a tussle with the Indian government over the new social media rules. The government has confronted Twitter for deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the country's new IT rules, despite repeated reminders.

Notably, the microblogging platform has lost its legal shield as an intermediary in India, becoming liable for users posting any unlawful content. On Monday, social media users slammed Twitter's gross misrepresentation of India's map, that appears on its career section. The global map, showing Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh outside India, triggered angry responses from netizens who are demanding stringent action be initiated against the microblogging platform that has flouted rules on multiple occasions in the past.

In October last year, Twitter came under heavy criticism and faced backlash after its geotagging feature displayed 'Jammu & Kashmir, People's Republic of China' in a live broadcast from Leh's Hall of Fame, a war memorial for fallen soldiers in the Union Territory of Ladakh.

India has issued a stern warning to Twitter that time, making it clear that any disrespect of the country's sovereignty and integrity is totally unacceptable. In November, government issued a notice to Twitter for showing Leh as part of Jammu and Kashmir instead of the Union Territory of Ladakh, as Centre lambasted the platform for disrespecting the territorial integrity of India by showing an incorrect map.

Twitter's apparent heavyhandedness has come under government scrutiny when the microblogging platform did not fully complied with the new rules, called intermediary Guidelines, that mandate setting up a robust grievance redressal mechanism and appointing officers to coordinate with law enforcement.

The rules became effective from May 26; and Twitter, even after the expiry of the additional time, had not appointed the requisite officers, leading to it losing the 'safe harbour' immunity. Even in the backdrop of heightened strained relations with the Indian government, Twitter on Friday briefly blocked IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from accessing his account over alleged violation of US copyright law - a move that was immediately slammed by the minister as being arbitrary and in gross violation of IT rules.

Meanwhile, Twitter's interim grievance officer for India, Dharmendra Chatur, has quit within weeks of taking over the key role.

California-based Jeremy Kessel has now been named as India's grievance redressal officer, on the platform's website - although the appointment does not meet the requirements of new IT rules, which clearly mandate key officers including the grievance officer, to be resident in India.

Twitter and the government have been at loggerheads over multiple instances in the past months, including during the farmers' protest and later when the microblogging platform tagged political posts of several leaders of the ruling party BJP as 'manipulated media', triggering a sharp rebuke from the centre.

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NEW DELHI: In a historic move, the Government of India (GoI) has moved nearly 50,000 additional troops to its border with China as tensions between the two nuclear-powered countries continue after clashes between the two sides in the Galwan Valley and eastern Ladakh.

A Bloomberg report said that the Narendra Modi govt at the Centre has moved troops and squadrons of fighter jets to three different areas along its border with China in the recent months. As of now, India has about 200,000 troops deployed on the border, representing an increase of more than 40% from last year.

Although India and China have fought the 1962 war, Indias strategic focus has been primarily on Pakistan and the long-time rivals have fought three wars over the disputed Kashmir region. However, in the wake of the deadliest standoff between India and China in eastern Ladakh last year, the Modi government has taken several steps to ease tensions with Islamabad and Beijing but at the same time asking the armed forces to be ready for any eventuality in the future.

While previously Indias military presence along the border was aimed at blocking the Chinese movements, the redeployment of troops is expected to give Indian armed forces more options to attack and seize territory in China if necessary in a strategy known as offensive defense, the report quoted a senior government official as saying.

The redeployment of troops along the China border by the government includes more helicopters to transport soldiers from the Kashmir Valley to the high altitude zones along with artillery pieces like the M777 howitzer built by BAE Systems Inc.

Though it is unclear how many troops China has deployed near the Indian border, it has emerged that the Peoples Liberation Army had recently moved additional forces from Tibet to the Xinjiang Military Command, which is responsible for patrolling disputed areas along the Himalayas.

China, meanwhile, is adding new runway buildings, bomb-proof bunkers to house fighter jets and new airfields along the disputed border in Tibet, the report said. Beijing also added long-range artillery, tanks, rocket regiments and twin-engine fighters in recent months, it said.

While both Indian and China have not officially commented on the troops' redeployment, it has indeed triggered fears that a miscalculation could lead to an even deadlier conflict between the two sides.

It may be noted that the two countries have had several rounds of diplomatic and military talks toward maintaining the status quo that had prevailed along the border for decades. However, the two sides are yet to achieve a major breakthrough in military talks.

The northern region of Ladakh, where India and China clashed several times last year, has seen the largest increase in troop levels, with an estimated 20,000 troops. including those who once participated in counterterrorism operations against Pakistan now deployed in the area.

The reorientation means that India will have more troops acclimatized to fight in the high-altitude Himalayan areas, while the number of troops destined exclusively for the western border with Pakistan will see a gradual decline.

India has also gained an offensive capability along the southern Tibetan plateau near the center of the border. In that more populated area, regular soldiers equipped with machine guns have joined lightly armed paramilitary officers, the Bloomberg report said.

In the far eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, Indian has deployed the newly acquired Rafale fighter jets from France armed with long-range missiles to support the boots on the ground, the report said.

In view of the Chinese threat, the Indian Navy has placed more warships along key shipping lanes for longer durations. The move comes after the worst clash in June that left 20 Indian soldiers and an undisclosed number of Chinese soldiers dead.

For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the change comes as the COVID pandemic has severely affected the economy in the past four decades, leaving less money for defence. At the same time, India is intensifying security cooperation with other Quad partners (USA, Japan and Australia) to gain influence against China.

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Jammu: Pakistan-based terror groups are suspected to be involved in what is believed to be the first drone terror attack on the Indian Air Force base near Jammu Airport in the early hours of Sunday. Sources from Intelligence agencies have claimed that the Air Traffic Control (ATC) building and MI 17 helicopters were the targets of the bombings at the Indian Air Force base, but both drones missed their targets.

Jammu and Kashmir Police chief Dilbag Singh said "The attack at the IAF station in Jammu is a terror attack and the role of Pakistan-based terror groups is being probed. An FIR has been registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act after two explosives-laden drones crashed into the IAF station at Jammu airport.

Teams from the IAF, the National Bomb Data Centre, forensic experts and the Jammu and Kashmir police are also investigating the attack. There have been reports over the past two years of Pakistan using drones to drop weapons across the border.

The officials indicated the case may be taken over by the terror probe agency NIA. The drones crashed into the IAF station at Jammu airport in the early hours of Sunday, perhaps the first time that suspected Pakistan-based terrorists have used unmanned aerial vehicles in an attack.

An FIR was registered under relevant sections of the Explosive Substances Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Satwari police station on the application of a junior warrant officer of the IAF, the officials said.

"The NIA is likely to take over the case. They are already supervising the investigation at the scene of the blast after joining the probe," one of the officials said. According to reports, an FIR was registered under UAPA sections 13/16/18/23 of the (unlawful activities/terrorist act/conspiracy/enhanced penalties), and IPC section 120-B (criminal conspiracy).

Sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substances Act (causing an explosion likely to endanger life or property/attempt to cause an explosion, or for making or keeping explosives with intent to endanger life or property) have also been included.

The explosions took place around 1.40 am within six minutes of each other. The first blast ripped off the roof of a single-storey building at the high-security technical area of the airport manned by the IAF in the Satwari area of the city. The second one was on the ground, the officials said.

Two IAF personnel were injured in the incident, which Jammu and Kashmir police chief Dilbag Singh has termed a "terror attack". Probe teams from the IAF and Special Forces have also visited the scene along with forensic experts to investigate the nature of the blast and collect evidence, they said.

Meanwhile, a battery of mediapersons camped outside the main gate of the IAF station hit by the twin blasts. However, no out-of-ordinary movement was noticed at the gate except visits by senior officers of the Army, police, CRPF and other agencies.

Labourers engaged for routine work inside the station reported on schedule and were allowed in after usual checking of their identity cards and frisking. Army quick reaction teams (QRTs) were seen making rounds to maintain watch outside the IAF station, while security forces also carried out area domination in the adjoining residential localities, the officials quoted above said.

Security has been beefed up across the Jammu region including on highways where special checkpoints were set up to carry out checking of vehicles especially at the entry and exit points of the city.

DGP Dilbag Singh also said while officials were investigating the drone attack, another major strike was averted as a person, probably owing allegiance to the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, was arrested along with an improvised explosive device weighing around six kg.

The person was tasked with triggering the IED blast at a crowded place, Singh said. "The suspect has been detained and is being interrogated. More suspects are likely to be picked up in this foiled IED blast attempt."

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Srinagar: Some unidentified terrorists shot dead a special police officer, his wife and daughter in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, officials said on Monday. The terrorists barged into the house of SPO Fayaz Ahmad at Hariparigam in Awantipora area at around 11 PM on Sunday and opened fire on the family, the officials said on Monday.

The injured were rushed to a hospital where the SPO succumbed. His wife Raja Begum and daughter Rafia also died later on. SPO Fayaz Ahmad and his wife who were killed at their home in Hariparigam village in Pulwama district were laid to rest in their village.

Jammu and Kashmir | Former special police officer (SPO) of Jammu and Kashmir Police and his wife who were killed at their home in Hariparigam village, Pulwama district being laid to rest pic.twitter.com/g9Q5o2rC2R  ANI (@ANI) June 28, 2021

Security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to track down the assailants but no arrests have been made so far, the officials said.

The SPO's killing has triggered massive protests against Pakistan in the area. Mainstream political parties in Jammu and Kashmir have condemned the killing of a special police officer (SPO), his wife and daughter in Pulwama district, calling it "dastardly and cowardly" and a "form of terrorism".

"I unreservedly condemn the dastardly and cowardly militant attack on the J&K police SPO Fayaz Ahmed, his wife and his young daughter at their home last night. I pray they receive their place in Jannat and their loved ones find strength during this terrible time," National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah wrote on Twitter.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said no words were strong enough to condemn the cowardly attack.

Terrorists have intensified attacks on cops and security forces. While an inspector and a constable were killed in the Nowgam and Eidgah areas of Srinagar last week, a civilian died in a grenade attack on security forces at Barbarshah in the heart of the city.

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New Delhi: The Border Security Force (BSF) has invited applications for the recruitment of Assistant Aircraft Mechanic, Assistant Radio Mechanic and Constable in its Air Wing.

A total of 65 vacancies have been notified which includes 49 for Assistant Aircraft Mechanic and 8 each for Assistant Radio Mechanic and Constable.

Interested candidates can visit BSFs official website at bsf.gov.in to apply for the posts. The last date to apply online is July 26 (11:59 pm).

BSF recruitment 2021  Salary:

For Assistant Aircraft Mechanic and Assistant Radio Mechanic: Pay Matrix Level-5 (Rs. 29,200Rs. 92,300/-) as per 7th CPC

For Constable: Pay Matrix Level-5 (Rs. 21,700Rs. 69,100/-) as per 7th CPC

How to apply:

The application from the candidates must be submitted through online mode. The facility of submission of online application opened on BSF website bsf.gov.in on June 27 and will be closed on July 26.

Selection Procedure:

The selection procedure for the post of Assistant Aircraft Mechanic (ASI) and Assistant Radio Mechanic (ASI) will be consist of a written exam which will be OMR-based with 100 objective type questions and a duration of 2 hours.

In the second phase, candidates who qualify in the written exam will have to undergo a document verification round and a Physical Standards Test (PST), a Physical Efficiency Test and medical examination.

The selection procedure for the post of Constable (Storeman) will be as:

In the first phase, a Physical Standard Test will be carried out by the selection board to assess their height, chest and weight. This will be followed by Physical Standard Test (PST).

In the second phase, shortlisted candidates will have to undergo written examination which will consist of 100 objective type questions with a duration of 2 hours.

Document verification and medical examination will be done in the third phase.

Also Read: ITBP Recruitment 2021: Golden chance to get into Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force under sports quota, check details here

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New Delhi: Former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Sunday (June 27, 2021) urged Pinarayi Vijayan not to change the Kannada names of some of the villages in Kerala into Malayalam.

The Janata Dal (S) leader took to his official Twitter account to 'bring certain issues to its notice'.

Kumaraswamy said, "It has come to my notice that the Kerala government has begun the process of changing the Kannada names of some of its villages in Manjeshwara of Kasaragod district into Malayalam. Before Kerala takes up such a process of changing the names, I want to bring certain issues to its notice. Kasaragod is a place that has close ties with Karnataka. Kannadigas, as well as Karnataka, have cultural bonding with the people of Kasaragod."

It has come to my notice that Kerala government has begun the process of changing the Kannada names of some of its villages in Manjeshwara of Kasaragod district into Malayalam. (1/6)  H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) June 27, 2021

He added that Kasaragod has remained as a symbol of linguistic harmony and co-existence.

"Though Kannada and Malayalam-speaking people are in equal number in Kasaragod, they are living in a harmonious manner. They have never quarrelled over the language issue," the former Karnataka CM added.

In fact, Kasaragod has remained as a symbol of linguistic harmony and co-existence.

Though Kannada and Malayalam-speaking people are in equal number in Kasaragod, they are living in a harmonious manner. They have never quarreled over the language issue. (3/6)  H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) June 27, 2021

Kumaraswamy said that there is a dire need to protect such harmony in the future also.

"In todays times marked by politics being played on emotions, it is inevitable to protect linguistic harmony," he said.

Kumaraswamy said that he feels that it is the duty of both Kerala and Karnataka to protect the traditional feelings of Kannadigas living there. "Though the Kannada names of villages are being changed into Malayalam, their meaning appears to have been retained," he stated.

"In this context, I request the Kerala government, which intends to retain the meaning of the Kannada names of villages, to retain the original Kannada names too," he added.

Hence I feel that it is the duty of both Kerala and Karnataka to protect the traditional feelings of Kannadigas living there. Though the Kannada names of villages are being changed into Malayalam, their meaning appears to have been retained. (5/6)  H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) June 27, 2021

In this context, I request the Kerala government, which intends to retain the meaning of the Kannada names of villages, to retain the original Kannada names too. (6/6)  H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) June 27, 2021

Earlier on Sunday, Karnataka Border Area Development Authority (KBADA) chairman C Somasekhara also said that this would destroy the Kannada and Tulu culture which has existed in the region for a long.

Somasekhara wrote a letter to Kerala PWD and Revenue Minister PA Mohammed Riyas requesting him to stall their decision of changing the names and urging them not to hurt people's sentiments.

The KBADA Chairman stated that some local bodies are attempting to change the names of Kannada-speaking villages in the Kasargod district without any consultation with people.

"The names of Madhuru-Madhuram, Malla-mallam, and other divine fields are also changing. In a letter to Kerala PWD and Revenue Minister, I have requested them to stall their decision of changing the names and not hurt people's emotions," he said.

Somasekhara said that the names of Madhuru-Idadbutaut, Maur-Mallare and other divine fields are also changing and mentioned that Karadka, Bedadka, Pllikunje, Anebagtlu, Manjeshwara, Tiosadurga, Rumble are now called Kedagam, Bedagam, Pulikunnu, Anevagil, ManJeshwarem, Pudiyakota, Rumble respectively.

As per a few reports, the local bodies of village Panchayats of Kerala are planning to change the names of other villages like Sasihitku as Shaivalapp, Nellikunja as Nellikunnu, Kumble as Kumbala, said the letter.

(With agency inputs)


Los Angeles: Rapper couple Cardi B and Offset are set to welcome their second child together. Cardi, 28, shared the news while performing with her husband and his group Migos on Sunday evening at the BET Awards. According to People magazine, after the trio finished performing "Straightenin", Cardi joined the group for "Type S--". She appeared on the stage in a rhinestone-embellished black bodysuit, with a sheer panel showing off her baby bump.

Cardi made the news Instagram official simultaneously with their act. "#2!" she captioned her photo with a heart emoji, tagging Offset.

The couple is already parents to daughter Kulture Kiari, who turns three in July. Offset, 29, also has daughter Kalea, six, and sons Kody, six, and Jordan, 11, from previous relationships.

Cardi and Offset, who tied the knot in 2017, have had their fair share of ups and downs.

They were even headed for a divorce late last year but eventually reconciled by November. At the awards, Cardi won video of the year and best collaboration for the smash hit "WAP", featuring Megan Thee Stallion.
HackersEra is a company dedicated to ensuring the safety of individuals who have been subjected to cyber-attacks. A well-known cyber-security service company that led the way in the adoption of flexible business strategies that today allow our clients to function in a much more protected manner while delivering greater value.

Their power lies in their capability to understand their customers' business activities, approach, objectives, and targets across the industrial divisions, in addition to delivering reliable client-oriented services.

The Theme of work in the context of the Covid-19 Pandemic

HackersEra has abruptly transitioned from offline to online collaborative work during this Pandemic. Firms are still pleading for greater help almost a year after the COVID-19 problem began. Every firm and every job role has faced numerous challenges, making it one of the most difficult corporate roles.

It is, however, necessary because it gives us the incentive to learn more and improve our skills. Even during this pandemic, HackersEra made sure that their clients do not suffer from this new shift in their work, and they have decided to come out of this pandemic, better and stronger.

Some issues might be viewed as fundamentals that every person working in a different sector must master. After all, you can't overcome a circumstance if you believe you can't. Even during such a critical period, HackersEra ensured that they remained cheerful and productive.

Beliefs of the Team

If there is work to be done, you must do it at any cost. If you do not have any work to do, you can take some time out and spend it along with your family.

HackersEra, as a Cyber-Security Service Provider, is responsible for staff Endpoint Security, which contains client data. From onboarding workers to project handover, they use the best standard approach.

They train their personnel so that no client information gets out of hand. When it comes to their work approach, they are still committed to the startup culture. And the best part? their employees are not required to wear a uniform.

Share Your Knowledge: The Ultimate Game Changer!

Sharing knowledge is critical for an organization's growth since it allows for a better verdict, the development of learning companies, and lastly, the stimulation of cultural change and creativity.

Avoiding unnecessary effort by correctly managing the thoughts of everyone saves a lot of time and money, not to mention streamlining work and maintaining staff morale. Knowledge sharing also increases administrative and operational collaboration among staff.

Therefore, in our company, we have a thing called Share Your Knowledge, where everyone can share their ideas.

Progression of HackersEra

India has positioned itself as one of the world's most important startup ecosystems. Each day, a new venture sprouts from the sea of prospects, hoping to join the ranks of India's startup success tales. And, just like that, in 2015, HackersEra was founded as a result of one man's idea for a better and more secure online realm. Vikash Chaudhary, the CEO, and founder of HackersEra, is the driving force behind this remarkable firm.

We began HackersEra in a little one-bedroom apartment in 2015 and have never looked back. We continued to expand and will do so in the foreseeable future. If we are talking about sales, we've added 400% more customers than the preceding year says Vikash Chaudhary, CEO, and Founder of HackersEra.

Awards Received So Far

When it comes to accomplishments, it goes without saying that there were several minor and large accomplishments in HackersEra, but the most notable accomplishments were the Awards.

HackersEra was named Entrepreneur of the Year, while Vikash Chaudhary, the company's CEO and Founder, was named Rising Star of India.
New Delhi: Television heartthrob Shaheer Sheikh is going to be a father soon. The actor who earlier refused to comment on the pregnancy of his wife has shared a photo of himself with his wife and in-laws, in which his ladylove can be seen with a very visible baby bump.

The actor captioned the photo as, Happiness is home made.. #betterTogether.

Shaheers Kuch Rang Pyaar Ke Aise Bhi co-actor and rumoured ex girlfriend Erica Fernandes took to comment section to shower love on Ruchikaa. @ruchikaakapoor you're looking so cute, wrote the actress.

Earlier in an interview with ETimes, when asked by Ruchikaas pregnancy, the actor refused to confirm it. Lets not talk about it. It is too early to comment, Shaheer had said.

However, he opened up about life after marriage and shared his plans of shifting to a new house. We have entered a new phase of life. I am learning new things every day and taking up new responsibilities. I lived alone for many years in Mumbai, so I am learning to share my space with someone now. (laughs). I enjoy cooking for her. Also, Ruchikaa and I are moving to a new home, so the last few months have been spent doing it up. I believe in living a simple, minimalistic life, and it is a modest house and not something gigantic, shared the 37 years old.

Shaheer and Ruchikaa tied the knot on 27 November 2020 in an intimate court ceremony. The couple has not have any grand celebrations due to the pandemic.

Ruchikaa is the head of the film division of Ekta Kapoors Balaji Telefilms.

On the work front, Shaheer is riding high on the success of his music video Baarish Ban Jaana opposite Hina Khan. He will also next be seen in the third season of his popular daily show Kuch Rang Pyaar Ke Aise Bh opposite Erica Fernandes.
New Delhi: TV actor Pearl V Puri, who was granted bail on June 15 after being arrested on charges of alleged molestation and rape of a 5-year-old girl, recently took to his Instagram to pen down a thank you note for his fans, friends, and family who supported him through the past few challenging months. In the note, he listed down the tragedies that he had recently dealt with such as his father's demise, his mother's cancer diagnosis and the 'ghastly rape allegations' slapped on him. He expressed that he was completely shattered and still feels numb due to recent events.

He wrote, "Life has its own way of testing people! I lost my nani ma few months back, then on her 17th day I lost my dad, post that my mother got diagnosed with cancer and then this ghastly accusation. Last couple of weeks were gruelling for me like a nightmare. I was, overnight, made to feel like a criminal. All of this in the midst of my mother's cancer treatment, it shattered my sense of seucirty, making me feel helpless. I am still numb..but I felt it's time to reach out to my friends, fans and well-wishers who've showered me with their love, support and concern. Thank you for keeping faith in me and I am a firm believer of #Satyamavjayate. I trust in the Law, judiciary of my country and God up there. Please keep your duas coming."

Check out his post:

For the unversed, Pearl V Puri was arrested on Friday June 4, 2021, by Mumbai Police after a complaint was filed by a minor girl against the actor. The case dates back to 4 years reportedly. The girl alleged that Pearl took sexual favours from her on the pretext of getting her work in the TV industry. A Vasai Court, on June 5, sent arrested television actor Pearl to 14 days of judicial custody.

He had been been booked under the section of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The actor had been arrested under IPC section 376 AB, r/w POCSO Act 4, 8, 12,19, 21.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone II) of Mira-Bhayander Vasai-Virar (MBVV), Sanjaykumar Patil, had said that the alleged crime was perpetrated on the minor girl when the accused actor was shooting at a location in the Naigaon area near Vasai in October 2019.

Several celebrities showered support for the actor. Besides Karishma Tanna, producer Ekta Kapoor, actress Anita Hassanandani among others dismissed it as a false charge and showed support for Pearl.

(With IANS inputs)
NEW DELHI: The Ram temple which is being constructed in the ancient holy town of Ayodhya under the supervision of the Supreme Court-mandated Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has been receiving massive donations despite the latest row over the land purchase.

According to the temple trust, devotees of Lord Ram are donating with a free hand for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Whether it is Ramlala's bank account or the donation box kept inside the Ram temple complex or Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust's office, the devotees are offering donations openly everywhere.

It may be noted that the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust is currently facing allegations of irregularities in the purchase of land for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Three major political parties - Congress, Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party and AAP  have accused the Ram Mandir Trust of alleged financial irregularities in land purchase. AAP's Sanjay Singh and SP leader Pawan Pandey had claimed that the trust bought the land for over Rs 18 crore from people who purchased it for just Rs 2 crore.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the deal betrayed the faith of the devotees who had donated money for the construction of the Ram temple. However, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust has rubbished the allegations of a land scam levelled by opposition leaders.

The trusts general secretary Champat Rai said that the organisation is committed to full transparency and has purchased the land at a cheaper price compared to the market rate. Rai said that the trust is working to give a grand shape to the Ram Temple premises and make it comfortable for visitors keeping in mind Vastu Shastra. He said that the trust is purchasing land on the east and west side after agreement from the land/temple owners.

Teerth Kshetra has decided to rehabilitate each organisation/individual being displaced due to the process. Even the rehabilitation land is being selected as per the consent of the affected people, said Rai.

Reacting to the land deal in question, he said that 1.2 hectare Bagh Bijesi land in Ayodhya was purchased in a transparent manner after the consent of important temples like Kaushalya Sadan.

Amid all this, the trust claimed that the recent allegations levelled by the opposition leaders have had no bearing on the donations received by the temple trust. After the recent unlocking of the lockdown, thousands of devotees are reaching Ayodhya every day and offering prayers to the deity in the Ram temple complex here.

The donation box kept in the temple is receiving huge donations in form of cash, bank cheques, drafts, gold and silver ornaments almost every day. Between the 5th and the 10th of every month, the trust and bank officials calculate the donations received by the trust.

The donation box received about Rs 40 lakh this month. The Ram temple Trust office built on Ram Janmabhoomi Darshan Marg also received donations of about 20 to 30 lakh rupees. In the past three days, then the trust received a cash donation of Rs 2.38 lakh on Friday, 95 thousand cash donations on Saturday, and a check of 5 lakh.

On Sunday, donations of Rs 1 lakh cash and 50 thousand in check were received by the office of the Ra temple trust. Interestingly, this donation has been received during the 8 hours of the darshan period as the Ramlala temple complex opens for the devotees in two different shifts.

In the first shift, Darshan is allowed from 7 am to 11 am, while in the second shift, devotees can come for darshan between 2 pm to 6 pm. Besides this, the trust has allowed the devotees to attend the Ramlala Aarti at 6.30 pm. For this, they need to take a pass from the trust office.

Ram temple trust office administrator Sriprakash Gupta said that even after the lockdown, there has been no decline in donations. Donors are donating freely through cheque, draft, cash, online in all possible ways, he added.

The public has full faith in the Ram temple trust and they are assured that it is working in a transparent manner. Those who are making allegations are political people, he said.

Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust had informed in March this year that it has collected over Rs 2,100 crore for the construction of a grand Ram temple in the ancient holy city of Ayodhya after the 44-day fund-raising campaign.

A recent report quoting Trust General Secretary Champat Rai said that a whopping Rs 5457 crore have so far been deposited into the vaults of three bank accounts for Lord Ram while the donations collected during 44-day Nidhi Samarpan Ahbiyan are still being counted.

Rai said that so far they have tabulated Rs 5457.94 crores which have been deposited in the State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Banks.

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New Delhi: The British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca along with the University of Oxford on Sunday (June 27, 2021) started new trials to assess a modified vaccine against the Beta variant of COVID-19, which first emerged in South Africa. According to AFP reports, the booster COVID-19 vaccine trials will be conducted upon 2,250 individuals from Britain, South Africa, Brazil and Poland.

These 2,250 participants are those who have been fully vaccinated with two doses of the original Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine or an mRNA vaccine such as Pfizer.

This new booster COVID-19 vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca, is known as AZD2816. According to the report, this new booster COVID-19 vaccine has also been designed using the same base as the main AstraZeneca shot but with minor genetic alterations

Testing booster doses of existing vaccines and new variant vaccines is important to ensure we are best prepared to stay ahead of the pandemic coronavirus, should their use be needed," Andrew Pollard, chief investigator and director of the Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford was quoted as saying in the report.

The experts in Britain stated that even though the country has had a successful vaccine rollout programme, it remains unknown to the experts as if how long protection lasts in an individual body.

This study will provide vital evidence on whether further doses including tweaks against new virus variants may be needed in the future," said Maheshi Ramasamy, Principal Investigator at the Oxford Vaccine Group. Meanwhile, Initial data from the trial is expected later this year.

According to the report, the current vaccines available against COVID-19 are believed to be less effective against the Beta variant.

Live TV
Dhaka: At least seven people were killed and dozens wounded in an explosion in Bangladesh capital Dhaka late on Sunday with authorities initially suspecting it to have been caused by gas cylinder blasts.

"So far, we came to know seven people were killed in the explosion," Dhaka's police commissioner Shafiqul Islam told newspersons at the scene at Moghbazar area adding that the explosion damaged seven buildings and three passenger buses.

Fire Brigade chief Brigadier General Sajjad Hossain said primary evidence suggested gas cylinder blasts caused the explosion but 'we are yet to know how it actually occurred'.

"There were gas cylinders at a restaurant at the ground floor of a nearby building and air-conditioners at a showroom upstairs while there were gas cylinders as well at the road construction site at the scene... Investigations have been launched," Hossain said.

TV channels reported dozens of wounded, mostly bus passengers and passersby, being treated at three hospitals where doctors said many of them received severe burn injuries.

According to residents in the neighbourhood, the explosion rocked the part of the city spreading panic while television footage showed broken pillars, concrete and glass shards strewn across the street at the scene in the central part of the country's capital.

"I was on a bus when the explosion occurred. I jumped out of it through a narrow window of the vehicle, initially thinking the bus gas cylinder exploded... Never experienced such a big explosion in my life," 50-year-old Tajul Islam, who received injuries on his waist and complained of hearing impairment due to the explosion, told PTI.

Another witness said he saw a fireball go over his head and the explosion turned everything dark and smoky in his vicinity while pieces of glass started to shower from above.

"The sound was so huge... It scared everyone," he told a TV channel.

According to witnesses, soon after the explosion the buses and cars crashed into one another while panic-gripped passengers struggled to come out of the vehicles.